A/N

There's just no winning with you people is there? First it was NaruxUsagi and now its MakotoxUsagi, where does this madness end? Gotta be honest though, I certainly wouldn't mind to see some kind of Usagibowl where you shippers fight to the death over which should be canon in Rabbit of the Moon.

I mean, its never going to happen either way, but definitely feel free guys.

Anyway, I got an interesting pm concerning Harumi, so I thought I'd share the answer with you guys. I actually based his look on a character from kamisama kiss, Otohiko. It was just what came to mind when I started writing him, though it should be said that only Harumi's looks are based on him. They might seem similar but there's more of a caring quality to Harumi, despite his dramatics. He is an older brother, after all.

Thank you guys for the birthday wishes though! I was so happy I wrote this chapter right away!

Disclaimer: I own this fic, obviously. No Sailor Moon though… yet.

It took only took four hours for my hopes and dreams to crumble into dust.

When Mars had walked into class, I'd felt rightfully concerned over how she was going to add and change the dynamics of my inescapable entourage. After all, the girl had more fire and spirit than the lot of them combined, and with Naru's new rise in popularity there had already been problems with the other Scouts. Mars wasn't just strong willed either, she was beautiful, and like Venus she knew it. Naru certainly had issues with Venus on occasion, so adding someone like Mars to the mix could only mean trouble for everyone involved. It did not take long to find out what immediate consequences Mars would have on us, because the simple answer was this:

Naru and Mars got along like a house on fire.

It was the worst outcome I could have imagined, and ultimately the only thing that mattered because as I had stated time and time again, I couldn't seem to break free from Serenity's friends. I did not speak to Mars once during the four hours before lunch, I could do nothing but watch as she continued to charm Naru throughout the morning and slowly worm her way into the Queen Bee's clique. It was like watching a train wreck, where you knew what was coming but couldn't seem to tear your eyes away; I was both dumbfounded and aghast, and all I could do was watch it happen.

If I wasn't watching them, I was burning holes into Venus' head with my stare.

Let me be the first to tell you that it is not easy to glare accusingly at someone sitting behind you; it takes devotion but nevertheless, I persevered. With stiff shoulders, Venus gave it her best shot at ignoring me, but every now and then her gaze would flicker over to me and she'd flinch a bit; it was the only satisfaction I received the entire morning. When lunch rolled around, the girls moved their desks together as per usual and to my eternal resentment, I ended up with Mars on one side and Mercury on the other. Naru had insisted that, because I was in the middle, I could no longer leave my desk the way it was and now had to move it around to include everyone else.

I knew switching seats was going to be a mistake.

With our desks pushed together, we created something of a circle. To my left was Mars, and to her left, Venus; then it was Naru, Yumiko, Jupiter, and back around to Mercury. On any given day, I would prefer to sit next to Yumiko, who was the least stressful one here, but regrettably she was on the opposite side of our makeshift table. That left Mars and Mercury, neither of which I was keen to speak with in the first place. I glanced to my right at Mercury, only to see that she was engaging Jupiter in conversation.

Mercury had had her eyes on the girl all morning, so I took a moment of silence for Jupiter and the loss at any chance she might have had at a normal life because that was clearly a dead prospect at this point. I pointedly did not look in Mars' direction, though she was having a hushed conversation with Venus and probably wouldn't have noticed me anyway. The two of them were speaking in quiet, fast voices, almost as though they were bickering, and, well, you know how the saying goes.

Curiosity and cats.

I pretended to be digging in my bag as I listened in, catching only the tail end of Venus' sentence as she said, "… stupid, even for you. Didn't I say we had it under control?"

"So what?" Mars whispered harshly. "It's not fair, you two get to be here all the time, get to do your duty but I don't. There was no other way to insert myself into it, so I took things into my own hands. Why is that such a problem?"

"Because," Venus hissed. "You did it without any warning or anything. I'm in charge for a reason, you should have come to me first. How was I supposed to know you were upset otherwise?"

Mars huffed. "I deserve to serve and protect too. It's my right as much as it's yours."

The two of them quieted at this, and then Venus gave a resigned sigh. "Well, it's done with now. Just do me a favor and tell me next time, okay? And…" Her voice lowered even more, to the point where I was forced to strain to hear the next part. "Be careful, around her, alright? Naru is… very much attached to her, and she will get angry or upset if you go too far."

I fought against the natural reaction to still at her words, instead deciding to plop down my bag on the ground and act as though I hadn't heard them. Then Naru called for my attention and I looked up at the welcome distraction. "What are you doing Friday night?"

Maybe it wasn't that welcome after all. "Tutoring."

"Wrong answer." She said. "Look, I won't get into this tutoring thing with you today, okay? Minako-chan and I met some really cute high school boys yesterday, and they want to hang out with us on Friday so I really need you to come this time. You know, for moral support."

"Pass." I told her. She pursed her lips, miffed with me and I knew this wasn't something she was going to give up on for a while. It really wasn't my kind of thing though, and besides, why would I want to hang out with a bunch of strangers in an uncomfortable social situation when I could be working and making money? I considered it to be a logical decision, but Mars appeared to disagree, and she looked rather outraged at me.

"What kind of friend are you? She asked you for moral support." Her voice was filled with disbelief. "You don't get to pass just because you don't feel like it."

"That's funny," I replied sweetly. "Because I'm pretty sure I did just that."

"Well," Mars said. "If you ask me-"

"No one did." I interrupted her. "And I doubt they ever will."

"Has anyone ever mentioned how unpleasant you are as a person?" Mars sighed and shook her head at me. "It's a wonder you have any friends at all."

"It's called being a bitch." I gave her a sugary smile. "I excel at it, and if your poor, delicate personality can't stomach it, then maybe you should go running back to your last school."

Mercury pulled herself from conversing with Jupiter long enough to intervene. "Come on, you too. Let's not fight."

Jupiter looked between us nervously, nodding in agreement. She faced Mars and addressed her. "I'm sure Usagi-chan has her reasons for not wanting to go, so it isn't fair of you to make assumptions without even asking. Right, Usagi-chan?"

"No, she's right." Jupiter deflated a bit at my confirmation, and I continued. "I could go if I wanted to, it's just that I'd really, really rather not."

Naru pouted. "Some best friend you are."

I shrugged, sipping on a bottle of water and she went at me at a different angle. "What's the harm in taking one night off? It's not going to make any difference in the long run, and anyway I study with Ami-chan all the time; there's no way your tutor is better than her. Just take the one night off, okay? I'll even talk to your mother about it."

I choked.

After a violent coughing fit where Mercury gave my back a few firm pats, I managed to respond, "That's not the point Naru. Look, if you really need me there, then fine; I'll skip this one time but that's it, got it?"

She squealed happily, and my Friday night fate was sealed.

What else was I supposed to do though? Let her speak Ikuko? I didn't actually have a tutoring lesson, so what would the two of them do when Naru popped around unexpectedly and started asking to let me skip a lesson I wasn't even enrolled in? It was just problem after problem for me, wasn't it? Lying had made a mess of things, and I needed to remedy the situation somehow because now that the idea had come to her, sooner or later Naru was going to decide she would benefit from a talk with Ikuko. Spilling the truth to her was not an option, and in fact any truth sounded like a bad idea.

Lying had got me into this mess, and it was going to get me out of it.

I spent the rest of the day tuning out class and watching Mars get buddy buddy with Naru. She shared some of her lunch with her and listened to Naru's gossip as though it was the most fascinating thing she'd ever heard. I counted down the minutes until the bell finally rang, going over my next course of action. Having been bumped to the next class, I had aikido today; the class began an hour after school, and it wasn't too far down the street from here.

But first, I had to make a pit stop at the Tsukino residence.

It was in the opposite direction of the dojo, so I would have to be quick about this. When the bell of freedom rang, I gathered my things from my locker, slammed it shut and began a fast paced walk out the door. Just as I cleared the school gates I spotted someone lingering near them, in a different school uniform. I paused for only a second, and, after doing a double take my feet made a sharp turn in that direction. I approached the person and hissed. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Matsuo cringed slightly. "I was waiting for you, actually."

How convenient. "Oh, is that so? No other intentions concerning my schoolmates then?"

"That's right." He put on a brave face. "It just so happens that I had something to tell you, and before this conversation takes an unpleasant turn I'd just like to point out that it's hardly my fault Makoto-chan also attends this very school."

I eyed him, debating the likelihood of his words.

It was entirely possible that he did come here for me, sure, but he could have waited a little ways back or even over at the dojo instead of here. Upon further examination, I noticed that his uniform was less wrinkled than usual, and that his wild hair appeared a little more tamed, as though someone had attempted to brush it. Under his wary gaze I stepped closer and sniffed. "Are you wearing cologne?"

He flushed and shooed me back. "Don't be silly." Matsuo sputtered. He began to say more, but something appeared to catch his attention and his gaze settled over my shoulder, expression turning softer. I peered over my shoulder, looking for the cause and spotted Jupiter exiting out of the school, accompanied by Mercury. I cursed my luck and looked back to my mooning friend, snapping my fingers in his face.

"Oi, pay attention." Once he finally focused on me, I told him sternly, "Look, I have to go do something real quick, and I don't have time to babysit. If you're going to go talk to her anyway, get Makoto alone and swear her to silence on the fight yesterday. Don't tell her anything about the dojo or work, just say that I'd get in a lot of trouble for fighting like that so no one can know okay? Did you get all of that?"

"Talk to her alone, right." He echoed.

"And swear her to silence. That's the important part."

"Uh-huh."

I was leaving my fate in the hands of an idiot.

There was nothing for it though, I was losing time before my lesson began. Hopefully, Matsuo wouldn't blank and ruin everything when faced with Jupiter, otherwise I would actually be forced to murder him. With a frustrated noise, I turned my back on him and began a half jog away from the school. Just as I was turning the corner, I thought I could hear the faint sound of Matsuo calling my name but it had been far off and I couldn't waste another minute climbing back up the hill to the school entrance.

Whatever he wanted to say would just have to wait.

You would think that, with all the hurrying I seemed to do lately, I would find time to actually work on my stamina.

I arrived at the Tsukino residence out of breath and full of self-loathing; that was it, I was going to start running in the mornings because this was getting out of hand. I paused at the door long enough to organize my thoughts and the preplanned words before opening it and calling out my return. Ikuko's head appeared from the kitchen as she gave me a surprised but genuine welcome back.

"You're never back this early, Usagi-chan." She stated. "What's the occasion?"

"Right, I'm going to head back out but first I needed to ask you something." Her expression was amused as I took a deep breath and spoke the words at once. "If Naru or anyone from school ever comes over and asks you about tutoring, can you please play along and tell them you signed me up for it?"

"Of course, darling." Ikuko leaned against the doorway, and her voice went from agreeable to knowing. "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with a boy, would it?"

Well, technically, Matsuo was a boy and he sort of counted. "Yes, it does. I'm in a bit of a rush though, so I don't really have time to talk about it."

With a teasing glimmer in her eye and a nostalgic sigh, Ikuko rest a palm to her cheek. "It's okay, I won't press you about it… yet. I remember what it was like, falling in love with my first boyfriend." Cue sigh. "Ah well, just make sure to bring him around if things get serious, your father and I will want to meet him at some point. We could even do dinner; that would be nice…"

Yes, of course, when hell freezes over.

"Er, well, I'm going to go then. Be back later, bye!" I scuttled out the door again, my feelings of relief warring with vague alarm at the thought of bringing any sort of boy to the Tsukino residence. With the errand done, I booked it back down the street, towards the dojo. Excitement built in me as I drew closer to my destination, and I couldn't help but think that right now I was really starting to make some progress. I had a steady flow of cash from work, was on my way to getting more experience in self-defense, and finally it felt as though I could make a clearer outcome of the future and delve into the finer details of my plans.

Sure, the whole Mars thing was a bit of a downer, but after some thought I had to admit that it didn't matter all that much in the long run. My time in school would be coming to an end, it was September and by February I was confident I would have the necessary funds to begin my life away from Tokyo. I only needed to deal with the Scouts for five or six more months, and in that time I simply had to up my drifting away game. By the time I disappeared, Naru and I would be so distant that it would take days for anyone troublesome, like the Sailor Scouts, to take notice.

I just had to play my cards right.

There was a bounce to my step as I made my way to the right street. When the dojo came into sight, I quickened my pace; I was too busy putting my weight into the door to notice how the lights were off. It was only when the door remained shut that I took a step back and caught sight of the closed sign. I blinked, eyeing it for a few moments, but the sign didn't go away.

Huh.

After peering into the window and finding zero signs of life, I lingered outside the doorway. The dojo was closed, and as my mood soured I found myself at a loss; this was supposed to be my first class, and Hajime-sensei had closed for the day without letting me know in advance, probably just to spite me. The free time on my hands was… not a welcome feeling, so instead of wasting the time away I decided to head to work early.

That was where I found Hajime-sensei.

Surreal did not even begin to cover the scene I walked into. Hajime-sensei sat in one of the chairs in Harumi's office, a pink beverage sporting a tiny umbrella in hand as he listened to his brother's chatter. Harumi, fabulous as ever, sat behind the big wooden desk, feet on top of it and leaning back in his chair as he gestured dramatically. "Honestly, you'd think she'd been working all her life, with the way she acts. An unbelievable work ethic, and an even more unbelievable drive. Meanwhile I can't even get Rika to show up for all her shifts, and god, don't even get me started on fittings. It's like pulling teeth, why I even keep her on to begin with I don't even know."

"Bad talking employees, huh?" I waggled a finger in his direction. "That's no way to live, Harumi."

"Usagi-chan!" Harumi cooed, perking right up. "Baby doll, don't go picking up bad habits; eavesdropping on others is how you get into sticky situations."

"Don't I know it." My life was pretty much a never ending series of sticky situations though. Harumi got up from his chair and danced over to me, and I couldn't help the grin that formed as he wrapped an arm around my waist, palm settling at the small of my back. He grabbed one of my hands, pulled me closer, and made a show of sighing wearily.

"You're the only one I can count on, Usagi-chan." Harumi began. "This eavesdropping business, you must have gotten it from Hajime; he was always a pest when we were children you know."

"I'm right here, Haru-nii." Hajime-sensei deadpanned.

"Hush now little brother, Haru-sama is speaking." Harumi told him before turning back to me. "Do you see what I have to deal with? Usagi-chan, the greatest travesty in this world is how many years apart we are; were you a little older, I'd have married you by now. In fact, when you reach legal age I still might."

"I thought the greatest travesty in this world was pleather?"

"That too." He agreed, to my amusement. Harumi released my hand in order to capture my chin in his grasp and look lovingly into my eyes. I indulged him, far too amused with his dramatics to stop him or the lover's embrace. He batted his lashes at me playfully, and took on a sorrowful tone. "Alas, our love simply isn't to be. For someone like myself to court a young lady in my employment would be forbidden. Do forgive me, my love."

I struggled to put on a serious expression. "Ah, the bittersweet sting of rejection. I understand completely."

A new voice jumped in, surprising me. "I don't even want to know."

As one, Harumi and I turned our heads to the doorway, cheeks brushing, where Matsuo stood looking for the world like he really wished he hadn't walked in at this moment. Still embraced by Harumi, I narrowed my gaze at Matsuo and said, "I sincerely hope you've come here bearing good news. Did you do as I asked?"

He threw a question back my way instead of answering. "Are you two going to stay like that or..?"

"Yes." I wrapped my arms around Harumi's neck and his free hand went down to my waist, happy to play along. "Why, are we making you uncomfortable?"

"Intensely uncomfortable."

"That's too bad. Now tell me what happened before I make you really uncomfortable."

Matsuo scrunched his nose. "I asked Makoto-chan to keep quiet, and she promised she would, okay? And if you had just waited, you would have known the dojo is closed today."

So that's what he had wanted to tell me.

I patted Harumi's cheek and stepped away, his arms falling back to his side. He gave me an approving look and teasingly stated, "Wounded by a vixen. Anyway, no more of this loitering around; Hajime, to the kitchen. I need to get these two into costume, so let's get moving people."

Matsuo and I were then herded into the dressing room for a torturous amount of time before Harumi deemed us worthy of stepping out onto the floor. The café's theme of the month was the Roaring Twenties, though oddly enough it was a westernized version; very american, all prohibition and great depression. When I had asked Harumi about it, he had simply shrugged and mentioned his love of old American movies, the kind with gangsters and secret bars and flapper girls.

Sometimes, it was better to just go along and not ask.

We had another week and a half before the theme ended, though I had to say this wasn't nearly as bad as the last had been. Since I had started my shift earlier than usual, it was over at around seven thirty; Harumi nearly dragged me off the floor in my reluctance to finish up and it had to be said that I did not do well with too much free time. It left me with too many moments to think over the tragedy that was my life, and all the ways it could go wrong for me. Matsuo would still be on the floor for a while, so I busied myself with little tasks around the café, too daunted by the prospect of idleness.

I killed a fair amount of time organizing and cleaning up the back while carefully avoiding Harumi. At the moment he had his office door shut, dealing with a supplier over the phone. I tied up a full garbage bag and ducked under the office window on my way out the back door. I was just tossing the bag into a dumpster in the alleyway when I spotted Hajime-sensei. He was easy to see once the door closed, leaning under one of the alleyway's lights. There were a few cigarette buds near his feet, and he was stashing something in his pocket when I turned from the dumpster. He gave me the side eye as I walked back over to the door, and I ignored it, setting my hand on the knob.

But I couldn't bring myself to turn it.

Hajime-sensei was silent, and when my hand fell away to my side and I turned my head to meet his gaze, I saw that he was still watching me, this time with arms folded. Suddenly the words were falling off my tongue without my permission. "Why did you move me classes if you didn't want to?"

His expression remained neutral as he blinked and tilted his head to watch the sky. For a moment he said nothing, and I wondered what it was he had been doing out here before I'd interrupted him. Just when I thought I wasn't going to get an answer, Hajime-sensei spoke. "That class was holding you back."

"How could you know that? I mean, it's not like you ever let me spar." A bit of frustration bled into my tone, and maybe even a teensy bit of accusation. Hajime-sensei didn't seem to have anything to say to that, so I added, "If you're the one holding me back, don't go putting the blame on the class. We both know you didn't want me in a more advanced class, so why don't you just say it already?"

"I did not like putting you in a more advanced class." He said it easily, which only served to irritate me, because really, I had asked. I opened my mouth to snap a retort when he beat me to the punch. "I don't think you're ready or deserving of it. Your understanding of the principles is minimal, your appreciation for it lacking, and you seem to have no respect for the art at all."

"Then why move me?" I snapped.

"Because your presence is hindering my other students." Hajime-sensei stated bluntly. "You do more harm than good in that class, and when the students look at you, they see someone they can't beat. They see a girl that thinks she can play by her own rules and has proved herself better than those that dedicate themselves to following the way of aikido."

Something in me grew cold as his words echoed in my head.

As hard as I tried, I could not keep a blank face and my expression hardened, voice quietly seething as I replied. "Don't talk like you know me, do not think for even a moment that you have any idea about me. It must be unimaginably easy for a man like you to preach about love and forgiveness and peace; who would ever be stupid enough to pick a fight with you?

"This may come as a surprise to you, Hajime-sensei, but that sense of security you get to live with isn't something we can all achieve. It's a nice concept, wanting to teach a peaceful, nonresistant way of life where love conquers all, but only in theory. Maybe I don't have the right amount of respect for aikido, but has it ever occurred to you once, just once that maybe there was a reason? That maybe, unlike the rest of you people I don't have the privilege of hesitating, or pulling my punches, or taking it easy?"

Hajime-sensei had turned his gaze from the sky, and I could see that I certainly held his full attention now. He didn't make to speak though, which was good because I was far too angry and not nearly finished. "Not everyone gets to choose the path of nonresistance, forgiveness, and love. The world is a cruel place; sometimes, it makes the choice for us, and no amount of guidance or love can save you from it. I am doing everything I can to make it though this life, and whether anyone understands or not doesn't matter, because it's do or die for me either way. So if you can't swallow that, if you continue to have a problem with me, then I will find a different teacher."

Hajime-sensei watched me intently, and it was possible he might have had something to say in response, but in that moment my anger dimmed, leaving me cold and tired. I decided then that I was done, I didn't care what he had to say, because he could never understand, could never comprehend the fear I felt or the danger I was in.

I walked back into the building, changed, and left through the front door.

There was nothing left to say, because I was no longer his problem.

I didn't go to Naru's group outing on Friday.

I spent the rest of the week drifting through school and work, unable to shake the cloud over my head. Hajime-sensei… he had touched a nerve, and since then I hadn't returned to the dojo, had no intention to. My time there had come to an end it seemed, and over the next few days I tried to work my way through this bump in the road. I needed a new teacher, a new place to learn and practice my self-defense, and that alone was going to be a pain to do. It was clear to me now that I couldn't return to aikido, no matter how I felt about it, because eventually I'd just run into the same problem.

This meant that the progress I'd been making, the months of commitment, had been for nothing.

Now I had to learn an entirely different form of martial arts, which pushed back my schedule and all but fucked it completely. I would have been ready by February, would have had enough money and an adequate chance of making my way in the world without having to worry about being abducted into sex slavery or getting assaulted and robbed. I could take care of myself relatively well at the moment, but here I had a safety net; the police weren't looking for me, I was near people I could trust, and most importantly, I had time to better my odds.

When I left, I would be entirely on my own so I had to be enough to protect myself.

God knew no one else was going to.

During Saturday and Sunday, when I wasn't working, I was researching other forms of martial arts and what dojos were in the area. I visited a few, talked to the owners, but nothing really stood out to me and my investigation proved fruitless. Then again, I hadn't exactly given my full focus or absolute effort into looking either; part of me just couldn't seem to find the energy, too caught up in the shitty week I'd had. It felt like every time I found something to look forward to, the universe decided to rip that miniscule contentment from me and then kick me while I was down.

I find a form of marital art that I like, and Naru goes into a coma. I get a good job, and the Sailor Scouts move into my class. Naru wakes up, and two more of them appear. I make progress in aikido, things start looking up just the teensiest bit, and then aikido is taken from me as well; I missed the days where avoiding Mamoru was my biggest problem. It bothered me that Hajime-sensei had been able to get under my skin so easily, and that even five days later I hadn't managed to shake it. I had known from the start that no one would ever understand why I was the way I was, and that I would never be able to explain it to them.

So why hadn't I gotten over it yet?

That was the question that plagued me as I made my way to school on Monday morning. I was in a daze of my own circling thoughts, so unaware of reality that I didn't even notice when Jupiter appeared and began walking alongside me to class. It was only when she set a palm to my shoulder that I realized there was someone next to me and reacted accordingly; jumping about a foot in the air and letting out a squeak.

Jupiter let go and put her arms up as though to show her harmless intentions. With an apologetic expression, she said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

I scrutinized her for a moment. "How long have you been there?"

"Er, about five minutes?" Seven inches on me and I hadn't noticed the girl at all. I wasn't sure whether to be astounded, impressed, or alarmed, so I settled for a combination of the three. I resisted a sigh and began walking again, now with an unwanted guest at my side. From the corner of my eye I caught Jupiter fidgeting a bit with her school bag. Neither of us spoke for a minute and I was more than happy to continue with the silence. Unfortunately for me, Jupiter had other plans. "So, Usagi-chan, how was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?"

"Not really, no."

"Ah, that's a shame." Jupiter leaned forward slightly, peering closer to catch my eye. "You know, we all had a lot of fun on Friday, but I bet it would have been even better if you'd been there too. You should come next time." I shrugged in response, wanting to drop the conversation entirely and yet Jupiter continued. "Oh! I almost forgot to tell you, I ran into Matsuo-kun yesterday."

I stumbled, and Jupiter caught me by the arm before I could face plant onto the ground. When she let go, we kept moving and now she had my undivided attention. "You ran into him yesterday?"

"Yeah," Her voice took on a dreamy quality, and a faint blush rose to her cheeks. "it was in the morning, and we ended up going for breakfast together. He's really sweet, you know? Nothing at all like my last boyfriend, which is funny actually; see most boys usually remind me of him, but somehow Matsuo-kun just doesn't."

My god, she could go on and on, couldn't she? "Is there a point to this conversation?"

"Hm? Oh, right. Anyway, we ran into each other and decided to get something to eat, and we sort of just got talking." Jupiter smiled, but it was brief and grew smaller and smaller as she went on. "Actually, well, we got on the subject of you at some point."

I nearly paused at this, but forced myself to keep walking. It had been an emotional week, and the thought of Matsuo talking to Jupiter of all people about me brought on a wave of emotions I could not deal with at the moment. I shoved them down and gestured for her to continue.

"It's just that Matsuo-kun is very worried about you." Jupiter wrung her hands together. "We both are, really, and I know that sometimes people don't want to talk about the things that are bothering them; but if you do want to talk, and it isn't something you want to do with a boy, then I wouldn't mind listening. Like you said before, us girls have to stick together, right?"

That rendered me speechless, and this time I did pause.

It was… unexpectedly kind of her, to offer that to me. The slight sense of betrayal at Matsuo withered at the fact that he had been concerned enough to talk to Jupiter, even if I didn't like it. I was still upset with him to be sure, but it was just so him. I hadn't talked to Matsuo about it, and while he had known something was wrong, he hadn't pressed me on it. Instead, he'd stuck by my side, making conversation and doing silly things to get me to laugh and for that I was grateful. He really was too much sometimes, and somehow I found myself both glad and unbearably sad to have had met him.

I opened my mouth to say something when another voce rang out. "Usagi-chan!"

Together, Jupiter and I turned, catching sight of Naru not too far behind us. She grinned and waved happily, and I returned the greeting only half-heartedly, too focused on the girls at either side of her. We waited for the three of them to catch up with us, and had I not been watching I would have missed it. Ten feet away, Venus and Mars gave Jupiter a look, one that was far too full of acknowledgement for a girl they hardly knew. I flicked my gaze over to her fast enough to see her return it, and that was when everything clicked.

Jupiter had been awakened.

I didn't get time to process this information before Naru was prancing to my right, linking arms with me, and pulling us forward. The Sailor Scouts followed, only slightly behind, and it sent a chill up my spine, having to walk with my back to the three of them. But then Naru began chatting at the speed of light, and I was forced to split my attention. I nodded along as she recounted her Friday night, telling me how much I missed and that I'd better be there next time. More students appeared on the path the closer we grew to the school. When the gates finally came into sight, I was relieved; I just wanted this walk to be over.

Naru was still speaking and just as we passed through the gates, something peculiar happened.

I began to feel light headed, my heartrate increased, and my legs started feeling heavy as lead. Suddenly, it was like I couldn't get quite enough air in my lungs, and Naru gave me a look as I began to sway. I didn't remember falling, but between one blink and the next I went from walking to being on my knees. My heart began to hurt, and I pressed my hands against it in an attempt to ease the pain though it did no good. Naru was calling my name, her hand on my arm, and I sensed people surrounding us but it was all dull in comparison to the pain.

One of the administrators was crouched down beside me, saying words I couldn't make out. He said something to someone else, Naru was pulled away and just as quickly as the pain came it was gone. I blinked furiously, out of sorts and tried to get my heartrate back to normal. The air returned to me slowly, and still gasping for breath, I glanced up at the crowd that had formed. When I met Naru's alarmed gaze, my stomach turned and I had to look away. A headache formed at the base of my skull as the administrator helped me up and began guiding me into the school building.

I shivered at the thought of Naru's touch.

I slept the school day away in the nurse's office.

After begging for the nurse to not call the Tsukino residence, she settled on writing a letter about the affair; a letter that they would never receive if I had anything to say about it. I had convinced the nurse that my… incident had been nothing more than a simple fainting spell, brought on from lack of food and sleep. I told her I'd just been under stress to do better in school, and that I'd clearly overworked myself. Still, rules were rules, and she was bound by law to inform my guardians of the matter.

I'd only ever say this once, but thank god for 1992 and its lack of modern technology.

It took hours for the tremor in my hands to cease, and for me to regain my strength but by the end of the school day I was more or less back to normal save for the headache. Serenity's friends visited during lunch with the sailor scouts tagging along, but they weren't able to interrogate me with the nurse present and eventually they were shooed away so that I could get some more rest in. Jupiter had a look about her that I did not like one bit, but when she left the thought went with her.

For the first time in forever, I slept like a baby.

I woke about fifteen minutes before the last bell, gathered my things, and made a beeline for the exit when the bell rang. I was in no mood to deal with anyone at the moment, all I wanted was to get out of here, do some thinking and go to work. Regrettably, it seems that I really should have been worried over Jupiter, because when I slipped out of the school, she was waiting for me at the gate, and what was worse, she wasn't alone. Matsuo stood at the gate, arms crossed and expression tight, and under his withering gaze I lumbered over to them.

"I'll see you around." Jupiter said, leaving the two of us.

"Let's walk." Matsuo wasn't asking. He stepped away from the school and I followed obediently. He led us down the street in silence, hands in his pockets, and not once did he look my way. It made me understandably nervous, because anger was not something that came easily to Matsuo, and I certainly wasn't eager to be on the receiving end of his wrath. We walked for a good while, neither speaking and it only served to raise my stress levels; I couldn't believe that Jupiter had gone and told him what had happened this morning.

How had she even known where to find him?

I mulled over it as Matsuo brought us into an empty park. We went further in, towards the other side and kept going until he finally stopped, pointed to a bench and ordered for me to sit.

I sat.

Then I watched as he paced back and forth, perhaps trying to gather his thoughts into a solid argument. During one of his turns Matsuo made the mistake of meeting my gaze; he paused, pressed his lips together, sighed, and then sat down on the bench next to me. After running a hand through his hair, he looked at me and said, "I need you to be honest with me, Usagi-chan."

There was something despairing about his eyes as Matsuo stared at me, and when I nodded it was in genuine agreement. I'd tell him anything he wanted to know if it would take that look out of his gaze, anything to put that cheerful disposition back where it belonged. That was the problem with Matsuo, he was rarely so serious, and rarely ever asked anything of me so when he did, I was never able to resist him.

Matsuo swallowed. "Do you feel safe and welcomed at home?"

The question caught me off guard, and my brows furrowed in confusion. It wasn't where I had expected the conversation to go, but I'd promised to be honest and answer him so after giving the question some thought, that's what I did. "No."

I never really felt safe or welcomed anywhere except at the Fabler and the dojo, though I supposed I couldn't really count the dojo anymore. Matsuo's expression shifted ever so slightly, but before I could make sense of it he was back in control. He pressed forward onto the next question. "Do your parents know about your aikido lessons or your job?"

"No."

"Does anyone at your school know?"

"I don't feel safe at school." The words came out before I had the chance to register them. Matsuo was beginning to look rather grim, but it was the truth. I did not feel safe anywhere near the Sailor Scouts, in fact I felt more and more agitated as they continued to take over my territory. Maybe I didn't like the school all that much, but that didn't mean I was willing to give it up to anyone else either.

"Usagi-chan…" Matsuo shifted forward, leaning his elbows on his knees. I could feel a pit forming in my stomach, somehow knowing that from his expression, I probably didn't want to hear what he said next. The choice was not up to me though, and even if I wanted to, I didn't think I could stand up right now and leave; I couldn't walk away, not from him. I stared blankly as Matsuo said what was on his mind. "Usagi-chan, are you planning on leaving town at any point?"

He was too smart for his own good.

As we looked at one another the words got caught in my throat. I choked, unable to get anything out and in the end it hardly matter because my silence was telling enough. There were no excuses, no circumventing the truth here, and that was okay; I had no intention of lying to him. Matsuo was my best friend, and I didn't want to leave him when I went. The thought of our inevitable goodbye, of leaving and never seeing him again, never laughing with him again, was too painful, and more than anything I…

I didn't want to be alone.

Finally, I knew what I wanted to say; when I left, I wanted him to come with me. It was selfish, so unbelievably selfish of me, but I wanted it. Even if it meant he left everything behind, and got into trouble with me, I wanted him to come, and I'd wait; I would wait for him to finish high school, because in the grand scheme of things what did a few more months matter if it meant he could still have a career? We could go as far away from Tokyo as possible, he could go to college and we could start a new life.

With the police so busy, they wouldn't have time to track down a runaway girl. They wouldn't have the resources to come after me, and hardly anyone even knew of my connection to Matsuo, let alone who he even was. If I left a note to the Tsukinos, assured them that I was leaving of my own free will to follow my dreams or whatever, would they even press the police to hunt me down? They would be worried, but they'd have no leads, no idea where to even start looking and it wasn't likely that the police would have their hands free any time soon to be of much help.

We could get away with it.

I moved to tell him this, to ask him to come with me but Matsuo spoke, beating me to the punch.

"Don't go." He blurted out. "Don't leave. I know things are difficult for you right now, and that running seems like the only option but it isn't. My home life wasn't all that great either, you know that. I have an apartment all to myself, and I pay for it by myself so you could come live with me, okay? Just… don't go. Don't walk away someday and not come back, because I'll never forgive you, and I'll… I'll go date every girl at your school in retaliation. So don't do that to me, alright?"

There were tears in my eyes, and I pushed them back as I nodded.

"Promise me." He demanded.

"I promise." I answered, and then huffed a laugh. "But I will strangle you if you get any closer to my schoolmates."

Matsuo sniffled and leaned back into the bench. "Makoto-chan is really cute though."

The two of us laughed, and I leaned my head in his shoulder. "High school girls are cute, go date one of them."

He hummed in reply, but dropped the subject.

We sat in silence for a while, both lost in our own thoughts. It wasn't a perfect solution by any means, and I didn't have all the answers as to how we would make this work but that was fine; we'd figure it out along the way. No matter what, I didn't plan on staying in Tokyo, but Matsuo didn't need to hear that right away. The only difference was that now I was determined to take him with me, and I could do it, too; all I needed to do was convince him of the danger in this city, and it wasn't as though that would be a difficult argument to prove with all the attacks going on.

One thing at a time though.

First I had to figure out a way to permanently vacate the Tsukino Residence without causing any serious damage. It was going to be an issue, so I'd have to work on that for now because I didn't have an answer yet. After that, I would focus my efforts on getting the two of us far away from here. I sighed up at the darkening sky, staring up at it until something occurred to me.

"Shit." I jumped to my feet and turned to Matsuo. "We're so late for work, Harumi is going to kill us dead. What are you sitting there for? Let's go!"

"Wait wait wait." Matsuo replied, pulling me back onto the bench. "We aren't going to work today, I already spoke with Harumi about it."

"What do you mean we aren't going? I have money to make and a reputation to keep, you simple-minded boy. Of course we're going to work."

Matsuo gave me a smug look. "Harumi knows you fainted at school, Usagi-chan. I wouldn't be so eager to see him if I were you."

I stilled. "You traitor."

Harumi was going to chew me out next time he laid eyes on me. Matsuo stood and shrugged carelessly, dodging the kick I sent his way. He stretched, gathered our bags, and waited for me. I scrunched my nose but got up all the same, and we began the walk back. I was wondering whether he expected me to go back to the Tsukino residence tonight when a chill went through me. I froze, breath caught in my throat and Matsuo turned to me in question. I put a hand up to stop him and tilted my head, listening.

The park we were in was full of greenery; trees, bushes, grass, the whole nine yards. That meant wildlife, birds and crickets and other animals that should have been going about their usual routines.

It was dead silent.

"We have to go. Now." I grabbed Matsuo by the wrist and started walking quickly onto the path that had brought us here.

He was in the middle of asking me what was wrong when a loud crack sounded. It was the kind that vibrated through the ground, and as one we could do nothing but turn toward the sound. But then it was coming from the opposite direct, another booming crack, and as Matsuo whipped his head in that direction, I saw it. One of the large trees adorning the side of the path moved; behind it I thought I saw glowing eyes, but then I could no longer focus on them, because with a groan the tree started falling.

The tree was falling, and we were in it's path.

It was instinctual, the way I reached out to Matsuo.

Only he was already shoving us away, and we landed in a heap as the tree landed to our left, and another one crashed on top of it. Another crack sounded, then two more, and we were scrambling away, fast but not fast enough as trees began to go down again and again. Another crack, and this time I saw the trunk coming down on us, huge and at a pace we wouldn't have the time to match. Matsuo was too far to reach at this point, because we'd been running for our lives and with the trees coming down we had scattered, narrowly avoiding branches. But we couldn't avoid this one, not as we were. I turned to him as it came down on us, but suddenly all I could see was black.

I felt the vibration of the tree coming down.

Only it never made contact with me.

Black turned to blue as I came to my senses and realized I was on my back now, on the ground and not crushed to death by a tree. Breathless, I took in familiar cobalt blue eyes staring back at me behind a mask. Mamoru hovered over me, arms around my waist and gaze probing. My eyes went down to the tuxedo he wore, and he set a palm to my cheek, pulling my attention back to his face and said urgently, "Are you hurt?"

I shook my head no.

Then, with dread I found myself turning back to the pile of trees that had fallen.

Blood began pooling out from the last one.

Matsuo was still under it.

A/N

I'm so unfair leaving it there, I know.

Next chapter will be out within the week though, never fear.

So people keep asking why Usagi doesn't just switch schools, and I'm going to do myself a favor and answer here, because I get this question in my PM box or in a review at least once a day and it's impossible to get back to everyone that asks.

Why doesn't Usagi switch schools?

Well, why would she? She plans on skipping town in a handful of months, so if she doesn't intend to stay then what's the point? She'd have to research schools, talk to the Tsukino family about it, and get their approval first before anything else. That's a lot of work for a place she'd only attend for maybe a semester. The school, dojo, and work are all within reasonable walking distance for her, where as another school would cut her free time in half and force her to commute. Commuting means less time with Matsuo, less time to spar, and less time to work.

She'd also have to come up with an adequate reason for switching schools in the middle of the semester, which would mean Ikuko would end up getting involved, possibly go to Juuban municipal junior high, and Usagi would have had caused all this potential trouble without assurance that it would even work. Ikuko could say no, or cause a fuss, but even if everything went without a single hitch, Usagi would still want to leave the city and as fast as possible, so why put herself through the chaos?

She doesn't see it as a logical option.

So there is our answer. Keep an eye out for the next chapter guys!

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