Chapter 24
The girls were all quizzing each other when Mamoru heard the sound of a certain stomach rumble. He hadn't realized how long they had been studying/talking/gossiping until that moment. He looked to Usagi, and saw that she looked a little pale. Before he could suggest they go eat, ChibiUsa spoke up.
"Are you hungry Usagi?" ChibiUsa asked.
"A little." Usagi answered.
"We better go eat then." ChibiUsa stated.
"Just another half hour. Usagi can wait a little longer." Rei said, not looking up from her book.
"No she can't. Breakfast was hours ago, and we only had a small lunch. Usagi needs to eat something." ChibiUsa said sounding a little annoyed.
"I'm sure she'll be…." Rei trailed off, looking at Usagi. "Shoot. You're right ChibiUsa. I'm sorry. Let's all go to the Fruit Parlor. We can finish this later."
"Or we can keep studying there." Ami stated.
"Ami. We've been at this for hours. If I'm not much better now, I never will be." Minako whined.
"You don't know that. Every little bit helps." Ami said.
"Hmph."
"Mina, why don't you try my way of studying? It might work for you, like it does me." Usagi suggested.
"But I don't like to study in any way." Minako whined again.
Mamoru saw Ami and Rei roll their eyes, and he chuckled. He and Ami had already tried audio and visual with Minako, and knew what the issue was. Minako really just did not like to study. Oh she passed all of her classes, just fine, but it was a fight every step of the way. Before any more could be said, he heard Usagi's stomach growl again.
"That's it. We're going to eat. Now!" ChibiUsa said firmly, as she jumped up, grabbed Usagi's stuff, and started stuffing it into her bag.
He noticed that ChibiUsa stopped, and just stared at the bag. It was then that he realized it was the messenger bag she had gotten for Usagi at the zoo, and it looked a little shiny. He also noticed there was a large pin attached to the strap that had ChibiUsa's face on it.
"You use it?" ChibiUsa asked, softly.
"Huh? Oh yeah. Everyday. It's my favorite bag. Plus it has all of these great pockets to keep all of my stuff organized." Usagi responded with a smile.
"Why is it shiny?" ChibiUsa asked.
"Oh. I took it to the fabric store to have a special protectant put on it so that it wouldn't get messed up. I made the pin while I waited." Usagi answered.
"Wow." ChibiUsa said then smiled.
"What's so important about the bag?" Makoto asked curiously.
"ChibiUsa got it for me at the zoo last week. She even had them put a special message on it. See." Usagi answered proudly, and showed the girls the bag.
"That's really sweet ChibiUsa." Minako said.
"It's the perfect gift." Makoto said.
"It's very useful. Especially for a student." Ami added.
"The bunny heads are so Usagi too." Rei said with a giggle.
ChibiUsa just blushed, and suddenly looked very shy. As they all packed up, Usagi told them all about their trip to the zoo. The girls all got a good laugh at Mamoru's expense over him trying to get his chin away from the bunny.
"What? I didn't want to get bitten." Mamoru protested.
"Aww. Big, strong Mamoru afraid of a little bunny." Makoto joked with a chuckle. All of the girls laughed.
"Of course I didn't want to get bitten! Have you seen their teeth? They're huge!" Mamoru stated then laughed at himself.
"Papa doesn't like bunnies either. Some times mama will bring one in from the garden, and put on his chair, at the dinner table. Just see him back away from it." ChibiUsa said with a gigle. All of the girls laughed, while Mamoru just hung his head.
The group was walking towards the Fruit Parlor, ChibiUsa was between Mamoru, and Usagi, holding both of their hands. The girls were walking behind the trio, when Usagi suddenly spoke up.
"Wait. ChibiUsa, did you say your papa STILL had that ugly green jacket?" Usagi asked.
"Yup. Mama, and all the senshi call it that too. He only wears it when mama is irritating him though. She tried to donate it once, but papa found it before all of the boxes , and bags were picked up. Papa wore it for a week, whenever they didn't have duties, just to irritate mama. As I said. They're weird." ChibiUsa answered with a giggle.
"Why didn't she try to donate it again later?" Makoto asked.
"Because he threatened to donate the stuffed bear she got from her papa as a baby." ChibiUsa answered.
"That'll do it." Rei said with a snicker.
"Reeeei! Do they donate stuff often?" Usagi asked.
"Yes. Twice a year all of closets in the whole palace are gone through. Everyone is required to donate one large bag and one large box of clothes, shoes, toys, and books. Nothing broken, ripped, stained, or faded. All of the kids clothes, toys, shoes, and books go to the boys and girls orphanages. All of the adults stuff go to shelters, schools, and libraries." ChibiUsa answered.
"Wait. Kids? As in plural?" Minako asked.
"Well yeah. You didn't think I was the only kid living in the palace did you? All of the people who work at the palace have to option to live there with their families. Mama and papa didn't think it was fair for them to work in such a nice place, but not be able to live there with their families." ChibiUsa answered.
"Do the senshi have families?" Rei asked.
"You know I can't answer that, Rei." ChibiUsa said.
"Why didn't we see any kids or people when we were there?" Minako questioned.
"Because everyone was sleeping, remember?" ChibiUsa asked.
"Oh. Right." Minako said with a giggle.
"Can I ask something?" ChibiUsa asked.
"Of course." Mamoru answered.
"Did the senshi have boyfriends on the moon?"
"Yeah. We had soulmates. One of us was even married." Minako answered quietly.
"Two of us." Makoto added.
"Two?" Rei asked.
"Yeah. We had to keep it quiet because of the King of Jupiter. He refused to see his daughter married. We got married in secret on the moon. The only people who knew were me, him, the priestess who married us, and Queen Serenity." Makoto said.
"None of the Mars priestesses ever said anything." Rei said.
"It wasn't a Mars priestess. It was the Queen's personal priestess." Makoto said.
"Who were they?" ChibiUsa asked.
"They were the Prince of the Earth's personal guards, and best friends. He grew up with them" Mamoru answered.
"Each of the senshi ended up falling in love with each of the guards." Minako added.
"Kind of hard not to when the Princess or Prince you're sworn to protect insisted on sneaking off to meet." Rei said with a snort.
"After a few months of trying to keep them apart, we gave up, and all decided to guard and watch instead. Relationships formed quickly." Ami stated
"How come they weren't reincarnated?" ChibiUsa asked.
"They were, but on the side of evil. The same way they ended on the moon. This time they all died." Ami answered sadly.
"Evil, why?" ChibiUsa asked.
"Remember I told you about the evil that possessed the people of Earth?" Mamoru asked, ChibiUsa nodded "The guard, also known as the Shitennou, were possessed by that same evil. When they were reincarnated they came back as agents for the Dark Kingdom."
"None of them survived." Minako added quietly.
"But Sailor Moon saved all of you, why not them too?" ChibiUsa asked.
"None of us knew, or remembered. Our memories were like a dripping faucet back then. We've gained a lot since then, but it was too late." Ami said quietly.
"Oh. I'm sorry." ChibiUsa said.
Mamoru thought of the four stones, hidden away in his subspace pocket. The soul stones of his friends, of the senshi's loves. Someday, when she was strong enough, he would ask Usagi to restore them, for him, and the senshi. The two of them owed the senshi that much. Until then he would keep them secret. The rest of the walk to the Fruit Parlor was quiet.