The way back home was so unspeakably difficult for her.

The palpitations were no longer so strong, but her head felt as if it would explode at any second. Feelings she had never felt before in her young life radiated from her heart and raged like a hurricane throughout her whole body. All at once she felt.

Wistfulness, fear, jubilation, joy, uncertainty, longing, desire, sadness... just to name a few. Her legs that had to carry this completely confused girl, they were more than wobbly as she left the apartment complex.

"Oh my goodness, what happened today?"

To form a clear thought seemed almost impossible at the moment. After a few steps, however, something completely different suddenly came to her mind. Something was missing that had not been with her all this time... her schoolbag!

With horror, Usagi realized that she had had to leave it somewhere in front of the Starlight Tower before Zoisite had maneuvered Mamoru and her into the skyscraper. Without her, Usagi would be in trouble at home explaining. After all, besides all this superhero life, to her family she was just a fourteen year old middle school girl! Completely panicked she hurried through the still busy streets of Azabu-Juban. She ran as fast as she could until she finally returned to the forecourt of the Starlight Tower.

Like a silent witness to her previous presence on this so extraordinary day, the dark bag and its contents still lay there on the asphalt. When Usagi picked it up, panting loudly and absolutely relieved, all those images popped into her head again; Mamoru's gaze as she stood transformed in front of him, his ocean blue eyes staring at her so completely stunned when they were outside Starlight Tower again. All that tension between them, just before she had decided to leave his place... away from him...

"Oh my, why is it all so complicated?"

Usagi gave a loud sigh, turned on her heel, and slowly began to make her way home.

The way back to her home, so completely without Mamoru beside her it seemed dreary, joyless and inconsequential. Almost as if she were only half a person. Completely incomplete. How could this Baka have turned her world upside down from one moment to the other!

"Well, because he's Tuxedo Mask."

she muttered under her breath as a lousy explanation as she turned into her street, completely exhausted. But that was only half the truth.

Mamoru Chiba had touched her soul deeply.

From the moment they had both been alone together in the elevator, something had changed between them. Mamoru had shared his story with her. His past. His thoughts. He had opened up to her. The usually arrogant, closed and cold man, he had confided in her what was probably the most intimate part of himself; his dreams.

Why had he done that? He would never have had to do it and Usagi was more than sure that she alone knew about his big secret. Maybe it all had a meaning, that it had all come in this completely crazy way today.

Usagi clutched her schoolbag tightly as she stood in front of the front door. Deeply she inhaled, because now she had a completely different task before her.

She had to lie. Again.

Ever since the first day she became Sailor Moon, she had begun to lead a secret double life. By night the heroine, by day the normal schoolgirl with a tendency to scatterbrainedness. No one outside the elite circle around the Sailor warriors knew of her second, magical identity. And that often brought her into quite tricky situations. In addition, she was always sleep-deprived, which unfortunately all too often resulted in detention for not doing homework or sleeping during class. How the other warriors managed all this was an absolute mystery to her.

Her life had been a real balancing act for almost eight months with this fight against a dark kingdom, which for the time being had found its questionable climax today with all the events in the Starlight Tower. How should it go on now? Usagi had so no idea. She took another deep breath and exhaled.

Now, it was time for Usagi to put all the experiences of today aside and to plaster her well-known cheerful mood on her face. She allowed herself a short secret moment, a very small thought... of Mamoru

'Actually, I'm relieved that he knows about me now.'

Then it was time to live a normal life again. That of an ordinary schoolgirl.

"I'm home!"

Usagi let the front door thunder into the door lock swinging and took off her shoes in the Genkan. Immediately, the seductive scent of homemade pancakes rose to her nose, flying deliciously light through the air.

This was Usagi's home.

This, her little ideal world was not yet out of joint. Here she was just Usagi Tsukino, the fourteen-year-old daughter and sister. Just a normal middle school girl. Everything was fine in the Tsukino house.

For now.

"Ahhh, there you are, Usagi. How was the study afternoon with Ami and the others today? You've been cramming hard until sunset, how industrious you are!"

Ikuko's head popped out of the kitchen as she greeted her daughter with glee. She excitedly waved a spatula around in her hand as she did so. Obviously, she didn't give her daughter any time to answer, but simply continued

"You're just in time for dinner. I tried out a new recipe from Umino's mother today. You haven't eaten at Ami's yet, I hope? These buttermilk pancakes are supposed to be extra fluffy and I made way too much batter."

Usagi was actually starving. For several hours now, she had not drunk or taken any form of food. This had now led to an immense hole in her stomach. The reproachful growling also didn't help her to really think clearly.

Again, Usagi also felt a little guilty that she had to lie to her parents again about her extracurricular activities. Her mother would most likely have fainted if she had told her about this afternoon's experiences. Whereas her father would have had a heart attack if he knew that Usagi had been alone with Mamoru in his apartment this evening. The villains were practically harmless compared to that.

Far too many impressions of the day today forced themselves mercilessly back into her memory, so that she reeled off her answer rather automatically to her mother, while she mentally tried with all her might to push the imaginary ocean blue eyes out of her thoughts. However, without any success.

"It was good, Mom. Ami is really patient with me, but it took forever to teach me all the stuff, so we lost track of time a bit. Sorry. It smells sooo yummy and I'm totally starving too."

"Oh, don't worry about it, dear. Studying comes first, you know that. The pancakes will be ready soon. Go ahead and go upstairs and rest for a minute, and I'll call you as soon as dinner's served."

Humming happily, Ikuko went back to the kitchen, leaving her daughter alone in the hallway.

That had worked out just fine.

True, her mother could sometimes be very quick-tempered and get insanely angry with her, mostly due to her sometimes very poor performance at school. But Ikuko was also a wonderful and caring, kind-hearted person who did absolutely everything for her children and her husband. In addition, she had excellent cooking skills. Usagi simply loved her mother more than anything and was quite grateful to have such a wonderful family overall.

There was one family member, however, that she could not lie to so easily today, as she was a part of their well-kept secret. Usagi had to swallow at the thought that the little black cat was in her room upstairs, surely already waiting extremely impatiently for her arrival. She would certainly demand a reasonable explanation from Usagi why she had not attended the senshi meeting today and why she was not even reachable via her communicator. Usagi had certainly noticed that someone had tried to reach her several times over the evening, but there was no way she could have answered when she was alone with Mamoru in his apartment. Hah yes,

'Mamoru.'

He was still there. Deep in her heart.

But now she had to keep a level head. A new, believable excuse had to be made. Immediately. No one was to suspect anything. Especially not Luna.

"I simply can't do that to him. I have no right to reveal his identity."

She muttered this realization to herself as she climbed step after step until she finally reached the top floor.

Usagi sighed slightly in agony.

Luna was a true grandmaster at judging her almost every day for her general laziness, inattention, and crybaby behavior. This time, however, she would be merciless in her judgment if she didn't quickly come up with something suitable as an explanation. Usagi took another deep breath and then quietly entered her bedroom.

"Usagi!"

The little black cat sat on the bed with an extremely angry expression on her otherwise rather cute face.

'Offence is the best defense!'

"I'm sooo sorry, Luna!!! Ahhhh, I know you're mad at me, but I unfortunately had detention today because I forgot my homework. After that I went out with Naru. She's totally messed up about Umino right now. Supposedly he's dating a girl from another school, at least that's Naru's crazy opinion, I personally have my doubts because WHO wants to hang out with such a nerd voluntarily, huh?! So we followed him to find out the truth. Probably through half of Tokyo! I think it's more than unnecessary to say that Naru was absolutely wrong with her abstruse suspicions, since Umino is still head over heels in love with her. Well, that's why I completely forgot about the Senshi meeting and also left my communicator at Naru's place off-state! Oh dear God, please Luna, please please please forgive me!"

Gesticulating wildly, Usagi tried to speak as fast as possible to cover all her lies. She simply couldn't tell Luna the truth, otherwise she would reveal Mamoru's true identity.

It wasn't her secret, after all.

At first, Luna seemed completely taken aback by Usagi's explanation. Had she backed on the wrong horse with her excuse? Was that not credible enough? After a short moment of confusion, Luna eventually started to speak.

"Well really Usagi, I am more than disappointed! Nothing but trouble with you, as rash as you often are!"

Luna hissed menacingly through her teeth and added reproachfully

"How can you just forget your duties like that? This isn't going to keep working like this! You need to prioritize, this isn't a game we're playing here. The enemy is about to obtain the Imperium Silver Crystal! We're still pretty busy searching for the Moon Princess, and you've got nothing better to do than waste your precious time on dull schoolgirl problems!"

The cat's last rebuke hit Usagi right in her little teenage heart. Luna really had no idea at all what had happened today! Sullenly, she crossed her arms and explained to the black house cat in front of her, highly offended

"Yeah that's just the way it is, Luna. I have a life too besides all this fighting, I have to go to school, I have friends there and I have a family. I had no choice at all when you suddenly came along with all this superhero stuff, and I have to deal with all these things at the same time, while I don't even have half a clue what and why I'm doing all this in the first place!"

Tears would spring to her eyes at any moment. Usagi swallowed hard and tried desperately to blink them away.

'Please, just don't cry now!'

Luna sighed deeply. Clearly, Usagi was all worked up emotionally today. That probably wasn't unusual for a little fourteen-year-old schoolgirl, as she just still was. The cat softened her gaze slightly and, while trying to calm Usagi's emotional outburst, explained

"I know what you mean, Usagi, but there is no other way for you than to face the enemy and fight him. You are chosen to protect this planet together with the other warriors. Your whole mission is to find and protect the Imperium Silver Crystal and the Moon Princess. I just want you to be very aware of that and nothing else. After all, we have chosen you to be the leader. And... I want you to apologize to the girls tomorrow. After school, we agreed to meet at the Game Crown Center. Artemis and Sailor Venus will also be attending. Please don't be late again!"

Usagi was still sniffling slightly, but had quickly recovered from her emotional outburst. The blonde girl placed her right hand on the spot of her heart and vowed to the little cat still sitting on the bed in front of her

"Luna, I hereby make you a solemn vow that I will be on time tomorrow at the

Crown tomorrow. No detention! Please please please don't be mad at me anymore, okay?"

With begging eyes, the blonde girl pleaded with her cat, but before she could say anything back, they both suddenly heard Ikuko's voice calling from downstairs

"Usagi, dear, dinner's ready."

"Yes, mom, I'm coming!"

Luna frowned at Usagi's apologetic expression, and finally she had to admit defeat

"For heaven's sake, I forgive you, Usagi Tsukino!"

Usagi put on her bright smile again and immediately cheered around as she happily jumped up and down around her room

"Thank you, Luna, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

She spontaneously hugged the black cat, turned around and ran out of the room

"Oh my goodness, I'm almost dying of hunger!!!"

Luna looked after her for a long time and with a loud sigh she finally opened the communicator.

"Well?" it sounded from the speaker.

"Not a chance. She told me a completely different story. I don't know what's going on or why she did it. But we have to be prudent and keep an eye on these two."

"Okay. Makoto is keeping watch outside Mamoru's apartment and Minako and Ami are keeping Rei at bay. We'll see tomorrow."

--

The pancakes were indeed a blast and just what Usagi needed after this eventful day. Her father Kenji and brother Shingo were also sitting with her and her mother at the dining room table, happily talking about the events of their day. Usagi either tried desperately to hide behind a smile or gulped down one pancake after another, hoping not to be quizzed about her day. "Good" was often a fitting all-purpose answer to really anything, and so she limited herself to that meager comment, preferring to leave the talking to the rest of the family today.

Instead, her thoughts kept circling around just one person.

When she finally arrived back in her room, she noticed that Luna was already blissfully asleep on her bed. Quietly, she changed her clothes and slipped under the covers.

Once again, Usagi got the chance to completely go over what had happened today on this particular day.

'I wonder if Mamoru is struggling with the same things as I do?'

She pulled the covers over her head for a little more privacy.

'Oh my god, Mamoru is Tuxedo Mask. MY beloved Tuxedo Mask!!!! I was in his apartment. In his bathroom. In his bedroom. I saw him half naked! He acted so different towards me than he used to. The look he gave me when I was about to leave. What is happening to me right now? Why do I have such strange feelings for him? Why can't I get him out of my head? He's Tuxedo Mask. Mamoru is ... Mamoru.'

"Mamoru... Mamoru... Mamo... Ma..."

As she fell asleep, Usagi kept murmuring his name. She was sure that Mamoru would follow her into her dreams tonight, releasing a deep storm of various emotions in her subconscious.