Hello all,

I hope you're having a productive day, wherever you are.

Here's chapter five of this new journey you and I have stepped into. I'm having a great time writing it, I hope you enjoy reading it as well.

SailorGuardian314: What is a story without a little mystery, eh? :) Don't worry, I'll unveil these mysteries one by one, and little by little. Let me know what you think about this chapter. Cheers.

Jewelzy: I love Hiro myself. I'm glad you share the same sentiment. But also, why haven't you updated your story? You're killing me you know:(

michiru61600: First of all, thank you for your words about the Blue Girl. And you're right, politics is a cruel thing that plays into our lives more than it deserves. I'm so grateful for your kind words about my writing style. I'm glad you find it enjoyable. I hope I can make the drama that you have in mind as the story continues. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts.

moonwrite: Well, we just have to wait and see:)

Laurelya: Merci pour vos gentils mots.

DarkenedHrt101: Killing me softly, with "her" words...:) please tell me this song popped into your head when you wrote me that beautiful review:) Thank you so much for your kind words. Here ya go. an update. but be aware, it might kill you softly again (evil laughter:D)

Xo: I hope this was soon enough:) Enjoy.

Serenitysweety: It brought tears to my own eyes as well:D Enjoy the new chapter love.

ericsookieforever: Yup the whole gang is here. The inner, the outer, all of them. I hope you find this chapter in particular to your liking:) Enjoy.

Guest: More on Usa/Mamoru will come. but for now, let's focus on Hiro:)

Guest: Nope, she didn't say yes to Hiro because she feels bad for him. It's for a completely different reason, which I'm not going to just giveaway:D:D you'll just have to be a little more patient with me and continue reading. Enjoy.

Guest: Don't skip on the parts about Ayane. It might lead to something good, trust me:) Enjoy this chapter and let me know your thoughts.

Enjoy.

Golak


I've never believed in love at first sight; lust at first sight? Maybe. But falling in love had never been on my plan. I'd never believed in it, though deep down, I always yearned to know how it felt.

When I'd started dating my very first girlfriend, Futaba, I was sure that I would eventually fall in love with her. We'd been compatible in almost every aspect of life. We came from similar backgrounds; my parents were both teachers, and her mother, who'd raised her since she was a little girl, had been a college professor. We were both the only child, and in Futaba's case, the only person in her mother's life.

At 16, I couldn't care less about social status and what the future hold. All I saw were sexy legs, a pretty round face, and a cool personality. I experienced almost all my important firsts with Futaba. The first time I truly held someone in my arms, unguarded and teen. The first time that the girl initiated the kiss and pulled me into a bruising tongue fest. And well, I lost my virginity to her. I hadn't cared if it hadn't held the same specialty for her, because for me, the first time we slept together marked the night I came into an unnerving realization.

I couldn't possibly love Futaba.

And as I had laid on her bed with her pretty round face cushioned on my chest, I just knew that that feeling would never come to me.

I adored Futaba. But I don't think I really ever loved her, the way love is perceived at least.

So, the first time I'd seen Usagi at the arcade, something about her had pulled me in; something that had alerted me right from the beginning. Of course, I'd immediately noticed her long legs and adorable round face and honestly, who could possibly miss her hair?

But then I'd looked at her and something about her face had grabbed me by the balls and arms and gut and...my God, by my heart. There was just something about her eyes.

So after relentlessly trying to talk her up on that very first day, I'd changed strategies. She seemed clueless about the signals I'd tried to throw her way. She didn't know how to flirt, and I knew I'd been going a little too fast.; I needed to cool down.

So, I just kept showing up at the arcade right about the time I knew she'd be there. And after figuring out that she got detention far more than a regular high school student would, I started dropping more obvious hints; she would come in and her burger and fries would be waiting for her on the bar table, along with a double chocolate milkshake. The seat to the Sailor V game would be empty and awaiting her arrival after I'd bribe the little middle school brat who would just never stop playing the fucking game;

Little by little, she started to come around. But it had been her friend, Naru, who actually spilled out my intentions to her.

"Don't tell me you don't see it," she'd asked Usagi, after she had vacuumed the cheeseburger plate I had ordered her.

"See what?"

"That he's flirting with you…he likes you," Naru whispered with an arched brow, "you really hadn't noticed?"

Usagi's eyes had been wide as a big blue-trimmed saucer. She'd turned around to look at me, with her face already on the brink of burning up in embarrassment.

I'd only smiled at her, and I'd tried so hard to keep it friendly and maybe a little flirtatious. But she had just looked at me as if she had just realized something; something that had nudged her for the longest time, but a door had finally opened.

"You really…like me?" she'd asked and just then, Motoki had shown up at the bar. I could tell that he had heard Usagi's question because he quickly made a U-turn and came to a stop right beside us. The man didn't give a damn about personal privacy, it seemed.

"I thought I was being obvious," I replied. My eyes sought out Naru's, and I gave her an appreciated nod before she gently touched Usagi's shoulders and left the bar.

"What is this?" Motoki asked, a little too loud for someone who'd been standing right there.

"Come on Motoki-san, let's go over here," Naru told him as she grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled him.

I strayed my eyes away from them and looked back at Usagi, who, I had the strangest feeling, hadn't looked away from me since she had asked her question.

I stared into her face. I noticed a thin line under her chin; the skin looked a little lighter and I could tell that she'd had a scare there once.

"Why?" she asked.

"Why what?"

"Why do you like me?"

The question got me off guard. Why did I like her?

"I'm not sure. Do I need to have a reason?" there'd been a tiny drop of mayonnaise sauce on the corner of her mouth. Would she flinch or move away if I just reached out and wiped it off?

"I mean, yeah. There must be a reason…" she said. She brought her hand up and wiped off her mouth with the back of her hand, stealing me of my chance for physical contact.

"I guess I've never thought about it. I just…like you—"

"But I mean—"

"You say that a lot, don't you?"

She frowned in confusion.

"'I mean'?" I reached out and took a fry from her plate.

"I don't share food," she said and the way her eyes followed my hand from the plate to my mouth grabbed at me once more.

She was fucking hilarious.

"Okay…" the mischievous part of me wanted to toy with her. I bit a tiny piece of the fry and brought it close to her mouth, "but I share my food. Open wide…"

She pursed her lips together, her face turned blood crimson and she finally looked away. And damn it, I just couldn't control myself anymore.

I laughed out loud and social behavior be damned, I grabbed the side of her stool and pulled her closer. I ignored the little "ah" that bubbled out of her mouth.

"That. That's exactly why I like you Usagi," I leaned forward and tried to capture her eyes; she still looked away, "I've never met a girl who'd just blush for almost everything I say. And…well, you look so cute when you blush," I allowed myself to brush away tendrils of baby hair around her neck. She took a deep breath but didn't pull back. I settled my hand on the side of her face and urged her to look into my face.

"I've never met anyone like you. As cliché as it may sound. And I really would like to get to know you better. What do you say?"

Just then, the sliding door to the arcade opened and someone entered. Usagi's eyes went to look at the newcomer and I followed her.

Her blonde friend nodded at the both of us but never came close. She smiled at Usagi as if she knew an untold secret.

"Okay…" Usagi whispered, her eyes still fixed on her friend, "I mean, yes. I'd like to know you better too." She looked back at me and smiled.

And God, how I wish I had paid more attention to the way her smile never reached her eyes.

Through my excitement and the rush of manly pride in my system, I'd completely missed the uncertainty that passed through her face and settled in her eyes.

An uncertainty that I would become aware of soon enough.


It had been a month since Usagi had started dating Hiro and though they only had the weekends to spend together, she had come to know so much about him.

He was an open person, an extrovert, just like her, and aside from Haruka and Rei, everyone seemed to like him.

Usagi loved the fact that her friends seemed to be supportive of her relationship. She wouldn't let it linger on her mind, but Minako's approval of him had been the most meaningful support she didn't even know she needed.

Minako was the goddess of love, after all, and even though Usagi still struggled with the past life she knew she'd lived once, she remembered enough to know the role Sailor Venus had played in her relationship…in Serenity's relationship with Endymion.

"He's exactly your type Usa-chan," Minako chirped in the middle of Hikawa Shrine.

"Yes, I think you two make a great couple," Makoto added.

Ami only nodded, because when it came to the matter of the heart, no one ever wanted to listen to the brain.

Rei settled for a curt nod, and Usagi didn't seem to mind. After all, Rei hardly ever trusted anyone outside of their circle. And from all the shit they'd been through, Usagi didn't blame her.

"And he's fine…" Minako beamed, in her usual Minako-yi posture; her hands clasped in front of her face, a tell-tale sparkle in her eyes, "you should really hit that—"

"Minako," Ami shrieked, scandalously.

"What? It's okay when boys say it. Why the hell shouldn't we say it then?" Minako shrugged it off and turned towards Usagi, whose face had turned red once again, "ne, Usa-chan, have you kissed?"

"That's none of your business Mina—"

"Well, ya'll make it your business when I went out with Akira—"

"Akio…"

"Whatever…" Minako snapped at Rei, "all I'm saying is that you all butt in my business when I went out with him. Why the hell would it be any different for you?"

"Because, first of all, none of us butt in…" Usagi hopped off the top stair and stood in front of her, "you shared everything voluntarily. I mean, honestly, I would've died happy if I didn't know that much detail."

"Here, here…"

"You said it."

"Couldn't agree more."

Minako rolled her eyes at them, "whatever. Have you kissed or not?"

Usagi smiled brightly and threw her hands over the taller girl's shoulders, "I love you Mina-P. I have to go. See you later…"

"Hey…you haven't answered my question."

Usagi jogged away from her friends. The smile she'd left them with, slowly disappeared as she descended from the shrine's numerous stairs.

Her mind had been a jungle of nothingness. She seemed lost in too many thoughts that invaded her mind every single second of every day. She had never felt so tired, so disconnected.

Dating Hiro had been great, and this could've been the happiest time of her life if the burden of the whole world didn't weigh down on her shoulders.

She constantly had to lie to him. About her whereabouts when she got the call that there'd been another attack somewhere in the city; about why she seemed tired all the time,

even when it was a Saturday morning and she hadn't agreed to meet with him earlier than noon.

She started to walk slower when she reached the main street. Because truth be told, she didn't need to be anywhere. Hiro had made plans the previous night, but then he'd called and told her that he needed to stay at school a little longer than he thought.

It was getting harder and harder to speak to her friends about him, or rather, about her feelings about him.

She'd been so occupied by all the changes in her life that she'd missed the fact that she was still a 17-year-old girl. She'd forgotten that outside of all that magic and transformations and irreversible kismet, a teenage heart still beat in her chest that yearned for affection.

And oh, the affection that it had received over the past month.

She stopped at the intersection that would take her to Juban's station.

She'd been shy and a little reserved. Mainly because she had zero experience in the field and it appeared that he had plenty.

But my God, his hands and fingers were merciless in their probing. She'd literally had goosebumps all over her neck whenever he touched her.

And he knew how to touch.

"Is this okay?" he'd asked, the first time they'd gone to the movies. Her hands had been occupied by the huge popcorn he'd bought her, for the first half an hour of the movie. But then, she had put the box under her seat to later collect, and the moment she straightened to just sit and enjoy the movie without the anxiety of knowing that there was more popcorn left in the box, his left hand had gingerly and gently touched her fingers.

Usagi's heart had dropped as if she'd been on a roller-coaster.

She'd jumped noticeably, and he'd asked if it was okay to hold her hand.

And yes…yes it was.

He had brought her hand to rest on his knee. And God, those little tiny circles he drew on the outside of her hand had been unbearable. Usagi never knew holding hands could be this exotic.

His hand would hover over the small of her back, as he ushered her through doors or sidewalks and she found herself anticipating, every time when it will come into direct contact with her skin.

"You smell delicious," he'd said when he'd taken her home one night, and it became obvious that none of them were ready to say goodnight.

"It's my body lotion…" she'd whispered, her eyes fixed on his lips touching her fingers.

"Mmm."

Usagi had wanted to kiss him so badly. She wanted so badly to give him her first kiss.

And he seemed to be holding back.

"Excuse me…"

Usagi yelped and gave room to the man behind her on the sidewalk to pass her. How long had she been standing there?

She looked at her pink wristwatch. 8:27. Hiro must've wrapped up for the day. He's probably even on the way home by now.

Why hasn't he kissed her yet? He'd left hot and heart-wrenching trails all over her hands, her forehead, her closed eyes, and her cheek. Why the hell hasn't he kissed her lips yet?

Usagi bolted towards the Juban train station as if there'd been another attack somewhere in the city and she just had to take public transport because the enemy was on the mission to screw with the environment.

She'd been to his place only once. A tiny apartment he shared with another classmate who wasn't a Tokyo local, just like him.

She tried to keep the adrenaline rushing through her high and pumping. If she was going to demand her boyfriend why he seems clueless to her willingness to be kissed, then she needed her wits; she needed a kind of bravery that not even Sailor Moon could muster.

When she finally reached his place, a little out of breath, her bravery had started to crack.

So, what? She was just going to barge into his apartment and ask him…what? What exactly was she going to ask him?

She's never had any experience talking about her feelings, her male-related feelings to another person, and those dreams of her past life really didn't help. She didn't know the guy in those dreams, hell, she didn't even know Serenity that much. She couldn't see the tiniest resemblance between herself and the ancient princess. So even her experiences wouldn't be much of a help.

And damn it, Hiro was…

"Usagi?"

Hiro was standing right there. Usagi hadn't expected to see him in the midst of her inner monologue, so it took her eyes a moment to finally lose their focus on his apartment and stare at his confused face.

"What are you doing here kiddo? Is everything alright?" he had a messenger bag slung around his shoulder, a heavy binder in his hand and his face seemed so tired.

"Um, hello…" Usagi stuttered, and immediately flinched at the roughness in her voice.

Hiro's face fell into a soft expression, "hello to you," he said and came to stand in front of her; his eyes seemed to be searching for something.

Her bravery evaporated now that he stood right in front of her. She didn't know how to say what she wanted to say. Why haven't you kissed me yet? Don't you want to kiss me? Just kiss me.

"How are you?" she asked instead, as she took in his exhausted appearance "Almost dead with fatigue, but so much better now that you're here," he smiled. He reached up and caressed the side of her face.

A flash of a man's hand, clad in a white crisp glove, touching her face, her neck entered Usagi's mind and she exhaled sharply.

"Kiss me," she whispered, and though she couldn't believe the words she'd just spoken, she didn't feel a blush rushing to her face; she wanted this. She needed this.

Hiro's eyes widened, and his hand stilled on her cheek. But then, something fierce, something passionate hardened his face.

Usagi never quite fathom who'd kissed who first. Because every time she would remember her first kiss, she would only remember the sharp tug in her heart and the heat that had exploded somewhere in her chest.

She'd remember the way her hands had curled around the collar of his grey t-shirt, clumsy and unpracticed, and how she'd tugged him towards herself. He'd come willingly; hell, maybe he'd even started his descent long before she'd stood up on her toes.

She hadn't wanted a chaste and innocent first kiss. She was no ordinary teenager, why the hell would her first kiss be any different? She wasn't innocent, she had lived lives and destroyed worlds and had robbed the people around her from destinies they had deserved.

So, she allowed Hiro to explore her with his tongue, slick and wet and needy in her mouth. She allowed him to guide her on this journey she hadn't been truly prepared for; she wanted to experience this with him. She needed to experience this with him.

She'd shivered from the low groan deep down in his throat and had let him pull her flush against himself.

She'd totally abandoned the fact that they were right in the middle of the street, an empty street mind you, but a street nonetheless. She'd let him hold her face in his palms as his mouth left tiny open mouth kisses around her face.

"My God…Usa," Hiro whispered against her neck, as he hugged her tight.

She clung to him with closed eyes; her lips felt swollen and tingly; it was almost as if they didn't belong to her.

She allowed her boyfriend to hold her like that until the first drop of rain had landed on the tip of her nose.

He'd laughed and ushered her towards his apartment and Usagi had followed suit with a bright smile and adamant heart.

In the solace of his apartment, Usagi had learned just exactly how passionate Hiro could be. And she'd let him worship her face and her neck and her sculp the way he wanted.

She was afraid that if she ever let go, the man who smiled in her dreams and winked and touched her face and left her lips swollen and needy, would replace the reality she wasn't ready to face.


"You are the destiny that I would choose again and again and again."

Mamoru woke up with a start. When had he fallen asleep? He had a mid-term tomorrow damn it, there was no time to waste; sleeping at the desk and drooling on his open book was the last thing he had time for.

He massaged his eyes, shook his head and tried to focus back on the lines that seemed scattered in the book. Fuck, med-school was kicking his ass.

He'd only turned one page when that familiar gut-wrenching punch squeezed him. The second and the third came one after the other, and before he knew it, the sensation he always felt when transforming breezed through him.

They must've been in a dire situation.

As Tuxedo Mask jumped and trespassed through buildings and people's yards, he tried to focus more on the sense of danger shooting heat against his scalp, than the fast beating of his heart; he tried not to think about the fact that the closer he got to where they probably were, the faster his heart seemed to beat; in that anxious fucking worrisome way.

He'd got there just in time though. Because the second he'd landed on that fragile tree branch, the youma had aimed its energy ball right at Sailor Moon.

She'd been on her feet, clutching the side of her left arm and even from afar, Tuxedo Mask could see the trickle of blood staining her white glove.

He'd jumped, not even waiting to make an overzealous entrance, and had snatched her away.

They'd landed a few feet away from where that ball of hatred had exploded, leaving purple smoke and destroyed plants in its wake.

"You okay?" he'd asked, as he set her back on her feet and she winced in pain.

"I'm fine," she hissed and quickly moved away from him.

"Sailor Moon, let's do this," Sailor Jupiter yelled from the other side of the street. She'd already blasted the youma with her raging thunders two times; she knew the time to finish it off had come.

Sailor Moon nodded as if her friends could see her through all that madness.

She'd stepped forward, on wobbly feet and in an eye blink, she'd been engulfed in a sparkling wind of pink and white. And as always, Tuxedo Mask couldn't take his eyes off of her.

He'd tried numerous times; he'd even rehearsed in the confine of his apartment, how he should look away from that blinding power.

And then every fucking time he would ogle at her as she flew with her eyes closed and her face serene, before she'd save the city, and probably the whole world.

With the youma destroyed and gone with an anguished howl, Tuxedo Mask knew he needed to leave before the ringing in his head would begin.

He'd never understood why the ringing would stop during a battle, no matter how many of them were present, even Sailor Uranus, who always gave him the most shattering ringing. The moment the battle would end, it would start again. Sometime, as he ran towards where his heart would take him, he would hear that distant ring and knew that the fight had ended.

He readied himself to leap high up, when Sailor Moon, who'd been standing a few feet away in front of him, collapsed on her knees.

"Sailor Moon," the others yelled, simultaneously.

Tuxedo Mask had ignored the instant panic that had gripped him, telling himself that he would feel the same way if any other person had fainted in front of him. After all, he'd set to be a doctor; he had to save the injured.

"Is it just your arm?" he'd asked, as soon as he kneeled in front of the heroine and leaned her against his legs.

She winced in pain and nodded. Her left glove, soaked in her own blood, seemed heavy on her arm.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sailor Mars asked, as soon as she neared them.

Tuxedo Mask didn't even lookup. He continued to take the glove off.

Fuck. That was one nasty cut. It looked like a thick bracelet, going all the way around her tiny bicep.

Tuxedo Mask had surely seen worse. For fuck's sake, he'd only just visited an ER where one of his professors supervised and he'd witnessed bus crash victims bearing injuries that he couldn't have imagine. Yet, this ugly cut reminded him of all the reasons why he wanted to become a doctor.

"I can heal her," he said, to no one in particular, though the four of them had circled around them and the ringing was making him deaf.

"What do you mean 'you can heal her'? You're not a doctor yet," Sailor Mars snapped and kneeled beside Sailor Moon who seemed to be in and out of a slumber.

"Can you give me some room?" he growled, trying to think and focus through the ringing.

"Can you get lost?" Mars shrieked and before Tuxedo Mask could move, he was shoved away from the blonde.

The drop into the abyss had been instant. One minute he'd been dropped on his butt and Sailor Moon snatched away from his grasp, and the next, he'd been on his butt, Serenity crying in front of him, as Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars held her back.

"No," he'd yelled and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out in which lifeline he'd screamed that tormented and that scared.

"Stay away from her; you've ruined her once. I won't let you do it again," Sailor Mars, from back then and right now was saying to him and once again, Tuxedo Mask was thrust back to reality.

"She will bleed to death you stupid…what the fuck are you doing?" he was back on his feet and towering over the five of them.

Sailor Moon seemed to have passed out from the pain. She would only let out a pained moan now and then. Tuxedo Mask could see the tiny drops of sweat formed on her face.

"She's in pain. What the fuck is the matter with you. Move." He crouched back on the ground and gathered Sailor Moon in his arms. She moaned and tried to move away from him.

"Don't fucking touch her," Venus was at his throat, "you're hurting her."

He closed his eyes behind the mask and tried to summon the power deep inside of him, which proved hard, with three shrilling voices, Mercury's monotonic advices and the contact ringing in his head.

Sailor Moon moaned and twisted in his arms.

Come on. Come to me. I need to heal her. Come on.

Sailor Moon exhaled shakily, and he felt how she turned in his arms. She didn't want him to hold her. Well, too fucking bad. He had to heal her.

Something burnt in his chest. Something powerful and wonderful and he exhaled when he felt that rush of power against his upper body.

Sailor Moon moaned and this time, he felt her pushing herself closer to him.

Had she felt the power?

The sensation left a burning line against his chest and head, and it muted the ringing. Thank God.

He heard Sailor Moon's sharp inhale and knew that the power has coursed through her.

He opened his eyes.

She opened her eyes.

The fall had been instant and neither one of them knew what had caused it.

He dropped his arms and she scrambled away from him; the cut on her arm had long gone and she felt no pain.

He jumped away as fast as he could. Never turning back, even though he heard them screaming after him. He even heard Sailor Mercury's monotonic gratitude.

He allowed his mind to start working again only when locked himself in his apartment. He welcomed the silence in his home and in his head.

What the fuck.

Back in Mamoru's black sweatpants and white V-neck t-shirt, he collapsed on his neatly made-up bed.

What the fuck.

He'd only stared into her eyes for one fucking second.

So why the hell did he feel like he needed to stare at them for an eternity?


"What are you thinking about?"

Usagi opened her eyes and stared up at Hiro's smiling face.

They'd been leisurely walking in the park, hand in hand; it had been Usagi's suggestion to lay on the grass, "let's connect to the earth," she'd said, instantly regretting her choice of words.

"Nothing…" she replied and then exhaled when he pushed her bangs away.

"Tell me."

She'd used his outstretched legs as her pillow, as she gazed up at the sky and thanked God for the hundredth time that she'd been able to see another day.

What the fuck had happened last night?

She'd only stared into his eyes for one second.

"I want to fall in love with you…" she said, and Hiro's hand stilled on her forehead.

She didn't allow herself to be pitiful and embarrassed. She kept her eyes at him, probing, soothing.

"I want to fall in love with you too," he whispered.

The moment called for a sweet kiss, maybe even a deep one. But the two of them stayed motionless as they gazed at each other's' eyes.

Usagi wanted to stretch that moment, where she'd only stare into her boyfriend's brown eyes.

She didn't want to think of the eyes that had made her feel the need to stare at them for eternity only the night before.


Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or its characters. All right is reserved for its remarkable creator, Naoko Takeuchi. I only own the story I tell.