Chapter Two

As Ryo drove away slowly, he watched the other Sailor Senshi tease Ami, demanding details. He smirked as he caught a spark of recognition from Makoto. Seeing the crew together, just like they were in middle school, brought back fond, warming memories. He slowed to a stop at an intersection, awaiting a green signal. As he waited, heaviness set in his chest. Is this fair in any way? Charging back into her life like this, especially now?

The light turned green and he rounded the corner. He hadn't been entirely truthful with Ami when they talked of his ability to see the future. While he'd been away, he'd seen her and her friends go to the future Crystal Tokyo, he saw their various battles over the years, and he knew Usagi would become the savior of the world as well as its queen. You also know that the disaster that sets her on that path is only five days away, and there is no stopping it!

Ryo's heart assaulted his ribs. He'd seen the vision a few months earlier, waking him from a restless sleep. Rather than a traditional vision of events, he felt extreme cold, deafening silence, and the chilling sensation of death everywhere. Night after night since, the vision plagued him, growing more vivid. Last week, the vision changed to an old vision of him reuniting with Ami. With it, he sensed elation, confusion, and unbearable sadness. You could be doing more harm than you know. What if you distract her and she doesn't survive the way she's supposed to? What if you come into her life just to be snatched away for an eternity?

"Stop it!" he shouted to himself as he rounded the turn back toward his apartment. Ryo didn't understand any of it, but every fiber in his body kept drawing him back to her – the one and only girl he'd ever cared for. He pulled back into the garage of his building and parked. He sat gripping the wheel for a time, mulling his thoughts. You could have cut your wrists or swallowed pills if you were sure you were going to die and wanted out on your own terms. Quit being a wuss; she might actually need you in the next five days!

Ryo composed himself, got out of the car, and rode the elevator to his apartment to wait for the phone call from Ami later tonight.

"No," Ami mouthed the words as she scrutinized the computer readout. "No," her voice evolved to a whimper. "NO!" tears now rained from her eyes as she set the computer to recalculate the data, praying vainly that the readout would change.

"Ami, I'm sorry," Rei placed a hand on her shoulder. She and the other senshi were in their unofficial headquarters at Rei's shrine.

"How long…" she struggled, "How long have you known?"

"The energy spike started only yesterday, but it's grown in an unprecedented fashion since then," Luna said. Ami eyed the data on dark energy building up around the world. "I'm assuming your projection matches our own: in five days, the world as we know it will be consumed by it."

Ami nodded in acceptance. She'd known this day was coming for almost ten years; she simply didn't know when. "Five days…" she couldn't finish her words.

"Ami," Usagi spoke, "there is nothing we can do this time."

"How!" Ami cried, "How did it come to this!" Normally, Usagi was the emotional one of the group; even Ami was taken aback by her own outburst.

"We have a theory," Artemis spoke, "not that it changes much."

"What?" she demanded.

"When we were sent forward in time to be reborn," Rei spoke, "Queen Serenity was unable to separate us from the dark forces that destroyed the Moon Kingdom, at least not without killing both of us in the process."

"And when we were reborn," Makoto spoke, "some of that evil reawakened, too."

"But we defeated Queen Beryl! We defeated Galaxia! We defeated the Doom Phantom!" Each protest of victory over insurmountable evil reaffirmed Ami's hope that this was just another nightmare that could be stopped cold.

"We defeated the Doom Phantom of our future," Usagi's voice hit Ami in a cold, dark place. "And it required us to harness the full power of the Silver Crystal of the future and present to do so."

"This is how it starts?!" Ami's heart threatened to rip free from her chest.

"I'm afraid it seems so," Rei jumped in. "It seems the events we faced in our past begin in the near future…"

"And with how strong we've become since then…" Ami pleaded.

"Ami," Luna spoke in her motherly tone, "none of us are happy, but we are in a situation where our best-case scenario still means accepting that we can't stop things. At best, we'd be putting a band-aid on a hemorrhaging wound.

"So, we just do nothing!?" she screeched.

"Ami," Usagi walked up to her friend, wrapping her in a tight embrace, "we're not doing nothing. We have to prepare to bring the world out of its slumber and revive everyone."

"But… everything we care about, our lives…."

"Will change forever," Usagi tightened her grip, "I know. I'm scared, too!" Usagi pulled back, "None of us know who among our loved ones survive to see us in the future. And I remember wanting once to be a normal girl after becoming Sailor Moon."

Ami remembered; Usagi had temporarily lost her powers as a result of wanting to be a normal girl, trying to shirk destiny. Isn't that what you're trying to do now? Weasel your way out so you might go on being Dr. Ami Mizuno? Is the responsibility of being Sailor Mercury too much to bear after you've carried it since you were fourteen? "How do we make ready?" she wiped her tears in resignation.

"For starters, you should go home, clean up, and call Ryo," Makoto sounded too upbeat for the heavy situation.

"I'm hardly in any state to reconnect with my old boyfriend," Ami protested.

"If not now, when?" Usagi asked. "The next few days may be the last we have for this world, at least as we know it now."

"But…"

"Hiding from the pain of loss," Rei scolded, "won't protect you from the pain of regret if you let him go!"

"Ami," Usagi stared with her cerulean eyes, "go! Take the next few days and live the life you've been denying yourself! There may not be another chance to experience it!"

Something in Usagi's naïve words caused Ami to nod. Something right was in what her friend was saying. "Okay," she nodded.

"And let us know how it goes," Minako winked. "I'm a sucker for a good romance story!"

"MINAKO!" the group protested. Ami didn't wait for further conversation. She left the temple and made for the bus stop. Time was running out.

Ryo sat in a plush living room chair as he skimmed the pages of Death on the Nile, waiting for his phone to ring. Despite his calm appearance, he was anything but. His throat was bobbing up and down as it had the first time he'd asked Ami to ride with him on a Ferris wheel a decade ago. It's just Ami. It's just a girl you've been crazy about since you were fourteen, and she's only a superhero. Despite knowing the phone would ring, the trilling of his phone around 6 pm nearly caused him to jump from his skin. He snatched it, spotted Ami's number, and tapped the button to accept the call. "Hi, Ami."

"Ryo…" her voice was haunted, hollowed out.

"Ami…" he searched for words, but he had no way to fluff the situation, "… it's bad, isn't it?"

"Yeah," she sighed, "I'm not sure I can explain…"

"You don't have to," he replied, "I know."

"You knew?!" a tang of anger and bitterness stained her voice.

"Ami," Ryo couldn't find words, "I-I know… I'm… sorry. I just, I wanted to see you again so badly!"

Sobbing came from her end. Ryo's own throat began tightening as he thought at how irresponsible he'd been storming back into her life before the end of the world. You thought about your needs! Did you think nothing of hers! "Ryo," her voice was still choked, but she sounded composed, "please, come over."

His heart stopped in his chest, "Are… are you sure?"

"I… I'm not…" she paused, and he could see her gathering untold courage. "…I'm not sure, but I know that I need to talk to someone right now, and you're the only person I want to talk to!" His phone buzzed next to his ear, and he pulled it in front of him, seeing a text with an address for a nearby apartment building. "Please," her voice was faded from the distance, "come soon, or not at all." The line disconnected.

Ryo closed his eye, trying to will the future to reveal itself to no avail. He sensed joy but also pain as he desperately focused on her. If he did this, he could seriously hurt her in ways he couldn't fathom. And if you don't do this, you can hurt her the same way her father and mother did – the same way you did when you went away.

He stood from the chair and grabbed Death on the Nile and his keys. However, he paused as he stared at his bedroom. His stomach turned as he contemplated one thing he wasn't sure he'd need. You're wasting time! It's better to have them and not need them then need them and not have them! Quit being a wuss! Ryo pushed open the door to his room, pulled open the drawer, and grabbed several condoms from the box in the drawer. "Better to need them than not have them!" he said to himself as he ran from his apartment.

The walk to Ami's building went fast, but as he approached, his feet dragged. As if the end of the world being a few days away wasn't bad enough, his heart began thundering at adrenaline working overtime – this was the first time a woman had invited him into her home. It's just Ami, relax! Ryo summoned his legs to action, and they redoubled their pace despite shaking. He faced a similar hesitance when he reached the building entrance and reached for the intercom. Nevertheless, he pressed the button. There was no reply, but the door buzzed. He raced through the hall and climbed the stairs to the second floor.

Déjà vu assaulted Ryo as he approached the door. It was as he'd seen in a vision in his dreams several days ago. Just relax and behave! She's not going to answer the door in her lingerie! He knocked the door and waited. For a long moment there was no noise, but the lock began releasing, as did the door. "Ryo?" she asked as she opened the door.

"Did you still want to see me?" he asked, voice shaking as he spoke.

"Please," she opened the door wider, "come in." Ami wore the same black slacks and the navy button down she'd worn at the conference. While not the dreamy image he'd had of her in lace, she looked stunning nonetheless.

He stepped in, and the apartment took him back to the one time he'd been invited to dinner at Ami's Mom's house. The décor was simple, neat, much as Ami was. Some things don't change. Sometimes it's better that way.

"Can… can I get you something?" her small voice asked, "Water? Tea?"

Ryo turned to stare at her, "No, thank you." His hands clutched the book in hand as if it were a shield to fend off attack.

"What do you have there," she tilted her head to eye the cover of the book, "Death on the Nile?" she observed, curious.

"I-I brought it with me without thinking," he fidgeted.

"It's a favorite," Ami smiled.

"We… we could read it," he suggested.

"Ryo," her eyes turned to the floor, and she sat on her living room couch, patting the cushion next to her, "sit with me. We have much to discuss."

Ryo's body moved rigidly, not helped by the fact that being this near to her was intoxicating. He sat, feeling his outfit tighten precariously by the close contact, "So, what do you want to talk about?" he tried to keep the mood light, but her expression was anything but jovial.

"I… why?" she stared with her sapphire eyes, "Why?"

"Why, what?" he asked.

"Why now, Ryo? If you knew why now?" she asked despondent.

"I didn't know until recently," he confessed, "and then, I didn't know when our reunion would happen until it did." He held out his hand, "I'm sorry. I-I didn't want to upset you."

"I'm sorry, too," she whispered as she took his hand, bitterness in her voice. "I'm sorry I didn't make my feelings better known when you told me not to wait up," a single tear traced her eye.

"Ami?" he asked confused by the contradictory act of affection and remorse.

"Ryo, I had feelings well beyond friendship, thought we were going somewhere, and could have gone somewhere had we had more time!" Her grip on his hand tightened. "It was unfair then, just as it's unfair now!"

"Ami, I didn't mean to hurt you then, and I don't want to hurt you now," he shook his head.

"Then don't!" she exclaimed. "We both ran away from each other once because we were scared. Don't run away from me now!" she shook her head.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me to," he stared into her hypnotic eyes. Unconsciously, his thumbs began kneading the back of her hand.

"Ryo," Ami's cheeks burned red and her hands shivered, "kiss me, please!" her voice shook at the command.

Ryo's own throat began constricting and releasing as if his heart were trying to climb up and out of his mouth. "Only," he struggled with words as he drew closer in, "because you asked so nicely." Ryo brought his lips to hers, feeling the fantasy of almost a decade becoming a reality.