[:::two:::]
The days were growing shorter and colder. There had been many cases of people passing out unexpectedly and being found on the ground. There were no yomas running around so the senshi weren't aware when the enemy was striking.
".She seemed very distant from me today. I know that there is something else on her mind." Mamoru said as he was walking around his apartment picking up. He had the phone nuzzled up between his ear and his shoulder.
"Maybe she's just thinking about the new enemy. You know that its taking its toll on her since she can't transform." Rei offered her advice. She knew that this wasn't what was wrong with Usagi.
"No, it's not that. This has been going on before the new enemy showed up. She spends all of her time with Minako now and she seems to be the only one who can cheer her up."
Mamoru had no hint of emotion to his voice; Rei was having a hard time telling what he was actually thinking. She could always tell what was going through his head just by looking at him, but now that they were on the phone is was near impossible.
"I haven't been able to spend as much time with her as I used to. Why don't you ask Minako about it?" Rei felt bad that she couldn't tell Mamoru what she was actually thinking.
"No, I can't talk to Minako. I don't trust her. She has a big mouth and I don't want Usagi knowing that I'm worrying about her like this." Mamoru was right, if he had told Minako she would have immediately turned around and told Usagi everything. "She doesn't need more stress on top of what she has."
"When did you notice her change in behavior? Maybe that is what is wrong with her." Rei knew that she could never come straight out and tell him what she was thinking so she tried to hint around the subject.
"It started ever since I came back, after the battle with Galaxia. I just assumed that it was the fact that she couldn't be a senshi anymore." Mamoru thought back.
Rei didn't want to tell him so just went along with what he thought. "Maybe your right, maybe that's it. Well I'll talk to you later Mamoru."
"You don't think it's because of him, do you?" Mamoru said this in almost a whisper.
Rei was surprised that Mamoru had voiced her own suspicion and asked "Who?" like she had no idea.
"Oh, never mind, forget I said anything. Goodnight Rei." Mamoru said hurriedly and hung up the phone.
~He's catching on, I don't know if I'm right but if I am, trouble should find us soon.~ Rei hung up the phone and got ready for bed.
Usagi was showing up for the senshi meetings now, she couldn't just sit home and wait for the others to take care of everything. Luna seemed to be very proud of her and how mature she was acting for once. Luna hadn't noticed her strange behavior since she was with Artemis most of the time.
"Usagi, don't forget the meeting at the temple today." Luna reminded her as she left the house.
"I won't Luna, I'm going over to Minako's house now, I'll see you there." Usagi smiled and waved. She made her way to Minako's house and let herself in. "Minako. It's Usagi. Are you here?" She called.
"I'm in the kitchen. come here and help me would you." She called from down the hall.
Usagi walked into the kitchen only to find a disaster area. "What are you doing? Don't tell me your trying to cook."
"No, I tried to cook, now I'm just trying to clean up the aftermath." Minako giggled. The two cleaned up the mess and headed up to Minako's room. "It is my turn to bring something for today's meeting. I guess I should have just bought something as usual."
"Oh well. They taste good anyway." Usagi said putting one of the cookies in her mouth.
"Usagi! Those are for tonight. I just got done telling you that!" Minako smacked her hand.
"I know, I figured I'd test them out for you." Usagi smiled while putting another one in her mouth.
It had been a long time since Usagi had been to Minako's house. They usually hung out outside or at Usagi's house. It was getting colder now so they weren't outside as much anymore. She looked around the room to see that nothing had really changed since the last time she was there. Her eyes suddenly stopped on a poster hung above Minako's bed.
Minako was done hiding the cookies from Usagi when she noticed that she was staring at the wall. "You miss them don't you?" Minako said while also looking at the poster of the Three Lights.
"Yeah, doesn't everyone? I wonder how they are?" Usagi was still staring at the poster.
"Yes, we all do miss them. I think that you miss one of them more than the others though." Minako was looking at Usagi stare at the poster. "Is that what has been wrong with you?"
"What are you talking about? I told you before that there's nothing wrong." Usagi broke her gaze to look over at Minako.
"Come on, we're friends. I may not be as good at advice as Rei but I may be able to help out. I can't though if you won't talk to me." Minako moved closer to Usagi as they sat on the floor.
"Yeah right, I could never tell Rei that I like him. Oops." Usagi's hand came up to cover her mouth as to push the words that she just spoke back into her mouth. She knew it was too late. Her secret was out.
"Don't worry, I won't tell her either." Minako smiled a strange grin at Usagi. "Now that I know, now we can talk about it."
Usagi hesitated to say anything else. She knew that it was wrong to have these feelings and didn't really want anyone else to know that she was having them. "I just miss them." She finally said.
"You just miss HIM you mean. It's alright, I thought I saw this going on but ignored it. I figured since they were gone and probably never coming back that you would be alright. But you're not just like I'm not." Minako's gaze dropped as did her tone.
"What do you mean. you saw what going on. and how am I like you." Usagi asked her friend.
"I saw you falling in love with him. I knew that you would stay loyal to Mamoru so I didn't worry about it. I liked that you two spent so much time together. He made you happy, he brought things in you out that I'd never seen before. And besides, when you would hang out with him that would give me an excuse to see Yaten." Minako sighed. She hadn't told anyone about her feelings for him. Sure, they all knew about her obsession over him when he was here, but they all just figured that it was just a little silly crush and thought that it vanished when he left. They were wrong.
"I didn't know you still thought about him. Why didn't you ever say anything?"
"Why didn't you?" Minako turned her question back around on her.
"Its different. You two had a chance, and still do. You have hope." Usagi smiled at her.
"So do you. I don't want you to live your life unhappy. You should do what your heart wants." Minako returned her smile and gave her a hug.
"I am doing what my heart wants." Usagi told her.
"Then you mean you still love Mamoru?" Minako pulled back from the embrace.
Usagi looked at her. "I don't know how to feel about Mamoru, I know I don't love him as I used to. I have no choice but to be with him though. If I ever want to see Chibi-Usa again I have to stay with him." Tears started to well up in her eyes.
Minako gasped, she hadn't thought about that. She couldn't say anything to comfort her so she just held her tight to her body.
When they arrived at the senshi meeting they noticed that the outer were also there. Usagi was very excited to see them and quickly gave them all hugs.
"We decided that we could be of service to you. The situation is getting worse. Hotaru, could you go and play outside?" Haruka glanced at her 'daughter'.
"Sure Haruka-papa." Hotaru ran off outside without a care in the world.
"She was attacked." Michiru said bluntly.
"What do you mean she was attacked? Is she alright?" Makoto asked franticly. The others seemed to become very disturbed also.
"She is physically fine, but they stole her memories of being a sailor senshi. She has no idea who she really is or about any of the other senshi." Setsuna explained. "A woman with bronze skin was kissing her when we found her. When she let go of Hotaru she fell to the ground. Of course we immediately began to attack the woman. We did end up destroying her and all that was left was a robe."
"When Hotaru woke up she saw us transformed around her and asked us who we were." Michiru picked up where Setsuna had left off. "She remembers everything else about her life except that."
Ami interrupted. "Excuse me, but what are sailor senshi?"
Everyone around the room gasped at the question the blue haired girl just asked. "Oh, no. They've gotten to Ami too. We are now two senshi short." Haruka exclaimed. "It took all three of us to destroy the monster, it was very quick and very strong. I'm afraid that if another one attacked us when we weren't in a group then we wouldn't stand a chance."
Usagi looked on her eyes as wide as saucers. "This is horrible. What can we do? How do we get their memories back?"
"We don't know, but what we must find out is why the enemy is taking only the senshi memories and how to find them." Haruka seemed to have fire in her eyes. She looked over at Michiru and transformed. "We can't just sit here, we have to go and find them before they can strike again."
Ami had already left before they transformed to go and check on Hotaru. "Kitten you're staying with me. I'm not letting you out of my sight."
"She is fine with me, I'll take care of her." Mamoru stepped in. Usagi was standing between the two of them. Uranus motioned for Tuxedo Mask to follow her as they lead their discussion outside.
"I will take her with me, not to be offensive Tuxedo Mask, but what can you do to protect her? Really?" Uranus looked at him with empathy. His head just went down, he knew she was right. "You should go to Kinkomu."
"WHAT!" His head immediately jerked up to look Uranus right in the eyes. "Why would I go there? I'm needed here."
"You must go and bring back the Starlights. We are two senshi short now, not to mention Usagi can't transform. We need help." Neptune stepped in.
"Why must I go?" Tuxedo Mask was more than a little hurt.
"As I said before, what can you do?" Uranus was stern. Usagi walked up behind the three of them.
"What's going on? What are you talking about?" She asked innocently. She saw the anger and tension in Tuxedo Mask's eyes and saw Uranus and Neptune standing there as cool as ever.
"I'm going to be staying with you Kitten, Mamoru has to go and get help." Uranus looked at her.
"The Starlights?! You're going to get them aren't you?!" A smile immediately appeared on Usagi's lips as her whole demeanor brightened up.
"Yes, we need all the help we can get." Neptune added. Mamoru didn't appear to be very please with Usagi's excitement. He turned and didn't say a word as he walked off defeated.
The days were growing shorter and colder. There had been many cases of people passing out unexpectedly and being found on the ground. There were no yomas running around so the senshi weren't aware when the enemy was striking.
".She seemed very distant from me today. I know that there is something else on her mind." Mamoru said as he was walking around his apartment picking up. He had the phone nuzzled up between his ear and his shoulder.
"Maybe she's just thinking about the new enemy. You know that its taking its toll on her since she can't transform." Rei offered her advice. She knew that this wasn't what was wrong with Usagi.
"No, it's not that. This has been going on before the new enemy showed up. She spends all of her time with Minako now and she seems to be the only one who can cheer her up."
Mamoru had no hint of emotion to his voice; Rei was having a hard time telling what he was actually thinking. She could always tell what was going through his head just by looking at him, but now that they were on the phone is was near impossible.
"I haven't been able to spend as much time with her as I used to. Why don't you ask Minako about it?" Rei felt bad that she couldn't tell Mamoru what she was actually thinking.
"No, I can't talk to Minako. I don't trust her. She has a big mouth and I don't want Usagi knowing that I'm worrying about her like this." Mamoru was right, if he had told Minako she would have immediately turned around and told Usagi everything. "She doesn't need more stress on top of what she has."
"When did you notice her change in behavior? Maybe that is what is wrong with her." Rei knew that she could never come straight out and tell him what she was thinking so she tried to hint around the subject.
"It started ever since I came back, after the battle with Galaxia. I just assumed that it was the fact that she couldn't be a senshi anymore." Mamoru thought back.
Rei didn't want to tell him so just went along with what he thought. "Maybe your right, maybe that's it. Well I'll talk to you later Mamoru."
"You don't think it's because of him, do you?" Mamoru said this in almost a whisper.
Rei was surprised that Mamoru had voiced her own suspicion and asked "Who?" like she had no idea.
"Oh, never mind, forget I said anything. Goodnight Rei." Mamoru said hurriedly and hung up the phone.
~He's catching on, I don't know if I'm right but if I am, trouble should find us soon.~ Rei hung up the phone and got ready for bed.
Usagi was showing up for the senshi meetings now, she couldn't just sit home and wait for the others to take care of everything. Luna seemed to be very proud of her and how mature she was acting for once. Luna hadn't noticed her strange behavior since she was with Artemis most of the time.
"Usagi, don't forget the meeting at the temple today." Luna reminded her as she left the house.
"I won't Luna, I'm going over to Minako's house now, I'll see you there." Usagi smiled and waved. She made her way to Minako's house and let herself in. "Minako. It's Usagi. Are you here?" She called.
"I'm in the kitchen. come here and help me would you." She called from down the hall.
Usagi walked into the kitchen only to find a disaster area. "What are you doing? Don't tell me your trying to cook."
"No, I tried to cook, now I'm just trying to clean up the aftermath." Minako giggled. The two cleaned up the mess and headed up to Minako's room. "It is my turn to bring something for today's meeting. I guess I should have just bought something as usual."
"Oh well. They taste good anyway." Usagi said putting one of the cookies in her mouth.
"Usagi! Those are for tonight. I just got done telling you that!" Minako smacked her hand.
"I know, I figured I'd test them out for you." Usagi smiled while putting another one in her mouth.
It had been a long time since Usagi had been to Minako's house. They usually hung out outside or at Usagi's house. It was getting colder now so they weren't outside as much anymore. She looked around the room to see that nothing had really changed since the last time she was there. Her eyes suddenly stopped on a poster hung above Minako's bed.
Minako was done hiding the cookies from Usagi when she noticed that she was staring at the wall. "You miss them don't you?" Minako said while also looking at the poster of the Three Lights.
"Yeah, doesn't everyone? I wonder how they are?" Usagi was still staring at the poster.
"Yes, we all do miss them. I think that you miss one of them more than the others though." Minako was looking at Usagi stare at the poster. "Is that what has been wrong with you?"
"What are you talking about? I told you before that there's nothing wrong." Usagi broke her gaze to look over at Minako.
"Come on, we're friends. I may not be as good at advice as Rei but I may be able to help out. I can't though if you won't talk to me." Minako moved closer to Usagi as they sat on the floor.
"Yeah right, I could never tell Rei that I like him. Oops." Usagi's hand came up to cover her mouth as to push the words that she just spoke back into her mouth. She knew it was too late. Her secret was out.
"Don't worry, I won't tell her either." Minako smiled a strange grin at Usagi. "Now that I know, now we can talk about it."
Usagi hesitated to say anything else. She knew that it was wrong to have these feelings and didn't really want anyone else to know that she was having them. "I just miss them." She finally said.
"You just miss HIM you mean. It's alright, I thought I saw this going on but ignored it. I figured since they were gone and probably never coming back that you would be alright. But you're not just like I'm not." Minako's gaze dropped as did her tone.
"What do you mean. you saw what going on. and how am I like you." Usagi asked her friend.
"I saw you falling in love with him. I knew that you would stay loyal to Mamoru so I didn't worry about it. I liked that you two spent so much time together. He made you happy, he brought things in you out that I'd never seen before. And besides, when you would hang out with him that would give me an excuse to see Yaten." Minako sighed. She hadn't told anyone about her feelings for him. Sure, they all knew about her obsession over him when he was here, but they all just figured that it was just a little silly crush and thought that it vanished when he left. They were wrong.
"I didn't know you still thought about him. Why didn't you ever say anything?"
"Why didn't you?" Minako turned her question back around on her.
"Its different. You two had a chance, and still do. You have hope." Usagi smiled at her.
"So do you. I don't want you to live your life unhappy. You should do what your heart wants." Minako returned her smile and gave her a hug.
"I am doing what my heart wants." Usagi told her.
"Then you mean you still love Mamoru?" Minako pulled back from the embrace.
Usagi looked at her. "I don't know how to feel about Mamoru, I know I don't love him as I used to. I have no choice but to be with him though. If I ever want to see Chibi-Usa again I have to stay with him." Tears started to well up in her eyes.
Minako gasped, she hadn't thought about that. She couldn't say anything to comfort her so she just held her tight to her body.
When they arrived at the senshi meeting they noticed that the outer were also there. Usagi was very excited to see them and quickly gave them all hugs.
"We decided that we could be of service to you. The situation is getting worse. Hotaru, could you go and play outside?" Haruka glanced at her 'daughter'.
"Sure Haruka-papa." Hotaru ran off outside without a care in the world.
"She was attacked." Michiru said bluntly.
"What do you mean she was attacked? Is she alright?" Makoto asked franticly. The others seemed to become very disturbed also.
"She is physically fine, but they stole her memories of being a sailor senshi. She has no idea who she really is or about any of the other senshi." Setsuna explained. "A woman with bronze skin was kissing her when we found her. When she let go of Hotaru she fell to the ground. Of course we immediately began to attack the woman. We did end up destroying her and all that was left was a robe."
"When Hotaru woke up she saw us transformed around her and asked us who we were." Michiru picked up where Setsuna had left off. "She remembers everything else about her life except that."
Ami interrupted. "Excuse me, but what are sailor senshi?"
Everyone around the room gasped at the question the blue haired girl just asked. "Oh, no. They've gotten to Ami too. We are now two senshi short." Haruka exclaimed. "It took all three of us to destroy the monster, it was very quick and very strong. I'm afraid that if another one attacked us when we weren't in a group then we wouldn't stand a chance."
Usagi looked on her eyes as wide as saucers. "This is horrible. What can we do? How do we get their memories back?"
"We don't know, but what we must find out is why the enemy is taking only the senshi memories and how to find them." Haruka seemed to have fire in her eyes. She looked over at Michiru and transformed. "We can't just sit here, we have to go and find them before they can strike again."
Ami had already left before they transformed to go and check on Hotaru. "Kitten you're staying with me. I'm not letting you out of my sight."
"She is fine with me, I'll take care of her." Mamoru stepped in. Usagi was standing between the two of them. Uranus motioned for Tuxedo Mask to follow her as they lead their discussion outside.
"I will take her with me, not to be offensive Tuxedo Mask, but what can you do to protect her? Really?" Uranus looked at him with empathy. His head just went down, he knew she was right. "You should go to Kinkomu."
"WHAT!" His head immediately jerked up to look Uranus right in the eyes. "Why would I go there? I'm needed here."
"You must go and bring back the Starlights. We are two senshi short now, not to mention Usagi can't transform. We need help." Neptune stepped in.
"Why must I go?" Tuxedo Mask was more than a little hurt.
"As I said before, what can you do?" Uranus was stern. Usagi walked up behind the three of them.
"What's going on? What are you talking about?" She asked innocently. She saw the anger and tension in Tuxedo Mask's eyes and saw Uranus and Neptune standing there as cool as ever.
"I'm going to be staying with you Kitten, Mamoru has to go and get help." Uranus looked at her.
"The Starlights?! You're going to get them aren't you?!" A smile immediately appeared on Usagi's lips as her whole demeanor brightened up.
"Yes, we need all the help we can get." Neptune added. Mamoru didn't appear to be very please with Usagi's excitement. He turned and didn't say a word as he walked off defeated.
