Heartsick
By Samantha Gold

Disclaimer: I don't own Usagi, Mamoru, or any of the characters in this story! They belong to Takeuchi-sama, I'm just borrowing them!
Author's Note: This is set in first season. It's somewhere before the episode after the last nizuishou is found, but before Sailormoon loses the senshi's nizuishou. This fic contains Japanese words.
Part: 1

Usagi squeezed her eyes shut tighter as she felt the world spin. She pushed her head into her arms, which formed a pillow on her desk. She figured that if she could just make it through this class…just through this one class, that maybe she'd be all right.

"Asleep again, Tsukino-san?"

It took Usagi a few moments to respond as she lifted up her head, blinking and trying to get her burning, uncooperative eyes to focus for her. She clutched her right temple with her hand as the dizziness set in once again and drew in a shaky breath.

"Iie, gomen, Haruna-sensei," she murmured.

"Are you not feeling well?" Her voice softened, concerned.

A coughing fit overtook Usagi then and she almost fell out of her chair, the hand she used to brace herself against the desk being the only thing keeping her upright. She shook her head miserably.

"Go see the nurse," Haruna instructed. "Do you need someone to walk you there?"

"I'll be fine…" Usagi mumbled as she shook her head a second time.

With a great effort, she lifted herself from her desk and stumbled out of the room and down the hall. After being examined by the nurse, she was sent home as she had assured her that she could would be all right walking home – her parents were out of town until later that evening and would not be able to come and get her.

* * * * *

'One foot in front of the other now…' Usagi thought to herself as she struggled down the street. 'Step…step…step…'

"Hey, Odango Atama! Cutting class? Probably not a good idea considering that you're failing as it is!"

Mamoru had spotted the fourteen-year old blonde that he enjoyed teasing so much shuffling down the street. Not one to pass up opportunity, he'd called out the first thing that had sprung to his mind, hoping to anger her. Unfortunately for him, she didn't acknowledge him. Frowning, he called after her again, using the "Odango Atama" nickname that usually infuriated her and turned her little cheeks a pretty pink that, if he were completely honest with himself, he would admit that he found very attractive.

She never heard him and continued walking slowly down the street, her head and eyes downcast. He studied her for a few moments, trying to decide whether or not she had actually heard him or was simply ignoring him.

He did not get too far in his thoughts, however, for the younger girl's trembling legs suddenly gave out from underneath her and she was suddenly on the ground. Ironically, she was a much more graceful picture than she usually was when she'd fallen. Perhaps it was the fact that her skirt hadn't flown up like was its custom, or maybe it was because she lay there gently, her amazingly long golden hair pooling around her. It could be how her long legs were curled up beneath her and hadn't moved since she fell. She hadn't moved at all, actually, the arm that had come up unconsciously to cradle her head resting there, while the other arm was tucked up against her body safely, the hand staying palm down on the ground by her face.

He watched her worriedly, waiting for her to jump up and scream. When she didn't, he hurried over to her and kneeled down next to her. Brushing a sunlit strand from her face, he saw that her lids were closed and that she seemed to be asleep.

Mamoru shook his head at that. He teased her a lot about her awful habits, like sleeping, but he knew she wasn't normally this bad! She wouldn't simply fall asleep in the middle of walking. Unsure of what was wrong, he allowed his hand to rest on her face and jerked it back as soon as it touched in alarm. She was hotter than one of Mars's flame attacks!

"What are you doing out here like this?" he murmured to her quietly, looking around in an attempt to spot one of her friends or at least someone that she knew – and liked – better than him. It was ineffectual, however, and all he saw were strangers in every direction.

"You're going to owe me big after this, Usa," he mumbled as he gently scooped her into his arms. He was surprised to realize that she was quivering from the fever she had.

"Calm down," he told himself firmly, going over his options out loud. "She's obviously sick and she needs someone to take care of her temporarily. I don't know where she lives, so I can't take her home. Hell, I don't even know where any of her friends live! I could take her to the arcade and let Motoki-kun deal with her…but that's a few blocks away and that wouldn't be fair to either of them." He glanced up at a nearby street sign, to remind him where they were. "Okay…we're not too far away from my apartment. I'll take her there and when I get her to wake up, she can tell me where she lives and I can take her home." He nodded to himself absently, satisfied with his solution.

With that decided, Chiba Mamoru made off to his apartment, Usagi held safely in his arms.

* * * * *

She stirred restlessly, a painful moan escaping her lips and her eyelids began to flutter gently. He stilled, going so far as to hold his breath. Tsukino Usagi was lying on his couch, two blankets wrapped around her tiny form. A large bowl of cool water rested on the floor beside him and he had been in the process of placing a cold, damp cloth on her forehead when she'd stirred.

After a few minutes of disoriented blinking, her eyes focused on him, and her eyes betrayed her confusion.

"M – Mamo…?" She questioned; her voice was weak and strained. Her throat was on fire, her lips felt parched, and she was almost certain that she was hallucinating.

He remembered to breathe again and inhaled the sweet air into his lungs. He gently removed the already hot cloth from her forehead and dipped it into the bowl at his side. He rung it out gently over the dish, allowing the excess water to fall back into it. The cloth was cool once more and he returned it to her forehead.

"Shh," he murmured tenderly, offering her a slight smile. "You just need to rest…"

She licked her dry lips, both to soothe them and out of nervous habit. She wanted to argue with him, ask him what was happening, but she was so tired…and her head was pounding like a drum…and why was the world spinning so?

Of course, this all had to be a dream. How else could you explain her situation? Here was her worst enemy fussing over her like…like someone that cared.

On the other hand, dreams were usually pleasant things. And while having a handsome guy like Mamoru treating her well was rather pleasant, – and the mere fact that it was _Mamoru_ acting nice seemed to prove it was a dream – dreams didn't usually involve dizziness, a tight chest, and caustic orbs.

'Maybe I'm not dreaming,' she considered. 'Maybe the sickness is making me hallucinate. If I close my eyes, he'll disappear.'

So she closed her eyes, moving a shaky hand to slide the cloth down over her burning eyes, soothing them slightly. After a few moments, she flipped it over, then moved it back to her forehead. She opened her eyes again and saw that he was still there. Was it possible that she wasn't hallucinating?

"Where am I?" she asked finally, in a quiet voice.

She didn't hear his answer as Usagi tried to remember back to before she'd awoken in Chiba Mamoru's apartment. At least, she assumed that it was his apartment…and if she'd been paying attention, she would've had her suspicion confirmed. Ignoring the pain that thinking brought, she remembered back to earlier, when she'd been feeling as awful as she did presently. She could remember Haruna-sensei sending her to see the nurse and the nurse sending her home. And she could remember walking along Tokyo's streets in her house's directions. But she couldn't remember making it home. Had she…?

"Did I…faint?"

He nodded. "Hai. You're lucky I was there, Odango. Something could've happened to you."

"Why do you care?" she sniffed.

He didn't offer an answer to that, but simply removed the once more heated cloth from her forehead and dampened it as he had before. When he replaced it on her brow, he allowed his fingers to linger just a moment longer than necessary against the hot skin of her face. He noted with satisfaction that she was somewhat cooler than she'd been earlier, though not by much.

"You have a fever," he commented instead. "You really need to rest."

She closed her eyes slowly, then opened them again, peering at him tiredly through heavy lids. It was odd, being in his apartment, and even odder having him fuss over her as though – as though he didn't hate her – especially now that she knew it wasn't a dream. Nevertheless she wasn't sure that she could allow herself to just fall asleep with him. After all, that took trust. Rationally, she knew that he'd already watched over her while she was unconscious, and she knew that he had helped her even though he didn't have to, but she wasn't necessarily a rational person…

"I'm not tired," she stated stubbornly, although the truth of the matter was that she was completely drained.

"Don't be silly," he chided her. "You must be debilitated!"

"I can't be dibilated if I don't know what it means."

"Debilitated. It means exhausted," he provided.

"Oh," she paused, then added defiantly, "Am not!"

"Well," he began amicably, "if you're not, then we can call your parents and get you home, right?"

"My parents are out," she muttered. "They won't be home until at least five."

"It's quarter after."

She looked surprised, though he wasn't sure. Her eyes still held that cloudy look due to the illness she had. "I was out that long, huh?"

"I'm afraid so, Odango-chan."

"That one's new," she smiled slightly.

"I'm creative," he responded, returning the smile. "Now, you stay here and I'm going to get you a phone, all right?"

"Okay."

He placed the cool cloth so that it reached from one temple to the other, pressing his fingers over it gently so that it contoured to her forehead. And upon completing that task, he left the room. He returned not a minute later, a cordless phone in his hand.

"You can call…" he trailed off.

She was sound asleep.

He sighed softly, quietly returning to the kitchen to replace the phone in its cradle. She'd just have to call later… He hoped that her parents didn't worry too much, but she hadn't seemed all that concerned and that hopefully meant that it would be all right. As well, he reminded himself that she often had an hour of detention after school, followed by hours spent at the arcade. Sometimes she even went out with her friends after that! It should be fine…

* * * * *

She stirred just over half an hour later, her fever having finally broken. That, however, had left her with after-chills and she clutched at the blankets tightly, pulling them up to her neck. This had not gone unnoticed by Mamoru.

With surprising gentleness that she never would have suspected him capable of, at least not before today, he brushed her bangs out of her face and murmured, comfortingly, "It's okay…You're going to be just fine…"

She nodded somewhat numbly and struggled to sit up. He slipped an arm under her lower back and helped prop her up. Now sitting, she rubbed at her bleary eyes tiredly.

"Are you still dizzy?" he questioned, rubbing her shoulder in a soothing manner with the arm that still hooked around her for support.

She started shaking her head from side to side, then stopped, pressing a hand to her temple. "Only when I do that," she muttered.

He couldn't help but chuckle good-naturedly. "Well, you look much better," he informed her.

"Thanks…I think," she said. Pulling at the shirt of her uniform uncomfortably, which was sticky with her feverish sweat, she kept her gaze down and quietly questioned, "Um, Mamoru-san, do you think I could use your shower? I'm…"

"Sure, Odango," he smiled. "It's just over that way," he pointed, "first door to your right. There should already be fresh towels and everything you need in there."

She smiled gratefully at him. "Arigato."

"Do itashimashite," he replied, gently helping her to her feet.

Slowly, on shaky legs, she made her way through his apartment, soon disappearing behind the bathroom door. He heard the shuffling of clothing, punctuated by an "ew, gross" from the bunny, followed by the sound of running water.

He laughed quietly to himself. She was quite a character, his Usa… He froze. His Usa? Now where had that come from? He shook it off, convincing himself that he had managed to catch whatever bug Usagi had and that it was doing weird things to his brain. Yes, that was all…

* * * * *

"Motoki-kun, you're really going to have to give this a rest." Mamoru waited patiently while his friend continued to ramble on, on the other end of the phone. He couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes though; knowing that Motoki couldn't see him. He counted to ten before responding. "Look, I just don't have time for a girl, okay? It just wouldn't fit into my schedule. You know how busy I've been lately." He paused when Motoki interrupted him. "Hai, I _could_ make time if I really wanted to, but you're missing the point here. I really don't…" he trailed off, his eyes growing wide and his self-control barely keeping his jaw off the floor.

Usagi stood a few feet ahead of him, wearing nothing but a fluffy white towel that she'd wrapped around herself. She held it to her body awkwardly, tugging at the bottom of it as though that would make it stretch – it only reached mid-thigh after all. Her long hair appeared even longer now that it was down from its odangoes and wet. Her bangs fell into her eyes messily, yet they didn't look messy at all. Rather, they gave her an almost mysterious effect and she seemed kind of, okay very, sex…

'Don't even _think_ about finishing that thought,' he told himself firmly.

"Hold on a second," he muttered to Motoki, muffling the phone against his chest. He couldn't stop his eyes from sweeping over her a second time and she blushed under his look, though it was difficult to tell as she was already flushed.

"I, um…clothing," she stuttered. "My uniform's all crumply and smells like sickness," she made a face at that, "do you…do you have anything clean that I can wear? This towel's not exactly cutting it." She smiled wryly.

"Um, sure," he said. "Just go into my bedroom – it's the door across from the bathroom – and if you look in the tall dresser, you should find sweats in the, uh, second drawer…they should fit."

"Arigato," she murmured quietly, turning and heading towards his bedroom.

He watched her go wordlessly, before finally returning to his telephone conversation.

"Motoki-kun? You still there?"

"Hai," came Motoki's voice over the phone. "But Mamoru-kun, what was that pounding? Did you put the phone on top of the washing machine or something? Because I don't remember you having a washing machine…Then again, I don't remember ever hearing a washing machine bang so fast."

Mamoru didn't answer for a few seconds; his eyes still riveted on the door, which the young blonde had disappeared behind. Then his words floated back to him.

'You should find sweats in the second drawer.'

The colour drained away from his face completely.

"Mamoru-kun? …Mamoru-kun?"

"Oh shimatta," he muttered. "I'll have to call you back." And he hung up the phone abruptly, without giving Motoki a chance to reply.

He ran towards his bedroom after Usagi as quickly as he could without thought – actually, there was a thought. One single thought chorused over and over in his brain fearfully: "She's going to find them, going to find out."

He barged into the room, which he probably wouldn't have done had he had any other thoughts in his head at that moment. He might have considered the fact that he'd sent her off to _change_, to get dressed.

She could have been naked.

Fortunately for him, she wasn't. (Now you may not think so, but believe me, it is indeed fortunate. Because if she had been, he would _not_ have lived very long.)

Unfortunately for him, his fear was realized as she heard him enter (how could she not?) and turned around slowly, still donning the white towel. He could see his second drawer open behind her, but that wasn't what had his focus. While her left hand continued to hold up the snow-coloured cloth, the other was held slightly outstretched before her, palm up. In her palm, three small crystals – one orange, one blue, and one violet – rested, shimmering in the light of the room. _That_ was what had his focus.

Her already large blue eyes had widened even further curiously. "Mamoru?" she breathed. "Why do you have three nizuishou?"

"I…" he trailed off helplessly. "You weren't supposed to see those." Frustrated, he brushed past her, slamming the second drawer and causing her to wince, but not to turn. He opened the drawer beneath it and pulled out a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt. "Here," he muttered, in a semi-state of shock and all but throwing them at her. "I believe you were looking for these."

"A-arigato," she murmured, accepting them. She laid the trio of crystals down on the bed and murmured a "gomen" before slipping from the room to the bathroom so that she could change as she had originally intended.

It was only after she'd left that rational thought returned. Suddenly, it occurred to him.

'How did she know what they were??'

* * * * *

Usagi slipped out of the bathroom tentatively, tugging up on the too-large pants that she wore while she searched around for Mamoru. She spotted him sitting on the couch, appearing to be deep in thought.

Bravely, she tried to stand up straighter, ignoring the ache throughout her muscles. She closed her eyes in an attempt to gain control and composure. She needed to look as though she was no longer ill, so that he would let her leave as soon as possible. She didn't know what to make of her accidental discovery, but she felt extremely nervous now and she didn't want to face him.

She walked slowly, praying that she could at least make it to the door before he noticed her. On her third step, however, her footing faltered in a temporary spell of blindness and the carpeted floor made a creaking sound. She glared at the spot her foot occupied, knowing her prayer hadn't been heard.

Mamoru looked up from his spot on the sofa, his eyes pinning her where she stood.

"Err, um, Mamoru-san," she acknowledged. "I – I'm feeling much better now, really I am, so I thought that, um, that I should walk home now."

"Odango, you don't really think that – "

"Iie, really, I'll be fine," she assured him as she held up a hand to silence him. Bad move. The raised hand threw her balance off significantly in her vulnerable state and she teetered before her knees buckled and she came crashing to the ground painfully. She turned her eyes upwards, cursing whatever god was up there, laughing at her expense.

"You'll be fine, will you?" He stood up and she knew beyond a shadow of doubt that after seeing her recent display of how fine she wasn't that he'd never let her go out alone. "I find that really hard to believe…especially considering that you couldn't even take two steps without falling over."

"Three," she corrected absently, missing the point that he'd already known that she was there, even before she stumbled – that he had most likely been waiting for her.

He shrugged. "If it had been one of your normal klutz attacks, that would be one thing. But you're sick, Odango. I can't let you just go off on your own. What if you were to faint again??"

She swallowed, looking down at the ground. "I know, but…"

"But you don't want to face my questions?"

She brought her startled eyes up to his face. Questions? Why would he….oh no. Luna was going to kill her.

"Questions? What questions?" she asked dumbly, trying to act as blond as most thought her.

He shot her a look. "How did you know what they were?"

"What what was?" she forced her eyes as wide as possible, feigning innocence. However, he wasn't buying it, she could see by the suspicion clouding his eyes, and the enlargement of her visual organs was hurting her eyes. She opted, instead, for a defeated sigh, while he elaborated for her benefit.

"How did you know what the crystals were?"

"I…um, read about it!" she enthused. "I was reading this article in the – the newspaper yesterday and it was talking about them! Did you read it? It was a really good article…" She nodded in what she hoped was a convincing manner.

It wasn't.

"You don't read the paper."

"What? Of course I do!" she lied.

"If you're going to lie," he told her, "lie well. You should at the very least know what you're lying about – and whom you're lying to. I read the paper everyday, I think I'd remember an article about that."

"It must have been a different newspaper."

"Really? Which paper would that be?"

She swallowed nervously. "I…I'm feeling dizzy again," she muttered, only half-lying. "I'm going to go to the bathroom."

She walked off, ignoring his calls after her as she slipped through the door, shutting and locking it behind her, then allowing her weight to rest against the wood before sliding down it wearily. He'd caught her in her lie, so now what could she say?

'"How did I know it was a ninzuishou? Why, because I'm Sailormoon of course! You know, leader of the Sailor Senshi? I'm sure you've heard of them before…oh, and speaking of the ninzuishou, we're collecting them, so I need to ask for the three you have, okay?" Yeah, that would go over well.'

She sighed.

'Then again, he never answered my question in the first place…what is Chiba Mamoru doing with three ninzuishou? I thought Luna said that there were only seven… I have one, Zoicite stole three of them, and the other three…but why would he have them? He – he couldn't…'

A familiar beeping noise interrupted her thoughts. 'Oh no…'

She brought herself to her feet and turned on the water as high as it would go to block out all of the noise. Reaching into her sub-dimensional pocket, she pulled out her calculator communicator and pressed a button. Rei's face appeared in the tiny circular screen.

"Attack at the park," she told her. "Get your butt over there now! The youma's really big and even uglier. We need Sailormoon and soon! Over and out."

"But Rei-chan…"

It was futile, for Rei's face had already been replaced by static. She sighed, closing her end of the connection and returning the communicator to her sub-space cavity. Now how in the world was she going to get past Mamoru?

An idea struck her like lightning and she smiled. Maybe she could do this after all. The water still running, she held up her hand, rasping, "Moon Prism Power, Make up!"

Seconds later, she stood as Sailormoon in front of the bathroom mirror, feeling stronger than she had before, if only marginally. Cupping her hand to the door, she yelled, forcing her voice to maintain the pitch that Usagi used, rather than that she was familiar with using as Tokyo's famed superheroine.

"Mamoru-san, my stomach is doing a number on me, do you think you could get me some old towels of yours?"

"Hold on, Usa," he called back. He sounded concerned and…pained. That was strange… "I'm going to leave them by the door and then I'm going to have to…go for a few minutes, is that okay?"

She frowned. That was also a change. "Sure," she agreed, waiting until his footsteps had disappeared before peeking her head out. Coast clear. Taking a deep breath, she made a dash to the balcony and slipped out, then jumped to the next building, heading in the direction of the park. She ignored the burning in her lungs and the way the world swirled every now and then…She was Sailormoon and she would just have to be sick on her own time.

Meanwhile, back in his apartment, Mamoru had returned with the towels, practically rolling with the pain that was caused by the suppression of his transformation. He fell over finally, landing in front of the bathroom door and he noticed that it was open – and she was not inside. A quick glance around told him that she'd left through the balcony, though he wasn't quite sure how. All he knew was that she'd escaped.

He groaned, but decided that he would deal with that later. For now, it was actually convenient. He allowed the transformation to occur and stood up as Tuxedo Kamen, leaving from the same balcony she had and feeling for the link that connected him to Sailormoon. It was considerably weaker than normal, but it led him to the battle all the same.

He arrived only moments after she had and he swept into the cover of a nearby tree, waiting for the moment when he would be needed to protect the female warrior that he felt so insanely drawn to. He didn't know why, but he knew that he would give his life to save her if need be in a second. His life was nothing if not to protect her.

"What's the matter with you, Sailormoon?!? Watch out! You're going to get yourself killed!!"

That was Sailormars, forever on the leader of the senshi's case. Her screaming effectively moved Moon out of the way of an energy blast before it was too late, though, making it impossible for her to complain, as much as she might have liked to.

Studying the battle from his lurking place, he found his attention focused on Sailormoon, as always. And he couldn't help but feel that something was…off about her. She was moving slower than usual and faltering more often than normal. He focused on the link again in an attempt to understand what was wrong.

Within seconds, he was feeling what she was. Her pain was his pain, but the surprise was all his own.

From everything he could tell, Sailormoon was very ill.

'It's just a coincidence,' he told himself firmly. 'Only a coincidence, nothing more…'

At that moment, Sailormoon made a costly slipup. Yet another dizzy spell, he empathized, threw her completely off balance and hurtling straight towards the beam of negative energy that she had been trying to avoid.

He made a bunch of roses out of thin air and sent them flying as quickly as possible between the attack and the girl. He willed energy into them and the beam was stopped. He found himself jumping down from his place in the tree, skipping his traditional haiku. He had too many things on his mind to try and think up poetry anyway. Landing beside the sailor soldier, he didn't hesitate to lift her into his arms, jumping out of the way of a second dark beam.

He heard Jupiter shouting out her attack behind him as he landed near the bushes, not all that sure what shelter or protection he thought they would offer.

Sailormoon was groaning in his arms, muttering something about swirls and drums. He wasn't sure exactly what she was talking about, but he figured that it had something to do with the headache that she was feeding him through her end of the link.

He took a moment to study her features, something that he'd tried many times before, though it had never helped much in the past. Even though he could see her, he couldn't at the same time. It was as though there was a mask over her face…no, not so much a mask, but a shield. Some form of magic, he guessed, used to protect her identity. In many ways it was more efficient then his domino kamen, which could fall off or be removed. He didn't know how to get past hers.

Nevertheless, examine her he did. He already knew that she had the most beautiful pair of blue eyes that he'd ever seen – well, one of them, anyway – but her eyes looked especially clouded today, not unlike that different pair of eyes. Or were they?

He cut off the thought. 'Probably just part of that glamour.'

Funny, though, how the glamour didn't hide the pink flush of her cheeks. Oh yes, very funny, wasn't it? And she shivered helplessly, every now and then. Glamour couldn't hide the case of a girl with the chills.

There appeared to be too many coincidences, even as his mind tried to deny them.

"T-Tuxedo Kamen-sama?" she whispered worriedly, feeling uncomfortable under his scrutinizing gaze.

He shook his head in an attempt to clear it and focus.

"You shouldn't be fighting in your condition, Sailormoon."

"What do you mean?"

"Kami-sama, you're ill! You're barely able to walk and you're trying to fight!"

"Barely able to walk?" she echoed, an almost panicked look shading her features. Hadn't Mamoru said something like that earlier to her? It was just a coincidence, right?

'Hai,' she attempted to convince herself. 'Just a fluke. No way Mamoru-baka could actually be Tuxedo Kamen-sama! That would just be too weird! Never mind that I found three nizuishou in his room today, or…no, no, no, no, no!'

"Yeah, you're falling down, what, every two steps?"

"Thr – " she began, but cut herself off abruptly. After all, if that nagging suspicion of hers was right and he was who she couldn't help but guess him to be, then he would be able to recognize similarities too, wouldn't he? So, instead, she said, "Not dead yet."

"Key word being 'yet'."

"They need me, okay?" She looked over at her Senshi to see that, sure enough, they were struggling and looking quite roughed up without her. "I'm a Senshi. That means that I don't get to choose when I fight and when I don't." She pulled herself out of his arms roughly. "So if you'll excuse me, I have a battle to fight."

"And how are you going to fight?" he called after her. "What energy are you going to channel, huh? Because you don't have enough to spare!"

She didn't answer. She couldn't think about that.

"What's he talking about, Sailormoon?" Jupiter questioned when she came up behind her.

She shrugged. "I don't know, he's just being weird." Then, in a louder voice used for his benefit alone, "He's probably just upset that there's no new nizuishou for him to grab!"

Sailorjupiter laughed. "He really ticked you off, ne?"

"Hai, I guess you could say – ahhh!"

"Sailormoon, get down!" Jupiter shouted as she tackled the bishoujo senshi of love and justice to the ground, barely preventing her from getting hit. Now her eyes were full of concern. "What's wrong? You didn't even see that coming did you?"

"Iie, I – " she began shaking her head, as much to answer the question as to push away the dizziness. Her head refused to clear at all this time. One tends to get light-headed when they've had a fever, are sick, and yet continue to jump around while fighting for their life.

"Oh, Kami-sama! How did you get so hot? Who needs Mars with skin as heated as yours around?!" Jupiter exclaimed when Sailormoon's cheek managed to come into contact with her upper arm. "You're sick, aren't you?"

"Hai," Moon whispered softly, lowering her eyes.

Jupiter's eyes lifted to the battlefield and she took everything in quickly. She jumped up and off of Sailormoon rapidly, then grabbed her around the waist, lifting her up.

"We can't have you in danger, girl."

"But you guys need me."

"Exactly, which is why we need to keep you out of danger."

"But what about all of you? Can you beat it on your own?"

"We can try."

"That's not good enough!" she cried, paining her raw throat further. She pulled herself from Jupiter's arms and almost fell over.

"It'll have to be! Like Tuxedo Kamen-sama said, how are you going to fight? You don't have enough energy to channel through the moon wand."

"I'll use my tiara!"

"That takes energy too!"

Before Sailormoon could use another argument, she was struck out of nowhere by one of the energy blasts that Mercury and Mars had been attempting to dodge while Mercury analyzed and the pair of pony-tailed girls argued. No one had seen it coming until it was too late and she was sent flying several feet in the air from the force of the blow.

"SAILORMOON!"

Jupiter ran over to her and reached her at roughly the same time that Tuxedo Kamen did. Sailormoon's eyelids were closed.

"She – she's not getting up!"

Tuxedo Kamen put his fingers to her neck, trying to find a pulse. After a few seconds, he cursed, pulled off one of his gloves and replaced the digits. This time he found it. Bringing his face close to hers, he could hear her faint breathing and his face relaxed with relief.

"She's alive; she'll be okay."

"Thank Kami," Jupiter whispered. She looked to the man across from her. "How did you know that she was sick?"

His eyebrows knit together. "The same way as you, I guess," he answered casually. "Look at her, it's kind of hard to miss."

"Hai…"

"AIIIIE!" A female scream reached their ears and a flash of red flew by them, followed by a second shout of "Mars, no!"

"This is _not_ good," Jupiter muttered.

"I – I'm okay," Mars assured them, standing painfully. "But we can't kill this thing on our own. Mercury? Did you find anything yet?"

Mercury nodded, giving her earring a tug. The visor disappeared and she returned her palmtop to her subspace. "We need to use a combination attack on it," she informed them.

"So if the three of us attack at once we can fry this yaro?" the Senshi in the green fuku demanded.

"Iie, I'm afraid not," Mercury frowned. "The three of us don't have enough power on our own and I'm not even sure how we can optimize our attack." She dove out of the way as a sharp claw swung at her, a warning for having gotten too close to the youma.

Another scream rang through the air. This time, however, it did not belong to a senshi, but to the youma. A beam of light had sliced clear through the arm it had swung and it was clutching at the wound now, in obvious pain.

"Maybe I can help then."

The three conscious Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen turned to see the source of the new voice. It had come from what looked like a fifth senshi. She had blonde hair that reached just past her waist and her fuku was orange and blue. A red and white mask covered her eyes, but she whipped it off, tossing it to reveal sea-blue eyes while she gave a "V for victory" sign with her fingers.

"Who are you?" the only male around demanded suspiciously.

"I'm Sailorvenus," she replied. "The Senshi of love."

She jumped down from the statue she stood upon, landing as gracefully as a cat – obviously a skilled warrior. She then pulled out her henshin stick. It was identical to that of the other soldiers, the only difference being its colours and symbol.

"Artemis explained how this works for me. Putting our henshin sticks together, we can call upon the power of our planet and channel that energy at an opponent. It's the senshi's strongest assault – the sailor planet attack."

Mars and Jupiter looked from Venus to Mercury, back again, then settled on the blue-haired girl finally.

"Mercury?" Jupiter questioned.

"Uh," she paused, whipping out her palmtop and reactivating her visor. She clicked on the keys and took a few readings before nodding. "It appears to be logical as well as legitimate."

"Right," Mars said slowly, not understanding Ami completely, but she figured that she meant that they could trust Sailorvenus. After all, she was a senshi just like them. "So we should probably do this before youma-breath over there decides to stop jumping around, clutching its arm like a ninny and attack us again, ne?"

"Hai."

The four senshi stepped together, reaching into their sub-dimensional pockets and pulling out their henshin sticks, clanging them together.

"Here goes nothing," Jupiter muttered.

Sailorvenus started them off. "Venus Power!"

"Mercury Power!"

"Mars Power!"

"Jupiter Power!"

"Sailor Planet Attack!" they finished in unison.

The four coloured beams, blue, red, green, and yellow, shot out of the wands and merged together in a larger, more powerful ray that hit the youma dead on, dusting it immediately.

Afterwards, their bodies sagged visibly from the expense of energy. They managed weary smiles though.

"We did it."

"Good. Now let's hope that we never have to again."

"I know. Kami-sama, is this how Sailormoon feels every time after she uses the moon wand? I'll never call her a baka again!"

"I somehow doubt that."

"Well, not after a fight, anyway."

Sailorvenus just listened to the girls' tired commenting while she regained her energy. So this was what she was joining? So far it wasn't that bad. And, aside from the aching of her body from sending out so much energy, she rather enjoyed it.

"Speaking of Sailormoon, we should probably check on her," she said at last.

The girls nodded, turning to where their leader lay in Tuxedo Kamen's arms. Or rather, where she _had_ lain. She was gone – and so was he.

"Oh shimatta."

* * * * *

TBC...Please R&R! Feedback is my inspiration ^_^