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: 2

Tuxedo Kamen peered down at the battered and afflicted body that was curled against his chest as he jumped from building to building. He wasn't sure where he was taking her though they were headed in the direction of his apartment.

He now knew who the heroine in his arms really was. He'd suspected the Odango Atama ever since she'd discovered his nizuishou, but now he was positive beyond all doubt.

He remembered not twenty minutes earlier, mere seconds after the arrival of the new Sailor Senshi, Sailorvenus. The attention of the other soldiers had been on the newcomer and they'd forgotten about the two of them all together.

She'd stirred then, opening her eyes and mumbling something about how she couldn't seem to focus them. He'd told her to just trust his voice and that she would be okay. She'd asked how she had gotten back in his apartment, at which point he echoed her question, somewhat unsure. That was when she'd called him by name – his real name. He'd glanced at the others worriedly and corrected her quietly, using his pseudonym. Her eyes had gone incredibly wide before collapsing close.

He had picked her up and moved so that they were hidden behind a tree. He had then waited to make sure that the Senshi were okay and that the youma was defeated. They had and he whisked her off, before they could look for her.

Now, here they were. And she was stirring again.

Her lids cracked apart gently and she blinked a few times before studying him carefully. He assumed that her eyes were focusing better for her now.

After a few moments she asked, "Where are we going?"

"I think you know," he answered quietly.

She groaned, burying her head further into the broad and firm planes of his chest. "My head's clanging like a cheap gong," she muttered. "I don't know anything."

"That one's new," he responded, giving her a little half smile with the hint.

She shut her eyes, remembering an earlier conversation when she'd said that, and used his words to answer him: "I'm creative."

"See?" he murmured. "You do know."

Nodding against his chest, she mumbled, "How did this happen?"

He only chuckled as he landed on the balcony, reaching around her to open the sliding door, letting them both in.

"How do you feel?"

"Like a two-year old piece of used chewing gum that just got peeled off the bottom of the shoe it'd been stuck to for twenty months and instead got fed to a huge slobbery dragon. And you?"

He smiled wryly, wondering where she came up with her colourful analogies. "A little better than that. Are you well enough to de-henshin?"

She nodded. "The baggy clothing will probably be more comfortable anyway."

"Okay."

He waited.

Nothing happened.

He waited some more.

Still nothing.

"Uh, Sailormoon?"

She sighed. "I need you to turn around first."

"I can't watch?"

"Iie!"

"Why not? I already figured out your identity, Usagi-chan," he used her real name pointedly.

"Which is very nice, but that doesn't give you the right to see me naked."

He choked, visions of her slight form donning only his white towel dancing before his eyes. Then his mind removed the towel for him and he quickly reddened, willing the image from his mind, lest she could somehow discern his thoughts from looking at him. After all, for all he knew, the link could work both ways! Now wouldn't _that_ be embarrassing!

"N – naked?"

She sighed, oblivious to his red cheeks. "I'm guessing your transformation is different?"

"Uh, hai," he turned around quickly. As she de-transformed behind him, he felt a relaxing tingle in the base of his neck and with it he allowed his transformation to melt away. "Can I turn now?"

"Hai."

He spun lightly on his feet to face her now that they had both returned to civilian clothing. Their eyes met and he realized how close they were. How very close…

"So, um, you're Tuxedo Kamen," she stated, breaking the trance their gazes had woven on one another. "Wow."

"Surprised?" he asked, his voice deeper than normal. She nodded slightly, then stopped, wincing. "You really should stop doing that," he whispered, then after a beat confirmed, "And you're Sailormoon."

"Uh huh," she agreed. She looked up at him through her lashes. "Are you? Surprised, I mean."

"A little," he admitted.

"And are you," an uncertain pause lapsed, before she bravely continued in a voice not much louder than a whisper, "disappointed?"

He looked at her strangely, pressing his palm to her forehead to feel for a temperature. Or maybe he was just looking for an excuse to touch her. Even he wasn't certain anymore. "Nani? Are you getting a fever again? You are warmer than you were when you woke up…"

She gently, but firmly, brushed his hand aside, uncomfortable with the new emotions he was causing her to feel. "I'm okay," she told him. "I'm probably just flushed from the fight; I don't have a fever anymore."

At least, she hoped she didn't. Her head was still pounding as hard as it had been before though. Worse, actually, but that probably had more to do with how hard she was thinking, trying to figure out why he was acting the way he was; trying to figure out why she was responding so unnaturally.

Why did she care what he thought about her being Sailormoon anyway? Other than the fact that he was Tuxedo Kamen…that a big part of her was glad that he was. What would she do if he told her that yes, he was disappointed, though? She lowered her eyes once more, sighing inaudibly.

A finger underneath her chin brought her gaze up to his. "Iie," he told her softly, somehow knowing her. "I'm not disappointed," he assured her. "I'm just a little surprised with myself, for not seeing the similarities sooner."

"Yeah, that we're both klutzes…"she muttered.

"That's not what I meant."

She shrugged. "Doesn't matter," she sighed. "Anyway, that's the point of the magic, to keep you from seeing the similarities."

"Oh," he said, and then they were both silent, unsure of what else to say.

She spoke up after a few moments. "I should probably call my parents," she murmured.

He nodded. "I'll get you the phone." He disappeared into the kitchen and she collapsed onto the couch, feeling just how much the battle had taken out of her. It wasn't fair. Wasn't there some kind of life rule that said that superheroes didn't have to fight sick? Scratch that, they shouldn't even be able to get sick in the first place!

'Wonder who I'd have to ask to get a rule like that made…'

Mamoru reappeared then, carrying the cordless, which he pressed into her hand. He stood back, watching her expectantly.

She dialed her number quickly, ignoring the barely controlled trembling of her hands as she did, then placed the phone to her ear, waiting patiently while it rang. She coughed before there was an answer, clearing her throat so that she wouldn't sound as deathly ill as she felt.

"Moshi moshi," her mother's voice greeted her on the other end.

"Mama? It's Usagi."

"Usagi-chan, why are you phoning? Is something wrong?"

"…Huh?"

"Did you forget something? I already said that it was perfectly fine for you to spend the night at Rei-chan's."

"Spend the night at Rei's?" she echoed helplessly.

"Um, hai. Did she not tell you that she called for you? It's all right; I'm glad that you and your friends are going to spend some time studying. You know how much your father and I want you to do well."

She swallowed. "Hai, hai, I just wanted to, um, make sure…Well, sayonara, mama!"

"Sayonara."

There was a click and that was it. Slowly, she pressed the button to hang up the phone, then let it fall to the sofa before raising her surprised eyes to meet Mamoru's confused ones.

"Why would Rei tell your mom that you're spending the night at her place?" he questioned. "I didn't think that Rei would have seen you all day. I mean, you two go to different schools and then you were here all day…up until the youma attack. The youma attack, is that it?"

She lowered her eyes again, laughing nervously. "Um, funny you should say that…"

His eyes narrowed in thought. "Rei-chan is one of the senshi?"

"Hai," she whispered, knowing that there was no use in denying it.

"Which one is she?" he paused for a moment, reflecting. "Mars, right? I mean, with the black hair and the way the two of you argue…And that would make your friends, Mizuno Ami and Kino Makoto, Mercury and Jupiter, am I right?" He felt silly for having missed the indicators before. It was ridiculous how easily he could identify the girls once he knew one of their identities!

She simply nodded helplessly. The girls weren't going to be too happy…and Luna! Oh, she was going to have one Hell of a time trying to explain the situation to the black feline.

"But who was that new senshi? I've never seen her before…" he continued.

Her head shot up. She instantly regretted that action though as pretty swirls of pink, blue and green invaded her vision and firecrackers began exploding inside of her head. After a few moments in which she barely brought the pain down to a tolerable level, she repeated, "New Senshi??"

"Sailorvenus, I think she called herself… You've never seen her?"

"Never," she confirmed, repressing an urge to shake her head, and cradling her temples instead. "She came after I got knocked out, ne?"

He nodded.

"What else did I miss? Are the girls okay? How did they beat the youma?? Does this new Sailorvenus have as strong powers as me? Did she kill it instead?"

Secretly, she was hoping that he would tell her that she'd guessed correctly and that she wouldn't have to fight anymore. Or at the very least that she wouldn't have to kill…

Of all the things in this world she hated, math homework and detention included, killing was by far the worst. It didn't matter that they were monsters, that they were evil, or that they were hurting people. It still hurt her, but it was necessary.

For some odd reason Destiny had chosen her as Her champion and she would fight the battle. But it would be so much easier for her if the job was given to someone else… Maybe Destiny had decided that she was incompetent and was going to replace her. Wouldn't that be nice…

But to her chagrin, Mamoru responded, "She helped defeat it, but no. She's not nearly as powerful as you are. The four senshi combined their powers in a 'Sailor Planet Attack' and that's what defeated the youma."

"Oh," she murmured, trying to hide her disappointment. "You didn't tell me about the girls though. Are they all right?"

"They were weakened a great deal, but they are fine. The attack appears to take a lot out of them…"

"Must be sort of like the moon wand," she murmured to herself. "Is it okay if I call Rei-chan? The girls are probably at the temple and I'd like to make sure that they are okay."

"Hai," he answered, nodding. He picked the phone up and handed it to her. "I'll fix something to eat while you call," he told her. "Is soup okay?"

"Un," she agreed, taking the phone. She held it to her as she watched him head to the kitchen. "Mamoru-san?"

He stopped and turned. "Hai, Usak – Usagi-chan?" He swallowed. 'That was close, I almost called her Usako! Since when is she my little bunny? She'd be furious if I called her that! Why, she'd probably never speak to me again!' Usagi didn't seem to have noticed his close call though.

"Um…arigato. I really appreciate everything you've done for me, especially today," she smiled.

He returned a half-smile of his own. "No problem. Just give me a shout if you need anything, okay?" When she nodded, he disappeared into the kitchen.

Usagi let the brave front that she'd been doing her best to pull off for his sake fall. She curled up into a ball on the couch, holding back frustrated tears at her weak condition. She hated being sick.

'Like I'm not enough of a crybaby,' she thought mutinously. 'I can't believe I'm actually being worse than usual!' She sobbed quietly for a few more minutes, miserable. When she'd finally gained some semblance of control, she dialed Rei's number, the buttons seeming much too small in her semi-hazy state. On her third attempt to punch the correct numbers, she got it right.

On the second ring, Yuuichirou answered, sounding wearied.

"Moshi moshi," Usagi said as brightly as possible. "Is Rei-chan there?"

"Hai, hold on a sec, I'll get her."

Usagi heard a few dulled bumping sounds and faraway sounding voices before there was more banging and then Rei was on the line.

"Usagi?"

"Hai!"

"Usagi! Where the Hell are you?!"

"I'm at Mamoru-san's. Rei-chan, I – "

Rei cut her off abruptly at the mention of the tall, dark, and handsome man's name. "Mamoru-san's??? What are you doing there?!"

In the background, Usagi could hear Makoto exclaim, "She's at _his_ house?! I thought that they _hated_ each other!" Still holding the phone, she covered her eyes with her hand in embarrassment, even though they couldn't see her. She could tell that this would probably get a little…mortifying? Yes, mortifying was definitely going to be the word.

"Me too…" Rei muttered to Makoto, the mouthpiece covered so that Usagi couldn't hear.

Sighing, Usagi decided to get her explanation over with. "It's a long story, Rei-chan," she said. "Um, you – you know how I'm sick? Well, Haruna-sensei sent me home early today because of it. Except on the way home, I fainted…I think I was in the middle of the street or something."

"You fainted?! Are you okay??"

"She fainted?!?!" came the worried exclamations from the other girls in the room. Rei nodded to them, indicating for them to be quiet with her hands.

"Now I am," Usagi affirmed. "Anyway, Mamoru saw me and he took me to his apartment and helped me out. And then you called me on the communicator a bit after I finally woke up, so I had to sneak out. Um, that's why I left afterwards; I didn't want him to notice that I was gone… Gomen."

Rei let out a shaky breath. "Wow," she murmured. "That was really nice of Mamoru-san. He's so sweet, isn't he?"

"Uh…"

"And you get to see his apartment! I've never been in his apartment before! Oh, I'm so jealous! I'll bet it's really nice. Is it really nice, Usagi?"

"It's a very nice apartment," she answered politely, a little nervous.

"I can't wait until – Hey!"

Usagi winced at Rei's high tone, which was promptly followed by shouting and arguing on that end of the line. After a few minutes, there was a loud 'thump', followed by some shuffling. Then Makoto's voice came over the line.

"Usagi-chan! How are you feeling, girl? And what's this I hear about you fainting? And staying at MAMORU-san's?"

Rei could be heard in the background, demanding the phone back and screaming that it was, after all, hers. One could only assume that Mako-chan had wrestled her for it, and won.

"Uh…" Usagi retold her story quickly, already tired of it. The quick-paced delivery of the tale, however, left her short of breath and lightheaded.

'I swear, I'm marrying a doctor when I grow up! Maybe then I'll never get sick!'

Makoto laughed. "That's good to hear. We thought you ran off with Tuxedo Kamen-sama or something!"

Back in Mamoru's apartment, Usagi paled visibly, grateful that her friends couldn't see her. She laughed abnormally high-pitched – which only served to scratch her already raw throat – and nervously answered, "What? Run off with _him_?! Why, I don't even know who he is! Honestly, Mako-chan!"

She just laughed some more. "See, Rei-chan?" she called. "I told you so! Usagi-chan, you just made me twenty-four hundred yen!"

Usagi sweat-dropped. "You guys were betting?"

"Um…of course not!" Makoto coughed. "Anyway, when are you coming over to the temple? We have a new senshi, ne? You have to meet her!"

"Yeah, I know. Tuxedo Kamen told me."

"What?! He – he did? When?"

"Um, before he…left. He pulled me away from the fight when I went unconscious and then after I woke up, he asked me about the new senshi – Sailorvenus, ne? – and left," Usagi answered, nonchalantly stressing the nonexistent part about him leaving.

"Oh, okay," Makoto said, relaxing. "But when are you coming over? Rei-chan already called your mom for you and told her that you were staying the night. We weren't sure where you were and we didn't want her to get worried or suspicious or anything."

"Arigato, but I don't know…I don't want to make any of you sick…"

"Yeah, but…You can't spend the night at Mamoru-san's!" she yelled. "Hey, I thought you two were supposed to hate each other!"

"We do!" she answered quickly, though she wasn't all that sure about that. "We're just, um, at an understanding."

"An understanding? Yeah, I'll bet. More like you finally _understand_ just how hot he is!"

"What?!" Rei cried. "Usagi's in love with _my_ boyfriend?!"

"AIEE!! NO!" Usagi screeched in horror. The screaming, naturally, hurt Usa's throat, forcing her to drop her voice to a hiss. "Mako-chan!"

The screaming also hurt her head, Makoto's ear, and sent Mamoru running in, extremely panicked.

"What happened?! Are you okay? I heard screaming…"

Usagi blushed and swallowed. "I'm fine, Mamoru-san."

Makoto squealed. "That was Mamoru-san? He's worried about you? Oh my Kami-sama! That is so adorable!"

"It's not like that!" she snapped.

"What not like what?" Mamoru questioned curiously. "And why did you scream?"

"Nothing, no reason."

He raised an eyebrow questioningly and she blushed an even deeper red. Usagi quickly looked away and at her lap. 'Reaching embarrassment level number two,' she thought to herself.

"You know, Usa, it looks to me like you could be relapsing," Mamoru teased. "You're all flushed! I'm thinking that your fever is returning…or is there a different reason for that perfect shade of burgundy your cheeks are sporting?"

'Did he just call her "Usa"?' Makoto wondered to herself at the small snippets of what he'd said that she could make out. Wisely, she kept her mouth shut about that because of the raven-haired beauty with a not-so-secret crush on Mamoru who was staring at her intently. She was, of course, more worried about the brunette attacking her then she was concerned over protecting Usagi's secret, though.

"I'm _fine_!"

"If you say so…" Mamoru sounded amused.

"Uh, Usa-chan?" Mako questioned.

"Hai, Mako-chan?"

"Are you going to be coming over later? I know that you're sick, but I really think that you should meet Minako-chan…"

"Who?"

"Minako-chan! Our new Senshi!" she exclaimed. "Anyway, I really think that you should come over to the temple to spend the night. You have to meet her in person and we have some business to discuss. Besides, Rei will have an aneurysm if you spend the night at Mamoru-san's!"

"WILL NOT!" Rei was instantly protesting at the top of her lungs.

"Uh huh, suuuuuuure you won't," Makoto drawled.

"Please," she sounded exasperated. "Those two _hate_ each other! Mamoru-san is just trying to be nice because he's a great guy like that."

Mamoru noticed that as time had passed and the conversation had progressed, Usagi's face had become progressively redder. He wasn't sure what they were talking about though because he could only make out her end of the conversation, which had been pretty much monosyllabic.

"So are you trying to tell me that you're not in loooooooove, Rei-chan?" Makoto was teasing.

"Of course not!" she snapped. "I just think he's a really great guy. Now give me that phone before I throttle you!"

"Like to see you try!"

"Um, Makoto-chan?" Usagi interrupted at last.

"You need something, Usa-chan?"

"I was just wondering if I could talk to Ami-chan," she said casually. 'After all, Ami-chan isn't insane!' her mind added triumphantly.

"Hmph," Makoto sniffed. "Ditch me for the blue-haired genius. Okay, that's fine, I know where I'm not wanted!" She held the phone away from her, sniffing and pointing it at Ami. "She wants to talk to you. I'm not good enough for her anymore."

Tentatively, Ami took the phone. "Hello, Usagi," she said.

"Arigato, Kami-sama," she breathed.

"Usagi-chan?"

"Gomen, Ami-chan. Arigato! Mako-chan's and Rei-chan's screaming was really starting to hurt my head."

Ami laughed. "At least you're not here with them," she commented, ducking the pillow that Rei threw at her and chuckling. "Of course, that is no reason for you to stay at Mamoru-san's. You should come over later, Usa-chan."

"Don't you start too!"

"All right, I won't," Ami agreed. "But may I ask you a question?"

"Hai, of course!"

"You've spent an awfully long time on the phone with us. How are you going to explain that to Mamoru-san? Does he know that you are speaking to us?"

"Um, well, I, uh, told him that Mama said you guys called…because you were, um, worried about me," she stuttered, unprepared for questions. She finished quietly, "And I'll just tell him the long phone time is a girl thing."

Mamoru struggled not to laugh at the lie Usagi was obviously telling. The poor girl couldn't tell a lie to save her life! Then again, she'd managed her secret identity incredibly well. So correction: the poor girl couldn't tell a _spontaneous_ lie to save her life.

"That's a good idea," she told her. "I'll let you go now though."

"Thanks, Ami-chan, Mamoru-san is beginning to look at me strange…well, stranger than usual." Mamoru half-glared at her for this comment. "I'll call you girls later, okay?"

"That's fair."

The two girls said goodbye and hung up. She let the hand that held the phone drop to the cushion beside her, exhaled shakily, and looked up at Mamoru.

"The girls want me to go over to the Hikawa shrine for the night," she told him quietly. "That's where Rei-chan lives."

He was surprised at the sudden pang he felt at the thought of her leaving him. "Okay…" he said slowly, drawing the word out. "So are you going to go?"

"Do you want me to?" she asked, her voice barely above whisper tones.

"You're free to do as you wish," he said as casually as possible. "Do you want to go?"

"I'm worried that I might make my friends sick," she explained. That wasn't the whole reason, she knew, but she would die before she would tell him that!

"But I'm fair game?" he teased.

"Of course!"

"A fine way to treat the guy that's saved you too many times to count and took you in when you were sick!"

Usagi giggled quietly, her throat feeling numb from all of the talking and shouting on the telephone.

"Hey, Mamoru-san, weren't you making soup?"

"Soup?" he echoed. His eyes went unbelievably wide. "Soup!"

And with that exclamation, he rushed to the kitchen in a panic, leaving Usagi to laugh after him. She heard the sounds of pots clanging and a few unseemly words employed by Mamoru. A few moments later he returned looking very, very frazzled.

"Um, the soup's going to…be a little longer than I thought it would," he muttered.

She attempted to sigh and look disappointed in him, but couldn't keep from smiling. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" he protested. "It's your fault!"

"My fault?" she echoed incredulously.

"Hai! You distracted me!"

"Not my fault you wanted to eavesdrop," she grumbled as she stood and stumbled her way towards him and the kitchen, so that she could see how bad the damage was. Not that it really made a difference, seeing as she was most likely less capable of dealing with the situation than he was. It was more out of curiousity than anything else.

Before she even reached the kitchen, however, she was falling towards the ground. Whether it was due to her inborn clumsiness or her illness-based weakness, she wasn't certain. All that she knew was that one second she was walking and the next her legs were no longer beneath her, supporting her.

But who needs legs to support them when a strong pair of arms will do? Especially when those nicely toned arms are attached to an even nicer body and a gorgeous face. And they were holding her so tenderly… If he'd catch her like this every time she fell, then maybe it wasn't so bad that he was Tuxedo Kamen. She certainly couldn't say she disliked the feel of his strong arms encircling her.

Speaking of Mamoru's strong arms, they weren't letting go, even after it was obvious that she could maintain her own balance. If anything, they were tightening, bringing her all the closer to him. Usagi found her own arms snaking around his back, seemingly with a mind all their own. She turned her head up from where it had been buried in his chest to meet his eyes. Their eyes locked and Usagi felt herself beginning to drown in the cerulean blue sea. With aching slowness, his head began to descend towards hers.

Then, with their lips only a breath apart, Usagi withdrew her arms from around him, instead pushing on his unyielding pectorals and whispered, "I – I'm sick, Mamo-chan. You don't want to be near me." Then slipped, surprisingly deftly for one as ill as she, underneath his arm and away from him.

Mamoru was still, his thoughts racing. '"Mamo-chan?" She just called me "Mamo-chan"!' he thought to himself. That was when the rest of what she'd said registered as well as the fact that she was no longer in his arms.

He took a deep breath in to regain his composure, then nodded simply. "I'm going to go and see if I can get the soup right this time," he told her calmly. "You can try to rest some more or whatever you want."

She nodded quietly, her thoughts awhirl. 'Mamo-chan was going to kiss me! Kiss _me_! Mamo-chan, who is Tuxedo Kamen, almost kissed me! …And I stopped him! Kami-sama, what kind of a baka am I??' she yelled at herself. 'But he's been so sweet…I'd never forgive myself if I made him sick.'

She watched him disappear into the kitchen, then followed him in, pausing at the doorway. She watched as he scrubbed the stove, where the original pot of soup had originally overflowed. She stayed at the kitchen entrance while he ran through the steps, simply watching him.

Mamoru felt uncomfortable as he prepared the soup, feeling her eyes on him, the weight of her gaze heavy. He resisted the urge to turn and stare into the pair of sky blue eyes, for he did not want to risk ruining another batch of soup. As well, the scene out in his sitting room had unsettled him. She'd pushed him away and he forced himself to accept that.

'Besides,' he chided himself. 'She _is_ sick! You're taking advantage of her!'

Once the soup was ready, he divided it into two bowls, filling one slightly more. He set that bowl where Usagi would sit, then finally turned, offering her as warm and casual a smile as he could muster.

"Hey, Odango, the soup's ready," he beckoned her.

She smiled back, but hers was notably thin. "Arigato," she muttered, coming over to sit down.

'Back to "Odango"? What happened to "Usa"? I liked that…' she thought to herself, admittedly a little miffed.

Sitting down they sipped (and occasionally slurped, especially in Usagi's case) their soup in a heavy silence, broken only by the sounds of their eating. Eventually even those sounds were gone as the soup disappeared and the empty bowls were left untouched, while neither dared move.

At last the silence was broken when Mamoru softly asked, "So, how are you feeling? Any better?"

She nodded. "Hai, a lot better than before. Um, I just want to thank you for everything, Mamoru-san. I really appreciate it."

'She's back to calling me "Mamoru-san",' Mamoru though sulkily. He felt like objecting, but instead replied, "Don't worry about it."

They lapsed back into silence once more, each looking at his or her respective bowl, and occasionally stealing a look at the other before quickly looking down once more. After a couple of rounds of this "eye-tag," Usagi took it upon herself to rid the room of the smothering quiet…or at least find herself an escape route from the now uncomfortable and awkward atmosphere.

"I'm going to call the girls again soon," she spoke timidly. "Then I can head over in about an hour. Rei-chan has a spare room where I can sleep so that I don't get any of my friends sick. I don't want to be any trouble."

"You're not any trouble," he protested.

She looked at him, suspicious. "I've been putting you out, Mamoru-san. And while it means a lot to me that you've done all of this, I feel bad. I don't want to be any more of a nuisance than I already have been."

Mamoru wasn't certain as to what he could say. How many times could he argue before he would end up pretty much begging? If she wanted to go, he had to let her. And besides, he was sure that he would be seeing her again, most likely soon. They were always bumping into one another – literally – and, as Sailormoon, she needed regular saving – saving that he was responsible for.

Sighing in defeat, he nodded. "Okay," he said. "You call your friends and when you're ready, I'll give you a ride."

"You don't have to do that…I can walk; it's not too far, I don't think."

"You can walk, can you? Oh, you mean like how you walked this afternoon!"

She blushed prettily. "I won't fall this time," she objected.

"First of all, you didn't fall; you fainted," he corrected. "And second of all, I'm not taking 'no' for an answer. I want to make sure that you get there okay." His voice was softer at the last statement, revealing the gentleness he possessed, but normally kept hidden. Of course, it wasn't the first time it had revealed itself to her this day. "I'll worry about you otherwise."

She knew that he had her there – and knew it. She didn't want to make him worry. So she accepted his offer quietly, adding, "but only because you'll worry otherwise." And he smiled, feeling that that wasn't the only reason, but saying nothing.

Finally, she forced herself to pick up his phone and call her friends for what would be the final time that night. Makoto excitedly answered the phone, immediately yelling at her that she was obligated to spend the night at the temple and giving Usagi yet another headache. Makoto had finally quieted when Usagi explained that she was, in fact, getting Mamoru to drive her over later.

'Wonder where Mamo-chan keeps his Tylenol…' she gave a mental sigh. 'And why couldn't I have thought of that before?'

"Okay…Usagi-chan, what are you telling Mamoru-san?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he knows you're sick, aren't you going to have a hard time explaining to him why you're coming over here?"

"Are you telling me to spend the night at his place instead?" she couldn't help laughing.

"IIE!" she cried hurriedly. "Rei-chan would throttle you! I'd have to beat him up! And Luna would kill you both!"

"Calm down," Usagi told her with a sigh, wondering yet again how her poor head would survive the noise level that surrounded the girls. "I'll make something up."

"Okay, so, how soon are you coming?"

"In a few minutes," she promised. "Oh, and can you ask Rei-chan if I'd be able to sleep in a separate room from you? I'd hate to make someone sick…"

"I'm sure she'll let you. But I'll ask her when we hang up."

"Arigato. Ja ne, Mako-chan."

"Ja ne."

The phone hung up, she turned to Mamoru and murmured, "I should change back into my uniform and give you back your sweats…" She tried not to cringe too much at the thought.

"It's okay, you can wear those to your friend's," he assured her. "You can take your clothes with you in a plastic bag and wash them at home, then can give me my clothing back next time we see each other."

"Domo arigato."

He just smiled. In silence, they got her stuff together, and he led her down to the parking lot.

'This is his car? No way!' she thought in amazement, as he stopped her in front of a little red sports car.

He laughed when he saw her eyes widen and, unlocking the car, tossed her stuff in the back. He then held the door open for her and smiled at her surprised look as she climbed in. After getting into the car, himself, he started the engine and smoothly began the drive to the Hikawa shrine.

The ride was uncomfortably quiet as each was left alone with their thoughts.

Mamoru was a little upset that she was leaving him, yet amused at the same time, reflecting that it had only been yesterday that he'd been acting as offensive as he could, just so that he wouldn't have to spend time with her.

Usagi was trying to sort out her confused thoughts. Mamoru was Tuxedo Kamen. She was supposed to be in love with Tuxedo Kamen. Tuxedo Kamen was Mamoru…whom she was supposed to hate. Only she didn't. Now, more than ever before, she was sure that she did not hate him.

'And it's not even that he's Tuxedo Kamen,' she realized with a start. 'I…I like Mamoru-san…Mamo-chan.' She stole a glance at him out of the corner of his eye and saw that his eyes were fixated on the road. She sighed heavily and his eyes darted at her, before returning just as quickly to the road, a frown of concern coming over his face.

* * * * *

TBC...Only one more part to go! Thanks for reading this far! Please R&R!