Disclaimer: .................................. *crosses her arms and starts pouting* Fine, fine I'll write one, just so I don't get in trouble. *blows a raspberry* I don't own Gundam Wing and Sailor Moon.

Author's Notes: THANK YOU everybody for the reviews and please keep on reviewing cuz I love it all and it motivates me to write more. *hint hint* Oh yeah, sorry to everyone that like Setsuna. I sorta made her sorta bitchy, so sorry..... I mean I like her too, but it just went with the story....

A Missing Heart

Chapter 7

All of the senshi then watched helplessly as their prince walked away, watch as his defeated figure was slowly vanishing from their sight... watched as they had once again failed another person that they had sworn to protect and serve in the future...

Setsuna then cleared her throat and spoke, breaking them all from their reverie, from wallowing in self-pity. "Mamoru has voiced his opinion at this and has come to the decision that he will not be helping." Then she stared each of them down, her voice cold and clipped. "Now who will follow in his footsteps and leave as well?"

The question was clearly and calmly stated. She looked at each of them pointedly, looking at each figure with a hard, but blank look. No one made a move to answer her question, afraid of the consequences of their actions if they dared cross the Guardian of Time. Afraid of the emotion that was barely hidden in those dark maroon depths... afraid of what they might face if they dared cross her.

She looked at them, and nodded her head, in acceptance. "Well then. Since we have that taken care of..."

Her sentence was immediately halted by a voice that they had not expected to hear, especially voicing her disagreement... but what surprised them the most was the words that had been spoken. Causing each of them to hold their breaths unintentionally.

"I won't be a part of it." I won't be a part of this madness anymore. What I did before was wrong and I'm such a ditz for going along with them. I can't hurt Usa-chan again...

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He was so close to her. So close. Their faces inches apart, their lips almost meeting. Each second that passed by seemed to prolong his agony. The want... the absolute need to hold her, cherish her, caress her, driving him insane. Each second going by only increased his longing and his want... no, need to taste her to hold her, to touch her. Usa. I've missed you so much.

He clumsily took a hold of her chin, as their lips inched closer... afraid that he might be rejected, but his need for her making him forget the fear. As if a different force in itself was causing them to fall onto one another, to want them to need one another, in a way that they couldn't understand, the only concept that they understood was that they should be together... that they needed to be together.

Heero, what are you doing to me? I've just met you, but I can't help it... I can't help but feel this way for you. Usagi thought, wishing so much that she had some control over her actions, but she couldn't seem to control herself.

What... She then suddenly lost all coherent thought as soon as he took a hold of her chin, guiding her lips to his, this single action causing her to drown in his eyes, to start falling. His touch doing wonders on her feelings, making her stop thinking. She could only focus on him, she could only see his eyes... and started to drown in those dark prussian depths.

They were both lost in their own world. Not aware of their audience and where they were at the moment.

All they could concentrate on was each other and the attraction and the sparks that seemed to come about whenever they were together... whenever they touched. The want and the longing for one another, that could not be ignored, that could not be put aside. They were in a different world, a different place. A place where they were surrounded by fog... isolating them, leaving it so that they were the only...

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING WITH MY HEERO?" was suddenly heard, breaking the spell they were in. Making them tumble back into the real world... reminding them harshly of where they were.

Usagi snapped out of the spell, her eyes unfocused, her fingers trembling. She looked up to Heero and was startled by the emotions seen in his dark eyes. And all of it is for me?

She then noticed now how close they were to one another and unconsciously stepped back and looked down, her face colouring into a deep rose. Embarrassed at what she was about to do, for not being able to control herself.

She started to mentally scold herself for her rash actions. You're such a baka. How could you even think of kissing him? You barely know the guy... but he is cute.

She got the vague feeling that she was scolding herself for getting caught, not for doing what she was so close to doing. She then mentally slapped herself after realizing what she had just thought and once again started blushing, colouring her cheeks another darker shade of pink.

Trying to look anywhere besides Heero, knowing beyond a doubt that she would undoubtedly just turn a darker shade of red if she were to look in his direction.

Heero looked at her uncertainly, uncertain of what she felt for him, afraid that she might shut him out after this. His eyes once again softening at the sight of her as she started blushing.

He gave a soft chuckle knowing what exactly she was blushing about. So close. I was so close. All because of that baka Relena.

Dammit. Heero then mentally swore. He was so close to her and that... Kami he couldn't find a word to describe her, had to interrupt. He mentally started a string of curses that would have had given Quatre a heart attack and left Duo actually speechless.

"Yeah, Heero!!! Never knew that you had it in you!!!" Duo yelled out his face flashing that cheeky smile, barely able to hide his laughter and mirth, from the Perfect Soldier.

Heero immediately tensed, reprimanding himself for getting caught, was about to give the braided baka his well-known death glare, when he suddenly lost his footing, but managed to catch himself before he tripped.

Kami, I just got the wind knocked out of me. He looked down annoyed at the bundle that had caused him to almost trip and all but tried to rip her arms off his neck, already knowing who it was. Seeing as he was only tackled this way every single day, and by the same exact person. "Relena, get off me... now."

Relena not noticing the venom and annoyance in his tone, just batted her eyelashes and smiled sweetly at him. "Aren't you glad to see me Hee-chan?"

He just gave her a death glare and unsuccessfully tried to rip her arms of him. Then finally managed to get away from her embrace, suddenly feeling unclean and nasty, but finally able to take deep breaths of air.

He then directed his gaze to Usagi, noticing her watching them with confused and slightly masked eyes, her cheeks still coloured red from their encounter.

Relena finally noticing that her Heero wasn't paying any attention to her, directed her gaze to who he was looking at... annoyed at the prospect of someone else catching his attention.

HER!!! Why is he looking at her? What does she have that I don't? She thought, seething, her dislike for the girl immediately increasing. Seeing as she was not only stealing her brother's attention and affections, but Heero's as well.

Then she finally turned and stared at Usagi with what only one can call with hatred and jealousy. "Who do you think you are? Heero's mine, you have no right whatsoever to be with him. So stay away." She warned, not at all aware of the look of disgust and loathing being directed at her by Heero, and also hatred for daring to talk to his love that way.

Usagi was shocked. No one had ever talked to her like that before... at least she didn't remember, anyone talking to her like that.

She was suddenly hit by a number of emotions. First confusion, fear, then hatred. How dare she talk to me like that? Who does she think she is... to think that she can tell me what I can and can't do? No one has the right to do that to me...

Out of nowhere, an onslaught of images knocked the wind out of her and the only thing besides the images she was aware of was the warm and strong arms that caught her before the darkness overcame her.

As more images and scenes of a life that she had forgotten assaulted her mind.

*Flashback*

"Stay away from him Koneko-chan... he's not from this world, for all we know he could be the enemy."

Usagi looked at her, startled and confused. "But Ruka-chan, he's not the enemy. I've talked with him and I trust him, he told me that he doesn't even know how he got here and that he's not looking for trouble of any kind."

"Oh, Usa-chan you're so naive." Usagi looked at Makoto puzzled.

"Usagi-hime, he could be lying to you. It would be better if you listen to us and stay away from that boy." Michiru replied.

She looked at them, annoyed and hurt. "But..."

"No buts, Odango. Just stay away from him. He looks like trouble and we don't need him hanging around you, creating trouble in our world."

Usagi looked at all of them. Pained and upset. They never doubted me before, so why start now? She suddenly felt an unexpected anger directed at them for thinking that they could dictate her life. She suddenly cried. "You can't tell me what to do!"

*End of Flashback*

*Another Flashback*

"Why did you do that?!?" She shouted, angry and sorrowful tears streaking down her face.

Ami, Hotaru, Minako, Rei, and Makoto looked taken aback by her outburst, while Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna had a mask of indifference on their faces.

"I promised to help him and you just chased him away in this world that he's unfamiliar with. How cruel can you be?!!!"

Minako looked pained by her words. "Usa-chan, we had to do it."

"You two were getting too attached..." Michiru added.

"That's true, princess. It was crucial that we do it. To ensure the future, he was only interfering."

Usagi looked at them long and hard, tears still making its way down her face. She suddenly turned her back on them, her shoulders hunched, the anger disappearing as soon as it had come and whispered.

"You can't control my life or me and expect me to not do anything about it. I won't let any of you do that to me. It ends now." She then started running, hoping beyond all hope that she could find him. Heero, not yet. You can't leave me just yet... no matter what they say.

*End of Flashback*

Heero watched Usagi keenly searching for her response to Relena's outburst, and was suddenly taken aback when he noticed that she was about to faint. He immediately went to her side, fearing for her safety and health and caught her before she hit the ground. Worry clearly shown in his features, if you looked closely.

A crowd immediately formed around the three, all wondering what had happened to cause the new girl to faint.

Whispers immediately erupted throughout the crowd, all speculating... trying to determine the reason on why she would pass out. Suddenly a loud voice was heard, breaking through all the whispers.

"WHOA, damn Relena, you finally scared someone enough just by looking at them and screeching that you caused them to faint." Duo yelled with a laugh, laughing at his own joke.

The four were making their way through the crowd, the crowd parting for them, as Wufei all looked at them scornfully. As Duo's remark was heard, it caused some snickers and laughter to arise within the crowd.

Quatre then shook his head, trying to hide a smile, but trying to be polite remarked. "Duo, that's very unkind of you to say."

Relena hearing the comment, started seething and immediately stalked up to Duo and started screeching unintelligible words.

Duo not having been paying attention due to his laughter at his own joke, was suddenly taken aback by the appearance of her face right in front of him. But what surprised everyone was Duo's response. Which was he... fainted.

This caused a riot of laughter to erupt within the watching crowd. Quatre sweat dropped and tried to awake the fainted Duo, while Wufei just smirked muttering braided baka and Trowa's lips twitched, but laughter was clearly shown in his visible emerald green eye.

The principal, Mr. Ping suddenly appeared, making his way through the laughing crowd, trying to determine the disturbance. "What happened here? What happened to Ms. Merquis and Mr. Maxwell?" He asked, his gaze landing on Heero and Quatre, the one's closest to the students in question.

Heero ignored the principal, who was now making a call on his cell phone and walked off with Usagi in his arms, heading to the nurse's office.

Not bothering to acknowledge his fellow pilots and all but trying to ignore Relena's yelling.

Bakas... all of them. How did I manage to get surrounded by them? He thought about it deeply and only came to the conclusion that had him shaking his head, trying to come up with another reason. Damn, I must be a baka too, to have gotten company like that.

Trying to ignore the previous thought, he focused his attention on the light bundle in his arms. Usagi... Usagi, what happened to you? Why don't you remember me?

He looked at her with blank eyes, but in those dark depths, pain and longing could be seen, but most of all love... unconditional love. He turned his head, trying to shake away the feelings.

The feelings of pain and failure... for not being with her, for not being able to stop those senshi, for not knowing what had happened to her, for not watching over her, and for everything he had done wrong.

I'm sorry Usa, for everything... but please, why don't you remember me? It hurts... that you don't remember...

He heaved a sigh that made him seem older than his 17 years and absently wiped the single tear that had fallen, as he made it to the nurse's office. Making his way in, he was greeted with the sight of Milliardo pacing up and down in the room.

What the hell is he doing here? Milliardo's head immediately snapped up to his direction as he entered the room.

Worried eyes then landed on Usagi, a big difference of the mask that used to be worn by the former pilot of Epyon. Then hard blue eyes glared at him, the promise of Heero's death seen in those dark depths.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I won't be a part of it."

Everyone immediately whipped their heads around to the one who had spoken. Surprise clearly shown in their features as they realized who had dared spoken up.

Setsuna stared calmly at her. But in her eyes it clearly shown anger and barely contained rage. She spoke in a harsh whisper, her voice like a harsh wind nipping at your face. "Minako?"

Minako stood up, her visage one of conviction and confidence. Her poise straight and her head held high, looking as if she was willing to take anything that they dished out.

She spoke, her voice distant and blank, holding no emotion. "I don't care what you all think. You can say what you want, but I will not participate in this."

Shock was imprinted on the faces of the other senshi. Shock and disbelief. Minako was the last person that they expected to have done such a thing. After getting over their initial reaction, questions and remarks immediately arose in the room.

"But Mina-chan..."

"What do you think your doing?"

"Don't you understand that...?

"You've got to be kidding us, Minako."

Minako looked at all of them. Gone was the happy, bubbly, go lucky girl. In her place, was someone that they didn't know. A stranger.

She spoke softly, her voice holding conviction and self-assurance. "I am not kidding. I will not participate in this. Like Mamoru, I will not get involve in your attempts to retrieve Usa-chan."

Makoto looked at her in disbelief, still not able to take in the almost instant transformation of one of her closest friends. "But why? Mina-chan, you know we have to do it. We have no choice."

She looked at all of them, her visage slowly faltering, her eyes now holding unshed tears. "You don't understand..." She whispered, her voice breaking.

"What don't we understand, Minako? That you're betraying us? Oh, believe me we understand that perfectly." Rei said haughtily, looking at Minako with hard violet eyes.

Minako whipped her head up and moved with a grace that surprised everyone present in the room and slapped Rei... hard. A smack was heard in the silent room and surprise was imprinted on their faces once more.

She then spoke, her voice holding no emotion once more. "Me betray you??" She laughed bitterly, shaking her head in disbelief. "Have you all changed that much? Have your selfishness truly blinded you, that you can't see that what you're doing is not right?"

Haruka then spoke, having regained her composure before the others. "What are you talking about Minako? What were doing is what is right."

"Yes, we're helping to preserve the future and make sure that it's a peaceful one. What is wrong with that?" Michiru continued for Haruka, giving Minako pointed look, daring her to contradict her statement.

Minako shook her head, unshed tears shown in her eyes once more, threatening to fall. "Nothing is wrong with that, except for what you're all willing to do and sacrifice."

"What else do you expect, Minako?" Rei barked out, holding her cheek, betrayal reflected in the depths of her violet eyes.

Ami nodded, continuing Rei's question. "Yes, what else did you expect? You know that sacrifices must be made for the better good, and that we must do anything within our power to ensure our future."

"We all have to make sacrifices. It's the only way that our future can ever survive and be the peaceful place that this world needs." Makoto said, her voice holding sincerity.

Everyone else nodded their heads, thoroughly convinced that what they were doing was for the good of all. That there was absolutely nothing wrong with what they were about to do, no matter the consequences in getting Usagi back.

Minako started laughing bitterly once more as tears finally made their way down her face. She shook her head and turned away from them, her voice in a small whisper. "Yes, but who's sacrificing what? The only person that seems to be needing to make a sacrifice is Usa-chan."

She paused and looked at them again, eyes blurred from her tears. "All of you aren't willing to sacrifice anything. The only thing that you're willing to sacrifice is Usa-chan's love and friendship, even if you don't realize it."

"What are you talking about?" Haruka nearly yelled. "Koneko-chan's affections for us means the worlds to all of us. We would never give up such a treasure as that."

Hotaru finally spoke up and to everyone's surprise it was to defend Minako's point. "What Minako-chan means, is that if we go and retrieve Usagi-hime from the other world, she will never again trust us. We would have lost all the love and fondness that she holds for us."

"But she'll realize that what we're doing is for her good and for the good of this world. She'll understand." Ami said logically and matter of factly. Nods were seen all around, as everyone agreed to this point.

Minako once again bowed and shook her head. "Usa-chan can only take so much betrayal. All of us have already betrayed her once and we have this chance to redeem ourselves... to makes things right. I will not take the chance of betraying her once more for our own selfish reasons."

She raised her hand and shook her head to stop the incoming comments that she knew was bound to be said. "What we're doing to retrieve Usa-chan, is utterly selfish for us to do. Like what Mamoru-san said about us being able to change the future ourselves and not needing Usa-chan for it to flourish... what he said was right. We should just leave her be... leave her to a world where we know she would truly be happy in."

She then looked up at them, hoping just hoping that what she had said had somehow gone through and to her disappointment it didn't. She looked up at Setsuna as the Guardian of Time spoke.

"Well, are you quite done?" Setsuna said curtly.

Minako nodded numbly, her heart breaking, knowing that she hadn't been able to make a difference... hadn't been able to help Usagi. I'm sorry Usa-chan, but I tried.

"Since you've made it quite clear that you will not be participating in our mission, it would be best if you leave. Unless, you have changed your mind?"

"No, I haven't." Minako replied shortly, her voice quivering. She looked up at all of them, looking beaten and hurt... then finally turned on her heels and started walking away, but not before saying. "You're all going to regret it... because she'll hate you. Each and every one of you."

The words said were like a physical slap to all of them, but all they did was watch as her figure disappeared from their vision, watching as she walked away, just like what they did when Mamoru had left.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So what's going to happen now?"

Mamoru looked at Artemis earnestly, pain still clearly seen in his face. "We can't do anything. I couldn't stop them, they're going to look for her, find her, and bring her back."

Luna watched them silently, tears still being shed from her eyes... but they weren't tears of sorrow, they were tears of joy at knowing that her princess and her friend was alive. "But Mamoru-san, we must do something. We can't let the same thing happen to Usagi-chan again. I wouldn't be able to bare seeing her in so much pain." She whispered out, her body shaking as now painful sobs once again erupted. She couldn't seem to control her emotions. I'm like a damned waterfall. She thought ruefully.

"I really don't know what to do. I want to help her as much as you do Luna, but I just seriously don't know what to do..." His voice once again breaking, realizing harshly that he was bound to fail Usagi once more.

Luna watched him through blurred eyes, her heart aching at the sight of her prince in such a state. She was about to talk and try her best to console him, when a small, but bright light suddenly appeared between the three. Blinding them, causing them to look away.

Mamoru immediately stood up, though blinded by the light and transformed into Tuxedo Kamen, awaiting for the intruder to show him or herself. His shoulders tensing, awaiting the fight that was bound to occur. Luna and Artemis hissed and their claws seem to lengthen as they waited for the intruder to show itself, their bodies as tense as a spring.

As the light had died down, a soft, melodious laugh was heard. It sounded foreign, but vaguely familiar to the three occupants of the room.

As their vision adjusted at having been blinded, they tried desperately to see who had entered the room unexpectedly. As they tried to blink away the small black dots that danced in their vision, their breaths got caught as they realized who had appeared.

Shock clearly shown in their features, a great difference to the looks of pain and sorrow that they had only seconds ago worn.

Well, thank you all of you for reading and don't forget to review. Thanx.

~Akiko