*laz holds flamethower at 'puter* SHI NE!

*ely hides behind a flameproof screen* Careful, you might singe the fic! We're at it again, so beware, lovers of Rei. We don't exactly treat her nicely in the next couple of chapters.

^_^ We hope you enjoy the show anyway... a new character will be making his debut!

The Longest 24 Hours 4/8
by Elysia and Laz
PG

Mamoru felt sick. How could he sentence his Usagi to such a fate? He couldn't do that; he loved her too much. Which was the reason why he was serving this sentence. Why he chose to spend the next twenty four hours in this position, as Usagi had for the past four hundred years.

However, he had to convince Rei of that. He knew Usagi faced difficult wishes that broke her heart, that she had to sacrifice something in order to prove herself and fulfill her duty. He would bargain with the council again to get her back. He bowed slightly at the waist and snapped his fingers.

"Your wish is my command."

Rei squealed happily. "Is she really gone? I can have Mamoru to myself now?" She clapped her hands, her eyes lighting up, while Mamoru felt close to just ending it all. He just sentenced Usagi to servitude again. Or so he thought...

******

Usagi stared at her surroundings. She felt the power of magic envelop her and she knew that Rei made her first wish. But she didn't know that it was going to concern her! She couldn't believe it. The girl wished her back to where she came from!

She was back home again... in her old village, or what was left of it. Her house... she blinked for a few moments. It was remarkably well-preserved for a house that should have crumbled to dust a few hundred years ago.

She looked at the tree she used to swing on, the stones that she watched her siblings play games on. The tree was much taller than she had ever remembered it, and the stones broken in two and covered by grass. She went to walk inside the house, and her eyes filled up with tears. So simple now. Something that she hadn't seen for so long, and never thought she would ever see again. The two bedroom home.. the living area, where their beds had laid upon the floor, and the simple kitchen where she would often help her mother make meals for the family.

It was all gone now, so long gone... Rei had chosen a nasty fate for her... if she only knew how much it hurt Usagi to come back here, to a place where she no longer belonged. She knew that she could never have her old life back, but with the wishes of Mamoru, she had gained a new one. And no one, not even Small Lady or Rei would take that away from her.

She was about to walk out the door when a sudden noise made her turn around. Who...? Her eyes widened as she took in the features of a man with white blond hair and violet eyes leaning casually against the doorframe of her home. Who was this, and why was he dressed in the style of her time?

As if he could read her mind, he answered her unspoken questions. "Usagi... how nice of you to come back to your home after all these years? Don't you realize how worried your family has been about you?" He asked, sneering slightly. Usagi backed up against the wall, frightened by the feral light in his eyes.

"What do you mean? My family is dead! All of them!" she retaliated, not knowing who this stranger was, or what he was doing here.

"Usagi, Usagi... your family is not dead... they moved after your vanishing act, but they are alive and well.. but such a selfish daughter like you wouldn't know that, would you?"

Usagi stared at the man, pieces of the puzzle falling into place. When Rei made that wish, she not only wished Usagi back to the town that she was born in, but in the same era that she had lived as well. And it seemed that the past was catching up to her.

She decided to start asking questions, no matter how dumb it would seem, and pray that she didn't sound like a total idiot. She had an excellent memory, but she couldn't recall this stranger at all.

"Then, good sir.. explain to me why you are at my family's house when it has been left by the occupants already?"

"That's right... you wouldn't know me, would you? I am Demando, your intended. We were supposed to be wed when you vanished. I was here because I saw a mysterious person make their way into this home. And... " He stopped speaking, once he got a good look at what Usagi was wearing.

"And... and... what in the world are you dressed in, my dear? Pants are not befitting for a woman such as yourself to wear."

Usagi glanced down at the volunteer uniform she had been wearing at the hospital. Obviously her clothing had not changed with the time. For once she thanked Rei for not wishing everything back to the way it was. "I like these clothes. They're comfortable."

Demando raised an eyebrow. "Comfortable? Where in the world have you been all this time that would deem an outfit like that to be worn for comfort?"

Shaking her head, Usagi walked past Demando over to the willow tree, where her homemade swing still hung. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you, Demando," she retorted, his name feeling strange coming from her lips.

"Oh really?" he said haughtily. "Please, enlighten me."

Usagi sat down on the birch bark seat of the swing, grasping on to the old familiar rope. "What do you think of the future, Demando? What do you hope that it holds in store for you?"

"The future? Why, it is bright with prosperity. Your mother knew this, which is why she agreed to my proposition of marriage for you."

She ignored that. "What would you say if I told you that I have seen the future? That I have been living there for a very long time and more than anything, I wish to return to my life there?"

Demando chuckled. "You poor child. I would say that the time you've been away from home has affected your ways of thinking too much." He held out his hand towards her. "Now, come with me, Usagi darling, and perhaps we can start where we were supposed to before you disappeared."

Usagi didn't take his hand. "I won't go with you. I hardly know you. For all I know, you could be among those same men that kidnapped me in the first place! I never got to tell my mother how much I loved her before that. The whole time that I was gone, all I wanted was to see her again."

Demando frowned and took back his proffered hand. "She wanted you to be happy, you know. But when you disappeared, you broke her heart. She took your brothers and left this place because the memories were too much for her."

Usagi looked up at him, tears staining her rosy cheeks. "Where is she? I must see her."

"Will you come with me then?"

"Only if you take me to her. I promise you nothing more."

Demando sighed loudly. "Then I suppose I'll have to make do with that for now. Honestly, Usagi, when did you become so strong-willed?"

'Oh, I don't know, maybe spending four hundred years chained to a life of servitude might have been part of it?' she wanted to say to him, but bit her tongue. She scowled at him when he wasn't looking. How in the world did her mother think she could ever be happy with someone like him?