Lord, I really don't know what to put as a note. Umm…this is the last chapter? And um…it's more sappy romance, so be warned. And lots of sexual innuendo.
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"Idiot!"
Usagi winced and held the phone away from her ear as Rei continued shouted over the phone at her. She wandered around the living room, occupying herself during the rant.
"Usagi-chan, my god! Are you a sadist or something?! Do you enjoy putting yourself and others through needless pain?!"
Usagi winced again. Rei had always had a way with words. "Rei-chan-"
"I can't even begin to understand why you tried to walk out on him! Are you out of your mind?! He wasn't some one night stand! You knew the guy! And you did it before three years ago!"
"Rei-chan-" Usagi began to pace the length of the carpet.
"Usagi-chan, do we need to get you back to the psychiatrist? You could have at least stayed and explained to him why you don't want to be in a relationship, maybe apologize for sleeping with the poor guy!"
"Rei-chan-" She walked faster.
"How the hell do you do that job of yours?! Who are you to write advice to people with love, Tsukino Usagi, when you refuse to be with a man who is crazy about you?! What do you give advice on? How to run away properly? How to avoid confrontation at all costs? How to selfishly refuse to be with a man because you don't know how to be in a relationship?!"
She stumbled. "Rei-chan!" Usagi voice broke as she hoarsely cried out. "You're right," she whispered, collapsing on the couch next to her. Trembling fingers combed through her hair.
"Usagi-chan, I didn't mean to-"
"-You're right Rei-chan!" She cut her off. "I am a hypocrite! I'm weak! I can't stand up to anyone! I just run away whenever something goes wrong! I did it with Mamoru and now I'm doing it with Trunks and I'm going to die cold and alone because of it! You're completely right Rei-chan! I've let all of you down! Everyone I've ever loved has been hurt because I couldn't face my problems! It's my fault you won't get the perfect future you deserve! It's my fault the Utopia won't ever come! It's my fault Minako-chan's dead! I killed her! I fucking killed all of them! I killed them, and I'll kill you!"
Her vision slowly faded into a screen of white, traveling with a low buzzing noise. The phone fell from her hand. She lurched forward onto the floor, and curled up into a shaking ball.
"Usagi-chan?! Usagi-chan, are you there?! Usagi-chan, answer me! Please tell me you are alright…oh God Usagi-chan, I'm coming over right now, don't move!"
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"Tell me Usagi-san, how have you been feeling this past week?"
"Fine,"
"Has the medication had any effect on your daily life?"
"I feel numb, completely numb. I know I ought to be crying, or angry, but I can't seem to feel it. I'm empty."
"Usagi-san, perhaps this is not caused by your medication, and rather yourself. Anti-depressants don't silence your emotions, you should still feel like yourself,"
"I don't,"
"Well then Usagi-san, who do you feel you really are? What parts of you do you feel are now missing?"
She stared blankly out the office's window. Cars were driving down the streets below. "Everything is missing."
"You feel as though everything left when you began the medication?"
"It left when my fiancé shot himself in the head." She murmured. "I regained something three years ago. And then I let it go. I tried to make myself someone else after that. But then I realized that I'm exactly the same."
"Who do you feel you are?"
"An idiot."
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She threw the plastic bottle out, still half-full of little pink pills, and then called her father at the newspaper, telling him she wouldn't be writing the advice column anymore.
Usagi left her apartment and walked down the hall slowly, studying the pattern of the carpet and the toes of her shoes. She reached the elevator and pressed the down button.
After a few moments, the doors slid open with a soft chime and she stood face to face with Trunks.
She looked at him in detached curiosity. "What are you doing here?"
He smiled faintly. "I thought it was obvious. I didn't really feel like waiting another three years to see you again,"
"So you went with three weeks instead," she finished, continuing to use a quiet tone that only held a hint of sadness, if any emotion to it. She paused for a moment, studying the carpet once more. "I was thinking the last thing you wanted would be to see me again,"
He shifted his weight. "Well, that was how I felt for a while. But, I figured it wouldn't hurt to just visit you,"
"Tokyo is four hours away from the West Capitol," She calmly pointed out.
"How have you been?" he asked, ignoring her statement. He had noticed her expression, her tone, her pale skin and hooded eyes.
"I went back to my psychiatrist the day after," She said, not caring to elaborate.
He understood, but didn't reply. Instead he looked her over once more with one of his calculating stares.
She felt discomfort and annoyance flare at the pit of her stomach. "Why are you really here?" She spat out. "You threw me out of your room,"
"You left on your own." He easily matched her emotion.
"And you seem to think you gave me much choice?" She felt incredulous.
"Don't blame me. You're just angry because you weren't able to do what you did three years ago."
Her chest wrenched. "Who the hell do you think you are?! You show up in my apartment to chew me ou-"
She was cut short as the elevator doors began to slide shut automatically. Instinctively Trunks pressed one hand against the door to hold it. His other hand grabbed Usagi's wrist and pulled her into the small space.
She fell against his chest, and flushed angrily. "What are you doing?!" she asked, flustered and furious at the same time.
She pulled away from him, but his hands gripped her upper arms, keeping her from going far. "We have unfinished business," he said quietly.
She squirmed in his grasp. Being close to him was making this very difficult for her.
"I'm not leaving until we resolve things. If you honestly feel like you never want to see me again, tell me, and I'll leave."
Her eyes widened, and she felt her lower lip begin to tremble. 'No.' "Yes." She choked out. The tears she hadn't noticed before fell. "You don't deserve me."
He stepped back from her, releasing his hold. His face hardened, and he nodded slightly. The elevator had come to a halt on the ground floor. "Fine."
The doors opened softly, but he paused for a moment. "I wanted to give this back to you," he said, pulling something from his pocket, and pressing it firmly into one of her shaking hands. He turned and left the elevator, walking towards the exit of the building.
It was cool to the touch, heavy in weight, and smooth. Her fingers slowly opened, revealing the ginzuishou. The tears blinded her for a moment, and her chest heaved. It was dimmer than ever before.
"WAIT!" She screamed, and took off running towards his retreating form.
He turned at her voice, and she threw herself into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
He looked down at her, disbelieving.
She smiled through her tears. "I love you. You drive me crazy! I love you!" she cried out.
He smiled back at her, and gently cupped her cheek. "I love you too,"
It was one of those sweet, mind-blowing kisses that make time stand still.
They parted, smiling stupidly at one another.
He idly ran a hand through her hair. "Do you want to," he hesitated, and she flushed brilliantly. "go for a walk?"
She burst out laughing suddenly. It was funny how finally admitting to something could turn you into such a euphoric idiot. "Yes," Usagi answered, smiling one of her beautiful smiles. "I would love to go for a walk."
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They made their way slowly through the park, hands entwined. At first they were happy with the peaceful silence, letting the other absorb all that had just happened.
A few minutes passed though, and Usagi halted, and turned to face Trunks. Her face became somber for a moment as she prepared herself for what she was going to say. "Trunks, I love you, and that's why I'm going to tell you everything about myself, whether you like it or not,"
His mouth twitched in a smile as he pretended to be worried. "Usagi I really don't want to know your bathroom habits,"
She flushed and swatted at his arm, fighting off laughter. "Not that stuff you dummy! Lord, I work so hard to get up the nerve to say this and you make fun of me!"
His face quickly reverted back to a more serious one. "I'm sorry Usagi, go on."
She took a breath. "Do you remember when you took me to the hospital because I had a panic attack in the grocery store? And they made the psychiatrist come talk to me?"
He nodded.
"I told you I felt like I didn't know anything about you," her eyes shifted to the ground for a moment. "But in truth, it's completely the other way around. I knew a hundred times more about you than you knew, and still know about me. And it's my fault. You're always asking, and trying to get me to open up, and I just keep running away-"
A calming hand on her cheek halted her downward spiral. Her eyes flicked up at him once more and she smiled, feeling reassured.
"I knew all about you and your father, some of your darkest, best kept secrets." Her voice became soft. "And there are so many things that I haven't told you, and I really should."
She grinned suddenly. "To start, my favorite color is pink. My birthday is June 30th, my favorite food is anything sweet, and my greatest fear is that everything I've ever grown to care about will be taken from me,"
He smiled back at her. "Alright, I can handle that," he replied.
The started walking again.
"So, how bout I tell you some more secret ones?" she asked, scuffing her shoes on the path for a moment. She looked up and grinned suddenly, and began to recite. "It all began over a thousand years ago…"
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*Pulls out hair in frustration* I really want to end it right there, but I think there's a few things that still aren't resolved yet. Even if I am rapidly losing my sappy romance mood and would love to work on all my other stuff on my to-do list, I love you guys enough to finish this. Ok, I'll shut up now.
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Usagi rolled over, and giggled.
Squirming slightly, she laughed harder.
"Trunks if you don't stop tickling me I'm going to pee my pants." she murmured into one of her pillows, and then giggled again.
It was still dark out, she noticed as her sleepy haze slowly disappeared.
The walk in the park had been a long one, since her story had been a long one. It had led to more stories, some his, some hers. The afternoon had stretched on, until it reached the dinner hours, and they went to a nearby restaurant. Dinner had led to desert, filled with more talking about random things, which had led to him taking her back to her apartment. Which had led to, well…She flushed.
Usagi figured she'd still be blushing like a schoolgirl when she was an old lady. Especially around him.
She grinned, turning to face him. Blowing a raspberry, she swatted at his hands. "Jerk," she twisted her face in fake fury.
He grinned back at her, a hand wrapping around her waist and pulling her towards him. "Are you going to do something about it?"
"Yup. Punish you in the name of the moon," she giggled again, waving a finger in warning.
He laughed with her. "That'd be fun. How short did you say the skirts on your sailor suit were?"
"Pervert!" she burst into laughter again. "You better be glad I can't transform anymore! I'd shove my tiel up-"
He silenced her with a soft kiss. "What's a tiel anyway?" he asked afterwards.
She shrugged, resting her head upon his chest. Her thoughts wandered around various things as they lay in silence, his hand absently running through her hair.
She lifted her head, and looked down into his eyes, her hair falling around them in a golden curtain. "Trunks," she said quietly. "I have a question,"
"What is it?" he asked, his brow furrowing slightly.
"You and Bulma-san told me how all of the men who underwent the DNA alterations experienced terrible side-effects. W-what about you?" she asked hesitantly.
"Well, you see, I'm a nymphomaniac because of the DNA from my father," he said very seriously.
Her eyes widened, and then she burst out laughing. Her cheeks still reddened though. "You jerk," she cried out. "I was asking a serious question!"
"And I'm serious too!" he retorted, though he was laughing too now. Composing himself, he gave her the real explanation. "When I went back to the past, my mother was aware that the effects would kick in on me soon. We found that the only way to stop them was to remove the alterations completely,"
She giggled. "I knew you were lying,"
"Why's that?"
"Being a nymphomaniac isn't terrible,"
He stared at her in surprise before laughing again. "Well, not for you,"
She flushed again, and then sobered. "So no more super powers?" she said softly.
"Nope, just an average Joe."
"Super powers aren't all they're cracked up to be," she said, lowering her head so their foreheads touched.
He grew more serious. "No, even with them I couldn't fix things. All of my father's friends still died. And my time was still a living hell,"
She smiled sadly. "But this one isn't. I think that counts for something."
He smiled as well. "Are you always this perfect?" he said, caressing her cheek.
"I try," she grinned, kissing him. She laid her head against his chest again. "I never killed anyone before." She said suddenly.
"Not many people have,"
"You have."
"They were machines,"
"But, I was supposed to be a fighter too, I was supposed to rid the world of evil. But every time it came down to making the fatal blow, I found another way."
"You shouldn't be ashamed of that."
"When I refused to kill Hotaru because she was a friend, and an innocent, the others thought I was weak because of it. Haruka and Michiru told me I didn't deserve to be the leader. And it was pure luck that Saturn and I were able to defeat Pharaoh 90." She hesitated for a moment. "What if Saturn hadn't appeared? What if I wasn't able to use the Holy Grail? What if somehow I wasn't the Messiah?"
"There's no point in spending your life asking what if," he said, staring at the ceiling. "You just have to push forward."
"Why did you come back?'
Silence reigned for nearly a minute.
"My mother died. Afterwards I spent a lot of time thinking. There was nothing left for me in that world. Too much had been destroyed. When I went back, I thought that destroying the androids would make me feel better. I thought the emptiness I had lived with for so long would disappear. After I killed them, and after my mother died, it only grew."
Her head had lifted to watch him as he spoke, but his eyes remained trained on the ceiling.
"I thought a lot about you. I wondered what happened to you. Where you had gone, what you had done. I keep wondering what it would have been like if somehow I had convinced you to come with me, if I would be happier,"
Usagi felt her chest tighten. God she had been selfish for leaving him three years ago. She had put him through so much pain and agony, because she had been scared.
"I figured I wouldn't know until unless I went back, and found you,"
"You came back for me?" she breathed in shock. Idiot. So selfish. Selfish idiot.
"If there was even a possibility that I could be with you again, I wasn't going to let it go." The hand that had been resting on her waist tightened. "The time I spent with you, was the only time I ever felt…right, complete, at peace with myself,"
He looked at her, wondering if it had been worth telling her all of this.
She smiled softly. "I think," she said carefully, letting her fingers walk across his chest. "The feeling is mutual,"
He smiled back at her, and they shared another lingering kiss.
"So do we have to get married now?" she asked playfully.
"Sure, why not?" he replied with a grin. "It's not like I have to get you a ring or anything,"
"And why is that?" she asked suspiciously.
"I just gave you an enormous, one of a kind, ancient magical diamond, how the hell can I top that?"
"First of all, you gave that back to me, it doesn't count!" she giggled. "And I want to be taken out on real date, and I want a real ring, and I want it to be romantic and special,"
He stared at her as if she had three heads.
"And you have to meet my parents first,"
He groaned. "Never mind, we can date for the rest of our lives,"
She swatted at his chest in mock anger. "You jerk! We haven't even been on a real date yet! Except for today I guess,"
"I think we had some really interesting times together, I really enjoy pulling headphones off of your head while you work, showing you where the park is, running into you and spilling your papers and driving you home, running into you in the grocery store, watching you have a panic attack, taking you to the hospital, taking you to funerals, taking you to a ball where you get shot in the shoulder by my enemy, running into you on New Year's Eve, having two separate one night stands and then cornering you in an elevator," he reeled off until she was dying of laughter.
"God, I think we ought to try and go out on a real date without something disastrous happen before we start talking about getting married,"
"Mmm, I think you're right,"
"But we are getting married. It has been my dream since I was a little girl to get married," she insisted.
"Why don't we just take this one step at a time Usagi?" he asked quietly.
She smiled softly, and nodded her agreement.
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The next morning dawned bright and warm. The sky was a bright blue and completely unmarred by clouds. Usagi felt that warm contented feeling wash over her as she rolled over in her bed.
The sensation faded quickly as she realized with a start that not only was she alone, but she was also hand-cuffed to the bedpost. "Trunks!" she shouted. "What the hell is this?!"
Laughter was audible in the next room. "Just some insurance honey," he called back. "Would you like some coffee?"
"Insurance?!" she shrieked. "It's my house! Why hell would I want to walk out of my own house?!"
"I'm beginning to wonder if maybe those times you left early were good ones, you're awful grumpy in the morning," he answered as he entered the room and leaned casually on the doorjamb.
"Trunks you jerk!" she shouted. She was caught between being embarrassed, pissed, or amused. It didn't help that he was enjoying this immensely. "Are you going to let me go? My wrist hurts!"
He walked over the side of the bed and crouched beside it and placed a hand on her bound ones. A mischievous twinkle lit his eyes. "Well, that depends," he said slowly. "Do you promise not to run away?"
She narrowed her eyes. "I mean in my own home, stupid," She replied.
He continued as if she hadn't replied. "And do you promise to be nice to me and respect me, and not beat me to death after I release you,"
"It's tempting, but yes, I promise I won't," she sighed.
"And do you promise to be my wanton sex slave for all eternity?"
"Trunks!"
"You're so cute when you scandalized,"
"Perverted jerk…"
"Do you promise?"
"Fine I promise to be your sex slave."
"You forgot wanton and for all eternity,"
"I will be wanton and yours for all eternity."
"Great! Here let me find the keys…"
"Trunks?"
"Uh-oh,"
"You didn't loose the keys did you?"
"…"
"I take back everything I said about not hurting you! I'm going to bludgeon you to death with my feet if I have to! I'm not staying tied to this bed for the rest of my life!"
"Well, you could chew your hands off,"
Her eyes widened in horror again, until a faint clicking sound came from above her, and her hands fell away from the post.
Trunks merrily jingled the keys and the handcuffs in front of her with a grin on his face.
She rubbed the feeling back into her wrists while reeling off a long and colorful list of threats aloud to him as soon as she had the circulation back in her hands.
"Kicking me in the groin doesn't require hands," he interrupted.
"You're right,"
"Please don't! You promised you'd be my slave!"
"Just you wait until I introduce my mother to yours." She said with an evil look in her eye. "You are going to have the most torturous wedding you've ever imagined."
"No!" He cried out in anguish. "Oh well, I'll have to endure. Anything for the honeymoon. Speaking of which, I ought to keep hold of these handcuffs."
"I'm beginning to really believe you weren't lying last night and you really are a nympho,"
He grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
"It sure would explain a few things," she sighed, sitting up and preparing to get up. "What do you want for breakfast?"
"You,"
"Keep this up and you're going to have to come with me to meet my psychiatrist."
"What, tell him that you're no longer feeling depressed, except now you've got this sex-crazed lunatic chasing after you and chaining you to beds?"
"Yup, but I love him anyway," she giggled. "I'm even willing to be his wanton sex slave for all eternity,"
"And that's why he loves you," He said with a grin and kissed her.
"What do you really want for breakfast?"
"You,"
She laughed, falling back into the bed and pulling him with her.
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No more!
It's 13 pages long and it had better damn well be done! God it was supposed to be a one-shot New Year's fic and now it's January 12 and I only just finished its third part.
Bahh. Hopefully you liked it. I enjoyed writing the last scene immensely, if you couldn't tell.
And if you don't know what a nymphomaniac is, it's a person that's addicted to sex. I have been talking to my wife Talysmin waaaaayyy too much.
Did anybody notice how I really *did* make Trunks into a sex-crazed lunatic? Oh well, I like him that way. Maybe I should have rated this R…it's very dirty…
Eh, whatever. In the end, I'm just a real big hopeless romantic. I couldn't leave the unhappy ending unhappy, I had to screw around with it.
And so,
Happy New Year!