Dance as if noone is watching

Love as if you've never been hurt

Sing as if noone can hear

And live as if heaven is on earth

I have realized how much this fic could be taken as a portrayal of the world's current situation, taken to the extreme.  Please know that this story is NOT based on reality.  This work is purely fiction, with plenty of liberties taken with the few actual facts used, such as the history of the first two WWs.  I hope with all my heart that this current war is solved with as little bloodshed as possible.  War is a hideous thing, and should never be taken lightly or in jest.  This is a serious fic, and I hope that anyone who would flame me for this subject realizes this.

Chapter Three:

When the deep beat of a message sounded throughout the city, Usagi, along with every single other citizen of Neo-Tokyo, turned to the nearest Mediascreen, the government's way of delivering messages effectively to the city at large.  It was two weeks after her encounter with the seimei girls, and she knew that the war was getting worse.

                The war occupied everyone's minds.  The older men and women related their tales from the last war, expressing their distaste and fear loudly and often.   It had been nearly fifty years since the first Mega-City had been built, and the cities had been built soon after the end of World War Three.  History was repeating itself, and there was nothing Bunny could do.

                She looked up to see the wreckage of a Mega-City displayed across the six-story tall screen.  She froze, her heart in her mouth as she heard the horrific news being reported.

                "This morning around sunrise, Mega-Paris was attacked by unknown renegades.  The nuclear weapons used were powerful enough to level most of the core of the city, reducing life there to chaos.  There is an uncounted mortality rate, and many more are believed to be missing or injured.  More attacks are feared, but there has been no sign or indication of future plans from this dangerous unknown.  All citizens of Mega-Tokyo are asked to stay in the city, and to immediately follow any directions given by our Emperor."  The video played on, this time with out sound, but Bunny couldn't move.  Her heart was thudding so loudly, she didn't even hear Demando call her name.  She broke out of it when he shook her, and he grabbed her tightly, staring into her eyes.

                "Are you alright, Usa-ko?" he asked urgently.  He seemed more worried for her then what they had both seen.  She stuttered, eyes still wide.

                "I'll be fine," she whispered softly.  "But you knew, didn't you?" she accused him, eyes hurt.  She didn't know how she knew this, but somehow, she knew that Demando had been very much of aware of this attack.  And it hurt, to know that her best friend was involved in this.  It hurt her like very little had ever hurt.

                "Bunny, listen to me," he begged.  He pulled her out of the busy street, and down a dark alley where they would not be overheard.  "I knew, yes, but I had nothing to do with the attack.  I did not take part, and I will never do anything like that.  Believe me!  Please.  I did nothing, Bunny.  Nothing, and it cost those millions of people their lives."  He let go of her when her expression did not change, when her eyes remained accusing specks of ice.

                Usagi continued to watch him, but her eyes softened slightly.  She felt his anguish, and though she was still angry, she couldn't believe that he had been involved.  She reached out and touched his face softly, conveying without words her belief.  When Demando turned back to her, Bunny was shocked once more to see tears on his face.

                She wiped them away gently, and pulled him to her, enveloping him in a tender hug.  Whispering soothing words, Usagi couldn't help but compare this moment with similar ones in the past.  Only then, it had been Demando comforting her, not the other way around.

                "Bunny, if anything happens please be sure you get to safety."  Usagi looked up from her computer to see her mother standing in her doorway, looking grim.  The situation in the world had grown even more serious with two more cities being attacked, though neither had been Mega-cities.  Her mother had been keeping very close track of the news, and every day she seemed more stressed and sorrowful.

                "I will, mama," she promised, if only to ease her mother's troubled mind.  Bunny knew that her mother had family in Paris, and even now, three days later, there had been so few survivors from the city of over ten million that Ikuko had lost hope of ever seeing any of them again.  Bunny did not know if there would be anywhere safe to go if the city was attacked, but she did not tell her mother this.

                Her mother left, looking harried as customers called from downstairs.  Business had remained the same in the inn, perhaps as Demando had said, full with people who wanted to forget about the current danger.

                Demando materialized out of the shadows of her room, startling Bunny.  "Don't do that," she scolded, even though he had been doing that for many years.  He smiled faintly, before moving to stand behind her.

                "Hacking into the government again, Usa-ko?" he asked, placing his hands gently on her shoulders to get a better look.  For some reason, Usagi's breath sped up slightly at the close contact, and she wondered why now she was feeling different around her best friend.  But, as she reflected further, she realized that it had started when he had returned the last time.  She had merely ignored it until now.

                Pushing her thoughts away, she answered his question.  "I was just seeing if there was any new information on the renegades behind this.  And there was," she pointed out triumphantly.  "See, this group is supposed to be based somewhere on the American continent, in the ruined lands that are abundant there.  However, there have been no successful forays into that area, as none who went have come back, so nothing is really known about them.  There has only been sniper-style attacks, with them disappearing as soon as they appear."

                Demando stood up straight, removing his hands, and Usagi frowned at the loss of contact.  "That's not very reassuring," he said.  He looked deep in thought, and Usagi was hesitant to break him out of it.

                "Do you know anything," she asked quietly.  Until now, she had made no reference to the incident three days ago, but she had to know.  Their lives had been so turned around by this pending war that she no longer cared about subtlety.  And war it would be, if what she had hacked into was any indication.  The messages being sent between the governments of the Mega-Cities were grim, and she could almost see the declarations of war being drawn up.

                "I-" he began, and turned away from her questing eyes.  "I know what they're after," he muttered softly.  He turned his gaze to the window, staring at the foggy night sky.  "They don't know where it is, so they will continue to attack until they find it."

                "What is 'it'?" she pressed, standing up so she could look more clearly into his face.

                Demando turned back to face her, his dark eyes hiding most of his emotions, though Bunny could see the sorrow within them.  "A power so great that they would be able to dominate the Earth."  Suddenly, he grabbed her in a hug, holding her tightly as if she was his last lifeline in a turbulent ocean.  "Please, do not repeat a single word I have said.  Just knowing it as you do has put you in great danger, Usa-ko."

                "Of course," she promised, voice muffled against his shirt.  Her head felt light and airy, and it was hard to think.

                Demando rested his head on top of hers, body weary from fear and stress and frustration.  "Promise me you will stay safe?" he asked.

                "Yes," she replied as she had her mother.

                "Promise me you will not try to fight?" he asked, pulling back so he could stare into her eyes.

                "Yes," she repeated.

                "And promise me you will always let me protect you?" he asked, and lowered his head to kiss her softly on the lips.

                Usagi stared at him with large blue-grey eyes, and her hand came up to touch her lips.  Then she blinked, and smiled.  "Yes," she said softly.  She had been surprised when Demando had kissed her, but it had felt so right.  So she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him again.

Bad ending, bad ending.  Please not hate me?  Oh, I learned how to spell blue in English (I think I got it figured out!).  Go me.
Thank  yous:  Alexiel x2 (thanks for the encouragement), EASimpson x2 (Chiba Mamoru didn't die, he never existed.  Usagi did not live through the war, she was born about thirty years after World War Three ended), and Serenity Aura Crystal Winner (long name...  thank-you for the compliment).