Soon things on Earth had continued back to normal. Any emotion that Usagi was feeling for Seiya, she had hidden very well.

"You might even think that she didn't love him that much. But we know Usagi too well for that," Rei whispered to Makoto. "She just doesn't want us to see she's hurting for him."

One night Usagi was sitting on her bed, listening to her Three Light's CD. Luna was curled up in a ball at the end of her bed. Usagi looked up from her homework and looked up and saw that the stars had started to come out. Usagi bit her lip. 'It's not the time now, Usagi.'

Usagi got up from her bed and left her room. She went downstairs quietly and snuck past her family, that was watching t.v. She got to her door and went outside. She walked for a long time, not really sure where she was going. When she looked up at where she was, she realized that she was at Rei's temple. She shook her head sadly. 'I just can't think about that night, not now.' She continued down the street and when she looked up again, she was at the park. 'Why can't I just get away from him?'

Usagi realized that she just couldn't hold her tears in anymore. She sat down on a bench and started hysterically sobbing. She let out all of her sadness about Seiya come out, right there.

After what had seemed like hours of crying, Usagi realized that she'd have to pull herself together again.

'Get a hold of yourself, Usagi. No amount of crying will bring him back. You can't hate yourself for the rest of your life because you let Mamoru hurt him, it's not going to change anything.'

Usagi sighed and wiped the tears away from her eyes. Usagi looked up at the starry night, and realized that the stars now only flickered with light. 'They don't shine anymore, it's because he's gone.' Usagi sighed and started to walk to her house.

After she got home, and had snuck back into her room, she packed up her school bag and got into her bed. Usagi rolled over and looked at the clock. 'It's only 8:00. If I'm in bed, then Mom might think I'm ill or something.' Usagi let a tear roll down her check. 'But I don't care, it doesn't matter anymore.' Usagi turned off her light and silently cried herself to sleep.

In the morning, Usagi was actually awoken by her alarm. She got up and felt the dried tears on her face. She shook her head and went into the bathroom and took a shower. She went to her dresser and put on her school uniform. She sat down at her mirror and looked at her reflection.

'Okay, Usagi. It's time to put on your mask.' Usagi smiled widely at her reflection.

"Ohayo, Minna!" Usagi practiced a wave and then scowled at her reflection. 'If I continue to do this, I'm sure I'll crack.' Usagi put her hair up in Odangos and grabbed her school bag and went down stairs.

"Usagi! You're up early!" Ikuko was cooking pancakes. "Your father isn't even up yet, silly goose." She giggled. "Maybe you both are switching places."

"That would be funny." Usagi smiled through her mask of faux happiness.

"Well, here's your breakfast." Ikuko placed a few pancakes in front of Usagi. She ate one, rather slowly and then stood up. "Mom, I have to get to school early, so I'll be going now. Ja ne!" Usagi left the kitchen and put on her shoes and left the house.

"Demo," Her mother followed her to the door, just in time to see it shut. "You only ate one pancake." Ikuko shook her head. "Maybe she's sick." She went back into the kitchen to get the table ready for Shingo.

Usagi walked down the street towards school, she was looking at the ground and she kicked a stone with her foot. She rounded a corner and bumped into someone.

"Gomenasai, I didn't see you." Usagi stood up and brushed herself off.

"It's okay, Usagi-chan." Usagi looked up to see Yaten and Taiki.

"Ohayo," Usagi put her mask back on. "When are you guys going to finish vacation and go back to Kinmoku?"

"We're probably going to be here for a few more days, at least." Taiki tried to smile at Usagi.

"Have you told," She swallowed. "Kakyuu-hime yet?" She felt tears welling up in her eyes as she looked back up at Yaten and Taiki.

"Hai," Yaten put his hands into his pockets.

"Okay then." Usagi tried to hold her tears back and tried as hard as she could, to keep her mask on.

"Are you going to be okay, Usagi-chan?" Taiki was worried about the frail-looking Moon Princess. It looked like she hadn't been eating a lot lately, and she must have had a few sleepless nights because her make-up couldn't hide the dark circles the lightly spotted the bottom of her eyes.

"I'll be okay, really. Taiki-san, when you do go home, give my regards to Kakyuu-hime." Usagi squinted her eyes. "If you will excuse me, I have to get to school now." Usagi walked past Yaten and Taiki, inconspicuously wiping her eyes.

"It seems she was the hardest hit by Fighter's death." Taiki watched Usagi walk down the street.

"What do you mean by that?" Yaten scowled. "She barely shows any sign she's upset about him!"

"Yaten, did you look at her eyes? She had dark circles. And it looks like she's lost weight; she must not be eating. There are signs that she is just trying to hold all of her grief inside her, can't you feel it? The Moon Princess doesn't like to see anyone worry about her." Taiki sighed.

"I guess you're right, as usual." Yaten continued to walk down the street.

"I'm afraid that I am." Taiki sadly shook his head, as he continued to walk with Yaten.



"Ohayo, Usagi-chan!" Minako startled Usagi, who was looking out the window.

"Oh? Ohayo," Usagi turned from the window and looked at her cheery friend.

"How was your evening?" Minako smiled as much as she could.

"It was okay, Minako-chan. Luna slept all night, and she wasn't very much company." Usagi put her mask back on, her protection, her facade.

"I'm not supposed to tell you this, but Artemis left last night to visit Luna." Minako winked. "I wonder what those two are up to!" She giggled.

"When did he leave?" Usagi smiled at Minako, feeling a little happy to be let in on a secret.

"Around ten o'clock." Minako grinned.

"Oh, I was in bed at eight."

"You went to bed at eight o'clock?" Minako almost yelled.

"Hai, I was tired." Usagi lied and turned back to the window.

"Hai," Minako tried to recover from her statement. "Homework makes me so tired sometimes, you know, I think last week I almost feel asleep at five!" She smiled, but Usagi had turned back to the window. "How about you meet us at Crown's after school?"

"Hai," Usagi's distracted response came.

"Okay, I have to go ask Ami a question about the math homework, I'll be back, okay?"

" . . .Hai . . ."

Minako scowled and went over to Ami's desk. "Ami-chan?"

Ami looked up from the book she was reading. "Hai, Minako-chan?"

"I'm worried about Usagi-chan. Last night I tired to call her, but I didn't get an answer from her line. And Usagi told me that she went to bed at eight o'clock."

"I'm worried about her too, Minako-chan. I just don't know what we can do to help her." Ami looked over at Usagi, who was staring out the window. "I know she acts happy, but I can tell that she isn't. There isn't much we can do, except be there for her."

"I invited her to Crown's after school. Maybe a sundae will cheer her up." Minako smiled sadly.

"Maybe, Minako-chan. I just don't know."

After that the teacher came in and they began their lessons. A little while through class, the teacher wrote an equation on the board.

"Can anyone tell me what x equals?" The teacher looked around the room, and Ami raised her hand. "Anyone but Mizuno-san?" The teacher looked around for an unsuspecting student. "Tsukino-san, can you tell me what x equals?"

Usagi looked up at the board for a moment. "X equals 12."

The teacher almost fell down she was so surprised. "Did you look at someone else's paper?"

"Iie," Usagi looked up at the teacher. "I have it done out right here." She pointed to a sheet of notebook paper. The class giggled as the teacher went over to check Usagi's work.

"I guess it is right, can anyone tell me the answer to the next question?" The teacher went over to Minako. "Aino-san?"

"Fifteen?"

"Did you do your homework, Aino-san?"

"Well, Sensei-san, I tried but . . ." Minako put her hand behind her head.

Usagi went back to looking out the window. 'It's all colorless now, everything is a void.'

After school, Usagi was walking down the hallway and suddenly Makoto came up to her.

"Usagi-chan!" Makoto smiled and waved.

"Hello Mako-chan." Usagi smiled through her mask.

"Are you going to go to Crown's with us? I'll buy you a sundae!"

Usagi first thought about how she would normally act, and then she let her mask do the work. "Hai, Mako-chan! Hurry up, let's go! I'm starving!" Usagi grabbed Makoto's hand and sped out of the school until they met up with Minako and Ami.

"Let's go!" Usagi smiled on the outside, but on the inside, she felt like her heart didn't work anymore.

Once they got to Crown's they met up with Rei and then all ordered sundaes and the Senshi were happily eating them.

Suddenly a thought struck Makoto, almost like a vision. She remembered when she was outside talking with Seiya. She didn't know why it made her think of this, but it did.

~^Flashback^~

"But, Makoto, I just want you to know that I really do love her, and I would understand if Mamoru and Usagi got back together." He was very solemn. "But, I would give up my life for her, and if that was what I needed to do, then I would. If my duty was to give Usagi back up to Mamoru, then I would do it, even though it would almost kill me."

~^End Flashback^~

"Oh my goodness." Makoto dropped the spoon that she was holding in her hand.

"What's wrong, Mako-chan?" Ami looked up at Makoto.

"I think . . .I think he knew." Makoto brought her hand to her mouth.

"Knew what?" Minako took another bite of her sundae.

Makoto looked over at Usagi and sighed. "Never mind." Makoto didn't want to say anything to make Usagi any sadder then she might already be. "Usagi, I have a bunch of tokens, do you want to go play some video games? We can meet you there after we pay, okay?"

"Sure." Usagi ate the last bite of her sundae and took the tokens that were in Makoto's out-stretched hand. Usagi went down to the arcade.

"Minna," Makoto said as she watched Usagi leave. "I think that Seiya- kun knew that he was going to . . ." Makoto swallowed and searched for the right word. "Leave us." "Why do you think that?" Rei gave Makoto a funny look.

"Well, it was something he said to me after you were having that vision, Rei. He said, *'I would give up my life for her, and if that was what I needed to do, then I would.'* Of course he was talking about if he ever had to give Usagi up to Mamoru, but I think it applies the same." Makoto shook her head.

"It does make it sound like he knew something . . ." Ami looked down at her half-eaten sundae.

"Poor Usagi-chan. We need to make an extra effort to be with her, okay?" Minako sighed.

"Hai, we better go down to the arcade before she suspects something." Rei stood up and the Senshi went to the arcade.



Usagi smiled and waved, "Ja ne, Minna!" Usagi skipped out the doorway and walked down the street. She waited until she got at least a block away before she changed to shuffling her feet along.

Usagi looked up at the sky and sighed as she saw a sliver of the moon peeking out of the blue sky.

'Life just isn't worth living now, I just wish there was some Youma that could come and kill me.' Usagi thought to herself ruefully, but then reflected upon it some more. 'Iie, Usagi, pull yourself together. Wishing bad things upon yourself will only make you feel worse.' Usagi mentally scolded herself.

Usagi passed a couple walking down the street, holding hands.

"How much do you love me?" The girl giggled and grabbed onto the boy's hand.

"I'll love you forever, until the stars stop blinking and the ocean covers the Earth."

"Only that much?" The girl giggled as the boy placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Iie, more then that."

Usagi watched as the couple walked down the street. 'He loved me more then that,' Usagi tried to hold back tears, she ran as quickly as she could to her house. When she got inside, she ran into her room and locked herself inside. Usagi sat on her bed and played her Three Light's CD. The only source she had left of her beloved Seiya's voice.

"Yume no naka de nando mo

Sotto kuchidzuke kawashita

Sukitooru tsubura na hitomi ni Suikomarete iku

Kimi no naka de madoromu

Nukumori ni tsutsumarete sou

Aa itsu made mo samenaide to

Tsuraku sakebu no sa"

"In my dreams, how many times have we

Given each other tender kisses

When I look into your round eyes

I am drawn right into them

Dropping off to sleep held by you

Like that, I am wrapped in your warmth

Oh, if I could never wake up from this

I yell that out with pain"

Usagi cried silently as she listened to the song that was written for her, when she was so blind. Now she was the one wishing that she could be with him.

'Oh the irony.' Usagi thought to herself and another sob shook her body. 'I just can't live like this any more.' Usagi looked up and out her window. 'I know now what I must do. Please, Minna, forgive me.' Usagi got up and went to her desk and scribbled a note on it.

She looked around her room and sighed. 'Sayonara.' Usagi closed her door and left her room.

The weather had gotten oddly cloudy, and it was threatening to rain. "Minna," Ami looked up at the clouds. "It looks like rain, we better be getting home soon."

"Yeah, I suppose so. Maybe we should drop by Usagi-chan's for a visit, maybe?" Minako squinted at the clouds with a look that seemed to say 'Don't you dare rain and mess up my pretty hair!'

"Hai, maybe a visit to Usagi-chan would cheer her up a bit. And plus, it's closer to where we are now." Rei nodded to her friends and they continued down the street.

Usagi sighed as she climb the last step to the rooftop. "It seems like I was here yesterday." Usagi sighed as she thought of the battle between Tin Nyanko. Usagi suddenly remembered her savior from that battle, it was Seiya. She had foolishly wished it had been Mamoru, but it wasn't. It was her real Prince, her love.

"Am I not good enough?" Seiya's words echoed through her mind.

"Gomenasai, Seiya-san. I just wasn't ready for you yet. Please forgive me, please." Usagi clutched her locket and looked up at the sky, and a raindrop landed on her cheek. Usagi walked to the edge of the rooftop and glanced through the chain link fence that separated her from the edge of the roof. 'This will be the last time . . .' Usagi shook her head.

"Moon Eternal Make-Up!" Eternal Sailor Moon summoned her tier and blasted a hole in the chain link of the fence. "Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!" Usagi quickly de transformed when she found the hole to be satisfactory.

Usagi took her locket in her hand and looked at it ruefully. "And to think, the sailor-suited pretty soldier of love, courage, and justice would be using her powers this way." Usagi took her compact off and threw it to the ground. 'We don't want any powers of that locket to stop me.' Usagi sighed and walked to the edge of the roof and looked down.

"Soon I'll be with you, Seiya." Usagi smiled, for the first time in a long while, a true smiled of complete and udder happiness.



[A/N: Well, I hoped you liked the latest chapter. Sorry about my absence from updating, schedules are getting crazy this time of year, know what I mean? Well, if you enjoyed my story, I like to hear from you, even if it's constructive, I don't mind! This IS my first fic, anyway, so it's not going to be great. Well, R/R, I love you ALL!!!]