Disclaimer:  I do not own Sailor Moon.

Chapter Six: Painful

Seiya looked up with a start. The doctor was standing in front of him, one hand holding onto his clipboard tightly. He was well past the prime of his life, with five children at home and a wife who was probably sitting up waiting for him. His head was bald and shone dully under the florescent lights. His patient gray eyes were full of sorrow and the knowledge of reality. He had nothing in common with the young man who was sitting bent before him, his eyes red from lack of sleep and his shirt dry with his loved one's blood. Nothing except that he felt the beginnings of the pain that would come when he took this young man aside and told him the news.

Seiya stood up, his expression hopeful, but his face fell when he saw the somber look of the older man standing in front of him. The doctor pulled him aside slowly, and hesitated before he spoke, and Seiya could see that the older man was wishing to delay the inevitable. Then he turned and looked at Seiya in the face, and started to speak gently, softly, shaking his head slowly.

Seiya shook his head, as if trying to clear away the words that had left the doctor's lips. He shook his head again and staggered backward, tears glazing his blue eyes. He looked around the room, and then up at the ceiling, his lips moving silently. He kept on shaking his head, and looked at the doctor again, his eyes pleading with him to tell him he had been lying. But the doctor could not tell him that for it would be lying and all he was able to do was watch as another young man with long brown hair wrapped his arms around Seiya's shoulders and held him up as tears rolled silently down his cheeks.

Three Days Later

The sweet, moving melody of "Amazing Grace" strained down the isles of the church as the pall bearers carried the gleaming white casket down the center isle and out of the church to the hearse which was waiting to take the coffin to its final resting place in the cemetery overlooking the sea.

The family of the deceased followed the casket outside, their faces pale and tired with grief. The bright sunshine made them flinch and turn away; the sunny weather and cloudless sky seemed to make them fall deeper into sorrow, they all were thinking that days like this were Usagi's favorite kind of days. Seiya watched with detached eyes as Usagi's mother broke down weeping, and her father pulled her into his arms, his own face lined with tears. Usagi's younger brother looked lost and kept looking around as if Usagi was suddenly going to come and make a face at him.

The girls were holding onto each other tightly. Ami had her head buried in Makoto's shoulder and Makoto was softly saying something into the smaller girl's ear. Rei and Minako were holding onto each other's hands tightly, Rei looked as if she were walking through a dream, her eyes distant. Minako's blue eyes were dark with tears and every so often he could see her fingers tighten around the locket Usagi had given her for her last birthday.

Standing apart from them were Haruka and Michiru. Seiya looked at Haruka, understanding for the first time the love she had felt for Usagi. She had fallen apart at the hospital, her pain evident in every gesture. She had slammed her fist into the wall, over and over, unaware of the blood that was seeping from the split open knuckles. Now she stood silently, staring up at the sky as if it would hold the answers to all of her unanswered questions.

Others were there; Usagi's art dealer stood alone at the back of the crowd. No tears were rolling down his cheeks but he looked pale and drawn, his short brown hair messy. He was holding a handkerchief in his hand and he used it to wipe his nose and eyes.

"Seiya."

Taiki was next to him, his hand holding onto his shoulder. "Its time to go." The limousines were waiting to take Usagi's closest friends and family to the cemetery.

The ride there was silent, no one spoke, and the only sound was Minako's hushed sobs.

The limousines rolled to a stop inside the cemetery and everyone filed out, walking slowly to the empty grave that would soon hold Usagi forever.

Her gravesite was on the cliff, overlooking the ocean, and Seiya stared at the endless expanse of blue as the priest gravely said goodbye to Usagi.

Seiya stood back as everyone filed by Usagi's grave, each placing a white rose silently on top of her casket. When everyone was done and were slowly walking away, Seiya walked up to her casket. He stared at the glossy opal lid, trying not to imagine Usagi lying inside on satin pillows.

He set his white rose on top of the others, and looked away in pain, tears clouding his vision.

"Usagi…" He whispered brokenly, tears rolling down his face. He sank to his knees and rested his forehead against the smooth, cool surface of her casket. Sobs escaped his lips and he covered his eyes with his hand, crying helplessly as the reality of her death sunk in. "Usa…I—I can't do this…" He choked out, his shoulders shaking. "You can't just leave like this—you were supposed to stay…Oh God—don't make me do this—," He cried out, raising his face to the sky, sobs raking his entire body, "Please…I don't know how to live without her—You can't give her to me and then just take her away—Ah God…please, no…" He moaned brokenly, and began weeping without reserve into his open palms.

"Seiya…"

He looked up and Usagi was standing there, her head cocked to the side, a quizzical look on her face. "What are you doing on the ground?"

"I—," he looked at the casket and then back at her in confusion. "You're…"

She followed his gaze to her casket and smiled softly, nodding in confirmation. "Yeah."

"Then why?" He shook his head; tears were still streaming down his face.

She knelt next to him. She was in the clothes that she had been wearing the night he had found her. Except there was no blood and she was shining with an inner light. "I came to tell you goodbye."

"I don't want to say goodbye." He whispered.

Usagi shook her head, tears pooling in her deep blue eyes. She tried to smile but it trembled. "Neither do I, but I can't stay forever and I don't want to leave without telling you that I love you… and that I always will."

He shook his head, a sob escaping his lips, and he tried to frame her face with his hands but they just slipped through air into nothing.

She winced with pain and a single tear rolled down her face. He hand was still in the air and she kissed the palm of his hand. The tear beaded and dropped into the palm of his hand. He felt a jolt of pain as a white heat seared his left hand. He exclaimed and closed his hand into a fist. When he looked up again Usagi was gone.

His palm throbbed with pain and he opened his closed palm. Inside was a pool of hot water, as he watched it began to harden until it was a solid, flat, clear stone. He picked it up delicately with his fingers and looked at it closely. Inside the little stone flashed Usagi and himself as a child, foreheads pressed together, and their lips were moving in words that he could hear in his mind.

"…I'm not going to forget you and someday, I'll come back to you..."

Another memory flashed, the morning they had met again at the Blue Breakfast Room. Her face was pale and confused and she was asking him a question.

"How did you know me?"

Seiya heard himself answer softly, "Dumpling, you'd think I'd forget you?"

So many more images flashed across the small surface of the stone and he watched them all in stunned silence, unable to comprehend the gift that Usagi had given him. The last image was of her smiling face as she knelt beside him at the casket. Then the stone was clear again and still.

He closed his hand around it tightly, and stood up. The men were waiting quietly beside the grave to lower the casket and Seiya brushed his lips against the lid before walking away.

It was going to be painful but then again, isn't that how life always is? People walk in and out of our lives continually, some of them leaving ripples in our worlds, shaping us into the people we are constantly growing to become.

Not going to say much this time except for the apology I must make to those of my readers who have stuck with me until the very end. I'm very sorry for not updating my story in such a long time, I was on vacation and where I was at, there were no computers. Again, I apologize. For those of you who reviewed and read my story faithfully, a huge thank you is in order. I probably wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't for you guys. If the ending isn't satisfying, I'm sorry but I felt that it was the best thing to do...and since I'm the author I guess I'm allowed to do that.

Thank you so much for all of your nice reviews. I really appreciated them.