Author's Note:

Yes, another fanfiction. As before, the disclaimers go as follows:

My email address is Guardian4@atlantic.net. If you want to email me about my story, please put fanfiction in the subject line. Sailor Moon was made by Naoko Tacheuchi, I don't own it.

Also, Rei and Mamoru never went out, k? And Kunzite and Zoisite are not lovers. I also used the relationship between the Shitennou from the manga, not the anime, which means they don't hate each other. I also use only the manga attacks for the Senshi. (Since in the Manga, Mars doesn't have Fire Soul and only talismans in the first season, I'm going to borrow a second season one, even though she doesn't have her Star Power transformation.)

Hidden Truths

Chapter 17

Makoto couldn't tell if she was pleasantly surprise or shocked when Nate came by her apartment early the next morning, while she was still practically asleep, and asked her for a date. It was a little fuzzy, but she still remembered most of it, at least the important parts.

The banging on the door (to her ears anything above a tap was banging) dragged her from the blissfulness of sleep. She had been so exhausted that she hadn't had trouble sleeping as she had before. Perhaps all she needed to do was work herself so hard that she was worn out every night.

She stumbled to the door and opened it, with an eye shut to avoid the light streaming in through her pale green curtains. "What?" she managed to grunt out.

"Mako-chan?"

She blinked; it was the first time he had ever called her 'Mako-chan' instead of Makoto. Was it truly as important enough to call her by her nickname?

"Yeah?"

"Would you…consider having dinner with me tonight?"

Makoto rubbed her gritty eyes and leaned on the doorframe. Was he asking her out on a date? She certainly couldn't remember a time when having dinner with someone entailed anything else but a date.

"Sure."

"Great!" He smiled like the sun.

Now, at any normal time she would be basking in that rare smile or melting before it. Right then, it nearly blinded her and she wanted to crawl back into the darkness for more sleep. She blinked and muttered, "What time is it?"

"9:00," he promptly responded, confused about the question.

"A.m. or p.m.?"

"A.m."

"Oh, that's nice. See you at 10:00 p.m. tomorrow night. I'm going back to sleep."

He laughed and it drew her a little away from the tiredness that burned away at her sandy eyes.

"You always make me laugh, Mako-chan. I'll never forget that about you."

"You make it sound like I'm going to die."

And then Nate was no longer smiling or laughing. "You may at that. We all may at that."

That brought her straight up from sleepy land and to the land of the living. She gripped her henshin wand and said, "What happened, Nate?"

"I'm worried about Beryl; I know her. She won't wait forever to attack. The stars told me to prepare because she will attack soon."

"When?" she asked sharply.

"They didn't say."

Makoto slowly stowed her henshin wand back in her subspace pocket and motioned him inside. "Wait here until I'm dressed."

When she pulled on her green shirt, she realized suddenly that it was Thursday and on Thursday, school was in session.

"OH MY GOD!!"

She barreled out of her bedroom at high speed, pulling on her skirt and grabbing her bag.

"What is it, Makoto?" Nate demanded, alarmed.

"I am SO DEAD! It's nine! I'm supposed to be at school by 7:30 at the latest! I have to go!"

He grabbed her arm and pulled her back in the apartment. "None of the other girls are going to school today. They got up at the regular time, made out of the house as if they were going, and then we picked them up and brought them to our place for some more sleep. They were dead tired. You went to sleep early when you got home from school, but they didn't. As long as the school doesn't say anything to their parents about missing it today, they're fine. Besides, it's way too late to even think about going. If you go now, you'll just be as tired or more so than before and if we need you for a battle, you won't be in any shape to fight."

She had to hand it to his logic that it was unassailable. She sighed. "This isn't doing any good for my school record, but all right." She set down her bag and now that her adrenaline was over, she was feeling as if she could barely keep her eyes open.

"Come over to our place with the other girls. You can sleep a little more there," he pleaded.

Makoto yawned. "Okay."

She fell asleep in the car and Nate found himself in the rather pleasing situation of carrying her up the stairs. Worry was evident on his friends' faces when he showed up with her in his arms, but he waved it away, explaining she was just asleep. They noticed her school uniform on and he gave a wry grin.

When she was settled in Nate's room, the other rooms taken up by the counterparts of the Shitennou, he joined his friends, who were talking quietly in the living room.

"Did you ask her?" questioned Zale, curious.

"Yes."

"What did she say?" prompted Jason.

"Yes."

"Makin' some good strides," the short blonde commented.

"Be careful wherever you might be today," Nate warned suddenly. "I have a bad feeling right now and I think it would be best for all concerned if we watch our step. Beryl won't wait much longer."

"We know that; she's definitely not the patient type," Zale observed.

"How are the girls?"

"Tired as all hell," Mamoru told him. "They barely even move in their sleep."

"All right, Endymion," Keagan said, deliberately using his Silver Millennium, his Prince name. "It is time to tell us what happened to you when you were growing up in this life. We know nothing about you now and we want to know you as a friend in this age and not just in the past."

Mamoru, taken aback and looking somewhat hurt, leaned back in his chair and looked out the window to the sea of buildings that was Tokyo. "When I was little, my parents of this time died in a car accident. They said it was a miracle I survived. I wasn't even sure what my name was, but I survived through all the orphanages and a few foster homes that they put me through. When I met up with Usagi-tachi* I remembered about the Silver Millennium, but not when I was younger, but I do know what happened to me when they died. That's why I know how Mako-chan feels right now because I felt it myself. I didn't have a family until Usagi came and I didn't have friends until the Senshi came. And I didn't have brothers until you came."

They remained silent for a moment, floored by the amount of depth of Mamoru's feelings for them. "So you forgive our betrayal, My Lord?" asked Keagan quietly.

"How could I not?" he responded, looking at the leader of his guards. "You are the closest thing that I have to a family and you are my brothers. I could never hold something against you."

"But we were the downfall of the Moon Kingdom, the Silver Millennium…the death of you and your princess," blurted out Jason contritely.

"That was a long time ago, Jadeite. It's over now."

And when they looked into Mamoru's royal blue eyes that were the same as Endymion's, they knew they had been completely forgiven and pardoned for their acts of crime in the past. And they knew no amount of words would ever begin to describe the gratitude and love they felt for their sovereign.

"Endymion…Mamoru…we promise you that we will do the best that we can to protect you and the princess. But you must promise us one thing," Nate said forcefully.

"What must I promise?"

"That if we die and you and the princess survive, that you live past us."

"What do you mean, Nephrite?" Mamoru asked, alarmed.

"Should we die, our only wish is that you do not mourn us forever. We want you to go on living your life and making the most of what our sacrifice went for. We want you to continue fighting, living, if we should perish. As our liege, as our friend, as our brother, you must promise us this. It is the only thing we will ever ask of you and we want you to hold to this promise."

Those wide blue eyes looked at each of his Shitennou and saw unwavering devotion, but above all, determination. "I promise. It will be difficult, so difficult that it will seem impossible, but I will try."

"No, do not try," Zale interrupted, "do."

Mamoru nodded, his eyes sad. "I promise. Why do you ask me this?"

"Despite the fact that we owe you and the princess a greater debt than we can repay and that we should be doing something asked of us, we ask you to do this. We don't want our entire existence to be a lie," Keagan told him gently.

"Your existence is not a lie!" the black-haired man blurted out forcefully.

"Then live as we asked and it won't be."

"I will always love you," he murmured to them.

"Thank you," whispered Jason quietly. "Your love and Rei's love is all I ever wanted. Should I have those, whenever I die, which I hope won't be for a long time to come, I will die peacefully. I will die happy."

"I hope that day won't be for a long time as well," Mamoru told him, gripping his hand tightly.

"I wish I had had a video camera," sniffled a female voice from behind them. "That was so sweet and so deep."

The men whirled around to see the five girls in various doorways peeking out and wiping eyes. It had been Minako that had spoken.

"Truly. I mean, normally male bonding makes me gag, but this was a special male bonding that didn't have to have completely vulgar things in it," commented Rei wistfully.

"Why were you listening? This was supposed to be between us and the Prince," Zale said darkly.

"Oh don't get your panties in a twist," Makoto told him, not ungently. "We didn't mean to listen in, but don't tell me you wouldn't have listened in if the positions were reversed."

"You got to give her that, Zale," Jason told him, watching as the thunderclouds of resentment blew away from the pale blonde's face.

"Well now that that's over with," Usagi said, "it's time to relax a bit."

She walked over and promptly plopped herself down in Mamoru's lap. He looked amused, but otherwise didn't react. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning her head into the crook of his shoulder.

"They look so kawaii together, don't you think?" whispered Minako to Keagan, a little too loudly.

Keagan raised his eyebrow as he looked at the two royals and to all's astonishment, said, "Yes, they do."

Usagi blushed bright red, but smiled anyway. Mamoru shook his head in wonderment at his leading King. Jason and Zale burst out laughing at his indignant 'What?'

But Nate was too worried about what the stars had told him the night before to really join in with the relaxed atmosphere. He wanted to demand more information from them, wanted to know more, but if he pushed for the information, they would simply draw back from him with what little they HAD told him.

"What's the matter?" whispered a deep voice in his ear.

Her words rustled his hair slightly and he breathed in her scent deeply. Yes, he had to admit he felt something deep and profound for that brown-haired Senshi. She was everything he thought could never be in a woman. If the Dark Kingdom had had people like her as youma, they would have conquered the entire universe by now, but if they did have her as youma, then they wouldn't have done any fighting at all.

He smiled at her and hesitantly put his arm around her shoulders. She looked at him in surprise, but leaned against his side all the same. Nate looked back out the window and said quietly, "I'm worried, is all."

"I thought that was Keagan's job," she commented.

Their conversation was low, the talk from the others drowning their words out to them.

"It's everyone's job."

They stayed silent for a time, watching the city of Tokyo move on about its business, never knowing that it should be cowering in fear from the soon-to-be-launched attack by Beryl and her dreaded queen, Metallia.

"Are we still on for dinner tonight?"

Nate looked down at her and smiled, the only real smile he had had that day other than when she had agreed to the date in the first place.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

End Chapter 17.

* -tachi. Okay, I found this on a site that I went to. We all know that –chan and –san and –kun and all about those and what they mean. Well, it said that –tachi meant like, talking about a group of people. If I used it with Usagi-tachi, it would mean Usagi and the others with her (most of the time talking about the Inner Senshi, who I was referring to in the fanfic). When I find the site, I'll let you know. If I can find it again.