Until Death Do Us Part

Draft 4.0

"Oh my..." Queen Serenity whispered as she held her twin daughters. Her hair was sweaty, her eyes wide and tired, and her breathing had slowly returned to normal. She had just given birth to not one, but two princesses of the moon. "There's – there's two of them!"

"That would be the case, your Majesty," said the midwife, wiping up her hairs. "Two beautiful girls." She smiled at the children, but the queen's eyes were wide and scared.

"But – but I'm only supposed to have one child! There can only be one princess of the moon!" The young queen was nearly hysterical as she gazed upon her lovely daughters, one with pale blonde hair, one with rich yellow hair. The love that welled inside of her could never be explained, but it was not to be. "You must speak of this to no one!" she told the midwife. "On pain of death!"

The midwife, frightened, backed towards the door. "You heard me!" said Serenity. The midwife, Raiu, nodded. "Come back when I call!" and Raiu was only too eager to obey.

"My daughters… so young in life, and already, you are cursed, cursed with such a terrible secret. My lovely Serenity," she spoke to the one with the bright yellow hair. "And my lovely Selene," to the one with the pale hair. One girl yawned wide, and the other blinked a few times. Both were so oblivious, so innocent, so undeserving of any of this... A tear ran down Serenity's cheek, and she sat for just a moment before calling the midwife back.

"Yes, mum?"


"Summon Destiny, tell her it is urgent," whispered Serenity. The midwife nodded, exiting once more, and Serenity spoke to her small daughter Selene. "You will love Destiny, she is my great aunt. I am so sorry, what I do is out of love, you must know that, little one. Someday they will tell you, and then you can know." The baby cooed, and more tears spilled down Queen Serenity's face. "Why me? Why you?"

Why tiny Selene? Ancient laws prohibited her being. Her very being, without which such evil as no man had ever known would infect the universe, was illegal. And so, Selene would remain hidden, through this life, the next life, all lives. Her very birth, her very existence, denied for thousands of years...

Chapter One

The wind was blowing softly while Ami, Usagi, and their friend Kioko walked home slowly. Usagi sniffed the warm air and smiled.

"Beautiful," was all she said, and the others silently agreed. The sun was low and the dying light was orange across the streets of Tokyo. The girls' faces were warm and glowing, eyes glittering and hair wafting gently in the wind.

Kioko lived in an apartment a floor down from Ami. The pretty brunette had moved in only a year or so prior, but she and Usagi, who visited Ami often, had quickly become friends, both of them willing and gregarious. Usagi and Ami carried grocery bags with flower, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and other baking goods. They had decided that tonight would be a good night to make some snacks, a duty they usually left up to Makoto.

They climbed the stairs to the floor where Kioko lived. She smiled and reached for the doorknob of the stairwell. Ami frowned – Kiki's parents were never around, and whenever she walked past her apartment, even very late, the light was always on. Was she lonely?

"Kiki," said Ami, "Why don't you come up with us?" Her sparkling green eyes lit up.

"Really?"

"Of course," said Usagi, smiling. "I'm surprised I didn't think of it!" The three briskly walked up the last flight of stairs and entered Ami's home.

"I'm so happy I'll have some treats to bring on my picnic tomorrow!" said Usagi brightly as they emptied bags onto the counter. Kioko smiled,

"Who are you going with?"

"Mamoru, of course!" said Usagi. Kioko sighed happily.

"How sweet!" Kioko looked whistful.

"Did you have a boy back home?"

"Oh yes!" exclaimed Kioko, with more vehemence than Usagi had known her to have. "He was wonderful. Tall, dark," she smiled softly to herself. "I miss him."

"Do you still talk?" asked Ami. Kioko shook her head.

"Oh, no. It was just too hard." There was a silence, and then Kioko laughed. "Sorry to put such a damper on things," she flung a few chocolate chips at Usagi's head. One caught in her ear, which she tried frantically and successfully to get out, and toss back at Kioko. Usagi giggled and gave her a raspberry. When Kioko turned to unload the bag nearest her, Usagi blew softly on a small pile of flower in the palm of her hand, grinning as the back of Kioko's head became as white as a ghost.

"Oh, you!" exclaimed Kioko, reaching her hand up to feel the powder on the back of her head. "You just wait!" Usagi and Kioko giggled while Ami fretted over the mess.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Tsukino Usagi if I have told you once, I have told you – "

"Mom, I'm up."

"- that you have to get up before – oh! Okay, honey!" Her mother was startled. Was it even noon yet?

Usagi stood before her mirror, and was brushing her hair softly, humming the melody her locket often played. She smiled. Mamoru was taking her to see the cherry blossoms in the park today. He was bringing a blanket, and she was bringing food, and it would just be the two of them. She sighed, and spun around, dancing with herself.

She looked at her clock, and realized she was late. Grabbing the picnic basket, she took the stairs with great leaps and bounds, pausing only once before the door when she noticed there were donuts in the kitchen.

"Five, Usagi?" said her mother with a raised eyebrow.

"One's for Mamo, mom, gimme a break!"

She shoved one in her mouth, and rushed out the door. She nearly choked as she tripped over Luna. "Lu – naaaaaah!" she half said, half grunted.

"Oh, Usagi!" Luna jumped into Usagi's arms, knocking out two doughnuts, biting into a third. "These really need more powdered sugar, Usa--" She was cut off by the sound of a car.

"Mamo? I didn't know you were going to pick me up!" Usagi grinned and rushed to the car, dropping everything in her arms in the process, including Luna.

"What'd ya think I was going to do, carry you? Come on, Odango, hop in!"

He reached across the car and opened the passenger door. Usagi climbed in, and smiled at him. "I love you!"

"Rats! You beat me to it!" he kissed her softly. "Love you too, Meatball." As they drove, he switched his right hand between her leg and the shifter. Usagi smiled, content.

~~~~~~~~~~

When they reached the park, there were only a few other couples idly strolling around. The pink cherry blossoms covered the trees and stray petals floated around lazily until settling on the ground.

Mamoru laid out a blanket, and he and Usagi sat, Usagi staring at the fluttering petals of the blossoms, Mamoru gently pulling vagrant leaves and petals from Usagi's long blonde hair, which today seemed to have an extra lovely sparkle.

The sun shone down brightly as Usagi and Mamoru chatted about nothing in particular. Their chatter stopped for a moment, and they gazed into each other's eyes. Their lips began to move steadily closer until--

"What are you??" cried a male voice. Usagi jumped up and saw an ugly monster. It had large pincers and looked almost like a giant crab.

"Moon Eternal Make-UP!" cried Usagi. A few seconds later there she stood, the lovely, the elegant, the powerful, the one and the only Eternal Sailor Moon. She held out her scepter. "Starlight honeymoon therapy kiss!" The monster dodged the attack, and flung Sailor Moon against a tree. She crumpled to the ground. From among the cherry blossoms, another transformation was heard.

"Moon Crystal Power! Make-up!" Eternal Sailor Moon's head hurt far too much for her to take much notice. The monster, however, turned around to see what was going on. There, in a cherry tree, arms crossed, lips pouted, was Sailor Moon.

"What the--" cried Mamo, now Tuxedo Kamen. He looked back and forth between the two Senshi, unsure what was unfolding before his eyes. On his right, he had Eternal Sailor Moon, who he had seen Usagi transform into. On his left, there was regular Sailor Moon, sitting in a tree.

"I am Sailor Moon! When I ruled the moon, I brought peace and happiness. Now that the moon kingdom is gone, thanks to scum like you, I have to do my best to bring peace and happiness to this planet!" Sailor Moon jumped down from the tree. "In the name of the moon, I will punish you!" She did a front flip, and grabbed the scepter that Eternal Sailor Moon had dropped.

"Moon Scepter Annihilation!" The attack this strange Sailor Moon used was stronger than any Usagi had ever known. The monster was blown to dust in seconds, and it seemed like it did nothing to the new Sailor Moon's energy stores. She practically bounced over to Eternal Sailor Moon and helped her up. "You okay?" she asked. Eternal Sailor Moon nodded weakly and detransformed into Usagi. Sailor Moon chided the girl. "Usagi, that was a little irresponsible of you. What if I were an enemy?" Usagi and Tuxedo Kamen looked confused and a little bit frightened. "I'm not though - don't worry!"

"Then who are you?" asked Tuxedo Kamen. He walked over and put a protective arm around Usagi. Sailor Moon's face turned dark.

"You know, I don't think you really want to know. Not yet." She frowned to herself. "Yes, not yet." She did a back flip, more graceful than Usagi had ever been, and disappeared into the cherry blossoms. Tuxedo Kamen turned back into Mamoru, and he and Usagi helped the man who had been attacked. The man was fine, only a few bruises, though Usagi could barely walk; that monster had had intense powers. Mamoru lifted her into his arms and whispered softly in her ear.

"Its all right, Usagi, is all right. I'm here, I would never let anything hurt you," he carried her back to the car. He gently laid her in the backseat, and kissed her softly on the forehead. "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," she whispered, and she tilted her head back and found Mamoru's lips. She kissed him, and breathed the warm air from his mouth. She smiled as her head leaned back. She closed her eyes, and a small line of drool began to trail out of her mouth. Usagi had fallen asleep. Mamo chuckled softly to himself as he got into the driver's seat and drove to his apartment. He could call a meeting of the Senshi when he got there. Until then, he could only wonder to himself what could possibly be afoot…

Sailor Jeanne Says:

Wow that was a really dorky title of me. Oh, well. I write Sailor Moon fics; I can't be all that fly and chill any way. Moving on … this is an old fic, the fourth draft of it, actually, and I really like it. It's kind of been my baby for a while. Some people have told me that the whole other Sailor Moon thing is kind of cliché but … that's there problem, and this is my story. So I got really great responses to this last time from really great readers, and so I was compelled to give another draft and another posting a shot. Thank you so much for reading and twice as much if you review, even if it's just to say, hey I read it and I liked it/thought it was awful. J