Hello. Here is the third chapter. I've kind of written them all in a row because I wasn't able to load them onto the site right away, so I figured why not just write them? Oh well, anyway, hopefully someone will stick with me through these chapters and read and review. Sorry if it's confusing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor moon. Bottom line.

Chapter Three: Can't Keep Lying

Usagi knocked on Mamoru's door softly, her hand shaking in spite of her resolve to do the thing that would change the futures of her friends and the people of Crystal Tokyo.

Mamoru opened the door, his eyes widening with surprise when he saw Usagi standing there, her hand poised to knock again.

"Mamoru, may I come in?" Usagi asked quietly, her eyes sweeping the body of her first boyfriend and the man she had once thought was her one true love. "I need to talk to you about something."

Mamoru pulled on the edge of his t-shirt and opened the door wide enough to admit Usagi into his apartment. Usagi stepped inside and slipped off her shoes, taking in the familiar surrounds of his apartment slowly. There were remnants of breakfast in the sink of the kitchen, which Usagi noted as being odd. Mamoru hated to cook, why had he tried to make something this morning?

Usagi sat down on the couch and waited for Mamoru to sit down across from her in his favorite chair, in his customary manner, shifting back and forth until he was comfortably situated, and then looked at Usagi, his navy blue eyes full of questions.

Oh this was so familiar, sitting here like this, on days when the rain was pouring from the heavens in sheets and sipping hot tea. They would just sit there, talking softly and laughing and then they would be silent and watch the rain roll down the windows and drip onto the concrete balcony.

Usagi felt a stab of guilt, and remorse churned in her stomach and tears started to burn at the corners of her eyes. She had, at one point or another, loved this man and he in turn, had loved her. Things just were not meant to be.

"Mamo-chan…"She started and then stopped, swallowing. This was going to be so much harder than she had thought. On the way over she had planned out what she would say when faced with him like this, but as soon as she saw his face and the gentle cast of his blue eyes and the way his black hair fell over his gaze, she forgot all she had been about to say. "Oh, Mamoru." She whispered and rested her head in the palm of her hand, staring blankly at the coffee table top. There was a picture of her in a frame, next to a remote control which was dusty from disuse--Mamoru hated watching television--he thought it was such a waste of time when he could be doing more constructive things.

She felt, rather than heard Mamoru move and sit beside her on the couch, and then his hand was rubbing large, soothing circles on her back and she shook her head, trying to clear the tears that were threatening to spill over.

"Usagi?"

Usagi looked up, her eyes glittering dimly with tears and her eyelashes fluttering in an attempt to clear them from her vision.

Mamoru didn't stop rubbing her back, and he moved closer, peering into her face, concern written across his strong features. "Usagi? What's the matter?"

Usagi swallowed thickly, and shook her head. "Oh, Mamo-chan." She whispered. "I can't…Mamoru…I-I don't…I can't-,"Her voice broke and she choked back a sob. "Oh, Mamo-chan…I can't be with you anymore." The tears spilled over then, falling in hot streaks down her soft, white cheeks and she covered her face with her hands, sobbing and aching inside. She loved him because he was her best friend and her first love but she couldn't lie and be with him anymore. And the pain was ripping at her heart mercilessly.

Mamoru sat there, stiff, his face a blank mask. At her stammered and broken words he had frozen over, the pain in his heart roaring in his ears and he couldn't hear anything except for the sound of his heart breaking.

Then the roar dulled to a weeping sound and he slowly realized that the weeping was not that of his broken heart, but that of his beloved Usagi weeping beside him, her shoulders heaving with the sobs that choked her until the only sound that emitted from her were strangled gulps for air.

Mamoru stood up, his hand falling from Usagi's back. "Usagi…"

Usagi rubbed a hand over her eyes and looked up at Mamoru, who looked as if she had hit him with a bus.

"Usagi…would you please…—would you please leave?" His voice was hoarse and his gaze was focused on the wall above her head. Usagi stood up, tears streaming steadily down her face and dripping onto her clenched hands.

"I'm sorry, Mamoru. I'm so sorry…but it's been a lie…I couldn't—I couldn't lie to you and everyone else forever…Mamoru—please…" But Usagi cut herself off and pressed the back of her hand over her mouth. She ran to the door, and slipped her shoes on unsteadily, and let the door slam behind her as she went out.

Mamoru stood there unmoving for moments longer before he dropped heavily to the couch, his eyes staring unseeing at the table in front of him. He felt nothing, only a numbing pain that was spreading slowly through out his body and a sense of unreality set in. God, this was painful. Tears were glistening in his eyes but he roughly rubbed them away, and coughed harshly, determined not to cry. But the one person whom he had ever trusted with his heart had just shattered it into a million pieces, and he was left to wonder how he was going to pick them back up. God, he still loved her, he would always love her like he would never love anyone else. Why? She had said it was a lie…that their love had been a lie.

Mamoru's mouth hardened into a thin line, and pain left his eyes as he focused on the picture of Usagi on the coffee table. She was staring at the camera, her eyes becoming focused but still distant, as if she had been caught in the middle of a long-forgotten memory. Unlike many of the other pictures he possessed of Usagi, she was not smiling. Mamoru picked up the framed picture slowly, for the first time noticing the hollow pain that was painted clearly in Usagi's eyes and the empty longing that was etched across her face.

Mamoru studied the photo, wondering why he had never noticed the pain before. They had been as close as friends could be—why then, had he never seen the wistful distance in his love's eyes? It was not a physical pain but a pain that was soul deep, buried in Usagi's eyes and only had been visible because…because her fingers had been wrapped around the gold locket she wore, Mamoru realized with a start. She had never told him where she had gotten it, although he had asked countless times but she would always rub her fingers across the chain and locket absently.

Mamoru put the photo down and leaned back into the sofa, a frown furrowing his brow.

There was something that was hurting Usagi, and it was deeper down than the pain of their breakup.

Okay…this didn't turn out as good as I wanted it too but…what can ya do? Stick with me. I'll have the fourth chapter up soon!