Okay, here it is, another chapter. Not that it's really that important but still, had to write a chapter. And what a chapter it is too! (Teresa knows what's going to happen, she's probably swearing all over the place.) Well the chapter is calling to me and so I must write and not dawdle on author notes.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. (If I did, it would probably turn out something like this.)
Warnings: ANGST, and more confusion and more love triangles then Hana Yori Dango.
Will Mamoru and Usagi confess their oh so obvious feelings? Will Mamoru's stupidity about who the princess is change the whole fic around? Will Usagi be able to handle the 'other' woman in Mamoru's life? Or will she just forget about him and take a vacation to the Bahamas with Seiya? Will Seiya get anywhere? Or is he as doomed as he was in the actual series? Will Setsuna and Hotaru continue to try to 'help' things? Will anymore of the mysterious Kaitou/Danburite appearances happen? Will Minako please explain that to everyone who doesn't know who he is because they haven't read Codename wa Sailor V? Will Jade ever stop praising that comic? Will Jade continue to bitch about how Minako should have gotten more spotlight in Sailor Moon because of the Sailor V comics? Will Jade continue to bitch about how no one cares about Rei's cool side story and how it's shunted aside for Luna's side story about falling in love with a human? Will that continue to be just a huge burn to Artemis? Will the questions start being about the story again? Will we ever get that fistfight? Will Seiya give a better explanation of what's going on with the Starlights? Will something cool happen? I'll tell you but only if you'll...
Close Your Eyes
Chapter Seven
"Urgh, I want the Sailor V doll..." Minako whined in protest as the claw machine managed to get around doing the said task. These things had to be rigged.
"Do you want me to try?" Minako turned around to see Tomoe Hotaru standing there, looking curiously over her shoulder. "I'm kind of good at them..." Hotaru looked down at her feet shyly.
"Alright." Minako shrugged. She had gotten to the arcade before everyone else that day and was passing the time by spending all her money in the UFO catcher doll claw machine, trying to get the cute Sailor V doll. The dark-haired girl they had met the other day, Hotaru, put in some money and concentrated carefully on it.
She seems like a nice person...
I get the feeling I know her from somewhere, I have no idea where...
"Ah!" Hotaru looked excited as she got two dolls in the claw, one being the Sailor V doll that Minako desperately wanted, and waited patiently as they dropped into prize slot. "Here's your Sailor V doll, though I don't really recognize this character." Hotaru handed her the other doll.
Blonde hair and a mask, much like the one Mamoru wore as Tuxedo Kamen on his face. In his hand were three cards. One of them was an ace of hearts.
"I ask of you earnestly, don't be unfaithful."
That's in the past Minako! He's not here anymore...
But where do those cards keep coming from? And who saved me the other night? What is this?
I've got to stop thinking about it, I can't be down now! I've got a duty to fulfill!
"Aino-san...are you alright?" Hotaru asked her.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Minako beamed at her. "These are cute, don't you want one though?"
"No, I've got lots of them at home." Hotaru shook her head. "Are the others here?"
"Hotaru, stick close to Usagi so you can head off Seiya whenever he is near."
"Um..." Minako looked around. She saw Usagi waving towards her as she walked in the doors. "There's Usagi-chan."
"Cute Sailor V doll!" Usagi complimented. "Do they have any Sailor Moon dolls?"
"Wouldn't you rather have a Tuxedo Kamen doll?" Minako elbowed her and winked. Usagi flushed. "Where are the others?"
"Ami went to cram school." Usagi made a face at this as if to show she'd never be caught dead in a cram school. "Rei-chan has chores and Makoto said she had lots of homework."
"It's just the two of us then!" Minako linked arms with her before turning to Hotaru. "Er, sorry, the three of us!"
"Tomoe-san! Do you want to hang out with us?" Usagi asked her.
"Um...I suppose so." Hotaru shrugged cheerfully. "What are we going to do?"
"Let's go somewhere else today, we always hang out at the arcade." Minako suggested right away. "We could go to the mall..."
"That sounds like fun." Usagi brightened. "Well, let's go." And so the trio headed towards the mall on foot since it wasn't that far.
"What school do you go to Hotaru-chan?" Minako inquired.
"Um..." Hotaru wracked her brains for a good answer. Saying that you were taught through sophisticated computers at the Gates of Time was not a good answer. "Er, Mugen Gakuen."
"Wow! That's a really good private school!" Usagi looked impressed. "And they have cute uniforms!"
"Er, yeah." Hotaru shrugged. "I guess so."
Their conversation was interrupted by a scream. Hotaru knew she wasn't allowed to fight in any of the battles, Setsuna had strictly forbidden it because she said it's best if the Inner Senshi didn't know of their existence for the time being. But that didn't mean Hotaru wasn't concerned.
"Oh no!" Usagi and Minako looked ready to spring into action.
"Hotaru, stay here, we're going to see what happened." Usagi told her before running with Minako deeper into the park.
"I should go to...Setsuna would want me watching out for them." Hotaru told herself before following them.
Meanwhile, the two blonde senshi were transformed and heading towards the enemy. They caught sight of it behind some trees, sucking energy out of little kids.
"Stop right there!" The ordered together.
"Who are you?" The monster shrieked.
"I am a pretty senshi in a sailor fuku, Sailor Moon!" Usagi told it fiercely. "And in the name of the moon, I shall punish you!"
"And I'm Sailor Venus, and in the name of Venus, consider yourself mystery!" Minako tried to look just as fierce. Usagi face faulted.
"Venus, that's 'history.'" Usagi corrected her.
"Oh yeah." Minako sweatdropped before they turned back towards the monster. It shot ribbons at them. Hotaru was carefully hidden behind a tree.
They'll be alright Hotaru; they do this all the time without you...
"Crescent Beam!" Minako fired her attack at the monster. Usagi jumped out of the way of some more ribbons but was caught a little off guard and there was a cut on her leg and she fell to the ground. She closed her eyes shut as she saw the monster looming over her.
Tuxedo Kamen-sama...help me!
Mamoru!
Usagi opened her eyes as she felt herself being lifted off the ground by a pair of strong, warm arms. She looked up to see him, masked, but there. His dark hair, his determined chin, his mouth set in a firm line, it was him.
"Tuxedo Kamen-sama!" Usagi exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. He stiffened, something Usagi wasn't used to and he put her back on the ground. He threw a rose, hitting the monster right before it could hit Minako.
She watched as he helped Minako out, he seemed to be protecting her, pushing her out of the way of hits.
It's like he's protecting her...
Instead of me.
But why?
"Moon Tiara Action!" Usagi threw her tiara, effectively killing the youma.
"At least that's over with." Minako sighed happily a few moments later, de-transforming with Usagi.
"Wait, there's something..." Mamoru, who was also in his normal clothes, was looking away from them. Then he looked right at Usagi. "There's something I need to talk to Usagi about."
"Okay, you tell Hotaru that I'll catch up to you guys in a minute." Usagi told Minako who winked and nodded before running off, not knowing that Hotaru wasn't that for ahead of her, trying to look as though she hadn't been following them.
Usagi turned back towards Mamoru, but he didn't have any sort of good expression on his face. He looked very serious. She wondered what he was thinking.
"What do you want to talk to me about?" Usagi asked him.
"I have to tell you now." Mamoru looked down at the ground and then back up again, not meeting her eyes because he knew that if he did, he'd be lost in them. "The way I feel about you."
Usagi's heart began to race and thump inside of her chest. What could this mean? What was Mamoru going to tell her? "The way you feel about me?" Usagi's mouth went dry and the words barely made it out.
"I'm in love with you."
The world stopped.
No...no way!
This is Mamoru! Chiba Mamoru! He...he doesn't...there's just no way...
Or is there?
When he kissed me...I felt like...like time had stopped just for us...I've felt that way before, somewhere.
"Serenity!"
What...?
"So...so that's why you didn't like Seiya." Usagi began to put two and two together. "That's why you were so angry when...when he kissed me on the cheek. And that's why you'd run into me every day...and...I don't know..."
"I know you don't feel the same way." Mamoru looked up into her clear blue eyes. "That's why it-"
"You always assume you know how I feel!" Usagi looked indignant. "Did ever occur to you that not everything has to have a bad ending? Did it ever occur to you that maybe, that maybe...I...I..."
Their lips touching together so sweetly...
Holding onto him tightly...
"It doesn't change anything for me."
"Usako..."
"Maybe I love you!" Usagi finally got out. Mamoru's eyes widened in shock. He couldn't say anything for several moments. He couldn't even think. How was it possible that Usagi, the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on could even suggest that she felt so strongly for him? "I...I love you."
Why? Why did fate have to be so horrible to him? Because they could finally be with one another, this girl he had been longing for so long, why did this have to happen?
"The Ginzuishou...please...help me..."
Those thoughts flooded into his head as Usagi stood there, hating the way he wasn't saying anything. Why couldn't he say one word to her to put her at ease?
"Gomen nasai, Usagi." Mamoru turned his back to her. He couldn't stand the hurt he could almost see on her face. "We...we can't be together."
"What?" Usagi's vision was blurred by tears. "Why are you saying that?"
"Because...because I can't remember anything before the accident. My earliest memories were stolen from me and all I can remember is waking up in a hospital bed by myself." Mamoru tried to explain; he couldn't turn around and face her because he was too much of a damn coward to. "And then I started having dreams, dreams that linked me to what I had forgotten. A princess and always, she asks for me to find The Ginzuishou."
"The Ginzuishou..." Usagi repeated half-heartedly. Why the Ginzuishou? Why did it always go back to that?
"I've been searching for that princess my whole life, and the Ginzuishou." Mamoru looked up at the sky, the same beautiful blue that was Usagi's eyes. Only now, rain clouds were starting to appear and block out the blue. "And I know that I'm supposed to love and protect that princess. I think I found her."
"Who...?" Usagi tried not to make it obvious that she was crying, but Mamoru could tell. He winced at a small muffled half sob.
"Aino-san." Mamoru closed his eyes for a moment. "I think Aino-san is the princess...gomen nasai Usagi..." With that, he walked away. Usagi fell to her knees and sobbed brokenly into her hands.
You...you tell me you're in love with me...what? So you can tell me we can't be together?
It's so unfair!
Usagi hit a fist on the ground as she continued to cry. Why did he do this to her? She got so close to him just so he could cut her off in a matter of moments. She didn't know what to do or where to go. She picked herself off the ground, walking away in the opposite direction.
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Great, it's going to rain any second now.
Rei sighed as she continued to sweep off the steps of the Hiwaka Jinja. She didn't understand why her grandpa always asked her to sweep them, they were impossible to keep clean.
Besides the fact that it takes forever.
It was okay though, Rei liked sweeping in a way because she got to wipe away the dirt and dust to show the pretty stone underneath. She liked how clean and neat she could make the place in a matter of moments. She could spend this time thinking about whatever she wanted to. She looked up at the sky once more, vowing that if it started raining, she was going inside.
She heard the sounds of footsteps coming up the stairs towards her. Rei put on her best smile, straightened her robes, and tried to look professional.
"Welcome to the Hiwaka-Usagi-chan!" Rei looked up to see tears streaming down her friend's face. "Usagi, what happened?!"
"He...he..." Usagi collapsed into Rei's outstretched arms and together they gently sat down on the steps, Rei holding Usagi as she cried into Rei's shoulder.
"Usagi...shhhh..." Rei rubbed her back with one hand. "Tell me what happened."
"He said he loved me." Usagi explained. "And then...then..."
"Who said he loved you?" Rei questioned.
"Mamoru..." Usagi cried even harder. Rei just rocked her back and forth a little.
"Usagi...it's okay, you just let it out. Cry all you want." Rei told her comfortingly in a voice that the priestess usually reserved for her crows.
Chiba-san, you'll fix what you did.
Or I'll make you pay for it.
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Ahhhh! No! Bad Mamoru no baka! You suck right now. I bet you guys really are curious as to where this story is heading. Well, I can't really tell you. Other then to say, it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. Ja!