Disclaimer: I own no part of the Sailor Moon universe.

Sitting at her window, Osaka Naru listened to the wind in the trees and stared down at the picture in her hands. Her own smiling face peered back, as did a laughing young man. He was not a handsome boy, not nearly so beautiful as the man sleeping on her floor. But he was so very good to her.

"Oh, Umino," Naru sighed. "What do I do?"

The shock of seeing Nephrite in the park, alive, had nearly sent her into a faint. She found it hard to breathe properly for several minutes, while he simply stood there and looked at her sadly. When she could find her voice, she didn't know what to say.

"Nephrite! Is it really you?"

"I...I think so."

Unable to even truly understand her feelings, she leapt up from the bench and threw her arms around her first love. He trembled in her embrace, and took a long time to respond. At last, she felt him return her hug with weak arms.

"Where have you been?" Naru cried into his shoulder. "I thought you were dead!"

"I was," he whispered. "I think I was. I can't remember anything." He stepped back to look down into her face. "I need to find the others."

"The others?"

"Kunzite, Jadeite, Zoisite, and..." Nephrite paused, his face confused. "The Prince. We need to find the Prince. We protect him. Don't we?"

Naru raised a concerned hand to his cheek. He did not feel feverish, but the lost look in his eyes worried her enough that she forgot to wonder at his miraculous return. When he tried to move away, she held his arm, gently but firmly.

"I have to go," he said, trying to shake her off. "I have to find the Prince. I promised him. And I promised someone else, too."

"There is no Prince, Nephrite," Naru told him slowly. "You're a little confused is all. Now come on, and I'll get you something to drink. How about cocoa?"

"I promised to return." He did not appear to have heard her. "I promised... Who did I promise?"

Naru pulled on his arm. "Come on, Nephrite. You aren't feeling well."

After another moment of resistance, he gave in and let her lead him away. She took him home, knowing her parents were gone for most the day. She fed him soup and bread, which seemed to revive him somewhat. He stopped babbling about Princes and promises, at any rate. He refused to tell her where he had been, pretending ignorance, but she was not sure she believed him.

The sound of the door opening to her parents' return sent her scrambling upstairs, towing a surprised Nephrite. With no other ideas, she hid him in her room. Her parents only looked in briefly to make certain she was home and safe, then left her alone.

He had fallen asleep over an hour ago, and Naru stared down into his handsome face for much of that time. She brushed some of that long, dark hair away from his face, and leaned down to lightly kiss his lips. Then she remembered.

Gurio Umino.

Her boyfriend.

He smiled up at her from their picture in that way that usually warmed her heart. Now, she only felt confused.

I think I love Umino, Naru thought, staring down at his face. But I know I loved Nephrite first. What should I do?

"Mmm."

She dropped the picture onto the window sill, and hurried to Nephrite's side. He groaned again, then opened his eyes. He started once at seeing her leaning over him.

"It's alright!" she whispered gently. "It's me, Naru."

"Naru-chan," he murmured back. His eyes strayed past her to the window. "Where is Jupiter?"

She looked out as well at the night sky. "Um, I don't know. I'm not very good at astronomy. I think you might need a telescope to see it."

He looked at her as if she had lost her mind. "What are you talking about?"

"The planet Jupiter."

"Oh, right. You don't know her."

"Someone named their child Jupiter?" Naru asked, aghast. "How cruel can parents be?"

"No, she's... Never mind." He levered himself off the floor. "I have to go."

"No!" She tried to push him back down. "You need to stay here and rest! You're not well!"

Nephrite touched her cheek gently. She felt herself blush slightly, and he smiled. "You are one of the kindest people I have ever met, Naru. You are so dear to me. So please try to understand that I have to go."

"But why?" she wailed. "I don't want to loose you again!"

"You won't."

She clutched his hand desperately. "Promise me you'll come back to me!"

Her words seem to strike him like a blow. He looked away from her, his eyes becoming distant once again. "I can't promise you that."

"Why not?"

"Because I promised someone that once," he remembered. "But I lied."

Naru watched in helpless silence as he moved to the window. Just as he prepared to leap down, Nephrite stopped, and lifted the picture. He looked at it for a long moment, then held it out to her.

"Besides, am I really the one you want?"

Tears spilled down her cheeks as she shook her head. "I don't know! All I know is that when you died, I felt like a part of me died! Now that you're back, that part of me has come back to life, too! The world is right again!"

"But don't you understand, Naru? The world is all wrong! I shouldn't be here!"

"Yes, you should!" She jumped to her feet, and threw her arms around him again. "Oh, don't go, Nephrite! Please, stay with me!"

"I can't. I have a duty," he said, "a duty that I failed in the past, and betrayed. You don't understand what I have done! I hope you never understand all the sins I've committed. But I have to fulfill this promise to my Prince."

"What Prince?" Naru almost shouted. "What are you talking about?!?"

Shaking his head, he took both her hands, and folded them around the picture. "All you need to know is this; I care for you, and I would do anything to keep you safe. So let me do my duty, and I will return to you if I can."

"Don't go," Naru whispered. "Please! I couldn't bare it if you died again."

"I will try my best not to die again." Nephrite looked at her hard for a moment, then asked in a soft voice, "The boy in the picture?"

Naru opened her hands to look into Umino's smiling face. "Hai?"

"Does he love you?"

"Hai."

"Then he would understand why I do what I'm about to do."

Before Naru could ask for his meaning, he swooped down on her, catching her up in both arms. She gave no protest as his lips descended on hers. He kissed her for a long, wonderful, terrible moment, until she moaned with longing and despair. Then he let her go, and backed to the window. With one last look, he leapt out and left her standing there in tears.

Swallowing hard, Naru looked down at the picture still in her hands. It had been crushed in Nephrite's feverish embrace. Fresh tears came, and she gasped with horror.

Between herself and Nephrite, they had ripped Umino in two.