A/N: Jikkan-chan means to become a translator, so snaps up every chance of Japanese instruction she gets; so far her college has let her take Beginning and Intermediate classes. According to her, I keep her on her toes demanding translations and grammar instruction, which is at least far cheaper than her other means of maintaining her comprehension levels – taking Beginning Japanese more than once gets a little expensive, you know…

Anyway, this chapter was originally supposed to have a huge bingbangbambam!drama in it, but it became ever-so-long… so we put it in the next chapter. /beams/ Also, thank you everyone for your reviews! Since you guys managed to leave over thirty of them for our last chapter, Jikkan and I are hoping that the tally will reach a hundred. Currently, we have seventy-one, so only another twenty-nine reviews will be 'needed'.

Please? We think of them as the harvest we worked so hard upon… /cue pathetic look/ but we want more. /hopefully/ Is that too much to ask? One or two lines telling us which was your favourite part, and which part you thought a little too iffy.

Now that the grovelling-for-reviews bit is over (something the slightly-more-dignified Jikkan leaves to her shameless imoutochan), this chapter is dedicated to Sumiko Kenchi Haimoto and Lina, whose observations had Jikkan and me grinning madly. Thanks, you two!

Due to Jikkan-chan's five-day absence and the start of school for me, I'll have to bow my head and warn you that our next chapter might be delayed from its weekly update. We've got some of it written, and plenty planned, but give us time, minna-chan!

Kakera ni Tsukiakari

A Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon fanstory by Arashinobara Jikkankakyoku

III – Utagai wo Idaku

To Harbour Suspicions

'It still astounds me – I who have lived countless millennia and witnessed the births and deaths of deities – when I look upon my King and Queen and see a bond so infallible it transcended time, distance and even death. When one was upset, the other calmed them. When one was hurt, the other tended to them. When one was lost, the other counselled them. They supported each other always. Neither the soul bond, Endymion nor Serenity would permit it otherwise.'

– Sailorpluto of the Outer Senshi; Guardian of the Time Gate

'That ceiling is annoyingly white,' was Usagi's first and admittedly rather aimless thought when she woke in the infirmary; eyes blinking rapidly as they tried adjust to the glare of sterile white walls and bed linens. She felt strangely content for a moment before she looked over at the next bed and discovered, to her consternation, a shock of untidy black hair and strong, chiselled features.

"Mamo-chan!" she shrilled, bolting out of bed and throwing herself across his unconscious figure.

Mamoru woke with an oof and smiled breathlessly as she burrowed into his chest, body positioned above him protectively. "Tenshiko?"

"Hai, Mamo-chan. What are you doing in here?"

He blinked, looked around at the infirmary, and let out a groan of dismay. "I don't know – I hate this place, I want out…"

Usagi slid off the bed and brushed several errant bangs out of his eyes. "You're not going out until we find out what's wrong with you –"

She didn't know why he paled, but Naru's worried voice cut through her thoughts. "Usagi! What are you doing out of bed?"

Mamoru shot Usagi a reproachful stare. "You never mentioned that you were in here as well…"

"Anou… I didn't have time?" she grinned sheepishly.

"In any case, you, Tsukino-san, will get back into bed, and stay there!" bellowed Nurse Kakkou, a formidable matron who loved nothing more than mothering her patients to death. The three students sweatdropped simultaneously and Usagi flung herself into bed, pulling the sheets over her head and reducing herself to a quivering lump under the covers.

"Don't be so melodramatic, Tsukino!" Kakkou huffed, and stalked over to take a weakly-resisting Mamoru's temperature. "Hold still, Chiba!" He stopped fidgeting, and Usagi sat up, stifling a giggle.

"Usagi," Naru whispered taking her best friend's hand. "Usagi-chan, I was so scared…"

Usagi cocked an eyebrow questioningly, laughter slowly fading from her eyes. "Naru-chan, what's wrong?"

Naru took a deep breath. "The school… some kind of monster attacked the second period Psychology class; another like the one at Mama's shop, I think."

Usagi paled; Mamoru shot her a concerned look, but was impeded by Kakkou's reprimanding jab with the thermometer. The nurse was not above bruising one's soft palate to make her point.

"Did…did anyone…?" Usagi faltered.

She shook her head. "No, thank God — just unconscious, again — but the computer lab was almost destroyed, and they're checking out the damage right now. Remember Mizuno Ami, the girl you introduced me to earlier today?"

"Yes, of course I remember Ami-chan —" Usagi's breath caught. "Oh, Kami, she had Psychology for second period! Is she all right?"

"A little tired and shaken, but she's all right, last I heard. She came in late to class and found all the students trussed up with scotch tape and tired to death — like at Mama's store, again — and poor Kawasemi-sensei pinned to his desk with paper-cutters and gagged with his own bow tie!"

At any other time, Usagi might have giggled — it all sounded so much like a scene out of some comic mahoushoujo farce — but all she could think of was that moment in the jewellery shop, and the fake Osaka-san's talons. "What happened? Did she escape?"

"Iie, she was rescued. By someone called Sailormoon, who showed up and started fighting it — and then another girl came, Sailormercury, and a man who called himself Tuxedo Kamen. Ami said something about a 'beautiful soldier', but nobody's really sure what that means…"

"'A beautiful soldier,'" Usagi repeated softly, not noticing Naru's frantic motions. "Naru-chan, what —"

"Eh?" said Mamoru's voice in her ear. "A beautiful soldier?" He gave the redhead a reproachful look. "Naru-chan, what are you telling Tenshiko to give her such a white face?"

Both girls blanched at once. By some miracle, Mamoru had apparently missed the news of the attack on the OSA-P; if he had got wind of it, he'd have had Naru under the interrogator's lamp and Usagi muffled in cotton-wool long before now. Telling him about the attack on the Psychology class might be safe enough, but Usagi had never been able to lie to him in her life; he'd but to ask her why she was so upset and it would all come spilling out, will-she, nill-she.

"Eeto — mmrmph!" Usagi began hesitantly, only to have a thermometer thrust into her mouth.

"Hold still," Nurse Kakkou said shortly. "Honestly, Tsukino-san, you're as bad as Chiba — Chiba-san! When did I say you could get out of that bed?"

Mamoru gave Kakkou one of his most appealing looks. "I'm afraid I'm much too tall for that bed, sensei; my legs were cramping so horribly that I just had to get up. May I sit with Usagi and keep us both out of trouble?"

Nurse Kakkou melted immediately; not for nothing had Usagi once dubbed him 'Student Council President Chiba Mamoru, King of Moto Azabu and Pet of Every Teacher In Juuban-chou, Even The Ones Who Only Had Him In Third Grade.'

"Well… I suppose it couldn't hurt, as long as Tsukino doesn't mind —" Usagi shook her head immediately; she'd never mind Mamo-chan's presence, even if he was asking awkward questions. "— And you promise to sit quietly and call me immediately if you feel light-headed again." A scuffle and slam in the other room heralded someone's arrival; the nurse sighed. "Busy, busy… Chiba-san, watch that thermometer for me and make a note of the result, won't you? I'll be right back." She bustled off.

Mamoru gave Kakkou an absent nod before he turned to pin Naru with his gaze. "Ne, Naru-chan? Since Tenshiko is occupied."

"I was telling Usagi about the monster that attacked Kawasemi-sensei's second period class and pretty much destroyed the computer lab, Mamoru-san," Naru told him, smiling a little nervously. "She got worried when she remembered Mizuno-san has that class, but everyone's going to be okay, so…"

"A monster?" Mamoru demanded. "What sort? What did it do?"

Naru took a deep breath, glad to be on a relatively safe topic. "Eeto… I haven't heard anything about what it looked like, but it beat up Kawasemi-sensei, tied up all the kids with tape and drained their energy — they're all at the hospital for that — made a mess of the lab trying to catch Mizuno-san, and then killed the rest of the room fighting three superheroes."

"Sou ka?" He checked his watch. "Tenshiko, the thermometer please," he said absently, and she handed it over. "Thank you. Demo — Tenshiko, you have Science second period, you shouldn't have been anywhere near the computer lab."

"I wasn't!" Usagi protested. "…I think."

"…you think?" Mamoru asked quietly. Usagi wondered if the tic was about to make its appearance.

"Well, hai," she said quietly. "I fainted in Science class, so I asked to go to the washroom… but I don't remember anything after that."

"— And when she didn't come back before the bell, Hachidori sent a hall monitor to check on her," Naru put in. "She'd collapsed on the floor in front of the stalls."

"I see." A strong arm snaked around Usagi's shoulders and pulled her back against Mamoru's chest. "Tenshiko, has Kakkou called Ikuko-mama yet?" His voice was utterly calm.

Usagi sighed. She hated it when he was so upset… not least because it seemed to scare the dickens out of everyone else, which made no sense. Mamo-chan was the sweetest boy in the world! "I don't know, Mamo-chan," she told him, snuggling back against him in hopes of making him feel a little better. "I only woke up about five minutes before you did…" She turned sideways in his arms and tilted her head back to pout up at him. "Don't worry so much, Mamo-chan! I'm fine."

"People who faint twice in less than an hour are not 'fine', Tenshiko." He tried to frown down at her, but was no more capable of resisting one of her pouts than she was of lying to him. His mouth tilted at one corner. "But you're going to insist on staying at school anyway, aren't you?"

Usagi rewarded him with a sunny smile. "Unless it involves me staying any longer in this bed than I have to, yes. Which, of course, means that you're staying, since you can't hover over me very well at home."

Mamoru gave a catlike shrug, but didn't bother to either confirm or deny this.

They sat in silence for a moment; Usagi rested her head against her best friend's chest and listened to his heartbeat. Another monster, threatening another one of her friends… and she'd fainted again, just at that time, and been found somewhere completely else — why was she doing these things? Why had she locked herself in with the monster? Why had she asked to go to the washroom instead of just going to the nurse's office?

Fear swamped her, potent and nameless; she clutched at his shirt, could feel him stiffen under her and pull her closer. He'd ask, soon… Naru-chan had made a good try, but Mamo-chan knew her by heart; he'd know that just hearing about the attack wouldn't be enough to make her pale so drastically.

He'd ask, and she'd tell him.

…She wanted to tell him.

But he'd watch her so carefully after this, try to find out what was wrong — what if it happened again when he was nearby? The few things she remembered doing didn't make any sense — what might that 'other Usagi' do to him? What if he followed her to — wherever she went — and got hurt by a monster?

Her throat closed up at the thought, so tightly she could hardly breathe. She couldn't tell him, then — but — but it was Mamo-chan —

He took a deep breath; the arm around her shoulders gave a gentle squeeze. "Tenshiko?"

Usagi burst into tears.

Part of her was aware that Naru was tugging at her hand, asking what was wrong; that Nurse Kakkou had poked her head in, tutted disapprovingly, and gone to fetch a box of tissues; that her arms were around Mamoru's waist and he was clutching her so close as to make breathing difficult — but that didn't matter. Nothing did, save for that steady heartbeat, the soothing whispers she felt as much as heard, his gentle hands in her hair.

Mamo-chan always made everything all right.

At last the flood eased, and he pulled away a little, blotting her tears with his handkerchief. "Feeling any better?" he asked gently, and she nodded a little. "Good. Now, care to share what that was about? Or was it just that you noticed my shirt needed watering?" His voice was light, but she couldn't miss the worry in his eyes.

She took a deep breath. "No, it — I just —" Why was this so hard? 'Just start somewhere!' "Please don't be mad at Naru-chan!"

Mamoru stared down at her. 'Well, at least now he's confused instead of upset… mostly…'

"Nani? Tenshiko, what on earth would I be angry with Naru-chan for?"

"Well…" Usagi paused to think about this. '…what a good question.' "…I'm not sure why you'd be angry with her, actually, since I was the one doing it… I think," she added dubiously. "But Naru-chan's been walking on eggs since yesterday afternoon that you'd be downright homicidal —"

"Usagi!" Naru hissed, mortified, but Usagi hardly noticed; the fear and uncertainty was making her start to babble: "— which makes no sense at all because you're Mamo-chan and you're so nice and kind and —"

"Absolutely scary where you're concerned," Naru muttered, unheard.

Mamoru had hushed Usagi by putting a finger to her lips; he took it away, now, and seemed to compose himself. "Don't rush so," he said gently. "Whatever it is, we'll find some way to fix it. I promise."

She gave him a watery smile. If anyone could fix it, it would be Mamo-chan, strong and sure as the ground under her feet. "…there was another monster yesterday," she explained. "At the OSA-P, pretending to be Osaka-san."

His jaw tightened; he went very still in her arms. "I see," was all he said.

"Naru-chan and I got there just a little before ...whatever it was doing, came to a head — at least, I guess that's what happened, from what it said when all of a sudden everyone just… collapsed… but then it saw us, and it was like a horrible parody of Osaka-san saying hello, Mamo-chan, it said it was so sorry we had missed the party but that it was sure it could 'find room for us' and then it had these claws and I remember being so sure we were going to die —"

'Breathe, Tsukino, breathe. You're babbling again,' she thought wildly. Mamo-chan's hands were so tight on her shoulders; when had they gotten there?

"— and then it was like I wasn't even me anymore, I was shoving Naru-chan out the door and telling her to run for help and then I locked it but I was still inside, Mamo-chan, I could have run with her but I didn't and I don't know why —"

The words were coming faster and faster now; she had to keep quiet so Kakkou didn't hear but hysteria was pushing the pitch of the whisper to something near a shriek. "I don't even know what happened, because all of a sudden everything went black and I woke up in bed at home!"

Mamoru was clinging to her now, one arm at her shoulders and one about her waist, so tightly she wondered if he thought she might disappear. 'He's trembling….?' She buried her face in the crook of his neck and breathed him in; trying to calm down, trying to reassure him she was there, she was still alive — either. Both. It didn't matter. 'Fire and sky…a summer breeze fragrant with roses…'

He rested his chin atop her head, between her odangos, and breathed deeply; she wondered if he still thought she smelled like light. Whatever her scent now, the familiar pose was doing its work: the tightness in his body was starting to ease, her own rapid heart beginning to quiet.

"Tenshiko," he whispered huskily. He made as if to speak again, but paused. "Tenshiko," he repeated.

"Mamo-chan," she replied softly.

"I – I need to think some things over," he said lowly, eyes half-shut. "I'll tell you later, ne?"

"You're not angry with me, are you?" she asked timidly. "You're not just saying that to –"

"Iie, iie!" Mamoru tightened his embrace almost painfully before releasing his hold on her to stand shakily. "Tenshiko, I'm going to see the Principal – I'd like to know a little more about this attack – perhaps I'll speak to Mizuno-san…"

Usagi opened her mouth to speak, and that was when Kakkou came bursting in again. "Chiba-san?"

"Anou… Nurse, I was hoping to make a quick trip to the principal's office –"

She blinked dazedly at him for a moment before letting out a rare bark of laughter. "How convenient that he's just sent for you, then."

Mamoru raised an eyebrow. "He has?"

Kakkou looked rebellious. "Much as I'd like to keep you for at least a nap until lunch, the student body requires the reassuring presence of its President." She frowned darkly at him. "But I want you off your feet as much as possible, and no sports practice for the next week."

"Kakkou-sensei, the swimming team has tryouts tomorrow; as the captain, I have to be there," he pointed out mildly.

"Oh, very well — but no participation or I'll have your ears, captain or no captain. Go on, get out of my infirmary and make room for the sensible patients," she growled at him.

"Domo arigatou, sensei — Oh, before I forget: Usagi's temperature was 37 degrees Celsius." He gave her the thermometer and turned to the girls on the bed. "I'll see you at lunch, you two. Tenshiko …" his eyes met Usagi's, and she bit her lip at the haunted look in his eyes. "…Kiotsukete, ne? Be careful of yourself."

Any other time, she might have teased him for that — but not now.

'If this goes on…'

Maybe not ever again.

"Hai, Mamo-chan. I promise."

'It can't be coincidence,' Mamoru thought darkly for what had to be the hundredth time, striding purposefully through the crowded hallways as the throngs of students parted respectfully for him to pass by. 'There was a monst – a youma attack at the jewellery store, and at the same time, I pass out… and… Tenshiko too?' He retrieved his bento from his locker and looked around; Usagi was nowhere to be seen, although Naru was also taking a packaged lunch from her locker not two feet away from Mamoru himself.

"Mamoru-senpai!"

Mamoru's eyes glazed over as he continued to ruminate, staring blankly at the inside of his locker door where his spare blazer and uniform hung, along with extra sports gear. 'Then, at approximately the same time as the youma attack earlier today, both Tenshiko and I black out again…'

"Mamoru-senpai!"

'Tenshiko and I are linked to the youma somehow; perhaps we sense some kind of force they give off and then faint? That has got to be it,' he concluded, but his brow furrowed once more as another thought struck him. 'That doesn't explain how we kind of sleep-walk around, though… and why Tenshiko decided to lock herself in with the youma instead of running away from it for some help! Really, that girl –'

"MAMORU-SENPAI!" a familiar voice bellowed into the tall upperclassman's ear, and Mamoru whirled around in alarm, an arm raising itself instinctively into a 'strike' position before he sighed in mixed annoyance and amusement.

"Asanuma-kun –" he began tiredly, but was quickly interrupted by another, equally boisterous voice chiming in as both juniors latched onto his arms and proceeded to drag him outside. "Kobayashi-kun…"

"Mamoru-kun!" Motoki came running up, his sciences folder tucked under his arm. "Why weren't you in Biology earlier?"

Mamoru closed his eyes and blew the bangs out of his face, a sure sign of irritation; even Ittou Asanuma the bouncy and Seiko Kobayashi the hyper recognised the signs and immediately let go of him. "Domo, gentlemen; can we go sit down first, onegai? And I was in Inuwashi-sensei's office discussing the attack –"

"On the Computer wing? Hai, I've been by: it's a mess." Mamoru cocked an eyebrow at his blond friend, who returned the gaze innocently. Kobayashi and Asanuma had already raced on ahead. "Nani?"

"Students aren't supposed to be there, Motoki," Mamoru pocketed his reading glasses, belatedly realising that he still had them on. "How did you get past the tape about three classrooms away from the computer lab in question?"

Motoki shot Mamoru an exasperated glance. "Does it really matter, Student President-sama?"

Chuckling, Mamoru shook his hair out of his eyes again. 'I really need to get a haircut…' "Iie, but the tape's there for a reason. You're lucky the teachers didn't catch you to give you detention or something; your 'tousan would be steamed if you couldn't show up for your shift at the arcade."

"Urusai, baka," Motoki grumbled good-naturedly as they neared the familiar grove on the far side of the basketball courts. Kobayashi and Asanuma were already there, the former trying desperately to catch the attention of a prim junior by the name of Keishuu Saori by throwing green acorns at her and the latter flirting playfully with a bright-eyed Usagi and giggling Naru.

Motoki plonked himself next to Asanuma, who immediately grabbed the senior's bento and shook it experimentally. "'Toki, what've you got in here?"

Mamoru had to smile. Motoki and Asanuma were quite similar, really; both had dark blond hair and green eyes, though Motoki's were more gold-green as opposed to Asanuma's emerald. 'They could pass for brothers,' Mamoru mused, seating himself next to Usagi and greeting her with a gentle tug on one of her golden ponytails. "How are you feeling, Tenshiko?" he asked softly. "No dizzy spells? Any light-headedness? Nausea?"

Usagi took his hand and squeezed it gently before digging around in her bag and coming up with a dark blue handkerchief. "Iie, Mamo-chan, nothing; Nurse Kakkou kept me in bed until about ten minutes ago." She gestured for him to bend down and he obeyed, allowing her to tie the makeshift bandanna about his head, holding the unruly locks back from his face. "That's better," she surveyed him approvingly. "You really need a hair cut, Mamo-chan."

"Iie! He looks dashing like that… like a pirate!" Asanuma crowed, batting his eyelashes at a blushing Mamoru. "Or… or, a gypsy! A cowboy… demo… those wear hankies around their necks, ne?"

"A handsome one," Kobayashi agreed breathily, clasping his hands together under his chin even as he affected a starry-eyed expression. "Who will whisk Usagi-chan away into the sunset and have his wicked way –" he shut up abruptly as a particularly fat acorn dropped out of the oak they were sitting beneath, bouncing off his forehead with an audible thunk.

As Usagi, Naru and even staid Saori burst out into laughter at the impeccable timing, Usagi's face decidedly redder than the other two, Mamoru heard a faint chuckle and looked quizzically up into the branches above them. Usagi calmed down when he continued to stare unrelentingly at the dark foliage. "Mamo-chan? What are you looking at?"

He tore his gaze away from the boughs above him and smiled distractedly at Usagi, one hand coming up to rake through his hair before stopping as he remembered the bandanna. Unwilling to untie it, as it was doing its job and Tenshiko tended to be right about these things, he settled for staring quizzically at his hands. "Thought I heard someone in the tree," he said absently. "The wind, I suppose — it almost sounded like laughing."

"Ha, you see?" Kobayashi crowed. "Not even trees are proof against my scintillating wit!"

"But it was laughing at you, not with you, Kobayashi-senpai," Naru teased.

"Alas! Alack! I am struck!" the junior groaned, and mimed clutching at a fatal arrow. "The fair lady has slain me!" He collapsed and lay writhing for a moment before crawling over to Saori, moaning piteously all the while. "Soft, what light through yonder window — gomen ne, wrong play — Keishuu-dono, have pity on a poor dying rurouni and let him perish with his head in your lap?"

He clutched at his chest with both hands and fell forward with a final heart-rending sigh —

— to be halted by a firm, no-nonsense hand in the face; Saori held him at arm's length with her left hand and coolly examined the nails of the other, the very image of a bored policewoman on crossing guard duty. "I would recommend instead that you find your final rest atop your schoolbooks, Seiko-san," she said calmly. "Perhaps then you might be reborn as one who has some chance of passing his entrance exams?"

Reactions to this comeback varied greatly: Motoki choked on his baloney sandwich and keeled over; Naru spit-took her Pocari Sweat directly into Kobayashi's face; Usagi clumsily attempted to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre on the gasping Motoki, laughing all the while and Asanuma produced a strip of paper with its ends stapled together, dropping it unceremoniously on Saori's flawlessly groomed hair before prostrating himself at her sensibly-shod feet to proclaim her Queen of the Day and promise his everlasting love and devotion to 'so wondrous a woman'.

Saori, of course, brushed off the crude paper crown and nudged the grovelling blond away with the tip of a perfectly blacked shoe. "Forgive me if I refuse the honour of being crowned a Queen," she informed a mock-sobbing Asanuma, "if all it achieves is having empty-headed courtiers – that would be better off studying than indulging in such melodramatics – thrown at my feet."

The little stand of trees echoed a resounding 'oooh' of mock-sympathy before its occupants burst into laughter. "Buuuurn!" they chorused gleefully.

Asanuma sniffed disparagingly and stalked off, only to pause at a still-choking Motoki's side, Usagi still pumping forcibly at his stomach area. "Motoki, dearest one," he mourned, ignoring the increasingly vivid shade of purple-blue the older blond was turning, "please, in light of my recent rejection, grant me the honour of performing the Kerdy-plummy whatsit on you?"

It was amazing, really, Mamoru reflected with a grin, how far a piece of half-chewed baloney could fly when its would-be consumer dislodged it forcibly from some way down the trachea.

"It's called Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, 'Numa-baka," a gasping Motoki informed the now-teary Asanuma shrilly. "And I didn't need any mouth-to-mouth! I needed the Heimlich!" He glared sourly at the rest of the grove's occupants, who were nearly hysterical with mirth by that point. "And please, you have my thanks – for nothing! I could have choked to death back there!"

Mamoru shook his head. "If you'd lost consciousness, one of us would have come over to help Usagi."

Motoki stared. "Oh. Oh. Well, I feel so reassured that my best friends would allow me to die –"

Usagi spoke up, voice contrite. "Gomen ne, 'Toki-niikun… I should have tried harder."

"Iie, Usagi-chan, no worries." Motoki sighed gustily, and quailed in response to a warning glare from a suddenly ominous-looking Mamoru. "I swear, though, I saw my life flash before my eyes…"

Mamoru rolled his eyes, but allowed himself a smile. It was rather funny, after all … and such a relief to see Tenshiko so bright-eyed and cheery, when just this morning she'd been crying so hard —

He was jolted from his increasingly-dark thoughts by a loud cry from Kobayashi, who, it seemed, had finally emerged from his stupefied trance and was now protesting his treatment at the hands of Saori and the others, not least his recent shower by the ice-cold sports drink.

"Just like a woman," he declaimed, mopping his face with his handkerchief, "to harp on about a man's faults and flaws!"

Mamoru winced in anticipation, and was not disappointed; the foolish junior was promptly set upon from three sides. Saori's glare could have frozen a temple fire, and her sharp intake of breath did not speak well for Kobayashi's fate; Naru was clearly intent on a more physical reprimand, her hand already gripping the older boy's collar and her can of Pocari Sweat ready to share more of its bounty.

Usagi was just beginning to rise to her feet, but Mamoru knew the look in her eyes quite well; perhaps Kobayashi should be grateful for the delay —

"Itai!"

— and the oak tree was once again the first to reprimand, dropping a tight cluster of sharp-looking green acorns directly upon the crown of the junior's head.

: No respect for women, this one, : someone said in Mamoru's ear.

"Too true," Mamoru answered with a chuckle at Kobayashi's expense. A squeak of dismay, however, made him look over at Usagi, who had gone very still and was giving him an unhappily reproachful look.

"Y — you agree with him?" Her gaze sharpened even further and he flinched. "Mamo-chan, hidoi…"

Cruel? Tenshiko was calling him cruel? And Motoki and Naru were staring at him as if he'd developed lavender spots; Naru was so surprised by whatever she thought she had heard that she entirely failed to notice she was pouring into Kobayashi's lap what she had meant to dump over his head. Asanuma, Saori, and Kobayashi, at least, were mercifully oblivious; Saori having broken open a copy of Pride and Prejudice, ignoring Kobayashi's subsequent howl at the cold in his trousers and Asanuma's snide comments.

Mamoru wracked his brain for anything he might have agreed with lately. "…what, that Kobayashi has no respect for women? He could be a little more considerate…"

To his relief, the hurt look vanished; to his discomfiture, however, it was replaced by a look of utter confusion. "…But, Mamo-chan, nobody said anything like that…"

…they hadn't?

'Well. That certainly explains why the Best Friend Contingent is staring as if they just noticed I'm a space alien.'

"…Are you sure? I could have sworn… " He tried to rake his hand through his hair, was once again foiled by Usagi's handkerchief, and settled for tucking a stray curl behind Usagi's ear. "Laughing trees, now this…"

"Mou, now we know you're working too hard," she teased, and he allowed himself a tiny sigh of relief at her returning smile.

"Hai, hai," Motoki added. "I know you talk to your roses, Mamoru-kun, but that's the first time I've heard you claim your garden could talk back."

Naru giggled and returned her attention to a complaining Kobayashi, who was doing a decidedly undignified jig as he held a handful of wet material away from his crotch. "Itai-itai-itai-itai-itai," he moaned, wriggling unashamedly. Mamoru quickly clapped a callused hand over Usagi's interested eyes, turning her head away with the same motion.

"Does anyone have a spare pair of trousers they can lend Kobayashi-kun?" he questioned, ignoring a squirming Usagi, who was trying to remove the hand obscuring her vision. Motoki was the only one who nodded, but added that it was in his bag, and very wrinkled. Sighing in resignation, Mamoru picked Usagi up, bridal-style, and walked away with her. "Tenshiko and I'll get a pair of clean ones for you, 'Yashi-kun. Just wait there still and silent and we'll be back in no time."

When the duo had crossed the basketball courts, Asanuma whipped out a small notebook and pen and clucked his tongue while surveying everyone over an invisible set of spectacles. "Right! Who else wants to place a bet?"

"I want to change mine," Motoki said mournfully. "At this rate, they'll never get together, and I'll be out five thousand yen!"

Saori removed her own pair of reading glasses and shot Asanuma and Motoki frigid glances. "Might I ask exactly what is going on here?"

"Keishuu-joou! Onegai, would you like to place a bet on our most esteemed destined-for couple?"

Naru chimed in. "How come I wasn't told about this? I think it'll be after Christmas and before Mamoru graduates. Put me down for eight thousand yen."

Asanuma scribbled it in busily. "Gurasu's out of the running; he said that he thought they'd get together by the time school started again. At least he only lost two thousand yen. Hakura said they'd get together during the first school dance, which is only two weeks away. She still has a chance. If not, then she's out seventy-five hundred yen." The jokester cackled before a cool voice halted his insane laughter in its tracks.

"Put me down for twelve-thousand yen," Saori replaced her glasses and went back to her book amidst a sea of dropped jaws and gaping eyes.

Numbly, Asanuma wrote down the sum and stared blankly at it. The dumbstruck silence was broken by a whoop from Kobayashi who had grabbed Saori and was pulling her into a mad sort of dance, declaring that "Saori-sama's queen! Saori-sama's queen!"

Several passing juniors shook their head at the sight. "I seriously wonder about that lot sometimes…"

"Why does Chiba-senpai hang out with them, anyway?"

"Usagi-chan, that's why; everyone knows that."

"Hmph. I should've known… seriously, why doesn't he just date her and put all of us girls out of our misery…"

"I guess even perfect guys can be completely oblivious."

"Thick-headed is more like it."

"Eh. Same difference."

Mamoru let Usagi down and brushed her off lightly. She caught his hand and looked searchingly at him. "What is it, Mamo-chan?"

He let his hand fall and sighed. "You know me too well," he said quietly.

She shrugged. "You couldn't have been really that concerned with me seeing Kobayashi-kun like that, because I've seen you naked before," she pointed out matter-of-factly, smiling at the light blush blossoming in his cheeks. "And then you don't need help to transport one pair of trousers from your locker to 'Yashi. Usually, you'd just parade him over – for your own amusement rather than the student body's – and have him change in the bathroom, if not right in the hallway." She shot him a quick smile before sobering again.

"Demo, you didn't. So it's either because you're worried about me fainting again when you're not there or because you wanted to say something to me."

Mamoru stared at her for a moment before laughing softly. "You know me too well," he repeated. His face hardened. "It's about you – and me – and the blackouts." He went on to explain his suspicions; that they were in some way connected to the youma.

"What about our… anou, sleepwalking?"

Mamoru shook his head regretfully. "I really don't know… and I won't lie to you; I'm worried. Maybe something draws us to the youma, and they… kind of…" he shook his head. "I don't know," he repeated frustratedly, yanking open the locker and retrieving a pair of charcoal-grey uniform trousers.

Usagi placed a small hand on his shoulder, calming him. "I – we will make it through. We'll find out what's going on and then everything'll be all right again."

Mamoru wrapped an arm about her shoulders, squeezing gently. "When you're around, Tenshiko," he sighed, "everything is all right."

She giggled. "How very corny."

"True, though," he took one of her tiny hands and placed a feather-light kiss on the back of it. "C'mon, Seiko's 'little man' is probably permanently wrinkled and cold by now."

Usagi shot him a half-reproachful, half-scandalised glance, but her eyes were full of laughter. "Mamo-chan!"

"Gomen ne," he grinned unrepentantly. After all, anything that made her smile should not be apologised for. "Let's go."

His breathing was laboured, the agony in his side reaching an unbearable peak. He had to stop.

Limping painfully over to the nearest wall, Jadeite leaned against it, hating the dead silence that hung in the black-stoned halls of Beryl's domain. When he opened his eyes again he realised he must have lost consciousness for a while, because a cool hand was touching his forehead, and he looked into concerned grey-blue eyes.

"Neph?" it came out as a croak, and Jadeite coughed, his numb legs giving way as he slid bonelessly down the wall. Nephrite wrapped a sturdy arm around the shorter man, starting as he felt the blond flinch away. Readjusting his grip so that he supported Jadeite as painlessly as possible, the Star Shitennou felt the blood pounding in his ears as he contemplated the injured man beside him.

"Yes, it's me," Nephrite replied belatedly, reaching up again to feel Jadeite's forehead. He swore at the clammy feel of the unnaturally pale skin and inclined his head ever-so-slightly so that his stormy gaze met a glazed cobalt one. "What happened?"

The blond opened his mouth to reply but coughed once more, turning his face from that of his brother and wheezing into a white-gloved hand. Bringing it away from his face, Jadeite's expression tightened as he saw droplets of rusty-red phlegm dotting the pale leather.

Nephrite saw it too, and an angry beast uncoiled low within his belly. "Who did this? Did Beryl call you up for more punishment? Who did it?"

A grim smile turned the corners of Jadeite's mouth upwards. "Me," he muttered. "It was me; Gaia's mercy, I was so stupid!"

The wind taken out of his sails, Nephrite gaped for a moment more before shutting his mouth, confusion entering his eyes. "You –"

"– Failed to get the energy? Yes. Had something big and heavy thrown at me? Yes. Will soon be in a world of even more hurt? Yes. I should have just finished her and be done with it…"

"What? You spared her?"

"Hardly," Jadeite spat, lip curling derisively. "I had her in my power, vulnerable and weak…"

Nephrite felt as if someone had struck him hard in the gut. "You didn't!"

"I did," Jadeite squeezed his eyes shut before opening them. They were strangely bright, and filled with a strange light. "One quick twist of the wrist would have snapped her pretty little neck like a twig." He paused a moment, taking a few tentative steps forward, and doubling over as the pain in his side intensified. "Ahhh…"

Nephrite gritted his teeth, eyes sliding shut as he clumsily lifted a finger to his temple to send a telepathic message to the other two Shitennou. Beryl had obviously forsaken Jadeite in his failure once more; he was not healing as he should have been and although Nephrite knew a little of first aid, he could not do much for the way his brash, hurt companion was bleeding inside. Only Zoicite could do anything to help now. "Brother…"

"That's right." Jadeite let out a half-hysterical laugh. "I don't know what's happening to me… I hurt her needlessly, Neph. She might be the enemy, but I don't remember torturing them before killing them. What's more, I enjoyed it! I never…"

"You had a man warned and later beaten when he used pain as an interrogation tool," Nephrite recalled quietly. "I remember that, now.'

Jadeite bowed his head, eyes closing once more as fatigue assaulted his limbs. "I never…"

"You're starting to repeat yourself," Nephrite teased gently, trying not to let the worry coursing through him show in his voice.

"I – I…" Jadeite inhaled deeply and Nephrite flinched at the rattling sound he made in doing so. "I don't like what's happening to me, Neph. What's going on? I don't want to regain my honour by losing my soul…"

"You won't," the auburn-haired man promised, almost sagging in relief as he felt Zoicite's presence drift closer. "And you don't need to talk about it if –"

"I think we knew her," Jadeite's tone was disconcertingly dreamy, almost as if he was speaking from a distance. "We knew her, and we knew her well… perhaps we were friends before Selenity issued the order for the Gates to be barred and our families perished under the Eclipse…"

He sagged then and as Nephrite supported him gingerly, waiting for the others to arrive; he found his mind was full of haunting melodies and a pair of forbidding sapphire eyes.

He didn't know why he awakened then, but as was his first instinct, he reached out for Serenity through their bond. She was asleep; drowsing peacefully in dreams that he couldn't see or feel. He would have withdrawn then, if he hadn't felt her soul taste strangely fragmented. Panicking, he plunged down the bond, following the thread of silver and gold until he came up against a wall he could not pass.

He rammed his consciousness against it over and over again until he felt it crumble just a tiny bit and her awareness flare slightly in response, informing him she was now awake. Passing effortlessly through the wall and halting but two paces from him, she raised a trembling hand so that it pressed gently against his chest.

Without the presence of his usual black battle armour, she could feel his heart beating for her and he lifted a sword-callused hand to cover her smaller one, dark eyes watching her intently. Her lavender-blue ones grew moist as she continued to gaze at him, drinking in every feature of that beloved face until she could bear it no longer and stepped daintily forward, forgoing all dignity and decorum to lean into his strong embrace.

'At long last…'

Glossary

Mahoushoujo — literally, 'magical girl'. A popular genre in shoujo manga (girl's comics); Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon is more or less the primary (perhaps even the uniting/founding) example of the class. Jikkan-chan is perhaps a little too fond of making her characters commit unwitting irony.

Juuban-chou — the neighbourhood of Juuban, the part of Tokyo where the characters all live.

eeto — an interjection: 'let me see; well; err…'

sou ka — an interjection meaning, more or less, 'is it so?' Jikkan-chan is perhaps too fond of a phrase she knows only by context, but when the shoe fits…

demo — a conjunction: 'but; however; even'

kiotsukete — 'take care; be careful'

-senpai — senior (at work or school)

-dono — Special Reference Definition! 'Dono' is a polite suffix generally translated in anime as Lord or Lady name. 'Yashi-kun is referencing the shounen (boy's) manga Rurouni Kenshin, by addressing Saori as 'Keishuu-dono' the way Kenshin refers to Kaoru as 'Kaoru-dono' and by calling himself a rurouni (see next def).

rurouni — Special Reference Definition! Yashi is calling himself a wanderer, specifically a wandering samurai, as Kenshin; this is similar to ronin, masterless samurai. (Trivia: A ronin in modern use is a student who should be in university but failed his entrance exams, which is why Saori's comment was so very devastating :)

hidoi — 'cruel; awful'

-joou — Queen. The use of it as a suffix may be slightly erroneous, but Jikkan-chan has heard kings referred to as Name-ou (King Name) before, so decided to take the liberty.

onegai — 'please'

A/N: Again, review please! The rest of the glossary is in our profile, or in previous chapters.