Title: A Lifetime Of Regret
Author: Princess Destiny
Email: In Profile
URL: In Profile
Couple: Usagi And Mamoru
Rating: M 15+
Summary: 'One Hour Challenge' #649: Response Fanfic. Tuxedo Kamen is injured in battle and then Usagi come across a bleeding Mamoru. While trying to help him Zoisite turns up to finish off the job and the blonde finds herself the protector this time.
Chapters: 1/2
Status: Completed
Year Completed: 2005

Comments: Hi everyone! I wrote this Fanfic about three weeks ago and I thought I'd send it out while I'm working on the first Chapter of 'Lost In Your Heart'. I need a little time to get the ideas flowing. This Fanfic doesn't have as much description as 'Lost In Your Eyes', but I still think it turned out well. Zoisite might be a mean bitch, but I like adding her into my Fanfics. And no, Mamoru doesn't get bashed in this one!

This Fanfic has violence, so beware. Someone requested angst, so I wrote a Fanfic I had an idea for. It took me several hours till almost 4 AM, but I got it out! It's also 60 KB, so I'm sending it out as two files for you all. :) Don't worry, it's completed! I think it turned out very well and I'd appreciate any feedback, 'cause I worked my butt off on it. LOL..

I may even do a Sequel...

Efiction: The Archives are going automated with a program called Efiction, which will allow you to upload your Fanfics like It will be completed about Wednesday and I'd be delighted if anyone would like to Submit their Fanfiction for Sailor Moon or other fandoms. All ratings are accepted. I'll let you know when it's open to everyone.

Please review me! You don't know how much it means to an Author to get a review on their Fanfic and to know that you're enjoying it. Believe me, it makes us want to write more for you. LOL.

I thought I'd just mention my Personal Fanfiction Mailing List. I post everything there before anywhere else, including the Archives. :) If you'd like to join, please look under my Profile for the URL.

This Fanfic is a result of a Fanfiction Round Robin being organized on the Message Board. You are issued a Challenge, in which you have a week to write a Fanfic about. We do this every week, taking turns to issue Challenges. Anyone is more than welcome to join. Just go to the Message Board and leave your name there, or contact me. Also look at my Profile for the Message Board.

Please come and join The Moonlight Sonata Romance Fanfiction List. This is a Sailor Moon List for Usagi and Mamoru, all Seasons and ratings! We have 255 Members and climbing daily. Or if you'd like to submit a Fanfic to their Archives, please contact me. The Sailor Moon Romance Fanfiction Archives for the 'Moonlight Sonata' List have over 18 different pairings from the Anime and 267. Go to my Profile for link details.

PS: See Archive link in the Profile for 'One Hour Challenge' sentences.

Enjoy the Fanfic!

Hugs,
Princess Destiny

A LIFETIME OF REGRET

By Princess Destiny

Chapter One

Since the battle had ended, Usagi had been having misgivings. Tuxedo Kamen had been hit protecting her from Zoisite's dark purple crystal. His cloak had seemed to deflect most of the damage, but still, she had felt him flinch violently as the deadly barrage hit them. He had told her he was fine and left.

The Senshi had argued with her, saying he was the enemy and was not to be trusted, but the blonde knew deep in her heart that he was nothing they said of him.

Sailor Moon had de-transformed and walked towards home, going through Juuban park towards the south entrance. Her parents were away for the weekend on a business trip and Usagi was staying with Ami. The blonde girl really wanted a little time to herself though, since so much had been going on in her life lately, like increased attacks from the Dark Kingdom and a failing grade in School.

But she had suddenly stopped walking and had turned and headed in a completely different direction. A strange 'pull' inside her mind was directing her feet then, and something was drawing her like a magnet across the city. Usagi found that she was powerless to resist. It was a bright silver cord that she could almost see, and certainly feel. Something was very wrong...someone was in trouble. But who?

Usagi stared past the trees and the lake and saw a figure staggering in the distance. She had very good eyes and could see who it was immediately. A figure she'd recognise in a snowstorm. Chiba Mamoru! And he was hurt.

"Oh no, he's hurt!" Obeying an instinct that she really didn't understand, she fled across the grass and down the hill towards him. It had been his pain calling to her.She reached him and grasped at his hand, limp at his side.

"Mamoru? Mamoru, are you alright?" She said urgently, seeing a darkly-red patch of liquid spreading over his horrid green jacket. Blue eyes widened as her mind flashed back to the battle. Tuxedo Kamen had been wounded on his left side...and so was this man. It just couldn't be. He must have hurt himself another way, because she knew there was no way he was Tuxedo Kamen.

"Odango...Atama." Mamoru said slowly, groggy. His eyes focused on her concerned face. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

He was clearly lying and she was not amused. "You're bleeding badly." She said bluntly, lightly touching the wet material with the palm of her hand. Even with that slight touch, he paled in agony. She held up the red-stained skin under his nose. "What happened?"

"I got beaten up by a gang," the handsome upperclassman gasped out, breath struggling in his lungs. "They overpowered me. Stabbed me."

Usagi was horrified. "You've been stabbed in the back?" No wonder he was bleeding so much. "We have to get you to a hospital."

"I'm trying." He gave her a ghost of a smile. "It's a few blocks down."

"So is my house," she blurted out, still in shock. She'd been given some medical training by Ami and thought that she could look after him. She shifted her shoulders uneasily as the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood up.

"It's too deep," he told her, deep blue gaze becoming dazed. She knew he was losing a lot of blood from what she could see and how he was acting. How was Mamoru still on his feet?

"Usagi-run," he whispered, to her, stumbling forward.The golden-haired girl caught his arm and kept him steady. Run? But why-

"Good, I did wound him fatally then," a voice gloated from behind them.

Usagi felt her blood freeze in her veins as she recognised the satisfied female voice. She turned her head slowly and saw Zoisite floating over them.

"Come to see your handiwork?" Mamoru managed to get out harshly, eyes steely.

The girl's mouth fell open and she gaped at him in shock. Mamoru knew Zoisite? Oh no, this was way too much a coincidence. Tuxedo Kamen had been injured by the General and now here she was, talking as if the upperclassman were the cloaked hero.

"It can't be." Usagi felt her mouth move with the words, but they never emerged.

"Let the girl go." Mamoru told Zoisite, straightening and standing on his own. As if he weren't in agony and mortal danger.

Usagi's eyes filled with tears at the sight. It had to be him. She had never seen Mamoru this way, standing so proudly. And he knew who Zoisite was.

"I don't think so." Malicious green eyes took in Usagi. "She can die along with you."

"N-no...damn..." The dark-haired man's voice trailed off and he pitched forward into Usagi's arms.

The small blonde fell down with his almost burying her, panic filling her. "Mamoru?" She said in fear shaking his shoulder. He was out cold! She looked up at Zoisite as she heard footsteps and saw the woman standing over them.

But something wasn't right. Zoisite had an almost-devastated look in her green eyes. She stood there as if frozen. "No." She said woodenly, eyes on Mamoru's unconscious body.

Usagi stared at the unexpected sight. What on earth could be wrong with the Dark General, she couldn't even begin to guess.

Before she could even think of another plan, she shoved Mamoru's body off of hers and into the air. He fell backwards, wavered and then tumbled back towards her. She turned quickly and he landed heavily on her back. Usagi gave Zoisite another urgent look before hoisting the man's legs up on either side of her waist and backing away. He was damned heavy, but she had soon discovered after being a Senshi for a while, that she and the others were different even when not transformed. They were stronger, could jump amazing heights, endure a lot more pain than a normal girl and go without sleep for days without feeling the effects.

Luna had been concerned at first, but then seemed to come up with an explanation. They were Senshi, so naturally their bodies were adjusting to their powers even when not transformed.

And it was a brilliant piece of information to have had at a time like that!

The small girl continued to back away, noting warily that the General seemed to be in shell-shock. "Whatever the heck is wrong with her, it's my chance," she muttered, turning around and running like the devil was after her.

She kept to back streets and hid whenever a car or person came near them, heart beating frantically. She was scared stiff for the man on her back, who she now suspected strongly was Tuxedo Kamen. Usagi didn't know how he could possibly be the hero who always rescued her, but she knew that despite she and Mamoru arguing, they weren't bitter enemies. More like siblings. They fought similar to herself and Shingo.

"What a thing to think at a time like this!" She berated herself, slipping into her front yard. She praised whatever power was watching over her that her parents were still gone, then attempted to leap up into the tree in front of her window.

To her horror, she missed the lower branch and fell. The blonde turned in mid-air and landed first, with him on top. All the breath left her body and she lay there, gasping. After a minute or two, she calmed and took stock of the situation. She had thankfully managed to cushion Mamoru's fall and he lay with his head over her shoulder, chest to chest.

Struggling mightily, Usagi pushed him off of her and lugged him into her arms. "I hope this works," she whispered, extremely concerned about how much damage had been done to Mamoru. There was an awful amount of blood seeping through his thick jacket. The sooner she got him up into her room, the sooner she could take off his clothes and patch him up.

"Wait," a voice said from behind her, scaring her silly.

The golden-haired teen turned and looked at Zoisite warily. The woman had followed them! That meant that the General now knew where Sailor Moon lived. Her blue eyes narrowed. "Get away from us!" She spat, turning swiftly and leaping into the tree. Branches went by in a blur as apprehension and a strange sense of protectiveness filled her.

She leapt through the open window and carefully placed Mamoru on the bed.

Zoisite came in closely, face expressionless. Her fists clenched at her side and her eyes on Mamoru.

Usagi turned to face her, face determined. "I said, get away!" She shouted at the woman, half-crouching in a defensive posture. She was ready to do bodily harm to protect Mamoru, if need be. Would she even have the chance to transform into Sailor Moon? The thought that she shouldn't reveal her secret identity never crossed her mind; Mamoru was badly injured after all.

"I don't mean any harm-" The woman began bizarrely.

The blonde girl choked back a hysterical laugh and settled on a glare. "Are you serious? You did this to him, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did," Zoisite said distractedly, still looking at Mamoru with the strangest expression in her green eyes.

Usagi didn't wait for the woman to regain her senses. In one movement, she launched into the air, foot aiming squarely for Zoisite's face. The woman caught a sandalled shoe in the right cheek and stumbled backwards, crashing into the wardrobe. She felt down, dazed.

The blonde shot her eyes around in a panic, looking for something to tie Zoisite up with and her eyes landed on a tight pink rope cord that bound her bunny curtains. She ripped it swiftly from the wall and stretched it between her hands. It would do.

Zoisite was getting to her knees when Usagi's full weight landed onto her back.

"Ooof!"

"Stay still," The petite girl told her in an icy tone, everything perfectly clear to her. The other Senshi would have been proud at how their Leader had taken control of the situation without panicking or wailing.

The Dark General was bound within moments, using one of Makoto's Sailor knots.

Blue eyes blazing dislike, Usagi shoved Zoisite into the corner near the window and went back to Mamoru. She checked his eyes and saw the pupils were slightly dilated. Not a good sign, according to Ami. The blonde almost checked his pulse and found it was erratic and faint. "I don't like this at all." She told him, brushing back a lock of hair from his white face.

She hauled him up by the arms and pulled his jacket off. It stuck to his back with died blood and she gingerly peeled it away. He groaned in pain, even unconscious and she winced. His shirt came next and then Usagi reached under the bed and pulled out her emergency first aid kit.

"What are you doing, human?" Zoisite said sharply from her position against the wall. She watched every move Usagi made as she wiped off Mamoru's back and the bleeding wound, which had jagged edges.

Usagi was no expert, but she could see that the Dark General had done a great deal of damage and there was one large wound surrounded by smaller ones. All damage of the shattered crystal Zoisite had flung at them. "I'm so sorry," she said to him in a low regretful voice. This was all her fault. If Tuxedo Kamen hadn't rescued her then he would not have been injured.

"I asked you a question, girl," the flaxen-haired woman said in a hard tone.

"Shut up!" The Senshi of the Moon snapped at her, eyes flashing warningly. "I won't hesitate to knock you out with something hard."

Strangely still, this shut the General up.

Usagi had no time to ponder over it as she cleaned the wound, taking out any crystal shards she could find with a pair of tweezers as he lay on his front on her soft bed. The covers soon became smeared with blood, as did her hands, but she worked steadily for half an hour.

Near the end, Mamoru came to, groaning with pain. "Where am I?" He said as Usagi urged him to sit up.

The blonde gave a tentative smile as she wrapped the bandages about his lightly-muscled chest, making sure to put a thick pad against his larger wound. The smaller had clotted, but the larger was still bleeding. She didn't know how to tell him how bad it was...

"You're at my place, Mamoru," she murmured to him, setting him back slowly by the arms against her pillow. His dark head rested against the headboard and regarded her with a befuddled look.

"Your house?" He looked about, frowning. "Your room?" Mamoru guessed from all the toys, bunnies and overall girlish theme of the room.

"That's right. I bandaged you up after cleaning your injury, but it's bad," the blonde said quietly, showing him the first aid kit, which was full of clotted blood and shards of crystal amongst the medical supplies.

His blue eyes widened at the sight. "They came out of my back?" He was silent for a long moment, then nodded. "Thank you."

"We're not out of trouble yet. And not just your wound," Usagi said brittely, ready to break down. She wanted desperately to have a good cry, but knew she couldn't. She looked behind her, moving out of the way so that he could see Zoisite.

His blue eyes went wide in shock and disbelief. "Zoisite?" He looked at Usagi. "You captured her?"

"Yeah," the blonde girl said shortly, not willing to explain right then that she was Sailor Moon.

Mamoru looked at her as if he didn't know her, then bowed his head, feeling dizzy. "Thank you again. I know that you must have been scared."

"I was," she whispered for his ears only.

The handsome upperclassman shifted and everything spun around him. He also felt like violently throwing up.

Usagi watched in concern as he dry-retched. "I'd get you a bucket, but I can't leave you alone with her," she said, gesturing to the Dark Kingdom General. "Throw up on the floor if you need to, Mamoru." She went on gently, seeing his face had taken on an unhealthy ting of grey.

"I'm-okay," he gasped, going even more pale than before. "Have you called an ambulance?" He asked her after a minute or so.

"I haven't. Not with her...that is, I didn't know-" Usagi stammered out, knowing he'd want to know why she didn't get him to the hospital. How could she tell him it was because she sensed that he was as inhuman in physique as the Senshi and the doctors would figure that out in no time? They'd...do things to him.

She also couldn't leave him at Zoisite's mercies, alone in a hospital room with no Senshi to guard him. Who better to protect Tuxedo Kamen than Sailor Moon herself?

Usagi brushed a piece of fluff from his pants and then touched the bandages lightly. "Besides, I can look after you, Mamoru," she said, smiling. She only hoped that she was right. Perhaps she should call Ami?

"Why do I have a feeling that your 'tender loving care' comes with an expiry date?" Mamoru said dryly. He turned his head away while he coughed, chest heaving.

Usagi frowned, but her eyes were concerned. "That's an awful thing to say to someone who just saved your life," she looked pointedly at the bound Dark Kingdom General. "This woman was seriously trying to kill you."

Zoisite sighed, blowing her fringe from her green eyes. "If I'd wanted to kill him, I would have." Her eyes turned towards Mamoru's form and a strangely-tender look entered their depths. "And I don't...not now."

Both Mamoru and Usagi stared at her distrustfully.

"Oh, come now, Zoisite," the handsome upperclassman snorted in derision. "You stab me in the back with a crystal-" He broke off and looked carefully at Usagi, knowing she was listening and not wanting her to know that he was really Tuxedo Kamen. However, he was not sure how they were going to avoid that, as they were all holed up in the Odango's bedroom and he was injured and unable to leave.

Well, he supposed it was only matter of time before the world found out the identities of the superhero's saving them on a regular basis.

"And then you follow me, gloating over your victory," Mamoru continued after a brief pause.

The golden-haired girl's eyes widened. So, Zoisite had come to finish him off? And she'd run into Mamoru before the Dark Kingdom General had, thank god. She turned to glare balefully at the strange woman. "Not in my house, Zoisite," she said firmly. Then she bit her lip, wondering if the dark-haired man would catch how familiarly Usagi had addressed the General.

He was obviously feeling so awful that he didn't notice or didn't care, because he didn't say anything.

The flaxen-haired General gazed back rather intently, eyes on Usagi's hairstyle. "I won't try anything," she promised.

Usagi was the one to snort this time, rolling her eyes at Mamoru in a manner that said Zoisite could be trusted about as far as they could throw her. "Sure you won't."

Mamoru winced as he shifted on her bed, feeling the trickle of sticky blood again making its way down his side. "I think it's started to bleed again, Usagi." He murmured to her quietly, unwilling to let his enemy know. He'd been the recipient of Zoisite's sneer that day already and it was an unpleasant sight.

Fighting the Generals had always been unpleasant for Tuxedo Kamen, though he knew he was taking it rather personally. All four of them had seemed very familiar to him, and it occurred to him that he may have seen them somewhere before. Perhaps when he was a small boy, before he'd lost his memory?

But how was that remotely possible?

"By the way, where's Kunzite? I figured you'd have called him by now," the man questioned her warily.

Zoisite stared back mutely, for once silent.

Usagi glanced uneasily from Mamoru to Zoisite. She was supposed to be a normal girl. A girl that Mamoru bashed into regularly and had no idea about the Dark Kingdom. She had to wonder why the jerk was even saying all this in front of her. Did he want her to know he was Tuxedo Kamen?

Unconsciously, she looked at him with a question in her blue eyes.

Mamoru cursed his careless words and knew that an explanation was probably overdue. The blonde, somehow, had picked him up from his face-dive to the ground and carried him to her home. This was very confusing to him, as he knew she couldn't possibly have carried him. She was so very slight...had a member of her family or a friend helped her?

He wasn't exactly sure of the events that had come after his passing out. When he had awoken, Usagi was pressing a cool cloth against his forehead and Zoisite had been sitting, tied up and unusually docile in the corner of the room.

"Look En-er Tuxedo Kamen, I know you don't want to believe me, but I don't want to harm you," Zoisite said quietly, eyes calm and bright. "Or you," she added for Usagi's sake.

Usagi's breath drew in sharply. Zoisite had called Mamoru Tuxedo Kamen and now his identity had been confirmed. But he didn't seem happy about it in the least, from his expression.

The upperclassman glared darkly at the General, cursing her silently for blowing his cover. In one sentence, she had revealed to Usagi his alter-ego. He looked warily at the blonde, when she said nothing, and saw an accepting look on her face. Accepting? What the hell was going on here? "Usagi, did you know I was Tuxedo Kamen?" He demanded of her, blue eyes snapping.

Usagi shifted her legs on the floor, easing the cramped limbs. She looked away from his penetrating gaze for a long moment, then sighed. "I knew." She said simply. The blonde gestured to his bloody shirt. "I happened to witness the battle, actually and saw you injured. I was about to see if you were okay when you collapsed at my feet."

Such a simple explanation, but somehow he didn't get the feeling that she was telling him the truth. He couldn't remember seeing anyone around when they'd battled that Youma.

Zoisite chuckled loudly in amusement. "How quaint," she said cryptically. She uncrossed her legs and stretched them out before her. "If you untie me, I can heal him." She suggested lightly, knowing they'd say no.

"No bloody way!" Mamoru bellowed at her, drawing fuel from his agony. His back felt as if it were on fire; white hot pain going deep into his body. He was slowly bleeding to death, though he hazarded a guess that Usagi didn't know that. She had done a very good job of patching him up, he noticed, looking down. Her bandage-job was very professional. A pity the wound was too bad to be patched up so carelessly. He needed stitches.

"Nice joke!" Usagi snapped at her enemy, ready to strangle her. The girl watched Mamoru carefully as he studied her bandaging. She swallowed and bit her lip. There was thick padding underneath and the bandages had been wrapped firmly, but she could see the new blood seeping through her pink pillow. He was losing blood and would soon faint again.

Perhaps then she could call Ami in. But what could she tell her friend? The truth? It would inevitably lead to both Mamoru and Zoisite finding out that they were the Senshi.

"I wasn't exactly joking, but that's up to you to decide," The General told them gently.

The two stared at her as if she'd grown two heads.

"This isn't the Dark Kingdom General I know and fight," Mamoru retorted cuttingly. "You injured me and now you want to heal me? Has Queen Beryl demanded that you take me to her unharmed, is that it?"

"Queen Beryl doesn't know much about you at all," the woman replied, trying to free her hands and rubbing her raw skin on the ropes.

Usagi smirked in pleasure, knowing she'd done a good job at hogtying the woman. Makoto's rope tricks had come in handy. It was amazing what her friends had in their heads. All sorts of knowledge. Such as Ami showing the blonde how to patch someone up if they were injured.

Her nose wrinkled at the thought. Ami had really been showing her how to bandage herself more than anything else, as the Sailor Senshi frequently came home from battles injured in some way or another. Each girl kept a first aid kit under her bed.

"Mamoru, we need to get you to a hospital, " the golden-haired girl told him worriedly. She bent over him, checking his bandages. Her fingers trailed over his chest, checking how tight the wraps were. She eyed the blood on the pillow and her breath whooshed out. "You're going to bleed to death at this rate." She informed him bluntly.

To say he was stunned would have been an understatement. Not only had Usagi patched her up himself, but she seemed rather smarter than he'd given her credit for. So, she had noticed the blood-flow as well, had she? "You're probably right, but I don't think going is a good idea." He said softly, staring back into her concerned eyes.

Why had he never noticed before how pretty she was?

He smiled ruefully, knowing it was probably the blood-loss talking. Usagi was a brat. A klutz and a thorn in his side. She was not good looking!

"He's right," Zoisite offered tentatively, with a slight smile. "There are crystal fragments buried in his skin, filled with dark energy. One of your physicians touching that would be killed."

Usagi looked at her in horror and Mamoru stiffened.

"I'm dying then?" The handsome man said, voice rather faint. His vision swam and his life flashed before his eyes.

'Who am I?'

'I'll be your friend from now on.'

'My name is Motoki. What's your name?'

'Hey, jerk, that's mine!'

'Please bring me the Silver Imperium Crystal.'

'Die, Tuxedo Kamen!'

"Mamoru?" Usagi shook his arm gently as his deep blue eyes glazed over. She checked his pulse and found that it was too slow. He was slipping fast. "Mamoru!" She gasped as he slumped back, unconscious.

To Be Continued...

Write me if you liked! Comments are adored and much appreciated.

Chapter Two will be out in two days...or maybe tomorrow if I'm not busy. Hehehe. I'm getting all my old Fanfics edited, so I'll be putting them up here as soon as they're in order.

This Fanfic was a Challenge from the 'One Hour Challenges List'. What you do is pick a Challenge-which is posted daily by me-then a 'Couple' from the 'Destiny's Gateway Romance Fanfiction Archives', then you have an hour to write as much Fanfic as you can. Details are in my Profile.

Grin In this case, the 'Couple' I chose was 'Usagi And Mamoru'.

Hugs,
Princess Destiny