A/N: Kon'wa, minna-chan! When I read sexylyon's Interlude, I knew there were a couple of sequels out there, but they were either unfinished or not to my taste. With sexylyon's permission, I brought this up with Jikkan-chan, and she agreed to help me, considering I'm still a virgin, meaning I can't write about what I don't know about. (Yes, there will be mature material in here, so now that you've been forewarned, all minors scoot!)

Now! Presenting Togewonuku, which is a Japanese expression meaning 'To pluck the thorns from a rose'. I was rather pleased when I found that definition, but ack! Onto the story now, ne? Review, please!

Togewonuku

A bishojou senshi Sailormoon fanstory by Arashinobara Jikkankakyoku

I – Hirumae wo Otsuge

Revelations before Noon

The light touch of a hand on his tense shoulder brought Mamoru back to himself. "Mamo-chan," its owner whispered softly. "Matte, onegai." As he turned to her, a single dark brow arched questioningly, sapphire eyes met cerulean. "Kenji-papa would not be very pleased to see me driven up in a boy's car, after all," she reminded him gently. "Besides, I was at Rei-chan's house, remember?"

Mamoru nodded but continued to drive before pulling over about four houses from hers. They sat for a few moments in a silence heavy with understanding even as the air between them grew thick with regret. Then, as if by mutual agreement, they leaned towards one another, the kiss lighter than the whisper of a hummingbird's wings, and she was gone, green tunic and white lace whipping around her as she fled his presence, the passenger door slamming with a dreadful finality.

With a start, Mamoru realised he had yet to breathe after their parting kiss and inhaled deeply, nostrils flaring as they detected her faint scent; that of spring nights and wildflowers. Watchful eyes and a protective gaze followed his golden-haired lover as she rang the doorbell. Only once she had disappeared from view did he start the car up once more, feeling strangely empty.

'It's disheartening,' he reflected as he stopped to allow a jogger to pass by, 'that last night might have been the only time; that tomorrow I may be dead and that she will never know what befell me.' His knuckles whitened as he gripped the steering wheel. 'For all she knows, I could have left the country – left her – I don't believe the Dark Kingdom delivers the bodies of their enemies back to their beloved to mourn over. Most likely I will be ashes blown on the wind, and an ethereal memory in the night.'

Turning down the road towards the high school he attended, Mamoru sighed in annoyance as he recalled the schoolbooks and binders spilled on the floor after he had swept them off his coffee table to lay her there in their stead. The corners of his lips turned into a wistful smile as he remembered her beauty and flawless form before they dipped back downwards into a frown. By the Gods, it was enough that she haunted his dreams shamelessly, but that she did so in daylight also? "While I am driving, no less!" he muttered, amused in spite of himself.

He tried to remember just what was so dreadful about having her on his mind and then gave up after distraction; distraction and distraction were the only ones that came up. "And now I'm talking to myself," he sighed. "If I go bonkers, I'm sending her the bill for the psychiatrist." Noting the tell-tale stirring in his trousers, he bit his lip with an air of resignation and added discomfort to the decidedly short (and unnecessary) list as well. 'Bloody girl's going to be the death of me.'

Not that he minded. Far from it, in fact. It was a considerably more pleasant demise than what the Dark Kingdom probably had planned for him. Exhaling loudly through his nose, he closed his eyes momentarily before taking the turn leading back to his apartment complex. Biology started in half an hour, and Langdon-sensei, though an excellent teacher, had a certain fondness for locking tardy students outside the classroom for half the class period.

He knew that those thirty minutes were enough time to drive back to retrieve his homework, grab something from the fruit bowl and then make it to Biology class with a few minutes to spare. Spirits lifting, Mamoru pictured his oft-tardy lover running desperately down the streets, coltish limbs flailing wildly as her headlong dash to school was punctuated by the usual collisions with innocent passers-by. "Typical Usako," he murmured with a fond smile before it faded abruptly. With her in it, his apartment could be called 'home'. Without her, it was desolate.

Mamoru's unrelenting grip on the steering wheel belied the strange patience with which he awaited the change of the red light. "One day, Usako," he promised quietly, eyes flashing. "One day…"

Usagi could still feel Mamoru's eyes on her, possessive and wary all at once. She knew that he was worried, which would be why he had driven her within fifty yards of an infamously and almost obsessively overprotective Tsukino Kenji. He did not want her to walk alone where he could not follow her.

She found it endearing rather than irritating, really, and understood that his reluctance to let her out of his sight was not, as some people would assume, distrust in her abilities to protect herself or a desire to stifle. On the contrary, his actions all but screamed his love and concern for her, and she tucked that thought snugly about her like a warm shawl before ringing the bell.

It was Ikuko who answered, and the tender, gentle smile she gave her daughter froze the blood in the girl's veins, and the warm feeling all but disappeared, fleeing to a distant corner of her mind and tucking itself away. Usagi barely noticed, a single thought ringing through her head as she followed her mother dazedly up the stairs and into her room, dimly registering Ikuko closing the door behind them.

She knew.

Somehow, she knew.

Bowing her head, Usagi tried and failed to find any sort of shame for what she had done. The love she and Mamoru shared would not be broken simply because certain people might find it unacceptable, and the memories of what they had done would not be tainted by the fact that most would have found the two irresponsible for consummating their love at such an age. Neither would allow it.

Head now raised defiantly, a firm expression on her pale face, Usagi met her calm-looking mother's gaze briefly before bending to retrieve the school skirt that lay half-concealed beneath her desk, and so did not see the determined light flaring in the indigo-haired woman's eyes.

"Leave it, Usagi-chan," Ikuko said softly, causing the blonde to stiffen warily before standing, skirt in hand.

"Doushite, Mama?" she inquired blandly. "If I do not hurry, I shall be late for school."

Ikuko smiled and held up the cordless phone she always carried in her apron pocket while inside the house. Never taking her eyes from her curious-looking daughter's she dialled a number quickly and spoke with the staff currently on duty at the office. "Moshi moshi, Tsukino Ikuko da, and I'm calling about my daughter, Tsukino Usagi. Due to a family emergency, I believe it would be prudent to keep her home for the day. Will you please note her absence as excused? Hai domo arigatou, Koucha-san. Sayonara." Ikuko pressed the end button.

By this point, Usagi's eyes were about as wide as saucers and frightened as a doe's. Ikuko slipped the phone back in her pocket before spreading her arms wide. "Come here, Usagi-aijou," she beckoned, smiling reassuringly as the blonde took a few steps towards her before they embraced tightly, Ikuko gently rocking a tearful Usagi. Leading her over to the bed and indicating that they both sit, Ikuko began to take down her daughter's hair, gentle fingers removing pins from one bun even as Usagi's hands came up to undo the other. "Fear not, cry not, aijou-chan, I'm not angry," Ikuko murmured, kissing the top of her daughter's head.

Usagi didn't bother to deny anything, and her mother's smile was all the reassurance she needed to know she was right in not hiding things from her. "You're not?" she asked, desperate for some kind of reassurance. She loved Mamoru deeply and unrestrainedly, but her love for her mother, a daughter's love, caused her to seek not approval but acceptance. Usagi's heart sang as Ikuko gave her that same tender, gentle smile from when their gazes had met in the hallway.

"Iie, I'm not," she placed the pins and ribbons on Usagi's bedside table and finger-combed what few knots there were out. "A mother almost always knows, aijou-chan, and I know you feel deeply about this man. It's in your eyes, your smile, and a hundred and one other subtleties that only a parent's eye may see. It is improbable that your first love will be the one you stay with forever, but I hope that your first time was beautiful." Catching her daughter's flush, Ikuko's eyes crinkled in amusement. "Usagi, I'm not going to ask for details – some things must be kept sacred, after all – but might I know his name?"

Usagi hesitated audibly before sighing, a dreamy smile stealing itself across her features and softening them with a serenity that seemed surprisingly fitting on the usually-hyperactive blonde's face. "His name," she said slowly, "is Chiba Mamoru. And before you ask, hai, he's the egocentric jerkwad who could drive me up the wall and onto the ceiling, but he has, anou, a softer side."

Ikuko's eyes danced mischievously as she helped her daughter undress, undoing buttons and tugging the dress off slender white shoulders. "I have no doubt of that, if he can put that wistful expression on my daughter, especially after this rant I was forced to endure one time. She was quite the spitfire last week, raving about how Mamoru-baka had the worst sub-zero personality, the manners of a rabid chipmunk and the consideration of a louse."

Usagi blushed, though she didn't really regret the words she'd spoken that day in a fit pique. "He deserved it at the time, Mama," she muttered.

"Of course he did," Ikuko laughed. "Now, do you still feel an ache?"

Confused, Usagi looked to her mother before her meaning finally dawned. "Oh. Oh! Anou… it hurts only a little. He was very gentle about it."

"No matter how gentle or considerate the lover, it will always hurt the first time. The pain does not vanish upon your second lovemaking, but diminishes gradually," Ikuko lectured. She paused before opening the door, ignoring Usagi's shriek of dismay ("Mama, I'm in my underwear! Shingo or Papa might see!") and listening intently to Kenji's bellows up the stairwell before closing the door, a glint in her dark eyes. "Your father is going to send your brother to school. Now, don't get any ideas about me doing this regularly, because I'm not going to cancel school for you every time –"

"Nani!" Usagi's eyes widened once more. "You're condoning this?"

Ikuko rolled her eyes. "You're going to need a lot of help coming up with excuses, anyway," she told her daughter as the slam of the front door echoed through the house. "Now that your father and brother are out of the way, into the bath you go."

Usagi blinked before colouring again. "Ikuko-mama… I already washed this morning…" she trailed off embarrassedly. Ikuko grinned wickedly.

"It always feels different in water," she informed her daughter mock-airily, casually waving a hand about.

"MAMA!" Usagi bellowed, embarrassed beyond belief.

Ikuko rolled her eyes. 'Really…' "I'm going to go run the bath, so finish undressing and I'll hunt down those old bath salts…" the older woman exited the room humming gaily and Usagi was left to stare after her in mortified bemusement until a feline yowl caught her attention.

"Who touched you?" Luna spat, ruby eyes blazing. Usagi blinked reddening further and looked down at herself. Now completely nude, the bruises that had formed sometime last night were particularly evident and there were some on her hips, thighs, arms, and lovebites all over her upper torso. The blonde flushed darker and thought frantically for something, anything to appease her enraged guardian. "I'll claw his eyes out for looking at you, then dismember him for thinking of you, then rip – him – to – shreds!"

Usagi hastily revaluated her original speech, which included revealing to the psychotically overprotective feline exactly whom 'he' was. "What makes you think anyone touched me?" she tried desperately. 'Oh, excellent way to diffuse the situation, Usagi-baka. The bruises, for one…'

Luna paused mid-rant and gave her an incredulous look. "Usagi-chan, you're not actually thinking of protecting the lout, are you? As for your question… I can smell a man!" she hissed. The cat then blinked, more than a little concerned. "Usagi… you gave yourself to him?"

Usagi was silent, but the steadily deepening hue on her cheeks and the rest of her body gave her dead away. Luna calmed then, and then curled up on Usagi's lap. "Is it true, Usagi-chan?" she asked softly.

"H-h-hai," Usagi stammered, unable to lie about this kind of matter to Luna – after all, she was not ashamed; merely unhappy about the lecture and reactions she'd almost certainly get from the senshi as well as the cat. Although she was not sorry for what she'd done, her sisters and guardian might… Usagi automatically braced herself, waiting for the inevitable.

"If you love him and he loves you, then all is well," Luna concluded with a smile.

Usagi blinked. Luna wasn't supposed to say that… "Nani!"

Taken aback, Luna nuzzled her charge affectionately. "To give yourself to a man is a wonderful thing," she said quietly. "I was only so furious because I thought you had been taken against your will."

"Demo… aren't you going to lecture me about how young and irresponsible I am?"

Luna shot her a strange look. "Am I supposed to?" She shook her head. "Age-wise, it's about time. Perhaps standards nowadays are different, but in the time of the Silver Millennium, women were betrothed and such as early as eight. Courting is different, because it is commoners and fighters who do it – nobles are often in arranged marriages. Few have the luck to marry for love."

"But they get married before they… they have sex, right? Aren't you ashamed of me or something?"

Luna sighed. "Usagi-chan, few Lunarians ever married. Marriage is a sacred ceremony meant to bind two families together as one through their children. On the Moon, it was generally a ritual to unite houses and bloodlines. Commoners courted and stayed with one another, but Earth's custom – virgin before wedding night – is particularly foolish."

The blonde blinked. "So… you're not angry with me for… anou…"

"Making love at age fifteen?" Luna chuckled. "Iie, I'm not. How could I when I was in a similar situation?"

"NANI!"

"Usagi-chan, did I hear voices in here?" Ikuko was back, eyes wary before they lit up at the sight of her bruises. A smile that could only be described as wicked spread across the indigo-haired woman's lips. "My, my, he was certainly rough with you, wasn't he?"

Instead of the anticipated shriek, Usagi's eyes glazed over dreamily. "Honestly? Iie, he was… it hurt very much, but he didn't force himself on me or anything. It was beautiful." Her eyes sharpened once more. "No regrets."

Ikuko smiled warmly and beckoned her naked daughter out of the room and into the bathroom where a relaxing scent that was a subtle mix of lavender, rosemary and mint could be smelt.

"Mama?"

The indigo-haired woman smiled gently at her gesturing at the deep tub, which was filled to only six inches below the brim. "Careful about getting in – I'll make you scrub the entire place dry if you spill the water."

Cracking a small grin, Usagi tested the water with a cautious toe before sinking contentedly into its soothing warmth. "Mmmmm…"she murmured ecstatically, prompting a low laugh from her mother.

"My sobo, your great-grandmother, specialised in aromatherapy and came up with this." Ikuko winked exaggeratedly at her daughter and tapped the side of her nose mock-knowingly. "It's a family secret, and I'll give you the recipe later, ne? It will at the very least sooth your hurts, but it's a little expensive to make."

"I'll gladly give up my lunch money just to… oooh, this feels so good…" Usagi half-moaned, half-sighed and then blushed as she remembered her mother was still in the room.

"I'll leave you to enjoy your bath then, shall I?" Ikuko chuckled, exiting the bathroom but leaving the door half-open so that she might be called for assistance. Usagi merely closed her eyes again and allowed the herb fragrances to drift over her.

Usagi finally managed to muster the willpower to move, if languidly, her hand to retrieve the bar of soap. She was still washing herself when Luna nudged the door fully open and whisper-yelled at the startled girl in the tub: "Usagi-chan, a youma at Moto Azabu!"

Usagi's eyes widened and she reached up to pluck the broach from the air, thrusting it above her head as her mouth opened to form her henshin phrase… but the broach had anticipated her, and feathers whirled gently about her frame as the transformation took her humanity and iridescent wings gleamed briefly –

Then she was mortal again, though not quite human, her tiny skirt swishing as gloved hands scooped the black feline into gentle arms and Sailormoon dashed through the halls, boots clicking on the wooden floorboards. Too late, she remembered her mother's presence, and Ikuko watched disbelievingly as Tokyo's most prominent superhero sped through the front door, ponytails streaming behind her slender form in a way that was all too familiar.

Stricken with a realisation that was terrible and awe-inspiring all at once, the indigo-haired woman sprinted through her home to throw the bathroom door wide open.

'Gone,' Ikuko thought with a numb horror that gradually escalated into mild panic. 'Oh, Usagi… why didn't you tell me?'

She strode decisively to the living room – she could not follow her daughter now, but the news was bound to have something…

"A morning of revelations indeed," she muttered, half-amused, half-terrified. "Aijou, onegai… stay safe…"

Glossary

matte—'wait'

onegai—'please'

doushite—'why; for what reason'

moshi moshi—'hello (phone only)'

Tsukino Ikuko da—'This is Ikuko Tsukino (speaking)'

aijou—'one's beloved daughter'

anou—'excuse me; well…'

demo—'but; however; even'

sobo—'(one's own) grandmother'

A/N: The next chapter of Kakera should be up shortly - Friday, latest! We promises, bad grammar and all... /puppy eyes/. Now, please review!