100 Themes: Little Moments
#32: Rain at Midnight
Lillie Bell

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. And life isn't fair. Sorry guys, that's just the way it is.

"Usagi-chan!"

In the rain, she almost didn't hear him. Then, she saw his form through the sheets and looked away. Her eyes took in the storm and when he was next to her, gasping for breath, he could see they were red-rimmed and her cheeks glistening from recent tears.

"Motoki-san." Her voice was colder than the night air pressing upon them. She continued to stare into the rain, her umbrella held imperiously above her head. It protected her from the rain that fell from the sky, but was not so successful with the rain that fell from her eyes. He saw a few tears squeak from beneath her unblinking eyes.

"Why are you here?" She turned blue eyes to him that were usually filled with unfathomable warmth. Tonight, they soaked in the desolation from the rain at midnight. He almost forgot his mission as his thoughts were consumed with the immense emptiness in her eyes.

He swallowed, reaching out a hand then withdrawing as if the air around her was chilled from her demeanor and had stung him with its contrast against his warm, though wet, skin. "Please, he asked me to look for you."

"Why isn't he here?"

"He didn't want you to come home to an empty apartment."

She turned away. "Why should I go back?" her voice was a haunting whisper filled with pain. He watched her jaw muscle clenched and a few more crystals dripped down her cheeks, tracing the same paths of their brothers before them.

"Usagi," he said sternly. "You can't throw away something so beautiful because you're upset. Don't make such a horrible mistake."

"Whose side are you on?" she hissed, turning on him and taking him by surprise. He took a step back, as if burned by her ice. "If I go back then he was right."

He let her huff for a bit, understanding the immaturity of her own statement. When she seemed to have dropped the icy aura around her, he touched her arm gently. "It doesn't matter, Usagi-chan. It doesn't matter who is right or wrong; what matters is that you look past it." He sighed, hoping he was making some sense. "You can't let one disappointment ruin the greatest thing in your life," he implored.

"I've made such a big mistake," she whispered crumpling into the older man's embrace in silent agony.

Before she could suggest that Mamoru would be unforgiving, he interrupted. "Well, now you two are even for the night. Come along, Usa-chan, have more faith. Mamoru-kun was frantic when he called me at five, he'll be more than happy to beg his forgiveness."

He folded her umbrella and suspended it from her arm, using his own, and pulled the girl along the streets toward a familiar apartment.