Author: Dark Goddess Kalli (Dark-Kalli)

Title: Letting Go of the Past

Chapter 26

Author Note: This thing removed all the story breaks. I don't know why but I am severly annoyed at it. So, until I get my personal fanfic archive running, try to decipher this and know that it's fanfiction dot net's fault!

As Usagi drove home, she couldn't get this sinking feeling to go away. She felt that at any minute something was going to happen; only she didn't know what it was.

"This is silly!" She said to her self as she drove. "Will you stop being so pessimistic Usagi and get a hold of yourself." She tried to think about the other things she needed to do this week, but every time she did, her mind would drift to thoughts of the unknown.

She started to drive a little faster, just so that she could get home and check up on everything.

When Usagi got home, she immediately checked on everyone there, just to make sure that they were safe. She felt a little better knowing where everyone was. But she couldn't help but think that something was wrong in the back of her mind.........

Setsuna's head was pounding as she struggled to open her eyes. All she could see was red and she knew that where ever she was, it was bright. She finally opened her eyes and her theory was disproved as the room was dimly lit. She noticed that she was lying on a bed, un-restrained and in a closed room. The windows had burglar bars on them and thick curtains which blocked out all light.

She surveyed the rest of the room and noticed it was nicely decorated. The wallpaper was small solid white and gold stripes and the room was carpeted with cream plush carpeting. Where ever she was, it was a nice place. As she struggled to sit up her head started to pound badly. She felt like her head was about to explode and a wave of nausea overcame her as she tried to get off the bed. Setsuna quickly lay back down to re-group and think about what happened.

She didn't even see who took her, all she heard was the sound of his voice and the feel of his arms around her. She thought that she recognized the voice but couldn't place it.

After a while the door opened and her capture walked in. She recognized him instantly.

"Katori! Why did you do that?!" She almost screamed out.

"Calm down Setsuna. You're beginning to sound like the young princess right about now," He said more subdued than his counterpart. "I brought you here like that for two reasons."

"What are they?"

"One, Mamoru was waiting for you and two, I have a message to deliver."

"What message is that?" Setsuna asked.

"You are to no-longer help her majesty from now until this whole situation is over."

"Exactly who gave that command!"

"Queen Selenity," he said simply.

"But why? What's wrong with helping her?" Setsuna asked more to herself.

"Because the princess has lost herself and needs to do this on her own. She needs to learn a very important lesson on her own, the hard way."

"What lesson is that? I taught her everything she needs to know and I am rather insulted to think that you would even suggest that I neglected to teach her something," She said with a frown.

"Well Setsuna, this one is rather basic and not on the regular lesson plans."

"Then what is it?"

"She needs to learn the true meaning of forgiveness."

When Haruka hadn't heard from Setsuna by 9pm, she decided to call the office and see if she was still there. After dialing for the 5th time, she called Usagi to see if she had heard from her.

Usagi was clearing up the dishes from the table when the phone rang. Her mind was still on what Anna said to her earlier that day and she really needed to talk to Trunks about it.

Putting the dishes in hand down she went to the wall phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Usa, it's Haruka," she heard on the other end.

"Hi Haruka, what's the matter?"

"It's Setsuna, she was supposed to come by tonight and she hasn't shown up yet. Have you heard from her by any chance?"

"Oh no," she said with a tiny gasp.

"What? What's the matter? Usagi?"

"No, I hope she's alright. I've had this sinking feeling since this afternoon. What are we going to do?"

"Michiru and I will try to find out what happened. Can we drop Hotaru off at your house?"

"Sure but what will I say to Trunks? He's going to want to know what's happening."

"Don't say anything yet. We don't know ourselves and this is a senshi matter, not saiyan. Just think of some excuse, ok?"

"Alright," Usagi said and hung up. She was in a rather tight situation. She had promised not to keep anything from Trunks that night, and now she had to act like nothing was wrong to keep him from asking.

"I hope I make it through this night," She said sighing.

Haruka and Michiru brought Hotaru over about an hour later. When Trunks opened the door, he was surprised to see them, especially with bags.

"Hi, what's all this?" He asked bewildered

"Hey Trunks, we brought Hotaru over to spend the night. Didn't Usagi tell you?" Michiru asked.

"Well I was about to tell you, I just didn't have the time," she said smiling. She took Hotaru's hand and led her inside. Haruka handed Trunks her bag.

"Where are you two going at this hour?" He asked.

"Well there is somewhat of an emergency that we need to take care of tonight. We forgot to send a few of the shipping forms out this afternoon and they need to go out tonight or we'll miss a deadline. We better get going, Usagi will tell you the rest," They said leaving.

Trunks closed the door and turned to find Usagi ushering Hotaru up the stairs. "Usa, what...?"

"I'll tell you as soon as Hotaru gets settled in for the night. Can you bring her stuff upstairs?"

"Sure thing," he said.

After they put the kids to bed later that evening and were getting ready for sleep themselves, Trunks asked her again.

"What's going on?"

"Haruka told you already. They need to get those shipments out before tomorrow morning. They'll probably be gone until very late and they didn't want to leave Hotaru alone for any amount of time," She said closing a window.

"Why didn't you mention it before?"

"I was thinking," she replied, looking out the window for a second before drawing the curtains.

"About?" He persisted, lying back on the bed. She realized that he was just prodding for an answer and wouldn't give up.

"Anna came to see me this afternoon," she finally answered. This wasn't what she was really thinking about, but she wasn't exactly lying either.

"Ah, what did she want? Did she tell you to leave me or something?" He asked while motioning for her to sit besides him.

"Actually she wanted me to continue being there for you and Annie. She said that she wanted me to be what she couldn't. I think that she's honestly going to let us be. I feel bad though," She said laying back and resting her head on his chest.

"Why?"

"Because she's a mother, just like I am, and I know how hard it is to just give up your daughter. This must have been difficult for her. I don't want her to give Annie up; I just want her to leave the two of us and our relationship alone."

Trunks pulled her closer to him. "Usa, Anna isn't the motherly type. I should know, I was married to her. I know she loves Annie, and I don't want to stop her from seeing her. But Anna knows that she's still not ready to be a real mother. I don't think that she even knows what she wants to do in life right now. I just hope that she does figure it out soon, before she's too old to do anything anymore."

Usagi sighed. "You're probably right," she said closing her eyes.

In the middle of the night Usagi woke up to a flashing light. She recognized it as her pager. Knowing who called, she quietly slipped out of bed, picked it up and went to use the downstairs phone.

"Hello?"

"What's happening Michiru?" Usagi asked.

"We'll tell you as soon as you come to our house."

"Ok, I'll tell Trunks I'm leaving."

"No. Don't tell him. We can't involve the saiyans in this. Just come alone," Michiru requested.

"Alright. I'll be there in 15 minutes."

"Trunks will be upset about this when he wakes up," Usagi said sighing and hanging up the phone.

Usagi got dressed quickly, wrote a small note saying she would call in the morning and left as quietly as possible.

The next morning, Trunks awoke to find himself alone in bed. That wasn't so unusual, except for the white piece of paper on the pillow where Usagi was supposed to be.

Sitting up he read the note........................... and cursed for the first time in 7 years.

Michiru sighed for the 10th time that day. Haruka was beyond reasoning with and her ranting was starting to irritate her.

"Haruka we can't just go out and confront Mamoru. What if he's not the one who has her?" Ami asked.

"What kind of naive idiot are you? Who the hell else would take her? Exactly who else would want to take her? She knew something, it was obviously big because she wanted tell all of us together, she never got the chance and I believe that it was about him. He took her!" Haruka said slamming her fist on the table.

"Hey! Don't talk to her like that. Just because you're upset doesn't mean you can attack us!" Makoto yelled angrily.

"Oh forgive me! I didn't mean to talk badly about the love of your life," Haruka said snidely.

"Why you....!" Makoto said about to get up.

"Enough of this! We're going around in circles and getting nowhere with this useless bickering! All we can do is sit here and wait for the call, and hope that Setsuna is alright" Usagi said.

Everyone was silent. That was the real reason why they left their children and came here in the first place.

"Sorry Usagi," Makoto said finally.

"I guess we're all anxious and high strung right now. But we can't afford to take it out on each other," Michiru said softly pulling Haruka to sit next to her.

Usagi remained curled up by herself on the chair in the suite. She was trying to imagine Trunks' reaction right about now and knew it wasn't pretty. She sighed softly, pulling her knees to her chin.

"Thinking about Trunks Usa?" Haruka asked.

"Yes," she said sadly.

"Why don't you call him?" Makoto suggested.

"Because I really don't want to talk to him just yet. He's going to be upset right about now. I think he needs some time to cool off," she said quietly.

"Well I think you should wait a day or two. You two may say things that you don't want to and that wouldn't help the situation," Ami responded.

"I think............ I think your right Ami," Usagi said hesitantly. She got up and left the room to the other women. None were surprised to see her leave.

"I don't think that we should have involved Usagi in this," Michiru said, breaking the silence.

"Why is that?" Minako asked.

"Because she's been through enough, we all have. I think that we all deserve a peaceful and normal life for a change, Usagi even more so. Why does this always happen? Why can't we lead a normal, simple life? I'm tired of fighting, tired of being a senshi most of all. I want to live my life the way I choose and not have destiny or fate dictate how anything will happen. Can't we have that?"

Rei spoke passionately, and at the end of it, she was almost in tears. They all felt this way. Each one of them secretly desired to have a life that everyone else did. One where they can make their mistakes and live according to their choices.

"But when we became senshi, we willingly accepted this burden. We weren't tricked, we KNEW. If we made a mistake in choosing this life, we have ourselves to blame for this, for not weighing the consequences and accepting our responsibility, even if we didn't know what that was," Michiru added.

Usagi closed herself in her room and cried. She just needed to get everything out. Her frustration at the others, about Setsuna being captured, about leaving Trunks and the girls. Especially about that.

She wasn't letting him cool of, the truth of the matter was, she was afraid. Afraid of him thinking of her in the same light as his ex-wife. She wanted to call him so badly, to hear his voice and to know that her kids were safe, that it almost hurt physically. But she couldn't involve him in this mess. It wasn't his problem, it was a senshi matter, and that meant that the senshi dealt with it. No outsiders. Besides, this was getting out of his league and his family had been good to her, she didn't want to drag anyone of them into this. Usagi soon fell into a very fitful sleep.

Trunks was understandably upset for the whole day. After taking the kids to school, he had time to think about it. The note never said where she was going or when she was back. After a few phone calls, he realized that the other girls were gone as well, which meant that something was happening.

At around noon, he decided to call Gohan. They arranged to meet each other at a small park where they would have some privacy and still be able to walk around, since Trunks was restless.

"Trunks," Gohan said when they met, "What's wrong? You sounded a bit upset on the phone."

"Usagi left last night," he said bluntly.

"She left you? I find that hard to believe," Gohan said, a little stunned.

"She didn't leave me, she left completely. She just disappeared last night," he said frustrated.

"Wow," he said thoughtfully. "Did she at least leave a note or something?"

"Yeah, All it said was that she had something very important to take care of and that she'll call me soon. What I can't understand is why. Why is she doing this?"

"Trunks, as a friend I must say ask, have you considered how she must be feeling?"

"I know that!" he responded sharply. He looked at Gohan, "sorry, I'm just so exasperated at this whole situation. I shouldn't take it out on you."

"It's alright man; I would be too if I was in your shoes," Gohan said placing a hand on Trunks' shoulder. "But I think that you should just wait like she said. There's not much you can do at this time."

Trunks glanced at Gohan, "Thanks."

Usagi sat on a bench near a pay phone. She had Haruka drive her about 30 miles away to make this call and now she couldn't bring herself to pick up the phone and make a simple call. But it wasn't simple, at least not to her. She had a lot weighing on her and she was scared.

There's a saying that the anticipation of something bad is worse than the actual thing so she gathered her nerves, stood up and went to the phone.

"Daddy what's wrong?" Annie asked her father as she sat next to him. Trunks was sitting on a chair in their living room near the phone. She noticed that he was moody for the past week but didn't say anything. Her curiosity got the better of her on this day however, so she just had to ask.

Trunks was immediately pulled back into reality by the sound of his daughter's voice. He was thinking about the strangeness of the whole situation when she spoke to him.

"I'm thinking about something that's all," he responded patting her head. "Where's Chibi usa?"

"She's upstairs. She doesn't really want to talk to me. I don't know what's wrong with you two. Why are you both acting so weird? Is it because usa-mamma is gone?"

"Well, it's ..." Trunks was interrupted by the phone ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hi," Usagi said softly.

Hm, nice place to stop don't you think?