A.N. Repost of this story… Sailor Moon and all of its affiliated characters are STILL not mine.

The Dancing Dream

Chapter Two

By Magawa

Great Serenity this is boring! At least I know I'm not missing anything important when I doze off during class…

Usagi's eyes drooped and her head started to tip forward dangerously before jerking back in alarmed alertness. Most days she'd have no problem drifting off during class – what did it matter anyway? She'd always made it by… But today was different. What if she fell asleep and dreamt? Her dreams in class were normally pretty good, you know? Cookies, doughnuts and the like all paraded before her and other such simple nonsense. But what if she broke out screaming like she had last night? There'd be no plausible way to keep the girls from knowing everything and she'd have to deal with the worried stares of her classmates and teachers. It was better to just stay awake, even if it was incredibly difficult.

How on Mercury can Ami stand all this senseless learning? I mean I know she's a genius, but you think she'd be smart enough to get out of this academic stuff…

Still fighting drowsiness, Usagi began to doodle where her notes should have been. Hearts and crescent moons were the first to adorn her page before she began on a more intricate design of ivy and random blossoms. Usagi's mind began to wander again as she absentmindedly began sketching the figure of a man, carefully adding features and shading where necessary. She was so preoccupied that she missed the teacher's closing comments and her looming presence over the blissfully unsuspecting's desk.

"Usagi I was going to congratulate you on finally managing to stay awake in class and take notes, but now that I see what you've been up to this whole time I'll save my breath. I honestly don't understand why you feel the need to sleep in my class all the time. You're just barely getting by Usagi. I know you can do better if you would just try and … "

"Geez, is this what you call saving your breath?" Usagi mumbled under her breath.

"What was that Miss Tsukino?"

"I was just saying it'd be much easier for me to stay awake if the material were more interesting. It's just so boring all the time."

"Boring!" the woman exclaimed. "I suppose you'd rather me explain it with," looking down at Usagi's notebook, "hearts, moons, flowers and men?"

"Yes!" Usagi affirmed happily.

"Well it would certainly hold my interest…" Makoto muttered from somewhere close by. Usagi had to smile. If only everything could be explained via old boyfriends Makoto would be set for life…

"Oh I give up on you for today!" the teacher exclaimed throwing her arms up in the air as if in frustrated emphasis of her statement. She stalked away in mock anger thinking, Usagi is so talented. I just wish there was some way I could make her see the value of her own potential… to make her realize that if she put any effort into it all that she'd blow them all away… I wonder…

The small crowd that had gathered around Usagi's desk to hear the exchange now pressed in closer against the desk. Mako leaned over her shoulder staring intently at the man Usagi had drawn.

Usagi laughed delightedly. "Don't tell me - I know this one. He looks like your old boyfriend, right?"

"No way," Mako shot back, "I was thinking it looks a lot like Mamoru."

"No it doesn't," Usagi said unthinkingly, "it looks like the man from my dream."

"You dream about Mamoru then? I thought you hated him."

"I do hate that jerk and this doesn't look a thing like him." Usagi said jabbing a judicious finger at the sketch.

"I think it looks like him too Usagi, "Ami said, voice soft and clear as always.

Shoot! If Ami thinks it looks like him it probably does… Sneaking a peek at the sketch out of the corner of her eye her mental jaw dropped. Oh hell! It does look like him! That doesn't mean it is him though, right? Right?

"I definitely wasn't drawing that jerk!" Usagi stated through half-clenched teeth.

Feeling Usagi's battle aura rise dangerously Mako and Ami backed off for the time being. Mako smirked undeterred, Then we can bring it up at the meeting later and Rei will get the brunt of her anger instead of us… Leaving the building and heading towards the temple the three girls made light chatter about school gossip, boys and when they were alone, the youma they had fought earlier that week.

"What? Are you insane? How on Pluto could you EVER think I liked that self-absorbed jerk?"

"You did draw him in your notebook amidst flowers, hearts and moons, Usagi" Ami pointed out matter-of-factly.

"I was NOT drawing him. I don't even think it looks like him!" Usagi pouted stubbornly.

"I can't believe you'd go after my boyfriend Meatballhead!" Rei said indignantly.

"For the love of the moon, I was not drawing Mamoru-baka!"

Luna, intent on stopping the mini-argument, leapt onto the small table to study the sketch. "It's a good sketch," she said. A good likeness of Mamoru and Endymion… I wonder if…

Usagi looked horrified. "Oh Luna! Not you too! I thought at least you'd be on my side!" she wailed.

"Now now. We need to stop this foolishness. We have more important things to think about. We need to discuss the Negaverse. We never know when or where they're going to attack. We don't even know where their base of operations is. I've asked Central, but they don't seem to have any more intelligence than we do."

"So what do you propose we should do Luna?" Makoto asked.

"Rei do you think you could do a fire reading on what the Negaverse's ultimate plans are? I mean we know they're sapping people's energy, but for what purpose? Ami do you think you could use your computer to try to locate the coordinates of their base? I think the best thing to do would be to hit them before they hit us – especially since we never know where or when they'll strike."

"What about us Luna?" Usagi queried eager as always to be of help.

"I want you and Makoto to train up some. You may be the leader, Usagi, but you're terribly clumsy."

"Hey!" Usagi cried, all wounded pride, as Rei snickered.

"I'm sorry Usagi," Luna amended. "I didn't mean it quite like that. It's just you're still growing, and you're not quite as graceful as the others are just yet…"

"I know…" Usagi said mournfully.

"Hey I have an idea!" Makoto announced brightly. "There's a ball room dancing class starting up on Monday. You could join the class and practice being graceful and everything. They make athletes take dance all the time to make them more graceful and if it works for those big burly footballers, it'll definitely work for our Bunny." Usagi's heart dropped like a stone at the prospect of ball room dancing so soon after her nightmares.

"That's not a bad idea," Luna approved.

"Mamoru's in that class!" Rei jumped in. "I wanted to take it, but I can't make the times offered."

Luna's thoughts flew. Destiny takes a hand yet again…

"Oh no. There's no way I'm taking a class to get me graceful if that jerk is going to be there."

"That's too bad," Ami said, "Because I think it really will make you graceful and then Mamoru will just have to stop teasing you…"

"Let's not jump to any conclusions here, okay?" Luna soothed. "We're not even sure if Usagi can make the offered times."

"Yeah!" Usagi said instantly cheering. I may not have to take it at all…

"However," Luna continued, undaunted by Usagi's oh-so-apparent joy, "if there is any way that you can make the class times then you will Usagi. You really need the practice and I think you'll really enjoy it. I know you're worried about the dream, but don't let it bother you too much, okay? This might even make it go away…"

"What dream?" Makoto asked, curious as ever.

"Luna!" Usagi growled under her breath. "I thought I asked you not to say anything!"

Luna's eyes widened slightly. This is a new development… "I don't remember you asking me," Luna defended.

"I asked you this morning right before I left for school!" Usagi exclaimed.

"Was that before or after the kibble?"

"I don't know. After, probably."

"Was I on the windowsill?"

"Yes." Usagi stated, things coming clear.

"I was asleep when you asked me."

"You sounded perfectly awake to me!" Usagi defended hotly.

Meanwhile the other three were glancing back and forth between the two squabblers. They moved in unison, looking remarkably like a crowd at a tennis competition. Makoto was the first to break their unified silence as Usagi and Luna went back and forth.

"So... wait… Luna pulled a Usagi?" Rei snorted in a very unladylike manner.

Usagi and Luna paused, looked at the girls, and then at each other before glancing back at the girls again before total verbal chaos ensued. Both were insulted, but for different reasons.

It took awhile for things to calm down again and then Rei demanded to hear the story in full. Usagi complied, with Makoto and Ami's patient urging.

"So how long have you been having this dream?" Rei asked.

"I don't know - a long time. Why do you ask?"

"Well, dreams are funny…especially reoccurring dreams. It may be a memory that has aged as you have or it could be a vision of the future. So if you can remember when it began, we can determine what kind of dream you've been having."

"How far back can you remember then? Do you remember the first one?" Ami asked critically.

"Hmm… the first one… they were long before I met all of you… grade school maybe?" Usagi answered thoughtfully.

"Was there anything different about those early dreams?" That was Rei.

"Not really. I remember being younger – so I'd have been the same age in the dream as in reality… Although, you know, I was always in plain clothes… I don't think the ball gown part came in until after I met you all and we started to fight the Negaverse."

"I bet the Negaverse is trying to make you forget something important in your dreams," Makoto put in, hard glint in her eye, and battle-ready.

"Well, fighting the Negaverse may have triggered that portion of the dream," Luna offered. I know most of what her dream is already, but they can't know that yet… We do need to find the Negaverse and Endymion… I hope Usagi can hold up until then… A worried smile played across the cat's features as she watched the blonde nibble on her bottom lip delicately, listening to the conversation worriedly. I know she didn't want them to worry, but this is the best way to get it all figured out… If Mamoru really is Endymion and he's in that class too… This may just be the break we need. The sooner Usagi remembers she's the princess, the better off we'll be…

Ami cut through the various thoughts and conversations, "Usagi are you certain you don't remember anything else from those first dreams? Were you in the room with the balconies or in the gym?"

Usagi thought hard for a minute, mind flashing with various thoughts played out in pictures. Her eyes were open but unseeing, sorting through the various contents of her disjointed memories. Her eyes shifted back and forth rapidly as if in REM, garnering information. Something clicked and she looked up swiftly, making her slightly dizzy with the rush. "No," she said, excited at being able to remember. "I was in a classroom and all the desks were pushed against the wall and …" Usagi's nose scrunched thoughtfully, "he looked a LOT different."

"What do you mean?" Luna asked carefully.

"He… the dream guy… looked totally different than he does now…" Usagi giggled slightly in fond remembrance. "He was much shorter than me and kind of a nerd with big thick glasses… He was so polite that the girls picked on him…I think I was the only person he ever picked on really…" Usagi forgot the others were listening as she fell into the memory dream. "His mom was the teacher and we were supposed to go have gym, but the teacher was sick so we stayed in the classroom… We were supposed to be learning something, but he kept bothering me… pulling my hair, putting his stuff on my desk, trying to scare me, chasing me…. I think he even flipped my skirt once…" Usagi broke off frowning thoughtfully. "He used to make me so mad. I'm sure I did things back like hide his stuff or yell…" She chuckled softly, "I smacked him once – probably when he flipped my skirt… Anyway, the teacher was so angry; she made us demonstrate that day's gym lesson…So we pushed back all the desks. As much as I disliked him for all the mean things he did to me, I did like dancing with him. He made it easy to follow him, even if he was about a head shorter than me…"

By this point the girls and Luna were staring at Usagi and each other with expressions of curious wonderment. Where on earth had all this come from? So many pieces dropped into place. Usagi was having parallel dreams that grew and developed as she did and probably, as the dream man did as well. It made them intensely curious to find this mystery man…

Speaking softly so as not to disturb Usagi's new state of consciousness, Luna gently probed further, "So what happened to him, Usagi? Where is he now?"

Usagi shook her head slowly, sending golden waves tumbling across her back like slow breakers upon the shore. "They went on a trip over vacation break… it was raining and the car slipped… We were told they all died…" Usagi seemed to wake from her semi-conscious state, "but I don't think he really did."

They remained silent for a few minutes more, letting Usagi process all the information she had revealed. Usagi's thoughts whirled. Her relationship with the man – it was quite a bit more than she had thought it was. I've known him since childhood… I wonder if he remembers dancing with me… I wonder what happened to him… I wonder why I forgot... What does it all mean? Usagi's heart both sank and leapt painfully. Maybe it's not just a dream… He could be out there somewhere…

The light chatter began to rise again and with it questions that Usagi was too tired, too emotionally drained to answer. She was able to answer one last question before leaving with Luna. Usagi agreed to take the dance class.