A.N. Repost of this story… from 11-23-04. I've been working really hard to make this story worth your time… Characters are STILL not mine. It makes me sad every time I say it…

The Dancing Dream

Chapter Four

By Magawa

Mamoru pulled into a spot in one of the quieter areas of the park that was slightly shaded from the late afternoon sun. Usagi had fallen against him again while he was driving and he shifted almost instinctually to make room for her. Now that they were parked and safe in a more private spot Mamoru felt more comfortable. He glanced down at the girl who had snuggled herself into the crook of his arm.

"So far so good," Mamoru murmured softly. "No nightmares…"

Mamoru reclined as best he could in the limited space the car provided. Usagi, feeling him move in her sleep, curled instinctively closer, reaching up to twine an arm about his neck, sifting her fingers through his hair sensuously before relaxing again into the half-hug. She murmured something wordless before sighing in contentment, a smile playing about her lips. Mamoru relaxed the body he hadn't realized he'd tensed as the girl continued to slumber peacefully. Mamoru sighed as well, letting the maelstrom of emotions sweep over him. He glanced warily at the cat before asking, "Do she always do this?" Luna glanced at him noncommittally for a moment before turning her back on him and curling up on her mistress' lap, as if to say that if Usagi were going to sleep, she may as well too.

Mamoru relaxed further at the cat's unwillingness to do anything more drastic – which he found laughable on some entirely rational level. Why on earth would I be worried about Usagi's cat's opinion or what the consequences of that opinion would bring? Even while he assured himself that the idea was absurd, it didn't abate. I'm acting as if the cat was a chaperone or something, and Usagi and I are sneaking off to somewhere we shouldn't be… This is so ridiculous.

What I really need to figure out is who I am, how Usagi and my dreams connect, and what that means for us in the future… Even though the question of his identity had haunted him all through the days following his wake from the apparent car crash, and the question of how their dreams connected held the answer to the past and possibly the future, Mamoru could only bring himself to look forward, to the changes he hoped this new closeness would bring. Wrapping his free arm around the slightly shivering girl, he couldn't help but hope for the impossible. Sighing in frustrated defeat at his lack of answers and understanding, Mamoru allowed his eyes to drift shut in contemplation, only to find himself drifting off to sleep as well.

He opened his eyes to find himself in a dream that he'd visited many times before. The dreams were always so amazingly vivid. Even the smell of the silver rose garden where he was currently standing permeated the dream. He casually looked up to find the girl in her accustomed place half-seated, half-reclined on the ledge and against a pillar on her balcony. Her white dress fell gracefully down the edge of the balcony rail that she rested so lightly upon. Her face was upturned, murmuring something.

The girl's long golden locks draped even lower than the dress that adorned the girl. Watching her, Mamoru saw her glance into the rooms just inside the balcony before something small and black leapt up to the railing just a space away from the girl. The girl leaned forward precariously, tempting Lady Fortune's sense of humor, as she seemed to converse with her guardian.

Mamoru had a flash of understanding so bright that it dazzled his senses. The girl was Usagi – but not as he knew her now, and her cat guardian was the very same he had met today. The marking on her forehead was unmistakable even from this distance.

Mamoru took a step forward, feeling an indescribable urge to be with the girl, to share her simple presence. He called her, but the name that cascaded across his lips was not Usagi or Odango Atama or any other name he had ever called the girl in the world he knew. No, in this world she was called Princess Serenity.

Recognizing his voice Serenity looked down into the gardens just below to see her beloved Endymion. Mamoru called up to her again, realizing that the name Endymion applied to him. He began to climb the trellis at the base of the balcony so he could reach the Princess but the cat made a sound of negation and the Usagi Princess called to him that he would meet him just below in the garden. She rushed into her rooms, presumably to meet him lower in the garden.

The cat looked over the balcony at the young man before calling out to him. "Endymion, stay right there. I'm coming along also."

Mamoru answered as easily as if he actually knew what he was saying. "Of course Luna," he said half-teasingly, "we cannot have our beloved Princess unescorted in the garden with her fiancé. Who knows what could happen to her virtue without you to protect it."

"Joke all you like Earth Prince. I go nonetheless. Hold still now." Luna leapt from her perch to Endymion's shoulder, before making the second leap to the ground. "You know very well Queen Serenity's take on the issue. She trusts you implicitly, but knows how you and my Princess feel. I'm sure if it were up to you, you'd have been married months ago."

"Too true," he answered, letting a wry grin cross his features as they paced the ground beneath Serenity's balcony waiting for said princess to make an appearance. "Can you honestly blame me, Luna?" he continued teasingly. "I've heard rumors about you and Artemis you know…"

Luna bristled slightly as his teasing, a sure sign that his words had struck true. "I didn't peg you for a gossip-monger Earth Prince," she said bitingly, hoping to turn the tables on him.

"Oh I'm no gossip monger," he stated in mock innocence, "but it's so hard not to listen when it's being said everywhere…"

"Hmph," Luna growled before catching his soft gaze.

"You two are the most stubborn lovers I've ever met," he said softly.

Luna sighed in a way that denoted long suffering, "I know."

"Give it a chance – he loves you just as much as you love him."

Luna was saved from the embarrassment of answering him and possibly continuing the conversation, by her young charge who came bouncing into the garden with all the radiance of the sun.

Endymion turned to face her, much as a flower is wont to in the presence of the life-giving sun. His eyes lit up until his expression matched hers, his smile fully reaching his eyes. Words were not needed as he extended her an arm, which she took without hesitation.

He led her around the gardens that were as familiar as his own. The earthlight bathed the garden, causing the silver and gold blossoms to take on an eerily incandescent hue, as if they were lighted from within.

Serenity talked happily a mile a minute, content to be in his presence. He let her talk, let her words flow over, around and through him as if he were bathing in a healing spring. Mamoru recognized her gentle laughter as the same tinkling sound that Usagi had graced him with earlier in the afternoon. Just the lucidity of that thought amidst the dream was startling.

Serenity, in all her child-like beauty, was still awed by the iridescent blooms in her own garden. The shifting light of the Earth as it turned caused shadows to flicker more delicately than firelight and the way her pale face was framed with the dancing starlight made his heart constrict painfully. He felt a shiver touch his spine.

Serenity looked at him briefly, concern rippling across her features and disappearing into the shadows as he reached out to cup her face in his hands. She immediately rested her hands atop his as she searched his eyes. Finding nothing but love she tilted her face upwards slightly, offering herself for a kiss. Mamoru complied instantly touching his lips to hers gently before making firmer contact. He nibbled gently on her lips until she parted them, allowing his tongue to caress hers gently. Still cupping her face gently, Mamoru continued to kiss her gently, putting all his emotion into the kiss. Serenity let her hands fall to her sides as her attention was focused solely on the emotions he was providing her.

Luna saw fit to intervene at that point. If he kissed her senseless any more than he already had then her mistress' hands would not be hanging quite so innocently at her sides for much longer. She sunk a warning claw briefly into the flesh near his ankle – hard enough to know that it needed to end, yet gentle enough to allow him to end the kiss naturally.

Mamoru ended the kiss as gently as it had begun. Her lips were red and slightly swollen and her eyes were slightly glazed and happy as she raised heavy eyelids. Looking into his eyes, she shivered at the loss of warmth. Mamoru offered her his jacket with the same gentlemanly air that permeated the rest of this personality. He led her to a low bench where they sat and gazed at the Earth. Serenity cuddled up close to him, resting her head against his chest and under his chin as he wrapped an arm about her.

Mamoru must have fallen asleep in the dream because he woke up in the present.

Mamoru woke to find Usagi draped comfortably across him, still sleeping lightly. All trace of fear and pain were wiped from her features, replaced with a restful, happy look that Mamoru though must mirror his own. Luna raised herself from Usagi's lap, looking him in the eye.

Without even thinking about the rationality of it, Mamoru asked her, "Was it all real?"

He wasn't even surprised when she responded verbally. "Yes Endymion. All of it was real."

Mamoru let his head fall back against the backrest momentarily before raising it again. "Luna why couldn't things have stayed like that? Why didn't we get married? Does Usagi know that I'm Endymion? Why didn't I remember any of this until now, until today when she told me about her dream? Why…?"

"Stop," Luna commanded. "One at a time – and I can't answer all of them because I honestly don't remember myself. I didn't remember that she was the princess until she told me her dream too. You know part of why things couldn't stay the way they were and you know why you didn't get married. There was war and things didn't end as they should. Queen Serenity used the last of her strength to send you, the Princess and her Court here to Earth to start over. She wanted her daughter to have a second chance at life, at love."

"Does Serenity, er, Usagi know who I am? – Like I know who she is?"

"No, and you can't tell her. Right now, battling her dreams and memories and figuring out who she is, is most important. Mamoru, she is also Sailor Moon – the weight of having three separate, but united personalities within her is both troublesome and frightening. She is confused and uncertain and needs time to adjust."

"I'm in the same boat, you know," Mamoru put in conversationally. "Mamoru, Tuxedo Kamen, Endymion – it's all rather difficult to sort through, you know?"

"I know," Luna said soothingly, "but I know you can handle it. Everything depends on the Princess."

"Yes," Mamoru answered with conviction, although he was unsure as to why he was so certain of his assertion. Everything depended on her and he would support her, no matter what – even if that meant hiding his love for her until she was ready and had her memories returned to her. Watching the steady rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, it was easy to admit that he loved her, had always loved her.