Alone

Usagi frowned as she walked slowly to school, her arms seeming lead weights, pulling her to the ground with increased gravitation. She kept her eyes firmly pointed to feet, it had been a week, a full week since her broach had been torn from her and hidden away in some strange place she could not find.

Sheno longer fought the darkness, sheno longer protected her friends, and now they stood beside her, their eyes almost frozen as they walked along the same road. Never allowing her the silence she was so used to.

The loneliness she was so accustom to.

"Cheer up Usag-chani," said a small voice by her side, she slowly turned her head to see Ami smiling softly at her,the worrisome blue that she had almost forgotten. Almost...

"Yeah Usagi-chan, we know you did it to protect us, but it was still stupid."

Makoto.

She shook her head at the girls, they still didn't understand, they would never understand how much she had sacrificed for them, for the world, for peace.

They only held parts of their memories, the parts that had returned to them when their alter egos escaped the darkness. They didn't fully comprehend anything, only that they were to protect her at all cost. And thatmade her hate it all the more.

She ignored the small talk they tried to converse, had it been any other time she might have jumped with joy to have their comprehending eyes look at her. To see the recognition spark in them as she often times dreamed of, but now... Now all she wanted to do was escape their watchful eyes and run into Haruka's outstretched arms.

Haruka...

She hadn't seen the other girl in so long, she wondered if Michiru had told her. If the other girl now hated her for what she was.

She couldn't bare the thought and a soft whimper escaped her lips.

All four girls were crowded around her instantly. She suffocating herwith their closeness, she felt trapped within them, trapped in her inability to protect those she loved. Trapped in her helplessness...

"Usagi?" they all called, the warm voices were melting her, she was so used to the cold, the frosty warriors she fought beside; against. It was destroying her, she was falling apart in the heat...

"Koneko?"

The deep voice refreshed her, it pushed away the people that surrounded her. It was Haruka... She felt her blue eyes open slowly to them, and felt a small smile light her lips when she saw her. However the four people were once more surrounding her, keeping her from the tall wind warrior. Keeping herfrom thesoft breeze...

"You!" sneered Rei, the fiery woman was before them all, her eyes burning, Usagi felt the heat pouring around her, like a raging infernoit swirled around her, not with wind but with ice. Burning ice.

"Stay away from Usagi-chan!"

"You've hurt her enough haven't you?"

Usagi closed her eyes at their voices. They didn't understand, her mother had fed them lies and they had swallowed them hungrily. Eager for something to blame besides their princess. They could do nothing about her, they could do nothing against her will.

She felt tears leak from her eyes at the extent in which they believed they should be devoted to her. More of her mothers lies she already knew. But her mother had said them out of love, that made it alright didn't it?

"Even now you bring her pain!"

Those hurt green eyes stared at her from beyond the wall of her friends, trying hopelessly to tell her it was untrue. Trying to tell her exactly how much more she meant to her. The look of grief told her the message had not been received.

"Please Haruka... No!"

Her friends cut her off, shushing her gently while repeating that it was okay for her to let go. They were there now, they would be there forever more.

Haruka looked at her for a moment before turning around and leaving. Usagi tried to break free of her friends but it was useless. They held fast and strong, like the leech clinging to it's victim, they clung to her as well.

Haruka faded from sight and she felt her heart breaking.

What had she done?


Michiru watched the exchange with a heavy heart. She didn't understand a lot of things, like why the girl had hidden the fact that she was a warrior or why she had locked away her friends within the darkness. However one thing was defiantly clear.

The look on the girl's face when her protectors shooed away Haruka... The blinding flash that had saved them when Sailor Uranus had been about to be murdered... The soft eyes that stared into her friends green ones...

Usagi was in love with Haruka.

Michiru couldn't help the small feeling in her heart that came from the thought, the small prick of jealousy but she squashed it immediately. She cared deeply for Haruka, enough so to give her up when the time came...

But she couldn't allow this love to blossom until after she had her answers. And to get them she needed the small blond whose blue eyes glared with sadness and betrayal at the four girls surrounding her.

She didn't understand a lot of things, but she understood love and she understood heart ache; both were things not uncommon to her. Looking off in the direction where Haruka had fled she felt a bitter smile sweep over her.

She understood well.


Ikuko nodded her head silently as the child before her relayed the information. So the woman, Haruka had decided to show herself had she? What a persistent creature. That only made her hate her more.

Why had she not been so determined in keeping her baby safe? Why hadn't either of them protected her child that they each claimed to love so much?

"Thank you Ami-chan, you and your friends are the only ones I can count on anymore..."

The blue haired girl smiled happily, overjoyed to be able to help her friend. Why couldn't those other two have protected her like this one? Didn't Usagithey care? Didn't they care...

But they hadn't. They had let her baby become burt right after awakening her. They had let her child be hurt once more!

"Tsukino-san?"

"Yes Ami-chan?"

"I- well... Usagi-chan... are you sure this will help her?"

She turned back to the girl, what was she talking about? Of course this would help! Her baby would be out of harms way! Her child would be safe from the approaching battle that even she could feel.

"Usagi is safe once more," her words were soft yet held the strength of stone. She was unwilling to yield her daughter to death. She would not loose another. She would not...

Turning away, Ikuko left the room, the small broach dangling from a locket within her clothes. She would not loose another.

And with that, she squished all the whispered doubts that plagued her mind. She would not loose another...


Usagi frowned and walked slowly through the arcade, Mamoru awaited her there, in his hands a small box. What was going on? Why did he look so happy? How could he look so happy?

She watched silently as he handed her the box, telling her not to open it until her birthday, a knowing smile on his face. Her birthday was in three days, and she knew he thought she would not wait. He thought wrong.

She carefully took the box and held it gently in her hands, wishing more than ever she didn't have to stand there. She didn't want to, she wanted to run from the building, from those knowing eyes, from that smirk that once made her weak at the knees. Now though, now the smirk gave her a dreaded feeling, one that she could not overcome. One that scorched her soul.

Something in that smirk scared her, and she only longed to be safe in Haruka's arms...

"My beautiful Usako, your even more radiant than ever."

She looked at him hard, what was he going on about now? Her fingers curled as he told her over and over how beautiful she was, how soft her lips tasted... Never did he say a word about her. Just the body she wore to house her soul.

She looked at him shocked when the thought occurred, the thought that had her backing away slowly with wide eyes.

"You- you don't love me!"

His blue eyes opened in surprise and he grabbed her before she could make it to the door. Pulling her to him in a crushing hug. She tried to struggle free but the last battle had made her weak, and Haruka's face written over with betrayal...

"So it's true..." he whispered, holding her more fiercely, she felt the need to escape rush through her. His monstrous form towering over her. She wanted Haruka... Michiru... They understood, they may hate her but it was pure and not this dark emotion that swelled around her, crushing her...

"Usako, I don't know who has filled your head with these lies, but I do love you so very much! How could I not, your beauty outshines anything that might turn my eye!"

She felt the tears leak from her eyes, and knew he mistook them for those of joy. She wanted Haruka... She wanted her Ruka!

"Usako, I wont ever let that woman near you again, they hurt you deeply, I know, but I'll protect you from them. I'll protect you my princess."

She squeezed her eyes shut at his words. They didn't understand! None of them did! But what could she do about it now? Her friends were slowly destroying her and they had no idea...

She needed Haruka badly. She needed her so very badly...

She looked past Mamoru to see an Aqua haired woman walk by, her teal eyes connecting with her own for only a brief second. That was all she needed.

And they were gone, flushed away like the withdrawing tide.

In their wake stood a determined woman. Blue eyes shinning alight with renewed hope. Maybe things wouldn't turn out so terrible. Maybe...