To any normal person in Tokyo who heard it, the idea of five young women with magical powers would seem completely insane. Five girls who appeared normal and went about their expected schedules while also secretly protecting the galaxy? Surely it was impossible. It had to be some sort of fantastic feat of the imagination, right?

Tell that to the girls who lived it. Usagi Tsukino would, of course, laugh in the face of anyone who tried to suggest that she was anything more than a student with dreams of being a bride and a mother someday. If she were asked, Usagi would tell the interested party that she much preferred spending her days reading manga or playing video games. She had tried to get better in recent years about putting her schoolwork first, but it was difficult to balance the weight of being a Senshi with being an ordinary girl in love who had friends and a life beyond her duty to protect the galaxy. This newer and braver Usagi was not one to give up trying, however. She spent her afternoons at the Crown gaming parlor or enjoying karaoke. Though she complained that it made her head hurt, she had also learned to tolerate studying with her friend Ami. Improving her grades meant less chance of invoking her mother's rages over a low test score. At the insistence of her friends, Usagi started taking things more seriously and trying harder, but that did not mean forgetting everything she loved. She spent her afternoons at Ami's home or in the library, taking breaks to go to the gaming center at least twice a week. On weekends, she would visit her boyfriend Mamoru Chiba; her one reprieve from the otherwise hectic pace of her life. When she was with him, nothing else mattered. It all melted away the moment his arms were wrapped around her. Every doubt and fear she carried was lost in those deep eyes that had captivated her in a different lifetime long before she had met him here.

"I don't know how you do it, Usako.", Mamoru whispered into her hair one evening as they sat with their arms around each other. He knew how hard she had worked to make sure that the world was safe.

"I'm doing what I have to, Mamo-chan. This world needs our protection. I'm not the baby I was when I first realized my destiny. There's a responsibility that I carry now. I don't have time to waste— it's time to stop acting like a child and realize that there are times when the fate of this world rests on—." Mamoru cut her off with a kiss. He knew what she needed, even when Usagi was unsure of what to do or say to tell him.

"This is not your burden alone. It is ours. Yours, mine, all of our friends… we all work as a team." Usagi sighed, letting herself relax in her boyfriend's arms for the first time in longer than she cared to remember. There were many things that she hated about herself, but when she was with him, she was his perfectly imperfect love and that was all that had ever mattered. She saw a child who had yet to grow up, but Mamoru had always seen more; a beautiful princess, someday meant to be a queen. Though she wanted to stay with him forever, she was soon roused by a light tap to her shoulder.

"My Mamo-chan, go away.", she muttered, snuggling closer into his chest.

"I would ask you to spend the night, but I still don't think your father trusts me. I don't want to upset him. But please, Usako, do me one favor."

"Anything."

"Talk to someone. One of the other Senshi. Maybe Minako-chan will understand. You need someone fights alongside you every day to carry this burden with you. Your future—our future depends on what we do here." Her promise had always been to protect the past for the sake of their future. But she also knew it wasn't something she needed to do by herself. Her friends and family would always be with her and that was what mattered.

"You know, Usagi-chan, this responsibility doesn't just fall on you. For what it's worth, we're all proud of the woman you're becoming. The fact that you even want to do this now when you were so hesitant to take up the mantle of Sailor Moon in the first place. . . You become more and more like your future self every day. That is the young woman I am honored to know and have mentored.", Luna told her one evening as she brushed out her long hair and tied it up in ribbons after finishing her bath. It was easier to bathe at home and pack for a long weekend than to argue with her parents who were overbearing and refused to accept that she was seeing Mamoru and considered their relationship serious.

I just worry sometimes that it was never enough. There always seems to be another enemy to fight, and my friends are never as lucky as I've been. I've found Mamo-chan again over and over, but for them . . . They all fell in love and deserved their happiness, too. Why am I the only one who gets to be content? Whatever I have to do, I'll find a way to help them get the happy endings they deserve.

These were things she did not dare to admit to Mamoru, or to the others. Usagi might have been a cry baby, but she knew full well how fortunate she was to be loved, and there was no world in which it made sense to complain. Or at least, it made no sense to complain now, when things seemed to be settling down. But for now, all she wanted was to be an ordinary girl in love, and nothing more. She would spend tonight in Mamoru's arms for as long as decency would allow them.