Eh, I'm back, as you knew I would be. I feel very calm, so I decided to write. May I suggest listening to Pachelbel's "Canon" when feeling riled up?? It's a beautiful and calming piece. ^_^ Anyhoozles, I suppose that this chapter was long in the coming, huh? I seem to have run bone-dry on creativity lately, and have recently been flooded with an urge to write. About this story, I'm not sure whether to draw it out and everything, or to just give it a short, snappy end soon. I warn you, though, there may still be a few surprises up my sleeve yet!!

Disclaimer: Same old, same old.

telepathy

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[recap] Everybody snapped to attention, Hotaru shooting to her feet, when Usagi slammed her book down, and stood up quickly. She cast a glanced at everyone, then ran out of the temple as fast as her feet could take her.

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Usagi hurried to the top of a little knoll behind the building that she had run from. She knew that if she thought about it too much, she would change her mind. Her senshi dashed after her, reaching the mound just in time to see her standing upon it, facing the breeze, her hair whipping out behind her and a terrible, sad look on her face. Her expression bespoke of long suffering, revealing all the pain in her soul. They didn't know what was going on, all but Hotaru it seemed. She was biting her lower lip, trembling slightly, and in her eyes they could read the pride, the pain, the denial and acceptance, and most of all, the love. She blinked back tears, not wanting to show weakness.

Usagi glanced back at Hotaru, with and expression that clearly said that she understood, and it will all be all right. A hint of a wistful smile graced the hime's face, and she returned to staring at the distant mountains. Frozen, the senshi watched warily as she took out the Ginzuishou, then with horror realized what was going to happen.

"NO!!!" Haruka yelled, trying to run to Usagi, perhaps to shake her and bring her back to her senses. A barrier of energy held her back, though. She collapsed to her knees. It was the first time that anyone had seen the senshi of wind cry. Usagi raised the crystal above her head, and they could see the beam of light gathering in the sky directly above her, then shooting down towards it's summoner. At the last moment, Hotaru, gathering all of her strength, dashed in and grabbed Usagi in a hug. When the blinding light receded, they were both gone. One last telepathic massage pulsed through their minds.

I am sorry. Don't worry, though, we'll meet again. I promise. It was Usagi's voice, unmistakeable. Next was Hotaru's.

I'll take care of her. I- *We* will miss you, but you'll come to understand eventually. Take care. Until next time. Everybody was crying and holding each other. Their best friend, the light of their lives was gone.

~*~~*~~*~

"I suppose that you, especially, can understand their despair." Videl said, tiredly leaning against Gohan. "I'm afraid that I can't show you anything about her new life. I've run out of energy, and I think that it may be blocked from me. I can't see it myself, so, I'm not entirely sure about it." Her head lolled against her husband's shoulder. She yawned, then nodded off. Gohan picked her up easily.

"We should all go to bed now." He stated. Everybody nodded, still assimilating all that they had seen.

Later, Goku and Chi-Chi lay together in their room. "Who knew that Usagi was so special. I mean, we knew that she was special, but no one had a clue about just how important she is." Goku said to his tired wife.

"I hope that someday she comes back to us. Both our boys turned out to be great fighters, but we may never know what our daughter has or will become." Chi-Chi murmured.

"Hmmm." After that, they slept.

~*~~*~~*~

"Where is that Odango Atama?!?!? She completely missed the meeting this time!! " Rei roared. They were searching the local park for Usagi, who this time instead of being late, missed the senshi meeting entirely. And it had even been with the Outers, and Usagi, or as they knew her, Serena, had promised to be on time. So for an entire hour, the conflicting senshi had to bear eachothers presence.

"Calm down, Rei, I'm sure she just got sidetracked, is all." Ami soothed, trying to keep the angry fire senshi from going stark raving mad as she stalked through the park in her search for their princess.

"That's no excuse!!!She promised that she'd be there and on time, and this time, I'm holding her to it!!" The outers trailed them, not so much angry as worried about what could have happened to Serena. They had split up, then banded back together and were now headed for the one place they hadn't checked. The stream.

When they reached the little wooden bridge that crossed the brook that cut through the park, they found what they were looking for, in a way. Serena was sitting on the edge of the newly re-stained wood, left foot tucked under the knee of the other leg, right foot, or rather, toes, dangling in the clear water. Her baggy jeans were rolled up to mid calf, and her face was tilted to the warm sun as she leaned back, eyes closed, supporting herself with her hands. She looked so magical there, with the dark green trees lined along the edge of the water, the sun shining down and bouncing reflections off of the water, alone on an old bridge. Rei charged right up to her, and stood, hands on hips, murderous look upon her face. Serena seemed to not pay any attention, but in reality, she was aware of everybody that was there.

"Odango Atama!!!!!! What in hell are you doing?!?! You completely missed our meeting!!" Rei yelled, twice as angry as before, spurred by Serena not acknowledging her presence.

"I know." Was the only answer given. Serena was still just sitting on the bridge, eyes closed, facing the sun.

"Why, then?!?!"

"I was thinking."

"About what? What could you possily have to think about that couldn't be done at the meeting; you don't pay attention, anyway!!!" Serena opened her eyes, giving Rei a hard look, then gave a bit more of an acceptable answer.

"I was trying to figure out how I was going to tell you that I've been lying to you for the past three years and that I'm leaving."

"What do you mean, Koneko?" Haruka interjected. There were murmurs of assent to that question by everyone else.

"Yeah, Serena, what's up?" Minako asked.

Cringing at the name 'Serena', Serena spoke. "First off, my name isn't even Serena. I am Usagi. The Tsukino's are not my parents, they took me into foster care three years ago to date, and allowed me to adopt their name for the time being. I remember nothing of my real parents or last name, or of my life before the age of four. I was found lying in a field somewhere, and taken in by an old man." Then, having told all that she could truthfully tell them, she fabricated a few more lies. "Eventually he became inable to take care of either me other his grandson, so he had me put into foster care when I was thirteen. I came here, and met all of you, well after I had changed my name. I was never in love with Mamoru, and as you all know, I broke it off with him two weeks ago."

"So, all that we know about you has been a lie?" Michiru asked, incredulous.

"Yes. It eventually bacame hard to bear, the guilt and wish to be myself started to get to me, and though told since an early age to bury my emotions, somehow, you all burrowed your ways into my heart, and that is why I am telling you the truth, even though I shouldn't, before I leave."

"Why are you leaving?" Ami inquired. "Where to to?"

"Because I want to, I need to. I miss the man who raised me, and Hii- kun, his grandson. I miss getting into fights with them and all the other people who sometimes came to visit. I want to know who I am, and how I got to that field. I need to know what happened after I left, what is going on, if Jay is even still alive, old as we was, how Hii-chan is, he was my best friend. I think that if I'm going to find out who I am, I need to go back to the beginning, where I was found. I have too, and most of all, I *want* to. I can never be happy without having my childhood friend with me again. We knew each other practically inside out, and I have to tie up all of these loose ends. You may not understand, but I hope that you can at least try to."

"So, Se- Usagi-san, will we ever see you again?" Makoto questioned, looking hurt and saddened.

Usagi smiled sadly. "I would like Usa-chan better. I still love all of you, and hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. I do still want to be your friend, but that is up to you. And I don't know, Mako- chan. I honestly can't say for sure. For all I know, my plane could crash tonight. Nothing is ever sure in life, minna-san. Remember that, for I know that you all think that Fate and Destiny control every aspect of your life, but that is true only if you let it be. It i my personal belief that they only set you in a direction, the rest is up to you, and if you take the correct one of the paths that branch to and from your road, then all will be well. Ones life is not ruled unless it is allowed to be so." The wisdom with which Usagi spoke belied their experiences with the ditzy, flippant Serena. But she still wanted to be friends. that granted them some reassurance and a smidgen of happiness. Usagi sighed, then spoke again, this time looking over into the water at her reflection.

"This isn't even how I look. When I changed my appearace to this, I did it with my magic. At that time, I had no clue *how* I could change my appearance at will, and several other odd things that happened to me, all I knew as that I could. just before I got on my plane to come here, I created perhaps one of my biggest lies, my looks." She stood up from the bridge, and a slightglow appeared around her, beginning her change back to her real self.

The senshi watched as she went from an average 5 feet 5 inches to a petite 5 feet 2 inches. Her hair became consierably shorter, reaching just past her shoulders and flickering to a beautiful shade of silver that, when the light struck it just right, had lavender and blue undertones. When she opened her eyes, they had changed from bright cerulean blue to midnight blue flecked with silver. Her face and form, all together, became more delicate and refined, causing her to look incredibly fragile, like a china doll. Her shirt and jeans were now far to baggy on her, so she changed them to smaller sizes of the same outfit. Her feet were smaller, and instead of looking soft and rounded, muscle tone was apparent in her arms, abdomen, and even legs. The glow died down, and she spoke again.

"In truth, I did, at one time, have bright blonde hair and light blue eyes, but that was when I was very young. Aroung my eighth year,my coloring changed to this." She paused for a moment. "I'm going to the airport now, I have a plane to catch. It would be nice if you would come with me." She smiled shyly, uncertain of what they would think of her now.

It was Hotaru who snapped everybody out of their stupor by acquiesing. "Of course, Usagi-chan. Do you really think that we'd just desert you like that?" There was much agree ment to Hotaru's last question.

"I have to admit, though," Rei said as they all walked down the street "this is going to take some getting used to. You'll call us when we get there, right Odango Atama? Oi, I can't even call you that anymore!" She laughed, referring to Usagi's newly shortened hair that just fell loosely around her face.

"You'd be even more weirded out if I had continued to trim it while I was here. It used to be nearly as short as Haruka's!!" Everybody looked kind of freaked out at this admittance.

"I just can't picture you like that." Minako commented. "It's hard enough to take in your new look as it is. Don't scare us anymore!!!"

An hour or so later, as the plane was climbing in altitude, Uagi thought to herself. //I am so luccky to have them as friends.//

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