sabina21: you will be finding out, I actually am getting ready to write some things out to.

Princesakarlita411: there will be major shifts in relationships when things get out.

kera69love: the only thing I will say as a 'spoiler' of sorts is that Rei and Luna are not 100% on the same page. Luna is having a difficult time seeing things beyond her perspective and much like Usagi is stubborn, unlike Usagi she's letting that stubbornness over ride her logic even when it's put in front of her...at least for now.

smoon4409: yeah as I wrote her out in here I saw more and more how I could develop her out and away from the anime character and more into the character that she is here. She's still herelf but more so to one extreme part of her personality than the other. When you think about how she was in the anime in the beginning she really did undermine Usagi a lot (granted she felt she had reason since Usagi was starting out) and and had serious trust issues towards Tuxedo Mask, then when he was revealed to be the prince it dropped a bit but I still felt that Luna was subconciously like this and only didn't say anything since Usagi was able to heal him in the anime. I think if she hadn't Luna would have been more like this. As for Mamoru/Endymion, very much he does yes, which is why even in this evil Endymion cares and loves her to, it's not just Mamoru/Endymion, the evil that is Metallia in him loves her as well casue it's all of him. Just like Beryl is still herself from the silver millenium. She desired power and him, Metallia gave her the means to gain it with her power, she's still Beryl though.

4 reviews, nice, we are winding down towards the end here, I'm nearly at the end of writting this out. I am still debating on the next story to write out, I do have a narrowed down to two or even possibly three options, the final edition to the 'underworld' inspired story, another stand all story that has a near love triangle going on, no senshi, or a sequel to this one, let me know! read and review! oh and thank you 'masterray5' for betaing yet again!

The devil within ch.14

Evil Endymion POV

I watch after a moment as Usagi gets back to her parents, as they bombard her with questions so much so that I frown but also know that it's due to worry and love over her so I don't bother them. They eat dinner and the family experience is something I'm unaccustomed to seeing. It's so...normal. Weird even to see. Yet I do see how Usagi is with them, still being careful not to be too expressive.

As if she's waiting for something else to happen. I think she was really just glad that her dad stopped berating her for 'getting held up'. I understood his overprotectiveness though. Even after she tells them 'I got lost in the woods' which is reasonable considering how dense it can be out there. They let it go eventually, I think the stress of the day finally got to them. I can tell things are weighing heavily on her mind.

Like she's going over a battle report in her head. She makes this cutie little expression that I don't think she's aware of. Her parents are ignorant to it for obvious reasons along with her brother who's busy chowing down. It's concern written on her face, and it's actually an attractive feature of her. Makes her look desirable as she's such a caring individual that it's hard to leave.

I know I gave the appearance of leaving but I had to make sure she was okay with her parents, I know they mean a lot to her. As I saw her getting ready for bed, loose-fitting everything I couldn't help but still is increasingly attracted to her. I could only imagine the different ways to shed those clothes and slip into her and with that in mind, I shimmered myself into her room, put a noise block in place, and went to her bed.

She at first reacted still in protective mode till she saw me, or rather sensed my body on hers as she knew what I felt like. She then calmed down her protective mode but only to react to the presence of her family.

"My parents will hear you. Shingo will hear you," she whispers to me as if she's waiting for them to overhear her whispered words even.

I smirk, "I put a block around this room."

That's when I feel her heart rate jump again but for a whole new reason. I can't help but smile as she smiles back at me. After the day we've had together we deserve this, especially since once I finish here I need to go back to the negaverse to inform them of my progress with today's actual failure. My wound while is healing thanks to practicing so much on my own at an accelerated rate far beyond what I was expecting I sense that Usagi is reluctant as she feels the bandages surrounding it.

"We shouldn't antagonize it," she protests.

I shrug it off, "Nothing could keep me from you tonight. This is nothing." I tell her and write it off as nothing could remove me from her form right now. My shoulder, while, yes agitated, is still doing fairly well considering the damage the monster did earlier before she was healed. I strip her bare of everything as she shucks off as much as possible.

I see her decide how to remove my clothes when I wave my hand over myself and reveal nakedness all around. I gently probe her and I soon find that she's as eager to be with me as I am to be with her. I push her legs apart and press myself into her without any preamble or thought as I can only think or focus on being within her walls. All precautions are thrown to the wind as I feel myself slide into her.

It's so sudden yet pleasurable for both of us that I watch her as she can't help but scream out from the suddenness of it. I grin, "Glad I put that cloak over us now huh?"

She nods happily as I grab her arms each and pin them up over her head. Then as if that wasn't enough, I press first one leg up, then release her hands to grab the other. She instinctively goes to grab for my cock when I order her, "Keep them up."

I can see the pleasure of being ordered around by me sexually and even Mamoru relishes the concept of having her begging for more of him. Yet while I see that part of her that wants to obey, another part of her, the devilish side of her wants to see what'll happen if she doesn't. She knows how excited we both get when she teases me. When she's naughty it's like crack for us both to have.

"And if I don't?" I look at her as I slam in, both legs pinned up over her head so that her knees are to either side of me. I move out but keep a very slow pace in order. I watch as she can't seem to help but grunt just a bit at the depth I'm hitting her at. Even if it's at a slow pace it feels so incredibly good. She looks at me with confidence born from our time together and I know she can handle what I'm about to dish out.

I can feel her enjoying my length moving into her as she tries to push her hips back towards me but the pressure of me above her doesn't allow for it. She instead tries to use the bounce of the small bed beneath me but there's little bounce left in it and she realizes that I already know this as I pull up, nearly dismounting her, and flip her over, throwing her off as I bend down and whisper into her ear, "Naughty girl."

I wrap her legs around me and form binds to wrap around her ankles to keep them bound behind me. I can feel her heels touch my upper back now as I still have her hands pinned above her head. I use my knees to push her legs further apart creating this delicious view of her rear as I start a new rhythm of pushing into her. I hold her hands in mine so that if it's too much for her she can let me know.

I don't want to cause her undue pain, but some pain can add to the pleasure if it's done right. I can hear the minor amount in her voice but it pales in comparison to the pleasure I'm putting her in, putting us both in. My length right now is so deep inside of her, back where it belongs nestled between her legs. Submerged deep inside of her crevice as I feel her muscles wrapped up tightly around me.

I push in, again and again, pressing deeper and deeper into her as I use my knees to spread her legs further apart and I'm betting she's so glad now that I put a block over her room in here cause right now, she can't contain how loudly she's crying out for more as my length reaches new depths within her. The pleasure for me alone feels so incredible that it's nearly overwhelming in its effect.

I'm hitting nerve ending inside of her that I can feel affecting myself as I grunt from the effort of maintaining my pace within her. Feeling the evil dominance rise up, I wrap her pigtails up in my hand and wrist and hold on tight as I begin a new rhythm of pounding into her that creates another level of pleasure for both of us, "Oh Usa..." I can't help but let slip out, grunting as I catch a glimpse of her in the reflection of the window.

I can see her pleasure, her own need, and love reflecting in it as I see mine too. My red eyes glint darkly, almost going a few shades blue as I slam myself into her over and over again. I don't have the mental capacity or mindset to think much about it. Even Mamoru is silent as he enjoys the pleasure of her wrapped so deliciously around us. The pace begins to quicken even as I push her past extreme levels of pleasure that I don't think even she knew existed before me and there's something that's so exquisite about that.

Knowing I brought that out. I can feel the heat of her body under mine, her inner muscles tight around me as she cries out for more of him. More for us both. I lean over further and jerk myself into her more harshly than before. My balls slapped onto her as I keep going, our passions running higher than usual tonight. Why? I don't really care, all I can think about is how deeply embedded I am and how much I don't want this to stop.

My demanding thrusts get harder and faster as I'm unable to stop yet I hear her scream, her voice reaching another level of decibels from the ecstasy were both deeply embedded in. Completely bound to me and unable to move much at all yet receiving so much pleasure from the act. Even the slight pain from the binding and the position I can tell isn't anything compared to the intensity of the pleasure.

"Please!" she begs me, wanting me to give in as she does. I start to slam into her harder, not relenting on the binds as my grip becomes more punishing, leaving I'm sure finger bruises on her hips as I grip them before my jerking, grinding, slamming thrusts hit home for her. Just when I feel like my balls are going to erupt, I feel her coming. her own explosion hits hard and slams into her, causing her back to arch in response.

My balls hit once or twice more, I grunt and slam into her before erupting above her. My member pumps into her several more times as I roar my pleasure out into the night. Releasing her binds in the process I lay down on top of her. I breathed heavily, "That was..." I try to get the words out.

"Incredible," she finishes breathily. I push some hair from her face as I caress part of her head, knowing I did grip on her hair for a bit. "I hope that wasn't too much for you," I tease though I hope it was too much.

"Not too much at all. I like this side of you," She admits as I arch a brow. "The side of you that's not afraid to show affection." She sees my reaction and even Mamoru admits that he wishes he could be more intimate with her...without any influence. "Especially when the intimacy reaches new levels of...exploration."

I smile as she chooses the words carefully before I pull her in for a kiss.

"You're the only one that has ever seen that darkness…," I confess to her, knowing that even the darkness within is falling for her, such a beautiful creature of light that enjoys the taste of darkness as she does with me. I think it might be due to my influence over it though, especially knowing what type of power she holds and what that means. "You're my light...my heart." I place her hand over my heart and watch her smile.

"I love you...my prince...my knight...my friend...my love," she smiles and kisses me. I hold her like that for a small while. Relishing the feeling of her in my arms. As she slips into a slumber, I watch her breathing even out. I hate that I have to but I know I have to leave. I can feel Beryl calling for me. I magically put her clothes back on her so if her parents wake her up there's no surprise or questions before I shimmer out.

I wave my hand over myself with the clothes I had on before, with the bandage in place though now the wound is a bit worse off than before. I touch it as the blood is much lesser than what it had previously been. I sigh and vanish and reappear back in the negaverse as a youma passes by.

"The Senshi beat you?" it asks trying to mock me.

"No this is actually from a deranged monster," I mutter as I head to our 'med bay'. Translation" a place where you don't want to end up. "It did leave this but I left it disintegrated."

Which was true, it just wasn't me that did it. Gulping the youma walked away. I walked into the bay and got new bandages as another youma came by. "Beryl wants to see you." I nod as I take care of what I can before heading off to the throne room. I see Malachite there and the glint of him knowing but keeping it to himself is still in place.

It made me thankful that I had taken some time to brief Malachite on what to do to give me some time with Usagi so Beryl wouldn't be too harsh on me. "Malachite has given me a small briefing of what happened. I'm disappointed that the silver crystal is still in the hands of that little twat!" I focus on the pain to NOT lash out as even Malachite remains stonily calm. "That crystal should be sitting in my hands right now!"

Her flaming red hair is beginning to take on a life of its own as the evil emanating from her is coming out in literal waves. I can see the fury in the depths of her eyes as she demands an answer as to why I have yet again failed to retrieve it from Moon, "I mean how hard is it for you to break that little brat and steal it from her? She's one SENSHI!" She rages her anger getting the better of her.

Malachite decides to break in, "One Senshi or not..." She shoots him a glare as he corrects himself. "Highness..." The word comes out for the most part as sounding loyal as ever yet I can hear the slight hardening in his tone. The one that tells me that she's not HIS Queen. "She is the leader of the Senshi and their princess."

She narrows her eyes at him so I join in. "He has a point, being the leader of them grants her more power, agility, and control."

"This is not what I want to hear. Why did the lake mission fail?" She demands.

"The lake monster came after everyone, us included," Malachite tells her, which isn't entirely untrue. She can hear the truth of it in his voice as he continues. "Endymion called upon me to prevent it from getting too close to the public as it was erratic and unwilling to cooperate."

To this, she rolls her eyes at us both. "And why does it matter what the public thinks?" Her question prompts me to then add. "Beryl..."

I see her narrow her eyes towards me. "My Queen…," I add on despite my ultimate hatred to say it, it does appease the psychotic wench. "With all due respect, when you take over as Queen of this world it won't due to have people knowing that the monsters there were here were from us here." I point out.

"It won't exactly aid in a takeover…," I can see she's still not convinced. You still don't have her say something else...Mamoru urges. "But people knowing we took out a major threat to their very lives, their city will appreciate it...appreciate you." My words do little to hold water for her as she scoffs at my reason.

Then Malachite joins in, "As much as I hate to admit to it, my Queen..." His voice offers reasonability to the air.

As if he's using his counsel voice to get her to understand what I'm projecting here. "But he has a point," He makes himself sound agitated and disgusted but really, I can see his fakeness to her a mile away. That's my brother, the leader of my guard in action. "It's one thing to send youma's out to attack certain groups or designated people, those were our youma, ones that we control, ones that we can make appear as if we're the people's 'saviors' however, this lake monster was uncontrollable by us."

She seems to be taking this in. Apparently having had us at odds initially especially since we truly were at odds before I got his memories back, has brought us to the moment of paying off as she's seeing a truth to his words. Despite the utter crap that's in them she's believing them because he, Malachite the general that HATED me when I first got here is now agreeing with me giving all of this more validity.

Nothing like having a bent-out situation like our work in our favor. "We even tried to use it as a way to get the crystal from Sailor Moon, I was this close to her..." Malachite demonstrates with anger clipped in his tones but it's an act to me now. I can see it so clearly yet Beryl, the rest of everyone in here is buying it so easily. "BUT the monster knocked me out of the way of doing so right when it was at the most optimum timing."

Now Beryl's anger is shifting towards the creature rather than at us which is good. The creature is gone anyway so it's not like she can send us or a youma out to hunt for it.

"I'm guessing Sailor Moon has learned a lesson in leaving herself vulnerable cause I doubt we'll get an opportunity like that again." I make myself sound agitated as together we put on a show of epic proportions to fool everyone in the room.

Great you should have taken up acting instead of medicine... Mamoru mocks...shut it. I tell him as he says...don't get ahead of yourself, just focus.

That's when I hear her grumble, "Stupid lake monster."

There it is, acceptance that there was nothing more that could have been done.

"No matter, you will retrieve the crystal from her at the nest available chance, and this time I expect you to NOT return without it."

I hear the warning clear in her tone of voice as I nod. Both Malachite and I shimmer away, making sure to go to a location that doesn't have any youma in it or nearby so we can begin to enact our plan. Well my plan, now our plan. We need to make this surgical strike soon. We re-appear back in my room where we both make sure no one will hear us.

Pulling up a shield to enforce it Malachite starts, "I seriously hope you have a plan, this place just reeks of evil."

I nod knowing the truth of that. "I do, but I do need her alone to do it. If she thinks I want her I'll be able to get her without too many youma around," I assure him as Malachite looks at me with a questioning 'are you serious?' look in his eyes.

"Wait you're not actually taking the suggestion of seducing her, are you?" I grunt hating the idea but knowing that it's a trick that not only has been used repeatedly throughout history BUT she's used it herself.

However, that's a last resort trick and NOT MY plan. I grunt in annoyance, "I'll tell her it's regarding the crystal. I have plans to create a fake for her. Make it look real so it tricks her just enough for me to slip behind her and kill her." I can see the doubt in Malachite's face.

"Won't she be able to tell the difference? Like when she goes to use its powers?" I nod to him knowing there wouldn't be a way to trick that part.

"Yeah BUT my plan is to kill before she notices so I have to be slick about this and I need you outside the door to prevent anyone from interrupting. Once she's dead Metallia loses her conduit for enforcing her will."

Malachite thinks this over and seems to be accepting this before asking, "Metallia will still be alive though."

I breathe in as I say, "When Beryl dies I'll take in that power and use it to help me help Moon destroy Metallia."

This makes Malachite pause, "You can do that?"

It's rare to be able to do so BUT if one has the connections to the darkness and the power source, and knows HOW to do it then, theoretically it can be done. I've already been practicing on that too. Beryl will just be my biggest target to date. "I've been working on the powers that I have to siphon and reuse so that I can be strong enough to take her out cause let's face it, Metallia is powerful."

This wasn't me defending a failure by flattering an enemy, this was accepting what the odds were and what was needed to be done to accomplish the goal. "Then I'll use the power that I get from Metallia, siphoning it away as Moon and I defeat her to bring back Nephrite and Zoisite."

Malachite sees where my plan is going with this.

"We can wake up Jadeite back here, but that power alone could bring them all back at once, we'd have all of our brothers back and we could finally take back our world. The world she took from us."

I know it can be done, I can feel it in my bones. Malachite looks at me. "We've gained a bit of the Senshi's trust, we need to keep working towards more so that when they go to fight Beryl, we can help them the best and make everything right again."

He only asks me, "And what of the negaverse? The powers we have now are from it, and they differ from the powers we were born with."

I nod knowing what he means. I take a moment knowing what I promised and have said to Usagi already, "We will get cleansed cause as much as it pains me to admit to it, I don't have full access to the golden crystal, and what little access I have is forced." It did hurt my soul a bit to NOT have the full access BUT it was protecting itself rightfully so I couldn't deny what its reasoning was. So yes, it sucked a bit but I was willing to make that sacrifice.

I need to have full access to MY crystal back. It was not just a part of me but my family's legacy. "It's why I need to take the power from both Beryl and Metallia, to not only resurrect our brothers but help kill the disease that is Metallia and purge her very existence from this world. Something deep inside tells me that while the girls can do it, it cannot be done without a heavy sacrifice and I don't want to find out what that sacrifice would be." It's a bad feeling in my gut that the sacrifice would be all that we loved...again.

That's when he looks at me and being my brother in arms and my best friend he sees what's swirling around in my head. "You think the sacrifice would be their lives if they went up against Beryl and killed her alone."

I look away not wanting to admit to it but force myself to turn back and say, "My gut says it's not a possibility but a fact." The closer we get to the end the more I feel in my gut that THAT would happen if things weren't done by my means.

"They wouldn't survive it and I'm not going to take the chance that the silver crystal will resurrect them on its own so we need to help and we need to enact my plan so that we can defeat these obstacles before it's too late." I couldn't take that risk, not with the Senshi's lives, but most importantly, not with Usagi's life in the balance.

"So defeat the bitch, and get healed, got it," Malachite says, pulling me out of my headspace as I look over and nod, feeling for the first time in weeks like the end is getting close really fast.

Rei POV

I dodge another hit from the projection Luna has created. A way for me to practice my fighting with the sword which is admittedly harder than it looks. I'm definitely not used to balancing this thing around with ease. It makes me admittedly a little jealous of Minako for being able to do so with such grace and poise as she does. She decided to start training me in more sword combat to prepare me.

I agreed to it ONLY because she does have some points about Usagi and her nativity and how evil Endymion could be using her. I saw how he responded when he took that shot for her, it was the same way Mamoru or Tuxedo Mask I should say responded when he was dealt that blow that took him from us the first time. Only then he was hit with such a powerful blow he was nearly fatally wounded.

This time, he was strong enough to not only take the blow but to use his powers on Malachite as well. Despite my not wanting to trust either of them the Negaverse isn't normal up for long-term mission plans. So for Luna's fears to be correct, this would have to be an extreme long game, even for them. Not to mention the more I listened to Evil Endymion the more I believed him, yes I could feel the evil in him.

It was radiating from him like nuclear material, but it didn't mean that I didn't believe him. I could see something in the depths of his eyes that spoke of his true feelings and he definitely has them for Usagi. As much as it pains me to admit it to myself, somehow, he retained his love for her when he was turned evil. It's as poetically beautiful that he did so as it is heartbreaking since it was her in the end.

Thinking of that I lash out and hit the next target. Using my own anger to channel and make myself stronger in the process. At least for handling it. Since I'm a Martian and not Venusian I have limited access to its own powers, much like with Usagi's moon wand, which is essentially none other than the ability to feel it has them.

"Keep it up, harder!" Luna shouts to me which is getting annoying

At first, I was just minorly annoyed but she's been increasing the pressure the last few days on this. The rest of the girls and I haven't even been training, Luna called it giving them another 'break' when really she just wanted to train me in secret on the sword. As the late Queen Serenity's advisor, besides Artemis, she has access to it. Though it did take her a moment to produce it.

I used it to hit the different objects she had up and sliced through some already damaged debris around the area on the temple grounds. Stuff that needed to be disposed of and just hadn't had the time to take an ax to just yet. Now seemed to be a good opportunity to take care of two birds with one stone. If anything, it was really coming in handy to chop it up and make it easier to dispose of later.

I had to take a break though, it was three days straight of training and my arms weren't used to swinging this giant sword around. I was already feeling muscle aches at night and in places I didn't even know would hurt from the movement. Muscles that were making me wince from simple movement now. I had to put a balm cream on the past few nights just to alleviate some of the soreness.

"Out of curiosity did you know that I wouldn't be able to handle the powers from this sword?" I ask Luna as I swing it around and feel my should crack at the joint from overuse. Minako made this look so damned easy. She was clearly meant to wield this weapon which just made me more weirded out that I was training for this. Especially behind the backs of others. Yet I saw Luna's eyes on me.

"I knew it was possible but if one Senshi can wield it, why not another strong Senshi." Sheit phrased as more of a statement than a question as she harked at me to keep going. Crucial on this as I pressed forward. That could also be why I was struggling with the sword work. Despite the fact that I've worked with swords before in different shapes and sizes over time, this sword was specifically made and meant for a Venusian to wield, not for a Martian.

I had a deep feeling that alone was a telling sign as to why I was having such difficulties with it. It knew I wasn't of the right descent to handle it and it was making the balancing act of wielding it much harder. Like the sword had a mind of its own and was doing it on purpose to throw me off and yet Luna kept pressing for me to work harder. When I could feel my wrist really begin to hurt from overuse, I took a break.

So this time, as I took a moment to breathe, wiping some sweat from my forehead I asked her, "Are you sure this is the path that needs to be taken?" I aim as I switch hand placements and hit the trees again in the area, leaving marks behind as I wince from my hands and wrists. I need to take more than a five-second break. I look over to see Luna scowling at me and for a moment I get the feeling of how Usagi must feel whenever she's not up to the feline's standards and begins to feel overwhelmed.

Perhaps she wasn't over exaggerating things to much after all. Perhaps I was being a little hard on her, especially with how Luna is seriously going on and on and on about this. "Usagi is over with Endymion, he's filling her head up with kami knows what so yes we need to be vigilant." She sharpens her gaze on me. "Now focus!"

I swipe at the out again and feel more muscles protest to the extreme use. The sword whenever Venus uses it which is rare but when I've seen it it's like she's got this perfectly balanced blade to work with, it changes with me. This time I feel the pain intensify in my wrist. I stop and as an automatic reflex I go to shake it off but that makes it worse. I cradle my wrist, the one that I was using the most to wield it, and complain, "How does Minako make this look so effortless when she trains?"

That's when I see Luna sigh. "She was gifted the sword by Queen Serenity as a child. She's been training since then."

I stop wholly at this and fully turn to her, slight amounts of anger bubbling up at this bit of information. "Wait since she was a kid?" She just looks at me, "And you want me to fit ALL of that training into this within the next few months?" my voice is reaching new levels of shock and slight anger.

I mean I'm good, I am and I will not hesitate to defend myself on what I can do but there's a HUGE difference between training for a few months to a near LIFETIME! No person could fit a lifetime's worth of lessons in a few months. Not especially if there's school involved and fighting evil on a regular basis. "Look I'm good, don't get me wrong, but this isn't some Hollywood movie where that can be done."

I point out to her the reality of what she's looking at here as her expectations of what I can and will do in training compared to Minako's are NOT realistic. Thinking on it now, some of her expectations of Usagi may not have been either considering the given, but I digress. "I'd have to practice 8-10 hours a day, six days a week to get close to her training…and that's after several months of training," I tell her.

She shakes her little feline head at me. "I understand that I'm not without my reasoning..." I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that she gets where I'm coming from. Some of my anger deflates a bit now. "I just need you trained enough to be able to get past Malachite and hit Endymion with a mortal strike and avoid hitting Usagi." I arch a brow at what she's thinking and how that can even be achieved.

"Once he rejects the healing, or prolongs it, which I know he will..." She sounds so sure of herself in that. "We will need to put him down. I know it will hurt Usagi greatly but it will hurt the world more if we don't do what's right or necessary and I just know that once, Beryl is defeated, if she is, he will turn on Usagi and you need to be by her side close enough to deal the death blow."

As she looks at me I can't help but have even more conflicting emotions than before on this. After all, there's many variables to consider here, say she's a hundred percent right in this and that if we don't do it were screwed, here's some variables to consider. Getting past BOTH Malachite, Endymion's top general, and from what I remember now that more are popping back into my head from the past the most highly trained King of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Earth, who has access to his dark powers while being with his former memories and who knows the inns and outs of the negaverse like the back of his hand.

Usagi who will be on guard obviously and is our leader for starting to understand reasons now, AND hit Endymion who's the last remaining royal Terrian anywhere with a mortally wounding death blow will be the most difficult thing ever to do especially with the Senshi all around us. I'm on thin ice with Usagi as it is with our friends and Endymion KNOWS of my deep-seeded trust issues with him...with men in general really.

How the frack does Luna expect this to be executed if need be? Especially given the shaky ground we're on now. I'm honestly feeling bad now that we're doing this. Almost like I'm doing something shady behind the backs of our fellow Senshi. Minako has no idea I even have the sword and while I do like how it feels to a degree, it feels wrong to wield it in this manner and I think it knows it.

That's when Luna presses, "Now keep training, those moves could be done in Minako's sleep." Before jealousy over that comment can take root, especially now knowing the depth and extent of Minako's knowledge and training actually is, I instead work and train twice as hard as beforehand so I can be better than previously. My wrists hurt so badly afterward when were done that I have to wrap them up.

Only then do the other girls, even Usagi come over to do regular training with us. Luna gave me her signal to keep mum about our secret training together. Minako and Usagi both notice the bandages on my wrist.

"You okay?" Usagi asks. I hate that she's concerned. Even when she should be upset with me she's still showing care and consideration towards me when I would probably brush her off.

Yet instead of lashing out at her, which is more of a natural reflex than to let her in, as she takes my palms into her hands and unwraps them to see the redness, I relent as the pain in them and the guilt I've been feeling makes me give in, even if just for a little bit. For a small moment in time, I want to confess to what Luna's making me train with. Tell her that I think she has valid points regarding Endymion despite my previous objections.

Despite my own jealousies over their relationship, despite the fact that I wanted to be the leader of the Senshi, seeing what happened by the lake for me was a game-changer. Luna doesn't see what I saw, that evil Endymion, could have been given a death blow if the strike was just a little lower as it was aimed at Moon's death spot initially. I know the negaverse likes to toy with us at times and will use any means to come after us.

Yet when he took that blow, when he restored Malachite's memories I SAW something occur in those moments that Luna didn't. I saw the remorse in Malachite, saw his pain, his own suffering at what he remembered. It was like a part of him was dying all over again and he couldn't help but let some of the anguish out. It was so raw and real and so not like the anguish of the youma we've taken down.

I've heard those cries and screams compared to his. Their pain was physical, his was emotional and mental. I may not want to believe in what I saw, I may want to agree with Luna fully on what she believes is there as it was what I initially believed to in the fullest sense of the word but now there are doubts as to how things really are. If Luna is a hundred percent right then both Endymion and Malachite should get academy awards for best acting ever cause I was utterly fooled by how well that was done.

I look to Usagi as she gives me a small smile, the moment of silence is almost over as the other girls unload their school bags. I get the urge to tell her, to let her know how I feel now, that perhaps there's truth to what she sees that I previously didn't, that maybe I was wrong and I wanted to know more, that I was feeling guilty for training with Minako's sword, but in seconds flat Luna's voice enters my mind.

Reminding me of the greater good that needs to be done for the safety of the world. "Whatever you were overworking with is putting strain on your wrists. Ami you have that balm on you?"

Ami comes forward with a balm butter-looking cream. She rubs it gently into my wrists, "They should feel better soon enough, heat activates the cream." I nod to Ami as Minako looks back and forth from my wrists to me with suspicion.

I wrap them back up again as Usagi walks over with Ami. We all transform as I notice, now that I'm dragging just a bit from the previous training, how well Moon is performing. I don't even think she notices it herself. She's quicker, stealthier, is more adept at utilizing what's around her to her benefit. All in all, I can see how much better she's getting. I actually feel the pride in myself again and not just from the last fight we did.

I felt pride for her then, she fought hard and won. She moved with such finesse that for a moment I wondered if this was a body snatcher thing happening or if it was a negaverse trick, yet it wasn't. It was really Moon moving and fighting much better than we'd seen her fight in a long time. Perhaps ever even. She was jumping all around us right now and making quick work of throwing everyone off balance.

It was almost as if she had slipped into this star student role and was effectively showing us how to do it without saying anything. I was both impressed by her and her abilities and jealous that she was now seemingly better than not just myself but all of us now. That's when I grew suspicious of how she was suddenly so much better than us. We had recently decided to use our powers to help train so we could have more control over them.

She was using her tiara for more advanced things like holding one bound like Jupiter's thunder temporarily could and while it was useful, I wondered where she got the idea to do that more as she had only done it a small handful of times. She was working it with so much control that when she started to run up the sides of trees to avoid other attacks my suspicions only grew. I fought her in more neutral combat-like training.

I had to figure out why this seemed like she was more advanced lately. How had I not noticed it before? She grabbed a decently thick stick from the ground as I had. I had already tried to use my flames on her but she had somehow easily outmaneuvered me and got me on the ground. I realized I was beginning to rely too much on my powers and needed to beat her at something similar to what I was training extra in.

I knew she wasn't good with swordplay, at least not in this timeline she wasn't. As I picked up my own stick the rest of the Senshi take a breath and watch us as we circle each other. We both exchanged several fast-paced blows that I was stunned she even kept up with. All you could hear was heavy breathing and bangs coming from the sticks we were using.

"Careful." I could hear Luna shouting.

Though telling us to be careful together as the sticks were not lightweight or to be careful to me about revealing my private training I wasn't sure. Either way, I was getting the feeling that I wasn't the only one who was getting trained privately. Usagi or rather Moon was noticeably improved when it came to fighting now. I swatted out and when she went to hit me in the back I dodged and hit her instead.

Landing the first blow, "I wouldn't try it," I warn her as she spins around and presents her stick to me again.

"Oh the challenge has been accepted," Jupiter's voice is heard as we focus on each other.

"More than accepted," Moon tells me, more than friendly. Like perhaps the one-on-one is about more than training right now. Like maybe about a little bit of respect from me to her.

We start batting again, back and forth for several more blows, each of us going back and forth, not staying in one place, and pacing back and forth as if we were dancing. For a moment she nearly gets the upper hand and out of reflex thanks to the extensive training from Luna, the stick comes up to her neck as she blocks it with her own stick. Things are getting tense right now as she backs up.

Both of us felt more and more like caged panthers ready to strike. As she comes back at me, we exchange a few more well-paced blows, each one getting harder and faster than the last, she tries to upper cut as I meet her with my downwards strike. Both of us get closer to each other, but neither of us lands an actual blow on the other bodies. We both spin around to try to evade another blow but once more as we come back up were both ready to strike again. Just as we try to repeat the blow hoping for a different outcome the shocking part happens.

I hadn't thought it would, not with Usagi, not even with Moon, Venus yes but not with Moon. I would end up replaying it over in my mind later that evening when the girls left out how the mini-match we had ended, when I ducked Moon's blow to my head, and we both spun around as I swat a blow in her direction and find ourselves having drawn up the sticks to each other's necks in near-perfect synchronicity.

Both of us are stunned by it at first, neither moving for a moment as it sinks in that we came to a draw, despite my private training in the area and her with no training in sword fighting...that we knew of. I back up from the move and am torn between accepting the draw and wanting to be mad her at for not being beaten all THREE times despite the first TWO times I had her beat. She goes from shock on her face to a small smirk.

"Woot! Moon!" Jupiter cheers her on.

Jealous wins out as I call out, "She was beaten the first two times, let's not get ahead of ourselves." Yet Moon is still happy looking. "What are you smiling at?" I demand of her as she drops her stick. I hold onto mine as a way of having something to focus on and walks forward letting me know just how much better she's taking this than I am.

"Cause despite the fact that you did in fact win twice, add to the fact that we came to a draw instead of you winning all three rounds, the fact that it still bug's the living shit out of you is giving me a small amount of amusement." She walks off as she de-transforms...I feel a sense of hate, admiration, and jealousy as I have been training in sword play for a bit now, and granted, she didn't beat me, but the fact that she wasn't beaten in all three rounds is what pisses me off and I want to give her props for it at the same.