Chapter 33

Usagi was losing the battle with vigilance, and all Shuu could think was it's about damn time. She needed rest, and she'd been stubbornly sitting up in bed, staring at that stupid mirror, since the others had left. Shuu admitted he had his own load of worries about his friends, but right now, his focus was on Usagi.

Nasuti entered the room then, a cup of tea in her hand. "Drink this," she said in a warm voice to Usagi, handing her the cup carefully, "it'll help you feel better."

Usagi took the cup, giving her a grateful smile, and cautiously took a first sip. Her next sip was much longer, greedy, and Shuu felt relieved that she was showing interest in anything other than staring at the floor or out the window.

Nasuti produced an onigiri on an elegant little plate, setting it in Usagi's lap. "If you're up for it, it might help to get some food in your stomach," she encouraged gently. Usagi bobbed her head in thanks, and then practically inhaled the snack. Nasuti and Shuu blinked at her, and then Nasuti smiled more genuinely for the first time since they'd brought Usagi to her door.

"Oh! If you're hungry I have more," she said happily. Usagi smiled up at her.

"Oh yes please!" she said eagerly. Nasuti beamed, taking the empty plate and cup and vanishing after promising to return with more. Once the woman was gone, Usagi seemed to fall back into the same funk she'd been in before, watching the mirror with dull eyes.

"Usagi. It'll be ok. They'll bring the Senshi back," he said softly, trying to reassure her. She turned, fixing him with a smile that didn't reach her eyes and then went back to her vigil.

"I know Shuu," she said without looking at him. "I know they will. I just….I need to see that they're ok. I need to know that they're here. And I don't…I don't know what happens next. I'm scared. Where am I going to take everyone?" she whispered, bringing her knees up and wrapping her arms around them, resting her chin on her legs. Shuu felt his lungs squeeze, just a bit, at the thought of her just taking off to some other random dimension, leaving him behind.

That made no sense to him.

Usagi had been brought here. To his dimension. That had to mean something, right? He furrowed his brow as he studied her, trying to weigh his words carefully. Even if he fully admitted he was no good at this sort of talk.

"Well," he began tentatively, "you'll just stay here, right?" Her head snapped around to take him in as she straightened.

"What?" she asked. Shuu shrugged, uncomfortable with her sudden and intense stare. This wasn't an Usagi he was familiar with. He missed her bright sheer and happy go lucky attitude.

"Well…I mean why not? It's safe here, right? You and the Senshi would be here and…so would we. Why wouldn't you just stay here? The crystal brought you here, didn't it?" he scratched the back of his head, uncomfortable.

She blinked at him, flummoxed, her expression almost comical. "I guess I didn't think of that," she admitted. "That's…that's a lot Shuu. It could be dangerous. If that thing tries to come after us here –"

"Then we'll kick its ass and send it back," he snarled vehemently, cutting her off. "Besides. If it follows you here, it'll follow you anywhere. You'd be endangering anyone anywhere you went. It doesn't matter where you go."

When she looked crestfallen at that statement, he waved his hands in front of him frantically. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way!" he yelped.

"What Shuu is trying to say is that here makes as much sense as anywhere else," Nasuti's warm voice intruded. "And at least here, you already know you're safe. If you try to go anywhere else, you'll be crossing into a new dimension blind. You know the Troopers. You're safe here. And we can help. It makes a lot of sense for you," the older woman said with an encouraging tone. She set a plate heaped with onigiri on Usagi's lap, and then set another cup of tea on the small bedside table.

"Please don't worry about what might happen. I know it's scary, but the more people you have to face something like this, the better. And anyway, this thing already sucked the Troopers into an alternate dimension once, so it might come after us even if you weren't here. We're all better off if you stay here," she reasoned, making a neat, logical argument that Shuu had been helpless to articulate.

He held his breath until he watched her shoulders relax, as she gave Nasuti a small smile.

"That does make sense," she agreed. Then she turned her attention to her plate and began to put food away so quickly she might actually give him a run for his money. He imagined fueling the Crystal probably burned a lot of calories.

Nasuti watched her, clearly delighted that someone was eating her food. "When the others get back, we can talk about it more, but I really feel it's best for all of us if you stay. We have plenty of resources to accommodate you all, and you can stay here with me until we figure things out," she continued.

Shuu wondered if maybe Nasuti had gotten so used to looking after them she missed it. She'd just offered up her house to five women she didn't even know without batting an eyelash. But her offer did the trick. Usagi relaxed even more.

"Thank you so much. That's really kind of you," she said between bites. She finished the plate and accepted the teacup from Nasuti. Shuu realized that he was watching Nasuti mother Usagi, just a bit, and that it seemed to be exactly what Usagi needed at the moment.

She'd promised to protect the future of billions of lives. She'd vowed to shoulder untold danger and risk to herself to see her promises through.

But she was still Usagi. And he realized that while carried a heavy responsibility with a smile, she needed someone to look out for her. To help her carry that responsibility if it was ever too heavy. If she were too weighed down, she'd stop being Usagi.

He didn't ever want her to stop being Usagi.

And he also realized, in that same moment, that he had never wanted to help someone more than he wanted to help her.

And that meant understanding the heavy burden that hung over her head and accepting it on his own shoulders. And the thought of that…didn't bother him much.

She'd lost her life and her family. She'd lost her entire world. The least he could do was help her out in his own world.

In fact, he had plenty of his own resources. There wasn't any reason he shouldn't use them to help the Senshi. They'd lost everything. If he could ease things for them at all, he'd gladly do that.

Usagi handed her teacup to Nasuti, letting out a breath of satisfaction. Nasuti smiled. "Can I get you anything else?" she asked. Usagi shook her head.

"No thanks! That was great!" Her cheerful mood evaporated almost immediately, and she went back to staring intently at the mirror. Shuu sighed quietly, wondering how else to convince her she needed rest. After a few minutes, her eyes began to droop. Her head nodded off. She snapped awake, but didn't last much longer.

She fell asleep still leaning on her legs, and Nasuti grinned.

"A full belly will do it every time," she said quietly to Shuu. He blinked at her, and then chuckled quietly under his breath. A full belly was definitely one way to put a body to sleep. He and Nasuti settled into companionable silence as they waited for the other Troopers to return, at ease in each other's presence.

Shuu hoped fervently that the other Senshi made it back ok, hating that he had no idea what the other Troopers were facing right now to bring them home. Once they were here though?

He'd annihilate anything that tried to come after Usagi or any of the Senshi.

Nothing was getting past him. Not this time.