Usagi felt her heart jump when the knock on the door echoed from the entrance. Tapping her pencil against her notebook nervously, her blue eyes glanced from Kyou sitting at the table with her to the familiar silhouette of Yuki passing the kitchen to answer the door. Before her older sibling could even reach for the knob, she jumped from her chair and sprinted to join him.

Stomach churning, she watched Yuki freeze when he caught sight of their visitor. She calmed herself and stepped up beside him, offering a smile to the dark haired female. "Hello, Aki-chan. Come in. Gure-chan isn't down yet."

Usagi led Akito in, around the shell-shocked Yuki, but found herself thrown off by Kyou standing just beyond him. The orange haired youth must have followed her after the sudden departure. Shaking her head, she smiled as though nothing were out of the ordinary. "Are you going to stand in our way all evening?"

Kyou at least gathered himself enough to step aside. Usagi felt her heart racing, palms sweating, she knew by the uncomfortable expression that Akito wore that she didn't know what to say either. Shigure appeared then, saving them all from the momentary tension.

Within a moment the two were out the door, off to their planned night. The cat stormed passed her, and the silver haired girl sent a pained look back at Yuki, who looked like he hadn't moved an inch in the past five minutes, before rushing after him.

"Kyou, wait."

"Just leave me alone." Usagi winced at his harsh tone, but persisted up the ladder after him, refusing his request. He practically leapt onto the roof, but when she tried to copy his movements, her gracelessness prevailed. Foot slipping against the slick shingles, she almost plummeted to the ground when she felt Kyou's hand encircle her arm. He grabbed her other arm and heaved her back up.

She sat there for a full minute, clutching his shirt, shaken up from nearly falling. Only when she lifted her head again, her blue eyes meeting Kyou's scarlet, did she realize how close they were. Clearing her throat, she moved to a more comfortable distance, remembering the reason she followed him in the first place.

"Do you really hate Akito?" He glared at her briefly before turning the other way. Usagi sighed and hugged her knees to her chest. "I know she's done a lot of terrible things to everyone. She's been through a lot though, just like the rest of us. We've all coped in our own way, I guess that Akito didn't know what else to do but lash out."

"Why are you making excuses?" Kyou was angry; she didn't even need to hear the tone of his voice. She could practically feel it emanating from him.

"I don't know. I don't want you to hate her. I guess I'm just hoping that everyone will forgive her." Usagi rested her forehead to her kneecaps and sighed again, feeling the strange urge to laugh and cry at the same time. "Stupid, I know."

"Why does it matter so much to you?" Silence engulfed them as soon as the question left his lips. Usagi stayed in her curled position, didn't bother to look at him even though she could feel his eyes on her. Her heart felt heavy with emotion as the question repeated itself in her mind over and over.

"I love Akito." Her voice cracked. A shiver ran through her she told herself was because of the cold. As she thought of her brother, of Shigure and the distant look she caught on his face from time to time, of Hatsuharu on the day of Rin's funeral. "And I wanted it to stop. I wanted all the pain that she was causing to stop." Usagi gasped for breath, trying to squash the sob rising in her throat. She was so tired of crying. "Does that make me awful? I didn't help Akito for Akito's sake, but for everyone else's."

"No." That did it. The sob she was fighting died. She looked to Kyou but couldn't see his face, yet his voice had changed. "It actually makes sense now, why you kept at it all this time."

"Akito told me she would knock down the room." Usagi shifted with the change of tension between them. She let her words hover for a moment before she added, quietly and a bit sadly, "It's almost over."

She descended the stairs and returned to the house, alone.

xXx

Hours later, Usagi stood on the outskirts of the forest that surrounded Shigure's house fully clad in her sailor uniform. Still panting from her quick journey there, she winced as another spasm of pain rippled through her. She'd been tossed around by that youma a little too much. Her eyes skimmed the window to her room, slightly ajar and welcoming her home to the nice comfortable bed inside.

She thought about her conversation with Kyou, of coming inside to find Yuki only to discover him with Tohru, already taken care of. Of lying in her bed in the darkness feeling like she was floating away.

Pausing, she confirmed the complete darkness of the house, the silence all around her before she made the dash and leap for the second story. A gasp of surprise escaped her as she nearly missed, a single gloved hand curling around the window sill the only savior to another painful fall. I hate being such a klutz.

With a grunt of effort and pain, she swung her body weight and grabbed on with the other hand. As she was about to heave herself up into her room, she felt the hand grab onto her wrist. Her body went rigid. She began to hyperventilate, unsure of what to do. Figuring she had little choice, Usagi allowed herself to be helped in the window.

She stood, her boots sinking lightly into the carpet, watching the dark silhouette move across the room toward the lamp. What should I do? Squinting against the sudden flood of light, her mouth formed a perfect 'O' when she saw who was in the room with her.

"Usagi?" She opened and closed her mouth several times before finally nodding. Yuki watched, completely transfixed, as she reverted back to his little sister, with dark sapphire eyes and that familiar crown of silver hair.

"Oniisan, what are you doing in here?" Her heart shaped face was twisted in uncertainty as she glanced behind him, to the closed bedroom door.

"I was getting a glass of water and I heard your window open. When I came to check on you, you were gone. I was going to wake Shigure, but something told me to wait, so I did." He looked unsure, but Usagi breathed a sigh of relief. At least he hadn't woken the whole house. "You're Sailor Moon?"

"Yes," she surprised herself with how easy that one word response came. Maybe she'd wanted to tell him all this time without realizing, but she hadn't hesitated. "It's why I had to leave all those years ago. I had a destiny to fulfill. It's kind of funny, huh?"

"I don't think that's the word I would use. Does anyone else know?" Yuki looked oddly hesitant.

"Well, Tohru actually," Usagi paused, watching her brother raise his eyebrows in surprise. "It was an accident. There was a youma and someone was in danger, I didn't really have a choice. Besides, she's kept the curse a secret so I trusted her. But it is a secret, you can't tell anyone." She took a step towards him, imploring, "Please, Yuki."

It was rare that Usagi used his first name, and the sudden impact of the situation hit him. His younger sister was the super heroine that roamed the streets of Tokyo saving people's lives. Years ago she had been removed from a life of being cursed, but to what? He remembered when he found out being incredibly saddened, and yet somewhat envious of the normal life that she was going to have.

The irony of the situation was staggering.

"Yuki?" Usagi tilted her head slightly. Yuki had been standing with the oddest expression on his face for the past several minutes, neglecting to respond to her request at all. This time he snapped back into reality, his violet eyes meeting hers again. There looked to be some sort of new found revelation there, and her brow creased in confusion.

Then he did the last thing she may have expected. He crossed the few feet between them and pulled her into a hug. She lost her breath completely. Tears stung in her eyes. The last time she had hugged Yuki they were barely tall enough to reach Shigure's waist. The Yuki today was not the same one in her memories and she had struggled to establish some sort of relationship between them, even if it wasn't a comparison to the inseparable bond they had as children.

But in that moment, everything just clicked into place.

"Hey are you okay?" Then she remembered the aching in her bones from her recent skirmish with the forces of evil. Yuki frowned down at her, his face lined with concern.

"Yeah, just a bit sore. We'll talk more tomorrow, okay?" He looked reluctant, but conceded and helped her to the bed despite her insistence that she was fine. When he ducked out of the room, she smiled into her pillow, feeling another huge weight shift off of her shoulders.

xXx

One, two. One, two. One, two. Usagi tilted her head as the mantra repeated in her head. It was calming. She sat at the desk in her room, one of her photo albums splayed open in front of her, the lone one that was not already full. In her lap she held the stack of photographs she'd stolen from Shigure. One by one she removed them from the pile and slid them into place on the pages, protected by a thin sheet of plastic.

When she finished she tucked the album away again and reached across the desk to grab the new frame she had bought. With slow precision she removed the backing, the spare papers, and the picture that accompanied the frame of pretty models smiling happily together that probably never met before that particular shoot. Looks could be deceiving. She placed her picture in its position and returned the backing before perching the new item on the corner of her desk.

Three silver headed siblings stared up from the little glass window, Ayame laughing, Yuki annoyed, and herself, slightly dazed. Her eyes rested on the broach that twinkled up at her from its spot near the picture frame. Surreally she noted that Tohru and Yuki now knew her secret identity. She glanced to the right of the broach, at the glimmering silver snowflake with its delicate chain winding behind it.

One, two. One two. One, two.

Gathering herself, she grabbed her bag and headed for the door. As she stepped out of Shigure's house, her blue eyes found the murky skies. It looks like rain.

"Are you going to stand there all morning or what?" Usagi heard Kyou's voice echo from the entrance hall behind her. She glanced at him over her shoulder, still putting on his shoes. His tone lacked the usual annoyed edge that should've accompanied his statement.

"Or what," she quipped, moving from the doorway as Tohru joined the two of them. They walked on to school, oddly silent, and Usagi parted ways with them, heading for her homeroom. She slid into her desk in front of Hatsuharu, trying to pretend she didn't notice he was avoiding her. Momiji and Hotaru carried on cheerful conversation, but not without the worried glances at the two silent teenagers.

At lunch, Hotaru and Usagi ventured away from their usual meeting spot to talk alone. The silver haired girl explained calmly how Yuki had stumbled upon her secret, but not to worry about it. After all, her family was well rehearsed in the art of keeping secrets.

"That's fine. I'm more worried about you and Hatsuharu." Hotaru broached the subject gently, noticing the flicker of sadness that instantly invaded Usagi's expression. "Did you guys have an argument? What happened?"

Usagi looked skyward, sorting her thoughts, before she responded. "There's a part of Hatsuharu that can never forgive Akito for what happened to Rin. Now that I've helped Akito and I stand behind her, he can't decide what to do. He's angry at me, I guess. I can't really blame him for that." She paused, and then admitted in a small voice, "After that first day in the hospital, he never came back to visit me."

Hotaru reached out to grab Usagi's hand, and squeezed it reassuringly. "I'm sure he'll come around. He just needs time."

"I hope so."

xXx

Please don't kill me, though you have every right. It's been over a year, even I can't believe it. This is kind of short to top all that off. Thank you for continued patience and reviewing even though I'm awful. I'll try to be better. Thanks for reading.

SachiNyoko