AN: Yay for relatively quick updates! Huzzah! I have a system where I alternate between my two fics and my novel, so I can work on all my projects without getting too overwhelmed, but I pushed this to the top of the queue just for you guys, because that's how much I love you all. (And I just really want to write this, but... shh.) So please review?

As always, a million thanks to my amazing reviewers: Noizchild Johnson, lilymoon80, MissFieyrabaMeponineWholock, Unknown reader, mireee3D2Y, gabeliz . castillocarin, and slightlyxjaded. The number of reviews I've been getting for this (and all the wonderful things you say) keeps blowing me away. You guys rock.


"Are you dying?"

"Hmm?" Mamoru looked up disinterestedly from his cup of cold coffee.

Motoki sighed and shook his washrag at Mamoru. "This is exactly what I'm talking about! You're always lost in thought, never paying attention to what's going on around you, you seem so sullen and morose, you've barely touched your coffee, and strangest of all, the other day when Usagi was here, you just stared awkwardly at her. There were none of the usual insults flung about between you, no screaming, no loud declarations of the other's incompetence. You acted almost normal! With Usagi! So, the only conclusion I can come to is that surely you must be deathly ill."

Mamoru rolled his eyes. "I'm not dying, Motoki. I was just… trying to be more mature. There's no need for me to be constantly antagonizing Usak—the Odango." He quickly took a sip of his coffee to try and hide his slip-up with Usagi's name. Still, Motoki's eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward, peering at Mamoru with a quizzical expression on his face.

"Huh." With a shrug, he turned back to wiping down the counters. "You'd tell me if something else was going on, wouldn't you? You're my best friend, Mamoru. I don't like feeling like you're shutting you out."

"I'm not shutting you out," Mamoru promised, but of course that was a lie. He told Motoki everything he could, but when the majority of his life was spent thinking about Usagi, defending the world from evil, and his role as Tuxedo Kamen, it didn't leave much he could tell Motoki. It was hard to have an honest relationship when living a double life.

Of course, technically, he could tell Motoki about Usagi, but it would be too complicated to explain without also telling him everything else. How was he supposed to tell Motoki that he was madly in love with Usagi, who he'd always teased and made fun of?

Although, he had always suspected that Motoki saw through all of the bickering and insults. But even if he told Motoki that he loved Usagi, there was no way he could tell him why he wasn't dating her anymore, unless he lied and made up some sort of excuse. But he knew Motoki would see through that, he'd never been good at lying when it came to his feelings for Usagi.

Overall, it was best that he not tell Motoki anything, much as he wished he could. Usagi had the Senshi who were her closest friends and confidants, but his only friend was Motoki, who could never know the truth about who he was. He wished he could talk to him, but it the situation was what it was.

Sighing, he turned his attention back to the Arcade. "I'm not keeping anything from you, I swear. Nothing's going on, I've just been stressed from school lately." He carefully looked Motoki in the eye as he said it, keeping his voice normal. He hated lying to his friend, but at least he could be a good liar when he needed to. And right now, he needed to.

Motoki nodded, accepting his answer, and turned his attention to the customers who had just walked in the door. Once he was gone, Mamoru sunk further into his chair, his thoughts turning back to Usagi.


"Any word from Sailor Uranus and Neptune?" Luna asked at the next Senshi meeting.

Usagi shook her head. "Ever since I told them to either join the team fully or leave us alone, they haven't showed up. Maybe that is their answer. Although, I don't know, I never really thought they'd just disappear… and they're Sailor Senshi, too, do we really want to make them our enemy if they don't join us? Maybe I shouldn't have said anything…" she trailed off, nervously chewing on her lower lip.

"Are you alright?" Ami asked. "You seem a little… distracted."

"Hmm?" she said. "Oh. Yes, I'm fine. Sorry. I just… seeing Mamoru at the Arcade the other day…" she ruefully shook her head. "I guess I'm just not over the breakup, no matter how much I tell myself I can do this."

Ami placed a hand over Usagi's. "You can do this. We're all here for you."

"I know," she said with a watery smile. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and took a deep breath to calm herself. When she opened her eyes again, she was all business.

"So no, there's been nothing from Sailor Uranus and Neptune. They did say they would consider my proposal, and I truly hope they join us, but we can't rely on them. I'm tired of being on the defensive, waiting for the Black Moon Clan to attack next. We need to figure out what they want, and how to stop them."

"Is there any chance you could talk to Chibiusa?" Rei asked. "I know she's been avoiding talking about the 30th century, but we could really use her help."

"I know," Usagi sighed. "I'll do my best. I feel bad prodding her for information, when she's clearly been through so much, but… I'll see what I can do."

"I haven't found anything new in my research," Artemis said. "So, unless any of you girls has something to offer, this meeting may as well be over."

Everyone looked around at each other, but no one spoke up. Sighing, Usagi got to her feet. "Well, I guess that's it, then. I'll go home to check on Chibiusa, and see if she can help us out."

As the Senshi slowly dispersed, Makoto hung around, waiting until it was just her and Minako. "Hey, Minako?"

"Yeah?" the blonde Senshi turned around to face her friend.

"Do you… you know the other day, when you were acting kind of weird… and you asked if any of us had been having strange dreams?"

"Yes…" Minako said slowly, afraid of the direction Makoto was going in.

"Do you…" Makoto bit her lip, and her next words came in a rush. "Do you still get them? Because back when you brought it up, I had no idea what you were talking about, but just the other day I had this weird dream, which didn't really feel like a dream, it felt more like a…"

"Memory?" Minako asked quietly.

"Yes!" Makoto said. "Exactly! So… do you know what's going on?"

Minako nodded. "I do. It's… it's memories of our past lives returning."

"But why would we only be getting them now? I thought the seal on our memories was broken when Usagi was discovered as Princess Serenity, and that was almost a year ago."

"I don't know," Minako said. "I wish I had the answers, but… I don't know." Her voice broke on the last word.

"Hey, it's okay," Makoto said hurriedly, not sure what it was that had upset her friend so much. "You don't have to know what's going on, we can figure it out together. And if it's our past lives returning, maybe Ami and Rei are getting these dreams, or memories, too."

"It's not that," Minako said, her shoulders shaking as she tried to control her voice. "I just… I wish I could explain it, but I think it's something you have to experience on your own, on your own time. I don't know why our memories are returning now, and not all at the same time, but I can only assume it's for a reason. Just tell me this… what was is it you dreamed of?"

"Well, it's wasn't really a dream," Makoto said. "It was so strange… I was just sitting in the Arcade, and I saw something, I don't know what, and all of a sudden I was somewhere else, walking in the gardens with a handsome man… and he felt so familiar to me. I think… no, I know I've seen him before somewhere, I just wish I could place it…"

"Is that the only vision you've had? Just you and him walking in the gardens together?"

"Yeah…" Makoto said. "Why?"

"No reason," Minako said quickly. A little too quickly. Sighing, she dropped the act. "That's how it started for me, too. Just one little dream…. a ball, kissing under the fireworks… and then the dreams just… intensified."

Makoto shuddered at the serious tone in her voice. She didn't now what to expect in the future, but she had a feeling it wasn't good.

"If you ever want to talk more… if… no, once you remember everything, come talk to me, okay?"

"I will," Makoto promised. "Thank you, I really appreciate it. I don't really know what to make of this yet, and it's nice to know that you've already gone through this."

"Of course," Minako said with a small, slightly sad smile. "What else are friends for?"


"I'm home!" Usagi called out as she walked in the door.

"How was school? And… and 'study group'?" Ikuko asked with a slightly too bright, wide smile.

Usagi could practically hear the question marks in her mother's voice. She sighed. It had been a few weeks since her mom had found out the truth about her identity as Sailor Moon, and she still struggled coming to terms with it. She made it clear that the less she knew about Usagi's life as Sailor Moon, the better. Usagi knew she was trying, and it was a lot to adjust to... but it was still hard to deal with.

"Both were fine," Usagi said. "I got a 78 on my history test!"

"And math?" Ikuko asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Er… 43?" Usagi grinned sheepishly. "I was trying hard, I really was! And a 48 is almost passing… sort of."

Ikuko shook her head. "I know you have… other things to deal with, but I expect better grades than that! You have to make an effort to get good grades. You need to think about your future, and you won't be getting into any good high school with grades like that. Now, go wash up before dinner."

Usagi trudged up the stairs, trying to think of a way to broach to the subject of the 30th century with Chibiusa, and wishing she didn't have to. The poor girl had been through so much, and whatever had happened in the 30th century was clearly something she was terrified of.

But Luna and Artemis hadn't been able to find out anything about the Black Moon Clan through their research, and simply waiting around for the next attack wasn't a very successful strategy, so Chibiusa was their last resort.

Taking a deep breath to steel herself, she knocked on Chibiusa's door. "Can I come in?"

A second later, the little girl was opening the door, a big smile on her face. "Is dinner ready yet?"

Usagi laughed. Sometimes Chibiusa reminded her of herself when she was a little younger. "No, not just yet. I wanted to talk to you for a bit. Mind if I come in?"

Chibiusa shook her head, but her expression was wary, as if she knew what Usagi wanted to talk to her about.

"What have you been up to today?" Usagi asked as she followed Chibiusa to her bed, hoping to start the conversation off light. Maybe if Chibiusa was feeling relaxed, if Usagi didn't spring the question on her out of nowhere, the little girl would be more willing to open up.

"I started school today!" she said with a big beam on her face, and Usagi chuckled. Maybe they weren't so similar after all.

"How did that go? Did you make some new friends?"

"Not really," she said, looking down. "But it was only my first day. Look, I made this in art class!" She hopped up off the bed and grabbed a piece of paper from her desk. It was a crayon drawing of a little pink-haired girl walking through a meadow, holding the hands of two people. A teen girl with long blonde hair, and a young man with black hair and blue eyes. It was unmistakably Chibiusa, Usagi and Mamoru.

"It's for you," Chibiusa said shyly, holding it out to her.

"It's…" Usagi swallowed the lump in her throat. It was just an innocent kid's drawing of two people in her life who she looked up to. Surely Chibiusa didn't know how much more to her and Mamoru there was, how much the image both delighted and pained her.

"Do you not like it?"

"No, no!" Usagi said. "I love it. It's beautiful, thank you."

Chibiusa smiled, but her eyes were somber. Usagi wondered just how much the little girl picked up on, she was more observant than people gave her credit for.

"I also had a question for you," she said, looking down shyly. "Would… would it be okay with you if I stay over at Mamoru's tomorrow night? I liked staying with him before. He said he would show me how to make chocolate chip cookies next time I visited him."

"Of course that's okay," Usagi said, hoping her smile didn't look too fake. It was fine with her; Chibiusa could do what she wanted. And yet… some small, jealous part of her wanted to keep Chibiusa to herself, to poison her against Mamoru, to do something to make him hurt. But she couldn't give into that side, she had to be mature, and do the right thing. And so, she took a deep breath, and softened her smile a little.

"You can stay wherever you want," she said. "You don't need to ask my permission."

"Okay," Chibiusa smiled a little. There was silence for a minute, and Usagi was just about to broach the subject of the 30th century, when she spoke again. "What's going on between you and Mamoru?"

That was definitely not a question Usagi was expecting. "I don't know what you mean. Nothing's going on, we're just friends."

Chibiusa gave her a quizzical look. "You always look really sad when he's around or when his name is brought up. I asked Mamoru, and he said you used to date, but broke up, but he still loves you."

For a second Usagi stiffened. Had Mamoru really said that? Surely not… she didn't know why he'd broken up with her, why he'd suddenly fallen out of love with her-she'd even started to doubt if he even loved her in the first place—but all she knew was that if Mamoru still loved her, had ever loved her, he had a pretty lousy way of showing it. Presumably, Chibiusa had misinterpreted something he said, or was projecting her own desires onto him, because for whatever reason, she seemed to want the two to be together.

"I…" she trailed off, biting her lip. How much could she tell Chibiusa? Usagi was reminded yet again that the girl understood a lot more than people gave her credit for—yet another reason why she needed to get her to open up about what happened in the 30th century. She could provide them with some incredibly valuable information. But with the whole Mamoru situation… perhaps it was just best to keep to the basics. It wasn't fair to unload all her personal drama onto Chibiusa, especially when the girl likely wouldn't be able to understand it all.

"Yes, we used to date," she said. "But things didn't really work out between us, so we're just friends now." Before Chibiusa had a chance to say anything else, Usagi took a deep breath and continued. "Before dinner, there was something I wanted to talk to you about…"

She had barely gotten the words out when Chibiusa started shaking her head, her eyes wide with panic.

"I know it's hard for you, but we need to know what happened in the 30th century," Usagi said. "Who attacked you? Was it the Black Moon Clan? What were they after?"

"No no no no," Chibiusa cried, covering her ears with her hands. "I can't! Don't make me!"

"Chibiusa…" Usagi laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, but the girl shrugged it off, springing up from the bed and running off. "Chibiusa!"

Cursing to herself, Usagi stumbled to her feet and ran off after Chibiusa, calling after her as she went.

"Dinner's almost ready," Ikuko said when Usagi got downstairs, but Usagi barreled past her, towards the wide open door and the brief glimpse of pink hair.

"Usagi?" Ikuko called after her.

"I'll be back in a minute!" she said, hoping that was the case. Outside, the sky was dark as ominous thunderclouds started to roll in. It was already drizzling, and it looked like it was about to full-on storm. Usagi shivered in a way that had nothing to do with the chilly air. She hated thunderstorms. She hoped she would be able to find Chibiusa and bring her back home before it got too serious.


From his perch up above the city, Rubeus smiled to himself. The trap had been set, the Rabbit had been lured out of her hole. The thunderstorm, brought on by one of his droids, was the perfect way to flush her out.

He could see the whole city from where he was, and he had one of his best droids on the ground. Soon, the Rabbit would be caught and dealt with, and he would return to Nemesis with the good news. Prince Demande would elevate his position, and the last of the royal line of Crystal Tokyo would be exterminated.

Prince Demande would become the supreme leader of Crystal Tokyo, with Rubeus as his trusted advisor, instead of that shady Wiseman. It was all a matter of time now. Soon, their troubles would all be over.


"Chibiusa!" Usagi called, but her voice was drowned out in a loud clap of thunder. Unable to keep herself from shrieking, she wrapped her arms around herself and tried to block out the noise.

It was stupid, really. She was Sailor Moon, champion of justice, she risked her life on a daily basis to defeat the evil forces that plagued them and threatened to take over the planet. She was the incarnation of Princess Serenity, heir to the powerful Moon Kingdom. She wielded the limitless power of the Silver Crystal without a thought or fear. She had technically died twice before. And she was afraid of some stupid thunder.

"Chibiusa!" she called again, cursing quietly under her breath when she got no reply. A flash of lightning burst across the sky, accompanied by a thunderous blast a second later, and she screamed, falling to her knees and curling herself up into a ball. She lay there for a second, shivering and shaking in the pouring rain, and for a moment, she wasn't sure if she could get up. Her legs felt paralyzed with fear, her heart was pounding a million beats per second, and she couldn't stop shaking.

But no. She couldn't just lie there. Chibiusa was caught out in this storm somewhere, too, and even worse, she was a defenseless six-year-old with the Black Moon Clan after her. So, with shaky legs she forced herself to her feet, and took off running.

"Chibiusa!" she tried again. No reply. The rain was coming down so thick that she could only see a few inches in front of her and again she cursed herself for letting Chibiusa slip away. Perhaps if she hadn't pushed the girl so hard, or if she had been a bit quicker on her feet… but it was useless contemplating ifs.

Another clash of thunder, and despite herself, she clapped her hands over her ears, screaming in terror. Her legs gave out underneath her, but right before she could hit the ground, something caught her by her elbows. Or rather, someone. As the person pulled her to her feet Usagi tentatively looked up, but she already knew who it was. Mamoru.

"M-Mamo…" she started to make out, her teeth chattering with cold and fear. The thunder came again and without thinking, she grabbed onto the front of his shirt, shaking like a leaf and biting her tongue to keep herself from crying out. For just a second, it felt like Mamoru's arms tightened around her, but then he pushed her away.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked, his tone cold.

"Ch-Chibiusa… ran… ran off," she stuttered, the terror she felt from the storm making it hard for her to articulate herself.

"Is she out here in the storm somewhere?" Mamoru asked, suddenly concerned, and Usagi couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. Sure, she was soaked to the bone and nearly out of her mind with fear, but he didn't care about that. But Chibiusa out here somewhere? Now he was concerned.

But there wasn't any time for her to be jealous, so she nodded her head, and tried to force her frozen lips and tongue to move. "She… ran… she… I… asked her… Black Moon… she ran away! And… and I can't find her. And I'm so scared!" The last word came out as a shriek as another flash of lightning crossed the sky, and thunder sounded far too close to them.

"We'll find her," Mamoru said. "Come on." And he took off running, only pausing briefly to see if Usagi was following him.

"Chibiusa!" he called out. "Chibiusa!" Still no reply.

"Chibiusa!" Usagi yelled. Her feet sloshed through a puddle, and she tripped over some debris, her body lurching towards the pavement, but Mamoru grabbed her arms and yanked her up before she could fall.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his dark blue eyes soft with concern.

Usagi felt like snorting at the question, but she didn't have the energy for it. Was she okay? She was out in the middle of a thunderstorm—her biggest phobia—and she was desperately trying to find Chibiusa.

Her chest felt tight and uncomfortable, her breathing was shallow, she couldn't stop her body from shaking, and she was worried about Chibiusa. So no, she was most definitely not okay, and that seemed rather obvious.

Usagi ignored him. She was so sick of his hot and cold behavior, but that was one thing she simply couldn't deal with right now. The urgent need to find Chibiusa was the only thing keeping her from completely collapsing right now, and even that was a pretty tenuous hold. If she tried to think of anything else, she was afraid she'd completely shut down.

"Chibiusa!" she tried again. And this time, there was a faint reply.

"Usagi?"

"Chibiusa!" she cried out in relief. "Where are you?"

"Over here!" the girl cried back, but a second later, she screamed.

"Chibiusa!" Mamoru yelled, his face white with sheer terror.

Usagi ran forward with a burst of speed she didn't know she had, her shaky legs suddenly moving of their own accord. Up ahead, through the rain, she could just make out Chibiusa, backed up against a tree, and in front of her, a youma, about to strike.

"No!" she screamed and launched herself into the air. She tackled Chibiusa to the ground, and as she did so, a white-hot pain erupted in her side. She was dimly aware of someone screaming—no, two people screaming. A scream of pure terror from Chibiusa, and a mangled cry of her name from Mamoru. She could see the youma ready to strike again, and she knew she had to get out her transformation broach, defeat the youma, or else it would kill her and everyone else.

But her vision was starting to go dark and she was so, so tired, her body exhausted, as if she had just run a marathon. Somewhere deep down inside, she knew it was because the adrenaline from her fear was wearing off, and that she couldn't let it, she had to keep the adrenaline going, had to save the day… but she couldn't.

A blast of light erupted from somewhere, hitting the youma. Usagi frowned slightly to herself. That was odd. She saw it again, and it seemed to be coming from… Mamoru? But that was impossible. He didn't have any attack aside from his roses. The light erupted from Mamoru's hands a third time, and the youma crumbled to dust.

She heard footsteps, and felt someone cradling her gently, stroking her hair, her face, and whispering her name. And despite the rain, despite the storm still going on, despite the pain in her side, she felt peaceful. Safe. As she drifted away, she almost smiled.


AN: Hehe, whoops, another cliffie... I don't normally end all my chapters with cliffies, I swear! It just keeps happening with this story. Anyways, please review! :D