"Should we let her rest?"

"No! She probably done did something stupid that probably exposed us!"

Sigh. "Now, Yaten, you know for sure that Seiya isn't that reckless -."

"Yes she is. She'll always be reckless."

"But it doesn't mean that she'll expose us and-."

"Actually, I sort of did..."

Yaten and Taiki stopped arguing from their places on the couch, looking at Seiya in horror and shock as she sat up without looking them in the eye.

"What do you mean by you sort of did?" asked Yaten, her eyes glinting dangerously as she got up and grabbed Seiya by her vest, glaring down at her.

"Odango found out that it was me. She recognized me," replied Seiya, not breaking eye contact with Yaten.

"How in the hell did she recognized you?! She hasn't seen us for a long time, let alone hasn't seen us outside of our fukus unless you fucking told her!" shrieked Yaten angrily, shaking Seiya.

Seiya narrowed her eyes at Yaten, shoving the smaller girl off of her. "I didn't tell her anything. And she probably recognized my fighting style or something. I don't know."

"Well it doesn't matter because we're fucking screwed! We were suppose to be laying low!" screamed Yaten angrily, towering over Seiya with her fists clenched.

Seiya stood up, coming face to face with Yaten and replied, "You're acting as if I've done it on purpose when I didn't. She just somehow recognized me."

Yaten hissed out in irritation, "But it doesn't fix the problem, does it, Seiya? You caused this mess and now we have to move! We should've lefted when we first ran into them, but NNNOOOO you just wanted to stay around to be near your precious Odango and now look at us!"

"Stop blaming me for everything! I-."

"You're always screwing up an-."

"... at home for years. I don't need yo-."

"... now we've got the air-head to worry about since she might te-."

"Goddamnit! When will you-?"

"Would you shut up? Since you're going to get us out of this me-."

"ENOUGH!"

Yaten and Seiya moved away from each other, facing an irritated and exasperated Taiki, who had her arms crossed over her chest.

"That is enough from you both. Now, Yaten, it's not Seiya's fault. It was by accident that Tsukino-san has discovered who we are. Seiya would never endanger us like that and you know that, so stop blaming her for everything, " said Taiki, narrowing her eyes at the older girl, who looked down at her feet.

"And, Seiya ..."

Seiya looked at Taiki and waited for the upcoming lecture from Taiki that never came.

Taiki sighed, rubbing her temple. "Try and not make this worse. Just -."

"But I did-," protested Seiya, aggravated with Taiki and Yaten declaring her a screw-up.

Taiki shook her head, waving a hand to motion for Seiya's silence. "Stop, Seiya. Just stop. Anyway, just try to avoid contact with Tsukino-san and the others because surely she did tell them that we're back and now we must find-."

"Someplace else to go? But they're our friends! They have the right to know and they need our help right now and-."

"Seiya!" yelled Taiki in irritation.

Seiya stopped protesting, glaring at Taiki as she tried to calm herself down.

"Now we all made a deal. To lay low, remember? But we can't now that Tsukino-san knows. We must leave now because we must lay low regardless of what they're going through and-, " said Taiki, being cut off by Seiya again.

"But that's wrong! Think about what our princess would say! We can't possibly -, " pleaded Seiya.

"We're going and it's final. Earth is not our responsibility. End of discussion. And you're forbidden from seeing Tsukino-san at all. If you do come near her, you'll be considered a traitor and we won't hesitate in putting you out of your misery, understand?" said Taiki, narrowing her eyes at Seiya.

Seiya opened her mouth to protest, but closed it, looking away and whispered, "I understand."

Usagi walked towards Rei's temple the following day, deep in thought as she replayed the events from the day before.

'Should I tell everybody that they're back? Would they be happy or angry? I wonder why Seiya ran away from me. I thought that we were friends' thought Usagi, feeling a pang of hurt and uncertainty within her chest.

Then she shook her head, giggling forcefully to herself. "Nah. I'll wait until after I go see Seiya to tell them. Maybe then Haruka-san would be cooled down by-."

Then Rei asked in confusion as Usagi came into view from her place on the porch, "Tell us what, Usagi-chan?"

Usagi yelped, jumping back a bit as 8 different pairs of eyes looked at her questioningly and held a hand to her chest, gasping for air. "REI-CHAN! DON'T DO THAT! YOU ALMOST GAVE ME A HEARTATTACK!"

"Whatever, you big baby. Now what did you want to tell us?" asked Rei, raising an eyebrow.

Usagi forced an overly chipper smile onto her face and cried in mock enthusiasm, "Mamo-chan called me yesterday! He's been having fun with studying aboard and told me how much he missed and loved me!" Then she let out a giggle for effect to avoid her senshi calling her bluff, ignoring the pang of guilt in her chest at lying to them.

"That's SO cute! I'm so happy that he called you, Usagi-chan! Must be great to have a boyfriend like Mamoru-san. Loving, caring, extremely thoughtful, handsome, cute, and a lot more that makes him so perfect, " said Minako blissfully, sighing dreamily on her face.

"I wish that I had a boyfriend like that, " added Minako afterwards, daydreaming about her ideal boyfriend.

"We all do, Minako-chan, " replied Makoto, sighing sadly.

"But how's his studies going, Usagi-chan?" asked Ami, smiling softly.

"Is he coming back here anytime soon, Usagi?" asked Michiru from her place on Haruka's lap.

"I don't know. He has to check if he'll be home for Christmas. But he's doing just fine with his studies," replied Usagi, her smile widening. Then she looked at her watch and pretended to be in horror.

"Oh no! I've got to go now. Mama wants me to pick up some groceries for her while I'm out. I'll catch up with you guys tomorrow! Let me know if you find Seiya and the others!" she cried, turning around and making a move to run down the temple stairs.

"Wait! Don't you need a ride, Koneko-chan?" called Haruka, making a move to move Michiru off of her.

Usagi called over her shoulder with a shake of her head,"No! It's not too far! See ya!"

The Inners looked at each other as the Outers shrugged it off.

Usagi sighed after getting as faraway from Rei's shrine as possible, walking after passing a jewelry store and other shops and made to turn towards the park when a familiar voice cooed from behind her.

"Lying to protect us, ne, Odango? That's impressive."

Usagi snapped around, seeing no one behind her and murmured, "Seiya?"

"Over here."

Then she turned around, crystal blue meeting midnight blue. She held back a gasp as she whispered one word, "Seiya ..."

Seiya smiled with a hint of sadness and replied, "Hello, Odango. Long time no see."

Usagi tackled Seiya into a hug with Seiya catching her effortlessly and cried, "I've missed you! How's Taiki-san and Yaten-kun? Are you guys really visiting us? When did you-."

Seiya held a finger to Usagi's lips and cooed out, "Shh. I'm not here for this really. Hell, I really shouldn't be here right now." Then she moved away from Usagi and shoved her hands into her shorts pockets.

Usagi looked up at Seiya in confusion and asked, "What do you mean by that? Aren't you back to see us?"

Seiya winced a little as her heart broke all over again at the reminder about her Odango not loving her and belonging to another. She turned towards Usagi and said, "I just can't. We're going through a difficult time right now. You really shouldn't get involved. Goodbye."

Then Seiya snapped around sharply and ran towards the direction she came from, home.

"SEIYA!" screamed Usagi, running after the young raven-haired woman and dodging civilians to avoid running into them.

Seiya ran into her apartment building, ignoring the stares that she was getting from the other residents and jumped into the elevator before the doors completely closed.

Usagi cursed underneath her breath after running into the apartment building in time to see Seiya disappear behind the elevator doors and opeed the door leading to the stairs, running up the stairs.

Seiya sighed in relief as she stepped off the elevator and dashed to her apartment, opening and closing the door behind her before locking it.

Usagi panted after getting to the tenth floor, jogging over to the Three Lights's apartment and knocked on the door. "Seiya, please let me in! I know that you're in there!"

"Just go away, Usagi!" Usagi's eyes widened at the use of her given name instead of the usual petname from Seiya, then shrugged it off and knocked on the door some more.

"Seiya, please let me in! I don't understand why you're ignoring me! Just let me in! Please!" Seiya's heart broke a bit more at the pleading tone her secret love was using before steeling herself to keep from caving in.

'This is for the best' she thought sadly.

"Just go away, Usagi, or I'll throw you out of my goddamn window! I don't fucking want to see you!" Usagi's eyes welled with unshed tears at Seiya's words.

"You don't mean that. You just can't, " she whispered, leaning into the door.

"Yes, I do. Who would want to be seen around you? You're a fucking crybaby for crying out loud! All you know how to do is cry!" Seiya snarled out and tried to harden herself some more at how her Odango was becoming increasingly broken.

"But, Seiya ..."

"Stop saying my name!" She shrieked and made her voice high-pitched and whiney, "Seiya, Seiya, Seiya, Seiya. Do you ever shut up with the constant whining?!"

Usagi's eyes widened, then narrowed slightly as the tears started to drift down her face. "You don ..."

"Mean it? I do! Now go away!"

"But I thought that we were friends. What happened? I don't understand," sobbed out Usagi.

"You did. Now go!"

Usagi sniffled and walked away, stepping onto the elevator as she continued to sob.

Seiya sighed and whispered brokenly to the darkness of the living room," I'm sorry ... Odango."

Usagi continued to run as fast as her small feet could, her vision blurred by her tears.

'She hates me ... We're not friends anymore ... Now I'm really alone. Why is my life this horrible?' she thought, tearing open her front door to her house and slammed the door behind her, bolting up the stairs.

Thankful that her family went off to visit family members with the rest of the month, Usagi threw herself onto her bed once shutting the door behind her and sobbed into her pillow.

'Seiya ... why did you do that? I thought we were friends. You promised. Why are you so cold now?'

She continued to cry hysterically into her pillow, until the sound of her phone ringing cut the pregnant silence like a knife.

Usagi lifted her head, sniffling and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello, Usako." Usagi sniffled and smiled, wiping away her tears.

"Hi, Mamo-chan. How are you?"

"I'm doing good. My studies are going great. But I want to know how is my Usako doing right now before I go to bed."

"Well, I've been getting ready for school and hanging out with Rei-chan and the others, " she chirped, foreiging pure happiness.

"That's good. There's good news. I might be coming back in a month or so for break."

"That's great. Can't wait for you to see Se-Shina-san and her sisters. I met them at a karaoke bar and they're very good people. "

"I bet they are. But it's time for me to go. I miss you." Usagi looked at the picture at her bedside of her and Mamoru and felt a strange feeling overcome her.

"I miss you too ... I love you."

"I love you too ... Usako."

Usagi waited until Mamoru hung up, sitting her phone down and looked at her ring on her finger.

'Why do I feel distant from Mamo-chan now? Why did I hesitate to tell him I love him? Is it because of the long distance relationship?' she thought in confusion as she examined her ring.

"Where in the hell did she go?!"

"How am I supposed to know?! I'm not Fighter nor her fucking keeper!"

"Would you two stop it already?! We need to find her and the others! The queen wants them!"

"But it's impossible to pinpoint them. It's like trying to catch a cheetah! She's too fucking fast!"

"Yeah, too fast!"

"It doesn't matter since we now know where she's at."

"That's true. But what about the blonde we saw her talking to?"

"Dunno. But we'll probably use her for bait eventually. So don't worry."

Giggle. "This is going to be fun ..."

Next Time On Sailor Moon: Shooting Starlights:

"Seiya!"

"Is that who I think that is, Ami-chan?"

"Yaten, please stop being so hard on her. She's had it hard also."

"Why won't you get out of my head?!"

"Please talk to me ..."

"Stay away from Koneko-chan."

"What's wrong, Usagi-chan?"

Next Episode: Sailor Starlights Rebirth? Inner Senshi Suspicion!