Chapter 4

Dream

Only Time Will Tell

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N:

I've been entertained with a newfound interest in this story, so I finally have the urge to continue!!! Writers block is over!! Isn't that nice to know!! SAT's are over, and long weekends are on their way! (But I do love long weekends…XD) One more final to go…

This chapter goes a little into the mind of Usagi and Mamoru in more depth, so it might be a bit confusing, but not too much.

Also, remember that at this point in the story, Mamoru seems to have enjoyed his kiss with Usagi, but he's still coping with his feelings. Usagi's feelings will be presented a few paragraphs down from here…so read!

Review of course!! And Enjoy!

Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

She was in what seemed to be a palatial bedroom, the king sized bed concealed by a thin draping of transparent silk. A trail of roses splayed over the mattress, garlands of it decked over the ivory hinges, leading towards a blissfully romantic balcony. Pulling on a pair of velvet slippers she strode towards the terrace, her crystal-blue eyes scanning the sky. Wispy shades and gentle hues combined to form the perfect sunrise. Snow-white doves perched on the railings, intermingling with peach songbirds cooing under the gentle zephyr. The sun blared scorching overhead and she brought a hand up to let down tails of golden hair, but her hand was caught somewhere amidst a muscular chest and tender fingers. The fingers trailed tentative paths down her cheek and then to her collarbone.

"Don't leave," she moaned as he pulled her to him. His shoulders crumpled around hers in the embrace, his tall frame overpowering her slight figure. A flurry of golden hair streamed around them both as her squirming hands clutched at his shirt. She let the tears flow out, silent tears that dripped unnoticed down the bridge of her nose and over the rosy pinkness of her cheeks. Choking back a haphazard sob, she looked up at him. Beautiful midnight blue eyes peered down at her comfortingly, and a hand squeezed her shoulder. Tender hands tilted her chin up and she felt herself leaning slowly, entranced, towards…

"MAMORU?!" Usagi gasped, awakening from yet another disturbing dream of the past lovers who they seemed to resemble. She shuddered. True, she knew what it was like to kiss him…both Endymion and Mamoru, as a matter of fact, but she also knew that Mamoru corresponded hand in hand with pain. Pain! She smacked her head just for good measure. The minute they had parted lips her mind had been screaming. That much she knew. (A/N: Disappointing, isn't it?) The pleasure in the dream was brought such contrast that it seemed almost scary that her brain could have even came up with it…nocturnal or not. It was just one of those things…like pinching yourself. Even if it didn't hurt, you'd always yell. Usagi frowned. One of these days she'd like to give Mamoru one large pinch in the shins.

She clambered out of her bed and yawned lazily, her arms stretched above her head. Peering around the unfamiliar bedroom, she located the tiled door to the bathroom and swung the door open.

Then she screamed.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY BATHROOM?!" She belched at the figure casually leaning against the counter, peering into the mirror. Mamoru looked up, half covered in shaving cream from the neck up, testing the tap water with his fingers. For a second he assessed her, and then turned back to smearing shaving gel over his right cheek.

"I said-" she began, her hands weaving through her knotted hair. She supposed she should have known that he shaved. The word sounded so unsophisticated in association with him; too below his level. It was an interesting concept, however. She'd never noticed it before, perhaps because she'd assumed the clean-cut appearance came standard with all of the man's other gorgeous assets. For a second she wondered what he might look like, unshaven, cute little stubbles adorning his cheek but she quickly shook the thought away. That was for Rei to worry about.

Usagi's eyes meandered to the glass mirror perched above Mamoru's face and sighed. She looked utterly unkempt- her normally golden, silky hair was knotted and rough; her cheeks were flushed from sleep, her nose pink and her eyes swollen. God save the man who would be forced to wake up to her everyday. If there would be one, she thought bemusedly.

"I know what you said." Mamoru turned backed to the mirror, glancing at his profile. "And it's our bathroom." His hands scrimmaged through the archaic cabinets, his attention on everything but her. He seemed to notice, however, that her jaw dropped and that she was on the verge of screaming her guts out once again. "But before you get any ideas, I sleep in the room next door. Personally requested last night, in fact." He laughed. "Everyone seemed rather surprised. They insisted we share a bathroom, however." Mamoru paused. "Do they give out razors here? I found the shaving cream in the cabinet, but there doesn't seem to be anything else…"

"MOLE-RAT!" she screamed, stomping her foot stubbornly on the ground, "Don't you realize I'm in a crisis here? My hair hasn't been conditioned, my face is as bloated as a pumpkin and I desperately need to shower!" True, she didn't wake up looking glamorous, but a girl could hope. "And what kind of idiot puts shaving cream on his face without a razor?"

His eyes snapped towards hers and she swore she saw his eye twitch. "What type of idiot gives you shaving cream but no razor?" he snarled.

Usagi shrugged. "What type of idiot interrupts a girl's beauty routine?" She slumped past him and began perusing the cabinets herself, looking for any product whatsoever that would bring her morning from dreary to tolerable.

"You won't find anything else in there. This whole bathroom's empty."

"Interesting," she remarked, fingering the tube of shaving cream. Something wasn't right. She sniffed the can deliberately, and was greeted by a sweet, tingling feeling in her stomach. Suddenly, everything clicked. "Wait a minute. This isn't shaving cream, it's…it's…"

"What?"

"Whipped cream!" Usagi snatched up the bottle, doing a victory dance across the bathroom door. "You are such an idiot! I mean, what type of idiot doesn't realize that shaving cream is whipped cream?" She paused mid-dance to stick out her tongue, her open hair streaming around the bathroom.

"Are you done yet?" He asked, annoyed.

"Maybe." Usagi stopped, and pinned up her hair in a messy bun. "But not quite." She puffed out her cheeks and serenaded across the bathroom, flourishing the whipped cream can as if it were a chest of gold.

"I don't get it –why would there be whipped cream in the cabinet?"

Usagi was surprised she knew something he didn't. "Haven't you ever watched a chick flick before?"

"Not particularly, but I've had my fair share," he replied, wondering where this was going.

"Then you should know that it's infamous! Whipped cream is what brings lovers together! What a cliché." She blushed. "Endymion must have been a romantic."

Whipped cream brought lovers together? Funny, he'd always thought it was chocolate syrup.

As Mamoru stood across from her, his arms folded haughtily over his chest, wondering how she knew about romantic antics and boasting a scowl enough to kill, he could only think of how amazing the beautiful little angel looked. Pale blue eyes sparkled brightly across her complexion as her arms twirled around her in pure bliss. For a second, he wondered what it would be like to wake up to that every morning, then quickly shook the thought away. (A/N: Oh, the irony!)

"Stop," he pleaded, knowing very well where it would lead to if she didn't. He was afraid of doing something they'd both regret -something eccentric like taking hold of her and kissing her senseless. She was practically begging for it the way she was twirling around the bathroom humming her tune of victory. So innocent. So sweet. It was taking all of his inner-strength and concentration to restrain himself. She wasn't helping, however. "Stop, please," he pleaded, but she ignored him. Then a brilliant idea occurred to him.

Mamoru walked up to Usagi's lithe form, taking hold of her shoulders. Her laughter halted as her eyes slowly traveled up to his entranced. Without breaking eye contact, in one smooth gesture, Mamoru grabbed the bottle, turned it towards her, and sprayed the contents thoroughly onto her startled face.

Two angry, murderously dark blue eyes blinked accusingly at him from under a layer of sweet frothy whiteness. A pink tongue gently crawled out of her mouth to lick the contents surrounding her mouth. It was then that Mamoru realized that his supposedly brilliant idea wasn't going to work so well. One, she was angrier than before. Two…she looked so damn enticing. The tongue had been too much. Some sort of luscious desert. Third, he liked whipped cream too much.

Then, she did the unthinkable.

She grabbed his undershirt, pulled it to her face, and began to scrub like there was no tomorrow.

"Geroff me!" Mamoru exclaimed, watching in horror as Usagi's head dipped up, clean for the most part except for little speck on her nose. (It teased him to no avail). He looked down at his shirt. It was not a pretty sight.

"Serves you right! Oh, and by the way," she laughed, "you still have whipped cream on your face."

Mamoru smirked. "Odango, this can of whipped cream is still practically full."

Her victorious expression faltered, the meaning of his words suddenly dawning on her. Hastily she tried to creep around him to the other door, but watched as he continually blocked her movements with slight shuffles of his body. Goodness, he was grinning like a devil.

"Just let me go…please!" Usagi pleaded, trying again to shuffle past him, only to find herself pressed up against an iron-hard chest. "I'll do anything you want!"

There was a pause. "Anything?"

"Yes," she responded, hesitantly, not sure of what she was getting herself into.

"Too bad." With that simple remark he took pleasure in dousing her entire front in a thick layer of white, frothy whipped cream.

"AAAARGH!! YOU!" Usagi yelled hysterically as she wrestled him to the ground, grabbed the whipped cream container, wrenched Mamoru's jaw open, and sprayed. And sprayed. And sprayed; till the length of her body was teeming in exhaustion.

It was her turn to be surprised when he swallowed it down in one humongous lump, and began to tickle her incessantly, just enough to steal the can of whipped cream back. Usagi reeled on the floor in laughter, begging, pleading for him to stop, but he was unmerciful. Just as Mamoru was beginning to think he had the uptake again, the bathroom door swung open and three chattering, beautiful girls stopped in their tracks and stared unbelievingly. Usagi and Mamoru gaped back in equal astonishment, Usagi embarrassed at being caught on top of Mamoru covered in whipped cream, and Mamoru angry that anyone would disturb them.

With a yelp Usagi ran like a maniac to where the group was standing and sprayed the blonde thoroughly in whipped cream. She didn't know why she'd chosen the blonde- perhaps because she seemed to be the leader of the troupe, and, oddly enough, her hair had attracted Usagi's attention primarily; after all, she herself was a blonde. The girl let out a muffled scream and collapsed to the floor.

Mamoru didn't notice, his attention focused on the girl suddenly revealed behind the blonde, dumbfounded. "Rei?" he murmured in disbelief. "There's an explanation, I promise." He took her hand tentatively between his and began massaging it gently back and forth, his thumbs working magic.

Meanwhile, Usagi, confused, turned towards the discreetly familiar face of a raven-haired beauty with azure, violet eyes. "Oh heavens," she muttered to herself, before exclaiming in a rapid rant, "Mamoru couldn't find the shaving gel so we were using whipped cream but then I kind of made fun of him and then he sprayed me with whipped cream and then I got mad and wiped it all over his shirt and then he sprayed me again and I sprayed him back and then he started tickling me and that's when-"

"Excuse me," the black-haired beauty retorted, quite frankly, snatching her fingers back from Mamoru and frowning at him, "but whatever you and Prince Endymion choose to do in the vicinity of your bedroom is up to you, but please try to keep it, if I dare ask, in that room. I know that Endymion had the whipped cream ordered for your romantic activities, but I didn't expect him to make it such an obvious encounter. Secondly, who in the name of Selene is Mamoru, and why wouldn't you know that we take care of all the barber-work done for you?"

"I-umm…" she began, at loss for words. Amazingly, she figured that this wasn't the Rei she knew, but another of the royal guardians Serenity had maintained at her palace. It made sense, really. After all, Rei, Makoto, Ami, and Mina were all sailor scouts…if she had been reborn after the silver millennium then they must have as well- meaning that they would now appear in the same forms they had always appeared to Usagi in the present time; Tokyo, Japan. Yet that would mean… Her eyes wandered behind the girl that resembled Rei to another standing beside her, her eyes twitching furiously between Rei and Mamoru. Her chocolate-brown hair caught her off guard- just like Makoto. In fact, everything about her seemed to resemble her friend; the bellicose mannerisms, the tall stature, and of course, the high cheekbones. It was true, then! Meaning that Ami was the woman who had met with her the previous day, and the woman she had ungratefully sprayed with whipped cream had to be Mina. She stooped down to get a better look, and saw what she expected: peachy, tanned skin, full lips and a busty, curvy figure. Usagi's eyes twitched. She wished she looked more like that.

"She means that we were expecting you a bit later. We apologize." Mamoru smiled and leaned over to whisper something in Usagi's ear. She nodded and walked towards the door, swinging it open. The forms of four men tumbled to the ground, head first. They picked themselves up sheepishly, one by one, puffing up their chests proudly as both Mamoru and Usagi stared in disbelief.

"Twice?" she moaned, "What is this day coming to?" Mamoru comforted her by wrapping a securing hand around her shoulder. She sank into his embrace.

"And who might you be?" Mamoru asked blatantly, his left eyebrow arched curiously above his eye. The four generals stared.

"You highness?" the tall, sensible white-haired one questioned, "excuse me for asking, but did you have a little too much to drink last night?" He clearly had more badges than the rest, and though he boasted a shroud of long white hair, seemed to be quite young, perhaps in his early 20's. However, his posture was stiff, his expression stoic.

Mamoru paused and scratched at a layer of whipped cream on his cheek. "I did, in fact. Both of us did. Now, do tell who you are."

"I'm Malachite," the man replied, his nose thrust in the air. On hearing his name, the girl previously collapsed on the ground sprung up and looked around herself. "Darling? Where are you?"

"For the last time, Mina, I am not you darling!" he bellowed. Silence enveloped the bathroom, followed by a sniff on Mina's behalf.

"Fine, deny it then." She turned away with crossed arms. "Someday you'll come around."

A slightly freckled gentleman rose next, one with long, shady brown hair and whose shoulders seemed to hunch around himself. "The name's Nephrite." His voice was husky and deep. "Judging from the keyhole, I happened to think your little whipped cream rendezvous with Serenity was very...you know. I look up to you buddy." He winked and the two stared at him in astonishment, Mamoru's arms still around Usagi. He instantly pulled them off her. What was this guy smoking?

"And I'm Zoicite," piped a skinny young man with ashy blonde hair. "I'm the intelligent one among the generals."

"Really?" Mamoru retorted skeptically, "then you should have no difficulty stating the secant of 5π/6. In radians, of course."

"Of course. Negative 2 over the root of 3," he replied, with hardly a blink, flashing Mamoru a killer grin. Mamoru could have sworn that he heard the man mutter 'I told you so' under his breath more than once.

"In degrees?" Mamoru tried desperately.

"Approximately 1.001044816…" (A/N: My math final is tomorrow).

"Alright, Zoi, we get it, you're smart," a light-brown haired, tall, laid back lad replied. "Getting back to the point, I'm Jadeite. Probably the only one among us who isn't partially insane."

Usagi laughed generously. He really was cute, reminding her a bit of Motoki. "That's nice to know." Jadeite smiled chivalrously and led the delighted Usagi in a tour of the bathroom. She giggled as he gently took hold of her hand and let her feel the archaic texture of the walls under his own.

They'd only gotten to the sinks when it became obvious that Rei was fuming by the time she'd stormed to the other side of the room and slapped Jadeite stringently across the cheek. "Have you no dignity? Shamelessly flirting with our princess, recently married at that! And Serenity! I'm astonished and ashamed!

"But- I-"

"I won't hear it! I trust this is because of your hangover. Don't be fooled by that…" she was tempted to say beautifully sculpted body, but stopped herself, "gregarious personality! Jadeite is a cunning little bastard, and we all know it."

Makoto's eyes creased as she looked between them. "Don't you think that's being a little har-"

"I said, he's a cunning little bastard." Rei threatened, her tone turning murderous

Makoto glared at her, and back at Mina, who seemed to be having a coughing fit. Makoto's eye twitched noticeably, but she hid it well. "Of course." Mina coughed again.

Usagi was still glancing at Jadeite in amazement, barely able to contain her own astonishment at Rei's outburst. She reminded her of the Rei she had known back in Tokyo, short-tempered and haughty. "Well? Aren't you going to say anything?"

"I've grown tired of that woman's tirades. We've clearly grown to hate each other. Who is she to dictate what I do?" His eyes narrowing, he took one last look at the furious dark-haired beauty and stormed out of the bathroom.

All eyes followed him leave. Rei took in a long, shuddering breath, and turned towards Usagi. "Well, Serenity, I suppose it's time to get you ready."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N: Hope you liked! I wrote this chapter a bit differently, and most of the important characters have now been introduced.

Tell me what you think! Review!