You've Always Deserved My Love

Chapter Eleven

"Good evening, Majesty."

Mamoru jumped at the voice behind him. Throwing his book down, he turned and braced himself for whatever it was. Setsuna, a wise smile on her face, stood behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief and rolled his eyes, sitting on the couch again and waving her over. "Don't you ever let someone know when you're arriving, Pluto?"

"Mmm, not often." She confessed. Sitting in the chair, she turned and looked at him. "How are you?"

He smiled. "Good. And you?"

She grinned. "Fine, thank you… but I'm not here to talk about me."

"So what are you doing here?" He gave her a funny look. "It's very late, Setsuna. Very. As in, midnight. As in, most people are asleep."

"Yes, but you aren't, are you? Too busy thinking of Makato to sleep, aren't you?"

"Oh, so I suppose now everyone knows."

"I knew before anyone else. I knew before you knew."

"Well, that's comforting." He said sarcastically. "That someone else knows my life before I do…" Suddenly he stopped himself and looked at her. "You wouldn't be able to tell me what's wrong with Makato right now, would you? When I left her tonight, she seemed very upset. She wouldn't tell me what was wrong."

"I'm afraid I can't disclose any piece of the future, Majesty."

"Damn." He muttered. He shrugged. "So why are you here?"

"To tell you you've found your link."

"My what?"

"Your link. Your balance."

"Oh… the balance thing again. What is that again?"

Setsuna almost rolled her eyes, but refrained. "The balance that keeps your body from taking a negative power from one of the senshi. You may see a bit more power to control the weather, though. Jupiter has become your balance."

"Well, obviously it isn't Mars. I'm not having any more of those hot flashes."

She laughed at his joke. "No, definitely not. Anyways, I'm glad you've found it, because now that means I don't have to monitor you constantly."

He raised an eyebrow. "Monitor me?"

"Certainly. With so much going on, and without a balance, you could have frozen again or fried without any notice. But now with your balance again, I am free to let you live without me having to watch you all the time."

"Well, isn't that grand? I've had a woman watching my every move."

"My, aren't we sarcastic tonight?"

Mamoru sighed and rubbed his temples. "I'm sorry. I have Makato on my mind and I suppose I'm being rude."

Setsuna smiled. "You're quite forgiven. Now I have to go. Don't worry so much about Makato; she'll be just fine. She's a woman; we have very terrible mood swings."

"She was crying in the car, though." He mumbled. "And I have no idea why."

"It's not over you, so don't worry. Goodbye, Majesty, until we meet again."

He turned to say goodbye, but she was already gone.

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Makato stared out the café window, her head cradled in her hand. A text book was laid out open in front of her, her other hand lightly resting on the handle of a coffee cup. Ami sat in front of her, intently reading her own text, but Makato hadn't been able to concentrate on what she had been reading.

She turned away from the window and took a sip of her cappuccino. It was French vanilla flavored and very sweet, just the way she liked it, but she couldn't enjoy herself lately, as much as she tried. Those dark blue eyes of Usagi's kept haunting her memory as they bore into hers. She was hiding something; something big.

Makato frowned. Usagi left them all suddenly and abruptly, hurting them all, and yet she couldn't help but care about the blonde girl. They had been good friends; best friends. It wasn't too hard to believe, was it?

Ami looked up from her book at Makato, who was staring out the window again, watching as the rain falling gently outside dripped down the window pane. Sighing, she reached over and placed her hand on top of Makato's. "Mako-chan, is everything alright? You've been terribly quiet today."

Makato nodded absently. "Yeah, Ami-chan. I'm just really tired." She turned and gave Ami a smile. "It's so annoying, all this coursework."

Ami looked down at the textbook Makato had brought. "What are you studying?"

"Poetry. I hate it."

"Poetry is one of the greatest expressions of art, though, Mako-chan."

"My art is my food."

Ami chuckled. Makato grinned back. "Yes, well, I suppose that's so, but you should enjoy poetry. Come on now, what poet are we looking at?" The blue haired girl grabbed the book and looked at the page Makato had been on. "Emily Dickinson! An American poet; a very good one at that."

"Everyone says her poetry is easy to understand. But I don't see it."

Ami leafed through the pages. "Well, here's a good one. Now listen, it's not that long." She began to recite it aloud:

"Fame is a fickle food

Upon a shifting plate

Whose table once a

Guest but not

The second time is set.

Whose crumbs the crows inspect

And with ironic caw

Flap past it to the Farmer's Corn

Men eat of it and die."

She looked up at Makato. "What do you think it means?"

Makato stared lazily out the window again. "Crows like to eat corn to be famous."

Ami laughed. "No, silly! Think about it. Fame is a fickle food. What does that say to you?"

Makato sighed and shrugged. "Ami, I really don't want to do this today. Keep the book for me; I just can't deal with everything right now." She got up and left the table, leaving Ami with all the books and coffee.

Ami raised an eyebrow, eyeing the girl as she walked dejectedly out of the café and down the stairs out into the rain. Pursing her lips together, she dug in her purse for her cell phone.

Snapping it open, she called Rei.

"Yo, Ami-chan! What's up?"

"Something's wrong with Mako-chan, big time. She's getting behind in her studies; that's not like her."

Rei's chipper voice turned serious. "Are we going to have to kill Mamoru?"

"I don't think it's him. She'd tell us if that were it." Ami bit her lip. "I don't know what it is, but we need to do something to cheer her up. She's awfully sad."

Rei was silent on the other end for a few moments. Then, Ami heard her let out a long sigh. "It's dreary enough today as it is. Leave her alone for the day. We all need our space sometimes. We'll take her out tomorrow. I'll call Mina-chan and we'll work it out. K?"

"Great. Thanks, Rei-chan. See you later."

"'Bye."

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"Fame is a fickle food…" Makato muttered, walking down the wet sidewalk, her hands shoved in her jacket pockets and her head bent low. "Fame is a fickle food…"

"Fame is a fickle food? Is that Emily Dickinson, Mako?"

A taller figure was suddenly walking beside her, and an arm went around her shoulders. She looked up and saw Mamoru smiling at her, an umbrella suddenly appearing over her head.

"Hi, Mamoru." She said sullenly.

He looked at her strangely. "You look sad. What's wrong? I know Dickinson had a depressing life, but it shouldn't get you down."

Makato sighed. "Don't tease me. I'd actually prefer to be alone right now." She broke away from him and ran down the sidewalk, leaving him and his umbrella standing behind, staring after her.

Mamoru raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

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"Shouldn't we talk about this, Usa?"

"What's to talk about? I want to stay here for a while longer. Mama needs me."

"We said a week at the most, and it's been almost two…"

"Quite whining, Seiya. You do a lot of that lately."

"I'm sorry, but I seriously doubt that this is a good idea."

Usagi threw up her hands in an uproar. "Do you really want to get the pregnant lady angry? Gods, Seiya. Lay off. I want to be with my mom. Is that so bad?"

"No, of course not, honey, but I'm just saying…"

"I'm staying! If you want to go home, I'll see you there in a couple weeks!"

Seiya frowned, watching his wife stir her coffee in stony silence. They sat across from each other at the kitchen counter of Usagi's mother's home. He looked the blonde up and down. She wore her pink and blue striped pajamas, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her stomach was showing more and more each day, but her eyes were hiding more. Today, she looked rather pale, and Seiya had thought that it was the worry of spotting any more of the senshi that was making her sick. He wished to talk her into going home, but she was being so damn stubborn that he knew there was no way she would give in.

He sighed. "Alright. But I do have work, so I do need to go back in a few days. I'll stay with you until Sunday, okay, sweetie?"

"Fine by me." She muttered. Getting up from the counter, she walked out of the room, taking her coffee with her.

Seiya sighed. Shaking his head, he stared down into his own coffee. Muttering inaudibly to himself, he poured it out in the sink. It was too strong, his wife and his coffee both.

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Usagi looked outside for a few moments more before finally opting for a walk. It was dreary and wet, but she needed a good, long walk out of the stuffy house. She donned her rain jacket, pulled the hood over her head, and headed out, taking her umbrella with her and popping it open when she left the safety of the front porch.

After a few minutes of walking rapidly to get away from the house before Seiya knew she had left, she slowed to a leisurely pace, letting the fresh air finally sink in to her lungs.

She smiled slightly, noticing a few small children playing in a puddle nearby. She almost let the smile widen, but shook her head and walked on instead. A few cars passed by, but otherwise, it was quiet and peaceful as she walked, until she turned a corner to see someone (or someone's) walking in front of her. She frowned, noticing it was Mamoru and Makato. Slowing down, she listened to them talk. Mamoru had his arm around Makato's shoulder, until the girl broke free.

"Don't tease me. I'd actually prefer to be alone right now." She said, running away.

Usagi raised an eyebrow at the scene, noticing that Mamoru did the same, muttering "What's going on?" under his breath.

She took a brave step and walked up to stand beside him. "Girlfriend troubles?"

"You could say that." He said without thinking, before his eyes widened and he turned sharply to see his ex-girlfriend standing beside him. "Usagi!"

She nodded as a greeting, closing her eyes briefly and reopening them.

He gulped, sweat beginning to form on his brow. She shook her head in a deep sigh and began to walk on, only turning her head to briefly look back at him. "You look well, Mamoru. I'm glad of that. Makato's a good girl; take good care of her."

She walked on, not stopping until she felt a hand on her arm. She saw Mamoru looking down at her intently. "That's all you can say?" He said sharply. "After all you did?"

Usagi's eyes narrowed. Her lips pursed. "All I did? Oh, yes, Mamoru, all I did."

"You left me."

"I did what I had to."

"You cheated on me."

"I…" She stopped. She had lied to him once. Was she about to do it again? "I did what I had to." Well, she wasn't lying! She did what she had to!

Mamoru watched her eyes. "You're hiding something."

Damn it, he always did know her too well.

She sighed and turned away, striding ahead. "You know, you're handling a confrontation with me much better than I would have expected. Everyone told me you were broken after I left."

"Don't give yourself so much credit, Usagi. I've moved on."

"Obviously. Otherwise you wouldn't be so worried about going after Makato instead of standing here talking to me, right?" She flashed him a cruel smile.

He flinched. "She wants to be alone at the moment. I don't argue with her."

"You never left me alone when I said that." Again, another evil smile. "You always knew I was lying."

"She's not lying."

"Well, if you say so!"

"Damn it, Usagi, stay out of my business."

"As you wish." She walked on, knowing he would follow.

He did. "Why are you still here?"

"I'm staying to help my mother."

"And your husband?"

"Going home in a few days. Japan bores him."

"Are you pregnant?"

She stopped suddenly, her voice catching in her throat. She looked sideways at him and saw that he was looking at her stomach. Closing her eyes tightly, she opened them and hoped to disappear. It didn't work. She looked at him. Gulping, she knew that he knew the answer to his question.

"Yes." She answered, her voice coming out in a hoarse whisper.

"Is it Seiya's?"

Should she lie again?

"No."

He blinked. "What?"

"It's. Not. Seiya's."

What the hell was she DOING?! She was screaming at herself in her head. Her head was pounding; her entire body was shaking. She clenched her fists at her sides; she looked down at her feet. What was she doing? She had told herself she was never going to see Mamoru again, was never going to tell him, and here she was pouring her heart out on a sidewalk? She was mad, truly mad!

"Whose is it, then!? It's obviously not mine!"

"Well, obviously not!" She snapped. "I don't KNOW whose it is!"

He blinked. "What?"

Her breath was coming out in rasps now. She took a few steps forward before she lurched forward and almost hit the sidewalk as she blacked out.

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Rei grumbled to herself as her telephone rang for the millionth time that day. Who was calling her now? Didn't they know it was cleaning day? She picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Rei, get over here now!" Mamoru's voice screeched at her.

"Jeez, calm down! You're yelling in my ear! What's wrong?!"

"I can't explain over the phone. Get over to my apartment now, and get Minako and Ami too… Mako if you can. She's in a horrible mood; I don't know if she'll come."

"Alright, alright… we're coming." Grumbling, she put the phone down and ran to her room, rummaging around until she found her senshi communicator in her purse. In emergencies, they used these. "Girls, come in."

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End Chapter Eleven

I don't want to explain anything. It's called suspense. So if something seems out of place, that's not my fault. Lol. It's the story line I'm creating here. Just give things time. This is not a story that is going to be completely understood by a conclusion chapter. It's gonna be a long one! Lol

By the way, Emily Dickinson is my favorite poet. I love her, and I love that poem. It's one of my favorites. I used to hate poetry until I started to read all of hers. lol