You've Always Deserved My Love

Chapter Twelve

"Do you have any idea what's going on, Rei-chan?" Ami asked as they ran up the sidewalk toward Mamoru's apartment.

"None, none at all. But he sounded damn panicked on the phone." Rei's breath came out in short gasps from running all the way from the Hikawa shrine here.

Minako yanked open the apartment building door and stopped to let the others in before her, hoping to catch her own breath. "I…I…" She took deep breaths. "You would think we would be fitter to run across town than this!"

Ami grinned sourly. "Luna has lazed over keeping us in shape."

They slowed down to a walk and got in the next arriving elevator. When the doors slid shut with only the three of them, they all sunk to the floor and relaxed.

"Can we just crawl down the hall to Mamoru's?" Rei mumbled against Minako's shoulder.

Ami laughed. "I wish, but we're all in skirts!"

They all glanced at each other and giggled, thinking of the possible outcomes of crawling down the hallway.

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Mamoru whipped open the door the second the doorbell rang. He looked over the three girls who stood before, all looking worn out. Raising an eyebrow slightly, he turned and let them in the apartment before turning to close the door and face them.

"You took terrible." He stated.

"Thanks a lot, Mamoru." Rei rolled her eyes. "Because of your 'emergency' call, we all panicked and ran here as fast as we could."

"Where's Mako?"

"She said she'd be here, but we didn't meet up with her on the road anywhere." Minako said.

He nodded a few seconds before leading them into the living room. "Well, take a look at our problem."

The girls walked in and saw nothing out of order and gave him a funny look. He nodded toward the sofa and they all turned their eyes down on the blonde sleeping form with a blanket on top of her.

"USAGI!" They all gasped.

Mamoru winced at their scream. "She passed out in the middle of the street. She's pregnant."

Rei collapsed in a chair. "Holy shit."

"REI!" Ami smacked her arm, sitting on the arm of the chair.

"Sorry…"

"Is it yours?" Minako piped up cheerily.

"No, Minako." Mamoru gave a loud sigh and rolled his eyes. "But she said it's not Seiya's either."

The doorbell rang. Mamoru went to answer it while the girls sat and stared at their once-friend.

Makato walked in with Mamoru, talking in a hushed tone as she entered. "What on earth is so important that you…" She stopped mid-sentence when she noticed the girl on the couch. Blinking, she looked up at Mamoru with wide, scared eyes. "What's going on, Mamoru?"

He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him, leaning his forehead down on hers. "Nothing. When you ran off earlier today, suddenly she appeared beside me and for some odd reason started talking to me. She passed out in the street after, I think, becoming panicked when I found out she's pregnant."

"She's pregnant." Makato repeated.

"Yes. And it's not Seiya's, somehow."

Makato's eyes became even more scared as she looked at him. "It's… yours?"

Mamoru laughed and kissed her forehead. "No, darling, it's not mine, either. She passed out before she said whose it was."

Makato nodded and left his arms, going to sit next to Minako.

Ami tapped her fingers against her cheek. "So what are we going to do until she wakes up?"

"Board games, anybody!?" Minako cheered, until Makato clamped a hand over the girl's arm.

"Not now, Mina-chan."

Rei pursed her lips together. "I know what we can do. We can talk about your attitude, Mako."

Mamoru took a place in the other chair and looked at his girlfriend. Her face became sharp and hurt, her eyes casting downward. "What are you talking about?"

"You're lacking in your studies according to Ami, you won't go out with us, you're acting very depressed, and now I hear you're even running away from Mamoru? What's up?" Rei tapped her foot impatiently.

Makato sighed. "Nothing; I've just been a little out of it lately. And it's not that I don't hang out with you guys; for a while you were all so scared about running into Usagi that you wouldn't go out with me!" She smiled bitterly. "Of course, you had kept that from me."

"We apologized a million times for that, Mako." Minako whispered, her voice holding hurt.

"I know that, and I forgave you all for it. But just because I don't have the time to hang out all the time doesn't mean anything is wrong." Makato gave them all a bright smile, but her eyes didn't quite match the smile.

"You started crying in the car the other night after the party."

The smile disappeared from her face as she turned to face Mamoru, whose eyes bore into hers. "It was nothing."

"This started that night. What happened? Is it me?"

"No… it's not you."

"But we have established that it's something." Ami noted.

Makato looked sharply at her. "Would you stop analyzing me?"

The door suddenly burst open and Chibiusa came running in, panting. "What's going on?! Mamo-chan, I got your message in the middle of class!" She stopped when she looked down and saw Usagi. "Holy shit."

"That's what I said and I got hit for it!" Rei jumped up in a screech.

"REI, SHUT UP! YOU'LL WAKE UP USAGI!" Minako screamed.

Everyone looked at the hysterical blonde with blank faces and blinks.

"Minako, do you always have to do that?" A mumble came from the couch, and they all turned and watched as Usagi pushed herself up and rubbed her eyes, blinking to orient herself and her whereabouts. "What's going on?"

"Uh… you passed out on the street and I brought you here." Mamoru said.

She blinked. "You walked halfway across town with me in your arms."

"Basically, yeah."

Makato flinched. Usagi swore under her breath. "You'd better hope Seiya doesn't find out. He's a bastard when it comes to protecting me."

"That used to be my job." Mamoru said bitterly. "If he wants, he can come and try his luck."

"Mamo-chan." Chibiusa said warningly. He looked up at her and nodded, closing his mouth and silencing.

Usagi froze and looked behind her at the pink-haired girl standing with her slender arms crossed. "Chibiusa."

Chibiusa looked down at the blonde and sniffed. "Hello."

Makato interrupted. "Whose child is it, Usagi?"

The other girls cast worried glances at the brunette. "Mako!" Rei hissed.

Usagi sat up and faced Makato, staring into the girl's green eyes. Her own blue eyes were flickering, showing anger, hurt, and love at the same time. It had been a long time since she had talked with all of her friends… ex-friends.

Sitting in the same room with them nearly brought tears to her eyes. She looked at Makato for a long time before responding. She opened her mouth to speak, but only a croak came out. Clearing her throat, she looked down at her hands and picked at her nails.

"I… well, I…"

Makato stood up. She walked in front of the girl and looked down at her. Usagi looked up. "Is it Mamoru's?"

Mamoru jumped up and started to go toward her. "MAKO!"

"Is it Mamoru's?!" Makato screeched, pushing him away from her and back into his chair.

Usagi's eyes widened. "No, Makato. No. That's impossible."

Makato's eyes softened and she slumped back to the couch. Mamoru stared at her, but she refused to look at him. She knew he was angry… she hadn't believed him and she felt terrible for it.

But that look. That look Usagi had given her. It haunted her.

"I saw you the other night." She said, looking at Usagi again. The room had become deathly silent except for the two women. The others just watched, eyes widened and hearts beating wildly.

"I know you did." Usagi retorted softly. "I was going home."

"I was just saying that I saw you." Makato shrugged.

"You were in Mamoru's car."

"I was."

"After a date I suppose?"

"After his birthday party."

Mamoru sighed. "Both of you, shut up. I'm getting sick of this."

Makato cast a glance at him and saw his annoyed expression and the twitching of his eyebrow. She almost smiled to herself at the thought of how angry he was. His eyebrow only twitched when he was extremely upset.

Chibiusa spoke up. "I am as well. You're behaving like children." The girl went and sat on the arm of Mamoru's chair.

Usagi glanced at the girl. "And to believe… you were but a child not so long ago…"

Chibiusa glared at her. "That's none of your concern."

Usagi felt as if a knife was lodged in her chest, refusing to be removed. "I realize that."

Ami, her voice soft, posed the question in nearly everyone's mind. "Why did you leave?"

Usagi looked at the blue haired girl. She had been the first of the senshi to be found. She had been Usagi's first companion in the fight toward evil; the first true friend she'd ever had. Now, seeing the hurt in her eyes, as well as in the eyes of every person present, she fully realized the gravity of her mistakes.

"I had to leave."

"Why?" Minako whispered.

Usagi turned her head and looked at the peppy blonde. Minako had been her 'twin'. The girl to go to for gossiping… for hair talk… for shopping… for just about everything fun and lively… knowing that she had caused such a happy girl pain… it was… wrong.

"I had to."

"That isn't an answer, Usagi." Rei said, her fists clenched and her eyes glaring at Usagi.

Usagi turned her head again and looked at Rei. The fiery girl had been her best friend. She had argued with her constantly, had called her names, had made fun and tormented her… but she had always been there, had always been able to put her head on straight when she needed it, had always sheltered her from everyone who tried to hurt her.

"I know why she left."

Usagi's head turned to stare at the green eyes of Makato, gazing at her. She had once held a special bond with Makato.

"You do." It wasn't a question. Just simply a statement.

"Yes."

Usagi sat quietly. Unlike the others, Makato had always saw potential in her. When Rei had wanted the position of leader among the senshi, Makato had looked to Usagi and refused to let Rei have it. It had meant the world to her… having someone to believe in her.

Chibiusa looked at Makato. "What is it?"

Makato didn't take her eyes off Usagi. "I doubt she wants it known."

Usagi stared back. "I don't."

"I shouldn't tell."

Usagi started to reply, but looked at Mamoru and noticed him watching her. She looked at the other girls and at Chibiusa. She looked back at Makato. "No. Tell them. I want them to know. I want you all to know. My shame… why I had to run… I had to leave… I had to spare everyone…"

Makato, quiet for a moment, looked at the others before clearing her throat. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, a blinding white light flooded the room.

Everyone screamed and shielded their eyes. The light dimmed and before them all stood Sailor Pluto, King Endymion, and Queen Serenity.

"Don't say a word, Jupiter." Pluto warned, striding into the center of the room.

"Mama! Daddy!" Chibiusa rushed up to her parents. They grabbed her and held her in a hug.

Mamoru stood up. "What's going on?"

"I have solved our time problem." Pluto stated.

Endymion cleared his throat.

Pluto blushed. "With the help of King Endymion and Chronos, of course." She shrugged off her embarrassment and turned to look at Chibiusa standing with her parents. "I am very sorry, Small Lady, that I had to lie to you." She turned to the others. "I had to lie to all of you. The time stream that Chibiusa is in is not the unique time stream. This one is." She looked at Mamoru. "I believe you already knew this."

"I figured it out, yes." He smiled bitterly.

"We can fix this. Chronos has granted me permission."

"How?" Ami asked, whipping out her computer. "It's impossible to erase the past, is it not?"

"Yes… but not quite impossible to change it to match another time line. Chronos has granted me the power to change this one time line this one time. If… you all want it to change."

Makato gazed up at Pluto, fear looming in her heart. "What will change?"

Pluto glanced at Makato before shifting her gaze to Usagi and sitting down beside the girl. "We have uncovered what truly happened that night to you."

Usagi's eyes watched Pluto's, her own swimming in tears. "You know who he was."

"Demando."

Usagi took in a gasp and squeezed her eyes shut. "How is that possible? I watched him die… I watched him change before he died."

"It was not the same Demando that you knew. This Demando was from a different time strain. Do you remember how Demando and the others of the Black Moon would shift from the past to the future at any time they wanted?"

"Yes…"

"The Demando that attacked you shifted to the wrong time strain. How he recognized you as Serenity I know not in truth, but I am thinking that because of your advancing age you are becoming to look more like Serenity each day."

Usagi stared down at her hand, the one that Pluto held. "I hold Demando's child."

"Not it you don't wish."

Usagi looked up, her eyes brimming with hope. "How?"

Pluto stood up and walked to the center of the room again, looking around at all the faces around her. She pursed her lips together when she noticed Mamoru. "It's up to him."

Mamoru, up to this point, had been staring at Usagi in wonder and pain. His gaze snapped to Pluto's. "What?"

Pluto, her eyes not daring to look in Makato's direction, stared directly at Mamoru. "Whether I change the past is up to you. If I do, Usagi will not have left; she will not have been raped by Demando, and will not have his child in her."

Mamoru's eyes narrowed. "Should this not be Usagi's decision?"

Pluto's eyes held pain. "I'm afraid not. It's up to you, as… this is your planet, and you rule it. What happens on this planet is up to you. You rule my decisions toward this planet. Besides…" she stopped and glanced at Makato briefly. "Since you have found your balance again, there is no real reason to change anything, for the planet is not in any grave danger. If you do decide to change the past, you will again be in the normal time strain. Usagi will one day be your wife, and Chibiusa your daughter, as you know. But if you keep this strain, it will be unique and unknown, even to myself."

Makato let out a shriek and fled the room. Minako, Rei, and Ami ran after her, screaming her name and slamming the door behind them.

The room grew deathly silent as the remaining people stood staring at each other. Usagi looked at Mamoru; Mamoru looked back at her. Pluto stared at the carpet, her eyes blank.

Chibiusa left her mother's arms and walked up to Mamoru, putting a hand on his arm. "Mamo-chan, you know why this is your decision."

Mamoru looked down at the girl; she could be his daughter again if he wished. "Why?"

"Because you hold the love of two women... either woman can be your balance. You only have to decide which you love."

His eyes tore away from Chibiusa's teary ones and he gazed down at the carpet. He refused to look at Usagi, but he could feel her blue eyes watching him, and he could feel the tears falling down her face.

He shut his eyes tightly, sinking down into the chair behind him.

Makato. Usagi.

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End Chapter Twelve