Chapter Seven

Several hours had past before the story had been fully told. The girls look exhausted, each having transformed quickly, one at a time, before sprawling across the bed. The boys all look tense as well as tired.

"Why didn't you tell us" Quatre finally sighs.

"Oh Quatre…" Usagi mummers. "It's not your fight."

"And we are perfectly able to handle it on our own." Rei mutters.

"Oh really…and that's how your friend got captured isn't it? You handling it on your own?"

Usagi pales visibly at Wufei's blunt accusation.

"We don't know that he was kidnapped for sure," Rei growled.

"How long has he been missing?" Duo forces himself to ask, not liking the look on Usagi's face at the mentioning of this man…whatever he was to her.

Usagi looks up meeting Duo's eyes and blushes suddenly as she remembers how not long ago she had mistaken the handsome brunette for Maramou.

Noticing her embarrassment and guessing her train of thought Duo grins at the pretty blonde, enjoying immensely how it causes her blush to spread even further. His amusement is cut short at the sound of a shrill alarm.

Ami is alert immediately, shaking off her obvious fatigue as she reaches for her small computer which is resting precariously on the bedside table. After a moment, in which she struggles to untangle herself from the pile of bodies on the bed, she has it open on her lap. A hologram appears.

"Kunzite." Usagi's voice is cold like steel, but her face betrays her emotions as it becomes flushed with anger.

"It appears to be some kind of pre-recorded message." Ami replies barely looking up from her laptop. The image sharpens and all of a sudden there is sound.

"Sailor Moon….have you lost something? Someone?" The hologram smirks. "The School…one o'clock tonight." Usagi's face is white. The holograms wavers, and then repeats…"Sailor Moon….have you lost something? Someone…." Ami cuts it off abruptly, closing her computer and looks up her eyes full of concern.

"Usagi…"

Usagi is sitting perfectly still, rigid as stone, her eyes closed, "Well now we know…" she whispers. Squeezing her eyes tighter, a faint sob escapes her. "I…I can't do this again…"

Sitting up Minako pushes Usagi's hair out of her face, cooing softly to the young woman, "Hush now. It'll be alright. Shhhhh." Rei and Makoto stand up, swaying slightly before stealing themselves.

"Let's give her a moment…" Rei commands gruffly, not looking at her princess. She begins to herd the boys out of the room with Makoto's help. The boys don't need much prompting. Duo is the first out of the room, though no one seems to notice the dark glower his face has taken on.

"Who was that?" Heero demands, once Ami, the last one out, has shut the door.

"Kunzite. One of Queen Beryl's generals." Ami answers, cradling her laptop against her chest she leans against the closed door.

Quatre stops in front of her, his face pale and his eyes full of pain for his sister. "What did my sister mean when she said 'not again'?"

Ami cringes at the question, turning her head from his inquiring gaze as though it burns her. It doesn't help, she ends up face Heero. His expression is hard, his eyes demanding. "He…" Her voice catches in her throat, but she shakes her head as though to force it to obey and begins again, "Maramou was kidnapped once before…but first you have to understand they have a past…history…"

"Like an ex-boyfriend?" Duo voice is flat, escaping the shadows that surround him from where he leans against the wall farther down the hallway.

Makoto looks towards him sharply, as though just figuring something out. A small smile flashes briefly across her face in amusement. Trowa, who finds himself watching her is the only one to catch it.

"It's complicated…." Ami breathers out with a frustrated sigh. "He's a reincarnation as well….though at the time they didn't know everything."

"You mean from the Moon Kingdom as well?" Quatre asks confused. "Who was he?"

"A Prince from Earth, the General's were his personal guards back then…before the war, before Queen Beryl…"

"But to Usagi? Who was he to her?" Duo interrupts…cold fury building in him as he dreads the answer, he already knows. It shouldn't matter. It's not my business what he was to her.

"Her husband…." Makoto answers, smiling innocently in Duo's direction. "…though to be honest neither remembered the other at first."

Stunned silence falls over the group.

"My little, baby sister is married?" Quatre finally manages to croak.

"Hardly…" Rei scoffs under her breath, annoyed.

"But you just said…" Confusion shows on Quatre's face, his lips move silently as he tries to form a coherent thought.

"In their past life yes…but they have been reborn. Their past, well to them it's just memories of another life…" Ami breaks off trying to explain, but not knowing how to.

"What she's trying to say is they're both different people now….it's like a fresh start being reborn. But Maramou and Usagi…they still share a connection, they just haven't decided what to do about it yet." Makoto clarifies cheerfully. "But that's not the point…"

"The kidnapping…" Annoyance is showing in Heero's normally monotone voice. Ami knows better this time though and keeps her eyes downcast, so as not to be trapped in Heero's gaze again as he commands her to continue.

"Ah yes so….they brainwashed him….reprogrammed him if you will. It's wasn't his fault, as Makoto mentioned he didn't have all of his memories yet so it was easy for them to twist what he knew to suit their own purposes. He fought against us, he tried to kill us… Usagi…and…and even though they didn't know each other for who they really were it still hurt Usagi deeply to fight back."

"But today…you mentioned he fought with you." Trowa's voice drifted over.

"Well yes…we…Usagi was eventually able to reverse the effect Beryl had on him, that was how they ended up learning the truth about each other. Even so….it was a close battle." Finally unable to ignore Heero's eyes on her Ami looked up, "That's what Usagi fears…that it may not go in our favour a second time."

"So what's the plan." Everyone looks at Wufei in shock.

No one noticed Duo slip away silently, the shadows welcome him like an old friend.

Her husband. The words seemed so wrong, so unfair. Duo chuckles grimly, but since when did he deserve fair. After all he had served death all his life, what did life owe to the likes of him.

Nothing. He deserved nothing, and Usagi….well she deserved a husband.

Alive.

Usagi stares at herself in the mirror. Her long blond hair is tousled from bed, where she had stayed since Kunzite's message had arrived earlier that evening, too weak to leave it. Even now she can feel her power waxing and waning as it struggles to find a balance after being so thoroughly drained so recently. Hopefully it would hold. It had too. She planed to wait until the last moment to transform though…just to make sure. Swallowing she turns from the mirror. They would be waiting for her in the courtyard. It was time.

She was right they were waiting for her…all of them. Swallowing back a childish need to wail, Usagi pauses in the door way taking in the five men littering the courtyard.

"What are you doing." The words are addressed to all of them, but Usagi finds she is staring at one in particular as grief threatens to overwhelm her. 'And I haven't even failed him yet…' Usa sobs inwardly. Duo is sitting on the edge of a planter he's legs planted wide, his arms resting on his thighs, his eyes cast firmly downwards. He doesn't even seem to be breathing. A human statue.

"I can't…" This time her voice breaks, and she's forced to take a moment and center herself. It's hard, the temptation to give into the old Usa she was before is great. How easy it would be to cry, to wail and whine about the unfairness of it all. But it wouldn't help. It would change the facts. Maramou has been taken prisoner again, and this time she didn't know if she could save him.

"I can't endanger anyone else." She finally manages to finish.

Suddenly her brother is before her. "We know how to take care of ourselves Usa." Quatre says vehemently. Usagi sways back in surprise at the unexpected emotion in his voice. This is not the quiet, soft and patient voice, she remembers from childhood. This voice is hard…and sad, so very sad. It is a voice of a solider, battle weary but alive and still ready to fight…to put everything on the line.

"Oh Quatre."

"Ami has informed us that though we may not have the…powers…necessary to kill the Yoma's that you fight but she does believe that it is possible that our weapons may in fact slow them down."

Usagi meet Ami's gaze over her brother's broad shoulders. Ami shifts guiltily under her heavy gaze for a moment before straightening abruptly. "I'm sorry Usa, but it's logical and we can not afford to give away any advantage we have."

Usagi winced at the blatant truth. Wasn't she just moments ago doubting her ability to win this newest battle? Ami was right, as Princess Serenity she couldn't afford to give up any advantage. Her eyes once again drift back to Duo, his face is shadowed. She feels her chest tighten at the thought of him in Kunzite's power. How many people could her heart stand to lose?

"Alright."

The battle plan was fairly simple. Kunzite had never said that Sailor Moon was to come alone. However alone she would go, proceeding directly to the meeting spot. Meanwhile the boys would go with the Senshi ahead of her to arrange themselves strategically, hidden from sight. It the Generals did attack the boys would work to slow down any Yoma's giving the girls a chance to focus on the Generals.

Usagi takes a deep breath, "Moon Prism Power, Make-up!"

Shimmering around her, the air bursts into a rainbow of bright light. When it fades Sailor Moon stands in Usagi's place, skirt blowing in the cool night air. The schools front court yard is eerily silent and still. Steeling herself she walks up the cobbled walk way to the schools front gate, the spiked iron fence towering above her. The heels of her boots echo off the stone. Usagi pushes open the heavy doors.

"Kunzite!"