Hello! Welcome to chapter 6. I hope everyone had a good week, as for my American readers it was Thanksgiving so I hope you enjoyed your time off, and your food! It was quite an exhausting one for me, that's for sure.
I think you'll enjoy this one, it was rather fun to write, a little more on the romancy side, but things heat up in other ways, too. We're on the other end of the story now so things are moving along nicely.
A Little Late
Chapter 6/?
Endymion picked Usagi up two more times in the next week, each time coming perilously close to kissing those damning lips of hers only to be stopped by Usagi herself when she would blush furiously and push him away, muttering something about her first kiss and a ball. Their conversations mostly revolved around the memories that were surfacing in Endymion's mind, with Usagi filling in the blanks and telling stories about the things they had done together, mostly as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen, though he seemed to be more interested in her life as Usagi.
Mamoru. She would often refer to him as Mamoru and he wondered why he had told her that was his name. Was it an alias he had used to try and fit in on this earth while doing undercover work? Was it a name that she, herself, had given to him, or someone else entirely had. Had he picked it up for some other unknown reason, some reason that he couldn't see yet because his memories were still fuzzy and only tangible when he was around Usagi.
Usagi. Just being around her was like drinking a bottle of wine. Intoxicating, fulfilling, sweet, and a little different every time. He was beginning to lose himself in her. When she laughed, he wanted to laugh with her, he wanted to take her in his arms and twirl her around and delight in her squeals. When she would smile at him he wanted to keep her all to himself, save those smiles for him and him alone, but he knew that she wasn't a person who was to be kept apart from others. She was for everyone, not just him. Much as he may want to he couldn't whisk her off to a tower and hide her away from the universe.
Tonight he had been waiting for her down the steps of the Hikawa Shrine, clearly visible to the Senshi who were also leaving the meeting they were having to discuss well, probably to discuss him. He gave them their privacy at the Shrine, no sense in knowing what they had planned for how to 'get him back' or what their attack plans for the Dark Kingdom were.
So he stood at the bottom of the stairs, his hands in his pockets and watched as Mizuno Ami and Kino Makoto came down the steps together. They paused and reached into their pockets but he held up his hands, his usual charming smile on his face to put them at ease.
"I'm only here for Usagi. Not to fight today, Sailor Senshi," he reassured them. "By the way, how's the leg, Sailor Jupiter?"
Makoto glared at him and didn't answer, instead folding her arms across her chest and waiting for Usagi and Minako to come down the stairs. Usagi had been arguing with Rei about taking some manga, and Minako had agreed to stay behind and moderate the argument. It could still be several more minutes before Usagi showed up, and the tension would only continue to mount until she did. And Luna would then have to go home and tell her family that she was off somewhere with Endymion.
"It's not like I meant to hit you so hard. I may be after the ginzuishou, but out of respect for Usagi I'm not going to hurt you."
Ami curled her hand into a fist. "Out of respect for Usagi we are restraining ourselves as well."
Endymion chuckled. "I'm certain what the outcome would be if we fought."
Makoto took a dangerous step forward and raised her fist. "Usagi or not, don't you dare call our power into question."
"You couldn't even block a single attack of mine, what makes you think you'll be able to take me on head to head, Sailor Jupiter?" Endymion gloated, certain in his power. "It takes five of you to defeat a single youma and I am far more powerful than a youma."
"That's it!" Makoto exclaimed, raising her hand into the air.
"Jupiter Po-"
"Mako-chan, don't!" Usagi yelled as she came running down the stairs, having heard the commotion on her way down. She dropped the manga she had managed to borrow from Rei to the ground and put herself between Endymion and her Senshi. Minako moved forward on instinct, but restrained herself, knowing her princess' wish.
Usagi was panting and even had a stitch in her side from running so fast, but she kept them separate. She knew the Senshi didn't approve of it, but she had to keep unlocking the memories buried in Endymion's mind. And she knew that, on some level, Endymion didn't approve of her staying in her current situation. He would prefer if she did something else, changed sides maybe. She wasn't wholly certain of what he was looking to her for, but she knew it would come soon.
"Mako-chan, please don't fight him. You promised. Both of you promised," she said as she looked between her friend and her lover? Boyfriend? Amour? There wasn't really a word that she could describe him with. In one life they had been lovers, that much was certain, but she had no way to describe him in this age anymore. If someone had asked her before this had happened, she might have said enemies. Endymion was just…Endymion.
Makoto lowered her hand and glowered, muttering under her breath. Ami and Minako took positions next to Makoto, standing on the steps over Usagi and Endymion, who were on the ground floor. Endymion held his hand out to Usagi who looked over her shoulder at her friends as though she was saying she was sorry before she took the step forward and put her hand in his. The wind blew past them and when they looked up Usagi and Endymion were gone, off on another one of his strange trips to find out who he was without just letting her heal him.
Minako sighed and heard the approach of paws behind her. "Luna, do you want me to come with you to tell her parents?" she asked the advisor.
Luna sighed and hung her head, fear settling in her stomach. Every time this happened she couldn't squelch the feeling inside of her that maybe she wouldn't see her princess again, that maybe the argument they had that morning over sleeping in was the last one they would ever have. It wasn't a thought Luna liked to entertain, but she had to think about it because Usagi wouldn't.
"Yes, Minako-chan, I'd like some support."
XxXxXxXx
Usagi squealed in delight when they reappeared in the middle of a theme park in a foreign land. Usagi could hear them talking around her, in a language she couldn't even begin to fathom, she had enough problems with English! All around her were people dressed in thick coats against the cold weather, holding onto each other to keep warm and either prevent someone from slipping or taking them down with you. The lights and sounds were almost over whelming, but heartening at the same time and Usagi ran forward into the park, dancing in her happiness.
Endymion just chuckled at her antics, reveling in the differences between the two of them. The night and day, the moon and the earth, the polar opposites that they were. Nothing thrilled him more than watching her take joy in the little things he could do for her. It was getting harder to spend time with her, he knew that he couldn't keep taking time away from the Dark Kingdom without getting noticed but right now that didn't matter. Nothing mattered but her joy.
Grabbing onto Endymion's hand, Usagi took off towards the first ride she saw, a roller coaster, and dragged him along behind her. They rode rides for what seemed like hours before stopping for some hot chocolate, a beverage that Endymion found that he liked very much, before getting something to eat and riding more rides. Eventually they found themselves out of things to ride, but they decided to walk around the park, hand in hand, and talk once they were done.
"When was the first time we met?" Endymion asked her. "Do you remember it? It wasn't at that hair salon."
Usagi, who was eating ice cream despite the cold temperature outside, thought about the question. She had met Mamoru before she met Tuxedo Kamen, though she remembered meeting his two personas on the same day. "I met you the first day I became Sailor Moon, actually. But before I became Sailor Moon. I uh…that was one of the times I threw something at you," she muttered under her breath as an afterthought.
Endymion laughed at her. "What did you throw at me this time?"
Blushing from embarrassment, Usagi tapped her fingers together and debated on if she should lie to him about it, but knew he would see right through it. "It was a test paper," she said in a great rush of air.
"A what?"
Gritting her teeth, Usagi repeated herself, slower this time. "A test paper. I threw a test paper at your head."
Again, Endymion chuckled and put his hand on her head. "So you've thrown a shoe, a cup, your cat, and now a test paper, at me?"
"A failed test paper. You made fun of me for it," Usagi said gloomily.
"I used to make fun of you for a lot of things," Endymion said with a frown.
Usagi nodded in agreement, pointing to some popcorn that she wanted at a candy stand. "I guess we're not meant to ever be in complete agreement, are we?"
Endymion handed her the popcorn and then touched her face gently, a soft look on his face as he contemplated exactly what kind of treason he was committing.
XxXxXxXx
Ikuko wrung her hands when she opened the door to find Minako standing in front of her with Usagi nowhere in sight. As always her stomach knotted and she felt her palms begin to sweat and she did her best not to tremble, though it was hard when her fear for her daughter was so great. One day she wasn't going to come back, and whether it was because she was gone in the physical sense or if she had been taken over by the Dark Kingdom, Ikuko wasn't sure, but she was very much afraid of when this happened. The Senshi assured her that Usagi would never falter like that, but Endymion meant too much to her, more than anything else Ikuko feared.
"Minako-chan," Ikuko greeted the girl, keeping her voice steady. "Luna, Artemis, come in." She ushered the group inside and wiped her hands on her apron. "We just finished dinner, but I'm sure I can find something for you if you want. Are you hungry? Thirsty?"
Minako smiled forlornly at Ikuko and shook her head. "No, thank you, Ikuko-mama, you know why I'm here."
Gripping her apron tightly in her fists, Ikuko nodded once and then motioned for Minako to follow her. "Let's go sit in the living room. It's more comfortable there."
Minako had homework to do, quite a bit of it actually, but her friend's mother's sanity was more important than solving for 'X' right now. She put on a fake smile and followed Ikuko through the familiar house, passing Shingo and Kenji, who were doing dishes, in the kitchen. She waved to them and they exchanged a passing glance with each other, understanding what it meant for her to be there.
Luna and Artemis dutifully followed the two women into the living room and took seats in each of their laps, Luna with Ikuko and Artemis with Minako. Luna looked up to Ikuko and found her sitting straight backed and stiff, knowing the news, but still acting as though she was innocent to what she was going to hear. Luna wished she could take away this woman's pain, but to do that she would also have to harm Usagi, and she couldn't bring herself to do that.
"Endymion was waiting for us after our Senshi meeting, Ikuko-mama," Minako began. "There were some words exchanged between him and Mako-chan, but he left without fighting anyone. He took Usagi and that was about a half hour ago."
Ikuko looked at her lap and whispered, "She went willingly, right?"
"Yes," Minako replied, wincing as the word came out of her mouth. "She always does. You know she thinks she's going to trigger his memories."
Sighing a little, but also smiling, Ikuko absently began to pet Luna between the ears and looked wistfully out the window. "Yes, I know. Can we really fault her for that?"
As the goddess of love and beauty, Minako was the last person in the world who would ever fault Usagi for chasing after Endymion and trying to restore his memory, but that didn't mean she still didn't think it was reckless and even dangerous. She just understood it better than most. "No, we really can't. And that's why we just let her do it, I guess. That and she's the princess and can do whatever she wants when she orders us to," Minako laughed.
Luna and Artemis exchanged glances and then sighed, drooping their heads in unison. Usagi hadn't used her power of rank over the Senshi at all, that wasn't the type of person she was, but they had a distinct image in their heads of her doing this very thing and it was a worrisome image.
"Princess or not, she's my daughter and if I tell her not to do something, you had better believe she's not doing something," Ikuko reminded Minako.
Minako smiled at Ikuko, wishing, not for the first time, that her mother was a little more like her. She leaned back in her seat and sighed, the soft fabric cool against her skin. "Do you want me to stay here until she gets back?" she offered.
"Oh, I couldn't ask that, Minako-chan," Ikuko assured her. "I'll be fine. Shingo and Kenji are here. Luna's here." She hugged Luna tighter to her and did her best to look reassuring and in charge.
"I don't mind. It would be my pleasure to wait for her with you. Then I'll know she's home safely, too, and we won't have to go looking for her if she's gone too long!" Minako chirped happily.
Ikuko relaxed visibly and leaned back in her seat, expelling the air from her lungs in a great sigh and she was not so secretly relieved by Minako's insistence. "Minako-chan, you're a wonderful girl. I'll go and make us tea and get some cake. Just don't tell Usagi we're having cake."
Artemis furrowed his brow. "Wait, you just had cookies at Rei's house. If you keep eating like this you're just going to get fa-"
Minako found herself dumping her advisor unceremoniously on the floor, face first, a dark look on her face. "Don't you dare say it."
XxXxXxXx
Kunzite had been tracking Endymion for a week, but found him nearly impossible to keep up with when he was trying to hide. His energy signature was all over the world, though constantly in Tokyo, as though he was looking for something. So far Queen Beryl had not seemed to notice, or rather care about, Endymion sporadic movements, but Kunzite was making it his mission to bring it to bring it to her attention once he could prove something.
He was concentrating on Endymion's life force, trying hard to find him through his dark energy. His eyes were closed and he let the darkness overtake him as he focused. He had lost his energy signature hours ago, but suddenly he felt it flare up again, somewhere in Europe, and he opened his eyes, an evil smirk marring his face.
Then he frowned. Europe? Why would he be in Europe? Their efforts were strictly confined to Japan at this time because of the Sailor Senshi and no one had leave to go anywhere else at this time.
No matter, he said to himself. I'll ascertain what he is up to.
Kunzite vanished from the Dark Kingdom and followed his instincts to the amusement park in Europe, in Germany, and searched Endymion out. It was crowded and cold, but neither of these things bothered him. He preferred the solace of loneliness to the hustle and bustle of the crowds, but the cold was a welcome friend. It bit at him in such a way that was familiar and almost warming in its own way.
Using his instincts he wandered through the lights and the loud noises towards where he felt the strongest pull until he finally found what he was looking for. He could see Endymion's back and hanging off of Endymion was a slip of a girl, less than five feet tall with a similar hair style to Sailor Moon. She was laughing and talking with him in a sickeningly joyous manner and Kunzite sneered at the two of them in disgust.
So, this was Endymion's big secret, his great shame that he was hiding from Queen Beryl. Judging by the interactions with the girl it was something he would have to keep secret because it wasn't just a quick fling, he was laughing and had his arm around the girl. Oh no, this was something more, something deeper than just a quick little run around the block.
A girl. All of the running around was for a girl.
It made Kunzite want to laugh aloud and approach Endymion with his sword drawn so he could stab the girl straight through the back, revel in her death and Endymion's expected grief. He would never see it coming. He was too wrapped up in the little world they had created for themselves to notice something as insignificant as a power surge when he arrived.
Endymion was dressed in civilian clothing, it was clear that he was trying to blend in, it was quite possible that this girl had no idea what she was involved in by being with him at all. Kunzite didn't care. He drew his sword and parted the startled crowd with his very presence. The nearer he got to Endymion and the girl, the more certain he was of Endymion's idiocy for not sensing his presence.
He moved like ink through water, a dark presence that could only be detected if you were truly watching it. As he got within striking distance, he raised his sword and was about to run the girl through when Endymion whirled around and faced him, shimmering into his armor, his sword raised and protecting the girl from the strike.
"Kunzite!" Endymion yelled, half-surprised, half-angry.
"Endymion," Kunzite replied smoothly. "Who would have thought that the reason you had been slacking on your duties was for this tiny girl-child. I would have expected you to have at least gone for a woman."
Insulted, Usagi gripped her broach and puffed her chest up. "I am a woman!"
"Usagi, not now," Endymion told her, keeping all of his strength in holding Kunzite back.
"Oh, so you're Usagi. Well, Usagi," Kunzite said as he pushed Endymion back and held him back by keeping his stance strong, "do you have any idea what you are mixed up in?"
Usagi nodded her head. "The Dark Kingdom."
"So you told her," Kunzite sneered. "Queen Beryl isn't going to like this at all."
All around them people had gathered in a circle, as though this was a show to watch, and they were talking about how interesting and realistic it looked. Like a modern day fairy tale. Kunzite chuckled and looked to Endymion. "Do you hear what they're saying? Do you want them involved in this, Endymion? Do you want your woman involved?"
"She isn't my woman," Endymion snapped, which caused Usagi to take a step back in surprise from how forceful his words were.
Even Kunzite was a little surprised by this, he had expected Endymion to stand up for Usagi, but instead he just chuckled. "Well, isn't that sweet. The way I saw the two of you practically hanging off each other, I would have thought you were inseparable. I guess first impressions aren't always correct, are they?"
"Usagi, run!" Endymion instructed her. "I'll take care of Kunzite."
Usagi hesitated for a moment, but Endymion turned to her and, much more harshly than he meant to, pushed her away so she stumbled. "Go, now!"
"Right!" She knew what he wanted her to do. It would probably mean he would figure out she was Sailor Moon, but others wouldn't, and her secret would be safe, even this far across the ocean, but that just meant that they would have to make this the last stand against Kunzite. Everyone was interested in what was now turning out to be a rather spectacular sword fight in the center of the amusement park so it was easy to find an abandoned place to transform.
"Moon Prism Power! Make Up!"
In a flourish of ribbon and lights Usagi let the power wash over her and let out a shuddering breath. She had to get back to the battle and help Endymion fight Kunzite. It was an even match, but Kunzite would play dirty, and she knew that. Endymion would need her help. As she approached the fray she reached for her tiara and removed it from her forehead.
"Moon Tiara Action!"
The disc cut Kunzite along his back and was enough to give Endymion and opening to lunge forward, nearly running him through. But Kunzite blocked at the last second, grunting and panting at the attack. He turned around to see Sailor Moon now standing in the circle of civilians, who were cheering her on, enthusiastically enjoying their 'show'.
"You," he growled, the realization dawning on him. He looked between Endymion, who was ready to attack again, and Sailor Moon, who looked a little frightened of him. "You're that girl. Oh, this is perfect. Endymion, do you realize your treason?" he laughed. "You do, of course you do! You've been consorting with the enemy!"
"Only to get the ginzuishou!" Endymion argued, lying of course. He hadn't asked about the ginzuishou in days, much to his shame. "I don't see you making steps and finding out her identity to try and do that, Kunzite."
Kunzite's vision flashed red and he attacked again, this time going for Endymion's head. Endymion smirked and easily blocked the attacks. Attacks made in anger meant that there were a lot of mistakes and Kunzite was making all of them. His body was a mess of slashes and his clothes were tattered from the hits Endymion was getting in, though none of them were deadly.
Sailor Moon pulled out her Moon Stick as soon as she was certain that both men were sufficiently in their own world. She could hit them both at the same time, destroying Kunzite and saving Endymion.
"Moon Healing Escalation!"
Both men heard the words and jumped away in time to avoid the healing light of the ginzuishou and they turned on her.
"You bitch!" Kunzite bellowed, turning his sword on Sailor Moon, who deflected using her Moon Stick. She pushed him back and he lost his footing, leaving him open for a wide arc swing from Endymion, which he ducked. He was on the defensive now, facing off against the heroine and would be hero, people cheering the entire time, deafening him. He looked left, right, and then smirked when he realized that all around him were his answers.
Reaching out, he grabbed the closest person to him, a young man with blond hair and wrapped his arm around the man's throat, putting him in a choke hold. "If you don't lay down your weapons, I will kill this man!"
The man was laughing, waving his hands around and pretending to yell for help, but Endymion and Sailor Moon both stopped what they were doing and exchanged glances.
"You swear you'll let him go?" Sailor Moon asked.
Kunzite raised his sword and held the pointed blade to the tourist's throat, who until that moment seemed to be enjoying being in the center of attention. Then he felt the tip of the blade against his skin and went pale as a small cut was made on his skin and he yelped, crying out to his friends for help, who ignored, just laughing and jeering at him for being in the 'show'.
"Sailor Moon, we can't trust him!" Endymion hissed at her. "He could very well kill the civilian and then attack us for the ginzuishou again." And he knew that Sailor Moon would be vulnerable after that because that's how she was. She was too sensitive to other people and Kunzite knew that, it was why he was always able to take advantage of her.
Sailor Moon knew Endymion's words were true, but despite this she lowered her guard and leveled her gaze with Kunzite. "Your word, Kunzite."
Kunzite dropped the sword and thrust the man forward so he stumbled right into Sailor Moon and Endymion, almost causing Sailor Moon to drop the Moon Stick all together, but she managed to hold onto it and get the young man behind her, where he would hopefully be safe. But then Sailor Moon did as instructed and she put the Stick and ginzuishou away, sending a pleading look to Endymion to put his sword away.
Endymion swore under his breath and sheathed his sword at the glance Sailor Moon sent his way, knowing that unless he wanted to turn this into a blood bath, he would have to do as Kunzite wanted.
The audience, seeing the tides turn from the heroes winning to the evil doers began to boo and jeer, someone even threw some trash at Kunzite, who snarled in the general direction that it came from.
Sailor Moon perked up, realizing how much Kunzite was hating being in the center of all these people, but how much he was trying to use them against them. She just had to use them against him and let the fact that Kunzite was here, around people, stop bothering her. She could protect all of these people, she would protect them all because that's what she was there for, but right now she was going to get the crowd riled up and help her fight.
"Endymion, how have you been speaking to people since we got here?" Sailor Moon dropped her voice down so only he could hear her.
"Magic translator," he tapped his head. "Queen Beryl has one in all of her generals so we can speak the language of whatever country we are stationed in. To them I was speaking German."
"So all of these people will hear you speaking German even though you're speaking Japanese?" Sailor Moon asked excitedly.
Endymion looked at her skeptically. "What are you planning?"
"Talk to them excitedly. Get them all on our side and against Kunzite. Have them throwing things at him again if you can! Make it really like a show, like they think it is. Anything to annoy him more and so he'll keep his eyes off of me," she instructed.
Now looking at her as though she had grown an extra head, Endymion sighed and just said, "Okay."
"Everyone, do you want the evil doer to win?" Endymion announced, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify the volume.
"No!" the crowd answered back in unison.
"Join me in fighting him! Throw things at him! That's right, like that, little lady!" he egged a small child on as she threw an empty soda container at Kunzite. "Kick dirt at him, tell him how bad he smells!"
Kunzite whirled and faced Endymion as he fought off the sudden onslaught of trash being thrown his way. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"This!" Sailor Moon yelled, catching his attention with a smug smile on her face.
"Moon Healing Escalation!"
This time Kunzite didn't have the time to flinch away or duck, he was too distracted by the trash-throwing and taunting he was receiving from his audience. He threw his cape over his head to try and protect himself with every bit of power in his body, but the pure light of the ginzuishou was too much for him as Sailor Moon gave her all into the Moon Stick and watched as Kunzite literally melted down from a full grown man into a piece of stone.
All around them the crowd had gone silent, awed by the spectacle they had just witnessed. They erupted in cheers, patting each other on the back and congratulating their children for their roles in defeating the 'bad person'. They were very impressed with the special effects and moved in to get autographs from the two stars of the show, but Sailor Moon made a pained face and glanced up at Endymion, who had the same look on his own face.
"I believe it is time we make a discreet exit, Sailor Moon."
Sailor Moon nodded her head and without preamble she wrapped her arms around Endymion, who put his own arm around her waist and the two of them shimmered out of reality, leaving a very excited theme park, but not before Endymion paused and picked up the stone that had once been Kunzite from the ground and put it in his pocket.
XxXxXxXx
It was very late at night and Minako was still sitting with the Tsukino's drinking tea. This was the longest Usagi had ever been gone before, and it was getting uncomfortably warm in the room as the question that they wanted to ask Minako continued to remain unasked. Even Shingo kept sending glances her way as the minutes ticked by and Usagi still didn't show.
When the clock struck midnight, Minako finally put an end to the charade that they were holding and reached into her pocket for her communicator. "It's alright, we'll find her, Ikuko-mama, Tsukino-san. I'll have Ami-chan get to work on locating her immediately. We probably should have started this an hour ago. I'm so sorry, I just kept thinking she would come home on her own. I'm the leader, this was my call and it was a bad call."
"It wasn't a bad call at all, Sailor Venus," a shockingly familiar voice said from the entryway. Minako whirled around, reaching for her pen, and saw Endymion standing there with Sailor Moon in his arms. He did not let her go and continued to speak. "We just ran into a bit of trouble with Kunzite, but Sailor Moon took care of him."
"Took care of…" Minako trailed off, letting her hands fall. "Sailor Moon, you destroyed Kunzite?"
Sailor Moon, still in Endymion's arms, looked extremely proud of herself, but exhausted. "It took some careful planning, but the two of us managed to take him down."
"Don't be so modest, Usagi, it was mostly you," Endymion said, removing himself from her arms and taking a step back. "I suppose now that I've proved that I can be trusted with your princess, again, I shall take my leave. Sailor Venus, Tsukino-san, Tsukino-san, Shingo. Usa…ko."
Sailor Moon blushed and stumbled through a goodbye as Endymion faded away. She faced her family, who looked ragged and tired and felt guilt slam into her like a truck. "Mama, Papa, Shingo. I'm…I'm sorry. I really didn't know how long I had been gone. And Kunzite did attack us. In a crowded theme park. He took a hostage and I had to save him!"
Minako folded her arms and watched Usagi detransform. "He took you to a theme park? Like a date? And is calling you 'Usako'?"
Usagi blushed harder this time, not comfortable discussing the subject of Endymion in front of her family, especially her brother and father. "We talked about his past, his memory some. But I guess…maybe it was like a date?"
Luna padded over to where Usagi was standing, a fierce look on her face. "Usagi-chan, this has to stop. You're letting yourself get in too deep with Endymion. He's going to betray you."
"Luna's right," Artemis agreed from the couch. "Endymion is just using you to try and get the ginzuishou and once your guard is down enough he'll snatch it from you and he may even kill you."
"He isn't going to betray me!" Usagi admonished. "How can you even say that when I've made so much progress with him?"
Ikuko listened to them argue for several minutes and then looked at her daughter carefully. Her flushed face, her flaring nostrils, the tears in her eyes and she said the words that no daughter ever wants to her from her mother's mouth.
"Usagi, I don't think you should see that boy again."
Longest chapter yet, though not by much. I hope everyone enjoyed it, and thank you all for your reviews, they are always read, and always, always appreciated. I can't say how much. I recently cracked 50 follows on this story, which is way more than I thought I would, so let's keep that going!