Mamoru spent another evening sulking in his apartment. He was no closer to figuring out the source of his nightmares, and he was miserable without Usagi. He could barely stand going to Crown anymore when she was there with her new boyfriend.

He kept telling himself that they were destined to be together, that they would work it out, but what if they didn't. Would she refuse to leave Diamond? Would she sleep with him?

Mamoru wasn't a virgin but she was. He expected that he would be her first, and was unsure of what he would do if he weren't. It sounded hypocritical and it was, but he wanted to be her only.

Maybe he should tell her about the dreams. If she understood, then she'd realize that they had to stay apart until they could be together again. She'd know not to give herself away to that playboy. He had to talk to her.

Finals were just around the corner. Usagi was actually feeling pretty confident. She took Diamond's advice and had a conference with all of her teachers to discuss her work and get any advice for the final exam. They were all impressed with her spring performance and hoped she'd be able to keep it up the following year. Mrs. H. even gave her some information on college scholarships. Not even her own parents had ever suggested she could get one.

They had a group review session at her house today. Diamond said he would help out since he was done teaching for the year already. The university had earlier finals, so that people could get on to their summer jobs or whatever else they had planned.

Usagi had a math final, a science final, an English final, and a final art project. They were starting with math since it was her weakest subject.

The girls set up in the living room.

"The final will have a questions from every unit we've done, but it will have more questions from the second half of the year and fewer questions from the first. I suggest we start with any questions from what we have done most recently and then we go to the beginning and work our way forward."

The girls got to work.

Usagi was wondering where her boyfriend was. She checked her phone. "Sorry, I'm running late. I had to take Sapphire to the store."

She couldn't wait until Sapphire could drive himself. She bet he couldn't either.

After about twenty minutes, the doorbell rang. Usagi went to get it, expecting Diamond, but Mamoru was there.

"Mamoru?" She opened the door, but did not invite him inside.

"Usako, I need to talk to you." He hadn't called her that since before they broke up.

"Right now? This isn't the best time."

"It's really important."

Usagi gave him a chance, even though she'd rather not. "You have 10 minutes."

They went into the backyard.

"First, I have to say that I'm sorry. I lied to you when we broke up. I do love you. I never stopped loving you."

Usagi frowned. This can't be good.

"I broke up with you because I had to protect you. You were in danger if we stayed together.

He explained the nightmare he had, the one he kept having. He had even found a broken photo of them on the floor.

"So you see, I had to break up with you, until I can figure out who is causing my nightmares and end the threat against us."

"I understand. I wish you had told me earlier." Why didn't he just tell her the truth? They could have gone hunting for this nightmare-giver together.

"I do too. I was trying to protect you, but I shouldn't have misled you. We can't be together now, but when this is all over, I want us to be a couple again."

Oh Crap. "Mamoru, I can't promise you that."

That's not what she's supposed to say. She's supposed to say, I understand. I'll break up with Diamond and wait for you. "Why not?" he sounded more aggressive than he had intended.

"I don't love you Mamoru, well not the way you want me to. I can't offer you anything more than my friendship."

He stared at her blankly. What about their past? What about their future?

"What about our pasts? We were destined to be together."

"I found out that our pasts were made up. We weren't in love in the Silver Millennium. Our parents had arranged our union, just like Queen Serenity is trying to arrange it now. Would you have ever asked me out if you hadn't been told we were destined to be together?"

Mamoru thought. She was cute, but she had been so whiny and immature. He couldn't have possibly dated her. "Maybe?" he said weakly.

"You wouldn't have asked me out, and I wouldn't have said yes. If we were meant to be together, then no one would have to tell us. We would be able to figure it out on our own, like me and Diamond."

"Like you and Diamond?" Is that why she thinks she doesn't love me?

Usagi realized that Mamoru had no idea that Diamond had been reborn too. How could she explain this without revealing too much about him?

"He didn't have to wait for someone to tell him to ask me out. He did it on his own and I didn't need someone to tell me I love him. I just knew it. I want you to be happy Mamoru, which means you have to enjoy the present, not feel bound by what we were told our past was or what people claim our future is. We have to find it for ourselves."

He saw Usagi, but he heard Serenity speaking. She had become wiser, more mature and sure of herself. He had to accept defeat.

"Take care of yourself, Usako."

"You too, Mamoru."

Mamoru left on his bike. He saw Diamond driving up as he turned the corner. He really wanted to kill whoever gave him those stupid dreams.


Diamond rang the bell. Ami let him in. "We were just about to start on …." Diamond looked around and didn't see Usagi. "Where's Odango?"

"Oh, she went outside in the yard. I was just about to go see if she was alright."

Diamond had thought he saw Mamoru leaving. Apparently, he was correct. "I have these practice exams, if you want to pick one to start with. Two of them are mock finals and one is a mock exam for the fall material and one is just of the spring material."

While Ami looked at them to see where they should start, Diamond went outside where Usagi was sitting alone.

"Are you alright?" he sat down next to her, taking her hand in his.

"Mamoru came by." She explained how he had been getting nightmares, and how he wanted to get back together once he figured out what was causing them and stopped it, but she told him she couldn't wait for him. "I want to be with you," she told her boyfriend. "I know I do, but for some reason, telling Mamoru that we weren't getting back together really hurt."

Diamond pulled her to his chest. "It's because you still care about him. It hurt him to learn that it was truly over and seeing him hurt, hurt you because that's the kind of person you are. You want everyone to be happy. He'll bounce back. You did." Diamond kissed her forehead.

"You always know what to say."

"I just say what I see."

They went back inside, so she could get to her work.

Over the next two weeks, the girls studied for and took their exams. Usagi didn't go to Crown except for on weekends, when she knew Mamoru would be working. It was still a little raw to see him. She hoped it would get easier with time.

Mamoru had been avoiding Crown too. Finally Motoki called him, "Are you alright?"

"What? I'm fine, why?"

"Well, you stopped coming by, Usagi stopped coming by, so I assumed you two are avoiding each other, but why?"

"She stopped coming by?"

"She comes by when you're at work. What did you do?"

"I might have tried to get her back."

"Now? You waited until she's had a new boyfriend for months."

"I had to try. Being without her is miserable, but now knowing that she doesn't want me back makes me more miserable. What do I do?"

"Get back on the horse and go on a date with someone knew. She moved on, Mamo-chan. You need to as well."

"That's what she said."

"Well that's what you should do. I know Rita has some friends if …."

"NO!" Never again would he date one of Rita's friends."

"It was just a thought."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll look on my own."

"Atta boy." He hung up.

"No I won't," Mamoru mumbled. What did Usagi mean when she said their past had been made up? Who told her this?

Maybe Ami would tell him what as going on. She's the rational one.

He stopped by Ami's house the next day. She was on her way out and was surprised to see him.

"Mamoru?"

"Ami, do you have a minute?"

"I was on my way out."

"I could give you a ride, make up the time."

"Um, okay. What's this about?"

"As I'm sure Usagi told you, I explained to her why I had to break up with her, and she said she understood but she didn't want to get back together. She said that we were never supposed to be together in the first place. Can you tell me where she got such an idea?"

Ami was afraid he'd ask this. If Usagi didn't tell him about Queen Pearl, she must have had a reason. How could she explain this?

"Well, Usagi started getting flashbacks of her past life and what she saw was different than what you both had been told." This was true. She did have flashbacks and they were different. She was just leaving the story part out

"How so?"

"She had fallen in love with someone else at a masquerade ball. She kept the relationship secret from Queen Serenity who had arranged for her betrothal to you. She was going through with the marriage to form an alliance between the Moon and the Earth because her kingdom was vulnerable. She only saw you as a friend in her last life."

The words were stinging. "How does she know the flashbacks are real? They could be like my nightmares."

"She said she could feel it. I've never had a flashback, so I don't know."

"And what about the future?"

"I have no idea if anything we were told was true. I can't advise you on that. I do need to get going."

They got on his bike and were off. This didn't go very well.