AN: Written because I had to wonder what might have happened if it had been Naru who initiated the 'drifting apart' plotline we've seen so often over the years in fic. Almost 4000 words and change later, here we are! Hope y'all enjoy my tribute to A: a character that really deserved more love and B: the 90's Sailor Moon anime because lord only knows that was my jam back in the day, DIC dub or no.

(No, really. This is as much about Serena and Molly as it is about Usagi and Naru).

from here to there and everywhere

When you finally come to, your head is throbbing like it's never throbbed before. You were no stranger to monster attacks before, of course, but this was the first time you'd ever been injured in one. Novel experience as it might be, you think you could live with it never happening again.

"... okay?"

Someone's speaking to you, cradling you, and somehow you will your tired eyes to open. All you can see is a golden blur, but the next words you hear assuage all your worries in an instant.

"Are you okay?!" and you feel yourself relax, all the tension draining away. You know this presence and this voice, panicked as it might be. You've known it since you were little, and you'll know it for the rest of your life.

"Usagi," you say, unable to keep from smiling in spite of everything that just happened.

The blur freezes.

"Usagi," you repeat, a little concerned now - she hadn't been hurt, had she?

"N-No! I-I'm not...!" and you can only wince at how high her pitch suddenly climbed; you'd forgotten how loud she could get when she wanted to. It had been... a while.

"Don't be silly," you murmur, still tired, still in pain, "of course you are - "

And when the blur starts to shift and move, spreading like ripples in a pond before coming together in the unmistakable visage of Sailor Moon, you finally understand the magnitude of the mistake you've just made.

She's staring at you with those wide, artless eyes and all you can do is stare back in shocked silence, like a child that had been caught stealing from the cookie jar.

(It's only much later when you discover that this was the moment of your undoing; had you manage to somehow fake a laugh and tell her that you always got them confused because of the hair or something, that would have been it. She would have believed your lie - no matter how poor - because she'd have wanted to believe it. Instead she saw your fear, the silent 'oh no' written all over your face, and she knew the jig was up).

You rise to your feel as quickly as you can - quickly being a relative term - in spite of Usagi's protests, and when you see the expressions that the other Senshi are wearing you can only wonder how you're going to get out of this one.

Mercury steps forward, shaken at what had just happened but still worried nonetheless. "Are you all right?"

"I-I'm fine," you lie through your teeth, your words and legs still shaky. "My head hurts, but besides that I'm okay. I can walk. The hospital isn't too far away, I can get checked out for a concussion there, so..."

You keep on babbling for a few more seconds before you run out of platitudes and reassurances and you find your gaze drawn to Sailor Moon again, who still looks like she's seen a ghost. It's sort of endearing, all things considered. Then again, that was Usagi in a nutshell, wasn't it?

"What about you? You're all okay?"

Mars speaks up this time, clipped and terse. "We're fine. Don't worry about us," she tells you, somehow managing to radiate confidence and concern in equal amounts. "But you're sure you don't want an escort to - "

"That's all right," you tell her, waving your hands as if to ward them off. "I can make it there on my own. And thanks for saving me - again, I mean," you add quickly, feeling more than a bit sheepish. "This is another one I owe you."

"All in a day's work," Venus chimes in, with Jupiter nodding approvingly behind her.

You smile in gratitude again, raising a hand in farewell as you turn to leave, and as you do -

"Bye, Naru! See you later, okay?"

- you hear a cheerful, sing-songy goodbye that you'd heard every day for years on end and your response comes out like a reflex; you wouldn't have been able to stop it if you tried.

"Yeah! See you later, Usagi!"

Everyone present freezes this time, and as one the Senshi wheel around to stare at their leader in utter disbelief. She, however, can only look at you, and you're not sure what to make of her quiet, resigned sigh.

"... Get checked out, okay?" Usagi tells you, all pretense gone. "We'll talk soon, I promise."

All you can do is nod. What else is there, really?

The both of you are sitting in your bedroom at home, snacks spread out on the bedsheets and drinks sitting on your desk. It had been a long time since you'd been together like this and if not for the heavy weight in the air, it would have felt quite nice.

At least your head's stopped hurting. Thank goodness for small blessings.

"... So."

"So."

Usagi reaches out for a box of strawberry Pocky, tearing open the top with shaky fingers. "Um... how long have you known?" she asks meekly, a twinge of sympathy running through you because there's no real delicate way to phrase that question.

You take a stick when she offers you one, trying to sort out the jumble of thoughts in your head. "A while, I guess."

She winces.

"I-It wasn't like you were careless or anything!" you tell her, trying as best you can to be reassuring. "It's just - you started kinda acting strange when Sailor Moon first showed up and then when the others appeared it just got stranger and I mean the hairstyle really didn't help either and - "

Again, you're babbling. This time, however, Usagi's prepared.

"I should have known when you told me goodbye that day," she muses, for a moment sounding far older than she was. "I still remember. You asked if I knew about that black crystal in the middle of the city, and I was too shocked to say anything."

You shift uncomfortably on the bed before trying to busy yourself, quickly pouring out two cups of CC Lemon for you and your guest. Usagi takes hers with a grateful nod, but she's not going to be deterred. She's far too headstrong for that.

"Y'know," she begins, the noticeable hitch in her voice causing your stomach to twist uncomfortably, "This does make a lot of sense. I remember wondering why you stopped wanting to hang out, and I thought that maybe - "

Your insides twist further when she shudders and fights back a watery sniffle because you know the truth of the matter; there was no 'maybe' about it.

You had been involved in monster attack after monster attack, and even if you weren't the specific target you always needed to be saved, to be protected from the terrors that you had once upon a time thought dwelled only in the dark. Sailor Moon and the other Senshi had enough on their plate; they didn't need to keep on looking after you while they were already trying to look after everyone else.

There was nothing you could do to help your friend while she risked life and limb, that went without saying. But maybe you could put a smile on your face when you turned down offers to grab food after school because you had to 'study'. Maybe you could put a sheepish laugh in your voice when you told her that you were busy with Umino. Maybe you could make darn well sure that out of all the things Usagi had to worry about as Sailor Moon, you wouldn't be one of them. You loved her too much for that.

Not that it hadn't hurt. Of course it had hurt. You'd already been hurting when you saw her slowly starting to drift away from you with her other friends - her better friends - but when things finally clicked and you understood why... well, plenty of people lost touch after a while, right? Maybe some folks were only meant to be together for a certain length of time, and eventually they would end up parting ways and going in different directions. With how happy she looked with everyone else, you'd guessed that Usagi would move on sooner rather than later, choosing to remember you as a childhood friend from a simpler time; a treasured memory, forever left in the past but hopefully never to be forgotten.

So why, then, is she staring at you with a look in her eyes that's breaking your heart?

"I-I wanted to tell you so many times, I really did," Usagi says, her battle with tears almost a lost cause. "I thought you were angry at me, that - Naru, I'm sorry that you kept getting dragged into our messes, I'm sorry that I couldn't always protect you, I'm sorry if I ever made you feel scared, I - "

No. No. Nononononono.

"That's not it at all!" you exclaim, your vision starting to turn blurry. "I didn't want you to have to keep saving me, Usagi! You were getting hurt all the time as it was, we all saw it on the news! If I could be one less person you had to worry about - and let's be real, you had to worry about me a lot - then that was fine. I mean, you always had the other girls around, didn't you? I thought that it'd be all right, that you wouldn't miss - "

You can't bear to finish. You just can't.

Your words crumble to ash in your mouth, and you cover your face when the tears start coursing down your cheeks in spite of your best efforts. You can't help it; you had kept it inside for so long, carried the weight of that hidden truth with all the strength you could muster, and now with the dam broken beyond repair you have nothing left to stem the tide.

A gentle touch draws your hands away and you find yourself looking at a bewildered Usagi, who can only shake her head over and over again.

"How could I not miss you, Naru?" she says, her voice raw, her painfully blue eyes wide with confusion and disbelief. "Y-You're my oldest friend, my first friend, a friend that has nothing to do with who I used to be or who I'm going to be. We did everything together, didn't we? We talked about boys, tried to study - "

"I tried to study. You wanted to read manga," you remind her, deciding to leave what she meant by 'used to be' and 'going to be' for another time.

Miracle of miracles, she laughs at that. "I know. I miss that. I miss that so much, I miss you, I - "

You're not sure who reaches for who when her voice suddenly cracks but before you know it you're both sobbing, hugging each other like you were kids all over again (and you've never forgotten that Usagi always did give the best hugs).

"I'm sorry," you whisper over and over again, apologizing for your foolishness and how it had hurt the both of you because in all your good intentions you had somehow forgotten how wonderfully big Usagi's heart was, forgotten that it was so full of love that you'd have dwelt there forever no matter what you'd done to try and make her leave you behind. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," and the sight of her crying takes you right back to childhood days gone by. "I'm sorry too, Naru."

The conversation falls apart after that, but you can't say you mind. For the moment, there was nothing more that needed to be said.

(When you both wake up, you slip out to wash your faces quickly before setting upon the forgotten snacks with a vengeance. Junk food's never tasted so delicious).

Things are so much better after that.

You're still not inseparable like you were before, but that was all right; you've both changed and moved past that point anyway. You're making the effort to see each other whenever you can though, and the impromptu phone calls and spur of the moment fast food runs you used to cherish are very much back on the table. Her mother's more than happy to see you hanging around their house again from time to time, and your mother's much the same way whenever you swing by the jewelry store with Usagi in tow.

The final piece of the puzzle comes into play when she calls over you one day and you enter her living room to see the other four Senshi looking at you with varying expression of worry on their faces. You're admittedly a little concerned that they might see you as an interloper, someone trying to stick their nose where it didn't belong. You realize all too quickly that they deserve far more credit.

"We apologize for deceiving you for so long," Ami starts, looking genuinely saddened. Even now you still haven't forgotten how she'd constantly offered you academic assistance back in your junior high days, and though she was naturally closer to Usagi you'd always considered her a friend as well. You're heartened to see that it wasn't one way after all.

"Yeah, if we'd known you'd known, then..." Makoto continues, looking a little sheepish when she trails off, and you flash her a gentle smile in reply that tells her you understand.

"We're kinda glad you do, though. Usagi was really happy about not having to keep you in the dark anymore," Minako (no, Sailor V, how amazing was that?) adds, a cheeky grin on her face.

Rei's last up, and though her words are brusque as ever you can tell the intention behind them is genuine. "You're sure you're okay with this? We get it if you want to hang back, or - "

"No," you tell them, smiling at a visibly happy Usagi. "I've learned my lesson about that already. I'm sorry in advance for any more attacks I end up involved in, though!"

Makoto waves that off with a friendly chuckle. "Don't sweat it, that's not your fault. Besides, we can handle it. It'll probably keep us sharp, too."

"Which some of us need a lot more than others," Rei chimes in, fixing Usagi with a pointed look that went neither unnoticed nor ignored.

You watch the resulting show alongside everyone else, laughing so hard that tears spring from your eyes.

You don't remember a whole lot about officially learning Luna's (and Artemis' too, but you hadn't known him before) secret, though you think you can figure out what happened when you awaken to Ami gingerly removing a cold compress from your head and Usagi snarking that of course it would be the talking cats that ended up breaking you.

"I didn't know you'd picked a major! Which one did you settle on?" and you're genuinely not sure if you'd ever see the day when Usagi uttered those words and actually meant them.

"I think I want to go into social work," you tell her, starting to blush when she makes an impressed noise before taking a massive bite out of her burger.

She mumbles a mish mash of syllables that you think are supposed to be 'Cool! How come?', and you pause for a moment to collect your thoughts.

"Because of you, actually. Back then, I knew that I couldn't really help you - " you hold up your hand to forestall any protests and as a signal to chew before swallowing, "but I also knew that there were so many problems out there that even you can't touch. I might not be able to save the world, but that doesn't mean I can't try to make it a better place, right?"

She's staring at you, mouth agape (and luckily empty).

"You taught me that, y'know," you tell her with a smile, trying your hardest not to squeal when she flings herself across the table to give you a massive hug.

In what seems like the blink of an eye, life as you know it has shifted and changed. You see the other girls (and Mamoru, of course) a lot more often than you used to and you no longer take offense when they look up like they've seen something in the distance, totally ignoring whatever you've just said. Instead, you see them off with smiles and quick hugs, telling them to be safe, and you always take a moment to pray for their well-being after they've all vanished in flashes of colored light.

Not that they've ever needed it, but Rei keeps assuring you it's the thought that counts. Good will, and all that.

Umino, unsurprisingly, takes all this in stride; you'd been sharing your theories with him enough over time that he was eventually able to put two and two together and the man you've proudly watched him grow into was far better equipped to handle the truth than the boy he'd once been.

(Usagi wasn't nearly as even-keeled about the whole thing, but that's another story altogether. Besides, all was well that ended well).

You do have to imagine that at least some of his equanimity - his word, not yours - came from having access to a study buddy of Ami's caliber. He'd very quickly taken up her offers of joint study sessions when she'd started asking again, even inquiring if he could bring one of his classmates in the political science department to tag along.

You'd watched in rapt astonishment as Urawa got halfway through introducing himself before Ami walked in late and somehow made him lose the ability to speak just by making eye contact; Ami, for her part, had gone red-faced and wide-eyed and very nearly dropped a ridiculously heavy textbook right on her foot.

Needless to say, not a whole lot of studying got done that day. Considering how often you started seeing him around Ami though, you have to figure that neither minded.

(Minako nearly knocked Umino out of his chair when she heartily clapped him on the back as congratulations for a job well done. Again, it was the thought that counted).

On her request, the two of you go out for dessert on a day that you've had marked on your calendars for years. You originally weren't sure if she remembered or not, but when she orders a pair of chocolate parfaits and gently rests her hands on yours it takes all you have not to start sniffling.

You love Umino. You had loved Nephrite. These two things are not mutually exclusive.

She patiently sits there with you as the sun gradually sinks over the horizon, allowing you a chance to just be.

"I wish I could have saved him," you finally say, your heart still aching with a familiar pain, and you watch as her eyes turn soft with sympathy and remembrance.

"You did, Naru," Usagi tells you, her words filled with belief of the purest sort. "I promise, you did."

Not once does she let go of your hands.

Time passes by in a flash, bringing the future along with it. There were graduation ceremonies and birthday parties. There were proposals and bachelorette trips. You remember Usagi standing beside you at your wedding and you standing beside Usagi at hers (you told her she didn't have to reciprocate but A: she really, really wanted to and B: literally everyone else involved conceded that you were the safest option lest civil war break out).

There were so many moments, both big and small, that it's hard to remember just exactly how you got here, standing beside Usagi - make that Neo-Queen Serenity, was that ever going to take some getting used to - within one of the many rooms housed in the appropriately named Crystal Palace.

"I'm real sorry this took so long," she apologizes, looking and sounding far more like the scatterbrain you remember as she collapses into one of the fanciest chairs you've ever seen, absolutely spent. "It's been a little... crazy."

"Don't worry about it," you say, favoring her with a smile. "I mean, things are still crazy for the rest of us but they're definitely way more crazy for you. You're probably used to that by now, though."

She makes a face. "Tell me about it."

You affectionately pat her shoulder but say nothing else, deciding to let her decompress for just a little bit.

After a few more moments of silent bliss, she opens her eyes again. "So. I have a proposal."

"Taken," you reply with a cheeky grin as you hold up your left hand, your ring glinting in the light, and you have a feeling she's fighting the temptation to glare and pout.

"So not funny."

"It's a little funny. What do you have in mind?"

Usagi gives you the stink-eye for a moment longer before she breaks and starts beaming at you, still unable to hold a grudge for very long. "It's a bit of a career change. Would you ever consider being a liaison for Crystal Tokyo?"

You blink, startled out of your wits. "But that's - I - why me?!"

"Because you're great with all sorts of people. Because you're smart and dedicated. Because you care. You care so much and have a heart as big as anyone that I know, and I can't think of anyone else I'd want to represent me. Also," she adds, almost as an afterthought, "you've met me. Do you really think it's a good idea for me to handle stuff like this myself?"

"..."

"Hey."

"Kidding. I think you would just do fine, but I'd be honored if you want my help," you tell her, smiling when she claps her hands in delight.

"Great! And if it makes you feel any better, Urawa felt the same way when Ami sweet talked him into being counsel. Umino's going to get the same chat too, so don't you cheat and try to warn him!"

You draw your hand to your mouth in exaggerated horror. "I would never," and before you know it you're both giggling away like you're back in junior high, like you're UsagiandNaru waiting for the final bell to ring and set you free to wreak havoc upon the world. Or the Game Center, whichever.

"Thank you, Naru," and you look at a happy Usagi as she rises from her seat, every inch the regal queen and yet still unmistakably the girl you've called friend for so, so long. "We've come a long way, haven't we?"

You have. You really have.

She steps forward, drawing you into a hug that only she can give; warm, gentle, and filled with love.

When she finally lets you go and throws up her hands with a resigned shrug and a sour expression, you know that duty's calling. "Should I leave you to it?"

"I'd rather you didn't, but I think you have to."

She smiles one last time as she sees you off, waving goodbye in a way that you remember all too well. "Bye, Naru! See you later, okay?"

You smile back, your heart full, and you know that the future's in good hands.

"Yeah! See you later, Usagi! Or should I make that your majesty?"

"On the clock? Absolutely. When it's just us? Don't you dare," she declares, laughing in spite of herself as you blow her a playful kiss and stroll out the door.