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Chapter Five: One Day of Serenity

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'I beg your pardon, but are you trying to ignore me?'

'….'

'I asked if there is something wrong.'

'….'

'Hmnph! I cannot believe I am so stubborn! No wonder Luna always seemed ready to scratch my eyes out when ever she insists I be the generous hostess!'

'…..'

'Fine. Be that way! See if I care. Just so you know I am about to kiss OUR Mamo-chan as if he is nev- ACKKKKK!'

'Move over—OW! Why you little! Hey!'

'Just becau—EEEP!!!THAT HURT!!!'

'HA! Got you! What do you say about that, you ingrate!'

'Pfffth…help me get the hair out of my mouth.'

'……'

'Thank you. HOW DARE YOU CALL ME AN INGRATE!'

'You are taking over my body. You said we are doing this so people can see I, ME, and MYSELF, is more than just a dumb blonde! Now you've just about given the Baka the grand honors of cutting us---ME! To shreds….YOU DOLT!'

'Hey!'

'That's it; you are going back to your tidy little corner. I'M COMING BACK!'

'I'd like to see you try.'

'Was that a threat?'

'You would think I would return not biting? I should hope you know yourself better than that. Now get your royal body off my royal body. IMMEDIATELY.'

'Geez…you have a voice louder than me…'

'HEY!'

'Okay, let's be rational. It's my body. Its mine. It's me. What's your excuse for keeping it?'

'I can spill all I know about our past life to you so fast, by the time you have placed me back and repressed me, you will never look at the moon, Mamo-chan, and the Sailor Warriors, the same way again.'

'That's not fair! THAT'S BLACKMAIL!'

'Hai!'

'You know what I think? I think you've been doing this for an awfully long time!'

'Oh, princess, you do not even want to remember all the mischief we caused in th—'

'HEY! HEY! HEY! I thought no mentioning of the past?'

'What is the point? You already seem to know more than you are letting on…'

'Yeah, but I got this feeling, ya know…that until I hear all the things you know, I get to forget them when you stay quiet again…Like I am forcing myself to forget…'

'Is it so horrible, to be complete? With all your memories intact? Do you fear the past, the future, that much…'

'Like you would understand…you have no clue how confused I am right now, and that's even before you popped in…'

'I beg pardon about that. If I could change destiny, I would have love that we did not need my memories, and simply make new ones…But I cannot control this. You cannot will it to change either…'

'…..'

'It is all right. We will get through this, I vow it. Now, let's give our beloved a goodbye kiss, shall we?'

'……'

'……'

'……'

'Don't you dare come near me!!!!'

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There was accusation in her aquamarine eyes. Mamoru saw it clearly, and he wondered why he felt so guilty because of it. He tried to rationalize, that perhaps, just maybe, Usagi felt he was leaving her here.

Which was exactly what he was about to do. Because being near her was hurting him right now. Her declaration had caused a dangerous wave of emotions that was slowly drowning him. Or making him fall, from a very high cliff…

Like falling in love.

His head jerked sideways at that thought. A brief image of his princess appeared, but she didn't seem overly concerned. Somehow, he felt she was cheering him on to follow those dangerous thoughts.

Mamoru's eyes travelled over Usagi's pale face and took note of the quivering lips. She was chewing the bottom lip, a habit she has, that he had noted a long time ago. He turned his gaze towards the three girls outside. They seemed to be waiting for them to come out; Rei looked fit for murder.

That didn't make him feel like leaving his precious package here. 'You were already having second thoughts about being parted with her,' his mind informed him. 'Be man enough to admit that, and not use three little girls as excused.'

Inside him, something winced. Three little girls…

His blue eyes scanned the woman- nay, girl, beside him. Fourteen…He kept forgetting that. Too young, too late. It still did not meant he want to let her go.

"Would you believe me, if I promise to come back for you?"

"When?" she whispered. Her hands, small and frail, were clutching the leather seat tightly. 'Please let him come back tonight… Not tomorrow…'

"Tomorrow, we can talk about all this."

Usagi shook her head. Closing her eyes tightly, she forced the tears back. It didn't work, for hot scalding tears seeped out, and flowed down her cheeks. "That won't work…It won't be me you'll see tomorrow…"

Mamoru frowned, trying to make sense of his own feelings. Somehow, his sarcastic voice was silent. The one that favored Usagi. He thought he knew why, but the idea was so absurd, he refused to acknowledge it.

His heart, his mind, his entire being, was screaming that somehow, the girl before him was not his Odango Atama. And while there was a simmering attraction inside him for this girl, he wanted the real deal. She was the same, but different. Altered, somehow…

More vulnerable to pain and rejection.

He couldn't hurt her like that. With a slow gesture, he leaned toward her, his eyes holding her steady. Mamoru took hold of Usagi's shoulders, drawing the girl nearer, and she seemed to melt against him. With a gentleness that he tried so hard to keep, he gave her the lightest, most chaste of kisses.

Usagi smiled as she felt Mamoru's lips make butterfly strokes on her own. The kiss was beautiful, a promise, of what he wanted the future to hold…except his kiss was not-

'Meant for me…'

'Wow, that felt, pretty nice…Hey, you think you can let me keep that? Not that I would cherish it or anything but…It was my first kiss and well…'

'You are lucky; you do know this, don't you?'

'Why do you say that?'

'Because… because, he was kissing you…not me.'

'……'

Mamoru felt something changed. The response was different, from a second ago. His heart felt it….It is Usagi now, he was sure of it. Hungrily he deepened the kiss, insistent for the girl's response. His mind spun into the oblivion for the softest, most delicious of explosion.

When they ended the kiss, the girl's face was unsure again. Her eyes were closed, and with a tenderness he had always wanted to share with the girl, he delicately brushed his knuckles on her creamy cheeks.

Usagi's eyes opened wide, and she took his own expression. Something was lurking in her baby blues, questions that she did not want answered. 'Come back…I can't handle this/ But he loves you…'

She scrambled away from the car, opening the door with trembling fingers. 'No, make it go away!' her mind screamed. She was confused…Nothing was making sense.

Mamoru felt her draw back from him, and he bit a loud oath. 'That is what you get, for playing her game…' his mind scathingly said.' Did you really think she meant it when she said I love you?' No, because, somehow, the declaration didn't really came from her, but from someone else.

His hands tightened on the wheel of his car. With a pained gaze, he gave Usagi a sad look, before igniting the engine. He would be damned if he gave the blonde the satisfaction of seeing him hurt.

His car turned the corner, away from the temple. Usagi, her hands trembling still, quietly touched her lips, feeling branded by his kiss…

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She stood, unsure as the car turned the corner. She wanted to call him back, yet at the same time, she wanted to hide away from him forever. Usagi was confused with the way her heart was hammering out of control. But more important, she felt her head splitting as a name kept screaming inside her mind. A name of a man she did not remember.

Usagi heard footsteps, and with relief turned toward her three friends. It was Makoto who reached her first, with her long strides. In seconds, she was embraced. Usagi let her body relax from her rigid stand and fall hopelessly back into the taller girl's frame.

Makoto felt Usagi sink into the hug. A part of her wanted to hear what happened after she was taken from the arcade, to demand that Usagi dish out the dirt on why she and Chiba-san were kissing just minutes before. From where she and the other two had been standing, the car's front window had been shockingly transparent.

With a grimace, she turned Usagi aside and gave her friend's shoulder a squeeze. "Don't worry," Makoto whispered. "She won't touch you, I promise."

Usagi gave her brown haired friend a teary smile, not fully grasping what Mako meant. The next she knew, she was placed protectively behind the girl's back, Makoto's bigger frame wary and alert.

"Look, Rei, I really don't think you should talk to Usagi right now. The two of you gotta calm down first." Makoto said pleadingly. Behind her, Usagi gasped in disbelief.

The blonde wanted to fall on the ground. 'Rei…How could I forget about Rei…Did she see the kiss?' she thought in silence. Suddenly, she wanted nothing to do with her friends. What ever was going to be said here today was bound to turn ugly. A part of her, the one that was somewhat calm despite her many blackouts and memory lapse seemed to know that now was not a good time for the miko to be superior in front of her. 'I might hurt her feelings…If I haven't already.'

Rei faltered slightly when she saw Makoto take an almost fighting stand in front of her. Over the past hour, she had been stewing and mostly just snapping at anything and anyone who dared to be in her way. Makoto more often than not was the receiving end because of the smart comments that the tall girl had been giving to her.

Indignant that Makoto would rather protect Usagi, than let the twit explain why she had been kissing Rei's man, the girl's purple eyes blazed. Usagi always get what she wanted. Including the better deal of Makoto's friendship…and Ami's too. Rei's lovely face hardened as she remembered how Tuxedo Mask had embraced Sailor Moon last night in battle. Oh yes, the blonde always get what she wanted.

"Look, Makoto, this doesn't involve you, so back off!" Rei snarled. She made a faking movement, and then tried to slip past her friend's guard, fully intent on confronting Usagi face to face.

Makoto's ponytail shook sideways as she shook her head. She knew that Rei needed to calm down for things to clear up, but if Rei persisted on this line of action, she would be forced to protect Usagi. Her brown eyes steeled in determination. She never knew nor can fully explain the need to make sure Usagi was always safe but that need had stayed strong as her friendship with the blonde continued. It wasn't that she loved Rei less, just something about Usagi's kindness that she found endearing. And something else…A sense of devotion that she never questioned.

Rei's anger was growing by the seconds. Of late, the fire senshi had begun resenting Usagi's role in their group. She was the most clueless of the four of them and yet it was to her that Luna had entrusted the Moon Wand. Luna explained it felt right somehow.

It made no sense to Rei. It wasn't that she didn't care for Usagi. In fact, the miko could still remember the friendly gesture that Usagi made in their first meeting. The next couple of days, she and Usagi formed a love hate relationship that she didn't share with the other two senshi.

This had bothered her so much, that she had continuously prayed in front of the sacred fire for guidance. The more she looked, the more she grew frustrated. Usagi was more than she let on, and this had caused her initial distrust on the blonde. She felt that Luna and Usagi were hiding something from the other three, as if the two, used to being together, trusted each other more.

Certainly, she never understood why despite Jupiter, Mercury and her own Mars' stronger attacks, it was always the blonde's tiara or her little wand that was the only one capable of killing a youma.

Frustrated, Rei had even tried to kill a youma with only Ami to help her, but it became clear that no amount of power blasting from her part would destroy the monster.

Then Sailor Moon had tripped to the scene, frisbeed her tiara and, poof, enemy gone. As easy as that.

Then, there was Tuxedo Mask. At the thought of him, Rei practically tried to rip Usagi out of Makoto's protective circle. But Makoto saw the action, and slapped her hand away.

"Why do you protect her?" Rei shrieked. "My, God! Am I the only one here who doesn't feel like she is lapping all the attention?"

Makoto swore. "Look, we don't know what happened, okay? Ami quit gaping there and say something!"

Mizuno Ami had been listening to the exchange with fear in her eyes. Over Rei's ranting, she had tried to explain in the arcade what she believed had happened. But the black haired girl hadn't been willing to listen to any thing she had to say, demanding instead that Ami start looking for Usagi via her mini computer.

Her dark blue eyes looked worriedly at her two friends. Biting her lips, she tried to weigh the situation, and resigned herself to openly calming the young priestess.

"Rei, come on. You know Usagi would never poach on your territory…" Ami soothed.

But Rei would have none of it. "Oh, shut up! Give me a break, huh? First, that twit acts all pathetic in battle, and then Tuxedo Mask comes along and saves her. She is doing it on purpose."

Makoto has had enough. With lightning movement, Makoto grasped Rei's arm and gave her a shove. "You better shut up right now, Rei, before you say something you'll regret."

Rei's face was mottled red in her anger. Her purple eyes were flashing fire as she pointed an accusing finger at Usagi. "But it's true! No wonder Tuxedo Mask ever has time for us. She hogs him all to herself." Rei felt tears beginning to drop from her eyes. "And now she wants my Mamoru. None of you can't tell me you didn't see her kissing him! She is such a drama queen, and she is manipulating everyone without us even knowing it!"

Ami frowned at Rei's outburst. She understood a little of what Rei was accusing, and she wanted to be fair. Of them four, only Rei was the one who had to attend a different school. Ami, Usagi and Makoto were all schoolmates. Rei's only chance to fully bond with Usagi were during their meetings and occasional outings as they searched for clue against the Dark Kingdom. The fiery miko never saw the Usagi who was flocked by nearly all her schoolmates almost every recess, or the large crowd of girls and boys who always whispered what a joy Usagi was.

With reprimand in her voice, Ami turned to Rei. "I think you should apologize. Usagi didn't deserve that comment, and you know it." She could feel Rei's anger being directed to her, but the overly shy genius kept her cool. "Makoto's right. You better stop and think for a while before you say anything damaging. And at the way you are now, the probability is large." She finished, frowning a little despite her wish to stay neutral.

All Rei saw were her friends backing up the girl who was kissing Mamoru minutes ago. With a catch in her voice, she turned viciously at Usagi. "What? Are you gonna cry again? Oh, look, little wittle Usagi is gonna cry again. For crying out loud, why don't you get a back bone and fight your own fight!" Her hands clenched, wanting to hurt someone so badly. "Can't you even take responsibility for once? YOU ARE PATHETIC!"

Behind Makoto, Usagi stiffened and closed her eyes.