13
Usagi and Mamoru walked down the sidewalk together as it started to snow. They were going out to dinner since the next day was her eighteenth birthday. He knew that he wouldn't get the time he wanted to celebrate alone with her so he decided to the night before.
He lead her into a nice restaurant. The place was elegant and seemed like it would be expensive. It was all right since she was dressed up, she just didn't know if he could afford it. They were led to their table which sat by the window. Once seated, they were handed their menus.
Usagi looked up at Mamoru. His face was glowing from the fire burning before him that came from the lit candle. He had gotten pretty much back to normal since that morning that she had gotten the call from Rei about Hideo, but he had been a little protective over her. She wanted to talk to him about that, but figured that she better gradually lead up to that.
"Isn't this place a bit expensive?" she asked.
Mamoru looked up from his menu and chuckled. "Don't think I can afford it?" he asked.
Usagi rolled her eyes and laughed. That laugh slowly faded to a look of concern. "Can you?" she asked.
"I've saved up some money," he told her. "Besides, like it or not, this is an important birthday for you. Tonight you go to bed Usagi Tsukino, tomorrow you wake up Neo Queen Serenity," he said.
The title itself was a bit ominous to her. As much as she was excited, she was scared. What if she wasn't ready yet? What if everything went wrong? Not to mention the fact that Queen Beryl might be there. Then there were the premonitions that Rei had had. There was just too many things that could go wrong.
"Mamo-chan?" she asked changing her state to completely serious. "Are you okay? I mean, lately you've seemed," she paused to gather how she wanted to word what she had to say. Her blue eyes were glittering in the orange glow. "I guess nervous," she said.
Mamoru looked up at her with surprise. He had been expecting to hear a lot of things, but that was not one of them. "How?' he asked.
Usagi turned and looked out the window as people passed by in the gently falling snow. "Ever since the morning that I found you sitting by the wall instead of in bed. You have been more protective since then," she explained trying to be as careful with his feelings as she possibly could. He just looked down. Usagi sighed and leaned forward. "Is there something that I should know about?" she asked.
Mamoru looked up. Her face was so angelic, so innocent. How could he even consider telling her that he felt something was wrong. As much as hated to tell her, he hated to keep things from her more. This was something important to her, and she needed to know. "Look," he said grabbing her hands from across the table and leaning in. " I don't want to scare you, but I kept having this dream. It was of me, me killing you. I was kneeling over you with a sword," he said sounding like he was on the verge of panicking.
Usagi started to cry as she looked away. She was angry and afraid, yet, she never once let go of his hands. There was no way that they could be torn apart that easily. "I know," she quietly whimpered. "I know" she repeated as she turned back to face the man sitting across from her. "Rei told me. She had the same dream."
"What do you think it means?" Mamoru asked. Usagi simply shook her head. "I don't know," she said. "All I do know is that I can't lose you again. I can't do it."
"I'm not going to let you," he said trying to reassure her. Although, right now was the hardest time to try that. Right now, she was scared and nervous and he was trying to tell her that he will keep his promises to her. "Usagi, listen to me," she did what he told her. "We've been through rough patches before, and I've done a lot of things that I'm not proud of, but we'll make it through this."
Usagi forced a small smile and gripped his hands even tighter. "Okay," she said trying her hardest to actually believe him. She knew that he was going to try, but that didn't always mean that everything would be okay. There was something about to happen and she was beginning to feel that it was out of their control.
That night, they walked back into the empty apartment. It was hard for her to believe that the next day, everything could change. Right now, everything was so calm and peaceful, it was hard for her to imagine having it turn to complete chaos.
Mamoru sat down on the couch and looked over at her as she stood by the coat hanger. "Come here," he said as he motioned for her to take the seat next to him. Usagi bowed her head shyly walked over to him. Looking up and smiling at him, she felt his arm around her shoulders. "I gave you your birthday gift already, now I don't have anything to give you," he said.
Usagi smiled and looked down at her hand. "It's okay. You took me out to dinner and wouldn't let me see the bill. I think that's enough," she said. Slightly laughing, she turned and kissed him on the lips. Mamoru returned the gesture by devilishly grinning and wrapping his arms around her. Usagi turned to face him. Mamoru changed his position so that he would be laying back on the couch and she would be kneeling over him. They started out passionately kissing. Mamoru then went to grab her shirt as she went to un button his. As soon as he had her shirt half way off, the phone rang causing them to both jump and land on the floor.
Usagi sighed as she sat up and pulled her shirt back down over her body. "I'll go get it," she said sounding disappointed.
Mamoru chuckled. "I'll be right here," he called out as she walked away.
Usagi made her way to the phone and picked the receiver up. "Hello?" she asked. Her face dropped as she closed her eyes in regret. "Hello mother," she said with annoyance. As her mother spoke, she turned and looked back at Mamoru. Tears started to swell in her eyes. "Well you won't see me there," Usagi argued and then hung up the phone.
"Usako?" Mamoru asked.
Usagi's muscles tightened. She then walked out into the living room and stood before him. Her face full of angst and guilt. Mamoru saw her fists clenched at her sides and stood up. He walked over and comfortingly grabbed her shoulders. "Usako?" he asked again trying to get something out of her. All he heard was that it was her mother and that she wouldn't be there. He was thinking that it had something to do with that man that they had gotten for her to marry.
Usagi looked up to him with tears of frustration beginning to stream down her cheeks. "It wasn't Hideo, it was my parents," she stated causing him to question her. "It was my parents! Damn it! Those aren't my parents and they haven't been my parents since that night I came here! Mamo-chan! She asked me how I could be Queen if I didn't even stand up to her!" she cried out with anger and resentment. Mamoru stepped back as his eyes widened with realization and shock. "She's been planning this a lot longer then I even thought," she said as she fell to her knees.
Mamoru knelt down before her as she cried into her hands. He rested on one hand as he laid the other on her arm. There was nothing that he could even think of to say at the moment. "You know that you can fight her. I mean, you've done it before," he said trying to be reassuring.
Usagi slowly lifted her head up from her hands and looked to him with despair. "The first time obviously didn't work. Now I'm going to have to put every one through that again because I had to fail the first time," she said. She looked off to the side towards the window and watched the snow for a minute. Turning back to him, she could see the sympathy in his eyes. "Mamo-chan. I've got to go," she announced.
"Well, okay," he said as he started to help her up. Usagi grabbed his hand and pulled him back down.
"No, I have got to go, alone," she explained.
"But Usako," he protested.
She could see the pain in his eyes. The betrayal, guilt, it was all there. Feeling bad, she grabbed his hand. "Don't you see? It's ME! ME that she wants! She also wants you, but I can't let that happen. Not again. And I'm not going to pull every one else through this. Besides, why else do you think you and Rei were having those dream? She wants you and she wants me, but mostly me, and that's all she'll get if she gets anything at all," she said.
This had certainly been a huge step for her. Most times, she would hate to be alone, but this time, it was alone or nothing. There were no other choices and no one was going to change her mind. Usagi turned and saw Luna observing the situation. "Luna, go home and get me my crescent wand. I still have it along with the crystal. I keep it in a shoe box in the bottom of my closet," she said. "I can't risk them finding it," she announced. Luna nodded and then headed out to get it. Usagi turned and watched her leave and then turned all her attention back to the man in front of her. Her expression was now completely serious. "Mamo-chan," she said.
"Yes?" he asked not really wanting to hear what she had to say next out of fear.
"I need you to keep every one here while I take the crown. I can't risk having any one there. I'm also going to go get my parents back. I need you to watch over all of them," she said.
Mamoru hated having her go off on her own like that, but knew that she wouldn't have it any other way. He also knew how important to her it was to keep everyone else out of it. As far as she was concerned, this was an old matter between her and Queen Beryl, and it was going to stay that way. "All right," he said in defeat.
Usagi smiled as she sat up and kissed him. "Thank you," she said and then got up and went into the bedroom.
Mamoru sat there. "Any time," he said wondering if he really did the right thing.
I know, I know, I said that this one would be about her birthday, but I got another idea while I was writing this and thought that it wouldn't hurt to put it off for one more chapter. I hope you liked it. I would like to thank every one who has reviewed and I would also encourage you to review and tell me what you thought about it.