A/N: WOW! Wish I had more to say than that, but yeah… WOW! Thank you so much for your all of your encouragement, it's hard to explain how receiving even a single review makes you feel like you can do just about anything. I'm so glad you're all (still) enjoying the story, and I hope to keep it up. PS, I just re-read my prologue and first chapter, and am SO SORRY about all the grammatical and technical errors. I used to have a beta once upon time, probably should get that going again...
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the rights to Sailor Moon, I just owe Naoko Takeuchi my first born.
Chapter 2
"UUUUUSAGI-CHAAAAAAAAAN," a sing-songy voice yelled out, catching the young blonde's attention and causing her to turn around and stop from walking out of the school gates. Her eyes widened, it was Osaka Naru.
"Naru-chan!," Usagi exclaimed as Naru ran up to her, grabbing both of her hands with her own. Usagi's eyes brightened at the contact. It had felt like such a long time ago since she had last spent time with the sweet-natured brunette, especially since she became a senshi. But Naru never treated her any differently,
"Usagi-chan! Juuban is starting a joint manga club with that super fancy prep school in Mugenzu! We have to join! Please? It'll be so much fun, and it only meets once a week!" Naru rushed, immediately implementing her "starry-eyed puppy dog" face that she knew Usagi could never resist. Naru broke her hands away to put a rumpled flyer into Usagi's hands.
Usagi immediately began getting starry eyes of her own, imagining her and Naru in those chic Mugen Academy uniforms (do you think they'll let us borrow them), reading manga and drawing with some of Tokyo's elite artists.
Catching onto Naru's excitement, Usagi couldn't help but nod cheerfully, bouncing along with her friend who immediately started chatting about what to wear for the first meeting next Wednesday. Wait… Wednesday?
The bouncing came to a sharp halt.
Naru noticed that Usagi had stopped jumping with her and slowed down too. "Usagi-chan?" she questioned, though Naru had a sneaking suspicion she knew what was about to happen.
"I have a weekly study group with Ami-chan, Mako-chan, Minako-chan, and Rei-chan on Wednesday. I'm so sorry, Naru-chan," Usagi wailed, feeling the frustration of her secret senshi meetings and her interactions with Mamoru bubble up to the surface.
"Do... do you think you could try and move the study group? I just really miss you, Usagi-chan… We used to do everything together, and there's so much I haven't gotten to tell you," Naru-chan gently pleaded, and the blonde felt so much love for her friend continuously trying to make space for their friendship.
"Hai. I'll be there next Wednesday, and I'll try to get the study group moved. You can count on me, Naru-chan," Usagi said resolutely before grabbing her friend in a fierce hug. I promise not to take our friendship for granted, Naru-chan. You keep me human.
"Oh no, I'm running late to meet Mamo-chan! I'll talk to you soon Naru-chan!" Usagi exhaled before running out the school gate as she had initially planned, leaving Naru behind with a sweatdrop on her forehead. Some things never change…
Mamoru felt himself pacing around the living room, preparing a minimum of five different speeches that would undoubtedly get Usagi to believe that Keio's undergraduate medical program was incredibly rigorous and he had to devote all of his time to it.
That isn't even a lie, he noted as he looked over at the stack of heavy textbooks that lay on his study desk. He pulled his reading glasses off for the umpeenth time to rub them awake, and pulled on his unruly dark locks for good measure.
He had to make sure Usagi believe anything other than the truth. That's because she would never let you keep doing this to yourself if she knew the truth.
For the longest time, Mamoru would dream about his past. Not his past as in Mamoru, but the past as Prince Endymion of Earth.
He would have countless dreams involving his nefarious moon princess, memories of the illicit romance they had shared together as the universe's most forbidden couple. He would wake up in a sweat, his lips feeling just as bruised as they had in his dreams. When he would walk Usagi to school in the morning, sometimes he'd have to think of anything other than what she was saying to fight the redness crawling up his neck.
But the past month or so, the dreams had changed and changed drastically. Instead of dreams from the past, he felt like he was having dreams of the future.
They would all start off in such a tender manner, Mamoru's heart would feel close to bursting: Usagi dressed in an extravagant white gown walking towards him down an aisle; his head in a giggling Usagi's lap as they laid in their new bed as man and wife, Usagi with an adorable sized bump as she demanded Mamoru go get her favorite ice cream filled Taiyaki (a festival treat that would be impossible to find at one in the morning); Usagi, Mamoru, and their perfect little creation (my dream self is certainly creative enough to give her strawberry-milk-pink curls) holding each other in the hospital suite.
Each of these moments all destroyed with a scream that in turn destroyed him - the only family he had to protect, gone. Were they visions? The dreams of the past were… how do I stop this from happening?
But Mamoru had never gotten that far as to figure it out. Between school, the weekly senshi meetings that he became a part of, and his dreams, it felt most logical to him to deal with it on his own. As he always had. He needed to protect Usagi, even if it meant from himself. He knew he had to figure it out soon, because even the senshi could sense something was changing, but no one could put a finger on it. I always feel so close to finishing the dream, but I never get to it.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
The impatient sounds coming from his door snapped Mamoru out of his thoughts, and he immediately steeled himself to prepare. Must not break down when she cries. Must not break down when she cries,
He opened the door swiftly, prepared to give part one of his speech, but faltered as soon as he saw his young love in the doorway.
He had forgotten she had told him about the physical changes she was experiencing as a part of getting her memories back. She had always been fair and petite, and yet somehow those features had been amplified a tenfold. Her milky skin now almost had a pearlescent quality about it and her small body looked angular and lithe, even under the loose fit of her school uniform. And when he reached the blues of her eyes and the jam-stained hue of her lips, he felt like he was back in those dreams that gave him such pleasure instead of such pain. When did she get so beautiful? She looks just like Princess Serenity.
"Usako," he murmured, hoping his voice sounded more gentle than the croak it felt like coming from his throat.
She gave him a tentative smile as she walked into his apartment, and he noticed that yet again she did not give him a kiss at first sight like she usually did. Have I been taking it for granted? He longed for the days that she would barrel into him for a hug and a kiss, hands immediately intertwined and a smile that lit up all the lonely caverns of his mind.
He followed her small form into the living room, and seemed perplexed when he sat down and she chose to keep standing up. He moved to join her, but she waved her hand impatiently.
"Please, please keep sitting. I really do promise not to take up a lot of time," Usagi explained, and Mamoru knew he wasn't doing a good job of fighting the pained look. He truly did not realize how good of a liar he was, even to the love of his life.
"I want to say I'm sorry," she blurted, feeling silly as she bowed - a move that came out of habit when she had to sincerely apologize. Usagi raised her torso up to see Mamoru's plainly confused expression. If the circumstances weren't so dire, she might have even laughed at the way his mouth hung open.
"I'm sorry because I've been holding us both to something that's been making you unhappy. I would never want you to feel forced into this relationship, just because we were something different in the past," Usagi explained, and if anything, her explanation only caused Mamoru's jaw to drop lower.
"Are you really going to make me say it?" Usagi seethed, not realizing that Mamoru's expression was born out of shock and not out of apathy.
"I think we should stop seeing each other."
Even though she whispered it, Mamoru heard the phrase as if she had screamed it in a megaphone loud enough for all of Minato to hear. What the hell is happening? He somehow managed to realize he had been silent this whole time, and extended his arm out to reach her only for her to recoil.
"You don't need to comfort me Mamoru-san. You deserve to be with someone who makes you happy - someone who won't fall asleep when you try to explain your studies or tries to take up all of your time," she said forcing herself to smile with cheer. I can be strong. I will not cry. And suddenly he was right in front of her, hands gripping on her shoulders none too gently.
"You make me happy, Usako. How could you even say that?" he nearly shouted, desperation seizing him with an intensity he wasn't even aware he possessed. Usagi clearly wasn't aware either as she looked back at him with shock.
She quickly shook her head and shrugged out of his now-loosening grip.
"Is it me that makes you happy, or Princess Serenity? You have to admit, we truly do not make any sense together and if it weren't for destiny, I don't think you'd even look my way," Usagi said, her words as hollow as she felt.
She needed to get out of there soon, or she would fully break down and beg for him to love her.
She grabbed his hand and looked at him carefully one last time.
"We'll always be Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask. Maybe we could even go back to Odango-Atama and Mamoru-baka?" she tried to tease, concentrating on their connected hand. In his moment of weakness, Usagi was able to see glimpses of Mamoru's visions before it felt like everything went to black.
She gasped, taking her hand back quickly even though he was the one who felt burnt. Not only did she see the visions he had been trying to hide from her, but she saw them while severing their bond. I can't feel her emotions at all?
"I have to go, I'll see you soon I'm sure," she murmured and then ran as fast as she could out of the apartment. Mamoru was about to scream in protest but instead held his fist so tightly, he could feel the indents in his skin.
How could this have gone so wrong so quickly?
