Chapter 23

Aftermath

Four days passed following what happened at the Higurashi Shrine. Usagi was walking to school as she collected her thoughts. Miroku, Shippo and Sango have decided to assume reasonability over the Higurashi Shrine as its caretakers until Kagome and Inuyasha returned…IF they returned. Ami was left in a cationic state over Hitomi's supposed death and heartbroken. Usagi was unable to tell if Ami would ever recover emotionally from her loss, but even if she did…those events would scar her for the rest of her life.

Usagi continued down the street as she was met by Luna as she leapt down from a nearby wall to Usagi's left. "Usagi…you're surprisingly early to school." Luna commented as she noticed that Usagi had left for school on her own with about twenty to thirty minutes to spare.

"I just wanted to use the extra time for some privacy."

"I see" Luna replied sadly. "Have you heard anything new about Ami?"

"She has been in her room ever since Hitomi, Inuyasha and the others disappeared into the well. Her mom told me that she has been quiet ever since."

"Do you think she'll be herself ever again?"

"I don't know Luna, and even if she became her normal self again…I don't think she'll be unable to love anyone else again. Hitomi holds a portion of her heart and he always will."

"Despite all that has happened…Ami still loves him."

"Yeah…Luna do you think her future self is really happy in the future? Hitomi wanted to kill me so he could free Ami from her destiny as a Sailor Soldier. He found out that Ami had been killed during our final battle against Queen Beryl, and believes that Ami is unhappy in the future."

"I see…Arael read your mind."

"Yeah and he even probed Chibi-usa's mind as well."

"Do you think it's true?"

"I don't know, but maybe…after what happened I'll do whatever I can to make sure what Hitomi said about Ami being unhappy will be false from this day on."

"Regardless if it's true or not?"

"Regardless" Usagi replied with a smile.

"Do you think Hitomi and the others survived?" Luna asked.

"I don't know, but if I had to guess…I am willing to bet they did."