Title: A Kiss In The Dark
Author: Princess Destiny
Email: In Profile
Author's Homepage: destinysgateway DOT com
Rating: M 15+
Summary: 'One Hour Challenge' #1 and 657 Combined: Response Fanfic. Eleven years ago, Mamoru's father married Usagi's mother. It's now almost Usagi's sixteenth birthday and she has to juggle her secret life as Sailor Moon, on top of school and a job at Motoki's shop. Her life is turned even more upside down when she begins to suspect the masked hero she is falling in love with is actually her awful step-brother!
Genre: Romance/UST/Comedy/Adventure/Action/Angst
Couple: Usagi/Mamoru
Category: SMTK
Chapters: 15/?
Status: Unfinished
Year Completed: N/A
Size: 343 KB

Comments: Hi everyone! I spent a lot of detail on the emotional scene in this Chapter, as I knew it would be a turning point between the two characters. I've also hinted strongly at how the marriage between their parents stand and about Ikuko's knowledge of her children's alter egos.

Overall Story Plot (Since some of you asked for it. I realise it's been a while since you've read the previous Thirteen Chapters. :): Kenji and Ikuko married eleven years ago, making Usagi and Mamoru step-siblings. Usagi is turning sixteen soon, and Mamoru is currently seventeen. They both go to the same school. The teenagers have a close relationship, which is pretty much their first season relationship of 'Odango Atama' and 'Jerk', but they've been hiding some feelings inside that have been growing there for a few months, thanks to the souls of Endymion and Serenity interfering. The two can't quite get over the fact that they were reincarnated as siblings, and are trying to get the two to have romantic feelings for each other.

All seems happy until Usagi gets injured in battle. Mamoru tends to her, only to realise she might be Sailor Moon-which he later talks himself out of. Usagi, thanks to a mischievous hair-dyeing prank, has figured out that her step-brother is Tuxedo Kamen. She spies on Mamoru and re-injures her wound, which makes Mamoru angry. To get him to forgive her, Usagi buys him a present and has her alter ego deliver it for her. As she kisses his cheek, Mamoru turns his head to the side so that it will turn out to be a real kiss.

Mamoru's thoughts have been betraying the fact that his family isn't the perfect one they're trying to portray. Kenji is cheating on Ikuko with another woman. These trips usually happen in august, so Mamoru's birthdays have never been spent with Ikuko and Usagi, perhaps on purpose on Kenji's part. Kenji and Ikuko are currently having private arguments and fights, which accidentally came out into the open when Mamoru and Usagi captured a robber and ended up at the police station. Their parents weren't impressed!

Review Response: The 'two years' was a typo and it was supposed to be eleven years since the two families became one. When it said the 'two girls birthdays', I was referring to Ikuko and Usagi's and the fact that Kenji's business trips coincided with their birthdays. Mamoru's birthday happens when the two are on their business trips also. The trips and Kenji cheating will be explained later on. They were meant to only be a hint at this stage, but a lot of you wanted to know, so there you go. Oo

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A KISS IN THE DARK

By Princess Destiny

Chapter Fifteen

Her lips pressed firmly against his own and they both froze for a long moment. It was like...fate, or something. Warmth spread through their limbs.

Sailor Moon's breath hitched and she sucked in air desperately through her nose as shock and fear filled her system. Her first impulse was to jerk back because of who was kissing her, but he put a possessive hand on the back of her neck to keep her there and the other went about her waist. She tried hammering her fists on his chest, but he only moved closer, pinning her legs against the side of the bed. She felt like she was going to fall onto her butt, and her hands grasped at him hesitantly. If she fell, she was sure he would fall on top of her, which would make the situation even worse.

'Oh god! Oh god, Mamoru is kissing me!' She thought frantically. This was wrong, so very wrong. He didn't know who he was kissing! She clenched her fingers around the belt loops on his slacks, reluctant to touch the warmth of his body. It would make this act even more intimate.

After a while, her mind started to go hazy, as the warmth of his lips seeped into hers. Despite his stopping her from escaping, his kiss was actually quite gentle. Disbelief and anxiety making her breath erratic. She had never been kissed before, and the need to breath seemed to be a real problem. But-it felt...good. Nice. Exciting! His breath tasted like coffee and other intimate things.

Sailor Moon found that she was relying on pure sensation. His hand hot on the back of her neck, the other about her waist to hold her close, his lips firm and soft, the way his eyes had closed as if he were enjoying this. His lashes were really long for a guy. And although he was a tall man, he had bent over her in a perfectly natural way so that his lips met hers.

This was Tuxedo Kamen. How many times had she stared at his face while being rescued and held in his arms, and wondering how it would feel to be kissed by him? Now, she knew. Sailor Moon went slowly limp as another kind of feeling flooded her. It felt comforting and exciting all at the same time.

In the first minute of exploration, her eyes slowly closed, and she completely forgot that it was her step-brother kissing her...

Mamoru wasn't letting her escape so easily! There would never be another chance to kiss Sailor Moon. He was a little ashamed of having stopped her first impulse to yank herself from his arms, but simply putting a hand on the nape of her neck firmly. The hand on her waist was a selfish move on his part, but he had always wanted to feel her curves front on. Carrying her in his arms just wasn't the same, although equally arousing.

She struggled a little, pushing against his chest, but then she seemed to go limp. He was only half-aware that he had trapped her lower body against the mattress of the bed. To his surprise, he felt small hands raise in response as she felt off balance. Her fingers fluttered over the shirt at his waist, as if unsure whether to touch him, and then they grasped his belt loops and held on for dear life.

Sailor Moon's taste was sweet, and her soft exhales on his lips were very arousing. The hair under his fingertips was like warm silk and his hand wrapped a little more firmly to about the back of her head. The blonde's body was flush up against his, and he could almost feel every curve. He momentarily cursed the large bow that was blocking her generous breasts pressing deliciously against his chest. She even smelt good! Like vanilla and strawberries. Oh god, he was such a horny guy, thinking this while having his first kiss with her. She was young too, most likely too young to do the sort of things he had dreamed of doing with the girl he liked one day.

Mamoru wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad one that she was no longer fighting and seemed as enthralled with him as he was with her. But when he felt her lips soften under his, he increased the pressure of their kiss slightly. He didn't kiss her deeply, as he would have liked, but merely kept their lips together, with an occasional butterfly movement along over lower lip with his. Excitement was spiralling through his body, making him wish he had done this a lot sooner.

Everything felt so surreal... Sailor Moon's lips parted slightly and she felt herself responding. When he brushed his bottom lip against hers, she tentatively returned the gesture. His arms tightened about her, as he sensed her acquiesce, but he made no move to deepen the kiss, for which she was grateful. She had seen the movies on TV and knew how a passionate kiss was done. But he kept it gentle and almost tender. Not letting her free, but not forcing her either. The sensation of his kiss was exquisite.

A long perfect moment where both their eyes closed and they leant into each other. Something familiar beat at the back of their minds, as if they had done this before and a memory was fighting to be lose. A couple kissing under the moonlight of a great palace; a forbidden love.

But then footsteps on the stairs down the hall broke into their lull and then then panic suddenly set in for the both of them, making their bodies jerk back from the kiss. For different reasons.

Sailor Moon's blue eyes fluttered open, as if she had been lost in a deep sleep. The first thing she saw was her step-brother's gaze a few centimetres away, their lips almost touching. She flinched as if he had struck her, a deep horror seeping into her soul. She had done the ultimate taboo with him. Even if he had initiated it, she should have screamed or something, but hadn't! She had kissed him back!

Oh god, what if she hated him for being so bold? Mamoru's frantic eyes went to her face to see if she had taken his affection well. Okay, so it had been more a romantic thing... But the kiss had just seemed to be a completion of his relationship with her. One look into her ashen face told him all he needed to know.

'What's wrong with me?' She thought dazedly. Sailor Moon had not fought him very hard, and in fact, had completely forgotten who she had been kissing after a while!

The blonde shoved him back as if she had been scalded, her eyes enormous on her face. No, this wasn't happening! He-he- "What are you doing to me?!" She almost shrieked, feeling the blood leaving her face as reality intruded. Her gloved arms wrapped about her body protectively, and she took a few steps to the side, inching away from his overwhelming presence as if he would jump her again. She felt sick, and her heart ached. Even if she had just gotten a kiss from the guy who was Tuxedo Kamen, he was still Mamoru!

Looking into his bewildered, rather hurt expression, made it all the worse. He didn't know who he had just kissed, other than the fact that she was Sailor Moon and he liked her. A lot by the looks of it! She had to leave right now. And pretend all of this never happened. Mamoru had no idea she was the heroine he rescued, so she could go back out the window and wouldn't have to face him as Sailor Moon until the next battle. Facing him as Usagi was entirely another, awful, gut-wrenching, story. Although he wasn't aware of it, their relationship had now been destroyed.

She never wanted to lay down and cry her eyes out as much as she did in that moment.

"Umm, Sailor Moon, sorry about that," Mamoru said hesitantly, one hand reaching out for her. Something was very wrong, and it didn't make sense. They had an attraction between them as Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon, didn't they? When she shied back, he let his hand drop in defeat. He had meant for the kiss to happen of course, and it only confirmed that he definitely felt a lot for the young blonde girl. It was her horrified expression that made him apologise. She looked more than merely shocked, as a young girl would being kissed by a stranger for the first time. It was probably even her first kiss he had stolen.

No, she looked like...like... "It was that bad?" He winced, feeling like she had punched him in the gut. He had no previous experience with girls, but surely it hadn't been that terrible?

"I-I-" Sailor Moon covered her mouth and turned her head away. So many thoughts went through her mind right then. How soft his lips had been, that he had an obvious crush on her super-hero side, that he had made an absolutely devastating action towards her, and that he was her step-brother. Oh god, she felt very ill all of a sudden and only wanted to run away somewhere and curl into a ball. So much for her first kiss-or did it really count because it had been Mamoru?

Even...even if the world seemed to stop completely for a few seconds and everything seemed to be focused on them. As if the very cosmos had shuddered to a screaming half just for that event, she could not view it as anything but an utter disaster.

Oh god, she was such a fool. Usagi should have realised that an older guy would view her visit to his room at night as some sort of romantic liaison. She had brought a present from his sister, and then tried to kiss his cheek. She had known full well that Tuxedo Kamen had feelings for her alter-ego, but the blonde hadn't expected...this.

"I Have to go!" She told him frantically, the need to escape from this situation almost inducing a panic attack. For a moment, she thought that she might faint. Oh god, she had been kissed by the guy she considered a brother! How would she even face him again?

"Wait a minute. I'm sorry-" Her step-brother said, mortification and alarm filling him. What had he done? She didn't know he was Tuxedo Kamen, to her, he was just a stranger who's sister had asked her to take a conciliatory present. She would never talk to him again! Mamoru was just a loyal-very affectionate-fan in her eyes.

"I'm very sorry." He said humbly, reaching for her arm as she tried to turn for the window. She gave a yank, which jerked him off balance and he ended up gripping her arm stronger than intended.

Sailor Moon cried out in agony as his fingers dug deeply into her healing wound. He quickly let go when he realised what was happening, and they both gaped down at her arm. A brilliant red was beginning to spread out from under her white shoulder pad. "Oh, damn. That was healing nicely." She groaned, clapping a hand over the wound to stop the bleeding. She gave her step-brother an accusatory look from under her golden lashes. Hadn't he done enough damage with his lips and now he had to hurt her physically too? It was an accident, but a quite painful one.

But Mamoru wasn't even looking at her face to see her expression. His blue eyes were narrowed in disbelief on her arm.

"Your wound..." The upperclassman managed to get out through still lips. She was hurt in the same place as Usagi! Suddenly all his suspicions of the other day came flooding back. Things that had seemed coincidental. And things about Usagi that didn't quite appear normal for an ordinary girl-such as her running speed and her impressive flying leap onto the granny robber. Not to mention a very close resemblance in a few of Sailor Moon's features that he had never really connected to Odango Atama.

He eyed her with a horror equal to hers of a few minutes before. Things made a sudden, dreadful sense. If he was right, then he knew why Sailor Moon had looked like a sledge hammer had been smacked into her head after the kiss.

"I have to go. Mercury can re-bandage me!" The blonde girl said in a rush. Before he could make a move, she had rushed to the window and onto the ledge. She didn't dare look back at him as she grasped the roof and swung up onto it.

Seconds later, Sailor Moon was making her way to the roof of the house next door and then fleeing away from Mamoru as if her life depended on it.

"Odango?" He whispered, a hand reaching out for her futilely, as if touching her might give him some comfort or a clue as to why his world was shattering apart. But she was gone. Mamoru sank to his knees, all the energy in his body leaving him. He felt faint for the first time in his life, his migraine coming back with a vengeance and bile in the back of his throat. "Usagi, my god." He choked, covering his face with his hands. "I'm so very sorry."

They couldn't undo this damage!

Was his sister Sailor Moon? Had he just given his own step-sister a kiss that no brother should ever bestow? She was most likely utterly disgusted with him now. No wonder she had struggled so much. She had been frightened! Of him!

Mamoru had talked himself out of the explanation that she was the super heroine when she first showed him the wound, even though his gut told him the truth was right there before his eyes. It had seemed so unreal, so utterly an idiotic thought. Why would she be a heroine who battled monster? His little sister, who was so gentle and airheaded. There was no logic reason for a normal girl he had been close to for eleven years, to be a Sailor Senshi. He knew the Odango Atama more than anyone in the world...didn't he?

Sailor Moon had also been wounded, but what were the chances two girls who knew each other, would have been injured in the exact same spot? That looked similar, now the glamour had seemed to fall from his eyes? That had a strange cat who almost seemed freakishly intelligent. Oh, and three friends, who also seemed to have a double in the Senshi? He was officially a clueless moron. A molesting clueless moron!

Ami could have given him the exact odds on Usagi being Sailor Moon, he was certain, but right then only one million to one popped into his dazed mind.

He had deliberately kissed his own sister. Stopped her natural instinct to pull away when his lips had touched hers. Never mind that he had no idea it was her.

Mamoru tried to analyse his rioting emotions, but there were far too many to handle right then. He felt angry, and betrayed, and excited, no wait-that couldn't be right. He was revolted at the very thought! But her lips had been so soft, and for a moment, they had softened under his own. She had responded in kind... "No, no, no!" The dark-haired man shouted, clutching at his head and pulling on the hair until it hurt.

This wasn't happening!

'Endymion, go to sleep.' A soothing voice murmured into his ear. A moment later, to his complete astonishment, he lay down on his bed and did exactly that.

Ikuko's hand dropped away from her son's door. She had heard part of the conversation going on inside and it had stopped her from interfering. Mamoru and Usagi-what was going on? He had sounded so completely anguished before thing had gone quiet. She was loath to spy on them both, but had to know if things were okay. It wasn't her business, even if she was their mother.

To her surprise, when she carefully slid the door open, her handsome son was asleep on the bed, and there was no sign of her daughter. The blue haired woman slowly shut the door again, wondering if she was going nuts. She had clearly heard an argument-or something more intimate and damning-from that room only a minute before. Right?

And then the gaping window, with it's curtains flying wide in the evening breeze flooded her mind. She had taken it in before the door had completely shut. Oh, so that was how it was. For a few seconds, concern filled her when she recalled that there was no tree outside Mamoru's window. 'She won't be hurt.' Their mother put a hand on her cheek and smiled foolishly.

'Usagi, my god. I'm so very sorry.'

His words came back to her as she turned around to make her way downstairs. "Mamoru, what have you done?" Ikuko said softly, regret in her eyes. She was their mother, but there was only so far they would let her into their lives. If she was correct, then something terrible had happened to their relationship-and there wasn't a thing she could do.

She almost ran right into Shingo, who was standing behind her with an uncertain expression in his eyes. "Are Usagi and Mamoru fighting?" He whispered, slipping his hands into hers. "Like you and dad?"

The look in her son's eyes was almost scared. Ikuko swore softly and knelt down before him. "Shingo, you hear dad and I arguing sometimes?" She asked him, dreading the answer. And they thought they had been so careful, only having their discussions after the three children were in bed. But Shingo's room was right next to theirs. She should have realised sooner that he might have heard through the walls.

"Darling, I'm so sorry." She whispered back, putting her arms about him in a tight hug. Shingo was Kenji and hers child, not like Usagi and Mamoru. Mamoru had come to live with them from Kenji's first marriage. And Usagi had been hers and that of her first husbands, before Kenji. He was also the youngest, so of the three, he would be the child hurt the most by hearing his parents fight.

"Usagi and your brother, well, they're just having some difficulties right now, like your dad and I," The blue-haired woman said carefully. It was hard to say how much Shingo would actually understand if she went into detail. "They're at a difficult age when their likes and dislikes are changing. Mamoru's a guy too, and seventeen, so he's viewing is quite different from Usagi's." Alright, maybe he understood that much.

She smiled into her son's wide eyes. "You know those two like to fight with each other, not to mention their little pranks."

"It's a prank thing?" Shingo breathed in relief. He scowled. "Those two!" Of course, that didn't mean that he wasn't feeling left out sometimes, so he made sure to prank the Odango Atama sometimes himself. Like throwing water over her in the morning when she wouldn't wake up for school.

"Go to bed now, I'll be in a little later to check on you." His mother said gently, getting to her feet and pushing him down the hall. When he had reluctantly entered his room and shut the door, she turned towards Usagi's room. Her daughter was probably going to be late coming home, since there was no sign of her in her bedroom, or the downstairs living areas.

Their mother went back to setting the table, and she sat there with a cup of tea to wait for one of her family to show their face.

Luna came in through the back door cat-flap right then, and she halted, looking rather guilty for a cat. If she had been a girl, Ikuko would have been scolding her right then for coming in so late. The cat's face somehow reflected this.

"Hello Luna," Ikuko said tiredly. "Just the right person I wanted to talk with." For some reason, their talks always made her feel better. Even though the cat never participated, and just listened with bright red eyes. More and more, this feline had become her only companion. Her children had their own lives, and Kenji was drifting away more every day. The visit to the police station had finally showed their children that the marriage was not a perfect one.

The small black cat hopped onto a chair and gave a questioning meow. Ikuko was unhappy again, she could tell. And she had figured out, or sensed, that Luna was no ordinary cat. She was the woman's only confidant, which made her both pleased and depressed. If only she could talk to Usagi's mother! She had problems too.

"Something happened between Usagi and Mamoru just now. Something terrible happened between them. My daughter left by his window." Ikuko murmured. "Unfortunately, Shingo also heard some of it."

Luna's red eyes went huge and she almost fell off of her chair. The fur on her back bristled however, even though a 'what?!' was fighting to be free from her lips.

"I raised them as brother and sister, but sometimes I wonder...if once they grew up, they started to view the close relationship between them as something...different." The blue-haired woman's eyes were somewhat defeated and sad. "They know they aren't really related, but they're far too young for a change of heart. I can't approve." She sighed. "But Kenji and I may one day not be together any more."

'Divorce?' The cat almost bit her tongue in half with the effort not to screech in indignation and demand a full account of what had happened. Of course, Usagi's mother had spoken to her about 'that other woman' a few times. But right now, the problem was her children... Ikuko had mentioned many times before that they were not really related and might one day change their view of each other. But the fact that it might have already happened was a shock.

"I'm their mother and I love them both." Ikuko said, covering her face with her hands. Her shoulders shook for a long moment, before she straightened and took a sip of her tea. She looked directly at Luna, blue eyes hard. "I also know that they're both hiding a big secret." She stated calmly.

Usagi was Sailor Moon, and that was the secret Ikuko was most likely referring to. But Mamoru? What on earth was going on here? Luna hopped of off her chair and headed upstairs. Hopefully her charge was in her room, and they could have a long talk.

The binoculars dropped from Makoto's fingers limply, her mouth open so far in shock that Motoki stared. "Oh shit." She breathed.

"What?" He said, frowning. What had he missed when Makoto grabbed the binoculars from him. He tried squinting across the street, to no avail. When the girl merely sat there with a poleaxed look in her green eyes, he spoke more insistently. "What did I miss? I saw him grab her arm, but then you hogged the binoculars."

"He-he kissed her!" The Senshi of Jupiter gasped out, still in awe from what she had witnessed. A few moments later, the Senshi Leader practically threw herself out of the window and up onto the roof, where she proceeded to flee like her life was in danger. "Oh damn it." She said.

"Wh-at?" The blonde man was the one to gape this time, both from her words and from her actions. Makoto leapt down from the tree, feet finding the branches on the way down with familiar ease. As if she went to high places all the time, and leapt around on them. His mouth fell open when she didn't even pause to reply, but raced down the street at an impressive rate.

"Oh?" Motoki said curiously, staring from branch to branch, the to the Tsukino's rooftop, where Sailor Moon had briefly appeared. Hmm, were his suspicions well-founded after all? The girls were always disappearing in a hurry, and then Mamoru did, and later on there would be a report of a battle on TV. He was a reasonable guy, so he kept his thoughts to himself... But really, were they trying to give the game away?

Usagi had not appeared on scene of the crime, even after explaining her outlandish idea to her two friends. The blonde knew Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon had then appeared and clung like a spider to the side of the Tsukino's house, not to mention that she seemed very familiar with it's location. And now, after Mamoru had kissed her, she had fled and Makoto had followed.

"Oh." He gasped in realisation. Oh man, if Usagi was Sailor Moon, then Mamoru had just kissed his own sister. "Oh dear." Was an understatement, but being caught swearing like a pirate in a tree of a house for sale wasn't his idea of a good time. Motoki peered through the branches to his best friend's window. There was no movement inside. Should he knock on their door and find out how the poor guy was doing?

That was if he had also figured out just who he had smooched. The repercussions were just scary. Poor, poor Usagi. She had only wanted to give a special gift to her grumpy step-brother, hand-delivered by his favourite super-hero. Damn, Motoki would have paid good money to have actually viewed the kiss. Only, Makoto had been greedy and wanted to see right that minute.

The blonde man climbed down the tree with legs gone numb from sitting so long. He brushed off his pants, gave a regretful look towards Mamoru's house, and then headed home. Somehow, he thought that his company would not be wanted right now.

Prince Endymion gazed into the fog surrounding the ruins of the Moon Palace, his fists clenched. As things had happened to his future self, he had experienced them also. Serenity had told Mamoru to sleep, because he had almost had a mental break-down, but as Usagi was still awake, she could not join him here in the dream realm. No, he would have to wait for her. And it was driving him insane.

This was a huge disaster, and that was putting it mildly. His love's idea had gone terribly wrong, and he honestly didn't know how to fix things. It had been partly Serenity's idea about the rose, but it had been all her fault about the visitation as Sailor Moon. The two just weren't ready for a romance to bloom between them.

"It most certainly was all Mamoru's impulses that went awry this time." Unfortunately, Endymion had a lesser hold on his future self's soul, than the Moon Princess did on hers. Even if he had seen the kiss coming, he would have done just the same-and only watched. He could do no more.

"How on earth do we fix this problem, Mamoru?" He asked softly, knowing that his future self was partly aware of his presence. When he was asleep, that is. "If I share my memories of her, will this change things? And if Serenity does the same...?"

No, it would most likely make things worse, given that Mamoru was now aware that the girl he had some feelings for, was his own sibling. Coming to terms with this fact would test anyone's sanity.

The Prince sank down on a stone bench and awaited the arrival of his Princess. They had much to discuss.

To Be Continued...

Write me if you liked! Comments are adored and much appreciated.

The next Chapter will be out in a couple of days. What I was aiming for in this Chapter was to show that underneath Usagi and Mamoru's bantering, their parents loving relationship and the duties of the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen, that there was a lot of hidden conflicts. Ikuko knows Kenji has been cheating, Kenji is barely home, Shingo knows that they fight, Usagi and Mamoru are finding their relationship strained. It's very different from the first view I gave you all, but nothing is ever straight and narrow in real life.

Please don't forget to check out my Archives 'Destiny's Gateway Romance Fanfiction Archives'. We're a 'Couples' Fanfiction Archive, pure romance in any rating and always with a happy ending. Our Sailor Moon section is quite extensive and growing daily. We would love you to come on over and have a read and even submit your own Fanfiction there. :) The link can be found in my Profile, so just click on my pen name above this Chapter and come on over. All of my Fanfiction is up there, and I've written over 135 Fanfics.

Hugs,
Princess Destiny