ok ok! So I PROMISE you this wasn't supposed to turn out as angsty as it did but I also PROMISE YOU everything turns out okay jfc
"See? I was right, as usual," Minako said smugly, when Ami showed up at Rei's after school the next day with an exhausted looking Mamoru in tow.
"So you just up and left in the middle of the quarter?" Rei asked him, looking concerned.
Mamoru shrugged tiredly, rubbing his hand over his face. "I emailed my professors from the plane. I'll be getting notes and making up labs when I get back, but I should be okay."
"Well, hopefully you won't need to be in town for long," Ami said, "maybe just seeing your face will make Usagi remember you. This curse, for lack of a better word, was the dying power burst from a relatively weak dark energy so it shouldn't be too strong or binding."
"Are you sure she has memories to retrieve?" Rei said, eyebrows knitting as she put her hand to her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe they were literally erased, like gone fore-" she trailed off when she saw the look on Mamoru's face, "No, no but of course, they are probably just locked away! Like with you, after Beryl."
"Right," Makoto said, giving an encouraging fist pump. "And that turned out fine! Just like this will!"
"Okay, I made plans to go with Usagi to the park in an hour," Minako said, putting her communicator (which she had been studiously typing on during the whole conversation) back in her purse. "You be there, and introduce yourself."
"Yeah, okay," he said, rubbing his eyes.
"Remember, we want to be careful not to shock her," Ami said, "so we can't reveal anything about her relationship with you unless she does first."
"I went to her house yesterday while she was at Manga Club and I packed up all the photos and letters and anything that was obviously related to Mamoru," Makoto said. "So, that's like a huge duffel bag of stuff I had to sneak out of her house but luckily Ikuko-mama wasn't suspicious."
"We'll say you are Ami's friend," Rei said to Mamoru, "since she takes college courses sometimes, it's a plausible story."
"Are you a good actor?" Minako said, kneeling in front of him. "'Cause you are gonna hafta pretend you don't know Usagi at all."
He looked at her, "So what you are asking is, am I good at hiding my feelings?"
She smirked at him. "Good point. Okay, well, do your thang then, I guess." She reached into her purse and pulled out a can of coffee, holding it out to him. "Here. I got this for you. You must be jet-lagged to hell and back."
"Yeah," he said, taking the can gratefully. "Don't think I've managed 'and back' yet to be honest."
Her expression softened. "Hey, don't worry. You two always end up together, no matter what crap gets thrown your way. This time won't be any different. I promise."
She patted his shoulder and stood up. "Now go home and take a quick shower or something, you look really terrible."
"Thanks," he said, dryly.
Makoto joined Minako and Usagi on the walk to the park. The sun was setting and Usagi was starting to talk about getting dinner, when she noticed Rei, Ami and Mamoru deep in conversation near the benches by the lake.
Usagi visibly paused. "Who's that guy with Ami and Rei?" she said, tilting her head to the side.
"Uh... I dunno," Minako said, "Do you recognize him at all?"
"No," she said, looking a little confused. "I don't think so."
Rei and Ami had been wondering if maybe she'd remember him, if only by virtue of their interactions when they first met. But now, it was clear as far as Usagi was concerned she'd never seen him before in her life.
"Well, c'mon let's say hi," Makoto said, pulling Usagi's arm. "He's pretty cute, right?"
"Yeah," she mumbled, blushing a little. "Really."
Ami looked up and waved, glancing at Mamoru, who managed to keep his expression bland and friendly as the girls approached. Well, as long she didn't look at his eyes, that is.
"Hello everyone," Ami said, "this is my friend Mamoru Chiba. He's a college student, visiting from his study abroad in America."
"Hi there!" Minako bounded up with her usual Minako exuberance and held out her hand, "I'm Minako Aino, at your service."
Mamoru gave her a deadpan look, for a moment, before shaking her hand and pretending to just have met her. Makoto greeted him similarly, from where she stood behind Usagi, one hand on the smaller girl's shoulder.
"Usagi Tsukino," Usagi said, bowing slightly. Her cheeks were still a little pink.
"Ami's mentioned you," he said, "A few times." He reached out to shake her hand and she reciprocated, meeting his eyes. He smiled at her and she pulled her hand back a little too quickly, the flush deepening on her cheeks.
Usagi shifted her gaze to Ami who smiled encouragingly. "Only good things, I promise," she said to Usagi.
"So, how long have you two known each other?" she looked a little confused. It's not like her friends didn't have people in their life she never met, but it was an unusual enough occurrence to make her pause.
"Ah-,hmm," Ami opened her mouth and closed it again, glancing at Rei who shrugged back. They hadn't exactly prepared a back story to all this, hoping that just seeing her fiancé would be enough to jolt the memories back for Usagi. Since it hadn't, Plan B appeared to just be awkward conversation and avoiding questions.
Not our finest moment, Minako thought, shaking her head. Luckily, Usagi was a good conversationalist, in so much as awkward silences were always filled - somehow.
"So I guess you must be really smart like Ami, huh? To be studying at a foreign university?" Usagi said, putting her hand behind her head and sweatdropping a little. "I, um, guess you need to know other languages and stuff."
He nodded, a half-smile still on his face. "Yeah, it helps. Math is the universal language, though."
"Oh, a nerd," Minako said in a good-natured voice, winking at Usagi, who was looking slightly agitated as the conversation went on.
"Hey!" he and Ami said at the same time.
"Well, I guess that's something I don't get," Usagi laughed, nervously. "My best subject is lunch."
"And sleeping, don't forget sleeping," Rei added.
"That's not a subject, Rei, jeeze," she curled her arms around herself, looking annoyed. "But I am good at sleeping, yes," she had to admit.
"If it was a subject, you'd get As in that, at least," he said, with a grin.
Minako wondered if it was as obvious to Usagi as it was to everyone else that he couldn't seem to look at anything else but her.
"Guess we can't all be geniuses who can study advanced mathematics in another language," Usagi said, her voice a little tense. Minako looked at her curiously, usually Usagi wasn't this quick to offense. "Some of us need to be the ones who are only good at sleeping."
"How do you figure?" he said, and her mouth fell open a little for lack of a response.
"Speaking of food, maybe we should all go get something to eat," Makoto said, smoothly cutting in. "It is dinner time."
"That's a good idea," Ami said, turning to Mamoru, "you come, too, okay?"
"Sure."
"I don't want to," Usagi said suddenly.
"You don't want to... eat?" Rei was incredulous.
"I... am going home for dinner," Usagi pulled on a pigtail. "Uh, nice meeting you," she said to Mamoru, narrowing her eyes slightly. "I'm headed home." She turned and left and the girls shared mystified looks.
"I'll take this one," Makoto said, and disappeared after Usagi's rapidly retreating figure.
"Oh, good going, Casanova, maybe next time you can insult her hairstyle," Minako said, as soon as Usagi was out of earshot. "Just like old times, from what I'm told anyway."
"I didn't do anything!" Mamoru said, sinking down onto the bench and putting his face in his hands. "And I purposely avoided mentioning her hair, okay?"
"To be fair, he didn't say anything to her that would have deserved that kind of response," Ami pointed out.
"She was always like that around him, before they got together," Rei said. "I mean, even worse because she was young and this one," she jerked her thumb toward Mamoru, "would purposely provoke her."
"Oh give me a break about that, please?" Mamoru sighed. "She just looked at me like she didn't even know me. Do you know how that feels?"
"I don't, but she does," Minako reminded him. "Once she has her memories back, you two can reminisce about all the shit you put each other through over a milkshake with two straws but for now... why did Usagi get so freaking mad at him out of nowhere?"
"It's probably because she's already attracted to him," Ami said, thoughtfully. "She doesn't know what to do with it. It was the same back then."
"But that's good news, right?" Minako said, plopping down next to him on the bench with a grin. "It's obvious she totally thinks you are way hot."
"Oh good," Mamoru said, rolling his eyes. "Problem solved."
"Hey, hey girl, wait up," It didn't take Makoto more than a few jogging steps before she was walking at pace with Usagi. "What was that back there? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said, running a fist over her eyes. "I just... I dunno."
Makoto caught Usagi by the shoulder, gently bringing her to a stop. "Talk to me, okay? Why did that guy upset you so much?"
Her lip trembled a bit. "I know I was rude to him, and I didn't mean to be. But." She sighed. "I don't want to say. You'll think I'm horrible."
Makoto looked at her friend with a kind expression. "I promise I will not think that, Usagi."
"He's..." Usagi sighed, lifting one shoulder in a half-shrug. "When he smiled at me..."
"You like him," Makoto supplied, easily. Her memories may be gone, but Usagi didn't let go of emotions quite so easily.
Her face red, Usagi tried to protest, but Makoto just smiled. "It's okay, Usagi."
"But he and Ami-"
"He's not with Ami," Makoto said, quickly. Oh, damn, this is a complication I didn't foresee. "Trust me, I'm positive those two are just friends."
Usagi looked doubtful for a moment, then her shoulders slumped a little. "It doesn't matter. I don't know what I'm thinking, I just met him. He's, like, way different than me. Studying in America? What's that about? Classes are hard enough in Japanese, let alone American."
"English."
"Whatever," she said, waving her hand as if to say 'see?'.
"Anyone would be lucky to have you like them, Usagi," Makoto said, firmly.
Usagi just shrugged again. "It made me sad," she said. "That's all, I'm over it." She smiled. "Why don't you go back and join the others for dinner? I'll head home. I have some stuff to catch up on anyway." What I was thinking, being jealous of Ami just because she seems to close to him? I really just need a few hours with some manga and chocolate cookies and I'll be fine...
Makoto frowned, her brows lowered as she watched her friend walk away. "Ah, hell," she muttered under her breath.
Then, "Usagi?" she called, "Come with me, okay? I want to show you something."
Makoto got Usagi settled with a big slice of lemon cake and some warm milk (as good a dinner as any, especially for someone as emotionally tired as Usagi seemed), and sat across from her as Usagi shoveled some big bites of cake into her mouth.
"What's this all about anyway?" she asked, around a mouthful of food. Makoto smiled. Usagi was never one to stand on ceremony, that's for sure. "What's that?" she nodded at the bag Makoto had hauled over to the small table.
Without answering, Makoto unzipped the bag and handed Usagi a photo frame. "Here, see?" She had picked a photo of Chibi-Usa, Mamoru and Usagi- one where his arms were around both girls, and there was no question from the pose that he and Usagi were a couple.
With a confused look at her friend, Usagi took the photo and turned in over, blinking in shock. "That's-"
"See, Usagi?" Makoto said softly. "You don't have to be sad. He's already yours."
"I don't understand," she said, not taking her eyes off the photo. "How...?"
Makoto decided against starting at the beginning, mostly because she wasn't sure where 'the beginning' really was with those two. She instead jumped right off from the end. "Remember that battle yesterday, when that thing said it'd take something from you?"
Usagi nodded, unconsciously wrapping her hands around the photo frame and holding it to her chest.
"It took your memories of him," Makoto scooted closer to her friend, pulling the bag with her. She pulled out some more photographs. "He's been there since the beginning. He used to fight alongside us," -well mostly- she thought.
"Huh?"
Makoto dug around until she found a folder of newspaper clippings, "You were kind of obsessive about this sort of thing," she laughed, handing Usagi the folder. It was all the times Sailor Moon and the senshi were mentioned in print.
Usagi smiled, "I remember this folder. It's not as obsessive as Minako's okay, let's be real." Her smiled faded to thoughtful look as she flipped through. "I don't recall some of these articles, though."
"See? He's Tuxedo Kamen." She pointed to a photo in the newspaper.
"Okay, that definitely sounds made up," Usagi said, shaking her head. "Then again, to be fair, so does 'Sailor Moon'..." She leaned her head back and shut her eyes. "This is so much to process."
Makoto's silence was calming and comforting, she just let herself be there for Usagi. She also helped herself to a couple bites of cake, since Usagi was deep in thought.
Usagi opened her eyes suddenly, making Makoto jump and hide the fork behind her back. "Hmm?" she said, swallowing quickly.
"Makoto, does he remember me?"
"Yup," she said. The she murmured, "This time, anyway."
"What was that?"
"Never mind."
Just then, the phone rang, and Makoto put her hand on Usagi's shoulder as she stood. "Take all the time you need," she said gently, as she went to answer it.
"Hmm," Minako said, coming back inside the restaurant after using a payphone outside to call Makoto and check up on Usagi. "So I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"
"Good," Rei said.
"Okay, just kidding, there is no good news." Minako said.
"Bad, then," Rei sighed, rolling her eyes.
"It's not really bad news..."
"What is wrong with you?" Rei demanded, "Why did you say 'I have good news and bad news?"
Minako shrugged. "I always wanted to say that. Really, it probably would've been more accurate to say 'I have two news..es.'"
Ami and Mamoru shared an exasperated look and Minako pointed her finger at them accusingly. "You two are gonna have to stop acting all close and stuff, Usagi thought you were together."
"What!?" they said in unison.
Ami's mouth dropped open. "That's-"
"BS, I know," Minako said, shrugging. "But anyway, Makoto set her straight."
"Good," Ami muttered, still looking annoyed.
"But it explains why she ran off all upset," Rei said. Then she grinned. "Aww, even without remembering your relationship, she's still a jealous basketcase every time you talk to another woman that's so cute."
"Lucky me," Mamoru said.
"Can we please focus?" Ami said. "What's your 'other news'?"
Minako sighed and looked at Ami with a sheepish expression. "So... I guess, well, Usagi was sad."
"Uh-huh," Ami said.
"You how when she's sad, she goes those eyes..."
"Uh-huh," said Rei.
"And you know how Mako-chan gets when Usagi is sad?"
"The same way any of us get when Usako is sad?" Mamoru guessed and Minako grinned and did two finger guns at him.
"Yup, exactly."
"What did she do?" Rei said flatly.
"You know that bag full of all Usagi's Mamoru-related stuff that Mako-chan worked so hard to sneak out of Usagi's house yesterday?" Minako picked up a fry off Rei's plate, dodging the other girl's slapping hand. "Anyway, she just told her everything. Showed her the photos, spilled the beans, all of it."
"And?"
Minako popped the fry in her mouth and looked at Ami blankly. "And what?"
"How did Usagi take it? What did she do? Is she okay? Does she need us?"
"She didn't have a mental breakdown or anything, if that's what you mean," Minako said. "At least, I don't think she did, Mako-chan probably would've mentioned it."
"Okay, that was just Minako calling to ch-" Makoto trailed off as she entered the living room. The bag was still there, but the cake was gone, and so was Usagi. "Oh, hell," she muttered. "Mina's gonna kill me."