A/N: I love being able to bring in all the characters no one has seen for a while! Enjoy!

The Game Crown Center hadn't changed a bit. Walking inside made me feel like a fourteen-year-old kid again, fresh out of middle school after failing a test and dreading the thought of going home to my parents. I moved unsteadily towards the counter, ignoring the arcade for the time being, though I noticed that Seiya looked pretty interested in it. I wondered why I'd never thought to bring her around here before. She liked video games a lot more than Yaten and Taiki did. Someday, when I didn't mind being here so much, I knew we would have to come back so that I could introduce her to the Sailor V games. And I knew I'd to show Yaten before we left. Minako would have liked that.

I sat down on one of the stools with Chibi-Chibi in my lap and the three of them sat around me, Taiki perching somewhat gingerly on the stool. This wasn't really her thing and I appreciated the fact that she was willing to tolerate a visit. I spun myself lazily back and forth while waiting for someone to come take our order. My throat tightened when I saw him: Furuhata Motoki. He was one of the nicest men I'd ever met and when I was younger I had a major crush on him, although after I met Mamo-chan that had kind of faded away. He had the kindest green eyes and whenever I was around him he always had the ability to make me feel better no matter what had happened. I didn't even know how much I'd missed him until he came out from the back room and stopped short at seeing me.

"Usagi-chan!" he exclaimed, tossing his rag aside and striding quickly around the corner. I leapt off of the stool, passed Chibi-Chibi to Yaten and threw myself into his arms, knowing that he would catch me - he always did. He hugged me tightly, rubbing his hand across my back. "Wow, I haven't seen you in ages. I was starting to think you'd forgotten all about me."

"No, never," I said, pressing my face into his chest and inhaling deeply. Familiar, comforting scents flooded into me: the thick heavy cream they used in milkshakes, the sharp chemicals of the cleaner he wiped the counters with, and that aftershave Reika used to buy for him. I smiled. "Motoki-onii-san, I'm sorry I haven't been by to visit you in so long. I should have come sooner."

He chuckled and lightly patted the back of my head. I noticed the slightest hesitation before his hand touched my hair and I knew he'd noticed that I wasn't wearing my odango but he didn't mention it. "It's okay. I knew you had to grow up sometime."

"That's not really the reason," I said wryly. I finally pulled back and looked at him. Even though he was smiling there was a noticeable tightness around his face and I thought he knew why I had come. I cast around for something to change the subject and realized that he had never met the others. I said, "These are some of my friends. This is Seiya, Yaten and Taiki." I pointed to each of them in turn. "And that's Chibi-Chibi."

It was obvious that Motoki recognized them but to his credit he took it calmly, just shook their hands and smiled and said that it was very nice to meet them. He took our orders and went back behind the counter to fill them. He always did make the best milkshakes. I ordered chocolate and so did Seiya and Chibi-Chibi, while Yaten and Taiki went with vanilla. While he was running the machine, I turned to Seiya. "I want to talk to him alone," I said. "Can you guys wait out here for me?" I didn't even bother to suggest that they just go home. After the talk we'd had in the car I knew there was no way that was happening.

"We'll wait," Yaten said, her lips quirking into a faint smile. I shot her a grateful look as I took my milkshake. Motoki didn't seem to be surprised when I walked around the edge of the counter. He just signalled to one of the other workers to come take over and led me into the back room. I'd been there before, hanging out with Motoki after school, and it was as familiar to me as the sight of my own bedroom.

"How have you been doing?" Motoki asked me, gesturing for me to sit on the little bed that they kept tucked away. I sat down and he took a seat next to me.

"I'm doing okay," I said, sipping at the cold, frothy goodness of the milkshake. It was sweet as sin and utterly delicious. "It's been… hard. I don't know if you heard that most of my friends went missing during the attack. There's been no sign of them." He was less familiar with Hotaru and Setsuna, but he knew Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako quite well and he'd seen Haruka and Michiru around.

"I saw their names on the list of the missing," he said. "I'm sorry, Usagi-chan."

My throat felt tight and I took another drink before saying, "Thanks." I was silent for a moment, expecting him to offer me the usual platitudes about how there was still a chance that they could be found, how we shouldn't give up hope even though it had been ages already. It was the standard thing to say to anyone who had lost someone in the attack. But he didn't. He just sat there and watched me with sad eyes and I thought that maybe I knew why. Outside of Naru, Motoki had been one of my closest friends for years; he'd watched over me and he was no fool. I closed my eyes. "You know, don't you?"

"If you're talking about what I think you are, then yes I do," Motoki said. He took my hand and squeezed it tightly. "To be honest it wasn't all that hard to figure out. For one thing you suddenly became a lot better at the Sailor V video game."

I burst out laughing. I couldn't help it. That wasn't what I was expecting to hear, not in the least. "Oh god," I said, balancing my milkshake between my thighs so that I could wipe at my eyes. Once I got my breath back I looked up at him and grinned. "I guess by that point I had a lot of real-life experience to draw on."

He smiled. "When I saw their names on the lists I thought that something must have happened," he said quietly. "If you hadn't come around I was going to try to go to your house to see how you were doing. I've been concerned about you. I know that they meant everything to you."

"Yeah, they did," I said thoughtfully. The senshi had been really important to me, of course, but I'd never realized how much I'd let the other friendships in my life fall to the side after they'd entered my life. I used to spend all my time with Naru and my other friends from school, but once I'd met Ami, and then later Rei, Minako and Makoto, I just never seemed to have the time for them anymore. The same went for Motoki and the Game Crown Center. It was funny how easily you could drift apart and it was only now that I'd lost so much that I was starting to realize what I had given away.

Motoki didn't say anything for a few minutes, giving me the space to think, but at last he cleared his throat. "I know you may not want to talk about this," he began, "but I have to know. Mamoru… he was supposed to be in America. But knowing what I know about the two of you I can't imagine he would have stayed there while this was going on, opportunity or not. So… please, will you tell me? Is he…?"

"He's dead," I confirmed. I wasn't prepared for the pain in Motoki's eyes when I said that. He was Mamoru's best friend, the one other person in the world who had loved Mamoru as much as I had, and I could tell that the news was devastating for him. He might have been trying to prepare himself for it but there was a big difference suspecting something and being told that it was the honest truth. "I'm sorry, Motoki-onii-san."

He tried to smile. It was pitiful. "No, it's alright. I - I thought as much, but I had to know for sure…" He trailed off and shook his head. "I should be the one telling you that. I know how much you loved him."

"I did. I loved him a lot," I said. I should have been crying: after weeks of mourning Mamo-chan by myself because no one knew him the way I did I'd found someone who missed him as much as I did. But I wasn't. The loss still hurt but the edge of the jagged hole was softened by the knowledge that he would be reborn and that I was pregnant with his child. Mamo-chan wasn't gone from us forever. I wished I could say as much to Motoki but, regardless of the fact that he knew I was Sailor Moon, there were some lines that shouldn't be crossed and I wasn't ready to tell anyone else about the pregnancy. I realized, however, that this was the perfect chance for me to lay the groundwork for my story. "You're right, though. He did come back."

"What?" Motoki looked surprised by this. "Mamoru didn't tell me he was coming back."

"It was after… you know. The attacks started," I said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "I got a call from him a few weeks in and he told me to come to the park and there he was. I was really surprised. He asked me not to tell anyone and said that his presence was supposed to be a secret because he wasn't staying. He said..." I looked down at my hands. I could imagine this all so perfectly in my mind. God knew I'd dreamed about it happening during the months when I hadn't known that Mamo-chan was already dead. Sometimes I would fall asleep listening for the sound of my phone. "He was worried about me. He used to get these feelings when I'd be in danger and he'd been getting them a lot. He wanted to talk to me in person to see if it was necessary for him to come home permanently."

"And what did you say?" Motoki asked.

"I told him no, of course not," I mumbled. "And he believed me for a little while, but he kept getting those feelings and eventually he decided that it was too dangerous for me to be here without him. But… his car was attacked on its way from the airport." My throat felt tight. I didn't like lying. But this was the sort of thing that would be difficult for anyone to check up on. I supposed that as far as the university knew Chiba Mamoru had just never shown up for his first day.

"God." Motoki shook his head slowly and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, guiding my head down against his chest. "I'm so sorry, Usagi-chan. I wish you'd told me sooner."

"I should have," I whispered into his apron, feeling guilty. "I was... in a bad place after everything happened. I think I kind of lost it for a while there." I attempted a smile that failed. "If it wasn't for my friends and Chibi-Chibi I don't know what I would have done."

"Ah yes, Chibi-Chibi." He was watching me with a raised eyebrow. "And she is?"

I swallowed. I knew I couldn't tell him that Chibi-Chibi was my sister. Motoki would never believe it. He knew my mother hadn't been pregnant two years ago and Chibi-Chibi was at least five. However, he also knew that Mamoru didn't have any siblings. "Please don't ask me that, Onii-san."

Motoki looked at me for a long time, a troubled frown on his face, before he nodded. "Alright. I just hope you know what you're doing."

"Me too," I said quietly. "Me too."

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