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I woke up the next morning to find Chibi-Chibi sitting on my stomach. She was staring down at me, and when she saw that I was awake she started to giggle. I had to smile. I freed one of my hands from where it had been trapped under the covers and poked her gently in the nose. The sound of her laughter made me feel even better than I had before. Now that everything was out there in the open, I felt so much lighter. Even if things hadn't gone the way I wanted them to with my family, at least now they knew.

"It's a good morning, Chibi-Chibi-chan," I said softly, bracing her tiny body with a hand to her back when she started to roll over too far. If caring for her was any indication of what being a mother would be like, I wasn't going to have any problems at all. But I doubted that would be the case. If this baby really was Chibi-Usa, she wasn't going to give me an easy time of it.

"Chibi, chii chibi chibi," Chibi-Chibi said with a cute grin. She patted me on the cheek. Her hand was so tiny and soft. I smiled back and sat up, carefully placing her on the bed beside me. As much as I wanted to stay in bed with her, I knew there were far more serious matters at hand.

Still, the heady feeling of happiness stayed with me as I got dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top. I tied my hair up in odango, got Chibi-Chibi ready, and then carried her out into the kitchen. Taiki, Yaten and Seiya were already there. Yaten and Seiya were sitting at the table, and Taiki was standing beside the stove. She wasn't cooking, but there was a covered plate waiting for me at my place. I handed Chibi-Chibi over to Yaten and sat down. I wasn't all that hungry, but not eating wasn't an option. I was going to need my strength.

"You seem strangely cheerful today," Yaten said after a couple of minutes. She was playing with her glass of juice and watching me make my way through two eggs and a pile of bacon. "Have you changed your mind about going after Rubeus?"

"Nope," I said, bringing another forkful of eggs up to my mouth. I chewed and swallowed and then grinned at her. The look on her face was priceless, and I couldn't help laughing. "Yaten-kun, I still think that dealing with Rubeus now is the best idea. It's not that I want to get into a fight with him, but more that I know it's coming and I firmly believe we'll be much better off if it happens on our terms. And I... I don't see the point in walking around like we're going to die. If this happens to be my last morning on Earth, I'd like to spend it in a relatively good mood."

"I guess we should have let you sleep in, then," said Seiya. Like it was the most casual thing in the world, she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. I dropped my fork and it was a good thing I didn't have anything in my mouth, because I probably would've choked. Yaten's mouth dropped open, and Taiki just beamed.

"You did it!" she exclaimed.

"Wait, you knew this was going to happen and you didn't tell me?" Yaten demanded.

"It's not like I was trying to keep it a secret from you. She only told me last night," Taiki said.

Seiya was looking at me, and I could tell she was trying not to laugh. "So I'm guessing that I'm the only one you had a hard time talking this over with?"

I tried not to blush. How was it that just a kiss on the cheek could feel so natural after one night? Looking over at the expression on her face, which at this point could really only be described as a cocky smirk, I realized that going to fight Rubeus was really the last thing I wanted to do today. What I wanted was to grab Seiya by the hand, take her into my bedroom, and spend hours lying on the bed beside her. I didn't even care if we kissed again, though the idea of kissing her for even a couple of minutes, much less for hours, was enough to make me feel giddy. I just really wanted to be with her without the threat of Rubeus hanging over our heads.

I'd only had that a few times with Mamo-chan. When I looked back on our time together, it seemed like we'd been facing one enemy after another with hardly any time to breathe in between. Beryl, Ail and Ann, the Black Moon, Mistress 9 and Pharaoh 90, Nehelania, and then Chaos, not to mention other, less powerful enemies we had gone up against in the meantime, was a lot to handle in just two short years. Really, there had only been a few weeks to a month here and there before something new popped up. It had gotten to the point where our fleeting time as normal, happy people seemed bittersweet because we knew that it wouldn't last.

I remembered hoping that Crystal Tokyo would change that. The beautiful utopia that Chibi-Usa had described so patiently had kept me going ever since I'd first learned about it. I knew that the first few hundred years would have been hard, knowing that the Black Moon was coming and that we wouldn't be able to do anything, but after that? Since Chibi-Usa had never mentioned any other problems with the future, I'd started thinking that things would finally be okay. That we would have come out on top, and that we wouldn't have to fight anymore. I'd looked forward to that day so much. And now I didn't have it anymore. I didn't know if it was ever going to come.

"Odango?"

The sound of Seiya's voice called me out of my complicated thoughts, and I looked up at her. I realized that three of them were looking at me with varying degrees of concern. "Oh god, I'm sorry. I just had a total ditzy moment," I said, rubbing my hand across my forehead. I didn't know where those thoughts had come from. I tried so hard to be cheerful that I didn't think anyone had guessed how much I depended on Crystal Tokyo. I couldn't let myself dwell on the future now, not when we had to go out and fight for it.

"Are you okay?" Yaten asked, narrowing her eyes at me. "You're acting weird."

Her bluntness made me smile again. "I'm fine. I was just thinking about how much we've all had to fight in the last little while, that's all." I didn't bother to explain that my thoughts had been centered specifically around myself and the Earth senshi. The Starlights had done their fair share of fighting, too; I suspected that I'd only heard a fragment of the stories they had to tell.

"One last fight," Seiya said. In a move that was so relaxed I had a hard time believing she'd never done it before, she draped her arm across my shoulders and ran her fingers down my arm. It made my skin tingle. "You just have to get through one more, that's all."

I wanted to point out that she didn't know that. Maybe Kinmoku had been relatively peaceful before Chaos came, but for the past two years Earth had attracted enemy after enemy. Sometimes the line of them seemed to be never ending. But I didn't. "You're right. And you know what I want to do as soon as Rubeus is dealt with?"

"No, what?"

"I want to go to the arcade and have a cheeseburger and a milkshake," I said. I also wanted to introduce Yaten to the Sailor V video game. I hadn't forgotten that.

"I think we can do that," Taiki said, looking very amused. "Are you ready?"

I glanced down at the remains of my food. It looked very unappetizing. "Yeah. We can drop Chibi-Chibi off and then go."

"No!"

I was so used to only hearing Chibi-Chibi talk in her baby language that it took me a second to realize who had spoken. I turned in astonishment to look at Chibi-Chibi. She was standing in the middle of the kitchen with her arms crossed, glaring up at me. "No?" I repeated dumbly.

"Chibi-Chibi has to come with you," she said firmly. Her voice still sounded young and sweet, but every word was spoken clearly. I had no trouble understanding.

"But... it will be too dangerous," I said, hardly able to believe that we were actually having a conversation. I was tempted to ask why she always pretended she couldn't talk when she could, but I knew that now wasn't the time. I stood up and knelt down in front of her, looking into her eyes so that she would see I was telling the truth. "Chibi-Chibi-chan, it was wrong of me to bring you along when we went to fight against Galaxia. I know you were a big help, but your safety should have come first. There's no way I'm letting you anywhere near Rubeus this time around. He doesn't know about you, and that's how it's going to stay."

"No," Chibi-Chibi said again, this time shaking her hair. "If you try to leave Chibi-Chibi behind, she will follow you. She will get his attention, just like your baby did."

I sat back on my heels, too stunned to respond. Because I could see from the look on her face that she was completely serious. The safest place for her would be with Motoki and Unazuki. I'd already asked them to take care of her for a little while, and they'd agreed. In the event we didn't come back, I'd planned to write a quick letter of explanation to Shingo and have one of them deliver it. I hoped that Mom and Dad would come around to the idea of taking her in.

But Chibi-Chibi was not going to agree to that. She was going to come whether I wanted her there or not. Trying to leave her behind would only make for an even worse situation; she'd be safer with us than on her own, especially if Rubeus spotted her. And even though I knew it was going to be really dangerous, there was a part of me that was relieved by her insistence. Chibi-Chibi had helped us a lot during the fight with Galaxia. If it hadn't been for her, Chaos would have stolen my starseed and the battle would've been over. I knew that she would be able to help us against Rubeus too. Still, the thought of putting her at risk...

"You really are Odango's child," Seiya said, squeezing my shoulder tightly. She stood up. "You're certain about this?"

Chibi-Chibi nodded. "Yes."

I closed my eyes, willing away the tears. Apparently I didn't have to worry about what would happen to her if I died. She would live with me or die with me. "Alright. Let's get ready, then."

I went back to my room while the others finished getting ready to leave. There were two more people I had to say my good-byes to, and I found them waiting for me on my bed. Luna had tears in her eyes when I walked into the room. She looked up at me and said, "Please, for the love of god, please come home, Usagi-chan."

"Don't do anything stupid," Artemis said shakily.

"Luna." I swallowed hard, blinking back tears. "Artemis, I promise that I'm going to try. You - you do understand why I'm doing this, right?"

The two cats looked at each other. Artemis sighed. "Yes, of course. But that doesn't mean we have to like it. Please be careful, Princess."

"I will." I reached out and gathered them both into my arms, pressing my cheek against their fur. A few tears might have escaped, hidden against the silkiness of the black and white. "I swear, I'll do everything I can to protect this planet and bring everyone home again."

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