Sorry it took a while to get this one up, I had some other stories and things on my mind, too. Thanks for staying put, those who did, and for your support. As Revolving Dragunov asked, Michiru and Haruka are married, as Setsuna describes in the previous chapter, by the stars. Now, on with the story.
"Hey", Usagi said, turning towards Rei. Unlike in before she was now completely content with the situation. She still had no idea what this was and neither did she know how to justify that what they were doing was right, though it somehow felt right to her. She supposed that, as Rei was her friend, she was meant to feel comfortable around her, however, that did not really cover sexual closeness. Sure, there were people who did that, sleeping with their friends, either for the sake of satisfaction or because they wanted to feel closer to them, but that was most certainly not the reason why she had slept with Rei. And even though she liked what she was having with Rei, the intimate closeness they shared, she cringed thinking about doing the same with any of her other friends. She also found the thought of sleeping with Mamoru appalling, which confused her, as he was the one she was supposed to do this with.
"Stop thinking, odango atama", Rei whispered into her ear, effectively breaking her train of thought. She tried to be angry at Rei for using that name for her, but ended up feeling it was rather endearing.
'What are we doing?'
The thought circled through her head, but however much she thought about it, she could not even begin to find an answer.
"Usagi, Mamoru", Setsuna called them while walking in on their date at the cinema they had last week agreed to go to, before things got so complicated. "Sorry for interrupting your date, but there are more pressuring things to think about right now. You noticed the glowing moon last night?" Usagi and Mamoru exchanged confused glances.
"I thought you may not. It was the sign that you have reached the state of a royal couple, and thus you have to learn how to use your new powers, as our foes will soon realize you're queen now and start to attack now before you have reached full strength. I have already informed the others that we are leaving for my cottage outside the city to train, as it would be best if you aren't distracted. The excuses have already been sent to your school and university. As soon as you talked to your parents, Usagi, we can start."
Usagi could not even utter her surprise before Setsuna handed her her cellphone.
"I already dialed, you'll just have to take it."
Usagi sighed. "Right. I don't get a say in this?"
"No. This is too important right now."
Once again sighing, Usagi finally took the phone, giving in to the fact that she was meant to be queen now, though she really did not want to, as she was meant to marry Mamoru as soon as she was, and as much as she liked to, she was not sure she did that way. And she still was not sure where she stood with Rei, what they had, but she was quite certain that it could not continue as soon she was married. It was bad enough as it was, with Mamoru being her boyfriend. What were they having, anyways? Was this what an affair was like? She was not sure that she should feel anything more than sexual attraction in that case. Also she did not exactly feel like what they had was wrong, though Mamoru would most certainly be hurt if he found out. Was she supposed to tell him? That would be incredibly awkward, but on the other hand he probably had a right to know.
"Hello?", her mother's voice woke her from her thoughts.
"Hi mom, I would like to ask you if maybe…"
A few hours later, Usagi, Setsuna and Mamoru stopped outside a small cottage just outside of Tokyo's suburbs.
"Here we are", Setsuna declared, stepping out of the car quickly. "Looking back at her two passengers huddled in the back of her car, she asked: "You're gonna stay there all night, or what?", before going over to the house. Her guest followed her, a little hesitantly.
"Your room will be the one at the end of the hallway to the left. There are two beds. I don't want any complaints about the size, and for as long as you are in my house, you will stay in separate beds, too. Now get your luggage over there and then meet me outside on the lawn", Setsuna commanded. Usagi was a bit taken aback at how forceful and determined Setsuna suddenly seemed. If the threat they would have to face was this great they would indeed have to hurry up a bit. She would gladly try to improve her fighting if it helped, however Setsuna had still to explain how she should improve herself. She had said something about new powers, whatever that meant.
"Now, instead of Eternal Sailor Moon make up, it's Royal Sailor Moon make-up", Setsuna stated calmly. Turning to Mamoru, she added: "For you, it is Royal Tuxedo Kamen make-up. Now, while you say those words, you'll have to think of each other. Only if you think of each other and how much love you feel for each other, you will succeed in turning into your royal appearances. Just try it."
Usagi immediately began to feel uneasy . She had been fairly confident that she would be able to tackle this, but her powers up to this point had not been based on her love for Mamoru. It would be difficult because she still was unsure whether she loved Mamoru at all or if what she felt for Mamoru was purely friendship that had been twisted to a relationship at the knowledge of their foreseen future together. And somehow, there was always Rei's face ghosting through her thoughts.
Her insecurity seemed to show, too, because after saying the words Setsuna had instructed them to say nothing had changed. She was no queen but still very much Usagi, while Mamoru was still Mamoru.
Setsuna sighed. She had already estimated that they would maybe not be able to transform into their royal appearances at once, but she had hoped they would, as they should not be wasting any time if possible. She knew for a fact that Sailor Moons parents had been able to morph into their royal forms at first try, but she also knew there were cases where it had taken a few hours to create a stable form.
When at eight in the evening the sun began to set and neither Usagi nor Mamoru had been able to turn into even an unstable variation of the royal form, Setsuna was ready to give up. They had been trying for nearly five hours, but without success. When the sun sank below the horizon, Setsuna finally gave up, reluctantly, as she knew that they, especially Usagi as the queen, had to be prepared for the upcoming battle, but she also knew that they had to be well rested for it. And after all, there were still a few days left for preparation.
The silence that hung in the air in the small room between Usagi and Mamoru was almost palpably uncomfortable. Neither of the two of them knew why they were here so suddenly. They understood that they were supposed to be the royal couple now, but they also understood that Setsuna thought this was way too early, and Usagi could not shake the feeling that there had to be something they did that had triggered this, but she had no idea what that could be. She had not been particularly close to Mamoru the last few days, if anything she had been rather more distant than usual, too occupied with finding out what was going on with her and Rei. She just hoped that Rei would not think she was just trying to get away from her because of the difficulty of the situation they were in, but Setsuna had informed the others as to why they had left so she guessed that was okay.
Somehow she felt she should say something to Mamoru, as he seemed rather worn out because of the whole situation though he did his best not to show it, but she had no idea what she would say, so she kept quiet. As she herself was beyond exhausted too, especially emotionally, sleep came quickly.
The longer their training lasted the next day and nothing had changed, the more the suspicions rose in Setsuna. She had to make sure that Usagi had not been with another guy. She did not think Usagi was the cheating kind, but everything that happened, or rather not happened, made her think of it as a possibility. She could of course not just ask Usagi straight away, and if she did the girl would probably deny it and she would stress the relationship between the two of them, which was the last thing she wanted, but there were other methods. The future king would have to have a crystal. If Usagi had been with some other guy, this guy would automatically inherit Mamoru's earth crystal and follow him as Tuxedo Kamen. The way to prove it if Usagi had been with some other guy was rather easy.
"Usagi, Mamoru, morph into your typical form once please", Setsuna said calmly. She sighed in relief as Mamoru turned into Tuxedo Kamen at once. Though somebody else might have meant that morphing into the royal appearance would have worked at once, there was no way they would have been able to get some other guy ready for such a battle in the maybe three days they had left. However, as the day moved on Setsuna became more and more despaired. They did not have that much time left, and at the end of the day the progress was still zero. Maybe there was something that blocked them in recognizing their love? But she was no expert at that. There had to be something she could be able to do though.
Maybe she knew someone who could see their problem? Picking up the phone she dialed Haruka's number. Haruka had always been rather insightful concerning other people's emotions, and she was in love herself. Maybe she could help.
"Hello Haruka, here is Setsuna. could you come over tomorrow?"
"Sure. No progress?"
Setsuna sighed. "None. Maybe you know a way? When will you be here?"
"Around twelve o'clock, more or less."
"Good. See you then. Bye."
"Bye."
Now all Setsuna could do was hope Haruka had an idea as to how to find the problem.
"Finally some progress", Setsuna said smiling. Usagi meanwhile looked rather surprised that she had succeeded to morph, even if she had only been able to hold that form a few fragments of a second. She had been totally lacking in concentration this time, thinking not only about Mamoru, but also about her friends and family. Somewhere during that, something had sparked.
She did not say anything, but the next time they tried she concentrated more on her friends. When she succeeded again, she only got more confused. Had Setsuna not said that she had to think about Mamoru and her feelings for him? Before she had time to ponder about this some more, a car sped over to them and stopped in front of the house with screeching tires.
"We've had progress?", Haruka asked while stepping out of the car.
Setsuna simply nodded. "Surprisingly yes, we have had a bit of progress. At least Usagi was able to create her royal form for a bit less than a second. No progress with Mamoru, though. And Usagi's is still way too weak to be threat, plus it's unstable." In a more hushed tone, she added: "I'm not an expert in relationships, but even I can see they are not as close as they should be, especially considering how important this is. Maybe you could, I don't know, have a look at them?"
Haruka chuckled. "Sure I can, but I'm no expert either, and I certainly won't go all shrink on them. But maybe I can find out what the problem is."
She sauntered over to Usagi and Mamoru.
"Hi Usagi, Mamoru." She grinned. "So you're the royal couple now, connected by mind, body and soul?" She contemplated for a moment to stop here and leave out the whole suggestive thing, but she would not be herself if she could let an opportunity to see a beautiful girl flustered pass by. Had Michiru been there she would already have received a blow to the arm. Not that that ever stopped her. "So", she wiggled her eyebrows at Usagi "How was your first time together?"
Usagi blushed a deep red and avoided Haruka's eyes. Mamoru spoke in her place. "We didn't yet. What gave you that idea anyways?"
Haruka simply grinned. "Oh, come on, stop lying. If I understood one thing about what Setsuna told me, it's the queen and lover must have been intimate in every way before they become the royal couple, and thus married."
Mamoru's face scrunched together in confusion, until, bit by bit, realization made its way onto his face. Usagi meanwhile felt like dying out of embarrassment, right now, before anyone realized what was going on. Also she just began to figure out what was going on. Did this mean she was now married to Rei?
'God, this is way too much', Usagi thought in despair. She was saved by Setsuna, though what she had to say was not what Usagi wanted to hear.
"We are needed in the city. The others detected an enemy approaching, and they are very mighty by what it seems."
Dread washed over Usagi in waves. They would only win if she could morph into the royal form, Setsuna had made that quite clear. She still could not. She could just hope for a miracle, but those rarely happened.