No one was certain what to do with him, and everyone looked to Mamoru for answers while he floundered with Akari. The invader responsible for the exile of the Sailor Senshi was non-communicative. Neither were comfortable around each other. The impasse stood like a impregnable wall before him.

'You're avoiding Akari,' Ami said in Japanese on an occasion they were alone. The accuracy of her observation made that pinching nerve in his neck twinge. He wasn't sure how to answer that in any way other than honestly.

'I don't know what he wants. I don't know how to ask him about who he is,' Mamoru said, turning a stir stick in his steaming mug of hot chocolate. Ami squinted at him.

'You mean conversationally? You don't have to be his friend, Mamoru-san,' she said. 'He might have broken Dakota in two.'

'But that isn't possible, is it?' Mamoru countered, suspicious. 'She has a power, or something, that protects her.'

'Yes, you're right. That's why she is my guard,' Ami said and sipped at her drink. The bitter aroma of her coffee irritated his nose and sensibility, but he quashed any idea of saying so. Instead, he said:

'Keep your secrets. You've changed, and I don't like it. You're not the same person.'

'Neither are you,' she said in an even meter and leaned back. 'You're so preoccupied with your revulsion that you don't see it.'

'I don't? It what?'

'My aloofness…is a front. A skin I wear because I spent so many years terrified of what was coming around the corner.'

'I'm sorry, Ami-san…I…'

'Why? What could you have done?' Ami asked, and Mamoru regarded her as though she were biting, but her manner was at ease. Expectant, even.

'Nothing,' he said, though he wanted to say anything else. 'I can't do very much now.'

'You coordinated the rebellion. That's not nothing,' Ami said and sat forward in the threadworn bent-beam chair which creaked. Mamoru opened his mouth and then closed it again in a disgruntled frown. Ami clasped the seat and her face reddened as she said, 'Maybe I should be apologetic, but it's something we never did in the Group. We were all overwhelmed. All the time. No, I won't get into it.'

Mamoru could see her younger self, but then the hardness swept over her face again. He nodded at her.

'Yes, I see,' he said.

'Maybe you do…and maybe not, but I said I won't talk about it. At any rate…nothing is any more certain now that we're home. Not until Usagi returns, at the very least.'

'Could be any day now, Carl-san says,' Mamoru said, an observation that left him feeling emotionally flaccid.

'Yes, I know that too. I'm sorry, I've always been intellectual and distant. I feel like I'm slipping away and don't know if I can come back,' Ami said. Mamoru gazed at her reserved expression that confirmed his concern.

Yet he don't know where to go from there. She wanted to talk, but then would stop for reasons he could not comprehend. He felt blind in his relationships with these girls…no, not girls. Women. Matured in uncertainty and the constant threat of death. Luna was right: He had to do things he could not have imagined.

Luna's wisdom ran aground when he wanted to learn how to be a friend amid the turmoil. Mamoru worried and stressed quietly around the warehouse turned rebel headquarters. During lunch, Nasura sat beside him and said in English, "Ducat for your thoughts."

"Ducat? What's that?" Mamoru blinked. Nasura shrugged.

"Don't remember, but it got your attention. What's on your mind?"

Mamoru poked at his orange ginger chicken rice and said:

"Ayani is your daughter."

Nasura didn't answer, but then he noticed that she had been praying over her meal. She took up a fork and smiled at him.

"Sorry. Impromptu blessing, can't do without it. Yes she is," she said. "It's too bad, you know, the kind of man you are. I can't even make the joke about any improper behaviour toward her. You're the model of respect."

"She's cute, but…"

"I know, I know. You're all about Usagi-san. You're thinking she's scared to see you again, I'd wager."

"Well, I...I hadn't even…that's not what I was going to…" he stammered, but then peered at her and asked, "you think so."

"I know it. You've seen what their exile has done to Rei and Ami," Nasura said, one eyebrow aloft. "Don't tell me you haven't thought about what it might have done to Usagi."

"Yes. I think about it whenever I can't stay busy enough, but you're saying she could be afraid of me?" Mamoru asked, and watched as Nasura shrugged as she chewed, then took in another mouthful of food. Mamoru stared at his plate. What the exile had done to…oh. "You mean my tepid response to the senshi."

"Oh, yes, that," Nasura said, and covered her mouth with a flat hand. Her cheeks reddened. She swallowed, and then said, "You couldn't help it. You rejected them."

"I never wanted to make it seem like that. I thought I did help it," Mamoru protested. Discontented and emotional, he captured some of his still warm meal and brought it to his mouth.

"You tried. It was never in your words," Nasura said and Mamoru wondered at her words. He swallowed and frowned.

"What wasn't in my words?"

Nasura smiled minimally and said, "Your kindness."

"Yes. You're right. I was scared. I am scared. They're so different now," he said. "I don't know what to expect."

"It was going to happen. Children grow up," Nasura commented.

"They're Princesses," Mamoru pointed out.

"So?"

"So?" Mamoru repeated, incredulous. "What do you mean, so?"

"So people are a lot of things, but when life crumbles beneath your feet you lose your sense of self. Ami must seem different, but aren't you comforted by how they're the same?" Nasura ventured. "They're tough. Strong. Resilient. Would you agree?"

"Yes," Mamoru said, but then had nothing else to add. Nasura's mouth tilted a dissatisfied look.

"Look," Nasura began, "if it matters so much to you, why are you sulking about this? What will you do?"

The answer, at least in regards to Usagi, was easy: Everything. Nasura smiled at this, and him, and the distanct chatter of Ayani and Masurani pricked her ear. Mamoru glanced at them and Nasura followed suit.

"There's no easy way out when you're burdened with so much responsibility, and for you…" Nasura said and scoffed. "I can imagine how you feel, being the strong one, even when you can't shoulder it all for them."

"All of what?"

Nasura lifted the bowl her mouth, drained the remaining stock. Then she lowered it and exhaled before she said, "The turmoil."

"You think that's what I'm trying to do," Mamoru said. His shoulders slumped. "You're right. I don't feel like I'm her equal."

"That's a toughie—"

"Toughie?"

"Oh. Difficult to deal with. But why don't you sound her out before you prematurely cut yourself out of her life," Nasura said with inflection that suggested experience. "She's come back, and they're bringing her here."

"What? When?" Mamoru said, red faced. When Nasura didn't answer, he scrutinised her, only to see her expression of focus and concern.

"Where? Already? Yes, that's…" Nasura said, and Mamoru realized he was hearing one side of a conversation. Alarm broke out along her eyebrows, tossing them up under her pulled back hairline. "She's doing what? No, stay calm. We're on the way." Mamoru startled when she looked at him and said, "Come with me."

There was nothing to do but oblige. So, he followed after her running through the hallways calling ahead for people to make way. Several familiar turns later they arrived at the barracks where everyone kept quarters. A large portion of the warehouse consisted of makeshift cots and bedding. The ramshackle arrangement housed over one hundred people. At the center of a communal furnace was a point of tension no one could reasonably ignore.

Mamoru shoved through the throng and tried to understand their heated language. Nasura issued orders to keep the peace while Mamoru observed the pair. It was Akira, and the woman opposite him…looked strange to his eyes. Like a poorly executed makeover. His heart leapt, but then shied; had he ever seen so much vitriol in her before?

It must be her. Must be.

Why must it be? Well, everything fit. She was no taller, but she was more womanly, and…no, she had lost…Akira had…removed her arm. Yes. It was her. The anger was too clearly directed, and moreover her words were abundant. Mamoru entered the circle with no plan except to see her face and the depths of her eyes. Everything about her-black leather and short hair-radiated attitude.

'Usako,' Mamoru said, and the scowl that she wore fled. She grimaced and would not look at him; her left hand gripped the ball of her right shoulder. Plaintive, he continued in Japanese, 'Please. Look at me.'

His hands tensed and clenched his arms and shoulders as he sought the desire of his heart. He would not place himself in front of her, nor would he take hold of her chin. It must be her choice. He waited, and her head bowed.

'I will go, if that is what you want,' he said. He had no intention of doing such a thing, but she had to know the choice was hers.

'You would leave?'

Again the pulse beat of his soul lifted and he said, 'Never.'

'You said that you would go if I wanted it,' she said, eyes still affixed to the glow of the column styled furnace.

'Yes,' he said against the crushing wave of uncertainty.

'And you would stay, if I wanted it,' she asked.

'Yes, if that is your wish,' he said. The air seemed thin, almost intangible, and the ground wavered under his feet.

'I want you to stay,' she said, and looked to him, eyes glistening with crystalline tears. He stepped toward her, arms wide and she welcomed his embrace. The sun was back in his sky, and gradually he began to hear the crowd around them cheering.

"All right! That's enough! Disperse!" Nasura ordered. "Get out of here! Usagi is back, hope has come home. Sleep on it, we'll make our plans in the morning!"

A hush washed over the crowed, who dispersed, or ignored her orders. Usagi took hold of Mamoru's hand and looked at the rooted Akari, unmoved.

"Why are you still here?" Usagi asked in English that had only the faintest Japanese accent. His uncertain posture diminished his presence, despite his much greater physical stature.

"I seek Yanei," he said, stoic. "It was said that in aid of your cause that this…enclave…would aid mine."

Usagi looked to Nasura, who nodded. Usagi sighed softly, raised her right hand in front of her face, then removed the black leather glove. Under it was the steely sheen of a metal prosthesis. Upon it were engraved roses, enwrapping thorned vines and on the back of the hand a crescent moon. Mamoru awed at the sleekness of the mechanism, beautiful and deadly. Akari merely blinked at it.

"Should that have some meaning or symbolic purpose I am required to interpret?" Akari asked, his face a blank slate.

"It is the limb that replaced the one you severed," Usagi said, voice low with menace. "When you exiled us."

"I see. It has a well crafted appearance. I owe you nothing. I was doing my duty."

Six year ago, no…even one year ago, she might yet have assigned blame to him. She looked to Mamoru, and could see that he agreed. Contention was not going to win peace or freedom.

"I have nothing to forgive you for, my quarrel is with your Princess," Usagi said, and Mamoru mused on her words.

"Yes, I see, but you must also. I cannot betray her; any trust I ask for from you would be void," Akari stated. "I seek only my beloved, and my debt will be in honour of our accomplishment."

"Well spoken, friend Akari," Mamoru said, and Usagi stared at him, perplexed.

"Friend? That is a deep bond offering. I could not answer that fairly," Akari said.

"I do so as a peace offering. Do you accept?"

Akari's square jaw sawed, and then he nodded. He said, "Always someone must take the chance of refusal. It is honourable, what you do. I accept."

Mamoru bowed, and in kind, Akari mimicked the movement. He then pardoned himself and departed to his cot, somewhere out of sight. It was then that the Sailor Senshi, Minako, Ami and Makoto made themselves known to Mamoru and Usagi. They closed in and shared a long needed group hug. Usagi couldn't stop crying, and Makoto laughed joyfully.

"Um…where is Rei?"

This cast a pall on the warm reception. Nasura helpfully stepped in and explained.

"Usagi, we're so glad to have you back, but I'm sure you are aware that a lot has changed. Rei…was shot, and lost the use of her legs. We're doing all that we can, but…"

"Oh no! Oh…Rei! Is she here? Can I see her? I have to see her!" Usagi demanded in the edge of frantic. Nasura raised her hands.

"Yes, I'll take you to her. Come this way."