Dusk painted the skies in its mauve and apricot hues, slowly allowing the dark shadows to cover the vast gardens. Giant Willow trees dangling with solar string lights were spread throughout the gardens, illuminating paths, groups of friends, and dancing couples. How lucky for Crescent Academy that their homecoming dance was held at the Bedani Gardens this year, thanks to their Valedictorian's gracious and accommodating family.

Usagi allowed Mamoru to still escort her to the dance because that is what she wanted. She wanted to spend this magical night with the love of her life. Even if they were acting as if it were all real. It was real to her.

When he arrived at her house earlier, it was as if she were on autopilot. Usagi happily accepted the corsage he brought her that matched his boutonniere. Adorned in a royal blue fitted silk gown with gold accents, he matched her with a royal blue necktie, vest, and pocket square. She complimented him on the tailoring of his suit. How nicely it conformed to his fit physique. Her fingers itched to run over his chest to feel the broad expanse of muscle that she knew was neatly hidden below. His hair dangled slightly over his sapphire blue eyes that popped more so with the royal blue coloring. He looked the part perfectly. It almost made her cry.

They smiled happily for their parents and for the camera that was taking dozens of pictures of them. One parent, she didn't know which, asked for them to kiss in one. Usagi looked to Mamoru who acted as though nothing was any different from two nights prior and simply brought his lips down to press lightly onto hers. It was sweet and chaste, but it sparked the tension that was slowly brewing between them. And the way his hand gripped the fabric at the small of her back wasn't helping the tingles that were spreading from its contact seeping in.

After Mina and Kunzite arrived with the limo, she continued to smile happily and take stunning photos with her best friends. As if nothing changed last night between them all. Mamoru had knowingly distanced himself from them all, even Kunzite, but especially her. Usagi understood what he was feeling and the words he expressed last night, but she needed to speak more about it to him after this night was over.

In the limo, they were quiet and separated until they arrived to pick up more friends. Keeping up pretenses, Mamoru sat beside Usagi and even held her hand, kissing it occasionally should anyone be watching his every move. He knew it wasn't fair to Usagi to do it, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to do it. He wanted to take advantage of any chance he had of touching her, no matter how brief or controlled. If he was giving this up–her up–he was going to covet and revere this experience and these feelings.

At dinner, they paired up at the table, chatting with everyone as if everything were kosher. No one except Kunzite and Mina suspected anything being off. They were great actors. It was a little concerning with the lack of food Usagi was eating since everyone knew she loved food. She was pushing food around her plate and barely eating. Some believed it to be because they thought she wanted to make sure she fit in her dress all evening and didn't want to pig out on such an occasion as this. How wrong they were.

The location of the dance itself was simply stunning and enchanting. It was everything she wished it could be and with the man she always pictured standing beside her. It was a dream come true and she never wanted to escape it. Even if they were pretending, it was everything she wanted and more. So she leaned on him more, grazed her hand over his back longer, held his hand tighter.

More pictures were taken when they arrived and they knew when to smile appropriately, when to laugh, when to pose knowingly. It was mainly fine until the dancing started. When she was pressed intimately into him, her body responded as it always had: with want and need and all-consuming love. Usagi handled it gracefully for most of the night. She could tell when Mamoru was having a hard time by the way he would squeeze her tighter or grind his teeth when he didn't think she was paying any attention to him. All she could do was think of him. Her thoughts were consumed by him.

One point in the night, Kunzite and Usagi joined together as Homecoming King and Queen. More pictures were taken, with even a dance between the two. He asked her how she was doing and she simply smiled with sparkling eyes that reflected twinkling lights in the pools of tears sitting there. Kunzite cursed under his breath.

"I'll whisk you away at any moment. Just say the word and it'll be done."

"I thank you, Kunz, but call it masochism, for I wish for this divine torture."

Usagi spun out of his arms before she curtseyed to him and made her way back to Mamoru who accepted her gladly.

Watching her dance with Kunzite burned him with a jealous rage. He didn't understand himself. Mamoru was knowingly breaking things off with the woman of his dreams and knew his best friend would never go after Usagi like that, but knowing that Usagi was his, or was, and another man, no matter who, was touching her, dancing with her so closely, sparked this dangerous fear-provoking madness in him.

When she made it back to Mamoru, he kissed her as if his life depended on it. Completely inappropriate for a school dance, causing the chaperones to break them apart, giving them a warning that should it happen again, they would be escorted out.

Slipping away from the dance floor and out onto the dock over the expansive crystal lake, Mamoru wrapped his arms around Usagi, bringing her bare back into his strong chest. She sucked in a breath, holding it until she couldn't any longer without risking fainting.

"Forgive me, Usako." He placed a lingering kiss at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. "I don't like pretending when I know this can be real." Mamoru pulled away from her and walked further down the dock on his own, hands placed in his pants pocket as he stared at the beautiful full moon.

She shivered, chilly now from the lack of his warmth. "Why can't it still be real?" Rubbing her arms, she made her way closer to him. He turned to view her, noticing her chill. Unbuttoning his suit jacket and removing it, he placed it over her shoulders, repeating his same action from earlier, kissing her neck as he rubbed her upper arms before walking away, again.

"If you think this will get any easier by pushing me away now rather than later, you are delusional." Usagi brushed past him, sitting on a bench at the end of the dock. Her figure was soaking up all the moonlight, as if she were the Moon's deity herself. He logged it into a memory he would never forget.

"Would you truly be happy and content staying here, in America, with me, knowing you could have the world at your fingertips, doing exactly what you've always dreamed of doing?"

She stood up, spinning to him. "YOU are who I dream of! I would be happy anywhere with YOU!"

Stunned at her outburst and filled with joy at her words, he shook his head to rid those thoughts and feelings. "I knew you would say that, which is why I have to let you go. I won't be the one to deny you your dreams."

"But you are denying me my dreams! You are denying me YOU!" She cried. "How can you not see that?"

He was losing his resolve. She was making a fair statement. But HE wasn't what she truly desired. Yes, he could be there for her during the times she gained what she truly wanted, but he knew she would force herself to stay here, hold herself back, from all she could gain and experience.

"Why can I not have both?" Usagi walked to him, fisting her hands in his shirt. "Why can you not come with me or us be apart sometimes for us both to gain our dreams?" She pounded his chest. "Our love is strong enough to endure long distances!" Her tears were breaking him down.

Mamoru cupped her face, bringing his lips to press against hers. Softly at first, before she turned it more passionate. Pressing her body into his caused him to start exploring her curves with his rough hands, expelling moans from each of them.

Footsteps were heard in the distance, forcing him to pull away from her. She stepped back to sit once again on the bench. Whoever was coming probably saw their intense display of affection, but she hoped it wasn't the same chaperone from earlier. She wasn't ready to leave yet.

"Everything okay out here?"

Turning around, Mamoru and Usagi could see it was Mina and Kunzite.

By the looks of blushing cheeks, disheveled hair, and heavy breathing, they believed everything was indeed okay between the two of them. To an extent.

Mamoru could only nod, Usagi robbing him of speech and breath. Usagi smiled reassuringly to them, nodding as well.

"Alrighty then. Guess we'll come back in like ten minutes?" Mina was smiling but Kunzite could only warn Mamoru with his eyes.

When they walked away, Mamoru sat and placed his hands in his hair, trying to think past her kiss-rendered thought blocks.

"Mamo, do you love me?" Asking innocently, Usagi turned loving eyes to Mamoru's when his head popped back up.

"More than life itself, Usako."

She turned to look up at the moon. "I was numb today. I thought I could continue with this farce of a story because I truly wanted to experience this evening with you. As long as I could still attend this dance with you, I could act as though everything was fine between us."

Mamoru watched her as she confessed her feelings. Similar to his own.

"I won't be able to continue to pretend after this. If you truly want to end us, then it will be over. Everything will be over. I will have to ignore you and erase you from my life."

Tears were cascading down her rosy cheeks, but her voice was strong and confident.

"Once we graduate, you will never see me again. It will be too painful to be anywhere near you, so I won't allow an accidental run in with you to happen. I will move far away and devote myself to my new life."

He was sobbing now, understanding every word she was saying.

"I may even find love again and get married and have children."

The wind was knocked out of his lungs from that statement. He gasped for air, desperately, clutching his chest.

Usagi stopped speaking so he could regain his breathing back. This hurt her as much as it did him. Perhaps because she was thinking it already, the blows weren't as striking as they were to him. She assumed she got the point across, well enough for him to have an informed decision on how he should proceed.

When she could hear him breathing somewhat normally again, she finished, "Please consider everything I've said when you decide to break my heart or not." She stood up and deposited his jacket on the bench right where she just vacated. "Regardless of your decision, I think we should take a break. Maybe use this time to determine which route you wish to take."

When she went to walk away, he grabbed her wrist and stood up. Pulling her into him, he held her tightly, as if this were the last time he ever would. "I love you, Usako. Only you. It will only ever be you. I could never love another."

"And with a full, broken, or mended heart, I will always love you, Mamo." She pulled away from him then and left him standing there, miserable and heavy-hearted.