Ever since the day he had become aware of being a masked super hero, Mamoru had bravely taken any kind of obstacle and sacrifice in order to rescue this lovely planet.
He had never really questioned anything and since his name was "protector", his destiny always had been connected to the earth.
However, once he had left Elysion by using the time travel key and had landed into the past, no one had considered that it was indeed a difference to carry not his own Star Seed. He didn't feel the strong connection to the planet any longer, neither he possessed any kind of super hero's skills.
Simply saying, Mamoru was nothing but an ordinary guy now.
"At least you have Artemis T and me of course."
Diana gave him an encouraging smile after Mamoru had given up trying to transform into his alter ego Tuxedo Kamen. Almost thirty times he had tried to held up a rose in the air. Without any success.
"Well, you can tell, Diana...I've been assigned with a quite important mission and now I even cannot use my magical powers in order to achieve it. This is more than frustrating."
He muttered under his breath while he was stepping into the OsaP store.
"Oh hello, are you looking for something in particular?"
Obviously Mamoru had gained the attention of a sales person. Somehow this woman reminded him of a friend of Usagi with her dark red hair.
After a second, the penny dropped and Mamoru remembered the first youma he had met. It was Naru's mother who had been manipulated by the Dark Kingdom.
Suddenly, another thing hit his mind. If he'd succeed and Galaxia would be defeated, why shouldn't he take the opportunity and buy something special for him and Usagi in this shop?!
After landing in the park where Chibiusa used to travel back in time, his feet had automatically taken him to this jewelry store.
'It would certainly have a special meaning for her when I buy them here.'
He pondered and decided to let the disguised youma helping him.
"Well, ahem, actually yes there is something what I could need. I am looking for wedding rings."
"Ohhhh, Lucky you! Congratulations! Today we have a special deal, you'll get the best price you could think of. My colleague Ms. Tomoe will show you the rings."
While the said woman let him to the wedding ring section, a bunch of other people entered the shop. Actually it was nearly a hundred women, containing any age, who were more than willed to make a good bargain in this shop today.
Mamoru was rather afraid of so many female bargain hunters and quickly had a look at the wedding ring offer.
His eyes stuck to a sparkling silverly ring, having a brilliant-cut diamond, shaped into a heart. It looked almost like the engagement ring he had given to Usagi before he made encounter with Galaxia.
Next to it, there was the version for the groom, at least as graceful like the bride one but without any sparkling elements; there were three little stones in different shades of green inserted, a fourth one was rather dark pink.
'Zoisite, Jadeit, Nephrite, Kunzite.'
Mamoru concluded while his gaze rested on the four little stones. After a few moments Mamoru had made a decision.
„Those two please!"
He said and the assistant happily took out the rings from the showcase.
„A very good choice indeed. Normally they would cost a fortune but today they are 95% off sale. How do you like to pay?"
"Cash, please."
Mamoru was about to open his wallet, when the doors slid open and a quite familiar silhouette appeared, ready to step into this shop.
"Usako"
It was rather a whisper which had escaped his lips and he couldn't turn off his eyes from the girl he just had proposed to in his own time.
When she made her way to Naru's mother, together with her best friend, Mamoru felt something scratching on his leg.
"Hey, we need to go. Have you forgotten our mission?" The little light grey cat got Mamoru out of his state of shock.
"Just one moment, please." He murmured barely, his eyes and focus still set on the past self of his fiancée.
"Why?"
Diana didn't make the impression of wanting to stay much longer in the store.
"Because Usagi is about to have her first encounter with me in this lifetime outside of this shop and I don't want to ruin it by bumping straight into her or into my past self!" He explained unnerved.
"Uh I see. Wow, I didn't expect this time travel to be that complicated."
Diana spoke rather to herself and jumped up into Mamoru's strong arms in order to gain a better overview of the happenings.
When the fake Mrs. Osaka led the two girls to the ring section, Mamoru quickly ducked behind a counter.
"I didn't expect anything to be easy at all by being in this time twice."
Mamoru huffed back to the little feline.
"Particularly not since I know that I have to stay in Usagi's home while I'm here."
He was still of the opinion that this was probably the most stupid idea he had ever heard of.
"500 instead of 8.500 yen?!"
He heard the two girls screaming through the store. When Mamoru raised his head, he turned his gaze to Usagi, who was staring at the ring that Mamoru was actually about to buy.
Apparently there was a third party attracted to this specific ring when Mamoru watched a big woman stepping in front of the counter where Usagi was with Naru, starring at the offered ring. With a high and loud voice she pushed the teenagers to the side, screaming
"I want it!!!"
Nothing but pure chaos took over where any of the women were fighting over the best bargains. Somehow Usagi had managed to get out off the crazy crowd and with a sad expression on her face, she groaned, standing next to Naru directly in front of the exit.
"500 instead of 8.500...I want it, this ring is so beautiful...but I cannot afford it."
"Why don't you ask your father if he'd buy it for you?" Naru suggested, carrying an encouraging smile on her lips.
"Mhm, but I just got this bad test back and I also had spent all my pocket money for this month."
By saying this, Usagi had realized that there would be no way to get this lovely ring and Mamoru's heart melted by the view of his little devastated bunny.
"I didn't have any idea of what happened before we met for the first time."
Mamoru gazed after her thoughtfully when she left the shop and finally turned his attention back to Diana who had been watching the whole situation from her extraordinary position. She looked back to him and suggested
"I think those are the perfect rings for you. You should buy them. We can use Artemis T in order to clean it from the dark energy and then you can give it to her one day."
Mamoru's gaze was suddenly empty and he felt quite forlorn in this time.
"I...I don't know. What if we don't find the Light of Hope and I can't go back to my time and give it to her?"
Diana's gaze darkened and she put on a serious face now.
"Hey, you were just about to buy wedding rings for both of you and now you're telling me that you have doubts? Seriously, get yourself together and buy those rings!!!!" She hissed at him.
Mamoru was taken aback by her harsh reaction but after a few moments, he collected himself and gave the grey feline a warm smile in return.
"I think you are right, Diana. Sorry, I think I was just distracted a little by seeing Usako here. Everything is just so complicated and I honestly don't have a clue where this will end up to. Come on, let's dive into this crazy bargain chaos."
Nearly half an hour later, Diana and Mamoru had accomplished their mission and stepped out of the shop with a little ring case in Mamoru's hand. There was no sight of a blonde bun-head, neither of a raven haired jerk.
"Right, what's next?"
Mamoru pondered out loud while he took a look at the ring box in his hand.
"We should organize our accommodation for the upcoming time."
The little kitten jumped from his arms and without looking back, she walked through the busy streets of Azabu-Juban.
Mamoru was quite surprised about the changes of his beloved district whilst he made his way to the Tsukino residence; Back in the times when the world was threatened by the Dark Kingdom, there were a lot of strange stores built up he barely remembered. A fortuneteller house, a fitness company, a pet store, a clock shop, a hairdressing salon. Neither of them had existed one and a half years later.
'Could be the reason that all of them had been run by the Negaverse...quite unsuccessfully.'
Mamoru stated in his mind until he approached a quite familiar place.
"What's wrong, Royal Highness?"
Diana gave him a questioning gaze when Mamoru stopped in front of the Game Crown Arcade, pushing his head against the windows of the arcade center.
"Nothing. I just though I could go and see Motoki but this won't be possible, I think."
His gaze was filled up with a certain portion of melancholy.
Diana frowned as if she had to think this quickly through. While she was shrugging merely, she finally said
"I don't see a problem in visiting Motoki and tell him about our mission. He might be a good help for us."
"Why on earth should I involve Motoki in this thing at all? This would make everything rather worse!"
Mamoru didn't understand why the bright grey cat gave him a mischievous glance back.
"You can tell him everything what you want. With the help of Artemis T you can reset his memory afterwards so it will look to him as if you have never been in this time. This will be our strategy for all members of the Tsukino family anyway." Diana explained innocently.
"Okay, wait a second. Are you telling me that this...ball...is able to manipulate people's minds and also can erase certain memories...so it really works like LunaP?"
Now Mamoru was dumbfounded when Diana eagerly nodded her head after he had shared his assumption with her.
"That's why you wanted me to stay with Usagi's family!" A small grin started to spread over his face.
With those new useful information Mamoru looked forward to meeting up with Usagi's parents and Shingo.
"Come on, Diana. Hurry up!" He took the cat from the ground and hurried over to the road where the Tsukino house was settled.
Mamoru was prepared to face Usagi and immediately he would try to use the white cat face ball buried in the inner pocket of his favorite green jacket but froze when instead of Usagi, her mother Ikuko opened the door after he had rang the bell several times.
The dark blue haired woman stood in the door frame and gave him an astonished glance while she was having a spatula in her hand.
"Err, who are you?" She greeted him thoughtfully.
In this moment, Mamoru realized that he didn't have thought of any kind of plan how to get all the Tsukinos together and manipulate their minds at the same time. Thus, he'd need a very good reason that Ikuko would let him in.
"I...am...my name is Endy and I'm Usagi's new tutor...is she there?" He quickly explained.
The before slightly surprised expression on her face turned into a pure happy smile when she screamed in pure excitement
"Oh, you are godsend! Seriously, you have no idea how much my little girl needs you! I am sooo glad to have you here. Please come in, Endy!"
By saying this, Ikuko grabbed his sleeve and dragged him into the house.
'One step closer.'
Mamoru thought optimistically while he was walking through the corridor. It looked pretty good for him until he arrived in the living room.
"Kenji, Shingo. Please meet Usagi's new tutor, Endy." Usagi's father and brother got up from the couch and gave Mamoru a bewildered glance.
"Please have a seat, I'll be right back. Usagi is in her room and needs to do some homework. Today she brought home an awful English test and I only led her in when she promised me to study a lot today. You have no idea how good your timing is."
Ikuko sung and made her way upstairs.
Mamoru gulped when he realized the opportunity to have all the family members together in order to manipulate their mind but got out of his reverie once his future mother in law came back downstairs. With a certain portion of panic in her voice she said.
"Usagi is gone! Her window is wide open!!!"
In this moment, it came into Mamoru's mind that Luna must have come into the house some moments before and obviously had given the blonde pigtailed teenager her transformation brooch. To transform into her super hero alter ego for the first time.
'Oh my God, this is the beginning of a whole chaos.'
He stated in his mind worriedly and before anyone was able to say anything further, he pulled out the white ball, threw it in the air and screamed
"Artemis T - transform!"
A loud bang resounded and was followed by a dark pink cloud, which spread over the whole living room. After a few moments, the view became clear and instead of the ball, Mamoru was holding a white spanned umbrella in his hands.
He held the item in front of the startled Tsukinos and by having an apologetic expression crossing his face, Mamoru spoke
"Kenji, Ikuko, Shingo! Please forgive me what I'm about to do next but I am on a mission to find the Light of Hope in order to safe this planet."
The mind manipulating capabilities of the magic umbrella started to take over the utterly shocked members of Usagi's family.
Mamoru's eyes darkened.
'I do this for us, Usako.'