"Chibi."
Her now all-too-familiar response to almost everything he had asked her so far was driving Mamoru nearly insane.
But even if she explained her world to him a thousand more times with this simple statement, there was no longer any doubt; from that moment on, Mamoru was firmly convinced that he would get the Star Seed and fulfill the mission in the past. And this little girl here was nothing more than the key to his return to his own time, only... how on earth was he supposed to get the Star Seed out of her?
The bright light had vanished, the magic was gone, and Mamoru found himself looking into the large blue eyes that were now staring at him questioningly.
"Chibi?"
With a deep sigh, he picked up the red-haired toddler in his arms and left the embassy with her. After a while, they reached the Tsukino house. From the outside, everything seemed quiet and in perfect order.
"Usagi and Kenji are probably still at the ball," Mamoru concluded when he couldn't spot the red car in the driveway. There was also no light in Usagi's bedroom when he stood directly beneath her window.
"Your Highness, up here!" he heard Diana whisper. Mamoru turned around and saw the little gray cat on the roof.
With an elegant leap onto the roof, he joined his time-traveling companion and cast her an annoyed glance while holding his already sleeping fake daughter tightly in his arms.
"Diana, weren't you supposed to take care of Kousagi during my absence?!"
Diana put on an apologetic expression and hurried to explain.
"She must have sneaked out while I was busy with my research. To be honest, I only just noticed because Ikuko put her to bed very early, and the girl didn't make any fuss about it. On the contrary, she seemed to be slumbering more than peacefully the last time I checked on her. She probably missed you and decided to follow you, Your Majesty."
The cat shrugged and added, knowing full well that her commander wasn't entirely convinced by her account: "I really turned every scrap of the past upside down; she doesn't appear anywhere. I have no idea who she belongs to or what her purpose is. But for our mission, she seems to be of no significance."
"I wouldn't say that!" Mamoru narrowed his eyes and put on a very serious expression. "I believe she is the light of hope we're looking for, or rather, she carries Galaxia's Star Seed within her."
Diana gave him a long look full of disbelief. "Impossible, there is no evidence at all. I've run several scans, and I can assure you that—"
"Your scans seem to have failed because this power lies dormant within Kousagi and only emerges on special occasions. And I believe that's why she followed me to the embassy. To show me."
Mamoru sighed deeply and explained his suspicion to a now utterly confused gray cat.
"I'm sure that Usagi and I are the ones who trigger the Star Seed within her. The moment we— I mean, my past self and Usagi— kissed at the embassy, I noticed a sparkling energy emanating from Kousagi that then materialized directly in front of her as a crystal. It's an enormous energy... so warm... with healing abilities. It almost feels like a promise that there is still hope for this world... and I felt it once before, when I kissed Usagi in the hotel room while Kousagi slept. The power back then wasn't as strong compared to tonight... but WHAT else could it possibly be other than the Star Seed of Galaxia that we're searching for in this time?!"
Diana had listened carefully to Mamoru's explanation and remarked with a thoughtful tone in her voice, "Maybe you're right... so that would mean we could take her to Elysion and send her to your time to save the world, right?"
Mamoru cast a long, concentrated look at the sleeping girl in his arms until he reluctantly admitted, "I don't know if it will be that simple. The solution seems close, but..." Mamoru briefly thought back to the moment when Helios had given him his Star Seed so he could travel to the past with Diana. Ever since, there had been a strange, alien feeling in his chest that he had to live with.
"It seems as if something is missing. I can somehow sense it."
"But if we don't try, we'll never know if it will work. So let's go."
Diana pulled out the time-travel key, ready to put her words into action.
"Wait! Not now!" Mamoru said sharply but was interrupted by a noise coming from the street below.
When both of them looked down, they were confronted with a rather alarming scene: a sleeping fourteen-year-old Usagi in her school uniform, heading straight for the house... carried by her best friends, Rei and Ami.
"Damn!" Mamoru hissed, "She can't enter the house as a teenager; she's already an adult woman to her family!"
It got worse as they saw a car turning the corner into the street. Of course, it was Kenji's red VW Golf II GTI.
"Great, I knew it was pretty much the dumbest idea to travel to the past and stay with the Tsukinos. This is pure chaos we're causing here!" Mamoru snorted and was about to jump down to the trio when Diana called him back.
"Wait, Your Highness! You can't go down there! What will Rei and Ami think if Usagi's arch-enemy picks her up in the middle of the night in front of her house and takes her away?!"
"My past self kissed Usagi at the embassy. Can it get any worse from the Sailor Guardians' point of view?" he countered dryly.
"Whatever we do, we must hurry! The girls are about to open the front door, where Ikuko might see them at the worst possible moment, and Kenji is arriving from the other side in just a few moments."
It was high time for an unusual move. Without hesitation, Mamoru pulled out the white cat ball, threw it into the air, and whispered into the pitch-black night: "Artemis T – transform me!"
A moment later, his male, attractive silhouette had disappeared, and before Diana stood the exact copy of Usagi's little brother Shingo. Artemis T had indeed done a great job, as Mamoru was now wearing stylish black cat slippers to match his light blue pajamas.
Diana almost fell off the roof in shock as Mamoru-Shingo purposefully jumped in front of the rather unusual trio at this late hour and spoke in the tone of a twelve-year-old boy struggling with puberty:
"Come this way, hurry! Our father is coming any moment!"
He waved to the bewildered girls, who promptly decided to follow him with the sleeping princess to the back entrance of the house.
"Thanks for bringing her here. I'll handle the rest on my own. Go ahead, lay her on my back." As soon as it was said, the fake brother silently slipped through the slightly open terrace door into the living room, carrying the softly snoring Usagi on his back. Usagi's allies disappeared silently into the cover of the night. Left behind were a small gray cat and a still blissfully sleeping little girl on the roof of the Tsukino house.
"This mission constantly gets more complicated," Diana muttered thoughtfully and decided to check on her two rulers first. Kousagi seemed completely unaffected by all the events and continued to snore contentedly on the roof. Just like her supposed mother, who was now sleeping soundly in Mamoru-Shingo's arms in the living room, thanks to the transforming power of her Luna Pen.
"That was close," Mamoru stated grimly as Diana entered the living room. The kitten asked with a curious expression on her face.
"Is she drunk?!"
"No, she's more like tipsy... and heavy as lead... I'll take her upstairs. Where is Kousagi?!"
Diana didn't need to answer him because Kousagi's grandfather appeared in the doorway with his supposed granddaughter at that very moment. When he saw Mamoru, he gave him a puzzled look.
"What is going on here?"
Both turned to Ikuko, who stood there in her pajamas, frowning deeply and waiting for a reasonable explanation.
"She... sleepwalks!"
Mamoru-Shingo responded.
"I... uh... Usagi came into my room and just lay down on me. I shook her and tried to wake her up, but she was sound asleep, so I thought that maybe some food might wake her up. That's why I led her downstairs!"
"But since when does Usagi sleepwalk? Endy never mentioned anything about it. How strange."
Ikuko turned her attention to the little, sleeping girl in Kenji's arms again.
"Well, well. Kousagi must have been sleepwalking too. I just found her outside, peacefully sleeping in the grass."
Kenji directed his gaze at the softly snoring Usagi, who snuggled up closely to her brother, smacking her lips.
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
"Even though she's really gluttonous, I don't think our Usagi will wake up if you feed her in the middle of the night, Shingo. Please take her back to her room. I'll take Kousagi. School is tomorrow, young man. We should all go to bed now."
With a stern look, Ikuko took the sleeping toddler from Kenji and started heading up the stairs. "We need to make sure the windows are closed so this little girl can't sneak out again at night."
She muttered to herself as she climbed the stairs, "There is a full moon right now; maybe it has something to do with that."
Mamoru was immensely relieved once everyone had left the living room, and he was back in their shared room with Usagi. With a snap of his fingers, he dropped his Shingo disguise and addressed Diana in a firm tone:
"Don't lose sight of her for a single second, is that clear?"
"Of course, Your Highness. It won't happen again. I solemnly swear it."
The small cat quietly closed the door behind her, leaving Mamoru alone with his sleeping princess.
He took a deep breath.
What a chaotic mess everything had become. He had almost needed to use Artemis T again to twist Usagi's parents' memories once more. He didn't want to think about how many more times he could do that without causing significant harm to the people he had grown so fond of.
Kousagi was also completely unpredictable, and from now on, she would need to be watched around the clock, waiting for the next opportunity to extract the Star Seed and the Light of Hope from her.
But was that truly the reason for his mission, or had he—after Galaxia had taken his life—accepted this task for an entirely different reason?
There was something that made it worth not giving up, continuing on, and that was the reason he could still take one breath after another.
Usagi.
Yes, everything was chaos, and it had been a ridiculously stupid idea to travel to the past, and yes, he had a mission to complete. Maybe it wouldn't be long before he could return to Elysion, but in the meantime, he had also built something like a new life here. And the center of his existence lay peacefully, breathing evenly in their shared bed.
Gently, Mamoru sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked his sleeping Moon Princess's cheek. The full moon shone through the snow-white curtains at their window, bathing her beautiful face in a warm light.
"You know, Usako, it's taken thousands of years for us to meet again in this life. And I know that, for you, there are still many difficult situations and traumatic experiences ahead before we can finally be together. Only to be separated again right after."
His hand slid down her neck, softly brushing over her shoulder, continuing down her arm until he found her small hand and held it tightly.
"Even if this feels like a suicide mission, it's been worth it for me to see you again. You have no idea how much it means to me to feel you again… to touch you… Usako, you're so perfect, you're so beautiful. I don't want to lose you again. We have everything here and now."
Mamoru wasn't sure why, perhaps it was the entire situation and everything he had experienced for the second time that evening, but silent tears ran down his cheeks as he lay down next to his beloved Usagi and held her tightly in his arms.
This ordinary life with her was what he wanted. Nothing else.
So much.
Soothed by Usagi's steady breathing, Mamoru eventually fell into a deep sleep, enriched with dreams of his happy little family, endless love, and nothing but inner peace.
———-
When the first rays of sunlight streamed through the large bedroom window, Mamoru found himself still lying next to his great love. The rays tickled Usagi's nose, and accompanied by a hearty yawn, she stretched.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey," Usagi yawned again, blinking a few times to see more clearly.
"I think you had a pretty eventful evening yesterday at the embassy," Mamoru smiled mischievously, knowing all too well the special moment she had shared on the terrace with his past self.
"You know exactly what happened yesterday, you hero from the future." Usagi just sighed and snuggled up against his warm chest.
Mamoru was on cloud nine. This was exactly how it could be forever. It just felt perfect.
He gave her a small kiss on the forehead and wrapped his arm protectively around her. They lay there in peaceful togetherness for what felt like an eternity until they heard a familiar sound suddenly squeaking under their blanket.
"Chibi."
"Oh right, there was something," Mamoru sighed lightly and then got up before his fake daughter could jump on his chest with joy. Instead, she happily took his previous spot and snuggled up contentedly to Usagi. Mamoru couldn't help but smile at the sight.
Everything was so beautiful and wonderful. The past was treating him kindly. But fortunately—at least concerning the mission—there was still Diana, who pulled Mamoru out of his daydreams.
"Your Majesty, I ran several scans again last night, and I must agree with your suspicion, Your Royal Highness," the cat tilted her head to the side and frowned deeply.
Mamoru rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. Hesitantly, he suggested to the two beauties in his bed:
"Why don't you make yourselves comfortable, and I'll be right back with a nice breakfast?"
"Sounds great!" Usagi grinned happily and snuggled back under the blanket with her little daughter.
It was already a bit later in the morning, so everyone except the Chiba family had already left the house. As they walked downstairs, Diana spoke to Mamoru in an unusually stern tone:
"Seriously now, Your Royal Highness, you're acting like a perfect little family… but none of this is real, we're just pretending here. We need to focus on the reason why we're here. Next, we need to analyze exactly how we can get the Star Seed from the little girl, or rather how we can trigger and then capture it."
They were now in the kitchen, and Mamoru cheerfully began preparing everything for a Tamagoyaki. As if it were the most normal thing in the world, he looked at the killjoy in front of him and explained:
"Diana, relax. We don't need to do anything just yet. We just need more time. This warm feeling that comes from Kousagi only happens when Usagi and my past self interact. We know that much now. There will be more opportunities to activate that energy in her. I'm not worried about it. In my opinion, the greatest chance could be in two situations."
Before continuing, Mamoru set the tea water to boil and placed cups and plates with cutlery on a tray.
"I remember one situation all too well. It was when the artist Yumemi Yumeno painted us. Even back then, I found that time with Usagi to be very attractive and intense, even if we both might not have wanted to admit it at the time."
In good spirits, he grabbed two tea bags and placed them in the cups.
"And the second, probably most significant situation is… when the Silver Crystal appears directly in front of me and Usagi in the Starlight Tower. Since that hasn't happened yet, it's best to just enjoy our time here a little longer."
The Tamagoyaki sizzled in the pan, and Mamoru skillfully flipped the egg with two large chopsticks like a perfect Japanese housewife. Diana couldn't quite share his newfound calmness.
"I understand your point of view, but still," she regarded him critically, "I know I'm repeating myself, but this isn't your reality. We'll have to go back eventually. In the end, you'll have to erase Usagi's memories… we're doing all this to save the world from evil, and I want you to get your Star Seed back and have a chance at a real life. A proper, real one, I mean."
Annoyed, Mamoru set the chopsticks aside.
"I know, Diana. I know it, okay? And now, please stop reminding me that I'll be dead in the future!"
"What?"
At that moment, Mamoru immediately regretted raising his voice. Slowly, he turned around and saw Usagi standing in the kitchen.
Her face was pale, and in her eyes was a mix of disbelief and shock. With a trembling finger, she pointed at him.
"Mamoru, does that mean… you're not alive in the future?"
This was exactly the situation he had wanted to avoid at all costs. Mamoru took a deep breath. Holding the pan with the Tamagoyaki in one hand, he explained to Usagi:
"I think we should eat breakfast first; this is going to be a very long story."
Who was he trying to fool all this time?
Usagi had deserved nothing but the truth from the beginning, and Mamoru was ready to fully share the secrets of his time with Usagi.