Life Goes On
Part Four
By Ricci 


Mamoru looked over his appartment. Finally he was finished. He wiped his 
hands clean with a kitchen towel and examined his now tidy kitchen. It had 
taken him two days to clean up the mess his depression had left. Suddenly 
he had felt the urge to do something about it, to leave his appartment tidy, 
before - before- He stopped thinking about it. There were still some things 
to do, he reminded himself. He took his favourite sweat-shirt and bade 
farewell to the place that had become his home and shelter. 
It was a bright day, the sun shinig, the birds singing, cheery voices 
everywhere. He paid no attention to the life going on around him. Only two 
things left to do: going to the arcade and mentally say good bye to Motoki 
and then visiting Usako's grave. He kept his eyes on the sidewalk as he 
moved among the crowd, knowing the way by heart. Then he was there. 
"Mamoru! Hey, I'm so glad to see you!" Motoki was really glad to see his 
friend, though he noticed that there was something unfamiliar about him. 
Mamoru sat down on a nearby table, Motoki following.
"How's business?" Mamoru asked casually, avoiding eye-contact. Motoki 
frowned, but dismissed it as unimportant.
"As usual. There's a new Sailor V game out, so it's normally very crowded. 
Though I think this day is way too beautiful to spend it inside." Mamoru 
nodded absently.
"Did you hear from Reika lately?" Motoki's face brightened up, like always 
when it came to his favourite topic. "She's fine! Just yesterday I got a letter. 
Seems to be quite hot in Africa. And she says the air is very dry, it feels 
like breathing in fire. You know how sensitive her skin is. She -" Mamoru 
didn't listen any longer. He just let Motoki talk about his beloved so far away. 
Reika would come back, but Usako wouldn't. Still, a feeling of warmth glowed 
in his heart as he watched Motoki talk. His love for Reika shone through 
every word, and his eyes betrayed the depth of his feelings for her. This is 
how I will keep him in mind, Mamoru decided. He smiled and interrupted 
Motoki.
"I am sorry, but I have to go now." He hesitated for a moment before going 
on. Shall I say it?  "Love is a treasure you can find only once in your life. 
Take all the opportunities it offers you, or it will slip away forever." Motoki had 
a bewildered look on his face, but before he could say anything, Mamoru 
nodded and made his way to the street.
What on earth made me say this pathetic little sentence? Mamoru wondered, 
though he couldn't deny the truth in it. He hoped Motoki and Reika would be 
happy together, had children and died peacefully as an old couple. That 
would only be fair. But life wasn't fair, was it? It had taken his Usako away, 
just when he had found her. Just when they could have been sharing 
everything. Now he regretted evry moment he had turned her away because 
of his studies or one of his jobs, every minute that he didn't spend with her. 
That and the feeling of guilt deep inside of him threatened to bring tears to 
his eyes again. No, no more crying! Soon I'll be with her, and there won't 
be tears anymore...

"Night, Kelly!" Shigeko called down the dark hallway, where she knew her 
friend and partner was somewhere. "Yeah, good night!" came the muffled 
reply."And DO sleep this night! If I see you again with those black rings-" 
"Alright, alright! Bye!" Smiling, Shigeko turned around and left the building. 
Typical for Kel that she would stay the night at the library. For her last birthday 
the staff had bought a camp-bed, which had amused Kelly endlessly. But now 
it was normal to see Kelly sleeping on her camp-bed when Shigeko arrived 
in the morning. Shigeko loved books, too, but she could never understand 
what drove Kelly to spend all her free time with the books. She shook her 
head and smiled, as she walked over the parking lot to her car. Kelly was 
right, she really needed a good night's sleep. A nightmare had haunted her 
for the last four days, a nightmare she couldn't remember, not even in the 
second she woke up. Hopefully this would change. She got inside the car 
and turned the engine on. A hot bath, a good book, a cup of warm milk with 
honey - that was all she needed right now.

Mamoru looked up to the midnight sky. The stars glittered as if 
hiding some beautiful secret, and the Milky Way was a faint glow on the 
dark blue. He had been standing here for hours now, seeing the sunset, 
that had crowned every wave with a shimmering golden tiara, hearing the 
city's noises humming like a big insect. Now it was dark, peaceful and quiet. 
He could hear a car now and then, but only in the distance. He inhaled the 
cool breeze that was coming from the sea. One hand gripping the railing he 
slowly climbed over it. The wind was tearing on his clothes, and he felt his 
heart pounding wildly. Under him his cold and wet grave waited. And his 
sweet and loving Usako. He fought down fear and despair until he felt calm 
and composed. He losened his grip ever so slowly. The last thing he saw 
were the waves that came nearer and nearer.

Shigeko narrowed her eyes. She wasn't sure... but she thought she had seen 
someone standing there... she jumped out of the car and ran to the railing of 
the bridge, scanning the dark water deep down. There! She spotted a white 
hand. Without thinking she ran down to the shore, took a deep breath and 
braced herself for the cold water. It stung like thousand needles and she 
gasped. She had to find the person NOW, or he/she would be dead. With 
the trained style of an experienced swimmer she came closer and closer to 
the spot where she had last seen the person. There was nothing. Once again 
she took a deep breath and dove. She could still see nothing. The icy water 
slowly made her arms and legs become numb. It was so cold! Most probably 
the person was dead by now. Just as she decided to get out of the water and 
call an ambulance, she saw him. In instant she was at his side. How she got 
him back to the shore and out of the water she couldn`t remember. It was a 
young man around her age, and he wasn't breathing. She put her fingers 
over his nose and started to breathe into him. Nothing. He was so pale... 
Again she breathed into him, pumping his chest after this. Two dreadful 
minutes passed, as she desperately tried to bring him back to life. Suddenly 
he coughed weakly and some color returned to his cheeks. Shigeko quickly 
turned him on the side, holding his head, as streams of water came out of his 
mouth and nose.
"Hello? Can you hear me? I'll go and call the ambulance. Please don't move, 
I'll be back in a minute, okay?" He didn't react, but maybe he was just too weak. 
Anyway, he still could die of exposure. It was cold enough. She ran back to 
her car that was parked at the side of the road and fumbled with the keys. It 
was now that she realized that she herself was shaking and terribly cold. She 
had to get out of this wet clothes. Finally she managed to open the door. Now 
where was that damned handy when you needed it? 

Warmth. Light. The sun! He slowly opened his eyelids. He felt so weak. What 
had he been doing? His ribcage hurt terribly. "Oh, you woke up! How do you 
feel?" He turned his head to the voice. There was a woman. She had blonde 
hair and green eyes. And she smiled. Obviously she expected an answer. 
What had the question been? "Fine... I think. Weak." He answered and 
managed a smile. "Where am I?" "You're in a hospital. You were lucky that I 
saw you. How did you fall into the water?"
He frowned. "Water?" She gave him an odd look. "The bridge! You fell down 
into the water! Don't you remember?" He shook his head in confusion. What 
bridge? Panic welled up inside of him. Who - who am I?


Sounds familiar? I'm sure You can guess where this is leading! Anyway, if 
You have any comments (good or bad ones) send them to
 tliebla@fh-koblenz.de. Oh, and by the way, there's another story called 
"Life Goes On" out there! I didn't mean to steal the title, I didn't know about 
it. SORRY! I already apologized, but I wanted to stress that my story has 
nothing to do with this story. Okay ^_^!Keep mailing me, I love Ya for it!
Special thanx to:
Selena:The Moon Goddess, Sexylyon, Lianne, Razzz, Sue Mei, Sidnei 
(keep writin'!), Tim Nolan, Greenbeans, Mark Berger, Sailor Mac, Lady 
M. Harris and Pandora. Their stories are great, if You want some hours 
of real good entertainment go read them! I'm sorry if I forgot to mention 
someone, there are just so many wonderful authors out there... 
Hope You like this story so far and I'll meet You in part five! See Ya! ^_^
Bye
Ricci