Midnight By Klutz AN: Takes place in Allan and Anne, concerning Serena’s feelings towards losing Darien again. I slip out of bed, careful not to wake Luna, grab my broach off the nightstand and put on my jacket over my pajamas. It’s late out, maybe one in the morning, and I’m going out for a walk. In my pajamas. I look around quietly, to make sure no one is watching and climb out the window and into the tree that sits under it. I have used this tree countless times when I had to go fight. I jump silently and land with a quiet thud on the soft grass, crouched in anticipation of anyone and everyone. There is silence. I stand up and walk away from the house behind me, towards my thinking spot. A small bridge in the park. Mamo-chan used to come here a lot to think this bridge. I remember when we used to ‘hate’ each other and I would walk past here, pretending to be all angry while I secretly looked at him out of the corner of my eyes. I’ll admit it now, since there is no harm. I liked him, even then. Even though he called me Odango Atama. Even though he was always mean. Because then I would see him latter, talking with Andrew and helping small children who were hurt or lost by cheering them up with a single red rose. Funny, how I never connected that with my Tuxedo Kamen-samma before now. I have finally made it to the bridge. It is cold out, so I wrap my coat tighter around myself and lean on the railing, staring into the cool, slow moving water beneath me as it makes it’s own slow journey. The moon is reflected in the water, it wavers a bit but mostly stays steady. Strange how every time I come out here to think it is a full moon. They appear more often in Tokyo. So now I get on to what I really came here to do. Think about Mamo-chan and how much I miss him. I mean sure, I see him everyday, I make sure of it! But… he doesn’t remember me. I’m beginning to wonder if he ever will. He seems to think differently of me now. Probably because I don’t yell or scream if he calls me Odango Atama anymore. I just wince a little and try to cover it up. Maybe he has noticed? Is that why he has started calling me Usagi more often now? I hope so. I only wince because I wish he were calling me Usako, like he did that last day when we transformed in front of each other at the Crystal Tower. So maybe you can see why I miss him so much. He’s not really my Mamo-chan any more, he’s Mamoru-kun. Sometimes I get mad at him, just for old time’s sakes and so he won’t get suspicious, but I always feel bad afterwards. It’s not something I like doing, yelling at people. A tear slips down my face and hits the water. It really hurts, even if I do put on a strong face for the Senshi, I think they know deep down that it is hurting me so much. I haven’t missed the looks they have been giving him, and I don’t believe he has either. One minute pitiful and sorry, the next minute angry and hateful. Remorse. I wouldn’t be upset if he was confused by it all… I mean not knowing why four girls you have never met before are mad at you one minute for no apparent reason and sad for you the next. I know I’d be confused. But he’ll figure it out eventually. He always has been much smarter than I have. I look up at his balcony. I can always see it from here. I’m surprised to see him standing there, at one in the morning, looking out over Tokyo. Why isn’t he asleep? He looks at me and our eyes meet for a second. His flash with something… maybe a memory he can’t quite get a hold of. He shakes his head and goes back inside. I’m pretty disappointed he didn’t stay out there longer, but if he had he might have seen me looking at him, and I can’t have that happen. He might see something he shouldn’t. Or what if there is a youma attack and I have to transform? I don’t want him to love me because of our past. I want him to love me because I am me, now, Usako not Serenity. I doubt it will happen, but I can always hope. Because if I lose hope than I might as well give up on everything and let the enemies win. But I can’t do that. I have a feeling there is still too much I have to do in this life, even if it hurts me. “What are you doing out this late Usagi?” a voice asks behind me. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?” I know that voice, I would know it anywhere. I turn around. “Mamoru-kun? I could asks the same of you.” I reply and turn back to the stream below me. “I couldn’t sleep. Aren’t you cold?” he asks as he comes forward and leans on the railing, right next to me so our arms touch slightly. “No.” I lie. “You’re lying.” He replies. I turn and look at him. “How would you know?” “Your eyes. They give away just about everything.” He says, and shrugs. “Just about?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. “Not everything. You’re hiding something from me.” He says, looking at me closely. I avert my eyes. “What makes you say that?” I ask curiously. “A lot of things. Those looks your friends are giving me lately… Like sometimes they want to kill me and the next minute they are sorry for me. They seem more sorry for you though.” He adds absently. “Oh?” “Yes… And there’s the fact that you would let me call you Odango Atama now and only flinch. I wonder about that, why you flinch.” I am silent to that. “And you almost never yell at me anymore. When you do, I don’t really think you mean it. It’s more for keeping up appearances.” He finishes. “So what about that? You have no proof that any of it is true. I just realized I shouldn’t be mean to you, considering your accident and all when you were…” My eyes grow large and I clap my hand over my mouth. He doesn’t know he told me that yet! I’m such a baka! “How do you know about that?” he asks, suddenly more alert. ‘Think Usagi, think!’ “Ummm…. Motoki-kun told me?” I offer. He isn’t buying it. “I never told Motoki-kun about the accident.” He says, shaking his head. Uh- oh… Wait a minute… he told me in the elevator, but he didn’t tell his best friend? Now that doesn’t make any sense… “Uhhhh…” I stutter. “I… can’t remember! It’s one Am Mamoru-kun, I should be going home…” I say, and start to walk away. He grabs my wrist and I stop. “Nani?” I ask. Why is he holding me back? Come on! Wasn’t my reason good enough? Oh drats, he’s smarter than you baka! “There’s more to it than that, isn’t there Usagi?” I’m not looking at him. Please please don’t say he’s going to use those eyes how I think he will… I look up. Oh gods, he’s using the eyes, exactly how I thought he would. “Umm…” I look away. Maybe if I don’t look at him, I can make it through this. “Iie, No, there isn’t.” I say. It’s easier to lie to him if I’m not looking at him. He places two fingers under my chin and lifts up my face to meet his. “Are you sure about that?” he asks quietly. I stare blankly at him. ‘Whatever you do, don’t tell him anything!’ I seem to be able to find my voice again. “Yes, I’m very sure.” I say firmly. He looks into my eyes for a minute, trying to see if I’m lying or not. He looks kind of surprised to find whatever it was he found there. “What the…?” My eyes get larger again. I’m afraid! What did he see there. “You’re lying again… You know a lot more than you let on don’t you Usagi? Something must have happened… I must be forgetting something… You’re sad about it, ne? You’re friends are a part of this? Is that what those looks mean?” he asks. His face is paler than it was before. He looks faint. “We’d better get you home Mamoru-kun. You don’t look so well!” I take his arm and lead him back inside and up to his apartment. I’ve only been up here once or twice, probably. Around when we were watching Jordan for awhile. (Sorry, don’t know the JA name…) I open the door, which he left unlocked for some reason, and put him down on the couch. He looks totally wiped! I go into the kitchen and get a damp cloth for his forehead. I come back into the room and put it on him and then sit down at the other end of the couch. “Why are you so tired Mamoru-kun? Are you sick?” I ask. He opens his eyes slowly. “No… Usagi. I’m just tired lately. Very… tired.” He says quietly. He really must be sick! I’ve never seen him like this! And he always tries to cover it up if he is. “I don’t believe you Mamoru. I’m getting a thermometer.” I say, and walk back to the kitchen to look for the things I will need. I grab a thermometer, a blanket, a glass of water and some cold medicine from a cabinet beside the fridge, and come back to Mamo- chan who is still on the couch. I stick the thermometer in his mouth and tell him to keep it there until it beeps. He just nods and looks at me, slightly surprised. That may be partially due to the fact that I am still in my pajamas. I blush at that, but then the thermometer beeps. I take it out of his mouth and shake it slightly before reading it. He’s a little over normal… Just a small fever. “Alright Mamoru-kun, I want you to promise me you’ll stay inside until you feel better! If I catch you out on the streets with this fever, you’ll be a very unlucky Mamoru, you hear me?” I say threateningly. He nods and then seems to fall asleep. “Good.” I whisper. “Can’t have him getting sick. We might need him latter…” I put everything away and leave silently. He was still asleep on the couch last time I checked. I went home, climbed back into my room and fell fast asleep. Tomorrow would be Saturday, and I was going to check on Mamo-chan. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SATURDAY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I walked out of the house like normal people do today and headed down the street to the arcade. If there was anywhere to catch Mamo-chan with a fever, it was talking to his best friend, Motoki Furuhata. The automatic doors open with a hiss and I approach and I walk quietly into the arcade. I scan over all the games. No Mamo-chan there. I walk upstairs to the Fruit Parlor. The place is full of people and there is one empty booth at the back. I make my way to it, checking all the booths for him to make sure he’s not here. Well it sure as heck scared me to see that the booth in the back in actuality, was taken. By Mamo-chan of all people! I stood beside him, just where he couldn’t see me. Then I reached a hand out and placed it against his forehead. “I guess you kept your promise Mamoru-kun. Are you feeling better?” I ask as I sit down across from him. He looks startled, and I don’t blame him. One, I never would have thought that I’d be up before noon on a weekend, and two, he had no idea who was checking his temperature until a moment ago. “Ohayo Odango Atama.” He says, still a bit surprised. “Ohayo.” I reply and pull out a menu. A waitress comes over and asks me if I would like something. “Just a chocolate milkshake.” I answer, setting the menu aside. She leaves and I turn back to Mamo-chan. “You haven’t answered my question yet Mamoru-kun, are you feeling better now?” I ask again. He nods. “Yes, I am Usagi. Thank you for your help.” I smile. “You’re so formal sometimes Mamoru-kun. What did you order? Or did you order at all? You should eat more!” I tell him. “Why, will you need me for something latter?” he asks. I pause, puzzled. ‘What could that mean?’ and then I remember what I said last night when he was asleep… “I thought you were asleep.” I counter. “Just resting my eyes. What does it mean? Who is ‘we’?” he asks back. I shake my head. “Just something from my past Mamoru-kun. Don’t worry about it.” I say, trying to get away from the subject. “No, I want to know. Why am I important and to who?” he asks again. I shake my head. “I told you, it’s nothing.” The waitress delivered my drink and I thanked her before taking a sip. “Just don’t worry about it, alright?” “Can’t.” he says. I look up, surprised. “Why not?” I ask. “Because… because you’re my favorite Odango Atama, and I can’t have you getting hurt. What does it mean?” he asks again. “I thought I was the only Odango Atama?” I tease. “Well yeah… but… just answer the question Usa.” He says. Ouch, that hurt. So close to Usako, yet so far. I think he noticed the wince again this time. “Did I say something wrong?” he asks, concerned. “Umm... no. Ice-cream headache.” I lie. I look out the window, hoping he won’t read my eyes again. “Are you sure?” I nod. I take one last long drink or my milkshake, finishing it off before I stand up and brush off my skirt. “Well, I have to be going. I was just making sure you weren’t still sick.” I say, and place some money on the table before walking out so quickly that he can’t catch me this time. ‘That was too close.’ I step to the side of the door that leads out of the Parlor and hide behind it. Mamoru comes out, looks left and right but doesn’t see me, and walks quickly downstairs. When he is out of site, I slip into the girls’ bathroom. He can’t find me here… A few minutes later he came back up. I guess he figured out that I never left the parlor really. I can hear him pause outside the door to the washroom. “Usagi?” he asks loudly. “Are you in there?” I don’t answer. I think he already knows. I walk silently into the last stall and leave the door slightly open. I am crouched up on the seat so that my feet don’t show under the door. The door the bathroom creaks open and he pokes his head inside. “Usagi?” I stay very still and try not to make any noise. Seeing that no one is around outside the door, he steps inside. “Usagi, I know you’re in here.” He’s just lucky this place is empty! What if there was another girl in here? He walks down the row, lightly pushing in each of the open doors too see if I am hiding in them. My door is pushed in slightly and he sees me. “You know I really don’t think you’re aloud in here.” I say smiling. He thinks he has me caught eh? Yeah right! Not this time Mamo-chan! I step out of the stall and we are standing in the middle of the girls’ bathroom. Me and Mamo-chan. This can’t look very good. He looks away for a second and I take that as my escape. Being a Senshi, I happen to be very good at avoiding things, weather the rest of my friends believe me or not. I brace my legs slightly and hop lightly, yet very high. One bounce around Mamo- chan, one to the door, and one down the stairs, and I’m gone. He stands there with a dumb founded expression on his face. I guess now he knows why my name is Usagi, hmm? I make it to Hikawa Jinga in record time, five minutes early for our usual Saturday meeting. Rei-chan stares at me in shock as I walk up the stairs. She looks at her watch, and then me, and then back at her watch. She shakes it and stares at me in disbelief. “Usagi-chan? You’re actually early?!” she asks. I smile and nod. “Had some problems with Mamo-chan, but I got out of it and remembered our meeting, so here I am.” I say shrugging. She goes back to sweeping, though she still looks very shocked. The girls arrive one by one and all have similar reactions. A few minutes later we were all back to normal and participating in a full out strategy meeting. “So Ami, what’s your latest answer to the Mamo-chan question?” I ask. We have had Ami-chan working on trying to find a way to get Mamo-chan to remember for awhile now, even though I’m kind of split on the idea. “No, not yet. I’m working on it, but I can’t seem to figure out why he hasn’t remembered. His spirit is still near him… He should have remembered by now!” Ami says. She is clearly very frustrated by this. Not being able to figure it out and all that is. “And what about this new enemy? Does anyone know who they are yet?” Rei asks. We all shake our heads. “No idea.” I say, shrugging. “I wish we did though. I just want to get this all over with and go back to being normal again…” I say sighing. “Well, if no one else has anything to say…” Mako-chan starts. We all shake our heads no. “Good, because I was going to give Ken a cooking lesson.” She says, and leaves. Minako too, stands up. “Where are you going V-chan?” I ask her. “I’ve got to clean my room. My parents don’t know I’m gone.” She says, and also leaves, followed by Ami who has to get another few chapters ahead in her biology class. I reluctantly leave afraid I might run into Mamo-chan again. It’s not that I couldn’t handle him, but I can’t avoid him forever! I walk slowly away from Hikawa Jinga, my stomach rumbling. “I knew I should’ve eaten breakfast…” I mutter to myself. I decide to stop at the Fruit Parlor again to grab a sandwich to keep me going until I get home. I just hope Mamoru isn’t there. I sit down at the counter and ask for a sandwich. I forget which type, and personally, I really don’t care as long as it doesn’t have carrots in it. I get it soon and start munching away. Motoki sat down next to me at one point and I smiled at him. “Konichi wa Motoki-kun. How are you today?” I ask, taking another bite. “Kon wa Usagi. I’m pretty good. I heard you gave Mamoru-kun quite a scare earlier.” He says lightly. “What do you mean?” I ask curiously. “I found him coming out of the girls bathroom muttering something about why you were named Usagi… What’d you say to him to get him so messed up?” he asks just as curiously as me. I laughed. “He wouldn’t leave me alone, and he followed me in there, so I just sort of… jumped around him and,” I get rather quiet. “Out the door in three more.” I say softly. I just hope he didn’t hear me. He looks surprised. “You can jump… like that?!” he asks incredulously. I nod. “Please don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret.” I say seriously. I think he understood what this meant to me, because he became very quiet and nodded. I finished my sandwich and got up to leave. “Wait Usagi, can you help me with something?” Motoki asks. I nod and he leads me to the back booth again. “He’s still pretty out of it, can you just… wake him up for me?” he asks quietly. I am kind of reluctant, but Mamo-chan just looks so kawaii like that, all dazed and confused. I slid into the booth where Mamo-chan is staring out the window with his eyes all glazed over. “Mamoru-kun? Hello? Usagi to Mamoru!” I say in a sing song voice. His eyes get a bit closer to normal. “Usagi?” he asks, his eyes clearing more. “Yup, right here Mamoru-kun. We found you knocked out near the bathroom. I think you were hallucinating.” I say convincingly. He shakes his head. “No, I saw it Usagi! I saw it! You’re not getting out of this one!” he says slightly angry and slightly excited. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Mamoru-kun. Maybe you should go home and rest for a bit.” I say with a straight face. He shakes his head again. “You just confuse me more everyday Usa. I know what I saw, and what I heard last night, and I’m going to find out what it is about you…” he says and leaves the fruit parlor. I look up at Motoki. He looks confused. “Do you really think it’s good to mess with his head like that?” he asks, concerned. “Don’t worry Motoki-kun. I have it all figured out.” I say confidently and I leave as well. So here I am again. Not at the bridge, but a few feet away from it, sitting beside it watching the sunset. It’s a wonderful sunset, I should feel happy! But… I can’t help but wonder. Am I right to try and mess with his head? Even if it is for a good cause? “HELP! SOMEBODY, PLEASE HELP!” There are screams coming from across the park! I have to save them!” I look around, there’s nobody here… But then I remember the apartments behind me. Mamo-Chan’s apartment. I glance up and lo and behold, he’s there, watching me again. Curious, I suspect as to how I will react to the youma. Thank Serenity I didn’t transform in front of him! I run straight for the sound of the screams. Finally I find a spot where no one will see transform, and find myself heading off once again for battle. It was a fairly hard fight, I noticed half way into the battle. This youma/cardian and few weaknesses other than sheer force of attack, and I would need those Senshi here fast! I press all call on my communicator and go back to the fight. I am about to attack again when Mamo-chan runs in on the fight! “Usagi! Where’s Usagi?” he asks breathlessly. Stupid cape boy… He must have seen me run for the fight and gotten worried. For once Mamo-chan, can’t you keep your head out of the battle?! “She’s safe, get out of here!” I yell at him and attack with my scepter again. He doesn’t leave. What did I just say Mamo-chan? “Hey! Back off ugly if you know what’s good for you!” Thank god! It’s about time they showed up! I turn my head to see Rei-chan and the other Senshi posing. “We don’t have time for the pretty-talk! Start fighting!” I yell at them. Why is everyone so dense today? “Sailor Moon! Watch out!” I can hear Minako say it, and everything starts moving in slow motion. I turn my head back to the youma, just as it releases a large ball of energy at me. My eyes grow large, I don’t have time to run! Suddenly, Mamo-chan crashes into me and sends us both flying to the ground as the energy ball whizzes over our heads. “Thank you Mamoru-kun!” I say gratefully, but in seconds I am on my feet again and whip out my scepter. “Moon, Princess, Halation!” I yell. The other Senshi add their attacks to it and pouf! The youma is nothing but moon dust. The Senshi and I share a look and bound off in different directions. I change back into Usagi behind a tree and come running out to give Mamoru a hug. “Mamoru! I saw what you did! That was really brave!” I cheer him. He smiles and hugs me back, and then we both let go. “Why did you come out here? You knew there was a fight!” Mamoru says sternly. “They’re friends of mine. I couldn’t not try to help! Besides, I didn’t see you leave when Sailor Moon said to!” I say back in the same tone. We start walking back to the park and away from the remains of the youma, which are already blowing away in the wind. “Still… just try not to get into trouble alright? You really scared me!” he says. “Are you going to stop trying to figure me out then?” I ask. “You know now, it’s just that I help them sometimes when I can. I’m not really all that different from you.” I say. “Just a normal teenager?” “Just a normal teenager.” I say, nodding my head. “Alright then…” We are standing on the bridge now, right back where we started last night. “Thank you.” I say suddenly. “For what?” he asks. “For being you.” I kiss him on the cheek and run off home. Can’t have him wondering about me again! THE END So? What did you think? I finished this yea! And it only took me a few hours. I think this is the first one I have written that used the Japanese names. I’ll probably stick to NA though, it just worked with this one. Visit my web-site at http://fly.to/moonworld and e-mail me at bunny@sailorscout.com ! Luvs ya!~ Klutz Ps. I also make banners and have an ML, so check out my site!