The Celestial Warrior

Part Five: A Bond Between Sisters. Love Grows Stronger.


Celestia kneeled on the wooden floor, weeping with her forehead
pressed to the smooth surface. Sailor Moon was by her side, yet was
too stunned to console her friend. Motoki? A reincarnated prince?
she thought to herself. And her I thought he was only a guy who
worked at a video parlor. There must be some mistake here. She laid
a hand on the warrior\'s shoulder, \"Are you sure? I mean, I\'ve known
him for a long time, and nothing\'s ever revealed anything special
about him.\"

She looked up, the red of her eyes nearly concealing her irises.
\"There\'s no way of me to convince you. There was something in the way
he looked at me. And Dwersis knows this too. I just . . . I just
can\'t believe he was reincarnated with me.\" Celestia looked at Moon
and noticed that she was looking somewhere else. \"Oh, Endymion. Is
he . . . ?\"

\"He seems to be all right,\" she whispered, yet there was an unsure
edge to it.

\"Come on, we better find a spot for him.\" The red goddess wiped her
eyes dry and got back to her feet. As she walked by her sword handle,
it disappeared before Sailor Moon\'s eyes. Celestia kneeled to the
well-dressed fighter and leaned over him. \"Endymion, wake up. Are
you all right?\" Not getting a response, she felt for a pulse on his
neck. \"He\'s going to be out for tonight. I\'m going to put him to
bed, if you\'ll help me.\" Sailor Moon nodded. She couldn\'t help
sm
smile, because no matter how the Princess tried to be serious, those
tails wouldn\'t let her.

\"What about him?\" Sailor Moon pointed to Charlie laying on the floor.

\"I know where he lives, so I will send him there.\" She touched the
man on the temples and spirals of energy wrapped around her arms and
poured into his skin. \"I\'m erasing his memory so that when he w
up
up he won\'t remember this. He\'ll think he\'s been drunk all this time,
and no more.\" After she was done, she spoke in spidery words, making
his body hover off the floor and then in a wink, he was gone.

Sailor Moon watched with her mouth hung open. \"Sort of a talent I
have.\" The Princess looked at her in disbelief, then shook it off
when she heard him moan.

Celestia picked up Tuxedo Mask as easily as he would carry his love
and car him him into her bedroom. Sailor Moon followed her closely
and watched with her hands folded under her chin. Removing the hat
and mask to make it easier for him to sleep, she pulled the covers
over his singed clothes and they both quietly left the room.

As the stood outside of the bedroom, they powered down, and Raven
nearly fell over. She caught herself and steadied her feet with Usagi
flailher her arms around her, ready to attempt to catch her. \"It\'s
all right, I\'m okay, I think.\" She held the girl\'s arms away from her
as she shuffled her feet to get to the kitchen.

Usagi stood there blinking in confusion, then worry. She followed
Raven to the kitchen, wondering if there was anything she could do to
help. There was a definite slump in her shoulders as she opened the
refrigerator door for a drink. There was something wrong now, and she
was going to dat sat she could. \"Raven-chan, what is wrong?\"

Raven slammed the door so hard that it made the jars on top rattle.
\"I hate this battle! I hate having to live my life out with insane
goddesses trying to kill me! I hate having to fight for the safety of
myself and others! And I hate my role in all of this!\" She turned
away to lean against the counter. \"I\'m so tired of all this. I want
a normal life again, before all of this nonsense.\"

\"I know how you feel. I felt that way when this started for me. But
we have to. I know not why, but we do.\" Usagi dared to come closer
to her fuming friend, but she was used to being around Makoto in one
of her anger fits. \"I know that no help.\"

\"You\'re damned right, it doesn\'t help,\" she said in a smoldering tone.
Raven took a deep breath and let it out slowly. \"But that\'s not your
fault. I just can\'t reason out their challenging the Ultimate Plan
like this. I don\'t understand evil at all. But I\'m so tired.\" She
looked over her shoulder, saw the blonde\'s look of worry. Raven
softened up at that moment. \"Look, I\'ll be all right, really. But
Mamoru needs you more. You go and stay with him tonight. And if he
wakes up, get him to sleep again. If you need my help, come and get
me. I\'ll be out on the couch, okay?\"

\"Raven-chan, you not watch?\" she said nervously.

\"I guess you haven\'t been with him, have you?\" Usagi looked at her
questioningly. \"Don\'t worry, nothing bad is going to happen. I think
you two need to be together after what happened tonight. Go on, I\'ll
see you in the morning.\"

Usagi nodded and shuffled off to the bedroom. Raven grabbed her can
of pop and flipped it open. As she sipped it, she walked back to the
wide expanse of her living room. She stared out the window, looking
for the moon. Once she spotted the half disk, she closed her eyes and
concentrated on its ancient powers.

Serenity, my Sister, if you can ever hear me in those dark depths,
speed up the time that we can reach you. There must be something you
can do for us. Your Daughter needs your help this time, and I can\'t
be the only one to help her. Raven could feel the thoughts of her
prayers dance in her mind, but she couldn\'t be sure if they were
reaching her. \"Even if it takes me all night to hear a whisper, I\'m
going to reach you Sister.\"

Raven went to one of her cupboards and took out a pair of pale silver
candles and some matches. Lighting them, she sat down between them
and concentrated hard on the faint memories of Serenity\'s face.

********************************************************

Usagi slipped into the bedroom and shut the door silently. She felt
very awkward being alone with him this way. She had visited him in
his apartment many times, but somehow that was different than this
time. She could feel the blush on her face growing hotter, could feel
her heart beating faster. Standing with her arms straight at her
side, she resolved to calm down and just hop in without him knowing.
But then she remembered that she was still in her regular clothes,
even after the transforming. They left their suitcases in Raven\'s
room to get it out of the guests\' way, so that was not the problem.
Changing was the problem.

She looked around for somewhere to hide while she slipped into her
nightclothes, but could only find the closet. Shrugging her
shoulders, she went for it. But as she was swinging the door open,
the hinges squeaked. Usagi jumped at the sound, flung it open, and
closed it after her. With what little noise she made woke him up.
Groaning, he tried to scan the room for the source of the disturbance.
It was too dark for him to see, so he laid his head back down on the
pillow.

There was some more rattling, and he was sure that he didn\'t imagine
that. Managing to stumble to his feet, he listened carefully for the
noise. He found the closet and opened it.

\"Ahhh!! Yamete!!\"

He slammed the door quickly, panicking after being screamed at. After
calming down a bit, he whispered, \"Usagi? Is that you?\"

\"Mamo-chan, you\'re suppose to be asleep,\" came her muffled Japanese.

\"Usako, what are you doing in there?\" He opened the door again, and
she screame him him again. \"I can\'t see in the dark, Usako, you can
calm down now.\" He could hear her sniffling, so he hoped that she
could see his smile. \"Now tell me what you\'re doing?\"

\"I was going to keep a watch over you while you slept. But I had to
change into my nightclothes, but I was too shy . . . \"

\"To change while I\'m asleep,\" he finished for her. \"Usako, don\'t
worry. I\'m not going to do anything to you. I can\'t see in this dark
anyway. Are you changed now?\" She hummed in affirmative. \"Okay,
then come out.\"

Usagi slipped out of the closet, hugging the wall. \"Now what\'s
wrong?\"

\"I . . . I haven\'t been alone with you this way before, Mamo-chan.
I\'m a little . . . nervous.\"

Mamoru kneeled before her, taking her hand in his. \"I promise I will
never do anything that you don\'t want me to do. You know that well,
and I in to to stick to that promise. You know I love you, right?
So, trust me, okay?\" He felt her fall into his arms, her arms wrapped
around his neck as she buried her face into his cloak. He held her
close, feeling the warmth of her even through the many layers of his
clothing. She pulled away just enough to find his lips and kiss him
deeply.

They parted after a few minutes, her worried whisper coming out, \"Are
you sure you\'re all right? You took an awful beating tonight.\"

\"Nothing that I couldn\'t handle, at least for a while.\" She smiled at
that. \"We better get some sleep, dawn might come sooner than we want
it too.\"

Usagi got up on her bare feet and climbed into bed. Mamoru got up and
started to unbutton the jacket of his tuxedo. She shot her head up
and questioned, \"Mamo-chan, what are you doing?\"

\"I\'m not going to sleep in this all night. It\'s too warm. Here, I\'ll
turn around so that you don\'t have to worry.\"

\"Humph. I\'m not worrying! I was just . . . wondering, that\'s all. I
can certainly turn around myself.\" But in a way, she couldn\'t turn
around. She flopped her head back onto the bed, but her eyes were
wide open. She couldn\'t make out much in the dark, but there was just
enough of his shadow for tor to see a little. She heard the cape and
jacket rustle off and draped over a chair. He took off the gloves,
tugging them off by thegersgers and adding them to the pile of
clothes. As he kicked off his shoes, he took off the white vest and
shirt. Usagi bit into a fingernail, this being the first time she
ever saw him like this. When he started to turn around, she shut her
eyes fast and pretended to sleep.

\"Usako, I know you\'re not asleep,\" he whispered. She groaned in
anger, then slipped into a fake snore. \"Come on, I know better out of
you.\" She opened her eyes, and noticed he turned on a small night
lamp.

She could see him leaning over her without any shirt on. He may be
thin, but the definition of muscle was astounding. Those clothes he
wears hide a lot, she thought, wonder what else they hide. After
thinking that, an image of him in the advertisement flashed in her
mind, and then started to giggle and blush furiously. \"What\'s that
for?\" he asked.

\"Oh, nothing, nothing at all!\" she said between giggles. She
eventually sobered up and stared into his deep blue eyes. \"But there
are some things I have to tell you. It\'s about Celestia.\"

\"Like what?\" he asked as he sat down and started to tug his socks off.

Distracted by the motion of him removing more clothes, she sed
ed
herself out of it and continued. \"Celestia has a lot of powers over
humans. She can erase memories and send them back into other places.
That\'s what she did for Charles tonight. She touched him here,\" she
demonstrated on him, \"and then she made him float and then
disappeared.\"

\"Goes along with what we saw in the alley before. She claimed to have
control over the rm orm of humans. What her actual powers are, I
guess we really haven\'t seen the full extent.\"

\"Guess not.\"

Mamoru sat with his knees up, his chin leaning against them. \"So
there must be hidden powers that even you haven\'t tapped yet.\"

She tapped her face in thought. \"She said my powers are of healing
nature. What could hers be?\"

\"Death?\"

Usagi shuddered, \"Oooh, not that. Somebody must have that control
somewhere else. She can kill, but she can also heal and repair. Must
be something else.\"

He shook his head, \"I don\'t want to think anymore. I definitely need
some sleep.\" And then he yawned. He stood up again and started to
undo his belt.

\"Mamo-chan! The light!\"

\"Huh?\" Then remembered and turned out the lamp. \"Don\'t worry, I\puttputting on my pajamas. I\'m not going to do anything.\"

She decided to be bold for a small moment. \"But what if I wanted
something to happen?\"

He spun around fast, \"What?\"

\"Just a small question.\"

She heard material hit the floor and the rustle of other clothing
being put on. He slipped into bed and pulled the covers up. \"If you
want something to happen, you should be sure that you\'re ready for it.
I don\'t want you to be frightened when we do.\"

She could feel the blush rising up on her face, but she wanted to tell
him the truth. \"I\'ve been thinking about it, and I\'ve always wondered
what it would be like. And sometimes I could imagine it in my dreams.
But then I wake up and there\'s only Luna on my pillow or on my feet.
I usually get lonely after that, and I visit you and then I feel
better. And we didn\'t do anything either. So, I don\'t know.\"

\"How are you feeling now, being here?\"

\"Strange, yet comfortable. Can you . . . can you hold me?\" He pulled
her over, letting her head lean on his shoulder. She could feel his
skin instead of a shirt. She nearly pulled her hand away, but she
dared herself to touch him. Warm and smooth, just as she imagined he
would be, and she let out a sigh. \"Somehow, this feels so right.\"
She felt him kiss the top of her head as his arms tightened around
her. \"After this, it\'s going to be hard going back to sleeping
alone.\"

\"I know the feeling, Usako.\" He sighedselfself. \"But we have more
days here, so I\'m sure Raven wouldn\'t mind a rearrangement in our
rooms. She\'s quite understanding of that kind of thing. Especially
the way she grew up.\"

\"How?\"

\"Ask her sometime. She will talk to you about it, believe me. She
isn\'t proud of it, but it a way for her to release her tension over
it.\" Mamoru hugged her a little closer. \"Do you realiou aou are the
only one I\'ve known that has a normal family? I lost mine, Ami\'s are
divorced, Rei\'s mother died a while ago. Makoto lost hers too.
Minako is living by herself.\"

\"But because of that, we have become a family. Have you noticed
that?\" she responded.

oddeodded. \"Yes, I do see that.\" Shifting a bit, he faced her and
held her closely. \"I just hope we don\'t lose anyone with this fight.
I don\'t know what I\'d do without you.\"

\"I know. I couldn\'t go on if you weren\'t there with me.\" She
snuggled up under his chin, smelling the cologne that still lingered
on him. With her head pressed up against him, she could hear his
heartbeat, and imagined that their hearts were beating in the same
time. With all the warmth she was feeling, she fell asleep
peacefully.

*********************************************************

\"Serenity, my Sister, I know you have the power to break through
whatever boundary Dwersis set up. Please break through and contact
me. We need your help in this battle, Sister. We can\'t do this
alone.\"

Silence. Damn.

A small breeze touched Raven\'s face, yet the windows weren\'t open.
She opened her eyes and could see a very faint image of Serenity
standing before her. Raven got to her feet and faced the apparition.
\"I knew you could answer me.\"

\"I\'m glad you still hold so much faith in me, Celestia.\" As soon as
Serenity said the name, Raven could feel the gentle tug of her
transformation taking place. \"It seems this life is taking it\'s toll
on you, Sister. Your beauty has been twisted, in a way.\"

\"I\'m tired. I want to return, but I can\'t. I\'m tired of the
fighting, the reliving. It\'s getting to be too much for me now. But
you know why I asked you to appear.\"

\"Yes, you need a way to get back at Dwersis. She cannot be allowed to
win.\"

\"Please tell me what I need to do. You know I swore to protect your
Daughter, and I need the extra help to find you and Motoki.\"

Serenity nodded her silvery head. \"When the moon is almost full,
within three days, there will appear a small gateway near where the
last attack took place. Where you last worked. It will be a small
enough of a gap to crawl through, and that is all. Dwersis may be
expecting you, so be on your guard for traps. There will be a long
cavern to get through that will lead you to her castle. There your
final battle will take place.\"

\"I understand, and I thank you. You better return before she suspects
anything.\"

\"I am sure she will already know. She is keeping a better eye on you
than you think.\" Serenity started to fade away. \"Dawn is coming, and
I must head back. Be strong, Celestia. You will triumph over her.\"
And then she was gone.

Celestia wiped a tear from her eye, and blew out her candles.

She knew what had to be done.

*********************************************************

With a small snort, Usagi woke up. She almost panicked when she
couldn\'t roll over, but then remembered that she was sleeping with the
man of her dreams. He was still fast asleep, his mouth hanging open
slightly. She nearly giggled as she touched his jaw to shut it. But
she couldn\'t resist dragging her fingertips down his unshaven face.
He sighed and slowly opened his eyes. They smiled at each other, like
they were hiding a se.
.

\"Mamo-chan, how are you?\" she whispered.

\"Never better.\"

\"But, nothing happened.\"

\"Yes, something happened.\" Mamoru wrapped his arms around her waist.
\"We talked, we got to come closer in our relationship, and I bet that
was the best night\'s sleep you\'ve had in a long time.\"

She blushed. \"Yeah, I guess you\'re right.\" She leaned gaingainst
him. \"Oh, you don\'t know how much you make me happy.\"

\"I do know, Usako. Believe me, I know. Come on, let\'s get dressed
and make some breakfast. I can hear your stomach rumbling.\"

Usagi put on a mock indignation face. \"It is not!\" Then her stomach
betrayed her, letting out a low rumble that no oouldould mistake. She
started to giggle and blush, then jumped out of bed to rummage through
her suitcase. Mamoru stayed in bed, watching as she viciously pushed
her long hair out of her face as she bent over. He slowly got up and
pulled her hair into a simple ponytail in his hands.

She turned around, coming face to face to him as he kneeled down
beside her. There was something new and unusual in the way he looked
at her, something she couldn\'t define. She blinked in confusion over
his stare, and was going to ask until he wrapped his arms around her
and kissed her passionately. She could\'ve protested, but after a
while, why would she ever want to. Hesitantly, she returned the kiss,
putting her arms around his neck. After a while, they did break away,
and she was able to ask him, \"Why?\"

He looked down at the floor, then back at her again. \"I was thinking
about what you were saying last night. We\'ve known each other for . .
. centuries. I can say that because we can remember our youth in that
time. And yet we\'ve never acted on our feelings. I know that it will
still be the first time for you. It will be for me, too.\" He looked
away again and sighed. \"I don\'t want to pressure you into anything,
Usako. But, when you tell me you\'re ready . . . I\'ll be there.\"

Usagi looked at him with her mouth slightly open. \"Mamo-chan,\" she
whispered, \"you want to . . . \"

\"When you\'re ready, yes.\"

Her expression of surprise turned into a smile. \"It might be soon,
though.\"

Mamoru looked at her straightfaced. \"Whenever it is.\"

A thin blush rose on her cheeks. \"What if it was now?\"

His eyes widened in surprise while she started to giggle. \"Are you
serious?\" She nodded her head, blushing more so. \"Okay, but let\'s
wait until tonight. You can probably talk to Raven about it, since
she\'ll understand it more from your point of view than mine. All
right?\"

\"Yes, my love.\"

\"Usako,\" he breathed her name as he started to kiss her again,
lowering her to stretch out on the floor along side her. She started
to giggle again as he kissed her along her neck, almost seemingly
hitting all her ticklish spots. He straddled her legs to lay on top
of her, judging on how to balance himself on such a fragile girl.
There were no complaints from her, just a surprised look when she felt
something hard against her leg. He went to kiss her again, and then
realized that he needed to put the brakes to himself. \"I\'m sorry, I\'m
getting carried away here.\"

\"I don\'t mind,\" she whispered. \"There are just some things that are
going to surprise me when we start.\"

\"Still, I said I would wait until tonight. I want to make sure that
our host knows what\'s going on.\" Mamoru thought for a moment.
\"Though, I\'m not sure how she\'ll feel in the meantime, without her
having anyone.\"

That reminded her of something. \"Mamo-chan, Dwersis has Motoki,\" she
spoke in a low tone.

\"What!?\" he practically screamed. \"Motoki? Why would she want him?\"

\"The same way that Beryl stole you from me. He is her weakness. And
he is also reincarnated, like we were.\"

\"But from where? I would have surely remembered him if it was in our
past.\"

\"He\'s from Celestia\'s past. Remember when she said she lost her
betrothed in her final battle? He, Motoki, is that man.\"

Mamoru crawled off of her, sitting back on his knees and shocked
beyond belief. \"I\'m glad you didn\'t tell me this last night, or I
wouldn\'t have gotten any sleep. My god, I can\'t believe this.\"

She sat up, leaning toward him. \"She told me this last night. Before
she put you to bed, she told me that somehow his memory came back to
him. She saw him as he really is, and that is her love from her time.
I feel so bad for her, but I don\'t know what to do for her.\"

\"Don\'t worry. You always know the right thing to do.\" He ran his
fingers through his tangled hair. \"If I hadn\'t have stopped, and she
would have known, Raven would have felt awful. Maybe you shouldn\'t
mention it to her.\"

\"The way she asks questions, she will probably mention it before I
will.\" Usagi moved in closer to kiss his cheek. \"I think we might
have a long day ahead of us, we might just as well start now.\"

Mamoru laid a hand on her forehead. \"Are you ill? You never talk
like that normally.\" He smiled, knowing that she realized that was a
joke. \"But you\'re right.\"

*********************************************************

Raven woke up slowly, realizing she fell asleep after her encounter
with Serenity. The sun was strong enough to make her skin tingle, but
she enjoyed the sensation. With all the horrid things happening
around her, this small bit of light and heat was welcome. She got up,
stiff from sleeping on the hard floor, and tried to stretch the kinks
out of her back. Picking up her candles and her fizzled out can of
soda, she shuffled to her kitchen to put them away.

As she drained her pop can, she could hear Japanese voices starting to
approach her. Turning around, Usagi and Mamoru strolled into the
kitchen, holding hands. She crooked an eyebrow and decided to be
sarcastic. \"Well, you do have the power to raise people from the
dead.\" Usagi stood there with a look of confusion while he started to
laugh. \"No\"No, Raven, that didn\'t happen. Nearly, but not quite,\" he answered
in English. He came up behind her and gave her a hug. \"I heard what
happened. I\'m very sorry.\"

Now it was Raven\'s turn to be confused. She never saw him act like
this before. But she went along with it, enjoying any opportunity to
experience his kindness. \"I\'m not worried. We will get them back. I
was able to use my powers to contact Serenity and she gave me a vital
clue in order to attack Dwersis.\"

He pulled away. \"How? Usagi wasn\'t able to.\"

\"I\'m one level above her powers. I\'m a little more stronger, and a
little more skilled. But she told me where to look for the entrance.
I\'m going there tonight. Hopefully I can sneak in and scope it out
tonight.\"

\"Where is it?\" Usagi asked.

\"In the restaurant where I last worked. There\'s some sort of
dimensional tunnel in there. Probably that\'s how those hit men got in
there in the first place.\"

\"You\'re going tonight? We\'re going with you,\" Mamoru decided.

\"Not a chance. One person has a better chance of breaking into the
mall at night. I can take care of myself, and I want you to watch the
Princess. If Dwersis decides to play games here, I\'m going to need
someone to watch my apartment. I don\'t want her mucking around in my
stuff. You can make any kind of traps out of personal objects.\"

Mamoru stole a glance at Usagi, and she wore the same expression as he
did. She didn\'t like that set up, so she decided to try herself.
\"Raven-chan, you cannot go alone. Too dangerous. I\'m gonna be too
worried, wondering about you. Must be another way to check.\"

Raven crossed her arms. \"My mind\'s made up, and you know how stubborn
I can be. I think it would be better this way. I know that you\'re
both concerned over me, but I must do this. We have plenty of time
before I go, so let\'s eat because I\'m starving.\"

The two exchanged worried looks, then resolved to let her do her own
thing, even though they didn\'t agree with it. Instead of arguing with
her, they helped her out in making breakfast.

*********************************************************

Later on that day, Raven was browsing through the paper, looking for
another job again. Mamoru was leafing through a computer magazine
that she had laying around, looking for a program he heard of before.
Usagi got her hands on the comics again, and she was starting to
recognize some words, but still laughing loudly at jokes she couldn\'t
understand. But she was done with them sooner than she thought she
would, so her eyes darted around for something either to look at or
fiddle with.

Her eyes landed on Raven, and noticed a change in her appearance.
After her taking a shower, she still looked like a disheveled mess.
Her hair was rather lackluster, du, duller and muddier than before.
There were dark circles under her eyes, apparent even with her glasses
on. The indents around her mouth seem to have deepened, and her hands
seemed more fragile than before. \"Raven-chan,\" she spoke, \"are you
all right?\"

Mamoru looked up and saw what she was referring to. Raven didn\'t look
well at all. \"You don\'t look like yourself,\" he added.

She picked up her head from reading the paper, looking at them with a
blank look. \"I\'m a little tired but I don\'t feel sick.\"

He laid a hand on her forehead. \"No fever. Have you seen yourself in
the mirror lately?\" She shook her head no. \"You better now.\"
Confused, Raven got up and walked over to her bathroom. The other two
followed.

As she flipped on the light, she nearly didn\'t recognize herself. \"My
god, what happened to me? I look like I should be dead.\" She touched
her face, not believing that was her. \"This isn\'t good.\"

\"What\'s causing it?\" he asked.

\"This is hard to explain. A goddess can have the perfection that she
should have by right. But when there is some other factor messing
with her affairs, say like this battle between me and Dwersis, and she
lets it get to her, her appearance can alter. The beauty can get
warped, twisted. It gets to the point where she will remain in this
altered state and can\'t get out of it.\"

\"But why is it affecting you now, while your in your human form.\"

\"I don\'t know. There might be a connection between my powers and my
self.\" She turned away from the mirror and left the room. \"I can\'t
worry about my appearance at this moment. I\'ve got to prepare for
tonight.\" She went back to her table and went to shuffling through
her paper. Mamoru excused himself, while Usagi went trailing back to
Raven.

\"Raven-chan, could I ask a question?\"

\"Yeah, sure. What do you want to know?\"

She sat down and leaned her chin on her hands. \"Mamo-chan was telling
me that I should ask about your parents. We were talking about
family, and he said you had a different home life than me.\"

She smiled. \"That\'s an understatement. Okay, basically I only have a
mother. She was a hippie way back when, so it\'s anyone\'s guess who my
father is. I got my name because I used to have shining black hair
and equally dark eyes. Then I got older, and she got angry at me
because while my body was changing, so did my hair color. And I
de
decided to have my own mind. She was peace loving, love the one your
with kind of person. I was more of a loner, stay out of my business
kind of person. I loved my books on history, while she ranted at me
that they were filled with lies. I told her I wanted to be an
actress. She was thrilled, hoping I would perform at these free
performances, acting in the nude as a protest against the
Establishm St Stupid stuff like that sai said, no, I want to be in
musicals and perform on Broadway. Needless to say when I left for
college, she never spoke to me again.\" She sighed as she folded the
newspaper away. \"I don\'t regret my decision, I regret hers. But that
was for her to make. She didn\'t want to speak to me because I was too
much of a slave to the norm. That\'s too bad.\"

\"Sorry to hear it. You not get along with mother.\" Usagi started to
twirl a ponytail in her fingers. \"But we are family now. If it make
you feel better.\"

Raven smiled, \"It does. It makes me understand why you\'re concerned
about me now. You\'re a very caring person, something I\'ve never known
in a person.\" She reached out and held her hand. \"I guess we are
stuck in this mess together. But I\'m glad we can stretch this visit
out for a while longer. I kind of like the company.\"

Usagi smiled. \"I\'m happy too. Oh, I wanted to ask you something
else.\"

\"Like what?\"

\"Well . . . \" Now that she was thinking of it, the more it was hard
for her to say it. \"While I was talking with Mamo-chan, we kind of
got . . . well . . . \" She took her hands and laced her fingers
together. Raven only nodded. \"And we were wondering if we could . .
that is . . . \"

\"I know, don\'t trip on the words. Well, I don\'t mind. I know what
it\'s like to be in love, and all the actions that go along with it.
Just let me know, and I\'ll get out of the way here. So you two can be
alone.\"

She smiled. \"I’m glad you understand.\"

\"Of course I do. I’ve been there myself.\" She decided to tease her
again. \"Course this means something’s going to happen while I’m gone,
huh?\" Usagi immediately began to blush. \"Just do me the favor of
changing the sheets afterward, okay?\"

She nodded, then got up to get herself a snack. Raven just shook her
head and looked over the magazine Mamoru was just looking at.

*************************************

That night, Raven left wearing dark clothes, something she never does.
She took her car over to the mall to see if she could slip in and find
some clue as to where the dimensional tunnel was hidden. She arrived
just at closing time, so as not to look too conspicuous.

As she walked in, people were still milling around as the gates were
being lowered. She walked quickly to her former place of work.
Looking around again, making sure no one was following her, she took
out her key to the store and opened the door. She slipped inside
quickly and locked it behind her.

**************************************

As soon as it was quiet again in the apartment, Usagi started to keep
her distance again. She only acted this way out of fear of her
friend. The plan seemed simple enough, but yet there was always the
slightest chance that something could go wrong. And she couldn’t
shake off the feeling that something would fail.

\"Are you worried?\" he asked her. She nodded her head. \"I don’t blame
you. I don’t like her plan either.\"

\"Not that we could stop her anyway. She was too determined for us to
convince her otherwise.\"

Usagi sighed, folding her hands into her lap. \"So now what do we do?\"

\"Let’s leave the television on. If something goes wrong, it’ll be on
the news. Other than that, I don’t know.\"

He sat down next to her, playing with the remote control to Raven’s
entertainment system. Once he turned it on, he dropped the control
onto the chair and sat in silence. Usagi was going to say something,
until she saw how tense he really was. \"Mamo-chan, are you okay?\"

\"Not really.\" Once he realized he was being scrutinized, he tried to
relax, but failed miserably.

\"Sit on the floor, I’ll give you a massage. Maybe that will take your
mind off of this.\" He nodded and pushed himself onto the floor. She
moved over, and started to rub his shoulders. She could feel how
tense he really was, like all the muscles just locked up with all that
was going on. She hoped that she would be able to make him feel
better.

Mamoru was definitely feeling better. He started to roll his head
back, enjoying the attention he was getting. Then he started thinking
back to that morning, how wonderful it felt holding her, even though
it was just on the floor. The way she reacted to his kisses. He
thought about suggesting to her about picking up where they left off,
but didn’t because she might not want to. Especially with the was she
was worrying too.

She could see the difference in his posture, but she wasn’t sure how
to ask him about what they talked about before. His shirt was
partially open, letting her see down his chest. Her curiosity was
starting to get to hert tot to mention she wanted to know what those
feelings were that were slowly building up inside of her.

Usagi decided right then that she would try and make the first move.
She slid one of her hands down his shirt, not reaching for anything in
particular. That answered his question, and reached to grab her arm,
pulling her down into his lap. She fell, giggling and squirming. \"So
you found something for us to do in the meantime, huh?\" he teased as
he tickled her.

\"I thought you would want to, now that we’re alone,\" she squealed
between laughing.

\"I never thought of you being the one to make the first move, Usako.\"

\"Stop tickling! I can’t breathe! Cut it out!\" He did, and she
rolled out of his lap gasping and laughing. He started to laugh
himself, seeing that one of the \"dumplings\" fell out of her ponytail
in the struggle. \"Ahh! You messed up my hair! You’ll pay for that!\"
she yelled in mock anger. She quickly got up, grabbed a pillow off of
the couch and started to pound him with it.

\"Hey! Odango atama! You’re going to hurt somebody with that!\" He
grabbed one himself and started to pound back at her. Ducking one of
her wild swings, he dove for her waist and tackled her to the floor.
She squealed and struggled uneatheath him, then realized the position
they were in.

They both stopped, and stared into each other’s eyes. The realization
on their faces took them aback, wondering where the next move was
going to be made. He couldn’t take the wait anymore, feeling the
excitement starting to build inside of him. He leaned down and kissed
her lightly. Pulling away, he waited for her reaction. Her eyes were
closed, her mouth slightly open, sighing with each breath. He
reposition his arms, one cushioning her head, the other still
underneath her, and kissed her again. Her hands came up to hold his
head in place. He sHe slowly sped up his kiss, moving his lips on hers, taking little
nips here and there. She sighed even more, her fingers combing
through his hair. He was feeling her respond by the way she shifted
in his embrace, the way she kissed back to him. He never did this
before in his life, and without the experience she was still reacting
the way he was feeling. During one of her sighs, he dared himself to
let his tongue slip into her mouth. She moaned then, and touched his
with hers, making him gasp in surprise. She felt that similar
hardness she felt before, still wondering what that was. But she
could feel a tingle building inside of her, and wondered if that was
the same thing he was feeling.

Then he realized they were straddled on the floor, when they should be
in a bed, with pillows and warm covers to hide under. Mamoru pulled
away, much to her disappointment, but scooped her up into his arms and
carried her to the bedroom, whhe che can make their first time correct
and memorable.

********************************************

Raven pulled out her flashlight and turned it on, shining it
everywhere. She could see the bullet holes in the walls, the broken
tables and chairs, and the mess of broken glass on the floor. She
looked for any sign of a temporal disturbance. There was nothing
immediate, until she shown the light behind the bar.

There, in the corner, everything seemed to be warped in her vision.
She crawled in behind the bar and studied it closer. She stuck out a
pen she found on the floor and poked the area with it. Part of it
disappeared, yet when she tried to pull it out she couldn’t.

\"The gate isn’t ready yet, huh? Glad I didn’t try my hand,\" she
whispered to herself. \"Well, now that I know it’s here, I can get out
of here.\"

Raven got back to her feet, and then the lights were flicked on. She
spun around and saw three mall guards standing in the doorway.

\"Well, what do we have here?\" one said sarcastically. \"The prime
suspect in the shooting. I guess they do return to the scene of the
crime after all.\" An evil smile appeared on his face. \"Grab her.
I’m calling the police department.\"


To be continued.