This didn't come out as well as I wanted to. Sorry.



        By the time Mamoru had told Rei what his dreams
 foretold, they had reached the location of the Hikawa Shrine.
 Rei, at this point, was extremely worried. She too loved Usagi,
 though the type of love was different from that of Mamoru's.
 Usagi had proven herself a wonderful friend to Rei various
 times, and Rei didn't want her to die. But she couldn't believe
 that in order for her not to die, her friend would have to suffer
 heartache for the rest of it of her life. Life just wasn't fair.
 
        "I can't even begin to describe what it's like to see Usako
 die every night." Mamoru explained quietly. 
 
        "I'm sorry I judged you so harshly, Mamoru-san." Rei
 apologized. "Had I known your reasons, I wouldn't have thought
 that you were an inconsiderate jerk."
 
        "That was the point, Rei. I didn't want anyone to know
 what I was going through. I was hoping I could carry all the
 pain by myself, and Usako could live a happy life...  even if it
 was without me."
 
        "What made you change your mind?"
 
         Mamoru chuckled, "I should've known better than to
 think that'd she'd give up on me that easily. If there's one thing
 she's rooted to, it's me." His expression grew somber again,
 thinking about the problem at hand, "And I couldn't stand watching
 Usako get so upset over me. Last night I realized that there was
 no way we could separate permanently, or at least without more
 proof to back up my fears."
 
        "So you came to me." He nodded. "So, what are you going
 to do once you get more information on all this?..." Mamoru
 smacked his right fist into his left hand, a gesture that surprised
 Rei. Violence just wasn't Mamoru's thing.
 
        "When I find the creep that's been fooling around with my
 emotions..." Growled Mamoru, the wrath in his eyes so great it
 would have sent a small child screaming for his mother. "I'll-"
 
        "But what if he's telling the truth?" Rei asked softly.
 
        "...In that case..." Mamoru didn't finish. He just looked to the
 side. Rei didn't need him to tell her what he would do; and she
 wasn't too sure if she wanted him to anyway.
 
 
        
        "You can go wait outside." Stated Rei, straightening
 out the Shinto robes she had changed into. The purpose of
 the robes had nothing to do with making the wearer more
 beautiful, but it had that effect on Rei anyway. Her jet black
 hair stood out against the white cloth, and her rosy face seemed
 more alive, vibrant. She also seemed to be more alert, almost
 as if by having changed her clothes she had transformed into a
 superior being. She was no longer impatient Hino Rei, who
 snapped at the slightest provocation and natural leader. In her place
 was a woman by the same name, except that instead of telling
 people what she wanted, she offered help.
 
        "Why?" Demanded Mamoru.
 
        "For one thing, you're liable to be too much of a distraction.
 And another, I don't think you'd be able to stand it; I don't have
 any idea how long this will take, and I can assure you it can go
 on for quite a while. Don't worry, I'll tell you everything I find
 out."
 
        "Oh, no. I'm staying here Rei, and that's it." Knowing Rei,
 Mamoru expected her to get mad and demand that he left that
 instant; instead, rueful smile came across her face.
 
        "You really do love her, don't you? Well, you can stay,
 but I swear if you move an inch, you're outta here." He returned
 her smile.
 
        "Thanks, Rei."
 
 
 
        'I should have listened to Rei,' Mamoru thought, which
 was quite an accomplishment, considering that it was above 100
 degrees in the room, 'She wasn't kidding that this was going to
 take long. I'm not too sure I can take the heat for much longer...'
 To tell the truth, he could have been there for less than 10
 minutes, but it seemed like an eternity, thanks to the sweltering
 heat. he considered disrupting Rei's meditation so that he could
 get out and breathe, but then reminded who this was for. It was
 this, or a lifetime for of pain. for him and Usagi.
 
        Fortunantly, an image had started to appear on the
 sacred fire. Mamoru held in his breath; he had been waiting
 so long to discover the identity of his hidden benefactor so
 that he could teach the jerk a lesson.
 
        From there, the image developed quickly- although it
 was too slowly from Mamoru's point of view. When it seemed
 to have finished, Rei clapped her hands and opened her eyes,
 and details sprang forth from the picture.
 
        It was clearly a man, as Mamoru had suspected. He
 appeared to be middle-aged- late twenties, early thirties-, though
 the confidence and knowledge reflected in his eyes said otherwise.
 He had dark hair, a few long bags falling just above his eyes.
 A long and thin masked covered the length of his eyes, though
 his eyes were visible behind the white mask. His attire was a tad
 odd; from what the fire showed, he wore a white tuxedo with a
 white cape attached to it. A fancy clasp hung from his black
 necktie, in the shape of a 10-pointed star.
 
        Mamoru was clutching his fists so hard that they were
 turning white. "So that's him..." Rei inspected the figure before
 her, and made an interesting discovery.
 
        "You know, he looks allot like y-"
        "Papa!" A sudden voice cried. Mamoru and Rei swirled
 their heads to see a distraught Chibi-usa. "Papa!" She exclaimed
 again, and ran as close to the fire as she could get without getting
 burnt. "Why is papa in Rei's fire? Huh?" She noticed then that they
 were both beyond surprised; Rei was staring at her, her mouth
 agape. Mamoru's eyes had lost the sparkle of life, that had made
 him Mamoru, to be replaced by a dull color. "Is there something
 wrong? She asked fearfully.
 
        Rei was the first to recover her voice, "Chibi-usa... that's
 your father?"
 
        "Yeah, but what's his picture doing there?"
 
        Rei bit her lip, going through the same train of thought
 Mamoru was: 
        (1) Chibi-usa is from the future.
        (2) The man from his dreams is Chibi-usa's father. 
        (3) Chibi-usa's father came from the future. 
        (4) Her father knew the future. 
        (5) It was all true. Usagi and Mamoru were...
 
        "Mamo-chan?" The munchkin pushed herself into his
 arms, "Are you ok?"
 
        The odangos on the head. A cheerfulness that was
 always there, no matter how dark things got. Impatient. Whiny.
 Bubbly. Chibi-usa was an almost exact replica of Usagi. Now
 with the knowledge that it would never be safe for her to be
 with him, the last thing he needed was a reminder of the girl
 he loved so much, yet futiley.
 
        "Excuse me." He whispered, and walked out the shrine.
 
        "Mamo-chan! Rei-chan, will you please what's going
 on? Rei-chan?" 
 
        "Not now, Chibi-usa. Not now." Chibi-usa shut up like
 Rei had asked her, but couldn't stop being worried even as
 Rei tried to comfort the child by hugging her.
 
 
 
 
        A fish jumped out of the water, its silver skin glinting in
 golden light for a millisecond, before it fell back into the water,
 sending ripples to the rest of the lake after  splashing down. A
 happy little fish, living in its own world.
 
        Mamoru, too, was in his own world- except that instead
 of the fish's colorful; and cheerful one, his was falling apart before
 his very eyes. He sat on a bench in the park, staring at nothing,
 trying to figure out a way to deal with the pain. 
 
        A mother and a daughter passed by, the child pointing
 curiously at the man who seemed so sad. She wanted to know
 how anyone could be so lonely on such a beautiful day. The
 mother scolded her rude behavior and walked quickly, dragging
 the girl by her hand. it happened right on front of him, but
 Mamoru didn't even notice.
 
        He hurt. But at the same time, he was numb. The
 numbness was welcome, as he didn't want to know how it could
 be anymore painful than it already was. "Usako..." The thing he
 wanted most. The one thing he couldn't have. "Its not fair,
 damming... It's just not fair!"
 
        But before he had a chance to agonize over the
 unluckiness he possessed, he got a tremendous headache. Which
 meant only one thing; Usagi was in danger. Pulling a rose
 out of his pocket, Mamoru rushed to transform; even if he
 couldn't be with her, he'd always protect her.
 
 
 
        "At least let me finish!" Pleaded Sailor Moon, as she
 dodged the blast of ki the droid had directed at her. She had
 been walking down the streets of Tokyo dejectedly, when by
 chance she encountered this droid. Without any fuss she
 transformed into Sailor Moon and started right into her speech
 about love and justice. But the monster was little interested in
 whatever Sailor Moon wanted to say; she proved that by attacking
 Sailor Moon mid-sentence. Needless to say, Sailor Moon disliked
 this.
 
        Sailor Moon threw her tiara at this beast, hoping to
 wound it so that she could buy herself enough time to use her
 cutie moon rod on her. She hadn't been aware of the fact,
 though, that this was not the average monster she met on the
 street. This one was designed especially to get rid of annoying
 little pesks like Sailor Moon. And there wasn't a single more
 annoying fly than Sailor Moon.
 
        Cutting the tiara's path in half by throwing another ball
 of ki at it, she lunged for Sailor Moon. Moon rolled out of the
 way, but it still managed to grab her by one of pigtails. "Hey!
 Leggo of me!" Ordered Sailor Moon, struggling to get the droids
 slimy hands off of her hair. The last time a monster had gotten
 hold of her hair, it had taken hours to wash off all of the slime
 it left on it from a mere touch. 
 
        Yanking on Sailor Moon's hair, she was forced to fall
 ungracefully. The heroine for love and justice looked up fearfully,
 seeing a monster looming over her, preparing a nice way for
 Sailor Moon to go to her afterlife. Well, maybe not so nice. But
 you get the idea.
 
        "Bye -bye." The monster said happily. And why shouldn't
 she be? She had done her job right, and now she was sure to get
 a big promotion for having gotten rid of her master's worst
 enemies. 
 
        A sudden flash of red put all of her plans on hold, however.
 The red streak ended up at the monster's ankle, and it realized
 it now had a rose embedded in it.
 
        "Tuxedo Kamen-sama..." Mumbled Sailor Moon to
 herself, trying to stop her heart from going wild.
 
        "Using your ev-" The monster proved itself to be very
 impatient again by leaping to him clumsily, having lost its
 coordination from the force of the rose's strike. With a good deal
 more grace, Tuxedo Kamen stepped out of the monsters way. 
 
        Tuxedo Kamen encouraged Sailor Moon to use her 
'moon princess halation' before the monster had a chance to get
 back up. She followed his advice and quickly obliterated the
 droid. It didn't even have a chance to cry out, and disintegrated
 into a pile of grey dust.
 
 
        
 
        "Mamo-chan." Tuxedo Kamen stopped. Before, when
 Sailor Moon had called out his name, it had been more of a
 painful statement, almost as if saying those words her pain would
 disappear, as he would return to her. Those other time, he had
 always pretended to ignore that word when it came from Sailor
 Moon's lips, and went right on walking.
 
        But this time, it was different. There seemed to be a
 reason behind it, something she had to tell him of great importance-
 something other than 'I love you'. He turned to her, "What is it?"
 
        She hesitated. It took a couple of seconds to gather her
 courage, but when she spoke it was strong, filled with determination.
 "Mamo-chan, I'm not going to take this anymore. Either you come
 back to me as Mamoru and Tuxedo Kamen, or we separate
 completely. No more saving me as SM and being cold to me as
 Mamo-chan."
 
        He stared at her. She was asking for the impossible. His mind
 whirred, as he thought of possible answers, and what to do. He
 looked at SM in hopes that she'd let down her demands, and
 allow him to continue fighting with her. Because protecting her
 was his whole purpose in life, and if he had to make a choice by
 Usagi's standards, he'd only be doing half his job.
 
        Sailor Moon stood tall, and though her eyes held
 sorrow, they were adamant. Tuxedo Kamen's heart sank, it
 was one thing or the other. Sailor Moon wasn't going to let
 him have it both way again. The time had come for his greatest
 decision ever, in either of his lifetime.
 
        He walked to her, until he stood only a few inches away
 from her. "So does this mean good-bye?..." Sailor Moon's hair
 waved with the wind her hands clasped tightly to her chest.
 Squeezing her eyes shut, she nodded. "Then at least let me say
 good-bye." 
 
        Lifting her chin up with his index finger, he allowed to
 imerge in her blue eyes before he dived his head down his kiss
 her. Sailor Moon was a bit surprised by the intimacy of his
 departure, but allowed herself to be swept off into the kiss. Their
 lips pressed softly against each other, wanting only to have a
 reminder of their love.
 
        When they separated their heads reluctantly, Tuxedo
 Kamen clasped his arms around Sailor Moon. Pressing her head
 against him, she whispered, "I'm sorry, but it's bad enough I
 have to live with the memories." She burrowed her head deeper
 into his chest, holding him tightly as if by doing so would make
 everything all right.
 
        The two lovers stood there for quite a while, just hugging
 each other, until SM.  came out of her remorseful bliss. She
 wanted to stay in her Prince's arms forever, and she could tell
 Tuxedo Kamen wanted to too, from his tight embrace. But if
 she stayed there any longer, she would not be able to part with
 him.
 
        Lightly pushing him away, they again stood just looking
 at each other. "Good-bye, Sailor Moon... ie, Usako."
 
        "I love you." Was all she said in response.
 
        With one last longfull glance, Tuxedo Kamen off into the
 horizon, his crimson cape fluttering behind him elegantly. Such
 a sight would inspire love in many girls hearts, as they watched
 him become one with the obscurity of the darkness.
 
        But Sailor Moon had already turned her back to him and
 had started for home, dragging her heart along with her.
 
 
                         
			The End



	Don't ask me why I wrote this. As of late all of my stories
have had sad or ironice endings like these. My point of view of
the world has changed a good deal from the last time I've written
a fanfic, and I think it shows.
	Besides, I couldn't think of a good way to get these two
back together. As much as I like seeing them together, I couldn't
picture it here.


	Isabel Arantes