Thanks to those who e-mailed me! To Jennie, Crissy, CeCe, Gaudicia,
NiNi: You rock! You guys are just too fabu! All standard disclaimers
apply, so don't sue me.. You people have been reading my fic and
should know most of the terminology used.. I’m going to use [[ ]] to
signify someone’s thoughts and (( )) for flashbacks. I’m using -- --
to signify dreams.. Hehe.. ^^;; You’ll see.. Nehoo, I spent to much
time on this chapter.. Actually, I only wrote it in a day.. Writers
block.. Hey!! We can’t all be perfect!! (Although I am at times..
Hehe!! J/K..)  *Wowzers* So, anyways, without further ado, I present
my fourth chapter.. ^^


Title: “Found at Last”
Author: Hummie
Chapter 4
Rating: PG13

**********

	“I’m going to say this once and *only* once,” she said calmly
as she sat in front of her vanity mirror, “I am *not* going to see
him off.”
	“But Usagi-chan!” cried Makoto.

	Ami shook her fair head at the scene. She knew Tsukino Usagi
the best out of the group of girls. The group consisted of Rei,
Makoto, Minako, and herself. Ami sighed unhappily. Their efforts
were indefinitely futile. Usagi would do what she wanted and that
was that.


	[[Damnit!! Usagi can be *so* damned stubborn and childish!!]]
thought Rei with a fury. Rei impatiently tossed her dark tresses
over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. [[Why must she be so
*difficult*??]]
	Makoto, Minako, Ami, and Rei had gone over to Usagi’s house
hoping to convince her to see Mamoru off at the airport. Mamoru had
told the girls in a shocking way that he was leaving Japan only a
week ago. And he would be leaving SOON. Rei turned her head to
listen to Minako speak with Usa.
	“Usagi, think about it..” Mina began softly, “This might be
your last opportunity to see Mamoru for-- a long time.”
	Usagi’s sky-blue eyes flew to Mina’s aquamarine ones. Mina bit
her bottom lip in astonishment.
	“Look Mi-na-ko,” Usagi almost growled, pronouncing each
syllable with deadly precision, “we don’t even know when Chiba
Mamoru is leaving.”
	Usagi turned back around to admire her appearance in the
mirror before her. Usagi had donned a rosy pink lip gloss. Her
cheeks were stained with a natural and very becoming pink tint. She
was doing her hair up in a very stylish way, delicate tendrils
framed her face. She wasn’t done yet. Rei continued the conversation
for Mina.
	“Yes, we *don’t* know when he’s leaving, but it’s going to be
soon.. I mean,” Rei gave an embarrassed look to the other girls, “He
knew that he was leaving even when he was going out with you--”
	Usagi’s clouded crystalline eyes flew directly to Rei,
shutting her up immediately. 
	“And you know Usagi, I know that you’ve been skipping class.
Are you trying to avoid Mamoru?” ventured Ami.
	“I certainly am not skipping class! What do you think I am?
Afraid? Anyways, as if you didn’t notice, I had been neglecting my
skating while I was going out with Mamoru. At least I can
concentrate on that.”
	Usagi was undoubtedly upset. Her sky-blue eyes flew over the
room. She stopped abruptly and sat back down in front of her vanity
mirror to finish fixing her long blond hair. Mako was the first to
really notice. Why was Usagi fixing her hair? Was she going
somewhere...? Suddenly Usagi grabbed her coat and shoes.
	“See you later minna. I’m going out.”
	“Where are you--”
	The door slammed. Four pairs of eyes watched in dismay as
Usagi left her house.

**********

	Mamoru waited in his downstairs living room. He had been
waiting for a long time. His dad usually didn’t run so late at the
office. Mamoru raked a hand through his thick jet-black hair. He had
told Usagi that he would be leaving Tokyo only last week. They
haven’t talked since. He closed his eyes. Mamo felt an ache in his
chest and closed his eyes. [[Usagi.]]

	“Whatcha doin’ there, son?”

	Mamoru was violently pulled from his thoughts. He only knew
peace when he was either with or thinking about Usagi. Tsukino
Usagi. His *Usa-ko*.. He furrowed his brows together. Clouded
midnight eyes attacked his father. He needed to know what was going
on.
	“What the HELL is going on, dad? Are we staying or going?”
	Mr. Chiba gave his son a stern look. “Watch how you talk to me
son. I don’t think you realize what the current situation is.”
	Mamoru looked at his father with incredulous eyes. “What
situation? The only situation that I see is that-- that..”
	“Just calm down Mamoru!! I can explain everything!!”
	“No, I won’t calm down! How can I possibly calm down? I just
told the girl that I love..” Mamoru paused and looked at the floor.
His heart was pacing. His voice quieted as he continued, 
	“I just told the girl I love that I’m leaving Japan for good.
She won’t even talk to me anymore because she feels betrayed or.. OR
SOMETHING. Why the *hell* are we staying all of a sudden?!?! What’s
going on?” Mamoru’s eyes flew to the door and then back to his
father.
	“Son, I meant to tell you this, but-- Damn, this is so hard!!”
He pressed one of his hands to his face.
	Mamoru just stood there stupefied while he watched their house
maid answer the door. He had never realized how stressed out his
father looked nowadays. Was it the business? Was it him? Or was it
the fact that it was the same time of the year that his mother died?
Could it be? Mamoru still couldn’t believe it. Was it only a year
ago? Mr. Chiba went to receive their guest.
	A woman.
	The woman looked at Mamo tentatively. A young woman between
the ages of twenty and twenty-five. She had dark brown hair that
reached just above her shoulders. Startling gray eyes looked at him.
French. A French woman. Mamoru’s midnight eyes sought out another
pair of eyes for an explanation.
	“Son,” began his father hesitantly, “I’ve been really stressed
out lately. I’m sure that you’ve noticed. I mean, with your mother’s
death and all--” Mr. Chiba cleared his throat. Mamoru hadn’t even
realized that his father had been speaking in French since the woman
entered. Mr. Chiba continued.
	“Well, I’ve found what I needed to help me. To help me--
through this ordeal.”
	Mamoru’s father walked towards the young woman and put an arm
around her. All Mamoru could do was stare. What was going on? [[I
don’t understand, father..]] His father cleared his throat once
more.
	“I.. I’ve met someone new.”

**********

	“Mamoru hasn’t been to school in days,” observed Rei. Makoto
clucked as Mina rolled her eyes.
	“Neither has Usagi.”
	“Does *anyone* know where she went the other day when we
visited her?”
	They all wore the same expression. Annoyed and almost hard
faces looked at each other. They were all sitting at their lunch
table, watching the people around them. Gibbering, laughing kids
their own ages were having a good time together. They should be the
ones having fun. What were Mamo and Usa doing to them?
	“Lord, they can be *so* perverse at times!!” exclaimed Ami.
	“Come again?” asked Makoto with a confused expression. She
looked almost comical as she asked the question. Her mouth was
filled with her famous rice cakes. She was just sitting there
looking like a chipmunk. Chipmunk. Just like their first luncheon
together, when Rei brought up ‘the mysterious and super hot senior’.
Who would have ever thought that it would’ve been Mamoru?
	“Yes Ami, please rephrase that sentence using words that we
understand..” said Mina with teasing eyes. Ami smiled.
	“I meant that they can be *so* stubborn.”
	“You got that right.”
	The girls looked around the table. None of them had said that.
The girls turned around to find out the new voice. Their mouths hung
in surprise. 
	“Mamoru!! It’s good to see you!!” cried Mina.
	Mamoru smiled ruefully and looked around, patting down his
thick black hair.
	“I’m not supposed to be here. I just sort of..” he trailed
off.
	“Sneaked in?” finished Ami for him. The girls donned small
smiles. They saw that he wasn’t wearing his school uniform. He could
get caught any moment.
	“No one’s seen Usagi?” asked Mamoru with anxious eyes.
	“No..” Mako informed with a sad voice.
	“Well, I haven’t been to school lately..” he looked around. No
teachers were near. “So, anyways-- I guess that I have something to
tell all of you.”
	Rei arched an eyebrow. “What is it Mamo?”
	He sighed and took a seat. “Good.. I really need someone to
talk to. I have so much on my mind.” He paused and looked around at
the four girls. 
	“Hey, don’t worry Mamo,” Mina encouraged with a smile, “You
can speak amongst us.”
	“Yah, spill your guts mister,” grinned Mako, poking him with a
breadstick.
	“By the way Mamo, when are you leaving?” interrupted Rei.
	“Yes, do tell us. We plan to be there to see you off,” added
Ami.
	Mamo looked at them. He had dark circles under his eyes. They
hadn’t noticed that when they first saw him. Mamoru opened his mouth
then closed it again. What was he going to say?? Well, the truth of
course.

	“I-- I’m staying..”
	
	“WHAT?!”
	
	The girls were talking amongst themselves in fierce whispers.
Mamoru looked surprised. From what he could tell, they were..
angry?? [[Why are the angry for??]]
	Ami quieted the girls with a motion from her hands.
	“So, this is the supposed story,” Ami began and she could feel
her cheeks flush with anger, “You *knew* that you were leaving and
decided to start dating Usagi. You *lead* her on to believe that you
guys would be together forever and ever..” Ami paused to throw a
glance at Mamoru. “You date for who-knows-how-long and then you
*drop* your bombshell saying that you’re leaving Japan forever. Now
you’re telling us that you’re not going at all now? Are you playing
some sort of sick joke?? Are you a sicko or something?? Do you do
this for fun? Are you just *totally* messed up?”
	Ami’s usually fair features were twisted with anger. Makoto
was the one who sat nearest to Ami and was the one to comforted her.
Makoto looked angrily at Mamoru.
	“Yes, *do* share your story,” she said as smoothed Ami’s dark
hair.
	Mamoru stood up from his chair. Mamoru was completely taken
aback. These were his friends. Well, Mamoru hoped that they were his
friends. He couldn’t believe this. All of them just sat there with
angry features and agitated body language. They hadn’t even listened
to what he came here to talk about. They were just assuming the
worst.
	“You know what Chiba Mamoru?” questioned Rei rhetorically
after a moment, “I really don’t want to hear your story. Maybe
you’re just a messed up psycho who plays with young girl’s hearts.
Maybe this is just a total misunderstanding, but either way, I
really don’t want to hear it right now.”
	The girls got their belongings and left, each giving him an
evil stare. Mamoru just stood there as they walked away. [[What just
happened here?]] he thought desperately. 

**********

	“Hello?”
	“Usagi-chan!! Finally!! The phone was ringing forever!! You
don’t know how long--”
	“I’m not home right now, but if you would please leave your
name, number, and a *very* brief message, I’ll get back to you as
soon as possible. Thanks for waiting.. and you’re right, 20 rings is
*incredibly* abominable-- beeeeeeeep.”
	Rei looked at the receiver.
	“When did Usa get an answering machine?”
	Ami shrugged her shoulders. [[Lord knows]] she thought
bitterly. They haven’t heard from Usagi in about two weeks. She was
totally ignoring them. They even called the house phone instead of
Usagi’s personal line to hope to find out were she was, but it
didn’t really help anyways. Someone was always on the computer. You
could tell because the phone just rings and rings..
	“Ami, do you think that she’s gone and run away from home?”
	She laughed. “I doubt it. I mean, wouldn’t the Tsukinos call
the police? And anyways, you know that Usagi wouldn’t run away. She
didn’t even run away from school when that bug was in her hair.”
	Rei giggled. “Yah, I guess you’re right.” Rei paused as if
lightning had just struck her brain. What was it? An idea? A
revelation?
	“God, we are so stupid.”
	“What--?”
	“Ami!! Remember?!?!”
	“I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about.”
	Rei paused to catch her fleeting breath. “Usagi doesn’t skip
school. No wonder she got so mad when you asked her if she was
skipping school..”
	“Rei, please tell me what you’re talking about!! You’re just
making me anxious!!”
	“You said it yourself!! USAGI’S SCHEDULE CHANGED. Remember??
The only reason why we used to see her during school was because she
would meet us in the halls during one of her bathroom breaks!! She
would get outta class to see us!! She *goes* to school.”
	They looked at each other with grave eyes.
	“We’ve been bad friends.”
	“I agree,” Ami said with a sigh.
	“What time is it?”
	Ami looked at the clock. “5:30.. Just what do you have in
mind?”
	“Let’s get Mina and Makoto. Usagi is going to talk to us
whether she likes it or not, and I know where we can find her-- I
think.”
	Ami looks at Rei with hopeful eyes and smiles.

**********

	[[My my my.. This just feels homier and homier by the minute.
I just hope the I haven’t been neglecting it for too long..]] She
glided over the ice. [[Thank the gods that I didn’t discontinue
running in the mornings. I’d be dead tired already. I have to keep
up my stamina..]] Usagi continued to warm up. She was wearing her
hair up again. She *did* hate to be bothered with flying hair while
she was skating. Her graceful figure floated over the ice. She began
to practice her jumps. Singles, doubles.. Usagi smiled. No, she
hadn’t neglected skating for too long. She could still do the triple
jumps. The triple lux, triple tow loop combination she had first
done when she was with Mamoru still held. It was perfect. Usagi
smiled. [[Now all I have to do is get the quadruple down]] she
thought amusingly.
	She was wearing another of her favorite suites. Her mother
made all of her costumes. Usagi loved to practice in them. She
didn’t believe in practicing in leggings and the like, they only
hindered the level of power that you wanted to reach. She stood in
the middle of the rink. Usagi was wearing entirely black, even black
skates. The skirt and bodice were made out of a delicate, gossamer
type fabric. It fit her somehow, the dark clothes. She didn’t have
the regular optimistic brightness. She had a depressed feeling about
her. Her mother had made the costume for one of her serious
programs. She still remembered how the skirt had trailed beautifully
after her when she skated-- but she wasn’t skating right now. Her
mind was shifting back to that night two weeks ago.  

	((She looked at her bunny wrist-watch. She smiled. He had
commented on that, her having all these things with bunnies on it.
She was sitting before her vanity mirror. Maybe they could stay
together. She put gloss on her lips as a knock sounded at her door.
	“Come in.”
	“Usagi-chan!! How are you?”
	“Hey minna!! I’m fine. Come on in and settle down!!”
	“Well, we just decided to come over to talk about seeing
Mamoru off at the airport,” informed Mina.
	Usagi stiffened at the words. She didn’t want to be reminded
that Mamoru was leaving. She loved him so much-- Why did he have to
go? Rei, Makoto, Ami, and Mina had just put her in a bad mood. She
stopped attending to her appearance.
	“What?”
	“Well,” Mako began, “we were thinking that we would see him
off at the airport. You know, like a send off.”
	“I’m not going.”
	Makoto laughed. “You gotta be kidding Usa-chan! Don’t you
wanna see him off?”
	“No,” she said quietly. [[God!! I *love* him so much!!]] Usagi
was slowly dying inside. Why were they reminding her that Mamo was
leaving?? Her dearest of Mamorus. Her *Mamo-chan*. Why was fate
being so cruel to her?? She had been in a horrible depression.
Mamoru had been the one to lift it all away. They were destined to
be together. It was fate that he had come into her life. Now, he was
going..
	“Usagi-chan, why don’t you go? It will be a good thing for
Mamoru,” said Rei.
	“I’m going to say this once and *only* once,” she said calmly,
hoping that no one would catch the emotion in her voice, “I am *not*
going to see him off.” How would she be able to handle it? Seeing
Mamoru and knowing that it was going to be for the last time..
	“But Usagi-chan!” cried Makoto.
	Usagi started to fix her hair. She saw that Ami was shaking
her head through her reflection in the mirror. Usagi didn’t want to
hear about Mamo leaving. Was that so hard to understand? Why didn’t
they just stop? 
	“Usagi, think about it..” Mina began softly, “This might be
your last opportunity to see Mamoru for-- a long time.”
	Usagi’s clouded, sky-blue eyes flew to Mina’s aquamarine ones.
Mina bit her bottom lip in astonishment.
	“Look Mi-na-ko,” Usagi almost growled, pronouncing each
syllable with deadly precision. Usagi was being a little more bitter
with her diction. “We don’t even know when Chiba Mamoru is leaving.”
	[[I have to calm down. They’re going to think that I hate him
or something..]] Usagi turned back around to admire her appearance
in the mirror before her. Usagi had donned a rosy pink lip gloss.
Her cheeks were pink with excitement. She was putting her hair up.
She liked the way her how delicate, golden tendrils framed her face.
She wasn’t done with her hair yet though, it had to perfect. Rei
spoke, continuing the conversation for Mina.
	“Yes, we *don’t* know when he’s leaving, but it’s going to be
soon.. I mean,” Rei gave an embarrassed look to the other girls, “He
knew that he was leaving even when he was going out with you--”
	Usagi’s clouded crystalline eyes flew directly to Rei,
shutting her up immediately. [[Don’t they know that they’re hurting
me?]] Usagi thought wildly. [[Do I have to spell it out for them?]] 
	“And you know Usagi, I know that you’ve been skipping class.
Are you trying to avoid Mamoru?” ventured Ami.
	“I certainly am not skipping class! What do you think I am?
Afraid?” 
	Usagi almost didn’t stop herself from crying. [[Ha, that’s the
exact opposite. I haven’t even seen him in class. I haven’t skipped
one day. He’s been gone since-- I don’t even remember when. I *do*
want to see Mamoru. Every chance I get, but he’s never in class..]]
Usagi continued to speak.
	“Anyways, as if you didn’t notice, I had been neglecting my
skating while I was going out with Mamoru. At least I can
concentrate on that.” Usagi bit her bottom lip absent-mindedly.
Lies. All of it. How could she sound so.. cold? She loved Mamo with
all of her heart-- but she needed to keep up the performance for her
friends. If they knew what she was going through--
	Usagi stopped abruptly and sat back down in front of her
vanity mirror to finish fixing her long blonde hair. Usagi went and
grabbed her coat and shoes.
	“See you later minna. I’m going out.”
	“Where are you--”
	She merely walked away.	She slammed the door of her house.
[[How dare they?? They come into my own house and hurt me?!?! They
bring it up when it must obviously hurt me. Cruel bastards.]]
	She briskly walked towards Mamoru’s house. [[I’m so
excited!!]] She smiled. [[Hehe.. I hope Mamoru’s going to be happy
to see me.]] She suddenly stopped. There was Mamoru. Usagi’s heart
fluttered-- then it died. Mamoru was hugging a young woman. A young
woman with dark, chestnut brown hair that reached just above her
delicate shoulders. The woman looked older than Usagi. The woman
turned around for the briefest of moments.
	[[She has incredible gray eyes.]] Usagi thought with scorn.
Then a new thought came to her head. [[Is this a new girl that
Mamoru has chosen? Chosen over me? Was he just lying about having to
go? Is that the way he wanted to end it? Lie and say that he was
leaving Japan forever? Did he only concoct the story to get rid of
me? Dump me for-- for-- this French woman.]] Mr. Chiba’s voice was
carried by the wind. Usagi knew French when she heard it. His father
was there talking with the young woman and Mamoru. Mr. Chiba was
obviously happy. Mamoru had lived in France for a short while. Did
Mr. Chiba prefer Mamo to have French girlfriends? They put the young
woman in a cab. Mamoru walked back into the building.

That same night..

	Dark. Darkness. [[It’s way to dark in here. It’s hurting my
eyes.]] The curtains were the only thing that shut out the world.
Usagi lay still on her bed. Her sprawled figure was limp underneath
her pink comforter. She was depressed. More depressed than she had
ever been. There was only one thing that you could do when you were
alone, on your bed, staring at the ceiling. Think. She thought about
a lot of things. Mostly about Mamoru and his new French girlfriend.
She even thought about calling Mamoru and telling him about how she
knew about everything. How she knew that he had lied to her to get
rid of her-- to be with that French woman. She was older. Usagi
could tell. [[I’m only 16.. Mamoru’s eighteen. Maybe he wanted
someone his own age. Even through all that.. I still love him.. I
can’t live without him..]]
	Ring.
	Usagi sat there holding her telephone. She hung it up
immediately. What had she been thinking? Calling Mamoru? Thank
goodness she’d stopped the call after one ring. A tear fell down her
cheek. Harsh reality had finally slapped her across the face.
[[Mamoru doesn’t want me. He doesn’t love me. He was just playing
with my mind. He was lying all along.]] She wanted to talk to him,
but she couldn’t.))


	Usagi was still standing in the middle of the ice rink. She
looked at the arena’s clock. It read 6:30.. She should be getting
home. That sudden flashback had taken a toll on her. Usagi’s hand
flew to her face. It was wet with tears. [[How could Mamoru have
done this me?]] She skated off to the stands to retrieve her bags
and took off her skates.
	Rei, Mina, Ami, and Mako watched as Usagi walked out of the
building. Their eyes communicated between them. They all said the
same thing. [[Poor Usagi..]]

**********

	“Do you think that Usagi realized that she was speaking
aloud?”
	Ami shook her head. “I doubt it, Mina. Sometimes, when we’re
thoroughly traumatized, we don’t realize what we do sometimes. She
probably thought that she was having some sort of flashback, but
what she was really doing was telling the story aloud.”
	“Gods, poor Usagi..” lamented Makoto.
	“How could have Mamoru done that to her?” asked Mina
incredulously.
	“You know what Ames? You were right in calling Mamo a
‘sicko’.. He is sick, doing that to our Usagi,” said Rei.
	Ami shivered. “I’m not too glad that I was right. I just can’t
believe it. I’m so.. sad for Usagi.”
	“We should have a talk with her.”
	“Well, when we visited her house before going to the skating
arena, her mother said that she went there almost everyday. She’ll
be there tomorrow.”
	“Yes, we’ll go there tomorrow since we don’t see her very much
in school.”
	“We’ll help her through this ordeal. Mamoru is very cruel for
doing this to her.”
	Makoto gritted her teeth and smashed a fist into her palm. “If
I were Mamoru, I wouldn’t think of coming to school. I’ll kick his
ass.”
	Rei, Ami, and Mina smiled.
	“Don’t worry, we’ll help you too,” they said in unison. They
laughed.
	Mina spoke. “I don’t think that we’ll be seeing Mamoru. He can
be just as elusive as Usagi, and this time, that goes in his favor.
He’s definitely looking for a beat-down.”
	“Okay, it’s settled. Now get out of here, if Grampa finds you
in here after midnight, he’ll ground me till I turn fifty!!”
	They giggled and then consented. Rei watched as her friends
left the temple. [[I can only hope that we will be able to help
Usagi..]] she thought in dismay.

**********

	Mamo lay on his back rubbing his stomach. When he was young,
his mother would rub his stomach when he was having trouble
sleeping. He continued to rub it. It comforted him somehow. He was
slowly falling asleep. He just wished that Usagi would call him. He
had called her once before, but all he had gotten was her answering
machine. [[When had she gotten an answering machine?]] He laughed.
Twenty rings. Who thought that she could be so crazy? But he would
endure a thousand rings if it meant that she would really be there
on the thousandth and one. He needed Usagi badly. He needed to talk
to her. Tell her what he was going through. [[I still can’t believe
that father’s going to marry that French woman. I know mother
wouldn’t be mad. She would want him to be happy, just as father had
said.]] Mamoru shivered. [[I still can’t believe that father had
made me hug her good-bye.]]

	((They had been talking with each other for an hour now. This
French woman. How could Mamoru’s father have done this? [[Ugh]]
	“Well, my love,” Neci said in French, “I must go now. I must
tie up all of my business in France. I’m taking the ten o’ clock
flight, remember?”
	“Yes, of course I remember,” he said, kissing her knuckles.
Mamoru grimaced. Just like he had done with his mother, kiss her
knuckles.
	“Come Neci, we’ll walk you down after I call you a cab.”
	They preceded outside. “Son, don’t you want to hug your future
mother-in-law?”
	Mamoru snickered inwardly. [[At least he had the decency to
call her ‘mother-in-law’]]
	He went forward and gave her a hug. Neci unexpectedly hugged
him back with vigor. [[Ugh, this woman is disgusting]]
	They started talking again and then her cab came. [[Thank the
gods.]] He finally walked back into the building.))

	[[Hugging that woman just made me hate her all the more..
Father is being foolish. How can he possibly marry this woman?]]
Mamoru shook his head and continued to rub his stomach. He slowly
fell asleep.

	--Dark. It was dark. Mamoru was sleeping. He dreaming about
his mother. They were having a talk. A talk about the woman. The
French woman. Ring. The phone made him wake up. Mamoru bolted out of
bed and grabbed his telephone. His telephone. Where the hell was
it?? He finally got hold of it and was about to press it to his ear.
[[Wait]] He looked down at his phone. Was he imagining things?? How
cruel could his mind be? Mamoru sighed and went back to bed.--

	Mamoru jumped underneath his covers. “What the hell kind of
dream was that?!?!” he gasped aloud, “A dream inside of another
dream? What is this?? Frame-work for dreams?? How crazy is that?” He
shook his head. Dreaming about his mother and someone calling him.
He knew who he was wishing would call. Usagi. Mamoru shivered.
	

	(( Mamoru was in a deep sleep. Ring. He bolted out of bed and
grabbed his telephone. His telephone. He was having trouble finding
it. He finally got hold of it and was about to press it to his ear.
[[Wait]] He looked down at his phone. Was he imagining things?? How
cruel could his mind be? Mamoru sighed and went back to bed.))
	
	“Deja vou..”
	The same thing had happened the night his father had
introduced him to Neci, his French mistress. Why had he dreamed of
that particular phone call?? Mamo still couldn’t believe it. Only a
year after his mother dying-- Damn his father. How could he? Now he
felt Hamlet’s anguish, even though Hamlet was a fictional character
created by Shakespeare.

**********

	It was chilly. Usagi pulled her coat around her body. Usagi
walked to the skating arena. Usagi smiled. Not so long ago she had
been the clumsy little Usagi. Tripping every which way, now she was
graceful. [[Thank goodness for that.]]
	She continued to walk to the place she had met Mamoru at. She
winced in pain. [[Can’t I stop thinking about him for one moment? I
still remember the day that I met Mamoru here. We skated as a
pair.]] A mist shifted over her eyes. [[How can I go back there
everyday? The place where I met him..]] she sighed. [[I must go. I
need to practice my skating.]]
	Usagi walked on. She saw a happy couple on her way. Usagi had
to stifle a cry. She had been happy once, when she was with Mamoru.
Mamoru, her savior.. and her killer. He had killed the happy Usagi.
He had used her. For what reason, she didn’t know. She finally
reached the arena. She felt the hairs stand on the back of her neck.
Usagi paused and turned around. No one. She continued inside and
said hello to those she knew. She sat down on the bench. She was in
the process of tying her skates.
	“Usagi-sama..” Mina said. Usagi looked up. Rei, Ami, and
Makoto were with her. 
	“Minna-chan.. So, you’ve found me at last.”
	The girls shrugged and just sat down.
	“Usagi, we know--”
	Usa looked confusedly at Rei.
	“What do you know?”
	“We know where you went that night.”
	Usagi looked at Mina.
	“What night?”
	“The night we went to tell you about seeing Mamoru off at the
airport.”
	“So.. You guys know..” Usagi drifted off.
	“Mamoru’s staying in Japan.”
	“I know, Makoto. I know.”
	Rei looked at her in surprise. “He told you then?”
	Usagi shook her head. “I just know.”
	Ami nodded and added, “We know how you know.. You don’t have
to burden yourself by retelling the story.. We know..”
	“And we’re sorry, for being bad friends.”
	Usagi wiped away a tear and looked at Mina. “You weren’t being
bad friends. I was. I should have told you from the start how I was
feeling.”
	“Don’t worry about it, Usagi, we’ll take care of you.”
	Usagi smiled gratefully. “I know you will, minna-chan. I love
you guys so much!”
	She engulfed the four of them in a bear hug. They were
laughing. It was like old times, before Usagi had fallen into her
depression and Mamoru had come along. She didn’t need Mamoru. She
had her friends. Usagi smiled.
	“Well, as long as you’re here. Why don’t you put on skates? We
can skate just like old times.”
	Rei laughed. “Yah, before Usagi had taken skating lessons. You
should have seen her! She looked like a dork!”
	“I did not!!”
	“Did too!”
	Before they knew it, they were having one of their famous
tongue wars. Ami, Makoto, and Mina just smiled at the scene. They
had the old group and old Usagi back.

**********

	Hey Hey Hey!! That’s it.. Sorry it took me so long!! Would you
believe it? Three weeks for this?? I know, a pretty bad ending.. I’m
so sorry!! Wait!! NO!! What am I saying?!?! This isn’t the end!! I
still have to rectify what happens to all of them!! You just don’t
expect me to let Usagi keep on thinking that Mamoru left her for
some French chic!! Ha!! That would suck BIG TIME.. Nehoo.. Please
email me and tell me if you like it. oo1hummie1oo@yahoo.com or at my
AOL screen name, XxMoNKeeCooKeexX.. I dunno about that SN.. I might
change it again!! eeekk!! Nehoo, please please please email me!!
PPPPLLLLEEEEAAAAAAAAASSSSSSEEEEE???? Okay, enough whining.. See ya!