Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. All rights are reserved for Naoko Takeuchi.

xoxo

The sun's golden rays gave warmth to whomever it shone on. One woman in particular didn't feel the warmth that the sun produced. She felt utterly depressed. Her blonde hair swayed with each movement she made. The crowded streets were beginning to piss her off as yet another stranger bumped into her without so much as an apology.

Usagi veered her direction to the park. She wandered aimlessly, with no destination in mind. Joggers swerved out of the to avoid the blonde. Usagi was feeling down today. She didn't take notice of the beautiful flowers that bloomed or how the weather was clear and sunny today. Her mind was too preoccupied.

Her thoughts were plague with thoughts of him. Where did they stand exactly? She sighed in defeat and wished for something better or someone to answer all her questions.

Usagi reached a fairly large fountain located in the middle of the park. She took a seat at the edge. She drew faint lines with her index finger in the water, creating ripples.

She was bored to death. Earlier in the day she had called her boyfriend to see if he wanted to do something. He declined saying that he was feeling under the weather. Usagi opted to visit him, but he quickly declined. That was certainly suspicious, but she let it go thinking that it was nothing. He had made her a promise. A promise that he would certainly keep. Or at least she hoped.

As she continued to lightly caress the water beneath her fingertips, she couldn't help but let her mind wander. Her mind was disturbed with a thought. A sick and disgusting thought.

A year ago he had been out, sleeping around behind her back. She knew it. She confronted him one day. It seemed that the guilt took a toll on him, so he spilled out his sinful deeds. It was abominable. Most women would leave, yet Usagi stayed with him. She believed that everyone deserved a second chance, and so she gave it to him. He had apologized for his actions and promised never do to it again.

Usagi's azure eyes widened. Her intuition kicked and screamed at her. Her suspicions began to perk up. 'No…He's not, is he?' Her mind was beginning to jumble with questions. She stood up abruptly and ran to his apartment. Bystanders moved out of the way, afraid of being trampled by the blonde.

Gray clouds began to cover the sun. The air became cool as a slight breeze began to blow, picking up leaves along the way. It was still sunny, but with the clouds the weather became partly sunny. The sun's rays pierced through the clouds, but it wasn't enough to create warmth for the citizens of Japan.

Usagi jogged over to her boyfriend's apartment. When she reached the front of the building, she entered. She pushed the up button and waited on the lobby floor as the elevator descended in order to give her a ride. A soft 'ding' indicated the arrival of the elevator. When she stepped inside the cubicle, she pressed a button for the seventh floor. The ride didn't take long. Usagi walked the familiar path in search of the number 715, his number.

Usagi stood in front of the emerald colored door. Shivers went up her spine. Something wasn't right, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. She stood there. She was stalling. Usagi was afraid of what she might find. Standing in front of the door seemed to solve only half of her problem. It would save her from the inevitable. The need to confirm her suspicions urged her to suck it up and deal with it.

Reaching in her coat pocket, she pulled out a shiny key. It was a key that he gave her as a sign of devotion, or at least she thought it was. Usagi slowly slid it in the keyhole. She was trying to be careful as to not disturb the silence. When she finally opened the door, she went inside. The whole place seemed empty. But she could feel a presence within.

Carefully searching around, she came upon a closed door. It was his bedroom door. There was a small slit. Usagi peeked in. She didn't see anything, but looking more carefully she spotted him. He was with another. They were peacefully sleeping under the cotton covers

Usagi covered her mouth in shock and also not to let her gasp escape. A slight stir came from the bed. Usagi backed away. She quickly walked to the front door. She wasn't aware that her footsteps were a little louder than usual. Her hand reached for the bronze knob. Soon she would be able to open the door that held her freedom. That's when a husky voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Usagi…"

Usagi grimaced. She got caught. This was it. If she had just been a little quicker, she might have just avoided the confrontation. "Y-yeah. It's me." Her voice cracked a little. She turned around and faced the man. He scratched his head, not knowing what to say.

"I-,"

"Save it," Usagi interrupted. "Feeling under the weather huh? Yeah, I suppose the only way to cure that problem is to be unfaithful. You lied to me. How could you?"

"I didn't mean it."

"How could you do and not mean it? What do you take me as? A fool? If you didn't mean it in the first place, then you shouldn't have done it at all Seiya," she harshly whispered. Usagi crossed her arms over her chest. "How long?"

"How long what?"

"Don't play stupid. How long was this going on?"

"Seiya…?" a voice came from his bedroom.

Usagi gave him a disgusted look. "Here." She threw him his key, and he caught it. "I think it belongs to you."

"Usagi, we can make it work. I promise-,"

"Your promises mean nothing to me! I'm tired of crying over you. You're not worth it anymore. My god did it take me this long to realize this?! You know what, I really am a fool. To actually think that I could trust you, I can't believe it." Usagi opened the door. "I hope you're happy." She turned around not wanting her emotions to get out of hand. She left him.

A tear escaped her eyes. She brushed it off quickly. "I'm not going to cry. He's not worth my tears," she berated herself sternly.

The sky began to fill with even more gray clouds. The overpowering clouds defeated the sun. It made the sky seem gloomy. Droplets of rain fell from the heavens above. Everyone tried to cover their heads with whatever they could. Children ran to their mothers, afraid of the seemingly evil sky.

Usagi embraced the rain and kept on walking to no where particular. The further she walked, the harder the rain began to pour.

'I just wish the rain would wash away all my pain.'

After mindlessly walking, she fell down to her knees. 'Life isn't fair.' And so finally, she let her tears run, mixing with the rain. She was upset and punched the cement ground beneath her with all her might until her hand became swollen, red, and bleeding. Crimson blood mixed with the rain creating a pink color. Her hand felt numb. Sneeze after sneeze attacked her senses.

"Usagi! What are you doing?"

Usagi spun her head around. "Leave me alone! I can do whatever I want! Go away!"

"Usagi, what's wrong?"

Usagi looked into the gorgeous eyes of a man. Her eyes searched his in hope that he would not judge her. "I-I…I'm a fool. He did it again. H-his empty promises. All lies! Men are nothing but bastards!"

The man hugged her small form to his muscular body. "Come one Usagi, you don't mean that do you?"

"Yes I do!" She thrashed and pounded his chest trying to pry his hold off of her. After a while, she ceased.

"Come on, let's get you out of this pouring rain okay? And I better check out that hand. Then we can talk about this like rational adults."

Usagi nodded, too tired to do anything else. The man lifted her in his arms, carrying her bridal style.

"Thank you Mamoru," she whispered before falling asleep on his chest.

The silence disturbed her for some reason. She felt like the darkness was engulfing her from the real world. It seemed to take her farther into an abyss. Usagi struggled with all her might, but to no avail. She flailed her arms trying to find en escape.

And that was how Mamoru found his fallen angel. She was so distressed in her sleep. Her face was etched in pain and sweat beaded on her forehead and neck. She seemed to be struggling against some unknown dark force. Mamoru couldn't bear the sight.

He strolled over to his bed where the golden hair woman slept.

"Usagi…" he nudged. "Usagi, wake up."

"Ahh!" Usagi woke up with a fright. Her heart pounded like it wanted to escape. It bounced off all the walls that it was confined in. Her cerulean eyes were beginning to form tears. Usagi looked to her right to see Mamoru sitting next to her. She leaped for him, hugging him close and cried.

Mamoru sat there shocked and not knowing what to do. He slowly brought his arms up and wrapped them around her.

"Usagi, it's okay. I'm here."

"Just don't l-leave me," she hiccuped. After a couple of minutes, Usagi calmed down. She slowly removed herself from Mamoru's arms. "T-thank you," she hiccuped once again.

"Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

"No…I'm fine. Thank you." Her head turned around observing the room. Her eyes went to the sight of her bandaged hand. "I better leave. Sorry to bother you."

"No!" he paused. "Err…don't leave yet. You should get some rest. I'll take you home once you're well rested." He stood up to leave the room when Usagi's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"You were right."

He turned around. "Excuse me?"

Drawing her knees to her chest, she continued. "You were right about the whole Seiya thing."

"What do you mean?"

"I…I found him with…"

"Someone else?"

"Yeah," she whispered shamefully. "I caught him. I left him. I…just don't know what to do anymore. I mean I've should've listened to you so I wouldn't get my heart broken the second time around. Heh, I'm really stupid aren't I?"

"No. Don't say that. You're the smartest girl I know!"

"Then how come I feel so crummy?"

Mamoru sighed. "It's not your fault. I should've watched out for you."

"I guess that our friendship kind of changed once Seiya was back in my life again huh?" Usagi sniffed a little and tears began to form again. "I just wish I could erase everything in my life."

"Everything? Even our friendship?"

She looked at him in the eyes. For the second time in her life, her heart pounded when she looked at him. Her heart pounded the first time when they first met. Things didn't go so smoothly. She could almost remember that day.

"Another failed test. Papa is gonna kill me," Usagi said to no one in particular. She looked at the window case that held the beautiful shimmering jewelry. "Papa will never get me something like that with this rotten grade." She stared at the piece of paper in her hand. "I hate my life!" With that she crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it behind her, hoping to aim for the garbage.

"Ouch! That hurts," said a masculine voice. He picked up the paper from the ground and opened it up. "Thirty points?!"

"Hey! Who told you that you could read my test paper? It's confidential! And besides, thirty points isn't so bad," she shot back, trying to trick him that the score was not…

"Out of a hundred?"

'Crap,' she thought. Her face turned red with embarrassment.

"Wow Odango. You better study more." The mysterious man scrunched up the paper and threw it. It hit Usagi's head.

"Oww jerk!" She watched his retreating back. "Who does he think he is?"

Usagi gave a slight smile at the memory. Ever since then they would find each other in the arcade that their friend, Motoki, worked at. Each day began with insults. As years went by, they grew out of their little game. They decided to call it truce. That was how they became friends.

Mamoru was always there to for Usagi, and vice versa. The first time when Usagi had found out that Seiya had cheated on her she immediately went to Mamoru's place. Mamoru had consoled her. Her tears made his heart ache.

"Leave him," he said.

"But I-I can't."

"Can't or won't Usagi?" Usagi stayed silent for a moment. "Usagi, he's no good for you. You should just end it before you get hurt again." After several minutes of thinking she left him sitting on the couch.

Just two days after that talk, Mamoru found out that Usagi had gotten back together with Seiya. His heart clenched at the sight of the two holding hands and walking down the street. Since then, their friendship dwindled. Seiya didn't like the thought of Usagi seeing Mamoru so much. He felt threatened. Usagi thought it was ridiculous, but did what Seiya said. She limited hers and Mamoru's time together.

"No…" she whispered. "I wouldn't trade our friendship for anything in the world. No one can replace you, ever. I lo-," Usagi paused and looked up at Mamoru. Her eyes sparkled. She sighed and went on. "I like you Mamoru." He smiled at the statement. It was so simple, yet he wished for so much more. "Right now I'm just too tired to do anything else."

"You should rest."

"Stay with me?" she asked timidly. She looked away from embarrassment. She could feel her cheeks turning a slight pink from a blush.

Mamoru smiled at the thought. "Sure. You know, you're really an Odango," he laughed. That seemed to brighten Usagi's mood a little. She rolled her eyes and feigned annoyance.

Usagi scooted over to give him room. He climbed in and covered them both with the blankets. She snuggled closer to him. Mamoru held his princess. He brought her to his body. His arms encircled her waist. For the first time in her life, she felt safe.

"I don't want to cry anymore."

"I know. If you cry anymore your eyes are going to get smaller," he laughed. Usagi pouted. "Just go to sleep." He kissed the top of her head, and before he knew it she dozed off. "One day Usako, I'll gather up the courage to tell you that I love you. I'll protect you and I'll always love you even if you don't feel the same way." With that, he began to nod off into his dreams.

'I know Mamo-chan. Arigato.'

xoxo