Twenty Kisses
Rated T
Chapter Title: "Beginnings and Ends"
Setting: Future, post-Stars
Genre: Any

Mamoru suffered a brief moment of panic when his hand reached out and met only cool night air, followed by the slight indented feel of a mattress recently vacated. But then his eyes adjusted, and he saw her, an ethereal goddess glowing under coruscating moonlight. She was bent over the marble balcony, cheeks in her palms, back to him, gazing out over the breathtaking waters that were "as far from Japan as possible", per her request. The sight of his golden haired paramour - brilliant under her mother deity, clad in nary but a sheer floral chemise - brought a wide, sinfully cheeky smile to Mamoru's face.

He slipped out of bed like a lion on the hunt. Once, he might have been embarrassed at the state of indecency he currently entertained, so exposed was he to the world. But Mamoru felt no shame - over time his world had shrunk until it encapsulated only one person, and between them, there were no secrets. Not anymore.

He slunk behind her quietly introspecting figure, and slowly, carefully - so as not to scare her - eased his hands around the small but lithe body.

"How are you liking your private island paradise, my Chiba Usako?" Mamoru purred beside the woman's earlobe, accentuating the sultry query with a naughty nip against the pliant skin. Usagi shivered delightfully.

"Chiba Usako... I don't think I'll ever tire of hearing that," she said, breathless at the very name. Mamoru quite agreed. He pressed closer to her, and rested his chin atop the sharp protrusion of her shoulder blade. The moon was full in the sky, emanating light every which way across the gently rippling ocean waters, so that it too looked to be reflecting sparkles back up at the giant orb. The dazzling display this created served to give the surrounding area a most unearthly quality, and Mamoru knew - they could have picked no better place than this to spend their honeymoon.

"So beautiful. It almost reminds me of the Silver Millennium," Usagi whispered, reverently. "Do you remember our very first kiss?"

"Here, or there?" Mamoru chuckled, with wry humor. There were so many possible 'firsts' when it came to them - that's what happened when you were reincarnated beings with an amalgam of memories!

Usagi head-butted him from the side. "There, silly."

"First of the first, huh?" Mamoru breathed in a heady gulp of the salty sea air. "As I recall... it was a night much like this one. We had taken a rowboat ride under cover of darkness - still trying to keep our rendezvous a secret from our quarreling families. And just like tonight, the moon was out, shining down... spilling all over you... and I thought, she's the most beautiful creature I've ever seen in all the lands. How did I get so lucky as to meet her? I was drunk off my love. I wanted to impress you, so much, so I showed you my special power-"

Mamoru stuck out his index, and from there spiraled up the most perfect rose, fairly glittering from feather-soft petal to razor-sharp stem under the gentle coaxing of his Golden Crystal-fueled magic. It was the same as the ones he conjured during battle; an endless supply of weaponry - or tokens of affection - forever at his fingertips. Very useful during moments such as these, Mamoru mused, as he tenderly held the flower before his new wife's countenance. She squealed with pleasure, reaching up for the proffered bloom.

"And after you had accepted my gift, I swooped in-"

Mamoru whirled Usagi around, so that they were face-to-face.

"Moved the flower to behind your ear-"

Usagi beamed as he plucked the rose from out of her grip, and transferred it to the same location as that in the story. His fingers trailed a fiery pattern downward, to the skin of her nape. He pulled the woman forward.

"And kissed you until all senses fell away, and we were the only two people left on this earth," Mamoru murmured, capturing Usagi's lips between his own. She hummed contentedly into his mouth, deepening their connection even as the rest of her seemed to go boneless. They pulled away only when their lungs began to protest at the lack of oxygen. Mamoru could see that Usagi was having trouble recovering, a comically glazed-over look in her endless azures. He nuzzled her adorable button of a nose, and she blinked a couple times to clear the mental fog.

"Funny how it still feels the same way, every time," she commented. Then a coy gleam entered her eyes, as she flicked them appreciatively downward. "Except when it's better."

Mamoru groaned wantonly, so wanting to drag her back between the sheets of their marriage bed as he caressed the sides of her cheeks. But, he could also tell that something was keeping her rooted to the balcony; the same thing that had drawn her away in the first place. His expression became more serious. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Usagi blushed like she'd been caught. A delicate breeze wafted through, lifting her odango into the current. So devastatingly beautiful, Mamoru reflected once more, marveling that this fact never seemed to fail to send his heart into tailspins.

"You were thinking out here so loudly, I swear that's what woke me up!" the man joked, and it earned him a snicker. He was pleased to see Usagi relaxing, and she leaned into his easy embrace, holding on tightly for a moment before answering.

"It's just..." she said slowly, raising her hand so that the brand new wedding band on her left fourth finger glinted luminously off the moonlight. "Well... it's a beginning and an end, this... isn't it?"

Her visage was a strange arrangement of joy and excitement; wistfulness and sorrow. Mamoru tilted his head like a curious puppy would as he voiced his concurrence.

"I suppose it is. Is that a bad thing?"

Usagi guffawed, and she peered up at him from her vantage beside his chest, so that he could find the proof of her immense happiness shimmering heavy in her sparkling blue eyes. Mamoru thought then that he would gladly drown in those fathomless depths; her tears the purest form of her love.

"Are you kidding me? All I ever wanted was to be a bride. Your bride. And now..." Usagi took a deep breath, and Mamoru saw her cradle her ring hand close. "Now I'm here, on the day I always dreamed about, and I feel like I need to pinch myself because I can scarcely believe it's real. I'm married to my Mamo-chan. You're my husband and I'm your wife. A wife!"

Usagi laughed in amazement and Mamoru knew he was savoring the word just as much as she. It was crazy to consider this would now be a common term in his daily lexicon.

"So I guess... if this is to be the end of my life as Tsukino Usagi... it's the only end I want to be at," Usagi nodded to herself, in a tone of satisfied finality. Mamoru smiled, fully understanding the dichotomy of feelings she was experiencing. It was an end - of quiet coffee mornings, neatly folded laundry and uninterrupted books in the evenings. In some ways it would be hard to say goodbye to his old bachelor lifestyle. There was comfort in familiarity. But on the flip side, that existence had been a mostly lonely one. When Usagi would burst into his apartment, spreading noise, cheer and often a helter-skelter mess in her wake, it was like Mamoru came alive again. Like finally seeing sunshine again after a long, dark, biting winter. He couldn't imagine his life without her.

And now, he would never have to.

"Come, my wife. There's something I want to show you in the bedroom..."

Usagi's peals of mirth echoed far into the night.

FIN

A/N: That's it. It's done. I leave with you all a tiny piece of my heart, as I do every story! So sad to say goodbye, especially after almost *gasp* EIGHT years, but I look forward to our next adventure ;) As always, check out my page for more stories and be sure to follow if you want to be alerted of any further updates!

My sincere thanks to last chapters' reviewers: ruk, Karseneau, Guest (x2), CassieRaven, Rufael, Deadly Aura, Nebelflecke, eskalations and Moon Bunny. I am SO lucky to have all you loyal readers! You've no idea the motivation it gives me to receive your feedback!

Big kisses!

AngelMoon Girl