Title: A Necessary Disguise
Author: Princess Destiny
Email: In Profile
URL: destinysgateway DOT com
Couple: Usagi And Mamoru
Rating: M 15+
Summary: 'One Hour Challenge' #43: Response Fanfic. It's a week before Halloween and Usagi and Mamoru are forced to parade their costumes before all their friends. Upon leaving, the get stuck in an elevator and proceed to drive each other nuts! But each is hiding a secret from the other and it soon becomes apparent that they have more than a little attraction between them.
Chapters: 1/?
Status: Unfinished
Year Started: 2003
Year Completed: N/A
Year Revised: 2011

Comments: Hi everyone! There are only three parts for this Fanfic and I look forward to continuing it when I get a new computer in a few months. It's an interesting take, because Mamoru and Usagi already know about each other's secret identities, but each don't know the other knows. It's a little more serious too, but will have a happy ending, as usual.

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Princess Destiny

A NECESSARY DISGUISE

By Princess Destiny

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Chapter One

The first time he had heard it, he was so shocked he fell out of the tree he was hiding in. The second and third, he was disgusted and disbelieving and from thereon in, he was just exasperated.

Weren't they wearing disguises as a necessity?

At least, that was Tuxedo Kamen's firm belief. He wasn't entirely sure about keeping secret identities from each other, since they appeared to be temporary allies, but...to call out each other's real names during battle was just foolishness.

Chiba Mamoru, also known as the masked hero Tuxedo Kamen, a Juuban University student and best friend of Motoki, was not sure just what to do.

To say he'd been utterly flabbergasted to hear Sailor Moon referred to as Usagi was just putting it mildly. Though stunned, he reasoned that perhaps there was more than one air-headed blonde with that name going around Juuban.

As really reasonable assumption-until the Senshi had also referred to her as Odango Atama.

Now they were going into the realm of impossibility.

It took the Sailor Senshi shouting each other's names in either fear, of exhilaration, or anger to clue poor Mamoru in that YES, the super heroine he had growing feelings for was Tsukino Usagi. After all, how many groups of friends were running around with the names of Usagi, Ami, Rei and Makoto?

Absolutely none that he was aware of!

In complete disbelief and shell-shock, the upperclassman had closely questioned Motoki about their movements and found to his surprise that his best friend knew more than he had been letting on.

Who would have guessed that the mild-mannered guy who owned the local arcade and cafe was the resident expert on the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen?

Motoki had even revealed that he'd known that Mamoru was Tuxedo Kamen for several months. And yes, the young girls that were suspected to be the Senshi by them both, had been displaying some very telling behavior.

They left suddenly, not always paying their bill-and Mamoru usually followed not far behind.

They all had the exact same names, said frequently in battle.

Usagi was the world's worst klutz and crybaby and Sailor Moon, by some very suspicious coincidence, was exactly alike.

The other Sailor Senshi just happened to have the same personalities as Rei, Makoto and Ami.

Mars seemed to have the same fiery temper and the nickname for Sailor Moon that both Rei and Mamoru called Usagi.

Jupiter was always ready for a fight and stuck up for Sailor Moon a lot.

Mercury was a brainy girl and frequently scolded Usagi/Sailor Moon for not studying or sleeping in late.

And during one of their conversations at the Arcade, each girl had shown a marked preference for their Senshi counterparts.

Then again, there was the damning evidence that had been staring everyone in Tokyo right in the eyes, but seemed to be masked by some powerful glamour. Had absolutely no one figured out that the Senshi looked exactly like Usagi and her friends?

There was much more connecting them, of course, but Mamoru couldn't be bothered listing them in his mind right then. He had them all typed onto a graph on his computer anyway.

As far as he was concerned, the universe had some sort of perverse pleasure by making the blonde ditz that was his nemesis into the girl he cared deeply for.

And she was also was protector of the Solar System and all life on earth. He thought that if the world knew that fact, they'd be shaking in their beds every time the Senshi clashed with the Dark Kingdom.

Of course, they were only fifteen years of age, but surely they had some sense of self-preservation. If Tuxedo Kamen was aware of their real names, then the Dark Kingdom had also been clued in. It was somewhat astonishing therefore, that the Senshi had not been accosted in their own homes, or denounced in public by a floating Dark Kingdom General bent on extinguishing their lives.

Mamoru shook his head, dispelling the thoughts from his mind. He was on his way to Motoki's place to try on a Halloween costume and he was going to have good time. He was, damn it! even if he did have a tiny bit of excitement floating around in region of his stomach at the thought of being near her.

Expression darkening, he tried desperately to put Usagi and the Sailor Senshi from his head, but came back to the very reason that they'd popped in their in the first place. The girls had all also been invited over to Motoki's apartment to try on their costumes.

The handsome upper-classman deftly moved through the crowded sidewalks, avoiding crashing into the shoppers by sheer instinct. It was exactly the type of situation he loathed. Happy, cheerful people, shopping and socializing, clogging up the sidewalks and blocking his path.

If there were four times a year Mamoru loathed, it was Christmas, Easter, Halloween and Valentines Day.

"Here we are." He said aloud, stopping before an apartment complex.

Motoki had an apartment a couple of blocks down from his own, chosen out by his fiancé, Reika. Once upon a time, his best friend had roomed with him, but when he met that woman, he'd fallen head over heels.

His nose wrinkled in disgust as he entered the lift and pressed the button for floor four. "Reika made him soft and...weak." Mamoru murmured, mingled feelings filling him. He was revolted at the thought of committing to a woman to such an extent that he wouldn't be thinking straight, walked around in a love-haze and spoke of nothing but her name in utterly revoltingly-sweet accents.

That would never, ever happen to him!

The lift doors swished open in time for the handsome man to see a familiar form dashing past. If he wasn't mistaken, it had been Ami in a professor's cape and hat.

"Ami! You can't wear such a dull thing on Halloween!" Makoto bellowed as she bolted past, dressed in a ninja uniform with her hair in a high ponytail. In her hands was a delicate, pink, fairy costume.

It didn't take much deduction to see that the tall girl wanted her friend to dress up a Titania...or just a plain fairy. Tinkerbelle perhaps?

Frowning at such behavior in a respectable hallway, Mamoru trailed the two girls into Motoki's apartment, which had the door wide open. From inside came cheerful music, belaying the more somber and even spooky mood for Halloween. Blue eyes rolled skyward and Mamoru shrugged his green jacket from his shoulders. He opened the closet door and put the jacket on a coat hanger.

"Mamoru? Is that you?" Reika's voice called down the hallway, echoing slightly.

Following her voice into the kitchen, he smiled at the sight of pure domesticality. The woman was up to her elbows in cookie dough, hands in the bowl and flour splashed liberally all down her front and some on her face.

To their right, Usagi, Makoto, Ami and Rei were in the lounge. Motoki was not to be seen.

"Cute, aren't they?" Reika noticed with a smile at Mamoru's disgruntled expression. She looked at him slyly. "You'll just have to bear with them for this afternoon."

"Do I have to?" Mamoru countered, fully prepared to leave if an escape were extended.

Usagi giggled at something and he took a moment to look her over. She really did look cute... He frowned. No, the Odango Atama looked very pretty. The upperclassman scowled heavily and deliberately looked away. But her appearance was burnt into his memory. Most probably only because he knew her to be Sailor Moon, at least, that's what he tried to tell himself.

The golden-haired girl was dressed as a princess, in a long pink gown with lace at sleeves, neckline and hem. On her head was a little dainty tiara of gold. She looked very delectable-as usual.

"She looks good, doesn't she?" Reika murmured, kneading the dough firmly in the bowl. She had followed his gaze and known who he'd been staring at. "Like a real princess."

"She's a brat." Mamoru said dismissively. He looked over her sensible jeans and red top. "You aren't trying on your costume?" He queried, somehow put out. The woman was only slightly older than them, yet he and Motoki would be wearing childish clothing and doing who knew what.

"It's in our room. I decided to come as an archaeologist." She revealed with a smirk.

He stared at her, and then laughed. "That's cheating you know. You're supposed to come as someone you don't do as a living."

"You're one to talk." She said pointedly, eyes looking him right in the face.

Mamoru's mouth fell open. "He didn't!" He gasped in astonishment and betrayal.

"Yes, he did." Reika's head cocked to the side curiously. "You really didn't think he was going to marry me with secrets between us?"

He didn't know how to respond to that one, since he had an aberrance to sharing anything remotely personal with a female. It had stemmed from being an orphan and ran deep. Mamoru sighed. Actually, it wasn't only females-anyone really. It had taken a very long time for his friendship with Motoki to reach a personal depth.

The fact that his best friend had shared Mamoru's secret identity with Reika just wouldn't sink in.

"He told me that you were determined to come as-" She lowered her voice and leant closer over the counter towards him. "A certain cloaked hero?"

"He talked me out of it." Mamoru nodded, voice dry. He went to lean against the counter also, then noticed what a mess it was and carefully, moved his black shirt and slacks out of range.

"And into a pirate garb!" The woman giggled at him.

"A pirate? No way!" A voice squealed from behind him.

Mamoru didn't even need to turn to know it was Usagi, and that annoyed the hell out of him. That his every nerve-ending came alive when she was near was even more disconcerting. It had to be because he knew her alternate form and had feelings for her, but the annoying klutz that he had been fighting with for months was growing on him. He had found, to his absolute horror, that he sometimes retorted insults in a decidedly tender manner.

"That's much too cool a costume for Mamoru-baka." Usagi went on, making his teeth grit together in an effort not to bite her head off.

It then occurred to him that he didn't have any reason to leash himself. She might be someone who'd he'd grown affectionate towards when they were in battle, but it didn't change the fact that she was his blonde nemesis, Usagi.

"Odango Atama." The handsome man swung around, a casual smile pasted to his face. He looked her up and down in scorn. "You look ridiculous."

Ridiculous was it? Usagi frowned at him for a long moment, and then smiled.

He looked so taken-aback, as the full force of the happy curve of her lips, that she could have laughed in his face.

And if he hadn't been Tuxedo Kamen, she would have handed his spleen to him on a spoon by then.

Usagi had known for some few months that the man she so admired and adore was actually Chiba Mamoru, the jerk of an upperclassman that she fought with regularly.

She had discovered his identity quite by mistake, although it should have occurred to her much earlier.

His white half-mask had fallen off during a battle. Tuxedo Kamen had caught it swiftly and replaced it over his face, but she had already seen.

Over the next few weeks, the blonde had gone by in a daze of utter shock and disbelief. But it had slowly sunk in that his habits were very much like Mamoru's.

The arrogant tilt of his chin, his voice, the deep blue eyes that she had gazed into so often in both his hero and civilian form. He was, now that the scales had dropped from her eyes, very much like the upperclassman. He was the same height, had the same eyes, the same dark hair and even his distant manner was the same.

Tuxedo Kamen had also displayed Chiba Mamoru's utter arrogance and pride when taunting a General.

Usagi had been dying to tell the other Senshi, but had seen how much they disliked and distrusted the man. He was after the Rainbow Crystals for his own reasons, but she just couldn't view him as an enemy. He had rescued her so often, held her tightly in his arms and guided her when she faltered.

In fact, Tuxedo Kamen had been even more supportive than her own Senshi.

Mercury was quietly-disapproving of her manner in battle and her inability to keep up her grades in School.

Mars had always wanted to be Leader and argued with Sailor Moon at every turn, even when the blonde had turned up to battle in time.

Jupiter had been more supportive, but had made it subtly-apparent that she thought the blonde incapable of protecting them or herself without help.

And Luna...well, the Guardian hadn't ever been supportive, now that Usagi thought about it. The cat had arrived and plunked a golden broach on the blonde's chest one night, declaring that she was to be the champion of justice and some sort of superhero. But right from the start, from Sailor Moon's first tripping over and fearful crying, she had considered the girl less than Leader material.

Usagi had tried her best to be better in battle, but nothing she seemed to do would please anyone. No one had even noticed when she made a concentrated effort not to trip or put herself into the line of fire. Nor had they noticed that her aim with the tiara had become more acute-due to intense private training late at night in Juuban Park.

One time, she had almost been mugged, till the man realized he had been trying to rob the super heroine of all Tokyo. She had stood there straight and proud, staring him down. The man had run off so fast, she had almost felt sorry for him.

Things had been looking mightily depressing and hopeless until that one little slip with Tuxedo Kamen.

Till then, she had been feeling all alone in her fight against the Dark Kingdom and even her civilian life. The only person who had supported her in any manner disappeared in seconds flat after any battle and she had never really had a proper talk with him.

Perhaps the time when he had given her the beautiful star locket was one instance, but that was all.

He had dashed her heart against the ground below with this callous conversation. She had been getting such mixed signals from his words and his present that it had almost made her go mad.

And then that fateful day dawned; his mask fell off and she discovered that the mysterious man was Chiba Mamoru. In an instant, everything had shifted in life like a kaleidoscope.

Usagi was no longer alone, because she knew who Tuxedo Kamen was. And even though he still argued with her, sometimes she fooled herself into thinking that his words didn't have their usual bite.

Every time they met, she could see a white half-mask and tuxedo superimposed over his form and it had brought a warm feeling to her chest.

Even as she smiled sweetly back at him in Motoki and Reika's kitchen, she couldn't find the energy to be angry with him. Mamoru had no idea, but he was her rock. The one thing that kept her afloat in a confusing and sometimes terrifying current.

Nevertheless, he couldn't find out what she knew and she had to go on as if they were still the two enemies in a dispute. "Mamoru, go to hell." She told him, lips twitching. "I know I look good, thank you."

And he, looked absolutely wonderful. It was the same clothing she'd seen a hundred times, but she could still admire how the black shirt clung to his lightly-muscled chest. He looked handsome and coolly-elegant.

He looked at her in pure amazement for a moment, before a smug look dropped into his deep blue eyes. "Odango, you astonish me sometimes." Mamoru murmured to her, expression softening.

The blonde was so taken-aback that she found herself gaping at him.

But that had been his intention. The upperclassman smiled at her superiorly. "You amaze me with your utter stupidity and klutzy ways." He went on heedlessly.

Usagi bit the inside of her mouth to keep from insulting him. He really was too much sometimes. She frowned, then her face cleared and she smiled back pleasantly. If she was to keep her secret knowledge of him from getting out, she had to start treating him like usual.

"And you surprise me with how dumb the words coming out of your mouth are!"

"What, no original retort?" He scoffed, crossing his arms and leaning against the bench top.

"How about you're a complete baka for leaning against a flour-covered bench top?" Usagi grinned in delight as he swore and straightened up, checking the back of his shirt.

She checked also and barely kept the gleeful look from her face. His shirt was caked in flour and dried cookie dough. That would teach the jerk a lesson.

"Damn it, Reika, you could have told me!" Mamoru exclaimed, throwing an annoyed look at the blonde. Clearly unhappy that he'd done something so silly in front of his nemesis.

"Oh, did it ruin your shirt? And here I thought you were having too much fun taunting Usagi." Reika laughed, flinging some flour at him.

Mamoru moved back so fast that he crashed into Usagi.

Before either of them could blink, he had turned swiftly and caught her in his arms, steadying them both.

The golden-haired girl found herself held protectively to his chest and her mouth went dry. It was such a familiar position, since Tuxedo Kamen regularly held her this way when he rescued her, but this time it was without the mask.

The two breathlessly stared into each other's eyes, so close, and said nothing for a long moment.

Usagi was wondering hazily if she should say something scalding and jump out of his arms, but it just felt so good to be in them.

For a second, Mamoru seemed to be in accord, but then his arms opened and let her fall flat onto her backside.

"I have to go wash-up." He said tightly to herself and Reika, and then walked off towards the bathroom.

The petite girl sighed wistfully and a sad look crossed her face as she got to her feet. If only Mamoru could look into her eyes and see that it was Sailor Moon there, she might have a chance.

But he would never see anyone but the slightly-younger girl who exchanged heated words occasionally.

"Oh please, can't he see the real me...just once?" She whispered longingly.

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To Be Continued...

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Chapter Two will be out in a couple of days.

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Hugs,
Princess Destiny