Silence.

Nothing but silence could be heard as the two parties stopped dead in their tracks.

Their expressions each as if they were looking upon a ghost.

For the first time since their return, the brothers were confronted with the presence of all 5 of the senshi gathered together.

Only it was not technically the senshi, but their civilian identities that they lived in their normal, day to day lives on Earth:

Usagi Tsukino, Ami Mizuno, Makato Kino, Minako Aino, and lastly, Rei Hino.

Hino, the one who possessed 'the sixth sense' of all the senshi and could detect unnatural Ki's unlike her other counterparts. The one whom they had done all they could to avoid up until this point at all cost.

This would be the ultimate test in their new abilities since developing the black crystal here on Earth, the ability to suppress emitting any negative energy derived from the Jakakozuishou. They should give off the same neutral aura of any other human.

Demande soon lowered his gaze and saw there was one more smaller addition to their group.

Chibi Chibi seemed to be the only one unperturbed by the entire situation as she cheerfully smiled at the two men.

He didn't know what to do or say, that is, if he should say anything at all in order not to give away any familiarity he would display toward Usagi.

All he could do was shift his eyes nervously to his brother and noticed that he was staring directly to Usagi.

This would be the first time they had seen each other since the {finally forgotten} encounter between "Shinjiro" and her that added even more tension to this unlucky situation. Demande knew he had to say something as each moment that passed between them became ever more awkward.

But, before he could, Chibi Chibi made the first move and approached the two men.

"Chibi Chibi." She said cheerfully to them and then looked to Demande.

He noticed Sapphir watching their interaction intently and began to feel nervous though, tried his best not to give any indication that he was.

Demande gave a little smile back to her and pretended as if it was the first time they had ever met, "Well hello there, little one, and what is your name?"

She said once again with the same enthusiasm, "Chibi Chibi."

"And just whose little sister would you be, Chibi Chibi?" he politely asked her.

She soon gave a puzzled expression and pointed toward Usagi. "Chibi..Chibi?"

All eyes were now on Usagi.

"Ah, yes, I see the resemblance." he said cooly.

Sapphir's eyes widened upon hearing this information.

"I get that a lot." Usagi responded before ending with a slight giggle.

She soon after let out a sigh of relief that hopefully no one noticed. Thankful for both Chibi Chibi's lack of vocabulary and for Tohru pretending not to have met Chibi Chibi before. She knew it would give away that she has been seeing him outside of school.

"What a coincidence that we would all run into each other like this." Demande said before he casually turned to 'Shinjiro'. "These ladies happen to attend the school I work at."

"I assumed." he answered flatly.

Demande then turned his attention to Rei. "Or at least most of them. I'm afraid I've never seen you around the school before."

She gave a slight nod. "My name is Rei Hino, I attend a private school on the other side of town."

"I see." he said with a cheerful facade. "I'm Tohru Satoshi, the Librarian for Juuban High School, I believe the rest of your friends already know who I am. This is my younger brother Shinjiro. Shinjiro this is-"

"That's alright, brother." he cut in, holding up at hand to stop him. "There's no need for introductions, I'm tired from the hike and would just like to get back to our cabin as soon as possible, if you don't mind."

The girls now shifted their eyes uncomfortably among each other.

Before anyone could say anything else, Sapphir bowed to the girls to retain a sense of politeness, but his cold demeanor was apparent to everyone. He stormed off ahead, leaving Demande at a loss for words as the situation returned to its original awkwardness.

The girls watched him as he walked off and then all turned their eyes curiously back to Demande.

"Excuse me-I...should let you all be getting on your way. I wish you all a pleasant weekend." he bowed, and before anyone could reply, ran after Sapphir.

The girls stared after him and once he was out of earshot, they turned to each other.

Makoto folded her arms and raised one of her eyebrows. "That was a bit strange, don't you think?"

"Strange and too much of a 'coincidence' like as he suggested. Usagi, please tell me the truth, did you tell him we were coming here?" Ami asked her.

Usagi immediately shook her head defensively. "Of course not, the only person I told about this trip was Naru-chan."

But she then tensed up as she remembered telling him she was going camping just the day before. However, she couldn't remember how much of the details she shared with him.

Rei brought her hand gently up to her mouth with an awed expression.

Minako noticed this. "Rei?"

"I can't believe it…" Rei said aloud to herself.

"What is it? Did you feel anything from those two?" Ami asked in urgency.

The rest of the girls leaned in towards her anxiously awaiting her answer.

Rei looked back and forth to the group.

"It's just- this is my first time seeing either one in person and...no...I felt nothing from either of them. But they look so much like Prince Demande and Sapphir. I feel like I should have. Does that make sense?"

Ami looked visibly relieved at this news.

"Hmph, I guess that blew that conspiracy theory." Makoto chuckled.

"It was still strange how his brother had an attitude though, as if, he couldn't stand the sight of us." Minako commented. "I suppose that proves they're really not who we thought they were or else I'd feel Sapphir would show more appreciation on account us of trying to save his life, you know."

"So that settles it once and for all doesn't it?" Usagi asked, directing her question mainly towards Ami.

"I...suppose so." Ami replied, still feeling uncertainty in her answer.

She then turned away from the group and looked longingly in the wilderness beyond before shutting her eyes.

"Then he truly is not Prince Demande…"

"Shinjiro, wait up!" Demnande called out to his brother who was still walking hurriedly towards the cabin.

It wasn't until they reached their campsite that he finally came to an abrupt halt.

Sapphir sharply turned around to him.

"Who the hell was that?!" he demanded.

Demande stiffened, "What are you talking about?"

"That little girl. Why did she tell us she was her sister when I know for a fact she has no sister!" he said almost angrily.

"I know.. I was just as surprised when she said that as well." Demande lied.

"You didn't seem to act like it." Sapphir pointed. "In fact, you were eerily calm about the whole thing."

"What was I supposed to do? I think I did a pretty good job at not making a spectacle of myself unlike you."

Sapphir thinned his lips while clenching his fists.

"I was caught off guard, I couldn't help it."

"And you think I wasn't?" Demande replied.

"That's always a possibility with you, isn't it?" he answered bitterly.

"What are you accusing me of this time? You're the one who brought me here, remember?" Demande reminded him.

Sapphir paused, and soon sighed, frustrated that he had no one to blame but himself for this situation.

"Listen, we can still enjoy our time here. The camping grounds go for several kilometers, according to the brochure, and it seems their campsite is somewhere in the opposite direction so the chances we'll run into them again while we're here are relatively low." he assured Sapphir.

Sapphir folded his arms.

"I'll drop it for now, but when we return, I must find out who that little girl really is. There's just something about her that doesn't bode well with me."

"You're more than welcome to do that. But in the meantime, let's get changed and hurry to the lake while there's no one around." Demande suggested.

Sapphir didn't readily reply and instead kept to himself as if he was lost in thought.

Demande placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Everything will be fine. Just think, none of the senshi suspected a thing, or else we would be surrounded by now. It's just as we thought, the Sailor Mars of the 20th century is no match to her counterpart of the future and we can now walk around in plain sight without fear."

Sapphir placed his hand on Demande's and gave a nod, conceding to his whims as they went inside the cabin.

Minutes later, both men were idling their time near the edge of the lake, the sun shining it's warmth down their chest and backs as they submerged their naked feet into the water as it rose above their ankles.

Both Demande and Sapphir were a bit hesitant to come out to the lake once they dressed in their swimwear as they had never worn such little clothing out in public before and felt completely exposed.

"I feel ridiculous like this, really. I haven't worn shorts since I was a little boy." Demande commented.

"Maybe when we get in the water, it won't feel so weird." Sapphir suggested.

They both eased into the water, and felt it cool down their bodies. Each one sighed as they became adjusted it's temperature.

Demande held his breath and dunked himself completely underneath the water, and listened to the quiet, muffled sounds of the peaceful noise that lied underneath the surface. Once his lungs were empty of air, he rose back up and slicked his long hair out of his face.

It had been many years since either of the men had swam and they used their first part of their time at the lake to reteach themselves, but eventually both were able to keep themselves afloat and regain their competency.

Soon, they were jumping off the pier, trying to make the biggest splashes they could, flipping themselves underneath the water and even holding swimming contests between each other. With their abnormal strengths their lap sizes were on par with that of an Olympic swimmer.

"This last one will be our tiebreaker." Sapphir announced.

"Alright, how about we make it interesting? From here, all the way to the next pier over." Demande said.

Sapphir raised his eyebrows. "That's quite a long way."

Demande shrugged his shoulders. "If you don't think you're up for the challenge, I understand."

Sapphir smiled conceitedly and took his diving stance on the pier.

Demande did the same before he chanted:

"On your mark."

"Get set."

"GO!"

Both men shot into the water and disappeared.

Meanwhile:

"Chibi Chibi, wait up!" Usagi called out as she was chasing the little toddler down the trail as she held her innertube up and giggled as she ran toward the lake.

The four girls walked at a normal pace behind her, carrying towels, a picnic basket and other outdoor supplies. Each one was dressed in their swimsuits.

"I can't wait to get in the water!" Minako announced.

"Same here, the weather is perfect today, nice and hot." Makoto replied.

"I agree, and with the lack of wind, I won't have to worry about my study materials blowing away while I sit underneath the shade." Ami chimed in.

"Oh come one, Ami-chan, I hope you plan on swimming with us at some point." Rei said as she playfully rolled her eyes.

Usagi eventually caught up to Chibi Chibi as she stood on the edge of the pier. She walked up to the little girl and sat down next to her to put on her inflatable sleeves on each of her arms.

"There you go." she said calmly to the little girl.

Chibi Chibi jumped in the water while Usagi leaned back, continuing to sit at the edge of the pier as her legs dangled into the water.

That was when she suddenly felt something grab her leg.

"EHHH?!" she screamed.

That was when Tohru rose out of the water, gasping for breath while still clinging onto her leg.

He knew the mistake he made when he felt that he had grabbed onto someone's leg, mistaking it for a wooden pole and he profusely let out multiple apologies to the person he did it to as his eyes were still adjusting from being under water.

"Tohru-chan?" she called out in a lowered voice.

Once his vision had returned, he looked to the thin and delicate leg he was holding and scaled his eyes up to, none other than, Usagi who was wearing a two piece, green bathing suit with green ribbons that held her pigtails up which were in two large braids.

Shortly after, Chibi Chibi let out a scream as she flew up from the water and onto Sapphir's shoulders as he rose in much the same manner as Demande did, completely out of breath.

Rei and the others heard Chibi Chibi's scream and ran over the pier where they were.

"Usagi, are you alright?" Ami called out.

"Yes everything's okay." Usagi replied

Sapphir looked up and lowered Chibi Chibi off of his shoulders and placed her back into the water.

"I'm really sorry, we didn't mean to frighten you. My brother and I were racing underwater and didn't realize we'd run into someone."

Demande suddenly realized he was still holding onto Usagi's leg and let it fall from his hand.

She shook her head then raised her palms, "It's alright, really, it just surprised me is all."

"Where were you racing from exactly?" Makoto asked with her eyebrow raised.

"From the other pier nearby." Demande replied.

"The other pier is too far away for you to hold your breath for that long." Ami commented.

Demande turned and realized that she was indeed right, he had answered without thinking.

He then nervously laughed, "Not the entire way of course, just on and off from a certain distance away from here."

Soon Sapphir cried out in pain.

"Shinjiro, what's wrong?" Demande asked.

He swam next to him and placed his hand next to where Usagi was sitting.

"My leg, I think it's cramping." Sapphir winced.

"You probably need to rest it, we've been swimming for over an hour by now." Demande told him.

"No, it's fine, really." he said with a shortness of breath.

Usagi then rose to her bare feet, stepped back and gestured to the empty space.

"Please rest here if you need to." she said to him.

He shifted his eyes away from her gaze and Demande could tell that he had no choice in the matter but to accept her kindness.

Sapphir gave a slight nod and began to pull himself and sat on the edge of the pier with his head facing downward in embarrassment.

Demande pulled himself up next to Sapphir and sat next to him. He hadn't realized how out of energy he was until now.

"Nii-san, please, let's just get out of here." Sapphir pleaded to him in a whisper.

Demande shook his head, "You are in no shape to swim back now. The energy in us is starting to drain with how much we've been taking advantage of it today. We shall need our rest before we travel back such a long distance." he whispered back.

"I can get back to camp in a second if I wanted." he retorted.

"Now who's being reckless.." Demande said. "Just let your leg rest for a while and we can transport back to our cabin once we've gotten far enough away from them."

As the men conversed quietly to each other, the group of girls gathered together and looked curiously at them.

"Is everything okay?" Makoto called out to them.

Demande turned to them, "Yes, we're sorry about this. We're going to move ourselves to the benches over there so he can rest. We'll be out of your way once he's able to put pressure on it again."

"It's no trouble, we just wanted to make sure you weren't injured or anything." Minako then said.

"We said we were fine, alright?" Sapphir said irritably to her.

He lifted himself onto his one good leg and soon Demande followed suit and he allowed Sapphir to lean on him as they made their way past the group of girls to the benches nearby.

Demnade turned back to them, "Thank you ladies for your help, just pretend as if we aren't here and go about your day as you were going to."

He then made his way to where the benches and pavilion was located which was a good distance away from the pier.

Soon the girls each shrugged it off and started placing their belongings by the lake before getting into the lake.

Both men sank down onto the hard wood of the seating as if they were the cushions of their living room couch.

"I'm really sorry about this, but there would be no way for us to make it back all the way to our cabin without the use of our powers and drawing up suspicion. Just set your leg up and I promise as soon you feel as if you can walk properly we'll get out of here." Demande said to him in a low voice.

Sapphir winced in pain once again when he rubbed on his calf as he rested it upon the bench.

They both said nothing after that and simply rested under the shade of the pavilion as the distant splashes and laughter from the girls could be heard.

Demande eventually looked over to Sapphir and noticed he had accidentally fallen asleep when he laid his head back onto his arm as he laid along the seating with his good leg dangling to the floor.

Demande soon grew tired of the sitting area and walked to a large tree and sat underneath onto the grass.

Their day had been so long and he suddenly felt exhausted and yet somehow, completely at ease at the same time. So much so, that his eyes that were sore from being underwater grew heavy and he, like Sapphir, fell asleep.

After 15 minutes of playing around in the lake, Usagi looked over in the direction Tohru and his brother had gone.

It was far enough away to where she was unable to see if they had left already or not.

Suddenly she recalled Minako and the others had left the cooler over there before they had come to the pier to meet her.

"Guys, I'm going to grab a juice, anyone want anything?" she called out to her friends.

Fortunately, they all seemed to be distracted either swimming or talking among themselves so she quickly made her way out of the water and grabbed a towel to dry herself before heading over there.

As she approached the table the cooler was sitting as she scanned all the tables and that's when she noticed that at the opposite end of the pavilion, Tohru's brother had fallen asleep, but Tohru, himself was missing.

She grabbed two juice boxes as quietly as she could out of the cooler and looked around the area.

A large tree caught her eye and then saw that Tohru was beneath it.

Usagi approached it and realized he was asleep.

Still, she continued to approach closer until she stood directly over him.

She couldn't help but notice at how muscular he was as he always appeared so slender underneath the formal clothes he usually wore. As she continued to look him over, she also noticed that his skin didn't possess a single blemish or imperfection.

Demande felt a presence near him and opened his eyes suddenly.

Usagi gasped and her cheeks turned red.

He rubbed his eyes and gave her a smile.

"Hello, Usagi, I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." she said.

"That's quite alright. I didn't realize I had dozed off." he replied as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Would you like some?" She offered one of the juice boxes she was holding. "I figured you might be thirsty."

"Thanks, I would like some. Have a seat next to me." He said gesturing next to him.

She smiled and did so.

As he drank from his, Usagi suddenly said to him:

"Is your brother still upset with me from when..you know..?

"Of course not, it's been completely forgotten about, why do you ask?" he answered.

"It's hard to explain..I can just tell when I look into his eyes that there's a sort of...resentment, and I thought maybe he thinks I'm strange because of what I had done to him. Just let him know I'm sorry." she said looking down to the ground.

"You have nothing to apologize for. To be honest, I think it's actually me that Shinjiro resents. He's still mad that I've chosen to stay in Juuban and continue working at the high school. When I mentioned you all were students from there, it must've touched a sore spot with him." he assured her.

"I see." she replied. She was unsure if that's really the reason or if he was just trying to make her feel better.

After drinking their refreshment in silence, Demande turned to her.

"Shinjiro is the one who actually planned this trip, you know. I say this because it probably seems weird that we'd run into each other after you telling me about yours." he reassured her.

"Oh, no I didn't think-" she started to say.

"I know, but I felt that I should explain it to you anyway. I'm glad that I did though. In fact it's kind of strange seeing you wear something other than your uniform." he chuckled.

She began to blush and gulped down the final mouthful of her juice. It had finally dawned on her that he was seeing her wearing a two piece bathing suit and suddenly she felt embarrassed.

Usagi pulled her towel around her shoulders and could only giggle nervously.

"There's no need to be modest, your swimsuit is lovely-" he then cleared his throat. "It's a lovely color that is. I'm the one who feels ridiculous having you see me in these swim shorts like this." he told her as he leaned back and continued to casually run his fingers through his long, damp hair. He leaned on his arms, stretching out his torso as his legs were laid out in the grass and closed his eyes once again as the breeze ran through them both.

"I don't think you look ridiculous at all." she said as she looked down to him.

The breeze caused one of her pigtails to brush up against him and he soon opened his eyes again and opened his palm, allowing her hair to flow through his fingers, slowly.

"Your hair looks pretty like this, you should wear it like this at school sometime."

His voice was sultry as he said it, and when they locked eyes with each other, she couldn't help but feel her heart start to pound inside her chest so hard that she felt it was becoming louder with each passing second.

Sapphir cleared his throat and both turned quickly to where the benches were and Demande let her pigtail fall immediately out of his hand.

They could tell that Sapphir was beginning to wake up.

"Well, I should get back to my friends. They're probably wondering what's holding me up over here. You and your brother are free to grab a drink from the cooler on your way back if you need any." she said to him with a wink.

He nodded, "Thank you, Usagi, you really are a kind person. I look forward to seeing you at school."

She blushed again, "I'll see you then, Goodbye, Tohru."

As Usagi made her way back toward the lake, Demande quickly made his way under the pavilion and sat on the bench next to Sapphir as he continued to stir out of his slumber.

He soon opened his eyes and looked over to Demande who appeared as if he had dutifully sat by his side the entire time.

Sapphir rubbed his eyes and let out a yawn, "How long was I out for?"

"Not for very long. How's your leg?" Demande asked him.

"Back to normal it seems." he replied.

"Well unless you have any objections, we can go ahead and walk back to camp."

"Of course I don't." Sapphir answered irritably.

Demande smirked, "Then by all means, lead the way."

As Usagi approached the pier, all of the girls were sitting on it and turned to look at her.

"You sure were gone for a long time just to grab a drink." Rei snarked.

Usagi folded her arms, "I decided to offer Satoshi-san one as well and we ended up chatting for a bit."

They all glanced at one another.

"What's wrong with that? They're not still under suspicion, right? Ami, if it was our old librarian, Mrs. Takeuchi in place of Satoshi-san, would you just let her go off thirsty?"

"I suppose not." Ami replied.

"Good. Then if it's settled now..."

Usagi without warning ran behind Rei and pushed her into the lake.

"Agh!" Rei screamed before falling into the water with Usagi along with the rest of the girls cheerily following behind her.

Demande and Sapphir made their way into the woods to find a nice, secluded place to safely transport back to their cabin without being seen by anyone.

"So much for it being unlikely that we'd bump into them." Sapphir said.

Demande sighed, "I forget how grumpy you can get when you first wake up. We made it out of there in one piece."

Demande then stopped.

"Over here seems to be a good place." he said to Sapphir.

But as he placed his hand on his shoulder, a voice called out:

"Hey look, that's Librarian-san, isn't it?!"

Demande clenched his fists. He didn't even have to look over to find out whose voice this was.

Seiya and the other two of the Three Lights headed from the direction of their campsite. They too, were all in their swimming trunks, carrying towels and other supplies.

"Librarian-san, we meet again. How's the water?" Seiya called out to Demande.

"I'd appreciate it if you would call me by my correct name, just because I am not your teacher doesn't exclude the fact that I am still a superior at your school; celebrity or not." Demande replied in a serious tone.

Seiya merely chuckled, "Ah, it's all in good fun, I'm just in a good mood now that we've finally finished filming for the day and can't wait to finally swim."

"I just hope that we won't run into too many people, I'd like not to be bothered." Yaten Kou commented.

"Well you'd be disappointed gentlemen, I'm afraid that the pier is very crowded and packed with all sorts of large families right now. You'd be better off turning around and trying out your luck on the next one." Demande advised.

Sapphir turned sharply to his brother who for some reason was lying to the men.

"Oh no, and after we've already walked all this way." Taiki Kou said.

"But you know how I don't like big crowds." Yaten groaned.

"There's no one but a few silly girls at the lake, there's plenty of room for all of you." Sapphir said to the 3 pop stars.

They looked among themselves with confused glances.

"Ah I get it, Librarian-san was just joking." Seiya laughed. "In that case let's hurry over, they may be fans of ours. Thanks!"

The 3 boys continued on without any further conversation and left the two brothers alone on the trail.

Demande sighed in frustration as they disappeared past the trees. There's no doubt that when he runs into Usagi, he may try something. He knew that he would distract her from the connection that they had made back there.

Sapphir without warning, placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and transported them back to their campsite which was no more quick than a blink of an eye.

Demande looked all around in dismay before glaring toward his brother after the realization that they were both back at their campsite.

"I'm sorry, I felt I needed to get us back here before you invited Neo Queen Serenity, her senshi and the Three Lights over to roast marshmallows around the fire, I hear it's a common tradition humans do on a camping trip." he said with blatant sarcasm.

Demande clenched his teeth in anger. "Enough. I'm in no mood for this. We're back here just like you wanted, so quit overreacting."

He shot one last glare to him before he stormed towards the cabin.

"I'll be resting in my room, so don't bother me!" he called out as he went through the door.

Sapphir stared blankly after him. Here he thought he was the only one to be angry, only to have his brother surpass his anger in a matter of minutes. When did it happen and why?

He thought back to how his brother had boldly lied to the Three Lights over something so trivial.

'Why does it bother you so much that they would run into 'that woman' and her friends?'

His eyes widened as he came to a realization.

'You did it so they wouldn't look upon her body, especially the loud one with black hair…'

Sapphir let out a long and tired sigh.

'Nii-san don't you realize I'm only doing this for your sake? No matter what you try, she will never love you, it is in her future, and all of our future's. I just...don't want her to hurt you anymore.'

Demande slammed the door behind him as he entered the bedroom he was sleeping in.

He plopped on top of the bed and stared up at the ceiling for he knew not how long as his mind wandered.

The different scenarios that played in his mind of what could possibly be happening at this very moment drove him mad.

But after a long while of stewing in his anger, he suddenly thought of Sapphir and felt bad for snapping at him like that. This wasn't how this weekend was supposed to go.

He turned his gaze away from the ceiling toward the nightstand next to him.

Demande reached over, opened the drawer and pulled out the tattered journal of Junsei Takamine.

If there was anything that could provide the distraction he so desperately needed, it would be this.

He sat upright on the bed and felt his heart start to race a little as he brought the book up.

His curiosity could wait no longer as he opened the journal to the page where he had last left off...