The knock on the door was unexpected and not particularly welcome. For a moment, Mamoru considered just not answering - he couldn't think of a single person he wanted to see, except maybe Chibi-Usa - and he knew from the measured, firm three knocks it wasn't either of the Tsukino girls, anyway.

Against his better judgement, he opened the door. And was met with a pair of very determined cornflower blue eyes that flashed darkly for only second before they turned clear and unassuming.

"Hi Mamoru-san!" Minako said, pushing right past him as if he'd invited her in. Or, rather, as if she owned the place herself. Slipping off her shoes, she padded in, followed by Artemis, who greeting Mamoru with a nod. "Nice place you got here."

"Minako, I'm not e-"

"Wow," she said, pulling back the curtains that he'd drawn across the glass balcony doors. "What a view."

Mamoru sighed, putting his hand to his head. "Why are you here?" There might have been an edge to his voice. But, in his defense, he was exhausted. Keeping up measured, normal human interaction in his day to day life while hiding his ever fraying edges was tiring enough, never mind his trouble sleeping. For the past twenty days, he felt like he was running purely on adrenaline and caffeine. Well, adrenaline, caffeine and self-loathing. So, all in all, not up for dealing with... whatever this was.

She turned and looked at him over her shoulder. "Reconnaissance."

"Recon...," he trailed off. Blinked. "What?"

"Ami?" Minako called, and Ami slunk through the doorway.

She removed her shoes and bowed deeply and apologetically to Mamoru. "Excuse the intrusion, Mamoru-san," she murmured. Sharing a glance with Minako, Ami pulled out her computer and expertly tapped a series of keys. There was some whirring and beeping from the small machine, and then Ami nodded. "Scan complete."

"And?"

Ami sighed, looked at Minako with a rueful expression. "He's fine."

Minako gave Mamoru a once-over, taking in the rings under his eyes and his sallow skin tone. She noticed his belt was pulled a notch tighter than where it was obvious from wear and tear he used to wear it. "He doesn't look 'fine'," she said.

"I can hear," Mamoru said, raising an eyebrow. Minako ignored him.

"It's like he's taking this break-up worse than Usagi is," Minako said, brows knitting in curiosity. Then she paused. "Well, no, actually, Usagi's doing terribly." Mamoru flinched. Minako noticed.

"Your electrolytes are on the low side," Ami said, speaking to Mamoru but not meeting his eyes. "But that's the only anomaly."

Minako's shoulders slumped a little, disappointment sparking in her eyes briefly. "Well, thanks anyway, Ami."

"Better safe than sorry," she answered. Then she turned to Mamoru and bowed again. "Thank you. And once again, apologies for the rudeness."

Mamoru tried to catch her eye to show her it was okay, but something in the tightness in her shoulders when she turned made him realize that her formal tone wasn't because Ami was embarrassed, but because she was angry. Or at least, she was distancing herself from him in the coldest, most polite way possible.

"See you later, Ami," Artemis said as Ami slipped her shoes back on.

"Bye," Minako added, "and thanks, anyway."

Ami nodded to both Artemis and Minako with a small smile. "See you." She looked at Mamoru and her eyes softened, just for a moment, before hardening again. "Take care," she said to him. "Hydrate better."

The door closed behind her and Minako released a puff of air that ruffled her bangs off her forehead for a moment.

"Do you want to tell me what the hell you are doing?" Mamoru said, angrily.

"My job," Minako snapped. She faced him and squared her shoulders. "Sailor Moon is the leader of the senshi," she said, "but I am the lead guardian to the princess." She held up a finger. "A small, but important, distinction."

"That doesn't explain- this," Mamoru snapped, opening his palms to her and Artemis, and then gesturing at the door where Ami had just left. "You can't just bar-"

"Usagi's safety comes first." Minako interrupted. She glanced around the apartment with shrewd eyes. "Try to see this from my point of view. This new little girl comes into her life, brainwashes her family, drugs us at Rei's temple-"

"Chibi-Usa is not our enemy," Mamoru insisted and Minako raised her eyebrows.

"I didn't say she was," she said, "but where Usagi is concerned, we are cautious. That's all." She cleared her throat, "Which is why, when, the very next day after Chibi-Usa arrives, you are suddenly acting like a different person toward Usagi-"

"That," he said, voice hard as steel, "is none of your business."

"All due respect, Mamoru-san," Minako said, "the last time you were 'acting strangely' you had been compromised by the enemy."

Mamoru froze, looking at Minako in shocked silence. She met his eyes again, looking at him sympathetically.

"Sorry," she said, and she sounded like she truly meant it. "But, like I said," she shrugged, almost helplessly. "It's my job."

Mamoru was still looking at her with an expression that might make anyone else chilled to the bone. She purposely kept her expression light.

"Do ya mind if we look around?" she smiled sweetly. "Thanks," she said, when he didn't answer. With a swirl of her skirt and toss of her hair, she and Artemis did a slow walk through of the kitchen and hallway.

For propriety's sake, Minako waited outside the bedroom door while Artemis went in to look around.

"Check under his bed for a pod," she told Artemis and he rolled his eyes. Minako fixed Mamoru with a cheerful smile. "Have you ever seen that movie? Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Scared Artemis so much he made me sleep with the light on for a week."

"Liar," the cat answered from the other room, "that was you."

'It was him,' she mouthed to Mamoru, who was still looking at her with an unchanged furious expression.

"Nothing unusual," Artemis said, leaving Mamoru's room. "I don't know what you expected me to find," Artemis said. "But there weren't any dark energy signatures, or pods," he rolled his eyes, again, "or anything like that."

Minako's shoulders slumped a little.

"By all accounts, Mamoru-san is of sound mind and body, and-" he shrugged, as much as a cat could shrug, "not a threat to Usagi."

"Not a threat," Minako echoed hollowly, the forced levity finally draining from her eyes. "Right." She gave Artemis a pointed look and he sighed.

"No immediate threat to the Princess's safety," he amended, "and so this isn't any of our business."

Minako turned sad eyes to Mamoru, her face suddenly crestfallen. "How could you not love Usagi?" she whispered, her voice broken a little at the end of her sentence.

Mamoru's lips pressed into a tight line, his eyes glaring at a corner of the carpet. "I don't wish her ill," he said, finally. "I'll continue to do my best to help you. To keep her safe."

Artemis hopped up onto Minako's shoulder and said something in her ear that made the blonde blink and dart a sharp glance to Mamoru.

He was still avoiding her eyes, but she kept her gaze on him. "In that case," she said, "you would tell me - or Rei, or someone, if there was anything - anything at all - that could even possibly be a threat to our princess's safety?"

Mamoru didn't answer.

"Mamoru-san," Minako said, sharply and he flicked his eyes to hers, just for a moment. "Is there anything?"

For a moment he opened his mouth, then shut it again. He shook his head. "No," he said, finally.

She regarded him for a few more minutes, then sighed. "I just don't understand," she said. When Artemis had whispered to her that Mamoru still had Usagi's photograph framed by his bedside, everything seemed to make even less sense than before.

"You don't have to," he snapped. He waved toward the door. "Please leave, I have work to do."

Minako took a breath, gave Artemis a look and then turned toward the door. She put on her shoes and put a hand on the doorknob, turning to regard Mamoru one more time. He was still standing, cross-armed and tense, glaring at nothing out of the corner of his eye. Like a petulant child. Minako had no patience for that sort of drama from him. Not when she knew her best friend of two lifetimes was probably, at that very moment, sobbing openly into an ice cream sundae at Fruits Parlor. At least Rei was there with her.

"I don't understand why she cries over you," Minako spat, knowing she was being cruel, but was unable to stop herself. The anger burning in her veins only abated slightly to see the pain that flashed in Mamoru's eyes, even as his expression didn't change. "I never understood why she cried over you."

The door closed with a crushing finality.

She slammed her fists on the door, just twice but hard enough that it shook in its frame. Minako remembered Usagi saying she'd screamed and pounded on the door for about half an hour the previous night. Vaguely, through her haze of anger, Minako wondered how much the hinges could take.

"Open up," she called, leaving no room for argument.

Mamoru opened the door and looked at Minako with worry. "Is everything okay?" For all the stony silence she'd been faced with last time she was there, the open expression of anxiety was almost jarring.

"She's fine," Minako said, knowing exactly what he meant. She rolled her shoulders. "She's just great." Minako shook her head, pushed her bangs out of her face and leveled Mamoru with a look.

He nodded, looking relieved. He'd only reunited with Usagi the previous night, not long enough to undo his lost weight and dark circles under his eyes, but somehow he still seemed... lighter. His shoulders weren't tense and his eyes were brighter.

"Then- what-"

"I asked you," Minako said, voice full of betrayal and frustration. "I asked you if there was a threat I needed to know about and you said there wasn't."

Mamoru blinked, shoulders dropping a little. "I," he paused, "This was something I needed to handle myself." His voice was firm but Minako gave him a sarcastic look.

"How'd that go for you?" she asked and Mamoru sighed.

"It really wasn't senshi business," he started and she cut him off with a sharp shake of her head.

"You had what you believed was a premonition of Usagi's death and that's not senshi business how exactly?" When she'd brought up the dream, Mamoru physically recoiled and for a moment sympathy cut through her anger.

"The premonition was a warning to me," he said. "It wasn't anything you needed to worry about."

"Mamoru-san, I know you liked to be all 'lone wolf' and stuff, and I hate to break it to you but the second you started dating our princess you sort of joined our team," Minako said. "For all intensive purposes anyway."

He opened his mouth to correct her malapropism and then seemed to think the better of it. "I'm not a senshi," he said.

"Yeah, no shit," she snapped, rolling her eyes. "But you are a certain part of our team. Like our a satellite branch or something ." She looked at him, shook her head. "Did you really not know that?"

It was clear from his expression the thought hadn't even occurred to him.

"Look, I get it," Minako stood up. "Going from working alone, it's an adjustment. Trust me, I get it." She crossed her arms and regarded him. He looked suitably abashed, and slightly confused, but that sparkle in his eye was still there despite it all.

"You are entirely too happy to have a serious discussion with me right now, aren't you," she sighed, annoyed. He startled a bit before shrugging sheepishly. Minako scoffed, shaking her head. "Look, I'm glad you and Usagi are back together. If only because there was only so much I could take of that whole thing. I like my dramas on television, you know what I mean?"

He nodded.

"But Mamoru-san. If you ever - ever - hold back on information like that again, I will never forgive you," she said, her expression serious.

He considered for a moment, before hesitantly nodding. "Understood," he said.

She just looked at him for a long time before she nodded back. "Okay." She held out her hand, and Mamoru shook it - it felt ridiculously like some business transaction rather than a vow to eternally protect their most precious person - but when she dropped his hand she felt a little better about the whole thing.

"She's my princess," Minako said, by way of explanation. "But she's also Usagi. I love her. I need to protect her. I can't do that without all the available information."

"Trust me, I get it," he said, echoing her previous words back at her and she narrowed her eyes but seemed satisfied.

"Then we have an understanding," Minako nodded, and turned to leave. "I still don't like you," was her parting shot, but she was smiling as she said it.