Affair by Sereko

This is to all of you dedicated fans who have pushed and reviewed and screamed when I took too long. It's been a long, long road and I thank you all for your kind words. I can't believe it's the end… but now I finally have time to work on the 12 other Usa/Mamo stories that have popped up in my head while writing Affair. - Keep an eye out!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. I merely use Naoko Takeuchi's genius as a starting point for my own storytelling.

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Epilogue

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She saw him briefly at first. A flash of his silver hair swiping across her vision. Then, she turned and caught him square on. They both paused, studying each other not as enemies but something more. She knew him. Knew him well enough to feel that his being evil wasn't right. Her instincts didn't tell her to run. They were guided by her heart and it was pounding ferociously at his proximity. "Kunzite," she whispered almost reverently – the name slipping past her tongue unwittingly.

He moved forward as if a string were pulling him towards her. His face was unusually soft, innocent even. "Min," he quietly responded. He didn't know where the name came from, but he knew it was right. In the distance he could here Zoicite calling for help, to return to the fight against the senshi. For the first time that he could remember, he ignored his duty in favor of drowning in the blue eyes before him. "Min," he repeated softly.

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She was jotting down notes as fast as she could and still didn't feel like she was noting everything the teacher said. Advanced trigonometry was a thrilling challenge for her overly brilliant mind, so she stopped writing neatly and began to scrawl words across her notebook to grab every word. Before she knew it, the teacher was calling for a short recess.

Shifting back in her seat, Ami let her neck roll from one side to the other to release the tension that had been building since class began. She carefully put her pencil down in the crease of her notebook and massaged her wrist. Once adequately relaxed, she perused the room to study her peers. It was the first day of juku and so she hadn't had the chance to meet anyone…or, more likely in her case, size everyone up. There was a black-haired girl in the corner talking to an older boy whom she recognized from a juku she had attended the year before. A few others seemed familiar, but none were friends.

Ami glanced to the left side of the room and immediately shifted back in her seat. The boy next to her was staring straight at her. He had disheveled brown hair and a friendly smile on his face. She noticed with a quick peek that his notes were as thorough as hers. He flicked his head to displace the bangs falling into his eyes and she nearly gasped when she got a clear look at him. His eyes were a warm auburn that seared a part of her locked deep inside. There was something about him…

He stuck out his hand in the western style and introduced, "Hi, I'm Greg."

Her heart did a funny, little flip.

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She slammed into him at full force. Papers, bodies and a shoe flew in all directions. Mamoru rubbed his head where the blonde whirlwind's shoe had smacked into him as he stood up. Dusting himself off, he offered a hand to the girl still on the sidewalk. She accepted and, without looking at him, proceeded to bow several times over in apology. "I'm so sorry! I'm late for school! I didn't mean it!" At the end of her litany of excuses, she righted herself and finally caught Mamoru's eyes with her own.

A spark flew…straight from his soul to hers.

Their gazes muddled with memories until the young stranger stepped closer to Mamoru. He reached out at the very same moment that she did until they were both cupping one another's cheeks. "What are you doing?" Mamoru found himself asking.

"I am memorizing your face," she whispered breathlessly back. He could tell from the way her body slightly swayed and how her eyes never seemed to blink as she watched him that he wasn't the only one in a surreal trance. She let her fingers glide over his features, settling bravely on his bottom lip. A shiver shot up both their spines.

Mamoru leaned down, a lock of black hair falling into his eyes, and said, "Why?" If he didn't know better, he could've sworn his voice dropped an octave. Slowly, he continued to lean down until their foreheads touched.

The blonde's breath scattered across his skin at their proximity. "So that I never forget you…Mamo-chan."

"Usako." He had said the endearment without thinking, without truly knowing why, but he knew it was right. Moving a final inch forward, his lips found hers.

Somewhere a 'click' sounded as all the wheels of destiny finally snapped into place.

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End Epilogue

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So, I threw in the Greg (Ryo in the Japanese) thing because the idea just popped in my head and it seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up. Originally, Arian was completely non-cannon with no connection to the actual manga/anime. Then I was putting together these 'present day' scenes and, in the middle of writing Ami's, thought that it might be cute and a little fun if Arian turned out to be Greg.