Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon.

A/N:

You don't all hate me... do you?! I'm sorry this update took so goddamn long. You didn't all abandon me...right? I feel like my life has been one crazy roller coaster ride since I last posted. I moved into an apartment with my boyfriend and it is GORGEOUS. We have a pool and a hot tub and a fireplace and pretty wood floors and I got to go to IKEA and goddddd. Then school started (so much homework!) and I went to New Mexico to visit my family and things have just been so very crazy. ;; forgive me?

Okay but here it is... the one you've all been waiting for...

(This chapter was so hard for me to write.)

THE LAST AND FINAL CHAPTER OF AWESOMENESS.

Love,

Mels

Chapter Eighteen: Usagi

"Do you have to go?"

Mamoru's voice was soft and dark. I loved the way it seemed to roll through me every time he talked. I looked over to where he was lying down, propping his head up with one arm as the other draped lazily over his sheets. They were the same sheets I had spent the majority of last night in. I felt my face flush with memories only minutes old by now as I eyed the bends in the fabric and the way the sheets trailed over one side of the bed. I could still taste his mouth, feel his hands on my body, in between my legs, down my back...

He is absolutely divine.

I sent him a smile to try and ease his discomfort as I hunted for my lost shoes. "You know I have to go. My private jet will be leaving soon and even though the other girls know about the trip we still have to surprise Ami—" I was cut off when he had grabbed a hold of my shoulder and spun me around to face him. Surprised that he had risen without me knowing, I did nothing against his next move. He captured my mouth with his, making me gasp against his lips. I felt myself forgetting the private jet, the trip to Germany and my shoes, one which I had clutched in my right hand, as his lips continued their assault. He had a dizzying affect on me, wiping away all my thoughts that didn't center around the vast amount of pleasure I was receiving by his rather talented mouth...

"You taste too good to leave me..." he murmured, now running his lips down my neck, sucking on all the little spots that made me inhale sharply.

"I have to go..." I said weakly, as he began to get more forceful with his kisses, backing me up against his dresser so he could pin me against it. My betraying body reacted against my will, and I felt myself responding to his touches with whimpers and pleadings to continue, despite my vocal protests. His hot wet mouth was now hovering over my ear, and he ran his tongue down the length of my neck and I found myself mumbling, "Oh God Mamoru..."

I felt him growl against my collarbone and he more fiercely pressed his body up against mine. "I love when you say my name," he said hoarsely as I tried not to notice that my hands were creeping up around his neck so I could thread my fingers through his hair.

"Aren't you sick of me yet?" I teased quietly, "You've had me all day and all night..."

"I could never get enough of you," he replied, his voice low and heated, like I could reach out and stroke it from his throat. I chanced a glance at his eyes, and found that they were hot and dark with something indescribable, something lustful and hungry and deep. I shivered under his intense gaze and then we were kissing again, hard and fast and fierce, as he lifted one of my legs up, so his length was against me. My back was pressed painfully into one of the dresser's knobs, but I found myself hardly caring. I hinged my leg around his waist and once again I was buried in the delicious and desperate need I had to touch every inch of him. I knew I shouldn't forget but it was so hard to remain focused...

"Mamoru..." I pleaded once more with my sanity, trying to remind myself that there would be plenty of time for this when I returned from my trip. With one glance over his shoulder at his glowing, red, alarm clock, I jolted from my state of longing. 5:34 a.m. I had less than an hour to gather all the girls and be outside of Ami's condo before she left for her flight. Goddamnit...Tearing my mouth away from his, I managed to sputter, "I'm soooo late, I really have to go now..."

Mamoru breathed through his teeth which came out as a hiss. I scrambled away from him and attempted to gather the rest of my belongings. "I'll be back in a week, and it won't even really be that long if you don't count today as the day I'm leaving and the day I'm coming back and then there will be school of course but that doesn't mean that I'll—" My rambling was cut short when I saw the look on Mamoru's face. He was still standing where I had left him in front of the dresser, and he was sulking in my absence, adorable and moody. His eyes were still hot with the type of emotion that made my stomach flip, and I saw him slouching visibly.

I managed to slide my rose-colored wedges on and then I walked up to him, still having to stand up on tiptoes to meet his mouth, which I kissed softly. "You'll still be here waiting for me when I return, right?" I whispered, already knowing the answer.

"I'll always wait for you," he said roughly, his voice like coarse gravel, sending more shivers down my back. Oh how I wanted to stay and indulge in the delicious experience of having him take me again and again all night long, with that dark delicious voice of his detailing all his desires of me. "I've waited four goddamn years I can wait another—"

I disrupted his slew of words by saying, "You don't have to wait anymore, Mamoru. I'm yours."

His features seemed to soften at my words and I quickly gave him one last kiss before swirling around and leaving Mamoru abruptly. I didn't look back as I slung my bag over my shoulder and started walking swiftly away from him. I knew the sight of him brooding in the darkness of his room at 5:30 in the morning, wearing nothing but his boxers would have me running back to him. So I just called over my shoulder, making sure my voice was clear and bright. "Until then, Mamoru..."

And then I was out the door.

"Why the fuck is it so early?" Minako demanded.

We were all standing outside of Ami's luxurious condo in the cold, waiting for her to come down with all her bags packed for her trip to Germany to check out the school she would be attending. Of course she thought she would be traveling alone with her mother but I had managed to persuade daddy to lend us one of the company jets instead. After the terrible night when Ami had confessed her desire to go to Europe, and I had felt the pieces of our friendship crumbling away, I had made a decision. I knew things could continue to deteriorate between our entire group unless I swooped in and did something drastic. When I had announced my plans to the other girls, they had been resistant at frist. But I needed to do this. I needed to know that even if Ami did chose to go away, even if we all ended up in different places in our lives, nothing would have to change between us all. We could make the effort to see one another and remain friends.

"Of course it's early," Mako hummed thoughtfully as she rubbed her hands together. "Ami isn't one to pick a flight time for a decent hour..."

Minako grumbled in agreement as Rei nudged her with her elbow. "What are you complaining for? You were up all night anyway..." Rei accused her, daring Minako to deny it.

"How exactly would you know that, Rei?" Mako shot, smirking at her dark-haired friend.

"Because she's a devious little devil," Minako said lightly, allowing the briefest of smiles to ghost over her lips before it broke out into a full-fledged grin. "Anyway, you're not one to talk, Mako! I saw who was sleeping on your couch when we came over to pick you up this morning..."

"So what?" Mako scoffed, "Motoki and I stayed up late watching a horror fest of movies and then fell asleep in the midst of it..."

"Fell asleep NEXT TO ONE ANOTHER!" Minako crowed, poking her tall friend on the shoulder. "I'm sure sometime during the night there was some upper-body spooning—"

Minako was cut off when Mako very painfully jabbed her elbow into Minako's ribs. "Shut the hell up," she growled. Minako winced and for once in her life she actually did shut the hell up.

I smiled to myself, watching the interactions between my friends. I felt so much better seeing us all together like this. This was how it was supposed to be. This was what I remembered. My freshmen year of high school was filled with this kind of playful conversation, where we butted into each others personal business like it was our God-given right. And wasn't it? After all our years together, didn't we deserve to know about the deepest corners of each other's lives?

Suddenly I was drawn from my reflections when I heard two distant voices approaching.

"Ohmigod!" I squealed, already unfurling the large banner I had made. "It's them, it's them! Come on you guys, help me with this sign..."

Rei sighed as she reached down to hold up one corner of the silk cloth I had prepared with the words "Ami-chan! Woo-hoo!" in big cutout felt characters. "I don't see why you made this ridiculous sign..." she drawled annoyingly.

"It's in support of Ami!" I hissed, tugging rather hard on my corner of the banner. "We are here to show her how much we care!"

"And your awful sewing skills?" Rei continued dryly, looking down at my sign with her nose in the air.

Okay. So maybe some of the characters were crooked. Some of them, yes, were sort of kind of falling off. And I had ran out of room at the end so the last strokes were squished together, but who cares?! It was made with all my love and I'm sure Ami would appreciate my efforts. I decided to ignore Rei's comment by trying to smooth out the curling edge of my my last character.

"Okay, here she comes!" I called. With one shove, I launched the rest of the girls out from behind the stone wall we were waiting by and we all collided into one another as we tried to evenly spread out across the walkway.

"Stop tugging on it!" Mako demanded.

"Well stop hogging all of the sign!" Minako shot back.

"You're standing on my foot," Rei said loudly.

Then we all turned to see Ami, who was standing in front of us, frozen in front of our sign, her lips parted in surprise. Her mother too, looked quite shocked to be bombarded by all of us at the same time, but I gave her my most winning smile. Nobody could resist that smile.

"Ami-chan!" I said, waving with my free hand. "Woo-hoo!"

"I still can't believe this," Ami murmurred in awe, as she finally took her seat across the aisle from me.

I couldn't blame her for being overwhelmed with everything. The jet, while on the small side, was still very luxurious. There were only a total of 8 seats in the craft, but each was wide and spacious, and they all faced one another, giving us ample time to talk through the long flight to Germany. There was a bar near the front of the captains cabin, and a large plasma screen in both directions, currently playing some shitty music video. Our flight attendant was swiftly getting us drinks as we all settled into the plush seats next to one another.

I cocked a smile at Ami's mother, who looked even more awed with her surroundings, as she took a seat across from Ami. Mako was securing her seat belt with shaking hands but I saw Ami reach out to her in comfort. Rei and Minako were in some sort of fierce conversation, in low voices in the two seats across from me. I felt a deep pride well up inside of me, knowing that I had brought us all together like this. If it weren't for me, where would we be now?

I sighed contently, leaning back in my chair and smiling. My friends all seemed happy and I had many hours ahead of me where I could just daydream about how loving and attentive Mamoru had been last night...

"What are you smirking about over there?" Minako's clear voice interrupted my thoughts.

I felt my face flush as I quickly said, "Nothing."

"Oh my God," Minako accused me, a challenging grin gracing her lips. "You're thinking about something devious!"

"I am not!" I snapped, shooting a look to Ami's mother in fear that she would discover just who I had been with and somehow tell my father about it. Luckily she hadn't seemed to hear anything.

"Well that only confirms it then," Minako said lazily, winking across the aisle at Mako, who was looking at me curiously. "Tell me it's Seiya."

I sucked in a breath tightly, trying to unwind the spring that fired off in my mind at the thought of him. Suddenly several memories came rushing back to me, about how drunk I had gotten the night of Ami's breakdown, and how afterward, I had found Seiya and unleashed all my fumbled thoughts onto him. I had told him about going to Mamoru's apartment to end things with him and how it made me feel like I was losing something I couldn't define. But it was something. Something I didn't want to lose. There had been yelling and crying and there had been things I said which I probably shouldn't have. And by the end of the night, we were no longer together, and I had felt that I lost not only one, but two guys in my life that had meant a great deal to me in less than 24 hours. Of course, that was before Mamoru pinned me in the back of the hallway at his office...

"It's not Seiya," I finally admitted, my voice soft as I looked out towards the window, where I could see other planes taking casual circles along the runway. I hesitated a moment in consideration about what I was about to say. "We actually aren't together anymore. I think this time we won't be getting back together..."

There was an unsettled silence that filtered across the cabin and I concentrated on the distant hum of the airplane's belly.

"OH MY GOD," Minako suddenly burst, unclicking her seat belt so she could rush over to the empty seat next to me. She grabbed a hold of my hands on the arm rest between us and swiftly began talking. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? What happened? Did he dump you or did you dump him? Was it because he wouldn't call you his girlfriend? Was there someone else? Are you okay now? You don't even seem that upset about it!"

Her words shot past me and seemed to bounce inside of my head instead of sinking in. I started to answer her fist question when Rei suddenly interrupted. "I know why she's not upset about it," she purred. I darted my eyes to my ebony-haired friend as she watched me coyly. I knew with one look that she was thinking of Mamoru too. Oh God. She continued, her voice like silk. "Do I really have to say his name for you to admit it?"

Minako was looking at me expectantly, her eyes twinkling at the thought of me with another guy. I chanced glances at my other two companions and confirmed that they were all waiting for my confession, ready to hear what I had to say. Luckily Ami's mother was currently busy plugging her headphones into her ipod and accepting a glass of wine from the flight attendant with a gracious smile.

I wanted to swallow it up. I wanted to keep it a secret from everyone in fear of what they would think about me or about Mamoru or about us together. But it dawned on me, as I tried to analyze their expressions, that they were all here together because of me. I had brought us all together again, so we could try and mend what all the years had broken. We had been friends for our entire lives, and if I wanted to start being honest with myself then I couldn't draw the line when it came to being honest with my friends.

"It's Mamoru," I finally said, feeling like I had let out a breath I had been holding for several years.

I thought we would all fall into an awkward silence once again but this time it was Ami who surprised me. "I knew it!" she said, smiling at me in approval.

"How did you know?" I gasped, swirling around to face her. I watched my other friends reactions to see if they felt the same way.

"It's obvious, Usagi!" Mako interjected, grinning in that signature Mako manner. "You two were like fierce rivals that couldn't wait to get all over each other and rip off each other's clothes..."

"Mako," Ami warned, nudging Mako in the ribs while motioning to her mother, who could have been listening in. Mako chuckled sheepishly and I turned my attention to Rei, who had remained mostly silent since my final confession.

"So... are you okay with this?" I asked quietly, trying to catch her eyes.

Minako was settling herself back in next to Rei and I saw them exchange a private glance before Rei looked over at me briefly. "You can do what you want, Usagi... Just... don't get your heart broken—"

I cut in, launching myself out of my seat so I could hug her awkwardly as she remained sitting. "Oh God, Rei-chan. I was so worried about telling you because of everything but I just wanted to be honest..."

She growled in the back of her throat as she unlatched my arms from around her neck. "If you would kindly stop suffocating me, Usagi!!"

I laughed, and then it was like a contagious bug. All four of my friends started laughing, even Rei, and soon we couldn't seem to stop. I felt the roll of the engine starting below us, as the laughter we all shared seemed to fill me up, warming me from head to feet.

I knew then that despite the distance, despite the differences between us all, despite our past or future, we'd be able to get through it as long as we were all still willing. And even through all the fuckups and the sorrow and the unforgivable mistakes we may make... And even though we would always be molded by our pasts together, both good and bad...And even if we did end up in different corners of the world... it didn't matter. We could make the effort. We could laugh together about nothing at all and not be able to stop. We could fly across the oceans to see each other.

We were lucky enough.

What were private jets for, after all?

A/N:

The end!

Promptly after this they all DIED IN A PLANE WRECK. No I'm kidding. I gave you a sort of happy ending so you better APPRECIATE IT. I kind of don't like the ending. I've told you before that I'm much better at fucking everything up than fixing it all. That probably explains why there are some loose ends... but the most important thing is that you know these girls have a future together.

Thank you everyone who has reviewed this story. I may be posting some tantalizing snipets of my secret writing soon (shhh!)... so keep your eyes peeled for me! Love you all!

Come visit me at mmmels dot livejournal dot com.