Remember
Part: 5
By: Loralei Fairhill
Rated: PG
Genre: AR

k, minna. u asked 4 it!! ^_^ so glad y'all like this fic. this part is 
slower, but u need 2 know about it. there will b more action and WAFF, nevr 
fear. i love that stuff 2! and end of the charade is in the works . . . . i 
got the next part being . . . uh . . . thought about. not sure. anywayz, read 
on! 

    Tuxedo Kamen advanced slowly to Sailor Moon. She heard his footsteps 
behind her and whirled around defensively. He held up his arms in a gesture 
of peace.
    "It's okay, Sailor Moon. I'm not going to hurt you." He quickly and 
efficiently dissolved the rose that had been in his hand. The weapon would 
not be needed.
    "Who . . . who are you?" She looked at him inquisitively. 
    "That's a very nice tuxedo, Cape Boy. Didja get it at that place down on 
Broad Street? Isn't it a little _early_ for Halloween?" A familiar voice came 
from the shadows. Rei.
    "Rei-chan, where were you?" the bedraggled girl addressed the 
raven-haired priestess. "I had to fend off four, count em, _four_ youmas 
without you! Is that anyway to leave a friend? Ne?" The other girl hung her 
head in shame.
    "Gomen nasai, Usagi-chan. I . . . I did try to get here on time! It was 
just . . . well, since Grandpa got sick, I've had so many chores. . . ." She 
tried to make excuses for her tardiness to the fight.
    "It's okay, Rei-chan. I shouldn't have been so hard on you. I know how 
awful it's been these past few weeks. Gomen ne." She went over and hugged her 
sailor-suited friend. Mamoru cleared his throat.
    "Is there something that I've missed here?" he asked.
    "Uh. . . ." Rei started, but took him aside first, where Sailor Moon 
couldn't listen to their conversation. "Well, I think that there's something 
_we_ missed here. Tuxedo Kamen, you're dead. You died defending Sailor Moon 
weeks ago. She doesn't remember at all. That's Luna's fault. She . . . she 
was in so much pain that Luna erased all the memories that Sailor Moon ever 
had of Tuxedo Kamen. Oh, sure, she remembers Mamoru-baka, your alter ego, but 
that's it." Rei gave a wan smile. "Gomen ne," she said at his tight and 
unfriendly expression. "I know how much that must hurt you."
    "You have no idea," he muttered under his breath. "Morgana and her trials 
can go to hell!" he yelled.
    "Tuxedo Kamen, who's Morgana?" Rei looked at him as if he were crazy.
    "Well, ya see . . . uh . . . How old are you?" he asked, resurrecting the 
uncomfortable situation that had occurred because of his rash exclamation.
    "I'm sixteen. Why?" Again, she gave him a strange look. 
    "Just . . . nothing. Never mind. Go talk to Usagi-chan. I've gotta think 
about some things." He moved a short distance away from the two girls, 
becoming partially hidden by the shadows from the tall pines of the park. 
    I'm . . . dead? he thought. This has got to be some alternate universe. I 
never died. But I did go away to school about this time . . . and when I went 
there, I had no recollection of Sailor Moon at all. Maybe I did die. . . . 
His thoughts were interrupted by Sailor Moon clearing her throat and looking 
at him expectantly.
    "Rei . . . uh . . . I gotta go now." She glared at him. "Ya see, I'm 
really late for this masquerade party . . . and--"
    "Pardon me, Usagi-chan. I need to have a little _discussion_ with my 
_friend_ here!" She grabbed his arm forcefully and dragged him to the 
opposite side of the fountain. Usagi sat down on the side of it, and hummed 
slightly to herself, examining her wounds and her burned skirt.
    "What in Kami-sama's name do you think you're doing, leaving now? Don't 
you see? You have to stay. Usagi-chan needs you! Luna can give her back her 
memories now . . . and you . . . you and she can be together again!" She 
smiled triumphantly.
    "Iie, Rei-chan. I can't . . . I can't stay. I love her. She needs a 
chance to love someone other than me. I'm going to accept a scholarship to an 
American medical school for next year. I'm leaving." Rei stared at his grim 
face. She was unable to believe what she was hearing. The man that her friend 
loved more that life itself (or did love when she remembered) was leaving her 
so that he could go to _school_. Oh, fate was a wicked, wicked creature. 
"It's not that I don't want to," he continued, "I have to. I'm not worthy of 
her love. I couldn't bear it if--"
    "IIE!" she screamed. Then she lowered her voice as she saw Usagi's head 
turn in their direction. "Iie. Mamoru-san, you have to stay. You MUST stay," 
she finished breathlessly.
    "I love her. Tell her that. And . . . tell her who I am and where I'm 
going. She'll . . . she'll forgive me. Give her back her memories of the time 
we spent together. I want her to always have her memories. Never to forget. 
And I'll always remember, too. Just . . . tell her that I love her. And that 
I'll be back in a few years, if she can wait for me." He enveloped Rei in a 
hug, startling her more than he thought possible. "Onegai? Can you do that?"
    "Hai," she whispered, "I guess I can." Tuxedo Kamen walked off into the 
night. As he found his way to the main path out of the park, the little voice 
flew near his ear again.
    "It was not what you wanted to do, was it? Do you remember doing that?" 
it asked him.
    "Iie, I don't. But that doesn't matter. I knew I had done something like 
that anyhow. Why else would I make her so upset so easily?"
    "Watch, prince. She comes with the next trial!" it said and flew off, 
joining the multitude of stars that twinkled in the distance.
    The next trial . . . he thought. I wonder. . . .

  
gomen gomen gomen! i didn't wanna mamo-bash, but it happens sometimes. u know 
i love him 2 death, or i wouldn't write bout him! so . . . . forgive me?