• Moonlight Dreams

    Chapter Three

    It was midnight.

    He was still at Usagi’s. Why he hadn’t left was beyond him, it could have been the fact that he couldn’t really walk without getting dizzy, or maybe it was because the way Usagi had made him stay in her bed all day long. He wasn’t so sure he could walk anymore. He looked over to see her sleeping on the floor, her breathing slow and even. She should be sleeping in her bed, not me, he thought to himself; knowing too well what would happen if she woke to find him on the floor and she in her bed. She had firmly, yet gently told him that he was to sleep in her bed, and left no room for any arguments. Not that he was in any state to protest, of course. Luna laid on the windowsill, her small black body not moving; but he could tell she was breathing.

    He looked above her, to see the Moon hanging in the night sky; its bright white light coming through the window to make everything silver. He stared up at it, his mind going back to the dream he’d had earlier. Was she really here, on Earth? Was he suppose to find her? Shaking his head slowly, his eyes went back to the Moon. Sitting up, he threw the covers off of him and found himself in only his boxers and smiled. She must have had a some problems with doing that task.

    Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he sat there for a minute, waiting for the world to stop spinning before standing. Closing his eyes, he waited for the bout of dizziness to leave before attempting to walk towards the window. Once there, he sat down on the windowsill and looked up once more. When Mamoru had been a child, he used to watch the Moon; feeling the moonlight wash over him as thoughts of sadness overcame his small mind. But then those thoughts of sadness would disappear and his feelings would be replaced with security, with warmth, as if nothing bad could happen to him. He knew his parents weren’t coming back, no matter what the teacher told him. He was doomed to stay in the orphanage until he was of age to leave. So, the Moon was a comfort to him.

    “Endymion, come back!” was what made him turn his head back to the sleeping form on the floor. And it was her moans that made him get up to see if she was okay, her small frame thrashing around on the sleeping bag that covered her body. When she turned her face towards him, he gasped softly. Silent tears ran down her cheeks.

    Seeing the tears run down her face, he knelt down to wake her. However, she wouldn’t and went silent once more. Sighing, he got back up and went to sit on the edge of the bed; his lean hands running through his midnight hair. He couldn’t let her know; couldn’t let her find out his true feelings regarding her. That he was in love with her. He’d been developing feelings for both Usagi and Sailor Moon, then the shock of finding out they were one in the same… He’d been joking with Motoki that day in the café, saying that she looked like Sailor Moon. He hadn’t been serious. Or had he? He didn’t know anymore.

    “ENDYMION!!”

    Mamoru’s head came shooting up, his eyes going wide with her outburst as he stood and went to her. She was sitting up, her cerulean eyes wide open as she cried and her sobs grew louder. Not wanting her parents to come in, he sat down beside her and gathered her close. It tore his heart apart hearing her cry, however he didn’t know how to smooth the soft sobs coming from deep inside the girl.

    “Shhhh… its okay…. I’m here, Usako… I’m here,” he whispered as he held her close to him, rocking softly back and forth.

    She cringed to him and cried harder. “Endymion, please don’t leave…” she cried into his chest. Her small hands held onto him for dear life, her blond hair undone and tangle around them. He kissed her on the top of her head, still rocking back and forth as he tried to smooth her cries.

    He didn’t say anything more, just held her. Soon her cries quieted and her breathing became soft and even, and he knew she was sound asleep. But he continued to hold her, not wanting to let her go and finally knowing what it felt like to be needed. He’d been there for four days, and every single one of those days Usagi had taken care of him. She’d feed him, changed his bandage, and helped him when he needed help. She’d been there for him, the most he could do was be there for her, even if she was only asleep.

    “Prince Endymion, you cannot keep going to the Moon. Our people are forbidden to be there, you know that,” a man with short blond hair said. His green eyes shifted over to the other three men standing behind him.

    “Jadeite, I am the Crown Prince of the Earth Kingdom; I will go where I please,” he said pacing back and forth in his bedroom. The bed sat against the wall, the covers a dark blue color. The rest of the room was blue or green, depending on how the sunlight that filtered through the windows hit. However, he saw something that was different from the dark colors that surrounded the room. A single strain of silver hair coming from the closet. He turned to his first general, a man with long silver hair and light blue eyes. “Kunzite, does anyone else know that I’ve been going to the Moon Kingdom?”

    Kunzite turned his back to his master, his eyes surveying the room. It was then that he noticed the silver hair coming from the closet. Knowing that could mean only one thing, he cleared his throat. “Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoicite,” he said, making the men stand at full attention. “Leave us.”

    “Yes, Lord Kunzite,” the three men replied before bowing and turning around to step outside the room.

    Once the door closed behind them, Kunzite called out, “You may come out, Princess of the Moon Kingdom.”

    The girl who’d been in the first dream stepped forth from the closet, her gown white and long. But this time instead of being a day gown, it was nightgown. Her silver hair was undone and flowing behind her as she walked towards him. “Endymion,” she whispered as she entered his embrace.

    “Highnesses, what games are you playing? Do you realize what is at stake here? If the others knew…” Kunzite began only to be cut off by the princess.

    “I just wished to see Earth, my lord. I do not mean to cause any harm,” she replied.

    Kunzite sighed, his emotions taking a huge toll on him. For so very long he’d kept the secret of them meeting, but it was always on the Moon; never on Earth. He felt as if his heart could not take anymore. “Are you trying to start a war? Our kingdoms are already suspicious of each other, do you wish to give them reason?”

    The princess looked up at him, her eyes wide with fear. “Will that happen, Endymion? Will our kingdoms really go to war?” she asked, her voice small and afraid. He gathered her close to him, his strong arms wrapping around her.

    “I won’t let that happen. Kunzite, stop scaring her. She just came to Earth to look around, nothing more,” he said. He looked down at her. “Besides, I won’t let anything bad happen to her. I love her.”

    Kunzite sighed once more. He was really sure he was going to have to kill these two love birds. Then she stepped out of Endymion’s arms and walked towards him. He looked down at the little princess; her skin white as the moon itself, seemed to be glowing. “Yes, your highness?” he questioned her.

    She looked back at Endymion, and he nodded at her to continue on with what she was going to say; before she turned her attention back to Kunzite. “My lord, I do not wish to cause harm to anyone. I just wished to see Endymion, because I had missed him so. I love my people, but my feelings for him run deeper than those even for myself. I would never let anything happen to him. And besides, no one except you knows I’m here,” she told him.

    Kunzite took a deep breath and looked as if he wanted to shake some sense into them. He ran his hand though the long mane of silver hair and closed his eyes. Upon opening them again, he looked at them. “And how long until they find out? Endymion and Serenity, you are playing with fire by going through with this affair. You must think of not only yourselves and what will happen when it is found out, but that of your people.”

    Mamoru woke with a start. He figured he must have fallen asleep while holding Usagi because he felt something warm on his legs and noticed he wasn’t in the bed. Looking down, he saw that Usagi’s head laid in his lap, a small smile on her lips as she slept peacefully. He turned his attention from the sleeping beauty on his lap to the window, where the sunlight poured through. He watched as Luna yawned before opening her eyes. She noticed right away that he wasn’t in the bed.

    “Mamoru?” she said as she jumped from the windowsill to the bed.

    “I’m down here,” he called out softly.

    She walked to the edge of the bed, looked over and gasped. “What are you doing down there? You didn’t… “

    “No!” he said, harshly. Maybe too harshly because Luna ducked down. “Sorry, but no. I didn’t do anything to her. She had a nightmare during the night and started crying. I couldn’t just sit there and let her cry, so I held her until she fell back to sleep. I must have fallen to sleep shortly after. Luna, does Usagi have nightmares often?”

    Luna eyed him, then she sat down on the bed. She nodded her little black head before sighing. “Usually, she just cries out in her sleep. Someone named ’Endymion’; but she never wakes up. She’s been having them about once or twice a week now for the past three months.”

    He didn’t say anything, just nodded his head before turning his eyes to the sleeping girl laying on his lap. “Does she ever remember any of it?” he asked.

    “No, but I’ve never really ever asked her--” Luna said but was cut short when a loud beeping noise sounded. She looked over to the headboard and saw the alarm going off. It was 7:30 in the morning.

    “Luna, kill the alarm, would ya?” Usagi said as she rolled over and off his lap. She snuggled deeper into the sleeping bag.

    Luna and Mamoru looked at each other before they busted out laughing. Luna jumped down from the bed and nudged Usagi with her nose. She protested, but got up and hit the snooze button. Then looking over to Mamoru, she smiled and said in the most simplest of voices, “Good morning, Endymion.”