Longer than You Know
Usagi-chan
Usagi@tuxedomask.com
I don't own Sailormoon or anything pertaining to
This is based on Klutz's Tuesdays.
I'm guessing at the spelling of gei.
E-mail me!

~~~
I dashed along Cherry Hill Lane, towards the 
small judo. I had stumbled across it by mistake,
sometime ago, but had started lessons anyway.
None of the others know about my Tai Chi lessons,
but I knew they noticed a new found grace in 
our fights.  No one commented on it, or before.
We spoke little of the time when we fought the
negaverse.  My senshi were afraid to drudge up
the memories of the time I had Mamo-chan, of the 
time before he forgot.

I smiled and waved at my sensei before walking
into the change toom.  I quickly exchanged my 
school uniform for the starched white gei.  I
let my hair down from the familiar odango and 
pulled it all into a high ponytail.

Barefoot, I leftthe change room and padded sofly
along the mats.  I took a firmstance and began
breathing techniques that would prepare me for
my lesson.  I knew my sensei would approach me
when he was ready.  

I allowed myself to sink to my knees as I entered
a trance-like state, close to meditation.  My mind
began to wander as my breathing slowed.  There were
seveal topics I could have selected from to 
comtemplate, but I chose the one I always chose.
Mamo-chan.

Not the Mamo-chan now, or even the Mamo-chan who
loved me.  Instead I chpose the Mamo-chan as I
first met him, as Chiba Mamoru the conceited
jerk.

I liked to think of the days when I could race 
down the street, late for school, and run into
him.  He would always make a remark about how I
moved too fast, at mach five he said once, but 
he would always twist, or catch me sort of, so 
that I never hit the cement.  Despite the insults,
I fell in love with him.

It wasn't his drop dead gorgeous looks, though I'm
sure they helped.  It was the humour I saw in his 
eyes, the good nature.  It was the potential for 
love, great love, clouded over by the shadow of
lonliness.  And something more...  There was 
something that drew me to him, something deep within
me.

I felt the presence of my sensei before he spoke.
He stood behind me, allowing me a lerisurely amount
of time to break out of the trance.  Once I had, I
stood and faced him, bowing in respect.

"Sensei."

"Tsukino-san." He replied.  "I want you to work
with someone else today.  I have an engagement I
can't get out of."

I nodded and looked up at him.

"This is Chiba Mamoru, he will take up your
training, and depending on how it goes, he
may stay as your teacher."

I nodded, albeit stunned.  Mamoru smiled his
quirky frin that always got to me.  We remained
silent until my former sensei left the dojo.  It
was just Mamoru and me.  He surprised me, by 
speaking to me.

"How long habve you been coming here?" He askd,
his voice soft.  My eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh!  Since we defeated Ber..." I caught myself.
"About two months now."

"What were you going to say?" He asked.

"No..nothing." I stuttered.  Mamoru looked
unconvinced.

Actually, it was one month, three weeks and
four days, but who was counting?

"Are you sure?" He asked again.  I looked up
at him.  Hope seemed to flicker through his
eyes, but dimmed quickly.  Nodding my head
yes, I averted my eyes.

I heard Mamoru sigh, almost inaudibly.  I'm
sure most would have missed it, but I miss
nothing about Mamoru.  Not a gesture, not a look
and not a sigh.  He's an open book to me, and
reading him is a simple task.

"Let's get started." His voice held such a 
daness that I looked up at him.  His midnight
blue eyes held such a dark sadness, almost like
there was no light in his life, like it had been
stolen away.

Suddenly I remembered something Mamoru had told
me once in our brief time together.

'Usako, you are the light and love in my life.
Without you, I would surely die...'

I stood opposite Mamoru in the marked 
circle and bowed, never taking my eyes
off him.

Slowly he led me through the smooth 
movements.  Watching him, I understood 
where his perfect grace came from.  He
moved like liquid, flowing without a ripple.
I was awed.

"No, no." Mamoru's voice and sudden movement
brought me out of the trance he had unknowingly
cast over me.  He moved behind me and placed his
hand over mine.  

Slowly we moved, together.  He led me through
the movements and I felt his grace flowing into
me.  We were one, making an intricate dance that
came from out souls.  Eternally intertwined, we 
broke from the proper technique and just moved 
around the room.  It was just like it used to
be.  Everything he felt, I felt.  Everything I
felt, he felt, and I felt love.

"Usagi..." He gasped, breaking away.  The connection
was lost, shattered beyond repair.

Unwillingly, my eyes looked up and met his.
Shock rippled through his, tempered by confusion.

"Chiba-san, I..." I began.  He stopped me by 
stepping forward with his hand extended.  I 
froze, like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Usako." He uttered it so softly, so gently.

"Mamo-chan?" I asked cautiously.  A slow smile
made its way across his face.

"I feel that there's something I've forgotten,
something important, but when I'm with you, I've
forgotten nothing." As he spoke, he stepped closer to
me until the front of his midnight blue gei brushed
against my white one.

"Chiba-sam," I began, disappointed that he didn't
remember.  He would never remember...

"Don't you see?" He asked, interrupting me again.
"Didn't you feel it?  You complete me.  You make
me whole.  I've been waiting for you all my life.
I love you!"

I flung myself into his arms, as vest I could
considering there was nil distance between us.
He wrapped his arms around me.

"I've waited or this for so long." He whispered.

"Longer than you know.  Longer than you know..."
I whispered back.
~~~