This one-shot focuses on Serenity Von Mond and her times at Lune nightclub and takes place BEFORE the events of The Serenity Case.

"Eventually your mother is going to catch wind of this," Ami reminded her for what had to be the tenth time that day.

"Don't be a killjoy! It's normal for a girl to go out dancing," Serenity answered, dimpling a quick smile at her friend. "Especially when she owns the club."

"Your mother owns it," Ami sighed. "I'm beginning to regret bringing you that second time."

Serenity giggled, swinging her hair and swishing her skirt. "Let's go before they give away our table."

"They wouldn't dare and you know it."

The first time Serenity had visited Lune, it was on the arm of her mother and during daylight hours - when the chairs, tables, dance floor and stage had stood empty in quiet anticipation of the night ahead. The elder Serenity went to talk some business with the management, leaving her daughter to run her hands absentmindedly across the wooden molding in the wall. She stopped when she hit a knob in the wood that didn't quite match the pattern. Curisously, she pressed one finger to the carving, running it up a line in the wall.

"Caught your eye, did it?"

The voice made her jump, and she turned with consternation at the newcomer. She hadn't noticed him come in, but he was leaning against a table with his hands in pockets like he'd been there a while.

"The fake panel," the man said, an amused look in his eyes. "Surely your mother told you about this side of things?" His handsome features held a certain youthfulness, but he held himself with a causal confidence that made him seem older.

Serenity wrinkled her nose, brought her hand down and back in front of her. "I have no idea what you could be speaking about."

He winked. "Good girl."

Whatever response she'd been opening her mouth to say was cut short when her mother returned. A respectful but silent nod was exchanged between her mother and the man, and Serenity followed suit although she didn't know exactly who he was until later.

"That'd be one of the Elysium gang for sure," Ami had said that night. Serenity tried not to look too interested, turning her hairbrush in her hands.

"Oh," she said. "That explains things a bit."

"What did he look like?" Ami asked, head resting on her hand. "I've seen Kunzite, the second in command. Ice blue eyes, very blonde hair?"

Serenity shook her head. "Dark hair. Tall." Ami seemed to waiting for more and Serenity gave an agitated shrug. "I don't remember much else." It was lie, though, she remembered his face like it'd been etched into her mind. The symmetry of his features and striking color of his eyes, and the sharp edge to his smile. She'd been relieved when her mother returned and took her away from the man's knowing gaze, but part of her wanted to see him again.

"Mother seemed to know him, though," Serenity continued. "Maybe I'll find out later."

It was Ami's idea to return to Lune during active hours, to see the newest singer they'd lined up. Rei Hino was a famed beauty, and the opportunity to see her up close had been all the convincing Serenity needed.

The precocious girl had even followed Rei right into her dressing room, gushing over her enough that the blonde was rewarded with a small twist of Rei's red lips into a smile. "Alright, High Society. I'll let you buy me a drink," she'd said.

"We don't see the likes of you in here much," the waitress said, with a kind smile as she set glasses down in front of Rei, Ami and Serenity. "What's your name, girlie?"

"Usagi," Serenity had answered, the childhood nickname coming to her lips before she could stop it. Ami nodded in understanding at Serenity's pleading look.

"Makoto," the other girl responded. Then she turned to Rei. "I'm on break soon, let me join you."

"The party's over here," Rei had answered, lifting her bourbon glass in toast to 'Usagi'.

It was through the haze of alcohol and cigarette smoke that Serenity excused herself from the ever growing crowd at her table, and walked over to the bar to ask for water.

"You certainly do attract a lot of attention."

His voice was right by her ear, to be heard over the loud music. With a sharp inhale, Serenity turned and braced herself, knowing even before she met his eyes that it was the same man from before. The person who Ami had identified as a member of the Elysium gang, a bootlegger. And who knows what else.

"'Usagi', is it?" he said, still sounding amused.

"What do you mean 'attention'?" She asked, ignoring the smirk in his voice when using her fake name.

"Buying drinks for a whole table, well, that kind of dough doesn't go unnoticed," he said.

"You're welcome for the surge in business," she countered coolly, and then looked away - pretending the sound of his laugh hadn't filled her with warmth. For all she knew, he was laughing at her, this smug man who seemed to know everything about her when she didn't even know his name.

"Not to mention," he continued, touching one of her earrings with the pad of his finger, (Serenity stubbornly fought down goosebumps,) "you aren't exactly regular fare here at Lune."

Serenity looked down at herself. It was obvious now of course. Her dress was too embellished, her hair style too old fashioned. Her skirt was too long for dancing. Self-consciously, she reached up and removed the dangling diamonds from her ears, clutching them in her hand.

"I assume your mother doesn't know you're here."

"Keep it that way," she said in response, the sharpness in her voice doing nothing to wipe the amused glint from his eyes.

"Of course, Miss Von Mond," he said, touching his forehead at her before disappearing into the crowd.

Ami hissed into her ear when she sat back down, "Is that the man you met before?"

At Serenity's nod Ami formed her mouth into a tight line before whispering to her, "That's Mamoru Chiba, the leader of Elysium."

Overhearing, Rei leaned forward, raising a brow. "More like Mamoru is Elysium."

"You shouldn't talk to him again, S- Usagi," Ami said quietly. "Not without your mother anyway."

Rei smiled knowingly around her cigarette. "Yeah, that's the way to keep her away from him," she said.

Soon enough, even though Rei and Makoto came to know her real name, she was 'Usagi' in Lune and a regular sight on the dance floor or watching Rei sing with stars in her eyes. Serenity had taken to the culture right away, picking up the slang and style with surprising ease. Ami accompanied her most nights, growing close with the other two girls as well, and soon the pack were tight as sisters.

Still, her old friend was starting to worry at how much time Serenity was spending in Lune, if only because the girl was obviously more and more unhappy in the tight confines of her mother's world of affluence, becoming hypnotized with the intoxicating world of the city's night life and the freedom she had there.

Despite Ami's warnings, she'd come to know a few of the Elysium boys ("Mother would be happy I'm learning the ropes," she insisted, when Kunzite showed her some of their secret rooms and tricks to hide and distribute the liquor they traded in); Her interactions with Mamoru, though frequent, were mostly limited to his amused commentary and her snappish retorts. He began to call her 'Usako', which Serenity complained to Ami about for so long it was clear it delighted her as much as it flustered her.

Ami wasn't blind the flush on the girl's cheeks after, or the way her eyes always searched the crowd for him whenever they entered Lune. Still, Serenity's crush was harmless, Ami reflected, as long as it wasn't returned.

"Imagine me with a short cut like that," Usagi said one night, pointing to a beautiful girl with a short black bob skirting above her shoulders.

"Imagine your mother's heart attack," Ami pointed out, and Usagi giggled.

"You'd never pull it off," Rei said bluntly.

"Says you," Usagi shot back, with a smile. "And Ami, I'll have you know even the high society girls are doing this look now."

"Aw, I say you're the bee's knees as you are," Makoto said.

Somehow the night got away from them, and Ami realized only a little too late that Usagi's cheeks were a bit too red, her steps too clumsy. "And she's bent," Rei noted, shaking her head with a small smile. "Who let her drink that much?"

"I should get her home," Ami began to work her way through the crowd, but Usagi had found someone else first.

"Do you ever dance?" she was saying, swaying a bit while Mamoru caught her waist to keep her from falling.

"Only sometimes," he responded, and looked up to meet Ami's eyes. "Time for the princess to return to her tower," he said and Usagi whined, leaning her head against his chest.

"I don't want to," she mumbled, and tugged slightly on Mamoru, looking up at him like he wasn't a stranger, and a possibly dangerous one at that. "Dance with me," she begged.

"You can barely walk, let alone dance," Ami pointed out. Usagi found that hilarious, giggling until she could barely breathe, only Mamoru's grip on her waist keeping her from falling over completely.

"Do you drink?" She shifted her gaze up to Mamoru's, tilting her head.

"Not often," he responded. "I need my wits about me."

"But it's so fun," she slurred, looking at him with unfocused eyes.

"Drinking? Or dancing?" His voice was almost fond when he spoke to her.

She grinned, skimming her fingers along the back of his neck, dimly aware she was being forward, foolish, obvious, silly... but not caring. His skin was warm and made her dizzier than the alcohol. "Losing your wits," she answered, and then smiled, biting down on her lower lip.

"It's time to go," Ami insisted, and Mamoru seemed to agree. He half walked, half carried Serenity to a waiting taxi and Ami assured Mamoru she could get the heiress home without being seen. She watched him go back in the club, and narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, thinking of the way he'd looked at Serenity when she was in his arms.

Perhaps this wasn't so harmless after all.

It was a typical night in Lune, the girls were having a loud, giggle-punctuated conversation, while men looked on in interest - and were rewarded with flirtatious smiles and a dance now and then. And Serenity was trying to keep from watching Mamoru's every move - especially now that he was deep in conversation with a gorgeous woman in the corner of the room. Through the smoky haze, she watched him nod and gesture to one of the doors to the back storage rooms, leading her in and closing the door behind them.

"Excuse me," Serenity said, standing from the table and rushing after them.

She burst into the room Mamoru had just entered, a few seconds before her brain could catch up with what she'd done. Mamoru looked up from where he was leaning against a barrel, in conversation with the woman, who raised an eyebrow at Serenity's intrusion.

"Yes, Usako?" Mamoru said, nonplussed. The woman he had been talking with eyed Serenity curiously.

"Just seeing what's going on in the backroom of my club," Serenity said, her voice and inflection suddenly her mother's through and through.

"Oh, Miss Von Mond," Mamoru drawled. "Just securing some future business." He nodded toward his companion.

The woman gave Serenity a knowing glance before slipping a card in Mamoru's vest pocket. "We'll talk later," she said, and then ran her finger seductively down his chest, stopping just above his navel. "'Bye now." She winked at him and smirked at Serenity before closing the door behind her.

As if nothing had happened, Mamoru took the card out of his pocket and tossed it on the small table beside him. Serenity leaned over and read her handwriting, "'Ginga Hotel, Room 217,'" she read. "Not one of ours." Then she looked up. "Well, don't let me keep you if you want to join her."

He just smiled tolerantly. "I'm interested in supplying her restaurant, not necking in a hotel room." He feigned a scandalized expression. "Especially if it's not even a Von Mond hotel, how dare she?"

Serenity scoffed a bit, leaned against the wall with her arms crossed.

"Something bothering you?" Mamoru said. "A problem Elysium can help with at all?"

"Well if you must know I am in a pinch, and it's a terrible one," Serenity said, unable to keep the emotion from her voice. "But it's not something you'd know anything about."

"Try me."

"I'm in love," she blurted, then blinked in surprise at her own admission.

"You're right," Mamoru said, coolly. "Not my area of expertise."

"And they don't tell you," she continued, dam broken and words bubbling out faster than she could stop them. "I mean, the songs and the poems and the novels they don't tell you what it's really like. I can't breathe sometimes when he looks at me, and I can't eat - Ami's starting to get really concerned about that-," she babbled on, not looking at him, "I can't sleep at night. It's... consuming."

"Can't sleep, eat or even breathe you say?" he regarded her with an unreadable expression. "Sounds like this fella will be the death of you."

"And now you are making fun of me while I'm suffering!" She cried, tears threatening to spill over. "Because if he doesn't love me back - I might just die!"

"Aren't many men out there immune to the charms of Serenity Von Mond," he said, finally, turning to leave. "Don't lose much more sleep."

And then she did start to cry, sobbing loudly into her hands as Mamoru looked on, startled. "But what if I want someone to love Usagi?" she said, scrubbing the back of her hand over her eyes.

She took his offered handkerchief and swiped at her eyes and nose angrily. "I try, don't you see, I try so hard. To be good and be brave and it's not easy. And maybe you'll never look at me as anything other than a silly, naive, spoiled child but- you see the real me and so few people do and I just want you to look at me like-"

Serenity caught her breath and lowered the handkerchief, one errant tear still falling down a flushed cheek. "Like you are now," she whispered. She hadn't realized he was so close, looking at her with such an intense, searching gaze. The flood of words dried up as quickly as it had come, and he wiped a tear away with the pad of his thumb in silence.

"Usako, what exa-"

"I love you," she said. And then looked at him in wide-eyed silence, unsure of what was supposed to happen next.

He looked as surprised as she'd ever seen him, blinking once with his mouth slightly agape. "Me?" he said, without any sound. Then he sighed and shut his eyes, pinching his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "Tell me you aren't that stupid, Usako."

Serenity barely managed to choke back another sob, putting a hand over her mouth, shoulders shaking. "I know you think me an idiot," she said, fresh tears hot on her face.

"Not anymore than I am," he said, darkly. "Believe me."

She sniffled. "I don't understand."

He looked at her for a long moment. "Understand that whatever dramatic confessions you were making about eating, sleeping, dying," he smirked for a second, shaking his head."It's barely half of what you've done to me, princess."

"Do you mean... you...," she said, her open mouth pulling into an amazed smile. "You... love me back?"

"Does it matter?" He ran a hand through his hair, resting the other on his hip - the very picture of frustration. "You know, cute nicknames aside, you are Serenity Von Mond," he looked at her- a warning, wary look. "You are so far out of my reach you might as well be on the moon."

"I'm pretty sure I'm well within your reach," she countered, taking a step toward him in the small room. Mirroring what she'd seen that other woman do, she ran her hand down his chest - and this time he responded, swallowing hard and tensing his jaw. "Please," she said, looking up at him in dizzying awe, "I want this more than I've ever wanted anything."

His lip pulled up a bit and he gave the smallest shake of his head. "A girl like you don't know the first thing about wanting."

She tugged on his shirt. "Then show me."

She'd never been kissed like this. She never knew you could be kissed like this, his hand on the back of her neck, thumb sliding down behind her ear, mouth over hers - hot and slick and desperate. She hadn't realized that she'd taste him - spicy and warm like chocolate. She hadn't anticipated the brush of his hair against her own forehead, or the tickle of his breath against her skin, or the almost-moan he made when her tongue hesitantly responded to his. This was perfection. This was heaven.

She curled her fingers together at the nape of his neck, his other hand steadying her around her waist as he tilted her back, her thighs pressed against the edge of the table, her hips angled up to his.

"You love me," she clarified, breathing the words out once her mouth was free to talk, when his lips were on her jaw, tracing down her neck.

"Yes," he murmured confirmation.

"Even if I were poor?" she continued. "A nobody?"

He smirked at her, pulled back so their noses were barely touching. "Money or not, someone like you could never be 'nobody'."

She wrinkled her nose, made a face at him. "Will you ever stop making fun of me?" And the smirk turned to a grin.

"When I'm dead," he said. "Maybe."

Unable to think of a retort, she settled for kissing him again, and he didn't seem to mind that one bit.

When Makoto, Rei, Ami and Usagi sat together at Lune, it wasn't often they paid for their drinks. Rei's stunning beauty and Makoto's figure attracted the most attention, but Usagi's dazzling smiles and Ami's demure glances combined to make the table a deadly combination for anyone who happened to glance their way. Which tonight happened to be two local students, nice enough looking and decent dance partners.

"What are you ladies up to tonight?"

"Dancing with you," Usagi chirped, looking at her friends with encouraging nods.

"I've gotta get back to work," Makoto said, in a disappointed voice.

Rei just shook her head after giving them a very obvious once-over. Cringing in apology, Usagi grabbed Ami's hand and headed to the dance floor. "Two for two," she said.

Usagi wasn't the best dancer - Ami was much better - but she was enthusiastic at least, loving the freedom of movement the faster paced songs afforded her - so different from the stiff ballroom dancing she endured as Serenity.

It was some time later she excused herself - "I'm parched," she half-spoke, half-mimed to the nods of Ami the boys - but was waylaid on her way to the bar.

"Don't tell me you're ending your performance so soon," Mamoru said, raising an eyebrow.

She flushed at the knowledge he'd been watching. "I've been practicing," she defended, expecting him to tease her about her movements on the floor. Instead he caught her waist in his hand and whirled her just slightly.

"Couldn't take my eyes off you," he said and it was almost painful how quickly her face heated up under his gaze. "But I think I'd make a better partner than him."

"I thought you said you didn't dance," she said, as he took her hand lead her back to the dance floor.

"I said, 'sometimes'," he winked, and caught her hand and then before she knew it they were dancing and...and he was good.

Usagi had a difficult time keeping the impressed look off her face, and he noticed, grinning like a pleased child at her raised eyebrows.

A look of amazement spread over her features. "Mamoru Chiba are you having fun?" she teased. "I didn't think you capable."

He spun her out and back toward him, held her still for a second against him. "I'm more than capable," he said, locking eyes with her.

Glass bottles rattled together and threatened to break, but Usagi really couldn't bother to care, too concerned with responding to Mamoru's mouth on hers to consider broken inventory. She steadied her hands on the shelves, arms spread apart to keep her balanced.

The storeroom was small, almost full, and hotter than hell in summer ... but the door had a lock. And ambiance didn't matter, not when his hands were sliding down her hips, his leg slipping between hers.

"You want me," she accused, breathless, and he kissed her stomach, over the beading of her dress.

"Yes."

"Worship me?" She tugged her fingers through his hair.

"The ground you walk on," he mumbled, sliding his hands up her sides again and meeting her gaze with half-lidded eyes.

"But you're dangerous," she murmured.

"Not as dangerous as you," he said, that familiar smirk pulling on his mouth. The look in his eyes made her want to faint, but instead she pulled him toward her, and quickly lost herself in another passionate kiss.

"You're quiet tonight," Mamoru observed, and Usagi looked up at him with troubled eyes. Her drink sat untouched in front of her, and she was watching the dancing with an unfocused expression.

"I may need your help," she said. "Elysium's I mean. Maybe. I don't know."

"Let's talk," he touched her shoulder and she followed him into the back room.

"They want me to get married," she burst out as soon as he closed the door. For a moment he stared at her in shocked silence. She gulped and continued. "To Demande Blackstone. He's been talking to my mother for months."

For a long moment he looked at her, something unreadable in his eyes. She touched his chest and for a moment he pulled her into his embrace, although his arms were tight around her, his kiss was soft, and heartbreakingly tender.

"Serenity-" he started, pulling away slightly.

"Usagi," she corrected. He took her shoulders in his hands and pulled back to look at her.

"Serenity," he said, firmly.

"What?" And at the look in his eyes, she felt like a band was constricting her lungs, digging into her heart.

"Serenity Von Mond," he said, seriously, "You knew we'd have to face this eventually. You do not belong in this world. Not with the likes of me."

She shook her head, backing away, "No... I do, don't you understand- I love you and I want to be with you, and I don't care if-"

"You should care," he snapped. "You have security, do you know how rare that is these days? You can't give all that up, you wouldn't even know how."

Serenity recoiled as if he'd slapped her, her eyes wide and hurt. "So that's how you see me? Some spoiled child who wouldn't know what to do without her riches?"

For a long time he didn't answer. Then, "There are worse things than marrying rich, Serenity. Maybe you should be happy with your lot in life."

"So you... want me to marry Demande?" The betrayal felt like a punch in the stomach and it was everything she could do to stay upright.

For a moment she caught a glimpse of something dark and tortured in his eyes, but then his gaze was cold again. Expressionless. "Honestly, I don't really care what you do."

"You don't mean that-" she reached for him but he pulled back and leveled her with a stare so cold it almost scared her. "You love me," Serenity insisted, voice wavering a bit and tears filling her eyes.

He all but laughed. "You were fun," he said with a shrug, still looking at her with that cool indifference she'd never seen before. "But that's all."

She opened her mouth to reply but seemed to lose whatever she was going to say to the oppressive air in the room. Finally she stilled her lips and just nodded, slowly walking out the door as if shell-shocked.

He didn't move until the door closed behind her.

And it wasn't long before her engagement was announced in the papers.

Serenity didn't stop coming to Lune after that. But her social calendar was filling up in her other world as well, as she was expected to attend various dinner parties and galas on Demande's arm, often posing for photos to grace the inner pages of the newspapers. She kept her smile light and happy, attempted with all her might to look adoringly up at her future husband. He was a bit controlling, but certainly very handsome. She was determined to be happy.

But when Serenity still found time to come to Lune, and she laughed louder, flirted harder and drank more then ever before. She threw herself into the fickle embrace of overindulgence while her friends exchanged concerned looks over her head.

Kunzite took over most of the dealings with Von Mond properties to give Mamoru an excuse to avoid Lune and possibly seeing Serenity. But that hardly helped, it seemed, if the rings under Mamoru's eyes and the tension in his jaw was enough to go by.

"You're torturing yourself," Kunzite said darkly.

"No idea what you're talking about," Mamoru said, closing the newspaper gossip section and pushing it aside.

"Plus, you look like hell," he added, conversationally, taking the newspaper and crumbling it up.

"A little respect wouldn't kill you," the other man snapped. "And I'm fine."

"Clearly."

"And just to prove it, I'll handle today's deliveries to the Silver Millennium properties. Can't let the whole operation go to hell because you're too busy giving me guff to get a damn thing done around here."

"Oh yeah, you've never been better," Kuznite muttered under his breath, following his boss out of the headquarters with a shake of his head.

Rei was surprised to walk into her dressing room one afternoon and find Serenity curled in a ball sobbing in Ami's arms.

"Sorry," Ami said, "we didn't know where else to go. She didn't want to be home."

"What happened?"

"Demande won't leave her side at events, not even for a moment," Ami's voice was steel. "And then last night he was supposed to 'see her home,'" she stopped talking, swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. "I could hear her screams and I got there in time. I threw a book at him, told him to leave. Thankfully the only thing ruined was her dress."

Rei cursed under her breath, looking at Serenity who was staring dully at the wall, tears drying on her cheeks.

"Stay as long as you need," she said.

"Why don't you tell your mother?" Makoto said later, at the bar. Evening was falling and soon the club would be full of revelers and music, but for now it remained quiet.

"Tell her what?" Serenity said. "That my fiancé expects me to perform my wifely duties without complaint?" She barked a short laugh, "If you called off engagements for that, nobody in my social circle would be married."

Ami grit her teeth. "Most of them don't enjoy the sound of you begging to stop," she said and Serenity shuddered, squeezed her eyes shut. Makoto looked murderous and Rei's hands were balled into fists so tight her palms ached.

"When I screamed at him to leave, he wasn't even sorry," Ami continued. "He just looked smug. He said to her, 'Soon enough, you'll be mine to do what I want with, anyway'." At the words, Serenity flinched.

Rei looked at Ami darkly, why was she making Serenity relive these awful things? But Ami's gaze back was clear and determined, and soon the singer realized she wasn't speaking to Serenity, but to the two men who'd entered the back way and were observing the scene in silence.

Serenity gasped out loud when she realized, a hand rising to her mouth as Mamoru turned and left the room with an unreadable expression.

Ami turned to Kunzite, who was looking at Serenity with sad affection. "This is our world," she told him.

Mamoru stared at the telephone, hands pressed to the table on either side. He hadn't moved in so long his back was starting to get stiff, his eyes dry and burning.

One phone call. That's all it would take. With all the favors the mob owed him, it'd be done in a day. It'd look like an accident. The mob boss liked Mamoru, he'd probably make Demande suffer, no extra charge.

He didn't look up when Kunzite entered the room.

"You are a lot of things, but you aren't a killer," Kunzite said. "Don't cross that line now. Not for this goon."

Mamoru clenched his jaw and didn't answer. He didn't move at the coded knock on the door, or when Kunzite opened it.

But he looked up when the familiar voice hesitantly said his name. "Mamoru?"

"Usako-"

At the nickname, Serenity burst into tears, her knees buckling beneath her so quickly that he barely had time to catch her before she collapsed into his arms. For a long time she cried into his chest- heaving, shaking sobs that wracked her whole body.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I tried to forget you. I tried to be happy. To be strong. But I'm not."

"You are," he murmured, brushing her hair back with his hand, shutting his eyes against the guilt that threatened to drown him. "What you've been through... I can't imagine."

"I'm afraid of him," she whispered, and met his eyes with a mournful expression. "But I'm even more afraid of a life without you."

He looked at her for a long time, at the rings beneath her eyes and bruise already darkening on her shoulder.

"I wish you still loved me," she said, her lips pulling down despite herself as her voice broke again.

Cupping her face in his hand, he looked right in her eyes. "Usako, the world could end, and I'd still love you," he said, the intensity in his gaze making her breath catch.

She swallowed. Then whispered, "Will you help me?"

"You're in serious trouble," Minako insisted and Mamoru met her eyes right before he closed the door.

"I know."

Closing the door behind the detective, Mamoru hurried to the back room and pulled a fake panel out of the back of the closet. "Are you okay?" he said, pulling Serenity up and out of the hole. "I'm so sorry."

She smiled at him, "It was fine. Quite lovely if you enjoy the smell of bourbon." With a wiry smile, he pulled her to him an caught her lips in a kiss.

As stressful and scary it had been to wait the few days until they secured transport of town, there was something wonderful and thrilling to Serenity about being alone with him - even in this hideout, even just for a few days.

Serenity searched his eyes as he pulled away. "What's wrong?" she said. "Who was that just now?"

"A detective," he said and she blanched. "Private," he quickly added. "Kunzite's squeeze from... a while ago."

"Do they suspect you?" Serenity looked anxious. "I'll go back," she said. "I'll go home and say I ran away I'll-"

He silenced her with a pointed, sharp look. "Never go back, Usako. Promise me. No matter what happens."

"Mamo-"

"Promise me," he looked at her with such intensity she nodded, finally.

"You'll be with me, though, right?" she put her hands on his shoulders. "I don't want to do this without you."

Quickly, he pulled her into a tight embrace, kissing her desperately for an all-too-brief moment. "I'll be with you," he said.

She gave a small smile and he pulled her into his arms again, resting his chin on her head with a dark look in his eyes.