Dreams & Memories
Part 8
By: Tisha

	Akina was starting to feel like it was hopeless. Three people called her Usagi, so she must *be* 
Usagi. But she had thought that her memory would snap back into place once she knew, and it hadn't. 
She was so frustrated that she wasn't really paying attention to Mamoru anymore. She suddenly 
noticed him coming closer to her and looked up in shock. She could see from the expression on his 
face that he wanted to kiss her.

	She swallowed hard. She knew that she used to love this man and somehow she wouldn't let 
herself stop him. If was a quick kiss, but it was still so powerful as the familiarity of it washed over her. 
The kiss brought on the memories. Tons of them, all of them, exploding into her head as she melted 
into Mamoru's embrace.

	He slowly, almost reluctantly let her go and she smiled up at him. "Mamo-chan." She loved the 
taste of that word as it escaped her lips. "Mamo-chan! And I'm Usagi!" She giggled like a little girl as 
she hugged Mamoru again. She suddenly pulled back and looked at him. "How...how did you know?"

	He smiled at her. "I didn't know anything. We've all missed you so much for the past two years. 
I knew you were alive, but we had no explanation. When I heard you talking about remembering I 
realized that you had amnesia. I just hoped the kiss could make you remember me."

	She hugged his arm, loving the feel of it, as well as knowing who she was. She knew that she 
had a family and tons of great friends. She suddenly wondered where the memories of people trying 
to kill her came from. And then she remembered the dreams. The reason she had been running in the 
first place. She shook her head. "And to think I ran from Tokyo. The answer was here the whole time."

	Mamoru looked at her. "What do you mean? Where *have* you been all this time?"

	"Long story. I'll come by tomorrow and tell you everything. For now I have other people I need 
to talk to. Poor Minako must think she's going crazy." She laughed now that she remembered her 
encounter a few minutes ago. She gave Mamoru a quick kiss and headed toward the Hikawa Shrine.


•••••••••••••••••••


	"Rei-chan, I think all the time has finally gotten to me."

	"What do you mean?" Rei switched the phone receiver to her other ear and adjusted her 
position on her bed.

	"Well I just saw a blonde woman who I could have sworn was Usagi. I even grabbed her arm 
and called her 'Usagi'."

	Rei laughed a little. "Well, what'd she look like?"

	"Like...well...Usagi! I mean the same hair color, and her eyes were identical. She even 
sounded like Usagi! But her hair was only shoulder length and she dressed more stylish."

	As Rei listened to the description she looked out the window and was shocked to see that 
exact person coming toward the temple. "And are you sure it wasn't her?"

	"She said her name was Akina or something like that."

	Rei bit her lip. "Well then this Usagi look alike must want to *be* like Usagi because she's 
heading for the temple right now."

	She heard Minako gasp. "Really?"

	"Yeah, I got to go."

	"Rei, I'm gonna come over."

	"Okay, bye." She hung up and went outside just as the blonde was nearing the door. When 
she saw Rei she stopped. Rei studied her and agreed with Minako. 
It just *had* be to Usagi. "Usagi?" She came closer and bit her lip. "Is that you?"

	Usagi could barely stop the tears when she saw her friend. She slowly nodded her head and 
threw her arms around Rei. Rei pulled back to take in the new looks of her friend.

	"Oh my gosh, you cut off your odangos!"

	Usagi laughed. "I know, I can't believe it either."

	"Usagi! Where the *hell* have you been for the last two years?!"

	"Oh gosh, I have a feeling I'll be telling this story a *lot* tonight so why don't you call the 
others and I can tell you all together."

	Rei nodded. "I guess you're right." She headed for the temple with Usagi following her. "You 
need to go and show your family that you're alive."

	"You mean they think I'm dead?"

	Rei nodded sadly as she picked up the phone. "Me and Mamoru knew you were alive and I 
tried to tell them that. They had a funeral anyway, and there's a headstone for you at the cemetery." 
She turned her attention to the phone as Ami answered. "Ami? You have to come over."

	Usagi listened as Rei convinced her to come without giving a reason and then repeated the 
process to call Makoto. Once she hung up they looked at each other, each with many questions.

	"Rei, where's Luna?"

	"She's been living with Ami. Your parents said it was okay and that way it'd be easier if 
something happened."

	"*Did* anything happen? Have you guys had any enemies?"

	Rei was just about to answer when Minako burst through the door and was immediately 
engulfing Usagi in a hug. She finally released her friend and looked at her sternly. "Don't you *EVER* 
do that again! Why on earth did you tell me you were Akina?!"

	Usagi laughed a little. "I thought I *was* Akina." Both girls looked at each other and then at her 
but she waved it off, wanting to wait for everyone.

	Makoto arrived next and was shocked to see the girl with her friends. She would probably not 
have believed it was Usagi if she hadn't been there, but when she finally convinced herself that it was 
Usagi she hugged her, as everyone else did.

	While Makoto was still asking questions Ami showed up, holding Luna in her arms. Ami froze, 
staring with her mouth opened. Luna jumped down from her arms and ran toward the girl she hadn't 
seen for two years. "Usagi-chan!"

	Usagi happily picked up the cat and started petting her, as well as hugging Ami before 
everyone finally sat down. "Okay I know you all want an explanation. It's getting kind of late and I still 
need to let my parents know that I'm alive." She stopped and looked at the way the four people and 
two cats were looking at her. They were acting like she was a ghost or something.

	She waved off the weirdness of their stares and continued. "I didn't leave on purpose. I'd 
never do that. The truth is that for the last two years I have been someone else entirely since I didn't 
know who I really was. When I was running that night I tripped and hit my head. I got amnesia if you 
can believe that."

	She stopped to let it all sink in but they just all sat staring at her silently for a full minute. 

	"Amnesia?"

	Usagi nodded.

	Rei smirked. "Okay, I got that part. Now I just want to hear about this other person you've 
been for two years."

	Usagi smiled. "Well, I've been Akina Nakao. Hiroshi, he's the guy that saw me fall and took me 
to the hospital, made up the name. He was the only person 
I knew, and since he told me that I had been running so fast I didn't want to give my name to the 
press. You know, I thought I must have been running from someone so I didn't want them to find me. 
They estimated I was 15 and Hiroshi offered to let me stay with him until I remembered who I was. We 
became good friends-" Usagi paused at the smug looks of her friends and she glared at them.

	"But nothing more than that. He had a girlfriend. Anyway, about two months later I started 
remembering vague things...basically I was remembering the dreams that I had. I took them as real 
memories and then I *really* thought someone was trying to kill me. I got scared and decided to get 
out of Japan. Hiroshi had been teaching me English so I went to America. I've lived in New York ever 
since."

	"And?"

	Usagi looked at Minako. "And what?"

	"Come on. You've been living in New York all that time. You can't tell me you lived there all 
alone without a job and stayed indoors all day, right?"

	Usagi shook her head at her. "Okay, I was a waitress, I lived in an apartment, and I had a weird 
on and off sort of relationship with my landlord, are you happy now?"

	"No! Tell us about this landlord!" Now it was Makoto.

	Usagi was starting to get frustrated by all the talk of guys. She did want to find out some stuff 
about their lives too. "His name is Chris. He had a thing for me from the start but the first time he 
kissed me I decided we should be friends. I didn't realize it then but I guess I always knew deep down 
that I loved Mamo-chan. About two weeks ago I let him kiss me again and somehow memories of 
Mamoru flooded into my head. I came back to find him to finally find out who I was. First I ran into 
Minako, then Motoki, then Mamoru. By the third time being called 'Usagi' I finally realized that was 
who I was. 

	"And Mamo-chan brought back my memories with a kiss. Now before any of you start with 
more questions, *I* need to ask you some questions."

	A few of them pouted about not being able to ask anything else. "Go ahead Usagi." Artemis 
had been a little annoyed by the girl talk as well.

	"Where'd the dreams come from and *what* on earth happened to you once they got me so 
confused that I ran away and got amnesia?"

	"It was an enemy. It wasn't easy beating them either, we all got injured."

	Usagi had figured that was what happened. She couldn't think of anything else to ask and she 
remembered about her family. She stood up. "I have to go see my family now." She looked down at 
Luna. "Luna, you should stay with Ami again tonight and I'll take you back tomorrow."

	Everyone had to give Usagi one more hug before she headed off toward her own house. It 
was really weird thinking of it as her house after she had lived alone and supported herself for the last 
two years. For some reason she felt nervous about going there. It would be weird to knock on the 
door when they all figured her to be dead. But she also couldn't wait to see her parents. She took one 
deep breath before knocking on the familiar door.


To be continued