Kon'wa! Here is the next installment in this lovely little fic. I hope that you are all enjoying this, and thanks goes to my pre-reader for this chapter, who is none other than EMS Meredith. ^__^ Arigato also goes to Lady Spring for posting this, and the smrff for putting up with all my cliffies. ^__^ Standard Disclaimer Hidden Secret Chapter Four by:Lazuli April 15, 1874 I have found my Mamoru.... he has proved to me that he really is the long-dead Mamoru of the past. He told me the reasons for staying... and he is the one that I love, I am sure of it. How it is that I know this, I am not sure, but I know our relationship can not be. I am living, and he is not. Trust me, a perfect example of all a lady should *not* be, to fall in love with a spirit. It is truly a startling thing. I had set out to find him, but the woods were not as I remembered... they were overgrown, and I quickly lost my way. It was pouring down rain, and I knew that I would get dreadfully sick if I did not get back to the school. I had to find Mamoru, though. When I had finally come about the house, even it had changed. I had fainted at that moment, and awoke to find myself in Mamoru's home. He took care of me, and he told me of how he had brought me there. Afterward he took me to the path that led towards home, and he confessed how much he cared for me. I admitted to the same feelings as he did. I felt my heart break. There were strange things happening to me, though. I believe that my soul is trying to reach out to Mamoru's. I felt myself get dragged back in his time. It was most startling. Aiaka offered to help me. She is talking to Mamoru now, in the forest. Perhaps she will find a solution. Forever, Usagi Demeter Usagi sighed and put away the journal. She knew....knew...with all her being what was going to happen next. There were no more journal entries. She knew that the trip into the forest was the last one for her, until she was found there dead. She cried for that lost girl....and cried for Mamoru. She would go back to the forest, and looked for where his house once stood, and was once a waypoint between two worlds, two points of time. Mamoru stood by Usagi, puzzled by the way she was acting. She was still so distant, but focused on getting back into the forest, back to searching for more clues about the past of Usagi Demeter. She didn't even want to talk to him. She simply dropped her stuff off at the house, hugged her parents, and left again. Mamoru didn't get it. So he was following her now, trying to figure out what was happening. Suddenly, without warning, the ground shifted, and he was staring into two bottomless blue eyes, and a long braid of white blond hair. "Mamoru? Mamoru? Are you all right? What's wrong?" She asked. It was Usagi....but not the Usagi he knew. This was Usagi Demeter. What were ghosts doing in the forest? He looked around. The forest was not what he knew it as! It was overgrown more....he gulped nervously. It seemed that he was the ghost of some sort. This Usagi.... "Mamoru...come on, get up....we have to get back to the house." A figure appeared behind Usagi, and Mamoru nearly choked. It was him...but it wasn't him....it was Mamoru of another time. Mamoru buried his head in his hands, and prayed to go back home. His wish was answered, and he saw Usagi...his Usagi this time, kneeling beside him. "So, you felt it this time?" She whispered. "What do *you* think it means, Mamoru?" She asked. Mamoru shook his head. "The only thing I want to do right now is take a nice long nap. You can go to the ruins of that house if it pleases you. I don't want to have any part in it." To his surprise, Usagi smiled. "You are coming with me, Mamoru, if I have to drag you. If the school and house awoke something in me, I know that the old ruins will awaken something for you. We are going. Now." She did as promised. She forced him to go with her, and they traisped around the woods for hours, until Usagi pounced across something hidden in weeds and trees. A few blocks of cement, some wooden posts, and a small graveyard. Mamoru fell to his knees in front of the stones, not sure why he was concerning himself with the graves of a family that had nothing to do with him. He traced the names of the graves, though. They were simple markers, and he found one lying on it's side. "Usagi." He knew though, that her body was no longer there. It was in her family's graveyard. He frowned. They had no right to take a girl's body from her resting place and bring it somewhere else. She had loved it here, and had chose to die here, where she had love. To take that away from her... Usagi's hand rested on his shoulder. She had seen the expression on his face. "Her body was just a body, Mamoru. Her spirit was the part that made her up, as Mamoru's was. They didn't fall in love with the body, Mamoru. They fell in love with the person inside." Mamoru nodded absently, and turned to stand up. He looked down at Usagi, and brushed a strand of hair away from her face, then stopped. Why was he feeling so....strange with Usagi now? He did fancy himself half in love with her, but now... it seemed more than that. It was like he had lost her, and had finally regained her back again by his side. He felt another part of him take over, and he let it fully. He saw Usagi's eyes smile at him, and she allowed the one tender kiss he placed gently on her lips. He didn't know if he would have the strength to do it by himself. He also knew at that moment,. that any feelings he had toward Usagi changed. It was very distinct. It scared him, but he knew that it was right. Giving her a gentle hug, they walked past the graveyard, into the ruins of the house. Mamoru let his eyes adjust to the light of the overhanging trees and what remained of a roof. He saw a simple staircase, and a corner of a wall that was untouched by any of the fire that had swept through the rest of the house. He heard a voice in the back of his mind...his voice, telling somebody information about that spot. "This is safe in my time and your time. They'll find you here. Don't worry." Feedback? Onegai??!! *smiles cheesily*