The fight with the youma had been draining. They had come upon the scene to find people passed out up and down the sidewalk of the shopping district. Zoicite had chosen to remain for the battle for a reason known only to him, and his comments were had begun to grate on the Senshi's nerves. Presently, the youma was threateningly waving the long claws on it's black and yellow arm in the air. The Sailor Senshi were barely managing to keep it distracted. "On three!" Sailor Mars yelled. "One! Two! Three! Fire Soul!"

Sailors Mercury and Jupiter sent their attacks out at the same time. As the youma had been facing Sailor Mars, it easily dodged her attack. The other two Senshi managed a direct hit. "Now, Sailor Moon!" Mars called. The three Senshi watched their leader anxiously as the youma staggered from side to side behind them. Tuxedo Kamen stared fixedly at the creature, in case it thought to attack the Moon Senshi. Sailor Moon aimed her tiara at it and called, "Moon Tiara Action!" The youma stopped staggering and flashed brightly once before the fatal attack reduced it to dust.

"I got what I came for. Thank you, Sailor Moon!" Zoicite called. He disappeared in laughter.

"Why is he thanking you?" Sailor Jupiter asked.

"Who knows." As Sailor Moon followed the other tired Senshi down the alleyway, she sensed an unusual presence. "Rei," she murmured, "do you feel that?"

"Feel what, Odango Brains? I'm the psychic, remember?" the priestess snapped.

Usagi sighed. She knew Rei was tired, but did she have to get so angry? All at once, Usagi stopped in her tracks as she was hit with an intense feeling of shock and fear.

"What in the hell?" a deep male voice said. Usagi looked around frantically for the source. Just as she was beginning to think it was her imagination, her thoughts were interrupted.

"Let's go, Usagi. We don't have all day," Makoto commanded, prodding her shoulder. She had apparently been the first to notice that Usagi wasn't behind them.

Usagi shook her head and followed Makoto to the rest of the group. "I'm going home to sleep, minna," she announced as soon as she reached them. Ami and Minako looked amused. "Sayonara."

Just as she turned the corner away from her friends, the male voice returned. "My imagination is running away from me. I need to sleep or something."

Once again, Usagi looked for the man who had spoken. "The voice is somewhat familiar," she thought.

"Yes, it is," the man agreed. Usagi felt a sharp sensation in her forehead as if it had been smacked. "Now my imagination is talking to me. Maybe I should skip sleep and go to a psychologist."

"I'm not your imagination," Usagi grumbled. "You're mine." She noticed people staring at her and began walking again.

"My imagination is telling me that I'm it's imagination. If that doesn't mean that I need to see a doctor I don't know what does."

"I don't know who this guy thinks he is, but he's going to get a face full of imaginary fist," she thought in annoyance.

The male chuckled. "As long as I'm insane, I might as well go along with my imagination. I think I'm Chiba Mamoru."

"Mamoru-baka? Where are you?" Usagi demanded, searching for him. "When I find you, I'm going to hurt you badly."

"Odango Atama!" Mamoru sounded alarmed. "What are you doing in my apartment?"

"Stop screwing around! We're outside, baka!" Usagi growled, picturing cruel things to do to Mamoru.

"Damn! You wouldn't really walk me off a cliff, would you?" Panic seized Usagi and Mamoru simultaneously.

"How'd you know I thought that?" she demanded.

"What did you do?" Mamoru yelled. Usagi covered her ears to no avail.

"Baka?" she thought experimentally.

"Now is not the time, Odango," he replied.

"Mamoru," she thought in a whisper. "I'm in your mind."

"You mean telepathy?" he asked.

"Exactly," Usagi confirmed. Realizing that she had again stopped, she started home again.

"How did this happen?" Mamoru wondered.

Usagi remember the youma's brief glowing and Zoicite's words. Had Mamoru been there? If she was affected why weren't the Senshi?

"That's simple. The Senshi were looking at Sailor Moon. If that's what caused this Sailor Moon will be affected. What were you doing there?" Mamoru questioned.

Usagi sent him a mental groan. "Rule number one: don't read my thoughts."

"I can't help it Odango." Usagi heard the smugness in his voice.

"Listen, baka, I'm not going to put up with you insulting me all the time. You're going to be nice until we've straighten this out. Now, what were you doing near the Senshi battle?" Usagi burst. She received an image of the fight from a rooftop.

"I was driving past on the way home," Mamoru informed her.

"Let me guess. You flew your car to the top of a building for safety," she retorted. All at once, she was bombarded by many thoughts and images, but Usagi managed to get one thing from them. "Mamoru-baka," she breathed mentally, "you're Tuxedo Kamen!" Usagi stumbled and nearly fell down. A thought occurred to her. She tried to think of something, anything else but failed.

"Odango Atama, you can't be Sailor Moon!" Mamoru exclaimed.

AN: I'll probably feel the need to explain my story every time from now on. This, so no one accuses me of plagiarism, was based on a thought I had while reading the most recent Dragon Riders of Pern book that involved mostly F'lessan; thereby Anne McCaffery. Also, I started writing this in October.

Originally posted: February through May 2004.