The warm body was still beside Naru. She breathed and let her hands run over the strong back. She felt sturdy arms pulling her closer.

"Am I dreaming? It has to be a dream!" Naru whispered. "Neflite! Is it really you?"

"Yes, Naru!" Neflite whispered back. "It's me!"

"But I thought you were dead!" Naru said quietly. "How is that possible?"

"That's a long story!" Neflite said, smiling down to her.

Naru looked up to him. "Neflite!" she said happily and stroked his cheek.

"Naru!" Umino's voice sounded.

Naru jerked and turned around. "Umino!" she said, nervously.

"What are you doing there?" Umino scolded. "What is this guy doing in our bedroom?"

"Umino..." Naru began.

"Good evening, Umino!" Neflite said, quietly.

"Who the hell are you?" Umino shouted.

Neflite snorted, when he heard the word "hell."

Umino reached for his glasses and put them on. "Wait a minute!" he said. "Now I recognize you! You're Masato Sanjouin!" He looked to his girlfriend. "Naru! What do you have to do with this tennis teacher?"

Before Naru could answer, Neflite said: "In the first place, Masato Sanjouin is no tennis teacher, but a tennis trainer, and second, you should be careful who you are talking to: I am one of the Dark Kingdom Shitennou!"

"Shitennou?" Umino said, gruffly. "The Shitennou are a myth!"

"Umino?" Naru interrupted him. "That's Neflite!"

Umino looked at Naru, then to Neflite, then to Naru again.

"He was the one you fell in love with a long time ago?" Umino asked, confused.

Naru only nodded.

"She's got good taste!" Neflite said selfishly, and wrapped an arm around Naru.

"Neflite?" Naru whispered, looking confused at her first love.

Umino looked at the floor silently.

"Umino..." Naru said, walking some steps towards him. She couldn't go farther, because Neflite was holding her tight.

"Why are you doing this to me, Naru?" Umino said, desperately. "Why are you betraying me with this show-off?"

Naru looked at Umino's face and saw that he had tears in his eyes. "Umino, it's..."

"Get out!" Umino hissed.

"Umino?" Naru asked carefully.

"Get out, I said!" Umino yelled in tears. "Both of you! Get away!"

"Umino..." Naru said sadly, but Neflite pulled her with him.

"Come on, Naru!" he said, calming, and walked outside with her.

"Umino!" Naru shouted, but Umino didn't listen.

* * * * * * * *

Neflite closed the front door and breathed the cold wind, relieved.

Naru only sat on the ground, sobbing.

Neflite looked down to her. "You shouldn't sit there, darling!" he said, worried. "You could get a cold!"

Naru didn't stand up, but kept on sobbing.

"Why are you crying?" Neflite asked, uncomprehendingly. "You should be glad you're rid of him! This stupid boy wasn't a man for you!"

Naru sobbed even more when she heard what Neflite said.

Neflite knelt down to her. He took her chin and wiped her tears away. "I am back, Naru, my dear!" he said, smiling. "Now we can be together, finally!"

"Neflite, you..." Naru began, but Neflite lay a finger on her lips.

"Shhh..." he said. "I know a place where we can stay!"

"But..." Naru began.

"Everything will be okay!" Neflite promised and took her in his arms. Both teleported in a red flash away.

* * * * * * * *

The villa in the wood was surrounded by haze. Everything was quiet. Just the wind sounded in the silence.

In one of the dark rooms of the old building, Neflite and Naru appeared.

"It's cold" Naru said and snuggled up closer to Neflite.

Neflite was happy to feel Naru.

"It's been a long time since the last time I was here!" he said and looked around. When he saw the fireside, he moved his fingers, and a fire started burning.

"Now, let me see you, Naru!" Neflite looked at the red-haired girl from head to feet. "You're grown!" he said, amazed.

"Well..." Naru said, insecure. "I am 19 years old now."

Neflite smiled. "You're a young lady now, Naru!" he said, raving. "A beautiful young lady!" He wanted to kiss her neck, but Naru held him back.

"Neflite, wait a minute...!" she said.

Neflite looked into Naru's face. "You're right!" he said. "I should show you my home at first!"

"No!" Naru said. "That wasn't, what I wanted to say!"

Neflite discovered a mirror in the room. Instantly, he went to the mirror, took it from the wall, turned it around and lay it on the floor.

"What are you doing there?" Naru asked, wondering.

Neflite remembered that Naru had a mirror in the bedroom, and when Kunzite's mirror had shown him Naru, he had seen her in this bedroom. So he supposed that Kunzite and Zoisite could watch him via his mirror, too. And he didn't want anybody to watch him now!

"Make yourself at home!" he said, invitingly.

"Home," Naru said, sadly.

"Don't tell me you're still crying for this loser!" Neflite said.

"He's my boyfriend!" Naru said. "We've been together for five years now!"

"So?" Neflite said and sat on a chair. "Tell me more about it! How did you get to know him?"

Naru sat on another chair. "He was in my class," Naru said. "At first he was in love with my friend Usagi."

"Usagi..." Neflite said and grinned. Before he had been killed, he had found out that Sailor Moon's true identity was Usagi. So Umino had been in love with Sailor Moon.

"After you were dead," Naru said, "Umino and I became close friends, and then... well,... now he's my boyfriend." Naru's face grew sad. "I mean... he was." She thought about Umino. He for sure was very depressed now. She remembered the day a stranger wanted to be her boyfriend for three months, because he was ill and would die very soon. Naru at first had said yes, but then she had seen how sad Umino was and how it got him down. When she wanted to back down, she found out that the poor man was evil and Sailor Moon had to save her.

"What are you thinking about?" Neflite wanted to know.

Naru jerked.

She watched Neflite, looked around the room, saw the turned-around mirror and then looked back to Neflite.

"I have to talk with Umino!" she said.

"Why?" Neflite said. "He has thrown you out! Have you forgotten?"

"No!" Naru looked down and wiped a tear away. "But he's depressed now and I'm worried that he might hurt himself!"

Neflite's face grew angry. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that you've got still strong feelings for this boy!"

"I have to go to him!" Naru stood up from the chair. "I have to explain the whole thing to him!"

"One moment, please!" Neflite went to Naru and held her tight. "What do you have to explain to him?"

Naru watched Neflite. His angry look frightened her. She shivered and walked some steps backward.

Neflite followed her. "Why are you shivering, Naru?" he asked. "Do you have something to hide from me?"

Naru looked into Neflite's eyes. Only now she noted that they were cold and empty.

"Neflite, what's wrong with you?" Naru wanted to know.

"What should be wrong?" Neflite replied.

"Your eyes!" Naru said.

"What's with my eyes?" Neflite asked.

"There's... no life in your eyes!" Naru tried to explain. "It's... as if there weren't any pupils!"

In a brief movement, Neflite grapped Naru's upper arms.

"So!" he said. "You see no pupils in my eyes!"

Naru now had the chance to look into the deep emptiness of Neflite's eyes. She shuddered.

Neflite grapped her face and looked into her eyes, deeply. "Why can't I see love for me in your eyes anymore?" he hissed.

"Neflite!" Naru said, desperately. "That's not true!"

"Watch me!" Neflite ordered to Naru. "Watch me the way you've watched him!"

"Neflite! Let me be!" Naru shouted.

Neflite pressed his lips against Naru's.

In her despair, Naru pushed him as fiercely as she could away.

Neflite lay on the floor like the blond man who had wanted to be her boyfriend for three months, and who had tried to force this as she wanted to back down.

"Neflite, I'm sorry!" Naru said in tears.

Neflite gasped.

Naru walked to him and lent him her hand to help him stand up, but Neflite ignored her.

He stood up on his own, breathing heavily, and went out of the room.

Naru sagged to her knees.

She watched the empty room, saw that the fire still was burning and again wondered about the turned-around mirror.

Depressed, she stood up and looked around, sighing.

Then her look went to the mirror again. Slowly she came closer to Neflite's work.

When she arrived at the mirror, she knelt down.

Carefully, she touched the frame.

Nothing happened.

Very cautiously she turned the mirror around. The glass reflected.

Naru looked around, intent on making sure that nobody was watching her.

Then she turned her face to the mirror, but except for her tear-stained face, there was nothing she could see.

* * * * * * * *