LIGHT, DARKNESS AND SHADOWS
By: Tsukiyono Nue
E-mail: Nue-kun@zipmail.com
Rated: R
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I really believe in "Miracle Romance" and I want to thank to my wondrous husband, my half and my inspiration. I would like to offer this fic to him. Hope you enjoy and please send me your opinions. And Sailor Moon belongs characters to others... I just borrow them from time to time to expand on the love and romance between them...
______________________________________________________________
It was a kind of sinister end of afternoon. The clouds were getting bigger and darker fulfilling the expectancy of raining times to come. What was odd about that gathering storm were its colors: by that time the sun was setting, dying some clouds in red. If it wasn't impossible, someone could say it was going to rain a lot... of blood.
But nothing of this was calling Usagi's attention. Walking her way home she was worrying just about her school report. She got bad marks on almost all subjects again and knew that her parents would be very angry. Why couldn't she get a good mark? She knew all the answers but when she had to write them, they were gone and she could see only the angry face of her parents. It was so despairing.
Tears felt from her eyes when she arrived at home but she dried them up and got in. She walked across the living room heading for her bedroom. As always, her parents were there. Her father was seated on his favorite armchair, watching TV. Her mother was lying on the sofa flipping through a magazine. On the other side of the room, on the base of the stairs, she looked at them again and thought: "Why can't they be like the other's parents? Why can't they love each other?" she felt that she was going to cry, "Why can't they love me?" Usagi ran up the stairs, her hands hiding the tears. She got in her bedroom and laid on her bed. The girl hugged her pillow and cried. Her thoughts were like wounds washed with alcohol: pain in its brute form. "Will the pain never stop?" she wondered "Will I never meet love? Will I never have someone that truly loves me?"
Usagi heard the door being opened
"Usagi, are you okay?"
"I'm okay mom... I'm just sad..."
Tsukino Ikuko sat on Usagi's bed.
"Sad? Why are you sad?"
"I received my school report and... and I did it bad again."
A moment of silence. Usagi's mother changed to a deeply serious mood.
"How bad?"
"It's on my school bag... You can take it..." she said without moving a muscle. She heard her mother searching in her bag, a subtle silence and steps followed by a door slam. Usagi had seen that film a lot of times before but it was always painful. Her mother went back to the living room shouting:
"What have I told you? What have I told you? She got bad marks again! Told you a lot of times that she needed help, that she was too stupid to learn by herself, that you should contract a private teacher to help her. But have you heard me? Have you? No! Now here is the result of your stubbornness!"
CRACK!!! Screamed a thunder out there.
"What are you saying? I heard every word you have been repeating at me like a damned parrot but what do you want me to do? You wouldn't have food to eat today if I was paying a teacher to your daughter!"
Raindrops were just reaching the garden of the house in front.
"Now she is *my* daughter?! When she makes a mistake she is my daughter. You run away every time she has problems. You are just a coward that can't accept that she is *our* daughter, that she is *our* problem..."
"You are my problem!!! You and that unwanted pregnancy! You and *your* daughter have destroyed my dreams, throwing me into a reality of a job that I hate, earning so little money as needed to keep us alive. I hate you! I hate you both!!!"
"You hate me?! So why have you married me? Why have you accepted to raise our daughter with me? If you hate me so much as you say why don't you leave? Get out of my life! Go to share the bed of one of those bitches at your job!"
The girl heard a sound like a violent step followed by the front door slamming. At that very time, chin on the pillow and facing the window being repeatedly hit by raindrops, she wished that the end of that film could change. She wished that the person going out to get drunk was her father instead of her mother. She wished that the sound of steps going up stairs was just her imagination. She wished that her bedroom's door wasn't being opened. She wished...
"How do you explain this?"
Her father's voiced crashed her dreams and showed that none of her wishes would come true that night.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!!!" he shouted.
Usagi felt she had no more tears so she dried the last ones, sat on the bed and faced her father. He was deeply angry what made she very afraid.
"Answer me! How do you explain this?!" he asked again in a loud voice throwing her school report at her.
"I... I don't know..."
He came closer to the girl raising a hand in order to slap her. "CRACK!" sounded another falling thunder out of the house. Inside, Usagi was thrown on the ground by the violent stroke.
" 'I don't know' is not an answer! What do you think I am?! Do you think my money grow on trees?! Do you think I pay your school for you to learn nothing?!"
She sat on the floor, facing down.
"I'm sorry. I'll..."
Her father interrupted her speech with a new stroke at her face, this time with the hand closed. The girl was again facing the floor, crying. She could feel the blood running down in her mouth and nose.
"I haven't finished yet! Respect me you little bitch!"
"I'm sorry, dad..." she whispered.
Her father's face was all red in anger and he was shouting.
"Sorry?! You always say you are sorry! It's all you know to say! But what do you do to change?! What do you do?! I'll tell you: you do nothing! You are always making mistakes, misbehaving and getting bad marks but do nothing to change! What do you want for your future?! Do you want to be a parasite like your mother?!"
Usagi felt like a little child. She couldn't do anything. Neither run away nor protect herself. She crawled to her bed and tried to get up supporting herself on it.
"Dad,... please... stop... I'll be a good girl... I'll do my best..."
"I know you'll do your best! I know because you are always doing your best to make me angry! You are not happy if I'm not shouting at you, isn't it?!"
"It's not true..."
He slapped her face again.
"Don't lie to me!"
He stood there for a moment, breathing heavily, facing Usagi's body laid on her bed.
"I know", he said, "I know exactly what you deserve."
He held his belt and untied it.
"Isn't that what you want, little bitch?!"
"No, dad, don't do that to me again,... please."
"Have you heard when I asked you not to do that again?! Have you?!" he said taking out his belt and holding it with one of his hands "So now I'll pretend I'm not listening too!"
Usagi's father held his belt and started to hit her body with its buckle. The girl tried to protect herself the best way she could but it wasn't easy. He beat at her viciously, repeated times and she did the only thing she could: cry and moan in pain every time she was hit. He was not caring about where he was beating her: the buckle hurt her back, her bottom, her arms, her legs and her head.
Minutes later his arm was becoming painful and he stopped. Usagi was contorting with pain on her bed. Her father walked closer, grabbed her hair with one hand and faced her. His other hand was feeling every curve on Usagi's body. The girl was afraid of what could happen.
"Please, dad, stop. Please..."
He smiled.
"I won't do anything... not now. This is just to remind you that if you don't study, the only job you can have is as a prostitute."
His hand was on one of her breasts.
"I'll study, dad. I'll get good marks..."
"I hope so. But if you ever decide to become a prostitute, be sure I'll be your first client."
He licked her left cheek and left the bedroom saying:
"I love you dear. That's why I do that."
Usagi's body was entirely in pain. It hurt a lot to move any muscle. Her thoughts were confuse:
"How can people hurt the others because they love them? Is love always hand to hand with pain? Is this painful love the only kind of love I'll ever find? I wished it could be just like the fairy tales; I wished my prince to come in through the window, take me away from this dungeon and make me happy forever."
She waited for about an hour but her prince didn't show up. Then she had a strange thought, a thought she had never before.
"Love... love is not the problem. They are the problem. This place is the problem. If I run away from here I'll be happy."
So, with new energy, she got up. She was going to run away now and would never return. The girl realized that she couldn't go out through the front door because her father was in the living room so she got some sheets and tied them in a rope-like shape. She tied one of the rope's end around her bed's leg and threw the other one through the window. It was long enough. She grabbed the "rope" and started to climb it down. It was still raining and all her body was still in pain, as a result she slipped and felt about a meter and a half far from the ground. She got some scratches but nothing serious. Usagi got up and, wet because of the rain, ran through the street. Only one thought was on her mind:
"Free! I'm free! I'll never again have my mother shouting at me or my father spanking me. I'll never again have to justify my mistakes and..."
When Usagi arrived on the square a few blocks away from her house the frightening reality crashed against her face:
"And then what?" she thought "I don't have money and I don't have a job either. And now I don't have a house to live too."
The girl felt like getting younger again. She sat on a bench at the square and stayed there, getting wetter, like a helpless 3-year-child.
"Why?" she asked herself "Why is my guardian angel never looking at me? Why is he always on..."
She was going to think "vacation" when something suddenly covered her, preventing the rain to touch her body, and a masculine voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Are you all right?"
She slowly moved her head to face up and saw a tall young man holding an umbrella. He looked at the wounds on her face and seemed surprised.
"Uh, I think you need some help."
He walked until he was in front at her and stooped . He carefully held her chin and moved her head to one side and then to the other, paying attention to her hurts.
Usagi was just amazed with that boy so handsome and so careful with her. The girl came out of the distress she was drove by his lovely blue eyes when he got up.
"Look, I live in a flat not far from here. If you come with me I can treat your wounds."
The girl just stayed there facing him, surprised. Things were happening so subtlety and fast that she didn't know what to say. The young man just smiled and said:
"Oh, sorry. I haven't introduced myself. Chiba Mamoru, pleased to meet you."
He extended his hand to the girl offering a hand-choke but Usagi stayed stunned looking to his face.
"Can't you trust me now we are not strangers anymore?"
She just didn't know what to think because he was being so gentle, so soft, so... lovely. That young man there in front of her was doing just what she expected of a father. With that thought in mind, and a little afraid too, Usagi stood up and held his hand.
They walked some blocks away. Usagi could barely believe in what she was doing. She was going to the house of a boy that she had just met. She knew nothing about him but, somehow, she felt that she could rely on him. She knew that he was not going to hurt her like her father. And then she wondered if that she was feeling wasn't the love she expected to meet for so long.
"Here. That's the building I live in."
That was a four-floored building looking not too modern. They got in and took the elevator. They stopped on the third floor where Mamoru unlocked his flat's door. His house was not a luxurious one but was very comfortable. He locked the door and hanged his umbrella behind it.
"Why don't you take a warm bath and get rid of these wet clothes before I take care of your wounds."
"I-I would like it."
He guided Usagi to the bathroom and taught her how to turn on the shower on warm water.
"I'll get you some dry clothes. They will be a bit loose on you but that's the best I can do."
"Thank you."
He came back minutes later with a pair of trousers and a long sleeved blouse.
"Here. Those are the smallest I have. And here is a towel for you to use."
Usagi smiled a "thank you" and he got out of the bathroom. She took out her clothes thinking how things were getting so strange that evening. The sensation of the warm water over her body felt really good. It was increasing the sensation of protection she had at that time. The girl finished her bath, dried up and put on the clothes Mamoru had brought her.
"Mamoru, I am done." she said leaving the bathroom.
"Oh, come here. I'm in the bedroom."
Usagi followed the sound of his voice and found the bedroom. He was seated on a chair by the bed with a first aid box opened on his legs.
"Good. The trousers fitted to your waist."
He smiled to her and she smiled back.
"Look, have you got a hair brush I could use? If I don't brush my hair it will soon be in a mess."
"Sure."
He moved to his cabinet and gave her a hairbrush. Usagi seated on his bed and started to brush her hair.
"So, you study on the Juuban Junior High School, don't...?"
"Ouch!" Usagi groaned with pain and held the arm she was using to brush her hair, interrupting Mamoru
Mamoru noticed a bruise on the point she was holding. He came closer, took out the hairbrush from her hands and seated by her on the bed. The girl looked at him surprised.
"Let me do this or your wounds will get worse. Just turn a little"
Even surprised, as she was, Usagi turned to the other side allowing Mamoru to brush her hair.
"As I was saying," he continued "you study on the Juuban Junior High School, don't you?"
"Yes."
"I studied there when I was younger. It's a good school with good teachers. Don't miss this chance of learning with them."
At that moment he was brushing her hair better than Usagi's mother... when she used to do so. "What more will he do to surprise me?" Usagi thought. The sensation of his soft hands on her hair, the proximity of his body and the care of every movement he did were almost heaven.
"Are you listening?"
Usagi woke up from her dreams.
"Er, sorry. What did you say?"
"I said that you must be a very good student, mustn't you?"
Usagi faced down.
"In fact not... I often get bad marks..."
"Uh, sorry."
"That's okay. Really."
"Look, if you want, er..."
"What's wrong?"
"I forgot to ask your name..."
They both laughed at that situation. She knew just his name and trusted him as a long, long time friend. He didn't know even her name and was willing to help her.
"My name is Tsukino Usagi."
"Pleased to meet you, Tsukino-san."
"You may call me Usagi, Chiba-san."
"Only if you call me Mamoru."
They laughed again.
"But what were you saying, Mamoru-san? "
"Oh yes, Usagi-san. I was saying that if you want to come here after school for me to help you to study, you can come."
"I would love that."
Usagi suddenly realized what she had just said and got a little ashamed of her words. But the truth was that she was loving that entire situation: she was loving to hear his voice, she was loving to feel his hands over her, she was loving the care he had with her, she was loving... him.
Mamoru stood up.
"Now, could you lie down?"
The girl looked stunned to the boy. He was not asking her to do that, was he? What kind of girl was he thinking she was? Noticing surprise on her face Mamoru explained himself.
"Don't you want me to treat the bruises on your back?"
Usagi was a little embarrassed with his last words. She was thinking bad of him and he just wanted to help. She lied down, as he had asked.
"Could you pull the blouse a little up so I can put the medicine on your wounds?"
She did so, pulling the blouse up so it would cover only her naked breasts (once her bra was still wet). Mamoru put some ointment over the hurt parts of her back and then he spread it with the hands. The touch of his hands over her back made Usagi feel really good. The young man had the hands of an angel. It was so good that she didn't feel any pain. Even when he put his hands under her blouse and caressed her shoulders she couldn't ask him to stop. He then treated her arms and legs as well.
"Let us see what I can do about that bruise on your forehead."
Usagi lowered her bloused and faced Mamoru while he put some ointment on her forehead. He spread it with the fingers, held her chin and kissed her cheek.
"Now just let the time do its job."
He smiled at her.
"I regret I can't do anything about that wound on your lips."
Usagi couldn't control herself anymore. She passed her arms around his neck and approached her face to his.
"I have a good idea of what you can do for them."
They touched their lips in an impassioned kiss.
"I love you Mamo-chan."
"I love you Usako", he replied.
She lied down on his bed again and pulled him over her body. Usagi was astonished when his tongue softly made its way inside her mouth. That was her first French kiss and, God, it was good. Mamoru's hands were sliding all over her body. He drove them under her blouse and touched her breasts. He caressed her nipples making she moan with pleasure. The young man then pulled up her blouse and kissed each of her small breasts. His tongue touched her nipples and slid around them.
"Ma-Mamo-chan...", she moaned.
He was about to completely remove her blouse when he put both hands on her shoulders and pushed her away. He squatted on the other side of the bed.
"I'm sorry, Usagi-san. I can't do this."
"What are you saying, Mamo-chan."
"I can't do this to you." he cried "Go back home. Your parents won't hurt you, I promise."
"But, why... I'm so happy here with you."
He stood up and shouted:
"I'm telling you to go! You can't be happy by my side!"
She stared at him and saw his face to change. Mamoru, for a second, got the most menacing face in the world; he was terrifying. Usagi stood up and ran away as fast as she could.
The girl arrived at home breathing heavily. Her heart was bumping strongly when she held the front door's handle. It was unlocked. She entered the darkness of the living room and fumbled around her way to her bedroom after locking the house's door. She calmed down when, passing by her parent's bedroom, she noticed that they were sleeping. Reaching her bedroom the girl closed the door and turned the lights on. Looking to the clock she discovered it was 11.00 p.m. Usagi stopped in front of the mirror, looking at her own eyes, and made a quick recapitulation of that night's events.
"What have I done wrong?" she thought.
Usagi couldn't understand the reason of Mamoru's attitude towards her. She was confuse about it and about her feelings. Her eyes slowly moved down from the eyes of her reflex to the clothes she was wearing. Those were his clothes. She smelled the blouse and felt his smell in it. The girl took out the blouse and the pair of trousers and put on her pajamas. She folded them and hid them under her pillow; she wanted to feel his smell all night long. She went to bed wondering what was he going to do with her school uniform. Usagi had forgotten it in his bathroom. Thanks God, her spare uniform was inside her cabinet. The next day she was going to visit him and... Usagi opened her eyes: for the most she tried the girl wasn't able to remember where Mamoru's apartment was. She useless tried to remember it until falling asleep.
***
The secretary's office was opened by Usagi on the snack time.
"Good morning, Nishida-san."
"Good morning, Usagi-chan. What can I do for you?"
"Er... our teacher, Harunada-sensei, asked us to do... uh... an interview, yes, that's it, an interview with an ex-student of our school."
"And how can I help you?"
"She gave me a name" the girl opened her notebook "Here it is: Chiba Mamoru. She said that you could give me his address."
"I remember this one" the secretary said while searching the files "He usually had the best marks among his classmates, specially in Physics, but his behavior wasn't so good..."
Usagi was going to ask something but was interrupted.
"Here you are."
Nishida-san copied the address in a small piece of paper and gave it to Usagi.
"Maybe he is not living there anymore but if you ask the right people you will find him."
"Thanks."
"Good luck on your interview."
In that afternoon Usagi went to check that address. She knew she was going to have problems when she arrived: it was the address of a house, not of an apartment.
"I'm here already, so let's check. Maybe someone knows him."
She knocked on the door.
"Just a minute" said a voice from inside.
In a few seconds a lady looking about forty-five years old opened the door.
"Yes" she said looking at Usagi "How can I help you?"
Usagi smiled at her.
"My name is Usagi and I'm a student of the Juuban Junior High School. As a school work we have to interview an ex-student. My job is to interview Chiba Mamoru. May I talk to him?"
The woman's face lost her smile and got a mixture of serious and sad.
"I'm afraid not."
"Why? Has he moved?"
"Please, get in."
Usagi stepped inside and followed the lady to a picture on the wall. It was a photo of Mamoru and his mother. Mamoru was wearing his school uniform, smiling, and by his side was his mother, also happy, beautifully dressed.
"That photo was taken on his graduation."
"That's him" Usagi said "I recognize his face. Has he moved from here?"
"Yes" said the woman "He moved about ten years ago... a couple of months before his death."
By: Tsukiyono Nue
E-mail: Nue-kun@zipmail.com
Rated: R
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I really believe in "Miracle Romance" and I want to thank to my wondrous husband, my half and my inspiration. I would like to offer this fic to him. Hope you enjoy and please send me your opinions. And Sailor Moon belongs characters to others... I just borrow them from time to time to expand on the love and romance between them...
______________________________________________________________
It was a kind of sinister end of afternoon. The clouds were getting bigger and darker fulfilling the expectancy of raining times to come. What was odd about that gathering storm were its colors: by that time the sun was setting, dying some clouds in red. If it wasn't impossible, someone could say it was going to rain a lot... of blood.
But nothing of this was calling Usagi's attention. Walking her way home she was worrying just about her school report. She got bad marks on almost all subjects again and knew that her parents would be very angry. Why couldn't she get a good mark? She knew all the answers but when she had to write them, they were gone and she could see only the angry face of her parents. It was so despairing.
Tears felt from her eyes when she arrived at home but she dried them up and got in. She walked across the living room heading for her bedroom. As always, her parents were there. Her father was seated on his favorite armchair, watching TV. Her mother was lying on the sofa flipping through a magazine. On the other side of the room, on the base of the stairs, she looked at them again and thought: "Why can't they be like the other's parents? Why can't they love each other?" she felt that she was going to cry, "Why can't they love me?" Usagi ran up the stairs, her hands hiding the tears. She got in her bedroom and laid on her bed. The girl hugged her pillow and cried. Her thoughts were like wounds washed with alcohol: pain in its brute form. "Will the pain never stop?" she wondered "Will I never meet love? Will I never have someone that truly loves me?"
Usagi heard the door being opened
"Usagi, are you okay?"
"I'm okay mom... I'm just sad..."
Tsukino Ikuko sat on Usagi's bed.
"Sad? Why are you sad?"
"I received my school report and... and I did it bad again."
A moment of silence. Usagi's mother changed to a deeply serious mood.
"How bad?"
"It's on my school bag... You can take it..." she said without moving a muscle. She heard her mother searching in her bag, a subtle silence and steps followed by a door slam. Usagi had seen that film a lot of times before but it was always painful. Her mother went back to the living room shouting:
"What have I told you? What have I told you? She got bad marks again! Told you a lot of times that she needed help, that she was too stupid to learn by herself, that you should contract a private teacher to help her. But have you heard me? Have you? No! Now here is the result of your stubbornness!"
CRACK!!! Screamed a thunder out there.
"What are you saying? I heard every word you have been repeating at me like a damned parrot but what do you want me to do? You wouldn't have food to eat today if I was paying a teacher to your daughter!"
Raindrops were just reaching the garden of the house in front.
"Now she is *my* daughter?! When she makes a mistake she is my daughter. You run away every time she has problems. You are just a coward that can't accept that she is *our* daughter, that she is *our* problem..."
"You are my problem!!! You and that unwanted pregnancy! You and *your* daughter have destroyed my dreams, throwing me into a reality of a job that I hate, earning so little money as needed to keep us alive. I hate you! I hate you both!!!"
"You hate me?! So why have you married me? Why have you accepted to raise our daughter with me? If you hate me so much as you say why don't you leave? Get out of my life! Go to share the bed of one of those bitches at your job!"
The girl heard a sound like a violent step followed by the front door slamming. At that very time, chin on the pillow and facing the window being repeatedly hit by raindrops, she wished that the end of that film could change. She wished that the person going out to get drunk was her father instead of her mother. She wished that the sound of steps going up stairs was just her imagination. She wished that her bedroom's door wasn't being opened. She wished...
"How do you explain this?"
Her father's voiced crashed her dreams and showed that none of her wishes would come true that night.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!!!" he shouted.
Usagi felt she had no more tears so she dried the last ones, sat on the bed and faced her father. He was deeply angry what made she very afraid.
"Answer me! How do you explain this?!" he asked again in a loud voice throwing her school report at her.
"I... I don't know..."
He came closer to the girl raising a hand in order to slap her. "CRACK!" sounded another falling thunder out of the house. Inside, Usagi was thrown on the ground by the violent stroke.
" 'I don't know' is not an answer! What do you think I am?! Do you think my money grow on trees?! Do you think I pay your school for you to learn nothing?!"
She sat on the floor, facing down.
"I'm sorry. I'll..."
Her father interrupted her speech with a new stroke at her face, this time with the hand closed. The girl was again facing the floor, crying. She could feel the blood running down in her mouth and nose.
"I haven't finished yet! Respect me you little bitch!"
"I'm sorry, dad..." she whispered.
Her father's face was all red in anger and he was shouting.
"Sorry?! You always say you are sorry! It's all you know to say! But what do you do to change?! What do you do?! I'll tell you: you do nothing! You are always making mistakes, misbehaving and getting bad marks but do nothing to change! What do you want for your future?! Do you want to be a parasite like your mother?!"
Usagi felt like a little child. She couldn't do anything. Neither run away nor protect herself. She crawled to her bed and tried to get up supporting herself on it.
"Dad,... please... stop... I'll be a good girl... I'll do my best..."
"I know you'll do your best! I know because you are always doing your best to make me angry! You are not happy if I'm not shouting at you, isn't it?!"
"It's not true..."
He slapped her face again.
"Don't lie to me!"
He stood there for a moment, breathing heavily, facing Usagi's body laid on her bed.
"I know", he said, "I know exactly what you deserve."
He held his belt and untied it.
"Isn't that what you want, little bitch?!"
"No, dad, don't do that to me again,... please."
"Have you heard when I asked you not to do that again?! Have you?!" he said taking out his belt and holding it with one of his hands "So now I'll pretend I'm not listening too!"
Usagi's father held his belt and started to hit her body with its buckle. The girl tried to protect herself the best way she could but it wasn't easy. He beat at her viciously, repeated times and she did the only thing she could: cry and moan in pain every time she was hit. He was not caring about where he was beating her: the buckle hurt her back, her bottom, her arms, her legs and her head.
Minutes later his arm was becoming painful and he stopped. Usagi was contorting with pain on her bed. Her father walked closer, grabbed her hair with one hand and faced her. His other hand was feeling every curve on Usagi's body. The girl was afraid of what could happen.
"Please, dad, stop. Please..."
He smiled.
"I won't do anything... not now. This is just to remind you that if you don't study, the only job you can have is as a prostitute."
His hand was on one of her breasts.
"I'll study, dad. I'll get good marks..."
"I hope so. But if you ever decide to become a prostitute, be sure I'll be your first client."
He licked her left cheek and left the bedroom saying:
"I love you dear. That's why I do that."
Usagi's body was entirely in pain. It hurt a lot to move any muscle. Her thoughts were confuse:
"How can people hurt the others because they love them? Is love always hand to hand with pain? Is this painful love the only kind of love I'll ever find? I wished it could be just like the fairy tales; I wished my prince to come in through the window, take me away from this dungeon and make me happy forever."
She waited for about an hour but her prince didn't show up. Then she had a strange thought, a thought she had never before.
"Love... love is not the problem. They are the problem. This place is the problem. If I run away from here I'll be happy."
So, with new energy, she got up. She was going to run away now and would never return. The girl realized that she couldn't go out through the front door because her father was in the living room so she got some sheets and tied them in a rope-like shape. She tied one of the rope's end around her bed's leg and threw the other one through the window. It was long enough. She grabbed the "rope" and started to climb it down. It was still raining and all her body was still in pain, as a result she slipped and felt about a meter and a half far from the ground. She got some scratches but nothing serious. Usagi got up and, wet because of the rain, ran through the street. Only one thought was on her mind:
"Free! I'm free! I'll never again have my mother shouting at me or my father spanking me. I'll never again have to justify my mistakes and..."
When Usagi arrived on the square a few blocks away from her house the frightening reality crashed against her face:
"And then what?" she thought "I don't have money and I don't have a job either. And now I don't have a house to live too."
The girl felt like getting younger again. She sat on a bench at the square and stayed there, getting wetter, like a helpless 3-year-child.
"Why?" she asked herself "Why is my guardian angel never looking at me? Why is he always on..."
She was going to think "vacation" when something suddenly covered her, preventing the rain to touch her body, and a masculine voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Are you all right?"
She slowly moved her head to face up and saw a tall young man holding an umbrella. He looked at the wounds on her face and seemed surprised.
"Uh, I think you need some help."
He walked until he was in front at her and stooped . He carefully held her chin and moved her head to one side and then to the other, paying attention to her hurts.
Usagi was just amazed with that boy so handsome and so careful with her. The girl came out of the distress she was drove by his lovely blue eyes when he got up.
"Look, I live in a flat not far from here. If you come with me I can treat your wounds."
The girl just stayed there facing him, surprised. Things were happening so subtlety and fast that she didn't know what to say. The young man just smiled and said:
"Oh, sorry. I haven't introduced myself. Chiba Mamoru, pleased to meet you."
He extended his hand to the girl offering a hand-choke but Usagi stayed stunned looking to his face.
"Can't you trust me now we are not strangers anymore?"
She just didn't know what to think because he was being so gentle, so soft, so... lovely. That young man there in front of her was doing just what she expected of a father. With that thought in mind, and a little afraid too, Usagi stood up and held his hand.
They walked some blocks away. Usagi could barely believe in what she was doing. She was going to the house of a boy that she had just met. She knew nothing about him but, somehow, she felt that she could rely on him. She knew that he was not going to hurt her like her father. And then she wondered if that she was feeling wasn't the love she expected to meet for so long.
"Here. That's the building I live in."
That was a four-floored building looking not too modern. They got in and took the elevator. They stopped on the third floor where Mamoru unlocked his flat's door. His house was not a luxurious one but was very comfortable. He locked the door and hanged his umbrella behind it.
"Why don't you take a warm bath and get rid of these wet clothes before I take care of your wounds."
"I-I would like it."
He guided Usagi to the bathroom and taught her how to turn on the shower on warm water.
"I'll get you some dry clothes. They will be a bit loose on you but that's the best I can do."
"Thank you."
He came back minutes later with a pair of trousers and a long sleeved blouse.
"Here. Those are the smallest I have. And here is a towel for you to use."
Usagi smiled a "thank you" and he got out of the bathroom. She took out her clothes thinking how things were getting so strange that evening. The sensation of the warm water over her body felt really good. It was increasing the sensation of protection she had at that time. The girl finished her bath, dried up and put on the clothes Mamoru had brought her.
"Mamoru, I am done." she said leaving the bathroom.
"Oh, come here. I'm in the bedroom."
Usagi followed the sound of his voice and found the bedroom. He was seated on a chair by the bed with a first aid box opened on his legs.
"Good. The trousers fitted to your waist."
He smiled to her and she smiled back.
"Look, have you got a hair brush I could use? If I don't brush my hair it will soon be in a mess."
"Sure."
He moved to his cabinet and gave her a hairbrush. Usagi seated on his bed and started to brush her hair.
"So, you study on the Juuban Junior High School, don't...?"
"Ouch!" Usagi groaned with pain and held the arm she was using to brush her hair, interrupting Mamoru
Mamoru noticed a bruise on the point she was holding. He came closer, took out the hairbrush from her hands and seated by her on the bed. The girl looked at him surprised.
"Let me do this or your wounds will get worse. Just turn a little"
Even surprised, as she was, Usagi turned to the other side allowing Mamoru to brush her hair.
"As I was saying," he continued "you study on the Juuban Junior High School, don't you?"
"Yes."
"I studied there when I was younger. It's a good school with good teachers. Don't miss this chance of learning with them."
At that moment he was brushing her hair better than Usagi's mother... when she used to do so. "What more will he do to surprise me?" Usagi thought. The sensation of his soft hands on her hair, the proximity of his body and the care of every movement he did were almost heaven.
"Are you listening?"
Usagi woke up from her dreams.
"Er, sorry. What did you say?"
"I said that you must be a very good student, mustn't you?"
Usagi faced down.
"In fact not... I often get bad marks..."
"Uh, sorry."
"That's okay. Really."
"Look, if you want, er..."
"What's wrong?"
"I forgot to ask your name..."
They both laughed at that situation. She knew just his name and trusted him as a long, long time friend. He didn't know even her name and was willing to help her.
"My name is Tsukino Usagi."
"Pleased to meet you, Tsukino-san."
"You may call me Usagi, Chiba-san."
"Only if you call me Mamoru."
They laughed again.
"But what were you saying, Mamoru-san? "
"Oh yes, Usagi-san. I was saying that if you want to come here after school for me to help you to study, you can come."
"I would love that."
Usagi suddenly realized what she had just said and got a little ashamed of her words. But the truth was that she was loving that entire situation: she was loving to hear his voice, she was loving to feel his hands over her, she was loving the care he had with her, she was loving... him.
Mamoru stood up.
"Now, could you lie down?"
The girl looked stunned to the boy. He was not asking her to do that, was he? What kind of girl was he thinking she was? Noticing surprise on her face Mamoru explained himself.
"Don't you want me to treat the bruises on your back?"
Usagi was a little embarrassed with his last words. She was thinking bad of him and he just wanted to help. She lied down, as he had asked.
"Could you pull the blouse a little up so I can put the medicine on your wounds?"
She did so, pulling the blouse up so it would cover only her naked breasts (once her bra was still wet). Mamoru put some ointment over the hurt parts of her back and then he spread it with the hands. The touch of his hands over her back made Usagi feel really good. The young man had the hands of an angel. It was so good that she didn't feel any pain. Even when he put his hands under her blouse and caressed her shoulders she couldn't ask him to stop. He then treated her arms and legs as well.
"Let us see what I can do about that bruise on your forehead."
Usagi lowered her bloused and faced Mamoru while he put some ointment on her forehead. He spread it with the fingers, held her chin and kissed her cheek.
"Now just let the time do its job."
He smiled at her.
"I regret I can't do anything about that wound on your lips."
Usagi couldn't control herself anymore. She passed her arms around his neck and approached her face to his.
"I have a good idea of what you can do for them."
They touched their lips in an impassioned kiss.
"I love you Mamo-chan."
"I love you Usako", he replied.
She lied down on his bed again and pulled him over her body. Usagi was astonished when his tongue softly made its way inside her mouth. That was her first French kiss and, God, it was good. Mamoru's hands were sliding all over her body. He drove them under her blouse and touched her breasts. He caressed her nipples making she moan with pleasure. The young man then pulled up her blouse and kissed each of her small breasts. His tongue touched her nipples and slid around them.
"Ma-Mamo-chan...", she moaned.
He was about to completely remove her blouse when he put both hands on her shoulders and pushed her away. He squatted on the other side of the bed.
"I'm sorry, Usagi-san. I can't do this."
"What are you saying, Mamo-chan."
"I can't do this to you." he cried "Go back home. Your parents won't hurt you, I promise."
"But, why... I'm so happy here with you."
He stood up and shouted:
"I'm telling you to go! You can't be happy by my side!"
She stared at him and saw his face to change. Mamoru, for a second, got the most menacing face in the world; he was terrifying. Usagi stood up and ran away as fast as she could.
The girl arrived at home breathing heavily. Her heart was bumping strongly when she held the front door's handle. It was unlocked. She entered the darkness of the living room and fumbled around her way to her bedroom after locking the house's door. She calmed down when, passing by her parent's bedroom, she noticed that they were sleeping. Reaching her bedroom the girl closed the door and turned the lights on. Looking to the clock she discovered it was 11.00 p.m. Usagi stopped in front of the mirror, looking at her own eyes, and made a quick recapitulation of that night's events.
"What have I done wrong?" she thought.
Usagi couldn't understand the reason of Mamoru's attitude towards her. She was confuse about it and about her feelings. Her eyes slowly moved down from the eyes of her reflex to the clothes she was wearing. Those were his clothes. She smelled the blouse and felt his smell in it. The girl took out the blouse and the pair of trousers and put on her pajamas. She folded them and hid them under her pillow; she wanted to feel his smell all night long. She went to bed wondering what was he going to do with her school uniform. Usagi had forgotten it in his bathroom. Thanks God, her spare uniform was inside her cabinet. The next day she was going to visit him and... Usagi opened her eyes: for the most she tried the girl wasn't able to remember where Mamoru's apartment was. She useless tried to remember it until falling asleep.
***
The secretary's office was opened by Usagi on the snack time.
"Good morning, Nishida-san."
"Good morning, Usagi-chan. What can I do for you?"
"Er... our teacher, Harunada-sensei, asked us to do... uh... an interview, yes, that's it, an interview with an ex-student of our school."
"And how can I help you?"
"She gave me a name" the girl opened her notebook "Here it is: Chiba Mamoru. She said that you could give me his address."
"I remember this one" the secretary said while searching the files "He usually had the best marks among his classmates, specially in Physics, but his behavior wasn't so good..."
Usagi was going to ask something but was interrupted.
"Here you are."
Nishida-san copied the address in a small piece of paper and gave it to Usagi.
"Maybe he is not living there anymore but if you ask the right people you will find him."
"Thanks."
"Good luck on your interview."
In that afternoon Usagi went to check that address. She knew she was going to have problems when she arrived: it was the address of a house, not of an apartment.
"I'm here already, so let's check. Maybe someone knows him."
She knocked on the door.
"Just a minute" said a voice from inside.
In a few seconds a lady looking about forty-five years old opened the door.
"Yes" she said looking at Usagi "How can I help you?"
Usagi smiled at her.
"My name is Usagi and I'm a student of the Juuban Junior High School. As a school work we have to interview an ex-student. My job is to interview Chiba Mamoru. May I talk to him?"
The woman's face lost her smile and got a mixture of serious and sad.
"I'm afraid not."
"Why? Has he moved?"
"Please, get in."
Usagi stepped inside and followed the lady to a picture on the wall. It was a photo of Mamoru and his mother. Mamoru was wearing his school uniform, smiling, and by his side was his mother, also happy, beautifully dressed.
"That photo was taken on his graduation."
"That's him" Usagi said "I recognize his face. Has he moved from here?"
"Yes" said the woman "He moved about ten years ago... a couple of months before his death."