Author's Note: Just a fun snippet - Usagi tries to surprise her friends with big news, but receives an unexpected guest. Set after Sailor Stars in the anime canon, an abandoned first chapter of a Seiya/Usagi fic written 3/23/1998. I forgot entirely that I ever wrote this, and honestly don't remember what this fic was going to be about! Just a tidbit if you're looking for a quick diversion. (Please don't assess my writing quality based on this dated piece, thanks!)
Takeuchi Naoko, Toei Animation Co., Ltd., and Kodansha Ltd. are the rightful owners of these characters and settings. No profit is made from this work.
16-year-old Tsukino Usagi skipped into Crown Fruit Parlor. Her blue eyes sparkled. She had some amazing and important news to tell her friends, and she had phoned them all especially just to tell them to meet her today. Her blonde hair in its usual style was flying behind her. Usagi always wore her hair in two odango on each side of her head with her long hair flowing down out of the buns.
The sliding door opened, and Usagi grinned as she glimpsed her friends sitting at their usual table. Usagi broke into a run.
"Hello, everyone!" she called out.
Mizuno Ami turned toward the voice.
"Good afternoon, Usagi-chan," she warmly greeted her.
Ami was one of Usagi's oldest friends. They had know each other since they were both 14. Ami was quite the opposite of Usagi - quiet, shy, studious, and definitely the brains of the two. Strangely enough, these differences didn't cause much friction in their relationship. Ami was one of the people Usagi would listen to, because she and everyone else knew that this blue-haired high-school student was really smart.
"Usagi-chan," Kino Makoto began to reprimand. "What took you so long? I already ate one whole ice cream sundae. If your news is as wonderful as you say it is, then we'll have to celebrate and I'll end up eating two sundaes. You'll make me fat."
"Ah... sorry," Usagi replied. "I didn't think I was more than fifteen minutes late... hey, where's Minako-chan?"
Hino Rei stood up. "Hi, Usagi-chan," she said. "Minako is always late, you know. She'll be here sometime today, I expect. She's just as bad as you. I don't know why you two are so late all of the time. Maybe it's because you're so lazy?"
"I am not lazy!" Usagi returned, sitting down in the booth.
"Are too."
"Am not!"
"Are too."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Usagi-chan," Makoto interrupted, "it never takes me more than fifteen minutes to eat a sundae."
Usagi paid no attention to this remark from her tall friend, being occupied with sticking her tongue out at Rei.
Usagi and Rei were constantly fighting about something or other. Rei could easily find aspects about Usagi to critisize, since Usagi was, in fact, lazy, silly, and klutzy, and spent more energy on reading comics and playing video games than doing her schoolwork.
Rei was the beauty in their group. Her strait jet-black hair fell down almost to her knees and the long dark lashes framing her purple eyes added to her charm. She looked good in practically any outfit, even the billowy Shinto priestess robes which she wore whenever working at her grandfather's temple.
However, she wasn't quite the picture of elegance when making faces at Usagi.
"Please, you two really need to stop fighting," Ami told her two friends in exasperation. "Can't you try to be civil to one another?"
Meanwhile, a girl was running along the sidewalk. She held a white cat in her arms. The golden crescent moon on its forehead stood out against its white fur.
"Artemis!" the girl said in exasperation. She flipped her long blonde hair out of her face. "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier? Now we're late, and it's all your fault! Rei-chan is gonna murder me."
"Calm down, Mina! Remember, I did remind you about the get-together this morning. You must not have been paying attention."
"How would you know? You can't tell me when I have and haven't listened to you. I did, but you could have told me again at lunchtime!"
The cat sighed. "You wouldn't have been able to hear me with all of the chomping you make on those sweet potatoes!"
The girl rounded a corner and dashed through the sliding door entrance of Crown Fruit Parlor.
She hurried towards the group sitting in the corner booth and slid into the seat next to Usagi.
"Minako-chan!"
"So what's been going on?" Minako asked Luna, Usagi's black cat.
"Usagi-chan is going to tell us some important news that I don't even know about yet. That is, if she stops stuffing her face."
Usagi stopped devouring the food before her. She jumped out of her seat, and tapped her spoon on the table. Everyone looked at her expectantly.
"Everyone, listen!" Usagi told them unnecessarily. "I have something very special to tell you all. Something about me. Something about me and -"
"Get on with it," Rei cut her off. "We've been waiting all day already."
Usagi gave her an angry look, but she was too excited to get into another argument.
"Well, my news is... Mamo-chan and I are engaged!" Usagi smiled her best smile and waited for the excitement of her friends. This would be a moment she would look back on for the rest of her life...
Ami blushed.
Makoto wore a quizzical look on her face.
M inako sipped the rest of Usagi's drink and didn't say anything.
Artemis laughed.
"Is that all of your news, Usagi-chan?" Rei finally asked in disbelief. "We all knew that already!"
"What?!" Usagi couldn't understand this. How could her friends know something she had only found out the night before?
"You showed us your engagement ring back at the beginning of the school year, Usagi-chan," Luna said carefully.
"What?!" Usagi repeated.
"Usagi, you're a fool. You didn't know all this time that the ring Mamoru-san gave you was an engagement ring?"
Usagi shook her head at Rei.
"It was? How can that be? I... I thought it was a going-away present..."
Rei sighed. "So how did you finally figure out that you're engaged to be married?" she questioned.
"Mamo-chan asked me last night when we should plan our wedding to be, so I thought that was his way of asking me to do what we always knew would happen... How come no one told me I was engaged? Why didn't he ask me to marry him when I got the ring?!"
Ami continued blushing. Minako shrugged in curiousity.
"Usagi-chan, are you sure you were paying attention? He must have asked you!" Rei replied.
"Yeah, Usagi-chan," Makoto added. "He probably did ask you to marry him. Why don't you ask him to do it over again for you? He'll probably be very happy to."
Usagi sat down dejectedly.
"I know he didn't say anything. I remember distinctly what happened. I was crying because he was leaving, and he pulled out a box with this very ring in it and put it on my finger. I thanked him for it, and then we kissed. I know he didn't ask me. I would remember if he had. It was very romantic, but he didn't ask me."
"Usagi-chan," Luna spoke up, "Maybe Mamoru-san just has his own way of asking. Maybe the ring and the kiss was his proposal."
"How romantic," Makoto breathed. "You are so lucky to have Mamoru-san, Usagi-chan. I would love to have a romance like that. A guy that knows me so well that he doesn't even have to ask with words. Wow."
Usagi cheered up at this.
"So when are you getting married, Usagi-chan?" Minako asked, excited.
"As soon as possible!" Usagi smiled. "I'm so happy!"
"Yeah, that's really great, Usagi-chan," Makoto replied.
The red in Ami's face finally started to go away.
"Let's celebrate!" Minako cried. "I want a banana split! Everyone, choose something from the menu so we can order quickly."
"Well, I guess we'd better, don't you think?" Makoto put in cheerfully.
"Mako-chan..." Luna moaned.
"Well, talk to you later, everyone!" Usagi called.
"Goodbye!"
"Bye!
"See you!"
Luna stepped out with Usagi and they began the walk home.
"I'm so cheerful when I'm with my friends, Luna!" Usagi remarked. "They help me so much and they care about me. And Mamo-chan cares about me too! I'm such a lucky girl."
Luna rolled her eyes.
"Usagi-chan," she replied. "You help and care about them too. We all care about you and protect you."
"Why is that?" Usagi stopped walking and looked down at her cat guardian. "Why must everyone protect me the most? I want to protect everyone else first!"
"We all must protect each other from evil in the universe. You are the princess so you must be kept safe above anyone else. Our purpose is to help you survive, even if everyone else must die."
"Hm." Usagi resumed walking.
"Good night, Luna!" Usagi called out, and pulled her bedcovers up over her body.
"Good night, Usagi-chan."
"Luna?"
"Hm?"
"Tomorrow is Sunday, right?"
"Yes, Usagi-chan. Good night."
"That means tomorrow I can sleep in late and then read manga, watch TV, eat snacks, play games, call my friends... what will you do tomorrow, Luna? ... Luna?"
Usagi sat up and looked at her alarm clock.
"You didn't get to go off and wake me this morning!" she told it happily.
Usagi slid out of bed and dressed quickly. She put on a peach-pink short dress and tights.
Luna walked into the bedroom.
"Good morning, Luna!" Usagi smiled as she sat down at her desk.
"Your mother and father are out today," Luna reported. "Shingo is leaving in a minute for his softball game. Where are you going today? Are you going out with Mamoru-san?"
"No. Mamo-chan had to go do some boring work stuff today, but I'm gonna see him tomorrow after school for sure. I wonder why he is so busy all of the time."
"You will be busy with work after you've graduated from high school, Usagi-chan, and then you'll understand what it's like. That is, if you graduate..."
"Luna! Don't get on my case like that! I'm the Moon Princess, remember? I'm going to be the queen of the Earth, so isn't it obvious that I'll have a nic e, successful life? In fact, I don't even need to do my homework and I'll still have a perfect life with Mamo-chan whether I do my responsibilities now or not, right?"
Usagi stood up.
"Why didn't I think of this earlier? The future has already been shown! I -"
Luna flopped on the bed in exasperation.
"Maybe that future we saw was all a dream. How will Usagi-chan ever change?"
Ding-dong.
"Oh, someone's at the door," Usagi announced. "I wonder who it is!"
She bounded down the stairs excitedly, tripped, regained her balance, swung open the front door, and looked out at the person standing on the doorstep.
"Oi, Odango," the person said.
