oOo
Garden of Eden: Heartstrings
oOo
Summary:
She was beautiful, in a haunting sort of way. And he couldn't seem to keep away from her despite his well known aversion towards the fairer of sexes because somehow, she made it okay to be curious. Though she was strangely tragic, there was a daring spirit inside that was reckless to the point where he might have called it suicidal. He knew it, because he could relate to that whimsical edge.
()()()
there's no such thing as happily ever after
Chapter 1
the shrink
Life is always on the go.
People are busy, time is fleeting—happiness is laughably sparse and surreal to those who may come across to possess it.
As the modern lifestyle grows busier and more techologically advanced, there is seldom any time to stop for a chat or take a deep breath. The air grows more polluted, with the excessive manufacturing of vehicles of all kinds and the threat of global warming. There is an ever growing need for money and wealth, the latest sleek technology, designer items and more as gas, food, transport and tax prices rise ever higher.
The higher we get in society the more stress becomes part of the ever infinitely contradicting status quo.
Yet still, society grows more weary and demanding with each passing day. The media bombards the community with messages of fame and glory, alcohol, designer items and high expectations for the model definition of 'beauty'. Expectations rocket to near impossible heights and perfection is all that is wanted.
And all the while people have grown withdrawn and distant, too motivated with work and money and work and taxes, and more work to even waste time on frivolous thoughts like those of human emotion or human contact. We become reluctant of human contact yet crave for it all the same.
But in this world, there are no such things as white picket fences, family dinners where all are present at the table, free weekends to watch our sons' basketball games or attend a daughter's dance recital. There are no such things as breakfast on the table, or friendly hellos to strangers. Things are always, always moving.
There is no time to stop.
The world won't wait for you.
The world is no longer as it used to be.
Idealism is now overrated.
Words are overused.
Emotions are cliche.
Yet...in one small place, one city of Japan—there is a girl, and there is a boy.
And perhaps—as the occasion calls for it—there is room to wear out the phrase of 'once upon a time' once more.
So.
Once upon a time, there was a girl, and there was a boy...
--
Thinking about it now...
A seventeen-year-old girl flopped on her stomach against an extravagant black leather couch. Her five foot six length sprawled easily against the couch as her hair caressed her cheek where she idly, twirled a lock of long moonspun hair, her slender fingers twirling the end of her high ponytail gracefully. Currently, her eyes were glazed with a faraway look, her attention elsewhere and noting the many dust particles in the dim office, the shadows of books and PhD's and the lived-in feel of the supposed-to-be office vaguely registering in her mind.
She saw the outline of two doors of richly carved mahogany to the right of a furnished oak desk, the same door she had used to enter this damn office. The doors were connected to a separate area of the floor where the receptionist usually sat, a kind and cheerful woman in her late twenties at least and a combined waiting room for other patients—err, students. Behind where she currently lay, was a single door of the same fashion as the double ones that was a quick exit down the hall over to the stairs...
It was all so much for my mortal mind. I wanted it to stop, needed it to for the sake of my very existence. The process of feeling all the defeat spreading from my mind to my fingertips, my toes, and sprouting in new places everywhere, hitting me where it hurt most…it was agonizing and all so terrifying to experience—to feel so…abandoned.
She remembered the first time she'd been forced to come here. The taste with which the building designs exuded made her wonder exactly how much these people were getting paid, what with their fancy faculty room and spacious offices—the place didn't even look like a school. She'd only been in town for a few days, and already her flamboyant cousin had shipped her off to talk about her 'feelings'. In short, judging by the sickeningly prestigious PhD's, her cousin had sent her to the school counsellor, only one peg lower and beneath a full-flegded shrink.
"Release is good, cousin," she had said.
Tch, she scoffed. Whatever.
She didn't see the whole point in talking to some counsellor about some problems she had that were deeply rooted inside her—what made her cousin think she would open up to the first person who volunteered to listen? This...councellor person hadn't even known her for more than a measly few hours a session, and she was already prying into extremely personal matters. Seriously, she'd arrived and been here a week, and some stupid school superintendent believed she should go through a week of two hour counselling before she would be able to join the other teenagers like her cousin as a student at this school.
School had only been in session for like, what? A month and a half? Two? Why did she need counselling for her people skills? It wasn't like anyone would really notice her. She was one person out of the tens of thousands attending the school. She snorted, besides her people skills were fine—it was just some lame ass excuse the committee put together in terms of her 'stability'. She was completey stable.
Really.
My own vivid perception was enough to horrify me into the insane asylum. Images flashed through my mind, montages of other people's lives and what they were going through, things gone and past, and things yet to come—happiness, despair, love, rage, pride, lust, jealousy, grief.
She grimaced. The feeling that churned her stomach felt achingly similar to denial. She hated lying.
"Tell me, Usagi, do you have a fascination with blood?"
Stirring from her rant-induced haze, Usagi recognized the faint chiming voice of her counsellor, a beautiful woman by the name of Meiou Setsuna. Though both young women shared the same indifferent disposition, they were in no way related. Whereas Setsuna had fairly tanned skin and dark bottomless garnet eyes that made her a classic beauty with a shroud of black hair, glimmering forest green, Usagi possessed a less elegant tint to her features and was more exotic with her high cheekbones, milky white complexion like porcelain and brilliantly resilient electric blue eyes that reflected sapphire under the light all the while complimenting her ridiculously light, platinum silver hair.
The feelings flurried around in my mind in furious torrents, grasping ruthlessly at my wavering sanity until I drowned in all the self-doubt, in all the low self-esteem, the pain and the desperate, pitiful blame that swallowed what little heart I still had into the dark of nothingness. Hurt filled my veins, and saturated my blood with a filthy taint that would never leave and cursed me with memories and nightmares screaming for my attention, dragging my resistance away with jagged claws until it withered away into a pathetic pile of ash.
She fiddled with the zipper on her white jacket, taking comfort that the collar was high and the material was light for the recent spike of hot weather...why she wore jeans in such sweltering weather, she would never know. She could only be grateful that her jeans were worn and faded, the holes at the knees allowing for more air circulation...
Everything ugly and beautiful all the same.
At least she didn't wear dark clothes, save for her black boots. But then again, her boots were her favourite footwear—she almost always wore them when she didn't opt to wear her converse shoes.
But I couldn't feel it—I was numb inside. . All I could do was see it and be left to witness it occur as it was flaunted at me with a disgusting smugness that was victorious in provoking my longing, my loneliness. It was successful in bringing me down to my knees, forcing me into submission, a pathetic surrender.
Anyway, fascination with blood, was it?
Sighing at the question in contemplation, Usagi couldn't help but sarcastically quip to herself about how sadist the question made her sound.
My heartbeat slowed to a meager tempo, barely noticeable that you would think I were dead when the world blurred around me, and the colors that used to be so vivid in my mind lost their personality until they bled into a drab, uniform grey, seeping into a world of fearful oppression and ambition edging towards the thin, almost non-existent line of madness.
Usagi fixed a satirical look on her shrink, nearly allowing a tone to take over her voice that would have betrayed the simple fact that she did not want to be there.
"Oh, I don't know perhaps because it's so dark and real...and maybe, perhaps it's because it's one of the very sparse things keeping me alive."
Setsuna raised one delicate brow in askance at the pessimistic tone Usagi took, easily perceiving her sarcasm despite the grain of truth presented through her normally opaque eyes. Perhaps there was something on her mind? Judging by the look on her face, Setsuna could tell that Usagi did not particularly like the analytical look in her eyes at her response; she probably thought it meant something.
"Funny."
Some days though, I revelled in the feeling of it, the complete impossibility that chaotic insanity could be a comfort.
The young teen rolled her eyes in response, her melodic voice drawling, "You know as well as I do that the only reason I'm here, is so as not to waste my cousin's money and concern."
Again, Setsuna was presented with a resistant answer and Usagi could only scowl as the school counsellor scribbled something on her clipboard with a glamorous hand, her black pen gleaming as some sunlight managed to break through her drawn blinds.
And yet, morbidly, it was.
Stupid pleasantries.
The older woman could hardly believe how difficult Usagi was. The young girl was her most confusing mystery yet, and all she coulld gather was that her rebellious nature had to do with her sudden move to the suburbs of Japan in the Juuban district from the raw streets of a darker side of Kyoto in a less than ideal area, that was most likely an unwanted course of action on the teenager's part. Or, Setsuna smirked tiredly; perhaps she was rebellious because of the fact that she resented being picked at by someone who was trying to get her to spill her darkest secrets to.
She wondered vaguely why she had decided to major in the area of psychology instead of going into teaching as her parents had wished...She could have been a psychiatrist at the very least and gotten a much higher pay, but here she was. A high school counsellor. Wonderful. Everybody knew how difficult the young could be—especially when they believed they could figure everything out on their own, that they knew all the answers when in actuality they knew jack shit.
I would sink into it, never knowing how long I stayed in such a state. I never noticed when the sun went up, when the moon came down or when the stars glittered...half the time I don't think I even knew my own name. It was nice, in a way to be able to forget even if the pain only came in a pang centering around my heart with deadly accuracy that would on other days, make me quail in fright.
She curled a tendril of hair behind her ear and concluded that she really couldn't blame Usagi for being reluctant to talk to her; she had been forced into another one of several of these sessions by her influential guardian, when Aino-san's daughter had expressed her worries about her cousin. Judging by the little progress made, Minako would most likely send her cousin back.
Selfishly, I would tell myself that it was okay to feel pain and to wallow in a weak heap on the ground at times. Even the best fall down, even the strong break down. And what's sad is that everyone is always going to be waiting for that time, for when you fuck up beyond repair. And that's what makes me realize that maybe I'm not half as much as a sadist as others...at least I don't take satisfaction in seeing someone else fail. At least with this thought, I could convince myself to stand up straight with my chin up in the crowd though there was an aching wisdom in my young eyes that should not yet have been there.
Setsuna sighed, thinking that perhaps the next session would be much more interesting if she could draw Usagi out to speak enough, as eccentric as she was. There was really only one other person that even remotely resembled Usagi's behaviour and though she had known him for a little over a month and a half—he refused to crack as well. In fact, even Usagi was sometimes more generous than he was; the most she could ever get out of him was a curse.
The older woman, who was a psychiatrist in a sense considering she listened to the woes of other peoples lives with a supposedly sympathetic ear, played around with the idea of introducing the two to each other...
She shook her head. The results could be extreme opposites, for all she knew. It could end in disaster.
But then, on other days, I would be a vindictive bitch.
Setsuna narrowed her eyes in thought as an image of unruly raven strands, tanned skin, broad shoulders and fierce midnight eyes came to mind...
Though Usagi tended to speak to her as though she was bland and boring, there was a spark of life in those azure eyes. Usagi could be troublesome if she so wished it and God knows, Mamoru had an adventurous streak himself despite the uptight, prim properness he seemed to exude what with being a bit of an introvert—it was why he seemed such a popular candidate for many upper and lower-class female students' affections. They seemed to find the whole brooding and mysterious 'tall-dark-and-handsome' quality he had extremely attractive—and it was.
I would want to scream for the unfairness of it all, would want to lash out. I would need to let it all out and just be free of it, no matter who was the victim of my furious onslaught…but the problem was that it just wouldn't come out. It absolutely refused to leave me and I struggled to control myself against the rising shackles of imprisonment that my dark conscience was gradually creating for me—I knew it was there...just waiting.
She snorted quietly with sarcasm—at the same time, it was annoyingly cliché.
And then, on other days—days like these—I would grin and bear it with a sickeningly sugar sweet smile, trying my hardest to smile at least once a week...I don't remember anyone ever getting something genuine out of me...at least not lately.
Thank heavens for that boy's guardian, Suzuki Yukari. Only the regal and kind woman that was his guardian could ever get him disciplined willingly and—if she was lucky—she could sometimes do the same. Mamoru was less inclined to listen to her though, considering she was getting paid and all...his guardian on the other hand, Setsuna mused, was someone he held in respect—a discrete kind of respect, really. It sounded difficult to get his cooperation, but it was true. Because in every other way, Mamoru was merely disciplined because he forced himself to be. For a reason that was somewhat pessimistic, albeit true.
The only way to get out of this hell hole is to do good. Especially at the shit you hate the most.
Setsuna could just imagine the masculine tone of his voice mixed in with a surly resignation that he would be forced to put effort into things. It sometimes made a wry smile come to her face unbidden at his frankness.
"You're getting good at making me talk, Setsuna," Setsuna ignored the casualty with which Usagi spoke her name, replacing the formality of the last name basis they once shared, "but you don't talk nearly as much...Am I rubbing off on you?"
She allowed herself a small smile. "I suppose so, Usagi."
How sad was it that I needed a minimum requirement of myself in order to get myself to smile?
"Hmm," Usagi lazily gave a half-hearted smirk back, glancing at the clock hanging on the wall by her desk, "Do you have any more questions for me? Other than the ones that seem to make me sound more than just a tad...suicidal?"
...Surprisingly, not sad enough.
"Your sarcasm never fails to amuse me."
"I try," came the devilish response.
At least not yet.
"I must admit, you're very good at hiding the fact you that you don't wish to be here with your banter...the advanced vocabulary you use is...well, let's just put it this way—not swearing in front of me is very considerate of you...however unnecessary."
The two sat in companionable silence for a moment or two—Setsuna waiting for a response, and Usagi jumping at the chance to possibly be dismissed and free to go sight seeing...however rural the area seemed...at least it was on the outskirts of the city—she could easily go back if she wanted to, seeing how she dropped in during the middle of the school year and would have to go first thing tomorrow...perhaps she wouldn't though, considering she hadn't been around for very long.
"Damn," she snapped her fingers, her eyes gleaming, "you caught me."
Besides, pain was a thing of the past—and it should stay that way.
Usagi gazed at Setsuna with a hinting look that suggested the response she wanted to hear from her. Setsuna merely sighed obligingly and decided, after looking at the time, that perhaps her suggestion wouldn't be a bad idea. She had gotten as much as she could get from the teen this session, pointless as it was for the time being.
"Alright fine, you can leave now."
Relieved, Usagi pushed herself up from her former position of being draped on the couch and languidly stretched her arms and legs, satisfied with the pops she heard that indicated some of the kinks in her body gone. Leaning back on her hands and crossing her legs, she watched as Setsuna gracefully rose from her chair and slipped her black high pumps on—and even Usagi could allow herself to privately appreciate that she only really took them off when she was there. The older woman held her clipboard to her chest as she walked towards the door while Usagi stood to follow her.
Her long legs stung with numbness from the lack of use during the last hour and she had to ignore the figurative pin needles piercing her lower body as she barely stopped by Setsuna, not looking at the older woman as she raised her index and middle finger, saluting her goodbye. She felt the heatwave crash against her face the minute she stepped out the door in an instant, and the change of temperature from Setsuna's blessedly air-conditioned office and into the stuffiness of the area outside it was painfully obvious.
"Usagi," Setsuna saw the girl's stride slow in response to her call and she smiled kindly, "Till next time?"
I laugh bitterly—despite the obvious optimism seeping through that statement, I know it's not as easy as it sounds.
A few feet away by the secretary's desk, Usagi snorted and rolled her eyes, pondering the events of the day's session before she shook her head knowingly. Nothing had changed, after all.
Sighing, Usagi turned her head to her though her back still faced her. Minako would make her come since she hadn't really changed, and if she had Minako would make her come anyway...thinking that if she kept going she would keep changing till she was...'back to the way she was before'.
"I don't seem any more different, do I?" was the rhetorical answer, and Setsuna smothered her light chuckles at her sulking voice, "Later, Setsuna."
There are some things...that I know I'll just never say...
Strange, Setsuna mused while leaning against the doorframe, it's almost as if she knew she'd be coming back anyway.
"Oh...and Usagi! Remember, you're here eight o'clock sharp, tomorrow morning—!"
"Yeah, yeah. I need my schedule, and my locker number and all that other shit." Usagi's fading voice came from the stairs, "Don't worry, I remember. And don't even think about giving me a guide! I already know my way around."
Setsuna smirked.
The next day, Usagi sighed as she knocked on the door of her first period class with—she glanced at her schedule—with Iwamori-sensei.
She had come to Setsuna's office as they'd planned only for her secretary to hand her a package of papers containing her courses for each semester, her locker for both the hallway and in the gym along with the locks for said lockers and an excuse about not having a uniform for her. She figured her lack of a uniform was the reason for Setsuna's absence. The woman was too punctual to really forget an appointment. And how here she was, waiting in the hall for permission to go into class with Minako who was late because she insisted on accompanying her.
"Come on, Usa." Minako grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet, dragging her into the classroom.
"Ah, Aino-san if you would be so kind as to inform us of your...friend?"
Iwamori-sensei was, from what Usagi gathered upon seeing his appearance, a fairly sensible looking man. He had typical dark chestnut brown hair with intelligent hazel eyes that could be seen from behind wire-frame glasses. His posture was painfully straight and he wore a smart combination of a button down shirt with pressed slacks, a blazer slung across the back of his seat.
"Hai." Minako bowed in respect and Usagi wondered how she made the move look so easy when her uniform's skirt was so short. "This is my cousin. I was asked to show her around, Iwamori-sensei."
He nodded in understanding.
"Alright then, have a seat, Aino-san and as for you," he turned to Usagi, "Please, introduce yourself..."
He paused momentarily to allow Usagi a chance to speak.
--
In the far corner of the room, Chiba Mamoru sat up slightly upon seeing the door open and hearing the male portion of the class inhale sharply as a blonde with a red bow in her hair that he recognized to be Aino Minako stepped through the door, followed by another teenaged girl his age.
He pursed his lips. He could understand why the male student body would suddenly stand to attention in Iwamori-sensei's less than riveting lesson considering it was Aino Minako who walked through the door. She was quite the popular and beautiful figure in the school after all, and one of the only female students he could stand being civil towards, at least ever since she had managed to coax her friend Hino Rei out of pursuing him in which he had become eternally indebted to her for. He grimaced, out of all his admirers he had to admit that Rei had been of the most spirited in trying to gain his affections when in truth, it had only driven him further away from her.
But he digressed. They weren't looking at Minako, they were looking at the new girl that he just realized wasn't from around here.
More often than not, Mamoru couldn't be bothered to care about new appearances or new students, yet there was something else about this girl.
He wanted to be uninterested, but he still found himself more intrigued with the girl standing behind Minako because although Minako had a way of acting around other people that attracted them and had her gaining their attention, the new appearance of this other girl had done nothing—she hadn't said a word, nor had she moved since she stepped up beside Minako to face their sensei and everyone was observing her. She looked like she could tell there were people staring, but she acted like she could care less.
A messenger bag slung across her torso haphazardly, Mamoru smirked at the contrasts between the two girls as Minako walked to her seat like sensei had asked of her, carrying a briefcase like many other students.
Unlike Minako's sunny and golden features, the girl next to her held an ethereal look. A brow rose.
Minako was tanned from constant social meetings at the beach and playing volleyball but this girl had a milky complexion. Her features would make one assume she was delicate but her clothing suggested otherwise. If anything, she looked more bad ass than Minako. His eyes sparked with curious amusement.
She didn't wear the standard grey, blue and maroon uniform of a student of Azabu High, but instead wore leather boots up to her knees next to Minako's practical, stylish loafers along with a Three Lights band T-shirt, a studded belt over top that tilted down to her left hip over top it, and faded cut-off shorts. Her hair, which was shockingly stark silver was pulled into a high ponytail that cascaded to the middle of her back, and glimmered ever so slightly in the light. There were a few loose strands that teased the sides of her high cheekbones and her bangs shaded her eyes ever so slightly. He caught sight of two piercings in her right ear.
She turned her face ever so slightly to his direction where he sat in the far corner, isolated from the girls so that he was surrounded by fellow males sitting around him and his lips parted so that he coughed to cover it up when he realized he'd been staring. He looked away and could only wonder at her audacity when she raised a perfectly arched brow and smirked at him.
Her eyes...
Her eyes were amazing. They were blue like Minako's but instead of being light like his fellow upperclassmen, they were a deep lightening blue that darkened into a navy black around her pupil but lightened near the edges like the silver of her hair.
She perused through the faces in the class and decided that she wasn't interested, until she saw one student staring at her from the corner. Usagi tilted her head slightly—he was goodlooking. Lush raven hair, bronzed skin, and dark cobalt eyes that she assumed changed depending on what he was feeling. He held a pencil in his right hand, idly twirling it as he looked her up and down. She wondered what he was really like. He had perfect posture and sat as though he were paying attention, but the half-hearted effort that he probably used to put his uniform on said something else. His tie was done loosely, he wore his maroon blazer open and unlike all the other students, his black button up had the two top buttons undone and it wasn't tucked into his belt either.
She met his eyes and sighed at the bothersome routine of intros. Their sensei had paused to let her speak.
"Tsukino Usagi." she said.
She could get along with him.
"Right then, Tsukino-san. Tell us a little bit about yourself."
Damn. She scowled minutely but rolled her eyes at Minako's admonishing gaze.
"I moved from Kyoto, to live with my cousin Minako." At Iwamori-sensei's expectant gaze for her to elaborate, she shrugged. "I got expelled from my old school."
Mamoru stifled a snicker upon seeing Iwamori-sensei's friendly face take on a suspicious tint at the admission.
"It was kind of stupid though," Usagi continued, fully aware of her sensei's growing distrust towards her, "and really insulting. The stupid shit they expelled me for wasn't even my fault...I could've come up with something way better than that."
Her eyes glazed in reminiscence and she leaned against the teacher's desk in blatant disrespect. Mamoru heard Minako gasp nervously at her cousin's bluntness and he finally chuckled to himself quietly at Iwamori-sensei's dark expression upon hearing her curse. He lifted a hand to cover the full-blown growing smile on his face.
"And what exactly did they expell you for, Tsukino-san?"
She raked a hand through her bangs breezily, "You don't want to know."
"I see." Iwamori-sensei said tightly."Have a seat next to Hino Rei, then. Hino, raise your hand."
Poor girl, Mamoru thought somewhat sympathetically as he watched her walk toward the empty seat to Rei's left. On the plus side, he was rather curious to know of her so it was really quite convenient that she sit two desks away from him.
"Hi!" Rei greeted her enthusiastically. Usagi wondered if it was painful for her to smile like that.
Tch.
She didn't like her already.
She dropped her bag to the ground and slumped her chin into the palm of her right hand, closing her eyes in disinterest. The way Hino-san kept looking at her clothing skeptically then smiling brightly the next second annoyed her. What a fake.
"Hey." Usagi greeted her noncomittally as she slid into her seat.
"I noticed you looking at Chiba-sempai." At this, Usagi inwardly rolled her eyes.
And once again, another girl proceeds to stake a claim, Mamoru mused, upon seeing Rei's smile take a predatory edge. So much for being over him, then. Maybe he should talk to Minako about it?
Rei watched as Usagi slid her crystalline gaze towards her as Iwamori-sensei turned to write some chemistry problems on the board, but Usagi didn't say anything.
"He's spoken for Tsukino-san, just so you know."
Is that so?
"Hn." Usagi smirked. "He's probably not that great anyway."
The man in question narrowed his eyes unnoticeably.
Rei gasped. "Are you kidding? Have you seen the man? He...he's so hot!"
Ugh, she's shallow too. Usagi thought scornfully. "Your point?"
"Well, because he's...he's nice and goodlooking and..." Rei floundered with her words, and shrunk back at Usagi's intense stare.
Usagi glanced pointedly in Mamoru's direction, knowing he was eavesdropping. Mamoru raised a blatant brow challengingly in response to being caught listening, and observed Usagi's full lips distractedly as she enunciated her words slowly. "Look, Hino-san. The only reason I was interested in—Chiba, was it?—is because he seems like someone I could get along with. If I do something, it's because I want to. I'm not a follower..."
"Tsukino-san! You weren't staring at Chiba, were you?"
Mamoru waited for her response and felt a small bit of confusion when she smiled.
"Of course I was staring. How can anyone resist?" Not.
Iwamori-sensei sighed. Another one bites the dust.
"Well if you could be so kind as to allow Chiba his personal space, I'm sure all the females present would appreciate it. And furthermore, I would like to know what your potential is. Right now, we're doing some review on the basics so would you care to answer this question?"
No, not really. "Of course, Iwamori-sensei. Decay curves are different for certain radioisotopes depending on the length of their half-life."
"Alright. How about, what type of radioactive decay does carbon-14 go through? Explain."
Usagi sighed. "It goes through beta decay. You can tell because the mass number stays the same but the atomic number is increased by one number, and moves to the right on the periodic table."
Minako stared at Usagi in awe. Now she had a study partner that would know what they're doing! She wasn't the only one to be impressed. Iwamori-sensei was currently trying to regain his composure at realizing that the troublemaker Usagi appeared to be, actually had a brain.
She took the time to remember the way he looked when she first walked in. Looking at him now, there was a definite hint of curiousity in his eyes. She could only wonder at the mixed feelings the notion brought up inside of her. She supposed it could be worse. At least she could be sure he wouldn't be one of those pathetic types of stalkers. Besides, it could be interesting. This side of the Juuban district in Japan was squeaky clean—something that irked her inner rebellion and brought up the significant differences between the two places she lived in.
Usagi inwardly smiled at Rei's stormy, possessive stare as she gave Mamoru a mysterious stare, langorously crossing her legs to lean back.
Tch, guess you were right, Hino.