Week 1: School Admin AU where Usagi's a grade school teacher and Mamo-chan's the nurse

It wasn't an auspicious start to the school year, that's for sure, Usagi Tsukino reflected grumpily as she walked to the bus stop at the end of the day.

Normally, Usagi loved decorating her classroom for the incoming first-year elementary school students. She did a 'bunny theme' for the first week, which fit in with the spring weather at the start of the school, and also tied into the fact that the students always got a kick out of her given name.

So that's where Usagi was the day before school started – construction paper scraps scattered on the floor and blue tack between her fingers, teetering on a step-stool while she hung up a laminated poster of the hiragana script as acted out by cartoon rabbits, and singing loudly along with the radio blasting in the room.

"Anata to atashi sakuranbo," she belted, wiggling her hips a little.

A sudden "ahem" behind her made her jump and almost free fall off the stool. She caught herself barely, stumbling down onto the floor with the grace of a drunken baboon.

Her friend Naru Osaka -a third-year math teacher- stepped into the room and turned off the radio.

"Naru what -" then she trailed off as she noticed the person standing next to Naru.

The most beautiful man in the entire universe was standing by Naru's side (towering over her side, more like) looking at Usagi with smug amusement that made the blonde's hackles rise in indignation.

Naru cringed a little. "Sorry, Usagi. Just wanted to introduce our new school nurse, Mamoru Chiba." She turned to the newcomer, "This is Usagi Tsukino, she teaches the first-years. The little kids tend to see the nurse a lot the first couple of months due to nerves and various other issues, so you'll probably be seeing a lot of her."

He swept his blue eyes over Usagi, taking in, she was sure, the dried glue she'd accidentally wiped on her forehead earlier and hadn't bothered to wash off, the stray strands of hair escaping the two buns in her hair, and the awkward way she was standing after catching herself.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Tsukino," he said, then quirked a small smile. "Why do I have the feeling I'll be seeing you in my office with more injuries than your students?"

Her offended huff only seemed to make his smirk grow, and Usagi wrinkled her nose and turned in a whirl, suddenly very interested in a poster about reading she picked up from a nearby table. "Nice to meet you, Nurse Chiba," she said in a disinterested voice. "Hope you enjoy Juuban Elementary. See you later."

She tried not to turn and watch them leave, but couldn't resist one last look. Too bad Mamoru caught her eye, that amused glint returning as she flushed and turned back to her work.

After that embarrassing episode, and remembering the judgmental look in Mamoru's eyes, Decorate the Classroom Day was officially ruined.

"What happened to Setsuna?" Usagi asked Naru, as her friend joined her on the walk to the bus.

"Nurse Meioh transferred to the high school," Naru said. "We have Nurse Chiba now." She giggled a bit, "At least he's good looking, right?"

"Yeah," Usagi muttered. "Great."

Usagi had to admit, Chiba was good with the kids. Patient and understanding, the same gentleness used for cleaning skinned knees as for little kids adjusting to full days away from their mothers and faking a stomach ache to go home.

One day she went to get little Toshio from the nurses' office - after his third scrape that week, the rambunctious boy. "C'mon, Toshi-chan," Usagi called from the doorway, "time to go back to class."

"Aw, but Miss Tsukino, what about recess?" the kid replied, little face melting into a frown.

"You missed the rest of recess cleaning your cut," Usagi said, shaking her head with a tolerant smile. "Now say thank you to Nurse Chiba and let's get back to class."

Mamoru caught Usagi's eye and winked, which made Usagi start a little. He was looking at her the way he always did - like they shared a secret. Usagi wasn't sure she disliked the way it made her heart pound in her chest, but she did hate how it made her blush.

With a quick good-bye to Mamoru, she took Toshio's hand and walked him back to class.

The universe was conspiring against her. That's the only way Usagi could explain her heel getting caught in that specific sidewalk crack, on that specific morning, on the exact moment that - instead of falling backward on to the concrete and merely breaking her tailbone or spraining an ankle, she was caught deftly and calmly by the warm, solid chest and sturdy arms of the hot school nurse. Because of course.

"Careful, Miss Tsukino," he said, his voice by her ear was an amused drawl that made the baby hairs on her neck stand up - in what she convinced herself must be annoyance.

She had fallen back, her back against his chest and his arms out beneath hers (and, to his credit, he was taking extreme care not to brush against her chest as he helped her stand upright again).

Flustered, she turned around to face him, angrily chiding herself for thinking about how nice he had smelled.

"You don't need to injure yourself just to come say hi to me, you know," he continued, and the thank you she was about to say died in her throat.

"Miss Tsukino!" Mai and Toshio ran up to them, rucksacks on their back and little uniform hats on their head.

"Were you hugging Nurse Chiba?" Toshio asked in that nosy way only children can.

"Does that mean you have to get married?!" Mai asked, eyes wide.

Usagi flushed at Mamoru's rich laughter, and hurried the children inside the building with their classmates to start the day.

"They are a good group of kids this year," Usagi was saying to Naru as she stapled worksheet packets together later that evening, after the children had left. "Although little Toshio might be the death of me."

Naru laughed, "He's certainly adventurous. But hey, it gives you a lot of excuses to see Nurse Chiba." Naru winked and Usagi looked up, wide-eyed.

"Ugh, though," Usagi said, shaking her head. "Chiba is always so... just... ya know..."

"Yeah," Naru said, laughing. "I think he likes you, too."

"What?" Usagi demanded. "Likes me? And what do you mean 'too'? - OUCH!" Usagi pulled her hand back, cringing against the painful sting pulsating from her finger. She pulled her lips back in a grimace as she held up her left pointer finger, the pad of which was impaled with a staple.

"Usagi my god, you stapled your finger!" Naru ran up to her, looking a the wound sympathetically.

"Your fault!" Usagi said. Distracting me by talking about Chiba, she added silently. She tugged a little on the metal staple and sucked the air through her teeth. Dang but that hurt.

"No, don't pull it out yourself. You need to see -"

"Noooooooooooo."

"-if Nurse Chiba is still around."

"But Naruuuuuu," Usagi knew she was whining, but she figured with a stapled finger happening on the same very day she fell into his arms outside the school, she'd earned a little whining. Naru took her hand and lead her to the nurse's office, as if she was a schoolgirl herself.

Mamoru was going through some paperwork, when Naru knocked on the doorframe and presented Usagi with no words. Doing her best to exaggerate a pout, Usagi showed him the staple, shut her eyes and waited for the inevitable mocking to commence.

Instead, there was silence for so long Usagi squinted open one eye suspiciously, only to see Mamoru looking at the minor wound with gentle concern. "May I?" he asked, gesturing to her hand, and she nodded.

He cupped his hand below hers, his palm was warm and his fingers slightly cool against her wrist. The sharp smell of antiseptic did nothing to dispel the fogginess in Usagi's mind at the softness of his touch, nor did the minor sting as he took an alcohol pad and gently removed the staple, pressing on the injured area for a few moments to stem any bleeding.

"Okay?" he said, and she blinked lazily, looking up into those blue, blue eyes.

"What?"

"It's out," he said, nodding at her finger and she startled a bit, looking at her newly bandaged finger. The amused look was back in Mamoru's eyes, his now-familiar smirk settling across his features.

Usagi felt exposed, and she pulled her hand back, fighting a blush once again. "Thank you," she said.

"Watch for infection," he was saying, while walking back to his desk.

Nodding, she turned to leave, purposely ignoring Naru's gaze, although from the corner of her eye she could see her friend was grinning.

"Oh, and Miss Tsukino?"

She turned, "Yeah?"

"Remember what I said this morning, you really don't need to injure yourself to come say hi to me - you are welcome anytime."

Usagi fled with what was left of her dignity.

A few weeks later, Usagi was enjoying the warm summer day during recess duty, daydreaming about what she was going to do during August break (eating and napping, mostly) when a shout made her snap out of her thoughts and run toward the slide.

"Miss Tsukino, watch me, I'm surfing!" Toshio shouted, arms out and feet braced on the top of the slide.

"Toshio, you get down from there right now!" Usagi said, and Toshio shook his head, moving his feet further down the slick surface of the metal slide.

It was clear from the sudden panic in his expression he had not thought the next step through and he teetered back and forth as he tried to keep from slipping further down the ramp - clearly regretting his decision and frightened of falling.

"Come here," Usagi said, reaching up her arm and taking Toshio's hand, "C- Aaaah!"

The little boy fell into her arms and Usagi lost her balance and slipped backward - noticing with relief that Toshio landed harmlessly next to her before she felt the sharp pain at the back of skull as her head collided with the metal step of the slide.

And everything went black.

Blearily Usagi opened her eyes to murmuring and whispers, and Mamoru's handsome face above hers, colored with concern.

"Where...? What...," her tongue felt too big for her mouth. She looked around in confusion, realized she was lying on her back in the grass of playground, surrounded by a concerned group of faces - the principal, Naru and... - Then, she remembered everything with a rush of clarity. "Toshio!"

"He's fine," Mamoru said. "But you hit your head pretty hard on the slide." His eyes were so blue... "Can you tell me your name and the date?" He asked, "And where you are?"

She blinked. Was he holding her hand? His fingers were still so cool, softly pressed against her wrist... trying to focus, she answered his questions dazedly.

"Follow the light," he said, clicking on a penlight with his free hand and moving the light slowly side to side and up and down. Usagi did her best to follow, but it was difficult and her vision kept going double.

"My head hurts," she said.

"An ambulance is on its way." He must have seen the panic in her eyes because he was quick to calmly say, "It's school policy. I think you'll be fine but you likely have a mild concussion."

He squeezed her hand reassuringly. It felt so nice.

Usagi remembered Naru saying he liked her, just before she was attacked by a giant stapler. Maybe Mamoru was a good kisser. She should find out. But what do you do when you want to find that out? Oh yeah...

"Wanna go out sometime?" she asked him, abruptly. He blinked and looked at her in surprise, a slight redness coming into his cheeks.

"Are you sure that's not just the head injury talking?" he recovered enough to ask.

Usagi moaned a little, putting her hand to her aching head. "Maybe," she muttered. She did feel confused and slightly off.

Mamoru supported her as she sat up, his hand warm on her back through the fabric of her shirt. "How about this," he said, "after you get back from the hospital, if you remember this conversation and still want to go out, dinner's on me."

"Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow," Naru said.

Usagi shifted the phone to her other ear while she laid out her dress for work the next day. "Me, too," Usagi said. "And seeing all my kids."

"The substitute had them all make get well cards for you."

"That's sweet," Usagi smiled. But something was troubling her. "Naru, you were there when I got knocked out, right?"

"Not when it happened but afterward, yeah. Mr. Yamashiro called Nurse Chiba out and I came too because I was worried."

"I have to know..."

"Don't worry," her friend said, "the kids were scared, but once you woke up and they heard you were fine they recovered. The school councilor was available but they didn't really need it. If anything, it was a good lesson in playground safety."

"Right but Naru...," Usagi sat on the edge of her bed and spoke very seriously. "Did I ask out the incredibly hot but totally infuriating school nurse while I was concussed?"

"Yup," her friend said helpfully.

"Great."

The get well cards were adorable. And the warm hug from Toshio was the best thing of all.

At lunchtime, Usagi went to the nurse's office, knocking a bit on the doorframe and waving.

"Glad to see you are back," Mamoru said, looking up and smiling. "I can say with certainty you were very missed."

Usagi's heart fluttered a little bit at his crooked grin. "Thanks for taking care of me and everything," she said. "After I woke up, I mean."

Was it her imagination or did he seem a little nervous? With his hands shifting into his pockets, eyebrows lifting slightly, his lips in a half smile as he added, "So… how much do you... I mean," he cleared his throat, "how are you feeling?"

"To answer your unasked question, yes," she said, mock-grudgingly. Best to clear the air. "I do remember asking you out while in my addled mental state." Her heart was pounding in her chest. Was Naru right? Did he like her? "I'm holding you to it, you promised me dinner - your treat."

She tried - and failed - to pretend to be nonchalant and that she didn't care about his answer.

"Well, then, Miss Tsukino," Mamoru said, his half smile slowly turning into a grin. "It's a date."