#29 Buried Treasure
720 words

For the third time that hot summer afternoon, Mamoru asked himself what in the world he was doing at the beach. He'd gotten out of class early that morning, due to a lenient professor, and had planned to spend the rest of the day at home relaxing with a good book. Normally, he would've gone straight to the arcade, but Usagi-the only real reason he ever went there-was out of town, apparently enjoying her own summer with her friends.

Wryly, he smiled as he recalled how the young girl had burst into the arcade excitedly the day before, absolutely ecstastic over the start of summer vacation. Ami and Makoto had trailed behind her, smiling indulgently as they watched their friend bubble over her plans, soon joined by Rei and Minako. Overhearing their conversation (at least he told himself it was overhearing; after all, who couldn't help hearing whatever Odango Atama was talking about with her decibels?), he'd listened, amused and delighted by the bright grin Usagi was sporting. The girls had talked about going to the beach, the very beach he was walking on, in fact, and he couldn't help but wonder if they were here now. Involutarily, his eyes began to scan his almost empty surroundings, hoping to spot a familiar head of blonde pigtails. Unfortunately, in his eagerness, he failed to see the rather large rock in his path...and tripped over it.

Picking himself up, Mamoru wiped the sand that had decorated his face off with the back of one hand and once he had composed himself once more, turned to see the offending rock. Surprisingly, something was poking out from under the rock: a piece of paper? Curious, he lifted the rock and slid the paper out. Unfolding it, Mamoru was surprised to find that it resembled a...map? Yes...a rather crude map, but still a map. The big red 'X' near the right upper corner of the paper with dotted lines trailing it confirmed his suspicions. It seemed to be a map of this beach! But what on earth could that 'X' be?

His curiosity peaked, Mamoru stood and examined the map as he began walking. Every now and then, he looked up, spotting the landmarks marked on the map and knew he was headed in the right direction. Following the sand dunes lined along the edge of the shore, he wondered why someone had left a map there, but concluded that it was probably just some kid eager to hide some kind of 'treasure', like 'pirate coins' and such. He could have sworn he heard giggles from behind some of the sand dunes, but dismissed it.

As he neared the place marked on the map, Mamoru was startled to hear a familiar wailing.

"Guys! Where are you! Come on, this isn't funny anymore! Let me out of here!"

A few more steps brought him face to face with the speaker. He was hard pressed not to start laughing.

"O...dango!"

She spotted him then. "Mamoru-baka! Oh, no...what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Mamoru replied, unable to keep a chuckle from escaping at her...predicament.

The aforementioned Odango was buried completely in the sand, with only her head sticking out, lying on her back. A scowl adorned her face and golden bangs kept falling into her eyes, which she tried to blow off as best she could.

"The girls said that they were just going to bury me here to take some pictures, but after they did, they just left me here! They said they'd be back soon, but I've been here for ages! Help me, please?" Usagi pleaded.

"...Uh, sure." Mamoru began to dig at the tightly packed sand as Usagi watched helplessly. After what seemed like forever, the sand was loosened up enough to let Usagi sit up and brush sand from her arms and legs, while Mamoru sat there like an idiot, admiring the way the blonde looked in her pink and white one-piece.

"Thank God! I thought they were going to leave me there for the rest of the day. Thanks, Mamoru-baka!" And she began to run off toward the shore, blonde pigtails swinging in the sunlight. Mamoru stared for a few more minutes, before shaking his head bemusedly and tucking the map into his pocket. 'Buried treasure' indeed.

Edit: You know, there's a story behind the writing of this drabble...the idea came to me while I was in Singapore. We were watching this movie on the Merlion, Singapore's national symbol, and seeing the ocean stirred up this little drabble. I'd been thinking about how I could write this theme and my younger brother, AJ, started talking about how he missed going to the beach and how he loved being buried in the sand. I put the two ideas together and voila: my first drabble ever! Kudos go to AJ for the inspiration!