Author's Notes: I just had to write. Just had to. And I was thinking about this subject.. and there you are. Chapter One. Hope you like it!
Oh, and HUGE thanks to Starlight Warrior for that INCREDIBLE review on What Trust Can Do. -sniffles- Really. It filled my heart with joy and made me sooo proud.. Thanks a LOT! Don't stop reviewing, your reviews are soo special to me! Thank you!
Enjoy, minna!
Title: Love So Far Away - Chapter One
Rating: K+
Author: Sabreen
Love So Far Away- Chapter One
Motoki's face gave away his worry and sadness as he continued to watch a particular someone through the other people in the arcade, eleven or twelve junior high school students who were the only ones who decided to ignore the rainy and dark autumn evening to go talk or play a game or two. But the reason why he didn't want to go enjoy this free time he's got since he had no one to serve weren't the love-struck girls or boys who were currently amazed with the new Ferrari. Mamoru's experienced eye did not miss it: Motoki didn't lose his train of thought so easily. Mamoru frowned.
"Motoki?" he said gently, as not to startle him. Motoki's already sad scowl turned into an even bigger frown.
"Motoki, what are you looking at?" Mamoru turned to see whatever Motoki's eyes have been focused on, but since he didn't know what he was looking for, he found nothing.
Finally Motoki sighed and closed his eyes for a moment.
"That girl," he said so quietly. Mamoru turned around yet again, and finally, his gaze caught with a little girl sitting in a faraway booth all alone. She was dressed in a dark-blue pleated skirt that came to her knees. She wore ared jacket with a hood, which had been placed over her head and only messy, blonde bangs were visible over a small, frightened face, half in shadow. She had pulled up her feet on the dark red sea tand hugged her knees, placing her small chin on them. Her jacket was still just a bit wet, but her skirt and high socks still hadn't dried out. She must have been freezing.
"She came in about an hour ago, sat there and haven't moved since. I don't think she's waiting for someone, it was raining cats and dogs when she came in. I'm so worried about what's happened to her," Motoki said in that same sad whisper. Mamoru inhaled sharply and threw another sorrowful glance towards the lonely girl.
"Really?" he asked, now a bit worried himself.
"I don't know what to do," Motoki concluded.
"Why don't we go ask her?"Mamoru said and slipped from the stool he had been sitting on. He didn't wait for Motoki, but moved in a straight line to sit in front of the girl. She looked up at him, fear in her azure eyes. His gaze softened as soon as he saw the gentle, innocent features of the young girl. They were somehow... more tender and seemed even more innocent than the features of other girls her age. There was something familiar about this girl.
"Hello there." He whispered comfortingly. "What's your name? Mine is Mamoru." She raised her head a bit from her knees and backed away. She stared at him with her eyes wide and lips agape, and her eyes turned glassy.
Seeing that she's very scared and that he isn't making any progress, sighing, he got up and sat on her side, about a foot away. If he wants to get anything from her, he just has to try harder.
"Look, I'm not going to hurt you, okay?" he said, whispering it with the warmest color of his voice he could manage. "It's okay, you can trust me." The girl relaxed just a little and let her arms slide down her knees and stay there.
"What's your name?" Mamoru put his hand in the middle of the space between them, leaning on it and getting just a bit closer to her. She gulped before looking at him with those big blue eyes of hers and making attempts to speak.
"U... Usagi," she said in a tiny gentle voice which suited her innocent appearance completely. Mamoru smiled through a quick flash of a face as soon as he heard her name. 'What a coincidence! Well, now we're at least getting somewhere.'
"Hi, Usagi-chan. And as you already know, I'm Mamoru." The kind smile never left his face.
"Hi,"she said in that same scared voice, and turned her gaze in front of her.
"And how old are you?" he continued cheerily.
"Eight."
Mamoru tried to lighten the situation up, to make it more comfortable for both of them. So he removed the hand he was leaning on from the seat of the big, red couch and leaned against the couch, turning his face to her.
"So, I see you've been here for over an hour now. Are you waiting for someone to pick you up or something?" he asked, as lightly as he could. She shook her head, causing her bangs to dance left to right across her forehead.
"No," she added.
"No? But what were you doing outside in such a weather? It was a little bit late for you to be coming back from school, wasn't it?" he said, checking his watch. She just kept staring in front of her... Are her eyes becoming glassy?
"Usagi-chan, what were you doing outside?" He shifted closer to her.
'Ha, jeez, if Odango would see me like this, I bet her jaw would fall to the floor in a second! She'd surely be totally surprised that I have the ability to be nice to girls younger than myself!' he thought and couldn't resist chuckling inside.
"Usagi-chan?" he neared her, to watch her more closely, as she turned her head a bit on the other side. She started to shiver.
"Usagi-chan?"
"I don't know..." she said, a tear sliding down her cheek. Mamoru frowned sadly and gasped. "I just remember being in a street and coming here... I can't remember anything from before..." She inhaled loudly as more tears broke free. Mamoru looked worriedly at Motoki and made him even more worried with his look as Motoki didn't have a clue what was going on there.
"Really? You can't remember anything? Nothing comes to your mind?" She shook her head again and sobbed. Mamoru sighed and sat right next to her, wiping her tears gently.
"It's okay," he said. He put an arm around her small shoulders and repeated comforting words to her. "It'll all be all right." After a while, her sobs subsided and her tears were gone.
"Nee, are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?" Her face lit up a bit and she nodded. Mamoru got up and stretched his hand to her. She took it and got up with him.
He didn't seem bad. He comforted her, talked with her gently and offered her something to eat. He seemed like a nice person, and she needed someone good to take care of her. She felt totally alone. She didn't know where she was, how she got there, she was cold and she didn't know what's going to happen to her. This nice man who talked to her was her hope that someone would tell her who her family is, where she is and so on. The promise of food was great, and offered by this man, it's okay, right?
While she was munching happily on the few donuts given to her by another kind man named Motoki at the counter, he and his best friend were watching her worriedly a few feet away from her.
"So she doesn't remember anything, huh... Weird, isn't it?" Motoki said quietly.
"Yeah," his companion said in the same tone. "I mean, she was surely going somewhere and suddenly - bam and she lost her memory. It's little too weird if you ask me."
"I guess, but we have a much bigger problem than that, ne? What are we going to do with her? I'm supposed to close down real soon... And we can't just leave her in the middle of the street," Motoki said uneasily.
"I know, but WHAT are we going to do with her? We don't know where she lives, we know nothing of her family, nothing! What are we supposed to do?" Mamoru buried his face in his hands.
"Well, we've got to take her to the police and-"
"What! No, we don't!" Mamoru said, because any suggestion like that was obscene and out of the question for him. Motoki looked at him strangely.
"What are you talking about? We have to, to report that we've found a missing kid! What if they're looking for her right now?" Motoki asked matter-of-factly.
"But, it's seven thirty p.m., and kids have to stay overnight in the station if they had been found after seven!"
"Well, of course, since they haven't got anywhere else to stay-"
"But you don't understand!" Mamoru said angrily and got up abruptly. "She is a scared eight-year-old kid who doesn't know where she is, or why she's here. She doesn't have any friendly faces, she doesn't know her family, she's utterly lonely, and you'd send her to sleep in a prison cell! On a hard bed with only a light blanket to cover herself! With bars intead of a door! To think she's done something! Or to go to an orphanage if itseems like she doesn't have any family, where she'd be picked on, bullied around just because she's young and new! To have ten more years of terrible memories which will haunt her her whole life! Because, Motoki, I know everything about it, and I don't want this poor innocent little girl to experience that! She's way too young and too gentle to be tortured like that!"
Motoki just stared at his best friend with his mouth open. He'd rarely get really angry, but he had the ability that whenever he'd speak in anger, the words would get to you like none other. Motoki knew that well.
"But," he whispered, clearly shook, as Mamoru sat back on his stool, "What are we going to do with her then...?"
"The police is out of the question," he said sternly.
"The question still exists - what are we going to do with her?"
Mamoru didn't answer. He looked at Usagi for a bit, his gaze softening incredibly. She was eating her last donut, clearly happier now when she wasn't hungry anymore. She took a bite, chewed it, drank the rest of her milk and sighed deeply. Pinkish color had tinted her cheeks, and she wasn't cold anymore, as Mamoru and Motoki helped her to dry her skirt with Unazuki's blow dryer. She wasn't so sad anymore. As she looked around the arcade she giggled happily at some funny things she saw, mainly on the paintings that were hung on the arcade walls.
"I'll take her in," he said silently, with a beginning of a tender smile at the corners of his lips. Motoki's eyes bugged out and he stared at him like he'd gone mad.
"What?" he hissed.
"I'll take her to my place and keep her until her family is found," he said seriously, getting up.
"Mamoru-kun, I really think you're nuts." Motoki said shaking his head. They walked to Usagi, each one at the other side of the counter.
She still had that hood over her head. She was maybe used to it, but it didn't seem like it bothered her a great deal. As soon as they reached her, she gave Mamoru, now officially her new friend, a big smile.
"All done?" he asked with the same smile. She nodded. "Was it good? Are you full?" He asked again, helping her get down from the high stool.
"Yeah, it was yummy!" Mamoru chuckled and took her by both hands. He squatted in front of her, looking her in the eyes.
"Listen," he began. "I'm taking you to my apartment, and you're going to stay there for a few days, maybe even more,okay?" A little bit confused, she nodded. He smiled and got up, releasing one of her hands.
"Okay, we're off, Motoki!"
"Wait!" Mamoru turned around.
"Have you got ANY idea what responsibility a child is? How hard it is? She's not a pet!" Mamoru's gaze hardened and he faced him directly.
"I am a responsible, sane adult who makes his own decisions very carefully, taking into consideration every risk and makes his decisions clearly and completely. Taking Usagi in is one of those decisions. I am taking full responibility and I know what I'm getting into. So please don't lecture me, because I had to act like a complete adult when I was eighteen, I know what I can and can't do. So know what I've decided and please support me and don't grumble about how I won't be able to do it. Please. Goodbye." Taking Usagi by the hand, they deserted the arcade.
"I can't believe this! What happened!" Rei was fuming.
Ami sighed, putting away her mini-computer. "It seems like Usagi-chan's tiara had connected with her brooch and with our planet powers for some reason, something was supposed to happen, but because her brooch was damaged by the last youma attack, something went wrong and she was turned into an eight-year-old girl with no memories! And with that everything else changed like she didn't exist in the first place: her family doesn't remember her, her friends and all the people she knows don't remember her, except us, and two more people... One of them is most probably Tuxedo Kamen, and the other... hmm... I don't know who that might be..."
Minako picked the computer up, opened it, and stared at it,confused. "And you found all that out out of this? Hell, this doesn't even look like it can hold so much information inside!"
All the girls sweatdropped.
"Let's go to the arcade to brood about it for a while... Hey! The arcade! It's the nearest public place she could go to to get out of rain when she woke up! Maybe she's there!" said Makoto, full of excitement.
"And it would explain the other person who knows who Usagi is! If someone who knew Usagi saw her changed like that in half an hour since it happened, he or she would remember her!" said Ami.
"Okay then, let's go!"
"Hey, Motoki-san," Ami greeted cautiously.
"Have you seen Usagi-chan today?" Minako asked with the same level of carefulness.
"Nah, she didn't come in today. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, for nothing," shrugged Rei, while the other girls exchanged glances. So he DID remember her! Which would mean...
"Nee, Motoki-san," began Makoto, "Have you seen a little girl about eight, with red jacket and blue skirt?" Motoki looked at them surprised.
"Why, yes! She was here for quite a while, actually! How do you know about her?"
"Where and when did she go?" Minako asked anxiously, ignoring his previous question. Motoki was a little bit scared now. This was getting way suspicious now!
"She... she left the arcade about twenty minutes ago... with Mamoru... to his apartment..." He chuckled as all the girls looked at him with mesmerized looks on their faces.
"WHAT!" they asked in unison. "How come?" Ami said weakly.
"Well, she didn't remember who she was and where was she from, and Mamoru didn't want her to be taken to the police station so he took her to his place to take care of her until she found her family again. Why? What have you got with her?"
"Because... Because... Motoki, that's Usagi-chan!" Rei yelled.
"Well, here we are! You are about to eneter my empire!" Mamoru said, taking his keys out of his pocket. She giggled happily.
"Oh, one more thing." He kneeled in front of her, his gaze softening. He knew how she must have felt back in the arcade, so lonely and sad, without anyone to hold for protection or to talk to... To be afraid of your future... He knew that very well, and he wanted to protect this little inocent creature from that.
"Listen, Usagi-chan... You...you're not alone anymore, okay?" he whispered slowly and gently. "From now on, you'll never be alone, I'll always be there for you, okay? Any time, I'll help you and comfort you... Be there for you. Don't ever forget that..." She smiled and nodded.
"Thank you, Mamoru-san." He nodded and smiled, getting up. He unlocked the door, and just when he closed them and told Usagi to take off her shoes and jacket, his phone rang.
"Jeez, I didn't even get to take off my jacket! All right, I'm coming, I'm coming! Hello?" Motoki. Seconds seemed like hours as he was standing there listening.
"What...?" His face slowly turned white and his eyes wide as he listened to an incredible thing... and watched the girli n his hallway putting down her hood and taking off her jacket...
...revealing silky blond hair, tied in odangoes and short ponytails.
End of Chapter One -
Hope you liked it.. REALLY hope you liked it... More explanations next chapter. See ya then! Kiss!
Sabreen
