Title: Camp Days - Chapter 1
Rating: G, duh. This stinks.
Hiya minna! My name's Ashura, this is my first fanfic, so don't kill me... Please! But E-MAIL ME! My e-mail is JesseJames024@aol.com or AshuraRose@ffonline.zzn.com. I don't feel like writing a long intro...
I hope you enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, but dammit I wish I did. ^_^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Confucius." She let the pencil slide from finger to finger, watching the glimmer of the bright, unyielding flourescent lights beam off of the yellow paint. Her other hand was resting on her thigh, trembling with anticipation. "A great philosopher, indeed. Who knows what he based his teachings on?" She could hear a student's voice from somewhere near the back of the classroom. Her attention was not drawn from her task.
"Very good, Ami. Society. *Blech*. Society is such an over-used word. What does it really mean?"
No answer from anywhere in the room. The girl didn't take notice of it, but continued to move her hand under her desk. It moved with agonizing slowness, and she cursed her inability to reach her hand's destination quickly.
"'I blame society!' More than one crazed killer has stated this in answer to his meaningless actions. It's a worthless phrase now; it's extremely cliche. Confucius believed that everything had a proper place and time in society. There were relationships in this world, and in every world. Each relationship had a dominant being, if you will. Husband over wife, parents over children, priests over peasants. And if everything was in its proper place, the world would be at peace."
There was a pause. The man who was speaking suddenly redirected his attention to the girl, his eyes alive with curiosity... and anger. She quickly withdrew her hands from under the desk, maintaining eye contact.
*I'm not afraid of you. Bring it on.*
The man cleared his throat and continued to talk. "His teachings resisted change. No change at all. Now, my question is, do you agree with his beliefs? If not, why? If so, why? Would we be where we are today if we followed Confucius?"
She felt the hand of another student raise behind her. She let her own hands regain their original position under her desk, reaching farther and farther down, until they delved into her bag. A devilish grin spread across her face as she felt around the inside, her hands happily searching for what they had come for.
Moments later, she found it. The cool feel of plastic on her fingertips made her sigh with relief.
Big mistake.
"TSUKINO USAGI!!!"
That little breath had cost her her mid-day snack. She reeled back in her chair, odangos flying, as the contents of her bag spewed everywhere. This included her precious package of home-made brownies, the prize she had been so intent on winning.
Laughter filled the air as her chair slowly tilted backwards and sent her to the ground. She landed squarely on her rear end and moaned in protest to the sudden pain in her tailbone and spine. She quickly scrambled to her feet, grabbing the saran-wrapped brownies and stuffing them into her bag as quickly as she could. This method, however, failed to work. The professor strided over to to young girl and ripped the bag of brownies out of her trembling hands.
He looked down at the succulent treat and grinned at the distraught girl. Her face was twisted into an embarassed expresiion, her aqua blue eyes threatening to fill with tears. Her golden hair, done back in the usual attractive odangos, flowed to the ground like glimmering silk. She had a slim body, undoubtedley the desire of every boy in the high school.
To tell you the truth, she didn't feel all that beautiful or desired at the moment. Blood was rushing forth quickly to her cheeks, and she was afraid that each student in the class would hear her heart beat if it got any louder. She put on her best artificial smile and beared the humiliation.
"Do you care to explain to me why you are eating brownies at eight-thirty in the morning, in *my* class, no less?" the professor asked calmly, as if he were asking the capital of Uzbekistan. Where the hell was Uzbekistan, anyway?
She shifted in her school shoes, her uniform askew in an uncomfortable way. Tugging at her bow and trying to look as innocent as possible, Usagi replied. "Ummmm... Actually, Mr. Hamasaki, I was... I was..."
Her stammering was not helping the problem, she knew that. She threw a glance at Ami, who was blushing almost as much as Usagi was. Usagi almost sighed out loud. Ami was never a help; the girl just always continued to bury her nose in the textbook and act like she wasn't in trouble. ...Well, she *wasn't*, but that wasn't the point!! Friends are friends, right?
"Do you care to discontinue staring at Miss Mizuno and give me an explanation?" Mr. Hamasaki asked impatiently. God, what trouble freshmen could be! He reminded himself that he utterly hated kids and looked at Usagi like she had just stolen the money from his wallet.
*Dammit, why is he looking at me like that?!* She looked down at the brownies, back at the teacher, then Ami... Then the brownies... Then the brownies... She could feel the drool forming in her mouth, reminding her of the absence of a morning meal in her bare stomach. It wasn't her fault! Her little brother had eaten all of the most delicious breakfast treats in the entire world... Chocolate chip pancakes. Her mom only made them once in a blue moon, and she was usually up early (yes, believe it or not, five minutes EARLY!) to get first dibs. And it also *wasn't* her fault that Luna had woken her up ten minutes *late*! By the time she had reached the bottom of the stairs, the sounds of Shingo eating overzealously just to annoy her were heard. She had attempted to strangle her little brother, made futile by her mother's intervention.
And so here she was, in the middle of her first period Social Studies class, being nailed to a cross and beaten. She sweatdropped and looked at her brownies, deciding there was only one thing to do.
"Mr. Hamasaki, I brought the class a treat today," she said without emotion. Her insides were screaming for a bit of the chocolate paradise, made so graciously my Makato in the early morning hours.
"Really? Well, then, why don't you pass them out?" the teacher asked, knowing perfectly well how this would make Usagi, the most habitual muncher in the world, write with anger. *All teachers are evil... They're the product of the Negaverse...* she thought dully, grabbing the brownies from him in a less-than-respectful manner. With great agony, she made her way around the classroom, passing each beautiful piece of sugar and baked bread to a classmate. Most students were looking particularly smug, while Ami was throwing apologizing looks at Usagi. Usagi turned the cold shoulder to her, trying to make her suffer for what she had done. Ami *had* done this, hadn't she?
The bell rang. The students got up from their desks, munching on their brownie surprises gleefully. Usagi gave each of them the dirtiest look she thought possible.
*Okay, I'll just walk out and find Ami. We'll sort this all out... AFTER I KILL HER.* She started to march off towards the door, anticipating a good time to let her vocal chords to some damage.
"Miss Tsukino, may I see you for a moment?"
*Oh no...* Usagi turned slowly around, anger starting to rise in her again. What did he want? He had already publicly embarrassed her and taken away her only joy at nine in the morning... What more damage did he want to do?!
Mr. Hamasaki, tall and well-built, was leaning against a desk, adjusting his glasses. He looked up at Usagi. "I want to talk about your grades," he said in a calm manner.
Usagi felt a huge weight suddenly place itself on her shoulders. They sagged, and the life disappeared from her eyes. This is just what she needed, on a bright Monday afternoon, the last day before the spring break. It was destined to happen. Her bad days always seemed to turn worse at the last possible moment.
"They really haven't been quite up to par lately. I think it would do you good to do a little extra work over the holiday," the professor told her, shuffling through some papers absentmindedly.
*How much is 'a little extra'?* she thought, her insides squirming. She could just imagine what Ami was doing right now... Probably running from her life, blessing the day that Usagi got a bad mark on her History paper.
"You might want to come and study with a group of friends, and I'm assigning you an extra paper so you can keep up with your studies. In fact, you could come to school a couple days and I could help you and give you some work," he said in an official tone, knowing that this would crush Usagi.
He didn't just crush her. He stuck her under a fifty-ton block of cement with ten elephants dancing to the jitterbug on top.
"But, Mr. Hamasaki, it's *spring vacation*! It's vacation. V-a-c-a-s-h-u-n. Time off from school!"
Mr. Hamasaki rolled his eyes. "Vaction. V-a-c-a-t-i-o-n, Miss Tsukino. How *did* you ever make it through grade school?"
Ouch. That one stung. Usagi's cheeks turned a rasberry red, and she fumbled for words. Any words that would heal the pain of not being perfect.
"Um... Well..."
He put a hand up. "You should work over the holiday, that's my final point."
If possible, Usagi's facial expression turned even more sorrowful. Couldn't he see that she was in pain? She had to think of something that would get her out of this. Vacation was a rest for her mind, and most importantly, her soul. She needed just a couple days without being told, 'Usagi, don't you ever get it?! How can your grades be this bad?!'
'Odango Atama, how stupid can you get?'
And that one always stung the most for some reason.
"But, sir, she can't work over the holidays!"
Usagi thought she heard a voice in the back of her head. Did she just really say that out loud? But wait, that wasn't her voice...
"And why can't she, Miss Mizuno?" The forlorn girl whirled around to see Ami standing there, her small body quivering a little from addressing a teacher directly about something that didn't concern her.
*Yey! Mizuno Ami, you save my butt again! This should be the way it always is!* Usagi almost yelled out loud. But wait... What did this girl have in mind?
"Because she's going to a camp over the holidays. She's leaving late tonight and won't get back until late the night of the last day of break," Ami said quickly, smiling the best she could.
*CAMP?!*
Mr. Hamasaki pursed his lips. "A camp? What kind of camp?"
"Oh, a regular camp, including outdoor and aquatic sports and activities. It's quite fun, actually, and builds valuable skills," Ami said, almost if she was reading the brochure directly to him.
*CAMP?!*
"Well... Could she do some assignments in her free time?" Mr. Hamasaki asked Ami, not fully trusting her.
"NO! I mean, no, sir, it is an extremely vigorous schedule that hardly gives us all time to breath. Besides, you wouldn't want to interfere with her skill-building, would you?"
Mr. Hamasaki opened his mouth, intent on contradicting her, when Ami grabbed Usagi by the arm and pulled her towards the doorway. "I'm so glad that we all see eye to eye! Have a nice spring break, Mr. Hamasaki!" she yelled as she shut the door.
And Mr. Hamasaki was left there, brownie in hand, wondering what the hell he was thinking when he became a teacher.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Pain. Extreme, severe, prolonged pain."
"I swear, Usagi-chan, I was only thinking of you!"
"Sure. SURE. Can I trust ANYONE anymore?!" "Me! Usagi, me!"
"Don't start with me, Ami-chan."
It was lunch time, and there was only one place you could find Tsukino Usagi at this time.
The cafeteria, duh. Where else? Was that even a difficult question?! Well, actually, she WAS there, now she was out in the park for her lunch break.
Anyone could find her in her usual place, sitting amongst her four best friends, with an array of delicious food. This food was usually whipped up by Mrs. Tsukino herself, but she had been too busy yelling at Usagi this morning to make her a lunch. Makoto had been so generous as to let her friend "borrow" half of her lunch.
Usagi's eyes appeared from behind a rather large hoagie, giving Ami a menacing glare. "I am *not* going to camp over spring break. And do you know *why* that is, Ami-chan?"
Ami blushed and looked down at her peanut-butter and jelly sandwich. "Usagi-chan, it was the only think I could think of at the moment. I just wanted to help you, you know that..."
"Do you know WHY that is, AMI?!" Usagi repeated, gripping her lunch so hard that the mayonnaise was slowly being squeezed out from between the bread.
Ami sighed and placed her sandwich down on the napkin. "Yes, I know, Usa."
"Number ONE, I have plans to go to the beach TWO DAYS IN A ROW with that new hot guy I met at the mall! TWO DAYS! Number TWO, spring break is so short now that I hardly get any vegging days! Number THREE, what in GOD'S NAME made you decide that I had a fondness for nature?!"
"You know she's right, Ami-chan," an attractive ebony-haired girl said between slurps of her juice box. She swiveled her head to stare at Usagi. "We all know how Meatball Brains can't tell the difference between a tree and a deer."
"I resent that comment, Pyro!" Usagi almost screamed at Rei.
"You resent almost everything I say, Usa, because it's all TRUE," Rei snapped, setting her juice box back down on the picnic table.
"Guys, stop it," Makoto said in a firm voice, opening a tupperware container to sniff what the contents were. She closed her eyes as a look of pleasure spead across her face and leaned back in her chair, her chesnut brown hair falling back. "Ahhh... The smell of marinated chicken..."
"I think you should go, Usagi-chan," the blonde sitting across from Rei said. "You would have fun. Plus, there are older boy COUNSELORS there..."
"Is that all you ever think about, Mina-chan?" Rei asked indignantly.
"Yes," both Minako and Makoto answered.
"Could we please get back to the situation at hand?" Usagi puffed out like a blowfish. "Ami's long and tortured death!"
Ami cowered back. "Please, Usagi-chan, don't hurt me. I think it will be fun. I called the camp during study, and they said they would be more than happy to sign you up. And I'm sure your parents wouldn't mind."
"Of course my parents wouldn't mind!!! They're going to dance on the kitchen table with my brother when I leave for a whole week!"
"I'm going to the camp, too," Makoto said in between bites of her chicken. "It's really fun. They work you hard, but it's all worth it in the end. You literally have abs of steel."
"I'll settle for abs of wood, thank you," Usagi moaned, letting her head slide down to rest against the table. "Usa, get your head OFF of the picnic table. Toilet seats are probably cleaner," Rei demanded in a motherly tone.
"Pleeeease," Makoto and Ami pleaded together, trying to pull the puppy-dog look.
Usagi crossed her arms. "No. It's humid, and dirty, and disgusting, and buggy, and all that sort of crap. No way. There's no television, or microwave oven, or couch..."
"For goodness sake, Meatball Head, just go! You'll get out of a ton of homework if you do, have a chance to meet a new hot guy, AND, I promise I will go if you do." Rei shoved the last bit of mashed potato into her mouth and set down her fork.
Usagi's eyes grew larger. "You would do that for me, Rei?"
"No. My parents signed me up, I have to go."
"Then why did you just say..."
"Because I want you to shut your trap and stop whining. Now give me some of your potato chips," Rei quickly added, reaching over and grabbing the bag of chips from the miserable school student.
Usagi looked like she had just been personally violated. "I can't believe you would say something like that!" She bent her head, forgetting all about the potato chips missing from her hand. It appeared as though Usagi was thinking.
After a couple minutes, Minako stuck her hand in front of Usagi's bowed head. "Usagi-chan! I'll come!" she exclaimed, waving her manicured nails around. Usagi looked up, her expression slowly brightening.
"But Mina, you hate this kinda stuff just as much as I do..." she muttered.
"Yeah, but why not go? We'll grin and bear it together," Minako said, some pieces of popcorn flying everywhere from her mouth.
"Say it, don't spray it," Rei blurted, wiping some saliva and crumbs from her school uniform. It was different from the other girls' uniforms, mostly because she went to another private school across town. 'The school for people who are brats, but can still get into college anyway because they're LOADED,' Usagi had sometimes referred to it.
"Sooooo... Ami, you're coming, and so is Makoto, and Minako... And I don't really care about Pyro, but she's coming, too..." Usagi started to count on her fingers, looking at each one of them as she did.
Rei almost threw herself on top of the table, grabbing Usagi's fingers. "Stupid! We're all coming!"
Minako and Makoto broke out into laughter as Usagi furrowed her eyebrows and scrunched her little face up. "All right, I'm coming, just to kick YOUR SORRY ASS at whatever you do there!"
Rei laughed so hard she snorted. Gripping the table for support, she ducked as Usagi made a grab for her hair. "Right, Meatballs, you can't walk three steps without falling!"
That was it. Usagi grabbed two carrotsticks, dipped them into a large glop of ranch dressing, and hurled them both at Rei's head. Rei stopped laughing long enough to make a quick escape under the table. The carrots went flying behind her, in slow motion it seemed.
*GLOMP* Right onto the back of an extremely ugly green jacket.
*Ohhhh hoooooooly shit...* Usagi thought, her mouth dropping.
The other Senshi, as would be expected, squealed and retreated to the protection of the picnic table. Usagi froze in her place as the man with the really *horrible* green sports jacket slowly stood up.
"Odango, what the hell did you just throw at me? Getting tired of crumpled up tests?"
Usagi flinched a little. "Oh, sorry, I was just aiming for the nearest trashcan."
*Muwahaha, that was a good one,* Usagi thought to herself.
The man turned around, his fluffy ebony hair blowing a little in the spring breeze. He stood, tall and proud, with little emotion etched into his face. His dark eyes betrayed any emotion he felt.
"Do I smell ranch dressing?" he asked, his voice smooth and somewhat deep. He had been sitting alone at the nearest picnic table, minding his own business...
"I don't know, when did you last take a shower?" Usagi sneered, gathering the rest of her lunch, which turned out to be nothing, she noticed with dismay.
"Ouch, a little peeved today, are we?" he said, the corners of his mouth turning up. He slowly walked over towards the quintet's table.
"Oh, no, Chiba Mamoru, seeing you has totally made my day," Usagi retorted, rolling her eyes.
"I know. Thank me later," Mamoru quipped, starting to walk away. He had better things to do... At least he thought he did. Didn't he? Of course he did. He *always* had better things to do than fight with Odango Atama. Like, uh, writing term papers... Cleaning his apartment...
"Have a nice spring break, hope you find it as boring as your everyday life!" Usagi yelled to his retreating back.
His response was a unconcerned wave with his hand as he disappeared among the crowd of people. Usagi snorted, her ears as red as her face. Damn him. Damn everything that the lonely man did. Damn him for making her day worse.
"Wow... That was heated. You hardly wasted any conversation time," Minako squeaked from under the table.
Usagi didn't look down and crossed her arms. "All right, I'll go with you to that stupid camp. Possibly just to get away from Chiba Mamoru."
*And to get away from my problems... To hopefully get away from Sailor Moon...*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today just plain sucked.
He delved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, trying to withstand the fury that was slowly escaping him. Why did life have to be so harsh... And *boring*?
*Well, there's nothing boring about Odango Atama, that's for certain...*
They fought all the time. Every time they met. Whether it was in the park, at the store, at the arcade, even in the food court at the mall... They always found something to quip about. And he absolutely loathed her. He loathed her bright personality, her kindness, her silky golden hair, her love for life... He hated it all. Why couldn't he have that happiness? And dammit, she was just plain annoying.
Mamoru turned the corner, walking towards his apartment building. At least he had this week to look forward to. Ever since he was eight, he had been going to this camp. Now he was older and a counselor, but he had enjoyed it just as much. He had always worked his butt off to pay for it as a child, and now that he was an adult, he was actually getting PAID for a week of non-lonliness. Sure, he excluded himself from most extra activities and hardly talked to the other counselors, but at least he was with other people.
And he wouldn't have that wretched pull on his heart! No more Tuxedo Mask for an entire week! No worrying about Sailor Moon, although he rather liked that part. No more battles, no more sleepless nights... It was peaceful.
Peaceful... He could actually run away from his problems.
Rose petals lined the sidewalk where he walked as he closed the door and strided into the lobby of the building. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's the first part!!! E-MAIL ME! No flames pul-lease. Ja ne! Luv luv!
Ashura ^_^
Rating: G, duh. This stinks.
Hiya minna! My name's Ashura, this is my first fanfic, so don't kill me... Please! But E-MAIL ME! My e-mail is JesseJames024@aol.com or AshuraRose@ffonline.zzn.com. I don't feel like writing a long intro...
I hope you enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, but dammit I wish I did. ^_^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Confucius." She let the pencil slide from finger to finger, watching the glimmer of the bright, unyielding flourescent lights beam off of the yellow paint. Her other hand was resting on her thigh, trembling with anticipation. "A great philosopher, indeed. Who knows what he based his teachings on?" She could hear a student's voice from somewhere near the back of the classroom. Her attention was not drawn from her task.
"Very good, Ami. Society. *Blech*. Society is such an over-used word. What does it really mean?"
No answer from anywhere in the room. The girl didn't take notice of it, but continued to move her hand under her desk. It moved with agonizing slowness, and she cursed her inability to reach her hand's destination quickly.
"'I blame society!' More than one crazed killer has stated this in answer to his meaningless actions. It's a worthless phrase now; it's extremely cliche. Confucius believed that everything had a proper place and time in society. There were relationships in this world, and in every world. Each relationship had a dominant being, if you will. Husband over wife, parents over children, priests over peasants. And if everything was in its proper place, the world would be at peace."
There was a pause. The man who was speaking suddenly redirected his attention to the girl, his eyes alive with curiosity... and anger. She quickly withdrew her hands from under the desk, maintaining eye contact.
*I'm not afraid of you. Bring it on.*
The man cleared his throat and continued to talk. "His teachings resisted change. No change at all. Now, my question is, do you agree with his beliefs? If not, why? If so, why? Would we be where we are today if we followed Confucius?"
She felt the hand of another student raise behind her. She let her own hands regain their original position under her desk, reaching farther and farther down, until they delved into her bag. A devilish grin spread across her face as she felt around the inside, her hands happily searching for what they had come for.
Moments later, she found it. The cool feel of plastic on her fingertips made her sigh with relief.
Big mistake.
"TSUKINO USAGI!!!"
That little breath had cost her her mid-day snack. She reeled back in her chair, odangos flying, as the contents of her bag spewed everywhere. This included her precious package of home-made brownies, the prize she had been so intent on winning.
Laughter filled the air as her chair slowly tilted backwards and sent her to the ground. She landed squarely on her rear end and moaned in protest to the sudden pain in her tailbone and spine. She quickly scrambled to her feet, grabbing the saran-wrapped brownies and stuffing them into her bag as quickly as she could. This method, however, failed to work. The professor strided over to to young girl and ripped the bag of brownies out of her trembling hands.
He looked down at the succulent treat and grinned at the distraught girl. Her face was twisted into an embarassed expresiion, her aqua blue eyes threatening to fill with tears. Her golden hair, done back in the usual attractive odangos, flowed to the ground like glimmering silk. She had a slim body, undoubtedley the desire of every boy in the high school.
To tell you the truth, she didn't feel all that beautiful or desired at the moment. Blood was rushing forth quickly to her cheeks, and she was afraid that each student in the class would hear her heart beat if it got any louder. She put on her best artificial smile and beared the humiliation.
"Do you care to explain to me why you are eating brownies at eight-thirty in the morning, in *my* class, no less?" the professor asked calmly, as if he were asking the capital of Uzbekistan. Where the hell was Uzbekistan, anyway?
She shifted in her school shoes, her uniform askew in an uncomfortable way. Tugging at her bow and trying to look as innocent as possible, Usagi replied. "Ummmm... Actually, Mr. Hamasaki, I was... I was..."
Her stammering was not helping the problem, she knew that. She threw a glance at Ami, who was blushing almost as much as Usagi was. Usagi almost sighed out loud. Ami was never a help; the girl just always continued to bury her nose in the textbook and act like she wasn't in trouble. ...Well, she *wasn't*, but that wasn't the point!! Friends are friends, right?
"Do you care to discontinue staring at Miss Mizuno and give me an explanation?" Mr. Hamasaki asked impatiently. God, what trouble freshmen could be! He reminded himself that he utterly hated kids and looked at Usagi like she had just stolen the money from his wallet.
*Dammit, why is he looking at me like that?!* She looked down at the brownies, back at the teacher, then Ami... Then the brownies... Then the brownies... She could feel the drool forming in her mouth, reminding her of the absence of a morning meal in her bare stomach. It wasn't her fault! Her little brother had eaten all of the most delicious breakfast treats in the entire world... Chocolate chip pancakes. Her mom only made them once in a blue moon, and she was usually up early (yes, believe it or not, five minutes EARLY!) to get first dibs. And it also *wasn't* her fault that Luna had woken her up ten minutes *late*! By the time she had reached the bottom of the stairs, the sounds of Shingo eating overzealously just to annoy her were heard. She had attempted to strangle her little brother, made futile by her mother's intervention.
And so here she was, in the middle of her first period Social Studies class, being nailed to a cross and beaten. She sweatdropped and looked at her brownies, deciding there was only one thing to do.
"Mr. Hamasaki, I brought the class a treat today," she said without emotion. Her insides were screaming for a bit of the chocolate paradise, made so graciously my Makato in the early morning hours.
"Really? Well, then, why don't you pass them out?" the teacher asked, knowing perfectly well how this would make Usagi, the most habitual muncher in the world, write with anger. *All teachers are evil... They're the product of the Negaverse...* she thought dully, grabbing the brownies from him in a less-than-respectful manner. With great agony, she made her way around the classroom, passing each beautiful piece of sugar and baked bread to a classmate. Most students were looking particularly smug, while Ami was throwing apologizing looks at Usagi. Usagi turned the cold shoulder to her, trying to make her suffer for what she had done. Ami *had* done this, hadn't she?
The bell rang. The students got up from their desks, munching on their brownie surprises gleefully. Usagi gave each of them the dirtiest look she thought possible.
*Okay, I'll just walk out and find Ami. We'll sort this all out... AFTER I KILL HER.* She started to march off towards the door, anticipating a good time to let her vocal chords to some damage.
"Miss Tsukino, may I see you for a moment?"
*Oh no...* Usagi turned slowly around, anger starting to rise in her again. What did he want? He had already publicly embarrassed her and taken away her only joy at nine in the morning... What more damage did he want to do?!
Mr. Hamasaki, tall and well-built, was leaning against a desk, adjusting his glasses. He looked up at Usagi. "I want to talk about your grades," he said in a calm manner.
Usagi felt a huge weight suddenly place itself on her shoulders. They sagged, and the life disappeared from her eyes. This is just what she needed, on a bright Monday afternoon, the last day before the spring break. It was destined to happen. Her bad days always seemed to turn worse at the last possible moment.
"They really haven't been quite up to par lately. I think it would do you good to do a little extra work over the holiday," the professor told her, shuffling through some papers absentmindedly.
*How much is 'a little extra'?* she thought, her insides squirming. She could just imagine what Ami was doing right now... Probably running from her life, blessing the day that Usagi got a bad mark on her History paper.
"You might want to come and study with a group of friends, and I'm assigning you an extra paper so you can keep up with your studies. In fact, you could come to school a couple days and I could help you and give you some work," he said in an official tone, knowing that this would crush Usagi.
He didn't just crush her. He stuck her under a fifty-ton block of cement with ten elephants dancing to the jitterbug on top.
"But, Mr. Hamasaki, it's *spring vacation*! It's vacation. V-a-c-a-s-h-u-n. Time off from school!"
Mr. Hamasaki rolled his eyes. "Vaction. V-a-c-a-t-i-o-n, Miss Tsukino. How *did* you ever make it through grade school?"
Ouch. That one stung. Usagi's cheeks turned a rasberry red, and she fumbled for words. Any words that would heal the pain of not being perfect.
"Um... Well..."
He put a hand up. "You should work over the holiday, that's my final point."
If possible, Usagi's facial expression turned even more sorrowful. Couldn't he see that she was in pain? She had to think of something that would get her out of this. Vacation was a rest for her mind, and most importantly, her soul. She needed just a couple days without being told, 'Usagi, don't you ever get it?! How can your grades be this bad?!'
'Odango Atama, how stupid can you get?'
And that one always stung the most for some reason.
"But, sir, she can't work over the holidays!"
Usagi thought she heard a voice in the back of her head. Did she just really say that out loud? But wait, that wasn't her voice...
"And why can't she, Miss Mizuno?" The forlorn girl whirled around to see Ami standing there, her small body quivering a little from addressing a teacher directly about something that didn't concern her.
*Yey! Mizuno Ami, you save my butt again! This should be the way it always is!* Usagi almost yelled out loud. But wait... What did this girl have in mind?
"Because she's going to a camp over the holidays. She's leaving late tonight and won't get back until late the night of the last day of break," Ami said quickly, smiling the best she could.
*CAMP?!*
Mr. Hamasaki pursed his lips. "A camp? What kind of camp?"
"Oh, a regular camp, including outdoor and aquatic sports and activities. It's quite fun, actually, and builds valuable skills," Ami said, almost if she was reading the brochure directly to him.
*CAMP?!*
"Well... Could she do some assignments in her free time?" Mr. Hamasaki asked Ami, not fully trusting her.
"NO! I mean, no, sir, it is an extremely vigorous schedule that hardly gives us all time to breath. Besides, you wouldn't want to interfere with her skill-building, would you?"
Mr. Hamasaki opened his mouth, intent on contradicting her, when Ami grabbed Usagi by the arm and pulled her towards the doorway. "I'm so glad that we all see eye to eye! Have a nice spring break, Mr. Hamasaki!" she yelled as she shut the door.
And Mr. Hamasaki was left there, brownie in hand, wondering what the hell he was thinking when he became a teacher.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Pain. Extreme, severe, prolonged pain."
"I swear, Usagi-chan, I was only thinking of you!"
"Sure. SURE. Can I trust ANYONE anymore?!" "Me! Usagi, me!"
"Don't start with me, Ami-chan."
It was lunch time, and there was only one place you could find Tsukino Usagi at this time.
The cafeteria, duh. Where else? Was that even a difficult question?! Well, actually, she WAS there, now she was out in the park for her lunch break.
Anyone could find her in her usual place, sitting amongst her four best friends, with an array of delicious food. This food was usually whipped up by Mrs. Tsukino herself, but she had been too busy yelling at Usagi this morning to make her a lunch. Makoto had been so generous as to let her friend "borrow" half of her lunch.
Usagi's eyes appeared from behind a rather large hoagie, giving Ami a menacing glare. "I am *not* going to camp over spring break. And do you know *why* that is, Ami-chan?"
Ami blushed and looked down at her peanut-butter and jelly sandwich. "Usagi-chan, it was the only think I could think of at the moment. I just wanted to help you, you know that..."
"Do you know WHY that is, AMI?!" Usagi repeated, gripping her lunch so hard that the mayonnaise was slowly being squeezed out from between the bread.
Ami sighed and placed her sandwich down on the napkin. "Yes, I know, Usa."
"Number ONE, I have plans to go to the beach TWO DAYS IN A ROW with that new hot guy I met at the mall! TWO DAYS! Number TWO, spring break is so short now that I hardly get any vegging days! Number THREE, what in GOD'S NAME made you decide that I had a fondness for nature?!"
"You know she's right, Ami-chan," an attractive ebony-haired girl said between slurps of her juice box. She swiveled her head to stare at Usagi. "We all know how Meatball Brains can't tell the difference between a tree and a deer."
"I resent that comment, Pyro!" Usagi almost screamed at Rei.
"You resent almost everything I say, Usa, because it's all TRUE," Rei snapped, setting her juice box back down on the picnic table.
"Guys, stop it," Makoto said in a firm voice, opening a tupperware container to sniff what the contents were. She closed her eyes as a look of pleasure spead across her face and leaned back in her chair, her chesnut brown hair falling back. "Ahhh... The smell of marinated chicken..."
"I think you should go, Usagi-chan," the blonde sitting across from Rei said. "You would have fun. Plus, there are older boy COUNSELORS there..."
"Is that all you ever think about, Mina-chan?" Rei asked indignantly.
"Yes," both Minako and Makoto answered.
"Could we please get back to the situation at hand?" Usagi puffed out like a blowfish. "Ami's long and tortured death!"
Ami cowered back. "Please, Usagi-chan, don't hurt me. I think it will be fun. I called the camp during study, and they said they would be more than happy to sign you up. And I'm sure your parents wouldn't mind."
"Of course my parents wouldn't mind!!! They're going to dance on the kitchen table with my brother when I leave for a whole week!"
"I'm going to the camp, too," Makoto said in between bites of her chicken. "It's really fun. They work you hard, but it's all worth it in the end. You literally have abs of steel."
"I'll settle for abs of wood, thank you," Usagi moaned, letting her head slide down to rest against the table. "Usa, get your head OFF of the picnic table. Toilet seats are probably cleaner," Rei demanded in a motherly tone.
"Pleeeease," Makoto and Ami pleaded together, trying to pull the puppy-dog look.
Usagi crossed her arms. "No. It's humid, and dirty, and disgusting, and buggy, and all that sort of crap. No way. There's no television, or microwave oven, or couch..."
"For goodness sake, Meatball Head, just go! You'll get out of a ton of homework if you do, have a chance to meet a new hot guy, AND, I promise I will go if you do." Rei shoved the last bit of mashed potato into her mouth and set down her fork.
Usagi's eyes grew larger. "You would do that for me, Rei?"
"No. My parents signed me up, I have to go."
"Then why did you just say..."
"Because I want you to shut your trap and stop whining. Now give me some of your potato chips," Rei quickly added, reaching over and grabbing the bag of chips from the miserable school student.
Usagi looked like she had just been personally violated. "I can't believe you would say something like that!" She bent her head, forgetting all about the potato chips missing from her hand. It appeared as though Usagi was thinking.
After a couple minutes, Minako stuck her hand in front of Usagi's bowed head. "Usagi-chan! I'll come!" she exclaimed, waving her manicured nails around. Usagi looked up, her expression slowly brightening.
"But Mina, you hate this kinda stuff just as much as I do..." she muttered.
"Yeah, but why not go? We'll grin and bear it together," Minako said, some pieces of popcorn flying everywhere from her mouth.
"Say it, don't spray it," Rei blurted, wiping some saliva and crumbs from her school uniform. It was different from the other girls' uniforms, mostly because she went to another private school across town. 'The school for people who are brats, but can still get into college anyway because they're LOADED,' Usagi had sometimes referred to it.
"Sooooo... Ami, you're coming, and so is Makoto, and Minako... And I don't really care about Pyro, but she's coming, too..." Usagi started to count on her fingers, looking at each one of them as she did.
Rei almost threw herself on top of the table, grabbing Usagi's fingers. "Stupid! We're all coming!"
Minako and Makoto broke out into laughter as Usagi furrowed her eyebrows and scrunched her little face up. "All right, I'm coming, just to kick YOUR SORRY ASS at whatever you do there!"
Rei laughed so hard she snorted. Gripping the table for support, she ducked as Usagi made a grab for her hair. "Right, Meatballs, you can't walk three steps without falling!"
That was it. Usagi grabbed two carrotsticks, dipped them into a large glop of ranch dressing, and hurled them both at Rei's head. Rei stopped laughing long enough to make a quick escape under the table. The carrots went flying behind her, in slow motion it seemed.
*GLOMP* Right onto the back of an extremely ugly green jacket.
*Ohhhh hoooooooly shit...* Usagi thought, her mouth dropping.
The other Senshi, as would be expected, squealed and retreated to the protection of the picnic table. Usagi froze in her place as the man with the really *horrible* green sports jacket slowly stood up.
"Odango, what the hell did you just throw at me? Getting tired of crumpled up tests?"
Usagi flinched a little. "Oh, sorry, I was just aiming for the nearest trashcan."
*Muwahaha, that was a good one,* Usagi thought to herself.
The man turned around, his fluffy ebony hair blowing a little in the spring breeze. He stood, tall and proud, with little emotion etched into his face. His dark eyes betrayed any emotion he felt.
"Do I smell ranch dressing?" he asked, his voice smooth and somewhat deep. He had been sitting alone at the nearest picnic table, minding his own business...
"I don't know, when did you last take a shower?" Usagi sneered, gathering the rest of her lunch, which turned out to be nothing, she noticed with dismay.
"Ouch, a little peeved today, are we?" he said, the corners of his mouth turning up. He slowly walked over towards the quintet's table.
"Oh, no, Chiba Mamoru, seeing you has totally made my day," Usagi retorted, rolling her eyes.
"I know. Thank me later," Mamoru quipped, starting to walk away. He had better things to do... At least he thought he did. Didn't he? Of course he did. He *always* had better things to do than fight with Odango Atama. Like, uh, writing term papers... Cleaning his apartment...
"Have a nice spring break, hope you find it as boring as your everyday life!" Usagi yelled to his retreating back.
His response was a unconcerned wave with his hand as he disappeared among the crowd of people. Usagi snorted, her ears as red as her face. Damn him. Damn everything that the lonely man did. Damn him for making her day worse.
"Wow... That was heated. You hardly wasted any conversation time," Minako squeaked from under the table.
Usagi didn't look down and crossed her arms. "All right, I'll go with you to that stupid camp. Possibly just to get away from Chiba Mamoru."
*And to get away from my problems... To hopefully get away from Sailor Moon...*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today just plain sucked.
He delved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, trying to withstand the fury that was slowly escaping him. Why did life have to be so harsh... And *boring*?
*Well, there's nothing boring about Odango Atama, that's for certain...*
They fought all the time. Every time they met. Whether it was in the park, at the store, at the arcade, even in the food court at the mall... They always found something to quip about. And he absolutely loathed her. He loathed her bright personality, her kindness, her silky golden hair, her love for life... He hated it all. Why couldn't he have that happiness? And dammit, she was just plain annoying.
Mamoru turned the corner, walking towards his apartment building. At least he had this week to look forward to. Ever since he was eight, he had been going to this camp. Now he was older and a counselor, but he had enjoyed it just as much. He had always worked his butt off to pay for it as a child, and now that he was an adult, he was actually getting PAID for a week of non-lonliness. Sure, he excluded himself from most extra activities and hardly talked to the other counselors, but at least he was with other people.
And he wouldn't have that wretched pull on his heart! No more Tuxedo Mask for an entire week! No worrying about Sailor Moon, although he rather liked that part. No more battles, no more sleepless nights... It was peaceful.
Peaceful... He could actually run away from his problems.
Rose petals lined the sidewalk where he walked as he closed the door and strided into the lobby of the building. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's the first part!!! E-MAIL ME! No flames pul-lease. Ja ne! Luv luv!
Ashura ^_^