Taking that Leap [CHAPTER ONE] by tierce
"Odango Atama," Rei retorted.
"I can't believe you did that either!" added Lita, who was still shaking her head in surprise. "I mean—wow, I know you hate Mamoru with your guts and everything, but really. Did you have to go and do that?"
Minako nodded in total agreement, the red bow in her hair bobbing along with the rest of her head. "Yeah—did you really have to dump your chocolate milkshake all over his hair?"
The blonde subject let out a frustrated screech, her face scrunched. "Why are all of you blaming meee?? He provoked me to do it!"
"Provoked?" the raven-haired priestess asked sarcastically.
Ami looked from one face to the other and simply let out a sigh. It was yet another argument, but it was one that had been fought many times until it hardly felt like a heated conversation anymore. It just seemed to become a main part of their day—Usagi and Mamoru insulting each other and then Usagi storming out of the arcade in anger, with her friends following like a row of ducks.
"Heeeeeeeeee dddddiiiiiiiiddddddddddddd," Usagi whined, balling her hands into fists at her side, probably setting a new world record for the longest whine possible in a human.
Lita rolled her green eyes heavenward. "God. You two are like an old married couple, I swear."
Usagi turned deathly pale as she advanced on the brunette, her mouth a gaping cavern in her face. "Don't you EVER say that again, you hear me Lita? NEVER EVER EVER!!"
"Well gosh, if Mamoru and you weren't acting like one in the first place, I wouldn't say that!" Lita retorted, exchanging exasperated looks with Rei.
"Hey how was that math quiz?" Ami suddenly piped up, tactfully changing the subject.
"I think I did pretty much okay on it," Lita decided, "of course that last question was sorta tricky…"
Minako shrugged. "Not too badly I hope. Geometry just isn't my thing."
"Odango Atama?" Rei asked sweetly, knowing fully well what the blonde fourteen-year-old's answer was going to be.
Usagi glared at her, sticking out her tongue. "You know, pyro!" She said accusingly, pointing a finger at the seemingly innocent priestess.
"Ditz," Rei responded scathingly, humming softly to herself.
"Ok-ay, time out!" Minako interrupted, getting in between the two teen girls. "I don't need to hear a repeat conversation!"
"Repeat?" Lita asked. "Ohh I see, they're goin' to argue just as if Mamoru was here and teasing Usa. Meh, not much of a biggie now, we're like so jaded."
"Don't even say it," warned Usagi.
Lita looked affronted. "Say what?"
The blonde groaned, smacking her face with her hands. "Ugh! I hate this," she exclaimed, beginning to thunk her head on the glass coffee table in Minako's house.
"Hey!" Minako said. "I just cleaned that!"
"I can tell Meens. There's no beauty magazines or comic books piled on it," Usagi replied in a muffled voice.
"But there is a lot of orange nail polish on it, Mina—Usagi! Get your head off the table," suggested Ami. "I think you broke one of Mina's nail polish bottles."
Minako looked horrified as she dashed over. "She WHAT?" She practically yanked Usagi away and let out a shriek. "USAGI! Oh my god, how am I supposed to get rid of that?" She fell to her knees. "Oh man… my parents are going to kill me when they get home and see this. Usagi!" She wailed, clutching her hands to her pasty face.
"Odango Atama! Watch where you're putting your head next time!" Rei scolded.
Lita stuck a finger on the wet surface and examined it. "I think you're in luck Meens, if you've got some rags and nail polish remover handy."
"Hold on, I'll go check my room," Minako said with audible relief.
"Are you expanding your repertoire of laughable acts?" Rei asked woundingly.
Usagi threw a death glare at her. "You pyro, shut up." She put a hand to her forehead and then let out an ear-piercing scream. "My bangs! They're covered in nail polish!" Running towards the bathroom, she fumbled with the light switch before flicking it on, to examine her golden locks in the mirror. "Argh!"
Ami and Rei poked their heads into the bathroom, and saw what Usagi was shrieking over.
"Calm down Odango, I'm sure we can cut off the parts where there's nail polish on," Rei snickered, her violet eyes alight with mischievousness.
"Argh! Mom is gonna kill me if she sees that I cut my hair!" The blonde moaned, clutching at her forehead.
"Perhaps we can wash it out somehow," Ami said aloud, looking on the counters. "I'm not too sure if nail polish remover and shampoo would work, but it's better to give it a try than just cut it off, right?" She looked towards her raven-haired companion for reassurance.
Rei grumbled, "Oh… all right." What she would've given to be able to snip off the strands of her ditzy friend's hair! It was a rare moment, and Ami just had to spoil it with her knowledgeable and sensible suggestions. Still, she supposed, it would've been a bit on the mean side to ruin Usagi's hair, even if hair did grow. She sure wouldn't have wanted to go outside looking like a lawn mower had gone over her head!
Usagi looked like she could have hugged both of the girls in a fierce embrace, if it weren't for the slim possibility that she might get some of that nail polish on Rei and risk a certified pyromaniac on the rampage out for blonde ditz blood. "Thank you sooo much Ami!"
The blue-haired-girl only permitted a smile on her face. "It was nothing really. What you should really hope for is that Mina and Lita didn't use the entire bottle of remover on the coffee table. The drug store is ten blocks away."
"And it looks like it's going to rain soon," Rei remarked, squinting at the bay window ten feet away.
"NOOO! Rei—grab that bottle now! I need it more for my hair!" squealed Usagi desperately.
"As if!" Rei snorted. "If you didn't just thunk your head anywhere, you wouldn't have broken the bottle of nail polish in the first place. And you wouldn't be making Lita and Minako clean it off the coffee table! Do you know how annoyingly difficult it is to clean off nail polish?" the priestess asked bitingly.
Usagi narrowed her eyes. "Sadistic pyro."
"Klutzy ditz."
"Stop it you two!" Ami interrupted. "I'm sure they'll leave enough for Usagi to be able to take the nail polish out of her hair. But Rei is right, Usagi, you do need to be more careful next time. You're lucky you didn't get glass shards in your head."
"Why does everyone always take Rei's side?" Usagi said, pouting. Rei only let out an exasperated sigh as she stormed out of the bathroom, mumbling darkly under her breath about what sort of fate she'd like to wish upon blonde klutzes.
He stepped out of the airport, slipping on a pair of aviator sunglasses to avoid the harsh glare of the sun. Blinking once, he then turned around to make sure his companions were still with him and their baggage still secured onto two carts. Seeing that all was well, his face broke into a huge smile. "So this is Japan," he said.
One of his friends, a rather tall blonde man with close-cropped hair rolled his eyes. "That was a brilliant welcoming, Zoi. Simply brilliant, I've never heard more significant words!" He held a hand to his heart, his fingers splayed across his chest.
"Oh be quiet already Jade, I don't need to hear your sarcasm right now." Kunzite said curtly, eyeing the jokester. Kunzite was the leader of the group, and had shoulder-length silvery-white hair that he typically left alone. He also had amazing grey eyes which could bore into you and make you stand still, his eyes were mesmerizing tornadoes. "I just wanna get to our place and crash."
Zoisite grinned. "Hey Neph, why so silent?"
Nephrite glanced up. "Huh? Oh I was just thinking." He said, his voice trailing off.
"Thinking of what? A girl?" Jadeite laughed. "Damn we just got here and already you're thinking of getting a girlfriend? You move fast!"
The brown-haired Nephrite glared at Jadeite. "At least I use my brain," he shot back.
"Calm down!" Zoisite interrupted, surprised at his friend. Nephrite usually ignored Jadeite, but instead, he had just fired right back at the blonde jokester. "Sheesh. We just got here and already!"
Jadeite rolled his eyes. "Please Zoi. Spare the drama."
"Damn! Here you go Zoi, here's your twenty bucks." Kunzite muttered, resentfully pulling out a crisp bill from his wallet and giving it over to Zoisite.
Zoisite grinned. "Haha, I knew it!"
"Hey—what's this about?!" Nephrite demanded.
"Oh… just a little bet," Kunzite said.
"A bet? About us?!" Jadeite asked in disbelief.
"Hey, not like it affects you," Zoisite chuckled, pocketing his money.
Jadeite sulked. "No fair—I want twenty bucks!"
Kunzite laughed. "Zoi and I had a bet for twenty bucks. I bet that you'd be sufferin' from jet lag. Zoisite bet you'd be your normal, hyperactive self. Obviously, I lost."
"What? How come I wasn't in on this?" Nephrite asked enviously.
"Meh. You should've told us," Kunzite grinned. "Still. What a waste of twenty bucks!"
"Ahh your loss Kun, you shouldn't have bothered to bet twenty bucks." The brown-haired man replied at last.
"I feel like such a tool," commented Jadeite, watching his friends.
Zoisite checked his watch. "Jade, isn't your uncle supposed to be here by now?"
The blonde man shrugged. "What's today?"
"Uhh…" Nephrite scrunched up his face. "I think it's the… twelfth of July. Yes. It's the twelfth of July."
Jadeite slapped his hand over his mouth. "Oops." He chuckled nervously.
"What?" Kunzite asked suspiciously. "What is it?"
"Heheh…" Jadeite groaned. "Um do you want good news or bad news?"
"Just tell us!" Zoisite said.
"Well I told my uncle to pick us up on the thirteenth—"
"You fool!" Nephrite yelled, smacking his friend on his back hard.
"Oww!"
"Hey calm down guys!" Zoisite instructed. "We can always call a taxi—as long as Jade actually knows his uncle's address. Otherwise, we'll kill you Jadie," he grinned cheekily.
"Jadie?"
Kunzite rolled his eyes melodramatically. "God. So much for preparedness."
"Oh shut up Kun," Jadeite grumbled as he began searching for the elusive slip of paper containing his uncle's address. "How much have we got in yen with us right now?"
"Not a lot," Nephrite told him. "Between Zoi's new twenty and my one thousand yen, we don't have enough for a taxi to take us a foot. If we're even lucky, that is."
"No problem, I'm sure we'll manage someway." Kunzite decided, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
"We better," Zoisite replied, shooting death glares at Jadeite who immaturely stuck out his tongue.
The blonde dug through his pant pocket and pulled out a slip of paper, a stick of rock-solid gum, a dead roach, a tissue and a bunch of lint. "HEY! I FOUND IT!" Eagerly, he yanked open the folded paper and gasped when he heard a ripping sound. "Oh no…"
"Idiot! Is it still legible?" Zoisite demanded, wanting to throttle some sense into the jokester.
Kunzite grabbed the remains of the paper from Jadeite and his eyes quickly scanned the scrawled type. "Yeah it's fine."
"Well then, Minato-ku, here we come!"
Author's note:
I reformatted the fic `cause Word added an extra annoying space in between each sentence. So hopefully now when it gets posted, there won't be giant gaps in between each sentence—that's my own pet peeve. =P And to think I inadvertently formatted the document like that… hehe.
Thanks to Venus Smurf, Katya and amphitrite for reviewing. =) And you're right amphitrite, nothing really happened. I wasn't sure of what else to add so I figured I'd post whatever I already had and see the reaction. I added a lot more to this chapter, and would it kill anyone if I said that Zoisite, Jadeite, Nephrite and Kunzite just moved to Japan and are going to attend Juuban High? Hehe, well I already did so too late! ^^ Anyways, thank you all for reading, and much love to the reviewers~ reviews=motivation for me to write more. Plus, I know what you guys think and it helps that you tell me what you think needs to be done, etc. By the way, Zoisite and the gang are probably goin` to be OOC. I don't think I remember their personalities—not when they were bad guys of course. So Jadeite will become the jokester, Nephrite the dreamer and stargazer, Zoisite the sarcastic genius and Kunzite the bravest and sometimes moodiest. Sorry if this pisses anyone off ^^.
And of course, I need to list ages so you don't get confused. Um hopefully I'm correct, I haven't watched SM in ages. Usagi and her friends are all 14. Mamoru is 17 and Zoisite, Jadeite, Nephrite and Kunzite are all 16. Is that relatively good enough? I think I saw somewhere that Mamoru went to college earlier, so that's why I made him "that" young. I think the norm for his age was around 21--but then he'd be dating a 14-year-old? SM isn't another Lolita… ::cough cough:: =P excuse my digression.
Mailing list, anybody? perpetuallimit@hotmail.com Name + addy, and the word 'mailing list' in the subject line, along with whatever fic you're interested in getting update reminders for. You get the exclusive first paragraph preview and notification of when the next chapter's posted. And it's free! =) Ok... let's lock myself up.
-tierce
25-Feb-03