Warning: There is fluff at the end. Maybe too much...I can't tell. I have no inbuilt fluff radar, sadly. I don't know how I feel about this one. Is it too boring and descriptive? I like the ending, but it might be too abrupt...enough whining! Enjoy. : )
Cupid and Psyche
Chapter Four -
After checking in briefly at a quick clinic to make sure he didn't have a concussion, Kunzite had headed home, taken some aspirin and gone to bed.
He woke up in the early moments of the dawn and stared at his ceiling.
Mina! He thought and sat up straight in bed.
She probably waited for me last night.
He put his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes. He knew he had to tell her today. Even if it meant telling her in the office – the deception was too hard to continue. And he didn't want it to continue.
It had been hard enough to work with her yesterday without taking every opportunity that prevented itself to talk with her, or touch her. As it was he'd really only succeeded in making her lose her temper and throw her cell phone at his head.
He squinted in concentration, trying to remember what had happened after that, but his memory was foggy and piecemeal.
He remembered her face staring at him, her hand brushing his hair out of his eyes, and...
Did I kiss her?
He shook his head. That had to be his imagination.
As he got ready for the day he prepared his explanation to her in his mind.
"Good morning, Kato-san," Mina called cheerily as she walked through his door.
He glanced up, startled by her exuberance. He had a bandage on his forehead, under his hair, and he was trying not to rub it.
"How are you this morning, sir?" she asked as she put his coffee on the table.
"I'm...fine, thank you, Aino-san," he answered, hesitantly. He'd never seen her in a better mood.
"Excellent!" she exclaimed, "I'm glad to hear it."
"Well?" she asked after he'd stared at her for a moment in wondering silence.
"Huh?"
"Aren't you going to ask me how I am?"
"Oh, of course, how are you today, Aino-san?"
"I'm...Marvelous!" she replied, and giggled.
"Uh...may I ask why?" he questioned, "Did you have a nice night?"
"I had a wonderful night," she replied, "thank you for asking."
"You did?" he put his coffee down sharply.
"What did you do? If I may inquire."
"You may," she said, putting her things in order, "I went out with a friend of mine."
"A friend?" he asked suspiciously.
Mina pretended not to notice but continued blithely:
"Yes, a friend. We went to a movie, then we went for a walk in the park. And then a ride on his motorcycle."
"Oh, really?" He was frowning darkly, and Mina was finding it difficult to control herself.
"It was so much fun. The most fun I've had in years, actually. And later we went back to his house."
"You did, did you?" He was standing up now, his coffee forgotten He adjusted his glasses and put his hands on his hips.
"Yes," she answered innocently.
"Is something wrong, Kato-san?"
"What is this friend's name?" he asked, ignoring her question.
"He works here in your department."
"Is it Hoshi-san?" He snapped, "Or Fujiwara-san? Don't tell me that ridiculous Nakamura -"
"Actually, his name is Kunz and he works in your engineering department."
He stared at her in an appalled silence.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right."
"Kunz-san, he's a motorcycle engineer."
"You were out with him last night?"
Mina smiled primly and sat down.
"Are you sure?" he asked, still not quite understanding how the the impossible had happened.
"Why? Don't you believe me?" she said, fixing him with a pointed stare.
"Well..." he trailed off. This was not how he'd imagined telling her but...
"You couldn't have been, because...there is no Kunz-san...I made him up."
"Oh, did you?"
Something about the suddenly deadly tone of her voice made him instinctively retreat toward the back window.
"Ah, let me explain," he began.
The look on her face – calm, collected, and focused – was more intimidating than if she had simply been angry enough to throw a cell phone at him.
"So when were you going to tell me about your colossal joke, Kato-san?"
"Kami-sama, Mina, it wasn't like that-"
"I can't believe it took me so long to figure it out. I really liked you, you know?" she continued, locking him in a fierce gaze, "So tell me, is this something you do all the time? Pretend to be two people so you can show someone how stupid they are?"
"No," he moved to stand in front of her.
"It's not like that. At first, when you didn't recognize me, I was just going to make a joke out of that, but -" he broke off as her face darkened, "listen, Mina, please. When I said that I liked you, I was telling the truth. I was afraid because we got off to such a bad start..."
"Who's fault was that?"
"Mine," he acknowledged willingly, "I thought, before you came here, that you were just some wild, stupid kid. And I wanted to teach you a lesson. But I found out that I was wrong right away."
"You're the most responsible person I've ever met," he added, "when it comes to looking after other people."
"Don't flatter me," she murmured, "just tell me the truth."
"The only thing I ever lied to you about was my name." he said quietly.
Mina looked at the floor for a long, silent moment, while he waited, holding his breath.
"Thank you for telling me the truth, Kato-san." she said at last, finally looking up.
"I'm going to ask the court if they will re-assign me to community service; I'll come back to get my things."
She lifted her bag.
"Thank you for...your consideration, Kato-san. I really have enjoyed working for you." she bowed and walked out before he could find his voice.
He walked in a daze around his desk to the window and stared out at the river for a long time.
"I can't believe the nerve of that guy," Makoto said, plopping a box of Kleenex and a bowl of ice cream beside Mina.
She, Usagi and Makoto were sitting around Makoto's kitchen table with three bowls of ice cream and two of Makoto's left over cakes.
"I know," Mina sniffed, blowing her nose, "and I bought a new suit too. And it looked good."
"Don't think about it, Mina," Usagi urged.
"Sounds to me like this guy is real creep," Makoto mused as she shoved cake onto Usagi's plate.
"I mean, what kind of jack ass pretends to be two different people? What is he, Jekyll and Hyde?"
"What if he's some kind of serial killer who pretends to be a normal business man, like in that American movie you made me go see -" Usagi began, pointing an accusatory finger at Makoto.
"It wasn't that scary."
"It was terrifying, and Rei walked out. I wanted to bury my head in the popcorn tub."
"You did bury your head in the popcorn tub." Makoto pointed out.
"Kunz isn't a serial killer," Mina replied, slightly irritated.
"But you have to admit what he did was weird."
"It wasn't weird," Mina said defensively, "it was quite understandable in light of the facts. He was afraid that I would reject him if I knew who he really was – and he was right, I would have."
"Are you...defending him?" Makoto asked with a sly look at Usagi.
Mina turned a little pink.
"No."
"So if I said he was ugly, rude and chauvinistic -"
"He's not! He's very polite, extremely courteous and responsible. And he's very handsome!"
"Uh-huh." Makoto grinned at her.
"Are you really sure you don't like this guy?" Usagi asked, suddenly serious.
"Because if you really do like him," she added, "it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."
"Even if he is a possible serial killer." Makoto remarked.
"Stop calling him that!" Mina yelled, then put her hands to her mouth.
"I think..." she said after a moment of embarrassed quiet, "that I need to...do something...I'll see you guys later."
"Have fun!" Makoto called cheerfully as Mina slammed the door.
Mina arrived at the office late in the afternoon. It had been three days since she'd last seen Kato-san, and she was suddenly very nervous about meeting him again.
He's probably really mad at me. She considered. But I don't care.
The receptionist told her that he hadn't been to work that day. Or the day before.
"Is he on vacation?" she asked.
"He took sick leave, I believe, miss." she replied, but she was obviously very curious about Mina's questions.
"Oh, I'll come back tomorrow then, thank you."
She walked out of the office.
Sick leave? She pondered, Maybe I hit him harder than I thought.
Is there such a thing as a delayed concussion?
She walked down the street, but the day was pleasant, so she decided to take a detour through the park. As she came to the bridge, the sudden memory of their last outing together sprang to her mind.
She sighed and leaned against the bridge railing, putting her head on her arms.
It doesn't seem like Kunz-san to take off just because he's sick.
Her mind began to suggest various gruesome and melodramatic explanations for his disappearance – suicide notes, random threats, religious vows, etc...
"This is horrible." She grumped.
Looking out she caught sight of a man lying beside the river bank, stretched out in the shade of a nearby tree. He seemed to be asleep.
Beside him was a motorcycle.
Mina gasped.
That's his motorcycle!
She ran to the other end of the bridge to get a closer look.
The man had pale hair and a wore a green shirt. He was staring up at the sky and beside him she saw a bottle of pills.
Her brain instantly connected all these things into one conclusion.
"Kato-san!" she yelled, and ran un-seeing off the bridge and down the bank, until she fell next to him.
Kunzite lay with his eyes closed, his i-pod playing a particularly lovely Chopin nocturne.
He was contemplating how long he should wait until he attempted another apology. Obviously he wasn't giving up without a very strenuous fight – it wasn't in his nature to lose.
He was, at that moment, awakened by a splash of cold, slimy river water.
Opening his eyes and coughing, he sat up and shook his head.
"What's going on?" he demanded, yanking the ear phones out of his ears.
"Mina?" he said in complete surprise, "What are you doing here?"
"And why did you throw water on me?" he asked suspiciously.
Mina flung herself at him, hugging him as tightly as she could. He was shocked at first, but returned the embrace hesitantly.
"I thought you were dead!" she cried.
"Why would you think that?" he asked, confused.
"You were just lying here with those pills and – your receptionist said you hadn't come into work -"
"This is aspirin," he said, releasing her with one arm in order to show her the bottle, "it's for my head."
"Oh." Mina said in a small voice and began to release him.
"Wait just a second," he requested, and held on to her, pulling back to look her in the face.
"Why did you come here? Were you going to single handedly rescue me?"
"I don't want to discuss it," she said, her face turning a little red.
He started smirking.
"If you must know, I came back to get my stuff out of your office," she replied, haughtily.
"So what are you doing here? Why didn't you just go home?" He asked, fixing her with a penetrating look.
"Because..." she trailed off, "it's a nice day..."
"You weren't worried about me, were you?" he suggested casually.
"No!"
"Are you sure?"
She sighed and and let her forehead drop with a thunk on his shoulder.
"Yes." she mumbled.
"What's that?" since she was no longer looking at him, he let himself smirk but tried very hard not to laugh at her.
"Yes, I was worried about you," she muttered, "are you happy?"
"Extremely." He hugged her with both arms.
"Does this mean I'm forgiven?" he asked after a moment.
"Maybe," she replied.
He kissed her cheek.
"Probably."
He kissed her again.
"Oh, alright, fine!" She exclaimed.
But she was laughing.
Epilogue is coming.
