Usagi & Mamoru
Signs of Affection
Danika Lareyna
Four
Karma
Usagi found herself in a quandary. On the one hand, she considered it her sacred duty to cheer up anyone feeling depressed. On the other hand, the person sitting at the counter of the Crown Game Center, looking even more pensive and moody than usual, was no less than Mamoru Chiba, her own personal arch-nemesis. What to do, what to do...
With a resigned sigh, Usagi entered the arcade, bracing herself for what would most likely be an exercise in futility.
Exclaiming, "Hello Grumpy-Face!" in her brightest and chirpiest voice, Usagi threw herself onto the stool next to him, spinning around once for good measure. She turned her best, high-amplitude, beaming smile on him, but it went entirely to waste as he did not even look up. He just kept staring into the bottom of his coffee cup as if, should he look hard enough, he might find the answers to all life's mysteries within. Usagi pouted. No one was immune to her chirpiest voice! In fact, half of the room had looked up and smiled at her, and she was not even talking to them. She would not give up.
Casting a skeptical glance into the murky depths of his cup, she saw nothing but the last sip of long cold coffee and a few grounds. She did note that his fingers looked very long and graceful wrapped around the mug, though. Resolving to persevere, she asked, "Whatcha thinking about?"
She could not hear his shallow, annoyed sigh, but she saw his shoulders rise and fall, as well as the slight lowering of his dark brows. "Nothing you would care about, Odango," he replied, quietly. "Simply contemplating matters of... karma."
The girl nodded sagely, choosing to ignore the dismissal that was heavy in his voice. "Ah," she said, "Karma. Like a karma sundae with nuts and whipped cream."
His lips did not even twitch- she had been watching for it. He simply replied in that same, monotone voice, "No, Odango Atama, that would be kar-mel."
Raising her nose and sniffing primly, Usagi retorted, "Wrong, that would be car-a-mel, Jerk. Don't try to outwittify me when it comes to ice cream. In that, at least, I reign supreme. And anyway, that was a joke. I know what karma is. It's like... what comes around, goes around and stuff."
With a little thrill of accomplishment, Usagi watched Mamoru turn to face her, a sparkle in his eyes, tiny and guarded, but clear to her searching gaze. "I'm impressed, Odagno," he said. "I didn't think you could hold such a philosophical concept in that fluffy little brain of yours."
Usagi blushed and hoped he would mistake the color in her cheeks for anger. She certainly was not about to reveal that she had endured an hour long lecture on the subject from Ms. Haruna after making the same 'karma sundae' comment, seriously then, in class just the day before. She had to clear her throat once before she could ask, "What matters of karma were you contemplating?"
Mamoru stared at her silently for a moment, a disconcerting expression on his face. Usagi shifted uncomfortably under his gaze until he blinked and, without a word, turned towards the exit. Without a thought, the young woman snatched at the mossy green sleeve of his jacket. "Hey, I asked you a question!" she exclaimed.
The tall man turned slowly, leaning down so that his sapphire blue eyes were exactly on level with her periwinkle. With a twist of the lips that was somewhere between an impish grin and a mocking smirk, he pressed one finger to the tip of her nose. In a low voice that could not possibly have carried beyond the two of them, he murmured, "You ought to learn to keep this out of other people's business."
Lips falling into a little "o" of surprise, Usagi's hand automatically released her grip on his sleeve. Before the startled young woman could even begin to comprehend this turn of events, or the funny tickle in the pit of her stomach caused by them, Mamoru's back was to her as she strode for the door. A chuckle rumbled deep in his chest.
Nearly a full minute had passed before her mouth snapped shut and Usagi screeched irately, "You jerk! I was just trying to cheer you up!" Of course, by then it was far too late for him to hear.
xXx
Mamoru stalked down the sidewalk, headed for the solitude of his apartment. He felt as if he were slogging through a mental bog, trying to fit together puzzle pieces that simply would not mesh. Initially, he had been meditating on his confusing and completely irresistible duty to aid Sailor Moon in her battle against the terrible youmas that had come to plague Tokyo. He could not comprehend the compulsion, the reason for the attacks, or the mystifying dreams that haunted his sleep.
He was not certain what possessed him to tell the ditzy girl that he had been thinking about karma as she pressed her company upon him, but now he mulled it over. He had always considered himself a decent sort of guy; distant, perhaps, but at least polite. And yet, since meeting Usagi Tsukino, no thought brought him greater pleasure than the prospect of making her cheeks flare with anger and her eyes bulge.
Perhaps all the insanity that had entered his life really was just karma, punishing him for constantly going out of his way to push her buttons. Perhaps, if he simply treated the girl with the same common courtesy that he extended to the rest of the world...
Mamoru shoved his hands into his pockets, shrugging grouchily. Stupid karma.
