"BAKA!" A shrill screech could be heard on the streets coming from the Crown Arcade. The sound was soon followed by a petite blonde with an unusual hairstyle stomping angrily out the front doors. Back inside, a young man sat drinking his coffee at the counter, acting totally unaffected.

This was not an uncommon occurrence. The young man would say something teasing to the girl and she would react, harshly. He'd typically be sitting in his usual bar stool, smirk at her, then turn away and go back to drinking his coffee. Sometimes the girl would fight back, not letting him ignore her, and sometimes, like today, she'd storm out in a rage of pigtails blowing in the breeze. Today she'd come in and whined about a bad grade and he said something like "why don't you go study?" which out of context sounded innocent enough, but no comment the man said was innocent in her eyes.

He sat sipping his coffee, eyes glued on the text book in front of him, pretending not to notice the glare from his friend working behind the counter. His friend was leaning forward, his weight on one arm on the counter; eyes squinted staring at his friend.

After a few tense moments, the young man begrudgingly looked up from his textbook.

"What?" He asked incredulously. His friend still didn't stop staring, squinting even harder now that he could make eye contact.

"Just trying to figure you out…" He still didn't move.

"Motoki, you're being weird," he looked back down at his textbook.

Motoki straightened up his posture and slammed his hand down on the countertop, not allowing his friend to ignore him.

"No, Mamoru, you're always being weird! Why do you always pick on Usagi like that? She's a nice girl! Also, your little fights aren't great for business."

"I didn't say anything outlandish, Motoki. She wonders why her grades are bad, I suggested she study. It's not my fault that offended her," Mamoru shrugged and tried yet again to go back to reading.

"Bullshit!" Motoki whispered harshly so only Mamoru could here, effectively gaining his attention back.

"Why are you pushing this?" agitation laced Mamoru's tone.

"Why do you push her? It's not like you don't know what kind of affect your comments have on her, so don't act like you're not doing it on purpose. What I want to know is why."

Mamoru sighed.

It had been 10 years now since he had woken up in that hospital. He was 18 now, just starting university. Usagi was only 14, just starting high school. She didn't remember her past life as Serenity. Remembering was the burden that Mamoru carried by himself for 10 years.

After getting released from the hospital and becoming a ward of the state, Mamoru had lost contact with Usagi, who had come to see him once more in the hospital while her mother and brother were still there. Being an orphan meant he had no real control over his life, so he studied hard to learn all he could about this new world around him. He had won his emancipation when he was 15 after fighting for it for a couple of years, and he immediately tracked down the whereabouts of Tsukino Usagi. Mamoru didn't dare contact her; a 15 year old reaching out to an 11 year old might rub her parents wrong. However, he did make sure the apartment he picked out was as close as he could get to her home. From the view in his living room, he could just make out the neighborhood she lived in, and he swore if he squinted he could see her house.

Eventually, the two had run into each other, and quite literally too. To Mamoru's surprise, Usagi had recognized him as the boy from the hospital, even though she had been only 4 years old at the time. Her attraction to him was instant and Mamoru was well aware of this. After all, Serenity hadn't been very good at hiding her emotions either. He knew it would be easy to resume their relationship from their past life and there was no denying how much he missed her, how much he needed her in his life. This was when the teasing started.

With him having memories of their past life and her unaware, he felt that he would be taking advantage of her naivety and of the bond they shared that only he knew existed. He wouldn't enter into a relationship with her under false pretenses. Therefore, he started to push her away, just enough to keep her at arm's length.

Truthfully, he got a kick out of their daily banter. At least it kept her attention on him, even if it wasn't exactly positive.

"Well?" Motoki asked, still waiting for some sort of explanation.

Mamoru looked down and smiled.

"I guess I just like seeing her feel something for me," he shrugged and took a sip of coffee and went back to reading.

Motoki looked taken aback, but didn't say anything. He could tell the two were attracted to each other and had been expressing it in an… unhealthy way, and he had been hoping for some sort of confession from Mamoru. He just really didn't expect to get one.

Without a word, Motoki left Mamoru to go wipe down some empty tables. Mamoru looked at his textbook, not really reading it, and smiled.

Hope you liked this continuation on "The Rose"!

Reviews are always Appreciated!

Narsenic