Here is chapter 6! Thanks for your patience as I got this out! The next chapters are planned and should be out soon. I'm curious to know what you think of this one.

Thanks to IV and FO!

Chapter 6

The power was out.

It was late August, air conditioning was a distant dream, as was running water, electric fans, and anything else that required power to cut the oppressive heat and humidity.

Leaving to go see a movie wasn't an option: she was pretty sure walking down - and then up again - all those flights of stairs might actually kill her. Turns out elevators run on electricity, too.

"Ugh, this is the worst," she groaned out her window to the still, humid city. Determined to finish this chapter of her manga today, she turned her attention back to the desk in front of her, but a drop of sweat landed on the paper, blotching the sketch she was working on.

Okay. Time for drastic action. First of all, clothes were for suckers. Second of all, she was sure she had a few bags of ice left over from that party...

When Mamoru returned from work mid afternoon the heat showed no signs of abating, and he was surprised to see the lobby door of his building - usually secured with a key code - propped open with a brick. The manager was just inside, a bit red-faced and wiping his broad forehead with a damp handkerchief.

"Ah, Chisa-san, bit of a power outage, working on getting it fixed. Might want to go out drinking or something while we get the elevator up and working, haha."

Mamoru didn't bother to correct the man on his name, only sighing at the thought of what a long day it had been, and how his dark, cool apartment was so close...

"How long, exactly, do you think it will be?" he asked.

"Erm, well... see it's the whole block you see, overloaded with the air conditioner units from the new condos and uh... they are working on it but uh.."

Thanking the man and wishing him luck, Mamoru decided to brave the stairwell. It was only ten stories, really, not that big of a deal. He was in decent shape, he could totally handle this.

It took about four stories until regret hit, but it hit hard. The stairwell was hot, even more than outside, and seemed airless and endless. Mamoru realized too late that no power meant no water pressure and he wondered if he had bottled water in his apartment, or if he'd die of dehydration. Maybe they'd find his body between the 8th and 9th floors, collapsed on the stairs, all because his introvert self would rather sweat up ten flights of stairs than make small talk with strangers in an air conditioned bar.

When he finally made it to his floor he was out of breath, sweat dripping into his eyes, shirt unbuttoned to reveal the tank top undershirt beneath. He usually tried to look more put together in public but he wasn't planning on running into anyone between the door to the stairwell and his apartment door. Of course, he should have known better. She always had that impeccable timing.

Tsukino Usagi stood in front of him in a skimpy pink bikini holding out a bottle of flavored water. "Here!" she said, holding out the bottle. "Do you have any ice?"

Usagi had been waiting for Mamoru to return, every door slam had made her jump and run to her door. Finally, though, it had been him stumbling from the stairwell looking half dead.

"Helloooo?" she said, standing on her tip-toes and gently bopping the ice-cold bottle to his nose. "You alive in there?"

He blinked. "Sorry," he said, and Usagi noticed with sympathy that he was still trying to catch his breath after all those stairs, "I just thought for a second I was seeing a mirage."

She giggled. "Nope, there really is water," she said, handing him the bottle. "I mean, it's peach flavored but that's all I have."

He took it gratefully. "Yeah, that's the part I thought I was dreaming up," he muttered before opening it and draining the whole thing in three gulps.

"So, do you?" she pressed, and Mamoru just blinked at her. She wasn't used to him being this slow on the uptake; she chalked it up to the heat.

"Have any ice?" she repeated. She bounced back on the balls of her feet. "See, I got this idea. It's bonkers hot in my place because the a/c went out with the power and I thought, duh, open all the windows, but I think that may have actually made it worse a- I'm not bothering you am I?" Usagi thought to ask, realizing she was following him into his apartment (and it was slightly cooler than hers, windows having been closed and shaded all day long. Dammit).

"If I said yes, would it make a difference?" he asked, but she thought he sounded more amused than annoyed. He opened his freezer and handed her a half-filled ice tray.

"Yes," she snapped, "if you said 'yes' you wouldn't get to go in my ice bath." She took the tray and turned with a pirouette and her nose in the air.

"Wait a minute, your what?" He reached out and grabbed her arm, knocking her off balance so she stumbled back into him.

She suddenly felt super aware of her back pressed against him, the thin fabric of his undershirt was hardly a barrier between his chest and her bare back, and he was still radiating heat from his hike up the stairwell.

She leaned her head back, looked up at him. He stared dumbly back down at her.

Usagi remembered she was in a bikini. Not that she had much to show off, but he had a great view right now. Before she could blush at the thought, she reminded herself that one, this was Mamoru 'Mr. Stoic' Chiba and two, she was no Mako-chan (or even Minako) in the impressive boobs department. But he was sort of shocked silent for longer than usual. She smiled cheekily. "Hi."

"Usagi." He let her arm go and took a step back, making her turn to face him. He opened his mouth and took a breath as if he had a long-suffering diatribe prepared but all that came out was "Ice bath?"

"Yeeeah." She absentmindedly pulled out an ice cube from the tray held half of it in her mouth like a popsicle. "Wyke aye fwell ma bawah wih -"

Mamoru pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Usagi..."

"Uph, schowwy." She pulled the ice cube from her lips with a little 'pop', and then used it to gesture to Mamoru's sweat drenched work outfit.

"I said, I filled my bath tub with ice. If you wanna come you are super overdressed. I'm in my swimsuit."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

"Ha ha," she rolled her eyes. "Do you have swim trunks?"

"No."

"How do you not have swim trunks?! What do you wear to the beach, a tuxedo?! Well, whatever just change into something that isn't khakis and a button down and come over."

"Because?"

"Because I filled my bathtub with ice! Aren't you listening to me?"

"And what is your brilliant plan involving said bathtub of ice?"

"Uh... I'm gonna get in it?"

"No, you're not."

"Uh, yes I am!" She lifted herself onto her tiptoes in defiance, which was a poorly calculated move considering she was still holding the ice tray in one hand and the half-sucked ice cube in the other, and that made stumbling a distinct possibility.

Mamoru made a move to steady her, then pulled back with a pained expression, seeming to realize there was really no safe place to touch her considering the total lack of coverage her swimwear provided. Instead he reached out and took the ice tray from her, and she steadied herself.

Lamely, she realized she'd actually hoped for a second he'd've caught her. Just out of curiosity of course, wondering what his hand might feel like on her exposed skin.

"You could go into shock."

"What?" she snapped, looking at him like he'd read her mind.

"Just don't say I didn't warn you," he said, half shrugging. "But getting in a bathtub full of ice might not be the best idea, it wouldn't be very comfortable and your body temperature could drop too quickly causing light-headedness or other symptoms. I don't know if it's a good idea, Odango Atama."

Aware of the color in her cheeks, Usagi just made a face at him and left, marching out of his apartment and back into hers.

Oh god, was it even hotter in here than when she left!? Usagi closed all her windows and her shades like Mamoru's place had but it didn't seem to make any immediate difference.

"Now it's just dark and hot," she groused, stomping to the bathroom.

Now, the bathroom itself was actually pleasant. The ice had cooled the room down considerably, and there were no windows to let in heat. Usagi had put some electric candles on the sink for light, giving the room a dim, flickering quality.

"Shock, huh?" She murmured, poking at the ice a bit. Why had she even asked Mamoru-baka in the first place? Why had she waited all day for him to come home? She didn't need any more ice, anyway, especially his pathetic half-filled ice tray. She leaned her head on the cool porcelain side of the tub and sighed, when a knock came at the door.

"You forgot your ice," Mamoru said, and Usagi couldn't help the smile that broke across her face.

He wasn't exactly in swim trunks, but the soccer shorts and t-shirt were good enough for her. His arms were nice, Usagi noticed, not for the first time. Toned.

"Oh yeah, what would I do without your six ice cubes. Come in!" She bounced through her apartment, toward her ice-filled oasis, ignoring Mamoru's comments about the heat in her place being worse than outside.

"Ta-daaaa!"

Mamoru looked around the bathroom with an impressed frown, "Not bad, Odango Atama. It's actually pretty nice in here."

She squiggled down so her back was against the high side of the soaking tub, stretching her legs out on the cool tile floor, and patted the spot next to her. "Sit," she said. "Since you don't want me to get in, Mr. Knows Everything, at least we can enjoy my homemade air conditioning."

He sighed, but this time Usagi thought it was less annoyed and more kind of... relaxed and satisfied... as he settled down next to her. He leaned his head back and seemed to shut his eyes.

"Long day?" Usagi asked, fighting the sudden and overwhelming urge to lean her head on his shoulder. She settled for letting her eyes wander over his bare arms and long legs; it was unusual to see him so casually dressed. She liked it. He looked younger. Usagi waited for the usual flash of annoyance that came whenever she noticed how attractive he was, but it didn't come this time. That was inconvenient.

He half-shrugged. "The usual. Just glad to be home."

"Well, you walked up eleven flights of stairs for it so," she rummaged behind her and pulled out an ice cube to suck on, stretching out her legs further and flexing her feet. "That was hardcore."

"Hmm," his eyes still looked closed, long lashes against his cheeks. Usagi looked at him out of the corner of her eye while continuing to suck on her ice cube.

She reached behind her slowly, gathering a few more ice cubes in her hand and bringing them to her lap.

"What are you doing?" he asked, not changing his expression except to raise an eyebrow.

"Ah!" Usagi shifted to her knees. "You did have your eyes open!"

"I know better than to shut my eyes around you, Odango Atama," he murmured, still not moving. What he didn't mention was that he wasn't going to waste one second of Usagi-in-a-bikini looking at the inside of his own eyelids.

His lack of movement meant he obviously had far too much confidence in his reflexes, or far too little in hers, Usagi realized. Well, he'd never had to fight Rei over the last signed copy of Peach Girl at Mangaopolis, had he? She rested her elbow on the rim of the tub, listing her head to the side innocently. Mamoru fully opened one eye, half a smirk pulling at his mouth.

"Whatever you are thinking of doing, don't."

Usagi pasted on her most innocent of innocent expressions. "What this?" she said, lifting her handful of ice. "It's just to cool me down. I won't go into shock just holding ice, will I?"

"In my professional opinion, no."

"What about you?" she leaned forward slightly. "If I do... this!" Instantly about four or five ice cubes went down the back of his shirt where her hand had snaked around behind him.

He leaned forward with a yelp and she poked him in the chest.

"That's for not telling me about your birthday!"

"Jeeze, Odango Atama, I don't tell anyone about my birthday!" He pulled the hem of his shirt up and tried to shake out the ice cubes.

"Well, you can't just not tell me it was your birthday, I probably saw you that day and just said hi like it was a regular day!"

"It was a regular day!"

"It was not! It was your birthday!" She punched his arm and he threw an ice cube at her, which landed on her neck and slid down to land right between her breasts in the bikini top.

She squealed and picked it out. "That was cold, baka!" She took the cube and threw it back at him, where it bounced off his hand back into the tub.

So, he totally would be too polite to notice that now her nipples were just completely poking out through the thin bathing suit material, right? That was the sort of thing it was probably too dim to notice, what with the power out and all. Unless he was staring. Which she was sure he was not. Because... that isn't something he'd care about, being that he was completely immune to looking at her that way, and always had been. Right? Right. Usagi had that quick conversation in her head, and then realized Mamoru had started talking.

"What would you have done, if you knew it was my birthday, anyway?" he said, adjusting his shirt and shaking his head a bit.

"I dunno... maybe I would've baked you a cake!"

"Pass."

"Jerk," she muttered, leaning back and crossing her arms. "I would've done something. At least said something. Birthdays are special, ya know."

"Not really to me," he shrugged.

"That's the saddest thing I ever heard," she said, matter-of-factly. "You are the saddest person, Chiba Mamoru, I swear to god."

"Thanks."

She curled up next to him, accidentally-on-purpose brushing her arm against his (just to see if his arms really were as slim and muscular as they looked) (the answer was, annoyingly, yes). "Okay, so pretend it's three weeks ago or whatever, what would you want for your birthday?"

"I don't know. You in a bikini and an ice bath, I guess."

"BAKA!" Usagi made to stand up, but the floor was littered with melting ice cubes at this point, and so she slipped before she even got to a standing position.

She was lucky not to slam her head against the sink or the bathtub, or even hit the hard tile of the floor. Instead, Mamoru's reflexes kicked in and he managed to - if not catch her exactly - at least reach out and pull her so she fell onto him instead.

Her belly hit his lap, her face inches from the floor, her legs splayed out behind her.

"Oof," she managed, at the same time he asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," she said, the shock wearing off to the awareness that his hand was on her side, her arm flung across his shoulder, his cell phone digging into her hip as she attempted to wiggle her way into a more comfortable position.

"Hold on," he hissed, and his other hand moved to her side, attempting to move her off him.

But her hand kept slipping on the ice on the floor, and her shoulder was too close to sink to sit straight up without hitting her head, and ... Mamoru's hands on her bare skin felt so nice... she probably shouldn't be enjoying this but his legs and arms were as muscular as they looked. Not too much, he was so slim in those button downs he always wore, but the t-shirt was thin and so were his shorts and...

that's about when she realized it wasn't a cell phone she was feeling pressed against her thigh.

Oh my god.

A rush of something heady and almost triumphant ran through Usagi's veins and settled in a pleasant thrum between her legs.

I gave Chiba Mamoru a hard on.

I gave Chiba Mamoru a hard on!

Okay so now what do I do? Usagi's heart pounded and her fingers curled around Mamoru's (incredibly amazing) t-shirt clad shoulder as she hoisted herself a bit further up against him, causing him to take a sharp breath in through his teeth. Her face lowered against his neck, she didn't move and neither did he, his hands frozen on her sides, one of her arms around his shoulder, the other still posed on the wet floor.

Do I say something? No, right? That's rude? Would it embarrass him? She should move off him, of course, apologize and pretend it never happened but...

his breathing was more rapid than before, and she knew hers was too, she swore she could feel his heart pounding. Slowly, she leaned her head down and brushed her lips against his neck; not quite a kiss, just a brush, letting them slide down from his ear to the hem of his shirt.

The reaction was subtle, a tensing of his fingers on her flesh, his arousal pulsing slightly against her thigh, an almost-hum from deep in his throat. Pulling back, Usagi met his eyes in the dim light, aware she was practically panting, they could blame this on the heat, couldn't they? His eyes were almost all pupil in the faux candle light. Lowering her eyelids, she leaned closer, and so did he, hands sliding up her back...

And suddenly bathroom lights seared on like a beacon.

"Ouch!" she shut her eyes against the brightness, sitting up too fast and hitting her head on the sink.

Every single appliance in Usagi's apartment had sprung to life. The television blared, the A/C roared on again, every single light burned on.

"You okay?" Mamoru said, for the second time, and she nodded, eyes still squeezed shut. Gently taking her arms, she felt Mamoru maneuver out from under her, and she followed him out of the bathroom to the living room where he was turning off the TV. The radio was also on, Usagi realized. And the TV in the bedroom.

"Jeeze, Odango Atama, was everything on?"

Guess the moment was broken.

"Uh- isn't that what you are supposed to do in a power outage?"

He looked at her like she was crazy, and opened his mouth to answer when her landline phone rang, the sharp ring joining the various other noises in the apartment. No one really had that number, since it was Tawase-sensei's, and Usagi picked up out of surprise more than anything. "Hello Tawase-sama residence?... Oh yes, no everything is fine, Tawase-sensei..." she looked at Mamoru, who seemed to take that moment to make his escape, with a wave and a tight smile.

As Tawase-sensei talked in Usagi's ear without her really hearing, Usagi looked at the door Mamoru had exited, her hand subconsciously brushing the area his hands had touched.

It was only later, faced with wondering what to do with the bathtub full of melting ice - that she finally pressed a towel to her face to muffle the sound and squealed out loud.

AN

Okay so, remember this is a slow burn and I did meant that ... any flames that flare up have to be doused for a bit. Keep that in mind for the next chapter ok... ;)