AN: Wow, my last post for 2006. This story will be completed tomorrow. Will post the first 2 chapters of the sequel and then I'm sorry to say it will be time to move on to another story (yes, I will continue to write the sequel). I have a completed 4 chapter one, a 12 chapter incomplete one, and 3 one-shots to put up. All these stories are U/M, OHC-inspired, first season discovery fics. I just don't know what to put up first. The one-shots, the completed 4 chapter one (it doesn't have a sequel), or the 12-chapter one that is my other goal to finish. Also, I've received another OHC challenge contest, so I may be starting another story. . . I'm really excited. I just don't know which fandom to write it in . . .
Anywhozles, thank you to Aislinn Cailin and Butterfle. Now about those cookies . . . 12-31-06 Happy New Year everybody! Don't forget to eat soba before midnight ;). /bows formally/
It was a lonely walk home for Usagi. Rei and Ami had simply refused to speak to her after the almost-kiss. Naru, sensitive as always to Usagi's feelings, had decided Usagi needed to be alone, to think. She had excused herself quickly, claiming her mother had told her to be home early and she had forgotten. She asked Usagi to walk her home. Once out of sight of the arcade, however, Naru had told Usagi to go home.
"But . . ." the blonde began to protest, confused.
"Usagi-chan, I don't know what happened or almost happened back there, but I can tell you're confused. You should go home, take some time to think."
"Naru-chan," Usagi cut her off, "all I do is think! I haven't had a decent moment's rest since . . ." she trailed off, miserable because she had to hide the truth of who she was once again. The only people who knew everything were no longer available to her to talk with. "Stupid Mamoru!" she snarled finally.
Naru had long sensed that Usagi hid something from her and she tried not to be hurt by it. She had known Usagi for so long that she automatically trusted her. If Usagi had a secret, anyway, sooner or later, Naru would learn it. Or Umino would. "Usagi-chan, I'm always here to listen." She started to turn away, but Usagi caught her arm.
"Care to listen now?"
Naru smiled gently, but inside, she was thrilled. Ever since Mizuno Ami had come to Juuban, Usagi had been drifting away. Naru had been waiting quite a while now for Usagi to need her friendship again. It was hard not to show Usagi her joy. Besides, it took her own mind off strange thoughts of that handsome millionaire and monsters in the night.
The two girls wandered slowly through the shopping district. "Mamoru, he, well, he's been acting really weird lately. About two weeks ago, we ran into each other and . . ." Usagi struggled, trying to figure out how to explain without explaining, "something changed between us. I . . . I don't know how to describe it, but the way he looks at me, it changed. It went from the hateful smirk and arrogant superiority to . . . to . . ." She sighed, trying to cut through her rambling and stuttering. "It's like he's a wolf and I'm a helpless sheep!" Naru's eyes grew wide, but she waited for Usagi to finish. "It scares me! So, I've been avoiding him." Naru nodded. Usagi sped up. "But then, yesterday, I had that horrible day and I just, I didn't want to get home and get yelled at for my test grade, and I didn't want to see Rei and get yelled at, either. Somehow, I ended up at the arcade. The second I walked in, I knew I'd made a big mistake. He looked up and," she shivered, "he looked like he was furious with me. I didn't think, I tried to run away, but you know how crowded it is . . ."
Naru put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Breathe, Usagi-chan. You don't have to race to the end." She gave Usagi a warm smile.
Usagi shook her head, "No, I have to just get this out." She gave Naru a serious look and Naru grew worried, noting the paleness of Usagi's skin. Dark smudges under her eyes also confirmed her story about not resting well. "He followed me. He grabbed my arm and I yelled at him. He gave me this look of irritation and . . . and . . . he kissed me." Naru gasped. "It was just a really quick kiss, and it made me so mad! That baka was my first kiss!" Before Naru could say anything or try to soothe her friend, Usagi practically sobbed out a bigger shocker. "And when I yelled at him for that, he kissed me again and I . . . I kissed him back!" Silent tears were tracking down her face. "What's wrong with me, Naru-chan? I hate him! He hates me! But I liked it, I liked his kiss! And then today! And I just know he's toying with me."
"Toying with you?" Naru was stunned and hurting for her friend, but trying to make sense of all of this.
Usagi was raving now, tears still dripping down her face. "He's always so mean! He taunts me about my grades, my hair, because I cry, because I fall down a lot, because I'm loud . . . he teases me about a million things! And then, when I talked to Haruna-sensei about it, she suggests he doesn't hate me! She even suggested I don't hate him! But I do! I do hate him! I hate the way he does everything so perfectly. Have you seen they way girls just drool all over him when he walks by? Why can't he pay attention to one of them, instead of making a point of embarrassing me? I can embarrass myself just fine all alone!"
Naru looked around and had to agree. People were giving them odd looks and edging past them, even though there was plenty of room on the sidewalk. Shaking her head, she brought the conversation back to an interesting point. "You talked to Haruna-sensei about this?"
Usagi nodded. "I had to talk to someone."
Naru was thoughtful. "You know, you talk to just about everyone about Mamoru-san."
Usagi gaped, "What? I do not!"
Naru nodded firmly. "You do. Think about this, Usagi-chan. If you really hate him, then why can't you stop talking about him constantly? It seems to me that you're in love."
Usagi stared at her as if she had grown two heads for a long moment. Then she turned bright red, but not in a blush. "What?" she shrieked. "Naru-chan, I can't believe you would say that to me! I thought you understood me!" Before Naru could say or do anything, Usagi burst into fresh tears and took off running. Naru hung her head, disappointed in herself for not predicting Usagi's reaction.
Usagi was home before she had finished crying, her feet not betraying her once, curiously enough. She flew into the house, barely mumbling an "I'm home." before she locked herself in her room.
Her mother looked up the stairs at the closed door, the bunny sign still swinging wildly and sighed. "Teenagers." She shared a glance with Luna, then shrugged. "I guess I'll just have to wait this stage out, kitty." She returned to the kitchen, wondering idly if she'd been like this at that age. Luna slunk silently up the steps, knowing her charge needed her.
She scratched and pawed at the door until it opened. Her eyes grew sad as she gazed at the girl flung across the bed, muffled sobs reaching her ears. "Usagi-chan?"
"G'way, Luna!" Usagi ordered, her mouth full of damp pillowcase. Luna leapt on to the bed. "Luna!" Usagi snapped.
"I'm not a dog, Usagi! You can't order me around." Luna sniped primly.
Usagi made a strangled sound and decided to ignore the purring feline nuisance. Who had decided she needed a feline guardian anyway? Her disposition was quite sour and she was hardly in the mood to be humored by a cat. Still, she made an attempt to calm down. But Naru and Haruna-sensei's voices kept cycling in her head. As did Mamoru's. Why wouldn't he go away? She just wanted 5 minutes peace from thinking about him. The memory of that second kiss re-surfaced and she almost lost herself in it again, remembering how, just for that moment, all their tension and anger and confusion had slipped away, leaving a different kind of tension, a strange need to stay in his arms. But that couldn't be a good thing, could it? She forcibly pulled herself out of the memory.
Luna went flying when Usagi suddenly bounced into an upright position. She was chewing on her bottom lip. Her eyes felt angry and sore, but her mind was reeling with questions. She slipped out of her room and bathed her face with cool water in the bathroom. Gazing at her reflection, she softly asked herself, "Why do I want to kiss him again? Why do I feel safe in his arms? Why does he have the power to upset me so? When Shingo teases me, I get angry. Mom says it's because I love him that I can get so angry. She says the same about Rei-chan. Because she's so important to me, her unkind words hurt so much more. So . . . is that true about Mamo-chan?" She paused, her reflection looking startled and scared. "What did I just say?" she whispered to herself.
She stumbled blindly back to her room, wondering if the infatuation she had with Tuxedo Kamen had now spilled over to Mamoru, just because they were the same person. And yet, they weren't the same person! In fact, her stubborn mind insisted, ever since they'd discovered each other's identities, it was as if Mamoru had killed off Tuxedo Kamen. At least personality-wise.
At that moment, she was distracted by the beeping of her watch. As she grabbed it, she continued walking, knowing she would have to make an escape out the window. Mercury was urgent and brief. "Park, now!" Usagi nodded pointlessly, then tripped over Luna. The watch flew out of her hand, sailing out her window and she fell to the floor, hard.
Luna leapt out of the way in the nick of time. "Usagi! What were you thinking?"
"Strangely enough, whatever I was thinking of just went right out of the window." she mumbled from the floor. Luna gave her an odd look. "Gotta go, Luna." Usagi plucked Luna off the windowsill and tossed her onto the bed. Then she clambered up and onto the tree branch nearest the house.
A voice rose up from beneath her. "Drop something?"
Usagi gasped in shock and let go of the branch. "Ohhhhhh!" She squeezed her eyes shut, expecting hard ground, but was firmly caught by two arms. She kept her eyes shut, knowing who she would see if she opened her eyes and not wanting to. She just wasn't ready for this.
"Usagi-chan, are you okay?" Mamoru was worried, yet slightly amused. That crumpled face she was making was so cute!
She nodded, but didn't speak. She was holding herself extremely still and he had the feeling she was wishing that when she opened her eyes, she would be safe in her room.
"Open your eyes, Usagi-chan. Before your furball has a heart attack." Usagi opened her eyes, gazing up at her window. Luna's eyes were practically popping out of her head!
"Please put me down." She didn't talk to him, but at him.
He did, but he wasn't pleased. "Usagi-chan."
"Thank you for catching me, but if you hadn't been here it wouldn't have been necessary." Her voice was distant and she was watching Luna recover and jump into the tree. Then her eyes narrowed and she finally looked at him. He was holding her watch in her face and she took it with some annoyance. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"You've been avoiding me. You really shouldn't. I don't know much else, but I know I'm supposed to protect you. But I can't protect you if I don't find you until after the battles are over. So I figured I should stay close by, so you can't avoid me at the next battle. I asked Motoki where you lived."
"You . . . you . . ." Usagi was flummoxed. "You do realize he's going to think you like me. And tell everyone!"
Mamoru shrugged. "Look, Usagi-chan, you know I don't remember my past. I'm as confused as you are about what's going on with Beryl, with our lives, and whose side I'm on, but I do know one thing. I know that I'm supposed to be there for you. And only for you, Sailor Moon." She looked as if she was going to protest and he covered her mouth with one finger. Luna sat above, in pouncing position, watching. "I don't know why, but it's something I have to, need to do. And I always will."
Usagi was chilled by the promise in his voice. He sounded so certain, so determined. He removed his finger self-consciously. Nervously, she licked her lips, then caught the bottom one to chew on.
His eyes darkened, focused on her lips. "I was wrong. I'm certain about two things." He looked into her wide eyes. "I'm going to kiss you now." He bent over her slowly, giving her plenty of time to back away.
She didn't. She let her eyes drift closed, tilted her head back, and waited for his kiss. She anticipated the funny thrill of his touch. She wondered if this kiss would be like the last one, full of confused feelings and panic and excitement. She could feel his breath soft on her face. And then . . . her watch erupted in sound, Mars yelling at her. "Hey, Odango Brain! Where are you?"
They jumped apart, feeling guilty. Usagi shook her head. "I . . ."
Mamoru seemed to know what she wanted to say. "I guess we'll just have to wait til later." He gave her a rueful grin, then caught her arm and pulled her after him in an all out race to the park.
