I'm iffy about this one, but it's what appeared on the screen when I considered the theme, so there you go.

#8: Collection

"You know, you two really need a hobby." The disgust in Zane's voice was potent.

Sheepishly, the lovers disentangled themselves from one another. The dull, golden sand soughed as they moved apart, a sheepish but slightly proud look appearing on Mamoru's face as he noted Usagi's heavy breathing. The Senshi leader colored. She fixed her gaze on the young college student who lay negligently in the sand, sunglasses shielding blazing green eyes from the noon sun.

"A hobby?" she repeated.

"Yup, a hobby. You know, like some people collect stamps or paint for pleasure."

"As far as I know, we derive a good deal of pleasure out of what we do now," Mamoru said wickedly and Usagi giggled.

"Ech," was all Zane deigned to articulate.

Zane had arrived in the Narita beach district with his ebony-haired classmate the day before. Mamoru had been intent upon dragging his friend with him to meet his goddess (at least that was what Mamoru had persuaded him to believe). Mamoru also wanted to get Zane away from the blaring city life.

Curiously, Usagi asked, "What's yours?"

Zane had yet to admit it, but perhaps Mamoru hadn't been far off. He felt oddly soothed by the cooling breeze, edged with sea salt, that softened his copper waves of hair.

He rose to a sitting position and removed the sunglasses. "What's my what?"

"Hobby, silly."

Zane considered for a moment. "I'm like a bird watcher."

"Really?" Mamoru and Usagi both said in interest.

"Sort of. I've even gone into collecting."

Usagi looked horrified. "Y-you collect dead birds?" she stuttered, her mind conjuring up grotesque images of stuffed, glassy-eyed ducks.

"Oh no, they're very much alive."

As his girlfriend sighed in relief, Mamoru narrowed his eyes speculatively. "Are these birds female?"

"Possibly," Zane responded, all innocence.

Frowning, Mamoru offered: "Have you ever considered giving your bird collecting up and maybe just acquiring one special bird?"

Zane suddenly recalled the friend of Usagi's whose coy gaze and pearl-white hands he had glimpsed earlier in the day. An intense desire to discover what lay past the surface had attacked him at that moment and it still coursed through his loose-limbed body.

"I have thought about it. Maybe a soft white bird with blue eyes."

"Sounds about right for you," chirped Usagi, finally having caught on to the innuendo. "Would she be a lovebird?"

Zane didn't hear the last remark as he stared out across the turqouise ocean silently, drifing into his thoughts.

Usagi and Mamoru exchanged a look, heavy with conspiracy and mirth.

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