Greetings friends! Hope everyone's enjoying their summer (if you live in the northern hemisphere that is!). Sorry this chapter took a bit longer to come out, not only have I been busy with usual summer activities but I also didn't want to rush this chapter as I know you've all been waiting for this reunion...so hopefully I got this part just right! Also, I want to apologize for the odd grammar or spelling mistake in previous chapters, it seems my proofreading skills suck the big one and to be honest I can't guarantee this one will be any better :D
Coming Home
Chapter Six
Minako sat on the plush sofa in the back drawing room of Hikawa Jinja, her elbow perched on the armrest so that her hand could cradle her head. Her other hand held her cell phone a good distance from her ear to minimize the screeching that was currently coming out of the ear piece.
Across from Minako Rei sat upright in the matching armchair quietly sipping her tea. Even though she couldn't make out all the words coming from the phone she could piece together what was happening. It started with a similar call not fifteen minutes earlier from a distraught young man learning that his ex was back in town.
Minako sighed, and when there was a momentary pause she put the phone back to her ear and said "Usagi-chan you have got to calm down!"
"How could you forget to mention who the doctor was who treated my daughter!?"
"Look, this is exactly why I didn't tell you, you would have freaked out and blown the whole thing out of proportion."
Minako leaned the phone away from her ear again as another tirade began, she mouthed a sorry to Rei who now had an amused look on her face. With a deep breath Minako listened in again.
"Do you have any idea what that man put me through?" Usagi went silent at the other end of the line.
"I know, and I'm sorry, but maybe this is fate telling you it's time to face your demons? And you should know that Mamoru-san is still very much a part of our lives so you can't avoid him forever."
Minako waited for a response, but when one didn't come she continued "Plus, he did a great job with Mitsu-chan's leg, don't you think a thank you is in order at the very least?"
"Shit."
xxx
Across town Mamoru had nearly paced right through the carpet in his bedroom, he was worried that if he stopped moving he might literally explode. Minako had been less than helpful on the phone, he had made it two steps out of the mall when he called to demand an explanation. How had no one bothered to mention that Usagi was back in Tokyo?
She had a daughter, was she married? She had looked just as surprised to see him as he was her, which meant she probably didn't know that he was the one who had treated Mitsu's injury. Mamoru had demanded Usagi's number from Minako to which she had flatly replied "No."
Ten years, ten long years Mamoru had thought about what he would say to Usagi if he ever saw her again, and that ten years of planning had gone right out the window when the moment finally happened. He had barely gotten a sentence out.
This was finally his chance though, his chance to explain why he had pushed her so far away. He had certainly never meant for her to flee the country but once he learned she was gone he had blamed no one but himself.
God she looked great, but then didn't she always? Mamoru couldn't stop his thoughts from drifting back to their night together those ten years ago, small threads of desire began to ripple through his body. Every little detail of that night was ingrained in his memory, and if she looked so good back then…
"No." he said outloud to himself. What was he thinking? He had a girlfriend now, one that he was seriously considering proposing to. One that he was out shopping for a ring for when he ran into Usagi in the first place.
Mamoru stopped pacing and sat down on the side of his bed burying his face in his hands. It was better to keep the past in the past, Usagi clearly had her own life now that didn't involve him and he certainly hadn't been waiting for her to come back all these years. Had he?
xxx
Usagi firmly decided that for now she would simply ignore this whole Mamoru issue, it was after all just a tiny blip in her homecoming that she would have had to get out of the way eventually anyways. In fact Mamoru probably saved her a lot of trouble by him coming across her because now she wouldn't have to worry about stumbling upon him and wondering what the hell to say to him. And now that Usagi vowed never to set foot in that shopping centre again there would be no more surprise run-ins.
Monday at work went off without a hitch, the busier Usagi kept the more her mind wouldn't wander towards unimportant thoughts. There were also no unwanted phone calls from New York which made the day even more productive. The trouble started when Usagi picked up Mitsu after work.
"Mom who's Dr. Chiba?"
Usagi groaned inwardly, damn kids and their inquisitive minds! "He's the doctor who made your leg all better." She hoped that direct answer was enough to appease her daughter. It wasn't.
"How does Minako-chan know him? Does she go to the doctor a lot?"
"No, she's his friend."
Mitsu screwed up her face at this, as if the thought of a doctor having friends was a foreign concept. "Does that mean he's your friend too?"
"No it does not."
"Can I be friends with him? I like him, he's funny!"
The pair had just entered their apartment building and stood waiting for the lift to bring them up to their floor. Usagi crouched down in front of her daughter taking the little girl's shoulders in her hands. "Sweetheart, to be honest I don't think we're going to see Dr. Chiba again."
Mitsu nodded looking overly crestfallen in the way that only four year olds can accomplish. The lift doors opened with a ding and mother and daughter walked on without another word.
x
Later that evening after Mitsu was safely tucked into bed Rei stopped by for a visit. She had mentioned to Usagi last week that she might drop by, she wanted a chance for the two of them to catch up.
Usagi poured Rei a second cup of tea, watching as the woman fidgeted a bit on the sofa. Rei had asked the usual polite questions about how Usagi was settling in and what was it like living in New York, all the while her hand absently rubbing her pregnant belly.
Then as Usagi refilled her own cup and took a sip Rei blurted out "Usagi-chan what was labour like?"
"What?" Usagi choked on her tea.
"It's just...is it really awful? Oh god, I'm so terrified! How did you handle it?"
Usagi blinked. What was this? Rei had always been the straightforward no-nonsense one in the group, the one who laughed in the face of danger or, er, a little bit of pain? And here she now sat across from Usagi with a look of sheer panic on her face about her impending childbirth.
"Hey, you have got nothing to worry about!" Usagi reached over and squeezed Rei's hand "What's a little discomfort for ten or twelve hours or so when you get the most precious little baby at the end of it? The real terror is when you walk through your door after being sent home from the hospital and think to yourself 'what the fuck do I do now?' But don't worry because you won't have to do this alone, you'll have Yuuichiro"
The look on Rei's face didn't lessen, and possibly got slightly worse.
"Wait here!" Usagi quickly added before jumping up and heading into her bedroom. She returned moments later with a photo album that she placed in Rei's lap, then crouched down beside her so they could go through the pages together.
Rei opened the cover of the album, the first page held a photo of a bedraggled Usagi with a blank expression sitting on the edge of a hospital bed, a bundle of white linen in her arms with only the tiniest pink face peeking through. "She's only a few hours old in this photo" Usagi explained "I look absolutely awful, but it's our first family photo and I just can't seem to get rid of it."
The two women continued through the rest of the album and Rei got to see all the important and some not so important events of Mitsu's life up until this point.
"Just you wait and see Rei, the moments that are about to come you would gladly take any pain for" Usagi took the finished album from her friend's lap, "The first time Mitsu smiled at me my heart absolutely melted, and when she took her first steps I thought I would burst with pride. I know it doesn't sound like much when you hear it from someone else but trust me it will be so worth it."
Rei flung her arms around Usagi at hearing this "No Usagi-chan, thank you, this is exactly what I needed to hear."
The women finished their tea and Rei filled Usagi in on her plans for the nursery back at the temple. Then as their visit was winding down Rei pulled a small piece of paper from her pocket and set it down on Usagi's coffee table. There was a phone number hand written on it and even though Usagi knew exactly what that was she still asked.
"It's Mamoru-san's phone number for when you're ready to talk to him"
"Rei, I don't think there's anything for us to say to each other, what's done is done and me being back in Tokyo isn't going to change that fact." Usagi gave an annoyed sigh and ran her hand through her hair.
"You might not have anything to say to him, but I guarantee he'll want to explain himself to you"
"No explanation necessary, you were there that night, you saw what he did to me." Usagi stood up before her anger got the better of her, her cheek suddenly felt hot and tingly in memory of the last night she saw Mamoru.
Rei followed Usagi's lead and stood as well, she gathered her handbag sensing that this was the end of her visit. "We all saw it, but what you didn't see was the aftermath, that man cried for days afterwards."
Usagi's expression remained unchanged at this revelation nor did she say anything. Rei continued "Of course he would never admit it but you could see it in his bloodshot eyes every time we went to his apartment, he was heartbroken."
With that neither woman said another word and Rei quietly let herself out.
xxx
The rest of the week continued for Usagi not quite as smoothly as Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday she had lunch with Makoto and each time her friend was hinting that Usagi should consider calling Mamoru. This only left Usagi in a sour mood for the rest of her day at work.
By Thursday morning Usagi had affirmed to herself that she was in no way going to call Mamoru under any circumstance, and by Thursday afternoon she had picked up her phone twice to dial his number but slammed the receiver down each time before she finished.
She could rationalize with herself that she owed him a thank you for taking care of her daughter, but did she owe him anything else? Certainly not an explanation for leaving, he had to have figured that one out, and certainly not one for returning as it definitely had nothing to do with him. Why was this so difficult then? Usagi knew firmly that she no longer felt anything for this man, didn't she?
The truth was it took years for Usagi to get over Mamoru, not even putting a country between them could erase his memory. Their last encounter was so horrific for her to relive, but she couldn't erase the guilt she felt around Chibi-Usa's disappearance. Everyone had blamed her at the time, she even blamed herself after the fact.
Her friends were quick to rescind their blame, shortly after arriving in America she had received floods of letters from each of them about that night. They had been painful to read but Usagi was able to find peace with them which was partly why she decided to come back to Japan. But she never heard a single word from Mamoru after that day, and she had never attempted to contact him either. Perhaps this was what was making it so hard to get in touch with him now?
On Friday Usagi was ready to face her demons, she had arranged for her parents to pick Mitsu up that afternoon and had even set time aside in her schedule for a four o'clock phone call. With any luck Mamoru wouldn't pick up and she could just leave a hasty message saying thanks for his care of her daughter's leg and have a nice life.
At 4:05pm Usagi picked up her phone receiver for the second time and dialed the number written across the scrap of paper Rei had left four nights earlier. After two rings a cheery woman answered.
"Hello Chiba Medical Clinic, may I help you?"
What? What was this? Rei had given her Mamoru's work number? What was Usagi supposed to do with this, schedule an appointment to go and see him? The receptionist was repeating her opening line, clearly getting impatient from the lack of response from Usagi.
"Oh, er, hi" Usagi flustered.
"Yes, may I help you?"
"Actually I was looking to speak with Dr. Chiba?" Usagi felt like an idiot, how was she going to explain to Mamoru why she was calling him at work?
"I'm sorry dear but the doctor won't be taking any phone calls, if you'd like to come in as a walk-patient we are open until six o'clock."
Great, just great, Usagi thought. What was she going to do now? She certainly couldn't go see him as a patient, above all other things that would just be plain weird. She quickly thanked the receptionist but before she said goodbye she asked for the clinic address, just in case she changed her mind and decided to pay him a visit.
x
It was now or never, and if it couldn't be never then it had to be now. Usagi gave herself a little pep talk as she slowly slid out of the cab she had taken from her office to the address Mamoru's receptionist had given her.
It had taken her one full hour of sitting at her desk in a panicked silence to muster up the courage to go to the clinic. It also helped that Usagi knew where her boss kept his scotch for 'emergencies' so she had two shots of Dutch courage on board too.
She had decided not to go into the clinic but simply to wait outside until Mamoru left for the day and catch him on the street. Usagi wasn't quite sure if the element of surprise would be in her favour or not.
As she shut the door to the taxi and stepped back as it sped away she saw that fate was on her side and that two doors down from the clinic was a bench on the sidewalk she could wait on. It was still a quarter to six so Usagi made herself comfortable and fought the urge to run away.
Six o'clock came and went, so did five past and ten past. Usagi began reaching for a sign that maybe this meant she shouldn't be doing this, because the longer it was delayed the longer she had doubts. Then at twenty past six she had just braced herself to stand up when the clinic door opened.
It was him. His suit jacket was still undone meaning that he probably had just thrown it on to leave, no doubt his shirt and tie had been covered by a white lab coat all day. His hair was slightly disheveled in an accidentally on purpose kind of way and he carried a rich brown leather briefcase in his right hand as his left pushed on the clinic door.
He looked devastatingly handsome, not that Usagi would ever admit that to herself. He hadn't noticed her yet and Usagi was thankful for the few moments she had until he did to just take him all in.
Mamoru had his head turned back into the clinic as he stepped out onto the sidewalk, he called back to someone inside "Thanks! See you on Mon-". His sentence lost as he spotted the blonde sitting just twenty metres down from where he stood.
Usagi gulped, hard. She rose to her feet, willed her knees to stop shaking and resolved that she wasn't going to turn and run away. Mamoru took a step towards her, then another, before he took enough to leave him standing in front of her.
Neither said anything for a moment and then both started to speak at once promptly cutting each other off. It was another long moment before Usagi tried to speak again, her eyes staring down at the hands she was wringing in front of her.
"I just-, that is I wanted to-, uh, just to say thank you...for your help with Mitsu's leg." She stumbled over her words like she was twelve years old and talking to a boy she liked for the first time, she hated herself for it.
Usagi glanced at Mamoru's face, the corners of his lips seemed to turn up slightly and she felt her cheeks grow hot. Was he laughing at her? How dare he!
"I want to apologize" Mamoru began, he had inched closer to Usagi who instinctively moved backwards.
"No, I really don't-" Usagi started, but Mamoru cut her off.
"At the mall, I didn't mean to startle you like that, I was just so...shocked to see you, I imagine you felt the same way."
The more Usagi thought about it, the more the humour in the situation started to creep in. It was in fact downright comical the way they had run into each other, but she repressed the urge to smile.
Another moment of silence followed before Mamoru said "Look, I know there's a lot to be said, and I definitely want to say it, but I'm actually late to meet my girlfriend tonight, could we get together next week?"
Usagi stared blankly at him. What was going on? Was she getting the brush off? Ten years of no contact, then a run in and the mall and he suddenly doesn't have time for her? And why had none of her friends mentioned that he had a girlfriend when they were convincing her to call him?
Mamoru pulled a card out of his jacket pocket and pressed it into the palm of Usagi's hand. "My home number's on there, please call me, it doesn't matter when."
Usagi looked at the card, then looked at him but his eyes were cast downward and didn't return her gaze. Mamoru uttered a small 'take care' before stepping around Usagi and walking off down the sidewalk.
Had that really just happened? Usagi could barely comprehend this short conversation. He had seemed truly shocked to see her the first time, and now it was like he couldn't get away fast enough! All the stressing and worrying Usagi had been through all day had now boiled into being downright pissed off.
She clenched the card in her hand, feeling the sides curl into her palm. Oh she was going to call him alright, and if she happened to feel like a chat at two in the morning then so be it!
Usagi shoved the crumpled card into her handbag before marching down the street in the opposite direction.
That's all folks! I know it seems like I've painted Mamoru in several certain lights, but we'll get more from him next chapter.
