I know, I know, I owe you a real story. Hopefully tomorrow or this weekend... Until then, I hope this will satiate some.

Written for Usagi and Mamoru: A Love Like No Other. View the link on my bio page.

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32. Rain at Midnight
Alicia Blade
555 words

The rain stopped, suddenly becoming a halo around her. She flinched, a chill racing down her spine that the rain had previously kept at bay, and looked up. A black umbrella hung over her head. Turning to look over her shoulder, she met with two concerned blue eyes—so dark in the night they were almost as black as the puddle beneath her feet, yet with orange sparks cast in them from the surrounding streetlamps.

"Mamoru-san…" she breathed, feeling tired. Very tired, weary, drained.

He frowned, his brow creasing and his lips sinking into a curve that did not become him. "Odango…" He hesitated. "It's almost midnight."

Turning her head down, she did not bother to respond.

"What are you—Why are you out here? You'll get sick."

She shrugged carelessly, wondering if the tone in his voice was patronizing or honestly distressed. "What are you doing out here?" she turned the question back on him.

The rain drummed methodically against the umbrella and her hair was sticking to her neck; she noticed for the first time that it was itching there around her collar, but she forced herself to ignore it.

"That's my apartment building," he slowly answered, not bothering to point out which building he was referring to. "The cold woke me up and I got up to close the window and saw you standing out here. Odango, what—"

"I'm sad, Mamoru."

It was said with such heartbreaking conviction that it took his breath away and Mamoru found himself wondering if this could possibly be the same girl that laughed and giggled and chattered mindlessly at the arcade every day for hours. He barely recognized her with her eyes downcast and her skin dull and covered in goose bumps and her hair plastered against her porcelain skin.

"Why?" he whispered. When she didn't answer, he pressed, "What could you possibly have to be sad about?"

Clenching her jaw, she turned fully away and tied her arms around her waist. "Do you think just because I'm dumb and air-headed, I don't have normal emotions like everybody else? Why can't I be sad from time to time? There's nothing wrong with—" Her voice cracked and she raised her hands up to try and stop the incoming tears. "with… being sad… sometimes…"

Mamoru stood watching her with his mouth open, feeling awkward and unsure and like an actor in a live show who was never given the script.

She sobbed.

The rain was suddenly falling on her again and Usagi gasped, looking up to see the umbrella gone just as Mamoru's arms encircled her, pulling her so close against his chest that she could barely move or breathe. She blinked, the tears stopping their descent down her cheeks, then, slowly, closed her eyes and snaked her arms up beneath his jacket and let herself be held as the rain drenched them mercilessly. The chill left her and for a moment she forgot why she had been crying—her sorrows seemed a hundred years away.

Which was ironic, she couldn't help but think, breathing in the soap-cologne smell on his shirt, because so often her tears were a result of him and only him.

But tonight she knew he was the only thing that could have kept them away.