Title: A Kiss In The Dark
Author: Princess Destiny
Email: In Profile
Author's Homepage: destinysgateway DOT com
Rating: M 15+
Summary: 'One Hour Challenge' #657: Response Fanfic. Eleven years ago, Mamoru's father married Usagi's mother. It's now almost Usagi's sixteenth birthday and she has to juggle her secret life as Sailor Moon, on top of school and a job at Motoki's shop. Her life is turned even more upside down when she begins to suspect the masked hero she is falling in love with is actually her awful step-brother!
Genre: Romance/UST/Comedy/Adventure/Action/Angst
Couple: Usagi/Mamoru
Category: SMTK
Chapters: 11/?
Status: Unfinished
Year Completed: N/A
Size: 197 KB

Comments: Hi everyone! Sorry I've been so long in posting for this Fanfic. As I explained on other Fanfics Author's Notes, I was in an awkward place in the plot. Finally, I decided to down-play the police incident, and just go with some hints on the marriage breaking up. If you read closely, you'll see that Mamoru knows all about why there are problems. LOL.

I'm still editing 'Take Me On' (Please go read that new Fanfic I posted up last night!), but I'll be writing for 'A Kiss In The Dark' at the same time. New Chapters for 'A Twist Of Fate' and 'My Daughter, The Senshi' are also being written.

Donations: By the way, if you've been to Destiny's Gateway and enjoyed it, please consider helping us out by donating. We're buying space for another two years, and having a little trouble raising the money because I can't work due to my injury. It would be much appreciated.

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A KISS IN THE DARK

By Princess Destiny

Chapter Eleven

Their parents were not impressed. In fact, it could be said that they were actually angry and disappointed, but tried to keep their mouths shut so they wouldn't yell a their children. They had saved an old lady from being mugged...

A couple of hours later, Usagi and Mamoru were sitting in the back seat of the family car. All was deadly silent, although their father kept throwing them exasperated looks in the rear-view mirror. They were really, very unhappy at their children for the mess they were in. At first, there was a shocked look on their face, then disbelief and anger had set in. Words were exchanged, but mostly, Ikuko and Kenji kept it all bottled in before the police officers.

Usagi couldn't help the tears from rising in her eyes as she remembered the disappointed looks they had given her...and then each other. To her astonishment, her parents had blamed each other for this mess! There had been a little shouting at each other, then that horrible silence.

Mamoru glanced at his step-sister's upset expression and he slid a hand along the seat till he took her own. "It will be okay, Odango," He whispered to her comfortingly, wishing he didn't have a constricting belt about him so that he could give her a hug. He had been right in thinking that their parents would be angry and disappointed, at both of them, and at each other.

Dad had blamed mom, and visa-versa for the trouble their kids were in.

He had watched with a pang in his heart, as Usagi finally found out that things weren't picture perfect in their family. That Ikuko and Kenji had heated words, and a chilly quiet that said quite plainly, they blamed each other's parenting for the mess Usagi and Mamoru were in.

It shouldn't have blown up as it had, but it was way overdue.

When they got home, they all trooped into the house, the parents keeping a careful distance from each other, and Mamoru and Usagi practically joined at the hip in unity. They sat down on the couch together, while their mother took a seat across the table, and their dad paced back and forth.

"I'm shocked at you both," Kenji said rather softly, closing his eyes for a moment to gather his thoughts. "I thought that I brought you up right, but this! Beating up a man, in a public place?"

"You're both lucky that you're underage and students, or there would have been charges." Ikuko sighed and put her hand over her eyes. "But yelling at you won't solve a thing." She removed the hand and looked at her children appealingly. "You understand the right and wrong of this situation, don't you?"

"We know," Mamoru nodded, he glanced at his step-sister's face to see that her distress was going down, now that their parents had decided to have a serious conversation, with no shouting or anger. He would never have forgiven them for taking their secret unhappiness with their marriage out on Usagi. "But it seemed right at the time. And that man hit Usagi." He added on a cool tone. No one hit his Odango and got away with it!

The blonde girl nibbled on her lower lip, then looked from her mother to her father. "I'm very sorry. It won't happen again." She swore. No, she would never be so very impulsive in the rescue of someone again. She would think it out, then go to their aid. Of course, this could not apply to her fights with the Dark Kingdom. Split second decisions were life and death to the Senshi and the people who's energy was stolen.

As Tuxedo Kamen, Mamoru also understood this very well.

"I promise also," The dark-haired man said, feeling rather unsettled. This had never happened before. He had always been a rather gentle guy, other than the trouncing he gave the the youma and their Dark Kingdom Generals. But that didn't count, right? He scowled at his shoes. That headache he'd been nursing for the last twenty-four hours was becoming really bad.

Usagi had also noticed how much her head was hurting, but wasn't going to say anything. They deserved this scolding, since things had really gotten out of hand. That robber had not been the enemy from another dimension. He hadn't been a monster who deserved to he punched and jumped on. Well...okay, so he had deserved it! She was the Champion of Justice and all that! "If I ever see that guy again, I'm going to kick him where the sun don't shine." She muttered darkly, eyes glaring at her feet.

Her step-brother barely bit back the chuckle that tried to escape his mouth at her words. Luckily, their parents hadn't heard either.

"Alright then, I think we've been angry at you long enough." Kenji nodded his head, and managed to smile. He shook his shoulders to get the kinks out of it from sitting in one chair for so long at the Station. "I don't know about you three, but I'm starving."

His wife blinked, then looked swiftly at the clock. Eleven at night! "Good lord, Kenji! It's going on midnight. The children should be in bed."

"We're not that young, mom." Mamoru said wryly, grinning at her. Thank god, everything was looking like it was going back to normal. Their parents had not liked being angry at them any more than their children had. They were good parents, after all, even if they were having their private differences.

Such as his father in the US every year with that woman... But he would not think of that right then. An argument might break out with his dad again, and this time there would be no hiding it from the Odango Atama.

His blue eyes slid sideways and down, staring at her pretty features. Her eyes were a little tight at the corners, betraying that she still had her migraine. "Do you need some pain-killers too, sis?" The dark-haired man asked softly.

Usagi's head turned towards his as their parents got to their feet and went into the kitchen. "Yeah, I still have that headache," She admitted, wincing. Now that the stress had gone, she could feel just how badly her head was throbbing. She grinned at him. "Taking a flying leap onto someone's back isn't the gentlest of landings."

"I was impressed!" Her step-brother said teasingly, sliding forward on the couch so that he could stand up. His blue eyes rolled skywards. "But please don't try and give me a heart-attack like that again, Odango. I almost killed the guy for smacking you in the face!"

And how sweet of him it had been! The blonde Senshi smirked at him. If she hadn't been aware that he was Tuxedo Kamen, she was sure she would have been equally impressed with his retaliation towards the robber. She jumped to her feet, swaying slightly from the pain in her temples. To her surprise, a hand came under her elbow to steady her. It was then that the throbbing in her arm made itself really known. She cursed loudly and flinched away from his hand.

Mamoru's eyebrows rose in disbelief as Odango shied away from him. But one look at the arm he had supported gave him a big clue. Blood had seeped through her t-shirt and was even staining the side of her dress. At the police station, a nurse had attended the blonde, but it looked as if the action Usagi had seen with that robber had really opened up the wound.

"Mamoru? Usagi? Are you kids hungry? It won't take me a minute to heat something up," Ikuko called from the kitchen.

Her dark-haired step brother looked towards the kitchen, then back at Usagi, and then at the doorway again. He frowned assessingly. Hadn't their parents even noticed that their daughter was bleeding pretty bad? They had arrived after the nurse had patched Usagi up, he guessed. Damn it. This couldn't wait. "No, I'm not hungry!" He called back, putting a hand at the base of the Odango's back, he steered her smoothly towards the stairs.

"I am-" Usagi began heatedly, realising that for some reason, her jerk of a brother was leading her away from her food. His face was stern, eyes hard and focused. What on earth was wrong now?

"Usagi isn't either! We're going on up to get ready for bed!" The upperclassman shouted as they mounted the stairs. He had to practically force his sister to go before him. The hand at the base of her back was the only thing that kept her legs walking. She looked at him over her shoulder mutinously and he almost grinned. "I'm going to re-bandage that wound of yours." Mamoru informed her. His brows lowered menecingly. "And if you don't come without a fight, I'll toss you over my shoulder."

His step-sister blinked at him, mouth open in disbelief. "You wouldn't," She began, but then she remembered the look on his face. Mamoru was deadly serious about patching her up. The nurse had done a night job, but it had been a bad wound to begin with. Having sat there for hours and hours waiting for an interview about the incident, her arm pressed against the hard surface of a very uncomortable interviewing chair, had been bad for her. "Alright. Fine, fine. Do your doctor thing, you jerk." She grumbled at him, pulling away from the warmth of his hand and flouncing down the hall towards her room.

Mamoru made a stop-off in the bathroom to get the medical kit he had replaced their the evening before. This was after he had gleefully stuck the Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen stickers to his step-sisters face! Boy, had she been angry this morning. He smiled cheerfully, put the kit under his arm, and went to her closed door. With a perfunctory knock, he turned the knob and went in.

If she had been changing and was naked, he would have closed his eyes of course. A dark look crossed his face. Yes, of course he would have. Was there any doubt that he didn't want to see her bare limbs?

Oh god.

"Sit on the bed," He almost snapped at her. When Usagi looked astonished, he forced his tone to be lighter. "Please, Odango?"

"'Please' and 'Odango' don't go together, just so you know," The blonde girl informed him loftily, wondering why he had been scowling like a thunderclap again. It wasn't the first time that day that she had seen that look on his face. "What's wrong with you?" Usagi demanded, sitting down and rolling up her t-shirt so that he could get to the soaked bandage.

"Never mind," Came the response through gritted teeth. He went to sit down and realised there was no room, so he knelt on the floor instead.

Luna blinked sleepily at them both from the other side of the bed. Where on earth had they been? Usagi had been very hesitant to tell her what was going on when she had first come into the room. And Mamoru was looking very angry about the eyes. Oh dear, had they fought or something?

"You're a grouch," His step-sister told him, smiling slightly. She winced as her t-shirt stuck to the bandages before coming lose. "This is going to hurt, right?" She said, eyes filling with tears. Her wound was really hurting something bad. Training as a Senshi had kept her from focusing on it during their visit to the Police Station, but now there was nothing to concentrate on.

Maybe Mamoru's deep blue eyes?

The blonde's eyes went wide at her thoughts. Mamoru was still her brother, damn it! Even if he was Tuxedo Kamen, the guy she had a crush on. Jeez, this was so awkward now. She felt his presence acutely. "Do it." Usagi ordered, as his hands hesitated over her bandages. He obviously didn't want to hurt her any more than she already was.

"How did you say this happened again? You really should go to the hospital," Mamoru said, eyes harsh as he unwound the bandages and revealed the nasty-looking injury. The gash looked inflamed now, and wasn't healing properly. "I have to tell you, that as a big brother, and a future doctor, you're being too stubborn about this. You might lose the arm."

"What?!" She gasped out in horror. No, he was just exaggerating! She had been wounded like this before and had healed fine. Of course, she had never been in a street brawl afterwards. Usagi frowned down at his intent face. He was being so gentle with her, as he cleaned the injury, then applied new butterfly clips. "You're being nice, Mamoru," Usagi teased him.

"That's right, and don't forget it. I now have brownie points in my favour, so whatever revenge you have in mind better be less serious than what you did to my hair." The dark-haired man grinned up at her as he wound a fresh bandage about her arm. "By the way, I never knew that you were a closet Senshi fan, little sister." He taunted, wiggling his brows at her in an comical fashion to show his amusement.

"They were my prized stickers, you creep!" She stormed at him, jerking her arm to her side as soon as he was done. He was right though, she did owe him a really good revenge. Usagi would go a little easy on him though, for being such a good step-brother. "The requisite twenty-four hours are up, so we do a new game."

"Ooh, a big word!" Her step-brother chuckled. He packed the unused items back into the medical kit and gathered up the bloodied bandages. "Are you declaring war?" Mamoru asked silkily, eyes resting on her face. Life was never boring with Odango around. He would never be unamused in her presence.

But...her wound nagged at him terribly. Was it just coincidence that she had been injured in the same spot as Sailor Moon? Having thought this over seriously the night before, and concluding that he was insane for thinking she might actually be the heroine, Mamoru decided to once again put it from his mind. Perhaps he could query Sailor Moon at the next battle.

"Yep!" Usagi said gleefully, leaping to her feet. Her head throbbed badly and she staggered, falling backwards.

Mamoru hastily reached for her, grasping her about the waist and stopping her a few inches from the covers of her bed, with himself bent over her form. Their chests pressed together and their breath mingled. The two stared into each other's eyes in shock, incredulous of a feeling of awareness that had sprung up between them all of a sudden.

The dark-haired man's supporting arm was abruptly withdrawn and his step-sister tumbled onto the covers with a squeak.

"Mamoru!" She growled at him, unimpressed. Damn, what had that just been? Oh, that had been sort of awkward... Usagi was determined to be angry at him for suddenly dropping her like a sack of potatoes though.

"That did not just happen. I need sleep and tylenol desperately," The hero muttered under his breath. He glared balefully at the blonde, who was glaring right back at him. "You airhead. Watch what you're doing." He told her rather coldly.

His step-sister watched with open mouth as he practically stormed to the door, flung it open and departed. Her door slammed after him, made her wince.

Oh dear, he wasn't happy. But what exactly had happened? A moment of awkwardness, that was all. Usagi's knowledge of Mamoru as Tuxedo Kamen was causing unforseen problems. She couldn't help but he bewildered by the change that was growing between them. Her crush on his alter ego was going to be a huge problem.

Her dilemma was because she knew his secret-but, what exactly had been Mamoru's problem?

"Usagi, tell me exactly what happened today!" Her black guardian broke into the silence. The cat looked vaguely harassed. "Ikuko and Kenji left so quickly this afternoon that I was exceedingly concerned. Apart from your wound re-opening, what went on?"

"Oh dear," The blonde said wearily, closing her eyes. She was certainly in for a long lecture when Luna found out what happened. "A guy mugged an old lady, and Mamoru and I went after him..." She broke off, remembering how heroic the jerk had been. As a sister, she was really impressed, as Sailor Moon, she was completely ga-ga over the incident.

Damn it...a step-sister wasn't supposed to be enamoured of someone who had been brought up as her brother! Why had Mamoru turned out to be Tuxedo Kamen?

"You what?!" The cat yowled in outrage. She put her paws on Usagi's chest and leaned in, trying to look menacing. It was very hard with a furry face, however.

The Senshi of the Moon sighed, almost knocking her cat off of her breasts. "Don't yell, I already got that from the parents."

"But you-so irresponsible. Usagi!" Luna spluttered, sitting down on her charge. She put a paw over her red eyes. Why her? Honestly? Wasn't there enough problems with the girl being Sailor Moon, but now she had put her heroics to use in her civilian form? "I'm so dis-"

"Disappointed, I know," The blonde's lips trembled. "Mom and dad already said this. I didn't mean to tackle the guy that hard!" She protested.

"You-you what? Tackled him?" The moon's Adviser almost had a heart attack. She did care for this blonde girl quite a lot, after all. "Tell me everything."

A few minutes later, the cat was still sitting there as if frozen, her eyes goggling at her charge in sheer disbelief.

Usagi giggled nervously, looking away from that flabeghasted gaze. For once, Luna was rendered absolutely speechless. Was that a good or bad thing? Her mind drifting away into sleepiness as the late hour finally caught up with her, the blonde Senshi mused over her new game with her step-brother.

It was her move.

When Usagi and Mamoru had fallen asleep, two figures came together in the fog-shrouded ruins of the Moon Kingdom.

"I for one, was utterly stunned. I can readily believe how your Guardian cat was so shocked," Endymion murmured into soft silver hair.

Princess Serenity closed her eyes and sighed. Her future self was so...so...impulsive. It was astonished the silver-haired girl into silence as she watched through Usagi's eyes. That poor man. But then again, he had wilfully attacked the elderly. And all knew that people of that advanced age should expect nothing but the very best respect.

"And what about your future self, Endymion?" She teased.

The dark-haired Prince shook his head. Mamoru had surprised him yet again. "It was perhaps a touch more violence than I would have applied to the thief myself, but it was well deserved." He chuckled. "We are quite impressive together, my love."

"Ah, yes, but we must keep as unattached to them as we can," Serenity said with foreboding. "I fear that we have already done much damage to their relationship. We could not have known that our future selves would be brought up as relations."

"As Sailor Pluto would tell us, if we could contact her, the damage is already done," He remarked. "We must be here to pick up the pieces when it all falls apart."

"Unless..." His Princess let her voice trail off. She had an idea. It was a small one, but it might just work.

To Be Continued...

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Hugs,
Princess Destiny