SailorStar9: Well, Chapter 10 is out and this is Chapter 11. Remember boys and girls, reviews are an author's subsistence. So, please be a dear and read and review. And is it so difficult for you guys to review instead of just putting this fic up in your favorites and alerts?
Disclaimers: I do not own Sailor Moon or the pairings. The only thing I do own is the plot.
Chapter 11: Family Life, Part Two
Yuki stepped on the starting block by the public pool, ready to dive into the water when Mamoru came out from the elevator.
Calming her nerves down, she cut neatly into the water and started swimming, Mamoru diving into the water two lanes beside her minutes later.
After her swim later, Yuki exited from the changing room and spotted Mamoru fawning over two younger women by the poolside. Whipping out her camera phone, she snapped photos of the discriminating scene.
"Of all of the restaurants out there, why did they have to come here?" Yuki hissed, spotting the extended Chiba family entering the same restaurant she and her mother were in. "They're ruining our dinner."
"Do you want to switch places?" Yukino asked her daughter.
"It's okay." Yuki assured. "We don't have to do that. Why avoid them when we're strangers now? I have no reason to run from them."
"In that case, let's just enjoy our dinner since we're already here." Yukino nodded.
"Mother, what would you like?" Usagi asked. "Their set menu is not bad. Shall I order the set menu?"
"Yes, order the most expensive stuff." Mamoru replied. "We seldom eat outside."
"My goodness," Akemi gaped when she looked at the price. "But this is so expensive."
"I'm buying today." Usagi smiled. "Mother, here." She pulled out an envelope from her bag. "It's your allowance. I'll give you an allowance every month."
"Allowance?" Akemi echoed and looked into the envelope. "My goodness." She gushed. "You're giving all this to me? I've hit a jackpot."
Days later…
"Yuki-san." Etsko Emi greeted Yuki.
"Etsuko-san." Yuki blinked at the tycoon heiress.
"Please set a schedule for me." Emi requested. "I thought about going to Bella Beauty Shop, but now that you're here, I know I can safely trust you to do my face."
"I'll have to check my planner." Yuki replied. "I'll give you a call once I've set a time."
"Thanks, Yuki-san." Emi beamed. "I owe you one."
"Just drop the san and we'll call it even." Yuki smiled.
"Aren't you the daughter of the Etsko Group chairman?" Usagi stopped Emi as the heiress was exiting the Hisako Beauty Shop. "Why haven't you come by our shop lately?"
"I've been busy." Emi replied. "But what brings you here?"
"I came to discuss the upcoming makeup show with Mrs. Uzumaki." Usagi replied. "You were here too?"
"Well," Emi started. "I did my makeup for my engagement here. I loved it so I came to book for my wedding makeup, too."
"What do you mean?" Usagi's warning bells were ringing in her head. "You should let me do it. Who did your makeup?"
"She's Mrs. Uzumaki's daughter." Emi smiled. "She still has that very unique way of using colors."
"Mrs. Uzumaki's daughter?" Usagi echoed. "She's that good?"
"Her skills are better than yours, that's for sure." Emi added. "Not only that, there's something… different about her than before. She said she'll call me if she can find a time slot."
"How dare she steal my client?" Usagi fumed, returning to her office. "She had taste? You dare bruise my ego? Ms. Uzumaki, I won't take this. You'll pay for it. This is Chiba Usagi." She dialed a number. "How many managers do they have at Hisako Beauty Shop? Four? Can you arrange a meeting with them now? Yes, right now. Thanks."
"I'm Chiba Usagi from Bella Beauty Shop." Usagi introduced herself after meeting up with the four managers of her competitor in a café. "I won't beat about the bush. I want to recruit all four of you."
"Pardon?" the four women echoed.
"I have a very good offer for you." Usagi added. "You'll keep your titles and I'll give you a 20% raise. What do you think?"
"Are you serious?" the oldest of the four asked.
"I wouldn't be kidding with busy people." Usagi assured. "But I do have a condition. You have to report to our shop from tomorrow morning. As you know, we're very busy. What will do you? Make your decision now. I have to find other people if you say no."
"We…" the four women looked at each other. "Reject."
"What?" Usagi was shocked.
"We would never betray Uzumaki-sama for just petty money." The makeup artist beside Usagi snapped.
"Not after how Uzumaki-sama trained us and took care of our families during the worldwide financial crisis!" the artist sitting opposite Usagi glared.
"So you can take your offer and shove it!" the four women huffed and exited the café.
"Uzumaki-sama." The four managers greeted the mother-daughter pair after entering the main office after their lunch break. "Chiba-san from Bella came to us just now and offered us higher salaries to work for her."
"Of course we said no." the oldest manager assured. "We can never betray you, not after how you protected our families from the financial crisis four years ago."
"Mrs. Chiba." Yukino snorted. "She's stabbing us in the back?"
Stepping out to the wooden platform of the beauty shop, Yuki opened the file that contained the pictures she took on her camera phone at the swimming pool earlier that week. Opening a new message, she attached the photos to the MMS and sent it to Usagi's phone.
Usagi was fuming when she recalled the four women's rejection and was shocked to see the photos Yuki sent her using an unregistered number.
Storming out, she started her car and drove off.
Stopping at a traffic light, she turned and was shocked to see someone she was not expecting to see in the sedan beside her car. "Ami…" she was stunned to see Yuki seated in the front passenger seat, talking avidly to Sapphir who was driving.
SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.
