I recently had the honor of reading a few sets of older drabbles from the same challenge, written way back by loyal fanfiction Moonies when the LJ challenge just started up. I have to say that I am completely and totally amazed at the quality and originality of the works I read, so much so that I hope to kick off this next 20 with a bang. I can't say for myself, though, how I pale or brighten in comparison—I leave that entirely up to you guys. And yes, I am celebrating the one-month anniversary since my drabble debut. So thank you so much, everybody, for sticking it out with me, and welcome to everyone else! I look forward to hearing from you!

Ala

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100 Themed Drabbles

Ala Verity

21. Mischief(Word Count: 884)

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They sat on the wall, all five of them, shoulder to shoulder in a row. Like five Humpty-Dumpty statues, waiting for something.

Passerby did what all people do in the awkward instance of walking past someone they either do not want to acknowledge, or are too embarrassed to look up at: Many of them became suddenly intrigued by the window displays clear across the street, and the rest simply stared down very hard at their feet until they either passed the human statues, pretending they didn't exist, or ran into someone else also glaring wide-eyed at their shoelaces.

Of course, this all just made it that much funnier.

A stifled giggle escaped from one of the girls' lips as a man, who found himself inexplicably immersed in the cracks in the pavement, nearly steamrollered a beagle.

"Shh!"

Another tinkle of laughter.

"Usagi-chan, it's your turn!" somebody along the wall whispered.

"Right!" Usagi chirped with a giggle. The cardboard sign hanging around her neck bounced happily as she leapt down to the sidewalk.

However, one look at the appointed target and Usagi was scrambling back up the wall again in a flash, shouting, "No, no, NO! You do it, Minako!"

Her friend tossed her blonde hair loftily out of the way, revealing a matching cardboard sign that read "Vanity." "I've already done my share, thank you very much," she replied airily, "and did so perfectly, if I may say so myself!"

"This is your psychology project, not ours!" Makoto whined, batting agitatedly at her own sign—"Complaint."

"I—I…Usagi, you lucky girl!" Ami stammered, "Embarrassment" appropriately written all over her face (figuratively speaking, of course).

Rei, a.k.a. "Jealousy," pushed her struggling friend back down unceremoniously onto the sidewalk below, muttering, "Just do it already!"

At that remark, Usagi had to grin. Rei had been stuck "getting jealous" over an overly-flirtatious twelve-year old with enough acne to cover a checkerboard with. That assignment had been purely Usagi's work.

"Okay, okay!" she finally huffed, turning resignedly to face her victim with a fake smile plastered across her face.

There he was—Chiba Mamoru, jerk extraordinaire, here to make her life miserable. But oh, she held the cards today, and she had an ace up her sleeve…

"What are you doing, studying for your vocabulary tests?" he quipped as he came up, looking around at the cards hanging from each of the girls' necks. "Hate to be a killjoy, Odango, but making your flashcards bigger won't make you retain the information any better." He grinned infuriatingly.

Usagi took a deep breath to calm herself, then giggled almost madly. "Is that so?" she asked slyly, her eyes twinkling.

Mamoru frowned at her sign. "Mischief, huh?" His lips twitched slightly, as if he was suppressing a smirk. "So what do you plan to do with me, Mis—"

A roar of laughter erupted from the audience above the wall.

When Mamoru looked back down, he saw that a sign had been tagged to his shirt, identical to theirs. It read "Daring."

"What is it, my dashing, daring, darling knight?" Usagi flashed him an innocent smile, watching in satisfaction as the girls continued to laugh at his expense.

Of course, he couldn't very well confront her when he hadn't seen it happen. That would be admitting that she was quicker than him. So he decided to ignore it. Two could play at this game.

Unclenching his fists and allowing a matching smile to spread across his face, Mamoru replied sweetly, "Nothing, my princess! But look, your hair's messed up. Let me get that for you." And in what Usagi considered a bold move even for a man with the word "Daring" written across his chest, Mamoru walked straight up to her and did the unthinkable—he undid one of her odangoes.

Uttering a shriek of surprise, Usagi jumped back as her hair came tumbling down on one side over her shoulder. Mamoru's eyes twinkled so that anyone walking by would not have been able to tell which one was really "Mischief."

"You!" Usagi exclaimed, before clamping a hand over her mouth. Slowly, she forced the smile back onto her face. "You…"

"Me?" Mamoru asked innocently.

Usagi stared for a moment at the man in front of her, calculating. She had to do something. Something that would really unsettle him. And then it came to her.

She hadn't really meant to. She had run out of ideas and had clutched at the first even vaguely-connected one, and had acted on it.

She leaned up on tip-toes and kissed him on the cheek.

Mamoru's eyes went wide at the contact.

Maybe the cardboard signs were enchanted. Maybe cardboard just made Mamoru kinky. Because suddenly, Mamoru did something equally consistent with his new personality—he pulled Usagi's head towards his own, and kissed her full on the lips.

She melted. Simply melted in his arms.

A few low whistles sounded as four stunned girls looked on at the couple, locked in a tight embrace and kissing the living daylights out of each other as if nobody else in the world existed.

Ami cleared her throat uncomfortably, but it was Minako who broke the silence.

"Hey, guys? That's not called Mischief anymore, that's called Lust."

All she got in response was a low, lust-filled moan.

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I hope you all liked it! Please review!

Ala