Usagi stood before the front door of Mamoru's apartment-in her regular clothes this time-debating what to do. He'd gone home with a migraine earlier… was he sleeping now? She didn't want to knock and risk waking him up and forcing him out of bed to open the door.
So she tried opening the door herself instead, and to her surprise, it was unlocked. She pushed it open just enough to stick her nose into the front hall.
"Mamo-chan? I brought you soup!" Usagi called quietly. The hall and living room were both dark, but with the sunlight coming through the large picture window at the back of the unit, she spotted a mound covered in a blanket on the couch.
Smiling ruefully, Usagi pushed her way inside, gently closed the door, and removed her shoes. "Mamo-chan?" she said again, tiptoeing further into the living room.
Mamoru's black hair poked out of the top of the blanket, and his chest slowly rose and fell as he slept. Unable to help herself, Usagi sat on the edge of the coffee table, set the hot container of soup down beside her, and leaned forward to gingerly pull the blanket off of his face and past his chin.
This was the first time Usagi had seen Mamoru asleep, and he was beautiful. He always looked at her sweetly, but here, he was so serene…
But then his face contorted into a painful expression.
"No, Princess," he murmured.
She furrowed her brow. Was he having some kind of fairy tale dream?
Or perhaps it was a nightmare. Mamoru tossed his head from side to side and grunted. Sweat beaded by his temple as he mashed his teeth.
"Serenity!" he called.
A strange way to ask for help, but okay. "Mamo-chan!" she called, shaking him. "Wake up, Mamoru! You're having a bad dream!"
Mamoru gasped and sat straight up, eyes shooting wide open. "But the crystals!" he said, clearly still half-dreaming.
"Okay, no more Sonic games at the arcade, got it," she said, trying not to laugh despite his dream-state panic. It was just too cute!
He looked shocked to see her sitting beside him, but her presence seemed to snap him out of his stupor. He gave a few shakes of his head, then rubbed at his temples. "I was dreaming again, wasn't I," he murmured.
Usagi tilted her head to the side. "About a princess, apparently." She rested her elbows on her knees, cradled her head in her hands, and leaned forward with a sly smile. "Did she have little dumpling ponytails in her long blonde hair?"
That got Mamoru to smile. "She does, actually. And I'm glad you're finally coming to terms with the fact that you wear dumplings in your hair."
She grunted and crossed her arms.
"Hi, by the way," he continued.
She relented.
"Hi," she said with a smile, dropping her arms. "I brought you soup."
"That's very sweet, thank you," he replied. "Though I already feel a million times better after sleeping."
"Well be prepared to feel even a million times betterer!" she said as she cracked open the lid of the oyaku container. She groaned in delight and kicked her legs as she pulled a plastic spoon from the bag still on her shoulder. "It smells so good, doesn't it?" She couldn't resist; she took a bite-or two-before handing the rest off to him.
"How is it?" he asked, then laughed at her second satisfied groan before taking a bite for himself. "Oh, this came from the shop down the street didn't it? I thought so… he makes the best oyaku ther-"
He grunted when Usagi slapped her hand on his forehead and looked up at the ceiling. "Hmmm. You don't have a fever. Did you eat something funny lately?"
Mamoru chuckled and gently pulled her hand away from his forehead before taking another bite of the oyaku. "No. To be honest, these headaches and dreams have been going on for a week or so." He took another big bite, then set the container down in his lap with the spoon sticking out of it. "Can I tell you something kinda crazy?"
Mamoru Chiba had no idea what crazy *was* compared to the goings-on with her lately. She doubted he was going to trump talking cats and transformations. She smiled as she leaned forward again, took the soup from his lap, and helped herself to another taste. "Of course."
"You know I'm not that superstitious, but I was telling Motoki about the dreams and headaches, and he said a shrine nearby sells a charm that might help." He looked embarrassed to even be mentioning it. "I was hoping you would want to go there with me today to get one."
She was right… this request was the tamest she'd entertained in days. "Of course!" she said, thrilled to be spending any time at all with her Mamo.
He smiled. "Awesome. I could use the fresh air anyway. Let me change and then we can go." He looked down at the now-empty container of oyaku in her hands and laughed. "And maybe we can *each* get a snack on the way."
"Here it is," Mamoru said, looking down at his phone and up at the stone gate before them. "Hikawa Shrine."
Usagi shielded her eyes from the sun as she looked up the long staircase. "I don't think it's the charm that helps make the nightmares go away. I think it's the walk."
Mamoru laughed and patted her on the head between the buns. "I figured you'd have the energy after eating all that soup and the taiyaki on the way over here."
She puffed a cheek. "The custard one would have given me the energy to climb these stairs, but I had to settle for red bean!" Still, she followed Mamoru up the stairs until she was winded at the top, then trudged with him to the first building.
Usagi's jaw fell open.
The most beautiful shrine maiden she'd ever seen sat behind a table with a wide array of charms. She had hair even darker than Mamoru's, so dark that it looked as if it had a purple shine, similar to the striking color of her eyes. She was watching two crows in the distance, who cawed incessantly as Usagi and Mamoru approached.
When the shrine maiden took her gaze off of the birds and spotted Mamoru, she looked at him the same way Usagi looked at her: with awe and appreciation.
Usagi grumbled, but the sound was lost amid the crows' call.
"Are they always like that?" Usagi asked the maiden.
"No," she said matter-of-factly, watching as Usagi linked her arm through Mamoru's. The girl's eyebrows knit and she looked away. "Only when they sense something is amiss about our visitors."
The girl's gaze locked on Usagi, who shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "Something's amiss about *me?*" she asked nervously.
Mamoru shook his head. "It must be me," he explained to the girl. "I've been having these weird dreams lately…"
"Ah, and you've come for the nightmare ward," she said with a nod, then picked up a black charm with red letters. "It's 500 yen," she added, presenting it to Mamoru.
He took it, but before he could take out his wallet, Usagi bumped him aside with her hip. "I'll get it for you, Mamo-chan," she said proudly, pulling out a coin and placing it on a tray before the shrine maiden.
The maiden scoffed, but before Usagi could demand to know what she was laughing about, they heard a scream at the bottom of the stairs.
The maiden pushed to her feet and hopped the stand of charms. The crows grew louder as they flew after her. Mamoru and Usagi followed.
"Rei! Miss Rei!" a woman shrieked as the shrine maiden, Rei, reached the bottom of the stairs. "It's Yuriko! I just put her on the bus to go visit her grandmother, and… and…" She shook her head, eyes wide and quickly filling with tears. "The bus… it disappeared into some kind of shadow!"
Usagi's heart dropped into her stomach.
"Are you sure it didn't just go into the shade of the trees there?" Mamoru asked.
"The bus *flew into the sky* and disappeared!" The woman burst into tears and fell to her knees. "I know it sounds crazy, but I watched it happen! I watched the bus vanish! There were others on there, and she's only twelve…"
Usagi looked in the direction the woman was pointing, and by the bus stop sign…
...sat Luna.
Usagi had already guessed that this was the work of the Dark Kingdom Luna had talked about.
But how was she going to leave Mamoru now in order to transform?!
Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoy my stories, please consider checking out my original paranormal romance called THE DEMON KNIGHTS SERIES, starting with BOUND TO YOU, available now on Amazon!