AN: Hey there! Welcome to my second multi-chapter work! And this one is being written around a prompt from my dear friend FloraOne, who also happens to be the BEST beta/friend out there. This will be rated M for later chapters, so you'll have to bear with me for a few chapters before the 'fun' begins ;) Enjoy and please, please, please review!
Oh, yeah, and I don't own Sailor Moon.
Prompt: One mutual pining High School AU where Mamoru tutors Usagi, please 3
He could remember the exact moment he'd realized he was in love with her. It wasn't some earth-shattering, over the top moment. It was simple, subtle, but it had been everything to him.
Sitting across from her at the fruit parlor in a booth crowded with their mutual friends, he had watched her as she twirled her milkshake straw around in her fingers, as she smiled at the friend nearest to her, enraptured by whatever story was being told. And that was when he had known.
That was when Chiba Mamoru had realized that he was in love with Tsukino Usagi.
Just that simple smile was what had done him in. He didn't know why he was truly seeing this for the first time, now. Mamoru had felt strange feelings towards the girl that he pushed down because he had a girlfriend. It wasn't right. But all it had taken was one, small, breathtakingly beautiful smile.
Feeling a hand on his arm, he had turned towards the intrusion. Rei, who had been his girlfriend at the time, was looking at him with concern. "Are you alright? You got really pale all of a sudden."
He stumbled over his words, "Uh...yeah I-I'm just not feeling well. I think I may head home."
"Do you want me to walk you?"
"No!" he had replied a little too forcefully, and visibly blanched at his mistake. "No, there's no need, I'll be fine. I'll call you later," he had told her as he shakily made his way to the door.
As he left, he heard her voice with what he could have sworn was a hint of worry, "Is he ok? What's wrong?" Did she care for him, too? He needed a cold shower.
Standing under a steady stream of cold water in the safety of his apartment, Mamoru had allowed his mind to wander over the relationship, or lack thereof, that he had with Usagi.
They had met the year before, both students at Juuban Municipal High School. He was in his second year, and Usagi in her first, had carelessly thrown a test paper over her shoulder, hitting him square in the face.
After recovering from the initial hit, he had briefly studied the girl from behind. Short, blonde and were those…?
"Hey, Odango Atama, you should really watch where you throw your failed test papers. People might start to think there's nothing between those buns of yours, except empty space," he'd thrown the insult at her, still slightly annoyed about being hit in the face.
She'd spun around on her heels, a furious crease on her brow, but all annoyance fell away from him when he saw her face.
She was beautiful.
A heart-shaped face, endless blonde hair, flawless skin and the most captivating pair of blue eyes he'd ever seen.
If Mamoru hadn't been an expert at hiding his emotions, he would have given away his immediate attraction to the slip of a girl in front of him. But after years of living alone, he'd become a master of masking what he was feeling.
He shook himself from his musings when he realized she was yelling at him.
"...and just because you're older than me, doesn't give you the right to treat me like I'm an idiot, you arrogant jerk! And would you please wipe that smirk off your face?!"
His "smirk" had only grown wider, as he began to walk away from her, "Sorry, Odango. No can do. The rest of the female population of this school would suffer too greatly."
"SERIOUSLY?!" Mamoru had heard her yell as he walked off, and he laughed to himself.
They'd largely ignored each other after their initial encounter, but he couldn't help the occasional, ok, practically daily, jab at her. He learned value information from their bickering!
For instance, after calling her Odango Atama a number of times, she'd begun to yell at him, "My name is USAGI. U-SA-GI. It's not that hard, baka!"
And somewhere along the line, she had managed to learn his name, too, because instead of her usual, "jerk" or, "ass" he'd become strictly, "Mamoru-baka."
Things hadn't really gotten complicated until one October afternoon, when Mamoru had run into Usagi and her normal gaggle of friends. But there had been one girl he hadn't seen before, a pretty girl with black hair and striking violet eyes.
This new girl had been immediately smitten with him, introducing herself as, "Hino, Rei." She had a sweet disposition and seemed like a genuinely nice girl. As an added bonus, Mamoru had really enjoyed the way Usagi's ears changed to the color of tomatoes, as she watched them interact with each other.
So, partially because he had been intrigued by Rei and mostly because he'd enjoyed annoying Usagi, he had asked Rei out.
Mamoru had enjoyed her company immensely. They were very much alike in a number of ways; aloof, slow to trust, independent, and it felt like it should be a natural match.
But there had been a natural consequence to dating Rei that he hadn't really thought through. Usagi was around. A lot.
Not that he minded, but he began to see things in her that he hadn't before. Like how she instantly made everyone around her feel invited and important. Or how her face would light up whenever she saw a friend, or heard a piece of good news.
Mamoru had always known she was beautiful, even a blind man could see that, but as he spent more and more time around her, she had morphed from being this pretty, younger girl who he liked to annoy, to an extraordinarily beautiful person.
But in the midst of this newfound discovery, he had felt an overwhelming guilt. Rei had done nothing to deserve being emotionally cheated on by him, so he had resolved to put Usagi out of his mind.
He would be lying, however, if he didn't admit he had been incredibly relieved when Rei approached him one day, asking to talk.
She had sat him down, explaining that she felt they were better off as friends. How she loved him dearly, but more as a brother, and while she hoped they could hang onto that and be friends, she just didn't feel like they should continue to date.
"You're a really special girl, Rei," he'd told her, "I completely respect what you're saying, and I'll miss seeing you everyday."
So, they had parted ways amicably, still meeting up for coffee on a weekly basis, to hear about the changes in each other's lives. But not dating Rei meant seeing much less of a certain bubbly blonde he'd fallen so hard for.
He did get to see her off and on when he was working on projects with a good friend of Usagi's, Mizuno Ami, a girl with striking blue hair and a startling intelligence. Usagi would come by the classroom they were working in after school to pick Ami up for their walk home. She had mostly ignored him during these times, but there were rare days when he was rewarded with a smile as she dragged Ami out of the room.
Both he and Ami were focusing on the sciences during their time at Juuban High, and since he was fairly certain she was smarter than him, Mamoru always loved when she approached him with new project ideas.
So, when Ami had come to him a few months before, excitedly showing him an article about a youth science contest that was being sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science with a scholarship priced at two million yen, they got to work.
Poor Mamoru had no idea the predicament he was about to find himself in.
oOo
Usagi trailed behind her father, dragging her feet slightly, while gazing upon numerous booths filled with science research that she could never hope to understand, nor did she have the desire to. She was only here to support Ami, which came with the unfortunate side effect of having to spend the entire evening with her father.
Tsukino Kenji was covering the youth science competition for the Tokyo Times, and Usagi was getting a certain level of entertainment from watching him stop to "read" one of the projects. He'd place a hand on his chin, as if pondering the information in front of him, and would occasionally make sounds of, "hmmm," or, "ahhh," causing Usagi to have to stifle a giggle.
As the two made their way around the room, Usagi couldn't help her mind from wandering to the person that filled most of her thoughts these days, none other than Ami's project partner, Chiba Mamoru.
She just didn't get him. How everyone fawned over him like he was God's gift to everything. How he seemed to have his own fanclub of girls that followed him around constantly. Or why, oh, why, he felt the need to tease her so much? Why had he chosen her?
But perhaps the most frustrating thing about it all, was that she couldn't bring herself to hate him. She had tried. Hard. But there was something about him, that she couldn't place her finger on, that made her heart flutter every time he was near her, and she liked it. Heart, you stupid traitor, she'd think to herself.
When she and her father came up to Ami and Mamoru's project, Usagi waved excitedly at her blue-haired friend. Ami waved politely back, as they approached, nudging Mamoru, who was standing next to her, gazing off into the space of the project next to theirs, to warn him of his impending doom.
"Ami!" Usagi cried excitedly, "This is so exciting for you! Have you heard any results yet?"
Unable to keep the smile off her face, Ami answered, "No, not quite yet, but we're fairly certain we'll at least finish in the top three. The judges came by just a little while ago for their final walk through, and they seemed to linger here longer than anywhere else."
"Well," Usagi continued, "I'm sure you have this one in the bag. You and…," she had to remind herself to simply call him by his given name, "...Mamoru are geniuses. There's no way you won't win!"
Kenji had been surveying the elaborate poster board that contained the research Mamoru and Ami had done, thinking to himself that it certainly was the most impressive looking he'd seen that night.
He heard Ami's soft voice saying his name, "It's nice to see you, Tsukino-san. May I introduce you to my project partner? This is Chiba Mamoru. He's a third year at Juuban, emphasizing in science as I am."
"Tsukino-san," Mamoru bowed low.
Kenji laughed at the sight he made, slapping his shoulder in jest, "There's no need for that, son!"
Usagi could sense Mamoru's discomfort at her father's openness, and for some reason she found herself wanting to somehow bring a smile back to his face. Damn you, heart!
"Papa," she cut in, "have you heard what Ami and Mamoru did their research on?"
"Well, I did glance over it...but why don't you tell me about it anyway," he scratched the back of his neck nervously, laughing.
Always eager to talk about her work, Ami dove in, explaining that she and Mamoru had created software that could help to better predict which medicines would be needed to fight the flu each year. The current system took nearly a decade to predict, and could prove completely ineffective if the predictions proved to be wrong.
Even Usagi was thoroughly impressed at what the two had done. It seemed like this project could be of real value to potentially millions of people.
"My, my," Kenji said when Ami was finished with her explanation. "That is certainly something."
He turned his attention over to Mamoru, "Since your topic is medically based, are you, perhaps interested in becoming a doctor like Ami?"
UsagI eyed her father warily. He was up to something. Never had he been so interested in a male classmate's interests, academic or otherwise…
Mamoru was a bit startled at being asked a question by Kenji. "Uh...well, yes, sir, that is my hope. Anatomy and physiology were always strong suits of mine."
Kenji's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. Jackpot. "You don't say…," he paused and then turned to his daughter with all the nonchalance he could muster, "...is that the class you're having a hard time in right now, Usagi?"
She glared at him. "It depends on your definition of, 'hard time'", she ground out through her teeth, thoroughly embarrassed at her father bringing up her shortcomings in front of Mamoru of all people.
Kenji continued, completely unphased, "I think failing counts as a hard time, honey! Do you get good grades, son?" he turned his attention back to Mamoru.
"...yes," came the hesitant reply.
The Christmas tree lit up once more, "Would you be interested in tutoring my daughter?"
Usagi's mouth dropped open, and a strangled sound came out of her mouth, "Papa!"
Kenji looked at Mamoru expectantly, while Mamoru's eyes darted to Usagi. A shiver ran down her spine at the intensity of his eyes. Was he trying to read what she wanted in her face? When he frowned, Usagi wondered what had caused this change of expression.
"Well, sir, I am pretty busy with school and extracurriculars, so, I don't know that I'd be able to come to your house to tutor…." Oh, of course, Usagi thought to herself. Why would he want to tutor me?
Usagi, while still offended at the notion that Mamoru wouldn't want to tutor her, breathed a momentary sigh of relief at Mamoru's response. Only to have her hopes dashed, when her father resorted to begging.
"Oh, that's not a problem! Usagi can come over to your place. It'd probably be much quieter than our house anyway. I'll pay you handsomely," Kenji emphasized the last word in a way that made it sound like they were about to engage in some kind of illegal activity.
Usagi looked at Mamoru, eyes pleading with him to make it stop, and he seemed to understand, offering, "Why couldn't Ami tutor Usagi? She's probably more capable than I am."
This was the absolute wrong thing to say. Usagi threw up her hands in disgust, and looked at Ami, whose eyes were wide with terror at being brought into the fray.
Kenji looked on sheepishly, responding, "Eh...we uh...already tried that. Please say you'll help out my Usagi. She's really not so bad when you get to know her!"
Usagi's eyes seemed to scream 'NO' as Mamoru shrugged in defeat. He was out of excuses, and her head hung down with a loud groan. "Eh...Sure, Tsukino-san. I'd be happy to help Usagi."
Kenji's Christmas tree was back for one last performance, his hands clapping together with glee, "Great! How would Tuesday and Friday at 6 work for you?"
"That'd be fine," Mamoru managed to mumble out.
With Mamoru's words Usagi felt her heart drop. He didn't seem excited about the prospect of her company at all. She could practically hear his teeth clenching in disgust.
Her fate was sealed, it seemed. She'd be spending at least two hours a week talking about body parts with the devil, who cared nothing for her. It didn't get any worse than this.
And her traitorous heart refused to shut up.