Trapped Together Till Halloween


A Sekkushiaru Roman

By: Luna Hope

Email: ndeblock@att.net

Rated: "R"




Chapter 4 - Wake Up My Merry Sunshine…


The next morning Mamoru woke up early like he usually did and found out two
interesting facts. First clothes made of leaves fall apart when they're slept in. Second,
Usagi had rolled over during the night and was now pressed up against the full length of
his back and butt with her leg draped over his thigh. Her arm was curled around him and
her hand rested on his chest.

Mamoru silently chucked to himself, [And she told *me* to keep my hands to myself!]
He of course didn't mind the arrangement. Mamoru could feel the chilly morning air on
his nose and ears and Usagi's comfortable warmth enveloping his body. He easily
decided to do something he'd never done before. He closed his eyes and soon drifted
back to sleep.

Quite a while later Usagi partially woke up and tried to roll over. Her arm wouldn't
cooperate and it seemed to be stuck. Usagi fully woke up and realized she was draped all
over Mamoru and he was hugging her arm to his chest in his sleep. Totally mortified,
Usagi tried to carefully disentangle her arm from his without waking him.

Mamoru of course had woken up as soon as she had tried to move but he wasn't about to
let her know that. He continued to hold her arm against his chest and kept still with his
eyes closed. He heard Usagi sigh with exasperation then gently rest her cheek against his
back in defeat. He knew not to chuckle at her dilemma or he'd give himself away. As
Usagi relaxed against his back she began to absently stroke his chest with her fingertips
and play with the hairs that curled under her hand. Quickly deciding he liked her doing
that, he continued to feign sleep.

Mamoru gradually relaxed his hold a little bit and Usagi continued her caresses. They
both must have started to fall back asleep because Usagi's hand gradually slid across
Mamoru's chest. When her fingers brushed over his nipple, Mamoru and Usagi both
startled. Usagi gasped, snatched her arm away from Mamoru and quickly turned over.
Mamoru also turned over and tried to sound innocent as he asked, "What was that
about?"

Usagi with her back to him snapped, "Nothing!"

Mamoru decided to drop it, for now. Instead he asked, "Did your exclusive island
designer wear fall apart like mine did?" Mamoru saw Usagi move her arms around under
the cover.

Sighing, Usagi answered, "Yes. I guess I should get up and make some more."

Usagi returned a little while later with newly made clothes. They busied themselves by
organizing the camp. It was getting pretty warm and after lunch Mamoru said he wanted
to go swimming. Usagi told him to go ahead and she'd pass on it this time. She realized
she was starting to feel crampy and figured she needed a little privacy to dig out some of
Minako's gifts and make use of them.

Mamoru shrugged and said, "Okay," as he stood to leave.

"Wait a minute," Usagi said as she jumped up and went to get something from the lean-
to. She came back out with a large bottle and admonished, "Put lots of sunscreen on or
you'll burn to a crisp."

"Yes, mother," Mamoru mocked as he reached for the bottle. Usagi stuck out her tongue
at him then turned back to cleaning up her meal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mamoru returned to the lean-to about an hour later. He looked around for Usagi and
found her curled up in the sleeping bag trying to sleep. Touching her shoulder, Mamoru
asked, "Usagi? Are you okay? You're not sick are you?"

Usagi glared at his concerned face and growled, "Nothing's wrong and I'm *not* sick so
go away and leave me alone!" She then turned her back to him.

Mamoru walked back outside scratching his head in confusion. He decided, [Someone
must have dropped in with a helicopter, taken Usagi and replaced her with a demon look-
alike!] Usagi refused dinner and except for two times when he assumed she left to go to
the bathroom, Usagi didn't leave the lean-to.

Later that night, Mamoru crawled into the sleeping bag next to Usagi and noticed she was
whimpering in her sleep and rocking her body. He woke her to ask if she was okay and
again got growled and snapped at for his concern. The next morning Mamoru didn't dare
wake Usagi and she slept until lunchtime. Mamoru sat down to eat a MRE and Usagi
came walking around the corner of the lean-to. Mamoru looked up at her with surprise
and she smiled wanly at him. Mamoru asked, "Are you doing better now?"

Usagi pulled a face at him and answered, "Not one hundred percent but getting better."
As she grabbed a meal and sat down to eat.

After a moment of silence between them, Mamoru asked, "So Usagi, why were you so
grouchy? Were you sick to your stomach? You didn't eat some berries off the island's
plants, did you?"

Looking up at Mamoru with an odd expression, Usagi hesitated then answered, "No, I
didn't eat any berries! Give me a *little* credit, please!" She blushed and looked down
at her food as she finished, "It's just a…a woman's thing."

"Oh," Mamoru responded. He was still pretty much clueless as he asked, "Why were you
so crabby then?"

An exasperated sigh exploded from Usagi as she yelled, "I had *cramps*! Nasty, gut-
wrenching, nausea producing, stab-a-knife through the back cramps! They make me a
little crabby! Especially since Minako didn't leave strong enough pain pills for it. I have
prescription painkillers at home! I think that entitles me to be grouchy for twenty-four
hours! Sheesh Mamoru, didn't your mom or sister tell you not to annoy a girl when she
has her period and feels like that?"

Mamoru was staring at her wide-eyed then looked down. "Sorry," he mumbled then
stood and left camp.

Usagi was kind of surprised by his reaction. She thought, [Gee, I did yell at him and I'm
still a bit grouchy I know, but…he looked really upset, like he wanted to cry.] Without
another thought, Usagi put her food down and went after him.

Mamoru was quickly walking the perimeter of the island again when Usagi caught up.
She almost had to run to match his strides. "Hey," she said, "Why'd you run off like
that? Are you angry? Did my grouching really bother you that much? Usually you
could care less if I yell at you!" Mamoru didn't respond and she insisted, "Wait!" as she
grabbed his arm.

Suddenly Mamoru stopped and pulled his arm from her grasp. He rasped, "Look, I'm
sorry I asked! Okay!"

He turned to go and Usagi probed, "What's wrong? Why are you so upset?"

Mamoru ran his fingers through his hair then added, "I don't have a mother or sister to
warn me about stuff like that. I've never lived with women before. I wasn't trying to be
a pain, I just didn't know. Okay!"

Usagi was stunned silent. After a moment, she whispered, "You don't have a mom?" He
turned away and continued walking quickly. Usagi refused to let him get away from her
though. She kept up with him and waited for an answer.

Finally, Mamoru bitterly revealed, "I'm an orphan. I don't remember my parents. I was
raised in an orphanage and it wasn't co-ed."

"I'm sorry," Usagi whispered, "I…didn't realize. I guess you wouldn't have known. I'm
sorry I yelled at you."

Mamoru had slowed his walking but stayed silent. Usagi threaded her arm through his
and leaned her head on his arm. As they walked, Usagi thought, [That explains a whole
lot about Mamoru. About why he pushes people away and why he can be pretty mean
sometimes.] They silently walked together like that until they again reached their camp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Usagi and Mamoru now had an unspoken friendly truce. They still got on each other's
nerves sometimes but they really tried to get along. It made things much more pleasant
for them.

One morning they were eating breakfast and Mamoru kept scratching at his face. His
beard had started to fill in quite a bit and he grumbled, "I wish Motoki had remembered
to include a shaver. This really itches!"

She hadn't said anything, but Usagi wasn't really thrilled with his beard either. She
much preferred him clean-shaven. [He doesn't look bad,] she decided, [the beard just
makes him too dark and scary looking. He's intimidating enough without the beard.]

Mamoru pulled a shopping bag of supplies toward him and started searching through it.
He happily exclaimed, "Got it!" when he came up with a sharp knife.

Looking doubtful, Usagi asked, "What do you plan to do with that?"

"Shave," Mamoru confidently informed her.

Usagi considered the idea then questioned, "Isn't that dangerous with a knife?"

Nodding, Mamoru answered, "Probably, but I'm desperate."

With the knife in his hand, he walked over to the small spring. He wet his face then
attempted to scrape some of the hair from the bottom of his neck up to his chin. At
home, Mamoru used an electric shaver and he didn't really know what he was doing.
The knife had skipped over most of the hair he attempted to remove. Mamoru hissed
with pain as he felt the knife nick him. Blood quickly covered his fingers, the knife and
ran down his neck. "Damn!" he cursed.

Usagi had watched her father shave many times as a little girl. He was one of the few
men who preferred to use an old-fashioned straight razor. Usagi had held her breath
anxiously as she watched her father expertly wield the razor over the curves of his face
and neck. Each time she had watched, she was amazed he hadn't slit his throat. It had
been one of the innocent thrills of her day as a child.

Now as she watched blood run down Mamoru's neck as he searched for a paper towel,
she realized he didn't know what he was doing. If he continued like this, she might
actually have to watch him slit his own throat and die. That thought did not sit well with
Usagi.

"Mamoru! You have no idea what you're doing and you're going to kill yourself!" Usagi
admonished.

"I'll figure it out!" Mamoru snapped, as he held the paper towel firmly against the
wound.

Sighing, Usagi stood up. She walked over to the shopping bag and informed him she was
going to help.

Mamoru looked up horrified. "You're not getting within three feet of my neck with a
knife!" he exclaimed.

Usagi pulled a bottle of shampoo out of the bag and patiently explained that she knew
what she was doing because of her father. She also grabbed a band-aid from the first aid
kit and the paper towels. Turning toward the spring, she commanded in a voice that
would brook no argument, "Follow me."

Nervously complying, Mamoru wondered what he was getting himself into and if he'd
survive it.

The cut was small and Usagi put the band-aid on it as soon as it stopped bleeding. She
then told Mamoru to wet the rest of his face. Pouring some shampoo into her hands,
Usagi reached up to scrub the soap into his beard. She was leaning up against him to do
so and Mamoru admitted to himself that he really liked this part.

Realizing he was too tall, Usagi made Mamoru sit on a rock. She picked up the knife and
considered it. She remembered how her father had lathered well and told her he always
shaved with the hair growth at first then touched it up where needed afterwards. He had
also told her how important it was to hold the blade at the correct angle and to have a
steady hand. Usagi looked a lot more confident than she really felt as she lifted the knife
up to Mamoru's chin.

Closing his eyes, Mamoru held perfectly still and prayed she didn't cut him any worse
than he had already cut himself. When he felt her first firm, smooth stroke with the
blade, he opened his eyes in surprise. [That didn't even hurt or scrape!] he thought.

Usagi smiled, "See, I told you I know what I'm doing." Mamoru again closed his eyes
and let her continue.

When she was finished she ran her hands over his face and neck to check for strays.
Happy with the results, Usagi leaned over and kissed his cheek. "All done!" she proudly
proclaimed.

Mamoru reached up to feel his face and smiled with amazement. This was the smoothest
he had ever felt his face and she didn't cut him even once. "Thank you, Usagi. You did
a great job!" he said.

As she cleaned up the knife and picked up the other stuff, Usagi explained, "It's almost
impossible to do on yourself without a mirror. If you'd like I can give you a shave each
morning."

"Yes," Mamoru said, "I'd like that."



Continued…


Chapter 5 – "All Around the Mulberry Bush…Pop Goes the Weasel!" will be posted
soon. ^_~



Thank you for reading my story. ^_^ If you have any comments or suggestions, as long as
they're politely worded, I'd love to hear them. Please email me at ndeblock@att.net


Disclaimer - Sailor Moon and friends don't belong to me! Thank you Takeuchi Naoko-
sama for creating such fun characters. ^_^