__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Satsugaisha
By XTsukimiOdangoX
Chapter 3
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"She's a priestess for God's sake, Urawa-san! Our "help" must be setting her up or something!"
Chiba Mamoru - the "help" - sighed. He was sitting outside Urawa Ryo's office, patiently waiting for Tsukino Usagi to come back out and finish her questioning so he could go home. However, judging by the screaming she was doing, Mamoru figured that might take a while.
"I understand that she's a priestess, Tsukino-san." Mamoru could barely hear Ryo's muffled response from behind the door. "But, that doesn't means she's not the killer."
Mamoru pressed his ear up against the office door. Thank God someone believed him.
"Urawa--"
"No, Tsukino-san!" Ryo bit off. "I don't care whether you used to be friends with her and are too stubborn to believe she's the killer. You're a cop, dammit! You have to put your personal feelings aside!" Ryo slammed his hands down on his desk, as if emphasizing the statement.
Mamoru could hear Usagi sigh in exasperation.
"You think I don't know that…?" she asked dejectedly. "Because I do… I know what my job is, OK? I just… Oh forget it…"
Mamoru leapt back from the door a few inches and pretended to busy himself with scratching at his bandages. Usagi swung open the door weakly and eyed him warily.
"You were listening weren't you?"
Mamoru blinked. Not only was he slightly surprised that she knew he had eavesdropped on the whole conversation, but because of her appearance.
Her shoulders were slumped and her back humped slightly. Mamoru realized there were bruises from lack of sleep under her eyes that he hadn't noticed before. She looked positively miserable.
"You walk in that office, a lively woman, and," Mamoru smiled crookedly, "come out looking like hell."
Usagi was too tired to even glare at the man in front of her, far as come up with a witty comeback. She just brushed passed him and collapsed into a chair. She buried her face in her hands and groaned.
"Poor thing," Mamoru cooed, acting only slightly sincere.
"Shut up," the blonde grumbled.
Chiba Mamoru grinned slightly. He walked up behind Usagi and placed his hands on her shoulders. She jumped the tiniest bit, pulling her head up from her hands.
"What are you--"
Usagi stopped herself mid-sentence as what Mamoru was doing became perfectly clear. He was massaging her shoulders.
He pressed his thumbs deep into her shoulder blades causing a sigh to escape her lips. She straightened her spine, a blush creeping over her cheeks.
"You… don't have to do that, you know…" Usagi desperately tried to sound relatively calm, but wound up with a slight wavering voice. She grimaced at the sound.
Mamoru chuckled lightly. "I want to." He kneaded into her shoulders. "And besides, you need it. You should get your boyfriend to massage your back. You've got some hell of a knot in here."
"What makes you think I have a boyfriend?" Usagi moaned slightly at the wonders this man's hands were doing for her tired shoulders.
"You don't?" Mamoru managed out in disbelief. "You're kidding! Why not?"
Usagi was about to respond that she just didn't have any time in her life for a boyfriend, but was cut off by Ryo.
"Tsukino-san, despite how terribly I feel with interrupting your spa treatment," Urawa Ryo muttered, "but, you really need to get to work."
Usagi glared at Ryo, sighed, and rolled her eyes. She grumbled a "fine" and attempted at standing up. She was immediately pushed back down by Mamoru's hands.
"Chiba-san!" Tsukino Usagi cried. She tilted her head all the way up to see Mamoru frowning down at her. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You heard Urawa-san! I've got work! Let me go!"
"Nuh-uh." Mamoru shook his head. He pushed down harder on her shoulders.
"Chiba-san," Ryo began"
"I'll get everything you need," Mamoru replied to Usagi, ignoring her peeved boss. "Today was supposed to be your day off, so I'll try to let you relax as much as you can. You tell me what you need, and I'll go get it."
Usagi couldn't help but blush. He was being so kind…
"Well?" Mamoru winked. "What do you need me to get you?"
Usagi's face fell slightly.
"Hino Rei."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Tsukino-san! Slow down!"
Usagi deliberately sped up.
"Hey!" Mamoru cried, a good block behind. Passerbies were beginning to stare. "Why are you so mad?!"
Officer Tsukino stopped dead in her tracks. She spun on her heel, expecting to see Mamoru running to catch up with her, but all she was met with was random strangers bustling around her.
Crap, you sure are slow, Chiba-san, to be so far behind.
Usagi cocked one hip to the side and rested her hand on it. She tapped her foot on the ground impatiently.
"Miss me?"
Usagi nearly jumped right out of the skin her insides occupied. Her hand flew to her chest, trying to keep her hammering heart behind her ribcage where it belonged. Her eyes were impossibly wide.
After regaining her ability to breathe Usagi spun around, eyes wild. Mamoru was standing there, hands in his pockets, shoulders shaking from his mirth.
"BAKA*!!!" Usagi screeched. She hit the laughing Mamoru over the head. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!!"
Chiba Mamoru had never laughed so hard. He was clutching his stomach with one hand - nearly doubling over - and the other hand was trying to defend himself from Usagi's blows.
"Ow, ow!" Mamoru whimpered slightly but unable to stop laughing. "Gomen!!" he cried out between gasps for air.
"You…! You…!! UGH!!" Usagi screamed in frustration. There just weren't enough four letter words for her to describe the way she felt towards Mamoru at that moment.
The blonde - high strung - police officer stormed past Mamoru and continued her walk to the Hikawa shrine. She managed to get a few paces ahead, but - to Usagi's chagrin - Mamoru caught up with her easily that time.
"Hey…" Mamoru began thoughtfully, acting as though she wasn't actually mad at him. "Can I call you Odango Atama**?"
Usagi blinked, stopping mid-step. She cast Mamoru a sideways glance, one that just screamed "I hate you and you're the most annoying and insane man I've ever met."
"I'm going to hurt you," Usagi muttered nonchalantly. Mamoru chuckled.
"Oh, come on, Odango Atama," he cooed. "It fits so well." He tapped on one of the blonde buns that adorned the top of Usagi's head. "They look just like odango." He tugged her pigtail. "It's so cute."
Usagi seethed. Every word that came out of his mouth was pissing her off more and more. She clenched her fists, set her jaw, counted to ten mentally, and began walking again.
"I thought," Usagi began, trying to contain her anger, "that you were going to help me today. Instead I wind up having to hunt down Rei-chan with you tagging along. And to make matters worse… you insult me by calling me Odango Atama!!!"
Mamoru scratched the back of his head.
"Does that mean you don't like the nickname?"
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Notes:
* Baka- "Idiot"
** Odango Atama - "Meatball Head" Odango are like meatballs, I suppose you could say, so that's why in the American version of Sailor Moon Darien calls her "Meatball Head."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Author's Notes: A little short? Yah, I know. That chapter sucked. It had virtually no plot. And I apologize for that. But I just really wanted to end it there. ^_^;; I'm sorry! I hope to have another chapter out later today or tomorrow. So it won't be all that bad. See ya later!!
REVIEW!!!
