Just to remind readers: Copyrighted material not belong to me and I make no money; so don't sue. But don't forget, story IS MINE! This is rated R; kiddies, run away. On another note, in proper writing, quotation marks such as these: "...", usually indicate speech; and thoughts are: '...'. I know that a lot of fan writers use *...* or ~...~ instead, but I think that's a load of rubbish. Maybe my head is up my arse but I prefer '...', when indicating thought.
by K. Wyse
Part Three: Funk a.k.a. Afterwards
Short of becoming a member of the Witness Protection and Relocation Program, Rei could not fathom how Usagi had disappeared so thoroughly from the face of the Earth. And from the look of things, Usagi was not about to reappear in their lives in a hurry. It was almost like the blonde had gone POOF!; and vanished in a puff of smoke. The worst thing about it all was, she was gone without a reason.
Whenever Rei thought back to that fateful day, it never ceased to amaze her how one tiny slip of a woman managed to escape a bridegroom, a best man, a maid of honour, three bridesmaids, three ushers, and a whole congregation of well-wishers. Rei guessed that they had all been too stunned by Usagi's actions to even think of moving, much less chase after her. Then again, Usagi was the reigning Japan 200m sprint champion.
Makoto's laurel crown was returned in the post three days later with a don't worry, I'm okay' note; but no return address. In a heart-to-heart talk, Makoto had confided that even as she worried over where Usagi had gone, she was glad to have the something loaned' back. Rei inquired about the circlet's significance but Makoto just bit her lip with a sad look and evaded the question. Rei knew not to press but the curiosity ate away at her. To distract herself, she volunteered her services as a tour guide for the three visitors and was sorely disappointed when they left a week after Usagi's disappearance. Shingo, who had only come to America to attend his sister's wedding because their parents were unable to, accompanied Minako back to Tokyo after he instructed Rei to use every resource available to find Usagi.
Meanwhile, Mamoru was a mess. When he realised that Usagi had not ran for the little girls' room, and more importantly that she was not coming back -- he went into severe shock. A screaming ambulance and a best man saw him into the emergency room of the local hospital. He recovered soon enough to make an absolute pest of himself -- he called every single one of Usagi's friends, including those living in Japan, and asked if they had seen or heard from her. They had not. He then called every single one of them again to see if anything had changed or occurred in the five minutes since he had last spoken to them. He repeated the round of phone calls many times until one by one the irate victims blocked his number.
Forty-eight hours after Usagi disappeared, and had not contacted him, he had gone to the police to report her as missing. However, the sneering officers said that it did not look like a missing persons case and left it at that. For moral support, Rei had gone with him. But when she saw how they treated Mamoru as some sick, twisted stalker, she was a kick away from being arrested for assault. Quick thinking Mamoru had sensed the shift in her mental gears, and dragged her away before she spent a night behind bars, again.
Ever since, Mamoru would sit comatose in front of his recently bought flat screen TV, unaware that the machine was not plugged into an electrical outlet. The CD player was on repeat, and the same song was played over and over again. Rei never figured Mamoru for a country music lover, but if she heard the chorus of "Broken Heart" one more time, she would go on a mission of destruction, armed with a baseball bat.
As Mamoru's flat mate, Kunzaito was of no help. He was too smitten with Minako to be able to offer male advice on how to get over being left at the altar. Not to mention that since Minako had left U.S. soil, Kunzaito was wallowing in self-pity on the couch along with Mamoru. The two of them made quite a sight: unshaven, unkempt, malnourished, and thoroughly in need of a good long bath (or at least a shower). It was just pathetic. If the situation were not so dreadful, Rei would have thought it rather comical. Instead, she often found herself staring at Mamoru.
Her mind would float in a meditative state and she would half wonder what it was that she had seen in this man. After all, he looked pathetic. Really, very pathetic. Though -Rei's fluttering heart would contradict- he was more like a cute kind of pathetic. Rei rolled her eyes at herself. The guy would be sitting on a stinky couch, scratching his balls, and she would still think him cute. Well, it was more the haunted, poetic artist gaze of his eyes that tugged at her heartstrings. Plus, he did look quite handsomely devilish with the dark stubble. She uttered a sigh. Nope, she was not over Mamoru yet and perhaps she never would. Maybe she was the pathetic one ... Still, now that Usagi was out of the picture, perhaps Rei finally had a chance to win Mamoru's heart?
That first week that Usagi was missing, friends and well-wishers dropped by every day but eventually the steady stream of support dwindled to just Rei. Motoki was tying up any remaining loose strands involved in the closing of the accounting firm and was rushed off his feet with no chance to visit Mamoru and Kunzaito. So, Rei was the only one left to worry over how lifeless Mamoru had become. Kunzaito was not as bad and managed to return to the land of the living a week or so after Minako's departure. Still, Mamoru was in a deep, deep funk. Rei took it upon herself to visit Mamoru's place at least three times a day, and she forced him to eat and take care of himself. The man was practically, for all intents and purposes, a chronically retarded invalid.
It was obvious that the man was suffering a deep depression, and Rei found it hard to even look at him now. He was no longer the Mamoru that she knew. The old Mamoru would have put aside all personal problems and focused on surviving each day without showing an ounce of the underlying turmoil. This Mamoru on the couch, however ... She hardly recognised him. It was further testament to how much Mamoru loved, and still loved Usagi. Rei never imagined that he could behave like this; to have changed so much in so little a time. Usagi had somehow managed to break down the wall upon wall of defenses that had taken Mamoru a lifetime to build. The fragile-looking blonde had taught Mamoru's eyes to smile. She had made him feel, and showed him what it was like to be truly alive. Then, she had killed him.
Mamoru had abandonment issues from his childhood and to have Usagi run away at such a crucial moment ... Rei was not sure what would become of the man, and her heart ached for him because she understood. She knew and remembered well what heartbreak was like. As soon as those thoughts popped up, a picture of a bespectacled blond man bloomed in her mind's eye. As always at the mental sight of that man, Rei would close her eyes and tilt her head back, determined to not cry. She would not cry over him. She had been mistaken about him and it was time long due to bury her painful past.
A month after Usagi's disappearance, Motoki had pretty much finalised everything and Rei was officially relieved of her position. She soon joined hundreds of other job seekers and on the second day of her job hunting, she learned a skill that she wished she had known years ago. It certainly would have been helpful to know, in that first round of mud-wrestling, that elbows were formidable weapons.
Despite her exceptional qualifications, she found that her sharp-tongue soon made all her prospective employees shift their sight on to the next job seeker. Rei complained to Chad over yet another pint of ice cream, after five weeks of unsuccessful job interviews, that life was unfair. Though, Rei made it a mental note to keep her mouth shut next time she felt like exercising her critical wit. On a positive; Mamoru was at least starting to function on his own ...
Weeks earlier, she had stormed over to Mamoru's in a particularly bad mood. She had been frustrated by her inability to be hired, especially since she was a heck of a lot more competent than all those blonde floozies who got the job because of their micro-sized mini-skirts. Grrr, it just wasn't fair! When she stepped into his apartment and heard the first verse of "Broken Heart", she lost it. Went completely berserk.
Without any regard for electrical safety, Rei grabbed the CD player and yanked it away from the wall. The good news: there were no sparks or stuff like that, i.e. nothing was set on fire. The bad news: the electrical cord was severely damaged and Mamoru was infamous for being rather anal about his high tech toys.
With incredible strength for someone as thin as she, Rei shoved the damaged equipment into Mamoru's middle and was more than gratified when the man reacted with a shocked grunt and perhaps a flinch (possibly from broken rib pain). It was good to know that at least some of his senses were working. She took the offending CD out and made sure to break it into jagged bits in front of Mamoru's eyes. The shards fell from Rei's hands in flashes of shiny reflected rainbow light.
"Get
up!" She barked, her teeth bared in a hostile gleam. Steam
practically poured out of her ears as she glared at the broken
man before her. When he did not look at her, or showed further
signs of possessing a pair of human ears, Rei was ready to
scream. So she did.
"GET UP, MAMORU-KUN!" She shook her fists at him as if
it would prompt him to do as she bade.
"Usagi has been gone for almost two months and you have done
nothing but sit there and funk out. You mope, you cry, you listen
to that damn song! Get a grip! She's gone! I have had it up
to here-"
"Why, Rei?" Almost as if he had suddenly woken, he turned his head mechanically to face her, the movement had an eerie marionette quality. Then the hurt in his eyes hit her. Her knees quivered and waves of guilt drowned her burning anger. She had not really meant to shove the CD player so hard.
"Oh, Mamoru-kun, I'm sorry. I was just so angry-" He cut her off with a vehement shake of his head.
"No, no, no! Why did she leave me, Rei-chan?"
Oh. Emotionally
exhausted, Rei felt dizzy and just flopped on to the couch next
to him. He was still fixated on Usagi, it seemed. Rei could only
sigh and close her eyes.
"I don't know Mamoru-kun. I don't know."
"What did I do wrong? Was it something I said? Was it something I did or didn't do? What is wrong with me? Why can't anybody love me? Why does everyone that I love, leave me?" Rei flinched. She looked away and blinked back the tears. Her mind whirled as she realised how little she meant to him.
I'm
still here, Mamoru-kun. What about me?' Was the thought that
went through her head. She wanted to yell it into his face and
cap him in the nuts. Instead she harshly chided him in a tart and
brisk voice, hiding her hurt.
"I'm not surprised Usagi left you. Look at you!
You're a stinking, skeletal piss-pot. You can't do
anything for yourself. You flubber all over the place. You have
no control over your life and you expect a successful woman to
love you? Get outta town!"
"But I wouldn't be like this if she hadn't left me!"
"Whine, whine, whine. All you do is piss and moan. Have you even gone to look for her? Sure, you called around and went to the police but that's all you did. Ever since then, you've stayed in this little pea-sized Mamoru-only universe you've built around yourself. You've tried to hide from the outside world, hoping she'll come back to you, hoping she'll beg for your forgiveness. Well, news-flash buster: she ain't coming back! Did you even consider that maybe this is a test? Usagi is a very special person, she can't just settle for any ordinary Joe Schmoe. You have to get out there and find her and then prove your love to her and show her that you're worthy of her love and devotion! God, you're such a nincompoop. As soon as she disappeared, you collapsed like a spineless coward. And what about your job, huh? Motoki-kun has closed the firm, so what are you going to do now? Sit on your ass all day and scratch your balls? You must think that she has spaghetti and meatballs for brains! No woman wants an impotent, incompetent, incontinent, inadequate imbecile. My God! If this were a test, you've failed big time, buster."
"That's
it!" Suddenly enthused with life, Mamoru jumped up like a
kangaroo on ecstasy tablets. He fixed Rei with fiercely burning
eyes.
"How could I have been so stupid?! You're a genius
Rei!"
"Huh?" Was said genius's reply. Rei was still recovering from Mamoru's sudden movement. It had been like watching an inanimate piece of wood become struck by lightning and then suddenly evolve into a bona fide, electrified Pinocchio. On wobbly knees she rose to her awkward feet in an attempt to gain some height leverage. She hated it when people were exceedingly taller than her. No sooner had she achieved some sort of balance and equilibrium, then, in a spontaneous burst of joy Mamoru impulsively embraced her in a fierce hug.
Too surprised to realise what had happened, her natural cave-woman instincts told her to lash out with pointy elbows and pepper spray. It was only when she tilted her head, clumsily hit his chin, and smelt the smoky rose incense cologne that wafted from his pulse point that she realised she was someplace she wanted to be. Rei leaned into his hold and overwhelmed by the warmth she found in his arms, she could do nothing more than close her eyes and inhale deeply the scent of him. This was what she had long fantasised about -- a close intimacy where their souls bonded.
When he finally
pulled away, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek before saying,
"Thank you so much for all you've done for me. If it
weren't for you, I don't know how I would've
survived this. And I know I've been an absolute jerk for not
appreciating you as much as I should have."
Rei was normally not one to blush, nevertheless, at his heartfelt words, she felt heat creep up her cheeks. In an effort to appear as if his words did not affect her so much, she punched him lightly and affectionately on the arm. If she still harboured any hurt or anger towards him, it all dissipated into thin air and was long forgotten. Part of her wondered if this was how it would all start. After all, gratitude could easily turn into love. The tips of her ears grew hot as Mamoru continued to shower her with thanks.
"You've been so supportive and understanding. You came over every day and took care of me. You are an incredible woman, Rei. I don't know how I ever managed to live without you. I've been a Class A idiot and probably deserve to die, but thanks to you, I have a chance to change all that."
The world stopped turning and Rei stopped breathing. Oh my god! He's going to ask me out, isn't he?'
"Rei, I am going to do something I should have done a long time ago. I am going to go to Disneyland."
Rei blinked. "Uh, Mamoru ... am I missing something here?"
"Don't you see?! I have to go and find Usagi! I just know she's going to be at Disneyland. She's always wanted to have her photo taken with Mickey and Minnie.
"I have to find her, Rei. I have to show her that she and I belong together. I have to prove to her that we're soulmates! She's the one, Rei! She's the one!" He skipped off like a school girl into the dark recesses of his apartment leaving Rei in a state of shock. Then, over the sound of running bath water, Rei heard him shout,
"And you owe me a new CD player, Rei!"
The ring of the telephone shocked Rei out of her memories. Her mind in a daze, her reflexes were slow as she stared stupidly at the black machine thing that was emitting shrill noises. She blinked a few times at the flashing red light of the answering machine as it kicked in and began to play the pre-recorded message.
"You've got to be a world-class retard if you don't know what to do. And for god's sake, leave a message, don't just hang up!" An odd scratching sound and a BEEP' soon followed.
"Hey. Mamoru here-" That was it. Rei carelessly dropped her half-eaten ice cream and raced for the phone as if her life depended on it.
"Mamoru-kun?" Breathless from the sprint, her voice came out in a huskily deep and sexy tone. Silently she congratulated herself. She would entice him yet. Hmm, perhaps some lingerie shopping was in order.
"Oh, you're there!" Rei rolled her eyes. No shit, Sherlock'. Rei mumbled some kind of response along the lines of "yeah". Satisfied, Mamoru continued to talk.
"Guess where I am right now?" The boyish quality of his excited question sent lustful shivers down her spine. God that man was hot. Rei's heart was pounding so hard that she was sure he could hear the syncopated rhythm of her heartbeats. How embarrassing that would be! Oh no, he was waiting for an answer! Hurry up and answer! Hurry, hurry, hurry ...
"Um. I dunno. I guess, ... in that crap-hole you call home?" Rei grimaced and walked towards the closest wall so she could bang her head against it. Good going you schmuck! No wonder he doesn't think of you in romantic terms, you're constantly abusing him!'
"Gee, thanks Rei." Mamoru replied wryly, sidetracked for the moment.
"Anytime!" Rei chirped. Again she felt the urge to smack her forehead against the solid brick walls. Her voice had been too-, too-, ... cheerful. Rei shuddered. With her eyes shut tightly, she chanted a mantra in her head, I am not a valley girl. I am not a valley girl. I am not a valley girl-'
"Since you won't guess, I suppose I'll just have to tell you. I'm in California. Disneyland to be exact."
WHAT?!? She composed herself quickly, thankful that she had not said it out aloud. "Um, why?"
"I'm here to look for Usagi, silly!" Rei's previously shut eyes snapped open. Oh dear lord! He used the word silly and then giggled.' Too stunned to answer, Rei remained like a mute.
"Well, I better go and start looking. Wish me luck!" Mamoru did not want another one of Rei's infamous caustic remarks to ruin the positive feeling he had, so he just hung up. For her part, Rei did not get angry at Mamoru's rudeness. She was too frozen in surprise to feel anything other than incredulity. Her doorbell rang and that shook her out of her stasis but to her immense disappointment, it was a door-to-door Mormon. Before he could utter a word, Rei slammed the door in his face; and before she could enjoy the satisfaction that came from slamming front doors, she remembered her ice cream.
"OH NOOOOO!!!" The damn thing had long ago melted and was slowly but surely creating a permanent neon coloured stain in her beige carpet. Hmm, neon coloured,' Rei mused, ice cream has way too many artificial additives. Perhaps I should switch to frozen yoghurt.' Rei's brows were furrowed as she bit her lip in a grimace, gazing at the spill and calculating how difficult it would be to remove the offending colour from the carpets. The ice cream looked like it was almost complete in creating its personalised stain. Rei swore and went to get the industrial strength cleaning stuff.
She spent the rest of the afternoon and some time into the night cleaning out the melted ice cream stain from the carpet, all the while muttering curses. "Stupid Mamoru. Stupid ice cream. Stupid Usagi. Stupid Disneyland."
When she went to bed, her tune had changed. Perhaps it's a good thing he went. The holiday and change of environment might suit him. Who knows? He just might find her. In any case, at least he's out of his funk. I wonder ...' By then Rei had drifted into deep slumber. That night she had a strange dream about a kingdom on the moon whose princess strongly resembled Usagi.
Last Words:
Praises? Comments? Criticisms? Flames?
Send anything and everything to wyse_k@sammail.com, or simply review.
As some of you have pointed out, this story moves pretty fast. This is happening mostly because this is just the beginning and I want to get to the juicy parts which is when all the characters come together. So, in two or three more chapters you'll notice the pace becoming slower. I'd also like to add that, thanks to most of you who reviewed, Chad the tarantula will have a bigger part in the story. And before I forget, as far as I'm aware of, the song "Broken Heart" does not exist. I made it up because it sounded like something that would be country and it reflected well how Mamoru felt.
Okay, someone reviewed that this story sounds like Firespirit's "It's Gonna Be Me" (btw, that's recommended reading). In fact, other people I've spoken with have said the same thing. I'm grateful to you guys for picking this up because I hadn't realised that (I'm sorry I took until the third chapter to talk about this). Yes, the teaser does sound quite like IGBM but once you've read more of this story, you'll see that it's nothing like IGBM. The main concept is similar (Rei and some male character conspire to break up Mamoru & Usagi etc.) but the way I write, and what happens between the characters is different, i.e. I am not plagiarising. I've spoken with Firespirit and she has no problems with this story. So, this is the first and last time I will address this issue. Thank you to all you sharp-eyed, sharp thinking readers.
I hope you liked this next part and will give me your opinion on it. Part Four: Disneyland is coming soon.
C-ya!
Wyse
Storyline (c) K. Wyse, April 2003