Originally Composed on August 24, 2002

Chapter Four: Changes

Quote: "Everybody wants to do something to help, but nobody wants to be
the first."

-- Pearl Bailey


Author's Notes: I just got back home from my road trip through
California. We started in Orange County, went to a Bat Mitzvah, stayed
in L.A. for a night, and then went to Hearst Castle, stayed at a five
star resort in Carmel, and drove up to San Francisco. My favorite
place was definitely San Francisco. We stayed at a hotel a block from
Union Square. Two words. Shopping Mecca. Anyway, whatever happened
to the feigned California friendliness that it was so renowned for?
Everyone was just kind of indifferent or hostile. It's worse than in
New York. There everyone's indifferent, or they tell you if they don't
like you to your face. In Cali., people just talk about you when they
think that you can't hear them. Geez. My love affair with California
is officially ended. Oh well.

Well, that was fun to write about. Not that anyone really cares, but
still. Sorry if I offended anyone who lives in California. My
vacation is my excuse for not writing more stuff.

I've noticed that no one has been writing critiques on Moon
Romance…write critiques! I need feedback and critiquing to improve my
writing. I'm done now. Now onto the story!


All copyright laws apply.


No wait, I was wrong. And NOW onto the story.


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"So, Serena, what happened the next morning?"

She looked up at me with half-lidded eyes. "Well…"


--------------------------------------------------------------------

I was awakened by Ikuko. She had probably seen the shards of my
old alarm clock, and was going to wake me up until I got a new once,
something I had neglected to do because of yesterday's events. I
figured that I would get one tomorrow, since I had the feeling in my
gut that today would be just as hectic.

I felt surprisingly refreshed and actually sprang from bed
instead of thinking every five minutes that I should work up the energy
to rise, and then be late because I had done it one too many times. I
dressed quickly, tossing my pajamas on the floor. I felt like
whistling a merry tune, but sudden recollections of the movie "Mary
Poppins" came to mind, and I refrained from doing so. Images of
flying, singing nannies and chimney sweeps can sober anyone up.

I danced down the stairs and made it into the kitchen without
injuring myself. I sat with my host family, Kenji reading the paper,
and we had a real family-style breakfast. Ikuko sent Shingo and I off
with our lunches, and we walked together in silence until we parted
ways. I winked at Shingo, and he blushed bright red as he walked off.
Life's all about small joys.

I made my way to school, and managed not to trip over anything.
That day was looking better and better by the second. While I was
reflecting on how well the morning had gone so far, I ran into
something hard and fell over backwards. I looked up and stared into
the face of a large, yellow hand, or rather, it was a guy dressed up
like a hand. He was swaying around, trying to regain his balance from
being run into. And when I say that it had a face, I mean that there
were some slits that kind of resembled eyes and a mouth cut out of the
fingers, which were all lined up and pointing skyward. Instead of a
wrist attached to the end of the hand, there was a pair of legs in
white tights. The hand was busily dancing around in front of a store
which sold computer parts. Now, it may just be me, but I do not see
the connection between giant dancing hands and video cards, extra ram,
etc.

I was about to apologize to the hand, who was busily sashaying
down the sidewalk, but when I opened my mouth, the hand kicked me. I
stood up indignantly and walked over to the hand, who was going on as
though nothing as happened. When I neared the hand, though, he danced
around, and then kicked me in the butt, hard. I was more than slightly
peeved that the hand had ruined my good day. So I jumped onto the
hand, carrying it onto the ground with the force of my tackle. I then
began to bash the hand, where I assumed the man inside's head was,
repeatedly on the sidewalk.

I was brought out of my wild rage against the hand when I heard a
voice behind me. "Such violence, Odango. What do they teach you in
those American schools?"

I got up off of the hand, and turned around to face the person I
had been hoping to avoid. He grinned at me, leaning his weight on his
left hip, and his bag swung over his shoulder casually with his right
hand. I narrowed my eyes. "You want to see?" I asked testily.

Mamoru just grinned that sexy, and incredibly vexing grin of his.
"Maybe some other time, Odango Atama. Right now I think I'll help your
victim up."

He walked over to the hand and helped the hand up while I watched
in disgust. Mamoru turned to me. "You really shouldn't go randomly
attacking-" He was cut off when the resilient hand gave him a swift
kick in the ass, and then danced away gleefully. The entire affair had
gathered quite a crowd, which stood there in morbid curiosity. Mamoru
spun around in surprise as I laughed my head off, and he began cursing
the hand loudly while chasing it down the street.

When I finally stopped laughing, I was wheezing. "Such language,
Mamoru. You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

That sobered him up. He stopped chasing the hand, seeming to
realize that he had let his usually cool demeanor slip, and walked back
to where I stood. He glared at me, and then brushed past me while I
grinned at his back. The crowd dispersed, letting out not quite
grumbled "Kids these days".

I ran and caught up with Mamoru to tease him. He turned to me
and said, "You'll be late for class if you don't hurry, Odango Atama."

"Don't call me that, baka," I said heatedly. "Anyway, what about
you? If you keep up at this pace, you'll be late, too," I smirked.

Mamoru suddenly took off down the street, running, with long,
powerful strides. I stood there in shock for a moment before hastening
after him. We ran, neck in neck down the street, dodging people going
the other way. We broke out of the crowd and dashed through the
deserted schoolyard. Mamoru gained back his lead from before, and
threw open the class room door. As I reached his tall form, he said to
me, "You lose. I win," out of breath.

"Wrong, Mr. Chiba. You both lose." Our heads snapped up at the
sound of Haruna-sensei's annoyed voice. "For being tardy, you will
both stand outside in the hallway and hold two buckets of water until
class ends." I looked up at the clock. We were five minutes late.

A little later, we both stood in the hallway, holding heavy
buckets of water. I could practically feel my arms sagging and
elongating from the weight. "It's your fault that I was late, Odango
Atama."

"What?!" I turned to him in surprise, and accidentally sloshed
the bucket of water in my right hand all over his shoes and ankles.

"You did that on purpose, you bitch," he growled at me. He set
down one of his buckets of water, and before I could escape, he poured
the contents of the second bucket over my head. I stood there in
shock, water dripping from my eyelashes and my hair, running down my
neck and my spine, sending shivers through my body. My entire uniform
was soaked with the icy water.

I was in a pure rage. "Don't flatter yourself, Mamoru. It was
an accident." With that, I heaved the second of bucket of water all
over Mamoru's front. I smiled with satisfaction. "That, on the other
hand, was intentional."

I took off down the hall when I saw what Mamoru planned to do
next. I could hear him pursuing me. He caught me by the waist and
dumped the second bucket of water down my back, chilling me to the
bones. I let out a loud shriek.

I looked down the hallway, sopping wet, and saw that there was
water all the way down the hall. To my horror, the principal was fast
approaching from the other end of the hall. I could see what was going
to happen, and I knew I had once chance to stop the looming disaster
ahead. "No!" I yelled. "Stop walking!" The principal looked up at me
just in time to slip on the water. His momentum carried him all the
way down the hallway on his back, sliding around in different
directions until he finally hit the classroom door at the end of the
hall with a painful sounding thump.

Every classroom on the floor had heard my shriek and the
principal's loud cry of horror as he had slid across the floor. I
found out later that he had thrown out his back.Teachers and students
alike were leaning out of the doorways. Our peers were grinning. They
knew we were busted. I saw Haruna-sensei's enraged face as she leaned
from out of the classroom.

I turned to Mamoru. "We are so screwed," I said blandly. I was
a little too numb to work up any real emotion into my voice.

He looked down at me. "Royally," he replied in a matter of fact
tone.

We both cringed when we heard the principal's loud voice
proclaim, "Detention!"

We both spent the next class period mopping up the floor, but not
without an earful from Haruna-sensei and the principal both. I
remember it went something like this:

Mamoru and I sat next to each other in the principal's office,
silent. There was really nothing to say. "What you did was
irresponsible and shows a complete lack of discipline. Your actions
today show that you both obviously have a blatant disrespect for
authority. You will be taking detentions for the next month so that
you can think on your actions.

"I expected so much more from both of you," he sighed. "Serena,
you are an exchange student here, and on only your second day of school
you are already in trouble. If something like this ever happens again,
we may have to consider revoking your exchange here in Japan. Your
stay here has been jeopardized by your actions." I could not believe
what I had just heard. The threat was quite obvious. I was treading
on thin ice. I would have to be especially careful from now on,
because there was way that I was going back home until I had originally
planned to. To be sent home after all of the work I had done learning
Japanese and studying the culture so that I would be eligible for the
program was unthinkable. I stared blankly at the whitewashed wall in
front of me as the principal continued. "And you, Mamoru," he sounded
truly pained when he said it. "You have always been a model student.
I am frankly quite surprised at your behavior. You should be setting a
good example for others, not engaging in inappropriate actions that
require disciplinary action.

"You are both dismissed." Mamoru looked almost as crestfallen as
I did when he rose from his chair. We exited and walked next to each
other down the halls until we found the waiting mops. We began to mop
mutely.

Later that day I told all of my new acquaintances about
detention. Minako looked disappointed, but I promised that we would
bond some other time. I gave Makoto some money and asked her to buy me
an alarm clock that would not bring me to acts of violence to shut it
up. Ami and I had not planned anything, so there was nothing to
disappoint her about, other than the fact that I was a juvenile
delinquent.

The days passed in the same routine of waking up, going to
school, going to detention, doing homework, and going to bed.
Sometimes other people would be in detention, but Mamoru and I were the
only ones who were there consistently. Mamoru and I bickered bitterly.
The girls were convinced that it was sexual tension, and not barely
controlled hostility, that kept us from speaking civilly to each other.
It was hard not to scoff at their overly romantic ideas. Makoto had,
thankfully, not just run off with my money, which had occurred to me
might happen, since I did not know her that well, and did not know how
much to trust her. She had bought me an alarm clock, a Hello Kitty
alarm clock, identical to the one that I had destroyed, which yelled
'Good Morning'! The irony of the situation sent me into peals of
hysterical laughter.

Finally, the last day of detention arrived. I awoke to the sound
of Hello Kitty chirping 'Good morning'. I turned my head and looked
over at the clock. "I would have to disagree with you on that one,
Kitty. I'd say it's a pretty crappy morning," I said groggily. I
pushed myself up in bed and climbed out. The regular boring morning
routine ensued. Then the boring regular day routine, and finally,
detention.

I really could not bring myself to not enjoy detention. It's
just so hard to be depressed when you know that some arduous task is
finally ending. Mamoru and I sat at our desks, doing homework. When
the teacher left the room for a moment, Mamoru turned to me and said,
"Are you going to apologize, or not?"

I looked up at him, disgusted. "Not. You should be apologizing
to me. You've been antagonizing me since the second that you met me."
My voice crescendoed.

He glared at me and said, "You made me late for class. I'm not a
model student anymore. The principal doesn't trust me anymore. And to
top it all off, I had the first detention in my life because of you."

"Don't give me that shit, Mamoru. You stopped to make fun of me
and made yourself late. So you were late for class. Life goes on. I
was insulted that you even suggested that it was my fault that you were
late, and I'm insulted. You make it sound like school's your entire
life. And let me be the first to tell you, Mamoru, if that's the case,
get a life. You know, for such a jerk, you really are a goody-two-
shoes." I turned away from him pointedly.

I could see his shocked expression in my mind's eye. "I'll say
one thing for you, Odango Atama. You certainly are frank."

"Thanks," I deadpanned.

I could hear him sigh. "What I mean to say is that, well-"

"You're sorry? You make it sound like saying it is the most
painful thing in the world."

"I'm used to being right. I've never actually apologized before.
Oh yes, and stop cutting me off in the middle of my sentences. It
wasn't going to take that long."

I cocked an eyebrow and looked at him. "I'd say eternity is a
long time, Mamoru."

"Sod off, Odango Atama. I'm trying to be friendly."

"Well, you certainly do take your time, don't you? Alright, since
you were trying to be friendly, let's call a truce." I held out my
hand.

Mamoru stared at it for such a long time that I was about to put
it down, but at last he grasped it, and we shook. It was all very
orderly, very businesslike. "So tell me, Mamoru, why did you choose
today of all the days of detention to demand an apology?"

"I kept expecting you to apologize, and I felt that I was giving
you ample opportunity to do so. So when today rolled around, I finally
stopped deluding myself into thinking that an apology would be
forthcoming voluntarily. It was your last chance, and you didn't take
it, so I took action." He shrugged.

"Well then, I'm sorry, though I don't know what for. So anyway,
since we've agreed that you won't call me Odango Atama anymore, or pour
buckets of water on each other, why don't we go to the Crown to
celebrate being free of detention?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Mamoru grasped his temples. "When did I
agree not to call you Odango Atama?"

I rolled my eyes. "Well, duh. Of course that's part of our
truce."

Mamoru narrowed his eyes, and I could tell that he found this
unpleasing. Finally, he said, "Fine. Where the hell is the detention
proctor, anyway? Did he go all the way to Vienna for his coffee, or
something? I mean, we could be having wild sex on the floor while he's
gone."

I had to laugh at that one. The thought of that actually
happening was truly humorous. We turned back to our work and tried to
look busy in case the proctor came back suddenly, as they have a
tendency to do. And just like that, we were not at odds anymore. I
hesitate to use the word friends. We had not yet put in the time
commitment and come out of neutral terms into amicable talking.

We exited detention that day and went into the Crown. We sat
down at a booth and ordered drinks. "So, Mamoru, tell me something
about you." I've never been good at small-talk.

"Like what?" he said.

"I don't know!" I said, exasperated. "Anything! Something about
your family, maybe."

"Alright. Both of my parents were killed in a car crash when I
was six. I was in the back seat, and somehow managed to survive. I
live by myself, but I was adopted by a pair of working parents.
They're both business people, and they travel a lot, so they set me up
by myself, and I've been mostly independent all of my life. What about
you?"

"My parents divorced at my suggestion when I was fourteen. My
father never recovered from the divorce. He had trouble letting go of
the stability of having a family. He's a suicidal manic depressant who
has been restrained in a mental hospital for the past year because the
court thought that he was a danger to himself and others. My mother
went to graduate school again, this time to be a veterinarian, not a
lawyer. She'll be finished next year. So, that's me."

"So basically, both of our lives are fucked up."

"Yeah, I guess so," I said in agreement.

I do not remember our conversation for the most part after that,
so it could not have been that important. I remember liking Mamoru a
lot more than I originally had. Or rather, I like him a lot more now
that he wasn't being a jerk to me.

Mamoru said that it would be good to go home now, before it got
dark. I agreed, and as I stood up, I tripped over my bag and went
flying onto the floor. "Graceful, Serena, very graceful," he grinned
playfully.

"Shut up, Mamoru," I grimaced in good humor. It was kind of
funny how just yesterday, that conversation would have been entirely
unpleasing, not teasing. Relationships really do change the meaning of
words.

Mamoru helped me up, and we parted with a wave. As I neared an
alley, I heard a voice say, "So the truth is revealed."


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


Well, that's the end of the chapter. Talk to me.

icefaerie0719@earthlink.net for critiques or comments. Or you could be
conventional and use the critiques page on Moon Romance. Ciao.