AN: Hey guys, here's the next chapter. This is about the average length of my chapters, btw. Anyway, read the bottom AN for more info on the next chapter and this fanfic in general. And don't forget to review!

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You Promised

Chapter 1: Get Over It

***** America, three years later. [Usagi: 11; Sammy: 8]

            "Hey! Give that back!" Usagi screamed into her stepsister's ear as loudly as she could to startle her. Didn't work.

            "Make me!" said the snotty girl with long blonde hair and big green eyes. She was wearing a frilly pink dress that didn't suit her personality at all. It was cute; she wasn't. It had been Usagi's dress, until her stepfather had 'accidentally' mixed up the laundry and said that his precious daughter was too attached to the dress to give it back. It was just like him to do that. He had always favored his children more and had no problem letting Sammy and her know that. But as soon as their mother came home, the 'perfect family' came into play.

Now the rotten kid had her locket that Mamoru had given her two long years ago. She was not getting that. Usagi was prepared to do everything she could to get it back.

            "Let go, Jamie!" Usagi extended her arm and caught some of her sister's hair in her hand and yanked hard. A bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the house and into the ears of her father.

Usagi looked down in her hands and saw a chunk of hair. A large chunk. She put both hands behind her back and ran behind the couch, cowering and afraid of the masculine footsteps racing towards her.

            "Jamie? What's going on?" asked her fatherly figure, worry-etched into his manly voice.

            "Papa! She pulled my hair out and stole my locket!" Usagi heard a growl and she trembled behind the couch, praying he wouldn't find her there. She clutched the locket to her chest and curled up into a tight ball.

            "Just look at your beautiful hair—ruined! I swear when I find her, she'll be punished severely…" Usagi could feel his angry eyes land upon the couch and she backed up against the wall and shut her eyes.

            'Mama…Mamoru…' she silently cried out to the two people that could help her but weren't there. She tucked the locket into her sweater pocket and leaned out from behind the couch. 'Mama, why did you have to marry this man…?'

            "Get out from there, you wretched girl!" She darted for her little brother's room but was suddenly yanked backwards as her stepfather had caught her own hair. He dragged her over to the couch and sat down.

            Usagi knew what was coming. She struggled with his arms around her, holding her down. Along with his fatherly-duties came the decisions of punishments for the crimes.

"Get the belt, Jamie." Usagi could just see the sneering grin on her stepsister's face as she left to find it. Usagi balled her hands into a fist and fought back the tears. A few seconds later, she returned, a large, leather belt at least 2 ½ inches wide.   

            "No! Please leave me alone, I promise not to do it again! Let me go, please!" He put her onto his knee. "Please! I promise I won't, I promise!" Her voice was drowned out by her sobbing when he spanked her with the overly sized 'whip'.

            Sammy came out of his room, his expression one of shock.

            "Leave her alone," shouted Sammy, tackling his father's arm and trying to get the belt away from him. He succeeded and was able to rip the belt away out of the very surprised man's grip. Sammy ran to the window and hastily opened it and threw it out.

            Usagi, once free, grabbed Sammy by the wrists and dragged him across the room into his room, slamming it shut and locking it. She pushed a chair up against the door.

She knew the routine. He'd come here in five minutes and warn her not to tell her mother, and then go about life as if it never happened. He wanted to give his wife the impression that they had an ideal family. He would buy them gifts often with the money he was provided by the government, but only around their mother.

Neither her brother nor she ever told their mother about their punishments. They didn't want to break that happy smile they received when she came home from a hard day's work and gave them a hug and a kiss.

It wasn't as if he abused them though. Everything he did was within allowance of the law mostly. He just put them to work and favored his children more than them, so he ended up giving Usagi and Sammy their chores too. He fed them all the same, though that might have been just because their mother was there.

Sammy startled her out of her thoughts.

"Usa…why won't you fight back?" She gave her brother a small shake of her head before wrapping him in her skinny, pale arms. Usagi pulled him close and hugged him.

            "I'm not strong enough, Sammy. You know that…" she whispered with a small, painful sigh. She would be defiant if she could.

Usagi reached for her locket and opened it to hear the music. The same tune over and over…and the batteries never died. She didn't think it even had batteries, and if that was true, then she had no clue what kept it going.

            Usagi watched as her little brother fell asleep on her knee, curled up into a tiny ball. He was shivering, so she gently lifted him onto his bed in their room and neatly pulled the blankets over him. As soon as she closed the locket, the music cut off and drifted away from their ears as an echo would.

            "Good night, Sammy. I'll be back later, okay?" she softly said to him, patting him on his shoulder. He rolled over and started to snore and Usagi laughed. She wanted to go visit her friend Raye at her shrine. It was a beautiful shrine, newly painted and renovations were just made last summer. Shrines were a rare sight indeed in America; at least that's what she had come to believe. In Japan, they were seen at least one in every city.

            Raye was Usagi's best friend in America, and one of her only friends. She was the one that taught her English really. She knew English, but it wasn't really her strong point. Raye taught it to her and now it had become second nature to her when talking. She no longer had to think of what she wanted to say and then translate it.

            Raye, herself, came from Japan, but had changed the spelling of her name. Usagi didn't understand why but Raye said she liked it better anyway, so she didn't pry.

            'Maybe she had a bad childhood or something else happened in Japan…'

            Once, Usagi asked where Raye's parents were and why she was staying with her grandpa. Raye changed the subject quickly. Usagi got the impression that there was something she didn't want her to know. Being understanding, she never brought up the subject again.

Giving one last glance to her brother, Usagi heaved open their window overlooking a tall, gigantic tree. The branches reached out toward the window, as if telling her to climb onto them, something Usagi always loved about this house, and one of the only things she loved. She was always able to get away when she wanted to without letting her father know.

            "Ouch." Usagi grunted and scrunched up her face when her foot missed a branch on the way down and she fell on her back on another one. Slowly and painfully, she picked herself up and rubbed her back. "All this just for some comic books. I hope Raye got some new ones, though I wouldn't mind reading that one with the princess and the talking cat again."

            The girl jumped from a low branch onto the cold, wet grass. It was evening, she noticed. That meant her mother would be back soon, and she needed to get home within an hour.

            Usagi sprinted towards the shrine, passing the bakery, library, and grocery store. She never appreciated how small her hometown actually was until now. Less running, she reminded herself.

            Out of breath and kneeling over, she finally made it to the shrine and up the long set of stairs. When her breath returned to her, she picked herself up and walked around the back and up to a sliding door. Usagi swore the door was made out of some sort of thickened paper. Not only did it feel like paper and look like paper, but it also had strange markings on it, like drawings. Usagi raised her hand to knock.

            "Hey Usa," called a voice from behind her. She turned to see a young boy the same age as her and Raye. She smiled warmly at him.

            "Hi Chad. How have you been?" She left the 'paper' wall behind and dropped her arm to her side.

            "You here to see Raye?" Usagi nodded and smiled again.

            "Yeah, actually I am—"

            "—she's not here anymore, and I'm not sure when she'll be back." A look of sadness and gloom seemed cemented on his face. Usagi patted him on the shoulder. She knew he had a crush on her, and Raye was oblivious to it.

            "What do you mean she's not here?"

            "Gone back to Japan, I believe. She left with her Grandpa last night, to the airport. When he came back, she wasn't with him. And Grandpa wasn't his usual self when he returned either." He sat down on the edge of the patio and rested his chin on his fists. Something seemed wrong about his expression.

            "But why would she go back there? From the way she acted when I brought up going back to Japan, she didn't seem to like it too much," said a slightly surprised and confused Usagi. She didn't understand.

            Chad shook his head and sighed deeply, hiding his face in his hands.

            "And she didn't say when she'd be back…?" Usagi seemed skeptical of this. Raye wouldn't leave without saying goodbye. It just wasn't like her at all.

Chad shook his head again. "Nope…"

            Suddenly the sliding door glided open. Usagi twisted her neck around and gawked at the person standing in front of the door.

            "Raye?"

            "CHAD!!" Usagi watched as the dark-haired boy took off towards the stairs and the exit out of the shrine, amused that her friend went after him with a broom in hand. Finally when she had whacked him a few times, she came back to her new visitor.

            "He said—" Usagi began but Raye interrupted.

            "Yeah, I know. Earlier he was asking me about why I disliked Japan so much." Raye started sweeping, trying to busy herself to ease the pain she felt in her heart. "And then he told you that I left so when you saw me again, you'd make me tell you and then he could bug you about it. Stupid boy." Raye's back was turned.

            "May I ask you why?" Usagi asked slowly. Raye looked her in the eyes, unblinking. She seemed to be thinking it over.

            "Bad memories…" Raye went back to sweeping again. Usagi bowed her head. She'd never know what happened. "With my parents and their divorce…" With that she walked inside.

There was sadness in her voice that burned Usagi to the core. She wanted to follow her, but something held her glued to the wood…maybe pity? She didn't know…

"Here, I've got some new comic books that I know you're dying to read. You can have them if you'd like. Christmas is coming up anyway. Besides, I've already read them." Raye came out with a handful of comic books and dumped them onto Usagi's head.

"Really? Are you serious?" Usagi sat in awe at all the comic books Raye was willing to give her. There must have been at least ten. "Wow! Thanks Raye!" Before Raye could say anything else, Usagi had picked up one and started to read it, mouthing the words she saw.

"Tomorrow we've got school again." Usagi's groan could be heard over a passing bus.

"I forgot! I still have to get home and do my homework," whined Usagi, setting the comic book aside. She flopped down on her stomach and rolled over onto her back. "This is sooo not fair! It's our last week of school and last week of sixth grade…" Usagi stopped complaining when Raye sat down beside her and poked her on the shoulder.

"What was school like in Japan…I never went to it there. Only here, in America," there was a solemn and almost sour note in her voice that Usagi caught.

"Well...there was still homework, but a lot less than there is here. Maybe that was because I only spent a couple of years there and was in a lower grade, but kindergarten was the best year! I loved to play dress up and be the mommy to this girl, Minako. People said we looked like twins. Maybe if I wore my hair down…"

Raye laughed. Her friend always had amusing stories to tell her, present and past.

"And my best friend in Japan, Mamoru…he would always be the daddy." A look mixed between suppressed anger and sorrow unexpectedly filled her emotional eyes. A tear fell from her eye and slid down her cheek. Usagi pulled her knees into her chest. Before Raye could ask further into this, Usagi continued.

"But then this other girl, Molly was her name, she came into Kindergarten and always had to play the mommy and be the lead singer in our made-up band. And even the star when we pretended to be movie stars. Her and Mamoru had gotten along just fine, always being the mommy and the daddy together and being the stars in a movie, but he knew I didn't like her so he tried not to play with her as much."

Raye didn't miss the bitterness in her friend's voice, partly because she didn't bother to hide it.

"That was years ago, Usa. Get over it already. Besides, you're living here now." Raye gave her a friendly smile to try and cheer her up, but she just sighed.

"Kindergarten was only the beginning though. All through school until I moved away in third grade. She was mean to me, her and the other popular kids. Picked on me and they always wore those cheesy, fake nails and those long, phony eyelashes."

"Ah, those types of people."

"Yes, the type that would put friends against one another and make them hate each other. I've seen them do it before. I bet she hasn't changed a bit, and never will." Usagi suddenly yawned.

"And your friend, Mamoru? Have you talked to him yet or sent any letters?" Usagi's lips formed a deep scowl. Her words matched her mouth.

"Yes, I've sent him letters, but I never got back a single one," she finished with extreme distaste.

Raye never knew about Mamoru or his promise, except when Usagi had brought it up on the first day of school.  But she hadn't mentioned him since. Raye had just thought that she had outgrown her old friends and felt it was time to move on. Now she knew the truth.

            "I'm sure he has a good reason…" Raye began, but Usagi put her hand up to silence her. Her eyes went from the ground to lock onto Raye's.

            "No." She pulled out a star-shaped locket from under her shirt and carefully handed it to Raye. "He gave it to me, promising that he'd always be my friend. He lied though."

            Raye wasn't sure what to say, so she settled on the first thing that came to mind.

            "Well you've got Chad and me now. You don't need him or anyone else!" Usagi nodded appreciatively and gave a small smile.

            "Yeah…well, I think it's time to go now. It's getting late and mom's gonna have a cow if I'm not there when she gets home." With a hug and a miniature wave goodbye, Usagi headed home.

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            Day after day went by, then year after year… yet Usagi still never received any letters from Mamoru. After the end of her middle school career, she just gave up on writing him. The locket she received as a token of their friendship went into storage in a small box with all her old barbies and dolls. She was growing up and moving on, having met her new friends Amy and Lita, and even having a boyfriend at one point for a couple of months. She never forgot him though, and often her hand unconsciously moved to her cheek where he had kissed her goodbye.

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AN: Alright, next chapter Usagi finally goes back to Japan to find…Mamoru and Molly?! *gasp* ^ ^* But for those that asked, this IS going to be a Usagi/Mamoru fic. And it will have both WAFFY and Taffy-ness to it.

If you'd like to be emailed with the next chapter, just leave your email in a review. And make sure it's spelled correctly too or I won't be able to spend you an update.

Please review ^__^ *innocent smile* I thank all those that reviewed my fic. It meant SOOOO much to me. You guys really have no idea ^ ^* unless you're an author yourself…