"So you don't remember anything before that?" Mamoru Chiba asked softly the wind carrying his words as they sat on the balcony outside his apartment. Serena sat on the far side away from him cradling a cup of now cold chocolate while her bare feet hung through the bars over open air. He faced her with his back against those painted rails while Serena talked about her past. For the last three hours they had covered many other unimportant subjects but their conversation had been inevitably leading up to this.
"Not really, I remember a white light and figures but not much else." Of course she didn't tell him about her dream and the eyes. Somehow she'd thought that when she came here all her questions were going to be answered but Mamoru seemed clueless to her confusion and she decided not to bring it up. "You mentioned that you had forgotten part of your past as well?"
Mamoru couldn't expect her to dredge up the past without having him do the same. He nodded and began explaining how his parents had died and he had ended up in the hospital and gave a brief, un-detailed, synopsis of his life since then. Serena eventually had to ask him again if he had a girlfriend.
"Yes, I have a girlfriend, but she disappeared a couple years ago in a plane accident near where you woke up." He pulled one leg up to him and rested his chin on his knee much like Serena herself usually did.
"What do you think happened to her." Serena asked not having to wonder if he thought she was still alive or not. He said "I have," not "I had."
"Well I'm not entirely sure, but I know she is alive and that I'll find her if it's the last thing I do. I wont let her get away again." He said with vindication and Serena believed him. She took a sip of her now cold coco then leaned back and looked up at the stars wondering what it would be like to have someone care that deeply about her. Ever since she could remember she had always stayed away from guys because without knowing who she was, she didn't want to some day wake up and remember who she was to find that they wern't a part of her life, or even worse she found out that she didn't like him.
Such isolation had left its mark though and she often felt lonely despite her foster family being there for her all the time. A relationship like that wasn't something that you shared with your family though; it was something that you and the other person had all to yourselves. She wanted that.
"I'm sure you'll find her." Serena whispered cradling her cup again and wiggling her toes over the air. She had taken her shoes off because without socks they were uncomfortable, not that she liked shoes to begin with. Without a thought about it she set her cup down and got to her feet so she could look over the edge of the railing. Mamoru was by her side in an instant wondering what was on her mind.
"Did you ever want to just jump off to feel the rush of air go by your face and the freedom of it just being you and the elements?" She asked leaning forward and looking down at the concrete at the bottom, yeah that would be a bummer.
"Yeah I have, one of the reasons I got my bike. It's not me and the elements but it's close." He looked down and cringed then turned around and put his back against the railing not saying anything but just looking up. Serena bent at the waist and put her chin on the cold railing before turning her head sideways to think. Then realizing something she stood up ram rod strait and looked at Mamoru out of the corner of her eye.
In all the time that she remembered, well anything, this was the first time she had ever felt comfortable with someone who was not her immediate family, not only that but she actually felt companionable and smiling to herself she realized that she really did like him, maybe more than as just a friend. Still she managed to hide it admirably as she looked strait ahead when he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. A yawn caught her unaware which, as contagious as yawns are, he copied.
"Bed time?" He asked laughing with her and reluctantly she nodded yawning again. He went inside while she stood there for a few more moments just enjoying the view. When he came back he had the blankets that she'd used the last time with her previous pajamas on top just as she had left it. "Sorry I hadn't gotten a chance to put this stuff away yet, hope you don't mind." He lifted it up with a mock grimace on his face. Serena grinned and tried to take it from him but he pulled it out of her reach.
"Oh it's on now." Serena planted her feet in the ground and made to grab for them again but when he pulled away that was when she lunged throwing him off balance. Mamoru stumbled through the open sliding door with a grunt but he had decided to hold the blanket and clothes over his head, which she was just too short to grab. Instead she backed him up until he hit the couch. "You asked for this." She said with a growl.
Mamoru had only a moment to look at her with wide eyes before she pounced and knocked him backwards over the back of the couch. They landed softly on the couch and he dropped the blankets and clothes but instead of giving up he reached around the girl who was now straddling his waist and pulled her off him and rolling so that their positions were switched. He then tickled her mercilessly while she screamed softly and fought for breath. With her hands scrabbling she managed to get a hold of the pillows on the couch and began pummeling him back.
"I give, I give." Mamoru said covering his head with his arms while she laughed and kept at it. Since she wouldn't stop he caught her hands and pinned them to the ground before leaning down to claim victory but as his face drew close to hers he stopped suddenly unable to breathe. Serena's breath caught in her throat as well and she found herself wishing that he would kiss her but as his eyes clouded while he looked at her she knew he wouldn't. Not only did he already have a girlfriend but there were emotions he was keeping to himself.
"I'm sorry." Serena whispered and he rolled off then sat on the carpet with his back to the couch and his feet underneath the coffee table. She sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder and since she was so close she could feel him shrug.
"It's not you Serena," He started trying to explain but she held up her hand to stop him.
"I know, it's okay." She pat his leg then got to her feet and went after the blanket and clothes. Once she'd set them down on the couch she offered a hand down to him which; he took and pulled himself up. "I get it, don't worry." She smiled up at him understandably. He looked at her obviously at a lack for words so she busied herself pulling out the bed and making it up. Eventually he wandered out of the room to where she didn't know.
Once she'd changed and laid down though she couldn't manage to get to sleep. She tossed for an hour or so before finally getting up and going back outside on ledge where she'd sat before. The moon, less than a week from being full, lit the town with it's opalescent glow and she watched the world go on it's way without it's knowledge of her watching or her thoughts. Serena adjusted her position so she could just look up and watch the stars.
A cool breeze riffled her hair stirring her from her fitful sleep but as she stirred the blanket moved up over her feet and the cold air woke her up in an instant. She sat up with and put her hand on her for head trying to remember where she was.
"Next time you decide to sleep outside, bring a blanket." Chuckled Mamoru as he slid open the sliding door a cup of steaming something in his hand. Of course he had to have been the person who had brought out the blanket for her but despite its help she was freezing. Quickly she stood up and wrapped it around herself while she walked passed him to the warmth of the indoors the coffee's smell drawing her on. He managed to beat her to the pot though and held it up out of her reach.
"I'm not going to tackle you with hot coffee in your hand," She paused to yawn. " But I wouldn't press your luck." She had just spied a glass of water behind him something he must have forgotten.
"Guess what, I'm pressing my luck." He grinned and leaned down just a bit but the coffee was still out of her reach. Pretending like she was trying to reach for it she took the glass of water and reached as high as she could dumping it on his head. Mamoru stood there like a gaping fish trying to blink past the water while she put down the glass and stole his coffee cup. She'd already gone to sit down on the couch before he came out. She didn't pay close enough attention while he walked behind her therefore deserved it when he slid a couple cubes of ice down her shirt.
With a yell she leapt off the couch and spun trying to get the ice out. Once it had fallen to the ground she scooped it off the ground and put it in her coffee to cool it down before downing it in one gulp.
"Okay truce now. Please." She said putting the cup on his coffee table and holding her hands up in surrender. Mamoru raked his hair out of his eyes flinging drops of water everywhere. His deep blue eyes looked over her still clutching the blanket despite her current position and the open look in her eyes and now he knew with all his heart that what he had suspected the night before was true. For a brief moment his eyes filled with a soul filled yearning so fierce that Serena's eyes widened and her eyes dropped. Mamoru had to turn around and fight with his emotions even going so far as to clench his fists in determination.
"Truce." His voice came without a shred of the emotion that had been evident moments before and Serena looked down chewing her lower lip worriedly while wondering what it was that she had done first to spark that kind of emotion, second to make him fight it so. "Just let me change and we'll go to breakfast." He had turned around and spied her chewing her lip just as she had used to before everything had changed. Serena looked back up at him and nodded reaching out for her clothes almost mechanically before heading towards the bathroom.
The moment the door shut and the lock clicked Mamoru stormed into his bedroom nearly slamming the door behind him. What a fool he'd been to be so blind before, what a fool he was now for wanting her so when he knew that he absolutely couldn't do anything of the sort. She didn't remember him, she didn't remember who she was and most of all she wasn't the young woman he'd fallen in love with then pushed away.
Now she was an intelligent, willful, witty and incredibly free spirited woman, not that she hadn't been those things before but they'd always been hidden by her childishness and innocence. All that was lost in this streetwise woman he found before him now not that he found he loved her any less but it wasn't the same, SHE wasn't the same. He found a dry shirt and didn't even pay attention as he threw it over his head after removing the wet one before grabbing his old slightly ratty green jacket.
Not only was this torture but he had no clue what to do now that he'd found his princess and she wasn't who he thought she would be. Beyond that he didn't know how to tell her who she was, or even if he could bring himself too, but he refused to lose her again, NEVER! He'd have to tell the others and see what they could think up, maybe Luna had some way of doing it but it had to be fast. If he remembered correctly they had only a week.
Meanwhile in the bathroom Serena was berating herself not only for the emotional turmoil she seemed to be putting Mamoru through, but for the fact that the one man she had ever developed feelings for was one who was not only in a relationship, albeit an odd one, but two in a country that she would be leaving at the end of the week. She shucked off the clothes he'd lent her and folded them without paying much attention before putting on her white fleece again.
What was she supposed to do, stay away from him for the rest of the trip? But every bone in her body wanted to do the exact opposite not to mention the fact that somehow they always managed to find each other. But she SHOULDN'T be doing this, hell she shouldn't even be going out to breakfast with him but she'd sort of already agreed to it. She combed her short hair carefully and washed her face in the mirror. Thankfully most of the glitter was gone but she was sure Mamoru would have to get it out of the blanket somehow.
She lowered the blanket to the counter top and leaned forward to glare at herself in the mirror. She looked like she always did although the fleece showed just a little bit more of her middle than she normally liked. At least she didn't look particularly ugly or anything but... "Ugg." She exclaimed tossing the blanket back on the floor and running her fingers through her short hair.
Serena had no idea what she was doing but she was going to have to find a way to stay away from him or she knew they'd manage to find themselves in the same awkward position just as they had last night. It killed her to seem him fight those feelings and if there was any way she could she would keep it from happening she would. As soon as possible she'd go back to the hotel and get Amanda to wrap her up in being a tourist so tightly that she couldn't think of him or all this.
That decided she grabbed up the blanket, folded it and with the clothes on top went out to where the bed laid unslept in. She began folding it up just as she'd unfolded it the night before.
"You don't have to do that, I can get it later." Mamoru came out of his room straitening his jacket but Serena just shrugged and finished up putting the folded blankets and such on top.
"I was just about done anyway, you ready?" She asked scouting out where she'd dropped her shoes. She dreaded having to put them back on, but she had to ride her bike somehow. She found them and sat down on the couch to put them on.
"Hold on a sec." Mamoru stopped her and ran back into his room then came back out with a pair of socks just the perfect size. Serena sighed and grinned before putting them on. "I hate shoes without socks too." He said with a grin after she'd thanked him and stood up in her boots.
"At least I'm not the only one. Is there a pancake house near here? I know it's an American thing, but I could really use some." She led the way out the door.
"I think we could manage to find something." With a glimmer in his eye Mamoru turned away to lock the door and whispered to himself. "Some things never change."