She's Back... - Chapter Five
Lady Nakosha
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ALL STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY
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It was six o'clock in the morning and Motoki was running on less than a few hours of restless sleep. After Usagi had jumped up because she had heard someone approaching them, Motoki had lazily stretched his long legs out in front of him and smoothly rested his head on the insides of his open palms.
It had taken enough energy to actually change his position; Motoki had found it positively horrifying when he realized that at one point or another, particularly in three hours, he'd have to get up to open the arcade and that he'd have to do it all normally even with thoughts of him and Usagi's night... or rather, early morning, together flashing through his mind with excruciatingly vivid images and details.
He had also been dismayed by the thought of facing his former best friend without having the pleasure of pummeling his face at first sight. Motoki looked around him. Where was the damn chainsaw, butchering knife, or anything remotely sharp that he could use to stab a certain dark-haired idiot when he needed one?
But what had troubled Motoki more was the fact that he'd have to leave their sacred place alone and without the knowledge of knowing when they'd return.
Motoki unlocked the doors to the arcade and threw them open with energy. Even if he really wanted to be anywhere else but there, he would at least fake enthusiasm and energy for the customers, that wasn't the minimum he could do; that was the most that he could hope to do today.
Motoki guessed that's why they call it work.
All through the morning and early afternoon, he had forced his smiles and made himself seem energetic and actually happy to be at the arcade, working, when he could be with Usagi and spending time with her.
"Hey, Motoki!"
"Motoki, what's up?"
"What's going on, my man?"
"Lovin' the smoothies, honey. Almost as sweet as you." ("Gee, thanks Mom.")
"Are you available tonight, babe? Because, well, I am."
Motoki would smile and nod and laugh at the appropriate times, but his heart wasn't into anything he was doing. It was always the same thing, the same people, and the same routine every day.
Somehow that had been enough for him before, before Usagi, but now it felt like it filled only a miniscule part of him. He needed more... but what he wanted at the moment was for a certain blond (who could use her hands in amazing ways he never knew were even possible for hand movements, might he add), who could make the entire regular routine bearable, to show up. It was almost as if his unbelievable-completely-unbeatable night was being topped off by the worst after-sex-morning. Motoki was sure that he had suddenly found himself in the midst of a bad soap opera.
If one thing in his set-in-stone day were to change, why did it have to be Usagi coming in every day around three o'clock to order her strawberry milkshake with an extra mound of whip cream (how she kept her tight form while eating enough to challenge an entire army division was still a mystery to Motoki)?
Motoki rubbed the same spot, frustrated. He had experienced one of the best nights in his entire existence and the morning... later... he still hadn't gotten in a single word with the woman that he had shared it with. For God's sake, did he need to call in ahead of time and schedule an appointment with her? Motoki contemplated that idea. Did she have a secretary? Because if so, that may have not been such a—
The front doors slid open and Motoki whimpered in resignation before pasting a smile on. Before he had a chance to look up from the hole that he was currently trying to rub through the counter, his vision was invaded by... blondness.
"Usagi?" He murmured hopefully as he inhaled deeply. It was an automatic response, he supposed, to when hair—female hair, to be exact—was suddenly smothering his face, tickling his nose, and becoming wet from getting caught in his mouth. He sniffed her hair once more, testing it. "Your shampoo is different... I mean, it's different, but good, it's—"
The blond looked up at him and Motoki realized she wasn't Usagi. Instead, she was Usagi's friend, Mina. It was funny in a strange way, before Usagi and him... hooked up, so to say, he would have referred to Mina as "Mina" instead of as "Usagi's friend." But it seemed that now, everything somehow connected back to Usagi, no matter if it was her friends or if it was a package of strawberries that he had bought from a company that was owned by a man who happened to be good friends with Kenji Tuskino, who ironically, was Usagi's father.
Everything with Usagi was a full circle.
But nevertheless, Usagi's blond and bubby friend reminded him of her and how she should be here and not Mina. "Oh... it's you. Sorry about that."
Mina rolled her eyes. The guy was so gone that it almost hurt to look at him. "Try to contain your excitement, please. No, really, Motoki, you don't even have to pretend to like seeing me."
Motoki blushed sheepishly. "Sorry. You just weren't who I was expecting."
"And would that person be blond, beautiful, and have a degree in fashion designing handy?" Mina asked teasingly. "I figured since you called me Usagi when you remarked on how her—or rather, my—hair smelled. It's called 'ripe cherry,' what do you think of it?"
Motoki shrugged, indifferently. "It's cool."
"I'm sorry, but this wouldn't be a bad time for you to ask my order, would it?" Mina joked good-naturedly.
Motoki smiled weakly. He tended to forget that even Usagi's friends were still customers. "Oh, sorry. What'd you like today, ma'am?" He asked in a deep, British voice.
Mina decided to not play along. It wasn't that she wasn't a good sport, it was just that, well, she hadn't exactly come to the arcade on a friendly visit to Usagi's pal. "A strawberry shake with whip cream would be fine, thanks, Motoki."
Motoki's brows rose slightly as he jotted the order down, but it bothered him, oddly enough, that Mina was ordering Usagi's shake, Mina was a blond like Usagi, and she was close enough to being Usagi, except for the fact that she wasn't Usagi, which made all the other similarities pale in comparison.
Motoki knew that he was being toyed and frankly, he didn't like it.
But from the look on Mina's face, he realized that she didn't look like she wanted a shake; in fact, it looked like she didn't even want to be here in the first place. Motoki set the pad on the counter. Was it time for him to play advice-giver-and-open-listener already? "I have the feeling that you didn't just come here for a shake."
Mina sighed. "You guessed right."
"So... why the hell are you here, then?" Motoki grinned. "I'm guessing that you're not here because of my irresistible charms."
Mina laughed. "Well, the last part is definitely right." She sobered and grew serious. "Actually, it's about Usagi."
Terror latched onto Motoki like leech. How could he feel such a terrible fear for someone so quickly? The sensation was overpowering, it surged through Motoki, he felt the fine hairs on his hands, his arms, and his neck raise. "Oh God, what's wrong? Is she okay?"
He'd shut the arcade down and be wherever he needed to be so fast that Mina wouldn't have time to stand up from her seat on the stool.
"She told me that you knew what was going on—you know—with Mamoru and Rei."
"Yeah? What about it?"
"They had the confrontation."
Motoki breathed a bit easier as the terror lessened its grip on him, but he wasn't completely free of the anxiousness that left a dull feeling in his chest. Mina was talking about the incident with Rei and Mamoru at the festival parking lot. He had heard the scene erupt a few yards from the grove where they had been, but he hadn't felt that it would have been his place to get up and go over there, right from behind the bush. Especially since Usagi had enough on her mind without her friends constantly interrogating her about her relationship with Motoki.
Truthfully, a part of him was afraid of what her response to that question would be. Did she think of them as friends or as more? Evidently, she'd have to think of them as more if she would make complete and utter love to him...
But obviously Usagi hadn't clued her friends in yet that Motoki didn't just know; he had been there and she had had sex with him only sometime before that. Amazing what a bit of knowledge would do to completely turn the tables around on a situation? Motoki played along, however. "Oh Jesus. What happened?"
Mina listed off the key points of the night with flicks of her fingers. "Usagi told Rei off, there was lots of crying and screaming, Usagi stormed off, and I yelled at Mamoru and Rei and would have attacked if Makoto hadn't held me back. It wasn't anything less than what I expected." Mina lowered her voice. "But personally I think Usagi went a bit easy on Rei. But telling them to stay away from her and implying that the entire situation had grown out of control was a definite nice touch."
Motoki widened his eyes and nodded. "So everyone knows that she's back?"
"Yeah." Mina hesitated. "Well, almost."
"Who else doesn't know about her coming back?"
"Our other friends. They are more distant to our group, I suppose, but they are extremely close with Usagi. Closer to her than with the rest of us."
Motoki didn't understand the logic of what they were doing. Sure, he loved Usagi, but if the rest of her friends knew of her return, then why not tell the others that sounded very close to her?
"We can't." It was a simple statement that wasn't meant to be questioned.
Motoki furrowed his brow in confusion. "Huh?"
"They're really protective of Usagi."
Motoki was genuinely interested now. She was avoiding the question and trying to change the subject. "And the problem is...?"
Mina shook her head, unsuccessfully trying to divert the conversation from heading in that direction. Whoa, how had they gotten that far off course? "It's unimportant, Motoki, really. I don't even know why I'm getting into this with you."
"Why can't you tell them that she's come back?" Motoki pressed, sensing some tension of some sort.
"I'm not really here to discuss Usagi's reasoning behind not telling them, okay?" Mina insisted, frigidly. "That's for you to take up with her, not me. I was just sent here on a favor to come and ask if you would come over to Makoto's house. She really needs to see you."
"Hey, I didn't mean to intrude or anything, but you—"
"Motoki, Usagi asked me to come here and get you, she didn't ask me to chat about her behind her back with you." Mina remarked before she flounced out of the arcade.
Motoki scratched his head in bewilderment. Girls were so weird.
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"She hates us, doesn't she?"
Mamoru shot her a stern look. "Well, what do you think?"
Rei rolled her neck around and tried to relax her stiff muscles. "Can you give me a neck massage?" Rei asked innocently as she positioned herself in front of Mamoru and lifted her hair off the base of her neck. He always seemed to be in a better mood when they were kissing or when she let him touch her.
Mamoru backed away slowly, this time, and looked anywhere but Rei's violently blazing eyes. He wasn't sure if he could touch Rei, even if he wanted to. He needed to be alone to think. "Actually, I need to get going. I have a lot of work to get down at the university and I have a lot of papers to grade and I have my own deadlines I need to make..."
"You're just making excuses to get away from me, aren't you?" Rei pouted.
"No, baby, why would I do that?" Mamoru asked logically. "I'm marrying you, aren't I? By proposing to you, I would have thought that my intentions of always wanting to be around you for the rest of my life would have become clear." Oddly, Mamoru had to search himself for the confidence and ease of saying those words that he was sure didn't exist within him.
His mind was certain he was making the right decision by marrying Rei. She's beautiful, smart, funny, loving, sexy... everything that even a man with half a brain would want in a woman. But that damned, good-for-nothing cardiovascular muscle that pounded in his chest and sped up at the sight of another blond woman was contradicting his logical way of thinking and demising his assurance in Rei and his relationship.
After seeing Usagi...
After realizing that he was desperately trying to deny to himself that seeing her made no impact upon his feelings, he knew that he was only lying to himself because if nothing else, Mamoru knew that Usagi had a habit of being able to switch his feelings around so quickly that not even he would see what was coming next.
And after noticing how suddenly his long suppressed doubts rose up and blew up inside of him like a balloon and threatened to swallow him whole...
...Mamoru wasn't quite sure what he felt for anyone anymore.
"When are you going to get back?" Rei asked as she leaned against the wall.
Mamoru shrugged. "I don't know. It depends how much work I can get done." At Rei's expression, Mamoru hurriedly added, "And I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can, of course."
Rei's scary expression vanished and was replaced by a look of pure glee. "I've heard that it's not healthy to have all work and no play."
"Oh?" Mamoru coughed uncomfortably. "And where did you hear that from?"
"Oh, just from a handsome, dark-haired fellow." She giggled. "So hurry home so we can get to the fun parts of the night, okay?" Rei urged in a low, throaty voice.
Mamoru cleared his throat nervously and leaned down to peck her on the lips. Usually he would play along with her and it would take him hours to leave, but at the moment... all his thoughts narrowed down to one conclusion: Get away from Rei as fast a humanly possible.
Instead of a short, painless kiss, Rei pulled him down towards her with her hands and pressed her full, red lips against his. Mamoru hesitated and Rei sensed his uncertainty. She broke her lips away and pushed away from him forcefully. "God, what is with you? You've been withdrawn and quiet since we left the festival. You're, liking, freaking out on me." Rei's eyes softened. "Are you acting like this because of what happened with Usagi?"
Mamoru opened his mouth to speak, but Rei charged on. "Pretty weird seeing her for the first time in five years, don't you think?" Rei patted his arm. Mamoru glanced down at her hand and couldn't help thinking how her touching his arm really didn't make him feel any better, but only worse. "Don't worry about the scene between Usagi and I, I'm hoping that we'll all be able to put the past in its place and move onto the future. Maybe even someday, somehow, in the future she'll be able to accept us."
Mamoru found that unlikely, considering that he was Usagi's supposed soul mate and he had cheated on her with one of her protectors. "Wouldn't that be just lovely if I could invite her to the wedding? She'd look so gorgeous in that one ivory dress that we saw in the one wedding shop by the corner on Vine Street."
Mamoru hesitated. "Umm... maybe we shouldn't, you know, invite her to the wedding."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, we did kind of hurt her by getting together in the first place and inviting her to the wedding would just be a slap on the face." Mamoru bit his lip. "I don't think she'll ever be able to except us because of how we got together. In any other case, maybe she'd acknowledge our relationship better, but right now doesn't seem like the right time to ask her to wear that ivory dress, or to participate in the wedding, or to even come. I can't really think of a right time that you could ask her if you were to, though."
Rei looked as if she had been the one slapped. "Mamoru," Rei gasped. "You... you... it may not be—at least—" Rei seemed to have taken in more than enough into consideration after Mamoru's mini-speech. She glanced at Mamoru before waving him off, giving him the okay to leave and go to the university to do whatever he needed to do.
Walking off, she didn't notice how Mamoru tilted his head to the side and a look of relief crossed over his handsome features. Even a fool could see how the distraught, ambition-filled young man was suddenly letting himself breathe freely for the first in a long time.
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Usagi leaned against the tiled, bathroom wall. She felt like a pathetic snob; she finally had her friends back—well, most of them, at least—, her secret no longer weighed her down, and despite that she hadn't spoken to Motoki since early this morning, and still, for some forsaken reason, she had isolated herself from her friends by locking herself in the world's smallest and most cramped bathroom.
Usagi inhaled deeply and decided to go about everything in a more mature and reasonable matter. She made a mental list of every single plausible reason explaining why she had rushed to the bathroom and locked herself within it without another word to any of her friends.
(1) She felt feelings for Motoki that were more than just friendly and complicated matters beyond comprehendible belief.
(2) She couldn't stand the fact that it's been over two hours since Mina had come back and he still hasn't shown up.
(3) Images of Rei and Mamoru kept popping into her mind at random moments; distracting her from anything else and causing her to run into walls because of her lack of multi-tasking skills.
(4) She wants to be alone to be able to organize her thoughts and think through her next move carefully.
(5) She's had five years to be alone so far and she's so used to it that having anyone else from her past to talk to was unusual and oddly enough, hard for her to get used to.
(6) She might still like...
There were only five possibilities, Usagi mentally counted, refusing to acknowledge the last one. She wouldn't even allow herself to consider it more than just a ghost of an option.
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"How long has she been in there?" Makoto asked for what seemed the hundredth time.
"Fifteen minutes." Ami answered automatically after glancing at the wall clock. "Should I go and try?"
"If you want, but I don't know how long she's going to be in there for or if anyone's attempts are going to work." Makoto grew angry; she was just so frusterated! Usagi had finally come back and yet, she was still just as far away from them as she had been when they hadn't known of her whereabouts. "I knew it would be a bad idea to have Mina go and try to get that idiot, Motoki. I knew that if he didn't come, Usagi would become depressed because it's obvious that she fancies him. I should have stopped Mina from going and told Usagi to forget about him."
She sighed. "I can just add that to the long list of things I should've done and didn't do a single thing about."
Mina rubbed Makoto's back soothingly. "Hey, hey, Makoto. Don't blame yourself, okay? It's not your fault that he hasn't shown up—yet. He's just really nervous, seriously. You should have seen the boy; he was a mess and he won't screw up his chance with Usagi, trust me." She paused for a second. "Although, I don't think that he knows how much of Usagi's feelings he holds. He mostly is only aware of how he feels towards her."
"The boy can be so thick-headed sometimes, I swear." Makoto sighed, loosening up slightly. "But I guess everyone can be when they're in love."
"You are the Senshi of Love, aren't you, Mina? You should be the one to know, right?" Ami remarked quietly from the corner she was seated in.
"Sometimes my instincts can be a bit off, Ami-chan." Mina quipped tersely.
"We're all a bit on the edge, so chill out you guys." Makoto cut in suddenly, her voice was tight and assured at the same time.
"Whatever." Ami muttered under her breath. "I'm going to go check on Usagi." Ami said stiffly before she stood up and disappeared into the darkened hallway.
"I have a feeling that she isn't going to be very successful." Makoto announced after Ami left the room to go into the bedroom where the bathroom was. "I want her to be, but I'm just saying, it doesn't seem very bright for her success."
"I have a feeling that the only person who will be successful is the very person who isn't here." Mina said, almost wistfully.
Ami knocked softly on the door and waited in silence for a few moments. "Usagi?" Ami tentatively called out. "Usagi? Will you please come out and talk to the others or me? Or will you at least let me in?" Ami was willing to bargain with Usagi, if that was what it took. Ami felt it was a cruel joke being play on her, she was given the gift of meeting Usagi again, but it was being taken away from her all over again! It wasn't fair!
"I'm sorry, Ami." Usagi choked out from behind the door. "I can't come out yet. I just need some time to think, okay?"
Ami sighed and touched the door, searching for some kind of comfort. "Okay. Come out when you're ready, but know that we're here for you Usagi." Ami paused. "We will always be here for you. We won't even betray or hurt you purposefully or not, Mina and Makoto along with the rest of the girls will swear to their lives on that." Ami's voice had grown fearful that Usagi would reject her once more.
"Thank you, Ami." Usagi whispered. "You don't know how much that means to me, when you say that."
Ami nodded once before she pushed herself off the ground and steeled herself, preparing for when Makoto and Minako would give her I-told-you-so looks and bristle in a self-righteous way, as if they had known all along Ami would fail in her mission to get Usagi out.
They were right, and for once, Ami was unfortunately wrong.
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Usagi stared at the door with remorse at her own weakness. She had let Ami down by refusing to come out, Usagi was sure of that much. But she couldn't face her friends; she couldn't face anyone without having to look away from the disappointment and pity that would be shot at her.
Usagi paused, however. Maybe she could face Motoki, but that was a whole different story... although, she'd never know because from the direction that the day was heading in, it didn't seem that Motoki was going to show up within the next century at the earliest.
Where was he, anyway? The least he could do was at least call, stop by, or even send her a postcard of his existence and that he hadn't forgotten about her and their night together! Usagi's heart slowed. What if he hadn't enjoyed it as much as she had? What if he was avoiding her...
Was he going to be like Mamoru? Was he going to betray her like so many others in her life had? Usagi sighed, irritated by her annoying line of thoughts. Of course he wasn't, Motoki was different.
But the growing doubt didn't stop. So she had thought the same of Mamoru and look where that so-called romance had led her! Five years of her life in Tokyo lost and still on horrible, horrible terms.
She just hoped that her instincts on men had also improved over the years.
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Mina flicked a piece of lint off of her off the shoulder pale orange top that matched her flirty, white mini-skirt. "What time—"
"Mina, please. It's only been, like, five minutes, okay?" Makoto snapped furiously. Sitting in one spot and listening for any movement from the bathroom was becoming an annoying obsession for Makoto. She was more edgy than the two others combined. "Why don't you look at the clock and check it yourself?"
"Actually, it's been—"
"Ami, we really don't need the exact time down to the millisecond." Makoto deadpanned.
Ami feebly apologized, "Sorry, Makoto, but I was just—"
Mina shot Ami a look and imperceptibly shook her head as if to say: don't even try.
Ami shrugged and lowered her gaze to her lap. "Fine." Ami uttered the word with contempt; there was nothing else left for her to say anyway. They were caught in an in-between stage, what could they do?
As if to answer Ami's question, the doorbell suddenly rang. Makoto jumped to her feet and threw the door open, only to reveal the very infamous and very disliked, Mamoru.
He received, nevertheless, three deadly glares from three very pissed off girls. "Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in." Makoto taunted menacingly.
Mamoru then began to seriously reconsider his decision to come there when he saw a spark crackle off of Makoto's outstretched palm. "I... uh..."
"Yes, it's our dear friend, Mamoru." Mina mocked, her voice equally, if not more, intimidating.
"What do you want?" Ami asked frostily, causing the temperature to drop a few degrees lower.
Mina and Makoto displayed their anger and no-hesitation-to-kill-you-on-the- spot looks clearly and loudly, but Ami just stood there and looked at him with a look of utter and complete disgust, as if he sunk to a level lower than shit.
"I—I just wanted... I just wanted to see Usagi... I—"
"You sure as hell aren't going anywhere near her as long as I'm around." Makoto threatened, stepping between him and the door.
Mamoru knew he was strong, but he critically measured and calculated how big and strong the girls were. He could maybe—even maybe was pushing it—take on two of them, but three?
Take on three very angry, very strong, and very powerful senshi that hated his guts and when they wanted to, could take him down and kill him in cold blood murder? Mamoru wasn't that stupid, as hard as it may be to believe.
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Usagi heard the doorbell sound loudly throughout the house. It could be Motoki, Usagi thought, or it could be someone else just stopping by for Makoto...
But if it was Motoki, she didn't want him to witness her in one of her darkest moments, hiding out in a bathroom as she was trying to sort through her feelings. Usagi cautiously opened her door and heard Makoto's muffled voice through the closed, mahogany doors.
Charging into the living room before she could stop herself, Usagi faltered mid-stride when she caught sight of a familiar ebony haired young man who was standing, nervously, amongst her bloodthirsty looking friends. As his entire face came into view, a painful pang shot through her heart. "Mamoru." She murmured, her voice broke, confused and upset.
She had expected to see Motoki.
Her heart ached when she realized that she had wanted to see Mamoru, despite the current circumstances...
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"I've already told you, Liz. I've got other plans, so I've got to go." Motoki insisted once more. "Please—just let go of me—"
"No, no, no, Toki-chan! We've got plans!"
Motoki hung his head; Lizzie could be so stubborn sometimes. Didn't she understand that she was acting like a bratty fifteen-year-old because the only reason she wanted him to tag along was for a ride and because unlike her, he had money. "Toki-chan!" Lizzie said sharply. "Mama said we need to spend some quality time together—"
"—We live together for God's sake!"
She continued as if she hadn't heard him. "And so I propose we go to the mall and go shopping, of course." She added, "And you can buy."
He knew it all along. She was all about money. He glared at his forceful younger sister who was doing a damn good job of putting him through hell. "I'm sure as hell not paying anything for you."
"Oh?" Lizzie remarked, a challenging tone lingered in her voice...
Motoki flinched; he did not like the way she was looking at him, with that defiant and determined smirk. "I think you are about to eat your words, Motoki." She said, dropping the sweeter-than-candy act.
Motoki fidgeted with his feet. "Oh, am I?" She was a shrimp, more than a foot smaller than him. What possibly could she do to him that would ever convince him to go along with her?
"Yes, you will." She smiled devilishly. "Trust me, Motoki. You don't want to push me... especially since I have this sort of power over you!"
"Power?" Motoki snorted. "What sort of power?"
"Usagi's a nice girl, Motoki." Her smile deepened. "Well... most of the time, at least."
Motoki gulped as he realized exactly what kind of power that she had. It wasn't that much power anyway... "Oh."
"And it's really a small world because I happened to be at the festival—you know, the one you were working at—when you and Usagi—"
He held up a hand, stopping her. Okay, he had heard enough. "You don't know what you're talking about." Motoki argued.
"Oh, I think I do." Liz eyed him critically. "And when I have this type of information, trust me, I can put it to very good use."
Motoki normally would brush off her threats easily, but this involved Usagi and he knew for a fact that his sister could be vicious when it came to blackmailing and gossip. Usagi was a grown woman, but somehow he had the feeling that Liz could do much worse than simple gossip... "I won't pay, though."
"It's your choice." She shrugged, as if everything was out of her hands when really she controlled everything. "Pay and carry the bags or invite along all my friends and chaperone us."
From experience, Motoki knew better than to pick the last. Hanging around one hormonal-crazy teenage girl was horrible enough. Handling five or six? Ha! But if she paid, then she wouldn't buy as much to conserve her money, right? "I'll carry bags, I guess..."
"Good! Now that that is settled, we can go!" She paused for a moment then picked up the phone and handled it to him.
Motoki looked down at his hand then to her with confusion. "What... what am I supposed to do with... this?" he looked at it as if he'd never seen one before.
"Invite my friends along, of course."
"But why... I thought that we agreed on me carrying..."
"We did, but I changed my mind."
Motoki paled and felt a bit queasy. She couldn't possibly be serious; she wanted him to hang around a bunch of teenagers all afternoon? He was literally committing suicide, he was signing his death warrant... "I see, but you—" Goddamn! He had no backbone when it came to family!
"And you're in any position to be demanding anything of me?" Lizzie patted him on the arm with mock-consideration. "If you want you can invite along your other friends?" Hang around Usagi's friends? Hang around Usagi's homicidal friends? Along with Lizzie's friends? Was she insane? Did she want to be the cause of his early death?
"But if you are to invite Usagi, I don't want you to be with her alone." Liz snickered. "I'm just watching out for you, big brother." He silently groaned at her comment. Could she be anymore immature than what she was?
"No, your friends are enough." He finally gave in.
Girls had this strange power over him... and he was beginning to despise it...
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"Umm... hi." Mamoru greeted awkwardly.
"Hello." Usagi said with difficulty, it was as if the others had vanished and all that existed was they, which was on odd feeling to feel with her ex- boyfriend...
"Uh, Usagi?" Makoto cut in as she tapped Usagi on the shoulder. "Do you remember who you are talking to? This is Mamoru. Ma-mo-ru. I'm just wondering if you need us to remind you about your past with him?"
Usagi sure as hell didn't need anyone to remind her of what she and Mamoru had shared. It only haunted her every moment of her life. "Um..."
Makoto was beginning to feel frustrated. Makoto was well aware of how much Usagi cared for Mamoru, it wasn't right... Mamoru knew that Usagi held a weak spot for him and Makoto knew that he would somehow exploit it. She can't help loving him, Makoto mused silently, they are do hold a thousand year old love after all.
"You're right." Usagi admitted regretfully as she pulled away from the slowly forming connection between them and stepped towards her friends. "What do you want?"
Makoto only felt partially relieved; Usagi was rising to the occasion and trying to be strong for herself and everyone else. But Makoto had the sinking feeling that after Usagi finally gave Mamoru the opportunity to explain him... she would let her heart fall for him, only securing her own heartbreak in the long run when he would hurt her again.
Mamoru flinched. Good, Makoto thought, satisfied. He should be embarrassed and hurt by her cold attitude. After all, he didn't expect her to fall all over herself around him, did he?
"I... I just wanted to..." His cheeks were quickly paling in color. Makoto almost felt a twinge of pity for him, but it was replaced by delight in seeing him having to stutter and stammer painfully. "...Invite you to the wedding." He finished slowly.
"Did I hear you right?" Mina asked, incredulous. "Did you just ask her to attend to your wedding? To Rei; who happens to be the woman that you had an affair with behind Usagi's back for who knows how long?"
Usagi touched Mina's arm, trying to calm her, but Mina shook her head in disbelief at the all time new lows that Mamoru had managed to hit. "It may sound unreasonable, but I—"
The tips of Ami's ears were an angry shade of red. "It doesn't sound unreasonable, Mamoru. It is unreasonable." She nodded to the door, not bothering to mask her disdain. "I think that it is time for you to leave."
Mamoru gulped and stole another look at Usagi who looked miserable and stunned into silence by his request. Mamoru spun around and opened the door mid-way when Usagi's voice stopped him. "I accept."
Four pairs of heads turned towards her, astounded. "What?" Ami shrieked. "You're accepting his invitation to—to—to his wedding?" She sputtered as she pointed an accusing finger at Mamoru. "You came here and now she's accepted your fucking invitation—God, haven't you—"
"Ami, please." Usagi quietly begged; her eyes trained on the plush carpet. To admit, she was a bit surprised at Ami's colorful outburst. "I've made my decision, so please, just leave it alone, okay?"
How can she act so calm? Ami wondered as angry tears gathered in her icy blue depths. "I—okay, but Usagi, are you...?"
"Its on the twenty-second." Mamoru told her softly; his cobalt eyes glittered with naked hope and fear at the same time. She had accepted his invitation, giving him the sign that her heart was beginning to forgive him and maybe Rei as well.
He turned to leave once more and this time, no voice stopped him from leaving.
After Mamoru left, the girls planted Usagi on the ground and themselves around her, their questions spurting out faster than they could ask them.
"What's going on, Usagi?" Ami asked, her arms encircling the smaller, blond woman. "You're going to their wedding after claiming to never wanting to see or having anything to do with them ever again?"
"Why are you going? Are you going to go to sabotage the wedding?" Mina began getting excited at the prospect of ruining their wedding, but her spirits promptly came spiraling down when Usagi shot her a "yeah right" look.
Makoto's question startled them all the most: "Have you forgiven him and Rei?"
Usagi opened her mouth, and then closed it. Usagi couldn't answer her, but that was enough of a response that Makoto needed that confirmed her deepest fears.
Usagi was softening; she was beginning to forgive the traitors...
There was nothing Makoto could do to stop it, but to watch and wish for the best for her friend. She could also hope for Mamoru's sudden freak accident involving him to break every bone in his body and for him to be unable to stop drooling at the mouth, as to gross Usagi out permanently.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Lady Nakosha
--- --- --- --- --- ---
ALL STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY
--- --- --- --- --- ---
It was six o'clock in the morning and Motoki was running on less than a few hours of restless sleep. After Usagi had jumped up because she had heard someone approaching them, Motoki had lazily stretched his long legs out in front of him and smoothly rested his head on the insides of his open palms.
It had taken enough energy to actually change his position; Motoki had found it positively horrifying when he realized that at one point or another, particularly in three hours, he'd have to get up to open the arcade and that he'd have to do it all normally even with thoughts of him and Usagi's night... or rather, early morning, together flashing through his mind with excruciatingly vivid images and details.
He had also been dismayed by the thought of facing his former best friend without having the pleasure of pummeling his face at first sight. Motoki looked around him. Where was the damn chainsaw, butchering knife, or anything remotely sharp that he could use to stab a certain dark-haired idiot when he needed one?
But what had troubled Motoki more was the fact that he'd have to leave their sacred place alone and without the knowledge of knowing when they'd return.
Motoki unlocked the doors to the arcade and threw them open with energy. Even if he really wanted to be anywhere else but there, he would at least fake enthusiasm and energy for the customers, that wasn't the minimum he could do; that was the most that he could hope to do today.
Motoki guessed that's why they call it work.
All through the morning and early afternoon, he had forced his smiles and made himself seem energetic and actually happy to be at the arcade, working, when he could be with Usagi and spending time with her.
"Hey, Motoki!"
"Motoki, what's up?"
"What's going on, my man?"
"Lovin' the smoothies, honey. Almost as sweet as you." ("Gee, thanks Mom.")
"Are you available tonight, babe? Because, well, I am."
Motoki would smile and nod and laugh at the appropriate times, but his heart wasn't into anything he was doing. It was always the same thing, the same people, and the same routine every day.
Somehow that had been enough for him before, before Usagi, but now it felt like it filled only a miniscule part of him. He needed more... but what he wanted at the moment was for a certain blond (who could use her hands in amazing ways he never knew were even possible for hand movements, might he add), who could make the entire regular routine bearable, to show up. It was almost as if his unbelievable-completely-unbeatable night was being topped off by the worst after-sex-morning. Motoki was sure that he had suddenly found himself in the midst of a bad soap opera.
If one thing in his set-in-stone day were to change, why did it have to be Usagi coming in every day around three o'clock to order her strawberry milkshake with an extra mound of whip cream (how she kept her tight form while eating enough to challenge an entire army division was still a mystery to Motoki)?
Motoki rubbed the same spot, frustrated. He had experienced one of the best nights in his entire existence and the morning... later... he still hadn't gotten in a single word with the woman that he had shared it with. For God's sake, did he need to call in ahead of time and schedule an appointment with her? Motoki contemplated that idea. Did she have a secretary? Because if so, that may have not been such a—
The front doors slid open and Motoki whimpered in resignation before pasting a smile on. Before he had a chance to look up from the hole that he was currently trying to rub through the counter, his vision was invaded by... blondness.
"Usagi?" He murmured hopefully as he inhaled deeply. It was an automatic response, he supposed, to when hair—female hair, to be exact—was suddenly smothering his face, tickling his nose, and becoming wet from getting caught in his mouth. He sniffed her hair once more, testing it. "Your shampoo is different... I mean, it's different, but good, it's—"
The blond looked up at him and Motoki realized she wasn't Usagi. Instead, she was Usagi's friend, Mina. It was funny in a strange way, before Usagi and him... hooked up, so to say, he would have referred to Mina as "Mina" instead of as "Usagi's friend." But it seemed that now, everything somehow connected back to Usagi, no matter if it was her friends or if it was a package of strawberries that he had bought from a company that was owned by a man who happened to be good friends with Kenji Tuskino, who ironically, was Usagi's father.
Everything with Usagi was a full circle.
But nevertheless, Usagi's blond and bubby friend reminded him of her and how she should be here and not Mina. "Oh... it's you. Sorry about that."
Mina rolled her eyes. The guy was so gone that it almost hurt to look at him. "Try to contain your excitement, please. No, really, Motoki, you don't even have to pretend to like seeing me."
Motoki blushed sheepishly. "Sorry. You just weren't who I was expecting."
"And would that person be blond, beautiful, and have a degree in fashion designing handy?" Mina asked teasingly. "I figured since you called me Usagi when you remarked on how her—or rather, my—hair smelled. It's called 'ripe cherry,' what do you think of it?"
Motoki shrugged, indifferently. "It's cool."
"I'm sorry, but this wouldn't be a bad time for you to ask my order, would it?" Mina joked good-naturedly.
Motoki smiled weakly. He tended to forget that even Usagi's friends were still customers. "Oh, sorry. What'd you like today, ma'am?" He asked in a deep, British voice.
Mina decided to not play along. It wasn't that she wasn't a good sport, it was just that, well, she hadn't exactly come to the arcade on a friendly visit to Usagi's pal. "A strawberry shake with whip cream would be fine, thanks, Motoki."
Motoki's brows rose slightly as he jotted the order down, but it bothered him, oddly enough, that Mina was ordering Usagi's shake, Mina was a blond like Usagi, and she was close enough to being Usagi, except for the fact that she wasn't Usagi, which made all the other similarities pale in comparison.
Motoki knew that he was being toyed and frankly, he didn't like it.
But from the look on Mina's face, he realized that she didn't look like she wanted a shake; in fact, it looked like she didn't even want to be here in the first place. Motoki set the pad on the counter. Was it time for him to play advice-giver-and-open-listener already? "I have the feeling that you didn't just come here for a shake."
Mina sighed. "You guessed right."
"So... why the hell are you here, then?" Motoki grinned. "I'm guessing that you're not here because of my irresistible charms."
Mina laughed. "Well, the last part is definitely right." She sobered and grew serious. "Actually, it's about Usagi."
Terror latched onto Motoki like leech. How could he feel such a terrible fear for someone so quickly? The sensation was overpowering, it surged through Motoki, he felt the fine hairs on his hands, his arms, and his neck raise. "Oh God, what's wrong? Is she okay?"
He'd shut the arcade down and be wherever he needed to be so fast that Mina wouldn't have time to stand up from her seat on the stool.
"She told me that you knew what was going on—you know—with Mamoru and Rei."
"Yeah? What about it?"
"They had the confrontation."
Motoki breathed a bit easier as the terror lessened its grip on him, but he wasn't completely free of the anxiousness that left a dull feeling in his chest. Mina was talking about the incident with Rei and Mamoru at the festival parking lot. He had heard the scene erupt a few yards from the grove where they had been, but he hadn't felt that it would have been his place to get up and go over there, right from behind the bush. Especially since Usagi had enough on her mind without her friends constantly interrogating her about her relationship with Motoki.
Truthfully, a part of him was afraid of what her response to that question would be. Did she think of them as friends or as more? Evidently, she'd have to think of them as more if she would make complete and utter love to him...
But obviously Usagi hadn't clued her friends in yet that Motoki didn't just know; he had been there and she had had sex with him only sometime before that. Amazing what a bit of knowledge would do to completely turn the tables around on a situation? Motoki played along, however. "Oh Jesus. What happened?"
Mina listed off the key points of the night with flicks of her fingers. "Usagi told Rei off, there was lots of crying and screaming, Usagi stormed off, and I yelled at Mamoru and Rei and would have attacked if Makoto hadn't held me back. It wasn't anything less than what I expected." Mina lowered her voice. "But personally I think Usagi went a bit easy on Rei. But telling them to stay away from her and implying that the entire situation had grown out of control was a definite nice touch."
Motoki widened his eyes and nodded. "So everyone knows that she's back?"
"Yeah." Mina hesitated. "Well, almost."
"Who else doesn't know about her coming back?"
"Our other friends. They are more distant to our group, I suppose, but they are extremely close with Usagi. Closer to her than with the rest of us."
Motoki didn't understand the logic of what they were doing. Sure, he loved Usagi, but if the rest of her friends knew of her return, then why not tell the others that sounded very close to her?
"We can't." It was a simple statement that wasn't meant to be questioned.
Motoki furrowed his brow in confusion. "Huh?"
"They're really protective of Usagi."
Motoki was genuinely interested now. She was avoiding the question and trying to change the subject. "And the problem is...?"
Mina shook her head, unsuccessfully trying to divert the conversation from heading in that direction. Whoa, how had they gotten that far off course? "It's unimportant, Motoki, really. I don't even know why I'm getting into this with you."
"Why can't you tell them that she's come back?" Motoki pressed, sensing some tension of some sort.
"I'm not really here to discuss Usagi's reasoning behind not telling them, okay?" Mina insisted, frigidly. "That's for you to take up with her, not me. I was just sent here on a favor to come and ask if you would come over to Makoto's house. She really needs to see you."
"Hey, I didn't mean to intrude or anything, but you—"
"Motoki, Usagi asked me to come here and get you, she didn't ask me to chat about her behind her back with you." Mina remarked before she flounced out of the arcade.
Motoki scratched his head in bewilderment. Girls were so weird.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
"She hates us, doesn't she?"
Mamoru shot her a stern look. "Well, what do you think?"
Rei rolled her neck around and tried to relax her stiff muscles. "Can you give me a neck massage?" Rei asked innocently as she positioned herself in front of Mamoru and lifted her hair off the base of her neck. He always seemed to be in a better mood when they were kissing or when she let him touch her.
Mamoru backed away slowly, this time, and looked anywhere but Rei's violently blazing eyes. He wasn't sure if he could touch Rei, even if he wanted to. He needed to be alone to think. "Actually, I need to get going. I have a lot of work to get down at the university and I have a lot of papers to grade and I have my own deadlines I need to make..."
"You're just making excuses to get away from me, aren't you?" Rei pouted.
"No, baby, why would I do that?" Mamoru asked logically. "I'm marrying you, aren't I? By proposing to you, I would have thought that my intentions of always wanting to be around you for the rest of my life would have become clear." Oddly, Mamoru had to search himself for the confidence and ease of saying those words that he was sure didn't exist within him.
His mind was certain he was making the right decision by marrying Rei. She's beautiful, smart, funny, loving, sexy... everything that even a man with half a brain would want in a woman. But that damned, good-for-nothing cardiovascular muscle that pounded in his chest and sped up at the sight of another blond woman was contradicting his logical way of thinking and demising his assurance in Rei and his relationship.
After seeing Usagi...
After realizing that he was desperately trying to deny to himself that seeing her made no impact upon his feelings, he knew that he was only lying to himself because if nothing else, Mamoru knew that Usagi had a habit of being able to switch his feelings around so quickly that not even he would see what was coming next.
And after noticing how suddenly his long suppressed doubts rose up and blew up inside of him like a balloon and threatened to swallow him whole...
...Mamoru wasn't quite sure what he felt for anyone anymore.
"When are you going to get back?" Rei asked as she leaned against the wall.
Mamoru shrugged. "I don't know. It depends how much work I can get done." At Rei's expression, Mamoru hurriedly added, "And I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can, of course."
Rei's scary expression vanished and was replaced by a look of pure glee. "I've heard that it's not healthy to have all work and no play."
"Oh?" Mamoru coughed uncomfortably. "And where did you hear that from?"
"Oh, just from a handsome, dark-haired fellow." She giggled. "So hurry home so we can get to the fun parts of the night, okay?" Rei urged in a low, throaty voice.
Mamoru cleared his throat nervously and leaned down to peck her on the lips. Usually he would play along with her and it would take him hours to leave, but at the moment... all his thoughts narrowed down to one conclusion: Get away from Rei as fast a humanly possible.
Instead of a short, painless kiss, Rei pulled him down towards her with her hands and pressed her full, red lips against his. Mamoru hesitated and Rei sensed his uncertainty. She broke her lips away and pushed away from him forcefully. "God, what is with you? You've been withdrawn and quiet since we left the festival. You're, liking, freaking out on me." Rei's eyes softened. "Are you acting like this because of what happened with Usagi?"
Mamoru opened his mouth to speak, but Rei charged on. "Pretty weird seeing her for the first time in five years, don't you think?" Rei patted his arm. Mamoru glanced down at her hand and couldn't help thinking how her touching his arm really didn't make him feel any better, but only worse. "Don't worry about the scene between Usagi and I, I'm hoping that we'll all be able to put the past in its place and move onto the future. Maybe even someday, somehow, in the future she'll be able to accept us."
Mamoru found that unlikely, considering that he was Usagi's supposed soul mate and he had cheated on her with one of her protectors. "Wouldn't that be just lovely if I could invite her to the wedding? She'd look so gorgeous in that one ivory dress that we saw in the one wedding shop by the corner on Vine Street."
Mamoru hesitated. "Umm... maybe we shouldn't, you know, invite her to the wedding."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, we did kind of hurt her by getting together in the first place and inviting her to the wedding would just be a slap on the face." Mamoru bit his lip. "I don't think she'll ever be able to except us because of how we got together. In any other case, maybe she'd acknowledge our relationship better, but right now doesn't seem like the right time to ask her to wear that ivory dress, or to participate in the wedding, or to even come. I can't really think of a right time that you could ask her if you were to, though."
Rei looked as if she had been the one slapped. "Mamoru," Rei gasped. "You... you... it may not be—at least—" Rei seemed to have taken in more than enough into consideration after Mamoru's mini-speech. She glanced at Mamoru before waving him off, giving him the okay to leave and go to the university to do whatever he needed to do.
Walking off, she didn't notice how Mamoru tilted his head to the side and a look of relief crossed over his handsome features. Even a fool could see how the distraught, ambition-filled young man was suddenly letting himself breathe freely for the first in a long time.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Usagi leaned against the tiled, bathroom wall. She felt like a pathetic snob; she finally had her friends back—well, most of them, at least—, her secret no longer weighed her down, and despite that she hadn't spoken to Motoki since early this morning, and still, for some forsaken reason, she had isolated herself from her friends by locking herself in the world's smallest and most cramped bathroom.
Usagi inhaled deeply and decided to go about everything in a more mature and reasonable matter. She made a mental list of every single plausible reason explaining why she had rushed to the bathroom and locked herself within it without another word to any of her friends.
(1) She felt feelings for Motoki that were more than just friendly and complicated matters beyond comprehendible belief.
(2) She couldn't stand the fact that it's been over two hours since Mina had come back and he still hasn't shown up.
(3) Images of Rei and Mamoru kept popping into her mind at random moments; distracting her from anything else and causing her to run into walls because of her lack of multi-tasking skills.
(4) She wants to be alone to be able to organize her thoughts and think through her next move carefully.
(5) She's had five years to be alone so far and she's so used to it that having anyone else from her past to talk to was unusual and oddly enough, hard for her to get used to.
(6) She might still like...
There were only five possibilities, Usagi mentally counted, refusing to acknowledge the last one. She wouldn't even allow herself to consider it more than just a ghost of an option.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
"How long has she been in there?" Makoto asked for what seemed the hundredth time.
"Fifteen minutes." Ami answered automatically after glancing at the wall clock. "Should I go and try?"
"If you want, but I don't know how long she's going to be in there for or if anyone's attempts are going to work." Makoto grew angry; she was just so frusterated! Usagi had finally come back and yet, she was still just as far away from them as she had been when they hadn't known of her whereabouts. "I knew it would be a bad idea to have Mina go and try to get that idiot, Motoki. I knew that if he didn't come, Usagi would become depressed because it's obvious that she fancies him. I should have stopped Mina from going and told Usagi to forget about him."
She sighed. "I can just add that to the long list of things I should've done and didn't do a single thing about."
Mina rubbed Makoto's back soothingly. "Hey, hey, Makoto. Don't blame yourself, okay? It's not your fault that he hasn't shown up—yet. He's just really nervous, seriously. You should have seen the boy; he was a mess and he won't screw up his chance with Usagi, trust me." She paused for a second. "Although, I don't think that he knows how much of Usagi's feelings he holds. He mostly is only aware of how he feels towards her."
"The boy can be so thick-headed sometimes, I swear." Makoto sighed, loosening up slightly. "But I guess everyone can be when they're in love."
"You are the Senshi of Love, aren't you, Mina? You should be the one to know, right?" Ami remarked quietly from the corner she was seated in.
"Sometimes my instincts can be a bit off, Ami-chan." Mina quipped tersely.
"We're all a bit on the edge, so chill out you guys." Makoto cut in suddenly, her voice was tight and assured at the same time.
"Whatever." Ami muttered under her breath. "I'm going to go check on Usagi." Ami said stiffly before she stood up and disappeared into the darkened hallway.
"I have a feeling that she isn't going to be very successful." Makoto announced after Ami left the room to go into the bedroom where the bathroom was. "I want her to be, but I'm just saying, it doesn't seem very bright for her success."
"I have a feeling that the only person who will be successful is the very person who isn't here." Mina said, almost wistfully.
Ami knocked softly on the door and waited in silence for a few moments. "Usagi?" Ami tentatively called out. "Usagi? Will you please come out and talk to the others or me? Or will you at least let me in?" Ami was willing to bargain with Usagi, if that was what it took. Ami felt it was a cruel joke being play on her, she was given the gift of meeting Usagi again, but it was being taken away from her all over again! It wasn't fair!
"I'm sorry, Ami." Usagi choked out from behind the door. "I can't come out yet. I just need some time to think, okay?"
Ami sighed and touched the door, searching for some kind of comfort. "Okay. Come out when you're ready, but know that we're here for you Usagi." Ami paused. "We will always be here for you. We won't even betray or hurt you purposefully or not, Mina and Makoto along with the rest of the girls will swear to their lives on that." Ami's voice had grown fearful that Usagi would reject her once more.
"Thank you, Ami." Usagi whispered. "You don't know how much that means to me, when you say that."
Ami nodded once before she pushed herself off the ground and steeled herself, preparing for when Makoto and Minako would give her I-told-you-so looks and bristle in a self-righteous way, as if they had known all along Ami would fail in her mission to get Usagi out.
They were right, and for once, Ami was unfortunately wrong.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Usagi stared at the door with remorse at her own weakness. She had let Ami down by refusing to come out, Usagi was sure of that much. But she couldn't face her friends; she couldn't face anyone without having to look away from the disappointment and pity that would be shot at her.
Usagi paused, however. Maybe she could face Motoki, but that was a whole different story... although, she'd never know because from the direction that the day was heading in, it didn't seem that Motoki was going to show up within the next century at the earliest.
Where was he, anyway? The least he could do was at least call, stop by, or even send her a postcard of his existence and that he hadn't forgotten about her and their night together! Usagi's heart slowed. What if he hadn't enjoyed it as much as she had? What if he was avoiding her...
Was he going to be like Mamoru? Was he going to betray her like so many others in her life had? Usagi sighed, irritated by her annoying line of thoughts. Of course he wasn't, Motoki was different.
But the growing doubt didn't stop. So she had thought the same of Mamoru and look where that so-called romance had led her! Five years of her life in Tokyo lost and still on horrible, horrible terms.
She just hoped that her instincts on men had also improved over the years.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Mina flicked a piece of lint off of her off the shoulder pale orange top that matched her flirty, white mini-skirt. "What time—"
"Mina, please. It's only been, like, five minutes, okay?" Makoto snapped furiously. Sitting in one spot and listening for any movement from the bathroom was becoming an annoying obsession for Makoto. She was more edgy than the two others combined. "Why don't you look at the clock and check it yourself?"
"Actually, it's been—"
"Ami, we really don't need the exact time down to the millisecond." Makoto deadpanned.
Ami feebly apologized, "Sorry, Makoto, but I was just—"
Mina shot Ami a look and imperceptibly shook her head as if to say: don't even try.
Ami shrugged and lowered her gaze to her lap. "Fine." Ami uttered the word with contempt; there was nothing else left for her to say anyway. They were caught in an in-between stage, what could they do?
As if to answer Ami's question, the doorbell suddenly rang. Makoto jumped to her feet and threw the door open, only to reveal the very infamous and very disliked, Mamoru.
He received, nevertheless, three deadly glares from three very pissed off girls. "Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in." Makoto taunted menacingly.
Mamoru then began to seriously reconsider his decision to come there when he saw a spark crackle off of Makoto's outstretched palm. "I... uh..."
"Yes, it's our dear friend, Mamoru." Mina mocked, her voice equally, if not more, intimidating.
"What do you want?" Ami asked frostily, causing the temperature to drop a few degrees lower.
Mina and Makoto displayed their anger and no-hesitation-to-kill-you-on-the- spot looks clearly and loudly, but Ami just stood there and looked at him with a look of utter and complete disgust, as if he sunk to a level lower than shit.
"I—I just wanted... I just wanted to see Usagi... I—"
"You sure as hell aren't going anywhere near her as long as I'm around." Makoto threatened, stepping between him and the door.
Mamoru knew he was strong, but he critically measured and calculated how big and strong the girls were. He could maybe—even maybe was pushing it—take on two of them, but three?
Take on three very angry, very strong, and very powerful senshi that hated his guts and when they wanted to, could take him down and kill him in cold blood murder? Mamoru wasn't that stupid, as hard as it may be to believe.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Usagi heard the doorbell sound loudly throughout the house. It could be Motoki, Usagi thought, or it could be someone else just stopping by for Makoto...
But if it was Motoki, she didn't want him to witness her in one of her darkest moments, hiding out in a bathroom as she was trying to sort through her feelings. Usagi cautiously opened her door and heard Makoto's muffled voice through the closed, mahogany doors.
Charging into the living room before she could stop herself, Usagi faltered mid-stride when she caught sight of a familiar ebony haired young man who was standing, nervously, amongst her bloodthirsty looking friends. As his entire face came into view, a painful pang shot through her heart. "Mamoru." She murmured, her voice broke, confused and upset.
She had expected to see Motoki.
Her heart ached when she realized that she had wanted to see Mamoru, despite the current circumstances...
--- --- --- --- --- ---
"I've already told you, Liz. I've got other plans, so I've got to go." Motoki insisted once more. "Please—just let go of me—"
"No, no, no, Toki-chan! We've got plans!"
Motoki hung his head; Lizzie could be so stubborn sometimes. Didn't she understand that she was acting like a bratty fifteen-year-old because the only reason she wanted him to tag along was for a ride and because unlike her, he had money. "Toki-chan!" Lizzie said sharply. "Mama said we need to spend some quality time together—"
"—We live together for God's sake!"
She continued as if she hadn't heard him. "And so I propose we go to the mall and go shopping, of course." She added, "And you can buy."
He knew it all along. She was all about money. He glared at his forceful younger sister who was doing a damn good job of putting him through hell. "I'm sure as hell not paying anything for you."
"Oh?" Lizzie remarked, a challenging tone lingered in her voice...
Motoki flinched; he did not like the way she was looking at him, with that defiant and determined smirk. "I think you are about to eat your words, Motoki." She said, dropping the sweeter-than-candy act.
Motoki fidgeted with his feet. "Oh, am I?" She was a shrimp, more than a foot smaller than him. What possibly could she do to him that would ever convince him to go along with her?
"Yes, you will." She smiled devilishly. "Trust me, Motoki. You don't want to push me... especially since I have this sort of power over you!"
"Power?" Motoki snorted. "What sort of power?"
"Usagi's a nice girl, Motoki." Her smile deepened. "Well... most of the time, at least."
Motoki gulped as he realized exactly what kind of power that she had. It wasn't that much power anyway... "Oh."
"And it's really a small world because I happened to be at the festival—you know, the one you were working at—when you and Usagi—"
He held up a hand, stopping her. Okay, he had heard enough. "You don't know what you're talking about." Motoki argued.
"Oh, I think I do." Liz eyed him critically. "And when I have this type of information, trust me, I can put it to very good use."
Motoki normally would brush off her threats easily, but this involved Usagi and he knew for a fact that his sister could be vicious when it came to blackmailing and gossip. Usagi was a grown woman, but somehow he had the feeling that Liz could do much worse than simple gossip... "I won't pay, though."
"It's your choice." She shrugged, as if everything was out of her hands when really she controlled everything. "Pay and carry the bags or invite along all my friends and chaperone us."
From experience, Motoki knew better than to pick the last. Hanging around one hormonal-crazy teenage girl was horrible enough. Handling five or six? Ha! But if she paid, then she wouldn't buy as much to conserve her money, right? "I'll carry bags, I guess..."
"Good! Now that that is settled, we can go!" She paused for a moment then picked up the phone and handled it to him.
Motoki looked down at his hand then to her with confusion. "What... what am I supposed to do with... this?" he looked at it as if he'd never seen one before.
"Invite my friends along, of course."
"But why... I thought that we agreed on me carrying..."
"We did, but I changed my mind."
Motoki paled and felt a bit queasy. She couldn't possibly be serious; she wanted him to hang around a bunch of teenagers all afternoon? He was literally committing suicide, he was signing his death warrant... "I see, but you—" Goddamn! He had no backbone when it came to family!
"And you're in any position to be demanding anything of me?" Lizzie patted him on the arm with mock-consideration. "If you want you can invite along your other friends?" Hang around Usagi's friends? Hang around Usagi's homicidal friends? Along with Lizzie's friends? Was she insane? Did she want to be the cause of his early death?
"But if you are to invite Usagi, I don't want you to be with her alone." Liz snickered. "I'm just watching out for you, big brother." He silently groaned at her comment. Could she be anymore immature than what she was?
"No, your friends are enough." He finally gave in.
Girls had this strange power over him... and he was beginning to despise it...
--- --- --- --- --- ---
"Umm... hi." Mamoru greeted awkwardly.
"Hello." Usagi said with difficulty, it was as if the others had vanished and all that existed was they, which was on odd feeling to feel with her ex- boyfriend...
"Uh, Usagi?" Makoto cut in as she tapped Usagi on the shoulder. "Do you remember who you are talking to? This is Mamoru. Ma-mo-ru. I'm just wondering if you need us to remind you about your past with him?"
Usagi sure as hell didn't need anyone to remind her of what she and Mamoru had shared. It only haunted her every moment of her life. "Um..."
Makoto was beginning to feel frustrated. Makoto was well aware of how much Usagi cared for Mamoru, it wasn't right... Mamoru knew that Usagi held a weak spot for him and Makoto knew that he would somehow exploit it. She can't help loving him, Makoto mused silently, they are do hold a thousand year old love after all.
"You're right." Usagi admitted regretfully as she pulled away from the slowly forming connection between them and stepped towards her friends. "What do you want?"
Makoto only felt partially relieved; Usagi was rising to the occasion and trying to be strong for herself and everyone else. But Makoto had the sinking feeling that after Usagi finally gave Mamoru the opportunity to explain him... she would let her heart fall for him, only securing her own heartbreak in the long run when he would hurt her again.
Mamoru flinched. Good, Makoto thought, satisfied. He should be embarrassed and hurt by her cold attitude. After all, he didn't expect her to fall all over herself around him, did he?
"I... I just wanted to..." His cheeks were quickly paling in color. Makoto almost felt a twinge of pity for him, but it was replaced by delight in seeing him having to stutter and stammer painfully. "...Invite you to the wedding." He finished slowly.
"Did I hear you right?" Mina asked, incredulous. "Did you just ask her to attend to your wedding? To Rei; who happens to be the woman that you had an affair with behind Usagi's back for who knows how long?"
Usagi touched Mina's arm, trying to calm her, but Mina shook her head in disbelief at the all time new lows that Mamoru had managed to hit. "It may sound unreasonable, but I—"
The tips of Ami's ears were an angry shade of red. "It doesn't sound unreasonable, Mamoru. It is unreasonable." She nodded to the door, not bothering to mask her disdain. "I think that it is time for you to leave."
Mamoru gulped and stole another look at Usagi who looked miserable and stunned into silence by his request. Mamoru spun around and opened the door mid-way when Usagi's voice stopped him. "I accept."
Four pairs of heads turned towards her, astounded. "What?" Ami shrieked. "You're accepting his invitation to—to—to his wedding?" She sputtered as she pointed an accusing finger at Mamoru. "You came here and now she's accepted your fucking invitation—God, haven't you—"
"Ami, please." Usagi quietly begged; her eyes trained on the plush carpet. To admit, she was a bit surprised at Ami's colorful outburst. "I've made my decision, so please, just leave it alone, okay?"
How can she act so calm? Ami wondered as angry tears gathered in her icy blue depths. "I—okay, but Usagi, are you...?"
"Its on the twenty-second." Mamoru told her softly; his cobalt eyes glittered with naked hope and fear at the same time. She had accepted his invitation, giving him the sign that her heart was beginning to forgive him and maybe Rei as well.
He turned to leave once more and this time, no voice stopped him from leaving.
After Mamoru left, the girls planted Usagi on the ground and themselves around her, their questions spurting out faster than they could ask them.
"What's going on, Usagi?" Ami asked, her arms encircling the smaller, blond woman. "You're going to their wedding after claiming to never wanting to see or having anything to do with them ever again?"
"Why are you going? Are you going to go to sabotage the wedding?" Mina began getting excited at the prospect of ruining their wedding, but her spirits promptly came spiraling down when Usagi shot her a "yeah right" look.
Makoto's question startled them all the most: "Have you forgiven him and Rei?"
Usagi opened her mouth, and then closed it. Usagi couldn't answer her, but that was enough of a response that Makoto needed that confirmed her deepest fears.
Usagi was softening; she was beginning to forgive the traitors...
There was nothing Makoto could do to stop it, but to watch and wish for the best for her friend. She could also hope for Mamoru's sudden freak accident involving him to break every bone in his body and for him to be unable to stop drooling at the mouth, as to gross Usagi out permanently.
--- --- --- --- --- ---