Love is Never Silent 5/7
by Elysia
PG
They were walking home from the ice cream parlor, celebrating Shingo's latest baseball victory as
well as the warm autumn day. "Didn't Shingo play great today?" Usagi beamed, taking small bites
of her ice cream as they walked to her house.
Mamoru couldn't help but smile back at her. Her countenance had changed so much in just the
last few weeks... it was like being around an entirely new person. She was cheerful before, but
that was only on the outside. Now he was starting to see the smile light up her eyes, something
that had been missing before.
"Of course he did, Usagi-chan. He loves to play, and he puts his whole heart and soul into it."
She nodded, then her smile fell a little. "But... I wish Papa would come to at least one game. He
keeps promising he will, but then something always comes up. The games on the weekend don't
even interfere with his work. But he always seems to have an excuse." Usagi sighed. "That's just
the way my father is. Nothing short of a miracle will make him change his ways. But sometimes I
just wish he would at least try to learn to sign to Shingo. He's his only son, isn't that good enough
reason to talk to him?"
Mamoru stopped and looked Usagi in the eyes. "Don't you think you're being a little too serious
about all this, Usagi-chan? You need to lighten up a little."
She stared at Mamoru with cold eyes. "Lighten up? Do you know what you're asking of me? All
my life, I have had to push myself to the limit, to do better than what was expected of me so I
wouldn't be a burden to anyone, especially to my parents. They already had my brother to worry
about, so if I slacked off at all, it would just add more stress to their lives. So I'm sorry if you
think I'm too serious. I've had to be serious my whole life." Usagi turned and fled into her house
without letting Mamoru get in another word.
Shingo was at the door when Usagi ran inside sobbing. The teenager took one look at the
retreating form of his sister, then to Mamoru who was still standing outside, and suddenly charged
out the door, screaming and furiously signing at Mamoru.
"Shingo, slow down please," Mamoru signed and spoke at the same time. "What did I do?" His
answer was clear as Shingo signed and moved his lips. "You made my sister cry."
The door then shut in Mamoru's face. He tried to get a glimpse of Usagi through the window, but
with no luck. He cursed himself as he walked away, that with one stupid comment he had just
destroyed the greatest thing to ever happen to him.
Mamoru paced back and forth in the break room behind Crown's Fruit Parlor. She was out
there, talking with her friends. On his way in, he had tried hard not to notice Usagi, but out of
force of habit, he looked her way just as she looked up into his gaze. That had been a very
awkward moment, and he retreated quickly into the back room where he didn't have to look at
her.
He needed to talk to her, apologize for the stupid things he said the other day. Usagi trusted him,
believed in him, and with one stupid comment, he had betrayed her.
Not only did he hurt her, but he remembered the hurt in Shingo's eyes all too clearly. The younger
boy meant as much to him as Usagi did. Mamoru shook his head. Regaining both their trust
would be much harder than ever before.
Just as he stepped towards the door leading out into the arcade, a thought came to him. Why not
just go to Shingo first, apologize to him, letting the word get back to Usagi that he wasn't such a
jerk after all? Then Mamoru shook his head. That was too easy, almost as if Usagi could predict
that move. If he didn't work out his mistakes with Usagi first, Mamoru knew he was headed in
the wrong direction.
Gathering up all the self-confidence he had left, Mamoru strode out into the cafe, his eyes set
directly on his target. Usagi and her friends sat in the corner booth, slurping away at milkshakes
and giggling over the latest news from school. Even from the other side of the room, he could tell
Usagi was not her cheerful self.
He cleared his throat and walked towards the booth, paying no attention to the icy stares Makoto
and Rei shot in his direction. His business was not with them, only a certain blonde odangoed
companion of theirs.
"Usagi, we need to talk," Mamoru muttered quietly, laying a hand on her arm.
At first Usagi jumped, then she looked up at him, her eyes blank with emotion. "I have nothing to
say to you, Mamoru-san."
"Oh, but I have something to say to you," he replied. He pulled on her arm firmly, dragging her
out from the booth and brought her to stand in front of him. "Let's go someplace private to talk
about this."
Usagi tried jerking her arm away, but couldn't get out of his strong hold. "I don't have to go
anywhere with you."
"If you want to hear what I have to say, then yes you do." He took her back into the room where
he had been pacing minutes earlier and shut the door behind him. As he turned back around,
Usagi just stared at him, her face devoid of all expression. "Whatever it is you have to say, say it
so I can leave."
Mamoru sighed in exasperation. "Darn it Usagi! Why do you have to make everything so
difficult!"
"You weren't the one dragged in here against your will!" she yelled back.
"Usagi, I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for what I said earlier." He reached out to touch her
arm, but she shrank away from him.
"I don't want you coming near me. You acted all nice, trying to win me over, but you're just like
everyone else! I thought I could trust you. Saying 'sorry' just doesn't cut it anymore." She turned
to face the wall so he wouldn't see her crying.
He heaved a huge sigh. "You're right, Usagi. I said something stupid, and made you doubt my
trust. If I could, I would take those words back a thousand times because you deserve far better
than that."
"How do you expect me to believe that?" she said bitterly.
"I don't know," Mamoru replied sadly. "That's something you'll have to think about. Even if some
of the things I said were true, I didn't mean them in the way I said them."
Usagi whipped around, tears streaming down her face. "What do you mean, some of them were
true? For as long as I can remember, I have been expected to change and conform to whatever
people wanted me to do. When I was old enough, I finally was able to make choices for myself.
And now you dare to stand there and tell me that I need to change?"
He shook his head slightly. "When I said you needed to lighten up, I didn't mean I wanted you to
change. You keep looking at the pessimistic side of everything, like everyone is out to get you
and your brother. I don't know how you get along so well with those girls out there if this is how
you really act."
Usagi's eyes widened as if he had struck a tender nerve. "They don't know this side of me.
They've never even met Shingo. They don't know what my life is really like at home."
"So what you're doing out there is pretending that life is all happy and fuzzy, while you proceed to
bite my head off during the other hours of the day?"
"You know me better than they do!" she cried out suddenly. "I don't know how you did it, but
you worked your way into my life before I could stop you."
A small smile crept onto Mamoru's face. "I was beginning to wonder about that too. How in the
world did I, Chiba Mamoru, first class jerk, needle my way into to Tsukino Usagi's life?" he
commented, walking closer to the odangoed girl leaning against the wall.
That won a tiny smile from her. "I don't know," she said softly, "no one else has ever done that to
me before."
"Done what?" Mamoru replied, his voice just louder than a whisper.
"Get to truly know me, that someone outside of my family cared about me. Everyone just
assumes that I'm loud, reckless, and a klutz." She didn't look up at him, afraid to see the look
on his face.
Mamoru placed both of his hands on Usagi's shoulders, pulling the girl into his strong embrace. "I
hope you'll forgive me someday for being such a jerk," he mumbled, burying his face in her sweet
smelling hair. Holding Usagi so tenderly like this felt so... right. Like there was no other place he
could be at this moment and feel so at peace.
"Who's to say that I haven't already forgiven you?" Usagi replied through her sniffles.
Mamoru pulled away and looked down at her, eyebrows raised in surprise. "So what was that
big tantrum for just now?"
She giggled lightly. "Because I had to see if you could handle it." He opened his mouth to retort,
but then thought better of it. Bringing his fingers up, he slowly wiped away the trails of tears on
her cheeks and cupped her warm face with his gentle hands. "I never wanted to make you cry,
Usagi." Tilting his head slightly, Mamoru leaned in and delicately kissed her on the cheek.
As he pulled away, her eyes widened in surprise. "What was that for?" her voice barely above a
whisper.
"I guess I wanted to make you feel better."
"Oh." Usagi fixed her gaze on the floor, intently studying her shoes. Mamoru stared at her
lowered head, wondering what he had done wrong now. "Usa..." he whispered, sliding a hand
beneath her chin to raise her head. His eyes locked with hers, and for a moment he stood in
silence, unable to say anything.
She attempted a quivering smile and that was all Mamoru needed. Pulling Usagi close to him
again, he brushed his lips gently over hers once, then captured her sweetness more fully as she
leaned into him, his arms the only thing holding her body from falling as she fell into his dizzying
spell.
Finally they pulled away, breathless and flushed. "What just happened?" Usagi asked, feeling the
warmth creep up her cheeks. Mamoru smiled tenderly down at her. "I think that's what they call
making up."
She giggled. "And that's supposed to count for all the times we've fought?" Mamoru raised his
eyebrows in amusement, then ran a hand through one of her silky ponytails. "If you're asking to
make up for all of that, then I have no objections." He leaned down and willingly kissed her again,
meeting her halfway.
"You know," she started again after they broke apart the second time, "maybe we should save
this for later. It wouldn't do any good if we made up all at once."
Mamoru chuckled loudly. "And I'd better get you back to your friends. No doubt they're
wondering if we've killed each other by now."
Sure enough, Rei, Ami, Makoto and Minako all gathered around Usagi moments after she and
Mamoru came out of the back room. "Is everything all right?" Rei asked, still throwing an evil
glare in Mamoru's direction. "We were beginning to worry about you, Usagi."
Usagi gave them all a reassuring smile. "Everything's fine. Mamoru-san and I needed to talk over
a lot of things. But that's all cleared up," she replied, smiling at Mamoru.
"Are you feeling okay, Usagi-chan?" Ami asked. "You look a little flushed."
Usagi's eyes widened and Mamoru stifled a laugh. "I'm fine, Ami-chan. I think after all that yelling
and being in that little room, I could use some fresh air."
The others agreed to go to the park across the street. Mamoru turned to say goodbye to Motoki,
who was on the phone, listening intently. It looked pretty serious, so he waited until his friend
was finished.
Motoki hung up the phone and looked at Usagi solemnly. "That was your mother, Usagi-chan.
She needs you to come home right away."
"You look so serious, Motoki-onii-san. What did she say?"
"Your brother's been in an accident."
by Elysia
PG
They were walking home from the ice cream parlor, celebrating Shingo's latest baseball victory as
well as the warm autumn day. "Didn't Shingo play great today?" Usagi beamed, taking small bites
of her ice cream as they walked to her house.
Mamoru couldn't help but smile back at her. Her countenance had changed so much in just the
last few weeks... it was like being around an entirely new person. She was cheerful before, but
that was only on the outside. Now he was starting to see the smile light up her eyes, something
that had been missing before.
"Of course he did, Usagi-chan. He loves to play, and he puts his whole heart and soul into it."
She nodded, then her smile fell a little. "But... I wish Papa would come to at least one game. He
keeps promising he will, but then something always comes up. The games on the weekend don't
even interfere with his work. But he always seems to have an excuse." Usagi sighed. "That's just
the way my father is. Nothing short of a miracle will make him change his ways. But sometimes I
just wish he would at least try to learn to sign to Shingo. He's his only son, isn't that good enough
reason to talk to him?"
Mamoru stopped and looked Usagi in the eyes. "Don't you think you're being a little too serious
about all this, Usagi-chan? You need to lighten up a little."
She stared at Mamoru with cold eyes. "Lighten up? Do you know what you're asking of me? All
my life, I have had to push myself to the limit, to do better than what was expected of me so I
wouldn't be a burden to anyone, especially to my parents. They already had my brother to worry
about, so if I slacked off at all, it would just add more stress to their lives. So I'm sorry if you
think I'm too serious. I've had to be serious my whole life." Usagi turned and fled into her house
without letting Mamoru get in another word.
Shingo was at the door when Usagi ran inside sobbing. The teenager took one look at the
retreating form of his sister, then to Mamoru who was still standing outside, and suddenly charged
out the door, screaming and furiously signing at Mamoru.
"Shingo, slow down please," Mamoru signed and spoke at the same time. "What did I do?" His
answer was clear as Shingo signed and moved his lips. "You made my sister cry."
The door then shut in Mamoru's face. He tried to get a glimpse of Usagi through the window, but
with no luck. He cursed himself as he walked away, that with one stupid comment he had just
destroyed the greatest thing to ever happen to him.
Mamoru paced back and forth in the break room behind Crown's Fruit Parlor. She was out
there, talking with her friends. On his way in, he had tried hard not to notice Usagi, but out of
force of habit, he looked her way just as she looked up into his gaze. That had been a very
awkward moment, and he retreated quickly into the back room where he didn't have to look at
her.
He needed to talk to her, apologize for the stupid things he said the other day. Usagi trusted him,
believed in him, and with one stupid comment, he had betrayed her.
Not only did he hurt her, but he remembered the hurt in Shingo's eyes all too clearly. The younger
boy meant as much to him as Usagi did. Mamoru shook his head. Regaining both their trust
would be much harder than ever before.
Just as he stepped towards the door leading out into the arcade, a thought came to him. Why not
just go to Shingo first, apologize to him, letting the word get back to Usagi that he wasn't such a
jerk after all? Then Mamoru shook his head. That was too easy, almost as if Usagi could predict
that move. If he didn't work out his mistakes with Usagi first, Mamoru knew he was headed in
the wrong direction.
Gathering up all the self-confidence he had left, Mamoru strode out into the cafe, his eyes set
directly on his target. Usagi and her friends sat in the corner booth, slurping away at milkshakes
and giggling over the latest news from school. Even from the other side of the room, he could tell
Usagi was not her cheerful self.
He cleared his throat and walked towards the booth, paying no attention to the icy stares Makoto
and Rei shot in his direction. His business was not with them, only a certain blonde odangoed
companion of theirs.
"Usagi, we need to talk," Mamoru muttered quietly, laying a hand on her arm.
At first Usagi jumped, then she looked up at him, her eyes blank with emotion. "I have nothing to
say to you, Mamoru-san."
"Oh, but I have something to say to you," he replied. He pulled on her arm firmly, dragging her
out from the booth and brought her to stand in front of him. "Let's go someplace private to talk
about this."
Usagi tried jerking her arm away, but couldn't get out of his strong hold. "I don't have to go
anywhere with you."
"If you want to hear what I have to say, then yes you do." He took her back into the room where
he had been pacing minutes earlier and shut the door behind him. As he turned back around,
Usagi just stared at him, her face devoid of all expression. "Whatever it is you have to say, say it
so I can leave."
Mamoru sighed in exasperation. "Darn it Usagi! Why do you have to make everything so
difficult!"
"You weren't the one dragged in here against your will!" she yelled back.
"Usagi, I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for what I said earlier." He reached out to touch her
arm, but she shrank away from him.
"I don't want you coming near me. You acted all nice, trying to win me over, but you're just like
everyone else! I thought I could trust you. Saying 'sorry' just doesn't cut it anymore." She turned
to face the wall so he wouldn't see her crying.
He heaved a huge sigh. "You're right, Usagi. I said something stupid, and made you doubt my
trust. If I could, I would take those words back a thousand times because you deserve far better
than that."
"How do you expect me to believe that?" she said bitterly.
"I don't know," Mamoru replied sadly. "That's something you'll have to think about. Even if some
of the things I said were true, I didn't mean them in the way I said them."
Usagi whipped around, tears streaming down her face. "What do you mean, some of them were
true? For as long as I can remember, I have been expected to change and conform to whatever
people wanted me to do. When I was old enough, I finally was able to make choices for myself.
And now you dare to stand there and tell me that I need to change?"
He shook his head slightly. "When I said you needed to lighten up, I didn't mean I wanted you to
change. You keep looking at the pessimistic side of everything, like everyone is out to get you
and your brother. I don't know how you get along so well with those girls out there if this is how
you really act."
Usagi's eyes widened as if he had struck a tender nerve. "They don't know this side of me.
They've never even met Shingo. They don't know what my life is really like at home."
"So what you're doing out there is pretending that life is all happy and fuzzy, while you proceed to
bite my head off during the other hours of the day?"
"You know me better than they do!" she cried out suddenly. "I don't know how you did it, but
you worked your way into my life before I could stop you."
A small smile crept onto Mamoru's face. "I was beginning to wonder about that too. How in the
world did I, Chiba Mamoru, first class jerk, needle my way into to Tsukino Usagi's life?" he
commented, walking closer to the odangoed girl leaning against the wall.
That won a tiny smile from her. "I don't know," she said softly, "no one else has ever done that to
me before."
"Done what?" Mamoru replied, his voice just louder than a whisper.
"Get to truly know me, that someone outside of my family cared about me. Everyone just
assumes that I'm loud, reckless, and a klutz." She didn't look up at him, afraid to see the look
on his face.
Mamoru placed both of his hands on Usagi's shoulders, pulling the girl into his strong embrace. "I
hope you'll forgive me someday for being such a jerk," he mumbled, burying his face in her sweet
smelling hair. Holding Usagi so tenderly like this felt so... right. Like there was no other place he
could be at this moment and feel so at peace.
"Who's to say that I haven't already forgiven you?" Usagi replied through her sniffles.
Mamoru pulled away and looked down at her, eyebrows raised in surprise. "So what was that
big tantrum for just now?"
She giggled lightly. "Because I had to see if you could handle it." He opened his mouth to retort,
but then thought better of it. Bringing his fingers up, he slowly wiped away the trails of tears on
her cheeks and cupped her warm face with his gentle hands. "I never wanted to make you cry,
Usagi." Tilting his head slightly, Mamoru leaned in and delicately kissed her on the cheek.
As he pulled away, her eyes widened in surprise. "What was that for?" her voice barely above a
whisper.
"I guess I wanted to make you feel better."
"Oh." Usagi fixed her gaze on the floor, intently studying her shoes. Mamoru stared at her
lowered head, wondering what he had done wrong now. "Usa..." he whispered, sliding a hand
beneath her chin to raise her head. His eyes locked with hers, and for a moment he stood in
silence, unable to say anything.
She attempted a quivering smile and that was all Mamoru needed. Pulling Usagi close to him
again, he brushed his lips gently over hers once, then captured her sweetness more fully as she
leaned into him, his arms the only thing holding her body from falling as she fell into his dizzying
spell.
Finally they pulled away, breathless and flushed. "What just happened?" Usagi asked, feeling the
warmth creep up her cheeks. Mamoru smiled tenderly down at her. "I think that's what they call
making up."
She giggled. "And that's supposed to count for all the times we've fought?" Mamoru raised his
eyebrows in amusement, then ran a hand through one of her silky ponytails. "If you're asking to
make up for all of that, then I have no objections." He leaned down and willingly kissed her again,
meeting her halfway.
"You know," she started again after they broke apart the second time, "maybe we should save
this for later. It wouldn't do any good if we made up all at once."
Mamoru chuckled loudly. "And I'd better get you back to your friends. No doubt they're
wondering if we've killed each other by now."
Sure enough, Rei, Ami, Makoto and Minako all gathered around Usagi moments after she and
Mamoru came out of the back room. "Is everything all right?" Rei asked, still throwing an evil
glare in Mamoru's direction. "We were beginning to worry about you, Usagi."
Usagi gave them all a reassuring smile. "Everything's fine. Mamoru-san and I needed to talk over
a lot of things. But that's all cleared up," she replied, smiling at Mamoru.
"Are you feeling okay, Usagi-chan?" Ami asked. "You look a little flushed."
Usagi's eyes widened and Mamoru stifled a laugh. "I'm fine, Ami-chan. I think after all that yelling
and being in that little room, I could use some fresh air."
The others agreed to go to the park across the street. Mamoru turned to say goodbye to Motoki,
who was on the phone, listening intently. It looked pretty serious, so he waited until his friend
was finished.
Motoki hung up the phone and looked at Usagi solemnly. "That was your mother, Usagi-chan.
She needs you to come home right away."
"You look so serious, Motoki-onii-san. What did she say?"
"Your brother's been in an accident."