Trapped!

By: Krysia

Rated: PG-13ish

Chapter 17

The arcade doors swung open and four girls entered with a purpose. A girl who had blonde hair tied back with a red ribbon seemed to be leading the group. Without sparing a glance towards the other occupants in the arcade, she headed towards a young man wiping down the main counter.

"Motoki-kun!" Minako flashed him smile. "Aren't you due for a break?"

Without looking at the girl in front of him, he glanced at the watch on his wrist. "Not for another 30 minutes," he responded as he continued working.

Makoto reached past Minako and grabbed the young man's arm. Motoki looked up in surprise. He was greeted with four glaring teenagers in front of him. Well, three glaring teenagers and one mortified blue-haired girl.

"Oh, I think now would be a good time to take that break, don't you agree Motoki-kun?" Makoto may have been smiling, but her voice was menacing.

Motoki pulled his arm out of the girl's strong grasp. "I want to call them as much as you do. But I need to work too. Why don't you guys have something or play a few games until it's time for my break? I have to wait for Unakazi to get here so she can cover for me." The blond-haired young man was pleasant, but firm. After all, he had to work; it's not like any of them had a real job, with the exception of Rei.

Ami herded her friends away from the arcade employee to a booth at the far end of the room. Here they could sit and discuss privately what they would do next.

"Girls, I'm worried." This caused the other three to focus on their blue- haired friend. She was never on board with this whole scheme, but this time, her voice carried a trace of real fear. This captured the attention of her friends. "I've been trying to analyze the purpose of the last youma. It was very different from the others that we fought. Not to mention the difficulty we had in defeating it. Zoisite noticing that Sailor Moon was absent doesn't help our cause either. Depending on what the Dark Kingdom decides to do with that information, we may have to consider ending this."

Minako looked defiantly at Ami, whereas Makoto and Rei looked thoughtful.

"No way! We worked too hard to put this together. The Dark Kingdom can go rot first. We have to do this." The girls stared at Minako in amazement. Granted, she was the one who really came up with this whole scheme and had passionately recruited them to this cause. But this time, her voice seemed to be even more fervent, more desperate and more determined. Her blue eyes flashed. She was in charge and seemed to be daring them to challenge her.

"But..."

Rei gently placed a soothing hand on Ami's arm, her eyes locked with Minako's. "We'll follow her lead for now. The sacred fire has shown nothing to cause us to back out now."

All met each other's gazes before nodding in acquiescence. Then each pulled into their own thoughts while waiting for Motoki to come over to them once he became available.

Unazuki approached the table where the four girls were sitting quietly. She almost hesitated to approach them since their behavior was totally out of character for them. Maybe it was due to the fact that Usagi wasn't sitting with them. She shrugged. They were probably waiting for her to get out of detention or something, and then they would resume to be the loud, chattering bunch that normally graced the Crown.

"Excuse me." She stepped back slightly as all four heads turned sharply in her direction. "Onii-san asked me...."

"Woo hoo! You're here. That means Motoki-kun is on break!" Minako jumped up enthusiastically out of her seat, flung her arms quickly around the startled girl, then turned and raced towards the arcade. Even reserved Ami grabbed her things and hurried after the energetic blonde with nary a nod towards the young waitress.

She turned and her gaze followed the girls as they disappeared out of sight. "That was weird." With a brief shake of her head, she started towards another table where some teens appeared to have just settled.

Motoki was waiting patiently in the employee lounge when the door opened slightly and a pair of blue eyes peered into the room. A quick survey of the room showed him to be alone and then the door was flung open and the four schoolgirls entered. The arcade employee found himself perched on the back of the couch that he had previously been resting on as Minako, Makoto and Rei all tried to grab the communicator that he was holding in his hand. He held it high over his head, desperately trying to fight off the girls. He shot a look of desperation towards Ami as he begged the girls to let go and to get off him.

Motoki lost sight of the blue haired girl as the other three continued to clamor at him. His mouth dropped open in shock as he felt the communicator nimbly plucked out of his grasp. Ami flashed him a quick smile before she hopped off the stepladder that she had found and set up moments ago. The girls turned and were about to descend upon Ami, but her expression halted them in their tracks.

"I will break this if you don't stop."

Rei took a step towards her, brushing her dark hair out of her face. "She's bluffing. Or she probably made a back-up just in case something happened to this one."

"I mean it. Stop now." The chill in Ami's voice was noticeable. The other three girls looked at each other before backing away and moving towards the small coffee table that they had sat around the day before. They recognized that tone of voice. It was only used when addressing the enemy. The ice senshi hadn't been thrilled with the plan and now by pushing her, they were crossing the line.

Once Ami was satisfied that the girls realized that she meant business, she nodded towards Motoki. "Now that we are all here, before we try to talk to Mamoru-san and Usagi-chan, we should discuss a few things."

The blonde raised his eyebrows and his green eyes were serious as he looked at the girl. "What do we need to talk about?"

"How much longer are we going to continue this and jeopardize our friendship with them?"

Before he could respond, the communicator began a shrill beeping. Ami jumped, almost dropping it in surprise. Recovering quickly, she placed it in the center of the coffee table that everyone managed to crowd around and pressed the receiver button.

"Hello? Motoki?"

The sound of Mamoru's voice filled the room. Everyone held his or her breath, not wanting to be the reason that the conversation would end. Motoki glanced at the girls before hesitantly pressing down on the call button.

"Hey, buddy. How's it going?" He had barely removed his hand for the reply when Rei smacked him in the head. He glared at the girl who was annoyed with him. "What? Jealous that I asked what you are dying to know?"

The miko-in-training crossed her arms across her chest. "I would have thought you could be a little more subtle."

Makoto rolled her eyes as Ami dropped her face in her hand. Minako, on the other hand, was practically bouncing in her spot, eyes shining with excitement. This was the moment she had been waiting for.

"Fine. Except it's bad enough that I'm stuck here with Odango..." Mamoru's voice wafted across the communicator.

"Hey!" wailed Usagi.

"...But I'm also missing classes and I will fall behind in school. The least you could do is bring me my books and notes so I can keep up until you decide to free us. While you are at it, bring Odango's schoolwork too. It wouldn't hurt her to study."

Motoki and the girls eyes widened when they heard scuffling noises come over the communicator.

"Give me that communicator, Mamoru-baka. I want to talk." "You'll probably break it with a klutz attack, odango." "Don't call me that, baka. Especially since I don't have odangos right now. Guys! I don't need my books, just bring manga." "Hey! Watch it, klutz!" "You watch it, jerk." "Get your hands off me." "Watch what you are doing!"

Everyone watched the communicator in horrified fascination. There was a screech, presumably from Usagi, followed by a loud thumping noise...then silence.

Four sets of eyes widened and met each other before they simultaneously dove for the communicator. This time, Minako was the winner and she pressed the call button. "Usagi-chan! Mamoru-kun!"

There was no response and she shook the communicator frantically. "Ami- chan? Is this thing broken?"

Ami plucked the communicator out of the girl's grasp. She barely gave it a glance before setting it back on the table. "More likely from the noise we heard, the other communicator was dropped and damaged."

Makoto grinned widely. "What I wouldn't give to have seen Mamoru and Usagi wrestling over that communicator. I wonder where his hands were."

Minako moaned. "Ami-chan...why couldn't you have wired a video camera in the apartment?"

Motoki looked at Ami with interest. "You could do that?"

Ami shot the blonde-haired girl a look that could have caused the boldest person to quiver in fear. Minako remained oblivious as she was off in her own thoughts.

"Of course not, Motoki-kun. That would be way too technical for what I could do, plus the expense. Besides...what we are doing is enough. The last thing we need to be is peeping Toms. Not to mention that a video camera would have been difficult to conceal in that small apartment. This audio communicator is more than suitable for our needs. Or was..."

Ami fought the urge to blush. After all, most of it was the truth, somewhat. She also made the mental note to pay the love goddess some retribution at a later date for putting her in such awkward positions.

Rei crossed her arms and flopped down on the couch that had been vacated earlier. "Well this is just dandy. How are we going to know if the communicator was actually damaged, and are we going to bring them their books?"

Minako gushed. "Of course. I imagine that Mamoru-kun will offer to tutor Usagi-chan and as they are sitting side by side, his arm will brush against hers, they will turn and look into each others eyes, then he will lean over and gently kiss her lips." Her voice trailed off as she drew the mental picture of Mamoru and Usagi falling for each other...finally.

Makoto sighed, whereas Rei and Motoki rolled their eyes. Ami looked ill.

"So, just how are we supposed to get them their stuff without them escaping? I'm sure this is just a ploy to get us to open the door so they can get out." Rei voiced her suspicions.

Motoki pondered for a moment. "I don't know. Mamoru-kun is always studying. I'm not surprised he wants his books. Though I'm a little suspicious that he didn't demand to be released so he could attend class." Motoki laughed. "Usagi-chan seemed sincere enough about NOT wanting her books and apparently her dislike of school is greater than her dislike for Mamoru-kun."

Makoto elbowed Ami. "It shouldn't be hard for our resident genius to figure out a way to slip in their school supplies without them getting away. After all, the apartment design was totally your brainchild."

"Not by choice," the blue-haired girl muttered under her breath. She rubbed her forehead tiredly as the last few minutes tried to sink in. "Give me a couple hours and I should be able to come up with something. It would be best to try to do it very late while they are sleeping." Ami turned towards Motoki. "If you could gather Mamoru-san's things, I will pick them up around 9pm, if that's all right?"

Motoki nodded.

"Hey! How did you work it out so that Usagi wouldn't be missed by her parents?"

The girls looked simultaneously at Minako, who flushed slightly and started heading towards the door. "I've got to go." She glanced at her watch. "It's time to feed Artemis and he gets really cranky if I'm late. Ja ne!" And she bolted out the door.

The other three rose gracefully and began to exit the room also. Rei shrugged and flashed Motoki a smile. "Don't worry. Everything is covered. I'm sorry about the decrease in revenue without having Usagi eating and playing games every day."

Motoki laughed. "Not to mention the audience those two drew with their daily bicker-fests. I wouldn't be surprised if there were bets regarding which would come first...kissing or a fistfight." Motoki stood and placed his apron on. After all, he needed to finish his shift so that he could get Mamoru's things and return here by nine.

"...So, is it working?"

"Well....I'm not exactly sure, but it will...I just know it. You remember how they were in the past."

Sigh. "I know, but how do you know this is the right time?"

"I can feel it. I have to go now. I have to be back at the arcade before nine."

Their voices were low. The cat hopped off his perch of the girl's shoulder, where he was resting so that he could chat with her unnoticed by others. With a swish of his tail, the white cat disappeared into a nearby bush while a young girl with a most unusual hairstyle entered the house.