Disclaimer: Don't own Sailor Moon or any of the characters that appear. Just the random people. The plot, however, is mine, so don't you try and steal!
A/N Hmm, I did a few touch ups on this chapter recently. Hope it helped. Lol.
Bishounen Dictionary-
Takuto Kira – From Full Moon wo Sagashite. Very kind-hearted. Quick to catch on too. (Thanks for telling me his last name Sailor Ronin Usa-chan!)
Your Jap Dictionary –
Baka – Stupid/Idiot/Silly etc. Depends on sentence.
Tadaima – I'm home
Yameru – Stop
Itadakimasu – Grace before meal. Japanese say it before they eat.
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The Life of a Guy
Chapter One
Shingo Finds Out!
By Angel-Goddess
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Takuto lightly tapped the bell on the front counter and leaned against the desk casually. "I don't believe you've told me your name," he said slowly, breaking the uncomfortable silence between them. Takuto observed the blonde's stiff actions closely with slightly narrowed eyes. He idly tightened the ribbon that held his ponytail as he awaited the boy's answer.
Usagi nervously glance at her greyish haired companion as they waited for someone to attend to them. "I didn't?" She asked, trying to bide some time for herself to think of a name. What's a good name!? I can't think of one! Alarms started to go off in her head. She wasn't exactly known to be very creative.
His blue eyes wandered over to her, questioning. "No…" He raised an eyebrow at her, the suspicious look entering his blue eyes once again, darkening them a few shades.
"My name's Ren." She blurted out, having no chance to think of a better name. Ren? REN!? Usagi you baka! What kind of name is that!? Part of her mind scolded in embarrassment.
"Ren, hm? That's not a very common name." Takuto commented, trying to keep his voice light and seemingly nonchalant. There's something about this boy that seems a little … odd, Takuto mused as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. I'd better keep an eye on him for a while.
Usagi scratched her head; very much aware that Takuto's distrustful gaze hadn't diminished. "Takuto-san? Why did you help me back there?" She asked, trying to change the subject. She could clearly hear her new boyish voice crack a little. This is going to take some getting used to … she thought in irritation, clearing her throat.
A small smile appeared on his face and his blue-grey eyes seemed glowed in amusement. "Girls can be quite hard to understand," he started, a thoughtful look replaced his smiling features as he continued, "They ahh … like to hunt us men in packs!" He chuckled at his own explanation.
Usagi sweatdropped. Is this how the boys view us girls? She wondered. She didn't know how to respond to that so she stayed silent.
"Yes?" An elegantly dressed lady walked over to them.
Takuto glanced briefly at Usagi, "I've got a new student with me. His name's Ren …" He paused and gazed at Usagi, the look on his face clearly asking for her last name.
"Tsukino." Usagi uttered without thinking. Only when she said her real last name did she realise her mistake. Her sapphire eyes widened and she averted them from Takuto's sharp eyes. Oh no! I can't believe it! I'm so stupid! She looked down at her shoes – suddenly feeling as though they were the most interesting things at the moment.
The lady at the counter looked baffled. "A new student, you say?" she asked, a trace of confusion in her voice. "We weren't expecting a new student …"
Takuto mirrored her bewildered expression. "You weren't?" Takuto turned his head to look at the rigid form of Ren for a moment before a glimmer of light entered his blue eyes as he recalled what Ren had told him earlier. "Ahh… that's right. Only the principal was expecting her." Takuto explained to the puzzled lady.
Usagi sweatdropped. Busted. She thought dully.
The lady was still extremely confused, "Oh," she paused, looking Usagi over, "I guess you can see him then. Wait a moment, please."
Usagi was careful to avoid Takuto's eyes as they waited for the lady to return.
"Tsukino…? Are you related to a girl called Usagi?" Takuto asked, trying to seem casual as he tried to find more information about this mysterious boy.
"U-Usagi? I've never heard of her." Usagi stammered and tried to cover her wince at her mistake. Ohh boy … I'm in for it now… "Why?"
Takuto's keen eyes hadn't missed the way the younger boy had flinched. He had stuttered too. Takuto pretended not to notice the hesitated answer as he shrugged, "You look a lot like her and you have the same last name. It-"
"The principal is ready to see you." The lady interrupted before she realised that she had just cut off Takuto. "Oh, I'm sorry!"
"It's okay," Takuto assured her, "We weren't talking about anything personal."
Ren appeared a little reluctant for a second before following the lady into the office door behind the counter.
Takuto's blue eyes narrowed immediately at the blonde's back as he walked into the room. Ren's hiding something. He doesn't seem … right … Takuto pondered.
"What do you want, young man? Shouldn't you be in class? The bell has already gone." A voice interrupted Takuto's train of thoughts.
Takuto – caught by surprise – jumped, "Wha-?" he managed to croak in his shock.
"I said; the bell has already gone. Shouldn't you be in class?" A short, balding man repeated as he gently nudged Takuto with his wooden cane.
"Oh. Sorry," Takuto bowed respectfully and rushed out of the office, still contemplating over the blonde boy who went by the name Ren Tsukino.
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"A new student?" The principal's deep voice was slightly raspy. His light brown hair – which was starting to go white - flopped lightly on his head when he sat back on his chair, studying Usagi with piercing eyes.
Usagi stared back at the principal who seemed to be assessing her with his dark eyes. Even though she had been studying at this school for nearly four years, she had only managed to catch glimpses of this man. People often said that he liked to keep himself locked in his office.
Usagi was guessing that he was a man in his early fifties. He was dressed too formally for Usagi's liking. He was wearing a white button-up shirt with a tie and black pants. Usagi couldn't see his shoes from behind the large polished oak desk, but she figured it might be black, polished and as presentable as the rest of him.
"I wasn't aware we had a new student," The principal raised an eyebrow as he watched the boy in front of him squirm and fiddle in his seat, "Did you send your enrolment papers in?"
Usagi hated lying. But she had no other choice. She had to get accepted in this school! "Yes … I sent them two weeks ago," she crossed her fingers behind her as she looked at the stack of papers scattered on his desk to avoid looking into his eyes.
"Hm … I don't believe I received those…" he trailed off with a frown before he opened on of the drawers on his large desk.
"Ahh, here we go," He handed her a set of papers. "Fill in those again, please. You can return them to me tomorrow so that we can key them into the school's computer system. But for now, I suppose you can attend the last three classes of the day if you wish to." He massaged his temples with a deep sigh.
"Sir?" Usagi was confused. Attend classes? I don't even know which classes I have. Usagi thought, bewildered. The principal's dark eyes regarded her, urging her to continue. "I … don't know which classes I have..."
"Oh, of course. Silly me, I must be getting real old to forget such things," he chuckled softly, "I'll get my assistant to write out a timetable for you. But for now, I suppose you should just go home. We weren't exactly prepared for your arrival."
Usagi nodded in understanding and forced a smile as she got up from her seat.
"It was nice to meet you Tsukino-san. Drop off your enrolment papers tomorrow at the front desk. Ajakura-san, my assistant, will pick it up from there."
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Usagi trudged home slowly, clutching the enrolment papers tightly in one hand. What am I going to do? If I go back to the house, Luna will freak. No … not just Luna! Shingo and 'kaasan too! Tousan might try and shoot me, seeing as there's a male stranger in the house! Usagi sweatdropped and scowled. She pulled at her short hair in frustration, "ARGH!!"
Usagi earned odd looks from passer-by's who thought she was crazy. She flushed pink and quickened her pace. What do I do? What do I do?! All Usagi felt like doing was to cry and be held in Mamo-chan's loving arms. Mamo-chan … why did you have to go back to America? She looked up at the cloudy sky, her sapphire-blue eyes glimmering with held-back tears. Mamo-chan … what should I do?
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"Tadaima!" Shingo called as he entered the house and closed the door behind him. With a heavy sigh, he took of his shoes and put his bag down near the entrance. Looking down at the shoes, he saw Usagi's pair was still there. So she didn't go to school after all. He concluded. "Oi! Odango? I know you're home!"
Shingo waited for a while, arms crossed. Hearing no reply, he raised an eyebrow and cocked his head slightly. "Maybe she really is sick," he muttered to himself as he walked up the stairs to check on his sister.
"Odango?" He called again, a frown appearing on his face. He knocked loudly on her door and waited. No answer. "Oi!" Again he banged on the door. Silence greeted him. A vein popped up on his forehead, She might be sleeping. I can already imagine her snoozing. He checked the doorknob to see if she had locked it and was surprised that she hadn't.
Peeking his head into the dark room, his eyes took in a slumbering form covered by the sheets on the bed. He smirked, Just as I thought. He snuck into the room quietly, carefully avoiding the clothes scattered all over the floor. He couldn't help letting out a soft snicker that he tried to muffle when he heard a soft murmur from his sister. He roughly pulled the bed covers off the snoozing form with an evil laugh.
"Eh….? Mmmm…mmbble…" Was the reply he got.
Shingo looked down at the form and cried out in horror. "Who the hell are you?" Shingo shouted.
The blonde boy bolted up from his sister's bed and blinked warily up at Shingo. "Huh?"
Shingo was ready to punch the lights out of this guy as he dropped the bed covers he was holding and stomped over to the side of the bed towards the culprit. "Who the hell are you!?" He repeated angrily. "What are you doing in this house!?" Shingo didn't give the boy a chance to answer as he continued to fire questions, roughly grabbing the boy's shirt and pulling him close, glaring into the stranger's startled blue eyes. "Where's my sister? What did you do to her?! Did yo-"
"Shingo! Shingo! Yameru!" The boy cried out, holding out his hands as if showing that he wasn't carrying anything dangerous. "Shingo, it's me, Usagi!"
"Nande kuso!? You expect me to believe that? Get out of this house before I make you!" Shingo threatened, his eyes narrowed in fury.
"Shingo, please! It really is me!" Usagi begged grabbing her brother's hand and clasping it tightly. "Shingo, you've got to believe me!"
Shingo glared and roughly pulled his hand away from the boy, taking several steps away. "Oh yeah? Prove it!" He snarled.
"Remember when Mika gave you a doll back when you were still in primary school? How you accidentally broke it and she was all upset? You didn't want to apologise to her, but I made you. You even gave her a model of Sailor Moon that you made…" Usagi trailed off, looking into her brother's eyes, trying to make him see it really was her.
Shingo's eyes softened and an expression of disbelief and alarm set unto his face as his eyes widened. "Odango!?" He yelped. "Wh-w-what happened to you?"
Usagi whimpered, "I don't know!" she whined, tears collected at the sides of her blue eyes.
Shingo sweatdropped and pursed his lips. "Do you have … a thing…?" he asked finally after a long moment of silence.
"A thing?" Usagi looked up at her brother, confusion showing in her bright sapphires.
"Yeah, a thing. You know…-" Shingo coughed, a pink tint appearing on his cheeks as he waved his hand around near his thighs.
Usagi blinked, clueless to what he was trying to tell her. "Shingo, Just tell me straight out instead of going around it!" she huffed.
"A male organ! There, you happy?" Shingo cried, blushing.
Usagi turned a darker shade of red than her brother; all she could do was mutely nod.
Shingo stared at her in a mixture of horror and amazement. "Whoa … Odango, you've been completely transformed!" he marvelled in awe. "You know … I've always wanted a brother…" Shingo smirked slyly.
Usagi whacked him on the head, "SHINGO!" She hollered.
Shingo winced. She hadn't lost her powerful vocal cords, it seemed.
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"Tadaima!" Two voices chorused from downstairs, announcing their presence.
From upstairs Usagi and Shingo looked at each other in terror. Their parents were back…
Shingo closed the door of his sister's room and locked it. "Ne, odango, you have to get into the habit of locking your door. If Okaasan or Otousan accidentally barge in like I did and see you, it could get ugly!" Shingo joked, making a face at her.
Usagi grimaced. "What can I do if they want us to come down for dinner?" She asked her brother worriedly.
Shingo looked thoughtful for a moment before his chocolate brown eyes seemed to shine in triumph. "I know! We'll pretend that you're sick and that I'm taking care of you! Am I a genius, or what!?" He crowed, looking pleased with himself as he nodded his head fervently, making his brown hair fly around at the action.
Usagi sighed and inclined her head; looking worried. "We can't pretend that I'm sick for two weeks or however long this thing goes for. They'd call an ambulance if I was sick for that long!" She protested.
"How about you're a friend that's sleeping over for a few weeks because … um …" Shingo trailed off, deep in thought.
Excitement sparked up in Usagi's eyes as she added to the plan. "Because my 'parents' are going overseas, but they can't take me along!" She suggested, pointing her finger up at the ceiling.
"Yeah!" Shingo nodded vigorously, a grin on his face. The grin suddenly slid off as quickly as it came and he chewed on his bottom lip, "But what about 'Usagi'?"
"Etto … I guess we can just say that 'Usagi' is sleeping over her friends' house…?"
Shingo nodded, sitting down on the floor cross-legged, looking pensive. "That'd work for a while. But it can't be more than two weeks… it'll get too suspicious!"
Usagi nodded in agreement. It was odd. When she was still on her 'female' form, she didn't really get along with Shingo as much as she did right now. It was moments like these … that you had to turn to guys for help. Usagi sweatdropped.
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"Itadakimasu!" They chorused.
"Oh, it's just going to be so lovely having you around the house, Ren-san!" Ikuko gushed, a motherly smile on her face as she passed a bowl of mashed potatoes towards 'Ren'.
"Ehehe…" Usagi smiled back uneasily as she put two helpings of the potatoes onto her plate. She didn't know why, but she felt unusually edgy in front of her parents.
"So, Ren-san …" Kenji started, pushing his glasses up a little on his nose with his index finger, making the glasses flash almost intimidating as the light caught it and reflected it for a moment. "Whereabouts do you live?"
Usagi stiffened slightly, "Um … not far from here…" she said awkwardly, turning pink at the fact that her voice cracked again.
Kenji grinned when he heard the crackle in Ren's voice. "Voice is breaking, eh?" he chuckled, nudging Usagi lightly with his elbow.
To Usagi, however, those nudges almost made her bruise from the force. She suppressed a sweatdrop as she tried to make out what he was trying to ask. She blinked, unsure what he was talking about. Shingo kicked her from under the table, drawing her attention to him. He gave her a tiniest of nods. "Ahh… yeah. It is." She replied hurriedly.
Kenji started to guffaw loudly, tears almost coming out of the corners of his eyes. "A bit late in puberty, eh, boy?" He asked, mirth lacing his voice.
"Kenji, you're making the poor boy uncomfortable!" Ikuko scolded her husband; a light pink hue appeared on her pale face indicating she was embarrassed by her husband's actions. "Ren, please ignore him!"
A smile crept slowly onto Usagi face. Suddenly, everything didn't seem as bad as she had thought it would be.
A yowl startled them all and they all looked down to find a black cat waltzing into the room.
"Oh, that's Luna. She's Usagi's pet." Ikuko enlightened the blonde boy who looked quite nervous when he saw the black cat; she mistook the look for someone who was afraid of cats. "Oh, don't worry. Luna doesn't scratch. She's quite friendly."
Luna looked up at the blonde with intense blue eyes, intelligence flickering in their depths. Usagi's hands suddenly felt clammy and cold. Uh oh … I'd forgotten about Luna…Usagi thought with dread as she met the feline's distrustful gaze.
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A/N Sorry, I had to end it there. -- Not a long chapter, yes, I know. But its purpose was to set out a few things before we plunge into the deep plot. Please review! Once again, I want you readers to tell me things I need to improve, or what I can add instead of just saying "Continue, it's good."
Much Love,
Angel-Goddess
aka Tenshi-Megami