Title: Sister Moon, Brother Earth [3/?]
Author: Corbeau Noir
Genre: AU, Action/Adventure, Drama
Rating: PG-13
Email: noircorbeauhotmail.com
Disclaimer: Bishoujou Senshi Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi.
Naming Conventions: I'm using the names Takeuchi-sama gave, but I've listed their DiC counterparts in case anyone is confused :)
Chiba Mamoru = Darien Shields
Chiba Usagi = Serena
Furuhata Motoki = Andrew
Aino Minako = Mina or Sailor V or Sailor Venus
Sister Moon, Brother Earth
by Corbeau Noir
Part 3
Sometime around lunch a slightly grungy-looking young man plopped down at their table. "Yo, Motoki," he greeted cheerfully, "wanna go downtown with us tonight?"
"Sorry, Taku, no can do." Motoki smiled over his bento. "Reika and I have plans."
"Ah," Taku grinned back in an understanding common to all guys, no matter what culture they're in. He noticed Mamoru and tapped him on shoulder. "Hey, what about you, Chiba? You don't have some girlfriend, right?" Taku wiggled his eyebrows lecherously, "We'll be checking out some hot chicks."
Mamoru didn't even look up from his book. "I'm busy."
"You can spare a few hours from work. C'mon, you'll have fun, I promise."
Mamoru pointedly flipped another page. Taku frowned.
Ever the peacekeeper, Motoki slung an arm good-naturedly around Taku's shoulders. "Ah, you're getting it all wrong, man," he began jokingly, "Mamoru here doesn't want to go with you not because he has work, but because Usagi-chan is waiting for him. And between you and her," Motoki grinned, poking Taku in his slightly protruding beer-belly, "I can't blame him."
Taku scratched his stomach idly, and studied Mamoru, "Is she your sister?"
"Yep," Motoki cheerfully answered for his friend who was still pointedly not answering.
Taku's narrowed his eyes angrily at the continued insult. "Hey, you know, no problem. I saw her last time, she's that hot little thing with the two buns, right?" He smirked when Mamoru finally looked up. "Bring her along."
Motoki's grin faltered. "Um, Taku..." He nervously eyed Mamoru's stony expression. "Eh, maybe you didn't know this-"
Mamoru stared down at the other boy. "Hot. Little. Thing," he repeated flatly. "With two buns."
"Hey, is that an echo here?" Taku asked in pretend joviality. "Yeah, of course she's hot. I mean, it's understandable you never noticed since you're her brother and all." He pretended to look Mamoru over. "Or maybe you do."
Mamoru went deadly pale. Like a man struck by a terrible revelation that he had secretly known all along.
Motoki watched in horror. "Mamoru..." he whispered, not wanting to understand.
Taku saw he had drawn blood and bared his teeth in a grin. "So bring her, 'cause the guys would just eat her up." He winked slyly, as though at a fellow conspirator. "Maybe if you're lucky, you'll even get to share the action."
Mamoru lurched toward the other man, and Motoki suddenly found himself able to move again; he leapt to his feet to snag Mamoru's arm. "No! Mamoru, it's not worth-" He was flung brusquely aside. Black flashed before his eyes.
There was sudden shouting from around him, the stampede of feet as people rushed past him, a boy crying from ahead, "Chiba-senpai's gone crazy!"
Then someone touched him, helping him to sit up on the cement. "Furuhata! What on earth- Are you okay?" Motoki groaned, vision slowly returning. He jerked in pain when he tried to move his arms, and hissed through his teeth when he saw blood. The girl - she had an incongruously bright red bow in her hair, Motoki noted - frowned and stood up, looking disapprovingly at the raucous crowd behind them. "I'm getting the teacher-"
"What is the meaning of this?" A voice suddenly thundered over the roiling dining area. "Chiba! Taku! In my office NOW!"
Silence and then a scuffle of hundreds of feet as dozens of students suddenly dispersed. Motoki held his arms carefully to his side and peered between the moving bodies to try to find his friend.
His view was blocked as the girl with the bright red bow crouched back down by him. "Come on," she muttered, securing her arms around his waist and making sure she didn't touch his arms. "I'll get you to the infirmary."
As he was slowly led off, he caught a glimpse of Mamoru walking away behind the principal with his jaws clenched and hands still in two tight fists.
The school day was nearly over by the time Mamoru came to see him at the infirmary. The pretty girl who'd brought him in had long left and the nurse was nearly ready to let him go.
"Hey."
Motoki, relieved to see his friend, leaned back in the cot and smiled. "Hey yourself."
Mamoru didn't smile back, just put the bento box and books Motoki had forgotten all about on the table beside the cot and then he sat down in the chair. They looked at each other silently for a long minute.
"Hey, thanks for the stuff," Motoki said awkwardly. "I entirely forgot about them when Aino-san brought me here...er."
There was another uncomfortable silence.
"Um," Motoki suddenly thought of Mamoru's training and that cold blind rage. "You didn't, uh, actually kill him...did you?" He was only half-joking.
Mamoru leaned back in the chair with a grimace. "Just barely." His bandaged knuckles brushed against the knee of his scuffed pants.
The awkward silence returned. Finally, Motoki sighed, carefully sitting up from the infirmary cot. "Look, Mamoru, it was an accident. Taku is a moron." He resolutely did not think of that terrible self-realization he had seen in Mamoru's eyes. He turned away from Mamoru's gaze. "Don't worry about it."
Mamoru closed his eyes briefly, lips drawn thin in his face. He got up to leave. "I need to pick up Usa," he said quietly. "Take care, Motoki."
Motoki nodded, and tried not to think too hard about anything at all.
[End "Sister Moon, Brother Earth" - Part 3]
Author's Notes:
Wow, it's been a long time since I updated. I've obviously moved on to other fandoms outside Sailor Moon, but this series makes me nostalgic every time (it was my first real fanfiction story) and I definitely plan on finishing it someday. Bits and pieces of this story are stored all over my hard-drive, and I'm really looking forward to when Usagi and Mamoru find out the 'reason' for their feelings.
I apologize for this short chapter, but I figured better some than never.
noircorbeauhotmail.com
6.11.04