Sister Moon, Brother Earth

by Corbeau Noir

Part 4

The past few evenings Mamoru had been coming home much too late. At first Usagi didn't worry too much: Mamoru's paid tutoring job at the after-school academy had just started and he often stayed after hours for the remarkable number of students who wanted to progress even further in the lesson. That the group was mostly female, Usagi was not at all surprised to learn.

One morning, as the two of them did their daily ritual of clearing the bedroom into a living room, he suddenly said, "We should buy another futon."

Distracted, Usagi turned from folding the blankets and frowned at him. "Don't be silly, 'niichan - You know we can't afford it."

Mamoru didn't look at her and instead busied himself shoving their shared futon into the closet. "I took Hino-san's private tutoring offer. Money won't be a problem."

Usagi was momentarily startled into silence and she stared as Mamoru wrestled with the jammed closet door. "But you said..." her voice trailed off and Mamoru didn't fill the silence. "You know," she finally continued, "it's not the Classics she's interested in."

He slammed the closet door harder than necessary. "I'm not a fool, Usagi. I can take care of myself. Besides," he turned his face away from hers, "her name is Rei."

She blinked. "I see." And she did - she understood entirely. The long nights, the countless dinners growing cold in the kitchen, the mornings when she woke up and didn't see his face beside hers. Her face felt too stiff but she managed to smile as she asked, "Will you take me to see her sometime?"

Mamoru finally turned to look at her then, blue eyes shadowed. "Usagi. Are you," he hesitated, shame and something darker coloring his voice. "Are you...alright with this?"

"Yes, why shouldn't I be?" She stood up and briskly dusted off her skirt. "Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes. Please open the window for Luna: I heard her scratching the outside glass just now." And she forced herself to walk, not run, out of the room.

It was only much later that she remembered she'd left the blankets still unfolded on the tatami, and that Mamoru had never answered her question.

Hino-san - he still thought of her by that name, no matter what he implied to Usagi - was a very pretty girl. He'd noticed her the very first day she sat down in his class. She was tall, almost his height if she wore high heels, and slender as a young willow. Her long blue-black hair swept nearly to her waist and she always asked insightful questions. Two spots of color appeared on her cheeks whenever she spoke to him. Mamoru noticed all this: he wasn't blind, just not interested.

When he broke Taku's nose and at the same time accidentally put Motoki into the infirmary as well, he finally understood why he wasn't interested in Hino-san. And not just Hino-san, but all the others he'd ever admired only intellectually and never viscerally.

It was because of Usagi. His sister.

Usa, he thought over and over again, as he walked to pick her up from school that day, Usa, Usa. He was in a daze of denial, of self-disgust. Her name he kept repeating in his mind, as though a mantra against all the suspicions, the sudden clarity of the nature of his feelings for her.

Usa, Usa, Usa, oh please, forgive me, Usa...

" 'niichan," Usagi stared at him that day when he met her at the gates of Furikan High. She raised a hand to feel his forehead: His skin burned where she touched him, like a breath upon smoldering embers. "Are you getting sick?" she frowned in concern.

I've been sick for years! he wanted to shout, Sickness to want you like this. What will you do, if you only knew? But you won't know, and I will never tell. Don't trust me so much, Usa, I don't deserve it.

"I'm alright," he lied readily with a smile, ducking away from her touch, and when she noticed with alarm the bandages on his hand, he continued, "The Kendo class was practicing jujitsu today."

Usagi had no reason not to believe him, but he caught her glancing uneasily at him every now and then as they walked home that afternoon. He used his bandaged hands as an excuse not to hold hands with her as they normally did.

It was amazingly simple to ask Hino-san out for a cup of coffee and then accept her request for a private tutoring that he'd once refused because it would take him away from home, and thus Usagi, too late in the evening. From there it was even simpler to ask Hino-san out for another cup of coffee, maybe some lunch, and a movie perhaps? Hino-san was delighted. Mamoru had to remember to call her Rei when he spoke to her now.

"Mamoru," Hino was speaking to him now, smiling at him from across the coffee table in her spacious living room, a plate of Danish pastries untouched before her, "are you free this weekend? I have some tickets to a Kaioh violin concerto this Saturday."

Mamoru laid down his coffee cup in surprise. "Michiri Kaioh? I thought that was sold out months before."

Hino blushed a little. "I asked a friend of mine. Of course," she added belatedly, "please ask your sister to come as well."

"Thank you. I...I will ask her."

She smiled and moved the conversation to more academic subjects.

"Does he look like he's interested in her?"

"Motoki!" Reika stopped kissing him.

"What? I'm sorry, but I concerned about him! Does he? What do you think?"

"I think," Reika began carefully, "that you are out of your mind." She pushed away from his arms and glared at him. "Either that or you're harboring an unrequited passion for Hino-san."

"But I'm just concerned," Motoki protested, reaching back for her.

"Well," Reika smiled, leaning back into his arms, "the way I see it, Chiba-san has a beautiful girlfriend who obviously adores him, and you have a beautiful girlfriend," her hands trailed down his chest, "who will quickly becoming less adoring if you don't quit this nonsense now." Motoki shut up quickly then. Much later, Reika said to him quietly. "Don't worry so much, Motoki. Mamoru's an adult and I'm sure he knows how to take care of himself."

Motoki did not tell her he did not share her confidence.

Despite Reika's teasing remark, Motoki knew he did not really envy his friend. Mamoru's new girlfriend Hino-san was very beautiful, that was undeniable, and quite rich as well, that was also undeniable, but the more Motoki thought of her, the more disturbed he became for Mamoru's state of mind. For Hino-san was almost the exact opposite of Usagi: Mamoru couldn't have chosen a better antithesis if he tried. It was as if he was shouting a denial of all Taku had ever insinuated and he himself had ever thought, and, what was worse, Motoki suspected that his friend was not even conscious of it. Motoki knew that nothing had been resolved.

He wondered if Hino-san knew what she was getting into.

End Sister Moon, Brother Earth - Part 4

Author's Notes:

I actually wrote this section during this summer, at the same time as Part 3 and Interlude 1. I didn't immediately post it because at the time there seemed to be something lacking, something elusive but integral to the story I wanted to tell. However, just tonight, after realizing how many months had gone without me updating this series, I realized that if I had to wait for that elusive something, this series might just never see the light of day again. So, in order to post Part 4 today, I had to revise how I planned to introduce the character of Rei Hino. Initially the girlfriend was supposed to be an originally created character, one that can be easily discarded once her function is fullfilled. Alas, that was not to be.

There's some changes in this Rei's life history, which is why she's not currently living with her grandfather. And yes, I am following her more serene manga character as opposed to the anime. And Rei's decision to be with Mamoru is not exactly as it seems...