Mamoru had to admit, he was sad to see her go. Things were always much more interesting when Odango was involved. Nonetheless, he did rather enjoy himself. He stayed for a little over an hour just drinking tea and chatting with Ikuko.
'How did a woman as amazing as this produce a clumsy girl like that Odango? I wonder what her father's like?' He asked himself as he was driving home. Still he smiled a little at the thought of how Usagi was always so perky. Suddenly he felt a familiar pang in his side. He immediately swerved the car to change directions. His intuition was telling him that they were at the docks. Mamoru stepped on the gas not caring if he got a speeding ticket. He was needed somewhere important.
"Usagi-chan! Get out of bed now!"
"Please just 5 more minutes."
"That's what you said an hour ago. It's 10 o'clock. You can't stay in bed all day!"
"I would if you'd let me!"
"NOW!" Ikuko yelled, yanking both the blankets and pillows from Usagi's bed. Usagi shivered and closed her eyes tighter, tucking herself into the fetal position to stay warm.
"Usagi, it's a beautiful day. Please get out of bed! I'll be back in 5 minutes and you better be out of bed." Ikuko left taking Usagi's bedding with her. Luna hopped onto the bed.
"C'mon, Usagi-chan. She's right. You need to get up." With a grunt of effort, Usagi managed to sit up.
"It's not my fault I'm so tired. That youma was scary last night." After about an hour they had tracked down the youma. It had been stealing energy from a married couple down at the docks. There had been a pretty tense moment when all three scouts had been cornered but as always Tuxedo Mask had shown up just at the right moment and saved them. Usagi had spent most of the night wishing that she knew just who he was and why he was always saving them. Well, she'd been thinking about that a little, but mostly she'd been fantasizing about Tuxedo Mask and Motoki fighting for her love. She sighed just remembering the fantasy.
Usagi went down the stairs and into the kitchen where Ikuko had made her toast.
"Good Usagi, you're awake!"
"Honestly Mama, it's Saturday!"
"Even so, you don't want to waste a nice day like this. Why don't you and Naru do something?"
"Maybe. Oh I know! I'll go see if Motoki is working today!" Ikuko frowned.
"Oh all right, but why don't you give this to Mamoru-san if you see him there? Or give it to Motoki to pass on to Mamoru-san." Ikuko handed Usagi a small tupperware container which held the last of the lemon pie.
"Wait! I was gonna eat this!" Usagi yelled.
"Haven't you had enough Usagi-chan?" Usagi's eyes started to water.
"It's just because I like your pie mama, it's not like I'm a pig."
"Idiot-Usagi, don't be a drama queen," Shingo said as the entered the kitchen. Usagi's eyes started to water more.
"Fine, I'm leaving then." And with that she walked out of the kitchen.
Less than a minute later she came back in, grabbed her toast and the pie and left without a word. Ikuko sighed.
Once out of the house, Usagi pulled out her communicator.
"Rei-chan, Ami-chan, do you have any plans for today?"
"Well, I was going to…" Rei began but Usagi cut her off.
"Great, then we can all meet up at the arcade! See you then." She switched off her communicator then headed off towards the arcade.
"Honestly, Usagi-chan," Luna began, "you're only supposed to use that for Sailor business."
"Oh Luna, lighten up." And she walked on with a smile on her face.
"Oh, Usagi-chan! How are you?" Motoki asked as she entered.
"I'm good, Motoki." She sat down at the counter opposite Motoki. She slid around in her chair a little. She was about to ask if Motoki knew where Mamoru was when as luck would have it, she turned around and he had just walked through the door.
"Yo, Odango!" He said, striding over.
"Yo Mamoru," Motoki said. Mamoru sat down next to Usagi and the tension was very evident.
Motoki was feeling very uncomfortable slid off saying, "Well, I'll just be… Oh, look! Costumers!"
Usagi and Mamoru sat in silence for a few moments before both facing each other at the same time and both starting to say something. They both laughed and paused. Mamoru was just about to continue what he had been planning to say before when…
"Usagi-chan, Hi!" Rei and Ami both came in and walked over. Ami smiled at Mamoru as Rei pulled Usagi aside and whispered to her.
"Did you watch the news today?"
"…"
"Sheesh. Well, there was a report about a group of tourists. All their energy was stolen."
"…"
"It happened this morning!"
"…"
Rei was starting to get frustrated now and the anger rose in her voice as she said, "It happened this morning, meaning it wasn't the youma we fought last night."
"…"
"IT MEANS THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!" As a look of understanding finally appeared on Usagi's face, the whole arcade turned and looked at the two of them. Rei laughed nervously. Ami raised her eyebrows at Rei. Rei just nodded.
"Ok. Let's go then," Ami said to them.
Mamoru watched as the three friends walked out of the arcade. He was just turning away when Usagi came running over to him. He couldn't stop himself; he smiled.
"I almost forgot. These are from my mother." She handed him the container of pie. He was just opening his mouth to say thank you when he noticed that she had already run out. As he turned back to his coffee he thought to himself:
'I guess she's not so bad. Nah, not bad at all. She just might be the sweetest girl I've ever known.' He held the pie tightly as he watched her through the window as she ran off after her friends. He smiled.
(AN: Here ends my first story. What did you all think? I know some of you were hoping that Ikuko would play matchmaker but I had the idea from way before and I didn't want to change it. Plus I don't really think that that suits her character and something I have vowed to do in writing fiction is try my best to keep everyone in character.
Thanks a bunch to Starling Sinclair for the constructive criticism. It helps a lot. I probably won't make any of the changes you suggested to this story but will keep them in mind for future stories. I'd like to be able to look back on my first story and compare it with later ones.
I'm going to write more stories in the 'before they were lovers series' so keep checking for them. Hope to hear from you all in the reviews!)
