Mamoru, in his opinion, felt all too eager for a satisfactory expression to pass through Usagi's visage. Her lovely eyebrows were cutely bunched up in an image of confusion, her glossy mouth slightly hung open with no words to spit out. Her cheeks were pale against her shining mass of hair that so gracefully flowed over her shoulders and passed the small of her back. Eyes so vividly blue with unexpressed emotions faintly reduced in size as a hand flew up to cover the gap between her soft lips. Mamoru couldn't help but think how wonderful the situation was. He stood straight in delight as Usagi's color quickly returned to her cheeks and grew beyond pink. She found the willpower to close her mouth fully into a grin. Bright blue eyes began to shine with joy and tears as her grin turned into a shaky, pearly white smile.

Seeing the now obvious delight that he was waiting for, Mamoru knew that he would never in his life regret doing this for the beaming girl before him.

She looked so alive.

"I…I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE YOU GUYS ARE HERRREEEEEEEE!" Usagi's earth-shattering scream made everyone around her wince. She never could control excitement to make life bearable for others. But, then again, why should she?

"Quiet down, meatball head! Your pipes and our ears can't take much more of the abuse," blamed a smirking rouge mouth.

Usagi's face blew up into anger at the offending voice. "Oh! YOU! YOU!" she ran towards Rei and grabbed her into a suffocating hug, never willing to let go at all, "I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!!" All Usagi could hear was laughter as her precious tears finally managed to pass the barriers of her eyelids.

Usagi's body was pulled into many more hugs. She no longer tried to wipe away the joyful tears that were blurring her vision. She didn't care if she could not see her old friends clearly. She knew they were all there, tightly in her hugging arms, and the thought of it all made her bite her lip, a fresh batch of tears welling up in front of her beautiful orbs. 'Oh no…' Usagi thought as she bit down on her lip harder to hold in her childish, trademark wail, laughing at herself in her head.

"Oh, bunny," stated Minako, pushing Usagi's damp bangs aside and smiling, "please stop crying. If you were wearing make up, it'd be running everywhere!" Usagi laughed at Minako's silly statement and kissed her cheek.

"Minako, it's understandable that Usa's crying…at least they're tears of joy, right?" commented Ami as she rubbed Usagi's back in comfort, ignoring Rei's playful snort against the girl's defense.

"You don't understand how much I've missed you guys!" Usagi exclaimed, her eyes starting to sting just as the urge for more tears subsided. Her cheeks were hurting from all the smiling and laughing and she couldn't help but wipe at her eyes again. "Whose idea was this anyways?"

'Ah, the dreaded question,' thought Mamoru. He wondered if he would regret doing this after all, depending on Usagi's reaction. Mamoru's boyish bangs fell over his eyes that stared down in an act of indifference towards the whole scenario. He felt gazes on him and all of a sudden his arms instinctively wrapped around the girl in question's waist to her sudden hug. Mamoru visibly stiffened at his reaction and the sudden bundle in his arms. He had no idea what was going on as he felt Usagi give one last squeeze of pressure in affection.

A faint "thank you" was heard as Usagi's words breathed against Mamoru's black-clothed shoulder. And, soon enough, Mamoru was left alone, just as confused as Usagi was before the joy kicked into her sense. Shockingly, Mamoru felt a bit of just that – joy - forming in the pit of his stomach. He shook it away as he looked at Usagi's face and felt his eyes widen.

Tears stained her face into a glowing beauty as the light reflected against the shine it left on her cheeks. The sky in her eyes seemed as wide as ever; and glossy as if tears were still threatening to come out, never to end. Her hair gleamed silver as he dimly took in the two buns he missed seeing on a regular day basis. He felt the impulse to grab her and wipe away her non-existing tears as he saw the motion of her biting her bottom lip in self-comfort.

It was just all too much for him looking at the splendor of her expression. 'So…beautiful' was all that Mamoru could think. His heart began to pound excitedly in his chest, he never quite saw Usagi like this before. Her expression resembled that of the princess in his dreams. He never ever felt Usagi matched the beauty of his princess, but the happy glint that formed behind her glass blue eyes washed that feeling away. At that moment, he knew that Usagi bested his beautiful princess in an instant and it pushed him to a confusion he wasn't sure he wanted to understand.

Her eyes looked straight into his with a tilt of her head. Two streams of hair moved towards the side of her tilt. Usagi noticed the slight increase in size of Mamoru's dark eyes. But, other than that, there was no real reaction that she could detect.

She really hated that about him.

He always seemed so uncaring at times like these, but she knew she caught him off guard with that hug. She felt him go uptight after she pounced on him in the excitement of her sudden burst of gratitude. She knew that she'd never thank him enough for doing this. 'But, why?' he looked as if he really did not care, so why did he do this? Usagi bit down on her lip in thought as she stared straight passed the bangs that covered Mamoru's gorgeous eyes, trying to detect some sort of answer.

During all this Minako watched on with a slender finger on her chin, crystal eyes squinting in perception. Rei looked over the two and glanced at Ami who examined Mamoru and Usagi, who were still examining each other. No one knew what to think on all this, the happiness and joy somewhat replaced by thirty seconds of awkwardness. But, that was soon disrupted; thank the heavens, by a sudden scream of apology.

"Sorry we're so late, everyone!" screamed Makoto as two men followed her. One, Usagi did not know but the other made Usagi grin in surprise as she ran towards him. She kissed his cheek as she tightly wrapped her arms around his neck in an embrace.

Mamoru blinked at the act. He coolly placed his hands inside his pocket and looked passed the couple. It was just a moment ago she was hugging him.

"Kiyoshi, I can't believe you were in on all this! You're such a joker, you led me on." She laughed and gave him a peck on the lips and added a, "thank you for everything."

Fists slightly clenched at that. Mamoru didn't invite Kiyoshi to the gathering, but he supposed in the back of his mind that he should of. Kiyoshi did not deserve that thanks. He was stealing Mamoru's thunder (A/N: eheh…you guys watch FRIENDS? Rachel always steals Monica's "thunder.") But, he wouldn't complain as Usagi hugged the smiling Kiyoshi tightly. He wouldn't say that it was all his idea, that he had this urge to really do something nice for Usagi because the thought kept nagging at his brain. He wouldn't say that he really liked the thank you hug that the silver-haired trouble-maker gave him. He wouldn't say just how beautiful she was. He wouldn't say that he was jealous of Kiyoshi for those few seconds of Usagi's excitement towards him. He wouldn't say it because he didn't even know he was or could be jealous. He wouldn't say because what right did he have to even think it all?

Just then, he blinked in response to the form of Usagi directly in front of him, once more. 'Is she going to give me another hug?' thought Mamoru briefly. However, her face seemed too serious and her body seemed too straight to do such a thing.

He was definitely shocked at her words.

"Even though the girls are back…" she started silently, sounding a bit unsure and hesitant, may be even nervous, "…will you still be around to give me your insight?" Her eyes big and blue were looking up with some emotion of hope flickering in them.

Mamoru paused, his hands getting clammy in his pockets as her words caused a memory to appear within a split second.

Usagi's blue eyes rolled as she lay back down on the grass swiftly, pinky in mouth still, "how mature of you to say."

"Ha…" Mamoru looked at Usagi and lay down on the grass again, "On a 'mature' note, if you ever want another insight, meatball head, I'm always around to give one."

Usagi's head tilted as she stared at Mamoru staring at the heavens. He looked calm as the shadows of night danced all over his features. She never really tried to confide in Mamoru at all. After all, he wasn't the nicest person to her, what comfort could he ever offer to her? She sighed contently and looked away from the dark figure next to her. She felt his movements as he tried to adjust his comfort level on the soft grass but hard ground. But, he did sound perfectly sincere despite his mocking tone.

"Okay." Usagi closed her eyes and thought about scenarios in which she asked Mamoru for advice – it was just weird to her. She always thought Mamoru as the kind of guy to…

 Pushing away from the memory and slowly feeling nervous under the penetrating gaze of Usagi's hopeful blues, Mamoru was shocked at his sudden response. The words that came out surprised him more than that of Usagi's.

"Of course not, meatball head. Why do you think I brought them here? I wanted to get you off my back," his tone wasn't playful like he thought it would be and his throat grew dry.

…Of course not, meatball head. Why do you think I brought them here? I wanted to get you of my back… began to echo in both Usagi and Mamoru's thoughts.

Usagi began to cry. A wimper held tight in her throat, escaped passed her lips so suddenly that Mamoru's jaw tightened as his eyes closed for a second. And, he opened them only to watch tears spill silently down a lovely face. Usagi's face was a red of embarrassment and she wasn't sure whether she should be angry. Her fingers were tingling with an itch to say something, to cry harder, to laugh and scream. And, a small gasp for hair through her tears came out. Such a dramatic reaction to his bitter words left Usagi worn.

And, Mamoru knew he had hurt her. Really hurt her. Looking at her, all he could think about was how Usagi really was like his princess, with sadness and tears in her eyes. And, just like his princess, Mamoru knew it was only him who could take away that pain and sadness, but he just…couldn't.

"I. Hate. You." Usagi managed to say in between holding back sobs before she ran away.

Mamoru stood frozen from her voice, from her words and from her emotion-filled eyes.

He couldn't have felt guiltier in that moment.

He would always regret doing that.

'Why couldn't I have just said yes?' was the thought running through Mamoru's head as he saw Rei's hand flying towards him. The sting she slapped onto his cheek didn't compare to the sting he tried to squeeze out of his fingers at the thought of Usagi in tears. He clenched his hands into tight fists.

He hurt Usagi.

He made her cry.

Mamoru walked away.

WHOAHOHOHOHOHOHOHO…you like? I'm a bit proud of this chapter guys. I hope you enjoyed. :)

khuu-khuu: haha…thanks! I missed you, too! Hehe..and that means a lot to me, but I haven't read that story yet… I'll look into it!

Mae: I'm still deciding, but this is a Mamoru and Usagi fic :) So… um… trust me? Hehe, yes, I will find my plot soon enough!

Thanks for all the reviews guys and for reading this chapter! I truly appreciate them all! So...um...drop some comments or whatever you wanna say.

How was your day?

piss out and nadja trips out!