Author's Notes: Jeez, I ran out of greetings! Anyway, I hope you're enjoying your summer, July has started completely and I love summer vacation! Anyway, before I forget again, about that Usagi-has-an-amnesia thingy, just... forget it for the time being, okies? Um, maybe I'll think of something and put it in the next chapter, maybe not. I know it's kinda buggin' ya, and I'll try my best tothink of something suitable... Gomenne, minna. Just try to forget it. Anyway, here's the Chapter Three, andthere will most probably be two chapters more, I guess.
If you already haven't, go read Alicia Blade's A Dance To Remember, and keep an eye out for Saying Goodbye To Dorothy Smith. She's the best in writing romance, even better than me (life isn't fair!). But, even though you're gonna be amazed with her work, don't forget about me, he he!
Oh, and I LOVED the reviews! You guys are being SO sweet! Every time when I post a new chapter and check my mail later, I know I'll have a reason to smile then! Thanks to all who praise me so much, makes me think I'm worth something, he he! I love you guys, and keep reviewing!Arigatou!
Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER:Well, fine, I guess I forgot to put a disclaimer, but you know I don't make any money out of this and I'm not claiming that Sailor Moon is mine. Well, except for maybe Yaten... he heh. He's SO cute! But, I guess he's Takeuchi-sensei's, too. Mh. Iown the story though!
Title: A Dream Suddenly Come True - ChapterThree
Rating: K+
Author: Sabreen
Unlocking of the door echoed through the big dark apartment, illuminated with the hallway light for just a second before the doors closed. The person hung his green blazer on the hanger beside the entrance and took off his shoes. The apartment seemed empty, so empty... But still, a smile crossed his lips, his blue eyes giving out emotions so easily. He headed directly to his bedroom, not one glance towards his moonlit living room. He walked on his tiptoes, crossing the room completely, before he slowly got on his knees in front of his bed, folding his arms on it and putting his chin on them. His midnight blue eyes fixed on the a bit funny drawing of a guy, that was just being colored, his hair almost being colored whole, standing next to a cute drawing of a girl with two uneven balls at each side of her head, with two ponytails behind her, the two characters holding hands and smiling.
Removing his gaze from the cute and funny drawing, he moved it to the big blue eyes partially covered with bouncy blonde bangs of the girl coloring the drawing. She held her large azure eyes firmly at the paper, biting her lip in determination, with her eyebrows in a frown. The ponytails, that she tried to show as best as she could in the picture, in reality were going from the balls on her head, falling on her shoulders, flowing as a gentlegolden stream down her sides and in gentle arches, spread themselves on the bed. The few silky locks of hair, that began where her head met her long, slender neck ended at the nape of her neck, always stayed in the same position, even when she would move her head. They brushed the nape of her neck gently, so they kind of looked like they are tickling the soft skin. She was lying on her stomach, the upper part of her body lifted so she could draw. Her tiny feet would move every now and then, whenever she would continue to fail at drawing some detail. A small lamp lay on her right side, illuminating perfectly the paper she was working on, but the rest of the room was dark.
He just continued to glance at her eventually, but he mainly kept his eyes on her work. Ever so gently, after about ten minutes of looking her draw, he slipped his arms around her waist, and lay his head on her back, just where she was bent upwards. He closed his eyes, feeling how his heart suddenly became heavy in his chest and the feeling making him dizzy. He gripped her harder, even though he knew that it will make the feelings go even more crazy through his veins... But he didn't mind. He lifted his head from her small back and moved the spaghetti-strapped tee a bit, revealing the milky white skin under it. He closed his eyes, feeling its scent even from the two inches he was away from it, and it made him lose his head. He was all of a sudden dizzy, but recovered soon.
Tracing the uncovered part of her lower back across with his finger, gently, even erotically, he felt her gasp a bit, but she moved on with her drawing. She won't be ignoring him for long, though...
He smiled evilly for a second, before nearing the enchanting skin slowly, and lying his lips on it, kissing it fully. He felt a shiver spread itself down her body, and she gasped, now not trying to hide it. He knew his more intimate touches drove her crazy, and he enjoyed the thought very much. She quit drawing, obviously forgetting completely about it.
"Mamo-chan..." she moaned, her voice trembling.
He lay soft butterfly kisses down her spine, his lips never parting from her skin. He came to an obstacle - the beginning of her silky skirt. He kissed her fully one more time, before setting his head on his previous position - cradled gently on her back. Ever so slowly did Usagi remember her picture and started coloring again. Deciding to play with her a bit (not to mention he loved to listen those little churns inside her stomach) he traced her still uncovered back gently, up and down, up and down, right and left, up and down...
"So, are you staying for a sleepover again?" whispered Mamoru, still watching as his forefinger traveled across her skin.
"I..." She gasped silently. "Hai..." It was more of a gasp than an answer, but that was enough for Mamoru.
He still drove her crazy with it and she was dizzy. It really annoyed her, because she kept doing mistakes on her picture.
"Mamo-chan! I can't draw!" she blurted out frustratingly. He quit, chuckling. "Awww..." he faked.
"Oh, shut up. So, how was work today?" she started perkily, getting over his little tease amazingly fast.
He closed his eyes and just breathed in the scent of her skin. He moaned, stunned. "Nothing much, really. Everyday routine. Just had to stay a bit late is all. And your day?"
"Haruna-sensei gave me detention again. My arms are still sore from those damn buckets I had to carry..." she grumbled. He just chuckled, kissing her skin once again.
Suddenly, her back skewed even more, and he heard her chirp "All done!" happily. Kind of sad that he had to leave this warm and such a divine place to be on, he got his head off of her and moved to kneel beside her and look at the picture she held proudly in the air.
He chuckled. What was probably him and her, just in a very funny version, were standing on a meadow full of flowers. They were holding hands, and were surrounded with little replicas of them, little girls with blonde odangoes and little boys with black hair, probably their children. He laughed adoringly at her imagination, shaking his head. And then, he noticed a small text in the lower right corner. Quickly, before she noticed it, he read it. In cute, kind of slobby kanji, it read,
To my beautiful lover: I will always love you and will always remember your warmth.
I love you very much,
YourUsako
His eyes went soft.
"So? What do you think of my masterpiece?" she asked proudly. He stood and sat on the edge of the bed, kissing her cheek and taking the picture from her to watch it more closely.
"It's wonderful, Usako. Let's go put it on the fridge." He took her hand and waited until she stood up, and then led her to the kitchen. He put the picture on the fridge, sticking it on it with four little heart-shaped magnets. On the fridge there lay a couple of other pictures she drew, all showing him and her. He kept it on the fridge so he could smile every time he'd come to the kitchen, to remind himself how happy he was. He slid an arm around her waist, looking at all those thingies stuck to the fridge. Her drawings, cute little notes she'd leave to him from time to time, cute diplomas she would make him, like 'Diploma For The Best Cook In The World - Mamo-chan' or 'Diploma For The Best Tutor In The World - Mamo-chan'. He loved every thing she would make for him, no matter how tiny it would be. He just loved every part of her...
He sighed and turned to her, wrapping his arms possessively around her and putting his forehead on hers. He looked at her eyes, as she closed hers. Her arms were around his neck, gripping it tightly. He lifted an arm and traced her cheek with it, from her temple to her jaw. She opened her eyes at the touch, her eyes full of blurriness, innocence, undefined love and such a shade of something he didn't recognize, but was crazy about. This mystery that was always around her, he felt like he knew her deep down in her soul and still knew nothing about her. Every time that they were this close, he would feel this burning sensation in him, something that ran wildly through his veins and spread itself almost painfully through his body, like it was devouring every part of his insides, and it just pushed him towards her lips and when he was finally there, it made him ravage her lips and bruise them with passionate and fiery kisses like a madman...
It started again. The feeling of something growing in his stomach... He started to breathe heavily. Not being able to resist anymore, he just covered her lips with his. Kissing her lips, sucking on them and bruising them, he felt like the monster inside of him is being transferred to her... and she started to return his kisses with equal passion... Before it started to be too dangerous, he quit, burying his face to her neck. He held her body so tight to his.
"God, Usako, I love you so much it hurts..." he moaned, breathing heavily to her neck.
She just held his head to her neck, vainly making the twisting of her stomach to stop. The thousand butterflies were creating a chaos in her stomach, and the more she thought of him and his body so close to her the more she thought she's going crazy with all this inside of her... Dizziness connected with the feeling of her stomach being filled with sulphuric acid and she felt like she's going to explode with emotions... She didn't even notice that she was kissing the life out of him. He went down her neck, leaving a trail of tingling spots on her skin.
"Oh, Mamo-chan... I can't understand what's going on with me..." They've finally calmed down. Heartbeats, raging emotions. Suddenly, Mamoru stepped back and they parted completely. It was such a sudden loss without him pressed to her, he was becoming to feel like a part of her...
"Oh, my God, Usako, I... I'm so sorry! I... I just... I exaggerated, I love you so much and I just got overwhelmed with it and... I'm SO sorry! I'll try to get a grip from now on, but it's so hard when you're near..." She just stared confusedly.
"Mamo-chan, it's okay! It's alright, really. Let's go to sleep, I'm really tired." He just nodded.
"Okay."
Fifteen minutes later, the lights turned off and a girl lay on a man's chest, her arm holding his body to hers. His arm was around her waist, his lips brushing across his forehead occasionally.
"Mamo-chan?" a sleepy voice said.
"Hai?" an almost equally tired voice replied gently.
"I love you."
The voice slowly faded to nothing...
"I love you too, Usako... my angel."
Three weeks earlier -
"Arigato."
Motoki didn't even hear the girl who thanked him for the milkshake he had brought her, for his mind was occupied by one single thing. Image, is better to say. The image of a tall, dark-haired man pressing his lips onto lips of a fourteen-year-old, blonde girl with odangoes and two long locks of hair coming out of them. He had been thinking about it, pondering for already a week, and he still couldn't figure it out. Mamoru was rarely in the arcade since then, and when he was, he didn't dare to ask him, for unknown reasons.
He returned to the counter and began making a banana split, unconsciously scooping the ice cream. Suddenly, the automatic door opened, this time not showing a group of excited teenagers, but a man with pitch black hair leisurely strolling to the counter and sitting on a stool, like he had no worry in this world. He left the half-finished dessert to Unazuki and went towards him, this time really deciding to ask him about a certain event.
"Mamoru, I have to ask you a question." He placed a cup of coffee in front of the man and leaned on the counter, his arms folded in front of him. Mamoru raised his eyebrow and sipped the hot liquid.
"What happened to the good old 'hey, how are you' routine, eh? What is it?" It seemed as though Mamoru was relaxed and comfortable today, not at all like before when he was uptight and you couldn't get him to laugh for even two seconds. That was another strange thing Motoki noticed - how he seemed to be happier and more relaxed. Even though it has just passed a week, you wouldn't recognize the smiling man from the grumpy and tired man from before. Motoki had had enough of that, no more secrets. He's going to get things cleared out, and now's the time for it.
"How come that a week ago you were sitting on the stool right next to you, leaning above a girl you insulted so much, kissing her like she was your girlfriend? What were you doing with your lips on Odango's, Mamoru?" Motoki was shooting him a wary glare the whole time, and watched as Mamoru became tense, his blue gaze filling with realization. He gave up from the cup, which was only three inches away from his lips and just held it there forgotten in the air. Slowly, ever so slowly, Mamoru looked at Motoki, disbelieving.
"Don't tell me you saw that."
"If I didn't see that, why do you think I would ask questions about it?" Motoki raised an eyebrow. "And the kiss itself doesn't intrigue me much. What had caught my attention was the fact that after the kiss, she looked dazedly into your eyes and didn't yell at you. In contrary, she looked very in love. And, another thing that is interesting is, that she approached her friends like a little scared puppy, and didn't fight with Rei, but let her criticize her and beat her up with words so she ran out of the arcade crying. She didn't talk at all, just stared at her best friends like they were some strangers she has nothing in common with. Something's going on with her, and you know it. Now listen to me carefully. What happened to Usagi, Mamoru?" Mamoru gritted his teeth and looked away.
"I have no idea of what you're talking about."
"Mamoru, don't lie to me, I know something happened to her and you're going to use that for yourself. Face it, Mamoru, as much as you want to hide your emotions, I can and will read into you. I know you too well."
"You don't know me that much!" Mamoru suddenly straightened his posture and faced Motoki, glaring at him. How dare he talk like that about him!
"Yes, I do," Motoki answered in that same even silent tone.
"No, you don't! If you do, how come you didn't predict I'm in love with Usagi?" That shut his mouth. Therage and rebel inside Mamoru just boiled on as he blurted out the whole story in one breath.
"YOU DIDWHAT?" Motoki's stare widened,disbelief pouring out from his eyes.
"Yes, I told her I'm her boyfriend. She got used tothe idea, so we're officially dating now. And, don't you say a thing, because if you have any respect of our friendship, you'll be a good boy and keep your mouth shut." Mamoru's tempercalmed down and he took a sip of his, now cold coffee.
"You can't go on with this! How the hell do you think you're gonna pull this out? What when she remembers?" Motoki kept shooting questions at him.
"Yes, I can and I WILL pull this out." He stood up and finished the rest of the coffee in one gulp. "I love her, Motoki, and this is a God-given second chance that I will NOT blow out. This time I'll treat her as a princess, as she truly deserves. You can tell me off how much you want, but I don't wantto ruin the first chance in my life to be truly and honestly happy, and I'm not going to." Saying that, he turned around and left the arcade.
Motoki sighed sadly. "I want you to be happy too, Mamoru-kun,but what are you going to do when she remembers? I don't want you to see you miserable..."
Back to the present -
For the one millionth and second time, Mamoru opened the same green doors of his apartment and for the one millionth and second time closed them. The evening was warm, sun was just supposed to set in the next half an hour, so he didn't have any blazer to hang today. He went to the kitchen and took out a chocolate bar from the fridge. So, she wasn't in the kitchen. Honestly, he didn't even expect her to be. Putting that aside, he went to the living room, but the orange-golden streaks of sunlight lit nothing but a few pieces of furniture and a couple of house plants. He bit off another bite of his bar and went to his bedroom... but it was dark as always, and he found no perky girl inside. Kind of sad, he insecurely went to the bathroom, whose door was closed. His hope rising, he knocked gently on the brown door.
"Usako? Are you in here?"
Silence answered him.
"Dammit," he mumbled to himself. "She didn't come this afternoon."
And, for a tiny split second, he almost began to cry.
Shaking his head, terrified, he just thought it was because he was very tired. And then, almost immediately, his phone rang. Getting up, he ran to it and answered, not even letting the second ring to finish.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Mamo-chan! How are you? Ne, a bunch of stuff happened today, you just HAVE to hear it! Can I come by?" He leaned his back against the wall and slid down. He smiled, his heartbeat getting faster. He knew that every time she would come to his place in the afternoon, that it meant she was going to stay there overnight. He would be so happy when she would shower just before they'd go to bed, so she would wear that big cotton pyjamas of hers, and all toasty warm, from head to toe, she would cling tightly to him, and combined with her warm breaths that would brush his bare chest every three, then seven (when she would fall asleep) seconds, it just made him see his room turning for 360 degrees.
"And what do you think?" he whispered dazedly.
"Yey! See ya later, I've got some stuff to do in the house before I go. You know, you should take a walk outside, it's beautiful! I know you're tired from work, but pay a visit to the lake, it's so soothing! I've just been there, and I almost fell asleep, all this sun and the crashing of the water makes you think you're in your bed and somebody is singing you lullabies! But, don't be there too late, because I want to give you a special relaxation treatment, a la Usako! You'll see, you'll sleep like a baby! And more..." Then, a faint 'Usagi, get off the phone!' was heard in the background. Seeing how she rolled her eyes and sighed agitatedly, Mamoru chuckled.
"It's alright, Usako. You'll tell me when you get here. Now, hang up, so your mother can use the phone. And, the sooner you hang up, the sooner you'll get here! Now, hang up."
"What? Noooo, you hang up! I don't want to be the one who hangs up! It's too hard!" He sighed, annoyed, but with an ear-to-ear grin plastered on his face.
"Fine, bye, Usako."
"Bye, Mamo-chan!"
"Bye!"
"Bye!"
"Bye!"
"Bye!"
"Bye!"
"Bye!"
"Usako!"
"You said you'll hang up!"
"Fine, I give up, it's too hard."
"Told you so!"
"Oh, you... Ugh. Love you. See you!" and before he could think, he hung up. Placing the phone on its rightful place, he grabbed his keys and went out of the apartment. It was nice outside, so he decided to take Usagi's advice and go out. He couldn't not notice the feeling of loss when he didn't hear her voice anymore.
Half an hour later, he entered the well-lit lobby of his apartment building, deserting the darkening evening. No sunset was visible, only street lamps and still light sky, though it was very visible that night is near. He looked through the glass of the automatic doors of his apartment building, suddenly remembering her.
'I just hope she is up there...' Biting his lip nervously, he entered the elevator and pressed a button. He didn't like when she would be out in the dark, especially with the news of the increased number of attackers and, he gulped in fear every time he would remember that, rapists. One attack happened in the park his Usako had to go through to get to his apartment, and he preferred her to arrive at his place early, when there are still people in the park. It would be especially uncomfortable if she was out now, in that park.
The elevator brought him to his floor, and not being able to resist, he ran down the hallway to his door. He unlocked the door, finding a dark hallway, and apparently, there was no light in the living room. She had a spare key, so she could come whenever she would like. He gulped nervously.
He knew that he's maybe being a bit overprotective, but he didn't want her to get hurt. He wanted that she would be safe and warm, cuddled with him in his living room, not in some hospital or, God forbid, at a psychiatrist. The thought alone shook him deeply.
"Usako? Are you in here? Usako!" He heard his voice echo through the huge place and bit his lip harshly, waiting for an answer. Seconds seemed like decades.
Finally...
"Mamo-chan! Ugh! Help me, pleaseee!"
Hearing her crying moans, adrenalin rushed through his body and in his fear he ran faster towards the kitchen. He opened the door harshly, ready for mean people holding his Usako tied down or with a knife at her neck, or someone attacking him any moment. He gritted his teeth, ready to kill or be killed for his Usako.
"Mamo-chan! I can't reach this damn porcelain thing in which you keep the sugar! I've been jumping to reach it for the last ten minutes!" Mamoru just stared bewildered for some time, before closing his eyes and exhaling deeply. He put his hand on his forehead and leaned against the wall.
"Oh my God, Usako, don't scare me like that! I though somebody was to slit your throat or something!"
"Uh, I almost got it... What were you saying again? That you thought... WHAT?" She left her arm in the air as she stared at him wide-eyed.
"Oh, never mind. Jeez, I thought I was going to get a heart attack!" He approached the open cabinet that was above the sink and took out a porcelain jar just as easy.
"Here you go. What do you need it for, anyway?" She shrugged as she took out a spoon.
"Oh, I was just going to make you some coffee. One spoon or two?" He neared her and enveloped her in a big hug.
"Okaay, I'll take that as a two." Grabbing the sugar with the spoon and putting it into the water two times, she put everything down and returned the hug. He buried his face into her hair, holding her tightly.
"Oh, just the thought that somebody did something to you makes me go crazy," he whispered into her ear. She smiled. "Nothing can happen to me while I have you. Let's go to the living room, it's nicer there, don't you think?" She poured the coffee into a mug (spilling quite a bit in the process, of course) and proceeded into the living room.
"I was thinking what we could do tonight, and I paid a visit to the video store. I borrowed Lion King. It's a popular American cartoon. Wanna watch it?" He stood on the half way between the couch and the TV.
"Sure!"
He popped in the DVD (AN: Did you honestly expect for Mamoru to have a VHS instead of DVD?) and sat on the couch. Well, not really sat. He placed a pillow on an arm of the couch and leaned on it, facing the TV and letting his legs to stretch themselves on the rest of the couch. And then Usagi sat on his lap, leaning on him and snuggling perfectly in his arms. Mamoru covered them with a blanket, and played the DVD.
The movie was dubbed in Japanese. Usagi was watching it intently, getting emotional with every situation poor Simba was in. And suddenly, he was in the middle of a running stampede of buffalos (AN: Look, I don't remember how this scene actually went, I watched it a looong time ago, sorry).
"No! Simba, don't! You'll get yourself killed! No! SIMBA!" Usagi leaned forward as much as she could, staring wide-eyed at the screen. Mamoru was having difficulties suppressing laugh, but he didn't dare to. And, Simba's father suddenly rushed forward to save his son, and got into the middle of a running stampede... Death was inevitable, and both Simba and Usagi knew it.
As Simba's father was falling, Usagi gasped loudly, covering her mouth with her hand. She leaned back to lie on Mamoru's chest, to drown in his comforting and warm arms.
"No..." she moaned. She was silent, and all she did was stare at the screen, with a hand on her mouth. Mamoru was suddenly warned... He leaned forward to look at her eyes - they brimmed with tears.
"Oh, Usako, it's okay, it's just a cartoon, nothing more..." He embraced her tightly, and she turned around the best as she could and cried in his sleeve. He just petted her head, kissing her forehead.
"It's okay, Usako, don't get so upset, don't cry..."
"B-b-but he was g-good! H-h-he showed S-s-simba e-e-everything and now h-h-he's d-d-dead because of t-t-that stupid heartless b-b-baka! He makes e-e-everyone's lives m-m-miserable!"
'...you tease younger girls, you're so heartless... Mamoru-baka... you're just stupid... you make my life miserable...'
Usagi opened her blurry eyes. What was that? She remembers those words...
That suddenly reminded Mamoru of her harsh words. 'Ouch, that hurt,' he thought sadly. Shaking off the thought and remembering that she loves him now, he continued to comfort her gently. She calmed down a bit, but now forgetting about the movie. The words she somehow knew she said, were constantly repeating themselves in her head, echoing through her head. Where does she know those words from?
And again concentrating on the cartoon, she forgot about it.
Mamoru was a person that didn't show his feelings, that was obvious. But, although he hid the very well, he was experiencing them very deeply inside, so you could see any emotion that he was feeling inside at the moment in his eyes, though he was good at hiding that, too. Sometimes you couldn't understand whether he was displaying pure hatred or pure love. And so, later on, when Scar was fighting with Nala, Usagi turned her head back to look at Mamoru for a second...
And froze.
The cold blue eyes staring icily down on the TV screen, dislike obvious...
'...study harder, Odango Atama... you'll never get a boyfriend, Odango...'
She turned her head back again. What was this... A strange deja vu... God, this was getting weirder and weirder... She remembered the same cold midnight blue gaze on her as the ebony-haired man stared down on her and stroke her without mercy with cruel words... The same man who held her in his arms right now and told her he loved her millions of times...
Maybe she was remembering finally! She lit up at that thought. But, why would she get the images of them two exchanging the worst insults? That worried her...
Thinking about images of a man whom she loved the mostglaring at her and insulting her, she lay, trying tofall asleep, in the arms of the same man, in the same man's bed,held by his loving arms around her.
She turned around completely, andshe looked at his face. She traced his cheek gently, starting from his forehead, across his temple and resting on his lips.
"Mamo-chan... Who were you to me before? Did you hate me? But... but I love you! I don't want you to hate me, I want you to hold me forever and ever... Mamo-chan... Don't frownon me..."
Small drops were falling on the pure white sheets continuously, as a desperate girl held tightly on the man she loved most, crying into his chest deep into the night.
End of Chapter Three -
I hope you liked it! Next chapter's reallygonna be the key one, with the angst and all... But I'm not telling. My brother's making me turn the computer to him, so ja ne, till Chapter Four! Thanks for reading!
Sabreen
