Chapter 4
Usagi stands in the door way with her arms crossed and watches her Aunt burrow further into her blankets making a makeshift cocoon. With a shake of her head, she lets out a quiet sigh. 'Every time that unnamed letter comes in the mail she automatically falls into one of these moods. Who the hell is writing to her that can make her act this way?' She ponders as she watches the small pile of blankets shudder with Hotaru's movement.
"Leave me alone!" Usagi hears a voice exclaim though muffled by the multitude of blankets covering her Aunt.
A shoe goes whizzing past Usagi's head only to hit the wall beside her with a dull thud before falling to the floor. Plushies, shoes and a wallet litter the floor in front of Usagi. She lets out a sigh of relief when she notices that Hotaru only has one shoe left to throw at her.
"You're running out of ammo there, Hotaru," Usagi states with a chuckle only to stop suddenly when Hotaru throws the blankets off only to glare at her niece with a venomous look.
"Then I'll just have to start throwing my lamps!" She exclaims with a menacing look upon her face as she continues to glare at Usagi.
Usagi makes a face and rubs the side of her head in thought of being hit in the head with one. She'd been hit there enough times over the past two weeks that she was pretty sure if she was hit anymore then she would probably end up with brain damage for sure.
"Fine, whatever you want, Taru. I'll come back when supper is ready to get you and believe me; you are going to eat something. If you don't I'll have Haruka help me force feed you again like last time!" She exclaims only to let out another sigh when she notices that Hotaru went back under the blankets and lays there unmoving once more.
She shoves off the door frame and puts her hands into her jeans pockets before leaving the Hotaru's room.
She whirls around when she hears a door slamming behind her and does a double take when she notices that the entire pile of stuff that Hotaru had thrown at her was gone. Blinking in disbelief she looks at the door only to see it shut still vibrating from the force of the door being closed.
'Wow, that was really fast,' she thinks only to turn pale at the thought of her Aunt being faster than her. She shakes the thought out of her head before continuing on to her room. She stops short when she hears the doorbell to the front door ring downstairs.
She raises an eyebrow at that sound, but decides to let the maids answer it. Besides if it was for her they'd come to get her, she reasons. She enters her room in order to finish her homework so that she wouldn't be rushing to complete it the night before school.
She's just about to close the door to her room when a maid rounds the corner and comes to up to her to tell her that she has a guest that would like to speak to her. Usagi raises a blonde eyebrow then nods her head before following the maid to the tea room wondering just who exactly could be here that wants to see her. She shrugs her shoulders putting it out of her mind and continues to follow the maid to the room. The door slightly ajar allows her to catch a glimpse of bright pink hair pulled high up into a bun. She frowns and rubs the back of her head. Her visit couldn't have come at a worse time. Plastering a smile upon her face, she enters the room and greets her guest with a false sense of cheer.
Hotaru lets out a sigh and snuggles into her blankets more after Usagi had left. She had wanted to be left alone with her thoughts, but her niece seemed hell bent on bugging her to see what was wrong. Her pale violet eyes narrowed at the ceiling. How was she supposed to explain to her niece that she had gotten a letter from someone that seemed to want nothing more than break her heart again and again? She knew what Usa would say about the situation she was in. She would say that she should just cut the person loose and never speak to them again. She knew it too, but she just couldn't bring herself to do that. She loved the person with every ounce of her soul and she knew that her sometimes uncaring niece just wouldn't understand that.
She cuts off a sob that had been working up into her throat back down and snuggles under her blanket sanctuary once more. She tries to will the dull ache away in her heart; though in the back of her mind she knows that it's a fruitless attempt.
Usagi sits in one of the chairs and stares down into her tea cup while trying to think of what to say to her guest that sits across from her, but for the life of her, she just couldn't think of anything to say to the pink haired girl sitting in front of her.
"So, how are you, Usagi? How's school going for you? Still got girls chasing after you?" A mischievous look crosses the face of the girl sitting in front of her which was only enhanced by the twinkle that appears in her garnet eyes.
Usagi lets out a quiet sigh and pushes the bangs, which had currently fallen into her eyes, out of the way dimly noting that it was about time for another haircut.
"Oh you know, same ole, same ole. Though there's not much I can do about that," she states with a grimace when she takes a drink of her now, cold tea.
"So I'm guessing in other words, you're still being mobbed like a rock star," the girl adds which makes Usagi frowns at the words then shakes her head.
"What are you doing here, Yomiko?" Usagi asks leaning forward to pin the pink haired girl down with a hard stare. "It's obviously not to ask me about how school is going or if the girls are still chasing me around like a pack of rabid dogs. So why exactly are you here?"
Yomiko lowers her tea cup down to the saucer and places it onto the table in front of them before letting out a sigh. "I was actually hoping to see, Hotaru. It's been so long since I've seen her," she responds quietly with her eyes down cast.
"I honestly don't think she wants to see you," Usagi states; keeping her eyes glued to the girl sitting in front of her as she puts her tea cup onto the table as well.
The pink haired girl looks up at Usagi only to look back down at her hands quickly, nodding her head slightly at Usagi's words. She looks over towards the door and lets out a soft sigh after sometime of internal debate.
"Does she really hate me that much," Yomiko asks; looking back towards Usagi with her eyes shimmering with tears that refuse to fall just yet.
"No, I don't think that she hates you, Yomiko. I think it's more like she can't handle seeing you again because of what happened between the two of you," Usagi supplies with a shrug of her shoulders.
"But, I'm just looking out for her best interests, Usa!" Yomiko exclaims throwing her hands up into the air in exasperation almost knocking the tea cup over in the process.
"She doesn't see it that way, Yomi. She sees it more as you throwing her love away," Usagi states with a shrug of her shoulders. "You know how stubborn she can be."
"Yes, I know how stubborn she can truly be. I just wish that she would see it the way I see it for once then maybe she wouldn't be so bitter towards me and at least reply to the letters that I have sent to her every once in a while," Yomiko states looking tired after her outburst and leans back against the chair to place her chin onto her folded hands.
'Ahh, so that's who writes to Hotaru once a month. I was beginning to wonder if it wasn't her,' Usagi thinks as she picks up her tea cup and downs it in one swallow to buy sometime while she comes up with a response to what Yomiko had slipped out. She looks at Yomiko with a thoughtful expression on her face considering her next course of action.
"Well maybe instead of just leaving her like you did last time with just a note trying to explain why you left, you should instead sit her stubborn ass down and actually explain it to her. I know that it'll take some doing to get her to actually listen to you, but it couldn't hurt," Usagi supplies with a shrug of her shoulder running her fingers through her hair to keep her hands busy.
"Maybe, but it was the easiest way to explain it to her. I'm not very good with confrontations," Yomiko states; looking towards the door again in order to avoid the crystal blue eyes that seem to have the ability to look into her very soul like always.
"And I don't like seeing my Aunt all angst ridden and moody, Yomi! Either you fix this between the two of you or I'll get Haruka to help me. Understood?" Usagi asks; leaning forward in her chair towards the pink haired girl with a hard glare.
Her hands clenching the arms of the chair so hard that it starts to creek under the pressure of her grip, knuckles' turning white from the effort it is taking her not to reach out and grab the woman in front of her so that she can shake some sense into her.
Yomiko's head snaps around to stare at Usagi with a hard look of her own only for her eyes to soften when she sees the pleading within the younger girl's eyes. She nods her head and lets out a sigh before reaching over to pick her cup up and drains it with a swallow.
"Alright, I'll take care of it as soon as I can, but I'm not promising anything, Usa. You're right when you say she's stubborn, but I will try and talk to her the best way I know how," Yomiko states before looking down at her hands then back up again to smile at the younger girl.
"That's all I ask, Yomi. Just for you to try, that's all," the blond nods her head and gets up from her chair. "I'll see if she'll see you."
Usagi walks over to Yomiko and places a comforting hand upon the other girls shoulder for a moment giving the older girl a tight smile. She walks out of the room to go and get Hotaru for the pink haired girl. Thoughts run through her head as she walks towards the stairs. She can't help, but feel sorry for them. The situation they were in was something no one should be in, but the best she could do was try and help them anyway she could.
After a shouting match later, Usagi and Hotaru finally walk through the doors to the tea room. When Usagi is about to leave Hotaru grabs her arm and looks up at her with a pleading look on her face and Usagi nods her head before following her Aunt over to where the other pink haired girl sits then takes a seat on the couch.
Hotaru sits down in a chair that's furthest away from the pink haired girl and looks around idly for a moment not knowing exactly what to say. She never dreamed that she would be sitting in the same area as the older girl again.
"How have you been Hotaru?" Yomiko asks; in the hopes of striking up some sort of conversation with the quiet girl off to her side.
"Fine and how have you been Yomiko-san?" Hotaru questions in a soft voice as she bores a hole into the wall off to her side.
"Can't complain," the pink haired girl whispers keeping her eyes downcast, fixed upon her hands that lay within her lap, her heart sinking when she hears the honorific tacked on to her name.
The two girls stay quiet for some time making Usagi shift around in the uncomfortable silence that had fallen in the room. She's about to say something when she sees Yomiko raise her head and stare longingly at Hotaru.
"Do you truly hate me that much Taru?" Yomiko asks her voice barely a whisper; her hands becoming awfully interesting once again when Hotaru doesn't meet her eyes.
Garnet eyes up at the sullen girl in front of her only to look away suddenly so that she doesn't break down when Hotaru refrains from answering the question. Sad eyes fill with tears at the prolonged silence that stretches after the question had been posed.
Hotaru sighs quietly, her thoughts raging a battle within her mind because of the question that still hung within the air. It wasn't that she hated the girl; oh she did at first but not anymore. Still it was hard for her to voice her true emotions; it was hard for her to say what she truly felt about the whole situation.
"I see," Yomiko whispers dejectedly.
"I don't hate you..." Hotaru pauses not knowing what else to say to the girl.
"I'm sorry but I have some work to do, so please excuse me," Hotaru states before she gets up, bows politely.
Before Yomiko can stop her from going, she runs out of the room and up the stairs towards her room.
Yomiko stares at the place that Hotaru used to stand and lowers her head the tears that she had been trying to keep reined in, now flowing down her cheeks. She looks up when she feels a hand on her shoulder and buries her face into Usagi's stomach then allows the sobs to come, thinking that she was glad that Usagi was there so that she could muffle the sound of her heart breaking into the other girl's shirt.
Hours seemed to pass while Hotaru lay silently in her bed with the lights out. She stares at the ceiling in the waning light and lets out a sigh.
'Yomiko,' she thinks mournfully before turning onto her side and closes her eyes as silent tears slip slowly down her face, squeezed out by the shutting of her eyes.
They had been so perfect together, but she knew that something was wrong when Yomiko had asked her to keep their relationship a secret from everyone else. She wasn't sure why, because she was portraying a male to everyone that wasn't within their family. Yomiko was the first person that she had ever told that she was indeed a female too, but it had changed everything between the two of them.
Yomiko seemed to grow more and more distant as the time they spent together wore on. She was never sure as to why the other girl was doing such a thing to her, but she didn't question it and was just content in being within her presence. As time continued to slip by the strain, however, start to become too much to bear.
Before long, Yomiko stopped coming over and they stopped hanging out together like they used too. The more distant they got, the more desperate Hotaru got to try and keep their relationship together. She tried so many things, but no matter what she tried to do, it never seemed to be enough for her love Yomiko.
Then one day, she received a letter in the mail from her love was the most eye opening, yet painful day she could experience. In the letter it stated that Yomiko was actually a lesbian and that their school knew that she was one. She didn't want to risk Hotaru's identity because of her straight forwardness and so she was breaking it off with Hotaru.
Devastated Hotaru had retreated back to her room for days. Finally fed up with it Usagi and Haruka had literally dragged her from her room with her kicking and screaming the entire way. They sat on either side of her taking turns forcing her to eat. The only saving grace was that Yomiko had broken up with her during the summer holiday so she didn't miss any school due to her self-imposed imprisonment.
Absently she wondered how long Yomiko would continue to pursue her to try and explain her actions. How long before the girl would finally give up on her and go out with someone else instead of her. On one hand she wished desperately to be reunited with her once again but on the other hand, she didn't want to be the girl's last resort or even for it to be the way it was in the end of their relationship. She sighed while she held on tightly to a small bear that her mother had given her when she was a little girl. She was so confused and lost when it came to her feelings towards the pink haired girl. Her eyelids lowered as exhaustion seeped into her body. The arrival of her letters usually left her feeling so drained because it evoked so many conflicting feelings within her. She wasn't prepared for what it would be like to actually see her in person. She was finding that seeing her was by far worse than the letters that she was receiving monthly. Right now her mind, body and heart pleaded for her to drift off into oblivion and for a little while pretend that everything was okay. Shifting into a comfortable position, she slowly succumbs to the exhaustion that has been screaming at her and allows her mind to finally drift into the abyss that beacons to her.
Saturday dawns bright and clear with the blue skies betraying the fact that it's chilly outside. Usagi stands beside the window and stretches, her mouth opening wide in a jaw popping yawn. The whole night she had been plagued with dreams about a certain raven haired banshee, enough so that it kept her from getting a decent night's sleep, but she knew that her father wanted her to be up early for their morning workout.
She sighs when she remembers that her Aunt Haruka and Michiru had come over after Yomiko had left stating that they wanted to take her out to a party tonight so that she can wind down from the week that she had. Usagi gave each woman a strange look asking them, "How can a party help me wind down?" She proceeded to make a comment about the fact that she thought Haruka still lived at the mansion since she was there all the time. That comment had earned her a smack to her shoulder from her blonde haired Aunt who then rolled her eyes and agreed with her on the statement.
She tried to get out of it, but Michiru had come up to her side and smiled at her prettily before saying that it would be great to spend some time with her. Usagi looked at Haruka then narrowed her eyes to slits when she realized the reason that Haruka had brought Michiru with her.
After a couple of minutes of poking and prodding her to get her to go, she relented just so that the two older women would leave her alone. Haruka had grinned before telling her what time to be ready and what to wear since the party was going to be a masquerade party.
Usagi nodded her head before leaving the room and went up to her room to get some much needed sleep after the day she had.
She shakes her head and lets out a sigh after returning from her musings then slips on her work out clothes.
'The things that I get put through,' she thinks as she heads down the stairs to the gym to be put through the wringer by her father once again.
"We're doing what, before the party?" Usagi grumbles; tugging on her jacket that was currently being altered for the party that night.
"We're going to a concert. The party afterwards is more or less to honor Michiru since she'll be the guest of honor and all," Haruka answers; buffing one of her cuff links on her jacket before looking over towards Usagi who's standing on a stool.
"I thought you said that this is a masquerade party, Ruka!" Usagi exclaims as she waves a hand around which earns her a hard glare from the tailor that is crouching down next to her pant leg.
"Well, it is. Now, stop fidgeting so that Ryu can finish up the hemming," she states with a twinkle in her eyes.
Usagi rolls her eyes and stops moving around so that the hemming will be done and over with. She glares at her Aunt in anger, but it only makes Haruka's smile grow bigger at the uncomfortable way that Usagi is standing.
"Don't worry, Usa. It'll be fine and you'll have fun. So all of this standing around looking like a dork will be worth it," Haruka states with a chuckle which causes Usagi to stick her tongue out at her.
Usagi walks out of the concert hall with a large grin upon her face. The concert had been surprisingly good. She had actually enjoyed listening to Michiru play the violin. She had sat very still during the performance, her eyes wide open as she watched the older woman weaves tales using only her violin to tell the stories. She leans her head to the side thinking as to when she had enjoyed a concert so much, but couldn't come up with any other time before now. The majestic feel of the music had lost its luster after all the meaningless concerts her father had dragged her to. She supposed that maybe she saw the quality within the music once again because her father wasn't there with her at all and it wasn't a public relations outing, but just a night out with her Aunt.
The fact that Usagi was grinning ear to ear after the concert was not lost upon the older couple. They look at once another and smile. They were truly glad that they could give the younger woman a break from the demands that the family put upon someone as young as her.
"I'm glad that you enjoyed the concert so much," Michiru comments; walking with her arm linked with Haruka's. "Ruka said that you were grumbling about it, but when she looked over she noticed that you were actually enjoying yourself."
"Yeah, well, dad used to drag me off to a bunch of different concerts for the publicity it would bring to the company. After a while they just weren't the same. Having to stand around while my father posed for the cameras wasn't all that much fun for me. I think though that you've rekindled the joy I once got from them," Usagi states with her hand rubbing the back of her head while she chuckles in embarrassment.
"I'm sure that the girls who were hitting on you helped too," Ruka states; looking back at Usagi whose face had gone to an interesting shade of red.
"Err, well, yeah, I suppose so," Usagi states in a bashful voice as she gets into the car before Michiru so that the older girl can sit beside Haruka in the passenger seat.
"So are you ready for the party then?" Michiru asks after turning around in her seat to look at Usagi who shrugs her shoulders.
"As ready, as I'll ever be, I suppose, Michi. I've never been to one of these parties before. Sure I've been to a formal party, but never a masquerade party."
"Don't worry about it so much. You'll be a hit at the party. Every eligible girl in the room will want to dance with such a dashing young man," Michiru states with a twinkle of mirth in her eyes.
"Sure, whatever you say, Michi," Usagi states with a laugh and roll of her eyes.
"Oh, don't knock it, Usa. You look great and you know it," Ruka chuckles sliding into the driver seat where she starts up the car and pulls the car out of the parking lot trying to beat the rush of cars doing the same.
'Well, maybe, but there's only one girl that I want to notice me,' Usagi thinks only for her eyes to widen at the thought that had crossed her mind. 'Where in the hell did that come from? I must be more tired than I thought. Yeah, that's it. I'm just tired,' she thinks to herself with a nod of her head and turns her head to stare out to the window as Haruka maneuvers the car through the traffic to get to where the party is being held.
After finally finding a place to park, Usagi gets out of the car with a raised eyebrow at the set of steps off to the side of the mansion in front of them. Her eyes trek up the steps to where she can just barely make out a large structure up at the top of the steps. She shrugs her shoulders at the mysterious building and follows her Aunt up towards the mansion.
Shoulders sagging a little, she casually peers around through her long bangs, almost wishing that her moody, brooding Aunt was with her right now. She wasn't sure how she could get through this by herself and not want to bolt for the exit the moment they entered the extravagant home.
Letting out a sigh and she notices that they are standing in front of a man that is asking for their coats. 'Well it's too late to back out now,' she muses to herself before she hands over her leather bomber jacket to the coat checker.
Entering into the ballroom, she takes in the large number of people that are milling around tables and the dance floor. When the trio walks into the room it seems that every eye suddenly hones in on them. She gulps soundlessly as she threads her fingers through her hair trying to rein in on her nervousness. She knows that she's wearing a mask, but at the moment it feels like she's more exposed then she has ever been before.
Worrying her bottom lip, she lets a sigh escape soundlessly between her lips. 'I think this was a big mistake,' she muses just before noticing a pink haired girl making her way over towards them. 'Oh, Kami, it just got worse.'
Usa leans back against the wall watching everyone in the room, arms are crossed over the front of a white tux jacket with her black slacks covered leg bent at the knee and her foot rests on the wall behind her. Crystal blue eyes scan the room taking in the inhabitants of the ballroom. A hand reaches up to rake through platinum blonde locks as a sigh of relief explodes from her lips when she notices that Yomiko is wondering off in the opposite direction of the wall she is currently squandering.
Upon entering the large ballroom earlier Yomiko had ran up to the startled young woman and started to thank her profusely for allowing her the time to come to terms with her feelings. As the woman continued to gush, Usagi had blushed fiercely while the woman in front of her continued to go on. Over her shoulder, Usagi notices Hotaru looking at the two girls with a slight frown upon her face.
She had extracted her hand away from Yomiko with as much tack as she could muster and told her that she was going off somewhere before leaving the other girl standing in the middle of the ball room floor with a slight frown on her face. Walking away with her head downcast, she loses herself within the crowd of people so that, Yomiko couldn't follow her. She had stalked over to the wall hoping against hope that the other woman wouldn't find her for the rest of the night so that she could avoid conflict with her angry looking Aunt.
'Hmm, serves her right. She might have been trying to do the right thing by leaving Hotaru, so that no one would find out that my Aunt was a girl, but that doesn't excuse her for all the other horrible crap she's done,' Usa thinks to herself with a shake of her head.
Pushing away from the wall she decides that since Yomiko's attention is currently upon trying to find her that she might as well grab something to drink. She licks her lips realizing that she hasn't had anything to drink since her escape from the persistent older woman.
She makes her way over to the punch bowl, excusing herself as she gets jostled on her way there and knocked into a woman who just smiles at the young woman as she blushes, stuttering out an apology. She hastily makes her way the remaining steps to the punch bowl and lets out a sigh of relief.
Reaching out a hand to grab a glass, her eyes snap towards her right side when she sees a familiar flash of hair, but it's gone before she can see who it is. She jumps when another hand comes into contact with her own.
Turning her head back to the front, a small gasp slips past her lips when her gaze happens upon a beautiful woman standing in front of her. The woman is dressed elegantly in a long sleeved, silky red dress, the straps of the dress crosses into a v at the base of her neck, resting upon her cleavage is a silver phoenix suspended by a gold chain.
Crystal blue eyes travel up a slender neck to a face that is half covered by a mask. Amethyst eyes sparkle behind the mask. Usagi tilts her head to the side for a moment as she gets the feeling that the eyes looking back at her are very familiar.
A slight shake of her head at the feeling before she pulls her hand back for a moment to allow the other woman to get a glass of punch. When the other woman doesn't react she reaches back out to grab a glass of the red liquid and hands her a cup of punch. She smiles at the woman and bows to the woman gentlemanly.
The other woman just continues to stare at her. She raises an eyebrow at this, but shakes her head slightly about faces and walks away from the punch bowl, pondering why she did what she did with a look of thoughtfulness upon her face.
Rei releases the breath that she hadn't realized that she had been holding as the young man walks away from her. Leaning her head towards the side she wonders if the man that had just been standing there was actually Ren-san like she thought it was.
Shaking her head she wonders why she cares for what seems like the hundredth time this past week alone. She walks away from the refreshment table looking for her friends. Pausing for a moment she looks back to where she saw the youth walk to only to notice a blue haired girl talking to him.
Turning back around she continues on her way towards her friend who are seem to be looking towards the place that she had just recently been staring at.
"Hey, isn't that, Ren-san?" Minako asks trying to stand on the tips of her toes to get a better look at the platinum blonde boy standing a couple of yards away.
"I wouldn't know," Rei mumbles; absently rubbing the back of her hand where the blonde haired boy had touched it.
"Who's the girl that he's talking to?" Makoto questions the others as she watches the two teens talking.
"I don't know. I've never seen her before," Minako glances over towards Rei who is currently crushing her empty glass with a look of annoyance on her face.
"Hey, there's Taru. I'll bet he knows if that's Ren-san or not," Makoto points over towards Hotaru who is currently standing at the other end of the room watching someone.
The three girls make their way through the crowd towards, Hotaru, who's currently watching a pink hair girl talking to another man in a powder blue tux. She's so engrossed with her vigilance that she doesn't notice the three teens walking up to her until Makoto is standing right beside her.
"Who are you staring at, Taru?" Makoto asks quietly which results in Hotaru jerking slightly before looking at Makoto.
"Oh, Makoto, I didn't know you were there. What did you say?" She sneaks a quick glance over towards Yomiko.
She turns her focus back to Makoto when she hears a slight laugh only to notice that the other girl is currently smirking at her with a knowing look upon her face.
"Oh, well it's nothing really. So, can you tell us if that's Ren-san over there," Makoto asks while pointing towards the blonde haired boy who's still talking to a bluenette.
Hotaru stands on the tips of her toes in order to get a better look at the person that Makoto is pointing at. She raises an eyebrow when she indeed sees, Usa, standing by her cousin before she leads her out onto the dance floor and begins to dance with the girl.
"Yeah, that's Ren, alright," Hotaru answers before lowering herself to a normal standing position.
'I wonder how, Ami, was able to get her out onto the dance floor? Usually, Usa, hates to dance,' Hotaru asks herself before turning her attention back to Makoto.
"I didn't know he was coming," Minako states with an eyebrow raised in surprise. "Wow, he's a really good dancer."
The other two girls crane their necks to see Usagi gliding across the dance floor with the girl that he had been talking to. Makoto and Hotaru glance at each other with their eyebrows raised before turning their attention back to the dancing teens.
"See, I told you it was easy," Usagi smiles as she guides her cousin, Ami, across the dance floor.
"You're very good. Are you sure you can't dance or is it more that you're too shy to actually dance with someone else?"
Ami blushes a light red before looking down at her feet. "I guess it's more that I'm too shy to actually dance with anyone else here. Thank you for dancing with me, Ren. I really do enjoy dancing."
"Well, that makes one of us. Usually, I don't like to dance, but I figured that I'd make an exception with you. You are family after all," Usagi states with a chuckle before winking at her cousin when she notices other guys looking at her with envy.
"I'm thinking that there are plenty of guys here that would love to dance with you."
"You're just saying that, Ren. Why would any of the guys here want to dance with me?" The bluenette questions blushing even more.
"You know you really don't give yourself enough credit," Usagi states while guiding her over to where a bunch of guys stand staring at the duo.
"You see those guys over there? They are watching you because you are gorgeous. Any idiot can see that, Ami."
Ami looks down at her feet once again before looking back up at her cousin with a serious expression on her face. "Can I confess something to you without you getting mad?"
"Hey, you can tell me anything. I promise that I won't get mad at all," Usagi states with a serious expression upon her face.
Ami licks her lips while furrowing her eyebrows.
"I'm not really into, guys. I haven't been for a while and the real reason I asked to dance with you isn't only because you're my cousin nor just because I wanted to dance, but more along the lines that you're safe. You're family and I know that you won't try to cop a feel while we dance," Ami explains with a slight blush on her face.
"Is that all? And here I was thinking that you were going to tell me that you want to run away with the circus or something," Usagi states with a slight chuckle at her joke then shakes her head.
"But seriously, that doesn't bother me, nor does it make me mad. Actually, it explains some things about yourself; really and please believe me when I say that I'm glad that I'm getting to know you, Ami. It's sort of nice to have someone else in the house besides Hotaru that's around my age."
Ami looks up at her cousin and lets a large smile cross over her face before she allows herself to dance happily with her cousin while they chat about school, their childhood and some funny stories about growing up with their Aunts.
Rei watches the two teens dancing with her arms crossed over her chest, a dark look crossing over her face as she watches the blonde haired boy laugh and shake his head at something the blue haired girl had said.
"How about instead of moping around over here you go over to Ren-san and ask him to dance?" Minako asks making Rei jump and spin around to glare at her blonde haired friend.
"Why would I want to dance with that baka?" Rei grumbles after regaining her composer and crosses her arms over her chest once again with a scowl on her face.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe, because if you glare at Ren-san anymore then you are now, he's going to combust into a ball of fire," Minako states with a wave of her hand.
"Look, Rei. I know how you are. I know what you like and maybe just maybe you like this boy. Yes, it does seem ridiculous, especially with what you had confessed to me a year ago, but maybe there's something about this boy that is making you actually notice him."
Rei scoffs and shakes her head before looking away from the dancing boy back towards her friend with an angry look on her face.
"I don't want anything to do with that perverted boy, Mina. So get that thought out your mind right now," she states angrily and stalks off towards the refreshment table once again.
Minako lets out an exasperated sigh as she turns back towards her two friends with a shrug of her shoulders that says, "Well, I tried".
The other two nod their heads as they look over towards the blonde and his dancing partner only to see a pink haired girl walking up towards them with what seems like a determined look upon her face.
The blonde turns towards Taru and is about to ask him if he knew who the girl is only to stop when, she notices a dark look pass over the dark haired boys face as his eyes narrow to slits.
Minako and Makoto exchange looks at the sudden change of attitude in their young friend, but they both decide not to voice their concerns over the change. Turning away from the fuming young man they watch the interaction between Ren-san and the pink haired girl. With a shake of their heads they can't help but wonder just what exactly is going on with the people within their little group right at this moment.
Rei lets out a scoff while her mind wanders back to the conversation she had with Minako before she stalked off towards the refreshment table. She notices that the bluenette that Ren-san had been dancing with is currently standing in front of the punch bowl pouring a glass of punch for her-self.
'Well, it can't hurt to find out what the relationship is between those two. It's not because I care, but it just looked like they had danced that way more than once and I'd like to know where they learned how to dance like that. Yeah, that's all it is,' Rei thinks to her-self before slowly making her way over towards the other girl.
When she's close enough to the bowl she reaches out for a cup only to accidentally knock her hand against the other girls. They both apologize to each other before they laugh softly with the short haired girl blushing slightly.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention," the blue haired girl states before bowing to Rei who blushes slightly as well.
"No, no. It's alright, really. I was a bit preoccupied with my thoughts," Rei states while rubbing the back of her neck.
"Oh, that's alright," the blue haired girl states before reaching out for a cup of punch after Rei does.
"I'm Hino Rei by the way," Rei states before bowing towards the other girl who smiles back at the raven haired girl.
"I'm Mizuno Ami. It's a pleasure to meet you, Rei-san," the bluenette states politely before taking a sip of her punch.
"Please call me, Rei," Rei offers before taking a drink of her own punch before turning away from the girl and leans against the table only to see that boy dancing with a pink haired girl now.
"You can call me, Ami, if you'd like," the girl states from beside Rei which causes Rei to look back over towards the girl with a slight embarrassed look on her face.
"I'd like to very much. So, tell me, how do you know, Ren-san?" Rei blurts out then rolls her eyes slightly at her outburst. "I mean, how did you two meet?"
Ami lets out a chuckle before looking over towards Ren who's still dancing with Yomiko, but from the look on his face he'd rather be anywhere but there.
"Oh, well, Ren is my cousin. I asked him if he'd dance with me because I was sort of shy to ask any of the other guys. Well, that and I felt safer dancing with him than anyone else really," Ami answers with a smile on her face. "He really is a great dancer, even though he doesn't like too."
"He's your cousin?" Rei asks with a raised eyebrow at the information that Ami had given her.
"Yeah, he is. He was just being nice to me," Ami states with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Wait, Ren-san is nice? I find that hard to believe," Rei states with a shake of her head.
"Yeah, he really is. It's hard to believe and you have to dig deep down into him, but the niceness is there. I think he's had a hard life and that's made him sort of hard to get to know. I think it made him put up walls to block everyone out except for family, but it is there," Ami answers with a chuckle at the look of horror on her cousin's face. "I should go save him, before he decides to jump out of a window. It was nice meeting you, Rei."
"It was nice meeting you as well, Ami," Rei states before watching Ami make her way over towards her cousin with a raised eyebrow. 'Ren-san's nice? Who would've thought that?' Rei asks herself before shrugging her shoulders then walks back over towards her friends once more while hoping that Minako wouldn't make any more comments about liking Ren-san.
When she reaches her friends she notices the dark cloud that is currently hovering over Taru's head. She looks over at her two friends who only shrug their shoulders at the silent question that she asks them. 'Maybe Ren-san stole his girlfriend,' Rei muses before getting into a quiet conversation with Makoto so that they don't interrupt Taru's sulking.
Later that night Usagi arrives back home with her Aunt and Michiru. She lets out a sigh of relief when she enters the tea room and falls over on to the couch, covering her eyes with her. She lets out a groan as she reaches down to her feet and begins rubbing them.
"I haven't danced that much since well forever," Usa states before she hears a chuckle from the other two occupants of the room before the door to the tea room opens up.
"I have a surprise for you!" An excited male's voice exclaims and she lowers her arm to see her father standing in the doorway with an excited look upon his face.
She lets out a groan before sitting up with an exasperated look upon her face. "And this is why I don't invite any friends over."
Her father rolls his eyes before he tosses her an envelope.
"Here smart ass. This is your early birthday present. There are four tickets in there for that comic convention you wanted to go to. I figured that with all the training that I've put you through that you could use the time off," he states with a smile on his face before Usagi gets up from the couch and gingerly makes her way over to her father then hugs him gently.
"Thanks pop. I really could use a vacation after all of the excitement that I've been put through," she states with a chuckle and goes back to sit on the couch in the similar position she was in before.
He smiles then nods his head towards Haruka and Michiru who give him a ghost of a wink just as he walks out of the room leaving the three girls to themselves once again.
"So, I noticed that Yomiko wrangled a dance out of you tonight," Haruka states; perching on the arm of the couch looking down at a sleepy looking, Usa.
Usa lets out a groan and places both hands over her eyes then shakes her head. "I don't even know why she wanted to dance with me to begin with when all she did was ask me about Hotaru and would talk about nothing else, but her. What is her malfunction anyway?"
Michiru and Haruka exchange looks before looking over at the young girl lying on the couch who continues to cover her face with her hands. Haruka shrugs her shoulders then lets out a chuckle.
"Well, maybe she's trying to make you jealous or something. Maybe she likes you and wants to judge how you react to her talking about your aunt," Haruka states while rolling her eyes at the eep that comes from Usagi.
"Kill me. Just kill me now! That's all I need is another crazed girl coming after me because she thinks that I'm the best thing since slice bread!" Usagi exclaims before shaking her head. "What the hell is wrong with these girls? Don't they have anyone else to go after and torture beyond all comparison?"
Haruka falls off the arm of the couch laughing her ass off while Michiru gives Usagi a sympathetic look when the girl groans and covers her face this time with a small pillow that was once resting behind her head.
'This is going to be a long week,' Michiru muses before closing her eyes and shakes her head when she hears a yelp come from Haruka.
Rei had asked Minako to say over night after the party to which the blonde haired girl had complied with since she would be going to an empty house once again when she got home.
After the party had ended the two girls had retired to Rei's room where they were currently sitting. Well, Minako was sitting while Rei paced around the room ranting and raving about a certain blonde haired boy that they both knew.
"He was dancing with his cousin, Mina. His cousin for Kami-sake! Who dances with their cousin to begin with?" Rei rants while waving her hands around in the air to enhance her point.
"Well, maybe he was being nice. Maybe his cousin didn't know anyone there and didn't want to dance with someone that was unknown to her," Minako supplies with a shrug of her shoulders while she watches Rei stop and stare at her as if she grew another head.
"Or maybe he's just a hentai freak that has incestuous relationships with his family!" Rei exclaims while placing her hands on her hips.
"Rei, I really don't think that's the case here. I think that you are reading way too much into this whole thing. I mean really. Taru's his Uncle and does he seem to be engaging in incestuous relationships to you?" Minako asks while rolling her eyes while Rei sputters for a good response to her question.
"Do you think that he's really that big of a jerk?"
Rei stops her pacing around then lets out a sigh while she thinks about the boy in question. There were instances where he seemed to be really nice and instances where he was a real big jerk.
"He can be a jerk... most of the time," she concludes with a shake of her head.
"Hmm... Rei are you sure that you aren't in love with Ren-san?" Minako questions while raising an eyebrow at her friend.
Rei's eyes bug out at the question and she glares at her lifelong friend with a mixed look of rage and well rage.
"W-what! Mina, are you sure that you aren't deaf or something? I just told you that the guy's a jerk, not to mention a pervert, a hentai freak," Rei rants while she paces around the room with her arms flailing.
"Yes, yes alright I get it. He's a Super pervert." Mina sweat drops when she remembers that term along with several others that Rei had used several times the describe Ren-san.
"Alright, alright, Kami-sama, calm down Rei. I was only joking, you know!" Mina soothed while getting up to place a hand onto Rei's shoulder not only to stop her from pacing around the room, but to help her calm down as well.
After a couple of minutes, Rei finally calms down enough for Minako to sit her down on a chair and she squats in front of her looking up into a stormy amethyst eyes.
"Besides Mina... you know I don't swing that way," Rei states while dropping her voice down to a whisper before looking around as if to make sure no one can hear her.
"Yeah I know, but maybe you-," she begins but Rei cuts her off before she can finish her sentence.
"No... I can't see myself ever trying to put myself on the line again, not after..." Rei trails off with a sad look in her eyes playing with a ring that's on her finger.
Mina frowns while looking at her friend, not really knowing what words of comfort she can offer to her friend. The silence ensued for a few more seconds while both girls contemplated what to say to one another.
"I think that I'm just tired. So maybe we should go on to bed." Rei states while faking a yawn to prove her point before she makes her way over to her bed while Minako sets up her futon for the night.
After they're settled into bed, Rei leans over and flips off the lights. The two girls lay in bed for a while, neither one of them able to go bed right away because of the thoughts that churn through their minds.
"Rei..." Minako starts, but pauses to see if Rei will respond to her.
"Yeah?" Rei asks while she lies in her bed with her arms behind her head.
"I'm always here for you okay,"Mina reminds the dark haired girl that lies above her in her bed.
"Thanks Mina," Rei answers with a smile at being reminded that no matter what they go through her best friend will be with her through it all.
"Love ya," Mina's tired voice comes up from the floor making Rei smile in the dark.
"Yeah me too," she answers before turning onto her side and allows sleep to overtake her exhausted body.
To Be Continued…
