The Plan
Part: 3
Sorry for the long wait! School really has been consuming my time, plus I've been sick as a dog for over 3 weeks.
I strongly suggest that you skim the last chapter before reading this because it picks up right where it left off! ...Just in case you forgot ;;
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Sailor Moon or any other original characters associated. And the same goes for all my other chapters ;;
"Fuck you!" Yaten snapped the phone shut while parking the car in front of the 24-hour 'Happy Foods' grocery store.
Stepping out, he pushed a button and a beeping sounded to assure that the locks were securely shut. Nobody was going to be stealing his new silver BMW Z4 Roadster.
Entering the huge supermarket, he grabbed a cart to see what exactly he would want to restock the fridge with. Snagging his cell phone again, he dialed Taiki's cell number.
After two rings a low, gentle voice was heard in the other end. "Moushi moushi?"
"Taiki, what do you want to eat tonight? There's no food at home." Yaten couldn't help sounding annoyed even though his conversation with Seiya ended 10 minutes ago.
"Sushi of course." He replied calmly.
"Other than sushi?" The irritated tone hadn't left his voice.
"What's wrong with sushi? It's delicious and probably much better than what Seiya wanted to eat, am I right?"
"Yeah, yeah, fine. Although, I'll be the one to restock our empty shelves with foods of my choice."
"You sure Seiya wouldn't mind?"
"Fuck him!" Yaten snapped again.
"Ah...I see. Well this time, don't get me involved. I'm coming home soon, and I hope I don't find Seiya in the same mood as you."
"Alright, talk to you later... oh! When you see Seiya, tell him to fuck himself." With that Yaten closed his cell off.
Quickly forgetting about his conversation, he proceeded to the exotic foods aisle with glee.
Steering the wheel to the left, Taiki tucked his phone inside his blazer jacket. He parked the car into the garage of the house that he and his two cousins were living in.
The house was two stories tall, painted white, with a wide slide door balcony at the top. It had a small patio in the front and back with a garage fit for two cars beside it. Three bedrooms, two living rooms, one kitchen, and three bathrooms to complete the inside with some eclectic embellishments suited to each taste of their own.
The house had more than enough room for just three people, leaving plenty of bare walls just pestering to be adorned with. Taiki chose to have the second living room to be used as a library/study since they were in college. Big shelves stored with masses of books and encyclopedias covered one wall. A water painting of a rose was beautifully gracing another empty wall in the study - chosen to represent Taiki's favourite poem. But aside from the study, everything was pretty much Yaten dominated.
The objects that Yaten would usually lean toward were professionally taken pictures of city life. Consisting of either black and white or colour, they all depicted scenes of everyday life in Kyoto - where Yaten came from and all the pictures were taken by him.
The furniture consisted only of modern designs, with high tech everything. As Seiya liked to describe the place, it really was 'The Ultimate Bachelor's Pad'.
For Seiya, the only thing that was primarily reflecting him was his room. It was filled with past trophies, ribbons, awards and framed pictures of sports events that he had won.
There was especially one framed picture of him and Usagi sitting at the base of a Sakura tree together, smiling into the camera.
Seiya picked up the picture remembering the times where he would spend time with Usagi and her friends. Rei, Makoto, Minako, and Ami had all been like younger sisters to him, even if he didn't know them as long as Usagi.
A part of him was desperately anxious to see her again; the other part didn't want to be hurt again.
He hoped to get Usagi's letter back soon. She could easily call him but he purposely asked her to write back. Bringing up past matters over the phone was too hard for him... it was better if she didn't see hear his voice when they spoke.
Just then, he heard someone coming through the front door.
Stepping out of his room and looking down the hall, he saw a tired Taiki hanging his coat and taking off his shoes.
"If you're hungry, too bad cause we have nothing to eat at home." Seiya said while walking back in his room.
"I know, Yaten already called me and told me he's buying dinner and groceries." Taiki said calmly.
"Well at least he's doing something!" Seiya yelled from inside his room.
Taiki decided not to respond and knocked on Seiya's door. Seiya told him to open it and Taiki walked inside.
"Seiya, I had to ask you something." Taiki said while sitting on Seiya's desk.
"Yeah, what?" He questioned.
"About this summer, you say me and Yaten are coming with you right? Well, you also said that you would be staying with Usagi, so where exactly do you plan for me and Yaten to stay?"
"Oh... well." Seiya looked up and pondered while scratching his head. "I never really thought of that!" He chuckled.
Taiki shook his head and stood up again, "Seiya, you're the only one who really knows Tokyo, how could you forget something as important as our accommodations?"
"Sorry! I forgot. It was a mistake. How about this, I stay with Odango and her family, and you guys stay at my house. Does that sound like a good idea?" Seiya suggested hoping Taiki would accept.
Taiki turned his head and looked at him inquisitively through one eye and muttered, "Fine, I'll agree but try convincing Yaten to stay in foreign city by him-self again."
Seiya frowned, knowing that convincing Yaten would be a difficult task in itself.
"Leave it to me, I'll get through to him somehow." Seiya finally concluded.
Before leaving Seiya's bedroom, Taiki decided to ask him one more thing, "You know, you rarely speak of this "Odango", why do you decide to stay with her rather than your own family?"
At that moment, Seiya almost resented Taiki for asking that question. He was hoping that he and Yaten wouldn't notice and leave him to his bidding.
He decided to only tell him part of the truth. "You know that her family took me in when my father died and my mother couldn't stay at home as often. They're like my second family and her parents treated me like their son. Just because I'll be staying with them doesn't mean I won't see you guys' everyday. The only difference is that I won't sleep in the same place as you. That's all."
A faint smile touched Taiki's face and he nodded his head. " I understand then, she's like your sister. I was coming up with the conclusion that you were in love with her or something." Taiki chuckled and began to leave through the door.
"No!"
Abruptly stopping in his tracks, Taiki slowly faced Seiya, this time with a concerned look on his face. "What do you mean no?"
Seiya's protest came out distressed rather than nonchalant. He quickly closed his mouth and brought his eyes to the floor, not wanting to reveal too much of what he was feeling.
"I… I meant no. Her family feels like my own but she…" He looked at his framed picture of him and Usagi to search for the right words. "She's my best friend."
He couldn't find them.
Slightly narrowing his eyes, Taiki felt it wasn't necessary to touch the mystery topic. He decided to dismiss it instead. He felt that the answers were to come in time. "Okay, it's just that you haven't mentioned the Tsukinos' for a long time. I didn't know that you still felt that strongly towards them, that's all."
It surprised Taiki to see Seiya suddenly look defeated. Eventually Seiya stood up and walked out of his room, mumbling, "Yeah, it doesn't matter." and began watching TV in the living room.
Breaking the silence between them, the phone rang.
Seiya made no motion of picking it up, so Taiki walked to the living room to do so.
"Moushi, moushi?"
A disgruntled Yaten spoke from the other end, "Oh good, you answered. Well I bought the groceries and sushi for dinner like you wanted. In about 10 minutes come out and help me unload the car. And next time, I'm not doing the grocery shopping ever again, it's too much work for me."
"Grocery shopping is too much work?" Asked an unconvinced Taiki.
"Shut up! The way I do it is hard work. I finished in 20 minutes! I got everything we need and I wanted!"
"You wanted? Whatever, me and Seiya are hungry, come home soon."
"Tell Seiya he has to work for his food tonight! I have a lot of shirts and pants that need pressing." Yaten snapped back.
Taiki covered the talking end of the phone with his hand and turned towards Seiya. "Yaten says he won't let you eat unless you press his clothes."
"That won't ever happen, if he steps in between me and my dinner, I'll beat him to a bloody pulp with my pinky." Seiya threatened sticking out his pinky finger.
Taiki didn't even have to open his mouth, as Yaten was too quick to reply. "Tell him to fuck off!" With that, the other end of the phone went dead.
Taiki sighed and hung up the phone.
"Children - they just never learn." He said walking up the stairs.
Sunday morning had come and Usagi was finally able to wallow in her depression at home, in bed, by herself. Her father and brother went out to spend a day of father-son day, and her mother was spending the day at a friends' house. Which allowed Usagi to be able to spend the day any way she wanted.
She woke up at noon to find the house empty, took a quick shower and ate a quick breakfast.
Her breakfast consisted of left over rice with fish from last night's dinner because she had checked her fridge and to her dismay, found no more ice cream.
She grabbed her phone and decided to Minako, she needed someone cheerful to cheer her up.
After a few rings she answered the phone, "Artemis get off my leg!" Minako whined before a loud 'meow' was heard. "Helllooo?"
"Minako-chan? It's me, Usagi."
"Usagi! Hey, how are you doing?" Minako asked carefully.
"I'll be okay after a big bucket of ice cream and cookies while watching a sad movie." Usagi confessed.
Before responding to that, Minako grabbed a blue summer dress from her closet and quickly slipped it on.
"Don't worry Usagi! I'll come to the rescue! Let's meet up at the plaza near my place and buy all the necessities we'll need. Forget about any guilt trips, we'll eat all the food we can today and stuff ourselves silly! Okay?" Asked an excited Minako, who loved to eat a ridiculous amount of food for any occasion.
Usagi beamed at the plan, " Thank you Minako! That's exactly what I need! I'll be there in an hour okay?"
"It's a date then, see ya!" Minako smiled and hung up.
For that moment, Usagi was the happiest she could be. She jumped up and down while hanging up the phone, and skipped to the washroom to start getting ready.
"Okay, I made a list of all the things we'll need. Now, it's a pretty hefty list, so how about we split up and in 20 minutes meet back up at the 20th cashier?"
Usagi scanned the long list of junk food and drooled. "Minako, you really are the best friend a girl could have! Curry rice balls, Chocolate caramel fudge ice cream, coconut cream pie! We have everything! Good thing I brought all my money!" She smiled brightly.
"Me too! And after this, we'll head to the video store and rent some sappy love movies!" Minako's eyes became glossy and dreamy. "Especially with that ultra cute hottie Hideaki Takizawa!"
Usagi dreamily sighed and nodded her head in unison with Minako while his image popped into their heads.
With the same expressions on their faces, they both grabbed food carts and parted their ways.
Minako was practically bouncing as she raced towards the dessert aisle. She had a bouncy melody playing in her head as she walked and searched for things from her list. She was just happy to be able to single handedly help her friend out through a difficult time.
Usagi was having a miniature party of her own as she soared through the food aisles on her cart. Finally, she felt free from sadness and depression being accompanied by her most trustworthy companions – friends and food.
Every time Minako and Usagi would run into each other, they'd have a little race and have several close encounters with the other shoppers. Thankfully no one was hurt.
At one point, Minako jumped on her half full cart and rode through the snack aisle with one arm out, shoving all the variety of chips into her cart.
Usagi on the other hand, only rode on her cart through long corridors, not really following the list, just jumping and grabbing things she liked. Either way it worked out because most things she grabbed were already on her list.
After more than 20 minutes being passed, Usagi went to go get the final item on her list. She grew tired of riding her cart as it put too much pressure on her legs, so she walked slowly to the frozen foods section.
Upon turning the corner she froze and stopped. Immediately she pulled back her cart and peeked around the corner to watch him.
There he was, with a shopping basket around his elbow, eyeing the frozen beef.
It hurt Usagi to see him so healthy and calm. A part of her was hoping that he was just as miserable as she was… or was at least an hour ago.
She bet he didn't even let a single tear down for her.
Daringly, Usagi stepped into full view and was pretending to look at something in the shelf in front of her. He didn't notice her but she had a full view of him.
Usagi was compelled to go up to him and talk. But she didn't because she knew she had nothing to say, nothing that wouldn't make her start crying. As he walked along the frozen food section, she followed him from where she was. It was a subtle stalk; she didn't want to be seen by him.
Good thing I didn't tie my hair up in odangos or else he definitely would have seen me.
She thought as she touched the single bun on the back of her head. Promptly she scowled herself for calling her hair-do 'odangos'.
Sighing, she looked up and wished that Seiya were here so she could have even more comfort during this time.
Looking back at Mamoru, she saw him looking directly at something and smiling widely. Usagi followed his gaze and saw a girl.
Her eyes opened wide and her insides halted.
Did Mamoru leave her for another?
She didn't want to believe what she was thinking, but wanted proof at the same time.
She watched as the red-haired girl approached him and bowed. This comforted Usagi slightly because it showed that they were bumping into each other and hadn't come together.
She didn't miss his nervous bow though. He looked uncomfortable and uneasy. They conversed for a while and at one point it angered Usagi to no end to see him laugh at something she said.
Everything about her was gracious and elegant. She was completely gorgeous and looked very intelligent. If it weren't for the fact that Usagi was in love with that man, she would have considered the red head and him the perfect couple.
Even the way they dressed was similar, her blazer jacket and matching pencil skirt were both navy blue and perfectly clean cut. It complimented Mamoru's green blazer and black dress pants.
Usagi looked down at her youthful attire and grimaced at her orange short overalls with a long sleeved yellow top. Suddenly she felt even more self-conscious.
After several minutes of conversing, the girl smiled kindly, bowed, and left him alone.
Having her leave would have relieved Usagi if it weren't for the fact that he watched her leave until she was out of sight. He smiled to himself and went on with his shopping.
Just that, just watching him do that, it tore her apart.
He looked perfectly calm and cool, almost stoic, when she saw him by himself. Now all of a sudden, he looked flustered and couldn't get that stupid grin off his face.
She couldn't take anymore and tried to keep a straight face while strolling steadily but quickly out of the aisle. She had no courage getting the last item on her list in fear of bumping into him.
She wouldn't give him any gratification of letting a tear shed, even though many were threatening to.
Was that the kind of girl he was attracted to? Did he grow out of his attraction for Usagi and prefer more mature girls, more graceful girls, girls like her? Her?
I could be one of those girls if I tried!
Her mind clicked. She could be one of those girls… she most definitely could. She knew she would.
Then he could fall in love again with the new and improved Usagi Tsukino!
Hesitant thoughts came into her head as she remembered her childish behaviour, her immature ways.
Then she thought of her friends – Ami the smart one, Rei the mature one, Makoto the nurturing one and …
She spotted Minako beside the 20th cashier, flirting relentlessly, holding a tabloid magazine and blowing bubbles with her bubble gum.
Usagi narrowed her eyes and tried to come up with a positive trait for Minako. Usagi dismissed it and decided to think up one for her later.
But she had friends who all had great individual traits to them. If they could teach and mold Usagi to those traits and more, Mamoru would surely come crawling back to her.
It was the perfect plan!
Immediately Usagi perked right up and went over to Minako.
"So isn't it hard on your feet, just standing here all day? You must have strong legs and feet to withstand the time." Minako flattered the cute brunette cashier, who in turned smiled and laughed nervously.
"Minako, I see you didn't notice that I'm 15 minutes late." Usagi interrupted.
"Usagi-chan! There you are, 15 minutes you say? Wow, it sure didn't feel like that" She smiled sweetly to the cashier.
Usagi quickly paid and pulled Minako through the exit.
"Oh, isn't he a dream?"
"I'm just wondering how are we going to get to my place with all these bags." She said dropping the grocery bags on the floor.
"You're right, every time we've done some serious grocery shopping, Seiya always came along with us and just drove us back."
Usagi remembered thinking of him several minutes before… when she saw Mamoru. She turned to Minako and opened her mouth but closed it when she saw Minako smiling and counting her change for the bus.
Minako was in a good mood and she didn't want to be the one to bring it down, at least not at that moment. When she felt comfortable and the time was right, she'd bring it up, but for now she needed someone cheerful to cheer her up.
"You know, we have way too much food for just the two of us. How about we call the girls and tell them to come over." Minako suggested.
"Didn't they have some test they needed to study for?"
"They'll come for you Usagi-chan, don't worry!" Minako beamed.
Usagi smiled and nodded her head, "I'd really like that."
They walked off together towards the bus stop and Usagi wouldn't have had it any other way. Just her and one of her best friends; Minako – the happy one.
Authors Note: I swear and promise that the next chapter will come out much faster. I really had fun writing this chapter and it's mostly because I kind of related it to my real best friends. You know that feeling that you have when times aren't so good but no matter what, you and your friends are always good? I'm lucky that I have 3 best friends:
Stephanie – the logical one
Jessica – the free spirit
Jasmine -… wait let me think… Ah yes! The good natured lunatic )