A Time to Love
Chapter 3
By the way, and contrary to 'popular belief', I don't own Sailor Moon. Damn.
Oh, well, thank you Naoko Takeuchi, for unwittingly allowing me and everyone else to use your people in stories. Tchau.
"Why do I have to go to school with you now?" Mamoru was more than a little put out by Usagi's pronouncement.
"If you don't go to school with me, someone could hurt me, or my injuries could finally overtake me… or I could tell Motoki that you sent me away without a care for my well-being, to the cold, bleak wilderness that is high school," Usagi ended her statement with perfect flair and total innocence. If one was just looking at her – Mamoru knew her better than that by now, and he knew that she had decided this long ago.
"What will your teachers think, Usako? Surely you can't assume that they will let you get away with this. And besides that, you need to place all of your attention on raising those abysmal grades of yours. And why would I even want to go to school with you!" Mamoru was almost shouting by that point, and his face was beginning to redden with anger, embarrassment, and more than a little lust at the thought of late after-noon study sessions with a uniform-clad Usagi.
"My, my, my… if you don't want other guys seeing me in my uniform, you could just say so. I just won't wear anything at all."
"Christ! I'll go with you if you will just stop with all this. I just fail to see how I will be allowed to be with you through your classes," Mamoru was desperate, as was his groin, at the thought of Usagi in uniform and out. If only he could shield his errant thoughts from her prying mind.
"Anyways, you won't actually be in class with me. You can hang out in the cafeteria or the library. They are both open all day on Saturdays to accommodate the wacky student schedules. Have some food – if ya dare – and grab a book or bring your own to study from, cause I can't be there to protect you all day," Usagi explained not so patiently. She tapped her foot as Mamoru slipped more decent, if still casual clothing on – it was, after all, a Saturday, and he had plans for after school.
Plans that included a desk, a book, a uniform, and a pretty pink rabbit.
"Here we are! Oh, this is my homeroom – you do know how to get to the school library and cafeteria from here?" Usagi turned to Mamoru as she ducked into her classroom, not bothering to wait for his response, as she was already late – as usual.
"Oh, yeah, sure. Because I want to be here, not home asleep next to a cuddly co-ed. And of course I know my way around. Doesn't everybody know how to get around in every high school ever built?" Mamoru grumbled to himself as he wandered off in the direction of something that smelled almost edible.
Usagi poked her head out of her homeroom door: "How cuddly does said co-ed have to be?" Then she was abruptly yanked back by a pigtail to face a furious Ms. Haruna. "Hiya, Teach!"
"Tsukino Usagi, you are late – on a SATURDAY – you are ill-dressed, even for a casual day, and yet you still manage to surprise me: a college student. You show up with a college student. I know that you and your parents are having a rough time of it, but hooking up with an older man will not gain you his affection," Ms. Haruna, who had seen her own fair share of messed up relationships – well, one, but it was constantly on and off—had started off berating her charge, but her voice softened towards the end of her diatribe.
"Shows how worldly wise you are, Teach. That is Mamoru, a friend of mine, whom I have not 'hooked-up' with, as you so crassly put it. He loves me, and he listens to me. And I will thank you to keep my family problems out of the air here. I don't need any more crap, thanks all the same," Usagi wasn't so much angry as she was amused – if not a little sore. Did she have to pull from the side I got womped on last night?
"Some would say it is not my place to offer, but if you need to talk, you can always come to me, you know. Thanks to the shortage of teachers, I've been your homeroom teacher for years – I know both you and your family. And you can always stay at my place if you can't face going home. So long as my Yukihiro isn't coming over," Ms. Haruna offered gently.
Oh yeah, sure. At least Mamoru hasn't put any conditions on me being at his place. The woman probably just missed her period – it would account for the wannabe-mom act she put on for me. Oh well… at least I know where I am going after class.
"I know that you are trying to sneak up on me, Usako," Mamoru didn't even look up from his book and coffee.
"Goddammit. Why do you have to do that all the time?" Usagi fumed at his back, coming around to sit across from him at the café table, laden as it was with Mamoru's cast-off entertainments from the morning spent waiting for Usagi's classes to end.
"I'll play along if you will teach me how to block my thoughts from you. I know that you know how, 'cause you are constantly blocking me when I try to read yours," Mamoru was tired and impatient, so he was willing to bargain.
"Alright, I'll play. To block you, I just think of a big, thick blanket, and wrap myself up in it."
"A blanket?"
"That's right, a blanket. Lucky for you, I'll let you choose what color you want. Mine is pink."
"Big surprise there. Mine'll be blue. Or black. But it'll be there next time you try to read my thoughts."
"Oh, I can't wait. Then I can figure out how to get through, and see all the dirtiest ones. Shame ya can't see mine… I think you'd really like'em."
"Could you tone it down a little? We are at your school, I am a good 4 years older than you, and I have plans, if you will get up and come with me," Mamoru stood and held his hand out to the girl.
"Ooh. What kind of plans? The kind that you don't want me to know about?" Usagi asked as she rose, swaying her hips wickedly.
"Wouldn't you like to know? First, we'll stop by your place, because I've got to speak with your parents – don't argue with me – and you need to get some of your things and some clothes. Especially your uniform," Mamoru informed Usagi, and his tone would brook no argument.
"Oooh… so you do like a girl in uniform."
Twenty minutes later, Usagi and Mamoru stood outside her parents residence, and both were less than happy to be there. Usagi, because she didn't want to leave her parents, and she didn't want to think of their possible reactions to whatever Mamoru had planned; Mamoru, because he knew that there was probably no going back after what he and Usagi were about to do – but he knew from somewhere that this would be okay, and that he was protecting Usagi, and that for some reason, it was time.
Without another look at the small, brave blonde, Mamoru rang the bell. The door opened, and Ikuko Tsukino led Mamoru and Usagi into the living room of the small Tsukino house.