A Time to Love
Chapter 9
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.
"Ne, Usako, wake up… we need to go to the grocery store before it closes, or we won't have any food to put in our lunches," Mamoru woke the sleeping blonde by gently shaking her shoulder.
"No… you go. I'll stay here and sleep, thank you very much," Usagi grumbled without even opening her eyes, "You tired me out… this is your punishment."
"Well… here's how it goes, Usagi-chan. If you don't come with me, I won't know what to get for you to eat for lunch while you are at school. You'll have to buy your lunches there, and I happen to know that you not only do not like your school's food, but you also find that it doesn't have enough food to keep you going through the rest of your day," Mamoru rolled out of bed and started pulling some pants on as he continued to talk to Usagi, "Look, it won't take to long, because we'll get multiples of what we both like, so long as you don't mind having the same few things for lunch most days. Besides that, we need to discuss what our sleeping arrangements will be."
That brought Usagi to attention. "What are you talking about?" Fear raced through Usagi as she mentally prepared herself for the worst, This would be when he tells me that he is not a virgin after all, and my lack of experience sickens him to the point of no longer sharing my bed… and then he's gonna send me packing back to my parents. They'll never just take me back… Maybe Motoki has a spare room at his place with Reika.
"I was wondering if you'd like to – Usagi? Earth to Usagi – are you with me here?" Mamoru was rather annoyed that she was staring into space.
"It's okay… you don't have to tell me. I'll find some other friend to live with. So sorry to have bothered you," Usagi did not let him finish. She rolled over and stood at the set of drawers.
"Usagi, you weren't listening to anything I've said. I don't want you to leave, I just want to know if you would be willing to share my bed with me – at other times, of course. I don't want you to feel that the only time that you can be in here is when we – basically, I don't want you to leave, and I don't want you so much as taking a nap in another bed. Share mine with me, okay? Besides, I like to cuddle, and you fit so perfectly in my arms," Mamoru finished as he reached out to pull Usagi to stand between his legs.
"So this wasn't about my lack of experience or sending me back to my parents?"
"No. If you had been listening, you'd have known that I don't want you to leave me – ever. I never mentioned you leaving. That was your runaway imagination. I just wanted to know if you wanted to have your own room… I kinda want you to stay with me, but it is up to you."
"I'd like to stay with you, if that's okay… but this room needs to be changed a little. The bed is fine, but I need the other closet, and at least one dresser, and your desk has gotta go so we have room to make it homier for us as a couple, don't ya think?" Usagi quickly rebounded as she described what the two could do with the room to make it 'theirs' instead 'his'.
"That's fine, Usagi, we can move all the furniture in the entire place around and even buy some new if we need it, but we've got to get to the grocery store – now!" Mamoru stood and threw her over his shoulder as he walked out to where some of her stuff with her clothes was. "Get dressed, now!"
"Yes, Sir," Usagi purred.
"Later, Usagi. Now we go."
"How exactly are we going to do any real grocery shopping in that racy little thing that you like to call transportation?" Usagi asked Mamoru as they made their way down to the parking garage of their building.
"That would be where having more than one car comes in handy," Mamoru replied as they entered the well-lit subterranean lot.
"Okay, so what is your other car? A Hummer? A truck?" Usagi was practically salivating over the idea of multiple cars.
"Actually," Mamoru said as he guided Usagi to a dark silver-blue vehicle, "It is a Subaru, one of the Outback varieties."
Usagi walked over to the passenger's side and waited for Mamoru to open the car up. "Works for me. Looks like we could get quite a bit of groceries into it, which suits me just fine. Let's go, I'm hungry," Mamoru had opened the door, so Usagi slid in and slammed it shut.
It only took about ten minutes for the pair to get to the grocery store in Juuban Center, the Juuban Food-i-mart. As Mamoru pulled into a parking spot close to the store, Usagi undid her seatbelt and went for the door handle.
"Usako, wait… I have one more question I need to ask you: are you on birth control, or should we pick out some condoms to use?" Mamoru asked Usagi slowly, blushing as she blushed.
"I'm not on any form of birth control at this point, so we should pick up some condoms. Once we have settled things and I am on your insurance, I'll get some through my doctor, okay? I'd prefer that, myself… pills or patches are much more effective and, I think, less obtrusive, right?" Usagi smiled slightly.
"Okay, then, that's settled. Usagi, don't slam your door when you get out," Mamoru said as the two climbed out of the car.
As Mamoru and Usagi walked into the supermarket and grabbed a cart, Mamoru turned to Usagi and began, "I just want you to know that having protection doesn't mean that I expect you –"
Usagi reeled on Mamoru and hissed at him, "Stop it! I get it – you are trying to be a gentleman, alright already. Just to let you know, I don't need you saying shit like that all the time. It's pissing me off majorly, and if you don't stop talking like that, I won't sleep with you, and that will be why! I can make my own decisions with you, and we will make some together, but you should know by now that if and when I don't feel like fucking you, I won't!" Usagi's voice had risen to a screech as she had finished, so she and Mamoru had quite an audience by the time she was done.
"Shall we shop now, Love?" Mamoru walked on sweetly, pushing the cart and then waiting for her to drop her purse in the babyseat. "Good; now do you like sandwiches or traditional bento?"
Two and a half hours later, Usagi and Mamoru were checked out and home organizing their food into their now over-flowing cupboards. Usagi had been busy rearranging all the plates, bowls, and glassware into a stand alone cupboard to allow for the food that would now be living in the other regular cupboards. Mamoru had put all the cold food and drinks in the fridge and freezer, and now he was putting the other things away, including cleaning supplies and some sturdier cookware for Usagi to use when he wasn't home to help her. Once Usagi had finished with the plates et al, she moved into the bedroom and the bathroom attached, putting her toiletries and girl-stuff into the space Mamoru had hastily cleared for her when they had gotten home earlier.
The only thing from that bag that didn't go in the bathroom was the collection of condoms the two had chosen, blushing, from the health and beauty aisle. They had chosen three different boxes of nine condoms each, which Usagi had figured would more than last for the rest of the three weeks until her next period. By then, Mamoru would have had time with his lawyer to figure out how to put Usagi on his insurance, and she would have been on birth control for at least a week, so they would have a few condoms for the time between her starting birth control and it working, as well.
Mamoru entered the room from the door Usagi's back was to. He came up behind her and wrapped her in his arms, nuzzling the top of her head with his chin. Usagi sighed and leaned into him.
"I just came in here to let you know that I finished putting the other stuff away, and I made a bento for you tomorrow; nothing fancy, just rice, some sweet bean paste goodies, and fish and meat strips. You can pick whatever other snacks out before we leave tomorrow. Looks like I'll be driving you to school, but that won't worry you, now wills it?" Mamoru chuckled, and his breath tickled the top of Usagi's head.
Usagi turned around in Mamoru's arms, and then a light glinted devilishly in her eyes as she managed to throw him haphazardly onto the bed, laughing all the while.
"Gotcha!"
Mamoru grabbed her arm and pulled her down next to himself, "Do you now, m'lady? An' wot wood a prity lass like yo'self be after wantin' wit'meself?"
With Mamoru slipping into that comical way of talking, Usagi just laughed harder, hiding her face behind Mamoru's shoulder as tears rolled down her face from laughing so hard
"I do believe, knave, that I wish to have you in my bed, to keep me warm and entertained," Usagi affected the same accent, without the strange grammar.
"Yes, do entertain us, Mamoru. Or maybe you'd care to explain instead?" Motoki had walked into the bedroom, having used his own key to the apartment to let himself in.
Mamoru and Motoki sat at the dining room table while Usagi stepped into the kitchen to make coffee. Motoki looked at Mamoru menacingly, and Mamoru glared back at him.
"This was your answer? Move her into your apartment and sleep with her? She's a kid, for Christ's sake. What did you do o her to make her want this?" Motoki's voice was softly angry, a truly dangerous sign.
"I didn't make her sleep with me. I love her, I don't want to lose her, and you have no place in the entire thing, save being a friend to both of us, Motoki. You wanted me to protect her, and with her here and this close to me, I can do that all the time," Mamoru explained to his friend.
"Boys," Usagi began as she brought them coffee, "I can take care of myself. I'm here because I love Mamoru, and we are to be married at a later date. I sleep with him for the same reason. And Motoki, while you are here, do you need any help at the arcade after school?" she finished sweetly as she settled herself on Mamoru's lap and looped her arms around his waist.
"You want to work at the arcade with me? And Mamoru will let you work with someone as handsome and wonderful as me? I'm shocked… Like you even need to work. Why do you want to work with me? It won't be much in the way of money or hours," Motoki said, looking at Usagi quizzically.
"I want to be contributing something to our household, and I would be safe working at the arcade with you – I know that you would protect me. Jeez, I thought that you, of all people would be happy to hear that I wanted to do something, not just rest on my laurels. Besides, you could use the help, especially when you need to study around exams – which seem to be all the time for you guys," Usagi said, giving Motoki her cutest look.
"Speaking of which, what about our grades, Usagi-chan? How are you going to keep your grades up, or rather, how are you going to get them up in the first place?" Motoki replied.
"That'll be taken care of. You and I are going to help her study, because if her test scores drop any lower, not only will she not pass, the school will get involved with her living arrangements. You don't want her sent back to her parents, Motoki, and you are going to help her, and us, and you are going to be happy about it, okay?" Mamoru had trouble disguising the disgust in his voice as he eyed Motoki warily.
"Okay, you knew I would help, anyways, so why all this other shit? Just don't get her pregnant, and Usagi-chan, if you ever need a break, there is always a couch at my place," Motoki stood to leave, his coffee untouched on the tray in front of him.
Usagi ran over to her friend, throwing her arms around Motoki and kissing him soundly on the cheek. "Thank you, Motoki, for the job, and for caring, but mostly for getting over the two of us living together."
"Don't mention it. I've gotta put you down or Mamoru will kill me for sure. See you tomorrow after you get out of school. I'll show you the ropes at the arcade, and then when it gets quiet, we'll go over you homework. Bring sneakers, 'cause the floor is hard, and you'll be on your feet for a while," with that, Motoki let himself out of the apartment.
Later that same night, across Juuban…
"Nephrite? Nephrite! Is that you? Come back!" Makoto screamed in her sleep, ghostly hands waving over her form, an insubstantial figure looming over her bed.
"Yes, lovey, dream of him, fuel this unrelenting passion, for with the ambition that comes with it, I shall destroy you and yours for your power and power alone," creaked the voice of the figure, "Remember Lord Kyo, for his power is what you have borrowed, and for that have I come to collect."
Makoto sat straight up in her bed, sweat running down her face and body, tears streaming down her face, her heart racing. She reached for the glass of water on her bedside table, and found it empty. She got up to refill it and calm her nerves, but what she saw in the mirror in her bathroom did no such thing.
"My hair! My face! What happened? I look like I've aged 6 or 7 year – without cutting my hair or anything?" Makoto screamed as she ran her fingers through her now mid-thigh length curly ponytail. As she turned to view herself in her full-length mirror, she saw the promise of her teenaged year fulfilled: fuller breasts, curved hips, and long, lean, shapely legs. "Is this what I was when I lived in the Silver Millenium? Is this how Nephrite will remember me? I gotta call Usagi – I can't go to school like this!"