The next day saw a marked shift in Usagi.

It wasn't that she had shaken off all her bitterness and come to terms with her blindness, no, not at all. It was more like she had seized her bitterness and beaten it into a new shape, like potter to clay, punching and molding - or screaming and throwing - until she finally worked past the useless clump stage and into the 'hey, maybe I can do something with this' stage. She still felt angry, still felt the hollow sting of 'why me' curling dark and repugnant in her gut, but at least it was no longer a noxious cloud hanging over her head preventing her from doing anything else. She actually took a shower today, and put on real clothes, the first time in over a week.

To her family's credit, no one made a show of the fact that she was finally behaving like a human again, and she appreciated that greatly. In fact, they were almost acting like... normal. Usagi was sure she had her Mama to thank for that.

Of course, there were some things that were still different. They had to be.

Usagi's rather more sensitive hearing had picked up on a quiet conversation Ikuko had with Shingo, where she asked the boy to stay downstairs while Usagi learned to navigate the shower on her own. And honestly, she had felt the tiniest bit irked at first, until she came to understand just what the benefit to privacy was when she tripped over the hallway carpet in just her towel and went sprawling. Ikuko's voice was immediate concern as she called up from the entry vestibule,

"Are you alright, Usagi!?"

Usagi could practically hear the intense desire to come 'mother hen' in Ikuko's query, but she consciously resisted, staying downstairs. Usagi was eminently grateful given her state of undress. She rubbed her smarting, rug-burnt knee with a wince.

"I'm okay."

Well... that was one way to learn just how uneven the journey from the bathroom to her bedroom was. She realized there was an awful lot she had taken for granted as a seeing person. Something so innocuous as a throw rug could suddenly prove hazardous under the right conditions, and Usagi knew - it would be up to her and her alone to recognize these dangers, and decide how to proceed. She tried not to dwell too much on just how daunting that seemed.

The morning unfolded in much the same fashion. Usagi got to know her house again, relying solely on the power of touch, sound and smell in her explorations. That which had been so familiar, now was uncharted territory to her. She ignored the sight she must be making, crawling around on hands and knees, brushing her fingers over everything, trying to gauge her surroundings from the ground up. For the most part she knew what she was encountering, years of having lived under this roof giving her an advantage she would not have once outside these walls, but even so there were moments where she alighted upon something that did not immediately click in her mind. That was when there would be a hissed answer from below, and Usagi would quirk her lips - a silent thank you to her furry companion who followed her around without judgment.

She was finding that a lot of this was memorization mixed with what she had termed 'mental mapping'. In her mind, Usagi would draw a box, and in that box she would imagine the contents of whatever room she was in, placing them into position. She circled this room, physically and mentally, over and over until she felt she had the layout down; until she didn't feel the need to thoroughly examine every object in her path. The living room was the first to be mapped out, then the kitchen, much to Ikuko's delight and dismay, because as Usagi quickly figured out, there was boiling pasta on the burner. She sucked on her throbbing finger with a conciliatory grin.

"That my lunch?"

"Yes, it is, and if you would quit trying to manhandle it, I might finally have it ready for you!"

Usagi ducked obediently out of the kitchen, still nursing her sore appendage. She was stopped short by a tap on her shoulder, and turned around, feeling a cool wet rag being thrust gently into her palm. "Here, wrap it tight."

"Thanks, Mama."

"Usagi... yesterday..." Ikuko seemed to hesitate, then regained her nerve. "Yesterday, you told me you wanted to start your lessons back up again. Do you still feel the same? We can hold off, if you want. I don't want to rush you before you're ready, I mean that."

Usagi sighed. Truth be told, she didn't want to have another session with Mamoru, and it had a lot more to do with shame than with unpreparedness. She knew she had crossed a line. Something in his reaction had intimated real hurt, and though Usagi couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was that had set him off, she had the distinct feeling that he had meant it when he said he never wanted to see her again.

Well... he hadn't quite said it like that, she mused. Semantics, sure, but what he had actually said was that now she didn't have to see him ever again. She knew, because she'd been replaying that messy interaction over and over in her mind since last afternoon, plagued by regret. So... maybe there was still hope?

The girl mustered up a smile that could very well have been a grimace, clinging to that small shred. Best to just get this over with... "And I meant it too. I'm going to at least try. You don't... er... happen to have Mamoru-san's number, do you?"

God, this was going to be all kinds of awful.

Mamoru paced restlessly, dodging a haphazard scattering of books across the floor that was very unlike him. He was usually an impeccably neat person, finding solace in a clean apartment for in his opinion, a tidy living space lent to a tidy mind space. It was a testament to just how badly yesterday's altercation with Usagi had shaken him, that he barely saw these volumes as he wore a steady hole into his carpet, back and forth, back and forth. There was only one clear image in his mind right now, and it wore golden odango and a murderous expression.

He cringed for what was probably the umpteenth time, chagrined by the memory of Usagi's temper as it had flashed in her otherwise vacant blue eyes, feeling stupid for having let his smart ass comments get the best of him and wondering if he was even cut out to be a doctor after all. He shouldn't have let his emotions get in the way - that was the number one rule in the medical field. It was the most detrimental thing you could do in the face of a patient's crisis. What would Dr. Chiryoshi say if he had sat in on their heated interaction?

Mamoru's momentary distraction caused him to stumble over one of the books, and he looked down, vaguely surprised by the mess that surrounded him, vestiges of his late night studies. With a resigned sigh, he bent over and collected the offending item and a few of its companions, eying the titles - everything from A Tactile World: The Guide to Understanding Blindness to Braille for Dummies - with a frustrated frown in place.

That was when the phone rang.

"Hello, Chiba residence."

There was a long pause, where he thought he could discern quick breathing. The man frowned again, this time in consternation. "Hello?" he pressed, louder, ready to lambaste whoever had decided to prank call him. He was not in the mood. If this was Motoki about to ask him if his fridge was running again...

But then, a slightly shaky voice spoke up.

"Mamoru-san...? It's Tsukino Usagi."

Mamoru had to blink a few times as he slowly processed this information, never in a million years having thought he would hear Odango Atama's voice at the other end of his phone. "Um... hello."

The college student wanted to smack himself upside the head... how many times could he say 'hello' in the span of one minute? He searched for something at least marginally more intelligent to say but resurfaced with nothing, mind suddenly blank as a wiped slate thanks to the shock. Well. He supposed if Usagi was reaching out to him, he'd simply let her make the first move.

There was awkward silence and then Usagi exhaled, clearly at as much of a loss as he on how to begin. He could hear her fiddling nervously with something, maybe the cord. "Listen... you... caught me at a rough point yesterday. You were only trying to help... however annoyingly..."

Usagi's darkly grumble almost elicited a snort from Mamoru, but he managed to resist, and let her continue.

"But I jumped down your throat and that was wrong of me. So was insulting your parents. And er... throwing a stuffy at you. So... I'm sorry, and, I think you might have been on to something when you were talking about the five stages of denial thingy, but I'm trying to be better now, I really am and... and... I can't do that without you."

Her jumbled apology sounded a bit grudging at the end, but it was an apology nonetheless, and he could hardly tear into her for it. As reluctant as she sounded, it had still been genuine. He was positive of that. Mamoru sighed - she also wasn't the only one at fault here. He could hardly sit back and accept her expiations while he too bore a guilty conscience.

"Don't give yourself all the credit, Odango. I was being quite a bit of an ass myself. I should've been more careful with your feelings and I definitely shouldn't have given up on you so easily, just because I let my anger get the best of me. I apologize as well."

He was proud of how sincere that came out, when there was still a part of him that felt slighted; hurt. But he supposed it was water under the bridge now, because he had a feeling he knew where this conversation was headed...

"Apology accepted," Usagi said, rather more smugly than he would've liked, but there was also a new lightness to her voice that hadn't been there before. "Er... so now that that's behind us, would you... would you consider taking me back? You don't have to it's just..."

Usagi trailed off, and Mamoru's interest was once again piqued, desperate to know why of all people she had chosen him to be her teacher; had not put up a fight while she still had the chance.

"...well. I don't really have anything better to do today than be irked at your existence, so you may as well make it worthwhile."

This time he couldn't hold back his chortle, surprised by the real humor in Usagi's dig at him. He was already amazed they'd made it this far without screaming at each other and now she was making jokes?

Maybe there was hope for them.

"Alright. We'll give it another shot. But if you start lobbing stuffed animals at me again, all bets are off."

Usagi laughed, and Mamoru realized he hadn't heard that sound in a very long time. He was disconcerted to find it didn't grate on him quite like it used to in the past. He hardly dared to admit it, but there was this strange feeling brewing inside his stomach, almost like he'd missed the sound of her laughter. Ridiculous. He chased it away with clinical ease, reverting into a more professional tone.

"3:30, your house?" he asked, crisply.

Usagi agreed, then bid him goodbye, and thus Mamoru hung up on the strangest phone conversation he'd ever had in his life. The man shook his head, still in disbelief that Tsukino Usagi of all people had dialed his number to personally deliver an apology. He had half a mind to glance outside in search of winged pigs. But now an even weightier concern descended upon him, and that was what the hell was he going to plan in less than three hours for his impending lesson with Odango?

The raven-haired intern muddled internally for a few moments, his eyes flicking about the apartment. They stopped, startled, at his closet door. A sudden brilliant grin tugged at the boundaries of Mamoru's face. He hurried over, the gears in his head beginning to turn even more wildly before, and he reached up to fumble with the accessories that had been stored on the closet's top shelf. He pulled back his hand with a plain black tie clutched victoriously in his fist.

"That's it!"

He gazed at the tie with a self-congratulatory look that quickly morphed into something more solemn as he placed it across his eyes and guided the back into a tight knot - the stab in his heart as his vision went black reminding him he was now seeing the world through Usagi's eyes.

Then he turned and, with outstretched hands, began to walk.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Author's Note: I'M SO SORRYYYYY. I know it was a long wait, and I profusely apologize, HOWEVER I have a pretty good excuse because I GOT MARRIED :D Four weeks ago to the day! It was the best and biggest moment of my life and I'm still in shock that it's over. What a whirlwind. If you've ever planned a wedding, you know the sort of stress I'm talking about. It was nearly impossible to focus on anything else, but now that I'm a blissfully wedded wife hopefully I will have a little more time on my hands. My poor WIPs deserve some love too!

Stay tuned for next chapter! Any bets on how this next attempt will go? ;)

Edit: In my haste to update this I completelyyy forgot to thank all the many and wonderful reviewers of last chapter! THE SHAME CONTINUES! Heh. My DEEPEST gratitude to the following individuals: SaturnnFoxx, Guest (x4), phillynz, jessielee14, missmartian369, lisasailor, James Birdsong, ZeroAmada, MyIndy13, NikkiBC, Pia Bartolini, Rufael, Ysheild, SaphireShimmer, TinkStar87, Oreo596, Jenbunny, Daire123, cindermane, karseneau1, Deadly Aura, Layla347, tigerlily124, and Princesakarlita411. Thank you for your support and holding me accountable, without you guys I truly wouldn't be here!

AngelMoon Girl