The cane became an integral part of Usagi's daily life. She had no idea something so small could be so meaningful. It was her gateway to the world - with it, she was finally able to traverse the streets of Tokyo alone. The next couple lessons with Mamoru were all about navigating the sidewalks and crosswalks safely; the audible "Walk/Wait" prompters she'd never really paid attention to before were suddenly her lifeboat in a terrifying sea of cars and buses and cyclists and trucks. Everything was so loud and smelly and overwhelming out here; without her sight, her ears and nose were working on overdrive trying to make sense of what she was thrust in the middle of. A couple times she had needed Mamoru to simply pull her aside and ground her before she entered into full-blown panic attack. But the practice paid off - she grew more comfortable the more time they spent out there. At her request, Mamoru even showed her the routes to her favorite haunts, walking them again and again until she had the familiar routes memorized once more. Motoki was particularly excited to have his two best patrons stop by the arcade.
"Well, well, well. I never thought I'd see the day!"
"Hey buddy."
"Motoki-onee-chan!"
Usagi launched at his voice with the speed of a freight train. The sandy-haired college student chuckled as he expertly caught her in a big bear hug. "Usagi-chan, is this tall surly fellow bothering you? I can kick him out if you want."
Usagi was delighted beyond words that Motoki wasn't making a scene over her blindness; was in fact treating her just like he had before the incident. She felt a surge of gratitude.
"It's good to see you too, asshole," Mamoru retorted playfully, with what was likely a heavy eye-roll.
"Mamoru-san is teaching me how to get around Tokyo! He got me a cane! Look!" Usagi informed Motoki, excitedly gestured to her new gift. "Now I can come whenever I want!"
"Well you better, because I've really missed you around here. And I like the pink," Motoki grinned, patting her on the odango indulgently.
"ALSO!" Usagi smacked his shoulder. "I can't believe you never told me about your girlfriend! I had to find out secondhand!"
"Um, I did tell you-"
On and on it went, as the old friends caught up, teasing and laughing and reminiscing. Usagi didn't even notice how as the time whittled away, Mamoru eventually grew quiet, letting her and Motoki take control of the conversation. When they at last headed home, his sudden and intense statement took her by surprise.
"You like him."
His voice was carefully neutral, and Usagi had no idea what to make of the opine, other than it almost sounded like a question in disguise.
"Well, yeah - he's a good friend-"
"More than a friend."
Usagi blinked, gazing up towards Mamoru's lightly golden aura in askance. What brought that on? She had to gather herself for a moment before she spoke.
"I did. Once. But it was puppy love. I knew nothing was going to come of it. When I found out he had Reika-san, I was happy for him. He deserves someone wonderful, someone older and more mature."
"Age isn't really a factor when you love someone," Mamoru said, sounding as if he had turned his head away from her. An edge of - maybe it was discomfort, or embarrassment - had seeped into his reply, despite the firm manner in which he had expressed the sentiment.
"No... it's not," Usagi agreed softly. Unsure why her heart was beating wildly again. "But he's just a really, really good friend."
"Ah."
And that was that. They continued walking, nearly to the Tsukino residence, but the charged silence remained as palpable as if it were traveling along beside them. Usagi could hardly breathe with the intensity of its presence. She was immensely relieved when they had a distraction in the form of her Mama, greeting them before they'd even fully approached the mailbox.
"Look at you! Oh Usagi, you're a natural!"
Usagi beamed at the compliment.
"Honey, there's sata andagi on the table when you get in. Just save some for your brother! I need to speak with Mamoru-san for a moment."
Usagi heard the implied dismissal in the words. Just like that, her heart rate sped up once more. Why on earth did her mother want to converse privately with Mamoru? Every possible horrible scenario flashed through her mind. Did she find out about the garden? Was she forbidding them from ever going there alone again? Or worse. What if she was sharing her positively outrageous theories about Usagi's "feelings" with him?
She moved very, very slowly toward the front door, dragging her feet, craning her ears...
It was no use. Their hushed tones were indiscernible to her from this distance, so with a grudging finality Usagi left them to their talk. She waited on tenterhooks munching on the sweet fried buns at the kitchen table until she heard her mother enter the house.
"So what was that about?" she asked loudly. Trying to hide the nervousness roiling in her stomach. She took a few more large bites of cake to settle it.
"Mamoru-san has kindly agreed to devote a little extra time each lesson to tutoring you, until we can make special arrangements for your schooling. He is going to teach you how to read Braille! Isn't that exciting?"
"Braille!" Usagi exclaimed, crumbs flying everywhere. "I don't want to learn Braille!"
"Usagi!" Ikuko scolded. "This is very important, just as important as figuring out how to use your cane was, perhaps even more so! This is your education we're talking about. Your future. Now I will not allow my almost fifteen-year-old daughter to fall behind and fail to get into high school next year just because she thinks learning something new is too hard. You'll start tomorrow."
Usagi whined. Honestly, she had been rather enjoying not going to school anymore. She missed seeing her friends every day, sure, but it beat sitting still at a desk for hours, the endless homework and Cranky Haruna. The scholarly lifestyle just wasn't for her.
But it was for Mamoru, who was in many ways a lot like Ami. Would he be a slave-driver too?
"This sucks," she mumbled, slouching in her seat.
oOo
She snuck up behind him and his billowing cloak as silently as she could which was not at all, slipping two hands into place over his eyes. The dark head cocked to the side and the man rumbled with deep mirth.
"Gotcha," she whispered into his ear, giggling as insatiably as a little girl.
"Unhand me, fiend!" he declared, in mock-offense.
"Never," she purred.
"Then it's off to the dungeon with you!" he laughed, and with powerful arms reached behind him to hoist her, shrieking, up onto his back. She clung on for dear life as he began marching them away-
"Usagi! How many times do I have to tell you not to just 'close your eyes for a couple seconds' right before your lesson! You. Are. LATE!"
Luna's irate voice slashed like a sharp knife through her muddled consciousness. Usagi started awake abruptly. As always, for the briefest moment after resurfacing from sleep she experienced the sting of sadness when her eyes opened into nothingness, after the vivid colors found behind closed lids. Strange... she felt like she had dreamed of that couple before. But there was no time to dwell on deja vu -
Mamoru was on his way, and she was sporting disheveled clothes, mussed hair, and unfortunate post-nap breath.
She lunged from the bed to the bathroom with only an infinitesimal pause to marvel at the fact that she didn't trip once.
oOo
"So... I was thinking we could go somewhere a little different today. If that's okay with you," Mamoru broached, as they were heading out to his car. Usagi feeling the way with her cane and Mamoru ambling along beside her. "Your mother told you about what she asked yesterday, I presume?"
"Yes," Usagi nodded, trying not to let any of her indignation leak onto her expression. Mamoru was more observant than she gave him credit for, however.
"It's alright. I know much much you love school," he teased, around what sounded like a side-splitting grin. "I promise to start slow and easy."
"You won't throw cat toys at me?" Usagi grumbled, and Mamoru laughed out loud at that.
"That's not off the table! It worked last time, didn't it?"
The blonde rolled her eyes.
"Anyway... a garden's not really conducive for studying. If it wouldn't... you know, weird you out or anything... I have all the texts and materials for learning Braille at my apartment. It might be easier to just go there instead of lugging them all the way to a library, and anyway, I think they're still recovering from that monster attack a couple days ago."
He sounded incredibly nervous, and honestly, Usagi wasn't doing much better herself. He was inviting her... to his apartment?
There was something almost... intimate about that idea; that setting... but, he couldn't possibly be intending it in that manner, right? This was to be a purely educational trip. A lesson, just like all their other lessons.
Just... at the place where he lived.
A place she'd often caught herself wondering about, lately.
Usagi cleared her throat, hoping she hadn't taken too long to reply. "No, I mean... that's not weird. It's a good plan. You can't really comfortably spread out with a book at the garden, can you? And I'd rather not have people eyeballing me anyway if we did it - uh, Braille - in public. So yeah, that'd be... yeah. Let's go."
She wanted to bury her face in her palms and refuse to come up. Could that have been any more awkward an answer? But Mamoru brushed it off like a pro. He seemed relieved when he spoke next.
"Great," he grinned, opening her car door. Usagi had long ago learned to accept his chivalry as a kindness and not an opportunity to demoralize her. She settled in with a quick thanks and leaned back in her seat. Her mind was still racing from the unexpected offer. She was going to Mamoru's apartment. What did it look like? She was rather inexplicably struck with a wave of sorrow that she would not be able to fully appreciate the space she was soon to find herself in. Was he a slob, as with most bachelor pads? Or a neat freak who kept even the dust bunnies in impeccable order?
Usagi decided she would've bet money on the latter, just knowing Mamoru's personality. She smirked and did not notice the quizzical look she received in return.
When they were onto the road, Mamoru started in on the small talk.
"So a little birdie told me your birthday is next week?"
"That little birdie being my mother?" Usagi posed, a certain sardonic layer to her tone as she wondered not for the first time just what that woman's ulterior motives were.
"She just mentioned it in passing," Mamoru shrugged, as if hoping to appease her. "Do you do anything special?"
Usagi sighed, the flicker of a frown passing across her features. "Usually I'd go bowling or play laser tag or go to the arcade or somewhere else fun. Now... I don't know what I'll do."
She lapsed into a morose silence that immediately filled the car, and sensing her discomfort Mamoru quickly moved on to other topics.
Her birthday just didn't seem like something to be excited about, this year.
"So um... where exactly are we going?"
oOo
Azabu Apartments.
Usagi couldn't see them, but it was easy to conjure the picture up in her mind, that monstrous building that towered over the Juban square. She swore she felt its powerful looming presence as her and Mamoru headed to the entrance. The Tsukino family was fairly well off, all things considering. Her Papa was a high-profile journalist. Princess D's party was not even the most illustrious he had been invited to. But Azabu Apartments... Azabu was for the rich. Usagi and Naru used to loiter outside just to get a glimpse of the opulent and spacious lobby, and when they were younger they used to make up stories about the lucky upper class that lived here. It was crazy to think Mamoru was one of those people!
A definite awe had settled inside Usagi. Her feet clacked loudly against the floors that she remembered always looked so perfectly polished. And to think, all those years of dreaming about this place and now she was inside!
Mamoru touched her elbow and led her over to an elevator. He punched for his floor and Usagi couldn't help but ask which one.
"Top," he said, after a brief moment of hesitation. Usagi nearly lost her mouth to gravity.
"TOP? The top floor!?"
She felt his shrug but refused to back down, or quit making a scene. It was a good thing they were the only two on the elevator.
"Oh my God! You must have the best view! Top floor. And he has a frigging Ferrari. You're a high roller, aren't you, Chiba Mamoru!?"
Mamoru laughed like he wasn't sure whether to be embarassed or flattered. "It's nothing fancy. Seriously. It's parceled out really well but it's still just a glorified studio. I do have a balcony though."
"A balcony with the best city view," Usagi felt the need to point out again. "And you're only eighteen! I mean... that's impressive. You must be loaded!"
"It's not my money," Mamoru said quietly. There was a ding! signaling their arrival, but Usagi made no attempt to move. Instead she stood there, blinking, her excitement extinguished as swiftly as a candle blown upon.
Oh. Right. His parents.
The ones he didn't have anymore.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "That was- I didn't mean to..."
"Don't be silly," Mamoru interrupted, coaxing her off the lift with another hand to the elbow. As if to reassure her, he gave it a squeeze, and the girl smiled at last. "It sucks. I'd rather have them instead. But since I can't... it's not an unpleasant way to live, you know? I appreciate that I don't have to struggle to make ends meet. It allows me to focus on my schooling which is what they would want."
"You honor them well."
"It's what your mother wants, too," Mamoru suddenly tacked on, with the ghost of a grin that sounded distinctly shit-eating. Usagi huffed, smacking the first bit of him she came into contact with.
"Not fair, Mamoru-san. Playing on my sensitivities like that!"
"Never said I played fair! Ahh. Home sweet home!"
The door opened and Usagi was immediately struck with the overwhelming smell of, well... Mamoru. There was really no other way to describe it. It was the scent she had come to associate with him, a pleasing amalgamation of manly musk, sweet earthiness and... maybe some flower? As she followed him into what he announced was the entry hall, that smell of flowers increased. She paused, turning her head to the side. Her fingers carefully reached out, brushing glass.
"Do you have a vase of flowers here?"
"Roses. My favorite. I think it makes me classy," Mamoru laughed, and Usagi marveled at his unbridled honesty. Not nearly enough men were so in touch with their feminine side. "Or at least, gives the illusion!"
"Roses are my favorite too," she whispered, thinking of Tuxedo Kamen. Her heart stuttered a beat.
"Come, sit down. Couch is over here. I'll grab the books."
Usagi took the initiative and plopped herself onto the well-loved sofa, enjoying the way she just sunk right down into the cushions. But as she did so, she heard a bunch of paper go crunching and/or flying, and then Mamoru's footsteps wandered back over upon noticing her plight.
"Oh jeez! Sorry about that, Usagi-san. I forgot I had left those there! Here, let me clear this mess onto the coffee table. Add it to the rest of my 'collection'," he chuckled, but in a tone rather lacking real humor. Usagi frowned, feeling around at all the stray pieces of -
"Newspapers?"
"Yep."
She furrowed her brow, still sweeping her hands over them as if they would help solve this mystery. "Um. Why are you hoarding newspapers?"
Mamoru laughed, beginning to shuffle and gather them into a pile. "Do you keep up with the Sailor Senshi at all, Usagi-san?"
Whatever she thought he had been about to say... it wasn't that. Usagi froze, and then realized she had froze, which was suspicious, which prompted her to unfreeze, but then... she wasn't quite sure how to just act normal anymore, not with that loaded question hanging in the air, and so she continued to brush her hands over the papers with slightly shakier fingers than before.
Play it cool. Play. It. Cool.
"Um... not really. I'm... not great at keeping up with all that 'monster of the week' stuff," Usagi lied straight through her teeth. Praying her face retained its usual color throughout this whole awful, unexpected, unwanted conversation. "Guess I should be though," she tacked on for good measure, gesturing to her eyes. She tried her very hardest to look completely neutral. Maybe show the tiniest amount of intrigued puzzlement. "What's going on with the Sailor Senshi?"
"I can't believe you haven't heard. It's a media frenzy. Apparently Sailor Moon has gone missing!"
"Missing? That's... that's terrible!" Usagi gulped. Willing her heart to cease this crusade against her. It pounded with fierce abandon. Never had she wished so fervently for her eyesight back, if only to gauge what expression her companion wore.
"They're saying she hasn't shown up to a battle in weeks. I've collected all the news clippings. Fascinating stuff. Everyone's got a theory. Like here. This one dude is saying she's a robotic hybrid made by the government to protect the city and now she's been pulled from duty, leaving the other hybrids to battle these monsters in her stead? It's outrageous!"
Usagi whipped her hand back like it had been scalded. Mamoru was hoarding news stories... about her?
This was way, way too weird.
She swallowed uncomfortably, forcing her fingers into her lap. "Well... I hope they find her."
"You and me both," Mamoru murmured, stowing away the last of the papers. Then he smacked himself in the face. "Look at me, being such a terrible host! I never even asked if you want tea?"
"Yes please," Usagi jumped at the chance to discuss anything but her alter-ego. "And do you have any cookies to go with it?"
Mamoru snorted. "Invite you to my apartment and not have cookies on hand? What do you think I am, crazy?"
He hurried into the kitchen and Usagi side-eyed the table where she knew the newspapers to now be.
That much was to be determined.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Author's Note: An all-Usa POV! That means next chapter will be all-Mamo. Maybe. Mostly. It's still TBD heh. Hope you're all enjoying this wild ride. I see this story as having two climaxes. One mid-story and one at the end. We are at last nearing the mid-story climax. The roller coaster has begun its ascent ;) Also, hopefully no one is too upset about Usagi's birthday happening now, mid-first season. From the beginning I wanted her to be a little older. Author's preference, *shrugs*. And yes - in case anyone is wondering - the Japanese would be in school in June.
THANK YOU tryntee13, Rufael, Princesakarlita411, Daire123, Serenity Red Eclipse, Ruk, Sesshy's Rose, moon romance, Moon Bunny, karseneau1, lisasailor, Astraearose-silvermoon, NikkiBC, and MyIndy13 for lavishing upon me SO MUCH LOVE last chapter. I cherish you guys!
Next chapter... Mamoru puts his plan into action. Will he succeed in getting information on our missing leader?
AngelMoon Girl