Mamoru woke up the next morning feeling like he got hit by a bus. Had last night's dinner at the Tsukino residence taken *that* much of a toll on him?
He groaned as he sat up and cradled his head in his hands. He'd been more wiped from the day before than he thought. Memories of the evening flooded his mind, threatening to discourage him from getting out of bed and going back to sleep instead.
Sleep. "I had some crazy dreams last night…" he murmured to himself, suddenly remembering pieces here and there of some adventure he'd gone on. A black suit. No, wait… a tuxedo? An adrenaline rush as he ran somewhere entirely on instinct. Saving a pretty girl…
Mamoru shook his head. Was he that upset about Usagi that he was already thinking of sweeping other women off their feet?
With a heavy sigh Mamoru swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, stretched toward the ceiling as he craned his neck all the way back, then rolled his head to loosen his neck. He still felt tired and his muscles were strangely sore, but he attributed all of that to the rough evening he'd had. In fact, he was surprised he'd gotten to sleep at all… though he couldn't quite remember falling asleep in the first place.
He pondered this as he stood in the shower, staring blankly at the tiles ahead of him as hot water cascaded down his shoulders. He considered punching those tiles in frustration, but caught himself. Luckily his logical thought was still intact and he realized that would only result in broken fingers and more pain. Instead, those tiles became something like a projector screen as he relived the angry goodbye with Usagi from the night before. She'd been jittery since he'd arrived at the house, but figured she was as nervous as he was to meet Ikuko and Kenji.
But as he'd grown more comfortable in the house, her anxiety hadn't let up. In fact, as the night drew on, her nervousness only seemed to have gotten worse. Echoes of her saying "Huh?" and "What?" as he snapped her out of her own thoughts or she stalled for answers infuriated him. Had he done something wrong?!
For the thousandth time he replayed every scene with her parents in his mind. How he responded to this question, or told that story, or when Kenji looked at him how he'd smiled back or nodded… even down to talking to Shingo about the comic books he liked to read and what he may have said wrong there. But no matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn't think of anything he'd done that would have upset Usagi or her family.
"Because there wasn't anything for her to get upset about…" he told himself. The night had been damn-near perfect.
So what was it, then? That new broach she'd had… had she met someone else? A classmate, maybe. Possessiveness overtook him then, and as he leaned his forehead against the wall he found himself growling. He didn't want to lose her. He would fight for her, of course, but in the end if she chose to be with that other person over him, what could he do? His heart ached at the thought.
"Usako… what is it you're not telling me?"
Usagi considered calling Mamoru early that morning, but she didn't know what to say.
Much to her mother's surprise the girl was up and making breakfast for herself at seven o'clock on a Saturday morning. She hadn't slept well the night before, even after all of the energy she'd expelled and the excitement from the night before.
Unfortunately for Usagi, it wasn't entirely the incident with Mamoru that kept her up, nor was it the frightening monster she'd fought as Sailor Moon...
No. Each time Tuxedo Mask flashed on the backs of her closed eyelids they'd flown open, fueled by a surge of adrenaline through her heart that felt like sweet agony.
By the time the sun had started to come up she was sick of the feeling. It was very similar to the anxious feeling she'd get before she told her mom she'd flunked another English test, yet this was far worse on her conscience. She would have rather failed a thousand tests and told her mother about all of them than to feel like this when thinking about someone other than Mamoru.
Sure, she'd felt like this when thinking about Mamoru, too… especially when they'd first met and started dating. Since then the butterflies had subsided some but her love for him hadn't wavered. If anything, it'd only gotten stronger with each day.
'Well, almost each day...' she thought, then violently shook her head as if expelling the thought from her mind. Yes, she loved him more each and every day. Even though her stomach felt funny when thinking about this new Tuxedo Mask guy, she still loved Mamoru now more than ever. And she had a lot of making up to him to do.
She watched Luna with dismay as her mother, really brainwashed into thinking they owned the cat, poured food from a can into a small bowl and extended it to her, making cooing noises and scratching under her chin. Luna purred loudly, and it was all Usagi could do not to turn around and scream at Luna to cut the innocent kitty act and speak with real words to her mother. But the cat, as she'd done yesterday, would simply sit there and act all innocent while all the people Usagi loved would look at her like she had a thousand crazy little heads.
"Last night was so nice," Ikuko said with a warm smile as she stopped petting Luna and stood.
Usagi didn't look up from the egg she was slowly moving around a frying pan. "Mhmm."
"Mamoru is a very handsome and very sweet young man," her mother continued, and Usagi nodded. "Please tell him he's welcome back for gyuudon anytime he wants."
Usagi knew Ikuko must have sensed something was wrong- the blonde was a terrible actress- but she was incredibly grateful that the woman didn't pry. Instead, she left the conversation at that and strode out of the kitchen, leaving Usagi alone with her frying egg, half a glass of orange juice, and Luna.
"You didn't sleep very well last night," Luna said in a low voice so no one else in the house would hear, and Usagi cringed.
"Tell me something I don't know," she grumbled, trying to flip the egg over in the pan without breaking the yolk but sighed as she watched the yellow substance spill onto the pan and begin to solidify.
Luna licked her paw. "We have training later," she offered. "Tonight, and I'd like it to be at your school."
"What?! What if someone sees?!"
"No one will be at the school on a Saturday night. They have some equipment in the gym that I would like you to use."
Usagi grimaced. "I hate this, Luna. I don't want to be Sailor Moon. It's messing up too much, okay?! I quit. Go find some other girl to do this."
Luna brushed Usagi's leg. "No one else can be Sailor Moon, Usagi. This is your destiny…"
"Enough with the destiny!" Usagi cried. She closed her eyes, knowing she'd shouted too loudly.
"Usagi?" It was her father, calling from the top of the stairs.
"Are you okay?" Followed Ikuko's voice, and Usagi grit her teeth as she heard her coming back down toward the kitchen.
"I'm fine!" she spat, scooping her egg onto a plate and pushing it against the back wall of the counter. To avoid her mother she abandoned it, exiting out of the opposite door her mother was entering and sliding on her shoes.
"Where are you going?" Ikuko asked.
"Out," Usagi said sharply. She knew her foul mood wasn't her mother's fault but was too angry to put on a happy face.
Ikuko studied her for a moment before placing a hand on her hip. "In your pajamas?"
Usagi looked down at herself. She was, indeed, wearing pajamas… but her shoes were already on and she just wanted to get out of her house and away from Luna for a while. "Yep," she said, raising her chin in defiance as she let herself out before her mother could protest.
Just before Usagi opened the front gate to walk down the road, she grunted and stopped short when she heard Luna.
"You know…" came the voice by her shin, "you don't have to go out in your PJs if you don't want to."
"I want to," Usagi lied, and Luna put a clawed paw on the girl's ankle before she could walk off.
"Listen to me, Usagi! I don't want this all to be such a struggle for you. I want us to be friends, and I want to teach you to embrace your destiny. Yes! I know you hate that word now, but only because you don't understand it. Please. Let's start over, okay? You try this Sailor Moon thing again, I will be more considerate of your time with your family and boyfriend, and I'll show you just how incredibly amazing you can be."
Usagi chewed the inside of her lip for a moment. "...Fine. I'll give it one more shot. But Luna, if this doesn't work out…"
"It will. I promise it will. And as a show of good faith I want to give you a present." She jumped, flipping into the air, and a pen landed on the ground. As Usagi picked it up, Luna explained further. "This is a disguise pen. With it, you can change into whomever, or whatever you want. Just say, 'Moon Power! Change me into,' and then whatever you want to change into. Go on, try it and get out of those pajamas before you walk down the street!"
Usagi pondered for a moment, excited by this fun perk. Not only could she change into a super heroine, which still took some getting used to, but she could also change into anything else she wanted? "Moon Power!" Her skin tingled as the pen began to glow. "Change me to look like a high school student!" In a flash of light similar to when she transformed into Sailor Moon, Usagi turned to look at herself in the reflection of the glass door of her house. She was no longer in her middle school uniform, and even felt more mature than she'd had just moments ago. "Wow!" she exclaimed excitedly, and saw Luna beam up at her.
"See? Being able to harness the power of the moon isn't so bad after all, is it?" Luna asked.
Usagi smiled. "We'll see about that," she said, and took off down the street with Luna in tow.
"Where are we going?" Luna asked.
"*I'm* going to go find Mamo-chan," Usagi replied, running toward the first place she thought to look: Crown Arcade.