Hello everyone.
I'm back with another chapter of "It's never too late". I hope that everyone's have had a great February. I still can't believe that the second month of the year is gone! Time really flies by! I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I think it has a deeper peek into most character's lives and personalities; or at least that's what I've tried to do. I'll let you be the judge of that.
I may be MIA for a while. We're moving on April and Persian New Years (Norouz) is around the corner, and I have some friends visiting from home...everything's happening at the same time.
But I really can't complain. Thank God for happy times and thank God for having friends that can come visit us every once in a while. Right?
Serenitysweety: I'm really glad you liked the previous chapter. It was intense, I know. But I really can't promise that this one is any less intense:D I mean, it's shorter, for one thing; but...oh well. Just read it Let me know your thoughts.
Tryntee13: I agree with you. I almost wanted to shout out and tell Mamoru what Motoki had said! And I call myself the writer :D I'm really glad that you found the previous chapter endearing. I hope you like this one as well. Have a wonderful day (or night)!
LoveInTheBattleField: Cheers. Enjoy this chapter.
Tinatin: LOL I hear you my friend. I never get tired of reading cuteness from our favorite couple either. I'm so happy you've liked the story so far. I really appreciate if you can tell me what you thought about the new chapter. Cheers.
Oloferne: Is it addictive? :D although addiction is bad (kids say no) but I like the metaphor here :D:D:D Thank you for your kind words. What part of Hisa scene you didn't understand? Maybe I can help? Let me know. Cheers.
SMSM92: I missed reading your reviews. And I'm not sure if you got the chance to read all the chapters so far. But thank you for the review you left on chapter 9. It really means a lot to me that you would review each chapter with this much detail. But I think if you did get a chance to read chapter 10, then you know what happened between our beloved couple eh? :D:D (evil smirk, wink wink) Let me know if you had the chance to read the new chapter. Take care my friend.
Enjoy everyone.
The arcade looked scary now that everyone had left and most of the lights were out. He was just so used to the chitchats that were constant throughout the day; the excitement that surrounded the game players and the loud laughter that erupted every now and then.
He sighed as he sat on a stool behind the counter.
He was drained of energy. His confrontation with Usagi had sucked life out of him; and then that brunette...bitch!
He groaned as he remembered the punch she had laid upon him; that bitch!
It was weird though, because even though he was mad about the fact that a girl had punched him in the face, for no apparent reason, but he still couldn't focus on anything else except for her. How could she do this to him?
He clutched his head between his hands and stared at the coffee machine behind the counter.
Images of her with him hadn't left his head from the moment she had said Chiba's name. He could vividly remember his smirking face and the twinkle in his devious eyes the last time he had saw him, "I would hate it if you lost something precious to you," he had said to him; that bastard!
The pressure of his fingers got heavier on his skull as he thought of them together; blonde hair everywhere, heavy panting, disgusting traitorous moaning...he shut his eyes.
How could she do this to him? How could he just miss the act that she had put up? How could he be so stupid?
Her bright blue eyes, her wholehearted smiles...were they all just a lie? Of course they were, he laughed at himself. Because while she was acting all innocent and naïve in front of him, she was bouncing on a bed with another guy...even the thought of it made him sick.
Chiba Mamoru...he opened his eyes and took a deep breath.
Usagi might be a lying little bitch, but Chiba Mamoru had in fact took something precious from him; the feelings he had always felt for the little blonde was hard to dismiss and Chiba had taken that away.
He grinded his teeth together as he stood up and started to leave the arcade.
Furuhata Motoki was not a violent guy, but when it came to betrayal...well, let's just say that there was always a few layers to one person; and Chiba Mamoru had just unleashed one more layer.
"Are you hungry?"
Usagi was pulled out of her reverie and she looked up at the blond who was looking at her with a knowing stare. She blushed under his eyes and down cast her eyes again, "um, no..." she said, even though her stomach was screaming at her, "I'm okay," she scratched the tip of her nose.
Daiki regarded her for a bit, slightly unsure of what to say next.
Hisa was perched on the sofa watching TV. Mamoru was out on the small balcony behind the kitchen; he hadn't said a word since the petite blonde's revelation and Daiki was really reluctant to approach him.
"You know," he finally said, while taking a seat beside the silent Usagi, "they say an empty stomach is the worst evil in the world," he glanced at her as she looked at him with cynical eyes, "really?" she asked, one eyebrow raised in curiosity. He watched her with amusement for a few seconds; she seemed so young and extremely vulnerable at that moment, "well, not exactly," he admitted, and then grinned when she pouted her lips forward, "but it's pretty bad," he continued as he stood up and tugged on her arm as well, "come on babe, let's go see what we can find in the kitchen."
"Don't call me that," Usagi countered annoyed as she was led towards the kitchen by her forearm, "what is it with you guys and nicknames," she said under her breath.
Daiki let out a wholehearted laughter as he stepped into the small kitchen and started looking into the small number of cabinets, "cute girls deserve nicknames, don't you agree?" he grinned again when Usagi's cheeks turned red and she looked away from him.
"Don't listen to him," came Hisa's voice, "he just likes to flirt with any two-legged, C-cupped creature," she said, without taking her eyes off of the TV, "although," she finally looked at the duo in the kitchen from her comfortable place on the sofa, "I don't think your one inch bigger than a B cup...mm...maybe even an A?" she smirked devilishly when Usagi's jaw dropped to the floor and her whole face flamed up.
"Don't be jealous, you know I only have eyes for you sweetheart," Daiki said with a boyish grin, "but I gotta say, I think she is developed enough for her age," he continued as he did a once over on an embarrassed Usagi and smirked.
Usagi couldn't believe her ears; was she suddenly in another twisted dimension? Were these two seriously talking about her physique as if she wasn't even there?
She brought her arms up unconsciously and folded them in front of her modest size chest. She knew that she probably looked like a tomato by now, but she couldn't even bring herself to say a word, let alone try and get her emotions in check.
"Are you trying to give her a heart attack?" Mamoru's deep voice penetrated her senses and she looked at him as he stepped into the kitchen.
She didn't know what was going through his head. He didn't say one word after she had told him that Motoki knew about them now; she desperately needed to know what was in his mind. It had taken all her courage to tell Motoki and she had assumed that Mamoru would probably be happy about that. But now...
"No...not a heart attack," Daiki chuckled, "although it might be nice to see whether she melts into the floor with embarrassment," he smirked and looked at Usagi again, "Ne babe?" his grin widened when Usagi's eyes started throwing daggers at him, "I said don't call me that," she cried out and put her hands on her hips, challenging him to say one more word.
"Oh come on," the blond took out a ready-to-make box of ramen out of the cabinet, "are we still hang up on that subject?" he turned around and opened the fridge.
"My name is Usagi...U-S-A-G-I," she cried out once more, her tiny hands fisted at her sides. She looked at him with a deep frown and a dark pout, before something came to her mind.
Mamoru watched her face lose its previous tensed twist and a devious smile slowly crept through her visage, "alright, fine," she suddenly declared. She visibly relaxed her shoulders and casually leaned against the kitchen counter. Daiki watched her with mere suspicion, while Mamoru only raised a brow; he knew that look. She had given him the same look before, most probably when she thought she had a brilliant idea in mind.
"If you're going to give me a pet name," she said while looking at her fingernails, "it's only fair that I would give you one too, ne?" she looked up at the blond once more and gave him a sweet smile; Mamoru's heart did a twist when she smiled like that. An image of her from the previous night came to his mind. How she had smiled at him when they had both reached the peek of ecstasy; how she had pushed away from the damp hair from his face and looked up at him with a smile, almost as sweet as this one...almost.
"Oh yeah?" Daiki asked with cautious; he had plenty of experience with girls, and he could always anticipate their reactions; well, probably not in Hisa's case, although even her rash and annoyingly funny reactions had become familiar to him. But this tiny girl was proving to be something else. She wasn't as innocent as she seemed, and Daiki praised her for that.
"I know," she chirped and clapped her hands at the same time, "cutie wootie," she declared with a huge grin, eyes glittering with laughter.
Daiki's eyes widened and he looked at her confused. Hisa's sudden outburst was unfamiliar to all three of them; it wasn't every day that she would laugh like this, "Oh my God..." she said in between laughter, "that's one hell of a name for you baka, why didn't I think of that?" she was still lying on the sofa, clutching her sides and laughing.
Usagi looked at her and glanced back at the blond who was now watching Hisa with irritation; in doing so, she missed the intense look on Mamoru's face.
"Cutie wootie ha?" Daiki wasn't one to back down from a banter like this, and with Mamoru's girl nonetheless, "okay then, you call me that," he smirked doing a once over on Usagi again, completely oblivious to the fact that Mamoru was standing right there this time, "and I get to call you," he frowned and faked to be thinking really deep for a moment, "B-babe," he looked at her and winked, "you know why, ne?"
Usagi's face was turning crimson once more, but before she could say anything else, Mamoru's voice reached her ears, "then you'll be signing your death wish," he calmly said and walked up to Usagi. She looked at him with slightly raised brows as he took her elbow and pulled her out of the kitchen, "come on," he said, "it's getting late. I'm taking you home," he walked to the couch and grabbed her purse.
"Hey I was about to make some ramen," Daiki's dejected voice came.
Mamoru didn't respond. He simply dragged Usagi to the door. She looked over her shoulder and was only able to nod at the two teenagers that were watching them leave before the door was closed behind them.
The wind was blowing gently around them, even though Mamoru was not particularly going slow with the bike and Usagi found herself clutching his waist tighter at points.
She had been a little hesitant at first to get on the bike, "Usagi-chan, there are two things that are very dangerous in the world," her father always said, "boys and," here he would usually take off his glasses and stare intently into his daughter's eyes, "and boys on motorcycles, they're the most dangerous of them all."
It's not like Usagi was afraid of Mamoru, who was, in fact, a "boy on a bike", it's just that...well...motorcycles were dangerous and...and...
She really wasn't ready to be alone with Mamoru right now! So she had tried and miserably failed, to take a way out of riding with him. Saying that she actually wanted to go to the shrine and meet with her friends, and from the looks of it, the shrine wasn't that far away from the loft. She had also wailed about the fact that she was feeling a little cold and she might be coming down with a fever and she was afraid that the wind might make her sick!
None of them had worked obviously.
Now, she was sitting behind a quite Mamoru, feeling more than a little uncomfortable for wearing his jacket; the jacket was warm and it smelt just like its owner which was the real problem!
She was trying really hard not to grip him tightly, leaving some room between their bodies, but the movement of the bike and the sudden turns Mamoru took made her tighten her arms around his slim waist and bury her face in his back at a point or two.
Mamoru hadn't said a word since he had hopped on the bike, after putting on the spare helmet on her and checking twice to see if it was secure.
Now, she was sitting behind him while her slender arms were wrapped around his midsection and every now and then, he could feel how she would tighten her hold on him. And he had to at least be honest with himself; he was enjoying this more than a little. The way she was pressed to his back, petite and soft, and the way she was pressing her helmet clad head in between his shoulder blades was...nice! The feeling of having her with him was nice!
He never liked having anyone with him on the bike; and the limited times that he had given his friends rides was actually the only way to get them into safety; Being followed by the police, or worst, by a member of the Tanaka brother's was not exactly a walk in the park!
So having this petite figure sitting behind him was nice, and he found himself sighing with contentment one time or two. And...
And she had told her boyfriend about them! The image of her teary eyes crossed his mind and something snapped in him again. The nice feeling he had was instantly perished from his mind.
He was a little calmer than before, and now he was ready to talk; and he was going to get some answers.
Usagi lifted her head from Mamoru's back when she felt the bike come to a stop, and frowned when she took in their surroundings. They were practically in the middle of nowhere.
"What?" she asked, her voice a little muffled beneath the heavy helmet, "why did we stop?" she looked up at Mamoru who silently parked the bike and got off.
He turned around and regarded her for a moment, before taking off his helmet, "we need to talk," he simply stated and continued staring at her.
Usagi was confused and frankly, a little distracted; they needed to talk here? Couldn't they go somewhere more private, with more lights and maybe a snack or two? Like maybe his apartment?
The memories of the last time she was at his place entered her mind and she felt a sudden flush coloring her face. Nope, not his apartment; but anywhere else besides the middle of nowhere seemed fine.
"Um, okay," she said unsure, without moving or even taking off her own helmet, "here?" she asked with confusion.
"Yeah, here," Mamoru said and before Usagi could say anything he was lifting the helmet off of her head. He met her big blue eyes once they were revealed with an intense look on his face.
"What happened tonight?" he suddenly asked without preamble, catching Usagi by a surprise. She looked up at him before turning her gaze to her hands that were resting on the bike.
"I thought we were suppose to meet at my place?" he asked again, putting his hands in the pockets of his pants and regarding her with hard eyes, "wasn't that the plan? Hey..." he bent on the knees to catch her down casted eyes, to little avail; she didn't raise her head one bit.
"Yeah," she finally said.
"So what happened? How did you end up being with him?"
Usagi pondered her options for a moment. She could either be all awkward about this, or she could just tell the truth. She had broken up with her boyfriend after all...well sort of...had they broke up? Was that intense conversation regarded as a break up? She was confused.
"Well," she started, her voice a little rough. She cleared her throat before continuing, "I was on my way over, when I saw him in our street," she looked up at Mamoru and paused, hoping that he would understand the rest of it. But he kept staring at her with the same look on his face.
Usagi sighed; obviously she had to tell him the story in detail, "well then, he asked me where I was headed..."
"What did you say?"
She looked up at him with slightly raised brows, "well, I said that I was going to meet my friends," she paused again, waiting for him to say something.
He didn't, "and then he said that he wanted to talk to me and then, well," she pushed her lips together for a moment, eyes glancing at her hands, "we went to a café..."
"What did he want to talk about?" he asked, eyes still focused on Usagi, stance still as a rock.
"Just...stuff," she mumbled, not understanding why it was important what Motoki had to say to her. What was important was the fact that he knew about them now; that she had done what Mamoru asked her to do. Right?
"Like?" he asked again, and for some reason Usagi found herself slowly losing her cool.
"Like whatever, just stuff..." she impatiently hopped off the motorcycle, pacing a little away from Mamoru, "what does it matter anyway?" she turned to face him, "didn't you hear what I said before? I told him about us," she finished and huffed with irritation. Seriously, what was going through his thick head? Why did he want to focus on the things that weren't important?
Mamoru regarded her for a moment, before dropping his gaze and running a hand through his hair, "I did," he answered, "So why do you ask me all these questions? I told you the end right from the start. Isn't that enough?" she folded her arms in front of her and kept watching him as he rubbed a hand on his face.
He was silent for a moment, as if he was pondering his next question, next move, "why did you go with him in the first place?" he suddenly asked, "you were suppose to meet me, so why did you go with him?"
Usagi rolled her eyes upward, taking a deep breath before meeting his eyes and started explaining as if she was facing a 6-year-old child, "he asked me where I was going, I couldn't possibly said that I was coming over to your place now, could I? So when I said I was going to the shrine, he said that he wanted to talk to me, so..." she made a gesture with her hands, as if saying 'isn't all of this just so obvious?'
Mamoru wasn't one to let go that easily though; her tear stained face flashed in front of his eyes again, "so his wanting to talk to you miraculously turned into something that made you cry?" he asked, brows knitted as he stared at her.
Usagi blinked, 'miracu...' what was the word he used? Was he also deaf all of a sudden? Didn't he hear the single word she just said? She had told Motoki that she had slept with someone else! Crying was the least she deserved!
"Because..." she paused, trying to put together a sentence to his level of understanding, because clearly, he was having some issues today!
"I..." she paused again, because suddenly she understood why she had started crying in the first place. Deserving to cry for cheating was one thing, but that was only a part of it. The bigger part, the part that was creeping its way back to her head (and to her heart) was something far worst.
She had broken Motoki's heart!
She remembered the flash of confusion in his green orbs, once the words had spluttered out of her mouth. She could also remember the anger and somehow, the defeat in his eyes.
She felt like her own heart was breaking!
Mamoru watched the raw emotions that were playing on her face; confused and irritated of to why she had stopped talking all together he took a step towards her, "Odango?" he called, hoping to lure her out of her haze; to little avail. He watched as her small hand came up to grasp her shirt on the chest; she sighed.
And then the tears came!
His eyes widened in surprise; a moment ago, she was all teeth and bite, frowning at him, dismissing his words with her hands. He took a step closer.
"Jeez, I can't say one mal word without you crying rivers, ne?" she blinked at him for a mere second, before a new wave of tears started falling down. She buried her face in her hands.
Mamoru sighed and stepped to her side, trying to pry away her hands so he could look at her, "hey Odango, come on," he said, "why are you crying again?" he managed to pull down one tiny hand and she peeked at him, "I...I'm a horrible person," she suddenly declared before starting to sob.
Mamoru was confused, "no you're not," he said almost automatically, "I mean, you can be a pain now and then," her sobbing ceased for a moment and she glared at him above her hands; he smirked and pulled her into his embrace, "but your not horrible," her sobbing continued, "yes I am, I...I," she buried herself deeper into his chest, "I broke his heart," her voice was so small, almost inaudible. But he heard her nonetheless.
His eyes widened with realization. His arms started to lose their previous hold around her small body.
He pushed her away from his chest, encouraging her to look up at him. Her watery orbs stared at him; the tip of her nose was slightly red and her whole face was wet.
And it broke his heart!
He sighed and leaned forward, resting his forehead to hers, "I'm sorry," he said, without stopping to look into her eyes. He saw the confusion in them. He brought up his hands and caressed her cheeks; his thumbs soothing away tears, "I'm sorry you had to go through that," he murmured and closed his eyes.
Usagi stared at his closed eyes, "but you're not a horrible person Usagi," he murmured again, "the only wrong thing that you've done was agreeing to go out with him," he took a deep breath and leaned back, regarding her with soft eyes, "what happened was not your fault," he caressed away more tears from her face as his thumb brushed against her lower lip, "it was my fault," Usagi watched him with mouth agape, but before she could muster anything, Mamoru went on, "I should've stopped you when you started going out with him," he dropped his hand from her face and took a step back.
Usagi was still looking at him with perplexity; it's not like she couldn't understand what he was saying, but the fact that he sounded regretful and...and sad was so foreign. Him ... Chiba Mamoru was sounding sad and regretful! It was probably unheard of!
"I should've make a move faster," he whispered as dropped his head a little, scratching the back of his neck slowly; looking so young all of a sudden.
"Make a move...faster?" Usagi whispered, her lips unconsciously lifting in the sides, "you wanted to move faster...than that?" she looked up at him with a shadow of a smirk on her face and lifted up her eyebrows; her eyes were still damp.
Mamoru's head shot up and he looked at her with wide eyes, but only for a split second; he was Chiba Mamoru after all and composure was his middle name!
"I can move faster, you know," he smirked when Usagi wrinkled her nose and lifted her chin, "I can move a lot faster in fact," his smirk turned into a full grin when her face turned crimson and she rolled her eyes. He chuckled, marveling the fact that this was what they did! Glaring, fighting, teasing...and all of it seemed to turn into a tingling banter, with smirks and mischievous eyes; and as long as it didn't cause her tears, he was okay! He was okay to have this kind of relationship with her. Because when it came to her, nothing else mattered!
"But that's not what I meant," he said as he neared her again, not attempting to touch her.
"I know," she whispered and averted her eyes to the ground, "I know what you meant," she sighed, "I just wish," she looked up at him, "I just wish it was different, you know?"
He pushed his lips together, "I do." And he really did. While staring at the empty street on the balcony of the loft, his thoughts had been similar. How he had felt uneasy thinking about Usagi's conversation with the arcade guy and if he could look past the rage he was feeling from seeing her tears, he could actually recognize his inner turmoil.
He had taken something precious from the blond arcade guy, Motoki; because of all people, he should understand how precious she was to the guy.
Because only God knew how precious she was to him.
"I wish things weren't the same either," he said and rested his hand on the side of her neck, "but I can't say that I regret any of it," he pulled her towards himself into a warm embrace, "I meant what I said last night Usagi," he murmured against her hair, as she buried her face in his chest, "I want to be with you; I don't think I can go without you anymore," he inhaled her scent, the same scent that always managed to throw him off guard.
Usagi felt her heart might jump out of her chest at any moment, that's how fast it was beating. She had heard similar things from Motoki number of times, but it never once make her heart drop like it did now. The tip of her fingers was cold all of a sudden and her breathing was labored; what was this feeling? What was this boy doing to her?
"There's a lot that I need to tell you," he was saying and her mind tried to focus on his voice instead the delicious sound of his heartbeat, "but, I need to know first, if...if you want to be with me too," he said in a whisper and Usagi's eyes snapped open.
Was this really happening? Was Chiba Mamoru being a gentleman and actually asking her...was he asking her out?
"Are you asking me out?" she said in a loud voice, as soon as her hands were on his chest and she pushed herself out of his grasp, looking up at him with wide eyes.
He looked at her with something akin to awkwardness, not meeting her eyes completely, but trying to keep cool nonetheless, "well..."
"Okay..." she said in the same tone of voice; loud and sharp.
He watched her with confusion, before amusement took place, "okay?"
She nodded and he chuckled. Unknowingly letting go of the tiny fear he had felt about her answer; she wanted to be with him too.
"I want to be with you," she said, putting her hands on his hips and clutching the material of his shirt in both tiny hands, "I want so much to be with..."
His searing kiss silenced her into oblivion and she was no longer aware of anything else but the way his hands cupped her face tightly, how his smell invaded all her senses and how she never wanted this feeling to ever end.
She was falling faster than she ever knew possible.
He paced some more. Sure of his frenzy but so unsure of everything else.
He looked up again and took another deep breath.
This was crazy. What good could this possibly bring?
He was crazy and this was childish. He almost growled at himself.
He turned around and started to walk away.
"I slept with someone..." her voice whispered in his ear, and his steps faltered.
"I would hate it if you lost something precious to you," he stopped altogether.
"Chiba, Mamoru..."
His hands fisted despite himself.
Chiba Mamoru was a bastard.
He turned on his heels and went straight to the door, knocking hard and firm before he could change his mind like the past half an hour he was going up and down the street.
From somewhere inside he heard a woman's voice, followed by a teenage whining and a sharper male's response, before the door was finally opened.
"Can I help you?" the teenager asked as he regarded Motoki with suspicious. It was late after all, so late in fact!
Motoki watched him for a moment before his determination returned; full force.
"May I speak to Tsukino-san?"
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon and its fabulous characters in anyway. I wish I did. But I don't. All the delightful rights of this wonderful manga/anime and its characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi.