Pink? Usagi held up the pink cardigan and studied it with her dark wash skinny jeans and black cami. Or…lime green? She decided on the lime green and added her black stilettos with the peek-a-boo toe and quickly hooked carved ebony earrings into her earlobes. Tonight she'd decided to forgo her traditional meat-ball hair style, hoping to waylay any attempt on Haruka's part to use that irritating nickname. She'd spent the last half hour deciding what to wear, modeling one outfit after another in front of her bedroom mirror and for over an hour before that, she'd painstakingly blow dried and straightened her knee length hair. A small part of her wondered why she was taking so much care with her appearance when Haruka was a girl and this was most certainly not a date, but she shushed that inner voice and clicked down the stairs to wait by the front door.

She could hear her mother in the kitchen cleaning up from the dinner she'd made for herself. Usagi had told her she was grabbing some food with a girl from school, and her father was at the office as usual.

The door bell chimed pleasantly and Usagi opened the door, her breath sticking in her throat. Haruka was standing in front of her on the middle step, which made her exactly eye-level with Usagi. Her eyes were full of self assurance, and when she smiled, it was impossible for Usagi to ignore the intense pull of attraction.

She blinked quickly and focused on Haruka's outfit. She was wearing a dark gray button up with a pair of black jeans and comfortable black loafers. A black leather jacket completed the look, but her ears were bare of any jewelry, along with her fingers. She was so handsome that Usagi knew that anyone who didn't know better would mistake her for a guy.

"Usagi? Who is it?" Her mother came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron, her eyes bright with curiosity. Usagi winced; she'd wanted to avoid this meeting. She'd planned on rushing out the door when Haruka arrived and hadn't counted on the other girl ringing the doorbell. Her mother was smiling but the smile faltered slightly when she caught view of her daughter's guest and her eyes turned from curious to confused.

Usagi hesitated but knew that her mother was going to assume the worst so she leapt into introductions. "Mom, this is Tenoh Haruka. Haruka, this is my mom, Tsukino Ikuko. Okay well now that that's out of the way, we're leaving now!" She made to walk past Haruka and down the steps but Haruka stopped her with one hand and reached to shake her mom's hand with the other.

"A pleasure, Mrs. Tsukino." She said and smiled charmingly, her voice velvet and Usagi could tell that even her mom was not immune to Haruka's appeal.

Ikuko smiled uncertainly, her eyes flicking from her daughter's obvious discomfort to the handsome young man who was greeting her. Why had Usagi said she was going out with some girl when she obviously had a date with a very attractive young man? "The pleasure is mine. Have you spent time in the States?" She asked, referring to the way Haruka had addressed her.

Haruka smiled and her voice strong with confidence and charisma. "I spent time there racing motorcycles and cars."

Usagi could see Haruka in the States, head to toe in racing gear, herds of fawning American girls around her. She frowned at the thought absently.

"Oh my. Well, that's a dangerous sport for someone so young."

"Well, what I lack in age, I make up for in experience." Haruka ignored Usagi's blush and glare, knowing she was echoing the words that Usagi had tossed at her that first morning in the hall.

Ikuko nodded doubtfully. "Well, the two of you have fun tonight. Usagi don't be out too late."

Haruka smiled again and let Usagi precede her down the front steps. "Ma'am, I will have her home in one piece at an appropriate time." Ikuko decided to ignore her confusion, Usagi must have not wanted to admit she had a date for some reason, and closed the front door, a small smile on her lips. Maybe they wouldn't move away this time and Usagi would have a chance a normal life.

Haruka opened the passenger door on the sleek black sports car that was idling in front of Usagi's house, and was rewarded for her efforts with as Usagi's sweet scent tickled her nose. It wasn't just sweet, it was deliciously tantalizing, along with everything about the petite blonde.

"You changed your hair." Haruka stated as she climbed into the car and closed the door, not bothering to buckle in before she whipped onto the street smoothly.

Usagi reached up uncertainly to finger a piece of her long hair. "Does it look bad?"

Haruka glanced over, taking in Usagi's long golden hair, the way she nibbled on her lower thick pink lip, the soft glow of her skin under the passing street lights… "No. The last thing you look is bad."

Usagi peeked at Haruka. She was staring at the road, one hand relaxed across the wheel, the other resting on the stick shift. A thoughtful expression was flickering across her features and Usagi wondered what she was thinking about. "You raced in the U.S.?"

"Yeah, my manager insisted it was for charity but for me, it was just for fun."

"Is that when you fell in love with deep fried chicken?"

Haruka looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "I do not fall in love Odango." A sardonic smile twisted her lips and twisted something painfully in Usagi's stomach. The statement shouldn't have bothered her, after all, they were talking about chicken but it seemed like Haruka was trying to make a point. For some reason, that point stung Usagi.

Haruka sensed the other girl's slight withdraw and felt a little guilty. "I did start liking KFC a lot while I was there though." She offered. "It isn't the healthiest addiction but I suppose it could be worse."

Usagi was mollified and smiled. "At least it isn't cocaine…just poultry."

Haruka laughed and stopped the car. Usagi started when a tall guy in a valet's uniform opened her door and bowed slightly. He extended his hand and Usagi took it hesitantly, feeling underdressed and unprepared. "Thank you."

The car hop held onto her hand a moment too long, and then Haruka was standing next to her, taking her hand from the car hop's with a possessive frown that both she and Usagi were unaware of. The glint in Haruka's eye had the car hop taking a step back, relinquishing the beautiful blonde's hand like a hot coal.

The restaurant was obviously expensive, Usagi judged by the exterior and the elegantly scrolled sign hanging over the doorway: Little Italy. Authentic Italian Dining. She looked questioningly at Haruka, who just smiled and shook her head. "You will love it."

The tall blonde wasn't wrong. Usagi gasped in delight and stopped to take in the interior of the restaurant. Nothing on its exterior belied what lay on the inside. It was as if the heart of Italy had been cut out and shipped to the middle of Japan. They were on a cobblestone street that probably dated to the period when Romans still ruled. The walls were charming villa town houses, with brightly painted wooden doors and shutters that were flung open over flower boxes overflowing with flowers. Tables were set up in different sections in the out door café style traditional in Italy, and the wait staff moved in a well-practiced waltz with huge trays above their heads piled with steaming Italian food. A waitress clad in black and white led a gaping Usagi and amused Haruka to a table in front of a large fountain.

Seated, Usagi turned to Haruka, her face still amazed. "I love it."

Haruka smiled and took a sip of her merlot. "I told you."

"I summered in Italy." Usagi disclosed, looking up at the ceiling that was painted expertly like the night sky, complete with glittering stars that looked like they were illuminated crystals. "My summers and school breaks are the only times in my life when I actually appreciate what my father does for a living."

"Why's that?"

Usagi glanced at Haruka with a wry smile. "He makes money, a lot of it. Without it, I wouldn't have been towed around the world for his ambitions. I hate that aspect. On the other hand, with it, I have been able to spend my time off from school traveling wherever I want, no limit on money." Her throat felt cottony and she reached for her sparkling white wine. "My father is generous with his money. If nothing else, I suppose that makes up for his selfishness." She stated after draining half of her glass.

Again, there was that surge of protectiveness, powerful and without reason like a wave. Haruka watched in silence as Usagi drained the second half of her glass and refilled it. It would have been easy to seduce the petite blonde with mysterious smiles and promising glances, and enthrall her with amusing anecdotes. Instead, and much more troubling to the impenetrable Haruka, she found that she was seduced and enthralled by Usagi…who was in the process of downing her second glass of wine.

"Whoa there ace." Haruka snagged the wine bottle as Usagi reached for it again and tried to ignore the adorable pout. "Is it so difficult for you to enjoy my company that you feel the need to get drunk?" She glanced at her watch and raised her eyebrows. "It hasn't even been an hour."

A flush crept across Usagi's face and her pout was replaced by an indignant scowl. "I'm not a light-weight, Haruka. I can handle my alcohol. And it is not up to you, nor will it ever be to supervise my drinking habits." She snatched the bottle back from Haruka and resolutely poured another glass.

Haruka grabbed the glass, the bottle and her own glass and handed them to a passing waitress. "Maybe you can handle it. However, when you are out with me, it is up to me to supervise your drinking. I promised I would get you home safely, and I don't want to set you back on your doorstep drunk…you mother wouldn't let you go out with me again."

Usagi glared. "I am not drunk. We are not on a date and you are not taking me out again anyway."

Haruka frowned and steepled her long fingers together under her chin as if in deep thought. "I believe that this qualifies as a date because I picked you up, I am taking you to a nice dinner--which you would find that you are enjoying if you weren't being so stubborn—I will be paying for dinner, driving you home and kissing you goodnight at the doorstep with promises to call soon." She leaned across the table and captured Usagi's hand and brought her wrist to her lips gently. "I will take you out again because you like me and won't be able to say no when I ask you because…" Haruka brushed her lips across the inside of Usagi's wrist and Usagi's heart jolted, her breath catching in her throat. "Because you are deeply attracted to me, whether you want to admit it to yourself yet or not."

Oh this couldn't be happening. Usagi wanted to throw herself across the table and drown in Haruka's eyes. She swallowed, her head feeling light and dizzy. She wasn't sure if it was because of the wine or if it was because of the way Haruka's lips felt caressing her wrist. She had never been so physically close to anyone before; she supposed it was the closest she had ever come to being actually kissed.

She pulled back her hand and hid it under the table. Her skin felt like it was on fire and she couldn't tell if her face was actually red or if she just imagined it was. "Well, I'm not drunk, anyway." She stated stubbornly when she couldn't think of anything else to say.

Usagi tried to ignore the way Haruka's laugh slid through her like an invisible hand, clenching ruthlessly at her heart and distracted herself by biting into a soft breadstick.

"Maybe not, but you are well on your way if your flushed cheeks are any indicator." Haruka played with her fork. "May I ask you something?"

Uh-oh. Usagi paused in devouring a fourth breadstick dipped in olive oil seasoned with pesto. "You can but I might not answer you."

Blonde but clever, Haruka thought, smiling. "You seem to really dislike your father and hate moving at his every whim. What about your mother? Doesn't she care that you are unhappy?"

Usagi swallowed her breadstick and looked at the fountain. It was elaborately beautiful, all ivory marble. The center of the fountain was a naked woman holding a pitcher, which overflowed with water into the pool littered with coins. The woman's face was peaceful, her blank marble eyes serene. Usagi wished that she felt like that. She looked back to Haruka and decided to answer the question honestly.

"I think she cares that I am unhappy but she would never do anything to cross my father. She was brought up believing that women should defer to men in all aspects of life. Maybe if I had been born a boy, she would oppose my father's will but I was stuck with the misfortune of being born a girl." Usagi glanced at her hands and forced a smile. "I don't hate my father but I hate that he only thinks of himself."

"Have you talked to him? I mean, have you told him how you feel about the moving?"

Usagi shook her head slowly. "No. I mean, when I was younger, I did but it went in one ear and out the other. He would get angry and defensive and then my mother would come and usher me out, making excuses for him until I began to resent her for defending him and not comforting me."

"I don't blame you." Haruka murmured, her heart softening. Usagi was sitting before her looking like she did that day in the bathroom and again at the lunch table, lonely.

Usagi shrugged and smiled as the waitress served them their dinner. "It doesn't matter. I just wonder how long it will be until we move again."

The thought of Usagi leaving bothered Haruka more than she would admit under torture. "You could stay here. Let them move without you."

She laughed and shook her head. "How in the world would that work? My father totes me around like a golden prize, and my mother, for all of her faults, loves me. They would never let me just stay here while they go globe-trotting. If I threatened to stay with or without their permission, my father would cut off my funds and I would have no money with which to stay here."

"My place has five bedrooms. I only use one of them." The offer was already out of her mouth before Haruka realized what she'd said. Horror at her unconscious revelation left her mouth dry. What in the hell had she just said? She had with two thoughtless sentences left herself open to rejection and pain. How stupid could she possibly be? This small blonde girl was ruining her!

"Right." Usagi rolled her eyes sarcastically, missing the vulnerable surprise in Haruka's eyes and therefore, saving the other girl the embarrassment of having to retract her offer. "Who has five bedrooms to spare?" Usagi giggled.

Haruka slipped her cocky mask back on and shook her head. "You're right, that's ridiculous." She didn't bother to correct Usagi, or tell her that even as a student with a year of school left, she had more money than Usagi's own father probably had. She may be arrogant when it came to love, or lust, but she was never arrogant about her finances.

The rest of dinner passed quickly without anymore intense conversation or wine, but Usagi's face was still flushed and her eyes were still bright as Haruka walked her to the front door. There were no lights on in the house, Usagi knew that her mother would have gone to bed hours earlier and that her father was probably still at the office or he was working up in bed. Either way, there were no curious faces peeping out the windows as she turned to smile shyly into Haruka's penetrating gaze.

"Thank you for dinner. I loved the restaurant and the food was amazing."

Haruka grinned crookedly and rested a forearm on the front porch railing. Her bangs fell across her eyes rakishly and Usagi's heart began to beat double time. She knew her hands were sweating and worried that her breath reeked of garlic. "I told you that you would." Haruka stepped up, sharing the top step with Usagi, her shirt almost brushing against the small girl's nose. "I actually had a really good time too." She couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice.

Her smile grew broader when Usagi tilted her head back to glare at her. "Well glad I could surprise a playboy like you." Her tone was slightly insulted and a little frown crinkled her smooth brow. Haruka found that she liked insulting her, even if it was mostly on accident, simply because she found Usagi's pouting endearing.

"Whoa, sheath you claws, little kitten." She murmured, laughter warming her voice and softening her eyes. She took Usagi's chin between her fingers and looked searchingly into the cerulean blue pools. She could feel Usagi's pulse, quick and erratic against her pinky, and could see the hesitant questions in those entrancing depths.

She could kiss her now and Usagi wouldn't do anything to stop it. The knowledge of her power was not only heady but dangerous. Heady because Haruka loved power and control, but more importantly, it was dangerous because of how badly she wanted to do it. She'd kissed and done more with plenty of girls, and wanted to do all those things. But the want had never been anything more than a faceless physical desire, any girl would have done as well as the next to fulfill it and it wouldn't have made a difference to Haruka.

This want was different. She felt it with her whole body, and not just with her body, she was beginning to feel it elsewhere…that was enough to scare her off and she took a step back without kissing Usagi with a regretful smile.

"Sorry Odango." She walked down the stairs and then turned, with her cocky smile safely back in place. "I don't kiss on the first date."

Usagi gaped, her face filling with hot blood. Her pulse was still going haywire and she was breathing as if she'd just run up a flight of stairs. "It wasn't a date, you jerk!" She yelled as Haruka reached her car. Haruka shook her head, laughing and waved, before climbing in and roaring off into the night.

Usagi grumbled low in her throat as she got ready for bed and yanked the blankets up around her. I didn't want her to kiss me anyway! She rolled over in bed, unable to get comfortable. Kissing her would be…She rolled back to her other side, scowling at the clock on her nightstand. Kissing her would be…well, it wouldn't be good or anything. I wouldn't want her to do that anyway…would I? NO! Of course not. Maybe if I was a lesbian I would maybe think she was maybe a little attractive and maybe I would think about kissing her and doing other things—NO! God, you idiot! Shut up and go to sleep! Usagi groaned and flings herself onto her back in desperation, trying to ignore her own wayward and betraying thoughts. All she could think about as she fought for sleep was the way she had felt when she was with Haruka.

Usagi sighed, worried at that feeling. She knew what it was; she just hadn't felt it in so long that it was unfamiliar.

She felt home.

Sorry this took so long for me to get out. Excuses are lame, I'll admit that I hate it when other people do this when they haven't posted new chapters in FOREVER but I will offer mine anyway: I got laid off from my job (thank you economic situation that has befallen our country) and since then, I have been pounding the pavement looking for work. I haven't yet resorted to anything sordid or illegal but it has almost been a month and each day that passes without a new job, the sordid and illegal begins to look promising. Ha ha. Anyway, review if you enjoyed. I am pretty excited because I know where the next few chapters are going. Who knows maybe I will have the next one up tomorrow.