Chapter 3
Only Time Will Tell
A/N:
HELLO! Sorry I'm so late coming. I actually had time to sit down and write this week! Aren't you proud of me? Thank god for Christmas vacation, it's been like a god send. No doubt I'm gonna be laying in my bed at 3 in the morning Monday, trying to finish all the homework our teachers gave us over break…oh well then. OMG I have to do my Flatland Journal! Damn. Ok don't mind me, I'm just hyperventilating.
Read and review!! Maybe it'll take my mind off homework for a while.
Ummster
It's not who we are, but what we do that determines us
(No Spiderman this time, but Batman. Well I can't remember the exact quote, don't kill me if some words are screwed up. More like the whole sentence)
Disclaimer: I pity the sad old freaks that think these characters are mine. Unfortunately, I'm not as much of a genius as I would like to think.
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"O-Odango Atama?" he murmured huskily, bending down to take another look at the beautiful girl he now held in his arms. Squeezing her shoulders gently, he let out a belated whistle. "Am I- am I seeing things or is it Odango who…" is pressed up intimately against my front?!
"Eh?" he heard the girl squeak in astonishment and slowly raise her shimmering baby blue orbs to his uncertain countenance. With an "eep" she jumped back in astonishment, blinking up at him and panting furiously in a mixture of surprise and anticipation. Mamoru blinked back down at her through heavy lids as he frowned genuinely.
"What the HELL?" he choked as his brain froze over, instantly recognizing the distinctness between the blonde ponytails of his companion and the silver, alluringly messy bun of his silver-haired menace. Yet before he could remark, he felt a blinding, throbbing pain in his forehead and suddenly found himself sprawled upon the ground, a clammy, petite fist pressed against his cheek.
"You –you," Usagi stuttered, searching for words, "You extraordinarily cheap, detestably sleazy, conniving little…MOLE-RAT!"
He groaned against her fist and tried to edge out of her death-like grip but she held him down steady. "I can't believe you'd do that, baka! I mean…to take advantage of me like that! When I was expecting some gorgeous, dashing dark-haired prince in a tuxedo!" Usagi blushed –no doubt Mamoru would look like a gorgeous, dashing dark-haired prince if he wore a tuxedo…wait WHAT? She shuddered unconsciously.
Mamoru almost laughed; her description was remarkably similar to that of his alter ego tuxedo mask –yet his countenance instantly fell as he glanced at the expression writ on her crimson face. A subtle shadow flashed across her face; did she look…flustered? The expression instantly disappeared and Mamoru wondered if he had simply imagined it.
"I –Odango, why would I do that? I mean…you're Odango!"
I am SO getting him back for that, she thought sourly as she rammed his cheek extra hard into the floor. "Then explain this," she stuttered, cheeks turning redder by the second as she tried in vain to push meandering golden strands of hair out of her eyes' way while pushing him down all the same. Mamoru took the opportunity to heave himself upwards against her.
Usagi gasped and pulled backwards, only to find him shuffle in closer to her. "Damn-it, Odango! I was so sure I was kissing the silver-haired girl we'd seen in the arcade but then…you just…popped up out of nowhere!"
She smirked. "So you WERE cheating on Rei!" She slapped her hands together viciously, a malicious grin creeping across her mouth, only to find him clamp a hand across her mouth, his eyes narrowing.
"Shut-up," he whispered, watching as her eyes grew wide, "We both know you were kissing that…" he motioned with his head behind him, "…other man. Not too loyal to Motoki now, are we?"
Her hands flailed out in defense. "But Mamoru, I wasn't even dating Motoki!"
"Yeah, well, you liked him." She shrugged and looked at her hands, folded neatly in her lap, suddenly feeling very embarrassed.
"Umm…" she began, unable to bear looking up at him. Usagi gulped and twiddled with her thumbs.
He sighed. "This is so stupid. I can't believe we're fighting over this."
She nodded, her blonde head bobbing in assent. "I mean, it's not as if either one of us actually liked it or anything."
He nodded outwardly but inwardly cringed at her words. Ouch, that stung. Sure, perhaps, he wouldn't have planned things to go the way they did but…he couldn't say he hadn't enjoyed it. At least, when he hadn't known it was her. And even then…he looked inquiringly at Usagi, stealthily looking over her curvy figure and burying his face in his lap. Why had he never noticed before? It suddenly occurred to him that he had just kissed…the single most gorgeous girl he had ever seen in his life; and hell, he didn't regret it!
"Well either way we'd better get out of here." He rubbed a tentative hand through his ebony black locks. "Damn hormones," he whispered.
Usagi didn't seem to catch it. "You're probably right, baka. Come on, let's go." She grabbed his hand rather forcefully, tugging sharply at it to pull him up, but for some reason, he wouldn't budge.
She gulped, feeling the atmosphere tense around her and the heated air waft gently past her. "Mamoru come-" she began, suddenly finding herself being pulled down over him by a pair of firm, callused hands. And right before his lips plundered hers hungrily, she caught a glimpse of his ocean blue eyes fixed piercedly at her, depthless and uncontrollably intense, and couldn't help but find herself drowning in those depths…
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"You highnesses…now is not the time, I'm afraid. You'll have plenty of time for that on your honeymoon." There was a pause. "Rather ironic that they're called that, I mean, you two would be leaving the moon as it is." A slight chuckle resounded in the distance.
Usagi thrust herself off him, panting furiously, and rested a sweaty hand across her forehead. "Oh no…" she felt herself sway uncontrollably and fall into a familiar embrace, "…so dizzy…"
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Usagi opened her eyes moments later to a set of sparklingly clear light blue eyes, framed by a pale complexion and a shroud of soft blue hair, piled high atop a high forehead. "Ami?"
"The one and only." The girl smiled warmly. "You startled us, Sere. Endymion is waiting in the corridor."
"Endymion?" she questioned quizzically.
"Yes, princess. Your quite inquisitive today. I'm guessing it's the anxiety?" She winked in good-humor. "Don't worry yourself too much. Everything's been planned –that was Endymion's work, mind you- and will be monitored under close proximity…that is, most of it anyways." Ami blushed and shuffled the papers in front of her, nudging her wide-rimmed glasses further down the bridge of her nose and blinking intelligently. "No more questions, I suppose?"
If she'd been confused before now she was dumbfounded. Princess? Endymion? "But- but wha-"
"Come now princess," Ami retorted impatiently, suddenly issuing Usagi out the arched doorway.
She stumbled out of the doorway headfirst, finding herself pressed against the cold, darkened wall opposing is. Her hands groped for the closing door just as she made out a bob of blue disappearing into the misty nothingness. Yet it was too late –she was alone now, alone in an unknown, unidentifiable domain, with nothing but herself to keep herself company. And supposedly an…Endymion? She knew she'd heard the name before –recognizable somewhere along the inner folds of her memory.
But before she had time to reflect she heard it: "Nice of you to join me, Odango Atama." Aaaa, the unmistakable, mocking low voice of her arch nemesis.
She heard a slight fumbling above and suddenly a burst of light was thrown before her, revealing the handsome, collected face of…none other than Mamoru Chiba himself. Her heart fluttered as she realized that his eyes held the same haunting, lustful desire as they had before, though his tone had turned egotistical.
"Hello Mole-Rat," she purred, pulling him down by the collar and raising herself on her tip-toes to match their heights, "Would you care explaining where the hell we are!"
"Your guess is as good as mine," he returned, shrugging and peering past her at the enigmatic encryptions carved into the marble walls –most of which were undecipherable. She raised a tentative hand to brush a finger over the lettering, finding the material of the creamy wall clammy and chilling. She shivered, watching his gaze turn to the gargantuan crescent moon encrusted into the main framing of the door, softly glowing under the line green light of the low-hanging chandelier.
"It's…it's like that…that note she gave me…" he murmured, outlining the symbol with his eyes before ripping them away and turning to gaze at her. "The…the women we met…gave me a note…with a crescent moon on it."
"I…" she started, unable to tear her eyes from his intense gaze, "…does that mean we're in…the moon palace?"
"The moon palace?" He ran the thought by him. "That would make sense…but how do you suppose we got here?"
His words stirred something Ami had said, and suddenly it clicked. "She said there was an…Endymion out here." She licked her lips nervously. "Maybe we should…try to find him."
Mamoru shook his head nervously. "It wouldn't be of any use. I've already searched these halls and there's no one else here."
Usagi gulped, reaching out to grasp his hand in her own. "What does that mean, Mamoru?"
He massaged her cold hands unconsciously between his warm ones, sending spirals of desire sweeping through her spine as she glanced up at him again. "Odango…I think it means…I'm Endymion. Or at least…that's what these people think."
"But Endymion's the name of the Earth prince…from years ago…back when the world was overcome with magic…"
"Yes, I know, but…" he stopped to peer at her genuinely. "How did you know that?"
She flushed. "I umm….well I do a lot of reading when I'm bored. Chalk it up to lazy Odango to do something worthwhile once in a bit." She paused, licking her suddenly very dry lips. "How did you know?"
He didn't even flinch. "I do a lot of reading myself."
"Oh." She pouted. "That's funny. I guess there were princes that were mole-rats after all." Mamoru laughed unexpectedly, watching as her lips dipped downwards. Those scrumptious lips…damn she looks so cute when she pouts. His eyes widened as he realized what he was thinking and he shook his head lightly to clear his mind.
"Reading too many romance novels Usagi?" She blushed. "Did Ami tell you anything else? Anything else that could be of use?"
Usagi frowned thoughtfully. "She did call me Sere. But isn't that…"
"…the nickname of the princess of the moon, Serenity? You certainly must have done some extensive reading, Usagi." Her name sounded foreign on his lips, and she frowned again.
She scratched her neck bashfully. "There's more though. She was talking about us leaving somewhere."
Mamoru glanced downward, seemingly deep in thought. Usagi followed his movements, suddenly enraptured by the shine of his expensive leather shoes…
…suddenly she felt a warm hand on her shoulder, and found herself again drowning in a pair of wonderfully blue, dark sultry eyes that enticed her foreword. Yet she made no such motion as she stood stock still at his nervous words:
"Odango…it seems somehow our rendezvous at the arcade must have transported us to the past…to the Silver Millennium. And in some upside down, sideways sort of way, everyone thinks that I'm Endymion, prince of Earth and you're my… (gulp) lover, princess Serenity of the moon kingdom."
Usagi let out a cry and launched herself into his ready arms, as Mamoru unconsciously twirled a blonde-gold strand around her forefinger. He continued idly. "…And as hard as it is for me to say this…I think…we're…we're on our honeymoon."
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A/N:
WHAT?! MWAHAHAHHA
Ok I'm not that entirely satisfied with this chapter but I'll leave it off because its 12 am and I'm TIRED. I'll look it over tomorrow but…I'm just…going to leave it…hopefully it'll do, and isn't TOO bad. I also hope everything makes sense.
That chapter was kind of short, wasn't it, but the next chapter'll be long, I promise!
Review, if I may say so!
ever faithful,
Ummster
:D