I ran home to my little apartment that blissfully did not allow animals onto the property. That had been a secret must when I had gone looking for apartments to rent. I had lived my teenage years with a talking cat who would not shut up. In my dorm I had shared the room with Ami who loved animals and with her mother's influence allowed us to have Luna in it. The annoying pest would have followed me to my deathbed if she could and it just wasn't something I wanted. It was like having another mother but one that didn't know when to leave well enough alone and believe that since I was an adult I could make adult decisions.
So I chose this apartment, in a nice neighborhood, clean, cheap rent and above else, no animals allowed. That included scurry little mice that make their homes in walls. All in all this place was a perfect home for little old me.
I bypassed all the papers I still had to grade and made my way into the shower. As I showered I thought bemused how easy the kids had compared to fellow friends and myself. While the course work seemed to be getting harder every year they had one less day a week to attend school. No longer was there a six-day school week with only one day off but now we had two days off to do whatever was wished. I had worked hard my senior high career to get into the university of my dreams and doing so allowed me to get into the university, which wasn't nearly as hard as secondary school.
I hadn't had time to date in high school, too busy trying to keep up and make up all that I had slacked off for the last few years. Now it seems to be a pattern amongst the younger ones. I loved kids and while I could be working on the development in the younger schools I decided I'd much rather prefer to work with the older ones and possibly see some for more than one year.
I got out of the shower, dried off and had put on my robe when the phone rang. "Moshi, moshi." I greeted in a good mood.
"Usako." His warm smoky voice ran down my senses and made me shiver with delight.
"Mamo-chan." Compared to his nickname to me mine sounded almost childish but he enjoyed hearing it and wouldn't let me try to think of something different.
"Would it be all right if I picked you up at seven?"
"Of course." I glanced at the clock, which gave me an hour to get ready; enough time to blow dry my hair and put the minimum of make-up on. "I'll see you then, love you."
"Love you too. Bye." He hung up as I was replacing the receiver on the charger. I had met Mamoru the junior year of university and I had kept our relationship a secret so far. Only Naru and Motoki knew of our relationship and once I "explained" my dilemma to him he had gone so far as to help me hide it as well, promising to keep his mouth shut. Naru hadn't cared one way or the other and never saw any of my other friends and if she did that wouldn't be the first thing she'd say to them, hardly entering her mind.
I was happy for more than not being annoyed by the cat in this apartment, Mamoru was able to pick me up at my door without the secret being out. The cat had hung around my apartment building for days after buying it angry that I had kicked her out of my living arrangements and finally she agreed to go live with Ami. I luckily haven't seen her besides the meeting and a few battles. In the beginning she had given me the cold shoulder once she resigned herself to living with the third in charge, Rei wasn't able to have pets either except the occasional visiting birds. I never quite understood the connection between the birds and Rei...
But my mind is wondering, Rei had a fit when Luna once tried to eat one of her precious blackbirds and refused to have Luna living on her property never knowing if her birds would be attacked or not. So Luna returned to live with Ami who adored her, the two had such similar minds and thought processes I was glad to get them both out of my hair. However Ami was precious in the friend fashion and I really didn't mind her so much as the nagging mother hen.
After awhile Luna dropped the cold shoulder when she realized that she still had a job to do. So her anger and hurt turned to criticism and bossiness once more. My life has been strangely peaceful these last few months if you didn't count my boyfriend and the never-ending battles. And I somehow found it lacking. I missed the noise. I was glad that the senshi finally found it in them to confront me or else the hole between us would have kept widening and only causing us despair and distraction. I still found some faults in them and there were a few things that needed to get resolved but wouldn't, not for a very long time.
My memory of the past life on the moon is hazy but I recall the generals being good guys. Not even the girls recall this portion of it. But the generals and senshi were in love with each other. They will never give up their resolve because of this, they only had one true love and none of theirs would come to them because the good guys had turned evil. If they had known I doubt it would affect their attitude on the matter, until we found the princess nothing would change. They would deal with the generals as we do now, with anger and spite, never really caring for them past the inner hurt that would be ruthlessly shoved aside.
I realize I'm painting a bad picture of my friends. They are all warm hearted, kind and caring but all of them have the warrior blood that allows them to forget the pain and deal with duty. I feel sorry for them but until they understand I'm not like them we will always have an understated hidden hole that will not close until I can come clean and be who I am and get what I want without being prosecuted.
I apply sheen to my lips as I hear the knock on the door. I call out "one second" and give myself one last look over. I looked well enough and passable for most places. I hurry over to the door and open it. "Mamo-chan." A smile curves my lips, as his name exists on a breath.
"You look beautiful." He compliments upon arrival.
I send him a thank you look as I twirl for him; my simple black dress flares and settles back around my calves. "You think?" I know it's not necessarily true, but a compliment still warms my heart.
"Definitely." I could feel a frown coming to my lips but I forced it away and smiled, there was something wrong, he seemed a little distant compared to even just this morning.
"Thank you." However his bad mood wasn't something I could just ignore. "Is something wrong Mamo-chan?"
"I-" He hesitated. "No- well, yes, there was a girl today in need of help and so I gave her CPR."
My decision earlier about the fight's scene came rushing back to me and I laughed lightly. "Never feel bad about helping somebody."
"Who said I felt bad?" He pondered. "After my lips touching hers, I decided that you didn't measure up so I'm leaving you for her."
I stared at him in amusement. "Ok." I shrugged and turned to close the door but his hand reached out around the back of my neck and pulled me closer. His laughing face came closer before he kissed me. The pressure of his lips against mine was pleasurable as I sunk into his embrace and he lent against the door and pulled me even closer.
My hands seemed to come alive on their own and ran my fingertips across his jaw and around his head and held him in position. His hand continued to cup my neck while the other slid down my shoulder and arm to rest on my hip.
The phone rang.
We groaned in unison, but at least it wasn't my watch this time. Mamoru lets me go and I walk over to the counter where the vibrating shrilling machine and pick up the cordless. "Moshi moshi." I answer. "Hi mother." I glanced at Mamoru and he straightened. "Yes, he's here." My mother knew also about the relationship, the mother's intuition was on the mark when it came to relationships and once she pried the truth out of me she wouldn't let me keep him from her. "Mrs. Chiba called you hmm?" Mamoru made cut it off motions after the mention of his mother. Their mothers became fast friends and did everything together now. "No, he didn't tell me about that." I bit my bottom lip to restrain from laughing. "Will do."
"What was that?" Mamoru asked after I hung up.
"My mother just wanted to inform us that our parents invited us to go to dinner with them next weekend and apparently you already knew about it."
He slid his eyes towards me before smirking. "I think I forgot?"
I threw a pair of clean socks that were sitting out at him. "I'm sure that's what it was. Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want to go." Mamoru replied, shrugging. "I don't particularly like it when our fathers are together with us. Alone my dad's fine, even with you, but once he meets up with your father there seems to be a competition going on between them."
"So my father's not fine alone?" I wondered a grin playing about my lips.
"Exactly. He's extremely protective of you and defensive and I always fear that he's going to pull out a shot gun from under the table and point it directly at me, ordering me out of his home unless I wanted a new hole in my head."
"Daddy's just eccentric." I told him, while pulling him out the door, we had reservations somewhere and Mamoru was the one who knew where they were. I wasn't about to sit in my apartment for the night discussing my parents. Although on retrospect it was Mamoru who had kept trying to cut that conversation short.
"Eccentric, sure." Mamoru mumbled and put his arm around my waist, in the speed, I was lifted slightly off my black pumped feet. When I was returned to my heels I wobbled slightly and he swung me up into his arms and carried me the rest of the way to the elevator.
I giggled. "Mamo-chan, put me down, I can walk."
"I know." He shifted me slightly so I was closer to him. "But I like carrying you especially when you're wearing this cute little silk thing." His free hand toyed with the straps at my neckline. His heat was making me hotter with every second that ticked by.