Chapter 6 – On his white horse continued

She didn't know how she ended here, in the sofa of the club playing a mundane party game called 'tissue passing', like spin the bottle, it was just another dumb excuse for a french kiss with the stranger. She was sitting between Mamoru and some guy called Damon, he seemed like a pretty descent guy and had the looks to match but then again the dim light does its magic for everyone. Why else would all the guys appear so interested in her, unless her fairy god muffin was right about the makeover, she caught several inviting glances from different guys and even this Damon seemed interested.

Saek was the most hilarious of all reactions, when he saw her, he at first stared in a way that lacked recognition, then his jaw dropped and his eyeballs popped out comically, eventually, the shock became resentment as he glanced back and forth at Mamoru and her.

Usagi eventually figured that the game was pointless and dead simple, you take a tissue, pass it to the person seated next to you with your mouth, but that person has to tear it off, so the tissue gets smaller and smaller until it is impossible for the player to grip. The loser drinks a shot of whisky and swaps with the person sitting opposite to them, and the game start over. Damon had ripped a small corner of the tissue, leaving just enough for Usagi so that she had to kiss him to avoid loosing. He flashed Usagi a devilish grin, the tiny flake between his lips, Usagi smiled back stiffly, she wanted to back off, but Mamoru had said to be playful and seductive, which means not backing off this little tease of a game. Saek watched across the table, he was still in shock, but not only from Usagi's appearance now.

She inhaled deeply and leaned in to catch the tissue between her lips, thinly avoiding contact. She found Damon smiling at her casually afterwards, a little bit disappointed apparently. She turned to Mamoru and arched an eyebrow playfully while pointing to his shot glass. Mamoru returned with a smirk, he leaned in as though to play but then grabbed his glasses and drank it in one take.

He turned to Usagi and winked, standing up to reposition himself, she quickly realized that he was swapping with Saek. Who glared daggers at Mamoru; he stood up and snickered then sitting back down next to Usagi.

"You didn't even have to kiss that Damon dude," Saek Whispered with a smug smile. "We'd still end up sitting together, its all fate Usa."

Usagi half listened as she watched Mamoru, he looked comfy seated next to some red haired, she suddenly realized that it was the chick from last night. She felt a pang of jealousy then mentally laughed at the idiotic reaction before covering it up with nonchalance. Mamoru motioned towards Saek, encouraging her to do her act.

She breathed carefully, checking over all the little details Mamoru had taught her over and over just hours before. I should just do what I'm supposed to do, its not like he cares anyway. Usagi thought finally and turned to Saek with a big smile on her face.

"Saek…you look great." Usagi said in a breathy tone, while lowering her lashes like he had taught her. Saek was taken aback by the huskier sexier demeanor, he didn't know what changed her, but he liked it, it made his blood pulse and some kind of hope rising inside.

"So…so do you Usa, you look different…in a good way of course." Saek mumbled, "So are you with that guy, there was some rumor about you two sleeping in the same cabin."

"Yeah, we are sleeping in the same cabin." He had taught her how to explain. "but we are not together, it was not by choice, just due to the lack of facilities. However, I do think it's inappropriate for a single man and woman to spend the night together despite their lack of incentives, and it encourages mishaps, don't you think…Saek?"

Saek was 100% captivated by her, she knew it because Mamoru taught her how to spot it, his eyes swept over her face down to her neckline and the low cut of her dress, his adam's apple rise and fell as he swallowed nervously.

"Why don't you…move to mine instead, that's more appropriate?" Exactly what Mamoru had predicted he would say.

"True…but too…dangerous I'd say." Usagi pretended to think, actually she had to pretend not to vomit too, and it was much harder than she thought. Shouldn't it be easy to seduce the man you love?

Saek grinned then, he thought he had scored, he turned around to give Mamoru a triumphant glare, yet like Usagi found him preoccupied with the red haired. She had leaned in way too close to pass on such a huge part of the tissue, and Mamoru willingly allowed her to wrap her arms around his neck while his hand held her waist casually. Usagi looked away quickly, feeling stupid that the strange emotion was once again surfacing. It's only a game, and what they do has nothing to do with you idiot! Stop acting as though HE is the one you love, FOCUS!

Finishing her mental scolding, she forced her attention back to Saek, who looked extremely smug. "He's a little player huh? But Beryl is no match for an angel like you. I guess he doesn't know a beauty when he sees one."

Beryl, that's her name, the bitch! The tissue long gone, but they were apparently not separating; she saw Beryl's long nails digging into his thigh, sneaking its way into what was not hers. Mine! Yep, her mind was totally mad. Mamoru appeared to be pleased at himself as Beryl felt him over. Usagi turned away in anger and disgust, feeling almost vengeful. She quickly caught the tissue with her mouth from Damon who had given up his advances thus left a generous amount for her this time, and pulled so only a small corner came off. Turning back to Saek, she garnered her most inviting and seductive look.

Saek took the bait gladly and leaned in…

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Mamoru was barely able to endure the women on his side, what was her name? Berry? Belle or something? She had too much of the Dior Poison on that it smelt toxic (pun intended), and her nails needed serious grooming perhaps along with some hair clipping (not suggesting that she was a female dog) since she can't seem to keep it all to herself. But he played along anyway, because he didn't want to watch like a soaked cat as the two lovers snuggle together.

He still couldn't help it though, catching glances from his peripheral vision. She was doing a great job, he had turned her into the ultimate temptress within hours, what potential. He laughed sarcastically, ignoring Beryl's bewildered look. Yeah I'm crazy RAWWWRR, you want me? Actually, he had too much to drink, he lost track of how many shots he had gulped tonight when Usagi won't looking, it soothed the strange feeling inside.

No! It's not jealousy. He's felt that emotion for the only girl he's ever loved, he didn't know how she is now…her parents had kept her away from him because he wasn't good enough. Her name is Yumiko…

-Fragments of Mamoru's memory- ***************

They had dated for almost a year when Mamoru suggested that he should meet the parents. Yumiko was extremely nervous and wanted to delay it, but to Mamoru, there was nothing more important than meeting them and getting their formal permission. They had the perfect future plan, they would graduate in from high school in 2 months time and then Mamoru go to Med school and Yumiko dreamt of being a piano and music teacher. They wanted to get married once they get into college because they loved each other deeply.

"Don't worry Yumiko, I know your father is really strict, but I'll try my best to please him!" Mamoru vowed, little did he know how difficult Yumiko's father really was. He was a music professor, the bread winner for the family for more than 3 decades, he took one look at Mamoru and went straight to questioning his family background. The meeting ended when he found out that Mamoru was an orphan. He locked Yumiko in her room and spoke to Mamoru at the door.

"Stay away from her you hear Chiba? How dare you ask for our permission? What can you provide for her? Living in a slum with you? Other kids have parents that provides, you don't Chiba. Don't take this personally, it's just that Yumiko had grown up having everything; she's like the bud in a greenhouse, never experienced any hardship in her life, that's why she's so idealistic and fantasizes that love without bread is possible. I am her father, I don't want to see her struggling for a little bit of money or not being able to provide her children the right things. I'm sorry, but a guy like you in Tokyo is not going to bring her happiness, only pain." Fujita had told him plainly, he was just being a father and telling Mamoru the truth.

Mamoru went back to his foster home and thought over what Fujita had said, it made sense, he had nothing, a small unknown amount of inheritance from his parents that may never end up his. He still wanted to make it work though, perhaps delaying the marriage plan until he was capable of providing her a comfortable life. He thought back to Yumiko, the angel faced black haired girl, she was gentle natured and beautiful. He had it all planned out. He would work extra hard and try skip some grades in college, get a part time job, doesn't matter what it is. Scholarship was pretty much set for him already so he didn't need to worry about it.

He calculated and was relieved that if he worked hard enough, he'd be able to pay for an standard apartment mortgage by 20, it was three years, three short years. But his dreams were shattered in two days when Yumiko still didn't come to school. It turned out that her parents had applied for her to study music aboard; she had left early, with a single letter.

In the letter, Yumiko described how her father spoke to her after the meeting, and she finally realized that they were not suitable for each other. She had wished him the best and bid him farewell and a happy life.

It took him months if not a year to get out of his sorrow, he worked harder from then on, and soon found out ironically that his parents had left him a pretty generous inheritance, it involved an apartment in the most expensive location in Tokyo and a 7 digit bank account. They were smart people, wrote their wills early in case they got into accidents. They kept the amount a secret from Mamoru so that greedy adults would stay out of his way, it was disclosed to him on his 18th birthday.

Ever the more cynical, Mamoru had cursed fate ever since and avoided love at all cost…

********************end of memory

Until she came along, his thoughts were taken back to the party, and saw Usagi who was leaning closer to Saek now, with glimmering eyes in fact, he watched as Usagi turned to Saek *eagerly* with that tiny piece of tissue. One more shot for me It was allllll working out, just the way she wanted it, and he pushed Berry off his lap, who had found the Liberty to plot half her butt. Her shocked expression unnoticed as his heart clenched at the sight of Saek kissing Usagi, Saek grasped the opportunity and gave it all he had. Kissing her like there was no tomorrow.

Everyone in the game was staring at them, cheering them on; it lasted in what appeared to be eternity. Saek held her face, those soft cheeks he had held before. It must be French, he couldn't determine from the dim light, but it reminded him of her taste, her lips, and the sounds she makes. Fuuuck! All the pretense and alcohol cannot shield him from the ache right now. The pull to walk over to the two, grab Saek by the collar and punch the living daylight out of him was too strong.

Mamoru sucked in some air in an attempt to restraint himself and stood up silently to leave. He's had enough, watching them was self torture.

"Chiba." Saek called from across the table, his arm dragged across Usagi's shoulder. "Leaving so early huh? We were planning to start another game, you care to play?" His dumb smile gave Mamoru an urge to axe him, yet his ego made him sit back down.

Usagi on the other hand, had a feeling of vomit in the back of her throat. Kissing Saek in front of Muffin was torture. She had been so stiff and self conscious, and Saek tasted nothing like Muffin head's mint chocolate, it was just saliva as always with him. Unconsciously, she wiped her mouth with her sleeves, trying to get the taste off her tongue.

When Saek said those irritating words, Usagi almost growled, she had an urge to punch herself in the head. It was like she couldn't find a single reason why she loved the snobbish bastard. Or did she even love him? The question raised for the first time as she watched Mamoru seated back down into the couch.

She saw it then, the difference between the two. Mamoru's self assured yet never supercilious posture, his temperament similar to that of a royalty, his intelligence and dominance, he was like a king. Then she remembered his caring nature although disguised by his teasing most of the time, and that little innocent boy inside who was all sensitive and scared. Everything about him screamed out to her, he appeared aggravated right now, looking anywhere but at her, yet even in this obviously despondent state, he looked so attractive that it made her heart race as though it was near collapse.

Usagi turned back to Saek, and she felt nothing, nothing at all at the man she had dated for two years. She blinked, his posture seemed a little awkward, too skewed. His legs looked unbalanced; perhaps too short for his body. His eyes were a little too close together, they were also blue but there was no hint of exceptional intelligence in them, no alertness or confidence like the sapphires that she got used to the past few days. They didn't glimmer in the darkness, or twinkle when mischievous. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Gosh…muffin head had driven her mad…unless of course…she is…no…no no no…there was no way right? But why else would she have completely lost interest in Saek and felt as though Muffin head was Mr. Perfect?

"Usagi? What's wrong?" Saek grinned at Usagi, marks on his teeth from smoking, yuck, how come I never noticed before. His eyes wondered to Usagi's breasts and stayed there unmoving. And he has turned into a rude shallow jerk! Just because he is Seiya's brother means absolutely nothing, it doesn't mean that he will be just like Seiya. This realization was revolutional for Usagi.

Saek tapped her on the shoulder again. She turned to the table and realized that they were playing spin the bottle, some girl had scored Mamoru and was celebrating quite radically by leaping towards him. Beryl was watching with a grudge on the side while the dark haired chick got to kiss Mamoru, thankfully she was not daring and only kissed him briefly. Mamoru sat like a stone, uninterested in all that was happening.

"Your turn." Someone commented when the girl sat back in her spot. Mamoru grabbed the bottle and looked straight ahead at Usagi, she realized that he was targeting and her breath caught, the air thickened as he released the bottle, it span for the longest 20 seconds before settling down, with the neck pointing to her right leg.

A dejected Saek stared at the bottle, mouth agape and Usagi was still holding her breath when Mamoru stood and walked up to her, he stopped in front of her, completely expressionless. Yet before he could make a move, Saek tried to grab Usagi by the shoulders but missing it narrowly and instead grasped her hair. She yelped in pain as she got dragged by her scalp.

There was no warning, it all happened so fast, Mamoru's fist made contact with Saek's jaw and his arm wrapped around Usagi protectively, pulling her against his chest.

"Scum." He spat at the fallen Saek and turned with Usagi under his arm. Everyone around them began shouting and murmuring. Some cheered on encouragingly, eager to see a brawl, others mumbled about finding the securities. But it was all a glaze when she heard the sound of shattered glass and several shouts of warning. The body that shielded her stiffened, a muffled groan sounded.

It was too late when she realized what had happened, a broken whisky bottle had been pitched towards them, and it would have ended on the back of Usagi's head if it won't for a now bleeding hand. Mamoru's hand, he had protected her head, his palm still grasping the sharp edges of the bottle, blood oozing and dripping out of various cuts. The club had muted, as though someone turned down the volume. And then people shouted and cried about nonsense when Mamoru dropped the bottle nonchalantly, not even flinching.

"Shit…" Usagi whimpered, near tears, she grabbed Mamoru's palm with shaking hands, ripped off the hem of her dress and bandaged it as fast and carefully as she could. But it was still bleeding, tears flowed freely now, emotions immerged like a boiling pot.

But all that the stupid Muffin head did was laugh, how could he even laugh in this situation, she didn't understand, it could've been much worse, that fucking bastard hurt Muffin! Mamo-Chan's hand is bleeding! Was all that went through her head.

"Come on Usako, lets go." Mamoru led Usagi, who appeared to be in a trance away from the crime scene with his good hand.

Usagi came back to her senses when they reached their cabin. She held Mamoru's injured hand gently with her palms.

"Does it hurt?" She questioned still sniffling, making Mamoru chuckle "Stupid question, of course it hurts." Tears whelmed her eyes again.

Mamoru simply laughed harder. "You look like you are the one in pain."

"Its not funny Muffin head! Are you crazy? You are gonna be a surgical doctor! Your…you're a genius in medicine and your hands are one of the most important things you have to use during a surgery!! How could you catch that bottle so carelessly? What if…what if it does some kind of permanent damage and YOU CAN'T PERFORM SURGERIES?!" The final words were shouted, she didn't care how he pretended that it was painless, the sight of his bleeding hand killed HER.

"Its not that bad Usako, and I had to…" His eyes softened. "You are more important, there was no time for any other choice."

"Saek…grrr…that moronic idiot, I'm going to punch him personally when I see him." Usagi hissed through her teeth as she unwrapped the emergency bandage she had placed on him.

"I was the one that punched him first…"

"For a good reason, and he hurt you, I don't care for what reason, nobody hurts you! Not my Mamo-Chan!" Usagi pouted, looking down at the wounds, then her eyes widened when she realized what she had just said. She pursed her lips and continued the unwrapping.

"The openings are so big Muffin…and I don't have any antiseptic or antibiotics…" Usagi looked around helplessly. "I'm gonna go to the officers and ask them, I'm sure they keep emergency kits onboard…"

"There's no need Usako, just look in my case, there should be everything you need."

Usagi rummaged through his case quickly and found a toolbox at the bottom. It had everything ranging from band-aid, antiseptics to needles and surgery kits. "Wow, you keep this stuff with you on a trip?"

"Most of the time, when I can…I'm not suppose to carry them though, since I haven't finished field training, you can't perform surgeries when you are not qualified even if it's an emergency." He shrugged, yawning. "But some things are more important to me than these rules."

"Like my head?" Usagi chuckled, she understood what he meant, he didn't care if he got kicked out of med school or even went to jail if it meant that he could save somebody's life in return. This was the real Mamoru, the Mamoru only a few knew, and she was one of them now. She wiped her tears with her sleeve, it was silly to cry and laugh at the same time.

"Yes like your head Odango, I like it too much to see it broken." Her Mamo-Chan…her caring selfless Mamo-Chan…she felt as though her chest would burst with the overwhelming feelings. She kneeled down next to him and took his hand again to treat the wounds.

He winced "Little nurse in making." He joked, "Maybe we can work together in the future Usako. But then again, with your klutziness, you might just overdose my patients."

"You evil Muffin!" Usagi held his hand a little tighter and he yelped, laughing, she quickly apologized for the pain.

Mamoru yawned again "Ahh…the alcohol is finally catching up on me."

Usagi suddenly noticed that Mamoru smelt like a barrel, she sniffed like a puppy and arched an eyebrow "how much did you drink Muffin?" examining his reddish cheeks, she had a rough idea.

"A lot…" He replied groggily. "I didn't like…him touching you, it felt so bad inside." His brows furrowed and eyes full of confusion like a boy, the alcohol was definitely taking its toll. His eyes were unfocused, but she saw herself in them. "Usako…so beautiful my little bunny." He mumbled, and stole a kiss swiftly on her lips, her eyes widened at the gesture and then looked away when he laughed like a little child that just got candies.

"Come one, lets get you in bed muffin."

"No! I'm sleeping on da…floor." Mamoru stood up, even his foot steps swayed now. He had slept on the floor the night before and Usagi had felt bad about it, but she had fell asleep and didn't know about it.

"No, you sleep on the bed today Muffin."

"Then…I refuse to sleep." Mamoru plotted down onto the ground suddenly, sat cross legged and not budging, Usagi shook her head and laughed, there was an old saying that people become what they really are when they are drunk.

"Alright fine, but at least let me make it comfortable…"

Twenty minutes later, Usagi had tried her best cushioning the floor to its optimized state, she turned around and found Mamoru dozing off on the chair.

"Come on, your floor is ready." Mamoru stood up, walked over and then plumped down onto the floor bed with a thump, hugging his cushion in the process…

Usagi leaned down and placed his hand on the cushion carefully so that it would not be wounded again during the night and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed, she found Mamoru sound asleep when she came back, he snored softly, she watched his sleeping form for the longest time and found herself grinning from ear to ear. A warmth flushing her ribcage, she had begun to realize her feelings and no longer wanted to run away from it…nothing mattered anymore as she watched this beautiful guardian angel before her.

She couldn't lie to herself anymore; she was head over heels in love with Chiba Mamoru…

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"Odango?" Mamoru had woke up after a nap, feeling slightly more rational and found a pair of baby blue eyes looking at him

"Muffin head…"

"Hmm?"

"Is the floor too hard?"

"No…"

"Cold maybe?"

"Not really…"

"Stinky?"

"………."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!"

"Making you shut up and sleep."

"………."

Usagi felt herself relax as two arms gently wrapped around her waist, Mamoru had decided to climb in bed with her, not that she was complaining. He held her to his hard chest, such an intrusive position, yet all that she felt were safety and contentment. Sighing in happiness, sleep bound her like a spell and she slipped into the void of dreams.

"Is this what you really want Usako?" Mamoru stayed awake for a long time after the little blonde had dozed off, wondering over some unanswered questions…

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Lalalalalalalalalalalalala, happy and cute parts darlings, so they are coming to their senses huh? Its always like this isn't it? The whole world knows about their attractions except for them, coz both are so stubborn. Lol, anyways…Mamo-chan and Usako might officially confess their feelings for each other next chapter…but will they live happily ever after? Or are there actually things that Usagi should know about?