Episode 95

Recap: Ergh… well, I didn't have time to watch this entire episode. It's the one where Umino and Naru enter in that lover's contest and end up winning. How cute. And then Kaorinite and a weird ol' Daimohn with a huge heart on her chest make an appearance. That's about it.

Also because I'm pressed for time, this will be a short one. Ooh, midterms, how I loathe the thought of you! I doubt I'll be able to keep up my chapter-a-day commitment within the next week and a half, but I'll try my best. :(

"Too bad I missed the brawl." Mamoru really was disappointed. There was nothing like a good fight to stretch out his back after a day of studying.

"There was a woman there with the youma." Usagi frowned and poked his sheet of notes with her finger rather pointedly. "With red hair. Pale face. Thin lips. Laughed without smiling."

"They always laugh without smiling," said Mamoru.

"Who?"

"The villains," he said quite matter-of-factly, reaching his hands up to the ceiling with a yawn. "Lord, I'm bored."

"I could make you cookies again," said Usagi with a distinctive twinkle in her eye.

"As tempting as that is, Odangos - " He stopped abruptly. A sharp image swam into focus in his mind's eye, of a woman with red hair, a pale face, and thin lips, who laughed without smiling. Mamoru didn't know much about fashion, but he certainly had enough common sense to realize that her hair color looked positively absurd next to the equally vibrant red of her dress. But that was just him, anyway. "Her name's Kaorinite," he said.

"Mamo-chan?" Usagi snapped her fingers in front of his eyes, and he blinked abruptly; the image vanished. "Your eyes were all foggy," she said, watching him curiously.

"Yeah, I saw her. The red-haired woman. She's connected to the youma, of course, but… not directly… ah, dammit, I dunno. It's gone now." He shoved a hand through his hair. "I wish I knew how to get some real information out of those things." His premonitions had been coming at a slightly accelerated rate, now that the new enemy was out there sending youma after pure hearts, and it frustrated him that though he'd been seeing visions for as long as he could remember, he still had very little control over them.

"Uranus and Neptune were very nice today," said Usagi thoughtfully. "Very civil. A big turnaround from the other day, I should think. Attacking me!" She tossed her pigtails, scorning the very concept. "Although Uranus still smelled like men. Sweaty men."

"She was fighting a battle."

"So she should smell like sweaty women."

She had him there.

"So what was the youma like, anyway?" He fiddled absently with the rip on the underside of the couch.

A furious blush overcame her, and she stared down at her feet. Immediately, he zoned in, sensing a delicious catch. "What? Usako, what happened?"

"You're like a teenage girl when it comes to gossip," she muttered to the carpet.

"I'm going to find out eventually. You know Minako will tell me anything."

She glowered up at him. "That has nothing to do with you – Minako tells everyone everything."

"I never implied it had to do with me. Out with it, Usako!"

"It's too embarrassing!" she cried, faceplanting into the floor; her pigtails flopped straight over her head.

"Was it a male?" said Mamoru immediately. "I've never seen a male youma from this enemy before."

"Not – exactly," Usagi said in a strained voice.

"Did it seduce you?" he smirked, though inwardly he glugged with jealousy at the very thought.

"Wha – well… well no, but, I mean…" She peeked a wide white eye out. "It looked like you," she whispered.

"Usako!" he groaned. "As reassuring as that is to my ego, you have to be more careful, dammit!"

"Well it's not like I was just stupid!" she shot back, reeling back onto her knees. "It was weird, it was like I tried to think that this was a trap, but as soon as I got close to it, I couldn't actually make it all the way, like there was a wall in my head. Which was the enemy, of course. And it worked with all the other girls, too! There were boys for them, and none of them thought twice about it!"

He grunted. "Next time, don't wait long enough to let it attack, then."

She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Wonderful advice, thank you for your time and efforts."

"Hey, that actually sounded facetious. Maybe I'm rubbing off on you."

"What makes you think I need you to rub off on me, Mamoru-baka? I can think of these things on my own, thank you!" She stood and plopped into the vacant armchair. "I'm bored, too," she admitted after a moment. Then she grinned. "I did offer to make you cookies…"

"And before I was so rudely interrupted by psychic intervention, I was going to tell you that as tempting as that is, I think my kitchen wouldn't survive the encounter."

Lucky for him, his house did survive her chasing him around, screaming to high heaven that she was not that bad of a cook and knocking things over. Barely.

Oh those two. Just can't keep them from bickering. :)

In case the general public was curious, I would like to inform the world at large that today I wore my hair in semi-failish odangos to school. Tomorrow I plan to wear them in much-less-failish odangos. I know, I know, it's enthralling.

Thanks for reading! :) (Title suggestions still very much desired! I'm terrible at titling things!)