Title: A Kiss In The Dark
Author: Princess Destiny
Email: In Profile
URL: destinysgateway DOT com
Couple: Usagi And Mamoru
Rating: M 15+
Summary: 'One Hour Challenge' #657: Response Fanfic. Eleven years ago, Mamoru's father married Usagi's mother. It's now almost Usagi's sixteenth birthday and she has to juggle her secret life as Sailor Moon, on top of school and a job at Motoki's shop. Her life is turned even more upside down when she begins to suspect the masked hero she is falling in love with is actually her awful step-brother!
Couple: Usagi And Mamoru
Chapters: 2/?
Status: Unfinished
Year Completed: N/A

Comments: Hi everyone! Sorry this was a few days late, but I've been layed up in bed with a huge painful migraine and I couldn't come onto the computer to write. I get them a lot, unfortunately. But I'm having fun writing this one. Thanks for all the feedback! I'm still establishing the plot in this Chapter, but things will pick up in the next one.

This is my Weekly Challenge Response for the 'One Hour Challenges' Mailing List! I've tried to write a Fanfic before where Usagi and Mamoru were step-siblings, but it wasn't well received. But umm, this idea grabbed a hold of me and wouldn't let go, so despite the bad feedback I might get, I'm writing this plot! So there! My idea was to have the two in a world where everything is exactly the same as it is in the Anime, but that their parents married when they were kids. They were brought up together and still have that acute dislike between them, but it's from long familiarity. Oh, and before anyone asks, it's perfectly okay to have a relationship with a step-brother, since they are not technically related. I don't want to hear any negative comments on this, okay? LOL.

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Hugs,
Princess Destiny

A KISS IN THE DARK

By Princess Destiny

Chapter Two

Usagi had jumped over the fence.

Mamoru closed his gaping mouth and shrank further into the shadows of a column as his step-sister ran by and into the school. The fact that he was now late didn't even sink in. His little, air-headed, klutz, of a sister had jumped over the fence. A fence that was taller than his six feet two inches by a couple of feet.

"I don't believe it. I just don't. There's no way a person could make that jump," He said weakly, finally turning to walk into the school. The dark-haired man made his way down the hallway towards his classroom, feeling a headache coming on. It wasn't that he hadn't seen his sibling do some very unusual things over the last few months, but this took the cake.

For example, Usagi got a little black cat and she seemed to spend a lot of time talking to that cat-as if it could speak back. If that wasn't a sign of madness, Mamoru didn't know what was!

The upperclassman stopped outside his classroom and peered inside. Everyone was busy writing down whatever the teacher was reading from a book. "Damn it, now I'm late too." He muttered irritably. However, getting back his bratty step-sister had been number one priority.

As Mamoru opened the door and went to make his excuses, he wondered what Usagi would do to get back at him.

"Oh, it's going to be a good gotcha, you jerk!" The blonde girl muttered under her breath, peeved that she now had detention. Who gave detention out at school at her age?

Ms Haruna!

Usagi glared at the red-haired teacher, wondering if she could get some revenge in that quarter also. It was like she was cursed or something. Ms Haruna had transferred to Usagi's school along with the rest of the grade. The Senshi had thought that they would be free of the overbearing teacher they had Juuban Elementary, but no, she had decided that she wanted to teach a higher grade and just happened to get Usagi's class!

"Usagi! Pay attention," Ami said under her breath, leaning across the isle to nudge her friend in the side. When Usagi looked at her sulkily, the blue-haired girl rolled her eyes. What had Mamoru done this time? It was always Mamoru if something was wrong. The blonde's step-brother absolutely delighted in taunting Usagi in and out of school. Home-life apparently was sometimes a nightmare!

"Right, right." Usagi quickly copied down the math formula the teacher was explaining. Now, what to do to get back at Mamoru? The possibilities were endless, but she wanted to throw him off. She would do something pretty mild in retaliation, then get him later. An evil smile spread over her lips.

"Oh, I don't like the look of that..." Makoto said uneasily, spying the look on her friend's face. Usagi was up to something and that was never a good thing.

Rei scowled and leant forward over her desk to smack Usagi over the back of the head with her pen. "What are you planning to do to my Mamoru?" She demanded, crossing her arms.

The blonde Leader of the Senshi whirled around and scowled back. "None of your business, pyro. It's between my step-brother and me."

"Honestly, Odango Atama, will you ever grow up?" The Priestess tossed her long dark hair over her shoulder haughtily.

"Why did you come to our school again?" Usagi asked sourly, turning back towards the front of the classroom. Ms Haruna gave her a warning look and she sighed deeply. It was sort of nice to have all her friends going to the same school, but Rei was sometimes a real pain in the butt. She had a major crush on Mamoru, and gave Usagi hell over it.

Rei quickly scribbled a note and passed it over Usagi's shoulder.

Usagi took it and read it quietly. "You know why I'm here, you ditz. It's better to have all of us together in case of you know what." The blonde shrugged and nodded. Okay, so Rei had a valid point. She had switched from her all-girl's school to be with the rest of the Senshi in case of a youma attack. It was convenient, but a pain in the butt! She and Rei were best friends, but her friend was terribly conceited and her adoration for Usagi's step-brother was frankly revolting.

Not that Mamoru had ever shown an interest in Rei, thank god. It was have been disgusting to see the two holding hands and making kissy-face in school and out! For some reason, Usagi had always felt very uneasy about their 'could be' relationship. The thought of her step-brother and her best friend together made her stomach roll in protest.

The Senshi of the Moon had never looked at those emotions closely, as it disturbed her to think that she objected their union in some manner...

"I'm beat," Makoto groaned, sitting down beside the other girls on the grass under a tree near the courts. She placed her lunch on the ground and put her face into her hands. "If the Dark Kingdom doesn't lay off, I'm going to have a nervous break-down."

"I'm right there with you," Usagi said, massaging the sore muscles around her neck. "But maybe that's what they're trying to do to us. There have been so many attacks along with them trying to get the Rainbow Crystals."

Ami and Rei stared at her. "Are you actually having an intelligent thought?" The raven-haired girl said affectionately. She went back to nibbling on her sandwich.

"Don't be mean!" Usagi retorted, smiling at her best friend. Okay, so Rei was a little full of herself and her looks, but she was a really sweet person underneath that arrogant exterior.

It was scary how alike Rei and Mamoru were sometimes.

The blonde scowled at that thought and bit rather viciously into her hotdog. "You know, there has to be an easier way than this," She said with her mouth full. "Isn't there some way to detect where those guys are coming from, rather than waiting for them to attack?"

"I have been looking into it, Usagi," Ami admitted, fingers itching to pull out her Mercury Computer. However she couldn't do this in school where someone could see.

People began to pour into the courts and the girls looked over in interest.

"Oooh, looks like Mamoru's class!" Rei squealed in excitement, turning to get a better look.

"Great." Usagi said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She watched as her step-brother appeared in the crowd, surrounded by friends and laughing about something. For a few seconds, she watched him silently. Mamoru used to be so shy, but then one day he had suddenly opened and now he was really popular. She sometimes missed the times they spent together...

"What do you see in that jerk?" The blonde girl demanded, turning to Rei.

"Are you kidding?" Makoto said, chuckling. "We could eat him up."

"Those deep blue eyes, that dark hair, his muscled chest and tight butt-" The dark-haired Senshi of Mars began to tick off the points on her fingers.

"Eeew!" Usagi said, making a grossed-out face. "You don't tell a girl that her brother has a tight butt, Rei!"

"Why not? He does." Makoto smirked at her blonde friend.

"You're grossing me out!" Usagi muttered under her breath. This was not a visual she wanted. She lifted her eyes towards the court and spotted Mamoru dribbling the ball across the court, every movement controlled and graceful.

For a moment her eyes dropped to his backside when he went to throw to the ball into the hoop. It was nice backside actually.

"No, no!" She shrieked almost as soon as that thought was out of her head. She shot an accusing look at her Senshi. "You stop that!"

"You're too easy to rile, Usagi," Ami said, smiling.

Usagi looked back at Mamoru cautiously and saw that he was lifting his shirt to wipe the sweat off of his face. An expanse of toned chest and stomach was revealed and four jaws dropped simultaneously.

They weren't the only ones around staring either! Every girl in sight had their eyes glued to the impressive mucles of Mamoru's abs, and even some guys were drooling.

"Holy shit, Usagi, you never told us your bro had such a hot body!" Makoto breathed, fanning her face.

Rei smiled in a silly way and gazed at her crush dreamily. "What a guy."

Ami shot the blonde's step-brother a quick look, then went back to her book.

Usagi stared, then looked away, then felt her eyes drawn back like a magnet. Mamoru looked her way at that moment and their eyes met. Gazes locked for a long moment in which the blonde held her breath-and then Mamoru was grinning at her wickedly. Flushing, she glared back, not sure why she was so embarrassed. Maybe because she had been caught staring at his bared chest? Was she insane?!

"Right," The Senshi of the Moon growled, eyes narrowing. That did it! How dare he grin at her in that manner, all smug and superior? She looked around, trying to spot a weapon. Stuff the waiting for an opportunity to get him back, anything would do.

As if by divine intervention, the basketball spun out of the court right towards where she and the girls were sitting.

"I have it!" Makoto said, diving for it.

"No, I do!" Rei said just as quickly, seeing that Mamoru had come over to the edge of the court and was waiting for someone to throw it back.

"Throw it here, Makoto!" Mamoru called out, holding his hands up to catch it.

"No bloody way. It's mine!" Usagi muttered darkly, moving so fast she knew she had drawn on her Senshi powers. She caught the ball and scooped it up just as Rei and Makoto dived for it. "Sorry guys, but he's mine." she told them smoothly.

"Excuse me?" The raven-haired girl said incredulously, eyes widening.

The blonde Senshi cursed under her breath at the double meaning of her words, and she found herself flushing again. "I meant that I'll be the one to get the ball back to that jerk." She glared at her friend.

"Right here, Odango Atama," Mamoru called out, clapping his hands together once and then readying for her ball. From the narrowed look in his eyes, he was expecting some sort of revenge.

"Don't call me that!" Usagi said through gritted teeth. She flipped the ball up, intending to hit it as hard as she could. But then she changed her mind and balanced the ball on one finger, spinning it around deftly.

Mamoru gaped at her in surprise, not believing what he was seeing. Only the most skilled players could do that move and this coming from his klutz of a sister? Had the world frozen over?!

"Right back at you!" Usagi yelled, taking the ball in close to her chest like a frisbe, then letting it fly out towards her step-brother.

"Usagi, did you just use your Sailor Moon move?!" The Priestess demanded, coming up swiftly beside her friend.

Mamoru was so surprised that the ball, which was moving at an astonishing rate, almost slipped right through his waiting hands. He blocked at the last moment, his Tuxedo Kamen powers coming into play. Instead of smashing him full in the face, it only clipped his chin. The upperclassman scowled as he rubbed his skin where he knew a bruise would soon be forming. "Ouch. God damn it, are you trying to kill me?" He roared at his sister, tempted to go over there an tan her backside so she wouldn't sit down for a week.

Unfortunately, that was just something a brother didn't do. And besides, the imagery was rather disturbing. As well as the knowledge that for a split second, he could picture her bent over his knees, his hand coming down hard on her backside. Mamoru groaned in disbelief. He need serious psychiatric help!

"Yes!" Usagi shouted back in answer feeling quite depressed that her move had failed. Well, it had clipped his chin and he would bruise. "So there!" She muttered under her breath. The blonde felt a brief surge of unhappiness that she had hurt Mamoru, before squelching it firmly down. She felt really flustered somehow and she didn't like the feeling.

"Usagi!" Rei slammed her hand over the back of the blonde's head. "How could you do that to your brother?"

The Senshi of the Moon met her step-brother's eyes and they glared at each other.

"One-one jerk!" She called out, turning her back on Mamoru as he got to his feet.

"My turn next, brat!" The dark haired man called back, eyes darkening. Usagi had gone a little too far this time, but he would get his revenge. They were at a tie right now, but the day was still young.

To Be Continued...

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Hugs,
Princess Destiny