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(Standard disclaimer: I do not own any of the Sailor Moon characters of which I am writing about. This story is an original that I wrote for fun and without compensation. All characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi.)

Two More Weeks

Chapter 2

Rules of Attraction

*Usagi*

They were discussing Cass's boy toy, the foreman contractor that had been replacing the light fixtures for the past few days and who had also worked during the spa construction over the summer. He was a cutie with a body and even she had a habit of watching him work whenever things happened to be 'broken'.

"He'll do for now." Cass sipped on her midday cocktail while they waited for their nails to dry. "I need the distraction."

"You know," she said slowly, "about Motoki… how did that start?" Cass looked up.

"What do you mean?" Cass was on suddenly edge and she wondered if bringing him up was a good idea, but she just had to know.

"He's super sexy, but," she shrugged, "I would never think that he's your type."

"You assume that I only go after bad boys?" Cass asked going back to her magazine. She nodded.

"Current situation aside, Motoki is like one of the nicest guys. And you are not nice." Cass shrugged coolly. "I'd think he'd be too wholesome for a party animal like you."

"If he really was a nice guy, we wouldn't be where we are." Cass's blunt logic made her wish she'd kept her mouth shut. "Nice guys don't do the things he does, one night stands, gangbangs, drugs. He hasn't even gotten his degree yet." Cass shuddered as if that was the worst of all. "If he was truly nice, he wouldn't be avoiding me."

"You're right. I can't really say I knew him," she amended, feeling stupid for bringing it up. "I've hung out with you more in these past two months than him in the three years I've known him, so who am I to say he's not just like Mamoru."

"He isn't." Cass said it so quickly that even she looked embarrassed and started flipping through her magazine again. "Not really. They may seem similar, but…" Mamoru was so much worse. "He always said he couldn't do the whole 'asshole thing'." Her emphasis made it clear she was quoting Motoki. "But isn't he a fast learner."

"They're all fucking idiots," she muttered. "Forget that loser." Cass gave her a weak smile.

"He is good. I know he is and I'm not trying to defend him, but what can I say." Cass threw her magazine onto the table and picked up a strawberry from the tray on the table. "He did ask me if I was okay with him leaving."

Well this was news to her. Cass had never mentioned this bit of information before.

"What did you say?" It would make the situation 1000x worse if Motoki had left even after she'd asked him not to. There was no forgiving him then.

"I told him I didn't care." Cass was observing the strawberry carefully, holding it by its stem and turning it around. "What did he expect me to say? I don't ask things like that."

"Maybe… he wanted you to ask." There was a long pause as the theory settled thickly.

"Maybe." Cass ripped away the top leaf and put it back on the plate. Neither of them spoke for a while.

Motoki's girlfriend had been officially confirmed this morning by Sapphire. Until today it had all been speculation, but now they had proof via actual sighting and the news had affected Cass more than she'd expected. Even though Cass's ever-changing interests would make her seem insusceptible to guy troubles, it was a different story when it came to Motoki.

When she'd seen Motoki and Cass together at Mamoru's estate last summer, they looked perfect. He was happy. He cared about her and she definitely cared, too. Whether that was still true for him or not was up in the air, but she could only hope that Cass would get over him soon. Motoki honestly wasn't worth it.

"Anyway, what you asked me," Cass continued. "Why I like him." Usagi nodded. "When you meet him you think he's just another little punk because he gives off that 'nice boy' vibe, but he knows how to dominate me just the right way." She got this faraway look in her eyes. "Most other guys don't know what I really want, but he does… So that's the answer, I guess. Sex, duh." She shook her head to change her train of thought. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes…" she answered slowly, wondering where she was going with this.

"When we met in Shimoda, I didn't really get to know you. I didn't think I was going to see you again in all honesty. You were just another girl that was messing around with Mamoru, possibly Motoki too; I didn't know at the time." She grabbed another strawberry. "I didn't invite you to the spa opening when we bumped into each other because I liked you—I didn't dislike you, I just didn't care—it was only to get back at Mamoru."

"What do you mean?" she asked, not following.

"I was mad at him because I felt like he took Motoki away from me." Cass plucked the stem and took a small bite. "I know it's petty, but that's how I felt. I thought that seeing you at the spa would piss him off."

She nodded in understanding. Since Cass had thought she was one of Mamoru's girls, bringing one of his trashy toys to an important event would annoy him into insanity. It was perfect logic.

"In the end, I didn't tell him about the grand opening so I guess that backfired." She looked up at her. "But we're friends now so I'm glad it happened that way. I just thought you should know. I don't want you thinking that I faked our fabulous friendship in any way. I actually like you."

"It's fine. I'm not really mad," she said. How could she be when Cass had just been honest with her? Besides she was right, they were friends now. "I forgive you for thinking I was a whore."

"Not that I think of you that way anymore," Cass clarified. "I know now that you were a pathetic virgin who was helplessly swooped up. You didn't stand a chance against Mamoru." She rolled her eyes. "Not that I blame you. Mamoru's… interesting." The faraway look in Cass's eyes made her uncomfortable.

"Shut up."

"Luckily, with me you've met plenty of cooler guys. You won't have to get caught up in that disaster ever again," Cass said going back to choosing another perfectly plump strawberry, mumbling something about Mamoru being an asshole. "You got Ichigo anyway. He's so cute." The way she said cute was enough to make her cringe. She didn't want a cute boy, she wanted a hot man and there was a difference. It was the difference between Ichigo and Mamoru.

"I guess."

"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that." Cass gave her a serious look. "Ichigo's sweet." It was her turn to look away.

"I know he is." She felt as if she had to defend herself. "And I like him." She wasn't lying because otherwise how could she explain the fact that she hadn't actually broken up with him yet? Cass rolled her eyes.

"Don't say it for my benefit."

"I'm not! I do like him!" Cass gave her another dubious look.

"We both have guy problems, don't we?" Cass stood up, blowing on her nails one last time before grabbing her jacket. "Let's go shopping. This is getting depressing."

"Yes!" Whatever it took to get her mind off of Motoki and this conversation about Ichigo, she would do it. "Some retail therapy, please!" As far as she was concerned, there was nothing that a new pair of shoes couldn't cure.

*Mamoru*

Not more than a few seconds had gone by since he'd arrived at Hino Takahiro's fundraiser and contributors were already approaching him. Although they'd never met, Hino had invited him here because he wanted his public support. He couldn't care less about Hino Takahiro and was just here because Jed asked him for the favor. It wasn't on the top of his priorities by any means, but he didn't have a good enough reason not to attend. Besides, he had nothing important scheduled so there would be no way for him to save face for when the media decided to question his absence since Hino had made his invitation a very known one.

It was almost as if this entire event had been orchestrated as an ambush for his support. There was press everywhere, flashing cameras going of every other second with people posing for pictures left and right. All of it was highly unusual since these things were intended to be more private, an intimate setting where you were supposed to convince people why it was a good idea to give you money.

However this entire party (which what it mostly resembled with every waiter serving outstanding amounts of champagne) seemed a bit sketchy and it appeared that all the press came straight for him instead of the councilman. Already he'd been asked three times why he supported Hino and on the fourth time, he'd simply answered, "He's a good man," just to get them off his back. And it had worked.

He didn't think twice about it since his mere presence at the fundraiser implied that he was backing him anyway. The reporter quickly pulled out his notepad and scribbled furiously. Although he'd only said a few words, the man had clearly found a way to decorate his short statement.

Ignoring his possible flub (he really should have gone over this Hino endorsement with Kunzite beforehand), he and Jed searched for opportunities to escape the crowd. They kept walking past people until they ended up in a long empty hallway somewhere upstairs after following one of the help through a back door.

"These things are the worst." He and Jed leaned on opposite walls facing each other.

"You're the one that dragged me here," he sighed, loosening his tie. He was fed up with the way he'd been bombarded all night. "I can't believe you're making me do this shit for a girl that's already dating someone."

He could be home instead of being forced to make polite chatter with complete strangers—as if he didn't already have to this on a daily basis. Besides, Motoki had told him a long time ago that Chad and Rei had been fooling around, so why was Jed trying this hard? As far as he was concerned, they'd only met once—unless they'd happened to hit it off these past few weeks since her father's campaign and were secret lovers, but he doubted it.

"First of all, I asked you to come and you said yes. Secondly, fuck off."

"Do you even care about what this guy's planning once he takes office? Or are you just blindly trying to win his daughter?" Jed continued to ignore him. "Rei's only a teenager, not even eighteen. She's not worth all this shit."

"If you're worried about whether Kunzite approved, you can relax because I've already spoken to him about this. But let's be clear about one thing." Jed was on edge. "I don't ever tell you how to live you life, so I definitely don't want to hear anything from you. You can either shut up and help me out or get the fuck out of my face."

He could tell that it was one of those guy moments where he needed to back off or else deal with physical violence. Clearly he'd pissed Jed off and although he knew that this entire thing was silly, it was true that Jed never meddled in his affairs so he at least owed him that.

"Where is this guy at so I can take a picture with him and leave already." He pushed himself off the wall and was about to head back down the stairs when Takahiro came from the same direction. Talk about perfect timing.

"Chiba-san, Sato-san."

"Hino-san," he and Jed chorused, bowing their heads.

"Just the men I've been looking for. Come." He waved his hand over to a cameraman behind him and shoved his two glasses of champagne into Jed's hands. Grabbing him for a handshake, Hino quickly forced him into a photo op and he had no choice but to smile. "Great. Thanks," Hino said, shooing the cameraman back down the stairs.

Hino took back the two cups and instead of handing them over as he'd expected, Hino gulped one down in a single swallow followed quickly by the other. And this was the guy that was supposed to be running for public office.

"I hear that you're good friends with my daughter," Takahiro said putting an arm around his shoulder and squeezing. He politely shrugged him off.

"We've been acquaintances for a few years," he corrected.

"Then you would know," Hino started, "that my daughter doesn't love me." He didn't answer, wondering why in all the world he would start a conversation like this. "She still holds a grudge against me for abandoning her when she was young." He swirled his empty cup and brought it back to his lips.

"I'm sure that's not true…" This was so awkward. He looked over to Jed hoping he would rescue him but he was purposely not meeting his stare.

"No, it's completely true," Hino said nonchalantly. "It's partially my fault, I understand, but one would think that she could learn to forgive eventually. She's more similar to me than she realizes." He had no idea how to respond to that so he just waited for him to shut up. "When I heard my wife was pregnant, I knew I wasn't ready to be a father, but she told me that everything would be alright; together we could do it. We were going to have the most talented son on the planet and he would be just like me."

He stole a glance at Jed, who looked much more calm about this conversation than he probably did. Since he'd been around him all these months, Jed probably heard this story before. This was their first time meeting however, so how did he expect to win him over by telling him this stuff? This was just too much information.

"But when Rei was born, she killed her mother in the process." Both he and Jed flinched at his word choice. Well there lay the reason why Rei probably hated him. "It was devastating losing my wife. And what was worse, she left me by myself even when she promised that we would raise our son together. I left her with her grandfather and Rei's never forgiven me for it. I try to be in her life now—I know the mistakes I've made—but it's not enough for her."

He wanted to ask, so very badly: "Why are you telling me this? What does that have to do with me?" but he kept quiet and attempted to nod in solemn understanding. This guy had to be drunk because there was no other reasonable explanation. This was some sad shit. Part of him felt bad, but leaving a child behind was absolutely inexcusable and Rei had every right to be mad at him.

"I know she doesn't need me anymore," Hino sighed, "but someone has to take care of her. Since she won't let me and I'm not going to be around forever, I need someone ambitious, reliable." Mamoru coughed uncomfortably—so that was what this was all about… Goddammit. Knowing that there was no right way of telling him to 'go fuck himself' for thinking that he would for any reason agree to be with Rei, he took a moment to compose himself to figure out how he could word it more politely.

In a surprise turn of events, before he was able to open his mouth Hino shifted away from him and instead awaited Jed's answer. Jed nodded just slightly, but it was enough for Hino, whose tensed shoulders slumped in relief. Hino mouthed a silent thanks, as if the words were too difficult for him to say aloud. For a fleeting moment, Hino looked like he was on the verge of tears. The entire exchange had him completely confused. He made note to ask Jed about it later. The only reasonable explanation he had for this situation was that this guy was piss-drunk.

"Hino-san," a young woman with a clipboard called from down the hall and he'd never been happier for a distraction. "Your daughter's arrived." The expression on Hino's face actually reflected some kind of glee at the news. "Should I send her up?"

"No, no. I'll be right there." He looked for them to follow him and they made their way back towards the party downstairs.

"What just happened?" he whispered to Jed as the heavy crowd descending upon the councilman assured that they wouldn't be heard. "Is he insane or what?"

"He's drunk," Jed insisted.

An increased sound of cameras clicking distracted their conversation and they both turned to the noise. Out from the parting crowd emerged a rather distressed Rei. She wore a beautiful red strapless gown with a short trail (and crowd) dragging behind her. The room was even louder than before with whispers and they all stopped and stared as she made her way toward them.

"Rei, sweetie." Rei stiffly walked into her father's arms and embraced him. When they finished their hug, he held onto her waist and boasted into the crowd, "Isn't my daughter absolutely gorgeous?"

There was no way to deny the claim and cameras continued to snap photos of the father-daughter duo. Despite Rei's forced smile, she looked indeed gorgeous with her hair pined up and thick onyx necklace contrasting her pale skin. She commanded all attention in the room.

After a few more minutes of pictures and questions (that she did surprisingly well answering), her father whispered in her ear and they both looked over towards him and Jed. She pursed her lips, but nodded and walked over to Jed without even acknowledging that he was standing there.

"We're not friends so don't you dare try to talk to me," Rei muttered through her teeth as her mouth curved into a pleasant smile. He wasn't sure who exactly she was talking to but assumed that it was meant for the both of them. "Why are you even here?" A photographer moved in on them to get a picture and Rei quickly laughed and smacked her hand lightly on Jed's shoulder. "You're so hysterical! It was great catching up with you. I'm so glad you were able to make it. Bye-bye."

She was able to quickly saunter away before the picture was taken and even ignored the few people that tried to pull her over in conversation. Jed cursed under his breath and moved in the opposite direction from her to the other side of the ballroom. He stood alone for a moment not sure what to do before deciding to follow Jed.

"Well, wasn't that a blooming romance," he commented after catching up. Jed ignored him and continued with great haste through the house, twisting and turning into room after room.

"If it were up to her father, we'd be married," Jed muttered. "But that bitch never listens to anyone."

"You're sounding like it's what you want too," he said. "Tell me you're joking."

"Mmhm."

"What the hell?" Jed had to be kidding. "No matter what he promises you, please tell me you're not planning to marry her."

"I'm not," Jed clipped. "Obviously. It's just as he said, I'll be taking care of her. Financially, anyway."

"Why you?" There were professionals that were better equipped to protect assets, so why would Hino choose Jed specifically? Jed shrugged to avoid answering. "Anyway, Rei can't stand you so we'll see how well that works out." He found it quite amazing indeed that Jed literally had Rei's father in his pocket and yet Rei hated him. It was the complete opposite of how things usually happened—and was 100% hilarious.

"Yeah well, that's the way it is. For now."

"I can't say that I see anything working out for you in the future. But then again you were always delusional." Part of being a guy was laughing at the failed attempts of your friends trying to hook up with women. Those were the laughs that came deep from your belly and made you giggle every time you recalled the memory. Truly the best of times.

"You'll see, she'll be eating out of my hand in no time at all." They both laughed because the absurdity of it was that Jed was probably never going to get Rei. But what was a man if he didn't try?

"We'll see about that."

"Did you know that Zoi is with that Ami girl?" Jed asked completely off topic as they continued to navigate their way through long hallways. Not only was Jed's question completely random, but the shock of what he was saying left his mouth agape. Ami and Zoi? And he thought he'd heard enough crazy talk for one night.

Ami was his favorite of all of Usagi's friends. She was smart, relatively quiet and most importantly respectable: Zoi was none of the above except for ingenious. He had a snarky attitude and could be downright immature and so the idea of him somehow being compatible with Ami was incomprehensible. They were total opposites.

"You're lying." Was his only response since there was no way it could be true.

"It's true. However unlikely it might seem," Jed turned back to stare at him, "they're together. Doesn't that make so many other things seem possible?"

"Your optimism is disgusting me." In all seriousness, he'd never seen Jed more determined in his life, but hey, men did stupid things for women all the time.

"Sometimes you want the struggle," Jed smirked. "It makes the prize all the more rewarding. Now that may be a difficult concept for a pampered prince like yourself to understand, but not everything in life comes by want alone."

He didn't bother answering Jed. Only things that one truly cared about did one ever bother fighting for, he knew that. Unfortunately for him, there was only a very limited amount of things in his life in which that applied to. Thankfully, those sentiments were not something that he currently needed to concern himself with.

They finally came to a stop at the end of a long hallway in front of a large room overlooking the back gardens. Jed knocked on the already opened double doors before stepping in. There were racks of clothes blocking the windows and shoes and makeup thrown everywhere, all a clear indication of a woman getting ready. As he followed Jed in, he saw Rei sitting on a vanity wiping her lipstick off. She didn't bother turning around.

"Go away."

"You're supposed to stay out there longer."

"Nope, I've had enough," Rei replied.

He made his way to the nearest seat and leaned his head back. Meeting people was exhausting, but Rei hadn't been out there for more than 10 minutes. There was no reason for her to be complaining.

"You know he's right," he said and Rei finally looked at him. "You're making your father look bad." Rei stopped what she was doing and swiveled her chair all the way around so that she could face him.

"Oh," Rei snarled. "Are you my public appearance coach now? Mind your own business."

"Just put your shoes on and go back out there," Jed sighed. "Play your part. Help your father win."

"What's it to you if he wins?" she asked Jed. "What's your benefit because you seem awfully intent on helping him out." Her question tickled his curiosity as well; he also had a feeling that there was more that Jed wasn't telling him.

"Nothing," Jed replied, "I get nothing at all. It's just politics, baby."

"Right. Sure it is." Rei moved back to face herself in the mirror. "You two can go. I'm not in the mood to talk to anybody right now."

"You should cover that up next time," Jed stood behind her chair and ran his finger along her bare spine, following over her tattoo. Rei flinched as if burned and stood up quickly.

"Don't fucking touch me!" Jed retracted his hand laughing.

"Whatever you say."

"Rei!" They all turned their attention to the doorway where her father was staring at them. "What are you doing? Come back."

"I'm done. We took pictures already, I'm going home." Takahiro stared at her as if she were an alien.

"There was no point of you coming here if you're only going to show your face for two seconds. Just do what I say!" Rei continued to ignore him, removing her necklace and setting it down carefully on the table. Taking the pins out of her hair one by one, Takahiro panicked as he realized she wasn't kidding and yelled at Jed. "Do something!"

Rei finally faced her father to stare in loathing and even he had to do the same. Hino clearly had no idea what to with Rei. To tell Jed to do something as if Rei was his responsibility to deal with, no wonder they didn't get along. Jed took a step away from Rei instead and addressed Takahiro calmly.

"We should go back out," Jed said glancing at his watch. "Higurashi will get here in less than five minutes." Takahiro straightened and nodded at once.

"You're right. I'm wasting my time here." Takahiro turned in a military style about-face and waited for Jed to stand behind him. "Let's go, son."

The room was quiet as Mamoru got up to follow the men to their awaiting guests, leaving behind Rei and the sounds of distressed crows hollering in the distance. There had never been a time like this in his life where he was so glad that he didn't have parents.

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