CattyKitty

Thank you all for the reviews! I'm so glad that you all enjoyed the Usa/Mamo action ;) There's more where that came from!

Enjoy! And hopefully you all won't want to punch Usagi in the face afterwards (or me!)

(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 8

Compromises

*Usagi*

Leaving out of Mamoru's office was one of the most exhilarating things she'd ever done. The sex was amazing, but it was how confused he'd been as she prepared to go that was the most perfect moment of her existence. She had wanted to dance out of that building! But of course she knew that there were cameras everywhere, so in the off chance that Mamoru ever watched surveillance footage, she waited until she was in a taxi two blocks away to let loose.

Her cabbie freaked out when she screamed so loud that he slammed on the breaks and her head smashed against the back of his seat, but it didn't matter. She'd apologized to the driver and yelled into her book bag instead, not caring that it probably wasn't muffled enough, and proceeded to wave her hands in the air like she was high-fiving an entire crowd. His face had been priceless!

OMG. If he knew that she had absolutely nothing to do right now he would probably kill her! It made her all types of nervous knowing that he wanted her to stay but also tickled her funny spots because she wanted the same thing he did. All of it and more.

Once she was home, she spent the majority of her day sprawled in bed fantasizing but also deep in thought. It had been very bold of her to leave him. She didn't know how he could have reacted and she'd taken a huge risk by acting so cool and aloof. She still didn't know where she had gotten all that confidence from but what the heck! Although it wasn't how she usually was, maybe she could pull it off for a little longer—at least until she was sure about what her and Mamoru would be doing.

And that was the question running on her mind the entire day. What was the next step? Could she safely assume that this would be a regular thing for them? She couldn't. In fact, it would be the most delusional thing she could do because Mamoru was a very important man with a heavily scheduled life. Only once she started hanging around Cass did she really come to understand the pressure, the expectations of the life of a VIP—and Mamoru and Cass weren't even on the same boat. Cass was on a raft with no life vest while Mamoru was on a yacht that turned into a spaceship. She had a small grasp of what he was about, but she didn't actually have a clue about what was going on in his life.

What was portrayed on the media (at least the media she was familiar with) was purely superficial and only his social life after midnight on the weekends. What was he doing for the other 15ish hours of his life five times a week before that? She didn't know. She only had to guess that he spent a good amount of time in his office since it was furnished comfortably enough to be livable. The rest of his time was probably spent at private events, like Rei's father's fundraiser thingy that Rei had told her about, but those were just her guesses.

All she could hope for was that Mamoru had a clear schedule this weekend because she was so ready to meet him again. There was one thing in particular that she'd been craving from him the entire summer and she could not wait to get it… But she was getting quite a few steps ahead of herself. First things first, she needed to break up with Ichigo.

That was priority number 1. All of Tuesday after her amorous rendezvous, she'd been on cloud nine but as soon as she woke up the next morning to get ready for school she came crashing down into reality. She'd cheated on Ichigo.

Worst of all, not once, not a single damn time, did she feel guilty for her encounter with Mamoru. In fact, she'd had the exact opposite reaction, but not once had it crossed her mind to stop… Yes, she was a horrible person.

The good thing was that she now had the perfect reason to break up with him. Before she couldn't muster up the courage, but now that she knew that there was a high chance of her and Mamoru fooling around, there was no way she was going to waste her time with Ichigo. Still, that didn't mean she was going to like breaking up with him, but it had to be done and she had to do it gently; Ichigo was too much of a good guy for her to be nasty about it.

Staying home from school on Wednesday (for a 'personal day' as she'd told her father when he'd asked), she thought up of the most painless break up plan and decided that she would do it first thing the next morning. She was going to go with the whole 'it's not you, it's me' thing. Lame, she already knew that, but who cared. She just needed to get it over with. It was going to be easy and after she did it, she would be able to move on to more important things like, how she was going to call Mamoru.

* l * l *

On Thursday, two whole days since she'd seen both Mamoru and Ichigo, she walked into homeroom early to find that it was just her luck for Ichigo to not be there. And that he wouldn't show up until after the end of second period. With a gift.

"What do you want to do this weekend, Usa?"

She didn't answer because she was still staring at the gift in her hand. It was a keychain of two fuzzy white bunnies hugging. Where their faces were supposed to be was instead a picture of her and Ichigo making silly faces. It was the cutest thing ever. Fuck her life… How could she have forgotten about their three month anniversary?!

"You said last week there was a movie you wanted to see," Ichigo prompted and she finally cleared her throat. He had waited for her to get out of her class to give her this gift and a note that she was too afraid to read.

"I don't remember."

"Well, we could do whatever you want," he smiled. "Do you like it?" She nodded and pulled out her keys from her backpack, clipping it on.

"I love it." She hugged him and slipped the letter into her textbook to read later. Now what was she supposed to do?

"You're welcome." He kissed her. "I saw it and thought of you."

They were at the end of the hallway where there were only two classrooms and were decently secluded from the bustle of the rest of the student body trying to prepare for next period. She could tell him right now without causing a scene and no one would even notice what was going on. She'd be done with him once and for all. But… she just couldn't do it.

Ichigo… Why did he have to be so thoughtful and cute? He was making this so much harder for her. Ichigo leaned over to kiss her again and the worst part was that she wanted to stay there with him. She wanted to hold him and kiss him back and thank him for being a better boyfriend than she deserved. So she did just that.

* l * l *

"Let's do something today, now."

"Right now?" Ichigo looked at her skeptically.

"Yes, now!" she urged. She needed him to say yes. "I don't want to wait until the weekend. We'll leave now and hang out at your house."

"I still have classes after lunch, Usa…"

"So do I! Who cares! C'mon Ichi, don't be such a punk. Please!"

It was the beginning of 4th period and senior lunch period. It had been exactly an hour since Ichigo had reminded her that it was their anniversary today and she'd had exactly one full hour of tortuous math equations being thrown at her while she dealt with the biggest problem of all. Her life.

Ichigo had flung a wrench into her plans and she wanted nothing more than to pick it back up and whack him over the head with it. Guys! Why were they making her life so complicated? And to top it all off, Diamond had texted her this morning asking what she was doing this weekend. Geez! It's like they all had perfect timing. She didn't bother texting him back since everything was complicated enough with two guys.

Besides, this weekend she was strictly booked with Mamoru. They weren't official plans yet since she still hadn't talked to him, but she planned on calling him tomorrow (she was going by that guy rule to wait for 3 days to avoid sounding too desperate) to ask when they could meet up. She hoped he wasn't busy or else that would suck, but all she could do was cross her fingers and hope that everything would work out. Now all she had to do was convince Ichigo to have their date tonight and not Saturday just in case.

"How about we go tomorrow evening instead?" Ichigo suggested as they walked towards the cafeteria.

"No. You know I meet with the girls at the spa on Fridays."

"Then cancel with them. I'm sure they'll understand. You girls see each other enough." She turned the other way to avoid showing him how annoyed she was.

"I want to go today, Ichi, please." She needed to make this happen! "We could leave now and you can make me those famous ramen noodles you've been telling me about." Ichigo perked up a bit. "We'll have lunch then hang out a bit until dinner time. It'll be so much fun."

"My dad will be home in an hour…"

"That'll be enough time for us." He gave her a sideways glance. She knew that he wouldn't be able to resist.

"Fine, but let me tell Keigo to tell the teacher I feel sick before we go."

"Yeah, me too! I'm going to go to tell Mako to sign me in to study hall. Meet you outside!" She sprinted off to find Mako. She was so glad that had worked! Finding Mako at their usual spot, she pulled her in to an empty classroom and closed the door.

"Hey, Usa! I was just coming to get you," Mako said. "I feel like we haven't talked in ages. Let me tell you what happened to me and Rei the other night, it was so-"

"I need you to do me a favor," she went straight to the point. Mako stopped talking. "Can you sign me in to study hall next period? It's in the library and the teacher puts the attendance sheet up by the library sign-in. Trust me, no one will notice."

"You're leaving early again?" She nodded. "Why?"

"Ichigo and I are going on a date."

"Oh! Cute. I'm so jealous! But I can't help you. I have gym and they'll lock me out of the changing room if I'm late. Sorry."

"No! Please! I know you can run fast!" she begged. "I have to be signed in today. I missed that class all this week. I need you!"

"Why have you been cutting the entire week?" Mako asked. "Don't tell me this is your routine with Ichigo? You guys are that horny that you can't wait until school is over?" Mako chided. "I hear the janitor's closet on the 3rd floor is always empty. Use that."

"I wasn't always with Ichigo. I haven't been able to make it to that class, I don't know how, but that's just how it ended up happening this week. Please Mako-chan! Just help me!"

"Now I'm suspicious," Mako said scrunching up her nose. "Tell me what you've been doing and maybe I'll consider it."

"You're the worst!" she whined. "Please Mako. You can't do me this favor?" She was desperate now. Ichigo was waiting for her and she had a small window during lunch period that she could actually leave the building.

"So, tell me why you didn't come yesterday and why you left early on Monday and Tuesday. If you weren't with Ichigo, then who?" Mako started whispering. "Don't tell me it was to meet Diamond?"

"No!" she hissed at the absurd accusation, but was secretly glad that Mako wasn't going to budge without her talking. She could finally tell someone. "Mamoru…"

"Oh. My. Goodness. Why didn't you tell me?" Now Mako was whining. "Usa! You guys hooked up again? Now I'm even more jealous! How the hell are these guys all over you and I'm stuck in the damn friend zone? I can cook!"

"Oh now you want to admit you like Max?"

"This isn't about him!" Mako amended quickly. "But why do you need to leave school now anyway if you're seeing Mamoru? We all know Ichigo isn't your first choice here. Dump him already. It's the easiest solution. Rei and I have been telling you this for weeks."

"I know! This morning, I swear to you that I was! I really was-!"

"But?" Mako interjected. "Why didn't you? And now you're sneaking out of school with him. You know that makes no sense, right?"

"Look at what he gave me today." She pulled out her keys and gave it to her. Mako smiled at the picture shaking her head sadly.

"This is adorable."

"And it was right before I was going to talk to him." Usagi covered her face. She had no idea what to do.

"Bad timing," Mako sympathized. "You have the worst luck."

"I do. But listen to this, today's our anniversary and I didn't even know!"

"Double whammy!" Mako laughed. "Poor guy…"

"I feel so horrible."

"You should! You're going to break his little heart." The way Mako said it made them both laugh. Oh my… she was The Worst.

"You can't tell Rei about this," she begged. Ever since what happened with Chad, Rei trusted no man with a suave grin. "She'll go crazy if she finds out about Mamoru!"

"Of course I won't tell her," Mako laughed. "She'll kill you!" Usagi shivered. "Especially since you're the cheating whore. She'll show you no mercy."

"I know!" she sighed. "So will you sign me in?" Mako reluctantly nodded.

"You could still do it though," Mako tried. "You should cut it off now before he finds out. I still think that's what you should do."

"I'll do it next week," she promised. "I can't do it right now, I just can't."

"You're only making this worse for you," Mako shrugged, giving up. Usagi grabbed her bag before leaving.

"Trust me, I know."

*Motoki*

The waiter had just finished seating him and Reika down for dinner when he heard a familiar voice. He looked around and saw Mako taking the order of the couple to the table on his left. She was nodding as she wrote everything down, assuring the request of the couple for their extra sides of everything. He knew that she'd been working a famous restaurant, but he had no idea which one.

Before he was able to turn his attention back to Reika, Mako noticed him. She smiled and made her way over. Realizing his distraction, Reika frowned with questions she didn't get to ask as Mako approached.

"Motoki-san!" Mako exchanged with their current waiter before smiling at Reika. "Hello. It's nice to meet you."

"Hello," Reika answered stiffly.

"Makoto," Mako introduced herself.

"Nishimura."

Mako nodded, not looking offended that Reika didn't care to give her first name despite Mako's overt friendliness. He rambled to kill the awkwardness.

"I didn't know this was where you worked. Max has probably mentioned it a million times, but I had no idea. Are you covering for someone?" From what he'd heard she was an assistant chef, not a waitress.

"Oh, yes. Someone's on break and it's been kind of empty today." She shrugged, laughing. "I'll be serving you tonight." He could feel Reika's eyes on him.

"Nice change," he agreed. "By the way." He knew he would regret asking in front of Reika, but it would be rude not to. "Did you and Rei make it out okay the other night?" Mako nodded enthusiastically.

"It was so funny," Mako recalled. "Rei's hat blew away as soon as we stepped out, but we still managed to pass by the security guards without her being recognized. We went to the movies afterwards. You should have come with us."

"I'd like some water," Reika said without looking up from the menu.

"Uhh…" Mako was taken aback by Reika's abruptness. "Sure thing." Picking up on the heat radiating from Reika, Mako quickly put her notepad away and stepped back. "Anyway, enjoy your meals. I'll bring your waiter back."

He wanted to tell her that she didn't have to but Mako was focused on getting the hell away from them. And he couldn't blame her. Mako wasn't even a table away when Reika placed her napkin onto her lap and rolled her eyes.

"Are all your friends teenage girls?" He refrained from answering the question and prayed that this wouldn't be the thing to ruin their night. "You should hang out with people your age."

"Like Mamoru?"

"Like adults," she clipped. He sat back, watching as their original waiter returned to fill their glasses.

"We're not that far apart in age, Reika." He understood she had meant between him and Mako, but it also applied to them. Although Reika was just a few years older than him, she made it seem like they were worlds apart. Reika took a drink from her cup, averting her eyes.

"Sometimes I wonder if we can really stay together. We're so different."

There was a long pause before Reika released a huge sigh and apologized. He knew this was one of her biggest concerns in the relationship and while similar thoughts often haunted him, if both of them questioned their relationship all of the time they'd go nowhere. Besides, a little insecurity was normal, right?

"It's okay to feel that way." He reached for her hand over the table. "We're in different places right now, but that's not a bad thing. We don't have to be the same person to be together."

"That's true." Reika gave a small smile. "It's better that we aren't. To be honest, I like you more."

"I have to agree." She squeezed his hand tightly in rebuke, but then pulled it to her lips and kissed his knuckles. And just like that, those nasty insecure thoughts disappeared. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

*Motoki*

Their night went on smoothly, their dinner praised highly by probably the toughest food critic (and the most inexperienced—Reika was always asking for recommendations). Though he tried to expand her palate by taking them out to different restaurants throughout the city, she only had one that she consistently loved going to, maybe two now. He was glad that they'd come out tonight.

"How do you know her?" Reika asked about Makoto.

"She's been a regular at the arcade for years. It's her, the one you met at the office, Usagi, and a few others. She's a really talented girl. She was recommended as an apprentice to the head chef here and I think she's one of the youngest in the city." Reika raised her brows impressed.

"Remarkable." Reika scrapped the last bit of sauce off of what had been a plate of foie gras. "Do you think she made this?" It had been his suggested plate and her favorite dish of the night. She'd even ordered one extra to go.

"Maybe," he shrugged. "We could ask one of the waiters."

"Because if so, my compliments are endless. What was it, chicken?" He stood up before he had to answer. Just last week she had made them stop at the park to throw bread at the migrating geese and it would be their stop after dinner as well. Excusing himself to the bathroom before he laughed, he left her in charge of his wallet to pay the bill. Hopefully she didn't ask the waiters.

By the time he'd returned to the table it had been cleared and Reika was nowhere in sight. He walked to the coat check and found her near the exit talking to Makoto. He hurried over. As soon as he reached them, it seemed that his anxiety had been unwarranted. They were in a light chat and caught in laughter before he'd interrupted.

"I had no idea Motoki was so afraid of horses." Makoto was giving him the devilish grin like she now knew a powerful secret. "Interesting." He looked at Reika, wondering how that subject had even come up. He'd been gone for less than 5 minutes.

"Broke his arm riding when he was young. 'Traumatized' was the word he used, I think."

"Oh no." He laughed along now that the tension was gone. "Don't remind me. I'll have nightmares tonight." Mako giggled again.

"See what I mean," Reika teased. "Well," she bowed out, "have a good night." Makoto bowed as well.

"You, too. It was great meeting you."

Both girls smiled before leaving. They may have started on a bad foot, but it seemed that all was well finally. He waited until they were in the car to ask about how the conversation started with Makoto.

"You didn't tell me I ate the insides of a goddamned duck, Motoki." Reika stared sadly at her goodie bag on her lap. "It was incredibly delicious though…"

"That's the circle of life."

"Oh, shut up," Reika ignored his joke. "We just talked about what we wouldn't eat and she mentioned horses. Then we talked about riding." He nodded. That conversation seemed safe enough.

"And was she the cook?"

"No. She said she had other tables. She did invite us to some special event next week. I think the restaurant is having a menu contest. She didn't really explain it, but wrote the date down on a napkin for me. We'll come, right?"

"Yes, of course. I'm glad you two talked. See, she's not so bad."

"I never said she was," Reika insisted. "It's just that I can't trust these women around you so easily. You're my stud."

"Ew, Reika," he teased as they drove away from the restaurant. "Stop it with your nasty horse jokes."

"You're sick," she laughed, but kissed him anyway and they continued their date at the park where with guilty amusement they fed the geese some of their kin.

Sigh. Relationships can be so complicated...

-CattyKitty