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"I love you, Usagi." Mamoru says, confessing the feelings he knows he's had for a while now.
He watches as her already shining blue eyes begin to light up even more. Usagi can't stop the grin from breaking through on her face.
She always wanted to ride to the top and gaze across Tokyo at night and see the different areas lit up. She didn't think Mamoru would be interested in coming up here.
He knew bringing her to Starlight Tower was a good idea. He hadn't realized how much she's adored the idea.
"You don't have to sweat because I love you too." She says confessing that the sentiment is in fact the same.
She adored him from the moment they first bickered. He wasn't afraid to rounds with her. All of her friends told her she that she's insane and he's not good enough for her because he picks on her. She never listened to them. She knew getting that dance with him was the start of something beautiful with him.
"Mamoru Chiba."
Her smile falters as she watches him stiffen and the loving expression on his face is replaced with something else altogether. They both turn to see a scarlet haired woman standing a few steps back, smiling sickeningly at Mamoru. Usagi's eyes returned to Mamoru who looks very displeased at the moment.
"You haven't returned a call." She states sauntering right up to them, ignoring her.
"I got a new number." He responds coldly.
"Are you going to give it to me?"
"No. Beryl, I'm with someone." He explains as he reaches out and pulls Usagi closer to him. Usagi stays quiet and allows whatever this is to continue. Who is this, Beryl?
Finally taking notice of the petite blonde snug against him, she snarls and her green eyes land back on Mamoru. "I guarantee she can't give you what I can."
"Lady, you're out of line." Usagi spits out, her brow furrowing and hands clenching at Mamoru.
"Am I?" She asks Usagi as she crosses her arms over her chest. "You're a child compared to me."
"You're gross. I'm okay with not being gross."
Beryl once again snarls.
Mamoru decides it is time to place himself in front of Usagi, he knows Beryl is psychotic. Giving her his cell phone number in the first place was a terrible idea. Once she ran off to God knows what college, he changed his number thinking he would never see her again. "You need to go."
She opens her mouth but notices there is a crowd beginning to stop and stare at them. The last thing Beryl wanted was to be recorded. Feeling the time isn't right to push her luck she shrugs. "Don't come crawling to me when she fails to satisfy you, Mamoru Chiba." Beryl hisses before turning on her heels and walking off.
Both Mamoru and Usagi watch her walk away toward the elevator.
"She's a nasty woman."
"I'm sorry she ruined our evening." Mamoru states as he looks down at his feet.
"Are you kidding?" Usagi places her hands on either side of Mamoru's face and lifts his face up so she can look into those cobalt eyes. "She ruined nothing. I'm leaving here with you."
He grins sheepishly knowing she's right. He leans forward pressing a gentle kiss on Usagi's forehead.
Usagi isn't sure what she expected this evening when she arrived at this little Italian restaurant that Rei picked them to meet at.
After helping her mother clean up after they had breakfast, she retired to her bedroom to check on any work assignments she could do remotely, then she napped for a few hours.
She didn't have the usual dreams of the past; in fact, she slept well enough. Maybe it was because she finally told her parents the truth about her breakup. Well not exactly all of the story. She's sure it will come out to Ikuko at some point before she leaves them.
She waited for the vehicles to stop and hurried along the crosswalk.
The weather had been perfect lately, so Usagi opted to wear a navy-blue knee length dress with black tights and ankle booties. She pulled her long blonde hair back into a single braid instead of the pigtails that stream from buns atop her head. She had help from her mother with the braid though. She realized she isn't that coordinated to braid her hair alone. She still chose to bundle up with a coat over her outfit.
Once she reached the other side of the sidewalk she entered and took in her surroundings.
The lights were somewhat dimmed and there is some music reminiscent of Italy playing through the speakers. You can smell the fresh garlic bread aroma mixed with fresh flowers adorning the two-story restaurant. The walls are covered in plaster and the ceiling has some painted mural of Venice at sunset adorning it.
"Are you here with a party or alone?"
She looks in front of her and sees the hostess smiling warmly at her.
"Hino?" She replies unsure if it was Rei's last name or Jadeite's.
"Right this way, please." She steps around from the counter and leads Usagi through the restaurant. She sees there are a lot of people here tonight and wondered how Rei and Jadeite managed to pull this off. Were they sitting in a private room or situated away from everyone else?
The hostess led Usagi upstairs which wasn't as densely populated as the first floor to her surprise and across from the stairs she could see Rei and Ami and their respective partners.
Telling the hostess that she knows where she's going, the woman nods and leaves her to find her party. As Usagi approaches the table she notices that Mamoru is already seated and across from Rei. Jadeite sits next to him.
The table is big enough for more people and suddenly Usagi wonders who else is joining them.
Rei looks away from Jadeite and sees Usagi approaching and smiles brightly. "Usagi, that dress is absolutely stunning!"
Rei herself has all her raven hair stacked atop her head with silver sparkling triangle earrings dangling from her ears. She's wearing a black turtleneck sweater and a red pencil skirt with tights as well.
"Thanks."
Ami sits beside Rei with Zoicite sitting beside her. Usagi notices all the men are wearing trousers with different colors of dress shirts. When her eyes landed on Mamoru's attire she couldn't believe her eyes. Mamoru covered his crisp white dress shirt with an ugly pea green blazer. What fucking fresh hell?! She wrinkles her nose and almost opens her mouth but stops short.
She looks over at Rei who is glowering at her. Thankfully looks can't kill and Usagi thanks her lucky stars.
"Rei, who else is coming tonight?" Usagi asks as she sits beside Zoicite.
"Just two others. Kunzite and Minako. You'll absolutely adore Minako." Rei answers pleasantly, far from the glowering woman who dared her to insult Mamoru just moments ago. "This place smells sooo good, doesn't it."
"Smelling garlic bread is making me hungry." Usagi admits sheepishly.
Unable to help himself, Mamoru speaks up, "Glad we got this big table."
Two pairs of eyes land on him and Jadeite elbows his ribs as a warning.
She knew it was a jab at her ability to eat a lot of food. She can't exactly help her appetite. She turns her eyes elsewhere, forcing herself not to react further and as the waitress comes by, she orders water with a lemon slice.
"Good evening!"
All heads whip behind them after they order drinks.
Usagi's jaw comes unhinged, and Mamoru does a double take.
It certainly looks as if there are two Usagis in the room. The blonde standing is wearing a gold tunic dress with black leggings and ankle boots. Her hair is just as long Usagi's but she only pulls half her hair back with a red ribbon. Her skin is a bit more tanned than Usagi's and her eyes are darker blue.
"This is my girlfriend, Minako Aino." Kunzite introduces as he wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her close. Kunzite's eyes land on the blonde sitting down at the table. "At least I hope this is Minako and not a twin."
"I'm Usagi Tsukino." She greets warmly.
Minako rushes forward and takes a seat in front of Usagi, completely mesmerized. "Oh my god! We could be sisters."
Slightly taken aback by her bubbly antics, Usagi smiles. "Yes, yes we could."
"OH MY GOD!" Minako straightens up in her seat and turns her head toward Mamoru and then back to Usagi quickly.
Rei grumbles under her breath and shakes her head.
Usagi watches Minako looking between them and suddenly feels anxious. Mamoru notices and feels himself shrinking under her excitement. Is she trying to stir up trouble?
"Are you and Mamoru dating?" Minako finally asks, oblivious to the tension. "I can totally see it." Kunzite finally sits beside her and reaches for a menu.
Jadeite, Zoicite, and Kunzite grin while Usagi, Ami, and Rei share a snort. Mamoru gazes off anywhere else, wishing to also be anywhere else.
"What?" Minako asks looking rather confused. She isn't sure why everyone is reacting so roughly.
"Let's talk about something else." Ami interrupts. "Rei who have you picked as your maid of honor?"
Rei clears her throat as if she's about to give a lecture. "I thought long and hard about this. Ami, I know we've hung out a long time and you've seen me at absolute rock bottom and cheered me on. Minako, I've so enjoyed the weekend spas and how you've been absolutely wonderful." She stops and smiles at everyone. "I'm picking Usagi though. She was my first friend back in school and introduced us, Ami. Usagi, I hope you'll be here and accept this honor. Otherwise, I'll be pissed." She finishes her monologue with a tone.
Blinking a few times without a word and genuinely shocked because she's been absent, Usagi simply nods.
"That's cool. I picked Mamoru to be my best man." Jadeite states with a sly grin. "This should be interesting."
Everyone who knows the history between Mamoru and Usagi whip their heads toward him and glare hard.
"I don't know if my schedule can accommodate this." Mamoru says reaching up to scratch the back of his head. Minako tilts her head and looks between the two, just not understanding what is happening.
"Well, that's too bad." Usagi says. "I will certainly make sure I'm free and I'll plan some girls only events."
Minako gently pokes Kunzite's arm and asks him in a low whisper what is happening.
"Usagi dumped Mamoru. I don't have all the details, but it was Mamoru's fault."
Minako's eyes grow big, and her lips turn into an O with understanding. She continues watching the two quietly.
The waiter comes back around and pulls out her notepad and begins taking everyone's orders. After she wraps up, she leaves them alone again and Rei excuses herself to the bathroom. Usagi watches with keen interest, observing how far away the bathroom is and how long it takes Rei to get there. Once she's certain the fiery woman is far away, out of their sight, her sights return to Mamoru in that ugly blazer.
Clearing her throat and drawing the attention of everyone at the table, she glares at Mamoru. "Baka."
"Oh no." Ami grumbles. Zoicite shoots Jadeite a knowing grin. Everyone prepares themself for an old fashion verbal lashing.
"Excuse me?"
"I have an appetite, and I eat. You make it sound like I'm obese. You're a baka in some ugly shit green blazer for mentioning my eating habits." Usagi says clarifying her remark.
Mamoru blinks a few times and stares at the petite blonde. Is she serious right now? "Were you spending all this time coming up with that childish insult?"
"No, I was waiting for Rei to walk away."
"Does anyone want an appetizer?" Ami asks trying to intervene with little to no luck.
"Such an Odango Atama."
"Do you see any buns on my head?"
"Surprised you managed a different hairstyle tonight."
"Surprised you found another blazer in the same shit green color like the one you donned back when we were teenagers."
"Who is keeping score?" Jadeite asks looking around the table at everyone curiously.
"Score?" Minako asks still very interested in the dynamic between these two. "How the hell do you keep score?"
"The color isn't shit green. I guess your vocabulary hasn't expanded very much."
"And your taste in clothing hasn't expanded either." The two lock eyes, Usagi's cheeks are on fire whereas Mamoru's glare intensifies.
Zoicite looks up over Minako's ribbon and sees that Rei has emerged. "Rei is coming back!" Zoicite hisses loudly for them all to hear.
Usagi sticks her favorite digit into the air and Mamoru mumbles "childish" once more before Rei gets closer. She smiles at them all as she sits down.
"What did I miss?"
"Usagi!"
She turns around on the sidewalk hearing someone shout her name and sees that it is Minako hurrying toward her.
"Do you need a ride home?"
"I called an Uber actually." She answers as she raises an eyebrow. "Didn't you come here with Kunzite?"
"He's still talking to Mamoru. Like, I just had a great idea, want to share the Uber?" Minako says beaming. Usagi chuckles and nods.
As their ride pulls up to the curb and stops both of them climb in. Usagi looks out the window and watches the cars go by as the driver pulls into the lane. Minako texts Kunzite to let him know where she disappeared to before putting her phone back in her purse.
"If you don't mind me asking, how is it that you and Mamoru have so much tension after all these years?"
Usagi slowly turns and stares at Minako. She's very interested, invested almost and she doesn't understand why.
"You just seem right for each other. Granted, I don't know the history, but one good conversation can fix a lot."
"Can it take back him insulting me right after we had sex the first time?" Usagi asks dryly. She knows it isn't fair because Minako doesn't know the story but she's picking. She watches the twitch of Minako's face and the shrinking of her form into the farthest corner. "I don't mean to come off prickly."
"It's okay. I pried into your life, and I just couldn't help it. Please don't think I'll of me, Usagi. Rei told me so much about you and I just couldn't wait to meet you and become friends."
She could clearly see the sincerity written all over Minako's face and a pang of guilt washed over her. She really could learn to be gentler she supposed. "I'm afraid to hear what stories Rei shared with you." She says with a playful smile, calling it truce.
Of course, there were many stories involving Mamoru and failed tests, but Minako steered away from those and opted for others. "She told me you tried out for the softball team."
"Rei didn't sell me, that's for sure." Usagi mutters as she rolls her eyes. "I did and I got slapped right in the forehead with the ball when I went to bat. Never again."
They continued to talk and laugh until they arrived at Usagi's house. Both girls climbed out of the vehicle and Minako pulled out her phone and gave Kunzite a ring to tell him where she is.
"Do you want to come in and wait on him?" Usagi asks.
"I don't want to burden you or your family."
"Ikuko would love to see I have a new friend. Come on." Usagi says taking Minako's hand and leading her inside. They take their shoes off and she leads them into the living room where Ikuko sits with a book in her hand and the tv playing in the background. "Hi mama, I want to introduce you to someone."
Ikuko puts her book down and does a double take before laughing. "Oh my, you two look so much alike." She stands up and greets Minako.
"I'm Minako Aino. Very nice to meet you."
"Pleasure to meet you."
The three of them sit down and Usagi recalls the dinner and how good the food was. Ikuko smiles proudly at her when they share that Usagi was named the maid of honor for Rei. She frowns when Usagi tells her there was bickering between her and Mamoru.
"Minako, I'm sure that was interesting to see."
"It wasn't boring." Minako agrees. She feels something vibrate in her purse and reaches in, digging for her phone. Kunzite texted her that he's waiting outside. "My ride is here. Again, very nice to meet you Ikuko and I'll see you soon, Usagi."