Chapter Three
I really do appreciate the comments I've been getting for this story. I know how impatient you must be getting, but I'm afraid the next part will take a bit longer than usual because of upcoming finals and all the mess of having to move home for the summer. With all that said and done, read on and enjoy!
- - -
"Touch the dawn,
Reach for the sugar-white clouds,
Try to taste them."
- - -
Hokori looked up as the door to his office and Mamoru stepped in, obviously unfamiliar with the building. The older man smiled slightly. "Mamoru, I'm glad you're here. After last night, I wasn't sure if you would ever be coming into work again."
Mamoru attempted a smile. "You're going to have to tell me what I'm supposed to do around here, Hokori-san, because I really don't know what I'm doing."
Hokori frowned at his son's formality. "Mamoru, when are you going to give up this childish ruse and get down to business? I've never seen you like this before."
"Nagisa-san might have known about my scar, but that doesn't mean I'm going to believe all of this overnight. So don't talk to me about being childish. You have no idea what I've been through!"
"Perhaps I don't," Hokori replied, shaking his head, "but I don't want this to affect your work. You have a very important job, Mamoru, and you are also very important to this company. We have a reputation to maintain."
"I understand, sir," Mamoru replied stiffly. "Just tell me where I need to go and I'll make the best of the situation."
Hokori sighed. "I really don't have time to do this, Mamoru. But for your sake, you share an office with Tsukino-san because you both work on the same team. She'll get you up to speed on the latest projects and she can also answer most of your questions. Think you can handle that?"
Mamoru stared woodenly at the man sitting behind the desk who was so similar and yet so different to him. "Yes, sir," he replied and left the office, shaking his head slightly. That man was certainly different from the one he had seen last night. Unconsciously his hand drifted up to his head, gently fingering the faint scar hidden in his hairline. Scar or no scar, he still couldn't believe that either of these people were really his parents. Long lost -- supposedly dead for that matter-- relatives didn't just show up overnight.
Entering the office just down the hall, Mamoru stared about the simple room, filled with two desks and an ample amount of other furniture. This didn't seem so bad after all.
"Are you just going to stand there all day, or are you going to let me through so I can get some work done? I've been swamped with work since you didn't come in yesterday."
Mamoru froze. He knew that voice all too well. It was the voice of an angel, one who could restore him to his former life. Slowly he turned around, a huge grin resting on his face. "Usa... you don't know how glad I am to see you."
She frowned and peered at him through her thin frames. "I don't recall being on a first name basis with you, Chiba-san. Just because you're the son of the CEO doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. At the moment, I am your superior, and I would appreciate it if you would treat me as such."
He reeled back, shocked by her attitude. "Usagi... it's me, Mamoru. Look at me and tell me you remember me... you're the only one I can count on now."
She sighed. "Chiba-san, I don't know what you're talking about, but I will tell you that I need your help getting these files taken care of."
"Usagi, I need your help!" he pled desperately with her one last time. She turned around and stared at him, her gaze softening slightly. For a split second, a foreign memory flashed within her mind, but she gave it no thought. "Chiba-san... perhaps you shouldn't have come in today. I'll take care of the papers instead," she said and started to walk over to her desk.
Mamoru caught Usagi by the arm. "Please. Usagi, you have to believe me. Something strange has happened to me. I--"
Usagi wrenched her arm away from his grasp and glared at him. "Chiba-san, if you ever touch me like that again, I am going straight to the CEO, I don't care if he is your father. If you intend to keep working with me in this area, I would suggest you go over the ethics that this company has striven so hard to keep." With that she walked away from him, leaving him speechless.
"How's everything going in here?" a voice from behind Mamoru said. He whirled around to find Hokori standing in the doorway, looking at both he and Usagi. Mamoru cringed inwardly, hoping that he hadn't witnessed the previous events.
Before Mamoru could open his mouth, Usagi beat him to it. "Everything's under control, sir. Chiba-san and I were just arguing over which file we should go through first." Hokori chuckled and nodded. "I can always count on you to keep my son in line, Tsukino-san. Keep up the good work."
Usagi smiled. "Yes, sir." Hokori left the room and immediately Mamoru walked over to her desk. "You just bailed me out. How come?" She shrugged, not looking up from her work. "I didn't think you needed to be chewed out when you're still so delusional."
"Usa--" he started to protest, but quickly caught himself before she glared at him again. "Arigatou...... Tsukino-san," Mamoru finally said, her last name sounding so formal and foreign.
Only a few days had passed, but to Mamoru, it seemed like months. Day after day, he worked in the same room with the woman he loved, only she didn't know it and he couldn't tell her.
So he resorted to gazing at Usagi, but he was also careful to make sure she didn't catch him at it. And so far, Mamoru had been pretty successful at his Usa-watching. As long as she didn't notice, he was safe. Unless...
"Chiba-san?" Usagi was staring right at him.
Oops.
"Is something bothering you? Or is there something wrong with my appearance? I'm not stupid, nor am I blind, Chiba-san. I know you've been staring at me."
Mamoru hesitated, then shook his head. "It's nothing."
Usagi raised an eyebrow and laughed sardonically. "Like I'm going to believe that. You've been staring so hard I thought you were trying to look through me."
"When did you become so cold-hearted?" he blurted out, springing up from his desk. "You're not the same. We've been together for over five years, yet...it's like you don't even know me, Usa. Where did you go?" Before she could make a retort about him using her first name so intimately, Mamoru interrupted her. "I miss the old Usa... I want her back."
"Three years."
"Excuse me?"
Usagi also stood up from her desk, facing Mamoru, her eyes blazing with fury. "We've only known each other for three years, and been working together for one, Chiba-san, I don't know what's happened to you, but I don't care if the world was about to end, it still does not give you reason to talk to me like that!"
His gaze dropped to the floor. "What would it take for you to believe me?"
"Believe what?"
"That you and I are so good together, not just as a professional working team, but as so much more." He lifted his gaze to meet hers, hoping to break through her walls of stone.
And it was at that moment that Usagi slapped him.
