Every Little Thing She Does
Chapter 4 - Last Minute Regrets
by Lady Aisheteru

Standard disclaimers go here. The lyrics from below are from the same
song I used in Chapter One, 2 and 3....you should be detecting a theme
about now..... "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," written by
Sting when he was still with The Police.

Lady Aisheteru: (cleaning up tomatoes thrown at her) I don't have much
to say here. I guess I kind of left you all hanging from Chapter 3,
huh? All the reviews I've gotten so far have amounted to one thing;
FINISH UP THE DAMN FIC! Well, this seemed like as good an idea as any
for a Christmas present. Happy Holidays! On with the fic!

~*~*~*~*~
I resolve to call her up a thousand times a day
And ask her if she'll marry me in some old fashioned way
But my silent fears have gripped me
Long before I reach the phone
Long before my tongue has tripped me
Must I always be alone?

Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she do just turns me on
Even though my life before was tragic
Now I know my love for her goes on
~*~*~*~*~

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*
Mamoru rolled over and slammed his fist on the snooze button. He
looked at his alarm clock. '8:00,' he thought. Then he looked at his
calendar and saw that it was Saturday. He also noted that it was his
birthday. 

He put his pillow over his face. Normally, on his birthday he would
go over to the Arcade, and Motoki would come out with a cupcake that
had a candle in it. He would wish Mamoru a happy birthday, then he
would give Mamoru a birthday present. Last year, he had gotten Mamoru
a pair of dice to hang from his car mirror. 

But he just wasn't in the mood that morning. He didn't want to face
the world. What Mamoru wanted was to be alone with his grief.

And he especially didn't want to see Motoki. He knew that he really
had no claim on Usagi...after all, he hadn't told anyone that he was
interested in her. Heck, he had just found out himself. Still, his
blood boiled at the thought of his....former...best friend playing
tonsil hockey with Usagi. His Usagi.

As for Usagi....she was never far from his mind. She was in his arms
at night, a lovely vision that evaporated with the rising of the sun. 
And she was never far from his waking thoughts. He ached to feel her
touch, to inhale her fragrance, to see her sky blue eyes looking up at
him adoringly. Not like Wednesday night, when she had looked like a
kid caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar.

He had scheduled a date with her last night, but he had called to
cancel on Thursday morning. He didn't have the heart to take her out. 
And he had not visited the arcade since Wednesday. Instead, he
purchased a cappuccino machine online and had his java at home. It
wasn't as good as the Arcade's, but he didn't care. He didn't care
about much.

*****
Usagi rolled over in her bed. After the numbers on her alarm clock
stopped fusing together, she saw that it was 6:00 am, and it was still
dark in her room. Normally, she slept in on Saturdays, but she
couldn't sleep anymore. She was haunted by her unavailing remorse and
dreams of a pink haired girl who continually disappeared before her
eyes. And she had a lot on her mind.

Usagi got an idea. She hopped out of bed, disturbing Luna, who had
curled up on her back. "Meow?" she asked. "Usagi, are okay?" she
asked.

"I will be," she said. "I just need to take a walk." She put on a
warm outfit and tied her hair up in her usual odangos. She didn't see
the reason to leave her hair down anymore. She was a different person
without her odangos, and she wanted to be her old self again. Usagi
packed a few things in her bookbag and walked out the door.

She arrived half an hour later at her favorite spot in Tokyo park, a
lovely spot just by the lake. It always inspired her, inspired her to
fight as Sailor Moon, and to do her best as Tsukino Usagi. She got
out a clipboard, some stationary and her favorite pen and began to
write. She scrunched her eyebrows together in concentration,
pondering what she wanted to convey and how. She had to phrase this
just right if she was going to get across what she wanted to say. She
sealed it in an envelope, sighed, and began the long walk over to the
arcade. 

When she walked in, she handed the note to Motoki, then sat in front
of a video game and pretended to be deeply engrossed in what she was
doing.

Motoki raised his eyebrows at Usagi. He was expecting to see Mamoru. 
But he shrugged his shoulders and eagerly tore into the note.

Motoki,
The kiss we shared last night was magic. I had never experienced
anything so wonderful in my life. You were my first kiss, and I will
never forget that. 

Motoki smiled. He had enjoyed that too.

But we hurt someone, someone we both care about very much. I didn't
realize it until last night. I'm sorry if I have caused you any pain. 
I hope that you find a girl who will make you very happy.

Sincerely,

Usagi.

Motoki scratched his forehead. Who could they have possibly hurt? He
pondered this for a few minutes as he wiped the counter, then it hit
him. He had just firebombed his best friend.

He should have seen it before. The way Mamoru looked at Usagi, the
glint in his eyes when he was teasing her, and the slight jealous
undercurrent in his voice when he had congratulated Motoki on his
date. 

Sure, he liked Usagi. She was a great girl. But he was loyal to
Mamoru first, his love life second. Motoki had been best friends with
Mamoru ever since he had started showing up at the arcade four years
ago, and he wasn't about to lose him now.

He walked up behind Usagi. "Uh...Usagi?"

Usagi kept pounding on the buttons.

"Usagi?" he asked, gently tapping her on the shoulder.

"Yes?" she asked, still hammering at the controls.

"It works better if you put a quarter in."

"Oh," said Usagi, grinning sheepishly. "So you're not mad?"

"No," said Motoki, grinning. "Hey, you know it's his birthday today,"
he said.

"Who's?" asked Usagi, feigning ignorance.

"Oh come on. You know who I mean. Mamoru's."

"Really?"

"Yep. And I know just what you should get for him. I can take a few
minutes off. Let's go," he said.

"SUGOI!" Usagi squealed. She enveloped Motoki in a bear hug.

Motoki laughed and they headed out the door.

*****
Click. Click. Click.

Mamoru flipped through the channels. He sighed to himself. He
shouldn't have been surprised; nothing was ever on Saturday
afternoons, not even with his 150 channels of satellite TV. Instead
of 50 channels with nothing on, he had 150 channels and nothing on. 

Then he realized that he was hungry. He got up and peered into his
fridge, where a lonely jar of pickles and a bottle of mustard greeted
him. He hadn't been to the grocery store in awhile, and he figured it
was time he stopped putting it off. He ran his fingers through his
hair, grabbed his keys, and sped off in his Ferrari.

He was surprised to see a bubbly blonde inspecting melons in the
produce section. He knew her from somewhere. Just as he was about to
put his finger on it, she turned around.

"Mamoru!" she squealed. 

Mamoru shook his head. "And you are....?"

"Aino Minako, one of Usagi's friends."

Mamoru blanched slightly at the mention of her name.

"So, how are you?"

"OK, I guess."

Minako frowned. "No, you're not. I can tell."

"Yeah, you're right." he said. He put a head of lettuce in his
shopping basket and he walked away.

"Don't give up!" shouted Minako.

Mamoru realized as he was standing in the checkout line that he was on
the verge of doing just that.

He walked into his apartment with all of the groceries he could carry. 
'This should get me through the week,' he thought to himself. He was
about to fix himself a sandwich when he noticed a HUGE package in his
living room.

He wondered what could possibly be in a package of that size. "OK,
Motoki, you can come out now," said Mamoru.

Silence was his only answer.

"Come on, I know you're in here!" he shouted as he thoroughly looked
around his apartment, finding nobody.

He couldn't think of anything else but to open his present.

He tore open the ribbon, and eagerly ripped off the paper. His heart
pounded, his brain eagerly wondering at the contents of the box. What
could be in there? A giant cake? A new fridge? An ottoman?

He was completely unprepared for what he found. For inside the box
was Usagi, giggling hysterically. When she finally had composed
herself, she looked Mamoru straight in the eye and said, "Happy
birthday!"

"But I thought that you and Motoki were an item," he said. 

Usagi smiled and shook her head.

"Pinch me," he said.

"What?" asked Usagi.

"Pinch me, please."

Usagi stepped forward and pinched his forearm. "What did you want me
to do that for?"

"To prove to myself that I'm not dreaming," he said.

"Well, I just found out today that it was your birthday." started
Usagi. "So I'm giving you
the gift of myself. I'm yours, Mamoru. Now and forev-"

But she was unable to finish, as Mamoru had placed his lips firmly on
her own, and had begun kissing the life out of her.

Usagi turned into puddle of mush and was no longer able to stand under
her own power. As if sensing her need, Mamoru wrapped his arms around
her waist and she snaked hers around his neck. 'Wow,' she thought, as
he licked her lips, inviting her to deepen the kiss. She had thought
her kiss with Motoki was nice. But Mamoru's kiss left it in the
dust. When Usagi had to stop the kiss or die of lack of oxygen, her
eyelids fluttered open and she smiled at Mamoru.

"This is the best birthday present I have ever received," said Mamoru. 

Usagi giggled. "Uh...Mamo-chan?"

"Yes, Usako?"

"Can we order a pizza? Standing in a box all day made me very
hungry!"

Mamoru smiled and dialed the number for the pizza place.

After he had made the call, Usagi called her parents and informed them
that she would be spending the night at a friend's house. Mamoru
smiled, reveling in the fact that he would have his Usako all to
himself.

They ate the pizza in front of the fireplace, talking and laughing
long past the setting of the sun. After Mamoru came back from going
to the bathroom, he found Usagi fast asleep. He brought a blanket
from his room out, spread it over Usagi, then got under it with her. 
He draped his arm around her, breathing in her scent. He smiled at
the sight of the sleeping angel as he fell into a deep sleep. His
angel. 

Lady Aisheteru: Well, that about wraps it up. I hope you enjoyed
reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Ja!