Author's Notes: Hey there, people! Guess what! I'm starting upa new project, woohoo! I'm really really hot for this, it's the first normal project since 12/17/2005 when I posted the last chapter of Love So Far Away... Wow... It's been more than four months since I wrote anything! Oh, and can you believe it - it's a year since I started writing! Wow, how many things can happen in a year...
Anyway, you'd never guess where I got the idea for this one. Try it. Giving up? Listen closely - it came to me in a dream. No, I am SERIOUS! I was actuallydreaming them talking about some things you're about to read! Isn't that incredible? I was so shocked when I woke up! But it's a good dream, haha!
Okay, this might slow my epistolary story up, but then again - I wouldn't have finished it that quickly anyway, so it doesn't matter XD.
Okay, I think this would be it...
Enjoy!
Title:Here Where We Belong- Chapter One
Rating: K+
Author: Sabreen
Here Where We Belong - Chapter One
It had been the fourth sigh she breathed since she got to the arcade. Mamoru was slowly getting annoyed by her constant pouts and frowns, obvious displease and helplessness. Not just because she'd make all sorts of distracting noises during her time of pitying herself, but also because he wasn't used to seeing her all depressed about something - just didn't suit her. Like an accidentalblack dot in a pastel painting, something that keeps poking your eyeand as much as you try, you can't enjoy the picture because ofthe one detail that just shouldn't be there in any way - that's how he felt. Sighing himself and folding his arms on the counter, he set a careful eye on her.
"Okay, that would be quite enough. Spit it out, what's wrong?" he said in a peerfectly annoyed voice.
She turned to him, her already aggravated eyes turning a darker shade as she looked at him, her piercing eyes seeing right through him.
"What's it to you?" she said gruffly, with a hint of disdain in her voice.
"You've been sighing, frowning and pouting for fifteen minutes now, the longest you've ever been mad over a chocolate milkshake. Something's got to be wrong when you're not in your usual perky mood for that long, ne? I think even I deserve to know what stopped the eternal source of cheeriness," he replied easily, with a smiling tone added to his voice. He was looking at her with clear amusement and without any feeling of commitment on his side - like doing a hobby, or something just for the fun of it.
"Hm," she said darkly, moving her gaze back to the wall in front of her, with various brands of liquer neatly exposed on a shelf.
"Well?" Mamoru raised his eyebrows, turning on his stool to face her directly.
"Well what?" she replied with the same distant, lonesom etone of voice, never moving her stare away from the wall in front of her.
"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"
"No."
"Why not?"
She furrowed her brow in wonderment, looking at him as if she was asking him did he really say that.
"Well, why not?" he demanded.
She rolled her eyes and looked at him as if he were stupid.
"Because you're an annoying jerk who can't let a word out of his mouth without it being an insult when he talks to me, duh!"
"Aww, come on, 'Odango Atama' is hardly an insult! Okay, okay!" he said, raising his hands to his defense as soon as he saw her opening her mouth and an angry expression on her face.
A silence took over as he kept watching her closely and as she returned to herstaring at the wall. He said nothing, not feeling the need to say anything as she grew more uncomfortable each second by the silence.
Finally, she sighed exasperatedly.
"I'm not going to tell you because you'd laugh at me and make fun of me, all right?" she said, barely letting the words seep throug her teeth.
"Oh," he nodded, a smile which was winning its way across his lips taking over. The silence once more took over as Mamoru kept looking at her, with an amused grin on his face, and she felt his speculative gaze on her skin. Usagi was visibly under slight pressure as she struggled with herself, her desire to let it out of her system battling a fierce fight with her desire to keep her privacy.
"Ugh, fine, whatever!"
Obviously, the first desire won, as Mamoru had expected. He was sitting calmly on his stool, still watching her as if he could see into her.
"Today my teacher said that the eighth grade swimming class begins in a week, we'll be practicing all those elementary stuff, and that it'll last for two weeks." Saying it, she bowed her head now looking at her milkshake with a bit disoriented stare.
"Yeah, I had that too. And?" She turned to look at him with a confused expression.
"And what? That's it."
"That's it?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "So what's the problem then? You've got your period on one of those weeks? You know, tampons are as good in water as in usual conditions."
Usagi choked on her milkshake and turned deep red, flashing him an angry-slash-embarrassed stare.
"No, I am not having... " she blushed again, "on one of those weeks, and except that, I'm a girl so I know more about those things than you ever will," she said briskly, feeling a tad superior over him in at least one thing. He just shrugged and sipped his coffee.
"Fine. So, wha tis the problem then?"
She blushed again and bowed her head, looking at her lap, mumbling something inaudible.
"What did you say?" Mamoru unconsciously leaned forward a bit to hear her better.
"I can't swim, all right?" she whispered fiercely and defiantly, looking at him as if she was trying to see if he'd dare to say anything rude in the slightest.
However, he reacted differently than she'd expected him to react. She thought he'd start laughing his head off and point at her, making fun of her and putting her down in many ways, but he didn't. He was surprised nontheless, his lips agape and his eyebrows high, before he put them down and leaned back to a normal position, just letting out a small breath of surprise and slight disbelief.
"Huh, whaddya know. How come?" he said, again focusing his gaze on her.
Usagi, a bit shocked to see him react like that, fully understood the questions a few seconds after it was asked, as the initial shock wore off. Finally, she shrugged.
"Well, we never went to the seaside when I was a kid because of my dad's job, he was needed in the summer. We never went to any pools or lakes either, so I had no chance to learn how to swim."
Mamoru nodded absently while looking away at some point on the wall.
"I did go to a spa once," she said, looking at him. Mamoru just smiled, shaking his head.
"Great."
But then, something occured in his mind and looked at her, confused.
"But isn't there a swimming class in third grade?"
She nodded sheepishly. He shook his head, looking at her with a still confused interrogative expression on his face, and his brow furrowed.
"And?" he added.
"I got away from them," she shugged. "Went into the park instead."
"Why would you want to do something like that?" he asked her, suddenly remembering his now luke-warm coffee and taking a sip.
"I was afraid of water which I couldn't stand in..."she whispered a bit fearfully. "Still am, actually..."
"Oh, I see."
Everything now clear, he turned to the counter and continued to drink his coffee before it got too cool.
"So that's why you're all bummed out."
She nodded.
"Why don't you ask somebody to teach you then?" he asked her, as their gazes met.
"Who? Mom thinks I already know. Dad is way too busy. I can't ask my brother to teach me. I'd feel way too uncomfortable with my friends, plus Rei would laugh at me..." she sighed, her voice again becoming distant and sad as it was at the beginning of their conversation.
"I just don't know what to do..."
Mamoru drank up his cup of coffee, and put it on the counter, as calm and coldblooded as ever.
"I'll teach you," he said in that same calm tone. "If you ask me nicely, that is," he added, a childishly wicked gleam in his eyes.
"Hmph!" she snorted, folding her arms on her chest. "Not in a million years!" Mamoru raised his eyebrows in wonder.
"Oh? And why is that so?"
"Because you'd laugh at me and make fun of me every step of the way and probably put me down in front of the whole pool!" Mamoru laughed slightly, thinking that it is a typical reaction, considering all the experiences she'd had with him by then and that it was really nothing strange.
"Okay, I understand why you said that." he said, still chuckling. "But what if I promised I wouldn't do anything to humiliate you or put you down?"
"I still wouldn't!" The defiant expression never left her face.
"Why not this time?"
"Because you'd break the promise!"
Mamoru stared at her for a while, with a beginning of a smile on his face, before he slightly shook his head and put the smile away, which was strange to her. She thought he'd laugh at her mockingly again, covering the breakdown of his plans, but instead, he didn't even smile, and had a serious face all the time while replying to her,
"I would not break my promise."
She would never believe it if it wasn't for the utterly serious and meaningful expression on his face. He wasn't choking back laughter or even a smile; he stared at her carefully as if it was really important for her to understand it. But she still thought she knew him better than that, although his eyes rocked that certainty thoroughly.
"Yes, you would." She looked at him with the same amount of sureness and seriousness.
"I swear I wouldn't. I'm a man of my words." His composure slightly relaxed. "Go ask Motoki if you don't believe me."
Usagi squinted as she was looking at him, as if she was evaluating him. She turned to look at the Crown café kitchen door and then again at Mamoru, before standing up and treading her way to the door. Just then, Motoki was emerging from the kitchen, lightening up as he saw Usagi.
"Hey, Usagi-chan!" he said cheerily.
"Motoki-san, is Mamoru a man of his words?" she asked seriously, not beating around the bush. Motoki was taken by surprise a bit, but he recovered quickly.
"Oh, yes. Oh, yes, he is! I'd give you 100 000 yen if you were able to find a man more honest than him," he said, leaving Usagi in wonder.
"How can you tell?" she asked, a small pout on her lips.
"Well, we had a bet on our prom dance. We had nothing better to do so we bet that the most popular girl in our class will fall and hurt herself. She was wering these really, really high and thin heels, and Mamoru was absolutely positive she'd fall in some occasion. I said she wouldn't just so we could have a contradiction. I was really bored."
"And?" Usagi was listening closely.
"Well, the girl seemed to be a real master in walking in those high heels, so it seemed. She didn't even trip. So Mamoru lost. The loser was supposed to drink two full cups of spiked punch with all sorts of things in it -including other liquer, all sorts of snacks, chocolate, strawberries and whatnot. Not only that it looked gross, it seemed really, really unhealthy, and you know what a health freak Mamoru is."
"And?" Usagi opened her eyes wide.
"And... he drank it. He knew he'd probably end up in a hospital, but he drank it all up."
"Really..."
"Yeah."
"So then what happened?"
"So he did end up in a hospital. Blood poisoning, and they had to pump his stomach." Motoki shivered as he remembered certrain details of the happening which weren't so nice...
"He stayed in the hospital for a week, had to watch his diet for a month, but he still did it. So, I think you can say he's a man of his word, definitely."
"Oh." She looked back at Mamoru, who held his cup up to her as if he was giving a toast, a smile on his lips.
"Uh, Usagi-chan, why did you ask such a ques..."
But she was already gone.
"And?" he asked, amused, as she sat on her stool. She sighed and shrugged.
"Fine, I believe you. You wouldn't break your promise."
He smiled even wider and shrugged.
"Told ya so."
"Fine, then, I guess you can teach me how to swim." Usagi said, giving up, and cheering up. Why should she stay gloomy if she had nothing to worry about anymore?
"Ho ho, you think it's going to be that easy? No, no, you'll have to ask me nicely, Odango!" Her face again turned angry and she flashed him a nasty look.
"Don't look at me like that! It's not that you have much choice, now do you? I mean, there's always a choice, but I doubt that embarrassing yourself in front of the whole class is in your interest, ne?" She was looking at him angrily like that for a few more seconds as she was aobviously in thought. He had just flared her with his blackmailing so she had half a mind to give up, but then again, he won't humiliate or tease her, so how bad can it be?
Finally, the angry expression relaxed and now she was just pouting.
"Fine then." she spat. "Will you please teach me how to swim. Please, please with sugar on top," she said evenly, with no emotion. He just grinned evilly, pretending to be considering her question.
"All right, I guess... but under one condition."
"What is it?"
"That I get a reward of my desire at the end."
Usagi eyed him speculatively. "Just one?" He nodded.
"Just one."
"What will it be?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, but I'll think of something."
Usagi thought a bit. Well, even if he wanted to call her Odango Atama for the rest of her life, she'd just avoid him. What could he think of that could be so terrible?
"Fine. You have a deal. But you must promise that you won't humiliate me, insult me, call me Odango Atama or do or say anything I wouldn't like, understood?" She held a firm gaze on him, just to be sure.
Mamoru smiled, and raised his right hand like he was in court.
"I promise I won't humiliate you, insult you, call you Odango Atama or do or say anything you wouldn't like." She nodded.
"Good. See ya at four o'clock p.m. in front of the Oyogu No Utsukushisa pool building, okay?"
"Tomorrow?"
"Yeah, there's only a week left so I think we ought to hurry."
"Okay. See ya then."
Taking a deep breath and not believing what happened that very day, Usagi got up and left the arcade.
End of Chapter One
Well - what do you think? Well, it's justthe beginning, I need some time to warm up and stuff. Well, see ya later!
Sabreen