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16

Disc. - I do not own Sailor Moon, just this plotline.

Thunder and Sparks
Part One

"Oh my Goshhhhhhhh! Luna, why didn't you set my alarm?"

"Usagi, you said last night that you did..."

"And you believed me? Oh Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo"

The piercing cries resonating from the small, pink bedroom woke up the surrounding neighbours, causing many to sigh at the regularity of the morning, then retreat back to slumber. None gave much thought to the 18 year old high-school senior who was dramatically flying around searching for her uniform and backpack.

"Luna! Why won't you help me?! Oh, never mind I have to leave go!"

Feet trampled down the short flights of stairs before turning quickly into the kitchen. Noticing only her mother, Ikuko, was up, Usagi Tsukino grabbed an apple from the basket, tossed out a quick "bye mom, remember I'll be at Rei's after school" and ran towards the front door. Too busy throwing her backpack on and sliding into her school shoes, she didn't hear her mother's calls.

Ikuko sat at the kitchen table stunned. Where did Serena think she was going this early on the weekend?

Sighing, the graceful mother picked up her tea cup and sipped slowly; Usagi would figure it out eventually and just head home or go to Rei's…hopefully before the storm began.

- - - - - -

Usagi made it to the school in, what she believed, was her newest record time of the week. Excited at being able to step into the classroom only seconds late, she slowed down at reaching the front doors and tugged.

It didn't open.

Tugging again, but to no avail, Usagi stopped and looked inside the dusty windows before noting none of the lights were on.

"What's with the lights?" She asked aloud. Stepping away from the windows, Usagi turned to notice the lack of first period skippers hanging around the front sidewalk, or the teachers walking out to hassle them. Moving her gaze to the parking lot, she saw the empty lanes and her jaw dramatically dropped.

"Oh Usagi, you've reached a new low for yourself; going to school on a weekend… and in the morning."

The long-haired blonde slumped onto the front steps and held her head in her hands.

'Why why why why why' she repeated to herself wishing she was in her bed sleeping and dreaming of the field trip to the chocolate factory with unlimited free samples from last night. 'Why didn't I remember it was the weekend? That's probably why my alarm didn't go off…I turned it off to sleep in and forgot what day it was. Stupid, Usagi.'

The embarrassed girl glanced around her to make sure no one was enjoying her blunder. 'I guess I should be grateful that that no one, especially that annoying baka, isn't here right now to rub in my stupidity. Oh how I would love to just walk up to him one day after school and show him I am intelligent and I may be stupid sometimes but I at least know that rude, ego-driven jerks will never find happiness or friends. It isn't my fault I was born and made to ruin his life, so he doesn't have to constantly remind me of it. He can just go get a groupie of his and let her praise his sculpted body so I can have peace and quiet.'

…wait…what?

The blonde blinked at her admittance to physical attraction from her statement... but then quickly deleted the shock from her mind; she was eighteen and allowed to admit that extremely rude bakas could be hot despite their personality.

Usagi smirked at her maturity compared to Chiba-baka's. Just one more plus on her side.

Wound up in her thoughts, Usagi felt a strong wind stike her and she quickly sobered at the remembrance of her present situation. 'What am I going to do now though? It's too early to head over to Rei's…she's probably doing morning chores and setting up the temple…seeing me this early would add salt to the wound…I guess I'll go home. Hopefully Shingo will still be sleeping and won't laugh at me, then I can catch up on the sleep I'm missing right now.'

Usagi stood up and wiped her blue uniform skirt before beginning to leave. While walking out of the school yard, she noted how eerie the building seemed without all of the people and friends there to distract her. Lost in her thoughts of the school suddenly being destroyed by a giant, rogue comet, Usagi didn't notice the large, ominous, grey clouds rolling quickly over head.

- - - - - -

The loud, powerful booms of thunder pounded the frightened girl's ears. Scared and tearful, Usagi ran from street to street trying to find any sort of shelter. Buildings and stores were closed or hadn't opened yet and Usagi ran desperately in search of one that was.

A zap of lightning nearby scared the teenage girl into another direction and she soon found herself in an area not familiar to her. More tears clouded her vision and forced her to stumble into an alcove. Bracing herself in the small doorway, Usagi crouched down and clamped her hands over her ears; trying to drown out the awful thunder.

She could see the lightning flickering on the inside of her eyelids and feel the harsh pelts of rain on her shoes. The water was quickly deepening in the streets and Usagi moved back; as close to the door as she could. Despite her attempts, the water continued to creep up, now soaking through her flats. Usagi turned and frantically looked for a door handle but came up empty.

Banging heavily, she whimpered as more thunder pounded her ears, hoping someone would hear her calls.

When her hand became sore from the banging, Usagi crouched back down, huddled against the door, and rocked as she tried to soothe her fears but was failing. The crushing sounds of the thunder caused her brain to seize; the spuratic lightning flashes showed unreliability to the world around her; and the coldness of the rain drowned her skin and clothes. Helpless, Usagi could feel her fear closing in around her like the storm that covered the city. Her heart was pounding louder than ever.

The constant alertness and fear made her weak and before she knew it, Usagi's eyes turned upwards and all she saw was black.

- - - - - -

Mamoru Chiba quickly slipped inside his red convertible. The sudden storm had taken him by surprise while he delivering flowers to his parent's grave. He had tried to last out the rain but the pelts grew harder and caused Mamoru to say goodbye early and run out.

Wiping the steam off of the window, Mamoru stared at his parent's distant grave. It had been 13 years since they had died in the crash; 13 years since he was able to say he had a mother and father. Mamoru had survived, barely, after their deaths by closing himself off to the world. No one got in, so no one was able to leave. He did feel lonely from time to time, especially on family holidays, but the remembrance of how much pain he had gone through, made him stay away from opening up, lest the wound tear open.

Sighing deeply, Mamoru turned on the ignition and the high beams. Giving one last glimpse towards his parent's resting place, Mamoru noticed the swinging branches of the willow tree by the cemetery gate. Illuminated by the headlights, the rain made the branches slick; glimmering silver and gold.

A small smile grew on his face as the branches quite resembled his 'friend's' hairstyle. The long branches swayed wildly, much like the odango styled hair that swayed rapidly when it was being dragged behind the wild woman on one of her rampages to or from Motoki's arcade. Of course, the rampages were mostly caused by Mamoru himself, but, it seemed of second nature to do this.

Since Mamoru had closed up after his parent's deaths, it took much for him to feel something from someone. The women he had dated in the past meant nothing to him but time consumption and the majority of friends he made were more of school mates. The only person that had made an indent on his mental wall was Motoki.

He was the kind of man that helped everyone who needed it and despite his knowledge of Mamoru's history, Motoki had known that Mamoru needed his help, regardless of Mamoru's lies and protests. It had taken years to become the close friend he was to him but, now, Motoki was one of only two people Mamoru couldn't imagine life without.

The other was the infamous Usagi Tsukino. Yes, he knew her full name. Even though he called her Odango-Atama and plagued her day in and out, he knew all about her.

Regardless of their verbal fights in the arcade, Mamoru secretly looked forward to them every day. It gave him a feeling of belonging, in a city that didn't. She would get worked up and frustrated, and, sometimes, tongue tied, but that didn't stop her from having a good retort now and then. She was someone who, without knowing, was breaking through his wall piece by piece. None of this was intentional, heck, she wasn't even aware that his nickname for her was something he made out of haste to keep from dazed by the girl. She quickly consumed him his thoughts...and his dreams.

Nightly visions showed him with the Odango; them holding hands, him telling her about his past and worries, or them just sitting at the arcade enjoying a milkshake instead of arguing over it. She would always smile at him and stare with her big, blue eyes. She always looked cute and, in his dreams, he could call her his. Oh yes, she was cute and he was aware of that, but, there was something about her that made him treat her differently compared to the other bimbos he had dated. She wasn't someone that he wanted to lose or let her leave. She felt important to him in ways he didn't understand and all he knew to do with her was fight because that was all he figured she'd take from him in the real life.

If he could understand why she was so important, she could maybe help him unlock his problems.

The thunder snapped Mamoru out of his thoughts and he buckled up before slowly pulling out and starting the drive home to his apartment.

- - - - - -

Quickly locking the car, Mamoru ran towards the back door to the building, getting his keys out on the way. Coming around the corner, Mamoru glimpsed the door and wiped some of the water out of his eyes before noting someone huddled in the alcove.

The rain had plastered the girl's hair to her body while her clothes acted as a second skin. Her face was tucked by her knees and her hands were surrounding them both. Mamoru noticed the dark blue uniform and matched it to the local high-school. He tapped the girl on the shoulder but she didn't move.

Mamoru glanced around as far as he could see through the thick rain but saw no one. She was here by herself, but why? Probably to escape the storm, it did come suddenly. Mamoru bent down to check her breathing, she hadn't moved yet and he was worried she could have mild hypothermia.

Lifting the long, blonde hair away, he raised her head and gasped.

"Usagi!" he exclaimed.

Gripping her by her shoulders, Mamoru called her name several times before giving up and looking once more for anyone that might have been with her. Noting no one, and the constant thunder reminding him of the growing storm, Mamoru lifted the limp girl into his arms, juggled around to grip his keys, unlocked the door and pressed the button for it to automatically open.

Lightly jogging to the elevator, he noticed how light she was despite her numerous milkshakes and fries. He smiled at her love for that ice cream and continued gazing at the quick moving floor indicator. Finally witnessing the silver doors opening, Mamoru stepped into the elevator and pressed his button for the top floor.

- - - - - -

Walking into the empty apartment, Mamoru headed straight for his bedroom and laid the tiny girl onto his king sized bed. He stared at her and knew she couldn't stay in clothes she was in.

Closing his eyes and saying a quick prayer for forgiveness, Mamoru unbuttoned the wet, see through blouse and placed it neatly on the nearby table. Her bare skin made the grown man blush but he continued to work on her dripping skirt. Gently turning her over, Mamoru saw the zipper for her skirt and undid it before stopping as he had begun pulling it down.

"Damn" he hissed as he saw the black thong. He could feel his attraction towards the blonde beauty growing and quickly stripped her of her skirt, wrapped the blankets tightly around her body and got up to leave. A shower was in need to calm hi body down and food was needed to distract his mind.

Just before closing the bedroom door, Mamoru gave one last glance at Usagi lying still on the bed. She was beautiful and if he knew her right, she would soon unleash that beauty at a well aimed attack towards him when she woke up and saw her state of dress...or lack there of. Turning back into the room, Mamoru found a pair of his track shorts and a large grey shirt and placed them neatly beside the bed, then closed the door and started his shower.

- - - - - -

Usagi woke with a cold draft hitting her body. Huddling, she extended her hand to pull the thick cotton blankets over her body but stopped. Instead of the comfy cotton, Usagi felt the smooth feeling of silk and immediately woke up. Sitting up, Usagi gasped lightly at her unfamiliar surroundings.

"Where am I?" She mumbled before standing up.

Usagi stood but her head remained downward, glued to the creamy skin that was showing. She was practically naked!

Her knees went weak and her head pounded from the cold and the questioning. Cool breezes from the window wrapped around her body and Usagi yelled at the realization that her half naked body in a strange body. Her frantic turning around caused her to bump her knees into the bedframe and she fell to the floor with a quick yelp.

Mamoru heard the cries from the bedroom and quickly turned off the stove and ran to the door. Opening it roughly, he breezed in before stopping at the site on the floor in front of him.

"U-Usagi!"

"MAMORU?!"