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Twenty Kisses by AngelMoon Girl

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Twenty Kisses
Rated T
Chapter Title: "Jaded Silence"
Setting: Future, pre-Crystal Tokyo
Genre: Any

He did not deserve her perfection.

She was a paladin crowned in glowing light as the sun peeked into their apartment, reigning in the new dawn. Hair afire and features serene, Mamoru knew there were simply no words to describe Tsukino Usagi's flawless beauty-- inside, and out. He sighed, reaching out to gently tuck a loose strand of golden hair behind his wife's ear. Usagi twitched, just once, at the touch. For a moment Mamoru feared he had awakened her, but then the man chuckled.

What a silly thought. The girl slept through just about anything, be it her alarm clock or the apocalypse. Of course he hadn't roused her.

Still, Mamoru kept his movement limited as he quietly slipped from the bed and began getting ready for his early shift at the hospital. The silence of their apartment was almost deafening, so used to Usagi's tinkling laughter was Mamoru. Ever since she moved in, Mamoru had forgotten what utter silence such as this entailed. On one hand he welcomed the opportunity for reflection, but on the other he grieved at the aching stillness so devoid of the Odango Atama's cheer. As if to reassure himself, Mamoru ducked his head back into the bedroom as he chewed pensively on toast.

Usagi had rolled into the warmth of his body's wake, snuggling deeply into the imprint left on the duvet. What Mamoru would have given to simply lay there beside the blonde, watching her dream... Every breathe she took in and every puff of air she released was a gift to Mamoru; a sense of fulfillment that all was now right with his life. He had a promising future. A family. He had Usagi.

And yet, there were times when doubt crept into Mamoru's mind; when the silence was so overpowering that it sliced through all of the man's defenses. Perhaps he was simply jaded, or self-deprecating. Whatever the reason, Mamoru could not help but regard his slumbering slip of an angel with a painful sensation of unworthiness.

She was like a fresh breath of sunlight after endless night. He was a cold specter fit for the shadows; a brooding Adonis with dark eyes and an even darker outlook on life.

She was magnificent, lively, and a shining star to all who had the grace of knowing her. He was bland, boring, and preferred skulking corners like the world's most uninteresting wallflower.

She forgave the world of its injustices with one sympathetic bat of her encompassing blue eyes. He distrusted everyone, held grudges, and placed his faith in few confidantes.

Sometimes Mamoru wondered just how Destiny had managed to matchmake him and Usagi when they were such polar opposites; when she was so resplendent and he so arid. It was a mystery even the silence could not solve, but as Mamoru pressed gentle kisses to his wife's closed eyelids he knew that, undeserving or not, he wouldn't have wanted life to turn out any other way.

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