Darkness Is Relative by StarryNight101

The New Girlfriend

The next morning after the youma battle, Usagi walked nervously towards school. She had purposely avoided Ms. Haruna after the fight yesterday, but Ms. Haruna was sure to be pissed off about Usagi not showing upto lunch detention. Also, in order to try to not anger Ms. Haruna even more,Usagi had left earlier than usual (as in only 5 minutes late, as opposed to 10)and was taking the fastest route to school, her usual route. Which meant,seeing as in the past she had constantly collided with Mamoru, she was afraidshe would today. Usagi kept her eyes peeled as she ran towards school, tryingto notice any dark, lurking figure that might be Mamoru.
She had just thought that she might actually make it toschool without colliding into him, when she did just that.
"Ooopf!" Usagi collided into something that felt an awfullot like Mamoru's chest. Big, strong hands caught her on instinct and for a split second when Usagi looked up into Mamoru's eyes, he didn't look away andseemed to be looking at her like he used to-- full of love, and humor for her klutziness. But then the hand immediately dropped from her side, and his face turned hard and cold.
"Watch where you're going," Mamoru said in a cold voice.
Usagi, taken aback by how rude he sounded, surprised herself by, instead of feeling sadness towards Mamoru, feeling anger.
"So sorry." Usagi said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Klutzy old me."
She glared at him for a second, and then ran off towards school. Unfortunately, Usagi's anger quickly dissolved and tears sprang into her eyes.
"Stupid, stupid Mamoru." Usagi cursed at him, and at herself, because she had vowed to herself to never shed another tear for one Mamoru Chiba.
Usagi had to stop a moment to collect herself, but she then realized that move made her even later. Usagi finally arrived to first period over 10 minutes late. Although 10 minutes late isn't a huge travesty, or even that late for Usagi standards, Ms. Haruna would be mad enough about Usagi's MIA stance yesterday at lunch without the added crime of arriving late.
Usagi walked into class with a rather sheepish smile on her face.
"Ah, Ms. Tsukino. You've decided to join us for class today,I see." Ms. Haruna said, in a very, very hard voice. "I have a class to teach,and obviously you don't want to be part of it, so you can wait outside while I teach. And I expect that you have at least half of the makeup work I gave you yesterday by the end of today, so I suggest you work on it now."
Ms. Haruna proceeded to push a shocked Usagi out the door, and then slam the door in her face.
"Now, where was I before this interruption?" Ms. Haruna said, turning her attention back to the class.
Meanwhile, out in the hall, Usagi groaned at how unfair Ms.Haruna was, and then pulled out her homework. If there was any chance at all she would have the work done by the end of the day, she really had to make good progress now.
 

***
 
At the end of the awful school day, Usagi headed over to theArcade. She had managed to turn in almost half of what Ms. Haruna wanted her to have. Needless to say, Ms. Haruna wasn't happy about only having half of what she wanted, but she also seemed a bit surprised that Usagi had managed to get that much done. The girls decided that, after that long, awful day, what Usagi needed was a nice, sweet milkshake, and the attraction of some arcade games. Usagi was starting to feel a little bit happy, something she hadn't felt since Mamoru broke up with her, but her good mood vanished when she pushed open the arcade door.
 
***
 
Mamoru sat at the counter of the Crown Arcade, nodding at the woman sitting next to him, and pretending he was listening, but really he was replaying his collision with Usagi over and over again in his mind. He had been surprised at her anger, but then again, he hadn't exactly been super kind to her. He had been thinking about the youma battle the night before, and the showdown he had with Rei at the end of it. He had lost control when he saw her wounded, and he forgot for a moment that they'd broken up, that he should be distant from her, and not holding her in his arms longer than absolutely necessary. He was just starting to think about how beautiful Usagi looked, even when angry, when an irritated voice cut through his reverie.
 
"Mamoru?" The woman next to him flipped her hair impatientlyover her shoulder. "Are you listening to me?"
"Hmm?" Mamoru turned to look at her. "Yes, um, of course I'm listening. Go on."
"Whatever." The woman flipped her hair again. "As I was saying, I was talking to this guy, and he was like so totally trying to hit on me! And I was just like, ew, you're like way too old for me, and besides, I'm already dating! Like, maybe you've heard of my boyfriend, since he's like the heir to the Chiba company? And then I was like..."
 
Mamoru proceeded to due what he'd been doing all afternoon: tuning her out. He had decided that starting to date again would be a good distraction, but this girl, Akiko, was driving him up the wall! She was self-centered, shallow, obnoxious, and stupid. Mamoru was starting to get a headache from it all. The bell over the door jangled, announcing another customer. Mamoru looked up, hoping it was someone he knew so he could detach himself from Akiko and pretend that he really, really needed to talk to them.
However, after seeing who it was, Mamoru cursed himself for wishing it was someone he knew. Because there in the doorway stood UsagiTsukino, who was looking over at Mamoru, and more importantly, Akiko by his side. 
 
Usagi walked over to where they were saying.
"Who is this?" she asked, her voice shaking,
"Uh... this is..." Mamoru struggled to force the words out.
"I'm his girlfriend," Akiko said, grabbing a hold of Mamoru's arm, as if she had to prove that Mamoru was, indeed, her boyfriend."And you are...?"
Akiko glanced at Usagi with disdain, sizing her up.
"I'm his... his..." Usagi stumbled over the words.
Rei, who had walked over, put a hand on Usagi's shoulder."She's his girlfriend, too, funnily enough. Guess he didn't tell you he's a cheater?"
"Wha--? Mamoru?" Akiko turned to Mamoru, who seemed just as shocked. "Tell me this isn't true!"
"Um, no, it's not. She's uh, my... my ex-girlfriend," Mamoru said.
"Sigh. Don't believe him, sweetie." Rei said in a condescending tone. "Really, what do you expect? For him to confess to cheating on you? Men are scum."
"Bu--but...." Akiko's lower lip trembled.
"You see, Usagi here had just been about to break up with him, because she found out about his other girlfriend. But it looks like he's picked up you, too. He really gets around, huh? Anyway, since Usagi's not dating him anymore, you can have him for yourself. That is, if he doesn't have some other secret girlfriend, and I really wouldn't be surprised if he does," Rei drawled, no menace in her voice, just pretending to be looking out for Akiko's best interests.
"That's enough, Rei!" Mamoru yelled. He might not like the girl at all, but he wasn't about to sit her and let Rei talk trash about him! "Akiko, I'm sorry, I don't know what they're talking about, they're just making it up."
"Hmph. Fine. I guess I believe you." Akiko sniffled.
"Come, Usagi, let's go, we can find better things to do then to waste time with him," Rei saidscornfully. She then proceeded to drag a shocked Usagi over to where the other girls were standing, all staring, shocked by Rei's performance.
 
"Rei... that was... so amazing!" Usagi said, actually full-on laughing for the first time since that day.
"High five, girl! That was genius!" Makoto said.
"You shouldn't have embarrassed poor Mamoru like that," Ami said. "But it was pretty funny to watch, and I'm not saying he didn't deserve it."
"Well, thank you all," Rei said, smiling. "I just couldn't stand there and watch that little skank drape herself all over him, now, couldI? I figured I had to stir things up a bit."
"Yeah... it was pretty great, Rei. Really. Thank you for doingthat for me," Usagi said.
"Well, it wasn't just for you. I wanted to shake things up,give him something to think about it," Rei said. "And besides, I can't let someone like that live without a fair amount of discomfort for breaking the heart of my best friend."
"Yeah... but still. He has a new girlfriend," Usagi said, her good mood vanishing as she thought about that.
"Don't you DARE thing about that, Usagi!" Rei said. "You can do so much better. And Mamoru is a piece of filth. Pond scum! He deserves that skank of a girlfriend he has. I am NOT going to let you mope any longer aboutsuch a stupid matter. Got it?"
"Okay," Usagi said, but she sounded sadder then she had before.
"Let's go shopping!" Minako said. "C'mon, Usgai-chan,whaddya say?"
"I don't know..." Usagi said. "I should probably just do my homework. But it was nice hanging out with you guys."
With that, Usagi turned, and ran back towards her house. The girls stared after her, watching her slowly disappear as she got father away.
"Poor Usagi," Ami said. "She's really taking this breakup pretty hard, isn't she?"
"Yeah... I wish we could do something," Minako said. "She's not acting like herself. I mean, she's depressed, and she hardly ever smiles or laughs, she's working herself so hard, and then she doesn't even want to go shopping or anything!" Minako said.
"We can do something!" Rei said. "We need to do something. I say it's time we get some revenge,girls. We need to kick some Mamoru ass."
 
 
 

Back to Summary Page