Twenty Kisses
Rated T
Chapter Title: "Taming of the Shrew"
Setting: Season One
Genre: AU
Motoki was the one who first gave him the idea, completely by accident of course.
Mamoru never in a million years would have thought to apply the devious scheme to his own situation, but of course life is just full of unexpected solutions. Namely, how to tame the shrew also known as Tsukino Usagi. The girl had a penchant for going off on tangents with an endless stream of commentary that usually came back to him and his "bland personality, obsession with coffee, and awful sense of fashion". Motoki often likened her to an excitable puppy prone to bouts of yapping, always in the most affectionate and brotherly of ways.
Mamoru wasn't quite sure Odango Atama hadn't descended from a breed of talking parrots with an annoying propensity for piercing, nails-on-a-chalkboard screeching fits. And that was on a good day.
Gifted with infinitely more intelligence than the childish teen, or so he'd always accredited, Mamoru decided his plan to intercept Usagi's daily ranting was just about flawless.
Unfortunately- or maybe fortunately- he never expected it to backfire.
oOo
The madness began on an ordinary Monday.
Chiba Mamoru, a college student merely minding his own business behind a calculus textbook and his usual cup of black coffee, never even saw it coming. Of course, most times he didn't see her coming, but Usagi's frequent appearances were rather clockwork in nature so he supposed some part of him did expect to be rudely interrupted... but that's not the point.
The point, my friends, is that what occurred next deviated sharply from the norm, altering the course of this temperamental pair's relationship for years to come.
"HE'S IN MY SPOT! Motoki-onee-san, why is he always in my spot? Can't you rope it off? Put up a 'reserved' sign? This chair has been where I have sat to eat my triple scoop hot fudge sundae since I was in my fifth year of school, and NO ONE, not even a-"
The world may never know what colorful and unique description our dear Tsukino Usagi had concocted for her nemesis, Chiba Mamoru. And perhaps we are better off for it.
Usagi suddenly found her mouth very occupied, and to her consternation, it wasn't of the unpleasant sort either. The girl shivered, just once, before smacking her palms against Mamoru's chest and giving a hard push. The college student tottered backward, coffee sloshing as his lips were forcibly detached from Tsukino Usagi's. Mamoru cleared his throat awkwardly and wiped at his mouth with a triumphant gleam in his dark eyes. Motoki stared, pale and probably on the verge of a faint with his dirty washcloth hanging uselessly at the sandy blonde's side.
Usagi settled for another shriek. "WHAT THE HELL, CREEP? WHAT MAKES YOU THINK-"
Mamoru landed another wet one on Usagi's bewildered face. She choked in surprise, pulling back to finish her admonishments only to be thwarted once more.
oOo
On and on it went.
Mamoru used to count, just for fun, how many times he kissed Odango Atama a day. The most he got to was thirty nine, but that was before losing track. Now the man reckoned the total was somewhere between forty and fifty. Once in a while he wondered why Usagi never caught on; if she was truly as dull as he'd previously believed. But you see, all plans have their chinks. What Mamoru failed to foresee, and what Usagi eventually grasped, was that these kisses had come to hide a growing attraction; a chemistry as volatile and as passionate as the fights the two so enjoyed to partake in. The interim between insults expanded with each passing day as the silence of intimacy wiggled its way into their every encounter. Mamoru began to forget the reason for his little game, and there were times when he would swoop in for a smooch before Usagi had even said a word.
It wasn't until a most extraordinary Thursday at the Crown that Mamoru remembered, but by then the distraction method had become something else entirely.
"Motoki-kun, I swear, it took me double the time to walk from campus to here because of that stupid-"
Mamoru froze when he was cut off by a deep, lingering kiss from none other than an unusually bold Tsukino Usagi. He blinked dumbly for a few seconds after they separated, breath catching as Usagi eased herself off tiptoe. Despite the severance, Mamoru could still feel Usagi pressed tightly up against his shaky frame, and a delicious waft of lavender and vanilla combined to assault the ebony-haired man's senses.
"O-Odango...?"
"Hush. Do you know how worried I was when you didn't show up?" Usagi asked sincerely, a small crease between her eyebrows illustrating the blonde's concern. Mamoru shook his head, eyes feasting on the emotion contained in the girl's similarly azure depths. Had she really been fretting? Over him? But... no one had ever expressed care for him; not poor Chiba Mamoru, the orphan who held everyone at icy distance.
Mamoru licked his lips. He marvelled at the fact that Usagi's voice had ever aggravated him. Now it sounded positively heavenly, with the merest suggestion of a pealing bell- cheery and bright- to add to the blonde's dulcet tones. Not screaming at each other certainly helped change his perception, Mamoru realized. "I'm sorry, Us... Usako. May... I call you that? It's a much nicer nickname than Odango Atama."
Usagi chuckled at Mamoru's nervous query. "I think I'd like that... Mamo-chan."
Eternity wove into a single ephemeral moment in which Usagi smiled at Mamoru and Mamoru at Usagi. And then, before either knew what was happening, Mamoru leaned down and Usagi tilted her head to accept a feather light brush of Mamoru's lips; a kiss that was suddenly more intense and more heartfelt than any of their sloppy, teasing Frenches had ever been.
Somewhere behind the counter, a loud thump resounded and Motoki's worn old rag skittered across the floor, away from its stupefied owner.
Suffice to say, Usagi and Mamoru ignored the noise in favor of a more worthy distraction.
