Chalk Boards and Children - Two
Usagi-chan
Usagi@tuxedomask.com
I don't own Sailormoon or anything pertaining to
E-mail me!

~~~
When Usagi came back, several hours later
with Kaisai, the house was absolutely silent.
The front door had been unlocked, but there
didn't seem to be anyone home.

"Kaisai-chan, did your uncle have plans to
go out today?" Usagi asked.  Kaisai shook her
head no.  

"He's probably in his office." Kaisai told
Usagi before the dark haired girl dashed up
the stairs.  Usagi looked around and saw 
a large wooden door.  Stepping towards it, 
she knocked gently and pushed it open.

Mamoru was sitting at his desk, a small 
desk lamp on.  His glasses were set on a stack
of files and he was reading one of the many 
open in front of him.

"Chiba-san?" Usagi walked towards his chair.
He didn't seem to notice her.  Usagi smiled
slightly and stepped behind his chair.  She 
reached towards him and gently grasped his
shoulders.  With firm movements, she began to 
massage his shoulders.

Mamoru jumped.

"What on Earth?" He exclaimed, whirling around in
his chair.  "Tsukino-san!"

"Hello Chiba-san.  I brought Kaisai home, and
Kimae has been home for a while now." Usagi
explained.  

"Oh.. Thank you!" Mamoru smiled at her.  "You
don't have to do all this...  I mean, I wasn't
implying anything last night..."

Usagi laughed.

"I know.  I don't mind.  I don't have any family 
of my own, and I'm not really involved with anyone,
so I have a lot of free time." She smiled at 
Mamoru.  "A few of my friends and I are going to
go see the Lights next week.  Would you mind if
I brought Hiai along?"

"The lights?" He asked, confused.  Usagi shook
her head.

"Mamoru-san!  Get with it!  They are the hottest
band since...  Well, since ever!  I'm going with
four other very responsible adults.  Can I bring
her?" 

"I guess." Mamoru shrugged.  "I've never been to 
a concert.  Will it be safe?" 

Usagi's jaw dropped.

"Never been?" She asked.  Mamoru nodded.  "Then
maybe I should be taking you!" Usagi paused to
think for a minute.  "What if Hiai went with her
friends, then you could come with us?"

Mamoru looked at her doubtfully.  

"I don't know...  I might be busy."

"Well, schedule Friday night off." Usagi 
told him.  She moved around his chair and perched
on his desk.  "It'll be fun!  Come on!"

"Well, I guess I can..." Mamoru glanced at his
schedule and saw that Friday was clear.

"Great!  Swing by my place around... five and we'll
all go!" Usagi giggled.  "This'll be so much fun!"

"What about the kids?" Mamoru asked suddenly.  

"Oh easy!  Drop them off at the Shinto Temple on
Cherry Hill.  Yuuichirou and Hino-san will watch
them." Usagi replied.  

"Who are they?" Mamoru asked.

"A friend of mine runs the shrine.  Her grandfather and
Kumada Yuuichirou, he works there, will watch them." 
Usagi told him.

"How do you know this?"

"Because they are always after Rei-chan and us about
letting them babysit *our* kids, and none of us 
have any!" Usagi laughed, and Mamoru chuckled.

"Alright, I guess I'll see if its okay with them."
Mamoru told her.

"Or you can tell them your going out.  You've found 
a babysitter, but if they want to spend the night
at a friend's house instead, tell them who and you'll
call the parents." Usagi told him.

"I don't know any of their parents very well." Mamoru
replied, obviously uncomfortable.

"Then I'll call them." Usagi shrugged.

"Well, I'll see what they'd rather do." Mamoru grabbed 
his glasses and slid them back in place.  

"Oji-san, Miaka asked if I can go..." Hiai burst into
her Uncle's office and froze at the picture she saw.
Her teacher was perched on her uncle's desk and the
two were talking and laughing.  Blushing she started
to turn away, but Mamoru spoke to her.

"Can you go where, Hiai-chan?" He asked, neither he
not Usagi moving from their positions.

"Oh.. I... It's not important." Hiai started towards the
door again, but this time Usagi spoke up.

"Hiai-chan, what is it?" She asked, turning on the 
desk to face the teen.

"Well, I just wanted to know if I could go to 
the Lights concert, but I guess you'll say no anyway
so there's no point in asking." Hiai mumbled.

"You can go." Mamoru told her.  

"What?!" Hiai nearly screeched.  Usagi giggled.
"For real?" Hiai asked.  Mamoru nodded.

"Your teacher here convinced me to let you go."
Mamoru told her.

"Oh thank you Tsukino-sensei!" Hiai threw her arms 
around her teacher, hugging her tightly.  Usagi
laughed and hugged the girl back.

"No problem.  So what are you going to wear?" Usagi
asked.  Hiai paled.

"I have nothing to wear." She said softly.  Usagi
smiled.  

"Neither do I.  We'll go shopping." Usagi told her,
squeenzing her hand.

"Now?" Hiai asked.

"Hiai-chan, I think Usagi-san has already spent too
much of her time with us today.  Maybe another night?"
Mamoru suggested.

"Well, actually, I was supposed to meet a few
friends downtown for shopping twenty minutes ago.
If Hiai doesn't mind shopping with all us older
women, she can come." Usagi giggled.

"You are not old." Mamoru told her quietly.  Something
ion his tone of voice made Usagi blush.

"I don't mind at all.  Let's go!" Hiai exclaimed,
not hearing Mamoru's comment to Usagi.  

"Do you have enough money Hiai-chan?"

"Yeah, Oji-san.  I'll see you later!" She grabbed
Usagi's hand and pulled her out of the office.  Usagi and
Hiai slipped on their shoes and ran out the door, laughing
like school girls.

Mamoru smiled and resumed his work, but found his 
thoughts now inhabited with a petite blonde woman
who blew into his life so quickly.

~~
Usagi adjusted her dress once more and glanced at
the clock.  It was almost five and she knew Mamoru
would be exactly on time.  Looking in the mirror, she
ran a brush through her hair and checked her make-up.
Usagi didn't know why she was so worried about her
appearance.  I mean, this was just Chiba Mamoru.
Soem guy she had just met but couldn't stop thinking
about.  The same guy whose children (although not
really his, she reminded herself) she had practically
adopted.

Sighing, she thought about how nervous he had
seemed when she had picked up Kimae and then
Kaisai earlier that day.  A smile now on her
face, Usagi left her bedroom and headed to the
living room.  

The door bell rang as the digits on the clock
turned to five o'clock.  Usagi smiled and headed
to the door, tickets in hand.

"Hi Mamoru-san!" She smiled as opened the door.

"Hello, Usagi-san." Mamoru greeted.

"Come in!" Usagi opened her door wider and let Mamoru
in.  He stepped into her modest apartment, and glanced
around.

"The kids are in the car, so we can't be too long."
Mamoru told her.

"I just need to get my shoes.  You can have a seat
if you'd like." 

"Thank you." Mamoru moved into the living room and Usagi
dashed into her room to slip on her black shoes.  When
she walked back into her living room, Mamoru was studying
several of the pictures on her wall.

"Whose that?" He asked.  "She looks a lot like you."

"Its my best friend, Minako-chan.  She'll be there 
tonight." Usagi replied.

"Oh..  What time is the concert?" Mamoru asked, turning
to look at Usagi.  As he looked at her, his jaw dropped.
Dressed in a short black dress and black boots, Usagi's
eyes and hair seemed to glow.  The colour looked amazing 
on her.  Her long blond hair was down, and it was longer
than her skirt.  Usagi giggled at his expression.

"I'll take that as a compliment." She told him.  Slowly,
Mamoru regained his senses, and blushed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." His voice trailed off
and Usagi smiled.

"It's okay." She turned towards the door.  "We should get
going though."

"Okay.  Do you have the tickets?" He asked.

"Yup!" Usagi nodded.  "We're going to the temple
first.  The girls are all there, and you can meet
Hino-san and Yuuichirou-kun."

Together the pair walked out of the apartment and 
towards Mamoru's red sports car.

"I like you car..." Usagi breathed as the moved
closer to it.

"Thanks." Mamoru replied, proud that she liked it.

"Hi Usagi-chan!" Kimae and Kaisai greeted in unison
as Usagi opened the door.

"Hello Kimae-chan and Kaisai-chan." Usagi replied.

"You two, you should treat her with more respect." Mamoru
chided as he got in the driver's side.

"No, I told them to call me that." Usagi replied, 
smiling gently at Mamoru.  He glanced at her, and
smiled.

'She's treating them so well...  Usagi must really like
children.  I wonder if she tolerates me so she can see
them?  Or maybe she tolerates them to be with me?' 

Mamoru pulled out of Usagi's apartment parking lot and
headed towards the infamous shrine.  

~~~
"Why are there so many steps?" Kaisai asked, as they neared
the middle.

"I'm tired..." Kimae added.  Usagi smiled.  

"Come here." She scooped Kaisai up into her arms and 
continued up the stairs.  Mamoru followed suit, 
picking Kimae up.

As they reached the top of the stairs, four girls were
waiting, sitting around on the temple steps.

"Usagi-chan!  There you are!  Your late." Rei scolded.

"Did you expect less?" Makoto asked, smiling. 

"Who's this?" Minako asked, stepping towards Usagi
and Kaisai.

"This is Fushi Kaisai, and Fushi Kimae, Mamoru's
niece and nephew.  This is Chiba Mamoru." Usagi
introduced.  "Are Yuuichirou and Hino-san ready
for these two?"

"Yup!  They're in the training room out back, waiting
patiently." Rei replied.

"Kaisai-chan, Kimae-chan, behave, alright?" Usagi set
Kaisai down and knelt down to her level.  

"Okay, Usagi-chan." Kaisai agreed.  Kimae nodded as well.

"I'll see you later, alright?  I'll come back here tonight,
but late!  You two should be asleep." Usagi smiled and kissed
them each on the cheek.  "Have fun!"

Kimae and Kaisai raced around the temple to the 
large training room, leaving the six adults alone.

"Okay, Mamoru-san, this is Hino Rei, Mizuno Ami, 
Kino Makoto and Aino Minako." Usagi introduced her
friends.  Mamoru smiled and shook hands with each
in turn.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He told them.

"Forget the formalities!  Let's go!" Minako cried.  Without
further warning, she raced down the stairs, the others in 
hot pursuit.

Laughing, Mamoru hung back, knowing Usagi would be
sure to make the others wait for him.  Surprisingly,
the petite blue haired woman hung back as well.

"You like her, don't you?" Ami asked, shocking Mamoru.

"What do you mean?" He asked.  Ami smiled.

"Usagi..." Ami replied.

"I... Well...  She's a good friend, I guess." Mamoru
glanced at the woman.

"But you don't want to be friends, you want to
be more." Ami nodded.  "I understand."

"Are you getting at something?  Is there something I
should know?" Mamoru asked.  Ami shook her head no.

"We just care about Usagi.  We look out for her.  She's
always so giving, that someone has to." Ami told him,
before skipping down ahead of Mamoru to join the 
others.

~~~