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TITLE: COVER
Part 1
RATING: PG
AUTHOR: ALSE
E-MAIL: alsepang@hotmail.com
DISCLAIMER: BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILOR MOON
BELONGS TO NAOKO TAKEUCHI. THIS STORY
WAS NOT WRITTEN FOR PROFIT AND WAS NEVER
INTENDED FOR SUCH PURPOSE.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

CHAPTER ONE  JOURNEYS END IN LOVERS MEETING


      Tsukino Usagi practically flew down the
sidewalk, long golden ponytails spiralling
and flapping madly behind her as she darted
amongst the people, all but knocking them
over. She was late, very late. Usagi
grimaced to herself. She thought that she
had long grown out of her habit for being
tardy, but it would have to surface on such a
day as this. She had an appointment with
the new assistant head of one of the
departments and there was a very important
executive board meeting today that she was
supposed to chair. With a private grin, she
knew that her vice-president and erstwhile
good friend would cover for her and do so
marvellously-- Ai-chan was honest and
trustworthy, but she could also tell white lies
with a blandly innocent face. Usagi could
never figure out how Ai-chan did it, but her
friend was a good actress. Fortunately, Ai-
chan was also someone to whom loyalty was
second nature. Besides--

      WHAM!!!

      Usagi slammed headfirst into something
warm, hard and soft all at the same time. It
did not take a genius to know that she had
catapulted herself into a human. What she
did not expect was that she would be flung
back on the sidewalk with the impact,
workbag beside her and herself sitting very
hard on the pavement, like a comic scene right
out of a Japanese anime. She picked herself
up and bowed very deeply, opening her
mouth to utter abject apologies, but was
interrupted by a brusque voice.

     "Next time look where you're going, for
cripes' sake-- some people should never be
allowed on the streets," muttered the voice
of the person she had so unceremoniously
barrelled into.

     "Why, you--!" Usagi gasped in shock and
glared up at the very tall stranger.

     Her mind instantly locked on to the "cute
guy within five hundred metres" mode. The
tall stranger was young, male and-- Usagi
gulped with admiration within. Tall. At
least six foot two. Gulp. Very, very
handsome. The most beautiful specimen of
mankind she had *ever* met. He had soft hair
that was black as ebony and kept falling into
his eyes. Eyes. Gulp. He had eyes of the
very deepest, darkest blue shade she had
ever encountered. His face? Marvellously
chiselled and tanned. Perfect. Gorgeous.
With the build of a model and the enigmatic,
to-die-for air of a masked superhero. Oh,
Kami-sama, but he was *hot*! Usagi was
suddenly aware that she sounded like a
cheap romance paperback or worse, a
drooling, swooning female, and she
reddened with annoyance.

      Whatever her real feelings within, without,
however, Usagi was all Righteous Female
Insulted By Ungentlemanly Creep. She
faced the man indignantly. "You-- are--
impossible!"

      The young man's mouth lifted into a
smile-- no, a smirk, Usagi corrected herself.
"So's your hair, Odango Atama." With that
arrogant little tilt to his lips, he strode off,
leaving Usagi bereft of speech and
breathless with rage.

     That man, thought Usagi, outraged, is
absolutely-- absolutely-- she struggled for
words to describe him, but failed. Hot. He
was *very* hot. Ugh! Usagi nearly tore her
hair out with frustration. Was that all she
could think about? What right had that man
to comment on her hairstyle? Her great
friend Ami would know just which Japanese
words to use and Ai-chan would pluck out
from her encyclopaedia-sized vocabulary
one or two choice phrases that would in all
probability burn the ears of that insufferable
creep. But Usagi could never--

     *SMAP's latest ditty suddenly sang out from
Usagi's handbag in a series of electronic
tinkles.  Flushing deeply, the golden-haired
young woman dug into her handbag and
pulled out her singing cellular phone.
"Hello?"

    "Usagi-chan, where are you?" Ai-chan's
voice sounded slightly anxious. "We have
an appointment in seven minutes, you
know." There was a hint of reproach in her
tone. "Er-- are you anywhere nearby?" Ai-chan
did not sound too hopeful.

     "Gomen, Ai-chan. I'll be there--" Usagi
dashed across the street in the company of
five hundred others-- "in about--" she
zipped across the sidewalk and up the steps
of a skyscraper-- "pant, pant-- just give me
a minute, I'm already in the building--"
Usagi waved a cheery greeting to the
receptionist at the front desk and the security
guards walking around-"I'm at the lifts."
She stepped into the one of the lifts.

    Usagi heard Ai-chan heave a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness. I hope you won't crash
into the new vice-head of the marketing
department coming in. See you, Usagi!"

    Usagi shoved the cellular phone back into
her handbag and slumped with relief against
the mirrored sides of the lift. Crash into the
new vice-head? Usagi snorted. She had
already barrelled headlong into one person
today and that was enough, thank you very
much! She checked her reflection one last
time in the mirrors before the lift stopped
on the sixteenth floor, where she stepped
out.

    Usagi sped past the receptionist, calling a
cheery good morning to Petz-chan. She
vaguely registered the presence of a tall,
dark-haired young man with his back to her.
Hmm. Perhaps she could tease Petz-chan
about him later. Wait a minute-- how had
she known that he was young if he had his
back to her? On the other hand, she was
extremely late and didn't have time to
figure out how she knew that...ah, there was
a beautiful sight-- her office door, with her
name and position etched in shiny gold
lettering on the smart wooden plaque.
Tsukino Usagi, President, Silver Imperium
Corporation Private Limited.

   Usagi shut the door behind her and patted
her hair to make sure that it was still in place.
"Ohayo, Ai-chan!" she greeted the young Chinese
woman in the room. "What are you looking at?"

   Ai-chan looked up with a smile. "Good
morning, Usagi-chan. This is the profile of
the new vice-head of our marketing department."

    "Oh, the person we're meeting this morning?
What's his name? Or is it a woman?" Usagi
settled in her swivel chair and reached for
the file.

    "It's a man. His name is Chiba Mamoru."




*SMAP is a famous Japanese all-male pop group,
with lead singer Takuyu Kimura the reigning Jap
heartthrob.

(c)2001, Original storyline created by Alsepang