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Title: Cover
Part 3
Rating: PG-13
Author: Alse
Disclaimer: You know it.

Author's notes: This will be the slowest
              moving of my fics because
              it's more complex.

This chapter is specially dedicated to Jennie.
Thanks, Jennie.

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

CHAPTER 3   JUST A HAPPY DAY

     Chiba Mamoru, heartthrob of Moto Azabu
High School in his younger days, the
acknowledged champion heartbreaker of
countless Keio University females, the
legendary hunk of Harvard University in the
short year he was there, and the handsomest
and most charming young doctor to hit
Tokyo General Hospital ever, had struck
again. His latest victim was the new but
reputable company, SI Corporation.

    His routine was simple. Every morning, he
entered the hallowed doors of SI Corp at
precisely ten minutes to nine o'clock.
Following that, the receptionist, Petz-san,
would give him her customary smile and
hand him whatever gifts his retinue of
female followers had bought him. Half were
from Tokyo General Hospital, who had in
the course of twenty-four hours, somehow
managed to discover the exact location of
his new workplace. The other half came
from the besotted females who occupied the
first to fortieth floors of the building where
SI Corporation housed its main offices. He
acknowledged that he was a never-ending
source of amusement to his vice-president,
who couldn't seem to stop ribbing him on
the fact that he was the subject of the
fantasies of about 99% of the women
working in the building. After all, he had
been working there for only three days!

     Mamoru sighed as he told Petz-san to put
aside the gifts; he would do something about
them at the end of the day. He then walked
to his private office, where a string of
messages would be waiting for him. Several
were invitations to lunch, dinner, movies
and various other activities from the
aforementioned Chiba Mamoru Adoring Fan
Club. These he deleted without hesitation.
Then came the message he was beginning to
look forward to.

    "8:45 a.m. One message. Beep. 'Chiba-san,
lunch at one today, okay? Tell me if you
can't make it and you'd best have a good
reason."

     Mamoru leant back in his chair and almost
smiled. Usagi never beat about the bush and
she always sounded uncharacteristically
grumpy even if he could still hear the natural
sunshine in her voice. He had enjoyed the
past three lunches he had had with the top
brass of the company, although he hadn't
met them all yet. He glanced at his watch.
There was a meeting in about half an hour
with the head of the finance department,
Kobanyashi Kunzite and the public relations
head and company spokesperson, the affable
Jusama Jadeite. What was it with these
names all ending with '-ite' anyway? The
odd thing was that he had not yet met the
head of the marketing department, his
immediate superior. All he knew was that
she was a woman named Hino Rei and was
presently engaged in delicate negotiations
with one of the biggest fashion houses in
Europe.

      He glanced at the folders on his desk and
started work. As long as he was there, he
would do real work for SI Corp. There was
no need for them to get their suspicions up,
although they seemed to trust him. He
recalled every detail of the conversation he
had had with Odango Atama and Pamela.
Pam had done most of the talking, but
Odango was equally businesslike in
appearance and he had been impressed by
the petite young woman.

     He might not have been so impressed if he
had known that the 'businesslike' look was a
result of trying not to scowl at him. Tsukino
Usagi usually beamed sunshine on her
colleagues. Mamoru-baka was obviously
not going to be counted amongst that group.

     Mamoru-baka proceeded with his work,
examining the company reports and paying
close attention to the very interesting
information about SI Corp's newest coup.
He had also managed to obtain copies of the
finance reports and carefully put them away.
There would be a way to bring them home
with him much later.

    Meanwhile, in the conference room, the
president of SI Corp was discussing matters
with her vice-president and the head of the
finance department. Kobanyashi Kunzite
was a tall young man with hair so pale
blond that it was silver-white in appearance.
He had eyes of cool, steel-grey and an
unflappable demeanour. Privately,
Ai-chan felt that he and Mamoru had
much in common-- two men of iron.

     "Ai-chan, even with all the background
checks Cooan-san has done, I still feel that
he hides something from us." Kunzite
rubbed his chin a little anxiously. He liked
the new man, but he felt that something was
not quite right.

     The vice-president's expression did not
change.

     Kunzite spoke what she already felt.
Mamoru was hiding something she too
guessed might affect the company. Even so,
his abilities would stand him in good stead
when it came to handling contracts with
other companies. Chiba Mamoru was as
immovable as granite and harder than
diamond when he set his mind on something.
He gave credence to the old saying, 'Caught
between a rock and a hard place'. He was,
by far, the smartest and most capable of the
applicants for the job, which was why
Akayashi Cooan, who ran the human
resource department, had promptly picked
him. There was one other thing.

    Ai-chan was a businesswoman and she went
by instinct most of the time. Now she
obeyed her instincts and spoke the few
sentences necessary.

    "Kunzite-kun, I give you my personal
guarantee. I pledge on my honour that Chiba
Mamoru will be an asset to this company
and I will take full and unconditional
responsibility for his work."

     Usagi and Kunzite stared at their close
friend and colleague. Chiba Mamoru must
mean a great deal to her. She must hold him
in the highest trust. Usagi wondered if Ai-
chan felt for Mamoru as more than a
friend-- for a moment, a heavy pang shot
through her. Ai-chan was a wonderful
woman and Mamoru would be very lucky
to have her. Still-- still-- resolutely she
squashed any further extension of her
thoughts.

    Kunzite's brow, meanwhile, had creased
into a deeper frown and he might have said
something, but his president pulled rank on
him at that moment.

    "Then we will keep him," she said shortly.
"In any case, we cannot simply dismiss him
without good reason. However, I will not
sack a perfectly good vice-president simply
because a baka can't do his job properly.
Kunzite, if you're worried about him, well,
keep an eye on him." Her tone was crisp-
the 'make-a-deal' tone she used every time
she was on the brink of closing a deal.

    The finance head nodded, recognising the
uncompromising note in his president's
voice, and sent the vice-president an almost
apologetic smile, which was returned.

     Usagi kept the mask of annoyed dislike
when Mamoru strode into the conference
room, cool and debonair as usual. She
wanted to mess up that perfect hairdo. She
longed to spill tomato ketchup on that
pristine white expanse of shirt that peeked
from underneath the sombre black jacket
and dark blue silk tie (which just happened
to match his eyes and remind everyone how
very deep blue they were). She desired to
trip him up on the hard, polished wooden
flooring of the conference room and rub her
hands with satisfaction as he sprawled full-
length. He might get rug burn if he came
into contact with the carpet, but what the
hell. Of course, she could never get away
with it. Ai-chan would be down on her in a
flash. Usagi sometimes wondered a little
sourly if her friend wasn't too protective of
the baka. Still, a girl could dream.

      Mamoru's fine senses detected the
underlying current of tension in the room as
soon as he stepped in.  His defences
automatically rose. He glanced coolly
around the room. Odango Atama, scowling
at him as usual. Pam-chan, who looked
rather strained but managed a faint smile.
Kobanyashi Kunzite, who nodded pleasantly
to him but did not smile. Jusuma Jadeite, the
PR head, was the only one who grinned
cheerfully and openly at him.

     The rap at the door, followed by the sound
of someone opening it broke the tension. A
raven-haired beauty hurried in with a smile
and apologies.

    "I'm sorry, everyone, really! For a moment,
I thought that I was going to do an Usagi."
She grinned affectionately at her president.
"Anyway, now that I'm here, we can start
the meeting. I have something very
important to impart."

     Usagi flashed a brilliant smile and
Mamoru's jaw dropped. She was absolutely
breathtaking when she smiled. He had to
shut his mouth quickly, hoping that nobody
would notice it. Concentrate on the mission,
Chiba, he told himself.

     Usagi sounded like a bear with a sore tooth.
"Umm. Rei, this is your new vice-head,
Chiba Mamoru. Chiba-san, this is Hino Rei,
the head of marketing and your immediate
boss." She was conscious of another pang--
how she'd have loved to be the baka's boss!
It was only because she wanted to order him
around. Really. It wasn't because she
wanted to-- Usagi firmly clamped down on
her traitorous thoughts. Think about that
nice Kaiou painting in the corner...aren't the
blues and greens just wonderful... nice
Mamoru...grrr...nice painting...that shade
of blue is a lot like Mamoru's eyes...Usagi gave
it up as a bad job.

     Mamoru gave Rei one of the killer smiles he
was so famous for and bowed. Across the
board table, Usagi did a double take and her
eyes glazed over dreamily. She had never
seen Mamoru smile like that. Drool started
to collect automatically. Then she shook
herself. Baka, baka! She scolded herself. It
wasn't as if she was some drooling
teenager...but what a smile! He was even
more gorgeous than before!

      Rei bowed in return and shook Mamoru's
hand firmly. 'What a hottie!  Why didn't
Usagi mention this? Dear Kami, just look at
him! Does he have a girlfriend? He'd be
perfect for Usagi...what does she think of
him, I wonder?' She shot a quick glance at
her best friend, who was wearing a rather
cross look, although the glazed look in the
big blue eyes belied it. 'Aha, so she likes
him! Matchmaking, matchmaking, here I
come, heh, heh, heh!'

     Aloud, she merely said, "Welcome to the
company, Mamoru-san."

    "Hands off her, by the way," Jadeite put in
jokingly. "She's my girl." He ducked a
punch from Rei and laughed.

     Mamoru grinned. "I wouldn't dream of it."
He liked Jadeite, who was frank and had a
cheerful, joking air. Almost like Motoki.
Mamoru's handsome face hardened.  He had
to remember why he was here. Motoki.


(c) Copyright 2001 original storyline by
Alsepang