Tuesdays
By Klutz

	Tuesdays I think, are my favorite day of the week.  It's not because the sundaes are only a dollar fifty at crown, its not because I can watch Sailor V at seven on chanel four, and it's most definitly not because Miss Haruna usually has a date on Tuesday.  Tuesdays are my favorite day of the week because I go swimming for an hour at the Hikawa Public Pool Center.  
	I haven't told anyone I go yet.  I'm afraid they would laugh.  Imagine!  Usagi, a born klutz and a ditz to boot, swimming?  Ha!  That's a laugh!  
	But it's not true you see!  I'm actually very good now, I'm getting so much better, and I'm sure Luna has noticed that I'm more gracefull now, even if she doesn't say it or know why.
	No, I won't tell anyone yet.  
	Every Monday night I pack a towle and a bathing suit into my little brown school bag, and set it by the door of my room.  Tuesdays after school I don't have detention because of Miss Haruna's date, so before anyone can ask me where I'm going, I take off at my usual close-to-light-speed yelling 'I'm late!' so no one will question me.  Once I make it to tenth street and King Edward ave, I stop running and walk slowly to the HPPC.  
	Today is no different.  I am walking there, crossing the street at tenth and heading into the stubby brown building.  Not many people come here at this time of day, especially not in mid-fall, so I'm free to use it.  I can't help the feeling that someone is watching me, but I always feel like that.  It's because I don't want to get caught I suppose.  No one really believes in me around here.  Not as Tsukino Usagi that is.  
	I quicklly change into my bathing suit.  I had to use the blue bikini today because my pink one-piece is drying.  I went to a pool-party at Yumi's last night.  Smiling, I walk out onto the pool deck and toss my towle onto a chair before looping the pigtails from my odango to shoulder length so they won't get in my way as much.  Walking to the edge of the pool, I poke my toe in.  'Just right.'  The water is like bath water, but not as hot.  It's warm so early in the day.  I step back, bend over and dive in, coming up halfway across the pool a few minutes latter.  
	I love this feeling, floating in a pool of warm water.  Diving is like flying off a cliff, and swimming or floating reminds me of dreaming or sleeping.  Everything is silent and warm, comfortable and free.  No one can touch me here.  I glide to the side of the pool and hop out before doing a few dives off the board.  
	This is my thinking place too sometimes.  I can think whatever I want, let my mind drift from topic to topic without anyone asking me what I'm thinking, insulting my ideas or even talking to me.  Sometimes I love the silence, and sometimes I hate it.  Kind of like Mamoru.
	Yes, Mamoru.  You heard me right.  Sometimes I hate him, and sometimes I love him.  It's odd you know.  Everytime I see him on the street I smile wider.  I wonder if he'll say something today, something like everything else he has ever said.  That's when I get mad.  Mamoru, of all people, shouldn't be the way he is.  I have seen him open up to me easily, those few times.  The Tokyo Tower, Beryls palace, even the 10BAN amusement park for a few seconds.  But now, now that he's lost all those memories, he closes himself off.  He's just like he was at the begining of this whole thing.  He tries so hard to hide every emotion from people, but he doesn't know I have an advantage on him there.  He doesn't know that I can read him better than I can myself, and if he tried, he could probably do the exact same for me.  But Mamoru, for some reason, doesn't seem to remember anything!  I don't know, maybe it's a side-affect from having amnesia as a child, maybe he doesn't think he's good enough, or maybe, maybe he doesn't want to remember.  I know I didn't, but here I am.  
	Maybe Mamoru will remember one day, but despite what I tell everyone, I don't _want_ him to remember.  I just want him to be free, even if I can't. Is that so much to ask?  Apparently so, because the other half of me desperatly needs him to remember, as much for me as anyone else.  Okay, maybe more me than anyone else.
	I turn my head and straighten where I stand on the diving board.  'Step, step. step, step.'  Someone is walking barefoot into the pool room, I can hear them walking.
	What scares me is that they sound like Mamoru's footsteps.  'Step, step. Step,step.' I pause.  Why would Mamoru of all people be coming here on a Tuesday afternoon, when I am sure he has classes right now?
	Step, step. pause.  I want to look back and see if I'm right, if it is him, but instead I dive off the board and slip cooly into the warm water.  My splash is more of a splish, and that's a good thing.  I swim a little further than I usually do, and manage to come up two-thirds the way across the pool.  I break the surface and take a deep breath.  'That was good.  I'll have to work on holding my breath so I can make longer dives.'
	"Odango, I didn't know you swam." Mamoru says from the deck.  I turn lightly in the water.  
	"Anyone can swim, Mamoru.  It's pretty much natural." I say cooly.  Ouch, didn't mean for that to come out so cold... I'm sorry Mamo-chan!  He tilts his head to one side.
	"Just friendly conversation Odango, don't get so uptight."  He's wearing a white t-shirt and blue trunks with a light blue, fluffy towle tossed over his shoulder.
	"Shouldn't you be in school right now?  I'm sure I never get insulted by you on Tuesdays, this is my favorite day of the week." I reply.  He shruggs and walks over to the chair next to mine tossing his towle down.
	"My proffessor let us out early today." He slips his shirt off over his head and tosses it down too.  'My _god_ it has been awhile and Mamo-chan STILL looks that good?  Oh, this could ruin my whole act...'  I gulp.  Who would've thought?!
	He runs one hand through his hair then turns and walks over to the edge, tests the water much like I did earlier and dives in.  'Nice, so he can swim too.'  
	Mamoru surfaces a few feet away from me, about one and a half I'd say.  It makes me nervous, so I put on my I-could-care-less-why-do-you-have-to-bother-me face.  He frowns.  "Oh come on Odango, don't be such a stick in the mud!  Can't we be friends for a little while?"  Mamoru whines.
	"Mamaoru-kun, we _are_ friends, I'm only mad at you right now because you called me Odango.  You promised me never to call me that again!" I reply.  He smiles.  
	"Aw, I'm sorry Usagi, but sometimes I just can't help it!  I never seen anyone else with such a cute hairstyle, it sticks out in my mind!  Besides, it suits you..."
	"To call me dumpling?"
	"No, the way your hair frames your face in that style."  I gulp again.
	"Oh, um, thanks Mamoru."  He smiles, but it's not the same smile as before.  It's more his now-I-can-have-fun smile.  'Uh-oh...'  Mamoru pulls his hand back and makes a wide slap across the water, and soon we're in an all-out water fight, laughing hysterically when we get the chance to breath again.
	"Ah-ah Mamo-chan, you aren't getting away that easily!" I yell and start splashing harder again.  He grins.  
	"Not if I can help it Usa!"  A few moments latter, I stopped.  
	I don't mean just stopped splashing, I mean just all-together stopped.  I froze.  Mamoru paused and looked at me with worry.
	"Are you okay Usagi?" he asks.  
	I blinked at him.
	"Usagi?" he asks again, swimming over until he's right beside me.
	I blinked again.
	"Usagi, come on, snap out of it!"  I did, but let me tell you it was veeeerrry slowly.  I began to move my legs a bit again, tredding.  Then my arms came back and I let them move a bit in the water.  Finally, the rest of me seemed to work, so I turned and looked at him.
	"Didn't you hear?" I ask.  He scrunches up his face a bit.
	"Iie...Nani?" (no...why?)
	I shook my head.  "It was nothing Mamoru." I say, and float away a bit, laying on my back on the water.  Mamoru was watching me, I could feel it.  "Why are you watching me?" I ask finally, turning my head to look at him.  
	"You look nice in that color."  'Well I wasn't expecting that!   Oh Mamo-chan... do I want you to remember or not?  I love you, but I don't think you should have to fight if you don't want to... I know I don't want to...'
	He sighs.  "It's too late Usa." I was up like a shot, for two different reasons.  One, is he reading my mind again?  Two: he called me USA!  But then... where's 'Usako'?
	"Usa... I'm sorry, I knew you were here and I just... I had to know if you still loved me."
	"St-Still?" I stutter.  He smiles.
	"Usako, it's okay.  I want to fight if it means I can be with you."
	"MAMO-CHAN!"  I scream, and it's multiplied, because we are in the pool.  I practically dive for him and start covering his face in soft kisses.  "Mamo-chan, you remember!" He smiles and wraps his arms around me, kissing me too.
	"Hai Usako, I remember.  Aishiteru Usako, I don't care if I have to fight, as long as you're here, nothing is wrong."
	"Oh Mamo-chan, aishiteru too.  Part of me wanted you back so badly, and the other half thought I should let you remember..." I stop kissing him for a moment.  "How long have you known anyways?"
	"Not twenty minutes." he smiles and kisses me again.  i sigh.
	Who needs the future?  The present is just fine.
END
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