| I think I may have been partly inspired by Jaina's WAFFy and by MK's short short ('cause I have never written a fanfic so short). But for the most part I was inspired by the way I wanted to scream after putting in a day of demanding classes and frustrating work. I walked to my car, wanting nothing more than to kick someone and instead put my head on the steering wheel and came up with this. The title sucks, the story has no plot whatsoever but *shrugs* I just wanted to write it. Enjoy reading! Simplicity Author: Patch E-mail: patchkhan1@hotmail.com kittiekat90@yahoo.com Rating: PG-13 Insert Standard Disclaimer. Their dream house. They were now looking at their dream house. "M-Mamo-chan..." "Hai, Usako?" "Is this really real? Are we really standing here in front of our first house?" her voice grew strained and Mamoru could swear that his wife was on the verge of tears. In response, he hugged her closer to his side, his hand squeezing her waist slightly to assure her that yes, this life of theirs was very much real. Usagi turned her head sideways to look up at him and she hurriedly wiped a few tears that had not yet been given the chance to fall from her eyes. She sniffed and heard Mamoru chuckle quietly. "What are you laughing at?" she asked, hitting him lightly. He laughed some more and then turned her around so that she was up against the front of his body. His blue eyes, so long ago filled with coldness, now filled with warmth, twinkled merrily and his arms came around to link behind her at her lower back. "You. Me. Us. Our happiness." She gave him a strange looked, sniffed once more and then leaned up to kiss him sweetly on the lips. "You make me so very happy, Mamo-chan." He smiled back. "I could say the same Usako, demo," he pushed back a strand of her hair and tucked it behind her ear and then tugged on it, "maybe later, okay? We've got work to do!" Hearing her outraged gasp, he laughed out loud, ducked her fist and ran around her. She chased him to the house and pounded her fists on the wooden door when she found that she had been locked outside. Seconds later, she was falling into his arms as the door flew open and found herself being held up in his embrace. She blushed a healthy pink and averted her eyes from his. But they quickly met his again and softened when he spoke. "I love you, Usako." "No, I love you." Hours later found Mamoru hammering nails into the wall above the fireplace in the living room and Usagi in the kitchen, decorating small shelves with little knick knacks. "Usako," Mamoru called out, "do we really need to put these paintings above the fireplace? You can just put a few vases of flowers on the mantel and it would look fine!" Usagi sighed heavily and held the miniature flowerpot she had been about to place on the shelf. "For the fifth time, Mamo-chan," she yelled back, "yes! Mama has paintings over her fireplace and they look beautiful there." "But that doesn't mean it'll look great in our house," he grumbled. "What? Never mind, just put the nails in the wall Mamo-chan!" He muttered some more and then went back to hammering as the pounding noise filled the house once more. In the kitchen, Usagi shook her head and mumbled, "Men," under her breath. A few minutes later she heard Mamoru shout in pain. "Itai! Now see what happened," he said, coming into the kitchen. He held his right thumb almost protectively in his left hand and Usagi, seeing his expression, almost expected him to whimper like a puppy. "Let me see that," she said and looked at his thumb in the light. "There's nothing wrong, Mamo-chan! And don't you dare blame me for what happened, your off centered aim is not my fault. Now go back out there and finish up that hammering," she said, pushing him towards the kitchen doorway. "Well, excuse me for thinking you'd even care. Fine, I'll leave you alone, if that's you want," he replied angrily and strode from the kitchen. Usagi stared after him, uncertain of what to say or do until the hammering noise started up again, breaking her out of the trance. Exhaling slowly, she turned around and bent to pick up the next piece of decoration from the cardboard box. Holding it up in the afternoon sunlight, she simply stared at the object, rather, objects. Two fat little birds, with real feathers consisting of earthy colors were forever caught in the action of kissing, their tiny little beaks the only thing keeping them glued to each other. That such a small dab of glue, so strategically placed had held these two together was something to think about. Usagi slowly brought her hand down and cradled the piece in both of her hands, one of her thumbs unconsciously stroking the tail feathers of one of the birds. It was such a simple, little thing, really. She had seen it at the Azabu flea market, in a craft stall and at the time, couldn't resist buying the thing. So simple, yet it was enough for her to stop and think. In a corner of her mind, she realized the hammering had steadily gotten louder and faster and she carefully placed the two birds on the shelf, in the center of all the other little decorations. Stepping back, she looked at it one last time and then turned around and walked to the living room. Her husband stood on a small step- ladder, pounding away at a hapless little nail until it was wedged into the wall. She stepped up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What do you wa-" "Shh..." she pulled him down and then when both his feet were on solid ground, she walked up to him and hugged him. Her arms went around his back, and she lay her cheek against his chest and closed her eyes at the sound of his heart beating. Not a minute later, the hammer clattered to the floor and Mamoru's arms came around his wife and he rested his cheek on the top of her head. The two simply stood there in their embrace, time halting to a stop in their world. "Is this really real Mamo-chan?" Usagi asked, her voice muffled in his embrace. He moved back less than an inch so that she could raise her head. He bent his and slowly kissed her, deeply, savoring the moment, the quiet, the calm. Their love. Surprised at first, and then relaxing, she kissed him back just as slowly, her lips moving across his, both of them standing in one place, not really moving. They broke away and he kissed her forehead in an effort to cool both of them and then finally answered her question. "Now it is." ~*~*The End*~*~ Yeah, ya know, I do recall saying I'd be moving away from these pre-Crystal Tokyo fics, but believe me when I say, that when I wrote this, I had no idea what I was writing. And aren't you just happy that I got this out? ^_^ I feel much better now. Patch:-)(-: |