Chapter 2
May 2nd, 2:31 a.m.
Usagi
    I was melancholy trudging along the street to my house...
    The night was dark and cold, and the wind was blowing as hard as it's supposed to be at the beginning of May, trailing away my 'stupid, dumb, idiotic, kiddish' blonde tails, which are falling down to my knees (and which I'm very proud of, no matter what Mamo-chan says they are!).
    I felt myself small and lonely... I hugged myself, teeth clattering, and thought of my dear boyfriend... Of how nice it would be to be hugged by him... Of his strong arms... Of his lips kissing me... once in a while.
    I sighed heavily, standing before my home. I carefully tiptoed in through the back door's crack and up the stairs to my room. Here, after I closed the door softly, I felt myself safe. I was glad that my Dad hasn't seen me, or he would think that I again had been out with Mamo-chan and would scold me about losing my purity that way.
    Impossible. Absolutely. For the last month, Mamo-chan didn't even KISS me. Once.
    I let out yet another sigh, dropped my bag to the floor, and glanced at my glowing-in-the-dark bunny alarm clock. It showed 2:35 a.m.
    Finally, I crawled to my bed and toppled down on it.
    Next second, a frantic shriek, followed by another, broke the silence of our peaceful, sleeping house.
    I rolled off the bed and sprang for my closet, grabbed my baseball bat, and flipped on the ceiling lamp...
    In my bed was sitting a white-haired teen girl, with squinted, but still big and innocent blue eyes gaping at me.
    'Chibi-Usa??..' I thought in amazement. 'No, no, I'm being paranoid...'
    This moment, the door was thrown open and there stood Daddy in pajama pants, holding a samurai blade (must have gotten it off the living room wall), with Mom and Shingo peeping from behind him.
    "What happened?!" Dad yelled. "I thought someone attacked or a robber got it!.."
    I and that girl pointed at each other: "Who's that???"
    "Your cousin," replied Mom.
    My cousin and I took each other's dim views.
    "What she's doing in my room?!!" I burst out. "It's MY room!! MY privacy!!!"
    Dad frowned. "Where did you get those foreign ideas from?"
    "DAD!.. I'm SEVENTEEN!" I moaned.
    "No, you are not quite yet," Mom pointed out.
    I grimly glanced at my parents: "Whatever... Can't she sleep in the guestroom?"
    "Ochitsukiko needs company," said Mom, "since she is in a big depression and has spent a whole month in a rehabilitation center after her parents' death."
    I cast another look at that 'poor, depressed girl'. She didn't seem to be in any kind of depression. One bit. Actually, her eyes were practically screaming triumphantly: "Haha!! Hehe!! I'll be living in your room no matter what!!! And I'll ruin your life!! So there!!!"
    My fingers unconsciously clenched the bat I was still holding...
    "All right, I'll go bring the sleeping bag." Mom disappeared in the hallway.
    "Sleeping bag?.. Ahh, you mean, for... Ochi... Och... Ouch... Oochi..?" I stammered.
    "Ochitsukiko," the girl helped me.
    "In short, for Tsukiko?"
    "I have been called 'Ochitsukiko' since birth!" my cousin announced proudly.
    I pictured a tiny newborn in a cradle, being called, 'Dear Ochi..! Ouch..? Pooch..?!'
    "Okay!" I addressed Mom, who brought that poor bag into the room. "This thing's for Och-something-ko?"
    "No, that's for you."
    I threw my bat to a corner and tearfully clung to my bed: "But that's MY bed!!.."
    "Dear aunt, I am very tired, may I have some sleep, please?" Ochi-something-ko pleaded in a small voice.
    'I've got I viper in my bed,' I thought darkly.
    Shingo yawned. "I've got two dumb Usagis in my house now. Great. 'Night, everyone."
    He went into his room.
    Dad stretched along with his samurai blade...
    Mom's face turned white: "Stop!! What are you doing?!! You'll scratch my ceiling!!!"
    Her husband immediately dropped the blade. "All right, women, sort out your problems by yourself; I'm going back to sleep. And Usagi, please, don't scream like that..."
    He started up the hall.
    Mom ran after him: "But what did you scratch my beautiful ceiling for?!"
    I was about to close the door, when Dad stuck himself back in. "By the way, did you come here just now?" he asked strictly.
    "Oi!.. Uh..." I had no idea what to say.
    "Look at the clock!! Do you know what time it is?! Where were you!?" Dad shouted frantically. "And so you again were out with that... young man?!"
    'I wish I had!' I thought sarcastically.
    Dad kept on. "Can't you understand, that Mr. Chiba Mamoru is too old for you?! This way, you will lose your purity before marriage!!" Oh, yeah. Just wait a thousand years, Daddy...
    I sighed. "Dad, go to sleep." And closed the door at his face.
    And found the stare of big brown eyes on me.
    Chibi-Usa??.. Paranoid, paranoid...
    That was just Luna...
    Oi. No. That wasn't Luna. It was a white cat with gray splotches here and there. And who was occupying Luna's blue pillow.
    I got the idea whose cat was that...
    Luna was sitting nearby, her eyes were urgently crying out: "I need to go to the bathroom! NOW! I gotta talk!!"
    I ignored her 'cry of soul'; instead, I walked to the white-and-gray cat and crushed its tail with my hard, plastic, two inches thick platform shoe.
    The cat uttered an yelp of agony.
    "Ginko!!" Ooch-something-ko jumped off my bed and scooped the creature up. "What have you done to my beloved Ginko?!!" she accused me.
    I smirked. "Your King Kong — or whatever — is all right, unless I broke some of its tail discs, of course. And by the way, I hate cats."
    Och-something-ko raised her foot to smash Luna's tail, but the cat was quick enough to screech into the bathroom.
    "And WHAT is that?" My cousin wrinkled her nose. "Black rabbit?"
    "No. A witch who ruined my life by saying that I'm a moonie."
    Ouch-something-ko was dumbfounded. Before she could open her nasty mouth, I switched off the light.

Chapter 3