Author:  Hikari
Email: Machi_no_Tenshi@excite.com
Rated: R



	     	   @ TWILIGHT @ 
	            A Monogatari by Hikari.


Chapter 3:

  As the dawning of a new day began, the girl slowly opened 
her eyes.  A throbbing headache immediatle hitting her temples. 
"Ugh!!" She said while sitting up on her bed. But as she took 
in the scenery around her, she realized she was no-way near 
home.  As she tried to move out of bed, a ripping pain in her 
lower abdomen began to hit her. "Ah!" She looked down upon her 
body, only to see that she was naked and had some indications 
of blood on her thighs. 'Oh my god!' she thought, 'What happened 
last night?'  But her suspitions where put aside as her gaze 
traveled to the sleeping figure next to her. In that instant, 
images of last night began flooding her mind. "What have I done 
done?" she sobbed into her hands as tears began to streak her 
face.  'Calm down... calm down.' she began chanting to herself. 
'Everything is going to be fine.'  She hanged on to all of her 
strenght, and got out of bed, picked up her clothes and began 
to get dressed.  

  Once finished, she turned to leave but her body would refuse 
to let go until she gazed at the man with whom she had shared 
her first time. Nearing the bed, as causious as she could be, 
she took her hand and gently brushed some of his silky black 
bangs so that she may see his face. Emotions of pain, confusion 
and rememberance, hit her instantly as she gazed at his features. 
'Mamo-chan?!' she thought.  It was a strongh chiseled frame, 
with a concave nose, and dark curly eyelashes.  But it was his 
mouth which she could not take her gaze from. It was slightly 
parted and curved at the ends, as if in a pleased smile, his 
lips were full and looked so soft that she felt the ugre to kiss 
them. She began to bend down, but when she felt him stir... she 
backed away, running towards the door. 'No, he couldn't be my 
Mamo-chan,' She thought as she lowered her face in sadness, 
while at the same time walking out the door.

  Awakened by the shinning rays of the sun, Mamoru looked 
around the fraternity's room. It was empty now, except for 
him.  "Where did she go?" He said, panic hitting him as he 
fought to remember if last night had been just a dream. He 
got out of bed, with the intention to get dressed but a look 
at his thights confirmed that last night had in truth occured.  
He got dressed as fast as he could, with the hope that she 
might still be down-stairs, but as he arrived there... the 
lobby was empty.  All the way home, images of last night sprung 
into Mamoru's mind, and he new that he had to find her. Not 
because of what had happened, but because of the time they had 
shared. He had not felt that confortable talking with anyone 
but her... except if you count Usagi too.  During those short 
hours of their talking nonsence to eachother, he felt that she 
knew him better than even his own cousin!  And as determination 
set into Mamoru's thought he knew that he might have lost Usagi 
forever, but he would not loose this new mysterious girl too.

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

  "Hey Mamoru-kun!" Kaoru yelled from the living room as his 
cousin arrived. "How was last night?"

  Mamoru looked serious for  a moment. "Nothing happened." 
He lied. He knew his Kaoru wanted to know but... last night had 
been personal and when something meant that much, you're not 
supposed to share.

  Kaoru shook his head, "Sorry man, maybe next time."

  "Yeah," He said while heading over to the bathroom to take a 
shower.

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

  Once Mamoru was dressed, he headed towards the kitchen where 
Kaoru was making luch. "By the way, Mamoru-kun," Kaoru began. 
"I was wondering if I could have the apartment to myself this 
Thursday?"

  "Sure, what's the reason?" Mamoru said as he began taking a 
bite out of an apple.

  "Well, " Kaoru turned to look at his cousin. "It's Usagi-san's 
and my one year anniversary."

  "Usagi-san?!" Mamoru was taken a back. "I thought your girl-
friend's name was Hanako?"

  Kaoru gave a small laugh. "Usagi is Hanako." Mamoru looked 
even more confused. "Ok, Hanako is Usagi-san's stage-name."

  "And..."Mamoru drawled on carefully, "She's Usagi, what?"

  "Tsukino. Usagi Tsukino."

  Those words hit Mamoru like a ton of bricks. Tsukino Usagi. 
HIS Usa-chan, was his cousin's girlfriend!! 'Oh how cruel fate 
could be!'

  Seening his cousin in such a state of shock scared Kaoru. 
"Mamoru-kun? Are you alright?"

  Snapping out of it, "Yeah." He answered. "Just fine," in a 
more quiet tone.

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

  It was now Thursday, and Mamoru had decided to go to the library 
while Kaoru had his night with Usa-chan. "ArGH!" jelousy sprang 
forth form Mamoru. He knew he had no right to feel jelous, but deep 
inside he felt betrayed. 'Usa-chan had chosen Kaoru-kun to be happy 
with, I mean, they have been together for a year,' he thought. 'How 
can I compare with that?' But even thought he had tried to convince 
himself not to care about her, not to think about her, he knew that 
he HAD to see her in person: to know how she looked, if she had 
changed, but most of all... to know if she was happy.

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

  "Well, Hanako..." Kaoru said while bringing in the main course. 
"Dinner is served!"

   ~Ding*Dong~

  "I'll get that." Usagi said as she got up from the table. She 
openned the door and the first thing she saw were the broad shoul-
ders of a tall man. As he turned to face her, she became still, 
the color draining form her cheeks. 'It's him!' she thought. 
'The guy from the party!!'

  Mamoru stared at her. She was white! Was she ok? "Hi... is Kaoru
-kun here?"

  'He knows Kaoru-kun!!' She began to panic. 'If Kaoru finds out... '

  "Mamoru-kun!!" Yelled Kaoru in surprise, waking Usagi from her 
thoughts. "Come in."

  'Mamoru-kun?' she thought, 'MAMORU-KUN?!!'

  Mamoru came into the apartment. "Kaoru-kun, I'm sorry but I 
forgot to take my notebooks with me."

  "It's alright," Kaoru said while reaching out to lead Usagi from 
the door. "Since your here, let me present Usagi-san to you."  
Mamoru turned to her, their eyes locking. "Usagi-san, this is my 
cousin Mamoru-kun."

  "Cousin?!" she said, finally able to speak.

  "Yeah," He bagan. "My name is Chiba Mamoru."

  'Chiba... It's him!' Her mind screamed. 'He's your Mamo-chan!' 
Then everything hit her at once...'YOU SLEPT WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND'S 
COUSIN!'  And it was too much to handle, causing her to faint.

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

  "...Mama!!" A young Usagi yelled as she rushed into the kitchen. 

  "What is it honey?" Ikuko picked up her little girl an placed her 
on the counter-top. "What's wrong?"

  Usagi sniffled. "I went to Mamo-chan's house, *Snif*, And, *Snif*, 
it was empty inside!" She finished as she sobbed into her mother's 
open arms.

  'My little girl' She thought, 'Should I tell her?'  Running her 
hands through Usagi's skirt, taking out the wrinkles, Ikuko decided 
to speak. "Honey, I think there's something you need to know." She 
took in her breath. "Mamoru's parents died in a car accident some 
weeks ago."

  Usagi took in her breath. 'No... that couldn't be!' She began 
to cry even harder than before.

  Ikuko had no idea Usagi would take the news so bad. 'My poor baby.'  
She passed her fingers through Usagi's hair in a soothing manner. 
'I won't bring up the subject anymore.' She promised herself.

  Usagi just hanged on harder to her mother's shirt. 'So that's why 
I haven't seen him in a long time...' putting her arms around her 
mother's neck her heart broke with each new tear. 'Mamo-chan must 
have died with his parents...'

	  */^.^\*  end of flashback-dream */^.^\*

  "Usagi-chan?" She heard as she opened her eyes. "Are you ok?" 
It was Mamoru! And he was looking at her with the most beautiful 
eyes which she thought she might never see again. She wanted to 
hold him, to kiss him, to make sure that he was real, but all those 
thoughts flew oout the window as Kaoru came into the bedroom.

  "Hanako-san, do you feel better now?" Kaoru's voice seeming 
cold to her in comparison to how Mamoru had just called her.

  "Yeah," she said getting up a bit. "I'm better." Not taking her 
eyes off of Mamoru, she continued. "Thank you."

  Mamoru just smiled at her. "Well, I have to go." He said while 
getting up from his crouched position on the floor. "I have to go 
to the library before it closes!"

  Usagi feeling more uncomfortable now, having to carry the 
burden of knowing everything that had happened, decided that 
she too might leave. "Kaoru," she began looking at her boyfriend. 
"I'm not feeling too well... I think I want to go home."

  Kaoru just looked at her. "Fine." Turning towards Mamoru, 
"Would you mind taking her, after all, you are on your way out?"

  Mamoru looked back at Usagi, and saw a bit of surprise in her 
eyes before another emotion over took them. "Sure." Extending his 
hand to her, "Come on Usa-ch.. Usagi-san. I'll take you home." 
'Whoa, almost slipped there!'

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

  Inside the car, all that Usagi could wonder was if her knew 
that it was her who was with him in at the party.  If he remem-
bered that she had been his childhood friend.  If he had forgotten 
all the things they had shared when they were kids. 'I can't belive 
that all these years I thought Mamo-chan was dead...'

  "Usa-chan..." Mamoru's soft voice breaking the silence. "It's 
been a while, huh?"

  Her head snapped to the side. She wanted to look at him. 'Did 
he just call me "Usa-chan"?'

  He looked at her, "I must admit... I thought I might never see 
you again." He added on a sad note.

  "I..." Usagi's head lowered. "I thought you had died with your 
parents in the crash."

  Mamoru looked at her and thought he heard her sniffle.  He took 
his hand to raise her head... and that's when he saw that she was 
crying. "What's wrong?" He asked, not knowing why she cried.

  "I'm just happy that your alive." She finished smiling. And on 
impulse commanded by her heart, she threw her arms around him and 
began to laugh in joy. "I'm just so happy...!" '...that my first 
time was with you.' She finished in her thoughts.


To be continued...

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

AUTHOR'S AFTER NOTES:

  HEY EVERYONE!! I KNOW I USUALLY DON'T WRITE ANYTHING AFTER THE 
CHAPTERS BUT I JUST WANTED TO SAY TO EVEYONE THAT HAS WRITTEN TO 
ME THAT I APPRECIATE YOUR E-MAILS SO MUCH AND ALSO THAT I LOVE THE 
STUFF YOU SEND ME! (ONE OF YOU EVEN SENT ME A CHRISTMAS CARD!!) ^.^
ANYWAY, I GUESS I'M ALSO WRITTING THIS TO LET YOU (MY READERS-*I 
LOVE THINKING THAT*) KNOW THAT SINCE YOU'VE BEEN ASKING LATELY IF
I HAVE ANY OTHER FANFICS... I'VE DESIDED TO PUT MY OTHER IDEAS TO 
WORK. SO, BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR MY NEW FICS: "GEISHA" AND "TENDERLY"
Oh! AND DON'T WORRY, THE FACT THAT I'M WORKING ON NEW STORIES WON'T
INTERFERE WITH THIS ONE... SO BE PREPARED FOR WHAT'S TO COME!!

AND PLEASE, E-MAIL ME WITH YOUR COMMENTS. ^.^ HIKARI *LOVES* E-MAIL!!


JA NE!!

    Source: geocities.com/tokyo/subway/6829

               ( geocities.com/tokyo/subway)                   ( geocities.com/tokyo)