Fantasies
by K. Wyse
Disclaimer: What others own, I DON'T own. So, Sailor Moon and co. are
not mine in any shape or form. But, this story does belong to me.
________________________________________
Part One: Sunday
Rei Hino did not particularly like Sundays. Anyone who knew Rei, knew
that she had a strong dislike for the 'holiest' day of the week.
However, no one really knew why. Whatever the reason was, Rei kept it to
herself, though her antagonism at the seventh day was well vocalised.
Her boss, Mamoru Chiba, hypothesised that her almost hatred of Sundays
stemmed from the fact that she had no family nor many close friends to
speak of, to spend the day with. In fact, not counting himself and his
cousin Motoki Furuhata, he struggled to remember people, if there were
any, that Rei was (remotely) fond of.
Still, her less than loving attitude towards the day before Monday,
resulted in her pulling much overtime at work. She seemed to rejoice in
knowing that she was going against the Sunday custom of relaxing, by
going to work. If there was one card that Fate had dealt Rei (that she
was willing to admit to) it was individuality.
Mamoru had no idea how close to the truth his guess was, although, there
was an ulterior motive to Rei's overtime. Mamoru also liked to work on
Sunday afternoons; and he was possibly the only one who had no idea that
Rei had feelings for him. He treated her like a little sister because he
could empathise with the feelings of loneliness and alienation,
associated with moving to a foreign country; especially since he was a
migrant from her native Japan. He had taken her under his metaphorical
wings and had never saw her as anything other than a good friend.
Rei had left Japan for the United States of America to build a new life
for herself. There had been too many heartaches in the life she lived in
Tokyo that she had felt the need for a fresh new start ... and what
better place to do so than in the Land of Opportunity.
Armed with a graduate degree, fluency in four languages, and an
influential politician for a father (who worked in the Diet Building in
Tokyo), she was hired instantly -- as a secretary in the small firm of
Chiba & Furuhata Accounting. Of course she was over qualified for her
position, but the pay was good and the view was rather tasty.
It was obvious to Motoki that Rei was deeply in lust with Mamoru. Though
why Mamoru had not noticed in all the two years that Rei had been with
them, was beyond Motoki's understanding. In fact, Motoki was hard
pressed to remember Mamoru's last significant relationship with a woman.
Add the factor of Rei's incredible mysterious beauty to the equation,
and Motoki was stumped as to why Mamoru was not attracted to the woman.
Then again, Motoki concluded, Mamoru was not normal. After all, the man
LIKED pulling overtime and he LIKED working on Sundays.
However, one particular Sunday ...
~*~*~
There it was again. That strange tinkling sound. Its ringing tones were
like the chiming of delicate crystal bells.
Rei paused in her filing and listened harder. It sounded strangely like
it was coming from Mamoru's office. Though why he would sit at his desk
and ring a crystal bell, was a strange idea indeed. Then again, the man
was frustratingly odd. While he liked to work on Sundays with her, he
had not shown up the past two Sundays. Still, it may have been due to
the Sunday three weeks ago when he had come to work more than a little
distracted, and with a bright pink ice cream stain on his white business
shirt.
The fragile looking secretary turned away from her filing cabinet while
blowing a stray strand of hair away from her face, and looked in the
direction of Mamoru's office. This week, he had arrived before she did,
she noted with a puzzled frown. Then again, she had shown up for work
later than she usually did because she had half-expected him to not come
that day. There was a tingly feeling in her stomach and she felt excited
at seeing him again. Now that she thought about it, she had not seen the
man for an entire two weeks and he had not left his office since she had
arrived. Maybe he had fallen ill those two weeks and was now catching up
on work not done?
She glanced down at the file she held in her hand. The label read in
bright red ink, 'Passions Media Incorporated'. The brunette frowned. The
name sounded awfully familiar. If only she could place where she had
heard it before. Or maybe she had read about them somewhere ... oh yes,
they were that production company that also did talent-scouting among
other things, and were often mentioned in the newspapers as the
discoverers of new talent. As Rei thought some more, she recalled that
Mamoru had been approached with offers of modelling contracts. His reply
to them had always been a flat out refusal.
Sparked by imaginings of him in a Calvin Kleins underwear advertisement,
all thoughts melted into the background as her favourite fantasy came
unbidden into her mind's eye.
It would be a dark summer's night. A tropical heat would make the
atmosphere in the office nothing but steamy and sizzling. Mamoru would
stand in the shadow of the doorway, cool and calm, but his eyes would
burn with an inner fire. His desire would show clearly as he drunk in
the sight of her, undressing her with his mind. Then he would step out
into the softened lighting, and she would gasp, because all that he
would have on, was a red rose between his pearly white teeth. Standing
gloriously in his birthday suit, he would growl in seductive tones,
"Come here, Rei."
Rei snapped to attention. She was sure she had heard something. Had he
really called her? As if in answer to her mental question, Mamoru
hollered through the walls yet again.
"Come here, Rei."
Rei practically jumped. Whether in surprise or excitement, she did not
know. Her heart thumping madly, she smoothed her business skirt and
patted down her long, black hair so that it was neat, before setting out
for his office.
As she neared his closed office door, she heard the strange tinkling
sound again. Though, now that she could hear it more clearly, it
sounded, Rei was upset to note, like uncontrolled feminine giggles.
Frowning and unhappily suspicious, Rei drew up her courage and turned
the doorknob to admit herself into his presence.
She was momentarily blinded by the brilliance of the room. All the
blinds had been drawn back, and the afternoon sunlight that shone in,
focused its intensity at the very spot she stood. Once her eyes had
adjusted to the incredible amount of light, she recognised the man
standing in front of his desk, his back to her. Though, the shadowy
figure that sat in his leather chair still remained a mystery.
"Mamoru-kun, you called?" Rei inquired.
With a start, Mamoru realised that his secretary was in his office.
"Yes, yes. I did call you."
"Did you need something?"
"Not exactly, I wanted to introduce someone to you."
"Oh?" One elegant black brow shot up.
"May I introduce, Tsukino Usagi."
Rei's eyes bulged. "It couldn't be," she whispered under her breath.
Staring at the shadowed figure who was making its way towards her, she
thought she could make out the unique hair style.
"Odango Atama? Is it really you, Meatball Head?"
A petite blonde emerged into the light with the grace of a princess. Her
beatific smile shone good will and peace. Her elegant ensemble flowed
over her figure, and outlined the luscious curves that seemed to have
sprung to existence overnight. However, the regal air and sophisticated
effect was ruined when the young woman let out a childish squeal and
flung herself at Rei, embracing the Japanese secretary in a tight,
affectionate bear hug.
"Hai. Yes, it is me. I can't believe it's you, Daddy-Longlegs. How long
since we last saw each other? Two? Three years?"
"Two and a half years much too long. You've changed so much! Look at
you!" Rei backed out of the embrace and took a good look at her best
friend. Indeed, her best friend since elementary school, had matured
into a beautiful young woman.
"The two of you know each other?" Mamoru asked, hiding his surprise
well. Who would have thought it? Usagi looked more like a Scandinavian
kindergarten teacher than someone who would be in the company of
Japanese politicians and their daughters.
"Oh yeah! We go way back! Don't we, Daddy-Longlegs?"
"Daddy-Longlegs?" asked Mamoru.
Rei could feel her face heat up. "Yeah? You got a problem with it?"
Usagi chuckled lightly. "The reason, that Rei here, is called Daddy-
Longlegs, is because of her penchant for spiders. In fact, when we first
met in grade two, she rescued me from a Daddy-Longlegs."
"Spiders?" Mamoru paled.
"Yeah. I got a pet tarantula at home."
"Rei, when God was giving out qualities, he must have run out of
Normality when he reached you." Mamoru shook his head. His secretary was
weird with a capital, italicized, underlined, and boldfaced 'w'.
Rei was about to open her mouth and return his quip when Usagi tugged at
her sleeve and grinned mischievously. Rei heard herself gulp audibly.
Whenever Usagi had that smile on, she was usually about to drop a
bombshell, and the news was usually something that Rei did not want to
hear. Like the time when Usagi had announced that she had signed the two
of them up for a mud-wrestling competition. First prize was an all
expenses paid holiday to exotic Bangkok. Rei had been knocked out in the
first round with a really, really bad concussion.
Pursing her lips, Rei braced herself for whatever it was that Usagi was
about to tell her. Instead, it was Mamoru who dropped the bomb.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you this earlier, but I haven't seen you these
past two weeks, ... and well, I met Usagi purely by serendipity, and-"
Rei had never seen Mamoru like this. He was always cool, calm and
collected; always eloquent and well-spoken. He never rambled like a shy,
nervous schoolboy. Geez, that flu or whatever the sickness had been, had
really affected his head. About to tell him to spill it, Rei never got
the chance to, because he blurted:
"Usagi and I are engaged to be married. Next Sunday!"
The pieces came together and Rei realised that Usagi had managed what no
other woman had ever achieved -- she had captured Mister Heart of Ice-
Stone, Mamoru Chiba's love. She had done so by dumping strawberry ice
cream on to his clean, white shirt. That very act would have caused the
man to have a mental breakdown, had it been someone else who did the
deed. Instead, Usagi's clumsiness had captured his attention and
subsequently his heart that Sunday, oh so long ago. Now, they were about
to be joined in holy matrimony in a week's time, on a Sunday.
Rei hated Sundays.
________________________________________
Japanese -> English:
Hino Rei = Raye Hino
Chiba Mamoru = Darien Shields
Furuhata Motoki = Andrew (the arcade guy)
Tsukino Usagi = Serena
-kun ... suffix after a name to indicate fammiliar male friend,
e.g. John-kun, David-kun, Peter-kun.
Hai ... Yes
Odango Atama ... Meatball Head
Last Words:
I have introduced the characters with given name first, then surname.
Later on, Mamoru introduced Usagi in the Japanese way with the surname
first. While this story is set in the U.S, because both Mamoru and Rei
are Japanese they tend to do a lot of things (like introducing people)
in the Japanese way. However, most of the story will be written in
conventional English.
Storyline (c) K. Wyse, February 2003
(
geocities.com/wyse_k)