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Post by Chiba Mamoru on Jan 26, 2009 0:41:32 GMT -5
Mamoru paused outside the door of his old friend Motoki’s home. It felt like years since he had actually been here, too many things keeping him busy recently what with the creation of Crystal Tokyo and everything. Things had changed so much since those days that they were both in KO University, but Motoki was still a very good friend even if he hadn’t had the time to visit him lately.
It was really a wonder the two of them had become friends, they were so very different from one another. Motoki was a socially out-going guy, while Mamoru obviously wasn’t. At any rate, Mamoru wasn’t certain that now was the time to call on his old friend. He really didn’t like to depend on people and it felt odd to be coming to Motoki during this personal crisis of his when he hadn’t had the time to come before now. However, that was what friends were for weren’t they? To help one another through difficult times such as a broken engagement ... anyway he needed to tell his best man that the wedding was off.
Making up his mind and hoping that Motoki was actually in, Mamoru knocked on the door before stepping back to wait for it to be answered.
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Post by Furuhata Motoki on Jan 26, 2009 23:35:17 GMT -5
Motoki slipped the oven mitts over his hands and pulled the pizza out of the oven. Reika often cooked dinner for them, but when she was traveling, the best he could muster was a frozen pizza or take-out Japanese. Motoki set the pizza on the oven, and pulled the slicer out of the knife drawer. With care, he sliced the pizza down the middle, then turned it and repeated the process until he had cut eight pieces. He set a couple on his plate, then headed for the fridge to grab a beer. Picking up the plate and the beer, he set both down on a TV tray in the living room and settled into his cushy chair with the remote control for the T.V. The once nice thing about his wife traveling is that he didn't have to watch her fru-fru shows.
Just as he was about to hit the power button, the door bell rang. Motoki wasn't expecting anyone, but he eased out of the chair anyway. Opening the front door, he smiled with surprise at the sight of Mamoru. "Mamoru-chan! What brings you here?" Motoki asked, stepping back to allow his old friend through the door. "I was just about to have some pizza and beer. Care to join me?"
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Post by Chiba Mamoru on Jan 27, 2009 0:09:51 GMT -5
Happy to see that Motoki was indeed home, Mamoru smiled warmly and said, “I’m sorry for springing this unexpected visit on you. I would have called, but it was kind of a spur of the moment decision.”
He stepped through the door before saying, “That sounds good.” Not quite ready to bring up the reason he actually had come, Mamoru ignored the question about what had brought him there instead asking, “What have you been up to Motoki? Its been awhile since we’ve been able to just sit down and talk. Things have just been so hectic lately.”
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Post by Furuhata Motoki on Jan 27, 2009 20:48:02 GMT -5
"I've always got time for the future King!" Motoki replied, closing the door behind Mamoru. "Plus, Reika is out of town, so I've got nothing better to do than visit with you." Motoki headed into the kitchen and pulled a second plate down from the cabinet. He plopped a couple pieces of the pizza on the plate and followed up with retrieving another beer from the fridge. "Grab yourself a TV Tray and make yourself comfortable. When Reika is gone, I eat in the living room in front of the television. Of course, I'm usually eating alone."
Motoki set the food down on the tray and then settled back into the sofa where he'd been a few minutes before. "Well, things are the office have been a bit hectic as well. A lot of companies are trying to get their legal documents well in order. None of the companies know what to expect of the new Queen. Half of them are afraid her policy is going to be so over the top they'll go out of business. Another bunch are looking to take advantage of any loop holes she puts out and have a few takeovers of rival businesses. As their lawyer, I don't have a say whether or not I agree with them or what they're doing. I just represent them best I can in accordance with the law. How is Usagi anyway? It's been too long since I've seen her and the other girls." Even though they were all grown women now, Motoki often thought of the senshi as the high school kids who drank milk shakes and played video games at the arcade. He shook his head at the thought. How things had changed.
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Post by Chiba Mamoru on Jan 27, 2009 23:31:35 GMT -5
Mamoru flinched slightly when Motoki called him the future king, the wounds still too fresh and deep for him to be able to keep his feelings hidden. He watched Motoki head into the kitchen, taking a moment to attempt to reclaim his composure before doing as he was requested and grabbing a TV Tray and taking a seat.
“You should come up to the palace more Motoki, especially when Reika is gone. Usagi and the others would love to see you, it wouldn’t be that hard for you to get clearance to visit whenever you wanted.”
Once again he held back the information that he himself wouldn’t have that kind of clearance, instead listening to his friend chatter on about what he had been doing lately. He nodded frequently as Motoki talked, unconsciously filing away the information so that he could warn Usagi of any potential difficulties that might come up because of it all.
Mamoru stiffened slightly when Motoki asked how Usagi was. If he was going to tell Motoki about what had been happening now was the chance to do it. For a long moment he remained silent, debating about what to actually say. Finally though he looked up to his friend, his gaze dark with the misery he was feeling.
“I haven’t seen Usagi since the night before last when she was calling off the marriage and handing me my engagement ring back.”
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Post by Furuhata Motoki on Jan 30, 2009 22:56:00 GMT -5
Motoki lift his beer to his lips and took a large gulp, then dove head first into a slice of pizza. His mouth was full when Mamoru commented that he should visit the palace, so he responded with the classic head nod that defined his gender. Swallowing, he grunted his agreement as well, then took a second bite. Motoki had decided long ago that American men created pizza specifically for those times when men sat around with men and needed to eat without cooking. Specifically pizza covered in all kinds of meats, plus onions and peppers - the only true manly vegetables.
So Motoki's mind was half on pizza when Mamoru told him that Usagi had decided again marrying him. Motoki felt his jaw drop, while he brain took another few seconds to register the comment, then he shook his head half dumbfounded. "What did you say, Mamoru?" he asked again, his tone one of shock even though he was certain that he had heard his friend incorrectly.
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Post by Chiba Mamoru on Jan 30, 2009 23:25:31 GMT -5
Mamoru took a bite of his pizza and chewed half heartedly for a moment before taking a gulp of his beer. He wasn’t really that big of a drinker, but perhaps it would drown away his sorrows for awhile. He sighed in frustration when Motoki asked him to repeat himself, not really wanting to have to repeat that bit of news.
“You heard me, I said that Usagi has broken off our engagement. She doesn’t want me in her life anymore. Haven’t you read your paper today? If I’m not mistaken there was a big article on the front page headlines in this morning’s edition of the Yomiuri.”
Mamoru knew that he wasn’t mistaken since he had read the paper earlier that morning, a habit he had taken up after they had begun writing about Usagi. He had been surprised when he had read the headlines, though he really shouldn’t have been. The moment he walked out of Usagi’s door he had known that the press would get wind of the break up, but it still managed to catch him by surprise when he opened the paper.
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Post by Furuhata Motoki on Jan 31, 2009 0:14:21 GMT -5
Motoki's eyes shifted over to the paper sitting on the kitchen table, still rolled up with a rubberband, unread. Usually, he and Reika read the paper together in the mornings over coffee, but she was out of town, Motoki had taken the opportunity to catch another thirty minutes of sleep. And he hadn't gone into the office today either, where his co-workers might have been talking about the break-up. He'd had to make a trip to the legal library to do some case research, and the place had been nearly empty most of the day.
"Mamoru-chan," Motoki uttered, still in shock. Mamoru and Usagi had been together for what? Ten years? The news was so unexpected that Motoki was having a hard time believing it was true. Instead of replying, he pushed his tray back and rose from his seat. He picked up the newpaper and rolled off the rubber band, then proceeded to read the article slowly and carefully. When he was finish, he set the paper back down and returned to his seat. "Two options: You can talk about it and I'll listen, or we can drop it and I'll put on the baseball game. Your choice."
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Post by Chiba Mamoru on Jan 31, 2009 2:21:57 GMT -5
Mamoru remained silent for a long moment, almost seeming to ignore his friend entirely. In all honesty he didn’t want to talk about anything, he would much prefer keeping his thoughts to himself like usual. However, isn’t that how all of this started and anyway he had been the one to bring the subject up. It wouldn’t really be fair to Motoki to just sit here and ignore him after bringing the situation up in the first place.
Finally he glanced up at Motoki and asked, “Have you ever kept anything from Reika, Motoki ... like a secret? A secret about something that meant a lot to you, but at the same time you really didn't think it should concern her?"
Mamoru was still feeling very confused about the entire situation with the Shitennou. He still felt as if he hadn’t done anything wrong by not mentioning them to Usagi and her senshi. In fact he was still fairly certain that they wouldn’t have understood, especially in those first days. However, at the same time he really could see that Usagi had been hurt by not being told about something so important to him. Watching Zoisite and Ami the other night also lead him to believe that perhaps he had been wrong in his decision to keep the Shitennou secret for so long.
The real problem might have been that he had kept his secrets for too long, perhaps he could have at least told Usagi at some point during the last few years of their relationship. He had trusted and loved her enough to want to share his life with her and yet at the same time he had still been holding himself back from sharing something so important to him with her.
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Post by Furuhata Motoki on Jan 31, 2009 13:58:44 GMT -5
Motoki felt his stomach sinking with guilt at Mamoru's question. He did have a secret, except, it wasn't a good secret and it probably did concern her. He could easily answer Mamoru's question as no, at least the more specific one, but for some reason he felt compelled to answer yes. His head began to nod, slowly, and Motoki set down the beer he'd been holding. His eyes glanced at it for a brief moment. He spent a lot of time convincing himself he didn't really have a problem, and that most of the time he could enjoy a couple drinks with no problems. It was just those rare nights when life wasn't going quite the way he'd had planned, or he was sitting around alone, or he was simply bored. And then one thing lead to another.
Somehow, he'd managed to hide it from Reika, likely because all the aforementioned times occured when she was out of town and he'd always managed to clean himself up before she came home.
"Yeah, I've kept some significant things from her, Mamoru." Motoki replied, a guilty look crossing his features, "But who doesn't have a few things they don't want to share? A few skeletons in the closet or just something..... personal." Personal, instead of embarrassing.
"I guess she found out whatever it was you didn't want her to find out and she didn't take it so well?" Motoki asked, because when he thought about it, Reika would likely be less than pleased if she ever did happen home on one of his bad nights.
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Post by Chiba Mamoru on Jan 31, 2009 15:58:59 GMT -5
Mamoru watched Motoki silently as he waited for an answer. He was observant enough to notice Motoki’s gaze shift over to his drink, but he didn’t comment. He certainly didn’t have a right to comment on Motoki’s secrets while he himself had difficulties in coming forward with personal issues.
He nodded when Motoki mentioned that he had kept some significant things from Reika, but he didn’t pry. If Motoki wanted to talk about it then he would. “It wasn’t so much that I didn’t want to tell her. It was more like I didn’t think she would understand at first and then later when she might have understood a bit more, it just never came up.”
Mamoru had always thought the same way Motoki was thinking right now. What was the harm in keeping some things to himself? He hadn’t known the Shitennou would reawaken and in fact he hadn’t actually realized how much they actually might affect the girls other then that they had been enemies. It wasn’t until after Jadeite and Rei’s encounter that he had begun to think there was something more, but even that wasn’t anything more then a general suspicion until after he had watched Zoisite and Ami together last night.
He sighed heavily before bitterly saying, “Rei found out about it and went straight to Usagi before I had a chance to remedy the situation. She managed to convince Usagi that I was intentionally keeping secrets from her, that I had betrayed her by keeping something to myself.”
Mamoru might have been beginning to feel that perhaps he had done something to hurt Usagi, but that didn’t mean he was any less angry at Rei. It would probably be a long time before he forgave the priestess, even if his anger at her didn’t make much sense simply because he was admitting that it was at least partially his fault. He still couldn’t make himself feel any less upset with her. The idea that if she had simply kept quiet things wouldn't have been quite so bad as they were now just wouldn't leave him.
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Post by Furuhata Motoki on Jan 31, 2009 18:28:33 GMT -5
"Well, sounds to me like you didn't have bad intentions. This is Usagi we're talking about, Mamoru. The woman forgives everyone. Name one person she hasn't forgiven for doing things that are probably a hell of a lot worse than keep a secret. Did you even ask her to forgive you?" Motoki asked. He could see Rei jumping the gun and rushing straight to Usagi, but he wasn't sure he understood the priestess' motivations for driving a wedge between the pair. Yes, it was common knowledge that Rei and Mamoru dated years ago, but Motoki was relatively sure that she was over that. Suddenly he wished he'd done a better job with keeping up with the senshi. Instead he'd been too busy with his own life.
"Perhaps I should pay the girls a visit," Motoki said suddenly, still musing over the fact that he hadn't had a solid relationship with them since he was in college. With the exception of his wedding, he couldn't remember the last time he saw them. He glanced back to Mamoru, which brought his thoughts back to the original conversation. "I could always see if Reika would talk to Usagi when she gets back from her latest trip. Reika has no stake at all in your relationship, so perhaps her outside perspective would be good for Usagi? I know Usagi used to look up to her."
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Post by Chiba Mamoru on Feb 1, 2009 0:57:46 GMT -5
Mamoru shook his head in frustration and said, “I know Usagi is a forgiving person Motoki. I could have convinced her that I hadn’t meant any harm. The problem was I was an idiot and went into that room expecting a fight. She wanted to talk, but I refused to listen only giving her excuses instead of reasons. Rei might have started things, but I certainly didn’t help. I guess I can’t blame this totally on Rei, she was only doing her part to keep Usagi safe from any harm. I was the one that drove the final wedge between us by doing whatever I could to strike at her. I guess I was so angry at Rei and the situation that I didn’t stop to think how Usagi would feel.”
He sighed miserably, staring at the floor for the longest of moments. However, when Motoki mentioned having Reika talk to Usagi he shook his head and murmured sadly, “She doesn’t think she can trust me Motoki, doesn’t think she knows who I am. I don’t know if I can fix that, but if I can it’ll have to be me that does it.”
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Post by Furuhata Motoki on Feb 1, 2009 1:18:39 GMT -5
Motoki rolled his eyes. "I never thought I'd see the say where Mamoru sat around pining about how pathetic he was. Since when do you hang your head like this over one mistake? Didn't you dump Usagi on her ass back when you were in college and she took you back in a heartbeat. Sure, she was younger... but really, to hear you give up on ten years of love after one fight?"
He picked up his beer and motioned Mamoru to do the same, "In times like this, it's better to down your beer and forget about it for a day. Give yourself a chance to clear your head because you're too wrapped up in it to think like a normal person anyway." He tipped up his bottle and chugged it down. "I'm heading for the fridge to get another one and I expect yours to be gone by the time I return with your second one."
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Post by Chiba Mamoru on Feb 1, 2009 15:41:40 GMT -5
Mamoru briefly glared at his friend, annoyed that Motoki wasn’t seeing things his way. “I was not sitting here pining about how pathetic I was.” He wasn’t feeling sorry for himself, was he? Well perhaps he was, perhaps he had given up far too easily. Ten years, well it was more like two lifetimes, was an awfully long time to put into something and then simply give up on it.
He picked his own beer up after Motoki motioned for him to do so. Perhaps it would be a good idea to just kick back and forget about his troubles for the day. That wasn’t really something he generally did, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt. He nodded agreement to Motoki as he walked off to get more beer before tipping his own bottle up and draining it dry. Setting the empty bottle down he also finished off the last few bites of the pizza before calling, “Tell me Motoki, when is Reika suppose to come back anyway? Will she be here for New Year’s Eve?”
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