1/2PM An Improving Book (Usa/Mamoru)

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru shrugged, still feeling a little uncomfortable with the conversation considering the audience of both other bookstore patrons and the security team. However, he was willing to continue it. “I do have to explain, if only to make sure that you understand that even when I wasn’t showing or saying things ... I was feeling them. I was never oblivious, just too caught up in keeping things to myself.” He sighed softly before shaking his head, “You shouldn’t have had to speak up Usa. Too many times I tried to do things to keep you safe or to do the right thing all without ever asking you what you wanted. That wasn’t right.”

He gave her an impish grin and a mock salute before saying, “Yes ma’am! I’ll let Zach go through my wardrobe when he moves in and throw out everything he disapproves of and if that doesn’t work I’ll hire a personal wardrobe consultant, how’s that? I certainly wouldn’t want to embarrass the Queen of New Earth by wearing a crazy green jacket or weird sweat suit.”

Mamoru groaned faintly and muttered, “Usa, I was only giving you a hard time. I’ve read the book for one of my courses, though admittedly it was awhile back and I certainly never picked it up again. I ...”

He fell silent as she threw up her hands and stalked over to the shelves, blinking in surprise and growing horror as he took the books she thrust at him. She didn’t really expect him to carry these books through the store, over to the counter, and actually buy them did she? Mamoru groaned faintly again at the latest book she thrust on the growing pile. Evidently she did and apparently she was going to show no mercy in her quest to enlighten him on the feminine views. Mamoru cast a surreptitious glance toward the security team before turning back to Usagi with a sigh, deciding to just give in. Who knows, maybe he actually might find the books helpful in his own quest to regain Usagi's affections ...

[Neo Queen Serenity]

"I'm not going to argue with that," Usagi replied. He was admitting now what she had known for awhile, that he had kept too much for her. "And I will be perfectly happy if that is going to be different. But it takes two. I need to be able to communicate with you as well, to know what I want and need and be able to tell you. You're not always going to know. I suppose it just goes back to knowing myself, knowing ourselves."

Usagi giggled. "That's the spirit!" She silently thanked Zach, even though she had yet to meet him. If all that came out of the Shitennou returning was a change in Mamoru's wardrobe, well, then all of the fretting about whether they were evil or not would be worth it. Humanity would be saved from a different kind of evil fate... that of bad fashion.

When Mamoru glanced at them, the security team knew well enough to at least look like they weren't paying any attention; managing to keep blank faces now that they had moved on from the romance novel section. They were far more observant of the patrons, calmly watching them and the surroundings for any threats. Though they were definitely within earshot, and undoubtably soaking up huge amounts of amusing, juicy conversation, they were professionals, and kept their amusement to themselves. Despite how entertaining the evening was turning out to be for them, they would never share the details of what they saw or heard.

Hearing Mamoru's groan, Usagi straightened from her raid through the shelves, putting her hands on her hips and shooting Mamoru a stern look. "I don't care if you've never read it before, if you're this uncomfortable in the women's studies section then apparently you didn't read it well enough. Now I don't agree with all of this stuff, especially the more radical theories, but it's important to know regardless. And if you protest that it's unmanly to actually learn about women and their rights, I swear to God I will climb up on the customer service counter and really perform a dramatic reading-- of the Vagina Monologues. So there."

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru nodded in agreement. Relationships consisted of two people, not just one. He shouldn’t have kept things from her, but she could have mentioned that she had been unhappy. Perhaps he would have opened up more, or perhaps not ... though he wondered if he might have shut down even more. Even now if it hadn’t have been for the advice he had gotten from Khalid, Nathaniel, and even Lucan he would probably be withdrawing from this battle he was now attempting to fight. “I suppose it’s just more things that we need to explore and learn before we can ever be alright.”

He blinked at her before shaking his head and saying, “It’s not that I think it’s necessarily unmanly to actually learn about women and their rights. I simply didn’t want to walk over there with all of these books. Couldn’t we just buy one of them?” Mamoru narrowed his eyes just a little when she threatened to climb up on the customer service counter and perform a dramatic reading of the Vagina Monologues. She wouldn’t ...

“Come on Usagi, you can’t seriously think that I’m a patriarchal, chauvinistic male can you? I might have trouble being open with people, but I’m hardly standing here saying that women shouldn’t have any rights.”

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Usagi just rolled her eyes at him. "Listen to you! You like books. You like books far more than I do. So why would you get just one, hmm? It's because you're embarrassed, that's why. Embarrassed by the subject matter, just like with romance novels! It's not embarrassing to learn about these things, to have other people know that you take it seriously! Or maybe you don't," she said suspiciously.

Crossing her arms, Usagi shook her head. "I don't think that, but I think that the way you are behaving means there's some hang-up there. I know you're mostly teasing, but..." she eyed him suspiciously. "Well, from your demeanor I just think you could use a bit of improving in this area. Besides," she said with a grin, snatching 'The Vagina Monologues' off the top of the pile. "...Part of being open with people is being crazy and spontaneous. The press will rip me apart for this, the senshi will probably think I've lost it by the time they hear, but... I've got to teach you how to live a little!"

Usagi turned abruptly to her security team. "Hey, do me a favor and clear out the restrooms, will ya? I gotta use it..." She started heading in that direction, glad that she brought her brooch along with her communicator. You never did know when it could come in handy... "If I'm going to do this, I'm going to go all out," she explained to Mamoru. "While I'm gone, do me a favor and ask the store manager if it's going to be kosher..."

Phillips just looked at her as she broke the ranks with the two female agents tagging along. "Uh... I don't think you're allowed to take store merchandise in with you."

Usagi turned on her heel, rolling her eyes and holding out the book in front of her. "Oh, is that so? Who's gonna stop me? Store security?" she snickered, and then marched off to the restrooms. Once in, she locked herself in a stall. She actually didn't really need the book-- she had thought of the monologue that she wanted to do. Now, all she had to do was transform...

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru sighed in frustration. How had the night come to this exactly? Why couldn’t he have just remained quiet, entered the aisle, browsed a bit, and then gone on to the next aisle? That would have been the smart thing to do, but noooo he had to go and say he didn’t want to go into the aisle. “I take women’s rights seriously Usagi and I’m not embarrassed by the subject. I swear I was only teasing when I said I didn’t want to come in the aisle!”

Evidently she would ...

He couldn’t help feeling just a little annoyed, after all this was bound to generate the kind of attention neither of them needed. Mamoru tried one last time to convince her to change her mind by pleading, “Couldn’t we try something else that was crazy and spontaneous? Does it have to be this?”

Mamoru sighed in annoyance as she headed off to the restroom with her female agents. He glanced over at Phillips and muttered, “Aren’t you suppose to keep her from doing things that are going to give the press ammunition against her?”

He headed off to find the store manager so that he could do as requested, hoping that the manager might actually say that he would rather not allow Usagi to give her reading.

Unfortunately, the manager was a young woman that was very much in to that kind of thing. She not only gave permission for Usagi to perform the book reading, she announced it over the store intercom.

“Ladies and Gentleman, Neo Queen Serenity has decided to honor us by reading a bit of the Vagina Monologues to us. Please give her your utmost attention ...”

Mamoru simply stared at the woman for a long moment before groaning faintly and glancing at Phillips once more. “What exactly did I do to deserve this?”

He then shook his head and grinned helplessly. Oh well, whatever else happened it was bound to be amusing ... or embarrassing, he wasn’t certain which just yet.

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Agent Phillips stood closer to Mamoru and shook his head. "No, I'm not supposed to keep her from doing anything. I'm here to watch out for her safety and security, and fit that within the parameters of her life, and the limitations that she'll willing accept on that life in order to stay safe. I can advise her on what will hurt her reputation but it seems like she's fully cognizant of how this will play and wants to proceed accordingly. It's her choice," he shrugged. "I'm her bodyguard, I'm not her chaperon."
----

After transforming into Eternal Sailormoon, Usagi managed to squeeze herself out, wings and all. The female agents just stared at her, and she shrugged. "Um, yeah. I'm pretty sure Luna is gonna chew me out for this. Using my henshin powers for advancing the cause of feminism, but..."

Letting her sentence trail off, she marched out of the restroom, heading back to where Mamoru was. People started talking loudly and actually followed her back. The Queen had turned into Sailormoon! They had to see this!

Once back at Mamoru's side, Usagi gestured for security spread out. She'd need room. She had already accumulated a large audience already. Usagi was beginning to feel nervous. Maybe she was more affected by tonight's bottle of wine than she thought. Was she crazy? Her press secretary would have a conniption fit! People might say she was mentally unsound!

...But there was no way she was going back on her word, and she had to show Mamoru, didn't she?

"Excuse me!" Usagi waved. "Can I have your attention please?" She didn't need to ask. Just about everyone's attention was on her, and she didn't even have a mike. They even cut out the classical music that was playing on the speakers.

Swallowing her nervousness, she struck a typical Sailormoon pose. "So. I know this is all very spontaneous and unexpected, and I swear that I'm not in the habit of performing monologues in bookstores, but it came to my attention that a few people need to loosen up when it comes to the Women's Studies section. Also, I know that many of you are watching me anyway, so I better take advantage of all of this attention and put it towards a good cause! And you can have fun too, right? I don't come out in public like this very often, so I'm going to connect with you when I can-- even in a way that might seem rather unorthodox!"

"Anyway, Valentine's Day is coming up. For many people that means chocolate, and roses, and romance, and don't let me discourage you from all that! But, across the globe it is also known as V-Day-- when the Vagina Monologues are performed, until violence against women has ended! February is almost upon us, so I remind you to support your local V-Day chapter, and do your part to ensure peace in the world! Sailormoon says, she can't do it alone!"

Oh, God. She might pull this off after all!

"So, just to give you a brief teaser of what you can expect from the upcoming V-Day performances, as well as give a few deserving patrons a much-needed listen to a Vagina Monologue, I hereby present the one that I learned for my college Women's Studies class-- it's called 'My Short Skirt.'"

There were intense cheers from many of the women, though some of the elderly patrons looked scandalized. Usagi just hoped she could pull this off with minimal damage. However, she hid her sudden doubts beneath a confident exterior. There was a reason she made herself henshin for this.

She strolled up the main aisle with a swagger. "My short shirt is not an invitation. A provocation, an indication! That I give it, that I want it, or that--" She planted her left foot down firmly. "--I," then the right foot, "--hook." She cocked her hip up to emphasis the word.

All of the college kids that were lurking in the Starbucks studying had come up, and were going absolutely insane voicing their support. Usagi took a moment to beam at them before continuing.

"My short skirt is not begging for it; it does not want you to rip it off me, or pull it down." The longer she went on, the more she was getting into it, her confidence returning. She was not an actress like Minako, she was probably making lots of mistakes; her blocking sucked and she was being spontaneous and weird, but it was true-- saying this made her feeling empowered. She was able to give a speech by doing this that she couldn't do in a political arena. She would probably get just as thrashed for it, though.

"My short skirt is not a legal reason for raping me!!" Usagi declared. The reaction from many of the women was a bit more profound at this declaration. "Although it has been done before, it will not hold up in the new court." It was true, it wouldn't hold up, as Queen of Earth she could say that. She was practically stating policy!

"My short skirt, believe it or not, has nothing to do with you! My short skirt is about discovering the power of my calves..." She turned and strutted in the other direction. Tall senshi boots were perfect for that line, she had to show them off! "About cool autumn air traveling up my inner thighs. About letting everything I see or pass or feel to live inside."

She held up a finger, increasing the volume and intensity of her voice. "My short skirt is not proof that I am stupid!! Or undecided!! Or a malleable little girl! My short skirt is my defiance! I will not let you make me afraid! My short skirt is not showing off-- this is who I am!" she declared with vigor. "Before you made me cover it, or tone it down." Take that, policy wonks and political advisors! "Get used to it!" She smiled daringly.

"My short skirt is happiness. I am here. I am hot."

She reached down, giving the multi-tiered skirt a small flair with her hand. "My short skirt is a liberation flag in the women's army!!" Oh yeah, baby! Women around the world, take note! Sailormoon was bringing equal rights everywhere! "I declare these streets--" she gestured with a wide, dramatic sweep of her arm, "--any streets-- my vagina's country!"

Then she pulled back her arms, wrapping them around herself dreamily. "My short skirt is turquoise water with swimming colored fish... A summer festival in the starry dark... A bird calling... A train arriving in a foreign town... My short skirt is a wild spin!" she giggled and twirled for a moment. "A full breath! A tango dip!" She posed as if in a dance with an imaginary partner. "My short skirt is initiation, appreciation, excitation!"

Smiling, Usagi pulled herself up to her full height. "But mainly, my short skirt and everything under it is mine. Mine. Mine."

She let that thought linger for a moment before taking a bow to signal that her crazy little performance was over. Some people, like the most of the college kids, clapped and screamed, others just clapped politely. A minority shrugged and left. Usagi pulled the power of her henshin inward, letting the transformation drop so that she was in her regular clothes. A few people stared at that, but then went back to their business, though a few hung around at the fringes.

Usagi simply beamed at Mamoru. "See, I embarrassed myself more than I did you," she teased. "You can pick the next aisle for books." Well, it was a consolation prize, at least. Maybe she wouldn't make him get the big stack of feminist literature after all... Well... maybe just some of it.

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru huffed in annoyance and thought about saying that there were times when a bodyguard should play chaperon as well. Phillips knew that whatever Usagi was planning was likely to come back to haunt her. He knew that Usagi was probably not thinking of all of the consequences of her actions. However he refrained from saying any of this simply because Mamoru knew that Phillips also was right. It wasn’t their job to tell Usagi what she could and could not do. They were simply there to protect her life, not her reputation. They could advise, but if Usagi was set on doing something she obviously was then there wasn’t anything they could do about it ... not if they wanted to keep their jobs.

He suppressed another groan when he saw Usagi headed toward him as Sailor Moon, perhaps this was going to be worse then he had expected. He mentally stamped down the urge to flee the area before things got any worse, all the while vowing never to allow her to have anymore alcohol ever again. Drinking half a bottle of wine had to have influenced her more then he had thought, or she was more stressed out then he had thought. Either way she was definitely giving the other customers quite a show and he hoped that she didn’t regret it in the morning.

Mamoru could only stare as she gave her speech. There was no doubt about it, this was definitely worse then he had imagined. The press was going to eat her alive because of this and her advisors were going to be even worse, not to mention how the senshi were going to react. There was some small part of him however, that once he got over being horrified with the amount of attention that had been pulled in, was actually proud of her. Despite the fact that her self confidence was so severely lacking lately, she had managed to pull this entire stunt off. He also couldn’t help feeling somewhat amused. Days were certainly never boring when he was with Usagi, that was for sure. This little stunt of hers was most definitely crazy and spontaneous, he’d give her that.

When she finally took her bow and let her transformation drop, Mamoru ignored the few remaining people still hanging about and returned her bright smile with a grin of his own, a smile that was only a little uneasy. “Yes, you most certainly did. You do realize of course that this will end up on the news tonight right? Your advisors and your senshi are more then likely going to hear about it and not be happy, but ...”

Mamoru hesitated a moment before adding, “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Quite a show that was.” True, he was not going to be coming back in to this bookstore for a long while to come but he wasn’t going to tell her that.

He took her hand and tugged her gently toward the Self-Help books that he had noticed while he had waited for Usagi to come out of the bathroom. “Nevertheless, why don’t we go visit the section we actually came here for hmm? Then we can get some coffee, lots of coffee ...”

[Neo Queen Serenity]

"Yeah, I realize," Usagi said with a sigh. She did, now that the whole affair was over she was beginning to realize that she hadn't quite thought through all of the consequences. She was having so much fun, and was even intoxicated by her brief bout of freedom out-- and she was the type of person who liked to just go out and have fun and share everything. Only being crazy wasn't just for her friend's eyes anymore, now the whole world was witness to it.

"It'll carry on for maybe two weeks, then they'll find something else to fixate on. It certainly wouldn't be the worst time I got caught doing some odd... Just the first time I've instigated it, I suppose. And the last time," she added uneasily. Truthfully it had sounded good when she started out, but now it just seemed nuts. Oh, well. Live and learn. "It could have been worse. I could have stood up there and burned my bra."

At that moment, two women walked back, both fiddling with their cellphones. "I can't believe both our phones cut at the same time! Just when I was trying to get video! It's powering up OK, but the frequency is still really weak... Do you think the Sailormoon powers interfere with it or something?"

Usagi blinked as they went past. Her powers had never interfered with cellphones before... Suddenly, it dawned on her. She spun around, her hands on her hips. "Ted!" Usagi hissed at Agent Phillips, using his first name for emphasis. "You're only supposed to use that for emergencies! As far as I know there was no IED hooked to a cellphone that needed jamming..."

"Oh, whoops?" Phillips said pleasantly. "Was that me?" Usagi just looked at him. He winked at Mamoru before continuing: "I guess I just happened to direct a few people to have the High Energy Radio Frequency weapon put out a very small pulse that disrupted everyone's cellphones the exact same moment you were pulling a crazy stunt that they were trying to document with pictures and videos. Silly me. It won't prevent the news from getting out entirely, but it took away the evidence."

Usagi just rolled her eyes, and let Mamoru drag her off to the Self-Help section. "yeah, fair enough. You found it!" She said happily. Getting dragged over here was the opposite of how she pictured it happening, but at least Mamoru seemed enthused about the prospect now. Poor man. She would have to date him after this, if only because he was so patient with her.

"Why lots of coffee?" Usagi asked, looking through the books. Some of them were things like self-hypnosis, others dealing with procrastination or depression issues. She pulled out one and held it out for him. "How to Win Friends and Influence People. Had to read it for psychology, it was a great book." She thought everything within was completely obvious, but that was just her. Other students seemed to find it revolutionary.

"Or you could always try the self-hypnosis," she joked. "You know what else here is fun? The body language books. I find those fascinating."

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru patted her hand gently doing his best to be sympathetic to her plight. He nodded in agreement when she mentioned that it would carry on for a couple of weeks and then they’d find something else to fixate on. For a brief instant in time, the thought that at least they wouldn’t be hounding him quite so much in that time fluttered to life in his mind. However, it died just as quickly as it came. He would far rather take the brunt of the media’s attacks then watch them pick on Usagi any day, especially now that he knew how fragile her self-esteem was. He blinked at her statement about the bra before feigning a look of horror, though his tone was definitely an amused one. “Perish the thought, my heart might have given out if I’d had to stand there and witness that my dear ...”

He glanced at the two woman walking past in mild irritation when he noticed them fiddling with their cellphones. They could have only one reason to be doing tat as far as he was concerned and that was that they had been videoing Usagi during her performance. However, when he actually listened to their words, his brow furrowed in bafflement. He hadn’t been aware that Usagi’s powers could do something like that.

The answer presented itself to him in the form of Usagi rounding on Agent Phillips and accusing him of jamming the signals. He grinned at the other man as he made his ‘apology’ and silently thanked him. It wouldn’t keep the media from getting the story and tormenting Usagi with it, but at least no one would be able to show videos of the thing. That would allow the story to die that much faster.

Mamoru glanced at her when she asked about the coffee, but there was no way that he was going to confess that he had been wondering if she had been under the influence of the wine they had drank earlier. Not and risk her getting insulted or something, therefore he simply shrugged and said, “I like coffee, I told you that already. Besides ...” He gave her another impish grin as he continued smoothly, “The more coffee we drink, the longer you’ll be here in my company.”

He was running his hand over the books, reading their titles when Usagi pulled one out and held it out for him. Mamoru reached over and took it from her, turning it over to read the summary on the back. “How to win friends and influencing other people is exactly what I needed don’t you agree? I think this book might be just the thing.”

Mamoru glanced at the self-hypnosis books with a raised eyebrow before turning back to her and saying, “I don’t think I’m that bad off that I’d need to hypnotize myself to get the right kind of personality, do you?. The body language books though, those sound interesting.”

[Neo Queen Serenity]

"You scheming fiend!" Usagi exclaimed when he said that the more coffee they drank, the longer he would be in her company. However, she couldn't help but smile as she said it. It was flattering that he even plotted to come up with ways to keep her with him longer. He really wanted to just be with her, be in her company and do things with her. That meant more to Usagi than any gift could have. "So sneaky. But it's paying off."

She nodded. "It's really a good book. Been in print for almost 80 years now, and it's still as true as ever. Also, comes in Japanese which is a plus."

Shaking her head, she laughed. "No, I like your personality just fine. But the self-hypnosis books are funny. Here is the body language stuff..." she bent over and pointed it out, and then blushed, realizing she should have knelt instead of bent. "There's another great book... Though sometimes they file it under Psychology..." She left his side for a moment to find it, and then quickly returned. "Emotional Intelligence. This is such a good book, also something I read for classes. But you'll like it, it has all these medical terms in it, talks about body chemistry and the brain, it's not just the subconscious and suppressed ego and those Freudian terms that can seem mystic at times." She had Freud to thank for a lot of things, really, but until she took several psychology classes, beginning for her major, it all sounded like gobbledygook to her.

"I need to browse for me." Usagi barely had time to read anything other than briefings and newspapers, but it was fun to look. "Oooh, A General Theory of Love. That looks interesting... psychology of love and empathy..." She tucked it under her arm, poking around until something caught her eye.

"Kiss My Tiara: How to Rule the World As A Smartmouth Goddess. YES!!!" She yelled loudly, causing several people to stare, but they quickly moved on.

"I told you, they have everything here!" Usagi happily plucked out the book. "Even something I need! 'Because women should not only rule the world, but have fun doing it,'" she read from the back cover. "Okay, this is officially my manifesto."

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru just grinned innocently and teased, “That’s good to know ....”

He nodded and set the book on the pile of other books he intended to buy. “I shall read it and take it’s lessons to heart.”

Mamoru was still a gentleman at heart and so when she bent over, he averted his gaze. However, instead of pretending as if he hadn’t seen anything Mamoru didn’t bother wiping the appreciative smile from his lips. He retrieved the book and added it to the other books. “I’m sure this book is going to be a favorite of mine ...” After all, it had already been shelved in just the right place. He watched her walk off only to return with yet another book. Once again he placed the book with his other ones and asked, “Do you really think these books will be of help to me?”

He picked up another couple of books that looked interesting to him, glancing up in surprise when his companion yelled loudly. Mamoru glanced at the book she held and grinned broadly, “Perfect for you ...”

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Usagi just smiled. "I think you already know the answer to that question, don't you? Books are resources, it's all how you use them that depends on how much help they will be. I mean it's one thing to read it, but with self-help books you have to apply it. And even if you wind up disagreeing with the book, at least you'll have the knowledge and you know where you'll stand on the issue. And you say you like learning for the sake of knowledge, so I know it won't hurt you to read..."

She picked through a few body-language books herself. Here, like many other Japanese bookstores, they had books on specific Japanese body language signals just for gaijin-- foreigners. But with the increasing influx of people into Japan (something that had been causing no small amount of contention amongst the natives-- before New Earth, Japan had very strict immigration laws), there were also books on basic body language in English. Usagi picked them up-- they were written by different experts. It was intriguing, to see what other cultures had, or what was considered to be universal body language and non-verbal cues.

Shelving it, she looked over the relationships subsection of the self-help section. "Oooh... The Five Love Languages. Supposedly this is very good. I haven't read it, but three different professors put it on their optional textbooks list. I never had time to read it, though, not with midterms being the way they were." She pulled it out, holding it for possible inspection by Mamoru. "Hmm, what else? Oh! Men Are From Mars, and Women Are From Venus... I know two senshi that would contest that, but it's still supposed to be really good." She walked forward with her head turned sideways, reading the titles as she went. Some were pretty funny. "...How to Get Your Lover Back: Successful Strategies for Starting Over (And Making It Better Than It Was Before)... Oh, boy. How 'bout coffee?"

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru nodded, after all she was right. He had known the answer. The books had the capabilities of helping him, if he actually put what they taught in to practice. He could read and learn everything the books had to teach, but if he didn’t have the courage to use that knowledge then they wouldn’t do anything more then provide reading material. “It won’t be easy, it’s never easy ....” He briefly thought back to some of the things Usagi had said at the ball the other night. That it would be difficult to change years of habits and inclinations of personal character and that she had to wonder if it wasn’t impossible. He stiffened his resolve to do just that, his gaze hardening just a little with determination as he added, “but Usa, I don’t believe it’s impossible. It can’t be ... not if you want something bad enough and I do.”

He picked over a few more of the body-language books himself, simply because they looked interesting. Mamoru glanced curiously at the book that Usagi held out to him. He started to dismiss it, but then actually took the book and flipped it over so that he could read the back. Good communication of affection was one of the things he had to work on and so he nodded and murmured, “It seems like a good book, I’ll get it as well.”

Mamoru grinned heartily at the Men are from Mars, and Women are from Venus book. “I’ve heard of this one before and I doubt very much the man ever dreamed that there might be people from Mars and Venus actually living on this planet when he wrote it.” He set the book down with the others, noting that he had acquired a stack of books by this time even after having thinned out some of the feminist literature. He was just about to mention that he probably had enough books to last him for awhile when Usagi read out the title of another book before immediately mentioning the coffee. Mamoru grinned at her before taking the book and dropping it down on his stack, who knows this book might help him as well. That was what he wanted to do after all.

He then gently took the books that Usagi was holding and added them to his pile, including that romance book with Nathaniel on the front cover. “Coffee it is then, unless of course you aren’t done exploring the bookstore ...”

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Usagi wondered why the serious turn. He seemed so determined. She didn't know what to say, and so she didn't say much of anything at all. She didn't want him to get too over zealous about this-- it was one thing to change for the better, another to change entirely. "Just take it easy," she said with a smile, finally. "You'll get burned out if you go too fast at the beginning." It was a generic comment; she couldn't come up with anything else, especially since he was so intense about it.

She laughed. "You'll be starting a whole different library by the time you check out with all of that stuff."

When he pulled out the book she had read before immediately mentioning coffee, Usagi blushed and shook her head at him. "No fair! Now I need to get one too. It's like betting against myself if I let you get that one..." She looked through the shelves for something to compete with that. "It's Called a Break-Up Because It's Broken: The Smart Girl's Break-Up Buddy. Okay, I'll take this!" She triumphantly pulled it out and added it to her own stack, sticking her tongue out at him. "Ha! So there!! I'll have something to defend myself against the lessons of your book."

Usagi smiled in thanks as he took off her load of books. "We should get coffee before the store closes," she acknowledged. "We've been here for quite awhile." She'd love to look around more, but not with Mamoru carrying all of those heavy books! And she knew she'd only add to the pile if she kept looking. "I wonder if you can pay at the Starbucks desk, or if you have to do it separately? Maybe we should get the books first," she remarked, turning to head downstairs in the direction of the cashiers.

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru shrugged before returning her smile and allowing the mood to drift back to the way it had been a moment ago. She was probably right about that. If he pushed himself too hard he wouldn’t be very happy and that wouldn’t solve anything. Besides, he didn’t want to push her too hard either or she might run scared. It was far better to take things slowly.

He grinned brightly at her laughter and murmured, “Well you can never have too many books, even ones that I wouldn’t normally have bothered reading.”

Mamoru gave her a mock pout at the book she chose to get in answer to his own book. “You aren’t suppose to work against me ...” Then he suddenly offered her his best charming smile before adding, “We’ll just have to see who learns their lessons best won’t we, but I warn you I’ve always been an excellent student.”

He nodded in agreement, after all as fun as exploring the bookstore was he didn’t want the store to close before they were able to get the coffee. “I’m not really sure. It’s been awhile since I’ve been in this particular store and things might have changed. It’s probably a better idea to just go to the cashiers first.”

Mamoru followed her over to the cashiers and set the books on the counter. “We’d like to get these books please ...” The cashier, a college aged boy, stared in awe at Usagi for a good long moment, both because of the show she had just recently put on and the fact that she was the queen. Mamoru put up with it for a few moments before clearing his throat to bring the boy’s attention to himself. He met his gaze clearly in a kind of mute challenge until the younger man flushed just a bit, looked away, and begin to ring up the books as hurriedly as he could. “Thank you ...”