1/3 early AM Entrapment (Usa/Mamoru)

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Usagi whimpered as the small light cut out and they were left in complete blackness again. She couldn't even see her own hand right in front of her face. The elevator was completely devoid of light again, and it was an oppressive blackness that seemed to press in on her.

She could feel the cold drafts coming through the elevator floor from the shaft, and wrapped her arms around herself. It was January, now there was no heat in the hotel, and if they were going to be there awhile she imagined it would be getting a bit colder.

Usagi flinched when a soft sort of 'boom' could be heard-- though felt more than heard, it was a small vibration. Then it happened again. And again. What the hell was that?! That was scary! They had no connection to the outside world anymore, and who knows what could be going on!! However, the more she listened the more it seemed to have a cadence to it, though she couldn't begin to fathom what it might be.

Usagi tried to keep it together, she really did. Several moments passed, and she inhaled. Another few passed and she exhaled, trying to keep her breathing steady. Then there came a very quiet sniffle. And another.

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru sighed softly when he heard Usagi whimpering at being left in the dark again. He hated this and desperately wished that he could get her out a lot quicker then Lucan had insinuated. He briefly tried to think of some way of doing that, but every idea he came up with he discarded just as quickly. They were all irresponsible and somewhat dangerous. He wouldn’t put Usagi through that, not when Lucan had made him promise that they would stay put.

Since she was sitting right next to him, Mamoru felt her wrap her arms around herself. He could feel the cold drafts just as easily as she could, though she probably felt them more considering she was only wearing a small black dress. Mamoru immediately took his suit jacket off and dropped it over her shoulders with a murmured, “Take this Usa, it’ll get colder before we get out of here. I’ll be fine ...”

He stiffened when he felt the soft ‘boom’, but he couldn’t decide what it was. It was more then likely something that was being done in an attempt to get the other VIPs out. Mamoru was about to dismiss it entirely when he felt Usagi flinch at his side. Speaking softly and as reassuringly as he could, Mamoru murmured, “I'm not exactly certain what that was Usa, but it’s more then likely nothing to ...” He hesitated, remembering that the last time he had tried to say not to worry Usagi had gotten upset. After a moment he simply said, “It’s probably something that someone is doing to attempt getting people out. All the people we left upstairs and whatever VIPs that happen to be in their rooms or where ever else in this hotel, I’d imagine they would be a heck of a lot easier to rescue then we would be. They’ll more then likely rescue them and then come and get us.”

Mamoru’s heart went out to Usagi when he heard her sniffling and his protective instincts kicked in. He didn’t like her being so scared and his arm once again snaked around her waist to hug her close to him. He really needed to figure out a way to distract her from this ordeal. Mamoru didn’t want to just tell her not to worry, that hadn’t worked out so well the last time he tried.

Keeping his tone conversational Mamoru finally said, “The dark isn’t so bad Usa. There are lots of things that can be done in the dark, things that are far more enjoyable then just sitting here wondering how long a rescue is going to take. What about that question that I promised you. This is a prime opportunity to ask it, no press anywhere nearby to hear anything we say.”

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Usagi looked over in Mamoru's direction, thanking him quietly as he draped his jacket over her. She took it, pulling it around her and raising her knees so that the jacket could come around her bare legs, too. It was winter, why was she wearing this short little black dress? It was completely strapless, too! Ugh!

She nodded slowly as Mamoru speculated on it being something to get the others out. "Makes sense, and it's pretty regular." If it was something bad then she supposed it wouldn't sound quite so coordinated, though she still couldn't understand just what it would be. Usagi didn't the like the idea of rescuing all the others before them, though. She was the Queen, she needed to get out soonest! She was sure that was a spoiled though, but it was true! Then again, there were always the senshi... but Usagi dismissed that idea again. "There better be someone working to get us out right now," she complained to Mamoru. "It's not fair to us to wait for all the others." Then again she had given Lucan a complete guilt trip and that ought to get some things moving. "Mamoru, I'm not sure if the senshi would be able to come get us even if I called them. I'll give it a few hours, but if we get too cold and the heat hasn't come back on yet, or if I really, really have to pee, I'm going to call them. Just FYI." But Usagi really would use that as a last resort-- she knew how much energy it took to teleport. After the battle with Rubeus, they had to take Chibi-Usa and the senshi and herself back to Earth, and they weren't even sure if they'd all survive the trip when she was drained of her energy and they had an extra passenger. They hadn't really done the Sailor Teleport with Mamoru before, and he was a full grown man. To teleport both in and and then out with a passenger... Well, she wasn't sure if it would be feasible, and she wouldn't want to find out unless it was absolutely necessary. Someone could get seriously drained or hurt if they miscalculated on that. Though, Usagi determined she would cross that bridge when it came.

Usagi readily drew closer to Mamoru as he put an arm around her waist. He was warm and near and a welcome reprieve from the darkness. She closed her eyes and let her head rest on his chest, inhaling a shaky breath, trembling in his arms slightly. She just hated the all-consuming blackness.

"That's true..." Usagi murmured as Mamoru suggested they distract themselves, and not to worry about the dark as much. And he had a point about that question.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that..." Usagi said. "That's true. Well, here goes, then. How many girls have you slept with? Was it safe sex? Were you going out with them? Were they one-night stands? Did you wear a condom? Have you ever been tested? I should have asked this once we became engaged, don't ask me why I never thought about it before, but I did tonight. I ought to know, especially since we almost got married."

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru nodded in response to her quiet thanks, even though he knew she probably couldn’t see him do so. He couldn’t help smirking just a bit when she said that there had better be someone working on getting them out and that it wasn’t fair to keep them waiting for everyone else. Keeping his amusement carefully out of his tone he said, “They wouldn’t dare leave you till last, besides Lucan knows how much you want out. He’ll get something done. I’m sure they’ll have someone working on getting us out as soon as they can.”

His amusement faded the moment she mentioned the senshi again. The more he thought about it, the less he really wanted to face them in this dark enclosed place. Oh they probably wouldn’t do anything, he trusted them to behave reasonably especially if Usagi told them to leave him alone. That still didn’t mean he wanted to have to rely on them any more then he had to, especially some of them, not yet any way. Holding back his agitation at that thought Mamoru simply muttered, “I understand ...” Hopefully they would be rescued before she felt the need to do something that drastic.

Mamoru relaxed when Usagi drew closer to him, even resting her head on his chest. This was the way things were suppose to be. He knew that things would go back to the way they were before once the lights came back on and they were rescued, but he could pretend in this instant that things were ok again and that Usagi viewed him as more then a friend just as she always use to do.

However he tensed in surprise the moment he heard the questions she had in mind. What kind of questions were those? Earlier in the bookstore when he had told her he’d answer whatever she wanted to ask, whatever he had been thinking she would ask wasn’t anything like the ones that were coming out of her mouth.

Mamoru didn’t want to answer this questions. They were rather personal. A lot more personal then he felt comfortable with. “That ... That’s a little personal Usagi.” In his wildest dreams he never would have expected her to ask anything like them and for a moment he started to withdraw, the emotionless mask he had perfected so well slipping back into place though she couldn’t see it.

He hesitated a moment more before adding, “but you are right, you usually are. You have every right to know. We were engaged and well you’re right, it should have been brought up a long time ago.”

Once again he settled his arm around her waist drawing her closer to his side so that she wouldn’t be cold. He began absently smoothing the silk of her dress covering her stomach where his fingers rested. Mamoru stayed silent a while longer, drawing courage from her nearness. It wasn’t that he was really afraid of telling her the information, it was more he was afraid of how she’d react. He just didn’t want Usagi to think less of him for any reason.

Mamoru shrugged a little uncomfortably before saying, “There was this one girl that I had known for years. She grew up in the same orphanage that I did and we were, I guess you could say friends. We dated a bit, but it wasn’t anything serious for either one of us. We were just comrades in a difficult situation. Around the time we were both turning sixteen, we began experimenting. I did it for several reasons I guess, for respect from the other guys, because she was agreeable ... none of them good reasons, but they felt right at the time. The main important reason was that she was agreeable. The first couple of times, we were both stupid. Was it safe sex? Not particularly. Did I wear a condom? No, no like I said we were both stupid kids and we didn’t think about the consequences. We were lucky though, Koharu didn’t get pregnant and neither of us caught anything. Yes, we were both tested. After the first couple of times we got smarter and started being more careful. That went on for about five or six months before she moved and I never saw her again. There wasn’t anyone else. I told you, I didn’t even date very much except casually. There just wasn’t anyone that I was interested in enough to bother and then two years later I met you. I promise you, there definitely wasn’t anyone after I met you.”

He fell silent then, not really knowing what else to say. Mamoru glanced down at her, but it was too dark for him to judge her expression. Therefore he simply waited to see how she would react or say after everything he had told her.

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Usagi felt Mamoru tense up. She was practically sitting in his lap by now, so it was easy to feel that. She wasn't particularlly surprised at his reaction-- it probably wasn't something he wanted to talk about. But he had promised her she could ask him anything... And that made her roll her eyes as he blurted out that it was personal. Duh!

"Well, what did you think I was holding off on asking you?" Usagi deadpanned. "What you'd do for a Klondike bar?" He shouldn't be that surprised, when she had refrained from asking him earlier, their conversation had hinted at it. Men could be so impervious to hints sometimes that it was scary.

However, Mamoru seemed to get the hint and acknowledged she was right. He even pulled her close again, though Usagi through it was ironic that he wanted to cuddle while he told this particular story. She listened, trying to keep from judging. It was before she met him, he had no reason to be faithful, he didn't even know who she was, nor she him. Still, she couldn't say that she was entirely comfortable hearing it, though really she was lucky. He was clean, he had only been with one other partner, and it had been long enough ago that she would have been able to learn about lovemaking when they started, after the wedding, and hopefully keep him satisfied. Well, theoretically. That was all speculation at this point, they probably wouldn't ever sleep with each other. But at least she knew now what she would have gotten into.

"Why didn't you ever contact her after she moved?" Usagi asked. They may not have lasted, but she was someone who could understand Mamoru's background, empathize with him. That kind of thing wasn't something he should just let go.

[Chiba Mamoru]

“I uh, well not that. I really didn’t know what you were going to ask.”

Usagi’s question startled him. Why had he lost contact with her? It had been twelve years since he had actually thought about Koharu, but now that he was thinking about it he remembered. “I wrote her once after she left, but she never wrote back.”

Mamoru shrugged before adding, “She was a lot like me Usa, neither of us liked to socialize much. Koharu didn’t like sharing her feelings much, or even talking a whole lot. We were together because we understood each other, but other then that it wasn’t much more then just keeping each other company. I don’t know. I guess I could have kept trying, but remember I told you that I didn’t really reach out to others that much.”

[Neo Queen Serenity]

"That's a shame," Usagi remarked automatically when Mamoru said that Koharu never wrote back. Perhaps it wasn't really a shame, but it wasn't a very nice thing to do. She could have least written back saying that she thought it was best they didn't communicate anymore, if she didn't want to talk to him. But just disappearing like that was the passive-aggressive style. And Mamoru talked about how she was like him.

"Maybe you should try again," Usagi suggested, though mentally she wondered if she was crazy, telling him to contact an old flame. "Maybe you don't want to be with her like that anymore, but you did grow up together, that's worth a second attempt, isn't it? I know it's been awhile, but you can find anyone these days. I bet she's on Facebook." Everyone was on Facebook! During her college days, Usagi would have classmates from primary school that she hadn't talked to in years adding her.

Usagi paused, wondering what to say now. That was that.

"What would you do for a Klondike bar?"

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru shrugged a little. He didn’t feel that bad about Koharu, not now anyway. It had bothered him a bit back then, but he really hadn’t thought about her in so long that it didn’t bother him. “Honestly Usa, I don’t really care that much. It’s been so long ... I guess I could look her up. It might be interesting to see what happened to her. You are right, we did grow up together, but ... it might feel a little strange to search her up now after everything that has happened in our lives. I doubt we’d share anything in common anymore.”

He blinked in surprise at her next question before snickering a bit. “A Klondike bar Usa, a little random but I’ll answer.” Mamoru leaned against the wall of the elevator and said, “I don’t know. Everybody enjoys a good Klondike bar, but I doubt I’d do something really silly for one. You tell me what you would do for one, I've been talking all night. It's your turn to share with me.”

[Neo Queen Serenity]

"Do you really need things in common in order to rekindle a past friendship?" Usagi asked. "People grow apart all the time, but shouldn't we reach out now and then, just for the sake of it? Sure it can be a bit awkward at first, but you'd be amazed at how much you 'remember' about how you were back then and what you shared with someone just by saying hi to them after a few years have passed." Usagi was convinced that it triggered emotions that brought old memories and details to the surface, things about oneself and the other person that weren't considered when thinking about it abstractly or as something that happened in the past.

Usagi pouted, wishing Mamoru had been a bit more specific about what he would do for his Klondike bar. "What would I do? Just like you, nothing too dramatic or disproportionate to the reward. I don't know, I'd only sell my soul, or something. A Klondike bar is definitely worth that. Oh, chocolate and vanilla-y goodness, melting on my tongue... I guess that brings me to my next question. What's your seven deadly sin? Obviously mine is gluttony."

[Chiba Mamoru]

“I guess you don’t really, it’s just I haven’t thought about her in so long.” Mamoru paused briefly before saying, “I suppose it would be nice to see how she’s doing. We did share a lot of past together.” He nodded quietly before adding, “I’ll see if I can’t locate her Usa, at the very least just to see if she might be interested in reminiscing about other people we knew back then.”

Mamoru grinned at her answer before saying, “Selling your soul for a Klondike bar, that’s certainly not too dramatic or disproportionate at all.” He pondered her next question for a moment before adding, “I guess my seven deadly sin would be ...”

He really didn’t have to think long to figure out what his most recent sin had been. Pride, he had been guilty of having too much pride to back down when Usagi and Rei both had been confronting him over the Shitennou. Giving her wry smile in the dark, knowing that she couldn’t see it, he simply said, “We really don’t have to think terribly hard on that one you know ... I would have to say it would be pride.”

[Neo Queen Serenity]

"All you can do is try," Usagi replied, letting the subject close. She thought that she might be insane, telling him he should, but she didn't like to see things left unfinished. There was too much left unsaid in that type of situation. Maybe she wanted Mamoru to reach out so that she wouldn't feel so guilty about looking around for other guys. Who knew, but she was sure it wouldn't hurt him to try.

"Pride? Better than lust," Usagi joked, trying to keep things light between them. Though if Mamoru was going for serious, she would have chosen wrath instead of pride.

Not wanting to linger on that should he get down about anything, and they were fresh off a small spat anyway, Usagi tried to think of how to move on.

"Well, we're asking each other questions, maybe we should just play truth or dare while we wait. Though to be honest I'm not sure how many dares we'll be able to do in an elevator. There's only so many times I can dare you to put your legs behind your head," she remarked jokingly.

[Chiba Mamoru]

“Oh I never said that I couldn’t attribute more then one of those sins to myself Usa,” Once again Mamoru smiled in the darkness as he added, “I simply didn’t want to get myself hit, though if you recall I did say there were far more enjoyable things that could be done in the dark ... conversations weren’t really the only activity that I could have thought of.” Seriously Usagi was practically sitting in his lap cuddling with him in a dark elevator. There were so very many things he could do to prove to her that lust was far better then pride any day, only he was trying to behave himself and keep things to a light and friendly atmosphere.

He chuckled just a bit before taunting softly, “Going with a safer subject are we ... truth and dare sounds like an interesting diversion actually. At least for a little while ... I’m sure we could think of dares that would work in an elevator.”

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Despite the cold, Usagi found herself blushing at Mamoru's words, for once glad it was dark so that he could not see. "Oh..." she remarked a little dizzily, wondering just what he had in mind. "Is that how you were really planning to warm me up? You'll have to be a bit more specific, Mamoru..."

Usagi rolled her eyes at his teasing, and his 'dares' sounded like they were going to be rather interesting. But, if he said that, then it meant he was agreeable, and he couldn't complain if they started to play the game in earnest.

"Fine, then." Usagi shifted, so that she was all the way in his lap now. He was warm, and she was cold. Yeah, that was it. "You go first. Truth or dare?"

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru remained silent for a moment, uncertain as to whether he should really continue this line of teasing. He didn’t want to push Usagi any further then the friend she wanted to be and he didn’t want to push the boundaries of appropriate or comfortable either. Still it was only harmless flirtations, shouldn’t hurt anything and it would definitely pass the time away and keep them both distracted. It wasn’t like he was actually sitting here planning on doing anything that would only cause trouble in the long run, only tease a bit. Besides, they had been doing something of the sort all evening since the car ride. “I’m sure there are a lot of different activities that we could do to warm you up, any number of them I’d be glad to participate in right now.”

He reached up and cupped her face, gently brushing his thumb across her lips as he leaned in so that he could murmur his next words directly into her ear. “But do I really need to be that specific Usa ... use your imagination dear.”

Mamoru stiffened in surprise when Usagi shifted so that she was all the way in his lap. However, he relaxed seconds later bringing up his other arm to encircle her as well. He did after all have to keep her warm didn’t he? “I think I’ve had enough of truth for the moment so I’ll choose dare ...”

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Usagi's breath caught in her throat as she suddenly felt the pad of Mamoru's thumb running over her lips. She felt them tremble slightly underneath his sultry, gentle touch, and she shivered, but not with cold, as his hot breath tickled in her ear.

"Use my imagination?" Usagi finally managed to reply, trying to string two coherent thoughts together. "But, are you sure you want me to do that? If I use my imagination I might come to the conclusion that you're hiding a cup of hot chocolate, or something. I'm not sure how well it'd turn out for you if I imagined something like that..."

Usagi settled in close, resting her head on his shoulder now as he said he chose dare. She smiled into the fabric of his shirt. "Dare, huh? Well I dare you to try to put your leg behind your head. Ha! Come on. Don't tell me that you didn't see that one coming! I warned you!!"

Actually, it was because she had joked about it that Usagi had to dare him now.