Lunar Idols: Part 5
It's NANO... so I'm writing fic. >.>
Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4.
“Now, wait. Which one are you again?” Venus pursed her lips, finger tapping her chin. “Big guy... starts with an N, right?”
The man standing across from her sighed in exasperation. “Kunzite,” he said carefully.
“Riiight, pink lining. The other guy has green, so he's... Jadeite?”
“Nephrite,” he corrected. “You're the leader aren't you? It's so nice to know you pay attention to the details.”
“I do when they matter.”
“Ouch.” He rolled his eyes.
Venus crossed her arms, head cocked to one side. “What's up with your costumes anyway? Aren't they a little ridiculous? I mean capes? Really?”
“Says the Barbie doll in stripper heels?” Kunzite snorted incredulously. “Excuse me if I don't take your opinion very seriously.”
Unperturbed, Venus looked up at the jewelry store they stood in front of, then side-eyed Kunzite. “So you want to play a game?”
“What?”
“Well, my sources say there's a crystal here worth checking out, and I assume your sources say the same thing. What do you say we make this interesting... see who's quickest?”
“I thought you Senshi didn't like to get your hands dirty.” He waggled his gloved fingers at her. “Breaking and entering is against the law, isn't it?”
“We do what needs to be done. We're after the same thing, I'm not about to let the Shitennou get their hands on the crystal.”
“Fair enough. So we're going to see who is the faster cat-burglar?” His eyes narrowed behind his mask, but finally he shrugged in agreement.
“Alright on the count of three? One,” she started, holding up her finger. “Two. Th-OH DAMN IT!” She bellowed the curse, startling the man next to her. “A youma!”
He turned quickly, noting the large trash can blundering down the street. Kunzite turned back to her with a smile. “Let me, princess.”
Without even looking back at the creature, he thrust his arm out behind him, cape flourishing with the movement and sent a barrage of icicles toward the youma. However, it was no ordinary trash can, but rather one the homeless used for bonfires.
The lid lifted up, shooting out a flame, destroying the icicles before they were even close. Venus snorted out a laugh.
“Aw, did the mean ole youma melt you icicles?” She cooed in a baby voice. “Stand aside, Kunzy, watch a professional in action!”
Kunzite ran his tongue over his teeth, completely unimpressed. Leaning against a car parked on the street, legs crossed, and one hand on his hip, he nodded toward the youma. “By all means.”
“The wind up!” Venus started circling her arm like a softball player. “And the pitch!” She mimed tossing a ball while crying, “Venus Crescent Beam Smash!” Unfortunately, this did not have the desired effect as the golden crescent bounced off the hull of the youma, skidding back toward Venus' feet, fizzling out with a sad little pop.
“Very impressive.” Kunzite clapped slowly, sound muffled by his gloves.
“That's never happened before,” she mused. She was thoroughly annoyed that the one time it did happen was when the leader of the Shitennou was present - because teasing aside, she knew which Shitennou was which.
“Okay, what do you say we team up just this once? Get this little thing taken care of, and then we'll get back to the crystal.”
“Seems fair enough.” He held out his hand. They shook soundly before focusing on the youma again.
They worked together surprisingly well, seemingly able to guess the other person's action without needing prompting. This unnerved both of them more than would care to admit. Soon the youma was nothing but a scorch mark on the pavement, having burned itself out.
“Not bad,” Venus said.
Kunzite turned toward her, mouth opened to return the compliment, but snapped it shut when the wailing siren on a police car sounded down the street.
“Looks like we'll have to continue this later?” He said, turning to take the roof tops.
“Apparently.” Venus shrugged. They both took off, heading in opposite directions, before the police cars came whizzing around the corner.
*~*~*
“HELLOOOOO EVERYBODY!” The host of the Crown Royale Variety Show called the audience. “I'm your host, Furuhata Motoki, thank you for joining us today! We have a special show for you!”
The young man was happy and enthusiastic, earning cheers from the audience. “First of all you're probably wondering why I'm dressed as I am.” He swept his hand, indicating his turtle costume. “But we're celebrating Toshi's 100th birthday this week! We encourage everyone to head down to the Tokyo Sea Life Park to wish the beloved sea turtle a very happy birthday!”
The large screen behind Motoki flashed up with a picture of the turtle and a pasted on birthday hat, and a wave of laughter ran through the crowd.
“Anyway!” Motoki broke in after a moment. “We have a very special today! Our teams today are made up entirely of members from the Beat Kings and 7ucky Girls!!” He cried, and the crowd in the bleachers went wild; cheering and clapping.
“The Blue Team today will be, Usagi, Haruka, and Amiiiiiii!” He drew out the last name as the girls made their way out onto the small stage.
Usagi was first, bounding out in a jean skirt with pink leggings and a cream sweater, waving at the fans and a grin stretching across her face. Haruka followed a moment later, her short blond hair neatly combed, and dressed in tight black pants and an oversized shirt with a multitude of belts accentuating her trim waist. Lastly was Ami, a little more timid, and wearing a conservative baby blue cardigan and grey slacks.
Taking a microphone from one of the show aids, Usagi greeted the crowd. “Good afternoon everyone!!” She waved. “Thank you so much for the warm welcome, Motoki-kun!” She smiled up at him brightly.
“Thank you for coming out today, Usagi-chan!” He returned the smile, causing Usagi's cheeks to flush just a bit.
“Now, your opponents today will be the Red Team; Mamoru, Keiichi, and Shiro!” They came out close together, Keiichi was first, his long strides carrying him quickly across the stage. He wore his usual dark dress pants and vest, and today wore a button up shirt in a dark purple color. Mamoru came next dressed in khaki pants and black shirt, and Shiro brought up the rear, playing to the crowd. His jeans, his trademark, were tight and dark, and he wore a blue t-shirt with the 7ucky Girl's logo on the front.
“Welcome, welcome.” Motoki greeted them as Shiro was handed a microphone.
“Wonderful to be here!” the blond man cried. “Look at that beautiful audience! And our beautiful competitors!” He winked at the girls. Keiichi seemed rather indifferent to the entire thing, while Mamoru was on edge.
“Now the teams normally compete for cash prizes, but today all the winnings will go to charity, so I hope you all try your very best!” Motoki said. “Now if you'll all come with me, let's get the first task underway!”
Excitedly Motoki grabbed Usagi's hand, pulling her off stage to the open course. Mamoru scowled as he and the others followed.
“Oh no, Mamoru, looks like you have competition for Usagi's attention,” Shiro hissed into his ear.
Mamoru glared at his friend. “Shut up, Shiro.”
“Mam0 will need to be a gallant knight to win fair Usako's heart!” He clasped his hands to his chest. “Like a fairy tale!”
“I hate you.”
Keiichi grabbed both of them by their elbows, dragging to their marked spots on the stage. “Both of you be quiet.”
They listened to the instructions for the game, an obstacle course, and Mamoru found himself standing next to Usagi. He swallowed thickly, ignored Shiro's eye waggled eyebrows, and tried to smiled at Usagi.
She glanced up at him, wrinkled her nose, and turned her full attention back to Motoki, eyes glowing. He ground his teeth.
They cut to commercial while the rest of the stage was set up, also allowing the contestants to 'gear up' for the course, which meant pads and headgear and coveralls in their team color.
The two groups separated to get ready, Mamoru cast a fleeting glance toward Usagi, but she was chatting happily with the host. He ground his teeth more.
“Oi, Mamoru!” Shiro waved a hand in front of his face. “Oh, good you're paying attention now. Right so, it's race through the course. Which means Keiichi is going up against Haruka.”
“Why is that?” The taller man arched a brow.
“Because she is athletic and more competitive than Niou, which means she will do anything to win. You're big, you can handle it.” Shiro clapped him on the shoulder. Keiichi frowned.
“I'll go against Miss Ami.” Shiro nodded emphatically. “Which leaves Mam0 and Usako....”
“What?” Mamoru gaped.
“You're welcome, friend!” Shiro grinned and turned away, allowing a stage hand to place the headgear.
Once the show was back on air, they all quickly got into their positions. Each team would send one person, the first person to reach the end of the obstacle course was the winner. First up were Keiichi and Haruka.
The blonde woman grinned manically before the whistle was blown, and the pair were off; climbing ropes, slithering under netting, and dashing through tires.
Keiichi was fit, strong and long legged, but Haruka was ungodly fast, slashing through the course in record time. By the time she crossed the finish line, Keiichi was still on the last leg. Haruka grinned at the cheering crowd, dusting off her hands like it had all been nothing.
Next came Ami and Shiro.
For her part, Ami did try, and she was graceful and strong as she went through the course, but Shiro was just a little faster through the tires, a little stronger climbing up the rope wall, and he inched out a victory - though Mamoru couldn't tell if that pleased him or not. However, he was definitely pleased with Ami stopped to congratulate him on a fine performance.
As Mamoru and Usagi readied themselves at the start of the course, they waited a moment while the assistants fixed the tires, straightening them out again.
“How'd you end up with a physical activity, odango?” Mamoru found himself saying, and cursed himself for being such an idiot.
“Shut up, jerk.” She wrinkled her nose again. It really was adorable. “We drew straws, if you must know! Otherwise Mako-chan would be here and I wouldn't have to worry about this...” she trailed off in a low whine.
He wanted to reassure her, tell her that she would likely do fine, but the whistle blew and they had to get going.
Mamoru had to give Usagi credit, she was determined and did rather well, all things considered... and perhaps he slowed down a bit to make her look better. Maybe. Just a bit.
When it came to the final part, racing through the tires peppering the ground, things went wrong. Usagi's foot caught in the inner lip of the tire, and she face planted.
Halting in his steps, Mamoru turned around to find her trying to push herself up, one hand to her nose. Uncaring about the game anymore, he turned back, reaching her side before any of the show's medics could as the host called for a commercial break.
He crouched by her side, gripping her elbow and helping her to sit up. “Let me see,” he pulled down her hand. Her nose was red, but not bleeding, and he carefully placed his hands on either side of her face, thumbs gently exploring for any damage.
Usagi winced once, but didn't say a word.
Mamoru dropped his hands, and looked away, wondering if people would attest the coloring of his cheeks to the exertion of the course.
“It's not broken, just a little bruised,” he forced the words out.
“How do you know for sure?”
“Because once upon a time someone accidentally elbowed me in the face; I know what a broken nose is like.” He met her eyes and she flushed.
“I tried to forget about that....” she trailed off, glancing down. “Sorry.”
“It was a long a time ago. Come on, let's finish the race.” He stood up, offering her a hand. She took it, and he pulled her up. Just before they reached the finish line, at a slow walk rather than a race, Usagi stopped.
“You would've won, you cross first.”
“It doesn't matter--” he stopped short when she placed both her hands on his back and shoved him over the line.
“You won,” she said again just before she was crowded with a medic, Haruka and Ami.
“Odango is fine,” Mamoru said.
Haruka looked up from hovering over Usagi in a near panic, and scrunched her face in confusion. “Odango? How come I've never heard that before?”
Mamoru smiled as Usagi froze, eyes wide. “When she first started training she came in where these ridiculous pigtails with buns. They looked like odango.” He shrugged. “The name stuck.”
“That's cute.” Haruka grinned, patting Usagi on top of the head.
“She got me back for it though, the next day we got paired in dance rehearsal and she flailed a bit, landing a solid blow to my nose. Gushed blood, and you can see the bump where it didn't heal quite right.” He pointed to the bridge of his nose.
Usagi flushed a pretty pink, and looked ready to apologize again for the old incident, but everything was ruined when Motoki breezed up, heaping attention onto her.
She beamed under the care, batting her eyes and flirting with the handsome host. Mamoru sighed in defeat and turned toward his friends. Keiichi patted his shoulder, and for once Shiro kept his mouth shut.
The next few games were evenly matched - a quiz section that Ami trumped everyone on without even trying. A matter of flexibility, which once they saw Haruka limberly do the splits Keiichi asked if they could forfeit.
They were saved from further embarrassment by a game of pull-ups. Haruka, while in good shape, could not match Keiichi's strength.
In the end, each team earned close to the same amount for their charities and everyone was pleased. Except for Mamoru, but he was positive at that point nothing would make him happy. Especially with how much Usagi flirted with Motoki. Shiro had warned him once that his surly mood was obvious, but he didn't really care.
“Alright, this has been a wonderful show so far!” Motoki enthused, microphone in one hand, index cards in the other. Still in the ridiculous turtle costume. “We would like to offer up the teams a chance to earn a bit more!”
The crowd cheered and he called for everyone to line up. Mamoru slowly fell into line, wondering how he'd ended up next to Usagi.
He glanced down the row, saw Ami at the other with Shiro next to her, rocking on the balls of his feet. Next was Keiichi, then Haruka, and finally Usagi on Mamoru's right.
“This will be a team exercise,” Motoki explained. “Which means you must to work together. You'll be passing these slips of paper between you, hoping to place as many as you can into this basket here.” He indicated the woven bowl at Mamoru's side.
Everyone in line looked from the stack of papers next to Ami, to the empty basket next to Mamoru. It was obvious everyone was thinking the same thing: it was too easy.
Motoki moved stand in front of everyone and grinned. “The only rule is that you cannot use your hands. This is a suck and blow game!”
A murmur ran through the crowd, all oohing and aahing. Of the line up though, everyone was less excited.
Ami startled and squawked, her face already turning a deep red; though Shiro bit his lips to keep from grinning. Keiichi sighed, eyed Shiro and then shared a disgusted glance with Haruka. Usagi was staring straight ahead, eyes wide. And Mamoru wasn't sure if he was happy or frightened.
The music started, and with a trembling hand Ami grabbed the first slip of paper, pressing it against her mouth and inhaling. Shiro darted forward, pressing his mouth against hers as he took the paper on inhale while while Ami blew out and then game was off.
It actually proceeded quickly, with no major issues other than the mimed kissing making everyone uncomfortable. Soon the slips of paper were stacking up as they quickly made their way through them.
However, people started getting tired, the need to breathe more properly getting stronger the longer they went, and the last few slips started causing problems.
First Shiro missed his mark, dropping the paper and ending up in an actual liplock with Keiichi.
Keiichi pulled back, shaking himself in disgust, but Shiro wasn't so inclined. He clasped his hands to his chest and leaned his head against Keiichi's shoulder, batting his eyes.
“Oh, K1-sama!” He crooned much to Keiichi's mortification, and the audience’s tittering applause.
“I'm so glad it wasn't me...” Usagi mumbled, nearly as pink as Ami. Haruka waggled her eyebrows at the shorter girl.
“No kisses, huh?”
“Haruka!” Usagi abashed, slapping the other woman's arm.
They started again, and when Haruka took the slip from Keiichi, she turned on Usagi with a gleam in her eye. Before Usagi could do much of anything, Haruka blew out the paper, grabbed Usagi around the waist and dipped in her a showy kiss. From where he stood, Mamoru could see it was a stage kiss, but to the audience and the cameras he was sure it looked real enough.
Shiro clapped along with the audience when Haruka straightened up, a beet red Usagi tucked under her arm. After things calmed down, it was time for the final slip.
It went smoothly, everyone have regained their breaths after the various interruptions. Mamoru waited as Usagi swung around with the paper. He leaned forward and just a second before his lips made contact with the paper, there was a flash of blue and blond in the corner of his eye and the paper disappeared, leaving him with no time to recover and he found his lips pressing against Usagi's.
Her lips were soft, softer than he'd ever thought - and he thought about it rather a lot - and he was shocked to discover she didn't pull back immediately.
It lasted only a few seconds, he was sure, but to him it was a lifetime, and he lived and died several times in those few heartbeats. When Usagi broke the kiss, cheeks were as red as tomatoes, and the skin of her neck was as pink as her tights.
Mamoru straightened up, hand to his mouth as his own cheeks flushed with heat. He wasn't sure if he should kill Shiro or thank him.
“FANTASTIC GAME EVERYONE!” Shiro crowed, hopping in one place with the stolen slip clutched in one hand.
He would kill him. Definitely kill him.
Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4.
“Now, wait. Which one are you again?” Venus pursed her lips, finger tapping her chin. “Big guy... starts with an N, right?”
The man standing across from her sighed in exasperation. “Kunzite,” he said carefully.
“Riiight, pink lining. The other guy has green, so he's... Jadeite?”
“Nephrite,” he corrected. “You're the leader aren't you? It's so nice to know you pay attention to the details.”
“I do when they matter.”
“Ouch.” He rolled his eyes.
Venus crossed her arms, head cocked to one side. “What's up with your costumes anyway? Aren't they a little ridiculous? I mean capes? Really?”
“Says the Barbie doll in stripper heels?” Kunzite snorted incredulously. “Excuse me if I don't take your opinion very seriously.”
Unperturbed, Venus looked up at the jewelry store they stood in front of, then side-eyed Kunzite. “So you want to play a game?”
“What?”
“Well, my sources say there's a crystal here worth checking out, and I assume your sources say the same thing. What do you say we make this interesting... see who's quickest?”
“I thought you Senshi didn't like to get your hands dirty.” He waggled his gloved fingers at her. “Breaking and entering is against the law, isn't it?”
“We do what needs to be done. We're after the same thing, I'm not about to let the Shitennou get their hands on the crystal.”
“Fair enough. So we're going to see who is the faster cat-burglar?” His eyes narrowed behind his mask, but finally he shrugged in agreement.
“Alright on the count of three? One,” she started, holding up her finger. “Two. Th-OH DAMN IT!” She bellowed the curse, startling the man next to her. “A youma!”
He turned quickly, noting the large trash can blundering down the street. Kunzite turned back to her with a smile. “Let me, princess.”
Without even looking back at the creature, he thrust his arm out behind him, cape flourishing with the movement and sent a barrage of icicles toward the youma. However, it was no ordinary trash can, but rather one the homeless used for bonfires.
The lid lifted up, shooting out a flame, destroying the icicles before they were even close. Venus snorted out a laugh.
“Aw, did the mean ole youma melt you icicles?” She cooed in a baby voice. “Stand aside, Kunzy, watch a professional in action!”
Kunzite ran his tongue over his teeth, completely unimpressed. Leaning against a car parked on the street, legs crossed, and one hand on his hip, he nodded toward the youma. “By all means.”
“The wind up!” Venus started circling her arm like a softball player. “And the pitch!” She mimed tossing a ball while crying, “Venus Crescent Beam Smash!” Unfortunately, this did not have the desired effect as the golden crescent bounced off the hull of the youma, skidding back toward Venus' feet, fizzling out with a sad little pop.
“Very impressive.” Kunzite clapped slowly, sound muffled by his gloves.
“That's never happened before,” she mused. She was thoroughly annoyed that the one time it did happen was when the leader of the Shitennou was present - because teasing aside, she knew which Shitennou was which.
“Okay, what do you say we team up just this once? Get this little thing taken care of, and then we'll get back to the crystal.”
“Seems fair enough.” He held out his hand. They shook soundly before focusing on the youma again.
They worked together surprisingly well, seemingly able to guess the other person's action without needing prompting. This unnerved both of them more than would care to admit. Soon the youma was nothing but a scorch mark on the pavement, having burned itself out.
“Not bad,” Venus said.
Kunzite turned toward her, mouth opened to return the compliment, but snapped it shut when the wailing siren on a police car sounded down the street.
“Looks like we'll have to continue this later?” He said, turning to take the roof tops.
“Apparently.” Venus shrugged. They both took off, heading in opposite directions, before the police cars came whizzing around the corner.
*~*~*
“HELLOOOOO EVERYBODY!” The host of the Crown Royale Variety Show called the audience. “I'm your host, Furuhata Motoki, thank you for joining us today! We have a special show for you!”
The young man was happy and enthusiastic, earning cheers from the audience. “First of all you're probably wondering why I'm dressed as I am.” He swept his hand, indicating his turtle costume. “But we're celebrating Toshi's 100th birthday this week! We encourage everyone to head down to the Tokyo Sea Life Park to wish the beloved sea turtle a very happy birthday!”
The large screen behind Motoki flashed up with a picture of the turtle and a pasted on birthday hat, and a wave of laughter ran through the crowd.
“Anyway!” Motoki broke in after a moment. “We have a very special today! Our teams today are made up entirely of members from the Beat Kings and 7ucky Girls!!” He cried, and the crowd in the bleachers went wild; cheering and clapping.
“The Blue Team today will be, Usagi, Haruka, and Amiiiiiii!” He drew out the last name as the girls made their way out onto the small stage.
Usagi was first, bounding out in a jean skirt with pink leggings and a cream sweater, waving at the fans and a grin stretching across her face. Haruka followed a moment later, her short blond hair neatly combed, and dressed in tight black pants and an oversized shirt with a multitude of belts accentuating her trim waist. Lastly was Ami, a little more timid, and wearing a conservative baby blue cardigan and grey slacks.
Taking a microphone from one of the show aids, Usagi greeted the crowd. “Good afternoon everyone!!” She waved. “Thank you so much for the warm welcome, Motoki-kun!” She smiled up at him brightly.
“Thank you for coming out today, Usagi-chan!” He returned the smile, causing Usagi's cheeks to flush just a bit.
“Now, your opponents today will be the Red Team; Mamoru, Keiichi, and Shiro!” They came out close together, Keiichi was first, his long strides carrying him quickly across the stage. He wore his usual dark dress pants and vest, and today wore a button up shirt in a dark purple color. Mamoru came next dressed in khaki pants and black shirt, and Shiro brought up the rear, playing to the crowd. His jeans, his trademark, were tight and dark, and he wore a blue t-shirt with the 7ucky Girl's logo on the front.
“Welcome, welcome.” Motoki greeted them as Shiro was handed a microphone.
“Wonderful to be here!” the blond man cried. “Look at that beautiful audience! And our beautiful competitors!” He winked at the girls. Keiichi seemed rather indifferent to the entire thing, while Mamoru was on edge.
“Now the teams normally compete for cash prizes, but today all the winnings will go to charity, so I hope you all try your very best!” Motoki said. “Now if you'll all come with me, let's get the first task underway!”
Excitedly Motoki grabbed Usagi's hand, pulling her off stage to the open course. Mamoru scowled as he and the others followed.
“Oh no, Mamoru, looks like you have competition for Usagi's attention,” Shiro hissed into his ear.
Mamoru glared at his friend. “Shut up, Shiro.”
“Mam0 will need to be a gallant knight to win fair Usako's heart!” He clasped his hands to his chest. “Like a fairy tale!”
“I hate you.”
Keiichi grabbed both of them by their elbows, dragging to their marked spots on the stage. “Both of you be quiet.”
They listened to the instructions for the game, an obstacle course, and Mamoru found himself standing next to Usagi. He swallowed thickly, ignored Shiro's eye waggled eyebrows, and tried to smiled at Usagi.
She glanced up at him, wrinkled her nose, and turned her full attention back to Motoki, eyes glowing. He ground his teeth.
They cut to commercial while the rest of the stage was set up, also allowing the contestants to 'gear up' for the course, which meant pads and headgear and coveralls in their team color.
The two groups separated to get ready, Mamoru cast a fleeting glance toward Usagi, but she was chatting happily with the host. He ground his teeth more.
“Oi, Mamoru!” Shiro waved a hand in front of his face. “Oh, good you're paying attention now. Right so, it's race through the course. Which means Keiichi is going up against Haruka.”
“Why is that?” The taller man arched a brow.
“Because she is athletic and more competitive than Niou, which means she will do anything to win. You're big, you can handle it.” Shiro clapped him on the shoulder. Keiichi frowned.
“I'll go against Miss Ami.” Shiro nodded emphatically. “Which leaves Mam0 and Usako....”
“What?” Mamoru gaped.
“You're welcome, friend!” Shiro grinned and turned away, allowing a stage hand to place the headgear.
Once the show was back on air, they all quickly got into their positions. Each team would send one person, the first person to reach the end of the obstacle course was the winner. First up were Keiichi and Haruka.
The blonde woman grinned manically before the whistle was blown, and the pair were off; climbing ropes, slithering under netting, and dashing through tires.
Keiichi was fit, strong and long legged, but Haruka was ungodly fast, slashing through the course in record time. By the time she crossed the finish line, Keiichi was still on the last leg. Haruka grinned at the cheering crowd, dusting off her hands like it had all been nothing.
Next came Ami and Shiro.
For her part, Ami did try, and she was graceful and strong as she went through the course, but Shiro was just a little faster through the tires, a little stronger climbing up the rope wall, and he inched out a victory - though Mamoru couldn't tell if that pleased him or not. However, he was definitely pleased with Ami stopped to congratulate him on a fine performance.
As Mamoru and Usagi readied themselves at the start of the course, they waited a moment while the assistants fixed the tires, straightening them out again.
“How'd you end up with a physical activity, odango?” Mamoru found himself saying, and cursed himself for being such an idiot.
“Shut up, jerk.” She wrinkled her nose again. It really was adorable. “We drew straws, if you must know! Otherwise Mako-chan would be here and I wouldn't have to worry about this...” she trailed off in a low whine.
He wanted to reassure her, tell her that she would likely do fine, but the whistle blew and they had to get going.
Mamoru had to give Usagi credit, she was determined and did rather well, all things considered... and perhaps he slowed down a bit to make her look better. Maybe. Just a bit.
When it came to the final part, racing through the tires peppering the ground, things went wrong. Usagi's foot caught in the inner lip of the tire, and she face planted.
Halting in his steps, Mamoru turned around to find her trying to push herself up, one hand to her nose. Uncaring about the game anymore, he turned back, reaching her side before any of the show's medics could as the host called for a commercial break.
He crouched by her side, gripping her elbow and helping her to sit up. “Let me see,” he pulled down her hand. Her nose was red, but not bleeding, and he carefully placed his hands on either side of her face, thumbs gently exploring for any damage.
Usagi winced once, but didn't say a word.
Mamoru dropped his hands, and looked away, wondering if people would attest the coloring of his cheeks to the exertion of the course.
“It's not broken, just a little bruised,” he forced the words out.
“How do you know for sure?”
“Because once upon a time someone accidentally elbowed me in the face; I know what a broken nose is like.” He met her eyes and she flushed.
“I tried to forget about that....” she trailed off, glancing down. “Sorry.”
“It was a long a time ago. Come on, let's finish the race.” He stood up, offering her a hand. She took it, and he pulled her up. Just before they reached the finish line, at a slow walk rather than a race, Usagi stopped.
“You would've won, you cross first.”
“It doesn't matter--” he stopped short when she placed both her hands on his back and shoved him over the line.
“You won,” she said again just before she was crowded with a medic, Haruka and Ami.
“Odango is fine,” Mamoru said.
Haruka looked up from hovering over Usagi in a near panic, and scrunched her face in confusion. “Odango? How come I've never heard that before?”
Mamoru smiled as Usagi froze, eyes wide. “When she first started training she came in where these ridiculous pigtails with buns. They looked like odango.” He shrugged. “The name stuck.”
“That's cute.” Haruka grinned, patting Usagi on top of the head.
“She got me back for it though, the next day we got paired in dance rehearsal and she flailed a bit, landing a solid blow to my nose. Gushed blood, and you can see the bump where it didn't heal quite right.” He pointed to the bridge of his nose.
Usagi flushed a pretty pink, and looked ready to apologize again for the old incident, but everything was ruined when Motoki breezed up, heaping attention onto her.
She beamed under the care, batting her eyes and flirting with the handsome host. Mamoru sighed in defeat and turned toward his friends. Keiichi patted his shoulder, and for once Shiro kept his mouth shut.
The next few games were evenly matched - a quiz section that Ami trumped everyone on without even trying. A matter of flexibility, which once they saw Haruka limberly do the splits Keiichi asked if they could forfeit.
They were saved from further embarrassment by a game of pull-ups. Haruka, while in good shape, could not match Keiichi's strength.
In the end, each team earned close to the same amount for their charities and everyone was pleased. Except for Mamoru, but he was positive at that point nothing would make him happy. Especially with how much Usagi flirted with Motoki. Shiro had warned him once that his surly mood was obvious, but he didn't really care.
“Alright, this has been a wonderful show so far!” Motoki enthused, microphone in one hand, index cards in the other. Still in the ridiculous turtle costume. “We would like to offer up the teams a chance to earn a bit more!”
The crowd cheered and he called for everyone to line up. Mamoru slowly fell into line, wondering how he'd ended up next to Usagi.
He glanced down the row, saw Ami at the other with Shiro next to her, rocking on the balls of his feet. Next was Keiichi, then Haruka, and finally Usagi on Mamoru's right.
“This will be a team exercise,” Motoki explained. “Which means you must to work together. You'll be passing these slips of paper between you, hoping to place as many as you can into this basket here.” He indicated the woven bowl at Mamoru's side.
Everyone in line looked from the stack of papers next to Ami, to the empty basket next to Mamoru. It was obvious everyone was thinking the same thing: it was too easy.
Motoki moved stand in front of everyone and grinned. “The only rule is that you cannot use your hands. This is a suck and blow game!”
A murmur ran through the crowd, all oohing and aahing. Of the line up though, everyone was less excited.
Ami startled and squawked, her face already turning a deep red; though Shiro bit his lips to keep from grinning. Keiichi sighed, eyed Shiro and then shared a disgusted glance with Haruka. Usagi was staring straight ahead, eyes wide. And Mamoru wasn't sure if he was happy or frightened.
The music started, and with a trembling hand Ami grabbed the first slip of paper, pressing it against her mouth and inhaling. Shiro darted forward, pressing his mouth against hers as he took the paper on inhale while while Ami blew out and then game was off.
It actually proceeded quickly, with no major issues other than the mimed kissing making everyone uncomfortable. Soon the slips of paper were stacking up as they quickly made their way through them.
However, people started getting tired, the need to breathe more properly getting stronger the longer they went, and the last few slips started causing problems.
First Shiro missed his mark, dropping the paper and ending up in an actual liplock with Keiichi.
Keiichi pulled back, shaking himself in disgust, but Shiro wasn't so inclined. He clasped his hands to his chest and leaned his head against Keiichi's shoulder, batting his eyes.
“Oh, K1-sama!” He crooned much to Keiichi's mortification, and the audience’s tittering applause.
“I'm so glad it wasn't me...” Usagi mumbled, nearly as pink as Ami. Haruka waggled her eyebrows at the shorter girl.
“No kisses, huh?”
“Haruka!” Usagi abashed, slapping the other woman's arm.
They started again, and when Haruka took the slip from Keiichi, she turned on Usagi with a gleam in her eye. Before Usagi could do much of anything, Haruka blew out the paper, grabbed Usagi around the waist and dipped in her a showy kiss. From where he stood, Mamoru could see it was a stage kiss, but to the audience and the cameras he was sure it looked real enough.
Shiro clapped along with the audience when Haruka straightened up, a beet red Usagi tucked under her arm. After things calmed down, it was time for the final slip.
It went smoothly, everyone have regained their breaths after the various interruptions. Mamoru waited as Usagi swung around with the paper. He leaned forward and just a second before his lips made contact with the paper, there was a flash of blue and blond in the corner of his eye and the paper disappeared, leaving him with no time to recover and he found his lips pressing against Usagi's.
Her lips were soft, softer than he'd ever thought - and he thought about it rather a lot - and he was shocked to discover she didn't pull back immediately.
It lasted only a few seconds, he was sure, but to him it was a lifetime, and he lived and died several times in those few heartbeats. When Usagi broke the kiss, cheeks were as red as tomatoes, and the skin of her neck was as pink as her tights.
Mamoru straightened up, hand to his mouth as his own cheeks flushed with heat. He wasn't sure if he should kill Shiro or thank him.
“FANTASTIC GAME EVERYONE!” Shiro crowed, hopping in one place with the stolen slip clutched in one hand.
He would kill him. Definitely kill him.