Title: Scavenger Hunt

By: Scarlet

Rated: PG

Standard Disclaimers Apply

Nothing new. Just revamping all the chapters a bit so they fit better with the last three chapters.

Chapter One

Usagi slowly poked her head through the arcade doors. She ran her eyes around the arcade to make sure that a certain dark haired young man wasn't sitting at his usual seat at the counter. Seeing that the only occupants were an old lady sitting next to a young child and a group of school girls admiring the close up view of the ever popular Motoki in his dashing apron, Usagi slowly made her way to the very back of the arcade to a booth practically hidden from view in the corner.

She had been gone for a week for vacation with her family only to find out that sometime during her absence, one of her her *ex* best friends had somehow let her little secret slip.

What does this secret have to do with the ever annoying Chiba Mamoru?

*Everything*

A while back, at one of the girls' sleepovers, some classified information had been found out. They were giggling and poking fun about some of their crushes. From Makoto's day to day ' He looks like my old boyfriend ' to Ami's distraction from her books, the newest boy in school, nothing was left unturned.

Feeling left out because everybody seemed to have an infatuation at the moment, Usagi blurted out without thinking (which she never did anyway as Rei would kindly put) that she thought ' Mamoru was actually cute and wasn't that bad a guy'. That comment received wide eyes and open mouths.

With Minako drilling her until her head hurt, she finally admitted that she had a tiny.. *tiny* practically nonexistent crush on Mamoru-baka himself. After they had poked so much fun of her that her face was red as a cherry and ready to kill herself for being so rash about telling them, she made them swear not to tell anybody or else they would be dead meat.

They, had of course, agreed.

Well someone was going to pay.

The moment Usagi came home, a nervous blonde had been waiting for her at the front door. Minako grabbed her arm and dragged her for a stroll down the street. There was a guilty expression on her face, so Usagi knew something was wrong. Minako had blurted out that while she was at the arcade yesterday she had accidentally spilled the beans about her little crush to Motoki, and swiftly ran away.

Usagi wasn't really mad at Minako…well maybe at first. She knew though that a certain blonde had a crush on Motoki and had probably told him to just get his attention. But she could have just spilled a milkshake on him if she wanted his attention that badly!

Now she was stuck. The best friend of her *former* crush (it was just a passing phase Usagi told herself) knew her secret. Motoki was a nice guy and she prayed that he didn't tell Mamoru.

Now that would be bad.

Even though it wasn't true anymore, Mamoru would find some way to torture her about it. He would have the edge in their little spats because he would know he had some other kind of effect on her other than anger and annoyance. He would know that when he was close she would feel her stomach flutter and her nerves would go haywire. Which they didn't any more.

She was *so* over him.

Which was Usagi's reason for sitting in the back of the arcade hoping to have a word with Motoki before Mamoru came in for his usual afternoon coffee. She had to tell Motoki that she was over him and that telling Mamoru about it wasn't the best of ideas.

As Motoki came over to take her order, Usagi sat up a little straighter.

"Hey Usagi! What can I get you today?" he asked in his usual cheerful tone. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but if you looked close enough there, was a hint of mischief in his green eyes.

"Actually I came here to talk to you, but a milkshake wouldn't do me any harm" Usagi replied smiling up at him. She might be a little pensive about her questioning of Motoki, but she had time for a nice cold milkshake. During her vacation, her mom's drink of choice for her children was wheat grass... now that was unhealthy.

Smiling knowingly Motoki went to fill out her order. Usagi wished he would hurry up with it though. She would drink, talk, and then leave before Mamoru even stepped into the arcade.

And that plan was blown right out of the water as the automatic doors opened and in stepped Mamoru in his usual green jacket. His black hair slightly windblown and his dark blue eyes expressionless. He had sat at one of the stools waiting for Motoki, he hadn't spotted Usagi yet and if she was careful he wouldn't.

It just wasn't her day.

As Motoki came out with her milkshake, he stopped to talk to Mamoru and helpfully pointed at Usagi. She wanted to crawl down to the floor and die as he turned his head and smiled at her. He better not have found out.

When Motoki walked over to her table she hastily grabbed his arm and pulled him down to the seat across from her. Usagi gave him the evil eye. "I know you know," she said. "Minako told me. So don't give me that innocent smile like you don't know what I'm talking about!

Because you do! You better not have told him either or else, Motoki, I swear I will hurt your pretty little head with a blunt object!" Finished, she took a deep breath and looked back at Mamoru, who was now looking at them and then back at Motoki, who still hasn't said anything.

"Well? Don't you want to say anything?" Usagi was slowly starting to get worried about him.

"Oops…"

Her eyes widened. "What do you mean oops?" Usagi asked with rising panic.

"I mean oops like, Oops I didn't know you didn't want me to tell Mamoru" Motoki replied shrugging his shoulders.

"Are you *nuts* of course I don't want Mamoru to know anything like that! I can't believe you told him!" she cried in panic earning herself a raised eye brow from Mamoru, who was still staring.

"Well, I thought that if a girl was in love with a guy. The guy should know" Motoki replied in a matter of fact tone.

"*LOVE HIM*" Usagi noticed that Mamoru wasn't the only one staring now. She quieted down and looked straight at Motoki with a death glare. "I do not *love him*. I never said that! I only said he was cute! But not anymore! I'm over him. It was a very short phase and now it's over! So you go over there and tell him that I do not love him! I don't even like him and he's a jerk!" she finished off by pushing him towards the counter with a smack in the arm.

"Just tell him yourself. He's heading over here now" he said standing up apparently intending to leave them alone. Before Usagi could grab his arm to tell him not to leave, he was gone and sitting next to her was Mamoru.

Yes, *next* to her. Not across from her. Nope.

His eyes were so blue, she could see right into them. A grin had spread across Mamoru's face and Usagi wondered where a black hole was when she actually needed it.

"Hey Odango-atama, I heard some news about you from a little bird" he said slinging his arm around her shoulders.

"And I say you should forget what the birdie said because it's been misinformed. Then kill it and have it for dinner!" she said shrugging his arm off.

But it found itself back there.

"Naw, I kind of liked what the news was. Flattered actually. Plus the little birdie had pretty good sources"

Usagi was steaming. She knew it. She just knew it. He would use the information to taunt her forever now. He was still talking too. Why bother listening?

"Since you are madly deeply desperately in love with me. I thought we ought to go out on a date before we get married" Mamoru finished off pulling her closer and helping himself to her now melting milkshake, then offering her some of it.

Pushing the milkshake away she looked at him dead in the eye. "I am *not* in love with you! Minako was a little bit exited; you know how she gets sometimes. And whatever I told them isn't true anymore. Because any feelings I have for you, not counting the feeling of annoyance, isn't there anymore!" She sat back down, her lips pouting. Her blood pressure was probably through the roof.

"So does that mean you won't marry me?"

Usagi's loud scream rang through the arcade. She pushed her way past Mamoru and was about to run out the arcade doors, when an arm suddenly caught her wrist.

"I'm totally serious Usagi." Those gorgeous blue eyes lost their humorous spark.

Wide eyed, she slapped his hand off her and ran. "Give it a few days and the whole thing will blow over" she kept thinking to herself.

Apparently Mamoru had snapped.

Usagi had given the subject a few days. It's now been a week. Whenever she bumped into him and fallen over, she had expected teasing and the usual 'odango' cracks. But no. Hell had frozen over because instead of the usual fighting, Mamoru had actually asked her out to a date.

She hated when he picked on her about her grades and her klutz attacks, but to taunt her about her *former* feelings about him were just plain cruel.

Of course Mamoru denied that he was joking with her. He had told her over and over again that it wasn't a joke. That he was serious about taking her out.

"Yeah right," Usagi thought to herself. You can't go from hating a girl one second then confessing your love for her the next.

Well she was tired from running away from Mamoru. If he was really sincere about his feelings for her, which she knew he wasn't, Mamoru would just have to prove it. Usagi looked at the piece of paper in her hand and smiled.

'We'll just see how far Mamoru will go' she thought as she folded the paper in half.

Mamoru had just walked through the arcade doors. Spotting her, he forfeited his usual seat at the counter for a seat next to her. He had opened his mouth to start talking, getting ready to say another invitation to dinner probably, but Usagi was too fast. She put her hands over his mouth to stop him.

"Before you say, what I know you're going to say. You have to listen to me first" she said He opened his mouth again to comment but Usagi stopped him again. "No, No, Mamoru-san. Listen. Don't talk. See, I know what you're doing with your little 'I really do love you, Usagi' pranks. I'm not falling for it. Don't shake your head like that. Since you seem so determined to take me out. Then I have a deal for you."

Pulling out the list and handing it to him she continued. "I've decided that *if* you really do love me. Then you'll be willing to do anything I want. That's a list of what I want."

Mamoru looked at her like she was crazy. "Usa, you know I would do anything for you." Glancing back at the objects on the list he said "But these things are impossible."

"Not if you love me." Usagi countered, feeling very smug. She knew he wouldn't do it. She felt

a pit of disappointment in her stomach. Just a very tiny pit.

"Okay, fine. If I get everything on the list, what do I get?" he asked.

"A date, but you have to get everything." Usagi said.

"No deal. There's a lot of stuff on that list. One date isn't going to do it." Mamoru said. He was willing to do anything to prove that he was serious about starting a relationship with her. Only one date wasn't going to satisfy him though.

Rolling her eyes Usagi sighed. It wasn't like he was actually going to complete the list. "Fine what-ever you want"

"Marry me."

Eyes wide and face pale. "Excuse me?"

Mamoru repeated himself. "We don't have to get married today, but you know. Someday. When you're older"

'He's just messing with your head, yeah. Married to Mamoru. Right!' Usagi's head was spinning.

"Deal. You get me every single thing on that list. And I will promise to marry you." she said. There was no way he could find all those things anyway.

"Usako, sweetheart. Start thinking about what kind of cake you want," Mamoru declared.

And with that, he quickly kissed her on the cheek and slipped out the arcade doors.

Usagi ran her fingers across her cheek. 'Usako? That's the sweetest name….. No way, he can't possibly have actual feelings for me.'

Two days and not one word from Mamoru. She was a genius. Usagi just *knew* that Mamoru was a total fake about his feelings. To think he would go that low just to try to tease her about it. Marriage, riiight!

Usagi decided that she wasn't really in the mood for the arcade today; actually she figured that if she avoided the place for a day or two she wouldn't have to see Mamoru at all. So he couldn't have a chance to tell her some lame excuse about why he couldn't find the stuff she had asked from him.

Using her key to open the door, she inhaled the early smell of dinner being prepared in the kitchen. Pulling off her shoes, Usagi made her way towards the kitchen to see if there was anything to eat. Passing by the table in the living room she nearly fainted when she saw the vase of roses.

"Mom! Where did you get these roses?" she asked her mother. Maybe they were a present for her mother from her dad.

"Actually dear they're for you! A nice young man delivered them just a few moments ago." her mother said

In the middle of her living room was a large vase filled to the brim with different colored roses.

From the traditional red to the serene white and every other color imaginable. There was even a blue rose, one of the rarest breeds of all. And in the middle standing out from all the bright colors were her worst fears, a single black rose.

Plucking the card from the rose she read:

"Usako,

I went everywhere getting every kind of color. But sadly I couldn't find a black one.

But with the help of a white rose and a little spray paint I got it.

One down six more to go.

- Love Mamoru"

Just changed a few things. My first outline for this story had 10 chapters. Not because I had 10 items but because I just like even numbers. It was driving me crazy trying to find 10 things that Mamoru could actually pull off so I decided to just stick with the 7 I had. So I just needed to go back and adjust numbers and things so everything fits better once I add the last few chapters.

So I'm going to try finishing the revamp as fast as possible so I can continue on with the new chapters.

For those who have been waiting so long for this update I deeply apologize. College ended up being far more difficult than I had expected. But I'm all graduated. I'm done with my boards and I'm just currently waiting around for job interviews. So I figure while I have some free time on my hands I would go back and finish this story that I've left open for far too long.