THE COUNTDOWN

Chapter Thirteen: Gravity

"Hello Mamoru..." the angle said in a hushed tone.

There were so many ways this situation could go and Usagi needed it to go the right way. She tried to keep eye contact, but his staring started to embarrass her. She averted her eyes elsewhere and waited as patiently as she could until he made the next move.

Say something. Do something. Anything!

The blonde girl laced her fingers together in front of her and waited. This was getting to be awkward. She understood that seeing a dead person right now, there wasn't much of a protocol on it...but still. You'd think after a little while he'd have gotten over this by now. This was Chiba Mamoru. She cleared her throat and then scratched the back of her head. Usagi opened her mouth to say something, but the soaked gentleman beat her to it.

"Are you real?" he asked almost as quietly as she had introduced herself. Usagi averted her eyes again and bit down on her lip. How was she supposed to answer that question? Better yet, how was she supposed to prove to him that she was telling him the truth? Again, no protocol on how to talk to a dead person or answer the other side's questions. In truth, Usagi had so much information and little time to make sense of it all.

This was a bad idea. Mamoru had been a bad idea. She thought he was going to be a better candidate to help her seeing as he is one of the smartest, besides Ami of course, in the world. Surely there was a way for him to get over the whole being dead thing quickly enough to get down to business.

Instead of saying anything, she just shrugged. After a moment she said, "I think so."

The ebony haired man waltzed over to her and she hadn't realized just how quickly his long legs could carry him. She wanted to move out of the way, afraid that he had, indeed, gone into attack mode. His sapphire eyes kept her clued to her spot. She looked up at him and gulped. Never had she been this close to Mamoru, intentionally. Out of instinct, Usagi felt the urge to move. She did not like being in this cornered position, especially with tall, dark, and mute in front of her.

Baby blue eyes followed as one of his hands raised and ever-so-slightly touched the side of her face. His eyes widened even more as his brain made the connection of seeing and feeling her. Mamoru had been the type to not believe anything unless he could see or touch something, Usagi remembered. She really hoped that this was all he needed to snap back to his old self.

And then he took hold of her cheek between his finger and thumb, pinching and lightly tugging at it. Usagi shrieked and shoved him away from her. "BAKA!" The high pitched sound made him wince and the blonde was glad to have caused him about the same amount of pain. She rubbed her cheek, looking at him as if she could just blast him away with one of her attacks...if she had her wand.

"Jerk." She mumbled. "That's my face and if I never let my Aunt Masa do that to me, sure to hell not gonna stand for you to do it." Usagi pouted and then put both arms straight down, making her hands into fists. "What's the big idea anyway? Geeze you are acting stupid. Snap out of it already you arrogant piece of-"

"Shut up."

Mamoru closed the space between them again and Usagi yelped. She had thought about escaping a second to late as the man had one arm around her. The palm of that hand resting on her back and pushing her towards him. His lips crashed into hers and the blonde's body went limp. She was surprised, but she wasn't sure what surprised her more. The fact that she was now kissing her enemy or that she was lettinghim continue to do it.

Her body quaked as his other hand found the back of her neck and lifted her up towards him. She reached up for his shirt and grabbed two fist-fulls. Their bodies pressed together and Usagi now noticed just how much Mamoru was soaked to the bone from today's rain fall. Her sweats were taking in the extra water from his and it sent a chill throughout her body. However, their body heat up against each other made up for the dampness.

It was a long time before Mamoru and Usagi released their kiss. Their lungs burned from the lack of oxygen. He leaned against her and rested his forehead on hers. They were in sync as their chest moved up and down. Mamoru kept his eyes closed and licked his lips.

"I told myself-" he took in a deep breath and exhaled "that if...if I ever got the chance...I'd kiss you."

"Uh huh" Usagi nodded and exhaled. Both chuckled and Mamoru leaned away placing his hands on either side of her face. He took her in. All of her. The way her skin felt. Soft. Smooth. Warm. How, even with the light of the lamp, she seemed to have a certain glow about her. She always had a glow no matter where she was. He brought her head to rest under his chin and inhaled the scent of her hair. Only minutes ago he was torturing himself with just that thought.

He kissed her again. On the top of her head. Her forehead. Mamoru held her close to him and tried to take in everything with all his senses. He wanted this memory to last forever.

Usagi still held onto some loose material from the part of his shirt on his chest. He wanted to push her out just a little, enough to keep them close, but to look at her. However, Usagi didn't budge. Mamoru lifted his lips from her forehead and started to question her, but then felt two sharp pains on his nipples.

"O-o-w" he hissed before pushing his blonde angle at arms-length. "What was that for?"

The blonde looked up at him innocently, yet her mouth curved upward in a devilish grin. She shrugged. "Just making sure you were real."

Mamoru arched an eyebrow.

"Listen, we need to talk. I think you should-"

"Yes," the man stated and then started pulling Usagi towards the hallway where his bathroom and bedroom was "but I need to get out of these wet clothes and so do you..."

"Mamo-"

"...and I'm not letting you out of my sight. I don't want to even blink, I'm so afraid that you are just going to disappear."

"Yeah, but listen, really, we need to talk. There isn't much ti-"

"Where have you been this whole time? How did you come back?"

Mamoru pulled at Usagi's hand as they walked to his bathroom, grabbed a few towels, and then made it to his bedroom. He never let Usagi go. It was lucky for him that he had memorized the layout of his apartment. Otherwise, it would have been more difficult navigating as he walked backwards, always keeping his eyes on the blonde with him.

If this was a dream or a delusion. That was just fine. Let it be. He'd declare himself insane and be locked up in the looney bin as long as she was there. As long as he could see, feel, and hear her. He was riding this crazy train all the way to the white-padded room.

"Well that really is a long st-"

"How did you know where I live? When did you get here?"

"Cheat sheet and I haven't been here long. I tried goin-"

Mamoru sat Usagi on the corner of his bed, but then realized he'd have to let go of her to get his clothes. Usagi saw that he was torn and smiled at him gently.

"I'm not going anywhere. Go get changed before you catch your death."

A silence fell on them, then. The word death had a much more loaded meaning before than it did four months ago. Usagi sighed and then motioned for him to let go. The man hesitated, but then slowly started to ease away from their hold. He took one step at a time, backwards. He watched her intently as if any moment she'd just vanished.

"It's okay, Mamoru." she encouraged him. She put a hand over her eyes and motioned for him to hurry up.

In record time he had peeled away the wet material which had stuck to him like a second skin, dried off (barely) and put on fresh clothes. He decided to go with sweats like Usagi had apparently. He looked over at her and wondered where she got a pair of sweats from. Her small form hidden behind a size-too-large gray hoody and matching gray pants. She sported tennis shoes, but no socks? He realized that she also had her hair up and not in it's usual buns, but in a large, loose, bun hanging off her neck.

As he dried his hair with a towel, Mamoru moved back over to Usagi and sat next to her. She removed her hand from her sight to look at him.

"See. I'm still here."

"Yes. You are." Mamoru said in an almost half-statement, half-question. His curiosity was starting to get the best of him. She hadn't answered one question of his. She looked at him as if waiting for him to speak some more. Maybe he should give her a chance to answer...

Usagi took one of his hands and held it in her small ones. She smiled at him and sighed. "There is just so much that has happened and I haven't had the chance to grasp it all. First of all, you need to know that something big is about to go down and I need you."

"Why not go to the girls?" he asked and then instantly wished he'd kept his question to himself. "Sorry" Was it bad to notice how cute she looked when she was aggravated?

"Okay just let me get this all out. One, I did die and two, I'm not sure how or why I came back. I'm still trying to get over the fact that I died. That's kinda the majority of what's going on in my head right now...and my first kiss."

"Usagi-"

"Shh" The blonde put one of her hands over his mouth. "Pay close attention because this is very important." Mamoru nodded and Usagi pulled her hand away. She made sure too make direct eye contact with, turning her body so that she had his full attention. "You need to investigate the youma that killed me. There is more of a story behind it and you need to be on guard. Beryl has really out done herself this time and I'm afraid it's going to backfire on her."

Mamoru grew tense at the name of the enemy. That red headed bitch was going to pay for her crimes. He was about to stand when Usagi forced him to stay in place.

"Focus, Mamoru. This is important.. the youma is a parasite...a uhh..oh what is it called. A uhh...a dopleranger?"

"Doppelganger."

"Right. It's kinda like one of those things. Once it has infect you, it knows the person's life...has their memories...looks...even their powers. It mimics them almost perfectly. You need to go back to that day. The day I died and you need to remember the battle."

Before Usagi could say any more, the doorbell sounded and echoed off the bare walls of the apartment. Mamoru waved it off and pushed the blonde to finish. The doorbell sounded and the man growled under his breath. The visitor could wait. When his eyes moved back to Usagi, he watched as her eyes grew wide with fear. Her body began to shake and Mamoru squeezed her hands. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

Suddenly a beeping sound came from his bedside table. He huffed and went to grab it. Mamoru recognized the name on his cell phone.

"Rei, can this wai- oh. You're here? Yeah. Yeah, but can this wait. No, it's just that I'm in the middle of something and I need—oh. Alright. Well, give me a minute and I'll let you in."

Mamoru hung up the phone and looked over at Usagi. "She doesn't have to know you are here."

Usagi stood, taking a hold of his hands. Though she didn't say anything, her eyes told him she was afraid of being alone.

"It'll just be a minute. I promise. Just stay here."

Mamoru let go and started to walk out of the bedroom.

"Wait."

The ebony haired man stopped, his hand on the door knob, and turned to face her.

"Trojan Horse."

The doorbell began to ring again and Mamoru motioned for Usagi to stay put. He closed the door behind him.

Rei had better have some pretty damn good news to interrupt his time with Usagi. In a way, he almost felt catty that she had chosen to come to him instead of the others. Though they swore to always tell each other Usagi-Serenity-Negaverse information if any one of them came across something, Mamoru didn't want to quite tell anyone yet of his discovery.

He'd finally got his most desired wish and he wanted to enjoy the once-again-living Usagi for a moment longer.

When he answered the door, he looked anything but please. "This better be good"