"You can't! Endymion, get back here! The war—"

"I'll save your kingdom, Serenity."

"No! I won't lose you too!"

"You'll never lose me . . . Serenity."

"Endymion . . . ."

Usagi sighed as she watched the couple on the screen kiss. The man turned away sadly and called back to his love. Usagi quickly looked at the subtitle. Ami had dragged her four friends to a late Sunday airing of an old American movie. She claimed that seeing "The Lunarians" would help them learn to understand English, but since there were translations at the bottom of the screen, she highly doubted that was the blue-haired girl's real reason.

"I'll be back for you soon, Odango."

Usagi froze and looked at the woman's head again. She wasn't wearing her hair the way Usagi was. Why was the man calling her "Odango" then? Mamoru called her that after all, and they hated each other. The thought of Mamoru being in a relationship with her made Usagi shudder. How could she even think that? The blonde looked at Ami, who was still absorbed in the movie. Usagi smiled. Who would have that thought, shy, smart, serious Ami was a romantic? She had more romance novels than Minako and Usagi combined! She shook her head and looked at her other friends. They had the same shell-shocked expression.

"Ami . . . Why did he call her Odango?" whispered Usagi.

Ami briefly looked at her friend. "It's a term of endearment in English, albeit not a common one."

"Term of endearment?" Usagi repeated. Her eyes widened. "You . . . you mean a pet name?"

Usagi made a choking sound and fell into Makoto's lap beside her, who pushed her off. Rei looked like she'd say something, but just put an amused look on her mouth and went back to watching. Minako giggled. Ami still didn't notice anything but Minako making noise and shushed her, taking another bite of popcorn.

Minako made a big show of leaning over and saying, "Ami, dear, Mamoru calls Usagi Odango."

Ami dropped the bucket.

"Why me?" Usagi wailed. She stopped to take a long drink of her milkshake and continued at the same volume. "Of all the girls in world—in Tokyo—why me? I'm already Sailor Moon; why do I have to put up with being called"—she blushed as she choked out the next word—"Odango by the enemy?"

"Shush it, stupid!" Rei snapped, stuffing the girl's straw back into her mouth. "We can't have everyone knowing who we are."

"I think it's pretty funny," Makoto offered. She idly ate a fry.

Minako started to speak. Usagi burst into tears, the sound cutting her off. Minako huffed as her friend rolled around on the floor. Ami looked up from her studying—although if the others had bothered to look at the page, they would have seen an English dictionary turned to the Drizzle-Dystopian page and a few M hearts U drawings around a certain word.

"It's surprising honestly. You would think that someone with an intelligence level like Mamoru would know English. I'm going to assume he does, but then that still leaves us wondering why he doesn't know that Odango . . . ," Ami bit her lip, trying to figure out how she could explain what she meant.

"—should be used for picking up girls," Minako inserted. "Anyway, maybe he does."

Usagi's eyes turned fearful. "No! Someone save me!"

"What're you making so much noise for, Odango?"

Her head promptly fell on the table. Mamoru looked at her friends for an explanation, but three of them were cracking up too much to be coherent. Ami swiftly closed the dictionary and avoided the man's gaze.

Makoto changed the subject. "That . . . that movie was good, right?"

"Yeah!" Minako fervently agreed. "It was so sad though! I can't believe they'd just turn their backs on their loves! And the ending, where the princess killed herself because the prince and her guardians died . . . ."

"It just proves what I've told all of you. Never trust a man. They'll just kill you in the end," Rei said.

"That one guardian thought that and look what happened to her!"

Rei's expression changed naught for Minako's comment. "Yeah. She loved him and he killed her."

She couldn't refute that.

"Are you dead, Odango?" Mamoru poked her in the side.

"Sop carin meh 'at," Usagi muttered into her arm.

Mamoru stared at her like she was insane. "What was that?"

The blonde lifted her head and prayed that the bright color staining her face could be mistaken for anger. "Listen very carefully. Stop calling me that! Never call me that again. I don't care what else you call me, but Odango is off-limits. You can even make up another annoying name for my hair! Just not Odango!"

"Odango isn't such a bad name." Mamoru scrutinized the girls. Something was obviously entertaining to Usagi's friends. "What's so funny?"

That sent them into another round of giggles.

Mamoru rolled his eyes. "I didn't think I'd have to deal with anymore since I graduated junior high."

He walked off as Minako called in her sing-song voice, "Bye!" before returning to another giggle-fest with her friends. He looked back. Even Ami was laughing.

"What's going on over there?" Motoki asked. The ruckus had brought him away from his counter-wiping.

"I have no idea," Mamoru answered.

When Usagi arrived at school Monday morning to see Makoto ineffectively trying to tell Naru a story with giggles cutting through every syllable, she rushed over to stop it. Sadly, the brunette had managed to get out before she could stop her. Naru started laughing.

"It's not funny!" Usagi whined.

Naru shook her head. "You'll laugh later. Have you told him yet?"

Usagi twitched. "Oh, God, no!"

The warning bell rang. Makoto hopped off the air conditioner and shook Ami's hand. "Hey, after school, we're going to tell Mamoru!"

"No, don't!" Usagi cried. Ami cracked a grin. Makoto hurried back to her seat as Ms. Haruna started the lesson. Usagi collapsed into her chair. For once in the blonde's fourteen years, school flew by way too quickly.

"Mako, please!" Usagi begged. She clung tightly to her friend's leg, but even the extra 120 pounds couldn't slow Sailor Jupiter down. "I'll do anything!"

"Odango, should you really be doing that in a skirt?" said the man who always appeared at the worst times, gesturing softly to the blue fabric halfway up her thighs. Usagi pushed away from Makoto and straightened her uniform.

Minako hopped up. "Mamoru, do you know what that is in English?"

"Dumpling?" he said in a bored tone that blatantly conveyed that he had no idea what this was leading to.

A smile spread across her face and she started laughing again.

"Is this the same thing from yesterday?"

"Er," Ami cleared her throat, "we went to see a movie yesterday, and the two main characters . . . one of them called the other that."

"What movie was it?" He prayed they hadn't seen a chick flick.

She told him.

"So," Minako jumped in, "you have a pet name for our dear little bunny?"

"It's not a good one." Mamoru studied Usagi for a minute and turned toward the door. "Usako is better."

As he left, all five girls froze in shock.

Usagi groaned. "Why me?"

I liked subtly sneaking the past in there. Let's just say Hollywood didn't know that the moon princess had Odangos. Anyway, once I found out what Odango meant, it always cracked me up to hear him say it. I wonder if Naoko Takeuchi knew that it was a pet name here. I don't think Meatball Head is a nice name anywhere, though. I hope this made you laugh.