Usagi woke up early to get ready to go to see Mamoru. Lately her oversleeping habits seemed to slowly fade away into the past. As Usagi put on her blue tank top and white denim shorts, she thought what her day would be like. She had decided to try something new with her hair, she had it pulled into two fishtail braids, exposing her bright blue eyes, and slightly rounded cheeks.  It had been about 2 months since she and the senshi had fought an enemy. Slowly the others assimilated to a life of normalcy leaving Usagi feeling left behind and forgotten.

She had tried to connect with the girls, but every chance she tried to meet up with the girls they said they were busy and it would have to be another time. At first Usagi felt they were telling the truth, and even now, were hoping that she would one day see her friends again. Usagi was trying to find a hobby or interest to keep her mind off the loneliness she felt lately.

Usagi bid her mom goodbye and told her she would be back before dinner. Usagi put in her headphones as she walked to catch the bus to go to Mamoru’s apartment. Usagi looked out the window and admired the sunlight. It was such a nice day, she hoped Mamoru would want to go to the park, and maybe even the paddleboats. Usagi got off the bus and walked the remainder to Mamoru’s apartment. On the elevator ride up to Mamoru’s floor she checked her hair in the wall of the elevator, it was as close to a mirror as she could get. Feeling good about her outfit and hair she got off the elevator and walked to his apartment. She knocked on the door and waited for him to answer.

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Minako was shopping. It would have been more fun if she had someone with her but as always her friends had lives of their own to worry about and Minako was left to her own devices. She had seen less and less of the girls since the last big battle and while it was nice not to have any enemy to fight it was sad that they were growing apart. "OH!" Minako exclaimed and rush towards a shop window. Inside was a beautiful set of shoes that she just had to have, and since she'd started making it as an idol she had the money to burn. Ducking into the shop Minako bought up the last pair in her size and then decided she needed a dress to match. She would have called Usa but the last time they spoke it hadn't ended well. "Maybe Rei." The blonde pulled her phone from her pocket and pressed the button to call Rei. The priestess picked up on the second ring. With very little persuasion Mina got the fire senshi to knock off her few chores and come out shopping. So Mina headed to her house to drop off her things and meet Rei.

Before they knew it they were waiting of the bus to head back into the shopping district. "You know we really need to have a party or something." Mina mused to her friend. "Get the gang back together, it's been far to long since we were all together." Rei agreed enthusiastically. It was agreed then they would start planning the party today as well as shopping. The bus pulled up and the girls laughing got on, paid their fair and started towards empty seats, when they noticed Mako and Ami. "Hey!!" Mina nearly yelled from the front of the bus and hurried towards her old friends. "How have gals been?" She asked, a bight smile on her face. "We were just talking about getting together!" She indicated Rei standing next to her. Mina and Rei took seats near Mako and Ami as the bus started to move again.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }Mamoru was busy packing the things he would need for a year abroad. Most of his clothes were already in one of two suitcases he would be taking to America. He was in the bathroom of his apartment, going through his toiletries to figure out which of those he would need to take, when he thought he heard a knock on the front door of his apartment. Grabbing the toiletries he had already realized he would need, he left the bathroom, made a quick stop in his bedroom to put those toiletries in one of the two suitcases he was using, then walked toward his front door, racking his brain, trying to figure out if anyone had told him they were going to visit him about now.


When he arrived next to his front door, the first thing Mamoru did was look through his peephole. He was shocked by what he saw. Opening the door, he greeted her with a very surprised look on his face “Usako? You look different.”

Usagi met Mamoru's glance. She ran her hands down her braids as she glanced toward the floor and spoke in a low tone "you don't like it?"

Usagi was quick to assume he didn't like her hair. She hadn't given it much thought, she just wanted to try something new. She looked back up at him with a smile on her face, as she said, "I just wanted to experiment." She stood rocking back and forth on her toes waiting for him to invite her in.

"I'll let you know" Usagi said with a smile on her face. 
"I am liking this do so far." 

Usagi walked through the front door as she said "I would love some refreshments."

She looked around his apartment, noticing how clean and organized it was, she knew Mamoru was normally clean and organized, but this seemed a little to much even for Mamoru. Usagi brushed the thought off as she went and sat down on the couch. Usagi had been feeling a bit down lately, since the girls had so been busy, she felt pushed away, but when she was here with Mamoru she felt whole again. Usagi thought about telling Mamoru about the girls, but decided against it. She never liked to worry Mamoru and she didnt want to ruin their happy moments together since there were less and less of them lately. 

Usagi got up and walked up to Mamoru wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulders. She peeked over and asked "whatcha making?"

Makoto looked down at the pie that she was carrying. The contest was a great opportunity, one that she hate to miss, but time with her friends was more of a priority. Plenty of people just drop their entries and ask to be contacted if they won. It would be the perfect solution.

"I just need to drop this pie off at the baking competition and then I am free. What about everyone else?"

Makoto smiled, she was already planning out what she wanted to cook. It was going to be a great day.

"I haven't given it too much thought, but I kind of like changing it up once in awhile, but also like my classic buns." Usagi said. When she saw he was baking cookies she clapped and giggled. Usagi loved that she could be herself with Mamoru and he would not judge her, even if at times she was still a crybaby and clumsy. "Can I help with anything Mamo-chan?" Usagi asked.

Usagi took the two spoons from Mamoru. She thought this should be simple enough, even for her, she knew she was no cook (which made her sad), but she was sure she could scoop the cookies from the bowl to the sheet. She went to scoop the first spoonful, her face in intense concentration, eyebrows furrowing, and lips pursed. When she successfully placed the dough on the sheet, she couldn't help but make a tiny squeal. She was very proud of herself, but got a little too excitted.

When she went to do the next cookie, she wasn't sure how it happened but, she must have put too much pressure on the spoon because seconds later Usagi's nose was covered in cookie dough. 

She let out a sigh, "I am sorry Mamo-chan, I thought I could help, but maybe I should just help with the clean-up." Usagi turned to him as she started to wipe off the cookie dough off her face, hoping Mamoru wouldn't laugh too hard at her.

"We can just sit and talk," Usagi said as she walked over and sat on the couch. They hadn't seen each other since school got out, and Usagi always liked hearing about what Mamoru was learning...even if it was above her head. She quickly changed her mind and asked if had a deck of cards, Naru had taught her a new game awhile back and she had been wanting to play for some time now. She also was trying to avoid talking with Mamoru about how the girls had been avoiding her lately. She hoped she wouldn't have to tell him, she so disliked making him worry about her. 


Usagi hoped Mamoru would go for the cards idea, that is if he had cards, if not she would have to be quick on her feet and tell Mamoru a made up story about school and such.

Mina's eyes brighten at the thought of time with the girls. "That's crazy! We were just talking about getting the gang back together!" She smiled her mind working. "Say maybe we can get Usa to come too!" She smiled."I dunno about Rei but the shopping I was going to do can wait." Rei agreed it was important to all of them to hang out again.

"OH!" Mina had an idea. "Why don't Rei and I go do a little shopping and we can make it a real party!" She squeed! "It could be so much fun!" She said clapping her hands.

"I was wanting to know if you knew how to play Speed. It is a game I learned one day with some of the kids that came into the parlor one day, they were playing while they waited for their food and it looked like a fun game. I just haven't had the chance to play it again." "What do you say?" Usagi asked hopefully. 

ooc:

When Usagi mentioned the game of Speed, it rang a bell in Mamoru's mind.  So he smiled in response "Oh yeah.  I'm vaguely familiar with that game; I just need a quick refresher course on the rules."

After Usagi went over the rules of Speed with him, Mamoru agreed to play a game of it against Usagi.  So then they played it.  At the end, Usagi won - and Mamoru hadn't even slacked off in his game play to purposely let her win.  Just after Usagi slapped her last card down on the pile, Mamoru smiled, obviously wanting to show good sportsmanship to his future wife "So the lovely braided girl wins."  He then picked up her hand that she had used to slap down her last card and kissed the back of it.

At that time, the timer rang, signalling that the time it had been set to had just finished elapsing.  Looking lovingly at Usagi, Mamoru said "I need to go get the cookies out of the oven now.  Can I count on you to clean up the cards here without turning it into a game of 52 Pick-Up?"  He threw the last part in there on the spur of the moment to gently tease Usagi.

"I think I can do that." Usagi said when Mamoru handed her the box for the cards. Shepicked up the cards and stacked them up, tapping them so all the cards would line up. She was able to get them back in the box successfully. She set the box down on the coffee table. She walked over to Mamoru and peeked over his shoulder at the cookies. They smelled so good.

She stepped over to his side and watched him place the cookies onto the cooling sheet. "I got the cards into the deck, and I didn't even drop them." Usagi said teasingly getting back at Mamo-chan for teasing her. "what is my prize?" Usagi asked playfully, hoping she could eat one of the cookies soon.

Makoto had already starting to make a mental list of what she needed. She was planning on making everyone's favorite dishes. She nearly had everything that she needed at home but there were only a couple of things that she had to buy. She wanted to tidy up a bit and put some fresh flowers out as well. With Mina and Rei shopping, that would free her up to get everything done.

"5:15 works for me as well!" Makoto smiled.

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