It was a day at school where a chunk of the grade 9 girls were not listening terribly closely. And who all had more caffeine in a day than is probably recommended by the WHO for teenagers. (For some, this is a normal state of affairs.)
A flurry of texts about movies and junk food and a couple stops after school and finally it is that time. A time for leggings and t-shirts rather than school uniforms, and ice cream for dinner. And take out. And more ice cream. And THAT movie.
Naru has already sprawled on the couch in comfy clothes, her sketchbook on the table and adding some notes into her phone as she waits upon Usagi's arrival.
It's been...a day for Usagi. This day had followed quite a night, with Mama and Papa snuggles galore.
And, of course, very little sleep.
She'd managed to become sort of human shortly after lunch, where she'd snoozed with Ami after quickly gobbling down her meal, and managed not to take any (caught) naps in class.
After a quick trip home, she's lugging her way up the stairs of the Osaka home, duffle bag slung over her shoulder. She's not wearing her school uniform, but it's not quite 'wallow on the couch watching movies' outfit. So, mixed with the various snacks and whatnot are her comfiest pair of October weather jammies.
Using her key, she just lets herself in. Setting the bag neart he coffee table, she pulls out her jammies and gets changed right there.
"Papa gave me some money for takeout. What are you thinking? Pizza? Noodles? Both?"
When she's done, she pulls out THAT movie. Brand new, still shrink wrapped, remastered, Bluray, DVD, Digital Copy Collectors Edition. "Look what I found~! Can you believe this was in the bargain bin?"
"I was thinking pizza." Naru comments as she looks up from her phone when Usagi lets herself in, and then sits up while Usagi gets into Movie Watching and Junkfood Uniform of lazy.
Naru laughs as she reaches for the movie box to take it from Usagi and admire all the extras and features. Wait. No. She doesn't actually like that movie. Honest. "I can /totally/ believe it's in the bargain bin! Wow.. a whole 500 yen!" She shakes her head and starts to unwrap it. "It's a terrible movie."
Her indignant squawk probably would be more convincing if she wasn't grinning. "This movie is priceless! Just you watch. I'm gonna put it on that movie account and I bet I'll watch you watching it without me by the end of the month!"
When Naru gets the case free of its celophane prison, Usagi steals it back and pops in the disc. Then she's bouncing on the couch, happily wiggling and snuggling against Naru.
It's not all forced. She really does like the movie, though she suspects she just likes watching it with Naru. That's the last time she'd seen it, anyway.
Using Naru as a pillow, she opens the app for the pizza place, humming through her choices. "Do we want the Caveman Pizza? Or the Hunter Gatherer Pizza?" Both, of course, are ridiculous with their meat and cheese. The last one just has vegetation on it, as well. "Or do you want the dainty lady pizza? Or all three?"
These aren't their real names, of course.
"Priceless. Riiiiight." Naru snorts softly as she relinquishes the case to Usagi to let her put it on. "It's not getting anywhere near my Netflix queue." She assures her bestie.
Naru leans in to look over Usagi's shoulder at the pizza options. "Not dainty lady pizza." She shakes her head at that option. "Caveman and hunter gatherer, for sure, and something with squid." Because these days, Naru is making a much more credible attempt at trying to catch up to Usagi's food intake. "Are they sending soda too? I've got sugar covered, I picked up cupcakes on the way home from the apartment. They're in the kitchen."
Naru gets a raspberry for that. "Just wait until your back is turned. It'll be there."
She wouldn't, actually, because a girl's Netflix queue is sacred.
"Oooo cupcakes!" She scrolls through, plugging in their order, happy to hear Dainty Lady is off the menu for them. Not that she doesn't like it, she just needs substance.
Three pizzas, one with squid, and she adds the soda to the mix. And wouldn't you know. Doctor Pepper. Heh.
Speaking of. "I'm glad if nothing else, I can now tell those bozos at school that I ran into the deliquent while with Mako-chan. And bop them on the head if they continue being stupid dummies!"
She rolls off the couch, because cupcakes, and on her way toes her duffel bag toward Naru. "I bought candy!"
"Thbbbt." Naru replies just as maturely to Usagi's raspberry.
"We are going to be on such a sugar high." Naru notes as she reaches over to drag the duffel bag over and dig out candy to plunk on the table. Because pizza and sugar is a well balanced diet. Clearly.
"I.. mean. I guess people don't know Makoto very well, but it never seemed right to me. I'm glad to have gut feeling proved right. I can kick 'em in the shins right alongside you."
Naru pauses a moment, thoughtful waiting until Usagi returns from the kitchen. "That is.. as big a mess and as confusing as it looked from the outside, right?"
Usagi's eyes widen as she pauses mid step. Naru had been there? At that?!
But, wel, obviously her oldest Bestie was okay. So there's a slight slump of relief there!
"It was..." She sighs and plops back on the couch, cupakes finding their way to the coffee table on her way down.
"I think maybe even more. I mean, at lesat now I know why I've been so on edge." Of course, her being on edge is more like a rabbit suddenly flailing about with more energy. "I mean, I still have no idea who she is, but it's like I said about the soda!"
And Venus getting the wrong impression is a tad funny looking ba--
"Eeeee! And Minako's back!" She shakes Naru, happy and excited. She's pretty sure Naru's tired of salt stains on her skirt over that whole issue.
Naru was there and Naru is /fine/. She quirks a brow at Usagi's pause and startle. "You didn't notice I was there, did you?" For some reason, she almost looks pleased at her ability to just blend in. Although Usagi was rather distracted, to be fair.
In spite of the fact that pizza is on its way, Naru reaches for a cupcake. "She's the cheap crappy copy of the good stuff." Naru translates about the soda. She got it. Mostly. It still sounded vaguely crazy.
"Her energy is pretty messy, at best, from what I can gather from Kunzite." Naru comments thoughtfully and then she is shaken about Minako being back and she laughs.
"I saw! She's hard to miss!" Naru assures and hugs Usagi back. "I.. hope you guys work it out. I hope to get to knwo her better. I barely do, I really only met her briefly in France. I was too spacey after the dark kingdom to really remember her at all."
Naru looks pleased, but there's a bit of a toe scuffle. "Sorry...But you can be realy sneaky when you wanna be!"
Then suddenly, she's jrking to sitting up again as she flails her arms. "Yes! Exactly! Though maybe I should have gone with chocolate as an example instead!"
She settles back down with a wince. "How is Kunzi-kun? Is he grumpy? At...you know. Maybe at certain people?"
And then she's almost vibrating again. "Right? I mean, she's also why I've been all fidgety. I could feel her but didn't know, you know? And I know there's gonna be issues and stuff, but I can actually feel her, you know? I mean, I probably always could, but it didn't feel like static like before."
"No no.. I was /trying/ to stay out of the way. It was a senshi thing. And a shitennou thing. And I'm not either." Naru still looks pleased, even if Usagi is all toe scuffy about it.
"The soda comparison was pretty obscure." Naru has to admit as she peels her cupcake, because sugar before real food is a spectacular idea. "I think people were too freaked out to get any sort of comparison though. I got it, eventually."
"Kunzite isn't so much grumpy as super on edge. He absorbed some of her energy and it really didn't agree with him." Naru considers and then shrugs, going with that as close as anything. "He went back to his palace to decompress a bit. I'm trying not to worry about him, but I'm not doing a very good job about it. Kyouko will keep an eye on him."
"Like.. static? Like her energy? Or just like.. per presence? Can you tell when she's closer? Or something?" Naru is curious as she leans on Usagi again.
A slump of relief! She's not a terrible friend, yay!
Usagi nods. "I know. It doesn't help that most of the comparison was in my head. Like, Nurse Cinnamon was my mental generic off-brand Doctor Pepper." A moment, though. And a sigh. "But them legs..."
Hush. Pale whatever or not, the girl's still somehow connected to Mamoru, in genetics or otherwise, so there's bound to be some attraction there.
Usagi gasps. Why hadn't she noticed?! "Oh no! If you see him before I do, tell him I give him hugs?" And it's good that Kyouko's keeping an eye out. Maybe she'll send her a message about mentally hugging Kunzite to pass along, too!
She looks at Naru in confusion for a split second. "Oh! I meant Minako. But with Sailor Hot Legs, it's not like Mamo-chan's. It's just...there. Like, I didn't feel she was close or anything when we ran into her. And I couldn't read her feelings? Kinda like when you have a sticker between your shoulder blades, but not as itchy."
She does hum in thought, though. And shrugs, looking almost sheepish. "When Minako wasn't around, it felt like an imaginary limb was cut off, right? But the past few...whatevers, it felt all tingly. I just didn't know what it was because I got used to it."
And then, suddenly, she's uncharacteristically shy and nervous. "And...Naru-chan? I know I can't feel you the same way as them, right? But...well, I mean it's like...If there was one other person I could I wish it was you, but even without that, you do know, right?"
"I think most of us aren't psychic. I know /I'm/ not." Naru points out and leans over to nudge Usagi with her shoulder and a soft giggle. She noshes on a cupcake.
"Even if you see him first, I'll /still/ tell him that you're sending hugs." Naru assures and there's a touch of a smile at that.
A blink from Naru as things are clarified. "Oh!" She pauses a moment, licking icing from her fingers as she reprocesses that with new context. "I didn't realize that you could actually feel her being absent. That's.. really cool, actually." She hunhs softly and then she turns towards Usagi and reaches out to give her a hug and there's a soft little awww.
"I wouldnt fit." Naru comments quietly as she hugs Usagi tight. "I know what you mean, though. I .. wish it too sometimes. But I'm just me. And that's okay."
Usagi giggles, too. "Well, so far as I know, I only know of one person who is. And even Rei doesn't see everything." There is, of course, a moment of happy and mostly mental swooning there.
Usagi beams! "Good! And either way, I'll let him know you were fretting over him. The guy needs to know he's adored, by golly!"
And she goes into the hug easily, snuggling in and giving a happy hum because it's Naru. "You'd fit. That or I'd make sure you could." And then she pokes her fingers along Naru's ribs. "Heeeey. You're right up there with my family in the 'just me's.'"
Naru giggles at the swoony look on Usagi's face and she passes her a cupcake. "You're /adorable/." She accuses with a snort.
"Kunzite knows. I fretted right to his face. Well. I very silently and pointedly fretted at him, but he knows." Naru is confident that Kunzite can translate Naru silences, even when he's in robot mode.
"Hey!" Naru wriggles away from the poking fingers, with a giggle. "I'm .. really a just me. I'm not part of a team. I'm not a senshi or a shitennou or a Keeper or a guardian or anything. I'm just me. A just me who can't control her powers, or henshin."
And of course, Usagi blushes and giggles and hides her face. Probably not helping the whole adorable thing.
"Well, I'll tell him, anyway. It'll be good for his ego!"
At Naru's reactions and words to her poking, she sits back, kneeling on the couch, brows knitted together in both worry and confusion.
"Naru-chan...do you even know?" She bites her lip and looks down a bit. "No one else...has bene able to stay over more than once. Have me over more than once. But Naru-chan's been over lots, and has had me over lots. Even when I was sad at the other kids, I'd at least know that 'Naru-chan loves me.'"
Naru settles back and looks at Usagi, her expression utterly fond and she offers out a hand. "I love you. I always have, and I always will." No matter that those words are usually shared with a romantic partner, there's no romance overtones. Just a lifetime of friendship, and another few lifetimes ahead of them.
Ideally.
Naru takes one of those slow breaths that Usagi knows so well. The ones that are held a moment, and let out just as slowly. A pause that so often punctuates Naru's words, and existance, calming and centering. "The other kids when we were little were idiots. The other kids now, they're much smarter and they love you too. I have to /share/ these days, and that's good. And hard sometimes. But big picture, it's good."
Naru adds with a quirk of a smile. "I love you, but I don't really want to smooch you. So it's good that way /too/."
Usagi beams at Naru's declaration. And it's not because it's a profession of romantic love. Her thoughts are very much the same as Naru's.
And then there's that breath. The one that would see her livid at the first signs of it, and relaxed on the exhale.
And she's smiling and blushing at the end. When she'd made the offer for smooches, it hadn't been as a romantic overture. She'd just...known that Naru was kissable and should be shown it. Because she also knew that if it hadn't been for Mamoru and later Rei, that she'd be feeling the same woes. Probably for much longer after Alex proposed or whatever even!
So she grins, and wipes at her eyes, because if someone thought she wasn't getting all sniffly they were dummies.
"I love you, too, Naru-chan. And I don't wanna get all romantic smoochy with you. Well, I mean...when I offered, I didn't wanna smooch you because I loved you, right? I loved you, so I wanted to smooch you. Plus the whole I don't totally stink at it thing, which I also wanted for you."
She hopes it's true! And if not, she has an Alex Toe to kick!
"It's just, you know. It may not be physical? In the sense it is with others? But I know it. It's not the same but it's no less important. I have something with you, too."
"I am pretty happy with my current smooching state." Naru has one of those privately pleased little smiles. "Even when I sometimes want to kick him, then at the same time, when I'm all mopey and pathetic after a fight, he's the one I wanted to curl up with. As much as I like being curled up with you.. it's not the same."
Possibly rather an understatement, right there.
Naru is quiet a moment as the topic settles back to a more serious topic than smooching. Differently serious, because smooching is pretty serious too. "No. It's not the same. Still important, and you're important to me too. Not the same. I just dont' want to.." She chews her bottom lip a moment, trying to put her words together exactly as she wants. "I know you have responsibility to the senshi, and I don't want to interfere with that. We have a thing, cause we're us, but I try not to be a .. what.. sixth wheel? That makes no sense, but you know what I mean."
Usagi nods lots! "Right? Mamo-chan cuddles and Rei snuggles are just the best. Even when yours are the best, theirs...it's like a different best!"
She droops, a little, because she knows Naru's been going through Things but she hasn't pressed. She wonders if it's because she's just been too darn busy, even as that small voice goes 'actually it's mostly because you know she needs to figure stuff out on her own and that you'll be there to snuggle the pieces later, dumbass.'
There's a knock on the door, and Usagi gets up to pay for their ridiculously large dinner. Sitting back down, sodas still in their bag and paper plates at the ready, she sighs. "You're not a wheel. I mean--well--I know what you mean, but." Her plate is suddenly piled with different pizza types. "It's like...even if I'm 'busy' doing whatever, I want to know what's going on with you, you know? And even if I think about it while fighting, you're worth that. You know?"
There's been Things. And Stuff. And a fair bit of 'ask a neutral 3rd party who won't sugar coat difficult answers'. Naru gets to her feet to help with the ridiculously large dinner order.
Somehow still fairly fresh magic and an extensive training schedule makes a person hungry. Naru heaps her plate up as she resettles, sitting cross legged.
"Most of it isn't terribly good, you know. I mean.. it's not /bad/, but it's mostly confusing and frustrating and me being irritating and irritable, and asking Kunzite questions he can't answer." Naru considers that and then her smile turns rueful. "Okay, there's good in there too. It's not all bad. I meet a lot of people, for better or worse. I basically don't get hurt at all these days, or like.. so minor that its not worth poking Daisuke for healing. That's /awesome/."
"Well...if everything about everything about Magical Stuff was terribly good, it wouldn't be overly worth it, would it? We fight for the good so it's not taken advantage of."
She sighs. "Naru-chan...you stuck by even when you didn't know why I was so...heart broken." Dark Endymion Arc, yes. "And I just hope that...whatever it is? And I hope it isn't like that, and even if you never wanna tell me? I'm here for snuggles just like you always are for me."
And, of course, a breath of relief. "Thank goodness, I almost had to repeat the alphabet in naming my imaginary ulcers!"
"Usagi.. you drag me out of my own head, and it's awesome and amazing. AND pizza, and .. " Naru turns towards the movie that has been happily playing along in the background and then shrugs and turns back to Usagi with a grin. "Even THAT movie." There's a few bites of pizza to help this notion along too.
"It'll all sort out. Eventually." Naru is sure of this, or at least willing to fake it. "Although generally that means that we end up with some new crisis, major or minor. Keeps life interesting, at the very least."
And of course, this earns Naru an Usagi shoulder to the spleen when the girl is suddenly snuggling hard against her. "Oh hush. You love THAT movie."
A couple moments of happy humming later, and Usagi is putting the movie back to the very beginning because she's evil like that. "Just remember! I love snuggles."
And the next time either get off the couch, there's carb filled tummies, groans, and yearning for wheelbarrows because they don't want to move.