Confused Heart by Marj Notes: arigato - thank you daijoubu - are you okay? / I'm okay dou itashimashite - you're welcome hai - yes honto - really ittai - ouch kami-sama - god konnichiwa - hi / good afternoon okaa-san - mother sayonara - good-bye sensei - teacher yoroshiku - nice to meet you Please e-mail your comments and constructive criticisms at . Thanks! Disclaimers: The characters of Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon were created by Naoko Takeuchi-san, its copyright owned by Toei Animation, Kodansha, Nakayoshi, Sterling Animation Inc., and many other companies scattered throughout the world. Meaning, I cannot claim the characters as my own, and am mearly borrowing them. The characters Andy Spencer and Ayukawa Himeru are mine though. So please don't sue, as I don't earn anything from this other than the satisfaction of making a story. Chapter Thirteen: Back to Normal? When Monday came, Usagi was in high spirits. She came to school *very* early, slammed the classroom door open, and shouted, "I'M HERE!!!" to all those who were present at that time. It was so loud, it made Makoto cringe and caused Ami to almost jump out of her seat. Usagi bounded over to her chair, threw her bag on her desk and faced Makoto and Ami. "So what's up?" she asked. "My, Usagi-chan," Ami said, smiling. "You sure look happier now than you did for the past few weeks." "Yeah. Her being here so early proves it. Of course, you'll see her frowning again tomorrow. Right, Usagi?" Makoto said teasingly. Usagi shook her head. She had a determined look on her face. "You'll see a *very* happy face on this person from now on!" Makoto winked at Ami. "I'll bet. I won't be fooled again!" Their enthusiastic friend's head whipped from side to side, sensing that someone was still missing. "Where's Mina-chan?" Usagi asked. "Right here!" Minako announced from the door, waving her bag up and down to catch their attention. She walked over to her place, left her bag and, with her hands on her waist, looked smilingly at Usagi with one eyebrow raised. "Cheater. I thought I was going to pick you up!" "Yeah, well, how was I supposed to know if you were still going to be absent or not?" Usagi said as they watched Minako sit down on her chair and drag it around so that she was facing them. Makoto laid a hand on Minako's shoulder. "Well, we're finally complete again, aren't we?" Ami nodded. "You know, Minako-chan, our sensei missed you terribly," she informed her. They all giggled. "Yeah. He always thought that you kept forgetting to answer the roll call instead of checking to see if you were around or not," Usagi added. Makoto raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you actually remember anything that happened last week, Usagi-chan." Usagi made a face at her. "Don't start imitating Rei-chan now, Mako- chan. It doesn't suit you." "Oh, yeah! Have I got news for all of you!!" Minako said, her eyes twinkling. "You've finally found a boyfriend?" Makoto asked. Her friend laughed. "No, no, not that! Although I wish that was true," she said, winking. Her friend grinned back. "So what's the news?" Usagi persisted. "Remember when I told you that my okaa-san wasn't feeling well?" Minako asked Usagi. The blond-haired girl nodded. "Well, we just found out last Saturday that she's pregnant!!" Minako announced happily. "Pregna - ?!" The three girls with her uttered, their eyes widening. "You mean your okaa-san's going to have a *baby*?!?" Usagi asked. Minako nodded. "Oh, WOW!!" Usagi started jumping happily around the room. Ami smiled widely. "That's terrific, Minako-chan!" "Yup! I've always wanted a brother or sister myself. You're lucky," Makoto said, a bit envious, but happy for her friend at the same time. Minako held Makoto's hand and looked at her warmly. "Hey, you're like a sister to me, you know. You can help take care of the baby sometime. I'm sure okaa-san wouldn't mind." "You sure? Once I get my hands on that baby, you probably won't even get a chance to hold her 'till you're old and gray!" Makoto said jokingly. Minako just smiled. "Ooh, can I hold the baby, too? Huh? Can I hold her? Can I? Can I? Can I?" Usagi said breathlessly. The rest of the girls laughed. Ami made Usagi sit down. "Wait until the baby is out first, okay Usagi?" she advised. "Wait a sec. You said "her". You said the baby's a girl," Makoto pointed out. "So?" Usagi asked. "Minako just confirmed that her mother was pregnant. The baby's gender is still undistinguished. How did you know that it's a girl?" Ami asked. Usagi pouted. "Well, I just guessed. Besides, it's *much* better to have a younger sister than a younger brother." She made a face when she mentioned "younger brother". Usagi then slapped Minako's back *hard.* "Right, Mina-chan?" "Itta-!!" Minako exclaimed as soon as the hand landed. She started coughing uncontrollably. Usagi held her shoulders, a look of worry crossing her face. "Mina?" Makoto made way for Ami, who rubbed Minako's back until she stopped coughing. "Daijoubu?" Minako cleared her throat and smiled weakly at Ami. "Yeah. 'Still haven't gotten rid of that cough." "You went to the doctor yesterday, didn't you?" Makoto asked. Her friend nodded. "Well, what did he say?" "Get some more rest. Don't over-exert yourself. Keep drinking your medicine," Minako answered. Ami nodded. "That's good." "Gomen, Mina-chan," Usagi apologized. Minako waved her hand. "It's nothing. You didn't mean it." She suddenly had a wicked gleam in her eyes. "Okay. Now tell me what happened last Saturday, detail by detail. If you leave anything out, I swear I'm not going to stop chasing after you until you tell me *everything,* down to what you were all wearing. Now start talking!!" ***** "I've had enough of this! Talk to me, Artemis! And don't you dare tell me that you just feel tired or I'll push you off the tree!" Luna demanded. She was sitting on a huge branch in a tree at the Juuban campus, feeling incredibly relieved that Mamoru had returned from America. She felt as if everything was right in the world again. That was, until she saw Artemis lying quietly on the same branch, tail and legs dangling, looking worn out and tired. Attempts to make him reveal what was wrong were futile - before Luna lost her patience. Artemis sighed. "I told you, it's nothing! I haven't been getting enough sleep, that's all. Things have been so hectic at home that a cat can't sleep even if he wants to." Luna was half - tempted to fulfill her threat when he raised his head. "Look. Mina-chan's okaa-san is pregnant. We found that out last Saturday. *Everybody's* giddy with excitement. Now you expect me to be up and about when all the entire family did this weekend was scrounge around the house for Minako's old baby clothes?" Artemis rolled his eyes. "Not to mention that her parents are *seriously* considering giving me away for a while until the baby's born. Something about animals carrying around deadly diseases or something. Can you believe it?" "With you looking around the trash for something to eat? Sure, I believe it." He glared at her. "I do *not* rummage around in the trash!!" "No. You only dig for food under paper, plastic and other things." Luna was snickering. "Why can't you act like a Lunar cat for a change?" "The thanks I get for trying to cheer *you* up when you were down." "What did I do?" Luna feigned innocence. "All I did was tell you the truth." "Humph! Why do I even bother speaking to you?" Artemis stood up so abruptly that one of his hind legs slipped. His body fell off the tree, bumping his chin painfully on the branch before his head followed. Front legs and claws extended, he somehow managed to catch the tree branch with his paws. Luna was laughing hysterically by then. Artemis scrambled up and looked at Luna, embarrassed but not willing to show it. He turned away from her, his straight tail pointed high up in the air, and started to walk away. He paused before jumping off the branch, his head turned towards the window of Usagi and Minako's classroom, a worried look on his face. Then he stared at the ground below him. Artemis shivered and closed his eyes. Giving the window one last glance, he leaped off, leaving Luna behind. Luna stopped laughing long enough to see Artemis leave. she thought, giggling. ***** Later that afternoon, a few minutes after the last bell rang, Minako could be seen walking down the halls with a stack of paper and books piled up in her arms. "When they said, 'You'd better catch up,' boy, did they mean it . . ." she grumbled to herself, barely able to see what was ahead of her because of a piece of paper that kept flying towards her face. She had so much work to do, she wasn't able to find any free time to spend at all that night. This made her upset - she had planned on talking to Artemis, but it looked like that would have to be set aside until the next day. The night before, Artemis accidentally woke her up when he suddenly jolted awake from his sleep, eyes wide, chest heaving. Minako asked him what was wrong, but he just stared at her and said nothing. Minako frowned. she thought while coughing. She started thinking about her mother's pregnancy. The news had shocked her when her parents made the announcement right after they got back from the hospital last Saturday. For sixteen years, she had been an only child, since she was told her mother wasn't supposed to be able to give birth. Her father told her it was a miracle that she was born at all. Minako bit her lip. She paused, head tilted to the side, brows lowered in confusion. She was standing right under the doorway that led from the department rooms to the main hallway of the first floor of their school building. There was supposed to be a door - she should have bumped into it. But she hadn't. Where was it? Minako turned around. There was a young man holding the door open for her. "You know, you should watch where you're going. You wouldn't want to injure yourself," the guy said, smiling. Minako blushed in embarrassment and nodded slowly. "Yeah . . . arigato. I was too deep in thought, I didn't notice . . ." He eyed the stack of books and papers on her arms, then looked back at her. "You're also distracted by your load. Doing a lot of research?" "Not really. I'm just playing catch-up. I was sick last week." "If you've just recovered, you shouldn't be carrying anything that heavy." Minako shrugged. "I can manage." "Here, let me have some of that," the guy said, taking more than half the stack, which Minako gave over gratefully. Then he fell into step beside her. "Wow, you must have missed a lot of classes." "You can say that again," Minako said, rolling her eyes. She looked at him more closely. "Say, I haven't seen you around here before. New?" "Hai! 'Came to look at my test results. I passed, and the principal told me I could start classes anytime now." "Are you an exchange student?" "No." Minako's eyebrows raised. "A regular student enrolling near the very end of the school year? That's new." "Yeah, well . . ." He cleared his throat. "That's a time for change, isn't it? Besides, I don't think I could wait around until the next school year. This is a big campus, by the way." She smiled at him. "Did you get lost looking for the office?" He grinned. "Not really. Lots of kind people around. Most of them girls . . ." He blushed. Minako laughed. "Well, you're not exactly bad-looking." He blushed even more. "Arigato." Minako sighed to herself. She started coughing. The guy shifted the weight he was carrying to one hand and held Minako's shoulder with the other. "Daijoubu?" he asked, concern marring his face. "Hmm?" She looked up. "Oh . . . daijoubu. This'll pass. I'm not over my sickness from last week." "I can definitely see that. Sure you don't want to give me the rest of this load?" Minako shook her head, a determined look on her face. "No. No, I can handle this. Besides . . ." She indicated the pile he was carrying. "You've taken more than enough." They started walking down the hall that led to Minako's classroom, where her friends were waiting. "I hope you don't mind if I ask, but . . . what were you thinking back there, when I opened the door for you?" the young man asked. Minako coughed slightly before speaking. "I don't mind. See, my okaa- san's having a baby." "Honto? Thinking about what to name the baby, then?" "Not really. I'm just . . . I was wondering what it would be like to have a younger brother or sister. I've been an only child all my life." "Oh. Well, I can't help you there. I'm the youngest one in my family," the guy said. "What does it feel like to have a sibling then?" He looked at her seriously. "I . . . I wouldn't really know. My brother . . . he looks after me a lot, but most of the time he's at work. Like you, my brother was already kind of old when I was born." "I see." They stopped a few feet from the door leading to Minako's classroom. "My friends should be in here, waiting for me." Minako turned to face the guy, taking the stack of papers and books he was holding, which he hesitantly gave back to her. "I appreciate your help . . . and for opening the door earlier." He nodded. "Dou itashimashite. Anything else I can do for you?" She looked at the door in front of her, then stared at her quite full arms. Her cheeks turned red. "Umm . . . you can open the door again." The guy grinned as he opened it for her. Usagi, Makoto and Ami were sitting and talking when they heard the door open. They looked up and saw Minako standing by the doorway with an armload of papers and books. They heard her say "Arigato" to somebody hidden from their view before she entered. Minako unloaded her burden on her desk. "Whew!" Usagi eyed the huge stack her friend had been carrying, feeling *very* sorry for her. "Maybe you shouldn't have gone to the faculty room," she said. Ami smiled at Usagi. "The teachers wanted her to go there so that they could help her catch up. She should go." "You call this *helping*?!" Minako pouted. "Can't you just teach me, Ami-chan?" Makoto and Usagi nodded in complete agreement. "I can help you study, but you still have to read those," Ami said. The other three girls groaned. Then they started gathering their things from their desks. "Here, let us help you with that . . ." Usagi said when she noticed that Minako was having a hard time holding both the stack *and* her school bag. She and Makoto took almost all but one fourth of their friend's load. Minako smiled. "I guess if I'm sick all the time, you guys will pamper me a lot, won't you?" "Yeah, well, you do the same to us. Of course, we'd rather . . . umm . . . uhh . . . we'd rather . . . err . . . *ahem*. Just don't get sick again, okay?" Makoto stammered, blushing. "I assure you, Mako-chan, I could not possibly get any sicker." Usagi started pushing her friends outside the door. "C'mon! School is over, and I can't stand another minute inside this classroom!!" "Don't forget our study session at Rei's today!" Ami reminded them. The three girls groaned again. ***** "Who were you talking to earlier, Minako-chan?" Makoto asked as Rei placed a tray full of cookies on the table. Usagi started to grab as many as she could, until Rei swatted at her hands. Usagi started whining, Rei started scolding, and Ami started comforting. "Huh? Who?" Minako asked, looking up from the book one of her teachers wanted her to read. "You know. The person that you said "Arigato" to before you entered the classroom." Minako's face brightened. "Oh! You mean that cute guy! His name is . . . his name is . . . uhh . . ." She thought hard for a while, then scratched her head. "Gee, Mako-chan. I forgot to ask his name." All her friends stopped whatever they were doing and stared at her. "Come again?" Rei asked. Minako shrugged. "I forgot to ask his name." "He's a guy, right?" Usagi asked. "A *very* cute guy?" Her friend nodded. "And you forgot to ask his *name*?!?" Makoto said incredulously. Usagi looked thoughtful. "Come to think of it, the other day Minako said, "It's raining cats and dogs." She actually got a saying right!!" Minako made a face at her. "Ha ha. Very funny. And you actually remembered something for once." "But you did give him *your* name, right?" Rei asked. "Hmm . . . Come to think of it . . . I didn't give him my name either." "Are you serious?!" "Absolutely." Now even Ami was checking if she still had a fever. Minako shrugged them off. "C'mon, guys! Give me a break! So there's a first time for everything! Besides, I'm bound to see him around school. So we'll just have a formal introduction some other time." Two shadows stood in front of Rei's room - one small, which Rei recognized, and the other quite tall. The door slid open, and Rei's grandfather's smiling face peeked in. "Rei, somebody's here to see your friend." Usagi stood up, expecting to see Mamoru. When the door slid open further, though, Himeru was standing where Mamoru should have been. "Konnichiwa," he said. "Himeru-san! What are you doing here?" Makoto asked, rushing towards him. "How did you find me?" He was smiling at her. "Well, you mentioned that you study at Rei's place a lot. You also told me that Rei was living at Hikawa Shrine, so I went around looking for this place to find you. I just wanted to thank you and your friends for cheering for me." "How did the exam go, Himeru-san?" Ami asked. Himeru beamed. "I passed!!" Usagi, Ami, Rei and Makoto cheered. Minako - whose back was towards the door, turned around, finally getting a chance to see Makoto's dream guy. When she saw who it was, her eyes widened in recognition. "It's you!" she exclaimed. Himeru looked past Makoto to the blond-haired girl sitting on the floor. He blinked when he saw her, grinning even more as he remembered her as the girl who had almost bumped into the door back in school. "Hi!! Nice to see you again." Minako took an even closer look. She thought, shaking her head. "So . . . you're Makoto's new friend!" He snapped his finger. "And you're her friend who wasn't able to attend Saturday's meeting because . . . because you were just getting well from being sick!" She nodded and smiled slowly. "Right." Himeru tilted his head, eyes shining brightly. "It's strange how we couldn't remember those facts when we saw each other earlier today." The other girls looked back and forth between him and Minako. "Wait a sec here, let me get this straight. You guys already met?" Makoto asked. Minako pointed a thumb towards Himeru. "He's the same guy we were talking about earlier. You know. The one person whom I didn't get to introduce myself on the first meeting." "Well, maybe it's about time you did!" Usagi said. "Come over here!" Makoto led Himeru to the low table and had him sit between her and Minako. Rei thanked her grandfather and closed the door. Usagi stood up, towering over the now seated people. "Let the "proper introduction" begin then! Aino Minako," she said, gesturing to the blond girl. "Meet Ayukawa Himeru. Oh, did I get it right this time?" Usagi whispered the last line to Ami. Ami nodded, then giggled. "Himeru-san, this is Mina-chan," Usagi said, completing her introduction. Himeru never took his eyes off Minako's as they shook hands. "Yoroshiku." "Yoroshiku," Minako said back. She was well aware that Himeru was looking straight into her eyes. She looked away, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden. "This is great! Now you know everyone in the group!" Makoto said happily. Rei pulled Usagi back down to the floor. "Not exactly. Artemis isn't around," she said. "Artemis?" Himeru asked. "Minako's faithful companion," Makoto explained, laughing a bit. "That's right - I didn't notice. He's always around wherever you go. Where is he now?" Ami asked Minako. Minako noticed that Himeru was looking at her kind of funny. "I think Luna dragged him off somewhere," she answered. "Luna? Usagi's black cat?" Himeru asked again, looking *very* confused. Ami nodded. "Usagi has a black cat, and Minako has a white one. The cat's name is Artemis." "The cat's na- . . . oh . . ." he said, nodding slowly, blushing all of a sudden. Makoto giggled. "Why? Did you really think Artemis was a guy?" Himeru blushed even harder. Rei grinned. "Jealous, Himeru-san?" "Huh? No! No, I just met . . ." He looked at Minako again. "I just met her." Himeru started laughing weakly. "Besides, why should I be jealous of a cat?" Makoto and Minako laughed weakly as well. "Yeah, why should he?" Makoto asked. "Hmm . . ." Minako agreed softly. The two girls stared at each other, enveloped in an uncomfortable silence. Minako was the first to give in and look away. She started gathering her things. "I . . . I have to go if I want to finish all of these by next week . . ." she stammered. "But . . . but you and Himeru just met!" Usagi protested. Minako smiled at Usagi. "Don't worry - we talked for a long time earlier this morning. I think that was enough for a first day, right Himeru-san?" Himeru's mouth was slightly open and he looked like he was about to say something, but he closed it and nodded. "Yeah. It was enough . . ." "Besides, my okaa-san wants me home early so I won't relapse." Minako stood up, somehow managing to carry her bag and the pile of papers and books at the same time. "'Till tomorrow then. Sayonara," she said. Rei slid the door open for her as she walked away. Usagi and the others watched as she descended the stairs. "Gee, you'd think she was avoiding somebody by the way she's acting," Usagi said, frowning a bit. Ami looked at Himeru and Makoto. she thought.