It Might Come True
Chapter 2: Frustration
By Tisha
Rated PG


	Dinner at her parents' house used to be Usagi's favorite tradition. Every single Sunday her parents would have her and Shingo over and they would just talk and be a family like in the old days. But lately Usagi had started to dread the days, as all that seemed to take place was Shingo talking about his fiancιe and her mom putting the pressure on her. She wasn't exactly sure why it bothered her so much when her mom tried to push her toward marriage. Once she had thought maybe she was already concerned about her own lack of a love life and she just hated to have someone else point it out as well.

	She tried not to think about that. It was the most likely explanation but Usagi didn't want to feel like she needed someone, especially since she'd never felt connected with anyone before. Tonight she was particularly dreading the family dinner because Ran, Shingo's fiancιe, was going to be there. Usagi's parents had met her before but Usagi had not. She had pretended to be sick that day. She really didn't want to see her little brother happily in love when she was alone.

	As she approached the door she took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. Her mother answered the door with a hug. "Usagi-chan, Shingo is already here with Ran. You should go meet her."

	Usagi nodded, letting her mother hang up her coat and she went into the living room where she saw her father, her brother, and two women she didn't know. One was very tall and beautiful with blond hair and the other was also beautiful, though with black hair. Usagi remembered Shingo saying that Ran had blond hair so she wondered who the other woman was.

	"Hey sis, this is Ran," He pointed to the blonde woman, who smiled warmly. "And this is her cousin Rei." He pointed toward the dark haired woman.

	Usagi greeted them both and reluctantly sat down, already feeling uncomfortable. "Ran, show them the ring." Shingo directed his fiancιe and she replied by holding out her left hand to display the expensive looking  diamond solitaire.

	"You two have been engaged for seven months now. When are you actually going to get married?" Ikuko asked, beaming with motherly pride.

	 Ran looked at Shingo and then answered. "We've decided on April 26."

	Ikuko looked surprised. "That's only a little over a month away. You have a lot of planning to do, don't you?"

	"Sure, but we're managing." Shingo answered her and then looked at Usagi, who wished she wasn't here. "What about you sis, found anybody yet?"

	Usagi screamed inwardly. She just knew her own love life would be brought up, but she figured it would be her mother. She practically had to grind her teeth as she answered. "No one in particular, no. I guess we're all not as lucky as you are, Shingo." With that she stood, suddenly needing to take a breather. "Will you excuse me for a second?"

	She walked out into the backyard and sat on a chair. What did she go and do that for? Now they were all sure to think she was overly lonely and bug her even more. Why did she hate their questions so much? It might be because she *did* feel somewhat empty inside. If she truly was happy she wouldn't have to care that they might speculate otherwise. She heard the door open and looked up to see Ran's cousin, Rei.

	The black haired woman smiled at her and took the seat next to hers. "Don't they just make you sick?"

	Usagi laughed. "Well, it's sweet. I just get sick of everyone waiting for me to announce an engagement."

	"Is there someone special?"

	Usagi looked at her, a bit surprised. "No."

	"Sorry. I just thought by the way you reacted that you might have had your heart broken or something. I'm not dating anyone either but I don't really have anyone on my back about it."

	Usagi nodded, thinking that she was glad this girl came out to give her some company. "It's not like I'm avoiding men all together, or trying to be single, you know? I'm just not going to run off and marry the first guy I see. I want it to be special. Like with Shingo and Ran. I can tell they love each other. Why can't my mom understand that?"


••••••••••••••••••• 


	Usagi was behind the counter at her shop, putting some things away when she heard the bell ring, meaning that someone was coming in. She looked up to see a young man come in followed by a blonde woman. She smiled at them before realizing that they were arguing. 

	"You told me you would go." The blonde woman yelled at him.

	The man almost seemed to be ignoring her as he glanced around at Usagi's merchandise. "Well I changed my mind. It's not like you've met my parents yet."

	The woman rolled her eyes as he continued to look through shelves of manga. Usagi felt uncomfortable so she just stood back and tried to act like she wasn't paying attention. The blonde woman approached the counter and smiled at her. "Sorry about that. Do you have a boyfriend?" Usagi shook her head. 

	"My name is Minako by the way. I'm just having a bit of boyfriend troubles right now."

	Usagi smiled. "My name's Usagi. Are you Aino Minako?"

	The blonde smiled at her. "Yeah, how did you know?"

	"Aren't you a singer? My friend Naru is always telling me how great you are. I didn't know what you looked like though. Actually, she also said that you went to High School with us."

	"That's it! I knew I recognized you from somewhere. I'm glad I've got a fan. It seems that not many people have been able to put my name with my face yet. I'd love to go out somewhere with you and your friend sometime."

	Usagi beamed at her. "Naru would love that. I don't know if she could find the time though, she just had twins."

	Minako's boyfriend came up behind her and interrupted the conversation. "Come on Minako, let's go."

	Minako turned back to Usagi. "I'll stop by again sometime, when do you work?"

	"Almost all the time. I own the store."

	Minako nodded and promised to come back before leaving. Usagi watched as they started arguing again as soon as they were out of the door.


••••••••••••••••••• 


	She wasn't even sure why, but even by Thursday Usagi was feeling excited about Mamoru helping her with her bookkeeping. She found this incredibly odd since math was something she hated, but she refused to let herself think that it was because of Mamoru and not because of the help. So she finally decided to invite Ami out to lunch on Saturday so she couldn't get too excited about what was to come.

	They went to a little cafι type restaurant near the shopping center. It had a very nice environment and the food was very good. Usagi found that Ami was very fun to talk to, and she had lots of suggestions for Usagi's shop. Just as they were leaving the restaurant Usagi saw Minako walking through the shopping center so she called out to her. Minako looked at her for a minute before appearing to recognize her and she finally came over to Usagi and Ami.

	Usagi didn't notice until Minako was closer that she had a rather bad looking bruise on her face. Usagi frowned. "What happened to your cheek?"

	Minako sighed and put a hand to the swollen cheek. "He had the nerve to hit me. I just left and I've been here for an hour, spending money. It's what I do when I need to think." She giggled as she thought about what she had said.

	Usagi was thinking about the fact that Minako's boyfriend had hit her but she saw Minako look at Ami and she realized that she hadn't introduced them. "Oh, sorry. Minako, this is Mizuno Ami. And this is Aino Minako." The two greeted each other and Usagi glanced at her watch. "I need to get back to the store, care to come with me?" She asked both of her new friends.

	Ami shook her head and replied, "I need to get to the hospital."

	Minako agreed to go with Usagi so they said goodbye to Ami and walked toward Usagi's store. Minako told Usagi about the fight she had been having with her boyfriend when he had hit her. She said he had never done it before and she was planning to dump him because of it. Usagi nodded, "That's a good idea. You can find someone better than him."

	Minako smiled at her and they saw that they had reached the store. Mamoru was already there because they were a few minutes late. "I'm sorry I'm late, Mamoru-san. This is Aino Minako, a friend of mine."

	Mamoru and Minako exchanged greetings before Usagi got out all of the bookkeeping she had done on the store and she showed it to Mamoru. He looked it over and Usagi looked up at Minako to see her new friend smiling slyly at her. Usagi just smiled and looked back at the books as Mamoru critiqued them. It turned out Usagi had been doing a pretty good job and there wasn't much that she needed to change about her habits. 

	The bell on the door rang and Usagi looked up, ready to serve a customer. But she saw Minako's boyfriend come in and she saw Minako stiffen out of the corner of her eye.
 
	He looked very upset as he said, "You're not allowed to walk out on me while we're discussing something."

	"That was not *discussing,* that was *hitting.* I'm not just going to sit around and take that, our relationship is over."

	He looked like he might be about to hit her again but Mamoru had started listening to the conversation and he stepped out from behind the counter so that he was almost between the two of them. "You heard her, I think you should leave."

	The man narrowed his eyes at him. "And who are you, her little lover?"

	"No, I barely even know him. Not all men are pigs like you." Minako had slowly made her way back to stand behind the counter with Usagi. He finally backed down and left the store and Mamoru turned back to the girls with a sigh. "Thank you, Mamoru-san." Minako said.

	"No problem. My girlfriend's ex-boyfriend hit her and now every time I get mad she acts like she's afraid that I'll hit her. I hate to think that he damaged her so much."

	For some reason, the mention of a girlfriend and the way he was talking about her made Usagi jealous. This bothered her for the rest of the day. Long after she had left the store and said goodbye to both Minako and Mamoru she was wondering why she was jealous over Mamoru. She barely even knew him. She kept trying to put it behind her but for some reason she just couldn't stop thinking about him.


To be continued...