With All of My Heart

Chiba Usagi sat on the sofa in the apartment she shared with her husband with her knees bend up and her arms wrapped around them. It was late, and Mamoru wasn't home yet. She knew where he was, or at least where he told her he was. She had called Kunzite's home an hour ago and there had been no answer.

She knew that she was probably worrying over nothing, but something in her gut was telling her that something was wrong. Mamoru was lying to her, and his guardians knew about it and were keeping his secret for him.

She thought back on that day a week ago when three of them had come to discuss Jadeite. Zoisite in particular had acted odd, refusing to look her in the eye as if he was hiding something.

Would Mamoru really... Usagi shook her head. No, her husband would not cheat on her. Their relationship was destiny, decided in the past, fate. All those things that would stop that sort of thing from happening. But if he wasn't cheating, then what was he hiding? What was the real reason he was over at Kunzite's almost every night? Why was it that when she came home early, he looked overly surprised to see her?

Come to think of it, each time she came home early, he was often on the way to the shower.

The Moon Princess shook her head again. Coincidence, that was all.

Her eyes fell on her cell phone on the coffee table once again. Signing, she picked it up and dialled the number once again.

Kunzite picked up on the fourth ring. “Hello?” he said, and there was something odd about his voice.

“Is Mamoru there?”

“Yes,” Kunzite replied quickly, “just a moment.” The unmistakable sound of a hand being placed over the phone followed. It was difficult to make any other sounds out, but Usagi thought that she heard some kind of scrambling.

“Usagi?” Mamoru's voice finally said. Usagi glanced at her watch. That had taken most of a minute.

“Is everything alright?” she asked. “You sound winded.”

“No, no, I'm fine,” he replied. It was the same tone he used when he was often caught on the way to the shower. “What do you need?”

“Oh, uh...” Usagi quickly looked to the kitchen and tried to remember what they were low on. She really should have thought of an excuse to call before dialing. “Could you pick up a bunch of carrots on your way home?” she asked. “Or will you be much later?”

“Um...” Mamoru paused for a moment, “I shouldn't be too much longer.”

“OK,” Usagi said in her cheerful voice, “I'll see you soon!”
As she closed her phone to end the call, her mind was racing. He was out of breath when he got to the phone, as if he had been running, or...

“No!” Usagi yelled to the empty room, “He would not do that to me!”

She tossed the phone onto the couch and then got up, pacing the room and chewing a nail nervously. There had to be a way to prove that he wasn't cheating, right? If he was having sex with another woman, then when he came home she would be able to smell perfume or something, right? She would check for that. What else?

An idea struck Usagi then that had her rushing for their bedroom. Of course! If he had just had sex, then he wouldn't be able to for at least a few hours. She remembered reading that in one of the racier magazines she kept around. A re-factory something-er-other? She couldn't remember the word for it.

She pushed clothing out of the way in the closet and found what she was looking for. A naughty little pink nightie that she had worn on their wedding night. He couldn't refuse her in this. Now that she thought about it, he never refused her... on the few times she had ever proposed the idea.

Her magazines told her that healthy couples made love a couple times a week, but... when was the last time she and Mamoru had? A month ago? Was it more? Slowly, she sat on the bed, holding the nightie in her hands. At first they had had sex frequently, but then it began to tapper off, and soon they were down to a couple times a month, rather than a week.

Mamoru would often ask, but a lot of the time Usagi just hadn't been in the mood. She just didn't understand the great thrill people took in the act. It was nice, but she just didn't really get much out of it.

Another realization hit her. Mamoru hadn't asked her for sex in a while now either.

Maybe he really was getting it from someone else. Could Usagi herself have actually driven him into someone else's bed? Her hand flew to her mouth. No. No, that didn't really matter. They were still married, it didn't mean that he could cheat.

But he wasn't cheating. Usagi would prove that tonight.

---

She had just finished applying lipstick when she heard her husband come into the apartment. She checked herself over in the mirror and then stepped into the hall.

“Welcome home, dear.”

Usagi did her best to appear sexy, and it seemed to work when Mamoru looked at her with wide, surprised eyes. “Usagi...”

Smiling, Usagi strode down the hall to meet her husband at the door. “I'll take that for you,” she offered, grabbing the carrots from his hand and taking them to the refrigerator.

“You're beautiful,” he said softly from behind her.

Usagi smiled to herself. There, nothing to worry about. She turned and after Mamoru stepped into the room, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned in close. Nope, no perfume either. Actually, it seemed like he was rather fresh from the shower. That was odd.

She kissed his cheek and then detached herself, grabbing his hand in hers and began to lead him to the bedroom.

When he spoke next, her heart fell. “Usagi...”

“Is something wrong?” she asked, a bit nervous to turn around and look at him now.

“I'm just... I'm sorry, I'm really tired tonight. Maybe tomorrow?”

“Oh...” Usagi did her best to remain calm. She let go of his hand, but didn't want to look at him. This didn't have to confirm anything, right? He's allowed to be tired.

“I'm sorry, you went through all the trouble. I wasn't expecting this... “

So, if he had been expecting it, he might have stayed home tonight?

“You're... gorgeous.”

Finally Usagi managed to turn and fake a smile. “Another time then,” she agreed, and then quickly turned to change into more comfortable PJs.

---

Two days later, Usagi decided to try and spring a sort of trap. She didn't like to think of it as a trap really, as she most certainly did not want to catch Mamoru being unfaithful. She rather liked to think of it as proving that he wasn't cheating.

“Dear? I'm going to head over to Ami's for a few hours.” It was the weekend, and so Mamoru had the day off work. He was currently typing away at the laptop, but looked up and smiled when Usagi spoke.

“Alright, have fun then.”

Usagi gave her usual smile before putting on her shoes and then heading out the door. Her plan was to go across the street and watch the building from a cafe for an hour. That should give the woman, not that there was another woman, time to get over to the apartment, then Usagi would come home early.

After picking a table near the window, Usagi realized that one part of her plan was not going to work well. She wanted to watch the building for suspicious people entering, but it wasn't as though she knew every person that lived there. It was a large apartment building.

She sighed and sipped at her milkshake when it was delivered.

---

Impatiently she glanced at her watch. It had only been 20 minutes, but she was growing restless. Usagi flipped open her cell phone and called her husband. She had no excuse for calling, but decided she would make something up if need be.

Turned out that she didn't need to. It went right to voice mail. The young woman bit her lip and looked down at the phone. Perhaps now was a good time to go home.

Quickly she paid her bill and rushed to the building. The elevator could not come fast enough. Once on her floor, she suddenly slowed and walked as quietly as she could to her door.

This was something she had decided on prior to leaving. When she returned she needed to be as quiet as she could. She readied her keys before reaching the door and held the loose ones together to avoid them making any noise. She walked as soundlessly as she could. When she reached their door, she pressed her ear to it to see if she could hear anything. Nothing of interest.

Her hands shook as she tried to put the key in the lock. She would have to do this quickly, because there was no way to open the door without making some sound. Usagi took a deep breath and turned the key.

She was not most certainly not expecting to see what she did. There were exactly three things wrong with what she did see.

Kunzite and Zoisite were in the apartment now, and in full uniform. They all stared at her as if being caught like children stealing fresh-baked cookies from the kitchen. She would have noticed if they had entered the apartment from the street, and they had not. Their true appearances also suggested that they had in fact teleported. Oddity number one.

Number two was Zoisite himself. He was seated on the sofa while Kunzite and Mamoru stood nearby. He was seated while Mamoru stood. It just never happened. In addition, he was acting as he had the week before, looking at her at first, and then away. His cheeks were pink as well, very unusual.

Number three was Kunzite. Not long after Usagi opened the door did he turn his back on her and appear to be fumbling with something. She had no idea what it could be, but he didn't want her to see it, that was for sure. Once he turned back around, he gave his usual, mildly arrogant smile.

Mamoru just looked surprised. “Usagi, you're home early.”

“Is something wrong?” she asked, looking at the three men in turn. Zoisite stood then, doing his best to look natural, but something was definitely up.

“Nothing at all, we were just...” Mamoru stumbled to find a reply.

“Discussing Jadeite,” Kunzite finished for him. “We thought we had a lead as to where he was, so we came as quickly as we could.”

Not a bad excuse, Usagi thought, but it wasn't a good enough explanation for their attitudes. “Where is he?” she asked, a bit curious, but more to keep them talking.

Kunzite shook his head. “It seems that we were mistaken, just a short foreigner we spotted.”

“Will you be staying? I thought you wanted to visit Ami,” Mamoru asked, changing the subject back to her early return.

“I just forgot something,” Usagi decided on, taking off her shoes. “I'll just be a minute.” She was about to head down the hallway when another thought stopped her. “Mamoru, your cell phone is turned off. Is there a reason for that?”

“Oh, I uh...” He picked up the phone and flipped it open. “I just forgot to turn it on I guess.”

Usagi nodded and then proceeded to their room to pick up the item she was pretending to forget. Something was not right, and it was making her stomach tie itself in knots.