practicality

It happened almost as if he'd blinked his eyes and the world had shifted - one moment he'd been staring at the table in the tea shop he'd been wiping down, and the next - he was putting a set of chopsticks down neatly on the rest, without having even thought of the action. He tried to turn his head and look around, but found he couldn't - his body was moving of it's own will. Out of his peripheral vision, he thought he could see Usagi. And across the table from him, there was a girl, twelve at most, who evoked such a strong feeling of familiarity and protectiveness it almost caught him off-guard.

"Thanks! It was delicious," Usagi - and that was definitely Usagi's enthusiastic voice - piped up from beside him.
"Yeah, thanks I guess." His own voice, then, and he could hear the careful feigned indifference in it.

Usagi leaned forward to give the girl a bright smile. "You're an excellent cook, Sakura. The hamburger casserole was great!"

She blushed a bright pink in return. He could feel himself scooting back his chair, and reaching for a bag on the floor.

"Can't help with dishes, gotta get to work."

Usagi's grin really was a permanent fixture, it seemed like. "I'll help you clean up. After all, you did treat me."

Momotarou headed across the room to the entryway, Usagi trailing him as he slipped on his shoes. "Is it still raining?"

He opened the door to reveal the answer to Usagi's question - a torrential downpour of rain. "Yep. It's not natural..." He could hear the suspicion and worry in his own voice - but a moment later, he was staring at the teashop table again.