A/N: I'm not really a fan of partners paired up with other characters so they could be driven back to each other, but in this case, Makoto just HAD to be this way- this was a little something that was necessary to go with the flowing plot.
DISCLAIMER: I own my mind, and sometimes the characters of Naoko Takeuchi like to play with it to make little side-trips in acting. I say they pass with an A+ every time.
I'm Coming Back To You
Virginity no longer an issue, Makoto thrust harder into Ami, making it sweeter for the both of them. Ami arched into her palm like a woman possessed, whimpering as Makoto slammed deeper into her, keeping her hips high with her other free hand, towering over her on her elbows.
"Ami..!" Makoto ground out, swooping low and capturing open lips. Soft, warm, those lips tempted her to talk sweet, give up her habits for forced cursing. Right now, Makoto wanted to be bad. She wanted Ami to scold her, flip them both over, ravish her, make her beg...
"MAKOTO!"
The woman blinked, returned to the lust radiating off her lover, the love spearing into her with those pure blue eyes. She didn't deserve it... She didn't deserve THIS-
"Mako-chan, please don't leave me."
Suddenly, the brunette shuddered, dangerously close to the edge when she heard her sweet Ami-chan's voice, the one she fell in love with, the one who took her home that rainy night when she'd died inside...
"Mako-chan!"
The insistent voice called again, sweeter, tempting her back to the past. The past, where it was warm, full of light, laughter, friendship...
"Mako-chan!"
Ah, her Ami. Ami-chan...
A hand cupped her cheek, and Makoto jerked. She stared down at the unknown woman underneath her, so very different from what she had been dreaming about, during a bout of INTERCOURSE, with another.
Her touch had gentled, and the woman below was whining for more. It was enough. She'd had ENOUGH. Makoto roughly pulled out of the sucking center and rolled to her feet, frowning at the woman sprawled behind her.
"I'm sorry, it's just..."
"What is it, Kazuki?"
Makoto wanted to smile at the irony. She'd entered cooking school, kept good grades, scored well with both guys and girls- and had gotten the name of 'Kazuki', hot bed slammer. The girl probably didn't even know her real name.
Forcing a smile, she muttered another apology before striding out the room, swooping up her clothes as she went. Makoto wasn't a stranger to one-night stands and unknown apartments. She'd become allies with the scent of night whenever she found someone talented or pushy enough to get her out of her shirt.
So that's all she needed to grab, her shirt.
The short-haired woman was wailing inside, probably from providing her own release, and Makoto knew she was in trouble. She'd been bedding a lot of women who sported the choppy high cut below chin lately.
She didn't have to lie to herself when she knew she wanted to woman she was tupping underneath her to remind her of Ami.
Damn it all.
She was going back.
Screw her reputation, screw her college classes. With all her direct goal of opening a small okonomiyaki stand with all other dishes spiced in, then working up to open a restaurant, becoming manager- that didn't require college classes.
And she missed her old life, her past.
Yes, she was going back.
She needed Ami.
Damn, Makoto scowled as she looked around for her shirt. What the hell. Taking one last glance at the kreening woman behind her, Makoto wracked her brain, wondered if she needed anything from her dorm room.
Oh, what the heck.
She walked out the door.
Our love is unconditional
We knew it from the start
I cross my heart
And promise too
Give all I've got to give
To make all your dreams come true
George Strait's easy crooning rounded the empty room,
and a woman sighed under her breath, her studious eyes losing their sharpness and becoming an empty husk of longing.
"Mako-chan."
It had been too long, too long since she'd seen her best friend last, too long since they'd stopped fighting as Senshi and seperated, going their own ways. Yes, the woman mused. Too long. Sighing again, Ami Mizuno laid her forehead against the cool exterior of the aquarium.
A soft breeze came through the stoic paleness of the hospital's rooms, and her short blue hair ruffled slightly. Fish of all kinds swam over to the corner where an unknown presence waved, so much like the sea, so much like seaweed...
"Ami-chan, your shift closed about two hours ago, and it's eleven o'clock already. Why don't you let me drive you somewhere?"
Without turning, the girl replied softly, almost aching with the forbidden knowledge, it was so close to the truth that would shatter her reputation as a reliable doctor.
"Haruka-san... I know you'd drive me to where I want to go most, and... I can't. I just can't." A choked hitch caught her vocal chords, and Ami cleared it irritably. She was just missing the freedom of what a student had been back then, the non-challenging problems she could easily solve back in the old days.
Just because she was under a bit of stress, coming from the 'real world', that didn't mean she could let it get to her. Turning, Ami smoothed down her lab coat before walking over to the taller woman, her frame small compared to the racer in front of her.
Haruka Teno'h. Outer Senshi, great fighter, even greater racer, and helluva nuisance when it came to pairing up people, putting them in their own elements, and telling them to 'deal with it', giving both pairs a good nudging.
"You mean, you won't."
Blond didn't necessarily mean clueless here, either. Smiling wryly, Ami looked into wind-swept eyes and whispered, almost breaking down.
"Yes, I won't. I miss her, but I respect her too much to do this to her."
Ami was surprised when a hand placed itself on her shoulder, drawing her a bit close and into the warm body of ex-Uranus. She would always be Uranus, would never forget, and Haruka took the time to call down her planet and summon the wind. Soft and warm, soothing...
As expected, the younger girl relaxed, slumping into her taller frame, and Haruka gave a mixed grin towards the aquarium. The fish were all floating, serene. And their movements were dimmed.
"Michiru and I came to the conclusion she would want the attention you want to give her, Ami-chan. Heck, even Setsuna, dense woman, would tell you that. And, of course, Minako would have a 'love-sense' attack- it'd be positive as anything. And Rei and Usagi- Ami-chan, as Princess and fellow Senshi, they were hard-pressed not to order you two into a relationship."
A grumbled murmur, and Haruka shushed the wiggling movement of professional doctor, drawing the smaller woman closer, tighter. She was tired of hearing the wind whisper to her, secrets that were so close to the surface, that she was about to lose it.
"Ami-chan. Ami-chan!"
Looking down, Haruka smiled again, a bit more softly.
"Workaholic genius of an idiot..."
Ami had fallen asleep in her arms. Sighing, Haruka turned and picked up the water-wielder, clutching her high to her. She was aware that SHE was there, had made an appearance in the game...
As the two rounded a corner, abandoning the lonely waiting room of a hospital, Haruka grumbled, loudly, "Just WHEN has this girl gotten heavy- waaah!"
And Haruka dropped her.
Deliberately.
"AMI!"
And Senshi of Jupiter appeared, lightning quick, electric eyes blazing in fascinating protectiveness and worry. A screen of electricity rippled around the strong woman, and Haruka all but laughed when Makoto, now with Ami safely secure in her arms, whispered an angry, "DAMN it, Haruka! Next time, don't DROP her, and treat her GOOD!"
Smugly, Haruka leaned down and patted the dark locks, twirling the same old curls near the base of high cheeks. Makoto looked good, she mused. Strong and agile. Her color was high, and Haruka knew that it wasn't from carrying the firebomb she held in her arms. It was BECAUSE Ami was in her arms.
"Why don't you? Why HAVEN'T you?"
An angry growl, then the upward hitch of stubborn nose. Straightening, Makoto took the first real look at the woman she held in her arms, the woman who had captured her heart years ago, the woman she'd come back for. Turning towards the entrance of the hospital, Makoto stepped out into brisk night air. She knew where Ami lived, knew the town like she'd never left. Throwing a low husk of a murmur over shoulder, Makoto breathed,
"I'm going to start now, and I'll never leave her again."
"Mako-chan... Heh, you never were much on math, eh?" "*snort* How'd you guess?"
The two women sat around the circled table, occasionally sipping the over-sugared cups of hot apple cider. Steam rose and fogged Ami's glasses, and she was feeling self-conscious when she slipped them off and felt a warm gaze settle on her face.
Wiping them off, Ami shook her head and slipped them back on, sliding the rims around under her bangs and drawing them up to rest on top of her head. Hearing a soft chuckle, Ami glanced over at her grinning homework partner and asked,
"What's so funny?"
Makoto took her sweet time studying the line of her forehead before ducking her gaze and whispering a laughed,
"I tried wearing glasses once, like that. I managed to poke myself in the eyes about a dozen times before I gave up. Figures, you're a genius, that's never happened. 'Course, doesn't stop me from imagining it."
Laughing a bit herself, Ami tried to picture her tall friend trying on a pair of glasses and missing completely. Heh, it was silly, but the only thing Ami could think of Makoto wearing was a pair of sunglasses- and nothing else.
There'd be a marvelous amount of skin showing, all tanned and delicious, and she'd be smiling, so free and in her natural state, that Ami couldn't help but stare. Makoto would then start to grin, walk over with her knowing strides, and wrap and arm around her, invite her over to sample some chocolate chip cookies, and would she like a taste?-
"Waaahahahaha!"
And Ami didn't blame Makoto for blinking and looking lost when she doubled over and burst into laughter, clutching her sides. It was funny, really, and the fact that she knew Makoto WOULDN'T do that just made Ami laugh all the harder.
"Something funny?"
The blue-haired girl straightened with apparent determination, took another look over at the brunnete, and burst into new fits of laughter. Thank the skies above no one else was there, because they would have thought the 'genius' had gone bonkers.
As it was, though, Makoto knew her in and out, and was content to let Ami let it all out.
But not before moving over and behind the other girl, cupping her shoulders in her hands, and pulling her backwards, leaning her shaking, laughing body right back into hers. Ami was too wired up to notice. Only when she'd gained enough control to look around, did she realize the appreciated warmth at her back, the comforting hands near her hips.
"Heh-he- Mako-chan?"
"Put your glasses on, Ami. Teach me."
The voice was soft, not a command, but not really a request. But Ami didn't mind. She felt half drugged with laughter and contentment, was secure that Makoto was the only one who saw this rare side of her, and accept her for it, let it all out.
Reaching behind her, Ami took Makoto's larger hands in hers and lifted them up to her glasses, letting her palm ghost teasingly over the bridge of her nose, then down a bit lower, to her cheek, before ghosting away and taking her glasses off.
"Now, Mako-chan- you've got to familiarize yourself with the territory of your face, or else you WILL end up looking like someone went at you with a hot fire-poker."
Both girls giggled a bit at that, and Ami lifted the wrist of Makoto's right hand, which laid her glasses gently down on the table. Bringing her friend's hand to her face, Ami slowly brought it near, enjoying the view of a well-trusted limb before her.
"Now, Mako-chan... This's my nose, my cheeks, my eyes, my ears, my forehead- these are what you've got to remember, the glasses will make contact with. Just be gentle, and all'll be on your face when you practice."
Feeling the reverberated chuckle deep within her friend behind her, Ami smiled and let Makoto's hand go, content to close her eyes and let the limbs roam. They were feather-light and warm, slow mapping working their way over the skin of her face, letting her enjoy.
Ami knew Makoto could feel the increased heat of an unexpected blush rise, but Ami didn't mind. Makoto was her friend, and she was close to her. What was a little blushing, anyway?
"Got it memorized, Mako-chan?"
"... Always."
That one little word, that small hesitance before the soft answer, had Ami smiling. Smiling, feeling like she was happy, secure, righted... Feeling as if she was needed. Nodding briskly, she turned her head and smiled up at her fellow senshi.
"Now with the glasses."
"See? Wasn't so bad there, was it?" A simple chuckle, and Makoto all but had her toes curling in desire, desire to hear that again. Ami's glasses were perched low, making her look a bit sultry, but then, it had the greatest affect.
Only a moment before the glasses had slipped high, and Ami had laughed when the world blurred, then cleared into focus when trembling hands nudged them back down.
"Got it yet, there, Thunder?"
A shaky nod, then a soft carress to chin, higher, to nose, then higher still, to furrowed brow, easing the lines, before diving down and tracing the soft lips that suddenly opened for more air. Smiling, Makoto leaned forwards and placed a whisper-like kiss to the top of Ami's head.
"Yeah, Ami, got it."
"Ungh... Mako-chan... Mako-chan!" Ami groaned, her face burrowing into the soft pillow, trying not to cry. It was a dream, and a dear memory. So long... It had been so long ago, back when they had the time to relax, the time to live their lives and just play around...
And Makoto wasn't there anymore, she was gone, it had been a whole two years since they'd spoken last, had been about three when she'd went away.
Ami missed her friend, she missed the way she smiled, the way she laughed, talked, was HER, when she was near her. Makoto had made her feel comfortable, herself, and then she'd gone and went to college, leaving her to carve out her role as doctor.
Turning onto her belly, Ami tried to block out the scent that came to her; no use in remembering Makoto's scent now, she wasn't here. No use in trying to hug her pillow, because she wasn't in Mako-chan's apartment-
"Ami."
Damn.
She'd lost it. Used to, she only pictured the tall brunette, had dreamed only of those green eyes sparkling, practically anything and everything she could remember. The only thing she had forgotten was her voice.
That husky, low voice, the one where Makoto was tired and happy, but willing to sacrifice a nice hot bath to join and keep friends with the lone book-worm who came in out of a thunderstorm and was sopping wet.
That daring laugh, the one where she was triumphant in finally, FINALLY, beating Rei at videogames; where she'd mastered a math problem.
Ami was hallucinating, and she could swear to the heavens above that she was in Makoto's old apartment, she was staring right up into that angelically sexy face, she was in pj's in Makoto's large, warm bed.
She was going crazy.
"Ami, I missed you."
Heh, her brain was torturing her, so slow, making her want to bash her head in because she knew Makoto wasn't there, she knew Makoto was never coming back to her, knew she never would, because she didn't know how she felt; why, oh, WHY didn't she know how she felt..?
"Ami, please, oh Kami-sama, I've missed you-"
"I love you, Makoto."
Silence.
There. She'd said it. Dream or illusion, she'd took all her heart and let out the words she'd wanted to say for so long, had wanted to scream so bad. Yes, she loved her. She loved the one who made her laugh, the one who could control the heaven's rain, the splitting of the sky with a flashing electric bolt.
"I've blasted been in love with you, ever since... forever."
A wry smile twisted her lips, and Ami didn't care. She'd said all she'd had to, all she needed to, before she was going to burst into flame. Makoto wasn't there, and she'd never be-
"*UMPHGH!*"
The apparation moved.
Makoto pounced on the drowsy woman, her love, her soul-mate, her partner.
She knew Ami thought she was dreaming, or SOMETHING, because the look on the genius's face was one that Makoto knew well, where she'd watched, countless nights, watched as her love dreamed, breathed, sleeped.
Ami loved her.
Damn, but that felt so good, she felt as if she'd taken all the electricity in the world and supercharged her for a fight. And SHE felt good in her arms, all soft and curvy, warm and small, arching hard underneath and fighting for breath.
Oh, yeah, air.
Pulling back, Makoto smiled down at the deep blue pools of aqua, whispering, "I've missed you, love. Please, welcome me back." Ami stared up at her, her eyes wide and her mouth slack. Tousled hair fell longer to back, yet it was still Ami, still her shy book-worm, still the one that made her want to jump off a cliff just for the euphoric experience.
"M-Makoto..."
Frozen. Ami was frozen, she was stiff, she was held loosely in strong arms, and-
"MAKOTO!"
And she charged, like a bullet, into Makoto's embrace. Grunting as she was slammed back and bounced down on the bed, Makoto laughed, about cried when Ami bear-hugged her, sobbing and screaming her name, why she was here, because of her...
"I love you."
*THUMP!*
And they fell off the bed.
But who cared?
They both held the one they loved in their arms, and soon, they'd make it an occasion that would last forever and into eternity.
Because Makoto had come home.
oooooooooooooooo
A/N: . . . Fuzzy . . .