Five things about Ami Mizuno
Note: Got the idea from "five things about Janine Kishi". I wanted to write a story that wasn't long but gave some insight into Ami Mizuno and who she is as a person.
Ami Mizuno loves to bake. She has for as long as she could remember, mostly because it was something she and her mother have been doing it together for many years. She remembers being four and standing on a stool to reach the bench while her mother – Saeko – rolled the dough properly and patiently explained the recipe to her, and then being given two different-shaped cookie cutters to press into the dough. One was shaped like a star, and one like a rabbit. They still bake together on a Sunday morning because her Mother has most Sunday mornings off from work. Ami always gets to pick the recipe, and no matter how complicated it looks, she and her mother are always willing to try it, and then either taste their success or laugh at their failure together. Baking with Mako-chan is fun (and nearly always a success), but it just doesn't compare to the irreplaceable memories baking has helped her and her mother create over the years. She hopes that when she becomes a mother that she has a daughter that will enjoy baking cookies and cakes with her too.
Ami Mizuno has never thought of herself as a genius – it's a word that makes her feel uncomfortable and isolated, like she's separated from her peers by a glass cage. At the very most she admits to being above average. She knows – thanks to many exams she has been through from a young age – that her IQ is supposed to be close to 300, but that means absolutely nothing to her. It's just a number from a machine that knows nothing about her as a person. And the majority of the questions are math-related, which really annoys Ami because she knows that people can be smart in many different ways. Mina-Chan is terrible at Math, but she has formed amazing – and complicated – signature moves in Volleyball that obviously took a lot of dedication, skill and intelligence to properly form. Mako-chan doesn't understand Physics, but she could teach the Home Economics class with both hands tied behind her back. Who are people to say they aren't intelligent in their own ways? Besides, as far as Ami is concerned, she gets good grades because she works very hard for them – not just because she's smart. She studies religiously and has never missed a session of cram school. She's sure that if she didn't do either one that she wouldn't consistently get such high grades – logic dictates that they would have to slip after a while.
Ami's biggest dream is to marry her soul mate and for them both to become financially secure enough for her to eventually become a stay-at-home mother to a house full of children (she secretly hopes to have four children, but will be happy with at least two). She can't wait for the day that she can officially be known as Doctor Mizuno, but despite what many people believe, becoming a doctor has never been her one and only dream. Ami knows in her heart that when she meets the right person she'll be more than willing to put her career on hold so that they can start a family together. She can always go back to work as a casual or part-timer once her children are old enough if she has the discipline to keep up her medical studies – it's more important to Ami to be there for the people she loves when they need her than to make money. She can't imagine putting work over moments that she could never capture again, such as seeing her children smile, crawl or say "Mama" for the first time. She doesn't care how many boys or girls she has in the future; her main concern is that all her children are happy and healthy, and that they will always know that she will love them all equally and unconditionally and support them when they need it the most. After years of living with just her mother and coming home to an empty apartment most nights, the idea of a noisy, bustling house alive with children will be the ultimate happiness to Ami. She already has potential names picked out for her children too. For a girl she likes the names Miho and Reina. For a boy: Kaito and Naoto.
People often assume that Ami and her Mother (Saeko) have a strained relationship because of the hours her Mother works and how little they see each other during the week. Nothing could be further from the truth. Saeko doesn't want to work the hours that she has to work – she has even told Ami that she sometimes resents having to work extra hours since the divorce because she always finds herself thinking that she should be at home with her daughter while her former husband should be out working to earn money for their family (he barely sends any alimony, but Saeko makes more than enough money to support them both anyway). Still, Ami and her Mother have their own little ways of reminding each other that they love, admire and respect each other. Ami will cook a large amount of Saeko's favourite Beef Stew during the middle of the week and put it in Tupperware so that her Mother doesn't have to worry about cooking dinner for at least three days. Saeko has never missed even one of Ami's Birthdays – she always puts in for leave six months or more in advance so that they can go and have lunch or dinner together at a nice restaurant as Mother and Daughter, and Ami knows that her Mother always puts a lot of thought into the birthday presents she buys her daughter every year. But the tool that they believe has helped keep their relationship strong over the years is what they have dubbed their "Communication Board" - a whiteboard on the fridge that they write messages to each other on. They can write whatever they want, whenever they want – the only rule is that they must both always be honest with each other. Saeko and Ami both agree that dishonesty will kill a relationship, but that honesty will nurture it and allow it blossom.
Ami sometimes wonders if her Mother knows she's living a double life. She sees that glint of suspicion on Saeko's face when Ami can't always account for her whereabouts or what she was doing. She swears her mother sees the exhaustion on her face sometimes – since becoming Sailor Mercury, she's had to stay up later than usual at night to stay on top of her studies. Saeko came across her Mercury pen once. She didn't ask any questions, but simply bought it back to Ami. Considering it was a rather unusual-looking pen, Ami was almost surprised that no questions were asked, but still relieved. She's positive her Mother may have even accidentally witnessed her talking to Luna on her communicator once. Yet her Mother never seems to delve any deeper – it's almost as if she knows what's going on. Mothers have that way of knowing things about their children. Or if she doesn't know – maybe Saeko simply accepts that Ami has to have secrets at this point in her life. Ami hopes it isn't a secret she'll have to keep forever – she's never liked secrets. One day, the world will be at peace and she won't have to be Sailor Mercury anymore. It's an honour to be a Sailor Scout, but it's also very hard. It'll be good to just be Ami Mizuno again.