Sailor Moon characters do not belong to me, much to my dismay, but these are my personal ideas and my words. Usage of my story is not allowed, unless you ask.

Minako's Tale

Chapter One: A Chance At Love

Spike. Pop it up. Over the net. It hit the ground. Serve. Volley back and forth.

This was her life.

Aino Minako loved volleyball. Ever since her mom left her at the park for a full hour later than she was supposed to and Minako had watched the adults play sand volleyball, she was obsessed with the game. The blonde never took her eyes off the ball. There was no distracting her. Mainly because when she hit the ball, she got rid of her anger. Naru could barely keep up with her, and she had Sakura on her side to help her.

"Mina-chan, hakuyu! We're going to be late for cheer practice!" Well, volleyball may be her life, but girls' volleyball was a spring sport, and since it was only late September, she had awhile before she had to concentrate her time on it.

"Coming, Usa-chan!" Minako ran up to the net and spiked the ball before running after her best friend and fellow cheerleader. "Konichiwa, Usa- chan. What are we doing today at practice?" The two blondes walked towards the gym on the other side of the parking lot to meet the squad while discussing the day.

This was both of their first year cheering, but they had made it on the varsity squad. Usagi talked about her day, and what she thought 'Tenchi', their captain, would make them do. Her real name was Maria, but she felt left out being the only Italian-American on the squad, so she was given a more Japanese name to fit in.

Of course, neither Minako nor Usagi looked very Japanese. They were both Caucasian colored with pale blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Minako's parents had lived in Japan when they were younger, got married, then moved to England, had Minako, then, after Minako's father died and her mother was tired of all the English habits, her and her mother moved to Japan to let Minako finish her schooling.

Usagi's parents were both Japanese, at least her guardians were. Usagi's adopted mother, Ikuko, had gotten pregnant. They were on a vacation when they discovered they had lost the baby. To replace the baby that was lost, they had adopted a child from the country they were visiting, Canada. As far as Usagi knows, her parents just gave her up because they were too young to have children.

"Hello, ladies! Off to shout 'Ra Ra' again?" The two continued walking, attempting to ignore the group of graduates who were there to either pick up little siblings or see their girlfriends. "Ah, giving me the cold shoulder, are you, Odango Atama?" Minako quietly prayed she would just continue walking and ignore the raven-haired guy's comments.

Minako never had very good luck. Usagi spun around and confronted the group who were staring and laughing. "Mamoru-baka, I am sick of you calling me that!" Usagi was fuming. She wore her hair in pigtails with buns at the bases, and Mamoru had the nerve to call her Odango Atama because he said it looked like dumplings. "If you weren't Rei-chan's older brother, I would slap you right now!" Usagi spun on her heel, and walked very quickly towards the gym.

"Usa-chan, don't let him get to you." She continued to stare ahead, not talking, so Minako continued cautiously. "I understand that it upsets you when he calls you that, but just remember, Rei-chan is our friend, so you should try to get along with him."

"Just whose side are you on, Mina-san?" With that, Usagi walked in the gym and away from Minako. 'I need to talk to Rei-chan.'

Chiba Mamoru watched as Usagi walked away from him, fuming, and it was his entire fault. He had known her since she was five years old, and had always been fascinated with her. Especially that hair! He thought her hair was very cute, but he knew if he were to tell her that, she would stop fixing it that way. So every chance he got, he told her it looked weird, just so she would defiantly wear it.

He saw his younger sister walking towards him and his friends. Hino Rei. She was a beautiful raven-haired girl in her junior year, and another one of Usagi's best friends. The only way Rei and Mamoru looked the same was their hair, which they got from their mom. They had different dads, Mamoru's German, Rei's Japanese. Their mom had gotten pregnant when she was in senior high, and she never saw the father again. After she had graduated, she married Rei's dad and got pregnant again, but she didn't make it through the delivery.

She was small and frail after all the drugs and the like she was into, and the labor was too much for her. Rei had to be emergency c-sectioned, barely making it herself, but she had grown into a beautiful, popular young women. About two years ago, her dad had left Rei with Mamoru, who had moved out at age sixteen, after a plane crash. The two of them lived alone in an apartment just down the street from Usagi.

"Onee-san, did you forget that I am having Usagi come over and I am staying at practice with her?" Mamoru tried to look shocked that she had said this, but she could tell he was faking the confused expression. "Oh, I get it, you wanted to come up here and watch the cheerleaders practice, didn't you?"

"I think last time I watched the cheerleaders practice, I got yelled at, so why would I want to get in trouble again?" He flashed her his smile that brought girls to their knees, but, being his sister, she simply rolled her eyes and got angrier.

"You know that now you won't be yelled at, because you are here with a student, waiting for a specific cheerleader, not just coming up here after school is out and watching the cheerleaders as a pass-time!" Mamoru grinned mischievously as his friends hooted and hollered behind him.

"Hey, it isn't Mamoru-kun's fault he is attracted to cheerleaders jumping around!"

"Especially the blondes!"

"Hai, the skinny blondes!"

"With really long hair!"

"And don't come up to your shoulder!"

"That's enough, you hentais!" Rei folded her arms across her chest in frustration. "Why don't you just leave and come back later to pick us up?" Mamoru was thinking of what Usagi looked liked, jumping around, and yelling for her team, the Tsukis. (Funny, the rabbit of the moon is cheering for the Moons!)

"Rei-chan, Rei-chan, Rei-chan, driving all the way home and back would waste a lot of gas. If I leave, you two will have to find a different way home."

Rei opened her mouth to protest, but stopped herself. "Fine, we will just walk home, then." With that, she turned towards the gym, hoping he would stop her and persuade her to let him stay.

"Rei! You can't walk home! It's too far for two beautiful young ladies to be walking. Lots of things could happen to you, and I wouldn't be there to protect you." He put on his most stern-big-brother-look he could muster. "Gomen, but you have left me with no choice but to stay and give you a ride."

"Whatever, just don't offer to help with the stunting again!" Mamoru smiled wickedly, remembering when he got to look up the girls' shorts to reveal thongs.

They walked to the gym and sat in the bleachers, watching the girls cheer for the imaginary team. A guy walked into the gym to take pictures for the yearbook. He wanted to also interview a couple of the younger cheerleaders. Naturally, Minako and Usagi were chosen.

"What is your favorite part of Cheerleading?" This question for Usagi.

She placed her finger on her chin as if it were going to help her think. Her eyes brightened. "Being a part of something that encourages people to believe in our school's abilities!"

"And you, what is you favorite part of being a cheerleader?" The senior boy, Osamu, looked at Minako with a certain lustful stare. "Do you like the attention you get from all the guys?"

"Doesn't every girl like getting attention?" Minako got a sudden uneasy feeling when Mamoru and one of his friends walked up to see what was going on. "But I'm already taken." Minako, before giving it much thought, wrapped her arms around Mamoru's friend's waist and smiled. "My favorite part of cheerleading is getting into every game free!"

Osamu looked a little upset that Minako had a boyfriend, nodded, and walked away.

Minako sighed and let go of the older guy, who looked more than a little confused. 'I hope he didn't have that look on his face a minute ago, otherwise it wouldn't have been very convincing.' "Gomen nasai," Minako said as she bowed to the gentlemen. "He was bothering me and I thought he would leave me alone if he thought I already had a senpai and..."

The guy put a hand up to silence her. "No problem, I like having cheerleaders give me hugs without me having to beg." He flashed a charming smile at her and she turned a slight shade of pink. "My name is Hiei, what's yours?"

"Minako." She replied, barely audible.

"Well, Minako-san, would you like to do something with me this weekend? I mean, you might want to convince that guy that we are really a couple, otherwise he may start bothering you again."

"Um..."

"Hey, Odango Atama, maybe you and me can go with them, so her mom doesn't have a problem with it." Mamoru looked shocked that he had actually said this, but he didn't regret it for a second. "Your mom is really strict, isn't she, Minako-chan?"

"Hai."

"Mamoru-baka, you want me to double-date with you?" Usagi looked dumbfounded.

"Iie, I want Minako-chan to be able to go on a date, but I could find any of her other friends to take..."

"Iie, I want Usa-chan." Usagi looked at Minako, who had finally recovered from her embarrassing situation and was getting a plan to get Usagi and Mamoru together, once and for all. "I will only go if you come, Usa-chan."

Usagi felt somewhat betrayed, but she wanted her friend to be able to go out on her first date, so she agreed to the double date.

"Come on, we gotta get back to practice." Minako turned and ran to the group of girls they had left moments earlier.

"Usagi, what did that guy want, anyway?" Usagi turned and noted the look of concern and jealousy on Mamoru's face.

"He wanted some quotes to go into the yearbook. He just wanted to ask a few questions, then he started to lay the moves on Mina-chan. Later!" Usagi turned to follow the other blonde.

"Well, we are two lucky baka-yeros, aren't we? Just checking up on them, and we get dates with two really cute cheerleaders!"

"But, Hiei-kun, they are four years younger than us!"

"Technically, I am half a year younger than you, and isn't Minako older than Usagi?"

"Hai, by a half a year..."

"So, I am only three years older than Minako, and that is fine with me." Hiei walked back to Rei and the guys with a cocky look on his face. 'Well, she may be too young for me, but that doesn't mean she isn't a perfect tenshi in my eyes.'

Usagi sat on Rei's bed, reading her mangas when Rei sighed, frustrated and put down her books. "Usa-chan, remind me why I let you come over and read my mangas?"

"Because you love me, Rei-chan, and my mama disapproves of them, she says they will cause my grades to slip." Rei rolled her eyes. "Of course, everyone in our class knows I am one of the top students, even though I have a tendency to be late and fail tests, I always do my work and all the extra-credit assignments that are allowed."

"Usa-chan, maybe you should be studying for Monday's test instead of reading mangas..."

"Oh, did Mamoru tell you? We are going on a date with..."

Rei snatched the manga from Usagi's hand. "If you are dating my brother, you can't be my friend, and only my friends can read my mangas!"

"Rei-chan let me finish." Usagi sat on the floor in front of the steaming miko. "I am going on a double date, me with Mamoru, and Minako with.oh..what's his name?" Usagi hit her head twice until the name popped into her head. "Hiei! Minako wanted to go with Hiei, but Mamoru knew her mom wouldn't allow it, so he asked me to double date with them so Minako could go on her date."

"So you don't like Onee-san?" Usagi smiled and shook her head. "Ok, you can read my mangas again." Usagi threw her arms around Rei's neck.

"Arigatou, Rei-chan!" Usagi took the manga and lay on Rei's bed, giggling as she read on. 'I wonder if Usagi realizes the real reason why Mamoru asked her to go with him.'

Mamoru was just down the hall from the two giggling girls, enjoying each other's company and reading, Rei most likely a romance novel, and Usagi most definitely a Yu-Yu Hakushu manga. He sat at his desk, doing his med- school homework. He could have gone to America and to a top-notch medical school, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Rei, so he settled for University.

He put his pen down, unable to concentrate. He leaned back in his chair, his thoughts trailing to the conversation he had engaged with Usagi when Rei had run to get her book from her class.

*****Flashback*****

"So, Usagi, what are we going to do this weekend?"

"How about a movie, what did.. oh, what is his name?"

"Hiei." Mamoru smiled at Usagi's confused look.

"Oh, right.well, what does he want to do?" Usagi looked so innocently oblivious to the emotions that Mamoru was feeling.

"He suggested a day of shopping followed by a movie, followed by dinner, and then a walk in the park, possibly a boat ride."

Usagi looked overwhelmed. "Wow, he has a lot of plans, I guess they all sound good to me. I'll tell Mina-chan when I see her. What time are we going to meet?"

Mamoru smiled inwardly. 'She has no idea that this is actually my plan, not Hiei's.' "Actually, I was thinking I could pick you guys up around 12am." He prayed she would not object to getting a ride. "I mean, it would be more convincing if we all arrived together."

"Ok." Usagi looked as if she was beginning to look a little uneasy about the date with Mamoru. He had to suppress the urge to tell her not to worry about anything happening on a more than 'just friends' basis, 'cause he wasn't sure if he could keep his promise of not at least putting his arm around her in the movie. "Hey, Rei-chan, ready?"

"Hai, gomen nasai, I forgot my book under my desk." Rei slightly blushed. The three of them got in the car and went to Rei and Mamoru's apartment.

*****End Flashback*****

Mamoru sighed inwardly. Rei continually told him that he should go out with Usagi, but he couldn't do that to his little sister. He would have to beat the crap out of his friends if they ever fell for her, it would be too creepy. But, now, he was going out on a double date with her, so maybe it wouldn't be weird for Rei.

Minako lay in her bed, looking up at the ceiling. "What if it doesn't work between us? I don't think I can take the rejection."

"Museme-chan!" Minako sat up at the sound of her mother's voice. "Hakuyu and get down here!"

She got out of bed and walked down the hall to her mother's room. "Hai, Mama?"

"I have thought about it and I have decided that you can go with Usagi and those boys this Saturday." Minako could barely suppress her excitement. "But you have to be home by."

"Mama? Usagi wanted me to spend the night at her house." Her mother had light brown hair that covered half of her face in a mysterious manner. "Is that ok?"

"Hai, but I want you to call me as soon as you are in for the night, understood?"

"Hai, Mama-sama!" Minako ran up and gave her mom a hug, which was immediately halted by her mom pushing her away. "Gomen nasai, Mama." Minako sank back, suppressing her tears. 'I can't believe I just did that. How can I be so...stupid? I am such a baka!'

"Go to your room and go to bed before I change my mind!" Minako turned quickly and quietly, not wanting to upset her mother further with her presence. 'Why must mama be that way?'

Ever since Minako could remember, it had just been the two of them, with the occasional boyfriend to her mother. Minako figured her mom just wasn't ready to be a mom. At age 12 is not the best time to have a child; her mom wasn't mature enough to look after another person. Minako couldn't remember doing anything her friends talked about with their parents.

*****Flashback*****

"Hai, making cookies with my mom when I was younger, that was the best, Mama-sama always let me lick the bowl clean and try the warm cookies, then she would always clean up everything while I watched." Usagi lay on Rei's bed, reminiscing her childhood years.

It was Usagi's 13th birthday. As Usagi talked of her past, Minako couldn't relate to anything. She only remembered her mother yelling at her, bringing home drunk boyfriends that Minako would have to hide from, leaving her with her friends' parents when she went out.

"I never met my Mama, but I remember a little of my aunt, only that she always dressed me up when she was going out. She loved to put make-up on me, she told me I wouldn't need it when I was older because I would be so beautiful." Rei ran her finger down the edge of the chair she sat in. Usagi smiled and rolled over on her bed.

"What about you, Mina-chan?" Usagi closed her eyes, probably remembering more of the finer memories. "Don't you have anything to say about your childhood?"

"My mom wasn't around much. She had a very important job in England." That was a lie, Minako didn't even know what her mom did for a living, and probably she was a prostitute or something. "But I hope we can do more stuff now."

*****End Flashback*****

'I hope we can do more stuff now..yeah right! She wants nothing to do with me!' Minako quietly cried into her pillow. It wasn't fair, Usagi's parents weren't even her own, yet she was loved by them more than anything. Rei didn't have her parents, but Mamoru was a really great older brother. 'At least I can now try to have love with Hiei-kun.'

A.N.~What will happen on this date? Find out, hopefully soon, by checking me out some more.