A/N: ^^ Due to my not knowing the contents and facts of Sailor Moon real well, I'm taking advantage of the fact this is fanfiction and I can alter the contents, tweaking it as I need to for this. *grin* Sweet, huh? XD Okay, here are the things I'm really not sure of, and that's about it. Please enjoy! :3 1) I somehow blocked the fact Rei's dad's dad is her grandpa from the shrine. *grin* Well, in this fic he's on her mom's side, so that's not to hard to switch, eh? 2) I don't know if Minako was smiling when she died or not, but let's just say she was. Oh, and no, this is not an angst fic. Heh, go on, enjoy! ^^
DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon belongs to awesome Naoko Takeuchi. XD
NOTE: The characters are pretty OOC, ESPECIALLY Sailor Mars. But then, it's more fun to write. ^^ ((There are going to be some slight mistakes in Rei's dad's name, since I'm too lazy to look it up, and I'm not sure if popcorn grows in the ground like peanuts do, but let's pretend again and all will be fi-i-ine. X3))
You're Not Perfect
I've got people issues.
I really do.
Now before you go and say this is all about me, me, me, nyeh, who wants to even listen to this blonde bimb-husk-glitter, well, let me tell you. I actually came out of my own self-adoring fan bubble to get to know her.
Just in case you've missed the whole point, THAT was very hard for me.
And let me tell you, embarrassing, too, once I figured out my unusual interest was actually more than just friendship and 'it's complicated' status. Wait, it actually kinda IS 'Just-Complicated' status.
Because I am a shiny golden chain-wielding blonde that can run uncountable, inexhaustible miles in very flashy orange heels.
The name's Minako.
Minako Aino.
And this is my story of how I came out of my bubble.
0000000000000000000000000
"Mercury Bubble, BLAST!"
Looking back on this day, Minako Aino could have sworn the Sailor Mercury hiding around the tall cement pillar in an abandoned graveyard was secretly laughing at her. As she well should have been, this was sparring fun, after all.
But as the icy bubbles broke through and penetrated her golden whiplash of Venus-Love-Me Chain and halted mockingly two centimeters from her nose, Minako wondered how sparring could ever be called fun.
Raising her hands in defeat, Minako grinned nervously as Sailor Mercury stepped out from behind the pillar and smiled.
"Mercury, how did you do it? I'm no genius, but I bet you used your awesome fantasy powers to break through my Chains!"
To Minako's surprise, Mercury flushed tomato-red and detransformed, smiling gently as she waved a finger over her head in an immitation of Minako using her Venus-Love-Me Chains.
"I wish my fantasy had enough heat to break your chains, Minako-chan. No, the reason is I packed my bubbles with Sailor Mars' flame and ran a scan to see wherever you'd been iced with my normally-cold bubbles before from parring with your chains. Simple common sense and a bit of time for our elements to do their work, and the sparring was informative. I've got to work on containing the other elements in my bubbles, though."
"Actually, Ami-chan, your fantasy power would reduce Mars' heat to a candle in a burning inferno. Not to mention Venus here needed some more training holding a whip. She uses it too delicately, like it's meant to heal with its power of love than hurt."
Minako froze in the process of hearing that dark voice, laced with an unleashed lover's husk.
Daring a quick peek back and to her lower right, Minako made sure the girl was dressed in tight black pants that covered her bare skin before raking her gaze up to high breasts covered in a fuzzy sleeveless red sweater and then to an arrogant tilt of chin.
The graveyard's air had turned bitter, more sour somehow, even though the dead were sure to have moved on and disintegrated, but how could one be so sure. If anything, going by the pose of that mysterious dark-haired miko would only enhance the fact something creepy was there, something dangerous.
Like curses and spirits themselves.
Legs spread wide in a stance long-used for readiness and self-defense, Rei Hino oh-so-ever looked the dark beauty with the flashing eyes of denied loneliness. Everything about her was delivered with a passion, a hidden fire deep inside until she turned into Sailor Mars.
And then it was Minako that burned.
She burned for the one woman who as a human she hated the most, since she was everything Minako didn't know but knew of.
She had been Minako's past lover.
She was now Minako's most hated rival.
000000000000000000000
Minako flinched, knowing those steady black eyes were trained on her, studying her movements and noting her flaws.
This was no time to get into a real fight, though, as all of their senshi communicators sounded and the cal of duty rang. Senshi of Love felt a blast of ice-cold, followed by a heat-wave of fire as her teammates transformed back.
Turning in her heels, Venus consulted Mercury as to where to go and raced to whip some youma butt.
0000000000000000
"Venus! Move out of the way! FIRE SO-O-O-OUL!"
Minako trembled in anger and fear as she ducked her head closer to her upturned arm in order to dodge the flames shooting upwards and frying a youma ready to jump down and kill them both with its hideously dangerous claws of poison.
How she had ever gotten into this position was something she didn't know and somehow didn't want to recall as gory details and hard backflips cracked her aching muscles.
Hanging by a chain off a cliff with Sailor Mars clinging to her leg was something else entirely unknown to her before, and it still felt unknown to her even now. The air burned with the smell of rancid flesh, disintegrated ash raining down on them.
A moment's peace was broken by the shrill shriek of a youma being bolted with Jupiter's lightning, and the faint sound of sniffing.
Wait, sniffing. . .?
"Wow. You even perfume your underwear."
Minako about lost her grip on her Chains. Whipping her head down to stare in absolute disbelief at a smiling Mars, Minako about laughed, it was so unexpected, coming from the one she knew practically nothing, her past was shrouded in somewhat of a discreet mystery.
Up until now Rei Hino was someone who didn't comment on other girls' underwear, and whether they were perfumed or not. Anyway, who DID state that, as if they were making a casual comment than asking something oh-so-obviously INTIMATE?
"I thought you were a civilized young woman who went to an all-girls' school with a strict Sister to keep you in check! Just WHY are you checking out my underwear? And NO, for your absolutely odd enjoyment and information, I DON'T perfume my underwear, thank you very much."
Minako watched that grin turn even hotter, the smolder in those dark eyes a tempting godiva chocolate. Those lips parted, moved, and Minako had a hard time swallowing that lustful lump in her throat.
"Oh? Yes, you could say I'm civilized at times. Even nice, actually. But an all-girls' school can do something to you, make you notice things you haven't before. Like how a person, male or female, can unconsciously cop a peek at a girl's underwear and wonder what's underneath. The reason I'm looking at yours is because I've got to watch your back for youma, and your panties are a heck of a lot closer- and nicer, I may add- than any youma's ugly mug jumping off a cliff to get us."
Minako's eyes narrowed, her lips forming a small smile of her own as she spotted something coming up from the depths of hell itself.
"Correction, Mars. And a small heads-up. You may want to close your legs if you don't want someone of a different species than you copping a peek at YOUR underwear."
It seemed as if there was a connection between them, one that was so old but very much solidly bound, since Mars grinned up at her just as fiercely as before, and clung even tighter.
"Only for you, Venus."
And Minako only rolled her eyes as she drew her Venus-Love-Me Chains around and cracked open the head of an upcoming youma. Mars' scream mixed in with her own as they plummeted downwards into the gaping chasm of darkness.
0000000000000000000000000
". . . You know, this kind of thing only happens in movies. Usually anime movies."
Minako stared around her, amazed.
Mars nodded but grinned some, sending a fireball to the far northern corner of the field and popping some ripe kernels of popcorn growing in the middle of the field, the whole thing looking like a cloudy white expanse of cotton field.
"Yeah, well, I'm just that awesome for thinking quickly and using my Fire Soul to pop some fluffy popcorn that explodes and cushions our death fall. Pretty sweet me for a partner, eh?"
Minako chuckled and reached over to Rei's lap, taking a small bit of kernel off the red fuku and popping it into her mouth. Winking, she chewed.
"Nah, you're a bit salty. Apparently the farmers were fertilizing their field with salt."
Noticing the miko's small blush, Minako grinned. This was actually pretty fun.
*BEEP*
"Oh, hey, 'sup?"
Minako waved cheerily at the faces on the screen. Almost instantly Usagi noticed Rei's sudden appearance at her shoulder, the blonde squealing happily at her senshi's nearness. Makoto and Ami looked good, no injuries except a small cut to Makoto's right cheek, the small gash healing instantly.
"We're good, Minako-chan, Rei-chan. We're on the cliff right now, can you see us?"
Minako and Rei both looked up, nodding as they spotted three shadows against the sun's rays. A small map appeared on their communicator's screens as Ami sent them a rough layout of the land. Rei smiled down at the screen and waved a comforting hand.
"Yup, we can see you guys. But don't worry about us, I pretty much know this place around here, Meatball-head. I should, I stayed here on my summer vacations when I was a kid."
Minako gaped at the girl sitting beside her. A dusty red bloomed on her cheeks as she recalled the miko's bravado. So Rei had known all along what she was doing. Minako fumed inside.
Another notch added to her chalked-up dislike of the miko- she had her resources.
Waving goodbye at her princess' happy cheer, Minako put her communicator away and transformed back into her civilian mode. At the amused look Rei gave her as Sailor Mars Minako wondered.
"Why aren't you-?"
"ARRFF, ARGHFF, RUFF!"
Loud barks cut her off and Minako 'eeped!' as two large dogs bounded in, their sharp canines flashing dangerous white, highlighted by slobbering drool. Turning, Minako cursed the crunches of popcorn under her tennis shoes as she slipped and fell face-first into the pile of newly-popped kernels.
Paws trampled over her, flattering her, she couldn't breathe, a-ack!-
"C'mon, boys, cut it out. She's harmless, c'mon, come to Rei, that'a boys! GOOD boys, uh-huh, good boys! Aww, you get your fur ruffled, boy? C'mon, McRie, Jenta, sit! Heheh, same as ever, you handsome pups, you."
Rei's voice had turned into a loving husk as she playfully bantered among the popcorn, taking both dogs' wagging tails in her hands and tugging gently. Sounds of excited panting, slobbering, and fake 'eeew! Hahaha!'s as the dogs obediently sat and enjoyed the rough petdown.
Minako staggered to her feet as Mars' transformation melted back into a laughing Rei Hino, her hands busy on the big dogs' fur.
"McRie and Jenta were the only friends I really had when I first started here as a kid, helping out on the farm. I just fell in love with the pups as soon as I first saw them."
Rei's normally-dignified voice had turned into a warm husk. Minako eyed the dogs' wagging tails and couldn't help but grin.
"Pups? They're pretty humongous, like wolves."
". . . They were domesticated, over time and breeding, to dogs. But these two still got a wild streak in 'em, don't'cha, boys?"
Dark eyes lovingly smiled at the two dogs, and Minako wondered why Rei didn't do this more often. She'd thought the miko had always been socially comfortable around them, but she guessed she was wrong.
"Okay. Enough, pups. Let's go, it will get dark soon."
Minako started as Rei rose to her feet and started to slog through the popcorn, McRie and Jenta at her heels.
"Wait, aren't we going to stay here and visit for a bit?"
Rei kept on walking, and Minako had no choice but to follow. In the valley, the sun was starting to sink, and fast.
00000000000000000000000
*An hour later*
"Oh."
Minako almost sighed as the dark crack in the calley wall they'd tip-toed through opened out into a beautiful dreamscape wonderland. Healthy green grass hugged the earth close, flowers dancing among the roots of old trees and peeking out skywards towards fluffy white clouds above the same circular opening of the rock wall.
A small lake flowed into and out a clear stream, the natural curve of earth's bridge making it all the more precious. As Minako bent to smell the open petals of a rose, a simple pattern in the ground caught her eye.
A walkway.
Her eyes automatically followed the checkered pattern stones of cobble and rested on a simple wooden cottage. It was as if the whole place was out of a fairytale.
"WOOF! WOOF!"
"I know, boy, I know, but I was hoping they'd at least be here."
Rei's sad tone sounded over the elegant whisper of the lake's water and Minako glanced at the dark-haired girl. Her breath sucked in on a hitch when all she saw was a sad-faced angel sitting delicately-folded among the dark green ferns of a starting forest.
"Who?"
The question came out before she could think.
This was a beautiful place, a home, so who could it belong to? Rei's dark eyes closed, and Minako took the chance to look at her, really look at her.
*She's so mysterious. She's a shrine maiden, yet she's as natural here in this hidden paradise as she is in her duties as a miko and senshi. I. . . want to know more about her.*
Unbidden, the thought of the dark-haired girl's lips came to her.
Minako shook her head and walked over to Rei, her steps faltering a bit as she neared the two large dogs. Silver eyes studied her, then seemed to nod in acceptance. Puzzled, Minako stood until a soft touch to her wrist drew her back to the present.
Rei had risen, drawing her over to the front door of the cute cottage.
"Let's talk inside. It's going to rain."
"What? But the sky. . ."
"Trust me."
And Minako nodded even before the first drop of water hit her on the nose and she blinked. Rei drew her into the house, the wooden door easily opening on accepting hinges. Inside the house was just as adorable as the outside, the furnishing closely-put and a well-used comfortable.
The air smelled delicious, as if her grandma's home-made cooking mixed in with the spicy tinge of fresh-cut firewood. Peering closer, Minako spotted a pile of kindling and a clean hearth.
Rei threw a small fireball and the room lit up, fire crackling cheerily and adding a soft glow.
"This is my dad's parents' place. I call both of them my grandparents, and gladly, even though my dad doesn't want me to. Why shouldn't I, I was raised here, TRULY raised her. In the summers I could be the person I was comfortable with, I was happy. My grandparents were always here, they taught me everything I know of roughing it and being me."
Minako gladly accepted the chipped cup filled with belly-warming coffee.
Rei moved about the living room and kitchen with ease, the past years she spoke of melting away like it was nothing as she reverted back to her unchained self. Somehow Rei gave off the aura of intimidation, of with-held peace.
But now she was secure, able to be herself in this comfortable haven, this home. Rei Hino glowed with an inner fire of confidence and surety.
The dogs curled about Minako's feet, their warm pelts radiating contentment. Minako made herself comfortable in the big soft chair, tucking herself into a ball as Rei told her of how she was. Inside this home, a certain line had been crossed and Rei seemed to view her as someone trustworthy she could talk to.
"I honestly blamed my dad for my mom's leaving him, still do. Because of that I retaliated in any way I could. It seemed all he could ever do was put me in perfect-girl form, the teachings of the Japanese Woman, back in the day.
Y'know, all-girl's school, the whole miko thing. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom's father and the shrine even when it takes a toll, but trust me, I hated HIM. He left me, had the nerve to drop me off at my grandfather's shrine without any explanation at ALL, and then wishes he could get full custody of me when I'm of use to him. Ha. Right.
Anyway, before I came to REALLY live in the city, here, HE actually showed me where he grew up. I thought it was great, I can finally see how my dad grew up, maybe we could bond or something, anything- but then he leaves. Every. Time."
The fire in the hearth seemed to grow brighter, brighter, the crackles and pop of wood unbearably hot. Minako shifted, and the blonde noted Rei's eyes drawing to her, that intense gaze a searing arrow of flame.
The coffee curled in on her stomach, almost as if it was boiling again, and Minako managed to croak out a, "H-How did he grow up, Rei-chan?"
She needed to get Rei to talk, the room seemed to be on fire, she was burning under that hot gaze. Those eyes turned lonely, blank, and Minako found herself willing McRie to go to Rei, to comfort her.
To her surprise, the dog did, and Rei welcomed him with a pat, breaking that hot stare.
"He grew up well. Heck, with my grandparents teaching him, how could he not? It was just wjen he got to the city and got tainted by money and everything bad there that he started to change. Not like the youma that possess, mind you, but the normal human thing. I guess that's why I feel hopeless everytime I see him. Instead of blaming a youma for everything he's done, I can't make excuses.
But then, this isn't about him, is it?
I don't want to remember him like that, if at all. Which is why I'm always looking at you, Mina-chan. How is it, you went to London, and came back, still smiling? How? I honestly hated you, for that, you were always smiling, even the time when you died. . ."
Minako panicked.
This room, those eyes, she was trapped, so entranced by that hot gaze. . .
Just how had this come to focus on her, again?
*CLACK, CLATTER!*
"Ah, you're home! Firefly, I knew you'd be here! Didn't I tell you, Sato? When I looked over and saw those two crazy dogs' pawprints circling all over Firefly's favorite spot, I knew."
"Oh, Miyu. Firefly's here, and that's all that matters. Welcome home, kid."
"Grandpa! Grandma! *sniffle* Thanks."
Minako looked back and forth between the three.
Dry and comfortably elegant, Miyu Hino looked every bit the motherly grandma with her silky white hair and kind brown eyes. Sato Hino stood wet and smiling in the doorway's entrance, his arms strong and supportive as Rei, crying, ran to them and all three hugged, circled underfoot by McRie and Jenta.
"Shut the door, Sato, or you'll give us all a cold. Firefly, it's so good to have you home."
"Hmm, who's your friend there, Firefly? She's awfully pretty to have all snuggled into my chair."
Minako instantly clattered to her feet, blushing.
"Minako Aino, Senshi of Love, sir!"
". . ."
"M-Mina-chan. . ."
". . . Oh, well, take care of Firefly when she's fighting, okay? She gets pretty emotional at times."
"Yes, sir! . . . Um. . I'll. . I'll, uh, do my best. . .?"
Minako looked at Rei, her heart thumping hard.
They knew. . .?
As if sensing her question, Miyu smiled and nodded, walking over with a swiftness that belied her looks.
"Yes, we know. Have since she was born, Minako-chan. That's why we demanded our son to bring her here so we could see how she was doing once in a while."
Minako nodded, dumbfounded.
Rei's family was. . . wow.
"Wait! What? Y-You knew, and. . . Why? Why didn't you tell me! Why tell her, and only now?"
Rei's question rang hoarse and soft.
Minako blinked.
What. . .?
Before she knew it, Minako felt fire brush her cheek with the force of a slap and Rei stomped by, pausing at the stair's winding ascent.
"Why!"
"Because she asked in her heart, Rei. It was only fair."
And again fire heated the room, leaving it like an oven blazing in the middle of the summer. Behind her Minako heard Miyu sigh.
"Never mind, Sato. Open the door."
0000000000000000000000000
". . . Why only the summers? You knew Rei-chan was hurting, why only the summers did you let her come and visit?"
Minako held the cool ice pack to her cheek. The slap hadn't hurt, but a spot in her heart bled. With Rei shut in her room upstairs, Minako was left with questions and two wise relatives with time on their hands to answer them.
"Because,"
Sato leaned forwards in his chair and held his wife's hand, a wry smile coming to his lips.
"if we kept her here, she wouldn't have learned how to sneak past her other grandpa who sits up at night because he worries about her."
Minako laughed at the twinkle in those dark eyes. Warm and full of humour, Sato matched well with his down-to-earth wife. As wife who gave him a small slap to the knee and kiss.
"Silly. No, Minako-chan, it's because she wouldn't know the things she has to, with two doting grandparents around. Besides, every time she comes here for the summers she was as wound up as a cat and we enjoyed treating her wounds, if you know what I mean. We love Rei, but she needs to learn how to fight, and to fight as a senshi."
Miyu sighed and smiled, glancing up where Rei was.
"That and the fireflies come out in the summer. She loves to chase fireflies."
The soft patter of rain, dulled by the grassy roof, slowed Minako's barrage of questions. One stood out to her most, though.
"Before you came in, Rei-chan kept talking about how her father tried to mold her, and only here she could be herself. Why couldn't he accept that? Who is Rei-chan, really?"
The questions bugged Minako to pieces.
She watched the miko's grandparents look at one another, communicating a silent agreement.
Who WAS Rei-chan, really?
What had changed?
Just what was she hiding?
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Sato spoke.
"At the early age of seven, Firefly told our son she liked girls."
Minako's body, tilted forward in the chair to catch every word, catapulted backwards and tipped the whole thing over in a backflip. Letting out a yell, blonde hit bottom and scrambled to her feet, wheezing from the packed dirt floor.
"Wh-What?"
Miyu laughed, the sound a tinkling of wind chimes.
"Yes, Minako-chan, Firefly prefers women over men in the relationship department. Oh, she's tried to pull over a quick one now and then whenever her father sends a spy over, but she's gay. Has been and always will be."
Minako couldn't have been more floored in her life.
But before she could calm her racing heart, Sato took over.
"You see, our son got into the way of TV and advertisements, politics- he got more out of being a respected man than paying attention to his family. Oh, he loved Rei and her mom- still does- but he didn't have the time, and now, the image.
Rei coming out that she liked girls only had Moritaka seeing he should straighten that. By the next year, Moritaka got divorced. As a fellow man and father to Moritaka, I believe Rei's father unconsciously got the idea since that he himself didn't have a happy marriage with a woman, Rei herself wouldn't be able to, either.
As something of a self-defense mechanism, Moritaka made sure that Firefly would become the perfect woman to love a man OR woman. It was for Firefly's sake, but he never really sat down and talked about that with her.
Now I know Firefly hates her father and I'm not looking to be referree in something more complicated than a volleyball game, so you only you could. . .?"
Minako instantly understood.
Getting to her feet, the Senshi of Love smiled and winked at the two amazing souls in front of her. Hope seemed to blossom in her chest, underlayed by a strong sense of new understanding as she took in a few new perspectives in the past half hour.
Rei was going to be a fun challenge.
"Volleyball's more complicated than it looks, sir, and I have whipped its butt my whole life. Oh, there was a slump or two, but I slammed it good. Leave it to me."
Both pairs of brown eyes sparkled.
Miyu grined, then, pointing towards the stairs.
"To your right, middle door down. Tell her that WE'RE certainly not going to sleep with you. She's like a princess in there, her bed's bigger than ours. We like to pamper her, but we didn't take into account she might be lonely growing up. If she kicks you out, just tickle her feet."
Minako grinned.
As she bounded up the stairs, McRie and Jenta at her feet, Sato called up.
"Oh! And call me grandpa!"
Blonde turned and struck a pose.
"Dorry worry, Grandpa, Grandma! I'll get 'er to see some sense!"
And Minako opened the door.
000000000000000000
"Do you think we should tell her Firefly has a lot of pillows and has played two years for softball as best stubborn pitcher around?"
". . . Nah."
"She's got spunk, don't you think?"
"You think Firefly would have chosen anyone else?"
". . . Point taken. Ah, let's go to bed, it's been a long day."
"Hmm. Love you, Miyu."
"Heh. You old coot. But I love you more."
"Of course."
*WHUMP!*
"Ow! W-Wait! OOOF! Re-OOF! OW! Re-wait, agh! OUCH! Rei-chan, WAIT!"
Minako walked into a live pitcher machine loaded with pillows. As she volleyed each and every one back to its source, Minako realized Rei had a heck of an arm. She also realized she was supplying the miko with endless amounts of ammunition, so instead of hiting, Minako caught.
And when that started to hurt, the blonde dodged.
"R-Rei-chan! Wait! C'mon, p-please! Y-Your g-grand-p-parents told me, d-don't get mad! I wanted to know, I w-wanted to kn-know, everyth-thing! P-Please, Rei-ch-chan, you're so cool, and m-mysterious, and a-awesome, magnificent, h-hot, Rei-OOF!"
And finally Minako was hit.
Right on the lips.
With a sucker, in fact.
A nice sugar-sour apple bubblegum sucker, handed directly from Rei's hand and popped into her mouth, effectively shutting her up and giving her a break from panting out her excuses and pleas for Rei to stop.
"Hot?"
Minako flushed beet-red as those dark eyes grinned at her, a perfect eyebrow rising as Rei leaned forwards and trapped Minako in with one hand on her closed door.
"Really?"
Minako knew she should lie, knew she should just pass it off as a Sailor Mars tribute to her flame powers, there was a feeling in her gut- but screw her gut, it was all curled up because butterflies were using it as a jumprope.
"Yes, Rei-chan, I think you're going to melt me every time you look at me, you're so hot. And I've hated you for it."
There it was, that confident grin again.
"I've hated you, too, you know. You were always smiling, always. I think I hated you because you never smiled. . . at me."
And Minako smiled then, her eyes tearing up.
"Was that a confession from the heart?"
Rei shrugged, her newly-changed pajamas riding low on that silky-white shoulder.
"Maybe. Actually, no."
Minako continued to smile, her senshi powers tingling on a strong hunch to do so. That and Rei was anything but too beautiful not to smile at. The miko continued to grin at her, lowering her head a fraction and tilting it to the side to study the small hint of green sweet-sour sucker poking out from between Minako's lips.
Taking it from the blonde's mouth, Rei licked the very tip of the head, her eyes smiling in cheery goodness. Minako swallowed, her own smile escalating into a mirrored grin as Rei spoke.
"No, because I want to make a correction. It was a confession from my very soul."
Minako giggled.
"You always were spiritual."
In turn, Rei chuckled.
"And you always had bad grades in English."
Now it was Minako's turn to see that adorable blush on Rei's cheeks as the miko lowered her head even a fraction lower. Raising her own lips, Minako breathed out.
"Yeah, well, I always say actions are always better than words. . . And saying 'I love you' doesn't mean it means less in Japanese."
Before their lips met, a gentle whisper, a chiding nudge of sweet and sour love.
"You actually got a proverb right. . ."
"Because you make me sane. . ."
"I love you."
"My hate was never there, it was all love. . ."
And their lips met.
000000000000000000000000000
Minako Aino and Rei Hino cuddled in the booth at the Crown, smiles of contentment on their faces. After the whole rainstorm and four days of fun on the popcorn farm and with Sato and Miyu, they'd returned to their respectful lives and duties.
This included constant displays of snuggling and cuddly-wuddly love and whispered grins on the way home behind Usagi's back. Minako had pointed out to Rei what a great couple Ami and Makoto was and now the miko couldn't help but tease the tall brunette about it.
Usagi had finally cornered the four of them and grinned triumphantly when they all announced their partners. It was inevitable, their Princess had known all along. So now as Rei and Minako stood to go, smug smiles galore, a shout sounded.
"Well, y'know what? I've known you all my life and today's not the first time I decided I hate you!"
"I hate you even more, so go laugh about that!"
Walking out the door, Minako and Rei snickered and let out a low catcall whistle.
"Knock it off and get a room, love-birds!"
All was perfect, even if their love had disguised itself as a funny kind of hate.
"Oh, and Mina. . ."
"Hmm, love?"
"*grin* I hate you."
"Well now, I'll just have to persuade you to change your mind, eh?"
"Heh, lookin' forward to it."
"Oh-hoh, no, Reiko, you'll be a long way away fron me when you finally decide you want me enough to come get me, and I'll be oh-so-scantily clad and locked up high in the nearest tower. . ."
". . . This tower. . . will it be in a secluded spot?"
"It depends."
"Eh?"
"Are you loud?"
"*grin* You'll just have to figure that out now, huh?"
"Ahh, I can't wait. C'mere, Reiko!"
"Ack! !"
0000000000000000000000
A/N: *grin* I had fun writing this, it seemed as if I cracked a few jokes, too. ^^ Try ta find 'em! Thanks for reading, take care, ja!