Title: Remembering Us
Author: KaptainSarcasm
Fandom: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (The Live-Action Sailor Moon)
Pairing: Makoto/Rei
Disclaimer: I don't own PGSM, or regular SM, or any of the characters or anything.
Author's notes: This fic takes place just before and during Act. 8 of the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series. If you haven't seen this series or this episode and you would like to, you can get all of the currently released episodes with BitTorrent (it's not over yet as of this writing) here:
http:bt. base0. net/ tv-n/ (but remove the spaces).
I really recommend seeing, or at least reading a summary of, episode 8 before reading this story, although it is certainly not a necessity. I'm pretty sure it can stand on its own. PGSM is a must-see for any Sailor Moon shoujo-ai fan. Seriously, the girls are all over each other.
One more thing. Some of the stuff in this fic, like some of the dialogue and actions, I took directly from the episode. If it's from the episode, I tried to bracket it, [a-like-ah so.] Some of the stuff in them is stuff I wrote, but for the most part, I made them as accurate as possible. I just don't want to claim credit for any adorable dialogue that I didn't write.
Oh! Wait! I almost forgot, this is a prologue to a MUCH larger and more involved fic that I'm currently working on and should have the first chapter of out pretty soon, so look forward to it, please!
Anyway, without further ado, I bring you the fic!
Makoto could not believe how well she was running today. She had glanced at her watch as she passed the halfway point (the school, which was approximately two and a half miles from her starting and ending point, her apartment) and saw that, if she kept up this pace, which she knew she could, she would beat her own personal record. The run was one she knew well. She ran the same route every morning before school. After her parents had died she had become obsessed with exercising, and soon she became so used to having that intense adrenaline rush that woke her up after a run that she found she couldn't function quite as well without it. When she didn't get a chance to run, she felt groggy and grumpy. Most of the days that she fought with her friends, she hadn't gotten a chance to run in the morning.
Just like yesterday, she thought with a grim smile, remembering the argument that she and Rei had had over Makoto's apparent nosiness and Rei's obvious bossiness. While Rei was a good friend of hers and she could never hate her, sometimes Makoto wondered whether the two of them shouldn't spend more time apart. They had conflicting personalities.
As she ran, she controlled her breathing carefully, focusing on the movements of her muscles and the path ahead of her. The park was on her left, and she made the turn to pass by the fountain. And then she stopped dead in her tracks.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered the fact that she was experiencing an extreme flashback, regaining some memory or knowledge that had been lost to her over her process of rebirth.
She was standing next to a fountain in front of a castle, looking at someone and smiling fondly, a smile that the Makoto of the present day had never given anyone before. The receiver of the smile was returning it, and for some reason, the sight made her stomach lurch with an emotion... Her mind whispered, "Love." The other person in the room was shorter than her, but the only other physical aspect that the senshi of Jupiter could register was that the person was quite obviously a female. They spoke words, and her self from the past life stepped foreword, leaning down to kiss the shorter girl. It was a feeling that Makoto could not believe she could ever have forgotten. All of the feelings and sensations rushed through her body, and they were so overwhelming... It felt like she had suddenly become complete, as though the gaping whole in her being was filled. It was like having an arm or a leg re-attached after having it gone for a very, very long time.
And then she returned to the present day, her heart racing and her breath short from something quite separate from her run. Once again the hole had appeared, and it hurt as if a limb had been torn from her. Slowly, she noticed that there was an old man standing next to her, looking worried and asking, "Are you alright, young lady?"
"Huh?" she asked, still panting slightly. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," she said shortly, then, "thanks." Then she ran away, leaving the man quite perplexed.
Of course, Makoto had experienced flashbacks before, always when she ran. In fact, sometimes she thought she ran simply to have the flashbacks. From what she understood about the others, they each seemed to have their own ways of recovering memories. Ami got hers in her sleep, in the form of dreams that she remembered upon waking. Rei got hers from the sacred fire, and as such spent an excessive number of hours in front of it. And Usagi... Well, from what she understood about Usagi, it seemed she only got them while she was in the form of Sailor Moon.
But this memory... This was the first time that a memory had shaken her so thoroughly, caused her to stop completely and lose herself in it. And the subject matter...
It came as no surprise to her that the one that she loved in her past life had been a female. Even in this life, Makoto had never been interested in boys. Only once had she tried to be with a boy, but mainly only because she wanted to make certain that she, indeed, was not into them. That had been an easy realization to make. The harder one had been accepting the fact that she liked girls. For a while she had tried to live as though she wasn't interested in romance, but eventually, she had to admit that she was attracted to women, and that while she could hardly even stand boys, she could most certainly fall in love with a girl.
The real surprise had been the familiarity in the presence of the other girl in the vision. She knew her then, and she knew her now. That girl, the girl who she had loved so intensely in her past life... It was one of the others. For sure, it was one of the other senshi.
Without realizing it, she had arrived at her apartment building. She looked at her watch. Even with the delay, she had beaten her record by fifteen seconds. Over time, though, she had realized that the better she ran, the more likely she would be to have a flashback, so it seemed only natural that she should have such an intense one on such a good run. Using the key that was kept safely in the pocket of her trusty running pants, Makoto opened the door to the building and ran up the six flights of stairs to her apartment. Immediately she shed her clothing she got in the shower, leaning against the cold tile and letting the hot water relax her muscles. She dropped her head and fell into thought again.
She already had memories of Sailor Moon being involved with a man, whoever he may have been, so it was pretty safe to rule out Usagi. They had been so loyal to each other, she remembered, it was difficult for Makoto to imagine her being with anyone other than him. And, truthfully, she didn't love Usagi. At least, not in that way.
That left Venus, Mercury and Mars. Venus she also immediately ruled out. Although she couldn't remember with whom, she knew that Venus had been involved with someone. And they had been as deeply in love as she, herself had been with her Mystery Vision Girl.
Mercury and Mars. Ami and Rei. Both seemed like likely candidates. Both were shorter than her, so that didn't really help.
Sighing so deeply that her shoulders drooped afterwards, Makoto hurried to finish up her shower and head to school.
The first person she met was Usagi, who smiled widely at her and greeted her. She returned the greeting, then quickly changed her shoes and went to class. For some reason, she didn't want to have to face Ami after the vision, it seemed almost cruel to try and piece together the idea that it might be her.
At some point in the tedium of the day, her mind FINALLY left the vision and shifted to her current situation with Rei. Soon they would all go to the Crown and study together, and Makoto would have to face both Rei and Ami together. 'Oh, wait,' said her mind suddenly, and she looked at the blackboard. It was a Wednesday. That meant that Ami would not be joining them in the Crown; she went directly to cram school on Wednesdays. Well, that made it a little better. Plus the fact that Usagi would be there to buffer the weirdness.
But as Usagi chatted merrily away at Makoto as they walked to the Crown (Makoto had once again skillfully dodged Ami using her knowledge of the girl's routine), she mentioned something that got Makoto a little worried. "Rei-chan said she wouldn't be coming today, she said that she had things to do at the shrine," she mentioned.
'Shit,' swore Makoto in her head. "She's still mad at me," commented Makoto out loud.
Trying not to make the answer a flat-out yes, Usagi stammered, "Well, maybe a little..."
And just like that, the taller girl came to a decision. "I'm sorry, Usagi- chan, I also have somewhere to be today," she stated firmly, and then jogged off in the direction of Rei's shrine. Usagi, momentarily upset about not having anyone to go to the Crown with, frowned. Then she grinned knowingly and headed for home.
The sacred fire had revealed to Rei almost a month ago that Mars had had a very involved relationship with one of her fellow senshi in her past life. She had been praying when it hit her like a ton of bricks. It was a memory of her and her mystery lover in bed, a flash of skin here, a soft moan there. The feelings that coursed through her at that time filtered into the miko, and she felt herself lost within it, overwhelmed by it.
And then it was over, and she was left there in the room of the sacred fire, alone, kneeling on a thin cushion and sweating from the heat of the day, the heat of her robes, the heat of the fire, and the intensity of the vision. She immediately stood, gathered her incense and left the room. The rest of the day had been spent lying on her back in her bed, trying to figure out who the mystery girl in the memory was.
Thus far, she had four clues. It was a girl, it was a senshi, it was not Ami, and it was not Usagi. The first she knew because of the fact that the present-day Rei was a lesbian; the second she knew because she remembered that senshi were only allowed to associate with other senshi. The third she knew because she had vivid memories of being a confidante to Mercury, of being close friends but nothing more. While the two of them shared a special bond, it was not that type of bond. As for the fourth, well, Usagi loves, always loved, and always will love boys. And, truthfully, Rei just didn't love Usagi. Well, not like that, at least.
So that left Jupiter and Venus. And honestly, Rei had no idea which one it was.
[And that was what she had been reflecting on when the car full of her father's people had showed up. They pretty much forced her to come, using the shrine as a way to threaten her, saying that they would have it taken away from her. Since the shrine was pretty much all Rei had, she angrily agreed to go.
And Makoto dutifully followed her, running after the car with ease. Once they reached their apparent destination, a hotel, the brawny girl leaned against a tree to catch her breath, and then stealthily followed them inside, keeping a safe distance. When she reached the room, she effortlessly disposed of two guards who were trying to keep her from reaching the girl inside who might very well be the girl who she had loved in her past life. "Don't fuck with me!" she shouted, downing them easily. The door to the room opened, and a woman peeked out.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"Let me in," Makoto demanded right back at her.
"Where are the guards?"
"Let her in," came Rei's voice from inside the room. "She's my friend."
Hearing this, the woman stepped back, albeit hesitantly, and Makoto pushed past her. The sight that met her threw her through a loop.
Rei was dressed in a completely un-Rei-like fashion, wearing clothes that made her look like a rich, snobby teen and her hair up in a way that Makoto could never have previously imagine Rei wearing her hair. Overall, she looked like Rei in costume.] And even as she stood there, she saw the memory again, and her heartbeat sped up. For the first time, Makoto realized how very beautiful her friend was.
Seeing Makoto there made Rei narrow her eyes, trying not to think about what the sacred fire had shown her and what she had felt. Knowing that the girl in front of her might have been the one to inspire those feelings... It was a thought that made her shiver. ["Leave us," she said to her father's assistant.
"But..." the woman began to protest.
"Please," she cut her off. The woman nodded and complied, mentioning something about Rei's father being almost ready.
"Your father?" asked Makoto, trying to maintain regular conversation.
With a nod and a roll of her eyes, Rei crossed her arms and replied, "Yeah, the busy politician. Once a month we have a meal together."
At first, all Makoto could think to say was, "I see." Then, remembering their fight, she stated, "On the bright side, I'm not here to eavesdrop on something private."]
Of course, the miko did not think that her taller friend was nosy. When she had said that, she had been on edge thinking about the memory, frustrated with her repeated failed attempts at trying to learn more about the girl in it. She had just been looking for a reason to snap and poor Makoto had been the one to get the full force of it. Before she could say anything about this, the other girl continued to speak.
["I just happened to catch sight of..."] as she spoke, she felt herself becoming more and more self-conscious. ["You..."] She laughed slightly. ["I thought it was a kidnapping."] 'Oh great,' thought Makoto to herself. 'Now she thinks I'm a moron. And I am a moron.'
But all Rei said was, ["So... You came to save me."] Something inside Rei shifted, and she gazed at her friend, emotions churning within her. Could it have been her? Was Jupiter the one she had loved so deeply? If she did something like that...
For her part, Makoto still felt like an idiot. And she said so. ["I'm stupid,"] she explained, trying to apologize with a self-deprecating comment. 'Please don't ask me to leave,' thought Makoto for some reason.
Rei shook herself out of the trance and crossed to a chair by table. ["No, you were right. I didn't want to come here."
They lapsed into silence as Rei stared out a window and Makoto stared at her.
There was a knock at the door and the assistant entered again. She announced that Mr. Hino was ready. Then she let it slip that he wanted to collect some data. This upset Rei greatly and, to Makoto's great horror, she began to cry. Through her tears, Rei shouted at the woman to "Get out!" The sight was too much for Makoto to bear. Not believing what she was doing, not understanding why seeing Rei so hurt was, in turn, hurting her so much, Makoto rushed up to the other girl and used her pure strength to completely force the assistant out the door. Then she pushed it closed and locked it, and turned to lean against it, still feeling separated from herself.]
When Makoto had appeared suddenly and pushed the woman out the door, Rei had hardly been able to move. They were so close together now, facing each other and studying each other's eyes. She had to know. It was killing her not knowing. Summoning all her courage, Rei stepped foreword and closed the space between them. Placing a hand behind the other girl's neck, standing on her toes to reach the taller girl, Rei pressed her lips to Makoto's, kissing her without any hesitation.
For her part, the taller girl really had no idea what was going on. When she felt Rei's hand on the back of her neck, and then, shortly after, her lips on her own, she blinked out of the trance she had been in. They were kissing. She was kissing Hino Rei.
Well, more accurately, Hino Rei was kissing Kino Makoto.
But at the same exact time, both separated from the other, and at the same exact time, the same exact thought rushed through their heads.
'It's not her.'
And that thought, not the kiss preceding it, was what wrenched the breath out of their lungs.
They stood there together by the door of the hotel room, not speaking as they both focused on breathing.
"Shit," whispered Makoto in a slightly gruff voice. "I really thought it was you for a minute there."
"Same," was Rei's simple reply. Then she stepped back and walked into the bedroom, seating herself on the bed, once again crossing her arms. "I saw a vision in the sacred fire about a month ago," she explained. "I was with a girl. A girl who... Who I loved so fiercely, so totally..." She chuckled ruefully. "But it's not you. I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize," answered Makoto immediately. "I had a flashback, too. This morning, actually. It really shook me." She leaned lightly against the doorframe. "I've never felt anything like that. Never. I've never had feelings so strong for anyone." A shrug and a sigh followed that statement, then she finished, "But it's not you."
Their eyes met, and before they knew it, they were smiling in understanding at each other.
[Then they returned to Rei's issues with her father, as if nothing had ever happened. Instead of trying to get her to make up with her father, Makoto helped Rei devise an escape plan and helped her carry it out. She dressed as a room service aid and she hid Rei in her cart. Once they turned the corner, the taller girl lifted a dish that revealed a hole in the cart that Rei stuck her head up through.
"Success!" she exclaimed, moving to sneak a glance around the corner.
Rei watched her for a moment, and then said, "I thought you would tell me to get along with my family."
Shrugging, Makoto replied, "Well, I think that would be good, but... Thinking about it, I don't have any family." She gripped the handle of the cart with both hands, smiling devilishly. "So this stuff's unknown to me!" she finished, launching them into a run, pushing the cart before her.
And as Rei discarded the covering of the cart and lifted her hands up as if on a roller coaster,] she thought to herself, "Sailor Venus."
END
Author: KaptainSarcasm
Fandom: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (The Live-Action Sailor Moon)
Pairing: Makoto/Rei
Disclaimer: I don't own PGSM, or regular SM, or any of the characters or anything.
Author's notes: This fic takes place just before and during Act. 8 of the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series. If you haven't seen this series or this episode and you would like to, you can get all of the currently released episodes with BitTorrent (it's not over yet as of this writing) here:
http:bt. base0. net/ tv-n/ (but remove the spaces).
I really recommend seeing, or at least reading a summary of, episode 8 before reading this story, although it is certainly not a necessity. I'm pretty sure it can stand on its own. PGSM is a must-see for any Sailor Moon shoujo-ai fan. Seriously, the girls are all over each other.
One more thing. Some of the stuff in this fic, like some of the dialogue and actions, I took directly from the episode. If it's from the episode, I tried to bracket it, [a-like-ah so.] Some of the stuff in them is stuff I wrote, but for the most part, I made them as accurate as possible. I just don't want to claim credit for any adorable dialogue that I didn't write.
Oh! Wait! I almost forgot, this is a prologue to a MUCH larger and more involved fic that I'm currently working on and should have the first chapter of out pretty soon, so look forward to it, please!
Anyway, without further ado, I bring you the fic!
Makoto could not believe how well she was running today. She had glanced at her watch as she passed the halfway point (the school, which was approximately two and a half miles from her starting and ending point, her apartment) and saw that, if she kept up this pace, which she knew she could, she would beat her own personal record. The run was one she knew well. She ran the same route every morning before school. After her parents had died she had become obsessed with exercising, and soon she became so used to having that intense adrenaline rush that woke her up after a run that she found she couldn't function quite as well without it. When she didn't get a chance to run, she felt groggy and grumpy. Most of the days that she fought with her friends, she hadn't gotten a chance to run in the morning.
Just like yesterday, she thought with a grim smile, remembering the argument that she and Rei had had over Makoto's apparent nosiness and Rei's obvious bossiness. While Rei was a good friend of hers and she could never hate her, sometimes Makoto wondered whether the two of them shouldn't spend more time apart. They had conflicting personalities.
As she ran, she controlled her breathing carefully, focusing on the movements of her muscles and the path ahead of her. The park was on her left, and she made the turn to pass by the fountain. And then she stopped dead in her tracks.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered the fact that she was experiencing an extreme flashback, regaining some memory or knowledge that had been lost to her over her process of rebirth.
She was standing next to a fountain in front of a castle, looking at someone and smiling fondly, a smile that the Makoto of the present day had never given anyone before. The receiver of the smile was returning it, and for some reason, the sight made her stomach lurch with an emotion... Her mind whispered, "Love." The other person in the room was shorter than her, but the only other physical aspect that the senshi of Jupiter could register was that the person was quite obviously a female. They spoke words, and her self from the past life stepped foreword, leaning down to kiss the shorter girl. It was a feeling that Makoto could not believe she could ever have forgotten. All of the feelings and sensations rushed through her body, and they were so overwhelming... It felt like she had suddenly become complete, as though the gaping whole in her being was filled. It was like having an arm or a leg re-attached after having it gone for a very, very long time.
And then she returned to the present day, her heart racing and her breath short from something quite separate from her run. Once again the hole had appeared, and it hurt as if a limb had been torn from her. Slowly, she noticed that there was an old man standing next to her, looking worried and asking, "Are you alright, young lady?"
"Huh?" she asked, still panting slightly. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," she said shortly, then, "thanks." Then she ran away, leaving the man quite perplexed.
Of course, Makoto had experienced flashbacks before, always when she ran. In fact, sometimes she thought she ran simply to have the flashbacks. From what she understood about the others, they each seemed to have their own ways of recovering memories. Ami got hers in her sleep, in the form of dreams that she remembered upon waking. Rei got hers from the sacred fire, and as such spent an excessive number of hours in front of it. And Usagi... Well, from what she understood about Usagi, it seemed she only got them while she was in the form of Sailor Moon.
But this memory... This was the first time that a memory had shaken her so thoroughly, caused her to stop completely and lose herself in it. And the subject matter...
It came as no surprise to her that the one that she loved in her past life had been a female. Even in this life, Makoto had never been interested in boys. Only once had she tried to be with a boy, but mainly only because she wanted to make certain that she, indeed, was not into them. That had been an easy realization to make. The harder one had been accepting the fact that she liked girls. For a while she had tried to live as though she wasn't interested in romance, but eventually, she had to admit that she was attracted to women, and that while she could hardly even stand boys, she could most certainly fall in love with a girl.
The real surprise had been the familiarity in the presence of the other girl in the vision. She knew her then, and she knew her now. That girl, the girl who she had loved so intensely in her past life... It was one of the others. For sure, it was one of the other senshi.
Without realizing it, she had arrived at her apartment building. She looked at her watch. Even with the delay, she had beaten her record by fifteen seconds. Over time, though, she had realized that the better she ran, the more likely she would be to have a flashback, so it seemed only natural that she should have such an intense one on such a good run. Using the key that was kept safely in the pocket of her trusty running pants, Makoto opened the door to the building and ran up the six flights of stairs to her apartment. Immediately she shed her clothing she got in the shower, leaning against the cold tile and letting the hot water relax her muscles. She dropped her head and fell into thought again.
She already had memories of Sailor Moon being involved with a man, whoever he may have been, so it was pretty safe to rule out Usagi. They had been so loyal to each other, she remembered, it was difficult for Makoto to imagine her being with anyone other than him. And, truthfully, she didn't love Usagi. At least, not in that way.
That left Venus, Mercury and Mars. Venus she also immediately ruled out. Although she couldn't remember with whom, she knew that Venus had been involved with someone. And they had been as deeply in love as she, herself had been with her Mystery Vision Girl.
Mercury and Mars. Ami and Rei. Both seemed like likely candidates. Both were shorter than her, so that didn't really help.
Sighing so deeply that her shoulders drooped afterwards, Makoto hurried to finish up her shower and head to school.
The first person she met was Usagi, who smiled widely at her and greeted her. She returned the greeting, then quickly changed her shoes and went to class. For some reason, she didn't want to have to face Ami after the vision, it seemed almost cruel to try and piece together the idea that it might be her.
At some point in the tedium of the day, her mind FINALLY left the vision and shifted to her current situation with Rei. Soon they would all go to the Crown and study together, and Makoto would have to face both Rei and Ami together. 'Oh, wait,' said her mind suddenly, and she looked at the blackboard. It was a Wednesday. That meant that Ami would not be joining them in the Crown; she went directly to cram school on Wednesdays. Well, that made it a little better. Plus the fact that Usagi would be there to buffer the weirdness.
But as Usagi chatted merrily away at Makoto as they walked to the Crown (Makoto had once again skillfully dodged Ami using her knowledge of the girl's routine), she mentioned something that got Makoto a little worried. "Rei-chan said she wouldn't be coming today, she said that she had things to do at the shrine," she mentioned.
'Shit,' swore Makoto in her head. "She's still mad at me," commented Makoto out loud.
Trying not to make the answer a flat-out yes, Usagi stammered, "Well, maybe a little..."
And just like that, the taller girl came to a decision. "I'm sorry, Usagi- chan, I also have somewhere to be today," she stated firmly, and then jogged off in the direction of Rei's shrine. Usagi, momentarily upset about not having anyone to go to the Crown with, frowned. Then she grinned knowingly and headed for home.
The sacred fire had revealed to Rei almost a month ago that Mars had had a very involved relationship with one of her fellow senshi in her past life. She had been praying when it hit her like a ton of bricks. It was a memory of her and her mystery lover in bed, a flash of skin here, a soft moan there. The feelings that coursed through her at that time filtered into the miko, and she felt herself lost within it, overwhelmed by it.
And then it was over, and she was left there in the room of the sacred fire, alone, kneeling on a thin cushion and sweating from the heat of the day, the heat of her robes, the heat of the fire, and the intensity of the vision. She immediately stood, gathered her incense and left the room. The rest of the day had been spent lying on her back in her bed, trying to figure out who the mystery girl in the memory was.
Thus far, she had four clues. It was a girl, it was a senshi, it was not Ami, and it was not Usagi. The first she knew because of the fact that the present-day Rei was a lesbian; the second she knew because she remembered that senshi were only allowed to associate with other senshi. The third she knew because she had vivid memories of being a confidante to Mercury, of being close friends but nothing more. While the two of them shared a special bond, it was not that type of bond. As for the fourth, well, Usagi loves, always loved, and always will love boys. And, truthfully, Rei just didn't love Usagi. Well, not like that, at least.
So that left Jupiter and Venus. And honestly, Rei had no idea which one it was.
[And that was what she had been reflecting on when the car full of her father's people had showed up. They pretty much forced her to come, using the shrine as a way to threaten her, saying that they would have it taken away from her. Since the shrine was pretty much all Rei had, she angrily agreed to go.
And Makoto dutifully followed her, running after the car with ease. Once they reached their apparent destination, a hotel, the brawny girl leaned against a tree to catch her breath, and then stealthily followed them inside, keeping a safe distance. When she reached the room, she effortlessly disposed of two guards who were trying to keep her from reaching the girl inside who might very well be the girl who she had loved in her past life. "Don't fuck with me!" she shouted, downing them easily. The door to the room opened, and a woman peeked out.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"Let me in," Makoto demanded right back at her.
"Where are the guards?"
"Let her in," came Rei's voice from inside the room. "She's my friend."
Hearing this, the woman stepped back, albeit hesitantly, and Makoto pushed past her. The sight that met her threw her through a loop.
Rei was dressed in a completely un-Rei-like fashion, wearing clothes that made her look like a rich, snobby teen and her hair up in a way that Makoto could never have previously imagine Rei wearing her hair. Overall, she looked like Rei in costume.] And even as she stood there, she saw the memory again, and her heartbeat sped up. For the first time, Makoto realized how very beautiful her friend was.
Seeing Makoto there made Rei narrow her eyes, trying not to think about what the sacred fire had shown her and what she had felt. Knowing that the girl in front of her might have been the one to inspire those feelings... It was a thought that made her shiver. ["Leave us," she said to her father's assistant.
"But..." the woman began to protest.
"Please," she cut her off. The woman nodded and complied, mentioning something about Rei's father being almost ready.
"Your father?" asked Makoto, trying to maintain regular conversation.
With a nod and a roll of her eyes, Rei crossed her arms and replied, "Yeah, the busy politician. Once a month we have a meal together."
At first, all Makoto could think to say was, "I see." Then, remembering their fight, she stated, "On the bright side, I'm not here to eavesdrop on something private."]
Of course, the miko did not think that her taller friend was nosy. When she had said that, she had been on edge thinking about the memory, frustrated with her repeated failed attempts at trying to learn more about the girl in it. She had just been looking for a reason to snap and poor Makoto had been the one to get the full force of it. Before she could say anything about this, the other girl continued to speak.
["I just happened to catch sight of..."] as she spoke, she felt herself becoming more and more self-conscious. ["You..."] She laughed slightly. ["I thought it was a kidnapping."] 'Oh great,' thought Makoto to herself. 'Now she thinks I'm a moron. And I am a moron.'
But all Rei said was, ["So... You came to save me."] Something inside Rei shifted, and she gazed at her friend, emotions churning within her. Could it have been her? Was Jupiter the one she had loved so deeply? If she did something like that...
For her part, Makoto still felt like an idiot. And she said so. ["I'm stupid,"] she explained, trying to apologize with a self-deprecating comment. 'Please don't ask me to leave,' thought Makoto for some reason.
Rei shook herself out of the trance and crossed to a chair by table. ["No, you were right. I didn't want to come here."
They lapsed into silence as Rei stared out a window and Makoto stared at her.
There was a knock at the door and the assistant entered again. She announced that Mr. Hino was ready. Then she let it slip that he wanted to collect some data. This upset Rei greatly and, to Makoto's great horror, she began to cry. Through her tears, Rei shouted at the woman to "Get out!" The sight was too much for Makoto to bear. Not believing what she was doing, not understanding why seeing Rei so hurt was, in turn, hurting her so much, Makoto rushed up to the other girl and used her pure strength to completely force the assistant out the door. Then she pushed it closed and locked it, and turned to lean against it, still feeling separated from herself.]
When Makoto had appeared suddenly and pushed the woman out the door, Rei had hardly been able to move. They were so close together now, facing each other and studying each other's eyes. She had to know. It was killing her not knowing. Summoning all her courage, Rei stepped foreword and closed the space between them. Placing a hand behind the other girl's neck, standing on her toes to reach the taller girl, Rei pressed her lips to Makoto's, kissing her without any hesitation.
For her part, the taller girl really had no idea what was going on. When she felt Rei's hand on the back of her neck, and then, shortly after, her lips on her own, she blinked out of the trance she had been in. They were kissing. She was kissing Hino Rei.
Well, more accurately, Hino Rei was kissing Kino Makoto.
But at the same exact time, both separated from the other, and at the same exact time, the same exact thought rushed through their heads.
'It's not her.'
And that thought, not the kiss preceding it, was what wrenched the breath out of their lungs.
They stood there together by the door of the hotel room, not speaking as they both focused on breathing.
"Shit," whispered Makoto in a slightly gruff voice. "I really thought it was you for a minute there."
"Same," was Rei's simple reply. Then she stepped back and walked into the bedroom, seating herself on the bed, once again crossing her arms. "I saw a vision in the sacred fire about a month ago," she explained. "I was with a girl. A girl who... Who I loved so fiercely, so totally..." She chuckled ruefully. "But it's not you. I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize," answered Makoto immediately. "I had a flashback, too. This morning, actually. It really shook me." She leaned lightly against the doorframe. "I've never felt anything like that. Never. I've never had feelings so strong for anyone." A shrug and a sigh followed that statement, then she finished, "But it's not you."
Their eyes met, and before they knew it, they were smiling in understanding at each other.
[Then they returned to Rei's issues with her father, as if nothing had ever happened. Instead of trying to get her to make up with her father, Makoto helped Rei devise an escape plan and helped her carry it out. She dressed as a room service aid and she hid Rei in her cart. Once they turned the corner, the taller girl lifted a dish that revealed a hole in the cart that Rei stuck her head up through.
"Success!" she exclaimed, moving to sneak a glance around the corner.
Rei watched her for a moment, and then said, "I thought you would tell me to get along with my family."
Shrugging, Makoto replied, "Well, I think that would be good, but... Thinking about it, I don't have any family." She gripped the handle of the cart with both hands, smiling devilishly. "So this stuff's unknown to me!" she finished, launching them into a run, pushing the cart before her.
And as Rei discarded the covering of the cart and lifted her hands up as if on a roller coaster,] she thought to herself, "Sailor Venus."
END