Trouble in Paradise
Minako's dubious nursing skills are put to the test. This story takes place two weeks after 'Vignettes from Tokyo'.
Chapter 1:
Aino Minako's orange Toyota hatchback lurched to an abrupt stop in the driveway of Makoto's country house, sending a cloud of dust swirling into the air.
"That's really strange" Minako said, switching off its tired, wheezing engine while beside her Makoto breathed a sigh of relief at having survived yet another of her friend's frantic drives to Nerima. "The boys aren't here yet. I wonder what's keeping them?"
"They both have a key, Minako-chan. Maybe they're still waiting for us inside." The tall brunette climbed from the passenger seat and strode up the front step, grateful to be on solid ground again instead of careening wildly down the road with her lead-footed friend behind the wheel. She tried the door as Minako joined her. "It's locked. They must still be at home."
"What are we waiting for, Mako-chan?" Minako urged. "Let's go get them!" The two girls returned to the car and a minute later they pulled into the empty driveway of the Ito residence. Minako bounded from the car and stabbed the front doorbell button. It took a few seconds before Yuji appeared, wearing a sheepish grin.
"Hi! Sorry we kept you waiting" he apologized. "We couldn't walk to your house, Mako honey, due to a... slight problem." He and Makoto held each other close, sharing their first tender kiss after nearly a week apart.
"What kind of problem, Yuji-chan?" Minako asked. She had her answer a moment later as the love of her life appeared in the doorway, wobbling unsteadily on a pair of wooden crutches.
The blonde's eyes widened in shock. "Taro-chan! You're hurt!"
Her seventeen year old boyfriend grinned sheepishly. "Hai, a little, sweetheart. Nothing to worry about though, Minako honey. Just a slight sprain I picked up in a volleyball game at school this morning. Nothing's broken." He propped himself against one of the crutches while leaning forward to kiss her.
"What happened, Taro-chan?" Makoto asked. "Did you take a bad turn on the court?"
"Not exactly, Mako-chan. I collided with another player on my team while we were both trying to return a hard serve and I twisted my ankle. The school nurse said it should be fine in a few days but she wanted me to use these until Monday." He gestured at the crutches. "It's no big deal, we can still spend the weekend together." He laughed, "I just won't be running up and down the stairs too much."
Minako was furious. "What clumsy idiot did this to you? I'd like to find him and give him a piece of my mind!"
"Uh... you just did, Minako-chan" Yuji mumbled. "I'm the clumsy idiot you're looking for."
"Oh!" Minako's face turned as pink as her top. "Gomen, Yuji-chan! I didn't mean to call you names like that."
"It was just a freak accident, sweetheart" Taro explained. "We both jumped for the ball at the same time and my brother bumped into me. I landed funny and twisted my leg. It's nothing to worry about."
Makoto chuckled, "Looks like your romantic weekend plans may have to take a back seat for a while, Minako-chan!"
Minako's expression instantly paled at the thought. "No way! I'll take care of you, my love. You'll be feeling much better in no time at all, I promise!" She ignored the groan from the nearby brunette and beamed brightly at her boyfriend. "Nurse Minako is now officially on the job!"
"Really?" Taro asked, before noticing the quick look Makoto shot him and her silent grimace. "I... uh... don't want to be any bother."
"No bother at all, honey love! Let's get you back to Mako-chan's place where I can take care of my sugar muffin properly."
"We really should say hello to the parents before we carry their boys away" Makoto pointed out.
"They aren't home, Mako-chan" Yuji said before fetching two small overnight bags from the hallway. "They're shopping in town and taking in a movie after. They won't be back until late tonight. But mother and father said to say hello." He locked his house and the two couples slowly made their way toward the car.
"That looks so uncomfortable, honey love" Minako fretted. "Are you sure nothing else is damaged?"
"Nothing important, sweetheart" Taro grinned.
"Good!" Minako giggled back.
Makoto groaned, "Even an injury can't slow you two down!"
"I hope not!" Minako said. "Mako-chan, you and Yuji can sit in the back, I want my Taro to be beside me. He'll have more room there too." She opened the passenger door and watched her boyfriend carefully begin easing himself into the left seat. She suddenly turned and scolded the brunette. "Why does your silly house have stairs anyway? It should be all on one floor."
"Sorry Minako-chan. Maybe you'd like to find some tools and remodel it for me sometime."
"It's too late for that now!" the blonde muttered. Still looking at her friend, she began swinging the door closed before Taro had gotten his sore leg fully inside.
"Aaagh!"
"Mako-chan! Now look at what you made me do!" Minako yelled. "Taro honey, I'm so sorry! Are you ok?"
"I'm fine" the teen gasped. "Just pinched it a little." He dragged his leg inside and his girlfriend gingerly eased the door shut. With Makoto and Yuji scrunched in the cramped rear seat, Minako drove the two kilometers to their destination with surprising care.
"Minako-chan, I'm shocked!" the brunette teased from behind. "You're driving like a normal person for once. I never thought I'd see the day."
"I know we're going crazy slow but I don't want Taro's leg to get bumped or anything." At Makoto's old house she braked gently to a stop and leapt from the car, scurrying around to help her boyfriend climb out. Taro stood on one foot, leaning against the door for support, and stooped to retrieve his crutches from the front seat.
"Let me get them for you, Taro-chan" his girlfriend insisted. She squeezed past him and grabbed one of the crutches. It was hung up between the seats and she impatiently yanked it out, whacking him in the head with the padded end of it.
"Ow!"
"Gomen! I'm just so clumsy today!" Minako groaned. "I'll be way more careful from now on."
Makoto and Yuji lifted the two small overnight bags from the trunk. "Nice move, Minako-chan. Trying to give your Taro a concussion too? A sore ankle isn't bad enough?"
"Quiet... Rei-chan!" Minako hissed. "That's just like something she would say!"
Makoto ignored the intended insult. "Minna, let's go inside before anything else bad happens."
. . . . .
Having seated himself comfortably on the sofa, Taro relaxed and propped his injured limb on a cushion atop the coffee table. He smiled embarrassingly at his girl. "I really feel awful about this, Minako honey. I know it doesn't look like the kind of romantic weekend we had planned."
"We're together and that's all that matters, honey love" the blonde replied brightly. "Besides, the weekend is just starting. We have lots of time for... other things later." Minako peered at the wrap fastened around the bottom of his leg. "How long did you say you have to wear that thing?"
"Just a few days. I'm also supposed to put an ice pack on the sprain every now and then to keep the swelling down."
"Too bad Ami isn't here today" Makoto thought aloud. "Her mother's a doctor and she knows a lot about this medical stuff too."
"Ami and Ryo aren't coming out for the weekend?" Yuji asked.
"Not this one, honey. They have cram school tomorrow and Sunday."
"Hai, more stupid school!" Minako scoffed. "Well, at least they're doing one of their two favorite things together."
"What's the other one?" Yuji asked innocently. His girlfriend gave him a knowing look. "Oh! I should have guessed, Mako-chan!" he laughed.
"We don't need Ami or any silly doctors!" Minako insisted. "Not when you have me here to look after you!" She asked her brunette friend, "Mako-chan, is there any ice in your refrigerator?"
"There may be a little we can wrap in a towel. I'll go check." She began to stand but Minako waved her down.
"Let me handle this. You just sit right there with your Yuji-love and I'll take care of everything!" She sprang from the sofa and bolted away to the kitchen in a shot.
"I think my sweet Minako is too concerned about me" Taro chuckled as he slid the compression bandage up his leg to expose the damaged area. "I'm not exactly on death's door!"
"Not yet" the brunette warned with a straight face. "But then again, she's just getting started."
Minako's excited voice carried from the other room. "Found some ice! There's a tray of cubes in here, but they're all stuck together. I"ll get them loose and be right back, Taro-love!"
"I really appreciate it sweetheart" the boy answered. "You're spoiling me!"
"That's what soul mates do, honey!" came her second reply. "Now how do I get these silly things out of the tray?"
Yuji asked, "What about Usagi and Rei, Mako-chan? Are they and their boyfriends joining us-" His question was interrupted by a series of loud, sharp bangs and a clattering noise from the kitchen.
Makoto glared down the short hallway with a worried frown. "What on earth are you doing in there? Don't break anything!"
"Too late!" came the giggling answer. "I got most of the ice out but cracked the tray when I hit it against the sink."
"Wonderful" the brunette groaned. "More destruction. And we've only been here twenty minutes."
Minako soon came scurrying back with the ice wrapped in a dish cloth. "This is just what the doctor ordered! Oops, I mean the nurse! That's me!" she giggled. She squeezed herself around the coffee table and held out the ice. "Where do you want me to hold this, Taro-chan?" As she spoke, one end of the damp cloth slipped from her fingers and the ice spilled out, dropping into Taro's lap.
"Not there, that's for sure!" Makoto snorted.
"Now how on Earth did that happen?" the blonde gasped. She quickly gathered up the wayward cubes and gently pressed the cloth against the bruise. "Better, honey?"
"Much better" Taro said with a smile. "Arigatou, my beautiful nurse. You're the best." Minako beamed happily at him.
"Rei and Yuuichirou are stuck working at the shrine all weekend so we won't be seeing them" Makoto told her boyfriend. "And Mamoru is very busy at his university so I guess Usagi won't be here either. It's just us four, Yuji honey."
"Isn't that nice?" Minako sighed happily. "It's so much more romantic when the house isn't so overcrowded." She batted her eyelids seductively at her guy. "I missed you so much" she sighed.
"Crowds have never seemed to bother you before, Minako-chan" Makoto teased. "And give your boy a break, he's hurting."
Taro grinned, "Not that much!"
"You two really are unbelievable!" the brunette girl laughed, shaking her head.
Minako giggled, "We are, aren't we?"
Chapter 2:
After a few more minutes of pleasant chatting amongst the young lovers, Makoto remarked, "We haven't had dinner yet. Have you and Taro eaten lately, Yuji-chan?"
"Not since lunch at school, sweetheart. We thought you may want to prepare one of your wonderful dinners for us so we waited." He laughed, "And now I'm starving just thinking about it!"
"Well that just won't do!" the brunette said decisively. "Let me get to work and see if I can whip something up that won't disappoint you and Taro."
"Disappoint us? Impossible!" Yuji chuckled. He quickly offered, "Can I help?"
"You just sit right there and keep an eye on your sick brother, Yuji-chan" Minako insisted. "This time, I'll help Mako-chan make dinner. I need to work on my skills a lot anyway. I'll be cooking for my Taro every day after we're married!"
"There's a scary thought" Makoto teased. "The poor boy will be on a permanent diet for the rest of his life."
"Silly! I'm sure by the time we're married I'll be an excellent chef" she insisted. "You'll see."
"If you say so" Makoto sighed. "Come on then, let's get started. We certainly don't want our hungry guys wasting away." She and Minako gave their boyfriends a parting kiss before venturing into the kitchen.
"Mako-chan, what's the best thing to cook for someone who's not well?" the blonde asked, taking an offered apron from her friend and tying it around her slender waist.
"He's got a sprained ankle, not a stomach problem Minako-chan. There isn't any magical cure for that condition, at least not with food."
"That's too bad" Minako sighed. "I was hoping there was something special we could whip up that would help get my honey back on his feet."
"Oh? I thought that standing on his feet is the last thing you'd want Taro to do this weekend."
The blonde winked at her. "You know what I mean, Mako-chan!"
"Uh-huh. Sure I do." She found a large pot beneath the sink and handed it over. "Let's stick to the basics for now. I'm putting you in charge of the rice. If you can manage that, I'll give you something harder to do next time."
"Ok! One pot of Aino Minako's delicious love rice coming right up!"
"Love rice?"
"Hai!" she swooned. "Everything I do for my Taro, I do with love!" Minako filled the pot with water and placed it on the stove, turning on the burner beneath it. An orange glow soon appeared beneath the stainless steel vessel. "Almost forgot! I need to make more ice cubes for my love's poor hurt leg." She found the cracked tray and filled it, dribbling water across the floor before she stuck it inside the tiny refrigerator.
"You owe me a new ice cube tray too" Makoto grumbled. She retrieved a collection of vegetables and after a thorough rinsing, set to work chopping them. "I think we'll make sushi today. It won't take long and should be tasty enough to do the job." She pointed across the room, "There's a big bag of rice in that bottom cupboard. Remember, you only need to prepare enough for the four of us."
"I'm on it!" While Makoto was busy with the vegetables, Minako found the large sack and dragged it onto the kitchen floor. 'This thing's really heavy!' She struggled to lift it and tottered unsteadily toward the stove.
In the living room, Yuji apologized again to his sibling. "I still feel bad about bumping into you, brother. I hope it doesn't wreck your plans for the weekend too much."
"Don't worry about it, Yuji-chan. I'm sure my Minako and I will cope just fine." Both boys abruptly looked up at the sound of Minako's sudden cry of alarm.
"Ahhh!"
The girl had slipped on the spilled water and staggered forward, dumping the entire bag of rice onto the stove. Makoto spun around to find the pot and the entire stovetop buried beneath a grainy white mountain. Smoke began rising and the stench of burning rice filled the air.
"Oops!"
"Minako-chan!" Makoto quickly turned off the heat and used her knife to begin scooping the spilled food away from the hot element. "Overdoing it with the rice just a little, aren't we?"
"Gomen nasai! My feet nearly slipped out from under me." Minako apologized, sheepishly clutching the now empty bag.
"Nearly? Open a window please" the brunette ordered sternly. "I'll scrape the rest of the ruined rice off before the entire kitchen goes up in flames."
Minako slid open a nearby window, and swung open the rear door as well for good measure. "Sorry, Mako-chan. Can I help you clean that up?"
"I don't know. Do you have a shovel?"
"Sounds like there's a little problem in the kitchen" Yuji remarked as the acrid odor wafted into the living room. "I'd better go check on things."
"What on earth were you trying to do?" Makoto fumed. "You didn't have to carry the whole bag over to the pot! Next time try using a measuring cup or a mug or something to scoop out just what you need."
"That's a great idea, Mako-chan!" Minako beamed. "I'll remember it for next time!"
"I doubt it."
. . . . .
After dinner, the two couples relaxed on the front step of the old house as stars began to appear in the darkening sky above them.
"You did it again, my love" Yuji complimented his girl. "That sushi was fantastic! As is everything you make."
"I helped too, Yuji-chan!" Minako added.
"Sorry there wasn't more, honey, but most of the rice ended up in the garbage." The brunette glared at Minako who was holding another ice pack to her boyfriend's leg.
The blonde waggled a finger back at her. "Accidents do happen, Mako-chan."
"They certainly do. Now I can appreciate how Rei must have felt during our stay in Okinawa."
"Sorry I can't offer you a dance or a romantic stroll beneath the stars, sweetheart" Taro said to his girl. "Maybe I'll be more able to by tomorrow night."
"No problem, honey-love. You just rest up and get better for me." She casually tossed the wet ice-filled cloth aside and carefully slid the bandage back over his ankle. "All done." The blonde gazed up at a few twinkling pinpoints of light in the heavens above, visible despite the nearly overpowering bright glow on the horizon from nearby Tokyo. The four teens sat quietly for a while with only the occasional chirp of a cricket breaking the stillness of the evening. "It's really peaceful out here, Taro-chan. It must feel a lot different growing up in a small town instead of a big city."
"To be honest, I've always found Nerima a little boring" her boy replied. "I like city life."
"Me too" Minako smiled. "I enjoy the night life and the excitement of a place that never sleeps."
"You mean... like your bedroom?" Makoto chuckled.
"You sound more like Rei every day, Mako-chan!" her friend giggled. "What about you, Yuji-chan? Would you like to live out here in the countryside forever?"
"Wherever my Mako-chan is, that's where I'll be" her young man answered. "Nerima, Tokyo, it doesn't really matter." He gazed lovingly into his girl's stunning green eyes. "As long as I'm with you, my beautiful Makoto, any place is home."
Both couples shared a tender kiss. As their lips parted, Makoto sighed blissfully. "I love you so much, my Yuji. My heart is-" Another cricket began chirping loudly somewhere behind her and the brunette turned her head toward the interruption. "Hey! Keep it down back there!"
Yuji laughed. "They never listen, Mako-chan. Those things are everywhere at this time of year. That one kind of sounds like it's inside your house."
"Our house, Yuji my love" Makoto gently corrected him. She suddenly frowned. "Now that you mention it, it does sound like its coming from inside. Minako-chan, did you remember to close the back door?"
"Me? I thought you did!"
"Well isn't that nice? The door's been hanging wide open for the last hour. Now we have a cricket in the house." She sighed as she stood up. "It'd better go catch it."
"I'll help you" Minako volunteered. "Stay right there, Taro-love. I'll be back soon."
"Good hunting, sweetheart!" her boyfriend joked. "If it corners you, you can always use your awesome Crescent Beam attack to defend yourself."
"Or you can bury it alive, if only we had any rice left" Makoto muttered. "Come on then, let's get rid of the thing."
Minako paused. "Taro-honey, can I borrow one of your crutches for a minute?"
"What's that for?" Makoto scoffed. "Were you planning on breaking its leg?"
"No, silly!" The blonde picked up a crutch and wiggled its rubber-tipped end. "I can use this thing to prod it towards the front door. I'm not touching any icky bugs with my fingers!"
"That's just sad, Minako-chan."
The girls entered the house and scanned around. "I don't hear anything now, Mako-chan" Minako whispered, grasping the crutch beneath one arm like a rifle. "Maybe it left already."
After an unsuccessful examination of the hallway and adjoining living room floor, Makoto suggested, "I'll wait here and grab it next time it makes a noise. You can go shut the back door before any more of its friends decide to join the party."
"Hai!" Minako nodded. Arriving in the kitchen, she clicked on the light and gasped in horror. The tile floor was awash with dozens of crickets. "Mako-chan, come quick! I think we're too late!"
Makoto ran up behind her and groaned. "Wonderful! This day just keeps on getting better and better."
. . . . .
Back in Tokyo, a large dark-colored car crept slowly up the expressway ramp, heading toward Nerima. The young odango-haired girl behind the wheel drove cautiously on, oblivious to the long chain of vehicles impatiently stacked up behind her. 'I hope I don't miss the right exit' Usagi fretted. 'I'm not used to driving out of the city in the dark'.
Chapter 3:
At the Mizuno residence deep within the Azabu-Juuban residential area of Tokyo, Ami and Urawa Ryo sat together in her room, heads bowed and eyes intently focused on absorbing new material from their textbooks at an impressive rate. The blue-haired fifteen year old girl genius was seated at her reading desk, and flipped to the next page in her advanced calculus text, paused a moment, then looked up and turned in her chair. She smiled lovingly at the sight of her boyfriend who was seated close by on the corner of her bed. He was concentrating so hard on the same lesson, trying his best to keep up with her that he was frowning from the effort.
"Ryo-kun?"
She slipped off her reading glasses and giggled ever so softly as she watched his sapphire-blue eyes move back and forth across the page, following the kanji and hiragana characters and the complex numerical formulae they detailed.
"Oh... Ryo-kun? My love?"
"Hmm...?" His thoughts abruptly snapped back to reality and her future husband looked up from the book. "Gomen, Ami-chan! I guess I was a little lost in thought there." He smiled back, producing a warmth in her heart that made its beat quicken.
"We've been at this for..." she paused and turned her wrist to check her small oval watch, "...nearly two hours now. I think it's well past time for a break, don't you?"
Ryo promptly slipped a bookmark between the pages and flipped the book closed. "I was hoping you'd say that, Ami darling. My eyes are beginning to ache a bit." He continued with a grin, "If I keep this pace up for too long, I'll end up needing to wear glasses at cram school tomorrow too!"
"Then we should definitely have a little rest" Ami agreed. The sweet smile she wore grew slightly larger. "Though I think you'd look really handsome in the right frames."
"I'd probably look like a cartoon owl in an American kid's show" Ryo chuckled. "Just add a mortar board hat and the effect would be perfect!"
"I've never, ever seen an owl as sexy as you would be, my love" she answered softly. Her studies momentarily forgotten, she left her chair and took the two short steps over to her bed. "Ryo-kun, how about we-"
The shrill ring of a telephone intruded on her thoughts and she sighed. "I have to get this, honey. It may be something important."
"I'm not going anywhere" her boyfriend grinned back.
"Don't even think of it" Ami whispered lovingly. She leaned to kiss him but the phone rang again. Planting a quick peck on his lips, she turned back to her desk and picked up the receiver.
"Mizuno residence. Ami speaking."
She listened intently for a moment. "Konbanwa, Tottori-san! What can I do for you?"
Ryo wondered why their juku's office secretary was calling at this hour. His forehead wrinkled as Ami gasped, "Oh! I'm so very sorry to hear that, Tottori-san!" She listened a while longer before replying, "That's quite understandable under the circumstances. Hai, next weekend would be fine. No need to apologize, it won't be a problem."
A few more moments of silence was followed by Ami's farewell. "Hai, I'll be sure to let Ryo know... Sayonara, Tottori-san." She hung up the telephone and sat on the edge of the bed beside her boyfriend.
"Trouble at the cram school?"
"Hai. Our sensei's sister has taken seriously ill and he wishes to be by her side, in case... you know."
Ryo nodded. "That's a real shame. He's a really nice person and a great instructor. I hope his sister will be fine."
"She's very old, my love. He's not sure what the outcome will be. In any case, they weren't able to find a qualified substitute teacher on such short notice. The school secretary is calling everyone to advise them of a schedule change."
"I guess classes are cancelled?"
"Hai, until next weekend. Which means..." she smiled again, "your eyes get an even longer break, my Ryo-kun."
"I can deal with that!" her young man grinned. "All those integral symbols were beginning to blur together anyway."
"It's nearly nine, my love. How about if we... keep on studying for a while?"
Ryo was puzzled. "Uh, sure. I can do that." He reached for his calculus book only to have Ami slip it from his hands and drop it unceremoniously on the floor.
"Not that subject, lover."
"Oh!" He smiled. "The other subject!"
"Hai. The other one." Ami's eyes began to close and she tipped her head back, slowly closing the gap between her Ryo's lips and hers. And then the phone rang once more.
A small frown formed on her pretty face. "Not again!"
"You'd better answer it, my sweet. It could be important too."
Ami nodded and reluctantly took the second call. This time her mother was on the line from the hospital. The call was brief and Ryo couldn't follow the conversation, as her girlfriend listened more than she spoke. Ami hung up, wearing a sly smile.
"I hope it isn't more bad news."
"Not for my mother it isn't" the blue-haired teen giggled. "That doctor she's been seeing lately is coming over after their shift is finished. Mother said he may be staying quite late." She sat beside him again. "I'm sure she was hinting that she'd like some time alone."
"We could hide in here all night" Ryo suggested.
"That's one possibility. But... Ryo-kun, what would you say to the idea of a little evening drive together?"
"To Nerima?"
Ami nodded and smiled. "Only Mako-chan and Minako and their boyfriends are staying there this weekend. It may actually prove to be more private than staying under the same roof as two doctors."
Ryo sprang to his feet. "Warm up your car, my love. I'll start packing our overnight bag!"
. . . . .
Yuuichirou met the old priest in the long hallway that passed down one side of the Hikawa Jinja's living quarters. "Calling it a night, Hino-sensei?"
"I think so, Yuuichirou-chan. At my age I find it's getting increasingly difficult to remain awake into the late hours. Did you finish the paperwork for the Kotara wedding on Sunday?"
"All done. It's in that brown folder on your desk."
"The same one you doodled all over?" the priest frowned. "Good. I'll look it over in the morning." He smiled at his granddaughter as she appeared in the hallway on her way to her bedroom. "Rei-chan, I think there may be a glimmer of hope for your fiancee after all."
"Don't be so hard on him, Ojii-chan. I happen to think Yuuichirou is doing just wonderfully."
"Arigatou, Rei darling!" Yuuichirou beamed.
"Of course you of all people would think that" the elder Hino said with a hint of playfulness in his voice. "However, how well your boyfriend performs in his Shinto duties is something for an experienced and qualified priest to decide. In any case, it's time for me to retire for the evening. Oyasuminasai, Rei-chan, Yuuichirou-chan."
"Good night Grandpa" Rei replied, smiling sweetly. "Sleep well."
"I always do" the priest chuckled before disappearing down the hall. The two young lovers waited until they heard his bedroom door slide closed before speaking again.
Their eyes met. "Your room or mine, Rei darling?" Yuuichirou whispered.
Rei gave her love a coy smile. "My room. In one hour. And be quiet!" she hissed back. They shared a tender kiss before going their separate ways, as usual postponing their intimate rendezvous until they were sure Rei's grandfather had fallen fast asleep.
. . . . .
In Rei's bedroom, the young miko hummed softly to herself as she finished combing out her incredibly long, silky-soft raven hair with a wooden-handled brush. A short distance down the hall on the opposite side of her Grandfather's bedroom, Yuuichirou slipped into his red kimono in his room. He checked the small clock on his night table. 'Close enough!' he thought. 'Rei my beautiful bride-to-be, I'm on my way!' Clicking off the lamp, he stepped out into the dark hallway and gently shut his bedroom door. He crept silently down the hallway, but just as he passed his mentor's bedroom door it suddenly flew open, bathing the scene in yellow light.
"Going somewhere, Yuuichirou-chan?" The old man stood frowning, arms folded across his chest.
"Hino-sensei! Uh... you're still up?" the teen gasped.
"Obviously. As are you. Now, would you mind answering my question?"
Yuuichirou grinned sheepishly. "Heh! I was... just... uh..."
"I know precisely where you were going, boy" the elder Hino said sternly. "I'm on to you two, and your little late-night rendezvous. You thought I was sleeping, didn't you?"
Another door quickly opened and Rei approached, hastily pulling a robe on over her thin negligee. Her grandfather frowned at her. "Rei-chan, you know my feelings about this kind of activity inside the shrine. Granddaughter, I'm... very disappointed."
The young miko stood her ground. "Ojii-chan, why does this upset you so? You know how deeply we're in love, and that we'll be married someday soon. You've even met our future daughter! Why are you making such a big deal over literally nothing?"
"Nothing, Rei-chan?" He glared at her fiancee who stared down at the floor in embarrassment. "Let me explain something to you both, very clearly. Yes, I know this behavior shouldn't surprise me. Believe it or not, I was once a teenager as well. I'm quite sure you spend many nights together, especially when you're away from home. That much is obvious. But granddaughter, here at the shrine, my rules are my rules. I expect them to be obeyed."
"Well... it's a silly rule!" the miko protested. "Be reasonable!"
"I've been more than reasonable, in my opinion. But it's time to draw the line."
"Ojii-chan, please!"
Yuuichirou shuffled his feet. "We're both truly sorry to have disappointed you, Sensei. I hope you will overlook-"
"Overlook nothing!" Rei abruptly blurted. "Grandpa, Yuuichirou is the boy I love, the one I will share the rest of my life with. Can't you understand our situation?"
"I'm going to bed" the old man answered brusquely. "I suggest you both do the same. In your own rooms." He began to turn away.
The young apprentice nodded obediently, but his miko girlfriend refused to give in. "No! We're not!" she answered angrily. "I want to be with the one I love, and if I can't here, in my own home, then... I'll find some place where I can!"
Her grandfather was taken aback by the girl's defiant attitude. He faced her again, his voice softening. "Rei-chan, how about we wait until tomorrow? We can discuss this topic further in the light of a new day." Both he and his student were stunned by her curt reply.
"Get dressed, Yuuichirou-chan! We're going to Mako-chan's house for the night, where people understand what true love is and don't object to... us."
The old priest was amazed to find himself wilting under his upset granddaughter's defiant, icy glare. "Granddaughter, it's getting late! Don't be so stubborn. Uh... besides, I need your help and Yuuichirou's at the shrine tomorrow."
"Fine. We'll be back in the morning" Rei bluntly replied. She spun on her heel. "Meet you at my car in five minutes, Yuuichirou honey." The two males stood wordlessly looking at each other as she stormed away, entering her bedroom and slamming the door hard.
. . . . .
"I think we finally got them all, Mako-chan" Minako breathed with relief. She closed the back door of the old house, locked it and leaned on her boyfriend's crutch. "Whew! I hope that never happens again!"
"Tracking down a bunch of crickets isn't exactly my idea of a fun evening either" the brunette grumbled. "Another ten minutes of life lost forever, when I could've been sitting outside under the moon and stars with Yuji."
"Gomen! Next time I'll definitely make sure the kitchen door is closed" she promised.
"It wasn't just your fault, Minako-chan. I should have checked too." Makoto's grin returned. "Don't worry about it. What's done is done. Let's get back to our guys before they forget we exist-"
She stopped talking and both girls slowly turned. Somewhere nearby, a final unseen cricket began its loud chirping.
"There's still one more!" the blonde gasped.
From the front of the house, the girls heard a muffled thump and yell. "Ow!" They stared at each other.
"That's Yuji!" Makoto blurted. She bolted down the hall with her friend close on her heels, leaving the crutch to clatter forgotten onto the kitchen floor. They burst outside to find Makoto's boyfriend picking himself up off the front step while his brother looked on with concern. Yuji sat down on the step, favoring his left wrist.
"What happened Yuji honey?" his girlfriend gasped, bending down to her love. "Are you hurt?"
He looked up at the tall brunette. "I was going in the house to see what was keeping you and Minako, but I didn't notice the ice pack in the dark and slipped on it. I must have twisted something when I fell." He gingerly rubbed his wrist with his right hand and flexed his fingers. "It's ok, I think. Probably just stretched the muscle a little."
Makoto slowly stood up and fixed her narrowing gaze on Minako. The blonde's red face was just visible in the light of a rising moon. "Oh! I forgot about that silly ice too! I'm so sorry, Yuji-chan."
Taro chuckled, "Welcome to the club, brother."
"Minako-chan!" Makoto growled threateningly.
The girl suddenly beamed back brightly. "No problem! Looks like Nurse Minako has two patients to look after now! Everyone wait right here, I'll go find the first aid kit. I'm sure it has something in it to help!" She gathered up the soggy cloth and the remaining pieces of mostly-melted ice and fled back inside the house.
"Some day I think I'm going to strangle that girl" Makoto muttered.
Chapter 4:
"This can't be right!" Usagi groaned aloud. "I must have missed the exit somehow! That stupid sign says Narimasu, not Nerima!" She slowed her pace even further, beginning to panic while looking desperately for a place to turn around. "Ohh! I'll be lost in the middle of nowhere and Mamo-chan will never find me again! Why don't cars have telephones so I can call someone for help?" She followed her headlights through the darkness, eventually leaving Route 254 and finding herself near the small city of Suwa. Usagi's sinking confidence was suddenly buoyed by a passing sign. "There's a gas station and store up ahead! I'll stop there and ask for directions."
Mamoru's car halted in the parking area and its worried driver clambered out, noticing she was parked at a sharp angle and taking up nearly two entire spaces. 'Good enough' Usagi shrugged. With pangs of hunger growing ever stronger within her, she ran inside the roadside shop in search of aid and sustenance.
. . . . .
Rei abandoned her negligee on the bed and hurriedly dressed in the first thing that came to hand, one of her TA School uniforms. 'This time Grandpa has gone too far!' She grabbed her purse and left her bedroom and the Hikawa Jinja behind. Seconds later she was seated in her red convertible. The upset miko slammed the door closed, started the engine and revved it mercilessly, impatient for her fiancee to join her. 'Where is he? I hope Ojii-chan didn't talk him out of leaving!'
More seconds ticked by, until Yuuichirou finally appeared and slipped into the front passenger seat beside her.
"Rei-chan honey, are you sure about this? The last thing we need is for your grandfather to stay angry at us all night long."
"Angry? I'll show him angry!" She pulled away from the shrine and onto the road with a shrill screech of tires. Two blocks away, the traffic light turned yellow as they approached. Grumbling at the unwelcome delay, Rei braked to a stop and fished through her purse for a cigarette. She hurriedly lit one and inhaled deeply, her fingers trembling as she regripped the wheel.
"Sweetheart, you really shouldn't be driving a car while you're this upset" Yuuichirou spoke softly. "It isn't safe. Would you like me to drive us to Nerima this time?" he volunteered.
"No."
The teenage boy sighed. "You and I both know your grandfather is right, my love. It's his shrine, and we have to follow his rules as long as he's in charge. Even if we disagree with them."
"Even if they're dumb?" Rei shot back. "It's my home too, and yours! Don't we get a say in how we live our lives together?"
"Uh..." Unsure if further conversation would upset his girlfriend even more, Yuuichirou sat quietly staring out through the windshield. The light flashed green and Rei gunned her car away from it, glad that the evening traffic was relatively light.
As they neared the ramp leading to the expressway, Yuuichirou tactfully suggested, "It's not too late, honey. How about if we go back home and take some time to calm down? Maybe we can talk things out with Hino-sensei in the morning, just like he said."
"I know him far better than you do, Yuuichirou-chan. He won't change his mind."
"It's worth a try, isn't it?"
The raven-haired girl didn't answer. Instead, she drove onto the ramp and picked up speed. Reaching the near-empty expressway, she buried the car's accelerator pedal into the carpeting beneath it and her Mercedes obediently raced ahead.
"I've never ever seen you this angry before" her young man remarked quietly. "Even at me."
"Maybe I can calm down later, my love. But... not right now."
Yuuichirou's lips formed a familiar lopsided silly grin. "Well then, I guess you'll work it out of your system eventually. Meanwhile, it looks like our romantic evening together isn't going to turn out quite like we'd planned, is it darling?"
For the first time since they left the shrine, Rei smiled. "Oh yes it is."
. . . . .
Taro had hobbled back inside the old house with the help of his remaining crutch and eased himself down on the sofa. Yuji and Makoto sat beside him while the sound of drawers and cabinet doors opening and slamming shut could be plainly heard from the nearby room used as a doctor's office by the home's previous owner. Minako's muttering added to the din. "Where's that silly first aid kit hiding? It must be here somewhere!"
"Do you know where it is, Mako-chan?" Yuji asked.
The brunette beside him grinned wickedly. "Hai, I do. But I'm going to let her hunt for it for a while. At least Minako can't cause any more disasters as long as she's busy in there."
"Found it! And... something else too!" the bubbly blonde's voice echoed from the other room.
After a brief moment of silence, Minako emerged from the office clutching a padded case with a red cross symbol stitched into its cover. Makoto looked up at her and burst out laughing. "Where did you get that thing?"
Minako approached with not just the medical bag but a white nurse's hat perched on top of her head, just in front of her ever-present red bow. "Nurse Minako is ready to save the day! I found this hat next to the first aid kit, Mako-chan. Doesn't it make me look professional?"
"It makes you look ridiculous!" the brunette snorted.
"I honestly don't think my wrist is bad enough to need medical attention, Minako-chan" Yuji said. "In fact, it's beginning to feel better already."
"Nonsense, Yuji-chan! Let me have a look at it." She plopped the kit down on the coffee table and sat beside it, zipping it open and rummaging inside. "Aha! This is just what you need!" She pulled out a thick roll of cloth bandage and began unravelling it. "I'll wrap your wrist in this for support, just like that ankle thingy my Taro-love is wearing. You'll feel just like new in the morning, I guarantee it!"
"Excuse me for asking a stupid question, but do you have any real medical training?" Makoto asked her. "Anything at all?"
"Of course I do, silly! Before I transferred to Juuban Junior High I took a first aid course at my old school."
"Really?" Makoto remained unimpressed. "Did you pass it?"
"Well... almost" the blonde mumbled. Her face instantly brightened again. "No matter! I still remember all the really important things!"
The brunette rubbed her forehead and sighed heavily. "Why do I sense another disaster in the making?"
"Mako-chan, you just relax and have your lover boy and my patient sit still. Watch a real expert at work!" She held up the loose end of the bandage. "Yuji-chan, stick out your arm!"
The teenager did as he was told and Minako grabbed his hand to steady it.
"Ahhh!" he hissed through clenched teeth.
"Did that hurt? Gomen! I'll try to be a little more gentle." She began wrapping the cloth tightly around his wrist, again and again until the entire roll was used up and his forearm and nearly all of his left hand was thickly encased and rigidly immobile. "There! How does that feel so far?"
Yuji could scarcely wiggle his fingers. "It's a bit snug, Minako-chan."
His brother chuckled, "A few more rolls of that and Yuji will look like a mummy!"
Minako shot her boyfriend a stern look before turning her attention back to her patient. "It's supposed to be that way, Yuji-chan. That's so it doesn't bend and make the sprain get any worse." She returned her attention to the kit. "Now how am I going to fasten this thing in place?" Digging through its contents, she found a large safety pin and squeezed it open. She jabbed the pin's end into the bandage. "Hold still now!"
"Ow!"
"Gomen!" Minako apologized again. "That point is really sharp, isn't it?"
"Are you finished stabbing my boyfriend yet?" Makoto growled. "What's next? An amputation?"
"All done!" The blonde sat back and admired her handiwork. "Though... I think there was something else I was supposed to do" she mused. "Maybe I missed a step somewhere."
"How comforting" Makoto muttered while beside her, Taro tried his hardest not to laugh at his brother's predicament.
A further dig through the opened medical kit and Minako produced a small plastic bottle. She quickly scanned its label. "I thought so! This is the stuff you're supposed to spray on the injured area to ease the pain. I knew I forgot something!"
"Great" the brunette groaned. "Now you have to take the bandage off again."
"I do, don't I? Hmm... Wait! I know a better way! I'll just spray lots of it on the outside of the bandage and it'll soak right through! I'm so brilliant!" she cackled. Wasting no time, she twisted off the bottle cap and pumped the nozzle beneath vigorously.
Pffft! Pffft! Pffft!
She soon saturated the cloth wrap, as well as fogging the air with a cloud of chemical pain reliever. Makoto coughed and waved the mist away but Minako continued her relentless spraying until the bottle was nearly empty.
"It smells like a hospital in here!" Taro snickered.
"All finished! For real this time!" Minako beamed. How does that look, Yuji-chan?"
The boy regarded the haphazard bandage doubtfully. "I can't feel my fingers."
His girlfriend also looked at the sopping mess with deep distrust. "Yuji-chan, your fingertips are starting to turn blue." She glared at her friend. "Minako-chan, the bandage is way too tight. You're stopping his circulation!"
"Am I? That doesn't sound good."
"Unfasten that pin and loosen the thing before my poor Yuji's hand falls off!" the brunette ordered.
"Ok, if you insist." Minako waggled a finger in warning. "But this goes against my skilled medical advice."
"We'll take our chances" Makoto answered curtly.
The blonde reached for the wet safety pin and fumbled with it. "This is really hard! I can't get the pin to open. Its too slippery and jammed tight against the cloth." She suddenly looked up at the couple with a maniacal gleam in her eyes. "I'll have to cut it off! I need to borrow one of your sharp knives from the kitchen, Mako-chan."
"Don't you dare!" Makoto gently took her boyfriend's arm and squeezed the pin forcefully until it popped apart. "Yuji-chan, I'm taking that nightmare off of you before you end up needing a real doctor."
Minako began to object. "But... it's..."
Makoto carefully unwound the bandage onto the floor, her fingers also growing numb from the potent spray. She picked up the soggy mound of ruined cloth and passed it to her future sister-in-law. "Here. I believe this is yours."
"What am I supposed to do with this?" Minako asked, holding the dripping dressing between her fingers.
"Do you really want me to tell you?"
"Mako-chan!" the blonde gasped. She giggled again. "Never mind. I'll just throw it away."
"That's the first good idea you've had all evening" Makoto said with a sigh.
Chapter 5:
While Minako disposed of her smelly mess of bandages in the kitchen's garbage bin, Makoto scrubbed the last of the pain reliever from her fingers in the downstairs washroom. A pair of headlights cast a brief reflection through the living room window as Ami and Ryo pulled in and parked behind Minako's car in the narrow driveway.
"We've got company!" Taro called just as the lights turned off.
Makoto reappeared from the washroom and headed for the front door. "Who could that be? I wasn't expecting anyone else this weekend." She opened the door to find the blue-haired girl and her boyfriend climbing the steps. "Ami-chan! Ryo-chan! Konbanwa. This is a nice surprise."
"I do hope we aren't intruding, arriving without notice like this" Ami smiled shyly. "Our weekend classes were cancelled, so we thought we'd spend some time here."
"No problem at all!" Makoto grinned as they walked into the house with her. "The more the merrier!" Minako strolled up behind the brunette, still wearing the nurse's hat and carrying Taro's second crutch. Makoto glanced over her shoulder and frowned, turning back to the new arrivals. "Welcome to the Aino Minako Memorial Hospital."
Ami and Ryo were surprised to see nurse's headgear on the blonde. They both immediately noticed another crutch resting against the sofa near Taro, who waved and smiled at them from behind what appeared to be a first aid kit laying open on the coffee table. The teens looked at each other with perplexed expressions.
Ami's face suddenly began to redden. "Did we arrive at a bad time? I hope we aren't intruding on some kind of... uh... game you and Taro are playing together, Minako-chan."
"Nani? No! It's not what you're thinking, Ami-chan!" the blonde insisted. "My Taro hurt his leg at school today and I'm looking after him. That's all!"
"Gomen nasai" the embarrassed girl blushed even deeper. "I misunderstood."
Minako tittered, "Ami-chan, for such a shy, quiet girl you have a very naughty mind!" She was silent for a moment as a sly smile crept across her face. "Though now that you mention it... Mako-chan, can I keep the nurse's hat?"
"Please don't get any new ideas tonight, 'Nurse Minako''" Makoto begged. "Especially weird ones. Anyway, the boys are still sore. Haven't you been busy enough for one day?"
"Yuji's fall was just a silly accident!" the blonde protested. "Anyway, it isn't that serious."
"Hopefully it's the last 'accident' we have here tonight" the brunette replied bluntly.
"Uh Mako-chan, why did you call your house a memorial hospital?" Ryo asked. "Isn't that name reserved for the memory of a deceased person?"
Makoto shot another glance at her future sister-in-law, who was now returning the second crutch to her boyfriend. "The night's still young, Ryo-chan" she muttered. "You and Ami come right on in and make yourselves comfortable. Can I offer you anything?"
"Arigatou. We're fine, Mako-chan" Ami replied. She and Ryo sat beside their friends on the large sofa and Yuji began explaining the evening's events. Half way through his story, everyone looked up as the front door swung open and Rei and Yuuichirou strode into the house. The miko appeared slightly distressed and in a hurry for some unknown reason. After they had quickly slipped off their shoes, she took Yuuichirou's hand and half-dragged the teen into the living room.
"Konbanwa, minna" Rei greeted everyone. "I hope you don't mind the sudden..." Her voice faded as she too spotted Minako's nurse's hat and Taro's crutches. Rei peered suspiciously at Minako from the corners of her violet eyes. "What's going on here?"
The blonde grinned sheepishly. "Nothing much, Rei-chan! I was just-"
Rei briskly held up one hand to silence her friend. "On second thought, I don't want to know, Minako-chan. Whatever you two do together is your own business, no matter how strange."
"But it's not-"
"Minna, goodnight." With that brief final sentence, Rei escorted her fiancee upstairs. Their bedroom door closed and the house again fell silent.
"Well that was kind of... odd" Makoto said. "I wonder what's going on with those two? And why on earth is Rei wearing her school clothes at this hour?"
"Why does everyone always jump to conclusions about me and Taro?" Minako muttered.
Makoto smirked at her. "If the shoe fits..."
. . . . .
Yuuichirou followed his fiancee into their usual room at the old house, and the Shinto apprentice closed the door behind them. Unsure what to expect, he wasn't entirely surprised when his bride-to-be sat heavily on one side of the bed and stared off into space, her face a swirl of conflicting emotions.
He sat down beside her. "You're concerned about your grandfather, aren't you honey?" he said softly.
"Hai. I am." She turned her gaze away from the wall and looked into her love's warm, understanding eyes. "Ojii-chan makes me so mad! He can be impossible to live with at times."
"I know, sweetheart." Her young man nodded and took one of her hands in his, holding it gently. "He's an old man, Rei-chan. He's very set in his ways and not used to having his decisions challenged the way you did tonight."
"That's certainly true!" the miko scoffed, her voice bitter. "Stubborn to the core, too. That describes him perfectly."
"Just remember darling, he's still your grandfather. He loves you. You are his family. His... everything."
A tear slid down his girl's pretty face. "Why does life have to be so hard for two people in love, Yuuichirou-chan? What's wrong with us being together and expressing our true feelings to each other in private at the shrine?"
"I don't think there's anything wrong with it at all" Yuuichirou answered. "I guess some people just see things differently." He kissed her cheek. "You may have been a little hard on him, storming out into the night like that, but you honestly weren't asking too much. At least that's my opinion, for what it's worth."
The raven-haired girl sat silently for a time. "No? Then why do I feel so guilty right now?"
"Do you want to go back home and patch things up?"
"Hai. We really should." She stood and hugged him. "Sorry to drag you up here for no reason."
Yuuichirou smiled. "No problem, sweetheart. I'm just happy to be with you, wherever we are."
Rei kissed her fiancee. "You're so understanding, my love. Arigatou."
"I'm perfect, remember?" the young man laughed.
. . . . .
Downstairs, Ami was giggling uncontrollably as Yuji and Makoto finished telling her about Minako's latest failed attempt at nursing. "Minako-chan, you used an entire bottle of pain reliever? And a full roll of bandages?" the studious girl asked unbelievingly.
"She did" Makoto nodded. "It was a complete mess, Ami-chan. I'm sorry you didn't get here earlier to show Minako how it's done properly."
"Mako-chan! I wasn't that bad!" Minako said defensively.
"Minako-chan, you really don't need to use that much wrap to hold the splint securely in place" Ami advised. "It's just a temporary fix."
"The splint?" the blonde's forehead wrinkled in puzzlement. "What splint?"
"She forgot that too!" Makoto chuckled. A moment later, the front door swung wide open and much to everyone's surprise, Tsukino Usagi staggered inside with two large overflowing plastic bags in her arms.
"Minna! Hi!" She unceremoniously dropped the bags in the hall.
Makoto raised an eyebrow at the cascade of junk food that spilled from them onto the floor. "Good evening, Usagi-chan. I see you've brought a little snack with you."
"Hai! I even brought extra to share with everyone!" The odango-haired girl walked over to her friends. "What a disaster! Driving here tonight was a nightmare!"
"Where's your Mamoru?" Taro asked. "He's not with you?"
"That's why I came, Taro-chan. Mamo-chan had to stay overnight at the university, can you believe it? Some kind of complicated lab work or experiment or something that had to be watched over all night long. It's ridiculous!"
"So you got bored and decided to pay us a visit?" Makoto asked.
The girl nodded briskly, her long twin braids bobbing. "If I had known it was going to be this much trouble I would have stayed at Mamo-chan's apartment and watched movies all night. I've been driving for hours!"
"What kind of trouble?" Minako asked, finally removing her white hat and tossing it on the coffee table. "And why did you take hours to get here? The drive from Tokyo is a breeze, Usagi-chan. Forty-five minutes door to door is my record!" she boasted.
"Forty-five minutes for a maniac, yes. Over an hour for a normal person" Makoto interjected, eliciting a big smile from her friend.
"I've tried to make it here in even less time, but my car won't go any faster!" the blonde giggled.
"Thank heavens for that small mercy" Makoto sighed.
"Minna, I got lost!" Usagi wailed. She went back to her bags and picked up a half-empty box of pocky. She pulled one of the strawberry treats from it and began nibbling on its end. "I missed the exit to Nerima and ended up really far away in the middle of nowhere. So I stopped for directions at some strange gas station. That's where I bought the food." She collapsed in a chair near the fireplace and relived her tale to her friends' growing amusement. "I asked for help and the nice man at the station drew me a map."
"And it still took so long to find Nerima, Usagi-chan?" Yuji asked. "Even with a map?"
"She drives like a turtle!" Minako teased.
Usagi ignored the remark. "Hai! It's warm out tonight so I opened the car window after I got back on the highway. That's when the map blew away, Yuji-chan! Stupid thing! I'm so lucky I found the right exit." She finally spotted the crutches and medical supplies. "Minna, what happened? Is someone hurt?"
"That's another painfully long story" Makoto sighed.
"As long as it isn't anything serious" Usagi said with sincere concern.
"I stopped Minako before it got that far" the brunette replied.
"Hey!"
"Minako my sweet, we know you tried your very best" Taro smiled. "Yuji and I appreciate your care."
"Arigatou, honey-love!" his girlfriend beamed before kissing him.
Usagi frowned and waggled a finger at the second blonde. "Minako-chan, were you playing doctor again? You should always leave that sort of behavior to Ami."
"Excuse me, Usagi-chan?" the blue-haired girl stuttered. "Oh! Never mind." Minako snickered at her and Ryo, producing a blush on both faces.
The upstairs bedroom door reopened and Rei and Yuuichirou appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Wow! That was scary fast!" Minako whispered to Taro. "Too fast. Something's wrong."
The young couple from the Hikawa Jinja walked downstairs. "I think we won't be staying here tonight after all" Rei said, caught off-guard at Usagi's unexpected appearance. "We're going straight back to Tokyo. Hi Usagi-chan."
"I don't mean to pry, but... is something bothering you?" Makoto asked the miko. "You seemed a little down when you got here, Rei-chan. Anything we can do to help?"
"Just a little disagreement with my grandpa, Mako-chan." She squeezed her fiancee's hand. "We have to go home and make things right."
"Good idea, Rei-chan" Usagi agreed. "It isn't good to stay mad at someone you really care about."
The miko smiled, "You're absolutely right, Usagi-chan." She couldn't resist adding, "For once."
"Ohh! Can't you ever be nice to me?"
Wishing everyone a good night, Rei and Yuuichirou left the house, only to have the miko reappear a few seconds later. "Usagi-chan, you parked on the street really close behind me. We can't get out of the driveway. Would you mind moving your car please?"
"Ok. Let me find my keys" the blonde nodded. "Mamo-chan gave me his spare set and a really fancy keychain for them too!" she announced. "It's in the shape of a cute bunny!" She picked up her small pink purse and began rooting through it. "That's funny. The keys aren't here!"
Rei frowned, her impatience growing. "Maybe you dropped them outside when you came in. We really need to leave now, could you look for them? We'll help."
"Fine!" Usagi grumbled. "And I was just getting comfortable too!" Swallowing the last of her pocky, she pulled on her shoes and walked outside, accompanied by the other girls and Yuji. In the soft light of the moon the teens began searching first the steps, then the crowded driveway.
"I swear you'd lose your own head if it wasn't attached to your body, Usagi-chan" Rei muttered at her from behind Minako's car as the unsuccessful hunt continued.
Yuji eventually worked his way out to the street, still without success. As an afterthought he cupped his hand to peer inside Mamoru's car.
"Found them!"
"You left your keys in the ignition?" Rei exclaimed. "Unbelievable!"
Usagi stuck her tongue out at the miko as she scurried past. "Arigatou, Yuji-chan! Good spotting! Now I can move my car and grumpy Rei can go home and leave the rest of us in peace." She reached for the door handle and pulled it, her face instantly turning pale. "Oh no! It's locked!"
Rei stormed up to her. "Baka! You've done it again, haven't you?"
Chapter 6:
"Gomen, Rei-chan! It was an honest mistake!"
"How on earth are we supposed to get home now?" the miko fumed. "All the cars are blocked in, thanks to you Usagi-chan!"
"I said I was sorry!" the flustered blonde wailed. "For your information, I'm trapped here too you know!"
"How does Mamoru put up with you, Usagi-chan? He must have the patience of a saint!" Rei continued in a near-yell.
"Sweetheart, please try to stay calm" Yuuichirou said softly.
"Don't tell me how to feel!" She immediately regretted the unwarranted outburst at her fiancee. "I'm sorry. First Grandpa, and now Usagi. I guess it's all just too much for me to handle tonight."
"Apology accepted" Usagi said.
"I wasn't apologizing to you, odango-atama!" Rei's voice shot up again.
"Fine! Be miserable about it!" the blonde miffed. "And you can keep your stupid apology, I didn't want it anyway!"
"Look on the bright side, Rei-chan" Minako grinned. "There could be worse things than being trapped here for the night with your lover boy!"
"Is that all you ever think about?" the miko grumbled. "Instead of that, how about offering a useful idea to fix this mess?"
Minako thought for a moment. "Hmm... well, we could smash the car window and get to the keys that way" she suggested. "I can transform and use my Crescent Beam to make a nice round hole in the glass!"
"No!" Usagi gasped in panic. "Mamo-chan will expect me to pay for a new window out of my allowance! I'll be broke for years!"
Makoto and her boyfriend walked over to join the discussion. "Minna, my Yuji has an idea."
"As long as it doesn't involve breaking Mamo-chan's car!" Usagi fretted.
Yuji chuckled. "Definitely nothing so drastic, Usagi-chan. I don't know if this will be doable, but my father is very good friends with a retired locksmith in town. I'm sure he has the proper tools to get your door open without damaging it. There's just one small problem."
"What's that?" Rei asked. "At this point, I'll try anything to get away from that blonde imbecile!" Usagi glowered back at her evilly.
"He doesn't own a car, Rei-chan" Yuji said. "And I'm pretty sure the taxis in Nerima aren't operating at this hour on a weeknight. It's a really quiet town."
Rei frowned deeply. She began pacing slowly up the driveway and suddenly stopped beside Minako's car, noticing the space between it and the front steps. She waved the blonde over. "Minako-chan, there may be just enough space to squeeze your car out of here and go to Nerima to pick up that man. You can bring him back if he agrees to help us, and I'll drive him home."
The blonde examined the gap between her vehicle and the first step. "Hai! This looks like enough room! With my driving skill it should be a snap!"
Ami hurried briskly up to her. "Are you sure about this, Minako-chan? Please don't damage my little car's bumper! It doesn't have even a single tiny scratch on it."
Minako tried calming the blue-haired girl with a dismissive wave. "No problem, Ami-chan. There's more than enough room to go around your car if I jog mine back and forth a lot to gradually work it over to one side. At least I think there is."
"Since Taro is still having trouble with his ankle, I'll go with you, Minako-chan" Yuji volunteered. "If everything goes well in town we'll hopefully be back with the locksmith in no time."
"It's worth a shot" Rei said. "I'll gladly pay for the man's work, Yuji-chan. Though Usagi should be the one footing the bill. It's her disaster."
"But I'm poor!" Usagi wailed. "I spent all my spare money at that gas station!"
"What are we waiting for?" Minako blurted. "Yuji-chan, I'll go get my purse and we can hit the road!"
Makoto rested a hand on the bubbly blonde's shoulder. "Please don't hit anything else besides the road. I'd like my Yuji back alive and in one piece, if that's fine with you."
"Relax, Mako-chan! He'll be completely safe! I guarantee it!"
"I know all about your guarantees, Minako-chan. On second thought, I'm going too" Makoto decided. She sighed, "So much for our quiet weekend together, Yuji honey."
"Just think of it as another little adventure, my love" her boyfriend grinned.
"I can sympathize with Rei, Yuji-chan. I'm not sure how many more little 'adventures' I can stand tonight either."
. . . . .
With the trio seated in the small orange hatchback, Minako started the engine with its usual howling roar and began moving her car forward and back, turning the steering wheel sharply from side to side while Ami and Ryo watched nervously nearby.
"When we get free I'll have to drive across your lawn, Mako-chan" Minako cautioned the girl sitting beside her.
"Just go real easy and it should be ok. Oh, and please don't run over the flowers Yuji planted last weekend!" the brunette begged.
"Hai! Easy does it!"
As she zig-zagged repeatedly between Ami's car and the front step, slowly inching her car to one side, Minako began getting flustered. "This is taking forever!"
"You're almost out, Minako-chan" Yuji encouraged from the rear seat, craning his head around. "A few more tries should just about do it."
Minako backed up again and lurched to a stop, coming dangerously close to Ami's car as her patience waned and her maneuvers grew ever more careless. The blue-haired girl gasped and hid her eyes, finally breathing a sigh of relief when the expected crunch didn't occur. Rei walked up beside her and grinned. "Nerve-wracking, isn't it?"
"Hai" Ami answered with a feeble smile, gasping again as Minako stopped even closer to her immaculate little blue sedan, less than a pencil thickness away.
Finally the hatchback was free and Minako gunned the engine in reverse, backing rapidly across the grass and onto the road. Her wildly spinning wheels gouged two deep grooves in the earth, flinging grass everywhere while Makoto looked on in horror.
"My beautiful lawn!"
"Gomen!"
"Minako-chan, do you always have to do everything at maximum speed?" the brunette growled angrily. "Look at the mess you just made!"
"Silly me!" the blonde giggled, shifting her car into drive. "Don't worry. I'll help you fix it tomorrow."
"No! That won't be necessary" Makoto glared at her. "You've done enough damage already. Just take us to Nerima, ok?"
"Doing it! Minna, hold on tight!" Minako floored the gas and the three teens raced away into the darkness. Yuji gripped the rear armrest in terror and his aching wrist immediately throbbed in protest.
"Ahh!" he hissed. "Wrong hand!"
Minako offered, "If that wrist is still hurting you, Nurse Minako will be happy to take another look at it later, Yuji-chan."
"No thanks" his girlfriend quickly answered for him.
"Are you sure, Mako-chan? I'm only too happy to help."
"Forget about it!" Makoto growled.
The blonde drove on, only to exclaim a few seconds later, "Do you know what my car really needs? A siren! Then I could be a nurse and an ambulance driver at the same time!"
"Minako-chan, you don't need a siren" the brunette said. "No one would ever hear it over the screams from your passengers."
"Silly!"
Back in the driveway, Rei chuckled at the sight of Ami's still-quivering hands. "You can relax now, Ami-chan. It looks like your car survived."
Her friend smiled shyly back. "That was... quite stressful."
"After watching Minako nearly hit your car a hundred times, I think so!" Rei laughed. "Let's all wait inside the house where it's safe. That way we won't all get run over by that blonde lunatic when she returns."
. . . . .
Inside the house the teens sat together and waited for Minako to ferry back the retired lock expert. Rei looked inquisitively at her fiancee. "Do you think I should phone Grandpa?" she pondered.
"What are you planning on saying to Hino-sensei, sweetheart?"
"I... still haven't decided" she sighed. Still deeply troubled about her earlier argument with her grandfather and inwardly seething at this new delay, she glared across the room at Usagi. "Baka! This delay was all your doing! We should be well on our way home by now."
Surprisingly unperturbed by the outburst, Usagi offered Rei a strawberry coated stick-shaped biscuit as a peace offering. "Pocky?"
"No! I don't want a pocky! Thank you anyway!" The young miko stood and paced across the floor. She abruptly spun around. "Yuuichirou-chan, one thing's for sure. I'm not giving in to Grandpa's unreasonable demands. Not this time."
Her fiancee released a sigh of his own, expecting a long and turbulent night ahead at the Hikawa Jinja.
. . . . .
Fifteen minutes later, they heard the approaching roar of a familiar car. Outside, Minako slowed and pulled off the road onto the lawn, much to the chagrin of her brunette friend.
"Again, Minako-chan? Why?"
"I'm not parking on the street!" the blonde replied firmly. "No way!" She zoomed across the grass and jammed on the brakes, her car eventually skidding to an abrupt halt uncomfortably close to the wall of Makoto's old house. "There! We're home safe and sound just like I promised!" she congratulated herself.
"Minako-chaaan!"
"Nani? What's wrong now, Mako-chan?"
"Remember those flowers I warned you not to run over when we left?"
"Hai, what about them?" the blonde asked innocently. She leaned forward and peered through the windshield. "I don't see any flowers here."
"The reason you don't see them is because we're parked right on top of them!" Makoto steamed. "Thanks a lot!"
"Oops! How did that happen? I guess I should back up then" Minako giggled in embarrassment.
"That would be nice" Makoto remarked with surprising restraint. "Just go slow-" Her words were drowned out by the loud whine of rapidly-spinning tires and the little orange car slithered away from the house. A flurry of brightly colored but now-dead flowers shot from beneath the churning wheels, passed through the twin beams from the headlights and pattered against the wall of her country home. Two fresh ruts also joined the previous trail of grooves scarring the once-pristine lawn. Makoto took a deep breath, and then another, and willfully forced her fists to unclench.
The trio left the car as their friends emerged from the dwelling. "Where's the locksmith?" Rei asked.
"He couldn't come tonight because he has a really bad back, Rei-chan" Yuji told her.
"Lucky him!" Makoto grumbled. "I'm still surprised Minako didn't try to nurse him back to health. He'd probably be in a coma by now."
"But we're still in business" the boy optimistically reassured the worried miko. "He loaned me a special tool and told me how to use it. With any luck, I should be able to unlock Usagi's car." The young man carefully set to work under the cloudless, brightly moonlit sky and a minute later the lock popped open. "Got it!"
"Thank the kami!" Rei breathed in relief. "Usagi-chan, move that thing out of my way right this instant!"
"Ok, ok! Don't be so pushy!" Usagi climbed into her fiancee's car and slowly crept ahead a few meters.
"Thanks for your help, Yuji-chan. I owe you one. Minna, I'd like to say it's been fun tonight" Rei said to her friends, "but it hasn't. See you all later." She and Yuuichirou boarded her red convertible and quickly drove off.
"Mission accomplished!" Minako beamed.
Makoto glared silently at her ruined lawn, the mangled flowerbed, and lastly at Minako, who smiled back sweetly. She slowly shook her head and after taking Yuji's unbruised hand in hers, trudged slowly up the driveway and entered her house without uttering another sound.
. . . . .
After a breathtakingly fast drive back to Tokyo, Rei parked her convertible in its usual spot behind the shrine. The young couple noticed a light still glowing in the priest's bedroom window.
"I think it's best if you wait in your room for now, Yuuichirou-chan" Rei said before giving him a quick kiss. "Let me handle Ojii-chan."
"Sure honey. If you think that's best." They reentered the ancient temple and Rei knocked on her grandfather's door. "Good luck" Yuuichirou whispered. The young apprentice continued on to his small room, sitting on the bed and waiting behind its closed door. He had fully expected raised voices, perhaps even a massive fight to develop, but was surprised to find the minutes passing by in relative quiet.
After what seemed like an agonizingly long time, there was a sharp knock on his door. He scrambled to answer it and found the diminutive old priest waiting alone in the hallway, with his beloved Rei nowhere in sight. The elder Hino was still wearing his shrine robes and Yuuichirou suspected he had been up all evening, far too angry to sleep.
The old man stared at him silently for a moment, his face oddly expressionless. Finally he spoke, the words sending a cold shiver down the young apprentice's spine.
"Yuuichirou-chan, pack your things."
The boy's mouth fell open in disbelief. "Nani? You're dismissing me, Hino-sensei?" His voice faltered. "I... don't believe it." He nodded and glumly turned away, just missing the faint smile that appeared on his mentor's face.
"You won't be staying here anymore" Rei's grandfather said bluntly. "I am ordering you to collect your belongings and..." Yuuichirou cringed, "move them into Rei's room at once."
Yuuichirou was sure he was dreaming. "Sorry, what did you just say Hino-sensei?"
The priest's voice softened. "You heard me correctly. You and Rei can stay together from now on." He stepped into the room and smiled at his astonished student. "I believe I was far too hasty in my earlier decision, Yuuichirou-chan. And perhaps also... a little too stern with my rules. After giving it considerable thought, I have decided that a boy and a girl who love each other as much as you and my granddaughter do should never have to live apart, as every hour spent that way is an hour lost to them forever. And... I'm very sorry for what happened earlier. Even a supposedly wise old man can occasionally... make a mistake."
Rei appeared in the doorway behind her grandfather and smiled happily at the two people who meant everything to her, her face aglow with joy. Still dumbfounded with shock, Yuuichirou stared at her, seeking confirmation in her stunningly beautiful violet eyes. She promptly nodded back and her smile grew even brighter.
"What are you waiting for, my love?" the miko cooed.
"Arigatou gozaimasu, Hino-sensei!" He grabbed the man in a bear hug and squeezed him tightly, lifting his feet off the floor.
"That's enough, Yuuichirou-chan!" the old priest wheezed. "You don't have to crush me boy! A simple thank you will be sufficient."
The young apprentice released his clench and thanked his teacher once again before quickly gathering his darling Rei much more gently into his embrace. His voice was soft and overflowing with emotion. "Rei-chan, I love you so very, very much."
"I love you too, my Yuuichirou-chan" she whispered back. This time, her grandfather didn't object at all to the young lovers' deep, passionate kiss.
. . . . . . . . . .
Note: My next story in this series is 'Senshi at Sea' (in two parts).