-1

Minako looked up from her textbook, just in time to meet Rei's soft, dark eyes. The blonde mouthed the words "I'm bored" to her friend. Rei smiled and mouthed "I know" back, then focused her attention back on the textbook in front of her, the miko appeared to be intensely involved in the material before her. Minako, on the other hand, was finding it extremely difficult to concentrate this evening. No matter how hard she tried, the blonde couldn't take her eyes off of her gorgeous raven-haired friend.

Minako's eyes slowly wondered up and down Rei's body, she was completely mesmerized as the young miko ran a hand through her long, ebony hair. Tonight, the blonde didn't care about her schoolwork, she just wanted to be alone with Rei. She wanted nothing more than to show Rei how she really felt about her, but how could she? Minako began to lose herself in thoughts of she and Rei together. Minako stared at the miko, fanaticizing about slowly undressing her best friend and making mad, passionate love to her in Rei's bed. The very bed that sat just a few feet away, taunting the blonde. Minako closed her eyes, and sighed softly, she felt a sudden sensation of heat flooding the space between her legs as the fantasy played out in her mind.

"Minako-chan?" Rei said.

The blonde didn't respond.

"Minako-chan?…Okay someone slap her."

Just as Minako was imagining herself entering Rei's body for the first time she was interrupted by Usagi's hand tapping her cheek.

"Snap out of it, Minako-chan!" Usagi demanded.

Minako shook her head and refocused her attention.

"God! What the hell do you want, Usagi!?"

"Rei-chan wants you…"

"Geez…what a bitch." Usagi mumbled under her breath.

"Shut up Usagi!" Minako said as she turned toward the miko. "Sorry Rei, what did you want?"

"What are you thinking about, Minako-chan?"

Minako's eyes widened and her cheeks turned a deep shade of red.

"Uuhh, nothing. It's nothing. Why do you ask?"

"You were totally spacing out. Do you feel all right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, thanks."

"Oh sure you're nice to Rei…My brain can't take anymore, I'm going home." Usagi said as she stood up and gathered her books.

"We should all probably head home. It's getting late." Makoto said, closing her book.

"Good idea." Ami said as she got up and walked toward the door.

Minako lagged behind, scrambling to gather her belongings and carelessly shoving them into her book bag.

"Come on girls, I'll drive you home…hurry up Minako-chan!" Makoto yelled from the living room.

"I'm coming!" Minako yelled back as she scurried out of Rei's bedroom, longingly taking one last look over at Rei's empty bed.

Just as the blonde was ready to dash out the door, Rei caught her by the back of the shirt.

"Oh, no…not you, Minako-chan. I want to talk to you…Go ahead Mako-chan, I'll see that she gets home."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it."

"All right then, I guess we'll see you two in class tomorrow."

"Okay, bye guys."

Rei shut the door as Makoto sped off into the night. She walked back into her bedroom, as the blonde followed close behind.

"So…what did you need to talk to me about?" Minako asked looking confused.

"I want you to tell me what's bugging you, Minako-chan."

"What are you talking about? Nothing is bugging me."

"Come on. Don't lie to me. Something is wrong, I can see it in your eyes. You're just not acting like yourself. You've been acting weird the last few weeks."

"I guess I'm just stressing out over school. But really, I'm fine. You've got enough on your mind, don't make me feel guilty for making you worry about me."

"Minako-chan, you're my best friend, I'm always going to worry about you no matter what. Okay? I care about you."

"Thanks Rei, but really, I'm fine. I promise."

"All right, I'll take your word for it, but you know you can always talk to me about anything." Rei said as she looked lovingly at her best friend.

"Thanks, I appreciate it...but, I really should be getting home."

"It's late. Why don't you just stay here tonight, Minako?"

"You sure?"

"Of course I am. What do you usually wear to bed?"

"Nothing." Minako smiled.

Rei rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Why does that not surprise me? What am I going to do with you?"

Minako shrugged.

"You love me and you know it."

"You are adorable. Here put these on." Rei said as she tossed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt in Minako's direction.

"I'll be right back. I'm just going to tell my grandpa that you're staying here." Rei said as she walked out of the room.

The blonde quickly got undressed and put on Rei's clothes. Minako walked over to the mirror on Rei's dresser and stared at her own reflection. Minako could smell Rei's sweet scent on the fabric of the clothing that now graced her body. Being in Rei's clothes only painfully reminded Minako of how badly she wanted the beautiful dark-haired miko.

"You're nothing but a coward," Minako whispered averting her eyes from the blonde staring back at her, not even noticing that Rei had come back into the room.

"Minako?"

The blonde was startled by her friend's voice.

"You ready for bed?" Rei asked as she laid down and pulled the blanket up over her body.

"Yeah."

"Good. Can you shut out the light before you come over here?"

Minako suddenly felt very hesitant.

"Okay, but…Rei?"

"Yeah?"

"I was just thinking…maybe I should, um…sleep on the couch."

"Oh come on Minako, stop being ridiculous, it's not like we haven't slept in the same bed before. Now shut off the light and get over here!"

"Okay. Okay. Bossy. You seem pretty anxious to get me into bed." Minako joked.

"Maybe I am."

Minako laughed as she flipped the light switch, leaving the room in total darkness. Minako had learned that laughter had always been her best coping mechanism. She tended to joke around a lot, in order to keep her true feelings hidden. Minako had learned to laugh most things off, because in her case, it just hurt too much to do anything else.

The blonde got into the bed, opposite her best friend. As the miko began to drift off, Rei nestled her body tightly up against Minako's, draping her arm over the blonde's abdomen. Minako swallowed hard, closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep.

The next morning, Minako awoke to find Rei lying next to her. Rei was lying on her side softly stroking the blonde's hair. When the miko noticed that the blonde was waking up she promptly pulled her hand back and let it rest on the pillow, above the blonde's head.

"Re...Rei?" Minako asked opening her eyes slowly and sitting up.

"Rei, you're already dressed? Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You were tired, I thought it best to let you sleep for awhile...actually, I'm half surprised you were still in bed when I woke up. From what I've heard, you rarely stick around, after spending the night with a girl."

Minako laughed.

"Yeah well, that's because we were both sober and didn't actually sleep together...but we could, if it would make you feel better."

Rei smiled.

"Nice try, but I'm never having sex with you Minako-chan."

"Damn…well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me."

"I'll keep that in mind. Come on, you better get ready now or we're going to be late for class." Rei said as she dragged the blonde out of bed.

"Okay." Minako said heading for the bathroom.

Minako emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later wearing the same clothes she wore the day before.

"Minako, do you want to borrow some of my clothes?"

"It's cool. These are still clean. But let's go, we're already going to be late." Minako said grabbing Rei's hand and pulling her toward the door.

When the two girls arrived at their classroom they slipped in, almost un-noticed and quickly took their seats, next to their friends.

"Hey, you're late." Usagi whispered in Rei's ear.

"Wow Usagi-chan, thank you so much for pointing that out, I hadn't noticed." Rei whispered back.

"Minako-chan? You're wearing the same clothes you wore yesterday." Makoto noted. "You slept at Rei's last night, didn't you?" She winked.

"Yeah I did, but don't get too excited Mako-chan, it's not like anything happened."

Minako was suddenly distracted by a hand on her thigh and Rei's body extremely close to her own. Minako felt Rei's hot breath radiating in her ear.

"Hey, can I borrow a pen?"

"Uuumm, yeah sure, here." Minako said handing her friend the writing implement.

"Thanks." Rei smiled as she slowly pulled her hand off of the blonde's exposed thigh, gently squeezing it before completely removing her hand.

Class finally ended, one torturous hour later, leaving the girls free to do what ever they pleased for the rest of the afternoon. Minako rather liked college, and having only one class on Fridays.

"Hey, do you guys wanna go grab some food?" Usagi asked.

"I'd like to, but I should really get home and do some studying. My anatomy exam isn't going to pass itself." Minako said, beginning to walk away.

"You guys go ahead, I'm going make sure Minako-chan is all right." Rei said.

"Good idea, she really hasn't been herself lately, has she? I guess we'll see you later then." Makoto said.

"Bye guys!" Rei's voice trailed off as she ran to catch up to the blonde.

"Minako-chan! Wait!"

Minako turned around.

"Rei-chan, what are you doing?"

"Well I was hoping you'd let me help you study."

"Uumm, sure...if you really want to."

"I do. I've always found the human body to be fascinating. I can teach you everything you need to know." Rei said utilizing a very seductive tone and tugging at Minako's shirt.

"Oh really?"

"Definitely."

The girls reached Minako's apartment in a few short minutes and went inside.

"So...I can't help but ask, Minako-chan...why were you in such a hurry to get home and study on a Friday afternoon? You even passed up food. What's with you?"

"I don't know, I'm just not very hungry. I guess I'm just really stressed out about this anatomy test."

"Are you sure that's all? If you're having some sort of a problem, talk to me about it. You know, I'm here to help, sweetheart." Rei said as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind the blonde's ear and gently kissed her forehead.

Minako smiled.

"Thanks Rei, but I really don't think you'd understand, it's complicated."

"Try me."

"You're just not going to let this go, are you?"

"Nope, you know it's not healthy to keep all of your problems and emotions bottled up inside, Minako."

"Okay, okay, you really wanna know?"

"Yes. I really do."

"All right. The truth is that I'm...I'm just really confused right now."

"About what?"

"A girl I know."

"Okay. Well, who is it?"

"You, Rei I'm confused about you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You're always sending me mixed signals."

"Mixed signals? What do you mean?"

"One minute you flirt and you actually seem interested in me, but as soon as I try to get closer to you...you completely shut me down…Why?"

"Minako...I...I..."

"Rei, I have to tell you the truth, I can't just be your friend anymore, I need it to be more than that."

Minako moved closer to her friend and stared her dead-on in the eyes. Rei stepped back and glued her eyes to the floor.

"Forgive me for what I'm about to do." Minako said softly.

Minako took another step closer and gently took Rei's face in her hands. The blonde closed her eyes and kissed Rei softly on the lips.

Much to Minako's surprise the miko didn't pull away, but actually kissed her back. Minako let go of Rei and stepped back, staring the miko in the eyes once again.

"I...I love you, Rei-chan."

Minako was in no way prepared for what would come next.

"No...Minako-chan, this can't happen...I...I...just can't. I don't feel THAT way about you. I CAN'T have those kinds of feelings for you. I'm sorry."

Minako was crushed.

"Fine! I never expected you to understand anyway!"

"Minako. I'm sorry...I...just..."

"Yeah. Whatever. Just forget it."

After hearing Minako's response, Rei now felt a sudden sensation of rage come over her. Rei hated when people used the word 'whatever,' in Rei's opinion it was the single most obnoxious come back anyone could ever use. Rei could feel her blood pressure rising in her veins as she stood there staring at the blonde.

"Oh no! No one could ever possibly understand YOU Minako! Because you're so deep, you're just so complicated! Well that's total bull shit. You want everyone to pity you because you're an attention whore. You're the most pathetic person I've ever met." Rei yelled sarcastically.

"Who the hell are you to pass judgment on me!? You think you're so damn perfect, Rei! Could you possibly be anymore of a bitch!? I can't believe we were even friends to begin with, we have nothing in common."

"I can't believe it either! I actually have moral values. And you? You have absolutely no self-control or standards for that matter...You'll sleep with anyone who will have you! You're nothing more than a stupid slut, who couldn't stay in a relationship if her life depended on it!"

Minako was taken aback by Rei's words. Only one word resonated in Minako's ear…SLUT. Never in all their years of friendship had Rei ever used that particular word in reference to the blonde. Minako felt as though someone had just plunged a knife deep into her heart and twisted the blade.

Rei turned and walked out, leaving Minako standing alone and broken-hearted.

Minako heard the door slam shut signaling Rei's departure.

"God, what have I done?" Minako talked aloud to herself. Although she was extremely angry, the blonde was still absolutely devastated at the same time.

"You really screwed up this time, Minako. Fucking idiot. Why couldn't you just keep it to yourself? No, you had to go and open your big mouth! You ruined everything." By this time Minako was standing there completely alone yelling at herself.