Adorable little date night and Rei doesn't know what's gonna happen.
Disclaimer: I own nothing related in any way to Sailor Moon.
Rei sighed and nervously stuffed her hands in her pockets. If, she decided, I ever make it out of this night alive, I will kill you Haruka. Already she could hear the wind senshi's laughter echoing through her brain.
"I can't wait to see you make a fool out of yourself tonight!" Haruka chuckled at the glowering miko. "I'm just waiting for you to screw this one up too!"
Hesitantly, the raven rapped lightly on the door and hastily drew back her hand to return it to the pocket of her black skinny jeans. Upon receiving no response, Rei reluctantly knocked on the door again, harder this time. Footsteps sounded from the other side of the door, coming closer and the miko tried to calm her nerves, inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly.
"Ow!" Haruka rubbed her arm and pouted. Michiru giggled.
"I told you not to be mean to Rei tonight," she chided, "don't you remember our agreement?" The tomboy's eyes widened and her mouth snapped shut. In a matter of moments the wind warrior was bolting up the stairs, shouting apologies over her shoulder. The younger girl raised an eyebrow and received a wink in return.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine tonight." Michiru said, ruffling her hair. Rei still seemed nervous. "Hey," the aqua-haired woman pinched her cheek lightly, "you've already asked her out, now all you have to do is show up and have fun!"
"I-I guess you're right..."
The door opened to reveal a beautiful woman with long wavy golden blonde hair and piercing ice blue eyes. She wore a simple tank top and skinny jeans. Rei gulped. Minako looked so much like her mother. Aino-san was a good three inches taller than her daughter and definitely no Aphrodite but still, the resemblance between them was...unnerving to say the least.
"Oh hi Rei! Come on in sweetie!" Aino-san exclaimed excitedly. Rei blushed as the older woman hugged her and then waved her in. "Minako! You're date's here!" The blonde woman called, making the raven wince at the overly happy tone.
"So Rei, how are things going with your grandpa?" Did this woman ever stop talking? I guess that's where Minako gets it from. Rei mused, smirking to herself.
"He's getting better thanks to the warmer weather lately." she replied stiffly, her grandpa was still somewhat of a sore subject for her. Minako's mother smiled kindly to her surprise. She had expected her to gush about how unfortunate it was for him to fall ill at such an important time or take her hands and pray for his health, the woman's calm and friendly reaction was a welcome sight.
"That's wonderful! Do send him my regards, it must get lonely sometimes up at that shrine huh?" Oh no! She's talking faster again! What do I do?! Rei mentally panicked, she couldn't handle all of this talking and probing at her life. Her eyes darted around for a chance of escape only to find...nothing. Oh no!
"MINAKO!" Aino-san shouted suddenly, startling the raven into almost leaping out of her seat. The older woman smiled tersely. "I apologize for your wait, it appears my she takes after me in getting ready, we Ainos have a thing for being late you know."
Rei forced a nervous grin and inwardly chuckled. "Oh I know Minako has issues involving being on time, that's why I reserved a restaurant time for seven-thirty."
"Well aren't you smart?" Her blue eyes twinkled with mirth. "I remember one time, Minako-"
A loud thump interrupted the story, followed by a crash and a scream. The miko did jump out of her seat this time. She spotted the stairs in the hallway across from her and dashed towards them, followed closely by Minako's mother.
"Mina!" she burst through the door and was confused by the what she saw. Minako was on the floor wrestling with Artemis, growling fiercely and flailing around like a dying fish. A small clay statue of the goddess Aphrodite was laying in pieces on the floor. Rei frowned at the broken statue, that had been a handmade gift from her for Minako's last birthday after the defeat of Galaxia.
Upon their noisy entrance, the blonde girl glanced up at them sheepishly. Artemis watched them through curious green eyes, a shiny metal object clamped between his teeth. Minako chose that moment of his distraction to snatch the object away and glowered at him when he batted at her arm in a vain attempt to get it back. She then turned back to her visitors. "Um...hi mom..." she managed weakly. Her mother sighed.
"You two have fun." With these words, Aino-san winked knowingly at the two and turned to go back downstairs. Rei blushed lightly at the hidden meaning.
"Reiko!" Minako squealed and proceeded to glomp the younger-but taller, fortunately-senshi and tackled them both to the ground. Once they hit the ground, Minako hugged her tightly. "I missed you," she whispered, lips dangerously close to the raven's ear. Rei flushed again and scrambled away from her energetic friend, not noticing the flash of hurt in wide cerulean eyes.
"What happened?" she asked and immediately the hurt was gone, replaced by watery fake tears and a puppy dog pout.
"Artemis stole my clip." Rei chuckled, typical Minako.
"Of course that's why you were wrestling your cat." Minako nodded dramatically and then turned to stick her tongue out at the white cat. Artemis growled and shook himself off. Minako smirked at him and waved the repossessed clip in front of his face.
"I thought I'd do something different tonight since it's not our usual hangout kind of thing," she explained as she fastened the clip into the same place her bow would usually go, "what do you think?" The love senshi twirled, giving Rei a brief moment to truly appreciate what she was wearing; a loose orange halter top, white skinny jeans, and gold sandals with a small heel.
"You look beautiful," Rei smiled and resisted the urge to kiss the girl, "but I will say I prefer the bow, you just don't seem the same without it."
Minako raised a hand to the clip and studied her reflection closely in the mirror. Amethyst eyes rose to meet cerulean in the glimmering reflection. Minako grinned and in one smooth motion Minako had unfastened the clip and grabbed the big red bow from her dresser. She struggled to pin up her hair with the bow so Rei carefully reached down to help her. After several moments of fussing and fastening, Minako was finally ready for their date.
Rei pulled into the parking lot of their favorite restaurant and noted the large crowd gathered outside the door. "Wow, they're pretty crowded tonight, are you sure we'll get in?" Minako asked. Rei nodded absently.
"No doubt, I put in a reservation weeks ago."
Minako sputtered. "Weeks? You asked me out three days ago!" Rei smiled sheepishly.
"I've been planning for over a month now with...Michiru and Setsuna." she admitted. Minako's brow furrowed.
"Michiru-san? Setsuna-san? You spend too much time with them." Rei shrugged.
"What can I say? Only a few of us in the group are special."
Minako's fist shot out and connected hard with Rei's shoulder. "Ouch. Dammit Minako. What was that for?" Minako pouted.
"I'm not special enough to be in your little group?" she huffed. Rei sighed.
"You are special except for the fact that I was teasing and the fact that we were planning a surprise for you." she explained. Minako still held her stubborn expression. "If you had been there then you would know what we were planning, hence ruining the surprise." the annoyed miko drew out.
Minako's face brightened. "Ok Reiko, I believe you." she pecked the miko on the cheek, opened the car door and happily skipped out. Rei smacked herself on the forehead.
"She's gonna be the end of me."
She got out and jogged up to a waiting Minako. The blonde happily linked their arms and practically dragged her soon-to-be-not-to-be girlfriend into the restaurant. They caught many stares as they walked in. Some people turned to whisper to their neighbor and pointed at the two and others watched them open mouthed.
"Is that Aino Minako?"
"You mean the Aino Minako?"
"Yeah, who's that girl with her?"
"I don't-Oh! I remember her! Hino Rei, she's the priestess at the Hikawa Shrine, you know, the one that can see the future?"
"She's in my class at TA!"
"I didn't know those two were going out together, I didn't even know they knew each other."
Rei grinned to herself. Of course they'd be recognized. A lot of people visited the shrine and she was one of the most popular faces at her school, despite that she only ever hung out with the senshi, she had her own fan club. "Some people are just really attracted to your 'fuck off attitude.' Not to mention your ever so stunning beauty." Minako had said to her once. She hadn't believed the girl at that time but now she could see clearly what the bubbly blonde had meant.
They entered the restaurant and walked up to the counter. "Do you have a reservation Ma'am?" the waitress asked politely.
"Hino Rei." Rei gave her the most charming smile she could manage and she swore she could see hearts go off in the waitresses eyes.
Minako noticed the look in the waitress' eyes and gave the girl and icy glare. The girl flipped her wavy coffee brown hair and her emerald green eyes seemed to challenge Minako. The blonde growled and hugged Rei's arm protectively. She's mine. Rei smiled down at her affectionately and they were led to their table. They sat down and Rei bent down closer to Minako's ear. "Don't worry Mina, I only have eyes for you."
"That was the best night ever!" Minako exclaimed. Rei smiled, an honest sweet smile that was only ever given to her Minako. "Thank you Reiko." she purred, snuggling closer to the blushing Miko. She's so cute when she blushes like that, and to think she only ever does it for me.
"You're welcome, Aino-chan." the raven haired girl replied softly.
"You can be so sweet sometimes, compared to your normally tempermental exterior." the blonde commented, swooning inwardly at the romantic wordplay of her name.
"Well I actually take time to think, something I know you're not capable of." Rei stated dryly. Minako pouted.
"I can always dump you right now." Rei smirked.
"It's only been one date, you sure you want to leave behind your entire life because I said something 'stupid' and made you mad?" Rei teased. Minako crossed her arms.
"Yes, I will do just that if you keep being mean to me."
Rei stepped closer to the pouting blonde. "Aw don't be mad at me now. I spent a lot of money on dinner." Minako gave her big sad puppy dog eyes. "No, don't cry Mina." Rei smiled to herself on the inside.
"But you're so mean to—"
Minako's complaint was cut off as Rei leaned forward and closed the remaining distance between them, cupping her cheek in her hand. Minako leaned into the kiss and wrapped her arms around Rei. They broke apart and Rei smirked. "You still gonna leave me now?"
"Of course not, you're my ride home and way too good of a kisser. If I leave now, you might start dating that waitress." Minako grinned back.
"Well she did have some curves I must say...!" Rei was surprised as Minako pressed a startling and fierce kiss to her lips but after a moment kissed back.
"You know you'll have to do this again sometime right?" Minako asked innocently. Rei sighed. "As long as you pay for dinner."
"You're the one with all the money!"
"Says the idol with half of Japan buying her album."
Okay so I added a few things and went back to edit this a little bit more because I realized it needed to be fixed and my writing has changed a lot since well...whenever it was that I published this and I thought I needed a few additions for clarity and such. I'll be doing this with all most of my short stories so yeah...