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Quirt

A short-handled riding whip with a braided leather lash.

Minako flopped down on Rei's bed. She grinned up at Rei mischievously.

"So, come on, where are you taking me?" She bounced a little on the edge, glancing at the duvet and shooting Rei a flirtatious wink. "Aside from in here, of course?"

Rei's ears turned red but she managed to recover. "I told you, it's a surprise."

"Surprises are never good for a senshi, Rei!" Minako urged. "It's an unknown assailant! What if there's more than one surprise? What if the surprise is stronger than you expected? What if it summons an army of surprises and orders them to surprise the whole world? You should take me to investigate it right now, before it's too late!"

Rei smiled warmly at her girlfriend's melodramatics, bending down to kiss her on the forehead. "Be patient. I'm going to take a shower first."

"Can I help?" Minako joked.

Rei stiffened. "Minako." Her expression was wary, borderline reproachful, and Minako realised immediately she had pushed too hard. She backtracked, waving a hand in dismissal. A gentle smile quirked her lips.

"Right, right. You're perfectly capable of showering yourself."

Rei offered her a grateful smile back, shoulders relaxing once more. "I'll see you in a minute."

Minako's eyes followed her girlfriend as she extracted fresh towels from her dresser. Rei was so easily flustered. Granted, it was very early on in their relationship – they had been dating less than four weeks and had yet to get beyond making out – but Minako knew she had to be especially patient with Rei about the physical side of a relationship. A lifetime of disappointments had cemented Rei's high defences and it had been all Minako could do to ease her distrust in the first place.

Minako was completely willing to respect Rei's feelings. Still, her own libido remained game for action anytime. Longingly she watched Rei undo the second button on her shirt as she vanished into the bathroom.

Minako had all sorts of naughty thoughts about her girlfriend but she'd be damned if she could figure out if Rei had any of her. Mars was supposed to be the planet of sex drive, yet Rei was so unreadable that Minako was inclined to doubt the association.

Occasionally, and very much at random, she saw something – a dark little glimmer that liquefied her knees – but any overt mention of sex and Rei looked visibly uncomfortable. Particularly these days. Ever since they had started dating the air between them had been thick with genuine possibilities; Minako had reined in her flirting considerably to avoid scaring her off.

The shower started running. Minako flipped her hair over her shoulder and turned her attention to occupying herself, trying to shake the thought of Rei's naked body under a cascade of water. She did a once-over of the room. She wasn't in the mood for manga and had already read the small pile of magazines on the bedside table.

Bedside. Bed. Rei's bed.

Naked Rei in Rei's bed.

Minako stood abruptly from the mattress as if someone had poured coffee in her lap. She had to find something to do. Glancing around, she spied Rei's computer on her desk. For all her years of hanging around the shrine Minako realised she had never once been on Rei's computer. Under the circumstances, the idea became wildly appealing.

She bounded over to it and poked the on/off button with her index finger. Sure enough the thing clacked and revved into life and she parked herself in Rei's hard-backed chair. (Why the girl wouldn't get something vaguely comfortable Minako would never know.)

A few minutes later everything was loaded. Minako was flattered and a little touched by the Sailor V background her girlfriend had set. A happy grin spread across her face.

So cute. I'll have to return the favour somehow, she thought.

Minako surveyed the screen, hoping to see some computer games, but Rei's minimalism obviously extended to this thing as well. A bunch of flyers and notices for the shrine littered the desktop. There were schoolwork folders labelled by subject; a folder of Sailor V manga scans sat in the far right-hand corner. That was the extent of it, though. Minako huffed.

"Do you have anything fun on here at all?" she called, though she doubted Rei could hear her over the sound of the water running. She blew a raspberry. Clicking into the programs menu, she scanned down the list until a little Sailor V icon caught her eye, blowing a kiss her way. Beside it were the words, 'One More Time, Sailor V!'

Minako was genuinely intrigued. She thought she had played every Sailor V game out there, yet this one didn't seem familiar at all. Excitedly she double-clicked, propping her chin on the heel of her palm as she waited for the thing to load. The screen went navy blue and the title menu appeared in a flash of red and white.

Minako clicked to open Rei's save game and was confronted with three options: Setting, Outfit and Weapon. Noticing a Load Favourites button, she selected it without really thinking about it and the options changed.

Setting: SHINTO SHRINE
Outfit: SCHOOL GIRL

Minako laughed. Figures she'd pick those, she thought, though she still couldn't quite put her finger on why these options existed.

Now the only space left blank was the Weapons tab. Minako tilted her head thoughtfully. "Random!" she laughed, selecting said option from the menu. "Surprise me, Sailor V!"

The loading bar danced across the screen for a few moments. When the shrine finally presented itself, the phrase, 'GET IT ON!' flashed in obnoxious bubble writing in the middle of the screen.

"Wait... what?"

Minako watched in bemusement as Sailor V appeared, clad – and that was putting it strongly – in a very revealing fuku. Half the buttons on it were undone and barely covered assets far bigger than Minako's were in real life. Meanwhile, Minako's first-person character brandished a forked whip. Her pixelated, blushing alter-ego whimpered a pitiful, "Onegai, mistress!" at the screen.

Minako went crimson.

"Th... this is..." Minako murmured. And it was. Her girlfriend – the stoic, chaste, prim and proper miko who did nothing but chide her for innuendo – had a Sailor V sex simulator. Minako was shocked and stunned, and embarrassed, and weirdly turned on, and none of these sentiments stopped her from continuing to click in sordid rubbernecking fascination.

A few minutes later, the shower stopped; Rei re-emerged clad in a crisp white towel, using another to dry her hair. "What's been keeping you so quiet?" she asked. Minako could just picture the innocent smile on her face.

"Apparently, the same thing that keeps you quiet," she retorted.

"What?"

Minako didn't explain. She didn't have to. The sound of Sailor V's orgasm blasted through the speakers.

Silence fell. Rei went ashen. The game narrator boomed, "You win!" at the… victor.

Minako turned and stared at her, uncharacteristically bashful.

"You... you want to do that to me?"

Rei blushed ferociously. She averted her gaze. "Well, I wouldn't use a whip..." she mumbled.