Disclaimer:I don't own the characters or the song.
In honor of Minako's birthday which was October 22 :)
Mina
Hey Lucy I remembered your birthday
They said it'd bring some closure
To say your name
I know I'd do it all different if I had the chance
But all I got are these roses to give
And they can't help make amends
Now that it's over
I just wanna hold her
I'd give up all the world to see
That little piece of heaven looking back at me
Now that it's over
I just wanna hold her
I've gotta live with the choices I've made
And I can't live with myself today
~Lucy by Skillet
The flashing lights and the roar of the crowd are suffocating. The pounding of the bass and the constant sway of the crowd start to make her feel trapped. She hates feeling trapped.
The redhead dancing before her rocks her hips just right and she raises the clear glass full of sparkling amber liquid to her lips. She lets the poison trickle down her throat and set her blood on fire. She lets it slowly erase the pain and the memories.
"Accept my gift." The redhead murmurs in a faint German accent. Her sapphire eyes flutter open and the older woman's struck by the similarity.
She reels back from the girl's touch, whimpering and clutching her head. The glass containing the drink shatters on the floor, the liquid spilling and coating the girl's shoes in a sticky sheen. The older woman struggles against the memories, her dark hair obscuring her face.
The pulsing beat and the heat of the people inside surround her and close in with each passing second like a pack of hungry wolves.
"Come one Rei, accept my gift." The girl smiles seductively and holds out her hands.
The raven stumbles back and abruptly turns on her heel, striding tipsily towards the door.
The air outside is cold but she doesn't bother to put on her jacket. Her feet follow the well-worn path that she finds herself constantly walking. In her hands are a bouquet of white roses, a smooth mahogany box, and a black leather jacket.
She'd specifically picked out the jacket and had it specially tailored just for her. Painstakingly embroidered on the sleeve in red is the proud insignia of Mars, her old senshi symbol.
Rei sighs, her memory is still fuzzy and she hopes it will stay that way until she makes it to her destination. Once she's there, she will have forever to remember.
The iron gates creak open under her touch and she is thankful and disgusted as to how run down this place has become. The brick walls are crumbling and the mortar is chipping, giving the once sparkling texture an eerie look to it.
The headless statue before her used to be a bronze angel, beautiful when hit just right by the sun. Now it's weather worn and headless.
The raven-haired woman makes her way to one of the older sections of the graveyard, scanning for certain stones and landmarks to pinpoint the exact location of the grave she's looking for.
Her grip on the bouquet of flowers tightens severely and she ignores the biting sting of the thorns in her palms.
Two trees down off of the right of the pond and three rows up, ninth stone on the left.
Her feet move without being directed, they've walked this way too many times. It's her silent and dark muse.
She stops at a black marble headstone that seems to sparkle under the glowing full moon. Tentatively she brushes her palm across the writing to clear the grime from it. A loving finger traces the bold print on the stone that seems to scold her.
Minako Aino
Born October 22, 1978 Died July 7, 2002
In loving memory of Venus incarnate herself.
Rei lets the tears slip from her unyielding eyes and they trickle down her cheeks, dripping onto the stone. It's been ten years since then. Mina, I'm sorry.
The only signs of visitors here are the eight flowers arranged neatly in front of the stone. A pink rose next to a red rose; Usagi and Mamoru. A blue and an emerald green; Ami and Makoto. Gold and aquamarine; Haruka and Michiru. Deep jade green and deep purple; Setsuna and Hotaru.
Gently, Rei places her jacket over the stone, as if protecting Minako's spirit in the stone from the cold. She picks out the white roses from the bouquet one by one and sticks them in the ground in a neat circle.
She places the mahogany box in the center of her circle of roses and sits before them, cross-legged and in a position she hasn't been in for years. Ever since that day she'd lost touch with the Shinto ways and hadn't meditated in years. Now here she is, concentrating on summoning the powers she hasn't used in years.
Slowly, her efforts are rewarded as rose after rose begins to burn. Her mind is clearer now and she can feel the memories rushing towards her, eager to claim her.
Rei exhales slowly, allowing the visions to take her away.
Ring! The slight furrow of two perfectly shaped eyebrows.
Ring! A small disgruntled noise of discontentment.
Ring! Hands slowly clenching and unclenching.
Ring! Her body shook with the effort to not stand and answer.
Ring! "Stop . . . please stop, it hurts"
Ring! She stood up abruptly and crossed the room, intent on picking up the phone.
Beep! The hand hovering over the wired plastic, ready to angrily smash the offending object paused as the call was transferred to voicemail.
She sighed and slumped ungracefully into one of the wooden dining chairs. She folded her arms on the oak surface and rested her chin there, staring at the phone and listening to the sound of her own voice message.
"Rei?" Minako's confused voice came through over the other end of the line. The miko tensed and looked away from the phone, as if just looking at it would alert the blonde to her presence.
"Rei . . . oh God Rei! Please! Please answer me!" Minako begged, practically shrieking. The raven whimpered slightly and scooted backwards in her chair.
"Please Rei! I can't do this anymore! Please answer me, you know I love you, please!" The blonde seemed to be going hysteric. "Reiko, please." It was a soft-spoken whisper, one last pleading note.
Crunch! The phone started to beep wildly as its owner lashed out with it with a perfect strike, severely damaging its circuits and cutting off the frantic cries of the blonde.
"Stop hurting yourself." The raven growled, knowing Minako couldn't hear her but saying it nonetheless.
A sick feeling suddenly washed over her and she froze in place. Her hand shook and her legs gave out from underneath her as the feeling grew in intensity. Her body shook violently and her vision darkened.
Rei slowly pushed herself to her feet and took a shaky step towards the bathroom. In painstakingly slow movements the miko made her way in and studied her reflection in the bathroom mirror.
The dark circles under her eyes seemed more prominent than before and she seemed paler. Amethyst eyes narrowed in concentration. There. She could see it.
Rei moved to flick her bangs out of her eyes, a nervous habit. She'd seen it. A dark aura flickered on and off around her. It hadn't been there before she knew.
The realization hit her then.
She was running, her feet pounding against the wooden floors. She tore through the entrance to the shrine in a flash of darkness. Her senshi speed was kicking in and adrenaline pumped through her veins.
The fire soldier sprinted down the stone steps leading up to the shrine and leaped over the last dozen, landed solidly and resumed her mad dash.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!" She screamed at the traffic when she was stopped by an intersection. "Dammit!"
Cars screeched and horns honked as a young woman dressed in miko robes rushed across the intersection, unable to wait any longer. She had to dive for the sidewalk to avoid being hit by one unfortunate man who was unable to stop his car.
Rei didn't waste time with the door, simply kicked it open. Her senshi powers never seemed to fail her in the direst of situations.
She zoomed up the stairs to the second floor, stumbled slightly in the hallway and careened around the corner.
Rei burst through the door to Minako's room and immediately fell to her knees, paralyzed by what she saw, amethyst eyes widened in horror.
Minako, her Minako, was a bloody mess on the floor, one hand clutched tightly around her engagement ring and wedding band, the other splayed open and coated with blood.
A plastic prescription bottle was lying a few feet from her open hand, the white capsules scattered across the floor. Blood still leaked from the wound behind the blonde's ear and stained her golden locks red.
Tears dripped onto the sky blue carpet and a low guttural noise sounded from the back of Rei's throat.
"M-Mina . . ." She managed to choke out as she regarded the body on the floor in absolute horror.
Reiko.
"No. No. No. No. No. No. No. NO!" Rei screamed. "Mina!"
She curled up on the floor in a ball, rocking back and forth, repeating to herself continuously that it wasn't happening. Clenching and unclenching her fist. It wasn't true.
"Mina!"
Rei gasps and opens her eyes. She scrambles backwards away from the grave and the now thoroughly burned candles.
She sobs quietly into her hands before the grave of her lover. She stays like that for a while, humming a low and sad song she remembers from the Silver Millennium.
They'd been married for two years. In love for much longer.
"I'm sorry Mina, I never meant for this to happen. I love you." She whispers.
Rei sighs and opens the box. Inside are two rings, one ring she'd given to Minako on her birthday twelve years ago when she'd proposed and the other a silver band engraved with her name on it. She smiles fondly at the memory. But that, is a story for another time.
"Happy birthday Mi-chan."
"Thank you Reiko."
A/N: Edit about 24 hours after posting because of some incomplete parts. Ok so I know this was a little rushed in the end and I find a lot of issues with it but I'm still working on my writing style and trying to improve it as best as possible but I don't think I really made a lot of things clear like: In German, gift means poison. Look it up, it's true. And the girl dancing with her in the beginning was Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion. It just seemed like an interesting idea since there's a Rei in that series as well and the NGE Rei is supposedly named after our wonderful miko! Originally the way I had it Asuka was supposed to play a bit bigger of a role but then I couldn't exactly figure out how to make that one work and that ended up getting deleted(accidentally of course) so...I'm gonna stop blabbering.
R&R! And thanks to all of you who reviewed for previous chapters! Love you all!
~Wolfy
