Disclaimer: SM not mine.

I'm not skilled at taking one point of view, so I hope that you continue to bear with me as I weave not-so-seamlessly through people's consciousnesses.

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Chapter IX

Minako looked over her outfit in the public restroom mirror of the Civil Engineering building. She was the only one inside the restroom, because it was oceans separated by class hours, 7:35pm, on a Saturday night. The Saturday night that Rei and Mio were having their second date. Just outside the building, the couple were cozily perched atop a large, plateau structure meant for viewing pleasure by tours made on campus. They were having a picnic, Minako seethed to herself.

She wiped some smeared eyeliner off her cheek, and nodded in approval of her outfit. She was fitted in all black, snug-fitting clothes with easy maneuverability. Her athletic top was borrowed from Rei's drawer, but hopefully Rei would understand that such measures were necessary. The eyeliner detracted from the outfit by bringing out the brightness of her eyes, but she had to look good in case she was caught. And with Minako's deficit of subtly, she was likely to be found. But damnit, she was going to outdo that Mio by a hundredfold with more than just her superior natural beauty!

Minako slinked out of the bathroom, close against the walls, as if she needed to hide from someone inside the building. But maybe she did. She couldn't shake the feeling that someone figured out her devious plan, that someone was watching her make a fool of herself. Minako would jump at any shadow she saw, and she believed she had heard noises here and there that were out of place. No, just calm down, girl. Only you would do something this brilliantly stupid. She looked at the black beanie in her hand, also Rei's, and decided against it. It would ruin her hair, which was already black enough.

Alright, better set foot outside first if I want a better view of Rei-chan's date. Minako managed to quietly exit out of the heavy door, using most of her weight to gently shut it. She stepped out onto the lawn, but it was a terrible view of the couple. The structure they were sitting upon was too high up. She could only see the glow made from candlelight. Minako couldn't remember a time when Zoicite had ever taken her on a picnic, especially one so clever as this. She sneered at the thought of Mio planning it, but she melted at the thought that it was Rei's idea. Rei. Sigh. She wanted to see her dear friend so badly. Minako spotted a tree of perfect viewing level of the structure, so she made a dash for it, fifty meters from the couple.

The tree was not the easiest of trees to climb, but the volleyball muscles and determination in Minako allowed her to scale it quite skillfully. When she could finally see the two girls, she wanted to scream at the sight. Mio was feeding Rei some sort of dessert. Rei looked rather embarrassed by the whole ordeal, but Mio's forcefulness eventually got Rei's mouth to open access for the spoon. It went on for a few minutes, enough time for Minako to want to gouge her eyes out, or better yet, stick the candlesticks in Mio's bug eyes. Mio whispered something in Rei's ear, which made both of them laugh. Minako desperately needed to know what was so funny, so she climbed out to the closest branch to the plateau structure, leaning forward.

And then Minako felt her heart scream, blood needing to burn through her ears and face. Mio grabbed Rei by her long, low ponytail, pulling Rei in for a sudden kiss. Mio never let go of Rei's hair, and Minako couldn't bring herself to tear her gaze from this apocalypse. Her Rei-chan…was being grabbed by her beautiful hair, like some trafficked slave, and letting her face be sucked by this alien! Minako wanted to look away, wanted to pretend that Rei would forever be locked in her emotional barriers, safe in her glass case that Minako rubbed her fingerprints greedily over. No one could touch Rei. Rei was…hers. How did Minako never realize that she could never love anyone more than Rei Hino? She could love and depend on others, but Rei was an absolute truth of her life. What did Minako have to do to ensure that Rei would always be hers?

A strangled whimper escaped Minako's throat accidentally, and she slapped her hand over her traitorous mouth, wide-eyed. The smooching couple stopped at the sound, searching for the source. And then something rolled out of the bushes behind the tree. Minako snapped her head back too fast in response, losing balance due to her jammed senses from the traumatic viewing, and she fell from the lofted branch, painfully on her side, not successfully catching her entire body with her right arm and foot, as her entire body collided with the earth.

Rei stood up immediately, dirtying the clean blanket she set for their picnic with her shoes, peering down at the fallen girl. She couldn't exactly see who the victim was due to the dark clothing and hair, but instinctively, on some cosmic level, she knew and felt and bellowed, "MINAKO!?" She took off, kicking up the entire picnic setting, flipping the blanket and basket into the air, as she sprinted and leapt off the plateau, a frightening ten feet from the ground. She landed as smoothly as a gymnast and bolted to Minako, but someone beat her there. The thing that had rolled out of the bushes became a white blur over Minako.

Rei wanted to push this offensive figure out of the way until she realized it was Zoicite. Even so, she claimed the other side of Minako, crouching closer to Minako, blocking Zoicite's more passive efforts. "Mina…" Rei cradled Minako's scrunched up face, "oh god, are you okay? Can you move?"

"Itai-tai-tai," Minako mewled, curling into a ball.

"Okay, it appears you can. Hopefully nothing is broken…" Rei ignored the stinging in her left ankle from jumping so high off. She gathered the small girl in her arms, and Minako relished the warmth and contact of Rei's midsection and her dizzy head.

Mio had finally made her way over, panting, "What the hell is this!?—some demented double date!?"

Rei shot an unforgiving accusatory glare at Zoicite, irate that he let Minako hurt herself if he was with her.

"What? I was just following her. She was unaware," Zoicite said calmly as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"You were stalking your girlfriend!?" Rei shrieked, making Minako cringe at what would inevitably come next.

"Oh great and wise Hino-sama…what do you think Minako was doing? And I'm surprised she hasn't informed you yet, but she doesn't want to be my girlfriend anymore," Zoicite replied with the smallest hint of hurt. It was devastating for him.

"Wait—what!?" Rei's heart caught in her throat. A hurricane of questions stirred within Rei, but there was just too much debris to wade through in one sitting.

"Oh hush, Zo, just what are you doing here!?—and wearing all white!?" Minako said, wanting to project blame onto him. And he always wore white.

"Zo? You throw that around so casually, as if you still care," Zoicite frowned. Minako could not say anything in return. "I just wanted to know what you were doing on a Saturday night, usually spent with me. So I followed you following her." Zoicite only nodded his head in Rei's direction. He couldn't look at that witch. He was afraid he might crush her face in his powerful hands.

Alerts flashed in Mio's mind, so she needed to scatter the building climax, "Sounds like a lovers' quarrel between Minako and you. Why don't you two take it somewhere else instead of crashing our date." It wasn't a question; it was a demand.

And to prove that Minako had come out unscathed from the fall, she did what Zoicite self-controlled. She lunged at a surprised Mio, effectively pinning the snarling Mio with straddling legs on her wrists and lower body. Minako grabbed handfuls of Mio's hair, returning the "display of affection," holding Mio like a bound prisoner to the dirty ground. Minako's eyes were unfocused and she was practically hissing at the pitiful Mio. Zoicite chuckled darkly at this show.

"Minako, what are you doing!?" Rei went over to pick Minako off, like a mother cat gathers her kitten by the scruff of its neck. Minako let go of Mio with a yelp, being held up by Rei, stretching her shirt. Minako pouted not out of guilt for assaulting Mio, but for the way Rei was certainly judging her. "Why are you attacking Mio!?"

"Because sh-she k—" Minako couldn't say it. Not with everyone staring at her like that. How could she say that she attacked Mio because she kissed Rei? How many times had she kissed Zoicite and more these past four years? What made her good enough to claim Rei? Minako was old news, used. Rei was the essence of pure, had so much to offer, and Minako just wanted it all to herself with nothing to give in return. Minako wasn't worthy. She was too late. What did Minako have to do to ensure that Rei would always be hers?—Minako never had Rei to begin with. Minako bowed her head in dejected defeat.

Rei waited patiently for Minako's response, but it never came. "That's so unlike you to hit someone. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen you do that…you're a better person than that. Maybe Zoicite and you really do need to talk this out somewhere else." Rei helped Mio off the ground, holding her hand as she got ready to leave with her, "Call me if you hurt. We may have to take you to the hospital. If not, I'll check you thoroughly in the room when I get back, and we can talk, okay Mina…-chan?"

Minako flinched at the especially intimate name calling. It was the worst time to have it rubbed in her face that Rei loved her dearly…as the mature, younger sister.

Mio easily walked in step with Rei, the two walking back to their picnic. Mio was already laughing, "Or maybe you won't see her till morning. I feel like I need company after that scare. Crazy bitch, why was she spying in that tree?"

Minako blanched. Not at being called a "bitch," eh, she had heard that a couple of times in high school, but the knowledge that Rei might spend the night with someone else. Minako had accepted defeat, but acceptance was an ongoing process. Imagining that someone else would touch, know Rei's body like that…made Minako shudder as if someone were to rape her own body. Minako bit her own tongue until it bled so that she wouldn't have to think about it. It didn't work. Images of Rei seductively pulling someone else into bed gave Minako physical pain all over her body.

"Mio, don't call her that, ever," Rei said sternly. It was hard to hear, because they were climbing up the structure, but Minako was sensitive to her…sister's voice, "I'll talk to her later about it." Minako begged that later meant tonight.

"So…we'd better respect 'Rei-chan's' wish and leave them alone," Zoicite offered weakly.

Minako nodded absentmindedly and moved with him. But she had no intention of spending the night with him.

"Are you okay?" Zoicite looked at Minako with curiosity.

She was still speechless.

Zoicite made sure they were mutually out of the eavesdropping radius, "Why do you love her?" He didn't ask this out of any cruelty this time, just masochistic curiosity.

Love. Oh god. She loved her, didn't she? Had she ever used those words on Zoicite? He had said them to her a few times, but she had always giggled past the topic. Yet he just knew Minako loved Rei. Yeah, he was right, she loved Rei. Why?

"I…I don't know why," Minako said, tears falling into her mouth, drowning her speech. "It just happened. It's like something, something beyond my being, beyond this world has invisibly chained me to her."

"You won't give up if she rejects you?" Zoicite didn't necessarily believe that Rei would reject Minako, far from it, but he just wanted to know how Minako would act.

Choke. "I don't think I have a choice. I've been so blind…Zo, do you think I've always loved her?"

Zoicite's hands were intertwined in front of him, gripping tighter than even his calloused hands could handle. "Yes. Idiotically so." He listened to Minako sob, not letting himself be affected by her agony anymore. But he had his own, he still had something to hold onto, "Do you love me? Not that fairy-fated love you have for Rei, but did you ever love me?" He had to know. He needed to know what to do next.

"Oh Zo…I don't know. Maybe?" Minako was stuttering in mind and speech. Her face was black from the ruined cosmetics. "I'm so sorry; I really didn't mean to do this to you! I didn't expect things to turn out like this, and it's not like I'm any better now! I'm a horrible person; I know!"

And he did the impossible, something Minako never believed she would see. It almost served as a dam for her waterworks. Not just wetness, but streams of saline dug down Zoicite's statuesque face. His head was seizuring like a bobble-head, and he howled in this transcendental agony. His cry could have been a bell for changing classes, but no one was around on campus to witness his shattering spirit. It was all on Minako. He brought his quaking, now-fragile hands to his ears and cheeks.

"Well know this, Minako! Y-yo-you've broken my he—me! You've wasted nearly four years of our lives with your careless identity crisis." There was terrible wrath in his voice, but even still, his constant crying overpowered. "You've used me, and I don't think I ever want to see you again! You sick, twisted bitch, immoral!" Second time tonight for Minako, but this calling out would scar for a lifetime. "And I give up, because you won't love me, you say you 'can't.'" Zoicite looked as if he would pummel her soon, but he truly wasn't a violent man. "Know this, Minako: I'm not letting you go out of love. I hope to the heavens that Rei Hino NEVER loves you back. Feel my misery!!!!"

And Zoicite walked out of Minako's life, a broken man in tears.

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Maybe I've justified Zoicite's pain enough to not write Rei&Mina together. I jest.