Chapter 10
"I can't believe you did this!"
"Mina, calm down –"
"Don't call me like that!" she cried, before closing her eyes, trying to calm herself down again.
And it didn't work. Again.
Rei fidgeted, ill at ease and tired. The dream-memory seemed to have swallowed her energy and it was only 8 in the morning. It was going to be a long day.
Artemis jumped to the couch, looking sad and worried. Luna, like Rei, stayed near a wall, feeling concerned and uncomfortable.
"You lied to me."
"I… didn't know that you –"
"I what? That I would remember? So you'd have kept lying to me until the end?" Minako said coldly. Never Rei had seen her this angry and hurt. It was as impressive as it was heart wrenching. "It always was about the mission, about the princess, wasn't it? It's always all that counts."
"No, that's not… I had orders, and I thought…"
"You thought wrong," Minako snapped.
"We had a mission, and that part of Venus' past had nothing to do with it, I was hoping it wouldn't interfere with it, I didn't know what the Sphere did and I still don't, I didn't want to put anymore on your shoulders. Besides, these memories were never mine to have. We didn't even really know each other back in the Silver Millenium, and you were a child, you were only 13 when the memories came back, I didn't anticipate that you wouldn't remember everything, so… I kept silent about it. We didn't know each other really well and I felt that it would only complicate things for you."
"Complicate things? You knew why I was dying! You knew that my soul had been cursed by Magellan's Sphere and that my energy is still linked to whatever it did to my soul and you didn't tell me! I mean, it was why my powers were so weak and why I couldn't… I died and you kept lying to me."
"For all I know it was princess Venus herself that was keeping these memories from you, the fact that they were blocked had certainly a meaning in itself, I couldn't risk –"
"I don't fucking care!" Minako exploded, her voice shaking with rage. And with tears. "I don't care. You were my guardian, I trusted you, I did all you taught me to do, I fought, I lied, I spent nights keeping watch over this planet, I led and I sacrificed."
"It… it was…"
"Don't tell me it was my mission."
"Sailor Venus was an impressive warrior, a genius when it came to lead soldiers. Her powers and her loyalty knew few bounds. She was strong, brave and highly gifted. Unfortunately her life and the wars get to her in the end and her loyalty to the Moon wavered."
Minako's eyes narrowed.
"Don't you dare tarnish her memory," she hissed. "All Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Venus ever did in their existence was fight and protect. They had the right to hope for more, they had the right to feel and to live a little, they had the right to think freely!"
"You of all people know how difficult these times were. The royal families had to be infallible for the people. And for the Moon. Sailor Venus –"
"Fought for Serenity until the end."
"No, she didn't," Artemis said quietly, almost guiltily. "She hated the princess. Because she had been her closest ally and protector, she had felt and seen her change. And she hated her for what she had become. Venus didn't fight for Serenity in the end. She only fought by necessity and by obligation toward her people and because of her love for them, and for her Senshi. For Mars."
"So what?" Minako replied bitterly, her fists clenching and unclenching, like she kept herself from hitting the cat before her. "You feared that history would repeat itself if we knew? We died for Serenity, and in the end she destroyed all of us and all we knew. Sailor Saturn didn't even need to be awakened. But I am not Meyirin, and Usagi is not Serenity. She proved it. And I never ever did anything besides trying to protect her when I was a Senshi. I should have known that a mere Solyamn could not understand that. I should have known that a politician and counselor could not be trusted. After all, you never trusted me."
"Of course I –"
"I trusted you. You… were family. I trusted you more than I ever trusted my own parents. And you lied to me. You manipulated me."
"I did not!"
"You knew about the fact that Mars and Venus were lovers, and you knew why I remembered, why Rei couldn't, what could happen to us because of what we did in our past life!"
"That's not true, I still don't know exactly what the Sphere has done to your souls!"
"We could have found out years ago if you had told us!"
"I couldn't risk everything!"
"Yes, you could!!"
A golden aura suddenly appeared around the television which imploded violently. Minako didn't flinch, her eyes on Artemis, Venus' symbol on her forehead.
"Minako…"
"Don't even talk to me," the woman whispered, her voice fragile. "Don't go near me again, and found yourself a new master, cat. Because I sure as hell won't feed you anymore."
She turned to leave, but a silver light illuminated the room and Artemis changed back into his human form. He was a man with silvery hair, green eyes, an oblong face and white clothes. It was impossible to determinate his age. He was taller than Minako and he tried to stop her, but she pushed him out of her way, effortlessly throwing him against a wall with inhuman strength.
"Go back to your planet," she said with venom, but eyes shining with tears. "Nobody needs you here anymore anyway."
And she left quickly, the symbol on her forehead fading and the door loudly closing behind her.
Pale and remorseful, Artemis stood up shakily and made a gesture to follow her. But the falsely even voice of Rei stopped him.
"Don't," she said, her eyes burning him. "I'm going to talk with her."
She left too, and Artemis raised his eyes to a woman with long dark blue hair and red eyes.
"I think things couldn't get worse, Luna," the man said, his grave voice full of sadness.
"She'll calm down. Rei and Minako are hurt and angry right now, but they're going to come to terms with what happened. They only need a few hours."
"You don't know Mina like I do. She doesn't trust people easily, and when she does she put her heart in the balance. Breaking this trust is –"
"They have a lot on their mind. You'll get a chance to explain," Luna reassured, assuming her cat form once again, not wanting to loose all her energy. "So… Mars and Venus, huh? I wasn't granted that knowledge."
"Yes. Surprising, isn't it? A first in the history of the Sailors."
"The Queen would have been forced to forbid this relationship," Luna murmured thoughtfully.
"I think they knew it, and that's why the princesses ignored their love and deluded themselves for so long."
"Hmm. Rei and Minako… I wonder what it's going to do to their relationship."
"I don't know," Artemis whispered.
"What is more troublesome is the fact that Minako seems to have found a way to use her gifts in her human form."
"Yes. It's possible that the return of her last memories has unlocked all her potential and released her gifts."
"Then it could have done the same to Rei's powers," Luna said as her counterpart changed to his cat form. "Who knows what other things the venusian sphere has done to their souls?"
"Nobody could control its power and nobody knew what it could really do," Artemis said quietly. "I just hope the girls will be fine. I don't want to lose Mina again."
"You won't."
"I think I already did."
It was more than a pull.
It was a need, pure and simple, and Rei didn't even try to repress it nor did she try to explain it. She had a headache, and she was tired, and she was extremely confused.
She opened the door and entered the church's gymnasium, the same in which Minako and Rei had fought the first time they had met when they were just kids. The idol was there, and Rei wondered where she had found this white pants and the pink top that went with it. The sneakers were a weird sight on the fashionable young woman.
She stayed near the wall and watched as Minako took another volley ball and did another powerful and precise service. The ball went crashing on the floor on the other side of the net. She sighed and took another ball, playing with it thoughtfully.
"How did you find me?"
"You always come here. And I… knew…"
"Yeah," Minako softly said. "I felt you come here, too. I mean, I always feel when one of you is near, but… it's different."
"Hmm."
Minako threw another ball. She grimaced when it didn't go exactly where she had wanted to.
"I remembered something else," Rei informed her quietly.
Minako didn't look at her and picked up another ball.
"I don't really want to talk right know," she replied, her voice tense but soft. "When I'm like this, I can't control myself. I don't want to say things I could regret. I need to calm down."
She placed herself for another service. Rei let her do her thing, but she didn't leave. It would be too easy to let Minako hide herself behind walls like that. She couldn't always control everything.
Minako hit the ball, which shined golden before it flied with speed toward the wall. The idol let out a strangle little cry that could have been cute in other circumstances and she flicked her hand toward the object charged with her energy. The ball imploded, centimeters away from the wall, damaging it but at least not destroying it.
Minako turned to Rei, half horrified and half sheepish.
"I think I'm going to donate a lot of money to this church this year," she said in a little voice.
Rei stared at the damaged wall, knowing that the bomb could have destroyed a part of the gymnasium, and nodded.
"I almost set the taxi on fire earlier," she confessed quietly.
"Yeah," Minako whispered. "Things just got a lot more complicated, huh?"
"Breakfast? I'm paying this time."
"Ok. I just hope we won't end up destroying the restaurant."
"Kami, I certainly hope so too. I'm far from poor, but I don't have your bank accounts."
"I can't believe this," Minako sighed, seeming part saddened and part frustrated. "What? Sweats pants, sneakers, a ponytail and barely any makeup and nobody recognize me? Don't giggle! I feel so let down. I need sugar."
Rei sat down at the table and shrugged.
"It's only nine, a Sunday morning, and the street is almost empty. Besides you did lower your head you know, and you suppressed your aura, didn't you?"
"Yeah. I know. But still…"
"You can be so dramatic."
The waiter came, a young man that flirted with Rei, making not so subtle appreciative hints about her beauty, flirt that Rei didn't return but didn't stop either. He smiled and looked at her until he noticed that Minako Aino was with her. Rei had to hide her smirk when the idol glared coldly at the man when he asked for her autograph. She placed her order and sent him on his way without another glance, visibly irked about the flirtatious and very handsome stranger.
"What?" Minako snapped, looking at Rei who was barely hiding her smile.
"Nothing. Don't blow me up, please."
"Not funny."
"Why did you react like that? He was rather nice."
Minako looked at her manicure, annoyed and apparently a little uncomfortable.
"If you say so," she said.
Rei didn't know for sure, but she was nonetheless pleased that the idol might have been jealous.
They waited for their breakfast to arrive and didn't talk for a few minutes, both of them relieved and pleased to notice that the silence was once more empty of any tension.
"I didn't know that Artemis and Luna could take a human form," Rei said after a while.
"Luna never told you? Lies by omission must be in their blood. They can, but only for a little while because assuming this form on Earth take a lot of their magical energy. I only saw Artemis in his human form 4 times in this life, this morning included."
"Artemis –"
"Don't," Minako advised, playing with her napkin. "I'm still too angry to try and understand his decisions or determinate if I might one day forgive him."
"Ok," Rei quietly answered.
"You said you remember something else?"
"It came to me when I was looking for you. I… Well, I think that Mars knew about your sickness."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm not sure, but I think she had a vision of you dying, in this life, from the sickness. That's why she wanted to remember, because she wanted to save you. Or Venus. Whatever. Anyway…" Rei sighed, trying to control her feelings. And her voice. "Anyway, it didn't work, huh?"
Minako looked at her, with eyes clearer than Rei had ever seen them. She stayed silent a little while, and her murmur could barely be heard over the noise in the little restaurant.
"It wasn't your fault or her fault. It had to happen, I suppose."
"It doesn't mean that it's fair."
"No. But Mars and Venus chose, and we have to live with it and pay for it. And you couldn't have done anything to prevent my death. It wasn't a physical enemy, it was an illness."
"Could it… come back?"
"I don't know. My neurologist thinks so, but don't worry, I'm still under surveillance. I know the signs, if it happens again, I'll understand immediately. As for our powers, I think it's just a temporary thing. We'll just have to be careful until they disappear again."
"Great."
"You want to ask me something?"
"This empathy of yours is annoying."
"I'm sorry."
"You're not."
"Maybe. So? Ask away. Since we were best friends, co leaders of aliens' armies and lovers in a past life, I think there is little we can't say to each other."
Rei was quite embarrassed to have to remember the dream, but Minako had a good point.
"Why do you think your memories were blocked and you were the only one leaving an alternate life a few years back? I still can't explain it."
"I can't really explain it either. But… if I try to explain with the help of Venus' memories, I would say that when Usagi healed the world her power just clashed with the energy left behind by the Sphere."
"But what was the Sphere exactly? I can't remember that."
"It's complicated. Nobody really knew how it was created in the first place. One of the first Sailors Venus found a way to concentrate her power and the energy of her home planet into one single ball of crystal. But it had disastrous consequences. For generations the royal family tried to control its power and to use it. Sometimes it worked and it did miracles. Other times however, it killed the user and provoked disasters. Fearing what it could do if the Sphere was to fall in the hands of an enemy or an evil person, the royal Venusians and the Queen Serenity agreed to join their powers to seal the Sphere away from everyone."
"It did help Mars though. It called to her to warn her about Mercury. It warned her about the approaching attack. And it warned her about our births and the sickness, even if it had after effects."
"It's weird though, because my sickness was apparently caused by the fact that Venus came into contact with Magellan's Sphere and that the pure venusian energy coming from it invaded her soul. My soul. How could it be a thing that the Sphere wanted to warn Mars about if it was what caused it in the first place?"
"But Mars could see the future. And in this future, you took the Sphere. The future isn't set in stone, it's always changing. Venus could have not taken it."
"God, I don't know how you manage with these temporal things."
"You're the girl with four lives in her head."
"Not really. A past life, a life cut in two by death, and an alternate life experience."
"That's technicalities. So the venusian energy of the Sphere in your soul and Usagi's magic clashed and because of it something went wrong and your life was altered and your memories blocked."
"Yeah. I think. But you were there and annoyingly persistent again and my memories began to come back."
"But then, what power made the world right again? It wasn't Usagi's this time. What could be as strong as her love and pure energy?"
Minako frowned.
"Good question. I always thought that what went wrong in the first place just righted itself. But now that we know about the Sphere and all that… Why did we remember – huh… that last night only? If those memories were freed years ago, why now?"
"Well," Rei began uncomfortably, "it was the first time we were this close. Physically and emotionally. I think."
"Yes," Minako said softly, a smile teasing her lips, "that's true."
They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence.
The streets were calm and they walked side by side, theirs arms brushing. Then again, it had always been that way between them.
"Come on," Minako declared, stopping a taxi.
"Where are we going?"
"It's been a while since I've seen Etso."
They stayed with the old man for a while. He was clearly very happy to see Minako and Rei, and the miko couldn't help but be shocked to see him so tired. It was sadly obvious that his age was catching him back. He didn't breed his pets anymore nor did he try to sell the last ones that were with him. Four guinea pigs that were living in his living room in big cages.
They talked with the man for almost three hours, helping him taking care of his pets and doing a little cleaning despite his protestations. On the ride back, Minako stayed silent, lost in her thoughts, and Rei didn't know what to say to her to reassure her. She knew that Etso was important to the woman, even if she had never really understood why.
But Rei found she didn't really have to say anything, for after a slight hesitation, Minako simply took her hand and she seemed to draw comfort from the contact. Rei, relieved that she could apparently do something to help the idol and enjoying the feel of Minako's warm hand in her own, used her thumb to softly caressing the soft skin in a barely noticeable gesture.
The discussion at the restaurant and the visit had effectively lessened the memories and the slight awkwardness between them, and Rei was kind of proud of them both. They had grown from the defensive and stubborn teens they had been, and even if there were still traces of them in the two young women, they had learnt enough and matured enough to accept their differences and their similarities, and above all that link that had kept them together through the years.
They exited the taxi and Minako sighed, looking up at her hotel with a frown.
"Good. They left."
Rei nodded. She couldn't sense the Solyamn in the vicinity.
"Reiko?"
The woman shook herself from her thoughts and went to the door where Minako was awaiting her. Once in the suite, Minako declared she needed a shower and a change of clothes, and Rei was left with her thoughts.
When Minako went back into the living room and saw Rei fast asleep on the couch, she smiled and put a cover on her before going to the phone to order something to eat. Artemis and Luna had apparently used their powers to replace the TV that Minako had destroyed a few hours before.
The idol took her computer, a folder and put them on the coffee table, before sitting down on the carpet. She could work and keep an eye on her sleeping friend that way, though she could only hoped that the beautiful sight wouldn't keep her from getting things done.
About an hour later the food arrived. Minako set the table and put a hand on Rei's shoulder gently.
"Hey, Reiko, wake up," she called softly.
The woman stirred and blinked, confused.
"Late lunch?" Minako suggested before sitting down again.
"Thanks."
Rei sat down and saw the computer now resting on the armchair. She smiled.
"Didn't we say no work, Aino?"
"That was yesterday's rule," Minako grinned. "I have to work a little, you know."
"So, what's today's rule then?"
The idol smiled widened.
"Wouldn't you like to know," she answered with a teasing voice.
Rei rolled her eyes and began to eat.
"Don't care anyway," she said a few seconds later. "Won't bend to your rules. What were you working on?"
"Just reading a few things that Shacho e-mailed me about interviews I'll do in a few days, and contacting collaborators and choosing photos for extras, that sort of things."
"You still have a lot of things to do?"
"A few," Minako said, feeling exhausted. "And I have to work on my songs too."
"Do you want me to leave? We can still see each other later. I'm staying in Tokyo now."
"No!" Minako exclaimed, a little too quickly and a little too loudly. "I mean, it's okay. Don't worry about my work. Besides I need to slow down a little, and I have only this afternoon and tomorrow free before picking up the promotional work and the preparations for the concert next month. You can stay."
"Ok," Rei said, a little smug smile on her lips. "But you know, you can't keep me all to yourself forever."
"I'm the idol there, you know. Don't be so full of yourself."
"I'm not," Rei smiled.
Minako couldn't help but do the same. She rather liked the new confidence that Rei had gained these last few years.
"Minako?"
"Hmm?"
The idol put their plates away and turned to Rei, who was lightly playing a few music notes on Minako's guitar.
"Maybe you should avoid doing things too public for a little while. At least until your powers stop playing tricks on you. It would be really bad if you… you know, did your energy thing while being in public or filmed."
"Oh," Minako whispered. She frowned. "Oh no. I didn't think of that."
"Maybe we can learn to control our elements in this form. I don't know how long our powers are going to be unstable like that."
"God, just what I would need, me exploding something or invoking my chain in front of everyone."
"You'd become a legend, that's for sure."
Minako giggled.
"I can imagine my mother's face! And my aunt's!"
"That would be nothing. Try to imagine my father's reaction if I generate fire while being filmed."
Minako laughed.
"That would be great."
"Speaking of dads," Rei began quietly, stopping the sound of her last note by pressing her palm against the strings. "Do you see yours sometimes?"
The woman's gaze on her was soft and prudent, and Minako couldn't help but avoid those eyes that could see too clearly into her.
"Not really," Minako whispered. "He… lost the company last year." She hesitated, looked at the sky behind the windows. "He's stopped drinking. I think. I'm not really sure, I can't read him without being near him and it's been more than a year since I've seen him. He sold the family house, you know. Now he's living somewhere at the other side of the city. A loft, I believe. Anyway I don't really know what he does now. Mom says he's alright. She saw him six months ago because of unfinished business. They don't talk anymore. But it's not like they talked when they were married anyway. Sometimes he calls me and leaves me a message. Short and awkward at best. I never call him back."
"Why?" Rei asked softly, and Minako didn't look at her.
She could feel her sadness and hesitation and it was well enough.
"I'm… not really… good at talking with him. Not that I'm better when it's with my mother. I just… There're things that are a little hard to forget, that's all. My father is just pulling himself back together. Hopefully. Family is not something for which we Ainos are talented. I… don't know what I should say to them. It's not that I don't care, it's only that… they're weren't a lot in my life when I was a kid and they're even less in it since I'm independent. Which's been for a while now." She smiled self-depreciatively. "And I'm simply not very good at this sort of… things."
"I… I think that's something you can learn. Your parents and you. My dad and I are still learning, but our relationship is really better now."
Minako thought of all these cold nights when she had been a child, cold nights that she had spent all alone. All those first times her parents had missed, in her life, at school, in her career. All these days she had spent, sick and scared and lonely in the hospital, with only her dreams and later Shacho to keep her mind far from her fears and her pain. All her doubts and her anger, her loneliness and feeling of abandonment, of never being good enough…
She thought of all that, of the woman she had grown to become, distant and distrustful, and she thought of Artemis, and she sighed.
"I could have learnt, when I was younger. But I'm an adult now and there is… There are too many things... I'm not a nice person, you know. Forgiving is not something I do easily."
Rei put the guitar on the floor and stood up, a smile on her lips but her eyes somber.
"You're really hard on yourself, you know that?"
Minako, despite the pang at her heart, raised her eyes to Rei and let a little smile appear on her lips.
"I'm really hard on others too. Guess it's just part of a whole."
"I think you should talk to Artemis."
"Later."
"Ok," Rei answered softly, and Minako was relieved that the other woman was respecting her wishes so easily. But that was how Rei could be, and Minako loved her all the more deeply for it. "You know… I wanted to ask you something about this place."
"What?" Minako smiled, seeing Rei frown cutely.
She couldn't help but lean toward her friend a little, feeling drown to her almost irresistibly. And to her delight, Rei didn't move.
"Where the hell do you put all your things?"
Minako laughed, amused by Rei's practical sense.
"My other clothes and my belongings are at my aunt's and at my mom's. I don't have much in fact, I… give a lot, and I don't really have time to buy things that I don't really need."
"I see."
"Another question?"
"Nope."
"Good. Chocolate!"
"What?"
"We need chocolate."
"Why?" Rei asked, confused, as Minako took the sweets and went to the couch.
"Because I still need to work, so I need sugar. And you need it for… whatever you are going to do."
"I'm actually going to take a bath."
"Chocolate and bath? How decadent, Reiko."
Rei rolled her eyes, a blush rising to her face, and Minako giggled while she took her guitar.
"Sometimes you're worth than a child," Rei grumbled.
Minako looked at her with eyes twinkling mischievously, loving the expression on her friend's face.
"Oh, I really doubt that a child could have thought of what I've just thought." As Rei blushed even more because of the way the idol was looking at her, Minako suddenly frowned. "Or it would be a really disturbed child."
"Okay, okay!" Rei intervened, fearing where Minako's weird trains of thoughts could lead them this time. "I'm not here anymore!"
Minako chuckled, feeling weirdly happy despite all that had happened in the last two days.
And she decided there and then that it wouldn't be the only things that would have to be remembered about this week's start.
Rei had intended to take her time in the bathroom but the strange need to be near Minako and to enjoy what little time they could spend with one another compelled her to speed up. Once in comfy pants and a red top, she put her hair back with an hairclip and went back to the living room. Minako was playing something on her guitar, humming softly to herself, a little frown on her face. She stopped her music and sighed, before throwing the pencil she had put between her teeth on the table.
"Are you blocked?"
Minako looked back at her before standing up to put her guitar back in its case.
"Not really," she said softly. "It's just not a song that I can commercialize."
"Why?"
"Too personal."
Rei was intrigued.
"Can I hear it?"
Rei was stupefied to see Minako's shy little smile.
"No."
"Why?" Rei asked, finding herself smiling at Minako's cuteness.
"Because."
"That's not an answer."
"I know."
They sat down together, watching the TV which was still on mute.
"Ah," Minako said suddenly.
"What?"
"I… You know, my song, Katagoshi Ni Kinsei?"
"From your second album? Yes. What about it?"
"I've always wondered where the idea of it came from, because the lyrics came to me one night like that... and now I wonder if…"
She fell silent, and because they sat so close to one another, Rei could feel her slightly tensed. A little uncomfortable herself, the young woman still decided to speak her mind.
"We can't keep avoiding it, you know," she said softly. "We will have to talk about it."
She could feel Minako's gaze on her but didn't turn her head towards her. The idol nodded.
"I know. Well, I was only wondering if my absent memories of," she hesitated, "Mars and Venus were responsible for the idea of this song."
Rei didn't know if the fact that for once Minako spoke of her past self in the third person was a really good thing. She found herself a little down, worried about what it could imply for her relationship with the idol.
"You think it's possible?" Rei asked, finding herself unable to clearly remember the lyrics but not wanted to tell her friend that.
She knew how Minako could get about her work, and Rei certainly didn't want to spend her evening listening to all the idol's songs.
"Maybe," Minako whispered. "Well, it doesn't really matter, I guess." She seemed to think about it for a while longer before she spoke, more hesitantly but with a sense of finality in her voice. "Reiko, since we're talking about that, does it… bother you?"
"Mars and Venus, you mean?" Rei frowned and sought the answer in her heart, wanting to be wholly honest and knowing – feeling – that this conversation would shape their future. "No," she answered truthfully in a murmur, a little surprised herself. "Not really. Though it has come as a shock."
She glanced at Minako and found a relieve glint in her hazel eyes.
"Yeah, well, at least you didn't think that you had all the memories of your past self. It wasn't a shock, it was an earthquake for me."
"I suppose," Rei said softly with a little smile.
There was an awkward pause, and Rei knew that, like herself, Minako surely had a lot of things to say but hadn't a clue on how to say them. What could they tell one another, really? What could they say about this past life that one remembered too vividly and the other nearly didn't remember at all?
How could they speak to each other freely, when they had always been awkward with words while talking with one another?
How could they voice what they felt about the memory, about their relationship, about the other's presence in their life? About what they were feeling, what they had in a way always felt for the other?
"I'm glad you're here," Minako whispered finally after long seconds of a tense silence.
The words were soft, sincere, and held so much with the greatest simplicity.
Rei looked at her with surprise and found warm hazel eyes gazing at her. She almost lost herself in the moment, but she found herself reacting, her lips forming a little smile, and she marveled at the way her body could so easily respond to Minako.
"I'm glad to be here."
The way Minako's eyes could appear so clear and bright was absolutely fascinating to Rei. She loved to see all these emotions traveling in them, even if she couldn't read half of them.
When she felt a hand tenderly finding her own on her knee, she almost jumped, but the warm contact immediately soothed her. If Rei was nervous about what was happening, Minako however looked calm and serene, and somehow a part of it seemed to travel to Rei's heart and she moved her fingers to hold the idol's hand properly.
Rei couldn't move, she wasn't sure of what she was supposed to do and she was even less sure of what she saw on Minako's beautiful face. She opened her mouth to say something, but the idol stopped her, the fingers of her unoccupied hand coming to rest on Rei's lips, barely touching them and letting them tingling. It effectively made the woman shut up as Minako's fingers brushed against Rei's cheek and throat. They stilled when they reached her neck, and as the idol's lips found Rei's own in a tender and reserved kiss, the miko couldn't help but close her eyes and respond to the kiss almost naturally, feeling compelled to do so by her mind and her body, and by the hesitation and slight worry she could feel in her friend's actions.
She didn't know exactly what to do with her hand that wasn't holding Minako's – Rei was quite a novice when it came to kisses that didn't last only a few seconds – but she did know that she wanted to touch Minako. Was it her who had come closer to the other woman, or Minako who had come closer to her? Maybe both of them, Rei decided, as her arm finally slid around the idol's waist to pull her even closer to her, before her fingers went to play across Minako's cheek, jaw, neck and then hair as the kiss deepened slowly.
After a few minutes of learning tenderly and a hesitantly (at first) their way around the other's mouth, Rei felt a strange sensation invade her. It was tingling, warm, powerful, and she found that, even if she hadn't the slightest idea of what it was, Rei wasn't worried in the least about it.
But it might be because of the way Minako's tongue danced with hers, nearly submitting her but not quite. And then, Minako's lips somehow found their way to Rei's jaw and kept deliciously distracting her.
But as Rei opened her eyes, she couldn't help but stilled and forced herself to gently stop the idol's little kisses.
Minako looked at her, confused and a little worried, a pink hue to her cheeks. To appease the slight fear Rei detected in those beautiful honey eyes, she immediately nodded toward their linked hands.
Hands that were glowing a bright golden yellow.
Eyes wide, Minako jumped from the couch and took a few steps backwards, away from Rei who stood up slowly. She tried to ignore how the sudden loss of the closeness affected her and looked at the idol's hand, still shining now a more subdued yellow.
"I didn't charge you, did I?" Minako exclaimed worryingly, her slightly panic eyes scanning Rei's body.
Rei shook her head, trying to concentrate on what was happening rather than on their kisses. She cleared her throat and shook her head.
"No. I don't think so. Well, you would know before me, I guess."
Minako nodded slowly, looking at her hand and shaking it. It kept glowing.
"What is this?" she whispered. "That's new."
"Does it feel like your power?"
"Yeah. Well, in a sense. But it's not the same. I mean, usually I convert the light around me in energy that I can control with my love... that's how I make things explode and how I use my Crescent Beam. That's partly how I use my chain, too. But that's…" She shook her hand again and sighed when the glow didn't go. "…different. It can't stay!"
Rei looked at her, partly amused and partly worried. Maybe it was because of her tiredness, but she found the sight of Minako examining her own hand and touching it like it was an alien thing attached to her body rather cute.
"Calm down," Rei advised with the most serene voice that she could manage. "You are the one in control of it."
"Do I look in control of anything?" Minako retorted, gazing at her sharply. "And stop that!"
"What?"
"I can feel your amusement!"
Rei let the smile she had been hiding show.
"Woups. Sorry."
"That's not funny!"
"Of course not."
"Reiko! I'm glowing, for Venus' sake! I can't walk on the streets and work with a glowing hand!"
"Ok, ok. Calm down." Rei went to her, trying to understand what was happening to the idol. "Calm down."
"I'm calm."
"Stop fidgeting. It's your power, so… control it."
"I'm trying! How come you don't seem to have any trouble with your gifts?"
Rei raised an eyebrow at her.
"I was raised in a shrine and I spent the last years training. I would hope it has not been for nothing."
"Ah, yes," Minako replied while rolling her eyes, effectively looking sheepish and annoyed at the same time. "Well, I did not, and I don't have the slightest idea of what it is and how to reverse it." She offered Rei a little smile and tilted her head, and the miko's eyes seemed to follow on their own accord the travel of a strand of the idol's hair as it went to caress her cheek. "So… help? Please?"
Minako's eyes were looking lighter because of her alarm, her mouth forming unconsciously an adorable little pout. Rei could have kissed her right there and then. That thought almost made her blush as it reminded her of the sensation of Minako's lips against her own and against her skin. And she effectively reddened when she saw an amused and happy glint in the idol's eyes, a little smile appearing on her face. Ofcourse, Minako would have felt that.
"You have to concentrate," Rei said, trying to ignore what she had gotten herself into.
Minako's smile widened. Damn her.
"You can talk," she teased, her voice soft and inviting.
"You're still glowing," Rei reminded her, taking her hand.
Minako startled at the effect it had.
"Waow."
The glow widened, grew in intensity again. Rei felt that tingling and warm feeling travel her body and mind, it was soft, inviting and pleasant. Minako let her go, the glow faded a little. The idol frowned, touched Rei's hand with the tip of one finger, and it shined more powerfully again.
"Ah," she whispered softly.
She took Rei's hands in hers, and at first, nothing more than before happened. And then their other hands were glowing, an aura of golden yellow enveloping them. Minako didn't let her go, Rei could feel something strange coming from the idol, and the energy extended to their arms, and soon they were entirely enveloped in a warm and beautiful blanket of light. Rei couldn't really pinpoint what feelings where invading her heart, but she knew that whatever was happening made her feel better, joyful, protected, powerful. Happy. Loved.
The light coming from the various lamps in the suite intensified until finally Minako took a step backwards, letting go of Rei and looking at her hands that weren't glowing anymore.
Rei cleared her throat.
"Hum, wow. You have… found what it was, then?"
Minako nodded, seeming a little stunned.
"Yes. I think," she whispered.
"Are you alright?"
"I feel a little… weird. Energized. I… think that I could fully use my powers now."
Rei frowned.
"You mean… fight?"
"No. I mean use my powers to their fullest. I never could in this life. I thought it was because of my sickness, and it was without a doubt part of the explanation, but… in fact that I couldn't access my full power until I understood."
"Understood what?"
Minako hesitated.
"My powers."
"I don't understand."
"It's troublesome," Minako continued without explaining herself. "Now that I can use it fully, the energy I could accidentally summon…"
"I felt it," Rei confirmed. "It was… powerful."
"I felt your power mixing with mine."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"I didn't realize…"
A knock on the door made them both jumped. Rei felt who it was because of the alien aura coming from the presence, and she saw in Minako's troubled eyes that the idol had recognized the emotions of Artemis.
"I'm going to the bedroom," Rei quietly said. "Talk with him."
Before Minako could protest she left the living room. She knew Minako was angry because of Artemis' lies, but she also knew that the idol would not stop hurting until she confronted her best friend and guardian.
Even if the night was just falling, Rei changed into her night clothes and lied down on the bed, thinking of Minako's kisses, of her feelings, of Mars and Venus, of the undefined relationship with the woman she was in love with.
Minako looked coldly at Artemis in his human form. The man was gazing at her with green eyes full of feelings.
"I hoped that if I let the day pass, you would be more inclined to listen to me. You usually control your anger with time," he explained softly.
Minako shrugged.
"What did you want to say to me?"
"I didn't want to lie to you. It was and always is a delicate matter."
"Because of the princess?" Minako replied bitterly. "She always is all that counts. Our lives don't matter if it comes to it, do they? It was always about her."
Artemis frowned.
"Your life and your happiness matter to me," he confessed. "We both have a duty we're faithful to. I know you love Usagi."
"If she had been anything like Serenity, I wouldn't have hesitated to stop fighting for her. And I won't feel guilty about that anymore. Because now, I understand. I understand that I can choose. I'm not a princess bound by birth and station."
"I know. But I had a mission, and when I woke up to find a child to train, I realized that I had to trade carefully. Training warriors never had anything to do with my station on the moon. And training a young girl like you... But you were… special. Gifted. Mature and devoted. Still, I had to keep to myself what I knew of your past life because I couldn't risk the safety of the princess and of Earth if Venus' memories made you change your mind about your mission. But it wasn't only because of that, Mina. These memories and what I knew about your sickness would have hurt you and complicated things for you. I wanted… Well, I guess that I wanted to protect you. After all I had seen you go through, it was the least I could do for you, the only thing I could shield you from. I felt so useless then, that this opportunity to protect you –"
"You were wrong."
"It was a choice. My choice. And I can't really say that I'm sorry for it. Rei and you were friends despite your constant fights, and even if I was worried about what it could reveal because of your common past, it was nice to see you smile a little. I know you're hurt about the lies you think I told you. But it wasn't the case. Those memories that were given to me are highly personal. I didn't want to disrespect the princesses by telling you if somehow it was Venus that had blocked them. And I really don't know what the Magellan's Sphere did to you. You certainly know more about that than I do."
"Maybe."
Artemis sighed and Minako couldn't help but avoid his eyes. When she looked back at him, she found him in his cat form. He jumped on the couch and tilted his head.
"Even if my oaths to the Moon and to the queen are highly important to me, I have learnt a lot of things from you and from this planet. What is important to me, here and now, are my family. Luna. The girls. And especially you. I'm really proud to be the one that trained you, to have been there with you along the years, to have seen you change and grow up. I'm proud of the woman you have become. I love the person you are. What's important to me isn't primarily the mission or the princess. You have the first place in my heart. I just… I wanted you to know."
Minako kept silent. She didn't know if she could forgive him. Of course he had only kept a few things from her and he had a point about it being a delicate thing to explain to someone about their past life, but she was still hurting over everything and so much had happened in so little time…
The cat's ears were low, and he began to leave, sadness emanating from him in waves. She thought about Rei's words, about the trust that the young woman put in her, the faith she had in Minako's ability to forgive and learn, and she sighed slowly, reminding herself of all these years and moments passed in Artemis' company and all they had and still shared.
"Oh, don't be so dramatic," she groaned finally just as he was reaching the door. "You really have spent too much time with me, you know that?"
He perked up and went back quickly to the couch.
"Does it mean that I don't have to call Usagi and Mamoru to ask if they wouldn't mind a second cat?"
"Not so fast," Minako warned him while she sat down next to him. "You're not forgiven. Yet."
"Wanted to talk about something?"
"And don't read me."
"Are you alright? Your gifts… this morning…"
"About that, and since you're still my guardian and advisor, for now, I have a little problem. I glow."
"Excuse me?"
"The aura of light that surrounds me when I transform? I do it without transforming."
Artemis looked as lost as she was.
"What effect does it have?"
"I'm not really sure, because I couldn't really verify it, but I think it… connects me with… things."
"Mina, that's not really clear. What were you doing when it happened?"
Minako tried to hide her smile while looking for something she could say instead of the truth. She found none.
"I was with Reiko. I didn't notice at first, but our hands were glowing, they were linked, and once I understood what it was I could manipulate it. It was like a shield of energy around me, I'm pretty sure that if someone had tried an attack on me the energy would have protected me. And when I took Reiko's hands again I was able to shield her too, only it was even more powerful with her and it was like my emotions went to her and hers to me. It was… like our souls were connected and it was… wonderful," she whispered finally, founding that she already missed the addictive sensation. She felt Artemis' intrigued and amused eyes on her and she forced the memory back. "And Mars' powers were responding to mine, too, it reinforced it and the amount of energy from it was… impressive."
"Hmm," Artemis murmured, thoughtful. "I never heard of something like that. What were you doing exactly?"
Minako hesitated and looked prudently at her guardian, a little sheepish.
"We were kissing," she confessed.
She didn't miss Artemis' little chuckle.
"Well," he said, "about time."
"Shut up."
"I know you were dreaming of that for a while."
"Artemis," she whined. "It's complicated. I don't even know where I stand with her now. With the memories, and the glowing thing that could have chosen another time to show up…"
"You do know that the last of your power has awakened, right?"
"Yes, now that I don't need it anymore and that if we're lucky I won't need anymore in this life. Great timing, indeed."
"Don't be like that. You said yourself that it was a wonderful thing."
"Feeling this connection with Reiko was, but…" She frowned and sighed, letting her back fall against the back of the couch. "I'm… worried."
"About Rei's feelings? You're an empath."
"Yes, but… it's not because people feel some things that they listen to it."
"She kissed you back, didn't she?"
"Yes," Minako smiled, remembering the feel of Rei's wonderful kisses, and then she frowned again. "But what if it was because of Mars' memories?"
"Please. She kissed you years ago not knowing a thing about the past life and all she has from Sailor Mars' memories is the Sphere and… well, that." Minako giggled at his discomfort. "If you're worried, why don't you talk with her about it?"
"I'm not good with words."
"That's not true."
"Yes, it is, when it's for personal things. I'm not good at relationships."
"You never had one besides Asaki."
"Exactly, and that one finished so well."
"Don't be sarcastic, it doesn't suit you. I think you underestimate yourself. You're Venus. You're Minako. You have a lot to give, you just have to found how. Rei knows you, she knows your past, she knows who you are. And you trust her, don't you? Then talk to her. Tell her what worries you, ask her what you want to know."
"You make it sounds so simple."
"It is simple."
Minako looked at him, eyes narrowed.
"What do you know that I don't?"
"You know it, you just don't want to acknowledge it."
"What?"
"You know perfectly why Venus' power finally awakened fully. You know its nature."
"Love," Minako whispered, thinking of the sensation of the energy she had called, the trigger of it.
"Exactly. The nature of the venusian guardian. Love is in your nature, Mina, believe it or not, I know that your heart is filled with it. Your love for Rei and your acceptance of it, and her love for you and what you felt coming from her were the trigger you needed. I actually think that the connection and the power you told me about are directly linked to the love you're feeling for each other. You're the first Senshi, besides Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus, to fall in love. And you're the first ones to acknowledge it and accept it. That explains why you developed that new aspect of your power, and why now."
"But Sailor Venus' powers were fully awakened too."
"Yes, but she had developed them in another way, she was using another type of love to nourish it. The love for her planet and her people. You have that too, but you needed something stronger, something that would remind you the real power of love and the trust in it that you can have if you let yourself feel. The fact that Rei's gifts mixed with yours to make that amount of energy even more powerful is what bothers me. We don't know for sure what power you can access in this life, but if you two are able to combine your gifts it could be the source of a new incredible power."
Minako tensed.
"What?"
"Well, we don't know for sure. Who knows what a martian-venusian energy could do? That power could be link with what the Sphere did to your souls. It explains how you could invoke Mars' dagger and use it. It could enhance your natural abilities, and if the link between Rei and you is what determine and nourish it… What?"
"I… think I just understood something."
"What?"
"The Sphere was made of venusian energy. Venus was the planet of love, nearly every Senshi of Venus had powers based on it. If a part of its energy found a way into my soul, then my love based powers are stronger because of it, you told it yourself, they're natural. So even if I wasn't transformed and even if I wasn't aware of having this power, the energy in my soul could have reacted to my feelings. To Rei's feelings."
"Rei was marked by it too. It's because of that that your connection with her is so strong, because of that that the alliance of your powers is extraordinary."
"Is it…" Minako couldn't bring herself to say it. "Do you think it's…"
"Mina, the love that you're feeling for her is yours. It's not the effect of the Sphere and it's not because of Venus' memories. You know that."
"I just…"
"Rei and you are linked by a strong past, both in your past life and in that one. Your souls may be linked because of all that, but your feelings are yours and only yours."
"I think… I think it's thanks to all that that the world righted itself for me a few years back. That power you were talking about could have done it. Rei and I didn't know, but we both wanted the same thing, we wanted the world to be corrected and we were getting so close… we were on the same page, maybe for the very first time and… it happened. Do you think it's possible?"
"I think that with you two, anything is possible."
Once Artemis had left, Minako went silently to the bedroom and smiled upon seeing Rei's sleeping face. She looked so tired, but peaceful. And beautiful.
Quietly, Minako went to the bathroom to change and brush her teeth. She then went to lie down beside Rei and looked at the woman for a while in the dark room, wondering what their future would be. When she felt her eyelids drooped, Minako lightly kissed Rei and closed her eyes, feeling better than she had in a long time.
And either thanks to her empathy or to their linked souls, she knew that Rei was feeling the same peaceful emotion that was in her heart.
None of them dreamed of their past life that night.