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Aino Minako and Her Amazingly Fabulous Search For A Boyfriend
A Minakofic
Authors: Moogle (moogle@fanforce.net)
Kate B (kateb@moonromance.com)
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Per normal, as a work of fiction based in a universe created by another
person, the authors do not claim any material herein beyond the plot and
any created minor characters. Please don't sue us, we have a Someday to
make it to.
Since you're all big kids who clicked on this fic on your own, I'm sure
you can also handle the material discussed herein. PG would be the equivalent
rating in the capitalist society known as Hollywood. *thinks, a little bit
later* Okay, so maybe that's more like PG-13.
***
Parks in Juuban are typically rather peaceful, especially on days when
there are no youma to be seen for a thousand miles and dimensions. This particular
park was not an exception to that, with several sunbathers laying across the
grass, a few people biking and rollerblading down the path, some others walking
dogs, and... guys.
The emphasis is particular on guys, because at that precise time, said
group of guys was being monitored by one of the sunbathers, who just so happened
to be blonde and also happened to have a white cat sitting at her side. Were anyone
looking at her, they might have seen her eyebrow twitching at a frightening pace.
But then again, were anyone looking at her, the eyebrow would have probably not
been twitching in the first place.
More than likely, any girl in this one's place would have had a problem with
twitching eyebrows, as well. For although this girl was clad in the most revealing
outfit she could ever possibly find without breaking laws, she was alone, except for
the cat. Despite the fact that she showed more leg than most females have at all,
despite the fact that her halter top revealed (what her girly magazines told her was)
the perfect stomach, and despite the fact that the top left very little to the
imagination in terms of what was beneath, she was not being flocked to.
About a hundred feet away were the girls who were walking dogs. This girl
knew that they had nothing on her... except for the fact that all six of the cute
guys she had been discreetly following all day were around talking to them instead
of her.
She let out a sigh as the six guys followed the three girls with dogs off
down the path. It was a long sigh, that she had let out time and time again over
the past two years. A sigh that was hard to ignore if you were the girl's white cat,
especially when such sighs usually led to arguments.
Then, suddenly, a light went off over her head.
At that precise moment, the cat tried to start talking, but was silenced
before he even could form words. The girl lifted him up, gleefully smiling as she
pulled the cat up to her face.
"That's it! Aino Minako is going into the business of walking dogs!"
For Artemis, the response was already mechanic.
"Oh, boy."
***
Mission I: Dogwalking
***
Elsewhere in the city of Tokyo, things were shaping up to be a normal
Monday afternoon. The sun was shining, warm and bright, just warm enough to make
those who did not happen to be sunbathing care to seek shelter inside familiar
air-conditioned locales. Which, in the case of the four girls sipping at
fruit-flavored slushies, happened to be the Crown Fruit Parlor.
In particular, one of the girls - a small, slender blonde with her hair
balled in twin 'odongos' with long, flowing pigtails at the end - glanced about
the group a few times,as though she was confused. She bit her lower lip, blinked
bright blue eyes, then furrowed her brow. "Ne, ne, minna-chan!" she requested of
the others, causing them to glance up from the 'Teen Pop' magazine they were
collectively flipping throgh. "Where's Minako-chan?"
The brunette frowned noticeably as she leaned back in her seat. "I called
her house to invite her out," Makoto sighed, shrugging her shoulders as she did
so, "but there was no answer." She took a long swig of her strawberry smoothie.
"I don't know where she could be."
Ami chimed in. "She hasn't been out with us since before I went to
Urawa-kun's. I remember, because school was out, and - "
"Yare yare..." grumbled the raven-haired Shinto priestess. Then, a good-natured
teasing smile crossed her face as she winked. "Ne, Ami-chan... you really must have
gotten a lot from him if you're STILL talking about it..."
The blue-haired girl blushed completely red, lowering her head to study the
floor and her shifting feet. To her credit, she tried to stutter out a response. "Uh,
well, we... uh, that is, we, uh..."
Rei's evil grin widened. "So, was he... g- HEY!"
The world may never know if Ami was going to be able to form a coherent sentence
in response to the question Rei was about to ask, because at that moment, Makoto planted
her elbow into Rei's side.
Ami looked up long enough to nod thanks to the brunette, but paused when she saw
the look in Makoto's eyes. Well, she thought with a sigh, at least she'd escape
humiliation in front of the others. With that she resumed her quiet ponderance of the
nature of linoleum floor tiles.
Tsukino Usagi, who had been eagerly awaiting details from Ami, quickly shifted
her focus back to the previous subject, pounding her fist on the table as she wrinkled
her nose. "Minna, I'm serious!" she snapped sternly, her blue eyes lowering to a glare
as she spoke. "Minako-chan has been acting weird, and we all know it! She never goes
out with the group on Friday nights, and..."
Rei glanced dubiously at her best friend. "Usagi-chan, who exactly is in our
'group' on Friday nights?" she questioned, desperately trying to avoid sounding
patronizing - not that Usagi would have noticed if she had.
"Ara, there's Mamo-chan and I," began the future Queen of Crystal Tokyo,
counting on her fingers as she spoke, "and Yuuchirou and Rei-chan..." She frowned,
glancing at the ceiling to concentrate, "and then Shinozuki and Mako-chan, and Motoki
with Reika..." She looked over at the genius across the table, who was still blushing.
"And then there's Ami-chan, who almost always stays in and calls Urawa-kun on Fr..."
She trailed off, realization dawning slowly across her face.
The brunette nodded slowly, also understanding. "Now I see it, too," she
breathed, a small, almost sad smile crossing her face.
Usagi frowned, looking across to Makoto. "But, ne, why would Minako be upset
that we never invite Urawa to come out with us?"
The room shook from the collective facevault, although all of the smoothies
survived intact.
"Usagi no baka!" shot Rei after a brief moment, sitting up and glowering at
the blonde. "Minako is lonely! Minako doesn't have a guy to be out with!" Incomprehension
mixed with demure innocence washed across the lithe girl's face, and the fiery priestess
found herself resisting the urge to throttle her friend. "Minako. Wants. A. Boyfriend!"
The blonde blinked. Twice.
Her friends stared at her expectantly, hoping that she would pick up on the
point that they had been trying to make... Ami glanced at her watch - for the past five
minutes.
"Oh. Right." Usagi looked around, then her eyes blazed defiantly. "Well, all I
have to say is, that she'd better not think of trying to steal my Mamo-chan!"
Rei sighed heavily. Then, she mused, 'I hope Minako-chan can find a boyfriend
on her own... I'm afraid of what THIS bunch might find for her...'
***
Typically, Minako had a fairly round head on her shoulders. Well, okay, so maybe
she only had a round head on her shoulders when it didn't come to love, dogs, life in
general, and any kind of thinking on days that end in 'y'. Regardless, she was not
picking up on the possible reasons why no one was letting her walk their dog, and was
as a result becoming quite frustrated with herself and life in general.
Perhaps, if she had taken the time to consider, she would have realized that
she probably did not come across as the most trustworthy girl, as she was still wearing
the ultra-skimpy sunbather attire. It also might have occurred to her that maybe the
people who said that they didn't have dogs, really didn't have dogs, and that
screaming and yelling at them and threatening to barge into their house was probably
not the best of ideas.
However, this was not to be. For Minako, no matter how much she yelled at her
friends about it, and no matter how much she may have disliked stereotypes, was certainly
a stereotypical blonde. Perhaps even moreso than a stereotypical blonde, because her chosen
hairstyle meant that she had enough hair for about five blondes.
While this may have been a detriment to the blonde's success in her quest (either
to find a dog to walk, or to find a boyfriend,) it was certainly no detriment to her
resolve. Of course, to Minako, it was not being oblivious to reality, it was being THAT
dedicated to finding a boyfriend.
To that end, she was presently leaning up against the side of a building, stooped
over a bit with her hands on her knees, to catch her breath. She hadn't really MEANT to
make them threaten to call the police on her, of course, but that was how it happened anyway.
Either way, Minako made the mental note to avoid that entire block in any future trips
to look for dogs to walk.
Fortunately, her house was on the other side of town, as either by intentional
design or complete accident, Minako had ended up farther away from her house as her reactions
to the houses without need of a dogwalker became more extreme.
"That," she huffed, "did not go very well."
Artemis peeked his head out of Minako's bag. "Maybe it would have gone better if -"
"Shut up! I don't need any advice from cats about dogs, and I CERTAINLY don't need
advice about getting guys from a male... cat."
The white cat put a pained look on his face. "You cut me deep, Aino. Real deep."
The blonde grinned. "Deeper than any knife, baka." Then she stuffed his head back
into the bag and zipped it mostly closed. Just enough, in fact, that he could not stick his
head through and mock her plight.
A plight it was indeed, though no one besides Minako realized it. This, she knew, was
due to the fact that they all had boyfriends already. For a brief second she thought of Ami,
and of her blue-haired friend's two-year relationship through the distance with Urawa. She
smirked, because, as the Senshi of Love, she knew what had gone on there. But, she couldn't
help but feel a twinge of envy, either. Envy, because deep down, she wished... she wished
she could have a boyfriend with whom she shared a mutual, deep love, that she could
do that with.
All of which made her quest that much more urgent. Because Minako was well aware of
the fact that every second that passed potentially meant that another guy - maybe even the
only one she was meant for - was either taken or dead or suffering from amnesia or something
equally grim. Logic had long passed from Minako; she was now driven by what anyone else in
the world would see as pure insanity.
But no, she thought to herself as she blinked and got back on track, she wasn't
driven by insanity. She was driven by her calling for true love.
Engrossed in her quest, Minako never even noticed that she had somehow - but not on
purpose, oh no, of course it wasn't on purpose - dropped the bag that contained Artemis.
He was probably better off on his own for a while, anyway.
***
It was a much more frazzled Minako, still without and not missing Artemis, who
staggered around the corner to the street where she made her residence a couple of hours
later. In that time she had walked most of Tokyo, looking for dogwalkers, looking for people
who needed dogs walked, anything. But in the entire time she hadn't found a single one of either.
It was almost as if there was a sort of reverse magnetic effect around Minako, she
decided, one that made sure that dogs would stay away from her since she was on a mission
to find dogs that were in need of walking. She was sure that it was Fate testing her - that,
or laughing at her. Perhaps some of both.
She scanned up and down the street, looking for doghouses, "Beware of Dog" signs,
anything that might represent a clue that there was a dog on her very own block. She realized
that, although this should have been the first place she looked, it was, in fact,
the very last. With that realization she hoped that she would end up saving the best for last.
The blonde was completely ready to get started on the next phase of her mission...
except for the fact that she was wearing next to nothing, and it was starting to get
cold outside. Luckily, she realized, she was near home, and so with a slight alteration
of course she made her way to her house, where her parents were (quite fortunately) not
home. Not that the chewing-out they would have given her would have deterred her from her
plan of action, of course, but it would have been a hindrance she did not need or want to deal with.
In entering her house, selecting a new outfit, changing into it, and fixing her
hair back to the way it should be, she thought that she must have broken a record for
speed with respect to a female changing outfits. This, of course, due to the urgency of her
mission, she decided.
An hour later, she emerged back onto the sidewalk, wearing a shirt that was a bit
more modest, although no less tight when it came down to it. Instead of the incredibly
short shorts she was previously wearing, she was now in a pair of jeans, which, of
course, showed off her hips. She rationalized that she was in fact better off than
before, because now she knew that she was showing off herself without looking like
she was trying to show off.
Or so she told herself.
She scanned the street again, and immediately decided that, without a doubt,
there was some higher power who was presently laughing at her. For as soon as she
found herself on the sidewalk again, there walked a little kid with two dogs on leashes,
right down her very block.
The Senshi of Love started towards the kid, who was perhaps all of nine years
old, if even that much. She didn't really know why she was walking towards the kid at
first, or what she was expecting to do, but she began figuring that out as she moved
towards him at a
brisk pace.
Whatever happened, she needed those dogs. Needed them, because otherwise she
might never achieve true happiness.
Problem: Kid was walking in the opposite direction.
Problem: Kid was speeding up upon seeing crazed blonde heading towards him.
Problem: Kid was far too young for Minako to apply her charms.
Problem: Kid was female, anyway.
Problem: Kid would have to be bribed; Minako had no money.
Having isolated her difficulties, she solved those she could, by speeding up
once more and ending up along side of the girl.
"Hi, there!" she cheerily exclaimed, trying to appear as though she wasn't insane.
Maybe she wasn't doing such a bad job, because the girl stopped to regard her
curiously. "Hello," the girl replied politely, nodding her head.
Minako beamed. "Those are two nice-looking dogs."
The younger girl blinked. "Thanks."
Suddenly the blonde was not so friendly. "Look, girlie, I've had about enough of
your crap, so let's cut to the chase. Whose dogs are those?"
"Um, they're the nice old lady's who lives right over-"
"I said I've had enough of your crap!" snapped Minako, an action that startled
the poor little girl who was suffering from an awful case of wrong-place, wrong-time.
"Now look at me, missy, I'm only going to ask you this one more time - what would it
take you to give me those leashes and walk the dogs for you?"
There are probably a thousand reasons why the little girl could have run screaming
away from the blonde who had been seized by insanity. However, none of them occurred to
the little girl at that moment, because her eyes were caught on something in particular. The
girl was staring at the big red bow in Minako's hair.
Seeing the girl staring, Minako continued rambling. "If you want money, don't
think I'll be holding out when it comes to money. I need to walk dogs, do you understand?
NEED. So I'll give you something that you want - anything! Just let me walk the dogs..."
By the end, the blonde had tears streaming down her cheeks, but the girl was still fixed upon the bow.
"Give me that pretty red bow in your hair."
"WHAT?!?!"
It should be noted that it was more the shock of the girl wanting merely
Minako's bow than Minako not wanting to give up her bow, that caused the exclamation.
"Your bow is really pretty, so I'll let you walk the dogs if you give it to me
and promise that you'll return them to the nice old lady," the girl explained.
Naturally, Minako could hardly believe her luck. She was fully ready to part
with a significant amount of yen, certainly more than the girl could comprehend.
Instead, all the blonde would have to give up would be her red bow. Her red bow,
that had served her faithfully through thick and thin, through rain and shine, through
good times and bad times. Her red bow that carried with it so many sentimental
memories that it could truly never be replaced. Indeed, it was never even a contest...
"Okay, okay, deal," replied Minako frantically, reaching up her hands to
undo the bow, as though the girl were going to run away if she didn't do it quick
enough. "Here's your bow, enjoy, have a nice life, hand over the dogs, please?"
The younger girl handed over the dog leashes then took the bow and
disappeared around the corner.
It was then that the blonde first took a look at the dogs she had taken
custody of, and immediately realized she should have done so sooner. For Minako
held the leashes to two dogs that easily weighed a hundred and twenty-five pounds each.
She grasped the leashes tentatively at first, trying not to set the dogs
into a barking rage. "Heh, um, nice doggies?" she offered, unsure what else to
say. Maybe she was succeeding, she thought, because the dogs were not offering
any resistance. "Well, uh, let's
be on our merry way, shall we?"
The long-haired blonde, her hair even longer without the bow holding
some of it up, actually managed to control the dogs for a few steps. Maybe she
even would have been able to keep that control for longer, except after those
few steps, Mr. Murphy waltzed on by with a pair of dogs of his own, both happening
to have pink bows about their necks as well as very cleanly trimmed coats.
Poor Minako had only a couple of seconds to react after she registered
the female dogs and that the dogs on the leashes she was holding were starting
to wag their tails and pant.
As it ended up, the screaming started at the same exact moment the
barking and howling and chasing started.
Yes, it was definitely good that Artemis was not there for that.
***
Darkness had fallen by the time the blonde made her way back to the
street she lived on. She was certainly much worse for wear, at least with
respect to her quest to find a boyfriend as a result of having those dogs
with her. There were two reasons for this.
One, she had been to what seemed like Hell and back. Her long,
golden hair now had various bits of garbage strewn through it. The face
of an idol, the face she took so much pride in, was smudged by dirt and
old food and more dirt, as well as residue from many more unidentifiable
substances. None of her clothing escaped unscathed either.
Two, and perhaps more importantly, in the entire time she had been
gone, she had not seen a single boy her age. Not even one who wasn't all
that cute. Just none. Minako had thought she would pass a jogging athlete,
perhaps, maybe some hot guy also happening to be walking a dog... So
desperate was she that she even would have settled for seeing some geeky kid
walking out to his mailbox to get the mail.
Alas, this was not to be. The hopelessness of what had just happened to
Minako, being dragged halfway through Tokyo on a fruitless chase for two female
dogs, through trashy alleys and under sprinklers and over streets, was almost
enough for her to lose her resolve
in her quest.
Almost. Because she knew that she, Aino Minako, was made of tougher
stuff than that, and she could take such minor setbacks when the end result
was true love.
Naturally, the irony of the situation was completely lost on the poor
blonde. Not that she'd have found it funny even if someone clued her in.
"I hate dogs," she said to no one in particular, although she didn't mean
it. Actually, these two particular dogs, Maxwell and Rembrandt, weren't really
that bad when they weren't leading her in a wild goose chase across the entirety
of Tokyo. In fact, she could probably get to like them soon enough, which was good
because even once the chase was over she still had to make her way BACK to where
she had started.
Of course, this was still far easier than getting there. No different
than usual, getting there was not half the fun. It was no freaking fun at all.
One of the dogs, she still couldn't tell them apart yet, stopped and turned
to stare at her. Then he barked once. The other dog did the same.
Minako blinked. "Alright, can't you just speak English or something? I
really don't understand Dog Barking," she said sternly.
Maxwell, or maybe it was Rembrandt, turned his head to the side and whined.
Rembrandt, or maybe it was Maxwell, followed suit quickly.
She peered to see what they were looking at, then she finally realized her
surroundings and blushed. "Um, this is your home, isn't it?" Without noticing where
she was going she had ended up on her own street again.
Both dogs barked in response. Minako could have sworn that the dogs were
understanding every single word she said, and were in fact mocking her, but considering
all that she'd been through that day it makes a bit more sense.
The blonde turned to walk up towards the door - and ran straight into the closed
gate she had failed to notice before, falling backwards and flailing her arms and hair
about before landing straight on her rear.
"Don't even start," she scowled at the two dogs before they could even turn to
look at her with expressions she would have construed as amused. "I meant to do that,"
she added, although not even she believed that much.
The blonde turned to walk up towards the door, this time taking care to open
the gate that was in front of her, the two canines trailing along behind her, more
tranquil than they had been on the entire journey back to the house.
"Hey, neither of you know what this nice old lady's name is, do you?"
Silence.
"Silly me. I should have known better." She sighed, then made her way up the
steps and to the door, ever so softly pressing down the button for the doorbell.
What followed was a not-quite-textbook example of one of Newton's Laws.
The action was that, as soon as Minako's finger left the doorbell, whistles,
klaxons, alarms, sirens, and horns of all types popped out of various panels in the
walls of the house. The equal and opposite reaction came in the form of Minako leaping
through midair to land behind a conveniently placed porch chair and begin shaking in her shoes.
A deadpan voice announced from a previously unseen loudspeaker, "Congratulations
for being the SECOND visitor today. You will be awarded your prize within three point
one four one five nine seconds."
Of course, it took Minako longer than the stated amount of time to determine the
significance of that particular number, so the door to the house swung open while she
was still trying to react to the fact that she had been scared completely and utterly
out of her mind.
Curiously enough, both dogs seemed unfazed by all of the ruckus and trotted into
the house as soon as the path was open to them.
"Oh, Maxwell, Rembrandt, you're home safe! I was starting to get worried about
you!" Minako heard a voice inside shout. This quickly just devolved into nothing but
incoherent coos and barks. For a second, Minako almost felt bad about taking so long
to get the dogs back to the old woman. Almost, that is.
The blonde turned to tiptoe her way off the porch and quietly get home, but
she was cut off en route by a shrill cry from the woman. "Wait, wait, little girl!
I still need to pay you for walking my little dogs!" She turned to see a short,
frail-looking woman, the two dogs frolicking happily about her, and just gaped.
"Are you sure you wouldn't like to come in for some tea or some cookies?" asked
the woman, who was clearly not looking at Minako.
"Uh, thanks for the offer, really, but I actually have to be going..."
stammered the blonde, who at that point decided she had better things to be doing
than listen to some crazy old woman ramble on and on. Unfortunately, letting this
one get away was not on the
agenda of the curious lady.
"Going?" The woman turned again, still addressing Minako yet obviously
not facing her. "Oh, come on now. I'm sure that whatever you're looking for can't
possibly be made worse by some nice tea and some warm cookies."
Minako blushed. She felt uncomfortable about telling this old lady that she
was out searching for a boyfriend, yet before she could stop herself, she had done
just that. "Ah, thank you, miss, but I really don't think tea and cookies could
help me find a boyfriend..."
At this, the woman paused for a second, then smiled. "Aha! I knew you
weren't little Kaoru-chan... what did you do with her, young lady?" The question
might have sounded like an accusation, except for the warm smile on the older woman's face.
"Heh, um, well, I kind of bribed her with my hair bow to let me have the
dogs - see, I thought if I was walking around with a couple of dogs, then a cute
boy might stop and talk to... me..."
She trailed off when the peals of laughter began erupting from the old
woman. "Oh, my! If that's not the silliest thing I ever heard! Oh, thank you for
that laugh so much, um, who are you?"
"Aino Minako, miss," the blonde said as she began shifting her feet
around, very apparently embarrassed that the woman was finding so much amusement
in her planning.
"Aino Minako... such a lovely name. Can I call you Minako-chan?" Without
waiting to see if Minako responded - the old lady was looking the wrong way
anyway - she continued, "Are you sure you don't want to come inside for some
tea and some cookies? It's just that I get so lonely sometimes, the only person
who visits is my grandson, lovely boy that he is, and another nice boy who
stopped by today..."
Though she was engaged in the most insane scheme that she had ever cooked
up, on the inside, Minako was still Minako, after all, and she could not help but
feel sorry for someone who was older than her yet also far more lonely. Beyond
that, in the back of her mind she remained aware that maybe, just maybe, these
'boys' the old woman was talking about were not made up and one of them might be
boyfriend material.
Putting on her brightest smile, which she was fast realizing was probably
a gesture lost on this poor soul, she replied, "Sure, miss! I'd love to!"
***
Aside from the fact that she was inside some old lady's house with not
even a single member of the male gender around, Minako actually wasn't too
miserable about being dragged along to drink tea and eat cookies with a lonely
old lady. This was helped greatly by the tea being herbal, which calmed her
down, and also that the cookies were really, really good. After all, she decided,
could anyone in their right mind turn down tea and cookies?
"Oh, it is so nice of you to come and talk with me, Minako-chan,"
the woman - Minako still hadn't learned her name - was saying in a passionate
voice. "I have just been so alone here since my husband passed away a year ago."
"I'm sorry," Minako whispered, because she wasn't sure what else to say.
The woman smiled. "Don't be. I was blessed to have him for as long as
I did, to have him at all, really. He wouldn't have wanted me to be sad."
In her sudden desire to make the old lady less lonely, a couple of things
had failed to occur to Minako. For one, she never wondered why the old lady
suddenly changed when talking about more serious things. And two, she never
wondered how a woman who seemed to be blind could heat tea and bake. Yet instead
all the blonde wanted was to hear more of the woman talking about her
husband - maybe then, she thought, she could hear more about what she
wanted the perfect boyfriend to be like.
"How did you meet him?"
"Actually," the woman replied matter-of-factly, "he lived in your house
on this very street."
"What?!" the blonde exclaimed, incredulous.
The old lady chuckled. "It was after the Second World War, and the
Americans and others had their military forces in our country. Well, my
husband was one of them, but when his enlistment period expired he chose to
stay living here, and he ended up living right across the street, where you live now."
"Wait, so he lived across the street? How did you actually meet him?"
Minako asked, as she picked up her teacup to take a sip out of it.
"Oh!" Another chuckle. "He came to me. I was walking down the street
with the family dog, and --"
Minako facevaulted straight onto the floor, adding tea stains to the
already disheveled appearance of her shirt.
"What's wrong, Minako-chan? Did something happen?"
Of course, Minako could have told the woman about the events of the
day. At least she could have told enough to make the woman understand why she
reacted the way she did to the mentioning of walking dogs. But that would have
required tact, something that Minako was still lacking on that day. Instead,
she muttered something incoherent.
"What was that?"
"Nothing," snapped the blonde, although she immediately regretted doing so.
"Um. Well, it is kind of getting late so I should be going home. My parents are
probably getting worried and I bet my cat is, too."
"Oh. Are you sure you don't want to stay? My grandson is supposed to be
here in about ten minutes. He's such a nice boy."
Minako flashed a phony smile. "I'm sure that he is, Miss. Some other time,
though, I really do have to go." She stood up and meekly brushed herself off, then
started for the door.
The old woman seemed to sense her doing this, and moved towards the door
as well to see her off. For some reason Minako did not know, the old lady was
smiling. "Well, okay. But do be sure to stop by when you can, ne Minako-chan?"
The blonde smiled again, genuinely this time. "Sure thing," she replied
as she headed out the door.
Finally out of the clutches of the seemingly omnipresent Murphy, Minako
quickly jaywalked across her street, made it into her house, and dashed straight
up to her room.
Some celestial being must have been using Minako as a source of amusement
that day, for no sooner than her front door had closed, did an athletic young man
about her age come walking down her street. This fellow, wearing navy-colored
warm-up pants and jacket and carrying a volleyball under one of his arms, walked
along the sidewalk until turning to enter the very house Minako had just left.
He was surprised to see the old woman waiting on the porch for him.
"Hi, Grandma!" he exclaimed, waving at her.
"Oh, you should have been here a couple of minutes ago, Asai-kun. There was
the nicest young lady here, and I know how you're looking for a girlfriend since
the last one dumped you..."
"Sure there was, Grandma. Sure there was. You'll have to introduce me
some other time," he said as he chuckled. Then he gave the woman a big hug and
walked into the house.
***
Finally, Minako was in the safety of her own house. Her room, in particular,
a place she could count on to not have any crazy dogs, a place where she wouldn't
worry about looking for males...
"Glad to see you finally made it home."
...except for that one.
"And just where were you all day, Mister?" she demanded.
The cat sweatdropped. "You mean AFTER you dropped me in the middle of the
street? I actually was quite fine. I visited Luna and a couple of others and then
came back here, obviously long before
you managed to make it home."
"Heh heh heh... uh, did I really drop you in the middle of the street?"
"The sidewalk, actually. But yes, you dropped me."
"Er... oops? Heh heh... uh..."
Artemis opened his mouth to further rebuke his charge, when the phone rang.
Minako immediately dashed to answer the phone. "Moshi moshi?"
"Minako-chan? You're finally home!" exclaimed the female voice on the other end.
"Hi, Mako-chan! Sorry if you've been calling all day. I was on a mission."
"Mission?" inquired the brunette. "What sort of mission?"
The blonde took a deep breath, then proceeded to regale Makoto with a
summary of the events of her day, including the inspiration to walk dogs, chasing
after people with dogs, giving away her bow, and being led around Tokyo by two
insane dogs.
Sweatdrops grew on the back of Makoto's head as she heard Minako continue
rambling on with her story at an Usagi-like pace. "You just... GAVE up your bow?"
she asked incredulously.
"Well, you know what they say. Seize the sunrise!" exclaimed Minako defiantly.
Makoto merely sweatdropped some more. "I think you mean seize the day, Minako-chan."
"Whatever," snapped the blonde, before realizing she was being
completely rude. "Sorry for being inconsiderate just now. Um, did you call for
something in particular?"
"Oh! Well, we all figured out today that since you probably don't hang
out with us much anymore because we all have boyfriends, that we'd have a girls
only day. It's going to be at Rei-chan's. I'm going to cook, and we're all going
to be there. No boys allowed! Come on, what do you say?"
While the blonde never would have admitted on her own that she was bothered
by her friends all having boyfriends, she was perfectly fine agreeing when someone
else made the observation. Beyond that, it made her happy to know that they were
willing to put aside their boyfriends to stay friends. Deep down she knew their
friendship ran stronger, considering they'd all died together at least once in
the last couple of years and all, but the reassurance made her feel better.
"I would love to! Just let me know more, 'kay?" she replied, beaming
broadly the entire time.
"Of course we will. So, see you then! Ja!"
Minako placed the phone back on the receiver, her mood greatly improved
from what it was before she had gotten the call from Makoto. Instead of sulking,
she actually skipped across the room to flick on her stereo. The speakers
immediately began blaring Sisqo's "The Thong Song" at a level too loud for the
poor cat.
"DO YOU THINK YOU COULD TURN THAT DOWN A BIT?!" he shouted at the top of his tiny lungs.
The blonde never heard him. No, she had already been struck by her next
bit of inspiration, and there was no stopping her once she got started. She spun,
defiantly pointing a finger at the mirror in her room.
"That's it!" she proclaimed. "It's time for Aino Minako to go clubbin'!"
Artemis facevaulted straight to the floor.
"Oh, boy."
***
E-mailing us will greatly increase the chances that we get off of our respective
tails and work on the fic some more, so please go ahead and do that. Please? Next
time, our main maiden Minako hits the clubs as her amazingly fabulous search
for a boyfriend continues!
-End
Aino Minako and Her Amazingly Fabulous Search For A Boyfriend
A Minakofic
Authors: Moogle (moogle@fanforce.net)
Kate B (kateb@moonromance.com)
========
Per normal, as a work of fiction based in a universe created by another
person, the authors do not claim any material herein beyond the plot and
any created minor characters. Please don't sue us, we have a Someday to
make it to.
Since you're all big kids who clicked on this fic on your own, I'm sure
you can also handle the material discussed herein. PG would be the equivalent
rating in the capitalist society known as Hollywood. *thinks, a little bit
later* Okay, so maybe that's more like PG-13.
***
Parks in Juuban are typically rather peaceful, especially on days when
there are no youma to be seen for a thousand miles and dimensions. This particular
park was not an exception to that, with several sunbathers laying across the
grass, a few people biking and rollerblading down the path, some others walking
dogs, and... guys.
The emphasis is particular on guys, because at that precise time, said
group of guys was being monitored by one of the sunbathers, who just so happened
to be blonde and also happened to have a white cat sitting at her side. Were anyone
looking at her, they might have seen her eyebrow twitching at a frightening pace.
But then again, were anyone looking at her, the eyebrow would have probably not
been twitching in the first place.
More than likely, any girl in this one's place would have had a problem with
twitching eyebrows, as well. For although this girl was clad in the most revealing
outfit she could ever possibly find without breaking laws, she was alone, except for
the cat. Despite the fact that she showed more leg than most females have at all,
despite the fact that her halter top revealed (what her girly magazines told her was)
the perfect stomach, and despite the fact that the top left very little to the
imagination in terms of what was beneath, she was not being flocked to.
About a hundred feet away were the girls who were walking dogs. This girl
knew that they had nothing on her... except for the fact that all six of the cute
guys she had been discreetly following all day were around talking to them instead
of her.
She let out a sigh as the six guys followed the three girls with dogs off
down the path. It was a long sigh, that she had let out time and time again over
the past two years. A sigh that was hard to ignore if you were the girl's white cat,
especially when such sighs usually led to arguments.
Then, suddenly, a light went off over her head.
At that precise moment, the cat tried to start talking, but was silenced
before he even could form words. The girl lifted him up, gleefully smiling as she
pulled the cat up to her face.
"That's it! Aino Minako is going into the business of walking dogs!"
For Artemis, the response was already mechanic.
"Oh, boy."
***
Mission I: Dogwalking
***
Elsewhere in the city of Tokyo, things were shaping up to be a normal
Monday afternoon. The sun was shining, warm and bright, just warm enough to make
those who did not happen to be sunbathing care to seek shelter inside familiar
air-conditioned locales. Which, in the case of the four girls sipping at
fruit-flavored slushies, happened to be the Crown Fruit Parlor.
In particular, one of the girls - a small, slender blonde with her hair
balled in twin 'odongos' with long, flowing pigtails at the end - glanced about
the group a few times,as though she was confused. She bit her lower lip, blinked
bright blue eyes, then furrowed her brow. "Ne, ne, minna-chan!" she requested of
the others, causing them to glance up from the 'Teen Pop' magazine they were
collectively flipping throgh. "Where's Minako-chan?"
The brunette frowned noticeably as she leaned back in her seat. "I called
her house to invite her out," Makoto sighed, shrugging her shoulders as she did
so, "but there was no answer." She took a long swig of her strawberry smoothie.
"I don't know where she could be."
Ami chimed in. "She hasn't been out with us since before I went to
Urawa-kun's. I remember, because school was out, and - "
"Yare yare..." grumbled the raven-haired Shinto priestess. Then, a good-natured
teasing smile crossed her face as she winked. "Ne, Ami-chan... you really must have
gotten a lot from him if you're STILL talking about it..."
The blue-haired girl blushed completely red, lowering her head to study the
floor and her shifting feet. To her credit, she tried to stutter out a response. "Uh,
well, we... uh, that is, we, uh..."
Rei's evil grin widened. "So, was he... g- HEY!"
The world may never know if Ami was going to be able to form a coherent sentence
in response to the question Rei was about to ask, because at that moment, Makoto planted
her elbow into Rei's side.
Ami looked up long enough to nod thanks to the brunette, but paused when she saw
the look in Makoto's eyes. Well, she thought with a sigh, at least she'd escape
humiliation in front of the others. With that she resumed her quiet ponderance of the
nature of linoleum floor tiles.
Tsukino Usagi, who had been eagerly awaiting details from Ami, quickly shifted
her focus back to the previous subject, pounding her fist on the table as she wrinkled
her nose. "Minna, I'm serious!" she snapped sternly, her blue eyes lowering to a glare
as she spoke. "Minako-chan has been acting weird, and we all know it! She never goes
out with the group on Friday nights, and..."
Rei glanced dubiously at her best friend. "Usagi-chan, who exactly is in our
'group' on Friday nights?" she questioned, desperately trying to avoid sounding
patronizing - not that Usagi would have noticed if she had.
"Ara, there's Mamo-chan and I," began the future Queen of Crystal Tokyo,
counting on her fingers as she spoke, "and Yuuchirou and Rei-chan..." She frowned,
glancing at the ceiling to concentrate, "and then Shinozuki and Mako-chan, and Motoki
with Reika..." She looked over at the genius across the table, who was still blushing.
"And then there's Ami-chan, who almost always stays in and calls Urawa-kun on Fr..."
She trailed off, realization dawning slowly across her face.
The brunette nodded slowly, also understanding. "Now I see it, too," she
breathed, a small, almost sad smile crossing her face.
Usagi frowned, looking across to Makoto. "But, ne, why would Minako be upset
that we never invite Urawa to come out with us?"
The room shook from the collective facevault, although all of the smoothies
survived intact.
"Usagi no baka!" shot Rei after a brief moment, sitting up and glowering at
the blonde. "Minako is lonely! Minako doesn't have a guy to be out with!" Incomprehension
mixed with demure innocence washed across the lithe girl's face, and the fiery priestess
found herself resisting the urge to throttle her friend. "Minako. Wants. A. Boyfriend!"
The blonde blinked. Twice.
Her friends stared at her expectantly, hoping that she would pick up on the
point that they had been trying to make... Ami glanced at her watch - for the past five
minutes.
"Oh. Right." Usagi looked around, then her eyes blazed defiantly. "Well, all I
have to say is, that she'd better not think of trying to steal my Mamo-chan!"
Rei sighed heavily. Then, she mused, 'I hope Minako-chan can find a boyfriend
on her own... I'm afraid of what THIS bunch might find for her...'
***
Typically, Minako had a fairly round head on her shoulders. Well, okay, so maybe
she only had a round head on her shoulders when it didn't come to love, dogs, life in
general, and any kind of thinking on days that end in 'y'. Regardless, she was not
picking up on the possible reasons why no one was letting her walk their dog, and was
as a result becoming quite frustrated with herself and life in general.
Perhaps, if she had taken the time to consider, she would have realized that
she probably did not come across as the most trustworthy girl, as she was still wearing
the ultra-skimpy sunbather attire. It also might have occurred to her that maybe the
people who said that they didn't have dogs, really didn't have dogs, and that
screaming and yelling at them and threatening to barge into their house was probably
not the best of ideas.
However, this was not to be. For Minako, no matter how much she yelled at her
friends about it, and no matter how much she may have disliked stereotypes, was certainly
a stereotypical blonde. Perhaps even moreso than a stereotypical blonde, because her chosen
hairstyle meant that she had enough hair for about five blondes.
While this may have been a detriment to the blonde's success in her quest (either
to find a dog to walk, or to find a boyfriend,) it was certainly no detriment to her
resolve. Of course, to Minako, it was not being oblivious to reality, it was being THAT
dedicated to finding a boyfriend.
To that end, she was presently leaning up against the side of a building, stooped
over a bit with her hands on her knees, to catch her breath. She hadn't really MEANT to
make them threaten to call the police on her, of course, but that was how it happened anyway.
Either way, Minako made the mental note to avoid that entire block in any future trips
to look for dogs to walk.
Fortunately, her house was on the other side of town, as either by intentional
design or complete accident, Minako had ended up farther away from her house as her reactions
to the houses without need of a dogwalker became more extreme.
"That," she huffed, "did not go very well."
Artemis peeked his head out of Minako's bag. "Maybe it would have gone better if -"
"Shut up! I don't need any advice from cats about dogs, and I CERTAINLY don't need
advice about getting guys from a male... cat."
The white cat put a pained look on his face. "You cut me deep, Aino. Real deep."
The blonde grinned. "Deeper than any knife, baka." Then she stuffed his head back
into the bag and zipped it mostly closed. Just enough, in fact, that he could not stick his
head through and mock her plight.
A plight it was indeed, though no one besides Minako realized it. This, she knew, was
due to the fact that they all had boyfriends already. For a brief second she thought of Ami,
and of her blue-haired friend's two-year relationship through the distance with Urawa. She
smirked, because, as the Senshi of Love, she knew what had gone on there. But, she couldn't
help but feel a twinge of envy, either. Envy, because deep down, she wished... she wished
she could have a boyfriend with whom she shared a mutual, deep love, that she could
do that with.
All of which made her quest that much more urgent. Because Minako was well aware of
the fact that every second that passed potentially meant that another guy - maybe even the
only one she was meant for - was either taken or dead or suffering from amnesia or something
equally grim. Logic had long passed from Minako; she was now driven by what anyone else in
the world would see as pure insanity.
But no, she thought to herself as she blinked and got back on track, she wasn't
driven by insanity. She was driven by her calling for true love.
Engrossed in her quest, Minako never even noticed that she had somehow - but not on
purpose, oh no, of course it wasn't on purpose - dropped the bag that contained Artemis.
He was probably better off on his own for a while, anyway.
***
It was a much more frazzled Minako, still without and not missing Artemis, who
staggered around the corner to the street where she made her residence a couple of hours
later. In that time she had walked most of Tokyo, looking for dogwalkers, looking for people
who needed dogs walked, anything. But in the entire time she hadn't found a single one of either.
It was almost as if there was a sort of reverse magnetic effect around Minako, she
decided, one that made sure that dogs would stay away from her since she was on a mission
to find dogs that were in need of walking. She was sure that it was Fate testing her - that,
or laughing at her. Perhaps some of both.
She scanned up and down the street, looking for doghouses, "Beware of Dog" signs,
anything that might represent a clue that there was a dog on her very own block. She realized
that, although this should have been the first place she looked, it was, in fact,
the very last. With that realization she hoped that she would end up saving the best for last.
The blonde was completely ready to get started on the next phase of her mission...
except for the fact that she was wearing next to nothing, and it was starting to get
cold outside. Luckily, she realized, she was near home, and so with a slight alteration
of course she made her way to her house, where her parents were (quite fortunately) not
home. Not that the chewing-out they would have given her would have deterred her from her
plan of action, of course, but it would have been a hindrance she did not need or want to deal with.
In entering her house, selecting a new outfit, changing into it, and fixing her
hair back to the way it should be, she thought that she must have broken a record for
speed with respect to a female changing outfits. This, of course, due to the urgency of her
mission, she decided.
An hour later, she emerged back onto the sidewalk, wearing a shirt that was a bit
more modest, although no less tight when it came down to it. Instead of the incredibly
short shorts she was previously wearing, she was now in a pair of jeans, which, of
course, showed off her hips. She rationalized that she was in fact better off than
before, because now she knew that she was showing off herself without looking like
she was trying to show off.
Or so she told herself.
She scanned the street again, and immediately decided that, without a doubt,
there was some higher power who was presently laughing at her. For as soon as she
found herself on the sidewalk again, there walked a little kid with two dogs on leashes,
right down her very block.
The Senshi of Love started towards the kid, who was perhaps all of nine years
old, if even that much. She didn't really know why she was walking towards the kid at
first, or what she was expecting to do, but she began figuring that out as she moved
towards him at a
brisk pace.
Whatever happened, she needed those dogs. Needed them, because otherwise she
might never achieve true happiness.
Problem: Kid was walking in the opposite direction.
Problem: Kid was speeding up upon seeing crazed blonde heading towards him.
Problem: Kid was far too young for Minako to apply her charms.
Problem: Kid was female, anyway.
Problem: Kid would have to be bribed; Minako had no money.
Having isolated her difficulties, she solved those she could, by speeding up
once more and ending up along side of the girl.
"Hi, there!" she cheerily exclaimed, trying to appear as though she wasn't insane.
Maybe she wasn't doing such a bad job, because the girl stopped to regard her
curiously. "Hello," the girl replied politely, nodding her head.
Minako beamed. "Those are two nice-looking dogs."
The younger girl blinked. "Thanks."
Suddenly the blonde was not so friendly. "Look, girlie, I've had about enough of
your crap, so let's cut to the chase. Whose dogs are those?"
"Um, they're the nice old lady's who lives right over-"
"I said I've had enough of your crap!" snapped Minako, an action that startled
the poor little girl who was suffering from an awful case of wrong-place, wrong-time.
"Now look at me, missy, I'm only going to ask you this one more time - what would it
take you to give me those leashes and walk the dogs for you?"
There are probably a thousand reasons why the little girl could have run screaming
away from the blonde who had been seized by insanity. However, none of them occurred to
the little girl at that moment, because her eyes were caught on something in particular. The
girl was staring at the big red bow in Minako's hair.
Seeing the girl staring, Minako continued rambling. "If you want money, don't
think I'll be holding out when it comes to money. I need to walk dogs, do you understand?
NEED. So I'll give you something that you want - anything! Just let me walk the dogs..."
By the end, the blonde had tears streaming down her cheeks, but the girl was still fixed upon the bow.
"Give me that pretty red bow in your hair."
"WHAT?!?!"
It should be noted that it was more the shock of the girl wanting merely
Minako's bow than Minako not wanting to give up her bow, that caused the exclamation.
"Your bow is really pretty, so I'll let you walk the dogs if you give it to me
and promise that you'll return them to the nice old lady," the girl explained.
Naturally, Minako could hardly believe her luck. She was fully ready to part
with a significant amount of yen, certainly more than the girl could comprehend.
Instead, all the blonde would have to give up would be her red bow. Her red bow,
that had served her faithfully through thick and thin, through rain and shine, through
good times and bad times. Her red bow that carried with it so many sentimental
memories that it could truly never be replaced. Indeed, it was never even a contest...
"Okay, okay, deal," replied Minako frantically, reaching up her hands to
undo the bow, as though the girl were going to run away if she didn't do it quick
enough. "Here's your bow, enjoy, have a nice life, hand over the dogs, please?"
The younger girl handed over the dog leashes then took the bow and
disappeared around the corner.
It was then that the blonde first took a look at the dogs she had taken
custody of, and immediately realized she should have done so sooner. For Minako
held the leashes to two dogs that easily weighed a hundred and twenty-five pounds each.
She grasped the leashes tentatively at first, trying not to set the dogs
into a barking rage. "Heh, um, nice doggies?" she offered, unsure what else to
say. Maybe she was succeeding, she thought, because the dogs were not offering
any resistance. "Well, uh, let's
be on our merry way, shall we?"
The long-haired blonde, her hair even longer without the bow holding
some of it up, actually managed to control the dogs for a few steps. Maybe she
even would have been able to keep that control for longer, except after those
few steps, Mr. Murphy waltzed on by with a pair of dogs of his own, both happening
to have pink bows about their necks as well as very cleanly trimmed coats.
Poor Minako had only a couple of seconds to react after she registered
the female dogs and that the dogs on the leashes she was holding were starting
to wag their tails and pant.
As it ended up, the screaming started at the same exact moment the
barking and howling and chasing started.
Yes, it was definitely good that Artemis was not there for that.
***
Darkness had fallen by the time the blonde made her way back to the
street she lived on. She was certainly much worse for wear, at least with
respect to her quest to find a boyfriend as a result of having those dogs
with her. There were two reasons for this.
One, she had been to what seemed like Hell and back. Her long,
golden hair now had various bits of garbage strewn through it. The face
of an idol, the face she took so much pride in, was smudged by dirt and
old food and more dirt, as well as residue from many more unidentifiable
substances. None of her clothing escaped unscathed either.
Two, and perhaps more importantly, in the entire time she had been
gone, she had not seen a single boy her age. Not even one who wasn't all
that cute. Just none. Minako had thought she would pass a jogging athlete,
perhaps, maybe some hot guy also happening to be walking a dog... So
desperate was she that she even would have settled for seeing some geeky kid
walking out to his mailbox to get the mail.
Alas, this was not to be. The hopelessness of what had just happened to
Minako, being dragged halfway through Tokyo on a fruitless chase for two female
dogs, through trashy alleys and under sprinklers and over streets, was almost
enough for her to lose her resolve
in her quest.
Almost. Because she knew that she, Aino Minako, was made of tougher
stuff than that, and she could take such minor setbacks when the end result
was true love.
Naturally, the irony of the situation was completely lost on the poor
blonde. Not that she'd have found it funny even if someone clued her in.
"I hate dogs," she said to no one in particular, although she didn't mean
it. Actually, these two particular dogs, Maxwell and Rembrandt, weren't really
that bad when they weren't leading her in a wild goose chase across the entirety
of Tokyo. In fact, she could probably get to like them soon enough, which was good
because even once the chase was over she still had to make her way BACK to where
she had started.
Of course, this was still far easier than getting there. No different
than usual, getting there was not half the fun. It was no freaking fun at all.
One of the dogs, she still couldn't tell them apart yet, stopped and turned
to stare at her. Then he barked once. The other dog did the same.
Minako blinked. "Alright, can't you just speak English or something? I
really don't understand Dog Barking," she said sternly.
Maxwell, or maybe it was Rembrandt, turned his head to the side and whined.
Rembrandt, or maybe it was Maxwell, followed suit quickly.
She peered to see what they were looking at, then she finally realized her
surroundings and blushed. "Um, this is your home, isn't it?" Without noticing where
she was going she had ended up on her own street again.
Both dogs barked in response. Minako could have sworn that the dogs were
understanding every single word she said, and were in fact mocking her, but considering
all that she'd been through that day it makes a bit more sense.
The blonde turned to walk up towards the door - and ran straight into the closed
gate she had failed to notice before, falling backwards and flailing her arms and hair
about before landing straight on her rear.
"Don't even start," she scowled at the two dogs before they could even turn to
look at her with expressions she would have construed as amused. "I meant to do that,"
she added, although not even she believed that much.
The blonde turned to walk up towards the door, this time taking care to open
the gate that was in front of her, the two canines trailing along behind her, more
tranquil than they had been on the entire journey back to the house.
"Hey, neither of you know what this nice old lady's name is, do you?"
Silence.
"Silly me. I should have known better." She sighed, then made her way up the
steps and to the door, ever so softly pressing down the button for the doorbell.
What followed was a not-quite-textbook example of one of Newton's Laws.
The action was that, as soon as Minako's finger left the doorbell, whistles,
klaxons, alarms, sirens, and horns of all types popped out of various panels in the
walls of the house. The equal and opposite reaction came in the form of Minako leaping
through midair to land behind a conveniently placed porch chair and begin shaking in her shoes.
A deadpan voice announced from a previously unseen loudspeaker, "Congratulations
for being the SECOND visitor today. You will be awarded your prize within three point
one four one five nine seconds."
Of course, it took Minako longer than the stated amount of time to determine the
significance of that particular number, so the door to the house swung open while she
was still trying to react to the fact that she had been scared completely and utterly
out of her mind.
Curiously enough, both dogs seemed unfazed by all of the ruckus and trotted into
the house as soon as the path was open to them.
"Oh, Maxwell, Rembrandt, you're home safe! I was starting to get worried about
you!" Minako heard a voice inside shout. This quickly just devolved into nothing but
incoherent coos and barks. For a second, Minako almost felt bad about taking so long
to get the dogs back to the old woman. Almost, that is.
The blonde turned to tiptoe her way off the porch and quietly get home, but
she was cut off en route by a shrill cry from the woman. "Wait, wait, little girl!
I still need to pay you for walking my little dogs!" She turned to see a short,
frail-looking woman, the two dogs frolicking happily about her, and just gaped.
"Are you sure you wouldn't like to come in for some tea or some cookies?" asked
the woman, who was clearly not looking at Minako.
"Uh, thanks for the offer, really, but I actually have to be going..."
stammered the blonde, who at that point decided she had better things to be doing
than listen to some crazy old woman ramble on and on. Unfortunately, letting this
one get away was not on the
agenda of the curious lady.
"Going?" The woman turned again, still addressing Minako yet obviously
not facing her. "Oh, come on now. I'm sure that whatever you're looking for can't
possibly be made worse by some nice tea and some warm cookies."
Minako blushed. She felt uncomfortable about telling this old lady that she
was out searching for a boyfriend, yet before she could stop herself, she had done
just that. "Ah, thank you, miss, but I really don't think tea and cookies could
help me find a boyfriend..."
At this, the woman paused for a second, then smiled. "Aha! I knew you
weren't little Kaoru-chan... what did you do with her, young lady?" The question
might have sounded like an accusation, except for the warm smile on the older woman's face.
"Heh, um, well, I kind of bribed her with my hair bow to let me have the
dogs - see, I thought if I was walking around with a couple of dogs, then a cute
boy might stop and talk to... me..."
She trailed off when the peals of laughter began erupting from the old
woman. "Oh, my! If that's not the silliest thing I ever heard! Oh, thank you for
that laugh so much, um, who are you?"
"Aino Minako, miss," the blonde said as she began shifting her feet
around, very apparently embarrassed that the woman was finding so much amusement
in her planning.
"Aino Minako... such a lovely name. Can I call you Minako-chan?" Without
waiting to see if Minako responded - the old lady was looking the wrong way
anyway - she continued, "Are you sure you don't want to come inside for some
tea and some cookies? It's just that I get so lonely sometimes, the only person
who visits is my grandson, lovely boy that he is, and another nice boy who
stopped by today..."
Though she was engaged in the most insane scheme that she had ever cooked
up, on the inside, Minako was still Minako, after all, and she could not help but
feel sorry for someone who was older than her yet also far more lonely. Beyond
that, in the back of her mind she remained aware that maybe, just maybe, these
'boys' the old woman was talking about were not made up and one of them might be
boyfriend material.
Putting on her brightest smile, which she was fast realizing was probably
a gesture lost on this poor soul, she replied, "Sure, miss! I'd love to!"
***
Aside from the fact that she was inside some old lady's house with not
even a single member of the male gender around, Minako actually wasn't too
miserable about being dragged along to drink tea and eat cookies with a lonely
old lady. This was helped greatly by the tea being herbal, which calmed her
down, and also that the cookies were really, really good. After all, she decided,
could anyone in their right mind turn down tea and cookies?
"Oh, it is so nice of you to come and talk with me, Minako-chan,"
the woman - Minako still hadn't learned her name - was saying in a passionate
voice. "I have just been so alone here since my husband passed away a year ago."
"I'm sorry," Minako whispered, because she wasn't sure what else to say.
The woman smiled. "Don't be. I was blessed to have him for as long as
I did, to have him at all, really. He wouldn't have wanted me to be sad."
In her sudden desire to make the old lady less lonely, a couple of things
had failed to occur to Minako. For one, she never wondered why the old lady
suddenly changed when talking about more serious things. And two, she never
wondered how a woman who seemed to be blind could heat tea and bake. Yet instead
all the blonde wanted was to hear more of the woman talking about her
husband - maybe then, she thought, she could hear more about what she
wanted the perfect boyfriend to be like.
"How did you meet him?"
"Actually," the woman replied matter-of-factly, "he lived in your house
on this very street."
"What?!" the blonde exclaimed, incredulous.
The old lady chuckled. "It was after the Second World War, and the
Americans and others had their military forces in our country. Well, my
husband was one of them, but when his enlistment period expired he chose to
stay living here, and he ended up living right across the street, where you live now."
"Wait, so he lived across the street? How did you actually meet him?"
Minako asked, as she picked up her teacup to take a sip out of it.
"Oh!" Another chuckle. "He came to me. I was walking down the street
with the family dog, and --"
Minako facevaulted straight onto the floor, adding tea stains to the
already disheveled appearance of her shirt.
"What's wrong, Minako-chan? Did something happen?"
Of course, Minako could have told the woman about the events of the
day. At least she could have told enough to make the woman understand why she
reacted the way she did to the mentioning of walking dogs. But that would have
required tact, something that Minako was still lacking on that day. Instead,
she muttered something incoherent.
"What was that?"
"Nothing," snapped the blonde, although she immediately regretted doing so.
"Um. Well, it is kind of getting late so I should be going home. My parents are
probably getting worried and I bet my cat is, too."
"Oh. Are you sure you don't want to stay? My grandson is supposed to be
here in about ten minutes. He's such a nice boy."
Minako flashed a phony smile. "I'm sure that he is, Miss. Some other time,
though, I really do have to go." She stood up and meekly brushed herself off, then
started for the door.
The old woman seemed to sense her doing this, and moved towards the door
as well to see her off. For some reason Minako did not know, the old lady was
smiling. "Well, okay. But do be sure to stop by when you can, ne Minako-chan?"
The blonde smiled again, genuinely this time. "Sure thing," she replied
as she headed out the door.
Finally out of the clutches of the seemingly omnipresent Murphy, Minako
quickly jaywalked across her street, made it into her house, and dashed straight
up to her room.
Some celestial being must have been using Minako as a source of amusement
that day, for no sooner than her front door had closed, did an athletic young man
about her age come walking down her street. This fellow, wearing navy-colored
warm-up pants and jacket and carrying a volleyball under one of his arms, walked
along the sidewalk until turning to enter the very house Minako had just left.
He was surprised to see the old woman waiting on the porch for him.
"Hi, Grandma!" he exclaimed, waving at her.
"Oh, you should have been here a couple of minutes ago, Asai-kun. There was
the nicest young lady here, and I know how you're looking for a girlfriend since
the last one dumped you..."
"Sure there was, Grandma. Sure there was. You'll have to introduce me
some other time," he said as he chuckled. Then he gave the woman a big hug and
walked into the house.
***
Finally, Minako was in the safety of her own house. Her room, in particular,
a place she could count on to not have any crazy dogs, a place where she wouldn't
worry about looking for males...
"Glad to see you finally made it home."
...except for that one.
"And just where were you all day, Mister?" she demanded.
The cat sweatdropped. "You mean AFTER you dropped me in the middle of the
street? I actually was quite fine. I visited Luna and a couple of others and then
came back here, obviously long before
you managed to make it home."
"Heh heh heh... uh, did I really drop you in the middle of the street?"
"The sidewalk, actually. But yes, you dropped me."
"Er... oops? Heh heh... uh..."
Artemis opened his mouth to further rebuke his charge, when the phone rang.
Minako immediately dashed to answer the phone. "Moshi moshi?"
"Minako-chan? You're finally home!" exclaimed the female voice on the other end.
"Hi, Mako-chan! Sorry if you've been calling all day. I was on a mission."
"Mission?" inquired the brunette. "What sort of mission?"
The blonde took a deep breath, then proceeded to regale Makoto with a
summary of the events of her day, including the inspiration to walk dogs, chasing
after people with dogs, giving away her bow, and being led around Tokyo by two
insane dogs.
Sweatdrops grew on the back of Makoto's head as she heard Minako continue
rambling on with her story at an Usagi-like pace. "You just... GAVE up your bow?"
she asked incredulously.
"Well, you know what they say. Seize the sunrise!" exclaimed Minako defiantly.
Makoto merely sweatdropped some more. "I think you mean seize the day, Minako-chan."
"Whatever," snapped the blonde, before realizing she was being
completely rude. "Sorry for being inconsiderate just now. Um, did you call for
something in particular?"
"Oh! Well, we all figured out today that since you probably don't hang
out with us much anymore because we all have boyfriends, that we'd have a girls
only day. It's going to be at Rei-chan's. I'm going to cook, and we're all going
to be there. No boys allowed! Come on, what do you say?"
While the blonde never would have admitted on her own that she was bothered
by her friends all having boyfriends, she was perfectly fine agreeing when someone
else made the observation. Beyond that, it made her happy to know that they were
willing to put aside their boyfriends to stay friends. Deep down she knew their
friendship ran stronger, considering they'd all died together at least once in
the last couple of years and all, but the reassurance made her feel better.
"I would love to! Just let me know more, 'kay?" she replied, beaming
broadly the entire time.
"Of course we will. So, see you then! Ja!"
Minako placed the phone back on the receiver, her mood greatly improved
from what it was before she had gotten the call from Makoto. Instead of sulking,
she actually skipped across the room to flick on her stereo. The speakers
immediately began blaring Sisqo's "The Thong Song" at a level too loud for the
poor cat.
"DO YOU THINK YOU COULD TURN THAT DOWN A BIT?!" he shouted at the top of his tiny lungs.
The blonde never heard him. No, she had already been struck by her next
bit of inspiration, and there was no stopping her once she got started. She spun,
defiantly pointing a finger at the mirror in her room.
"That's it!" she proclaimed. "It's time for Aino Minako to go clubbin'!"
Artemis facevaulted straight to the floor.
"Oh, boy."
***
E-mailing us will greatly increase the chances that we get off of our respective
tails and work on the fic some more, so please go ahead and do that. Please? Next
time, our main maiden Minako hits the clubs as her amazingly fabulous search
for a boyfriend continues!
-End