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Aino Minako and Her Amazingly Fabulous Search For A Boyfriend
A Minakofic
Authors: Moogle (moogle@fanforce.net)
Kate B (duncan@avenew.com)
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As you can probably guess from reading all the preceding chapters of this very fictional
work, we are basing this tale on many characters that we did not make up. That's right,
folks - we did not make every single one of them up. The few we did make up, however,
belong solely to us and are not to be used without our permission.
This chapter, as all the chapters before it, is rated PG-13. But, hey, in this day and age,
lots of little kids watch PG-13 movies, so I don't think you have much to worry about!
***
She awoke to a smiling blue sky and a twinkling yellow sun that fine Saturday
morning, a morning that seemed as though it was filled with the hope and peace of the
world. Blue eyes fluttered open and gazed up at the ceiling contentedly. Ah, what a
wonderful world she lived in, so full of love and peace and -
Aino Minako froze in mid-thought, her half-smile turning into a full and complete
frown. The previous day's events had not been entirely lost to her normally happy mind, and
she suddenly could find a very valid reason to be sad. Her eyes watered just thinking about
it.
She, ai no megami-sama herself, was doomed to never love.
"Good morning, Minako!" smiled a certain white cat from his spot on the bedstand.
Sighing, the girl rolled over on her side, back to her pet, and pursed her lips. Artemis
frowned. He had really hoped that an evening of sobbing her woes out would solve all the
teen's troubles, but how wrong he had been. It seemed she had gotten WORSE, instead of
better.
Clearing his throat, he padded around her pillow to sit right in front of her teary
face. "Come on, Mina-chan, cheer up," he insisted, a scowl crossing his face as, once
again, the girl rolled over and away from him. Fine, he decided, his inward resolve building
up as he walked back over to the bedstand and sat down. As if on cue, Minako rolled BACK
over onto her other side, completely avoiding her guardian.
The cat shrugged. "Well, then, I guess I can't show you what was stuck in the door
this morning..." he tempted her, laying down on the white envelope that, just minutes
before, he had set down on her bedside table. "Too bad. It looks REALLY interesting to
me..."
Slowly - very, VERY slowly - the blonde sat up and glanced dubiously at her cat.
"Something was stuck in the door this morning?" she questioned with the arch of an eyebrow,
curiousity lighting her face. "What was it?"
Artemis shook his head. "Can't tell you," he responded, deadpan. "You're too busy
being depressed and withdrawn to - "
His words ended in an abrupt, alarmed mew as Minako unceremoniously tossed him off
the table and picked up the envelope that he had been sitting upon. The name "Aino Minako"
was written painstakingly across the front, as though someone had taken a VERY long time
with it, forming each character perfectly.
That was enough to turn the spark of curiousity into a full-fledged fire. The blonde
ripped into the envelope almost immediately, totally ignoring her poor, white-furred pet who
was laying helplessly on the floor.
But perhaps it was good that she ignored him, because he was smirking rather
obviously.
"'Minako-chan,'" she read aloud, her blue eyes widening with every word, "'you are
cordially invited to Chez Pierre restaurant tonight at eight o'clock in the evening for a
very special date. Dress your best and ask for the reservation under K.S. The rest will be
explained later.'"
A squeal of delight rocked the small house just then, rattling the windowpanes and
shaking the light fixtures as Minako hopped up on her bed and raised one hand to the sky.
"Love has finally come to ai no megami!" she announced proudly, clutching the letter to her
chest. "Tonight, Aino Minako is going on a REAL LIVE DATE!!!"
"Minako!" scolded an annoyed voice from downstairs. "Try to keep it to a DULL roar
this early in the morning, okay? The neighbors like to sleep in!"
The blonde jumped off her bed and grinned despite the large sweatdrop running down
her face. "Hai, oka-san!" she responded merrily, grabbing the cordless telephone and hitting
the auto-dial button.
As his charge began to chat excitedly to Usagi at speeds that were incomprehensible,
Artemis sighed and shook his head. He had expected the letter to cheer the girl up, but to
cheer her up THAT much.....?
He glanced at the clock just in time to see the numbers switch from 7:59 a.m. to
8:00. Twelve hours left, he told himself. Only twelve more hours of insanity.
A FULL twelve hours of insanity.
The cat hung his head. "Oh, boy."
***
Mission VI: The Master Plan
***
Shoga was not one of the neighbors who liked to sleep in on Saturday mornings. In
fact, on Saturday mornings, Shoga liked to water her front flower bed. And that was exactly
what she was doing when she heard Minako's squeal echo through her open bedroom window and
out across the street. And the sound made the old woman smile.
It wasn't surprising that the elderly neighbor of the Aino family knew exactly what
was going on in the house across the street at moment. She had been visited by "Arty" late
the night before, and he had already made the same decision she had:
Time had come for them to take matters into their own hands.
So they had busily written the letters that night, he composing them while she typed
them up on her typewriter, and they jointly made reservations for dinner the next night at
Chez Pierre. Yes, things were finally going their way, and - after months of crossed fingers
and terrible near misses - the pieces were in play.
The pieces were in play so well, in fact, that she was able to guess the exact
moment that familiar footfalls began to echo down the front sidewalk and up to where she
was standing, watering her rose bushes.
"Grandma," sighed Asai, plopping down on the front steps and resting his chin in a
hand, "I think we have a problem."
With a secret, inward smile, the little old lady set down her watering can and
strode over to sit beside her only grandchild. "Something's wrong, Asai-kun?" she questioned
carefully, arching an eyebrow in disbelief. "Did you have a bad morning already?"
He sighed and nodded, knowing full well that his companion couldn't see the subtle
motion. "I received a letter this morning, right before I went on my run," he explained, the
sheet of paper in question rustling as he pulled it from his back pants pocket. "It said
that I'm supposed to go on some sort of date tonight, but... I'm not sure I want to."
"Don't want to?" repeated the old woman, shock registering in her voice. "But all
you've been thinking about lately is how badly you want to find the right girl, ne?" She
leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, sightless eyes gazing out at the street
before her. "Well, Asai-kun, the girl for you is not just going to burst out her front
door, announce she's going shopping, and take off down the sidewalk before your very eyes.
She - "
Shoga's kind-hearted advice was interrupted by the noise of a door opening rather
loudly out onto the street. "Ja, Mama!" called the blonde across the street, waving
furiously at the front door. "I'm going shopping with the girls!" The door slammed loudly
as the girl took off down the sidewalk at a furious pace.
The old woman grew silent and considered the irony. Life was still worth living,
after all.
Asai blinked in confusion. "Ne, wasn't that Aino Minako?" he thought aloud, not
really directing the inquiry toward anyone.
"Ah, my dear, you forget that your old grandmother is blind," she chided the young
man, repremanding him with nothing more than soft pat on the head. "Now, come inside. I know
a few young people who will be more than happy to help you pick out some new clothes for
this mystery date of yours."
Sighing, the volleyball player shrugged and stood, following his grandmother inside.
Sometimes, it was much better to just NOT ask.
***
The three girls walked up and down the aisle of the apartment store, scanning the
area for anything interesting-looking that might be availible.
"Ne, ne, Minako-chan," insisted the brunette after a good five minutes of complete
and utter silence between the three of them, "you STILL haven't told us what kind of clothes
we're looking for - " She turned discreetly toward the odango-headed blonde at her side and
winked. " - or why we're looking for it."
Usagi wagged a scolding finger at her friend, as though she was completely clueless
to what a wink meant to the subtle members of the universe. "Mako-chan, we're shopping for
Minako's blind date tonight!" she reminded her friend sternly. "How could you have forgotten
already?"
As the Makoto facevaulted straight into the tile floor of the store, Minako turned
toward the senshi of the moon and frowned. "How did you know about my date?" she questioned
suspiciously. "I hadn't told anyone yet except Artemis."
"Actually," recovered the third teen smoothly as she picked herself up off the
floor, "Artemis called Usagi and I to tell us about it as soon as you ran out of the house
to come get us. I was just playing dumb to see if you would tell us about it."
Blinking, Usagi shook her head furiously. "No way, Mako-chan! You KNOW that - OW!!!"
Makoto chose that particular moment to step HARD on the blonde's foot. "So, what
are we looking for?" she asked, ignoring the screams of agony from their pained companion as
they poked around the women's department idly. "Shy? Sexy? S - "
"Ai no megami," stated Minako with a curt nod, pulling out shirt after shirt from a
large rack and dumping them messily on the floor as soon as she glanced at them for the
first time. "It's a little bit of everything with being absolutely nothing at the same
time."
"So you want to make sure you look REALLY good?" questioned Usagi, obviously fully
recovered as she popped up beside the other two senshi. Her blue eyes narrowed slightly as
she examined her blonde friend. "Are you SURE you're not after my Mamo-chan?"
The brunette let roar a loud groan of annoyance and turned toward the rabbit of the
moon, her fists clenched at her sides. "For the love of the kami, Usagi-chan, no one is out
to steal your precious Mamo-chan!" she shot, voice echoing across the store as she glowered
down at the blinking blonde. "I don't think anyone would WANT to, what with his tendency to
be the mainstay of evil plotting, the fact he ends up having a REALLY annoying daughter, his
'pretty boy' attitude, and everything else that goes into his TOTALLY two-dimensional
personality!"
Silence washed over the department store as Tsukino Usagi stared up at the fuming
senshi of Jupiter. Then, she smiled and flashed the taller girl a v-for-victory sign. "As
long as Minako-chan isn't trying to take him!" she assured her friend in her normal,
air-headed way. "But we should better FIND Minako-chan, because I think she just wandered
off on us!"
She turned to walk off, then blinked suddenly. "Wait a minute. Did you just call my
daughter *annoying*?"
Picking her jaw up off the floor, Makoto sighed, shook her head, and followed Usagi
across the women's department.
***
"I really appreciate this," Asai insisted with an embarrassed smile as he followed
the two teen girls through the virtual maze of clothing, "but I don't see why you're
helping me. I mean, aren't you both Minako-chan's friends?"
"No, NO!" retorted Hino Rei with an enormous smile, pausing in their trek across the
women's department to turn around and wave a hand at the young man. A small sweat drop
materialized on her temple, but she ignored it and pressed on. "We're friends of your
grandmother's, and we were more than happy to aid her - I mean, YOUR - quest to find the
perfect young woman."
Her blue-haired companion nodded urgently, a smile crossing her plesant face as she
spoke. "And what better way to do such a thing that going on a blind date?" she questioned
with a plesant smile. "We both have boyfriends and know just what girls are looking for in
a man's garb. Honest."
Rei snickered slightly. "Well, unless you're like Ami and have a thing for briefs,"
she put in, her voice soft enough so only her fellow senshi could hear.
Ami turned three shades of red. "R-Rei-chan!" she stammered, forcing herself to look
at the ground and therefore supress her blush...at least, a little. "How did you know that?"
"We ALL know that the password to your online journal is 'urawa6pt5,' Ami-chan,"
returned the Shinto with a wink. "You'd be surprised how much we all know."
The genius would have ventured a witty retort had Asai not stopped in the middle of
the main aisle and pointed to his left. "Isn't Men's this way?" he ventured bravely,
interrupting the battle of the femmes.
Rei glanced around and nodded quickly. "Gomen!" she apologized with a small chuckle.
"I'm so used to wandering around the Women's department that I had forgotten which way it
is to men's." She glanced disdainfully at a nearby rack of shirts. "Some people have no
manners when shopping," she sighed with a shake of her head. "They need to learn."
And then, the trio started off to the Men's section.
***
"Do you think that they have any clue what's going on?" questioned the young man
nervously from his seat in the arm chair. Well, "young man" was a complete and total lie; he
was actually a white-furred, blue-eyed, run-of-the-mill housecat - then again, run-of-the-
mill was a lie, too - but this fact seemed utterly lost on his companion for brunch-time
tea... At least, he HOPED it was a fact that was lost on the old woman.
Shoga laughed and shrugged her shoulders, setting down her teacup on the coffee
table as she did so. "I think that Minako-chan is too excited to care while my grandson is
too nervous." She frowned slightly. "Arty, what time is it?"
Artemis glanced up at the wall clock and sighed. "Only 11:26," he answered her,
wrinkling his nose as he did so. "That leaves us with a full eight-and-a-half hours to go."
She nodded. "Very good," she responded with a small smile as she reached forward to
pick up her cup and take another sip of her beverage. "Now, let's just hope that the girls
are all having luck keeping our lovebirds apart, ne?"
***
"I STILL can't find anything I like!" whined Minako insistantly, stomping a foot as
she and her two friends returned to the very pile of clothes they had started out at. "It
seems like the trademark Perfect Dress still alludes me!" She sighed, falling to her knees
in front of the mass of shirts. "Oh, woe is me!"
Rolling her green eyes, Makoto waved a hand at her friend. "Yare yare, it's just a
date, not a royal ball or some such." She smiled and patted the blonde on the shoulder. "I'm
sure you'll find just what you're hoping to find, Minako-chan."
Blue, teary eyes gaped up at her, wide and full of sorrow as Minako looked to her
friend. "It is not just a date, Mako-chan," she professed, folding her hands in some sort of
perverse prayer. "It is the key to my happiness! Ai no megami cannot rest until she has
found her perfect prince!"
Usagi wiped a tear from her eye and dabbed her nose with a handkerchief.
"Beautiful," she sniffled, gazing down at the ever-dramatic senshi on the floor. "Just
beautiful!"
Sweatdropping, Makoto shook her head. "Yare yare."
"But wait!" Suddenly, Minako was on her feet and tearing across the aisle toward a
display of dresses that they had previously overlooked. "The light of hope shines throughout
the galaxy!"
The odango-headed blonde glanced up at her friend in confusion. "Ne, do you think
that Minako had a little too much soda today?" she asked softly, so the excited senshi of
love wouldn't overhear.
Her companion sighed and shook her head. "Somehow," she responded, "I think it would
have to be something a lot stronger than soda..."
***
"I THOUGHT menswear was to the left," sighed Asai as the trio of girls stopped in
front of a dress display, utterly lost. They had wandered the department store for nearly
ten minutes, and yet it seemed as though they hadn't left the women's section at all.
"Maybe it was to the right?"
"I'm SURE it's to the left!" insisted Rei with a scowl. "It can't just MOVE, can
it?"
Ami straightened to her tip-toes, peering over the sea of clothing racks and
mannequins. "I actually think it's up by the front door," she replyed, pointing to the huge
"MEN" sign that hung from the ceiling a good fifty feet away. "I don't see how we missed
it, though."
Asai rolled his dark eyes. "As if I didn't already HATE shopping," he muttered
under his breath, "this has just made everything more un - "
He froze, his eyes riveted to the dress display they had stopped in front of, as
though he had just noticed it for the first time.
The dark-haired Shinto smiled and nodded at his reaction to the dress in the
display, resting an elbow on his shoulder as she looked up at it. "The Ainako Megami
Collection," she explained to him, gesturing at the glittering navy gown before them.
"Expensive, but beautiful, ne?"
"They say that Ainako Megami is a genius designer," pointed out the blue-haired one
helpfully, her hands folded at her waist as she joined her two companions in front of the
display. "Her first few designs sold impossibly quick. Though, I'm sure it's obvious why
they would be so popular...."
"But we don't have time for this!" insisted Rei as she seized the senshi of water by
the wrist and started to drag her away from the dress display. "It's almost noon, and we've
gotten absolutely NOTHING done!"
As he took one last look at the dress, Asai smiled slightly. If he could have any
wish in the world, he decided at that moment, it would be for his date to wear that very
gown.
Sighing, he followed the girls toward the front of the store. Some wishes we just
not meant to be realized...
***
"It's GORGEOUS!" grinned Minako excitedly, bouncing out of the dressing room with an
elated grin plastering her face. The navy gown, a strapless, glittering gown that hugged
each of her curves perfectly, shimmered in the neon lighting of the store.
Makoto looked down at the tag and turned colors. "Minako, this isn't just a DRESS,"
she announced, oggling the price with wide eyes. "This is a Ainako Megami! It's just under
50,000 yen!"
Giggling, Usagi nudged her friend in the ribs with an elbow. "Isn't that funny,
Minako?" she questioned with a blue-eyed wink. "You're the ai no megami, and the designer's
name is Ainako Megami! It's like you were SUPPOSED to get this dress!"
The blonde's eyes went starry as she clutched both hands to her chest and sighed
wistfully. "It's destiny, then," she cooed, a dreamy expression crossing her face. "I have
no choice but to buy this one gown."
"Don't encourage her, Usagi!" snapped Makoto, but it was already too late. Minako
had dumped out the contents of her purse on the ground and was looting through it, piling
up all her paper money.
After a moment of silence (and a lot of counting on her fingers), Minako jumped up
with her fists full of 100, 1000, and 2000 yen notes. "I have almost 45,000 yen! How much do
you guys have?"
Usagi dug into her pockets and pulled out a few bills. "I have 1000!" she announced,
glancing expectantly at the brunette beside her.
Makoto's eyes widened to astronomical proportions as two sets of bright blue eyes
settled on her face. "Hell no!" she spat at them, taking a wary step backward as they stared
her down. "I've had to prune a lot of bushes to earn the little bit of cash I have!"
"But this is DESTINY!" echoed the two blondes, morphing into their often freaky
"twin" mode as they spoke. "You cannot meddle with DESTINY!"
The brunette readied herself for an arguement, but then gave up and shook her head
helplessly. Digging into her pocket, she pulled out a 10,000 yen note. "If this doesn't pay
for the rest of it," she mumbled half-heartedly, "I don't know what will."
Cheering echoed across the store as the duo of blondes glomp-hugged Makoto around
the waist and began to blather nonsense about how greatful they BOTH were.
"I just hope this stupid plan works," sighed she as Usagi rushed to help Minako out
of "The Perfect Dress." "Otherwise, I'm going to have to skin Artemis alive."
***
"How long could it POSSIBLY take a guy to order a cup of coffee?" muttered Rei
irritably, glancing down at her watch. "It's nearly 4:30, and you KNOW that Minako is going
to want us to come over to her house and see her off."
Ami smiled induligently and shrugged her slender shoulders. "I'm actually starting
to want to see how this all turns out," she admitted with a slightly embarassed smile. "I
mean, sure, it's meddling in other people's business, but it's probably good for them both."
"What's good for who?" questioned a frighteningly familiar voice, and both senshi
leapt a mile into the air, pressing their backs into the front window of the coffee shop.
Minako adjusted her sunglasses on her nose, peering down at them suspiciously. "Are you two
up to no good again?"
Furrowing her brow, Makoto watched as Minako wiggled her glasses a second time.
"Must be taking lessons from Ami," she thought aloud, though her comment was lost on the
others.
"Of COURSE we're not up to anything bad!" lied Ami with a wave of her hands, face
turning bright pink. "We were just talking about... Uhm... We were talking about...
Rei-chan!"
The dark-haired one sweatdropped. "SMOOTH, Ami-chan," she mumbled with a shake
of her head. "REAL smooth..."
"You were talking about Rei-chan?" questioned Usagi with a cock of her head.
Everyone else present upended to the floor.
Bouncing back to her feet, Minako-chan glowered dubiously at the fire senshi, her
blue eyes narrowing to slits as she stared Rei down. "You were talking about SOMEONE,
weren't you?" she growled almost angrily. "Who?"
"We were talking about Unazuki-chan, if you MUST know," sighed the priestess with a
shrug, her purple eyes rolling in annoyance as she spoke. "Her latest boyfriend dumped her,
and we've been trying to find her a new one for a while. Doesn't seem to be working,
though."
The bow-headed blonde grinned maniacly, as though Rei had just presented the group
with the greatest idea in the history of mankind. "Good for you!" she praised, clapping the
other teen on the back. "I'm glad that ai no megami has rubbed off on you!" She paused and
glanced into the coffee shop with a raised eyebrow. "Be right back!" she announced rather
loudly, bouncing through the propped-open door. "I think I need an iced tea!"
"No!" Ami called after her, but it was too late. She was already through the door
and hopping over to the counter. The group watched in horror as she got in the long line and
began to look around, taking in her surroundings with a surprising innocence.
Makoto frowned and glanced at the blue-haired girl. "He's in there, isn't he?" she
asked softly, so only Ami could hear.
The other nodded curtly, frowning as she glanced around the cafe. "But I don't see
him," she realized. "Do you?"
"He's GONE!" Rei exclaimed, turning around to lean her back against the front
picture window. "Man, and our ONLY goal was to keep an eye on him!" She moved to glare at
the odango-headed teen. "This is all YOUR fault, you know!"
"MY FAULT?" blinked Usagi, incredulous against the accusations that had just flown
her way. "Why is it MY fault that he got away from you, hmmm?"
"It's not that he got AWAY, baka, but that you brought Minako here in the first
place!" shot back the miko with a toss of her long hair. "You should have known that
disaster was going to hit if she saw us! I'm surprised that she doesn't know everything
yet!"
Usagi frowned and stuck out her tongue, blowing a raspberry at her dark-haired
friend. Rei blew a raspberry back, and it slowly turned from being an arguement to being a
raspberry-blowing contest.
Sighing, the brown-haired senshi buried her face in her hands. "Yare yare," she
muttered with a shake of her head.
"What's going on?" questioned a voice, and all four sets of eyes turned to see Asai
standing before them, nursing a large iced tea. He blinked at the reaction he recieved. "Did
I miss something?"
"Oh, they're just always like that!" insisted Ami, stepping forward to push the
young man down the street. "But we'd better hurry! You've only got a few short hours to get
ready!"
Rei and Ami bustled off with their charge for the evening, and it was only as they
turned the corner that Minako, grinning, bounced out of the cafe...with a large iced tea,
just as she had promised. "That was fun!" she announced with a grin. "There was a really
cute checker!"
"Come on, Minako-chan," sighed Makoto with a shake of her head, still in awe by the
number of near-misses the crew had experienced that day. "Time to go home."
***
"No, THIS lipstick!"
"Minako, that's neon pink!"
"So?"
"Does neon pink go with navy?"
"Duh, Mako-chan! Of course!"
"Usagi, you're REALLY not helping, here...."
Artemis sighed from his spot on Minako's bed as he watched the three girls bustle
about her bedroom, trying desperately to get her ready for that night's big date. They had
arrived home promptly at 5:00 p.m. with the blonde's Perfect Dress (perfectly expensive,
Artemis had decided with a frown after catching a glance of the price tag - he was praying
that she still had enough spare cash for cat chow) bagged and ready to be worn. Then, they
had gone about doing her hair... And picking out jewelry... And making sure the dress fit
PERFECTLY...
The clock switched over to 7:32 p.m., and the cat scowled something awful. If they
didn't hurry up, Minako would be late to her own dream date!
"I got it!" announced the goddess of love as she pulled a tube of bright purple lip
gloss from her vanity and tossed it to Usagi. "Don't you think it's perfect?"
Makoto frowned, not quite sure what to say. "Uhm, is electric violet really a date
color, Minako-chan?" she questioned, raising her eyebrows. "Because, I mean, it's NICE, but
- "
"You know what they say when you're going on a date!" scolded the blonde as she took
back her lipstick and began to apply it. "You need something old, something new, something
bookish, and something purple!" She paused, frowning a bit. "Or is it something brown and
something prickly?"
All three of her companions - the cat included - just groaned and said nothing.
Blotting her lipstick on a tissue, Minako turned around to glance at her friends.
"How do I look?" she questioned smiling flirtily. "Do I pull off the 'ai no megami' look,
or no?"
For the first time that evening, Artemis - all cynicism put aside - actually looked
at the teen before him. With her curve-hugging dress, slightly-curled blonde hair, and
bright, excited smile, she DID look the part of the goddess of love. He smiled proudly at
her, tears coming to his eyes unexpectedly. "Oh, Mina-chan," he gushed, all the adoration
of a loving father in his voice. "You look absolutely b - "
"OH NO!!!" came the sudden exclaimation from Minako-chan as she finally took one
good look at the clock. "I'm going to be late! NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!"
Less than thirty seconds later, she was running down the street to the bus stop, her
hair and gown flying behind her like a cape of sorts.
Makoto glanced at Usagi, Usagi glanced at the cat, and the cat glanced back at the
brown-haired girl.
Then, three voices united in one universally expressive phrase.
"Oh, boy."
***
Shoga smiled as she heard Minako go screaming down the street just in time to catch
her bus to Chez Pierre. The evening was warm and summery, the first truly warm night they
had had all spring. Sighing contently, the old woman leaned back in her seat on the front
porch and took a long sip of her tea.
"Everything went well, I think," commented a female voice, and the old woman didn't
need eyes to see that all four of Minako-chan's friends were standing before her, grinning.
"I think so too," responded the grandmother of one with a small half-smile. "Now,
all we have to do is hope that everything works out perfectly."
Usagi made some sort of strange, wistful sound, and the group all turned to see the
blonde staring starry-eyed at the sky. "It reminds me of how Mamo-chan and I met," she
sighed wistfully, her smile all half-formed and mushy. "So romantic."
Frowning, Rei glanced curiously at her friend. "Usagi-baka, you met Mamoru-san when
you threw a balled-up test at his face."
As Makoto, Ami, and Shoga all laughed, the blonde turned red and tossed her
ponytails a bit. "Well, a girl can dream, can't she?" she insisted haughtly. "You're just
jealous because *I* got the guy and you didn't!"
"Usagi-chan," Ami said, exasperated, "we both got guys, too..."
The argument continued, and Shoga found herself concealing a secret smile. "Just
like my friends were when I was Minako-chan's age," she chuckled softly enough that the
girls couldn't hear her. "JUST like them."
***
She found herself staring at a shaking menu, and it took her a good three minutes to
figure out that it wasn't the menu that was shaky but her own two hands. Silently, she
berated herself for her own nervousness. After all, she was going to find true love at that
restaurant, or her title wasn't ai no megami-sama!
But the bittersweet memories of all her failures flooded her mind as she tried to
decipher the fancy French names that covered the menu. Like her dogwalking plan, her
clubbing attempt, her stint on Blind Date, her newspaper ad that only nabbed her a stalker,
and her missing datamatch. It seemed almost as though Fate had her cards stacked completely
against the senshi of Venus, not a feeling that the blonde particularly liked.
The Goddess of Love - known to most as that carefree high school student, Aino
Minako - took a small sip of her complementary water and sighed. "Pull yourself together,"
she scolded herself softly so that none of the other restaurant patrons could hear. "This
time, it really WILL be true love." She frowned slightly, wrinkling her nose. "Or, I hope."
Then, as if on cue, a low, male voice - a voice that was, for some reason,
strangely familiar to the blonde - chimed up out of the blue. "Is this the table reserved
for K.S.?" questioned the stranger softly.
Minako raised her eyes just a bit over the menu to glance at the stranger.
The gasp silenced all conversation in the restaurant.
*** (End of Mission VI)
What a bitch of a cliffhanger! We're both really sorry for having to do that to everyone,
but it was necessary to tell the story.
Stay tuned for next time when Minako tries to keep her rampant bad luck from affecting her
date as her amazingly fabulous search for a boyfriend at last draws to a close!
-End
Aino Minako and Her Amazingly Fabulous Search For A Boyfriend
A Minakofic
Authors: Moogle (moogle@fanforce.net)
Kate B (duncan@avenew.com)
========
As you can probably guess from reading all the preceding chapters of this very fictional
work, we are basing this tale on many characters that we did not make up. That's right,
folks - we did not make every single one of them up. The few we did make up, however,
belong solely to us and are not to be used without our permission.
This chapter, as all the chapters before it, is rated PG-13. But, hey, in this day and age,
lots of little kids watch PG-13 movies, so I don't think you have much to worry about!
***
She awoke to a smiling blue sky and a twinkling yellow sun that fine Saturday
morning, a morning that seemed as though it was filled with the hope and peace of the
world. Blue eyes fluttered open and gazed up at the ceiling contentedly. Ah, what a
wonderful world she lived in, so full of love and peace and -
Aino Minako froze in mid-thought, her half-smile turning into a full and complete
frown. The previous day's events had not been entirely lost to her normally happy mind, and
she suddenly could find a very valid reason to be sad. Her eyes watered just thinking about
it.
She, ai no megami-sama herself, was doomed to never love.
"Good morning, Minako!" smiled a certain white cat from his spot on the bedstand.
Sighing, the girl rolled over on her side, back to her pet, and pursed her lips. Artemis
frowned. He had really hoped that an evening of sobbing her woes out would solve all the
teen's troubles, but how wrong he had been. It seemed she had gotten WORSE, instead of
better.
Clearing his throat, he padded around her pillow to sit right in front of her teary
face. "Come on, Mina-chan, cheer up," he insisted, a scowl crossing his face as, once
again, the girl rolled over and away from him. Fine, he decided, his inward resolve building
up as he walked back over to the bedstand and sat down. As if on cue, Minako rolled BACK
over onto her other side, completely avoiding her guardian.
The cat shrugged. "Well, then, I guess I can't show you what was stuck in the door
this morning..." he tempted her, laying down on the white envelope that, just minutes
before, he had set down on her bedside table. "Too bad. It looks REALLY interesting to
me..."
Slowly - very, VERY slowly - the blonde sat up and glanced dubiously at her cat.
"Something was stuck in the door this morning?" she questioned with the arch of an eyebrow,
curiousity lighting her face. "What was it?"
Artemis shook his head. "Can't tell you," he responded, deadpan. "You're too busy
being depressed and withdrawn to - "
His words ended in an abrupt, alarmed mew as Minako unceremoniously tossed him off
the table and picked up the envelope that he had been sitting upon. The name "Aino Minako"
was written painstakingly across the front, as though someone had taken a VERY long time
with it, forming each character perfectly.
That was enough to turn the spark of curiousity into a full-fledged fire. The blonde
ripped into the envelope almost immediately, totally ignoring her poor, white-furred pet who
was laying helplessly on the floor.
But perhaps it was good that she ignored him, because he was smirking rather
obviously.
"'Minako-chan,'" she read aloud, her blue eyes widening with every word, "'you are
cordially invited to Chez Pierre restaurant tonight at eight o'clock in the evening for a
very special date. Dress your best and ask for the reservation under K.S. The rest will be
explained later.'"
A squeal of delight rocked the small house just then, rattling the windowpanes and
shaking the light fixtures as Minako hopped up on her bed and raised one hand to the sky.
"Love has finally come to ai no megami!" she announced proudly, clutching the letter to her
chest. "Tonight, Aino Minako is going on a REAL LIVE DATE!!!"
"Minako!" scolded an annoyed voice from downstairs. "Try to keep it to a DULL roar
this early in the morning, okay? The neighbors like to sleep in!"
The blonde jumped off her bed and grinned despite the large sweatdrop running down
her face. "Hai, oka-san!" she responded merrily, grabbing the cordless telephone and hitting
the auto-dial button.
As his charge began to chat excitedly to Usagi at speeds that were incomprehensible,
Artemis sighed and shook his head. He had expected the letter to cheer the girl up, but to
cheer her up THAT much.....?
He glanced at the clock just in time to see the numbers switch from 7:59 a.m. to
8:00. Twelve hours left, he told himself. Only twelve more hours of insanity.
A FULL twelve hours of insanity.
The cat hung his head. "Oh, boy."
***
Mission VI: The Master Plan
***
Shoga was not one of the neighbors who liked to sleep in on Saturday mornings. In
fact, on Saturday mornings, Shoga liked to water her front flower bed. And that was exactly
what she was doing when she heard Minako's squeal echo through her open bedroom window and
out across the street. And the sound made the old woman smile.
It wasn't surprising that the elderly neighbor of the Aino family knew exactly what
was going on in the house across the street at moment. She had been visited by "Arty" late
the night before, and he had already made the same decision she had:
Time had come for them to take matters into their own hands.
So they had busily written the letters that night, he composing them while she typed
them up on her typewriter, and they jointly made reservations for dinner the next night at
Chez Pierre. Yes, things were finally going their way, and - after months of crossed fingers
and terrible near misses - the pieces were in play.
The pieces were in play so well, in fact, that she was able to guess the exact
moment that familiar footfalls began to echo down the front sidewalk and up to where she
was standing, watering her rose bushes.
"Grandma," sighed Asai, plopping down on the front steps and resting his chin in a
hand, "I think we have a problem."
With a secret, inward smile, the little old lady set down her watering can and
strode over to sit beside her only grandchild. "Something's wrong, Asai-kun?" she questioned
carefully, arching an eyebrow in disbelief. "Did you have a bad morning already?"
He sighed and nodded, knowing full well that his companion couldn't see the subtle
motion. "I received a letter this morning, right before I went on my run," he explained, the
sheet of paper in question rustling as he pulled it from his back pants pocket. "It said
that I'm supposed to go on some sort of date tonight, but... I'm not sure I want to."
"Don't want to?" repeated the old woman, shock registering in her voice. "But all
you've been thinking about lately is how badly you want to find the right girl, ne?" She
leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, sightless eyes gazing out at the street
before her. "Well, Asai-kun, the girl for you is not just going to burst out her front
door, announce she's going shopping, and take off down the sidewalk before your very eyes.
She - "
Shoga's kind-hearted advice was interrupted by the noise of a door opening rather
loudly out onto the street. "Ja, Mama!" called the blonde across the street, waving
furiously at the front door. "I'm going shopping with the girls!" The door slammed loudly
as the girl took off down the sidewalk at a furious pace.
The old woman grew silent and considered the irony. Life was still worth living,
after all.
Asai blinked in confusion. "Ne, wasn't that Aino Minako?" he thought aloud, not
really directing the inquiry toward anyone.
"Ah, my dear, you forget that your old grandmother is blind," she chided the young
man, repremanding him with nothing more than soft pat on the head. "Now, come inside. I know
a few young people who will be more than happy to help you pick out some new clothes for
this mystery date of yours."
Sighing, the volleyball player shrugged and stood, following his grandmother inside.
Sometimes, it was much better to just NOT ask.
***
The three girls walked up and down the aisle of the apartment store, scanning the
area for anything interesting-looking that might be availible.
"Ne, ne, Minako-chan," insisted the brunette after a good five minutes of complete
and utter silence between the three of them, "you STILL haven't told us what kind of clothes
we're looking for - " She turned discreetly toward the odango-headed blonde at her side and
winked. " - or why we're looking for it."
Usagi wagged a scolding finger at her friend, as though she was completely clueless
to what a wink meant to the subtle members of the universe. "Mako-chan, we're shopping for
Minako's blind date tonight!" she reminded her friend sternly. "How could you have forgotten
already?"
As the Makoto facevaulted straight into the tile floor of the store, Minako turned
toward the senshi of the moon and frowned. "How did you know about my date?" she questioned
suspiciously. "I hadn't told anyone yet except Artemis."
"Actually," recovered the third teen smoothly as she picked herself up off the
floor, "Artemis called Usagi and I to tell us about it as soon as you ran out of the house
to come get us. I was just playing dumb to see if you would tell us about it."
Blinking, Usagi shook her head furiously. "No way, Mako-chan! You KNOW that - OW!!!"
Makoto chose that particular moment to step HARD on the blonde's foot. "So, what
are we looking for?" she asked, ignoring the screams of agony from their pained companion as
they poked around the women's department idly. "Shy? Sexy? S - "
"Ai no megami," stated Minako with a curt nod, pulling out shirt after shirt from a
large rack and dumping them messily on the floor as soon as she glanced at them for the
first time. "It's a little bit of everything with being absolutely nothing at the same
time."
"So you want to make sure you look REALLY good?" questioned Usagi, obviously fully
recovered as she popped up beside the other two senshi. Her blue eyes narrowed slightly as
she examined her blonde friend. "Are you SURE you're not after my Mamo-chan?"
The brunette let roar a loud groan of annoyance and turned toward the rabbit of the
moon, her fists clenched at her sides. "For the love of the kami, Usagi-chan, no one is out
to steal your precious Mamo-chan!" she shot, voice echoing across the store as she glowered
down at the blinking blonde. "I don't think anyone would WANT to, what with his tendency to
be the mainstay of evil plotting, the fact he ends up having a REALLY annoying daughter, his
'pretty boy' attitude, and everything else that goes into his TOTALLY two-dimensional
personality!"
Silence washed over the department store as Tsukino Usagi stared up at the fuming
senshi of Jupiter. Then, she smiled and flashed the taller girl a v-for-victory sign. "As
long as Minako-chan isn't trying to take him!" she assured her friend in her normal,
air-headed way. "But we should better FIND Minako-chan, because I think she just wandered
off on us!"
She turned to walk off, then blinked suddenly. "Wait a minute. Did you just call my
daughter *annoying*?"
Picking her jaw up off the floor, Makoto sighed, shook her head, and followed Usagi
across the women's department.
***
"I really appreciate this," Asai insisted with an embarrassed smile as he followed
the two teen girls through the virtual maze of clothing, "but I don't see why you're
helping me. I mean, aren't you both Minako-chan's friends?"
"No, NO!" retorted Hino Rei with an enormous smile, pausing in their trek across the
women's department to turn around and wave a hand at the young man. A small sweat drop
materialized on her temple, but she ignored it and pressed on. "We're friends of your
grandmother's, and we were more than happy to aid her - I mean, YOUR - quest to find the
perfect young woman."
Her blue-haired companion nodded urgently, a smile crossing her plesant face as she
spoke. "And what better way to do such a thing that going on a blind date?" she questioned
with a plesant smile. "We both have boyfriends and know just what girls are looking for in
a man's garb. Honest."
Rei snickered slightly. "Well, unless you're like Ami and have a thing for briefs,"
she put in, her voice soft enough so only her fellow senshi could hear.
Ami turned three shades of red. "R-Rei-chan!" she stammered, forcing herself to look
at the ground and therefore supress her blush...at least, a little. "How did you know that?"
"We ALL know that the password to your online journal is 'urawa6pt5,' Ami-chan,"
returned the Shinto with a wink. "You'd be surprised how much we all know."
The genius would have ventured a witty retort had Asai not stopped in the middle of
the main aisle and pointed to his left. "Isn't Men's this way?" he ventured bravely,
interrupting the battle of the femmes.
Rei glanced around and nodded quickly. "Gomen!" she apologized with a small chuckle.
"I'm so used to wandering around the Women's department that I had forgotten which way it
is to men's." She glanced disdainfully at a nearby rack of shirts. "Some people have no
manners when shopping," she sighed with a shake of her head. "They need to learn."
And then, the trio started off to the Men's section.
***
"Do you think that they have any clue what's going on?" questioned the young man
nervously from his seat in the arm chair. Well, "young man" was a complete and total lie; he
was actually a white-furred, blue-eyed, run-of-the-mill housecat - then again, run-of-the-
mill was a lie, too - but this fact seemed utterly lost on his companion for brunch-time
tea... At least, he HOPED it was a fact that was lost on the old woman.
Shoga laughed and shrugged her shoulders, setting down her teacup on the coffee
table as she did so. "I think that Minako-chan is too excited to care while my grandson is
too nervous." She frowned slightly. "Arty, what time is it?"
Artemis glanced up at the wall clock and sighed. "Only 11:26," he answered her,
wrinkling his nose as he did so. "That leaves us with a full eight-and-a-half hours to go."
She nodded. "Very good," she responded with a small smile as she reached forward to
pick up her cup and take another sip of her beverage. "Now, let's just hope that the girls
are all having luck keeping our lovebirds apart, ne?"
***
"I STILL can't find anything I like!" whined Minako insistantly, stomping a foot as
she and her two friends returned to the very pile of clothes they had started out at. "It
seems like the trademark Perfect Dress still alludes me!" She sighed, falling to her knees
in front of the mass of shirts. "Oh, woe is me!"
Rolling her green eyes, Makoto waved a hand at her friend. "Yare yare, it's just a
date, not a royal ball or some such." She smiled and patted the blonde on the shoulder. "I'm
sure you'll find just what you're hoping to find, Minako-chan."
Blue, teary eyes gaped up at her, wide and full of sorrow as Minako looked to her
friend. "It is not just a date, Mako-chan," she professed, folding her hands in some sort of
perverse prayer. "It is the key to my happiness! Ai no megami cannot rest until she has
found her perfect prince!"
Usagi wiped a tear from her eye and dabbed her nose with a handkerchief.
"Beautiful," she sniffled, gazing down at the ever-dramatic senshi on the floor. "Just
beautiful!"
Sweatdropping, Makoto shook her head. "Yare yare."
"But wait!" Suddenly, Minako was on her feet and tearing across the aisle toward a
display of dresses that they had previously overlooked. "The light of hope shines throughout
the galaxy!"
The odango-headed blonde glanced up at her friend in confusion. "Ne, do you think
that Minako had a little too much soda today?" she asked softly, so the excited senshi of
love wouldn't overhear.
Her companion sighed and shook her head. "Somehow," she responded, "I think it would
have to be something a lot stronger than soda..."
***
"I THOUGHT menswear was to the left," sighed Asai as the trio of girls stopped in
front of a dress display, utterly lost. They had wandered the department store for nearly
ten minutes, and yet it seemed as though they hadn't left the women's section at all.
"Maybe it was to the right?"
"I'm SURE it's to the left!" insisted Rei with a scowl. "It can't just MOVE, can
it?"
Ami straightened to her tip-toes, peering over the sea of clothing racks and
mannequins. "I actually think it's up by the front door," she replyed, pointing to the huge
"MEN" sign that hung from the ceiling a good fifty feet away. "I don't see how we missed
it, though."
Asai rolled his dark eyes. "As if I didn't already HATE shopping," he muttered
under his breath, "this has just made everything more un - "
He froze, his eyes riveted to the dress display they had stopped in front of, as
though he had just noticed it for the first time.
The dark-haired Shinto smiled and nodded at his reaction to the dress in the
display, resting an elbow on his shoulder as she looked up at it. "The Ainako Megami
Collection," she explained to him, gesturing at the glittering navy gown before them.
"Expensive, but beautiful, ne?"
"They say that Ainako Megami is a genius designer," pointed out the blue-haired one
helpfully, her hands folded at her waist as she joined her two companions in front of the
display. "Her first few designs sold impossibly quick. Though, I'm sure it's obvious why
they would be so popular...."
"But we don't have time for this!" insisted Rei as she seized the senshi of water by
the wrist and started to drag her away from the dress display. "It's almost noon, and we've
gotten absolutely NOTHING done!"
As he took one last look at the dress, Asai smiled slightly. If he could have any
wish in the world, he decided at that moment, it would be for his date to wear that very
gown.
Sighing, he followed the girls toward the front of the store. Some wishes we just
not meant to be realized...
***
"It's GORGEOUS!" grinned Minako excitedly, bouncing out of the dressing room with an
elated grin plastering her face. The navy gown, a strapless, glittering gown that hugged
each of her curves perfectly, shimmered in the neon lighting of the store.
Makoto looked down at the tag and turned colors. "Minako, this isn't just a DRESS,"
she announced, oggling the price with wide eyes. "This is a Ainako Megami! It's just under
50,000 yen!"
Giggling, Usagi nudged her friend in the ribs with an elbow. "Isn't that funny,
Minako?" she questioned with a blue-eyed wink. "You're the ai no megami, and the designer's
name is Ainako Megami! It's like you were SUPPOSED to get this dress!"
The blonde's eyes went starry as she clutched both hands to her chest and sighed
wistfully. "It's destiny, then," she cooed, a dreamy expression crossing her face. "I have
no choice but to buy this one gown."
"Don't encourage her, Usagi!" snapped Makoto, but it was already too late. Minako
had dumped out the contents of her purse on the ground and was looting through it, piling
up all her paper money.
After a moment of silence (and a lot of counting on her fingers), Minako jumped up
with her fists full of 100, 1000, and 2000 yen notes. "I have almost 45,000 yen! How much do
you guys have?"
Usagi dug into her pockets and pulled out a few bills. "I have 1000!" she announced,
glancing expectantly at the brunette beside her.
Makoto's eyes widened to astronomical proportions as two sets of bright blue eyes
settled on her face. "Hell no!" she spat at them, taking a wary step backward as they stared
her down. "I've had to prune a lot of bushes to earn the little bit of cash I have!"
"But this is DESTINY!" echoed the two blondes, morphing into their often freaky
"twin" mode as they spoke. "You cannot meddle with DESTINY!"
The brunette readied herself for an arguement, but then gave up and shook her head
helplessly. Digging into her pocket, she pulled out a 10,000 yen note. "If this doesn't pay
for the rest of it," she mumbled half-heartedly, "I don't know what will."
Cheering echoed across the store as the duo of blondes glomp-hugged Makoto around
the waist and began to blather nonsense about how greatful they BOTH were.
"I just hope this stupid plan works," sighed she as Usagi rushed to help Minako out
of "The Perfect Dress." "Otherwise, I'm going to have to skin Artemis alive."
***
"How long could it POSSIBLY take a guy to order a cup of coffee?" muttered Rei
irritably, glancing down at her watch. "It's nearly 4:30, and you KNOW that Minako is going
to want us to come over to her house and see her off."
Ami smiled induligently and shrugged her slender shoulders. "I'm actually starting
to want to see how this all turns out," she admitted with a slightly embarassed smile. "I
mean, sure, it's meddling in other people's business, but it's probably good for them both."
"What's good for who?" questioned a frighteningly familiar voice, and both senshi
leapt a mile into the air, pressing their backs into the front window of the coffee shop.
Minako adjusted her sunglasses on her nose, peering down at them suspiciously. "Are you two
up to no good again?"
Furrowing her brow, Makoto watched as Minako wiggled her glasses a second time.
"Must be taking lessons from Ami," she thought aloud, though her comment was lost on the
others.
"Of COURSE we're not up to anything bad!" lied Ami with a wave of her hands, face
turning bright pink. "We were just talking about... Uhm... We were talking about...
Rei-chan!"
The dark-haired one sweatdropped. "SMOOTH, Ami-chan," she mumbled with a shake
of her head. "REAL smooth..."
"You were talking about Rei-chan?" questioned Usagi with a cock of her head.
Everyone else present upended to the floor.
Bouncing back to her feet, Minako-chan glowered dubiously at the fire senshi, her
blue eyes narrowing to slits as she stared Rei down. "You were talking about SOMEONE,
weren't you?" she growled almost angrily. "Who?"
"We were talking about Unazuki-chan, if you MUST know," sighed the priestess with a
shrug, her purple eyes rolling in annoyance as she spoke. "Her latest boyfriend dumped her,
and we've been trying to find her a new one for a while. Doesn't seem to be working,
though."
The bow-headed blonde grinned maniacly, as though Rei had just presented the group
with the greatest idea in the history of mankind. "Good for you!" she praised, clapping the
other teen on the back. "I'm glad that ai no megami has rubbed off on you!" She paused and
glanced into the coffee shop with a raised eyebrow. "Be right back!" she announced rather
loudly, bouncing through the propped-open door. "I think I need an iced tea!"
"No!" Ami called after her, but it was too late. She was already through the door
and hopping over to the counter. The group watched in horror as she got in the long line and
began to look around, taking in her surroundings with a surprising innocence.
Makoto frowned and glanced at the blue-haired girl. "He's in there, isn't he?" she
asked softly, so only Ami could hear.
The other nodded curtly, frowning as she glanced around the cafe. "But I don't see
him," she realized. "Do you?"
"He's GONE!" Rei exclaimed, turning around to lean her back against the front
picture window. "Man, and our ONLY goal was to keep an eye on him!" She moved to glare at
the odango-headed teen. "This is all YOUR fault, you know!"
"MY FAULT?" blinked Usagi, incredulous against the accusations that had just flown
her way. "Why is it MY fault that he got away from you, hmmm?"
"It's not that he got AWAY, baka, but that you brought Minako here in the first
place!" shot back the miko with a toss of her long hair. "You should have known that
disaster was going to hit if she saw us! I'm surprised that she doesn't know everything
yet!"
Usagi frowned and stuck out her tongue, blowing a raspberry at her dark-haired
friend. Rei blew a raspberry back, and it slowly turned from being an arguement to being a
raspberry-blowing contest.
Sighing, the brown-haired senshi buried her face in her hands. "Yare yare," she
muttered with a shake of her head.
"What's going on?" questioned a voice, and all four sets of eyes turned to see Asai
standing before them, nursing a large iced tea. He blinked at the reaction he recieved. "Did
I miss something?"
"Oh, they're just always like that!" insisted Ami, stepping forward to push the
young man down the street. "But we'd better hurry! You've only got a few short hours to get
ready!"
Rei and Ami bustled off with their charge for the evening, and it was only as they
turned the corner that Minako, grinning, bounced out of the cafe...with a large iced tea,
just as she had promised. "That was fun!" she announced with a grin. "There was a really
cute checker!"
"Come on, Minako-chan," sighed Makoto with a shake of her head, still in awe by the
number of near-misses the crew had experienced that day. "Time to go home."
***
"No, THIS lipstick!"
"Minako, that's neon pink!"
"So?"
"Does neon pink go with navy?"
"Duh, Mako-chan! Of course!"
"Usagi, you're REALLY not helping, here...."
Artemis sighed from his spot on Minako's bed as he watched the three girls bustle
about her bedroom, trying desperately to get her ready for that night's big date. They had
arrived home promptly at 5:00 p.m. with the blonde's Perfect Dress (perfectly expensive,
Artemis had decided with a frown after catching a glance of the price tag - he was praying
that she still had enough spare cash for cat chow) bagged and ready to be worn. Then, they
had gone about doing her hair... And picking out jewelry... And making sure the dress fit
PERFECTLY...
The clock switched over to 7:32 p.m., and the cat scowled something awful. If they
didn't hurry up, Minako would be late to her own dream date!
"I got it!" announced the goddess of love as she pulled a tube of bright purple lip
gloss from her vanity and tossed it to Usagi. "Don't you think it's perfect?"
Makoto frowned, not quite sure what to say. "Uhm, is electric violet really a date
color, Minako-chan?" she questioned, raising her eyebrows. "Because, I mean, it's NICE, but
- "
"You know what they say when you're going on a date!" scolded the blonde as she took
back her lipstick and began to apply it. "You need something old, something new, something
bookish, and something purple!" She paused, frowning a bit. "Or is it something brown and
something prickly?"
All three of her companions - the cat included - just groaned and said nothing.
Blotting her lipstick on a tissue, Minako turned around to glance at her friends.
"How do I look?" she questioned smiling flirtily. "Do I pull off the 'ai no megami' look,
or no?"
For the first time that evening, Artemis - all cynicism put aside - actually looked
at the teen before him. With her curve-hugging dress, slightly-curled blonde hair, and
bright, excited smile, she DID look the part of the goddess of love. He smiled proudly at
her, tears coming to his eyes unexpectedly. "Oh, Mina-chan," he gushed, all the adoration
of a loving father in his voice. "You look absolutely b - "
"OH NO!!!" came the sudden exclaimation from Minako-chan as she finally took one
good look at the clock. "I'm going to be late! NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!"
Less than thirty seconds later, she was running down the street to the bus stop, her
hair and gown flying behind her like a cape of sorts.
Makoto glanced at Usagi, Usagi glanced at the cat, and the cat glanced back at the
brown-haired girl.
Then, three voices united in one universally expressive phrase.
"Oh, boy."
***
Shoga smiled as she heard Minako go screaming down the street just in time to catch
her bus to Chez Pierre. The evening was warm and summery, the first truly warm night they
had had all spring. Sighing contently, the old woman leaned back in her seat on the front
porch and took a long sip of her tea.
"Everything went well, I think," commented a female voice, and the old woman didn't
need eyes to see that all four of Minako-chan's friends were standing before her, grinning.
"I think so too," responded the grandmother of one with a small half-smile. "Now,
all we have to do is hope that everything works out perfectly."
Usagi made some sort of strange, wistful sound, and the group all turned to see the
blonde staring starry-eyed at the sky. "It reminds me of how Mamo-chan and I met," she
sighed wistfully, her smile all half-formed and mushy. "So romantic."
Frowning, Rei glanced curiously at her friend. "Usagi-baka, you met Mamoru-san when
you threw a balled-up test at his face."
As Makoto, Ami, and Shoga all laughed, the blonde turned red and tossed her
ponytails a bit. "Well, a girl can dream, can't she?" she insisted haughtly. "You're just
jealous because *I* got the guy and you didn't!"
"Usagi-chan," Ami said, exasperated, "we both got guys, too..."
The argument continued, and Shoga found herself concealing a secret smile. "Just
like my friends were when I was Minako-chan's age," she chuckled softly enough that the
girls couldn't hear her. "JUST like them."
***
She found herself staring at a shaking menu, and it took her a good three minutes to
figure out that it wasn't the menu that was shaky but her own two hands. Silently, she
berated herself for her own nervousness. After all, she was going to find true love at that
restaurant, or her title wasn't ai no megami-sama!
But the bittersweet memories of all her failures flooded her mind as she tried to
decipher the fancy French names that covered the menu. Like her dogwalking plan, her
clubbing attempt, her stint on Blind Date, her newspaper ad that only nabbed her a stalker,
and her missing datamatch. It seemed almost as though Fate had her cards stacked completely
against the senshi of Venus, not a feeling that the blonde particularly liked.
The Goddess of Love - known to most as that carefree high school student, Aino
Minako - took a small sip of her complementary water and sighed. "Pull yourself together,"
she scolded herself softly so that none of the other restaurant patrons could hear. "This
time, it really WILL be true love." She frowned slightly, wrinkling her nose. "Or, I hope."
Then, as if on cue, a low, male voice - a voice that was, for some reason,
strangely familiar to the blonde - chimed up out of the blue. "Is this the table reserved
for K.S.?" questioned the stranger softly.
Minako raised her eyes just a bit over the menu to glance at the stranger.
The gasp silenced all conversation in the restaurant.
*** (End of Mission VI)
What a bitch of a cliffhanger! We're both really sorry for having to do that to everyone,
but it was necessary to tell the story.
Stay tuned for next time when Minako tries to keep her rampant bad luck from affecting her
date as her amazingly fabulous search for a boyfriend at last draws to a close!
-End