This is a bonus birthday present to Misty, since the promised chapter of Moondust couldn't be finished quite in time. Sorry about that...

A little something that I came up with one day, a scene that may or may not make it into one of the later chapters of another fic I'm writing. It's a bit odd, and Sesshoumaru could probably be considered a bit OOC, but if you want, you could just as easily pretend it's Trunks, or Duo, or Vash the Stampede if you want. It doesn't really matter, and you'll see why in the end. The basic idea is there's some random guy that knows, for whatever reasons, all about the Senshi and everyone has been over at Rei's shrine and then this is what happens. This is set later in the series, at no particular point.

Minako's P.O.V.

Minako leaned against the frame of the back door. She really didn't feel like goofing around right now, although she wasn't quite certain why. It felt more... peaceful, outside. She took a deep breath. The night air was cool and pleasant, and then noise inside seemed to fade back in her mind. It was quiet. Somehow, she felt a lot better, which was a little strange, because she hadn't really known she was feeling all that bad.

She righted herself, and walked out a few steps, and noticed a white- haired figure sitting by the wall. Apparently, Sesshoumaru preferred the tranquility as well.

Gingerly, Minako walked over and sat down next to him. "Hey Sesshoumaru." She said quietly, still trying to preserve the serene nighttime feeling. "Mind if I join you?"

She heard a soft mumble in response, and interpreted that as an affirmative. She made herself comfortable.

The two stayed like that for an undetermined amount of time, him leaning back against the wall, head slightly tilted, and her resting her head on her palms and her elbows on her knees, staring up at the stars.

The sounds from inside the house seemed very distant.

Eventually, Minako spoke again, in a low whisper. "Hey, Sesshoumaru?"

Another not-quite-audible response.

"I was wondering... if I could tell you something. I mean, I guess it's a bit weird, I mean, I hardly know you and all, but... I dunno, I don't really think you'd make a big deal about it. That you could keep a secret, you know? And you might even understand. I don't really know if the rest of them would. Haruku and Michiru would just say I'm whining, and Rei too, probably, Makoto would act awkward and Ami would just worry. They wouldn't understand. Oh, Usagi would. But, hell, (excuse my English) that's the problem." She sighed. "Sometimes, I hate her. She's so lucky. She has her whole life ahead of her, plotted out perfect. She has a wonderful, sweet, attractive and intelligent boyfriend, or more accurately future husband. She's already met her daughter. She's the strongest Senshi, the most determined, the one who always wins, the one everyone admires, the one who saves the world on a day-to-day basis. She's the princess, soon to be the Queen. And what, do you think, am I?" She said, her voice building to a quiet cresendo.

"Dumb blonde number two." She said, more bitterly than she'd said anything in a long time.

"Wannabe pop star, wannabe princess. The leader of the inner Senshi, except not. Usagi's decoy." She practically spat out the last word. Then she took a few deep breaths. She hadn't really realized she had this much bottled in. Well, it wasn't fair.

"In supposed to be Venus, the goddess of love. Yeah, right. I'm still a fricking virgin." She said, her voice almost reaching normal tone. Then, she winced as the realization of what she had just blurted out hit her. "I can't believe I just said that. I hardly know you. I can't believe I just said that." Her face still contorted into the gesture of one mentally kicking herself in the head.

"I feel like such a moron." She said, leaning her head back and smacking it against the wall. "If I was a bit more flexible, I'd shove my foot in my mouth. Damn. I always seem to say stupid garbage like that. It seems like the more I try to sound intelligent or interesting or like I have my own frigging personality, the more crappy everything turns out when I say it. Ugh." She said the last lines more quietly, almost to herself, not quite certain she wanted to say them, but saying it anyway.

She turned her head up to look at her silent confidant. He hadn't moved a muscle. "Thanks for listening, Sesshoumaru. It feels a lot better just having someone listen to me."

Pause.

Well? Wasn't he going to say anything?

"Sesshoumaru?" She said, waving a hand in the general direction of his face. She leaned over, getting a better look at his face under his bangs.

And as it turned out, Sesshoumaru was fast asleep.

There was a pregnant pause as this realization dawned on Minako. She shifted back over, with no particular emotion displaying itself on her face, then took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and forcefully smacked her head back against the wall.

Yup.

Well, there it is folks. My little thoughts on Minako. A bit Charlie Brownish, because that's how she's always looked to me. And there's more than a bit of myself reflected in this little scene, and I might be projecting a lot of my own personality on her. But, I dunno, I kinda liked this little scene, because as I've said before, I think Minako is kinda under-appreciated as a character. Plus, I though the little ending was kinda funny. Now you see why you could just pretend it was Trunks?

If anyone's curious, the original storyline called for Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru to be forced into sharing a room, so neither one of them was getting much sleep, being too busy with staring contests and such.