Ok, once again I'll continue the chain of apologies. This series came at a REALLY bad time for me… I'm approaching finals with dread, I've had numerous medical emergencies (everything from a sinus infection to a cyst, to a bone infection… yuck), I've been working overtime, increasing my volunteer work with the holidays upcoming, and still blowing everything off to play D&D on Thursday nights. Also, what writing time I have is usually spent on original stuff… fan fiction is fun, but it's not mine.
Now, as most of you know, this story is an expanded version of a much shorter story entitled "Beginnings" (which can be found on fanfiction.net). Herein lies the question… do I expand the story, and keep plugging away with late chapters, and possibly having to go on month long quitting sprees, or do I end it where beginnings ended? Choices, choices…
If I end it where beginnings ended, this is the last chapter. If I go as far as I wanted to… I have no idea. I tried to set up a story that I could expand as far as I wanted to take it.
Well, enough whining… on to the story.
Loves Icy Journey
Chapter Six… Decisions
By Michael Treiber
Minako knocked a second time. Haruka had sworn she would be here… A third rap finally produced a response, in the form of a muffled voice from behind the door, which opened to reveal Michiru's smiling face.
"Hello Minako. Haruka's not here right now. I sent her to the store. But please, come in."
Michiru saw her guest to a seat in the living room, and then retreated to her bedroom. When she returned, she held two sealed envelopes in her hands. Wordlessly, she held them out to Minako.
"Um, thanks, but..."
The aqua haired beauty laughed lightly.
"Oh please... Like I didn't read all of Haruka's old diaries as soon as we got together. Phase three... a non threatening date in a public place. Thus, the concert tickets."
"Thank you!" Michiru cut her off with a raised hand.
"I know that Haruka has given you quite a bit of money for this little project. Just keep this in mind when she wants you to pay it back."
She smiled, almost feraly.
"I ALWAYS find the negatives."
*****
Isolated in her bedroom, Ami made her own preparations for her confrontation with Minako. She mentally reviewed her list of arguments about why a relationship would never work, triple checking to make sure each was airtight.
After long thought, Ami had finally decided that the best way to deal with Minako's apparent infatuation would be to overwhelm her with the logistics proving them incompatible. Finally assured of her ability to convince Minako of the truth of her arguments, she left for the appointed rendezvous.
*****
Nearly half an hour had passed, and Ami grew more anxious as each minute passed. She was waiting for Minako to make the first move, as her entire strategy was defensively based, but the light conversation and ice cream consumption weren't giving her the opportunities for counter attack she needed. Finally, Minako complied with her mental directives and dropped the first axe.
"Ami?" Minako asked, almost conversationally as she swirled melting chocolate ice cream around the bottom of her bowl.
"Hmm? What is it?"
"What are you doing this Friday night?"
Ami slowly set her spoon down.
"Oh Minako... We've been having a lot of fun together the last couple of days, but..."
Enough was enough.
"Exactly!" Minako said. "We have been having a lot of fun together! And its not like I'm asking you to come to bed with me... just... give me a chance."
"But..."
Minako shook her head.
"Listen. I got two tickets for Michiru's new concert." She held them up for the other girl to see. "You know, the one where she plays her three new songs? The one that is so booked out that even Michiru wasn't supposed to get any tickets for it?"
The other girl still looked troubled. Minako sighed.
"All right, how about this. Come with me. If you enjoy yourself, great... it was our first date. But if you really, truly don't... Then we tell everyone that we were just going to a concert together. As friends."
She took a deep breath and looked Ami straight in the eyes as she finished.
"And if you aren't happy... Then I'll never bug you for another date."
As Ami shook her head and prepared to begin reciting her list of arguments, Minako brought up a point she had never anticipated.
"Ami, I know that you're probably not attracted to me at all. And, to tell you the truth, I don't even know if I'm attracted to you. But here's what I do know." She took a deep breath and looked around for listeners before continuing.
"We know that we're going to live a very long time. And we don't have proof that any other humans will share that life span. That means whoever you fall in love with will likely age, die, and crumble to dust while you still look as young as you do right now. So think about this." Her face was set in an iron mask of deadly serious deliverance.
"When you look at an eternity of celibate loneliness, or a string of heart aches lasting for centuries… do I still seem so bad? So undesirable that you wont even try one small, almost meaningless date?"
A heartbeat of still silence. Then a second. A third and.. Ami nodded once, and reached out for one of the tickets.
*****
Minako was determined to dress for full effect. She was a very attractive young woman, and knew it. The trouble was making sure that Ami did too.
She finally decided on a dress that Setsuna had given her for her birthday. It was very dark red silk, with a snug, laced bodice. The skirt, cuffs, and neck were all trimmed in lace, which served to make her hands, throat, and ankles all look slimmer and more delicate. She wore her hair unbound and brushed until it almost glowed. A moments though and she earrings earrings she had been considering back. Tonight she
didn't want any ornaments other than the natural ones. A heavier shawl of a slightly lighter tone of red
completed the look.
The best feature of the dress, however, was that Ami had never seen her wear it before. So it would have full impact, uncushioned by familiarity in the least.
She couldn't believe how nervous she was as she awaited her ride to Ami's house. The other girl's mother had insisted on driving them to the concert, but Haruka had claimed the right to drive her to Ami's house.
When the doorbell finally rang, she almost jumped out of her skin.
*****
Haruka slowly moved her eyes from Minako's face to her ankles, and back up.
"Wow." Short, simple, and straight to the point.
Minako blushed, not from embarrassment, but from a tingling mix of pleasure and anxiety. Haruka was probably the best judge of the female form around, and if she approved...
"Well," Haruka finally said after one last scan, "Its rude to keep a lady waiting."
*****
The entire drive Haruka heaped her wisdom upon her younger friend. What to do if this happened, how to react to this, what to do during every moment before, during and after the date. By the time they arrived at Ami's house, her head was swimming. It cleared rather abruptly, however.
Ami was stunning. There was no other word for it.
Her dress was dark, almost navy blue. It was sleeveless and V-necked. Not cut low enough to show cleavage, just enough to show all of her throat and the very top of her chest. A heavy sash of black was tied about her waist. And unlike Minako, she had chosen to wear some jewelry... small spherical earrings of silver.
The dress was perfect on her. Not everyone could pull it off, but if the person was small and slender, like Ami, then it perfectly up played the delicacy of their frame.
"Well.." Minako said, after catching her breath. "Shall we go?"
*****
'So far so good...' Minako though to herself. Everything was going smoothly, and the concert was beautiful.
The only thing that could have been better was the temperature. It was quite a bit to cool in the concert hall.
Thinking that, Minako noticed that Ami's bare arms and shoulders had goose bumps, and she was shivering lightly.
Minako didn't stop to think about what she was doing until it was too late. She unwrapped her shawl from her shoulders, and extended her arm around Ami, covering the other girl in the body warmed cloth.
Ami stiffened, and for a moment Minako seriously considered withdrawing her arm and apologizing. But then she relaxed, and settled back into the crook of Minako's shoulder.
*****
"The concert really was lovely, wasn't it?" Ami was still wrapped in Minako's shawl, though the blonde's arm was no longer wrapped around her shoulders.
"Yeah... it was..." Ami could tell that Minako was distracted by something. A long silence drew between them.
"Did you have a good time?" Minako finally asked.
Ami had to think for a moment. But it was a rather quick moment, as she had been replaying the rather fateful discussion with the blond over their futures in her mind constantly since the words had been spoken.
"Yes Minako... I enjoyed our date."
Minako was overjoyed, but something clearly still weighed on her mind.
"What's wrong?" Ami asked, concern coloring her voice.
"She said this was going to be awkward..." Minako mumbled.
"Excuse me?"
Sighing, Minako told Ami,
"This is the part of the date where I'm either supposed to start fishing for a good night kiss or walk away gracefully. And I have no idea how to handle it."
The smaller girl smiled and, leaning forward, quickly pressed her lips against Minako's cheek and pulled back.
"Good night Minako."
*****
"So," Haruka asked as Minako go back into the car. "How was it?"
Several possible answers flicked through her head. It was nothing, it was just a peck on the cheek...
"It was a beginning."
Well, good news and bad news. The good news is that the stiches finally came out of my hand, and I managed to get this chapter written. The bad news is that this is almost definitely the last chapter of the series. Basically, between the things Im already obligated to, and things coming up with work and school, I forsee my writing time dwindling to a shadow of what it currently is. And since anyone whos read anything of mine knows how much I already bitch about my writing time…
So yeah… I drew rather heavily on the material already written for beginnings, cleaned it up and added a bit, and managed to get out a final chapter that's actually a rather good stopping place for the story.
I may try to pick this story up for a seond "Season" sometime… but I just have no idea what the future holds for me right now…