Minako came to the shrine every day. When Rei asked her how she could afford to miss that much recording time, she simply said that they were done recording by one in the afternoon and that afterwards she came directly to the shrine. Soon Rei's schedule revolved completely around her superstar girlfriend. In the morning she prayed, then worked on sewing a new set of robes (she had finished the measurements without distraction, finally) until she opened the shrine at noon. She cleaned and met with the visitors until Minako came, who then helped with the cleaning, sporting the proper disguise. Some days were different though. Sometimes Minako would appear, drag Rei inside, and they wouldn't get any work done. Other times they would sit outside on a swing and talk, getting to know each other. At the three-week mark, they made the jump to spending nights together. Minako started to leave things at the shrine, like a toothbrush and toiletries and pajamas.

Somehow, in this time, Rei had managed to keep everything a secret from her friends. And Minako had managed to avoid the press. "We must just be super-good at hiding!" theorized Minako.

One particularly lazy morning, Minako was looking around Rei's room wearing a tank top and pajama boxers. Rei was laying back on the floor reading manga, also minimally dressed. "Who's in this picture?" asked Minako, picking up a frame and holding it up for the other girl to see. It was a picture of Rei and her friends in traditional shrine dressings.

"That's Makoto, Ami, Usagi and me at the Sakura blossom festival last year. We were a little bit drunk. I don't even remember who took that picture." Minako laughed and took the picture over to Rei.

"Your friends are so attractive. Should I be jealous?"

Rei lowered the manga just enough to waggle an eyebrow suggestively at the singer. "Maybe."

Minako dropped to her knees on the floor, still holding the picture, and leaned over to kiss Rei deeply. When she pulled away, she said, "There had better not be a reason to be jealous, or else you'll never get that again."

The singer had clearly won that round.

"So what are these ladies like?" she asked, holding up the picture, and Rei sat up and took it from her.

"Oh, well, you know, they're all very nice and loyal. Usagi's really ditzy and fun-loving. You two would get along grandly." Minako smacked her on the arm for indirectly calling her ditzy. "She's married, actually. She's a housewife now, her husband Mamoru is out of college. I think he makes quite a bit of money, doing something business-related." She looked at the picture, pointing to Makoto next. "Makoto is a really good cook, so she goes to like, the top cooking school in Toyko. She's also very athletic. Not very talkative though." Her finger moved to Ami. "And Ami is very quiet and incredibly intelligent. She's currently at the top university in the country for pre-med. She is going to be a doctor by the time she's 25, I bet."

"Wow," commented Minako, looking at the picture. "You have some impressive friends."

"And now there's you, Aino Minako, famous superstar singer."

"Damn right," was Minako's drawling reply.

She stood up again and resumed her nosing. Her exploration paused, however, when she noticed a shoebox sitting just inside the open closet door. The tip of a magazine article was sticking out. Looking at Rei to make sure there was no objection to her actions (the miko was once again buried in her manga), she pulled the box out and opened it.

Inside there were countless clipping of articles and interviews, all about her. There was also the poster, rolled up into a tube, on the floor. "Rei-chan, Why is this in the closet?" she asked, rather offended.

Looking up, Rei set aside her book and crawled over to sit next to the other girl. "Because, silly, once I had you for real, I didn't need these phony interviews any more. You may talk in them, but you don't talk," explained Rei, reaching out to pick up one of the interviews. "Besides, I can hold my own interviews with you any time now."

"Oh, please do," joked Minako, looking suddenly sultry.

"Well, Aino-san," started Rei, leaning in close to her, "what's going on in your romantic life?"

"I've got a girlfriend."

"Oh? And how is that?" drawled Rei.

"It's amazing," breathed Minako. One of Rei's hands had come to rest on her upper thigh and was moving upwards and her heartbeat and breathing quickened in anticipation. "Really amazing." The hand slipped under the waistband of her boxers, and she raised one of her arms to drape over Rei's shoulders for support, leaning her forehead against Rei's shoulder. "She's perfect." Her words broke off into a soft moan.

"I'm sure she feels the same way," whispered Rei, turning her head to nip lightly on Minako's ear, an action she knew that Minako loved. She stroked her slowly, almost agonizingly slow at first, and Rei loved every shudder, every movement, every shivering breath that Minako took. The singer let out a tiny little whimper, and Rei increased her tempo, pulling her closer, kissing her neck and shoulder. When she felt Minako's whole body tighten, then go limp, she slowed her pace before stopping, but didn't bother to move her hand as she let Minako regain herself.

Minako felt as though her body temperature had gone up eighty degrees in a very short amount of time. She knew that she was probably sweating, but she was too pleasantly numb to notice. She raised her other arm and hugged Rei more closely, inhaling her familiar scent, loving her warmth and her strength. With Rei, she didn't always have to be cheerful and friendly and strong. She could just be protected, just be comforted. Just... be loved. Pulling back to look up at the other girl, she stared into those dark, affectionate eyes that were watching her with such fondness. She wanted to tell her so bad, wanted her to know what she was feeling, but something held her back. So instead, she leaned up and kissed her, slowly and deeply, before taking Rei's hand and leading her back to the bed. If she couldn't tell her, she would show her.