Here's chapter seven of Minako's retreat. Wow these chapters are flying by .

~*~

Minako stared in hard determination. This is almost impossible! There's no way!

Itasha fidgeted nervously, "I don't think I can do this," she muttered.

Minako kept up a strong face. She needed to believe this would work, "It's okay, it'll be fine," Minako muttered.

Bruna nodded, sweat beaded along her forehead, "What if this doesn't work?"

Minako patted her on the back reassuringly, "It'll work," she said with more confidence than she felt.

"W-who's going to do it?" Itasha whispered.

"Not one of us," Rashid muttered as he pointed to all the men who followed Quatre, "I think someone who has a light touch should do it,"

Mutters of agreement echoed quietly though the two hundred of so men standing behind Minako and Itasha, staring over them eagerly.

Minako bit her bottom lip. They right. Who was going to do it? If they screwed this up…

"Itasha and I will do it," Minako said sternly, "But we needed to have faith,"

Itasha nodded nervously, as did everyone else around them.

Minako nodded, "Right get ready to run…"

Itasha made a sound in her throat, "I still don't think I can do this…"

Minako grabbed Itasha by the shoulders, "We need to believe we can do this! Do you think the Sailor scouts ever doubted themselves!" Minako practically yelled.

Itasha nodded slowly as she reached out.

"Ready?"

Itasha nodded.

"One…"

Everyone around them leaned forward.

"Two…"

Everyone held their breath; almost afraid they made a noise.

"THREE!"

"What are you doing?" Quatre asked at the bottom of the stairs.

Minako and Itasha were taken by surprise. They pushed the slinky unevenly and instead of hopping down the stairs it began rolling until it hit the bottom with a loud 'thunk' right in front of Quatre.

"Daddy you ruined it!" Itasha said angrily.

Rashid and his men all groaned disappointedly, "We were so close too!"

~*~

Quatre tried his best to look guilty, but the fact that his own soldiers were playing slinky with his daughter was rather amusing.

"Er…Sorry about that…" Quatre coughed.

Minako smiled charmingly, "That's fine, it just means you have to climb all these stairs to give us back our slinky, right?" Minako confirmed with the rest.

"Right!" Everyone echoed back.

"That's right daddy, hurry up…Daddy stop laughing!"

~*~

It was noon by the time they decided to stop playing around. They had managed to successfully push the slinky down the stairs five times. Which was saying a lot. The Winner mansion had what seemed like the most amount of stairs in history.

Right, you know the drill," Quatre said as he handed Itasha his card. Itasha nodded then dashed out the door to the limo.

Minako eyed the limo. With them they were taking over four of Quatre's men. Minako turned to Quatre, "I believe it's time we struck a deal," she told his sternly.

He raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"

Minako nodded, "If you allow me to rescue my friends, then you have my word I won't try to escape," Minako told him dejectedly. She had spent long hours trying to figure out how to get out this mansion, but it seemed they were ahead of her. Quatre was a very crafty man in Minako's opinion. While his friends all seemed to be the ones to look out for, it seemed he was the most dangerous of them all.

Stupid crafty men.

Quatre looked thoughtful for a second, "How about I rescue your friends and you not only stop trying to escape, you look after Itasha for me. Like a mother figure…sort of thing,"

Minako frowned, "And how will I know whether you kept your word or not?"

Quatre smiled, "It'll be all over the news of course, not to mention when something like this happens, Relena comes over here to complain to us about what happened. Many ways in fact."

Minako thought for a second before sticking her hand out, "Right, you've got a deal,"

Quatre grasped her hand as well. As her hand touched his, a sense of warmth and security flooded into her like a breaking dam. A part of her wanted to hold on forever, but another part feared the sensation.

Minako pulled her hand away calmly. She noted the odd look on Quatre's face as well. "Well, see you tonight," she said with a wink, before stepping out the door and into the air.

The limo ride was actually a lot of fun. Minako found it easy (especially after the slinky incident) to get along with Quatre's people.

Bruna had also come along with them. Minako had found, despite Itasha's terrible description, the woman to be very wise in her years.

When they got to the mall, Minako stepped out of the vehicle, looking for all the world a superstar. People all around them stopped to stare as they headed into the mall.

"Well now, were to first?" Minako asked.

"Gilo's is were we usually shop for Itasha's dresses," Bruna told her helpfully.

Minako nodded, "We'll go there first then,"

She missed the face Itasha made.

~*~

"Come on Itasha, let me see the dress," Minako reasoned as she waited in the sitting room.

There was an involuntary sigh before the curtain was thrown aside and Itasha stood there. The dress was something Minako would never make anyone wear. It was horrendous to say the least. It was a bright pink, with more frills and bows than there was dress.

"Eh…."

Itasha had an annoyed look on her face. Bruna smiled, "You look simply adorable!" she gushed.

Minako decided it was time to save the child.

"It would have been a cute dress… five years ago maybe. Itasha is six years old now. Lets get her something more her age," Minako stated. Her mind was already racing. She turned to the clerk, asking for a piece of paper and pencil. The woman handed her the tools.

Minako began her creation.

"Lemme see," Itasha whined. She stood on her tiptoes trying to see the paper. Minako turned and poked Itasha in the head with her pencil, "Whining is for baby's. Do it again and you'll be wearing that dress to the ball,"

Itasha immediately stopped talking all together.

Minako handed the finished picture to the clerk, "Have you got anything similar to that, that you could re-design quickly?"

The woman inspected it before nodded and taking off into the masses of dresses. It took over an hour for the dress to be re-arranged. When they finally brought it out, Minako ushered Itasha into the change room.

Minako waited for a few minutes before calling out, "Done yet?" she asked rather impatiently.

"Yup!"

The door swung open. Itasha was beaming. The dress was yellow, with a full skirt and short cut sleeves. A pink sash hung over her shoulder and under her arm. A large ribbon encircled the waist, completing the dress.

Minako nodded as if expecting nothing less.

They paid for the dress and began shopping for Minako's dress.

After over ten stores, Minako found one she loved. She took a quick glance at the price tag before moving on. Itasha could tell she liked the dress.

Itasha motioned for Bruna to grab the dress, which she did. Minako eyed them for a second, "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Buying your dress of course," Itasha told her.

"But it's too expensive!" Minako protested.

"Are you paying for it?" Bruna asked her.

"Er…no?"

"Then stop whining, or else your going to the ball in the dress I had to try on," Itasha told her coolly.

Minako couldn't help but smiling. "All right, you win,"

"Of course!" Itasha said with a wink.

~*~

XD omg, I had sooo much fun writing the slinky part. Lmao, I think I sat there giggling to myself for a good twenty minutes as I wrote it. I'm sure my whole family thinks I'm insane by now.

^-^

hehehehe okay, I'm done.

Next chapter – The ball….AND A TWIST!

Lmao, I loved the slinky part. Aaah me and my simple humor -_^

Good news!!

I'm already done chapter eight of Minako's retreat aaaand chapter four of Love Will find a way. Which mean's I'm ahead of schedule!!! Yay!!

Thanks for the reviews!!

~Ceso