The following two weeks were a whirl of barbs and innuendos, of sly words and sharp retorts. Minako happily bombarded Rei with all the suggestive wit she could muster, and Rei responded with dry remarks and sarcasm. But for every time she brushed one of Minako's remarks aside, the other girl had another ready to go. She was a never-ending font of flirtation, and Rei was getting worn down. A few times, after some of their exchanges, Rei asked herself why she even bothered. A strict non-engagement policy would be better for her mental health, and would save a lot of her day-to-day aggravation.
But each time the answer was the same. Giving up would be admitting she lost. Worse, it would be admitting it to the most obnoxious person she knew. And her pride wouldn't let her do that. Rei knew it was stupid, she knew it was completely unnecessary, but dammit, she was not going to lose to that blonde-haired menace.
So she persevered for four gym periods and a handful of lunches. The haphazard soccer tournament ended, and with Minako's unending enthusiasm their team had done well. Rei kept playing forward- to go back to playing defense would almost be the same as giving up on their war of words- and found it to be... not as bad as it should have been. She and Minako worked well together. When she had the ball her eyes always found Minako, with a pass not long behind. When the blonde had it, Rei kept looking for openings, and the ball always seemed to reach her just as she made her move. It was actually quite annoying to Rei, who would have preferred an excuse to stay away from Minako.
The lunches were worse for her. At least during their PE time together, Rei could concentrate on the game. When Minako and Serena came to her classroom for lunch there was nothing else for Rei to focus on. Well, that wasn't quite true. She could study, or read, or focus on someone else, or stare out the window or... not, because whenever she tried to do something else, her attention wandered back to the table she was trying so hard to avoid.
It was frustrating to lose control of herself like that. She was much more used to strict, set behaviors. The break period used to be one of actual productive work, but now... taking her lunch to another place to get some peace was looking more and more appealing. Of course, she had nowhere to go. There was no eating in the library, she didn't want to be one of those people who went to the roof, there wasn't much in the way of outside seating, and she didn't talk to anyone in other classes. And there was the other problem, that her pride wouldn't let her budge an inch in a situation that involved Minako.
So it was a relief to hear the bell to end lunch and prepare for the next class. Even though she was about to share PE with that blonde idiot, there was a good chance that she wouldn't have to talk to her at all. With the tournament over they would move on to another game, and the chances of ending up on Minako's team again had to be pretty small. It was a happy little notion that carried her through changing in the locker room, and all the way to the gym.
A notion that was shattered by the teacher. He announced that after their usual warm-ups, they'd have a free day. Most of the students murmured happily. Free days were a student's- and probably the teacher's, too- best friend. They were provided with some equipment, usually some jump ropes, basketballs, volleyballs, and whatever else the teacher could dig up, and told to have fun. The only rule on free days was simple- no sitting. It was up to them to entertain themselves, and was a rare treat for most kids.
Rei, however, could only imagine what Minako would cook up in that warped head of hers. She doubtlessly had a dozen plans kicking around with which to bother Rei, and Rei wasn't sure that she'd be able to survive any big, lewd onslaught that the blonde would throw at her. And if she survived, she wasn't sure that Minako would. She let out a grim snort at the thought- murder wasn't supposed to be funny, but then, she was in a strange place where Minako was concerned.
Rei set a dour look on her face and proceeded on a lap around the inside of the gym. She watched the other students settle in to different areas. A bunch of the boys had taken half of a basketball court as their own and started a pick-up game there. Some of the girls had grabbed the jump ropes, and a few other students had taken a page out of her book and were also circling the gym. Then there was Minako, along with Serena, Ami, and Makoto, appropriating one of the corners to a game of keep-up with a volleyball. Rei was intrigued- there had been no suggestive remarks today, and no pawing at her. Maybe Minako's love of volleyball was greater than her love of annoying Rei?
She entertained the thought for a while, but when she was nearing the group, she still braced herself for anything. So she was only a little surprised when the volleyball careened towards her head. She caught the ball easily enough, but almost wasn't fast enough to avoid the person flailing towards her. At first all she saw was blonde hair, and assumed it was Minako, but after a moment she noticed the hair whipping around was in two distinct pigtails. Serena stopped just short of running into her.
"Sorry Rei, I was trying to get the ball and it ended up hitting the side of my hand which, of course, sent it flying right at your face." Serena said. She was breathing heavily, and seemed to appreciate being able to stop for a moment.
"That's alright, Tsukino, I know it was an accident."
"Because you're such a klutz," Minako said, running up beside Serena.
"Hey that's not true," Serena said, offended. "I'm perfectly coordinated."
"Serena, we've been over this before," Minako said. She turned to Rei. "Can we have our ball back?"
Rei nodded and tossed it to the other girl. She took a breath to ready herself for whatever Minako was going to say next.
"So, Hino, care to join us?"
There it was, and it actually wasn't bad at all. A simple invitation to play a simple game. Rei was suspicious. She scrutinized Minako's features, and, while there was the usual playfulness there, she found something else as well. She didn't know if the other girl's eyes were more crinkled, or if her mouth was more open. Maybe there was something in her stance, or the set of her shoulders. Rei couldn't place her finger on what, exactly, was different, but Minako just looked... happy. Granted, she was always upbeat and energetic, but now she seemed to be having a ton of fun.
She still almost rejected her offer on principle. Her suspicion was still there, and it would be easier to just say no and move on. And her pride wouldn't be at stake considering she never participated in anything during free days anyway. Besides, she had been looking forward to a Minako-free day since the beginning of class.
But something about how genuine the offer sounded made her hesitate. That, and two sets of frustratingly-adorable puppy-dog eyes. So it was only with mild surprise that she heard her own voice agreeing to play with them. She was met with a couple of happy squeals, and the other girls grabbed her arms and dragged her over to the others.
It was fun. She was a little on edge the entire time, waiting for some dirty remark or flirtatious comment, but it was a nice change of pace from circumnavigating the gym by herself. Not that she minded being by herself, but every now and again, spending some time with her classmates didn't hurt. Even if a certain blonde were involved. Sure, there was the occasional wink, or eyelash flutter, but Minako was showing that she could control herself- at least, to some extent.
It seemed like she had only been playing for a few minutes when the teacher called for everyone to return to the locker rooms. Rei prepared herself again, wondering if Minako would strike on the way or if she would wait until they were changing to make some move, but still the other girl did... well, not nothing. Rei caught her stealing glances at her as she changed. But for Minako, that was reserved. Rei frowned. She must have missed something.
For the rest of the day Rei turned the PE class over in her head. Until the end of school, and as she walked to her bus stop, she thought about every minute of her time spent near Minako. Even as she got on and took her seat, her concentration never wavered. But she found nothing new, nothing in the locker room, and nothing during class.
There was that time that Serena had chased a ball further than she should have and smacked into her, but Minako hadn't said anything then. Then Minako had sold out going after a wild hit- Serena again- sprinting after the ball and diving to reach it before it hit the ground. The ball made it back to the group, only to fall to the ground after Ami couldn't get under it just right. The look on Minako's face as she came panting back to the group was downright comical.
There were a few instances of Serena's lack of coordination she could remember, and just as many of Minako's athleticism. She had been everywhere, running and diving again and again. Her sets were perfect, her digs were accurate, and she had really shown what she could do when it came to her favorite sport.
Rei herself hadn't been as bad as Serena and Ami. She could at least it the ball upwards consistently, and she didn't have a problem with putting one foot over the other like Serena seemed to. She had made a few plays that she was happy with, though she didn't run nearly as much as Minako. The only person who was even close to being as good as the blonde was Makoto, which made sense considering they were both on the volleyball team. They had even done a round with just the two of them, and made it much longer than when the rest of them joined in. That had lasted until Serena jumped in and sent the ball towards poor Ami, who hadn't been fast enough to duck out of the way. Maybe bothering others was a blonde thing?
A voice announced her stop and Rei looked out the window, confused. The ride had been much shorter than usual- at least, it seemed that way. She caught a look at herself in the window as well. There was a small smile on her face, and she realized she had been reminiscing about the class. She had never done that, not for PE, not for any class, for as long as she could remember.
Rei got off at her stop, still puzzled by herself. She didn't feel any different, but she wasn't acting as she usually did. She wasn't sure what to make of it. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing; she had only been smiling. But she also had a pretty good guess about the cause of it, and that was concerning to her.
A/N: First, I went through the other chapters and cleaned them up a bit. Thanks in particular to reviewer Skye Valkyrie for pointing out some confusing parts with the classes/teams early on.
Second, this chapter took much longer than I would have liked. While I can't promise that there won't be similar delays in the future, I can and am promising to work harder and better. I enjoy writing, and I really do need to do it more, it's just a matter of actually sitting down to do it.
I can also promise that I have an ending in mind (not that it's close), and that I will get there. If you'd like, stay and read to the end with me.
Finally, thank you to everyone who reviewed. I don't always get back to reviewers, but I'm trying to get better at that as well. And believe me, I read and appreciate every one.
Thanks for reading.
