Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated practically daily like I usually do, but I've been having a few hormonal shifts and family issues, etc. Plus I've found a few pointers to confirm my suspicions about certain other hinted pairings in the anime, and now I am mildly intrigued. Not enough to have figured out a story for them yet, but still…
Yeah, on that note, expect more Rei/Minako and Ami/Makoto when I embark on my next two projects, both part of a series I'm going to call, "Bishoujo Fall Hard", which will be set in the future after the scouts have grown apart. Might even make a Mamoru/Usagi one if I'm feeling REALLY into it, and want to pair up everybody all happy, like.
So anyway, let's get this story even further down the road than it already is. Should be done by the end of the next update. Less humour and more serious romance in these chapters, if that's okay with you guys. Oh…
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Rei may be chained to my bedpost, but damn it, she's still her own person.
Rei: "I'm still my own person."
See?
Also, I don't own "Dig" by Incubus. So, some songficness in this chapter and the following one. I need an anthem for both couples. I get the feeling I'll be doing this more often, hehe…
Drink Up, 'Fess Up, Throw Up
--- FOUR IN THE MORNING – MINAKO'S P.O.V. ---
"Huh? Damn…"
I wake up for the third time in the last few hours and have the same disorientation fit before remembering who the arms around my waist are attached to. I look down at her sleeping face; watch her breathing softly in the moonlight. I feel troubled and confused, and for reasons to be divulged, it hurts my heart as much as it hurts my head.
I think back to earlier, to the rest of our conversation…
--- EARLIER – REI'S ROOM ---
A few minutes after her commenting on my physical appearance, I suddenly snapped out of the comfort of having Rei so close to me and realised that she hadn't spoken since.
"Rei, sweetie?"
"Mmm?"
"Honey, you're tired and drunk. Let's get you into bed."
With considerable effort I dragged her up and got her into bed, after she practically made me blush out of my tree by removing her jeans and t-shirt in front of me.
It suddenly struck me that the karaoke was still going on, and on my wavelength, the miko frowned perplexedly and asked, "What's that sound?"
"That's Usagi and Ami doing karaoke."
"Ami? Wow, she is so out of it. She is totally gonna tell her tonight, I can see it from here…"
I stared at her and then shook my head, deciding it was better not to ask.
Of course, while she was in such an open mood, maybe, I mused, I could find a little closure. Not only could I take a big step to being even closer to Rei as a friend, but I could finally hear the words from her mouth and accept what a part of me already knew.
I breathed. My heart hammered in my chest.
Try to sound natural.
"Oh yeah, I guess that means you didn't get to see Odango!"
Rei giggled faintly and half-opened her tired eyes.
"Who needs to see her? I'm obviously gonna have the joy of hearing her all night anyway."
Her eyes closed again.
Kami, she's so beautiful.
"I take it she was with Mamoru, then."
"Yeah." I smiled at her and felt the same way I thought she felt; that overwhelming awareness of never being able to have what you want.
"I'm sorry, sweetie."
"Huh?" She blinked. Then realisation dawned on her face.
"Don't be silly," she rolled over and away from me dismissively. "I don't love Usagi. Goodnight."
Huh? What-? How did she-? Damned psychics!
That was the last I heard from her that night. I just looked at her, completely lost for words.
Rei was a good liar. A very good liar. But no attempts to play dumb? No apparent touching of a nerve when I brought this whole thing up, and a totally blunt and childishly honest response? This was crazy.
Could I… Could I have been wrong?
--- FOUR IN THE MORNING ---
I sigh at the memory and allow the cogs in my mind to keep turning fruitlessly.
At some point during the early hours she had obviously turned over and started to embrace me. I hadn't been sure what to do about it the first time I woke up with her this way, but since then I had just given up and hugged her back.
I should be enjoying this – making the most of it – but the situation just keeps playing over and over in my mind…
I'm torn. I don't want to leave her, but… but I just need some space to think. And anywhere around Rei-chan is the last place I can ever think.
I feel a tear slip down my cheek. I'm not sad, just… at breaking point, I guess. I wrap my arms tighter around my raven-haired tormentor and we stay like that for- I don't even know how long.
I begin to dismiss the idea of leaving her. I start to truly appreciate the precious hour and a half remaining before my own princess has to (theoretically) get up and take care of her shrine duties.
I close my eyes and attempt to imprint the feeling of her body near mine into my memories…
Unless I pull a stunt like I did last night again, I'll probably never get another chance to do this- no more opportunities to hold her-
A groan. "Meatball Head… get away from my manga… baka…"
My eyes snap open. The potential reality hits me again. Now I'm just mad.
I move away from the unobtainable girl and fume my way out of the room.
Change of plan.
--- MEANWHILE (4:30) – MAKOTO'S APARTMENT – MAKOTO'S P.O.V. ---
Back in the haven.
I feel myself getting carried away in the feeling: preparing fish, chopping vegetables, gracefully stepping out a passionate and well-rehearsed dance between the hob and the microwave.
I lied before. This is my poetry.
The stress of trying to juggle so many tasks is somehow soothing – perhaps it's my being so aware that I'm in control of everything around me. I am Kami here.
Here my parents don't get blown to smithereens in a plane crash. Here my friends don't confess that they love me out of the blue (Rei: "'Out of the blue?' Are you in denial or just plain dense?") and then pass out in my arms so we can't even talk it out.
True, Jupiter's supposed to be Mercury's protector, but am I supposed to be Ami's?
I turn on the radio to take my mind off it. It doesn't work. For starters, one of Ami's favourite songs is playing.
Sighing, I finish preparing the food. I get ready to eat when I look down and realise that I've made Ami's favourite meal.
I stare hard at it. I manage a small wry smile and put the meal into the refrigerator, in case Ami feels hungry when she wakes up.
Sometimes it feels that way.
A new song starts up, and from the type of melody I realise almost immediately that it's by an American band called Incubus. Meanwhile, I lean against a wall and cast my gaze towards the bluenette sleeping soundly in my bed.
The Ami I care about doesn't sleep heavily enough for me to cook and play music through the night.
This is ridiculous. I can't make any kind of reasoned judgement when she isn't her normal self. If anything this Ami betrayed the real Ami's confidence by blurting out her feelings, and I hate her for that. I hate her for making me struggle with my emotions like this.
We all have a weakness
Some of ours are easy to identify
Look me in the eye
And ask for forgiveness
Or make a pact and never speak that word again
Yes, you are my friend
Or maybe I hate myself? I was the one who let her drink so much. I failed her. But at least she'll be alright in the morning…
We all have something that digs at us
At least we dig each other
So when weakness turns my ego up
I know you'll count on the me from yesterday
I reflect upon myself. Chopping Board Confessional. Ba-dum tish. I'm head-strong, relentless, the first to step into the firing line. If it weren't for Ami, with her quick thinking and situation assessments, I would be dead by now. We all would.
Maybe Ami's the one who protects me…
She always sees the best in me, and given my track-record, no-one has done that in a long time.
If I turn into another
Dig me up from under what is covering
The better part of me
We live so similarly; alone and independent. We both use avoidance to get away from our problems. She buries herself in her studies and I… well, I either cook or beat the crap out of the next person to hack me off that day.
Sing this song
Remind me that we'll always have each other
When everything else is gone
Oh
I start looking at Ami in a new light. No, wait, not this Ami. My Ami. I take the physical framework from the girl in my bed and let my mind do the rest (not in a hentai way…).
I remember my earlier thoughts about her eyes. Always so serious. So intelligent. Not cold or calculatingintelligent – her smarts are passionate because she values them, because she knows that they are the best weapon with which she can defend the people she cares about.
Those blue orbs hold a fierce determination when she fights. I always love watching Ami's face as she tries to figure out something, even in the midst of battle when I'm supposed to be doing my job. She always works out ways to get around things, rather than charge straight through them like me.
I note the numerous memories of my heart soaring whenever I heard her call out from the other end of the battlefield that she had a plan.
Next, her physique. Strikingly Mercury-ish. She seems dainty, delicate - it's one of the reasons I have always felt instinctively that I need to protect her, despite the fact that she has proven more than once that she's just as resilient as the rest of us.
Her skin is pale and bruises quite easily. She is always the one who comes out of these situations looking like she took the brunt of it, when we had all gotten beaten on just the same.
Brains and brawn - why didn't I see it earlier that this?
Clever Ami. Of course she would figure it out first.
We all have a sickness
It cleverly attaches and it multiplies
No matter how we try
I guess I do love her.
I smile at the girl in my bed and find myself climbing in next to her. I kiss her forehead and hold her in my arms, waiting for the real Ami to come back to me.
We all have someone that digs at us
At least we dig each other
So when sickness turns my ego up
I know you'll act as a clever medicine
If I turn into another
Dig me up from under what is covering
The better part of me
Sing this song
Remind me that we'll always have each other
When everything else is gone
---
And so for the millionth sodding time, what should predominantly have been a Rei/Minako section turns into an Ami/Makoto.
Regardless, what do think? Because personally I'm not sure how well the Ami/Makoto part actually reads… R&R!
The next one should be all about the Rei/Minako, anyway. And I mean it this time, because let's be frank, there's not much left to say with t'other two, whereas there's a lot of plot left to get through with Mars and Venus.
Sayonara!