Ick. The more I re-read the Mako/Ami part of the previous chapter the more I hate it. What do you guys think? Let's go all Chris Tarrant and ask the audience. Give me your opinions, since I value them so, and if the feedback's pretty mediocre I might rewrite it at a later date. Much later, since I'm totally obsessed with ideas for Bishoujo Fall Hard (amongst other things…). Check out my profile and you'll see what I've got lined up.
Again, sorry for the delay, but I went to New York the other day and didn't get to finish the chapter. (Inter-continent shopping in the Big Apple. It totally blows, but someone's got to do it… ;D) Was having a bit of writer's block to be honest, but on my joyous eight hour flight I came up with a load so I do have SOMETHING to show for it.
Oh, and I'll tell you here and now that I'm not going in for any hentai-esque stuff, okay? It's going to be sweet, fluffy and simple.
Disclaimer: Don't own Sailor Moon.
By the way, you'll notice there's no P.O.V. in this chapter. It's been commented that it's pretty confusing swapping around all the time, and I agree, so I've decided to start exercising the technique of keeping a sequence less bitty with the last part of this story. I'm not getting all arsey about it, honestly, it's just time I got my act together before I start on the more serious stuff, you know? Besides, as fun as it would be to end on Mina's perspective, it serves me better to keep it neutral. As enigmatic as Rei is, I can't ignore her feelings all the time. Might review the rest of the story, actually, and do some font changes to clarify different events.
Not sure why you need to know my ramblings, but there we go.
So…
Also, my advice is to listen to The End Of Me by Marion Raven when you read the confession section. You can totally apply it to this situation, and I think it really fits them as a couple. I didn't want to do another songfic like for the last chapter, since it fell flat on its face, what with the fact that it made the chapter read more disjointedly.
Drink Up, 'Fess Up, Throw Up
--- 6:00AM – THE MORNING AFTER THE PARTY – REI'S ROOM ---
Silence in the lair of Mars.
Suddenly, an alarm clock screamed to life and the sole remaining occupant of the room took one smooth and surprisingly accurate swing for it. The offending object clattered to the floor and died.
Rei squinted in the morning light. She rolled over in bed and felt strangely disappointed to find there was no-one else there with her.
"Mina-chan?"
"Hai?"
"What do you think of me?"
She tried to ignore the feeling that she was missing some kind of longed-for physical contact and stumbled, migraine peaking, out of her pit.
"What do you think of me?"
The miko washed her face in the adjoined bathroom and strained to remember the night before. She exhaled sharply and looked into the mirror.
"Oh, how pretty," she commented to her reflection.
Pretty…
Pretty…
Where had she-?
"You're pretty."
The raven-haired priestess clapped a hand over her mouth. The pieces of yesterday crashed into place.
She panicked, practically falling into a clean set of clothes, before sliding open the door and walking hurriedly down the hall, a look of concern marring her features.
"Mina-chan?"
The walk steadily became a sprint, the young woman skidding to stops at every doorway as she scoured the shrine.
"Mina-" Rei halted at the door to the living room, seeing Usagi fast asleep on the couch.
"Don't be silly. I don't love Usagi."
She tried to calm her nerves.
The last thing I need is Odango asking questions.
Admittedly the TV was still on quite loud, so the chances of waking her up were beyond slim. Usagi had obviously settled on MTV and dozed off.
She opened the door a little wider to reveal the rest of the room, including Venus, who was sat gazing intently at the sleeping blonde. As the Fire Senshi approached her, she noticed that there was a dried tear track on the young woman's cheek.
She sat down beside Minako, who initially made no move to suggest she had acknowledged her presence.
"You okay?"
The blonde stared straight ahead. "So you don't love her?"
"What? No, of course not." A pause, followed by an intrigued expression. "Why do you care so much?"
Abruptly Minako rose to her feet and stormed into the kitchen. Rei followed her first with her eyes and then her legs, gently closing the door behind her to avoid waking Usagi.
"You're lying."
"Huh? Mina-"
Venus shut her eyes in frustration, talking through gritted her teeth. "You talk about her in your sleep! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out, Rei! I'm the Goddess of Love, I know all about how you feel, and I know that I will never, ever compare, so you can just save it!"
Rei paused with this final exclamation for a moment, before shaking it off. If Mina hadn't turned her back on her now, she would see a smile pulling at the corner of the Mars' lips, though her brow still remained furrowed.
"Mina, are you're powers off or something?"
The blonde turned back in a whirlwind. "No! Do not! Don't insult my capabilities just to soothe your damn denial. I've had it with these stupid mind games. I don't know whether you know you're doing them or not, but I'm sick of playing second best. There, I've said it. I thought…" she took a breath. "I thought I could settle for friendship. But I can't. Kami, I've gotta get out of here."
She brushed past Rei to walk out of the door. Rei grabbed her arm to stop her. She sighed inwardly. So it was time.
"Mina, wait! You weren't exactly… wrong about Usagi."
Her friend struggled to free her arm, and Rei raised her voice in a parental tone.
"Hey! Do you want your stupid closure or don't you?"
Mina glared at her. She huffed slightly as she sat down against a wall, much in the same position she had been in before.
I hate psychics.
Rei sat down beside her. Their arms brushed, and Mina cursed her heart as it leapt in spite of her.
The miko didn't meet Minako's eyes, instead choosing to stare at the ground with the kind of fascination that no floor is worthy of. She began.
"Ever since Luna told us about the Moon Kingdom, I've felt more and more like there was someone very important to me there – someone I had to leave behind."
Her hunched body straightened as she leant back against the wall. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, this time focusing her attention on the ceiling.
"I didn't realise it until a lot later, but when I first met Usa… when I sensed that strange presence? That wasn't her I felt, it was me - or at least a part of me. It's kind of hard to explain.
"It was like I had a gut feeling about being strongly connected to her emotionally – which I am; I'm meant to protect her, for Kami's sake. So I started trying to bond with her more."
She looked across at Venus, who now wore a wounded expression. Funny that, unbeknownst to Rei, about an hour ago Mina had actually wanted to hear these words.
She touched the blonde's arm, and the slightly shorter girl jumped at the contact and looked up into intense amethyst orbs. She knew what that gaze was asking of her.
Hear me out okay?
Trust me.
Mina watched Rei look away again, back at the floor. A pattern seemed to be emerging. If the raven-haired warrior would just quit fidgeting the hell around, maybe she could actually focus on what she was saying.
Mina's mind suddenly stalled.
Rei never fidgets.
Oh don't smile, you fool. I can never work my senses when you smile.
Rei did it anyway, smirking reminiscently as a strange dreamy mist clouded her beautiful eyes.
"She drove me insane. As far as I could tell she was a lazy klutz and a total cry-baby, but I deluded myself into liking her that way because I truly believed that it was fate for us to be together."
Venus saw the other girl's face fall. "Then, of course, when it turned out that she was the Moon Princess and that she was destined to be with Mamoru, I was totally confused.
"I was never upset over losing Mamo – if I'm honest, the only reason I even dated the guy was because I noticed there was chemistry between them and I wanted to keep him out of the way. I'm not even sure I was upset about Usa. If anything I think I was more concerned about my own identity.
"I was in freefall. For once in my life I had screwed up trying to predict the future. Suddenly I found myself questioning not only my place in my past life, but in this life – the normal life of being a miko and getting good grades and reading manga, before all this Senshi business got thrown at me.
"When I eventually snapped out of it, I suddenly realised something. What I had been chasing Usagi for was right under my nose. I had just been too preoccupied to see it."
Mina's heart rose.
Me? Please say it's me.
Rei got that far away look again, and her left hand fell to her side, right on top of Minako's. The blonde swallowed nervously, her heart threatening to burst.
"The only girl I had ever felt a stronger vibe for than the one I felt for Usagi, had been around way before I even became Sailor Mars."
Minako felt her heart plummet again.
So it isn't me.
"All-" Rei suddenly noticed the position of her hand and blushed as she sharply pulled it away.
Mina reeled. If it's not me, what the hell was that?
"All I could remember about the person I was supposed to be with was that she had blonde hair and blue eyes. Kind of like Usa…"
She tilted her head back towards Mina, meeting bewildered cerulean once again.
"But more like Sailor V."
There were no butterflies. Mina just felt her heart reach an incredibly warm state of calm, as if her emotional rollercoaster had finally rolled to a stop.
Her mouth went dry, and she again found herself with nothing of use to say. (Rei: "You mean she found herself with nothing at all to say. She talks about nothing of use all the time.") (Minako: "I'm sorry, did you want a date this weekend?") (Rei: "Earlier comment retracted.")
"I…"
She tried to look into Rei's eyes, but it was like staring into the sun. The blonde trailed off, and the priestess gave her a small, sweet smile in place of her usual compromise of a smirk.
"It's okay. I know."
They sat there for a while. Mina looked over and saw that the brunette was still fidgeting. There was a kind of thrill knowing she'd had such an effect of her. Shakily, put her hand over Rei's and stilled her drumming fingers. She closed her own digits around her palm and squeezed, feeling the reciprocation with a renewed apprehension.
There was a further stretched silence, until suddenly, Rei did something totally un-Rei-like for the millionth time over the past twenty-four hours. She sat up, pulling her hand from her best friend's grasp and wrapping her arms around her. Mina stiffened at first, then just melted into the warmth.
Rei basked in emotions returned for all of two seconds, at which point Mina whispered into her hair.
"Wait. Could I just… do something first?"
She pulled away, and Rei half expected a kiss, when…
"OW! JEEZ! What was that for?!"
Venus' hand remained poised in its end position after slapping Mars upside the head.
"For being complicated."
Rei grinned, then settled back into that beautiful smile. She waited for Mina's theatrics to end, for those blue eyes to return to hers. When it happened, however, that second type of brave very nearly faded completely, and her expression became coy.
"I love you."
Mina's hand found hers, and her head landed on Rei's shoulder.
"I love you, too."
---
Wow. I liked that chapter. Now I KNOW I'll have to redo the Ami/Mako part. Hope you liked it, because I'm pretty proud of that chapter. Now just an epilogue…
Read and review. A lot.
And if you wanna know about any upcoming projects besides Bishoujo Fall Hard, check out my profile and you'll find some of my definite ideas on there.
Sayonara!