Oh my effing God, I can't BELIEVE there was a typo in the first sentence of the first chapter! I feel totally ashamed. Don't worry, my acute literary OCD dictates that I change these things, so now it's fixed.

Now, the moment you've been waiting for… where the hell is Rei taking Mina? Okay, I'll be the first to confess, the idea for this is based heavily upon a situation from a book called "Dare, Truth or Promise", but it's just that the situation is the most romantic thing I've ever heard… at least it is to me. Plus it really fits in with what Rei is trying to do for Mina. You guys should read it sometime, it's pretty cool. Oh, and don't worry, I haven't actually looked at it in AGES, so I won't be abducting any dialogue.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, "Dare, Truth or Promise", "Can't Stop Loving You" by Phil Collins or the version of the lyrics by Keith Urban (I'm using the Collins track but to the slightly different lyrics because they fit better, if you know what I mean…). Indeed, I also don't own the Ford Ranger. I will own a Ford Ranger in the future, because they look absolutely awesome, but I don't have the blueprints or anything.

Anyhow, here we go, y'all (hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha oh, I'm over it…)

---

Bishoujo Fall Hardest: The Gig

Chapter Four: What You Gained

"Rei," Mina whined, "where are we going?"

"Stop your bellyaching, you'll see!"

After Minako had finally washed and dressed (due more to insecurity than will, since Rei had starting banging on about "essence of smelly tramp" not coming out of her car seat covers), the former miko had dragged her out of the apartment and pushed her into the passenger seat of her Ford Ranger.

This was quite an experience for the idol, because she hadn't been in a normal person's car in a long time - at least not without an army of security following close behind. This in itself made her feel quite vulnerable, and the absence of knowledge of where she was being taken just made things worse.

Given that she was now under the floodlights of her drive, she tried to occupy herself by inspecting Rei's choice of vehicle while she could still see it clearly.

It was a pick-up truck, red with splashes of black along the front bumper and across parts of the doors. These wide strips looped upward at the back to come down the centre of the top and nose of the car. Two thick, crooked silver poles connected the rear corners of the trailer to the back of the double cabin, and the tyres loomed dark and dense from beneath their arches.

"Compensating much?" she commented as her manager slid into the driver's seat.

"Shut up."

"So where are we going?"

"I'm thinking of a phrase right now."

"Does it have to do with patience and virtues?"

"Well done, now guess this one: it involves shutting, hell and a direction."

"Oh, fine, whatever! You know, I-"

Rei turned on the radio in dismissal.

So you're leaving in the morning on the early train/I could say everything's alright/And I could pretend to say goodbye

Rei smiled to herself. Phil Collins seemed to know her ridiculously well.

You got your ticket, got your suitcase/You got your leaving smile/I could say that's the way it goes/I could pretend and you won't know/That I was lying

'Cause I can't stop loving you/ I can't stop loving you/No, I can't stop loving you/Though I try

We took a taxi to the station, not a word was said/No, I saw you walk across the road/It may be the last time I don't know

Feeling humble, heard a rumble on the railway tracks/And when I heard that whistle blow/I walked away and you won't know/That I was trying

'Cause I can't stop loving you/I can't stop loving you/No, I can't stop loving you/Though I try, I just can't stop loving you/No, I can't stop loving you/I just can't stop loving you/Why do I try, why do I try

During the hour-long drive, Rei had continued to fend off Mina's questions with deadpan returns in the hopes that the brick wall approach would silence her. Silence could make this perfect.

No. Minako makes this perfect. You don't need anything else.

"Rehehei??"

But it doesn't mean you're telling her. Impatient little ditz.

"Just shut up, already, we're here!"

Minako stepped out in her unfortunate choice of footwear – a pair of heels - and huffed exasperatedly.

"Oh great! A swamp."

Rei glared at her as she opened her own car door. She herself moved to grab some old sneakers from the backseat and put them on in the doorway. Eventually she jumped down, dwarfed by the comparatively large vehicle, and landed, legs bent and arms swung behind her, gymnastic, adept. Then she stood up straight and regarded the blonde nonchalantly.

Very cool.

It was a grudging kind of approval on Minako's part, but the same simultaneous thought occurred to Rei as an almost juvenile hope to impress. Her face retained the glower however, and she grabbed the prima-donna by the wrist as she slammed her car door for her.

"You wanted to know where we were going, and I'm taking you there."

Mina's pout met with a warning look which unbeknownst to her masked a thrill of anticipation so strong that Rei wanted to burst.

"And besides, the longer you stand here, the greater the chance that your heels will get stuck in the mud."

Minako responded by tugging her pricy Stilettos out of the wet earth and leaning sulkily against the side of the car.

Through all this Rei's dark expression didn't waver. She turned around coolly and started walking.

"Whatever, Princess. I'm going."

There was a few seconds where Rei listened anxiously for movement behind her. After a short silence, however, she heard tottering footsteps muffled by the terrain and grinned out of eyeshot.

"Rei, wait up!"

She had always figured a trick like that only worked on kindergarteners. Her grandfather had used it on the miko herself many a time in her childhood, given that she was so stubborn and he hadn't the sheer strength to make her do whatever it was she didn't want to. This meant mind games, and it was part of the reason why Rei could slip so well between cunningness and pure force of will.

The sound came closer, the brunette still refusing to turn around. Then the squelching steps became erratic, and her eyes widened as she heard a squeal.

"Rei!"

She spun abruptly in time to catch Minako in her arms.

"Easy!"

The two girls blushed a deep red, the crimson betrayal of not-so-buried feelings obscured from the other only by the clouds smothering the moonlight.

Not a word was spoken from that moment to the approach of solid concrete. Despite being only a hundred or so yards from this at the time of their close encounter, the journey took slightly longer to cover due to Rei's consideration of the blonde's shoe-related impairment.

Eventually, though, they made it, and Minako finally had a chance to focus on her location rather than her feet.

"Uh, Rei? That's sweet, but I didn't bring my passport."

Rei walked ahead a few steps then turned around, lit once again from behind. This time it was by the light of the moon, which had emerged victorious from behind its stifling cover.

Though this was not direct moonlight. Instead it was reflected onto her by the huge aeroplane she was positioned directly in front of, the glow silhouetting the imposing machine to give an impression somewhere between ominous and magical.

Minako stood dumbfounded as Rei lunged back towards her to grab her hand.

"So then, what?"

Together, two shadows ran along the path of the runway, one head of long hair glinting gold under the stars.

"I think we'll just about make it."

"Make it? Make it for what?"

Rei stopped running at this point and looked at Mina, who was panting from the semi-sprint in her Stilettos.

"The OSAKA-11 comes every Wednesday at eight forty-five." She then took a fleeting glance at her Kahuna watch and looked in the direction the plane should be coming.

"Your point?"

Rei opened her mouth to respond, before seeing the jet in question turning towards their runway. The brunette ran to stand directly in its path. Mina's baby-blue eyes grew wide.

"Oh no. You can't be serious!" She stole a quick look at the metal beast. Thankfully it had almost slowed to a stop as it made its precarious pivot. "What the hell do you hope to achieve?"

Her friend's violet eyes shone as she released her inner musings. "You say you're life isn't all it's cracked up to be. Well my feeling is that if you're around something too much you learn to appreciate it less."

Really, Rei-chan? There wasn't a day that went by I didn't appreciate you.

"So you're going to throw yourself in front of a plane to make me appreciate how I get around?" She raised one eyebrow dubiously in spite of her agitation.

"Not me." She came back and tugged Mina along with her. "Us."

She ran back to her original spot, the blonde in tow, and walked back a few steps. "This should be about right."

"'About?!'" Minako freaked. "We're talking about the difference between living and being burned up by a jet engine, here, Rei! 'About' doesn't quite cover it!"

During all this, the idol had failed to notice that she had been raising her voice to an increasing extent, until she completed her final sentence and realised she could barely hear herself over the noise. Then her face drained of colour and she cast her gaze back. The plane had made advances towards them.

She tried to run, but she couldn't. The paralysis of sheer terror had gripped her, and she found all she could do was pray.

She felt her palm gripped by another, and looked across at Rei, who watched the plane intently as it approached. The propellers screamed as they spun to a blur, higher and higher pitched, accompanied simultaneously by the foreboding rumble of the engine.

A whoosh of air, hot in the cool night, nearly knocked them off their feet and took her breath away. This thrill spurred a high-pitched holler of a laugh from the brooding priestess, who was the most ecstatic Mina had ever seen her.

Minako herself meanwhile felt her palms film over in cold sweat, and she shook all over. The jet was nearly upon them now, the heat forced into the ground making it swim before their eyes.

She let out a shriek as the monster took off just above their heads, whipping their hair back even more fiercely, the roar going through their bodies in a way to which eight booming speakers could not begin to compare.

Suddenly it was over. She heart two voices giggle in nervous hysteria, and she came to realise that it was her who was laughing. It was breathless, uncontrollable. Her throat was sore from screaming and she felt almost winded, but she had never before been so grateful to be alive.

She looked at Rei, whose hand was still clasped to hers. Without really understanding why, she threw her arms around her. After a few moments the laughter dissolved to quiet tears. The former Venus cried for leaving and Mars, a single tear slipping down her cheek, for letting her go.

---

Okay, guys, how was that? I might alter some little bits, but right now, I'm pretty happy with it. As always, comments are mucho appreciated, so give me your reviews – THEY FEED MY SOUL…

Ahem, yeah, anyhow, Better boogie. Sayonara, minna!