Walking Towards Light: Ami Redux
Interlude

Chapter 13: Blue Fuku, White Collar - wherein, amongst other things, Minako deals with the legal ramifications of having a white collar criminal on Team Senshi

"No...yes. Hai. I understand. Got it. Not without your consent. Uh huh. I'll take care of it. Yes I take full responsibility. No. Yes. I can handle it. I'll tell Natsuna. Thanks again Katarina. Good morning to Allan too. Take care. Bye for now, I'll be in touch. Love you lots. Get well soon! Ja ne!"

Minako's side of a long distance phone call filtered through to Rei's ears. Dammit. The girl was using her phone. She'd picked up Minako at the airport last night when she and Ami came back from Zurich. Rei had wanted to discuss recent events right away, but Minako needed to be distracted pretty badly. She'd brought back a box of chocolate from Zurich that turned out to be plenty distracting. Whatever happened in Europe was clearly bothering her, so this time, Minako got her way. Business could wait just a little bit longer.

The night came and went. Eventually, both parties were able to catch up with each other. Rei shared her side of the story with the "Where" youma, and Minako gave her a summary of the fight with the "What" youma. They were clearly connected through whoever this "Pandora' person was.

In the morning, Minako drove Rei home to the temple and followed her in...apparently with the intention of making long international phone calls. Just when Rei was getting worried about her lack of sleep, Minako crashed and took a 10 hour nap. Rei was happy to see that Minako was getting some rest at least...until she woke up and went straight back for the phone.

Rei sighed. At least it could be classified as a tax deductible expense. Rei made a mental note to remember this day when the temple's phone bill came at the end of the month.

Minako was done now. She came back into the room and flopped onto Rei's bed with a dramatic huff.

"MMMMRRRRUUUGH"

Minako pulled Rei's pillow over her face and screamed into it.

"Stop that. You're drooling on my pillow and I just washed the sheets. What's going on Minako? I thought you liked Katarina."

Rei plucked the pillow off of Minako's face. Definite signs of drool.

"I do. Love Katarina. Katarina is a goddamn peach. It's Ami I'm screaming about. Fuck! That cocky, twisted, blue-haired-egg-headed-out-of-bloody-fucking-control-insane-loose cannon! AAAARUGH!"

Minako caught Rei's look of alarm and bolted straight up.

"Oh my god, she's not here right now is she?"

Her eyes spun around the room looking like she expected Ami to have magically teleported in during her rant. She didn't really mean any of the things she said just now. Sort of. At least not seriously. Ami might be a few screws short of a loose cannon, but she was also a dear friend. One who was probably going through hell right now.

"No baka. Calm down. She went out an hour ago to pick up Hotaru from school."

"Hotaru? Really? I didn't know they we close."

Minako pictured her unusually silent friend hanging out with the little Silence Senshi. The scintillating conversation those two must have.

"Yeah, I was as surprised as you were, but its a good sign. It's nice to see Ami connecting with someone."

"Hey! Isn't it Hotaru's re-birthday soon or something? Does she get a re-birthday? We should do something nice for her."

"Minako-chan..."

Rei's disapproving glare had only one meaning "get on with it". Minako thought it was amazing that Rei could still somehow look disapproving while simultaneously pulling her into a warm cuddle on the bed.

She sighed. Her beloved firebird was a stubborn fire-jackass when she had her mind set on something.

"Ok, ok. Fine. You win this round. Katarina called. Good news is that yay! There's no international warrant out for Ami's arrest. Bad news is that there probably should be. Katarina and Natsuna managed to deflect the heat off us for that Swiss bank caper that Ami pulled, which is a friggin miracle by the way. I had to burn just about every favour in my little black book, and who knows what Sets-chan had to promise to swing this deal. Anyways...Ami's legally in my custody now. Well, Sailor V's custody, but whatever. Same thing. Fuuuuuck."

Melodramatic hand waving accompanied that revelation. Minako's bad habit of misdirection was in full force today. Rei saw through the bullshit and hugged Minako tighter, offering support.

"I can't do this. I can't even keep up anymore. Katarina said that somehow the paper trail and the evidence was all in place to make a strong case against the Blackstone Group. Which is great! Except that I thought Ami wiped that all out the other day at the bank. So I'm left with that she either somehow put it all back, or she faked everything she gave to Katarina and this is a solid frame job. Who the hell knows. I ordered her to leave it alone. Clearly, that didn't happen."

Either way, Minako didn't like the implications. Ami was out of control. Sailor Senshi fought for love and justice. They did not use their powers to on the human world. That was rule number 1 or something in the Senshi handbook. Minako made a mental to note write a Senshi handbook and then force Ami to read it. Make it part of her parole terms or something. Who the fuck knows.

"Grandpa said she was up on her computer all last night. I asked Ami about it this morning. She said she was just re-programming something though."

Rei's information wasn't the most reassuring thing in the world. Minako ignored her and continued.

"I love the girl. I really do, and I'm super happy that she finally seems to be dealing with everything that's happened. Thank god she's finally getting all emotional and letting it out. I swear I saw her laugh AND cry this week, so hooray for progress. Its just... I don't know. I've never thought of her as dangerous before. She almost murdered a man in London, then she more or less robbed a highly secure bank. I don't know how to handle that. I'm not sure if I am doing the right thing anymore. She's one of us, but how do we trust her? If she gets out of control, who could stop her? Would you leave her alone in a room with Usagi right now?"

Rei hesitated for a moment, thinking back to the other man that Ami almost killed last week. He should be getting out of the hospital any day now. She had her answer.

"Minako... Did I tell you that Ami asked me to kill her once? She begged me to do it in case she ever went too far. I promised her I would. If you can't trust her right now, then trust me. I know you think we are all your responsibility, but this time, I need you to let me handle this. Ami needs you more as a friend than a general right now. I think she needs you to trust her more than she'd care to admit. It would crush her if you didn't. You mentioned that you made her laugh this week? That's more valuable than anything else right now. Don't worry. Ami's got me watching her back. You can share your duty with me Minako."

Share her duty. Rei was right. She didn't have to do this alone. She had Rei now, and the others too. Ami would be ok - eventually. She loved it when Rei was right, which according to Rei herself, was pretty much always.

"To answer your question Mina-love. Usagi trusts Ami. I'd go with her instinct in this case. She's the one that's saved the world countless times with just love. I think that's what we need right now. Ami's dealing. She'll talk to us when she's ready, and we'll be there. We have to believe in her."

Minako smiled slowly, getting the idea.

"Yeah. Hope for the best. That's how we roll isn't it?"

Minako laughed out loud thinking back on the crazy events of their trip to Europe.

"We'll deal with the legal crap when things are settled. I wasn't lying to Natsuna when I said that there's something out there though. Hate to play the Sailor V card, but she's given me enough leeway to deal with this as I deem necessary. Some nut named Pandora is in Tokyo somewhere, and shit's about to go down. We need everyone on point for this. Ami-no-baka... don't tell her I said this, but yeah. The window jumping thing? Totally badass. The girl's got style. I just hope that she's still in one piece by the time she done working her issues out...now where did Ami go again? I got to read her her rights or something. What size of ankle monitor do you think she is?"

The irony of Sailor Jupiter calling them to battle at that exact moment not appreciated by Minako until much, much later.

A.N.

Rei and Minako. You two deserve a break. Let someone else handle Ami for a little while ;).

To be fair, I think Ami's technically a bit further along than "white collar criminal" at this point, but eh, at least she didn't kill anyone right?

Onto Chapter 14!
Act 3: Coming Home will begin shortly.

Thank you for reading! As I often say, reviews are greatly appreciated. I'm around if there are any questions or comments.

Cheers dear readers,

- Drifter.