A/N: disclaimers, since I forgot to put one on the first chapter. Sailor Moon, not mine. I'll stand by this disclaimer all the way to the bitter (or lovely) end.
On with the story…
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Counterfeited Love
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'It was the lover, not the love that failed you.'
1, tic, 2, toc, 3, tic, 4, toc, 5, tic-
'OHMYGOD! I'm being kissed by Seiya! SEIYA!' Was the thought ringing in her head as she stood shell- shocked in the arms of the young man, his lips tasting bittersweet because of the brew he had just been drinking.
6, toc, 7, tic, 8, toc, 9, tic, 10, toc-
'He's goooo-o-o-d-d-d….' She could feel her body slowly turning into mush, legs loosing the ability to hold her upright. Her arms, understanding the situation, promptly went to his broad shoulders for support.
11, tic, 12, toc, 13, tic, 14, toc, 15, tic, 16, toc, 18, tic, 19, toc-
'I…need…to breathe…need…ai,' her thoughts were cut short when a delicious shiver went up her spine as his warm hands made slow circles on her back. When the movements slowly inched to her sides, the trembling increased two folds and she gripped his shoulder with one hand, the other going to his hair to grasp Seiya's head closer to her.
20, tic, 21, toc, 22, tic, 23, toc, 24, tic, 25, toc, 26,ti-
'Was that his…(Air, must breathe)…OH! That felt…rather nice…' the ability to form coherent thought left her completely as the kiss became devoid of tenderness and deepened into burning passion. She felt the back of Seiya's hands brush the sides of her breasts. It felt delicious. Sweet torture. Being kissed by Kou Seiya was sweet torture.
27, toc, 28, tic, 29, toc, 30, tic, 31, t-
Her body, realising the danger that not being able to breathe life giving oxygen would cause, kicked common sense awake and waited for the result.
'You do know it's not you whom he thinks he is kissing, right?' her common sense asked. 'Because, we wouldn't want another repeat performance of that Allan thingy that happened in England…Right?'
That reminder was enough to put her on defensive. But when common sense flashed back scenes of what happened that faithful day, as she lay battered and bleeding in a dark alleyway, her blue eyes wide with disbelief as she watched her best friend, and her boyfriend, admitted their love for each other, she went on offensive.
32, tic, 33, toc, 34, tic-
"Holy fuck!" Seiya howled, as a swift and very accurate kick was delivered to his family jewels.
Aino Minako stood, gasping for air, her mind still a bit dazed by that mind blowing kiss. She consciously straightened her black silk slip dress, and gave the manager of the bar an assuring smile. "Lover's quarrel" Minako called out.
The manager, a woman in her early forty's gave Minako a sly wink and said, "No need to explain, honey, I've seen worse. Demo, are you sure you needed to do that? Such a shame really…" the words ended suggestively and left the blonde blushing a beet red.
Her blue eyes watched Seiya still doubled over in pain, his ponytail falling down on one shoulder, the leather jacket he was wearing not quite hiding his gorgeous physique.
'Kou Seiya, leader of the Star Lights, kissed me,' Mina thought with growing wonder. Her subconscious disagreed. 'Nope. You were kissing him. He was kissing Usagi.'
That hurt.
Eyes narrowing, she bent her body to tell him, "That was for acting like a complete jerk, Kou Seiya." Her hot breath hissed with venom near his left ear.
An excited chatter from the exit caused the two of them to look to the left. Usagi and Yaten were deep in discussion, Taiki himself just about to enter the bar, all three sporting happy faces.
Aino Minako stood up straight and gave her friends a somewhat wooden grin. "Found him," she said, pointing to the still doubled over Kou Seiya.
Yaten frowned, his silvery blue eyes first going over Minako's rigid stance to his leader's scowl. "What the hell happened to you?" he asked the man.
Seiya did his best to straighten up but a burst of pain almost had him gasping for air. He gave Minako a look of pure hatred, the blue in them promising torture once they were alone.
Minako saw him look at her with hatred in his eyes, but not really sure she wanted to lock stares with the man that very moment; she then made a bee line to the powder room. Common sense told her to hide, so hide she would.
Common sense had saved Minako a lot of time in the past. Blondes were not always fluff and air - especially if the blonde in question happened to be leader of an elite and ancient line of Guardians.
And certainly if the blonde in question happened to play a major role in protecting an equally powerful and elite Moon Princess.
Tsukino Usagi.
The girl who held in her baby hands the Imperium Silver Crystal, Chiba Mamoru's undying love, and Kou Seiya's endless devotion and fascination. Apparently, four years of not seeing the Moon Warrior had not diminished Seiya's affection for the blonde.
The same blonde who followed her to the bathroom and asked this question:
"You okay, Mina-chan?"
Minako stared at the sweet face of her princess, her leader, her charge and her best friend. Despite the white light of the fluorescent high above them, Usagi's golden colouring was able to create a soothing sight. The deep gold of her hair was still held up in their usual style and her cerulean blue eyes were still bright and friendly.
She had never looked more beautiful.
'Do I really look like her?' Minako thought. 'People always said we have such similar features.'
Disbelieving, she gave her reflection a once over. Yes, there was a very strong resemblance between her and the Moon Princess. Her hair was a lighter gold, more wheat gold than the antique gold of Usagi's hair, but in certain angles, the hue was a similar shade.
Her eyes were lighter, too. Not as azure as Usagi's but a more delicate shade of corn flower blue. Their features had slight differences, with Usagi's looking more elfin but there was no denying that they did look similar. Even the expression on their face at that very moment was similar.
"Mina?" Usagi called softly.
Her call startled Minako and she gave Usagi a look of a cornered prey, before calm took over. She flashed a gamine smile to her friend. "I'm fine, Usa-chan. Why would you ask, anyway?"
Usagi raised a golden brow, and Minako stored the movement for later reflection. 'Do we raise our brows the same way, too? I need to check when I am alone,' she thought.
"You hightailed out of there so fast that it was like demons were after you," said Usagi.
Minako shrugged, as if the observation bore no real weight and therefore unimportant. Usagi narrowed her eyes a bit more, before she nodded a little. Inwardly, Minako sighed in relief. The four years that the Three Lights/ Star Lights have left for their home planet had been the four years when Usagi slowly but steadily matured into the woman she was always meant to be.
Nowadays, the chances of duping Usagi were next to nil.
'I must be a better actress than I thought,' mused Minako. "What about you," she asked, glad now that she got away from interrogation Scot-free. "What's on your mind?"
Her friend sighed, before she saw Usagi leaned on the bathroom counter. "Seiya…He, he looks nice. I mean…He looks fine," Usagi said in a low voice, "Right?"
Minako's hand stilled from their action of brushing her hair. Slowly, Usagi turned around and met her eyes in the reflection of the mirror.
"I mean," Usa said, a look of guilt slightly visible in her gaze, "It was nice…to see him again. All of them, in fact." She emphasized the 'all', her eyes going downward and no longer meeting Minako's stare.
The Senshi of Love and Beauty felt foreboding shot through her system like quicksilver. Her eyes still staring at Usagi's reflection, she carefully spoke her next words. "Yes," Minako's voice was steady and just as low as Usagi's had been. "It was nice to see all three again, princess."
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