Chapter 2:Angel in the Sea Foam
Minako blew pitifully into her chamomile tea, her pouting lips hovering over the delicate rim, "I do feel bad about it sometimes… the constant teasing."
The androgynous figure that she shared the small coffeeshop table with shot her a look that was singularly skeptical.
"Don't look at me that way Haruka-kun!" The blonde pouted further, "I really don't mean to tease Reiko. It's just my only way of getting to her, is all. She's so stoic, and calm, and brave; she never lusts after me like others do. But I can at the very least fluster her."
Haruka sipped her coffee calmly, she hated these talks. They forced her to be subtle and oblique with her words. She didn't used to be, she used to be very candid with her advice to her young friend—until Michiru lectured her on the ethics of interfering so directly with the romantic affairs of her friends and comrades. "Oi, Mina-chan…I don't think Rei is as brave or calm as you're giving her credit for…"
"Oh, she is!" The blonde's hands were clasped to her cheeks, her eyes a cerulean swirl, as idyllic as a grass field at midnight, "She is the bravest person I know, and honorable and disciplined and pure…that's why she could never want me."
"Love's made you blind and idealistic." The sandy haired woman flinched; her words sounded harsher than she'd meant them to.
"What would you know about it?" Minako interjected kindly, "You've been with Michiru too long to remember what it was like…and you two are perfect together."
Haruka's eyes first widened in surprise, then became gentle, "Michiru and I have the benefit of being older, that's all."
The blonde's childish pout and sigh were telling of her age, she was only a girl with grown-up emotions. Her eyes became a pallid blue, lacking the smiling soul that was their trademark, "You have the benefit of her loving you back. That's the difference."
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Beneath the cherry blossom tree, she sat in the perfect lotus position. Her mind spurned the tepid weather, the sweet smell of the tree, the wind that stroked her silky black hair, the grass that cushioned her…but it could not cast off one image.
That last night at the beach; Minako, an angel rising from the waves.
The blonde had tried, as she always did, to get Rei to swim with her.
"The water will feel good on our skin, Reiko!" Her girlish laughter danced with the wind in the night air. Her hair was a white blonde of incandescent sheen, as if the moon had chosen only her to shine on. And those eyes; Rei was forever seeing her reflection in them. Her pale, petrified countenance was so undeserving of lying within that warm blue.
"No, you go," she choked on her words as she spoke, "I'll watch you from here."
And she did, as she had countless times before. She could have closed her eyes and seen that whimsical vision just as well.
She knew how the blonde liked to take her red ribbon off, and fling it at Rei with flirtatious, half-lidded eyes. And then that white-blonde hair came down in rivulets, down to her waist in the most graceful of waves. Rei's fingers would then ache to touch the golden strands. She wouldn't. Instead she buried her hands in the soft sand. As she felt the silver grains tickle the lengths of her fingers, she thought that Minako's hair might go through her hands like sand, or silk.
With a wink and some laughter, the blonde would run nimbly towards the sea. As she did so, she would deftly unbutton her short jean skirt and let it fall to the sand. Her thin orange shirt would come next, flung to the wind, flying for a while before it too fell and became buried somewhere in the sand.
And then Minako would reach the sea—her birthplace. She had told Rei many times that she felt it her true home, that the goddess Aphrodite was born in sea foam and thus she felt a strange connection to the ocean. Rei felt some of this must be true. The girl simply looked too right in the sea.
The waves would gather all around her delicate body and take her gently into their arms. Rei guessed they wanted to take her down and further into them, back home.
She only wished she could hold Minako that same way.
Rei wanted to do to Minako's body what the sea did; to engulf and caress her. She fought off a certain jealousy even as she admired the way the water slid down the girl's body as she came up for air.
The material of Minako's flower print bra, when wet, concealed nothing. The pretty flower prints looked like tattoos that only decorated the girl's perfect breasts. Rei would stare at her friend's nearly nude form, transfixed.
She could not tear her vision away. But without her consent, her eyes were dragged upwards by Minako's own—she was getting stared back at.
The blonde's eyes were luminous against the dark-navy backdrop of the surrounding ocean. They were a mischievous powder blue hue. And her smile, one of immense satisfaction. Rei always hated getting caught even though she'd learned long ago that Minako liked being stared at.
The girl simply had a penchant for catching people's attention. It wasn't that she tried to; in fact part of her charm was her easygoing nature. She could not help her beauty, and she enjoyed watching its effects on others. Rei would sometimes entertain the thought that the blonde got a particular thrill out of catching Rei's appreciative gazes but it was most likely…wishful thinking. It was always wishful thinking.
Most likely Minako liked winning. Catching Rei being human, being sinful, coveting.
She would spend all her life solemn and depressed, she was sure, if it wasn't for Minako's loving nature. The girl was mouthing words at her that Rei could only attempt to decipher. But she knew, instinctively, that they were soft and beautiful. She could tell by the smile Minako was speaking through, by the look in her eyes. Yes, the words she mouthed were soft and beautiful.
And then, like the goddess she represented, Minako was swept up in a large wave, her body floating upwards amongst the sea-foam; she was escorted back to shore in a manner befitting her title.
Rei could not get that gorgeous image out of her mind.
She stood up in frustration-- sweaty, cursing lowly. Though even through her fevered mental state, she could sense the bumbling figure in the foliage. "Yuichiro! What are you doing hiding there!?" She turned sharply to face him.
Immediately, the gristly-faced boy jumped out of the shadows. "Rei-san, I um, uhn…"
Rei's face twisted up in understanding, in disgust for what she understood of the situation, "You were in there…watching me?"
"I didn't mean to!" The boy quickly defended himself, "I was sweeping, and then I saw you on this hill. You looked so beautiful under the cherry blossom tree and I…well I came to say 'hello' but then I saw you were meditating and…"
"And you decided to stay and watch!" Rei growled at him, and approached in a posture that emanated pure anger and hatred, "Was that it?"
"It didn't start out to be!"
"Then how did it go from a friendly hello to staring at me like a sex-crazed animal?" As she got closer to him, she could see her reflection in his petrified, apologetic eyes, "Even though I'm your friend, you don't have the discipline to control yourself."
Yuichiro's hands went up in a mild defense, and he unconsciously moved back from the approaching girl, "Rei…"
"You are an acolyte here! This is a place of religion…if you think these thoughts here of all places, then what kind of wretch does that make you?" Her eyes became pitch black, sans the usual violet sheen, and were no longer focused on the boy, "She's your best friend."
"I'm sorry…?"
"I can see what you want in your eyes so clearly. They are unfulfilled, lustful, ugly, shamed."
Suddenly the boy halted his backwards movements, thereby causing Rei to close the gap in between them. For only a moment he looked at her closely, "Your eyes look the same…"
The dark orbs in question flashed surprise and hatred in a single look, "Shut up!"
"But they do!" The boy became adamant in his convictions.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"
His brown eyes shone with a new hope, "I think you want me too…"
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Haruka's convertible was much different from Rei's car. Other than the obvious, it was colder. Rei's car had no air conditioning and the miko loved it that way. She hated air conditioning. Minako never minded because she was the sort to always want to drive next to an open window.
She loved to have her hair blown in Rei's car. It filled her whole seat, and tickled Rei's shoulder so the girl had to crack a smile.
"What's so funny?"
The young blonde turned to Haruka with a vacant expression, "Hmm?"
Haruka smirked, she had more than an inkling about what was going on in the girl's head, "You're smiling like an idiot."
"At least I'm not one." Time spent with Haruka and Rei had turned Minako into an amateur cynic. She tried, but an affectionate smile would belie her efforts every time.
"You're cute, little one."
Minako sighed deeply and sunk in her seat, "I wish Reiko thought so."
Sea green eyes rolled derisively; there was no getting through to some people. "Do you really think Rei is immune to your physical beauty, Venus-chan?" Of course, the ego was always the surest route to go.
"Of course not," her response was instant, "I know she looks at me…and sees the same pretty face that I see in the mirror. But that's all it is to her. Her pretty friend Minako. Her ditzy friend Minako. Never just her Minako."
As Haruka pulled up in front of the Hikawa Shrine, she turned to the now seemingly tiny, frail girl. She wished she knew what to say, but her mouth hung open as she recalled Michiru's warnings. "Love…is complicated Minako. Especially between best friends. Especially when you love a silent, subtle person who is used to being intense about everything. You and I are the types that let flows take us where they may. But Rei…she needs to be in control. Love requires a loss of that. It is probably hard for her to let go for anybody. Give her time, ne?"
Minako could feel her chin gently turned upwards by Haruka's strong hand, so she was forced to look up into her wry, understanding eyes. "Thank you, Haruka-sama."
"You're welcome, little one. Have fun with your Reiko."
The blonde opened the car door and stepped out into the clear day. She had forgotten how small and intimate a compartment a car could be. She was barely out before Haruka whizzed away at breakneck speed. I wonder if she can even see me wave, going that fast.
Minako smiled. She practically bounded up the shrine steps. Haruka was right as she always was, with her husky words of advice, father figure, older brother.
Minako halted, frowned. Her mind didn't comprehend the signals her eyes were sending it. Yuichiro…his arms around Reiko…his lips…on Reiko's.
The only coherent thought in her mind then, strangely…Haruka's words…"it is probably hard for her to let go for anybody." You were wrong for once, then, big brother.
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A/N: Thank you all very much for the feedback. I know I left it at a bit of a cliffhanger, but the next chapter will be worth it, I think.