Disclaimer: Sailor Moon, its characters and universe were created by Naoko Takeuchi. I'm merely a fan of the series, writing stories as an attempt to maintain sanity in a life occupied with working. I expect no profit from this. Except for the sanity, of course.

A.N.: I'm starting to see where I want to go with this story and I'm still very excited about it. I hope people are still enjoying this, even if things between Minako and Seiya are not developing as in a regular relationship and now I've thrown her in the middle of a love triangle with Yaten. To be honest, I'm drawing from personal experience for some of this so I'm particularly happy that they aren't like a regular couple. Let me know what you think! :)

Something in the Rain

Chapter Five: Definitions

Minako could feel the sweet waves of release crashing over her as her whole body seemed to tremble with her orgasm. Her mind went blessedly blank and for a few moments there was nothing but pure ecstasy as she cried soundlessly, feeling her heart beating so loudly in her chest as her oxygen-deprived lungs struggled to keep up with her. She was still coming down from her high when she felt Seiya wrapping his arms tightly around her, his teeth biting down on her shoulder as he also found his release.

The two of them panted for oxygen for quite a few moments, neither having the energy to move from their position with Minako sitting on Seiya's lap with her legs encircling his waist, his forehead pressed against her left shoulder and his arms still wrapped around her. After a while, he lifted his eyes and looked at her. He had to admit, even with some of her hair now looking rather like a mess as it clung to her forehead, she looked like a goddess, a veritable and quite appropriate image of Aphrodite.

Her blue eyes focused on him then and she cradled his face, placing languid, sloppy kisses on his lips. He still clung to her, his hands running paths down her sweat-slicked back as he kissed her, both of them still rather catching their breaths.

"So?" He said once she released his lips and they regarded each other. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"

She made a face at him. "Did I not say how I didn't want to talk or think about anything?" She panted out as she was still so out of breath.

"So you're just planning on using my body until we're completely exhausted and our brains have collectively turned to mush from all the sex?" He retorted slowly, his lips forming a lazy smile on their own at his words.

"What? Doesn't that sound like a perfectly lovely way to spend the afternoon?" She raised a teasing and somewhat challenging eyebrow at him.

"It does, it really does," Seiya replied, quick to reassure her that this was indeed a favorable situation that he was thoroughly enjoying, in case it was possible that she still had any doubt in her mind. "But in all seriousness, you got me worried back there. I've never seen you this affected before, so I'm wondering if there's anything else I could do for you." His blue eyes kept softly looking into hers as he delicately swept a few of her hayward strands of hair away from her eyes, before he added, "you know, besides all the mind-blowing sex." He grinned and raised his eyebrows roguishly at her then.

Minako couldn't help but grin at his words, even as she rolled her eyes as well. "Shut up and put your hands on me," she said huskily with a sparkle in her eyes, as one of her hands traced his jaw and caressed his neck as she brought his lips to hers and her other hand brought one of his from her back to her front, placing it fully over her breast.

Seeing as he was fighting a losing battle and that he actually wasn't against her action plan, Seiya complied with her wishes and applied himself wholeheartedly to the task at hand. His hands pulled and grabbed at her skin and flesh as his lips kissed her senseless as the two of them got tangled up in each other once more─or more accurately, continued entangled with each other.

It was a few more hours before the two of them simply laid down on the spacious hotel bed, both too spent and exhausted to do anything else other than just be for a few minutes. Minako propped her head up against Seiya's thigh as she stared at the ceiling, watching as the setting sun cast a beautiful orangey red glow in the entire room. Seiya also looked up unseeingly at the ceiling as he absentmindedly ran his fingers over the length of her arm.

"I think I need some water," Seiya hoarsely said, clearing his throat for a moment. Minako turned her eyes to him then and chuckled softly. "Or maybe a sports drink. Definitely something liquid."

"Let me check the mini-bar," she said in reply to that, motioning to get up.

"You stay, I'll check," he said, as he re-positioned her head under a pillow and got up from the bed. After a moment, he returned carrying a water bottle for Minako as he chugged down on another one. She gratefully accepted the bottle as he laid down beside her once more.

They were silent for a few moments, and then Seiya turned to her, propping his head up on his hand, much like he'd done after the first time they'd slept together. Minako raised an eyebrow at him and had a flash in her mind of being with him like this before. Had that really happened less than 48 hours ago? It did not seem feasible. She'd lived through a lifetime in those two days, getting into battle, dying and coming back to life.

How was it possible that for the world outside everything was still the same?

"What?" She finally said, as Seiya just kept looking at her, his face rather unreadable.

"I'm trying to decide the best way to ask you what happened that would get you to open up to me," he said honestly, as he kept his gaze focused on her.

Minako couldn't help but roll her eyes rather tiredly. She returned to stare at the ceiling, as she said, "I know you mean well, but I was serious when I said I didn't want to talk about it, any of it."

"Minako, come on," he said, his voice almost pleading now. "You know I'm all for having all the mind-blowing sex in the world, but you can't expect me not to be worried right now."

Of course, she knew that. But she really didn't want to talk about it. For a least a little while she didn't want to have to think or feel anything else other than remind herself that she was here and she was alive; they both were. After all, she had sacrificed herself to save him as well. While she wasn't sure what she felt for Seiya, she knew they had an incredible chemistry together and the sex was a way to reassure herself that this was real, she was back and for those blessed moments when she was in the throes of an orgasm, she forgot about the fact that she'd been dead for a few hours.

"I get that you may not want to talk about it with me," Seiya kept on saying. "But at least promise me you'll talk to someone─Usagi, Rei or one of the girls─about what happened with you and Yaten."

Minako looked sharply up at him, her blue eyes growing alarmed at his words. "How do you know something happened with me and Yaten?"

"It's kind of obvious," he raised an eyebrow at her. "The two of you suddenly disappeared, and Princess Kakyuu told me she'd seen you going out to the street together. Then I find you crying hysterically on the sidewalk and Yaten's nowhere to be seen."

Minako mentally cursed after hearing his words, as she should've known someone would notice they were gone. Why the hell was she acting so recklessly? At least she'd sent a text message to Rei while Seiya had checked them into the hotel, asking her friend to keep her bag (which she'd left behind at the cafe) and cover for her, saying her mom had gone ballistic about some inconsequential matter and that she needed to abruptly go back home. She was sure Rei had not believed a word of it and they were bound to have a long talk about this later on, but at least for the moment it was the best excuse she could come up with and her friend had reassured her she'd take care of it with their friends.

"I know Yaten can be rude and insensitive," Seiya kept on talking, seeing as Minako was still silent and he felt he needed to say something about it, even if he didn't know what exactly had happened. "And I'm not making up excuses for him, but there's actually a reason he behaves like that at times. You see, he has these special abilities."

"I know," Minako replied, her voice quiet as she kept on looking at the ceiling rather than directly at Seiya. "He's an empath. He told me so."

"Right," Seiya frowned softly at her. He paused for a moment, but as she didn't volunteer any more words on the subject, he decided to keep on talking. "That's why he also hates physical contact with others. If he keeps his distance, it's easier to block other people's feelings but sometimes that's not enough. He gets very bothered by sensing other people, so he tries to keep to himself and not get close to anyone. When that doesn't work he can get very cranky and volatile, as he's forced to feel what others feel."

"You say you're not making up excuses for him, but that sounds a lot like it," she raised an eyebrow at him then.

"I know," he smiled rather sheepishly at her. "To be honest, I think sometimes we just let him get away with his shitty behavior because we know how hard a time he has with dealing with all of this. And as he's instinctively learned to keep away from people, he still has a lot to learn, to grow up."

Minako mulled over his words for a moment. His description of Yaten now reminded her a little of Rei when the girls had first met her. While Minako herself had only interacted with them later on, she'd kept a close eye on them via Artemis and their monitoring them through the Command Center under the game arcade, and she knew how the Shinto priestess didn't like getting close to people back then, as people were scared of her psychic abilities so she'd also tried keeping to herself. Interestedly Rei at times could also be too blunt and honest, calling people out on their bullshit and not caring what people thought of her. She also knew how Rei had grown up and loosened up a lot as her friendship with the girls grew as well.

"He's not like you and me, you know," Seiya continued talking. "We like people. It's easier for the two of us to get to know others and interact with them. But it's quite the opposite for him. You know, even though he has feelings for Princess Kakyuu, he's never acted on it and I think he never would─sometimes I think that's why he fell in love with the Princess, of all people, as he'd have that excuse to not do anything about it. I've never seen him getting close to anyone. In fact, I don't think he's ever even kissed anyone."

"What?" Minako's blue eyes went wide at this as she sharply turned to look at Seiya once more.

"What?" Seiya asked as he frowned at her reaction to his words. As he regarded her alarmed expression and put things together in his head, his frown of confusion cleared. "Oh. So that's what happened."

Minako groaned softly to herself, as she came up to a sitting position, half hugging her knees to her chest and half burying her face in her hands. She could not believe that on top of everything else that had been Yaten's first kiss. He'd always had girls throwing themselves at him, she'd thought he had been some sort of heartbreaker with a long list of ex-girlfriends─much like Seiya. And he was right, it was one thing to treat physical contact and affection casually as the two of them did; Minako's own first kiss had been at thirteen years old, with an older crush who had thought she was someone else at the time so she didn't give much thought to those romantic milestones. But after Seiya's words she had a feeling Yaten wasn't like that.

"Hey, it's okay," Seiya also sat up and put his arm around her shoulder comfortingly, rather afraid that she would start crying again. "I'm sorry things didn't go well and that he rejected you…"

"He didn't," Minako said abruptly, taking her hands away from her face, though she kept looking forward and avoided Seiya's eyes. "I rejected him. I think."

"What?" Seiya blinked up in confusion then. "What do you mean, you think you rejected him?"

"I'm not sure what happened, actually," she confessed at last. "He wanted to know why I'd sacrificed myself to save him, to save all of you. He asked if he truly was someone important to me. I didn't say so, but sort of gave him permission to see for himself, with his powers. Then he kissed me."

"He kissed you?" Seiya repeated in a surprised tone, his eyebrows going up in his forehead.

"Yeah," she nodded, her voice soft. She rolled her eyes to herself as she said, "Then suddenly we were making out and I flipped out, because I thought that was just him reacting to learning I have feelings for him and that in a way I sort of died for him. It was suddenly too much, too confusing and hurtful."

"Why?" Seiya questioned, his eyebrows furrowing now.

She turned to look him directly in the eye as she said, "Because I didn't want it if he wasn't being serious about it. I thought I was just another of many girls that he'd kissed, and what would be the point of having this with him if he didn't actually love me and was just about to leave for us never to see each other again?"

They kept looking into each other's eyes for a moment, blue meeting blue as her words hung in the air between them. "So then you rejected him and chose to come to this hotel with me instead?" Seiya asked her, putting into words what they were both thinking about. "Even though I'm about to leave as well?"

"I know," Minako acknowledged it, rolling her eyes to herself once more. "It doesn't make any sense. I'm a mess! I don't know what I'm doing right now." She buried her fingers in her hair in a frustrated gesture, slightly shaking her head.

"Well, I can't blame you," Seiya replied. "I mean, who would resist this?" He gestured with his hand at himself and grinned coquettishly at her, and she laughed at that and Seiya smiled successfully as his goal was accomplished. "But listen, you've been through a lot. We all have. It's understandable that everything is a little messed up right now."

"Yeah, I know," she smiled appreciatively back at him. "But I shouldn't be messing other people up just because I'm damaged."

"What are you talking about? You're not damaged," he was quick to protest. "And you're not messing other people up. Okay, so I can't speak for Yaten, but you need to know that at least for me everything's okay with us. No matter what happens, things will always be okay with us."

"You can't say that," she argued back. "You can't know it will always be okay with us. What if I do something really screwed up? What if I do mess it up for real?"

"It doesn't matter," Seiya insisted, shaking his head and smiling back at her. "I don't care what happens with you and Yaten or anybody else. Let's make a deal, right now. That even if we do mess up with each other, things will always be cool with us. Deal?"

He extended his hand to her and waited expectantly for her to shake it. Minako looked at his hand then back at his face. This whole thing between the two of them, whatever it was, didn't seem to stop surprising her. It was funny how they were getting along so well, considering that up until a few days ago they didn't really interact on their own all that much. But it was undeniable that there was a special connection between them now.

"Can I ask you something first?" She asked, and at his nod she continued. "What is this? What are we doing?" She gestured vaguely with her hands between the two of them.

"Well," Seiya mulled over her question, rubbing his chin thoughtfully for a moment. "How about we're two friends, who care a lot about each other, support each other through hardships and have amazing sex together?" He finished by smiling hopefully at her, gauging her reaction to his response.

"So something like friends with benefits?" She raised an eyebrow at him, yet something of a smile was forming on the corners of her mouth.

"You know we can't make any other promises," he simply shrugged back at her, and his smile became rather sheepish and almost apologetic.

"No, we can't," Minako agreed with that, sighing a little in reply. He was leaving, she was staying. Not to mention the fact that they had complicated feelings for other people outside of the equation and they clearly weren't ready to define what they felt for each other.

"But it doesn't change the fact that I like you and I like what we have," Seiya added. "And I want us to make this deal, so that no matter how bad things become we'll always have each other's backs and we can lean on each other whenever we need to. Heck, the fact that we're the respective Leaders of the Guards for our Princesses even shows it would make sense for us to have some sort of partnership, so that we can keep in touch and help each other out in a crisis and form this sort of Sailor Senshi Alliance."

As he was telling her his thoughts, Minako found herself agreeing with his words. Curiously it was the first time she was registering the fact that they were both the Leaders of their groups of Sailor Senshi. She hadn't stopped to think about it before and how it was yet something else they had in common, but she thought it added to the bond they shared now.

"Okay, I like that," she finally smiled back and moved to shake his hand. "You got yourself a deal."

He shook her hand back and grinned at her. As they stopped shaking and then were simply holding hands, a thought crossed her mind and Minako said, "I just realized, you never asked me why."

"Why what?" Seiya raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why I stepped in front of Galaxia's attack." Once more she faced him with that naked honesty that had first entranced him, no attempt to hide her vulnerability as she said those words.

"I didn't need to," he simply said, shrugging his shoulders gently as if the matter were that simple to him. "I know why."

Minako gazed deeply into his blue eyes. She didn't have any psychic or sensory abilities, but she could usually trust her gut and now she could feel the truth in his words. Somehow Seiya understood things about her that one one else had. She wondered if it was because they were so alike in many aspects, not to mention their shared roles as Leaders. The only ones that came close to understanding her like this were Artemis and, at times, Usagi. And, a literal lifetime time ago, a certain silver-haired General.

She realized that under different circumstances she could've very well had fallen in love with Seiya instead. She still wasn't entirely convinced that wasn't the case right now, but honestly she was such an emotional mess that she couldn't begin to make head nor tails of her feelings to clearly define anything with precision.

She really needed to do something about this, and she grudgingly agreed that Seiya was right and she needed to talk to someone about what had happened earlier, and that someone was Yaten himself.

References: Minako's first kiss is depicted in Codename wa Sailor V.