After of sitting on the same chair in the same position for a few hours Makoto's muscles began to ache. She also noticed the increasing grumble in her stomach. She didn't want to leave from her spot near Minako's room but she knew that Minako would yell at her for not taking care of herself if she were awake. The thought of Minako yelling at her brought a smile to Makoto's face. Just the thought of hearing Minako's voice did. Even though she received some eerie stares from Mrs. Aino, Makoto stood up and looked through the window into Minako's room. She didn't really like the fact that people could just walk by and look in on Minako but when she thought about Mrs. Aino standing there like a watch dog people probably didn't look in. She held her hand to the glass and whispered, "I'll be right back." to Minako. She walked through the hospital looking for a snack machine while trying to get the knots out of her muscles. She could hardly wait for Minako to be released from the hospital so she could finally get a good night’s rest. She finally found the snack machines and got a small bag of chips and a coke to go with it and quickly returned back to her spot by Minako's room. The first thing she noticed was that Mrs. Aino had disappeared back into Minako's room. She set her food down on a small table next to the stuffed Togepi she brought and walked up to the window to look in Minako's room. What she saw brought tears to her eyes once again. While Minako's eyes weren't opened she saw Minako's mouth moving. Her first instinct was to run into the room and embrace her love but she knew with Mrs. Aino in there that wasn't possible. She would only get yelled at and kicked out of the room. Instead she went in search of Dr. Mizuno to ask for her help while wondering what Minako was talking about with her mom. _____ "Where's Mako-chan?" Minako kept repeating frustrating her mother. "She's not here," her mother lied to her. She knew Minako was to tired to open her eyes still and if she couldn't see Makoto she never had to know. "Besides, your not allowed to see her anymore. Look what she let happen to you." Mrs. Aino took hold of her daughter’s hand. "You don't need friends like that Minako." "I do...I need her..." Minako said softly finding it hard to talk. "Don't worry about that now. Just rest okay?" Mrs. Aino looked to the window and was relieved that Makoto wasn't looking in on them. She held onto Minako's hand firmly trying not to upset her daughter. "Makoto..." Minako whispered sadly. Before anything else could be said there was a faint knock on the door. Minako managed to open her eyes briefly and was sad when she realized it wasn't Makoto but Mrs. Mizuno instead. "How are you feeling Minako?" "I'm okay I guess even though my whole body aches and I can't seem to keep my eyes open." "All you need is to rest," Mrs. Mizuno reassured her. "By tomorrow you'll be feeling much better. Anyways, the reason I came in here is because I need to go over some things with you Mrs. Aino. Could you please come to my office with me for a few minutes?" Minako's mothers eyes narrowed but she reluctantly complied with the doctor. "I'll be right back Minako." She released her hold on Minako's hand and the two stepped out of Minako's room. After Mrs. Aino took a good look around to make sure Makoto was no where in sight she followed Mrs. Mizuno to her office on the next floor up. Makoto, who was hiding around the corner saw the two leaving and watched as Mrs. Mizuno cleverly stick her hand out holding out all five fingers, telling Makoto she had exactly five minutes with Minako. "I've gotta tell Ami-chan how cool her mom is when I see her." Makoto said to herself as she grabbed the Togepi doll off the table. She quietly entered Minako's room not sure if she was asleep or awake. "Mom?" Minako asked softly. At that moment Makoto felt as if a large weight had been lifted off her chest. She didn't say anything at first to Minako but walked to her bedside and took hold of her hand and kissed it. "No," was all she said. "Mako-chan? I thought you weren't here. My mom said.." Minako trailed off. "I should have known she was lying to me." "I only have five minutes Minako. Mrs. Mizuno's doing me a huge favor here. She knows as long as your mom's around I won't be able to get in here so I have to make this quick. Here, I brought you something." Makoto said handing Minako her Togepi. "I thought he might cheer you up some while you’re in here." "Oh Makoto. If I had more energy I'd hug you now and never let go." Minako said forcing herself to open her eyes briefly. "You don't hate me for not being able to protect you, do you?" Makoto asked scared to hear the answer. Minako's faint laughter way the last thing she expected to hear. "No you big doof, I love you for saving me." Minako joked. "Now do I get a kiss or what?" she asked half seriously thinking Makoto wouldn't want to kiss her while she looked so crappy. "I thought you'd never ask," Makoto said as she lowered her lips to Minako's. Their kiss seemed to heal both of them completely. Their bodies were both still weak, Minako’s from the physical abuse and Makoto’s from the stress but their hearts, their emotions, were finally calmed. "I have to go now before your mother gets back. If she sees me in here I'll be kicked out of the hospital since I'm not immediate family. But I'll be waiting outside to sneak in here every chance I get. Your mom's going to have to eat sometime and when she leaves I'll sneak back in. I love you." "I love you too Makoto." Minako smiled even though she was sad that she was stuck with her mother when the only person she wanted to be with had to wait outside. Makoto knew exactly what Minako was thinking and bent down to kiss her once more. "I'm going to call the others and tell them your awake. I'm sure they'll be relieved.” "Tell them I said hi please? And try not to miss me too much. I heard I'll be out of here in a few days then nothing will keep us apart." Minako said cheerfully. "I can't wait for us to be able to start our new life together Makoto." "Neither can I. I just hope we can deal with your mother." Makoto stood up and ran her fingers through Minako's hair. "Even like this your beautiful to me," she said as she left Minako's room reluctantly. Minako just sighed to herself and held onto her Togepi. She decided to hide it under the blankets so her mom wouldn't notice Makoto had been in there. Realizing there was nothing she could do until she was well enough to at least open her eyes and move around Minako let herself fall asleep while thinking of Makoto. Makoto noticed she left Minako's room just in the nick of time as Mrs. Aino walked past her. Letting out a sigh of relief, Makoto decided it was time to tell the others Minako had woken up. When she reached in her pockets she realized she used all her change for snacks earlier. She grabbed her communicator and before calling the others on it she got a great idea. "Dr. Mizuno," Makoto said as she found Ami's mom doing her rounds in the hospital. "If Minako happens to ask where I am, tell her I'll be right back please?" Makoto asked not wanting to waste any time. Dr. Mizuno agreed and Makoto quickly ran out of the hospital. She decided to stop by Usagi's house first to tell her about Minako being awake before she would carry out her plan. Luckily she found that Rei and Ami were at Usagi's too. "You’re looking good," Rei commented Makoto once she was led to Usagi's room. "Un, and I owe it all to your mom Ami." Makoto looked over at the blue haired genius. "I want to do something for her to pay her back one day." "What'd she do?" Usagi asked confused. "Well she distracted that evil Mrs. Aino so I could sneak into Minako's room and talk to her for a few minutes." Makoto said cheerfully. "Talk? As in she's," Rei started but Makoto added the 'awake' part for her. She was full of excitement now that her love was awake and couldn't wait to get back to the hospital. "That's so great Mako-chan," Rei hugged Makoto. "Yeah, you should come visit her sometime. I know she'd love that. But I gotta go, I was just wondering, is Artemis here by chance?" "No, he's still at Minako's...probably worrying to death about her. Why?" Usagi was confused once again. “No time to explain; I gotta get back before Minako wakes up.” Makoto stood up and said her goodbyes leaving behind several confused senshi. Once she was out of Usagi's front door she ran as fast as she could to Minako's not wanting to waste even a second. She finally got there and knocked on the door as hard as she could. When she saw a small white cat pop up in the window she felt incredibly relieved. Artemis saw her and was worried that something may have happened to Minako. He ran outside, getting out of the house by the small hole in the back door that was made for him. "Is she okay?" he immediately asked worried. "She's fine, couldn't be better," Makoto said as she bent down to pat the top of his head. "I just need you to do me a little favor." "I need her communicator, and I can't get into the house, so I was thinking maybe you'd be super nice and get it for me?" Makoto said giving Artemis her best puppy dog eyes. She knew the guardian cat would be against using the communicators unless it was senshi business, but it was the only way Makoto could think of to get to talk to Minako since Mrs. Aino wouldn't let her in Minako's room. Artemis knew if Luna found out he was helping Makoto with this crazy scheme he'd never hear the end of it, but there was no way he could say no to those puppy dog eyes of Makoto's. He ran inside and searched for Minako's communicator. Once he found it he picked it up in his mouth and carried it to Makoto. "Don't let Luna find out about this," he said as Makoto took the communicator. "Arigatou!" Makoto said as she started on her way back to the hospital. She couldn't believe how good she felt at the moment and almost felt like screaming. "I've figured it out Minako, I just hope your awake when I get back," Makoto thought to herself. Once she did reach the hospital, she was happy to find Minako awake, even though Mrs. Aino was in there with her. Makoto smiled happily as she saw that this time Minako had her eyes open and another idea came to mind. She walked over to the nurse’s station and asked for a piece of paper and a pen. She scribbled something down and headed towards Minako's room trying to think of a way to get her attention, without Mrs. Aino noticing. Her first instinct was to tap on the glass but she knew Mrs. Aino would hear that as well as Minako so she decided to settle for flailing her arms about hoping Minako would notice eventually. After a while her arms got tired and she felt ridiculous thanks to the odd looks from several people but she didn't give up. Eventually Minako did notice and Makoto quickly placed the piece of paper that she wrote on against the glass. It took Minako's eyes a few seconds to focus on the writing that simply said "I love you," since she was still very tired but when she read it she got the urge to jump out of bed and run to Makoto. Finally Mrs. Aino caught on to the fact that her daughter was starting a little too intently so she turned around to see who was at the window. When she saw Makoto she instantly saw red but tried to stay calm. Makoto did her best to look innocent and Minako could only giggle at the silly expression on Makoto's face. Makoto noticed Dr. Mizuno coming to check up on Minako and stopped her in the hall. "I'm sorry Mrs. Mizuno but I have one last favor to ask of you, but I promise I'll make it up to you somehow." Makoto began. "And what is it this time?" the older woman questioned. "Could you just give this to Minako for me since I'm not allowed in her room?" Makoto asked as she grabbed Minako's communicator from her pocket. Makoto knew she was taking a big risk letting someone see their communicators but it was the only way, and she'd gladly take the punishment if something came from it. Luckily for her Dr. Mizuno didn't ask any questions and agreed. "You know, it's getting late now and visiting hours are almost over. You should probably go home and get some rest." "I will, but I wanna go say bye to Minako first." Makoto and Dr. Mizuno began to walk to Minako's room. Makoto watched as the doctor went in and she noticed that Dr. Mizuno pointed to her so Minako knew she was trying to get her attention. "I love you," Makoto mouthed to the blonde. Minako in turn mouthed the words back making sure that her mom couldn't tell what she was saying. They waved to one another and Makoto went home hoping her plan would work. Dr. Mizuno found that she was having an increasingly difficult time explaining to Mrs. Aino that once visiting hours were over she had to leave. Mrs. Aino fought back saying that since she was Minako's mother that shouldn't apply to her, but once Dr. Mizuno explained that Makoto had already left to go home for the night Mrs. Aino agreed to leave. Once the coast was clear Dr. Mizuno slipped Minako her communicator. "I don't know why, but Makoto asked me to give this thing to you so here." Minako's smile seemed to grow ten times larger as she thanked her doctor. "Oh, and if your good tomorrow, we might let you out of here by the evening." "Are you serious? Hey, what if you don't tell my mom and I just sneak out of here with Makoto?" Minako asked with a hopeful gleam in her eyes. Dr. Mizuno only laughed and told her to get some sleep so she'd be well enough to walk around the next day. Minako nodded and said goodnight as Dr. Mizuno left. As soon as she was completely alone she grabbed the Togepi from under her covers and squeezed its palm. She laughed as the little doll wiggled and cheerfully called its name out. Finally she decided it was time to call her girlfriend on her communicator. When she saw Makoto's face show up on the screen she thought she'd die of joy. "Miss me?" she asked softly. "You know I did baby, why do you think I went through so much trouble to get that damn thing to you?" "And just how did you get my communicator?" Minako asked as she accidentally caused her Togepi to speak. She laughed a little and did her best Togepi imitation. Finally she retuned her attention to Makoto who was just looking at Minako's image on the communicator lovingly. "So how'd you get my communicator?" Minako asked once more. "Well I just figured since they had you in those nasty hospital clothes your mom must have taken your stuff home so I went there while you were sleeping today and talked Artemis into getting it for me." "Artemis actually agreed? Are you serious?" Minako could hardly believe what she was hearing. "Yeah he did, but only cuz I weakened him with my puppy dog eyes." Makoto laughed remembering that. "He's been really worried about you too." "I really miss him. But Dr. Mizuno said I might be able to get out of here by tomorrow night if I get some of my strength back." "Hontou? That's awesome!" Makoto said cheerfully. "You should go to sleep and get some rest then." "But I've missed you so much! I don't want to stop talking to you and it’s hard to sleep without you next to me." Minako said quietly. "Believe me I know. This is only my second night without you but it feels as if it's been an eternity. I want to be able to hold you so bad. We haven't even been able to fully enjoy our new relationship yet. There are so many things I look forward to, but I know we have the rest of eternity together so one more night doesn't seem too bad." Minako felt herself wanting to cry at how sweet Makoto was being to her. "I love you Makoto." "I love you too Minako, and tomorrow we'll figure out some way to be together, I promise. But until then you need to get some sleep and get your strength back up. I know you heal faster since you’re a senshi, but you took a bad beating and need to rest. I'll be at the hospital as soon as I wake up I promise." Makoto smiled at her girlfriend through the communicator. "Promise eh? Well then I guess I'll see you in the morning. But until then I'll be dreaming about you my love," Minako said as she wished more than anything that the Togepi doll in her arms was Makoto. "Goodnight Minako...I love you." Makoto said and quickly shut her communicator off while she had the guts to do so. She laid down in bed and shut her eyes while visions of waking up with Minako in her arms flooded into her mind. She sighed contently and without even changing into pajamas lay on the bed exhausted from the last few days and knowing that she had a big day in front of her. She had no idea how she'd get Mrs. Aino to let Minako stay with her but somehow it had to be done, and she would do it...She would do anything for Minako. And with that in mind she fell to sleep looking forward to seeing her blonde goddess in the morning...
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