A Matter of Family The sound of muted traffic from below nearly drowned out Rei's voice as she spoke through the tiny speaker of Makoto's communicator. "It's like I told you. I escaped by biting her arm in mid-flight. She dropped me, and I wound up landing in the rooftop pool of a nearby apartment complex. I guess I just wasn't worth coming back for." Ami moved Makoto's arm once again so that she could see Rei as she poked holes in her revised version of how she escaped. "That does not make sense, Rei. At the height the two of you were, you would have hit the bottom of the average rooftop pool and died, or at the very least been badly injured." Then she squinted a bit as she studied Rei's image on the small screen and added, "Plus, your hair is dry." The small image of Rei on the screen shrugged. "Maybe I'm just lucky?" Minako leaned over Ami's shoulder and said, "Don't lie to us about this, Rei. You were stupid enough to fall for her imitating me because she was able to use your emotions against you. We need to talk about--" Minako was interrupted by Rei making a "tsk" sound, and then a blank screen replaced Rei's image. Minako blinked in confusion before stating the obvious out loud. "She hung up." Makoto looked at Minako and said, sounding somewhat amused, "Perhaps it was the bit where you called her stupid?" Ami looked disappointed as she shook her head in an unsuccessful attempt to clear an unpleasant thought. After a moment, she said, "She's hiding something." The blonde put a hand over her eyes as she tried to control her temper. This was made somewhat more difficult by the fact that the person she was angry with wasn't with them at the moment. "I know I hurt her, but lying to her would have been even worse. I was planning on handling this outside the team, just between myself and Rei, but because she was so easily fooled by one of them, it becomes a team problem. I don't know that I buy the 'she let me go' story, either." Their leader looked at the stars as she tried to think of a nice way to word the disappointing thought that she knew would hurt Rei even more if she were here. "She's a liability if she can't be trusted." Makoto sighed and said, "Look on the bright side. At least she got away. I don't think how matters at the moment. I don't think any of us would have wished . . ." She looked at Ami, suddenly afraid she was about to say something that might upset her. Aside from that moment in the hospital, her girlfriend had yet to say much more about her experience as a captive. Ami gave the brunette a reassuring smile. "It's okay, and you are right. For the moment, the details can wait for tomorrow. The important thing is she is safe." Still looking up at the stars, Minako said, "We still need to talk to her about this. She needs to come to terms with the fact that I just don't feel that way about her. Running to the arms of the enemy isn't going to solve that." Ami looked at her in surprise at how blunt the other woman was being. "Minako? I don't truly think Rei would . . . would she?" Minako finally looked back at her friends. "It's the only thing that makes sense. Rei didn't just escape. I think she let her go." Makoto looked at Ami. "You said it yourself, Ami. She's hiding something. I think Minako's right." Ami walked up to the edge of the building and leaned over the familiar concrete barrier as she looked at the skyline for inspiration on what the best course of action was. In the back of her mind, she suddenly found it strange that she was now standing in almost the same spot she had been during her conversation with Setsuna only a little more than a month ago. Her life had changed so much since then, and as she thought about it, a small part of her mind wondered how much things would change in the next month. Setsuna had said not to deny her destiny, but it hadn't felt like she had been even given a choice in that yet. Granted, Makoto was a huge plus, but Ami had been bothered by that comment ever since Setsuna made it. Ami took it to mean that she was going to have to make a decision. But how did one make a decision when one didn't know the question or the choices? Still lost in her own thoughts, and her voice barely above a whisper, she said, "So what do we do now?" She felt strong, reassuring arms wrap around her and heard Makoto's voice whisper quietly to her, "You're thinking too hard." Now Makoto turned Ami so she was facing her and said, "We do the only thing we can do. Call it a night and start again tomorrow. Besides, we still have a date to finish." ---------- Upon her return to the portal generator room, Mina had been greeted by an unhappy yet strangely quiet Amy. She hadn't gone far from where Mina had left her, just to a nearby work bench where she had been tinkering with a few of the star-shaped pendants the Sekkou used to get back to their home dimension, apparently preparing for an outing that was planned for the next day. An outing that was planned entirely without her. Amy's lack of argument didn't help either, since Mina wanted desperately for an excuse to use the other for a good workout. If the orders for the new mission hadn't come from Beryl herself, Mina would have tried to see if she could take off Amy's head with her bare hands. She was still tempted to try it, too. Amy made one final adjustment then carefully pressed the cover to the small pendant shut and handed it to Mina. "There you are. Since you decided to go on your little unauthorized reconnaissance mission, I had to set up a new pendant for you for tomorrow's sortie. These things are only good for so many uses you know. We wouldn't want you to get stuck. Why, where would that leave our team?" Mina's response was to squeeze the pendant in her hand as hard as she could while glaring at her subordinate, then she left without saying a word. A small smile formed on the bluenette's face as she watched her commander leave. Once she heard the steel doors slide shut, Amy said quietly, "The poor fool. She doesn't suspect a thing." "Then you held your end of the bargain?" She didn't need to look. She had known the other woman had been standing in the shadows for quite some time. "Of course. Your offer is too good to pass up." Turning around to stare into the shadows she stated, "I assume you will keep your end as well?" Trista walked from her hiding place into the light so she could look in to Amy's eyes. "Of course. Once I am in charge of the Sekkou and the Senshi have been eliminated, I will persuade Beryl to release both you and Lita from her control." The Sekkou of destruction looked in the direction the blonde had left. "Beryl will have no use for you after that. I believe once you finally pledge your obedience to Beryl, you'll find your life will become much easier. Why, you might even get your missing limbs back some day if you keep up your good behavior." Amy shook her head and waved her hand as if brushing away a thought. "That is just a bonus." The tall woman turned her attention back to Amy and said, "Then why sell out your friends?" Amy touched the side of her head just hard enough to make a tapping sound. "You know the answer to that already. Revenge." She said the last word with quite a bit of pleasure tucked into her voice. Then, as if the woman weren't even there, she turned back to her bench, saying quietly, "Now if you'll excuse me, I do have some work to finish here." With that, Trista bowed politely, then departed in the same direction Mina had gone. Slumping back in her chair for a moment admiring her handiwork, Amy whispered happily to herself, "Yes, I love a good plan." ---------- The two had decided to head back over to Makoto's, but on the way down the stairs, Ami had insisted on stopping back at the apartment. When they got there, Makoto started to enter, but her girlfriend held up a hand to stop her. "This will only take a moment. Just wait here." Then Ami walked in, leaving Makoto at the door. "What the hell was that all about?" Makoto whispered to Minako as Ami headed off to her room. Minako smiled and said, "Maybe it's a surprise? Hey, since I'm not banned from going in my own apartment, how's about I have a look-see and let you know? Maybe I can steel her in the performance." Makoto turned to Minako with an amused expression. "Sure thing. I don't have a problem with it." Makoto watched Minako go down the hall and open the door, no doubt trying to 'catch her in the act'. Or, at least that's what she thought Minako meant. She could hear indistinct chatter for a moment, then Minako leaned out the door of Ami's room and franticly motioned for Makoto to enter. When she got to the room, she was surprised by what she saw. At first she thought that perhaps the Sekkou had been looking for something, because several of the drawers had their contents thrown onto the floor. Ami's worried expression as she opening her closet and started throwing random items out told her other wise. Ami's muffled voice came from inside a box she had ducked her head inside while saying "Where is it? I know I left it on the desk." She sat up and looked at her two friends, almost as if noticing them for the first time. "I thought I told you to wait?" Makoto tilted her head to the side and asked, "What are you looking for?" A rare expression of guilt formed on Ami's face. "Uh . . . nothing. It's not important." Minako leaned close to her tall friend and said, "You know, I just remembered something I need to check on in the kitchen." With that, she made a tactful escape, closing the door behind her. Green eyes looked at Ami. When she didn't get a response, Makoto said, "You know, you're a terrible liar. Come on Ami, spill." Ami winced, then said, "I think I know why she was here. I think she might have been looking for something I sort of . . . stole." "Why do I think we aren't talking about Rei here?" Makoto unsuccessfully tried to hide her feelings in her expression, but the fact that Ami hadn't told her something important hurt just a bit. Shuffling her feet, and finding the carpet interesting for a moment, Ami said, "I was going to tell you all about it, but I hadn't had time to take a look at it myself. I wanted to know more about it before I told you all about it. I suppose it doesn't matter anyway, since . . . she found . . . it " Ami's voice trailed off for a moment as her eyes focused on what she had been looking for, but since she was looking down, Makoto didn't know that. She also didn't know she was practically standing on it. Realizing there was no way for her to retrieve the item without Makoto seeing it Ami decided to fess up. "Look down by your shoes. I . . . must have bumped it off my desk on my way out this morning. Thank goodness you did not step on it." Feeling totally lost, Makoto looked down and saw what Ami was talking about. Sitting less than an inch from her foot was a familiar titanium star shaped pendant. Remembering what had happened to Ami the last time she had seen one, Makoto took a step back in surprise. "You're kidding me. You actually brought one of those . . . those things back with you?" Anger flashed in her eyes as she looked at her girlfriend, saying, "Don't you remember how dangerous that thing is? Didn't you think it would've been better to let us know so we could all work together to hide it?" Ami knelt down and picked up the item, then stood up and grabbed Makoto's hand. "Please don't be upset. I thought it might be a good idea while I was there to try to figure out how they get to here and back, so I stole that pendant and put it in my pocket. I didn't expect Dark Moon to give me another one to send my double back, so I wound up with a spare." Avoiding Makoto's gaze, she added, "I was not going to activate it this time. I just wanted to analyze it and find out how it worked. Maybe see if . . . we could bring the fight to them. I really was going to tell you all, but I wanted to wait until I knew what to tell you." Ignoring her reservations about the situation for a moment, Makoto asked, "What have you found out so far?" Something lit up in Ami's eyes, causing Makoto to add, "And try to give it to me in simple Japanese." "Well, they get here by using an event horizon generator to cut through space and time. One of us has to be near a reflective object for it to work. Once one of them is able to get in by stepping out of that object, the rest can then tag along since that's all it takes to get a stable pathway for them to follow." Makoto nodded, so Ami assumed she understood at least some of what she said. "To get back, they need one of those." She held up the pendant and examined it for a moment before continuing, "We know it can take us to their world already. The question is, can we all go back using only one? If that's possible, we can change the way we are fighting them. The down side is, it won't allow us to get back. We would need someone to stay behind and stay near a mirror, and bring that person's double to the room they use to come to our world. If we all went . . ." Nodding her head, Makoto said, "We wouldn't be able to get back, and we would be stuck in a world where everyone is out to get us. Sounds just like high school! I'm not even going to pretend to understand the science behind that, though." A part of her wanted to be angry at Ami, but she just couldn't feel that way. Ami hadn't been trying to deceive them, just give them the right answers. Seeing the nervous expression on her girlfriend's face, Makoto decided it was now time to try to salvage the rest of the evening. They could worry about this later. Makoto's eyes glowed with mischief for a second as she reached out, grabbing the pendant from Ami, holding it just out of her reach while saying, "So, how does it work anyway?" Ami's panicked voice called out, "Be careful with that!" She jumped for it, but Makoto playfully moved her hand just a bit to the left. "Oh come on. I'm showing an interest in your handiwork. Who knew you had a decent criminal mind?" She made another unsuccessful lunge for the item while pleading, "Makoto, I'm serious. Give it back. What if you accidentally turn it on?" "Then you'd dive in after me and save me like a knight in shining armor." Makoto twirled around laughing as Ami ran in a circle trying to keep Makoto's face in front of her as if that would help her reclaim her stolen stolen property. "You seem to want this thing pretty badly." Rather than lunging for the pendant again, she decided to try a new tactic. Ami wrapped her arms around Makoto's neck, and looked up into her eyes. Then she whispered, "I can think of something else I want." That surprised Makoto. Her eyes went wide at Ami's sudden aggressiveness, and her guard dropped for just an instant. It was all the time Ami needed to yank the pendant away from her and back away to her desk, where she put it in a drawer and closed it. Then she turned an irritated gaze toward Makoto, saying, "That wasn't nice, Makoto." Makoto stepped forward and pulled her close to her. "Neither is how you got that thing back. Oh, and by the way, you're not giving me much incentive to be nice. Did ya know you're cute when you're angry?" Ami's cheeks turning pink told her she didn't know that. As if to change the subject, Ami said, "So . . . what do you think we should do with it?" Makoto gently guided Ami so she was sitting on her bed and said, "I think we should forget about it for now and just enjoy the rest of our evening." Ami's expression looked a little surprised by the suggestion. "Is it truly as simple as that?" A pleased smile from Makoto was her only answer. At first Ami felt a little strange knowing Minako was somewhere else in the apartment, but then she thought to herself, 'Why not? We are both adults . . . she's my girlfriend . . . she's in my room and the door's closed. If that doesn't scream go away nothing will.' It was, after all a matter of simple logic to Ami. Surely Minako, being the goddess of love and all, would understand to give them some privacy. Ami looked over her glasses at Makoto for a moment as if measuring up an opponent before taking them off and tossing them on her night stand. Then without warning, she put her hands on Makoto's shoulders and slowly pushed Makoto back on the bed. "You just want to see if I can make you curl your toes again, don't you?" Before Makoto could answer, Ami started nipping Makoto's neck. In a voice that sounded as if she were getting lost in the moment, Makoto whispered, "Already doing that." Holding Ami close to her, she rolled so that Ami was now beneath her. Kissing Ami almost possessively, she started to let her hands wander over her companion's body. Blue eyes fluttered open to look up into green ones, as Ami said, "Makoto, I . . ." Her voice faded away to nothing as her words died in her throat. That was the moment Ami realized they weren't alone. At the edge of her peripheral vision, she saw a familiar face accompanied by blue hair watching them in silent shock from the doorway to her room. As soon as the intruder noticed someone paying attention to her, she turned around and walked calmly back down the hallway. Makoto saw the look of horror on her girlfriend's face and was about to ask what was wrong and if it was something she did, when Ami pushed her off the bed so hard and so quickly that Makoto flew off, landing on the floor with an undignified thud. Despite being worried about what it was that had set Ami off and had her running out of the room, (rather unexpectedly in Makoto's mind) a part of her was impressed. She had no idea Ami was that strong. The initial outburst over, Minako walked in and said, "Makoto, I think you'd better go after her." Then, Minako did a very un-Minako thing to do. She quietly went back in her room and closed the door, wanting nothing more than to mind her own business, and not wanting anything to do with whatever had caused Ami to leave her in a pile on the floor like a discarded candy wrapper. Jumping to her feet, Makoto rushed out the bedroom and stopped halfway down the hall when she saw that Ami hadn't gone far, and was with someone. As realization dawned upon her, Makoto understood just how awkward the rest of the evening was going to be. There was no cause to run anymore, unless she wanted to grab Ami and run screaming from the building. Even then, she doubted they would ever be able to run from this problem. Makoto walked to the living room and sat next to Ami, giving her support. Then, she squeezed her eyes closed and turned her head away from both of them as she listened to the conversation in embarrassment. Her face almost a dark red color from blushing so much, Ami looked at the intruder and said quietly as she tried to hide her embarrassment, "Mother, I would appreciate it if you would tell me what you are thinking, because I think we need to talk." For her part, Hana Mizuno sat with her back arched, covering her face with her hands, saying nothing, while her ears continued to turn ever impressive darker and darker shades of red. She had gotten off early tonight from work and had decided to stop by her daughter's apartment to see how she was doing. She hadn't expected to find the living room totally re-arranged for a romantic evening and to walk in on her daughter sharing an intimate moment with a certain someone. Makoto spoke up with a slight edge of anger to her voice. "Don't be angry with her, Mizuno-Sensei. If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at me. I'm the one who --" Ami's mother cut Makoto off with a sound that could have easily been a laugh or a sob, then said, "I'm not angry." "Mother, please listen to me. I was going to tell you eventually, I just--" Letting her hands fall from her face, Hana Mizuno looked up at the ceiling and said, "Which part? That you are a lesbian, or that you were sleeping with one of your childhood friends?" When she looked at Ami and saw the hurt in her daughter's eyes, she felt that her last comment hadn't entirely been fair. Besides, she had guessed a long time ago that Ami was gay. Homosexuality didn't bother her, but to have it confirmed by walking in on her daughter with another woman in a rather compromising situation was simply . . . shocking. More than that, though, Hana was simply feeling hurt by the fact that Ami didn't trust her enough to actually tell her what was going on in her life. A small voice in the back of her head kept taunting her with the thought that perhaps all those overtime hours at work over the years had put more distance between them than she had fully understood. Well, that, and Dr. Mizuno was also more than a bit embarrassed herself. After all, she had been the one to engrave into Ami that one must knock before entering another person's room. Hana's deep crimson blush slowly faded as her face turned pale. She truly did try to smile, but all she could manage was to press her lips into a thin, white line before she spoke. "I am all right with it Ami, truly I am. I just need a few minutes. Walking in on your little girl while she is making love to . . . anyone, is just a bit of a shock for any parent to witness." She paused and let a small gasp leave her lips. Then Hana started to move her hands a bit and her eyes opened just a touch wider in shock from the vivid memory of what she just witnessed whenever she tried unsuccessfully to complete her thoughts out loud. "It's just . . . I know you are not a child anymore but . . . I know you are an adult now and . . . It's just . . . your lips were . . . your hands were on her . . . and her hands were on your . . ." Yes, Hana Mizuno had just received the shock of her life, but at least she wasn't angry. Considering that to be as good a way to look at it as possible at the moment, Makoto leaned over Ami and said, "Uh . . Dr. Mizuno?" Hana looked up with only slightly less of a dazed expression on her face. "Yes?" Despite how stupid and redundant the statement sounded in her head, Makoto felt it was the best thing to do, the right thing to do. "Uh . . ." With a sheepish grin, Makoto got up and stood before Ami's mother and bowed politely. "Hana Mizuno, I wish to ask for your blessing to continue my relationship with your daughter." She stood back up and said, "I know I should have asked you before, but, uh . . . well . . . we have been busy, you see." She winced a bit at her own words. That hadn't been how she meant the comment to come out. She was trying to say that they as Senshi had been busy, so they hadn't had much time to talk to her about it. She also was trying to keep the fact that Hana knew the identities of the Senshi a secret from Ami. Instead it sounded to her own ears like her and Ami were too busy because they had been . . . Both Ami and her mother's faces turned a slight shade of pink at Makoto's words, but as the realization of what Makoto was trying to say to her set in, Hana's face finally turned a more natural color. Instead of talking, she stood up and gave Makoto a hug. Since Ami's father wasn't around, Hana had long ago learned to play both the role of father and mother for her daughter. Just quietly enough for Makoto to hear, she whispered, "Remember your promise? If you allow anyone, that also includes yourself, toharm her, I will personally kill you." Stepping away from a somewhat worried Makoto, Hana said cheerfully, "Welcome to the family."
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