Usagi watched her friends set up for the wedding, her blue eyes missing nothing. Makoto watched Ami's every move, while the blue-haired senshi refused to look at the brunette who had once been her closest and most trusted friend. Makoto tried to work near Ami, but the genius always found some reason to leave. It was almost as if she was afraid to let the thunder senshi speak, as if she didn't trust their friendship anymore. But why not? What happened? The relationship between Minako and Rei was even more strained, and Usagi could feel the tension between the two who had once been inseparable. The miko, who tried to be everywhere at once for the sake of her shrine, made sure that 'everywhere' was no more than twenty feet from Venus at all times. Minako looked away whenever her blue eyes happened to meet Rei's purple-gray ones, and Usagi knew that the glint in the eyes of the Inner Senshi leader was tears. Usagi found her boyfriend setting up chairs with Motoki, Hotaru, and Reika, and she waited until his hands were empty before pulling him to one side. She looked out at the women again, her thoughts spinning, and jumped when Mamoru waved a hand in front of her face. "Sorry, I'm having a bit of trouble focusing right now. Mamo-chan, there is something very wrong with my Inner Senshi." Mamoru looked around, easily noticing the strange actions of the younger women working to prepare the shrine yard for the ceremony. "Did they fight?" "No, Mamo-chan; I would know." Usagi took the tablecloth Motoki held and helped him spread it out on the appropriate table. Mamoru watched her, as always amazed by the blonde's new maturity. She had grown up so much since the day he met her seven years ago, the fateful day a test marked "30%" landed on his head. Now she was a graceful woman who never failed tests, backed down from her responsibilities, released projectiles to attack unsuspecting passer-bys, or tripped on her own feet. She was a beautiful young princess, coming into her powers faster than she could keep up, and he couldn't wait to marry her. And he suddenly knew exactly why the senshi were acting so strangely. "Usako," he whispered, laying a gentle hand on the blonde's arm. "I think I know why they are acting strangely," he continued when she looked up. "Perhaps this is one problem that their princess cannot solve for them. Give them some time to work it out for themselves." Usagi bit her lip, watching the other senshi set up for the wedding. "Okay." *~*~*~*~*~*~* "And?" "Usagi-chan!" Ami blushed, eyes sparkling. "I never expected them to ask me." "We're their friends and their family, the only people who know about their past in the Silver Millennium. They asked all four Inners, Ami-chan." "And you, Usagi-chan?" The blonde princess blushed. "Um, Michiru-san asked me to be the maid of honor." "Usagi-chan, that's wonderful!" Blue eyes met blue. "You aren't surprised?" "I'm not," a familiar raven-haired priestess answered as she appeared beside Ami and Usagi. "They love you as we love you. Who else deserves this honor?" Usagi smiled up at her friend, knowing the depth of the miko's feelings. "I know, Rei." Mars smiled. Minako watched the exchange and winced, looking away as a sharp pain spread from her heart into the rest of her body. She had been so wrong. Rei was a lost cause. She had no chance against the Princess of the Moon. *~*~*~*~*~*~* Makoto knocked on the carved wooden panel, smiling when Ami's mother, Mizuno Kae, opened the door. "Hello, Mizuno-san. Is Ami-chan home?" "Yes, she is. Shall I tell her that you're here?" "No, thank you, that won't be necessary. I'll just go upstairs and see her myself." Makoto entered the house, smiling at Ami's mother as the doctor returned to whatever she had been doing before the brunette arrived. Makoto slipped her shoes off and slid her feet into the green slippers she kept at Ami's house. They had intricate green oak leaves embroidered on the edges and a blue-white lightning bolt on the toes, a subtle reminder of her second nature. Picking up the small bundle she had brought as a present for her best friend, she headed upstairs. She knocked on Ami's door, grinning unrepentantly at the sound of books dropping. A soft, nearly inaudible curse preceded the distracted, "Come in." Makoto entered, closing the door softly behind her, smiling as she watched Ami desperately try to gather the books that fell off her desk. "Sorry," she apologized, not yet looking up. "I was busy . . ." She trailed off, sapphire eyes widening as she looked up at Makoto. "I didn't know you were coming." "I was afraid you might not still be here if I called ahead," Makoto admitted softly, desperate for Ami to open up to her, to be the friend she had been before Haruka and Michiru's engagement. She held out the small bag, a smile spreading across her face. "I brought you a snack; I know you haven't eaten." "You always know what I need. Arigatou, Mako-chan." Ami, seeing that Makoto wasn't at all upset about her running away days earlier, gestured for the taller woman to sit beside her on the floor, pushing her many medical books away to clear sufficient space. She smiled at the variety of foods that Makoto knew she liked, as the brunette gestured for her to eat. "It's very good, Mako-chan, as always." "Ami-chan, why have you been avoiding me?" Ami swallowed and put the snack down, looking away. "I don't know what to tell you." "What are you afraid of?" "You," Ami whispered, her voice so soft that Makoto wasn't sure she had heard correctly. "Me?" Makoto was a bit shocked at the admission, though she realized that she had expected something like that. "Because I might not feel the same way you do?" Ami looked up, shocked, her eyes wide. Makoto smiled and let her hand come to rest on Ami's soft cheek, wondering if she was doing it correctly. Haruka had mentioned something about actions speaking louder than words, especially where feelings were concerned. Ami opened her mouth, and words poured forth, words she had never meant to say but now it was too late to stop the flow, just as she could not hold her tears. "We've known each other for years, Mako-chan, and you were always so nice to me, and I know that I don't deserve your friendship, and I really enjoyed that dance! I've thought about it every day since, and all I wanted to do is dance with you again." She looked down, her tears flowing over Makoto's hand and blurring her vision. "I'm a lesbian, Mako-chan, but you are always talking about your old senpai and you've been searching for the perfect man since we first met you. I didn't think it would be fair for me to tell you." "And you think it's fair," Makoto whispered, her voice a soft purr, "to never tell me how you feel? After you left my apartment, I went to ask Haruka-san why you ran away from me. When she told me that you were only afraid of me because you were attracted to me, I was confused and a bit uncertain at first." Makoto laughed, and Ami looked up into sparkling emerald eyes. "You're nothing like my old senpai, and I don't think that matters to me anymore. But, you're forgetting one thing: that I'm in love with you." Ami moved her lips, but no sound emerged. "L-love?" she finally managed. "You love me?" "I think I always have. I kept telling everyone that I was looking for a man because I didn't want to believe that I was looking for a woman. For you, Ami." There was no honorific, no –san or –chan. Just Ami. "Me? My emerald-eyed thunder god wants me?" Makoto blushed at the smaller woman's words. "Thunder god? You really think about me like that?" "I think about you a lot," Ami whispered, a slight blush tinting her cheeks. "I think of a lot of names for you, Jupiter, especially when we're fighting." Makoto leaned forward and lightly kissed Ami's pink lips, feeling the smaller woman open up to her. She tasted like sweet peaches. Ami giggled, and Makoto grinned, pulling away. "You are nothing like my old senpai," she smiled. "I love you." "I love you, too, Mako-chan. Makoto. And that's why I ran away. Because I was afraid that you wouldn't love me." Makoto pulled Ami into her arms and leaned back against the wall, kicking the genius's books out of her way so she could stretch out her long legs. For once, the blue-haired woman didn't complain, content to let Makoto hold her. They sat there like that for a long time, Makoto gently stroking Ami's hair and cheeks, remembering all the time they spent together in High School, kissing the smaller woman's neck when she felt the urge. Ami suddenly giggled again, jumping up in a very un-Ami move and pulling Makoto to her feet with one hand, laughing as the brunette lost her balance and had to catch herself on the wall. "Ami?" "Let's go somewhere, Mako-chan!" "Where?" "I don't care! I just want to show you off." Makoto wrapped an arm around Ami's waist and pulled her close. "There isn't anywhere we can go that people don't already know us. There isn't anywhere new." "There is for us as a couple," Ami whispered, her breath warming Makoto's neck. "I am so tired of my room." "A date, Ami?" Mercury smiled and Jupiter recognized the new maturity in the woman's eyes. "A date, Makoto." The brunette laughed as she was dragged from the room, following her best friend—her girlfriend?—out the door, laughing. She hadn't been so very happy in a long time.
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