Congratulations
It had taken the new lovers nearly the entirety of the day to leave Minako’s bedroom. Although they’d made the decision to return home that night - Minako’s retreat to London hadn’t exactly been planned, after all - inevitably, something always came up to derail the progress of actually getting to the airport for the flight they’d booked.
Neither one of them were complaining, but the plane full of people they’d nearly held up might have.
The two women shouldered themselves into the cabin, squeezing past the airline attendants in their final check of the passengers. Thankfully, their seats were in the corner of the first class section, and with only one carry on bag – Rei hadn’t flown out of Tokyo with a single belonging beyond her purse and passport – the two women were tucked away in their seats with little effort, if amid plenty of whispers and giggles shared between them.
The singer readjusted her wide brimmed hat over her eyes. It was common for her to fly in and out of Heathrow undetected. Her music was popular in Europe, if not as much so as it was in her hometown, but she always took the precaution of traveling incognito. It was just as they were clicking their seatbelts across their waists that the musical tune of Minako’s Teletia S sang from her purse.
A passing stewardess gave the women a disapproving frown, but the plane hadn’t taken off yet and so the singer took the call.
“Usagi-chan?” She answered knowingly. She’d only just listened to the seven or eight messages her Princess had left on her voice mail over the past day and a half on their way to their airport, but hadn’t yet gotten the chance to call her back.
“Minako-chan, I’ve been so worried about you! I’ve left you so many messages!” “
“Ne, Usagi-”
“And Rei-chan too! I’ve been calling her for the past twenty-four hours! I’m starting to get worried!”
“Usagi-chan, it’s okay, she’s with me.” Minako had been quick enough that time, and in the silence that ensued, she could imagine the gears as they turned inside her Princess’ head.
“With you?” She asked. “In London?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Oh!” A slight pause ensued, and then she responded with a more knowing, “Oohhhh.”
The miko in question sighed and rolled her eyes. Usagi had only been screaming and she’d heard each and every word. She snatched the phone from her girlfriend’s hand testily. “Would you relax Usagi? Everything’s just fine.”
Her barking reassurance resulted in a relieved squeal from the woman on the other end of the line. ”Everything?” Usagi asked, “then what about the Priestess position?”
”I declined it.”
“What?”
“Look, I’ll explain later.”
”But my party…”
Rei couldn’t help but smile. She caught Minako’s caramel eyes knowingly. “I think we’ve got something else we can celebrate.”
“What!? What is it?”
“I’m not going to tell you yet.” The miko winked at the singer. “I’m going to tell everyone at once. So plan a party. Tomorrow night. Eight o’ clock at the Crown.”
“But Rei-” A million questions hung off Usagi’s tongue, but neither woman would answer them.
Smiling evilly, Minako snatched her phone back from Rei. “Got a plane to catch. Bye, Usagi-chan!”
The click of the phone as it shut and the giggling of the women as they shared in Usagi’s frustration were drowned by the roar of the plane’s engines as the hunk of steel zoomed down the runway and took to the air effortlessly.
The two women fell into a comfortable silence, sitting shoulder to shoulder in their big leather seats, but a couple hours into their trip, somewhere above Germany, Minako couldn’t help but notice that Rei was looking so thoughtfully out the window. She debated with herself for some time, but finally, with a gentle hand on Rei’s own, she settled for bluntness.
“Are you sure you want to go through with telling the others?” Minako’s quiet voice mingled with the drone of the engines. “We could wait, you know.”
As if she’d been forcefully pulled back from another world, Rei blinked. “Huh? Why?”
The singer titled her head. “Because you look like something’s still bothering you.”
The miko faltered; the singer had misread her hesitation; it had nothing to do with revealing their relationship to their friends. It had taken her years, but she’d learned to be comfortable with expressing her concerns to Minako – more so these past few weeks - but even still, getting started was never an easy task. “You were right,” she began, “I can’t stay a miko forever.”
Derailing her previous train of thought, Minako frowned in confusion for a moment until Rei’s words registered, and suddenly, she was certain that the words she was hearing in her head were the same that Rei was hearing in hers, words she had said to her girlfriend from a day earlier…
“So what will you do now? You can’t stay a miko forever.”
The singer laced her fingers between the other woman’s. “You’re worried about your future, Rei?”
The miko looked down at their clasped hands in acknowledgement. “Everyone has their futures planned out but me. For someone who only ever focused on their future instead of their past, how ironic is that?” Her words bordered on bitter.
“Rei,” Minako’s voice was scolding and it served to pull the other woman’s eyes back to hers, “if you think that your faith will be less a part of life just because you’ve chosen not to be a part of the clergy, you’re totally wrong.” The miko blinked in shock and the singer continued. “Shinto is part of who you are; that will never change, no matter what you decide to do! That spirituality of your faith will only guide you in whatever path you chose to take now.”
Not for the first time, Rei was in awe of the leadership that her former commander could display so effortlessly. “But… what path do I take?” She looked away from Minako once more, disgusted with herself. “I’ve never felt like this before. I have no idea what to do with myself.”
Minako had an answer. She leaned forward, but treaded carefully. She knew to come on too strong would be to push at Rei’s pride – for always being so determined and steadfast, to feel like she’d had her options taken away from her had obviously been a blow to the miko, and the singer wanted Rei to understand that she wasn’t offering her this suggestion out of pity.
”You know,” she began gently, “you made a suggestion to me not long ago that I totally wrote off.” Despite herself, the miko looked back to Minako in question. “We were at a coffee shop, and I was complaining to you about how my career was getting to me and how I wanted to concentrate more on my charity works.” The singer snorted, and for a second, she steepled her hands together and found some interest in them before continuing. “And you had the nerve to tell me to put my singing career on hold so I could focus on the charity if that’s what I wanted to do.”
Rei frowned, remembering the conversation. Minako looked to her and smiled. “It’s one of the things I’ve always loved about you; that ability to get to the heart of the matter and the courage you have to just do what you want to do.” She trailed off for a moment, her fingers returning to and tightening around the other woman’s hand. “I want to be more like that, Rei. I want to be more like you.”
“Minako, I-”
“That night we spent at my office, going over the charity’s paperwork, I watched the way you took control. I couldn’t believe how well we worked together, the progress we made in those few short hours. And I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of impact we’d make if we could work on the charity together. I knew then that you’d be perfect for the job… but remember that comment you made about finding ‘some corporate snob’ to run the program?”
“Minako…”
“Well, you may not be very corporate, but you are a…” for the first time, a knowing smile tugged at Rei’s lips, expecting the verbal barb that should have followed, and when it didn’t come, she was floored, “very good candidate for the position.” Minako finished smugly. “And if I can get you to work with me, then maybe I can find a way to ease back on my singing and work more on the charity like I want to.”
The miko snorted, almost not trusting her voice. “I don’t think Saitou-san will be happy to hear that.”
The singer shrugged, and for once, Rei saw a hint of selfishness that Minako had desperately lacked. And it made her happy to see. “It was you who taught me to live for myself.” Minako said, “And I need to make sure I keep pursuing that.” The singer snorted. “Shacho. Could you even imagine working in the same office as him?”
Rei shrugged fondly. “He was my ticket to London.”
Minako smiled knowingly, making a mental note to give her surrogate older brother a big hug for that one. She almost hadn’t believed it when Rei had told her the night before. Perhaps the three of them working together wouldn’t be so terrible after all.
“So, I’m not letting you off the hook.” Minako leaned forward, squeezing Rei’s hand. “What do you say? Will you take the job?”
Rei hesitated; it wasn’t that she didn’t like the idea; quite the contrary, but her pride battled with her desires. “I don’t have much to offer.” Her voice was cold. “I have no formal job skills, no money to speak of, not even very much in the way of belongings. I’d… I’d feel like I’m taking advantage of you.”
The singer nodded and smiled at the answer she’d been expecting. She leaned closer to quietly whisper in Rei’s ear. “You can take advantage of me any time.”
“Minako,” Rei warned testily, “I’m being serious.”
“So am I!” The conviction in the singer’s melodious voice would not be denied. “Well, except I was teasing about the whole taking advantage of me thing.” She trailed off experimentally. “Not really.” She added. “Yes I am.” She amended further at Rei’s glare. “Okay, okay, lighten up!” She exclaimed. “Honestly, Rei, you’d be a huge asset to the charity. How can you say you have no job skills when your role as a miko was to serve the public? I’ve seen you in action, I’ve seen the impact that just a couple hours of your advice did for me when we worked together a couple weeks ago! How could you not be the best person for the job?”
Rei took a deep breath. Could all the loose ends in her life really be tied into so perfect a knot? Could she really be this lucky? ‘We’ve already found each other, but could this really be the path to both of us finding what we really want to do with our lives?’ One look at Minako’s excitedly hopeful caramel eyes cinched the deal.
“I… accept.”
“Yes!” Minako’s free hand turned into a fist clutched excitedly below her chin in victory. But then she paused in thoughtful consideration. “You know, Usagi-chan’s going to be jealous that you’re working for me. She is my number one fan, after all.” She noticed Rei’s weary glance and smiled mischievously. “Maybe she could be your assistant!”
“I quit.” Rei crossed her arms over her chest in mock indignation.
Minako slugged her girlfriend lightly in the arm, and laughing, the former miko threw that arm around the slightly smaller woman’s shoulders and pulled her towards her.
OOO
“I think it’s pretty obvious at this point.” Makoto commented dryly.
“But we don’t know for sure.” Usagi reinforced.
“It’s… a pretty safe bet, Usagi-chan.” Ami nodded sagely.
Five minutes to eight, the three women sat around the small table of their secret base, staring listlessly at all five feet of a long, blank banner that seemed to only mock the former Princess of the Moon Kingdom.
“Then what would I write?” Usagi wailed. “‘Congratulations on your lesbian relationship!’?”
“I don’t think that sounds very… sensitive.” Ami guessed.
“’We support your togetherness!’?”
“Lame.” Makoto balked.
“Oh! How about, ‘We want to be your maids of honor!’?”
“No!” The former senshi of ice and lightening shouted simultaneously.
“Fine, fine.” Usagi relented. Shrugging, she put her marker to the banner, and busily scribbled something more appropriate. Ami and Makoto nodded their acceptance, and after helping their Princess hang it above the table, the three took their seats once more.
Finally, the tell tale sound of a hand clasping a door handle shushed the three women at the table, and silence ensued as all eyes turned to the door that opened painfully slowly to reveal Rei and Minako.
There was a moment’s hesitation; the two new lovers standing hand in hand on the platform of the raised staircase, looking down at the three women who had been their closest friends; their only real family. Once, they had stood by each others’ sides through the end of the world. But would they support this?
Sucking in a deep breath, Rei stiffened and stood tall. Minako squeezed her hand, providing her the support, the extra push she needed to break the room’s silence…
The screech of chair legs scratching against the hard floor accompanied Usagi as she leapt from her seat, and it was her boisterous voice that shattered the silence first. “Congratulations!”
Rei snorted. “They… knew.” She whispered.
An equally stunned Minako applied gentle pressure to the small of Rei’s back. “Apparently, we were the only ones that didn’t.”
The cheers of the three women filled the room, and as Rei and Minako descended the staircase and were met with hugs from their friends, their eyes finally found a hastily scribbled banner that hung from the ceiling.
The sign read simply, ‘Congratulations, Rei and Minako, we love you!’
OOO
Author’s Notes:
Eight months of writing, three months of posting, and it’s over! It’s finally over! But at the same time, I’m so sad! It was a joy to write this, and it was an even greater joy to share it with all of you.
So… what do you all think, now that it’s over?
Don’t think you’ve seen the last of me, though. I’ve got an entire AU Silver Millennium in the works, titled ‘A Single Voice’. The emphasis centers on Rei and Minako, with some Ami and Makoto and all the other standard pairings. I’ve written fourteen out of about eighteen or twenty chapters and should start posting that in a few weeks. Be there!
OOO
Preview, A Single Voice:
A single voice shattered the stillness of the desert.
“Martian Warrior!” The language of the red planet felt as coarse and grainy to the foreigner’s tongue as the invasive red sand, yet she projected her voice into the oppressive heat. “Why have you strayed so far from the field of battle?”
The figure she had called to in the distance paused, but only momentarily; it was a second’s hesitation before the small, red pony resumed its course, urged on by a white clad rider.
“Venus-sama,” an aide broke rank and pulled near to his leader, cautious to remain a half pace behind his commander’s horse, “I believe she is not just a warrior, but a Priestess of this planet.”
The woman’s blue eyes hardened. It was the aide’s only clue to discern his leader’s thoughts, for the customary Martian attire she wore not only shielded her face from the harsh desert elements, but also hid her normally expressive features from view.
He had no time to react to his commander’s whims. In a flourish, her white steed had reared onto its back legs and galloped forward in one fluid motion, devouring the distance that separated himself and his rider from their target with thundering hooves and flared nostrils.
The Venusian drew her agile stallion to a sliding halt in front of the small, sturdy pony. The shaggy creature’s wild, barely tamed eyes widened as he found his passage blocked. They were eyes that mirrored his master’s.
‘Violet eyes?’ Trapped in the Martian’s gaze, the Venusian’s anger slipped and she found it hard to tap back into, though she managed well enough.
“You are a Priestess are you not? I’m here to help you and your people.” The woman raised a hand towards her head and was unsurprised to find the Martian’s own dart for the hilt of her sword, passing over her long range bow and arrow also strapped to her person. The foreign commander didn’t allow this defensive reaction to alarm her. Instead, she pulled the concealing Martian headpiece from her face. Her long golden hair falling freely to her waist, her upturned nose thrust into the air, it was her confident smile that shone the brightest.
“Why don’t we join forces?” She asked.
The Priestess hesitated, though whether it be from the foreigner’s gesture of friendship so brazenly displayed by the removal of her headpiece, or the incredible beauty that was revealed through that trusting act, she wasn’t sure. Long moments passed slowly, the only movements were the occasional swish of a horse’s tail and the unrelenting heat waves that rippled across the sands.
“No.” She finally replied, and with a slight nudge of her left leg, her pony turned to the right and began to plod off once more.
There was a rustle of shifting sands and the Martian was unsurprised to find the Venusian blocking her path once more.
“Do you know what you’re turning down?” The woman barked, anger sparkling in those blue eyes. How dare this little barbarian ignore her!
The Priestess found herself sighing. This was not the first diplomat to waltz onto her planet with a romantic notion of helping a fractured nation.
“We can help you in your fight against the youma!”
But in this woman, the Martian sensed a determination and fierceness that went far beyond her delicate beauty, and she felt the smallest amount of interest stir within her.
“What do you know of the youma?” The Priestess’ voice was raw and quiet, as though it hadn’t seen much use.
“I know that they’ve been ravaging your planet for the past several years and that they’re gaining in numbers, slowly wiping out your peoples. “
“And how does that matter to you?”
“It doesn’t.”
The Martian glared – the comment had only served to amplify her mistrust but the Venusian seemed to show little regret for her harsh words and her cerulean eyes only hardened.
“That is, it didn’t.” The foreigner clarified with a deep growl. “Not until those monsters starting showing up on my planet.”
This shred of honesty and display of sheer determination seemed to have the desired effect. This woman had a people, a planet worth protecting, just like the Priestess herself. Finally, the Martian’s hand loosened from the hilt of her weapon. Slowly, she returned the other woman’s gesture and lifted her own headpiece, releasing wild, unbound raven hair that reached the tattered leather of her pony’s saddle, and she was not so blind to notice the other woman openly staring at her own appearance as much as she had discreetly admired the other’s.
“I want to know everything,” the golden haired woman demanded, “when they first arrived, how quickly they multiplied, where they came from, what their powers are…” she paused, her tightened fists releasing slowly, “will you help me?”
The Martian frowned. This woman… talked too much. She was brash. Irrational…
Suddenly, the Priestess’ pony shuddered underneath her and her hand darted to his neck in a calming manner, though the emotion she felt was far from it.
‘They’re here.’
A scream pierced the thick air, slicing through the dry heat, and both women turned in its direction - the Venusian’s traveling party. The group of twenty some men and women were at arms; drawing swords against a dozen youma the size of horses; huge, lumbering brown monsters with red, beady eyes and too many teeth.
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