The Sign
She could have been just another ordinary, dark-haired young woman standing outside just another ordinary restaurant on the Juuban strip, waiting for just another ordinary friend that was current running behind schedule.
Hino Rei was far from ordinary, in all those respects but one. Tsukino Usagi, though also equally as unordinary as she, was very, very late.
Rei scowled. She knew she should be happy to be home, to get the rare opportunity to see her old friends, especially to have a night out on the town with her Princess. But instead, Rei was anxious, for although she was looking forward to seeing her friends, the reason for her return to Tokyo wasn’t a social call at all, it was shrine business. Shrine business that would result in a decision she would have to make that she was still coming to terms with.
‘Perhaps the future isn’t so cut and dry after all.’ She pondered darkly.
The miko shook herself mentally. It would be no good to greet Usagi in such a pensive mood. Perhaps it was a good thing she was late. To lighten her spirits, she created a diversion by immersing herself in the scenery, eyeing over her old haunts.
A glance to the left, past the parking lot flow of traffic and beyond the nearly solid wall of pedestrians across the street was a garish neon sign written in katakana text that read; ‘Crown’. For Rei and her friends, the karaoke-ya had been both a home away from home and a secret base for their senshi gatherings. The place also made her think of her Princess, where she had refused her insistent friend each and every time she was asked to join in a round of karaoke. Above the Crown building, rotating blue and white lights caught her eye, and Rei recognized the Ferris wheel of the amusement park that Ami had been so fond of, the amusement park that had also doubled as a battleground in their fight against the Dark Kingdom on several occasions. Next to capture her eye was the brick façade of the Imperial Hotel. Frequently a site for uncomfortable meetings between herself and her politician father, it was also where she and Makoto had gotten to know one another, and had run up and down its halls with wild abandon in their escape.
A look to the north granted her a view of a Catholic church, and suddenly Rei’s reminiscent mood was tinged with warring emotions. There was a hint of sadness there, for the graveyard behind the chapel was the final resting place of her mother, but there was also something else that lurked in Rei’s heart when she saw that small, stone building. It was where she’d first seen Aino Minako, in which the moment they met had touched off both their friendship and their first rivalry. It was also where she’d met Sailor Venus, where Rei had found that the safety of she who’d she’d first thought was her Princess had sparked a helpless, yet well hidden, obsession deep within her.
A sudden car horn tore Rei from her growingly introspective world. Jumping slightly, her small, black purse slipped from the crook of her arm and fell to the ground at her feet. Stooping quickly to collect it, she gathered a couple items that had threatened to slip out; her Teletia S, a small compact, and lastly, a strip of photo club pictures she couldn’t help but pull out slightly to get a better look at.
She slowly stood back up against the wall of the restaurant, and the crowds of people passing by her, the slow, steady flow of traffic, and the constant assault on the senses that was the sights and sounds of Tokyo faded just slightly as she looked at the memento of she and Minako. A long strip featuring several shots of the two of them, the progression of the images almost told the story of their friendship. The first photo showed Rei on the far side of the photo, obviously irritated at the thought of being in a photo booth, and Minako, a wide smile on her face, sitting just off the photo’s center. The shot in the middle showed marked improvement, with Rei having inched more into the photo, a tentative smile pulling at her lips and Minako stealing a glance at her out of the corner of her eye. The last shot was Rei’s favorite. Flashing the victory sign with one hand, Minako had her other arm around Rei’s shoulder, her head tipped into Rei’s, and Rei, having finally gotten comfortable with the idea, was Minako’s mirror image.
Just like that sequence of photos, Rei’s friendship and rivalry with Minako had evolved into something more than simple idolism and competition, and had reached its peak with Minako’s illness related death and the subsequent rebirth of the world at Usagi’s hands. They were feelings that had reemerged the very day they’d all met again and regained their memories of the incredible feat they’d accomplished as senshi, and those feelings for Minako had continued to grow even as they’d begun to go their separate ways; with Rei pursuing her Shinto calling and Minako touring overseas. Yet, even apart, their friendship budded on late night phone calls, had grown on the occasional letter and photo swap, and had blossomed on rare face to face visits they’d shared over the past few years.
In fact, this very photo had been taken the last time Minako had been in town. It had been so brief that the other girls hadn’t even known the international idol had been in town and she’d only had the time to see Rei. It had been just the two of them and Rei had enjoyed having her closest friend, her best friend, all to herself for a change…
A fierce blush colored Rei’s cheeks. Flustered, she averted her eyes and shoved the photo strip back in her purse, and though she wasn’t entirely sure that the shiver that traveled down her spine was borne from the bitter gusts of pre-winter wind that howled between Tokyo’s walls of buildings, she huddled into her black wool jacket none the less. Just when it seemed that nothing could possibly warm her, a gasp issued through her chattering teeth.
A bitter gust of wind shook the wooden frame that held the leather and wool tent in place, causing a drift of snow to roll off the pitched roof.
The inhospitable weather outside created a sharp contrast to the inside of the tent, where a fire crackled and popped in its center. The flames danced wildly, the embers reaching for the darkness as the fireglow teased the dancing shadows of the small space. Bathed in the red and orange hues of the fire, the cold, leather skin of a thick blanket gave way to warm fur underneath, but it wasn’t the only thing heating the two bare bodies beneath its protection.
Despite her fiery nature and regardless of the flames that fueled her powers, Mars’ homeworld was a cold and bitter planet. As such, the fire senshi was at home even in the coldest of terrains, even if her partner wasn’t. But one thing Venus was quick to learn was that the Martians have a talent for heating up even the coldest of beds.
Caramel eyes, watched passionately by a set of darker ones, slowly shut before a raspy whisper filled the cold air hotly.
“Rei-”
With a sharp intake of breath, Rei shuddered again, only, this time, she wasn’t quite as cold as she had been. She frowned warily.
It had happened again. Another memory of her past life.
Rei chewed her lower lip idly. She’d had several seemingly random visions ever since that night just days ago in the fireroom, when she’d tapped into a memory from her past life that she wasn’t meant to remember, a hauntingly vague vision of a battlefield, of Venus… a wounded Venus, and the fierce eyes of Sailor Mars that seemed to guard any further details. It was all she could remember, and it bothered her greatly.
But did it bother her as greatly as the new visions she’d had since? A blush colored her cheeks. She and Minako hadn’t exactly been on a battlefield in that last one. It’s not that the thought disgusted her. Quite the contrary, in fact. One couldn’t exactly attend a Catholic girls’ school without examining the concept of girl-girl relationships, and for Rei, this included the crazy thought of sharing such a relationship with her closest friend…
Yes. She could admit to herself that she’d been attracted to Minako ever since they’d met. It was a fact she’d kept to herself in the five years of their friendship, too afraid to voice her feelings, afraid of ridicule, afraid of driving her closest friend away… and now she was learning that the Venus and Mars of the past may have shared such a relationship? It wasn’t the only vision she’d had that suggested such a relationship, either. The irony was almost too much for her.
In fact, although she couldn’t tap back into that one particular memory of herself and the wounded Venus on the battlefield, she had tapped into a wealth of others. For example, although she was learning that the Mars and Venus of the past had shared some kind of physical relationship, it hadn’t always been smooth sailing between the two of them.
Long plumes of grasses billowed in the wind, stirred by the smoke left from the remnants of a mock battle. The other girls had retreated inside to celebrate a victory that hadn’t come easily, but Venus took the opportunity to roughly corner her subordinate against the flagstone wall of their makeshift headquarters.
“Mars, do you hate me?”
“Yes!” The senshi of fire’s white gloved hands clenched into tightly balled fists at her sides, but she was unable to maintain eye contact with her superior. They were standing close. Too close for Mars’ comfort. Too close for her to breathe.
The Venusian Princess recoiled at the normally evasive and stubborn girl’s honest answer. After three months of training alongside the introverted Martian, it was the most direct answer she’d ever received, and although she may have struck a nerve, her brief answer wasn’t good enough.
“Why do you hate me?” The question was meant to come off as indignant, but even to Venus’ own ears, her voice sounded hurt. She made a show of casually tossing her golden hair over a shoulder, hoping her self proclaimed rival hadn’t detected her weakness.
Too tense to have noticed, Mars plunged forward, her arms pressed tightly against her chest, her voice an accusatory bark. “I resent the fact that you just waltzed in here and claimed yourself as our leader.”
“That was predetermined. You know I was sent to train alongside the outer senshi for that purpose.”
Waist length raven hair swaying softly in the gentle breeze, Mars’ windswept bangs betrayed watery eyes. When her rival acknowledged her tears by relaxing her posture and widening those caramel eyes, she snapped at Venus’ expression of concern.
“I don’t care about someone else’s plan for the future, and I don’t appreciate the fact that you just walked into my life and turned it upside down!” The Martian gasped, choking on her own breath. How could she have slipped up like that? She’d revealed such a weakness to her rival in both words and gestures. She’d given herself away when she’d meant to distance herself from this woman who confused her so terribly.
“Mars?” The golden haired woman’s voice was a shaky whisper. Was she reading the fire senshi right or was she just imagining what she knew she wanted to see as she read between the lines? In the confusion, in her concern, Venus’ senshi persona faded away in a golden glow. With an equally shaky hand, Minako reached out to her subordinate.
Watching the suddenly dark haired girl reach out for her with a shaky hand that seemed so warm, so comforting, Mars flinched, pressing herself against the cold stone wall. Eyes wide, she looked like a caged animal. Her fear was tangible, and she knew Minako could feel it, for the slightly smaller girl paused slightly, giving Mars just the space she needed to slip away from her.
“Why do you care what I think, anyway?” Mars spat before sprinting away.
Yes. Not unlike their present day relationship, it had seemed as though the one of their past had been just as muddled with rivalry, competition, confusion and uncertainty.
But that led Rei back to her original question. Why remember her past life now, five years after awakening as a senshi? Indeed, it was as though by having triggered that first seemingly forbidden memory, the floodgates to her past life’s memories had opened, and random events of that era now deemed to pop into her mind unbidden. Certainly none of the snippets that were coming back to her could have helped her in any way, shape, or form during their struggle against the Dark Kingdom on the battlefield of war… Rei blushed hotly at the implication. Just what was going on here? Just what did she need these memories for? And why now of all times, did she have to deal with these strange memories that served only to fan the flames of her confused and jumbled feelings for Minako?
“Rei-chan! Rei-chan! Rei-chan!”
If Rei had been paying the least amount of attention to her surroundings, she wouldn’t have been quite so shocked with what had happened next.
“Reiiiii!”
“Huh?” Barely remembering where she was, the miko blinked right before she was almost tackled to the ground by an unknown body. Gathering her wits, her balance and her bearings, she managed to right herself and her assailant, saving them both from an impact with the restaurant wall.
“Usagi-chan!?” Rei was caught between frowning and smiling at her exuberant Princess.
“Heh heh.” The dark haired, pigtailed girl righted herself and flashed her friend the victory sign. “Sorry I’m so late, Rei-chan!”
With a wide smile on her face, Usagi polished off the remains of a double banana split, a stark contrast to her friend, who pushed a few blueberries around the crust of a half eaten tart.
Although she’d tried her hardest to keep up with Usagi’s somehow impossibly complicated life of housewife and part time book store clerk, which consisted of a confusing jumble of names, places, and events, Rei was still two steps behind her Princess.
“So, your boss, Haruna-san-”
“No, no, Haruna-chan is my coworker. Mizuki-san is my boss.”
“Oh… right.” Rei’s brow furrowed.
Usagi’s expression softened. Her most introspective and subsequently least socially adept senshi wasn’t one for gossiping purposes and so she shifted the direction of conversation. “Ne, Rei-chan, I’m really glad you’re back for a visit, but you haven’t told me, what actually brings you back to Tokyo?”
Rei’s lips pinched together. She took a deep breath and slowly set her fork onto her plate quietly. Her hands folded in her lap awkwardly. “I, um… I was asked to become Priestess of the Kyoto-yama Shrine.”
A forgotten ice cream spoon clattered against Usagi’s empty bowl nosily. “Really!?”
Rei’s cheeks colored immediately. She couldn’t find the courage to look either her friend or the other diners in the eye, as Usagi’s high pitched squeal seemed to have made the quiet restaurant even quieter, drawing the attention of several couples to their table.
Though her voice returned to a normal decibel, Usagi’s exuberance didn’t diminish in the least. “Oh, Rei-chan, I’m so happy for you! You must be so excited! You’ve worked towards this your whole life!”
“Ah… un.” Rei nodded slightly. “Well, I still have to… seek approval from the priest of my former temple here in Tokyo first… but you see, I-“
Usagi’s hands clasped before her and she sighed dramatically. “Oh Rei-chan, you’ll be so perfect as a Priestess. And to imagine how much you’ve changed since we first met.”
Rei frowned cautiously as her Princess steamrolled right over her. “Eh?”
“Oh come on, you’re being too modest! And to think, one of my closest friends will be a real Priestess!”
Rei faltered momentarily. Usagi may have misread her hesitation as modesty, but she had also made a very true statement. She had changed greatly in those five years since meeting her Princess.
Five years ago, Tsukino Usagi had become friends with a bitter, standoffish girl, and through her unintentional lessons of friendship, and trust, she had affected Rei greatly. It was Kino Makoto who had taught the angry miko to release her hatred for her father and as a result, Rei began the healing process of trying to understand the estranged man. Mizuno Ami had taught her not only dedication to a cause, but relief in saving a friend and cherishing that friendship.
And then, there was Aino Minako. Minako had taught Rei rivalry. She had toughened her up, forced her to look inside herself to find her own power. Minako had taught her respect and perhaps true friendship, a friendship that, despite their differences and ongoing rivalries, was deeper than anything Rei had ever felt in her life. And in turn, she had taught Minako a thing or two as well, hadn’t she? Not that the idol had ever said it in so many words, but Rei knew she was responsible for showing their wayward leader that there was more to life than duty, that she had helped to give Minako a reason to live once again…
And she was getting carried away again, wasn’t she? Rei kept a frustrated sigh at bay. It always came back to Minako, didn’t it?
It was only then that she’d realized that Usagi had never stopped talking.
“This is so great! We’ll have to celebrate this occasion! And since you’re actually in town, almost all of us can get together now that Ami started her residence last month.” A frown quickly captured Usagi’s lips as she pondered the brooding miko. “You don’t look too excited about all this, Rei-chan.”
Rei’s dark eyes widened. How could she explain her uncharacteristic worries about her future to her Princess? Not wanting to be a downer when Usagi was so excited, she plastered a slight smile on her face. “Oh, no, I’m sure you’ll plan a great party, Usagi. It’s just… until I talk to my elders here at Hikawa Shrine, I don’t want everyone to know yet. That’s all. Do you think… you can keep it a secret until then?”
Usagi hummed, nodding sagely and winking at her friend. “You can count on me!” She smiled when Rei visibly relaxed. “But we have to have a party anyway.” She flashed the victory sign at her suddenly grumpy friend, to which Rei couldn’t help but giggle. Usagi was a difficult one to stay angry at, after all.
With an overly dramatic sigh, the pigtailed girl propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her palms. “Too bad Minako wasn’t here though, or we’d all be together again.”
Almost as if on cue, the dark haired woman across the table from her squinted, her gaze seemingly stuck on the flame of the small candle that sat between them. Rei breathed in sharply, her breath hitching in her throat.
“Rei?” Usagi asked tentatively, concern mounting for her suddenly entranced friend, noting the concentration that furrowed the miko’s brow and the wistful, almost lost look that captured her expression. “Rei-chan?”
Still not achieving a response, she began to fear for her former senshi. Cautiously reaching out to try to shake her friend, she’d almost made contact with the chilled gooseflesh of Rei’s bare arms when the miko finally spoke in a hushed whisper.
“Tomorrow.”
“What about tomorrow, Rei-chan?”
“She’s coming back tomorrow.”
Usagi almost jumped backwards at Rei’s deadpan voice, but the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end regardless. Although she didn’t possess the deductive abilities of most, Usagi knew that Rei was captured by the flame. “Who’s coming back, Rei-chan?”
Trying to see what her powerful friend was sensing in the fire that fueled her mystical powers, Usagi peered into the small, flickering flame. Somehow, if she squinted just right, she thought she could almost make out the image of Aino Minako…
The flame extinguished itself in a non-existent breeze. The miko at the other end of the table shuddered.
“I’m sorry, did you say something, Usagi?”
OOO
“Hello?” Usagi asked lazily where she lay with her feet at the head of her bed. At the other end, where she twirled a finger around a lock of hair absently, her head rested next to a dark blue plushie of a sleeping cat.
“Usagi-chan, it’s-”
“Minako-chan!” Usagi squealed.
With a screaming meow, the now very awake plushie bolted from the bed in surprise, landing on the low table below that served as Mamoru’s desk, sending his textbooks crashing to the floor. Minako chuckled as Usagi dropped the phone to perform damage control, apologizing to Luna before helping her husband gather his textbooks off the floor. It was only a brief moment before her Princess picked up the phone again, this time, using a much more normal tone of voice.
“Ah, Minako-chan, sorry about that. It’s so good to hear from you! How are you? How is your tour going? Are you still in Britain?
Trying to keep up with her friend’s rapid fire questioning, the idol propped her feet up on the coffee table and made mental notes in order to answer them all. Artemis hopped up on her lap and she idly stroked the soft fur of the white plushie.
“Well, I am in Britain right now, but you see, my manager is planning a huge encore finale concert in Tokyo, and-”
“What!? An encore finale? Here in Tokyo!?” The phone was muffled again as Usagi apologized for startling her cat and her husband for a second time.
“Un, next week. So I’ll be flying back home tomorrow-”
“Ah! Rei-chan was right!” Usagi exclaimed, though she was more eager to learn the details of the event.
“R-Rei?” The name was a distracted whisper on the idol’s lips.
“Un. Well, not in so many details, of course. She just told me you were coming back tomorrow. She didn’t know about the concert, or-”
“But how would she…?”
“Oh, I guess the fire told her. She was looking at you in the flame of a candle. But don’t tell her I said that! I’ll bet she’d get real upset with me for some silly reason.” Usagi said with mock exasperation. “Anyway, we have to get everyone together for a huge celebration! The first one will be for your return and then we’re going to have another party, because Rei has something to celebrate too!”
“Something to celebrate?” Through her numbed state of shock, it was the only part of Usagi’s dialogue Minako managed to capture.
“Ah! It’s a secret! You’ll just have to wait to find out.” Usagi stated smugly.
“U-un.” Minako agreed dumbly, her mind solely devoted to a much more shocking event.
The rest of their conversation was a blur to the idol. Perhaps a little too adept at flying on auto pilot, she was vaguely aware of divulging all the information about the still top-secret concert to her number one fan, and the next thing she knew she was hanging up the phone.
She didn’t know how long she sat there numbly, clutching her cell phone in her right hand, her left still stroking the sleeping Artemis slowly, but eventually, staring forward aimlessly at nothing began to burn her eyes, and with a long sigh, she leant her head back into the chair.
She knew little about Rei’s psychic abilities, but she did know that it was a feat to receive a premonition in a medium as weak as a candle. And to see not only a premonition, but to have understood in such detail that she was coming back the next day…
Minako shut her eyes slowly. Mars Reiko had been known to have that ability. So was Rei tapping into the abilities of her previous persona? Could she have sensed danger, and was searching for her leader?
“Mars Reiko…” Minako gasped breathlessly. Could she even begin to hope that maybe, just maybe, the Mars Reiko buried within Rei had begun to stir? For if Rei could locate Minako via a weak flame of a candle, had other abilities, other memories had resurfaced in her as well?
She had told herself, time and again, that she wouldn’t pursue Rei romantically. Not unless there was a sign, a sign that Rei might remember the past life they’d shared, a sign that Rei might return her feelings…
But could Minako dare to believe that such a sign had just showed itself, or was she just getting her hopes up falsely? Was she setting herself up to be disappointed?
“What does it matter?” She whispered to Britain’s skyline. “There’s no turning back now.”
OOO
Author’s Notes:
I promise, in the next chapter, Rei and Minako will finally meet again! Actually, I really like this chapter, even though our main characters still have yet to meet.
OOO
Preview, Chapter 4:
Rei felt a shiver travel down her spine. She was so badly shaken that she didn’t know whether she wanted to push Minako away or pull her towards her, to smack that all knowing smirk off her beautiful face, or to kiss those utterly tempting lips. All she knew for certain was that she couldn’t stand Minako’s silent gaze any longer. So Rei expressed her emotions the only way she knew how.
“You got a staring problem?” She challenged her former leader.
“Maybe I do.”
“Can’t… can’t you stare elsewhere then?”
“Maybe I already like what I see.”
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