Otome no Policy
Ami woke first. She was alert in an instant, feeling and
luxuriating in Rei's arms and legs intertwined with her own. Ami stared up
at the white ceiling, just beginning to lighten with the dawn, then turned
to face Rei. The young acolyte was still asleep, her eyelids closed and
twitching slightly. Rapid eye movement; Rei was having a dream. She
noticed a small smile creasing those lips that were so often angry or
irritated with the world--the world, of course, being Usagi. Ami wondered
what Rei dreamed of. A slight blush turned her face red as she recalled
what she herself had dreamed of.
Their faces were mere centimeters apart; almost touching, in fact.
Perhaps they had kissed during the night; actually, it didn't seem like such
a bad thing to try right now. The air exhaled from Rei's nose was warm on
Ami's face, another reminder of who was lying so near. Lower, beneath the
tangled sheets, she could feel their knees and thighs and calves, a gentle,
exquisite, ever so slight pressure. She shamelessly wiggled her toes
against Rei's ankle; after all, no-one would see.
The blue haired girl giggled, then allowed herself a small sigh at
the inability to simply stay and feel Rei's body just a bit longer, but it
was Tuesday. There was school. The thought alone had her up and off the
futon in an instant, standing and looking around the floor of Rei's bedroom
for her clothes. She found them, neatly folded in a corner just as she'd
left them. Rei's clothes, on the other hand, were cast haphazardly around
the room, indicative of the haste in which they had been removed last night.
She smiled slightly and decided to leave Rei's clothes as they were; perhaps
the shine maiden would find something aesthetically pleasing in the
arrangement of her garments on the floor. The thought that Rei was no
longer quite a maiden brought another giggle to her throat.
Yuuichirou was gone for the next month or so, visiting another
shine. It was a "suggestion" from the priest of Hikawa Shrine, and rather
than risk his wrath once again, Yuuichirou had acceded. As for the priest
himself, Rei's grandfather didn't get up as early in the morning as he once
had. Consequently she stood before Rei's window without bothering to cover
herself; there could be no risk of anyone peeping in from the woods which
came up almost to the edge of the building itself. Her wine-colored nipples
hardened against the cold which emanated from the window . . . but no. She
smiled again. Cold didn't flow in; heat flowed out. The Second Law of
Thermodynamics reared its head in such a way to create an effect Rei loved
so much.
She blushed slightly, thinking of Rei's lips encircling her nipples,
sucking them lightly as her expert fingers kneaded and caressed the
sensitive flesh of her breasts, setting her chest aflame with passion.
Almost of its own volition, her left hand trailed deliberately down her
side, then between her legs, her middle finger finding the cleft bereft of
hair.
"Good morning, Ami," came the sleepy murmur from behind her. Ami
jumped slightly, then relaxed. "Enjoying yourself?" Ami blushed even
deeper, and Rei smiled slyly at the reaction. Framed in the window, the
morning sun shone on her lover, creating the perfect picture. Rei simply
stared and licked her lips.
Ami's eyes lowered, taking in Rei's body at the same time. Rei was
still partially entangled in the covers, watching Ami as she lay on her
side, head propped up on her elbow. What Ami could see gave tantalizing
hints at what was still concealed. In particular, there was the way the
covers halted Ami's eyes right at the very top of Rei's thighs, right before
they met her hips. She shivered. "We . . . should probably get cleaned up.
School will begin shortly."
Rei nodded and stood up from the futon, stretching her limbs and
yawning. She smirked as Ami stared at her long black hair, her violet eyes,
her rose-colored nipples which were already beginning to harden in arousal,
those perfectly formed legs which went on and on, finally ending and meeting
at her pubic mound, completely bare and glistening with moisture in the
sunlight streaming through the window. "You don't look like you
*want* to get cleaned up," said Rei playfully, cocking her hips to one side
and holding one hand on her hip, arm akimbo.
The blue-haired girl blushed again. "Rei . . . ."
"Right," she relented. There would be time after school. Lots of
time, while the others thought they were just studying. "Go ahead, you
shower first. After all, if we both go in there, well . . . ." Rei grinned.
No need to embarrass her lover anymore at this point; she'd probably have a
coronary despite her senshi-enhanced heart.
"Okay." Ami trotted off obediently, her small, perfectly formed
bottom vibrating with each step as she made her way to the bathroom. Rei
was left to fold up the blankets and sheets, and put away the futon. A
small smirk came unbidden to her lips; the scent of the previous night's
lovemaking was still evident.
"Good thing Grandpa doesn't come in here anymore. He'd freak out if
he ever smelled us." She chuckled and gathered up her clothes.
***
Ami had happened to drop by at nine the previous night, after
spending two hours at cram school. Rei had asked several times just why Ami
insisted on going there even after they'd passed the high school entrance
exams, but her lover remained cagey on the subject. She suspected it was in
preparation for the university exams, but that was silly. University was
three years away.
Then again, this was Ami.
Rei had been sitting before the fire, as she so often did.
Meditating on it, communing with it. Becoming one. She knew she was more
in tune with her element than any other senshi, but she didn't take it for
granted, constantly honing her talents. She'd come to help Ami attune
herself to water as well, actually, and was making great progress.
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than the silk screen door
slid open. She could hear it, a slight noise on the periphery of her
hearing. She didn't turn around, though. The flames before her drew her
attention, canary yellow and sunset orange and blood red dancing and pulling
her closer. She resisted, though.
Eventually she felt a certain coolness at her back, sucking away the
warmth which built inside her from the fire. She initially chalked it up to
the opening of the door. As it intensified, though, one adjective came to
mind, one which contradictorily warmed her belly with desire.
Icy.
Carefully, so as not to fall into the flames, she turned, swiveling
on the hard wooden floor to face the girl. Ami stood, a look of peculiar
concentration on her face. She wore the glasses Rei found so incredibly
sexy, and the flames were reflected in the lenses. Ami's blue hair was
neatly brushed on her head and near-black in the light of the fire which was
the only illumination in the room. The white of her school uniform was a
warm orange, her skirt black in the darkness.
The sigil of the planet Mercury radiated a brilliant electric blue
on her forehead.
Rei smiled. "Ami. You've been practicing."
Ami nodded. The sigil faded, then disappeared completely, and the
coldness was gone. Ami sighed with relief, her shoulders slumping. "I'm
getting better at it, aren't I?" she said breathlessly.
"Come and see."
The girl stepped forward to Rei and ran her hands along Rei's back.
The pure white fabric of Rei's priestess robes were indeed damp and wet with
ice-cold water. She felt Rei shiver, and Ami withdrew her hand, offering a
single droplet of fresh cool water to Rei's mouth.
***
Rei extended her tongue, then blinked, realizing it was just a
memory. She shook her head. The shower water wasn't running in the
bathroom next to her bedroom anymore . . . just how long had she stood here
holding her robe?
It was of no consequence. She hurriedly tossed the robe in the
clothes hamper; she really should take the time to hand wash it, but she was
already in danger of being late for the opening bell at T+A School for
Girls. She dashed to the closet, hurriedly pushing aside hangers full of
dresses and outfits, all bought with the checks her father sent regularly.
There: she still had a couple uniforms which weren't due to go to the
cleaners.
When she turned back around, Ami was there. A royal blue towel was
draped over her left shoulder, obscuring the small, round breast on the left
side of her body. Otherwise, she wore nothing, but this time she wasn't
even trying to be seductive. The genius strode to one of Rei's dressers,
crouching down to the bottom drawer which had been designated for her use by
mutual consent. Rei knew Ami kept the essentials there: bras, panties,
socks. No uniform, though; that was why she had been so careful to fold her
clothes the previous night.
Ami could feel Rei's eyes on her. Rei had a way of staring which
was almost frightening in its intensity. She picked out a pair of plain
white briefs with a tiny blue bow at the front, straightened, pulled her
legs through first one, then the other hole, made sure they were tight and
snug against her hips.
She turned to face Rei. The fire girl leaned against the frame of
the closet door, the gray uniform of T+A in her hand. Her eyes were on Ami,
though. Wide, purple, and seemingly able to pierce steel. Or the heart of
one Ami Mizuno.
Ami shivered, unaccountably feeling like a deer caught in
headlights. To call Rei fiery would be not only a cliche, but an
understatement. She *was* the fire, and early in their relationship she had
many times feared becoming consumed by that fire. By now she was used to
it. Almost.
"You still need to take a shower," said Ami quietly. She held a
simple white bra in her right hand, but it was nearly forgotten. Rei's
traditional, combustible beauty held her gaze, and Ami wanted little more
than to nuzzle close to her and feel her warm embrace. The cold, rational
part of her mind told her such a thing was impossible, however, given that
she absolutely had to be at Juuban District High School in--six minutes and
twenty-eight seconds, according to the modernistic analog black clock
hanging on the wall! "Now," she added, more insistently, now putting a bit
more haste into her movements as she put on the bra and imprisoned her
bosom, fastening the clasp at the middle of her back. "Otherwise we'll be
late."
Rei glanced up at the clock and said something very unbecoming of a
Catholic schoolgirl. "We *are* gonna be late . . . okay, don't wait up for
me. I can shower in two minutes and be dressed in three. You can go ahead,
tell the others I had a cold or something." The five inner senshi
habitually walked to school together, Rei splitting off when they arrived at
her school.
"Won't work. They'll wonder how I know and they don't." She
stepped into her skirt and hurriedly pulled it up, yanking a single thread
out of the buttonhole as she fastened it at her waist. "Where's my book
bag?"
"Next to the front door. Go ahead, tell them whatever you have to."
She raced to a drawer and yanked out a bright red towel. 'We senshi are so
predictable,' she thought. The priestess leaned over and gave Ami a quick
kiss on the lips which quickly developed into something much more involved.
"I'll see you this afternoon. I love you."
Ami smiled as Rei gave her a pat on the bottom, then pulled on her
blouse and buttoned it hastily. "I love you too." She tied the bow of her
uniform and watched Rei's lithe form as the raven-haired girl darted out the
door and around the corner. She checked the clock. Four minutes and
fifty-one seconds. She was going to be late.
She ran for the door.
***
Springtime in Tokyo. A cool, fresh breeze blew down the busy
streets of Juuban district, bringing the smell of the sea over that of car
exhausts and sidewalk grills. Usagi giggled and laughed, twirling about as
she and her friends Minako and Makoto walked along. All three wore identical
Juuban High uniforms, and the skirt of hers flared up as she
pirouetted--straight into the slight body of Ami Mizuno, who was rushing
around the corner.
"OW!"
"Owie!" Usagi reeled back, clutching her nose and checking her hand
quickly for blood. "Ami-chan, that hurt!"
Ami blushed, a hand clasped to her mouth in mortification. "Oh,
Usagi-chan, I'm sorry! I didn't see you coming, that's all. Are you okay?"
Gently she reached out and pulled Usagi's hand away from her nose.
Usagi's large blue eyes watered up with tears. "I don't know . . .
it just hurts a lot!"
Ami smiled reassuringly, her hands touching and probing the outside
of Usagi's nose just as she'd learned from textbooks and from her mother, an
attending physician in the emergency room of a nearby hospital. "Doesn't
seem broken, and it's not bleeding either. That's good."
"But it hurts!" she whined.
"Well, we can get some ice to put on it when we get to school,
okay?"
Usagi sniffed. "Oh, all right." Behind her, Minako and Makoto
chuckled. The brunette stepped forward to pick up Usagi's black book bag,
handing the slim briefcase to their leader. "Thank you, Mako-chan."
Makoto nodded briskly. "Sure thing. I'm just surprised it was
Ami-chan who ran into you this time, and not the other way around," she
winked.
Minako laughed. "Yeah, right. Where's the fire, Ami-chan?"
Ami had managed to recover from her embarrassment, and now showed
only a slight sheepish smile on her visage. "There's no fire. I just, um,
underestimated how long it would take my computer to print out the hard copy
on my simulation of RNA protein synthesis in purebred strains of rhesus
monkeys." It was hard for her not to smile even more as Minako's face went
blank, along with those of the others. Sometimes technobabble was just too
easy.
"Oh," said Minako simply. She shook her head as if to clear it and
then led the way as they continued walking. "Hey, did you see Rei-chan
anywhere around?" Ami's path to school intersected Rei's, and thus their
arrival together had never been remarked upon in the past.
Ami shook her head, already reaching into her bag and coming up with
a small paperback book of integral tables. Some of the more esoteric
hyperbolic trig integrals still needed to be memorized, and she flipped the
book over to the page flagged with a bookmark. "I haven't seen her at all
today."
"Hm." Makoto rubbed her chin and looked up at the blue sky. "I
wonder if she had something to do at school today she had to be early for."
"Maybe," offered Ami. "She has a chemistry project she's working
on."
"Oh, okay," said Makoto, wanting nothing further to do with
chemistry.
The little group turned the corner, and Makoto and Minako proceeded
into the courtyard. Ami started as well, but was brought up short by a tug
on the striped cuff of her short sleeve. She turned around and blinked.
"Usagi-chan?"
Usagi was looking curiously at Ami's chest. "Um, Ami-chan . . .
your shirt is buttoned wrong."
"Wrong?" Usagi nodded, and Ami looked down. Much to her dismay,
she saw she had somehow managed to skip a middle buttonhole. It would have
been obvious to her without the bow of her uniform being in the way, and
even with it in the way she would have seen if she hadn't been in such a
hurry earlier.
"Oh," said Ami finally. The two looked at each other, and suddenly
Ami turned a bright red, turning away and hurriedly fixing the problem. "I
didn't notice at all! Thank you, Usagi-chan!"
A new note crept into Usagi's voice. "No problem, Ami-chan. At
least I noticed before anyone else did."
Usagi wouldn't have thought it possible, but Ami turned an even
deeper red. "You don't think Mako-chan or Minako-chan saw?"
"Nope."
"Oh . . . oh, okay . . . I guess I should be more careful, shouldn't
I?"
The blonde looked at her friend closely. Very odd. Ami hadn't
displayed such a reaction since the incident with the love letters stuck in
her locker.
Love letters?
"Yes . . . yes, you should." The opening bells of school began to
ring then, and both girls forgot the conversation as they dashed across the
emptying courtyard for the doors.
***
"Luna, we've got a problem."
The black lunar cat looked up from the wide white windowsill of
Usagi's room, turning her round head to regard her charge while the cat
sunned herself in the late-afternoon daylight. "Problem?"
"Yes." Usagi finished changing into a white blouse and dark blue
skirt and flopped down on her familiar bed, pink with yellow moons and white
rabbits and all. "If I tell you this, you have to promise not to tell
anyone."
Luna hopped down from the windowsill and onto the hardwood floor,
then jumped back and nimbly gripped the bedspread with her claws, padding
over next to Usagi's face. "What's wrong?"
"Ami-chan and Rei-chan are sleeping together."
Luna blinked once, then twice, then thrice. Then she laughed.
Feline laughs are very particular things, and Usagi didn't like this one at
all.
"Luna! I'm serious!" This only provoked more laughs from the cat.
Usagi frowns and swung a pillow at Luna, sending her over the edge of the
bed and landing soundlessly on the floor. Cats always land on their feet.
The cat jumped back on the bed, out of range of Usagi's pillow
missiles. "Usagi-chan, Ami-chan and Rei-chan are very close friends. All
of you senshi are, which is good considering how closely you must work
together and cooperate. But what could make you think that they're . . .
they're . . . doing *that*?" finished Luna, and this time there was no
amusement in her eyes.
Usagi opened her mouth, then decided starting at the beginning
wouldn't be the best course of action. She already had a great deal of
credibility to make up. "Ami-chan was almost late for school today."
"Just because she's usually punctual doesn't mean she always will
be. She's had projects before that have taken lots of time."
"Rei-chan was late too."
"Rei-chan doesn't even go to the same school as you!"
Usagi sighed. "I know that, but we still walk together. She was
late, and so was Ami-chan, and Ami-chan's shirt was all undone, and when I
asked her about it she turned all red and embarrassed like she did when she
got those love letters from Mercurious and I just know it has to be that
because if it isn't it couldn't be anything else and it all makes sense and
I don't know whether or not it's any of my business anyway and-"
"Usagi-chan!" The girl stopped in mid-ramble. "Let me see if I
have this straight. Ami-chan was almost late for school today."
"Right."
"And Rei-chan didn't join you on the walk to school."
"Right."
"And Ami-chan's shirt was undone?"
Usagi smiled nervously. "Well, it wasn't buttoned correctly. She
missed a hole."
"And on that basis, you think two of your best friends, who haven't
shown any signs of being anything but heterosexual, are sleeping together?"
Usagi brightened; Luna seemed finally to have understood. Then she
looked at Luna carefully and sighed. "I know it must sound silly, but you
have to believe me."
"No, Usagi-chan, I don't." Luna stood, her tail flirting. "I think
that's the most ridiculous and preposterous claim I've yet heard out of you.
I don't believe for one moment it's true, and I really can't imagine what
might have planted the idea in your mind."
"You don't understand," began Usagi, but she couldn't really think
of anything else she could add which would make the cat understand. There
was one more piece of information she had, but she was reluctant to bring it
out in the open.
She sighed. "Okay. Okay, maybe I was being a bit silly. You're
right, Luna."
"Of course I am." Luna leaped down to the floor, then back to the
windowsill. Happily, the sun hadn't made much progress across the sky, and
the white woodwork was still squarely in its rays. "You *are* making
progress, though. You've matured a great deal in the last four years,
Usagi-chan."
Usagi nodded, her eyes fixed on the plain white ceiling, the various
idol posters on her walls in her peripheral vision. "Right."
If the teacher had been able to peek into her student's mind and see
what she planned, she would have been far more surprised than she had been
at a simple admission of error.
***
Once, Usagi had counted exactly how many steps led from the bottom
to the top of the staircase of Hikawa Shrine. The figure was long
forgotten, though, and as she stood huffing at the top of the stairs she
could only wonder what had possessed her to count them in the first place.
Rei was six meters distant, sweeping a corner of the dull gray
concretes surface. Leaves blew in and accumulated there in all seasons, and
she knew one of Rei's more important--and persistent--duties was to keep the
grounds clean and neat.
The raven-haired girl heard the footsteps coming from Usagi's
school-issued shoes. Her highly trained ear could pick out the sound, and
her heart leaped . . . then came back down as she realized the pace of the
walk was all wrong for Ami. It was probably Usagi.
Usagi held her hands carefully at her sides as the soul of fire
looked up. The smile on her friend's lips was uncomfortably like a knife in
the stomach; she really didn't want to do this. "Hi, Rei-chan."
"Good afternoon, Usagi." Rei rested her elbow on the bamboo broom
and brushed a sable lock of hair from her violet eyes. "There's no senshi
meeting scheduled, is there? So you want to talk?" With Mamoru returned to
Harvard in America, Usagi had come to spend increasing amounts of time with
the other senshi, talking out the fears and frustrations she'd kept bottled
up during the Sailor Galaxia affair. Now, of course, the letters she daily
wrote to her true love were returned just as frequently, but the habit
remained.
"Rei-chan, are you sleeping with Ami-chan?" she blurted. Subtlety
had never been one of Usagi's strong points.
A half dozen emotions flashed across Rei's face, far too fast for
Usagi to catalog them, and then the slight, Mona Lisa smile was back. The
knowing smile which Rei had used to such devastating effect in the arguments
and disputes which peppered the early years of their friendship. Then a
frown followed, a harsh, jeering frown which had been even more devastating.
Usagi hadn't seen it in some time. "What? What could put a thought like
that in your head, dumpling head!"
Usagi swayed, but refused to back down. 'I am the future Queen,'
she repeated to herself over and over. Eventually she brought her blue eyes
up to Rei's. "This morning. You . . . you were late for school."
The taller girl shrugged and continued glaring at the shorter.
"So?"
"Ami-chan was late too."
"That doesn't mean we're sleeping together! Kami, you can be dense
sometimes, but this is just . . . we're both late, and so we're sleeping
together? What does that say about all the times you and Minako-chan are
late, hm?"
'I am the future Queen. I am the future Queen.' She realized Rei
had never actually denied the charge. "That doesn't have anything to do
with this, Rei-chan!"
"And what *does* have anything to do with this?" Rei shook her head
angrily and resumed sweeping the leaves into the brush of the adjacent
forest. One or two of the straw bristles fell off the broom from the
extreme use the angry senshi used. "You come here saying that . . . that, I
don't know what, it's just so amazing that you could presume something like
that!"
"Is it true?" asked Usagi quietly. Rei ignored her. "Is it true?"
she pressed.
"You don't have any proof."
"You're not denying it."
"I shouldn't *have* to deny it!" Too late she realized this was
tantamount to an admission, but she disregarded this. "It's an extremely
personal question, and your asking it based on something like being late is
uncalled for."
"I saw you kiss."
That brought Rei's sweeping to an abrupt halt. Her head snapped
over to look at Usagi, violet eyes open wide with shock. "You what?" she
gasped.
Usagi sighed. Was this really necessary? Yes, it was. "I saw you
kiss her. On the lips. Open-mouthed."
The broom clattered to the ground. As it fell and rotated about its
center of gravity, a few leaves were kicked up by the thick thatch of
bristles, and they lingered in the air for a mere moment before drifting
down to Earth. "When?"
"A year ago. The night after your heart crystal was taken."
Rei unconsciously placed a hand to her chest. Even now she could
recall with perfect detail how it had hurt for her heart crystal to be
sucked out of her very soul. "Oh?"
"Oh." Usagi stepped forward and lightly placed an arm on Rei's
shoulder. "I wanted to see if you were all right. And I heard a noise,
and, well . . . ."
"Yes," whispered Rei, bowing her head as her secret was revealed.
***
Rei stood on the porch of the temple, looking out as night fell over
the city of Tokyo. It was getting cold, but she didn't notice.
She had nearly died this day. She was no stranger to death, she
knew, having already died twice. She never took it for granted, though, and
even then it was never a pleasant experience. The thought of how close she
had come to a third death formed an icy ball in her stomach.
Something moved in the forest, along the path leading through it and
into a nearby park. Few took it, even fewer at night. She turned to look,
but saw nothing, even by the light from the open windows of the shrine
behind her. Then she heard the creak of a footstep on the single wooden
step which led up to the porch, on the opposite end of the platform.
"Yuuichirou-kun?" she asked, turning toward the step.
"No," said a soft, melodious voice which immediately melted the icy
ball into a soothing, comforting warmth in her middle. Ami stood at the far
end, wearing her school uniform. "Not really."
"Oh, Ami-chan . . . ."
"Are you feeling okay? No ill effects?" Ami looked over Rei
critically, the future doctor coming to the fore. Rei smiled and turned
slightly, leaning her hips against the wooden railing of the porch.
"I'm fine . . . mostly. Nothing physical, at least."
Ami nodded. "And otherwise?"
"Scared. Shaken. Lonely."
The girl in the school uniform blushed slightly, but walked forward
with slow, measured steps. "I . . . I could help with that, I think."
Rei turned full on to Ami, the sound in the woods forgotten,
Yuuichirou forgotten, the heart crystal forgotten. All forgotten, but for
the single girl who now held her in her surprisingly strong arms, hugging
her tight.
And kissing her.
It was a tender kiss, as all of Ami's kisses here. First her head
tilted up, reached forward, longing and love in the eyes whose lids so often
drooped in a vaguely sad way. Then her head came closer, slow as an
avalanche as it begins at a mountaintop, turning ever so slightly to avoid
each other's nose. Then their lips met in an electric moment, their arms
reaching around to each other's backs, wrapping and embracing, squeezing
their breasts together through the layers of fabric which were all that
separated them. Rei averted her gaze from Ami's eyes for just an instant,
looking at those pale, perfect cheeks.
Then Ami opened her mouth just a bit, just enough for her tongue to
slip out from between the lips which were still pressed against Rei's. Ami
pressed gently, yet insistently, at Rei's mouth, seeking admittance. Rei
had no interest in refusing it, and so she sighed, her lips parting as she
did so.
Ami's tongue quivered for a moment, then darted inside, tasting Rei
from the inside. Peppermint, with just a hint of chocolate . . . Rei had
eaten one of those Peppermint Patties earlier, in defiance of her remarks on
needing to cut down on sweets. Inwardly she chuckled, but the humor was
soon squashed by desire as she probed deeper into Rei's mouth, feeling her
sharp, even teeth, then past them. Then her tongue met another, less
yielding part of Rei: the tongue. It was then the battle was well and truly
joined.
They flexed against each other, a task made difficult by the wetness
which thwarted friction and instead caused their tongues to slide and slip
over each other in ways Rei and Ami found mutually pleasurable. Both flexed
their tongues about, and then Rei's found its way into Ami's mouth, causing
the blue-haired girl's nipples to harden almost painfully against the white
bra which contained them. She shivered as a wave of warmth washed over her,
concentrating itself in her groin, where a pleasant dampness was beginning
to form. Rei's eyes narrowed slightly as a similar effect befell her.
***
"You were the one in the woods."
Usagi nodded. "I was coming over from Mamo-chan's. I took the
shortcut through the woods, I . . . I didn't know what to do. I didn't want
to interrupt."
"How long did you stay?"
"You went inside. I . . . I waited a bit, then I left."
"Oh."
***
They lay down on Rei's bed, Ami on top. Their clothes were gone,
left in an untidy heap in a corner of the bedroom. The door was closed, the
lights were off, the air conditioner silent. There was simply Ami, and Rei,
and their passions.
Ami craned her mouth down to her lover's left breast, her breath hot
and moist on skin arousal had covered with goose-bumps. Her short-cropped
hair brushed against Rei's shoulde. The light touch caused the older girl
to writhe on the sheets and whisper her love's name. Both were breathing
heavily now. Their respiration made its own kind of music in the darkened
room.
Ami's mouth found its way to Rei's nipple. Her lips fastened around
it, suckling like a baby at Rei's bosom, though there was little maternal
about the feelings this generated in Rei's body. Her breast blossomed with
warmth from her lover. Pleasure spiked up her spinal cord and down to her
womanhood.
Rei's hands, formerly at her sides, now reached up to caress and
massage her lover's back. She could feel her lover was tense with
concentration on her task; indeed, Ami's attention to detail and perfection
in lovemaking was one of the things she loved most. Rei used her fingers
expertly, picking out the knots and taut places and loosening them with a
gentle massage.
Ami moaned, her lips trailing to her left breast, licking, nibbling.
Rei gasped, arching her back off the satin sheets--she'd only bought them a
week before, and already she was seeing the advantages in the feel they gave
beneath her. Ami nibbled again. The love bites drove Rei wild, and her
movements became wilder and more erratic. Ami relented, licking her way
sensuously down Rei's torso. Her tongue was a hot, wet dagger running down
her flanks and abdomen. It left a moist trail which evaporated and cooled
Rei's burning skin. Rei's taste was slightly salty from sweat.
She could feel Ami's licks, small and nimble like a cat's. It now
flicked and lapped at her navel and swirling inside. Then she spiralled
outwards, punctuated with a kiss and nip with her teeth. This provoked
another breathless gasp from the shrine maiden, a gasp added to the heavy
breathing of both women, and the distinct wet sound of tongue on skin.
The moist sounds continued as Ami continued her trek down Rei's
body. Even when she freed her hands, leaving her tongue and lips as the
only parts of her body in contact with Rei, she knew exactly where she was.
She knew every inch of her lover's body, and how much further there was to
go until she reached Rei's sex. As her tongue traced out the outlines of
Rei's hips, Ami considered painting a nude of her lover. She'd never tried
the human form before, but there was a first time for everything, as Minako
would say.
She reached that most private part of Rei. All stray thoughts soon
left the genius's mind. Her nose sniffed Rei's sweet, intoxicating, musky
odor of Rei's damp sex. She had to admit it hadn't been the most appealing
scent in the world the first time she sampled it. Now, though, it was the
most appealing perfume she could ever imagine. The aroma of sexuality was
enough to harden her nipples and dampen her own crotch, and the knowledge of
what she was about to do to her love only increased it.
Her chin scraped across the lower end of Rei's slit. Rei felt it as
a slight pressure, far from the real pleasure centers of her sex. Knowing
it was her lover she felt against her labia was yet another prelude to the
ecstasy which would soon come. Then the tip of Ami's pleasure-giving tongue
grazed against Rei's clitoris, which had become engorged with blood and now
protruded less than a centimeter from its protective hood. Ami then swirled
around it in small, hard, and completely unexpected circles.
Rei saw stars, dotting the inky blackness of the ceiling at which
she stared. A bolt of electricity struck her, running through her veins and
resulting in a single ear-splitting cry. "AMI!" Ami shivered, the sound of
Rei's scream filling her ears. Rei's thighs clamped around her head
tightly, her body convulsing, but her lover knew from experience Rei would
relax her legs very soon . . . just about now, in fact.
Rei spread her legs again. Her breathing was still ragged from the
aftereffects of her orgasm. Ami caressed her inner thighs, helping to relax
her muscles further. She moved lower, lovingly toying with the moist,
swollen folds of Rei's labia. She could feel in the darkness how smooth and
hot they were, bare skin on either side. Ami had been the first to shave
Rei down here. She'd done it with surgical precision, using a razor and
spending over an hour carefully removing each hair. It, and the regular
shavings since, were more than worth it. The feel of Rei's bareness as she
nuzzled her cheeks against the insides of her thighs was incomparable.
Above her, Rei mewled with pleasure. She still felt an orgasmic
buzz in her veins. The stars faded away, replaced with the tension of
another orgasm approaching. Ami stimulated the labia with short, cat-like
licks, sampling Rei's sharp, salty, slightly tangy taste with the tip of her
agile tongue. The quick, almost feathery touches were enough to drive Rei
to hyperventilation.
Ami heard this, feeling Rei's heart race. She smiled, then lazily
brought her tongue back up to Rei's clitoris, inducing another shower of
fireworks before Rei's eyes. Ami wondered briefly how long she could keep
this up. Rei wondered, too.
***
"Rei-chan?" The raven-haired girl blinked twice and looked down at
Usagi questioningly. "What are you thinking about, Rei-chan?
"Nothing."
Usagi observed the blush on her friend's cheeks. "I said your name
three times, Rei-chan."
"I said it's nothing, Usagi!" Rei sighed. "I'm sorry. I just,
well . . . nevermind." Rei walked to the porch and sat between two posts of
the banister. Usagi sat next to her, and for the first time Rei felt the
need to put more distance between them. With no way to do this subtly, she
stayed put instead. "Okay," said Rei in a low voice. "You know. Who
else?"
The blonde shook her head, ponytails following a half-beat behind.
"I don't think anybody else does."
Rei remained silent a long moment, then spoke at the moment Usagi
was about to open her mouth and break the silence. "So, what are you going
to do now?"
"What?"
Rei shrugged. "Our secret's out. You wouldn't have come to me if
you didn't intend to do something about it."
"I . . . how long has this been going on, Rei-chan?"
"A few years. We . . . well, at least, she had her eye on me since
the day we met."
Usagi stared. "Really?"
"Really. Of course, she didn't tell me right off. You know how shy
she can be." Rei glanced over at Usagi for confirmation. When Usagi nodded
with a smile, Rei looked back out into the woods. "She told me that later.
At first, I had no idea.
"Anyway, I guess eventually I noticed her more and more. It was
during that time when it was just the three of us. Remember those times?
Three senshi, and we had no idea there would ever be more."
"I think Luna said something about Sailor V, but I wasn't paying
much attention." Usagi looked down at her shoes.
"By the time Venus showed up, I was pretty sure I was having
feelings for her. It's weird . . . you know the saying, opposites attract?"
Usagi nodded. "It's like that with us. She's a scientist, I'm a mystic.
She studies books, I study the soul. I mean, even our senshi personalities
are polar opposites: fire and water.
"And yet . . . and yet, when I looked at her, I felt it inside. I
could feel that I cared for her, that I cared *about* her." Rei's voice
softened. "You know what it's like to be in love, don't you?"
Usagi placed a hand on top of Rei's. "Yes."
"Then you know what I'm talking about. I loved her, Usagi. I still
do. But I was too afraid to say it."
"Why?" asked Usagi.
Rei chuckled. "Partly because I knew I'd end up having this
conversation with you and the others if I admitted it. Partly . . . partly
because I was afraid to be a lesbian. It's not natural."
"But . . . Haruka-san and Michiru-san-"
"We hadn't met them yet. Maybe it would have made a difference if
we had, maybe not. I mean, here it's been nearly two years since then, and
I haven't come out to any of you. I just didn't want to be marked as
different . . . as odd. So I went on looking at boys, comparing them with
Minako-chan, chasing Yuuichirou to hide it as much as anything, pretending
to pursue Mamoru-san-"
"REI-CHAN!"
"Joking, joking." A smile crossed Rei's lips, the first since their
conversation had begun in earnest. Usagi couldn't help but smile in return.
"Um, where was I? Oh, yes. Things had been building to a head for awhile.
I was looking at Ami a lot, and I . . . I was, um, fantasizing about her
sometimes too." This last was said with a blush, and Usagi politely looked
away. "It all came to a head right before D point."
Usagi shivered. As a rule, the senshi never discussed the events of
that day at the North Pole, and only obliquely referred to it at all. She
knew this must be important if Rei was willing to violate this unspoken
rule.
"It was the night before. I . . . I was terrified. I guess we all
were."
"I . . . yes." Usagi remembered preparing dinner for her family,
not being sure if it would be the last time.
"I looked into the sacred fire for awhile, but it was no good--I
couldn't properly focus my thoughts. I'm better at it now, but back then I
was still pretty new to fire reading. So, I decided to take a walk."
"To Ami-chan's?"
"Right. I didn't know it at the time, I didn't really make a
conscious decision--I guess subconsciously that was where I wanted to go,
because I just looked up and there was Ami-chan's . . . Ami's apartment
building." Rei sighed, both at the memory of walking the blocks to Ami's
home wearing the pink overalls and white t-shirt she had worn in so many
happier times, and the final release of dropping the honorific behind Ami's
name. Usagi knew Ami was Rei's lover. There was no need to dissemble
further.
"So, I went up the steps. I know, we usually take the elevator, but
like I said I was feeling stressed. I need to work it off, and it's only
four stories up. I knocked on the door, and she answered." Rei's voice
deepened a small amount, her breath quickening at the memory of her fear
and--yes, anticipation. "She said . . . she said her mother wasn't home.
ER rotation, midnight shift. I came in, and--I guess we knew.
"You know, now that I think about it, if it hadn't been for the
battle we were preparing for, I don't think I could have told her how I
felt. I *know* she wouldn't have; she'd have kept it bottled up until the
day she died. But we knew it was the final battle, and I think we all fully
expected to die. I guess we weren't disappointed."
"So you told her because . . . ." Usagi couldn't finish; her throat
had developed a lump, and was terribly dry besides.
"Because I thought I would die, and didn't want to die without
telling her." Rei looked over to Usagi, looking into those deep, innocent
blue eyes, the blush gone from her cheeks. "So I told her, and she told me.
And we made love."
Usagi thought back to that terrible day. Something she had said
came back to her, something said after all her senshi had fallen and died on
the icepack. "So you did kiss your sweetheart goodbye," she whispered.
"What?"
"Um, nothing. I was just thinking to myself."
Rei shrugged and looked back at the woods. They were dark now, the
last orange rays of dusk painting the western sky. "So, have you decided
what to do with us?"
"I don't see that I need to do anything." Rei blinked and looked
back at Usagi with surprise. "You two have been getting along well for
years. You love each other. I can't stand between that."
"But-"
"No buts, Rei-chan." Usagi stood, catching a whiff of food from
inside the shrine. Familiar hunger pains struck her, but she knew dinner
awaited at home. "It's perfectly all right. I won't tell any of the
others," she smiled.
To Usagi's dismay, Rei failed to brighten her expression. "Thank
you," she said politely. "I'll see you tomorrow. I promise I won't be
late."
"Rei-chan, it's okay."
"I believe you." Rei stood and walked to the broom she had left in
the corner of the courtyard. "It was . . . good to talk it out to someone
else."
The blonde sighed and shook her head. "Bye, Rei-chan."
***
Ami smiled at her mother. "Right, we'll be sure to get to bed on
time." She carefully closed her bedroom door and waited five seconds. Once
she judged her mother had walked a sufficient distance down the hallway, she
turned the small lock in the doorknob. She then turned and leaned against
the door, exhaling slowly and wiping her sweaty palms on the pale blue
flannel of her pajamas. "She knows?"
Rei sat on her bed, wearing a long, scarlet sleeping gown. Two
futons were on the cleared floor--mostly for appearances, as Ami's mother
wasn't aware the two girls were sleeping together. For that matter, they
wouldn't make love this night, for neither was completely sure they could
remain quiet with Ayumi Mizuno sleeping in the room adjacent to them. Rei's
face was grim as she held a corner of Ami's royal blue comforter and twisted
it in her hands. "She knows."
The beauty of water sat on the bed next to her lover, cuddling close
as if for warmth. "My blouse this morning . . . she pointed it out to me."
Rei shrugged and held Ami close, ruffling her hair. "It wasn't
that. She saw us kiss. The night I lost my heart crystal."
"Kami-sama . . . what do we do?"
The soul of fire blinked. It wasn't normal for Ami to be the one
asking the questions. "I don't know. She said she wouldn't tell anyone,
but if she did--well, anything could happen."
"No." Ami rested her head against Rei's stomach, as Rei rested one
arm on Ami's head and her other arm possessively over Ami's shoulder. Ami
wrapped her arms around Rei's waist, luxuriating in her embrace. "If she
said she wouldn't tell the others, she won't. It'll all be okay."
Rei sighed, at once relieved and at the same time disappointed in
herself for having doubted their princess. "You're right, of course. I
just . . . I was so scared I'd have to leave you."
"We'll never be apart. We have to help Usagi-chan create Crystal
Tokyo, don't we?"
"Yes. And we'll always be together, right?"
"Right. Nothing could keep us apart," said Ami, trying to convince
herself as much as Rei. There was one detail they both tried desperately to
forget, but they knew it was there, at the bottom of their darkest fears.
There was duty.
***
Usagi paced back and forth across the bedroom floor, stepping over
the same fallen teddy bear each time. She saw the same thing on each
circuit: her closet door, half open and displaying a rack of dresses,
skirts, and blouses, and the window, looking out on the city of Tokyo as it
flung millions of lights from windows and streetlights up against the
darkness of night.
"I don't know what to do, Luna. I want them to be happy."
Luna managed the best feline equivalent to a shrug possible, a sort
of wriggle of the back and flirting of the tail. "From what you tell me,
they are happy. The question becomes whether you think they will be happy."
Usagi blinked and looked at her feline mentor. "Why wouldn't they
be happy?"
"I'm not sure how to explain this to you." Luna sat up on the bed,
tensed, then leaped onto Usagi's shoulder. "You understand the division of
duties between the senshi, don't you?"
"Of course I do!" Usagi walked to the window, bracing her arms on
the windowsill and looking out over the city. "The outer senshi protect the
solar system from outside threats, and the inner senshi protect . . . me."
Luna nodded in approval. "Very good."
"Well, you've only told me a zillion times."
"And you learned well, too. The duty of the inner senshi is that of
bodyguards. They hold your life above all else. If someone were to attempt
to take your life, they would prevent it. In battle, their first goal is to
protect you, then themselves. Right?"
"Right . . . but I never liked that. They shouldn't have to give
their lives for me."
Luna sighed. "You might as well get used to it. You are the future
Queen."
"Okay, but what does this all have to do with Rei-chan and
Ami-chan?"
"It puts them in a very difficult position."
"How?"
"Suppose a situation where Ami-chan or Rei-chan are forced to choose
between saving the one they love most and saving you."
"They should save the one they love most," Usagi replied without the
slightest hint of hesitation.
"I wouldn't expect less from you," sighed Luna. She looked up at a
trio of lights descending in the direction of Narita and Tokyo International
Airport. "Unfortunately, not everyone sees it your way. In fact, I don't
think *anyone* really sees it your way, but . . . Usagi-chan, you made that
decision instantly. Do you think Ami-chan or Rei-chan could?"
The blonde closed her eyes and thought, a slight breeze from the
open window tousling her ponytails behind her. She ran through what she
knew of the two, what they considered important, how they felt about her.
She frowned when she reached a conclusion. "I don't know what they would
decide."
"Neither do I, which is the problem." Luna's feline voice took on
a maternal, pedagogical tone she had assumed many times before. "The sailor
senshi make up a team, and we cannot afford distractions or split loyalties
to divide us. Agreed?"
"Agreed," said Usagi hesitantly.
"This is even more so with the inner senshi. The outer senshi work
more independently, they don't depend on each other as much. You inner
senshi are a team, a very tight-knit team. Even the smallest problems can
mushroom; think of yourself and Rei-chan when you were still finding your
way as a leader." Usagi nodded. "Now, we have this business between
Rei-chan and Ami-chan. It presents a split loyalty. We have to decide what
to do with this, do we not?"
Usagi thought a very long moment before giving her answer. "I don't
think it would be that bad at all, Luna. I trust they would make the right
decision."
"Even if it cost you your life?"
"Even if it cost me my life."
"And suppose they chose to save you? How would they feel, knowing
that you're the reason why their lover is dead?"
Usagi frowned. "I don't understand."
Luna looked up at her charge with large red eyes. "I think you do.
You're asking them to choose between their love and their duty. That's not
a choice anyone should be confronted with."
"What about Haruka-san and Michiru-san?" she asked defiantly.
"They've made their decision in that regard. They put their duties
above all else."
"But they still love each other!"
"They're . . . different. They don't see things in quite the same
way we do."
"But that's not fair!"
"They'd be alone, Usagi-chan." Luna's heart ached with the pain of
having to drive home the stark realities to Usagi, but she knew it had to be
done. "Would you want to die and leave Mamoru-san alone?"
Usagi stiffened, her muscles going rigid. "No," she said quietly.
She could bear dying; she'd done it before, and it was preferable to
watching those she loved die in her place. The other side of it was
something she rarely considered; how would others feel, watching her die?
That, too, was a cruelty she could not bear to inflict on others. "No," she
repeated, "but what can I do? Luna, I can't tell them to stop loving each
other!"
"Of course not," agreed the cat. "Still, you could forbid them from
relations."
Usagi shook her head doggedly. "I can't do it. I won't!"
"You must."
"No, I must NOT!" Usagi jerked back from the window, inadvertently
sending Luna to the floor, where she predictably landed on her feet. "I
don't care, Luna, nothing in the world is worth breaking up two people in
love! Nothing at all!"
Luna looked up at Usagi as the blonde girl glared down at her, eyes
smoldering, fists bunched tightly at her sides. There would be no
convincing. "Okay. Okay, you won't have to do it. I'm sorry to bring it
up." She padded to the door, stopping as her head was about to pass the
threshold. "You're sure you don't want to do anything?" Usagi nodded
crisply. "All right."
Luna sighed as she went down the stairs and headed out the door.
Sometimes her job simply wasn't worth it, and on this occasion it was doubly
true. "Queen Serenity," she whispered to the memory of her ancient queen,
"you appointed me to look after your daughter. You never told me I would
have to be her hatchet woman as well."
She paused on the darkened sidewalk in front of the Tsukino
household, looked both ways, and then turned north toward Hikawa Shrine.
***
"And that should keep the Peruvian delegation happy as well."
Sailor Mars looked up at her Queen and smiled. "South America should be
settled within a month."
Neo Queen Serenity smiled and sat up straighter, relieving the
weight of her head on the arms braced on the table which had held it.
"Good. Everything is going to schedule, then?"
"Perfectly. All that's left is North America and a couple African
holdouts, and we'll have true world peace at last." Sailor Mars reached out
to touch Serenity's hand. "We'll finally have done it."
The two were the only people in the room, The weight of history was
all around them, though. After hundreds of years, the dream of Crystal
Tokyo and its leader to bring peace throughout the world would be achieved.
Sailor Mars leaned back in her chair and looked up at the crystal
ceiling of the conference room. The yellow wall lights created a dim
reflection of the long mahogany conference table on the ceiling, behind
which could be seen the deep indigo sky of night. "Congratulations."
"You do not have to thank me," said Serenity. "It was hard work for
all of us."
"But worth it."
"Very much worth it." The Queen glanced at the wall clock. "And
just a couple minutes before Sailor Mercury's birthday, too."
"I'm sure she couldn't think of a better present."
Serenity looked a bit more carefully at her most trusted adviser.
"Are you sure?" she asked delicately.
Sailor Mars nodded emphatically. "Very sure. It'll be much better
than the gift I picked out."
"Which was?"
She blushed. "Nothing much. A crystal dolphin."
Serenity giggled. "I see." Sailor Mercury's chief project in the
last two decades had been a study of dolphin intelligence. As part of her
research, she had built a massive tank in the basement of the palace, filled
with half a dozen bottle-nosed dolphins from the North Atlantic. She
insisted speech with them would be possible within a century, though her
senshi friends had their doubts. "You are right, I think she would prefer
peace to having to deal with more dolphins."
"I don't know. She seems to like the dolphins, from what I can
tell."
"You do not speak to her often?"
Sailor Mars shrugged noncommittally. "I don't have much reason to,
usually. She's science, I'm security . . . I spend too much time finding
out what's going on with the usual underlings and telling you about it."
"Right." Serenity bit back the question she had burned to ask for
centuries. She still didn't understand why Rei and Ami had broken off their
relationship so long ago. She probably wouldn't even have known if Rei
hadn't confronted her directly and informed her they were no longer
together.
Serenity sighed. "Well, I have other things to attend to. We shall
discuss this at further length tomorrow?"
"Of course, Your Majesty. Good night." She stood politely as the
Queen bowed and vanished in a cluster of silver sparkles. Sailor Mars
smiled; the Queen only teleported when she was in a hurry, and she must
definitely be in a hurry to relay the news about the latest peace talks to
her husband.
The senshi of fire glanced at the clock again, then shrugged. 11:56
was close enough to midnight for her purposes. She concentrated briefly and
then disappeared in a column of flame. Overly dramatic, perhaps, but each
senshi's teleportation signature was based on their element. As Sailor Mars
re-materialized outside a white door with the sigil of Mercury stamped in
blue upon it, she reflected upon how it made an inconspicuous entrance or
exit much more difficult to achieve.
She knocked on the door. Long experience had taught her that
teleporting into Mercury's laboratory when experiments were in progress
could prove hazardous. "Come in," came the slightly muffled voice. She
turned the doorknob and pulled the door open, immediately noticing the
chill.
"Cryogenics?" she asked as she stepped over the threshold into
Sailor Mercury's laboratory. Strictly speaking it was simply *a*
laboratory, as Sailor Mercury had many, but this was the one the senshi of
water had spent the most time in lately. Computers and lab equipment were
everywhere on the tables, counters, floor, and even a couple stools.
Sailor Mercury herself was in a corner of the room, standing over a
sink and holding a large beaker filled with a silvery substance. She turned
and looked at Mars's entrance, her eyes hidden behind her visor. "Oh, hi.
Just a minute, I need to re-suspend the biogenic matrix. That's why it's so
cold; the transition has to take place under five degrees Celsius."
Sailor Mars nodded as if she understood and hung back, watching as
the silvery substance was poured into what looked like a fluorescent pink
sponge. Sailor Mercury had once explained it to her, but it had gone right
over her head. Once Sailor Mercury finished, she picked up the sponge with
a set of tongs and placed it in a vat of water. "There, done." She looked
back at Sailor Mars, dismissing her visor with a thought. "What's up?"
In reply, Sailor Mars summoned a small, dark blue box into existence
from her pocketspace. It was tied with a lighter blue bow, and Sailor
Mercury smiled as she saw the colors matched those of her seifuku. "Your
birthday present. It should be right about on time."
"I was born at 2:49 according to Mother, but thank you." She bowed
politely and took the gift, unwrapping it with meticulous care, setting the
wrapping paper neatly on a nearby table. Inside, on a felt cushion, was a
miniature crystal dolphin, a perfectly pure clearness with blue streaks
which hinted at the speed such creatures had. Its length was a mere eight
centimeters; it would probably make a good paperweight or desk piece. "It's
beautiful," breathed Sailor Mercury. She looked up at Sailor Mars. "Thank
you!"
"I'm glad you like it," said Sailor Mars simply.
The blue haired senshi looked at it more closely. Almost . . .
there. It was only visible from a certain angle, but it was definitely
there.
A red streak, intertwined with the blue.
She looked back at Sailor Mars again, with a completely different
expression. Sailor Mars shivered, then looked up at the ceiling.
"Computer, please disable monitoring systems for this room and enable proxy
feed Baker Seven, authorization RH-4." The palace computer system chirped
twice, and then the various cameras and microphones set into the room to
warn of accidents and other catastrophes showed Sailors Mars and Mercury
speaking for a moment, then Mars departing.
In real life, the two senshi stared at each other for a long, long
moment. They couldn't do this often, only a few times a month. Only Sailor
Mars's position as security chief allowed them to get away with it
completely, and neither really liked the need for secrecy. It was
infinitely preferable to dealing with Luna if she found out, or, kami
forbid, the Queen. They would hate to have it proven they had lied to their
queen. Such was the maiden's policy.
Sailor Mercury slowly circled to the door and clicked the lock home.
"I love you, Rei."
"I love you, Ami. Happy birthday."
They detransformed, and Rei proceeded to give Ami her true birthday
present.
====================================
The idea for this fic can be traced to the cover of the sixth Sailor
Moon SuperS laserdisc cover. This cover can be rather easily found on the
web; because of my desire not to copy from other websites, and the fluid
nature of the web in general, finding this picture is left as an exercise to
the reader (though I suppose if you emailed me I could send it anyway). In
any case, the picture depicts Sailors Mercury and Mars in what is probably
one of the most flagrantly sexual poses of all the covers. In fact, I
attempted to recreate it in this fic: Sailor Mars stands, with Sailor
Mercury a bit lower and her arms around Mars's waist. Mercury's head rests
against Mars's bosom, and Mars has her left hand on Mercury's shoulder and
her right hand on Mercury's head. Both are looking straight at the viewer.
So, when I first saw this picture on the clamshell for my fansubbed
copy of SuperS volume 6, I thought it was pretty suggestive. And as it sat
there on my desk, day after day, it sank into my mind. Finally, I decided
"Why not? I'll write an Ami/Rei lemon."
This was in 1998.
After several starts and stops, restarts and edits, thinking about
it over and over, I finished the bulk of this story (47 kilobytes) in a
week. I won't say it was easy. When it comes to senshi pairings, I can
easily accept Usagi/Rei and Ami/Makoto. I'll even buy Ami/Minako (thank
you, Mr. Wolfe). But Ami/Rei was harder, because I first had to convince
myself of its validity before trying to convince everyone. Hopefully I've
done so here.
This story was a bit more complex than most I've written,
specifically in how I handled the flow of time. I hope it's been easy
enough to follow. Oh, and Otome no Policy is the name of the ending song to
the R season of Sailor Moon. It translates to 'A Maiden's Policy." A nice,
perky song, and one of my favorite EDs.
Thanks to the regulars of #fanfics on irc.sorcery.net, for their
advice and support during the writing and editing of this fic.
=================
Finished: 17:48 10 May 2001
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