Hearts can do many things... They pump the blood
through the body, allowing a person to run faster when needed or just live and breathe
in any day of the week. They can also be
useful in the metaphorical sense. The heart is the center. It is what governs what
people feel. It chooses who to love, who to hate, and who to feel the cruelest
of all for, apathy. And it beats in quick succession, letting all know that
that life still dwells within. A heartbeat is quick and only takes a fraction
of a second to occur... And many things can change in a heart beat.
If someone had said such a thing to Aino Minako
that morning, for once, she probably wouldn't have cared.
Minako let out a barely audible, unnoticed sigh as
she sat out by the edge of the pool in her azure string bikini, soaking up some
much needed rays and watching the others around her. Normally she would have
laughed out loud at the scene she was witnessing, but she could muster only a
slight smile in the heat of the lazy afternoon.
Though the dynamic of Usagi's and Rei's relationship
had changed dramatically in recent years, they were still prone to a little good
natured spat every now and again for old time's sake. At the moment the two
were having a wild water fight not more than three feet from Makoto and getting
her quite soaked. The brunette was sitting a few feet away, waiting for the
right moment to jump in and make the entire situation even more interesting.
Ami, as in love with water as she was, chose to
stay out of it for the time being. No
doubt she would swim circles around them when she was good and ready to do
so. Although Minako had to admit, she
was quite surprised given that normally Ami would fully submerge herself for
the duration of their stay at the pool, emerging only when forced to do so. She
was a few feet away from Minako, wearing a decidedly more conservative suit.
The fact that her nose was out of a book as she sat back with her head phones
on gave the blonde pause as well. But she supposed that the textbook workaholic
deserved her rest more than any of them. It should have been no surprise at all
that her eyes closed, lulling her into rarely experienced calm. She was, in a word, peaceful.
Minako frowned as that adjective came to mind. She
readjusted her sunglasses and stretched a little, closing her eyes to block out
any more light.
Peaceful.
For the past two years everything had been
peaceful in Tokyo. It was as if the passing of Galaxia
from their world and back into her own had signified a radical change for the
Asian city. They had all been killed and suffered insurmountable amounts of
pain and torment the entire time she was there and long before that. It was
like that was enough. Like the universe was giving
them a break. Like the Fates had at long last determined that the Sailor Senshi
had endured enough for humanity and were given the
rest of the millennium off.
Quite frankly, it ticked Minako off.
She knew that the others were happy for this development...
Even Makoto who often referred to the battles as a fun game
most of the time. But secretly, in the depths of her heart, where all of
her true feelings and inhibitions lay hidden from anyone else... Minako wanted
a fight.
It almost made her sick to think that way. Why did
she want such a thing? Did she get a kick out of seeing innocent people in danger?
Was it the glamour of fame? The
adrenaline rush she got in the battle? Or God forbid,
did she actually like killing those demons? Did she get high off of killing?
She tried not to think about that possibility. Ever.
But honestly... she knew the reason. She knew the
reason very well.
Minako just tried to ignore it as best as she could...
Unfortunately, in quiet moments like this, when all was
especially peaceful, it was hard to stop herself.
Of all the Senshi, Minako had the most uncertain
future. She was the only one whose future career wasn't a guaranteed success.
With her luck, she was also probably the only one of them who would not settle
down with the right man and have fourteen children. She was the one taking a
risk. She was the one who might be miserable all of her life while she tried to
achieve an impossible dream.
But if she was fighting youma, she was doing something
useful. Saving the world could distract her from her "real" life. It
would prove she was good for something. True, it was nothing Minako could tell anyone
about, but it would make her feel better.
As long as there was an enemy, Minako had a purpose,
a reason for existing. Without them... Minako had nothing. Without them Minako was
nothing.
Not so for the others.
Ami had nothing to worry about. She had been
accepted to every college on the face of the planet. The one thing she had
bemoaned on the very rare occasion that she allowed herself to complain was
that she was still having a difficult time deciding where she wanted to go.
Still, no matter what she chose, Minako already knew her fate without Rei's
clairvoyance. She was going to be a famous doctor and cure cancer or help women
have babies or give little children antibiotics for a sinus infection. She
would be rich and successful just like her mother. She would be happy.
Makoto had also been accepted everywhere she applied.
Well, every culinary school in the immediate area and beyond anyway. Everyone
knew that she was a phenomenal chef. Now it was just a matter of training her
to make everything look professional. They all knew it would be a very literal
piece of cake for her to get through. Then she would open up some restaurant in
town, get rave reviews, and everyone would love her. Especially Usagi because
Makoto would continually let her eat all of her food for free no doubt. She
would be doing what she always wanted to do and making a living out of it.
Then there was Rei... Actually, now that Minako thought
about it, Rei was still unsure about just what it was she wanted to do yet. The
priestess had a habit of changing her mind all too often or trying to take on
too many things. At the moment, she was still working at the shrine. Her grandfather,
bless the old man, had died the year before. It had been a terrible time for
Rei, but unsurprisingly, he had left the shrine to her. Rei was considering an
option she had always toyed with from time to time in spite of the many talents
she possessed and those forced upon her by her father. She was leaning more and
more towards the prospect of just staying on there. It wouldn't be a glamorous
life, but it would make her happy. Especially
when one took the fact that she was now actually dating Yuuichirou after about
four years of him begging, flirting, and overt sexual tension. She would have a
good life in the end of it all.
Of course, one cannot forget Usagi. She and Mamoru
were still engaged, though they weren't anywhere near setting a date. He had just
begun his residency (he had taken the rest of the year off after the Galaxia disaster and then gone on to Harvard the next
year). He was working nothing but late nights and working himself to
exhaustion. He and Usagi were currently living together, though they never saw each
other. She had gotten a part time job as an aide for a kindergarten on Tuesdays,
Thursdays and Fridays. Other days, she was taking cooking lessons from Makoto
and utterly destroying Mamoru's kitchen. Usagi had related to them several weeks
before that she was beginning to think that perhaps she would do more than just
be a housewife. When she had told them
that she was considering becoming a teacher, they'd all had a rather good laugh
at her expense. Still, no matter what she chose, she had a future. They all
did...
Except for Minako.
Minako wanted to be an actress and nothing else. Minako
devoted just about all of her time to that one dream and had never once thought
of a back up plan. It was in spite or perhaps because of her mother insisting
on telling her day in and day out that she was never going to amount to anything.
Then there was the lovely elaboration about how she was going to die a shameful
failure who never made it as an actress. Apparently,
she was sure to bring shame on to the Aino family. Even though her mother had a
tendency to behave every bit the harpy Minako had called her on several
occasions, she was convinced it was better than her father. He still looked
surprised at her career choice every time it was brought up. Minako had been to
every single agent in town, and had always been told the same thing, just in
different variations.
No.
It really got discouraging after awhile. The others
did not know about her failed attempts. Whenever they asked her how she was
doing, she cleverly turned the conversation on to them. They would go on about
some funny thing that had happened to them that day, though in reality it
wasn't all that funny, and forget the question. That way they wouldn't figure
out that her job at the department store wasn't just something to pass the time
and earn some extra money for shopping sprees that she was always too busy to
attend. She needed the job.
Her parents had kicked her out right after
graduation... or rather her mother had. Her
father had been too busy reading the paper to even notice that she was
gone. Her mother had told her that now
she was officially an adult. There was no need for them to take care of her,
feed her, clothe her, and shelter her. She was on her own now to pursue her doomed
dream of being an idol all she liked. Then her mother had promptly slammed the
door in her face and now called Minako every day at her virtually bare
apartment to ask how her so called life was going.
That was one of the many reasons why Minako truly
hated her mother.
Minako had somehow managed to keep her secret from
her friends over the past few months. She had sworn Artemis to secrecy, threatening
severe bodily harm and a boycott on toy mice if he told them. She had also come
up with a plethora of excuses as to why they could not ever meet at her house.
After several outlandish stories, she had been forced to admit that her parents
were actually sexual fiends.
This was also not true, but it no one had brought
up going to her place since.
Perhaps she should admit what was happening... but
she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Maybe it was her foolish pride. Maybe
she didn't want their pity. Maybe she
knew that one of them would insist that she live with them and Minako already
knew that she wouldn't be able to handle it. Whatever it was, she felt guilty
for her silence, but fearful of speaking up.
These were her friends. They were there to help
her through anything. They had fought together, cried together, and died
together several times. But she couldn't talk to them about her terrible living
conditions, uncertain future, and a mother directly descended from Satan. But
despite those thoughts, they would never know the truth.
Hide your pain with a smile. That was her motto.
She rarely if ever actually confided in them when
she felt anything profound or on the depressing spectrum. She just kept acting
quixotic, knowing that the crazier she sounded, the less they would hear what
she was actually saying.
The one time she had broken her shell of sunshine and
rainbows was back when they were fighting Beryl.
Minako's sordid past had come back to haunt her, and she had been forced to
reluctantly tell all of the necessary details to Usagi and the guardian cats.
That was the one time she had really shared any of her pain.
The other Senshi still didn't know what Usagi had
meant when she had said, "I think Minako's more mature than any of
us..." Minako was eternally grateful for that.
All other times in recent years, Minako had kept
all of her torment to herself. Every
time something mortifying happened to her, she would suffer in silence and never
let them know.
When she had asked a boy out and he had been
utterly confused because he had never seen her before, she went off and cried
in the bathroom. She had remained there for all of lunch and a full class
period afterwards. She had spent the latter half of that hour fixing her make
up. When they asked where she had been during class later, Minako pretended
that she had decided to cut class and came up with a wild story about how she
had avoided the patrolling administration.
When her mother had accused her of doing awful
things and being a terrible, disgraceful person for sneaking out so much, she
went ballistic on a demon. She had killed it before Sailor Moon could even get
there, but she hadn't told the others what was wrong. Later, she had told them
she had been experiencing a particularly bad case of PMS and it was now one of
those funny stories they brought up at sleepovers and coffee dates.
When Minako had caught wind of some nasty, vulgar
rumors being spread about her back in Junior High school, she had searched for
a reason. There had been none to speak of save for the fact that some popular
girl wasn't fond of her red bow. She had cried with Artemis, never telling him
what happened. He knew better than to ask anymore.
With enough dramatic wackiness and staunch conviction
placed in her explanations, they believed her.
Minako put up very good facades. She had learned
to do that quickly from her time as Sailor V. There were times when she thought
about going to Katarina with certain problems... If they weren't battle related,
she felt as if she should not bother her older sister, who was used to dealing
with drug rings, not the fact that Minako had no other friends.
So she had simply gone to Katarina, Artemis, or
Alan and cried. She had never given an explanation, she just cried... She
quickly learned that crying with them only created more problems, so she
decided to laugh instead.
At first, when she had come back to Japan, Minako had continued it because she didn't really know
the others that well. Then they had gotten closer, and Minako found it
extremely hard to break herself of the habit she worked so hard to maintain.
She tried a few times, but she had found it too difficult to do. She had gotten
all too accustomed to bearing her pain with a large, obnoxious grin on her
face. She just kept right on smiling, hiding her pain from them all.
It became easier as time went on. Now she didn't
even think about hiding things from them. She just did it.
"Hey, Minako!"
Minako's eyes fluttered open at the sound of her
name. She sat up, surprised to see a dripping Makoto standing in front of her
with a knowing smile on her face. She
giggled, probably at the look on Minako's face. The future featured female on Iron
Chef shook her head and chided, "I've been standing here for about ten
minutes trying to get your attention. Did you doze off or something?"
Minako stared at her for a moment, the truth
rising in her throat like bile. However, as always, she quickly flashed a smile
that could have blinded from pearlescent hue and sunbeams. "Yeah.
I guess I must have dozed off."
She didn't even think about it. Not even for the
little things.
Ami took off her headphones and stretched
luxuriously. Minako wasn't entirely sure how, but the water nymph currently out
of her element seemed to know what they were talking about without prompting.
"Did you get any sleep last night Minako? I know you've been staying up
late a lot recently."
Minako frowned slightly. That was true. She had
been staying up recently. The other Senshi were usually content to remain curled
up in their warm beds, but Minako had taken to going on nightly patrols. She
was restless at all times, but it was worst when the ominous blanket passed
over the metropolitan city. She had, managed to collar a few criminals and
interrupt a few muggings. She'd even trounced a peeping tom last week outside
of Unazaki's window... And alerted
Motoki to the problem. He had been rather surprised when Sailor Venus
popped in through his window, but he had soon forgotten about it in favor of
rendering a perverted drop out to a whimpering pile of something resembling a
human being.
Minako usually went on the patrols alone, rarely
taking breaks. However, every now and again Makoto or sometimes even Ami would
accompany her. Rei and Usagi were too busy with duties and boyfriends and only
attended when their respective males did something idiotic. Of course, Sailor
Mars had accidentally melted a fire escape in her frustration once, but that
could happen to anyone.
"Not much," Minako said truthfully.
There was no reason to lie about every little thing she said after all. "I
was at Naru's all night. There's been a jewelry robber
working the Juuban district lately, and you know how the Osakas
tend to attract trouble."
Thanks to Minako's flippant tone, and the amusing truthfulness
of the assessment, the five girls chuckled at the reminder. A number of
theories had been tossed back and forth as to why Naru in particular seemed to
find favor among demons. One had been more outlandish than the next. It had
gotten to the point where topping each other had proved futile and the subject
had been dropped for good.
Naturally, Minako had won the contest with her theory
of Naru's missing father being an illegitimate child
between a Lemur and a Youma with some possible Daimon
ancestry.
The blonde beauty shrugged and pushed her sunglasses
onto her darkening brow. "It was a waste of time. The robber hit a store
on the other side of town. He wasn't even in the area."
"Minako, why don't you let this patrol thing
go?" Makoto asked with a sigh.
"Yeah," added Rei, swimming over to the
side and resting her elbows on the painful cement at the side. "I mean,
I'm not saying you haven't done good things for the city. That one mugger was
wanted in Germany for attempted murder."
Ami nodded and put in her own two cents. "You
and Makoto busted that crime ring that the police have been trying to
infiltrate for three years. Granted that was largely due in part to the
accidental electrocution of the majority of the group-"
"And," Makoto interrupted loudly,
glaring in Ami's direction. "Motoki sings your praises just about every
day. I imagine that Aino Minako and Sailor Venus are going to get an invitation
to Reika and Motoki's wedding."
"You should really get some sleep."
Usagi chirped with a grin wider than Minako's and a thousand times more
genuine. She made quite a picture with one pigtail completely fallen, the other
well on its way, and a red nose to rival the suit Rei was wearing.
"Actresses need their beauty rest."
Minako managed to keep from flinching at that and
continued the conversation as casually as possible. "I'm just bored I
guess. Besides, if there's one less thief out there, the more donuts the fat
men in blue hats can scarf down and get even more fat."
The police force, now there was an evil
institution if Minako ever saw one.
"Still," Ami said in her no-nonsense,
practical voice. "Usagi's right. You need sleep. It isn't healthy to stay
up late for so many nights in a row."
"Yes, Dr. Ami." Minako said with a
smirk.
"Oh, hush."
Makoto bent down, looking at her with a furrowed
brow. After a few moments, she sighed and admitted what had clearly been
weighing on her mind the entire time. "I don't like this. It was cute at
first but... You look exhausted, Minako. I couldn't tell when you had those
glasses on, but now I see the bags under your eyes."
Minako blushed slightly as the other three Senshi
now found it necessary to lean as close to her face as humanly possible to
verify this fact for themselves. Once they found that
to be true, they immediately started in on her all at once.
"Minako, you look awful!" Usagi cried.
Ami shook her head in a disapproving manner.
"You should be sleeping more. Especially now when we don't have to have so many late
nights."
Thankfully, the no one noticed Minako's eye twitch
ever so slightly.
"If you're really worried about Naru and her
mother, I can watch for you tonight. I
don't have anything really important tomorrow," Rei offered kindly.
"No!" Minako nearly shouted, startling a
few other visitors to the pool.
The four girls jumped at Minako's outburst, staring
at her as if she'd just announced her plans to take over the world in a manner not
involving the Ginzuishou. The blonde flushed, running a hand through her
bowless hair, adding, "It's just... Well, I think you need to spend more
time with Yuuichirou. Not chasing jewel thieves."
Rei scoffed and said, "Minako, I live with
the boy. I find myself growing tired of him sometimes. As a matter of fact, I
was planning on getting away from him tonight anyway."
Usagi blinked in confusion and said, "I
thought you said tonight was movie night for you guys and you were going
to-" She jumped back a little when Rei sent her a death glare. She stared
at her blankly for a moment and then realized that she probably shouldn't have
said that. She laughed nervously and found nothing more adequate to say aside
from, "Umm... Oops?"
Minako smiled slightly. Perhaps it was best if she
just give in to them. No doubt she would arrive at the Osa-P
Jewelry Shop to find the four of them waiting for her to keep her company or
send her home. Besides, the grueling pace she had set herself was proving
difficult to maintain. At last, she relented and said, "All right. I'll
stay home tonight. I promise."
Before the others could so much as heave a sigh of
relief, Minako was moving. She was soon on her feet, grabbing her purse. She
threw her beach towel with the latest idol's face stamped on it over her shoulder.
He had a grin as large and obnoxious as her own
stamped on his face. She tilted her head, causing her glasses to fall back into
place and said, "Well, I need to go. I need to work on a few monologues.
I'm looking into trying my hand at the stage. I'll be the first Japanese native
to win a Tony award. It'll be fabulous!"
She waved to the others, said a quick goodbye, and
was gone before they really knew what hit them.
A few moments after Minako was out of earshot,
Usagi folded her arms across her chest. She laid a finger lightly on her chin,
tapping it and looking upwards. She was obviously thinking. The others waited
patiently for her to finish processing her thoughts until she was ready to
voice them aloud... And voice she did.
"Do you guys ever get the feeling that she's
hiding something?"
-----
Minako reached her apartment
quickly. She had cleverly found a fairly cheap one in a central location in
relation to her normal hangouts. She had been quite surprised that she wasn't
living in a cubicle, but thankfully she had a lot of rich relatives and family
friends who had never bothered to get to know her. Therefore, they had felt
obligated to send her love in the form of the almighty yen. It turned out that
both of her parents had come from large families. It was helpful to her cause.
She had managed to amass enough money to keep her apartment
for the six months or so. The salary from her job helped, but not much. Especially considering that Minako had nearly destroyed the store
on several occasions. Well, maybe not anything that drastic, but there
had been a number of unpleasant incidents. Her saving grace was that she was a
fashion expert and that the manager had a crush on her.
She had always said her looks were a gift and a curse...
but mostly a gift.
The aspiring actress smiled ruefully at the
thought as she continued to dig through her large bag in seemingly futile
search for her keys. She was going to have to ask Ami at some point if there
was some kind of law she had learned in Physics class that would explain this.
It did seem as though the most necessary items seemed to be the hardest to
find.
After nearly dumping out her purse in the hallway,
Minako recovered the modest set of keys and inserted the correct one into the lock.
She also had a key to Makoto's place, Usagi and Mamoru's apartment, the Mizunos' penthouse, and her own home. The final was never
used and kept only for nostalgic purposes.
She turned the key and walked inside, catching a
glimpse of herself at the mirror just beside the door. She really did look
awful with split ends, a haggard pallor, and a rather nasty looking outfit. The
blonde hadn't had the chance to get to a Laundromat recently.
She continued to study her reflection with an
appraising eye. Minako couldn't help but be disappointed. As radiant as she
normally looked, she looked positively wretched at the moment. She had thought
maybe the others had been exaggerating earlier. Clearly, they weren't.
Minako was running herself down. And there wasn't
even a point to it.
She tossed her bag down on the floor where an end
table should have been and walked into her one room apartment. It was equipped
with a purple beanbag chair, a microwave, a small dorm refrigerator, a litter
box and food dish (surrounded with potpourri and scented candles), and a futon.
The only thing that made it look even remotely homely was the walls covered in
pictures.
There were still frames from when she had first met
them, and they had decided to take a photo for posterity's sake. They had all
put on their favorite outfits and stood at a particularly scenic area of the
shrine. It was perfect, save for the slightly haunted look in Usagi's eyes. But
then that was to be expected.
There were pictures from the week that Minako had
decided to become a wedding planner and nearly ruined both Usagi's and Reika's weddings. Ami had managed to capture the exact
moment when Reika had leapt over the table and attempted to strangle the
flighty blonde in mid-air.
There were numerous pictures from when the four
girls had decided to spy on Rei and Yuuichirou's first date at the priciest
restaurant in town. Makoto had blown their cover by sampling some Italian dish
Minako couldn't hope to pronounce and demanding to know the recipe. Rei had
then proceeded to chase them all around the restaurant in a rage. Thankfully,
her date had found it rather amusing and pulled out his camera.
There were pictures from when Mamoru had finally
come home from Harvard and Usagi had attempted to propose to him. Of course,
Usagi had been crying so hard that Mamoru still wasn't entirely sure what she
had been asking him. They had all decided that the point was moot and rarely
mentioned it.
There were photos from the cooking contest Makoto had
won the year before and the flower contest the year before that. Minako's favorites
were from right after her graduation. Unfortunately, all of her distant relatives
decided to send her plants in conjunction with cash. They had successfully
turned her apartment into a jungle.
However, the most amusing of the bunch were most assuredly
from when they had all decided that Ami needed a makeover. It wasn't because
she looked bad. Far from it. As a matter of fact, they
had probably only done it out of boredom on a day when they had nothing to do.
There had been much debate over the exact like, but they had eventually decided
to turn her into a motorcycle chick, a Goth freak, a jock, and a movie star all
on different days the same week.
Minako smiled at the memories. She wasn't depressed
all the time after all. It was in moments such as those were she was distracted
with a true sense of belonging and love and happiness where she didn't pay her
fears a second thought.
And then she would come home. There she felt as if
they the entire world was closing in on her, suffocating and choking the life
out of her. And she could dream of nothing but standing in an empty room, naked
and alone. She had accomplished nothing and her mother's cruel voice echoed
through the expanse, forever reminding her of her failures.
Minako shivered and put it out of mind.
She was about to get undressed and possibly shower
or nap, when two balls of fur streaked in from outside, polar opposites of each
other. The golden girl recognized Luna and Artemis immediately and greeted them
in kind. They both seemed rather surprised at her hospitality.
That probably had something to do with the fact that
Luna especially was supposed to think that Minako was still living at home.
Minako had always known that Artemis would more than
likely tell his significant other of her troubles. It was to be expected after
all. And she had always known that Luna would insist on seeing her the moment
Artemis finally broke down. Minako was rather surprised he had held out for as
long as he had.
"Sorry if I interrupted a hot date,
Fuzzy," Minako remarked breezily as she patted her guardian on the head.
"I'm afraid I won't be going anywhere, so please do not attempt to-"
"I think it is best if I don't let you finish
that sentence," Luna interrupted, affecting a stern den mother.
Artemis nodded. "More than
likely."
"I assure you, the decision was wise,"
Minako guaranteed them as she sat down in her bean bag chair. She settled into
it, leaning back and once again thanking her lucky stars that she hadn't gotten
inflatable furniture. "Seriously, what are you two here for? Impending doom on the rise?
Odd sightings in outer space? People disappearing?
Small pox outbreak? What?"
Minako felt supremely guilty as she almost wished that
at least one of those were true. She wanted to fix something she hadn't caused,
not just pick up her own damage. Or worse yet, do nothing at all.
"I'm afraid our business here is
mundane," Luna commented, her right ear twitching at Minako's words. The
blonde once again wondered just how perceptive their cats were, but thought it
best to ignore. "Artemis is worried about you. And so am I."
Minako nodded, not at all surprised. "I was
wondering how long it would take him to tell you what was going on."
Artemis straightened at the comment, as if shocked
that she would think such a thing of him. Then he realized that it had been true
and promptly hung his head. It was a
needless act, but Minako did not reach out to comfort him. A promise was still
a promise after all, even if she had known it was bound to be broken.
"You should tell them," Luna said
plainly.
Minako shook her head and responded the only way
she could. "No."
Luna sighed, clearly exasperated and flipped her
tail back and forth. Her ears flattened slightly as she continued.
"Minako, they are your friends. They can help you! Your financial
situation obviously isn't that great."
"I have enough to pay the rent, pay the
bills, and feed myself and the cat. That's all I need," Minako quipped
smartly.
Luna would have liked to argue that point at
length, but knew from experience that it was useless. Each of the Senshi had a
stubborn streak in them, and it was just easier in the long run if she picked
her battles. It had taken her several years to learn.
"Financial stability aside," Luna
surmised, ending that line of conversation, "He is-- We are more concerned
with your emotional health."
Minako arched an eyebrow and glanced over at her mentor
and friend. Her emotional health? She would have
thought more attention would have been placed on the more physical aspect of
her problems. For example, she'd lost weight over the past few months. That was
something she couldn't hide. But she thought she had kept her emotions fairly
well… Had she grown lax around Artemis? Or did he know her so well that she
couldn't fool him anymore?
She wondered if maybe she should have expected the
conversation to take this turn. Still,
she felt somehow betrayed, and in a manner more profound than before. She narrowed
her gaze and muttered, "What all did you tell her?"
Artemis did not make eye contact with her. She supposed
he couldn't bring himself to do it. "I have just told her what I have
seen," he admitted softly. "I've been watching you, Minako. More than
you know. I've seen the look on your face when you come back from your patrols
empty handed. I've heard your conversations with your mother. And I've watched
you sleep, on the rare occasion you do. You seem to be trapped in a constant
nightmare, and honestly, it is scaring me."
She stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to
say. A childish part of her wanted to accuse him of eavesdropping, but a rational
side of that she often chose to ignore in flights of fancy took charge. He
lived with her after all. He was going to hear her phone calls and see what she
did.
Of course, that only meant she would have to be
more careful.
"I'm just restless," Minako told them
quickly.
It wasn't a lie. It was the truth. However, it was
not the whole truth, but it was enough to suffice them.
"I don't have any projects or boyfriends to
occupy my time... Just a boring job and the occasional outing
with the girls and fruitless patrols. And what's worse is, I can't even come up with different ways to occupy my time.
Let's face it. Normally I would just go out man hunting or something, but I
can't work up the enthusiasm for it."
That was also true. Minako had dabbled in a boyfriend
here and there, but none of them proved to be nearly as exciting as their
outward appearance hinted at. The longest one had lasted five dates because
there was a chance that he was the cousin of a movie director. She had never
found out the answer to that question, and honestly, no job was worth suffering
his company.
Even Luna seemed taken aback but the statement,
but she recovered quickly. "That's what we assumed. And we think we may
have a solution."
Minako's ears perked up and all animosity, scant
as it may have been, vanished from her disposition. She had often wondered if
it was healthy to take advice from a cat, but at the moment, Luna may as well
have been an iguana. Any possible answer to her predicament was like heaven.
Maybe she could be happy again. Not just for brief
moments, but for long enough so that she didn't identity with Zoloft® and
Prozac® commercials. She could do something. She could succeed or at least make
a valiant attempt. She'd finally feel whole, complete. She could live her life
at long last.
"What is it?" Minako asked hurriedly,
slipping and sounding desperate. "Tell me."
Artemis and Luna turned to exchange a glance, as
if trying to decide who should speak or what they should say. At the same
moment, an understanding passed between them. They turned to her and said the
same thing in perfectly choreographed synchronization.
"Get the hell out of Tokyo.”
