It was a pleasure to burn.

As Makoto stared into the flames of the small bonfire, watching the love letters burn into ash, she wondered why she had kept them for so long. It wasn’t as if they were particularly romantic or well-written, mostly riddled with cheesy lines and bad grammar. She should have thrown the letters away the day he left her crying in the rain after informing her that he was in love with one of her friends, yet she had held onto them, treasuring every lie in some misguided delusion that one day her sempai would realize his mistake and come back to her.

Though she had initially thought the idea silly, Makoto was grateful to Minako for recommending they perform this little “romance purification ceremony,” as the soldier of love had termed it. Those letters had bound her to him, but not anymore.

“So, how do you feel?” Minako asked, sitting down beside her after tossing her contribution -- a red ribbon -- into the fire.

Makoto breathed in and smiled. “Free,” she said. “We should have done this years ago. I can’t believe how much time I’ve wasted, chasing after men who remind me of my sempai. Why would I want to be with somebody like him? He broke my heart! I want to find somebody new and different, who will treat me the way I really deserve.”

“That’s the spirit!” Minako jumped back up. “We’re still young and beautiful. There’s no reason for us to keep thinking back to our old loves when there are still plenty of birds in the sky.”

“Uh, I think you mean ‘fish in the sea’,” Makoto corrected with a giggle. “But you’re right. Our Mr. Rights are still out there; we just have to find them!”

DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon is the property of Naoko Takeuchi.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Any comments or criticisms can be sent to me at ElysionDream@aol.com. Second place winner of the “Pleasure To Burn” challenge at the “sailormoonland” community at Livejournal.