Fic: Airmail - The Epilogue (2/4) (Oct & Nov)
Here's the second part of the second part, I hope hope hope this works. Many thanks to the lovely venusorbit1 for her beta help.
October
It was time to visit her grandfather. The leaves were falling, colouring the ground in red and gold. But Rei knew that the rain would start soon and everything would be turned into a murky brown mess - very symbolic, Rei thought with a wry smile. Her new life had not turned out the way she wanted it to. Granted, the new job was nice, it left her bone crushingly tired, but surprisingly satisfied in the evenings. But other than that, she longed for the easy comradeship her grandfather had provided for her. They hadn't seen each other in months and missing him didn't go away. She worried that he wouldn't dress warm enough for the cooling temperatures and wouldn't remember to take his vitamin supplements. She made a mental note to ask Usagi to check on him, maybe even send Minako over to the temple as well. But his birthday was coming up in three days and while he always claimed to not care about birthdays, she knew that every year, he had tears in his eyes when she presented him with a cake she had spent hours making. That more often than not it tasted like sand didn't matter, he always ate two slices of it and patted her head in an awkward gesture of thanks afterwards. Then they went on a walk around the temple, watching the seasons change. This year, he would be alone, unless she dared to return to her former home. The thought was terrifying. Rei worried that once she sat foot on the holy ground again, she wouldn't be able to leave and all the pain would have been for naught. Pulling her cloak tighter around herself, she walked on and watched the leaves dance in the air. She could worry about her grandfather and her fate tomorrow. Tonight she had something else to fear.
She arrived at Minako's and Takeshi's house at precisely six o'clock. It was the 22nd of October, Minako's birthday. The bubbly blonde had invited all of her friends for a dinner party, and because Minako was Minako, she had invited Ando as well. The information had been shared over a cup of coffee at Makoto's café, and while Minako had smiled in a deceptively sweet manner, her eyes were hard. The time for hiding was over.
Were it not for Takeshi, Rei was sure that she would find herself seated next to Ando because from then on, Minako had made it clear with exaggerated sighs, biting jokes and ample looks that she had had enough. No one could force them to be together again, but in a circle of friends as small and as exclusive as theirs, avoiding each other was an insurmountable task.
Takeshi opened the door, dressed to the peak in a dark grey suit that would have done Senator Hino proud. The architect smiled his reluctant smile and led her in. He took her coat while she walked into the spacious living room to greet the other guests. Ami and Umino were already there, sitting next to each other on Minako's huge red couch. By some miracle, even Usagi was on time. She was admiring some framed photographs of Minako and Takeshi on the wall. Rei remembered that Minako had told her about the appointment at the photographer's, how happy she was that she and her boyfriend would be caught on film together for the world to see. It was such a deviation from how their relationship was in the Silver Millennium - a secret coated in the darkness of the night. A quick glance told Rei that the pictures were indeed beautiful. All black and white, each picture showed a different stage of the photo shooting. In one, the two of them stood next to each other, Takeshi looking proud and tall, Minako lithe and bubbly. Another one depicted the pair holding hands, and then there was one in which she tickled him and the photographer had managed to catch his laughter in just the right moment. The one that made Rei's heart clench a little bit was them just looking at each other, both faces sporting a look of devotion and happiness that Rei had only ever seen on Mamoru and Usagi. Rei looked at Usagi, who was smiling serenely, obviously satisfied to see the leaders of both hers and Mamoru's guard so happy.
Next to Usagi, Mamoru was nursing a glass of what looked like water, but was probably vodka. Rei knew that Takeshi had a soft spot for the drink; it was the first thing she had learned about him in this life. She briefly wondered if he still drank too much to cope with his inner demons or if Minako's presence alone was enough to keep them at bay. It had certainly worked for Ando. The birthday girl herself was notably absent, and spotting the empty dog basket near the crackling fireplace, so was her pet. Rei greeted her friends with a smile.
"Rei, can I offer you something to drink? Champagne, sparkling water, whiskey? Vodka?" Takeshi, always proper, always perfect. Once again, Rei wondered how far they had come. She was almost at ease around the shitennou now (with one notable exception, of course), and it was all due to Usagi. After the engagement party, she had made a point of arranging little meetings. If she invited Rei over for coffee, Makoto and Hiromasa might be there. If they went out to catch a film, it was in the company of Takeshi and Minako. Weekend trips to the countryside involved Ami and Umino more often than not and slowly, she had found herself accepting the men they were now. She hadn't forgotten what lingered under the surface, what they had once done, but she had acknowledged that they were more than they used to be. With a smile, she declined his offer. "No, thank you, not yet. Where's Minako?"
"She has gone to fetch Ando." Takeshi's voice was even, unconcerned, but she could see the worry in his watchful eyes. It was easy to tell that he hadn't been in favour of forcing the two of them together like this.
"I see. And she took the dog with her?" Her question caused him to press his lips in a thin line and his back went ramrod straight. It made him look so much more like Kunzite, but Rei brushed the thought aside with determination.
"Yes, she has." So they were still fighting about it. Rei almost felt guilty, but then again it was Minako who had randomly adopted a dog without asking Takeshi and not herself. A bitter thought crossed her mind: I can get as many dogs as I want to. No one will care. Benefit of being lonely.
"She got it for me, originally," she grimaced. His answer was a little fiercer than expected. Of course, it was still polite by other people's standards, but Rei was sure that she had hit a sore point.
"Then why didn't you take it?"
"You don't like it?"
"No, not much. Do you know what breed it is?"
"I thought he must be a mixed breed, seeing how she got him from a shelter."
"No. It's a Great Dane. Emphasis on great."
Behind Takeshi, Mamoru bit back a laugh. The architect's dislike for the pet was already legendary, and the source of many hours of amusement for everyone but Takeshi and Minako. Ando had taken to enquire after the pet every time he saw Takeshi, just to rile him up. It worked without fail. Every. Single. Time. Ando even rang his office every once in a while to ask about the dog's welfare, and it had already gotten to the point that Mrs. Fukuda didn't pass his messages along any more.
Having been raised to be diplomatic, Rei tried to smooth over Takeshi's visible discomfort.
"And there is no chance of her giving it away? I'm sure that Hiromasa would take him, he really likes dogs."
"I do think that Makoto is perfectly content with only having one."
The doorbell interrupted their conversation and Takeshi excused himself.
Rei's heart began to beat a little faster and her stomach clenched. She wondered if she would feel like this all evening long: tense, anxious, worried. If it were them, they wouldn't ring. Minako has a key. Calm down, calm down.
When the door opened to reveal Hiromasa and Makoto, she let out a deep breath of relief. Hiromasa was dressed in a white shirt, his sports jacket already slung over his shoulder. He really hated dressing up, and while both Mamoru and Takeshi were wearing ties, no such article of clothing would find its way around Hiromasa's neck.
Usagi had abandoned Mamoru and the pictures and popped up next to her. Her voice was sweet and smooth; it never failed to calm Rei.
"Rei, don't worry. It's just a dinner. Two hours. You don't even have to talk to him, Takeshi made sure that you are seated at opposite ends of the table."
Verifying this new piece of information, she peered into the dining room. The large oak table Minako had bought three months ago was beautifully set, lots of gold, crystal and candles. Each place was adorned with a small place card, and even from the distance she could tell that the handwriting wasn't Minako's. It was small, messy and with lots of edges; presumably Takeshi's. If Takeshi was in charge of the seating arrangements, there wouldn't be any unwelcome surprises. Relieved, she turned to Usagi again. Her friend had abandoned her signature hairstyle tonight and opted for a sleek ponytail. It was a look that suited her, and Rei secretly wondered if Usagi felt that she was now too old for the odangos. She reached for the ponytail and tugged it with playful fingers.
"Looks good."
The beaming smile that spread across Usagi's face told her how much the blonde appreciated the compliment.
"I was going for something else, a change. Felt that it was high time, you know?"
Fingering a strand of her own hair, long and unchanged for years, she smiled.
"Yes, I know." Change was good, change was necessary. But then why did she feel as if she had lost the ground under her feet in the past months? What had started as a necessity, as something good, had turned into punishment before she knew it and now it seemed to late to reverse it. How could she have abandoned her only family like that? Rei bit down on her bottom lip, and pushed these bitter thoughts from her mind. No sense ruining Minako's birthday party before it even started.
Hiromasa came over and hugged Usagi, offering his hand to Rei. The wedding band glinted as it caught a ray of light from the lamp. His eyes stayed on the women for only a minute before straying to the empty dog basket, his large face full of disappointment.
"Hey, where's the little one? I brought Spock so that they could play!" Behind him, Makoto snorted.
Takeshi handed him a glass of whiskey. "Little?" Hiromasa accepted the drink and grinned.
"Still haven't gotten over yourself? Your dog is nice, mate, he really is. Better behaved than mine, ask my wife." There was pride in his voice, and it endeared him to Rei. "Does he have a name yet?" Usagi quipped, but Takeshi only shook his head, making it clear that he was done talking about the dog.
"How is your business going, Hiromasa? Makoto mentioned that you secured a very wealthy customer recently who wants only your furniture in his three houses." Grinning, Usagi wandered off to Ami and Umino again. Takeshi was really nice, but he just wasn't any fun. Hiromasa however stayed, and so did the grin on his face.
"Changing the subject much? And just so you know, if your girlfriend were a little less vindictive, that customer would have been you." Clearly not willing to talk about the dog or discuss Minako's attitude towards Hiromasa, Takeshi broached a new topic.
"How do you like the whiskey?"
Hiromasa took a sip of the drink and made an impressed face. "I want a bottle of this for Christmas. And as long as you're not vile to the dog, we're good."
"I'm ignoring the thing as long as I can and consider your Christmas wish duly noted."
At that moment, Minako, Ando and the dog burst into the room. Minako was all smiles and immediately began to hug her guests while Ando walked over to Mamoru and took the glass right out of his hands. The Great Dane trotted over to Takeshi and immediately sat down on his shoes.
The dinner went... well, it went the way one would expect it to go.
Rei, carefully placed between Usagi and Makoto, had managed about three spoonfuls of her pumpkin soup, taken two full bites of the bread that rested on her plate and awaited the main course with dread. At least Minako hadn't cooked, that would have been fatal. All the food had been delivered from a five star restaurant in the city centre, but they had not hired any waiters for the evening because they had too many secrets to keep and wished to speak freely on a night like this. So Minako and Takeshi acted as waiters, with the result that the side of the table that was served by Takeshi got their food while it was still hot and the side that was served by Minako had it spilled over lovingly ironed shirts and carefully chosen dresses. Ami had offered to take over, and so had Makoto, but Minako was nothing if not insistent.
At the opposite end of the table, cushioned between Minako and Umino, Ando ate quietly. His eyes had not yet strayed from his plate, and he didn't even try to join in on the conversation. Dressed up for the occasion, he was wearing one of the suits his father kept giving him for Christmas each year in a fruitless attempt to lure him into the corporate world. That the dark blue shirt Minako had forced him to wear belonged to Takeshi was something he had only figured out when Takeshi welcomed him and murmured in his ear: "I want that back, and don't even think about throwing it on your filthy floor when you get home."
In the kitchen, Minako and Takeshi were just about to cut up the roast beef when he took her hand and pressed it to his lips.
"Minako." She was wearing a little black dress that clung to her curves in all the right places. The locket he had given her rested between her breasts; it was the only piece of jewellery she wore. He had a hard time looking anywhere but at her all night long, which had made serving a soup course considerably difficult.
"Hmm?"
"Happy birthday." And with that, he kissed her. It was the sort of kiss that left her short of breath, made her toes curl, her heart flutter, her brain melt. It was the sort of kiss that left Minako wishing that all of her friends would just leave immediately so that Takeshi could have his wicked way with her right then and there on the kitchen floor. It was the sort of kiss that had made her addicted to him when she was still a goddess and he a warrior in a magical kingdom high up in the sky.
He broke the kiss, and ran a hand through her golden curls. Stepping away from him, she straightened her dress and tried to remember how exactly one went about breathing.
"Unfair."
His face gave nothing away.
"I don't know what you're talking about it."
"You did that thing. That thing with your tongue."
"I wasn't aware that I did things with my tongue that my tongue wasn't supposed to do. I thought the whole point of kissing was to do things with your tongue."
She swatted him with a kitchen towel, her cheeks reddened.
"Spare me the act, mock innocence doesn't suit you. And just so you know: as soon as they're all gone, you and I are going to the bedroom. And we're not coming out until my birthday is over."
"While this sounds like a wonderful plan, you forgot that your dog will need to be taken for a walk. So the bedroom will have to wait, won't it?"
And with a smirk, he took the plate with the roast on it and carried it to their guests.
In the kitchen, Minako cursed.
"Stupid, fucking dog."
The stupid, fucking dog was actually busy playing with Spock under the table, every once in a while bumping into someone's leg. Of course, Hiromasa had insisted on bringing Spock. Much to Makoto's dismay, he took him everywhere. The supermarket, restaurants, to his parents, to their friends, to the café... everywhere. But to her great surprise, Ando had also taken to the long-eared animal. He loved taking him and Minako's dog for long walks, even in the rain, and Hiromasa was beginning to get jealous. Privately, Makoto thought it was all getting a bit out of hand, but she loved her husband and was sure that she had several little quirks that he took in stride to be with her, so she smiled and petted and focused on the cuteness rather than the countless things Spock had destroyed by chewing on and slobbering all over them.
Takeshi however was not so willing to take it all in stride; not used to being defied all that often, he was seriously upset. A week into the Great Dane's residence in his house, the architect stormed outside in the garden and only returned when a perfectly adequate doghouse stood under the apple tree. Minako - deeply offended that her beloved pet was supposed to stay anywhere but near her - crossed her arms over her chest and coldly asked Takeshi to knock the construction down again. The two of them had then argued until the dog hid under the couch, scared of the angry voices. Of course, it refused to come out until Minako dangled the steak that was supposed to be Takeshi's dinner in front of its nose. In an otherwise happy home, the dog was a constant source of friction and while taking a bite of her broccoli, Makoto wondered whether or not to suggest to Minako to give the pet away for the sake of her relationship. Then her eyes strayed to her husband, who was sneaking the two dogs under the table some bits of roast beef from his plate while pretending to listen to Umino's tale of how the bathroom in the apartment of filth had been reclaimed through magic powers only and Makoto Obuchi decided that Takeshi would very simple have to get over himself.
It was during dessert that the bombed dropped.
Ando cleared his throat, and the table fell instinctively silent. So far both Ando and Rei had been quiet, letting the conversation float around them without joining in.
"So Rei... I heard that you have a new job."
A tiny part of Rei knew that he had waited until she had finally taken the first bite of birthday cake, just so that he could see her choke on it. Whether it was revenge or his own brand of humour, she couldn't tell. Swallowing down the chocolate cake that now tasted like lead, she forced a smile on her face. Under the table, Makoto put a soothing hand on Rei's thigh and squeezed.
"I work in an antique shop now. It's different, but I quite like it."
He nodded and took a sip of his red wine before turning his overly bright eyes back on her face. Not even the other eight people in the room could make this moment anything other than their own. He was challenging her, finally casting his submissive suffering aside like an old cloak.
"And what does your grandfather make of it? He must miss you at the temple."
Her fork slid out of her hand and fell on her plate with a soft clank. Briefly wondering whether he had read her face or her mind, she closed her eyes. The image of her grandfather was so clear now, it was just as present as the pictures of Minako and Takeshi on the wall behind her. Jadeite had found her soft spot and pushed the dagger in - again. Sliding her chair back, she looked at Minako once before leaving the room in measured steps. They heard the front door close soon after that.
Umino was the first to break the silence that had settled over the table.
"And that was necessary how?"
Ando simply shrugged, and began to toy with his empty pack of cigarettes.
November
Sitting cross-legged on the desk in his study, Minako was talking animatedly; effectively drowning the sound of Mozart in the background. Takeshi sat on the chair in front of the cherry wood desk and eyed her with little contained impatience. That she was sitting on the first draft of the design for a new building didn't make it any better.
"She is the sort of person who kicks puppies. No, wait. She's the sort of person who eats puppies."
"Minako."
"Actually, she's the sort of person who takes a bite out of a sweet little puppy, watches it bleed to death and then goes to get herself some tofu for lunch. That's what she' s like."
He reached over and pushed her a little to the side to retrieve the precious sketch before she crumpled it even more. After storing it safely on one of the bookshelves on his left, his focus returned to the girl perched on his desk. "Minako, you mother can't be that bad. And right now, I don't mind meeting someone who can take Attila off my hands."
“First of all: that's not his name. And second: you haven't met her yet.”
“My point exactly.”
“Takeshi, please. Let's stay here. Or let's go and look at your new project. Ooh, that really big house? Shall we go there? You like houses, you're an architect.”
“Minako, I want to get to know your family. Is that so hard to understand?” Meeting his eyes, she could tell that he was exasperated. This unusual look on his handsome features might have swayed her, had it not been her mother they were talking about. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “Yes, it is. There are about five million things that are more fun than meeting my family, including, but not limited to: walking barefoot over broken beer bottles, jumping off a cliff, killing a youma, being dead, being reborn, being hungry and let's not forget arguing with Rei about Ando. Or with Ando about Rei. And I know what I'm talking about, all of that has already happened to me. Some of it even more than once. So please, don't make me meet my mother.”
Something in the air shifted, ad he looked as if he just had an epiphany of the darkest sort.
"Is this relationship something you're ashamed of?"
"Wait, what? No!" She nearly laughed at the absurdity of the idea, but the grave expression on his face killed the laughter in her throat before it could resonate off the cream coloured walls. "But my mother is ashamed of me and I'd rather not introduce you. The thought that she and I share some genetic make-up is scary. Really, you don't want to meet her. Trust me."
"Fine."
He got up and walked out of his study, hollering "Attila!" as he went. The puppy - already taller than many fully-grown dogs - raced after him and knocked over a potted plant in the process.
Stomping her foot, Minako shouted: "AND HIS NAME IS NOT ATTILA!"
When Takeshi got home, it was already dark, which wasn't saying much since it was November. He commanded the dog to its basket and climbed up the stairs to their bedroom, knowing that Minako was waiting for him there. Opening the door, he fully expected her to throw something at him, but found her sitting in the middle of the gigantic bed, nose in a picture album. She was dressed in some old girly pyjamas, their legs too short and the prints already fading. Had he been more familiar with popular culture, he would have recognised the print as Princess Peach from Super Mario.
"Minako..."
"We're driving over to my parents on Sunday. Dinner. I'd tell you to dress nice, but then you always do, so it would be rather pointless, wouldn't it?" He placed a quiet kiss on her head. "Thank you."
Her voice was flat, and the evenness in it didn't suit her. "I don't like being emotionally blackmailed. Take that as a reference for the future and get in bed. I'm tired."
She kicked the photo album to the floor, looking absurdly pleased as she watched some pictures fly out of it and scrambled under the covers so that only the top of her head was visible.
"Minako, it's not even eight o'clock."
"So?"
Torn between amusement and anger, Takeshi picked the album and the loose pictures up on his way to the bathroom and put the recovered memorabilia on a chest of dressers. While he itched to look through it to see what had made her so angry, he knew that it was not his place to do so. He took a long hot shower to get the late autumn chill out of his bones and put on a fresh pair of pyjamas. Sniffing them, he noticed that Minako had changed the detergent from the plain one he used to buy during his bachelor days to something more flowery. It smelled nice; homey and familiar. When he climbed into the bed, he reached for her and pulled her close. Her voice was muffled against his chest as she spoke.
"My mother and I don't get along."
"I figured."
"And she doesn't know about the whole senshi business, so we need to come up with a realistic story of how we met." It was almost no longer strange to acknowledge that their origins lay in another world and time. Both could make it sound as if they were at ease with it, and yet, in the darkness of the night, the ghosts of Kunzite and Venus in their most sinister versions came to wreck havoc on Takeshi's soul. Forcing the past away from him, he clung to their present.
"That should be easy. We were introduced by mutual friends - Makoto and Hiromasa."
"And the dog's name is not-"
"Attila. I get it."
They fell asleep huddled up against each another.
Sunday came too soon for Minako's liking. The dog had been taken over to Makoto's and Hiromasa's place, where he would stay for the evening. Hiromasa was over the moon and had taken the two pets and Ando for a long walk as soon as a visibly relieved Takeshi shoved the Great Dane into his arms. Makoto had smiled sweetly and told Takeshi that she would send him a bill for everything his pet destroyed.
Takeshi was now killing time in his study, hunched over maps and ground evaluation charts while he waited for Minako to get ready. She had been in the bathroom for at least two hours now, changing both her hair and her make-up several times before eventually settling on a bun, some barely there blush and mascara. Every lipstick she owned seemed too bright, every eye shadow too colourful. Most of her dresses seemed too bohemian, jeans were not chic enough and unfortunately, she just didn't have any potato sacks handy. Not that it mattered how she looked, her mother would disapprove anyway.
Dressed in a beige cashmere jumper her mother had given her for her birthday a few years ago and some boring black trousers and ballet shoes, she tapped her boyfriend on the shoulder.
"Ready."
When Takeshi's BMW came to a halt in front of her parents' house, Minako sunk deeper into the passenger seat. Her mood was already spectacularly bad, she was a volcano waiting to erupt and Takeshi was aware that she would make him pay for every minute they would spent in the quaint looking house in the Juban district. The bare trees visible behind walls and houses spoke of a winter that was already lurking around the corner.
"Shall we go in?"
"Stupid question. You were so keen to meet her, so why don't you go ahead? I'll take the time to redirect the exhaust pipe into the passenger cabin and end my misery."
"Minako, you are not eleven years old."
"And you're not fifty and yet you behave like it."
"I'm not arguing with you."
"Coward."
"Don't push me." It never ceased to amaze her how cold his voice could get, and how quickly at that. All that cool, calm, collected nonsense that everyone associated with him was actually quite ridiculous, Minako thought viciously. He had even more of a temper than she did, he just hid it better.
They were interrupted by a knock on the window. A woman with a blonde bob and piercing blue eyes stared into the car, her smile a tad too wide on her carefully made up face. She wore the same jumper Minako had put on with so much distaste half an hour earlier. The woman pointed to the house first, to her daughter second and then turned and walked up the driveway again.
Minako sighed and stated the obvious. "That was my mother. She wants us to get out of the car and come inside."
"We are ten minutes early." Takeshi shifted in his seat. He had calculated that he would need at least ten minutes to get Minako out of the car in the first place, hence the early arrival.
"Try telling her that, I dare you. Come on, she's waiting."
Minako's father was actually fairly pleasant, Takeshi realised. The older man had made conversation with him as soon as they stepped through the door, chatting easily about both the city and the weather, and inquiring in the most polite manner what he did for a living. Hearing that Takeshi was an architect seemed to please Mr. Aino and they delved into a long-winded conversation about a new shopping centre that was being built near the suburbs. In the kitchen, Minako helped her mother prepare the dinner. She would have rather stayed with Takeshi and her dad, but figured that ten minutes into the meeting was presumably not the right time to start an argument about how much she hated cutting vegetables.
"How are your studies going?" After five months of virtually no contact, Minako wondered whether her mother couldn't have started with another question. Frowning, she stopped hacking the carrots.
"Okay." Not satisfied, her mother pressed on while checking the roast pork in the oven. A wonderful smell wafted through the kitchen. While Minako resented many things her mother did, her cooking was not among them.
"How many classes do you take?"
"Six. No wait, seven. I have to retake one that I failed last semester."
"I always told you that you can't expect to pass your exams if you're being lazy." Mrs. Aino peeled some potatoes with practised ease, all the while looking at her daughter.
"I wasn't, I just missed too much near the end of the semester because I wasn't on campus enough."
"And why is that?" Mrs. Aino turned the kitchen light on, and it caught in the pearl earrings she wore.
"A friend of mine needed my help; I flew to New York and didn't return for two months. Do you need me to cut more carrots?"
"No, but the pieces need to be smaller, do it again. Which friend was it? Usagi? She's such a flighty girl."
"Mother, Usagi isn't flighty, she's married. And no, it wasn't her, it was another friend; one you don't know."
"Does that friend have a name?"
"Ando."
"That's a boy." Mrs. Aino stopped dead in her tracks.
"Yep."
"But not the one who's talking to your father right now."
"Nope."
"Minako..." There it was, the fully disapproving voice that usually made her run for the hills in seconds. Only the fact that Takeshi was sitting in the living-room made her stay put; his comment about her behaving like a child had struck a chord, so Minako decided to demonstrate patience and control.
"It's not like that. Ando's a friend of Takeshi's, too."
Huffing, her mother turned her back on her daughter. "You need to get your hair cut."
"I'm wearing it in a bun, how can you tell that it needs cutting?"
"Your hair always needs cutting, you wear it far too long. And now get going on those carrots, or we won't be able to have any for dinner."
When the small group finally assembled at the table, Mrs. Aino took the opportunity to quiz her daughter some more.
"When did you last clean your flat?" Takeshi subtly looked around, noticing that everything was tidy and very, very clean. A bit like his old penthouse, actually.
"I don't live in my flat any more, Mum. I moved." Her father smiled. "That's good for you, honey." Her mother, on the other hand, was less pleased. Her knife made a screeching sound as she cut her potato with a little more force than necessary. "Well, thank you for notifying me."
Trying to be helpful, Takeshi cut in. Since his own mother died when he was seven and his father followed her to the grave ten years later, he couldn't understand Minako's neglectful attitude towards her parents. Still, he felt the need to defend her. "Minako and I moved in together at the beginning of autumn, and since she has organised the move, she was very busy."
"You moved in together? Mr. Nakamura, how long have you been seeing my daughter?" There it was, the scandalised voice. Oh, Minako knew it so well. She looked at her father, checking that he wouldn't suddenly display an unusual surge of parental protection, but only found the older man happily munching his pork. He really did have the blithest temper.
Minako pushed the vegetables around on her plate until they formed a perfect triangle and answered before Takeshi could. "February."
Mrs. Aino looked at Takeshi. He noticed that very much like her daughter, the older woman had barely touched her food. She was skinny, and now that she was leaning over the table towards him, she looked distinctly birdlike. "Is that so? Minako never mentioned you."
"Might be because I never call," Minako injected sweetly. Takeshi shot her a warning glance, one that didn't go unnoticed by Mrs. Aino. The older woman laughed; it sounded bitter.
"Well, my daughter is a handful. Always has been, even as a little girl she was a horribly difficult child. But then you might be able to tame her, Lord knows I haven't been able to."
"I'm not a horse." Pushing her plate back, Minako glared at her mother.
"Of course you're not, sweetie." Her father reassured, ever so diplomatic. If only he had more backbone, she might even come to visit more than twice a year, Minako thought as took a sip of her water.
"Mr. Nakamura, I hope she contributes to the expenses. I hate to say this about my own child, but Minako can be very self-centred and I would hate to have her take advantage of you. You seem like such a nice man. Please let us know if there is something we can do."
Lowering his fork, Takeshi forced a smile on his face. Mr. Aino awkwardly waved the bread basket in front of his daughter's face, trying to distract her from carrying out the desperate wish to murder her mother. Mrs. Aino however was undeterred.
"Do you have a job?" Toying with the stem of her glass, Minako remained silent. She remembered meeting Ando's parents and wondered how she could have ever thought them to be worse than her own mother.
"I asked you whether or not you have a job."
"Nope."
"How did you finance your old flat?" Moving the glass around a little faster, a bit of her water sloshed over the brim and soaked the white tablecloth.
"I just did." For once, Minako wished that she could tell her mother that she was in fact stinking rich. But how exactly did you tell your mother that you were a reborn soldier goddess of a forgotten kingdom from another planet who conveniently managed to turn her alter ego into a computer game heroine? So instead, she shrugged and kept her secrets, just like she had since the day Artemis strolled into her life.
"You are infuriating."
"Do you want me to share some details of my life with you? Fine. I have a dog. Actually, we have a dog."
Remembering three pairs of destroyed shoes, the large stain on the rug in his study and dog hairs on the couch, Takeshi put on a deadpan face and nodded. "His name is Attila." Minako looked at him, jaw slack, all good resolutions forgotten and exploded, knocking her glass over in the process.
"HIS NAME IS NOT ATTILA!" Her mother followed suit.
"I DID NOT RAISE YOU TO SHOUT AT THE DINNER TABLE!"
Mr. Aino took another bite of his pork, a delighted if distant expression on his friendly face and Takeshi noted with somewhat grim satisfaction that the bloody dog had finally been good for something.
October
It was time to visit her grandfather. The leaves were falling, colouring the ground in red and gold. But Rei knew that the rain would start soon and everything would be turned into a murky brown mess - very symbolic, Rei thought with a wry smile. Her new life had not turned out the way she wanted it to. Granted, the new job was nice, it left her bone crushingly tired, but surprisingly satisfied in the evenings. But other than that, she longed for the easy comradeship her grandfather had provided for her. They hadn't seen each other in months and missing him didn't go away. She worried that he wouldn't dress warm enough for the cooling temperatures and wouldn't remember to take his vitamin supplements. She made a mental note to ask Usagi to check on him, maybe even send Minako over to the temple as well. But his birthday was coming up in three days and while he always claimed to not care about birthdays, she knew that every year, he had tears in his eyes when she presented him with a cake she had spent hours making. That more often than not it tasted like sand didn't matter, he always ate two slices of it and patted her head in an awkward gesture of thanks afterwards. Then they went on a walk around the temple, watching the seasons change. This year, he would be alone, unless she dared to return to her former home. The thought was terrifying. Rei worried that once she sat foot on the holy ground again, she wouldn't be able to leave and all the pain would have been for naught. Pulling her cloak tighter around herself, she walked on and watched the leaves dance in the air. She could worry about her grandfather and her fate tomorrow. Tonight she had something else to fear.
She arrived at Minako's and Takeshi's house at precisely six o'clock. It was the 22nd of October, Minako's birthday. The bubbly blonde had invited all of her friends for a dinner party, and because Minako was Minako, she had invited Ando as well. The information had been shared over a cup of coffee at Makoto's café, and while Minako had smiled in a deceptively sweet manner, her eyes were hard. The time for hiding was over.
Were it not for Takeshi, Rei was sure that she would find herself seated next to Ando because from then on, Minako had made it clear with exaggerated sighs, biting jokes and ample looks that she had had enough. No one could force them to be together again, but in a circle of friends as small and as exclusive as theirs, avoiding each other was an insurmountable task.
Takeshi opened the door, dressed to the peak in a dark grey suit that would have done Senator Hino proud. The architect smiled his reluctant smile and led her in. He took her coat while she walked into the spacious living room to greet the other guests. Ami and Umino were already there, sitting next to each other on Minako's huge red couch. By some miracle, even Usagi was on time. She was admiring some framed photographs of Minako and Takeshi on the wall. Rei remembered that Minako had told her about the appointment at the photographer's, how happy she was that she and her boyfriend would be caught on film together for the world to see. It was such a deviation from how their relationship was in the Silver Millennium - a secret coated in the darkness of the night. A quick glance told Rei that the pictures were indeed beautiful. All black and white, each picture showed a different stage of the photo shooting. In one, the two of them stood next to each other, Takeshi looking proud and tall, Minako lithe and bubbly. Another one depicted the pair holding hands, and then there was one in which she tickled him and the photographer had managed to catch his laughter in just the right moment. The one that made Rei's heart clench a little bit was them just looking at each other, both faces sporting a look of devotion and happiness that Rei had only ever seen on Mamoru and Usagi. Rei looked at Usagi, who was smiling serenely, obviously satisfied to see the leaders of both hers and Mamoru's guard so happy.
Next to Usagi, Mamoru was nursing a glass of what looked like water, but was probably vodka. Rei knew that Takeshi had a soft spot for the drink; it was the first thing she had learned about him in this life. She briefly wondered if he still drank too much to cope with his inner demons or if Minako's presence alone was enough to keep them at bay. It had certainly worked for Ando. The birthday girl herself was notably absent, and spotting the empty dog basket near the crackling fireplace, so was her pet. Rei greeted her friends with a smile.
"Rei, can I offer you something to drink? Champagne, sparkling water, whiskey? Vodka?" Takeshi, always proper, always perfect. Once again, Rei wondered how far they had come. She was almost at ease around the shitennou now (with one notable exception, of course), and it was all due to Usagi. After the engagement party, she had made a point of arranging little meetings. If she invited Rei over for coffee, Makoto and Hiromasa might be there. If they went out to catch a film, it was in the company of Takeshi and Minako. Weekend trips to the countryside involved Ami and Umino more often than not and slowly, she had found herself accepting the men they were now. She hadn't forgotten what lingered under the surface, what they had once done, but she had acknowledged that they were more than they used to be. With a smile, she declined his offer. "No, thank you, not yet. Where's Minako?"
"She has gone to fetch Ando." Takeshi's voice was even, unconcerned, but she could see the worry in his watchful eyes. It was easy to tell that he hadn't been in favour of forcing the two of them together like this.
"I see. And she took the dog with her?" Her question caused him to press his lips in a thin line and his back went ramrod straight. It made him look so much more like Kunzite, but Rei brushed the thought aside with determination.
"Yes, she has." So they were still fighting about it. Rei almost felt guilty, but then again it was Minako who had randomly adopted a dog without asking Takeshi and not herself. A bitter thought crossed her mind: I can get as many dogs as I want to. No one will care. Benefit of being lonely.
"She got it for me, originally," she grimaced. His answer was a little fiercer than expected. Of course, it was still polite by other people's standards, but Rei was sure that she had hit a sore point.
"Then why didn't you take it?"
"You don't like it?"
"No, not much. Do you know what breed it is?"
"I thought he must be a mixed breed, seeing how she got him from a shelter."
"No. It's a Great Dane. Emphasis on great."
Behind Takeshi, Mamoru bit back a laugh. The architect's dislike for the pet was already legendary, and the source of many hours of amusement for everyone but Takeshi and Minako. Ando had taken to enquire after the pet every time he saw Takeshi, just to rile him up. It worked without fail. Every. Single. Time. Ando even rang his office every once in a while to ask about the dog's welfare, and it had already gotten to the point that Mrs. Fukuda didn't pass his messages along any more.
Having been raised to be diplomatic, Rei tried to smooth over Takeshi's visible discomfort.
"And there is no chance of her giving it away? I'm sure that Hiromasa would take him, he really likes dogs."
"I do think that Makoto is perfectly content with only having one."
The doorbell interrupted their conversation and Takeshi excused himself.
Rei's heart began to beat a little faster and her stomach clenched. She wondered if she would feel like this all evening long: tense, anxious, worried. If it were them, they wouldn't ring. Minako has a key. Calm down, calm down.
When the door opened to reveal Hiromasa and Makoto, she let out a deep breath of relief. Hiromasa was dressed in a white shirt, his sports jacket already slung over his shoulder. He really hated dressing up, and while both Mamoru and Takeshi were wearing ties, no such article of clothing would find its way around Hiromasa's neck.
Usagi had abandoned Mamoru and the pictures and popped up next to her. Her voice was sweet and smooth; it never failed to calm Rei.
"Rei, don't worry. It's just a dinner. Two hours. You don't even have to talk to him, Takeshi made sure that you are seated at opposite ends of the table."
Verifying this new piece of information, she peered into the dining room. The large oak table Minako had bought three months ago was beautifully set, lots of gold, crystal and candles. Each place was adorned with a small place card, and even from the distance she could tell that the handwriting wasn't Minako's. It was small, messy and with lots of edges; presumably Takeshi's. If Takeshi was in charge of the seating arrangements, there wouldn't be any unwelcome surprises. Relieved, she turned to Usagi again. Her friend had abandoned her signature hairstyle tonight and opted for a sleek ponytail. It was a look that suited her, and Rei secretly wondered if Usagi felt that she was now too old for the odangos. She reached for the ponytail and tugged it with playful fingers.
"Looks good."
The beaming smile that spread across Usagi's face told her how much the blonde appreciated the compliment.
"I was going for something else, a change. Felt that it was high time, you know?"
Fingering a strand of her own hair, long and unchanged for years, she smiled.
"Yes, I know." Change was good, change was necessary. But then why did she feel as if she had lost the ground under her feet in the past months? What had started as a necessity, as something good, had turned into punishment before she knew it and now it seemed to late to reverse it. How could she have abandoned her only family like that? Rei bit down on her bottom lip, and pushed these bitter thoughts from her mind. No sense ruining Minako's birthday party before it even started.
Hiromasa came over and hugged Usagi, offering his hand to Rei. The wedding band glinted as it caught a ray of light from the lamp. His eyes stayed on the women for only a minute before straying to the empty dog basket, his large face full of disappointment.
"Hey, where's the little one? I brought Spock so that they could play!" Behind him, Makoto snorted.
Takeshi handed him a glass of whiskey. "Little?" Hiromasa accepted the drink and grinned.
"Still haven't gotten over yourself? Your dog is nice, mate, he really is. Better behaved than mine, ask my wife." There was pride in his voice, and it endeared him to Rei. "Does he have a name yet?" Usagi quipped, but Takeshi only shook his head, making it clear that he was done talking about the dog.
"How is your business going, Hiromasa? Makoto mentioned that you secured a very wealthy customer recently who wants only your furniture in his three houses." Grinning, Usagi wandered off to Ami and Umino again. Takeshi was really nice, but he just wasn't any fun. Hiromasa however stayed, and so did the grin on his face.
"Changing the subject much? And just so you know, if your girlfriend were a little less vindictive, that customer would have been you." Clearly not willing to talk about the dog or discuss Minako's attitude towards Hiromasa, Takeshi broached a new topic.
"How do you like the whiskey?"
Hiromasa took a sip of the drink and made an impressed face. "I want a bottle of this for Christmas. And as long as you're not vile to the dog, we're good."
"I'm ignoring the thing as long as I can and consider your Christmas wish duly noted."
At that moment, Minako, Ando and the dog burst into the room. Minako was all smiles and immediately began to hug her guests while Ando walked over to Mamoru and took the glass right out of his hands. The Great Dane trotted over to Takeshi and immediately sat down on his shoes.
The dinner went... well, it went the way one would expect it to go.
Rei, carefully placed between Usagi and Makoto, had managed about three spoonfuls of her pumpkin soup, taken two full bites of the bread that rested on her plate and awaited the main course with dread. At least Minako hadn't cooked, that would have been fatal. All the food had been delivered from a five star restaurant in the city centre, but they had not hired any waiters for the evening because they had too many secrets to keep and wished to speak freely on a night like this. So Minako and Takeshi acted as waiters, with the result that the side of the table that was served by Takeshi got their food while it was still hot and the side that was served by Minako had it spilled over lovingly ironed shirts and carefully chosen dresses. Ami had offered to take over, and so had Makoto, but Minako was nothing if not insistent.
At the opposite end of the table, cushioned between Minako and Umino, Ando ate quietly. His eyes had not yet strayed from his plate, and he didn't even try to join in on the conversation. Dressed up for the occasion, he was wearing one of the suits his father kept giving him for Christmas each year in a fruitless attempt to lure him into the corporate world. That the dark blue shirt Minako had forced him to wear belonged to Takeshi was something he had only figured out when Takeshi welcomed him and murmured in his ear: "I want that back, and don't even think about throwing it on your filthy floor when you get home."
In the kitchen, Minako and Takeshi were just about to cut up the roast beef when he took her hand and pressed it to his lips.
"Minako." She was wearing a little black dress that clung to her curves in all the right places. The locket he had given her rested between her breasts; it was the only piece of jewellery she wore. He had a hard time looking anywhere but at her all night long, which had made serving a soup course considerably difficult.
"Hmm?"
"Happy birthday." And with that, he kissed her. It was the sort of kiss that left her short of breath, made her toes curl, her heart flutter, her brain melt. It was the sort of kiss that left Minako wishing that all of her friends would just leave immediately so that Takeshi could have his wicked way with her right then and there on the kitchen floor. It was the sort of kiss that had made her addicted to him when she was still a goddess and he a warrior in a magical kingdom high up in the sky.
He broke the kiss, and ran a hand through her golden curls. Stepping away from him, she straightened her dress and tried to remember how exactly one went about breathing.
"Unfair."
His face gave nothing away.
"I don't know what you're talking about it."
"You did that thing. That thing with your tongue."
"I wasn't aware that I did things with my tongue that my tongue wasn't supposed to do. I thought the whole point of kissing was to do things with your tongue."
She swatted him with a kitchen towel, her cheeks reddened.
"Spare me the act, mock innocence doesn't suit you. And just so you know: as soon as they're all gone, you and I are going to the bedroom. And we're not coming out until my birthday is over."
"While this sounds like a wonderful plan, you forgot that your dog will need to be taken for a walk. So the bedroom will have to wait, won't it?"
And with a smirk, he took the plate with the roast on it and carried it to their guests.
In the kitchen, Minako cursed.
"Stupid, fucking dog."
The stupid, fucking dog was actually busy playing with Spock under the table, every once in a while bumping into someone's leg. Of course, Hiromasa had insisted on bringing Spock. Much to Makoto's dismay, he took him everywhere. The supermarket, restaurants, to his parents, to their friends, to the café... everywhere. But to her great surprise, Ando had also taken to the long-eared animal. He loved taking him and Minako's dog for long walks, even in the rain, and Hiromasa was beginning to get jealous. Privately, Makoto thought it was all getting a bit out of hand, but she loved her husband and was sure that she had several little quirks that he took in stride to be with her, so she smiled and petted and focused on the cuteness rather than the countless things Spock had destroyed by chewing on and slobbering all over them.
Takeshi however was not so willing to take it all in stride; not used to being defied all that often, he was seriously upset. A week into the Great Dane's residence in his house, the architect stormed outside in the garden and only returned when a perfectly adequate doghouse stood under the apple tree. Minako - deeply offended that her beloved pet was supposed to stay anywhere but near her - crossed her arms over her chest and coldly asked Takeshi to knock the construction down again. The two of them had then argued until the dog hid under the couch, scared of the angry voices. Of course, it refused to come out until Minako dangled the steak that was supposed to be Takeshi's dinner in front of its nose. In an otherwise happy home, the dog was a constant source of friction and while taking a bite of her broccoli, Makoto wondered whether or not to suggest to Minako to give the pet away for the sake of her relationship. Then her eyes strayed to her husband, who was sneaking the two dogs under the table some bits of roast beef from his plate while pretending to listen to Umino's tale of how the bathroom in the apartment of filth had been reclaimed through magic powers only and Makoto Obuchi decided that Takeshi would very simple have to get over himself.
It was during dessert that the bombed dropped.
Ando cleared his throat, and the table fell instinctively silent. So far both Ando and Rei had been quiet, letting the conversation float around them without joining in.
"So Rei... I heard that you have a new job."
A tiny part of Rei knew that he had waited until she had finally taken the first bite of birthday cake, just so that he could see her choke on it. Whether it was revenge or his own brand of humour, she couldn't tell. Swallowing down the chocolate cake that now tasted like lead, she forced a smile on her face. Under the table, Makoto put a soothing hand on Rei's thigh and squeezed.
"I work in an antique shop now. It's different, but I quite like it."
He nodded and took a sip of his red wine before turning his overly bright eyes back on her face. Not even the other eight people in the room could make this moment anything other than their own. He was challenging her, finally casting his submissive suffering aside like an old cloak.
"And what does your grandfather make of it? He must miss you at the temple."
Her fork slid out of her hand and fell on her plate with a soft clank. Briefly wondering whether he had read her face or her mind, she closed her eyes. The image of her grandfather was so clear now, it was just as present as the pictures of Minako and Takeshi on the wall behind her. Jadeite had found her soft spot and pushed the dagger in - again. Sliding her chair back, she looked at Minako once before leaving the room in measured steps. They heard the front door close soon after that.
Umino was the first to break the silence that had settled over the table.
"And that was necessary how?"
Ando simply shrugged, and began to toy with his empty pack of cigarettes.
November
Sitting cross-legged on the desk in his study, Minako was talking animatedly; effectively drowning the sound of Mozart in the background. Takeshi sat on the chair in front of the cherry wood desk and eyed her with little contained impatience. That she was sitting on the first draft of the design for a new building didn't make it any better.
"She is the sort of person who kicks puppies. No, wait. She's the sort of person who eats puppies."
"Minako."
"Actually, she's the sort of person who takes a bite out of a sweet little puppy, watches it bleed to death and then goes to get herself some tofu for lunch. That's what she' s like."
He reached over and pushed her a little to the side to retrieve the precious sketch before she crumpled it even more. After storing it safely on one of the bookshelves on his left, his focus returned to the girl perched on his desk. "Minako, you mother can't be that bad. And right now, I don't mind meeting someone who can take Attila off my hands."
“First of all: that's not his name. And second: you haven't met her yet.”
“My point exactly.”
“Takeshi, please. Let's stay here. Or let's go and look at your new project. Ooh, that really big house? Shall we go there? You like houses, you're an architect.”
“Minako, I want to get to know your family. Is that so hard to understand?” Meeting his eyes, she could tell that he was exasperated. This unusual look on his handsome features might have swayed her, had it not been her mother they were talking about. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “Yes, it is. There are about five million things that are more fun than meeting my family, including, but not limited to: walking barefoot over broken beer bottles, jumping off a cliff, killing a youma, being dead, being reborn, being hungry and let's not forget arguing with Rei about Ando. Or with Ando about Rei. And I know what I'm talking about, all of that has already happened to me. Some of it even more than once. So please, don't make me meet my mother.”
Something in the air shifted, ad he looked as if he just had an epiphany of the darkest sort.
"Is this relationship something you're ashamed of?"
"Wait, what? No!" She nearly laughed at the absurdity of the idea, but the grave expression on his face killed the laughter in her throat before it could resonate off the cream coloured walls. "But my mother is ashamed of me and I'd rather not introduce you. The thought that she and I share some genetic make-up is scary. Really, you don't want to meet her. Trust me."
"Fine."
He got up and walked out of his study, hollering "Attila!" as he went. The puppy - already taller than many fully-grown dogs - raced after him and knocked over a potted plant in the process.
Stomping her foot, Minako shouted: "AND HIS NAME IS NOT ATTILA!"
When Takeshi got home, it was already dark, which wasn't saying much since it was November. He commanded the dog to its basket and climbed up the stairs to their bedroom, knowing that Minako was waiting for him there. Opening the door, he fully expected her to throw something at him, but found her sitting in the middle of the gigantic bed, nose in a picture album. She was dressed in some old girly pyjamas, their legs too short and the prints already fading. Had he been more familiar with popular culture, he would have recognised the print as Princess Peach from Super Mario.
"Minako..."
"We're driving over to my parents on Sunday. Dinner. I'd tell you to dress nice, but then you always do, so it would be rather pointless, wouldn't it?" He placed a quiet kiss on her head. "Thank you."
Her voice was flat, and the evenness in it didn't suit her. "I don't like being emotionally blackmailed. Take that as a reference for the future and get in bed. I'm tired."
She kicked the photo album to the floor, looking absurdly pleased as she watched some pictures fly out of it and scrambled under the covers so that only the top of her head was visible.
"Minako, it's not even eight o'clock."
"So?"
Torn between amusement and anger, Takeshi picked the album and the loose pictures up on his way to the bathroom and put the recovered memorabilia on a chest of dressers. While he itched to look through it to see what had made her so angry, he knew that it was not his place to do so. He took a long hot shower to get the late autumn chill out of his bones and put on a fresh pair of pyjamas. Sniffing them, he noticed that Minako had changed the detergent from the plain one he used to buy during his bachelor days to something more flowery. It smelled nice; homey and familiar. When he climbed into the bed, he reached for her and pulled her close. Her voice was muffled against his chest as she spoke.
"My mother and I don't get along."
"I figured."
"And she doesn't know about the whole senshi business, so we need to come up with a realistic story of how we met." It was almost no longer strange to acknowledge that their origins lay in another world and time. Both could make it sound as if they were at ease with it, and yet, in the darkness of the night, the ghosts of Kunzite and Venus in their most sinister versions came to wreck havoc on Takeshi's soul. Forcing the past away from him, he clung to their present.
"That should be easy. We were introduced by mutual friends - Makoto and Hiromasa."
"And the dog's name is not-"
"Attila. I get it."
They fell asleep huddled up against each another.
Sunday came too soon for Minako's liking. The dog had been taken over to Makoto's and Hiromasa's place, where he would stay for the evening. Hiromasa was over the moon and had taken the two pets and Ando for a long walk as soon as a visibly relieved Takeshi shoved the Great Dane into his arms. Makoto had smiled sweetly and told Takeshi that she would send him a bill for everything his pet destroyed.
Takeshi was now killing time in his study, hunched over maps and ground evaluation charts while he waited for Minako to get ready. She had been in the bathroom for at least two hours now, changing both her hair and her make-up several times before eventually settling on a bun, some barely there blush and mascara. Every lipstick she owned seemed too bright, every eye shadow too colourful. Most of her dresses seemed too bohemian, jeans were not chic enough and unfortunately, she just didn't have any potato sacks handy. Not that it mattered how she looked, her mother would disapprove anyway.
Dressed in a beige cashmere jumper her mother had given her for her birthday a few years ago and some boring black trousers and ballet shoes, she tapped her boyfriend on the shoulder.
"Ready."
When Takeshi's BMW came to a halt in front of her parents' house, Minako sunk deeper into the passenger seat. Her mood was already spectacularly bad, she was a volcano waiting to erupt and Takeshi was aware that she would make him pay for every minute they would spent in the quaint looking house in the Juban district. The bare trees visible behind walls and houses spoke of a winter that was already lurking around the corner.
"Shall we go in?"
"Stupid question. You were so keen to meet her, so why don't you go ahead? I'll take the time to redirect the exhaust pipe into the passenger cabin and end my misery."
"Minako, you are not eleven years old."
"And you're not fifty and yet you behave like it."
"I'm not arguing with you."
"Coward."
"Don't push me." It never ceased to amaze her how cold his voice could get, and how quickly at that. All that cool, calm, collected nonsense that everyone associated with him was actually quite ridiculous, Minako thought viciously. He had even more of a temper than she did, he just hid it better.
They were interrupted by a knock on the window. A woman with a blonde bob and piercing blue eyes stared into the car, her smile a tad too wide on her carefully made up face. She wore the same jumper Minako had put on with so much distaste half an hour earlier. The woman pointed to the house first, to her daughter second and then turned and walked up the driveway again.
Minako sighed and stated the obvious. "That was my mother. She wants us to get out of the car and come inside."
"We are ten minutes early." Takeshi shifted in his seat. He had calculated that he would need at least ten minutes to get Minako out of the car in the first place, hence the early arrival.
"Try telling her that, I dare you. Come on, she's waiting."
Minako's father was actually fairly pleasant, Takeshi realised. The older man had made conversation with him as soon as they stepped through the door, chatting easily about both the city and the weather, and inquiring in the most polite manner what he did for a living. Hearing that Takeshi was an architect seemed to please Mr. Aino and they delved into a long-winded conversation about a new shopping centre that was being built near the suburbs. In the kitchen, Minako helped her mother prepare the dinner. She would have rather stayed with Takeshi and her dad, but figured that ten minutes into the meeting was presumably not the right time to start an argument about how much she hated cutting vegetables.
"How are your studies going?" After five months of virtually no contact, Minako wondered whether her mother couldn't have started with another question. Frowning, she stopped hacking the carrots.
"Okay." Not satisfied, her mother pressed on while checking the roast pork in the oven. A wonderful smell wafted through the kitchen. While Minako resented many things her mother did, her cooking was not among them.
"How many classes do you take?"
"Six. No wait, seven. I have to retake one that I failed last semester."
"I always told you that you can't expect to pass your exams if you're being lazy." Mrs. Aino peeled some potatoes with practised ease, all the while looking at her daughter.
"I wasn't, I just missed too much near the end of the semester because I wasn't on campus enough."
"And why is that?" Mrs. Aino turned the kitchen light on, and it caught in the pearl earrings she wore.
"A friend of mine needed my help; I flew to New York and didn't return for two months. Do you need me to cut more carrots?"
"No, but the pieces need to be smaller, do it again. Which friend was it? Usagi? She's such a flighty girl."
"Mother, Usagi isn't flighty, she's married. And no, it wasn't her, it was another friend; one you don't know."
"Does that friend have a name?"
"Ando."
"That's a boy." Mrs. Aino stopped dead in her tracks.
"Yep."
"But not the one who's talking to your father right now."
"Nope."
"Minako..." There it was, the fully disapproving voice that usually made her run for the hills in seconds. Only the fact that Takeshi was sitting in the living-room made her stay put; his comment about her behaving like a child had struck a chord, so Minako decided to demonstrate patience and control.
"It's not like that. Ando's a friend of Takeshi's, too."
Huffing, her mother turned her back on her daughter. "You need to get your hair cut."
"I'm wearing it in a bun, how can you tell that it needs cutting?"
"Your hair always needs cutting, you wear it far too long. And now get going on those carrots, or we won't be able to have any for dinner."
When the small group finally assembled at the table, Mrs. Aino took the opportunity to quiz her daughter some more.
"When did you last clean your flat?" Takeshi subtly looked around, noticing that everything was tidy and very, very clean. A bit like his old penthouse, actually.
"I don't live in my flat any more, Mum. I moved." Her father smiled. "That's good for you, honey." Her mother, on the other hand, was less pleased. Her knife made a screeching sound as she cut her potato with a little more force than necessary. "Well, thank you for notifying me."
Trying to be helpful, Takeshi cut in. Since his own mother died when he was seven and his father followed her to the grave ten years later, he couldn't understand Minako's neglectful attitude towards her parents. Still, he felt the need to defend her. "Minako and I moved in together at the beginning of autumn, and since she has organised the move, she was very busy."
"You moved in together? Mr. Nakamura, how long have you been seeing my daughter?" There it was, the scandalised voice. Oh, Minako knew it so well. She looked at her father, checking that he wouldn't suddenly display an unusual surge of parental protection, but only found the older man happily munching his pork. He really did have the blithest temper.
Minako pushed the vegetables around on her plate until they formed a perfect triangle and answered before Takeshi could. "February."
Mrs. Aino looked at Takeshi. He noticed that very much like her daughter, the older woman had barely touched her food. She was skinny, and now that she was leaning over the table towards him, she looked distinctly birdlike. "Is that so? Minako never mentioned you."
"Might be because I never call," Minako injected sweetly. Takeshi shot her a warning glance, one that didn't go unnoticed by Mrs. Aino. The older woman laughed; it sounded bitter.
"Well, my daughter is a handful. Always has been, even as a little girl she was a horribly difficult child. But then you might be able to tame her, Lord knows I haven't been able to."
"I'm not a horse." Pushing her plate back, Minako glared at her mother.
"Of course you're not, sweetie." Her father reassured, ever so diplomatic. If only he had more backbone, she might even come to visit more than twice a year, Minako thought as took a sip of her water.
"Mr. Nakamura, I hope she contributes to the expenses. I hate to say this about my own child, but Minako can be very self-centred and I would hate to have her take advantage of you. You seem like such a nice man. Please let us know if there is something we can do."
Lowering his fork, Takeshi forced a smile on his face. Mr. Aino awkwardly waved the bread basket in front of his daughter's face, trying to distract her from carrying out the desperate wish to murder her mother. Mrs. Aino however was undeterred.
"Do you have a job?" Toying with the stem of her glass, Minako remained silent. She remembered meeting Ando's parents and wondered how she could have ever thought them to be worse than her own mother.
"I asked you whether or not you have a job."
"Nope."
"How did you finance your old flat?" Moving the glass around a little faster, a bit of her water sloshed over the brim and soaked the white tablecloth.
"I just did." For once, Minako wished that she could tell her mother that she was in fact stinking rich. But how exactly did you tell your mother that you were a reborn soldier goddess of a forgotten kingdom from another planet who conveniently managed to turn her alter ego into a computer game heroine? So instead, she shrugged and kept her secrets, just like she had since the day Artemis strolled into her life.
"You are infuriating."
"Do you want me to share some details of my life with you? Fine. I have a dog. Actually, we have a dog."
Remembering three pairs of destroyed shoes, the large stain on the rug in his study and dog hairs on the couch, Takeshi put on a deadpan face and nodded. "His name is Attila." Minako looked at him, jaw slack, all good resolutions forgotten and exploded, knocking her glass over in the process.
"HIS NAME IS NOT ATTILA!" Her mother followed suit.
"I DID NOT RAISE YOU TO SHOUT AT THE DINNER TABLE!"
Mr. Aino took another bite of his pork, a delighted if distant expression on his friendly face and Takeshi noted with somewhat grim satisfaction that the bloody dog had finally been good for something.