Where's Rei? (light and dark versions)
This is a story that I immediately had two versions for. I couldn't decide which one I liked more, although I'm partial to the happy one, so I'm posting them both. The second one hurt me a lot to write, but I did it anyway. The beginning is exactly the same for them both, but they turn out drastically different.
Where's Rei?
Disclaimer: When I own Sailor Moon, I'll let you know. I'm trying to get Takeuchi-san to negotiate with me, but she's not too keen on doing business with a teen it seems...
"Rei!" Minako sighed as she came down. She could have sworn that orgasms lasted much longer when the object of her affection was an active participant in teasing her just the way she liked. She could never seem to tease herself; her need to be sated was too strong for her to ignore herself.
Minako wouldn't lie, she missed her girlfriend whenever she was away. Hell, she missed her when she was in a different room, but this time, she didn't even know where her lover was. No one would tell Minako, and despite her evesdropping, she could find no information about where the miko had gone. Not even Rei would tell her on their short phone conversations. She was damn near ready to pull rank on someone. She needed to know where her Reiko was!
Minako thought about it. Had she known where Rei was, she would have snuck off countless times to see (and fuck) her girlfriend. Instead, she was loaded down with duty and responsibility by her queen. It kept her mind occupied, and the weight of her tasks wouldn't allow for her mind to wander either way. If someone had told Minako as a teen that Usagi would grow up to be an evil genius, she would not have believed them. Now, she contemplated stealing one of Setsuna's time keys and gonig back to warn herself. That way she would at least know when she would be missing her lovely Rei-chan.
The woman was lonely! This has to be the cruelest punishment Usagi had ever given her! She hadn't done anything exceptionally bad. It wasn't her fault Mamoru had bad balance and liked to gaze off into space near fountains. How was she supposed to know that Mamoru couldn't swim? Really! The seven hunderd fourty six year old, king of the freaking earth, king of the freaking solar system, for crying out loud, who is fucking the most powerful woman ever on a regular, damn near daily basis, and almost dies drowning in water! It really is a shame.
Minako might have been in less trouble had she helped the king and not stood there laughing at the poor man spluttering about in the water. The queen felt his distress and teleported to the scene immediately, saving the king from the water and giving Minako a look strong enough to stop her laughter, and probably make even Rei cower in fear. The queen teleported to her room, and Minako walked back to the castly slowly to wait outside the queens door for her punishment. Where she had expected to be put on duty patrolling the Time Gates in Setsuna's place, she found out instead that she was to carry on with her duties as normal.
Strangely relieved, she found out that night that Rei would be leaving to go to the Americas for a while to observe the strange fires that had been appearing there. Minako understood that the miko's job entailed that, and so she was okay with Rei leaving.
That was over a month ago. Minako knew the queen and king were upset, and she knew everyone was under strict orders not to tell her where her love really was (she wasn't anywhere in either of the Americas; Minako had teleported all over that place trying to find her), but this wasn't any fair to her Reiko. Did anyone think about how she was feeling? Her poor Rei was being deprived of her presence for such a long time. With Minako's luck, her girlfriend had probably reverted back to the introverted prude she had been before Minako broke her free from her posh ways.
With a huff, Minako teleported outside of Ami's room. It was time to pull rank, and Ami was the perfect person to start with. While she was no where near being the quiet, shy, reserved person she had been over 700 years ago, she was still the most likely to cave in to Minako. Other than Rei, of course, but Rei had an escape route. Ami didn't.
Minako knocked politely and waited for Ami's answer. After a few seconds, she knocked again, and when no reply came, she walked into the room. The empty room.
Minako decided to go to Makoto's room next. She would have knocked, but the brunette sounded busy. She now knew why Ami wasn't in her room, the naughty little sphinx. Minako wished she could draw sounds like that from her Reiko at that moment. Having no time to be distracted, she continued on her journey.
Her stop at the wind senshi's door revealed her to be preoccupied with the ocean senshi, and the stoic time guardian may or may not have answered her questions. Minako would never know. Only Setsuna and her eyebrows knew, and neither spoke a language with which the blond was familiar.
There was only one place left to go. Oh, how she dreaded to go there. No it was not the room of the king and queen. It was the room of the now aging pink haired brat. If anyone would tell, it would be her, if only to spite her parents. Minako would have conferred with the teen long before now, but she knew that all her answers came at a price.
Sighing, she raised her hand and knocked on the pink door. There was a slight pause before the door cracked slightly, light pouring from the opening into the dark hall and a red eye peering out at Minako in the darkness. "What do you need, Venus?"
"I need to ask you something extremely important. May I come in, Chibi-Usa?"
The youger woman opened the door wide enough for the older to enter, and they seated themselves in the room. "What is it that you could possible need to ask me, Venus? Why don't you ask one of the other senshi, or maybe my parents? Surely they could help you better than I could."
"Not with this. I need to know where Rei is."
"Why don't you know? Everyone knows."
"You're mother is trying to punish me. She won't tell me where Rei is or when Rei is coming back."
"When she's-- Venus, Mars hasn't gone anywhere. Have you checked her room? That's where she was when I last checked. I know she hasn't missed any of my lessons, no matter how much I wish she would. She can be down right mean when it comes to... Venus?" The blond had torn off in a flurry for Rei's room.
Venus didn't knock when she returned to the teens room. "She's not in there! Where is she really, Chibi-Usa?! Tell me the truth!"
"I can't, Venus. I wish I could, but I can't. While you're in trouble, I'm not. I don't know how long this will last, but I'll be damned if I don't enjoy it. I do feel bad for you, though."
"Chibi-Usa, if you don't tell me where Rei is, I swear that anything your mother has ever done to you will seem like a kiss on the cheek! Tell me!"
"You- you can't threaten me! You're my mother's senshi!"
"I know who I am, little woman, and if you don't tell me what I want to know, you won't live to tell about it!"
Minako sent her chain to tie up the girl. She grabbed her and sat her on the bed. "I'm going to ask you one more time, Chibi-Usa! Where is my Reiko?"
Chibi-Usa looked over Minako's shoulder meaningfully and said, "She's back, she's right behind you, and I think you're still in trouble."
Minako felt like crying. Rei was gone again, and she hadn't gotten to play with her miko even once. She couldn't believe that her lover would snitch on her. It was a sad day for Minako.
Usagi, however, was having a lot of fun playing with her fiery senshi. She didn't want to punish Rei for Minako's mistakes, of course.
Rei felt bad for her girlfriend. When would she learn to stop upsetting the royal family? Until she did, she would be the queen's and king's captive. Not that she minded in the least.
The other senshi were beginning to wonder whether Minako would figure out that Rei was in the queens chambers, and had been the entire time. Mumbling to themselves, they minded their own business. No one needed their partners captive in there... Besides, Minako needed to learn to stop upsetting the queen.
DARK VERSION
"Rei!" Minako sighed as she came down. She could have sworn that orgasms lasted much longer when the object of her affection was an active participant in teasing her just the way she liked. She could never seem to tease herself; her need to be sated was too strong for her to ignore herself.
Minako wouldn't lie, she missed her girlfriend whenever she was away. Hell, she missed her when she was in a different room, but this time, she didn't even know where her lover was. No one would tell Minako, and despite her evesdropping, she could find no information about where the miko had gone. Not even Rei would tell her on their short phone conversations. She was damn near ready to pull rank on someone. She needed to know where her Reiko was!
Minako thought about it. Had she known where Rei was, she would have snuck off countless times to see (and fuck) her. Instead, she was loaded down with duty and responsibility by her queen. It kept her mind occupied, and the weight of her tasks wouldn't allow for her mind to wander either way. If someone had told Minako as a teen that Usagi would grow up to be an evil genius, she would not have believed them. Now, she contemplated stealing one of Setsuna's time keys and gonig back to warn herself. That way she would at least know when she would be missing her lovely Rei-chan.
The woman was lonely! This has to be the cruelest punishment Serenity had ever given her! She hadn't done anything exceptionally bad. It wasn't her fault Mamoru had bad balance and liked to gaze off into space near fountains. How was she supposed to know that Mamoru couldn't swim? Really! The seven hunderd fourty six year old, king of the freaking earth, king of the freaking solar system, for crying out loud, who is fucking the most powerful woman ever on a regular, damn near daily basis, and almost dies in water! It really is a shame.
Minako might have been in less trouble had she helped the king and not stood there laughing at the poor man spluttering about in the water. The queen felt his distress and teleported to the scene immediately, saving the king from the water and giving Minako a look strong enough to stop her laughter, and probably make even Rei cower in fear. The queen teleported to her room, and Minako walked back to the castly slowly to wait outside the queens door for her punishment. Where she had expected to be put on duty patrolling the Time Gates in Setsuna's place, she found out instead that she was to carry on with her duties as normal.
Strangely relieved, she found out that night that Rei would be leaving to go to the Americas for a while to observe the strange fires that had been appearing there. Minako understood that the miko's job entailed that, and so she was okay with Rei leaving.
That was over a month ago. Minako knew the queen and king were upset, and she knew everyone was under strict orders not to tell her where her love really was (she wasn't anywhere in either of the Americas; Minako had teleported all over that place trying to find her), but this wasn't any fair to her Reiko. Did anyone think about how she was feeling? Her poor Rei was being deprived of her presence for such a long time. With Minako's luck, her girlfriend had probably reverted back to the introverted prude she had been before Minako broke her free from her posh ways.
With a huff, Minako teleported outside of Ami's room. It was time to pull rank, and Ami was the perfect person to start with. While she was no where near being the quiet, shy, reserved person she had been over 700 years ago, she was still the most likely to cave in to Minako. Other than Rei, of course, but Rei had an escape route. Ami didn't.
Minako raised her hand to knock, but when she heard the hushed voices, she hesitated. Since she couldn't decifer anything she was hearing, she decided to actually knock. The voices silenced, until she heard someone call, "It's open, Minako. Come in." It wasn't Ami.
Minako walked in talking, "Ami, I've come in here to pull rank. I need to know-- Wait, where's Ami? What's going on?" Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna were in Ami's room, but the blunette was no where to be seen. The three who were there had varying looks of pity on their faces, but none seemed to want to speak.
"Why are you three in here? What happened? One of you fucking answer me!"
Setsuna spoke first, "Minako, please try to be rational."
"Don't tell me to be rational! I'm horny, I'm going batshit insain dealing with matters of state 10 to 12 hours a day, I miss my Reiko and no one seems inclined to tell me where the hell she has gotten off to, and now you three are in Ami's room, when no one ever comes in Ami's room except Ami, and you're acting all stoic and not telling me why the hell you're in here! I need answers, and since you three are here, I want them from you. Tell me what I want to know. Don't make me chain you together!"
The three exchanged a look; the girl really was going batshit insain. Michiru then said, "I think you need to talk to the queen about this one, Minako. We're not authorized to tell you anything we know. If you learn anything, it will be from her."
Minako glared at the trio for a few more seconds, then disappeard in a flurry of gold.
When she arrived outside the queens' door, someone else was already waiting for the queen. It was the person she had gone looking for in the first place, Ami. When Minako appeared, the smaller woman seemed to become nervous. Minako turned to her and was about to ask why, when the door opened.
The queen stood there looking at her two senshi. "I thought I asked you to come alone, Mercury."
The water senshi nodded. "Yes, my queen, and I did. She appeared her right before you opened the door."
The queen turned a stern glance in Minako's direction. "I do believe I have warned you about teleporting in front of peoples' rooms, have I not, Venus?" Upon hearing her formal name, she realized that she was in for a formal reprimanding.
'I suppose I won't be having a vacation anytime soon...,' Minako thought grimly. "I do apologize, my queen, but I have come because of something highly important."
The queen gave her head senshi a look, then moved and let both women into her room. "Mercury, you may go into my main chamber; the others are waiting for you there." When the senshi of water left, Serenity turned to her remaining senshi. She spoke softly. "Why did you come, Minako?"
Minako relaxed, knowing that she wasn't in trouble for her slip up earlier. "My queen," at Serenity's look she smiled. The time for being proper was not now. "Usagi, I miss my Reiko! I've been a month without her hugs, and kisses, and touches, and I need her back! I need her in my arms again. I know I've been being punished these past few weeks, but I really miss my love. There is only so much I can take before I go insain from the loneliness, and horniness, and insain amount of work that I have to do! I need her to come back to me. At least tell me where she is! Please! I need to see my Reiko."
It took all of Serenity's will power to keep from crying for her senshi. She didn't trust herself to speak, so she help up her hand indicating for Minako to wait where she was. When Serenity returned, the rest of her guard came with her. There was one notable exception. "What's going on? Why are all of you in here? Will one of you tell me where Reiko is, now? Please?"
They all stood silently, except for Serenity, who cried into her husbands shoulder. "Please! Don't stand there and be stoic! Don't deny me this any more! I only want to know where she is!"
No one appeared to be on the verge of speaking, and that infuriated Minako. Until Mercury dropped her head. A single tear fell from her eye, and Jupiter put her hand on the slight woman's shoulder. This motion caused Mercury to turn and cry into Jupiter's arms, much the same way Serenity cried into Endymion's arms. The outer senshi said nothing, but they all hang their heads as well.
Minako claimed to be a rather smart individual, but she didn't want to believe what her comrads' actions were telling her. Eventually, words spoke louder than actions.
Saturn stepped forward, obviously the most composed person in the room, and the one who had been selected to pass the news on to Minako. Hotaru had grown into a beautiful woman, but no one liked to hear Saturn speak. Just the fact that she was about to say something meant that there had been a grave, if not deadly situation. She let Minako have one more moment of partial ignorance before she spoke.
"Venus." Saturn never spoke to their civilian forms. This senshi demanded formality at all times. She could keep even the most rougish individual in check. "This news is devestating; for all of us, but I'm sure it shall be even moreso for you. None of us were sure how you would handle it, so we've kept it from you for a while. It seems that we can keep you sheltered from this truth no longer.
"This will be hard for you as leader of the inner senshi, but it will be even harder for you as Minako. I reluctantly inform you that while Mars was away, there was an incident. All those with her died instantly. She would have too, had she not been a senshi, and had her group not protected her."
"So she's alive?!"
"Let me finish, Venus." Minako's face fell. That could not mean good news for her girlfriend. "She had minor injuries; had she been here, they would have been easily curable. Had Mars teleported back here immediately following the incident, as she was instructed by the queen and you, Venus, she would have been perfectly fine. As I'm sure you know, however, her pride did not let her do so.
"As I said, her wounds were minor. Senshi healing would have treated them in about a week or so, with proper rest. However, before her wounds closed, they got infected. It would have been curable, had she come home." Minako felt on the verge of tears. This speech could only come to one conclusion. She would never see her Reiko alive again.
Saturn continued undaunted, "She continued doing her job as we would all expect she would. After a week, she was too sick to teleport herself home." The first tear fell from Minako's eyes. If she had been told, she could have saved her. "Had any of us known, we would not have hesitated to try and get her. She would not tell us, however.
"We probably never would have found her body had the queen not felt her when she-"
"NO!" Minako's outburst startled no one, but did cease Saturn's words. "She's NOT dead! She's still alive, like she told me she would be! She's still alive for me! I know she is! How cruel of you to lie to me like that! How cruel of all of you to pull a prank like this one!
"She's still here! She's in that room you all came out of, waiting to tell me how stupid I am for falling for this! She's in her room! Or mine! Or kneeling by the sacred fire like she did as a teen! She's still alive, though! I know she is!
"She's too strong to stop living. She's too proud for death! You're all lying to me!"
Minako's words were killing the others. Her pain was tangible for all of them, but mostly for the queen
Usagi moved forward and wrapped her arms around Minako. "Minako," she spoke so only Minako could hear what she said, "I understand how you feel. I felt for Rei as much as you do. I'm so sorry."
Minako felt broken. "Why couldn't you save her? Did you even try to help her, Usagi? You can't use your crystal to bring her back? Have you tried?"
"I tried everything, Minako. There was a lot of toxin in her body when she died. Before anything could be done to revive her, she would have to have a purified body first. If we brought her back to that body, she would be in a lot of pain.
"Not only that, but there's something wrong with the crystal. It won't listen to me. I'm not sure if it's upset with me, or if it doesn't want to work for Rei but please believe that I've done everything I can to try and heal her."
Minako felt sick. Her legs gave out from under her, but she barely felt the pain in her knees when she hit the floor. She was vaguely aware of the arms wrapping around her, and the bodies close to her, and she knew that there were tears falling from her eyes, but she couldn't actively process any of that. She felt alone.
That was the last day Aino Minako ever lived. There was no more 'detransforming' for Venus. She only had one purpose in life: to protect her queen. Had it not been for that purpose, the woman probably would have never continued living at all.
Where's Rei?
Disclaimer: When I own Sailor Moon, I'll let you know. I'm trying to get Takeuchi-san to negotiate with me, but she's not too keen on doing business with a teen it seems...
"Rei!" Minako sighed as she came down. She could have sworn that orgasms lasted much longer when the object of her affection was an active participant in teasing her just the way she liked. She could never seem to tease herself; her need to be sated was too strong for her to ignore herself.
Minako wouldn't lie, she missed her girlfriend whenever she was away. Hell, she missed her when she was in a different room, but this time, she didn't even know where her lover was. No one would tell Minako, and despite her evesdropping, she could find no information about where the miko had gone. Not even Rei would tell her on their short phone conversations. She was damn near ready to pull rank on someone. She needed to know where her Reiko was!
Minako thought about it. Had she known where Rei was, she would have snuck off countless times to see (and fuck) her girlfriend. Instead, she was loaded down with duty and responsibility by her queen. It kept her mind occupied, and the weight of her tasks wouldn't allow for her mind to wander either way. If someone had told Minako as a teen that Usagi would grow up to be an evil genius, she would not have believed them. Now, she contemplated stealing one of Setsuna's time keys and gonig back to warn herself. That way she would at least know when she would be missing her lovely Rei-chan.
The woman was lonely! This has to be the cruelest punishment Usagi had ever given her! She hadn't done anything exceptionally bad. It wasn't her fault Mamoru had bad balance and liked to gaze off into space near fountains. How was she supposed to know that Mamoru couldn't swim? Really! The seven hunderd fourty six year old, king of the freaking earth, king of the freaking solar system, for crying out loud, who is fucking the most powerful woman ever on a regular, damn near daily basis, and almost dies drowning in water! It really is a shame.
Minako might have been in less trouble had she helped the king and not stood there laughing at the poor man spluttering about in the water. The queen felt his distress and teleported to the scene immediately, saving the king from the water and giving Minako a look strong enough to stop her laughter, and probably make even Rei cower in fear. The queen teleported to her room, and Minako walked back to the castly slowly to wait outside the queens door for her punishment. Where she had expected to be put on duty patrolling the Time Gates in Setsuna's place, she found out instead that she was to carry on with her duties as normal.
Strangely relieved, she found out that night that Rei would be leaving to go to the Americas for a while to observe the strange fires that had been appearing there. Minako understood that the miko's job entailed that, and so she was okay with Rei leaving.
That was over a month ago. Minako knew the queen and king were upset, and she knew everyone was under strict orders not to tell her where her love really was (she wasn't anywhere in either of the Americas; Minako had teleported all over that place trying to find her), but this wasn't any fair to her Reiko. Did anyone think about how she was feeling? Her poor Rei was being deprived of her presence for such a long time. With Minako's luck, her girlfriend had probably reverted back to the introverted prude she had been before Minako broke her free from her posh ways.
With a huff, Minako teleported outside of Ami's room. It was time to pull rank, and Ami was the perfect person to start with. While she was no where near being the quiet, shy, reserved person she had been over 700 years ago, she was still the most likely to cave in to Minako. Other than Rei, of course, but Rei had an escape route. Ami didn't.
Minako knocked politely and waited for Ami's answer. After a few seconds, she knocked again, and when no reply came, she walked into the room. The empty room.
Minako decided to go to Makoto's room next. She would have knocked, but the brunette sounded busy. She now knew why Ami wasn't in her room, the naughty little sphinx. Minako wished she could draw sounds like that from her Reiko at that moment. Having no time to be distracted, she continued on her journey.
Her stop at the wind senshi's door revealed her to be preoccupied with the ocean senshi, and the stoic time guardian may or may not have answered her questions. Minako would never know. Only Setsuna and her eyebrows knew, and neither spoke a language with which the blond was familiar.
There was only one place left to go. Oh, how she dreaded to go there. No it was not the room of the king and queen. It was the room of the now aging pink haired brat. If anyone would tell, it would be her, if only to spite her parents. Minako would have conferred with the teen long before now, but she knew that all her answers came at a price.
Sighing, she raised her hand and knocked on the pink door. There was a slight pause before the door cracked slightly, light pouring from the opening into the dark hall and a red eye peering out at Minako in the darkness. "What do you need, Venus?"
"I need to ask you something extremely important. May I come in, Chibi-Usa?"
The youger woman opened the door wide enough for the older to enter, and they seated themselves in the room. "What is it that you could possible need to ask me, Venus? Why don't you ask one of the other senshi, or maybe my parents? Surely they could help you better than I could."
"Not with this. I need to know where Rei is."
"Why don't you know? Everyone knows."
"You're mother is trying to punish me. She won't tell me where Rei is or when Rei is coming back."
"When she's-- Venus, Mars hasn't gone anywhere. Have you checked her room? That's where she was when I last checked. I know she hasn't missed any of my lessons, no matter how much I wish she would. She can be down right mean when it comes to... Venus?" The blond had torn off in a flurry for Rei's room.
Venus didn't knock when she returned to the teens room. "She's not in there! Where is she really, Chibi-Usa?! Tell me the truth!"
"I can't, Venus. I wish I could, but I can't. While you're in trouble, I'm not. I don't know how long this will last, but I'll be damned if I don't enjoy it. I do feel bad for you, though."
"Chibi-Usa, if you don't tell me where Rei is, I swear that anything your mother has ever done to you will seem like a kiss on the cheek! Tell me!"
"You- you can't threaten me! You're my mother's senshi!"
"I know who I am, little woman, and if you don't tell me what I want to know, you won't live to tell about it!"
Minako sent her chain to tie up the girl. She grabbed her and sat her on the bed. "I'm going to ask you one more time, Chibi-Usa! Where is my Reiko?"
Chibi-Usa looked over Minako's shoulder meaningfully and said, "She's back, she's right behind you, and I think you're still in trouble."
Minako felt like crying. Rei was gone again, and she hadn't gotten to play with her miko even once. She couldn't believe that her lover would snitch on her. It was a sad day for Minako.
Usagi, however, was having a lot of fun playing with her fiery senshi. She didn't want to punish Rei for Minako's mistakes, of course.
Rei felt bad for her girlfriend. When would she learn to stop upsetting the royal family? Until she did, she would be the queen's and king's captive. Not that she minded in the least.
The other senshi were beginning to wonder whether Minako would figure out that Rei was in the queens chambers, and had been the entire time. Mumbling to themselves, they minded their own business. No one needed their partners captive in there... Besides, Minako needed to learn to stop upsetting the queen.
DARK VERSION
"Rei!" Minako sighed as she came down. She could have sworn that orgasms lasted much longer when the object of her affection was an active participant in teasing her just the way she liked. She could never seem to tease herself; her need to be sated was too strong for her to ignore herself.
Minako wouldn't lie, she missed her girlfriend whenever she was away. Hell, she missed her when she was in a different room, but this time, she didn't even know where her lover was. No one would tell Minako, and despite her evesdropping, she could find no information about where the miko had gone. Not even Rei would tell her on their short phone conversations. She was damn near ready to pull rank on someone. She needed to know where her Reiko was!
Minako thought about it. Had she known where Rei was, she would have snuck off countless times to see (and fuck) her. Instead, she was loaded down with duty and responsibility by her queen. It kept her mind occupied, and the weight of her tasks wouldn't allow for her mind to wander either way. If someone had told Minako as a teen that Usagi would grow up to be an evil genius, she would not have believed them. Now, she contemplated stealing one of Setsuna's time keys and gonig back to warn herself. That way she would at least know when she would be missing her lovely Rei-chan.
The woman was lonely! This has to be the cruelest punishment Serenity had ever given her! She hadn't done anything exceptionally bad. It wasn't her fault Mamoru had bad balance and liked to gaze off into space near fountains. How was she supposed to know that Mamoru couldn't swim? Really! The seven hunderd fourty six year old, king of the freaking earth, king of the freaking solar system, for crying out loud, who is fucking the most powerful woman ever on a regular, damn near daily basis, and almost dies in water! It really is a shame.
Minako might have been in less trouble had she helped the king and not stood there laughing at the poor man spluttering about in the water. The queen felt his distress and teleported to the scene immediately, saving the king from the water and giving Minako a look strong enough to stop her laughter, and probably make even Rei cower in fear. The queen teleported to her room, and Minako walked back to the castly slowly to wait outside the queens door for her punishment. Where she had expected to be put on duty patrolling the Time Gates in Setsuna's place, she found out instead that she was to carry on with her duties as normal.
Strangely relieved, she found out that night that Rei would be leaving to go to the Americas for a while to observe the strange fires that had been appearing there. Minako understood that the miko's job entailed that, and so she was okay with Rei leaving.
That was over a month ago. Minako knew the queen and king were upset, and she knew everyone was under strict orders not to tell her where her love really was (she wasn't anywhere in either of the Americas; Minako had teleported all over that place trying to find her), but this wasn't any fair to her Reiko. Did anyone think about how she was feeling? Her poor Rei was being deprived of her presence for such a long time. With Minako's luck, her girlfriend had probably reverted back to the introverted prude she had been before Minako broke her free from her posh ways.
With a huff, Minako teleported outside of Ami's room. It was time to pull rank, and Ami was the perfect person to start with. While she was no where near being the quiet, shy, reserved person she had been over 700 years ago, she was still the most likely to cave in to Minako. Other than Rei, of course, but Rei had an escape route. Ami didn't.
Minako raised her hand to knock, but when she heard the hushed voices, she hesitated. Since she couldn't decifer anything she was hearing, she decided to actually knock. The voices silenced, until she heard someone call, "It's open, Minako. Come in." It wasn't Ami.
Minako walked in talking, "Ami, I've come in here to pull rank. I need to know-- Wait, where's Ami? What's going on?" Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna were in Ami's room, but the blunette was no where to be seen. The three who were there had varying looks of pity on their faces, but none seemed to want to speak.
"Why are you three in here? What happened? One of you fucking answer me!"
Setsuna spoke first, "Minako, please try to be rational."
"Don't tell me to be rational! I'm horny, I'm going batshit insain dealing with matters of state 10 to 12 hours a day, I miss my Reiko and no one seems inclined to tell me where the hell she has gotten off to, and now you three are in Ami's room, when no one ever comes in Ami's room except Ami, and you're acting all stoic and not telling me why the hell you're in here! I need answers, and since you three are here, I want them from you. Tell me what I want to know. Don't make me chain you together!"
The three exchanged a look; the girl really was going batshit insain. Michiru then said, "I think you need to talk to the queen about this one, Minako. We're not authorized to tell you anything we know. If you learn anything, it will be from her."
Minako glared at the trio for a few more seconds, then disappeard in a flurry of gold.
When she arrived outside the queens' door, someone else was already waiting for the queen. It was the person she had gone looking for in the first place, Ami. When Minako appeared, the smaller woman seemed to become nervous. Minako turned to her and was about to ask why, when the door opened.
The queen stood there looking at her two senshi. "I thought I asked you to come alone, Mercury."
The water senshi nodded. "Yes, my queen, and I did. She appeared her right before you opened the door."
The queen turned a stern glance in Minako's direction. "I do believe I have warned you about teleporting in front of peoples' rooms, have I not, Venus?" Upon hearing her formal name, she realized that she was in for a formal reprimanding.
'I suppose I won't be having a vacation anytime soon...,' Minako thought grimly. "I do apologize, my queen, but I have come because of something highly important."
The queen gave her head senshi a look, then moved and let both women into her room. "Mercury, you may go into my main chamber; the others are waiting for you there." When the senshi of water left, Serenity turned to her remaining senshi. She spoke softly. "Why did you come, Minako?"
Minako relaxed, knowing that she wasn't in trouble for her slip up earlier. "My queen," at Serenity's look she smiled. The time for being proper was not now. "Usagi, I miss my Reiko! I've been a month without her hugs, and kisses, and touches, and I need her back! I need her in my arms again. I know I've been being punished these past few weeks, but I really miss my love. There is only so much I can take before I go insain from the loneliness, and horniness, and insain amount of work that I have to do! I need her to come back to me. At least tell me where she is! Please! I need to see my Reiko."
It took all of Serenity's will power to keep from crying for her senshi. She didn't trust herself to speak, so she help up her hand indicating for Minako to wait where she was. When Serenity returned, the rest of her guard came with her. There was one notable exception. "What's going on? Why are all of you in here? Will one of you tell me where Reiko is, now? Please?"
They all stood silently, except for Serenity, who cried into her husbands shoulder. "Please! Don't stand there and be stoic! Don't deny me this any more! I only want to know where she is!"
No one appeared to be on the verge of speaking, and that infuriated Minako. Until Mercury dropped her head. A single tear fell from her eye, and Jupiter put her hand on the slight woman's shoulder. This motion caused Mercury to turn and cry into Jupiter's arms, much the same way Serenity cried into Endymion's arms. The outer senshi said nothing, but they all hang their heads as well.
Minako claimed to be a rather smart individual, but she didn't want to believe what her comrads' actions were telling her. Eventually, words spoke louder than actions.
Saturn stepped forward, obviously the most composed person in the room, and the one who had been selected to pass the news on to Minako. Hotaru had grown into a beautiful woman, but no one liked to hear Saturn speak. Just the fact that she was about to say something meant that there had been a grave, if not deadly situation. She let Minako have one more moment of partial ignorance before she spoke.
"Venus." Saturn never spoke to their civilian forms. This senshi demanded formality at all times. She could keep even the most rougish individual in check. "This news is devestating; for all of us, but I'm sure it shall be even moreso for you. None of us were sure how you would handle it, so we've kept it from you for a while. It seems that we can keep you sheltered from this truth no longer.
"This will be hard for you as leader of the inner senshi, but it will be even harder for you as Minako. I reluctantly inform you that while Mars was away, there was an incident. All those with her died instantly. She would have too, had she not been a senshi, and had her group not protected her."
"So she's alive?!"
"Let me finish, Venus." Minako's face fell. That could not mean good news for her girlfriend. "She had minor injuries; had she been here, they would have been easily curable. Had Mars teleported back here immediately following the incident, as she was instructed by the queen and you, Venus, she would have been perfectly fine. As I'm sure you know, however, her pride did not let her do so.
"As I said, her wounds were minor. Senshi healing would have treated them in about a week or so, with proper rest. However, before her wounds closed, they got infected. It would have been curable, had she come home." Minako felt on the verge of tears. This speech could only come to one conclusion. She would never see her Reiko alive again.
Saturn continued undaunted, "She continued doing her job as we would all expect she would. After a week, she was too sick to teleport herself home." The first tear fell from Minako's eyes. If she had been told, she could have saved her. "Had any of us known, we would not have hesitated to try and get her. She would not tell us, however.
"We probably never would have found her body had the queen not felt her when she-"
"NO!" Minako's outburst startled no one, but did cease Saturn's words. "She's NOT dead! She's still alive, like she told me she would be! She's still alive for me! I know she is! How cruel of you to lie to me like that! How cruel of all of you to pull a prank like this one!
"She's still here! She's in that room you all came out of, waiting to tell me how stupid I am for falling for this! She's in her room! Or mine! Or kneeling by the sacred fire like she did as a teen! She's still alive, though! I know she is!
"She's too strong to stop living. She's too proud for death! You're all lying to me!"
Minako's words were killing the others. Her pain was tangible for all of them, but mostly for the queen
Usagi moved forward and wrapped her arms around Minako. "Minako," she spoke so only Minako could hear what she said, "I understand how you feel. I felt for Rei as much as you do. I'm so sorry."
Minako felt broken. "Why couldn't you save her? Did you even try to help her, Usagi? You can't use your crystal to bring her back? Have you tried?"
"I tried everything, Minako. There was a lot of toxin in her body when she died. Before anything could be done to revive her, she would have to have a purified body first. If we brought her back to that body, she would be in a lot of pain.
"Not only that, but there's something wrong with the crystal. It won't listen to me. I'm not sure if it's upset with me, or if it doesn't want to work for Rei but please believe that I've done everything I can to try and heal her."
Minako felt sick. Her legs gave out from under her, but she barely felt the pain in her knees when she hit the floor. She was vaguely aware of the arms wrapping around her, and the bodies close to her, and she knew that there were tears falling from her eyes, but she couldn't actively process any of that. She felt alone.
That was the last day Aino Minako ever lived. There was no more 'detransforming' for Venus. She only had one purpose in life: to protect her queen. Had it not been for that purpose, the woman probably would have never continued living at all.