Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Best Friends ❯ Chapter 3

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter Three: Monday afternoon, late

----------------

"Please grant happiness and joy to everyone, especially my
dearest friends."

Hino Rei reached up and delicately tugged down a branch of the
tree and tied her prayer to it. It joined hundreds of others,
which together made the old oak tree seem more like a cherry
blossom in bloom. With a gentle smile, she wondered exactly how
many of those blossoms represented the same prayer. It had taken
a while, but she began to suspect that they were starting to
work. Just to be safe, she rapped the trunk of the tree three
times before heading back toward the temple.

As she moved up the broad stairs, she heard someone calling her
name. Turning, Rei saw Ami heading through the gates, books in
hand as always.

"Rei-chan, I hope I'm not disturbing you," Ami called.

"Of course not, Ami-chan," Rei replied. "Why are you here so
early, though? We're not supposed to meet for dinner till 6 and
I thought you had a test to study for." Rei sat down primly on
the stairs and waited for Ami to join her.

As Ami sat and placed her books carefully next to herself, Rei
noted that something was bothering the girl. Working in a temple
full-time had honed Rei's instincts to a very high level when it
came to people and clearly, this particular person was troubled
about something. If nothing else, the long pause and slight rush
of color to her cheeks gave Ami away.

"I was studying," Ami began. "For some reason, though, I couldn't
focus on what I was doing."

Rei's eyebrows lifted in shock. Mizuno Ami, unable to focus? On
schoolwork no less? This was quite unprecedented. Ami had
paused, clearly trying to decide what to say or how to say it.
Ami always chose her words carefully, but usually as a result of
a desire for precision, not from this kind of obvious confusion.
Rei tried to recall the last time she had seen Ami this upset.

"You haven't been offered another chance to study abroad, have
you?" Rei asked.

"No, nothing like that," Ami answered quickly. "I just wanted
some company, that's all. It was a bit lonely down at the ice
cream parlor."

Again, Rei felt startled. Ami studied by herself all the time
and had never had a problem focusing. True, she did go to a lot
of trouble to organize study groups, but Rei assumed that was
because her friend wanted to ensure that she and the rest of the
senshi were doing their homework properly. She remembered only
one other instance where Ami had gotten worked up to the point of
distraction.

"Did someone leave you a love letter?" Rei tried her best not to
chuckle or grin. She and the others had frequently noted with
some amusement the way their friend flipped out when someone
expressed a romantic interest in her, but Rei knew that Ami was
easily embarrassed and also that the girl needed a good friend
now more than anything.

On cue, Ami's face turned pink. "No, definitely not. Why is
everyone so interested in my love life today?" she asked quietly,
as if to herself more than Rei.

'Because we've never seen _you_ express any interest in it!' Rei
thought before asking, "'Everyone'? Who else was interested in
your love life today, Aims?"

"Oh, Ryu-kun thought that maybe I was feeling a bit down because
all of my friends are in happy relationships."

"We are?" Rei laughed. "Minako hasn't been on a date with the
same boy twice in over a year and I certainly haven't in quite
awhile. Aside from Usagi, and Haruka and Michiru I guess, none
of us are in relationships!"

Ami sighed and dropped her eyes. "I think Mako-chan might be,"
she whispered. "Her friend Shinozaki showed up today and asked me
where she might be. She hadn't mentioned that he was back in
town and I can only surmise it was because she didn't want to be
teased about it."

Immediately, Rei noticed the change. Ami's shoulders slumped;
she stared at the ground between her feet. It was as if the
energy had been drained from her by some invisible youma. 'Now,
we're getting to the heart of it all,' she realized. She knew
that getting Ami to open up about her feelings would be
difficult, but she also knew that if anyone could do it, she
could. Other than Makoto, no one was closer to Ami. Well,
except maybe Urawa-san.

"Ami-chan, I didn't know that Urawa-san was in Tokyo. Doesn't he
go to school in the provinces?" Rei asked.

"He does, but he had a vision of me and was worried, so he came
to visit." Ami looked up, a bit confused. "At least that is what
he told me. If that is the case, though, I wonder why he ran off
so quickly." Ami seemed more puzzled about this than depressed,
which confused Rei even further.

"Well, what were the two of you talking about? If you weren't
sad yesterday, but today you are distracted and out of sorts,
than something must have happened between now and then."

Ami sighed and straightened up a bit, firming her resolve. "I
was studying, because I knew that with dinner tonight, I wouldn't
have much chance to get any reading done later. Just as I
realized I was feeling odd, Ryu-kun showed up. He suggested that
maybe I was longing for a relationship."

Rei smirked. 'I'm sure he was. That guy just won't take no for
an answer.' Without really trying, she could recall at least
four separate occasions when Ami had reported that Urawa-san had
asked her out, despite her continually expressed desire to simply
be friends with him.

"So, I started to consider what he was saying," Ami continued,
now very deliberately choosing each word. "I let myself imagine
what it would be like to have someone to come home to, to share
my life with and..." The young girl looked over at Rei with wide
eyes. "Oh Rei, I have to admit, it was really very pleasant. I
don't often think such things."

Rei laid a hand gently over Ami's and urged her to continue.
"What happened then, Ami-chan?"

Ami looked away quickly, again the blood rising to her cheeks.
After a long pause, she continued in a quick voice, "My thoughts
began to wander and then Ryu-kun stood up and said he had to
leave, that he'd probably been wrong about the whole thing and
that I was probably just worried about exams."

The gap in Ami's narrative was glaring and Rei knew that if she
wanted to help her friend, she'd have to get to the bottom of it.
Turning to face Ami directly, she took both of her friend's hands
in her own.

"Ami, we've known each other for years and been through
everything together. I love you like a sister and you know you
can tell me anything, right?"

Ami nodded, unable to meet Rei's gaze. She muttered softly, "I
feel so sad, Rei, and I don't know why. That's why I came here.
Mako-chan is with her lover but I knew you'd be able to help me."

'Mako-chan?' Rei considered. 'What does she have to do with
anything? And since when does an old friend visiting mean she's
got a secret lover?'

"Ami, when you were thinking about...about being in love and what
it would be like, were you happy?" she asked carefully.

"Oh yes!" Ami looked up with a shy smile, her eyes suddenly
glittering like the sun on a mountain lake.

"And, was there anyone in particular you had in mind when you
were thinking these things?"

"No, not really," Ami replied, much too quickly, again dropping
her glance.

Never. Not once in however many years it had been could Rei
recall Ami ever lying to her in response to a direct question.
It was true that only Makoto could give Ami a run for her money
when it came to evading a question, but, again like Makoto, she
never lied to her friends. Till now.

'Lying to me, or to herself? Our little Ami is in love and the
poor thing has no idea what to do about it,' Rei realized. Could
it be that her feelings for Urawa-san had finally changed? It
would certainly make sense for her to be upset, especially if he
ran off just as she began to suspect it. Suddenly, something
clicked.

"Ami-chan, can we back up a second? Did I hear you say that you
were sad before Urawa-san arrived?"

"Yes," Ami whispered.

"Did anything else happen today, like before he arrived?"

Ami shook her head miserably. "No, nothing at all. I was
studying. I didn't see anyone. Well, Shinozaki asked me where
he could find Mako-chan, but that was it."

Ami fell silent and Rei used the time to gather her thoughts.
Some people thought that Ami had an air of sadness about her, but
Rei had never been one of them. She knew that Ami was a serious
person and a very strong one, not given to depression or angst.
Still, she was a normal young woman, not some sort of robot or
supercomputer, no matter how smart she was. Rei knew how much
Ami relied on her and the other senshi. They all needed each
other very much. For a moment, she tried to put aside her own
preconceptions and ideas about Ami and consider what she'd heard
today as if Ami was simply a typical petitioner at the temple.

It was clear that the young woman was in love, even if she did
not realize it. Equally clear was the fact that she doubted that
this love was returned, that she was afraid of it somehow. Ami
was many things, but stupid was not one of them. While she did
have blind spots about things related to her emotional or
spiritual side, Ami knew well how Urawa thought of her. If she
had loved him, she would not have had any doubts or fears. No,
not Urawa then.

Rei also knew that love does not appear in a flash, like a bolt
of lightning during a rainstorm. It grows slowly over time, like
a delicate flower, nurtured with shared experiences, mutual
respect, common interest, and deep affection. Oh, the awareness
of love might strike like one of Sailor Jupiter's thunderbolts,
but not the love itself.

With a deep, cleansing breath, Rei cleared her mind and thought
of the sacred flame. In that moment of clarity, she realized
that she already had guessed the answer. Lightning. Flowers.
Clues from the sacred flame, or her subconscious.

'Oh Ami, could it be true?' she wondered. It would certainly
explain just about everything. Unbidden, memories flooded Rei,
as if she'd opened an internal dossier on her two close friends.
Images of the two of them came to her: standing just a little bit
closer to each other than necessary; shared glances; walks home;
things that were perfectly normal for best friends, but could
also be seen in a different light.


Rei looked over at Ami. If she was right, the poor girl was in
for a rough time. Even the threat of a normal relationship had
threatened to unhinge Ami in the past. How much worse could
something like this be, especially if it was unrequited. Rei's
heart overflowed with concern and fear for her friend. Calming
herself, she knew she needed some sort of confirmation. Tonight,
at dinner, she could observe the two of them and try to figure
out what was what, but there were also things to learn right now.

"Hey Ami," Rei asked in a light tone, "what sort of person
_would_ you want to share your life with?"

Ami blushed again, but lifted her gaze to Rei's. "Someone
strong, sure of themselves, independent. I can't imagine being
with someone who couldn't take care of themselves. I think you
have to be content with yourself before you can be happy with
someone else."

'That eliminates Urawa,' Rei thought with a nasty smirk.

Ami sighed and continued, staring out at the prayer tree. "But,
someone who would need me, not because they couldn't be alone,
but because they were happier with me, more complete with me in
their life. Someone tall and able to make me laugh and smile,
but also serious at the right times. Someone whose ideal evening
would be to cook a nice dinner and curl up on the sofa under a
warm blanket watching television."

"What does this person look like?"

"Oh Rei, you know it doesn't matter what's on the outside, but
what's on the inside," Ami admonished her.

"Just for the sake of argument, then," Rei chuckled. Her mental
checklist was already full, but she was curious about this as
well.

Ami giggled nervously, "Oh, ok. Tall, light brown hair, blue or
green eyes." She sighed and continued, lost in the image.
"Someone strong, but soft, gentle, and tender."

Rei struggled to suppress a triumphant smile. Oh, there was no
doubt now. What to do, though? First, she'd need to get to the
bottom of this Shinozaki business. As far as Rei knew, Shinozaki
and Makoto were only very close friends. If so, then she'd need
to find out how Makoto felt. Reviewing that dossier, she
suspected that that might not be a very big issue either. One
last problem lingered though, and it was going to be much more
difficult. The only parts of the story that didn't make sense to
Rei were Urawa-san's actions. Her intuition warned her that
there might be trouble here, but she couldn't think of what to
do. 'I think this is too big for me to deal with alone,' she
decided. 'I'd better bring in the big guns.'

Standing up, Rei offered Ami a hand and tugged her to her feet.
"Come on, all this daydreaming isn't going to get us to dinner.
Do you want to wash up here and we can walk over together?"

"That would be nice, Rei," Ami smiled. "Thank you so very much.
You are truly a good friend. I feel much better for some reason.
Maybe I just missed my friends."

Rei nodded knowingly, "Something like that, I'm sure. Let's go
inside."

------------------------