Venus' Flame

Seven: The hearts in panic

Minako was whiling away the precious hours of time that she'd been given by her mother to study by thinking about a particular raven haired shrine maiden and how she should confess to all. Minako's heart was in a state of confusion as she was unaware of what she should do. She didn't even know if Rei felt the same way she did. It would really hurt if she worked up all the courage to confess and the raven haired woman denied having any attraction to the attention-seeking blonde. Minako gave a soft sigh and balanced a tiny pencil on her nose.

I'm becoming like Usagi-chan, aren't I? She thought to herself with a small smile on her face. The blonde's eyes shone with satisfaction as she managed to balance the gradually wonkier pencil on her small nose. Sighing, she took the pencil off of her nose and stared out the window in longing, letting the night's wind rustle her blonde hair like the bush beneath her window. A short period of time passed before Minako realised that she might need to be productive with her time. What use is wishing for something if you didn't take the effort to make it come true?

"Mina?" Her white cat called for her, slipping the blonde out of her trance for a moment.

Minako heaved a sigh of annoyance before giving her feline familiar a small glance. "What is it, Art? The last thing I need is you hammering home that 'as a high school student you to study all the time.' Because that's the furthest thing from what I imagined myself doing today!"

"I wasn't going to say that, Mina."

"Alright then! What were you gonna say? Huh! I knew it! You were going to hammer study onto me like I'm a needle. Well, I'm not having it," the teen huffed.

"It's 'you were going to hammer study onto me as if I were a nail on a piece of wood', actually," Artemis corrected the blonde.

"Not the time for you to be a grammar policeman," she mumbled, gritting her teeth.

Minako gave a huge sigh of annoyance before murmuring to herself about nobody caring. She looked over at her mathematics textbook, but it was with more of a glare. If she were to be honest, she didn't want to do any studying because she was busy thinking about love. She knew that her cat wouldn't care about what thought had set up shop in her mind, so she chose to ignore the cat entirely, only giving him the occasional glare as a reminder of how much the blonde could absolutely detest him at times.

With a soft mumble, she rolled across her bed with a soft glance at her ceiling and walls, which were busy with posters of various idol stars that the teen had been obsessed with during middle school. She often considered whether she should get rid of any of those posters or not, but kept these thoughts a secret from her friends, thinking they'd be thinking that the idol-bound teenager was going crazy. A few times, for the first time in a while, the blonde wanted to solemnly agree with those negative thoughts that were raging like a storm within her head, but she chose to ignore those thought more often than not. What they suggested had been eating at her for a while now, however.

With a small smile, she got off her bed and began to finally knuckle down and do some comprehensive studying. She had an English test and a Maths test tomorrow, and she was bad at both of those subjects. With a shrug, and the butchering of a few religious proverbs, the female studied her least favourite topic — Poetry. That was a lie. She hated everything in English except writing journals and narratives. She found that part fun.

Right in the middle of revising what the meaning of the poet using a simile in the poem was, she heard her communicator watch beep three times in a row. "Minako-chan! Minako-chan! A monster has appeared near Juban High! Please come to Juban High!" Usagi's voice shouted at her through the communicator.

Minako nodded. "Of course, Usagi. I'll be right there." With a small grimace on her features, Minako shouted "Venus Crystal Power, Make Up!" Now transformed into Sailor Venus, the high school girl ran toward the high school campus she was very familiar with.

Her communicator watch beeped again. This time it was Rei. "We're up on the rooftop! The atavistic monster that is possessing a magpie has come up on the roof!" The raven haired female's voice yelled through the communicator.

Minako nodded and gave her lip a small bite. "Rolling Heart Vibration!" She screamed out, pointing at her skirt. The attack's magic obliged and hit her in the back, hurtling her up the building at a high velocity, acting almost as an elevator toward the rooftop. Upon reaching the rooftop and landing there a bit less than gracefully, Venus bashfully grinned.

Mercury gave Venus a hopeful glance and maintained a serious expression. "Hyperspatial Sphere, Generate!" The blue haired strategist shouted out, spinning her left arm in a circle to create a shield. Upon creating the shield, Mercury nodded toward Jupiter.

Jupiter understood what she meant and the guardian of courage jumped up. Summoning her planet's power of thunder and lightning, the tall girl shouted "Jupiter Coconut Cyclone!" The attack created a coconut shaped ball of electricity that hurtled toward the monster at a high speed.

"Venus Love-Me Chain!" Venus hollered, grabbing her love-beaded chain and hurling it at the enemy to restrain it. The chain wrapped around the atavistic monster and the monster growled, letting off some purple gas. Giving a nod towards Mars, she jumped back.

"Mars Snake Fire!" Mars shouted, shaping a ball of fire like a snake and aiming it at the enemy's heart. With a grunt, Mars stepped back and gestured towards Moon and Chibi Moon. "You've got this! Go!"

Moon directed her daughter from the future to come to her. "Now, Chibi Moon!" The pink haired girl nodded and they pressed their Eternal Moon Tiares against one another, ready to perform the attack. "Starlight Honeymoon Double Therapy Kiss!" They shouted, unleashing a blast of pink energy at the monster.

The moth separated from the magpie with a 'glance' toward the Guardians.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rei glanced over at Minako. "Can I... tell you something?"

The blonde gave the raven haired shrine maiden a quizzical look. "Rei-chan?" she whispered.

"I love you," she murmured softly.

"Hey, Rei-chan?"

"Mm?"

"I love you too!" Minako sighed.

This was easier than I had thought! Why had I doubted myself so much?

"And Mina-chan, one last thing!" Rei stopped the blonde suddenly. "Can I call you Vee?"

Nodding, the blonde blushed. "What should my cute nickname for you be?"

"Reiko. I've always wanted to be called that."

"Then it's decided... Reiko."