Started: 11-15-03 Completed: 02-12-04
CHAPTER 1: SAILOR MERCURY & SAILOR JUPITER
Ami sighed tiredly as she came out of the building bearing the words ‘Genki Tuition Centre’. She had just been through about 3 hours long of tuition class on her some of her favourite subjects Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics. Unless you have no idea about Ami Mizuno Sailor Mercury being the smartest member in the Sailor Team and having an IQ rate of 300 points, you would be extremely surprised at why would she be wasting her time in a tuition centre than hanging out with the team.
Ami knew about her IQ and her capabilities. She always has. But she kept having this idea that whatever she was learning right now is just simply not enough. She wanted to be in a medical faculty and be a doctor just like her mother, and she wanted to absorb more info and more knowledge to prepare herself for the competitive world. If she didn’t, she assumed that her dream of being a doctor would be a long distance away. Everyone in the team, especially the high-spirited Usagi Tsukino Sailor Moon told her to stop putting so much stress on herself and go out and enjoy more, but all their words were like trying to convince a cow to jump over the moon. She would always be seen carrying a book around, and it wasn’t any ordinary story book or novel or some stuff for leisure reading, but books on Quantum Physics and Technological Advancements and all those complicated crap. Sometimes the gang thought that she wasn’t human at all.
Ami soon passed by the supermarket and realized that she hadn’t eaten her dinner yet. She expected that her mother would be coming home late and might not be able to prepare dinner and such, so she’ll just have to make do with her own dinner. She went into the supermarket and grabbed a shopping cart. She walked around and filled her cart with some vegetables, a few cup noodles, some sweet tidbits and a few more packets of instant noodles for a small stock-up. After checking the cart to see if there was anything left out, she nodded in satisfaction and moved towards the cashier counter. It was quite a long line, but she didn’t mid waiting.
While she waited for her turn, the person before her was a one big happy family with the parents and a couple of children who seemed like a pair of twins—they were reasonably alike and at the same age. They looked so happy together as the parents laughed together with the children as the little ones bickered to be the one to put the groceries on the counter. Even the customers in front of the family smiled at upon looking at them. Ami couldn’t help smiling too. This scene reminded her of the time when her parents were still together. She remembered her parents taking her to the fun fair and them sharing the rides with her. She remembered when her father drew a portrait of her when she was celebrating her 5th birthday. She remembered sneaking in the middle of the night to get a drink and see her parents smooching lovingly on the couch in front of the TV. Then she started remembering the day when her parents started to become more and more distant. They started to become engrossed with their careers—her mother with her busy doctrine schedule and her father wanting to paint the world—that they never spend time with either her or themselves. Then it was the divorce papers mailed to her mother and no news from her father anymore except for the birthday postcards…
“Ami? Ami, what a pleasant surprise!”
Ami turned around to see Makoto Kino Sailor Jupiter standing behind her with a full shopping cart. Judging by the uniform she was wearing, she obviously came here from school.
“Konbanwa, Makoto. Here to shop for tonight’s dinner, I assume?” Ami smiled.
“Hait. You too?” Makoto nodded as she took a peek at Ami’s shopping cart. Her smile turned into a smirk and said, “Hmm, food for the champions, huh?”
Ami realized what she was saying and grinned with a sweat drop, “Well, I’m quite a light eater, as you know. I don’t really have much of an appetite after a long day’s study.”
“No surprising,” Makoto said, gesturing her to move forward as another customer has left the counter. “Although I must say that it isn’t really healthy. Food is, of course, the source of brain power. Without food, I don’t think you could even keep awake in class for more than 5 minutes.”
“That suites Usagi perfectly well,” Ami giggled as she remembered Usagi being caught sleeping in class and her growling stomach that followed (a gossip courtesy from Minako Aino Sailor Venus).
“I know!” Makoto suddenly exclaimed out of the blue, taking Ami by surprise. “Why don’t you come over to my house for dinner? I’ve got a great recipe in store and I’m just dying to try it out! You’ll be my first person to have the honour of tasting my cuisine!”
“Annou, arigato, but that wouldn’t be necessary,” Ami replied, trying to be polite. “I’ve already got my dinner here and I’m sure I’ll manage just fine…”
“Nonsense! Are you thinking that I might poison you or something?” Makoto looked at her with a pretend solemn face which Ami took quite seriously.
“Ie, ie! Of course not, it’s just that…” Ami tried to explain but was cut off immediately by Makoto’s beam.
“Good! Then you can come to my house for dinner after all! Now be a good girl and go put away whatever you have just bought and I will make a nice home-cooked meal. Go on!”
Ami sighed and did as she was told. No point trying to get away from this enthusiastic future housewife; she’s just as enthusiastic as Minako. If she weren’t her close friend and Sailor Team member, she would’ve thought that Makoto was trying to kidnap her or something. Before she knew it, she was helping Makoto carrying some of her groceries and was heading towards her home.
“Arigatogozaimas!”
Ami lay back a little after finishing the meal. She tried to make a call to her mother to tell her that she was going to have her dinner at Makoto’s house, but somehow she couldn’t reach her, so she decided to let it rest for a while and follow Makoto home. She was right—she did promise a good dinner and she really did enjoy herself eating it. There were casserole ala tomatoes, potato salad, baked fish, sushi and the new recipe as she claimed it to be: the triple-fudge white chocolate-creamed layer cake. Ami sure enjoyed that and gave a thumbs-up for it. As Makoto took the dishes to the kitchen, Ami was about to stand up and offer to help when she accidentally burped out loud.
“Gomen…” Ami apologized awkwardly. “I guess I was quite a glutton to be burping like this.”
“Well, no one’s perfect,” Makoto grinned as she wiped the table clean with the table cloth. Ami looked around the house and was amazed—everywhere was practically spick and span. There wasn’t a single dirt around. Makoto has proven herself to be a great housewife and a great housekeeper. And the way she was able to decorate her home with so many accessories and yet not make the place crowded at all practically awed her.
“You know, you should be an interior designer,” Ami commented as Makoto came out with a cup of mint tea each. “You could make millions out of it. I bet whoever marries you would be the luckiest and most blissful person in the whole world.”
“You flatter me,” Makoto smiled sweetly, taking a sip from the tea. “But unfortunately, I don’t think I would have anyone in my life. Not at this rate.”
“Why not?” Ami was surprised. “Look at all this! You practically live to be a housewife and a marrying woman! If I were a guy, I would certainly take you as my wife, no questions asked!”
“Well, unfortunately you’re not, right? And I bet that you would never understand about my ‘interest’ when you are pretty much a straight girl.”
Ami was dumbstruck for a minute there. Was she listening right? Was Makoto actually admitting to her the darkest secret of her life: that she was a lesbian? She didn’t know what to say for a moment there.
“I suppose you have never realized it, have you? I’m not surprised; I myself didn’t make it that obvious anyway. Yes, to put it delicately, I do have a crush on you. Whenever there is a mission going on, I would rather fight alongside with you than fighting with the rest of the Sailors. When we hang out, I would always want to be by your side more than anyone else. It may not be obvious to you, but if you paid just a little attention, you’d notice.”
Ami remained silent. She still didn’t know what to say. She was still trying to absorb the fact that Makoto was a lesbian.
“I know you might ask why I would like you since it was so obvious that I like other guys, like my ex-crush or those really cool guys, for example. Well, maybe because they fascinate me in a different way. They are interesting and cool and all, but none of them could ever compare to you. You are smart and intellectual and always the first one to give out a solution when things go really tough. You always had a cure for anything that troubled us and you wouldn’t hesitate to help out whenever your intellectual mind is needed.
“After my heartbreak with that prefect at my old school, I couldn’t look at other guys the same way anymore. They don’t fascinate me as much as you fascinate me. Aside from being pretty, you have what it takes to be a successful person, and I admire that in you. You don’t care much whatever people think. When you have made up your mind to study hard for your dream, you would do it, no matter what it takes. That’s what I like in you.”
The whole atmosphere suddenly went into silent mode. None of them spoke for a long while. They just stared at each other without saying a single word. After what seemed like an eternity, Ami finally said something, “Well…I’m flattered. Really I am. But…well…annou…”
“You don’t have to pay much attention, Ami. I know it wouldn’t work out anyway,” Makoto smiled cheerfully as she took their cups to the kitchen. “I suppose you should be going home right now, should you not? It’s getting late. Your okasan might be wondering where you are.”
“Hait, hait, you’re right,” Ami lit up and got up from her seat. She took her schoolbag and said, “Thanks for tonight’s dinner. I really appreciate it.”
“Nothing to it,” Makoto replied as she walked her to the door. “Come back anytime if you want something to fill your stomach.”
Ami smiled and left the house. She walked down the silent road, thinking about what Makoto had told her. She felt a little bit weird about being confessed of her feelings to. She didn’t think that she would even be an object of affection to girls. Often she might get a love letter or two in her locker from a secret admirer and she would immediately have an allergic reaction to it due to the fact that her blood pressure and her temperature would rise, causing her to have serious itching rashes. Now that she actually received a love confession from someone she known for so long to be ‘just a friend’, she was surprised that she didn’t just fall onto the floor experiencing a serious allergy seizure or something. Her skin didn’t itch at all. In fact, it was actually feeling pretty perky.
As she turned towards the junction that led her towards her home, she decided to call her mother on the cell phone to tell her about tonight’s dinner at Makoto’s home. As her fingers touched the keys of the phone, she finally realized something—that she was actually missing out a lot by going home just like that. She realized that, in a way, she and Makoto are almost the same. Makoto lost her parents at a young age and have been fending for herself without the love of her parents, and she, Ami, have both parents but weren’t there to give her much of a parental love, and she herself have been fending life on her own accord, never stopping and never thinking to stop. They both were the unfortunate ones and the victims of parental loss. They were just the same. Would they be able to find love among each other and create the love that they have once lost? Would they be able to bring back the loss they have inside and fill it up with a new love that neither their parents could ever have given them? Would they…?
“Who am I kidding?” Ami sighed finally and dialed the number of her mother’s cell phone.
It was about 11.30 p.m. judging by the clock on Makoto’s living room wall. Makoto was sitting at the living room in front of the TV while doing her homework. Her kitchen and her dishes were, as usual, spick and span after Ami has left. The thought of tonight’s confession made her heave a sigh. She had expected Ami to react that way; she was just glad that she had let the burden off her chest and let nature take its course. She knew that it would never work anyway, but she had to let it out just the same. No point bottling it up in her heart.
A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. She lowered the volume of her TV and walked towards the door. ‘Now who could be visiting me at this time of the hour?’ she thought.
When she opened the door, she was surprised to see Ami still in her uniform and still holding her schoolbag. Evidently, she hadn’t gone home at all. Ami was blushing slightly as she scratched her head awkwardly.
“I was thinking…maybe you need some company tonight…”
Makoto stood there silently for a while before she smiled and let her into the house.
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