62The Interlude! This was refreshing, since I ADORE Minako. And teasing Rei is just one of my favorite past-times so...Yup. Not much to say here except that I'm glad I got this out for the Holidays (It's still the middle of Hanukkah so It can be a Hanukkah gift too!) so consider this my present to you. Silly Minako and Rei.
It's been checked over, but as usual ignore what I can't pick up. I have no Beta, you see? But enjoy it nonetheless and Happy holidays
A Brief Interlude
"Hrm…"
"Hrm? Just what the heck is there to 'Hrm' about Venus?" Mars rolled her eyes, elbowing her companion gently between the ribs. Damn it was cold out. She was from Mars darn it all, this was not the sort of weather she was used to. Bundling up in more layers of clothing than the ceremonial garb she was forced into at home was not comfortable and hardly flattering. Venus though? She had been staring at the Outers for more than ten minutes instead of listening to the conversation the Inners were having. This was the first sound she'd uttered in a while.
It was highly uncharacteristic of the normally chatty senshi.
"Oh, I was just thinking was all," Venus shooed the other girl's worries away and pointed to the Outers, "About Uranus and Neptune," she turned back to look towards the duo and sighed, "They're something else aren't they?"
Mars tilted her head, glancing over at the older soldiers. They were wearing lighter clothing, at ease in the cold weather. She noticed that they, unlike the rest of the soldiers, had no problem with physical closeness. They were always so close to each other. That easy grin on Uranus' lips and the quiet, knowing sort of smile on Neptune's face. The way Uranus leaned down to whisper some sort of comment to Neptune and the shorter soldier would roll her eyes and shove her friend with a chuckle.
"They are quite close," Mars admitted, crossing her arms to a chilling breeze, "Still though, why so interested in them? I mean, you had all the time to ask questions earlier during training. So why were you so quiet?" Mars didn't live with the girl for nothing. As annoying as the girl was, and as much as she hated when she stole her dresses and shoes, Venus was still a friend and one could only dream of reasons why the normally chatty girl had been so quiet.
"I'm from Venus for a reason you know," The girl turned, winking cheekily, "There are certain things we're pretty good at sensing. Me especially, being the princess and the senshi and all," she flipped her hair and earned a hard shove from Mars in retort.
"Stop beating around the bush and flattering yourself," Mars grumbled, "What's your 'special sensing skill' say to you?" Mars asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
Venus ignored the sarcasm and leaned in close, "Those two are special Rei," Mars' eyes widened at the use of her real name, "Those two are together," her eyes were sparkling, "Like the way that Serenity wants to be with that Earth Prince,"
Mars blinked, casting a quick glance over to the two girls. Uranus had an arm looped around Neptune's shoulder and the smaller of the two was laughing at something that had clearly embarrassed the taller of the two. Pluto was nearby and smirking alongside them, clearly in on the joke. Could they? They certainly were close enough. She felt her face flush and she turned back to Venus quickly, jerking the girl close.
"Damn it Minako!" Mars hissed the girl's real name at the catty grin on the girl's face, "Why'd you go and tell me that?" she huffed, "Not like there's anything wrong about it," she was quick to add, "But isn't that you know, personal?"
The girl shook her head and tapped her forehead to Mars', knowing that she wouldn't pull away despite generally hating when Venus decided she was going to get all touchy feely. "They're different, you know?" she giggled, "And it's not like they're trying particularly hard to hide it. It's sort of like…" she glanced at them, "If you want to know, you'll know. But if you don't want to know…you don't have to," she waggled her eyebrows, "How's that for deep stuff? Betcha you thought that was profound, didn'tcha?"
Mars shoved the girl off the ledge into the snow on the ground and groaned, "Gimme a break! Goddess of Love my ass," she muttered, taking a secret sort of satisfaction at Venus' yelp or surprise.
"Oh come ooooon Mars! You are such a stick in the mud! Can't I just be happy for my fellow senshi?" She whined, pulling herself out of the snow and brushing herself off. She pouted, glaring at the Martian, "Not all of us can be miss nonchalant, sworn off guys forever because I'm too good for them! I need a little romance in my life!"
Mars snorted, "By romance do you mean tossing yourself at the first guy that looks mildly attractive?" She stood and rolled her eyes again, "Besides, I haven't sworn off men, I'm just focusing on my work, you know, protecting Serenity,"
Venus huffed, "Geez-I am focused on protecting Serenity!" She protested, she leveled a glare at Mars' face, "But Serenity doesn't want us to give up being girls either! We're young Rei. We'll never be this age again. Serenity's enjoying it, Uranus and Neptune are making the most of it, heck even Mercury and Jupiter go out on those storm dancing dates or whatever they call it!" she planted her hands on her hips and leaned forward, "So why not lose the sourpuss face and make a snowman with me?"
Mars blinked, glancing over again to the Outers, secretly shocked when Uranus snuck a kiss on Neptune's cheek when she thought everyone wasn't looking. She caught Naptune's expression, subtle shift in her diplomatic smile as it was; There was a moment of pure happiness etched in her eyes and across her lips, but it was gone in a flash. Her eyes trailed to Mercury and Jupiter, seeing Jupiter's patient expression as Mercury rambled on excitedly about some undoubtedly complex science theorem about snow. Then her eyes fell on her Princess who was chatting with Pluto, and the animated expression on the young princess' face instantly told Mars that she was gushing about the Earth Prince again. What surprised her was Pluto's wry smile as she nodded.
"Wellll Rei?" Minako was still waiting for an answer, and she threw her hand into the offer.
Rei pondered for a second, then told her conscious to shove it, "Fine, but you're rolling the snow," she agreed at last, taking the hand and pulling herself up.
"Of course!" Minako automatically snuggled right up to Rei's side, giggling. Rei bristled, remembering why she was normally so mad at Minako. Too touchy feely.
"Minako…" she growled under her breath as the two walked off towards a big pile of snow, "Kindly remove yourself from my person. You're freezing," she hissed.
Minako pondered the idea for a moment and shook her head, "Nope! I'm warming myself up Rei. You should feel honored your fearless leader wants to share your body heat!" to illustrate her point she latched onto Rei's arm and pulled her in closer.
"Ugh…" Rei felt her face heat up and she prayed silently no one was watching Minako play parasite to her at the moment before begrudgingly letting the senshi stay at her side. Like Minako had said, what was the use of their youth if they weren't enjoying it?
So...can you tell I sort of kind of ship Rei and Minako? Only sort of though. I'm more of a serious Ami and Mako shipper. Those storm dances Minako mentioned? I'm going to be writing about those. But yeah. Not much of our leading ladies here, but this was the kinda sorta break I needed to get back in the swing of things and ge tthe next chapter rolling. I'm excited to work on it. So be ready! It'll rock your socks off!
As always, reviews are great, and this time there's actually something NEW to comment on! How did you like my portrayal of Mars and Venus? It'd like to write more from their perspective, so it'd be super to know how I did. But otherwise, thank you thank you thank you for reading! And have and Happy and SAFE Holidays. I for one will be nerding it out with my good pals. 'till next time!
~konaxookami