Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, the characters, or the holiday, though I do live in the country. I don't think that counts as owning the holiday, unless of course, I'm a complete idiot.

A/N: I know it's a little late for the fourth of July but still, it's here if you want to read it.

Fireworks and Love Chains

Mars ran for her life, Jupiter was already ten paces ahead of her. The pounding of feet behind her made her well aware of the other two senshi fleeing behind her, and of the youma gradually gaining on them.

She spared a quick glance back at Mercury and her grim faced commander. Had she not returned to facing forward she would have plowed straight into Jupiter and sent them both plummeting to off the cliff and to their dooms.

The raven pulled back sharply and skidded to a halt beside the thunder senshi who sent a sharp glare her way. She grinned guiltily before turning her attention to her breathless comrades.

"What...do...we..do...now...?" Mercury panted, not used to running so much. Venus shook her head, she didn't seem too winded, Mars thought, her eyes glittering with amusement. I guess being late and running to school everyday has its perks.

As if sensing her thoughts, Venus shot her a warning look daring her to say the comment out loud.

She opened her mouth to do exactly that but the jungle around them exploded in a blinding flash of white light and an agonized howl. Instinctively the four dropped into defensive stances, eyes darting wildly around them, trying to pinpoint the location of their enemy.

A blur of movement out of the corner of her eye and a stream of fire was sent into the trees.

"Aaaah!" the scream was human, or rather...a shriek. "Reeeeiiiii!" Their princess leaped out of the bushes and into the clearing, the edge of her dress spitting flames and singeing the ends of her long, odango styled hair.

The raven haired girl cringed inwardly. Damn.

Serenity fumed. "You idiot!" she shouted "I was trying to save your lousy ass!" Rei took a cautious step away from her princess, closer to the less dangerous fall that would more than likely kill her.

Mercury stifled a giggle behind a gloved hand and Venus stared at her impassively, cerulean eyes dancing with shielded laughter. Jupiter seemed to have no intention of holding it in and let it all out, her shoulders shaking as she did so.

She must be really mad if she's cussing. The fire soldier thought to herself before a perfectly manicured hand slapped her across the face.

Caught off guard the raven lost her balance from the unexpected force of the blow, made as if to back away, and promptly fell off the edge of the cliff.

And everybody said a lifetime ago, 'Your powers will do great things, and most of all bring peace to our land' about her wonderful powers of peace. They sure as hell did not see those wonderful powers being used to push her best friend off a cliff to her inevitable doom. Were the miko's thoughts as she fell to her death. Except she didn't die. Oh no, it could never be that life was that easy then she'd be lounging on a beach chair in Hawaii, sipping from a coconut and getting a tan.

But of course nothing about her life was easy.

So like the dutiful friend she should be, Jupiter reached out to grab the falling senshi and because Rei didn't weigh two pounds, both senshi went toppling over the edge and began the long journey to the bottom of the to the afterlife of course.

And like the stubborn, rude, impatient, and unthoughtful Martian she used to be—and still is—the raven cursed the tall brunette in a language that hadn't been used in millennia.

"Rei!" Jupiter screamed. "You're a fucking idiot!"

"I couldn't help being slapped off a cliff!" she shouted back.

"But you didn't have to set the princess on fire!"

Before she could come out with a witty retort, something hard wrapped around her arm and her shoulder was harshly yanked out of place.

Mars yelped as she felt her shoulder dislocate and her transformation wavered. She gripped Venus' love-me-chain as the senshi of love began the painstakingly slow process of hauling them back up, along with a reluctant Sailor Mercury.

Jupiter had her ankle in an iron hard grip and emerald green eyes glanced fleetingly down at the long drop beneath them. The fire senshi snorted. "You scared of heights oh high and mighty thunder goddess?"

She received only a glare in return since then she was within arms length of the top.

With her good arm, the older girl reached up and grabbed hold of the top and tried vainly to speed up the process.

"I could use some help over here!" Serenity shouted accusingly over her shoulder. Mars grunted. "If only you hadn't pushed me off a cliff."

"I slapped you!"

Then the rest of her was back onto solid ground. Venus stooped down to help bring Jupiter back up and Mars dragged herself across the grass to help her as the brunette still had a tight hold on her ankle. Finally all of the senshi were back at ground level.

Mercury typed into her computer.

Venus huffed and turned her back away from Mars.

Jupiter ran to help their princess.

Mars begrudgingly did the same.

~SM~

Rei sighed and collapsed under the shade of the cherry blossom tree at the Hikawa shrine. Every bone in her body ached from the several number of youma attacks they'd had that day, five to be exact.

Minako sat down next to her quite ungracefully and a bit aggressively since her skirt flew up as she went down. Rei flushed and averted her eyes, trying to rid her brain of the sight of Minako's orange panties.

"I'm so tired," Minako complained "why did the youma have to attack on today of all days?" Rei shrugged, as if that would satisfy her blonde companion. "But it's July Fourth!" Minako whined. Rei cocked her head curiously at the cerulean eyed goddess.

"What's so important about July Fourth?" she asked. Minako sighed dejectedly, mumbling something about fire and lost awesomeness. "Am I missing something Minako?" Rei bit her lip, her hand reaching out to gently brush the blonde's bangs away from her eyes so she could see them clearly.

Minako sighed again. "Well it's just that on the fourth of July, American's celebrate their freedom and independence with fireworks and parties." she explained. Rei nodded. "So why are you so upset?"

The usually perky blonde groaned and dropped her head into her hands. "I just wanted to have a nice day, spend some time with you guys and maybe even the outer senshi too, maybe even convince Makoto to try to create her own fireworks. Just something to celebrate a holiday, even if it's an American holiday."

Rei absently twirled a lock of silky blonde hair in her fingers, frowning pensively. Minako spared a quick glance at her second in command before looking back down at her feet.

The miko stood abruptly and headed for the shrine doors. Minako scrambled to her feet and hurried after her best friend. "What are you doing?" she called after the raven haired girl.

"Making a few calls." She replied over her shoulder, sliding the doors open and slipping inside, leaving Minako alone in the courtyard. The blonde hesitated before following her, suspicion welling up inside of her.

As she walked down the hallway, Rei's voice resounded from the kitchen. She was talking quietly on the phone with somebody. "No...yes those things...of course not...makes you think that...oh for God's sake...please...thanks Michiru."

Minako strained to hear more but Rei ended the call and came to the entryway. "You know, you could've just come into the kitchen if you wanted to hear so badly." she mused. The blonde had the decency to blush.

"Rei, I-I uh..."

Rei chuckled quietly and motioned for her to come into the kitchen. The younger girl leaned casually against the counter and Minako waited for her to speak, knowing that Rei would speak when she was ready to.

"You said you wanted a party." she said simply. Minako nodded slowly, her excitement building as well as apprehension. "So you're gonna have one, Michiru and the others are coming over in an hour and Ami said she'd bring the others over as soon as possible."

"Yay!" Minako squealed and hugged her rather stoic friend. Rei sputtered and squirmed in her tight grip. "Ch-choking me," she stammered. Minako pulled away guiltily. "My bad, I'm just so excited!" Rei smiled.

"You're welcome by the way." she said as they exited the kitchen.

"Of course I am, Reiko." Minako purred. The flirtatious blonde squirmed her way into the miko's personal space, her lips centimeters away from a beet red ear.

Rei shrank away from her commander, a blush taking over her normally calm features.

"Um...sure..."

~SM~

POP!

Cerulean eyes widened in amazement as small firecrackers were launched from the shrine and into the clear midnight blue sky. She allowed a wide grin to grace her features as the fireworks popped and showered the sky with multi-colored streams of light.

Rei watched Minako intently, surprisingly unsatisfied with the display of works in the sky. Unbeknownst to the concentrating raven, another pair of crimson eyes and equally amused emerald exchanged glances before they rose and crept silently over to her.

A hand tapped her on the shoulder. Startled, the fire senshi snapped out of her trance and regarded the other two wearily.

"Yes?" She asked impatiently.

Makoto grinned wolfishly. "Fine, don't accept our help in winning over your true love." Setsuna sighed dramatically after she said this. Rei glowered at the older woman. It struck her that even though she was an adult and over a hundred years old—despite the fact that she didn't look a day over 21—Setsuna spent most of her time with them. Of course, Michiru was as senior in highschool and Haruka was old enough to be in college(but had of course chosen not to go) so her company wasn't all too bad.

Still, one can wonder how the time guardian could stand them so much.

"Ok, I accept, now what is possibly so wonderful that I can win the love of my life?" she hissed. Minako heard their exchange and turned her head slightly to them, still watching the fireworks out of the corner of her eye.

"What was that Rei?" she asked sweetly. Rei flashed her a guilty look before covering it up and clearing her throat loudly. "Oh, nothing Mina, Makoto was just trying to prove her point that Setsuna doesn't look a day over forty despite being you know, over two hundred."

Makoto let out a low chuckle and the stoic senshi of time sputtered loudly, the color of her face deepening to the same shade as her eyes. Minako giggled, too caught up in the light display above her to really question the lie. "She doesn't look forty Rei, quit exaggerating." Setsuna glared at her. "Yeah Rei, quit exaggerating." she growled through clenched teeth.

"She looks more like sixty."

"Blondes and their stupidity." Setsuna chose that moment to abruptly drag Rei and Makoto off by the ears and through the entrance of the shrine, muttering to herself about idiot children and two hundred bucks.

~SM~

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Rei asked nervously. Setsuna flashed her a confident smile. "Absolutely not."

"Then why do they call you the senshi of time?" The raven growled. "The ever wise and oh so knowing guardian of time who sees the future and weaves the webs of time?"

Setsuna smiled innocently, "I can't see the future, I only lead you to believe it so what I want to happen happens!"

"Whoa!" Makoto took a step back. "I think miss I'm very elegant, strikingly beautiful, and refuse to touch that suspicious liquid because I might get drunk, is drunk."

Setsuna held a finger to her lips and blew them both kisses. "Our little secret boys."

You could hear the dull thud of two jaws hitting the floor and you could see amethyst eyes and emerald eyes pop out at least two inches from perfectly shocked and dazzled faces. Fortunately, Michiru breezed in to bravely come to their aid and replaced their jaws into the correct position and snap them out of their befuddlement and back to reality.

A very tipsy and very drunk Setsuna was gone, replaced with the amazon beauty they'd all remembered. Michiru giggled. "You two looked like Setsuna flashed you."

Rei turned a tomato red color.

"What a sight that'd be!" Makoto laughed nervously as Setsuna shot her a death glare. "Of course, I do love Ami so very, very much!"

Michiru planted a butterfly soft kiss on the fire senshi's cheek, only causing her blush to worsen.

"Don't worry Rei, it'll work alright," she whispered, her lips brushing the miko's ear "if it doesn't, I'll be there to put out the flames."

"Did I ever tell you how much I hate you outer senshi?" Rei grumbled.

She received only an amused smile and a blinding flash of perfect white teeth as Michiru gave her a small soft smile, quite resembling a lecherous Haruka.

"You have now."

~SM~

Rei waited patiently in the shadows of the shrine walls, counting the seconds by until Haruka was done shooting off firecrackers.

When finally the show was done, she stepped out of the shadows, dead center in front of Minako. Makoto's lean frame blocked the light of the moon as she stood above her on the roof. The leaves of the cherry tree rustled, signifying Setsuna's presence among it's branches.

All attention was on her. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, summoning her senshi powers from deep within, just enough to get her through this. Any more and things could go terribly wrong. Michiru sat happily in Haruka's lap, sea green eyes glittering in what moonlight that wasn't blocked by Makoto.

Fire danced up and down her arms before finally uncoiling and shooting up and into the sky, changing color and swirling into intricate patterns across the darkness. Then they were wrapped into dancing tendrils of pure light and energy, fading in and out of sight.

Then the senshi tricks were caught in a web of lightning that sparked and jolted the hissing flames in a battle, the light tendrils wrapped around the lightning gently and the fire blazed quickly before all three energies winked out of existence, only to reappear and explode in a shower of light.

For a brief few seconds one word was visible to all sitting before them that cool summer night.

Minako.

Accompanied by a flaming heart that twirled around the astonished senshi of love.

First silence. Utterly still and amazed silence. Then, "Rei!" A mass of blonde hair flashed and then Rei was tackled to the ground. "Thank you Rei, thank you so much!"

Minako, caught up in her excitement, leaned down and kissed the miko passionately on the lips. Exactly what Rei wanted her to do. She kissed back, wrapping her arms around the blonde that had captured her heart and chained it to her own.

"I love you so much, Rei." Minako whispered.

"I love you too Mina."

Applause littered the shrine courtyard. Flustered, the two hastily got up and joined their friends.

Makoto hopped off the roof and Setsuna slipped out of the tree, picking leaves and twigs from her long green hair once her feet touched the ground.

"Well then, I'd say my work here is done." she exclaimed happily.

"Thank you Sets," Rei said, smiling up at the tall woman.

"Yes, thank you." Minako echoed.

"You're welcome you two, now don't ever go and screw this up alright?"

The two nodded happily. "Don't worry, we never will."

"Has anybody seen Usagi?" Haruka piped in. They all glanced around for their ditzy princess who was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey guys!" An ever so cheery voice shouted. "What'd I miss?"

They stood there, slack jawed as the blonde skipped up to them, lugging a large cooler of...beer behind her.

"Um...anybody up for a drink?" Haruka asked fleetingly. Rei nodded dumbly. Minako entwined their fingers together, smiling brightly. "Of course, what about you Setsuna?"

"I don't drink."

"Fine, but it's fun to get drunk once in a while."

"How would you know? You're sixteen."

Minako's eyes glittered dangerously. "I used to live a couple hundred years ago when there wasn't much of an age limit to that, don't you remember how Mars and I got together back then?"

Setsuna turned away, flustered, and hurried off, taking Hotaru with her.

Minako laughed. "Now Reiko, how about that drink?"

"Um...pass?" the miko managed weakly.

"Oh no, not after what you did tonight." Minako mused. "Now it's time for me to return the favor!"

"B-but we're sixteen!" Rei squeaked. The blonde winked at her. "So? Consider this my late sweet sixteen gift."

"I-I b-but u-um...oh what the hell, it won't kill me."

"That's right Reiko, it won't kill you, it will help you in many, many ways."

So there you have it folks! Please R&R!