A/N: Hi all .o I know, I know, sorry for going on like a year-long hiatus but I've been improving, really! Mostly concentrating on original stories. If you don't mind them and you just like how I write, then by all means, follow the link on my profile to my stories and check 'em out. LP is the bomb, seriously, for all you romance and shoujo-ai lovers. It /will/ have mystery/adventure and maybe even some thrills (you Know I can't write without suspense, for those who already recognize my name)

Anywho... enough of that. Since I am writing a hopefully short piece on no inspiration (completely off the top of my head) don't expect to like it, even though I hope you do. I don't know where this is going at the moment I write these words in particular... but hopefully, it'll be something I can write in one sitting. crosses fingers Okay, let's get this show on the road!

Warnings: I wish I knew, but I don't. I'm guessing there'll be shoujo-ai in it though.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that isn't mine to own. So no suing!

Edit: Oh, and this is PGSM stuffs.

"You can't die on me, you can't! You... You PROMISED!"

"Promises... I'm sorry... but... It looks like I'm going to have to break that promise to you."

"No! Not yet! You still have so much to live for, so much to... Please don't die! I want to... I want to live with you forever... and be happy."

"I do too... and we will... because you will find happiness with another... and I will be happy from afar... because you are happy."

There was a sudden infernally long beep, and then the following message was produced. "We are sorry for the inconveniences but we interrupt the normal broadcastings for an important news bulletin."

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Oh shush, you big crybaby. And turn it up."

"You're so mean, Rei!" Usagi returned while reaching over to turn the volume up as requested. "That was a SEASON FINALE! It doesn't get better than that!"

Rei rolled her eyes. Twenty years old with a grounded, loving husband and she was still the queen of dramas, both of the TV and of the personality. It was almost depressing that she would eventually become the queen of Crystal Tokyo, with that kind of enthusiasm for pointlessly illogical mumbo-jumbo.

"Kya! ReiReiRei! Look, look! It's Minako!"

Rei couldn't help but flicker an eye at the news. So she's come back huh? Well... I suppose that's better entertainment to watch than Usagi drooling over whats-his-drama-face.

It was just starting to zoom in on a reporter and Minako. Rei flinched as she took in how beautiful Minako had become... she hated to admit it, but inside, she hadn't thought she could get much better.

Oh the woes and torments of being wrong. However sweet they may seem.

"Minako, it's your first time back in Japan after an incredible success overseas. How does it feel?"

Despite the flashes of paparazzi and fanatic cameras, Minako flashed them all a brilliant smile, a smile that made Rei's heart clench. "It feels like home. And it's good to be back."

"Will you be staying here long?"

"I just might. The schedule isn't set in stone yet, so we'll just have to see." She smiled again, and no one would ever try to dig their feet in stubbornly faced with that. Not even reporters.

Knowing this, her manager whistled sharply, and then in the distraction broke through the crowd and got Minako into the waiting black car.

The scene went back to the main reporter, and then it soon went into commercials, before returning to the interrupted scene.

That's their idea of an important news bulletin? Rei paused, and then sighed. Well, I suppose it is, to viewers like Usa. And I think I heard that her success has resulted in a lot of much needed donations to the Japanese economy... personal ones that have really helped us when some were really down on their luck... Her return to them would mean instant extra pampering... I suppose.

"-Rei!" Rei blinked and looked up at a momentarily peeved Usagi.

"What?" she asked indifferently.
Usagi sighed. "Weren't you listening? We should call everyone together and have a welcome back party for Mina-chan!"

Rei cringed at the idea, though not enough for her companion to notice. She stood up. "Do what you like. I have things that need to be taken care of at home."

Usagi stared in surprise as Rei got up off the couch and started walking towards the front. As she was putting on her shoes, Usagi suddenly ran after her and exclaimed, "Rei-chan! Don't you care that Mina-chan's back? She's been gone for so long! And she's one of us!"

Rei opened the door with the same indifference. "I know. But she's a busy woman now. There's no guarantee that she'll have a big enough opening to have a proper party. She'll probably be attending an even bigger gala with all those CEOs she helped out. She'll contact us if she wants to contact us. I'm leaving, bye."

"B...ye." Usagi was put off, and even a bit confused- no, a lot confused- at Rei's behavior. Wasn't Rei the one who went with her whenever a new Aino Minako CD came out in stores and helped her obtain one? Wasn't it Rei that gave Usagi the change she needed if she saw a new poster or similar merchandise but didn't have enough money with her? Wasn't it Rei that... reminded Usagi to call up Minako after she had won that huge award, when Usagi had meant to but then somehow let it slip behind in her schedule, despite having watched the awards ceremony on TV? It couldn't be helped that dinner was ready at just the moment she was going to go call...

But that was beside the point. Usagi trudged up the stairs, thinking about her fellow temporarily retired Senshi. Had something happened between Mina and Rei that she had somehow missed? Or...?

"I got it!" Usagi smiled triumphantly, running up the stairs two at a time and tripping on the last one. But she was still smiling as she looked for the cordless phone. "Rei must be so ecstatic that she had to leave quickly so as to not show it to me! I bet she's as happy as a bumblebee now!"

Usagi was not... wrong, per se... so much as... presumptuous. She assumed that bumblebees were happy... after encountering an invading bear.

As of currently, Rei was fuming mad, at first at how she had to find out about her return from the media, when she had been exchanging personal letters and phone calls with the star ever since she'd left so many years ago. And then she was fuming at herself for getting mad at such a stupid thing. And after that she was mad that she always got ticked off at the slightest things. She was a shrine maiden for goodness sakes! She had had training to ward off this behavior.

And yet... and yet...

Knowing Minako was in town brought it all rushing back.

Rei smiled.

She glanced around, and acknowledged that no one was around.

She allowed herself one more very uncharacteristic broad grin, and a single skip in her gait, before resuming her normal neutral appearance.

The young ones at her temple could tell the difference in her mood though. She knew they knew, too, because they started trying to get away with things they wouldn't normally. And she caught them every time.

When night fell, Rei found that she couldn't sleep at all. She also knew that she was so used to this fluttering in her stomach, the one that came whenever something good had happened regarding Minako, that she would not be tired come the next morning if she got less sleep tonight. So she decided to be productive and do some exercise taking a walk around the garden. It wasn't much, but it was better than lying down doing nothing. That would only make her act strange in her skewed happiness the next day. That was no good either. So she walked.

Her thoughts traveled back to when Minako was last in Tokyo. When they had said their short yet drawn out goodbyes.

"Are you sure there's no trace of... of that?"

Mina smiled, stepping up to her so that they were only a few inches apart. "Quite sure. I had the doctors check three times this last month, Rei. I'm completely healthy."

"Then... then why leave? Why can't you stay here?"

"Weren't you the one who told me to live as Aino Minako?"

"...Yes..." Rei couldn't meet her eye, still reluctant to believe that h- that Minako was going to leave he- leave them all again. It was good that she was alive, but at the same time...

"Don't tell me you're actually going to miss me, Mars Reiko-san," she baited.

Rei snapped her head up and glared for a moment. "She won't. I will though."

They shared a smile.

"I'll keep in contact with you especially, okay? I promise."

"Can I trust your promise?"

"Hey, I came back last time didn't I?"

Rei looked away again. Sure you did. After you died. And I went through a living-
"Rei." Rei looked up at the tone of Minako's voice. So sweet, so caring. "Will you wait for me?"

"No." Rei grinned at the expression on Minako's face at that, but relaxed into a smile. "I won't wait for you like a dog without its master... but I'll be right here whenever you need me, whether or not you set foot in Japanese soil again." And she did another uncharacteristic thing in the spirit of the moment. She drew Minako close and hugged her. Not hard, as if this would be the last time, and not soft, as if she was a fragile doll that wouldn't be sturdy enough to return. Minako returned the hug, after having her instant of surprise.

"Not goodbye, not see you later. But good night, Rei-chan."

"Good night."

In the morning, Rei had found a bouquet of yellow roses on her doorstep. The note read, "I will come back- I swear it. I'll always come back... for you, my treasured friend."

On the back, it had her contact information. So if Rei didn't want to lose the information, she had to always touch those words, that promise. And vice versa.

She had called Minako that very night.

And with a single word, she realized just how much she would miss Minako from that day forward, until they were reunited.

Rei stopped as she came to a clearing, a lantern lit spot in the garden surrounded by a ring of stones and flowers, with a bench and a small pond. She leaned against a tree for a moment, remembering that this was where they had said their goodbyes. Rei moved to sit down on the bench, recalling as she sat and ran her fingers over the cold slate, all the times she had spoken with Minako here, in their private corner.

"Mina... chan..."

A shiver of a thrill crawled the length of her spine when she felt a delicate hand on her arm, a warm breath on the back of her neck, and a heavenly voice tickling her ear. "Yes Rei-chan?"

Rei whirled around to face Minako. She was all that she was all those years ago, when they had last seen each other in person. She was all that she was during today's announcement.

And she was all that she was in Rei's heart.

"Why are you here?"

Minako laughed lightly as she took the extra inch to sit down next to Rei. "I don't see you for how long and that's all you can say?"

"Five years, three-hundred sixty days."

"You remember that well?"

"How could I forget? You left on my birthday, of ALL days." Rei frowned, remembering her supreme annoyance when she first learned that.

"I said I was sorry for that, didn't I? It was the only way everything could work out the way it had to be."

Rei said nothing for a moment. Then she repeated her question. "Tell me why you're here. Now."

Minako sighed. She had hoped she could break the ice a little more before telling Rei, but she seemed so resolute...

"Promise to hear me out without blowing it all off?"

Rei immediately tensed in suspicion. "I make no promises."

Minako nodded, expecting this, and took Rei's hands in hers. Rei didn't object, but she tensed up just a little more, though for a different reason. "Rei..."

When she didn't continue, Rei pressed, "What is it?"

Minako took a deep breath, and then bore a look that connected soul to soul. "I need your help, Rei. No, rather I should say, I need the help of Mars Reiko. Without her... the Aino Minako of today will be lost."

A/N: Nooooooo! Short! Darn you! I said ShoRT! .o Why do I always have to put on a cliffhanger and then refuse to write the next chapter until I get reviews! It's a conspiracy! My own mind is plotting against me! Help! T-T

Wahh... I've lost it... send me reviews good or bad to revive me... suggestions and comments always helpful.

I know it sounds kinda generically typical of this couple right now, but bear with me, until inspiration truly strikes. Then all originality will fall into accordance... hopefully.

Ciao and good night!