The Client

Summary: Makoto is Minako's new client and hopes to be with Mizuno Ami. Will Minako fall in love with her client? Probably.

Disclaimer: I own nothing that is mentioned in this fic.

Chapter Ten: In The End

Ami, Usagi, and I sat at the Fruits Parlor, all of us silent for a while. We all ordered drinks, but I was sure that we weren't going to touch them. Ami was in a state of distress, even if she didn't really look like it. Usagi had calmed down a bit, but she was still upset (showing Ami's real emotions for her). My eyes shifted nervously as I watched them, hoping one of them would explain what was going on. The lack of information I had confused me because Makoto apparently decided to act so quickly.

"So, can someone explain what happened?" I asked cautiously. Hopefully, my voice didn't rouse any anger within Ami. She stared at me with accusing eyes – those eyes were filled with so much hatred – and quickly looked away. Did she know about what happened between Makoto and I? Did she finally figure out how Makoto felt? Why did she look at me like that?

"Makoto…she broke up with me," the blue-haired girl sighed. "I…I don't know why. I don't understand." I assumed the role of the concerned friend so that the accusing eyes would disappear. Technically, this wasn't my fault (Makoto was the one who fell for me – I didn't make her), and Ami and I were still kind of friends, so there was no need (yet) for her to point the blame at me.

"Seriously? Out of the blue? Just like that?" I questioned, eyes growing wide. At the sound of my worried tone, she looked at me again and nodded. The accusation in her eyes had gone away now, and I was safe for the time being.

Usagi grumbled as she crossed her arms, unable to get her feelings out completely. "You want me to call her right now? Because I will if you want me to," she promised. "I'll even go to her place now and fight her. Just tell me to." Ami shook her head rapidly and tried to assuage Usagi's rising anger, but nothing worked.

"Ami-chan, you can't just let her get off like this!" she yelled, drawing attention to our table. Ami shrunk in her seat and sighed. Joining in, I added, "That's not fair to you at all! Find out why she did this or we'll find out for you!"

Yeah, so I started digging my own grave. Knowing Ami, she wouldn't have the courage to find out why Makoto broke up with her, so either way I would be fine. However, I had to worry about Usagi because I knew for a fact that she'd figure everything out before I realized it.

Later that night, I decided to call Makoto to try to understand why she made such a rash choice. I turned off the light and found my way into the bed as I waited for her to answer. Perhaps she would get straight to the point and give me the info I needed to know instead of avoiding and evading. Then again, this was Makoto I was dealing with – everything was like some sort of game to her.

"Hello?"

"Makoto, why?"

"I didn't want to deceive Ami or myself anymore."

"Both Ami-san and Usagi-chan will realize why you did that and come after me, too."

"Everything will be fine. Don't worry about it."

With that, she hung up on me. I stared at my phone as it lit up the room briefly, knowing that things would be the exact opposite of fine when the others found out. Even Makoto knew it because her voice was so unconvincing. Sighing, I resolved on waiting for the day when all hell broke loose.

The next day was a cold one, though partly because I was up super early in the morning. I was meeting Usagi outside of her house on a Saturday morning to prepare for what could be my last day alive. Usagi had called me around eight o' clock this morning, waking me up from a deep slumber. It was then when she asked me to come here so that she and I could pay Makoto a visit.

Again, I was digging my own grave.

It was almost ten o' clock when Usagi came outside, closing the door quietly and giving me a certain look. "Ready?" she said breathlessly, as if there were some sort of hesitation to speak. I responded with a nod and motioned her to move to our next destination.

The blonde grasped my hand tightly the whole walk, and I held on to it just as tightly. It was then that I understood how she felt about doing this. If things were to go wrong, she would lose one friend just because she was trying to help another. Losing friends was a scary thing, especially to Usagi. Friends were her everything, and if she lost any of them, her life wouldn't contain the same meaning it once did. It seemed that in this case, however, she would lose one person or another whether she made a move or not – Makoto would distance herself from the others if she did, or both she and Ami would distance themselves if she didn't. It was truly a dilemma.

But when she found out how I was involved in this, how much would she lose?

When we finally arrived at the apartment building, Usagi stopped. She went through her pockets and soon revealed a key. I was confused for a moment, which prompted her to explain, "It's a spare key. Ami-chan gave us permission to do this." It had only been, what, three months since Ami and Makoto had been together, and she had already gotten a spare key? I don't know if it was just me, but that struck me as a bit odd.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Usagi continued. I took a deep breath and let it out before answering. I gave her the thumbs up and nodded, noticing that she was using me in order to hype herself up so she didn't chicken out.

Together, we walked in and made our way to Makoto's floor, where Usagi asked one last time if I was ready. I nodded without hesitation and led her to Makoto's door. With a shaky hand, she put the key in the keyhole and turned it until she heard a click. At this point, she knew she couldn't turn back, so she opened the door and entered.

We're so bad.

Naturally, we found our target – being the early bird she was – sitting on the couch and watching TV. She turned to us immediately, looking surprised one moment, and then unsurprised the next. She groaned and rolled her eyes, murmuring, "You've got to be kidding me."

The three of us sat at the table in the kitchen. Makoto had turned off the TV and made us all tea. Since Makoto was the one who made it, it was delicious. Unfortunately, it lost its flavor as Makoto began telling Usagi what led her to make her decision. She had tried to keep me out of it and hide my existence with half-lies. It had been alright up until Usagi started asking questions. When it became obvious that Makoto had no more excuses to use, I spoke up and filled in the blanks with my name.

Usagi had been quiet up to this point. There was silence all around us as Makoto and I waited for her to speak. We simply stared, waiting and waiting for her to explode and scold us. For a while, it didn't seem like she ever would.

"So, she never passed the final test?" she asked me softly, looking at me cautiously. I shook my head. She looked at Makoto next, trying to figure things out in her head before she spoke. "And you like Minako-chan more than…Ami-chan?" she asked. Makoto nodded her head in confirmation. The blonde scratched her head and groaned, "Why must you guys make things difficult?"

"Are you mad?" I inquired, hoping she wasn't. I mean, technically we weren't at fault. Feelings arose when they shouldn't have, but it's not like we planned it. She couldn't be mad at us for that, could she? Like she had said before, love just happens.

"I'm mad at you guys for lying to me," she answered, giving us dirty looks. We promptly apologized, knowing that we hurt Usagi by not trusting her. She took a sip of tea and sighed, sitting back in her chair without taking her eyes off of us. "But I can't be mad at you for anything else. It's just that I'm worry about Ami-chan."

"What should we do?" Makoto asked. We both looked to Usagi for the answers – hopefully one that kept everyone happy. However, that serious look on her face hinted that everyone might be seriously divided.

"You have to tell her why you did what you did. Minako-chan, if Ami-chan wants to talk to you, listen to what she has to say. I'll support you both."

The three of us looked around the table, silently confirming what must be done. Once Monday came around, things would finally be settled, and maybe we'd have some peace.

Nothing major happened on Monday. Usagi and I didn't see Makoto much at all, so we assumed that she was chickening out of the original plan. We had gone home without a word and waited for the next day to come.

It was on Tuesday that I realized a lot had actually happened the previous day. Makoto had called me early in the morning, telling me she was outside and wanted to walk me to school. I couldn't deny such an offer, so I got ready as quickly as I could and went out the door. When I was outside, she greeted me with a smile and gave me a quick hug. I was wondering where all of this was coming from, but I wasn't complaining. She even asked how I was doing and told me how beautiful I looked and all that sweet stuff. I liked that, but clearly something was up. First, I don't see her for a day, and now she's acting like we're together? What was going on?

Once we got to school, we sat at our lunch spot, sitting close to each other, almost as if nothing bad had happened up until this point. Everything was fine – it was like a dream come true – until Ami walked towards us. Makoto stood up and gave me a reassuring look before walking off. I realized that this had been some sort of setup, and Makoto had only been with me so that Ami could find me. Just perfect.

When Ami stood in front of me, she gave me those accusing eyes again. It was always me, wasn't it? "Makoto told me everything. I knew you were involved somehow," she muttered. "I was hoping you weren't, and it looked like you were really trying to help me, but you were only trying to cover yourself up."

"I know, and for that, I'm sorry," I sighed. "I'll admit that I fell for her while I was trying to help her, but she didn't know that for a long time. I didn't influence her to do anything. Things just happened." Looking away from me, she let out a breath she had been holding in for a while. There was nothing that could be done to make it seem like it wasn't my fault, huh?

"You know as well as I do how love works. If I could have chosen who to love, I would have, but…"

Ami held up her hand up to silence me. She simply nodded and turned away from me. "Then there's nothing I can do about you guys," she whispered. "Take care of her, or else I'll never forgive you." Before I could say anymore, she went inside the building. Ami was now out of the way, and I had her blessing to go after Makoto. Things should be easier now, right?

That evening, Makoto, Usagi, and I had been hanging around in Makoto's living room. We had discussed what happened that day, whether it went well or badly, and what we should do from here. Usagi thought Makoto and I should wait for a bit before deciding to be together for Ami's sake; Makoto said getting into a relationship would be too much for her at the moment; I agreed with both of them. There had been a lot of drama, so it was only wise to let the dust settle before anything else happened.

During our little meeting, Usagi got a call from her mother, who ordered her to return home. Not wanting to get scolded, she told us not to do anything she wouldn't do and left the two of alone. Makoto and I silently looked at each other for a few moments. After a while, I looked elsewhere, murmuring, "I wonder what she wouldn't do…" At the same time, Makoto had uttered the exact same words, causing the two of us to laugh. Hey, great minds think alike.

"She's innocent," Makoto said. "She wouldn't do a lot of things for a long time." I wiggled a finger at her with a mischievous grin. "Rei might be able to break her – you never know," I suggested. We teased Usagi relentlessly, laughing as we imagined how she would react if she were still here. Our troubles melted away at that instant as we had the most fun we had had with each other in a long time. It was nice to forget that hearts were broken and friendships were damaged when you were the reason for all of that. Weight that had been on my shoulders for so long had finally been lifted because of this one moment. Life was good sometimes, and it was really starting to show.

Soon, the room fell silent once we stopped joking about Usagi. We gazed into each other's eyes and reached out for one another. My hand found hers, and our fingers intertwined. She smiled that goofy smile of hers, and I gladly returned it. Of course, this innocent scene didn't last long when she suddenly pulled me into her lap and began tickling me. I gasped for air and tried to fight against her, but it was no use. Even though my stomach was starting to hurt from all the laughter, I wished that this moment would never end. I wanted to be just like this with Makoto, the special girl I just happened to fall for. The tickling eventually came to an abrupt stop and ended with a kiss.

Makoto and I knew that a relationship wasn't a good idea after all that happened, but who said there had to be labels? She and I could be just like this whenever we wanted and still be friends for the time being. As long as we didn't show our feelings in public, it was fine. I could settle for this situation, and I was sure Makoto was up for it as well.

Looking back on it, it was pretty funny how things worked out. Clients in the past ended up liking me for the same reasons, but this time, it worked the other way around. Because of that, I got myself wrapped into drama that I usually tried to keep myself out of. All of this happened, and it was all because of Makoto. Perhaps in the end it was all worth it. After all, we were finally together, right?

The End

And so The Client is over! That means I can finish my other stories and post ones that I have been stuck in my head for a while :D Hopefully, you guys enjoyed the final chapter. Til next story

Serenity101