Memories: Just Friends, a sailor moon fanfic

A/N: Here is another in the Memories series. Minako and Rei for this one. Since it's the memories series, they are still in high school. The actual relationship hadn't started yet, pertaining to them as really good, if not somewhat closeted friends. You'll see that a few of the Moment series incidents are told outright in this one. I hope you enjoy it.

I do not own Sailor Moon. I am merely a fan who types up more fan fiction in a 24 hour period than I most likely should. Lol.

Song: I Will Be Your Friend.
By: Amy Grant

Song lyrics are in Italics.
Normal story will look like this.

Sometimes before you love someone they're your best friend. Sometimes love at first sight doesn't compute into your head. In some cases love takes years to bloom. This would be in the case of Hino Rei and Aino Minako. Before they were lovers, before it became apparent that they actually needed each other beyond such a simple definition that's what they called themselves. "We are best friends." That's what they would say. Others would whisper and wonder about the real truth behind the statement.

They looked so much closer than that when it came to the outside world. Inside their little world that's all either would ever be. Only really, really good friends who would be there for each other no matter what. They would be the ones who could say anything too each other. The type, who could lose their cool under pressure, be it in anger or in tears. They protected each other from the rest of the world. That was what they claimed as truth. They had been with each other no matter what, and some of the ups and downs were by far some of the worst to deal with. Minako and Rei have memories of these whirlwinds of emotions. Each one is slightly different, but, either way, they were the times nobody else had helped but each other.

When every moment gets too hard
End of the road can feel so far
No matter how much time we're apart
I'm always near you

No male would come between them because Rei would scare them off and Minako didn't seem to try to stop it. No girl could ever, or, would ever get in the way because Minako had only been serous about one girl. That girl had been a shrine maiden that wasn't quite out of the closet. Too bad they just scooted around each other avoiding that topic, even when the hardest of moments came too them. It wasn't being naïve. Rei knew well of what Minako wanted and Minako knew she wasn't going unnoticed by Rei. The real issue was Rei wasn't altogether sure how she felt, and Minako wasn't altogether sure that she wanted to peruse flakey waters of an honest and fully open relationship.

The closeness had an intimacy laced even in the most basic of things. Eating was a time to flirt for Minako, even in ways she wasn't sure if she had or not. Rei would blush regardless of what the apparent flirting was. In the case of an indirect kiss it was understandable, but in the case of the brush of hands or simple little thing it wasn't nearly so overt that Minako could call it flirting. Playing around perhaps, flirting no.

Then you had the sleepovers among friends. The two girls had always ended up next to each other. The sofa when at Usagi's house and three chairs haphazardly pushed together when at Makoto's. At Minako's they would share her bed and at Rei's the front room became one gigantic wall of blankets and pillows. If they were with Haruka, Michiru, or both, then Rei ended up a human sandwich at that point. Being squished between some random combination of her best friend, the cousin of said best friend, and a woman who wasn't very worried about the overt closeness of any situation, already used to the cousin blonds and their more idiotic mannerisms.

Then you had the sleepovers with Setsuna. That was a rare, but entirely different kettle of fish. It seemed the woman would do her best to arrange bed assignments to avoid monkey business. Rei almost always found herself with Makoto and Haruka while Minako found herself with Usagi and Michiru. Low and behold, even in this event, somehow, someway, Minako always magically ended up with Rei the next morning.

It was small things. Simple closeness that while completely innocent was very far from looking as the true intent. It was the true intent to embrace upon meeting and leaving, but that wasn't out of romance. It was intended when Minako cuddled the warmth Rei provided, but she didn't want it to be sexual. It was intended to be open and have a good time, but that didn't mean that Minako simply left all rules and edict when she did such things. She had her limits and, Rei had hers. Both of them used these limits freely, at any point, and in the end it was that unspoken law that made it so very comfortable.

I'll be the shelter in your rain
Help you find your smile again
I'll make you laugh at a broken heart
Wherever you are

Sometimes they fought, and days like this were no different from when Rei became flustered. "You're no better Minako!" Rei shouted aggravated.
"No, I may not be." Minako agreed. "But I still say your worst outburst was when you had your period."
"It was not." I was upset but I wasn't that upset… My worst was…let me think…" Rei defended. It may have been her worst but she wouldn't admit it.
"You're period." Minako supplied again. "It was the worst because it was your first. My mood swings are bad, but you blew mine out of the water that day."
Rei scoffed. She wouldn't fall prey to that ever again, even if her second one, that came today, was the cause of the aversion to admitting it. "Not true."

'Cause I'm never gonna walk away
If the wall comes down someday
All alone and you feel afraid
Be there when you call my name
You can always depend on me
I believe until forever ends
I will be your friend

The blond laughed "Oh really? You were one hell of a pistol all week before hand. If you weren't crying you were all by yourself. If you were crying you would run off to be alone. Let's not forget, my dear Rei, that you about had a heart attack when you actually found out. " Minako corrected. "The first day it started your grandfather called me because he found a pair of panties wrapped up in a bag, stuffed in the trash, with about three rolls of toilet paper. You had no idea you had it until it was too late and you sit there and tell me it wasn't your worst. Funny thing is, you don't know what you're doing yet because you haven't hid anything very well at all."

And just what is that supposed to mean?" Rei growled highly annoyed drying her eyes with more tissue.
"I can tell you're on it again, you're mood, and, the fact you called me thinking you were ill and going to die gave it away…" The blond smirked.
"MINAKO!" Rei shouted again, that's not funny.

"I can't help it, I told you it would be irregular for a long time, and I also told you to be ready." The blond rolled her eyes as Rei burst into another fit if tears. Did she mention the strain on emotions one goes through at a time like this? She couldn't remember. People who say women are hell on earth have no idea what that could possibly mean until they come into contact with a hormonal Rei. She jumped to conclusions, she cried, she felt helpless and it only got worse after it ended before her mood would get better. Minako could see it now; Rei would end up on birth control if this kept up purely to regulate her overtly screwed up emotions. Minako would wait another year or so before suggesting that, hoping it would sort itself out. In the mean time she too would have to suffer through Rei and her extremely hard to handle situations. She sighed as Rei buried her face in a tissue, again hiding from the world. Rei was just too much some times, in every way possible, she was just too much. "It's not the end of the world you know…"

"But it is…" Rei sobbed again. Why was this so hard, and why was this particular feeling continuing to well in the pit of her stomach. She was cramping and she was achy, and she felt so very confused. Rei could deal with that, she really could, but there was one other thing that seemed to ail her when she got this way. "I miss mom."

"Rei, it's not." Minako sighed again. "Come here." She said as she enveloped the girl into a hug. Rei seemed to have a need to talk about the woman that had been missing in her life from a small child. If it was a method of seeking comfort, or, a new way to further herself into a depression Minako wasn't fully sure yet. "She was like you I bet… We women go through a lot around this time, and, I bet she was like you... Her mother wasn't around at your age and I'm sure she was the same way at first…but it'll get easier, and you'll know how to handle it in time."

So many people come and go
But nothing can change the you I know
You'll never be just a face in the crowd
And time will show

"How do you know about all of that?" Rei never really talked about her grandmother. She had never known the woman her grandfather had married. She had been long gone since before Rei was born, and it seemed like Hino women grew up without a mother if Rei and family history was anything to point at. She called herself doomed, but, that was also her aversion to get close to people, one that she kept deep inside, and one that was easy to tell if one thought about it.

Overt loneliness and a need to be walled was something Rei was able to master well, but her personality was far too strong for it to simply a case like Ami or Makoto. Ami had fears because she didn't know how to actually meet people, and Makoto, a simple riffraff kid off the street didn't know how to trust people. The two of them had personalities that fit the reasons why they were in closed by inner walled emotions, but, Rei didn't. Rei was a hothead like Makoto, but her fighting wasn't the type to cause fists to fly on a daily basis. She was reserved about her past, but she wasn't a shy girl afraid of the world around her. That was when it clicked, Rei wasn't afraid of the outside, she was afraid of the inside world around her, the thing she called her life.

Her fears were that of her own future. Rei was a healthy girl, but, in her mind that could change, and would in a heartbeat. She had to stay away from people because she cared about them. If one could get close to Rei like her friends had managed to do, what would happen down the line? Would they miss her? Would the mourn her? What if she met a man, what if she had children? She couldn't leave them to a man like her father. She knew her grandfather wouldn't be around forever, where did that place her? Who would she be, and what kind of woman, as caring as she, would do that willingly knowing the risks?

That's what she had thought until her friends came waltzing in acting like bats out of the preverbal hell. They changed her mentality to actually need them. Usagi was the one who melted her emotions. Tears and crying from that girl had real power to keep both her and the brash Makoto from getting into dangerous or problematic situations. Ami's logic was calm and collected; she was soft spoken and found herself being the one to deal with more explosive aftermath. If it resulted from Makoto's famous fistfights, Usagi's ability to wear her emotions on her sleeve, Minako's mishaps that cause unprecedented amounts of flirtatious havoc, it didn't matter. Ami was the cleanup crew for all of it and more.

Through the seasons and years
I will always hold you dear
Never you fear

Minako, well she was the motherly one. She was the one who could really speak about things that Rei and Makoto, both having been raised by males, wouldn't understand. Where Ami ended up blushing or Usagi became lost for words, Minako plowed through even the most embarrassing of situations. Everything from bra shopping, to periods, to a bad break up, or anything under the sun it never mattered, she was there. She was the one who ended up dealing with what the massive army of parental units, cousins, brothers, and other relatives seemed to miss.

"I'm a woman; it's our job to know about things like that… Your grandfather says your just like your mother all of the time. It's like he chants it in both a happy memory and direct worry… it's easy to see you take after her in more ways than either of you will ever say, but the one thing I've noticed is that your grandmother on his side…well…she's not in your baby pictures. You're grandfather, father, and mother all are…but she's not." Minako started simply. "Underneath all of that, it's getting better, I know you don't want to think about it like that, but it is. I remember the first time I had to deal with you like this; it wasn't as easy as this because none of us knew it was the problem…"

~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~

"Hey Rei." Minako said as she came up behind her friend who was, once again crying in the local park for no outwardly apparent reason. This was the third time in the past week Rei had done this, and it wasn't overtly obvious why. Rei didn't get upset like this. She would get mad, bellow, kick, and rampage her way into a crying fit if she was truly upset, but never did she just break down and cry into a sobbing mess. Rei cried while yelling, not on a swing set looking as weak as humanly possible. It seemed like the positions were reversed as the raven clung. Outright just clung, that wasn't like Rei either. It was a mystery that no one could figure out. Rei was in the middle of high school. She was cool, calm, and collected, or seething angry and upset, never was she ever the crying little girl Minako or even Ami could become when times got hard. No, Rei never did that. So why was she starting now. It simply hadn't connected in anyone's head. "What happened…"A statement that could be ignored instead of questions were better used when dealing with Rei in this state.

"Nothing." Rei said continuing her sobbing fit. "Nothing happens… nothing will happen…"
"Alright…" Minako started slowly. "You just want to cry like this…" Minako looked at the girl, she couldn't get it.
"SHUT UP!" Rei started before she looked like a dear in headlights and backed away again.
"What now?" Minako was confused. So very, very confused. "Are you sure nothing is wrong?"
"Y-Yes. Just go away. Leave me be." Rei started walking away and onto the main sidewalk.

That took Minako aback, First Rei was crying, now she was avoiding any topic of conversation even going so far as to act…flustered… Yes that was the word, but why, nothing was out of the ordinary. Ok that was the final straw, something was clearly wrong. She ran up and caught Rei's hand. This needed to be settled, sooner rather than later being preferable.

"Are you ok?" Minako asked a rather pale looking Rei.
"No. My head hurts, I feel sore and I'm tired." The raven haired girl drawled out.
"Come here." Minako said as she put her forehead on Rei's. "You seem to have a fever."
'I don't think that's a fever.' Rei thought as she tried to avert her eyes from their current location. "Um, Minako… I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your bra isn't exactly working."
"huh?" Minako looked down only to laugh a bit. "Yes it is. That's a push-up bra Rei."
"Oh my god…" Rei said as she covered her face. 'Avert your eyes you dolt!' She thought to herself.

The rest of the day Rei had avoided the talk of why she was so emotionally upset. Weeks would go by with other little moments of eccentricity, and Rei was now becoming very aware of others near her body at these times. Her face was getting oily and her breasts had started to grow from the A cup that had started in, and now were a full B almost reaching an early C. It was becoming more and more apparent, although Rei wouldn't talk about it outwardly. Puberty was now starting to settle in, and for the first time, Rei was starting to take on the form of a true woman. She had always had a level of beauty, but with her body starting to change more and more, little by little, she wasn't far behind Minako when it came to attracting the attention of others.

This, of course, led to an entirely new set of issues. Not all of them were easily dealt with, and not all of them were what one considered the end of the world. In all reality, as the saying goes, 'shit happens' and as a result, Minako found herself dealing with a wide array of issues. Today, the issues came full circle as she skipped her morning volleyball practice for a 'Family issue.' It was an issue, but it wasn't family. It was Rei. The girl was held up in a locker room with a less than ideal situation, and best of all, Rei even chased out a nun who had aggravated her. Rei was still Rei deep down. Pig headed and hard to handle on the best of days, hence why Minako was going to deal with the situation personally.

Minako held a backpack in her arms as she walked into T*A Private School. She went around the side to the girl's locker room where Rei normally took a shower after her gym class. This time the girl seemed to have a problem. That was why Minako had come here in the first place. She knocked on the door but no one was responding. She knew this was bound to come eventually. She was the one who had to help Rei, it was normal of course since the miko didn't have a woman around to show her these things. Finally she got fed up and just walked through the door. "I'm coming in!" She called through the door in case anyone else had been in there.

"Minako! Get out of here!" Rei said while she was in the girl's locker room in T.A. private school.
"What? It's not like I haven't seen you naked before." Minako said waiting by the door. "We have gone to the hot springs before."
"Yeah, but this is my school. Not yours. I'll be in trouble for you being in here and not in the main office." Rei shot back holding her uniform too her body.
"Not really." Minako said as she smirked finding it hard to not laugh. "Your grandfather sent me to give you these." She explained handing a book bag to Rei.
She opened the bag to find feminine items that she had desperately needed. "Well that explains that." She deadpanned.
"Take what you need." Minako offered. "I have a pair of clean underwear for you in the back pocket if you need them as well."
"Minako…" Rei didn't know what to say to that. "How did he know what to get?"
"He didn't." the blond explained. "That's why he called me. You act as if this is your first period. Overflow happens. Why do you think I keep spares on hand?"
"Minako…" Rei's eyes shot downward to the floor. "It *is* my first period." How was she supposed to know these kinds of things?
"Well that explains him then." Minako smirked.
"Do I want to know?" Rei asked as she went into the bathroom stall, happy no one else had entered the locker room.
"He was about to do the laundry." She said as she shook her head. "I take it no one has ever really talked to you about this have they?"
"MINAKO!" Rei yelled aggravated. She hadn't wanted anyone to find out. She knew the basics, but she didn't know what to do to deal with it.

I'll be your rock when every candle burns down low
And I want you to know

"Rei…it's ok. Relax." Minako soothed getting her answer.
"No it's not!" Rei hollered back with what sounded like a winy voice.
"Rei…" Minako went to the front of the stall. "Calm down and tell me what's going on." The first few periods could really be a killer on the emotions.
"No!" Rei called back this time it was clear she really was crying. "Just leave me alone ok?" She sniffled.
"Not when you're like that I won't." Minako said softly. "I will come in there, even if I have to climb over the door. I swear I will." She was getting worried.
"You will not." Rei shot back overly emotional. "You can't climb a smooth surface Minako! Stop threatening me like everyone else!"

Minako was taken aback by that. "Don't say I didn't warn you." Minako said again. "You have to the count of three to cover yourself if you don't want to be seen. "One…" She said as she put her hands on the top of the stall door. "Two…" She found footing with one sneaker. "Three…" Some banging on the door punctuated Minako pulling herself on, up, and over the door easing herself to the floor as Rei continued to sit in the stall crying. "Now what's wrong?" She thought for a moment and sighed. "It's on the skirt isn't it?" Rei look petrified at that, Minako had hit the nail on the head. "You don't have to say anything Rei, just come here." Minako had planned for this as well taking her grey sweater from around her waist. She tied it around Rei being sure to fix it to look casual. "This what you do if this ever happens again. Be sure to have a sweater the color of your uniform handy in your locker and don't forget to start keeping spare panties inside of a cosmetic bag along with a few fresh pads. If you want to know something just ask me."

~~~~~End flashback~~~~

Cause I'm never gonna walk away
If the wall comes down someday
All alone and you feel afraid
Be there when you call my name
You can always depend on me
I believe until forever ends
I will be your friend

It was that talk that had led them to the events of today. Rei having panicked, called Minako due to thinking she was extremely sick. In reality, it was just the curse reentering a little earlier than it should be, yet that was normal. Rei wasn't sure about that and continued to send herself into an upset fit. Minako caved, finally telling her she would be at the Shrine shortly. That had been an entire roller coaster of emotions…

"If they say boys will be boys, then they have no idea girls will be a rampaging whirlwind of emotions until after they reach being a teenager." Minako laughed lightly looking back on her own experiences with such a thing. "You learn to deal with it. Trust me, but, we are complete and utter bitches until then. We cramp, we hurt, we feel upset and have no idea why, but I promise you, it does get better." Minako nodded lightly before amending the statement. "Unless you're Haruka…"

"Why…what's wrong with Haruka?" That worried Rei.
"Nothing's wrong with her." The blond thought about it and tried to compare. "She gets like you, but worse. I've never seen anyone top her yet."
"That doesn't sound good." Rei knew she was an utter mess, but Haruka should be beyond that stage, Right? "Why hasn't she gotten better?"
"Stop treating a period like an illness, you can't compare it like that or you'll think you're sick every month." Minako sighed.
Rei was still jumpy and it was visibly clear. "Why does this have to suck so damn much?" Rei curled in on herself again, she was still emotional too.

"Rei, A period doesn't mean you're sick. It means you're normal." Minako couldn't understand why Rei was so adverse too this, Rei was a normal girl, with more or less normal tendencies, so why was this so hard for her to grasp. "Haruka is different, you know that. Just because that idiot thinks that she should gallivant around looking like a male should be enough to tell you that she would have an aversion to such things. Remember, she's the one who tried to swim topless and got kicked out of the community pool!" Her voice softened and she noted Rei laughed a little at that. "Anyway, she just feels as if the curse shouldn't come visit her. Finally after Haruka got too much to deal with Ami's mom shoved her on birth control. Haruka was, and still is, a menace to society when she's hormonal."

"Why do you say that?" Rei couldn't see that, Haruka, though a goofball, wasn't a bad person.
"She pulled that idiotic stunt when she was on her cycle." Minako hit her forehead, still in disbelief that it had actually happened.
"You aren't joking are you…" Rei hoped to god she never did anything quite that extreme.
"No, I'm not." The blond deadpanned as she rolled her eyes. "Then there was the incident pertaining to breaking a grill in a department store, but let's not speak of that."

"Minako…" Rei stopped for the moment thinking before she looked up with lavender eyes, focused and quizzical. "Why…"
"Why what Rei?" Baby blue eyes found purchase to stare back.
"Why do you put up with idiots like us…" Rei shot her eyes to the floor as she awaited an answer.
"Because…" Minako said nodding that as her answer.
"Because…?" Rei's hand gesture for Minako to continue was downplayed, but, it was overtly asking for more.
"Just because…" Minako's voice was light and airy. Happy and uplifting. "I don't need any more reason than that do I?"
"No, I guess not…" Rei said simply.

If someone of the outside world were to take look at the two of them, it would be to see love. It would be to see compassion, and deep amounts of unspoken feelings. The term friend was one of mixed meanings. You had the 'fair weather friend'. The ones people called 'friends with benefits', and the age old sayings like 'best friend forever' or something of the like. You had many meanings, but Minako and Rei didn't fit any of that. Minako didn't leave Rei's side. Rei wasn't one to think of long term ideals among the people she knew, the fear of loss evident in her mind for others instead of herself. They didn't share intimacy on a level to be called lovers…so what were they? Just friends. That's all they were back then, but, sometimes that's all you really need to be.

End-

Well, that was the Rei and Minako one shot for the Memories series of RW. Let me know what you think. (See, I promised you it wouldn't die out, and I won't let it.) Please leave me a review on what you think. Also, I hope this opens up more of Rei's connection too her mother in the main series and why she has such an introverted personality within the many series.

I know this fiction was tense at parts, awkward at others, and sometimes just depressing or idiotic at times. The reason for this because I feel that it's what being a teenage girl is all about. Face it ladies, we all have the stories of outlandish situations even if we don't talk about them. Personally, I know I have my fair share. ( A grill incident actually happening to a friend of mine, well MANY grill mishaps actually.) I was a mild mannered all A and B student and I was still a handful. Isn't it amazing what being a teen can do to you? Up's and down's galore… but that's what I was trying to show in this. In the main series it is properly spaced, but I in this one I had it come quickly because I wanted to interpret just that, Sometimes life spins into a total 180, 360, and then upside down before we can actually grasp hold of it again.

That goes for adults too, but, as Minako said, hopefully by then we know how to deal with it better. Anyway, please leave a review, I love feedback. Positive, negative, or otherwise.