12/28 (Evening) Catching Up (Minako, Rei)

Minako followed Rei's voice and found her friend eating dinner. She felt her own stomach grumble slightly, but she ignored it. For some reason, she felt a twinge of nervousness at being around Rei again, which made no sense considering they'd been friends for years. Minako wondered why being away for a few months touring felt like years had passed. The only answer she could come up with, was that all the senshi, as well as Usagi, seemed on edge lately.

Minako settled down at the table across from Rei. Without thinking, she reached up with her left hand and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "So," she began, "How have you been, Rei? How is the shrine?" <i>How is Usagi?</i> Minako hadn't seen the Queen. After her briefing with Lucan, which lasted far longer than the blonde had expected, she'd ended up taking a nap until it was time to meet with Rei.

Minako glanced toward the chopsticks, hesitated for only a second, then picked them up. She was hungry - given the long day with Lucan, Minako hadn't managed to eat anything since the small breakfast she'd had that morning. She wondered if Lucan ever took the time to stop and eat. Or sleep. Or do anything fun. He seemed to have his brain wired to security protocol all the time.

But before she could take a bit, Rei made comment about the email. Minako set the chopsticks down, and looked up at Rei. She had felt extremely guilty at first about missing the meeting. But the more she had thought about it, the more she'd been angry that no one had picked up the telephone and simply called her room before the damn thing started or walked down to her room to get her. She'd only been a few floors away. When she replied, she tried to hide the anger she felt, but her tone was curt. "Perhaps the telephone would have been a better communication method, Rei."

Minako shot Rei a nasty look. She hadn't come here to be lectured by Rei on her decisions on when to answer her phone or check her email. Minako didn't feel the need to explain to Rei that Usagi wanted one afternoon without being hounded by palace security, or that she didn't have as much time to check her email as Rei might, because she was now working two full-time jobs. Her eyes fixed directly on Rei, she forced her tone to stay flat as she spoke, "Is it just me, or did you ask me to come here so you could tell me the details about what happened with Usagi and Mamoru?"

"Since when, Rei-chan, have you suddenly decided your needs and requests were more important than Usagi's?" Minako replied snidely. "Perhaps if you and the other's had stepped up to the plate while I was gone, Usagi wouldn't have felt the need to sneak out of the palace in the first place! Did you ever think she didn't want anyone to know where she was? That I didn't answer my communicator at her request and not yours? That she's so tired of having every move she makes be done under constant watch like she's a prisoner instead of a queen? If she'd wanted you to know where she was, she'd have told you."

Her volume increased as she spoke, and her tone grew more sharp. "And I may be your leader," Minako retorted, emphasizing the word your, "but Usagi is still mine, and I still bend to her command. I expect that you would still choose to do the same, Rei."

Finally, Minako shrugged, her tone cold, "Besides, five seconds after you paged me, Haruka answered her call. Wasn't that sufficient enough for you? How the hell would you even know I was back in town to make the assumption that I was available?"

Minako tried to keep herself calm as Rei was speaking. She tried to reason with herself that Rei didn't understand what life was like when people watched your every move twenty-four hours of the day, seven days a week. That she didn't understand the weight a person felt when there was always someone that needed something from you. That sometimes, when you finally found yourself away from the watchful eye of the media, your bodyguards, security, and even your friends, you relished every moment. Minako hadn't known that the senshi believed Usagi had been kidnapped, and she wondered if given what she knew about 'celebrity' life she'd have even thought of kidnapping over escape as Usagi's reason for disappearance had she been with the others that afternoon. Usagi had changed in the time Minako was gone; she'd had , but that didn't make her any less human. Usagi had become grown-up, responsible, and unselfish - traits that Sailor Moon has possessed - but that didn't mean that even someone with responsibilities didn't need time alone. "There is more to being alive than just having your heart beating," Minako whispered softly under her breath.

When Rei began attacking her life choices, Minako shot to her feet, her hands clenching into tight fists. The care she'd taken to keep her thoughts reasonable slipped away. She took a step backwards, away from the table, as though putting a measure of distance between herself and Rei might help lessen her anger. Rei had always spoken her mind, and Minako had no doubt that the priestess meant every word. "So that's what this is about? My career choices? You're going to sit here and throw in my face that I followed my dreams even though my dreams couldn't be fulfilled here?" She opened her mouth to go on, to point out that everyone else's dreams were easily fulfilled here while hers couldn't, but held back. This was between herself and Rei and not the others. She narrowed her eyes. "Thanks for finally telling me how you really feel."