Blond Bonding 1/5 (Usa/Mina)

[Aino Minako]

After her conversation with Artemis the day before, Minako had spent the evening in her room working on her lines for the up coming movie. And when she grew tired of that, she pulled out more of the paperwork she'd needed to review for Usagi and read until she'd fallen asleep. Today had been spent doing more of the same, and she'd avoided leaving her room until she needed to meet with Usagi. She wanted to enter their talk with a clear head.

Now, as the hour approached, she stepped from the shower and dressed. She was looking forward to clearing the air with her queen, her friend, and even in some ways her make-up-test buddy. After all, the past few weeks certainly felt like a test, and she was definitely trying to make up for her failures.

She left her room and headed for Usagi's office. Pushing open the double doors, she approached Usagi's secretary and smiled, "I'm here to meet with Usagi? Is she in?"

[Neo Queen Serenity]

The secretary looked up, frowning slightly. She had obviously been finishing up for the night, here for three hours after she had left. Why did the Queen keep such odd hours, anyway? The last thing she wanted to do was escort one of the senshi to the Queen.

"Lady Venus," came a cheerful voice. Hikari emerged into the room, glancing at the secretary who looked very dour. "Thank you, Velma, you can go home now. I'll take it from here." She returned her bright, professional smile to Minako.

"Her Majesty has been expecting to you. We're finishing up for the evening, she'll be out any moment."

"I'm here now," Usagi chimed in, emerging from her office and testing the doors. They had locked behind her. "Hey, Mina-chan. Want to come to my quarters? It'll be more cozy there anyway. The office gets creepy this time of evening, when everyone starts to leave."

She was polite, even smiled at her. Usagi loved her, but she wasn't quite sure how to act. Her reserve was warm, but vaguely professional.

[Aino Minako]

Minako waited patiently after thanking Hikari, but she was happy she didn't have to wait long. Usagi was practically out the door before the words, "thank you," left her mouth.

The tension and the formality was not lost on Minako even with the invitation to the queen's quarters. "Sure," Minako replied, following after Usagi as the two left the office. She felt uneasy, a rare feeling to have in Usagi's presence, but her conversation with Artemis still rang in her mind and she was determined to patch up whatever misunderstandings they had had. Stress and lack of communication had obviously played a part in their argument. Stress was never going to go away, but at least she could try and fix the communication issue. "How.. was your day?" she asked awkwardly, trying to keep a conversation going as they walked.

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Usagi headed off in the direction of the elevator to go directly to her apartments on the floor above the offices. It was a short ride, and she took off her shoes once the doors to the office had closed behind them. Even designer pumps still hurt her feet after a certain amount of hours had passed. She was beginning to think she should start up Casual Dress Fridays. She would rather take the elevator than the stairs, she was feeling lazy, and put her hand up for the biometric scanner to her private elevator.

"My day?" Usagi echoed Minako. "Well... The last few hours were productive." She tried to think back earlier than that, but just recalled being busy, and nothing more. "I'll assume that means the rest of the day was productive as well. Yours?" She asked, stepping in as the doors opened.

"You look nice today." At least they could have a decent, if bland, conversation...

[Aino Minako]

Minako followed along behind Usagi, thankful she'd chosen the elevator. Both women were in good shape, if less so than they'd been in their younger years of chasing after youma, but Minako was feeling the exhaustion of stress and the stairs wouldn't have been a welcoming site.

"It was a day, I suppose. I am still waiting on the producers of the movie to decide when they want to start filming, and the later it gets the more I worry that the timing will interfere with recording a new album and all the things II need to start doing for you as well. It's a lot," Minako forced a smile, not wanting to sound like she was complaining, "But of course, it's all so worth it."

She stepped into the elevator after Usagi and waited for the doors to close. "You look nice too..." Were things that bad....?

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Usagi nodded. "It is a lot. Don't worry about the official stuff, though, we can work around your schedule." Honestly, Usagi wanted to start bringing Minako on different engagements, both in Honshu and abroad. But, she didn't want to pile on too much, too fast.

"Thank you." The ride down too less than five seconds, and the doors opened into her private quarters. Usagi stepped out, tossing her shoes down and draping her blazer over a chair. She was never neat, she just had lots of people around to pick up after her now.

Plopping down on a couch, she untucked her shirt with a sigh. "So, what's up?" Usagi was curious as to why Mina had wanted this meeting. She had even scheduled it in advance.

[Aino Minako]

Minako shook her head, "No Usagi. The government, Crystal Tokyo," you, "And those duties are all more important than any movie or album." She said as followed Usagi into the woman's room. She settled down on a chair across from the sofa where Usagi had sat, and took a deep breath. There were so many things she could say, so many sentences and words flying around in her head. All the things she should have said before and all the things she shouldn't have said and all the things she had said that should have been said but were said in completely the wrong way. The words jumbled in her mind until she couldn't even make sense of them anymore. All the practiced speeches fled from her thoughts and in the end, the only words she could think to speak were simple and to the point.

"Usagi... I'm sorry."

[Neo Queen Serenity]

"Doing what you love is important," Usagi pointed out. "I'm just saying, we can work with you so that you don't get overwhelmed or have to give up doing what you like to do."

Usagi waited patiently for Minako to speak, though the longer the silence drew out, the more nervous she felt. Was she here to give a lecture? Continue the fight from the other day? Was she going to be criticized about something? What? Was this about (God help her) Mamoru?

However, Minako's words were the last thing that Usagi expected. She stared at her friend, unblinking, for a good ten seconds.

"Wha-what? You're sorry?! For what?" Usagi asked incredulously. Didn't Minako come here to make her say sorry, to get some concession out of her? Wasn't she the one that screwed up? Wasn't this the time to rub her nose in it as everyone had that first day?

Yes, Minako had hurt her feelings, and in Usagi's opinion, damaged her trust in her. But wasn't it all Usagi's fault, in the end? She just couldn't believe what she was hearing.

[Aino Minako]

Minako's hands gripped the arms of her chair tightly as she waited for Usagi's to respond. Then her eyes opened wide at her friend's shock. Hadn't Usagi been angry with her. After that morning in the conference room when Usagi had responded to her.. Minako had been sure that her words, spoken far too hastily, had damaged their friendship. Had she been so overbearing that Usagi hadn't expected any sort of apology at all?

"I'm sorry for the things I said and for the things I didn't say, but should have. I've been gone far too long, for reasons of my own, and to return and assume that I should understand what's going on here..." she trailed off. "I let my own feelings and opinions dictate my words, instead of stopping and listening to yours. I should have supported you, even if I was angry at you, because wouldn't you have done the same thing for any of us? I'm sorry, Usagi, for not being the friend that you needed me to be, when you needed me to be here."

In a voice almost too quiet to hear, she whispered, "And because I need you too..."

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Usagi's eyes widened further at Minako's words, and with a cry she leaped off the couched and jumped onto the arm of Minako's chair, making it creak at her in protest. She almost fell off, but managed to sustain her balance and embrace her friend tightly.

Once again Usagi found herself in tears. She felt like so much hurt and anger was assuaged in that one moment. It was amazing how powerful the words 'I'm sorry' were. They put the past where it should be-- in the past, and cleared out the scorched remnants of a fight to allow new growth to begin.

"So does this mean you don't hate me?" Usagi asked in a small, tentative voice.

[Aino Minako]

Minako felt tears begin to pool in her eyes and she wrapped her arms tightly around Usagi's shoulders. "Of course I don't hate you, Usagi! I could never hate you, ever. Even if something happened and I wanted to hate you, my heart wouldn't allow me to be so stupid. You're probably the best friend I've ever had and I don't ever want to lose you, no matter what stupid things we both say and do."

Minako felt another blow to her heart that she'd uttered words that gave Usagi a reason to doubt their friendship. Another mistake on her part, adding to the long list of mistakes she seemed to keep on making.

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Usagi nodded, clinging harder and tried not to bawl into Minako's hair. It was a tender moment, but not that tender. She didn't think the other woman would appreciate it.

"Are you still angry with me, then?" Usagi asked quietly. As far as talking and validating their friendship had been in the past few moments, she couldn't expect it to erase everything. "If you want-- need to talk about things, that's fine, I just... I don't want to feel attacked again." Usagi knew she had screwed up, it was one of the reasons she had gone to them with the news in the first place. She just didn't want to be reminded of it over and over again. She wanted to do something constructive, to right what had been done, not create a larger gulf.

"Mina-chan, I don't know how to fix this," Usagi confessed. "I screwed up. I've acknowledged as much. I don't know what else I can say or do."

[Aino Minako]

Minako pulled Usagi back and looked into her eyes. "How can I be mad at you? How could you have told me anyway? I was off touring or recording or doing something of equal unimportance while you were here having your life in jeopardy. Not that I would change what I did. Only that I should have been more understanding of why you didn't tell us. You should have.." Minako pointed out softly, because she still believed that Usagi should not have kept something so important to herself, "But there has been plenty we have all neglected to tell you."

She hugged Usagi again, and then nodded, "I think we need to talk. I spoke with Artemis yesterday and realized that the things I haven't said have probably caused more problems than the things I have said."

She paused, because she wasn't sure how to broach the issue. "Usagi, I know that not everything I've said has come across the way I know I meant it to come across. I think that you misunderstood some of my intentions, but I didn't bother to correct you. Rei.." She swallowed hard. "Rei and I had a fight, and her words have left me doubting everything at a time when I know you need me to be strong. I should have told you, because I think we'd have understood each other better."

She stopped there, no longer afraid of what Usagi would say. She should have told Usagi about the fight the last time they had spoken,but she'd wanted to shelter her friend from more stress in light of the queen's recent break-up. She'd hidden something important from Usagi, something Usagi had probably needed to know, and that secret had clouded the way she'd spoken and the way she'd acted.

[Neo Queen Serenity]

"I could have found a way, I should have found a way," Usagi admitted. "But... Well, like I said before. I wasn't thinking clearly. It's not an excuse, but it is the truth. And... and I really did forget. It's just one of many things I've forgotten," she admitted with a soft sigh, almost whispering because she didn't want to admit it. Her issues with that had pretty much sent her into tears with Mamoru the other night.

One blonde eyebrow quirked in surprise as Minako said there were things that they had neglected to tell her. "Really?" Usagi asked, sitting back and letting her hands fold into her lap. She listened curiously as Minako detailed a problem with Rei.

"A fight..." Usagi responded quietly. Yes, this was something she should have known about, especially if it was affecting Minako this badly. Surely it must have had an effect on Rei, too, and it definitely had an effect on team cohesion, though Usagi definitely couldn't judge there. However, she didn't even bother to feel miffed about it, simply letting it pass. What was important was that she was being told now, and to make sure that Minako and Rei were going to be okay. That they were all going to be okay.

"It must have been bad," Usagi said sympathetically, though she had to remind herself that Rei probably had her own version of events. "What happened, to make you doubt everything?"

[Aino Minako]

"You should have found a way," Minako echoed, "But it's past now and there is no sense in crucifying you the way we did because you made a bad decision. Haven't we all made decisions we weren't proud of? Or forgotten things we probably shouldn't have?" Minako looked at Usagi for a moment, her mind wrapping around the comment that this was only one of many things. She pushed the words away - she would bring them up in good time. First, she had to answer Usagi's questions and then she would ask her own. Obviously, there were many things the two women needed to share.

"I went to see her in the shrine, after I missed the meeting she'd called about the shitennou. I hadn't meant to not be there, Usa, I just didn't get the email until afterward and when I did arrive you were all gone. So I wrote her back, wanting to catch up... that's just it, I suppose. I feel so distant. So out of the loop; like I have no idea what's going on with any of you. Of course I went to see her, but within minutes we were at each others throats. She blamed me for not telling her where you were the day we went shopping, and she blamed for not being here at all while she and the other senshi spent their days in the palace instead of 'off chasing their dreams.'"

Minako could feel the tears threatening to fall again, and then she simply just gave in and let them come. "When you told us what had happened to you, all I could think was that Rei was right. That I should have been here to stop those things from happening to you. If I had been here, maybe we'd still be your team, instead of four women who go about their lives. Usagi..."

She trailed off. How could she even say that she no longer felt like she was part of the senshi? How could she tell Usagi that at that conference, when Usagi had looked at her so coldly, she'd suddenly felt like she had no one left at all?