Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Aino Minako, beloved popstar of millions, sighed as she lifted another thick stack of paper and let it go right into the shredder beside her desk. There was nothing she detested in this world more than paperwork, but this wasn’t the kind she could brush off to someone else that worked with or for her. She was far too particular about her bodyguard choices. The last one she had, Ace, had been fired due to getting far too close and personal and Minako felt like his job wasn’t as important as bedding her was. He hadn’t been happy and she had to have on site security for the office remove him from the property and make sure an order was put into place that banned him from all concerts.

She sighed as she picked the next stack up to read over it. Well the photo made him seem fairly fit which was more of a bonus than the first three she had gone through. Lower end pay request was okay. Work history...ugh empty. She knew people needed experience, but starting with a pop idol wasn’t really an ideal starting point for security for sure. Minako even requested at least three years experience on her applications. Flipping to the second page, she was faced with a hand written essay about how much he enjoyed her music. Minako immediately flipped it to the front, and let it go into the shredder.

“Why does everything think that telling me how much they care about my music matters?” She huffed as she slumped back in her seat. “I’m not hiring you for damn liking me…” Reaching forward, she picked the next one up. Photo looked okay, a little blurry. Two years security experience at a bank. That was promising. Decent pay rate request. Nothing about her music. Flipping to the more detailed information about past work history, she groaned.

“Fired for stealing?” It was a note her team had made on it. While she was looking through them all, Minako asked her staff to do runs on the applicants for her. She needed help cutting out wasting time if possible. This one went into the shredder too.

Thump.

Her forehead met desk in frustration. All these applicants seemed far more interested in her than the job she was hiring them for and that was the problem. Most applicants were males and the ones that were females didn’t have any background information that would provide security to her. Lifting her head, she picked up the next one and frowned. Who in the hell didn’t include a headshot photo that was part of the application process? That was just the worst. Picking the paper up, she turned to the shredder and started to lower it before something caught her attention.

Pulling it back to her face, she looked directly at the payment box. She expected numbers, sometimes ridiculously high or low ones. This one had nothing but text, but it didn’t say open. All it said was all payments forwarded to Hikawa Shrine in whatever suitable amount. What in the hell? Her eyes went up to the name.

“Hino Rei?” Setting the paper back to her desk, she started to look through it properly. Female, 163 cm tall, black hair, violet eyes, AB blood type. Too bad. A blood transfusion would be impossible if that situation ever came up and....hm, interesting. They had the same birth year. This Hino Rei was older by a few months though. April 17th. That was good. She was probably in her physical prime. Minako felt kind of bad thinking it, but she was a looking for a bodyguard. She needed someone that could keep up.

Minako kept reading the application. So far, so good. Hino’s work history was also very impressive. Ten years at the Hikawa Shrine as a shrine maiden before going into the security business. Interesting...what would inspire a shrine maiden to want to become a bodyguard?

And wow. Better and better. Rei was a nationally ranked archer just a few years ago? Athletic, focused, and knows how to handle a weapon.

“Hmmm.” Minako smiled a little as she tapped on the paper. This would do just fine. A girl would be a nice change of pace because they would be more job focused and someone for Minako to rant and rave to and gossip if all went well. Yes, Hino Rei would do just fine.

Minako turned to her computer and flipped to her email account, typing in Rei’s email address, typing up a letter to ask her to arrive early in the morning to begin paperwork before attaching a copy of her daily schedule. Then after clicking send, she immediately went into her search bar and typed in Rei’s name.

Not surprising to see anything come up, giving she was a nationally ranked archer. Minako hummed as she opened an article and read over it, pausing at the photo of Rei and her eyes widened. Prime indeed. She was gorgeous, no wonder she was able to work as a shrine maiden. But when Minako typed in Hikawa shrine, she couldn’t find a single photo of Rei existing there. Just that the older man that ran the shrine had passed away several years ago and that it was Rei’s grandfather.

But...wouldn’t that mean that her Father would be the one to run it? Minako stopped to think….Hino. The name, was familiar…

“No way.” A few more key presses and she was met with the name Hino Takashi, famous politician of the area. But there was little mention of Rei associated with him. A dinner or two with photos but when Minako enlarged them, she could clearly see Rei ready to snap a chopstick in half in rage. Maybe not the best relationship.

“Well this will be interesting. I do have to wonder why someone who is so used to peace and quiet...would put in to work for a world wide idol.” Minako smirked as she leaned on her hand, looking at the photo of Rei in archery gear again, getting ready to make a shot. “I think this shall be quite entertaining…”

Once the email was sent, Minako took the application out with her and leaned on Natsuna’s, her main secretary, desk. “So. What’s this one all about? Slip past you in your older age?”

“I am not that much older than you.” Natsuna took the application and smirked a little. “What, you think I missed it because she failed to put a photo?”

“Could have been Ace fucking with us, you know that?” It was a slight concern of Minako’s since the applications were all submitted.

“He’s not smart enough to list himself working at a shrine nor archery. He would have picked something far less graceful.”

“So how come she got through? I said an attached photo was absolutely required.” Minako really did wonder why her secretary would let something, a requirement, be forgiven when not provided. She was sure there was logical reasoning for it, there had to be. She had to know.

“First she still met the experience requirement. Good height to match yours so she’s still seen and not hidden. A lot of work experience in general.” Natsuna flipped through to the next page. “Same year as you so very close ages so I know she’s not old and can more than likely stand a chance of keeping up with your insane schedule. Speaking of which, your music video is in six months due.”

“Six months!?” Minako stood up at that with a groan. “I have to coordinate a concert, CD, AND Music video? I’m going to go mental.”

“You did that years ago. Anyways, back on topic. She’s used to crowds from archery competitions and has patience for being a shrine maiden. And as they often say, you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover.” Natsuna handed the resume back to her.

“There is no cover here to judge if there’s no photo.”

“Exactly. You think I don’t pay attention? You look at a photo first thing. Then you look for the sappy little essay about how the love your music or your work or how inspirational you are. Then their work history just to be totally downfallen by every aspect. So without the photo it made you really look at this one.”

Minako let out a little sigh. She was had.

“So I take it we shall see her in the morning?” Natsuna gave her a thousand watt smile.

“I hate it when you’re right, you know that?” Minako smirked as she ran her fingers along the edge of the paper. “And did you actually research her?”

“Daughter of Hino Takeshi, politician. Mother deceased when she was younger. My best assumption is her Father left her with the Grandfather at the shrine. Hence few and far between interactions of the two.”

That made Minako frown a little. This explained Rei’s angry expression in the photos with her father she had seen. She was walking a path all alone with her grandfather now gone as it sounded. There had to be a reason she picked here and now. Minako just had to figure out why that was.

“Yeah she’ll be here in the morning, punctual I assume. I’ll have a test ready for her, I don’t really have time to waste for a bodyguard who can’t do a job, you know?” Minako let out a small sigh. She was ready to move forward with her works and this entire debacle with Ace had put a real stop to it all.

“Sounds like a plan then. I think she’ll work out just fine, much better than any of the other applicants. I was starting to worry you were going to burn your shredder out putting stacks of paper into it like that.” Natsuna smirked as she handed Minako an empty envelope with Rei’s name on it.

“I sure hope so, Natsuna.” Taking the envelope, Minako went back into her office to get everything moving back into place again. Idol work didn’t do well standing still.

Thunk.

Another dead center shot. Letting out the breath she held slowly, Rei lowered her bow to her side and stretched the side of her neck carefully. One had to be cautious to avoid cramps when standing still in such a position so long with certain muscles pulled tight. Her eyes traced over to a light that came from her right side, where her bag was left. A message on her phone, an email given that Rei didn’t believe in texting. If someone wanted to be in contact with her, it would be face to face or at the very least, through a phone call.

Taking the time to step forward she removed the arrow she had lodged into the target before sliding it back into her quiver. Then she addressed whatever may await her in her email.

A job offer for security. It was the one she had put in for that pop idol as a random application because she figured it could be good money to the shrine. It needed upgrades, repairs, clean up, and more staff on hand and she had to find a way to make it work. Archery had worked for a while, but that became more dull and boring to her with so much noise around the area and the egos that some of those archers had. The number of men who thought they could out shoot her was outrageous. She had split more than one of their arrows to prove a point.

Rei had done her research beforehand. Aino Minako was a pop idol, worldwide, with a few top selling records and had been number one on the charts with her song C’est La Vie. She hadn’t bothered to listen to any of it, pop music was not her thing, classical or meditative was. In her research, she noted that she did charity concerts for sick children at hospitals or charity concerts to raise funds for programs to run. Rei had hoped that meant that she had a soft heart and was not like every other pop star and that what she had seen of her in video, was fake.

The thing about any super idol, pop or otherwise, that they bounced around, all energetic and loud and annoying. Rei wanted a far more peaceful job, but the shrine needed the money, especially since her grandfather had passed. Her last job had ended two months ago and most people didn’t want to hire her because she was a female and as it turned out, having a female guard a male was apparently not dignified. It damaged the man’s image.

Her eyes scanned the details of the email. She was to start the next day and provided the address to arrive at with a time of 7:00 A.M. sharp. Rei would be there at 6:30 A.M. Early was on time, on time was late, and late was not acceptable. Paperwork would be filled out at the office before the day resumed it’s normal schedule, which was attached. She noted that Minako herself had sent the email and frowned a little. Who signed such a professional email with heart?

She clicked open the file and stared, dumbfounded.

Paperwork
7:00 A.M. to 7:30 A.M.

Morning workout
7:30 A.M. to 8:30 A.M.

Breakfast
8:30 A.M. to 9 A.M.

Dance rehearsal
9:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.

Lunch
12:00 P.M. to 1:00 P.M.

Gym
1:00 P.M. to 2:30 P.M.

Break
2:30 P.M. to 3:00 P.M.

Dance rehearsal
3:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M.

Dinner
7:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M.

Return to hotel/office
8:30 P.M.

Who the hell had such an insane schedule? Did Minako ever sleep? She knew that idols had to work hard, but this was...ridiculous. A day starting at 7am and not ending till nearly 9pm going nonstop. Rei had to admit, she was highly surprised by the hard work efforts and she thought that maybe it would be this okay. It was clearly someone who didn’t slack off on their job.

Going back to the email she replied with a simple few lines before packing her gear up, changing her clothes, and returning to the shrine to clean up and prepare for her new job.

‘Thank you for this job opportunity and I look forward to seeing you in the morning time. Thank you in advance for the schedule.

Hino Rei.’

Once inside the shrine, Rei pulled her glove off her hand she had been using during her practice and put it away. Then she took her quiver off her hip and hung it on the wall carefully along with the bow. Her eyes trailed over to the one her grandfather had used when he once trained her many years ago and she felt her heart clench in pain. Despite him having passed years ago, it constantly felt fresh and it hurt. She had already lost her mother at a young age and now this. Now she was completely alone.

Sighing, she walked over to the donation box and peered inside. Empty again. No visitors today either. She had been so unable to keep help around that it was frustrating to even hire anymore. The one’s she did hire often goofed off. Not that mattered. Who wanted to go to a shrine in such poor condition when Tokyo housed plenty of others.

Leaving the donation box, she moved into the main house of the shrine and stopped to kneel at her grandfather's memorial shrine and pray to him that this would work out. That she could show the shrine and city the love her grandfather had. Once she was done, she stood up and moved towards the room with the sacred fire and sat down in front of it, pulling her knees towards her.

Her father had offered to give her money if she worked for him once he found out she worked security, but that was the last thing she wanted. She’d rather fall into a sinkhole that opened up in the middle of the shrine grounds than ever take that offer up.

Rei had loved the archery competitions initially, they had been great. Her name was out there, the shrine was mentioned in papers, and she had a steady income. But men were egotistical and there were a few, particularly foreigners, who didn’t appreciate a woman showing up and out doing them. Enough to challenge her and aim a shot dead center. Rei had met that challenge and ripped through their arrow without hesitation.

As it was often said, all good things must come to an end. Rei couldn’t handle the constant harassment in the field because she was too concerned about finally losing her cool and shooting someone with an arrow in a rage. So she made one final tournament, placed first, and retired. Then she went into security work after that. She wanted to remain working peacefully at the shrine, but that was no income. People were hardly coming since her grandfather had passed away and so even donations were rare.

The issue with being female is a lot of people didn’t think you had qualifications for protective services and most ignored Rei’s applications. The few that did hire her didn’t like her cold exterior she had about her because it made them look bad apparently. So for Aino Minako to hire her, it was a complete surprise. No photo on the application. No stated payment. And it wasn’t like Rei’s name wasn’t out there, it was. All over the place between archery and her father for sure.

Letting out a sigh, Rei stood up from the fire and stared down at it for a few short moments before stepping out of the room and sliding the door shut behind her. Too much thinking. Moving into her room, she opened her closet and pulled a black suit out and then an ironing board and worked on putting proper creases back into it for in the morning. It was going to be a very long day, that much was clear. Rei had zero idea how an idol worked, what days were days off.

Hopefully she got a few so she could at least get the roof fixed up before typhoon season started up.

Suit pressed, she hung it from a door frame to keep wrinkles out and put everything else away before climbing into her bed with a heavy sigh and staring up at the ceiling. “Let’s hope this one works out because I don’t think I can wait for another chance, Grandpa. I’m afraid I may lose the shrine, or worse...have to ask Dad.” That pained her heart, but it was her grandfather’s shrine and she would risk her life to keep it. Rolling to her side, she plugged her phone in and then she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

“Come on Minako, babe. I’ve been working with you for three years.” Ace leaned across her desk with a grin.

Minako closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. If he tried any harder, Minako was sure his ego would consume her whole office. “How many times do I have to tell you I’m not really interested.”

“You can’t tell me you aren’t a tiny bit lonely.”

“With millions of fans? Never.”

“You know what I mean. Surely you haven’t been with anyone since that one off with that athlete.”

God forbid should she try to have a private life a little bit. “What I decide to do or who I decide to sleep with is my choice. I have not, in three years, wanted to sleep with you Ace. I will not, in the next millennium, want to sleep with you. Your job is simply bodyguard duty. That’s it. That’s our relationship.”

Then it seemed like a complete attitude switch. “What a real bitch you are, you know that?”

“Excuse me?” Immediately Minako stood up, refusing to be spoken like that while sitting down.

“Slutting around all the time with other popular stars and athletes and giving zero care about your employees.”

“Just because no one wants to sleep with a sleezeball like you, doesn't mean anything. Second of all, I haven’t even slept with anyone in five years. Now that we’ve finished this discussion--”

“No we fucking haven’t!” Ace slammed his hands down on her desk and Minako leaned really close into his face, fire in her eyes.

“We are done. Your job is done. You are done. You are banned from my offices, dance halls, concerts, meetings, everything and anything. All you have had interest in, especially the last year, is trying to bed me and failing and not understanding that. At this point, your integrity is too far questionable to keep you as my bodyguard and you will be replaced. Get your shit, and get out of my office.” Reaching under her desk, she pushed a button as she leaned back away from Ace reaching for her.

“I’ll leave when I want to you crazy bitch. I’ll fuck you here and now and show you how good it is.”

Everything after that was a quick flash. Ace was trying to get to her before her back up security in the office arrived and he was forcefully removed from the property and the police had to get involved to get him out of the area just so employees could leave.

Minako sighed and groaned at her desk, face in her hands before her main secretary, Natsuna, showed up.

“Sooooo….”

“We’re gonna have to shift everything until I can get a new bodyguard.” Minako sighed as she picked up her schedule book.

“Why’s that? Didn’t stop you three years ago when you didn’t have one.” Natsuna leaned on her desk, looking at all the meetings that had to be adjusted and frowed. That was a lot of phone calls.

“Because I do worry he’ll linger in the area of the office for me or one of you. A new bodyguard could help prevent that. I could put security out to walk you guys up here for now, but as far as I go...I’m moving too much and need a bodyguard strictly watching for me, you know? You saw how crazy he went.”

“Fair I suppose.” Letting out a sigh, Natsuna took her schedule book. “I’ll make some calls out and tell them we’ll be back in contact as soon as this situation is resolved without details. I’ll also post a new listing for personal bodyguard for hire with some requirements and look through them all before letting you sort them. “

“You’re the best, you know that?” Minako smiled up at her and she smiled back.

“Nonsense. Just doing my job. This is the least stressful secretary job I’ve had in ten years and I love it here. If I have to put up with a few angry phone calls once every three years, I think I can deal with that. I’ll order in some late lunch in the meantime.”

Minako shifted on her feet as she sighed. She was both anxious and nervous to meet this new bodyguard. Since she had to fire Ace, this had been a hassle. Now she was hiring from a blank slate and there was something different about having a woman than a man as her bodyguard.

Maybe should have felt slightly bad for what she had planned for the early morning start to the day, but a test was necessary. She had promised this employee a good chunk of upfront cash to be at work at the ungodly hour of 6:15 A.M. in order to assault her. Well not actually assault her, but make it appear as so. Minako had to make sure that her bodyguard took her job very seriously from the start. Otherwise, she was completely wasting her time and could be spending it looking at other applicants.

It was a test she had given to her last bodyguard and he had passed. Somehow. Minako still hadn’t figured that one out, though she was sure he had been let in on it by the last employee selected to do this procedure. Which is exactly why he was not selected and he was put on cleaning duty for a month. Better safe than sorry and have her employees at least try and take her seriously when she set certain things up.

A glance down at her watch informed her it was exactly fifteen seconds until 6:30 A.M. and when she looked back up, she saw a feminine figure headed towards her...was that an actual suit ? It was hard to tell what she looked like in the darker morning, but it was clear enough to tell it fit her form well and the remark she had made to herself about the woman being in her physical prime was apparently very accurate.

“Aino Minako, I take it?”

God that voice...Minako had to take a quick swallow before she smiled and held her hand out. “That would be me. You must be Hino Rei, then. Good to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

The moment the let go of hands, everything started to happen and if Minako had taken a second to blink, she would have missed everything that went down. The man came from the shadows, straight at her, fake knife in hand. And then he was suddenly on the ground, face down, arm painfully twisted behind his back and knife in Rei’s hand. Holy shit.

“I uh…You can let him go, Rei.”

“He tried to attack you and you want to let him go? I think it’s far more logical to call the police.” Rei apparently did take her job extremely seriously.

“No no! It was a test! I had to make sure you were going to take this job seriously. He actually works for me as one of my secretaries. Reaching down she pulled Rei off of the poor man who sat up with a groan and rubbed his shoulder, some scratches on his cheek from being against the sidewalk and Minako had to frown. She addressed him first.

“Take the week off, I’ll make sure you get all your usual pay. If you have to go to the doctor, please let me know. I’ll take care of all the bills. I’m so sorry!”

He smiled at her as she slowly stood up, still holding his shoulder. “It’s fine, boss. I’d rather take this seriously than have you get hurt or worse. Have a good day and let me know if you need anything.” And then he disappeared.

It was then Minako realized she was holding Rei’s hand still and her fingers were soft but parts of her hand were more callous, probably from all the archery and shrine work. She finally let go of her hand and unlocked the door to her office, stepping in and turning the lights on. “Sorry again, about that.”

“I understand. It’s not a job to be taken lightly and it’s probably a smart idea before you actually hire someone. Never know who lies about a job just for some other reason.” Rei watched Minako press a badge to a receptor on the wall before the door opened and they stepped inside. She followed her inside and up two floors into Minako’s office, both taking a seat.

“If you don’t mind me asking, before we start all the boring parts, if I ask you a few questions?” Minako was interested in Rei for many reasons, and she wasn’t ashamed to admit her looks were most certainly one of them. Or how absolutely smooth her voice was. Or the level of professionalism she gave off. “Why did you quit work at Hikawa Shrine to do security work? You don’t have answer these, if you don’t want. I’m just curious.”

Rei seemed to mull over it for a few minutes and Minako figured she was either coming up with a lie or deciding whether she wanted to answer or not.

“The shrine’s condition is rather...unstable. A lot of it needs work and upgrades and we had no source of income for it. After my grandfather passed, I took over the shrine and realized the climbing issues and piling possibility of debt and decided to step down and work where I could bring money in.”

“Archery first, right?”

“...Yes.” Rei pressed her lips into a hard line at that mention. “It was fine, for a while. The thing with archery is that it needs to be very peaceful and quiet and in competition, people don’t respect that about it. It’s an art in its own right and way and it’s not meant to be used as a means above others. No one is the best archer, you are only as good as you practice.” She let out a heavy sigh. “Unfortunately, being a male dominant sport, that doesn’t really work well. Apparently it’s quite shameful to have someone split your arrow. Twice.”

Minako smirked to herself with that one. So Rei was really incredibly talented with a bow and arrow. Her hands were skilled and she was very focused driven, which made her perfect for the job. “So you moved to security after that became an issue?”

“Yes. I was able to get quiet jobs here and there, but they’ve been a bit...few and far between. Women bodyguards aren’t exactly in high demand anywhere.”

“Is that why you didn’t include your photo?” Minako held up her application, with the photo section still stating to ‘attach photo here.’

“Yes. Between how I look and being a woman, it could compromise things. I want to be hired for my skills, not my looks. I’m here to do a job, not to be stared at.”

Minako lowered the application back down to the open folder she had, fingering the edges of the paper for a moment. “People will stare when you’re with me. I’m a pop idol and I’m always surrounded at airports, recording studios, concerts...they’ll stare at you too. Regardless of it’s because of how you look or because you had to rough house someone. You may not walk out with the best image sometimes.”

“That’s what I expected to happen with a job like this. It’s one thing for them to stare, another for my employer to stare. I don’t take a job to get a relationship. I take a job to get money to help my shrine continue to stay around.” God did Rei really take this job that seriously? It was incredibly heartwarming to know it was all for the sake of the shrine.

The one thing that was driving Minako absolutely insane was how rigid she sat though. She knew it was from years of work at the shrine, but how could someone sit so straight up, not even against the back of the chair? She almost felt bad leaning against the back of her own before disregarding that thought. A glance at the clock informed her it was 7:00 A.M. and now it was time to be productive and on schedule.

“Right. Paperwork then.” She pulled out the papers Rei would have to fill out, who simply reached into the jacket of the suit and pulled her own stack out with her information should would need. “If you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask me.”

“Just one, but it’s not related to paperwork, if that’s okay, Aino-san.” That threw Minako way off her game. She didn’t expect Rei to really have any questions for her. “Why do you do charity concerts so frequently, particularly at hospitals and also for children?”

Well someone did their homework, but Minako could only give her a slightly guilty smile. “I’m afraid that, for now, that’s confidential. Once I know I can trust you, I can explain it, but for now it’s something I have to withhold from you. I’m sorry.”

Rei lifted her eyes from the paper to look at her and Minako really couldn’t believe how deep they went, how vibrant they seemed to be and she had to force herself to blink so it didn’t look like she was staring. Then Rei looked back down with a nod, filling out the rather boring paperwork. Thank god someone respected her privacy and secrets. No one really knew why she did those concerts but her, and she preferred to keep that way. She honestly had no intent to blurt it to Rei if she could afford it.

The last thing she needed was anyone knowing she was still sick and used the hospital concerts as a cover up for a check up. She had it every three months and would use the excuse to go see the room with the children in it that couldn’t come when in reality, after doing just that, she got her check up.

At 7:30 A.M. on the dot, Rei was done with her paperwork. Minako smiled at things being done quickly and was thankful for that as she slid it into a folder for Rei. “One last thing we’ll have to do is get you a badge made.” She paused to look at Rei very silently for several moments. “You still work and live at your shrine, right? Hikawa?”

“Yes. I haven’t seen a need not to over the years.” Rei raised an eyebrow at the question. “What’s that to do with a badge?”

“Normally we put our photos onto them for identification purposes for faces to match badges, but I have a uh...small concern about you. In general. Not just the badge.” Minako drummed her fingers on her desk.

“That is?”

“Your eyes. They’re very….distinct. How many people do you know with vibrant violet eyes? So you see, I worry, that having it on a badge may draw unwanted attention to your shrine, not in the good way. I do have some crazy fans, as do all popular people. Not only that, but you are gonna stand out when we go out.”

Red turned a little red in the face at the compliment as she thought on it. “Sunglasses.”

“Come again?”

“You’re not usually out super late at night, and regardless, I’d be able to see. A pair of sunglasses would fix all the issues. Maybe no photo on the badge, but that would easily make mine very unique. Plus if I’m your personal bodyguard, your staff would know it’s me regardless, correct?”

Mina was astounded. Pretty and smart. “That’s...a really good idea. I can get my secretary to pick some up while we’re still in office this morning. Long story short, you’ll have your own badge to get into the office with. Should you misplace or lose it, we need to know right away. You see...all I should need to say is that my previous bodyguard presented some issues that put me at risk. And should he get his hands on me….”

Rei nodded, that made sense. She had seen previous mentions of Ace, but nothing on why he was removed from the position. If Minako wanted something kept under wraps, she clearly had the ability to do so. Then she raised a concern. “You said you were worried about the shrine, with my face. Won’t my name be out there as your bodyguard?”

“I can keep it covered. Nothing says I have to state your name other than to the government for payment purposes.” Minako stood up from her desk and Rei did the same on the other side. “For now there’s nothing really going on outside of my workout downstairs. You’re free to browse the building and figure out where everything is. We usually order in lunch or dinner if it’s a later night. Free coffee is downstairs in the breakroom. Meet up with me when you’re done.”

Rei watched Minako bounce off towards downstairs quietly. She supposed she would be wise to start on the 2nd floor. The first thing she did was step back into Minako’s office. Decent sized windows that faced a cramped lot, normal for Tokyo. Rei walked over to the windows and look down. Building was straight up with nothing to really grab on from the angle she was at that she could see.

Maybe she was taking this too seriously and bit her lip a little. All she was told essentially was that she was protecting her from her former bodyguard at the most as of right now. She was sure fans would be another thing to come soon, today perhaps. Regardless, she wanted to know the layout for her own safety and comfort.

Attached to the office was...a bedroom with a shower of all things. Rei supposed that made sense, thinking about it. Minako’s list said office or hotel based on location. That meant Minako didn’t have an apartment and it probably kept fans off her tail if nothing else. Who really expected an idol to sleep in their office. Rei started to argue who would want to sleep where they work but immediately countered it by stating she had done the same at the shrine.

Moving outside the office, she looked down to her left to see two bathrooms. Given the office size, more wasn’t required and it seemed like one person use, but gender didn’t matter. Rei imagined a set was also downstairs. Moving to the right side she was met with two more rooms. She opened the door to the first one at the very end and it was conference style room with a mirror in it and another coffee machine, she assumed, for late nights.

A mirror though? Without waiting she walked over and pressed her finger to it and pressed her lips into a hard line. She thought as much. Swiftly switching rooms, she was able to confirm that it was a two way mirror, able to see into the conference room from the much smaller room next door. Who on earth would even need something like this? Perhaps the building was used for something else before Minako bought it? Or...perhaps it was Minako’s way of keeping Ace separated from her.

Upstairs seemed to check out well. Rei moved back to the stairs where she was met face to face with a woman who looked almost similar to herself.

“Ah! Hino-san, correct?”

“Yes. How can I help you, Miss…?”

“Natsuna. Here.” Natsuna handed Rei a badge with a clip and a pair of sunglasses that would cover her eyes through the side but didn’t look like they belonged to a blind 90 year old woman trying to drive in sunlight. They were sleek and Rei thought they might actually fit the look pretty well.

“Thank you. Actually, can I ask a favor of you?”

“Hmm?” Natsuna seemed very interested in this.

“Minako has a schedule book, I would imagine. If possible, I’d like a copy. I know it’ll change and items will be added, but it would make it easier for me to function to know ahead of time what days are what. I’m sure she has fan meetings, concerts, and the like and I need to know what days to be the most prepared.”

Natsuna seemed to light up at this. “Absolutely! I’ll have it to you by the end of the day.”

“Thank you, Natsuna-san.”

“No, just Natsuna is fine!” The woman smiled at her and walked off before Rei could contest it and she sighed. Was everyone in this office laid back?

Downstairs, she noted far more people for sure. Rei assumed that meant upstairs was mainly Minako’s area. Immediately at the stairs she noted an office where workers were making copies and planning things out and someone was on the phone. She supposed Minako had a PR team to promote her music and such, but even so...this seemed widely understaffed for a super star idol, didn’t it? Then again, Minako had been so picky about a bodyguard and making sure they could do their job. Perhaps that applied everywhere and Minako wasn’t as laid back as she seemed.

Shaking her head from her thoughts, Rei walked into the breakroom. Fresh coffee had been made, but she could sense a headache just from having a cup this early and having to suffer later. There were two fridges, a sink, and a stove and microwave. It wasn’t a breakroom, this was a full blown kitchen really. That shouldn’t have been that shocking all things considered, but Minako had said they often ordered in lunch. They didn’t have anyone to cook. Rei would have to fix this…

Ignoring her stomach growling in protest, she inspected the rest of the first floor and was met with a host of smaller offices with everyone working on their own jobs, though they stopped to stare at Rei as she glanced in and went by. Great, stared at already. Maybe she was too intimidating but that’s just how she was. This was supposed to be a serious job. Or so she hoped…

“Perfect timing.” Rei had just walked into the workout room as Minako was drying her neck off with a towel. There was something about the shorts being too short and the sports bra she was wearing to work out in, but Rei couldn’t quite place what it was in her mind. “Got your badge I see.”

“Yes. Nastuna-san gave it to me on my way downstairs.” Rei fiddled with it for a short moment before letting it go.

“I just need to change my clothes back out and we can get some breakfast on the way to the dance rehearsal. Normally I’d try and do it in my office, but because of the extra dancers I can’t because of lack of space.”

Rei nodded a little, thinking on it. “You don’t leave through the front entrance though, do you? Though it’s a tight fit from the looks of the window in your office, there’s enough room for a car to pull through from one side out the other?”

“Man, you really are sharp.” Minako let out a small laugh. “Kills me you left your photo off your application when that was the requirement, but you paid attention to the alley behind my office?”

Rei felt her face heat up a little bit at the remark. “I told you why.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s clearly worked out for the better. Perhaps being more unique made you stand out more.” Minako flashed her a smile as she put her towel in a basket. “Let me go upstairs and change out into my dance clothes and we’ll head downtown.”

Stepping out of the way, Rei followed her up to the top of the stairs where she waited quietly and patiently. A glance at the clock said they were two minutes behind, but no one could ever been that exact. But if they were behind, how was Minako going to even get breakfast? Or what did an idol eat for any meal? They had to be fit and from what she saw downstairs, Minako was very toned and slim. She didn’t seem underweight which was a good sign that she wasn’t someone who believed you had to see bone to be perfect.

Not to mention her face was plastered on anything it could be from billboards to magazines down to some toothbrushes she had seen in a Daiso once before. Why on earth would anyone need a toothbrush with someone’s face on it? Sure she could understand kids with little characters, it was meant to draw them in, but she had seen full grown adults buying them. It was sad.

She looked up when Minako came back out in a pair of sweatpants and a tank top with a bag on her back. “Ready to go then?”

“I should probably warn you that fans will probably be there, so it’ll be first impressions for sure.” Minako seemed to pause and think. “Ace slacked a lot. He would entice fans and honestly, try and promote his own ego over me. So I would honestly prefer to keep fans off of me unless it’s a meet and greet session. A little brush is fine but I’ve had fans multiple times try and grab me or shove items to sign in my face. Can you handle that?”

“As you said this morning, it’ll be a test.” Rei fired back Minako’s own remark to her as she moved down the stairs and towards the back with Minako close behind. Once outside she was met with the driver.

“Now Haruka, be nice...This is my new bodyguard, Hino Rei.”

“Nice to meet you.” This...Haruka outstretched their hand and Rei gave it a firm shake. Thin, short hair, stylish clothes for a driver. Basic vehicle with dark tinted windows, probably right on the border of being too dark legally if Rei had to assume. And she was really starting to hate running on assumptions.

“Isn’t he great!” Minako grabbed Rei’s arm which startled her and she looked down at Minako and back at Haruka. He? “Does racing in his spare time on a motorcycle. Excellent driver. Great at losing the media. And to boot, he’s stylish!” Minako let go of Rei and went over to him, hovering.

Rei took in a slow breath and let it out. Yep. That’s what she feared, hyper and excitable idol. It was for the sake of the Hikawa shrine and her grandfather. “We wouldn’t want to be later than we already are.” Rei opened the door to the car as a hint and Minako grinned before climbing in and Rei followed suit.

The drive to the studio was much calmer it felt. Minako and Haruka exchanged playful, flirtatious banter while Mina ate some grapes that Haruka had apparently picked up before hand. That explained how she was getting breakfast. But instead of pulling one off the vine with her hand, the idol felt it necessary to lift a whole stem up and bite one off and pull it with her teeth. It seemed way too excessive to Rei.

Once at the venue, it was clear what Minako meant. It was a normal dance studio, nothing fancy or special. Her name wasn’t even associated to it, but dedicated fans stood outside on the sides of the bars set up to keep them away with some on site security already present and holding them off.

“Aino-san.”

“Yes? And you can just call me Minako.”

“You have a security crew as well a personal bodyguard?” Rei ignored what she said about her name. This was her boss, not her friend. She had to take up the front of every formality she could for her own sake. For the sake of the Hikawa Shrine.

“Yes. I can’t have nor expect one person to do it all, you know? And I have other people to protect like my workers at times.”

Rei nodded, logical. Minako opened the door and Rei winced at the screech of fans as she stepped out and Rei slid her sunglasses on before stepping out and there was a split second of silence as she did so. Ace was gone but she wasn’t sure how public that was, but that wasn’t the point, she was here now, not him.

They started to move forward and Rei could feel all her senses alert and wired when she saw a fan slip out past the security and immediately she reacted and grabbed their hand before it could touch Minako without a word. She turned to look at the person and even through the sunglasses she seemed to get her stare across as they slowly retracted and allowed them into the building.

It was like a sigh of relief to herself when they had gotten free and the noise reduced. Rei still kept the glasses on since you could see through the glass door, but pushed some hair behind her ear. That was nothing more than a mere taste of what this job was to bring to her, she knew that. This was just a studio. Not a concert or a meeting event. This was such a small scale compared of what was to come.

It started to really give her second thoughts as she followed Minako through the studio towards a room in the back for them to practice. This had to be more to bite off than she could chew, but she needed this. This was better than daring to even think of asking her Father for help with the shrine. This was day one, she just wasn’t used to anything yet. Rei could only hope that in due time, she would and could get used to everything. And quickly at that. She figured, why not add one more assumption to her list.

Chapter Text

Seventeen performers seemed like a lot to Rei as she watched the instructor talk to them about whatever it was. Rei had taken seat in chair in the corner to watch rather than to stand for the three hours of practice time that would go on. What Rei didn’t know and wouldn’t have expected for some reason was the same music on repeat and loop. For the full three hours as they practiced and Mina corrected and helped the instructor.

Reaching up, she pinched the bridge of her nose half way in during a break. Still fighting off the headache she had earlier in the morning. Lowering her hand she watched Mina move across the room and noted something odd before standing up and walking over to her.

“Aino-san.”

“Just call me Minako.” Minako smiled up at her as she took a drink from a cold bottle of water.

“...You twisted your ankle, didn’t you.”

Immediately she saw Minako’s smile fall and some color drain from her face. Apparently no one was supposed to notice this and Rei had to guess it didn’t happen while rehearsals were going on today. She would have noticed it, so would the others. It was a slight movement but Rei had seen it enough times when at archery practices from standing wrong or moving wrong.

“I don’t think anyone else knows, but I also have to assume you don’t have it taped up or at least...not properly?” Another assumption to add to the growing list. Mildly annoying but probably a good one at least.

“I taped it up this morning before my workout while you were browsing. I’ve been avoiding exercises with my feet for the time being and it’s why I’m dancing less and instructing more.” Clearly Minako was annoyed by it slowing her down.

“Is there a first aid kit here and a private room? No one has to know it happened, but I know how to tape it up so you can still practice the dance since it doesn’t look too taxing on your ankle.” Normally Rei would leave someone up to their own devices in these situations, but Minako relied on dancing and she really needed the best first impression she could give out on her first day to hopefully keep this job.

“Oh uhm…” Minako glanced around. “I’m sure I could get one but someone might suspect something at that point.”

“Tell them I need it. When we entered the building I got a little roughed up pushing people off. Or I can tell them I need it rather and that you’ll help me with it?”

“No I can ask. T-thank you.” Minako walked around Rei and she watched her for a moment and sighed.

Within ten minutes Minako was back with a kit and they walked into a spare dancing room and Rei had her sit in a chair and take her shoe off, looking at it. A little swollen from walking on it with some bruising. Nothing too awful.

“You should ice it at home and elevate it at night. It will help with the swelling and make it less painful.” Digging into the box, she pulled out athlete's tape before undoing what Minako had done and wrapping it properly and carefully. “I hope your gym workout isn’t too bad on your foot though.”

“No that’s fine. Mostly core work this week so I shouldn’t do anything such as running or bike riding.”

“There.” Rei put the kit back together neatly and closed it before standing up. “You should get back to your practice. I imagine it might move better along now that you can move better.” Without a word, Rei left with the kit to return it before sitting in her seat again with a sigh.

After a more productive looking hour and a half, mercy was given in that the music stopped. It had no singing, just all audio at the time. Rei was sure she was going to hear it ringing in the back of her head for days to come. And not just because she had to sit through it twice a day. She groaned a little at the thought of sitting through it again later.

Minako was glad to be able to take another break for some lunch. She was thankful for Rei taping her ankle up properly and things had gone a lot smoother and she had been less worried about hurting herself. It was still sore, but less so when walking on it. They would eat lunch at the studio, ordering it in, and then move on to the next item for the day.

“What do you want to eat for lunch, Rei?” Minako looked over at her as everyone else was debating what to get.

“I’m fine.”

Boy want to talk about talking to a stubborn wall. She knew Rei had not eaten since her arrival in the morning and it was noon now. If she didn’t eat during lunch, it would be dinner before she ate and that worried Minako. It was noon now and dinner wasn’t until 7 P.M.

“You should get something, you don’t have to pay. It’s going to be hours before food is an option again.”

“I’m fine, Aino-san.” Rei wasn’t budging for anything. For food or for just calling her Minako it seemed. Well two could play at this game. Minako ordered in their lunch and got Rei some variety sushi for something not too large, but filling still with some water to drink.

Once the food arrived, everyone worked on dividing it out to whom got what and one of the girls asked who got the sushi, Minako pointed at Rei who looked almost offended as it was sat in front of her. Minako couldn’t keep the smirk off of her face as Rei glared down at the food before taking her own miso soup and tatsukon. She was starving and savored the taste of the miso soup after stirring it up and starting to eat, relaxed during the time.

Fifteen minutes in she glanced over at Rei and her face almost fell when she saw that Rei hadn’t even touched her food. There was no way she was this stubborn, until she realized Rei had her phone out and was apparently sending an email out that looked long before finally pressing send. Part of her wanted to ask, but she recalled Rei saying she was there to work. She knew this mean work and private life were meant to be seperate. All things considered, Rei finally caved and started to eat quietly and it made Minako feel better.

She hadn’t been sure what Rei ate or liked and maybe she should have asked about allergies before hand. But the woman was being so stubborn it was ridiculous. Minako would have felt bad if everyone else ate and Rei didn’t. Not to mention it would still be hours before dinner.

Once lunch was finally done it was the less fun part of her day: the gym.

Rei had made sure to thank Minako for the lunch, though she felt bad she didn’t even pay for it nor want it. She felt her headache ease off with the food in her system and felt like she could handle things better without a chance of losing her temper. What she didn’t look forward to was leaving the studio again with the people outside. Thankfully it had been more toned down this time and Minako even gave a wave to the crowd, but no one reached out towards her or tried to get an autograph.

Rei sighed to herself as they sat in the car, blocking out the screams and taking the sunglasses off. She figured they would still be waiting there for when they returned later for the second set of rehearsals.

“Good to see you both alive and well.” Haruka turned around to grin at them before passing something back to Rei. “Natsuna asked me to give you this stuff when I picked you up. Don’t ask me what it is or why, I only know about one thing in the stack because I looked.”

“Haruka!” Minako seemed offended. “You shouldn’t look through other people’s items.”

“It was an article! Come on, I wasn’t gonna dig if it was personal, give me some credit.”

“It’s fine, Aino-san.”

“Minako.”

Ignoring her, she flipped the article open and almost groaned in defeat. That probably explained people being more respectful when they left. A news report was out with a photo of her holding the arm of the girl trying to reach out to grab Minako with Rei staring her down through the sunglasses. It talked about how serious her new bodyguard was and some rumors about Ace being gone or if it was temporary until her badge clipped to her jacket was mentioned. Well maybe this was a good thing.

“Wow, first day and already online.” Rei looked over to see Minako on her phone looking at different articles about it. It scared her that she would be found out. Immediately she grabbed her badge to stare at it.

“Aino-san.”

“Minako.”

“Why does my badge say ‘Reiko?’”

“Well I do get my photo taken a lot and you will be present a lot and if I slapped your actual name on it like the rest they would know about the shrine. So I came up with a nickname in place of it.”

Letting out a shaky sigh, Rei let the badge go and pinched the bridge of her nose as the car started to move. This was the most stressful day of her life, she swore to it.

Next she picked up the small, but fairly thick book up and opened it and was mortified. It was the copy of Minako’s schedule she had requested and if the current month was any indication of her future, she was doomed. There was no day off for three solid weeks. The schedule did a lot of repeating until the day off, though some ran shorter than others did. But still...how was she supposed to get any work done on the shrine proper in this time? Which raised another question.

“...Aino-san, when do you provide paychecks out?”

“Minako. And weekly. Your first one will be a little shorter than usual because it’s only 4 days. I thought you wanted it to go to the shrine?”

“I do. But I needed to be sure when I could get supplies for the shrine itself is all.” Rei ran her hand through her hair before letting it fall in her lap and then closed the schedule book and slid it into her jacket on the inside pocket.

“Shrine?” Haruka looked back at them through the rearview mirror. “Minako, did you hire a priestess as your bodyguard?”

“Sort of! Well she used to be one.” Minako grinned as she playfully leaned against Rei who stiffened up. “Then she did archery for a while before security work.”

“Archery?”

“You know for someone who is on their phone during the time I’m busy when you aren’t flirting with the women, you don’t read much on all the other sports.” Minako scoffed. “Look into it while we’re in the gym. Actually Rei, you can stay in the car for this. It’s a private gym so no worries.”

“No it’s fine, I’ll--”

“Stay in the car.” That time Minako sounded very firm in her choice. That was the sound of her first real order from her boss. She glanced up at Haruka who was smirking and rolled her eyes.

Once they arrived, Rei insisted she at least get Minako inside and then she returned to the car, looking over the schedule once more.

“HINO REI?”

Rei almost jumped out of her skin as she looked up at Haruka who was staring at her like she was some freak of nature suddenly.

“You’re the nationally ranked archer who destroyed men in the field! Top of Japan, even!” Haruka was almost yelling in the excitement and Rei had to hold back the sigh. “Why in the hell would you ever need to work security after that?”

“Because unlike most competitions, archery doesn’t give out a lot of funding, especially if you don’t have a sponsor.”

That seemed to surprise Haruka. “Wait no sponsor? How come?”

“Personal reasons.” Rei wouldn’t admit that her Father had tried to sponsor her himself but she refused and made it where no one would sponsor her so she had to fight her way into the field alone.

Haruka made some noise in response as she glanced between the photo on her phone and Rei several times. “That suit was smart. Really makes a difference if you don’t want anyone to know who you are. I try to stay hidden as well since I’m a race car driver in the other spare time.”

“It seems like most of Aino-san’s workers aren’t known from what I can tell. Just as much as she is rather picky with whom she hires.”

“Very. She made he take her on a track and show my driving skills before she would hire me. Also, Aino-san? She lets you get away with that lot.”

“She’s my boss, not my friend, not my acquaintance.” Rei glanced over to see Minako headed back to the car and she noted how tired the woman was before she got in and sat down with a sigh. It was the thirty minute break time now.

“Man that was killer on my arms.” She watched as Minako rotated her arms before leaning against the door.

“...Haruka.”

“Yes?” Haruka looked back at Rei, a bit surprised.

“Can we stay here? It’s break time and I fear driving would waste that time. Aino-san, you should rest, take a nap.”

“Minako. And it’s fine.”

Rei suddenly opened her door and got out, moving to the front and sitting next to Haruka without a word and both of them stared at her. “Haruka, do not drive until her break time is up. Or rather until 5 minutes are left. That’s enough time to get back to the studio.” Without another word, Rei pulled her phone out to read an email.

Haruka turned to look back at Minako who looked dumbfounded. “Well uh...you heard’er. Nap up?”

What shocked Haruka even more was that Minako hesitated before actually laying down, the exhaustion finally showing before she fell asleep a few short minutes later. Haruka looked at Rei again.

“How did you know she was that tired?”

“Based on the copy of her schedule, with no day off planned till three weeks out, I would guess she’s been going for quite some time. And I would also guess that despite her schedule stating she returns to her office or hotel  by 8:30, she continues work, especially if the location is her office. Meaning she’s up by around 6 A.M. and sleeping an average of six hours.” Rei listed off her own assumptions as though it was nothing to realize.

“Oh uh...yeah I guess.” Haruka looked back at Minako again who was out hard. “Are you going to wake her?”

“When the time is appropriate, she will be woken up. Until then, don’t move the car because she will think we’re going to the studio and wake up immediately and be ready to go.”

The rest of the time was spent in silence before Rei suddenly got out of the car, startling Haruka at the sharp movement and watched her open the back door and shake Minako’s shoulders who groggily sat up and Rei moved back to sitting in the back. “Drive to the studio. She has five minutes time to wake up proper.”

Well that explained the five minute gap. Haruka followed the orders and drove towards the studio.

“Go to the backside.”

“It’s locked?”

“It’s not. If the crowds saw her like this it would raise questions.”

“What do I look like!?” Minako panicked and opened a mirror from her back. Hair sticking up a little, bags under her eyes, she didn’t look fully alert nor ready to face a crowd. Rei was right and she groaned as they moved to the back and inside without a word, Rei locking the door. “How did you know it was unlocked?”

“I asked one of the dancers to unlock it about three minutes ago. That way when we got back, it was easier to get in and out. Just asked that they do it before we left for the gym is all.” Rei lead her into the room where everyone was waiting and she sighed as she  sat down. Right, 4 hours of hearing the music loop.

Only this time it had some lyrics to it, but Rei could tell it wasn’t Minako’s singing. It was a stand in, she guessed, for timing purposes on moves. Minako hadn’t had a chance to record and if she recalled, she would be in the studio in two days to record the audio properly for this. The concert itself was in two weeks which would explain the twice a day practice sessions as well.

Rei wondered for the time they did practice. She knew that Minako had a full security team, but only one personal bodyguard. Her concerns were how thorough this team was, however. She had to guess that it was hired through a secondary company if anything given she hadn’t seen them at Minako’s office. Or rather, her company hired them. Though she was a pop idol star with her own office, she had a record label she worked under in the end.

Perhaps she could mention it closer to the date to ask if she would be in charge at the concert or just working with Minako herself. She also felt her headache starting to creep back in and pinched the bridge of her nose once more. There was also the ordeal with her being online and she worried her Father would find it somehow. Not that he could do much of anything, really.

Still, he did come to irritate her more than she would have liked. Asking her to work for him in return for fixing the shrine up. Or a political dinner to make it look like they had some form of a relationship when Rei wanted to pretend he was dead to her. That made it easier in her eyes. He didn’t care about her Mother or Grandfather, so why should she pay him the same respects in the long run?

Ugh that wasn’t helping her headache in the least. Looking up, she realized things were finishing up and stood up. She had made sure with Natsuna that dinner would take place at the office for today with a plan up her sleeve. She was glad she noted Natsuna’s email address because Rei just didn’t do texting. If she had it her way, she would have called but Minako was right next to her all day so that was out.

Then it was getting ahold of the second person in her contacts to make sure it could even happen in the first place. Relief came when it was possible and she hoped it would help a lot in the long run, at least for today.

Rei had been so lost in her thoughts she didn’t realize they were already back at the office and she got out of the car and opened Minako’s door, who seemed surprised to see Rei instead of Haruka who was pouting off to the side. Once they stepped inside, the office immediately smelled like something amazing was cooking.

“What on earth?” Minako was confused as she looked at Rei in concern before Natsuna walked up with a grin.

“Hungry? Food is almost ready.”

“I..I thought we were going to order in?”

“We were, but we had a better plan come up. You’re gonna love this, trust me. I know your love for curry and rice and you’ll love it.” Natsuna was excited and Rei let out a little sigh as she stepped around them and towards the kitchen while they chatted it up for a bit.

“I hear you made it a big hit already and it’s not even done.” Rei leaned against the counter with a small smirk, perhaps the first facial expression she had really shown all day.

“Well they wouldn’t leave me alone. That one that looks like you...oh I forgot her name…”

“Come on Makoto, at least remember one name that isn’t Minako.”

Makoto laughed as she glanced at Rei. “I have to say, I didn’t believe you were working for someone like an idol. You like the quiet way too much for that kind of stuff, you know? How was it?”

“Ugh...My face is plastered online already, but my name is hidden and I have sunglasses on in the photo, but they think I’m a very strict bodyguard I guess. They scream so loudly.” Rei groaned as she sat on a stool and ran her hand down her face before pushing her hair behind her ear.

“I don’t know what you would have thought. How are you gonna be at the shrine and do this anyways?” Makoto sat a plate in front of Rei with a glass of water.

“Should you really feed me first?”

“Friends first, you know. If it weren’t for you none of them would be getting this.”

Rei sighed as she picked up her spoon and pushed it around a bit. “I don’t know, it’s a packed schedule. I might have to close it down for a little while. It’s not like I’m getting donations with it open and I can’t keep workers there as is. Not to mention with the condition it’s in, no one is really stopping by, not even for charms for exams.”

“Ouch.” Makoto grimaced at that as she started to set up more plates for people who were coming in for food, handing it out. “I take your Dad is still at it?”

“Ughhhh.” Rei made a noise at that, almost enough to lose her appetite as she started to eat. “Yeah. He won’t take no for an answer. I don’t even get why he would want me for security reasons, he’s a politician. Not someone important.”

“Politician’s are important, Rei.”

“He’s not…” Rei mumbled it as she pushed her food around a little more, thankful for a real meal. Makoto’s cooking had always been top notch and she was glad she was able to pull her away for a night. “I’ll make this up to you, by the way.”

“No way, I owe you. You got me my job so this is part of that payment. Just shut up and eat.”

Minako had felt bad for eavesdropping into the conversation, she really did. But she was so curious about stoic, silent, serious Hino Rei. So the shrine was in such a condition she couldn’t even get someone to visit? That just sounded awful for someone who grew up at the place.

She sighed as she leaned against the wall with a frown. Nevermind she sounded like she was miserable with the job and that made Minako also feel pretty guilty with how excited she had been all day with Rei.

“Minako, aren’t you going to eat?” Natsuna was suddenly in front of her, worried. “What’s wrong?”

“I think Rei hates this job.”

“You’ve really gotta stop eavesdropping, you know that?”

“I didn’t mean to, really. I was going to get a plate and she was talking and she hasn’t talked about herself once all day today.” Minako sighed again.

“Have you considered that she isn’t used to the job yet? Don’t judge it on the first day. Did she say she was planning to quit working or anything?”

“No.” That much Minako knew. Rei clearly needed the job or else she wouldn’t have taken it. And it wasn’t like she had totally ignored her questions earlier in the morning either and based on what she knew, Rei was taking the job seriously.

“Then don’t stress it, hm? Minako, you have a great ability to grow on people and I think even she will adjust. Your didn’t just become popular because you were able to sing, but because you have a team that cares for you as much as you do us. If we weren’t so happy, we wouldn’t be fighting to keep you top pop idol.” Natsuna grinned at her and Minako couldn’t help but to smile.

“Okay. I’ll give her time and see what she thinks.” With that, they moved in for the food and Minako sat down right next to Rei and took a bite. She couldn’t believe how delicious it was and she was shocked as she kept eating it, suddenly having an empty plate. “Gods that was...amazing.”

“Oh uh..t-thank you.” Makoto bowed a little as she moved to start cleaning until Rei stood up.

“I’ll clean it up, Makoto. You should head out, you’ve had a busy day already.” Without waiting, Rei pulled her jacket off and folded it, putting it on the back of the chair and then rolling her sleeves up and moving to the sink to run hot water.

Something about that image floored Minako. It pulled away from the serious Rei she had been seeing all day, even while just sitting in a chair. But here she was, sleeves up to the elbow, washing dishes and sending this cook off that Minako didn’t even thank properly. She’d have to get her info to send her a personal thank you for everything.

Right now all she could focus on was staring at her bodyguard looking the most normal she had seen her. It almost startled her out of her chair when Rei turned and took her plate without a word to clean it. And they were like that for nearly half an hour, with Minako watching her just wash dishes by hand despite there being a dishwasher. Perhaps because she worked at a shrine she was used to doing it by hand.

“I’ll be back at 7 in the morning.” Rei dried her hands off and turned to face Minako who suddenly sat up very straight. “I do have a question.”

Minako felt her eyebrows raise at that. Rei hadn’t asked anything in particular since about the paycheck really. “Yes?”

“There are times where we are stationary, at the studio. Would it be okay if I were to bring a book with me to read in the meantime?”

“Oh! N-no, that’s fine with me. Whatever makes you more uhm...comfortable.” Minako nodded a little.

“Thank you. Have a good night, Aino-san.”

Minako didn’t even respond to correct her as Rei left, watching her disappear and then suddenly Natsuna was waving her hand in Minako’s face.

“Earth to Minako?”

“Hmm? Something wrong Natsuna?” Minako looked at her finally, blinking a few times. Natsuna suddenly grinned and it worried her.

“Nothing. You should rest up for the night. Everyone has gone home except for me and I’m about to leave. I imagine Hino-san will be very punctual in the morning so you won’t be allotted to sleep in.”

“Hino-san? Why are you calling her Hino-san? You’ve been saying Rei all day long. What bites. Why the grin?”

“Nothing, oh boss of mine. Good night.”

All Minako could do was wonder as she finally moved upstairs through her off and into her room, brushing her teeth in thought. Rei hadn’t quit after day one, so maybe there would be hope of progress in more than one way. After that, she changed clothes and collapsed in bed before groaning and shifting, elevating her ankle like Rei had said and eventually falling asleep, her dreams filled with her new bodyguard.

Chapter Text

After three weeks of nonstop working Minako finally, finally , had a glorious day off and to herself. The weeks were very productive with Rei about it seemed for many reasons. She wasn’t really stopped by any fans on her way into work or when doing promotions at radio stations because Rei often stepped in the way and they backed off. The downside, the part that made Minako feel guilty, was that Rei was portrayed as aggressive and almost heartless. It helped keep the people at bay, but she worried that it would forever destroy the Shrine Rei treasured so much, should they find out who she was.

It made her very happy to be able to, once a few times, send Rei home early when work was done so she could do what she needed to. Despite being together for 3 solid weeks almost all day long, she still really had learned nothing about Rei. It was...irritating because Minako liked to be close with her workers and know things about them for doing subtle surprises or the like. However, she learned nothing new. Rei didn’t talk. In fact, in quiet moments, Rei was reading basically. She carried two or three books on her person to read when they were dancing or she was at the gym or she was working out first thing in the morning. It irked her to no end.

All of that aside, she was alone today at the office. And she had laid herself a plan out for that matter. She was going to sleep in, she was going to take care of herself, she was going to take a nice soaking hot bath, get my her medicine refilled….

The medicine, right. Rei had seen her take it a few times without a word, but Minako could see it in her face and eyes. She disapproved, probably thinking because she was an idol, it was some kind of illicit drug. But it was for being sick that was all.

Suddenly a loud sound broke through the silence of Minako asleep in her bed and she groaned, rolling over to try and ignore her phone ringing loudly. Was there no such thing as having things the way she wanted them? It finally stopped and she slowly started to drift back off until it jarred her back awake and she groaned again, rolling over and fumbling to grab it. Blinking a few times, she saw ‘Producer’ on it and sighed, answering it.

“Hello?” She knew her voice was rough because she had just woken up but she didn’t even care to mask it. Today was her day off.

“You sound awful, Minako! You should really rest up, you know that? You’ve got a lot of work ahead!”

It took all she had not to snap back she had been doing just that up until he had called her. “Did you need something?”

“I wanted to remind you to not forget to look over the paperwork we dropped off late last night. And that you should make sure to rest plenty. Can’t have those bags in the new video coming up in a few months!”

Minako could have screamed at that one if she was sure it wouldn’t actually wreck her throat. She did have a recording at the studio in the morning. She glanced at the clock to see 9:00 A.M. glaring back at her with a sigh. “Yes I know. I’ll look over it all before the morning rolls around. Have a good day.” Without waiting any further, she hung up on the man.

Now she was up for the day and already frustrated. Though this was four more hours of sleep than she normally got, so it was too hard to complain. She wasn’t up before the sun was up this time. Still, Minako would have loved to sleep in just a tiny bit more. Till noon. A glance at her phone showed her several emails, mostly junk if she had to make a guess. That could be dealt with later.

Now what to do with the time of the day since she was already awake? The thought of a giant breakfast at the Denny’s down the street sounded so good, but she could already hear the Producer in the back of her head. Anytime she thought of food that wasn’t part of her schedule she knew she couldn’t have it. Even her eating was so regulated.

The thing about being an idol was that it wasn’t as free as people saw. Minako was very much under control in almost every single way. Everything she ate was looked over for calories and protein intake. The amount she was supposed to sleep was often questioned. Her workout was determined by a personal trainer from hell at RIZAP. He also regulated what she ate. She almost entirely drank water alone and nothing else unless it was a work party that would allow alcohol.

She felt trapped in a cage. Minako loved to sing and dance and perform for people. It was seeing them excited to see her, shaking her hand, asking for her autograph, talking with her like a person. The cost was very high to her and there had been many a time she debated on quitting because of it but she toughed it out. Most musicians had their career burn out by now, especially pop idol stars. She knew how lucky she was.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Minako stared up at her ceiling. Well she did want to soak in a bath but she needed some real self care first. Having no time off and almost no time alone meant she couldn’t do that. Even if she was alone in the office at the end of the night, she was too tired to even care to try because she was sure she’d fall asleep in the middle of it.

Immediately her mind pictured Rei and maybe she should have felt bad, but the woman was incredibly good looking despite her almost always serious face she had. Her eyes were so pretty. It was a shame they had to be covered up a lot of the time and that she was given a worse image than what she actually was. Tall, long beautiful black hair. Minako had fiddled with it before, it was so soft.

“Mmm…” She let out a low noise from the back of her throat as her hand slid into her pants, starting to slowly pleasure herself. She needed this more than she realized now that she had started it. Minako tried to imagine how soft Rei felt under the suit as well. Probably pretty fit if she had to take a good guess. Lean muscles, but not so much that she bulked out.

Just as it felt like everything was peaking, her phone rang again and Minako let out a scream of frustration. She couldn’t even enjoy something so personal. Part of her debated on continuing, but the image of Rei in her mind was gone and she could have cried.

At least this time it was someone she felt was important. Natsuna.

“Is something wrong, Natsuna?” Normally she didn’t call when Minako was off so she worried it was serious.

“No no. I just wanted to let you know I’ll be by late to drop your medicine off today. They got the truck in late so it’s not going to be ready for another few hours. Will you be okay? I know you should be almost out.” Natsuna sounded pretty worried over the phone and it made Minako feel less stressed she had called really.

“I should be fine. I took my last dose yesterday, but since I’m not exerting myself today and just staying in, I’ll manage. I can always call you if something does go wrong anyways since I have you set up for that on my phone.” It had happened twice before. After the first time they had set her phone up especially for this. It sent a message to Natsuna’s phone as well as left an automated message in a phone call that it was happening.

“Okay...just please be super careful? I know you haven’t missed any of it in a while so I worry a bit more. I didn’t mean to call you on your day off because I know you often already get it ruined by others--”

“Someone already beat you to it thirty minutes ago.”

“Ugh, dumbass. Anyways, just wanted to let you know so you also wouldn’t worry if I didn’t show up on time.”

“Thank you, Natsuna.”

“Have a good day, V-babe!”

Minako smiled as the other woman hung up before pulling herself out of bed. Time for a soak in the bath with her tablet to watch something on. One good thing was she had a giant jet tub to sit in with a place to put her computer or tablet to relax with. She gathered some clothes up in case Natsuna managed to show up earlier and stepped into the bathroom, running hot water before pulling her hair up, stripping and stepping in.

“Ahhhh….” The hot water felt amazing on her sore muscles as she laid back to just soak for a few minutes in silence. Then she went to her tablet and debated on what to watch before an idea struck her.

After a quick search she pulled up a video with almost two million hits.

“Archer gets arrow split even when trying to cheat? Oh this is gonna be too good to watch.” Immediately she pressed play and was met with the sight of some scraggly guy yelling on and on about cheating before it flashed to Rei with a serious face. One different than she normally saw.

“I didn’t cheat, but if you would like, we can go once more. Same board and we both shoot. I’ll let you even go first.”

“Fine!” The man was clearly angry as he went up to an empty bullseye, pulling his glove on and picking his large bow up. He shot after a few short moments to a dead center before smirking at Rei who didn’t so much as flinch. “Let’s see you beat that. Dead center.”

Rei didn’t say a word as she stepped into place and drew her arrow back, but she didn’t fire as she stood perfectly still. Suddenly the man knocked Rei in the back of her knee, making her step forward, but still, somehow, she split his arrow right down the middle and the crowd went silent before exploded loudly and then the video stopped.

Minako was stunned to say the least. She must have still had a lot of the shrine training in her, that was clear. But the look she had was so different. That’s what she meant by egos and why she had to quit. Even so...the man had intentionally tried to trip her up and she still split an arrow in two. Impressive wasn’t even an appropriate word for it. All the better, it made Minako glad she had selected Rei because even in a situation like this she took it seriously.

She watched a few more videos of Rei competing, including when she had started it nearly five years prior and she still looked the same there. Serious face, but her eyes were different. She was enjoying the sport at that time before it was a ‘man’s competition.’ It hurt a little to know that it seemed like everything tiny thing she knew Rei liked, had been ruined.

Rei had lost her mother when she was very young and then her father ditched her at the shrine, which maybe was for the better. And she spent her life there, working and living with her grandfather and then he passed away. The shrine started to fall, Minako had looked into that, but she never had the chance to go by and visit to see how bad it really was. Then Rei had tried archery and that was ruined, and then security work that she didn’t even want to do. Minako knew that working at a shrine probably meant you really like the quiet and silence, and Minako’s daily life was anything but that. She often felt guilty.

Sighing, she had to distract herself. Thinking about how to find more out about Rei wasn’t going to get her any answers for sure. She clicked the home button on her tablet and frowned a little. Her background was of a cat sleeping on her lap when she was much younger, before her idol days.

“Oh Blossom…” Sadly, she had parted with the cat when she became rich and famous. Her parents only wanted money from her and nothing else and refused to hand the cat over. She grew up with that cat and sadly had learned some time ago, they had given it to a shelter and she was never able to get her back and it made her sad. The cat had been a rescue that Minako had found one day in a trash can, stuck and unable to get out.

Rei had seen it once before, the image, and had asked. It had been very hard to play it off that it was nothing big, just an old photo of a pet she had growing up. She suspected Rei knew it was more than just that because damn, that woman was scarily intuitive. Enough being sad.

Minako finally got out of the bath and dried herself off before getting dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top. At the very least, she could wear what she wanted when she was off. Even if she walked through the building, the windows were tinted to keep the outside just that, outside. She moved into the kitchen downstairs and pulled out a bowl of fruit, sitting at a table and eating it while enjoying the silence.

As much as she loved music of all kinds and listening to it, sometimes pure silence was nice. Music she could have when she was dealing with paperwork or working out. On her days off, she didn’t do much for noise or sound and her ears were probably thankful. Between headphones and ear pieces at concerts, her ears needed the break. It was part of her check up every few months just to make sure she wasn’t damaging them any as well as her throat. She often wondered if other performers did those kinds of checks in their life frequently. She supposed she did hers because it happened to line up with her regular check up.

Sighing, she ate the last grape in the bowl before placing it into the sink and moving back upstairs to sit at her desk. Her clock on the wall told her it was almost noon now and maybe she should just try and get some work done. In the back of her head, she knew that voice was telling her that once she started working she wouldn’t stop for the day. Regardless, she sat at her desk and the mountain of papers.

Production paperwork, costume design sketches to be approved, location opportunities, record deals, meet and greet times, and so much more lay in front of her. This was a chore to do and she knew she had been putting a lot of it off while trying to get other work done so this was really her fault in the end. Taking in a deep breath, she picked the first paper up to begin.

After a few hours, Minako felt a headache starting and put the paper in front of her down. She needed more food and maybe some water to drink. She stood up from her desk and picked her phone, moving out of the office when suddenly everything felt like it was out of focus and she stumbled into the stair railing. She knew what was going on in the back of her mind but her body didn’t want to move. It took all her effort to raise her phone and mash a button before she let it go, hearing it clatter to the floor before as she slowly felt herself falling before all she saw was darkness.

The next few hours went in sharp fragments that she would never recall properly. She woke up once in the ambulance with a lot of noise. The next time was hours later in the hospital as everything slowly started to come into focus. She realized where she was and felt confused as she tried to sit up before a nurse was ushering her to lay back down.

“I’m fine….” Maybe she wasn’t if she was in the hospital, but she had been down this path before, it just had been a long time.

“Minako!” Suddenly Natsuna was leaning over her in a panic. “Thank god, you were out for hours. You’ve never been out that long so we were really scared.”

“Hours?”

“Like six hours...I emailed Rei to not come in tomorrow. I told her we were a day ahead so she wouldn’t know. The doctor refuses to release you until tomorrow late afternoon because he was so worried and wanted to run tests.”

Minako looked around to realize she was wired up to too many machines for her own liking. An IV was in her arm, machines were attached to her chest, she had a breathing tube in her nose, a pulse tracker on her finger. “I don’t--”

“You do, Minako.” Her doctor walked in and she groaned, head hitting the pillow. “You were entirely unresponsive to anything. I worry it’s getting worse and I need to make sure your body wasn’t impacted. These thunderclap headaches aren’t a joke of any kind.” He paused when she didn’t seem to buy it. “Let me rephrase, you flatlined once.”

That got her attention and her heart rate spiked hard. What a way to go, she could see the headlines now. ‘Idol dies in own office on day off alone.’

“So I want to take tomorrow to run tests and perhaps increase your medication and maybe add some more. I need to run an MRI at least to make sure it isn’t worse.” He sighed a little. “Are you sure you don’t want the surgery still?”

“I’m sure. This was just..a fluke.” Maybe she had said that outloud, but Minako knew she was more than likely counting her days. She had already outlived their expectations by many years. Honestly she just hoped to die peacefully in her sleep but for some reason, there was something tugging at her that she wasn’t as ready to go this time as she was the last time this had happened, but she couldn’t place just what that was.

“Well...get yourself some rest. You’ll have some food, and I mean real food, after the MRI in the morning. No one knows you’re here so don’t worry. Though I want to tell you that tomorrow morning I’ll have a new doctor working with me. She has some ideas that may help you out and honestly, she’s more up to date with current technology and medication than I am.”

Minako nodded as she laid there, staring at the ceiling, hearing the machines beep. She just wish she could pinpoint exactly why this time felt too real and she felt too unready to embrace it.

Chapter Text

Rei could hardly believe she had been working for Minako nearly as long as she had: eight months. She was sure maybe two months in she would be fired or would wind up quitting for one reason or another. That she was too aggressive with her fans even was a good cause, but Minako had kept her on. It was exhausting because her days lately were running so long. Earlier on she had some shorter days where she would go to the shrine, eat, and then sleep.

Now she was probably sleeping about as much as Minako herself was. She had learned her schedule inside and out and knew to be at the office at 6am where she made coffee, arriving before any of the other employees except maybe Natsuna who came in early every now and then. Coffee was the only thing that kept her going. She had already gone through her collection of books that she never had the chance to read, which was very nice.

Even so, days off were grace periods and few and far between. She had maybe ten off since she started, eleven if she counted the extra day off back at the three-month mark. Rei was so sure that they hadn't been ahead of schedule. Though her nose was in a book, she listened and she knew where they were in the process. So she chalked it up to everything catching up with Minako and her needing a second day off to recover. Either that or she took too many of those pills.

Rei often wanted to question the handful that Minako would down, but it wasn’t her place, she needed this job. At one point she noticed it wasn’t always at the same time either so that made her feel like it was less likely to be prescription medication because she never saw the bottle either and she had been in Minako’s office many times. She just assumed they were amphetamines to keep her running; Minako never seemed to stop. It also lined up with her lack of food intake of small things like grapes or cantaloupe or...fruit in general.

That all aside, it was a day to clean up around the shrine. Minako’s payments had been very helpful and she was even able to pay an official construction crew to start working on the shrine to repair it. It meant she had to post a sign that it was closed for an undisclosed amount of time, but it meant the shrine back in full shape. Still, she worked on it here and there.

There were a lot of weeds that had to be pulled out, the water in the koi ponds needed changing out and cleaning, the trees needed to be taken care of, the stands for the charms needed a good scrubbing and cleaning, and even the archery area needed fixing up and replacing.

Rei sighed as she finished cleaning another stand for the charms, dusting her hands on her pants. Two more of these and they would finally be done and she could move onto something else. It might have been better to just replace them for all the hours it had taken to get them so clean, but they had been around longer than her grandfather and so she wanted to keep them.

She had been up since 5:00 A.M., something ingrained in her for many years of being at the shrine and working there. The only time she had slept in, as of late, was her first day off when working with Minako. She was tired by this time of day and took a seat on the edge of the housing off to the side of the shrine grounds with a small sigh. Her pants looked a mess with smudge marks from cleaning and she was sure her shirt was no better. It was the outfit she always wore when cleaning the grounds up as of late. She needed to really buy new gloves to pull out the weeds.

Minako had been shocked she had made into the grounds without being seen. Moreso, she was shocked to see a closed sign at the bottom of the shrine stairs, which if she had a say, there were too many of those. How Rei could climb and clean them daily was beyond her. But she had made it to Hikawa shrine, now able to see the place Rei treasured in her heart.

And it made Minako’s own heart ache too. Suddenly it made sense why Rei was so desperate for money. Not to say she couldn’t see the hard work and construction work going on to get it back into shape, but even after working with Minako for eight months...it left a lot to be done. She wondered if she could sneak and get it fixed up while Rei was gone, but she thought about that pride of hers. It would probably just irritate her and make her quit. She didn’t want that.

Still, it was so...quiet here compared to everything Minako was so used to hearing. Even in her office, by herself, there was noise. Running machines mostly. Here it was the birds and cicadas chirping. For the first time in, well, to be honest, Minako wasn’t sure how long, she felt very relaxed.

“Minako!?”

She could have jumped a mile in the air as she turned around to see a shocked Rei behind her and Minako put her thousand watt smile on and waved.

Rei could have died in that moment of realizing Minako had seen the shrine. Much less she had made it in without Rei knowing it even though she had been by the front. Nevermind Minako had travelled and made it here without anyone managing to see her when protecting her was Rei’s job. Bonus: Rei was in some pretty ragged clothing at the moment versus the suit she always wore when working for Minako.

“What are you doing here? How’d you get here?” She tried to keep her voice more level and calm than she felt. “You should be resting on your day off.”

“You’re one to talk.” Rei had to avoid rolling her eyes at Minako’s smirk. “I wanted to see the shrine and this was the only time I had to do it for a long time. It’s...nice here, really.”

“I appreciate the kindness...but it’s not nice at all. It’s a mess and no one is meant to see it for some months as it is.” She was trying not to be harsh about it, but she didn’t need Minako’s sympathies and lies about the condition of her home.

“I meant it. Compared to the office and city and constant noises, this is nice. I know it has some cleaning up to be done, but it’s nice. As someone trapped between two buildings in downtown Tokyo….”

Minako made a fair point. Rei ran her hand through her hair, clearly exasperated for the shrine to even be seen like this, much less herself looking a total mess. She couldn’t just kick Minako out, that wouldn’t do. Even though she was off, she was still her bodyguard.

“By the way…”

“Hm?” Rei looked up at her, suspicious of the look on the other woman’s face.

“You said Minako earlier. That’s the first time.”

All the more reason to feel ashamed. She had been forcing herself to stick to ‘Aino-san’ for months because this was work, not a friend. Not even an acquaintance. So she had finally let it slip. Ugh.

“I didn’t mean to, you just...I wasn’t…”

“I would much rather prefer it over Aino-san. I know I’m your boss, but I have to trust you more than anyone else I work with, Rei. My life is in your hands. Not my career, but my whole life.”

Rei couldn’t argue with that and she let out a sigh, mulling it over in her head. “Fine, but you’ve got to get out of here. It’s already going to be hard enough to get you out of here without being seen by a crowd.”

“You know, the shrine isn’t exactly the busiest location in Tokyo? On top of that, I’m not leaving here without a tour and some archery.”

God Rei could scream at that and she felt her jaw clench hard. Minko was...stubborn to say the very least and she knew the woman wouldn’t move without being appeased. This was Rei’s day off and here this idol was, wanting a tour and a show of sport. Rei just wanted to relax and work in peace. She ran her hand over her face as she looked at Minako who seemed to be waiting.

“There isn’t a tour for the shrine. Things are being moved around right now and a lot of places are inaccessible due to construction or cleaning. I don’t even have many charms on hand.”

“Charms?” Minako seemed to perk up at that. “Is it possible to still buy one of those?”

“A charm? Why would you want a charm, from here no less?”

“I’m already here for one. Other shrines are crowded and I can’t go. And I’d like to support your shrine. I mean to buy it, Rei. Not just ask for it.”

It was hard to deny that and Rei let out a grunt as she walked over to a small stand and slid the door open. Inside it was dusty with a lot of random boxes sitting around, but Rei knew what was what as she picked up a small box and opened it, shuffling through charms. One last one of the one she was looking for, as though it was meant to be.

Walking out, she handed it to Mina. “A thank you gift I guess, for the job and keeping me about.”

Minako flipped the charm over in her hand with a hum and then broke out into a huge grin. It was orange and intended for happiness and that meant a lot to Minako. Not many people thought about her happiness in reality. There was even a little lucky cat attached to it for added general luck.

“You really don’t have to give it to me, Rei. I can pay for it.” She wanted to, she needed to in her heart, help the shrine in some way.

“No, it’s a gift. You can buy something when the shrine is back open again.” Stubborn woman. Still, Minako was very touched as she carefully put it in the bag she had on her back to make her fit in more with the others out on the street. “Now, that archery…”

“Why are you so interested in the archery?”

“I want to see. I saw the...the videos of you competing a few months ago but I want to see you without everyone around ruining it. Your element, I suppose…” Minako felt a bit guilty admitting she had watched Rei’s competition and had been looking into her, but she wanted to see this in person. “And uh--maybe learn a little?”

Minako must have lost her damn mind in the middle of the night. Teach her archery? There were so many risks involved with someone new that it made her uncomfortable that should anything happen to Minako, it would be her own fault.

“No way. I’m not teaching you archery. It’s too risky.”

“Rei I trust you with my very life and you can’t even do this simple request?”

“Simple!?” Now Rei felt insulted. Archery required a lot of things Minako lacked. Patience was one. Silence was another. Not to mention having to stand completely still and focus. “Archery isn’t simple.”

“Then prove me wrong. Show me.”

Damn this woman. Rei wanted to tell her to fuck right on off but she needed to keep this job. Things were finally turning around for the shrine and she huffed before storming off towards the building she did her archery in. Her grandfather had it built long ago for her to give her a way to blow steam off without actually going off on someone. Thankfully it was kept mostly clean and the main thing was that targets needed replacing and it needed a good cleaning overall.

Rei opened her locker and pulled out her gear, sliding it on as Minako watched in curiosity. Minako had said without a crowd, but something about her watching was even more nerve-wracking than her first competition. After her glove was on she grabbed a quiver with a few arrows and tied it to her hip. She found this was easier for her while practicing than on her back or on the ground. Then she grabbed the long bow off the wall and walked over to the marked spot on the floor.

“You really do have to wear all of that?”

“Yes and no… a lot of it’s just from how long archery has been around. The glove is important to keep friction burns off your fingers in case you don’t let go properly and to hold an appropriate grip as well.” Rei had only wished she was in the right clothing to go with it, but this would have to do. The sooner she got Minako back to the office, the better.

Taking in a few breaths she let the silence lay over them both as Minako watched closely. Now she felt less nervous as she pulled an arrow out of the quiver and took position, pulling back on the bow to lock everything in place as she took steady and close aim. And she stayed like that for what must have been three or four minutes. Rei was positive Minako was going to complain she was taking too long, but she didn’t.

Finally, she let it go and there was a loud thunk as the arrow lodged in the middle of the target and Rei slowly lowered her arms. She still had it, which was good given she didn’t get a lot of time to do this anymore. In a way, this was refreshing for her and even her shoulders relaxed as she looked at Minako who was blown away.

“There’s your show. That’s all it is. Nothing special.”

“Maybe not to you, but…” Minako was clearly still in awe of the moment. “I have never seen archery up close, especially not a professional. I’d never thought about it until I knew you were a champion and all and saw some videos.” Minako walked over to where she had fired the arrow, gently touching it. “I want to try.”

“What do you gain in trying this?”

“Nothing, actually. Well, maybe something, self-satisfaction that I did try at least once in my life? Come on Rei, you know my schedule inside and out, I live the same routine. I’ll almost never get another chance to do this.”

That was a request that was hard to deny and Rei sighed, mulling it over as she ran her hand through her hair. Minako wasn’t wrong, getting out the office on any day off was hard without some form of media appearing. Even when they went out shopping they were often spotted.

“What if you get hurt?”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine. I’m not a little baby. No success without some failure at times, right?”

Taking in a slow breath, Rei walked over and pulled the arrow out, looking at it. She had never shared her archery with anyone. When she did competitions, her grandfather had passed so this was something always done alone. Rei tried to convince herself that’s why she agreed. “Go grab a glove off the shelf over there.” She gestured with her head. “And make sure your hair will be out of your face good.”

Minako was extremely thrilled as she took off to grab what Rei had requested and redid her hair to be on the safe side. Rei waited for her to come over. “First we need to cover some basic rules. Never aim an arrow at anyone no matter what. Accidents happen and it doesn’t take much to lose a grip. Even a slight pull on a bow can send an arrow a distance and hurt someone. It’s like a firearm, only there is no chance for a safety but what you do. You aim at that target and nothing else. I don’t care if it’s here or if you are anywhere else doing this. This is a rule to follow at all times. Clear?”

“Very.”

“Now then, this bow requires a fair bit of strength to pull the string back and you want to pull it in the center. Here.” Rei put the bow into Minako’s hands and moved to stand behind her. It’d be years since she taught someone how to hold one, but she could recall it easily. She guided Minako’s hand on the wood where to hold it at. “Make sure you keep a firm grip. Letting this go with a bowstring pulled is going to hurt you more than anyone else because it’s going to come right back at you and I promise it will leave a mark.”

Next to put Minako’s hand on the string with no arrow, directing her how to hold her fingers. This is the part that made her nervous. Slowly she pulled back with her.

“You weren’t kidding about needing strength for this. How on earth do you stand so still for so long?”

“Practice. Years of it. I’ve done this for a very long time.” Slowly she let the string go back to the original position and stepped back. “Word of warning, keep the bow a safe distance from your body. The string can and will cut flesh if it’s too close. As long as you keep it where I showed you, then you’ll be fine.” Now she moved to the other side of Minako to watch. “Alright, without an arrow I want you to pull the string back and let it snap.”

She watched Minako pull it back, watching closely. Then when Minako let it go, Rei realized she slightly turned the bow and she tried to shout a warning but it was too late. The next thing she registered was the bow down on the ground and Minako holding her ear and blood. Hino Rei was about to have a meltdown. Aino Minako, pop idol to millions had just split her ear open with the string of a bow at her shrine. Rei had injured her. She quickly pulled the handkerchief out of her back pocket and pressed it to Minako’s ear.

“Fuck…” She was panicking a little as she pressed hard to stop the blood. “Are you okay?

“You weren’t uh…” Minako made a hissing noise. “Kidding about that part.”

“I wasn’t kidding about any of it!”

Minako felt bad, clearly, Rei was having a total freak out based on her shaking hand and raised voice. She reached up and took the handkerchief pressing it herself. “It’ll be fine Rei. It’s not the first time my ear has ever bled, they just bleed easily and a lot.”

“Are you crazy!? That’s probably going to leave a mark.”

“I promise you, my ears are not what they are after in photos. And it doesn’t impact my singing or performances.” She pulled the cloth away to look at it before pressing it back. “I thought I had it far enough away?”

“You turned slightly when you let go, you didn’t grip hard enough with your left hand.”

“Speaking of--” Minako needed to distract Rei from freaking out. “I thought you were right-handed.”

“I am.”

“You shoot with your left.”

“I find it easier to aim the bow down towards the target that way.” Rei let out a sigh as the bleeding finally stopped. “We are done.”

“No way! I didn’t even shoot an arrow!”

“Minako--”

“Rei come on. Please, just one more try? With the arrow?”

Rei really seemed to think hard on it before picking the bow up and handing it to Minako in exchange for the bloodied cloth. Even more hesitation showed at picking an arrow up as Minako stood up and handing it to her. Carefully, Minako took it and it was a little heavier than she expected. Then again, it was mostly wood still. Rei showed her now to notch it before stepping away.

She was more careful this time as she pulled back on the string, keeping a strong grip with her left hand on the front of the bow. Unable to hold it anywhere near as long as Rei, she let it go. This time she avoided any injury and while it was far from a bullseye, really almost to the outer edge of the target, she had hit it. She had fired an arrow.

Perhaps any other time, she might have jumped up and down and shouted in excitement, but she didn’t this time. She smiled at seeing that she had, in some form, succeeded and gotten to do something that was part of Rei’s life , not her own. Slowly she lowered the bow and grinned at Rei.

“Honestly, most people miss the target on their first try. Then again, most don’t hit their ear either…” Maybe it was a backhanded compliment, but one nonetheless as she took the bow back and put it up before dislodging the arrow and putting everything up.

“We should really get you back to the office though. It’s already getting pretty late.”

“Let me stay for just a few minutes more.” Rei watched her walk out of the building to sit by the garden and she sighed, glancing at the cleaning project she was about to start before walking over and sitting down next to her. “I meant what I said about your shrine. It is very nice.”

“It’s in shambles.” Rei didn’t sugar coat it. She knew the shrine looked awful.

“That doesn’t mean it isn’t nice. It’s quiet here and I haven’t felt this relaxed in a long time.”

Rei glanced over at her, feeling guilting at seeing her ear again with the blood on it. “Clean your ear when you get back before anyone sees it. I don’t need people coming after my shrine because you decided to split it open by being stubborn.”

“It’ll be fine. I can cover it up with my hair. Can I ask a question?”

“I don’t promise an answer, but you can ask.”

“For all the shrine, you seem to tend to the garden the most it looks like. Everything is flourishing and vibrant.” Minako reached forward to touch a flower petal gently. “Why is that?”

“The garden is what I tend to the least. I don’t keep care of it, Makoto does.”

“The girl who cooked for us after you started that one time, right?”

Rei nodded, pulling her legs up. “She comes by on her days off to water them and keep the weeds out of it all. She loves gardening a lot and her apartment doesn’t have space for it and she can’t afford it, really, so she gets to do it here and I pay for whatever she needs. It’s usually not much.”

“Can I ask another question?”

“Why are you asking if you can ask a question every time?”

“Because I feel it might be a bit rude to just ask. At least this way if you say no, we can let it go without either of us lingering on it.” Minako smiled at her and Rei raised her eyebrows, thinking on it.

“Or do you mean because you get asked so many questions without regard to whether you want them or not being so famous?”

“You sure you aren’t some kind of genius? You’re always seeing through everything…” Minako huffed at her.

“Ask your question.”

“How did you two meet? Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t exactly come off as the most friendly person in the world initially. It took nearly a year just to get you to call me Minako. Or at least to my face.”

Rei sighed as she mulled over if she wanted to explain the story or not. “I was hospitalized about two years ago for overexertion. I was severely dehydrated and somewhat underweight at the time. Makoto’s main job is at the hospital in the cafeteria so she provided my meals to me, especially since mine had to be so specific given my condition until I was released.”

“I imagine you didn’t talk to her in there or keep in contact though?”

“No. Like me, she’s...stubborn and things tend to go over her head once in a while. She’s smarter than she might initially appear.”

Rei was mad, beyond mad, as she punched the dummy in front of her at the gym with all she had. Her father and his nerve to ask her again to work for him and he would take care of the shrine. What did he care about the damn shrine? He just wanted Rei to work for him because it made their family relationship look better so he was a better politician.

Her next swing was harder than the last and she thought the damn dummy spoke back to her and she scoffed. Probably hearing his voice in her head as she reached back and swung forward, the target moved and she stumbled a little before registering that someone was leaning on it.

“Move.” She barked the word out before realizing how tall the person was and as she looked up, recognized her from the hospital.

“Well, it’s good to see you with some fire in you! Though I have to say, if this is what you were doing no wonder you were in the hospital.” It was that damn cook...Makoto was her name if she recalled right.

“I’m fine. Now move.” She reached to punch again but the girl caught her hand and Rei wanted to scream and punch her.

“If your stomach growled any louder in the last five minutes, the rest of the gym is going to hear it you know. I was going to offer you to head to my place for some lunch. I’d rather not see you back in the hospital? I’m guessing you haven’t eaten today.”

Makoto wasn’t wrong, she hadn’t eaten and her stomach growled again at the mention of food. All she had to do was say no to this stupid offer and go on her way. “What do I gain out of going to your place for food.”

“A really nice lunch? Like better than hospital food obviously, but I do cook a lot of things in my spare time. And maybe a bit of company.” The girl smiled at her and Rei had to debate if she was hitting on her before thinking on it and realizing that the girl was just a little too dense to realize her presence was unwanted. Then something in the back of her mind told her to go, the voice she’d like to think was her grandfather telling her to never turn down a polite offer like this. They often lead to great opportunities.

“Anyways, so I agreed and we’ve kept in contact since then.”

Minako watched Rei quietly for some time after that. This was perhaps the first time she had learned anything personal about her. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel as though Rei wasn’t a human, just that she was so closed off because every time she got close, she got...hurt. That thought hurt Minako too.

“I’m glad she stayed your friend. I think you needed it. Destiny that you two met again.”

“Destiny?” Rei seemed to make a face. “I don’t believe in destiny.”

“Why not?”

“Because there’s not enough good for the bad. Destiny is the good that happens. I don’t get the good.”

Minako went quiet again as Rei seemed to be angry over the topic before standing up and dusting her pants off. “Destiny isn’t always the good, sometimes the bad has to happen first. But it isn’t some exact point in life that it happens and we never know why or when it does occur. But for all the bad you say…” She smiled down at Rei. “I would like to hope I am some of the good. And for what it’s worth, if you need help with the shrine or some extra money, you can ask. I know you want to do it alone, as much as I’d love to just hire up a crew to do it all for you, because this place is your home. But the offer is there if you need anything that seems out of reach.”

With that Minako hummed as she walked off, not allowing a response from Rei. She would make it back to the office fine by herself, but today was a good day. Today was the day Hino Rei opened up to her just the smallest bit. Today was the day Rei actually began to trust Minako.

Chapter Text

Rei let out a loud yawn as she leaned back in the chair in the corner of the conference room, listening to the bickering going on as she flipped a page in her book in her hand. They had been in this room for nearly three hours going over the music video that was supposed to start today. From what she knew, the idol that was supposed to work with Minako had bailed in favor for another top idol. Kuroki Mio, if she recalled properly.

In her time here, over a year now, she had never seen such a disaster. She was already exhausted since they had to start at 3 A.M. rather than the normal time and she hadn’t been sleeping well as of late either. A lot of tossing and turning and feeling too hot no matter what she tried to do. First they had wanted to change the entire theme of the video and location, but Minako had put her foot down on keeping what she wanted. The woman could be very in control. It was almost scary.

However, losing the second performer to her video was a loss and they couldn’t really delay the recording any further as it was going to hold up people who had over videos to record for other people. They had been fighting over how to fix it or to just cancel the video, which Minako refused to do as it was the top single on her new album that was to come out soon. Rei took another drink of her coffee, grimacing at how cold it was. She stood up to go get another cup that was still hot.

“Rei! Perfect!”

She could have dropped her cup at the sudden hollering of her name as she looked down at Minako whom she had just walked past. “Did you need something.”

“...Sort of.” Minako gave her a smile that made her feel entirely uncomfortable as she glanced at everyone at the table and then at Minako. Why was she the center of attention?

“And that is?”

“Well you see, this other idol--”

“Cancelled on you. I do pay attention. Rather she abandoned you for someone else, I suppose.”

“That aside, I need a replacement today.”

Rei was quiet as she waited before speaking. “And what’s this got to do with me? Natsuna is your secretary, have her make whatever call you need.”

“Ah, well, that is…”

“Spit it out.” Her patience was short from being so tired already.

“I was hoping you’d take her place in my video. You’d be perfect for it!”

Rei was positive her brain had just had a stroke. Minako did not just ask her to be in her video. There were a host of problems with this, if she had heard it proper. First was that Rei’s face was going to be plastered on every TV in the country not to mention, probably down at Shibuya with the giant screens there. Which meant they would recognize her. The next was that Rei didn’t act nor sing.

“I’m sorry, I think I misheard you. Come again?”

“Let’s talk in the office?” Rei watched her stand up and Rei sighed as she looked at her ice-cold cup of coffee before setting it down where Minako was at and following her, closing the door behind them.

“You can’t be serious, Minako.”

“I am.” Rei sat down opposite her desk, leaning on her arm. “You’re a good option, I mean it.”

“And have you thought about the host of issues that come with something like this?”

“Tell me your thoughts.”

Rei lingered on her thoughts for a small while. “First my face is going to be on every national TV known to man. Next, I can’t act nor sing. And it’s not something I’m that comfortable with.”

“Mm..I’ve thought it through some. We can give you contacts for your eyes to hide the real color. I’d say just wear your sunglasses but people would recognize you as my bodyguard for sure. And we’d have to put you in something other than your suit and maybe pull your hair back. Small things that would make the difference. As far as singing, you won’t have to sing. And as long as you follow what you’re told, you’ll be fine.”

Rei rubbed her temple, fighting off a headache at the mere thought of all of this. “And there is no one else, in this entire idol world of yours, you can get to do this?”

“Yes and no. I could, but most aren’t suited for the video. I need a woman for starters. Next I need someone who has a good look about them. You have an air that you carry with you that I honestly think fits perfectly, more than the other idol I was going to use.”

“And what on Earth is your plan for your lack of present bodyguard? People will notice.”

Minako huffed as she leaned back before smirking as her eyes tracked someone walking by the office door and it terrified Rei to know that the woman had sorted it all out. “Natsuna is your look alike. With the sunglasses and a suit, she can pretend to be you while you’re actually still present.”

“Minako, I don’t know…”

“Come on Rei. We’re already really behind schedule. Even if I get ahold of someone else, we might risk being unable to get it all filmed by the time they arrive. Trust me a little. Have some fun?”

Rei really had to think on it. Minako had always made sure no one knew who she was or what she did in reality outside of being a bodyguard. It wasn’t that was concerned someone would recognize her with the changes if she thought about it in that light. But still, this was extra work. “I want a bonus.”

“A bonus? What kind of bonus?”

“Three days straight off.” Rei could have laughed at the mortified look on Minako’s face. If Rei was off, so was Minako. It benefited them both. “But only after the CD is out.” She would give some mercy.

“Ugh...fine.”

Rei sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. “Let’s get this over with.”

Minako looked super excited now that it seemed like progress was to be made. They both stood up and returned to the conference room, where Rei sat down next to Minako who explained the situation at hand, even to Natsuna to let her know what she was to do in the meantime while Rei got ready.

"Rei, have you ever worn contacts?"

"No. I've had no need since my vision is perfectly fine. So if you're going to ask me can I put them in, the answer is no. Nor do I own any. Besides, what color are you going to change my eyes to anyways?"

Minako seemed to think hard. "Hmmm. Black. It's pretty generic and will match your hair better than a hazel would. Plus a darker color will cover your original eyes better anyways without a chance of someone figuring it out. People will analyze this video to pieces, they always do."

It made sense, Rei supposed, but she wasn't excited about the idea of having something in her eyes all day long.

“Anyways, it won’t be too bad, I promise. Since I know you can listen we should be done in a few hours time anyways. Getting you changed will take some time, but my makeup artist will take care of that for us.”

Rei sighed as she stood up and followed the makeup artist, Koan, towards the room next door with the see-through mirror. She sat down in a chair, almost completely defeated.

“Alright, we need to get a change of outfit before we do anything. I don’t want to mess up your hair with a change of clothing. Originally I think Minako planned something more feminine, but with you, I think she’ll approve a change I have in mind.” Rei watched as Koan went over to a rack, pulling some clothes off before handing them to Rei. “You can change in the bathroom down the hall. I’d say I’d leave here, but well, I imagine it’d be uncomfortable with seeing the conference room.

“Mm…” Rei took the pile, shoes included, and moved into the designated bathroom, closing the door behind her and leaning on it with a heavy sigh. This had to be the stupidest thing she had ever agreed to, and that was saying lot since she was the bodyguard of a popular idol. Mina had even been picking up a lot of traction overseas in various countries.

That aside, she wanted this done and over with. She was exhausted even if she hadn’t been showing it to the others. However, she found herself stepping back into the room. “Can I have a spare hanger? For my suit?”

“Oh! Of course.” Koan politely handed her one and Rei returned to the bathroom, carefully taking her suit off and hanging it up before changing into the clothes she was given. It definitely wasn’t something she would normally wear and it was clear what look Koan had in mind for this, which made her wonder what Minako’s original idea was.

Washed out jeans, high top shoes, some graphic T-shirt, with an overshirt that she assumed wasn’t meant to be buttoned up if she guessed. She looked like a teenager all over again in a way, but all the same, seeing herself in the mirror....it didn’t feel nor look like her at all. Resigned all the same, she dropped her suit and shoes off in Minako’s office before walking back into the current dressing room.

“Perfect! Yes, this will work well for the video.” Rei had to admit, she listened in a lot, but she had phased out everything about this stupid music video and couldn’t recall details about it at all. What in the hell was it about? “Alright, here.” Koan handed her a hair tie and she pulled her hair up on her own, thankful she didn’t need it pulled on.

“Okay now we need to do contacts and some light makeup. Minako told me while you were getting dressed to try and give you a darker tone since you’re more pale than most. I’ll have eye drops on me all day to help keep your eyes from drying out since she said you’ve never worn contacts. It will be pretty uncomfortable as I put them in, I won’t lie.”

It took all she had not to groan as Koan tilted the chair back so she could lean over her. And she wasn’t wrong, it was so uncomfortable having them put in. Between having to have her eyes pried and held open and a foreign object shoved in, she could think of better torture methods as she blinked several times, trying to adjust.

“Sorry if that was awful.” Rei could tell she meant it as she waited on the hurting to stop, but it only lessened some. She hoped it would get better soon. “Let me just put some foundation down and we’ll be done up here, okay?”

“Yeah.” Rei nodded as she leaned back again, trying hard to zone out and not pay attention. Unlike Minako, she wasn’t used to all of this having thing done for her. Should would much rather do it her way to herself, but here she was. After another twenty minutes, she was done. “Alright, you should be good to go and I assume Minako should be ready to go as well.”

“Thank you.” Rei tried to stay polite and not rub at her eyes as she left the room and almost ran smack into Minako who almost had to do a double take at Rei.

“Oh! Wow, that’s more of a change than I thought it would be.” Minako seemed to look her down and back up again. “I see she changed the clothing too, but I think we can work with that. I still like your normal eyes more, but man, your eyes look good like this too.”

“Honestly, it’s uncomfortable so the sooner we can finish, the better I’ll feel.” Normally she wasn’t so upfront like this, but it was to already be a long enough day doing things she wasn’t comfortable with.

“Hmmm..Alright. We’re going to load up and move to a park we had reserved for the shoot. Everything, for the most part, will be done there alongside a house someone is letting us use nearby for a few scenes too. As soon as we get it all recorded, we can get you cleaned up and back to your old self.”

Rei grunted in response as she followed Minako outside, catching a glance at Natsuna following them. The suit she had on wasn’t as form fitting and Rei knew she didn’t give off the same aggressive attitude, but it would have to do. She hated it was in a park where people could clearly watch and see things.

Even with Rei able to listen to directions, it was taking all day to get the video shot. A few early scenes had to be redone because Rei wasn’t giving the right attitude apparently and Minako had to stand off to the side to direct her properly. She listened to her better than some grouchy director. Koan also having to put drops in her eyes several times hadn’t helped her irritation any.

Thankfully it was the very last scene of the day, in the house and not outside in the hot sun anymore. Rei was so tired of the cameras and people acting all high and mighty around her. If only they knew she was the one who actually protected Minako, not some random stand in that was unknown. That seemed to make it worse, to them, Rei was a nobody.

She let out a sigh as everything was set up around a chaise. Probably the reason they had really picked the house if she guessed since they weren’t very commonly found now and days. Then Rei had to wonder how much the owner got for letting them move stuff around as needed. She hoped they would at least put it back, but knowing Minako, they would.

“Okay Rei!” She nearly jumped when Minako appeared in front of her. “All you have to do in this last scene is lounge on the couch and I do the rest.”

“Lounge?”

“Just lay back and relax for once in your life.”

Rei nearly felt offended by that one, but Minako was right. She didn’t really relax and she let out a loud sigh as she walked over and sat down, getting comfortable with some direction from Minako that she had to sit a certain way.

It was in this exact moment in her life that everything was going to change and Rei never had a chance to see it coming. She could have never predicted this even in all her years of pulling fortunes at the shrine. If you’d have asked about this happening, she might have even had a really good laugh.

The music started to play in the background while the cameras following Minako doing a little dancing and Rei was phasing the lyrics out. She’d learned to do that months ago when they were in a recording booth session and the recording guy had made her sing the same line over and over again until she hit the right note.

And suddenly Minako was sitting in her lap and Rei knew her face had turned red at that. Gods, Minako could have warned her about something like this so she would be more prepared. This was in fact, the only scene all day she hadn’t told Rei about now that she thought about it.

Either she wasn’t paying enough attention or the scene was meant this way as Minako cupped her cheek and tilted her head up. Every alarm in Rei’s head started to go off as the other woman tilted her head down, stopping just above Rei’s lips before her eyes cut up to Rei’s and she smirked before getting off of her and walking off. She barely heard the director yell cut and something about them being done?

Rei was frozen solid in place. If her face wasn't burning before, it was now. Pop idol star Aino Minako had just leaned over her and almost kissed her. That wasn’t what terrified Rei. What had terrified her was how much she actually wanted it. And with it came a startling realization of a variety of emotions and thoughts she’d been unable to place, especially in the last six months. She had slowly been falling for Minako.

In one split moment, a scene that couldn’t have taken more than a few minutes, Rei had come to the realization that she was falling for her boss, the one she was meant to protect.

“Earth to Rei?” Suddenly Minako was waving her hand in Rei’s face and she had to escape. She needed to get away, needed to be able to breath. “You okay?

“I uh...Uhhh…” Words were failing her as she desperately tried to think of an out. “C-contacts are bothering me.” Rei instantly pulled off the couch and moved as fast as she could away from Minako and outside the house for fresh air, running a hand through her hair. The problem was that she couldn’t keep avoiding Minako, she was her bodyguard. Rei still felt like she was burning up from just thinking about it.

“Rei?” God, she was tired of jumping as she turned around to see Koan. “Minako said your contacts were bothering you? We can use the bathroom here and get them taken out.”

“We should wait until we’re back at the office. People are still around watching” She waved her hand to some nearby apartments where she knew people were recording and waiting for a chance to see Minako. “If they saw me without them they’d be hunting me down if I appeared in a photo without them in.”

“Man you really are good. I’d have never thought about that…”

“You would be surprised how many places people will hide for a chance. There’s a reason Minako has windows that go one direction in her office. Otherwise, they’d get photos of her doing paperwork and publish more stupid articles and assumptions about her.”

“Alright. Well, we’re packing up inside now so as soon as Minako gets her stuff together we can head back. Haruka is going to take you guys back though so that way you aren’t with the train of people attracting attention as we move out.”

“Thank you.” Rei had appreciated the distraction as she stayed outside for a while, trying to clear her head with no luck. Immediately she noticed Haruka’s car and stepped back inside, trying to keep her composure as she walked up to Minako. “Haruka’s here.”

“Faster than she said too. Thanks again for your help with all of this Rei, I mean it, really.”

“Mm…” She tried to give a small response as they walked out and into the car and she could hear the cameras snapping still as they took off.

“I thought you said you were going to be done at six, Minako?” Haruka looked back at them as Rei tried to keep to her side of the car. “Wait a second, what’s with Rei’s outfit?”

“I had the other idol cancel on me and Rei stood in for her. We spent a solid three hours trying to resolve the issue before that was the answer, sorry.”

“Rei? In a music video? Oh man, I’ve never watched your videos before--”

“Haruka! You’ve never watched my stuff!?”

“Minako, I get to see you several days a week. The you in a music video just wouldn’t have the same charm.”

Minako seemed to huff at that and pout as she slouched down in her seat and it was...cute. And made Rei groan under her breath at that thought as she forced herself to remain quiet and watch out the window as the other two went back to bickering back and forth a lot.

Finally they arrived at the office and Rei sighed as they stepped inside and she grimaced when she realized Koan wasn’t there yet to get the contacts out of her eyes. They were also starting to dry out again and it took all she had not to rub at them. “I’m going to wash up and change clothes.”

She stopped by Minako’s office upstairs to grab her suit and stepped into the bathroom, scrubbing the foundation off her face and feeling more herself and yet she felt not herself all the same. It had been too much of a day. She was quick to change clothes, though she left her jacket off, it was too hot. Once that was done, she dropped her jacket off in Minako’s office for now, and moved down the hall putting the clothes, neatly folded, with Koan’s other items.

“Hey Rei.” Rei turned around to see Natsuna peering into the door. “I can get the contacts out if you’d like. Koan said they got held up so she won’t be back for at least another hour.”

“Yes, please.” She would take what she could get as she sat in the chair and Natsuna leaned over her, looking concerned as she removed them.

“Are you feeling okay?”

Rei blinked several times, rubbing at her eyes after. “Just tired, I guess.”

“...Only tired?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Nothing. Why don’t you go wait in Minako’s office for a bit. I’ll bring you some water up.” Before Rei could protest, the other woman was gone and she sighed as she stood up, wobbling a little before moving down the hallway and sitting on the couch in Minako’s office.

Minako hummed as she finally moved from downstairs to upstairs only to see Natsuna nearly rushing out of her office and almost knocking her down the stairs. What in the hell?

“What’s wrong? Why the rush?”

“Rei is too stubborn for her own good, that’s what happened.”

That scared her for sure. “What do you mean? What’s wrong?”

“When I was taking out her contacts I was in contact with her face and forehead and I thought she was burning up and she was. She’s got a really bad fever. I guess she must have finally stopped moving on your couch and she’s sweating like crazy.” Natsuna rushed past her down the stairs and Minako quickly moved into the office to see Rei laid out on the couch.

Natsuna must have put a cold washcloth on her forehead and unbuttoned her shirt down some to cool her off. Rei even looked more pale than she usually did and it scared Minako. Had she been sick all day long and still put up with this? And if she had a fever, she must have not been feeling well some days before if she had to guess, but gave zero signs of it.

“Move faster, Motoki!”

Minako turned around to see one of her PR people moving into the room behind Natsuna. “What’s he going to do?”

“Carry her to your bed. The couch isn’t a good place.”

“My bed!?”

“Yes. Hurry now.”

Minako watched as Motoki carefully lifted Rei up, who didn’t so much as stir as she was moved into the room. It scared her to think Rei was so out of it as Natsuna pulled the comforter back and made sure she was on the bed.

“I called a doctor in to look at her, I worry it’s too high a fever…”

“A doctor, or my doctor?”

“...Yours. No one else would really take a house call and well, we can’t have someone knowing the office address and finding out it’s you. He said it was okay this time and he would bring some stuff in to help out.”

Minako nodded as she sat down next to Rei and frowned, seeing how hard it was for her to even breath. She felt...bad. She had pushed Rei into this today and the girl was too stubborn to say no. Days off alright...She wouldn’t even count these against Rei’s request.

“You know, it’s odd when you aren’t the one laid out.”

Minako turned to see her doctor with a frown, clearly not in the mood for jokes. He seemed to get the hint as he motioned her to move and took the washcloth off Rei’s forehead, checking her temperature with his own frown.

“It’s almost hospital worthy you know. It might safer.”

“She doesn’t like them.” She spoke up quickly. “Bad experience as a kid so if she could stay here, I’d prefer this as would she. And I’ll pay for it, please.”

The old man sighed. “You still have that old IV stand of yours?”

“Yeah?”

“Get it for me. She’s dehydrated.”

Minako did that, pulling it out of her closet and setting it near the bed, watching him hang up a bag of fluids and put a needle into Rei’s hand before taping it down and starting the flow. Then he hung a second bag and set it to drip at the same time.

“Some plain fluids and an antibiotic to help fight the fever down. She should rest for three days at least even if she feels better. Just because she feels better doesn’t mean she is. Also, liquid only diet like soups. I’ll be back in a few hours to remove the needle and clean everything up assuming she doesn’t need a second set.”

“Thank you. I know you don’t like house calls, especially for people who aren’t your patients.”

“Well, Natsuna told me she was important to keeping you alive, so I thought it might be very important. Just don’t call me every time? If she doesn’t get better in a day take her into the hospital. Or if she gets worse, call an ambulance.” The doctor stood up and left at that and Minako frowned before he popped back into the door. “The cold washcloth would work better on the back of her neck, by the way.”

“Thank you, again, sir.”

Minako turned to look at Rei and thought about the food. No one was around to cook nor really had time to cook and she bit her lip as she walked into her office to give Rei the quiet and saw her phone on the table. There was that girl…

She did feel bad, but Rei didn’t even have a password on her phone it seemed. She wondered why as she opened her text messages to see...zero. Minako had never texted her before but if this was any indication, Rei didn’t exactly text either. So she went to her email that was far more full. She did her best not to look at content as she started a new one, once she located the girls name in the list and let her know what was going on and asked the request and that she would pay her and pay for any supplies needed.

Rei needed good food and from what she knew that Rei had told her, Makoto was an amazing cook. She recalled the one time she had cooked when Rei had first started. She could just hope Rei would be better as she looked into the room. Minako supposed she would sleep on the couch tonight as to not disturb Rei or risk getting sick herself. It would be worth it.

Chapter Text

It really did take three full days for Rei to recover from her fever. She had tried to protest on the second day, but Minako refused to hear it. She was even hesitant to let Rei return back to the Shrine to rest because she claimed it was too noisy in the office for her, but she had made sure Natsuna got her there safely and reminded her not to overdo it. Still, Minako was glad that the other woman had recovered and was back full force, if not a little grumpy at being caught so vulnerable.

Rei knew she couldn’t afford the wasted time and neither could Minako. Thankfully they didn’t have to do anything else for the music video as it was put together and the reveal of that with the release of the CD had gone perfectly fine. However, Rei had looked at the speculation online about it, with everyone questioning the mystery woman in the video and she groaned. None of them were even close to right as they tried to hunt her down. Rei never actually went back to watch the video itself. It would have felt too real to see Minako leaned over her. She was still coping with those feelings.

And by coping, she was having as little physical contact as possible and had almost entirely closed herself back off again. She knew it was driving Minako insane that she was doing that without reason or cause, but Rei couldn’t risk it. Minako had already gotten too close for her liking. She was sure even Makoto wasn’t that close to her.

Still, she had a job to do. And with that job came a meet and greet that she was trying not to think about as she sat on the patio to her shrine, looking out at the trees and silence. Minako had promised her three days off after her CD launched and she had appreciated them. She had three while sick, but she was sick and couldn’t enjoy it. She needed a little bit of time to herself to think and relax. To try and come to terms with a lot of things on her mind.

She had never been in love before, had never dared let anyone get so close to her. Outside of Makoto, only her Father’s secretary had been close to her, but even they had talked far less frequently. When her Mother had passed and her Father abandoned her, Rei swore, even as a child, that she would never let someone get so close to her as to let her feel that pain again.

And yet here she was. Not only that, she had fallen in love with someone like Minako. Not that was necessarily a bad thing, but Minako’s face was everywhere . On top of that, she was a world wide idol that could have anyone she desired so why on earth would she go for someone as cold hearted as Rei? She might have never known how she felt if she hadn’t done the music video which was a little frustrating. It was good that no one knew who she was, no name was even given in the video for her.

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the mail being dropped off on the other side of the shrine. Sighing, she stood up and walked across to slide the door open and was met with a rather large package, one she had never ordered. She grimaced. Her first guess was that it was her Father trying to bribe her again until she picked up the note that was inside it and saw Minako’s name as she took it inside. It was fairly heavy as she flipped the card open.

‘I know I missed your birthday so think of this as a late gift! And as a thank you for all your hard work and help. Things honestly have been this productive for me in almost five years because no one took guarding me so seriously. I hope this is something you can learn to enjoy and take up one day. If not, that’s okay too.’

Rei had all kinds of questions for the other woman as she sat the card down on the table and grabbed a pocket knife off a nearby shelf she kept for opening boxes to open it was met face first with something she would have never expected. Minako knew that Rei did archery but this….was a very modern recurve bow. Very different from what she was even used to holding and a much heavier weight and not even put entirely together. Had Minako lost her mind? Rei pondered, trying to make sense of it.

Minako knew Rei had quit competitions some time ago because she disliked the air and attitude on the field so why on earth would she decide to get her a more modern bow? She could still practice at the shrine as she pleased, when time permitted. It took all she had not to pick her up her phone and call Minako to ask her about it, but she wanted to be alone today with no work and nothing going on. At least this was more like the traditional bow versus those compound bows she heard about a lot, especially overseas.

After a short debate, she opened the box and sat it all down on the table, her eyebrows furrowed together as she read the directions. It seemed a bit complicated to put the string on it compared to what she normally did. A target sight? Why did it have to all be so...difficult.

Taking a deep breath, she set to it anyways, some part of her enjoying it more than she had actually expected until she got to stringing it. She frowned reading the directions and the two strings she held in her hand. One seemed too short for the bow and the other far too long. If she was correct, she needed to step on the longer one.

After seven attempts and about three cursings on a holy shrine ground, Rei got the string on it and she was shocked that it fit and how strong the string felt compared to what she normally used. It looked very sleek and modern once put together for sure and she knew she couldn’t fire it without an arrow on it without risks.

“I can’t believe she’s not even here to argue a point and here I am, bow in hand…” Grumbling, she grabbed the quiver and snapped it around her waist and put the arrows inside of it before picking up the piece for her arm with confusion before look at the bow and realizing. She had done it way back when she started. This kept your arm protected in case you turned your elbow wrong and it would leave a welt and or bruise. Using her better judgement, she snapped it on.

With all that on, she felt odd as she walked down to the archery building and stepped inside, feeling out of place in such modern gear in such an old place such as a shrine. Rei stepped up to her usual spot and it took a few tries before she got the arrow notched right. She did like that it was meant to hold it onto the string for her rather than holding it herself. However, she realized how much she struggled to pull the string back initially and it went back further than she expected considering how tight it was.

It irked her how she knew she couldn’t hold and aim nearly as long as usual before letting it go forward with a much louder than usual thunk and she stared. 2 points. She hadn’t made 2 points in a very long time. What surprised her more was how far into the target it went with the force behind it and how good it all felt. Leave it to Minako to just...know something like that. Rei fired a few more arrows, never getting higher than a 6 point shot. She would need to look into attaching the sight that came with it and how to use it.

After removing the arrows, she left the gear in the building before returning to the house of the shrine and sighing. Somehow, she already wanted to walk back and practice more.

Minako let out a heavy sigh as she laid in her bed, staring at the ceiling. For once, no one had woken her up with a phone call because nothing was due just yet. Nothing had been arranged after the release of her CD on purpose, because she had promised Rei three days off. She still felt guilty about Rei also being very sick too. It had scared her.

It was like after all of that happened, Rei closed right back up. Right when Minako had been breaching the walls she had up, she was shut right back out again. If not worse even. Rei had taken back to silence and books once more with short handed replies. Minako often wondered if she had really crossed a line that day without giving Rei some form of a warning but she needed her reaction to be real. The actual script called for them to kiss but she was so terrified of scaring Rei off just by getting so close that she had to put the change in. People seemed to eat it up better anyway. It left fans wanting more, a sequel.

And she had to thank Rei so she got her a new and modern bow and arrow. It hadn’t come without a lot of research and contacting a professional about it to get the proper gear shipped to her and it was expensive. She’d never tell Rei that she had olympic quality gear from Korea. The woman would have a heart attack if she knew she had spent over a thousand dollars on the gear. It was her way of hoping Rei could go back to enjoying archery if it was still archery, but different. It hurt her to think about how something she had enjoyed was so ruined. Rei had even said she rarely practiced anymore because of it all.

Then there was the day that had turned from a normal work day into a thirty-seven hour work day. Minako had felt so bad when she had walked into her office to let Rei know that everything was finally done and saw the woman asleep on the couch. She had told her she didn’t need to stay around, but after an assistant producer raised a hand at her, she refused to leave. Minako did find it amusing how quickly Rei slammed their hand down on the table and dared them to raise a hand again. Still, Rei had stayed there that night on the couch, but Minako had gotten her a pillow and comforter to sleep with.

After a solid month the day of the meet and greet had arrived and while Minako enjoyed them, Rei wasn’t such a big fan. There had been times she had to step in to pry some hands off and tell someone to move along. It was also always incredibly loud because of all the school girls that crowded around, even for a chance at a glimpse, and the already loud areas. This time they were at the West Walk mall for the greeting and Rei had groaned when she looked on the map. It was so close to so many schools.

On top of that, something didn’t feel right and she kept shuffling on her feet back and forth in the office as Minako was getting ready and everyone was packing up items to bring to sell and some markers for Minako to sign with. She wished she could place the feeling.

“What has you so antsy today?”

“Nothing…” Rei frowned at the lie before she spoke again. “I don’t know, something feels off. Like you shouldn’t do this today.”

Minako turned to look Rei dead in the eye to see if she was being serious. “You want me to cancel it?”

“And have a group of raging students and fans outside your office? No. It’s just a stupid feeling. It’s not like I’m particularly thrilled about them.” Rei refused to let Minako cancel on something like this. These were generally impactful to her career and important for more than one reason. The fans were part of why Minako created music and performed, she knew that.

“Besides, should anything happen, you’d be there to protect me, right?”

“With my life.”

“See, now you’re making it sound dramatic. Maybe you’d be good at writing novels.” Minako grinned at her as she turned back to the mirror. “I think you’re stressing over nothing. In all my years as an idol, nothing has ever happened.”

Rei couldn’t voice that that very reasoning was part of her concerns. Nothing in all her years had happened, even with her previous useless bodyguard, Ace, around. She had to be due for something. In the past year with Rei present, her popularity had done nothing but skyrocket globally. They were to the point of selling international tickets at concerts through her online fan club they ran. Rei had even been watching online since the feeling of unease arrived days ago about the thousands of people planning to attend. All the same, she knew some might not meet Minako this round because she couldn’t just live there all day to sign posters and CDs. That could easily anger anyone, especially if they had traveled overseas for this event. It was free to attend and Minako’s fame was wide enough she didn’t need to do this type of event. Rei had looked it up.

Usually idols that did meet and greet events were lower tier with fewer fans trying to get their image out there more and to newer people willing to meet what could one day be a popular idol. Minako, however, did them once or twice a year, maybe three if her schedule permitted, so her fans could see her and know it was the true her on stage. Without paying an arm and a leg for a backstage pass at the Tokyo Dome concerts she held.

Rei watched as a white cat walked past her right to Minako to jump in her lap, Minako smiling as she pet the animal gently. Rei had felt really bad about ignoring Minako. After seeing her upset, she wondered what she could do to ease the stress in more than one way. She knew Minako would often work in the office after most people were gone and that it was quiet in a way and lonely. Then she recalled Minako talking about the cat she used to have.

So Rei had done a lot of searching and looking before finding one pure white cat with bright blue eyes. It wasn’t cheap to get by far given the rarity of the genes, but it had been worth it when Minako had first seen him. Initially she thought a stray got in until Rei had told her otherwise, that she had brought the cat to her for a pet to keep. Rei had let Minako name him and for some reason, she had chosen Artemis. It made Rei feel better to see Minako smiling whenever the cat showed up.

“What schools should be there?”

Rei pulled her book out of her pocket and flipped it open with a sigh as she read them out. “Roppongi High School and Junior High School, Azabu Junior and Senior High School, Kougai Elementary School, Higashimachi Elementary School, and maybe students from the Nishimachi International School are all local to the area. Not accounting for those who travel from other places by train since Roppongi Station is pretty close nearby. Oh and Tokyo Metropolitan Mita High School will probably come by. And Keio Girls Senior High School and Keio University are in the area as well. Most people will probably walk from those places so they’ll be down the line unless they cut classes, which wouldn’t surprise me.”

It had taken a lot of staring at a map on her phone to figure out what to expect. There were a few Embassies and foreign clubs in the area as well that Rei expected to see some people from.

“Oh they made it really central by choosing Roppongi I guess. Makes sense given the district.” Finally Minako stood up as Rei put her book back into her jacket pocket with her novel. “We should head on down though. I need to make sure everything is set up properly. Coffee on the way?”

“If you expect me to survive this without a massive headache, I would appreciate it.” Rei had really been trying to be less cold than she had become after the music video. She could tell it had been wearing on Minako and making her mood less thrilling like she was upset and that bothered Rei that she was the cause of it all. They both walked out of the back of the building and got into the car, letting Haruka drive them towards the location.

“How’s the archery going?”

Rei pressed her lips together for a few moments, debating on what to say here before admitting the truth. “Honestly in a month I have a competition.”

She swore she heard Minako’s neck snap towards her. “You entered a competition!?”

“Yes. I wanted to see if it was different than the ones I used to compete in since more women are in these and there are more female only categories.”

“How come you didn’t say anything about it sooner?”

“It was irrelevant. I only just got accepted to compete a few days ago. They’d been debating on if I was allowed since I was already a national archer and this is a low level competition really until I explained I’d never fired these types of bows until recently and I was still learning. They had to send someone down to see if I was lying or not.” She could tell Minako felt riled by that. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

“I want to watch you compete.”

“That will roll over well. Pop star idol Aino Minako goes to average archery competition to watch former national archer compete that seems to look an awful lot like her bodyguard upon closer inspection.” Rei scoffed.

“We’ll figure it out.”

Rei grumbled but knew she’d give into it in the end. Honestly, she had wanted Minako to watch her compete and had a plan already laid out to have her dress like someone helping her out. Some competitors had these types of people.

Haruka glanced back as the two talked, glad to see them at least interacting as for a solid month almost the drives had been pure silence and what looked like an upset Minako and a stoic Rei. Like on day one, only Minako knew Rei and the woman wasn’t budging on any topic of discussion. Haruka had planned to try and fix it without damaging things if possible.

“Hey Haruka, which side are we on?”

“Well, I swing for the other side--”

Rei let out a heavy sigh at that as Minako seemed to perk up. Great.

“You’re gay?”

Haruka raised eyebrows at that. “You didn’t know?”

“No. I thought you had a girlfriend though.”

“I do.”

The entire car went silent and Rei stared at Minako. “Wait, you didn’t know?”

“Know what?” What a deer in headlights look.

“Minako...did you think Haruka was a guy this entire time?”

“YOU’RE NOT A GUY?”

“Not technically. I mean..I d-dress as one and stuff and feel more comfortable this way. ” Haruka glanced back at them. Rei seemed passive, Minako seemed floored.

“All the times you’ve put your arms around Haruka and you had zero clue?”

“Well, I always said he and stuff and I was never corrected.” Minako had tried to defend herself.

“It’s because I was fine with it. I just thought you knew was all after all this time.”

“Wow…So you and Michiru. How do her parents feel about that?”

Haruka let out a heavy sigh of discomfort. “Let’s not.”

“Fair. Are we almost there?” Minako was quick to drop the topic when it was clear that Haruka didn’t feel like talking about it which told Rei all she needed to know about the situation. Haruka’s girlfriend’s parents didn’t approve.

“Yeah, just two more turns.”

The rest of the drive was silent as Rei tried not to shift uncomfortably at the feeling that she still felt in her chest at this idea and it was irritating her that it wasn’t going away. She put her sunglasses on as they stepped out of the car even though they were in a hidden area surrounded by officers as they moved into the mall and to the location at the table where Minako took a seat with a curtain hiding them from the crowd.

“You should sit down Rei. It’s gonna take a while.”

“I’m fine for now. I’d rather stand as is. Best your people don’t think I’m starting to slack and think they can get away with things.”

Minako had looked up at her for a while before sighing. “Fine, fine. But you can sit if your legs get tired.” She turned to one of the staff to tell them to begin and when the curtain opened people screamed for her and it took all Rei had not to visibly cringe at the volume level as everything started.

For the first two hours, nothing unusual occurred. Rei had to step in on a few men who thought they could get handsy or the move along people who didn’t think they had a time limit so as many people could get in as possible.

“Usagi!” Rei looked up to see a girl with pigtails and balls of hair on her head. She had recognized her from backstage passes at Minako’s concerts. They had been friends before Minako got popular and every chance Usagi got, she was at an event. “I thought you couldn’t make it.”

“Well, my boyfriend--” She pulled a man into view that Rei hadn’t seen before. He looked almost ashamed to be here as Usagi continued to ramble on. “Offered to drive me over since it was too far to walk in time!”

“Oh! That’s very nice.” They chatted for a while and Rei felt more and more uncomfortable and at first she thought it was Usagi’s boyfriend making her uncomfortable as he was uncomfortable until she spotted something in the crowd and made for quick movement with no warning or sound.

Suddenly Minako registered her chair tilting back and she was staring up at the ceiling and Rei had yanked Usagi almost down right on top of her as there was yelling and screaming and the sounds of panic. She had zero idea what in the hell had just happened.

“Get her out of here! Clear the area!” Then she saw Rei run off and she was yanked up by Natsuna before realizing a man was brandishing a gun and that Rei had actually just probably saved her and Usagi’s life. She couldn’t recall the sound of the gun going off but all the noise had gotten so loud it probably ate it up.

“Wait, what about Rei!?” Minako had tried to stop to turn, but Natsuna kept pulling her forward.

“She’s doing her job. I’m doing mine. I’ll contact her as soon as you’re safe.”

Minako was terrified because Rei had been running right for the shooter.

The bullet had barely missed both girls by moments, Rei had known that. Rei had also known she had been the one to be hit by it but had to keep going. As much as she had saved Minako, there were a lot of young kids in the mall and people rushing to get out as the gunman seemed enraged he had missed his mark. She could only hope adrenaline would keep her going.

Rei had seen him in the line for some time but thought nothing of it, he had waited until he was closer to pull it out and aim. She had to assume he figured because it was crowded, he could get away with it.

Her abdomen burned as she reached him, forcing his arm up as he cursed at her, trying to yank the gun free while she tried to knock the clip out in the process. She took a hard blow to the side before getting it out and throwing it as far as she could and then she saw stars as she stumbled back, feeling blood spill down her face. It took her a moment to register he had brought the gun handle right down onto her and that her sunglasses had a crack down them. She still had to keep them on no matter what.

Now she just needed to keep him busy enough to keep him from still harming people escaping though most seemed to be gone. Everything was starting to hurt as he let the gun go and proceeded into a fist fight. Rei did her best to block, knowing she didn’t have the strength without good timing to land a proper blow that wasn’t laugh worthy.

What she failed to do was block the blow to her abdomen again, coughing up blood as he struck right where she had been shot, sending her down onto one knee, gasping for air, pressing her hand into her side.

“You bitch. I’ll show her by killing you instead.”

It took all Rei had as she clenched her jaw and stood back up, dodging another blow before using her elbow to smash right into his face and hearing his nose crack and seeing the blood flow, making him stumble back as she struggled to stay in place. Well at the very least, if she died today she did manage to save Minako’s life and break the guy’s nose. She frowned to herself at the realization that Minako would truly never know how she felt. However, if she survived this, maybe she would tell her.

Her thoughts were impeded as the man came back at her again and she grunted as she blocked blows closely before one hard one sent her stumbling back into a set of guard rails up for the event and knocking her to the ground. The man wasted no time to step on her stomach and she gasped again, trying to push it off as he pushed down and her vision started to spot with black spots. Fuck it all, what a way to go. At least she would be a hero as she noticed the mall clean and empty of people. It was his blow to her face that would finally bring total darkness.

Minako had been terrified ever since they got back to the office, where police had followed and asked questions and provided heavy security to the building. It wasn’t even any of that which was worrying her. It was Rei. It had been two hours since they left and there was no sign of her and Nastuna hadn’t been back since leaving either over an hour ago.

Artemis had taken to her lap, nuzzling against her and trying to make her feel better and Minako wished it could have but all it did was remind her of Rei. Still, she gently pet him as she tried to fight back tears and nausea. Rei had been right. They should have cancelled.

Quietly the door to her room opened and Natsuna came in to take a quiet seat next to her with a serious face as if thinking on what to say. She held some papers in her hand.

“Where’s Rei?”

“They apprehended the shooter. Rei kept him occupied until they could get on the scene.”

“So she’s fine.” Minako started to feel relief until Natsuna’s face didn’t change. “S..She’s fine, right?”

“Rei is in surgery.”

Minako felt her face and body go cold as she started to shake. “What happened? Is she going to die?”

“Rei did her job first and foremost. You hired her to protect you and she did that. She went above and beyond that and protected every single person in that mall. Rei was the only injury on site other than some minor injuries from people escaping and running into each other. No one else was hospitalized. People are declaring her some hero.”

“Natsuna...is Rei going to be alright?”

Natsuna seemed to let out a breath. “They won’t tell me anything. All I know is that Rei is in a serious condition, critical even, and in surgery. When she pulled your chair back and Usagi out of the way, she was the one shot.”

Minako’s blood instantly went cold at that.

“C-Can I go see her?”

“Rei also has very strict instructions for the hospital to prevent….unwanted visitors.”

“Her father...She doesn’t allow visitors?”

“Normally no, but within the past few months she made some alterations to her on record files from what I was able to gather.” Natsuna passed the stack of papers over to Minako. “You are the only visitor allowed on her record. And...she has listed you as the sole person to make a decision on her behalf should she be unable to do so with a few exceptions.”

Minako stared at the papers. Rei had left all these choices up to….her? “Why me?”

“I imagine because she trusts you enough to make the right call. They predict she’ll be in surgery for some time, which is fine. The press has been waiting on you to make a statement, honestly. I just haven’t mentioned it up until now. They’ve wanted one since all this started.” Natsuna reached into her pocket and pulled her phone out, seeming to hesitate. “The mall recorded what went down after we were gone.”

Honestly she wasn’t sure if she wanted to see it or not. But all the same...Rei had saved her, she had to know and nodded.

“It’s pretty gruesome. And not the best quality given everything. Some people got recordings before leaving.” Natsuna pulled the low quality footage up that started at the beginning and Minako watched closely, gasping at it all, feeling the tears she had been holding back starting to fall as she pulled her hand up to cover her mouth. Rei had taken a brutal beating on top of being shot.

“My point is, you need to give a statement that you’re okay and that we are delaying future events until further notice. We will reimburse those who cannot wait full price or provide tickets to a further down the line event should they accept that offer. Maybe given out some freebies. And I want you to talk about Rei.”

“R-Rei?” Minako was still shook by everything. “Why?”

“Because you have fans who think your bodyguard is heartless and she’s not. If there’s a chance that...she may not make it, as much as I hate to say that, they should at least know that much.”

Natsuna was right and Minako nodded. “Give me..a-a bit to change and clean up. Can you uh...s-schedule one in an hour?”

“Yes. I’ll have it done in front of the office and you can go out back to go straight to the hospital. Luckily we weren’t too far from Saiseiaki Central Hospital so they took her there.”

Minako was a little disappointed that it wasn’t her regular hospital, but it made sense given they clearly needed to rush Rei to help as fast as possible.

An hour later found her in front of a crowd of reporters and though she didn’t feel ready, she stepped up to the mics with a still somewhat shaky voice.

“I apologize that this took so long...today’s events were stressful on everyone and I needed some time to think. I was unharmed in what happened today with a shooting at my meet and greet event at West Walk. In fact, no fans were harmed at all. However, I’m afraid that I must inform you that my future events are postponed until further notice. For those with tickets we are providing refunds should you accept or a ticket to a future event of your choosing. I apologize very much for this inconvenience.” Minako stopped to bow in apology even though she knew this wasn’t due to her. She stood back up with a frown.

“However, there was one person who was very serious hurt today and the only person hurt today because of her actions. My bodyguard, as you can see, is absent from my side and in her stead are local police officers whom I must thank for their help. She was shot and injured in protecting both me and you as you made your way away from everything. Right now, she is in a critical condition that could go either way.”

Minako had to fight back the tears as she said it. But the truth needed to be heard. “I’ve heard my fans call her heartless, cold, callous, and many other names. However, I would like to believe that today’s actions would prove to you otherwise. There is a chance she may die because she risked her life for not just my safety, but yours too. If I’m being honest, she wanted me to cancel today’s event because she felt like something was wrong. I didn’t and this was the result. So I ask of you that the next time you write an article on her, should she live and continue to be able to work, that you think twice before defacing her. She has been nothing but respectful to me and helped me and done her job dutifully and to the fullest extent. And maybe think twice before you judge anyone whether it’s in the entertainment industry or someone you don’t know. I’ll not be accepting any questions, however. We will be sending out information in the near future as far as future events are concerned. Thank you.”

With that, Minako gave another deep bow and disappeared back into the building, ignoring all the questions rattling off as she shook and the tears started again once she was hidden. Natsuna was immediately by her side. Saying it made it all too real: There was a chance Rei was going to die. Even if she made it through surgery, she knew it was critical. Until she was stable there would always be that chance.

“Cmon, Haruka’s waiting out back in a different car so they don’t follow you.”

Minako quietly followed and got into the car and they left, no word spoken for a long time until Haruka spoke.

“When Rei wakes up, you thank her for me.”

Minako wiped her eyes and looked up to see Haruka gripping her steering wheel hard.

“She did what she was supposed to do. And I know Rei is too stubborn to give up here so I know she’s gonna pull through. She’s survived working with you for a year so she can make it through a few hours of surgery and a few days of a rough condition.”

She realized these were words to make her feel better and they did a little and she nodded, even managing a small smile as the rest of the drive continued in silence. Once they arrived, Minako went in through a back entrance that they had opened for her that normally only staff were allowed through and they took her to the room that Rei would be put in.

Minako was used to being in hospitals but she was also used to being the one on a bed waking up from a totally unconscious state in total confusion and a doctor bearing over her. This wasn’t her hospital, this wasn’t her specialist, this wasn’t her doctor, and this wasn’t her on the bed.

It would be another three hours before Rei would come into the room and Minako thought she couldn’t cry anymore, but it broke her heart to see what she saw.

First had been her face. Her jaw had a nasty bruise on her, she assumed from the last punch she saw in the video, but more startling was the gash that went through her right eyebrow. Minako just knew it was going to scar after the stitches healed and were removed. It was more towards the end, but still.

And Rei looked so pale. The woman was already pallor, but this was a whole other level that she’d never seen a person look before. Minako was sure if she didn’t already know Rei, she would think she was dead. Then it was how weak she looked between the breathing mask, the wires hooked up to so many machines, the tubes coming out from under the sheets, the layer of bandages holding her IV down that had many liquids hooked up to it...gods it made Minako’s thunderclap headaches look like a joke.

It make Minako feel sick to her stomach because even so, Rei wasn’t awake to confirm that she was okay. It didn’t take a genius to know that the low pulses on the monitor weren’t a good thing. How much blood had Rei lost?

“Aino-san, I take it?” Minako pulled herself away from her thoughts to look up to see a woman with a pair of glasses on and blue hair with a clipboard in her hand.

“Y-Yes.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m her surgeon and doctor through at least ICU, Mizuno Saeko.” The doctor held her hand out and Minako shook it. “Since you’re on her approved list, I can tell you everything.”

This meant at the very least, she would know if Rei was leaning more towards one side or the other. This meant good news or bad news.

“We managed to get the bullet itself out, which was good. It managed to not hit any vital organs nor did we have to remove anything. However because of the few impacts she took after the bullet, damages were done to the muscle and tissue and a few cavities within her abdomen. She lost a fair bit of blood before we could get her some, but managed to get her to a stable enough amount.” Minako watched Mizuno flip the paper over in her hands. “She didn’t flatline, which is a good sign. I imagine she might wake up some time tomorrow as we have her on heavy pain medication from the surgery, however she’s going to be extremely groggy and confused and may not stay conscious for long periods of time up here in ICU. No foods allowed, only ice chips for the time being until her body is more stable, then she goes to a diet of liquids only.”

As much as Minako appreciated all of this information, it wasn’t direct enough. “Is she going to survive?”

“Yes, I expect so. She’s very resilient to have even made it this far. I imagine she as a stubborn person. I expect she’ll be hospitalized for around three weeks to a month and then on a very very light schedule for around a month after that. She’ll be fully recovered within four months time if she follows directions and nothing else happens.”

That was good and bad news. The good news was that Rei was going to survive. The bad news was that Rei’s archery competition would be around the time she was out, meaning there wasn’t a way for her to compete, or at least, not properly.

“The cafeteria is open until seven in the hospital and the couch can double as a bed. Her room as a strict no entry without permission policy meaning you, me, and the cook are the only people allowed in here. No nurses due to your nature of personality. I’ve seen enough Aino Minako merchandise on purses or talks of albums to know how many nurses are fans and would distract from their duties. And the only reason I’m allowing the cook is I know they are close enough and she’s work personnel so it doesn’t actually break any rules. Should you have any issues--” She tore a piece of paper off and handed it to Minako; a phone number. “Call me. I have to attend to some other patients for now and do some paperwork.”

Without allowing a word in edgewise, Minako was left alone with Rei finally. Shakily standing up, she went to the edge of the bed and stared down at her, watching her slowly breath, though it was weak. But she was breathing. Rei had taken all of this to protect everyone. Minako reached forward to move some hair out of Rei’s face gently.

She jumped when the door opened and she saw Makoto who looked mortified to see Rei like she was. Minako could tell she had run up as soon as she knew.

“Gods...What the hell happened?”

Minako felt guilt starting to creep in as she looked away. “There….was a shooter at my meet and greet. Rei did her job.” It sounded so pitiful, but it was the truth.

“Rei’s tough.” Makoto was the second person to say this with such confidence. “I-I know it doesn’t look great now, but I think she’ll beat Mizuno’s calls. Girl hates some hospitals, let me tell you. If she could, she’d jump out and scale down the building to get out. Which means she’ll listen to what she’s told to get out quicker when she wakes up.”

Somehow, that brought some form of relief to Minako. “I hope so...I don’t like it here either.” Minako turned to look at Rei again, hoping that she would recover fast and that they could go back to playful banter.

“And hey, if you don’t like the cafeteria food let me know? I can bring up some of the specialty foods I cook for specific patients here that’s a lot less bland tasting and doesn’t look like it was yanked out of a can.” Without warning, Makoto had pulled her a gentle hug and she realized how much she needed it. When she looked up she realized that Makoto thought she had crossed a line, but Minako softly spoke. 

“Thank you.” Minako really had appreciated the gesture and she was sure she was bound to miss a few gym sessions currently. She could see what Rei could see. 

"If I'm being honest..." Makoto let out a bit of a nervous laugh. "I needed this too. Rei isn't exactly someone who hugs. She's more like setting a death trap off?" 

It made Minako laugh as they pulled away and made her feel even better. "Well maybe when she's better she owes you a hug. After this scare. I can make her." 

"Nah ill give her one myself. You should take it easy. I've got to head back down to work for dinners. I'll bring you something when I'm on the floor again." Not allowing room for arguing, the tall girl left. 

As good as food sounded, being here with Rei, seeing her wake up, was far more important. And until then, she would spend her nights at the hospital.

Chapter Text

Minako had hoped for at least a little bit of sleep, but she had only managed an hour or so. A glance at the clock told her it was two in the morning and she rubbed her forehead. Rei still hadn’t woken up yet, but she also hadn’t gotten worse. There had been a few nurses allowed to help out, selectively. One had to be removed due to her excitement over Minako, sadly. At least she had food in her stomach. Makoto had brought her a really nice meal and they hugged one more time before she left after giving Minako her contact information so she could be updated without having to leave her own job and losing it.

Fumbling around a bit, she picked up her phone and frowned. It was dying so she finally dialed up Natsuna’s number, sure she sounded exhausted.

“Minako?”

“Hey, I need a few favors, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure..How’s uh...is Rei okay?”

Minako let out a sigh, glancing at the other woman. “Not any worse. Doctor believes she’ll recover but she has yet to wake up. How’s the news taking all this in?”

“Ugh..they’ve been still trying to swarm the office. Police finally got them away, thankfully. They wanted another interview with you, but as far as Rei...A lot of people seem to regret their first looks at her. She’s got a ton of cards and get well gifts that have been sent over to the office. I had the police open and inspect them before accepting them just in case there’s more than one guy. The office itself is worried about her, you know?”

“Really?” That sort of surprised Minako with how Rei often came off as cold and much to the point.

“Of course. Girl worked hard day in and out, helped out with the video, helped out around the office...and now this? We stopped working all day out of respect for her.”

“Tell them I said thank you…”

“So these favors then?”

“I need you to bring me a few things up to the hospital. Pillow, blanket, jacket, phone charger, my laptop, and medicine. I’ll be up here for a while even when she does wake up and my phone is dying since I didn’t exactly pack anything up here.”

“You got it, boss. I’ll bring you a couple changes of clothes too just in case. Hang tight.”

“Thank you, Natsuna.” Minako hung up the call and leaned back with a heavy sigh into the couch, listening to the beeps again. It wasn’t right to see Rei this weak and unable to fight. It wasn’t right to see her in a hospital bed at all. Worse was how much she knew Rei had to hate them due to past experiences as an added bonus.

Worse even was the other thoughts plaguing her mind. Minako was ill, though she still, to this day, had never told Rei that. And yet she trusted her with her life. That aside, Minako had always thought she would be the one dying on a hospital bed with Rei in the seat next to her. Granted...Rei wasn’t exactly dying, no one had said that. But it felt that way in this moment.

Minako must have zoned out on that train of thought. Her phone buzzed that Natsuna was outside in the hall and she stood up, stepping out and keeping her voice low. “Thank you, again.”

“Still nothing?”

“No...It could be some time later in the day before she’s up. They apparently had to put her pretty under for the surgery to reduce the pain levels she already had. And if the video was any indication, it’s not shocking.” Minako took the bag from Natsuna and tucked the pillow and blanket under her arm before handing her a piece of paper. “One more favor.”

Natsuna took the paper and looked over it before glancing at Minako. “I suppose better late than never…”

“Only if she comes back to the job. I want this precaution put into place from now on so get a few for her?”

“I’ll call about, see what I can get done quickly. If she’s anything like at the office, she’ll be out in no time.”

Minako smiled a little. “Everyone seems to think that.”

“Then it must be true. Try and get some rest soon, okay?” Natsuna reached up and brushed hair out of Minako’s face gently. “I brought some other stuff too. Brush, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, some shower stuff, in case. You need to take care of you too. Last thing we need is both of you in a hospital.”

“You’re really the best. Tell everyone in the office to take a couple days off? I’ll pay them still, but I think it’s better we keep the office empty right now. I’ll text you updates and you can send out some emails for me as updates to them and perhaps the public when she’s fully up.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’m going to head on home and get some rest myself. I haven’t really slept either very much.” Minako watched Natsuna walk towards the elevator in silence before moving back into the room and sitting down on the couch, placing stuff down and thinking. After become an idol, Natsuna had become her secretary and in a way, a new mother for her after her parents had only wanted her for money.

She knew Natsuna had only stayed up because she knew Minako was still up and worried. Combine that with her being sick, and it just added to it all. She really needed to find a good way to repay her soon.

Suddenly she heard a grunt in the middle of her thoughts and her head snapped up and she walked over to Rei, seeing her look to be in serious pain and she worried but all the same, wanted to see her wake up if only for a little bit. Finally, Rei opened her eyes and they were heavily glazed over and it was clear she hurt by the tears in her eyes.

“Shhh...It’s okay, Rei. I’m fine, everyone is okay. Easy…” It broke her heart to see the tears fall as she reached forward and gently wiped them away, one of the machines picking up noise. “Don’t try and move yet. You were hurt badly.”

Saeko walked into the room and approached the bed, leaning over to look at Rei before recording a few things down.

“Is she uhm…”

“She’s fine. Her heart rate just spiked once the pain registered. I’ve got some more pain medicine to give her and help her sleep some more.” Minako watched her pull a needle out of her jacket and set it down on a tray before washing her hands and pulling clean gloves on. “Okay Rei, you aren’t going to remember waking up but I’m going to help stop the pain.” She picked the needle up and took the cap off, throwing it away before directly injecting it into the IV line and disposing of the needle into a biohazard bin and tossing the gloves in the trash.

It was scary to watch Rei fall back out of it and slowly back asleep as she sat back down on the couch. It was a relief to see her awake, but she wasn’t awake . She wouldn’t even recall waking up the first time.

“Relax. She’s going to be okay. I don’t want her awake while I still have some blood drainage going on and it would be very uncomfortable for her. More so than she needs to be. After that, she’ll be on limited doses of morphine controlled by a button she presses that can be only activated after so long.”

“S-she’s stubborn. Might not press it.”

“That’s on her. I can’t make her take the medicine if she doesn’t want it, but only one of us is going to be hurting. I know that probably sounds awful and blunt, but it’s the truth. We can’t force patients into medication if they refuse it. However, the option will remain open to her regardless should the pain win out.” Saeko picked her clipboard back up. “Rest, Aino-san. She won’t be awake again for some time.” With that, the doctor left.

Minako looked over at Rei with a frown. Nothing felt certain still. Giving in, she took her medication she’d ignored all day and plugged her phone in before laying down and covering up with the blanket and giving into the complete exhaustion that had taken over her since the morning had started. Maybe she felt a bit better since Rei had at least, even if only once and for a few minutes, woken up.

And she was in and out a lot in ICU for the next three days. The first day had been the worst thing to Minako because when they removed the drainage tube Rei had clearly been hurting more, but wasn’t able to move to get comfortable when she was awake to the point of almost tears despite the medicine they were giving her. She had managed to see the line of stitches across her stomach when the tubes were removed and it was awful . It didn’t help the overwhelming guilt.

The second day gave her more states of consciousness. But still, Rei was refusing to press the morphine button even though she was still hurting. Minako also felt bad when Rei asked for something to eat and was told only ice chips were allowed for another day. She was sure if Rei had the energy, she would have told them off and gotten her way, but instead, she accepted that and fell asleep halfway through the cup. Minako had to get up to take the cup before she spilled on the bed.

But it was the last day in ICU that gave her the scare of a lifetime again. Saeko was leaned over Rei, checking her vitals while she slept and looking at the stitches and bruising on her face before Rei suddenly gasped and tried to shoot into sitting up, gripping onto Saeko as if for dear life, but what Minako saw in her eyes was total fear. Something she had never seen before from her bodyguard. To add to it, she had hurt herself jolting up to the point that Saeko had to give her pain medicine almost immediately because of how much it had to hurt and she checked over the injury, letting Minako know it was fine.

Finally, they were moved out of ICU on the fourth day and downstairs into a new room. Rei still wasn’t always awake, trying to sleep the pain off she assumed, but able to talk more often in small bursts, though it wasn’t often and it was quiet.

“Well you seem to be handling things well. You will have to do some work with our physiotherapist down the line before you leave just to make sure no extra damages were done that we missed. But I have a suggestion as well to talk to a therapist.”

“Therapist?” Rei looked at Saeko like she had lost her mind.

“Yes. Often with events like these come trauma and you’ve experienced it once up in ICU yesterday. You may not recall it, but it’s what happened. So it is in my belief that you should talk to a therapist while here and maybe after.”

“I’m fine.” Minako was sure Rei was going to break her jaw from how much she was clenching her jaw. “I don’t like hospitals. It was a nightmare about my Mother, that’s all.”

Minako could believe that, because Rei had lost her mother in a hospital as a child after all and after that came her father leaving her. It was a series of awful events for a person.

What she wouldn’t know at the time, was that Rei was lying and that it was a nightmare over the shooting. And maybe if she’d thought about the fear in her eyes, she would have known that, but she was too tired to think from not sleeping much for three solid days.

Saeko sighed. “Suit yourself, but should you change your mind, the offer is there while you’re here. Or maybe I can work something out after if you get in contact. You’re still on a diet of liquids only for at least another week until we determine you’re able to keep things down well. Any questions before I head off?”

“How long before I’m out?”

“Well if you keep being stubborn and doing things your way, probably a month. If you play nice with my nurses, maybe three weeks. Even then, you’ll have to come into my office for follow-ups to make sure there aren’t any complications for a month or two given your field of work.”

“Ugh.”

“I’ll take it that you have nothing else to ask. And you.” Saeko pointed at Minako and she flinched. “Sleep. I know how often you’ve been up, I’ve been asking the nurses when I’m not in the room. She’s fine, she is not going to die. You need rest as much, if not more than she does.” With that, Saeko left the room and Minako sighed, leaning into the couch.

She was exhausted and something about hearing Rei’s expected time out and not dying took stress off her shoulders as she gave in and laid down, pulling the blanket over her. She didn’t even have the energy to try and stay up to talk to Rei some while she was conscious and was quick to fall asleep.

She had no idea how long she was out, just that she woke up to a lot of noise and some partially raised voices and she groaned as she pulled herself out of the deep sleep, running her hand over her face and sitting up to see what all the noise was about.

Apparently, Rei was up, but arguing with the nurses that she could do everything all by herself just fine despite the pained look on her face and clenched jaw. That also quickly told Minako she hadn’t touched the morphine button and she was going to have to step in.

“Rei.” Her voice cut through the noise as she elbowed her way in around a nurse.

“I’m fine.”

“Fine? Hardly.” Minako waved her hand to gesture to the nurses. “They’re trying to help you, so we can both get out of here and go home, but the more you argue and bicker and don’t listen, the longer we have to stay here.” She was frustrated for more than one reason. And upset when she thought about it. Had Rei not realized how fortunate she was? “They’ve been in and out of this room all night since you were brought up making sure you were okay and this isn’t the right way to be. If not for them, you wouldn’t be on a bed. You’d be on a-a…” Her voice cracked and she couldn’t bring herself to say anything similar to a deathbed or slab.

Regardless, it must have gotten her point across because Rei finally slouched back into the bed and let the nurse that had probably initially started it, take down her vitals and give her more medicine in the IV. Once they left Minako sat back down on the couch, rubbing her face and fighting back the tears again. Rei was actually awake . She was alive.

“...Mina.” Though Rei’s voice was still weak, it was enough for her to hear and she looked up. Maybe she just trusted her more, but Rei looked tired still and weak, unlike she had with the nurses. Then Rei waved her hand to beckon her over. She stood up on shaky legs and walked over before Rei struggled and pulled her down onto the bed and her head against her chest. There was something soothing about hearing Rei’s heartbeat.

“I’m sorry…” The guilt was coming back in waves. It was almost too much to bear when she thought about how Rei would never be in this position if it weren’t for her. She knew that had Rei died, there would be no one for the shrine anymore, no one to protect her. It hurt to think about.

“Sorry? For what?”

“Y-You hate hospitals and you’re in here cause of me…” The tears finally started to fall as she gripped onto the blanket covering Rei up. “And you a-almost died!”

“Shhh…” Minako felt Rei shift and then grunt a little for a moment. “I did my job. I would have regretted any less than what I did.” Leaning up against Rei, she could tell even breathing was painful but she was insistent on keeping Minako in place.

“...No one else was hurt…”

“That’s what I was told. By the doctor.”

“I was so scared…” Minako pulled away and wiped at her eyes. “I didn’t know anything for hours until Natsuna showed up. H-how come you gave me power of attorney?”

“Because I trust you.” Rei moved some, trying to get comfortable and appearing to fight sleep. “I have no one else to trust.”

There was something powerful about that. Minako had people that trusted her, Natsuna for example. But something about Hino Rei trusting her so much was almost too powerful and painful to process for one reason or another.

“Ugh..”

“What’s wrong? Should I page someone?” Immediately Minako was back into panic mode.

“No, hardly…” Rei shifted again. “You leaned on the morphine button.”

“Oh.” Well served her right for trying to ignore the pain.

“I feel like I’m going to throw up. It’s too strong.”

Okay, that made her feel bad and she carefully sat on the edge of the bed. “Rest some more.” Reaching forward, she ran her fingers through Rei’s hair gently, softly humming a tune until Rei gave into the combination of everything and dozed back off. She would have to ask if they had someone else less intense. Even here, laid out in the bed, Minako had to admit to herself: Rei still somehow made it look good.

After three days of bed rest outside of ICU, and not much up and moving, it was time to get Rei doing just that so she could be back to fully functional. She mostly only got up to use the bathroom and brush her teeth because she refused to sleep with cotton mouth even though she had nothing but ice chips the first day and a half and broth meals since.

But Rei being Rei, was stubborn and didn’t want the help from the physiotherapist naturally. And that was the sight that greeted Makoto when she walked in to ask a question to Rei about her lunch and dinner. Rei was seated on the bed with a walker in front of her and a pissed look on her face matching an equally stubborn look on the therapist.

“Uh..”

“What?” Rei had barked it out, but Makoto ignored that.

“Well, I originally came to ask if you wanted chicken or beef broth today, but I can see I’m needed for somethin’ else.” Makoto closed the door behind her and walked over. “Why so stubborn?”

“I’m not being stubborn. I can walk just fine, especially without a stupid walker.”

Makoto took in a small breath and let out a little sigh. Stubborn alright. Rei might have been small, but Makoto also knew she had a fiery determination within her to get things done to a point and precisely. Sometimes she just needed a push in the right direction. Kind of like the first time she was in the hospital for overexertion and didn’t want to do what she was told.

A glance over at the couch told her that Minako was out cold asleep, but she also knew the woman hadn’t slept much the past few days in worry and concern over Rei until she was finally out of ICU and considered stabilized. So that meant she wasn’t awake to handle the situation either.

“Alrighty then. This kind of day…” Makoto walked over to the bed and crossed her arms over her chest. “So you’re not going to do the therapy?”

“I don’t need it.” Man, for someone hospitalized, Rei sure was just as hard-headed as before.

“They aren’t going to release you without completing it. If they don’t release you then you can’t do your job. Then you can’t go to the gym and then I can’t kick your ass in sparring.”

Boy, did that incite some rage in Rei’s eyes and Makoto almost kind of regretted it knowing she’d feel it later at the gym.

“Excuse me? I’m pretty sure I win.”

Makoto scoffed. “Not like this, you won’t. Too weak to even do physical therapy.”

If she was any closer to the bed, the grab Rei had tried to put on her arm would have worked, but instead, she fell short and collapsed back into the bed that was sitting up. Makoto swore she could feel the woman’s blood pressure rising. “So, since you’re going to be here a while, you want beef broth or chicken?”

Normally lunch was meant for after this stuff, but she needed to push Rei a little more. But she realized she may have pushed just a little too hard when Rei forced herself up, grabbed the walker and moved faster than she expected, grabbing her by the front of her shirt and yanking her down. It was clear Rei was in pain from doing it so quickly, but didn't regret it by the fire in her eyes.

“So help me when I am out of here I am going to give you an ass kicking you won’t forget in this lifetime or the next.”

“Ah, there’s the little firecracker I know.” Makoto grinned as Rei let her go, following the therapist out the door, grumbling all the while.

By the grace of Rei actually listening to what she was told, they were out of the hospital in two and a half weeks. However, once they were out, Rei was being stubborn and wanted to stay at the shrine herself and Minako refused it. She gave the ultimatum: stay at the office or Minako was staying at the shrine. Minako knew Rei would try and do something one way or another that she wasn’t supposed to. The office had won.

And honestly, it had been pretty funny the first two days. Especially when on both, Rei had put her shirt on backwards and didn’t even bother to fix it because she was too done with everything. She moved slow and cautiously still, unable to bend over or kneel down with the stitches still healing over and the internal damage still healing a lot.

It was on the fourth night that Minako was going mad. They had shared her bed but Rei was tossing and turning, unable to get comfortable and it was keeping her up and since they were in the office, she was still doing work and had to be up early for a meeting. She felt bad for Rei, she really did. Given she had never been shot, she didn’t know how much it hurt.

“Rei for the love of…”

“Sorry.” Even worse, Rei sounded tired. She knew she’d caved into the pain pill and something for nausea, but still couldn’t get to sleep right. “I’ll move to the couch.”

“No, that’s too firm, just...ugh..” Minako pulled herself up from laying down and reached across Rei for the woman’s phone.

“What are you doing?” Rei tried to swipe it back but failed.

“Finding something to sing you to sleep with.” Immediately she unlocked Rei’s phone and was stunned by the background that met her. Having just been in her phone some time ago, the background had been from the shrine. This, however, was the photo Minako had taken of them together as a selfie on her own phone and emailed it to Rei. Rei had been super reluctant to the photo but Minako had conned her into it.

Clearly, Rei either didn’t care or didn’t remember as she shifted several times more with a noise of frustration. Right, a song. She didn’t know what Rei listened to for music as she went to her music player and once again was met with a very unexpected surprise. She noticed a few traditional, older songs, but at the top of the list were... her songs. Songs Minako had sung. Pop idol songs. And it wasn’t like they weren’t played...They were on the top listened to list that was currently up.

Reaching back across her, Minako sat the phone down and leaned against the headboard before using one hand to run it through Rei’s hair before she thought about what song to sing. C’est La Vie was just a little too upbeat...So instead she opted for a song from her upcoming album to sing. She had titled it I’m Here because it felt right. Regardless, it was already a soft song that she didn’t have to speed sing or raise her voice for or sit any better.

It didn’t take too long, maybe a little over halfway into the song and Rei had finally fallen asleep. It let Minako think in silence since she knew she wouldn’t move for a while until Rei was in a deeper sleep. The woman had set her background as them. Trusted her enough for power of attorney.

Then she started to think on her side of things. A few months ago, she’d been picturing Rei when she was trying to entitle herself to some self-care. She often thought the woman was attractive and despite her cold, off-putting exterior was a very caring person with a kind heart that had just been hurt too many times.

What came next was a rather startling realization. Minako had been an idol for years now, had done one night stands with people long ago, had dated here and there long ago...but as she got older, wiser, and took her job far more seriously, she had put a stop to all of that. She had never really been in love with anyone, just some flings. Things that probably just promoted her name in newspapers and online to keep her alive in the eat all idol world.

But here she was, one thirty-seven A.M. in the morning, sitting up in her bed with her bodyguard unconscious against her, sharing a bed with her, having almost died for her, trusting her beyond all reasonable doubt, even the slip up of calling her ‘Mina’...Pop star idol Aino Minako realized she had fallen for Rei. It wasn’t something sudden, no. She just hadn’t placed it before the connecting dots of tonight. Of seeing them on Rei’s phone, not hers. As if it were some possibility that they could date.

Not to mention the flood of emotions she had in the past three weeks. Something about almost losing Rei made it all too real. However, Rei didn’t seem interested in her. Rei didn’t seem interested in dating either for that matter. She had faced a lot of loss and hurt between her Mother’s death and her Father’s betrayal. So Minako came to terms with the fact that she would fall more in love with her bodyguard and faced that it would never be returned.

“Rei you can’t be serious.”

“Absolutely serious.” Rei picked up her gear for archery, putting it all into the storage container she had for it.

“You aren’t even allowed back at work and you don’t think that maybe, just maybe, this is a stupid idea?”

“Minako, do you want to go watch or not, because I can make sure you are dropped back off at the office myself.” Rei turned around to face her. They had managed to cover her up well enough that they could walk through the streets, though it still terrified Rei that someone would recognize one of them. Especially with the scar she now sported through her eyebrow.

“Ugh. Fine.” Minako didn’t seem happy with the idea, but they packed up her archery gear and got into the car downstairs that Haruka was waiting in.

Despite having only spent a month healing, Rei wanted to do this archery competition for a taste of it she wanted more. She knew that if she didn’t compete now, it would be a while before she could try again,  given she was positive that all the delays that her being out of work meant one hellish schedule once they were back even with Minako doing meetings and office work.

Rei shifted in the seat and leaned back, gently putting her hand towards her side. She was still healing more than she admitted to Minako, though she was sure the other woman already knew that. Out of all the places to be shot, Rei knew it was going to make archery painful and she wouldn’t be able to hold the string back properly.

Still, she wanted this and she was getting this as they pulled up to the event. Rei got her gear out of the trunk and signed in with Minako behind her, handing her a tag saying she was her assistant if needed before going to her spot on the floor. There were a lot more people than she expected but she supposed this type of archery was more popular now and days.

Even worse was the papers that had caught wind of National archery Hino Rei doing a competition and she could feel the photographers but had worn a hat low enough to cover her face from a good view. She really didn’t want to deal with the papers and headlines and what was bound to be her Father over it all.

Sighing, she walked up to her spot with her target, where the staff worker informed her of the rules.

“You’ll get ten shots at the target. Top twenty scores will move on to the next round for one on one competitions to narrow it down based on random draw. There are no retries. There is to be no walking on the competition floor down the path, only staff is allowed. We will return your arrows to you. Should you shoot one arrow with another, it will count for the same score but we are not held responsible for any damages to the arrows. Are these rules clear to you that you accept them to continue on with the competition?”

“Yes.” Rei was quick to agree. She had already done her research on it all and given her condition, she would be shocked if she managed to Robin Hood her arrows in the least.

“You may begin once everyone in this area has arrived, but you may set your gear up now. There is no practice prior to competition. Max time of waiting will be thirty minutes, anyone after that is late and disqualified.”

The man walked off as Rei sat down on her stand to work on putting her bow together with Minako watching her quietly.

“Really strict, aren’t they?”

“Yes, but all competitions are this way. I had already read into things for this one and it’s beginner level, not to say there aren’t going to be people either naturally talented or specially trained for this.”

“Mm…” Minako helped her get the string onto the bow, thankfully. “You should pass this area though, right?”

Rei sighed as she sat her bow down on the stand. “It’s hard to say. Normally any other time I would say yes, but I’ve had no practice recently to begin with and add a tender abdomen to it all…”

Minako frowned at her. “See that’s why I--”

“I know. I know why you asked but this is probably the only competition I can enter for a while. In a few months you have the award ceremony coming up that’s going to, I imagine, take up a very large chunk of time since they want you to perform during it. On top of that, you’re finishing up your latest CD and even without any music videos to go with it, they keep making you re-record things.” Rei stood up when the whistle sounded. “So let me have this one thing without any ‘I told you so’ stuff, please.”

“...Okay. But you’re taking something in the car for this. Non-negotiable terms.” Minako stepped back to the line was told to remain behind without being allowed another word in.

Rei sighed as she lifted her bow to take her first aim and immediately felt her jaw clench at the pain. She had twenty seconds per shot timed by the person down at the end. After a short moment, she let the arrow go and managed to hide the grimace from both the pain and the seven she hit. She had been aiming for a ten.

The more she fired her arrows off, two things happened. One was that the pain got worse to the point that it was making breathing hard to focus on and almost made her want to quit. The second was that her shots got worse. Hitting a two and a three was a shot to pride and she could hear the murmurs and talking around her about how she had been so bad .

She ignored them as the man counted and removed her arrows, returning them to her. “Out of the ten arrow and one hundred points possible to gain, you scored forty-four points in total. Please wait until the final calls of top twenty are posted to the electronic board before leaving unless you choose to leave now and be disqualified should you be in that group.”

“Thank you.” Rei bowed to him and sat down, pulling her bow apart.

“What are you doing?”

“Minako, there is no way I made it in top twenty.”

“I thought...they don’t accommodate your injury?”

“I didn’t tell them about it. For many reasons. I shot what I shot, I came to compete, I did that. I failed, as I expected for again, many reasons.”

When Minako went quiet, Rei looked up at her. “You knew that. You knew even if you did make it that far you wouldn’t make it far after..”

“Yes.”

“So...why? You know rumors are going to start--”

“I could care less about what the press has to say about me. I will disappear for some time, come back, and prove them equally as wrong as I have every person who has ever doubted my skills.”

Her point must have gotten across because Minako nodded and knelt down, helping her put the bow up and picking the case up for her and helping her up despite not wanting the help. Once in the car, a bottle of water and a painkiller was in her hand and she frowned, ready to argue.

“Non. Negotiable.”

“Ugh…” Rei swallowed the pill as Haruka spoke up.

“That didn’t take too long. Was it that quick?”

“She uh…”

“I didn’t make it past the first round. I didn’t even make an average score and hit less than half the total score possible.”

“Damn. Minako was right though, you probably shouldn’t have competed while hurting.” Haruka shrugged. “Where we going now, office?”

“Yes. Before I puke in your car when this kicks in.”

“Oh hell no.”

Rei knew that would get them back quicker where she could rest and pretend this day and these articles to come would never happen.

A week after the archery competition had Rei allowed back at work, though it was light duty which meant no public events. Minako was still nervous about going anywhere with Rei not considered fully healed for some time. She noticed that Rei also limped on rougher days. Still, they had a recording to do today at the studio and it was announced so fans would be present.

What had shocked her was Minako approaching her with a fairly heavy box with the logo of some company she had never heard of.

“What’s this?”

“Just open it. Asking you to guess is going to get us nowhere and we both already know that.”

Well, she couldn’t argue that, so she lifted the lid. “Jackets? I already have--”

“T-They have bulletproof lining. I made sure they matched the old ones you had I just..I would feel better.” It was hard to argue that.

Rei picked one of them up, it was heavier than she was used to and she ran her fingers inside and could feel the difference, and yet, Minako made sure it still had pockets on the inside, both left and right now, for her books and papers. Giving in, she sat it down and pulled her current one off carefully and put the new one on. She hated to think about the cost. “Better?”

“Yes. I know it doesn’t stop everything but maybe it won’t be as bad should it ever come up again. Natsuna said they used kevlar so it’s good stuff. They just got in a couple days ago since they were custom made to fit your size since usually these only come in for men sizes.”

“Thank you.” She really did appreciate both the idea and the carrying out of it as she moved things into the pockets from her old one that was already worn fairly thin if one were to look at it. “We should get going.”

“Agreed.” With that, they moved out of the back of the office where Rei stopped and looked around, feeling hairs stand up on her neck. “Rei?”

“Sorry, it’s nothing. Making sure I didn’t forget something.” She brushed the feeling off and got into the car, making note to go back to the area later and inspect it. It was a side effect of what happened and Rei knew that. Ever since she was shot, she was more jumpy, though Minako hadn’t taken notice of that fact. The nightmares had lessen though she didn’t have to hide them at the shrine.

Rei was less than thrilled to hear the shrilling voices of fans, but it meant Minako would be back at work and less focused on her. And back to working on what she loved no less. She only hoped she wouldn’t have to be physical at this first return of her face out in public even though the studio itself was private.

Once Haruka pulled up to the location, she could hear the fans outside and let out a sigh, pulling her sunglasses out.

“Be careful, Rei?”

“I’m fine. Just don’t really miss the people being loud is all.” She flipped the glasses open and put them on as Minako stepped out of the car first, the screams amplifying before going completely silent when Rei stepped out behind her with everyone almost staring in awe. It was...startling how focused they were on her instead of Minako. She leaned over and spoke up.

“Why in the hell are they staring at me?”

“Well...they didn’t know you were uhm..out of the hospital nor coming back to work.” Minako looked guilty a touch. “I didn’t say anything in the article I put out, just that I was resuming work slowly again.”

“Okay..uh...but why me?”

“You took a bullet and almost died saving a worldwide pop idol? C’mon we’re gonna be late.”

As they walked towards the door the silence was real and it was weird. Rei took it back, she missed the noises they made over Minako. She wasn’t a fan of all this attention suddenly focused on her. They walked into the building when she heard yelling behind them and then suddenly Minako had a small child latched onto her leg inside the building that you would need a card to get into.

Rei blinked a few times as she carefully knelt down to the kid, looking back at someone at the door in total panic. The mother. “Let her in Minako.” Carefully she managed to get the kid off Minako’s legs.

“I am so sorry! She took off running without any warning!” The mother seemed mortified as the door shut behind her.

Minako told her it was fine while Rei put her attention on the child.

“Is that a Minako CD?”

The little girl nodded as she clutched it to her chest.

“You’re a big fan then I take it?” Another nod. Then it clicked. “You were at the meet and greet but didn’t get to see her...”

The poor kid had tears in her eyes as she nodded and it hurt Rei on many levels. She reached out. “Can I see the CD for a bit? I promise I’ll give it back, okay?”

She had no idea why the child trusted her, but they handed it over and Rei grunted as she stood up and pulled a marker out. “One moment, ma’am.” She pulled Minako to the side. “Sign it.”

“Rei you know I don’t--”

“I don’t care. You’re going to sign this CD today. Non-negotiable.” Rei shoved the CD and marker into her hand, and Minako reluctantly signed it before Rei took it back and walked back to the kid before pausing and writing on it and kneeling back down. “Here…”

The child was excited and even hugged Rei before running over to her Mother and it took a moment, but Rei pulled herself back up before walking over, leaving a very confused Minako. “I’ll have to escort you out...you see.”

“N-No that makes sense. I uhm...T-thank you, for what you did.”

“It was nothing.” Rei lead them out of the building where people had dispersed and stepped back in.

“What in the hell just happened, Rei?”

“They were at the meet and greet...standing right in front of our gunman. Had I not moved when I did, I’m fairly sure he would have been selecting them as his first target in the crowd.”

“Okay, but I meant the CD?”

Rei sighed as she looked out the door. “The girl is ill. She had an IV in her arm so imagine she was let out for a short period of time to see you and probably the same case of the meet and greet and she was denied both times. So she ran after you today and managed to get into the door is all. Chances are she has an illness that leaves her stuck to the hospital.”

“...What did you write on it?”

“My name. Not my real one, the one on my badge. I thought maybe if or when she got older and she thought back, she’d have that too to remember.” Rei shrugged. “Didn’t you say we were gonna be late, c’mon.” With that, Rei ushered them down the hallway without a word.

Chapter Text

Once everything had smoothed out, Minako was fully back to work as was Rei, with check-ups between. According to Saeko, everything had healed fine and there wasn’t any permanent damage that she could see. It really had taken four months time to get back to full force, but to both Rei and Minako, it felt good.

Even so, Rei had gotten used to the new jackets to her suit. Though she never said it out loud, she was also relieved to have them and she found herself more nervous at Minako’s occasional public events. People seemed to have finally forgotten her as a hero and went back to focusing on their idol which was also some relief. She  had never been able to bring herself to watch the video at the mall that went viral online.

More so was the fact that she was at another archery competition, sitting on her stand and getting her bow set back up again. Minako was watching in silence, but Rei knew the woman was irked by the people that were laughing that she even bothered to come back. The articles had been brutal. Many talked about how a nationally ranked archer must have cheated back then or that she really was just...that bad. She was the laughing stock of many archery worlds.

“Minako quit listening to them. Letting them irritate you isn’t going to get us anywhere.”

“Ugh, how do you ignore them? It’s awful.”

“The same way you ignore the lies in the paper about you. I prove them wrong.” Rei stood up, making sure her bow was good to go as she clipped the belt around her waist with her quiver and arrows. “I told you I would return and prove them wrong. It’s the last one I can get in for a while so I intend to make it count.”

“Aiming for number one then?” Minako grinned at her from under the hat.

“No. I’m just aiming to showing them what happens when you run your mouth under a series of assumptions.” Rei smirked back at her as the whistle was blown and she turned towards the target with a serious face. She knew people were watching her but at this point, she didn’t care. Enough of Minako’s fans spent weeks doing that, so it became much easier to block these things out than it used to be.

The sound of a second whistle marked the start of everything and Rei was more than happy to let her first arrow go, hearing a thunk as it struck a solid ten. Last time had been a seven when she did this for her first shot. Then she let arrow after arrow release in a timely manner before lowering her bow to the stand, people staring at her as she looked over her shoulder at Minako.

“I think you made a point.” Minako was grinning again, having paid more attention to the people around them that were left stunned as the man returned with her arrows and count.

“Out of the possible one-hundred points, you scored a 91. You may rest until everyone is done and scores are submitted to the board. Top twenty will go into one-on-one face-off challenges in a random draw sequence until there is one overall winner.”

“Thank you.” Rei took her arrows back, always happy to see the red and deep purple feathers returned to her as she slid them into her quiver and sat back down, watching her score go onto the board as second place for the time being. Minako sat down next to her.

“I didn’t think you’d really do this archery thing.”

“No?”

“No. See, I remember when I hired you that you didn’t enjoy it anymore because they thought you couldn’t do it. Especially the men. I just thought...maybe if you had something different that was also the same, it would give you the enjoyment back.”

“Mm..” Rei didn’t admit it out loud, but she was glad to hear why Minako had gotten her the bow and arrow set. She ran her hand over the arrow that was engraved across the front of one of the limbs. The whole set was so much of her that it was startling almost. The two of them sat in a comfortable silence while others finished.

Rei would go on to place first by the end by one point. She had done what she came to do and she could feel the pride radiating off of Minako as she accepted the gold medal around her neck and then left in peace.

Rei sighed as she sat in Minako’s office, flipping a page in her book while everyone else was running around. They’d been stationary for a solid week almost, preparing for this upcoming awards show that Minako was performing in and up for a top tier award in. Rei had read into it, it was the top award for the country and the one award Minako was missing off her wall it seemed. She was sure she was to get it this time given how much her popularity had gone up.

“Man, people are going crazy.” She looked up when Haruka walked in, which was unusual.

“Didn’t you have a race today?”

“So you do pay attention. It was rained out and Michiru kicked me out for the day for some ‘alone time,’ whatever that means.” Haruka grinned taking a seat on the couch next to Rei.

“Perhaps she means your constantly flirtatious attitude.” It was harsh, but it was the truth all the same. Haruka flirted with women relentlessly at times. “And thus has kicked you out as punishment.”

“Have you been talking to her?”

“I wouldn’t even know where to begin to look for her. I just know you well enough.” Rei closed her book and put it into her jacket. “Do you need something today?”

“Just bored and thought I would swing by to see how things are going. There’s a lot going on with this awards thing. Serious people this year.”

“It’s serious every year.”

“Yeah, but Mio has really exploded recently.” Rei watched  Haruka almost moved away from the look that crossed her face without thinking. “What the hell was that?”

“What’s going on?” Minako had appeared and Rei bit back a huff. Great, this isn’t what she wanted to talk about.

“Mio, of course. Seems like Rei isn’t exactly a fan of hers.” Haruka grinned.

“Why’s that? She’s just another idol.”

Rei wanted to protest that had she not been in the video, she was sure Minako would have kissed the woman who blew her off to work for Mio. “She’s egotistical beyond belief. After she got her 15 minutes of fame and exploded, she had disregarded every single idol on the scene, refusing even collaborations claiming she doesn’t need them. Nevermind she practically stole the girl who was supposed to work in your music video and delayed the whole thing and almost ruined the release of the CD.”

Minako gave a timid smile at her as if to ease the tension. “It’s okay, Rei. That’s this world, it’s very cut-throat like that. We’re both up for the same awards so we will see how it goes.”

It didn’t really make Rei feel any better at knowing there was a chance Mio could outdo Minako. “Mm...”

“Anyways…” Haruka spoke up to break the tension. “I’m gonna head on out, let you guys do what you need to do. I’ll be back on the day of to drive you there. Take care.”

Rei watched Minako wave the racer off as she sank back into the couch. She really did hate Mio. “How much is left today?”

“We’re almost done downstairs. Finalizing some paperwork. Probably still a couple hours. Going to stay tonight?”

Rei debated it, rubbing the back of her neck and looking at the clock in the office. It was already ten at night. “I don’t know…”

“It’s getting late, Rei.” Minako sat next to her and Rei tried not to tense up. “And we have an early morning too with starting rehearsals for the performance. Stay, please.”

God, it was hard to deny that. “Alright. I’m going to get Natsuna to order in some food though.”

“Probably a good idea. We haven’t eaten in a while. I’m going to head back downstairs and help out some more though.” She flashed that thousand-watt smile and disappeared out of Rei’s sight. What she wouldn’t give to get just a little closer without the risks involved. By staying the night, it was going to be hard to keep things to herself.

Regardless, she had agreed to it tonight. With a heavy sigh, she stood up and walked to Natsuna’s desk downstairs, requesting her to order the office in something to eat since it would be a while still before moving into the kitchen and making a cup of coffee to keep herself up a little longer.

As she sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen, sipping slowly on her coffee, she let her thoughts wander about. It was hard to keep them straight with the lack of sleep anyone had been getting as of late. She was less thrilled and yet more ready for this awards ceremony. Minako had attended a smaller one about two months ago while Rei was still considered medium duty.

It had been heavily requested that Rei do double bodyguard duty for The Three Starlights . It had been a massive pain in the ass and if Minako hadn’t asked her to do it, she never would have. First was how much they flirted with women. Rei included. She had gone from growling guard, down to one that snapped and barked at that. The smallest one tried to keep his distance at that point.

But it also meant more efforts focused on Minako being hit on and that had been even worse to deal with. If she stood up against it, she feared her feelings maybe would be too obvious at that point. Thankfully the fans hadn’t been too bad and she didn’t have to get physical because at that point, she was hurting more than she had admitted.

Seiya seemed to have caught on and stopped hitting on Minako and it terrified her to no end that the other two would as well and tell Minako. Rei had been lucky on that front. Still, it had been so insufferable to sit still in a chair when she was unable to get comfortable without looking like a mess of a bodyguard. Then it was all the flashing cameras, the interviews, the everything that was endless. Top it off with Mio being there...it was nightmare fuel. At least she kept away from Minako.

Letting out a sigh, she finished her coffee and rinsed her cup out, setting it on the counter. One more week of eternal hell, then it was the nine circles of hell to sit through at the actual event. She could only hope it would go better and without any complications.

Finally, the day had arrived for the Japan Record Awards ceremony and Rei couldn’t drink enough coffee in the world to prepare for this day. She had even had an energy drink before the drive there. It had only served to make her more antsy in the long run as she glanced at Minako out of the corner of her eye.

There was something to be said about the sparkling red dress she was wearing with slits up to the upper thigh on it to allow for movement. Not to mention the cleavage it showed and Minako had pinned her hair up too. Rei swallowed hard, it wasn’t hard to admit: Minako looked stunning. She was already very good looking, but this….this was almost too much to be near.

Next was how loud everything got once the car pulled up to the carpet. Rei never understood why a red carpet was such a big thing across the world for these events. Or the high end fashion either. Minako hadn’t heard back from a few of them so she went out and dealt with it herself, giving a shot to a small time designer in the hopes they could grow like she had.

Rei pulled her sunglasses on before they stepped out. She would have to lift them in the actual auditorium during dimmed out lights when they showed videos to keep her eyes open, but she couldn’t let things slip. Minako had talked to her about wearing contacts, but Rei worried that it would draw unwanted attention, and people would either realize that she was the woman from the music video or that Minako hadn’t brought her bodyguard this time.

“Ready?”

“Not really. I’m never ready for all this nonsense, but it’s part of the job.” She was blunt and to the point and Minako just grinned at her as the door opened the screams amplified as they stepped out. Lights flashed from every direction and she was thankful for the sunglasses to at least dim that down.

A fair bit down the line, they were stopped for an interview and Rei kept close as they asked about Minako’s dress, glancing around. Suddenly the fans off to the side exploded as a car door opened and Kuroki Mio stepped out. The applause was louder than Minako’s arrival and it took all Rei had not to react in the form of a frown or a scowl as the woman walked towards them. She did not need this today.

“Minako.”

“Mio. Good luck tonight.”

“Well, I think luck is a bit overrated.” It was a hidden smirk and Rei did her best to stay still. Then she realized the dress Mio had on was one of the one’s Minako had requested. They had denied her for Mio ? “You look good - for your age, I mean.”

She saw Minako almost flinch at that one and her smile falter the smallest bit. Unable to help herself, Rei leaned over towards Mio and whispered. “Then it might do you some good to check out her makeup line. Maybe you’ll stand half a chance of looking half as good.” Without allowing a word edgewise, but reveling in the look she got, she ushered Minako towards the hall.

“What did you say to her?”

“Oh, nothing. I just put her in her proper place, just as you will tonight when you win.”

“Rei...I’m not guaranteed anything.”

“Please. Her music lacks anything. Come on, let’s just get seated for now. It’s going to start soon and then you’ll have to do your performance.” Rei guided them down to the seats they were to be in, memorizing them. Closer to the front end but not so much they would break their necks. She was just glad to be seated.

Things progressed smoothly to start with, at least, after the encounter with Mio. Rei was still proud of that one and the look she had gotten in return. Minako had already won one award over Mio for best original song and was up for two more. Best music video and top artist overall. For now, she had to perform and Rei walked with her towards the stage to get ready, helping put her earpiece in.

“Holding up okay?”

“Me?” Rei seemed surprised she had asked her. “Yeah, I’m fine. How about you?”

“Great.” It was a genuine smile as she smoothed her dress out.

“These lights are awful. How do you deal with them?” She was already burning up in her suit.

“I dress lightly, Reiko.” Minako reached up and undid her jacket, motioning it off her shoulders, though it made Rei nervous. “Relax, they have high security here. And we’re gonna be up here for about ten minutes before I even start.”

Rei sighed as she gave it and had Minako hold her jacket before pulling her hair up into a ponytail and taking the jacket back, folding it across her arm.

“Not a bad look, you know.”

“Not a professional look.” She was still hot, but this was better. Rei figured that it was the layer of kevlar giving the jacket the extraweight that made it worse. That and these lights were far more focused than the ones at her normal concert. “But thank you. Go finish making sure everything is set up.”

Minako smiled as she walked off and Rei let out a sigh. This was going to be loud, but at least there weren’t fans inside to scream this time. She was content to watch Minako make sure everything was ready when the call was given. Rei made sure she was off to the side as she pulled her sunglasses up and Minako started to sing. It was one of her more pop like songs Kiss!2Bang!2 . It was  well suited.

What Rei didn’t expect was Minako to look at her from the side and wink and Rei was sure she went red in the face as she pulled her sunglasses down. She had been caught bobbing her head along a little, she knew it. Once the song was over and the curtain came down, Rei pulled her jacket back on and pulled her hair back down.

“How was it?”

“Good.”

“Only good?”

“Minako.” Rei didn’t feel like playing this game with a long night still ahead of them as she helped her down the stairs towards the seats. If nothing else, Minako got to perform tonight. Mio did not.

There were a few more awards given out in different areas that Rei zoned out of until they started talking about the music video award. Then she sat up straight and paid more attention as they started to show the different music videos as they announced who was up. Mio’s popped up and all Rei could think about how lackluster it felt.

Then they said Minako’s name and Rei found herself steadily trying to disappear into her seat. She knew which video it was, but what she didn’t think they would show was the scene of Minako straddling her lap and leaning down, almost kissing her on a fifty-foot screen. Rei knew she was red in the face and she was not prepared. To this day she had not watched that video up until this moment before it stopped and she heard someone whistle and she knew Minako was grinning next to her. What a way to see yourself. Seeing Minako turn her head up and come so close like that before smirking...anyone would kill for that chance.

After a few moments of jokes and Rei trying to regain some form of composure, Minako’s name was read out as the winner. Except this time she pulled Rei to come up onto the stage with her and she was so confused by that. Why on earth was she pulling her up onto the stage for this award? She hadn’t for the first one.

Rei watched as Minako took the award with a smile and walked up to the microphone to give her small speech. “I really appreciate everyone voting for my video tonight, it means a lot. I’ll admit we had some hassles with it, but it came out even better than I had expected. I want to give a very special thanks to the woman who helped out with the video as well, as if it were not for her, I believe the video would either not be done or not be as good. Thank you.”

It made sense now. Minako had pulled her up here to thank her for playing a part in the video. She was part of it so she deserved to be on the stage. What also shocked her was Minako passing the award to her, which she passed off to the stagehand. It felt...weird to be the center of attention without being the actual center of attention. She helped Minako down the stage and back to their seats.

“You didn’t have to do that…”

“Of course I did. You’re as much a part of that as I am.” Minako flashed her that thousand-watt smile once more before turning back to the stage.

Rei leaned back into her seat with a small breath. Somehow, she appreciated what Minako had done. She was making a point to recognize Rei’s work she had done, even if she hadn’t liked it at the time.

The rest of the show went rather quickly, all things considered, though Rei could have taken a nap by the time it was about to finish. Three hours seemed like such a long time to give out a fake award that would have to be mailed back later, but the speeches and in between performances covered probably half that time, really.

This last award should have been Minako’s. She had already claimed two of the three awards she had been up for. There was no reason for not to be decided as top artist for a variety of reasons. She was public, she appreciated her fans and her workers, and she was one of the longest lasting pop idol stars around now and days.

“And the award for top artist goes to…” Rei watched the man fumble with the envelope for a minute before pulling out the card and seeming to hesitate. Every hair on Rei’s neck stood up at that and she clenched her jaw. “Kuroki Mio.”

The whole hall seemed shocked as Mio walked up to the stage to take the award and Rei swore when she got up there, she made direct eye contact with Minako, as if rubbing it in. “I would like to thank all my fans for voting hard for me and this award. As a newer artist, it’s nice to win this award so quickly, though I feel bad for all the older pop idols. I wish you luck next year.”

A shot at Minako as she walked off, she was so sure of it. Rei would have punched her if given the chance. She shifted and looked at Minako who was forcing a smile as she applauded and Rei could see the heartbreak in her eyes this close. “Minako…”

“I told you I wasn’t guaranteed anything.” Then people were moving and leaving, but Minako didn’t stand up as people left and sat there for a while when the hall was mostly empty. Rei was glad Mio didn’t make her way over.

“Let’s go to the dressing room for now, instead of the party. I made sure Natsuna got you one so you could change after out of the dress.” Rei gently pulled her up and lead her down the halls to the one with her name on it, stepping inside. She had never seen Minako so defeated, it was agonizing to see. Even just watching her sit in her seat, staring at the counter.

“Maybe it really is time to quit.”

“What?” Something about that was so painful to hear. Minako loved her music.

“Tonight proved it. I’m losing my fans. You saw how few were here, especially compared to Mio’s…” Minako looked ready to cry.

“That doesn’t mean anything.” Rei was starting to panic. If Minako quit...not only would Rei not have a job, there was a good chance she would never see the woman again. “You sing for--”

“My fans. And if I don’t have fans, I don’t have a reason to sing.”

“Your fans?” That confused her. “Mina...shouldn’t you sing for yourself?” Rei took her jacket off and put it on the coat hanger in the room before pulling a chair up next to the woman.

“I have no reason to sing for myself, Rei. It’s always been for the fans.” How could someone always so positive suddenly sound so negative? Every word was troubling to hear coming from Minako of all people.

“You can’t quit. Not now.”

“Why not? It’s as good a time as any. I knew my career was bound to burn out anytime now. Mio was just the nail in the coffin.”

Something about that made Rei angry and she forced Minako to turn and look at her. “You cannot let someone like Kuroki Mio be the reason you stop singing. You cannot use the excuse you are losing fans when you are not.”

“There is nothing, no reason, for me to keep going. I should stop now before I’m a simple laughing stock. I-I suppose I’ll make an announcement in the morning.”

It was too much and she was too scared to lose Minako and the trust she had given and gained. The next thing Rei knew she was kissing Minako before her body caught up with her brain. She forced herself to break it and stood up, knocking the stool she was on over in a panic. She had just kissed Minako. Rei raised her hand and covered her mouth, sure she was red in the face.

“I-I...sorry, I…” She had to get out. This was most certainly a way to mess up their boss to worker relationship, and she turned for the door, making it all of two steps before Minako had grabbed her free arm and pulled her to a stop. The next thing Rei registered was her back being shoved against the door and Minako looking up at her. She was sure she was about to be fired on the spot and maybe slapped.

“Why?”

“W-why?”

Minako rolled her eyes. “Why did you kiss me?”

“I uh...I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Rei shook her head. “You don’t just...randomly kiss a person. Especially you. You don’t…” Suddenly Minako’s eyes went wide. “That’s why you took off after the video finished filming…”

“What?”

“Rei...be honest with me, please. What do you think of me?”

That was such a loaded question that it made Rei swallow. Minako was incredibly vulnerable in this moment and Rei could have lied. Could have said anything simple and vague just to escape, but all the same...she knew if she lied then Minako would quite possibly stop performing forever. If she told the truth, would it keep her going? And as she recalled, laying on the floor of the mall, her attacker standing over her, she swore she would tell her if she lived.

“You are incredibly talented and kind. More than you probably should be, even to those against you. Even to a nobody like me.”

“You aren’t a nobody…” She could tell that had hurt Minako the smallest bit and that it wasn’t what she was looking for as an answer as she let go of Rei.

“Compared to you, I am.” Rei pulled her back as Minako started to walk away in defeat. “So I kept things to myself because out of everyone in the world, why would even consider returning how I feel when you could have anyone you so desired.”

Minako was quiet for a while as she just looked at Rei. “The thing about being an idol is that anyone would do anything to be with you. For the fame or the money or to say I got that chance, even if they ruined it. But you...You are very different. You didn’t come to work for me for the fame, not really even for the money. You had almost no idea who I was, I could tell. Just did research. To you, I was just some person who sang for others. I was normal.”

“Normal is a uh...strong word. You have some quirks…”

“Maybe I do. But the point is that you weren’t here for that. You just wanted your shrine back, you still do. You didn’t answer my question though. What do you think of me?”

Rei took in a breath and slowly let it out, feeling the heat rush to her cheeks again. She had spent too much of today embarrassed. She looked away as she ran a hand through her hair. “I like you.”

“And you mean that? You aren’t saying this out of sympathy for me?”

“No. You know I wouldn’t lie about something like this. I don’t...I don’t get close to people, Minako. It scares me to be this close, if I’m being honest.” Finally, Rei looked at her. “So maybe...if not for the fans, then for me?”

“Huh?”

“If you don’t feel you can make music for your fans, do it for me. Or for you. You love to sing, it’s your passion in life and it pains me to hear you’re thinking of giving up, much less because of someone like Mio. Remember the archery tournaments I did?”

“Yes...what about them?”

“What did I tell you?”

“I don’t know. A lot? Don’t smack yourself in the arm with the string, it’ll hurt?”

“No--well yes. I said the first time I would go back and prove everyone who laughed at me wrong, and I did. So prove Mio wrong. This isn’t the last year you have to get the award and if you ask me, I feel she did some dirty deeds to get that. You know I research things...new pop stars almost never win this award, you didn’t win the award. So make next year your year. If you quit here now, you’re only proving her right.”

Minako seemed stunned by it all, as if taking it in as Rei continued. “Regardless, I want you to keep performing and I will continue to protect you with my life. You are in no way obligated to return how I feel for any reason. I...S-sorry about kissing you like that.”

“Don’t be.” The words were firm as Rei looked at her, eyebrows raised. “That makes this much easier.” Suddenly Minako’s mouth was on hers and Rei almost panicked again, unsure of what to do before her body relaxed. One hand moved to Minako’s lower back and the other to her shoulder.

Rei nearly jumped out of her skin when someone pushed on the door she was up against and she broke the kiss off.

“Minako, are you changed?” Natsuna, right. They had been taking a while.

“Not yet, sorry! Give me like five more?”

“That’s fine but uh...you have some fans here that asked if it was possible to get a group photo with you.”

“She’ll do it.” Rei spoke up for her. Minako needed to do this for a variety of reasons. To remind her she does have fans and to show her fans she was better than Mio.

“Okay! I’ll let them know in about ten you’ll come out for the photo.”

Rei let out a shaky breath as Natsuna walked off and Minako smirked. “Help me with the zipper?”

Doing this now felt odd compared to any other time she had helped Minako. Her hands shook a little as she pulled it down to her lower back before stepping away and picking up her own jacket and sliding it on, buttoning it up. She kept her back turned as Minako changed into some jeans and a t-shirt.

“So why did you tell her I would do it instead of letting me answer?”

“Because, you need to show your fans you do care. And I think right now, you need a reminder you also have fans that are your fans, dedicated to you. Besides…” Rei turned around with a smirk. “What better way to start off showing Kuroki Mio how a real idol does it, right?”

Minako grinned as she pulled Rei out of the dressing room and down the hall as she pulled her sunglasses out of the pocket and put them on. “You are becoming a bad influence.”

“Me? Have you met yourself? You have no restraint.”

“Says the one who kissed me first.”

“T-that…” Rei mumbled as Minako laughed but hearing that sound brought relief to her. Minako was getting better and she was part of the reason why. Things were going to be okay in more than one way. Rei just hoped that getting this close to someone….maybe this time it wouldn’t hurt her.

Chapter Text

It had been rather odd at first, with Rei and Minako being together and still trying to keep it hidden, even from most of her workers. Rei hadn’t felt comfortable letting others know and was worried someone would let it slip to the public and it could create issues for both parties. Natsuna and Haruka had been allowed to know given their level of contact with the two.

Natsuna had smirked as if she had known for a very long time. Haruka had been surprised and it seemed like every time they were in the car to go somewhere, they were getting glances back at them to see if they were doing anything, but they never were. The racer admitted it was disappointing. They kept it strictly to after work hours when Rei stayed over.

After being together for two months, they hadn’t done much more than kissing and sharing the same bed, only not on opposite sides now. Minako often cuddled into her arms and it had been odd at first, but somehow, Rei found it a comforting part of her routine if she knew she was staying the night. But all the same, she could tell Minako wanted more.

Rei let out a sigh as she took her jacket and tie off, laying them over the back of the chair to the vanity in Minako’s room and sat on the end of the bed. It had been a day of going around town for events and to Rei, that was some of the most exhausting work they did. Not to mention the summer heat made it worse when wearing a suit. Thankfully she had already taken her socks and shoes off for comfort.

“You okay?” She looked up when Minako walked in, closing the door behind her.

“Yeah, just a long day is all. You?-”

“Good.” Minako sat down next to her and held Rei’s hand with a small hum.

“What?”

“Hmmm?”

“You hum when you’re thinking about something and given it’s just us...it’s something not work-related.”

“You pay far too much attention.” Minako grinned at her for a moment before it fell to a more serious face. “I dunno I just...I feel like we haven’t moved forward?”

“You mean because we haven’t slept together…”

“Sort of. I don’t want to rush you into it by any means…” Minako was playing with her hand and Rei could tell she was guilty by bringing it up. “I can easily take care of myself when time permits so it’s not really a need as much as a want.”

Rei made a small noise. “But you’re aware it’s something I’ve never done?”

“Sleep with someone? Yes, it’s...a bit obvious, Reiko.”

“Reiko?”

“I...I know it’s the fake name I gave you on your badge, but I really do like it. Kind of like when you call me Mina, instead of Minako. That aside, I haven’t wanted to make you uncomfortable. I know this already has been a lot more than you’re used to having.”

It wasn’t that Rei was worried about having a bad time, it was more that she was in the dark about the matter. She hated not knowing something about a situation or what to do or say and this would completely be out of her grasp. If she were being honest, she hardly did any kind of care for herself with the intense work schedules. In reality, she just hated not knowing what to do.

“I trust you.” She entwined her fingers with Minako’s as she said it. It didn’t make sense to put it off at this point. It wasn’t that she didn’t want it. It apparently surprised Minako based her reaction.

“Are you sure Rei? It’s not that I don’t want to it’s just...so sudden.”

“I’ve thought on it a bit...I just don’t know what I’m doing. Or what to do. But I trust that you do.”

“And you’ll tell me to stop if you get uncomfortable? You swear to it?” Minako was being serious, she could tell. It was sweet how worried she was.

“Absolutely. You know I would…”

“Okay.” She could tell Minako was still unsure as she slowly pushed Rei to laying back on the bed and straddled her waist. Then suddenly Minako was kissing her and she felt herself immediately relax into it, resting her hands on Minako’s waist. There was something very different about this and Rei wasn’t able to place what the feeling was.

Slowly Minako moved down to her neck and instinctively, Rei tilted her head back with a slow intake of air, letting it go with a gasp when Minako suddenly bit at her neck playfully. It wouldn’t leave a mark, she was aware. They had set rules about those kinds of things. Minako couldn’t afford the rumors and Rei didn’t need people thinking she had a distraction in her life.

Finally, Rei came to realize what was so different. Everything about this felt so...soft. Caring. Things she hadn’t experienced often in her life. Minako had even somehow made her feel safe as she slowly unbuttoned her shirt, pushing it open and to the sides. It was still nerve-wracking to be laid out like this below someone like Minako. There were hundreds of thousands of people that probably wished they were Rei right now.

It wasn’t that the performer hadn’t seen her in a bra with no shirt on, but it was the idea of what they were doing this time rather than a change of clothes. Rei didn’t even know where to put her hands, she was so lost. She opted for gripping at the comforter below them as Minako slowly started to kiss her way down her chest towards her stomach.

Suddenly Minako had stopped and pressed the most gentle kiss to the scar on her abdomen from when she was shot. Rei reached down and pulled her back up, slowly kissing her. “Don’t feel bad about it…”

She could see the guilt still on Minako’s face as the woman gently stroked her thumb over it. “But if it weren’t for me, this would have never happened.”

“Perhaps, but that also carries a much heavier downside to it.”

“Hmmm? What’s that?”

“I’d have never met you.” Those words eased the tension as Minako smiled and kissed her again. It was true and she had meant it. Rei would take being shot again to have a chance once more in her life to be close to someone. To love, even.

Maybe Rei was being too bold, but she reached down and tugged on Minako’s top, pulling it off. She felt a little self-conscious as the only one being half dressed. Her hands shook a little as she let it drop to the ground. She was completely out of her element. There was always something about how toned Minako was due to her workouts. How flawless her body seemed without a mark on it. It was overwhelming.

The way Minako’s hair brushed up against her side sent shivers down her spine as well, each touch bringing an unexpected sensation. Rei was sure she was breathing slightly heavier. Minako leaned down and kissed her again and she knew she shuddered at the feeling of skin on skin. Then Minako’s breath was against her neck again and she tilted her head back, sliding her arms up Minako’s back.

She knew that people always talked about sex and how good it was supposed to feel, but this...was nothing like she had heard or ever read about in articles she’d seen online. It felt like everything was rushing into a pinpoint and exploding outwards at every graze or touch. To a point, she would say it felt like Minako was almost worshipping her with every soft touch.

“You okay?”

Rei wasn’t even aware she had closed her eyes as she opened them to look up at Minako. She reached up with a hand and pulled the woman down for a kiss, hoping that it would answer her question because words were too difficult to manage. Her mind was becoming muddled with nothing but pleasure. Rei didn’t think she could handle it if Minako stopped now.

Slowly, Minako pulled away and coaxed Rei to sit up and she took her shirt off, letting it fall to the ground next to Minako’s own. There was something about sitting this close to the other woman in a moment as intimate as this. Rei found herself drawn into the depth of her deep blue eyes as if she were drowning in them. Slowly she slid her hands up Minako’s thighs, pushing her skirt up a little. She had imagined doing this before, but even so, her imagination could never picture how smooth it would feel. Leaning forward she pressed a few kisses to Minako’s neck, getting a heady moan in response and it sent shivers down Rei’s spine. It made her feel powerful for no reason at all.

Her eyes trailed down and she stopped all movement, her eyes breaking to the side as she mumbled something under her breath.

“W-what?” Minako looked at her, confused by the stop.

“A-Artemis. Can you put him in the office or something? It’s weird...He’s watching.”

Minako looked over her shoulder to see the cat sitting on the chair to her vanity, getting fur all over Rei’s jacket and tie before taking a shaky breath and standing up. Gently she picked him up and opened the door, placing him outside and closing it quietly. Rei would have to remember to let him back in so he didn’t cry all night.

Rei moved up further on the bed, adjusting the pillows against the headboard, still nervous, noticing how her hands shook. The break gave her time to breath and think about how it all felt, a chance to really take it all in so far. She couldn’t believe she had taken Minako’s top off like she had, couldn’t imagine where the confidence came from.

“Do you want to stop?”

“No.” The word came out automatically and she swallowed as Minako climbed up between her legs. “What makes you think I would?”

“Nothing. I just didn’t know if having Artemis get in the middle made you feel uncomfortable.”

“J-Just...I’m just nervous.”

“You’re doing fine, Reiko.” Minako kissed her swiftly and Rei nodded, letting out a breath she had been holding. For a moment, she worried that Minako didn’t want to continue this with the way she had asked. She felt Minako’s hands come up her back and heard a snap as her bra came undone and she felt her face heat up as it was removed. She started to raise her hands to cover herself but Minako stopped her. “Don’t, please..”

Rei hesitated for a moment before slowly lowering them to the comforter, but avoiding eye contact. She was positive the tips of her ears were red. It was common sense that her bra was eventually going to be removed, but it still didn’t prepare her any better for it.

Minako started to kiss her again and she felt her body slowly relax once more. It was amazing how something so simple was able to erase tension and calm nerves. She appreciated that patience was given and the care that was provided to her. The kisses moved from her mouth back down her neck and to her chest where she felt her nerves starting up again.

A warm hand cupped her right breast and somehow, immediately sent shocks through her body without anything else even being done. Then Minako’s mouth was on her other one and she let out a sharp gasp, her back arching almost immediately at the provided warmth and wetness. Rei felt like sparks were shooting through her body and her hands gripped the comforter hard.

She couldn’t say how long Minako did it for, only that it felt incredible and that her mouth and throat were producing noises she didn’t think she could make. After more playful teasing, the other woman pulled away, but not without a playful bite to her nipple and Rei whimpered. The warmth was gone and replaced by cool air and she fought to catch her breath. Then it was all repeated on the other side and her whole body arched into it, hands moving up to grip a little at Minako’s back and shoulders, needing something more solid to hold onto.

Finally, it all stopped and Rei felt very dazed, her mind swimming with pleasure as the kisses moved back down lower, Minako shifting down and Rei’s hands having to slide back down to the mattress with her being almost out of reach. Suddenly she realized Minako was taking her belt off and she grunted as she reached down to pull her up.

“What’s wrong?”

“This isn’t fair…” She felt out of breath as she spoke, her brain trying to function.

“What’s not fair?”

“I’m..I’m the only one getting anything, really. That’s not fair to you.”

“Reiko...you don’t have to do anything.” Minako gave her that stupid thousand-watt smile and she huffed, flipping them over so she was above her. It surprised the other woman based on her stunned look as she tried to process what happened.

“Maybe not, but...I-I want to.” She wanted to be able to give Minako even a fraction of what she had felt so far. It didn’t seem fair she was the only one to feel good, to let Minako do all of this work. Rei knew if she didn’t do something now and things progressed, she would never get the chance, not this time. Maybe it wouldn’t be good, but she could at least try.

Not allowing another word in, she leaned down and kissed Minako for a moment before  reaching down to undo the zipper on her skirt, shimmying it off. Here she was, Pop idol--no, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t right to bring that matter to what they were doing. This was simply Aino Minako below her, in just her underwear. She let the skirt fall off the edge of the bed as she let out a breath she was unaware she was holding as she took the other woman in. “You’re perfect.”

Rei leaned back down over her, kissing her again. She really had no idea what she was doing, but she was going off what her body and mind told her to do. Really, if she thought about it, she knew Minako could and would guide her as she needed help. She continued to kiss her as her right hand slowly slid up Minako’s thigh, trying to keep the shaking and nerves under some form of control. When Minako was the one calling the shots, Rei was too out of it to think or process any shaking. It was all pure reaction.

It really took all she had to gather the courage to slide her hand to the inside of Minako’s thigh and upwards. She wasn’t sure what shocked her more, made her feel like she was doing something right: the moan that Minako had let out, or the dampness she felt on her underwear. The best she could do was try and use her own experiences with herself from here on out. The moment she carefully used her nail to evoke a reaction, Minako instantly had her hands on Rei’s back and she could feel the other woman’s nails digging into her. She didn’t regret it.

After a few more strokes of her fingers, she moved her hand upwards and hesitated at the edge of Minako’s underwear, as if unsure it was okay, or that Minako was even enjoying herself despite the noises the other woman had been making in those few short moments. What if it was all fake? Minako was a performer, it wouldn’t take much to make it seem authentic to Rei.

“D-dont…”

“What?” Rei snapped out of her daze of questions to look down at Minako, meeting half-lidded eyes and a breathy voice.

“Keep going, please.” Minako sounded so desperate to the point that Rei knew this was very real. Adding to the certainty was Minako reaching down to Rei’s hand and moving it herself, fingertips sliding in and Rei continued the movement on her own as she watched Minako take in a sharp breath and her head tilt back the moment Rei’s fingers grazed her the slightest bit, hands moving back to where they were moments ago on Rei’s back.

Now she could really feel how much impact she was having on Minako, could feel how wet she was with each passing slow stroke, could hear it in every breath, every moan. Rei didn’t feel so lost or nervous anymore. She leaned down to press kisses along Minako’s neck as she slid her index finger in, feeling nails rake across her back, causing her to hiss a little. They would leave marks; Minako didn’t even realize it.

“More. Gods, please more, don’t stop…”

It was astonishing to Rei how well she was doing for her first time, but she suspected it helped that she herself was also a woman, and had an idea of what to do at least. She gave Minako what she wanted and inserted another finger, moving her hand at a steady rate as the woman thrashed under her in pleasure, called her name out, begged her for more until she peaked and let out a short yell, her body trying to curl inwards as she twitched. Rei continued to move her fingers until her orgasm subsided, slowly sliding them out in an almost disbelief that she had just gotten Minako off.

“Fuck…”

“You uhm...you okay?”

Minako took in some air as she took Rei’s hand and lifted it to her mouth, cleaning her fingers off. Rei had to swallow at that, at the feeling of Minako slowly cleaning each finger off slowly and finally spoke. “I haven’t felt this good in years.”

Suddenly Rei felt herself on her back and blinked as Minako was straddled her waist again. She felt like prey suddenly under the other woman based on the look in her eyes as she still tried to get her breathing back under control.

“I…”

“Yes?”

“You mean that though? You’re not uh...just saying it to make me feel better?” It felt stupid to try and confirm that now, with what they had been in the middle of. But Rei had to know or she felt the rest of this would be hindered by her own thoughts.

“Reiko, no one, in any point in my life, has ever made me feel that good. If I had known that was going to feel that incredible, I’d have let you have me back at the awards ceremony in the dressing room right then and there.”

Rei’s face heated up immediately at the image that entered her head of Minako in that red dress, on leg hooked up onto Rei’s hip, as she did as she pleased with the artist. It physically made her shift to alleviate the pressure she felt building in the pit of her stomach.

“Now, you just lay back and let me give you a good time.” Minako leaned down and gave her a quick kiss before sliding back and removing the belt she never managed to get off and snapping the button open on Rei’s slacks and slowly pulling the zipper down, but applying the smallest bit of pressure down as she did it, creating a spark of pleasure once more.

Rei lifted her hips to help Minako take the pants off and felt the nerves start to return. She wasn’t perfect like Minako, scar aside. The idol spent time doing daily workouts, sometimes three times a day. Rei had been slacking lately at the gym as of late and knew it, Makoto had even emailed her to make sure she was okay because she hadn’t been showing up.

“Bend your knees.”

“What?”

“Bend. Your. Knees. C’mon.”

Shifting some, Rei did what Minako requested of her, wondering what she was doing. The kisses started at her stomach, they were slow, with a few playful bites followed by the swipe of a tongue. She tried to stay still the lower that Minako went when she suddenly realized what Minako was about to do and tried to speak up, but what came out instead was a gasp and a moan jammed into one as her hands gripped at the blanket beneath her at the first stroke of Minako’s tongue across her. Even with her underwear still on, the heat, the pressure, the wetness...it was intense for someone who had never experienced it.

And Minako wasn’t slow or gentle like Rei had been, no. She was putting force behind her jaw, not allowing her to process anything for a while and then stopped, right as Rei felt her peak coming on and she let out a frustrated grunt at that and when she opened her eyes, she was met with a playful look. Minako knew what she was doing, wanted to push Rei to the edge of her limits like that and stop.

The singer reached up and slowly removed her underwear off, letting it drop to the ground with a small hum. Rei wasn’t even sure she could feel embarrassed any further, really. She had already gotten Minako off, now Minako had gone down on her, what did this matter? She did find it a little funny that while she was undressed, Minako still had her bra and underwear on. It spoke of her confidence levels.

This time, Minako slid her arms around Rei’s legs and that confused her immensely as Minako lowered herself back down and it only took a split second to realize why when Minako’s tongue came back into contact with her. Her thighs instinctively tried to close, but Minako’s arms kept them in place. Her arms twisted out of the blankets and instead, tangled into Minako’s hair as her back arched up and Minako’s name left her mouth. Had she given Minako even a fraction of this pleasure?

The combination of pressure and speed was enough to keep her simply on edge and she tried to twist, pulled Minako closer against her in the hopes that she could finally erupt with pleasure, but the other woman was in total control.

“Fuck, Mina, please..!”

Everything stopped for a moment as Minako shifted and Rei let out a whine before her tongue was back only she felt a pressure as a finger entered her and she was sure she had never moaned like that in her lifetime and was never this loud when she did take care of herself. She was always quiet, kept things down to a low volume. Here she was open, letting Minako take complete control of her, her emotions, her voice, everything anything she would want of her. Rei would give it without a second thought.

It was when Minako slid a second finger in and hooked them just right that everything  exploded as she all but screamed Minako’s name, feeling everything go black for a moment, everything coming back as though it was slowly being painted back in as her body convulsed through the waves of pleasure. When she fully came around, Minako was above her as she fought for air. Her body felt so at peace for the first time in at least a decade.

“You okay babe?” Minako brushed some hair out of her face as she nodded. “Let me go get you some water.”

Rei watched her walk off towards the fridge in the room as she tried to get coherent thoughts going. Her thighs were still trembling some. For a moment, she was sure her legs would never work again as she fought to sit up against the headboard as Minako returned with a bottle of water, opening it for her.

“Thank you…” She hadn’t realized how thirsty she was as she drank half of it in one go, her hands even shaking from how intense it all was to her. Not even just what Minako had done to her, but what she had done to her as well. She offered the water to Minako who drank a little before closing it and putting it on the nightstand.

Part of Rei wanted to get up and put some kind of clothes on, but she also felt too...at peace to even care. When she looked over at Minako, she had stripped down and it made sense given what Rei had done to her. Normally, Minako cuddle into her arms, but it went the opposite this way as she found herself encompassed in a warmth she hadn’t felt since her mother. Not even her grandfather had been able to provide this comfort to her.

Tears tried to come, but she fought them back. This was not a moment she wanted to cry, afraid it would make Minako scared she had messed up. Fumbling for a moment, she pulled the blanket over them, settling down as Minako ran her fingers through her hair and it was quickly lulling Rei fast to sleep.

For the first time since she was a child, Rei felt safe enough to let go of her walls if only for Mina.

A week later found them getting ready for another performance, though this one was smaller in size than most had been since it was for the fan club only. The lottery style helped limit the volume of people to make it easier while things were in motion for a new song or album being discussed.

Rei buttoned up her jacket, still on edge around large crowds though she still hadn’t admitted that to Minako despite how close they had gotten. When she had awoken the next day, she was shocked to see it was the afternoon and that Minako was up before her. She needed it though, she knew it. Thankfully she wasn’t teased over it as she got up for a shower.

When she turned around, she was met with the sight of Minako taking a small handful of pills again and frowned. She opened her mouth to say something, but decided it was better to remain quiet. This was later in the day than usual, and she was about to go on stage to perform. It was too risky at the time, they could have some argument over it and she didn’t want the fans to have a disappointing performance. It would have to wait.

“Are you sure it’ll be okay without a break in the middle?”

“It’s a shorter performance so it should be fine. Just five songs is all.” Minako gave her a smile as Rei walked over towards her seat.

“Yes, but five songs back to back is still a lot on a stage if you’re moving around and dancing.” Rei worried about Minako overworking herself too much. The woman never really stopped.

Minako reached up and tugged Rei’s tie out of her suit with a small smirk. “Just trust me.” Before Rei could muster a response, Minako tugged her down by way of her tie and kissed her and it was hard to deny that as she returned it, pulling away with a blush. Minako seemed to enjoy doing that with her tie when they time alone. She adjusted it back into her suit as a knock on the door told her it was show time.

Rei followed her out and stopped at the edge of the stage where she took a seat to still see the audience and see Minako as well. They had other security always present at her concerts that had to pass a check through Rei. She hated the idea of someone lazy being present and another shooter possibly appearing. She was content to watch until suddenly Minako’s movements weren’t sharp like they should have been. Hesitantly, she stood up, hearing words start to turn into mumbles right as Minako started to go down.

Her head felt like it was exploding as she struggled to open her eyes, met with a dark room and all too familiar ceiling she had seen one too many a time as she tried to recall what happened. A figure was next to her bed when she looked over and she had to blink several times, trying to clear her vision.

“Rei…?”

“Sadly, no.” The voice told her it was Natsuna and after a moment longer, she came into view. She looked worried.

“What happened?”

Natsuna sighed as she looked away for a moment. “You collapsed in the middle of your performance. Rei was able to catch you and get you off stage before anyone could dare get a photo of anything.”

Fuck it all. She was sick of that happening, the passing out uncontrollably despite her medication. “Wait, where’s Rei?”

At that, Natsuna went quiet and pressed her lips into a hard line. “I think...it best you talk to the doctor first.”

“Natsuna…”

Her secretary stood up and pressed the button to call the doctor in, ignoring the plea as she sitting back down.

“Good to see you awake.” A smile greeted her as the doctor walked in.

“Mizuno-san.”

“You were taking the medication properly, yes?” The blue-haired doctor looked down at a clipboard with a pen in hand.

“I-I took it right before I performed. A little later than usual.”

“Hmmm…” That frown wasn’t a good thing. “Headache right now?”

“Yes.”

“I was afraid of that. Your condition is progressing.” The clipboard was set down as the blankets on her legs were lifted to show compressions on them. “You temporarily regained consciousness, though I’m sure it was too short to recall. You stated you couldn’t feel your legs and struggled to move them. I fear it’s starting to cause nerve damage. We’ll have to run a new scan once the headache eases off.”

Worse? Minako had feared that for years, but it had remained steady up until now.

“And we can’t really increase the dosage on the medication any further either. You’re at the maximum amount legally able to be prescribed and even if you took additional on your own, there are problems. One being you would run short and have none left to take and the other being advanced side effects that would leave you just as impaired if not worse. I know you’ve been avoiding it, but surgery is now the only option I can provide to you. And if I had to guess, without a scan, based on today...if you don’t do it within the next few months, permanent damage will be done and possibly we may not be able to actually help.”

Minako raised her hands to her face, running them over it. This was too much and she felt nauseous, moving her legs some. She could at least feel them. “Can I get something for the headache, please? And time to think?”

“Of course. I’ll get you some Fioricet which will work rather quickly. If that doesn’t work, I have some Cambia to put in water and drink.”

“Thank you, Mizuno-san.”

“Ami, please. I think we’ve seen each other enough to be on a first name basis at the very least.” Ami gave her a small smile as she left the room.

“Rei?”

“You don’t want the medicine first?”

“Please, Natsuna. If this is bad news, just drop it on me at this point. I’m already basically dying in the next few months, it can’t get much worse.”

“...Rei put in her resignation with the office two hours ago.”

Things could indeed get worse, as it turned out.

Chapter Text

Rei sighed as she leaned back against a wall in the downstairs workout room they had made into a makeshift practice room. A couple of dancers had requested extra practice with Minako as they were struggling to learn the intense movements for her upcoming concert performance and didn’t want to make anyone look bad, themselves included. Things had been this way for the time she had been working for the company, really. Anytime someone needed extra help, Minako was more than happy to provide assistance for them.

Reaching into her blazer, she pulled out a small sucker and unwrapped it, looking at the sticker as she put the sucker in her mouth and frowned. She already had this one. Really, she was only missing one singular sticker and after three weeks she hadn’t seen it yet. Was it like some Willy Wonka ticket rarity item?

“I didn’t know you were a fan of my face you know.”

Rei nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned her head to see Minako grinning next to her. Of course. Minako always had this weird timing about her that when Rei was doing something private, the woman always had to show up. To make matters worse, Rei had fallen for her long ago and was trying to keep that to herself.

“Are you taking those from the front office?”

“What? No.”

Minako seemed to giggle at that when Rei realized she had just admitted to buying them which somehow made things worse.

“Let me try them. I never get to.” Before she could get a word in edgewise, Minako took it out of her hand and popped it into her mouth, clearly swirling her tongue around it before taking it out and handing it back to Rei. “It’s okay I guess.”

All Rei could do was watch her walk off like nothing happened as she looked at the lollipop in her hand before putting it into her mouth, face burning at the thought of it being an indirect kiss.

Chapter Text

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Minako lay there, listening to the sound of the machines beep as she tried to cope, tried to comprehend everything, anything. Rei had resigned upon her passing out under the supposed premise that she did drugs, but something about that didn’t sound right either. She frowned. Why on earth would Rei suddenly up and leave like that and then leave no trace either? Natsuna had been by the shrine with no sign that Rei was even present or had been by since she left.

Nevermind it seemed odd to just leave when Minako was hospitalized like she was. Did Rei truly love her? Or was it just some joke to her?

No. Rei would never. Minako knew better than that for all the hurt and loss that the woman had suffered in her life, which is why the entire situation struck her as peculiar. It was proving to be a very frustrating situation and to make matters worse, she was stuck in the hospital under close watch for a couple of days, meaning she couldn’t go hunt Rei down either.

“If you keep frowning like that it’s going to become permanent.”

Minako turned her head to see Natsuna had entered the room quietly. “I’m not particularly having a great time.” She knew her voice was tense and short, but she couldn’t help it with everything going on.

“Well the press just thinks you skipped lunch or something and are a little anemic, but okay. We told them you were taking a couple of days to recover but already released. Still no sign of Rei, but I know she’s been to the shrine. Things looked like they were taken care of and I don’t mean her plants. She’s been working and cleaning it still, but even standing around for three hours I never saw her.”

“Ugh!” Minako threw her arms up in frustration. “She’s probably hiding in plain sight!”

“Probably. She is very good at hiding and being quiet, we both know that. But I really do think that there’s a reason for her to quit and hide. If she was just going to quit, then why hide? Something isn’t right, we know that much.” Natsuna sighed, she seemed just as confused and frustrated. “I put a hold on everything for now. Concerts, autograph sessions, meet and greets. With no bodyguard it’s too risky.”

“It’s almost like Rei planned this.” Minako had meant it as a joke, but as she said it, she frowned. Rei knew Minako couldn’t continue working without a bodyguard and that getting a new one would be incredibly difficult and time consuming.

“Almost. But I do have to ask you a question, Minako...How come you never told Rei you were sick?”

Instantly her stomach twisted in knots at the question. Not once had she mentioned her illness to Rei, not even after they were dating. After all the woman had done for her, nearly giving her life at one point. “I...I-I don’t know. I never thought of it. I guess I’m so used to hiding it…”

“She was pretty...upset to say the least. Actually, she thought you collapsed from a drug overdose. All she ever saw was that you always took pills everyday. Never saw any bottles or anything, so she assumed that like other performers out there, you did drugs and...well maybe that was how you kept going nonstop.”

If Minako could have sunk any further into her bed she would have.

“I explained it to her because I felt like she should know and she was also very, uh...angry that you wouldn’t go through with this surgery even with low odds. I’m not going to say her words exactly, but she wasn’t polite about much of it. Though this didn’t influence her resigning I don’t think given she had the letter on hand before I even discussed this.” Natsuna sighed as she sat down on the chair next to the bed.

Silence reigned in the room for a while before Ami reentered the room with a quite stoic face, as though hiding emotions, closing the door behind her and walking to the foot of the bed. She was quiet for a moment.

“Aino-san, I fear that if you neglect the offer for surgery this time, there is no going back. The damage is worse than we expected and if we don’t remove the swelling that has begun, you will not make it. I expect no more than two or three months time. We do believe...Well, I believe that with this surgery you will never have to worry again. I’ve looked over your previous scans and documents and believe that removal of part of your scar tissue from the incident you suffered will along with a tiny bit of your brain matter will remove it forever.”

Minako felt like her entire world was crumbling around her, like in the past 24 hours she had managed to piss some deity off. She could feel the tears at the corners of her eyes, trying to hold them back as her stomach dropped and nausea felt overwhelming.

Ami must have picked up on this as she spoke up again. “I don’t say you have to make a call on this option now, but I would certainly recommend within the week. The sooner, the better chances we have. Tomorrow we will probably discharge you assuming nothing happens tonight.” With that, the blue haired doctor left the room, the door quietly clicking behind her.

“It’s…” Minako choked a bit as the tears started to fall, a weak smile gracing her face as she stared at her bedsheets. “Funny, really…”

If she wasn’t worried before, Natsuna really was now as she sat on the edge of the bed, gently wiping the tears away and hair out of Minako’s face. “What is?”

“I uhm..I was never afraid before, of dying from this. Now I’m more terrified than ever of dying. I’d always accepted I would just die randomly one day popular and people would mourn my unknown loss. I never wanted people to know, I didn’t want you to know or Haruka or...or Rei...It made it too real.”

“Minako…” Natsuna felt awful about hearing that. It made sense why she never wanted to tell anyone suddenly, but also knew someone had to know or would find out. Hence choosing those closest to her yet never telling the one close to her heart. If Rei knew, would she have left? Been supportive? “I don’t really want to ask this, I don’t. Not now. Not ever, but what are we going to do? What are you going to do? I can’t make this call.”

“I..I need to think. I need just a bit of time, please…”

“Of course. I’d give you all the time in the world right now if I could, you know that. But I do think you should do this. If you didn’t and you died, it would have more than a worldwide pop idol death impact. Haruka would lose a job. I would never be able to work again because no one would ever be the person you are. Kind hearted, light, so nice and caring. And I really do think there is some reason Rei isn’t here and if you die, she will also never forgive herself. Especially with all the loss she herself has faced.”

Minako didn’t say anything back, but instead curled up into Natsuna’s arms and cried quietly, feeling the most terrified she had ever felt in her life, even above her auditions as a child to get into her dream field. Above losing against Mio. This was the worst day of her life and even that itself was an understatement.

Chapter Text

The sunlight slowly beamed its way into the small room through the blinds, earning a small groan from the body laid across the bed who stretched before sighing contently and settling back in just a little bit. A few moments later one verdant green eye peeked open to look at a clock staring back with 8:06 A.M. Finally, a day off. A chance to sleep in for a few more hours. Both eyes blinked a few times to clear the fogginess of sleep away. Then came the loud yawn and another stretch and another sigh. Two days off in a row, even. It had been worth switching shifts.

Slowly, Makoto rolled out of her bed and ran her hand through her hair gently, pulling out a few knots along the way. Normally she would get up and shower but she decided that could hold until later. After a hot cup of coffee and a nice, not rushed, breakfast. Pancakes sounded wonderful since she had the time. Maybe tomorrow she could swing by the shrine and take care of the plants before doing her shopping.

She stood up, quicking jerking her head to the left, and then the right, an audible crack emitting from the right head jerk and a sound of pleasure. “God I needed that. Feels like that was there for weeks. Mm…” Raising a hand, she gently rubbed her neck before finally leaving her room.

After a quick stop in the bathroom to take care of business and to splash some water on her face and brush her teeth, she made her way towards the kitchen, quietly humming to herself as she passed her couch. Then she suddenly stopped the humming and her walking. Clearly her mind had been playing tricks on her, right? From overworking. She had not just seen what she saw.

Ever so slowly she walked backwards only to find out what she thought wasn’t real was in fact, real. Sleeping on her couch was one Hino Rei, duffle bag at the end of the couch. There were so many things wrong with this scenario it was hard to process it.

One. Rei had never used the house key Makoto had provided her. The woman made it a point to only be there at the same time. Two was the fact that it was past eight in the morning and Rei was still asleep. She was known to be up by five in the morning from working both at the Shrine and for Minako. Third was the fact that a duffle bag was present which indicated a longer staying period.

Makoto glanced around, looking for some note, something, but found nothing. Slowly she took a breath in and let it out. So much for a nice relaxing day alone doing nothing but tending to a few plants and maybe reading a book with the TV on in the background. It’s not that Rei was loud or bothersome, in fact there were times you couldn’t be sure she was present given the silence. No, it was knowing something was wrong and trying to get it out of the woman would be worse than pulling teeth.

Breakfast for two it was. And extra coffee. Resuming her stroll into the kitchen, she started a fresh pot of coffee and quietly pulled out everything to make some pancakes for the both of them. Makoto did her best to keep the volume of things down while she cooked so Rei could rest. However, upon turning around to get two cups down for coffee, she nearly screamed and let out a choked noise at Rei pouring herself a cup quietly.

“You can’t be that quiet you’re going to give me a heart attack!” Taking in a slow breath and letting it go, she pulled a second mug down for herself. “Breakfast is almost ready.”

“I’m not hungry.” Now normally, Makoto would expect some punch behind those words, but they were flat. Whatever was going on was far more serious than she anticipated and knew her tactic to get answers would have to change.

Rei moved and sat quietly at the table, setting the cup down and then resting her head in her arms, mulling her own thoughts again. They hadn’t stopped since the day before. She didn’t know how to turn her brain off and it was exhausting her more than everything else had been.

Everything in her life had suddenly been flipped in ways she had never expected and it was almost nauseating and she was at a loss. She hadn’t felt this way since she lost her Mother many years ago and this was just as painful, if not worse even because of the repercussions she didn’t know about going on.

“So uh…”

Right, Makoto was here. Slowly she lifted her head to see a concerned friend. She knew that’s what it was. Makoto’s heart was in the right place and all Rei could offer her was a fake smile.

“I’ll be fine. Just a lot going on right now.”

“I figured given you were passed out on the couch as late as you were. Nevermind it seems like you’re gonna uh...stay a while?”

“No. I don’t want to invade. I just need a day or two to get things together.”

“Rei...what’s going on? I mean it’s something serious. You can’t even stay at the shrine?”

“I don’t want to be found, it’s as simple as that.”

“Is it your Dad again? Why not stay at the office?”

At those words, Rei felt her throat constrict and almost felt tears try to come to her eyes as she broke eye contact. “I can’t.”

“What, why not? It’s not stopped you before.”

“She’s in the hospital right now anyways, so it wouldn’t feel right to begin with.”

She felt Makoto’s eyes start to narrow as she leaned in. “Let me get this right...You don’t want to be found. You don’t want to stay at your own home. You ‘can’t’ stay in the office because Minako isn’t there. You use your spare key you have never used before to crash here for a couple of days.”

“Sums it up, yes.” The bite was back in her voice. The other woman was pushing too hard, too much. Rei had to bite her tongue to prevent lashing out.

“Then what the actual fuck is going on. You never leave her side, that’s your literal job. Even in a hospital. You are her bodyguard. And yet here you are spending days away from her suddenly.” Rei swore she heard the gear click. “Do not tell me you fucking quit.”

“....” She was quiet for a long time, knowing it told Makoto the truth. “....resigned is the technical term.”

“Have you lost your fucking mind?!” There was a bang on a wall from an apartment next door at the raised voice and she knew Makoto felt guilty instantly about it. “Resigned?! Why did you resign! That was a great job. You two were an item!”

“I have my reasons and they are personal and my own and do not involve you and will not involve you or anyone else for any reason.” This she had to put her foot down for.

“Do you even think before you act sometimes? What about Minako? No bodyguard? Hospitalized? How did she even take it?”

“She was unconscious when I put my letter in so I wouldn’t know. Besides that, she was withholding information from me she should have told me a long time ago.” Rei was still incensed about that. Minako had the gall to spend this entire time not telling her how sick she was. How she was dying. It was crushing to still think about. As if that was enough, the woman constantly refused a life saving surgery and the odds were only getting lower and lower the longer she waited.

Rei had suffered enough loss in her life. She couldn’t take another one. Though this still hurt intensely, she had cut the ties before the pain could get worse. Her mother dying was still too fresh and painful. If she lost Minako…

Of course, she was still losing her. Just this way, she wasn’t close to her. As close. And yet, Rei knew in the back of her mind it was going to be just as painful if not more so being away because she wasn’t able to be there to make it easier. She had successfully, more than likely, fully destroyed the woman upon her disappearance. If Minako had considered surgery before, Rei was sure now she would turn it down.

“...ei...Rei!”

“Huh?”

“You really zoned out hard...Your phone has been going off with messages.” Makoto handed Rei her phone that she had forgotten she charged. Maybe it was better leaving it dead?

These were text messages, not emails so that made it worse. All from Natsuna it looked like. She sat the phone face down on the table, not ready to face that yet.

“Rei. Don’t take this the wrong way. I don’t normally invade privacy, you know that. Those seem important. You don’t do texts. Everyone knows that. Only you seem to know what the fuck is actually going on right now. You owe someone an explanation. And I don’t mean me.”

Rei frowned, knowing Makoto was right as she stared at the black cup of coffee she hadn’t even touched yet, staring at her own broken reflection. After another minute of silence in the dining room, she flipped the phone over and started to read the text messages.

“Rei where are you? We need to talk.”

“Went by the shrine and didn’t see you or anyone. Please answer or call me.”

“Minako woke up. She’s very sick feeling still and they’re keeping her a few days.”

“Results of her tests came in.”

It was the last one she got that made her feel like actually throwing up.

“Minako has to have the surgery in the next month. If she doesn’t, she is going to die. She broke down over it with me and hasn’t made a call yet on what to do. Rei, she needs you. You can save her, please. Otherwise she isn’t going to do this and will die.”

Chapter Text

“Are you really sure about this, Rei?” Makoto looked over at her friend, eyeing her closely. She had stayed another two nights at her place, though with little sleep and it showed as much as Rei tried to help it. Her naturally pale color gave way to the dark circles under her eyes and her normally rigid form was slouched.

“Yes.” Sighing, the raven haired woman ran her hand over her face as they walked down the sidewalk. “It’s the best thing to do for multiple reasons, I can only hope it works out.”

It had been as well thought out as two days would allow Rei to think. She knew she had made a rather brash choice, but she had panicked for a reason she wouldn’t admit yet. Resigning? Probably the stupidest move she could have done at the time, especially given Minako’s fragile condition both physically and mentally. 

Disappearing suddenly with no traces? Equally as stupid if not more. Not only had she bailed on Minako, but everyone except Makoto.

So she sent Natsuna an actual text message. Something she never did. It requested her to meet up at the shrine to talk in private. No one would be there, hell no one was allowed there without Rei’s permission. The shrine was considered closed due to construction and all Natsuna would have to do, if someone questioned her, was show that Rei requested a meeting at that location. She suspected, however, that due to the lack of visitors, it wouldn’t really pose any issues.

The pair remained silent as they continued to walk towards the Shrine until they turned a corner and news vans lined outside of the shrine and Rei made a noise in the back of her throat in despair. Of course they would still be waiting her out. Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she started the walk with Makoto towards her home.

As they closed in, reporters perked up, picked up microphones and cameras and rushed towards her. Her worst nightmare come true.

“Hino Rei! Is it true you’re the bodyguard of Aino Minako!?”

“Is this why the shrine has been closed?”

“Why did she really collapse? Is she anemic?”

Bombarded by questions, it took what she had to remain cool and put on a class act face of confusion.

“What on earth are you all on about? Aino who?”

The reporters paused and looked at one another, not quite biting yet. “You look exactly like the bodyguard for Aino Minako according to an image leaked online after she passed out at a concert. You not being home coincidentally coincides with this happening.”

“Is it illegal to stay at a friend's place for a few days while your shrine is under repairs? I don’t know who this...Minako person is. You’re clearly mistaken.” She lifted her duffle bag. “Now you’re wasting my time. I have a lot of work to get done.” She turned towards the shrine and up the stairs as the reporters were clearly confused.

Once she and Makoto were out of their sight and halfway up the stairs, Rei stopped, turned around, and sat down on the stairs, putting her face in her hands. That was way more stressful than it should have been.

“Oh.” Makoto made a sound near her and Rei looked up to see her looking at her phone. “I..uh, see.”

“Yeah. While I was catching her, someone snapped a photo. We thought no one had. Someone did. Didn’t take long for people to start thinking national archer Hino Rei is bodyguarding Pop Star Idol Aino Minako. I….panicked. A lot.”

“Yeah I could imagine since you aren’t exactly a fan of being front and center and all.” Makoto reached down and picked the duffle bag up. “Come on then. Sitting here doesn’t change anything else.”

Groaning, Rei hesitantly stood up as they continued their ascent up the stairs to find Natsuna sitting on a bench, seeming to enjoy the nature of the shrine despite its less than ideal conditions.

“Go on inside. Make tea and have some lunch.” Rei watched Makoto nod and disappear into her house before taking another deep breath and walking over to sit beside her quietly, closing her eyes. Neither woman spoke up initially. Rei needed to compose her thoughts, Natsuna was waiting for her to start the conversation.

Then she felt her body lock up the moment she went to take a step towards the other woman. Maybe she should go pay respects to her grandfather first and see her guest inside? And pay respects to the sacred fire and the gods too. It was like a list of procrastions was building in her mind as she feared the worst. What if Mina was already gone?

Then a sudden squawk got her attention and she looked up as a crow was circling up above her before heading down. Instinctively, Rei held her arm out as it landed like she had done it a thousand times before. She missed the look Natsuna gave her before another landed on the bench.

“Phobos…” Something about the creature seemed to calm Rei as it brushed against her cheek with her beak before letting out another tiny cry. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I won’t put it off.” With a pleased noise, both of the crows seemed to take off back to the skies to watch as Rei let out a small sigh.

Those crows sometimes, she swore.

Biting back her nerves, she walked over and finally took a seat on the bench, though she remained quiet as she tried to cumulate her thoughts. Where was the best place to start in a situation like this? They’d agreed to talk, but left that part open ended. Rei nearly jumped when Natsuna finally broke the silence.

“Minako was right, you know. It is very beautiful here.”

Recalling the words, she remembered that day fondly. Well, aside from the woman hitting her ear with the string on the bow. It had been the first time she called Minako by her name and opened up to her. And had nearly had a heart attack at the thought of the pop idol having walked to the shrine by herself as well.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done though.” This time, she didn’t deny the compliment. After being away so much at work, she had really appreciated how at home she felt here.

“So it appears, but that doesn’t take away from it’s beauty.”

“No. It doesn’t, does it?”

Once more silence fell over the two of them as they listened to the sound of the cicadas, though it was nearing time for them to fall silent with the colder months creeping in. Finally, Rei broke the silence.

“I’m sorry. For all the hassle. It wasn’t...my intention though it should have been obvious that would be the outcome.”

“I know you had your reasons, Rei. You're not the kind of person to just do this. We just couldn’t figure out why.”

“Just because I had my reasons doesn’t mean it was okay either. It was highly unprofessional.” Rei sighed and ran a hand down her face before pushing her hair behind her ear. “It has to do with my face being seen.”

“But...no one really knew it was you. Even downstairs they didn’t seem sure when they asked me.”

“It wasn’t them I was worried about. It was my father. He’s going to see that and know it was me. And he will harass me and make my life as miserable as he possibly can over it. He doesn’t know that’s the work I’ve been doing. As far as he knew I was working on the shrine, doing odd jobs, and staying with a friend during the time when I wasn’t here.” It was a nightmare in the making and she knew it.

“So what? What’s he going to do? Abandon you? Pretty sure he already did that.”

“He’s a politician. He has ways of…” Rei struggled to describe what she wanted to say and fell silent thinking it over. “Making everything hell. Not just for me, but for people that know me. There’s a reason I never got close to people. There’s also a reason I can’t keep workers here. He offers them money out of his pocket so it’s not embezzlement more than I can offer. They of course take up a huge one time payment over volunteer work or low pay.”

“What kind of asshole…”

Natsuna had mumbled it but Rei had heard it and agreed with the sentiment and then some. 

“So why not contact us?”

“I needed to be safe for a bit. He’s going to be by to visit eventually and I was hoping to hold out until then. If I had a resignation letter in it showed I wasn’t there. But then..well…” Her heart clenched at the thought of how truly sick Mina was.

“You know she didn’t avoid telling you just to not tell you right? She’s so used to keeping it quiet. The only reason Haruka and I knew was because we were vital to her care and transport if something happened. And I took care of her medications and covered the press. She wanted to, I think, but was so scared...both for her and you.”

“Why me?”

“Because she knew you’d experienced this loss twice already. Once with your grandfather, though that was age...but your Mother. If she told you then you might leave in her mind and she would be alone again. See, before you arrived, she didn’t fear death. She was ready to accept her time. But after you started to work and especially after you got together, she was terrified. If she talked about it, it made it far more real. She wasn’t and still isn’t ready to face that reality and will never be ready I don’t think.”

It made sense and Rei frowned at that. She wished Minako still had told her even if it had hurt. Would she have left earlier on? Maybe if she wasn’t so attached she would have stayed. Now? She couldn’t say. But that opinion or thought didn’t matter because they were in this position now. She knew.

“How did you get her in without her being seen?”

Natsuna seemed to go stiff at that and turn to look at Rei, surprised and puzzled. “I’m sorry?”

“Well for one, she’s super sick. I don’t really see you leaving her in the office alone during this. Haruka has a race today so she can’t be there to watch her. Second, I don’t think she’d pass up a chance to talk to or see me.”

“Perceptive as always, even when you aren’t actually working for her. She climbed the fence.”

“She WHAT?” Rei felt her neck crack as she turned to look at Natsuna like the woman had lost her mind. “She’s sick and you let her climb a fence!?”

“What was I supposed to do? Walk past the press downstairs with her? Besides, Haruka helped. She brought a ladder to the back and helped her over.”

Rei groaned and put her face in her hands for several moments while the two sat in silence.

“What do you plan to do, Rei?”

“...I don’t know yet.” First, she would need to speak to Minako.

Chapter Text

There was something calming about listening to the sounds of nature, the birds chirping, the last of the cicadas here and there. The silence compared to the city noises of Tokyo itself made it seem like you might be in another reality. There were no cars going back and forth, no crowds of people talking and shuffling, no trains stopping and going on a specific schedule. Just some sort of peace.

And the worst part was that she had been taking Hino Rei so far away from this peace into a world of absolute chaos. It made Minako feel so sick to her stomach to think about that. Not only the lack of noise, but the sentimental value it held as well. She grew up here, her grandfather ran this shrine before her, and now she was hardly here. The upkeep she had started was falling behind.

Letting out a sigh, she pulled her knees up to her chest and leaned against one of the beams outside on the walking paths, watching a leaf fall into the water. The thrill that came with sneaking into the shrine had been so short lived as she took everything in here again. It felt so different from the very first time she had snuck in and surprised Rei.

Now everything felt completely different. She wasn’t here to learn about Rei, she was here to only hope that they could talk one last time to give at least one of them some sort of peace. Minako was so sure it wasn’t going to be hers, not with how everything was falling apart in the past week.

Her brain hadn’t shut off since she woke up in the hospital several days ago. She slept in sharp fragments. It wasn’t due to nightmares, but rather the stress of everything. Of her own life. It was so stupid how before Rei, death never terrified her. Yet now it was before her, waiting, and she still wasn’t sure what the better way to go was. The surgery and maybe live? Or just suddenly die?

Suddenly she startled as something soft landed on her and she sat up and spun around, a jacket falling from her shoulder onto her lap and her eyes following up long legs to make eye contact with Makoto.

“It’s getting cold, you know. No sense in catching a cold.” Makoto gave her a soft smile. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you, but you weren’t responding.”

“No it’s..it’s okay.” Minako picked up the jacket and recognized it as one of Rei’s. She felt hesitant to put it on, but gave in and slipped into it, getting a whiff of a smell she felt was so absent from her life now. Cinnamon and smoke from a fire.

“Want to talk? You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I just uh...sometimes the offer is nice. I don’t want to pressure you into it though, you know?” Makoto knew she was rambling a bit, but didn’t want to pressure Minako into anything.

“Talking...might be nice.” It was true she had only been speaking to mostly Natsuna and some to Haruka. Maybe an outside voice and set of thoughts was good, fresh. “What did Rei tell you?”

“Nothing, really.” Makoto took a seat down next to her, placing a cup of tea down for Minako who gratefully took a drink from it. “She said she had resigned. Didn’t say why or anything and I didn’t pry. I don’t like doing that stuff, not right, you know? Privacy is hard enough these days, though you’d know that more than anyone I suppose. Anyways, she said you’d passed out though and were in the hospital and that she quit. I called her an idiot though.”

Honestly, Minako was shocked that Rei hadn’t told Makoto anything. Nothing gave away her illness or her medication. She was so sure the woman would be in such a rage that she would let anyone and everyone know. All the same, it shouldn’t have surprised her either. Rei knew privacy was also hard for a pop idol to maintain. All it took was one slip up. One person too many.

Part of her wanted to tell Makoto about her illness, about what was going on. But she really hadn’t even told Rei about it herself, so that wasn’t right either. She hated how she put herself in this situation, had done this to herself and no one to blame but herself.

“I just..I wish she would have talked to me before disappearing. I understand things, but…”

“She panicked. Not something she really does normally, you know that. And since she ran, she didn’t really know how to go back either. And she said she needed a bit of time to think. To be honest, she hasn’t gotten much sleep over whatever is going on exactly. Don’t tell her I told you that.”

Minako played with the string of the jacket idly for a bit, thinking things over in her mind. “Are you mad at me?”

“Huh?”

“You’re close to Rei. And I’ve clearly...upset her, to say the least.”

“No, I’m not mad at you. I guess you were keeping something secret or whatever and that’s a bit frustrating, I get it. I’m sure you had a reason, but Rei’s trust is very hard to earn. And to keep. She doesn’t get close to people, you’ve seen that. So it’s a bit upsetting to see her so hurt over it. Maybe also because I don’t know all the details so I’m trying not to be biased about everything. But not mad, no. Worried about both of you, yes.”

“Is Rei mad at me?”

“No.”

The third voice startled the two women who turned around to see Rei leaned against the frame of the door. Minako looked away, too afraid to see disappointment. Sure Rei had said she wasn’t mad, but that didn’t mean anything either.

“Jesus, Rei. You can’t sneak up on people like that.” Makoto stood up, grabbing Minako’s empty tea cup in the process.

“It is my house and my room.” Rei pushed off the door frame as Makoto moved into the room. “Are you going to stay for dinner?”

“No. I have dinner plans.”

Instantly, Rei latched onto it and Makoto realized it just a moment too late. “Dinner plans ?”

“Er..that is..uh…” Makoto stumbled over her works, unable to back peddle over what she had said, had let slip.

“It’s your business. Well before you leave, will you go help Natsuna pull the guest futon out?”

“Oh uh, sure. I made some tea if you want any also.”

Minako heard Makoto leave the room and pulled the jacket closer around her. It seemed like Rei was going to give her the decency of a room to stay in, but deep down she had hoped they would stay in the same room. It wasn’t like all her other hopes and dreams hadn’t been completely crushed in the last week, so why was this anything new? Rei hadn’t so much as really addressed her.

Then suddenly she was being pulled up onto her feet and into the room. Rei was pulling her along and the feeling of Rei holding her hand...it felt so nice and yet so scary. Was she actually just kicking her out and letting Natsuna stay? Her brain was going a million miles a minute.

Suddenly she was being picked up and she let out one of the most undignified noises she had made at that and was placed on a bed. Rei’s bed. She was confused to say the least. Was Rei going to sleep in the guest bed? There were so many questions.

Minako watched as Rei walked back to the door they had all entered through and closed it before moving across the room and flicking the light out. She expected her to leave the room, but instead she crossed back and was laying down next to her. This was beyond confusing.

“No talking. Sleep. If you ask a question I will kick you to the floor.” Rei pulled the blankets over them, pulling Minako into her chest.

Minako was sure she was going to cry at that feeling, of being held so close. Being so close to the scent she had missed the past week. Reaching around she bunched Rei’s shirt in her hand to hold her close, burying her face in her chest. She couldn’t speak even if she wanted to. The last thing she recalled was Rei shifting and putting her leg over her own and then it was darkness.

Chapter Text

When she first woke up, Minako fought it, groaning a little bit. She felt so at...home. So relaxed and comfortable. The stress of the past week or two was nonexistent. Taking in a deep breath, she tucked in closer to the warmth near her, content to lay there for a moment longer. Finally, she opened her eyes and leaned back from being buried in Rei’s chest to look at her.

It was surprising to see the other woman still asleep. It was such a rare sight, even when they were together. Something about seeing her not thinking, not worrying...it always made her feel more comforted. Rei always seemed so concerned about one thing or another and she knew part of that was the job and the other part was just Rei.

Carefully, Minako reached up and cupped Rei’s cheek in her hand, gently rubbing her thumb on it enough to not wake the other woman. “I’m sorry…” the words were whispered softly before leaning up with a kiss just as soft as the word to her lips before pulling back.

Rei let out a small sound, followed by mumbling Minako’s name and tightening her grip. Minako smiled before tucking her head back under Rei’s chin and closing her eyes, soon falling back asleep. Getting what she could with the two of them as well as the rest.

When she awoke sometime later, she was alone in the bed and groaned at that. Feeling the area where Rei had been laying, it was cold, indicating she had been up for some time, but was kind enough to let Minako rest. Slowly, she sat up and moved her neck side to side, hoping to crack it with no luck. She felt rested, finally, but not rested all the same, the stress still eating at her over every little thing. Rei. The illness. Work. Living. Dying.

Her stomach growled and broke her out of her thoughts, and she rubbed her eyes before standing up. On her way out of the room, some photos on Rei’s dresser drew her attention. The day before she didn’t enter the room, only peeked in to see if the area outside was outside of her room.

The first image was of Rei as a kid, and she couldn’t help the smile that came across her face. She’d never seen her so small and to see her happy and smiling like that versus the serious face she tended to carry was a treat. Next was a woman she didn’t recognize that didn’t take too long to click. Her Mom. Rei clearly got her looks from her.

The third and last one surprised her in ways. It was one of the two of them, one she had taken a while back that Rei had initially been against, of them leaned against each other and smiling. It didn’t surprise her that Rei was old fashioned enough to print photos out, but of them warmed her heart in many ways.

Suddenly there was a raised voice outside the room, and she realized she was lingering. She stepped out and heard Natsuna on the phone.

“If I must tell you one more time that we will notify you when we are ready to resume, we will take our business elsewhere. I don’t care how big of a producer you are. I will make sure you are not as great as you believe you to be. Her health and need of rest ordered by doctors is far more important than trying to line your damn pocket. Do I make myself clear?” There was a moment of silence before she spoke up again. “Good. I will contact you when we are ready to proceed forward. If you feel we are that much of a waste of time, then let us know and we will just move to someone else. Have a good day.”

Not allowing another word, Natsuna hung the phone up and put it a bit rougher on the counter than she normally would with a sigh before realizing Minako was standing there.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“You didn’t. Was he being a pain about it all?”

“Sadly. The President will be notified about it though to make sure the point gets across.”

“I’m sure he will love that.” Minako took a seat at the table in the living room before looking around in worry.

“She went out shopping and to get some lunch. Relax.”

“Am I that predictable?”

“Rarely. Her and I have been up for a bit.”

“...How’s she doing?”

“Rougher than she lets on, I think. She got a good bit of sleep, but I think her instincts kept her from sleeping too long. She’s done a lot of small busy work. She didn’t really want to talk to be honest. Said she didn’t want to until she talked to you herself, so. I didn’t press.” Natsuna picked her phone up and moved over to sit down at the table as well.

“Mm...I feel bad I slept so long.”

“You shouldn’t for what little you’ve had as of late.” Natsuna smiled at her. “You okay?”

“I’m...terrified. I don’t know what she thinks or what she’s going to say. I-I want her to stay, even if it’s not to work for me. Everything went so wrong...I know it’s my fault for not telling her. I don’t blame her with everything that’s happened to her.”

“Well, you never know how things will go. Try not to stress it too much.” Natsuna gave her that motherly smile and a small hug before the door slid open and Rei stepped inside with a few bags in her hand.

Rei slid out of her shoes before moving into the kitchen with the bags and put food up quietly, not quite realizing that the other two were in the living room right away. She hated how her brain didn’t seem to want to shut off. Busy work mostly kept it inactive but on the walk to and from the store, she couldn’t stop the thoughts that plagued her.

Why couldn’t Minako just have said she was sick sooner? She got it...it made it more real, but it felt like a break in the trust they had in some ways.

Sleeping with her the night before had felt so right. Was something she had missed in just the few days they had been apart from one another. She had planned to talk to her yesterday but couldn’t bring herself to do that when neither of them had proper sleep. Rei worried she would come across as harsher than she intended because when she didn’t sleep well, her fuse was shorter than normal. 

Once she finished putting most of the food up she turned to the living room and almost jumped at the two of them there, Natsuna checking her phone and Minako watching her.

“I picked up lunch since I didn’t have anything here to cook.” She could tell her voice was tight, but hopefully not enough that the others noticed as she picked a bag up and moved to the table across from Minako. She pulled out three boxes of variety sushi and sat them down with chopsticks for everyone.

They both thanked her as they started to eat in silence. And they sat just like that, quietly aside from the sounds of chopsticks and chewing.

Right until Rei suddenly looked up and made a sound of annoyance.

“What’s wrong?” Minako thought maybe she didn’t like the silence, that she had offended her by sitting quietly to eat.

“Just…stay put. Don’t move. Stay quiet.” Without any further explanation, Rei got up and went to the front door that was just out of sight of where they were sitting at, sliding it open.

“Go away.”

“It’s rude to not invite a guest in, Rei.”

Rei let out a growl as she held her ground. “What the hell do you want now? Can’t you see I’m trying to eat lunch?”

The man scoffed. “Hardly. From what I’ve heard, you’ve kept yourself rather busy and in the light.” Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out a photo and shoved it at her. It was from the concert where Minako had passed away. And unless you really knew Rei, you would never suspect it to be her.

“What, you fancy photos of random people?” She put a face on, something she had become rather good at over the years.

“Don’t play a fool. I know that’s you, playing bodyguard for a stupid idol.”

Rei fought back her own temper hard. “I don’t have time for such a job. It’s too loud, idols are too annoying, and I’m too busy fixing the shrine up for that kind of work. And even if I was, what business is it to you?”

“Rei, don’t be stupid. I’m your father and I demand you respect me as such. Why in the hell are you playing around like this?”

“I’m not! That’s not me! And you don’t deserve respect! You’re no father to me.” She hissed the words out, gripping the door hard, debating on slamming it in his face.

“ENOUGH.” Her father’s voice boomed through the shrine, sending a few birds off flying. “You will stop this foolishness. I’m giving you a chance to stop it now or I will make sure you have a miserable life.”

“Oh, that’s REAL professional. Threatening your daughter. Leave the shrine now. ” With that, Rei slammed the door hard, hearing it grind against the track as she kept her hand in place to keep it from bouncing back open.

Her father said something through the door she didn’t care to hear, but she didn’t move until she knew he left. She let out a scream of frustration and buried her face in her hands and slid down against the wall. This was becoming more of a nightmare than she could ever predict.

Minako had been terrified listening to the conversation on the other side of the wall. That was her…father? She had seen the photos of the two of them at formal events online way back when she went to hire the woman and knew Rei disliked him, but…this? This was too much.

It was breaking her heart that she was the cause of this incident and she stared down at the table, fighting back tears. After a moment of composing herself, she stood up and walked into the entrance way, where Rei was still on the floor, face in her hands. Without a word, she pulled Rei into her arms.

Rei didn’t even try to fight it as she held onto Minako’s arms, burying her face into the woman’s shoulder. She wasn’t crying, but Minako could tell she was distraught. 

“Rei…I…” What was she supposed to say? Sorry?

“Don’t.” The word was curt. She wasn’t blaming Minako for this.

Minako couldn’t help the guilt that was still eating at her over the matter. If she hadn’t been sick, if an incident hadn’t happened…a lot of ifs she couldn’t change. “I mean…what do you think he could do?”

Rei pulled her face away and pushed her hair out of her face. “There’s no telling with that man. He has a lot more pull than people realize. Don’t worry about it.” She pulled herself up and Minako followed suit.

Walking back into the living room, Rei eyed her own lunch, but her appetite was gone, so she opted to cover it up and put it into the fridge, surprised when Minako did the same. Natsuna had finished hers up.

“Hey Rei, is it okay if I walk about the shrine?” Natsuna was clearly offering to give them space.

“I...would avoid the front. I don’t know what my father is up to, and I’d rather he didn’t see people walking about. The back should be fine if that’s what you want.” It was true that she didn’t know what her father was up to and that was eating away at her.

“Fair enough. I think I’ll stay inside to keep it safe. I’m going to the guest room to do some work off my computer though for the time being. Call me if you need something.”

Rei watched her walk and disappear before gathering the food and either putting it away or throwing away the trash. She must have stood in one place for a while because suddenly she felt a hand touching her shoulder.

“Can we go to your bedroom? I..don’t want to risk him being out there and all..”

Minako was worried and it was clear it was more for Rei than herself. There was some relief in that, that someone actually cared. Sighing, she nodded and the two moved back to the room. She took a seat at the desk in her room that had been in there since she was younger and still in school. Minako took a seat on the bed.

“Don’t let him bother you. Whatever he’s planning is stupid and shouldn’t bother anyone very much. Most of his threats tend to be empty handed…”

“Like denying his daughter archery sponsorships?”

“...Most.” This wasn’t about him, she needed to….had to change the subject at hand. “Mina...why didn’t you just tell me you were sick? You didn’t even have to say you were…” Rei trailed her sentence off, unable to say dying out loud. It was too real again.

“I...found it...find it?” There was no real way to phrase this. “Easier to hide. If I didn’t tell people and no one was constantly lingering me over it, then it was like it wasn’t real. I didn’t want it to be real. I was finally becoming so happy with my life after my parents made me miserable for a long time. Enough to escape to London for a while…”

“You were in London?” What else didn’t Rei know of her?

“Not for super long. Like a month. I convinced my manager to let me go over for a trial run. Help boost my ‘international popularity’ and all that. It worked. Anyways...I don’t want you to think I was trying to really hide it from you. I just don’t think about it, not until something happens. Then I forget because nothing does happen for a while. It felt easier that way.”

“So you were supposed to what? Just...up and die one day with no one else knowing?”

“Outside of Haruka and Natsuna? Yeah. And the only reason they even got to know was because Haruka drove me to appointments and Natsuna had to get my medication. An idol going to a pharmacy is asking for trouble in more than one way.”

Minako wasn’t talking in a way that was blowing off the conversation, Rei could tell. Maybe to someone outside it was, but it was the way she probably always talked about it. Like it wasn’t life ending.

“Minako. You can’t just... ignore something like this.” She threw her hands up a little in frustration. “You going away is going to ruin and get rid of jobs for everyone who works for you. What then?”

“They get a percentage of my royalties via my contract. They would never have to work again.”

“This isn’t about the money!” She hadn’t meant to raise her voice, but she was frustrated. “No one cares about the money in this situation! Everyone cares about you . Not the idol. They care about Aino Minako! You got close with every single person in your office, they know you. They know how you work. They know what you want. They care so deeply about you that they work day in and out without question, especially when it’s time for a CD release or a music video! Not because of the product, because they like you. Why can’t you see that?!”

Minako looked stunned to say the least. Maybe it was the raised voice. Hopefully it was what she had said.

“You think that Haruka is gonna like you not bantering back and forth in car rides across town? You think Natsuna won’t miss your stupid crazy schedule she gets to deal with day in and day out because she gets a chance to see and talk to you? She sees you as her own daughter, Minako. Because she hasn’t ever had one, you are the closest she has. How much do you think it will hurt her to lose you? When she knows you’ve been ill, knows you have been denying surgery. When she has seen you laid out in hospital beds!”

It was like a slap in the face to hear everything about everyone. To hear how Natsuna felt about her even though it was obvious. It was a thought she had many a time: Natsuna was a better mother to her than her own could ever wish or hope to be. And she was tossing that away. Had been tossing it away for years right in the woman’s face.

Minako broke eye contact to look down at her hands in pure shame. In all her years, she’d never thought about the emotional consequences of her being gone forever. It went back in a loop: that made it too real. And now reality was here to put her in her place.

“I…” She fought back a sob and tears. 

“And..what about me, Minako? Was I supposed to just...pretend like nothing happened? Go about, fix the shrine, live life okay?” It pained Minako to hear the hurt in Rei’s voice. “You know I’ve faced this more than once already.”

“I was afraid you’d leave if you knew.” The truth finally spilled out. This wasn’t about it being too real. This was fear. “Because y-you’d already lost your mother and grandfather. I thought if I told you ‘by the way I’m dying’ you’d just...go away forever. Especially after we got together.”

“Didn’t you trust me to stay?”

Hesitating, Minako looked up at Rei, still fighting back the tears as she twisted her hands together. “I should have. You’d hurt so much already, I didn’t want to add to it. I thought maybe I had been okay this long that nothing would happen. Then it suddenly was getting worse.”

She watched as Rei stood up and sat down next to her on the bed, taking her hands and prying them apart. She had made dents in her skin from her nails pressing in so hard. “It hurts that you didn’t tell me and that this was how I had to find out. And it hurts to know none of it would have happened if you would have just taken the surgery on before.”

“I’m...I…” Finally the tears fell as the guilt ate at her heart. Even if she didn’t live another day, Rei was going to have to live with this knowledge the rest of her life.

“Stop apologizing. Saying sorry doesn’t fix what’s been done to me or anyone else that knows.” Minako was sure Rei was angry with her, about to end it all. Maybe it would be better that way. “If you want to fix this, you stop pretending it’s not real. You take the literal last chance you’ve been given, and you have this stupid surgery.”

“And what if I die from that?”

“You would have died trying and I could live better knowing that. Everyone could. Rather than being a stupid idiot and ignoring it any further when you know it’s only gotten worse. Will it still hurt if you don’t make it? Yes. But not as much as it would knowing you were too stubborn. If you refuse this surgery, Mina...That’s it. We’re done. Personally and work. I just...can’t.”

Fear tore through her at the thought of living her last days without Rei there now. Even if they were just work relationships, part of her had become so attached to Rei beside her every single day. Nevermind that they had hooked up.

Rei shifted and knelt to the floor in front of Minako’s vision, not letting her escape. It hurt to see the other woman so upset and she hated being this blunt, but someone had to say it. Someone had to save her.

“I’m going to ask you once. There’s no changing your mind once you answer. If you go back on your word either way, that’s it. It’s either now, or it’s going to be too late. Are you going to have the surgery?”

It was such a loaded question to ask. And she had to cover bases. If Minako said yes now and then denied it, she would leave. If she said no and had it later, it would be too late. Rei would leave. Leaving would be hard to do, it would hurt for a very long time, but she needed to do what she could for her sake and Minako’s sake.

“What’s your answer, Mina?”

She knew she would have to answer this question soon, but she wasn’t expecting to have to answer it this day. It had been a whirlwind of chaos since the day before that hadn’t slowed down, but how much longer could she ignore it anyways? It was time to face facts: yes or no. A single word would determine her own future and the future of those around her. No pressure.

“I…” Minako stumbled over her words some as she tried to find the right way to say it. “S-Sorry give me a second.” Pulling one hand free, she wiped at her face, trying to somewhat compose herself. She hoped it didn’t appear that she was trying to delay answering, but she was trying to really come across as clear as possible.

She was thankful when Rei moved and returned with some tissues, resuming her spot on the floor. After cleaning her face up some, she cleared her throat. “I’m supposed to have it in two weeks, the surgery...as long as pre-op doesn’t have any complications.”

It was still awkward to say she was having the surgery outloud. She had agreed before even seeing Rei. The woman’s voice was nagging in the back of her mind about it and even if Rei never agreed to see her again, she couldn’t live knowing Rei might regret not doing something.

Instantly she saw Rei’s shoulders drop with relief before leaning up to pull Minako into a tight hug, the woman’s voice suddenly strained, like she had been holding back everything in true Hino Rei fashion. “Thank you.”

Rei no longer had to live not knowing. There was still the risk the surgery didn’t work or that she didn’t even make it past it...but Minako was trying. It was late, very late, but it was something. Maybe the gods we’re finally giving her some mercy. “I’m glad.”

After a few moments of holding her, Rei pulled away with a weak smile, the tired taking over her body. It was pointless to try and hide how tired she felt with everything that had been happening at this point.

Suddenly she heard hurried footsteps in the hallway and looked confused before pulling away to slide open the door to her room only to see Makoto back again, down the hallway. “Makoto?”

“Your Dad’s gone mental Rei. He just announced to the news reporters downstairs that you’re Minako’s bodyguard and he’s the one that got you hired.”

So much for mercy from the gods. “Fuck my life.”

Chapter Text

Minako didn’t understand what was going on at first. Everything had seemed okay, things were calming down, getting better. Then just like that, they were ripped away from Rei once again. Standing up from the bed, she watched her mutter something under her breath and move to the outside. She wasn’t sure what to do, what was best. Did she go and comfort her? First she needed a plan.

For that, she looked to Makoto, who looked equally as concerned. “He said he had me hire her?”

“Yeah. I was on my way over to work in the garden and walked past one of those tv stores that always show the news and he was there talking to the reporters. I could tell it was right down from the shrine. Said he got her hired and that he knew you personally. He had come by to check on her once the photo got out. Bunch of other bullshit…”

Minako’s rare temper flared and she was going to destroy Rei’s father. For now, she had to deal with Rei herself. Just as she started to step outside to say something, Rei turned and punched one of the columns to the shrine hard.

“Rei! Stop!” She hated that she wasn’t fast enough to stop the second strike either, but before a third, she had grabbed her hand and turned her around. To see Rei crying over this...it hurt in so many ways.

“He’s always got to ruin everything! If he can’t have it his way, he’d rather make that person suffer! I hate him!”

“I know, Rei.” Gently, she tugged her back into the room and motioned for Makoto to give them some privacy. Leading Rei to the bed, she sat her down to look at her hand and frowned, grabbing some of the tissues to dab away blood from the ripped skin. “You understand that I’m not going to let him win this one, right?”

“What’s it matter?”

“It matters to me.” Her voice was firm, as firm as Rei’s had been moments before over the surgery. “The way I see it, we have two options to fix this. The first is you stay and work on the shrine in visible areas and Natsuna is your stand in. It’s worked before with the music video, but the risk is that my real bodyguard isn’t there. The other option is we admit the truth to the public.”

“The truth?” Rei winced as she cleaned the wound up.

“Hold on, let me get something to clean this up better. Do you have a first aid kit?”

“In my bathroom…”

Nodding, Minako moved and looked for the medical kit under the sink, finding it quickly. It was ironic that she was here patching Rei up after that time she had re-wrapped her foot when she sprained it. Moving back into the bedroom, she sat back on the floor and cleaned it up before bandaging it. “We should ice it later…”

“Mm…” Rei pulled her hand away gently and cradled it, seeming almost detached now that the anger had faded.

“Reiko…” This time, Minako moved up onto the bed next to her, making sure to sit on the side with her non-injured hand and held it. “We can tell them the truth...that it is you as my bodyguard.”

“That sounds like it’s going to cause a bunch of other problems. We’ve avoided that this whole time.”

“Well here’s the thing..before, it wasn’t out there as a possibility. And even if we use the Natsuna angle, they’re still gonna be watching you for a while just to make sure. I feel like you not being there will stress both of us out. And it’s gonna be hard in general to see one another. So we...have a press conference.”

“A live one?!” Rei seemed mortified at the thought of being on live TV. Though she had been a nationally ranked archer and on TV, it wasn’t directly ever aimed at her.

“Yes, Rei. A live one. We tell them that you do work for me as my bodyguard. But that your father in no way had anything to do with it. That he’s a liar. I want to call him out for who he is. Someone needs to put him into his place and I think this is the perfect chance.”

Rei had to fight to clench her fists, knowing it would hurt, not to mention Minako was holding her hand. How much was she going to let her father control her life? Let him keep going away with it? She trusted Minako, despite all that had gone on with her illness.

“What are we even supposed to say?”

“Well we first say he had nothing to do with you getting hired. Next we say that if he was that concerned of a father figure, he would be helping out with the shrine and not let it be closed for so long.”

“The..the shrine. If we tell them..” She was torn. She grew up here, and doing this was asking to have to leave it.

“I..know. I’m sorry, it’s not a good option. Maybe we should stick with Natsuna posing as you.” Minako couldn’t handle Rei losing her home.

“I just..I need a bit to think about it, please.”

“Of course. We don’t have to do this today by any means, but sooner will be better with my surgery.”

She made some non-committal noise, the worries eating away at her again. For a split second, everything was okay in her life. Even when she didn’t know if Minako would make it, it was okay. Moving to stand up, she pushed her injured hand down on the bed to stand up before hissing and sitting back down.

“Ah! Are you okay?”

“I..I’m…” She wanted to lie, say she was fine. Put on the face she did every time, but something in her broke. “No.”

“W-we should get it looked at.” Minako was overly concerned and it was sweet. Rei tried to bend her fingers again, finding herself unable to with a frown as the pain radiated through her hand.

“It’s not like we can go out right now. The press is down there waiting for me to pop out.”

“I know a doctor.” Both girls jumped at the extra voice and looked up to see Makoto at the door, frowning. “Honestly, Rei. Anyways, I can probably get her to come look at it, if you don’t mind. She doesn’t know about the whole thing anyways and she’s always down to help others. It’s her day off so she’s available. I can call her real quick.”

Rei racked her brain, trying to think of what doctor Makoto knew that well. Sure she worked at the hospital, but she’d never been that close to anyone there. Just friendly.

“Do it.” Minako spoke up on her behalf and it surprised Rei. “Please. I-if she doesn’t mind it, I mean.”

“..Alright. I’ll be back within the hour. I think…” Makoto seemed to pause, thinking. “She said somethin’ about elevate it above your heart?”

“Noted.” Minako nodded and Makoto left. “Well you heard her, lay down, I guess…” She helped Rei to get comfortable on the bed. “I’ll go grab some ice.”

“I don’t have any. I haven’t really been here so I didn’t put any trays in the freezer.”

Minako pressed her lips into a thin line before standing up. “I’ll do that then. Think you can message Makoto be grab like..an ice bag or something? Maybe her friend has something?”

“I’ll give her a call, sure.” Minako had forgotten for a fraction of a second that Rei didn’t like to text, never mind trying to do it with a single hand. Nodding, she moved into the kitchen, filling the ice trays with water and carefully placing them in the almost empty freezer with a frown.

This was Rei’s home and yet she was never here anymore. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind and moved back into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed, offering a small smile to the other woman.

“You okay?”

“You asked that like five minutes ago, Mina.” Rei was joking, which was always a good sign. She reached forward to tuck some hair behind Rei’s ear.

“Well you can be temperamental at times.” She trailed her hand along the woman’s cheek gently. “I-I missed you.”

Rei’s face softened a little bit as she reached up and intertwined their fingers together. “Idiot...I missed you too.”

And they sat in silence like that together, Minako gently humming while Rei lay with her eyes closed, just barely keeping from falling asleep. It felt so right .

After 45 minutes, there was noise outside in the living room and two voices. Makoto had come back. Slowly, Rei sat up, leaning against Minako without thinking about it.

“Well maybe she didn’t break it. It’s possible it’s just very swollen or a fracture. It’s going to be hard to say without an x-ray.”

That voice was so...familiar?

“Ami!?”

“Minako? Rei?”

“Uh…”

The room seemed to sit still, Makoto being the only one lost.

“How do you--I...Uh.” Makoto looked back and forth between the two girls and Ami.

Minako hadn’t expected her own doctor and surgeon to show up of all people. The odds of it...in such a city like Tokyo no less.

“I would hope it’s not you, Minako.”

“N-No.” Composing herself she gestured to Rei’s hand before looking at the still confused Makoto. “She’s my doctor.”

Rei had been just as surprised for it to be Ami, one of the few who knew just who Minako’s bodyguard was. It was important for her to know, they decided, should something happen. She watched as Makoto walked over and sat the medical bag next to Ami and it was like something clicked as she looked up at the taller woman.

Raising her good hand, she pointed at Ami while the woman got situated on the floor to look at her hands and mouthed ‘Dinner plans?’.

Instantly, Makoto turned a light shade of red and broke eye contact. Caught red handed. Rei felt happy for her, she did. But still, it was a surprise.

“I’m still going to recommend you go see a doctor's office when you get a chance, Rei. I can’t do anything without scans properly.” Ami carefully undid the wrapping job that Minako had done and everyone in the room seemed to wince at once, except Ami, at the black and blue forming already across her knuckles.

“Well...you certainly didn’t restrain.” It was one of those backhanded remarks that Ami was good at dishing out without being so direct as to make it seem like an insult. “I’m going to press around to see where it’s the worst. Try not to jerk your hand away and let me know where it starts to hurt.”

First she started at the tips of her fingers, not problem there. Then she moved down past her first knuckle and Rei winced a tiny bit about half way down. “T-There. It hurts a little bit. Like maybe a three or a four?”

Ami made a small noise as she continued down past that knuckle. “Ouch! Seven!” Then past that to right below the knuckles on her hand. Instinctively Rei jerked her hand away and let out a strangled noise, gripping at her hand.

The room was quiet as Ami waited for Rei to relent and let go of her hand with a soft apology. “It’s okay. You didn’t do any damage and I know where it’s the worst. I would say you really should get an x-ray done just to be sure it’s not fractured at the very least. You can bend your fingers just a little bit so I don’t think anything is broken, but it’s best if we keep it still. I think it’s done swelling up for now…”

Ami dug into her bag and passed Minako two ice packs she had been requested to deliver. “You can keep these, I have a ton at the house. It will help with the swelling to get it down some. Wrap them in a towel and never apply directly. Now I can’t do a cast here, clearly, but I’m going to do a splint instead. You’ll need to limit movement and usage to keep from doing any more damage and this way it will heal better. As for medicine, take something over the counter for the pain for now. If it gets to where it’s really bad, you can call my office and we can go from there. I’d rather wait till you’ve seen someone properly though.”

Once again, the woman started to dig into a bag and pulled out a brace and a glove. “The glove will keep it from rubbing your skin too much. I find it helps a lot and people are more likely to keep it on.” She helped Rei put the glove on carefully before putting the splint on and pulling it tightly. It immobilized her thumb as well and kept her from bending her knuckles.

“I’m serious about a doctor, Rei.”

“I will, I promise. Thank you. What do I owe you?”

“Nothing for a friend of a friend.” Ami gave her a smile as she stood back up. “Besides, it’s not like you ask much of me. Though I’m surprised you weren’t at Minako’s last visit.”

“Ah..I…”

The words died on her lips a little and she frowned before Minako spoke up.

“She was busy. Can’t always have her dragging me around places.”

“I suppose that’s true. Do you need anything else? It’s getting late.”

“No, thank you again though.” Rei gave her a smile as the woman packed her kit back up.

“Of course. Please take care...both of you.” Ami eyed them both very carefully before Makoto cleared her throat.

“I’ll walk you home, it’s getting dark and all that.”

“Thank you, Makoto.”

Still a bit red in the face, Makoto nodded and the two left the room and the shrine.

Minako felt her shoulders relax when Ami finally left. It wasn’t that the woman stressed her out, it was that she was used to associating her with her own illness. She looked at Rei, who was still leaning against her.

“You okay?”

“Sore if anything. I think the brace is helping already.” The woman was clearly tired in more than one way. The only time she thought she had seen Rei look like this was back after the music video when she was so sick.

“You should try and get some rest, I think.”

“...Will you lay with me? Just for a bit?” Rei said it so quietly, Minako almost missed it. It was so...sweet and sad at the same time.

“Of course.”

The two adjusted and Rei was laying more into Minako for once, braced arm laying across Minako’s stomach. Minako slowly ran her fingers through Rei’s hair, quietly humming to quiet both of their minds. If she thought too much, she worried Rei would sense it and not rest.

After only a few moments, Rei fell asleep and Minako still didn’t move for a while. Slowly, she pulled herself off of the bed and covered the other woman up carefully, making sure she wouldn’t wake up.

Hitting the light on her way out of the room, she moved down the hall to where Natsuna was, and boy was the woman silently fuming.

“Is murder still illegal?”

“I’m afraid so, Natsuna. You heard?”

“I looked it up after Makoto said it. Honestly, what an ass! Trying to make himself look like such a good guy to the public!” Huffing, she fought to tone her voice down quieter. “Is Rei okay?”

“Mm...no, I don’t think so. Hand aside, this seemed to hit her pretty hard and I’m at a loss. I told her we could just admit it...but there’s so much risk for the shrine in that. I don’t want people flooding her because of me. Other option was you as a stand in for who knows how long while people watch to see if it’s true or not.”

“Well that wouldn’t last, you know that. If something did happen, she’d never forgive herself.” Natsuna sighed. “Maybe this will keep him away at the very least while we figure something out.”

“Rei just needs time to rest and think. She’s sharp.” Minako moved into the room and sat down.

“..It’s really eating at you, isn’t it? Him?”

“...Yeah. She never really talked about him before, you know? I knew she didn’t like him, but I never knew it was so bad. Makes me wonder if I really know her.”

“Some people just don’t like to talk about some things. And you know how she is about her privacy, Minako.”

“Yeah I guess.” Still, it bothered her that even if Rei had come to her about it, what was she going to ever do? Up until now, her father had no idea they worked together.

“I wanted to see if I could go out to get us some dinner or at least get it ordered to the stairs below. Rei is in no way to even try to cook if she wanted. Anything in particular you want?”

“I don’t know. I’m not really hungry to be honest…”

“Well I’ll get something anyways. You both need to eat. Seems like you’ll need a lot of energy for this fight ahead.”

Minako nodded as Natsuna talked nonsense to her while ordering them something. She felt so out of her own depth for the very first time since she started the entire idol business. Before now, she got comfortable in finding ways to make things work for her, in her favor. Charming someone was a good way, but there was no charming the devil that was Rei’s father. No, she had to charm the people in a way to kept Rei safe too.

And the rest of the day seemed to go that way. In some weird limbo of no one wanting to talk about the issue at hand. Even with Rei awake, she seemed out of it. They talked a little bit about getting Rei to a doctor by jumping the fence in the back, but Rei wanted to wait it out another day or two for safety. Plus Haruka said they were unavailable because of being out with Michiru on a date night they had been waiting to have all month.

Rei felt better after a full night of sleep, and another night with Minako in her arms didn’t hurt either. Her hand was hurting a fair bit, but some over the counter medicine helped to make it more bearable. It was frustrating that her right hand was limited in how she could use it, but thankfully she was able to use her left hand fairly well.

Her original plan had been to do work around the shrine where she could, but her own temper put an end to that. At least until she could see a doctor to determine how bad the damage was. Minako had made that very clear and it was hard to argue. Instead they were all sat around the table in the living room, doing their own thing. Right up until there was a noise outside.

Rei lifted her head up from her book in confusion. “Stay here. I’m going to see what the hell this is all about. Keep quiet.” Not wanting to draw any further attention to her working for Minako, she made sure everyone believed she was staying there alone. Standing up, she stopped to slide on some shoes before walking outside and walking around a corner to the noise.

She was met face to face with a group of reporters, cameras, and in true awful fashion, her father. A roulette of emotions ran through her: angry, frustration, sadness, confusion.

“Rei! You didn’t forget we agreed to do an interview after our talk yesterday, now did you? Why don’t you go get cleaned up a bit, hm? We can wait another 30 minutes.”

If that group of reporters wouldn’t have caught it on camera, Rei probably would have tackled the man to the ground and strangled him. This was not the plan. There wasn’t even a plan yet! Rei fought to keep the panic off her face, fought for her brain to say something, anything. Not to just stand here like an idiot.

All she could find herself doing was nodding and walking back into the house quietly before sinking down against the door in a silent panic.

“Rei? What’s going on?” Minako kept her voice down as she walked to the entrance way and all Rei could do was look up at her in horror.

“He brought them here for an interview.”

Rage was the only thing Minako could feel at that moment. Hadn’t he done enough damage!? He was determined to run this one into the ground. Minako felt her jaw clench hard. They clearly wouldn’t have enough time for a plan. And even if they snuck out the back, he probably wouldn’t let up about it and make it in his favor somehow.

“He’s gone mental. You don’t have to go out there. This is all a game for him, Rei.” Stay cool. She had to stay cool about the matter. They didn’t need to play into his hand.

Rei must of had enough time to think about what to do as she slowly stood up and looked at Minako with such conviction.

“Get cleaned up. He wants a damn interview, he will get one. But it won’t be the one he wants. He’s going to get a show, Aino Minako style.” Without another word, Rei moved past her into her room.

It was a gamble to do this. Rei knew that, but this gamble was better than following whatever game he was trying to play. He wanted to play baseball? They would come out swinging for the fences. Reaching into her closet she pulled one of her suits out and got changed, cleaned up. She looked the role she played daily for work: The Bodyguard. It was like Minako had said the night before, it was time to put him in his place. It was nerve wracking to think about, doing a live interview like this, something she never had to do before. And she knew this was essentially going to make her give her home up.

Other people could run the shrine, it would be taken care of. It was time she put herself first for once. Put her father down in the ground where he belonged. She wasn’t ever really there to begin with, not while working. She did love the shrine, but she could hear her grandfather in the back of her mind: ‘Sometimes being happy doesn’t mean doing what we once loved the most. Sometimes we find something that makes us happier.’

It was time for Hino Takeshi to go down, time for Minako to shine. Time for Hino Rei to finally be happy.