Ami Mizuno made her way through the crowd, mostly unaware of the stir she generated. Her blue hair was cut boyishly short, going well with the dark boy's school uniform she had been wearing for the past few months. Looking up she saw Haruka and Michiru walking together, and after a moment of nervousness she picked up her pace.
"Good morning," Ami smiled over at the two of them slightly as she matched her pace with both young women. Their expressions were just priceless, both mildly startled by her actions. Ami began to get a little worried, wondering if she had misunderstood their invitation yesterday, until Michiru smiled at her sunnily.
"Good Morning, Ami," Michiru's voice was soft and gentle, her waves of green hair flowing around her face..
"Morning," Haruka agreed with a crisp nod of her sandy haired head, and the three of them walked on together, talking quietly.
Later that day Michiru stopped by the nurse's office to visit with Setsuna, smiling slightly as she sat across from her and reported what had happened that morning. "The whole school's talking about it," Michiru shook her head, "Ami hasn't been associating with anyone, so her talking to us seems to be big news."
"Our Miss Mizuno likes to be unpredictable," Setsuna noted, the black haired woman sitting back a bit in her chair.
Michiru chuckled softly, "I was waylaid by a small mod of young ladies in the ladies room, who seemed rather perturbed I was talking to 'their' Ami-sama." She smirked, "That, and they wanted me to introduce them to her."
"I'm sure that would go over well," Setsuna noted as she finished preparing some tea.
Michiru sat forward as her voice dropped a bit to ask, "Have you ever seen Ami visit her locker in the morning?"
Setsuna looked at her curiously, "No."
"Love letters," Michiru smirked, "lots of love letters."
A slip of paper was sticking out the slots in the locker's door, and Ami had pulled it out cautiously. Scented, with cute little hearts, and in a pink envelope it was clearly a love letter from a girl. Blushing furiously Ami had sat it down by her book bag and then pulled open the locker door. Dozens of letters cascaded from the locker and the blue haired girl scrambled to catch them all as they settled around her feet.
"I was a bit disappointed when she just threw all of the love letters out, though," Michiru said with a cute little pout.
"That doesn't really surprise me," Setsuna took a drink of tea, "from what I understand Ami had always been a solitary person before she met Usagi and the others, and it's a pattern of behavior she reverted to after their deaths."
A little smile appeared on Michiru's face, "Maybe so, but Ami approached us this morning. I'd say she's making some progress."
"I'm glad," Setsuna smiled as the bell rang and Michiru left with a wave.
Ami felt a degree of nervousness as she looked around the gym, the fencing gear being distributed to the various students as a small crowd settled down in the stands. In her boy's school uniform she limbered up her arm, looking up to see who would be her opponents, and sighed as she saw a senior moving through the crowd towards her.
Haruka raised an eyebrow, "Not happy to see me?"
"I've seen you fight before," a smiling Ami said to her dryly, "so I'm really not looking forward to losing later on."
"We'll see," was Haruka's smiling answer.
The teacher briefed them on the rules, then moved to pair them off for the initial matches. Ami ended up against a young man, his eyes narrowed as he looked at her intensely. "Yes?" Ami raised an eyebrow at him.
"I'm going to enjoy this," he smirked as he put the face mask on.
Ami raised her foil without answering him, calmly meeting his confident gaze until he faltered slightly. She swept in, her sword flashing, and made the first point of the match. She focused entirely on the match, the rhythm of the flashing swords, and was mildly surprised when a voice loudly declared her the winner.
Michiru smiled to herself slightly as she watched the matches continue on. Haruka swiftly rose through the ranks, but quite surprisingly Ami was also ascending through the ranks quickly. She felt the figure settle beside her and smiled over at Setsuna to softly say, "I don't think Ami realizes just how good she is at this."
"We've seen how well she handles that sword in battle," Setsuna murmured back, "but I was curious to see if that ability would carry over as Ami."
Around them a small army of young ladies was watching the fencing matches eagerly. Whenever Ami scored a point they sighed happily, and if someone actually scored a point on her they looked clearly furious. The participants for the final match were called out, and they watched as Ami and Haruka walked to the ring together.
"This could get messy," Michiru noted. At Setsuna's frown she continued, "Haruka does not like to lose, so she'll be going all out."
"I don't know Ami that well yet," Setsuna looked down at Ami preparing herself, "but I suspect that much the same applies to her."
Haruka smiled slightly, looking over at Ami. "You know, I think I was almost expecting this to happen," she said quietly.
Ami quite surprisingly smiled, "I wasn't." She slid the protective face mask on as she added, "May the best woman win."
Haruka slid her own mask on, "You got it."
Two swords were raised in guard position, and the two stood still at statues gazing at each other. They moved suddenly, swords flashing, and the blades rang together. Back and forth they moved, testing each other with feints and strikes. A touch was made on Ami first, then she recovered to score on Haruka in return. They were face to face as the swords were tangled together, intently gazing into each other's eyes.
"You're good," Haruka's voice was soft.
"Thank you," was Ami's quiet answer.
"But not quite good enough," Haruka moved like a shot, tangling Ami's blade in her own and smoothly forcing it upwards before striking to end their tie!
A long moment of dead silence, then the clapping began. Many of the young women seemed sad that Ami had lost, watching worriedly as she slid her protective mask off and ran a hand through her short, sweaty hair. Wiping that hand on her pants she stepped towards Haruka.
"Nice move," Ami offered her hand with a smile.
"Thanks," Haruka shook the hand firmly. She smiled slightly down at Ami, "If you want, I can show you that move."
"I'd like that," Ami answered. They walked together towards the stands where Setsuna and Michiru were sitting, looking oddly relieved. "What?" she asked the two curiously.
"We were wondering if we were going to have to go over there and break up a fight," Michiru said to them dryly. She smiled slightly at Ami, "You took that rather well."
"There's always the next time," Ami answered serenely.
"I should have guessed," Setsuna murmured. She looked at Ami, "I was wondering where you developed your gift for the sword?"
Ami's face seemed to shut down. Quietly she said, "I didn't. I seem to have received the skills when I was given Endymion's sword." There was a long moment of silence, then Ami continued "I'd better go shower before my next class."
"Open mouth, insert foot," Setsuna murmured as Ami quietly walked away.
Michiru took Haruka's hand in her own, squeezing it gently as Ami disappeared into the locker room. She looked thoughtful, "If Endymion gave her those fighting skills, I wonder if the other Senshi might have granted her certain gifts as well?"
"Good question," Haruka mused.
To be continued...