After The Rain Came... cpt 3

Ami sat on her bed, in her room, and hugged herself tightly, her breath coming out in shuddering waves. The feel of Mako so close... so..so... It brought back too many memories she didn't want. Memories she had been trying to forget.

Mako didn't want her, she knew that. But..if she knew that, then why did she come if Mako was sure to show up as well? The pain hurt so much, so much more then it had all those years ago.

Tears welled in the Sailer Senshi's aqua eyes and she buried her face in her hands, sobbing, her body lurching with the force.

After a few moments, she calmed somewhat and sat there, sniffling pathetically on the bed. Suddenly, Tom walked into the room and straight into the bathroom, as if not noticing that his girlfriend was sniffling with dried tears on her face. Well, with all the sweat in the bath she had been in, her tears could've been just condensed steam rolling down her cheeks, but anyone close to her would recognize the look of grief in Ami's eyes.

Haruka was too busy growling at Mako downstairs to notice the look of muted pain in the brown haired girls eyes. "She *sat* on you?!"

"..I don't think she knew I was going to be there, haruka."

"Doesn't matter! Didn't you GUESS someone was in there with you?!"

"‘Course I did, but I figured it was you, or Usagi, or even Rei. NOT Ami! She came a day early!"

Haruka sighed and sat heavily on the small couch Usagi had and looked up at the ceiling. "Things are going to get SO confusing around here.."

"Yep."

Usagi returned home to a very quiet household. All the seishi, inner and outer, were sitting quietly in her living room, Tom was outside talking to Mamoru and Mako and Ami were sitting as far apart as they could.

"I see everyone's here." She said cheerfully, keeping a false smile plastered on her face. "Ami-chan! So nice to see you again!"

Ami smiled back and nodded, "Hai, Usagi-chan."

"Um...Usagi, I need to talk with you." Haruka coughed out, standing from her place beside Michiru and took Usagi by the elbow, dragging the other woman out.

A few moments later, Usagi reentered with Haruka, face crimson and she apologized profoundly to both Ami and Mako. Ami just turned fire-red and bowed her head. Mako didn't respond at all, juist looked silently at Ami.

Rei pushed her glasses up her nose and tried to smile. "All right, after that little ‘incident'... why don't we all go have some tea?"

Everyone agreed and Rei started making the tea in Usagi's very large kitchen. Minako started chatting about her newest acting job and Michiru started a conversation with her about voice pitches. Usagi, Mako and Haruka got into a deep talk about the goverment and future plans for Japan. Ami herself sat there, very bored as Chibi-Usa and Hotaru giggled beside her about some cute boy in their neighborhood.

Ami took out her scetch pad and began drawing everyone and everything in the room. Michiru and Minako were both lounging on a couch, Haruka, Mako and Usagi arguing silently in a corner, with two giggling little Seishi seatd right next to the sad looking short haired girl. A small door showed Rei busy in the kitchen.

This was all a rough draft, of course, everyone was just circles and eyes, with folds pretending to be clothes and mouths open or smiling, whatever the person was doing right at that moment.

Studying the picture, Ami decided to start on Makoto first, going into detail of the girls clothing, expression, hair being slightly damp, hand flipping her ponytail, eyes glittering, yet with a tint of loss. She began teasing in the shading of her face and body as Rei came in and announced everything was ready.

"None for me, thanks," Ami said distractedly as she kept shading makos face just so, making her lips seem fuller, cheekbones more accented, body more curvy, hair a bit more real to the touch. A shadow, a real shadow, fell onto the picture and the aqua-haired seishi looked up, startled.

"Nice picture," Mako said lightly, folding her arms on the bak of the couch, smiling lightly as she laid her chin in the folded arms. "I look actually real." When Ami failed to answer, she blinked. "That *is* me, right?"

Ami nodded slowly. "Yeah. I was just drawing everyone. ...that's all." She shrugged. "I took art classes about a year ago; I passed so I guess I'm okay."

"‘Okay'?! Are you insane? You're great!" Mako continued studying the picture, ignoring the slight flush on Amis cheeks.

~*~Flashback~*~

Ami nuzzled her lovers sweaty neck, her soft pants slowing and becoming more regular. Warm, just as sweaty, arms wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her tight against perky breasts, a flat stomach and two spread legs. "Nnngh...god, Ami..."

Ami giggled softly, lightly playing with one of Makoto's nipples with her soft fingertips. "Was I okay? It *was* my first time and—"

Makoto kissed Ami softly then licked the tip of her nose, "Lovely Ami how can you ask if you're ‘okay'?? You're insane! You're incredable; you're great!"

~*~End Flashback~*~

Ami handed Makoto the paper and blushed gently. "It's not really that good.."

Mako eagerly took the drawing and drank the details in of the picture. "Wow...you're great at drawing." She grinned lightly. "You even added the end of my tatoo! Is my skirt really that short??"

Ami nodded. "Yeah, it rode up when you pushed your hair back. That was when I decided to scetch you out; I had already drawn out everyone before you."

"Oh.." Mako glanced at Ami through the corner of her eyes. "Are you and Tom engaged?"

"Whoa...that was out of the blue." Ami chuckled as Mako grinned ruefully. "But, no, we're not engaged. Just living together."

"Why hasn't he proposed?" Meko seemed stunned at this relevation that Tom hadn't asked Ami to marry him.

Ami shrugged. "We're both exactly alike and get along great, but we both know and understand it's more of lust and steadiness then love. That's why."

"So marry someone you love." Mako said, voice matter-of-fact.

"..." Ami lowered her eyelashes and suddenly Mako felt like a complete idiot. "We both know that is never going to happen, Makoto."

Makoto sighed and handed the paper back, "Ami-chan..I'm sorry about what happened those years ago. I didn't mean it to happen and I never wanted to leave yo—"

"...stop, Mako." Ami interjected softly. "Please stop."

Makoto fell silent and stood, body tense and seemed to draw inside of her ‘shell'. "Okay, Ami..."

And then she was gone; went into the kitchen to chat happily with the others as if nothing had happened.

With a soft sob, Ami was crying again, sobbing over her scetch pad, a single tear dripping onto Makos face, marring her face as if she was crying herself.