Hope you don't mind.

Disruptor wrote:

        Makoto stared at the sky, "Usagi, my parents died in a plane crash.
Their business was to fly businessmen to nearby cities in on of their
single prop planes.  I have to visit the airport where they stored their
planes."

        Usagi was at a loss of what to say.

A couple days later...

"Hey, Ami."  Minako's smile almost seemed forced - understandable,
since the four were waiting outside the business office where Makoto
was signing document after document.  "I saw a little detail on one of
the planes, and I was wondering if you could explain it to me."

"Huh?"  Ami blinked, snapped out of her train of thought.  "Oh, umm,
sure.  What is it?"

"Well...maybe if I point it out, you'll recognize it."  Minako stood,
stretched for a couple seconds, and pointed to the doorway to the
nearby hangar.

Ami shrugged, followed Minako through the door and halfway to one of
the planes, then suppressed a shriek when Minako whirled and siezed her
roughly.

"Ok, out with it."  Minako seemed more intense than angry, but
definitely worried.

"W-wha..."  Ami's brain raced to adjust, but Minako did not take the
bait of Ami's pause.  "What are you talking about?"

"I've seen that look before.  You're planning something dangerous."

"I honestly don't know what you could be referring to."

"Ami...the last time I saw that look, Artemis almost got shaved bald."

"..."

"And the time before that, Hotaru almost went into diabetic shock
because *someone* thought she'd get her energy back if she had too much
ice cream."

"That was you, Mina."

"Mmm-hmm.  But I recognize the look...and it's downright scary on your
face.  *You* can do some real damage."

"I wasn't thinking anything of the sort.  I was just..."

"Yeees?"

Ami promptly found the cracks on the hangar floor most fascinating.
"...just thinking of a way to cure Makoto's phobia."

"Hmm.  That sounds about right.  The road to heaven is paved with good
intentions."

"Mina..."

Minako winked.  "This time I *meant* to say it that way."

---

"Since when are you an airship pilot?"

Artemis shrugged, as much as a cat could shrug.  "Used to fly them all
the time, back in the Moon Kingdom.  Of course, the controls were made
for me back then.  Throttle up."

Rei searched for the lever for a couple seconds, then nudged it
forwards.  "And remind me again how we're able to do this without a
license?"

Minako flashed an ID card.  "We aren't.  Forged, of course, but it's
not like this is the first one I've made for myself."

"Why isn't Haruka up here, anyway?"

"She was, for takeoff.  She'll be landing us, too.  But I agreed we'd
do it in shifts, so she could spend part of this trip enjoying it
instead of piloting us all the time.  Besides, this dirigible's way too
slow for her tastes."

Rei wanted to protest further, but could not find any more objections.
Watching the ground fall away beneath them had been majestic, and her
true reason - wanting to go back to the passenger cabin and share the
view with Yuuchiro, plus get some of the buffet before Usagi scarfed it
all - would have seemed too selfish if she just said it.

"Hey, at least *you're* not confined to the cockpit so your boyfriend
doesn't freak out at a talking cat," Artemis snorted.

"Speaking of confinement," Minako pondered, "I wonder when Ami's going
to take off Makoto's blindfold.  We launched gently enough that I'm
pretty sure Makoto doesn't know where we are."

Rei blushed.

"What?"

"You mean you didn't hear them?"

"No, I was up here copiloting with Haruka, remember?  If Artemis has to
stay up here for the whole trip, I'm going to share his fate."

"Oh.  Well, umm...Ami decided to, umm...'distract' Makoto."

"Really?  Did she bring along some board games, or a puzzle with lots
of pieces, or a..."

"..."

Minako blinked.  "Did you two hear that?"

Artemis swivelled one ear towards the rear.  "I *think* so..."

Rei blushed furiously and mumbled, "I didn't think they'd be so loud."

"Well.  I knew Ami and Makoto were getting friendlier, but I didn't
know they were *that* close.  I guess the cat's out of the bag, so to
speak."

Just then, a slightly disheveled Michiru opened the cockpit door,
bearing a large paper plate with food.  "Refreshments for our daring
young captain."

Minako smiled.  "Thank you."

"And his accomplice in crime."  Michiru winked.

"..."

Michiru picked off a slice of ham and handed it to Artemis.  "You're,
what, 1500 years young now?"

"Something like that.  Thanks."  Artemis nibbled the meat out of her
hand in four bites.  "Delicious."

"Be glad you got anything.  That sound you heard just now..."

Minako's eyes widened.  "No way!  I didn't know they were that kinky."

"What?"

"Well...I mean, Ami and Makoto...do I even want to know which food they
were using?"

"Huh?  Oh, them.  Ah, no, they've been keeping it quiet.  What you
heard was Usagi.  She, umm, really appreciates the food.  I'm beginning
to wonder if that's what she and Mamoru do behind closed doors.  If
that's how they enjoy themselves, that would explain why they've only
had one child despite being married almost a thousand years by Crystal
Tokyo's time."
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