Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Ami Mizuno and the Exam Battle Romance! ❯ Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from this fic, Ami Mizuno and her friends all belong to the creator of Sailor Moon, Naoko Takeuchi. This story is a little piece of shoujo-ai fluff, nothing more, and nothing less. I do hope you enjoy it!

Ami Mizuno and the Exam Battle Romance!

Ami sighed softly, looking out the classroom window pensively. She had already completed all the work that the teacher was currently discussing with the class anyway, and she found something else much more interesting to consider.

The blue haired young woman had adapted to her life as Ami as well as Sailor Mercury, or at least she thought that she had. Despite having a lifestyle where describing it as 'weird' was an grand understatement along the lines of saying that the Tokyo Tower was just tall, she had found things falling into a predictable pattern.

The Senshi would wait for a villain to rise up against them, battle it's emissaries, and wait for it to execute it's master plan. Around the same time Ami would meet a nice young man and begin to quietly pine over him. The villain would execute his plan and they, alone or sometimes with the four Outers assistance, would defeat them.

And usually the young man would have moved on to another girl by then...

But this, this was quite different, somehow. The two of them had fallen into step together in the hallway outside one of Ami's many practice exams. She was a redheaded young woman with an engaging smile, and something about her just drew Ami to her.

"Hi," the woman had introduced herself, "my name's Sam."

Ami blinked up at her in real surprise. At these practice exams people were usually all business, completely focused on what they were doing. Stammering slightly she had managed to reply, "Hello, I'm Ami."

"It's nice to meet you, Ami," Sam had smiled back cheerfully. As they headed for their seats she had added, "Good luck."

"You, too," Ami answered her softly. She focused on her test, but once she finished it she found herself stealing glances at the redheaded girl who was writing away.

"Turn in your tests," the monitor finally demanded loudly, and they all filed up to hand in their exams at the desk.

Ami looked around her and felt a sudden pang of disappointment. In the crush of people, Sam had slipped away entirely unnoticed. She rushed out into the hall to try and find the friendly red-haired girl, but she was gone.

The results were posted only a day later, and Ami gaped in astonishment at the scores. Right underneath Mercury with a score matching her own was the name Sam, also from Tokyo. 'Was it her? Did she match my score?' she thought in surprise.

"This Mercury matched my score?" a clearly surprised feminine voice from right beside Ami echoed her thoughts almost exactly.

Ami turned in surprise to meet the surprisingly blue eyes of Sam herself. "You," she said softly, blinking in surprise.

"Hi," Sam smiled slightly, "Ami, right? From the practice exam?"

"Nice to see you again," Ami smiled up at her even as she found her own thoughts racing. 'She matched me. The only one to do that before was Mercurious..."

"I suppose you wouldn't know who this Mercury is, would you?" Sam pointed to the name on the test results with a smile.

"Why do you want to know?" Ami asked, feeling a bit nervous.

Sam gave her a cocky smile, "So I can go congratulate him, of course." She paused a moment before quietly adding, "And I haven't met anyone who matched my scores before. I guess I just want to meet him, see what he's like."

Not giving herself too much time to think about what she was doing Ami bowed to her slightly and said, "I'm Mercury."

Sam blinked one or twice then she put her hand behind her head in the classic gesture of acute embarrassment, "I've really put my foot in it, haven't I?" She laughed softly, "Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed Mercury was male."

"It's all right," Ami smiled, "it's a male name, sort of."

"How did you choose that name for yourself?" Sam asked her as they walked away from the notice-board together. Classes had let out quite a while ago, and the halls were pretty much empty other than the two of them.

"Mercury was the Roman god of information," Ami shrugged slightly, "and that's something I treasure." Silently she thought, 'Not to mention my other identity as Sailor Mercury.'

"Makes sense," Sam nodded. She chuckled softly, "I noticed that quite a few people do those tests using pen-names. Why is that?"

"Ask me that again next week," Ami smiled up her wryly, "after all the students come running to you to ask for tutoring."

Sam blinked in surprise, then she started to laugh. Ami felt something warm inside her at the sound of Sam's laughter, an odd sensation. It was like she wanted to say or do something else amusing, just so that she could hear that sound again.

Ami looked down at her watch and her eyes widened in surprise. "I'm sorry!" she looked up apologetically at Sam, "I promised to help tutor my friends, and I'm really late!"

"Go on," Sam smiled. As Ami left she called out, "I'll see you tomorrow."

When Ami came back to school the next morning, she looked around for Sam but saw no sign of her. Fighting back her disappointment she went over to her locker and pulled the door open, only to freeze. A love letter. She absolutely hated those. With a soft sigh, she carefully pulled it out in preparation to toss it in the trash, only to see the name neatly written on it.

"To Mercury," it said in finely written script. Ami opened up the envelope hesitantly, then unfolding the letter tucked inside, "I didn't get the chance to congratulate you when we met last night. For that, as well as to make up for putting my foot in my mouth, would you care to join me for lunch?" Underneath, it was neatly signed, "Sam."

"What's that?" Usagi asked curiously, having come up behind Ami almost silently.

Ami's first instinct was to try and hide it away, but she knew that would be a very bad idea. Getting Usagi curious would simply mean that she'd chase it down doggedly. "A letter from a friend," Ami said with a slight smile.

"Boyfriend?" Usagi inquired, her eyes lighting up eagerly.

"No, I met her through my test exams," Ami explained patiently.

"Oh, OK," Usagi smiled cheerfully.

As lunch finally rolled around Ami felt hesitant, unsure quite what to do. She could easily go join Usagi, Makoto and the others. That would be the safest thing to do. But Sam...

"Hi, I hope I'm not to late," Sam appeared at her side to say with a smile.

"No, it's fine," Ami mustered up her courage to say.

"Did you bring a bento with you?" Sam asked, holding up her own lunch box. At Ami's nod she smiled, "I know a quiet place we can talk. All right?"

"Sure," Ami smiled.

They ate lunch there under the trees that day, and almost every other day as well. In the evenings they met for the practice exams, giving each other encouragement as they took test after test after test. Study strategies were the only things they talked about at first, then they began to talk about their lives outside of school. Friends, family, and finally relationships.

Ami, hesitantly, had admitted to Sam about her series of unsuccessful crushes on various unattainable young men. Sam had sat there quietly for a few moments, listening to her talk in that attentive way that she had.

"I tend to crush on unattainables too," Sam had quietly admitted. "My teacher, a few old friends and lately," she looked over at Ami and smiled weakly, "a new friend."

It took Ami a moment, but she managed to add it all up pretty quickly. "You mean.. me?" she asked Sam softly, looking up at the taller girl nervously.

Sam smiled, "Yeah." They stood there silently a few moments, then Sam had turned away to quietly say, "We've got that exam tomorrow night. I'll see you there?"

"Yes," Ami answered firmly.

'And I still don't know what to do about this,' Ami thought as the sounds of the class leaving brought her back to the here and now. She could always go talk to Haruka and Michiru, she mused, but she wasn't sure if she could even manage to ask the questions that were running through her head. And even if she did ask, would their answers help her?

The time for the exam came around, and Ami met Sam in the hallway outside the classroom. The taller redhead looked nervous, and Ami found herself reaching out to take her hand. Ami squeezed it gently, and Sam gave her a sunny smile.

They finished the exam in record time, like always. Once the tests were collected they stood together in the hallway, too nervous to speak. Finally, Sam spoke up, "You know, we've aced the last five of there tests."

"That's true," Ami nodded, wondering where she was going with this.

"I was thinking," Sam looked away from her shyly, "that we should go out to dinner together, to celebrate it."

Ami looked up at her, and was struck with a sudden realization. She could easily say no to her, and go back to her nice, safe, and quite predictable world. A villain would rise up, a cute boy would probably come along, and her life would return to it's pattern.

Or...

"I'd love to go out to dinner with you," Ami said with a smile.

The End.

Author's Notes: Inspired by the story, 'Ami's First Love' from the Sailor Moon SuperS manga #2. I thought it was interesting that Ami didn't seem to mind that the rival she was obsessing over might have been either male or female. I also wanted to address the predictability of Ami and the other scouts lives, at least in some ways. I know the ending is a bit inconclusive, but I sort of wanted it that way. The situation with Sam is entirely new to Ami, and unpredictable...