Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Past Lives ❯ Left Behind ( Chapter 2 )

Past Lives - By Kirika

 

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The second chapter.

 

- Kirika

 

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Chapter 2 - Left Behind

 

 

“You--*you*--would give me orders?” Chamista spat incredulously--and dangerously--as she materialised underground, many kilometres removed from Sailor Moon's private dwelling--private no longer. The human *seemed* to have spoken the truth. Chamista had seen with her own eyes the girl, Usagi Tsukino, that he had been adamant was Sailor Moon, leader of Earth's guardians. And through the window two more--Rei Hino; Sailor Mars supposedly; and another young human female that he could not identify, but that might be a third Senshi judging by the company she kept. They were rather unimpressive; scrawny, simpering, childlike. *Weak* most of all, no different from the rest of this dimension's cattle named `humanity'. Warriors? Hardly.

 

Chamista could not bring the separate identities together in her mind; Usagi Tsukino and Sailor Moon meshed as oil and water, seeming ludicrous to think them one in the same. Was it lies the human male fed her, or was it something else? A ward? A spell? The youma's mystically attuned senses had detected nothing out of the ordinary, but she had dared not probe further for fear that the girls genuinely were Sailor Senshi beneath their impossibly frail shells. He'd known where to go after all; which house on which street, and which girls. His fury for them was real. He despised them, regardless if Chamista believed them Senshi. The youma supposed she could trust in hate if nothing else. Trusting *him*, however…. “If you think you are my equal, be *rid* of that falsehood. I am your *liberator*; you best remember I can swiftly become your vanquisher should I decide your agony would amuse me.”

 

Jadeite's head turned, his dark eyes burning over his shoulder, his features full of contempt. But he kept his tongue and shuffled away, hunched over and broken. It brought a smile to Chamista's lips. His teleporting trick was remarkable and not to mention useful--Chamista and Lord Thrinakie's other disciples; most dead as the demon, now; had discovered carving a portal from a particular site to another in this dimension via magicks was no less gruelling than joining their reality to this one; it was like tunnelling through diamond--however the cost for Jadeite's boon was it appeared to wholly sap what little strength the man had. It was wise to keep him feeble anyway for now; feeble and needy. She would never divulge his own worth to him; never let him think he was anything more than a pet, a stray she had been so generous in taking in… until he never forgot his place *beneath* her.

 

The human shambled into the main chamber, Chamista eyeing him from behind with a predatory twinkle in blue gaze. There was rumbling overhead, shaking everything, rocks and broken bits of tile vibrating across the floor while the seeming limitless dust in the ceiling above was freed once more, dirty clouds raining down on everyone. Then the rumbling passed, taking with it the near deafening noise, plunging the youma outpost into yawning silence but for the periodic whimpers of the stored rations.

 

Fires burned all around, any junk on hand--for which there was plenty--fuelling them. Without their light pitch black would roll in; as good as being blind if not blessed with night's sight. Chamista's youma were diverse; she had to cater to all. Furthermore, the mewling food was often tastier cooked.

 

A throng of youma heads turned after Jadeite as he passed, but the blonde man didn't return their hungry and fierce looks. They viewed him as food and a plaything like the other humans corralled in a loose and lazy circle of youma minders. Those humans were unbound, but too terrified to do much more than huddle together, trying not to see their nightmares around them, trying to deny their doom. Not Jadeite. There was no fear from him. He was almost like a Sailor Senshi himself before the youma band.

 

Jadeite eased himself onto a bench bolted against what had been a tiled wall but was now a cracked and stripped parody of one, slouching heavily. Chamista drifted after him, following the leash. She didn't trust to leave him out of her sight for long. Not specifically for what he might do despite his weakened state, but what the *youma* might do. She had declared him as hers, yet some youma, namely the wild types that lived for carnage, cared little for rules and restrictions if they didn't see the sense behind them themselves. Chamista wasn't demonkind. Her command of her group of refugees was tenuous, dependent on her magical might that she exercised regularly to remind the horde she belonged as their leader. She tried not to be fatal when compelled to demonstrate how rightful her role was however; there was scarce enough of her kind. One or two more trickled in every few days, but they were no invasion force. Any loss would be felt. There had to be more youma out there, hiding, perhaps even in disguise, living their human façade as though they really were part of Earth's society. Disgusting. There wasn't a worse kind of deserter than that--a traitor.

 

“You won't win; not as you are,” Jadeite mumbled, his breathing laboured.

 

Chamista drew nearer, electing not to lower herself by sitting beside the human, but she loomed over him, her shadow cavorting on the ravaged wall behind him in the glow of many flickering flames. “I admit they are formidable,” the youma reluctantly conceded. She clenched a fist in front of her, visualising the victory all but within it. “But if I rally everyone here, attack suddenly--Sailor Moon *alone*--and *seize* the Ginzuishou from her, before….” Chamista frowned as she realised Jadeite was chuckling.

 

“Even alone….” He shook his head lethargically, jaded smile on his face and his eyes glazed. Abruptly his face slackened. “I still can't feel them…” he whispered.

 

“Speak sense, human,” Chamista snarled.

 

Jadeite scowled into the shadows, his hardening eyes seeing not the subterranean chamber but memories. “I knew of three before I was…. No, four. But… there were five.” He didn't seem sure, and the youma questioned if his long slumber had robbed him of more than his strength. “And now there are ten, you say.” He laughed again, low in the back of his throat. “Whoever the other five are, not they or the others are a match for Sailor Moon and the Ginzuishou. Neither are you and your rabble.”

 

“And you're so certain?” Chamista challenged condescendingly, folding her arms. His manners needed work. She'd have to assist him with that.

 

“You aren't?” Jadeite sneered, his gaze suddenly ablaze and his lips curled, baring clenched teeth. “Look at you, cowering down here, in squalor, like *vermin*!”

 

Several youma within earshot perked up, growls issuing from their bestial maws as they sized up the irate human, hoisting themselves up on their haunches. Chamista considered letting their claws and fangs have the man.

 

“You forget how I found *you*,” the mage said instead.

 

“And who put me there? Who put you here? It was *her*-- *them*.”

 

“The Sailor Senshi were responsible for your confinement?”

 

Jadeite snorted. “And more.” So much hate and rage…. It was refreshing to see it so pure and potent in a human, rather than the usual afflictions of cowardice and compassion that Chamista had observed plaguing this dimension.

 

“Then what? Should we cower longer? You would trade one confinement for another?” Chamista snapped. “I assure you our hospitality won't last. And I don't suppose your former mistress will come searching for you, hmm?” Jadeite hadn't brought up his past though the youma wouldn't have cared to listen should he have anyway, however if he and whatever allies by his side before his captivity had been an enemy of the Sailor Senshi, they had obviously been defeated. Earth's guardians were still here and there was no sign of another power vying for this dimension's rule. Either Jadeite's allies were in hiding like the youma or he was the sole remnant of a defunct authority. Alone, without her, he was as good as dead. He had to have known it. Perhaps he already had traded one prison for another.

 

“You'll need more fodder for starters. You'll need an army,” Jadeite said grudgingly.

 

“If we had more they'd be here!” Chamista retorted, her slender forked tongue darting out to taste the stale air and flicker in exasperation. The youma stormed off a few paces, and then whirled back to the human, her bracelets clinking. “I want the jewel!” she screeched, her patience--which she believed should be lauded for lasting this long with the wretch of mankind trying it at every opportunity--at an end. “I need it,” she continued, her tapered nails biting into her palms as she closed her hands slowly, gathering her fists to her chest, yearning for the Ginzuishou to fill one of them. “I don't want to live the rest of my days in this… this *backwards*, *pitiful* world!” Chamista would not reject her species, resorting to masquerading as a human, living a *human* life in *human* civilisation, but nor did she wish to remain in the dark underneath the ground for hundreds of years. “Earn the freedom I have given you!”

 

“I supplied you names,” Jadeite rumbled darkly.

 

“Names?! *Names*?!” Chamista screamed. “Those names are a means to an *end*! A mere cog for a greater machine! I want what the names will help me get! I want the *Ginzuishou*!” Pink rays of light spun around the youma's right hand, coming together to form an orb. “MAKE! IT! HAPPEN!!!” She hurled the orb a hair to the left of the man's head, tiles and masonry exploding over his lap as a deep smoking hole was burned into the wall at his back. It infuriated her all the more that he hadn't flinched.

 

Jadeite stuck an arm out and opened his hand. A clear crystal, roughly hewed, materialised over his dirty white glove. It caught the light of the campfires, the orange radiance seeming to dance inside. The crystal shard had been part of his prison. He had collected them all before he'd left the decaying pocket plane, although Chamista sensed they had little of that dimension's old magick lingering within their facets.

 

Jadeite snatched the crystal out of the air and got to his feet, walking over to the centre of the chamber. He scuffed a boot over the floor, knocking aside fragments of concrete and tile until dusty soil was showing. Suddenly he raised his hand over his head and thrust the crystal shard into the dirt. As he turned away, smaller crystals began to sprout around the first splinter, slowly pushing out of the earth.

 

“And that is?” Chamista disparagingly demanded to know, unconvinced.

 

“An army,” Jadeite replied as he sat back down on the bench.

 

******

 

Rei snapped her mobile phone shut in her hand as she stared up at the skyscraper towering above her. Minako certainly seemed to be in the big leagues now. Setsuna too. All but one of the Outer Senshi had fame in some regard; in racing, music, and these days in the fashion world; however the Senshi of Love and Beauty was the first Inner Senshi to capture public acclaim… her notoriety as the crime fighting Sailor V notwithstanding. It was the first time `Minako Aino' had become somewhat famous in any case, and for herself rather than through any power granted by the past. It was fitting that it was her. Minako was simply living up to her namesake, at last recognised for it. Setsuna had smoothed the way by sponsoring the blonde with her fashion label, but Minako could and would stand on her own merits, Rei was sure of it. Setsuna had merely nudged open the door for the Senshi of Beauty. Rei was happy for her friend.

 

“Setsuna says this is the place,” the raven-haired girl announced, slipping her red phone into her jeans' back pocket.

 

Dual coos of wonder rose from Rei's companions, as they too gazed up at the inspiring building. She could at least imagine what was running through the blonde head next to her; thoughts of which celebrities had crossed the threshold that she was about to; what idols might actually be inside at this very minute; that this was where stardom was often born; and that her friend was part of this exclusive and coveted world.

 

Rei lightly cuffed Usagi on her dreamy head.

 

“Hey!” Usagi whined, rubbing the spot as though the Senshi of Fire had clobbered her with an unrestrained fist.

 

“Stay with me, odango atama,” Rei dryly teased. “Only one floor belongs to the magazine.”

 

“Still…. Wow,” Makoto breathed. “I wish Ami was here.”

 

“We won't forget a single detail!” Usagi vowed, her face serious and her hands fists of determination in front of her. “We'll tell her all about it!”

 

“Right!” Makoto agreed just as passionately, her own expression grave.

 

“Plus… we have these!” Usagi whipped out her mobile phone, inbuilt camera at the ready.

 

“Mm!” Makoto drew her own phone, flipping it open sharply as though it were some sort of weapon.

 

The two girls looked at each other and shared a resolute nod.

 

“Try not to embarrass Minako and Setsuna,” Rei sighed.

 

Usagi and Makoto shared another look, this time sheepish, and quietly put their phones away.

 

Rei pushed through the glass revolving door, Usagi's short stifled wail behind her informing the miko that her girlfriend had almost met with squishy misfortune, probably narrowly escaping a sandwiching between the spinning door and the frame as she chased after the impulsive Fire Senshi. Sometimes Rei wondered if it was ever safe to take her eyes off her Princess. Then again with beauty like Usagi's, why would she ever want to.

 

Rei smirked wryly as she looked over her shoulder, just as her ungainly lover predictably stumbled into her back, Usagi's arms desperately wrapping around the miko's waist for balance lest she fall flat on her face. The Senshi of Passion grabbed Usagi's forearms over her stomach, securing the girl's hold. Her Princess might stumble, but she wouldn't fall while Rei was around.

 

“Wait for me, Rei!” Usagi complained, her cheek pressed against the raven-haired teenager's back while her bottom was stuck out in the air.

 

“Sorry, Princess,” Rei said with an indulgent smile as her girlfriend's hands pawed their way up her body, Usagi using her to straighten herself.

 

“Geez…” Usagi's protesting went on. She rested her chin on Rei's left shoulder, peering around the building's lobby. It was well after five, yet there were still plenty of people about; important looking people in shirts and ties and suits, and with ID cards hanging around their necks on cords, or clipped to lapels or chest pockets. “Um… are we allowed to go inside like this?” the familiar voice a little shaky with trepidation said at Rei's ear after a couple of moments.

 

“It's a public building…. Uh, right?” Makoto feebly assured the blonde, coming up beside the Inner Senshi couple.

 

“Sure,” Rei said, although she didn't really know and the ID cards everyone appeared to have but them spoke to the contrary. “Setsuna didn't tell me what floor, but it should be on the directory over there.”

 

Rei walked further into the lobby, towards where a sheet of black marble embossed with white script was mounted on a wall. Usagi hurriedly trotted after her, clutching onto the Senshi of Fire's arm while her head swung about warily in every direction, as though expecting some authority figure to show up out of nowhere and reprimand them all, but mainly yell at her.

 

“It was called Candy… or Sugar… something like that,” Rei said, her brow knitting as she studied the floor directory. All those magazines looked the same to her.

 

“*Cinnamon*,” Usagi and Makoto sounded in unison.

 

“Right. I told you it was something like that.” Of course Usagi would know. Rei was surprised Makoto had kept track too. “Okay, there it is--twelfth floor. Let's go.”

 

The elevator doors opened to a giant rendition of Cinnamon's garish yellow logo plastered across a wall and a large, curved, intimidating desk below with a woman entrenched behind it. She had a suit on like everyone else downstairs; charcoal grey; and her black hair was pulled back into a severe ponytail, threatening to yank the roots out at the top of her forehead. If that wasn't businesslike enough, she was wearing a headset for one ear and speaking into an attached microphone at her mouth. The receptionist looked up at the three teenagers as the chiming elevator disgorged them, though her quiet, sedate conversation into the mic was unrelenting.

 

“Um…. We're here to see Minako!” Usagi stiffly announced, leaning forwards over the desk.

 

The woman simply looked at Rei's girlfriend, her lips working, but not saying anything the Moon Princess sought.

 

“She's our friend,” Makoto stated earnestly, stepping toward the desk and resting her hand on it, leaning forwards too.

 

The receptionist's eyes moved to the taller girl, but they didn't linger long, nor did her constant staid inflection change one iota.

 

Usagi and Makoto frowned and looked at one another as they both drew back, equally as puzzled. They turned their frowns upon Cinnamon's receptionist, clearly growing frustrated with her.

 

“Ms. Setsuna Meioh is expecting us,” Rei said, before things could get ugly.

 

Recognition set the woman's eyes alight, and she covered the fuzzy black microphone in front of her face with her hand. “Rei Hino, correct? She mentioned you.” The receptionist pointed to an entryway to the right. “Go through there, then right, then all the way through to the door opposite, then the third door on the left in the hall. Everyone's mostly gone for the day, so I don't think you'll need visitor's passes, but if you get into problems just come back here.”

 

The Fire Senshi nodded, committing the route to memory. “Thanks.”

 

Rei walked off, dragging Usagi along as the off-balance blonde hurried to match her pace, still fastened to her arm and apparently disinclined to let go. With her long stride Makoto wasn't far behind the couple, quickly appearing at Rei's side. The receptionist's route took the teenagers through hallways and an office chockfull of cubicles with messy desks, a handful of people working at them. The Senshi were left unchallenged as they weaved through Cinnamon magazine's headquarters, the few employees remaining either too busy with whatever to see them, or simply choosing not to. Maybe they thought Rei, Usagi, and Makoto were models or idols? A peek at the Fire Senshi's somewhat nervous companions promptly dispensed with *that* notion. There was no shortage of model-worthy looks next to Rei--especially in her lover's case--but her Princess and even the Senshi of Thunder were obviously out of their element here, more like star-struck fans than members of the entertainment industry.

 

Rei opened the third and final door softly, wary of causing a disturbance on the other side. However her, Usagi's and Makoto's intrusion went unnoticed; everyone inside had their backs to the newcomers, their interest focused collectively on where the bright spotlights were pointed in the otherwise dimly lit studio. At the edge of the glare a chubby man with greasy brown hair down to his shoulders and big black square glasses gambolled, barking clipped directions and drawled encouragements between snaps of his expensive and heavy-looking camera. At the centre of the photographer's and his crew's rapt attention was a girl striking a range of dramatic poses while flashing through a cycle of serious expressions, standing on and in front of a white sheet that served as a backdrop, curving from underneath her high-heeled shoes on the floor up to the brace of ropes hanging from the ceiling. The girl was well-dressed in a chic waist-length snow white fur jacket and a daring short white leather skirt, complemented by tasteful silver jewellery, and was beautiful with her lustrous flaxen locks that seemed to swish and fall perfectly with her every movement. The girl had Rei, Usagi, and Makoto's attention as well. The girl was Minako.

 

“M-Minako! It's Minako!” a flustered Usagi squealed, bouncing excitedly on her heels and waggling a pointed finger at the spotlighted spectacle, as though thinking somehow Rei and Makoto had missed their friend.

 

“Shhh, Usagi!” Rei's hushed voice scolded, reining the girl in closer to her with a tug of the arm the odango atama held possessively.

 

Usagi quietened but her awed expression stuck, as did the spring in her step, the miko's girlfriend hopping up and down on the spot. Rei knew Usagi would have probably bounded off to wherever her enthusiasm might take her if it wasn't for the blonde's squeezing arms wrapped around one of the Senshi of Passion's own.

 

“So cool…” Makoto crooned, staring much like the Moon Princess. She at least had restraint, keeping her voice low.

 

“We mustn't distract her,” Rei insisted, tempted to grab the Senshi of Thunder and pull her close as well, just to be safe. The brunette seemed to be enjoying herself a little too much. “We'll wait here until she's fini--”

 

“Guys~!!”

 

Rei sighed as she saw that Minako's reserved expressions had broken out into a series of wide smiles instead, and the only pose she was striking now was a merry one that involved a lot of waving at her friends.

 

“Minako~!” Usagi called, waving back just as eagerly as her bouncing took to new heights.

 

“Usagi…” Rei sighed again.

 

The photographer sighed laboriously too, his shoulders slumping and his head drooping, deflating as his zest for the model in front of him did. “Take five, everyone,” he surrendered. “Tsk, make it ten.”

 

The crew abandoned their lights and fans and reflecting screens and wandered off while Minako trotted over to Rei, Usagi and Makoto, apparently oblivious to the distress she'd caused her portly photographer.

 

“Usagi! Rei! Makoto~! You came to see me!” the blonde gushed happily.

 

“Usagi's just here to steal clothes,” Rei quipped.

 

“Rei~! Don't say that!” Usagi hissed, nudging the miko with her elbow while her eyes darted around at the dispersing crew. “They might think it's true!”

 

“Sorry. `Borrow' clothes,” Rei amended, unabashed.

 

“You were so great up there, Minako,” Makoto praised, smiling at the Senshi of Beauty. “I think I'd be embarrassed standing under those lights doing everything you did.”

 

“Pffft, it's easy. You're like a doll,” Minako humbly dismissed. “Any idiot could do it.”

 

“Well, I hope they know they have the *best* idiot around!” Usagi passionately cheered, pumping a fist… only to blanch and wince when she realised what she'd said.

 

“I'm not so sure of that, odango atama. You should introduce yourself,” Rei deadpanned, before erupting into giggles with Makoto and Minako. Usagi's heart was always in the right place; her brain on the other hand….

 

“Awwgh~!” Usagi moaned at the laughter at her expense surrounding her, yanking on Rei's arm. “You know what I mean!”

 

“Minako; you're tormenting Mr. Itoh again.”

 

The mature voice tempered the mirth, and the air of tranquillity that followed the woman now and through the ages she'd lived before mellowed the hearts of the gathered Guardian Senshi. Setsuna Meioh was the oldest of them all; of all the Sailor Senshi, and no doubt was the oldest person on Earth as well, at least in spirit; passing for a woman in her twenties. Except for the eyes--she carried the weight of the past, present and future in her timeless crimson gaze. They always held a profound sadness; they'd seen too much, knew too much… and were resigned to too much. However the sadness wasn't as yawning as it used to be. Setsuna's crimson gaze sparkled these days, though Rei often wondered if she was the only one who saw it.

 

Minako sniggered roguishly, yet was contrite enough for a guilty glance back at the photographer as he changed the film in his camera, still wracked with bouts of sighing. Rei guessed the flighty blonde's behaviour could be trying to more professionally dedicated individuals. Weren't all models like that, though? Rei was under the impression they were; Minako should be fitting right in. “Sorry~!” the Senshi of Love ruefully apologised to Setsuna; nevertheless it was a little too bright and breezy to be taken very seriously, nor was the woman really the right person for her to be apologising to.

 

“Thank you for letting us visit!” Usagi blurted, releasing Rei's arm to bow to Setsuna. Makoto joined in an instant later with her thanks and bow. But not Rei; Setsuna wouldn't abide it. There was no need for it between good friends.

 

The green-haired woman bowed a fraction in acknowledgment; almost merely a dip of her head. She smiled at Rei; one of her small, enigmatic smiles; then stepped closer, taking one of the girl's hands and covering it with both of her own. “You're welcome. I'm glad you could come.”

 

Setsuna had to have known the hand in hers was a bother, but she simply kept smiling at Rei, the twinkle in her eyes for the Fire Senshi. Rei tensed but did not pull her hand away; worried she'd alert Usagi and put thoughts in her Princess's head. Setsuna wasn't as demure as she used to be, either. *That* was a mixed blessing; the Senshi of Time was partial to teasing Rei.

 

“Hey, Minako! Hair and makeup!” came a woman's slightly irritated shout.

 

Minako blinked and looked over her shoulder once again, then held up her hand in apology after turning back to her friends. “The doll needs primping. Sorry guys.”

 

Rei took the opportunity to surreptitiously reclaim her hand from Setsuna while everyone's eyes were on Minako hurrying off, praying Usagi wouldn't see. Mercifully the Guardian of Time was willing to let go.

 

The hair and makeup station was setup beside the shooting backdrop, complete with mirror framed by bare light bulbs. Clothing racks on wheels were nearby as the makeshift wardrobe, as was a folding screen presumably for model Minako to change behind. It was the real deal alright; an honest to goodness magazine photoshoot. Minako took her place in front of the mirror, sitting down while the woman who had summoned the Senshi of Beauty loomed over her, apparently seeing some fault Rei couldn't in the blonde's luxurious mane and gorgeous features.

 

“You can join her, if you wish,” Setsuna invited. “Every article of clothing here belongs to me. They're only needed for the shoot, and that's almost finished.”

 

Usagi's blue eyes predictably lit up. “You mean we can…! We can…!” She couldn't even say it.

 

Rei rolled her own amethyst eyes and patted her nearly busting girlfriend on her pert behind. “I think she does, Usagi. Free stuff, up for grabs.”

 

“Yay~!” the blonde cried, before sprinting off after Minako. “Thank you, Setsuna~!” she shouted back, whipping around briefly to flash the older Senshi a wide and overjoyed grin.

 

Rei put a hand on her hip and forced out a longsuffering breath, witnessing her girlfriend attack the clothing racks. Suddenly she smiled in spite of herself. Her Princess was adorable; even the blonde's embarrassing antics were secretly irresistible to her. Rei pondered if Usagi could ever truly do any wrong in her eyes, or if she had become that much of a pushover. The miko tried to steer the flaky Moon Princess in the right direction for the girl's own good and sometimes it required a stern word or hand, but if Usagi ever discovered that Rei was a softy at heart the blonde would probably walk all over her--and get away with it. Come to think of it, Rei hoped *nobody* would find out how indulgent she really was.

 

It took a second for Rei to realise Makoto was no longer beside her either, but beside Usagi instead, rifling through the clothes on offer with the blonde, complaining loudly that nothing was in her size. Apparently even the Senshi of Courage wasn't beneath the lure of free clothes. But it was a mild surprise--Makoto looked and often acted like a total tomboy, however the brunette's appearance and behaviour didn't dictate her whole personality or her every like and dislike. She could actually be rather girly, and it seemed was even somewhat into pop culture and fashion like a certain odango atama.

 

“You might want to pick out some things as well,” Setsuna remarked to Rei. “For… later.”

 

Rei shrugged. “Usagi will take everything good anyway.” Her eyes widened as she realised her faux pas. “Uh, not that there's anything *not* good, I'm sure….” The clothes belonged to Setsuna's label after all, designed by her, and the woman was standing right there! The Senshi of Passion wondered if her girlfriend's propensity for verbal gaffes was rubbing off.

 

Setsuna just smiled knowingly, no doubt having envisaged Rei's stumble long ago at her post. She looked over to where Usagi was trying on makeup, competing for space in the mirror with Minako's makeup artist, much to the woman's displeasure and the Senshi of Love's amusement. “You could be like her,” she mused. She offered.

 

It was by the grace of Setsuna's generosity that Minako was in the position she was; a model, her visage spread over the insides of magazines and sometimes even splashed across the covers. They were close, Setsuna and Minako; or Rei had been under that impression before yesterday's talk with Makoto. In any case Rei was close to Setsuna too; the woman could easily extend her blessing to the miko. Rei only needed to ask.

 

One corner of Rei's lips curled upwards slightly into a lopsided and faint wistful smile, as she watched Minako have her hair painstakingly teased so every strand was in just the right place while the makeup artist was stuck trying to shoo Usagi out of the way. It had been her dream, once. To be a model. A singer. A songwriter. An idol. An actress. They felt like someone else's dreams now, someone young and naïve. It had been before she'd been called; before she'd awakened to her life's true purpose--her duty to protect a Princess. In that Rei had discovered a new dream quite unlike the others, quite unlike anything she'd ever thought she'd wanted. With it her sense of duty as a Sailor Senshi had dulled, until it had disappeared completely. Rei protected the Moon Princess because she loved her. There was no other reason. No duty dictated her actions, no past life compelled her, no destiny bound her--*nothing*. She had aspired--hoped, prayed, longed--only to be loved in return, and that had at last been miraculously fulfilled. Protecting her Princess was no longer seen as a duty, but it remained her life's purpose. That and loving her. It consumed all of Rei's life; she wanted for nothing else.

 

Rei shook her head softly. It was all the answer she needed to give.

 

Setsuna bowed her head in acknowledgement. She knew, and better than most, her precognitive abilities notwithstanding. The Senshi of Time had seen Rei through her trials for Usagi's heart. The woman had been there when Rei had thought herself alone; she'd been a guide; a friend; a trusted confidant. She might have even been more, had Rei's heart not been wholly devoted to her Princess. Setsuna had feelings for her, somehow birthed during the Fire Senshi's struggle with Fate. They'd even kissed once; or more accurately, Setsuna had kissed Rei, back then hoping to be the balm for her pain. The kiss had not been reciprocated just as the feelings could never be, and Setsuna accepted that… though her and Rei's friendship remained a close one. The woman's affection didn't cause Rei discomfort, apart from when she was a little too playful with her, in particular while they were in front of Usagi. But deep down Rei knew her friend wouldn't jeopardise what she had with the Moon Princess; that one thing that meant everything to her, that gave her life worth. Setsuna had seen it; she *knew*; *really* knew--perhaps in the same sense Usagi herself knew. And in knowing that, Setsuna recognised Rei's love would always be for the Princess and no one else.

 

Setsuna's duty was the loneliest of all; eternally guarding the Gates of Time by herself; and just as the woman understood Rei, the Fire Senshi was one of the few who genuinely understood that duty and what precisely it demanded of her. Rei understood Setsuna. Rei understood loneliness. Rei understood a destiny spent alone, without love. The miko hung out with the older woman whenever time and Usagi permitted; she could not return Setsuna's affection, but she could at least placate the Outer Senshi's lonely heart a little with her presence.

 

That was before the rumours had started about the Guardian of Time and the Senshi of Love and Beauty. Rei had been content to back off and give Setsuna and Minako their space for the last few months. In retrospect, maybe that had been a mistake. Rei was still Setsuna's friend, and perhaps she had abandoned the woman when the Outer Senshi had needed her support more than ever.

 

“She needs a proper talent agency,” Setsuna idly commented, her ageless gaze again on the girl who was supposed to be her lover, sitting near Rei's Princess. “A manager that can push her, take her places. Make her look beyond what I provide for her. Someone who can do more for her than I can.”

 

“Yeah, because I see you going out of business,” Rei dryly remarked, rolling her eyes. Setsuna knew the future; she could effortlessly escort Minako to super stardom if she desired. Even her label was a bit of a pun--`Timeless'. Whenever the Fire Senshi saw it she had to resist groaning. Fashion trends were circular or something weren't they? Old fashions eventually became `in' again; the new was merely the old with a fresh advertising campaign. Rei was amazed Setsuna's label was only now taking off, having been merely unrealised ambition and a fledgling brand at best for so long. The Senshi of Time had to be well aware of past fashion fads and what future ones lay ahead.

 

Setsuna allowed herself a slight smile at Rei's jesting. “It's not for me to guide her.” She looked at the miko. “You know this.”

 

“Yeah…” Rei sighed. She did. Setsuna couldn't use her knowledge of the timeline for personal gain; or any gain, really. She lived in this world, and yet sadly was still outside of it. Maybe that had limited her accomplishments in the fashion world too; her designs were no doubt her own, but who was to say how many were influenced by knowledge a normal person wasn't supposed to have? Rei wondered how it made her friend feel. Like a cheat, maybe. A fraud. If the success she was having now with her creations was from entirely her own effort; from Setsuna Meioh's toil, not Sailor Pluto's mind; then the woman should be proud. Gazing at Setsuna now, Rei felt she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt just who was responsible for Timeless's success. “Couldn't you bend the rules a tiny bit?”

 

Setsuna looked at her patiently, in a manner that showed her age and Rei's contrary youth. And yet she shared a meaningful small smile with the Senshi of Fire and Passion, a smile the teenager returned with equal significance… and with gratitude. Setsuna did bend the rules sometimes. She had for Rei. But it looked like Minako's budding career would have to handle itself.

 

Setsuna walked over to stand beside Rei, turning to watch Usagi and Makoto's clowning around with her. “You wanted to talk.” It was a declaration, not a question. Seldom were there surprises for Time's Keeper. Likely she had deliberately orchestrated the diversion for Usagi and Makoto, just so she and Rei would be left in peace. Rei hoped Setsuna's precognition had her realise Usagi would shamelessly take everything promised, regardless of the woman's actual intentions. All those clothes had to be expensive. Rei would probably have to lug them all back home for the odango atama too.

 

Rei nodded. Usagi and Makoto were here to see Minako, but Rei was here not only for the entertainment industry's prospective new sensation but for the woman who had made it possible--Setsuna. “How… How are things with Minako?” The Guardian of Time most likely knew every question before Rei voiced them, but the raven-haired girl went through the motions anyway. At any rate, it didn't render asking about Setsuna's love life any less uncomfortable.

 

“Fine. She got Cinnamon's cover this week,” Setsuna said, the amusement playing on her lips and in her eyes. She was teasing Rei again.

 

“That's not what I meant,” Rei said sardonically.

 

“She's… fun,” Setsuna answered seriously this time. She gazed at the teenager in question, softness in the ruby stare. “Energetic. And witty. Like you in many ways.” Rei felt the woman's finger brush the back of her hand. “But she isn't you.”

 

Rei kept her eyes on her Princess and the two other Inner Senshi, and folded her arms. There was no point going down that road. Setsuna knew it too, but moments like these cropped up from time to time. Rei couldn't be angry; she could only feel pity. “So you two are… you know, seeing each other?”

 

“Hmmm…” Setsuna hummed at length, folding her arms also, though with more elegance than the Senshi of Fire had shown. “Are we?” She paused, as if considering it. “It could be said we are.”

 

It merely confirmed what Rei had already been pretty much convinced of. An odd couple Setsuna and Minako made, but who was Rei to judge--she wasn't them. “So is it serious? I mean, have you….”

 

“Slept together?”

 

“N-No!” Rei spluttered, turning to the taller Senshi and shaking her head half in abject denial and half in disbelief that the woman would infer such a thing. “I meant have you--”

 

“There has been some affection,” Setsuna revealed over the Senshi of Passion's stammering, smirking at her reaction. “We haven't slept together,” she later added following a few seconds of introspective silence. Rei hadn't needed to know that.

 

Rei turned back to the makeup station, where Usagi and Makoto were picking through lipsticks and mascaras under Minako's advice, the makeup artist and hairdresser meanwhile appearing at their wits' end with the Senshi of Beauty's friends, and the Inner Senshi's leader herself. “Do you love her?” Rei's voice was quiet and steady, and she was pleased she'd had the mettle to inquire. Setsuna would have concluded by now what was on her mind anyway, if the Door of Time hadn't for her. “Does… she…?” Moreover, the woman must know the future her and Minako had together. If they had one.

 

“My, you like to pry,” Setsuna deflected.

 

Rei swallowed, unsure of what to say. She *was* prying. But she just wanted Setsuna to be happy like she was. “I'm sorry,” she finally settled on. “It's not my business.”

 

“Perhaps you should try interrogating Minako?”

 

Rei felt her face heat some and looked away. She wasn't certain if that was a tease or an honest suggestion; either way she understood the message. Affairs of the heart were seldom simple.

 

“How are you and Usagi?” Setsuna asked in a kind tone, a soothing difference to her prior standoffish attitude. She was aware of every detail no doubt, but she was also aware that Rei was fond of gushing about her Princess, and that she was one of the rare few the Senshi of Passion felt at ease gushing to.

 

Rei began in a murmur, but by the time the photographer was yelling at his crew to get back to their positions, she was talking Setsuna's ear off about life with Usagi's love, seesawing between frivolous nitpicking about the blonde and melting over some small detail about her. It had been a while since they'd talked like this, and it dawned on Rei that she'd missed it. She could be completely open with Time's Keeper much like she could with Usagi. There was no use throwing up airs with Setsuna, or hiding anything from her--ultimately she knew what had led you to her counsel, and what awaited you after it.

 

A broad smile, broad for the usually reserved Outer Senshi at least, remained on Setsuna's face throughout Rei's sprawling discourse starring the Moon Princess; the woman ever patient, allowing the teenager's passionate rambling to cool of its own volition. The Senshi of Fire couldn't help herself; Usagi was her favourite topic of discussion, and thus once she got started it was hard to stop the adoration pouring out of her. In the company of anybody else other than Setsuna it would have been embarrassing.

 

“I see you are well,” Setsuna noted, all but beaming at the contented girl. Her features slowly fell a moment later, back to the woman who existed outside the world. “I'll always be on your side.”

 

“I know that, Setsuna,” Rei replied, not really understanding but accustomed to occasional cryptic out of the blue statements from her friend. “If you ever need, um, advice about… well, whatever, you can talk to me,” the Inner Senshi awkwardly invited, her shoulders squirming. About Minako, Rei meant, but she was sure Setsuna picked up on that.

 

“Of course. You are an expert on blondes,” the Guardian of Time dryly ribbed, provoking Rei to blush outright and sigh in defeat. “Believe me, Haruka and Michiru are… `helpful' enough.”

 

“Ahh,” Rei breathed. No wonder she was being twitchy about Minako. “You could always go straight to the authority on these things. She *is* the Senshi of Love.”

 

Setsuna looked at Rei, their gap in ages coming out again. The Fire Senshi grinned. She couldn't just stand there and take her friend's jibes without dishing some of her own out in return. “Alright, I'll leave you alone,” the girl relented. “I just…. I want you to be….”

 

“I know,” Setsuna said softly. “…Thank you.”

 

“Rei~! Look at all the stuff I got!” Usagi squealed as she and Makoto walked back over to their fellow Inner Senshi and Setsuna, the elated blonde lifting up the bundles of boutique bags in her hands. Makoto looked bummed and was empty handed; Rei presumed her and Minako's sizes were too far apart. In contrast Usagi could have been the Senshi of Beauty's sister. “I got some things for you too!”

 

Rei briefly cringed, imagining the luridly coloured and patterned clothing her girlfriend had chosen on her behalf. “Um, thanks, Usagi. Anything that doesn't fit you just have, okay?”

 

“Mm!” Usagi nodded keenly, before peering into her bags, her pretty face lighting up at the sights she saw.

 

Makoto sighed as she looked on at the blonde's haul glumly.

 

“Alright~! Minako--last batch!” the photographer energetically called, hefting his camera with its long, thick lens up to his face. “We want to go home today!” His voice cracked with the latter.

 

******

 

Darkness had crept in to claim the day by the time the Sailor Senshi left Cinnamon's offices and the building that housed them. The girls; namely Usagi; had been less of a distraction to Minako and the magazine's photography crew when shooting had resumed, much to the rotund photographer's seeming delight. He had showered the Senshi of Beauty with praise after he'd taken his final picture, her past transgressions apparently overlooked, while the blonde had accepted his flattery modestly, with frequent bows of thanks. Rei had speculated whether it wasn't the first occasion Minako had modelled for Cinnamon, or had worked with the photographer, Itoh.

 

The roar of a powerful engine greeted the Senshi on the street, as a posh red sports car shirked no parking rules and pulled up at the curb before them. Internally Rei groaned and tried to keep a painful grimace from her face. She recognised this particular sporty number. They all did. But Usagi recognised it more readily than most.

 

“Oh, Minako,” Motoki emitted in surprise as he stepped out of the front passenger side door, his movements slowing while he took in the group, “more…” He ran his eyes over everyone but they stopped at Usagi, before darting to Rei, becoming bigger as he stared between the girls. “…friends?” he concluded in a choked voice.

 

The driver's side opened, and from it emerged the man Rei had been dreading. Mamoru looked at the group, and his once calm features registered similar surprise Motoki had, before sinking into a rigid unreadable expression upon noticing his ex-girlfriends. He seemed momentarily stricken to stone, simply standing there, hanging onto the car door.

 

Motoki turned around to his troubled friend, wincing as though he'd just tasted something rotten, and then turned back again to Rei and Usagi. “Ahhh…” he fumbled, searching for something to break the tension.

 

“Ami's… due back… soon,” Makoto mumbled, her words sluggish in reaching her lips, her attention on the regrettable love triangle. She had enough presence of mind to come up with a half-truth excuse and briskly flee, however. `Senshi of Courage' indeed.

 

“Mamoru…” Usagi said quietly, solemnly, guiltily; volumes spoken in the name. She was staring too. Rei felt her Princess's hand tighten on her bicep. The couple had been striving to maintain their distance from the Prince of Earth ever since giving into their mutual love all those months ago, determined to spare him any further pain they could, while always having faith they'd at least all become friends again some day soon. It looked like tonight would test that faith.

 

“Usa… gi,” Mamoru answered, clearly in turmoil. He tore his eyes away from the blonde, his brow developing deep creases as he glowered at the ground.

 

Rei swallowed. Hard. Following Makoto's example suddenly didn't seem so cowardly.

 

“Come on, guys. It's *good* that we're all here,” Minako gently mediated, glancing between the past and the present. “We're all friends. It can't go on like this forever. It's a chance to clear the air.”

 

“Yeah,” Motoki said, throwing his weight behind the Senshi of Love's ideal. “This was a long time coming. Nobody's holding any grudges, right?”

 

That was true; as far as Rei was aware at any rate. Usagi had recounted how her break up with Mamoru had gone in the park the day after that fateful night to Rei, and it had sounded as amicable as it could have been, all things considered. Whether bitterness had found succour in Mamoru's heart since then neither girl had heard as such, nor did it show now despite the grim picture his expression and body language presented. For her part, Rei harboured no ill will towards her old `rival'. She supposed it was easy not to; she had been the `victor' so to speak; she had Usagi's love to wake up to and bask in for the rest of her life while he did not. The only emotion that Rei felt for Mamoru was pity, much like what she felt for Setsuna. They were kindred spirits, she and Mamoru, both Senshi and Prince seeing in the Moon Princess certain divine qualities; a heart and soul that resonated with their own; a life that they'd gladly sacrifice their own existence for. In this life the Princess's being had bonded stronger with Rei's than Mamoru's. It was sad for him and the Senshi of Fire was sympathetic, understanding well how bleak the loss felt--he was accepting it with more poise than she had.

 

“We should go out together, tonight,” Minako went on. “There's this *great* club, Muse, that--”

 

“Wait, go to a club? Tonight?” Rei interrupted. Clubbing, on a school night? And with….

 

The raven-haired teenager stole a glance at Mamoru, witnessing mirrored reluctance on his face. Usagi's fingers were practically burrowing into Rei's flesh now--her Princess obviously wasn't in a dancing mood either.

 

“Sure, we do it all the time!” Minako assured Rei, and everyone else for that matter, judging by the looks the Senshi of Beauty was getting. “Me, Setsuna, Mamoru, and this guy. Nearly every night.” All of a sudden why Minako's academic woes were what they were was clearer to Rei, as was the mystery of Mamoru and Motoki rolling up unexpectedly at Cinnamon magazine's headquarters--it hadn't been unexpected at all for those in the know. The miko wondered when Minako's get togethers had first been established, but she had a feeling she knew roughly when.

 

“`This guy'?” Motoki mumbled to himself.

 

“We're really not dressed for it, Minako…” Rei said unsurely, going for any justification to bail out on her plan. She and Usagi were in street clothes--however it was a stretch to label them nightclub material. It was okay for the Senshi of Beauty; she still had on her hip outfit from her shoot, carrying her abandoned Juuban High School uniform in her schoolbag, sleeves and ribbons poking out of the stuffed leather. “And there's school to think about….”

 

“Pfft, school,” Minako brushed off as though it was the most ridiculous thing ever to bring up--the reasons for her poor grades were becoming clearer all the time. “Plus you look alright. But if you want to change, you have a wardrobe with you!” She grinned and gestured at the boutique bags in Rei and Usagi's hands, the girls sharing the burden of Setsuna's kindness between them.

 

“None of this might even fit me.” While Usagi and Minako could be mistaken as sisters, Rei was a distant cousin at best; slightly taller, slightly more muscular; slight differences, but together enough to possibly make a substantial difference in clothing sizes. “Besides, where are we supposed to change?”

 

“Change in the car!” Minako grinned brightly, as if she really believed the idea had merit.

 

“We're not changing in the car!” Rei cried, her friend's cheesy smile suddenly highly irritating. “Anyone might see, not to mention it's cramped, and--”

 

“I could just use my Disguise Pen,” Usagi suggested, cutting into the Fire Senshi's burgeoning rant. Rei favoured her with a look that had her know she wasn't helping.

 

“See? Stop being prissy. That's fine for her, and you can change in a toilet stall at the club if you want to do it that way,” Minako said, literally waving away Rei's concerns and sensibilities while fanning the raven-haired girl's temper.

 

“We don't usually go clubbing, Minako…” Motoki murmured uncertainly, at last another voice of reason to combat the festive Senshi of Love and Beauty.

 

“School is important.” It was a moment before Rei deduced it was Mamoru's voice she'd heard, so hushed and morose it had been. “Even for idols.”

 

“I'm a model, not an idol. Get it right, silly,” Minako retorted. “Plus I'm sick of sitting in bars. We're having *fun* tonight, you hear me?”

 

It fell quiet as more hesitant looks were passed between Rei, Usagi, Motoki and Mamoru. Gods, it felt too soon. Rei couldn't even fathom two words to say to Mamoru right this minute, let alone enough to last a night of `fun'. Yet it had to be even worse for Usagi. The Senshi of Fire wasn't sure whether to save her Princess from the potential pain and awkwardness at all costs no matter what Minako came up with, or if she would be doing Usagi a disservice by allowing things to continue to stagnate between her and the Prince of Earth. Rei too would like to be on good terms with Mamoru, but it wasn't as though their relationship had been anything approaching what had existed between him and Usagi. Besides dating for a while, Rei had never enjoyed a particular closeness to Mamoru. That said, they'd never been *this* distant. It could only widen as time went on.

 

“I think I'll sit this one out,” Setsuna said, silent and observing up until now, and apparently invulnerable to Minako's browbeating. “It's not really my cup of tea.”

 

Rei glared hotly at the woman. Frenetic dancing in a probably dark and sweaty room with dozens of other people wasn't her kind of scene either, but if she and Usagi were being roped into joining Mamoru with all their mutual baggage at some club, Setsuna was also going with Minako and whatever issues they had. Rei had noted Time's Keeper and the Senshi of Love didn't stand next to each other, nor had they walked together on the way down from Cinnamon to the street--they hadn't exhibited even a modicum of warmth towards one another past the normal bounds of friendship. If they really were an item, Rei couldn't comprehend how they could be so aloof. Whenever the Senshi of Passion was around Usagi she felt a *need* to be near her; near enough to touch her, feel the softness of her skin, her warmth; near enough to breathe in her unique scent. Simply holding Usagi's hand, or encircling her waist, or their arms entwined as they were now; it was a closeness Rei couldn't imagine giving up, not for anyone or anything. That was what love was to Rei.

 

Was she being naïve? Was it something to do with Setsuna and Minako's personalities? Setsuna *maybe*… but Minako always seemed the touchy-feely type. Was it because they weren't alone and in public? Rei could sort of grasp the reluctance found there… yet… she didn't believe it should have any bearing for those in love. Rei couldn't care less what people thought when they saw her and her Princess together--it wasn't *their* relationship, after all--and she trusted Usagi had a likewise stance. Maybe she *was* being naïve. The Senshi of Passion was no expert on the complexities of relationships; she merely had what she saw of her friends' romantic liaisons to go on--and her own romance with Usagi, naturally. Perhaps she should give Setsuna and Minako the benefit of the doubt… and help them along where and when she was able.

 

Her eyes stayed burning jewels, but Rei summoned a sickeningly sweet smile to her face. Setsuna regarded her evenly in return, but being who she was she had to suspect the Fire Senshi's motives. It wouldn't change a thing, however--the woman would accept her assistance whether she liked it or not… tonight, at least. “You should go. It might be… fun.” Rei had to force the words out, her tone twisted into a somewhat more aggressive one than she preferred.

 

The raven-haired girl bumped her blonde counterpart with her hips, soliciting backup. “M-Mm!” Usagi awkwardly stuttered. Well, it was better than nothing.

 

“My clothes aren't suitable,” Setsuna said, showing Rei a rather smug smile, “and I have neither Disguise Pen nor spare outfits on hand.” She wore a tasteful black suit with a skirt, part of her own label Rei believed; classic elegance was a common theme with Timeless, at least for its adult range. Regardless, it was true that it wasn't dance club attire.

 

“We'll *buy* you a dress on the way if we have to,” Rei growled levelly through her teeth in a meagre pretence of patience. The Senshi of Time looked far too amused.

 

“There's not room for every one of us in Mamoru's car,” Setsuna persisted. Tossing the woman in the boot to make the space came to mind.

 

“I'm positive there's a lap Rei will find comfy,” Minako answered for the Fire Senshi before she opened the back passenger door of the Prince's sports car and swung herself inside, apparently having had her fill of dissenters and going ahead whatever was said. Mamoru and Motoki climbed back inside as well, as though they were little more than the blonde's escorts.

 

Setsuna sighed a bit but moved to accede to Minako's wishes, joining the girl in the backseat. The woman must've known the final outcome; she just had a perverse delight in seeing Rei leap through the hoops she held up.

 

Usagi loosed herself from the miko to sit next to the Outer Senshi, but was brought to a halt by Rei's hand suddenly snatching her wrist before she could take more than a step towards the vehicle. There were plenty of reasons Rei had to give into Minako, and plenty she had not to, but the only reason of importance could go either way and was dependent on Usagi. Setsuna, Mamoru, Minako--Rei cared about them, but their needs were secondary. Her Princess merely had to voice her unwillingness and the Senshi of Fire would forsake anyone and everyone.

 

Rei looked into Usagi's eyes, asking the question to the blue orbs with her amethyst pair, the fire in the raven-haired girl's gaze cooled in the opposing calming shade. At a word the Senshi of Fire and Passion would whisk her Princess away, however rude it might be. Their friends could just blame Rei.

 

“It's for Minako and Setsuna, right?” Usagi said, nodding hesitantly, as though seeking Rei's assurance. Friendship came first for Usagi, well before her own desires, however they both knew whose friendship was really on her mind. Too often the blonde's eyes shifted to the familiar car's windshield--at the downcast owner behind it.

 

Rei smiled at her love; at Usagi's selfless maturity, at the Princess beneath the façade of an ordinary girl; and inclined her head in accord. She let go of Usagi's wrist.

 

******

 

Rei tugged at the hem of her little black dress one last desperate time, hoping that somehow if she pulled on it enough the material would stretch to cover more of her thighs. She sighed and looked down at herself, her efforts futile. `Little' black dress indeed. Any tighter and it would have been sprayed onto her body. She didn't remember her chest being this big. Rei supposed she should be relieved she could at least breathe.

 

The raven-haired teenager thought about rummaging through the boutique bag for something that fitted her a bit better while retaining a nightclub aesthetic, but she was taking her sweet time as it was and Usagi was waiting for her. It was probably futile anyway--the clothes inside the bag were fitted to Minako's body; unless it was baggy by design all the outfits would be snug on Rei's frame. The club the Senshi of Beauty had dragged everyone to was pretty dark, wild coloured flashing lights notwithstanding--with luck no one would know to ogle her rather audacious appearance.

 

Rei checked her makeup in her compact's mirror, the heavy mascara, dusky eyeshadow, a touch of blush, and dark red lipstick all borrowed from Minako's ample supply the blonde carried everywhere. The clothes were one half of the necessary image change; the makeup was the other. If the Senshi of Passion was going clubbing, she was going the whole way. While she wasn't vain, neither was she the type to neglect her looks. Image wasn't everything, but pride in oneself was important nonetheless.

 

Rei's fingers harried her bangs as she stared into the mirror, angling it and her head in this direction and that direction, ensuring her hair was just right too before snapping the compact closed and putting it away.

 

She took another breath to steel herself, and then snatched up the paper boutique bag from on top of the toilet seat; her discarded street clothing crammed beside the remaining designer garments within; and unlocked and opened the stall door. Usagi and her quiet appraisal awaited Rei on the other side, as well as several girls impatiently queued up to be next to use the stall. One such girl insolently pushed past Rei to take the Fire Senshi's place inside, all but slamming the door into her back. Rei guessed she had to go bad.

 

Unlike everybody else in the restroom Usagi waited patiently, her hands folded together in front of her, a vision of beauty that the other girls in the vicinity had no hope of ever nearing, let alone matching. Her Disguise Pen and a random club-going passer-by in the Roppongi streets outside Muse had dressed the blonde, even so far as to do her makeup. If not for how gorgeous she inherently was, Usagi would have blended in perfectly with the clubbing crowd. Sparkly top, short skirt, torn fishnet stockings, giant platform boots--underneath she was still Usagi, sweet and lovable, and Rei's Princess.

 

Rei raised an eyebrow and planted a hand on her hip as Usagi continued to simply stare, and nowhere near her face. “Eyes here, odango atama,” the Fire Senshi said wryly, two splayed fingers pointing to eyelevel.

 

Usagi batted her eyes while her cheeks suffered a slightly crimson hue, but she managed to pull her gaze away from her girlfriend's chest, though often paid bashful repeat visits. Rei didn't really mind.

 

“You look….”

 

“I know,” Rei said, forestalling any further mention of her appearance. She looked… well not like a nice girl, to put it mildly. Usagi seemed to take some delight from it though. The Senshi of Passion would have preferred if she had been exciting her lover in private however, and not anybody else who happened to look too closely.

 

Usagi frowned. “Except your shoes aren't really….”

 

“It'll be dark.” Unfortunately Setsuna's label hadn't branched out into footwear yet, and Rei's shoes weren't exactly haute couture being part of her street ensemble, but no one on the dance floor should notice. A least they were comfortable.

 

Rei grinned seductively and sashayed closer to Usagi, dropping the boutique bag at their feet while her hands slid from the side of her girlfriend's thighs to over the blonde's hips and into the depression of her waist. The other girls in the restroom were likely watching, but Rei didn't see them--she only saw her Princess. “Ready to dance the night away?” the Senshi of Passion asked huskily, pulling Usagi's hips to hers and nuzzling her cheek to the blonde's, enchanted by the softness against her skin.

 

“Only if it's with you,” Usagi answered in a whisper at Rei's ear, stirring another broad smile to take over the raven-haired teenager's lips.

 

Rei slipped her arm around her Princess's waist and stooped to retrieve the bag full of clothes, before guiding Usagi to the restroom's exit. Usagi's arm found a natural fit at the small of Rei's back, encircling the miko's slim waist also, and the couple walked out together into the incessant beat of music, gloom split by beams of multicoloured lights, and swell of people talking, dancing, drinking and enjoying each other's company in a fashion that wasn't proper to stare at.

 

Rei drew Usagi even closer to her as they nudged and weaved through Muse's claustrophobic crowds, sidestepping fellow high schoolers with apparently no regard to an eight thirty a.m. start and older yet probably no more responsible club-goers in their twenties and maybe even thirties, all dressed extravagantly and here to lose themselves in revelry. It was definitely not Rei's scene, nor did she think it was Usagi's, the way the girl clung to her. Minako better be having the time of her life.

 

“Rei? Rei?! Rei Hino!”

 

Rei instinctively turned her head towards the sound of her name being hollered above the club's din, and internally cursed when she realised her mistake. Three girls her age broke from the partying throng and hurriedly approached her, assembling in her and Usagi's path, obliging the couple to stop.

 

“It *is* you!”

 

Rei knew these girls--not personally, but rather she vaguely recognised them. Besides, they seemed to know her well enough, and that was a dead giveaway. They were from her school, T*A Private Girls' School, a somewhat prestigious Catholic academy that her father forced her to attend in some lame pretence of parenting, no doubt having called on his political clout to pull the essential strings within the faculty--she was a practicing miko after all, though she found value in both the Eastern and Western religions. Rei had grown accustomed to the school in any case, with any resentment directed at her father for putting her there long dissipated. Still, not being a student of Juuban High School like her friends and most of all like Usagi did sometimes bug her. The thought of sitting in the same class as her Princess, spending lunchtimes with her; spending every school day with her; was a pleasant fantasy.

 

The three T*A girls stared at Rei, their jaws dropped and their eyes big, a collective coo of what the Fire Senshi presumed was astonishment emanating from their gaping mouths. Rei tried to put a name to the faces--the one with the braids was… Hitomi wasn't it?--however friends or an interest in gaining some wasn't something she had at T*A Private Girls' School. Obviously they were here for the same reason Rei grudgingly was; they were dressed to match the scene around them--gaudily and provocatively, likely dancing up a storm before spotting the Fire Senshi. Was the school night sacred to no one? Rei was not exactly one to talk of course, being here too however unenthusiastic she felt about it. School was a high priority for her after missing--okay, blowing off--week after week of classes a few months back. She hadn't realised how much she'd ditched before her normally easygoing Grandpa had yelled at her. Rei's grades were in a slump, but she was trying hard to be the diligent student, mainly to please her grandfather. If he knew she was out `partying' in a Roppongi nightclub right now everything she'd done to get back into his good graces would probably be forfeit.

 

“I didn't know you came here too!” one of the girls gushed, her gaze still all stars for the uncomfortable miko.

 

“Wow, this is great!” another squealed, wiggling eagerly on the spot.

 

“And you look…!” the third gasped, her eyes becoming even bigger if that was possible. Rei could practically feel her stare on her skin, ravishing her body.

 

“Rei…?” Usagi said uncertainly, sounding put off by the trio of fangirls. Rei wasn't anywhere near a social butterfly at her school or some academic prodigy or sports star, mostly keeping to herself and doing what was required of her by the teachers, yet somehow she commanded the respect and admiration of lower, upper, and fellow classmates alike. She had learned to ignore it as it was more or less harmless, and on Valentine's Day the benefits *really* showed, but sometimes it was annoying. Like now.

 

“Who's this?” Hitomi--at least who Rei believed was Hitomi--asked, looking at the blonde.

 

“Uh…” Rei hesitated. “She's….” For a moment the Senshi of Passion was going to mask who Usagi was to her; what the girl meant to her; but the impulse was quickly recognised as a foolish and shameful one--a disservice to her Princess. Rei was proud to have Usagi's love. Rei had nothing to hide. “She's my girlfriend; Usagi.” She turned her head to the slightly nonplussed blonde. “These girls go to my school,” she explained.

 

“Girlfriend…?” the trio meanwhile mouthed, frowning at Rei and Usagi with intensified interest, taking in the pair's body language, the way their arms were around each other, the look in their eyes they had for each other. They *had* to see it. “You mean *girlfriend*, girlfriend?” one of them finally posed.

 

Rei curtly nodded.

 

Massive squealing erupted, attracting bewildered and often frightened looks from nearby club patrons, while Rei's schoolmates jumped up and down, clutching one another's arms. Rei could just imagine what school was going to be like tomorrow; the news would travel like wildfire--it would be all over the academy before she arrived in the morning, she just knew it. It would either inspire anyone who had a crush on her to recklessly confess, or dampen that sort of behaviour once and for all as Rei's admirers despaired at having missed their chance. Rei prayed for the latter; her shoe locker could only hold so many letters and opening it to a torrent of sweet-smelling paper was already a pain.

 

“She doesn't go to our school, does she?!” one girl managed to ask through her excitement, she and her friends regarding Usagi akin to an object or oddity rather than a flesh and blood person standing right there with them. The blonde seemed unsure what to do bar hold onto Rei and bite her tongue, which was probably the right course of action all things considered.

 

“No, Juuban High,” Rei said. For some reason that encouraged more squealing. She sighed. “Okay, we're going now. See you.”

 

Rei hastily ushered Usagi away from her schoolmates before they could latch onto them and never let go, chased by calls of “she's so cool~!” and “Usagi is so pretty~!”. Rei agreed with the latter declarations, but it was all still embarrassing and she did her best to distance herself and her Princess from the boisterous fangirls in the shortest time possible.

 

“I didn't know you were so popular at your school, Rei,” Usagi remarked in surprise once they were well rid of the girls. “Were they your friends?”

 

“No,” Rei said, shaking her head. “Don't worry, the girls at my school mean nothing to me.”

 

“I wasn't worried until you said that!” Usagi exclaimed. “Do you have admirers?”

 

“One or two.” It was better that she didn't know the truth.

 

Usagi looked at Rei like she didn't quite believe it though. “I hope you let them down gently.”

 

Rei flashed her lover a wink and a lopsided smile. “Of course.”

 

The couple pushed through the last of the crush in front of the booth the Sailor Senshi and their male companions had staked out for themselves, at first glad to be in a slightly more open space, but then apprehensive as they were reminded of the complex circumstances that awaited them in the form of the dark haired man sitting at the outer edge of the booth's plush but well-worn red seats with Motoki. Usagi hadn't the stomach to face Mamoru without Rei nearby; `helping' the Fire Senshi to dress had been a convenient way to delay the inevitable close quarter company. Rei would never have thought to abandon her girlfriend like that anyway; Usagi would find herself alone with Mamoru only if she chose to be.

 

Rei noticed Mamoru and Motoki's eyes shy away from her while she shot a heated look at Setsuna where the Outer Senshi sat in the middle of the booth, blaming the Guardian of Time for her clothing situation. The woman had designed the ill-fitting black dress after all!

 

Unrepentant as usual, a self-satisfied smile was all Setsuna offered the Fire Senshi. The green-haired woman had stayed in her suit despite her objection that her clothing wasn't right and Rei's threat to buy her something. It wasn't too out of place actually; Rei had seen more than a few young office ladies and salarymen similarly clad about.

 

Rei dumped the boutique bag she had been carrying on the booth's semi-circular seat; the other bags in Mamoru's car; and Minako's makeup on the round chrome table at its centre. But for her fur jacket left behind the Senshi of Love and Beauty was nowhere around, no doubt buried in the crowd on one of the many dance floors. It was disheartening that Setsuna wasn't out there with her, or that Minako hadn't forgone dancing in favour of keeping the Senshi of Time from getting bored or lonely. It was too much to expect from either of them, Rei supposed. Their personalities, likes and dislikes, were poles apart.

 

“We should dance,” Usagi said quickly, her gaze sticking to her ex-boyfriend for an instant before it was turned to her girlfriend. “It's a dance club, isn't it? Come on, Rei!”

 

Before Rei could have any say Usagi was dragging her into the heaving mob of people. The Senshi of Fire relented and let herself be led. If her Princess didn't want to deal with Mamoru just yet, then it was okay. The night was young, and they had until Minako ran out of energy or lost interest in the nightlife.

 

They discovered the missing blonde not far from the booth, dancing wild as anticipated. Girls and guys gyrated alongside her, affected by her exuberant spirit and boundless vigour. Minako grinned at Rei and Usagi when she saw them, beckoning the girls to join her while maintaining her rhythm. The Senshi of Beauty was a great dancer, her entire body an avatar for the music. Rei on the other hand was pretty uncoordinated amid the feverish beats, and Usagi wasn't exactly grace on two legs either. But who she was dancing with had the raven-haired teenager forget her lack of ability, the shared fun with the one she loved all that mattered. Joyful smiles and laughs, frequent hands on hips and fingers through one another's hair defined Rei and Usagi's dance floor romp, the memory of promising to curb their affection around Minako wiped away. Perhaps this was Rei's scene after all.

 

Through the flailing limbs and twisting bodies surrounding her, Rei caught glimpses of the booth and her sedentary friends. Setsuna looked content to lounge there nursing a drink, though judging by her hollow crimson stare was she was as distant from club Muse as she could be without actually leaving. Mamoru and Motoki loitered with her; however neither could ever pass as wallflowers, with the men constantly obliged to shoo away the lavish attentions of forward girls, although they never ran out of courtesy in their refusals. Rei understood that Motoki had someone, but Mamoru…. Perhaps it was too soon for him to be considering other girls.

 

Even Sailor Senshi stamina needed to recharge at some point, and after who knew how many songs it was a mussed Rei, Usagi and Minako that tottered away from the dance floor and back to the booth for a breather.

 

“This is really fun!” Usagi gushed, her blue eyes dazed but her mouth all smiles, sounding flabbergasted that it was so.

 

“Told you,” Minako chirped, throwing herself into the booth and flopping over onto her back. “Rei, go get some drinks,” she called tiredly. “Anything cold and fizzy.”

 

Rei pushed her bangs back from her forehead and combed her fingers through her hair, surprised she wasn't drenched with perspiration. She wouldn't say no to a drink though, and Usagi might want one also. “Minako, why can't you go?” Nevertheless, dancing for however long it had been hadn't stripped the Fire Senshi of her senses; she wouldn't leave her Princess's side. Hopefully her friends merely chalked it up to her usual stubbornness and propensity for self-reliance.

 

“Rei~!” Minako whined hoarsely, followed by unintelligible hacking noises as though she were on the brink of dying of thirst that second.

 

Rei made a face and looked at Usagi, the vexed expression quickly supplanted by quiet concern. The blonde's smiles were gone, her lips thin and tight together, but she nodded firmly to the Senshi of Fire. Usagi was ready to face him.

 

“*Rei*~!!”

 

“Alright, alright!” Rei moaned, rolling her eyes. She glanced again at her girlfriend, biting her lower lip briefly in uncertainty, before turning to walk away and locate the bar.

 

“Rei!”

 

Rei immediately spun around at Usagi's call, anxious and expecting the girl to ask she stay or to wait so they could go together after all.

 

“Lemonade for me,” Usagi said.

 

Rei released the breath she had been holding and sauntered up to the exasperating blonde, the look in her eyes very dry. But the raven-haired teenager's lips were hot and generous when they kissed Usagi, reassuring her Princess of her love, and that she'd never be alone. “I'll be fast,” Rei whispered, her hands that cupped Usagi's cheeks stroking along the girl's jaw line as she stepped back, her fingertips the last to leave.

 

Rei made a beeline for the bar, or at least where she thought she recalled seeing the bar. The flashing lights, cavorting people bumping into her, and thumping music from every side came together to serve disorientation in spades. The horrible thought of running into her classmates again dogged her every step as well, every high school girl's face she saw giving her a start as she initially imagined it was one of theirs. But it was Usagi that reigned in the Senshi of Fire's mind, speeding her stride. Although it might actually be beneficial to delay a little and give her Princess and the blonde's ex-boyfriend more time without her to… talk things out or whatever, that was definitely one area of Usagi's life Rei couldn't be strict with. Rei loved her too much to wholly desert her like that, no matter how much good it might do in the long run. Rei could only be so hard on Usagi.

 

Within her thoughts of Usagi and of her troublesome classmates, something else tickled. Preternatural senses tuned to the otherworldly hummed, awakening the miko inside of Rei, and the Sailor Senshi after it. Abruptly she halted, her head whipping about for some verification, some obvious disturbance. It was small, barely there… but Rei knew the sensation well--and her perception never lied. There was something here; something not of this world--a spirit, a demon, a youma… *something*, and the kind of something that was seldom benevolent.

 

Rei skimmed her eyes over the crowd, hoping to catch a hint of anything unseemly, but there were dozens of people; dozens of masks for evil to wear. Still she searched, yet she could barely feel it anymore. It had to be moving away, or fading back to wherever it had come from. Rei's gaze shifted to the outer walls, the exits, to the places far from her, battling for a clear line of sight through the club-goers.

 

There! She thought she saw a man and a woman disappear through a fire exit, the woman leaning heavily against the man. It was pretty weak, but it was the only thing she had to go on or otherwise ignore what she'd perceived--and Rei wasn't the type to shun responsibility. She had to be sure, or it would nag her all night.

 

Rei barged through the partying hordes, jostling girls and guys this way and that in her uncompromising path towards the fire exit. People cursed, people shouted, however the Senshi of Fire hadn't a care for their inconvenience. The fire door was the last victim of Rei's shoulder, bashed open and sending her stumbling a couple steps into a snug alley home to trashcans and garbage bags, obscure bars, and out-of-the-way eateries.

 

Unconsciously Rei's hand lashed out to catch the fire door from closing behind her in case it happened to be the locking kind, but her attention was on the tight street laid out in front of her. Muse's frantic melodies pounded against her back and streamed out into the night around her, but she could tell it was foreign unrest to this nook of Roppongi; bar and restaurant signs buzzed, lit with neon lures, but there were no moths to attract except for Rei. The unearthly sensation was gone, as was any sign of the man and woman.

 

The music at her rear shifted to calmer scores as Rei pressed as deep into the alley as she could without releasing the fire door, her outstretched arm and fingertips keeping her from the hassle of queuing up again at the club's front façade just to get back inside. As the miko was debating whether she was willing to investigate more thoroughly despite the cost, she heard clumsy footsteps scrape the ground and saw a man eventually wander into view from the other side of a pile of bursting rubbish bags and a bar's flickering signboard. By his less than professional suit he was another night reveller, and by his staggered and unsteady gait he had revelled for some time now.

 

When the man spotted Rei standing there he grinned at her… kind of; the girl considered it more a leer. The Fire Senshi sighed as he began wobbling towards her, the sleazy smirk plastered to his flush face.

 

“Did you see a man and a woman go by here?” Rei asked on a whim, though she knew it was probably a wasted effort.

 

“Only you, baby,” the intoxicated man slurred, close enough now to gas the raven-haired girl with his breath.

 

Rei shot him a withering look and retreated back into the club, slamming the fire door shut on the sight of the idiot. She hadn't picked up any vibes from him besides the regrettably everyday perverted ones; he wasn't *strictly* evil, at least not in the supernatural sense. Whatever it was that Rei had first felt, it had vanished, if it had been something worth pursuing to begin with. The woman with the man she'd chased had probably been drunk the same as the bozo the miko had met outside, and the couple had just been searching for some place for her to vomit. And there hadn't been a youma sighting in months. Maybe Muse was haunted? The music was loud enough to wake the dead after all.

 

Rei pushed another path through the squash of club-goers, gentler this second time around but with equal urgency, thinking about getting back to Usagi. If the blonde had had a chance to talk to Mamoru, great, if not… well, there would be other chances. Small doses were the key; it was probably just as hard on Mamoru too, being lumped together with his ex-girlfriend for any substantial length of time. It had to be taken slow, on both sides. To that end, Rei had to get back.

 

The raven-haired girl realised that she was worrying too much. Overindulgent; as usual when it had to do with her Princess's happiness. But it couldn't be helped. She'd have to shut off her feelings for Usagi if she wanted to--sooner ask Rei to cut out her own heart.

 

Rei was amid a forest of people, in virtual darkness, without a clue where precisely in the club her hunt for imaginary evils had taken her; however she didn't waver on her way back, somehow positive that she wouldn't become lost on the return trip to her lover's side.

 

******

 

Usagi watched Rei go until her Senshi of Fire and Passion was swallowed by dancers and darkness, but still for moments afterwards the blonde's eyes lingered where her girlfriend had disappeared. She dreaded turning around to face the past, to face his eyes; his pain--pain that she'd caused. Usagi had been determined to make it better; she'd always held onto the belief that they'd be friends; her, Mamoru, *and* Rei; that somehow she'd `fix' things between herself and Mamoru; but now, confronted with the reality, her resolve was trickling away. What could she really say or do to heal a broken heart she'd shattered herself? The only cure she could think of was the one beyond her means. Usagi had parted on good terms with her Prince she'd thought, farewelling a love that would dwindle with her absence, but the longer she'd gone without so much as laying eyes on him the more concerned she'd become. Maybe Mamoru hated her. Maybe he hated her and Rei both. Maybe… he still loved her. Usagi longed for Rei to come back.

 

Usagi retreated a few steps and absently sat down in the booth beside Minako's propped up feet. She tried not to look at the Senshi of Love, or the Guardian of Time across from her. Mamoru even had secret get togethers with Minako and Setsuna. Minako hadn't said a word about it, and if Setsuna had said something Rei would have told her. Right now, it wasn't only Mamoru who the Moon Princess felt was distant from her. Usagi should have been in the company of friends, but sitting there she felt alone. She kept her eyes down, avoiding Mamoru's face and even Motoki's, and kept Minako and Setsuna in her peripheral vision at most, lifting her head only to search for her Senshi of Fire's return--a frequent endeavour.

 

When Usagi raised her head yet another time, he was there. The blonde couldn't prevent herself from looking up at Mamoru standing there, his hand offered to her. She realised the club's mad music had mellowed, the dancing no longer wild and involving dozens, but slow and between pairs--couples.

 

Mamoru said nothing, but he smiled. He was reaching out where Usagi couldn't.

 

Minako's feet pushed into Usagi's back, urging her to accept. And the Princess did. She took his hand and his smile grew, though his eyes stayed the same; melancholy trapped in the soulful dark blue pools. He led her to the nearest dance floor in sight of the booth, and with the past as their guide both Mamoru and Usagi turned to each other. Mamoru's hands were tentative on her waist, and Usagi's arms rested on the Prince's shoulders, her fingers lightly laced behind his neck.

 

They danced. Usagi was tense, and not really a consummate dancer to begin with, was rigid in her movements. It shouldn't have felt this… awkward; she and Mamoru had danced before, on several occasions. Yet she found it hard to sync with his lead; many times she feared she'd trod on his feet or trip over herself.

 

Perhaps sensing her discomfort and fearing her imbalance as well, Mamoru drew Usagi closer to him, his hands slipping further around her waist to her back, closing around her in an embrace. For a second the blonde remained taut as a coiled spring, but the familiarity of the muscular arms enveloping her had her own arms unconsciously slide down from Mamoru's shoulders to lie on his chest. Gingerly at first Usagi leaned against him, her head over his heart. She let her eyes close.

 

He was still the same Mamoru. It was the same strength, the same warmth, the same smell. It was the same Mamoru she knew and loved. And yet everything was different. It wasn't the same love she felt. They were exactly the same people, and yet… yet so totally changed. Usagi's heart went out to Mamoru, but not in the way she felt he wished. The Princess cared about him and always would… however being with him now wasn't like being with Rei. It was… *hot* with Rei, exhilarating; the raven-haired beauty lit a fire inside Usagi; ignited a love that the blonde felt could burn her up with its intensity. Yet there was more behind the ardour; there was the easiness of being best friends, the kindling for the flames, for the passion that followed. Usagi could really *feel* Rei's love for her; could see it smoulder in her beautiful amethyst eyes with her every look, sense its heat in her every caress. There was a fire inside Rei as well, the fire that had lit Usagi's. What Usagi felt she knew Rei felt too. Usagi's heart burned with Rei's, and she couldn't imagine it ever being cool again.

 

“Where are the drinks?! I'm melting here! Ugh, you, what's-your-name--Motoki!--you go!”

 

Usagi overheard Minako's grumbling and Motoki's groans and lifted her head from Mamoru's chest, opening her eyes to who she already knew was there. She swallowed a tad nervously, wondering what the girl must have thought to see her with her old flame.

 

“Can I cut in?” Rei said simply.

 

Mamoru smiled at her and nodded, but there was nothing in his smile except acceptance. He didn't hate anyone. Of course he didn't. He wouldn't be the man Usagi had loved if he did.

 

Mamoru stepped back from the Princess and then aside, departing the dance floor. He looked back only once, but it was enough to tear at Usagi's heart. He did still love her.

 

Rei was quiet as she took Usagi in her arms, her hands dipping low as was their bold custom, staring avidly into the blonde's gaze, the amethysts burning with the promise of never-ending passions to come. Usagi would have shivered if not for the heat it inspired within her. The Moon Princess instead draped her arms around her lover's shoulders, holding her near, needing her close--wanting the fire.

 

Rei was smaller than Mamoru, slimmer, her shoulders not as broad or her body as thick; softer, feminine. Dancing with her Senshi of Passion couldn't be mistaken for dancing with a man; it was a girl Usagi cuddled and squeezed, a girl she moved in harmony with. Nor could it be mistaken that Usagi was dancing with anybody else but the person she was in love with.

 

They kissed, whether a disconsolate Minako could see them no more a concern than anyone else seeing. Some things couldn't be held back--like Usagi's lips against Rei's. Her Fire Senshi met her passion and then demanded more, with the Princess only delighted to provide. If Usagi could live forever in a moment, it would be this one; in this kiss, in this love--in this fire.

 

Usagi relaxed against Rei, her breath stolen from her, her head going to the crook of the other girl's neck. She laid tender pecks against the slender throat in front of her, the rapid heartbeat of her girlfriend felt against her lips. “What happened to my lemonade?”

 

Usagi heard Rei chuckle, low and husky. They could just drink from each other's lips all night instead.

 

******

 

“I know, I'm sorry! We were…. I am, I am…. I'm with Rei…. Tell Papa it wasn't her fault, it was Minako's! I'm coming home now, okay? …Yes, I'm eating right this second…. You can warm it anyway…. No you won't, Mama! She's already had her share! She should be in bed! It better be there when I get home! …Okay…. Okay, bye.”

 

Usagi closed her mobile phone with a laboured breath, and then stuffed it inside her jacket while Rei looked on, a sympathetic wince on her features. Time had run away from the couple in club Muse, and if it wasn't for Usagi's rumbling stomach--a better timekeeper than any clock--they'd probably still be there dancing obliviously with the shamelessly irresponsible Senshi of Beauty. It wasn't a surprise that the Moon Princess's parents were fretting; it was pushing eleven and the Tsukino's hadn't seen their daughter since she'd left for school in the morning--and arrived tardy, thanks to the previous night's frivolities with Naru. The redhead had also been late Rei had heard, though the Fire Senshi herself hadn't shared her and Usagi's fate--she could get up in the morning when she really had to, though her mood was dependent on how many hours she'd slept beforehand.

 

Two late bedtimes in a row on school nights simply weren't going to agree with Usagi; she already didn't know what punctuality meant, or what a respectable hour was to claw herself out of bed when she *had* had a decent rest. Rei wondered how Minako dealt with her own parents when she was apparently out greeting the sunrise so often--if it became three late bedtimes in a row perhaps Usagi could get some tips. She'd need them.

 

“We'll get you home before twelve,” Rei said, walking alongside her Princess on the street, somewhere in Roppongi where the nightlife still thrived around them. Kenji Tsukino could be prickly about her keeping Usagi out later than midnight, and that *wasn't* on a school night; it was important for Rei to get the blonde back home before then if she hoped to stay in his good books. He already wasn't exactly thrilled that Rei couldn't keep her hands off his daughter. Doubtless it was Ikuko who was holding Kenji back from saying anything about that, although the thought that the woman was responsible wasn't entirely comforting.

 

“Mm,” Usagi agreed absently, juggling with a soda held to her chest as she dug one hand into a paper burger bag. Her ravenous appetite couldn't be denied for long; a detour to the nearest fast food restaurant had been a given following their departure from the club. Snack foods from the Hikawa Jinja were all that had fuelled her while shaking her hips on the dance floor; it was a marvel she had lasted as long as she had… if you overlooked the sheer volume of snack foods she had devoured.

 

Usagi took out a beef teriyaki burger and after a bit of a struggle to unwrap it, lifted it up to Rei's mouth for the other girl to take a bite. The blonde smiled indulgently when the Senshi of Fire obliged, and then sunk her teeth into a big mouthful herself. “It's good, huh?” came her muffled voice through chewed burger.

 

“Only because I'm hungry,” Rei said after swallowing. The miko hadn't eaten since leaving the shrine either, and unlike Usagi had been sparing in the partaking of snack foods. Junk food like the burger was okay sometimes.

 

“Aw~!” Usagi moaned in disappointment; however she brought the burger back to Rei's mouth for her to have another bite anyway.

 

The Moon Princess's Timeless boutique bags pinned Rei's arms to her sides, but being handfed by Usagi was a more than satisfactory reward for the labour. Besides, Usagi looked more at home carrying food. The blonde had shed her Disguise Pen inspired clubbing outfit too, returning to the image of the girl Rei knew so well and loved so much. The Fire Senshi on the other hand was still a prisoner in the little black dress, though she had become used to its clinginess and scant covering. Nevertheless, that hadn't stopped her wearing her jacket over it while outside on the streets.

 

Usagi continued to trade burger bites with Rei, and added shared sips of the soda she had to the menu, however from her mounting solemn silence and timid body language the miko could tell something weighed on her girlfriend's mind. Rei waited patiently for her to find the words. “Um… Rei…. About Mamoru and I, dancing…. You know, I….”

 

Rei smirked faintly. So that was it. “I know.”

 

“You're not mad?” Usagi said tentatively, as if expecting a fiery outburst from Rei. With another partner maybe, in another life; but not with her Princess, not here in this happily ever after.

 

Rei shook her head gently. “I trust you.” She smiled, a little surprised at her other feelings. “I trust him.”

 

Usagi beamed at her, the blonde's eyes bright and appreciative, and eagerly provided Rei with another draught of soda until it gurgled its last. “I don't know if we helped Minako and Setsuna much,” she commented, taking the soda back to suck on the straw one final time, making sure the cup was empty but for ice. “But at least they were together, right?”

 

Rei nodded hesitantly. “Mm.” They hadn't danced together once all night. Rei thought Minako's vivacious personality would have seen her haul Setsuna onto the dance floor eventually regardless of the Outer Senshi's tastes and disposition, yet the Senshi of Love had found the company of strangers partying next to her more to her liking. Theirs was a peculiar relationship. Maybe Rei should just butt out and have faith in their feelings. It was the polite and respectable thing to do. Meddling in love lives was a predilection of Usagi's, not Rei's.

 

Rei sighed deeply, wondering if she was kidding herself. She wanted her two friends happy, and if her aid--subtle, of course--was what it took, then she would meddle. She wondered too if that was Usagi talking; if more of the odango atama's personality had rubbed off on her.

 

“Let's get a taxi,” the Fire Senshi said as her Princess popped the last bite of the beef teriyaki burger into her own mouth, chewing it cheerfully, before peering into the fast food bag again. There were still French fries to be had, the knowledge surely the source of Usagi's high spirits. Or perhaps how matters were between herself, her girlfriend, and Mamoru had something to do with it. Tonight might have been a disappointment for Minako and Setsuna, but for Rei and Usagi and Mamoru, it had been… hopeful. Whatever the reason, Rei was glad to witness her Princess's joy.

 

“We should go danc-- clubbing again!” Usagi proposed enthusiastically as she stood between two parked cars, trying to flag down a cab while tossing fries into her mouth.

 

Rei admitted it had been fun once she was there and had gotten into it, although that might have been because Usagi was with her. “In moderation, Usagi. And not when we have school the next day,” she declared in an indulgent tone.

 

Clubbing still wasn't really her thing, however Rei didn't regret going out this evening. Anyplace, any activity, was enriched by Usagi's presence. If her Princess was with her there was fun to be had in the most mundane of tasks and in the most tedious of locales. It was the quality of a best friend… and a lover. Usagi was both to Rei--it meant life was never dull.

 

But the girls were also Sailor Senshi--and a Senshi's life had a way of always being interesting as well.

 

******

 

The flamboyantly clad human was dumped at Chamista and Jadeite's feet on her knees; a capture from the latest ration hunt; bleeding from the head and all but oblivious in her daze to the prophetic whimpering and begging her fellows made beside her. She was fortunate. Her stupor would be the painkiller the other cattle wished they'd had.

 

“This had better work,” Chamista warned, glaring narrowly at the human male next to her. “If nothing comes of this sacrifice, *we* go hungry….”

 

Jadeite looked at her but held his tongue, as well as the crystal shard tighter in his fist. The youma would have him fill their bellies if their human stock was slaughtered for naught. Snatching humans from their swallow existences was a risky undertaking; too many and the others of their species might take notice, too few and the youma starved… and toyed with thoughts of revolt. Chamista had set a perfect median for maintaining secrecy and morale. But if what Jadeite said was true….

 

“Have at it, then,” the mage commanded impetuously.

 

Jadeite raised the crystal in his hand aloft, its facets slowly starting to glow with eldritch purple light, yet pitch shadows swirled at their centres. Before the colour swallowed the man's entire fist, the light burst from the crystal's faces, rays skewering the seven humans assembled in a line on their knees before him and Chamista, and shooting onwards to unite with the crystal growth implanted in the floor nearby. The growth began to burn with a similar dark energy, burgeoning, breathing like a living thing, new crystal protrusions sprouting through the concrete and tiles as fungus after a rainstorm.

 

The cattle, for their part, were silent in their destruction, stricken dumb and immobile as babes while the crystal stole from them what it needed. Chamista understood. She could feel it--their lifeforce draining, their souls siphoned; dangerously corruptive magicks, but routinely effective.

 

The light shut off and the crystal shard in Jadeite's hand cleared to glass, however the growth retained its purplish tint. The humans collapsed, released from their paralysis, yet not their lives. They breathed still, though for all intents and purposes were dead to the world, unconscious and no longer whole beings. Still….

 

“Your method is inefficient. It is wasteful,” Chamista curtly critiqued. She made a peculiar gesture with her hand; peculiar to anyone not familiar with her craft; and the shard in Jadeite's grip whirled free, slapping into hers. “There is more to be had.”

 

The youma channelled her powers through the crystal, tasting its residual dark taint, and let it feed once again. The beams of light stabbed the prostrate humans, connecting them to the crystal growth, yet this time it was without restraint. Before Chamista's, Jadeite's, and the other youma's eyes, the humans decayed; their hair greying and falling out in clumps; their skin mottling and drying, flaking away with the underground chamber's dust motes; muscles atrophying, organs withering, bones splitting. Their bodies crumbled as though constructed of sand, every scrap of life in their every cell harvested. The crystal growth thrived in the vampiric feast, swelling to a garden.

 

When there was nothing left to take, Chamista tossed the crystal shard back to Jadeite. He caught it stoically.

 

A youma snorted gruffly. “Well done, you've made a pretty thing,” he said mockingly, eyeing the crystal garden with a distasteful sneer on his two mouths.

 

“No…” Chamista murmured softly, scrutinising the crystal phenomenon herself. It was beautiful. Purple glass flowers; petals sharp and stamens dark. “I see the potential.” Her gaze hardened as it turned upon her youma, along with her voice. “We must gather more. More food. We have another… `mouth' to feed.” Her attention on the garden again, she smiled in awe, wicked fangs bared. “It has such an appetite,” she whispered, marvelling at what she felt with her arcane insight.

 

“But… the Sailor Senshi,” another youma spoke up. “If we-- They will come to reali--”

 

“The Sailor Senshi will have other concerns,” Jadeite's raised voice cut in harshly. His glove squeaked as he clutched the crystal shard even more ruthlessly, and for a moment Chamista pondered if it would shatter under the force.

 

“Oh?” the mage inquired thoughtfully. How far did his hatred go?

 

“Together, with her, they are strong,” Jadeite explained, staring hard at nothing. The fist squeezed even more. “But they are still human, with human flaws. They can be broken…” He tapped two fingers against his chest, “…from the inside.

 

“But make no mistake,” the blonde man suddenly spat with venom, shifting his baleful glare to Chamista. “I care nothing for you, your kind, or whatever pathetic cause you cling to. Your enemy is my enemy, and that is all.”

 

Chamista smiled faintly. Her pet could think whatever made him happy.

 

“Usagi Tsukino, Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino, Jupiter, Venus…” Jadeite mumbled to himself. The crystal in his hand cracked.

 

******

 

To be continued….

 

 

Author's ramblings:

 

MOS Burger. I miss that place.