Theme: Rei (sm_monthly challenge March 2008)
Version: PGSM(Live action) universe, more particularly set in the context of my post-finale Rainbow Grail fic, where the girls are older and are going through a crisis which has caused them to retrieve their powers.
Rating: G.
Word count: 785 words.
Notes: Ahaha. My PGSM knowledge is a bit rusty. 8D; Has been a while since I wrote for Sailor Moon or the SM Monthly challenges. (This fic was first written and posted in March 2008.)

Bedside visit.

When he came into the room, Rei had to fight the urge to resume the scowl she had used so much in her adolescence. The scowl born of her misunderstandings, her bitterness towards this person. She had not felt the urge to use it in his presence for quite a while now. She had learnt to accept that this was just the way he was, that he had hurt as much from their ordeal as she had; they had both made progress in getting over the walls they had built between them. She sighed, and allowed him to see the small smile she had come to concede to him whenever they met these days. It wasn't his fault that she was in this dratted hospital bed, nor his fault that her life had become so complicated of late.

"Father," she said, acknowledging his presence.

She watched as she saw him pause, the colour draining from his face as he took in her bedridden state, the bandages on her arms. Apparently she was not the only one to dislike hospitals.

"Rei..."
She heard the fear in his voice ring out loud and clear, along with his concern... The concern he would always keep bottled up behind his politician's poker face. Her eyes opened wide with surprise, and she found that she had to bite back some tears. She watched as he brought his hands down to his sides, fists clenched as he momentarily fought to regain his composure. He turned his face away from hers, towards the dying flowers on the window sill. It took her a short moment to figure out that he had probably just fought the urge to rush to her side and protectively take her hand, a short moment in which her father seemed to find that the window had not been the distraction he had needed from such feelings. It was with disbelief that she found him stepping towards her side and, upon noticing the state of her hand, grasping her good shoulder in a tender squeeze.

"I..."
Rei stopped, as she realized she did not know what to say to him.
Mister Hino was not a man she had learnt to associate with paternal tenderness. He did not seem to know what to say either, as he turned his face towards the door this time. Rei found that she was glad he had left his bodyguards outside the door this time.

An angel passed, and so did his fatherly impulse to hold his daughter; but something had been passed on. It was something that both elated and worried her. She must have looked terribly ill for her father to let his concern take over like that.

"Mrs Motoki told me you had both been in a car accident... But somehow it doesn't look like you were."

Rei bit back a sarcastic chuckle at his statement. She had many cuts and burns, as well as a few bruises. She certainly felt as though she had gone through a car's windscreen; cut by shards of glass she knew to have been ice, burnt by flames that had no right to be so cold, floored by an ordeal that had less to do with a sudden impact and more to do with guilt, worry and stress. Yet she could somehow understand where his statement had come from. She had been told upon occasion how much she resembled her mother in her prime. Rei could still remember clearly how poorly her mother had looked upon her deathbed. Her father, despite being absent during his wife's dying hour, could probably still recall his rare visits to her side during her illness.

"I'll be fine," she said.

He turned his face back towards her, looking her in the eye as she repeated the words. He smiled back in relief, hearing the warmth in her voice. He reassured her in turn by straightening again, resuming his cursed poker face and saying in his usual gruff and professional tone:
"If ever you need anything..."

She smiled earnestly as she closed her eyes, her answer coming in a whisper as she felt sleep slowly embracing her.
"I think I just need some rest, at the moment."

Rei thought she felt something brush at her bangs as she fell into a relaxed slumber.

When she woke up, the bouquet of dying flowers on the windowsill had been replaced with fresh ones. Not ones from Makoto's shop, but still flowers that she recognized. The same flowers she had noticed her father favouring whenever he admitted to missing her mother, looking bright and beautiful.

Somehow, it didn't feel so bad being in her hospital bed any more.

FIN