Disclaimer: I Do NOT own Sailormoon or it's plot. This is my first attempt at this so help me out J

Chapter 1: A Poem of Snow

"Her luscious raven hair was pulled back with a small red ribbon tied in a bow. Her piercing violet eyes racing from left to right, soaking up every piece of information from page 352 in her Advanced History book. Her earlobes were pierced with small red spheres, and she was wearing a loose red tee shirt with form fitting black jeans. Red seems to be her favorite color, I have come to observe. I have only been staring for about five minutes every other time I look up, but honestly, who could blame me?

"Every afternoon, once all classes are finished of course, study sessions are held for the five of us; they became mandatory. None of us really minded though, we were all close, thanks to the princess. Then again…some of us are a handful to deal with. Much like the situation I put myself in now…"

"Usa-chan! Please calm down!"

"Usagi, you're so mean to her!"

"Minako- chan, I thought you of all people would know better!" Voices were coming from every direction. Ami and Makato were having a fit; again.

"Oh, Mars knows that I'm kidding!" Minako stated loudly to be heard over the other two girls and Usagi's sobs. Being the leader Minako decides it was time to stop this bickering. "Alright, I started it and now I am finishing it!" Her voice booms over all of the others in the small bedroom of Rei Hino and the room suddenly grew silent.

Minako's eyes quickly dart about the room as her friends slowly started getting back to work. Ami fixed a piece of her aqua hair out of her face and behind her ear. Makato grunts', glaring her green eyes at Usagi's tearful face and sits back on her knees and pulls open her home economics text book. Usagi sniffles and takes another one of Makato's homemade cookies from Rei's futon in the middle of the room and went back to her integrated algebra homework. Minako was afraid to look at the oldest of the five; she could feel two large holes being burned into the top of her blond head. Staring at her feet for a moment longer; those fiery eyes awaiting cerulean blue ones to fight, something Minako could not deal with at the moment. She could feel those violet crystals burning rings of fire just like the fire rings she had fired during their days as senshi. Not even making eye contact Minako pulls out a blank piece of lined paper from her light blue binder and a pen from her purse; then she begins to write.

Thinking of jasmine incense and a single burning flame; the poem began with snow:

'Pure white crystalsBecome fixtures on your frame…'

Then the writers block kicked in, 'Ugh life sucks!'

"Five O' Clock hit, it is time to go home. Usagi- chan leaves to go meet Mamo-chan for dinner on Friday nights, and then Ami and Makato- chan leave to go to a cram school they are always cramming for. Then, here I stay, as always, to help Rei- chan clean up. I really don't mind cleaning, I love being at the shrine, it gives me this great feeling of peace; of course I am cleaning though. Rei is my best friend! This is how all Friday afternoons have been going since these small study sessions started.( You would think being in college we would be old enough to study on our own but Luna doesn't want us to grow apart, which I can understand completely and it gets me away from home; always a bonus there! )"

"Mars, do you want me to do anything?" Minako asks as she picks up her history book and binder and places them gently on Rei's futon. Then looking up at the grumpy miko she sighs, it will most likely be a long night.

"Can you take those glasses into the kitchen and clean them for me." Her statement was plain and grumpy, no sign of happy life inside of her. The mood was beginning to rub onto Minako as her heart sank deeper into her stomach; it was really going to be a long night.

"Hai!" She smiles and grabs the five glasses and slowly carries them out of Rei's room and down the shrines wooden hallway that led to the stairs. Carefully taking them one by one she began to climb down the stairs.

"Something is wrong with Rei-chan; I hope I didn't upset her with what I said earlier. I only wanted her to pay attention to me. She seems so…… so different."

"MINAKO!" Rei's voice echoes through the shrine as Minako's foot slips down the next wooden step of the stair way.

BAM!

CRASH! – All of the glass shatters……

Glass was shattered all over Minako's body. Rei soon appeared at the top of the stairway, a look of horror was all over her face. Taking the steps two at a time the miko quickly runs to the blond's side kneeling down she begins to pick up the shards of glass from all around her. Minako started to move and then a slight groan escaped her lips;

"Don't move Mina-chan." Rei sternly mumbled.

"Rei-chan, it hurts……" Minako whispers as a tear escapes her eye and slides down her cheek.

Rei's heart stops beating, her eyes, too, begin to tear she hated it when people would cry, especially her leader. In their senshi fighting days Minako never cried, she was always strong and brave, she didn't deserve to cry, and it didn't do her beautiful face justice. Just then, Rei took a moment to glance at the blond beauty and took her in for all she was worth. Her tight white school blouse, hiding many rather large secrets Rei could only wish she could discover, covered by a light grey sweater with a V neck cut and lint fuzzies everywhere hiding her nice lined stomach that Rei had only seen on special occasions in a bikini over the summer. Then there was her short grey school skirt that was raised over her right thigh muscle, most likely shaken up from her fall, her long athletic legs muscular and toned from previous volleyball seasons. That's when she saw it; a glass shard. It was stuck in her upper thigh, right next to her thigh muscle, blood starts to trickle down and make a small puddle on Rei's hard wood floor. Rei stands from her knees and runs to get a dish towel and quickly returns to Minako's side. Staring into those cerulean orbs Rei's heart picks up pace as she watches her friends eyes slowly begin to close and her shaking limbs still as she mutters words barely audible to Rei. Rei carefully begins to pull out the glass shard gently out of Minako's skin.

"Mars……" Minako slowly drifts into a deep, deep sleep while Rei picks out the glass and washes her gash clean. Once it is wrapped, Rei pulls Minako's skirt back down to its appropriate place, with light tinted cheeks, and slowly picks up Minako's limp body and carries her back up the steps and into her own room.

A soft chime was heard from the shrines front door, Rei had just placed the sleeping figure of the Goddess of Love on the small futon in her room that she herself slept on every night. She is lucky she's special, Rei mentally laughs to herself, I let NO ONE sleep in my bed. She covers the blonde with a fuzzy red blanket and then quickly hurries down the steps to answer the door before her Grandfather could hear it and wake up. Quickly, she opens the door and there was Yuuichiro, one of the Shrines helpers.

His shaggy darkening locks were quickly tucked behind his ears with two rather large, calloused hands. His chocolate orbs began to race all over the miko's fit body. This was something he always did; earnestly wishing he could run his hands along all of her luscious curves and through her dark midnight hair. It's been this way since they were younger, he couldn't help it!

"Yuuichiro, please stop!" The rage slowly began to build up in her system. Taking a deep breath she releases all of the temper she held deep within her body. She swore to herself that she would keep her temper down; for the Goddess of Love's sake, who was sleeping only feet above the miko's head.

"Hino-san!" Bowing his head, how he was taught to greet a woman, he then invites himself through the shrine doors and produces a glass bottle filled with red liquid from behind his back.

"What's this?" She asks grasping the bottle into her gentle grasp.

"Wine." The smile on his face was genuinely innocent. What is the harm? Rei says to herself. She was twenty years of age, she could control herself and she needed to let go for a little while, why not with someone she has known since she first arrived at the shrine?

"What the hell?!" The miko smiles and grabs his hand with her free hand while swinging the bottle into the other. Hearing the liquid lash, disruptively against its glass barrier Rei feels her heart begin to pound harder in her chest. This was considered rebellious in Rei's mind; she had never taken a drink before, let alone with a man who wanted more from her than just a friendly drink. Then again, this man behind her was only a year older than she was, and he has had the cutest crush on her since they were younger. She smirks, he would do anything she would ask of him, why not surprise him a little?

~-~

Being led into the dining room was not what he had thought would happen as he lit the prayer candle by the shrine door and pulled the chimes to make his presence known. Letting out another breath while Rei was looking for glasses in the kitchen, he goes over the last ten minutes in his mind, replaying them over and over to make sure there were no flaws, or signs that this present situation was not a dream;

Letting out his breath that he had not realized he had been holding he quickly and nervously crackled his free knuckles against the wooden beam beside him on the porch. In the other hand he held the neck of the long glass bottle; a bottle he planned to share with the fiery woman of his dreams. The one he has been in love with since they were about ten, well since she was ten, that was when she first came to the shrine, but then he realized his thoughts were rambling and he heard soft foot steps rushing down the wooden stairs at the entrance of the shrine. The date was February 5th, Valentines Day was approaching and after ten years of chasing he was going to head in for the kill… Tonight.

'God I hope she is in a good mood.' He muttered under his breath as the foot steps became closer to the door. Blowing out air between his dry and cracked lips the anxiety of his luck began to sink into his heart as he licked them wet again and awaited his fate.

The opening of the door seemed to take ages as his heart beat took off for the track meet in some other world unknown to his own. Then standing in the door way was the miko he adored so much. Her beautiful hair was tied back with a red ribbon; her purple orbs sparkled as the moon hit them perfectly in the night sky. Her perfect complexion seemed to glow in the early evening and shine into his dark orbs. The loose red tee- shirt flowed in the gentle breeze and gave away the curves of her breasts, her tight stomach, and the top of her hips. Last but not least her legs were hidden by form fitting black jeans that flared in the middle of her calves and down to her black flats, defining the amazing calf muscles he knew she had. He always would take peaks when they just happened to be cleaning in the same room together.

"Yuuichiro, please stop." There was a slight fire burning in her eyes.

'God it was such a turn on when she was annoyed.' Mentally wincing he tried to stay as 'anti- pervert' as he could…… If only that wasn't so hard.

"Hino- san!" He stated clearing his head of any possible thoughts and putting on the best smile he could find in his whole being. Pulling the bottle from behind his back he hopes for the best but expects the worst.

Moments later, the verdict is produced from her beautiful pink lips; "What the hell?!" Such a un- lady like saying that seemed so easy to say, meant so much for him inside.

'Did she really just say yes to have a drink with me? Shoot me, please.'

~-~

"Hino- san," Yuuichiro gasps, "I didn't know you liked to dance?" The disbelief was written all over his face as he twirled the young miko under his arm, then unraveling her he brought her close and started the dance all over again.

"You would be surprised." Rei giggles in satisfaction as the world around her swings drunkenly about.

"Why is the music so low?" The question came at random, and it was meant with all innocence but for some reason it seemed to catch Rei off guard. Yuuichiro gazes his dark chocolate orbs into her piercing violet ones as they search her for some kind of hidden answer. As if the question asked was not what he had wanted to ask.

"Grandpa," She states and clears her throat nervously, "he is sleeping." Yuuichiro wasn't sure if that was a lie, it sure seemed like it, but he was not going to question it. It was very rare to find Hino- san in a good mood, therefore he was not going to ruin this night.

Then suddenly her eyes become distant as she glances over his shoulder and to the stairs behind them, reminding herself of the sleeping beauty who was sleeping only feet above them in her bed!

"Are you sure it isn't something else Rei? You can tell me I think we have been friends long enough to be comfortable with anything around each other." Yuuchiro's hands drop from around Rei's waist as he watches her for a moment. "You can tell me anything you know." His words were beginning to slur as he drunkenly plops himself on a wooden rocking chair only feet away from where Rei stood in a daze. "You're a big girl, are you hiding some big scary male toy up there?"

"No!" Rei quickly snaps back folding her arms across her chest, she was beginning to feel uncomfortable. He was drunk, this she knew, he did not handle alcohol very well. The big question was; was she drunk as well? Usually she handled her alcohol well, why was she suddenly jumpy and all sweaty like…… like a drunk?!

"Aw, Reiko, its okay. Everyone likes to have fun sometimes! Even an uptight miko like you." Yuuichiro begins to coo as he stands from the rocking chair and drunkenly shuffles over and pulls her into a tight hug squeezing her against his body frame. The nickname struck a chord in the miko's heart and Rei's eyes widen as a memory floods back into her mind.

"Reiko, come play with me!" The demand was serious yet playful as the young miko hurries to the young blonde's side. "Reiko!" Small hands were gently placed over two sea filled orbs as the young miko teased the blonde and pushes her into the grass. Two giggling girls rolled happily in the green meadows of the Silver Millennium for hours. Then laying side by side the two girls watch the sun set, as if they are in their own little world.

"Reiko?" The young blonde whispers quietly.

"Yeah, Minako?" Rei whispers back. After a long pause the blonde finally continues.

"I am so glad you are my best friend. I could not imagine anyone else beside me every time I watch the sun go down." And then a comfortable silence falls in-between the two girls as the sun disappears behind the distanced mountain tops, hiding the light blush that formed on Rei's cheeks.

"You need to leave!" Rei pushes herself out of his grasp and steps away from him. Tears flood her violet orbs but do not fall.

"But Rei," Yuuichiro began hesitating towards her.

"Don't come near me! Just leave! You crossed the line!"

"What did I do?!" He questions helplessly.

"Don't worry about it. Just get out of this place now! Before Grandpa wakes up would be nice." Rei's tears do not fall; she wipes them away before they leak down her cheeks. No one will ever call her that again.

"That's you're problem Hino- san! God forbid someone gets too close! You will never open up; not to anyone! Let loose once in a while; let someone get to know the woman you are deep down, I know there is more than this hollow shell of a person who claims the heart of steal! Take a risk sometime; you might just have a little fun!" With that Yuuichiro grabs the last of the wine and drinks it right from the bottle harshly slams it on the table cracking the body of the bottle and drunkenly stomps out the door.

Once he leaves, Rei falls to her knees and lets the tears fall as she picks up some of the shards from the bottle that cracked on her dinning room table. Some of the shards cut her palm but she couldn't feel it her body was numb once again. She should have known better than to let someone in, it would only hurt her in the end, like usual.

~.~

A/N: Is it so hard to get some reviews around here?! Common… please help me out? I will not update until I have at least five comments about this story.