Submission for the March Challenge.

"…Your submission can be any genre, any length. This month we are going to do a couple. Our first couple will be Rei/Jedite. Each entry must have at least 3 of the following...

A horse
Lots of chocolate
Luna acting weird all of a sudden
Usagi and Mamoru are keeping a secret
Ami all of a sudden isn't acting like the smart girl she was, now she's acting like a smart allic
Lita now cooks horribly
Mina has hearts in her eyes for a guy
Rei is shy

You only need to use up to three of these things, extra points for using all of them or more of them. Don't add to this list though.

Phrases that must be included...

"What do you mean you are..." (I'll let you use your imagination on that.)
"I do not believe I am mean, I am just simply selevitvely nice."
"Will you ever love me like I love you?"

The setting is Crystal Tokyo, maybe a year or two after the founding. The city is thriving much in the way old Tokyo did.

Rei nearly collided with Makoto after rounding a corner at a run, both garbed in senshi attire, including senshi heels. So as each reeled backwards to avoid knocking heads, they both tipped a little too far back on their stilettos, landing ungracefully on their butts.

"Rei!"

"Makoto! I'm assuming you got the 'royal decree and super secret debriefing' message as well."

"Yeah, I think this whole queen thing might be going to little Usagi's head a bit."

"You think?" Rei stood and rubbed her sore behind, before continuing in the direction they both needed to be heading.

"So you have no idea what this is about either?"

"Nope, but I definitely saw Luna running in the opposite direction. When I tried to stop her, she hissed at me."

"Odd. I wonder if maybe she's got the right idea."

"I'm beginning to think so. Yet, onward in the face of danger, is ever the senshi's motto."

"No, it's not. You just made that up."

"I was trying to make a point, Makoto."

"Well," the taller woman smirked as they reached the double doors of the 'royal reading room', "here we are."

Each took a deep breath before pushing on one of the solid oaken doors, and met their fate.

The sight that met them was not one for sore eyes. Both king and queen lounged in cushy velvet armchairs while the senshi of Venus leaned casually on the back on the queen's chair. This itself wasn't too disturbing; it was the mile wide grins on Usagi and Minako's faces that made the other two senshi cringe a little. Minako opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by both the doors bursting open to reveal a very red, Sailor Mercury, breathing quite heavily.

"What…" pant, pant, "do you want?"

"Let me guess, Ami, tutoring again?"

"I don't think trying to teach the dumbest, brattiest, ten year olds of all crystal Tokyo basic geometry should be even counted as tutoring. A term something more like torture would be infinitely more appropriate."

Rei prepared herself to make a snide comment, but cut herself short when she remembered that this was Ami who was out of temper. Not that Rei would admit it, but Angry-Ami was one of the few things in the world that scared the shit out of her.

"Well, as you all know, today is Minako's birthday."

"A fact of which we all were reminded of at Minako's birthday breakfast and Minako's birthday luncheon, both featuring clowns and live music." Everyone looked at Ami, surprised that even ten-year olds could ruffle the ice princess this much.

"And we'll probably be reminded of again at tonight's birthday gala," Rei added in. After all, she was supposed to the angry one, wasn't she?

Neo-queen Serenity remained unphased.

"And Mamo-chan and I will be finishing preparations on that, while you guys get to entertain Mina."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…what do you mean you are having us 'entertain' Minako?

"I have a scavenger hunt prepared for you!"

The other three senshi were completely silent as they stared at the bubbly blonde in utter disbelief.

"It's all presents that I want for my birthday!"

Still, the only movement was Ami narrowing her eyes a tiny bit more.

"Alright, guys! Makoto, you need to find me 200 lbs of chocolate and bake me a big cake for tonight's gala! Ami, you have to get me a horse-"

"Minako, I am not getting you a freaking pony. The only horse you're getting from me is going to a foot tall and made mostly of cotton, got it?"

"Oh, Ami! I've always wanted a stuffed animal horse, too! Thank you so much!"

Ami collapsed into an armchair. There was just no deflating Minako's enthusiasm.

"I also want you to get me a pair of sunglasses just like Narcissus Jones wears to all his concerts. He's so dreamy!" Mina's eyes brimmed so full of hearts that they started leaking onto the floor, causing Makoto and Rei to step away anxiously. "Oh, Narsy, will you ever love me like I love you?"

Rei merely snorted. "More like will he ever love you like he loves himself."

But like Ami, Rei found the freight train that was Mina's happiness utterly unstoppable.

"Oh, and Rei, I need you to get me a menu from the most romantic restaurant in town, Chez Pierre, and a Polaroid of you and Jay together. Your reservations are at five."

For once in her life, Rei was absolutely speechless. When Crystal Tokyo had risen from civilization's ashes, Jadeite presented himself at the palace, counting on his former prince, Endymion, to help him out. Mamoru, of course, had jumped at the chance to not be surrounded completely by women 24-7, dubbed the former general 'Jay Daitou" and given him command of the palace guard. Rei however, had not been so anxious to welcome the black sheep back to the flock. It wasn't his loyalty she doubted. Usagi trusted him completely, and since then, he had proved his mettle many times over. But the blonde man always seemed to make her intensely uncomfortable. She felt as good as naked in his presence, and always avoided meetings. The subtle and not-so-subtle hints everyone seemed to start dropping afterward only confused and aggravated her more. Everyone had some memories of the now incredibly distant past. Rei just preferred to let hers go unmentioned.

In conclusion, Rei felt she definitely had gotten the short end of the stick.

"You've got to be kidding me! I'm not eating dinner with him, just to make you happy! Just leave me alone, will you? No. No. I will not – I'm putting my foot down!" The raven-haired woman stomped her stilletoed heel down for extra emphasis, crossing her arms over her chest and seriously considering starting a tongue war.

She then looked over at her comrades. Mamoru, enfuriatingly enough, just seemed to be amused at this entire escapade, and while Usagi and Minako's looks were frowns paired with 'please-it's-mina's-birthday-she's-your-friend' puppy dog eyes, Makoto and Ami's were much more violent, plainly saying, "If we have to get her chocolate and ponies, you had better not back out of this."

The senshi of fire just sighed deeply, relaxing her arms and collapsing into the chair next to Ami's in defeat.

"Alright then, let's go!"

An hour later, Rei found herself in a rather tight red silk dress. Minako had decided to "help" each of the girls in turn and decided helping Rei prepare for dinner was her number one priority. Throughout the process, Rei had to keep reminding herself that killing Mina would be a waste after all the trouble everyone else was going through. She kept her face glued to her menu, every once in awhile reaching for her water goblet to moisten her throat, which, mysteriously enough, kept going completely dry. She had chosen the chair that faced away from the entrance, knowing that if she saw him coming, she might be tempted to chicken out. Hmph, she snorted to herself. Rei Hino, a coward? Not likely! She just didn't want the sun to get in her eyes. Yeah…that was definitely it. Definitely not nervous, or scared. Rei Hino never gets—

"Hello, Rei."

Rei felt her spine stiffen as she felt the briefest touch of a warm hand on her bare shoulders. She raised her gaze regretfully upwards to watch Jadeite angle around to seat himself opposite her.

"I didn't really expect you to come."

Faced with that piercing pair of baby blues, Rei panicked just a little, and looked down as she responded, pretending to contemplate the silverware

"It's Mina's birthday. She's my friend, and …"

"And Makoto and Ami would smote your ruin upon the mountain if you chose not to participate in the scavenger hunt?"

"Wait…you know about this whole deal?"

"Mina is in charge of the senshi, I'm in charge of security; we work together a lot."

Rei felt yank at her heart which she assured herself was not jealousy.

"I'm kind of surprised you agreed to this, too."

"Rei, you must be the densest person on the planet, not to have noticed."

"Dense?" she sputtered, "Well, you're nothing but an evil fiend!"

Rei paused a second as she realized not only that her comeback was woefully lame, but probably not the most tactful thing to bring up to the man who was presumably paying for her dinner. Luckily though, he seemed to be taking it in stride, giving her a cheeky grin from across the small table.

"Oh, I don't think I was ever really evil. Just selectively good."

"Oh yeah, that's a nice way of putting it. Then I'm not really mean, I'm just selectively nice."

Rei felt her courage come slowly back with this harmless banter, and swung her eyes from his angelic mop of straw-colored hair down to meet his, and was struck by the charisma in their depths.

"And what exactly have I failed to notice?"

This time it was the man who broke eye contact, turning his head towards his shoulder.

"Reiya, how can you not tell?" he paused, and the silence hung heavy in the air, " I still love you."

Rei felt her breath catch in her throat, and had almost recovered when Jay turned his gaze back to her. As their eyes clicked met, the deep ache that seemed to originate in the bottom of her throat threatened to leap out of her body entirely, and they both noticed the flames that danced on the candle wicks jump several inches in height. His left hand rested on the table, and her right reached out tentatively to touch it, recoiling a bit at first contact, then settling to rest on top. No words were needed. After what seemed like forever, Rei finally spoke.

"Jed, I don't know how I'm going to sneak this menu out of this restaurant.

Meanwhile, Ami, having quickly produced her assigned scavenger hunt tasks, stood at a counter, beating what had added up to almost thirty eggs with a hand whisk, while Minako and Makoto argued anxiously over ingredients.

"There's no way we can get enough butter to have the cake ready by tonight, Mina, I'm sorry."

"Hey, I know! We can use eggplants."

The tall elegant brunette nearly keeled over.

"Eggplant?"

"Yeah, yeah, my mom told me about it once, it works just as well!"

"Ah…Mina, I really don't think…"

But Mina turned on the puppy dog eyes and Makoto, like Rei, found them irresistible.

"Alright,"she sighed, "we do have a lot of eggplants around here."

"And we can use all the chocolate you got for me to cover up the taste."

Makoto opened her mouth the protest the sheer volume of chocolate, as well as what would happen to her recipe, but shut up, knowing that today, Mina was set on having her way.

Rei and Jadeite approached the grand hall at a bit of a trot, having lingered too long over dinner. Truth be told, they hadn't even left the restaurant until the gala had begun. But arrived, changed, and proudly toting a menu written almost entirely in French, they entered the room.

And met a complete mess. There were people running all about, throwing different combinations of goo and food at each other, which now covered the floor, sparse furniture, and walls. The dignified royal couple and senshi were at the heart of it all, having arranged three or four toppled tables into a fort-like structure in the very center of the room, heaving and receiving ammo constantly. The senshi and general ducked and ran to the others, who greeted them warmly, especially when they noticed that the two had linked hands.

"Welcome to the Fortress Serenity!" a messy King Endymion proclaimed, chocolate smeared across his face and strawberries in his hair.

"A food fight? Well, at least Mina's having a good time." Rei droned sarcastically, nodding to the drenched senshi of love, who was giggling, having just lobbed a goblet of the 'mystery goo' into the fray.

"What is this stuff?"

"Makoto's birthday cake."

"Makoto!"

"Hey! Mina helped."

"Ah. Oi, Mina! Here's your menu. Happy birthday." Rei crawled over to the blonde, knowing that Mina's object had just been to play matchmaker.

"Rei," Mina turned to Rei, angry and fully in earnest "where is my POLAROID!"

Fin