"Usagi!" Rei exclaimed. "Don't you have a home to go to?"

"Mmmmmnnh." Usagi closed her eyes sleepily, her arms nesting her head atop the kotatsu. "But it's so warm here, I don't wanna go..."

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Rei almost reached over from the other end of the table to push Usagi away. But she looked so peaceful, breathing softly. The sight of Usagi cat-napping in her room used to be as frequent as the senshi meetings. It had become significantly rarer, though, since that day in the Crystal Tower. "Whatever," Rei muttered, sitting back. "Don't blame me if your parents go crazy wondering where you are."

"Thanks, Rei-chan," Usagi said softly.

Rei sighed. In a few minutes Usagi would probably start snoring like a truck. It'd be impossible to sleep through. Even so, Rei got up to grab a blanket from her bed. If she was going to give in, she might as well give in all the way. If nothing else, it'd make her look good to Luna and the others.

"Rei-chan..."

"What, Usagi?" Rei pulled the top cover off, bundling it in her arms.

"What's he like?"

"He who?"

"Mamoru-san."

Rei stopped in her steps. "What the hell kind of question is that? You knew him too, you know!"

Usagi shifted, turning her face in the opposite direction. "Yeah, but. All we ever did was fight. I don't know what he's like, when he's not calling me names or laughing in my face. I don't know anything about him..."

Rei clutched the blanket tighter. "Oh."

Usagi suddenly sat up, her eyes now wide. "I mean, you don't have to tell me! It's okay! I don't need to know. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to butt into your business."

One of these days Usagi would poke someone's eye out with her well-meaning cluelessness. Rei sank at the kotatsu, keeping the blanket for herself. "No, it's okay. I just wonder how well I knew him."

"But you dated him!"

"Yeah, I did. He was always very kind with me. He'd go anywhere I'd ask and listen to my problems... he was really, really sweet. That's what I liked about him. It's hard to find such a gentleman these days, you know?"

Usagi looked down. Her hands were clasped tight. "I had no idea."

Rei wondered which was worse, being jilted or never getting to see the kindness of the one you loved. As much as it hurt to not be chosen, Rei wasn't sure she envied Usagi. She shifted the blanket to cover her shoulders. Together with the blanket, it was almost too warm. "But I don't know if I knew him that well. He never told me much about himself. Whenever I asked him anything, like about his family or his hobbies, he'd change the topic. He was a very private person."

"Is. He is a very private person."

What a slip-up. Usagi's gaze was a challenge, a refusal to accept that he was gone. But this was one defeat Rei could admit to. "Right. Is."

She was done talking about it, though. Rei rose. "Okay, I don't know about you, but I'm going to sleep."

"Whaaaat, Rei-chan! Don't leave me alone!" Usagi threw herself and clutched at Rei's ankle.

"Let go of me!"

"At least give me a blanket!"

Rei held the one around her even tighter. "No way!"

"Rei-chan, you're so mean!"

"Yeah, I am."

"Let me sleep in your bed, okay?"

"Absolutely not!"

When Usagi slipped into her bed later, though, Rei didn't resist. She just grumbled and rolled to the other end. As far as she could tell, Usagi had no nightmares that night.