Ami and Keiichi hadn't proceeded any further than just sharing a bench and occasionally their lunches in the week since the first time. Some days neither spoke a word other than greetings but that didn't mean anything. It felt like to Ami that Keiichi was perhaps as shy as she went meeting new people. That and just perhaps he was respecting her comfort zone to let her set the pace of anything.

If that was the case then she had to rate him higher than most of the other boys she had met. They always were wanting her to push her to do things with them when she hadn't wanted to. It wasn't even that she was shy but that she was cautious. In her life Ami hadn't known much comfort with people, until she met the other Senshi, and she was still learning how to deal with it all. Keiichi seemed to know it she thought and she appreciated it. Even on the days they didn't speak there was a subtle communication between them. A smile or a look and that was that was needed.

The Senshi were still fighting the current enemy and still trying to track down the center of it all. Just that they couldn't get a genuine feel as to the goals of whatever it was, was the most frustrating thing. That and that the attacks had suddenly gotten a little tougher. The past couple were more physically demanding with some actual injuries to the Senshi. Their healing factors made recovery much faster but Ami had to use some of her medical knowledge for basic treatments. Fortunately nothing that required a trip to a hospital or an explanation to a parent.

Ami had taken a few nasty hits in the battles with a limp resulting for a couple of days from one and a black eye from the one the previous night's. Minako had skillfully applied some cosmetics to hide the bruise. By the evening, at their standard healing, it should be gone. Keeping her head down in class hadn't allowed anyone to notice but then she met with Keiichi...

They had been quietly reading when Keiichi suddenly touched her hand. Ami was so surprised that she nearly dropped her book. "Ami, are you...alright?" he asked softly. There was a look of concern and...sadness in his eyes.

"Why yes, I am alright. Why do you ask Keiichi?" His hand hadn't left her's and Ami felt no reason to pull it away. It felt...nice there. It wasn't soft nor rough but a nice place in between it. She was still processing how to describe his touch when Keiichi pointed to his eye and Ami realized... "Oh...that's nothing. Nothing at all!"

With how quickly she replied he knew that there was something more. Just the fact of a black eye on a pretty girl such as Ami aroused some dormant feeling within him. He gently turned her arm and looked at the fading bruises that were there. Looking up, their eyes met. "Who is doing this to you Ami?" The tone in his voice was gentle but there was a hint of anger in it.

She was about to tell him about the battle the previous day but as her mouth opened to speak, she quickly shut it again. He couldn't know about *that* but what could she say? It was well known to her friends that while Ami could keep secrets she didn't have a 'poker face'. A tiny thrill went down her spine though at the tone in Keiichi's voice. He...he truly wanted to defend her! The only other man who would do that, that she knew was Usagi's Mamoru. Not because he was Tuxedo Mask but that he was a gentleman.

Setting her book on her lap and then clasping her other hand around Keiichi's that still held her's she shook her head. "No one Keiichi. Its...its not like that. My friend Makoto... She's teaching me how to defend myself and I'm clumsy and she..." Ami gave a small smile and shrug. It wasn't a lie because Mako-chan had given her some lesson. "But please, please don't think that she, or someone, is hurting me. It is not that."

Those blue eyes... So blue a person could get lost in them... And the feel of her hands. Warm, smooth, and with a strength in them that belied the previous. "You would tell if someone was, right?" What Ami said could be true... He had seen Makoto Kino often and knew the girl was a fighter but also a friend of Ami's. It was just that he had to be sure.

"Of course I would Keiichi-chan! But you don't have to worry because no one is. Besides, my friends would...take care of it." Even though she was a Senshi and had fought often the idea of physical violence still made her uncomfortable. Perhaps that was a reason why she wanted to be a doctor, a healer. Keiichi must have believed her because he nodded and let go of her hand. Ami got the feeling that there was more to this though. "You were really worried Keiichi-chan, weren't you?"

Nodding and looking out over the city his hands twisted together as he tried not to rub his left knee. Ami was looking at him he knew and there was an element in him that just wanted to walk away. To explain meant talking about some things that were in a walled off section of his mind. She hadn't said anything yet. She was different from others who would be poking and prying. Ami just let him know she was there and didn't push. "My grandfather...he...mistreated my grandmother and my...father."

Ami could tell that Keiichi-chan, she was calling him that now she realized, had issues with the subject but she knew such things weren't to be dragged out of a person. When he started talking it was in a whisper that she could barely hear. Even though she half expected it would be something like it, hearing it made her gasp softly. "You don't need to talk..."

"Its okay Ami-chan. It was long ago. After dad told me about it I swore that I would never, ever let it happen if I could stop it. That's how I got transferred here." He looked at her with a tiny smile. "At the previous school there was an upperclassman who was interested in a younger girl. I could tell this was not going to end well and, of course, it didn't."

"What happened?" she asked, taking hold of a hand again.

"He got her alone in a closet and wouldn't let her out. I went in and broke his nose and his jaw. And I told him that if he ever tried it again I would... Have you ever heard the phrase 'turn him from a rooster to a hen'? I didn't say that exactly but its close enough."

She knew she should be horrified at what he done to the other person but Ami found that she couldn't. Not when a creature, no human could do that to a person, was punished for wanting to hurt and probably more an innocent. "You weren't...arrested were you?"

Keiichi shook his head. "Everyone, the school and his family and her's, wanted it hushed up. So I got transfered. The girl did give me a kiss on the cheek and something about being a hero..." That brought a little blush to his cheeks.

"You are one Keiichi-chan! You defended and saved her from something horrible." Ami squeezed his hand to emphasize the point. "And...if you hadn't been transferred we would never have met."

"True," he smiled and then took a breath. "Ami-chan, would you...would you like to have lunch with me in a park Saturday afternoon? Nothing fancy, just...lunch."

For a moment she was taken aback at the sudden invitation and then Ami smiled. "I would be delighted Keiichi-chan. Perhaps we could divide who brings what?"

Now a genuine smile was on his face. "Of course. Perhaps you do the dessert and beverage and I do the rest?" He got a smile and nod.

Suddenly the bell ending the lunch period rang. Both gave a long sigh before standing up. Two pairs of eyes looked down to see that hands were clasped together. "May I have permission to escort you to your next class Mizuno-san?" Just them walking together would start tongues talking but he didn't really care right now.

"Your's is next mine, correct?" Oh the questions that would be asked this afternoon during the Senshi meeting! "I would be honored Deckard-san. Let us be off!" Hand in hand they walked towards the door into the school.