ATTN: Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or these characters, the fabulous Naoko Takeuchi does. Let's get this show on the road.

The next morning, Usagi woke up to the smell of pancakes. Usagi quickly jumped up from her sleeping bag, when her nose led her to the kitchen. She found herself the last in the room, the other girls already getting started on the pancakes.

"You guys! Why didn't you wake me up earlier!" She whined as she began to dig into the good herself.

"It's still pretty early, Usagi, you're not going to miss anything." Makoto told her. Usagi was going to spend her day with Mamoru, who would be leaving for the United States for school in a few days. "Besides, I had faith that my cooking would wake you up." Usagi scarfed her food down; she had to get ready for her date with Mamoru, who would be coming to pick her up from Ami's in approximately thirty minutes. As that girl rushed, everyone else ate their meal of Makoto-brand pancakes at a regular pace. They saw the panic in Usagi's face as time was getting closer to the moment Mamoru would pick her up. She finished eating and quickly got ready.

"Bye bye everyone!" Usagi said, rushing out the door. The door slammed, and the girls laughed at their princess' behavior.

"You can't really blame her, though. The one she loves is leaving in a few days, so she'll want to spend as much time with him as possible." Minako said breathily. She was staring across the table, but when she realized who she was staring at, she straightened up and started scarfing down her pancakes. Ami tilted her in head curiosity and gave a questioning look to Makoto. She just shrugged and shook her head. "By the way. Did I mention. How freaking amazing. These pancakes are?" Minako mentioned between bites. Rei eyed her friend curiously and then looked at the clock.

"I think I should leave soon," Rei told her friends. They looked at the clock as well; it was about time for Rei to begin her chores at the temple. And she wasn't sure she could handle the presence of the blonde bombshell any longer...

"I'll walk home with you," Minako added in. Rei cursed on the inside. She turned to Makoto. "You want to come with us?" Makoto shook her head.

"I think I'm going to refuse that offer. Ami has to help me with one of my papers due tomorrow." She told the two. They began to get up to leave. After they packed up and the door shut behind them, Ami shot Makoto a curious look.

"You didn't tell me about a paper! I could have helped you last night." Ami began to tell the girl, but Makoto shook her head.

"I can just do that later. That wasn't what I actually stayed behind for. Didn't you notice anything about the two of them?" Makoto told her. Ami became less tense and nodded her head.

"Well, I was only aware of what happened this morning with the staring. But I don't think that was the suspicious part." Ami admitted. "Did you notice more?"

"Well... Rei was staring at Minako a lot last night."

"And as I mentioned earlier, I hardly think staring constitutes anything suspicious. Besides, Minako was making a spectacle of herself last night. Anyone would stare." Ami looked towards Makoto, who was shaking her head. She saw something in Rei's eyes that made it different from regular staring.

"Even if you are a genius, I forget you aren't exactly educated in the romance department." Makoto started. "Rei and Minako have always had a tight bond. And obviously something was bothering Minako earlier..."

"It could just be another boy, though! She could have been spacing out." Ami answered back, logically. "After all, that's all Minako talks about half the time." Makoto shook her head. It was true, but if her gut instinct was correct then...

"What if it's just a cover? You may not have noticed because your heads always in a book, but Minako looks at Rei differently. You'll just have to see it next time we're all together." Makoto told Ami. She thought about it for a moment, and sighed. "Trust me, please?"

"I guess I'll have to take your word for it until I see it with my own eyes." Ami looked towards Makoto's school books. Makoto looked back at her, wide-eyed. "Now, about that paper of yours..."

Minako and Rei were walking down the streets. The uncomfortable silence from last night that disappeared seemed to reappear as they accompanied each other. Minako wasn't sure what was so unsettling about walking with Rei this time. It couldn't be Minako's feelings for Rei, obviously she's known about her own feelings for awhile. Perhaps it was the lack of conversation, due to Rei concentrating on the pavement ahead of her. Minako knew something was wrong.

"Is everything alright Rei?" Minako tried to ask her friend cheerily. She had been a few paces behind Rei, but bounced up next to her as she asked. Rei grunted and faced away from her. Minako arched her eyebrow and a teasing grin appeared on her face. "Was it because of last night? Did my staring make you uncomfortable? Because I promise I can try to stop staring. Or, perhaps you liked it..." Rei shook her head and looked at her friend. She was about to rerort the way she usually would with her friend, but decided against it. Her mind was a bit too hazy after the events from the night before.

"It's not that... I really don't want to talk about it right now, Minako." Rei answered calmly. And it was true. She realized this morning that she couldn't keep brushing these feelings, or emotions, whatever you may call it aside. She would have to deal with them, especially since she knew the consequences of having any such emotion. But when the cause of all your obfuscation is trying to distract you with her teasing and flirting, it was rather hard to concentrate on anything.

Minako could feel that, behind the calm demeanor, there was restraint that was forcing it there. Normally, this is the kind of opportunity she would go for, but there was something different about Rei today. She looked at Rei and understood; Rei needed some space today. Minako sighed, "Well, if you ever need anyone to talk to, you know where to find me." Rei just nodded and looks straight ahead.

They walked silently the rest of the way to the shrine. Minako observed her friend, comrade, and secret love interest. The concentrated look on Rei's face told Minako that the girl had many questions of her own. Adding her own questions really didn't seem like a good idea. This gave her time to think as well, however, since she had a few questions to answer herself.

Upon arriving at the shrine, she realized that she couldn't answer her questions by herself either. She knew she needed someone to turn to for her answers. But who? Once she reached the bottom of the staircase, she knew where she would turn to.

"I'll see you later." Minako told her casually. Rei nearly nodded. They parted ways, both of their paces picking up speed. Rei sighed a sigh of relief. Now that Minako was gone, she could finally concentrate on her thoughts. She went to the best place for her to concentrate. Rei ran up the stairs, into the room that contained the sacred flame. She lit the fire, sat down, and began to concentrate...

"Thanks for the ice cream, Mamoru!" Usagi exclaimed. Earlier, they had ice cream sundaes and right now she was happily licking an ice cream cone; you know, a to go order. Mamoru chuckled as he put his arm around Usagi. They walk towards his car and opened the door for Usagi, like a gentleman and such. This earned a smile from his beloved princess. He closed it and went to his side. It had been a good day. Absolutely no interruptions on his date with Usagi, which is a good thing, because this would be the last time they could be together until he came back for break. They had light conversation in the car, due to Usagi's concentration on another sweet treat that seemed to be procured from thin air.

"I hope you don't mind too much that they're coming with us to the airport this time." Usagi told Mamoru. He chuckled; she acted as if he found them a hindrance. He shook his head.

"Of course not." He reassured Usagi. She looked at him, her eyes looking questioningly behind her lollipop. "I mean, especially after what happened last time, I understand why they would want to come along." She thought about it a moment and it make complete sense. After what happened to Mamoru at the airport last time, they would want to keep an eye out on both of them. She nodded, content with the logic, and began to attack her lollipop.

... Rei sat, her hair becoming wet with sweat from the heat of the flames. She concentrated hard, the questions floating through her mind. She wasn't going to lie to herself, she knew there was some sort of attraction to Minako. She couldn't bring herself to recognize the extent of this attraction for various reasons, however. First, she had her duty to uphold, and who know how much this could distract her from it. Or, if things got any worse, to completely take away her devotion to the princess. Second, she knew that just because she had an attraction to her doesn't necessarily mean she should act upon it. Third, although Minako seemed to flirt with her, she also seemed to flirt with everyone else, so Rei couldn't tell if Minako had any feelings as well. And lastly, there was something, or rather someone, tugging in the back of her mind. Who or whatever it was didn't want to let her have her romantic freedom just yet.

All these conflicting thoughts and warring emotions were swirling in her head. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration and frustration. On one hand, she wanted to figure out what exactly her feelings were, so she wouldn't be distracted otherwise. On the other hand, if those feelings were to escalate into something that would become more distracting for her, she knew it would be a problem. On another hand, after figuring all this out, there would be the inevitably of dealing with a curious Minako, or just Minako in general, which could quickly end up being her own personal hell. And somewhere amidst all this confusion, the words duty would try to insert itself into her inner conflict...She found herself going nowhere quickly.

But then it happened. Rei's eyes flashed open. The flame expanded quickly, revealing an image.

She saw a figure of a man in the flames. She was surprised, half because she wasn't really expecting anything tangible to appear in the flame, half because, apparently her answers were to come in the form of a man. He wore glasses, was clean shaven, and appeared to be in his late 20's to early 30's. The image faded away, but after a few moments, she recognized the man. And in that moment, she realized what she needed before figuring out the rest of her emotions: definite closure.

OOOOH cliffhanger! Kind of. Next chapter's definitely going to be interesting. Until next time, ciao!