Hi no Himitsu (The Fire's Secret) : Chapter 2 - Acquaintance

Jisho Dictionary:
BIJIN beauty
DEMO ...but
CHIGAUMASU it's different
MATA AIMASHOU see you next time!
NADESHIKO ideal woman
NIGEROU go! (run away)
OMEDETOU congratulations
SOREKARA so then
SUMIMASEN excuse me

(Remember: Kamui Asano Jadeite; Kenta Maeda Kunzite; Soujirou Nishimura Zoicite; Sanjounin Masato Nephrite. See Author's Notes on why these names.)

Soujirou sat at the back of a long table, amidst an array of beakers, funnels and test tubes, impatiently tapping his fingers. How could he have been foolishly part of this?

"Omedetou, Soujirou-sensei!" Watanabe excitedly congratulated him, bowing low.

Watanabe was his professor in freshman Chemistry, a subject not really required in his Engineering major but required as a subject in the first year of Tokyo Tech. Soujirou was surprised that such a balding, middle-aged professor would still remember him after all this time when he wasn't even trying to remember himself.

"I saw your picture in the Engineering bulletin board when I passed by to see Takani-sensei. And I said to myself, 'Maa... ma... that was the student in my class with a staggering two week attendance in the entire term and sleeptalked during the only lectures he attended too!'"

Sweatface. "Demo sa... It's not 'sensei' yet. My Master's Degree isn't--"

"--So when I saw you walking here in the Biochemistry hall, I figured! Hora! There he is! My favorite student who sleeptalked in Chemistry class!" Watanabe laughed sinisterly. "I wonder how you passed."

"Demo you have already established that you really are a very smart boy by bagging the best thesis in Engineering. Especially winning the National Finals in the Mathematics Quiz Bee the year before that! Why... it's plastered all over the Engineering bulletin board like you're their special child! I am pretty sure you are a very good sensei imparting the same knowledge to your students."

"CHIGAUMASU, WATANABE-SENSEI! It's not yet--"

"Sorekara, as a favor to your school, I am pretty sure the most gifted person in all of Japan would not decline his former teacher a favor?"

And there he was. Sitting in front of a large table filled with beakers, lancets, burners and things he never touched since freshman year, wondering what favor he really owed his former teacher. And for a brilliant student like him, it was only now that he realized that simply sleeping in class and not attending most of it, was not a major offense at all! It was not his fault that Chemistry was that easy. Baka...

Soujirou got his mobile phone and angrily dialed. He needed to vent his anger somehow and straighten all this out! How dare Watanabe-san require him to do all that when he couldn't even figure out how to waste his own time. It was spring break! A time to go out, vacation in Kyushu and surf on the fake waves, have a spring fling in Kyoto, getting drunk...

"Nigerou." A sleepy, threatening reply answered on the other line even before Soujirou could greet.

"Ah! Caller ID! Ne, Kenta-kun?"

"What is wrong?"

"I am stuck in the middle of a very boring Chemistry Exhibit tending these old beakers and..." Soujirou complained, tapping an old burning bunsen burner. "An old burner. Mattaku! We haven't even been using these since elementary school!"

"..."

"An old teacher from my freshman year prompted my guilty conscience for something I did ages ago and now, I can't get out of this! Ano saa... I shouldn't be here. We should all go out with Kamui-kun and Sanjou-kun just like all times, ne?"

"Hai."

"This is really boring. There aren't even women here, and I'm surrounded by nerds--"

"Anoo saa..." Someone interrupted.

It was the sweet voice of a woman, something which Soujirou thought to be rare in a Chemistry exhibit especially when supposedly, all the cutest women in Tokyo Tech were gone during that spring break. And he was right in his assessment. A pair of the most beautiful, immaculate round blue eyes were staring at him inquisitively through her glasses. Her hair was cropped short till her nape and soft layers fell around her blushing cheeks. Kawaii-sou da...

"Ano, Kenta-kun! I have to go." he said without thinking, snapping the receiver of his mobile phone.

"Eeto..." She blushed all the more. "I just wanted to ask what the chemical composition is. It looks like you're producing a very good drug, sensei! What would you call it?"

Sensei? It didn't matter. It would be a good conversation piece on their date later on. "I shall call it 'Cure X," Soujirou answered, his thoughts praising himself for providing a quick and smart answer. "Because it clearly defines its use in aiding our society from a health menace." And I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about.

"Cure X?" Her eyes widened in surprise and curiosity. "Anoo... it does sound very original."

"Heh... it is, ne?" Soujirou grinned, trying his best to sound knowledgeable. "For starters, I--" He began to pick up the beaker atop the burner.

"Ittai!" he shouted in pain as it burned his hand. He had been watching that burn there for only ten minutes. How was he to know that it was a chemical that burned easily? This is rightful karma for skipping most of Watanabe-sensei's class, the essential subject for actually impressing these types of women.

"Daijoubu-yo, sensei?" she frantically asked, leaning on the table to get a closer look at his hand.

Soujirou was touched that the cute girl in front of him was worried about his carelessness. He continued to grin as though nothing happened despite the burning physical pain and the lies he gave her. But he can never stand that people kept mistaking calling him sensei since that morning. "It's not sensei... at least not yet," he sighed. "I'm really an Engineering student taking my Master's degree and Watanabe-sensei only asked me to watch his exhibit."

"Heh." She smiled at his willful confession as if in amusement, much to Soujirou's surprise.

"I know," she said. "Nishimura Soujirou. Graduated two years ago. Best thesis in Engineering."

"Ah!" Soujirou snickered at the revelation. "Of course, everybody knows that." It seemed as though he'd been had from the start. An academic person like him not realizing the obvious--this sort of thing happened only whenever he would get distracted. At least he was thankful he was able to amuse someone because she laughed appreciatively at his answer. She was actually amused at his remarkable and consistent arrogance and that he even took it as a good-natured response.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Nishimura-san," she greeted, still laughing, and shyly proceeded to walk on to the next exhibit.

"Ano, onna-sama!" Soujirou was actually impolite but those were the words probably stemming out of lust to take the opportunity in preventing what he waited for so long that spring from walking away so soon. "Your name?"

"Mizuno," she answered, blushing. "Mizuno Ami."

"Rei Hino..." The name sounded familiar.

Kamui realized that the conversation with the miko in Hikawa Jinja had been too brief. He may have succeeded in getting her name due to the 'good fortune' of being mercilessly attacked by ravens, but that was all too due to her owing him that courtesy. Despite her help in tending his wounds, Hino-san averted her eyes from looking straight at him and during the few times that she glanced, her piercing purple eyes denoted a sharp sense of distrust. It was this very discouraging expression of her that Kamui remembered the most. He dared to concede to himself the fact that he actually could not remember what she really looked like. Or at least it was very hard to trace the finer details of her face in his mind.

So out of curiosity, he made his way towards Hikawa Jinja sans bodyguard this time. He had been unable to meet his father the other day when he arrived from L.A and so he was freed from any necessary obligation two days in a row. There was a change in the elder Asano's schedule, and Kamui was even obliged to attend that DLP political party meeting had he not given a good excuse. Besides, the press seemed as though they were taking a special spring break too, especially since the news of the election of the new prime minister had died down. It was therefore not necessary for Nishida to attend to him unless he was being escorted to the airport. Besides, there was no need for paranoia. He was only going for a walk to determine the real reason behind the attractive miko's aloofness. Nishida would frown at such a petty mission.

As he was climbing the stairs of the shrine, he noticed a familiar figure walking down. It was a younger man in a blue suit and a red tie. There were sandy highlights in his hair which he had grown since Kamui last saw him in university.

"Asano-senpai!" It seems he had been recognized first.

"Kishino-kun. Konnichiwa! What a surprise meeting you here."

"Aaa... O-hisashiburi, Asano-senpai!" Kishino was surprisingly in high spirits that morning. "I haven't seen you since you graduated from Waseda last year. I shall also be graduating this year. Hopefully I graduate with good marks like you."

Kamui, unfortunately, did not graduate with the distinction that was expected of him. His grade did not meet the desired qualifications, thanks to mediocre marks he got during the fun sophomore year. He was however, more concerned with other things than catching up with an old colleague. "What brings you here, Kishino-kun?" Kamui asked.

"Eeto... " Kishino stuttered, scratching his head in reluctance. "I only came to deliver a gift."

"Deliver a gift?"

Kishino shyly declined to say anymore, as was his nature. As soon as Kamui finished his small talk with him, he found his steps to be increasing in speed as he climbed Hikawa Jinja. It seemed he was working on an instinct. He looked at what he was wearing. Compared to the rather formal clothes Kishino was wearing, his old black sweater, denim jeans and plain loafers seemed too casual. Was there any reason to, anyway? He found out as soon as he reached the top floor. First thing he did was to cautiously look up if two ravens were perched atop the torii post. Seeing there were none and all was clear, his sight was diverted to the reason he came there for.

"It's only a small token, Hino-san."

This time, Kamui did not recognize the person who spoke. He looked somewhat like that of Kishino, wearing a white shirt and gray slacks -- more casual than Kishino but more formal than Kamui's. He looked like someone who was still in college, probably Hino-san's colleague, but this was what Kamui merely surmised in his head. He was carrying a small package that seemed like a box of chocolates and was handing it to her with such great care.

"Domo." She politely thanked him and bowed a little as she received the box with both hands.

Kamui noticed that there Hino Rei did not reciprocate any expression of enthusiasm like what Kishino and this new guy gave her. In fact, her "Domo" sounded flat and emotionless that Kamui reminded himself that it was too soon and selfish to feel even the slightest bit of elation upon seeing her disinterest in those two. The only feeling he would admit to himself at that time was irritation over this second person's enthusiasm, as his right shoulder 'accidentally' bumped into Kamui's when he walked past him towards the shrine's exit.

Now he remembered what she really looked like. Hino Rei stood near the Sanctuary with a broom on one hand and a box of chocolates on the other. The wind slightly disheveled her long, purplish black hair. And though she was the same miko wearing the same robes and hakama, there was no way that she looked plain at all however much she tried. Despite her cold demeanor, that kind of sophistication reminded him of those new actresses who played the roles of Japanese princesses in the modern taiga doramas on television. Most liberal women his age in Tokyo do not exhibit the traditional nadeshiko beauty, nor work at a shrine or geisha house, and still look like a modern television star. Now he knew why Kishino was present that morning. Except of course, he was unlike them -- bearing presents the instant they realized they were face to face with a bijin. He was simply... curious.

Hino Rei, on the other hand, felt her cheeks burn and attributed it to the wind stinging her cheeks. She recognized the new visitor at Hikawa Jinja because she remembered the wood block where he wrote his wish under the tree of Hikawa Jinja. It would be stupid to assume that anything he wrote there was related at all to her when that wish was reserved for kami-sama.

"Konnichiwa, Hino Rei-san," Kamui greeted.

"Ko-konnichiwa..." she stuttered, ashamed that she could not remember his name. "Asano deshou?"

"Hai." Kamui smiled. "Asano Kamui. Am I bothering you, Hino-san?"

Rei politely shook her head. "There are just many visitors in Hikawa Jinja today..." It was the truth. That was what she told Kishino-san and Arai-san who visited just now.

"Kishino-kun..." Kamui continued to finish the conversation, despite the last hint in her sentence. "It seems we both know the same person. Where did you meet him?" Baka... striking a desperate conversation mentioning the name of an old colleague.

"In Waseda University... we took the same Philosophy classes together."

"Naru hodo..." Kamui was pleased at the coincidence. "Kishino-kun... is taking law in Waseda now, isn't he? He was still in his second year when I graduated."

Rei was actually dismayed upon hearing he went to the same university where she did. It was the very same course her father attended in Waseda, and one of the courses she purposely avoided. There was actually no reason to feel that, as that was thinking too far ahead. Her promise to Kaidou-san, her father's former assistant, during her 15th birthday was a promise she intended to keep. And though that promise did not concern marrying politicians, things changed ever since the day Ono-san delivered her forms from Waseda two springs ago. She did not wish to have anything to do with Law students like Kishino at all...especially if they were from Waseda.

"Is there anything wrong, Hino-san?" He asked, concerned about the long silence.

"Nothing, Asano-san. Sumimasen." She apologized.

"Kamui."

"Nani?"

"Please call me Kamui instead, Hino-san."

Rei nodded, not paying attention to his hint of allowing him the courtesy of calling her by her first name, much to Kamui's disappointment. The final hint to his lack of progress and syllables meant a signal to leave. And he was about to, until he heard the familiar cries of his nemesis the other day. And at that moment, they were perched comfortably on the roof above them.

"Gomen nasai, Hino-san. I must be bothering you. I'll go ahead.. however..." Kamui pointed to the roof of the Sanctuary where Phobos and Daimos now perched, instead of their usual post atop the torii.

Rei noticed that the hand he used to point at the 'threatening' ravens still had the gauze she herself had placed on his hand. "Eeto... you are scared of Phobos and Deimos?" She couldn't help but laugh. His pointing hand with the gauze was indeed shaking.

"Eh?" Kamui was surprised. Of all the times he had done no effort at all in making conversation was the time he had made her laugh. And he did not even have to bring a present like those losers Kishino did, too. He was pleased to see her laugh, even just a little, and even at his expense. And she laughed all the more when his shoulders jumped at the familiar scary sound of the "Caw!" of the ravens who attacked him the other day.

Hino Rei was adorable as she had been when she stared coldly at him during their first meeting, crow wounds and all. And most of all, he was certain that he was only one of the privileged few who saw this side of her that Kishino and the others had not yet seen. Arigatou, kami-sama for that fortunate event.

When she finally settled from laughter, Rei looked at Phobos and Deimos and signaled with her hand. It was only at that time that they stopped shrieking and the only time that Asano-san seemed to calm down. He smiled sheepishly, his piercing eyes widening to look serious in order to redeem himself. "Are you alright, Kamui-san?"

"Hai. Arigato Gozaimasu, Hino-san." Kamui bowed low, concealing his grin of accomplishment as he did. "I shall see you again. Mata aimashou!"

Hino Rei acknowledged him with a smile. He did not hear her say, "Mata ne" as he was already on his way towards the shrine's exit. She watched him walk down the steps of Hikawa Jinja, until no trace of the blonde highlights in his hair would be seen, because he looked back twice. It was only then that she took what she had tried to conceal from the surprise visits from the belt that held her hakama. Phobos and Deimos, immediately attuned to her intuition, flew from the roof to stay at her feet.

"You're feeling something too, ne... Phobos... Deimos?" she said softly, now holding the wood block with the word "miko" in her hand.

In the meantime, halfway down the steps of Hikawa Jinja, Kamui senses were also attuned to the presence of his own familiar.

Nishida stood at the bottom of the steps of Hikawa Jinja looking like a real bodyguard, wearing his usual dark shades and the black suit of the counter-Yakuza. His brows rose as the young Asano neared.

"You were waiting here the whole time, weren't you, Nishida?" Kamui asked in a rather expectant tone.

Nishida nodded. "Yesterday's meeting with the DLP Party had some very interesting results. It seems that the media will once again be hounding your father for the next few weeks... or months. So I'm required to be at your side especially when you're off to see the daughter of your father's rival... secretly."

"My father's rival? Hino... Ryoichi..." Hino Ryoichi was a former member of his father's DLP Party and one of the most respected as well. It was only late last fall that he had a falling out with the party due to policy differences with his own father. And so early this year, Hino Ryoichi announced that he shared the policies sought by the larger opposition of the SCP Party. Nishida could have easily researched that Hino Ryoichi's only daughter was at Hikawa Jinja.

The realization only lasted a few moments of surprise for Kamui. It sounded really funny now that everything his professors in Waseda said were true. Most of his opinions were very much in opposition to his father. And more importantly, today, I made her laugh.

"Wipe the smirk off your face, Kamui-dono," Nishida chided. "You were the second person who went up those steps to greet her."

"Third," Kamui corrected, still having that smirk on his face.

"Aaa... sou da na... If they are that many, can you just imagine how many men would be there on her birthday?"

Kamui froze in his tracks. Nishida's joke had more of a surprising effect on him than the news he seriously told him earlier on. "Nishida," Kamui called, looking stern.

"Nani?"

"If you know all this, then how come I don't know about her birthday?"

- tsuzuku -

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chiisai noto:
Remember, Kamui Jadeite. Kenta Kunzite. Soujirou Zoicite. Sanjounin Nephrite. Just a little reminder. - Check the author's notes for reference.

Sowee if this is boring... it is only their second getting-to-know-you meeting. Still within that introductory phase... and my brain's video recorder is already thinking of the ending. ;; Weird, ne? By the way, for those of you not familiar with the manga, it is introduced there that Rei's father is a politician of the DLP Party, and that her mother died. Kaidou, her father's assistant is also mentioned there. To see the full details of that, click here.

I intend to have a magical thing going around here because it won't be Sailormoon story without youma and such, ne? Also, the other senshi stories with the generals here would only be little vignettes of how they met, etc. It would be hard not to include them since the Inner Senshi are very close to each other. However, I will focus on the Rei-Jadeite reincarnation story, that's why there are only little stories. Maybe in the future, I'll do a spinoff... dunno... In the meantime, hope you enjoy this. ;;