"Maybe this is a bad idea," Rei says. She stands in front of a large thick forest. Clouds in the distance rumble, and she can faintly smell rain.

Amora giggles. "Are you scared of the forest?" She looks at the thick vegetation with a raised eyebrow. "I know there are stories of savage beasts, but I see no reason to worry." She smirks seductively. "After all, even without the Senshii powers, you are very strong. Word of your escapades have reached many an ear."

Rei shifts uncomfortably under the blond's weighty gaze. It takes all her efforts to subdue her blush as she clears her throat. "It's not that I'm terribly afraid. My issue is getting lost. It is not uncommon for the natives to leave you wandering if they feel mischievous or threatened."

Amora looks back to the forest. "How does anyone ever reach their city, were that the case? I have heard how often they play such silly games, after all."

Rei smirks. "Someone has made it, to tell so fervently about their abundant hospitality once you pass through the forest. However, we do not have time for these games." The black haired princess sobers quickly. She glances at Amora. "I am still wondering why you have accompanied me. If we enter, there is no telling what we will find."

Smiling softly, the blond looks wistfully at the sky. "I have been sitting in my palace dreaming longer then you can imagine… I have waited seemingly endlessly for something of this nature to begin… I wouldn't be able to contain myself if left to ponder the what-if's while you are out adventuring. I would rather jump right into the story and live it with you." She smirks again, once more oozing sexuality. "After all, I was born to do this."

Rei looks at her a moment, taking in the honesty and courage in the blond's eyes. A slight smile teases her lips before she steps forward to the forest. "Very well, let us meet destiny."

"And beat some sense into her!" Amora blurts.

It startles Rei and makes her spin around quickly. "W-what?"

Amora huffs and crosses her arms, as if her reasoning should have been obvious. "She has been naught but cruel! You have already sacrificed yourself to her twice! There is no reason or need to do so again! Were she left to her devices, she would have us all weeping in sorrow, chained to lonely futures of emptiness, simply because she can!"

Rei blinks a few times before a faint smile crosses her face. "Come then, let us set a fire to her skirts by throwing her plans out the window."

And promptly, Amora squeals and bounces forward and right into the forest.

Rei rolls her eyes. "Just like Minako…" Without further word, Rei plunges into the thick forest to locate the excitable blond.

-Sixteen Minutes Later-

"Amora," Rei says flatly.

Named blond shifts, eyes lowered sheepishly. "Yes?"

"What did I tell you?" asks the raven haired girl.

Amora bites her lip, looking sexy and adorable at the same time. "Um… Not to go skipping through the trees without looking where I was going?"

"Do you remember why?" demands the silently fuming priestess.

"Because there might be traps?" Amora makes sure to avoid all eye contact, which is actually quite easy… as they are both hanging upside down from the trees.

Rei points angrily at the rope around her ankle. "And what do you think that is?"

Amora stares at the leaves on the ground above her head. "A trap."

"Exactly!" retorts Rei. She'd been biting her tongue for the last five minutes. And yes, they had been hanging there that long. Why? Rei was trying very hard to restrain herself from lashing out at Amora, and that takes a great deal of concentration.

"Why did you get stuck in it too, if you are the one scolding me for my inattention?" asks Amora, trying to ease some of the ridiculousness of the situation from being entirely her fault.

Rei's scowl darkens. "Someone was screaming so hysterically that I was spurred into unneeded hurried action. So while dodging flailing limbs of said someone, and trying to calm them and ease their screaming, I ended up stepping on the second trap."

Okay, with it phrased that way, there isn't really a way to avoid blame. Amora fidgets. A light blush stains her cheeks. "Um… I'm sorry?"

Rei grumbles something under her breath before deciding she is calm enough to free them without torching her current traveling companion. Quickly drawing her sword, she sends a firm swing towards her tethered foot. With seemingly practiced ease, the rope is cut and she flips gracefully onto her feet. She stares up at the gaping Amora with less than pleased eyes. "I'm willing to free you, but if you cause me more problems, I'm shipping you to the Moon on an express one way ticket."

With that, the black hair teen leaps up and cuts the rope holding Amora's ankle hostage.

Amora yelps, and would have landed on her face were it not for the Martian's quick actions that send her spiraling until she is suddenly firmly standing on the ground without ever seemingly have been upside-down. Blinking a few times to get her bearings back, Amora finally notices that Rei is already walking away from her. With a quick "meep", the golden haired beauty races to catch up.

Rei gives her a sidelong look as soon as the blond catches up. "Please watch your step."

Amora blushes and looks away guiltily. "It's not my fault I've never gone tromping around in the wilds to learn its dangers!"

"You insisted on coming," points out Rei. Though she won't say so aloud, she finds the blond's newly discovered childish petulance amusing. It reminds her of Minako, and she feels comforted by that knowledge. When she'd first met the blond, her wisdom had thrown her for a loop. After all, Minako couldn't manage a proper saying without messing it up completely. To see some of Minako's childish behaviors in this past version... it is reassuring in the fact that maybe they hadn't been reborn and changed drastically from their original selves. Maybe there is still a chance her Usagi is hidden away within Serenity.

A sigh diverts her attention from her musings.

"You have that look again," comments the blond.

Rei cocks an eyebrow in confusion. "That look?"

"You look an old maid, reflecting on past deeds long gone in the sands of time. You look… forlorn."

Looking away from the blue eyes that gaze at her so piercingly, Rei ponders about how to answer. It is no lie, what Amora had said. She feels like she's already lived a lifetime and is looking back on it with a hint of longing and sadness. After all, there is no way to return to it. But she is excited for the future she can create here. If she can actually manage to stop the fall of the Moon Kingdom, what would their futures hold? How much would things differ for them? She is just as terrified as she is excited, and when she feels afraid, her mind drifts back to her time spent with her friends at the temple, or the arcade. She indeed, misses each of them dearly. They'd all grown into her lonely life, and she feels lost and bereft without them near.

Shaking herself out of her dreary thoughts, Rei smiles down at the blond faintly. Her eyes are still distant. "There are times that my second life cloud's my vision and plays memories that are bittersweet." She grimaces. "Dang it. I'm starting to sound like you."

Amora giggles, grabbing Rei's arm and clinging to it. "Does that displease you so?"

Rei frowns down at her for a breath, trying to decide what her answer will be. She sighs. "If there were more than one of you, I'd be positively terrified. Minako and Usagi were quite close to being twins as it is. It was always a relief that they were each different enough that I never had to suffer there being a double of either of them."

Amora looks confused, blue eyes clouding a moment as she stares at the tall black haired woman. "I understand that this Minako is me, but who is Usagi? Were we so similar?"

Rei smiles fondly, forgetting for a moment where she is. "Usagi is my Princess. You and she looked similar enough to be mistaken for twins upon first glance. You both shared a taste in many things, and often were running off in pursuit of said tastes."

Amora looks intrigued, placing a delicate finger on her chin and staring in contemplation at the sky. "Usagi? Your princess?" Her eyes widen comically. "Dear Heart! Usagi is the Moon Princess?"

Rei blushes and ducks her head. She hadn't expected such an outburst. "Um yes. You two were quite good friends in my time…" She trails off as she notices Amora gawking at her.

"I'm FRIENDS with the MOON PRINCESS?"

Rei flinches at her loudness but nods anyway. "Yes."

The following screech nearly deafens her. She watches as Amora goes skipping around the jungle in a disturbingly similar fashion that Usagi did when someone mentioned food… or video games… or manga…

Anyway, time to calm her down.

"Amora, we need to keep moving. We still haven't made much progress and you'll…"

TWANG!

A moment later and both Rei and Amora are suspended high in the air by a disturbingly sturdy net.

Rei's eyebrow twitches. "What did I tell you?"

"Um, no skipping?" answers a nervous blond.

"And?" demands Rei, scowl firmly in place.

"We're… caught… again?"

Rei raises a threatening fist that trembles in suppressed anger. "A-mor-a!"

Amora squeals and began struggling uselessly to escape the priestess's temper. "I'll tell the Princess!" yelps the terrified blond.

It gives Rei pause.

Just as she decides the validity of that threat doesn't matter at the moment, someone decides to clear their throat.

Rei scowls at the interruption and looks down to find a very familiar face grinning up at the two of them.

"Makoto," whispers Rei, face blank with shock.

"Wow, they found us a lot sooner than expected," quips Amora, looking down at the tall brunette and her horde of guards in amusement.

'Makoto' is wearing stitched leathers dyed different greens and browns, making her almost invisible in the vegetation. She is holding a spear in one hand and wears a sword on her hip and a knife in her tall boot. Hair tied back in the customary high ponytail, Makoto's past self is just as Rei remembers. The tall girl's green eyes sparkle with suppressed mirth even though her lips are thinned into a serious line.

"Who are you and what are you doing wandering around in our forest?" demands the tall brunette. She eyes them critically. "Besides, at the rate you're going, you're going to set off all our hunting traps."

Rei's eye twitches again. "Forgive our intrusion and my hapless companion. She's rather inept at avoiding traps."

Amora huffs indignantly. "It is impolite to speak so!"

Rei levels a flat look at her. "Then explain to me how we ended up here if not for your actions?"

Amora starts sputtering at the raven haired woman when someone jabs the net with their spear.

"Answer!" demands one of the guards.

Rei almost rolls her eyes. Almost.

"I'm here to speak with the rulers of this planet. There is a dire situation that needs immediate attention." She tries to look calm and regal.

'Makoto' snorts. "And we should let you because?"

"Because war is not a trifle matter," Rei practically growls.

That causes everyone to tense and several of the guards to raise their weapons again.

"You threaten the great Jupitians?" hisses Makoto.

Twitch.

"No. I'm saying that there is threat of war and I'm here as a messenger to prevent it."

"So you are here to pick a fight! We don't negotiate with war bringers!" roars another guard.

Rei wants something hard to hit her head on.

"You're not listening," she says tightly, watching as they all edge closer threateningly.

Irritated all the more at their actions, Rei grabs Amora protectively and allows her natural element to swirl around them. It destroys the net most effectively and causes their captors to leap back in alarm. She drops to the ground and lands gracefully with Amora still held protectively in her arms. She locks eyes with the brunette that is still watching them warily.

"Heed my words, Princess," she directs at Makoto. "I am Princess Exura, Heir to the Martian throne. My traveling companion is Princess Amora, Heir to the Venusian throne. We come in peace, sending a message of great importance regarding the continued vitality of all of our home worlds." She is standing erectly, head held high, eyes alight with confidence. She looks every inch the princess she claims to be.

The Makoto look alike sighs. "Well damn. We get visitors for the first time in ages and they're royalty spouting off things about war." She frowns a moment before straightening up to her full height and towering over the other two women. "I am Princess Tempest, one of twenty three children of the current King and Queen of Jupiter."

Rei lifts her eyebrow a moment. Tempest seems to understand the question in the raven haired girl's eyes for she shrugs nonchalantly.

"No one has been chosen as Heir, yet." The Juptian looks to her guards and waves them down. "They are our honored guests. We shall take them to see the King and Queen immediately."

The guards don't look pleased but comply immediately. Tempest smirks and waves at the Martian to follow her.

Rei gives Amora a warning look before setting her on her feet. Amora blushes lightly and quickly falls in step beside the raven haired girl as they follow the Jupiter Princess deeper into the jungle.

Just as Rei opens her mouth to ask a few questions of their guide….

TWANG!

"Of all the pits of fire-y hell! Amora! I swear if you're doing this on purpose I'll roast you alive myself!" roars an irate Rei as Amora squeals in fright from the treetops.

Tempest comes to stand next to Rei, leaning in a comfortable hunch on her spear as she looks up at the dangling blond. "You really need to train her."

The "twitch" takes over with a vengeance as Rei growls up at the blond that is looking everywhere but at her. "I think I'm going to send her to boot camp hell," growls Rei.

Tempest lifts a curious eyebrow. "Boot camp hell?"

A decidedly sinister smirk crosses the raven haired woman's lips. "Yes, boot camp hell will do wonders for her."

Tempest seems slightly unsure as she glances up at the blond again with a tad bit of sympathy. "Will she be well?"

Rei's chuckle only deepens the brunette's worry.

"She'll be well taken care of." Rei then proceeds to cut Amora down and stare the poor blond down. "Amora, you are currently in very much need of training. Seeing as your own family has… neglected that area, I'm going to send you to an expert… trainer."

Amora is obviously conflicted whether she should be excited or terrified. "Trianing?"

"Yes, training, training for all that adventuring you want to do."

The heavy sarcasm and look in the priestess's eyes is definitely starting to scare Amora. "Um, how do you purpose to-"

Rei quickly whips out a piece of parchment and scribbles something on it. She then makes it disappear in a small puff of smoke. She turns and grins in a most Cheshire like way at Amora. "Train hard, Princess." She pokes Amora with her index finger in the middle of the forehead. As soon as Amora blinks, she disappears in a puff of smoke.


A/N: For those who are bearing with me, I thank you! I have been extremely busy with college classes, and I haven't had a computer in a little over a year. I just recently got a new computer and have a little bit of spare time in which to write. I've been losing many precious hours of sleep to get this out, and I hope that I can keep pushing out new chapters. I have a few more I've done for my other stories and I hope to be posting them after I work out any kinks after a couple re-reads. Thank you for patience and your time to read said stories.

-bow-