Ami left the desk and hurried down the hall. Rei was still in the emergency wing of the hospital, room 19B. Ami was tired but she was worried about Rei. She wondered about the wounds left by that whip, the Zakuro Spear. She hated that whip, and she hated the woman that wielded it. She feared that beautiful Rei would be left permanently scarred. Oh, if she only had her pendant... She turned the corner and entered the corridor to room 19B.

The corridor was not empty. Standing there, near room 19B, were a group of young women, talking quietly. Ami gasped; it was the Mew Mews. She was sure they had attacked Rei, dear Rei. She ran at them. They had not transformed; she was sure that they would not transform here, with dozens of witnesses. They heard her coming, and they turned to meet her. She threw herself into them, but they seized her by her arms. She tried to kick at them, but she could not reach them. "What have you done to Rei?" she half-shouted.

The hated Mew Zakuro stood before her. Behind her that accursed Mew Lettuce held her, pinning her arms. Zakuro spoke: "Your friend is safe in her room."

Ami's eyes were wild. "Then why are you here?" She was trying not to make a scene in the hospital hallway, but Rei was in danger!

Mew Zakuro's eyes were so hard, and her voice was as hard as her eyes. "You should know our reasons for being here, Sailor Mercury. If you want to see your friend, she's in there." The dark-haired woman pointed to Room 19B.

Ami tried to catch her breath. Apparently they hadn't hurt Rei, and they weren't going to take her down, here. "Then let me go," she said, finally softly.

Mew Zakuro backed off, but now Mew Mint came and stood before her. "What's wrong, girl?" she sneered. "Tummy a little sore?"

Ami strained against the hands holding her, but Mew Lettuce was just too strong for her. Once again, she calmed herself. "We will meet again, bitch," she said in a low, ugly voice. "At a time when you don't have this thug to hold me, just you and me, and we'll settle it between us."

Mew Mint cocked her arm to punch her middle as she had the day before, but Mew Zakuro grabbed the arm. "Not now, baka! They'll throw us all out of here." Then the strong hands released Ami, and, with eyes still blazing, she turned away. She wanted so badly to slug that bitch Mint in the belly while someone held her. But even more she wanted to see Rei, and if she hit her enemy now, she would be thrown out, and maybe arrested. And that was one thing she did not want to explain to her mother. She opened the door and entered Room 19B.

Rei was out of the bed, sitting in a reclining chair, covered with a blanket. On two other chairs were Makoto and Minako. Minako was obviously still hurting from the damage she had taken yesterday. But at least her beautiful face seemed unmarked.

"Rei-chan! Minako-chan! How are you!" Ami said. She rushed first to Minako, who grunted. "Not good. But I'll live." She smiled, and Ami hugged her - lightly; she didn't want to cause her friend any more pain.

Then she turned to Rei, who said, "I see that they let you out. You look pretty messed up, though, for Perfect Ami."

Yes, after the scuffle outside, Ami was quite disheveled. "I had a little difficulty getting in here. Those stinking Mew Mews are right outside the door to this room." She did not tell her friends that it was she who had attacked the Mews, and not the other way around.

"They're here?" Rei gasped. "Then they're going to attack!"

Makoto shook her head. "They're here because their friend is in the room across the hall, two doors down. And... they won't attack us here."

"Their friend? Who?" Rei demanded.

"Who?" Makoto responded. "Their friend, Ichigo. The one we thought was dead." She lowered her eyes and stared at the floor. "At least, we haven't committed murder."

"That bitch is right across the hall, and you didn't tell me?" Rei snapped angrily at Makoto.

Makoto looked up again. "I was afraid that if I told you, you might go over there and try something. And she was guarded, and I didn't want to see you hurt any more. That temper of yours has gotten you in enough trouble already."

Rei glared at Makoto, gritting her teeth. "And why are you so sure they won't attack?"

"Because I got their leader to promise that they would not attack you here. And I promised we wouldn't attack their girl," Makoto answered.

"Baka! And you believed them?" sneered Minako.

"Mew Zakuro may be our enemy, but she did not lie to me," Makoto said.

Anger burned in Minako's eyes. "You really are a traitor, you fat cow," she muttered.

Finally anger touched Makoto's voice. "Like I was a traitor yesterday, when I protected you from that damned whip with my own body?"

Ami could see that her two friends would soon come to blows. Defeat did that, she knew; so she spoke, changing the subject. "Makoto, how do you know it's that freak Ichigo who's across the hall?"

Makoto looked at Ami, searching her soul. :"I sneaked in there last night, when Mew Zakuro slipped out to go to the ladies' room. I know what you're thinking, that there's no way that that girl lived after being smashed like that. Well, they have some kind of healing magic..."

"I have seen it," Ami said. "The tall one, Mew Zakuro, does it. It uses something they call Mew Aqua, something they have very little of, I may add."

"That healing gives them a big advantage over us," Makoto said.

Rei sneered. "It wouldn't have given them any advantage, if you had finished her off last night, when you had the chance, if you had any courage at all. You're a weakling, a coward, and a traitor against us."

"I may be all of those, but I am not a murderer, to kill a helpless girl in her bed." Makoto got up to leave. "I can see where I'm not wanted, who my real friends really are, and they're not here." There was terrible heat in her voice, and Ami realized that the insults had gone too far and that the powerful Makoto was ready to attack them. Well, let her go, Ami thought. The Sailor Senshi are beaten anyway. Finished. She would just take care of her hurt friends.

Makoto almost slammed the door as she left the room. Then she paused and took a deep breath. The hall was empty, except for a nurse bustling through and a cleaning lady down near the end. She was being a fool but she didn't care. She crossed the hall and entered the room, two doors down.

The room was crowded. The hated Ichigo lay in the bed. She looked far better than she had the night before, and she was almost smiling. Around her bed were a man and woman just into middle age, whom Makoto assumed to be the girl's parents; a boy about her age, probably the boyfriend; and the other four Mew Mews. They all looked up when Makoto entered: the parents and boyfriend with questions in their eyes, the Mews with anger and hatred.

She ignored the Mews and walked up to the bed. They could not attack her with the parents and boyfriend present. Makoto smiled and looked down on the girl in the bed, who returned her gaze. The girl's eyes were a strange violet-gray in color.

"Who are you?" the mother asked.

Makoto looked at her. "Kino Makoto," she said. She bowed. "I was just worrying about how she was doing. I was seeing the girl across the hall." The others did not notice, but Mew Zakuro did: she had said, "the girl" and not "my friend."

"Are you Ichigo-chan's friend?" the boyfriend asked.

Makoto shook her head. "No, not her friend. But her health concerns me and my... those people I hang with."

Mew Lettuce squirmed and started approaching her. A quick glance told Makoto that the green-haired girl was really scared that Makoto would hurt Ichigo.

The girl in the bed must have seen it, too, so she said, "Makoto-san, were you here last night, late?" Makoto nodded, and the red-haired girl asked, "Did you really kiss my cheek when you left?"

Makoto nodded again, and the girl asked, "Why?"

Makoto looked the girl full in they eyes, her clear green eyes staring into the violet-gray ones of her enemy. "Because you needed it," she sighed. "And I needed it more."

Makoto turned to go, but the father asked, "Did you have anything to do with what happened to Ichigo?"

Makoto stopped but did not look at him. It was Mew Pudding who piped up: "You're damned right, she did!" Makoto clenched her fists, and ran from the room.

"Get your cell phone out," the father said to his wife. "Call the police!"

"No!" Ichigo said. They stopped and looked at her. "All she did to me was stroke my hair, and kiss my cheek."

"And that is true." Mew Zakuro said.

The parents turned to Ichigo, who spoke quietly. "When I get home, I promise, I'll explain it all." Beside her bed Masaya clutched her hand tightly, bowed his head, and wept, the tears flowing down his cheeks.