She later wouldn't be able to say which parts of that night had been a dream and which real.
There had been darkness, black mountains, and a sky as black as she had never seen with stars so numerous and bright that her heart hurt from looking at them. There had been wind, strong wind, and the earth had been furious with fire not burning far underneath thir feet. And there had been magic, oh yes. And a boy who liked magic way too much.
He held out his hands to his sides, and huge bolts of energy emerged from the ground, burying themselves in his fingertips. He laughed so loud that Rei could hear him easily over the wind, the light from the magical energy illuminating his face, sparkling on his uniform, and the wind blew his hair into his face and almost tore away his coat.
A flutter of silk, and they were at a quieter place. Even darker, with the same black mountains surrounding them, and the earth still restless under her feet, but less windy.
"Sorry about the raw energies around the place, Mars!" Although Jadeite was standing next to her, she could barely see more of him than the starshine reflecting off his uniform. He grinned, she could hear it in his voice. "Quick and dirty reload, but you said we have little time! You like fire, right?"
"Is this place safe?" Rei had never been at a place that was more disorienting, her senses were confused by the overwhelming presence of fire and what Jadeite had called raw energy. At home, in the shrine, she would have called it damage, uproar, evil... but here, in the homland of uproar, that seemed to be pointless. The mountains and their burning intestines certainly weren't fitting any human category.
"I should be quite impressed if you'd be able to blow it up, if that's what you're worried about," chuckled Jadeite. His cheerfulness made Rei nervous, but she shook it off.
This had been her wish, after all. Noone had said it'd be safe.
"Can we start?" she asked.
Instead of an answer, two arms folded around her from behind her. Rei startled, he had moved so quickly and quietly. Now that she couldn't see how young he was any more, all she could make out was that he was a bit bigger than her, his grip strong and his voice calm. He wasn't scared at all. That was good, because she suddenly was. This energy felt so different from what he had given her the last time. Raw energy, indeed. Then she put her hands on his. She didn't even have to try to remember how this energy thing was done, she was already receiving something. It happened all by itself.
After a short moment, Jadeite released his grip and took a step back. The flow of magic would decrease, but not entirely stop.
"This is easy," she heard Jadeite's voice from behind her. "Hold up your hands. Remember how you built up energy in your hand. You will do the same again this time, with both hands. Build up pressure, and hold it. It should feel easy and natural. If you feel you have to force it, you are doing it wrong."
Rei tried. A faint light shimmered between her fingers, but that was all. Suddenly she felt his hands on her arms, with his bad hand feeling a bit heavier.
"You can take a bit more," he said. His voice was very close now. Rei didn't know how, but the light in her hands gained strength. Now she could feel it press against her fingers, like it had done earlier today, only not so vicious.
"Very good. Hold it. Now is the time to find your target. Drop the will to achieve it. Drop the will to hit it. Just invite the target into your mind. Allow it to become a part of you. And now release."
Her fingers got somehow entangled in the energy she sent off, and the result was a horribly wobbly jolt of light, she swore it was even lumpy. But she had done it! Magic had left her hands!
"Jadeite, it works!"
"Of course it works! Let's do it again."
They increased the amount of energy she'd shoot, and the release was still giving Rei trouble, and when she thought she had it, Jadeite suddenly put his arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides, and pressed her against him.
"Now let's see how much you can take", he purred into her ear. "Because the next lesson will be combat!"
She struggled against him in vain, wondering if she should kick him, but she didn't really want to break the connection that filled her with so much power, she only hated the rudeness.
And just as sudden as he had snatched her, he let her go and vanished into the dark.
"I'm here! Come on, shoot me!"
She saw a glowing pink light in a distance, illuminating his face, hair, and shoulders, and a malicious smile. She frowned, and then yelled when he thrust a little pink ball of energy to her feet. A pink halo emerged and stung like needles where it hit her.
"Stop it, you ass!" she yelled and shielded her face with her arm.
"Defend yourself!" he demanded and built up energy for the next attack.
It took Rei another near hit at her feet before she was angry enough to lift her hands and build up energy for a shot.
The pink light in his hands should have made it easy to target him, but the dark made it hard to judge distances, and the place got more disorienting once she and Jadeite started moving. That was, she jumped out of his attacks, and he teleported around in the dark, attacking and yelling at her from all direcions. He never directly hit her, but aimed so close it scared her. And it hurt.
Rei ended up firing blindly into the dark, with no hope of ever hitting him, and him turning up just everywhere. It got harder and harder to build up enough energy each time now, while he didn't seem to tire at all. That'd teach her to be out at night with a boy who loved magic and fighting way too much.
Suddenly, all was dark and silent. Rei nervously eyed around, breathless, head spinning, floor wobbling. But her Senshi instincts where still there, and her ability to read energy signatures, and this time he was close, she sensed his aura before she could see him, and she took herself a bit more time to collect power, aim, and release. A shot in the dark. A direct hit. Yes!
He caught it with both hands, but one of his hands trembled, and Rei felt deeply satisfied to blast every last ounce of magic into him she could still come up with. he caught everything, but with discomfort. That was good enough for Rei.
She fell to her knees when she was finished. She was feeling so heavy and empty that it was too much an effort to lift her face to Jadeite. She wouldn't have seen him anyway, being blinded by the light of her beam. She heard him laugh.
"For the first time, you did pretty well, not being used to it."
More she didn't remember. The rest was black.
xxxxx
"Morning! Are you still in bed? Come on, come on, we have a combat training before you go to school!"
Rei wasn't exactly a morning person, and even less after a night as short as this one, and with all her body aching, and with an overly cheerful boy in her room.
"Jadeite, shut up, or I am going to strangle you!"
"Ah, that's the spirit! Here, I picked up some coffee on the way! Man, you missed a great run this morning! Me and Kumada-san saw a beautiful sunrise on the beach!"
"What? Since when do you go running with Yuichiro?" she asked and took the coffee from his hand.
Jadeite grinned. "For more than a week. Unlike some people, I keep myself in shape."
Yuichiro was a volunteer at the shrine who freely admitted that he only came there to see Rei, an attitude which she profoundly and deeply detested, along with the rest of his personality, and she spent as little time in his presence as possible. Of course the sight of Jadeite would have to torment him with utter jealousy. That was perfect. He probably just made sports with Jadeite to find out what was going on between them. And Jadeite? Could teleport around the world and melted down when someone took him to the beach. Silly boy. Rei sighed.
Rei sat up, briefly wondering if she looked as bad as she felt. She realized she still wore the clothes she had put on for their night trip. She better had, if Jadeite had had to bring her to bed. Had she really fainted? Had she really been foolish enough to allow him to fill her with raw energy?
"Are you saying anything's wrong with my shape?" she grumbled, inhaling the wonderful smell of coffee that promised to clear her mind, and gave Jadeite a reproachful look. Only to see that he was shamelessly rummaging through the chest that contained her clothes. Instantly, she was fully awake.
"Hey!" she yelled. "What do you think you're doing there!"
He had found a pair of sports pants, underwear and a t-shirt and tossed them onto her legs.
"Put those on and come outside. First challenge in fifteen minutes."
"You are not going to pick clothes for me. I am old enough to do that myself. And don't you dare searching through my stuff again."
"Hai. If you get up earlier tomorrow, you can do it yourself."
"Forget it. I need my sleep for my sanity. I am not going to get up for a stupid fight that early in the morning."
He leaned over her, one knee on her matress, and smirked.
"I can challenge you in bed, if that's what you want."
She wanted to yell at him again, but she had seen the tiny spark of insecurity in his eyes.
"Big words", she sneered. "From a boy who is even afraid of the touch of my hand."
She tried to prove her point by reaching for his chin, and she was right. He evaded her touch with an annoyed turn of his head.
"Don't do that if you don't mean it!" he hissed.
Okay now, that was far enough. She wouldn't have such an attitude. No use letting him behave like he owned the place.
"Jadeite, we need to talk. Come sit with me," she said and patted her mattress.
With some reluctance, he sat down.
"Now give me your hand." And when he hesitated, she added: "I mean it."
He gave her his hand and looked at her questioningly. All his energy and attitude were gone as if someone had turned a switch, he suddenly was A Good Boy again. And very, very cautious.
Rei told herself not to pull energy out of him, just letting pass what wanted to pass on its own. She would be gentle with him.
"Jadeite", she said friendly but firm. "There are some things that I need to make clear to you. Some things will have happened the first and the last time today.
First and last time you are in my bed. Okay?"
"Hai."
He nodded, casting his eyes down.
"First and last time you go through my things, especially my clothes. First and last time you have your hands in my underwear."
"Hai."
She smiled, but he didn't return the smile. His pointed chin and his big soft eyes made him look so innocent and sweet that Rei had to remind herself to go on.
"Also, first and last time you threaten me. If I agree to be trained by you I do not automatically give you permission to order me around all the time. I might join a lesson, or not, that is up to me.
You're not only my guest, you are also in my custody and care. I am responsible for your well-being. Everything else is secondary. Do you understand?"
"Hai. I'm very sorry, Mars."
"It's okay, Jadeite. I invited you in my room, and I should have forseen that you haven't been to too many girl's rooms before, and wouldn't know the rules. Don't worry about it. I should have told you these things in advance."
She squeezed his hand, and then let go of it. Jadeite took it back and hid it under his other hand.
"If you would please wait outside now, I have to change, or I will be late for combat training. And thank you for the coffee, I really needed it."
He apologized again and left hurriedly.
She saw him sitting motionless on a bench in the yard, looking down to the floor, waiting for her, and thought she might have overdone it. She sighed. She really didn't have a clue about how to shove a guy out of bed, or how to tell them she was not another bloke. That weren't problems she'd ever had before.
Seriously, she thought, has anyone ever taken themselves the time to tell him about the little differences between boys and girls? Has he ever seen a girl that wasn't either a Queen or a Princess or kicking him into the next wall and throwing magic attacks at him? Does he know anything about life?
To her surprise, he acted almost normal when she came out. Almost, because he was a lot nicer than usual. He took her to a gym where he seemed to know everyone, and they did some simple exercises that didn't involve him touching her at all, he walked her to school, making the usual bad jokes, and promised to take care of his room.
"Another round of magic tonight, Mars?" he asked before he left her at the gates of her school.
"Of course. And this time, I am not going to be so gentle. You are going to beg for mercy tonight, boy."
That made him laugh, and he lightly touched her arm before he left.
Only when someone around them gasped at that, she realized that she had just started a whole new generation of annoying rumours. She just suddenly didn't really care any more.
xxxxx
Rei had never had been much out and sitting in a cafe, but recently she had picked up this habit. Later, she would see Usagi, but now, she just needed to be on her own, out of hearshot of the shrine, having time to think...
After spending half my life protecting people against youmas, I find myself having dinner with one of them, and its sneaky little master... and it was even fun. After just coming to terms with not having Senshi powers again, I am into firing energy beams. And it is even more fun.
Am I losing it? What is happening to my life?
Of course, Minako hadn't been no help at all when she had heard about the priest situation. "I told you, Rei, you should have thrown him out long before. The longer you keep him, the worse it will get. Now even the kannushi wants to burden him on you forever, and I bet you don't want to disappoint him, right? Oh come on Rei, what does it take for you to wake up?"
She hadn't even dared to tell her about the youma, or her ability to take Jadeite's magical powers. Just as she hadn't told her about Jadeite being naked when he had touched her, or that she had encouraged him to bring Beryl back, or that he had almost died in her arms... she hadn't told any of the others either. They knew he walked her home from school, but not that they made homework together, had dinner together, often had work at the shrine together, and that he trained her fighting skills... that she could produce a straight power beam without effort, even if her aim was still a disgrace...
She was starting to keep a lot of things secret from her friends... why was she so scared they wouldn't understand? She didn't regret these things, she was even kind of proud she could handle all the distress that came with the boy. So why hide it? She didn't understand herself...
"Can I help you?" asked a deep voice, and Rei stared into a big smile. He was a tall guy, probably European, good-looking, nice - and blond... very blond... and from what she could see, a coat of fine white hair covered his skin, followed the lines of his neck... It took her a moment to realize that she must have stared at this guy forever if he would actually come over to talk to her. Her mind had been miles away, now since when did her eyes seek out guys when she was not paying attention?
"I am sorry..." she muttered, her cheeks blushing.
"Is there something I can do for you?" he smiled, clearly returning the interest she had seemingly taken in him.
Get out of your clothes and let me touch every hair on your body, whispered a voice in the far back of her head, and she felt a rush of heat rising through her body.
"No... sorry... I'm very sorry... it's a mistake... I... I just... well, my boyfriend is blond, and I guess my eyes are playing tricks on me... I wasn't paying attention... I am really sorry..."
She just felt worse every second.
"No problem", said the guy and laughed. He really was nice. "My mistake. Sorry I bothered you."
Rei stuttered something, took her handbag and left. Once outside, she broke into a run, and ran until she was totally breathless. She had to stop and pant, as embarassed as never before in her whole life.
He is not my boyfriend, thought Rei and felt so sick she thought she'd have to throw up. He is not my boyfriend! He is not even a friend! I don't even like him! He's creepy! He's crazy! I am not going to let him take over my life! I'd rather die!
It was when she was starting to get clearer in the head again that she knew what she'd have to do: Make Kunzite take him back. Whatever it'd cost. If anyone deserved having Jadeite around it was him. And if he couldn't handle him, or didn't like him any more than she did, or had a problem being around a guy who had once ran a sword through him, that was just fine with her.
Because Kunzite, for this, you have to suffer. Death is too good for you! You want mercy? You are going to beg for it!