"No sexy lace bra?" asked Minako who sat cross-legged on Rei's bed and watched Rei's preparation for the evening like a hawk.
Rei grinned and put on her simple sports bra. "No."
"The most boring underwear in the whole dresser."
Rei just smiled. The most comfortable actually, for good reason.
She put on a light sweater, the winter training suit, woolen socks, hiking boots, and tied her hair back into a ponytail.
"Sports?" asked Minako.
"Think along that line..."
"Not in Tokyo then. You'll collapse if you go running in that outfit."
"I'm not going to tell you, Minako."
She packed her bag. Put in another warm sweater.
"Where does he drag you to? Siberia?"
Rei laughed. "I'm not going to tell you."
"Hey, why do you pack a first aid kit? If this is dangerous... if I find a single scratch on you tomorrow... if he lays hand on you, he's dead!"
"Calm down, Minako. I'll be okay. I've been doing this for a while, and I've never been better. Stop being such a mother hen."
"You must be out of your mind. He's creepy! He's crazy! How can you let him take you to who knows where? I don't trust him."
"But I do. He's a Guardian, come on. Being bitchy and protective like some other Guardian I could mention comes with the job. He couldn't harm me even if he wanted to. These guys are really okay now. Hand me that water bottle please."
Minako gave her the bottle and also gave her her strictest senshi leader gaze. "Sports. I really hope it's sports."
Rei grinned.
"Hope is a wonderful thing."
xxx
It was hard to leave Minako behind, even if Rei didn't let it show. She could have had hours of chatting and laughter, going out, having fun, maybe surprising one of the other girls... but once she was out of her room, and stood in the yard, she wasn't regretting it anymore. Having fun was nice. Having fights was better.
She passed the kitchen window. The priest and his wife would be eating alone tonight. Someone else to walk away from. Rei felt a bit guilty about it. She hardly saw them now that all she did was studying for the exams .
Rei knew very well that it wasn't just Jadeite's interest for Shintoism and his talent for seeing the supernatural that made Jadeite such a welcome guest at the shrine. It was also because Jadeite enjoyed to be fathered and mothered by the old priest, and especially his wife - opposite to Rei who really liked them but kept a big emotional distance to everyone who wanted to occupy the parent position.
Jadeite would love to have dinner with them, and joke around, and let the older couple whose kids were already out of the house fawn over him. How could he be so trusting? From what she had heard, his parents had been way worse than hers, even trying to kill him. How could he still have illusions? He was so naive. She sighed. She should probably ask Jadeite if they could have dinner at the shrine sometimes on Tuesdays. It would give her an excuse not to have dinner there on the other days, and still make her substitute grandparents happy.
She probably wouldn't be able to solve the Minako situation by having a dinner for three... she grinned.
She walked down the stairs to the street, and there he stood.
She didn't even look back to see if Minako was there when they went to the shopping district.
xxx
It was a good training. Rei took over enough energy for working on her aim with the energy beam, and when they sat down for a reload of energy and a pause, Jadeite explained the new training schedule for improving her shield spell to her in all details.
Then he was silent for a while, and they just sat there, his arm around her, energy prickling through Rei. But there was something on his mind, she could tell. Finally, he brought it up.
"Uh, Mars... about what Venus said... the husband thing... are you really thinking about that?" he asked, evading her gaze.
"What? Of course not! Are you nuts? Do I give the impression I do?"
"Err... no... only... she was right about everything else she said, you know. And she knows you better than I do..."
"Listen, Jadeite, I'm not even out of school yet. I have plans for the next 20 years that do not nearly involve any man or child. It's hard enough that I lost the senshi powers, I could never give up on the Shinto priestess as well, and I want to do it right. It's going to take all my time. Have I made myself entirely clear?"
"Yeah."
Rei couldn't really read his expression, so she grinned at him and asked: "And how about you? Do you...?"
Jadeite shook his head. "I guess this Shitennou business is pretty much exclusive. How is it supposed to go with my schedule? I'm on partial duty and stlil need to trade shifts with Nephrite to have one day per week off, and that's only if we don't have any real trouble. I don't want to spend all my life asking myself, should I be with the Shitennou right now or with someone else? I have no idea how Nephrite does it.
But I will have to talk to the Master about having kids. When the Master and the Princess are going to have children, I want some too."
"What? Too busy for marriage, but you think you'd have the time for kids?"
He grinned. "Well, I don't think I'll have the time to raise them, but with some luck I'll have the time to make them. I just want to have some, that's all."
That's all?
Rei just stared at him with her mouth open, and at first she couldn't say more than just "Ha!"
Then the rage kicked in. How did he always do it, bring her to the boiling point in no time at all? Of course, by being a male, and including almost everything she hated about men, and fathers who didn't care ranged very high on her list. She hadn't expected him to bring up absent fatherhood already at his young age, but well, Jadeite was resourceful.
She shook off his arm and glared at him furiously.
"And you think it will be so great for the kids to be raised by others, knowing they will always be your last priority?"
Jadeite shrugged. "Worked for me."
"That's just a cheap excuse! Do you have an idea what it takes to be responsible for someone who relies on you?"
"Just as I said. They'd better not rely on me. I won't be around a lot. But that's just the point, you know."
"No, I don't know. And I don't want to know. It's just disgusting."
"Oh yeah? Do you think I have no time for nothing because we are too many Guardians? We need to inrease our numbers. And have you ever thought about where the next generation of Guardians is going to come from? Who is going to guard the next Prince or Princess? If it's going to be one of mine, I want them to grow up together, like it used to be in the old days. It's never going to be like it was between the Master and me. But it would be nice to give the next generation a chance."
"Oh..." Why did this crap suddenly make sense? Rei was at a loss of words.
"So the... Shitennou business... is inheritable? Did you inherit it from your father?"
He looked at her and smirked. "No, Mars. I don't think so."
"What's so funny?"
"My father was the reason why someone would need Guardians. If I inherited anything from him, you'd not want to see it. I wear black in his honor, but that was mainly to piss off the King's Guardians who killed him.
None of us four inherited it from our fathers, but the magical talent does run in famlilies... the point is, we don't know how to assign more Guardians, and we desperately need them. So, I say, seeing what our kids can do is one of the very few options we still have left. We should definitely try it."
"But... producing kids just because you want to exploit their talents... isn't that cruel?"
"Don't know... I guess that's why I live... so who am I to complain?"
"Err... Jadeite... that's crap, you know."
"No, it's true. The only reason why they didn't drown the spawn of a demon enchanter at birth was because they had a use for my talents. And why was I reborn? Because I'm useful. Don't look at me like that. You're the same."
"What?"
"You were reborn because you're a Guardian. And you spend all your free time with chores and meditations and Shinto stuff. You're scared of what you could do with your talents if you were acting on your own."
"I'm not scared. I'm just being responsible."
"You're being useful."
"Whatever. Nothing wrong with that."
"Exactly."
Now Rei was really mad. It just took her a moment to come up with a reply.
"You're still wrong," she finally said. "There's more to life than duty. There's more to life than work. If you don't know that, you shouldn't even be thinking about having kids."
Jadeite smiled at her apologetically. "Hey, you know I like kids."
"That's not enough. If you can't be there when they need you, they'll hate you."
Jadeite shrugged. "They can hate me all they want. I'll probably not even live to see it. Being a Guardian is a risky job."
"Jadeite!"
"What? It's true."
"Don't talk like that!"
"Don't be so sentimental, Mars. You didn't even make it alive through your first year as a Guardian in the modern times, and you weren't doing so hot in the past either. There's no such thing as an old Guardian."
"I said don't talk like that!"
Jadeite sneered, but he dropped the subject.
Now why on earth did he think this was a good moment to smirk at her?
"You know, about that other thing that Venus said..."
"What other thing?"
"That I'm boring in bed... That you'd take me to bed and nothing really exciting would happen? It just bothers me, you know. I do have my pride. I've never left anyone bored before."
"Oh, big words," said Rei with a grin. "From a man who has lost most of his memories. What do you know what you've done or not? But you can relax, love machine. The first time I found you in my bed in the morning, it was after one of the most exciting nights of my life."
"Really? Only one of the most exciting ones? How exciting exactly?"
"Woah, minus points for even asking about it! Shut up, Jadeite, there's just so many things you don't need to know."
"And what about the second time? I'll have to make up for that one. I bet that wasn't exciting for you."
"At least not in a good way. But you really don't have to listen to Venus."
"I wouldn't do it for Venus. Think I don't want it?"
He gave her a look from the corner of his eyes, and a smirk.
Rei gave him a piercing stare.
"I rather think you're not up to it, boy."
"Hey! Don't underestimate me! I know what a woman wants. I can do that!"
"You think you know what a woman wants?"
"Absolutely."
But if Rei was any judge, Jadeite was into boys. The only woman he'd ever loved wouldn't have allowed him to touch her, right? Right?
"Come on, Jadeite, I am supposed to believe that? Have you ever had a girl in bed?"
He grinned. "You are asking the wrong kind of questions, Mars. Sorry, can't tell you."
"Oh, shut up, Jadeite! I don't want to hear about it anyway. Just shut up about it, will you?"
"Peace?"
"Peace."
"Oh nooo... now we have to kiss again," said Jadeite.
"Is that so?"
"Pledge of good will. Sorry, Mars, but I think we don't have a choice..."
Rei put a finger on his lips. "Shh, Jadeite. Of course we have. We always have."
She refused the kiss, but sat close to him again and put an arm around his waist.
She sighed while she took in some more energy.
"Jadeite... Venus wants to know what we are doing... I know I should have told her before, but you have seen how she can be... have you told your people yet?"
"Not really. I guess Kunzite is also dying to know what we are doing."
"He is," said Kunzite.
xxx
Rei and Jadeite lept to their feet.
Kunzite came closer, his cloak sweeping behind him.
"What's the meaning of this gathering?"
Startled, Rei pushed away from Jadeite. She regretted it instantly, because, was this any of Kunzite's business? Just because she had gone out with him a few times didn't give him the right to demand answers.
But Kunzite didn't even want an answer of her, he was on Jadeite in a second and smacked him so hard that Jadeite stumbled back a few steps and fell down. Kunzite slowly stepped closer, contempt on his face, when a pink energy beam earthed itself right in front of him.
"Not one step closer!" demanded Rei, already building up more energy in her outstretched hands. She wasn't certain that Kunzite would have to fear a direct hit from her, but like hell would she allow him to attack them while she had power.
And Kunzite stopped. He stared at her, at the pink Shitennou energy in her hands, and he was truely and deeply shocked.
"So it's true," he finally managed to say. "So you're able to break the barrier to Jadeite."
He made a step, and came so close to her that he almost touched her hands.
"Step back, Kunzite."
He ignored the command and took one of her wrists, bringing her hand in front of his face to examine it. Rei was so nervous she almost released the energy uncontrolled, but she held it. It became quite hard to hold two different batches of energy in each hand. She was a tiny bit relieved when Kunzite abesentmindedly reached out with his other hand and just absorbed the energy from each of her hands when they began to tremble. A tiny bit relieved, but mostly furious about him taking over control so easily.
Kunzite's eyes were still on her hand that he held in front of his face.
"How?" he wondered. "How is it possible?"
He let her hand sink and shot her an inquisitive gaze.
"So you finally discovered your undying love and soulmateship?" he asked sarcastically.
"No. We're just good friends."
"Then what did you do to him to break him?"
Rei didn't like that tone at all. She lifted her chin and shot him a cool look.
"I didn't have to do anything, Kunzite. Someone had conveniently beaten all resistance out of him before handing him over to me."
He didn't like that either.
"So you took advantage of a dying boy?"
"Yes."
"Who was given into your care and protection?"
Fear burnt through Rei's stomach, because the anger that Kunzite could decide to release every second now scared her so much that she thought she'd faint if he might move, but at the same time she just couldn't give in to her fear. She deserved to be with Jadeite, she had earned that friendship the hard way, and she was not going to take any nonsense from Kunzite who was maybe just jealous.
"Listen, Kunzite, I gave him back to you in a way better condition than you could have dreamed of, and it was a hell of a job to bring him back. You forced the boy upon me against my will, don't you come now and complain if I wasn't gentle enough with him. If you want fair play and good intentions, throw him at the mercy of Usagi next time."
Something told her that things would get ugly now, but then Jadeite, who still hadn't moved from the place where he fell, spoke up.
"Don't listen to her. She is lying."
"Nani?"
"She just wants to get at you." He smirked. "And boy, does she know you."
He slowly got to his feet, keeping a healthy distance to Kunzite's anger.
He definitely had Kunzite's attention now. "So," said Kunzite slowly, "this is how you spend those evenings when you're telling us you're working on your spells and vanish to a place where Zoisite can't trace you? I repeat it, Jadeite, what's the meaning of this? How can she do that to you?"
"She can because I want her to," said Jadeite.
"Are. You. Insane?"
"I know what I'm doing."
"You know nothing," snarled Kunzite and stepped towards Jadeite, who retreated backwards so he'd stay out of Kunzite's reach. "She could kill you if she loses control over the strip. And you are not only powering her up, you are also teaching her spells! We are not giving away our secrets to outsiders! Have I taught you nothing? Aren't you supposed to stay away from girls!"
He was faster than Jadeite, and grabbed his collar.
"Let go!" hissed Jadeite and struggled against Kunzite's grip.
But Kunzite pulled him closer.
"And I thought we had agreed that you keep your hands to yourself while I am going out with Mars!"
"I do! We're just training spells!"
"That's not what it looks like! And that's not what it sounded like!"
"When did I ever lie to you?"
"So what? This would be the perfect time to start with it, you sneaky little devil!"
"I am not lying! This is just combat training! We're just friends. We never had an affair."
Kunzite let go of Jadeite's jacket.
"Prove it."
A little smile played around Jadeite's lips, and then he grabbed the side of Kunzite's collar, pulled himself up onto the tips of his toes, and kissed Kunzite. Shock shot through Rei, she sure didn't like the sight of this, although she couldn't say why.
"Would I have the nerve to do that while I was making out with someone else?" Jadeite asked.
Kunzite's lips, which had received that kiss willingly, curled. "I wouldn't want to guess about that, Jadeite. Prove it better."
Jadeite decided to try appealing to reason.
"Why would she settle for me when she can have you?"
Kunzite sneered. "That's because you're an idiot. Always trying to be useful. That's not affection, that's just corruption, and doesn't count. Prove it better. Much better."
Jadeite jerked his head angrily to the side. "I'm getting sick of this attitude of yours, Kunzite. You must be blind if you don't see what's the matter with Mars. I am not going to listen to this crap any more. You are right, let's settle this once and for all. How about this: I can make her show what she feels for you. I can make her show how much she wants you. I can make her do you right here and now."
"Nani?"
"What the hell...? You must be out of your mind!"
Rei angrily turned to walk away.
"Rei, wait - we need him."
Jadeite calling her Rei? She stopped.
"Rei - we need him so you can transform to Sailor Mars."
xxx
Don't get used to this quick pace of uploads, from now on I'll have to do a lot of writing and editing, and will be a bit slower... enjoy the foreshading... I promise you'll think back of many lines and think "she didn't... she's not going to". I assure you, I am. ;D ;D
Please review! It really helps! At least review the Minako chapter, you know you want to! ;D