Disclaimer: Not mine, but can't we pretend they are?

A/N: The goddess arrives! The song Michiru plays does have lyrics, in case you have forgotten, written by the very talented IssaLee for Out of the Abyss. As for Amaterasu's song, I was listening to Kagome and Inuyasha's theme from Inuyasha, and the vocals during that are pretty much what I had in mind. Enjoy.

"This is why I absolutely had to be here?"

Jadeite looked up from the book he was studying intently. Several feet to his right, Michiru eyed the object before her with uncertainty.

"This is why I had to leave Hotaru with a stranger who used to be an enemy?"

"Of course," Rei said, her focus instead on the correct placement of a large bronze mirror. "No one else could perform this part."

"You need me to play the koto?"

The simple stringed instrument lay in one corner of the room, Michiru kneeling beside it, her brow furrowed. Jadeite again consulted the text in his hands. He nodded.

"It does look like there needs to be a koto," he said in Rei's defense.

"But why do I have to play it?" Michiru argued.

"Because you're a musician?" Jadeite guessed with a little shrug.

The turquoise eyes narrowed upon his face. "I am also a mother, who should be with her child. Besides, I've never played a koto in my life. Or my last life. I don't think I did."

"Well, none of us have," Rei said. "But you can play any stringed instrument that's put in front of you."

Michiru did not appear appeased. "I should be at home with Hotaru. If she wakes up with no one but that…woman there—"

"I need everyone here for this to work," Rei interrupted sharply. "I'm already attempting this without Usagi and Hotaru, I have to have you here! Besides, this may very well do more to help Hotaru than just sitting and staring at her on the floor!"

The older girl flushed, her expression both mutinous and frightened at the same time.

Rei sighed and gestured apologetically with one hand. "I know you're worried about her, Michiru. I know how much you love Hotaru, I do. But please, I need you to do this for me!"

After a long moment, Michiru nodded, her jaw relaxing slightly, but her eyes still flaming. "Alright, Rei, I'll…I'll do my best."

"Arigatou."

"Why precisely do we need a koto?" Kunzite asked, his head appearing around the corner of the door opened upon the temple's courtyard.

"Because when the goddess Amaterasu hid herself away, after her brother insulted her, the gods played music and held a big party to coax her out of the cave," Jadeite explained. "It's all in the book. Look, there's a picture!"

"Never mind the picture," Rei hissed. "Is Grandpa still asleep?"

"Like a rock," Nephrite's voice called from somewhere beyond Kunzite.

"What did you give him?" Michiru asked as she reluctantly slid the picks onto her first two fingers.

"Something from Ami's mother's bag," Kunzite muttered. "Ami was very careful not to give him too much. She thinks he'll be asleep for at least two more hours."

Haruka moved past him into the room and went to Michiru, her mouth pulled into a little frown. "Why did we have to drug your grandfather?"

"Because I doubt he would be happy to see me attempting to invoke a goddess," Rei explained. "In fact, I'm pretty sure he would try to stop me."

Jadeite felt another surge of uncertainty. "Why would he try to stop you? This is safe, right?"

She shrugged without looking at him. "Define 'safe'."

"Rei…"

"Well, the amount of power a being of Amaterasu's magnitude can manifest could be a little unstable," the miko admitted. She raised her deep violet eyes to his and smiled mischievously. "Don't you think I can handle it?"

"Can you?" he whispered.

Rei's smile faltered, but only for a second. She rose from the mirror and went to him, stretching out her hand. He took it and held it tight.

"I can do this, Jadeite. I channel huge amounts of power on a regular basis. How do you think Senshi attacks work?"

"You don't fool me, Rei," Jadeite said softly. "Planet power is nothing next to the power of a star."

"Well, not nothing…" She glared at him, slightly miffed.

"You shouldn't do this," he told her.

"I have to. None of the others know how."

"You don't know how!"

"I know better than any of them."

"You're crazy."

"Isn't that why you love me?"

He released her hand, but only so he could cup her cheek gently.

"One of the many, many reasons."

Rei blinked, then smiled a real smile, with no bravado. She was frightened. He could see it in her beautiful eyes. But she was also determined to see this through, and to take the danger so no one else would have to.

"I do love you, Rei."

She blinked rapidly, and he thought for a second he saw tears glistening on her lashes.

"I never doubted," she whispered, squeezing his wrist lightly.

"Hai, you did," he reminded her gently.

She nodded grudgingly. "But I never will again."

"Ano, guys?"

The two looked around to see Michiru, Haruka, and Kunzite staring with slightly raised eyebrows.

"Ah…hey, there," Jadeite muttered. Rei turned away to continue fussing with the mirror, the back of her neck bright pink.

"I understand the koto," Kunzite continued, "now, explain the mirror."

"The sacred mirror in the shrine of Ise is the physical representation of the goddess Amaterasu," Ami's voice called from nearby. "But most shrines have one. Since we can't take the one from Ise, as that would be stealing a national and religious treasure, we're using this one."

"Oh." Kunzite eyed the mirror with severe misgiving, then turned away. "How's the koto coming, Michiru?"

"I think I have it worked out," she said. "But what do I play?"

"Something that would coax out a sun deity," Rei suggested. "You know more music than any of us, you'll think of something."

"These are not very precise instructions, Rei," Zoisite said, his head popping up beside Kunzite's. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Do you have a better way of invoking a goddess?" Jadeite demanded.

"Iie."

"Then let the woman do her thing."

Rei flashed him a smile both sweet and mischievous at the same time. "Arigatou, love. Alright, I really don't think I can mess with this mirror anymore. We're as ready as we're going to be. Zoisite, do you want to get everyone in here?"

"Sure thing." The golden head disappeared. A moment later, they all heard his voice shouting, "Hey, guys! We gonna invoke this goddess or what?"

"At least he's keeping the moment properly somber," Jadeite noted. He glanced around the room and sighed. "I guess this is it."

While Rei managed to distract her grandfather, the four Shitennou had crept up the steps, into the temple, and swarmed over the room she usually used for meditation. They were under orders not to even think of touching her sacred fire. Otherwise, they attacked with yards of silk, transforming the room into a proper reception chamber for a goddess. Pink and gold draped the walls, and white covered the floor. Only Haruka had made the mistake of entering with her shoes on, which led to a level of screaming that should never be heard from four men.

After Ami's "special" tea had taken effect, Nephrite and Zoisite carried Rei's tiny grandfather to his bedroom. Makoto and Haruka appeared outside with one of the strangely shaped wooden structures of the temple, which the book he held described as a torii. The curved top and delicately carved legs made up what, according to legend, was supposed to be a bird perch. The last to arrive, Minako earned several raised eyebrows when she strolled into the temple grounds carrying a small wooden cage, which she set down beside the torii with a strange grimace. Setsuna opened this, and pulled forth a small and rather frightened-looking rooster. The girls gathered to hold a whispering huddle, and at last a small length of golden silk was cut free, and used to tie the alarmed bird gently onto the perch. After several minutes of argumentative squawking, and Makoto whispering to it soothingly, the rooster seemed to decide it was not about to become someone's dinner, and seemed resigned, if not content, to remain upon the perch. Jadeite saw Kunzite point at the bird, open his mouth, then shake his head as he decided to ask no more questions.

The rest of the preparations were simple: the temple's plain mirror stood reflecting the sun as it climbed higher into the eastern sky, and Michiru's koto was placed loving in the corner. Rei ordered all the girls, and Zoisite, to unbind their hair. There had been a great deal of debate the night before about what the group should wear; finally, it was decided that they should each come in the colors of their planets. The five men wore shirts of deep blue, as befitted the guardians of Earth. All the girls, even Haruka, wore long, demure dresses, except Rei herself, who wore the white haori and red hakama of a miko. With her black hair dancing around her, Jadeite thought she looked even more beautiful than usual.

Responding to Zoisite's call, the remaining Senshi and Shitennou shuffled in, with Mamoru bringing up the rear. He began to slide the door closed, but a gesture from Rei stopped him. All together, the group turned to look at the suddenly quiet priestess.

"Okay," Rei said, her voice shaking slightly, "um, I need you all to get into position. I mean, Mercury first, then Venus, then, well, Mamoru, and so on. Make a circle around the room. Michiru, you should be fine there."

Glancing to each other, the group began to edge its way into the formation she wanted. There was some confusion over where the Shitennou should stand, but at last they moved to flank their Prince. As Rei had intended, Michiru sat in exactly the right position around the room.

"Actually, Jadeite, I need you to get between Mamoru and Makoto," Rei ordered. "I have to be in the center, so you'll have to stand for Mars. And…oh, boy. Kunzite, can you stand in for Hotaru?"

"While I'm honored, sweetie, and I'm sure Kunzite is too, will the goddess accept that?" Jadeite asked, even as he did as he was told.

"I hope so," she muttered. "This is going to be simple, folks. Just focus on your planet powers. Except you, Kunzite, focus on Saturn, and you, Jadeite, you need to focus on Mars."

"Not going to be a problem," he assured her.

"Focus on the planet, young man, not the legs," Haruka hissed.

"Might be a bit of a problem."
"And I need you all to be serious!" Rei snapped. "I've never even thought of doing something this vast. We have to focus, all of us! Think past the planet, and into what the power of the planet means. Kunzite, for you, I need you to think of not only death, but the rebirth as well. Think of life, and how fragile it is, and how strong at the same time. Jadeite…you know what to focus on."

"What are you going to be doing?" Michiru asked as she plucked a few strings distractedly.

"What miko do best. I'm going to be praying."

"Just…praying?" Mamoru asked slowly. "Is there a particular prayer to…?"

"Invoke an all-powerful deity? There might be, but I'm just going to go with my gut here."

"Is she serious?" Minako whispered, wide-eyed and uncertain.

"The other thing I need from you all is to believe in me," Rei said, pointing to each of them in turn. "I need you to believe I can do this, to believe we can do this. Otherwise the goddess will not believe in us, and we will be left with nothing. Do you all understand me?"

Slowly and solemnly, the entire group nodded.

"Okay," Rei said again. "Here we go. Michiru, why don't you start?"

The older girl jumped slightly in surprise, then turned to frown down at the koto. After a moment, she placed her fingers on the instrument, and began to pluck a sad, beautiful tone. Jadeite knew, as wistful sweetness began to fill him, that he had heard this song before. Glancing around at the others, he saw their eyes shimmering with sympathetic tears, yet little smiles on their faces.

Where have I heard…oh. Oh, yes. Inanna.

Michiru, her face tender, continued to draw from the koto the sad song of the dead star, the song Inanna sang to lure Usagi to her so many months ago. He did not remember the words, words of her children and her loss, but he remembered the way her sorrow crippled them, bringing all the warriors to their knees. All but one. Usagi alone had walked through the pain, walked right up to the star and touched her. Now Jadeite grasped at the notes of the song, ticking his gaze away from the miko standing before them, in the pool of light reflected from the mirror. Instead he focused his eyes on the fire crackling to one side, the red and the gold of the flames twisting and caressing each other, only to dip and fling each other away.

Hai…that is Mars. Fire, bright and wild and so powerful it cannot be stopped…So beautiful you never want it to stop, even if it devours you, you'll give her your heart and your soul just to be near the beauty and the chaos, and love every minute of the hell she sucks you into…Because a second later she'll be offering you a burning paradise in one tiny caress…

He closed his eyes, and in his mind, the vision of a brilliant red jewel of a planet danced closer, becoming more and more solid. Yet behind it, or perhaps over top, he saw burning, beautiful violet eyes, alight with passion and fury and tenderness as she cut him down.

The most blissful of hells, to die in her arms again…

Jadeite breathed deep, and felt the warm air of the room fill him up. A sweet scent moved inside him, tickling his nose, bringing up visions of safety, and the feel of a mother's arms wrapped close around him. He pulled more into his lungs. Sweet, but soft, like flowers and honey all together.

Iie…jasmine. It smells of jasmine. Jasmine on the wind…but…there is no jasmine around the temple…

This finally broke though his thoughts on Mars, and all it meant, to him, to the solar system, to everything. Then he began to hear it. It moved through the room, a sound unlike any instrument. Like a breeze, it wound through them, felt as much as heard, the very air caressing them with sound. It washed over them, dove deep into them, in a way that Inanna's could not. Because this was the sound of home, of warmth and comfort and everything they loved. Jadeite felt his lips turn up a second before he realized what he heard.

A voice sang a song without words, a song both with Michiru's playing, and yet a song all its own.

Suddenly Jadeite did not think he could open his eyes even if he wanted to. The air felt soft and warm, that amazing feeling just before one opens their eyes on a new day, as the sun kisses the eyelids and whispers promises of the future. Yet he did not feel heavy with sleep, but light, as though he could drift away, out into the planets and stars, out into everything.

Then Rei gasped, and his eyes snapped open.

For a moment she stood facing them, eyes closed, looking beautiful but mortal. As he watched, he saw her hair lifting, moved not by wind, but the song. The sunlight shimmered around her, brightening along the lines of her face, and the highlights of her hair. The white of her haori was bathed in a golden brilliance that dazzled the eye for a second. Jadeite blinked as the sunlight moved of its own accord, swirling to form curtains like gold gauze. Rei's hair rose over her head, twisting together until it became a soft knot held by nothing. The gauze settled gently around her, forming a sort of robe, neither a kimono nor a dress. Still, the garb of the miko could be seen underneath.

Then Rei opened her eyes, and the entire room let out a breath of shock and awe.

Jadeite saw no violet in her eyes, only pure, golden light.

"Konichiwa, children," the goddess Amaterasu whispered with Rei's lips, and the voice of the song still singing in the air. "You have questions for me?"