Disclaimer: see previous chapter.

"Yeah, I talked to her, Mina. She still doesn't want to see you. She's fine though."

Makoto glared at her friend. She was ignored. "I'm taking care of her Minako; stop worrying so much. She's fine."

The brunette crossed her arms and turned away from her difficult friend. "Relax, Mina. Calm down. Don't cry, everything will work out.

"I'll tell her. Go back to work. Bye, Mina.

"You're a douchebag." The woman's words were puctuated by a punch to the chest. "Don't just stand there; say something for yourself."

"I don't have anything to say."

"You could at least talk to her once, Rei! She's worried fucking sick about you!" Another punch to the chest. The miko winced, but didn't show any other sign of the pain the other woman knew she felt.

"I don't want to see her. It's hard enough knowing that she's with him; I don't want to see it in person."

Makoto crossed her arms again. "You know she wouldn't do that in front of you."

"An even better reason for me to stay exactly where I am. I don't want her to forget that she has a boyfriend."

"She doesn't want to have one. You made that choice for her."

The miko sat down on the ground. "I know, but you should have seen the way she was looking at him. I didn't want to stand in the way of that."

"You know better than I do what you saw, but I know what I've seen, and Minako has never loved anyone the way she loves you. Do you think she would be calling me this much were you anyone else? You shouldn't treat the love of your life like this. Stop being a bitch and get the fuck out of the woods."

Rei frowned up at her friend. "I'll do as I please."

"I'm well aware of that. Stubborn prick. Usagi's been looking for you, though, and she's scared to come out here."

Rei looked back at the ground.

Makoto looked at her friend, incredulity written on her features. "You've got to be kidding me. You won't even go back for her?"

Rei looked up. "Have you seen the pictures?"

Makoto frowned. "What pictures?"

Rei's gaze returned to the grass. "The ones with her and him."

Makoto's frown dissipated. She had seen them. "Yeah, I did."

"That hurts, Mako. It's not just the fact that she's with someone else. That always hurt before. It's the fact that she looks so happy with someone else and she freaking knows. She knows how I feel, and she still fell in love with someone else."

Makoto kneeled and put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "She's pretending, Rei. She's always been good at hiding her pain when it matters, and that's what she's doing now. She'd be having an easier time if you were to tell her that you were okay. Just talk to her once. You don't need to make her miserable because you're unhappy. And you're worrying Usagi, too. That is never okay."

Rei sighed. "I'll go talk to Usagi, but I can't promise you I'll talk to Minako."

Makoto stood up again. "Figures. You are a douchebag, after all."

Rei stood and glared up at her friend. "You can stop saying that."

Makoto glared back. "You can stop ignoring Minako and hurting her too. When you stop, so will I." The brunette punched the shorter woman in the chest for the third time, knocking her to the ground coughing in the process. "Get up. Don't be a pussy and a douchebag."

Rei walked into her room and saw Usagi sleeping on her futon. "Usagi, get up. I'm back."

The miko sat beside her slowly waking friend. "I heard you wanted to talk to me. What's up?"

Usagi sat up, covers falling to her waist. "Rei, when was the last time you came in here? I've been here for almost a week!"

Rei didn't know if it was true or not. She hadn't been in her room in... counting the sun rises... maybe three weeks... maybe four... She should probably take a shower...

"Rei, what happened between you and Minako?"

Rei was brought out of her thought process. "It's nothing."

Usagi frowned. "Hino Rei, do not lie to me. What happened between you and Minako? I'm not going to ask you again."

Rei blinked at the seriousness of the other woman's tone. She swallowed. "We're just on a break, is all."

"Keep talking, Rei."

"There's nothing else to say."

The blond crossed her arms over her chest. "I think you have a lot more to say. Why did Minako come to me crying a few weeks ago, asking me if I could talk to you? And why have you all but buried yourself in the woods? And what in the hell is this?!"

Usai showed Rei the magazine that Setsuna had showed Minako. "She shouldn't be with him. She should be with you. Why is she not with you, Rei? And don't tell me any more bullshit ass lies, either."

Rei looked away from the magazine and the other woman. "I don't want to talk about it."

"I can believe that that much is true. Rei, I'm one of your best friends. Tell me what happened."

The miko sighed. She knew the other woman wouldn't let it go until she told her.

"And you're here because?"

"Because I live here."

Usagi slapped Rei on the arm. "I know that. I meant why aren't you with Minako!"

Rei frowned. "Why would I want to see her boo love with him all the time?"

"So he doesn't steal her away from you while you're off pouting in the woods! Stop acting like Mamoru!"

Rei smiled slightly. Mamoru had to be the stupidest man on the planet, and he left Usagi when she was most vulnerable to being taken away from someone else. Rei's smile fell. She was acting like him.

Usagi nodded, understanding the thoughts going on in her friend's mind. "You see? You're just as bad as he is! Now don't sit there and feel bad about it. Fix it. Go to Minako."

Rei folded her arms. "I can't do that."

Usagi sighed. "You're so difficult. Be glad I love you. I won't make you go to Minako, but you are going out with me. I'm not having you retreat back into the woods. You're making Mina live without you, and you're going to live without her.

"Now go take a shower. All work and no baths makes a stinky miko."

"Usagi, I don't know about this."

Rei was wearing a red mini skirt with a tight, black belly shirt. They were Usagi's. The black stilettos on her feet were her own. "Rei, you look amazing. Stop pulling your shirt down! It's supposed to be up there."

"There is no where near enough fabric here. People are staring."

"Of course they're staring. You're gorgeous."

"I want to go home, Usagi."

The blond frowned. "Absolutely not. We're going in this club. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for it to open."

Rei frowned, pulling down on the skirt again in the vain hope that it would grow. She was disappointed. "I don't club, Usagi."

"Wrong. You didn't club. You're doing it tonight."

"I don't like clubbing."

"You never even been to one."

"I've seen them on tv..."

"When?"

The miko didn't say anything. She couldn't even finish her lie.

"Look, just try to enjoy it. For my sake. Please?"

Rei shrugged. They got to the front of the line and paid, entering the establishment.

"Rei, look over there. I think she's looking at you."

The miko made no move to turn around. She simply sat at the bar, sipping her coke, and staring at a bottle of rum, wishing she could add some to her drink.

"Rei, she's coming over here!"

The woman still didn't move. "Maybe she wants to talk to you, Usagi."

Usagi frowned. "She does not. And she's almost here. Oh my gosh!"

"Hello."

The miko didn't say a word until Usagi jabbed her in the ribs. "Hey."

"What's wrong? You look so pensive."

Rei was still staring at the bottle of rum. "I am. Quite."

The woman took a seat on the bar stool beside Rei. Usagi stood, declared something about dancing, and ran off to the dance floor.

"Penny for your thoughts."

Rei put her hand out. "I could take a penny."

The other woman laughed. "I'll make it ten dollars if you tell me what's wrong."

"My thoughts are worth much more than that."

"Are you haggling for your thoughts?"

Rei shrugged. "If I'm going to talk, I may as well be compensated."

The other woman put a hand on Rei's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I doubt I can afford privy into such a beautiful head anyway.

"Will you at least dance with me?"

Rei's gaze never moved from the bottle. "No. I do not dance."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "You don't dance with women, or you don't dance?"

"You heard what I said."

The woman leaned into Rei's ear. "Why are you staring at that bottle like that? Don't tell me you're not old enough to buy it."

"I'm old enough. I just don't trust myself to get drunk with her." Rei instinctively pointed in the direction towards her friend. The other woman's gaze followed her finger, and understood why the miko didn't want to drink. Usagi was pinned between a guy and a girl, dancing as though she had not a care in the world. "There's no telling what she'll have me doing by the end of the night if I'm not sober."

The woman smiled at the scene. The blond sure was a carefree person, if her dancing was to show anything.

"I take it that you're nothing like her."

"Not in the least."

"Are you the designated driver?"

"No, she's sober. That's just how she acts."

The woman extended her hand towards Rei. "I know you already said no, but I must ask formally for a dance. And I'll buy you that bottle you've been eyeing all night."

Rei looked up at the woman. She was pretty. She was tall for a woman; a little taller than Haruka. She had pale hair that framed her face, but was mostly held up in a high pony tail on the back of her head. Her eyes were green, and her skin was the palest Rei had ever seen in person. The miko looked down at the hand in front of her. "If you think my thoughts can be bought with a penny and my dance with a bottle, you are seriously out of your mind."

The woman was undeterred, even as the miko returned her stare to the bottle behind the counter. She stood and put her hands on the bar, arms on either side of Rei, effectively trapping her. The miko looked over her shoulder at the woman.

"In that case, let me make myself clear. I do not take no for an answer. Dance with me."

Rei turned back to the bottle. The woman frowned and whipped Rei's body around on the stool violently, leaning her body against Rei's stunned frame. "If you won't dance with me, then your tongue will." Without another moment of hesitation, the woman pressed her lips hard against Rei's, forcefully parting the pinned woman's lips with her tongue.

"Rei, who was she?"

The miko wiped her mouth for the thousandth time and turned back to the bottle of rum. It really looked attractive now. "I have no idea."

Usagi raised an eyebrow. "You were kissing her!"

"She was kissing me."

"I never knew you were the type to let yourself get kissed."

"Did you expect me to knock her out in the middle of the club and get us both kicked out?"

"Yes."

"That's ridiculous. You would have dragged me into the next club you saw if we got kicked out of this one."

"Yeah, but you don't ever think that far ahead. You just follow whatever advice your temper gives you."

"That is obviously not true."

"Yes it is. I know you too well. You hsven't gotten control over your temper after a month spent in isolated training, Rei. You weren't angry about the kiss. I don't think it's wrong to say that you may have even liked it."

Rei put her elbows on the bar, leaning her weight heavily on them. Her eyes never left the bottle of rum. "You can say and believe what you want, Usagi. I know better than to argue with you."

The blond frowned and crossed her arms. "I think you should ask her out."

The miko still didn't move. "I am extremely uninterested."

"Either you do it, or I'll do it for you."

"Do what you will. She'll just be upset when I tell her that you're lying."

"Rei, if you think I'm letting you run back out into the woods after I leave you, you are mistaken. You're going to have a good time tonight, even if I have to buy you that damn bottle and force it into your stomach, and you're going to live like a normal human being and not like a social outcast."

Rei's reply was interrupted by the movement of her bottle of rum. The bartender grabbed it and walked to the other end of the bar, pausing to tell her that he was sorry to steal her eye candy, but someone was purchasing it.

Dark purple eyes travelled the length of the bar to see who the person stealing her bottle was, but there were too many people in the way for her to see.

Usagi smiled. From her standing point of view she could see who bought the bottle. "I'm gonna go dance some more."

Rei looked at her friend strangely as she walked off. When her bottle came back into her line of sight she understood why the woman had run off so quickly.

"This is my thank you. I haven't been kissed so wonderfully in a long time. Especially not by someone so beautiful."

Rei looked at the woman holding the bottle; emotions hidden. "I told you, I cannot be bought with a bottle."

The woman took a seat next to Rei. "Either you share this with me, or I sit here and drink it in your face. I should warn you, I'm a lot more forward than what you just saw after a bottle of this stuff."

Rei turned and stared at the now empty spot behind the bar. "Drink it. Your liver is in more danger than I am."

The woman smiled. "I like you. What's your name?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because I asked. I could just go ask your friend."

"No need. Her name's Usagi."

The woman chuckled. "I meant that I could ask her what your name is. I'm not interested in her."

"Will you go away? I'm not interested in you."

The woman opened the bottle she was holding and took a swig straight from the bottle. Rei looked at her sideways.

"What? It's not like I'm sharing with anyone."

Rei's eyes moved back to the place where the bottle used to sit.

"I'm Yuuko." The woman extended a hand.

"Rei." The miko didn't move. "You know my name, now can you leave me alone?"

Yuuko grabbed Rei's arm, pulling her off the stool she was sitting on and holding the shorter woman against her body. "I will not leave you alone, Rei-chan."

Rei frowned. "Let go of me."

Yuuko took another swig from the bottle. "Dance with me, and I won't bother you anymore."

The miko shook herself free from her captor. "I do not dance."

Yuuko smiled. She held the rum bottle over Rei's glass of coke and poured the other woman some. "Drink that. I think your mind may change."

"Good morning."

Rei blinked. Her head hurt, the sun was too bright, she felt sick, and there was a voice in her head telling her good morning.

"You look awful, hun. Here drink this."

Rei sat up and took the glass of water, sipping it slowly. It made her feel a little better, but did nothing for her upset stomach.

"Take these. It should help with the headache and nausea."

The miko took the proffered pills from the hand in front of her, finally noticing who the hand belonged to. "What are you doing here?"

"You invited me over last night."

Rei looked down and groaned. "Where are my clothes?"

Yuuko gave a pointed look to the floor beside the bed.

The miko closed her eyes, took the medication, and willed her life to end. It didn't work. "Please tell me that we didn't-"

Yuuko laughed. "No, of course not. I just stripped both of us and we had a naked pillow fight. With your one pillow."

Rei groaned again and walked to the bathroom. Yuuko followed. "Do you need me to hold your hair?"

Rei shook her head, regretting it instantly. "I need you to leave."

Yuuko frowned. "That's rather rude. You're much nicer when you're drunk."

"You shouldn't have gotten me drunk. There was a reason I didn't buy that bottle."

The taller woman raised an eyebrow. "I'm guessing it's not because you couldn't afford it."

Having relieved herself, Rei walked back into her room, searching for something to wear. "I can afford it. I don't do things that I'm proud of when I'm drunk."

"Well, you're a damn good dancer, you're hilarious, you're a good singer, you're a very convincing flirt, and you're absolutely amazing in bed." Yuuko wrapped her arms around Rei's waist and put her chin on top of her head.

Rei frowned. "Let me go. You really need to leave. Whatever I said to you last night, I'm sorry, but I really can't do this."

Yuuko nodded and let go of Rei. "Don't apologize for anything you said drunk. You should apologize for the things you say when you're sober. Ass hole."

A lot of people had been calling Rei out of her name, lately. It was really starting to get on her nerves.

"You have no right to call me that-"

"I have every right! It's one thing for you to have a one night stand with somebody, and it's another for you to have drunken sex with them. But when you tell me that I'm the most beautiful person you've ever laid eyes on and that you want to hold me in your arms and treat me like the queen I am, it's hard for a girl not to get attached. Excuse me for trying to believe that someone cared about me, drunk or not."

Rei frowned. She really was an ass hole. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't be. I'm the one who's sorry. I'll leave, now. Thanks for the sex."

"Wait, don't be like that." Rei sat down on her futon, still as naked as the day she was born. There was no need for shame now, the other woman had already seen everything anyway.

"Look, I really don't remember saying any of that last night. Still, I'm sorry for being so rude. I didn't expect to wake up and see someone else here. I was in shock, that's all."

Yuuko smiled, and kneeled in front of the miko. "It's okay." The taller woman's hands found the miko's knees. "I know a way you can make it up to me."

Rei blushed. "I don't think we should-"

Yuuko laughed. "Not that, you pervert. I have an event I have to go to in a few weeks and I need a date. I can get you a dress and shoes and everything will be arranged. I just want you to be my arm candy.

"Unless you would prefer..." Yuuko parted the miko's legs and moved her face between her thighs, kissing a mark she had left the night before.

Rei's blush deepened. "No!"

Yuuko laughed. She would have to get her drunk again. She was much more fun that way.

A/N: Rei's back! I wanted to keep her hidden for a while longer, but that would make this whole story longer, so I brought her back. I missed my favorite character anyways. Hell's about to break loose, too. And thanks for the reviews, btw. They make my day.