A/N: Alright, so this was the ended half of the last chapter that I wanted to work with before I posted it. It's tense, almost so much so I half wanted to tone it down, but seeing as this is the first Minako/Rei situation after Rei leaves her room for the first time, I didn't want too fluff it up just yet. Granted, after this chapter, I can guarantee that I need some major fluff soon. Anyway, please read and review.

I do not own Sailor Moon.


Arc 2, Chapter 10: Yours.

"It's funny you know." Minako sat under the nighttime sky. There were hardly any stars out, most covered up by clouds. The sky was an ugly color. Not because it was about to rain, but because the clouds were so dark it seemed like she was sitting inside of an abyss, not on a hill. The park never had visitors this late at night. Even if the gates were up, telling people that it was closed until morning, Minako hadn't any trouble sneaking inside. Her dark blue jeans and black top made her hardly visible, her blond hair pale and even that was hard to see. Had it not been for the good eyesight gifted by Senshi powers she would be blinded by how dark it was. The occasional streetlamp didn't offer solace, only making the place seem more unnatural. Had she not been waiting for him, Minako likely would have screamed when her visitor finally showed up. "She says she moving on, but I don't think she is. Not really."

"At least she's out of her bedroom." Artemis had a valid point there. Rei did seem to be getting better when everyone was in a group. "Didn't she join everyone at the mall today too?"
"Yeah, but Makoto and Setsuna didn't. In fact, I don't even know where they are." Then she sighed, another person coming to mind. "Hotaru bailed too, she said she had important things to do."
"Setsuna never has been very social, and Makoto goes off on her own quite a lot. I wouldn't worry." He was a cat and never understood humans.
"Then what about Hotaru?" Minako was grilling him, as if he knew. "She may be one of us, but she still pulls away when she shouldn't."
"So did Rei, and I remember a time long ago when you pulled away from your best friends and I for roughly the same reason."

His retort was merely scoffed at. Minako knew part of that was true, but he forgot one key detail. "I was in England, and my friends weren't Senshi." She ran her nails down his white fur while she thought about the past. "If I told them what was going on, I don't think I'd be here right now. You're a cat Artemis, not a human. I mean, you don't get it sometimes. You're like a second father in your own little way, but there are things I don't even tell dad either." Her eyes peered on, watching her target. Rei move deeper into the park, towards the small fountain no doubt. "She's on the move again."

"Luna can see her from the trees." If a cat could shrug, that's what he would be doing as he jumped up so that he could lay across Minako's shoulders. "If anyone thought Rei was really in danger, trust me when I'd say that Usagi would have had everyone following her."

"I know that." Minako's voice shook at the thought. "Still, she's been acting strange still and I'd rather not leave her alone. Besides, what if something does happen? I doubt you or Luna could do anything besides panic." An idea came to mind. It wasn't exactly smart since Rei didn't know she was being followed, but it had to be better than sneaking around. "You and Luna pull back. I'm going to follow Rei on my own for a while." She pulled the white cat off her, placing him on the ground. "Don't follow us."

She ran off down the path Rei had taken trusting Artemis to inform Luna. He looked as if he would disapprove, but made no retort. He had trained Minako to follow her heart, not her brain, and sometimes he resented that small part of her training. Regardless, she was a strong Sailor Senshi, and a proper Venus, although admittedly, she wasn't nearly as careful as she had been in her past. He not only remembered that part of her life about as well as Setsuna, he remembered when he was little more than an adolescent himself, still only a kitten in training. Back then he spent much of his time following around the late queens of the old forgotten moon. Learning from them, and his parents, as Luna learned from her own. While it was true that that Minako was different now, he couldn't deny that she was far more like the late Queen of Venus. That in and of itself wasn't exactly a bad thing.

He did as he was told, going off to find Luna. She was close by, her scent in the air. He sighed, she would be coming into heat again soon, and once again he would be tortured by her persistent need to start nesting everything in sight. It was only natural after all, they too would be parents in the future. Until then it was only right that she find other measures to keep herself occupied, and as far as humans went, Usagi and the others were still quite young. Luna found a particular level of importance in trying to do anything she could to make them into proper Senshi of the future. Unfortunately, that also included verbally harassing the girls about their personal lives as well. He was happy he stopped her in time relaying the information Minako had ordered.

Meanwhile, the blond was in pursuit of her goal, namely, Rei. The Senshi of fire had stopped at the fountain, as had been predicted. She seemed lost in thought, and Minako feared to say anything. Rei had wanted to be alone, that much had been clear. Her gaze remained transfixed on the water before her. So much so that it was odd that she was so insightful. Minako could feel Rei's aggravation, but she hadn't thought the girl would act on it. But, act she did. Rather bluntly, but also very systematic. As if she was a spider catching her pray. Her body turned slowly, she then sat on the brick. Her eyes closed, but her posture tense. She was angry, but there was also something else, something Minako couldn't read. That could only mean one thing...

"Why can't you understand it?" Minako's voice was very soft, but very carefully placed.
"I have no need to understand it." Rei's power may have been fire, but her words were ice cold.
"You're conflicted." Minako knew better than that. Rei never got quiet, not like this.
"How could I not be?" Rei eyes opened, but didn't betray her at all. She was like a stone.
"The better question is; why shouldn't you be..." The face was also a mirror. Mostly because Minako knew that question.

"I should be." Rei nodded. "I have your blood on my hands. How do I live with myself after that?" Rei bit her lip. It would be so easy to be cold to Minako, push her away. It would hurt, yes. But it would protect them both. Rei wanted protection, but...she didn't want to be alone. "I've asked myself a lot of things recently. How do I go on, how do I even think about breathing...why should I keep breathing. It would be so easy given my nature. I've done it before for Usagi, I could do it again for anyone...it would be easy to do it." Looking back into the water she couldn't look at Minako in the face. "I am my bloodline. I am a Martian...aren't I?"

"No." Minako took a step forward. Part of her wanted to hold Rei, protect her from herself, but these questions weren't ones that were forged from that type of help. Happy pills couldn't cure a past life, a different world filled with transgressions no amount of prayers could forgive. There wasn't any way to save Rei from something like this. "You're human, one born of Earth." There wasn't any real way to explain their nature, not anymore. "It is true, we are like our past, but back then we knew our planet and only our planet. Any other way of life was deemed questionable at best, reasons to take lives at worst."

"Then tell me why the urge to fight grows stronger in me every time I get angry!" Rei wanted to cry, but that emotion was clouded with Martian anger, one that was fueled by her powers, and by her past. Not by her human soul and her human upbringing. This was her battle now. To define herself as who and what she really was. Minako had blazed that trail long before anyone could find out, and rightfully so. Everyone would change, and it would all end up neutrality in the end. "Why do I want to fight and kill so badly that I can actually envision carnage by my hands...why do I actually like it?"

"You don't like it, Rei. If you liked it, you would have done it." Damn this conversation seemed similar. Then again, it would be. Minako remembered these words well, and she closed her eyes, willing away what she knew Rei was doing. "You don't want to relive this moment. Going through the motions won't help. If you liked the idea of death, someone would be dead, maybe even me." The blond ran her fingers through her hair, trying to make sense of Rei conflict. "It would be me." She resigned herself to that. "If you really were what you saw, and only what you saw, I would already be dead Rei. We both know this."

"I don't know anything." Rei's words were shaken if nothing else.
"You know enough." Minako knew Rei was the type to seek answers. That's just who she was.
"Just leave me alone for now, alright." She came to the park to get away from prying eyes, not to provoke a confrontation.
"No." Minako dismissed the request as if it had been for a jolly snack, or a trip to the crown.
"Go." Rei urged her anger down, she didn't know what she would do if she let it loose. She couldn't seem to control it.

"Let it go." Minako took a step closer, knowing she was going to be placing herself in danger. Really, right at this moment, she couldn't care less. She and death were fast friends after all, why not greet it again if that's what this inner demon wished so strongly. Rei did nothing, standing stock still and utterly petrified. "Rei." Minako spoke quietly, the girl of raven tresses could hardly hear her. "It's alright to be afraid of it. Martian power is a very scary hing to confront alone." She could almost feel the waves of inner guilt push her away like an ocean current. Rei had always been a difficult girl, right now anyone could see just how weak she was. Not as a fighter, not as Hino Rei in daily life, but as a lover.

Rei wasn't responding, but it was clear just how much that insecurity was eating away at her. Long lost words rang true once again, but it wasn't Rei who was speaking them. "We can be dark people Minako. We Martians can have a very dark and possessive side that we fear, this fear haunts us greatly. Because of our spiritual prowess, at night we can become extremely uncertain of the future. Premonitions can mingle with our greatest nightmares, and these things, Minako, they can consume us into becoming the type of Martian you fear. I am not, and will never be exempt from that rule. I am disciplined, but, when the chips are down, when I am well and truly afraid, I may not be strong enough to resist that side of me that becomes the true woman of war, the possessive power that has given my people a bad name. When it happens it is a frightening thing, as my lover, you may have to see, or even face that side of me." It was Minako.

That memory was so vivid, so real, even now. "Isn't that what you said that evening?" Minako found Rei's eyes to be like those of a deer facing headlights. Waiting for judgment from a source seemingly so pure, yet so frighting. "Isn't that what you asked me?" Rei looked confused. Lost within her own abyss. "You don't remember it, do you. The questions you asked me, the fears you spoke of back then." Rei shook her head the negative. She didn't know about any of that. The words vaguely familiar, those memories not yet surfacing fully. "Rei, I knew what I was walking into. I'm not stupid now and I wasn't stupid then. I knew you could become dangerous, and guess what, it's nighttime and you're alone." Minako hated doing this. Reliving the past wasn't something she found helpful, but for Rei, it was necessary.

"I shouldn't have left you alone that night. I will not repeat the same mistake tonight." She walked towards Rei slowly, unsure if she should allow herself to pull Rei into a much sought after embrace or not. "I did what I should have as the Senshi I was, but as your lover I failed you, favoring Usagi over you. It wasn't any wonder that you would attack me in vengeance. I didn't stay by your side and it nearly got you killed. Regardless if it was my duty as a Senshi or not, it was my choices to leave your side in battle that caused you worry. If I hadn't...then I don't know, but it wouldn't have ended like that."

"But it would have ended." Rei was assured of that much. There was no saving that kingdom. "We were doomed to burn in a hell worse than you could ever think about. It didn't matter how it happened or not, we would have ended up the same way." Rei knew it. "But, that still doesn't change the fact that I did it. If we had died lovers or at least at the hands of others I could at least resign myself to understand that. But this? This reality, I can't. You died by my hands." Rei wanted so much to send herself into hell with a blast of fire. "I'm a sinner...in more ways than one."

"You damn idiot." Minako could barely keep herself from slapping Rei stupid, not that the raven was doing it enough to herself verbally. "It was my fault Rei. It always has been and it always will be. Martians are very strong warriors, but that's why they were feared back in the old days. They could be easily consumed by blood lust, driven mad by body counts, you weren't the one to blame. That's why Martians used to fight together. As a team, as a unit they stood together, but alone they become weakened and unprepared. You weren't left out of that, and you even warned me long before our relationship started. You told me that one day I may have had to face it down, head on. There wasn't any thing else you could have done."

"I can't believe that." As if finding her power, darkened and tainted with her own malice, forged by self-hatred, tempered by frustration, Rei had nowhere to go. No place to hide, to justify her actions of the past. Who was she? Martian, or human. She wondered that a lot on the battle field. Still, she was Hino Rei. Her name was true, but it was just a label. It didn't explain who or what she was. She hated that feeling, so indistinguishable. Was she so worthless? So powerless that she, herself could be worse than any opponent she had faced down. "I refuse to believe it...but, I also refuse to believe anything told by those cats anymore either. I can't."

"Does it really matter anymore?" That tone froze Rei. Minako sounded so frail, so brokenly fragile. "Either way, it would have been a bloodbath." As if tears could quell Rei more than logic, pull away this angered feeling, or at least mold it into something anew, Minako showed her own darkness, her own haunting memories. "Saturn could have ended us, Beryl could have blasted us all to the hell you so wish to burn in. Even the people of Earth did a well enough job that we wouldn't have had to worry. We lost. Despite all of the past, forgetting every crime and sin committed, we're alive now aren't we?"

"Minako I-" Rei wasn't sure what she could say, but it seemed the blond hadn't wanted an answer.

"Stop!" Spoken through heartfelt sobs, Minako couldn't say any more than that. Her body shook as she took a few steps forward. She was terrified of what Rei would do, but she was also afraid of the cold the night offered her. She wanted warmth. Needed it, and clung onto Rei. The pavement cutting into their legs as the both went down hard. It stung, the feeling of life, of reddened flesh, marred but the slight trickle of a blood that she knew stained her jeans. The cut hardly there, and soon would vanish. This was their life. Immortal to an extent, unable to die. Yet, it was their memories that reminded them of just how easily that could change. "Just stop."

Rei hadn't spoken then, true to her form. She wasn't a woman who knew how to comfort others, Rei hadn't ever been as well with her words as she would have liked. But still, she couldn't hold her rage anymore. Not when she was needed. She knew that much. She didn't let it go, merely, locking it deeply as she sighed the pain away. Pulling Minako closer she stood up, transforming and leaving into the night. There was no shelter, no place to protect them, and Rei was the protector. She had to be. Her lavender eyes scanned the darkness as she jumped roof top after roof top. The city didn't seem safe anymore. But why that was, Rei wasn't exactly sure. All that she knew, was that she was changing, and she didn't like it. Not one bit.

She made her way to the shrine, her home and refuge for as long as her current life had allowed her. Stepping into her room she glanced around, looking for something, anything to give her peace of mind, finding none. Ever since her memories had merged with her power she started to hate that small room. It was as if everything she knew was gone. The bed no longer her place of rest, the furnishings seemed to clutter the room, the floor seemed as if it wasn't needed, as if it was a luxury. A nice one, but one she didn't have an overt use for. No. Not a safe place. Things... things could be hiding here. She picked up Minako again, the blond now confused instead of upset. "Rei."

"It's not safe here." She whispered, carrying the blond down the hall and into the room that housed the sacred flame, sitting near the wall with the blond on her lap. "This place is better." She seemed self assured in her task. "Go to sleep. It's been a long night." Rei's voice was tired, but within the weight of stress came something else. Primal, and yet, soft. Her fingers caressed Minako's cheek for a second, that is to say, until Rei realized what she was doing. She pulled away abruptly, but not about to let go of Minako. "It'll be alright. Just rest for now." She said out of embarrassment and slight inward annoyance. Why had she done that?

Minako nodded but didn't say anything. She saw the fire flicker with life, the apparition of Mars nodding with approval, as if a parent would a child. "Yours." It was a simple word, but the meaning conveyed left a cryptic order. One Rei wasn't sure she could comply with. "Yours to protect."

TBC~~


Like I said, I needed to give slightly more closer to how Rei handled the situation, and I wanted Minako's views known more outwardly as far as Rei understood them. It felt like with to many things left unsaid between them, it wouldn't ever give closer to an event that as far as Rei was concerned really needed to be worked through too at least some extent.