Disclaimer: all and any Sailor Moon character belongs to Naoko Takeuchi. I just own the idea for this story. So don't sue me, but please don't steal either!

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30

Their thing turned out to be just hanging out.

Nothing specific, just getting together at some place; didn't really matter if it was the Shrine or Zoe's place, or maybe even the park as they both enjoyed a walk. They would talk, and laugh, and gossip, and do whatever it came to mind at the time, and be, for the most part, just two girls hanging out, enjoying each other's company and becoming good friends.

And it felt nice, to have a female companion to share her thoughts with, for a change. She absolutely adored the rest of the Shitennou; in the month and a half she had been here, she had come to know and appreciate each one of them for who they were in the here and now. And she genuinely, truly love them like the brothers she never had; like the brothers they had been to Zoisite a lifetime ago. But they were men, and couldn't really appreciate the simple pleasures of doing girly stuff, like polishing their nails and chatting the afternoon away.

She liked the rest of the Senshi, as well. And, to be fair, they were friendly enough towards her. But while she enjoyed their company, Rei didn't pose a potential threat to her hair -unlike Minako-, to her figure -unlike Makoto and the never ending stream of sweets and treats the girl was always offering-, or to her air supply in general and her ability to breath normally -unlike Usagi and her random bear-hugs. And Ami… well, Zoe had already spent a considerable amount of time with the blue pixie as it was, and things were getting weird for her on that front, fast.

Rei was safe ground, and she actually made pretty nice company. They went window shopping together, from clothes to shoes to music stores, going through the isles and listening to all kinds of different bands and artists. They talked about the most random of subjects, they would catch a movie together, or just hang out and do girls' stuff, like trying on clothes and talking about life, and family, and movies, and anything and everything else that came to mind.

They kept themselves from certain subjects, though. The past was never even remotely mentioned, and the subject of love in general or two very specific people in particular was never to be brought up. Zoe guessed it was safer that way; she didn't want to provoke that temper Rei was so famous for, and she certainly didn't feel like sharing confusing feelings -for lack of a better word- with the Miko.

The sun shone brightly in the sky, and she rearranged the sunglasses over her eyes as they walked down the street.

"You mind if we stop by the pharmacy?" the raven haired beauty next to her asked as they walked around a corner, pointing randomly at one point or another.

Today they had met up at Zoe's. The Miko showed up at her door with a smile on her face, Zoe's daily coffee fix in one hand, God bless her soul, and a movie they had been discussing two days prior in the other one. Mentally readying herself to watch what she knew to be a bizarre movie, they also set everything ready for a nice pedicure session while at it, when a weird phone call changed their plans.

Not that the guy needed a reason to call her. But when he asked her to meet him at some place and she thought it at least fair to let him know she had company, the answer she got from him, something about saving him from having to make that one phone call himself, she thought it weird, to say the least.

So, out they were, on their way to the appointed address. She didn't really know the point of this sudden meeting, but she couldn't really see any harm on them making a small stop before getting there.

"Something wrong?" she asked, already knowing Rei was not keen on medicine. Not in the modern sense of it, anyway, and not unless it was absolutely necessary.

"It's for my grandpa," she answered. "His doctor recommended this cream that's supposed to help," she offered, and Zoe nodded.

In their wide range of topic of conversations, Rei's daily arguments with the stubborn, proud old man had come up in more than one occasion. That was how Zoe knew about the old Priest's constant refusal to listen to his physician and slow down on his chores at the Shrine, arthritis or not. The man had spirit, that was for sure, but his hands were starting to become a real problem he refused to fully acknowledge, only to add to Rei's concern.

A thought came to her then, as it did every time the subject came up, and Zoe was just about to shove it away, as she always did, when the sound of her phone ringing interrupted her. The ghost of a grin tugging at the corner of her lips when she saw the name flashing there; the guy's timing seemed awfully accurate at times…

"What's taking you so long?"

She blinked, stopping momentarily on her step at the rather annoyed tone on the other side.

"We're on our way," she answered. "We'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"Well, hurry up, already."

Again, she blinked. She couldn't understand what could possibly be so important for him to force not only her but Rei along with her, out to meet him in such a hurry. The fact that the guy had barely said anything about it, other than demanding their presence immediately, only served to annoy her.

"Ok, seriously, what are you up to?"

"I'll explain when you get here," he said, vaguely. "It's important. Trust me."

With a roll of her eyes that he couldn't see anyway and a grunted out goodbye, she ended the call, replacing her cell back in her back pocket once more.

"What was that about?" Rei asked, intrigued.

"My educated guess is Jei has his panties in a twist over something and demands our presence ASAP," she answered. "Mind if we go by the pharmacy afterwards?"

Amethyst eyes blinked at her, her brows going up in silent question, and the blonde just shrugged.

"He said it's important," she offered, giving the only explanation she had gotten from the guy herself, knowing it probably meant nothing to the Miko.

"Fine," Rei grunted, rolling her eyes and hooking her arm through Zoe's. "Let's just go and get this over with."

.-.

He jumped off the set of steps he was resting on the moment the car parked right next to the building. Excitement and anticipation building inside, he forced himself to calm down and met the distance just as the people in the car stepped out of it.

He was just about to ask what on earth could have taken them this long to show up when he sensed her. Both of them, actually.

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his khakis, a sided grin graced his handsome features as one blonde Shitennou and one raven beauty made it around the corner and towards them. Looking into ice blue eyes, he arched an amused eyebrow.

"Did you guys time it or something?" he joked.

"This better be important," was all Kun said in return, looking impeccable in his business suit as he unnecessary rearranged his tie.

The girls all greeted each other, and he was sure he wouldn't need the use of any special abilities to pick up on the slightly tense air suddenly surrounding the blonde Shitennou the moment her green eyes landed on one petite blue haired beauty. But he was smart enough not to point that out to her, or the way the aforementioned petite beauty seemed to evade green eyes at all costs.

Smiling to himself, wondering if maybe there was something there -or something begging to be there- that neither women seemed quite willing to admit yet, he decided to ignore that for the time being. He had more important matters at hand to deal with, anyway.

A set of delicate hands came to rest upon his forearm as cornflower eyes looked up at him.

"So what's so important it couldn't wait until after my mani pedi?" Minako asked, all innocent smiles.

But he knew better. And he knew her. And there was just no way his blonde friend didn't find it peculiar, at the very least, the way he had called all five of them, specifically.

But for once, Minako's suspicions and speedy senses, as she called them, were way off. There had been no ulterior motive for him to call on them. Getting everyone together on such a short notice seemed both impossible, and impractical at the moment. There was no point in sharing his news if nothing would come out of this idea of his. So he had settled with those he absolutely needed to make the call and see if it was, at all, possible.

Kun was the obvious first choice. He was not just his friend and Commanding Officer, but also his lawyer and unofficial financial adviser. And his lovely girlfriend, while always a good company to keep around, happened to be the leader of the Senshi. And he knew her more than capable of filling her own shoes -once she got her pretty little head in business mode-, and so he knew he should, at the very least, weight in her opinion on the matter.

Zoe was another obvious choice. Second in command, the girl was a bloody genius, and so was Ami. They both knew their way around technology, and probably even electronics when needed, so again, obvious choice; he was going to need to put to use those brains of theirs in order to keep things safe and secure.

And speaking of security…

Rei was the one to go to for that, when considering there was a special kind of protection going to be needed if his plan worked out.

"A sports center?" the raven beauty asked, nonchalantly arching an eyebrow as she pointed at the building they were all standing in front of.

She was going for indifference, as she always did whenever he was around and involved, but he knew better than to take her for it; she was curious. Of that much he was sure.

He smiled. "Come on, let me show you guys around."

.-.

Jei guided them inside the building, which really was a sports center. Or it used to be.

The main room they walked into was pretty much a huge half empty gym, but there was still some typical paraphernalia needed for physical work-outs. The smell of sweat and metal, and something else, seemed to lingered in the still air, and Ami noticed some of the equipment seemed to be a bit old. By the looks of the place in general, it seemed quite obvious no one has set foot in there for quite a while.

"Lovely," Minako noted, a single finger trialing through the surface of the chair from a weight lifting station. The tip of her finger coming out covered in dust.

"It needs a bit of cleaning," Jei granted.

"Just a bit?" Zoe asked, mockingly.

Jei ignored her entirely. Instead, he proceeded to give them all a tour through the abandon facilities.

The main room, which Ami guessed once upon a time used to house treadmills, stationary bikes, and enough weight lifting stations and bars to fill up the huge space was mostly empty now, except for what laid scattered around. There was a body lifting bar secured to a wall, a few weight lifting stations with missing pieces, dumbbells scattered all around, and quite a large pile of gym mats carelessly thrown next to a sit-up bench.

But Jei was seeing something none of them could see, as he kept on talking about cleaning up and rearranging the place. A full weight and training equipment over there, a wide body combat area right over here; he talked and explained what he planned to do to the place, as Kun's carefully studying gaze followed his every move.

"I see," the silvery haired man acknowledged, nodding his head.

At the end of the room was what it must have been a reception area. A set of double doors to one side, the stairs leading to the upper level to the other. And right behind the tattered looking desk, a door led to an office not quite big enough for them to use as such, Jei explained, but big enough to maybe house in infirmary.

She frowned at that one, tilting her head, curious. "You want us to use this place?"

"Well, yeah," he answered. "It already has everything we need," he reasoned.

"A headquarters," Minako put in, approvingly.

"Exactly," Jei agreed. "And that's not it," he continued as he guided them up the stairs. "I'm guessing they used the space up here for classes or whatever," he explained, as they walked through a small corridor with two doors.

Opening up the first one, they all walked into what was clearly a dancing studio, with wooden floors and an entire wall covered in mirrors. Across the mirrors, roll up blinds covered what looked like floor to ceiling windows.

"I was thinking we can tear this thing down," Jei was saying. "Take the mirrors off and set up a meeting room here, and a surveillance room on the other one down the hall," he continued. "I'm definitely putting you two on charge of that one. I know you're already working on a security tracking system."

Green eyes glanced into her own blue ones, and she tried her best to ignore and put aside that weird vibe that invaded her every time she even looked at the blonde these days.

She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something changed after that weekend at the beach. After that game of chess something shifted, somehow. And it was surprising as it was unnerving; she thought they had been moving on the right direction after the game and the talk that followed that night, maybe even becoming friends. But, apparently, Zoe seemed to differ, and now she found herself back on that awkward place whenever the green eyed Shitennou was around.

They hadn't met again to work on their project. Of course, Ami had her summer classes, and she could only guess Zoe had her own life, but something was off; in the two weeks that followed that weekend, they had only seen each other when there was someone else around. Usually Rei, sometimes Mamoru, or even Makoto, when they ran into each other at the coffee place.

Zoe seemed to be doing everything possible to avoid her, and it bothered Ami. Why was the blonde avoiding her all of a sudden? She didn't seem to have any problems hanging out with Rei…

"It's not done yet," the green eyed Shitennou said, shifting from foot to foot and shrinking her shoulders. "Right now is nothing but an idea…"

"A pretty good one," Kun pointed out.

"If anyone can do it, it's you two," Minako put in, winking at Ami.

Her only acknowledgment to that was a small nod of the head, and an annoying blush creeping to her cheeks the moment those green eyes gazed into her own blue ones for a moment before adverting away.

"The place has promise," Kun put in, nodding his head as he slowly turned around, hands on the pockets of his pants as he surveyed the place.

"That's what I thought," Jei agreed. "And since it used to be a sports center, there already are separated locker rooms for boys and girls," he said, teasingly winking at Minako.

The blonde smiled at him, the joke she was just about to make dying on the tip of her tongue as Rei interrupted her.

"Ami!" she exclaimed from her position next to the windows; a hand picking up the blinds and peeking into whatever view was offered there. "You have to see this!"

Jei smiled. "Oh, yeah," he said, already knowing what had caused Rei to get so excited all of a sudden. "That's another one of the perks."

Frowning curiously, she eyed the blonde man for a moment before making her way up to where Rei was standing. And when the raven girl pushed the blinds a little further away and Ami's eyes caught the view down below, her heart did an excited little jump inside her chest.

It was only half empty, and nowhere near anything even remotely sanitary. But the size alone was enough to make her smile in pure delight.

"A swimming pool?" Minako asked, both incredulous and excited.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Jei said, shoving his hands into his pockets, looking quite satisfied with himself. "Figured we could all make good use of it after sweating our asses off," he joked.

"Jei," Kun reprimanded his use of words, but the other man just ignored him.

"It looks like the Black Lagoon creature moved in there a long time ago," Zoe pointed out, skeptically eying the suspiciously green water.

"That can be taken care of," Jei was fast to argue. "Along with everything else that needs fixing and cleaning and… you know, polishing."

"That would cost a fortune," Ami pointed out, tearing her eyes away from the pool and looking at the blonde man instead. "We don't have the means to…"

"That can also be arranged," the blue eyed Shitennou was fast to interrupt her.

"Dude, seriously," Zoe said, eying the man, "how loaded are you, exactly?"

"How did you even find this place?" Minako asked at the same time.

"Actually, I didn't," he answered her, choosing to ignore Zoe's question altogether. "Taitou Corp. just bought it."

And so, there it was. The reason why they were all there.

Making the way back downstairs and to the main area, Jei explained everything. Apparently, having to make himself present at boarding meetings once a month, only upon Kun's advice of not giving it up entirely, had finally paid off. The company wanted to tear the entire building down. Either to conduct a new building's construction themselves or to sell it out, it was clearly an asset. One Jei was hoping he could get his hands on, as he trusted Kun to be able to do, managing all the needed paperwork to ensure just that.

"I may need to cash out a property or two," he explained, "but it's not like I use those anyway. And it'd be worth it."

"You want to buy the place?" Rei asked, incredulous.

"Why not?" Jei asked back, shrinking his shoulders, hands deep into his pockets. "People already think I'm the weird, extravagant rich boy. Why not play the part and buy the damn place?"

"We'll need to make it safe," Zoe put in. "Don't want people walking in here, thinking it's a gym…"

"And that's where you come in," the other blonde agreed. "I was thinking maybe you can help me out with a security system. Something that instead of calling the police when someone tries to sneak in, it would alert us."

"Sounds like a challenge," Zoe noted, sounding excited. And Ami didn't need to look too close to see the gears already turning in that head of hers.

"And I was hoping you could help with other kind of security measures," he continued, now turning to the Miko girl. "Don't want the place to burn down or the power to go down on us…"

"Like you did at the Shrine," Ami was fast to guess the Shitennou's thinking.

Rei's charms and protection spells had been quite handy when securing the Hikawa Shrine from all and any possible damage cause by their own powers. In retrospective, Ami had to wonder if maybe Lady Mars' abilities on the matter had been unconsciously brought out to the surface in order to ensure that. But regardless, it had surely been effective, in both protecting the place, and covering their activities from the rest of the world, all at once.

And though the Shrine had been their main headquarters for years now, it seemed quite obvious to everyone it could no longer be used as such. Not with their increased numbers, anyway. And the commodities this place offered, changing rooms, showers, and pool included, did win the argument, from every possible point of view.

"I could work something out," was all Rei said in the matter.

"Alright, then," Jei said, taking the rather vague acceptance from Rei, before turning to look at Kun. "So, what do you say? You think you can make it happen?"

"I'll start with the arrangements," was all the tanned man said, with a slight nod of his head, reaching for his cell on his suit's pocket and moving to a side, ready to get on to work.

"Great," the blonde man said, smiling in satisfaction as he turned to the rest of them. "So, security team, you're on," he said, pointing at both Zoe and herself.

"Can I go crazy?" Zoe asked, sweetly battling her long eyelashes at the man.

"Sure," he easily agreed, chuckling. "Security cameras, fingerprint sensors, retinal scanners, whatever you need. Go nuts," he encouraged. "Just make it happen."

"You got it!" the blonde girl exclaimed, excitedly.

"Are you sure?" she felt the need to ask again.

Ami didn't quite feel comfortable with letting Jei spent a considerable fortune on the place, knowing the rest of them wouldn't be able to put even half as much into it. Other than helping clean up the place and setting everything up, there wasn't much the rest of them could do. Except for maybe Haruka and Michiru, once they were brought into the plan; they were both quite wealthy themselves. But Ami wasn't sure they were rich enough to buy an entire building…

She remembered Minako saying this was the only reason Jei had even accepted his inheritance in the first place. He wasn't really using the money, and they did need a place just like this one, but still. She didn't quite like the idea of milking the guy's bank account dry.

"Absolutely," was all the blonde man said on the matter, before turning to Minako. "And I need you to make sure everyone pinches in on the cleaning up part," Jei said. "We need all hands on board for this one."

"Community work," the blonde agreed, giving her trademark brilliant smile. "I'm on it, Zen boy."

They all talked at once then, excitedly putting their own two scents and giving out ideas for the project at hand, when Rei glanced down at the watch on her cell.

"Sorry to cut this short," she started to apologize. "But I need to get going. I really need to get to the pharmacy," she then explained, directing her last comment to one green eyed blonde.

That seemed to trigger a line of thoughts on the blonde, and Ami wondered, not for the first time, just how close those two had become in the last couple of weeks…

"About that," the girl started to say, turning to her Shitennou friend. "I might have an idea…"

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A.N.: if you wanna know about Zoe's idea, go to Moments, If only she knew