Blueeyeddevil06, thank you for being my beta!

"Why are we meeting at the girl's house?" Darien asked.

"Because Lita is cooking. She does that when she's mad. I bet she has a feast ready for us after Nephrite tortured Mina." Serena shrugged. "It helps her cope."

"Food, which is why you're so happy right now," he said, smiling at her.

"Yup!" She then looked up at him and said, "On top of the fact that I constantly have a smile on my face after you gave me this." She held up her hand, showing off her ring. "It's so big I might need to strength train to carry it around all day."

He took her right hand and laced their fingers together. "I just wish there had been some sort of break in the action where we could all celebrate."

She rolled her eyes dramatically at him, "Dork, I don't need a party. I have you. I got what I want the most."

He blushed lightly. It still embarrassed him sometimes that he could mean so much to someone so special. He didn't really feel worthy. It didn't help when he remembered that he and the scouts were literally born to serve her. She really was his whole reason for being.

They got to the girl's house, and Serena walked right in, dragging him along. "It makes Lita feel weird if I knock, and right now, I want to help her in any way I can."

Serena found her in the kitchen, and her eyes grew huge, "Oh my gosh! You're the most amazing, talented, magnificent, wonderful, superb cook in the whole solar system and beyond!"

Lita laughed at her greeting and smiled. "I thought you'd like it."

"You…" Serena teared up and sniffled, "You made so many of my favorites."

"You are our princess."

Serena rolled her eyes, "I'm your friend. Forget this princess stuff. I …" She then got a stricken look on her face, "Is it really this bad?"

Lita wouldn't look her in the eyes. She said, "He tortured Mina. I could take not noticing me. That… he can say sorry and love me later, but how do I get over him hurting her? How does he take that back?"

"Oh no, you fucking don't!" Mina yelled at her. Serena and Lita hadn't heard Darien let her and Kunzite in just moments ago. "You, Lita, will never use me like that! How dare you. He's your soulmate, and I will not be the thing to come in between the two of you."

Lita looked shocked at the anger in Mina's voice. "But how could you be okay with that? How can Kunzite?!"

Kunzite cracked his knuckles, "Don't get me wrong. He has a date with my fists coming up, but we'll get through this. We all mean too much to each other. He and I remember our past. I remember being ten with him and stealing apple tarts from the kitchens in the palace. He got caught and got a whipping. He never told who had been with him that day. I talked to Mina about it, and she's right. What's the point of all of this if we can't all work together? We were all reborn for this."

Lita chewed on her bottom lip. "I'm scared, and that pisses me off so much. What if he can't change? Every time I doubt myself, I want to kick his ass!"

Darien stood in the doorway leaning against it, and said, "Good. I don't care what he is to you, but you shouldn't change who you are for him. Let him know you're furious, but listen to him. From what I've seen, every one of my men was heartbroken that they hurt their soulmates. Try looking at it from his side. I've been there, and I didn't have the excuse of being evil. I was just an ass to Serena. I hate that I was like that with her and wasted time. It seems like he has an excuse for being a baka."

Lita hopped up and sat on the counter, looking at them all. Her gaze then slid to all the food she made. "Serena, you know I was alone for so long in my life." She then looked at Darien and said, "Now that I think about it, you get it too." Her eyes then shifted back to Serena, and she said, "You were the first one to accept me as-is. That first night I went home, I stared at the ceiling in bed most of the night. I was trying to figure out what you saw in me." Her eyes slipped shut, and a single tear slipped down her cheek. "I really think I would choose you first, Serena."

Serena walked over, took Lita's hand, and said, "Look at me." When they locked eyes, she said, "I would never ask you to choose. I want you to have his love and for you to love him in return. He's not the bad guy in my head. Beryl is evil and is hurting him by making him do these things."

Kunzite nodded and decided to lighten the heavy mood. "So it's agreed. We beat the shit out of him and then forgive him."

Lita laughed out loud at that and smiled, "Oh no, that boy's mine. I'm going to be the one to beat him up."

"I thought we wanted him punished," Kunzite grumbled. "You don't remember, but quite a few of your rounds of physical sparing lead to sex. I still am scared over the time I walked into the training grounds on earth, and he was… pinning you."

Lita blushed. She was trying not to show how hot she thought wrestle-sex would be. She coughed and changed the subject, "So help yourself to food."

"Yum!" Serena yelled. She then looked around, "Where's Molly?"

"Ha! Like she slept here last night. Didn't you notice the look in Rick's eyes when she was screaming at Kunzite? Luckily, he likes her when she's scary. Although all us girls are a little scary."

"A little? Raye threatened to burn Jadeite in the Great Fire."

"Jadeite? He's back?"

Darien nodded, "Yup, hence the meeting. We need to make sure everyone is up to date. That happened this morning around two. I don't know about you, but I'm figuring this is training me to be a doctor and live on little to no sleep."

"Running a kitchen at a restaurant is supposed to be really high stress. I figure it will be a cakewalk by the time I have my own place. After all, I can fight youma and then make a souffle in time for class."

"Hm…" Serena said, thinking about it all. "Youma as a way to prepare for our careers. Too bad we can't put that on a resume," she said, giggling.

When everyone arrived, Serena looked around and was happy to see everyone there. She missed Zoisite and looked forward to getting to know Nephrite. Her life was getting so full of wonderful things. She would take the youma easily since it meant that she had all of these people in her life.

She looked down at the ring on her finger and smiled. She felt Queen Serenity would be pleased. She was building the life that she wanted for her daughter. Somehow, she just knew.

Nephrite walked past Zoisite in the throne room and bowed low before Queen Beryl. "Beloved Queen, I have already begun to serve you. I hope you are pleased with the energy you have been receiving.

"Yes, how clever to use humans' propensity for love to draw in energy. I have been impressed with you, Nephrite. Well, done."

Now that those words had finally come, they left him feeling hollow instead of the elation he'd expected to feel. Yet one more thing he needed to think about and discover the riddle behind. Maybe all the fragmented thoughts would fit together like a puzzle soon.

He rose, and once she dismissed him, he left the throne room. He noticed that Zoisite followed him.

"You're using love, interesting," Zoisite commented.

He turned to him and said, "You know something I don't. Dammit! I hate that I can't figure this out."

"Don't worry, you're on your path. I have faith you'll get there."

"Why, why do you care about me at all? I thought we all hated each other."

Zoisite smiled, "It's easier for her to control us if we do, isn't it? That way, we don't work together." He then began to walk away and said, "Keep up the good work."

Nephrite sighed and headed back to Earth to see how the bridal shop was doing collecting energy for him. He was about to move into phase two, the youma bride.