Exhale

Luna lay comfortable and warm. You couldn't really say she was happy. Her world had been shaken like it never had been before. Oh, being a talking cat wasn't exactly normal, and you did run into awkward situations every now and then, but she was always prepared. Prepared and preparing Usagi, her princess. The princess she had vowed to take care of and protect in the future. Somehow, somewhere, she had lost her princess in a way she could have never thought of.

She snuggled deeper into the blankets thrown on the cool floor, next to Artemis. He stirred, but remained asleep. When Usagi died, she couldn't bear the thought of staying in her room, or even her house. The air was dripping with grief and sorrow. Luna had seen Usagi's mother, Ikuko, walk hurriedly past the door to Usagi's room, as if it were some sort of obstacle she had to jump over. When she did peer in, though, her face would be ashen, dead, and she would reach for the doorknob and close it quietly.

Minako had arrived back from the hospital the day before. She was very tired and slept the whole time she had been home. Her mother had frantically hidden every painkiller and prescription drug inside the house. Minako wasn't even strong enough to debate the issue, collapsing into her bed and not waking up.

Luna had grumbled quietly about this, thinking that shoving yourself into sedation wasn't the way to go, for they all had to get up and fight again sometime. A tiny voice inside of her head said she was being a bit hypocritical, since she was also trying to drown her own fears of the future.

Luna pulled her nose out of the warmness of the blankets to witness something glistening in the room. Not glistening as in how silver and gold would glisten, but a sort of eye-catching glisten that is characteristic to things that are dark. She could feel something odd inside the room, and she purred uneasily as a small breeze began to blow in the otherwise quiet room. Minako slept on, her hair a bird's nest of tangles.

Artemis pulled his head from beneath the blankets.

"Luna…?"

She cocked her head to the side as she stared at the breeze (if you can really stare at a breeze), the wind growing stronger and stronger. Artemis looked over and gasped, untangling himself from the cotton and polyester and leaping onto the floor. Black rose petals swam and danced in the air, flying faster and more furious each second, until they came together at one point, forming a shadowy figure. Luna gaped with large blue cat eyes as it approached Minako's bed and grabbed her by the waist and slung it over its shoulders.

Artemis hissed, his fangs white and menacing. Minako awoke as flower petals began to encircle her and the figure, receding into black oblivion. She managed a strangled scream, half-awake and half-asleep, and Artemis lunged at a weak attempt to stop the situation.

A flicker, a bright black-white light, and the two were gone.

* * *

Rei kneeled in front of the fire, meditating deeply. The flames glowed orange and red, yellow and white, licking at the air and illuminating the room in eeriness.

She sighed deeply, taking in the smoky smell that settled into her lungs and deep in her throat. Heat tingled at her lips as she went on with her endless meditation, quiet, and peace.

A bright jagged light struck her thoughts, so bright that her head ached and she opened her eyes widely and suddenly. Rei concentrated on the flames before her, unblinking and staring. The light in her head flickered again, driving her back to the floor, the bright black orbs of her eyes all-pupil. She was driven down again, almost pinned to the floor by an invisible force as she saw a scene, a black and white mustiness, with Minako's face emblazoned against the grayscale.

Minako.

Petals loomed around her golden hair, her body suspended and shrouded in a mysterious blurry darkness. For some odd reason, she was in her pajamas. Rei's mind grabbed at other characteristics; a broom, a mop, a tall flight of stairs. Like a butterfly, the fleeting images were gone before Rei could begin to understand them.

She broke out of the trance, sprawled out of the floor and sweating. The fire had died down to one single ember, quite a contrast to the roaring fire Rei had had before her vision.

Rei stood unsteadily and walked out into the cool night, the heat of the room filling out into the air.

She blinked, trying to gather her thoughts. Minako? In….in a room….in the dark. Now.

In the dark room. Now. Rose petals. Dark. Mop. Stairs.

Mop. Stairs.

Rei's head snapped up at the frantic steps of two people and the smaller pit-pat of paws against gravel. Luna, Makoto, Artemis, and Ami ran breathlessly to her. Rei turned, grabbed a pair of sandals and a light coat, and stood, stonily and grimly. They gaped at her, preparing to tell her of Minako's abduction, but before they could utter a word, she raised her hand to them to be silent.

"I know where Minako is."

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A/N: Who abducted Minako, and why? Find out in chapter 9 of Exhale!