Rowen sat with Ami in history class that afternoon, but for once, he wasn't paying attention to Ami. Actually, he was focused on Sailor Mercury's transformation pen instead. He was holding it in his hand, running his thumb up and down the stick.

Actually, neither of them was paying attention to the class anymore. They were supposed to be doing a worksheet, but they had both finished a while ago. Ami, instead of trying to get ahead in history, was watching Rowen play with her transformation pen. Ami sighed inaudibly and continued to stare at Rowen, who was oblivious to Ami staring at him.

Ami's eyes traveled over Rowen's body, studying every inch of him. She never really had the chance to do it earlier and she regretted never finding the time to do it earlier. He really was a gorgeous sight to behold. His body was slender, but not too thin. Ami could see the muscle definition through his thin, white school shirt and she wondered, with a slight blush creeping up on her face, what he would look like with his shirt off. Shaking her head slightly to clear those thoughts, she let her eyes travel up to his face.

From the position she was sitting at, she could see his profile almost perfectly. She started at his hair, his unruly blue hair with that one stubborn lock that was always falling over his forehead. She knew he couldn't stand that lock of hair; she found it absolutely sexy.

She then shifted her gaze to look at his eyes, or what she could see of them. She knew from being around him that his eyes were extremely expressive, making him usually easy to read and Ami found that she could get lost in their deep blue color any day. Her eyes moved down his face, traveling over the smooth planes of his face and across his lips. Ami sighed. She had fantasies about those lips, whether they were kissing her or moving when he spoke.

Her gaze moved down to his hands, where he continued to run his thumb across her transformation pen and she allowed herself to study them. The skin was slightly darker than hers, obviously from tanning, and his fingers were long and graceful. She watched as he caressed her transformation pen and she deeply wished that he would touch her like that.

Her gaze remained focused on his hands when Rowen finally realized that he was being stared at. He turned his head to find Ami staring at his hands.

"Hey Ami, whatcha looking at?" Ami, who had been rudely brought out of her fantasies, snapped back to attention.

"What?" she asked.

"Why are you staring at my hands?" Rowen asked.

In a quick attempt to cover up why she was staring at his hands, she said, "I was looking what you have in your hands. What is it?" she asked, feigning innocence. She knew exactly what it was.

"It's a stick of some sort," Rowen said, "But a very beautiful one."

"Indeed," Ami said, admiring her transformation pen. She never noticed it before, but it was very beautiful. Leave it to Rowen to point that out to her.

"Can I see it?" she asked.

"Sure," Rowen said, handing the stick over to Ami, their fingers brushing as it went from his hand to hers. When their fingers touched, it was like an electrical shock went up their arms and right to their brains, making them feel slightly light-headed.

Rowen watched as Ami looked at the stick, a look of complete reverence in her eyes. Ami was now taking the time to admire her transformation pen. She looked at the symbol at the top and ran her finger over it.

"Mercury," she said, her voice sounding slightly mystical. She had to resist the urge to call out the rest of her transformation line. Rowen stared at Ami.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"The symbol at the top is the symbol for the planet Mercury. Legend has it that there once was a princess that lived on Mercury, making the planet lush with plants and animals and water. But, an evil queen came along and killed the royal family and in it's defense, Mercury covered itself up it a protective shell made of rock that would disappear when the princess came back to reclaim her throne," Ami murmured, referring to her past and future on Mercury.

"How do you know so much about Mercury?" Ami looked at Rowen with a sly look on her face.

"It interests me."

"Oh," Rowen said to Ami's simple answer. Ami smiled and handed it back to Rowen.

"Here you go."

"Thanks," he said, his hand closing around it once more.

"Why do you have it?" she asked.

"I'm taking care of it for someone."

"That someone must obviously trust you very much to leave something so beautiful in your hands," Ami said with a smirk.

"Was that an insult?" he asked.

"You can make it whatever you want," Ami said right before the bell rang, signaling the end of the day.

"Well, I guess school's over," Rowen said, "Time to head over to your place."

"Yep," she said.

"You know, it occurs to me that I've never been to your house before."

"And I've never been to yours," Ami shot back, "So I guess it's a day of new experiences for the both of us."

"I guess so," Rowen said as they walked out of history together.

***
Serena stood in front of Ami's locker with Ryo, Cye, Kento, Sage, and Raye. Serena and Ryo were keeping a lookout for Ami and Rowen, Raye and Sage were talking about their experience with karate, and Cye and Kento were arguing about what to have for dinner that night. They were waiting for Ami and Rowen to show up so they could head over to the girls' house.

Serena tapped her foot on the floor impatiently and said, "Where are they?"

"I'm sure they're coming. School just got out and Rowen and Ami's class is all the way on the other side of school," Ryo said.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right," Serena sighed. She looked over at Raye, who was leaning up against the lockers, talking to Sage and her attention was solely focused on him and vice versa.

"You know, they really need to get together," she said.

"Give them time," Ryo said, while completely agreeing with Serena. "But, they do really need to get together. All of them," Ryo continued, "I'm getting tired of hearing stuff only about the girls. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love all you guys, but when they're the only thing the guys talk about, it gets a little boring."

"I know exactly what you mean," Serena said, "The girls practically talk about nothing except the guys. It's like, 'Sage this' and 'Cye that'. You guys are great, I just wish that everyone would get together and shut up already." The two friends were silent for a few moments.

"Yeah, but there is one good thing about all of this," Ryo pointed out.

"And what is that?" Serena asked, not wholly believing that there could be anything good about it.

"Mia really wants to meet the girl who finally stole Sage's heart."

"What do you mean?" Serena asked.

"I mean, before you guys got here, Sage was the flirt king of Han'a High. There wasn't one girl who didn't want to go out with him and there actually still isn't, but now, he doesn't pay any attention to them at all. All he can think about is Raye."

"Well, it's nice that Raye has a guy who absolutely adores her..."

"Yeah, it is," Ryo said, interrupting Serena. But Serena just continued her sentence as if she hadn't been interrupted.

"Even though she doesn't know it," she finished.

"Excuse me? Could you say that again?" Ryo said, not believing that Raye hadn't noticed.

"I'm saying that the girls have no clue that the guys have feelings for them beyond friendship."

"Yeah, well, the guys don't either."

"If only they knew," Serena said wistfully.

"Yeah," Ryo agreed.

Serena turned her head to the sound of laughter coming down the hall and found Ami and Rowen walking towards them. Rowen was smiling and Ami was laughing at something he had just said.
"Wow, he got her to laugh," Serena said, "She was so depressed this morning I thought she would never smile again."

"I heard about that," Ryo said, "You wouldn't believe how much Rowen was worried over her."

"I can believe it. Now, there is another couple that needs to get together."

"Amen to that, sister," Ryo quipped as Rowen and Ami approached them.

"Hey guys," Ami said as she went to her locker.

She opened her locker door and piled a few more books in her bookbag as she said, "So, are we ready to go to our place and cheer up Lita?"

"Yeah," Serena said, "I called Mina and let her know what was going on. So, we won't surprise her and scare her half to death. You know how she likes to know when people are coming over."

"I do," Ami said, "She's been like that for years." And when Ami meant years, she meant years.

Serena nodded as Ami closed her locker door and said, "Are you ready now?"

"Yep, let's go," Ami said.

"Good, now we can go home," Raye said as she pushed herself off of the locker she was leaning on and began walking with the rest of the group as they took off down the hallway.