Mina slid down the door and sat on the ground, letting her head fall back and hit the door with a loud "thunk".
"Come on, Lita, open the door and let me talk to you."
"No," came the muffled reply. Mina sighed, knowing that Lita was crying again. Mina had been standing/sitting in front of Lita's door for a few hours now, trying to get her to open the door and talk to her, but she had only been able to talk to her through the door and she wanted to have direct contact.
Mina took in slow even breaths, trying to calm herself down.
"Lita, if you don't open the door, I'm going to have to open it by force," she threatened.
"Go ahead, it's not locked."
"It's not locked?" Mina asked, anger creeping into her voice. Here, she was thinking that Lita had locked the door, shutting everyone out of her life, but in truth, Lita had played Mina for the fool.
Mina only shook her head and got up to open the door when she heard the front door downstairs open.
"Lita, the guys are here, everyone. They've brought Kento and the others over and Kento's going to come up and talk to you, ok?"
"I don't care."
"Well, I do and for your information, they think that a best friend of yours died two years ago and that is why you're sad. Don't let them think otherwise."
"No problem," Lita said. Mina smiled, hearing the slight joy in her friend's voice. She knew that Lita had a big thing for Kento and that she would open up to him.
She walked away from the door and stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at the group of 8 people who were taking off their shoes and putting their stuff away. She tangled her fingers in her hair and pretended to be exasperated.
"Somebody save the goddess of love!" she yelled.
"I heard that!" Lita yelled through her door. Mina threw a smile at Lita's door and started off down the stairs, taking them two at a time.
"I'm getting nowhere fast with Lita. She won't talk to me," Mina said when she reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Nowhere?" the girls asked.
"Nowhere. I've been very unsuccessful."
Mina's eyes scanned the group, resting on Cye for a moment and giving him a small smile before she said, "Is anyone hungry? Before I got home, Lita had cooked up a storm in the kitchen and now there's enough food to feed an army in there."
"Again?" Raye asked.
"She always cooks when she's depressed," Mina said like it was a well-known fact.
Serena, who hadn't been paying much attention, said, "Food? Where?"
"In the kitchen," Ami said, "You would have heard it if you had been paying attention." But her words were useless; Kento and Serena had already taken off for the kitchen and began devouring all of the foods that Lita had cooked in her depression.
"Hey guys, slow down!" Rowen said.
"Yeah, leave some for us," Sage yelled.
Cye only shook his head as his friends went to stop the tornadoes that were Kento and Serena and turned to Mina.
"So, you've been trying to talk to Lita?"
"Yeah, and she won't talk to me. I just hope that Kento will be able to get her to cheer up."
"Oh, don't worry, once Kento is finished stuffing his face, he'll do anything and everything in his power to cheer her up," Cye reassured.
"Good, I hate seeing Lita like this. It's just depressing."
"Yeah, I know how you feel about seeing your friends depressed. I hate it when my friends aren't happy. It makes me feel bad," Cye said.
"Yeah, me too," Mina agreed. Their eyes met and it was like they were reading each other's souls for a moment. Cye broke it off first, a blush slowly creeping up on his face.
"So, why did you call yourself the goddess of love?" he asked, coming up with a new topic.
"Hmm? Oh, I called myself that because you are looking at Mina Aino, matchmaker extraordinaire. All of the couples I have set up have stayed together. I just know when two people are made for each other."
At those words, Ami's ears perked up. Yeah, then why can't you see that you and Cye are made for each other? Ami thought with a smile on her face.
Mina caught the smile and asked self-consciously, "What? What are you staring at? Do I have something on my face, or what?" Ami only smiled wider and shook her head.
"Nothing," she replied simply. Mina eyed her warily, and then let it go.
"Ok, fine. But, if you're lying to me, there is nothing that will save you from my power," Mina threatened.
"Ooh, I'm scared," Ami mocked before going into the kitchen.
She leaned against the counter and watched as her friends, minus Mina, Cye, and Lita, practically inhaled all the food that was on the kitchen table. Ami looked around her for any extra food, not daring to go into the fray that had surrounded the kitchen table, and found a plate of crab sandwiches with cucumber, her favorite.
Ami's face lit up with joy as she reached for one of the sandwiches; Lita had obviously been generous enough to make her favorite food. She took a bite, savoring the taste, and went to the refrigerator to get something to drink. Her hand had just closed around the door handle when the phone rang.
She looked around and found Mina preoccupied with talking to Cye and Serena and Raye occupied with the food and she knew that Lita wasn't going to answer it, so she went into the next room and picked up the portable phone.
"Hello?" she answered, just swallowing her bite of a crab and cucumber sandwich.
"Hey Ami," the male voice greeted. Ami couldn't believe who was calling her; she had to yell it out.
"Chad!!"
Raye's ears perked up at hearing her best male friend's name and said, "Chad? Is that who's calling? Ask him how Jesse is doing?"
"Is that Raye's voice I hear on the other end?" Chad asked.
"Yes, and she wants to know how Jesse is doing?"
"Oh, she's doing great," Chad answered in an extremely happy voice.
Chad had mooned over Raye for months, but Raye kept rejecting him. So, he decided to give up on her and he met someone else. Her name was Jesse and they were perfect for each other. Chad loved Jesse unconditionally and Jesse felt the same.
"That's great," Ami said, continuing the conversation.
She yelled to Raye, "Jesse's doing fine, Raye."
"Are there wedding bells in the picture?" Raye yelled, a huge smile on her face and the food forgotten.
"Why don't you pick up the phone yourself?" Ami said, walking into the kitchen, "You're phone is in your bedroom."
"That's a great idea," Raye said before taking off up to her bedroom.
"Hey, Chad, I hear voices in the background. Who's with you?" Ami asked.
"Oh, Darien, Andrew, and Greg are here."
"Ken's not there?" Ami asked with sadness in her voice.
"No, why?"
"Because I thought that he could talk to Lita. She's been having a hard time lately and I thought that she might want to talk to a close friend."
"No, he's not here. Sorry. But, next time I see him, I'll tell him to give her a call. Hold on, Ami. I'm going to put you on speaker phone."
After a couple seconds and a click, Ami heard, "Hey Ami," coming from four different guys.
"Hey guys, Raye should be on the phone any moment."
"That's cool," Chad said at the same time that Greg said, "Hey Ami, how are you doing?"
"I'm doing fine, Greg."
"How about that guy. What's his name? You know, the guy's that is exactly like you."
"You mean Rowen?" Raye asked, who had finally picked up the phone and heard Greg's question.
"Yeah, him. So, how is he Ami?"
Ami turned a light pink and eyed Rowen from across the room while saying, "He's fine."
"That's good to hear. So, how are the Scouts?" Greg asked.
"We're all fine," Ami said. All of the guys knew that the girls were the Sailor Scouts; they felt it was only fair to them to tell them.
"What's up with Lita?" Chad asked.
"Is there something wrong with Lita?" Andrew asked.
"Yeah, Andrew there is," Ami said.
Mina's attentions snapped to Ami as she said Andrew's name.
"Andrew? Are you talking to him?" Mina asked. Ami nodded and Mina ran into the living room and picked up the phone that was there.
"Andrew! Hi!" Mina yelled.
"Hey Mina, how are you?" Andrew asked.
"I'm fine and you?"
"I'm doing pretty good. I do miss you though."
"Yeah, well I miss you too," Mina said. Ami, from where she was standing, could see Cye's face fall as he thought she was talking to her boyfriend.
As if to unconsciously reassure Cye, Mina said, "So, how's Rita?"
"Um, well," Andrew said, getting nervous.
"Come on," Darien said, "Tell her about the engagement."
"What?" Mina asked, a huge smile on her face.
"Well, Rita and I are engaged."
"Congratulations," Ami said.
"I'll ditto that," Raye said, coming back into the kitchen with her phone.
"You and Rita are getting married, Andrew?" Mina yelled, "Oh my God, the day finally came. How many times had I told you just to ask her to marry you, you idiot?" Mina said.
"Many," Andrew admitted sheepishly.
"And did you ever ask her under my advice?" Mina asked again.
"No," he trailed off.
"Then what got you to ask her? When did you ask her?" Mina asked.
"What did Andrew ask?" Serena yelled, finally tuning in on the side of the conversation she could hear.
Ami covered the mouthpiece with her hand and said, "Andrew and Rita are getting married."
"They are? Finally," Serena said.
Ami laughed and said, "Yeah." The guys in the room felt like they had missed something big.
"I'm lost, what's going on here?" Sage asked Serena.
"Oh, our friends from Tokyo are on the phone."
"Yeah, but who are these guys?" Rowen asked.
"They are our best guy friends back home. We've known them all for a long time. Actually...Is Darien on the phone, Ami?"
"Yeah, he is. Come and say hi to him when you're finished talking to the guys."
"Ok...well, anyway. Darien is part of a group of 5 guys that we would always hang out with back home. The "ringleader" of the group is my boyfriend, Darien. The others are Greg, who's Ami's best friend; Ken, who's Lita's; Andrew, Mina's best guy friend; and Chad, who's Raye's best guy friend.
"It's so funny. All of those 4 guys are dating the girls we've been hassling them to go out with. Andrew finally proposed to Rita; he's, like, 19. Chad is with Jesse, Ken is with Leah, and Greg is happily going out with someone named...Hey Ami?"
"Yeah?"
"What is Greg's girlfriend's name?" Serena asked.
"Ashley," Ami answered.
"Did I hear my girlfriend's name?" Greg asked over the phone.
"Yeah, you did," Raye said.
"Why?"
"Because Serena is telling the guys who you are and the names of your girlfriends," Ami said.
"Why?" Chad asked.
"General info?" Mina offered.
"Good answer," Chad said.
"I thought so too, Chad," Mina said with a smile.
"Hey, Serena, do you want to say hi to your boyfriend?" Ami asked.
"Yeah!" Serena said before hopping out of her seat and over to Ami.
Ami said, "Bye guys!" to the guys on the other end of the phone.
"Bye Ami!" they said as she handed the phone to Serena and took Serena's place at the table. Raye and Mina, who didn't want to be on the phone when Serena was talking to Darien, said bye to the guys.
"Bye you guys!" Mina said.
"Yeah, see you when we come home for Christmas!" Raye exclaimed.
"Ok, see you later," Andrew said.
"Yeah, bye," Chad said before Raye and Mina hung up the phone.
By this time, Serena was practically cooing into the phone and Cye had joined the table. Raye and Mina pulled up extra chairs and sat down, starting to talk with Ami.
"God, I haven't heard from them in a while," Ami said.
"Yeah," Raye said, "I'm happy that Chad is doing great with Jesse."
Mina gave Raye a look and said, "No, you're just happy that Chad isn't mooning over you anymore." Raye nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I'm happy about that too. You don't know how bad it was having him one, live at the temple while having a crush on me, and two, having to hear him sing." Raye rested her head on her hands and shook her head, starting to laugh.
"Actually, I think those were some of the funniest times," she said.
"And why do you say that?" Sage asked, a little jealous of the guy who knew so much about the girl he loved.
Mina, who was laughing as well, said, "Well, it was really funny to see Raye chase Chad around the temple grounds with a broom, threatening to beat him with it if he continued to sing." The guys, who were all taking a sip of water at the time, started to choke on it in laughter.
"You did something like that, Raye?" Kento asked. Raye nodded, a smile forcing its way onto her face.
"I can see you doing something like that," Rowen said. Everyone only voiced their agreement by laughing.
Serena came back into the room with a wistful look on her face.
"Is everything all right with Darien?" Raye asked, an eyebrow raised coyly.
"Yeah," Serena said. Her happy look then faded. "But, I'm still worried about Lita. Darien told me that we have to snap her out of it before it's too late," Serena said sadly.
The other girls' smiles faded. If they didn't get Lita to fight again with them, they would be separated and they wouldn't be able to fight because without the 5 Sailor Scouts, the Sailor team was basically powerless. They all drew strength from each other and when their hearts weren't united, their powers were useless.
"Yeah," Ami said, "We have to get her cheered up and back to normal."
"Though we won't ever be normal," Raye said.
"What's stopping you guys from being normal?" Cye asked.
"It's a long story," said the girls in unison.
The guys' brows furrowed in confusion, but those looks were ignored as Mina grabbed Kento's hand.
"You have to go talk to Lita. She trusts you. She just might listen to you," Mina said, her voice quavering with unshed tears, her eyes sparkling with hopefulness. Hopping out of her seat, Mina pulled Kento upstairs to Lita's room.
Standing in front of Lita's door, Mina laid a hand on Lita's door in sadness.
"If anyone can cheer her up, it's you, Kento." Mina gave Kento a quick kiss on the cheek as thanks before walking away, leaving Kento standing in front of Lita's door.
Kento stared at Lita's bedroom door. He nervously put his hand on the doorknob, but he didn't know why he was nervous. Yes, you do, Kento thought, You're nervous because you're going to go see Lita. You love her and whenever you see her, you get nervous. Kento sighed and rested the side of his head against the door, feeling the coolness of the wood pressed up against his ear.
As he sat there with his ear pressed up against the door, he could hear the soft sounds of weeping and his heart clenched in pain. Lita was crying. He didn't think that it was possible. Lita was the strongest girl, physically and emotionally, that he had ever met and listening to her cry broke his heart.
He moved his head away from the door and slowly opened it, turning the doorknob ever so slowly as to give no indication that he was entering the room. When the door was open enough for him to get through, he entered the room and closed the door, making sure that there was no sound that would disturb Lita.
His eyes scanned the room, noting how clean it was, before resting on Lita, who was curled up in a corner on her bed, crying softly. Seeing her in such a prone position gave him a strong feeling of protectiveness for Lita and he moved towards the bed. Sitting down on the bed, he was less than an arm's length away from her. She hadn't noticed him yet, but he was going to fix that.
He reached out with his arm and pushed a strand of hair away from her face, which was being covered by her hands, and tucked it behind her ear. Lita's breath hitched and she slowly removed her face from her hands. The sight of her tear-streaked face made Kento's own face soften in sympathy.
"Hey there," he whispered.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered, almost harshly.
"I came to see if you were ok."
"I'm fine, now leave me alone."
"You don't look fine," Kento said. Lita turned her head away so she wouldn't have to look at Kento. She knew that if she looked at him, she would start crying again and she didn't want to do that in front of him. But, he wasn't going to let her get away with hiding her pain from him.
Gently, he put his finger under her chin, tipping up her face so she would have to look at him.
Staring directly into beautiful green eyes that were glistening with tears, he said, "Let it go, Lita. I'm right here. I promise I won't think you any weaker for breaking down. It takes a strong person to admit having a weakness."
As Lita stared at Kento's face, she saw all the pain he felt for her and she realized that he only wanted to help. Not believing he cared so much as to help her through her pain, even though he didn't know why she was hurt, it only made the hasty walls she had just built crumble. Kento watched as her resolve fell apart and she started to cry.
Feeling relieved that she finally opened up, he pulled her into his arms and held her as she cried. Lita wrapped her arms around his neck and let herself revel in the feeling of his arms around her as she cried. She could feel her pain subsiding and being in his arms felt like coming home.
Kento sat there, just being content to hold her as she cried, and when he felt that her tears had slowed enough that she was ready to talk, he said, "You know, I'm sorry about your friend that died, but your friends now need you."
"No, they don't need me. They'll be fine."
"No, I don't think they will. I don't know much about your past or the girls' for that matter, but I do know that you guys are a team of some sort and I can see it. You all depend on each other and when one of you falls apart, all of you feel the same pain. The girls downstairs are feeling the same pain right now and it hurts them because they need you. You're very important to them and I think they would do anything for you. Are you going to walk away from that?"
Lita, who was pretty much finished crying, sat up and looked Kento straight in the eye, feeling a lot better.
"You seem to know a lot about being part of a team," Lita said.
"Yeah, well, it's a long story," Kento said sheepishly, "But at least you're not crying anymore."
"Yeah, thank you, by the way," Lita said, still in Kento's arms.
"It was nothing," he said, his voice full of indifference.
"No, you've done something great here today," Lita said, thinking about what he had just done. Kento, without realizing it, had saved the Sailor Scouts. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and hugged him tightly.
Kento blushed, thanking the powers that be that she couldn't see him blush because she was hugging him. He, of course, hugged her back, loving the feeling of her body pressed up against his. With her so close, he could feel the curves of her body pressed up against him and he wanted more than ever to kiss her. Although he had only known her for a month or so, the love he felt for the girl in his arms was startling.
She pulled away and gave him another kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you," she said before pushing her body off of his, immediately missing his warmth.
"You go on downstairs. I'm going to wash my face to get rid of the tears."
"Ok," Kento said distantly. He, too, missed the feeling of her so close to him. He stood up and watched as Lita left the room to wash her face. He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down. Having Lita so close to him played a number on his hormones. After all, he was only a guy.
Finally feeling composed he left Lita's room and walked downstairs, hearing voices of laughter coming from the kitchen. He walked into the kitchen and saw a bright red Mina surrounded by a group of hysterical people.
"What's so funny?" Kento asked, his brow furrowed in confusion. Serena wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes and said, "We were telling everyone the story about how Mina realized that dancing wasn't her best option as a career."
Kento had a look of apprehension on his face as he said, "Ok," a little scared about being around all the crazy people in the room.
"But, did you get Lita cheered up?" Serena asked.
Happy for switch of topics to one he knew, Kento said, "Well, I got her out of her bedroom and she seems better than she did this morning. I think she's going to be ok." The girls, who had all calmed down, sighed with relief.
"You have done a great thing today, Kento," Raye said with thankfulness in her voice.
"That's funny. That's exactly what Lita said," Kento observed.
"Well, it's true," Mina said.
"What's true?" Lita asked as she entered the kitchen.
She took one look around at the mess the others created out of her food and she scoffed.
"Gee, you guys sure made a mess of my kitchen."
Serena looked at Lita, eyes wide and asked, "Are you really ok?" Lita stared into Serena's eyes, which were shining with tears, and nodded almost unnoticeably.
Serena then proceeded to launch herself out of her chair and barreled her way over to Lita, where she threw her arms around her friend and comrade. Lita, a little taken aback at first, put her arms around Serena and hugged her tight.
Lita squeezed her eyes shut against the tears of relief as she clutched to her leader. She was afraid that the Scouts weren't going to want her back after she "quit" the Sailor Scouts.
Lita drew in a deep breath, a little hampered by Serena's holding Lita close, and said, "I'm sorry." Serena understood what Lita was talking about. Lita was sorry for quitting the team, but it was understandable. Serena had been close to doing the same thing many times.
"I understand, Lita. Welcome back," Serena said, her voice quavering slightly. The two pulled away and looked into each other's eyes, immediately laughing to dismiss the intensity of their emotions, tears both running down their faces.
Serena sniffed as she wiped away the tears, laughing even harder as she saw Lita doing the same thing. The action itself wasn't necessarily funny; it was that they were so overjoyed to be a team again. The other Scouts were giddy with relief as well. They all had big smiles on their faces, even the guys. The guys didn't know what going on, but they all felt the same relief that the girls did and they didn't know why. It was like they were being directly fed the girls' emotions.
Serena, who had finished wiping away her tears, turned around and said, "Well, Ryo, do you want to head over to your place. You've seen our house. It's our turn to see yours."
"Yeah, I think we're all done here. Let's head over to our place," Ryo said.
"And let's hurry. I really want to meet your girlfriend, Ryo," Serena teased.
"And she wants to meet all of you. She's heard so much about you all," Ryo said, ignoring Serena's teasing effort.
"Really, and why is that?" Mina asked Cye.
Cye only blushed a light pink and said, "Come on, let's go."
"Yeah," Kento said, walking out of the kitchen and into the hallway where his shoes were. All the others followed suit and soon they were out the door.
"Come on, Lita, open the door and let me talk to you."
"No," came the muffled reply. Mina sighed, knowing that Lita was crying again. Mina had been standing/sitting in front of Lita's door for a few hours now, trying to get her to open the door and talk to her, but she had only been able to talk to her through the door and she wanted to have direct contact.
Mina took in slow even breaths, trying to calm herself down.
"Lita, if you don't open the door, I'm going to have to open it by force," she threatened.
"Go ahead, it's not locked."
"It's not locked?" Mina asked, anger creeping into her voice. Here, she was thinking that Lita had locked the door, shutting everyone out of her life, but in truth, Lita had played Mina for the fool.
Mina only shook her head and got up to open the door when she heard the front door downstairs open.
"Lita, the guys are here, everyone. They've brought Kento and the others over and Kento's going to come up and talk to you, ok?"
"I don't care."
"Well, I do and for your information, they think that a best friend of yours died two years ago and that is why you're sad. Don't let them think otherwise."
"No problem," Lita said. Mina smiled, hearing the slight joy in her friend's voice. She knew that Lita had a big thing for Kento and that she would open up to him.
She walked away from the door and stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at the group of 8 people who were taking off their shoes and putting their stuff away. She tangled her fingers in her hair and pretended to be exasperated.
"Somebody save the goddess of love!" she yelled.
"I heard that!" Lita yelled through her door. Mina threw a smile at Lita's door and started off down the stairs, taking them two at a time.
"I'm getting nowhere fast with Lita. She won't talk to me," Mina said when she reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Nowhere?" the girls asked.
"Nowhere. I've been very unsuccessful."
Mina's eyes scanned the group, resting on Cye for a moment and giving him a small smile before she said, "Is anyone hungry? Before I got home, Lita had cooked up a storm in the kitchen and now there's enough food to feed an army in there."
"Again?" Raye asked.
"She always cooks when she's depressed," Mina said like it was a well-known fact.
Serena, who hadn't been paying much attention, said, "Food? Where?"
"In the kitchen," Ami said, "You would have heard it if you had been paying attention." But her words were useless; Kento and Serena had already taken off for the kitchen and began devouring all of the foods that Lita had cooked in her depression.
"Hey guys, slow down!" Rowen said.
"Yeah, leave some for us," Sage yelled.
Cye only shook his head as his friends went to stop the tornadoes that were Kento and Serena and turned to Mina.
"So, you've been trying to talk to Lita?"
"Yeah, and she won't talk to me. I just hope that Kento will be able to get her to cheer up."
"Oh, don't worry, once Kento is finished stuffing his face, he'll do anything and everything in his power to cheer her up," Cye reassured.
"Good, I hate seeing Lita like this. It's just depressing."
"Yeah, I know how you feel about seeing your friends depressed. I hate it when my friends aren't happy. It makes me feel bad," Cye said.
"Yeah, me too," Mina agreed. Their eyes met and it was like they were reading each other's souls for a moment. Cye broke it off first, a blush slowly creeping up on his face.
"So, why did you call yourself the goddess of love?" he asked, coming up with a new topic.
"Hmm? Oh, I called myself that because you are looking at Mina Aino, matchmaker extraordinaire. All of the couples I have set up have stayed together. I just know when two people are made for each other."
At those words, Ami's ears perked up. Yeah, then why can't you see that you and Cye are made for each other? Ami thought with a smile on her face.
Mina caught the smile and asked self-consciously, "What? What are you staring at? Do I have something on my face, or what?" Ami only smiled wider and shook her head.
"Nothing," she replied simply. Mina eyed her warily, and then let it go.
"Ok, fine. But, if you're lying to me, there is nothing that will save you from my power," Mina threatened.
"Ooh, I'm scared," Ami mocked before going into the kitchen.
She leaned against the counter and watched as her friends, minus Mina, Cye, and Lita, practically inhaled all the food that was on the kitchen table. Ami looked around her for any extra food, not daring to go into the fray that had surrounded the kitchen table, and found a plate of crab sandwiches with cucumber, her favorite.
Ami's face lit up with joy as she reached for one of the sandwiches; Lita had obviously been generous enough to make her favorite food. She took a bite, savoring the taste, and went to the refrigerator to get something to drink. Her hand had just closed around the door handle when the phone rang.
She looked around and found Mina preoccupied with talking to Cye and Serena and Raye occupied with the food and she knew that Lita wasn't going to answer it, so she went into the next room and picked up the portable phone.
"Hello?" she answered, just swallowing her bite of a crab and cucumber sandwich.
"Hey Ami," the male voice greeted. Ami couldn't believe who was calling her; she had to yell it out.
"Chad!!"
Raye's ears perked up at hearing her best male friend's name and said, "Chad? Is that who's calling? Ask him how Jesse is doing?"
"Is that Raye's voice I hear on the other end?" Chad asked.
"Yes, and she wants to know how Jesse is doing?"
"Oh, she's doing great," Chad answered in an extremely happy voice.
Chad had mooned over Raye for months, but Raye kept rejecting him. So, he decided to give up on her and he met someone else. Her name was Jesse and they were perfect for each other. Chad loved Jesse unconditionally and Jesse felt the same.
"That's great," Ami said, continuing the conversation.
She yelled to Raye, "Jesse's doing fine, Raye."
"Are there wedding bells in the picture?" Raye yelled, a huge smile on her face and the food forgotten.
"Why don't you pick up the phone yourself?" Ami said, walking into the kitchen, "You're phone is in your bedroom."
"That's a great idea," Raye said before taking off up to her bedroom.
"Hey, Chad, I hear voices in the background. Who's with you?" Ami asked.
"Oh, Darien, Andrew, and Greg are here."
"Ken's not there?" Ami asked with sadness in her voice.
"No, why?"
"Because I thought that he could talk to Lita. She's been having a hard time lately and I thought that she might want to talk to a close friend."
"No, he's not here. Sorry. But, next time I see him, I'll tell him to give her a call. Hold on, Ami. I'm going to put you on speaker phone."
After a couple seconds and a click, Ami heard, "Hey Ami," coming from four different guys.
"Hey guys, Raye should be on the phone any moment."
"That's cool," Chad said at the same time that Greg said, "Hey Ami, how are you doing?"
"I'm doing fine, Greg."
"How about that guy. What's his name? You know, the guy's that is exactly like you."
"You mean Rowen?" Raye asked, who had finally picked up the phone and heard Greg's question.
"Yeah, him. So, how is he Ami?"
Ami turned a light pink and eyed Rowen from across the room while saying, "He's fine."
"That's good to hear. So, how are the Scouts?" Greg asked.
"We're all fine," Ami said. All of the guys knew that the girls were the Sailor Scouts; they felt it was only fair to them to tell them.
"What's up with Lita?" Chad asked.
"Is there something wrong with Lita?" Andrew asked.
"Yeah, Andrew there is," Ami said.
Mina's attentions snapped to Ami as she said Andrew's name.
"Andrew? Are you talking to him?" Mina asked. Ami nodded and Mina ran into the living room and picked up the phone that was there.
"Andrew! Hi!" Mina yelled.
"Hey Mina, how are you?" Andrew asked.
"I'm fine and you?"
"I'm doing pretty good. I do miss you though."
"Yeah, well I miss you too," Mina said. Ami, from where she was standing, could see Cye's face fall as he thought she was talking to her boyfriend.
As if to unconsciously reassure Cye, Mina said, "So, how's Rita?"
"Um, well," Andrew said, getting nervous.
"Come on," Darien said, "Tell her about the engagement."
"What?" Mina asked, a huge smile on her face.
"Well, Rita and I are engaged."
"Congratulations," Ami said.
"I'll ditto that," Raye said, coming back into the kitchen with her phone.
"You and Rita are getting married, Andrew?" Mina yelled, "Oh my God, the day finally came. How many times had I told you just to ask her to marry you, you idiot?" Mina said.
"Many," Andrew admitted sheepishly.
"And did you ever ask her under my advice?" Mina asked again.
"No," he trailed off.
"Then what got you to ask her? When did you ask her?" Mina asked.
"What did Andrew ask?" Serena yelled, finally tuning in on the side of the conversation she could hear.
Ami covered the mouthpiece with her hand and said, "Andrew and Rita are getting married."
"They are? Finally," Serena said.
Ami laughed and said, "Yeah." The guys in the room felt like they had missed something big.
"I'm lost, what's going on here?" Sage asked Serena.
"Oh, our friends from Tokyo are on the phone."
"Yeah, but who are these guys?" Rowen asked.
"They are our best guy friends back home. We've known them all for a long time. Actually...Is Darien on the phone, Ami?"
"Yeah, he is. Come and say hi to him when you're finished talking to the guys."
"Ok...well, anyway. Darien is part of a group of 5 guys that we would always hang out with back home. The "ringleader" of the group is my boyfriend, Darien. The others are Greg, who's Ami's best friend; Ken, who's Lita's; Andrew, Mina's best guy friend; and Chad, who's Raye's best guy friend.
"It's so funny. All of those 4 guys are dating the girls we've been hassling them to go out with. Andrew finally proposed to Rita; he's, like, 19. Chad is with Jesse, Ken is with Leah, and Greg is happily going out with someone named...Hey Ami?"
"Yeah?"
"What is Greg's girlfriend's name?" Serena asked.
"Ashley," Ami answered.
"Did I hear my girlfriend's name?" Greg asked over the phone.
"Yeah, you did," Raye said.
"Why?"
"Because Serena is telling the guys who you are and the names of your girlfriends," Ami said.
"Why?" Chad asked.
"General info?" Mina offered.
"Good answer," Chad said.
"I thought so too, Chad," Mina said with a smile.
"Hey, Serena, do you want to say hi to your boyfriend?" Ami asked.
"Yeah!" Serena said before hopping out of her seat and over to Ami.
Ami said, "Bye guys!" to the guys on the other end of the phone.
"Bye Ami!" they said as she handed the phone to Serena and took Serena's place at the table. Raye and Mina, who didn't want to be on the phone when Serena was talking to Darien, said bye to the guys.
"Bye you guys!" Mina said.
"Yeah, see you when we come home for Christmas!" Raye exclaimed.
"Ok, see you later," Andrew said.
"Yeah, bye," Chad said before Raye and Mina hung up the phone.
By this time, Serena was practically cooing into the phone and Cye had joined the table. Raye and Mina pulled up extra chairs and sat down, starting to talk with Ami.
"God, I haven't heard from them in a while," Ami said.
"Yeah," Raye said, "I'm happy that Chad is doing great with Jesse."
Mina gave Raye a look and said, "No, you're just happy that Chad isn't mooning over you anymore." Raye nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I'm happy about that too. You don't know how bad it was having him one, live at the temple while having a crush on me, and two, having to hear him sing." Raye rested her head on her hands and shook her head, starting to laugh.
"Actually, I think those were some of the funniest times," she said.
"And why do you say that?" Sage asked, a little jealous of the guy who knew so much about the girl he loved.
Mina, who was laughing as well, said, "Well, it was really funny to see Raye chase Chad around the temple grounds with a broom, threatening to beat him with it if he continued to sing." The guys, who were all taking a sip of water at the time, started to choke on it in laughter.
"You did something like that, Raye?" Kento asked. Raye nodded, a smile forcing its way onto her face.
"I can see you doing something like that," Rowen said. Everyone only voiced their agreement by laughing.
Serena came back into the room with a wistful look on her face.
"Is everything all right with Darien?" Raye asked, an eyebrow raised coyly.
"Yeah," Serena said. Her happy look then faded. "But, I'm still worried about Lita. Darien told me that we have to snap her out of it before it's too late," Serena said sadly.
The other girls' smiles faded. If they didn't get Lita to fight again with them, they would be separated and they wouldn't be able to fight because without the 5 Sailor Scouts, the Sailor team was basically powerless. They all drew strength from each other and when their hearts weren't united, their powers were useless.
"Yeah," Ami said, "We have to get her cheered up and back to normal."
"Though we won't ever be normal," Raye said.
"What's stopping you guys from being normal?" Cye asked.
"It's a long story," said the girls in unison.
The guys' brows furrowed in confusion, but those looks were ignored as Mina grabbed Kento's hand.
"You have to go talk to Lita. She trusts you. She just might listen to you," Mina said, her voice quavering with unshed tears, her eyes sparkling with hopefulness. Hopping out of her seat, Mina pulled Kento upstairs to Lita's room.
Standing in front of Lita's door, Mina laid a hand on Lita's door in sadness.
"If anyone can cheer her up, it's you, Kento." Mina gave Kento a quick kiss on the cheek as thanks before walking away, leaving Kento standing in front of Lita's door.
Kento stared at Lita's bedroom door. He nervously put his hand on the doorknob, but he didn't know why he was nervous. Yes, you do, Kento thought, You're nervous because you're going to go see Lita. You love her and whenever you see her, you get nervous. Kento sighed and rested the side of his head against the door, feeling the coolness of the wood pressed up against his ear.
As he sat there with his ear pressed up against the door, he could hear the soft sounds of weeping and his heart clenched in pain. Lita was crying. He didn't think that it was possible. Lita was the strongest girl, physically and emotionally, that he had ever met and listening to her cry broke his heart.
He moved his head away from the door and slowly opened it, turning the doorknob ever so slowly as to give no indication that he was entering the room. When the door was open enough for him to get through, he entered the room and closed the door, making sure that there was no sound that would disturb Lita.
His eyes scanned the room, noting how clean it was, before resting on Lita, who was curled up in a corner on her bed, crying softly. Seeing her in such a prone position gave him a strong feeling of protectiveness for Lita and he moved towards the bed. Sitting down on the bed, he was less than an arm's length away from her. She hadn't noticed him yet, but he was going to fix that.
He reached out with his arm and pushed a strand of hair away from her face, which was being covered by her hands, and tucked it behind her ear. Lita's breath hitched and she slowly removed her face from her hands. The sight of her tear-streaked face made Kento's own face soften in sympathy.
"Hey there," he whispered.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered, almost harshly.
"I came to see if you were ok."
"I'm fine, now leave me alone."
"You don't look fine," Kento said. Lita turned her head away so she wouldn't have to look at Kento. She knew that if she looked at him, she would start crying again and she didn't want to do that in front of him. But, he wasn't going to let her get away with hiding her pain from him.
Gently, he put his finger under her chin, tipping up her face so she would have to look at him.
Staring directly into beautiful green eyes that were glistening with tears, he said, "Let it go, Lita. I'm right here. I promise I won't think you any weaker for breaking down. It takes a strong person to admit having a weakness."
As Lita stared at Kento's face, she saw all the pain he felt for her and she realized that he only wanted to help. Not believing he cared so much as to help her through her pain, even though he didn't know why she was hurt, it only made the hasty walls she had just built crumble. Kento watched as her resolve fell apart and she started to cry.
Feeling relieved that she finally opened up, he pulled her into his arms and held her as she cried. Lita wrapped her arms around his neck and let herself revel in the feeling of his arms around her as she cried. She could feel her pain subsiding and being in his arms felt like coming home.
Kento sat there, just being content to hold her as she cried, and when he felt that her tears had slowed enough that she was ready to talk, he said, "You know, I'm sorry about your friend that died, but your friends now need you."
"No, they don't need me. They'll be fine."
"No, I don't think they will. I don't know much about your past or the girls' for that matter, but I do know that you guys are a team of some sort and I can see it. You all depend on each other and when one of you falls apart, all of you feel the same pain. The girls downstairs are feeling the same pain right now and it hurts them because they need you. You're very important to them and I think they would do anything for you. Are you going to walk away from that?"
Lita, who was pretty much finished crying, sat up and looked Kento straight in the eye, feeling a lot better.
"You seem to know a lot about being part of a team," Lita said.
"Yeah, well, it's a long story," Kento said sheepishly, "But at least you're not crying anymore."
"Yeah, thank you, by the way," Lita said, still in Kento's arms.
"It was nothing," he said, his voice full of indifference.
"No, you've done something great here today," Lita said, thinking about what he had just done. Kento, without realizing it, had saved the Sailor Scouts. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and hugged him tightly.
Kento blushed, thanking the powers that be that she couldn't see him blush because she was hugging him. He, of course, hugged her back, loving the feeling of her body pressed up against his. With her so close, he could feel the curves of her body pressed up against him and he wanted more than ever to kiss her. Although he had only known her for a month or so, the love he felt for the girl in his arms was startling.
She pulled away and gave him another kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you," she said before pushing her body off of his, immediately missing his warmth.
"You go on downstairs. I'm going to wash my face to get rid of the tears."
"Ok," Kento said distantly. He, too, missed the feeling of her so close to him. He stood up and watched as Lita left the room to wash her face. He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down. Having Lita so close to him played a number on his hormones. After all, he was only a guy.
Finally feeling composed he left Lita's room and walked downstairs, hearing voices of laughter coming from the kitchen. He walked into the kitchen and saw a bright red Mina surrounded by a group of hysterical people.
"What's so funny?" Kento asked, his brow furrowed in confusion. Serena wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes and said, "We were telling everyone the story about how Mina realized that dancing wasn't her best option as a career."
Kento had a look of apprehension on his face as he said, "Ok," a little scared about being around all the crazy people in the room.
"But, did you get Lita cheered up?" Serena asked.
Happy for switch of topics to one he knew, Kento said, "Well, I got her out of her bedroom and she seems better than she did this morning. I think she's going to be ok." The girls, who had all calmed down, sighed with relief.
"You have done a great thing today, Kento," Raye said with thankfulness in her voice.
"That's funny. That's exactly what Lita said," Kento observed.
"Well, it's true," Mina said.
"What's true?" Lita asked as she entered the kitchen.
She took one look around at the mess the others created out of her food and she scoffed.
"Gee, you guys sure made a mess of my kitchen."
Serena looked at Lita, eyes wide and asked, "Are you really ok?" Lita stared into Serena's eyes, which were shining with tears, and nodded almost unnoticeably.
Serena then proceeded to launch herself out of her chair and barreled her way over to Lita, where she threw her arms around her friend and comrade. Lita, a little taken aback at first, put her arms around Serena and hugged her tight.
Lita squeezed her eyes shut against the tears of relief as she clutched to her leader. She was afraid that the Scouts weren't going to want her back after she "quit" the Sailor Scouts.
Lita drew in a deep breath, a little hampered by Serena's holding Lita close, and said, "I'm sorry." Serena understood what Lita was talking about. Lita was sorry for quitting the team, but it was understandable. Serena had been close to doing the same thing many times.
"I understand, Lita. Welcome back," Serena said, her voice quavering slightly. The two pulled away and looked into each other's eyes, immediately laughing to dismiss the intensity of their emotions, tears both running down their faces.
Serena sniffed as she wiped away the tears, laughing even harder as she saw Lita doing the same thing. The action itself wasn't necessarily funny; it was that they were so overjoyed to be a team again. The other Scouts were giddy with relief as well. They all had big smiles on their faces, even the guys. The guys didn't know what going on, but they all felt the same relief that the girls did and they didn't know why. It was like they were being directly fed the girls' emotions.
Serena, who had finished wiping away her tears, turned around and said, "Well, Ryo, do you want to head over to your place. You've seen our house. It's our turn to see yours."
"Yeah, I think we're all done here. Let's head over to our place," Ryo said.
"And let's hurry. I really want to meet your girlfriend, Ryo," Serena teased.
"And she wants to meet all of you. She's heard so much about you all," Ryo said, ignoring Serena's teasing effort.
"Really, and why is that?" Mina asked Cye.
Cye only blushed a light pink and said, "Come on, let's go."
"Yeah," Kento said, walking out of the kitchen and into the hallway where his shoes were. All the others followed suit and soon they were out the door.
