Author Note: Hey! Welcome back to another chapter of the Usagi/Rei files! Not sure which chapter this is, though. Right now, I'm working on the first chapter, as well as this one. Those who have read "Father Figure," my first public work and the start of this little project, may remember that Usagi said she didn't want to loose Rei 'again.' Now you can find out what she was talking about. "Speed" is a song by the country duo, Montgomery Gentry. I sure as hell didn't write it. Credit for Sailor Moon goes to Naoko Takeuchi, who created the damn thing. But the story line is mine. Anyone caught stealing it will be glued naked to a wall in New York City or Washington D.C. Or maybe Tokyo. Just as long as few people there speak their language. They will then be drenched with honey and covered with chicken feathers and left there until the police peel them off. A word of caution. This story is by no means as positive and happy as "Father Figure." If you don't like sad things, please leave. If not, enjoy!
~~Ugisa-kun ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Speed
(I'm tired of spinnin my wheels
I need to find a place
Where my heart can go to heal
I need to get there pretty quick
Hey, mister, what you got on that lot
You can sell me in a pinch?)

Rei yawned, rubbing her eyes.
"Gotta stay awake just a little longer." She told herself, yawning again. She backed out of the parking lot and onto a side street. "Just stay awake till you get home."
She didn't see the huge truck barreling towards her until it was inches from the driver side door. She raised her right arm in a futile attempt to stop the steel monster. Her car, much lighter than the truck she usually drove, was flung several feet before landing on its side in the middle of the street.

"But why would an empty car be backing out of a parking lot?" Hari asked her partner, thoroughly frustrated by the unusual case. "No car would be parked anywhere where it could roll into the street. And the truck driver kept asking if the 'pretty driver' was okay."
"I believe we now know why this case was assigned to us, my friend." Megumi said, smiling slightly. "But we should not wonder over that.
"The car belonged to a Miss Hino Rei. We contacted her place of residence and got Tsukino Usagi, a good friend. Apparently, Hino was due off of work around the time of the crash, and has not been seen since. By the amount of blood in the car, I believe it is safe to assume that she is dead."
"But we need solid facts."
"Exactly."
"I hate needing solid facts." Hari complained, rubbing her eyes. "I'm going home now. I need sleep. You coming?"
"Sure. Just let me file this." Megumi suited actions to words, slipping papers into folders and folders into cabinets with superhuman speed. "Let's go."

(Maybe one o' them souped-up muscle cars
The kind that makes you think
You're strong than you are
Color don't matter, no I don't need leather seats.
All that really concerns me
Is...)

A long way off in the Japanese countryside, a dazed and injured woman with long black hair and huge violet eyes lay on her back halfway in a creek. She didn't move, although her eyes were open. Birds had even begun landing near her when her rescuer found her. "Wow." Karibi whispered, pushing sweat-soaked bangs away from his forehead. "This is not what I was expecting." He had expected to find some sort of animal when her first sighted the tan of the woman's dress. "She looks hurt pretty bad, wouldn't you say?" His question seemed directed at the animals that hadn't scattered upon his arrival. The woman's eyelids fluttered softly, and she groaned. When she tried to sit up, the groan turned into a sharp cry of pain.
"Hey, Miss!" Karibi exclaimed, sliding down the creek bank to help her sit up. "You got banged up pretty bad, Miss. You shouldn't try to move." He put his arm behind her back and slipped the other under her legs. "W-what are you doing?" She asked weakly, feebly struggling. "I'm picking you up. Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you." His words were wasted. The woman had already passed out. "You're committed, Karibi, my boy." He said out loud, smiling. Then he shook his head, laughing ruefully. "And you never could leave a wounded animal behind."

(Speed
How fast can it go?
Will it get me
Over her quickly?
Zero to sixty
Can it outrun her memory?
Yeah, what I really need
Is an open road
And a whole lotta speed)

Rei moaned softly. Her head hurt. So did her arms, chest, and torso. She felt like a truck had hit her. "So you're finally awake." An amused male voice said from somewhere nearby. Rei tried to turn her head, but that only made her headache worsen. "I wouldn't recommend moving." The voice continued. "You were pretty messed up when I found you, and you aren't much better now." "Where am I?" Rei asked, her voice emerging as a mere whisper. "My place. My name is Karibi. I've been taking care of you for the past week while you hogged my bed." "Oh! Gomen!" "Hey, think nothing of it! You need it more than me." Looking down, Rei realized that this was true. She also realized that she had no clothes on except an over-sized tee. "Where are my clothes?" She asked as politely as she could. "You won't be wearing those again, not unless you're real good at sewing." Karibi said, still sounding slightly amused. "It must have been one hell of an outfit, but right now it's in shreds. I could swear you were in a car wreck or something, except you were in a creek about three miles from the nearest thing remotely resembling a road." "Oh." Rei said, closing her eyes. "One last question." "Yeah?" "Who am I?"

(I'd like to trade in this old truck
Cause it makes me think of her
And that just slows me up
See, it's the first place we made love
Where we used to sit and talk
On the tailgate all night long
But now she's gone
And I need to move on
So gimme)

Usagi sat quietly on the floor of the room she had once shared with Rei. Everyone else was convinced that the dark-haired priestess was dead, but Usagi knew differently. Deep in her gut, she could swear she heard her love's heart beating in unison with hers. "I won't give up on you." The blonde said quietly, staring fiercely at a snapshot in her left hand. It showed Usagi and Rei on their first date, trying unsuccessfully to ride the same bike in the park. "So don't you go and die just to prove me wrong." Tears welled up in her bright blue eyes, spilling down her cheeks and splashing onto the photo. "Don't die." Unseen by the blonde Moon princess, Minako gently closed the bedroom door and leaned against it. "You'll have to let go soon, Bunny." She whispered, holding back tears of her own. "Rei's dead, Bunny. Nothing human could have survived that crash." The news she had spent all morning working up the courage to deliver hanging in the air behind her, Minako turned and blindly fled the temple.

(Speed
How fast can it go?
Will it get me
Over her quickly?
Zero to sixty
Can it outrun her memory?
Yeah, what I really need
Is an open road
And a whole lotta speed)

Karibi and his houseguest set up a mutually satisfying routine after she started moving around. Every morning, they ate breakfast. Karibi left for work, and Rei cleaned up the house and worked in the garden.
She ate lunch alone, and then did what she wanted all afternoon. When Karibi came home, they would make dinner together, the pick an activity for the evening. After that, they spent an hour or two working on reviving her memory. They had a name now, at least: Usagi.
"Karibi, do you think I'll ever get my memory back?" Rei asked, casting her fishing pole into the middle of the still pond.
"Sure you will. After all, we at least know your name now."
Rei hesitated for a moment, then gave voice to what had been bothering her for the past few days. "That's not my name." She said.
"What?" Karibi asked, turning so fast he nearly fell into the water.
"Usagi. It's not my name. Usagi has long blonde hair and big blue eyes, and she's close to me, but she's not me."
"That's even better." Karibi said, regaining his balance. "Now we know the name of someone who's probably looking for you. If we can come up with a last name for her, we'll get you in the hands of someone who knows you and what you should remember."
"I suppose you're right." Rei said, sighing. She shivered in a sudden gust of wind, pulling her coat closer around her shoulders. "Let's go in. It's getting cold."

(I'm tired of spinnin my wheels
I'm tired of spinnin my wheels)

Rei spent nearly a week thinking and trying hard to access memories she knew were there before coming up with a name. Tsukino Usagi. Tsukino Usagi would know who she was, even if she herself didn't. Which was why She and Karibi were bouncing down the road in his beat-up pick-up toward Tokyo.

(Speed
How fast can it go?
Will it get me
Over her quickly?
Zero to sixty
Can it outrun her memory?
Yeah, what I really need
Is an open road
And a whole lotta speed)

Usagi was slowly sweeping the temple steps, lost in a half-trance of grief and memories, when an old truck pulled up in front of her. A man got out of the driver's seat, ran around the front, and opened the passenger side door to help out. Rei.
"Rei!" Usagi exclaimed, dropping the broom. The blonde ran over to the two, throwing her arms around Rei. "Oh my God, Rei! You're back! I knew you weren't dead! I just knew it!"
"Are you. Tsukino Usagi?" The man asked, just as Rei suddenly cried out and grabbed her head with both hands.
"Rei!" Usagi yelled, grabbing the dark-haired priestess's shoulders. "Rei, what's wrong?" She leaned closer, only to have Rei wrap her arms around her slim waist and kiss her lips.
"I always knew you were special." Rei said, smiling weakly. "Good- bye." With that, her huge violet eyes closed, and she sagged to the ground.
"Rei?" Usagi said. "Rei? Rei! Rei, what's wrong? Don't do this to me! Don't make me loose you again! Rei!"

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Author's Note~ Told you it wouldn't be as happy as Father Figure. So there. *blows raspberry*