"Are you all right?" Relena asked but Rei was just staring at her.
-My daughter- Rei realised with a strange feeling of pride and shock; -this is my daughter, my child all grown up. She became Princess of the Earth. She is so beautiful, so lovely, so elegant, everything I would have wanted her to be-
Relena seemed a little uncomfortable at the intense look Rei was giving her so she sought to diffuse the situation with a gift she had brought with her.
"I brought you some roses, they're my favourite flowers," Relena pulled from behind her back a bouquet of roses and Rei's eye brightened considerably. She reached forward and took the flowers clutching them to her chest and Mako eyed the flowers fondly as she thought of Serenity and Endymion. Endymion had always been forever giving Serenity roses, the Crystal Gardens were full of roses, each one planted by Endymion, Serenity and Small Lady.
"They were King Endymion's favourite too," Mako said dreamily a smile on her face as she remembered better times in the Crystal Gardens and immediately Relena's interest was peaked. If this Endymion was truly her father, she wanted to know everything about him. Relena was becoming more certain that Endymion was her father and Serenity was her mother, but she needed to know more, she needed proof.
"Endymion the King of Crystal Tokyo? You knew him?" Relena asked eagerly and Ami, Rei and Minako all shot Mako a stern look of warning and Mako shut her mouth immediately realising she had let too much slip.
"Briefly your highness, we were but handmaidens to the royal family, Mako used to bring the King and Queen their daily flowers," Ami explained easily, though the lie tasted terrible in her mouth. Ami was loyal, she would do anything to protect the royal family, but lying was something Ami would never be comfortable with.
"Do you know what happened to them?" Relena persisted questioning Ami, as Ami seemed to be the one who knew the most from what Relena had read in the reports on the girls.
This Ami was a smart cookie, according to the data her IQ was way above normal, she had accelerated learning capabilities and was fluent with the use of computers, and from the mathematics test, this girl had to be a genius.
Makoto or Mako as the girl called herself was different. She had been the first one to wake, proving her strength to be the greatest, she was up and walking long before the other girls had even woken up. Not the smartest girl, it didn't take long for Wufei to discover that she was a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, after he insulted her by calling her weak, he had the black eye to prove it.
Minako was a different mix as well. The girl had woken up smiling, cheery and talkative, although she spoke of trivial tings, she could remember nothing beyond the creation of Crystal Tokyo, but she talked easily of her old life in Old Tokyo. She was average with learning, average with strength but her determination was something to be inspired by. The girl was a natural actress, and singer, she had Duo spellbound from the moment she opened her mouth.
And then there was Rei. This girl Relena couldn't quite work out. She had rejected all the tests refusing to take part, and just when they were beginning to wonder if she was perhaps mentally affected by the crystal she had been frozen in, she would have an intelligent silent conversation with Heero who was the only one who could easily read her hand movements. It had brought them quite close. Lady Une had insisted Heero be with Rei at all times, in case her hand movements ever betrayed some secret that might be useful. This Rei was stubborn; stubborn and beautiful. Relena took a quick glance at Heero; his hand was still resting, unnoticed by both Rei and Heero on Rei's lower back. Heero had taken it upon himself to become her personal protector; he had even resigned as Relena's bodyguard so that he could spend all his time with Rei. And Rei didn't seem to mind at all; they both seemed to enjoy each other's company.
"No, I cannot remember a thing apart from the fact that Crystal Tokyo was created and then…nothing," Ami said shrugging her shoulders and a bit disappointed Relena pouted a little turning away not wanting to see Heero so close to Rei, so personal with her.
"Oh, very well, enjoy your time here, I will come and check on you as much as my duties allow," Relena said bowing her head in farewell and she swept out of the room leaving Trowa behind. Rei let out a deep breath as Relena's left the room and Heero shot her a concerned look wondering why Relena's presence had flustered Rei so much.
"Well why don't we introduce ourselves and get to know each other since we will be spending quite a bit of time together," Quatre suggested sensibly and Ami smiled at him, pleased that he was such a gentleman. He had been the first person Ami had woken up to and she hadn't minded. Quatre was everything that a man should be, smart, funny, sweet, caring and Ami was quite awed by him.
"My name is Ami Mizuno, I was a scientist back in Tokyo," Ami said humbly and Minako beamed widely.
"This girl found the cure to cancer!" Minako said loudly getting up to slap Ami on the back proudly.
"That was you? I'm impressed," Quatre said giving Ami one of these gentle looks of appraisal.
"It was nothing," Ami said blushing deeply and Quatre was surprised.
"Nothing? That medicine saved my youngest sister's life! Saving lives is something," Quatre complimented her blushing a little when Duo chuckled.
Duo and Minako shared a look of amusement. Minako felt her old mischief coming upon her of match making and looking at Duo, Minako knew she would have a partner in crime.
"Thank you," Ami said softly.
Mako thought it best to take the focus off their little genius who looked to be a little embarrassed at being the centre of attention.
"Makoto Kino, Mako for short, I was a Tae Kwon Do instructor at the Hiwaka Shrine," Mako said and Duo gave a whistle of appreciation and Wufei's eyes widened in surprised but he covered it with a smirk.
"Impressive onna," he taunted her and Mako raised her fist towards him.
"You are cruising for a bruising buddy," Mako cursed him, anger lighting her green eyes and Wufei grunted in response though he was pleased to have gotten a rise out of Makoto.
"And you Miss?" Quatre asked politely of Minako who smiled widely.
"Minako Aino, but everyone can call me Mina, I was an actress," she said simply and Duo sat down on the ground in front of her, staring at her admiringly.
"I wish I could have seen a movie you were in," he flirted with her ever so slightly and Minako laughed fluttering her eyelashes as she flirted back.
"I wasn't that good," Minako played down her career but Mako wouldn't hear of it.
All the girls had been so damned proud when Minako's first movie had come out. They had all gone as her dates at the premier, Mako had met Minako's co-star that night and the two had hit it off and started dating, for a few months at least anyway. Ami had shied away from the spotlight, hiding in the shadows, while Minako had been the perfect movie star, waving and smiling at the cameras and paparazzi milking the night for all it was worth. Usagi was tripping over the red carpet, giggling and a little starstruck. And Rei had been the star of the night, punching out the director of Minako's movie after he made a pass at her.
"Yes she was, she was nominated for an Oscar the year…" Mako broke off as she remembered what had happened.
"What year?" Duo asked interested and Mako shrugged.
"The year Crystal Tokyo was created, we didn't get to go to the Oscar's because we were in Crystal Tokyo," Minako finished quickly for Mako and Duo looked sympathetically at Minako. From what he had heard about history, before the wars, these Oscar's were the most spectacular event honouring the greats of the movie making industry. It must have been a high award to miss out on getting.
"Must have been devastating to miss out on something so important to your career," Duo said solemnly but Minako shook her head adamantly.
"No, Crystal Tokyo was worth missing the Oscar's for," Minako said surely, and Duo was surprised how certain she was, considering she told him she didn't remember much about Crystal Tokyo in the first place.
"And who is this?" Quatre asked looking at Rei and Rei looked at Minako to speak for her which Minako did quite happily.
"This is my best friend Rei Hino, Rei was a Shinto Priestess and owner of the Hiwaka shrine, Rei also used to be a singer," Minako told everyone and Duo frowned finding it strange that she would have had such a beautiful voice before but had no vocal abilities now.
"A singer?" Duo repeated scratching his head, as he asked, "How come you can't talk now"
Rei smiled a little at his forward manner, he didn't seem afraid to say what he was thinking and Rei found herself liking him. He reminded her of Minako. Rei shook her head and touched her throat looking to Heero for him to explain.
"Something went wrong with her voice during the Crystal freezing," Heero said in monotone and Duo shrugged accepting the answer.
"Well I hope you will all enjoy living here," Quatre said then he looked a his watch and whistled as he commented, "Look at the time, dinner should be ready to be served right now."