Quatre held out an arm to Ami which she accepted quite happily and Quatre led the way to the dining hall. Duo cheekily grinned at Minako offering her his proffered hand and Minako grasped onto it allowing Duo to pull her along behind him. Heero stood up with Rei and the two walked side by side, following the others but not touching, just walking close to each other. Mako looked over at Wufei and he stared back at her. Mako tossed her hair and strode off leaving Wufei to smirk and follow her. Trowa ofllowed them all last. As Rei was walking she turned around to stare at Trowa, noting the way he had been staring at Relena, remembering there was a time when Relena's father had stared at her the same way.
He loves her- Rei came to the conclusion and that thought made her smile. Trowa noticed Rei staring at him and raised his eyebrows at her and Rei shrugged her shoulders and turned away quickly as if embarrassed to have been caught out. At that simple movement Trowa was struck by the thought of how much she reminded him of Relena, and his mind started working, although he kept his thoughts to himself. Relena joined him outside the door and Trowa bestowed on her a smile and Relena returned his smile, taking his arm that he automatically offered her.
At the dining hall Quatre sat at the head of the table and placed Ami at his right hand side. Heero was seated at Quatre's left with Rei next to him. Minako wanted to sit beside Rei and so Duo sat next to Minako. Trowa and Relena had taken the seat beside Ami and Mako had taken her seat beside Trowa. Wufei was seated last and had chosen to sit opposite Mako beside Rei. Dinner was a chatty affair, Duo and Minako kept the table alive with cheerful conversation, Quatre and Ami continued polite conversation, Trowa was silent, eating his meal quietly every so often glancing at Rei, watching her closely and then looking at Relena whose gaze was fixed firmly on Rei and Heero. Heero and Rei were silent as always, Heero often looking over at her making sure she was okay. Mako and Wufei were making biting comments to each other, mainly trying to insult the other.
"Did you know Queen Serenity well at all?" Duo popped into the conversation and all talking stopped as everyone looked at Minako.
"Queen Serenity was the most wonderful, caring, kind person in the world, she always put the feelings of other people above her own, she would sacrifice her very life if it meant it would save someone else, she is our hime (princess), she will always be our hime (Princess)," Minako said softly, with a passion that quite surprised Duo and the other pilots as well. She seemed so sure, so certain. Ami, Mako and Rei were all nodding their heads agreeing with every word Minako spoke, for she spoke for all of them.
"I thought you didn't remember Crystal Tokyo," Duo said a little quietly, in his voice you could hear the thought as he imagined that Minako had been lying to him all this time and Minako gave him a fond smile, still lost in her memories.
"You don't need to remember to know what Serenity was like," Minako said dreamily and Duo frowned not understanding but Quatre gave him a look and Duo let the conversation go. When the meal was over Quatre stood up to address the table.
"Well, I hope everyone had a good dinner, I will now show you to your rooms"
Everyone started to get up, Duo had rushed to pull out Minako's chair for her and Minako was grinning like a Cheshire cat, enjoying the lavish attention being given to her. The group bar Trowa and Relena started following Ami and Quatre who was leading the way up the stairs to the second floor. Relena left the mansion quietly, leaving Trowa to keep an eye of everyone. A row of doors revealed decorated rooms once belonging to 10 of Quatre's 29 sisters. Five rooms on one side and five on the other. Ami chose the first room on the left, then Mako went into the next room on the left, then Minako and Rei took the last door down the hall on the left.
"Goodnight!" everyone called to each other and the girls disappeared into their respective rooms, Rei still clutching the bouquet of roses to her chest. Once the doors were shut the men huddled together for a conversation in one of the opposite rooms.