The 2 walked towards Rei's bedroom and past to the next door. "You can stay here," she said. Rei opened the door to reveal a peaceful room with the sun shining through the yellowed paper curtains. There was a straw mat and some blankets and a flat pillow laid out which was the bed in the far right corner. A changing screen was in the other right corner closer to the 2, and a table and basket in the left hand side. On the table were some parchment and ink with a fountain pen to write letters or Chinese letters. Also, a few candles were on the table corner.

"What do I light the candle's with?"

"Um, visitors don't light the candles any more. We had one guy who set his room on fire with the matches, saying he was having a ritual of some sort."

"So are they just for decorations now?"

No, we light them sometimes."

"Oh, and what's the basket for?"

"We let you put your clothes there. Then we give our visitors a proper outfit, like mine." Rei said, giving a quick spin to show her red and white clothes.

"Awesome." Said Mark. "So, what do you do around here?"

"Well, my grandpa takes care of the place, trains, and does a lot of weird stuff. The visitors usually like to watch him, or do their own exploring. Some come for their own personal reasons. Not many people do come though."

"Oh, ok."

"Where do you come from, anyways? What do you do?" asked Rei.

"Well, I'm a photographer. I take photos of nature mainly, and sometimes people. I also like to paint. Do you have a profession?"

"Fire, really. I use fire to train with."

"You… fight?" asked Mark.

"Yeah, with uh… some friends of mine." Said Rei, concentrating not to let anything slip.

"Cool." Said Mark, yawning. "Well, I think I'm going to chill in my room for now. Write, maybe. Or I might take photos of the place."

"Or, you could sleep." Said Rei.

"I guess." Said Mark, yawning again. "Well, good-night."

"Oh, um, my Grandpa will probably get you to do something for him to 'pay' for your stay. You'll probably need a good sleep. 'Night!"

Mark stared dumbly from his doorway, as Rei turned and walked down the hallways. He scratched his head and turned into his room.

"What could an old man possibly want for pay?" he thought, turning into his room.


Rei exited the shrine, walking into the weakening sunlight. The sun was barely visible, and the moon was out. Stars slowly started to sprinkle the sky, as Rei glided into the middle of the empty terrain. Her grandpa had gone in, being old and all. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the night air. She spun around lightly, but soon grew bored. Rei looked around to see if anyone was watching her from the trees or something like that, before she removed her baggy top, revealing a white undershirt. She took a chopstick and spun her hair into a tight bun around it, and then stabbed another one in. Rei then began practicing kicks, punches, spins, and flips in the moonlight, the white light shining off of her clothes.


Mark was looking out of his window, looking for something to draw. He was bored out of his mind and couldn't get to sleep. Rei was on his mind, and he couldn't get her out.

"She's so feisty, and yet… somewhat peaceful. There's some kind of air around her that tells you that she can easily stand her own ground." Thought Mark. "I wonder what she does for a living, other than 'fighting' as she calls it. She couldn't be a fighter; she's just too, spirited, unless she was talking about with her Grandpa. He's strange. He probably fights her for the fun of it every day."

Mark's ear suddenly heard a faint grunt outside, and a footfall. A flash of red could be seen around the corner.

"What was that?" thought Mark.

He leaned out of his window further to get a better view.

"It's… Rei. And she's… practicing!"

Mark slowly tried to heave himself out of the window without making a sound. His hands almost touched the earth underneath his, when his waist suddenly lost its stabilisation.


Rei jerked her head suddenly.

"What was that?" she thought, "It sounded like a fall."

Rei stopped what she was doing and quietly pressed herself up against the wall. She listened a little while longer but heard nothing.

"It couldn't be the Negaverse or anything." She thought. "Not now, it would be too dangerous. It's probably some animal that fell from a branch. It'll be all right."

Rei walked back to the empty ground and continued to train.


Mark dusted himself off from falling. He hoped he didn't disturb Rei. He reached back into his room through the window and grabbed his sketchpad and charcoal. Slowly, he walked towards Rei. Hidden by the darkness, he stared at her silhouette. Mark smiled to himself. He bent his head over his sketchpad as he began to draw.


Rei slowly opened her eyes as the morning sunlight poured into her room. She rubbed away the sleep with her fists and got up to dress. While getting dressed pains all over her body ached as constant reminders from last night's workout. Every muscle felt stiff and weak, certainly in no condition to fight. Once she was finished getting dressed, Rei turned towards the kitchen, She prepared some tea, bread and jam and carried some over to the guest's room. Quietly she knocked on the door.

"Come in." came a muffled voice.

Rei opened the door to find Mark sprawled all over his bed, his face buried into the pillows. Rei chuckled to herself. She turned towards the desk to place down the tray.

"Sounds like you were up late." Said Rei, making conversation. "You'll need a lot of energy to work with my Grandpa today."

"Mmmhmm,"

Rei pushed the sketchpad off the table to make room for the tray. Once the food was safely on the table, she turned to pick up the sketchpad. It had opened itself to a fresh page, clean, white and crisp. Rei picked it up and flipped through a few pages before putting it back down. She turned the next page and saw a sketch of someone who looked just like her last night training.

"Mark…?"

"Yeah?"

"What is this?"

Mark turned around slowly.

"Oh um…"

"It's me isn't it!" shouted Rei.

"Well, yes but-"

"You were spying on me! I thought a heard a noise outside, I didn't bother checking but it was you! You foul piece of-"

"Rei! Let me expla-" tried Mark.

"No!" shouted Rei. "I thought I could trust you! Leave my temple! Get lost, twerp!"

"But I have no where to stay!"

Rei's Grandpa turned the corner with his own tray in hand.

"Rei!" he said, questioningly. "Why are you yelling at our guest? I want him training soon! He can help us!"

"This bird brain spied on me last night!" shouted Rei.

"Spied? Well what were you doing? Sleeping? I don't see anything interesting about that." Said Grandpa.

"No, she was-" started Mark.

"I was training! And Mark here thought he could make a profit from it! That's my personal time!" said Rei, furious. "I want him out!"

"Now Rei, don't be harsh." Said Grandpa.

"Yeah, don't be harsh." Nodded Mark pathetically.

"We can't just kick him out. He's out guest." Explained Grandpa.

"And I'm your granddaughter!"

"But I'm the guest!" said Mark.

"Fine! Keep the guest." Said Rei, her temperature lowering. She spun on her heels quickly and turned into her room. The 2 men looked at each other.

"She'll be ok after a while." Said Grandpa. "Now, let me eat my breakfast and then we can begin out adventure!"

"Adventure?" asked Mark, sighing. Grandpa just skipped down the hallways, as gay as can be, carrying his breakfast.


Rei slammed her door furiously shut. She opened an oriental styled bag covered in fire, dragons and other symbolic zodiacs, and began to fill it with clothes. She had 4 pairs of outfits packed, leaving room for her toiletries, a blanket, some money, a tiny pillow, pen and paper and a few other things. She closed her bag and took out another fountain pen and paper.

Dear Grandpa,

Keep the guest. I'm fine on my own. If I can't have my privacy in my own home, maybe I need to find it somewhere else. Don't worry about me. I'll come back sometime, and keep in touch with you now and again. Have fun with your guest. He infuriates me. I need some time to train on my own. With PRIVACY.

Love you always,

Rei.

Rei dropped her pen and left the note on the table. She knew where she was going. It was private, and no one could disturb her or reach her…


Every night I think of him

Here in my lonely room

Waiting for my prince to come

Wondering if he'll be here soon

(Oh Starry Night - Sailor Moon)