The vehicle was barely parked as Minako threw open the door. Leaving the SUV running, she sprinted toward where she left Rei and Artemis inside of the abandoned warehouse. Minako pulled the sleeve of Rei's assassin hoodie away from the hidden blade, unclasping it and freeing The Shroud as she ran.
Takashi's dead body lay in a pile of blood where Mina left him. Not sparing him a glance, she fell to her knees beside Rei. The crows were still standing guard, and they began erratically hopping up and down as she settled beside them. Rei's still body was bloodsoaked and pale. Minako couldn't stand to look at her face for more than a second. She diverted her attention to her feline companion, now a ball of bloody fur on top of Rei's belly.
"If this thing could resurrect Jesus after three days, it better work after three hours," Mina nervously mused before resting the fabric flat across Artemis, making sure it covered him and touched Rei's skin as well.
The first time they touched, the Shrine Maiden's skin was fire made flesh. Now she was colder than ice; void of any semblance of life. Minako rested her hand on Rei's arm and held her breath.
The Piece of Eden pulsated, dousing the immediate area in golden light, and filling Minako's head with a supernatural wave of energy. Vertigo overcame her for a brief moment. She shook her head, convinced she was hearing things, when a loud, healthy meow met her ears.
"Artemis!" Minako couldn't blame her imagination when her companion leapt onto her lap. He was revitalized and clean, and his chest rattled with the deepest purr she'd ever heard. Minako immediately scooped him into her arms and cuddled him against her chest. Artemis rubbed his face against hers. His familiar warmth washed her anxieties away for a brief moment, until the unsettling cries of Rei's birds disrupted their reunion.
Artemis jumped from Mina's lap. He pawed at The Shroud, which lay flat against Rei's chest. It pulsated once more. This time, Rei's crimson aura responded. Still wearing her mask, Minako witnessed Rei's brilliant scarlet light entwining with The Shroud's golden one. Minako returned her hand to Rei's arm. Warmth and life rose from beneath the surface, returning Rei's skin to the color and heat Minako remembered.
The crows fell to silence as they waited. Seconds felt like lifetimes as Minako stared at Rei's still visage. The deathly pallor was gone. Now she looked like she was sleeping. Her sunken face fleshed out once more, and the bags beneath her eyes disappeared.
Minako and the animal companions all startled when Rei finally took her first breath. The assassin sat upright instantly, filling her dormant lungs with air. Minako clutched her chest as Rei's bewildered eyes opened. Clearly disoriented, Rei continuously blinked and stared into her hands, flexing each finger experimentally.
"Rei! Thank god it worked!" Minako found her voice. Relief, the likes of which she had never felt before, washed over her. Artemis and the crows began celebrating by dancing circles around the revived assassin.
Hearing Mina's voice, Rei beset her with a quizzical look that made her heart melt. "I'm—I was…"
"Dead," Mina spoke the wretched word through her tears. "Yeah… You were. I brought you back with The Shroud."
Rei patted the front of her tank top, feeling the blood-soaked fabric and sticking two fingers through the hole left by her father's blade. She lifted her shirt just enough to study her abs, which were now flawless, clean, and void of any injuries or scars. Then Rei studied Mina once more, tilting her head with a smirk. "You're wearing my hoodie?"
Mina giggled nervously. "Yeah. I have your hidden blade, too. Here." She offered the apparatus to its rightful owner.
A proud smile crossed Rei's thin lips. She shook her head and pushed the hidden blade towards Minako. "Looks like you'll make a great assassin after all."
"Well…" Mina brushed off the praise. She didn't exactly deserve it; Michiru practically gave her The Shroud on a silver platter. "I'll tell you the story back at the shrine. Let's get you home."
Rei nodded. Phobos and Deimos settled on her shoulders. Minako stood and held her hands to assist Rei off the ground, but the Shrine Maiden hesitated. Rei's eyes were downcast, staring at the Piece of Eden resting on her lap. She picked up the unassuming fabric, looking perplexed.
"Hard to believe that little thing can raise the dead, isn't it?" Mina asked.
Rei didn't respond. She tilted her head, studying the ancient Piece of Eden as if it were a work of art. As the silence dragged on, Minako was beginning to think Rei's mind had somehow regressed again.
Once again, the Piece of Eden resonated with Rei's burning red aura. Mina shielded her eyes when the light burned at its apex before disappearing.
"What the…?" The Shroud was nowhere to be found. Taking its place was a longbow, carved from wood, with decorative golden ends, and a matching quiver. The quiver had one sole arrow; crafted with matching wood. The fletch was made of gold, with white and red feathers.
"Holy shit," Minako gasped. "The Piece of Eden transformed? Did you know they could do that?"
Rei shook her head. "No."
"So… Do you know what kind of bow it is?" Minako wondered out loud. If Pieces of Eden could transform, she was willing to bet it would not become just any bow and quiver.
"I think it's Sharanga," Rei commented, not sounding like she believed the words coming from her own mouth. Without waiting for Mina to ask what that was, she continued. "The bow of the Hindu god Vishnu, used to win a duel against Shiva."
Minako didn't bother asking Rei how she knew that. Assassins, like templars who took their roles more seriously than the idol, studied ancient relics and legendary weapons. Not to mention Rei had a personal interest in archery. "Yeah? How did Vishnu win the battle?"
Rei tested the weight and size of the longbow in her hands. Minako would have guessed it was almost as tall as Rei. Then the archer caressed the fletch of the arrow. "According to the legend, Vishnu paralyzed Shiva with its arrow."
"Do you think…" Minako did not dare to finish the question. A Piece of Eden always had some sort of power over regular mortals. Could this arrow paralyze anyone it struck?
Rei turned toward Minako with a stupefied stare. Seeing Rei completely befuddled was a rarity that Minako found she rather liked, though she knew better than to say so. "I don't know, but…"
"Let's get you home before we start playing with your new toy," Mina half-joked.
This time, Rei accepted her hand and stood to her feet. She stretched her arms and legs before settling the quiver and bow across her left shoulder.
"How do you feel?" Minako asked.
"Amazing. Like I traded in my old body for a brand new model," Rei admitted. Phobos, still perched on her shoulder, cawed in agreement.
"Pretty crazy, isn't it?" Minako recalled how she felt after being healed by The Shroud the first time. The sentiment was similar. She thought she could run for miles. She briefly wondered if The Shroud was gone forever, or if it assumed a temporary form while in Rei's possession.
"Yeah…" Rei and Minako began to walk from the warehouse, but paused when they approached Takashi's corpse. Artemis swat a paw at him and hissed.
"What do we do with him?" Minako dared to ask. The decision of whether or not to revive him was removed from the equation, thanks to the Piece of Eden's unanticipated transformation. "We can't leave him here."
If Rei had any regrets about slaying her own father, they weren't reflected on her face. She snarled at him. Minako was pretty sure she would have kicked his body, too, if Artemis wasn't standing in the way. The popstar couldn't blame Rei for her feelings, but it didn't make the scene any less unsettling.
"I have an idea," Rei spoke in a chilling voice that told Minako she wasn't going to enjoy it.
Minako buried her bloody hands inside of her pockets as they walked the back alleys to Hikawa Shrine. Shoving Takashi's body into his vehicle and pushing it into the ocean wasn't her finest moment. Given the circumstances, it could have been worse, but it left a sour taste in Minako's mouth. They had nothing to clean the blood staining the concrete. It was far from the perfect crime, but as Minako had already reasoned, the templars would handle everything once Takashi did not report first thing in the morning.
When it came to covering up their tracks and removing all hints of misconduct and blame from their ranks, the templars came second to none. It didn't matter if the failed assassination attempt, or the rogue agent who lost their life, was a celebrity or a politician; they would find a way to spin the story to make Takashi appear as a blameless victim. Or perhaps they would make his death appear an accident. An airplane crash, or a car accident.
Fighting his estranged daughter in a duel to the death was not a news story that would behoove the templars, which meant Rei's involvement would never see the light of day. Outside of privileged circles, anyway.
After the brief discussion about how the templars would most likely conceal the truth and spin a narrative fitting their agenda around Takashi's death, the couple fell silent. Mina pet Artemis as he purred in her arms, and Rei alternated between patting both of her crows. Minako hadn't realized how much she carried their conversations until she didn't feel like talking. The last few days had been an emotional whirlwind. She couldn't even begin to imagine how Rei was feeling, or what was going through her mind. She was the one who died while killing her own father, then returned to life.
Much like when Minako arrived at Hikawa Shrine a few days ago, the grounds were quiet. The assassin sentries had returned to their posts in the trees and rooftops. Minako took off her mask and hid it inside of her pocket before they began the slow walk up the staircase. Rei had a new bounce in her step, thanks to the Piece of Eden's healing magic. The birds flew off, but Artemis was not interested in leaving Mina's side. At least, not until they entered the meditation room. Then he curled up in a ball in front of the sacred flames, and swiftly fell asleep.
Rei unslung her new bow and quiver from her back, and reverently laid them on the floor beside the mat. Minako noticed the single pillow and thin bed sheet were still on the floor mat.
"Hey, Rei?" Mina began as a thought came to her.
"Hm?"
"What was with the whole 'naked sitting by the fire' thing? Setsuna tried to dress you and you freaked out."
Rei crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the fire. Her amethyst eyes reflected the orange flames as she frowned. "I was-I mean- Takashi, was engaged in a ritual when I became trapped inside of his memories. It's a cleansing ritual."
"Cleansing by fire sort of thing?" Minako asked.
"Something like that." Rei curtly nodded.
Minako removed Rei's bloodsoaked hoodie and draped it over the chair. She placed the hidden blade on the table, and put her mask beside it. Taking a deep breath, she walked to Rei's side. Artemis was curled into a ball on the floor between her feet and the fire. Minako snaked a hand around Rei's waist. They stood in silence for a brief moment before Rei turned to face her.
"Thank you," she bluntly said.
Minako felt her cheeks turn red. "You don't need to thank me for anything."
Rei's dark eyebrows furrowed. "Nonsense. You saved my life."
"Not really. I watched you die. I just… reversed it." Minako shrugged. She wasn't sure why she was being so evasive about the risks she took to bring Rei back to life. Normally she relished praise and attention.
"At great risk to your own life," Rei persisted. "When you didn't have to."
"Umm… Are you happy that I did?" Minako shrank in anticipation of the unfavorable answer she expected.
"Of course I am," Rei balked. "Is that what you think? That I wanted to die?"
"I don't know what to think! Besides guilt that you died because of me," Mina confessed.
Rei's expression darkened. "You know none of that was your fault. And I didn't want to die. Not after…" Rei's sentence faltered. She looked towards the fire again for a second. "I didn't see any other way. I needed to save you and stop him. That's all."
"Was the decision really that easy?" Minako whispered.
"Yes," Rei simply answered.
Minako felt small beneath Rei's unwavering stare. She was awed by Rei's conviction. Minako never felt sure about anything in her entire life. Even her dedication to becoming a world famous idol suffered once she became a sellout to the templars. Though Rei was fueled by thoughts of revenge, she never seemed to doubt her dedication to the sisterhood.
"So you were willing to die to get your revenge?"
Rei softly scoffed. "No. To save your life, dummy."
Minako rarely found herself speechless, but Rei's intense stare and matter-of-fact way of declaring her sacrifice in Minako's name was unexpected. The entire world was in love with Sailor V, but their affection was misguided and shallow at best. Rei had laid down her life for her. The ultimate sacrifice.
"I said I loved you, didn't I?" Rei chuckled, seeming to enjoy being on the teasing end of their interactions for once. "Why are you acting so strange?"
"I, well…" Mina shook her head. Why was she acting, and feeling, so strange? "I just got you back, after thinking you were lost forever, and then I lost you again! I know you said you love me, but I hear that from fans every day. I never really knew the weight of it until today, I think."
"And millions of fans think you're the authority on the subject?" Rei arched an eyebrow. "Sounds like you still have a lot to learn about it, Venus."
Minako took the bait. She rolled her eyes and gave Rei an exaggerated sigh. "Yeah? And what do you know about it?"
"Not much," Rei confessed, "I assumed you would teach me."
Mina raised her eyebrows in surprise. Was Rei suggesting what she thought she was suggesting? She didn't have a salacious smile, nor was there any inflection in her voice, but the tension between them and Rei's hands on her hips hinted she was referring to the physical aspect of love.
"Well joke's on you. Because I don't know-" A sudden, unflattering yawn interrupted Mina's sentence. Maybe plain exhaustion was causing her mercurial emotions. Thanks to being kidnapped, she hadn't slept in over twenty four hours.
"Want a bath?" Rei offered. "You must be exhausted."
"Just show me to the washroom," Minako requested. As relaxing as a bath sounded, she really wanted to avoid that awkward scenario. Thanks to The Shroud, Rei was clean and rejuvenated, but for whatever reason, Minako couldn't say the same. She was sore and exhausted. Now that things had settled down, Minako didn't think she could stay awake if she let herself get comfortable in a steamy bath.
"Follow me." Rei led Minako to the modest washroom in the next room over, and politely left Mina to her own devices.
Left without any of her own hygiene products, the singer had to improvise. She scoured Rei's cabinet, finding the bare essentials. After scrubbing up and down her arms until her skin was pink, she moved on to her mouth. Minako wasn't about to use Rei's toothbrush, or send her in town to get one, so she settled with some mouthwash and floss for now. There was a clean hairbrush, so she took liberties rinsing some of the grime from her hair and brushing it out. Lifting her arms, she took a sniff and made a disgusted face.
"Yuck." Minako located a stick of deodorant and helped herself to it. She didn't give herself time to consider how gross using someone else's deodorant was. If she had her way, her entire personal hygiene and skin care collection would be magically teleported here.
But alas, she didn't even have her phone or any form of identification, let alone her favorite lotions. And she was too exhausted, both mentally and physically, to consider doing anything about it right now.
After relieving her poor bladder, Minako returned to the sweltering room. Rei was sitting cross-legged before the fire, hands in a meditative gesture. Artemis was still sleeping in front of her. At the sound of the door sliding shut behind her, Rei turned and gave her an observational look over.
"I'll take you to my bedroom so you can sleep," Rei offered as she stood.
"I'll just sleep in here, if that's okay."
Rei's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure? My bedroom is a lot more comfortable."
"I'm used to it. Besides, Artemis is happy here. I don't want to disturb him."
Minako half-expected Rei to stubbornly argue in the name of being an excellent host, but she only shrugged. "Have it your way."
Minako could barely raise her feet from the floor as she made her way to the makeshift bed on the floor. The aster flower that was in Rei's hair when she left the other day was resting on the pillow. Smiling, Minako lifted it and inhaled its scent. Hers was on the floor of her bedroom somewhere; it became dislodged and fell when Takashi roughly grabbed her earlier.
Pushing those unhappy memories aside, Minako made herself as comfortable as possible on the floor. To her surprise, Rei wordlessly slid into bed beside her. She removed her bloody tank top and similarly stained jeans, and wore only a black bra and matching panties.
Minako tried not to stare, but having the conservative Shrine Maiden wearing nothing but undergarments in bed beside her, caught her off guard.
"What?" Rei quipped. "I wasn't going to wear those gross clothes."
Minako had a hundred invasive, teasing ways to counter Rei's pathetic attempt at making this gesture out to be one of convenience, but she let it slide. The last thing she wanted was to fight or scare Rei away.
"Sorry, it's just… You died today. From a nasty wound right about… here." Minako reached across the short space between them and grazed Rei's unmarked pale skin. "And I guess I'm feeling a little guilty about it. Being an obvious target for your dad. Trying to play both sides and thinking there'd be no consequences. Thinking I'd never see you again because of all this…"
"I'm here now. Thanks to you," Rei comforted matter-of-factly.
Or Michiru. Minako was too tired to bring up all the complicated stuff she witnessed while stealing The Shroud. Her eyes darted to the Sharanga and its matching quiver. The Shroud became a legendary weapon, which told Mina that peace between the assassins, templars, and mankind, was far from realization.
And that Rei would most likely be putting her life on the line again, without The Shroud to heal her.
Despite herself, Minako released a loud yawn. Her eyelids were heavy. She blinked and looked at the woman lying beside her, whose violet eyes never moved.
Rei grabbed the flower, which had been brushed from the pillow, and tucked it behind Mina's ear. "Rest. I'll stay here."
"You're not tired," Mina grumbled.
"No," Rei agreed. "But you laid down here and watched me sleep. I'd like to return the favor."
"Hmmm." Minako tried conjuring a witty response. But she was so tired, and Rei was so warm. The conflict and pain that boiled beneath the surface of her eyes since they met was gone, replaced with a tranquil state Mina never would have thought Rei capable of before now.
"You're…. different," Minako mumbled.
Rei's rare smile accompanied her as she drifted into a dreamless sleep.