Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Sailor Moon characters.
Sacred Fire-Chapter Three
Awaking from a restless night of tossing, turning and multiple violent fits of coughing, Rei Hino muffled a cough as she pulled back the comforter and sheets from her flustered body. 'An on-coming cold and shopping with Minako…great, that's exactly what I need. Someone's out to get me...' the fire goddess confirmed within her own mind as she glanced at the clock next to her modest, cast iron bed. The metal was rough, yet held a simple elegance that Rei was pleased with. Four-thirty on the dot as usual, gods her body was getting way too used to this.
Suppressing another rather annoying urge to cough, the young miko in training made her way through the dark room to change, yet more slowly than normal. Man did she feel like shit today. Her grandfather, the kind old man, had warned her about pushing herself too far. And now Rei would have to endure all of his ancient remedies for relieving her of the illness. Involuntarily her body shuddered at the thought. "I'd much rather keep the cold."
Silently she walked through the dimly lit shrine, towards a room she'd come to find even in her sleep. It was a place; one of few that Rei could be at peace in. Sliding open the worn paper door, her deep amethyst eyes flickered to the sacred fire gleaming in the middle of the room. Like a moth drawn to the light, Rei found her body again on auto-pilot, barely noticing the quiet click sound the magnetic plates on the door made as it was pushed close.
Each morning, Rei would find herself in front of this very same fire, and each day…more likely than not she would sit in a deep meditation. Stretching out the contents of her mind and preparing for the on-coming dangers that accompanied being a Senshi. This morning, however, proved to be much different as her mind flew into the rippling orange flames.
Fog covered her mind's eye though soon revealed a battlefield. "No, this looks like a...training ground?" she absentmindedly muttered to herself. Yet before the raven could examine her surrounding better she caught a flash of movement from the corner of her eyes. Turning, Rei barely had a fraction of a second to dodge the deep green streak of lighting thrown her way, lighting that she'd only ever witnessed one person to control in that manner.
Soon standing before her was Makoto. 'Wrong again…' the phrase whispered within her head just as the brunette roared with laughter.
"Yes Mars. How good of you to finally notice that we're training. And the circle around us…that's called our arena. You better get it together before I end up kicking you're little ass out of it." The jolly green giant boasted playfully before setting herself up for another offensive attack. "Ah, I see." She whispered to herself. This was no longer her high school teenage friend; this girl was the Princess of Jupiter. 'Shit.' As another searing bolt of lightning shot through the sky, Rei could do nothing but throw her hands up before a thick fall of flames roared up to easily act as her wall and deflect the attack right back towards Jupiter. "It's about time you started really fighting Mars, yet I still don't understand why you're face tells the story of a frightened little child…"
Allowing the flames to reside, the raven haired goddess made to turn yet her vision blurred all too soon before she could find the owner of that arrogant voice. Glazed lilac eyes blinked a few times before she even registered the fact at now, instead of sitting up towards the fire, Rei laid on her back though her mind couldn't connect with any reason of why she felt as though the life was being shaken out of her.
"Rei! Rei!...Oh Rei-Bear you're awake!" golden blonde hair cascaded over Minako's shoulders as her hands lightly gripped her second-in-commands shoulders, continuing to shake her. "I-I'm..fine Min-Minako. You ca-can s-sto-stop shaking me n-now." Her stammered until the room suddenly fell all too still too quickly. A light blush crept onto the Senshi of Love's face as questioning amethyst eyes began to regain focus upon her.
"It's seven-thirty. A-and when I walked in…" she quietly took a deep breath, yet Minako's eyebrows were still furrowed with worry. "You were just laying here. I kept calling your name and you wouldn't answer, you wouldn't move. That was twenty minutes ago." She murmured the last of her sentence before falling quiet, a frown curving her soft lips downward. Slowly Rei moved; propping herself up on a set of pale elbows while widened lilac eyes carefully watched her leader. "I'm okay Minako, you don't have to worry." In that instant, the usually serious miko shot her blond companion a lopsided smile as beads of sweat licked at her temples, a pinkish color staining her cheeks.
With her hands pulled into her chest Minako looked up from the floor just as Rei finished speaking, yet the sight she caught simply took her breath away. Seriously. The goddess of Love and Beauty made for a sharp intake of breath at the serine smile gracing Rei's lips. It was rare occasions such as this that she lived for. The small moments in time where Rei would mindlessly let down her defenses and sarcasm just to offer her comfort, moments Minako Aino loved.
"All that frowning is going to cause wrinkles…" Rei stated flatly while shifting to stand and it was gone. Replaced with the perfect concrete defenses Mina so desperately wanted to invade…among other things. Yet in her frustration, Minako silently stood though her body only allowed for one other movement to vent her sudden rush of anger towards the oblivious miko.
"Ow! Mina, what the hell!" Rei practically growled, rubbing at the spot on her bicep that had just been rearranged thanks to Minako's previous punch. "Hurry up. For once we're going to be late because of you." With a flip of golden hair over her shoulder, the Venusian crossed her arms and silently removed herself from the room. Blinking, Rei sighed as she headed towards her room; though for the life of her she couldn't seem to shake the feeling she somehow just disappointed her secret love. "What a strange morning."