Again we meet minna-chan for the latest installment of my fic. Hope you enjoy and without further preamble.

Disclaimer: I do not own planets, stars, or anime characters that invoke them.

Chapter 7:
She looked beautiful that night. Not that she ever looks anything except beautiful. I envy her. She was full of grace and poise while I was clumsy. She was nicknamed "Raven-haired Goddess" and no other name has ever suited her as much as this one did. I miss her dearly. She was my best friend and my annoying rival all at once. I suppose that makes us sisters? Perhaps if I continue recalling how we met, the hurt from losing her will not be as great...

"Is she okay?" a concerned male voice asked impatiently near my head.

Pain was exploding behind my eyelids and I could not help but groan loudly as I tried to open them.

"Usa-chan," Ami said softly," You should sit up slowly so that you do not become dizzy and lose consciousness."

I tried to nod to show I understood, but only succeeded in making my head hurt more. I settled for speaking trying to speak to Mamoru secretly.

'What happened? I was singing and then...'

'A youma attacked the restaurant and then it was restrained by the female singer. She claimed to be a priestess at this temple, but I think she is merely a temple maiden in training. Either way, her name is Rei and she saved your life,' Mamoru whispered in my mind as he helped me to sit up.

I noticed I was in a sparsely decorated room and I guessed it was part of the temple. I could see the singer from earlier, Rei, on the other side of the room fixing a poultice. I blinked rapidly to clear my vision and looked into Mamoru's eyes. He stared back into mine before leaning forward and chastely kissing my lips in an innocent display of affection.

' I know we can hear each other's thoughts, Usako. I've known for a while. We'll talk later, out loud.'

I smiled at his small attempt to console me. He really was caring and nice underneath his outer jerk exterior. Maybe he was not so bad after all? Maybe we could stop pretending to be together and actually be? It's not such a bad idea when I think about it. I can't wait until we can talk about this more.

I looked at the other side of the room and saw Makoto snoozing in a chair. If her and Ami were both here then that meant Rei was someone I could trust. Maybe she was a scout if she took on a youma on her own and lived to tell the tale. I would have to ask later when Mamoru was not around.

"This will ease the headache that I know you have," Rei said as she walked towards the bed and placed the poultice in my hand, "I've also made some herbal tea for you to take with you to release the tension in you neck."

"Doumo arigatou gozaimasu," I said as I lifted my hand to put the poultice onto the most sore part of my scalp.

Rei chuckled slightly in embarrassment and said, "There's no need for the formality. I'm probably not much older than you. Watashi wa Rei-chan to moshimasu."

My mouth formed an astonished 'o' shape as I placed the poultice onto my head.

"Itai," I screamed out as the poultice touched my wound," You didn't say it would hurt"

I pouted while continuing to hold the poultice to my head.

At this Rei began to outright laugh," Well you didn't ask."

I was shocked. She was laughing at my pain. How dare she? That, well I don't know which word is most fitting at a time like this, but she is one. I am certain my eyes glazed over in pure disliking for this girl and I practically screamed at her in my reply.

"I shouldn't have to! If you actually want to help somebody then you should at least give them a little warning when you want to add to their pain!"

Rei's eyes widened in shock at my screaming before they narrowed and she answered coldly, "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were being ungrateful...Meatball head."

At that comment everyone in the room sniggered into their hands and Mamoru-baka had to outright laugh at the situation. I turned and promptly pushed him off of the bed he had been sitting on before turning back to Rei and throwing the poulice at her head. Then I stood up on shaky legs and began to walk out of the room, but not without pushing a smirking Rei out of my way.

I made it to the temple steps before I realized how much of a walk it had to have been for whoever had carried me up them. I felt bad. I was being inconsiderate and turned around with every intention of going back and apologizing when a loud crash came from a nearby building. Using every bit of resolve I had, I ran down the temple steps to follow the sound of screams that had now appeared. It seemed like the youma was striking again and I did not have the time to do anything except transform and race off to help innocent people.

Maybe I should have waited? Perhaps things would have happened differently if I had only called the other scouts before running off and trying to save the day on my own. Or maybe if the attack had never happened at that exact moment, Rei and I would never have become so angry at each other throughout out friendship. What ifs, maybes, and perhaps are only words though. I doubt anything could alter the past, or anyone that would really deserve the change. At least with things happening the way they did I understood the value of telling someone you love them at every available instance, because you never know when they might not be able to say it back.

-Sailor Cosmos

Okay this is what I have for now. Sorry for the long wait. It's been harder and harder to write fanfics lately for various personal reasons. Hope you enjoyed and I will do everything I can to try and get more chapters out faster. Arigato minna for bearing with me. Til next we meet...