Chapter 9

The four generals were doing early morning sparring in the main ballroom when surprisingly it was Zoicite that called Jaedite out.

"Where did you go last night Jae?'

Jaedite parried and grunted as the force of steel on steel reverberated thru his arm.

"Malachite, Zoi seems to be loosing that intelligence you so praise him for. He can't seem to recall the princes' orders to me last night."

He advanced, striking low and hard trying to push his partner onto the defensive.

Zoicite rolled his eyes, quickly swept his sword around Jaedites' blade forcing it down so that the tip dug into the marble floor. "You know what I mean. It couldn't have taken you more then an hour to trace the energy signal. You came back well after that. In fact, you've returned late every night for the last 2 weeks."

Nephlite put his two cents in as he ducked and weaved thru Malachites attack. "He's right bro. You have been acting rather secretive lately. You haven't joined Beryls ranks have you?"

"Why the hell would you ask me such a stupid question? Of course I haven't joined that hag." He dislodged his sword and winced at the grove it left in the Italian marble. Endymion was going to kill him for that.

"I wonder then , what could it be that keeps our Jaedite out late. If he hasn't joined Beryl, and we all know he isn't doing extra credit on the field, then that only leaves…."

Zoicite disarmed his opponent and finished Nephlites sentence with flourish. "A woman!"

"Not a chance. The only woman ever crazy enough to stick around Jaedite for long was that weird Martian Princess. What was her name? Something crazy. Kay? May?"

Jaedite exploded, grabbing his sword and hurling it with deadly accuracy that would have severed Nephrites' head, had he not dived to the left. Storming out of the room he angrily tossed over his shoulder. "Her name is Rei. And next time I won't miss."

All sparring ceased as three very astonished generals stared at their disappearing comrade.

"My hair!" Nephlite cried staring at the shorn locks of prized brown hair lying on the floor.

Malachite grunted. "That went well."

Zoicites' mind was on another important fact. "Did he say is?"

"If the ladies Venus, Mercury and Jupiter have been reincarnated it only stands to reason that the Lady Mars has been as well. Jadeite has obviously been in contact with her; however nothing points to her having been reawakened as one of the guards."

"Endymion's going to freak. Hey! Where are you going?" Zoicite started after Malachite who was heading towards the exit

"I think it's about time we arranged a meeting with the senshi. Beryl doesn't seem to be letting up regardless of Endymions threats. If we don't work together in the end someone is going to accidentally kill someone else, and I'll be damned if I bring a celestial war down on Terras' holy soil."

"Who's going to tell the Prince about the scratch on his floor?"

Malachite threw a pointed look at the blond haired man.

Zoicite trembled.

Nephlite whimpered softly. "My hair…"

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It had almost made her smile. Almost. Minako had snatched the box up from her front stoop before her parents had even had their morning coffee. It was a blessing that they were late risers as the box of chocolates would have definitely raised suspicions from the uptight couple. Chocolate covered cherries were her favorite and she had been looking forward to allowing her self the small treat, but blast it all they were from him. The sweet chocolates were a private message for only her, but the paper note tucked inside was all business. Tonight Tokyo Park, Bring your senshi. Oh, she would bring the senshi alright. It was high time they had a good fight.

She was still fuming when she entered Juban High. Ami and Lita were standing by the gate anxious looks on their faces. Minako came to a halt scanning the open grassy area where the students met before the start of class. Where was Usagi? She shouted that exact thought a minute later.

"I went by her house to pick her up and her mother said she had already left. We checked her normal routes but there were no…"

Mina didn't even let Ami finish.

"Lita, scout the north route past the park. Make sure she didn't stop there. Ami, take the most direct route from here to her house. Don't enter her home; we don't want to alarm her mother. I'll take the arcade. Meet back here."

Each girl departed quickly, none of them noticing the certain red headed teenager that stepped from behind the nearest tree. Making her choice quickly she hurried after Mina, keeping herself at a discreet and unnoticeable distance.

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She was going to be late, she knew it, and yet she was really too tired to give the thought a proper worrying over. Sleep had not revisited her last night, of which she was eternally grateful. Usagi didn't think she would sleep for a week after that nightmare. She had even left for school early that morning, a fact that had left both parents speechless and Shingo so shocked that he couldn't even get out his customary early morning retort. The slower pace was refreshingly relaxing and given her time to think over the night terror. She had rationalized it to certain foods she had eaten that day and her incurable video game habit. Having accomplished that, her day had seemed so much brighter that she had actually begun enjoying her walk. So enjoying it in fact that she had been caught completely unawares by a voice whispering in her ear "Endymion…"

It had been so close that she had jumped and spun quickly, effectively turning her ankle on the edge of the sidewalk and causing her to say a not so friendly hello to the pavement below.

And so here she was, sitting on the now familiar grey surface and staring up in paralyzed shock at a sleek black sports car screeching to a stop mere inches from her nose. A door slammed shut and shoes beat an angry tattoo on the pavement coming to a halt in front of her.

"What the hell were you doing in the street? Do you have any idea how stupid that was? I could have killed you!"

Startled Usagi looked up… and up… and up, into a pair of the angriest, bluest eyes she had ever seen. And her heart skipped a beat. Literally.

The man knelt down and started running his hands over her.

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

Usagi had no idea if it was the shock of almost being run over… again, or the fact that she had the eeriest feeling that she new this man. But that was impossible, wasn't it? She had never seen him before in her life. She would definitely have remembered his chiseled features, unruly black hair, gorgeous body and horrible manners if she had. She slapped his hand away from her legs and ignoring his proffered hand scrambled to her feet.

"I would have you remember sir," She thrust a delicate finger angrily out at him. "That you were the one who almost ran me over!" She jabbed said finger at her own chest.

There was a moment of silence as she watched those incredible eyes go thru a myriad of emotions. Shock, joy, anger, and what seemed like, but couldn't possibly be possessiveness, before finally softening to an amused look.

"An unfortunate circumstance that would not have occurred had you not been sitting in the middle of the street."

Satisfied that she wasn't seriously injured he placed his hands into his pressed khaki pockets and calmly faced her down.

"If you would like we can continue to discuss this here," He gave a pointed glance at the growing crowd. "Or I can offer you a ride to where ever it was you were going." He walked over and opened the passenger side door.

Usagi was debating her options when a cheerful voice yelled out.

"Usagi-chan!"

She saw Minas signature blond head and red bow racing towards her and breathed a sigh of relief, and …disappointment?

"Oh thank heavens!"

Usagi felt herself wrapped in an affectionate hug.

"Where were you? You weren't at…" Belatedly seeing the gentleman by the car Mina stopped short. Her friendly blue eyes icing over and turning hard.

Surprised at her friends' response Usagi spared a glance at the car to see him shut the door with unnecessary force and start towards them.

"Uh Mina, this is….um … "

"Chiba."

She flashed him a grateful smile.

"This is Mr. Chiba. He somehow managed to not run me over."

It had been meant to lighten the mood. Really it had. But the opposite effect seemed to occur. Mina's eyes if possible, got even colder and she was now openly glaring at the man.

"I mean… that is.., I fell and he was able to stop his car before it hit me, which was amazing really, at the speed he was going."

The dark look on his face softened at the obvious rebuke and he gave a grim smile.

"I'm sure the next time we'll both pay more attention to where we are going. And as an apology, allow me to extend these."

He pulled two white envelopes out from the inside of his jacket and held them out.

"Please, bring your friends."

Carefully she accepted them. "Thank you."

He smiled, flashing perfect white teeth and it transformed his face making it devastatingly handsome.

Mina tightened her grip on Usagis' arm to an almost painful point and she began tugging the smaller girl away.

"Come on, we're going to be late."

"Yeah," Usagi glanced over her shoulder to see him still staring after them, an odd look on his handsome face. "Late."

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A.N: Hope you enjoyed!