Chapter 3: Day 1. Not Exactly as Planned

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Sailor Moon and its characters. I only own this fanfic and the plot.

*AN* Wow, took about three months to update. And this chapter is relatively shorter than the past ones. So sorry, ev'ryone :( I'll be more diligent and prompt on the next.

"There they are!"

Makoto greeted the fire and love warriors as they came through the doors. Minako had helped out with Rei's attire and a fairly good job she had done she must say. Rei had black high heels, light blue skinny jeans that showed how well toned her legs were, a white t-shirt with a cute kitty drawn, and a not-too-thick black leather jacket. The way she had dressed Rei was casual yet classy for a first date. Now if only Rei wasn't going to this particular date, she herself would've asked Rei out. 'Whoa, wait, now where did that train of thought come from?' she wondered.

"Hey, did you two hear?" Usagi asked, effectively stopping her non-stop swallows of this and that.

"Hear what?"

"Ami's got a date!" Usagi burst out; not to mention, she was jumping up and down on her seat.

"What!" Minako shouted, "and so does Rei!"

"Woah-ha-ho! What? The most uninterested people in our group have dates on the same day?" Makoto noted, or rather, exclaimed.

"Uh..."

Rei fidgeted. Sure, her telling Minako was to get a head start. But now that all three of them - at least Makoto - seemed to have caught onto something, a head start made her feel uneasy. In life, Rei learned two ways when facing difficult situations like now: one was to meet head-on, and the other was to run away. She chose the latter.

"Ah, got to go, guys! I'm late!"

"What!"

"Wait, Rei!"

"Mmm, this milkshake is so delicious!"

Rei ran out of the Crown Arcade, made a beeline to the restaurant, and called Ami. One second, two seconds, three... 'Pick up! Pick up!' she panicked. She dared a glimpse behind her back. No one was following, or at least it seemed so. She slowed down, trying to catch her breath. What a fine day she chose to wear heels. She gritted as the pain came in once the adrenaline began to fade away.

"Ow..."

"Rei? Are you hurt?"

She could swear that she nearly got a heart attack. She had almost forgotten that she had called Ami.

"No, well, yes, but that doesn't matter right now." She scowled, "Where are you right now?"

"I'm on a bus. The Crown Arcade is two stops from now."

"Does the bus go to the restaurant? I'm on my way there and don't ask for now, just go straight there." Rei said as she began running again.

"Um, okay? But do explain what's going on, Rei," Ami said.

"Cross my heart. Just get to our reserved seats quickly. I'm almost there." And she hung up.

Ami quietly watched her friend gulp down her glass of water. Oh, scratch that. Glasses of water. It looks like she had run all the way from the Crown. 'Good thing the restaurant wasn't that far,' she mused. While Rei was still gulping down, the waiter received her and Rei's order, which Rei just pointed out with her finger. As the waiter took off, Rei finished off with her sixth glass of water and heaved out one long breath. Ami giggled and asked, "Finally caught your breath?" Rei blushed and slightly scratched her right cheek out of embarrassment.

"I, uh... Was I that obvious?"

"Well, a little. You did seem out of breath since the phone call."

"Ah."

Ami gave Rei an expectant look, wanting an explanation of before. Rei blushed and cleared her throat. "Um, well how should I start... When Minako came over, I asked for advice and told her that I have a date. I thought it would be a good idea to have a head start on the jealousy part, but I didn't exactly expect that you would do the same thing." Rei chuckled and slightly scratched her cheek. Ami tilted her head in confusion, thought for a moment, and smiled sheepishly when realization hit.

"The three must've bombarded you with questions to have the great Rei to run off, huh?"

"Well, actually, this time the great Rei pulled a Houdini and evaporated before they could start."

Ami let out a laugh. And Rei, with all her adrenaline gone, relaxed into her seat and laughed along. Not long after the waiter came with their ordered meals.

Their dinner was surprisingly very comfortable. Rei had assumed a date with a long friend would be somewhat awkward. 'Perhaps it's because this was a fake date. Not a real one in which I'm trying to appeal myself to the other,' Rei mused, 'or maybe it's because it is a date with a friend after all.' Either way, she found herself in a place walking Ami home without the slightest hint of awkwardness.

Ami, too, was thinking along the same lines. Things were going very smooth, contrary to what she had read. Usually, it was awkward to move from the just-friend stage to the date stage. 'Perhaps it is because we are faking it?' Ami noted as they had turned a corner into the small alleyway. While each was too emerged in their own thoughts, neither Ami nor Rei had noticed the small bunch that was silently and quickly advancing towards them.

Rei suddenly tensed at the sudden uneasiness her sixth sense was giving. At instinct she abruptly turned around and scanned the area. "Rei?" Ami asked, "What is it?" Rei didn't answer yet. "I thought I felt..." she trailed on as she slowly eyed the narrow alleyway. Despite the unrelieved restlessness, Rei merely shook her head and forced a smile.

"I thought it was some sort of youma or whatnot, but I think it's just the night and some stray cat."

"You sure?" Ami was unconvinced.

"Yeah, besides even if it were a youma, we could easily transform and kick its butt, right?" Rei joked.

Before Ami could reply though, she bumped into someone. Someone unfamiliar. And someone unfriendly.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking properly."

"Now that ain't the proper way to apologize, missy."

Apparently that someone had someone else. A lot more, actually. About six boys - presumably college freshmen, Rei noted - surrounded around the two. Rei moved closer to Ami and protectively stood in front of the smaller girl. Sure, Makoto may not have noticed Ami's feelings for her yet. But if their plan goes as planned, she is currently responsible for Makoto's girlfriend-to-be. 'And I probably owe her a few times for protecting my Minako,' Rei thought. She inched herself closer to Ami and whispered, "Get ready to run." Ami shot a confused look, but nodded anyways. Rei closed her eyes, straightened her posture, and let out a breath. Not acknowledging what the girl was planning to do, one of the boys dared to get closer and take hold of her left arm.

At that very moment, Rei shot opened her eyes and gave a straight kick to his abdomen. Without missing a beat, Rei gave another swift kick to the next boy who dared to charge to her. Unfortunately one kick was not enough to bring the boys down, not to mention there were more than two boys. However, her counter did make an opportunity for Ami to run. Ami swiftly ran through the gap Rei had made. Of course, some tried to follow the blue-haired girl, but Rei made sure they didn't; effectively - in this case, in a backfiring way - she had all of the boys' attention.

Oh if only she could, she'd transform into Sailor Mars and burn these kids to ash, but no. Forget Luna and Artemis, Usagi would wail in her ear, making her deaf. So here she is, relying on her era-old Martian warrior instincts and some judo moves that she vaguely remembers learning from Makoto, fighting some gangster boys by one to six. 'Good thing I've so far had lucky shots with these losers, they're too cautious,' Rei thought. Yes, they were cautious. Too cautious that whatever trick they've tried to pull up was obvious even if Rei didn't use her sixth sense. As she gave another strong left hook to the first boy whom started the trouble in the first place, incoming sirens could be heard in the background. Having been kicked and punched in the stomach, the boy shouted at his gang to move out; though most of them were pretty much far away from the scene. Rei let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in and smiled at her right.

"Thanks for calling the co.."

She couldn't finish her sentence out of surprise when Ami just hugged her right there. Rei blushed and hugged her friend back. Normally, Ami wasn't this bold of showing her feelings - in this case, gratitude. Ami must've realized that herself, because she soon pulled back as quickly as she had pounced. She turned her crimson blushing face away from Rei and squeaked out a thank you. She also mumbled on how sorry she was for taking so long and how she actually considered transforming into Sailor Mercury and freeze the boys so that Rei could run away, too. Rei, of course, merely listened to her friend's cute rant and gave a lop-sided smile. She chuckled and hugged Ami. "Thanks, Ames. Now let's go home when the coast is clear," she said as she pulled away. Ami gave out a small laugh and agreed.

Neither had noticed someone in the shadows was watching.