Rei walked down the street towards the Hikawa Shrine, quietly musing on the strangeness of her Idol friend and leader. She knew why Minako kept her distance, though she didn't agree that it was the right course of action. She saw the pain in her eyes. But whatever she said, she couldn't fix it. Even if Rei tried to breach the subject, Minako immediately put up a wall. Rei sighed, thinking. 'That girl is such a stick.'

"Rei-san!" A voice called, caring worry and fright with it. Rei whirled and saw a small white cat running to catch up to her.

"Artemis?" Her heart whirled in panic and her face tried to hide the worry, though she was only half successful.

"It's Minako." Artemis said, confirming Rei's fears. "She's fainted and I can't get her to wake up."

"Show me." Rei's voice was calm, but inside she was frightened. Knowing that her raging emotions wouldn't help in this situation, she took a deep breath to clear her head. When she knew she was in control, she started to run, following Artemis to an alley near their most recent battle.

Minako lay crumpled next to the wall. Her eyes were closed and Rei could see bruises developing on her arms where the youma had hit her. Rei knelt next to Minako, checking her vitals.

"Her pulse is erratic and her breathing is shallow." Rei said, finger to Minako's neck.

"We've got to get her home." Artemis quickly replied. "There's medicine in her apartment."

Rei gathered Minako in her arms and stood up. She was shocked at the lightness of Minako's body. Briefly she wondered if Minako had been eating enough lately.

"The apartment isn't far. This way." Artemis took off at a trot, Rei following.

They reached the building, and searching Minako's purse, Rei located the key and let them in.

"Put her on the bed. We've got to get some fluids in her." Rei set Minako down, wondering how they were going to get Minako medicine when she was unresponsive. She soon found out.

"Go into the closet in the hall. In there is a bag marked "emergency". That's the stuff we want," Artemis directed.

Rei walked out of the room and found the closet Artemis had illustrated. Inside she found things you would see in a hospital. Rei picked up the emergency bag and brought it back to the bedroom. Opening it, Rei found pieces to an IV drip.

"Ano, Artemis..." Rei hesitantly looked at the items. "I'm not sure I can do this."

"Don't worry. I'll talk you through it."

Rei looked at the pieces in doubt. The last time she had to deal with something like this was when her mother was hospitalized. She really couldn't imagine trying to stab Minako with a needle, even if it was to save her life.

"Rei! We have to hurry!"

Artemis' tone brought Rei out of her thoughts and to the task at hand. She took a deep breath. then nodded to Artemis. Under his direction, she assembled the IV, working quickly.

"Okay. Now you need to tie the band around her arm to help locate a vein. Then use two fingers to find the vein."

She complied, tying the rubber band tightly to Minako's upper arm. Then she reached down and prodded her forearm. Minako's arm was soft as a baby, though it was so skinny, so locating the vein was easy. Once again she wondered if Minako had been eating enough.

"Now slide the needle into the vein almost like you were threading something into a tube."

Rei took a deep breath and carefully slid the needle in, waiting with baited breath for Minako to flinch, to wake up, to scream... but she didn't move.

"Good. You got it in on your first try." Artemis said with relief.

"How do you know?" Rei was a little shaken.

"Minako is used to pain, but if you hadn't done it right, she would have at least moved. You need to tape the needle to her skin and then hook the medicine up. Hang the bag on the IV pole and insert one end of the tube into the bag and the other end into the needle."

Rei did as directed, only relaxing after everthing was in place. For a moment the only sound in the room was the steady drip of the IV. Then Artemis finally relaxed himself, saying "Good. Her color is already starting to return. Just a bit of medicine and her healing abilities as a senshi start to kick in."

"What should we do know?" Rei wondered. "What about some food for when she wakes up." She trailed off with a slightly worried expression. "Artemis, when was the last time Minako ate?"

Artemis looked down, ashamed at his inability to help his charge. "Lately she doesn't eat much at all. She claims she's not hungry and only picks at her food."

Rei shook her head at Minako's care of her body. "Well, let's change that. Do you have any food here?"

"I think there's some chicken broth in the pantry."

"Let's start with that. Then I have a few phone calls to make." Rei looked back at the sleeping idol one last time, then headed for the kitchen, Artemis on her tail.