AN: Yay! I finished! Well, I'd initially planned to write a Rei-centered fic with a completely different challenge and a completely different love interest. (Sorry, Yuuichirou!) But Jadeite was not having any of that. This one is set shortly after Jadeite's demise in the anime. It just wouldn't have worked if I'd gone with the manga plot. Not crazy about the title, per usual. But I like this story a lot better than yesterday's. Oh and if you want to know what grass style calligraphy looks like, I've put a link on my profile for a site that shows some good examples of various types of calligraphy. I believe it to be the same style of writing often used on sake sets. People are always asking me what it says and I'm always having to explain I can't read sousho writings. They kinda give me funny looks, but in all honesty, even handwritten kanji often give me headaches. Not because they were written sloppily, but because they look different from printed ones.

Well, that ramble aside, here's my last offering!

Title: My Love Waits in the Shadows
Rating: K
Summary: Thanks to a protective charm he stole from Hikawa Jinja, Jadeite is not killed by Beryl. Instead, he vanishes, visible only to his soulmate.
Couple: ReiJed
One Hour Challenges:
#107 Scene One of your 'Couple' has turned invisible, only seen by the other of the 'Couple'. - Aisuru's Challenge

Jadeite fingered the worn wooden charm as he followed Hino Rei up the steps in the dusky light. He still didn't know what had compelled him to take it with him all those months ago when he'd infiltrated this shrine. He had been surrounded by charms at the time, since it had been his job to peddle the superstitious little trinkets to those who came to pray or sightsee. He'd paid them no mind, believing them to be nothing more than whimsical little slabs of wood with some beautiful calligraphy covering them. But this one had called to him. Painted on the front was a representation of the Great Fire that Hikawa Jinja was known for. On the back, someone had written some kind of protective spell, but he couldn't read it. The calligraphy was an esoteric form of sousho, also know as grass style. He would have hunted around for a scholar who could read the damn thing and explain why he wasn't dead, but since he had been rendered invisible, he was stuck figuring things out on his own.

He had done pretty well, actually. At first, he had assumed he was dead and had been condemned to walk the world as a spirit. That had actually amused him for awhile. He'd taken a liking to following a certain blonde nemesis of his around, since he blamed her for his death. But after a week of tripping her, stealing her homework, and moving things around in her room, he'd gotten bored. She couldn't hear him and she attributed all of these things to her own natural clumsiness and carelessness. That had been incredibly frustrating. He was doing his level best to haunt her and she didn't have a clue! This was the girl who was going to save the world? He'd told her repeatedly that she should just give up, but she was oblivious to his good advice. He'd even followed her to senshi battles, hiding in the bushes in case their senshi forms were able to see ghosts, but he kept staring at Sailor Mars' legs. And for some reason, he felt guilty about that. More than once he'd noticed Mars staring angrily right at the bush he was hidden behind.

He never followed Usagi when she was with friends. He told himself he just didn't want to listen to childish prattle, but the reality was that he couldn't really torment her in public. So he spent his time wandering around Juuban, climbing into cabs with strangers or sitting on top of commuter trains. Anything that would even remotely distract him for the absolute boredom of being undead.

Then last night, as he was erasing Usagi's math homework while she slept, she murmured a name that crashed into his skull like a Mack truck. Endymion. He knew that name. He backed away, falling out her open window as memories filled him. The long-sealed past broke free of Beryl's mind control and he remembered everything.

He'd spent the night in Usagi's bushes, crying out in anguish as he recalled the wonderful life he'd had and the role he'd played in destroying it. When he had finally fallen asleep, dawn had been breaking. He'd slept straight through the day, not awakening until Usagi leapt carelessly down from her tree and raced towards the park. Concern for the girl he now knew to be the princess he'd so cruelly betrayed had motivated him to follow her.

At the battle, Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury had been overwhelmed. Jadeite had thoughtlessly thrown himself in the way of an attack and soon found himself bent around a tree, gasping for breath. That was probably the moment he had finally accepted that he was not a ghost. There was no way he should have been in that much pain. As the two girls and Tuxedo Kamen fought behind him, Jadeite had spent some time trying to figure out exactly what he was. "Okay, I can touch people and things, I can move objects, I can't phase through solid matter, no one can hear me . . ." he leaned back against the tree, staring sightlessly up through the branches. "So, I'm invisible, but not insubstantial. And I'm not dead."

A quiet gasp had caught his attention and he'd caught sight of a pole-axed Sailor Mars staring at him. "You," she'd hissed.

"Me?" he'd asked incredulously, pointing at his chest as she began powering up a Fire Soul. "Wait, you can see me?"

That comment had given her pause, "What are you going on about, Dark Kingdom scum?"

'Oh, right,' he'd thought. 'She doesn't remember me as anything but the enemy.' "I'm not working for them anymore," he'd explained, holding his hands up in surrender.

"What new game is this?" she'd snarled, not believing him.

"Mars, what are you doing?" Moon had suddenly shrieked. "We need your help over here."

"I'm dealing with Jadeite," she'd snapped back, pointing at the General.

Tuxedo Kamen had been obliged to pull Sailor Moon out of the way of another projectile and they'd ended up on the ground next to Mars. "Um, did you hit your head?" Tuxedo Kamen had asked none-too-gently. "There's no one there."

Jadeite had glowered at the masked hero hostilely. It hadn't helped his assessment of the man that from his angle, it appeared that Tuxedo Kamen was looking up Mars' skirt as he talked to her, while cradling the Moon Princess against his chest in far too familiar a manner. He'd wanted to challenge the strange man to a duel over both of the girls' honor.

"What do you mean no one is there?"

"Sorry, Mars," Moon had mumbled awkwardly, worry for her friend evident in her eyes, "but it's just a tree."

The three superheroes had stared at each other and the tree awkwardly for a long moment, until a desperate scream from Mercury captured their attention and they raced over to help. Jadeite had followed, warily watching his Martian warrior.

"Its weakness is in its eye," he'd whispered in her ear.

Mars had instinctively listened to his advice and she took careful aim. The creature wailed horribly and three people shouted, "Now, Sailor Moon!"

As everyone else watched the creature disintegrate, Mars had muttered, "Why did you help us?"

"Can we go somewhere to talk?" he'd replied quickly. "The shrine?" She'd merely nodded, then walked away to congratulate her friends. Jadeite had watched the mysterious caped hero vanish into the dark, burning with the desire to follow him and find out more about the strange man and his motives regarding the Moon Princess. Instead, he'd waited and was now following Sailor Mars to Hikawa Jinja, leaving several meters' worth of space between them.

Rei led him into the Fire Reading Room. He sat down on the tatami floor and waited for her to speak. She stared down at him, the dancing flames reflected in her violet-black eyes. "Explain yourself," she snapped.

Jadeite swallowed a smirk at her haughty tone. "I hardly know where to begin," he murmured, staring up at her. "I don't know how much you even remember of our past."

Rei flinched at the word 'our'. "Stop talking in riddles!"

"Very well, but you must be patient to the end of my story," he sighed as if she were dragging something out of him. In truth, he wanted Rei to remember their past as well, so that he wouldn't be the only one struggling with these emotions. "I was born on Earth, millennia ago. I was one of four Prince-Generals known as the Shitennou and I served Prince Endymion." The names seemed to mean nothing to her and he knew he had to tread carefully, lest he accidentally reveal Usagi's true identity. "Your Princess had fallen in love with my Prince and Queen Selenity of the Moon arranged for him to visit her. You and I met and fell in love, as did my fellow Shitennou and your sister senshi. Unfortunately, Beryl had joined forces with a dark power named Metallia and began subjugating the Earth. She led an attack against us and the Shitennou fell. I thought I would die there, having failed to protect the people I loved most."

He dragged in a ragged breath, "But Metallia kept us alive, filling us with her dark energy, blocking out everything good and positive about our lives, reshaping us in her image. She used us in the final battle against the Moon Kingdom." His tortured eyes burned into hers and he pushed the hateful words past his lips, "I killed you. That's how much power Beryl has."

Rei was silent. She didn't want to accept this tale, but she had chosen to have this conversation in this room because she would have known, through her bond with the Great Fire, if anything he said was a lie. Instead, the Great Fire was communicating with her, unlocking memories as Jadeite spoke. It scared her, the thought that Beryl could have turned someone who loved her into her murderer. She let Jadeite work through that pain, focusing on the answering ache in her own heart.

"I don't know much about what happened after Queen Selenity sealed us away. I was awakened alone, given the task of finding the Ginzuishou and stopping the Sailor Senshi. I knew I wasn't the only one, but I had no interaction with anyone except Beryl and the youma. I do not know what has become of the other Shitennou. As you know, I came here and when I left, after our battle, I took this with me." He held out the charm and she stared at it, only faintly recognizing it. "I discovered Sailor Moon's identity about a week ago, but when I went to Beryl to reveal it, she wouldn't listen. She attacked me and I ended up in the park. I thought I was dead and cursed to haunt this patch of earth, so I wasted a great deal of time attempting to haunt Usagi. She's the one who broke through Beryl's spell, actually."

"How?"

"She was dreaming and she said the name 'Endymion'. Almost instantly, the walls in my mind and the chains on my soul crumbled to dust and I remembered everything."

"And you followed her to the park, to do what, exactly?"

"I thought I could help in some way. I can still move things around, but no one, except for you, can hear or see me."

"Why is that?" Rei asked herself.

"It must be the soul bond. There were times when I was following Usagi around that I thought you had seen me, actually. Not that I would have understood why at the time."

Rei pondered that for a long moment, seeing something that he hadn't. "Perhaps I couldn't see you while you were still controlled by dark energy."

"Suggesting that Metallia didn't snap the soul bond, she merely jammed it?" Rei nodded. "But I killed you, Rei. I loved you, I still love you, with all my heart, mind, and soul, and yet, I killed you with my bare hands."

His anguish tore at her and she reached out to comfort him, her hand resting on his forearm as she leaned in to meet his gaze, "Yes, you did. And yet, you didn't." He frowned, focusing on her intonation on the second 'you'.

"I'm not going to play games like that. I may have been reduced to a selfish, amoral, base human, but I was still me."

Rei nodded, "Exactly my point. You became a human being stripped of his higher conscience. The part of you that would have rebelled against your actions was destroyed." She leaned back on her heels and considered him quietly for a moment. "Ultimately, Jadeite, you have to decide to forgive yourself. Whatever I, or anyone else, forgives or condemns doesn't matter."

"Can you forgive me?" he demanded harshly. "For that matter can Serenity or Endymion?"

Rei gazed into the fire, seeking clarity and confirmation. "All I know is that until you forgive yourself, you will be trapped in this shadow plane of existence."

Jadeite dared to touch her, his hand reaching tentatively out for hers, unable to forget the damage he had done the last time he'd touched her, "Maybe it is what I deserve."

Irritation flashed in her eyes and she recoiled from his touch, stomping away from him and exiting the room, the sliding wooden door slamming shut, a tone of rejection if Jadeite ever heard one. He slumped over, studying his socks, almost laughing at the fact that he still worried over traditions like removing his invisible shoes from his invisible feet before entering a room. He knew he was wallowing, but was he just supposed to forget that he had crushed the life out of the woman he had cherished and adored? Raising his head, he contemplated the fire, wishing there was someway that it could speak to him.

The door scraping open again startled him and he stared in openmouthed surprise as Rei returned with tea and udon. "I wasn't sure if you need to eat in that form," she spoke quickly, nervously, "but I'm always hungry after a battle." She set the lacquered tray between them.

"Thank you," Jadeite murmured, reaching for the chopsticks. "I've rummaged through the Tsukino's kitchen late at night, eating cookies and chips."

Rei laughed, "Anything to get Usagi into trouble, I see." She tapped her lips thoughtfully and smiled as a thought struck her, "I suppose you have to eat in secret, don't you? I would love to see Usagi's face if she walked in here now and saw you eating without seeing you!"

Jadeite laughed as well, amused by the image of udon noodles wrapped around hovering chopsticks suddenly disappearing into thin air. He shook his head and they finished their meal in silence.

Finally, as Rei prepared to take the dishes away, Jadeite made his excuses, "I should leave. Thank you for everything, Rei. I can't tell you how relieved and happy I am that you have accepted everything I told you so calmly."

Rei frowned at him, annoyed as she realized he'd expected her to fly off the handle, but she made the decision to overlook it. "Where will you go?"

Jadeite shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I could go back to haunting the Tsukino's, but I don't blame Usagi for what happened anymore."

"You could stay here," Rei blurted impulsively. "No one would know, obviously. And until you find peace with yourself, I'm the only company you've got."

Jadeite didn't intend to do it, he didn't think about it, he just reacted to the self-deprecating tone in her voice. "You're all the company I ever need," he told her as he wrapped a strong arm about her waist and stared down into her wide eyes.

She stared up at him, wordlessly for a long moment, then gently extricated herself from his grip. "My memories aren't as clear as yours," she murmured apologetically.

"But you feel the pull, nonetheless," he pressed, begging for confirmation.

She nodded while still keeping a hand out between them, "I . . . I do, but I need time to deal with all of this information and these feelings. I don't trust easily."

"You never did," he whispered, his words nearly snatched away by the night wind. "I can be very patient," he promised in a slightly louder voice that seemed heavy with implications she didn't quite follow. "Just let me be near you."

"Of course," Rei replied quickly, her eyes widening in alarm. Everything might be moving too fast and her emotions might be roiling within her, but she knew she didn't want to be separated from him again.

He read her reaction well, finally sensing the thoughts and emotions inside her. She was relaxing and their bond was strengthening. She was angry at his betrayal, though the anger was directed at the act and at Beryl and Metallia, not at him. She was hurt because he had been taken away from her. She was also happy to have him back. Her memories were vague and hazy, but her soul had not forgotten him. He knew his was the same. He was grateful for the restoration of his memories, but he knew that given the freedom to do what it wished, his soul would have led him to her anyway.

He would not burden her with another declaration of love this night, not when she was so fragile. But he would follow her to her room and hold her tightly against the inevitable nightmares of their past. He would remain her secret for a while, her very own invisible friend, lending her a shoulder whenever she needed it, giving her insights into the Dark Kingdom, and showering her with love. And Rei would be patient, trusting that her love would eventually give him the strength to forgive himself and join her in the real world.