A/N: . . . -.-; Now time to dig myself out of this one. . ^^; Oh, let me just say this- the only thing I borrowed from Coffee Prince is the 'employed for twisted sexuality so I can get out of the family business'. ^^ I honestly don't know how the real thing goes since I've only watched the first sixteen episodes.

DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon and Coffee Prince ain't mine, since they're all totally sane and the plot is something you can follow with ease. .

Coming To An Answer

Makoto stared at the vials around her, her hand still on Rei's shoulder.

The miko was turning into a hot ball of flame under her, but the karate instructor knew her friend would never cause any unecessary damage if she could help it. She had known this was an illusion the very moment Ami had pulled the seal off of the electric wheelchair.

Makoto Kino wasn't a black belt for nothing.

Frowning, the brunette calmed her sparring partner down and dimly heard the shattering of compacted glass. A bright orange light flashed into her closed lids, but Makoto could already feel the major damage in the air, the potential danger of losing her partner.

"Mercury!"

Turning, Makoto scrambled over to the large broken vial, the orange smoke around her not helping her panicked breathing any. The protective bubble encasing her and Rei was split, and Makoto's mind raced.

Ami.

No, Ami!

How could she have been so stupid to not be there at both the ice wielder and Rei's side? Because of a simple mistake in judgement, her partner may be. . down for the count. Makoto pushed away the oncoming flashback she knew was about to happen in her panicked state and struggled to stay calm.

"Thunder! Snap out of it, THUNDER!"

There was something burning into her arm.

A hand.

Rei's hand.

Dark eyes swam into her vision, and Makoto fought it, trying to cling to the illusion of reality and not succumb to the pressure she felt building inside her head. She hadn't fainted in over two years, she wasn't going to start again, no matter the events around her.

Makoto knew her fist was moving through the air, even if it felt like it belonged to someone else and a million miles away. She had to pull herself together. Rei had done a good job the first time, Ami the second, she needed a shock to slap herself back in her body.

*THUMP!*

A fist connected solidly in her stomach and she grunted, doubling over. The pain was welcome, something real aside from the hazy details of her past, and she clung to it, desperate to get back and check where Ami was.

"*gasp!* I-I'm okay, Mars, where's Mercury?"

Glancing around, the brunette straightened and thanked her past self for chopping off her hair. A ponytail hanging to her skull right now would definitely enhance the thumping in her head, but for now she could ignore it.

Rei glanced her physical state over and deemed she was back with a sharp nod.

Pointing to the large bubble to their front, the miko knelt down and took hold of the ice senshi's limp hand. Running her thumb and then forefinger to the wrist, she took pulse and nodded again.

"Right here. She's good and alive, just out for the count. I think she was trying to get something out of the vial here and the impact or whatever that orange stuff was in it knocked her out. The gas probably weakens as soon as it comes out of the glass."

Makoto knelt beside Rei and pulled Ami over into her lap. Instantly the numbing in her mind lessened, and she was able to pull the smaller girl up and onto her torso, stubbornly keeping her from laying on the ground.

"Mars, what are we going to do? I don't like the fact that we're back in that lab where Ryohizu and Sherona was. From what Mercury had said, this lab was already destroyed. Do you think we've altered the past or something?"

Wide dark eyes gaped at her.

"What?"

Shrugging slightly, Makoto sighed and furrowed her brow. There was no use in sitting her, but with only garbage and hanyou around her, what could she do? Propping Ami up on her side by another large orange tank, she fished around in her pocket.

Coming up with a dead communicator, she groaned.

The only help that would come from the outside world would be a great shock to their body or Minako and Usagi kicking them awake. Looking over at Rei, Makoto couldn't help but snicker. The miko saw this and frowned.

"What?"

Raising her eyebrows up and down, she leaned in closer to the angry Mars.

"Wouldn't you just love it if you were woken up with a kiss instead of Minako kicking you awake from this? Come on, Rei, I know you've been thinking about this- since you're of shrinely duties, you know your outer self looks pretty peaceful."

A roar from the reddening lobster named Rei, and another large vial broken.

"Hey, quit it with the breaking glass already! I'm trying to leave without the crazy genius scientist figuring out whatever the heck is making that noise and stuffing me back into one of those things! IF you don't mind!"

A sharp voice snapped at them, and Makoto turned. There was something hauntingly familiar about the speech slurs and lazy curbings of rrr's that spoke to her.

"Sherona?"

Amidst the new orange mist stood Sherona in all her curvy glory, if only a bit skinnier. Familiar red eyes slanted down at them, and the throaty purr all but excused the bad state she was in. Rags covered her body, but it was decently enough, strangely.

Makoto knew it was hard finding clothes in a dark alley street, and probably more so in a liquid-encased vial. Even as she took in the half-youma's proud stance, Makoto noticed her hands curving in on something circular.

A fishbowl.

"Ryohizu-kun, is that you?"

Rei shifted beside her in confusion but Makoto stood, facing the dirty pair and gently walking over to pull the fishbowl from Sherona's hands. Too late did she remember she was back in the past, back where she didn't know these souls, back where the lab was supposed to be blown apart by an evil mad scientist.

"Who are you guys? I know li'l Ami-chan over there, but you, Lightning, I honestly don't think I do."

Makoto nodded, feeling an odd sense of heightened closeness around her.

That's why Sherona had called her Lightning the first time they'd met. She really did have a strength about her that sparked. Holding Ryohizu's fishbowl to eye-level, Makoto grimaced in sympathy. With his flashing green eyes, Ryohizu held himself with pride.

But the dark scales of rust and the limped way he held his right fin bade bad.

"We're friends of Ami-chan's. I'm Makoto, and that over there is Rei."

Makoto felt the surprised shock of Rei behind her and gently sent out a surge of calm flickering across the floor. The small shock hit Rei on the leg and she twitched, accepting the fact Sherona and Ryohizu were someone they could trust with their real identities.

Sherona shook out her mane of red hair and nodded back. Taking Ryohizu, she eyed their glowing forms of light blue. Gesturing to them, Sherona pointed out and asked the obvious, coming to her own conclusion.

"Hey, those are Ryohizu's nibletts! Let me guess- since you know me, you're from the future, since Ami-chan here's all grown up. I'm betting that dumb bimbo aunt of hers is still trying to figure out a way to bop them off so she can get their money, which is one way of saying she put me and Hizu-chan down here in the dumps with her dumb ex-boyfriend."

Makoto nodded dumbly.

Sherona continued on, undisturbed in the slightest, a grin lighting her face.

"So, if you know me and Hizu-chan, that means we escaped good! Sweet! Well, just for you sweeties, I'll let you out of here. Here, help me wipe off the stuff on Ami-chan, would'ja? You need to get rid of whatever brought you here in this flashback, which was probably this fish's nibletts."

"HEY! Half-strength, don't go on as if you know everything! I know you missed Ami-chan all over, don't act as if you haven't!"

"*snort* We can act all chummy later, Hizu-chan! I'm better at figuring stuff out than going head to head with that dumb bimbo's ex, so shut it and he won't find us! THEN in the future we can give Ami-chan a big fat hug!"

". . . Fine. Here, let me have a taste, would'ja? I haven't had nibletts in a long time. Dumb scientist figured out he couldn't touch us with my nibletts on us."

Makoto barely held in her grin. Busy wiping the blue coloring off of her and Ami and putting it on Sherona's arms and legs and Ryohizu's tank, she noted the familiar chiding of the two and decided to keep quiet.

Rei was busy scanning the surrounding area and making sure the 'evil scientist' wasn't popping up anywhere. With her fire abilities, the nibletts had gradually soaked into her skin. They had agreed on Makoto and Ami waking her up when they got back into the real world.

"Ami-chan. Ami-chan, wake up. C'mon, open those sweet blues for me, Ami-chan. Sherona and Ryohizu-kun are here, look, they're right here. These two have waited a long time to say hello, Ami-chan. Don't disappoint them."

Lightly slapping the ice senshi on the cheek, Makoto sighed in relief as her partner's eyes fluttered open, groaning slightly as the muscles in her body creaked in a stretch.

"Sher. . ona?"

She could hear the dazed disbelief in the tone and chuckled slightly. Pinching the smaller girl's cheeks, Makoto grinned down and wiggled her fingers in a waving manner.

"Yup, the one and only. Come on, we need to wake up and meet your mom, remember? She's probably at home right now, and she needs us to take care of her in that big bad mansion called your house."

Ami groaned once more and rolled over on to her side. Makoto smiled, a bit baffled. Ami, on of the types who liked to delay the inevitable? Wow. Sherona appeared at her side and smirked herself. Reaching out a hand, she snapped her fingers beside Ami's ear and the blue-eyed girl jumped up in full awakeness.

"Heh, she hasn't changed a bit, even in adult-hood. Hey, Lightning, take care of her, okay? I'm going to trust you with my cute wittle niece here, and whenever I see you again, even if you don't remember me, I'm going to swear this: Hizu-kun and me here, we'll be by her side when you come to her, got that? And you better not have changed."

Makoto nodded, the seriousness in those red eyes a familiar challenge. She had seen that same look in Ami's blue gaze frequently in the short time she'd known the smaller girl, and now she knew she'd gotten it from Sherona.

"I'll hold myself and you to that, Sherona. Ryohizu-kun, take care from Artemis, okay? He's a white angel, but he's still a cat."

The green fish nodded, then gave a rolling twirl in the water, oozing effortlessness.

"Will do. See you again, Makoto."

And the two senshi blinked out of the past as Sherona wiped away the last bits of nibletts from both their foreheads in an unspoken sealing of promise.

0000000000000000000000000000

"Rei-chan! Rei-chan, wake up!"

Ami broke surface the same time Makoto did, inhaling the clean scent of air with a desperate struggle of lungs. Shaking her head, the blue-haired girl turned towards the fire-wielder, seeing the familiar blonde curls of Minako Aino shaking the miko.

Her blue eyes were widened in panic and threatening to overflow into tears, but to her credit, she didn't cry. There was a fierce look about her and Ami knew right then Minako harbored feelings for Rei, which were mirrored by the miko.

Who burned down a whole forest just to lose control and protect her beloved.

Shifting, Ami turned towards Makoto and saw out of the corner of her eyes the senshi's princess, close behind Minako and her optimistic demeanor stripped away, revealing a lone spirit determined to be strong.

Yet when the blonde saw her gaze on her, those walls were back up, painted bubbly and strong again, yet a different kind, a supportive bridge for her friends. Ami nodded at the sheepish smile the girl gave her and grinned.

Nudging Makoto and feeling the closed nudge in return, she knew her electric partner already knew of the triangled boundaries involving the three. Ami inwardly wished them all the best and most of happiness.

Looking around, she noted the usual workings of staff and patients walking around the hall, ducking into rooms and delivering meals and the everyday doings of a hospital hard at work.

"I'm so glad my aunt didn't hurt anyone in the hospital. Everything seems to be normal."

Rei broke surface right then and gasped, her dark eyes flying open in a wild craze as she lurched forwards, right into Minako's shaking arms. Letting out a surprised squeak, the civilian Rei Hino drew a lot of curious stares from passing doctors and nurses.

Giving them an apologetic smile and a firm glare, Rei shrugged loose and murmured a shy 'Thanks', getting to her feet and openly shaking herself off, a dark blush stealing across her face as she paced across the small length of hall where they were before she'd urged Minako and Usagi out the window.

"Your aunt was definitely after Minako here, Ami-chan. I think she knows we were the only ones who could put a stop to her when she was visiting here, so she had her minions go after us first. The only thing was, why was she here in the first place?"

Ami frowned.

Why. .?

Then it hit her.

Turning to Makoto, she whispered, deadly cold.

"My mom. . ."

A/N: Okay, so they got out of that wierd flashback there. ^^ Now for the chasing down of Ami's aunt and her mom! And what the heck about her dad and Makoto's past? Hmm, I'm gonna have to put that in there somewhere! . Thanks for stickin' with me so far, guys, this's one crazy ride, eh? ^^