Minako had to grind her teeth in frustration. In anger. In worry. Fear. Torment. She had really fucked this one up. Sure, in the past, she had given orders that had gone awry, but things always ended up working out just fuckin' fine. Tonight, one of her own was down with bad injuries, Ami looking her over. To make it worse, it was Rei. And to add to that fuckin great fireball growing, the battle was ongoing and it was her, Makoto, and Usagi only.

This shouldn't have been that hard. It wasn't supposed to be so hard. A simple youma, a stray that appeared from time to time. Except it was harder to predict one that had insane speed like this did and a lot of firepower. The task was simple. Rei was to draw fire while Ami did her usual scan. Makoto was back up until a plan was in place, and Minako protected Usagi. Standard procedure for the team. It was what they had been doing for two years now. Or was it three? Minako couldn't keep track with all her years as Sailor V.

Instead, Rei had taken in three times the attacks than had been predicted. And had wound up sent through solid concrete and almost demolishing a building. The good news? They were in a construction area that was taking down everything in the area as it were. The bad news? Rei was trapped under a lot of debris and when Ami had finally gotten to where she could scan her, all she could say was that the situation was 'bad.'

She took a deep breath as she eyed the youma who was smirking right fucking at her. You wanted to play firepower? Fine, two could play at this fucking game in that case. She raised her finger to her forehead and took a deep breath in, preparing to expend a lot of energy for the sake of finishing this. She was pissed off for more than one reason.

"Crescent Beam Shower!" The words came, the arm extended out, and she focused on the enemy. Only nothing happened and Minako, for the first time since London, faltered. The youma saw a chance and launched straight for her and she couldn't move. She was frozen on the spot. Her powers had just entirely failed her. The powers given to her that were meant to protect had just… did not work.

When she blinked, Makoto had managed to smash it in the face with a Supreme Thunder and removed it. In the same instance, Minako's transformation had come undone. Not only had her attack just failed her, but her powers just up and untransformed her? Oh what the actual fuck.

"Minako?" Makoto was looking at her, expecting something, anything.

"We need to check on Rei. Play clean up. Make sure no one saw anything. Short circuit any cameras you see. Usagi, go check on Rei." It was hard to give commands given her last one had caused such an injury. They were still staring at her. "GO!" With the command behind that voice, they both took off.

Minako looked down at her hand again and frowned. And then she had to shut her eyes. She was seeing that red again. The love of her life was hurt and she had failed to execute any task properly tonight. She might as well go back to London to murder people-no. She had to stop that train of thought. The last time she went down that very dark road, she almost didn't make it back.

Finally moving, she left over to where Rei was at. Thankfully she wasn't buried ass deep in debris this time. Bad news? Still unconscious. Worse news? She was sure things were broken and there was internal bleeding. "Damage control. Makoto."

"No cameras. No one was around either. All the workers were already off when the fight started. Only damages were here it seems like outside of some outside, but it looks like regular construction demolition work." Makoto watched Minako with a close eye.

"Usagi?"

"It was just a youma...nothing human about it. Makoto demolished it, but it didn't manage to infect anyone."

Minako took a deep breath at the last one. "Ami?"

"Three broken ribs, dislocated leg, punctured lung, possible head trauma. L4 damage. Transformation was probably undone within three minutes of initial impact. Healing time, a week max. Minimum three days. Bed rest required." It was analytical, that was Ami. But there was something so straight-forward and cold about it, that it just irritated Minako more. One of her own, laid out, and that was how she phrased it?

"What the everloving fuck is wrong with you?"

The room screeched to a halt and everyone turned to look at Minako like she was a stranger at a party in a place she didn't belong.

"...Minako?" Makoto was the one to speak up this time.

"Don't even pull that bullshit. Rei is laid out on the ground, lucky to be alive, and that's how you want to give an analysis? Not a drop of fuckin' sympathy for Rei?"

"Hey!" This time Makoto stepped between Minako and Ami. "What the hell is your issue? You asked for damage reports, and Ami gave hers. The same way she has always given it."

"Yeah, cold as the icy bitch she is."

Makoto took real offense to that one and returned the fire back. "Maybe Rei wouldn't be laid out on the damn ground if you'd have taken two more seconds to analyze things, or for once, let Ami actually scan something!"

Reaching back, Minako went to swing straight into Makoto's face. Except she was Aino Minako. Facing Sailor Jupiter. The swing was easily stopped and lowered. For someone who usually went head first into fights, she hadn't expected that.

"You need to chill the fuck out." Makoto shoved her back. "Whatever is bothering you is clearly impacting more than just your thought process."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"You couldn't even launch a single Crescent Beam. Your transformation came undone."

That was like a punch to the gut and Minako looked away, ashamed. Some leader she was. "Whatever. Finish up here." Turning, Minako left without a word. She couldn't handle being there. Couldn't handle Rei waking up. She knew Rei would be disappointed in her.

Instead, she opted for the stairs at her parents house. Her house. What the fuck ever, it didn't matter. She was sure she wasn't going to sleep there tonight, probably a hotel instead. Rubbing her hands on her jeans to get some feeling into them, she stared at the ground. What right did she have as anyone's leader? She was a murderer. Hell, she had almost killed Rei tonight. D-Point had killed the girls too.

Now? Now she was older, should have known better. Knew to have more patience, let Ami do what she needed to. Test waters. Not just send Hino Rei out as a distraction to get seriously hurt. Great, tears were coming on. Royal fuck up Aino Minako couldn't even perform as Sailor Venus tonight.

Letting out an aggravated noise, she slammed her hand down onto the stairs and welcomed the extreme pain in her hand. She was pretty sure she had fractured something. So much for quick counts for a few days. Home wasn't the place to be either. Forcing herself up, Minako left and went into a hidden alcove not too far away. Instead, she full forced punched the wall there, letting out an agonizing scream. Not because of the physical pain, but the mental pain. Reaching back, she did it again.

Who the fuck screwed up this badly? Injured Rei? Check. Went off of her team? Check. Disappeared? Check. Maybe sleeping here tonight wouldn't be too bad, if the temperature didn't dip too much more.

"Stop."

Minako jolted at the voice and whirled around to see Rei hobbling towards her. Ami's words echoed in her skull of every injury she had caused. By all means, Rei was supposed to be back at the shrine, not taking her hand to look at how scratched up and bloody it was. "Go home, Rei. You're hurt."

"So are you."

Minako scoffed. "Hardly."

"Maybe hardly physically. Mentally."

Leave it to Hino Rei to call her out. She didn't have to answer to anyone. She was the leader-oh. Right. She wasn't a very good one of those.

"Mina, talk to me here, please. Something is going on and you sitting here all broody about it, isn't going to help. The girls are worried. I had to assure them I'd talk to you and get it fixed so they wouldn't come here." Rei gently pulled Minako to sit down. Standing was incredibly painful, but she was too worried about her girlfriend to not come.

"Usagi just talks. Like you said. She's too stupid to move out of the way of something clearly headed at her and we have to compensate for that. It's less so now and days, but it's there. Love doesn't heal everything. Love doesn't fucking exist for everything. I can't even analyze her into a combat situation because she's not good at combat. She's not good for analyzing a single fucking thing either. She literally exists to do what I couldn't fucking do! What right does she have to get that ability over any of us!?"

Rei seemed to take a carefully deep breath in. Rei had once said very similar words, though less deep, less cut throat. "She's the princess. That's the right she has over any of us. Our job, now and then, was to protect her. Whether we liked it then...or even now, it's what duty binds us to. Destiny, if you will." What a way to shoot Minako's own words back at her. "What else?"

Minako looked away and at the ground, wanting to punch the wall again. "Makoto goes into everything head first like that's going to solve a single damn thing, which tends to result in more issues than we had to begin with. Not to mention that no, fighting isn't always the solution either. But she just gung-ho's all up in there like that's the answer! And she still can't properly control her levels of strength! The amount of damage we've caused because of her recklessness. Or the amount of times she has caused a damn black out because she can't keep her powers properly contained in a fight!"

"Do you realize how hard it is to control a free flowing power? I deal with fire power all the time. It's not as easy as it seems. I'll admit, Makoto can be very reckless. But she's wised up. She hardly rushes into a fight anymore. She runs on pure adrenaline, but you haven't talked to her about this. Or worked on her with this. It's really hard to fix something, if you don't point it out. Next? Cold, icy bitch Ami, I believe is how I was told you said it?"

"Ugh, why even go there?" Minako scowled a little, clenching her hand and welcoming the intense pain. "Any time one of us are injured, she lists it off like a fuckin' robot. It's sickening. She doesn't sound concerned or worried at all. Sometimes I wonder what goes on in her twisted little mind. You can't tell me you don't think she's just the smallest bit fucked up. Quiet ones are the deadly ones. I bet she could kill us all in our sleep."

"Now you're just being unreasonable." Rei rolled her eyes. "Ami gives her data that way because it's the way a doctor does it. It's what she's been living with since childhood. It's what she's studying. Now what about me?"

"You got yours already back when we got into it."

"Yeah, but I didn't mean what did you think I sucked at. I meant what about tonight got to you? Love came before duty."

"It did not."

"It did. I'm aware it did. You sent me into a fight to take cover fire. And things went a bit...off plan. No one could have planned for what happened tonight. Not even Ami. It was one fight out of many that didn't go like you expected." Rei paused, trying to get an answer. Silence was her return. "You thought you'd fucked up as leader. And…" Still, she tried again and Rei gave a heavy sigh. "You thought of London."

Nail, meet coffin. Rei was dead on point and Minako stiffened up.

"Except I'm not someone you've seen in passing. I'm someone you know very closely. You couldn't concentrate right." Rei leaned back, looking up at the moon, letting Minako mull over it.

"It...wasn't love before duty. It wasn't that. I made a call that almost killed you. Could have killed any one of you. And it's not the first time. My call at D-point got us all killed. I don't deserve to be leader. For fucks sake, I'm a murderer."

"Stop." Rei gently uncurled Minako's injured hand, taking out a roll of bandages. She guessed Ami gave them to her. She was tender and caring, wrapping her hand up. "You think you just became leader so easily? Remember when you first joined? We both really got into it. I had asked what right you had as a leader."

Minako remembered that night very well. It had almost gotten violent between the two of them until the others had gotten involved to put a stop to it. "I said you weren't good enough to be the leader. You lacked the skill and tactical thought behind anything and you would rush everyone in head first, getting them injured or worse, killed."

"I was so mad when you said that. But you were right. Minako, I know you're not nearly as dumb as you pretend to be. Making bad jokes? Messing up simple phrases and sayings? You spent a year in London in a University and came out with high grades while fighting youma. I've seen you count math problems in seconds that have ten or more numbers. And not small ones."

The fact that Rei had paid that much attention to her was very sweet. Minako knew she put a front up constantly, for more than one reason though. Math was a subject she was intense at. Enough to give Ami a run for her money with some things in it. Maybe not quadratic formulas, but probabilities? Ami often came to her for that kind of information because Minako put things into practice whereas Ami could only come up with an idea.

"So what? I can count, great. So can any sixth grader."

"Because you can calculate how many each of us needs to remove. Lower numbers for Usagi, Ami provides cover and back up for danger situations, while the rest of us take on a chunk. Anyways, math isn't my point here. The point is, you can think of situations quickly and logically, better than any of us."

"Rei, I almost got you killed tonight. By all means, you shouldn't have even walked here. Damage to your L4? Dislocated leg?"

"Ami fixed the last one, thank you. And Makoto carried me over here before I made them shoo. They didn't need to know all this. They just want to know if you're okay. Yes, there are going to be fights and days, where someone is really hurt. Because we can't predict every single possibility. The longer we wait to take care of a fight, the more risk the public is in. I remember something you said to me, when I got all pissed off and wanted to quit."

"What?"

"...The life of one or the life of thousands. We might come out really badly beat up sometimes, but we live. Through sheer determination and will. Or through Usagi sometimes, honestly. But it's us, or everyone."

The words hit a little too close to home and Minako had to look away, fighting back the tears. She hated those words. Hated them when she realized what she was doing. Now was no different. It was one thing when she didn't really know the victims in London. Here? Here she was close to the girls.

"Minako, it's not easy. None of this is easy. That's why I hate it too. That's why I wanted to quit. If something were to happen to me, Grandpa would have lost his daughter and his granddaughter. That's a very painful thought to me. But it's not meant to be easy either. We're out there saving the world. Sometimes just Juuban, sometimes Japan. But in the long run, the entire world. Billions of lives. People with dreams just like us."

Minako took in a deep, shaky breath. "We don't get dreams, Rei. We get illusions that we call dreams that we can't ever have. Our duty doesn't permit dreams."

"No." The word was harsh and made Minako look over at Rei. A determined look if she ever saw one. "Duty doesn't stop that. The only thing that stops that is us. Ami is still working her ass off, day in and day out, to be a doctor. Usagi is trying hard to balance school along with all of this. I still work daily as a shrine maiden, being up at ungodly hours just to stay up late for fights. That doesn't mean you have to quit your dreams. If you want to be an idol, then dammit, be an idol."

To say she was startled by the words, would be putting it lightly. Minako was positive that Rei didn't believe in dreams. Except something stood out to her.

"You...Rei you didn't give a dream in that. Sure you didn't for Usagi, but we all know that has to do with Mamoru."

"Because mine is very private. Though in a way, I mentioned it in the long run, I suppose."

Minako mulled over it, trying to pinpoint exactly what Rei had said that gave it away and came up with nothing, resulting in a frown. "I don't get it."

Rei let out a sigh and leaned into Minako. The poor girl must have been exhausted at this point. "Promise you won't spill?"

"I promise."

"...To make all of your dreams to come real. All of you. I don't have a dream of my own. My future is set at the shrine, right now. Until Crystal Tokyo and all that goes down. So I figured I'd make my dream making everyone else's dreams come true."

Want to talk about feeling like you got a cavity from how sweet that sounded. No wonder Rei got all defensive when Minako said dreams weren't real. Rei really believed in her dream of being this world wide idol.

"You know…" Minako started and smiled a little, the first time tonight. "If I became an idol, millions of other people would see me. And not just singing. In magazines too. Maybe in bathing suits." She could feel Rei stiffen up a little at that before relaxing.

"Yeah. And I'd be the only one to see you with nothing on, now wouldn't I?"

Minako busted out laughing at that one. It felt good, to laugh. After all the stress of the night, the tension finally eased out of her shoulders and the exhaustion started to set in. As did the cold and she shivered. Suddenly there was a light in front of her and warmth. Rei had a little fire in her hand.

"Cold?"

"It's not fair you can do that, you know."

"I can stop, if you'd like."

"No. I like it. I meant that you can freely control your power so willingly. Well..maybe not control it, but call it to you like that. I know you can't really control fire and all. I got nothing. Even Makoto got that thing going where she can statically shock people. And Ami can make well...ice daggers. I'm just plain old Aino Minako."

"Can't be controlled?" Rei put the fire out and pulled away to look at Minako. "You see, you're wrong there. You do have something. Pretty sure you control this little firecracker here." Rei gave her a grin as she pointed to herself. Minako had to laugh again.

"...Rei?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I stay at the shrine tonight? Maybe tomorrow too?"

"Of course. I wasn't really going to give you an option about that one. It's cold for one. And honestly, I don't want to be alone tonight either. It was scary for me too."

Minako frowned a little at that. "I'm sorry."

"I'm alive and I'll be okay. Someone has to be around to make sure I stay on bed rest. Which means in return for all this tragedy today, you get to wake up at 4am to do shrine chores."

"What!?"

"Fair is fair." Rei grinned as she slowly stood up.

"How are you going to walk back to the shrine like that?"

"Honestly? I was hoping you'd give me a ride on your back. I can keep you warm on the walk in return." Rei gave her a small smile. She hadn't thought this all the way through.

"I guess that's why I'm leader and not you. You didn't think this through by sending the girls off? Not even asking Usagi to bring Mamoru's car about?"

"No. You're leader because we all trust you and the choices you make. So squat down so I can climb onto your back and we can go home. I'll text the others and let them know all is okay. You can face that in a day or two with your apologies. Give you time to think." Rei moved onto her back, when Minako bent down. Thankfully she had no issues standing back up, due to the whole being a senshi thing.

"I suppose this is why you're second in command. For when I falter like today. Thank you, Rei. I really mean that."

"Of course. You can make it up to me when I don't feel like I'm dying a little."

"In bed, or out of bed."

Rei made some noise. Minako wasn't sure if she was slightly offended by the joke like she could be at times. "Both."

Well, both it would be. Destiny damned, things would be okay again.