The next time she met him he was sitting on the same bench as before, looking just as lost. Rei was almost embarassed how happy she was to have an excuse to stop and talk to him. Anything but hurry to where she didn't want to be.

Apparently, she got better at the strange concept of talking to a boy, because this time they made it through at least three sentences before the awkward pause set in.

Out of spontanity, or out of despair, or just because talking to him made her feel better, she suddenly asked:

"Do you have some time, Jadeite? Maybe an hour or so?" She had tried to sound casually, but her voice sounded too funny for it. Jadeite nodded slowly, looking at her questioningly.

"Could you... come with me?" continued Rei. She had to be quick before her courage would leave her again. "I could do with some help. But you have to promise me you won't laugh. And please don't tell anyone."

She rememberd Usagi's words, how Jadeite wasn't much into laughing and talking any more. That was very sad and all, but right now, Rei needed exactly that.

To her surprise, Jadeite didn't ask questions. He just got up from the bench, ready to leave.

"I guess the Master won't be back early..." he said, with slight hesitation.

"We can let him know where you are," said Rei, and when he nodded again, she took our her cell phone and left Usagi a message for Mamoru. Then she set the phone on mute and buried it in the deepest pocket of her coat, so she wouldn't have to answer the one hundred calls and texts from Usagi that would certainly follow.

"OK, Jadeite, this isn't going to take very long, I hope. I'll behave very strange and totally embarassing, and I don't want to hear about it ever again when it's over. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Very well."

Rei sighed very deeply. Now that Jadeite was with her, she couldn't find excuses any more. This time, she'd have to do it.

Technically, that meant she could hate him now, right?

Yes, definitely. Anyone who made her do that was a bastard.

Stupid Jadeite.

Yes, it helped a bit.

"Hello, Miss Hino, glad you could make it today! We've been waiting for you. Everything's ready so we can start right away. Follow me."

Rei paled and grabbed Jadeite's arm. "Don't leave me alone with her! I need you to sit there, nothing else. Just someone I can curse, and someone who keeps me from dashing out of the door again... oh man, this is so embarassing, but please don't leave!"

Jadeite just nodded and let himself be dragged into the room that strongly smelled of disinfectants.

"Hello Miss Hino. Nice to see you."

"Hello Dr. Misato," said Rei meekly. "Nice to see you too..."

"So you brought some moral support. Very well, this is going to be a great help. This young man isn't your boyfriend, by any chance?"

Rei made a meek denying sound.

"I see. Now please sit down and open your mouth, and let's see what we can do to save that molar."

Rei made another meek sound, but she sat into the big dentist's chair.

She obediently opened her mouth, but she was all stiff and cramped up from fear. Already, she had a death grip on the handrests of the chair, and the dentist hadn't done more than have a look yet. Jadeite watched with his eyebrows twisted in worry, his hair haloing around his face more ridiculously than ever, and his mouth twitching every now and then. He didn't seem to like this any more than her. But he was there. Then Jadeite put his hand on hers, and suddenly, everything was that much better. No Shitennou had ever touched her, she could feel the incredible energy level that was so different from other humans, it was just the right thing to calm her down. I have brought my personal guardian, she thought, and he's armed, ten kinds of obnoxious, filled to the brim with magic, cuddles with demons, and you wouldn't want to mess with him.

That was definitely better. She moved her hand so she could hold his, for feeling extra certain his hand would be there all the time.

Rei took a deep breath as soon as they were out of the dentist's.

"Ah, I did it, I feel like I could fly," she sighed and smiled, although she felt creepy with half of her jaw being numb. "Come on, Jadeite, there's something else you need to do for me!"

"Er... yes?"

His puzzled face made her laugh. Okay, everything would have made her laugh because she was so happy now that it was over. But he looked so clueless and out of place right now, with civilian clothes and with this ridiculous hair, and probably even more relieved than her to leave this place, it was quite the sight to cheer her up.

"Here, you need to drink this cup of coffee for me," she said when she had gotten him one out of a vending machine. "I'm not allowed to eat or drink for a while, and I need one right now. So I guess you have to have it."

That made him smile.

"I see..."

They found a quiet place to sit down, and this time the silence wasn't as awkward.

"I really appreciate that you were there," said Rei after a while. "And, Jadeite... could we keep this a secret between us? I don't want everyone to know about it..."

"Sure." He took a sip of his coffee. "They wouldn't believe it anyway. Not certain I understood myself what happened. Did I really watch someone drill holes into your teeth?"

He shuddered involuntarily, so hard that he spilled some of his coffee.

Rei was puzzled, but then it dawned on her.

"Sorry..." she said. "I thought you knew what a dentist is."

"I must have known, but most of my memories are lost." He looked at her and made a face like he had bitten into a lemon. "What did you do that for? Nephrite has explained us about the whole tattoo thing, and I got that because, yeah, it looks really cool, but... Who needs holes in their teeth?"

"I'm really sorry," said Rei, looking at him. She was surprised that this sentence came natural to her, it usually didn't. But it was really a bit embarassing to see how upset he was about it. "It's a treatment against tooth decay. If the decayed parts are removed, the rest of the tooth stops rotting. Well, hopefully..."

"Did it hurt a lot?" asked Jadeite. Rei was embarassed by the concern in his voice, and his eyes. I don't need no Shitennou to pity me, she thought, but actually, he sounded rather admiring.

"No, but..." How could she explain it? "Actually, it doesn't hurt at all, because they give you this anestetics that make your mouth go numb and you don't feel a thing. But it doesn't make a difference. I react to the sounds and the smells, and even if I can't feel the pain, I know someone is messsing with my teeth, and that it should hurt like hell any second... and it acutally hurts a lot before I go there, because I always wait until it's absolutely unbearable and only dying would be worse than the dentist, which makes the whole experience even worse... oh man, you must think I'm the most pathetic girl on earth. Quite the senshi I am, huh?"

Jadeite looked into his coffee and smiled.

"Everyone has their little secret weakness," he said. "You're not fooling me into underestimating you, Sailor Mars."

What's yours? Rei wanted to ask, but somehow, she thought she had asked enough already from him today.

"I told you, it's only Rei... and... thanks again... you did really well for someone not knowing what was going on."

Congrats, Hino, she thought, catchy phrase, gotta remember it so you can finish any first date with it... it's a date if you have coffee, right? Even if your datee is spilling his coffee from repulsion...

"If I can repay you that favour one day, don't hesitate to ask."

Jadeite made a doubtful face.

"I guess I'm more determined now than ever to keep all my teeth the way they are," he said. "But thanks."

"'Sorry, but I need to borrow your guardian for a while'?" was Mamoru's greeting when they came back to the place where she had picked up Jadeite. He was already there, waiting. Rei had a suspicion that he had been rushing there as soon as he had gotten Usagi's message. She was a bit annoyed, because she had tried to be punctual so Jadeite wouldn't run into trouble.

Kunzite was with Mamoru, and shot them a smug look. "Now what would the senshi of passion want to borrow Jadeite for, I wonder?" he said with a smirk.

"Sorry, can't tell you," she said. "It's private."

Kunzite sneered, with an amused undertone that got under Rei's skin.

"What's all the fuss about?" she added, "It's not like he had anything useful to do, and hey, you got him back in one piece."

She turned to the boy.

"Thank you, Jadeite," she said and stood on the tips of her toes to murmur into his ear, just loud enough so that Mamoru and Kunzite could hear it very well. "I really needed that." For a moment, she took his hand and squeezed a silent thank you into it.

"My pleasure, Rei" replied Jadeite, a mischievous little smirk crawling onto his face.

"Remember, Jadeite, no word to anyone," whispered Rei into his ear, this time voiceless so the nosy company around them couldn't hear it.

He nodded.

"Of course."

Rei went to have a miserable afternoon all by herself, waiting for her mouth to get back to normal. She usually wiped dentist memories out of her brain as soon as possible, but this one... this one she would keep.