"Rei-chaaaan!" squealed Usagi as soon as Rei entered their room in the Crown karaoke bar. "Finally! Please, you must tell me, what did you need to borrow Jadeite for?"

"What?" said Minako and shot her a suspicious glance.

"Jadeite?" Makoto laughed.

Ami just looked at Rei very thoroughly, then she smiled.

"I didn't know we can borrow Shitennou," said Minako. "That's actually very interesting. Out with it, Mars Reiko, what did you borrow him for?"

Rei made a stern face. "I'm not going to tell you. It's private."

"What?"

"Oh, come on!"

"Erm... Rei-chan? Is that your answer? Because you know, Mamoru asks me a lot of questions. What am I going to tell him? You took him to do something private?"

"Exactly. It's absolutely none of his business. Or yours."

"Rei-chaaan! Please! Tell us what you did!"

Usagi was about to implode, so hard did she try to suck compassion out of Rei with her suffering expressions.

But Rei wasn't that easily molten down.

"There's nothing to tell."

"Nothing to tell? Rei-chan! You were holding hands with him! You probably even kissed him, Mamoru isn't certain..."

"She what?" gasped the other three.

"I didn't kiss him!"

"They definitely held hands," repeated Usagi triumphantly. "Right in front of Kunzite and Mamoru!"

"I did neither!" defended Rei her dignity. "I just whispered something into his ear. Everything else is just the heated imagination of too many boys in one spot. And you should have seen their faces," grinned Rei.

"You took Jadeite for some private time and whispered things into his ear?" asked Minako disapprovingly.

"And Mamoru says she gave him a tour of her bedroom!"

"He totally misunderstood that, and I bet it was on purpose!" protested Rei.

But Usagi just grinned victoriously.

"What is there to misunderstand about Jadeite in your bedroom?" asked Ami with a fake innocent expression. Rei couldn't believe it, even Ami was nowadays into gossip, what the hell was wrong with them?

"And, how was he?" asked Makoto dryly with a grin.

Okay, she wasn't going to let them just make fun of her. She could make fun of them too.

"Creepy. Cute." Rei had too much fun seeing Minako's face, so she added: "Wasn't a good experience, all in all, but he turned out to be an awesome choice for it. I'll certainly borrow him again."

"No waaaay!" squealed Usagi.

There will be phone calls, said Minako's face. There will be a lot of explaining, and it had better be good.

Rei grinned.

"So... I guess your visit at the dentist went well then?" said Ami to Rei when they had a moment to themselves.

Rei looked away, but she smiled.

"How did you know?"

"Uhm... your cheek is swollen, but you're not in pain any more...? Was that what you needed Jadeite for? Moral support?"

"I didn't... need him," said Rei and shook her head. "I just... saw him and spontaneously took him along. But yeah, nothing like a guy who could wreck the whole room in two seconds if you need moral support."

Ami smiled, to Rei's surprise. The Ami started stuttering around again.

"Uhm... you know... did he..."

"Yes?"

"... say anything..."

Ami was about to fall silent, but Rei's stern gaze made it clear that this was not an option, so she concluded meekly with "... about Nephrite?"

Rei shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Ami. Jadeite doesn't talk very much. I can try to bring it up diplomatically next time I see him. But if you don't want to wait, I'm certain Usagi will be happy to arrange something pink, cheerful and romantic for the two of you."

They looked at each other and shuddered, and broke out in laughter.

"I'll keep it in mind as a last resort," said Ami. "Thank you SO MUCH for suggesting it though."

"My pleasure. Well, until then, you'll have to stick to hanging around in Crown as often as possible in hope that Motoki will drop a hint some day," said Rei, and smiled when Ami blushed.

Rei made a mental note to make Makoto cue Motoki on this.

She couldn't for the world say what Ami - or anyone - saw in Nephrite, but she wouldn't be judgemental on this.

It was about time the senshi got some other food for their gossip.

And who knew, maybe it was good to have someone over at the Shitennou for first hand information.

After all, they were all guys. Someone needed to keep an eye on them.

It took a while until she saw Jadeite again, but one day, she saw him and Kunzite in town. Somehow, she liked to see Jadeite trailing behind Kunzite a lot better than Jadeite trailing behind Mamoru. Those two... they had teamed up in the Dark Kingdom, and they obviously did it again. Rei had a feeling that if Jadeite was making a cockroach joke about Mamoru's bike wear, Kunzite would snicker.

Rei was in a hurry, or she would have followed them and greeted them. But they were heading in different directions, and so she just waved them a hello, even if she knew they couldn't see it. To her surprise, Kunzite lifted an arm in response, giving her a casual wave, not even turning round.

Had she just imagined it? Could it have been someone else, and she had him mistaken for Kunzite in this busy crowd?

But then Jadeite turned round, looking for her, and she waved again.

He waved back, and then he was gone, following Kunzite again.