The week after the Zoisite incident, Jadeite was there again. He didn't say much, but he had stopped pretending not to watch her. And he had a confused expression that Rei found to be very annoying. Something was on his mind, and Rei had a good idea what it was.

"Do you have time to walk me home today, Jadeite?"

Very quickly, he told her that he had. Yes, he had been waiting for that question. No doubt.

Rei had her bicycle parked in front of the cemetary doors, and now she was pushing it while walking at a slow pace with Jadeite.

"Jadeite, you know, I think Zoisite had a point. We shouldn't just be gloomy in cemetaries. We should be gloomy in town, too."

Jadeite gave her a side glance. None of them had mentioned Zoisite so far.

Rei wanted to curse his silence and his stupid, stubborn head. This was difficult enough to say, why wasn't he making it any easier? And had noone ever told him he needed a haircut?

"I mean..." she continued after a pause, "I don't know if you have the time, but... we're friends, right?"

Another side glance. But this time, an answer.

"Yeah."

"So we could hang out together... not all day, but... Hey, look, coffee. Should we have some?"

"Okay..."

Rei got them some coffee and they found a place to sit. She had been right. Coffee worked. Jadeite finally relaxed a bit. But he still was thinking about something, she could see it in his face. Rei thought how his hair could make everything he did look annoying while his blue eyes softened that effect again. She waited. Finally, Jadeite found words to say, his eyes avoiding her.

"Rei... we aren't... dating?"

"No!" She couldn't help to be embarassed, but she was glad he had brought it up. "I don't do dates! You don't believe I suggested this as a date?"

"I wasn't certain, but..."

"But hoping?"

"No. More dreading, actually. I'd be a poor choice. You deserve better."

"Don't say that, Jadeite," said Rei. "It's not because it's you, really, nothing against you. But I'm not the dating type. 'Aw, look how cute I am, aw, look at all the things I do with my hair, aw, I need new clothes, aw, does this handbag make me look silly enough?' I really don't have the time for that. We're just... hanging out. Together."

Jadeite looked very relieved. "Good. I'm not... I can't go dating senshi. I mean..." he paused for a moment, and then he smirked. The old smirk. "I guess I'll leave it to Nephrite to get that one through to Kunzite."

Rei was more than happy to change the subject. Even if it was for gossip. But it wasn't gossip if it was about a friend, right? And she had a promise to keep.

"Speaking of which... So Nephrite is really interested in Ami? Are you certain?"

"Are you kidding? She's all he's talking about."

"Good. I mean, I don't know if it's good. But he's all she's talking about as well. Seriously, how many lifetimes will it take them to come together?"

Jadeite shrugged. Rei had hoped for a smile.

"Is there a problem?" she asked. "You guys not in favor of the idea?"

"No. We're not."

Rei waited for an explanation, and she didn't like that she had to ask for it, but she had to know.

"Because...?"

He hesitated, but then he answered.

"I guess we're just a bunch of selfish suckers and all... but in the last life, he has turned his back on us for her. And I don't see what would keep him from doing so this time. He's my friend, and I want him to be happy. But I don't know if I want to lose him again. Especially to her."

"You don't trust Ami?"

He just sneered instead of an answer.

"Please, Jadeite be honest. I can take it. If there is a problem with this, I want to know it as early as possible. Before there are broken hearts and all."

Jadeite looked away. But he answered. "Don't forget I know both sides of her. Cutesy little squeak mouse and full blown hell rat. And I don't like any of them. Sorry about that. But that's what I honestly think."

"Hm, she's changed, you know. She's sort of grown into a healthy middle in between those extremes."

Jadeite still didn't look like he liked it. Rei didn't want to end their talk like this, but there was only one thing she could come up with. She sighed. Sometimes, a few small talk skills would come in handy.

"You know, Jadeite, I hate gossiping, but now that we're already at it... what do you think about Minako and Zoisite?"

To her surprise, he cheered up immediately.

"Honestly?" he grinned.

"Please."

"Well... do you sometimes see two people and can only think how much they deserve each other?"

Rei smiled in surprise. "What? You're not feeling sorry for Zoisite then?"

"Zoisite?" replied Jadeite with a snort. "Why would I feel sorry for Zoisite? Whenever they saw each other, he was doing something stupid with his sword. Fully deserved that she blew him into crystal coma. I'm not sorry at all."

"But... isn't Zoisite a quiet, shy guy? Minako has very little patience for that kind."

"Zoisite isn't shy!" said Jadeite emphatically. "If you want to see what Zoisite is like, listen to his music. Next to Zoisite, Kunzite is a fluffy little kitten!"

That made Rei laugh out loud.

"A fluffly little kitten?"

"Sure. Look at him. Always purring, always circling people, always clawing for their attention. Kitten boy. We've been making fun of him for it since, I don't know, forever."

Rei stared at him, and suddenly, she had a feeling like seeing one of these illusion pictures that turn from a vase into faces. It did make sense. Unfortunately.

"Wow, I think my brain just got permanent damage from that mental image," she murmured. Then she grinned. "So, who's going to adopt that kitten, I wonder?"

Jadeite shrugged. "I don't know. Jupiter seems to be more of a turtle person."

"Very much so, yes."

"Then I guess we'll have to wait and see if the other little kitten grows out of her attitude when she gets older."

Again, it took Rei a few second to grasp what he had said. Then she shook her head.

"No."

"No, I don't see it either," said Jadeite. "I guess we'll have to wait if the outer senshi come out in this time. Maybe Pluto is lonely."

"The outer senshi?"

No Jadeite was perplexed. "You must know about them. Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and the others."

"Sorry, I don't remember them."

He shrugged. "I only heard about them. Times must be pretty bad when they bother to come here to rough things up. I guess Kunzite will have to sort it out by himself. He's probably not yet over Mercury, then noone should rush him."

"He liked her?"

"Yeah."

"He had a funny way of showing it."

"That's Kunzite."

It was only later that evening when Rei suddenly realized that none of them had considered her dating Kunzite in the least. Not that she wished to do so. If she'd ever think of having a kitten, she'd look for something cute and fluffy, not a sabertooth tiger. But still...

"So, Jadeite, what are we going to do when we're hanging out?"

"Hm, I don't know..."

They went through some ideas, but didn't find something they both liked.

Cake, ice-cream, or eating something in general - too much like a date. Movies even more so. Definitely not karaoke, Rei insisted. Jadeite assured her he got his daily dose of music at home thankyouverymuch. Rei suggested sports, without much enthusiasm, but it turned out Jadeite already had all the exercise he needed from patroling and Kunzite's unshakeable belief that busy people didn't have time to mope.

It turned out Jadeite liked hunting, which wasn't exactly something to do in a big city.

"Except probably for rats, but I currently don't have a youma who's trained for that..."

"Ew! And ew again! Jadeite!"

He just threw her the most reproachful look of honestly not understanding what the fuss was about, and Rei dropped the youma issue instantly.

Rei remembered Jadeite liked horses, but didn't bring it up for the city problem again...

"So, Rei, what do you like to do?"

It turned out that the only thing Rei liked was reading books.

"Well, I guess I could watch you read a book and be gloomy in peace without Kunzite throwing a fit over me 'getting all insufferable from having nothing to do'," said Jadeite with a sigh.

"Wouldn't it be boring for you?"

"No. I like watching people."

"Hey, me too!"

And so they left the book idea for rainy days and went for interesting places to watch people. They also agreed that a drink of coffee or soda was neutral and not dating at all.

It worked well. No small talk was required, only some explanations of Rei about the modern times. With Jadeite who was clueless about mostly everything, even the well-known became strange and interesting again. While strange concepts like magical drifts or resident spirits were a perfectly normal topic of conversation.

Probably it's not that I'm not made for normal men, thought Rei. I'm probably not made for normal.

Somehow, she liked that.