Minako entered the rooftop and looked around. It hadn't changed much over the years. It still looked familiar, she could still cross it with a few steps. And it still offered a great view of "Jupiter", Osaka's jewellery store.

"Sight-seeing?" she asked the boy in black at the rim of the roof who didn't taken his eyes off Osaka's shop for a second when he heard her voice in his back.

He didn't answer. Wind blew his curls around. He was suntanned, and his blond hair was bleached from the sun. Definitely a guy who spent way too much time on rooftops.

"She's using the back door. You certainly know that," said Minako.

He still ignored her.

Minako frowned. Time to stop being subtle.

"So what are you doing here, Jadeite? Trying to decide which one to cheat on?"

"Get lost."

His flat voice and his refusal to even turn around annoyed Minako more than his words.

"So this is your reception of the Senshi of Love and Beauty? If you're serious about Rei, or even Naru's mom, let me tell you that you'll fare way better with me on your side. Rei is my friend. Love is my mission. You wouldn't want me to stop this thing with you and Rei, would you?"

Now, for a short moment, he turned round and shot her a measuring glance. He didn't look very impressed when he turned back to his observation.

"Senshi of Love, huh?" he said. "I'm not looking for love." His face still was impassive, only the glittering of his eyes when he scanned customers in the street spoke of some interest.

Minako came closer.

"Everyone is looking for love," she insisted stubbornly.

A tiny smile played around his lips.

"That's true," he said. "For humans. But I'm through with being human. I'm through with love. Thank God."

For a moment, the smile reached his eyes.

"Jadeite!" Minako was shocked.

Jadeite's smile faded quickly. "And you, Senshi of Love, you will get nowhere with Zoisite if you bother me to a point where I decide I want to screw it for you. Zoisite is my friend. And you better not count on love being anywhere near my mission."

"Jadeite!"

Jadeite only sneered, and continued to watch the store front and the street. But Minako wasn't finished yet.

"So it's true that you only hang out with Rei? A girl who bears with your attitude and is breathtakingly beautiful? No second thoughts at all?"

Jadeite had returned to totally ignoring her.

"I can't believe Rei hangs out with you to listen to the crap you come up with," said Minako with a sigh. "She says you're pretty silent. I can see why this would be a clever move."

Jadeite didn't answer.

But Minako couldn't leave it at this. She came next to him, and watched the street with him. She knew he was lying to her. She always knew when someone was lying. But at the same time, she was confused. Something about this boy was very, very strange.

"Really, Jadeite," she said somewhat softer. He clearly was in denial of his situation, he probably needed the Senshi of Love more than he was aware of. "How can you say a thing like that? How can your mission not be love? Aren't you the one who's protecting his master out of brotherly feelings?"

"Sentimental girl. I attacked him with my dagger," said Jadeite. "I buried a life draining crystal in his heart and let him bleed to death slowly and very, very painfully. I went after him with a sword. I was his death, and he was mine. None of us has forgotten about it."

"You were forced to do this."

The tiny smile was there again, and it reached his eyes again for a moment. "Romantic, are we?"

That left Minako speechless for a moment. But she wasn't giving up yet.

"Through with love? How would that be possible? It was love that brought you back."

Again, his smile reached his eyes. "Hai."

"And you can still feel it."

That mad him smile even more, even if it was just for a moment.

"You don't understand, Sailor Senshi. It's true, I'm through with love, but in a good way. I found fulfilment. I have all the love that I need. I don't have a desire beyond that."

"Is that why you're such a picture of happiness?"

Jadeite sighed, lowering his gaze to the low green wall that markedt the end of the rooftop.

"It's a bit more complicated than that. Love isn't the answer to everything."

"Love IS everything."

He looked up.

"I am filled with love to every last bit of my existence. I want to give in to it, sacrifice the whole world, forget about my duties. But I can't. My life was given into the Master's hands again. Who I love as well, with all my life. But not out of choice. Love doesn't give you much of a choice, does it?"

"No."

"No. Offer me help, senshi of love, or deny it. It's all the same to me. Just don't tell me you're going to toy with me and Rei because I hurt your precious senshi pride."

"I'm not playing with love. I'm serious. Rei isn't 'through with love' yet, and you're lying to yourself if you think you are. Be very careful with her. I don't want to see her heart broken."

"... again," he completed her sentence with a smug side glance.

Minako gasped for air, then she aimed a good slap at his face.

He caught her hand in time.

Now he was angry.

"I was there," he said coldly. "On the day you died, I saw her tears and despair. Don't you lecture me on how important love is when you threw yours away like this."

Angrily, Minako tore her hand out of his grip.

"What do you know, Jadeite?" she hissed. "What do you know about living with death breathing down your neck every moment of your life, about seeing your time run out?"

Jadeite gave her a long cold stare.

"A thing or two," he finally said and turned back to his post, watching the store front.

"Because you were responsible for some of these nice revelations in others," pointed Minako out. Her rage already died down now that she had gotten a response out of him, but there was something about his stubbornness that made her lash out at him.

Jadeite took a deep breath.

"I don't need you to tell me that," he sighed. "I know that, senshi of love. Believe me, I do."

"Good!" hissed Minako, and realized she had enough of this.

She was about to turn and leave the rooftop, when she turned back again.

"I'll be watching over Rei. You better not make her unhappy."

Jadeite murmured something rude.

But only when she was gone.