Chapter 5: Ultraman Leo and Hino Rei
Rei is sweeping the leaves off the shrine, she is wearing her maiden uniform. Ever since her last time transforming to Sailor Mars on protecting the earth. Is when she and the rest of the gang are facing Galaxia, however, she didn't even have a chance to face against her and she was hit by the bracelets. Rei knows it was frustrating, hurtful to see her cannot fulfil the promise of protecting Usagi, though she often has fights with her; but she still treats her as a friend.
After almost finishing sweeping the leaves, Rei put the rake, leaning next to the wall of the shrine. She sat on the staircase and stared the sky.
"Last time meeting Usagi, it was a long time. She is a playful girl, though she sometimes can be annoying, but she was helpful at times, especially the times when we all died, and she managed to save us. Why do I have to be so rude to her sometimes? But whatever, things had gone back to normal." Rei said as she stood up and head back to the shrine.
Rei suddenly saw Minako in the distance, she was holding her bag on her arms.
"Reiko!" Minako yelled.
"Minako chan? Why are you here?"
"Nothing, Just greeting you. By the way, how's everything, ever since we bid farewell to the Starlights."
"Just studying, Minako. I have to help cleaning up the shrine."
"I also find Ami to help."
"Things have changed a lot, without the starlights, we have to take care of ourselves."
"I miss the starlights so much, I wish we could see them again."
"But their mission had finished, so we won't see them in a short time." Rei sighed.
"So what are you trying to imply?"
"Just feel like I would need someone to be on my side, providing me support."
"Who would you think could be your partner?"
"I hope it's a young man or something, like Yaten, Minako, you and he were close."
"I agree, A man could provide comfort to me."
Rei suddenly hugged Minako.
"Minako, I'm scared. I don't want to die again…" Rei said in worry.
"Reiko, I know. I'm afraid too, But we have to face it, we can't simply just withdraw for our duty."
"But we died twice, I'm scared that we won't be back to life again."
"Fulfilling a duty is enough for us, Reiko. Unless the time has come."
"I think so, Minako. We cannot change the time of what's happening through the world, but it's our mission on protecting the earth."
"But first, let's put these things aside, alright?"
"Yes, Minako."
Rei and Minako then do their chores as usual, Minako is helping to clean the kitchen, while Rei is sweeping, vacuuming the rest of the shrine. They stayed with each other in the rest of the night.
"Rei, I'm leaving now. I'm going back home to take care of Artemis."
"Ok, Bye, Minako chan."
Rei then drifted to sleep after brushing her teeth. She stared at the ceiling, thinking of what she said earlier to Minako.
After a while, Rei noticed she was sleeping in a dark background, Her bed was gone, the room and everything was gone. She panicked and quickly took her transformation pen under her blanket. And quickly transformed to Sailor Mars.
"Show yourself, whoever you are!" Mars yelled.
There are two crystal copies, who are charging to Mars. She remembered those were the two copies of Nehelenia that took Neptune hostage, and she aimed the mars flame sniper to the copy, defeating it. However she and Neptune both collapsed because of exhaustion as they were trapped in the mirrors.
"Nehelenia? We have defeated her a long time ago!" Mars exclaimed.
The copies then charge at her, this time they have blades and immediately slashed her arms and legs, leaving scratches with blood pouring out; She can't even move a muscle. Mars' eyes filled with tears; she is afraid that she won't meet Usagi and her friends again, and she would die inside her dream. She still have a lot of things haven't done.
But A red ball then flashed in front of Mars, It was a human, who has two horns from the left and right, his body was full with red, and from his chest, he has a silver brace with holes strapped on; his face was metal, and a blue light in the middle of the brace, with a silver symbol on his stomach; he also have two rings on his wrists, He has two rectangular, yellow eyes, with two black pupils in the middle. His mouth was made of metal.
"Who are you?" Mars asked.
"I'm here to save your life, Rei."
"How do you know my name?"
"Let's talk about it later."
The figure then pull out his nunchucks and hit those copies, both of the copies are unable to pull their blades to kill him, after a few seconds of punches, the figure fired two red beams from his hands, and completely destroyed them.
"Wow…." Mars said in awe.
"Are you alright, Rei?"
"I'm alright, Just answer my question, why do you know my name?"
"I actually have a meeting with my brothers, One of the superior, called King, he once met Endymion and he provided us information about the senshi, and one of them, is you, Rei."
"And your name is?"
"Leo, Ultraman Leo."
Mars felt surprised when she saw the figure who saved her is Leo, the person who saved her life in the dream.
"Leo san, can you help me to heal my wounds?"
"Let me help you."
Leo said as he took the yellow bracelet from his left arm, it transformed to a large mantle, wrapping her body. A few seconds later, her wounds were healed.
"Leo san. My wounds…. I'm no longer bleeding."
"Are you alright?"
"I'm alright, Leo san, just l don't understand why you need to save me."
"I saw you wandering in a dark, Rei. I was patrolling in space, and I noticed in a not far place from planet Mars , I saw a dark figure and I saw you trapped; you must have been trapped inside for a long time.
"You were watching me for a long time?"
"King thinks me, and you have a same motif of showing fire, and we have the same personality, so he would like me to join you as a partner." Leo said.
"Partner?" Her eyes shined.
"Yes, for assisting you, what's wrong?"
"Minako chan was right, the partner had come." Her eyes welled up with tears.
"Rei chan, are you crying?" Leo said as he comforted her.
"I'm really scared, Leo san! I'm afraid of dying! I have a lot of things that I haven't finished, playing with Usagi, and other stuff!" She said as she cried on his chest.
"You were not alone. I also have the same feeling as you. My whole planet was destroyed, and I was also scared." Leo said as he pats her head.
"Whole planet?"
"Rei chan, that's right. So I got to the Land Of Light, and I was greeted by King, and he let me join their squad, and of course, my brother, Astra also joined him."
"Leo san, thank you for saving me…" Mars said softly.
"Don't mention it, Rei chan."
"I just wanted to leave this place, Leo san. I really don't want to have nightmares the whole night."
"I will take you away. Hold tight!"
Leo then took Mars away from the dark background, they disappeared and a second later, Mars transformed back to Rei. She was in her pajamas, and Leo was on her side. They were back at Rei's bedroom.
"So you are Sailor Mars, Rei chan."
"Leo san. You mean you would stay with this night?"
"I can't afford to see you suffering from the nightmare you had. I promised King to protect you."
"I accept the offer, Leo…san…" Rei started to cry, but Leo used his fingers to wipe her tears.
"Shh, Shh. Rei chan."
"Leo san…"
"Let's walk with each other tomorrow, shall we, Rei chan?"
"Yes. Leo san. Thank….you…" Rei then fall asleep on Leo's chest as her arms are hugging his back.
"Rei chan, from now on, you are my partner." Leo said as he kissed her forehead softly.
Staring at her sleeping face for a while, Leo also closed his eyes, holding her right hand and hugged her. Rei's body felt warmth, she had never felt such temperature before. It was the first time that she have someone staying by her side, She didn't even expect it was a man, but it's Ultraman Leo, which saved her from the past enemy that suddenly appeared in her dream. She smiled a little and slept peacefully.
The next morning, the sunlight shined through the window, blinding Rei's eyes.
"Morning already?" Rei said as she put on her slippers. She got out of bed and stretched her arms. "Nice morning today, Leo san? Leo san?" She said as she glanced the whole bedroom, she didn't see him. "Where's Leo san?"
Rei headed to the backroom and brushed her teeth, she heard a knock, and opened. It was Leo.
"Leo san? Where have you been?"
"I was looking at your house, your house seems fancy."
"Not that fancy, Leo san. It's normal."
"Whatever, About yesterday night, I saw the copies attacking you, who were they?"
"They were from Nehelenia, one of the past villains we fought."
"Nehelenia…."
"What happened, Leo san?"
"Nothing, Rei chan. It's just I remembered the King gave us a footage of you and the others fighting them, He just gave us a glimpse on who are the sailor senshi. And what I saw is, they were deadly, glad I learnt martial arts from my master."
"That's good, Leo san." Rei said as she spit the water to the sink.
"How did Nehelenia been defeated afterwards?"
"We defeated her, but not by force. Usagi was the one that forgive her, because she felt neglected by all of the people from her past, she felt lonely."
"I assume that's the reason why she became evil."
"That's right."
"I didn't even know she had such past before. We just only see the part when she fought against you."
"She was already redeemed, then who probably be the one that summoned the copies that me and Michiru san fought before?"
"I would check about this later."
"Just be on my side, Leo san. And when you mentioned about martial arts, I would like to learn something, can you teach me one day?"
"Only if the time when you're available, Rei chan."
"No problem."
Rei and Leo hold hands together and prepared their start of their first meeting.
"Shall we go, Leo san?"
"Sure, Rei chan." Leo smiled.
They hold hands and walk off the shrine and smiled to each other, preparing for their first date.
This is just the start of the inner senshi one shots along with the Ultraman. The chapter names are based on the pairings that I wrote in the profile. What do you think about this chapter, Is it good? Reviews are welcome, constructive criticism is allowed. See you in the next chapter!