For the first time in her life, Usagi was early for something. She stood outside the stone steps leading to the Hikawa Shrine where her friend Rei and her husband Yuichiro lived and worked. Her fight with Mamoru had occurred only yesterday and she had been eager to get out of the house. She hadn't seen him since then and he hadn't even slept in their bed. She guessed he had spent the night at a motel. Usagi looked despairingly at the rather large stroller that sat in front of her and then the many steps. She hadn't thought of the considerable task of carrying both an infant and stroller up the stairs at the same, especially with the extensive bruising on her arms. She didn't feel comfortable leaving the stroller there while she took Chibiusa with her. It was a nice neighborhood, but she was still wary of it being stolen, or even managing to roll away on it's own.

"Usagi!" Yuichiro walked down the steps towards her. "Can I help you with that?"

"Please," she said, smiling gratefully at him. Picking up Chibiusa she followed after him as he lugged the cumbersome bundle up the stairs and into the shrine. The welcome sight of her scout friends greeted her. Ami sat with Michiru, both reading from a book of poetry together as Haruka looked over their shoulders. Makoto and Motoki watched happily as Minako encircled their giggling toddler, Ikuto, with a harmless Venus Love-Me Chain. Setsuna and Hotaru played a duet on the piano in the corner. Rei sat in the center of the room, carefully stoking the fire. They all looked up from their activities and smiled at the trio as they entered the room.

"Hi, everyone," Usagi greeted her friends. Chibiusa let out a slight whimper from her arms and she rubbed her back in small circles, soothing her.

Rei stood up from beside the fire and walked over to her. "May I hold her?" She held out her arms and Usagi carefully handed Chibiusa to her. Rei smiled down adoringly at the pink haired imp who gave a little cry at the sudden shock of being switched over before she wrapped a strand of Rei's raven black hair around her chubby little fingers and gurgled happily. Rei answered with laughter of her own. After a few minutes she put her in a bassinet for her nap.

Everyone gathered around the fire to chat. "Would you like me to hang up your jacket?" Youichiro asked, holding out his hand.

Usagi shrunk back a little. The jacket was the only thing keeping her friends from seeing the bruises Mamoru had left behind. "No thanks, I'm a little chilly."

"In front of this fire?" Rei asked incredulously. "You're gonna be burning up in no time."

"Still, I'd rather not," Usagi said a little crossly. 'But thanks for asking Youichiro."

Youichiro smiled. "No problem."

"I haven't seen Mamoru-kun around lately," Makoto said, changing the subject. "Is he feeling okay?"

Usagi swallowed. "He's... he's fine." She ran a hand through her hair, which she hadn't bothered to put into odango that morning. "Just swamped at work. You know how it is." She gave a rather shaky smile. "I'll tell him you guys miss him." Her stomach took that moment to let out a rather large growl.

"Sounds like someone's hungry," Haruka laughed.

Rei grabbed a wicker basket by the edge of the cushions near the fire. "Lucky for you, I brought snacks." She pulled out a couple bags of marshmallows, some graham crackers, a few bars of chocolate and some metal skewers. She divided it up amongst them and everyone started roasting their marshmallows, with Makoto and Motoki helping Ikuto with his.

After eating their s'mores they all headed to the back of the shrine to sit under the cherry blossom trees. Usagi watched the happy couples with a bit of jealousy. Yuichiro carefully plucked a sprig of blossoms from the tree and tucked it into Rei's hair. Michiru sat playing her violin while Haruka listened in rapt attention. Makoto and Motoki lovingly watched Ikuto play with a red rubber ball he had probably left there last time the friends had gathered there. She could feel her eyes start to water and quickly turned her back on the happy group, quickly rubbing the rapidly forming tears from their eyes. She didn't want to spoil this happy occasion and she certainly didn't want to explain why she was crying.

There was a small koi pond not far from the trees and she walked over to it. She gazed down at the water, watching the shimmering golden fish dart in and out of the water lilies and watercress. So caught up in her thoughts was she that she didn't hear the squeal of Ikuto and the bounce of his ball before it was too late. He came bounding towards her, running towards the out of control ball which was headed directly her way, his parents desperately trying to catch up to him before he caused any mischief. His head connected with her abdomen and she felt all of her air leaver her. They both fell backwards into the water. Usagi landed on bottom with Ikuto on top of her.

"Oh no!" Makoto quickly scooped Ikuto up, did a quicky scan for any damages and handed him to Motoki. She held out her hand for Usagi to take. "Are you all right?"

"Just a bruised bottom is all," she said, taking the proffered hand. Makoto was easily able to lift her out and onto her feet. "And a bruised ego." She smiled. "Is Ikuto okay?"

Motoki nodded. "Just fine, except for the spanking he's about to get if he doesn't apologize."

Ikuto's eyes grew wide. "Sorry, Usa-chan." His lower lip wobbled and he looked about ready to cry.

"It's okay," she said. She lovingly ruffles his hair and he was all smiles again.

Rei had gone in the shrine and brought out a large towel, which she wrapped around Usagi. "We'd better get you into some dry clothes before you catch a cold." Rei wrapped a smaller town around Ikuto. "You can dry off in my room, I'll bring you a robe you can wear."

Makoto began toweling off her toddler. "We brought an extra set of clothes for Ikuto, just in case." She smiled wryly. "We can change him in the bathroom."

Usagi was kind of excited to see Rei's bedroom. She hardly ever got to see it, and never by herself. There were pictures on the dresser: of all the scouts laughing at a picnic, of the time they had all gone to a ski resort together (the picture was taken right after Usagi had dumped a large handful of powdery snow down Rei's snowsuit), pictures of Rei and Yuichiro, a black and white shot of her mother at a very young age and a few of her grandfather, who had passed away a few years ago. A rather large painting showed a beautiful landscape of Mars with the symbol for Mars in the lower left hand corner. It had been a wedding present from Michiru, who had painted it herself. A lacquered bow and decorative arrow set sat in special case, Haruka's present. Next to it sat a delicately beautiful porcelain Miko doll, it's robes made from silk and hand embroidered. That had been her and Mamoru's present to Rei. When she saw it Usagi had to force back more tears, but was soon able to calm down again.

She quickly removed and folded her sodden clothes, placing them in a small plastic tub Rei had provided her with. After thoroughly toweling off she wrapped the towel around her. Her hair lay in a sodden pile on her back, there was no use trying to dry that, not with a towel at least. There was a knock at the door after only a minute and Rei announced that she had a robe for Usagi to wear. Usagi opened the door to take the robe from her.

"Usagi!" Rei looked at her with shock in her eyes. "What happened to your arms?"

Usagi's heart began to race and her mouth turned to ashes. She couldn't speak. She had forgotten about the bruising on her arms, forgotten to cover it up. What was she going to tell Rei?