PRISONER OF HER FUTURE

A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.


Sailor Moon and all related characters are (c)2023 by Naoko Takeuchi and are used without permission, but with respect. Story is (c)2023 by Bill K.


An eyelid ripped open. Violet eyes stared into the darkness, searching for confirmation that this was reality and not what she'd just experienced. The night air passed with a gentle sound. Adrenalin raced through her veins. As breath shuddered from her throat, Rei Hino gathered herself and sat up in bed. Her head fell into her hand and braced itself as long silky black hair fell to either side. Another breath shuddered from her chest.

Slowly throwing her legs over the side of the bed, Rei steadied herself to get up. Because she certainly wasn't sleeping anymore tonight.

Not after that.


"And this," Minako Aino fumed, "no-talent HACK told me I wasn't right for the part!"

She was sitting at the familiar gathering table at The Crown with three of her four best friends in the universe. The year was 2000 and the young women were two years into their chosen career paths. A fourth best friend, Ami Mizuno, was studying at Oxford University and was sorely missed. The other three, Usagi Tsukino-Chiba, Makoto Kino and Rei Hino, sat and offered moral support.

At least most of them did.

"Well, you are still kind of young, Blondie," Makoto suggested. It was her day off from the restaurant where she worked as a chef. "Maybe he wanted someone more mature."

"I can do 'mature'!" Minako protested.

"You can't even do mature in real life," needled the robust young woman. Her figure was concealed by jeans and a checked shirt.

'It's because I don't have a resume," Minako grumbled, ignoring the jab. She had on a knit gold turtleneck and a denim overall skirt that ended mid-thigh. "I haven't been in anything, so he's afraid to take a chance on me."

"'Bloodbath On Bikini Beach' doesn't count?" Makoto smirked.

"If anything, that flick is holding me back. Between that and the underwear modeling, everyone thinks I'm just a pretty face! I need to do something with class. Something that can show people I can act. Then I'll get other offers." Minako frowned. "And then maybe Mom'll get off my back."

"Rei-chan?" they heard Usagi say in a very worried tone.

The two looked over at their friends. Usagi, in a pink short-sleeve top with a bunny embroidered on it and a short white skirt, was staring with wide-eyed concern at Rei. Neither woman's meal was touched, the first indication of trouble, particularly in Usagi's case. Rei, in a stylish red blouse and black thigh high skirt with black stockings, stared at her meal like she was a million miles away. Instantly hackles went up on Makoto and Minako. They knew from experience that their friend, a priest-in-training home from college and working Hikawa Shrine in the stead of her late grandfather, might be having a premonition - - and those usually meant trouble.

When Rei didn't answer, Usagi reached out and touched her on the forearm. The gesture seemed to jerk the young woman back to reality. Rei stared first at Usagi, then at Makoto and Minako. Then her eyes dropped to her lap and she swallowed.

"You're upset about something," Usagi said. It wasn't a question and the usually flighty young art student seemed to have a greater grasp on the situation than anyone else. "Can I help?"

Rei's jaw set. They all knew Rei could be bullishly private about some things. This was probably one of them. But they also knew that Usagi could be just as stubborn when one of her friends was in some sort of distress.

"Did you see something?" Minako asked, the fun-loving jokester submerged beneath the seasoned warrior. Rei's head snapped up and stared at her. "Hey, you're not the only one who can read people," she smirked.

"If it's a new threat, we need to know," Makoto added, leaning in for emphasis.

Rei's eyes began to water, but she stayed silent.

"Rei-chan, you're really upset!" Usagi sobbed. "Please let us help you! Please!"

"I don't know if you can," Rei whispered.

"How about you let us decide that," Minako replied.

A long sigh of frustration and just a little anxiety escaped from the raven-haired woman. Usagi noticed her friend's hands ball into fists.

"Yes, I had a dream last night," Rei began. "And yes it was a premonition dream." She exhaled again to steady herself. "I was in the shrine. It was dark, deserted. It gets that way in the evening now that Grandpa is gone."

"Go on," Minako prodded gently.

Rei sighed again. "It was like I sensed something. I had a sutra out and I was looking around. All of a sudden there was a man there. And," and Rei's hand went to her temple, "he - - attacked me."

"What, did he hit you or . . .?" Makoto asked. Rei gave her a silent look. "Oh."

"Rei-chan!" gasped Usagi.

"He had me pinned down on the floor," Rei dragged the words out of her mouth, "and my robes were opened . . ."

The others waited silently. The restaurant seemed to grow quiet in expectation.

"And then I woke up." The young woman sat there, looking at nothing, haunted by the memory.

"Hey, that might have just been a nightmare," Makoto offered. "You have regular dreams, too, don't you? How do you know it was a premonition?"

"As he was looming over me, I looked over his shoulder to see if anyone could help me," Rei related. "There was a clock on the wall that said ten twenty-one, and a calendar that said June 16." Rei inhaled. "I don't have a clock or a calendar in that room. So the gods were warning me." The woman began to get visibly upset again. "My premonitions are never wrong! Never!"

"Well at least we know when it's supposed to happen," Minako replied. She grew resolute. "So you just picked up three bodyguards."

Rei looked at her incredulously.

"Hey, playing a shrine maiden will just be one more experience I can draw from as an actress."

"Yeah, we've got your back, Rei," Makoto added.

"I'll live there if I have to!" Usagi exclaimed.

"It won't do any good," Rei argued. "My premonitions are NEVER wrong."

"First time for everything," Makoto smiled hopefully.

"Yeah, remember, we've got Little Miss Miracle on our side," Minako quipped, nodding to Usagi. Usagi flushed. "So never say never."

Again Rei's eyes sought her lap. A tear trickled down her cheek. But the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.

"Thank you," she whispered.

However, as plans began forming between her three friends, Rei recalled that none of them had been in her dream.


In the first days that followed Rei's admission, her three friends were constantly around. Though she had some feelings of being smothered by Usagi's constant attention, and irritation at Minako's slovenly, carefree ways, for the most part Rei liked having her friends around. The shrine had indeed become a lonely place after her grandfather had passed.

But the impracticality of the others spending all of their time guarding her quickly became apparent. Makoto had responsibilities to her job. Usagi had classes to attend. And Minako still had to carve out a living as a struggling model and a struggling nightclub singer to support her work as a struggling actress. So a plan was worked out where schedules were compared and one of them was assigned to be with Rei during free time while the other two concentrated on their lives. Usagi was initially reluctant to leave Rei's side, but Rei and later Mamoru prevailed on her the wisdom of the plan. Rei had to admit that having them there did give her some small sense of superficial security.

Still the anticipation of the date, now days away, ate at the young priest-in-training. She was nervous about what was to happen and uneasy about the chances of success of her determined friends plans to change her fate. And when she was uneasy, Rei Hino always headed for her broom to sweep the walks.

This time she found someone had beaten her to it.

"Makoto?" Rei asked, finding her broom in her friend's hands. Makoto wore the robes of a miko so as not to stand out - - as if the unusually tall, robust woman wouldn't stand out.

"Sorry," Makoto grinned sheepishly as she swept the stone path. "You know how I am. When I see dirt, I've got to clean it."

"It's all right. Thank you," Rei replied with a silly smirk. But the gravity of what was coming quickly weighed on her again.

"Hey, we're going to beat this," Makoto offered.

"You don't know . . ."

"I do know," Makoto encouraged. "I'm sorry if I'm spitting on your reputation as a predictor, but you're wrong this time. We're going to keep you safe."

"It doesn't work that way," Rei mumbled.

"Like I said before, first time for everything," Makoto told her.

But Rei only shook her head. "Not this time. The gods gave me a glimpse of the future for a reason. Maybe they want to humble me. Maybe they want to punish the man who - - does it. But it will happen."

"So why would a god intentionally make you suffer and then tell you in advance it was going to happen so you suffer more?" challenged Makoto. "Just to humble you? Seems pretty low to me."

"Do you worry about a fly suffering when you swat it?" Rei asked. "You have to understand, Makoto - - the gods have a higher plain of thought than we do. They see more, know more. And they don't concern themselves with the individual lives of ordinary people unless it serves a purpose to do so. Loyalty and compassion are concepts that don't always apply to a given situation."

"Maybe it should," Makoto responded. "Maybe a god without compassion isn't much of a god."

"And maybe showing me this ahead of time was compassion in their minds," Rei shrugged. "To get me to do better or nudge me onto a different path. Or maybe they had other reasons. I don't question the wisdom of the gods and I've always had a good relationship with mine."

"Until now."

"Like I said: A god can see things you or I can't. So don't judge. It's not your place." Rei studied her hands for a moment. "And if you think this is cruel, you haven't seen one of the gods angry."

Rei moved away to greet a visitor to the shrine. Makoto continued sweeping. Maybe the old traditions were true and the gods knew more than she did. It wouldn't be difficult. She was never at Rei's level academically, and certainly not Ami's. Maybe they did have a good reason for all of this. And maybe some god might even show up and smite Makoto for talking out of turn.

But she knew she'd give that god a piece of her mind first.


"Why don't you just leave?"

Rei turned to Minako, incongruously dressed as a Shrine Maiden, and silently questioned both the woman's manners and her sanity. As always, Minako stood her ground in the face of the raven-haired woman's withering glare.

"I think you could use a trip," Minako persisted, doing an incredibly bad impression of Humphrey Bogart.

"On what?" Rei challenged. "I don't have enough money for a train ticket to Tochigi Province, let alone somewhere out of the country. Were you going to buy me the ticket?"

"Me? All my money is tied up in poverty," Minako quipped. "OK, it wasn't a good idea. You don't have to get out of Tokyo; just out of this shrine. At least until things blow over. You could always stay with me. I've got the extra space since the divorce." Minako thought a moment. "But I'd probably be out-voted by the cockroaches."

"You don't understand," Rei sighed.

"What's to understand?" Minako persisted. "The 'thing' can't happen if you're not here

to participate. If you don't want to flop at my place, go stay with Makoto. Only don't make a mess. She's REALLY touchy about that."

"Minako," Rei began, squeezing the bridge of her nose between two fingers, "running won't solve anything."

"Why not?" barked Minako, and Rei suddenly flashed on the desperation her friend was hiding.

Then a box of charms that Minako had sloppily shelved slipped off and fell to the floor. Rei whirled on the sound, a sutra in her hand where a moment before none had been.

"See, you're as jumpy as a cat!" Minako barked. "No offense to Artemis. You can't tell me this isn't affecting you!"

"Of course it's affecting me!" Rei snapped. "How would you react if you knew something bad was going to happen and you were powerless to stop it?"

"Like Dimando and the Dark Moon invading Earth?" Minako asked sarcastically. "Nah, wouldn't know anything about that."

"Well Dimando isn't invading tomorrow."

"If I have anything to say about it, he's not invading at all," Minako boasted. "I don't happen to believe in 'inevitable' - - unless we're talking about Ace showing up the minute I look twice at a guy."

"And suppose you do stop Dimando?" Rei asked. "Then Chibi-Usa doesn't come to the twentieth century and her history is changed - - maybe the world's with it - - maybe for the worse. And maybe if I'm not here for this - - this to happen, it happens to someone else? Fate can't be altered, only deflected to someone else. What if that someone else is Usagi? The gods know these things. We don't and our actions in ignorance might have bad consequences."

Minako stared at Rei for a moment and the young woman could read her friend's confusion.

"OK, this is the type of headache Artemis usually gives me," Minako replied, shaking her head. "You don't even know if this dream is THE future or A future."

Rei sighed. She knew Minako was only trying to protect her, but as usual they had to butt heads first.

"There are two kinds of premonition dreams," she explained. "Some are allegories,

warnings of what will happen if certain events are allowed to occur. That's your 'A future". Others are actual visions of future events. That's your 'THE future'. Mine was the second one. And they can't be changed. Not by mortals, anyway." She came up and put her hand on Minako's shoulder. "I see what you're trying to do. I appreciate it. And if all you're able to do is catch the guy after he. . .well . . ."

"No!" Minako snapped. "No, damn it! If all we can do is pick up the pieces even though we know what's going to happen - - know in advance! THAT'S GARBAGE! WHAT GOOD ARE WE?"

"How we deal with adversity is as important as how we deal with success," Rei told her. "Some adversity in life is inevitable; the wise person accepts this and continues on their path, for the adversity may now make it a path to enlightenment. Grandpa told me that - - when my Kaa-san died."

"Well, he also said 'damn, but she's got a sexy butt'," muttered Minako.

"MINAKO!"

"It sounds like you're giving up!" Minako shot back. "That's not how we work!"

"Accepting the inevitable is not giving up," Rei bristled. "We all accepted the inevitable at D-Point to protect Usagi. I knew I was going to die, and I think you did, too! But we still protected her!" She took a breath to try to calm herself. "In this case, if the gods will it, I have to accept it. If I don't, am I being true to my faith?"

"Yeah, well," Minako said, looking down, "now you know why I'm not religious. Screw whatever god is going to let this happen just to whiz in your corn flakes! We're going to be here to stop it! And if he or she or it or they don't like it, they know where to find me!"

"Baka," Rei murmured.

Minako turned to glare at her, but instantly saw the gentle gratitude on her friend's face. Her mood softened.

"Hey, I've been called worse," Minako quipped with a smirk. "So what do you do for fun around here? I never spent all day in a shrine before - - willingly, anyway."

"It might do you some good," Rei smirked back.

It was then that some visitors wandered onto the grounds. The two women both looked at the newcomers and then glanced at each other.

"You think you can earn your keep by selling some charms?" Rei asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"They better watch it or I'll sell them the whole shrine," Minako boasted.


It was night, two days before the day Rei knew the incident would happen. Sleep had become more and more hard to come by. She worried about what would happen on that day. She worried about going to sleep and having another vivid dream in which the act was completed or something even worse came about from it. She worried about the worry and strain her friends were experiencing trying to prevent what to her wasn't preventable.

And Usagi, laying on a mat next to her bed, covers twisted around her, limbs akimbo and drool leaking from her wide open mouth, didn't help matters. Strangely, though, Rei could draw a little comfort from the sight. Usagi would always be special to her, faults and all, because the woman had touched her life physically, spiritually and psychologically. There were so many memories connecting her and Usagi and this shrine. Especially one; Rei would always connect this shrine and Usagi and rain.

As Usagi burrowed deeper into her pillow, Rei sat on the edge of her bed and stared into the dark. The woman felt so powerless. Despite the protestations of her friends, she knew the fate that awaited her. Despite her protestations, she wanted them to succeed. But the spiritual side of her knew it was hopeless. Her power had always been a two-sided coin, at times a gift and at times a curse. This was the curse: knowing a tragedy was coming and unable to do anything about it.

"Why?" Rei whispered to herself. "I know I shouldn't question, but why?"

"Rei-chan?" a high-pitched voice squeaked softly in the dark.

Instantly Rei knew Usagi was awake and had heard her. She grew embarrassed at having been caught being weak. To further compound things, shadows moved in the dark. A weight depressed the mattress next to her. Soft arms folded around her.

"I'll protect you, Rei-chan," Usagi whispered as she hugged her friend. "I swear it. We all will."

"You'll try," Rei responded softly, feeling Usagi's pleasant aura overwhelm her. "But there are some things you can't fight."

"We fought Beryl and won," Usagi offered, still hugging Rei. "We fought Dr. Tomoe and Queen Nehelenia and Sailor Galaxia and nobody said we could win those." Usagi released the hold and pulled back, looking the young woman straight in the eye while she held Rei's hands. "You can't give up, Rei-chan. We'll find a way."

"That would be a lot more impressive a speech," Rei said gently, wiping the corner of Usagi's mouth with her thumb, "if you weren't drooling."

"REI HINO!" barked Usagi.

"I'm sorry," Rei chuckled softly. "I do appreciate you, Usagi. I - - don't always show it, but. . ."

"You're just trying to make me a better person when you criticize me," Usagi smiled. "You wouldn't do it if you didn't care."

Rei looked at her in the dark, her violet eyes filled with amazement. To Usagi's surprise, Rei broke down and began sobbing. She gathered her friend in and hugged her again.

"Rei-chan, I'm sorry! Whatever I did!" gasped Usagi.

"No," Rei squeaked. "It's not you! It's just - -" She shook against her companion's body. "The gods must be punishing me! Punishing me for all of the cruel things I've said to you - - because you won't!"

"That's silly," Usagi counseled. "They've got no reason to punish you. You're a wonderful person."

The two sat on the edge of the bed and rocked while Rei's tears flowed.

"Maybe," Usagi ventured timidly, "they're trying to show you what great friends you have. It's not the way I would have done it . . ."

"Maybe you're right," whimpered Rei. The woman sought solace in her saintly friend's embrace.


It was morning. Usagi was hurrying off to art school. She waved at Rei as she ran down the shrine steps and almost tripped. Rei struggled not to laugh.

Makoto would be here soon for her "shift". Since the restaurant she cooked for kept evening hours, she was free during the day.

In the shrine, Rei began unpacking charms to sell. As an after thought, she tore the page off of a desk calendar. The new page said the fifteenth.

Rei stared at it.

"I'm trying," she whispered. "I'm trying to accept that there's a reason for this; that there's a higher plan, or there's something I can't see or can't know that's the reason for my - - suffering. That something good will come from this. That you're not just abandoning me after all this time because it suits a-a whim."

She stood in the silence of the room.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "That was disrespectful. You've all helped me so much over the years; granted me information whenever I asked, bestowed your protection when I needed it and your strength to strike down evil when I acted in your stead."

The room didn't answer. Rei waited.

"Is this a test?" she asked. "A test of faith? Do you need to know that badly? Or do you need me to see where I'm lacking?"

Nothing.

"Please tell me!" she cried out.

Still nothing.

"Then," Rei said, reigning in her fear and doubt, "please grant me the strength to face this and emerge with - - with enough strength to continue to - - guard her."

There was no reply. Rei resumed unpacking the charms and amulets.


Looking up from her medical text in her rooms just off the campus of Oxford University, Ami Mizuno glanced at her computer. It had just signaled an incoming e-mail.

"It's from Usagi," Ami thought, then smiled as she adjusted her glasses. "She must have finally figured it out." Ami opened the message and began reading.

USAGI: How are you doing, Ami-chan?

AMI: Studying hard. The pace is difficult, but I know so much more than I did when I last saw you. I hope everything is going well with you.

There was no response for a few moments. It puzzled Ami, for Usagi wasn't usually that abrupt. Perhaps something had distracted her. Ami went back to her book, but immediately returned when the alert sounder went off again.

USAGI: Everything's fine. With me. I guess. I did want to ask you something, if it's all right.

AMI: Ask me anything. I love hearing from you, Usagi.

USAGI: Well, it's about Rei.

AMI: Is something wrong with Rei?

There was a few minutes of pause where Usagi didn't respond. This made Ami grow worried. She glanced at the clock and contemplated calling Usagi, despite the time difference between Japan and England.

Then a very long e-mail appeared, outlining Rei's recent vision. It was a little difficult to read, because in her haste and anxiety Usagi had neglected punctuation. But Ami was able to make out the gist of what had happened.

USAGI: And I don't know what to do!

AMI: It seems as if you're all doing everything you can. I wish I were there to assist you.

USAGI: But Rei-chan is so worried and scared about this! I don't blame her. She's holding up really well. Better than I would. But this is eating at her and I don't know what to do!

AMI: As I said, you're doing all you can.

USAGI: What if it's not enough? Rei-chan's predictions always come true, you know.

AMI: While I'm not conversant enough with Rei's precognitive abilities to establish whether this vision is unavoidable, she had been quite reliable in that context.

USAGI: So there's no way to stop it from happening?

Ami paused and contemplated her response. From a coldly rational point of view, if an ability to predict the future had demonstrated itself to be reliable, the conclusion had to be that there was no way to prevent it. But her emotional side rebelled. This was Rei they were talking about. She couldn't just wash her hands of it, no matter what logic said. A doctor didn't stop trying to care for a terminal patient.

But some advice from her mother came to mind: "You can't save every patient."

USAGI: Ami-chan?

AMI: It seems bleak. But we've faced bleak odds before. Therefore you and the others must keep trying to prevent this. In addition, though, you must use that unique ability that friends have to support a friend in a time of need. And you must be prepared to support and comfort Rei should your efforts to prevent this fail.

USAGI: We all will, Ami-chan. No matter what happens. I'm going over there right now. Any message you want me to pass on? You know Rei-chan still doesn't have a computer.

AMI: Tell her that we all love and support her no matter what.

Ami's hands rested on her keyboard for a moment. Was there anything else she could say that didn't sound trite?

"Perhaps I shouldn't have left Tokyo to study," Ami thought. "Even though it's illogical for me to think this is occurring because I went abroad to study, I can't help feeling guilty."

She glanced at the phone.

"I wonder if Mother has gone on shift at the hospital yet," Ami wondered. "I feel the need to ask her advice right about now."


June 16 arrived shrouded in thick clouds threatening to rain at any moment. It was as if the skies knew what was to transpire and went into mourning. Rei did a quick tour of the gardens after Usagi had headed to school. As she wandered the grounds, Rei noted the sorry shape they were in. She'd tried to keep the gardens up, but she didn't have the flair for horticulture that her grandfather had. Makoto had gently pointed that out and offered to help.

But her pride wouldn't let her accept. So many less-than-desirable situations had come from her pride. If she was going to become a successful priest and a guide to spiritual harmony to others, she was going to have to let go of at least some of her pride.

"Is that what you're trying to tell me by subjecting me to this?" she murmured.

Sandals scuffed along the stone path as she headed back to the shrine. But the garden reminded her of something.

"Makoto's late," Rei thought as she entered the shrine. "I hope nothing happened."

She glanced at the clock. It was four minutes after ten.

"Relax," she sighed. "Nothing's going to happen for another twelve hours.

Nervously, the young woman began shuffling some papers, test applications for her next year of divinity school, now abandoned because of her prideful determination to keep Hikawa Shrine running. Her father, amazingly, had paid for the last term, in spite of her reluctance to accept it.

Because she didn't want to depend on him. There was that pride again.

The shrine was deserted, visitors scared off by the threat of rain. All but one, a shadow of a figure at the prayer bell. The dark clouds hung ominously over the city. The shadow glanced at Rei, then moved off. Turning, she went back into the shrine. As she anxiously wandered the halls of the building, Rei noted that it was dark enough to be evening.

"I almost wish it would rain and get it over . . ." Rei mused, then stopped short. "Dark as night; the sixteenth."

She looked down at her senshi communicator, which doubled as a wrist watch. It was ten twenty.

Panic rising up, Rei scanned the darkness, pulling a sutra from her sleeve. Despite that, a shadow loomed up suddenly on her left. A form shrouded in the darkness impacted with her and sent the two of them to the floor.

From the floor, Rei looked up at a man atop her, pinning her down. He was broad-shouldered, but his face was obscured by the low light. All except his eyes; they glared with malice and hatred. Instantly his intent flashed into her brain, as if it wasn't already clear.

Rei brought up the sutra, hoping to charge it on the fly, but her attacker blocked her arm. The sacred paper fluttered from her hand. Her emotions a swirling cauldron of anger and fear, indignation and desperation, the priest-in-training tried to pull or throw her attacker off of her. However, her strength and leverage were no match for him. She remained pinned to the floor of the dark room.

Hands began clutching at her robes. Rei fought with animal ferocity to prevent him from pulling them open. Despite her fear that nothing she did could prevent what was going to happen next, Rei continued to fight. The woman struggled to persevere, for her own sake and for Usagi's. In that moment, she was more concerned with how this would affect Usagi than how it would affect her.

Her robes pulled open. Indignation mixed with fear forced a strangled cry from her mouth. She brought her knee up, hoping to connect and repay some of the pain he was visiting upon her, but she missed, hitting his thigh. A hand grasped her knee and forced it to the side. The other kept her pinned. Rei reached up to try to rake his face, but her hand was nudged aside by his shoulder.

"It's going to happen!" Rei thought in horror.

Then another shadow draped over them, as if to hide the crime being perpetrated from sighted eyes. But the shadow moved quickly. A loud grunt of pain from her attacker was followed by the weight lifting from Rei's torso. She pulled up to a sitting position, her hand clutching the folds of her robe to her chest. Strands of silky black hair dangled in her face. Her attacker was against the far wall, fumbling to his feet. Makoto stood in between her and the intruder. She glanced at Rei to ascertain whether her friend was injured.

"LOOK OUT!" Rei shrieked as the shadowy man lunged at Makoto.

Pivoting, Makoto grabbed the man by the arm clutching for her and executed a very compact hip toss. The intruder landed hard on the stone floor of the shrine on his back. He had little chance to do anything as Makoto came down hard, jamming her knee into the man's middle, his air escaping in a loud, painful whoosh.

"Are you all right, Rei?" Makoto asked anxiously as she pressed her knee into the man's middle. "Sorry I'm late. I got caught in traffic over here . . ."

Makoto stopped when Rei shook her head. She watched her friend with a rising sense of concern.

"No, Makoto," Rei replied, her voice saturated with relief. "You're not late. You're right on time."


"And Superintendent Sakurada said they might be able to link two other rapes to him," Minako explained.

When the others had heard what had happened, they dropped everything and came to Makoto's apartment. Rei was there, as Makoto's insistence, and Makoto had cooked lunch for them.

"That's good," Makoto said. "Get that guy off the streets."

Things momentarily lapsed into silence. Rei had been pretty quiet, understandable considering what had nearly happened. And Usagi just couldn't abide that.

"Everything's all right now, Rei-chan," she said encouragingly. "We were able to beat it. You didn't have to go through being - - disrespected like that. You don't have to be afraid anymore."

"Yeah, I guess some god didn't get his jollies after all," muttered Minako. "He'll just have to be happy with what he put you through."

"Don't blame the gods," Rei spoke up. She looked up at them and they could see a light of conviction in her violet eyes, that light that she had so often. "It was my fault."

"How is it your fault?" demanded Minako. "He's the one who attacked you!"

"No, my suffering before. I misinterpreted the dream," Rei explained with an almost giddy smile. "The gods were trying to allay my fears."

"How? It happened just like you said it would," Makoto argued.

'It did. I just didn't let the dream finish," Rei replied. "I should have had more faith that the gods were trying to protect me in their own way." She saw the skeptical looks on the faces of Minako and Makoto. "Because if they hadn't given me that dream, I wouldn't have told you three about it. And Makoto wouldn't have been there." She darkened. "And who knows what would have happened."

"So 'the gods' planned this whole thing?'" Minako asked cynically. Rei gave her a serene nod. "I'd rather give the credit to Makoto."

"That's because you don't see what they see," Rei said placidly. She glanced at Makoto. "Thank you, though, for being the vessel of the gods in my time of need."

"Uh, you're welcome," Makoto replied, "I think."

"CREDIT ISN'T IMPORTANT!" Usagi cried. "I'm just glad we were able to keep this from happening, no matter whose idea it was!" She lunged over and hugged Rei. "I'm so happy for you, Rei-chan! And I promise to visit more! I'm sure you get lonely up there now that Grandpa is gone!"

"And I'll be glad to have you," Rei said, "provided you don't use me as an excuse to slack on your school work."

"I WOULD NEVER DO THAT!" Usagi protested. She got three very cynical looks from her friends. "OK, fine! I would never do that NOW!" she huffed.

END