Hands Fall Together by Kihin Ranno

Part Eight: Father of Mine

Mamoru regarded the end of a school term as one of life's happiest times. It signaled the coming of a period where he could actually relax for a change. He didn't have to worry about deadlines or tests or labs or any of the other student drudgeries he looked upon as little more than necessity. He didn't have to dread seeing any specific professors day in and day out. And most importantly, he could sleep when he wanted and for however long he wanted, and if he felt like sleeping off a hangover as opposed to medicating it with coffee, he damn well could.

But it was hard to look forward to a long rest when his work as Tuxedo Kamen was unlikely to give him these few weeks off to recuperate.

Mamoru sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. He glanced over at Ami, blowing at Luna's tail so that it stopped blocking his vision. "So are you enjoying break? And regardless of the answer, I demand that you say that you are. I need to know somebody is."

Ami smiled half-heartedly. "Well, to tell you the truth I never really like breaks from school that much."

Mamoru raised an eyebrow. "Really? Why?"

"I never know what to do with myself when school isn't in session," Ami confessed. "Yes, I can start to work ahead for the next term, but it's not the same."

Mamoru's shoulders sagged. "Unbelievable."

Luna chuckled. "It's good that you're a dedicated student, Ami. I only wish that your influence could rub off on other people." She gave Mamoru a pointed look.

Mamoru frowned. "I will have you know that I still managed to get mostly As this semester. Granted, I deserved As in all of my classes--"

"On what planet?" Luna drawled. "You barely attended."

"I attended plenty before you hopped onto my bed and told me to don a cape and top hat," Mamoru grumbled good-naturedly.

Luna swatted at his ear lightly, and no more was said on the matter.

Mamoru turned back to Ami and said, "But seriously. How are you doing?"

Ami looked up at him, surprised and uncomprehending for an instant. Then the familiar frown crossed her features, and Mamoru knew she understood. He wished he hadn't had to bring the subject up again. "No better, no worse."

"I still can't believe she's taken it this far," Mamoru muttered, shaking his head.

"Obviously, you haven't had many dealings with teenage girls," Luna countered, though Mamoru could feel her tail fluffing out against his neck. "They can be worse than youma when they want to be."

Ami clasped her hands in front of her, her gaze dropping to the ground. "That's taking it a bit far."

"Maybe not in Rei's case," Mamoru pointed out. "I've been tempted to deal with her like I do them these past few days."

Ami shook her head. "I told you that it wasn't worth it getting involved. I wish you hadn't gone to see her."

"We had to do something, Ami," Luna said. "We can't just let this rift stand. Yes, you and Rei were able to function quite well during the last battle, but there's no telling how long you'll be able to keep that up. One of these days, someone will snap at an inopportune time, and there is no telling how much damage will result."

"At any rate, it didn't do us any good," Mamoru reported. "The three of us just wound up getting into an argument, and she never budged from her position."

"I just think that we all need to give her some space," Ami surmised, looking up at both of them. "Yes, she's upset, but we're not doing any good trying to force her to do what we want. The only thing we can do is sit and wait for her to calm down in her own time. And if she doesn't..." Ami trailed off, unwilling or unable to continue her thought.

Mamoru looked down at her, wondering if he should want to shake her or hug her. Her position was exasperating because it was such a passive one, and while he wasn't the most aggressive person he knew, just sitting around and letting things play out in this situation wasn't his preferred option. Of course, that might have had something to do with the fact that Luna had kept him awake the night before they went to see Rei until he agreed to do something about her. Perhaps she'd just infected him with her enthusiasm. But in the end, he knew that it was necessary. He'd wanted to let the girls handle things by themselves, but it had become clear that they weren't going to reach a resolution any time soon. So he'd stepped in - or rather, Luna had dragged him in.

And now Ami was telling him to switch back to being passive again. Not to mention, she was doing it for reasons that were irrefutably logical. She even felt sympathy for the girl she could by all rights refer to as her enemy. It amazed him, and it reminded him that Ami was a much better person than he was.

"If that's what you want, that's what we'll do, Ami," Mamoru promised.

Luna flexed her claws against Mamoru's skin, muttering irritably.

Mamoru reached up and flicked her ear. "Quit that."

Luna continued grumbling. "I still don't like it. I won't bring it up again, but if she starts anything at the meeting, I will not be responsible for my actions."

Ami didn't look particularly pleased with this news, but she said nothing. In the end, Mamoru doubted there was much she could have said that wouldn't have set the cat off again.

They rounded the corner to the shrine in silence, but both Mamoru and Ami came to a complete stop once they did so. They both stared in front of them, eyes wide. It was so unexpected that Mamoru couldn't even say it was the last thing he'd thought they would see when they rounded the corner. It hadn't even been on the list.

"Why is a limousine parked outside of the shrine?" Mamoru asked, feeling the need to state the obvious.

"Patron of the shrine come to visit?" Ami supplied.

"Maybe," Mamoru said. He started walking forward, motioning for Ami to follow. "I guess we'll find out."

Mamoru and Ami continued to make their way to the shrine, where they had agreed to hold a meeting to discuss fighting strategies and perhaps even train a bit later in the day. They climbed the stairs, sometimes taking two at a time to make the trip faster. When they reached the top, they were both mildly surprised to see Rei's grandfather sweeping the grounds with a broom far too big for him. Mamoru had to try very hard not to chuckle, though the looks Ami and Luna were giving him for finding that amusing were very helpful.

Rei's grandfather looked up and smiled widely - particularly when he saw Ami. "Well, if it isn't Rei's new friends! How nice of you to drop by."

Mamoru and Ami bowed by way of greeting. "Good afternoon. Have you seen Rei around? She's expecting us," Mamoru said.

"Really?" he asked, raising a bushy eyebrow. "She didn't mention anything to me. Then again, she never mentions anything to me unless it's to bother me about my medication or tell me that I'm annoying her." He sighed dramatically, leaning against the broom with his head sagging. "It's so hard having a granddaughter who only wants to yell at me."

Mamoru was about to excuse them in order to stop the old man's rambling, when Rei's grandfather suddenly appeared by Ami's side, leering at her hopefully. "I don't suppose you'd want to become a miko and help out around the shrine, eh? You look much more agreeable than my granddaughter." He waggled his eyebrows, grinning at her.

Ami turned bright red and inched away from the old man, shaking her head and bowing apologetically. "No, sir, I don't think I could. With my studies..." she trailed off, gesturing feebly to fill in the gaps of her sentence.

Mamoru could see that he wasn't about to give up that easily. He cleared his throat loudly and gave the other man a hard look, making it clear that that line of questioning was over. "So, where is Rei anyway?"

The old man jerked his thumb back towards the shrine's living quarters. "She's in there talking with her father."

Mamoru blinked. "Her father?"

"Didn't you see that limo?" Rei's grandfather asked smartly, hobbling back over to where he'd dropped his broom. "He came over a few minutes ago to speak to Rei. As a matter of fact, we should be hearing her yelling anytime now." He paused. "Actually, I'm surprised she's held out this long. They always get into a shouting match when he comes around."

Mamoru turned his gaze away from the old man and looked out at the residence of Hikawa Jinja. To be honest, he'd assumed that Rei was an orphan like him, only that she'd been lucky enough to have a grandfather to take her in. Learning that she had a father - and one she didn't like - made him remember just how much he didn't know about the two girls he was fighting alongside day after day. And it made him remember what Ami had said about giving Rei distance to deal with her own issues.

"Of course, I don't really blame her for getting riled up," Rei's grandfather continued.

"Why's that?" Mamoru asked before he could stop himself.

Rei's grandfather chuckled. "I shouldn't speak ill of the man. Ask Rei after he leaves. I'm sure she'd be happy to tell you exactly why she can't stand the sight of Senator Hino."

-----

For once, Rei was desperately wishing that a youma would attack the city so that she would have an excuse to get out of her normal life.

Her father was not a man she enjoyed seeing. All of their personal issues notwithstanding, he was just the sort of man she spent most of her time vowing not to get involved with. Whether this was a natural instinct to loathe hypocrisy or a result of being her father's daughter was still up for debate.

"So you came over to ask me for a favor?" Rei drawled, folding her arms in front of her chest. "Why am I not surprised?"

Senator Hino looked at her coolly through his gold wire-rimmed glasses. "Is it so wrong to ask for a favor? I do pay for your schooling and your life here at the shrine. You can't accuse me of not giving you anything, and all I'm asking is for something in return."

Rei found herself unable to argue with that logic. She hated that. "It would have been nice to hear from you after I was attacked by monsters at the archery class."

He blinked, as if not quite understanding how they had gotten from one subject to the next. Of course, it was infinitely clear to her, but he had his agenda on his mind first and foremost. She knew it was impossible to split his attention.

"I talked with your grandfather to make sure you were all right," Senator Hino insisted.

"Yes, but you could have talked to me," Rei muttered.

Senator Hino took a deep breath and nodded, commending her on the point but not acquiescing to doing anything wrong. When Rei was younger, she used to think he had been born without the ability to apologize. Now she realized that he could do it; he just generally chose not to. "I would have spoken with you, Rei, but as you know, our conversations have a tendency to become... heated."

She stifled a laugh. She couldn't remember the last time she'd heard such a gross understatement.

He continued, not noticing her amusement. "Unfortunately, I didn't have time to get into an argument that day." At the mention of time, he looked down at his watch. It was a trained reflex. "As a matter of fact, I don't have much time today either. Sadly, I am not lucky enough to receive vacations."

Rei closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to launch a number of verbal missiles in his direction at that reminder. She didn't have many memories of her childhood before coming to the shrine, but all the ones she did have revolved around her father's perpetual absence. She remembered her parents arguing one night, her mother accusing him of working himself to death. He'd said almost the same thing to her that night. Politicians didn't get time off.

She wanted to throw all of that and more in his face, but her grandfather had told her to try to be civil or he'd hide his medication. It was a ridiculous threat, but an effective one. So she would try it. They all knew she wouldn't succeed, but she was willing to put in the effort.

"Why did you come here?" Rei asked finally, opening her eyes and trying not to glare.

Senator Hino nodded and then shifted in his seat for a moment. "I trust you remember the hospital that was attacked?" he asked.

Rei tensed. "Vividly," she said quietly.

Predictably, her father didn't notice her discomfort. "Long before any of that happened, the hospital had been near finishing construction on a new children's wing. Remarkably, it remained virtually undamaged after the attack."

Rei found herself smiling softly. She would have to remember that as the only good thing that happened that day. "That's great," she said sincerely.

Senator Hino nodded in agreement. "It's going to be opened on Friday."

Rei sat for a moment, still contented by his news of the wing's survival. Then she furrowed her brow softly. "What does that have to do with me?"

"I'm going to preside over the ribbon cutting ceremony," Senator Hino explained.

Now Rei understood completely. All of her joy vanished from her face as if swept away by a strong wind. "And you want me to be by your side because you occasionally still want to play the family card."

He closed his eyes, his jaw clenching. "Rei--"

"Forget it," Rei said, getting to her feet. "I'm not going to be part of your political machine. If you want someone to play your daughter, go adopt an orphan for a day. I'm sure no one will notice."

"If you have no other plans, you have no reason not to be there," Senator Hino said, his voice tight.

Rei glared. "I just gave you a very good reason for why I won't be there."

"It doesn't satisfy me," he said quickly.

"Who said it had to?" Rei snapped.

Senator Hino got to his feet, holding up his hands as if the gesture would do something to calm her. "I am just asking that you do me this one favor--"

"No, it isn't just this one favor," Rei countered, her voice climbing in volume. "Every time it benefits you to look like a devoted family man, you drag me to some banquet or press conference or whatever. And I have to stand around like your doll, pretending I look happy while you reap all the benefit of my being there. Then you drop me off here, and I don't hear from you for months on end. Not until you need another favor." Rei shook her head. "I'm not doing it anymore. I told you, I'm not going."

"Rei, you're going."

"Why don't you listen to me?" Rei yelled, letting go of whatever restraint she had left. "Here's an idea: try being a father when there aren't any cameras around for a change? Maybe after you do that for awhile, I'd consider helping you, but until then, forget it."

Senator Hino started to turn red. "Rei, I am your father, and--"

"What did I just say?" Rei asked, walking around the table to close the distance between them. "You don't get to say that!"

"I get to say whatever I please!" he bellowed, taking her by surprise even though she should have realized that they were already past his normal breaking point. "I am still your father in blood, and you will show me the proper respect!"

"I give respect to those who deserve it! Not to those who feel they can do whatever they want because of entitlement," Rei countered bitterly.

Rei watched him open his mouth and then close it again. She assumed he was about to argue that he thought he did deserve that respect, but thought better of it for fear of sounding childish. After all, if he didn't assert his superiority over her in every way imaginable, she would have wondered if it was really him.

"Has your grandfather not taught you gratitude?" he hissed, his bright blue eyes narrowed cruelly.

"He taught me more than you ever did," she fired back even as her insides twisted. She wasn't going to let him get the best of her. That wasn't an option.

He sighed and turned away from her. "I wish our failures weren't so evident in you."

He might as well have punched her in the throat. Rei found herself wishing that he had. She hated when he did that. He had such a talent for finding the sorest spots and ripping open closed scars. His years in office had taught him well. Unfortunately, they hadn't taught him how to turn it off, so every time they had a conversation, it ended with this: him hurting her in the worst way she could imagine.

But he wasn't a complete demon. He never would be. That would be too easy. He always knew when he had gone too far and said the worst thing. "Rei, I'm sorry," he said quietly. "That was... I didn't mean--"

"Get out," Rei said, her voice dangerous.

Senator Hino turned back to her, looking as if she had almost made him hurt for a change. "But--"

"Get out!" Rei shouted at the top of her voice, her body trembling. "Maybe you are my father, but this isn't your home! It's mine! And I want you out of it!"

Senator Hino was about the respond when another voice reached her ears.

"Rei! Are you all right?"

She turned around just in time to see Mamoru open the sliding door and jog inside. Ami was not too far behind him. Rei felt like setting something on fire. She had forgotten they were coming. She should have sent her father on his way long before they arrived. Now they were there to see the part of her life she wanted to hide more than anything else. She felt like she was about to choke on the shame.

"Rei?" Mamoru asked again, his voice suspicious. He was looking at her father as if he were expecting him to sprout fangs at any moment. But again, that was too easy.

"Yeah," she said, her voice hoarse. "I'm fine. Fa-- Senator Hino was just leaving."

She didn't turn around to look at her father after that, but she hoped she'd made him wince. After a moment, she heard him sigh and start to walk out the door Mamoru and Ami had just come in through. She felt her muscles relax with each step he took, each meter he placed between them. She was almost calm enough to start breathing again when he looked over his shoulder, undoing all the good that had just been done.

"You're going to be there this Friday, Rei," he said softly. "Whether you like it or not."

Rei opened her mouth to start the argument up again, but she was too late. He hurried out the door before she could even get a syllable out. When she saw that she'd been bested, she let her shoulders sag and fell back into her seat, humiliated and utterly furious. But she couldn't say that she was surprised. Senator Hino always had the last word.

-----

Zoisite enjoyed attention. He liked it when he had been given special commendations during his initial training with the other Shitennou. He liked it when Kunzite gave him special looks or secret touches in the shadows just to remind Zoisite that he was there. He liked it when he could make Nephrite lose his temper just by being in the same room with him. He enjoyed the spotlight, and felt that he deserved it.

There was, however, one exception.

"You summoned me, Queen Beryl?" Zoisite said quickly, bowing to her while keeping his hand clasped tightly to his chest. His gloves were quickly growing damp from the sweat of his palms.

"I did," Beryl agreed, leaning back on her throne with an ease he envied. "I trust that you aware of your superiors' current duties?"

Zoisite clenched his fist. As uncomfortable as this situation was, it was being made worse by being reminded of his inferiority. He thought he heard a youma snicker behind him, and his cheeks turned pink with shame. "Kunzite is training the armies so that they will be ready when it comes time to invade. Nephrite is out gathering energy for the cause." He bit his tongue before he could say anything scathing and risk Beryl's wrath.

"Indeed," Beryl said. "And I also trust that you realize how important it is that we also get our hands on the Ginzuishou. If we don't have that stone within our grasp, any good done by Nephrite or Kunzite or even the failure Jadeite will be for naught."

"Yes, Queen Beryl."

"Therefore, I am assigning you the task of locating the crystal for our great army and Empress Metallia."

Zoisite blinked and looked up from the ground. "Really?"

Queen Beryl did not appear amused by his reaction. "Yes. I would not trust anyone else with this responsibility."

Zoisite found himself cheering up considerably. He had been specially appointed by Queen Beryl for a task! And it was one far more important than Nephrite's and perhaps even Kunzite's. Not to mention, it wasn't going to require too much effort. After all, how much work could it be to find one rock?

"I am honored to accept the task, Queen Beryl," Zoisite said grandly, bowing just a bit deeper than normal.

"Are you sure this is such a good idea, your highness?" a familiar voice drawled from the shadows.

Zoisite snarled and stood up, turning in time to see Nephrite appear at his side. "What do you care, Nephrite? You have your own work to do!" he snapped, mentally picturing how Nephrite would look without one of his limbs.

Nephrite glanced at Zoisite for only a second, making it clear that he would have rather been looking at a fly. Then he turned to Queen Beryl and said, "I would never think of questioning your judgment, Queen Beryl, but don't you think that something as important as finding the Ginzuishou ought to be handled by someone with more experience?"

"Someone such as yourself, you mean?" Queen Beryl asked, sounding bored.

Nephrite smirked. "The thought had crossed my mind."

Zoisite curled his lip and tried very hard not to stamp his feet. Kunzite had told him that no one took him seriously when he did that, and he was doing his best not to look childish. "You son of a bitch! Queen Beryl already gave that duty to me. You weren't even interested in it before!"

"Of course I was interested, Zoisite," Nephrite said coolly. "I just didn't make it obvious until I became concerned that some incompetent was going to fail and ruin all of Queen Beryl's plans."

"You mean like Jadeite?" Zoisite spat, knowing that it would hurt the other general.

Indeed, Nephrite began to turn to continue the argument. He might have even laid hands on him had Queen Beryl not intervened.

"Enough!" she called out, her voice echoing across the empty chasm of her throne room. "I have no patience for this. Nephrite, don't concern yourself with Zoisite's tasks. You have your own to be worried about."

"Have you even selected a new target yet?" Zoisite hissed boldly, knowing he should keep his mouth shut and not caring.

Nephrite scowled at him and then averted his gaze once more. "I have actually. A senator whose energy will peak at an inconsequential speech to be given this Friday."

"If it's so inconsequential, why is his energy peaking?" Zoisite asked. "Maybe your astrology is out of whack, Nephrite."

Nephrite didn't even look at him this time. "His energy is peaking because the stars deem it so."

Zoisite snorted. "Bullshit."

"Silence!" Queen Beryl shouted. "If you both would put this much effort into collecting energy and finding the crystal, we'd have the Earth taken over by now!"

Zoisite thought about pointing out that he'd only just been told he would be looking for the Ginzuishou, but then he realized that doing so would be suicide. He kept his mouth shut.

"Out of my sight. Both of you," Queen Beryl pronounced. "And don't return until you have something to report aside from your insufferable bickering!"

"Yes, Queen Beryl," Zoisite and Nephrite said in tandem. They both gave each other a look and then vanished as they had been ordered. After all, they both had work to do.

-----

Ami shut the door to her penthouse slowly by leaning her entire body up against the door. Even after that, she had no desire to move.

The meeting, such as it had been, had managed to zap her energy completely. To begin with, it had taken them nearly an hour to actually start the meeting. After Rei's father had stormed out of Hikawa Jinja following their argument, Rei's grandfather had come bursting in, demanding to know what had happened. That had spurred yet another row between Rei and one of her family patriarchs that went on for far longer than Ami thought possible. She suspected it was because Rei had enjoyed that particular fight.

When Rei's grandfather had finally grown bored of the exercise, Luna had managed to get them on task. Then Ami had been made to sit through three more hours of strategizing for future battles while trying to ignore the tension in the room caused not only by witnessing the earlier arguments but by the fact that she and Rei still were not getting along.

The one good thing that had resulted from the meeting was that Luna had to decided to put off their training session for later. Ami wondered if she was concerned that Rei would take her frustrations out on either Mamoru or herself. Whatever the case, Ami had been extremely grateful. As foolish as it seemed, Ami wanted nothing more than to sleep away the exhaustion that had resulted from sitting with Rei and Mamoru for the entire afternoon, trying not to say the wrong thing.

"Ami? Is that you?"

Ami looked up in surprise. She hadn't expected her mother to be home. Then again, she had no idea what her schedule was like for the break. Ami just always assumed she wouldn't be there. "Yes, mama," Ami called out. She pushed herself away from the door, stepped out of her shoes and into her slippers, and then walked from the foyer into the kitchen.

Immediately, Ami knew that something was wrong. She could tell because Dr. Mizuno had apparently made tea to soothe her nerves and then left it sitting on the table untouched. She was never that careless. Ami could also see her mother's normally smooth face creased with anxiety. She looked much older.

Ami was about to ask if everything was all right, when her mother spoke up. "You've been out all day."

Ami nodded in assent. "Yeah. Rei and Mamoru wanted to talk about something."

Dr. Mizuno's frown deepened. "How is that going?"

Ami hesitated, struggling to find something to tell her mother that wasn't completely a lie. "Better," she said.

"Good," Dr. Mizuno said, nodding in approval. "So, how far ahead are you in your studies?"

"Not much," Ami said quickly, knowing that her mother would be concerned with the fact that she wasn't farther. "Mama, what's wrong? And don't tell me nothing because I can tell that you're tense."

Dr. Mizuno looked up at her daughter, the left corner of her mouth turning up. "I ought to know better than to try to hide things from you." She took a deep breath and said, "Ami, I know that your father promised that you could spend some time with him over break..." she trailed off, obviously trying to figure out how to continue.

It was lucky for Ami that her mother was having trouble finding the right words. In all honesty, she had completely forgotten about visiting her father. She had been so excited when he offered; she'd barely managed to get to sleep that night. She hadn't seen him in years, and she was anxious to see him and not his paintings.

But everything had changed now. There was no way she could leave the Juuban area for a few days, much less for most of her break. Now that Nephrite had picked up where Jadeite had left off, there was no telling when or how he would strike. They had to be ready at all times. That was one of the things they had talked about in their meeting. She couldn't afford to take off and leave Rei and Mamoru alone to defend the city.

Of course, Rei probably would have preferred it that way, but Ami chose not to dwell on that.

"Uh, Mama," Ami started quietly, trying to think of a plausible reason why she couldn't go. "The thing is--"

"I just got one of his postcards today," Dr. Mizuno interrupted testily, apparently not hearing Ami. She held up the familiar scrap of paper, this time painted with a dolphin twisting in the open ocean. "He says that he's not going to be able to have you stay with him after all.

Ami stared at her mother for a moment. The information wasn't quite registering in her mind. Finally, Ami finally managed to say, "Oh."

"He didn't even give a reason," Dr. Mizuno continued. "But I'm sure it was much too complex for him to fit on a postcard. Heaven forbid he write a letter or get a phone up in his cabin so that he could call and explain--"

"Mama, please don't," Ami interrupted quietly. She hated when her mother talked about her father that way, even when it was justified.

Dr. Mizuno closed her mouth, swallowing her words. She looked at Ami sympathetically and said, "I'm sorry, Ami, I didn't mean to go on like that. I just... I know how much you were looking forward to this, and I hate to see you disappointed."

"It's all right," Ami said. "It... sort of makes things easier, doesn't it? After all, we weren't really sure how I was going to get up there. This way I can stay here and concentrate on my reading."

Dr. Mizuno looked at her daughter sadly and reached out to stroke her face. "You know, I'm supposed to go into work in about an hour, but I can call and--"

"No," Ami said quickly, shaking her head. "No, don't do that. I'm fine. Really."

Dr. Mizuno furrowed her brow. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Ami insisted, forcing a smile. "I'm sure we can work something out for next time anyway."

Dr. Mizuno nodded. "Yes, we'll try that."

Ami took a deep breath. "I think I'm going to go for a swim before I make dinner. I'll see you sometime tomorrow?"

"I suppose so," she said. When she leaned over the table and kissed Ami on the cheek, her lips felt cold. "Don't stay there for too long."

"I won't," Ami promised before turning and exiting the apartment.

Ami quickly made her way back to the elevator she had just ridden up on, pleased to find that it hadn't gone to any other floors. She stepped inside and pressed the button that would take her to the floor with the swimming pool and other gym facilities. She rode the elevator down, once again slumping against the walls.

She shouldn't be as disappointed as she was. After all, she was going to have to find a way to get out of it anyway. Her father had really just saved her the trouble. Logically, she had nothing to be upset about.

Ami looked up in surprise when the elevator dinged on her floor. She straightened and stepped out of the elevator, glancing into the area where all of the weights and aerobic workout machines were kept. Predictably, it was full of tenants trying to shape up for an important banquet or something along those lines. Ami also passed by the basketball courts and other areas she had to go by to get to the locker room. All of them seemed to be occupied as well.

She walked straight into the locker room, where she found several older women gossiping, wearing nothing but terrycloth towels too small for them. Ami ducked her head and blushed faintly, making her way past them without attracting attention to herself. Finally, she reached her locker and entered her combination. After pulling out her swimsuit, towel, and goggles, Ami turned to change in one of the lavatories.

A few minutes later, Ami exited a door on the other end of the locker room and walked out to the indoor pool. She was pleased to find that it was empty. When they had first moved here, the pool was one of the tenants' favorite attractions, but recently it had waned in popularity. Ami suspected it was because they were having a remarkably cool summer. When it got hotter, Ami felt that the pool would once again be the main draw.

Ami walked through the safety gate after swiping her card, granting her access. She walked over to one of the lounges and set down her towel. Then she busied herself with putting on her goggles as she walked over to the deep end of the pool.

She glanced at the deep blue of the water, thinking that it was almost the same shade as her father's postcard.

Ami's face fell with the reminder, though in truth she hadn't really forgotten about it. She'd just been trying to ignore it after thinking that she really had no reason to be upset about it.

But that didn't change the fact that she was upset. She might have forgotten about it, and she might not have wanted to go after all, but her father had been the one to call it off. And he had done so with barely any notice and absolutely no explanation. He couldn't say that he was too busy. He was living in a cabin in the woods with no electricity so he could dedicate himself to his art. He had plenty of time for that. He had invited Ami telling her all of those things specifically.

And now he had cancelled their plans without telling her anything.

Ami was suddenly reminded of Rei's argument with her father earlier. Something about witnessing the scene had made Ami intensely uncomfortable, and she suddenly realized why. Rei and her father clearly didn't have a good relationship, but there was one fundamental difference between Ami's relationship with her father and the priestess's with her own.

Rei got to see her father once in awhile.

Ami shook her head rapidly and stepped up to the edge of the pool. She barely took the time to position herself correctly before diving in to the water, fully immersing herself. It was strangely cold, forming goosebumps all over her skin, but Ami didn't mind. She almost liked the chill. It made her feel numb.

-----

The next morning, Nephrite arrived at the senator's office long before he thought the man was due to arrive, but he still wasn't the slightest bit surprised that he walked in all of five minutes later.

He flipped on the light switch, searching through his briefcase for something with a smoothness that suggested the action was less out of leave and more out of habit. He didn't notice Nephrite immediately, doing a double take when he did see the auburn-haired stranger sitting on his couch as if posed. He blinked and stared at Nephrite through his gold wire glasses. He was instantly suspicious, but he was trying not to look it. A true politician.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've met," he said neutrally.

A smile swept across Nephrite's features as he rose to his feet. "No, I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure, Senator Hino. I'm new to Tokyo. My name is Sanjouin Masato." He stuck his hand out, mimicking the Western greeting. If his research was correct, politicians often preferred such gestures in favor of the traditional Eastern ones.

Senator Hino didn't bat an eyelash, taking Nephrite's hand and giving it a swift shake. He dropped it just as quickly, turning to go to his desk. Nephrite found himself smirking as the senator showed him his back. A true politician, but most definitely not a soldier.

"Is there something I can do for you?"

Nephrite made sure to change the smirk to a grin and strode forward confidently. "No, but I suspect there is something I can do for you."

Nephrite watched the senator's ears perk up. He was no stranger to this sort of thing. He knew exactly when money was being alluded to. He glanced up, raising an eyebrow. "You wish to make a donation to the party?"

"Yes," Nephrite assented. "I called yesterday to try and figure out how to best go about it, but I got the run around."

Senator Hino seemed to be resisting the urge to roll his eyes. To supplement the action, he pulled his glasses off his face, allowing them to hang freely about his neck. "Interns," he muttered. "They never know who's in charge of what until the day before they leave."

Nephrite chuckled, sharing in the joke. "I am sorry to bother you with this. I know it's not anything you would personally handle, but I didn't know who else to go to." He paused, considered looking sheepish, and decided against it. Sanjouin Masato was far too self-assured to act uncertain. "Although, I confess I did it partially in hopes of meeting you. I might be new in town, but I'm familiar with your political career."

That seemed to make Senator Hino brighten instantly. Nephrite realized he should have started with flattery. It would have made the past few moments much less awkward for the senator and made him that much more trusting.

"Is that so?" the senator asked, clearly wishing to hear details.

"And I've heard so much about you from others in town already," Nephrite continued. "About your honesty, your dedication, your ambition..." Nephrite trailed off, glancing around the room to try and pick up on something personal. He caught sight of a picture frame on the table. A school photo of a girl of about fourteen. "Not to mention your love for your family."

Nephrite watched the senator's face carefully. He saw the other man tense, swallow, and reflexively look over at the picture as well. He cleared his throat and said, "I believe I have some forms in here somewhere that should make the donation process go smoothly."

Senator Hino turned briskly, tense after Nephrite's apparent faux pas. Sensing that he ought to get out before anyone happened by, he sped up the process, looking intently at the chain attached to Senator Hino's glasses.

It snapped in half, causing the eyewear to fall to the ground. Surprisingly, Senator Hino didn't appear to notice. Of course, that was good. It would make the next part easier.

"Your glasses fell," Nephrite announced, walking over to them. "Let me get them for you."

"Oh, thank you," Senator Hino said as he opened his file cabinet, not looking over his shoulder.

Nephrite crouched down, holding his hand right above the fallen glasses. He curled his fingers slightly, narrowing his eyes intently. He concentrated as hard as he could, pulling dark energy from his own body to fuel the spell. He furrowed his brow to the point of pain. His hand felt so cold that it began to burn. Finally, the shadows flared, and his red symbol flashed inside the lens.

It was done.

Nephrite took a breath, his head pounding but otherwise fine. He deftly picked up the eyewear between his fingers, setting them on the desk. Then he mimed looking at his watch, making sure that there was one on his wrist so that he was not caught in a lie after all that effort. "Oh, dear. I'm running late. I'm going to have to return some other time for those papers, Senator Hino. Thank you very much for your time."

"Oh, if you'll just wait one--"

But by the time Senator Hino had turned around, Nephrite was gone.

-----

"Rei!"

At the sound of her name, Rei came to a halt, her arms hanging down stiffly at her sides with a bucket of water in each of them. She turned around to see her grandfather hobbling towards her, his eyes hidden beneath his wrinkled brow. He did not look happy, but then he hadn't looked happy since she'd chased her father out of the shrine the day before. And she had a sinking feeling that that's what this was about.

"I want to talk to you," her grandfather said as he drew near.

Rei closed her eyes and muttered. "If it's anything about my father, forget it. I'm tired of the subject."

"And you don't think I'm tired? I have a few centuries on you. I'm exhausted!"

Rei took a deep breath. "Grandpa..."

He shook his head. "Don't whine at me. You're not too big for me to put over my knee, you know."

After that, Rei had to set the buckets down so that she could laugh without dropping them. "Not too big? Grandpa, the last time you tried that, I got away and wound up hitting you with the broom."

He glared at her, not amused. "I know. I still have the scars to prove it." He pointed a finger at her, standing up on tiptoe to try to make himself more imposing.
"I ought to have had you taken away for abusing a defenseless old man!"

"Defenseless? How?" Rei asked, folding her arms in front of her chest. "The next morning you dumped a tub full of ice water on me while I was sleeping. And then you acted surprised when I had to go to the emergency room with a fever later on."

Seeing that he wasn't going to win this particular fight, her grandfather quickly moved on to another topic. "Rei, I need to talk to you about this."

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Grandpa, I told you yesterday. He insulted me, so I turned him out. And I am not going to spend time with a man who is rude to me when he does actually bother to stop by."

"I don't doubt that he said something wrong, Rei," her grandfather said, taking on that tone he used on the rare occasion he wanted to sound reasonable. "But how much did you goad him before that?"

Rei's cheeks turned pink. She narrowed her eyes, leaning over her grandfather in an attempt to assert her height. "That doesn't matter!"

"Bah!" her grandfather said, turning his head. "Of course it matters, Rei. You can't kick a lion over and over again and then blame the animal when it bites your head off."

"He's my father. He should be able to control his temper," Rei insisted, her jaw starting to clench.

Her grandfather let out a loud bark. "Listen to yourself. You're blaming him for not taking responsibility for his own actions, when you refuse to do the same thing. Don't be hypocritical, Rei. No one will take you seriously that way."

"If I am hypocritical, then it's hereditary!" Rei snapped. "He's the one who calls himself my father, but has you raise me."

"Would you rather have lived with him, been raised by a maid, and turned into a snobby, overindulged little brat like every other daughter of a politician?" he asked.

"Of course not," Rei answered, exasperated.

"Then stop complaining," he ordered, jumping up and flicking her forehead.

"Ow!" Rei shouted, covering the spot with her hand. "What did you do that for? And why are you taking his side anyway?"

Her grandfather sighed and said, "Rei, your father and I have had our problems in the past." He stopped, growing distant for a moment. Rei knew he was thinking of her mother, how she had left her quiet life at the shrine in favor of becoming a politician's wife. Rei sometimes wondered if her grandfather blamed her father for her mother's death. She wouldn't have been upset with him if he did. After all, that's how she felt.

"Grandpa?" she asked quietly, wanting to get his mind off things that could not be altered.

He nodded, blinking quickly. "But he's a good man."

"Good men don't--"

"Rei," her grandfather interrupted. "He's a good man. You're allowed to disagree with me on that, of course. Just like you do everything else." He paused to roll his eyes, no doubt silently lamenting the fact that she was so willful. "He's human, and he's made some mistakes. If you never want to forgive him, that's your burden. And I'll tell you you're being an idiot every step of the way--"

"Just get to the point," Rei ground out through her teeth.

"But he's still your family," her grandfather concluded. "You ought to stick by your family." He paused, once again looking thoughtful. "Even when you want to strangle them, you should stick by them."

For a moment, Rei was confused, but then it dawned on her. They weren't really talking about her father at all.

"Do you really want me to do this, Grandpa?" Rei asked quietly.

He nodded, not saying a word.

Rei wanted to say no. She didn't want to help out her father. She wanted to tell her grandfather that she wouldn't be sorry if he died suddenly, but she couldn't say that. It was too cruel.

"I suppose I'll do it then," she murmured distastefully.

He brightened immediately, becoming cheeky again. "Good!"

She shook her head, bending down to pick up the water buckets. "I can't believe you talked me into this."

He shrugged. "It was either that or club you over the head and throw you in the trunk of my friend's car. I figured you'd like it better this way."

"You're wrong," Rei said, turning on her heel to continue with her chores. "You better not make me regret this!"

"You won't!" her grandfather called out after her.

Rei sighed, her gaze falling to the ground. "I doubt that."

-----

"This is ridiculous!"

The speech writers jumped at the sound of his voice, exchanging frightful glances with one another. "Um... What's ridiculous about it, Senator Hino?"

Nibori glared at them for not automatically knowing what was wrong with it. It was so glaringly obvious that he was surprised they'd had the gall to turn it in to him. He tossed the papers back in their faces, watching as two of them bent to pick them up off the floor. "Do you really expect me to stand up and deliver such a pointless speech?"

The head speech writer once again looked at a loss. "Pointless? I'm afraid I don't quite--"

"There is nothing topical in the whole damn thing!" Nibori thundered, gesturing grandly. "People who don't follow politics are going to be watching this speech.
This is the perfect opportunity to talk about something relevant - issues voters care about. And all you have me doing is rambling on about the future of Japan and state-of-the-art health care!"

The head speech writer continued stammering, looking down at her colleagues who were in the process of trying to put the pages in order. "Well, if you'll excuse me for saying so, Senator Hino, I really don't think this is the place for--"

"There will be cameras and viewers tuning in; of course it's the place for such things," Senator Hino countered. "There must be some way to talk about issues that matter."

"The Children's Wing does matter," the younger woman snapped, her fingers tightening over the folders she was carrying. "People care about that."

"But it won't get me votes come election time, will it?" Senator Hino insisted.

The speech writer took a breath. "By associating yourself with humanitarian causes--"

"I can fake sympathy in my sleep!" Nibori shouted. "They always see me doing that. But how often do they get to see me talking about issues outside of a debate?"

"I don't see what there is to--"

"There is plenty to talk about," Nibori interrupted. "Sanitation workers are threatening to strike, tourism is down, and our law enforcement has been cuckolded by the presence of those school girl warriors and their masked companion... What's his name? Tuxedo Man?"

"Tuxedo Kamen," one of the speech writers corrected.

Nibori gestured at the man instantly. "See! You know this stuff better than I do. Why aren't you writing about it?"

The head speech writer took a moment to process the information. "Well, Senator Hino, there isn't much to say on the matter. The Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen are not really up for debate."

"They ought to be," Nibori insisted. "The amount of property damage alone is enough to take issue with. But there's far more that I could talk about! The opening of this wing wouldn't be so momentous if the rest of the hospital hadn't been wrecked during their fights."

The head speech writer looked appalled by this suggestion. "But--"

"Oh, forget it," Nibori snapped, reaching down and yanking the pages out of the hands of the other writers. "If you three can't do what I want, I'll just do it myself."

The same woman blinked. "But Senator Hino, you have so much else you have to do. You can't possibly--"

"Don't tell me what I can't do!" he raged, leaning forward and practically snarling at the woman. "I have plenty of time to get everything done without the benefit of incompetent workers."

The three speech writers stood staring for a moment, until their superior broke off and stormed out of the room. The other two men then followed after her, not wanting to stay with the senator any longer.

Nibori scoffed at their backs, shaking his head. "Damn fools." He slipped his glasses on over his ears, pulled out a blue pen, and began rewriting the entire speech on the back of the pages they had given him. He may have had plenty of time, but that didn't mean he had any to waste. He was a very busy man.

-----

It was Thursday morning during the first week of vacation, and Mamoru was up to see the sunrise. It was not by choice.

Mamoru groaned, leaning against the kitchen counter with his chin cupped in his hand. He would have liked nothing better than to still be in bed, sleeping away the day if necessary, but that was no longer an option. He had been woken up several minutes ago after yet another bad dream, and he knew from experience that there would be no more sleep for him that day. Rather than lie around in bed and sulk about it, he decided it was better to get up and start the day early.

But he certainly wasn't happy about it.

"I don't see why you had to wake me up too," Luna grumbled as she walked into the room, pausing to stretch out all of her legs.

"If I have to suffer, so do you," Mamoru muttered, staring as his coffee continued to percolate. It was rather mesmerizing.

Luna yawned and hopped up on to the counter, inching as close to the coffeemaker as she dared for warmth. "If you're having problems with insomnia, you ought to take a sleeping pill or something."

"I took two last night," Mamoru sighed. "Still woke up too early."

"Well, there has to be some explanation," Luna insisted groggily. "Maybe you're so used to not getting sleep that your body won't let you rest up now that you have the chance."

Mamoru looked over at her, his dark bangs falling in his eyes and making it hard to see. Here he was presented with yet another opportunity to tell Luna about the dreams. He really ought to considering they probably concerned the mission. But still, something held him back. As if she wasn't really the right person - well, cat - to talk about it with.

He sighed and said, "Maybe. I think it also has something to do with Rei."

Luna frowned. "Her issues with Ami keeping you up at night?"

"I've all but given up on that," Mamoru confessed. "I was actually thinking about her father."

Luna looked at him oddly. "Why would you be--"

"Move, coffee's ready," Mamoru interrupted. He waited until she had jumped off the counter to remove the precious liquid, smiling dreamily as he poured it into a cup. He inhaled the aroma and proceeded to dump as much sugar into the drink as he could stand.

"As I was saying," Luna continued, sounding irritated. "Why would you be worried about that? You're not the type to meddle."

Mamoru nodded in assent. "I know. I just... don't understand why they don't live together."

"Well, that's really none of your business, is it?"

Mamoru rolled his eyes and started to stir in the sugar. "Luna."

"All right, all right," she said. "I'm just saying that there are probably circumstances we don't know about and are never going to know about because it doesn't concern either of us. Unless Rei's living situation somehow impacted the mission, we would never have cause to know."

Mamoru nodded, knowing that she was right, but unable to get past it. He turned around, cupping the mug between his hands. "I just... don't see why a father would willingly allow his daughter to live away from him if he had the means to support her." He paused, a lump forming in his throat. "He ought to see her every chance he gets."

Luna looked up at him, sensing something was wrong. "Mamoru?"

He didn't answer, staring down into the dark liquid. He suddenly realized that he ought to be grateful that dreams of the princess were waking him up early now. When he had gone to the sleep therapist to make them go away when he was a boy, he had heard her talking with a colleague. She had been surprised that his trauma had manifested in such a strange way. She would have thought he'd be having nightmares about cars driving over cliffs.

That was how he found out how they died.

"Mamoru?" Luna repeated, this time louder. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Mamoru said softly, taking a sip of his drink even though it was certain to scald his throat.

Luna knew better than to take this answer at face value. "Mamoru, why don't you ever say anything about your parents?"

Mamoru stiffened. He took the cup away from his lips and said, "I don't want to talk about it."

Luna looked up at him, clearly concerned. "Mamoru--"

"It doesn't have anything to do with the mission," he said loudly. "Why do you care?"

His words had hurt her. He knew that. He could tell by the way her tail and whiskers started to droop. He also knew that he should apologize and smooth things over without continuing the subject.

He took another sip of the coffee.

"Well, I suppose one thing's for certain," Luna said quietly, breaking the stressed silence between them.

Mamoru glanced up. "Yes?"

"With a father like that, it's no wonder Rei is the way she is."

-----

"So, you've finally gotten tired of being in the background."

Senator Hino looked up from his work, his glasses slipping down his nose at the sudden movement. He reached up and adjusted them before looking back down. "Good afternoon, Senator Roku."

The senator sighed, shaking his greying head. "In one of those moods I see."

"I'm working," Senator Hino snapped quickly. "I don't have time to speak with you right now."

"When aren't you working?" Senator Roku joked. "You haven't taken a vacation in over five years. I wasn't coming here expecting to find you unoccupied."

Senator Hino exhaled gruffly. "If you knew I wouldn't have time for you, why did you come here to bother me?"

"Nibori," the older senator said gently, stopping the younger politician in his movements. "I am here as your friend and your mentor."

Senator Hino raised an eyebrow, sparing a quick glance upwards. "What else would you come as, Senator Roku?"

"Your enemy?" Senator Roku joked.

"Doubtful," Senator Hino answered mirthlessly. "This is your final term."

Senator Roku sighed. "Humorless as always."

"Senator Roku, much as I appreciate all you have done for me, I really do have work to be doing," Senator Hino said tightly. "If you have something to say, say it. Otherwise, please leave."

"I need to talk to you about your latest platform," Senator Roku said flatly. "I heard your secretary talking with my secretary on her lunch break, and I have to say, I'm not pleased."

Senator Hino looked up, his dark eyes narrowing. "Are you saying you want to entrust your well-being to the hands of children?"

"Of course not," Senator Roku said sternly. "I am not saying I disagree with you on this point, Nibori. I quite agree that these... Sailor Senshi as they call themselves are dangerous. Many of our colleagues agree with us on this."

Senator Hino rose to his feet, slamming his palms down on the top of the desk. "Then why have they not come forward and said something? The longer we allow this to go on without speaking out, the more dangerous the situation becomes!"

Senator Roku looked at his protégé, clearly amused. "Would you care to be the one to physically put a stop to their works, Nibori? I know you have read the reports on their capabilities. They are dangerous beings."

"So we just let them do what they want because we're cowards?" Senator Hino spat.

"No," Senator Roku said, slipping his hands into his pockets. "However, that must be a consideration. Several of us are planning on speaking out against them, but it is a delicate situation. The majority of the public seems to be with them."

"Then the majority of the public are fools," Senator Hino raged.

Senator Roku chuckled, amused. "Well, of course they are, Nibori. But fools or no, they are still our constituents, and sometimes, we have to hold our tongues to keep them on our side."

Senator Hino shook his head. "I'm not willing to do that."

"Then you had better be willing to lose some voters," Senator Roku said gravely. "It is better to wait for these people to screw up badly enough to turn more people to our side. As it is now, our position would be favored only by a minority. Is it ridiculous? Of course. But it is going to take a disaster to bring the public over to our side. After all, these senshi are the saviors of their children."

Senator Hino scoffed. "I'm a father, but I know that my daughter would not be in danger if it weren't for these menaces."

A strange look crossed Senator Roku's face as his eyes glanced down to the picture of Rei on the desk. "Well, not everyone's parenting skills are on level with yours, Nibori."

Senator Hino curled his lip and walked out from behind the desk. "If you're going to insult me, then get out."

"Forgive me," Senator Roku said, holding up his hands. "I did not come here for that."

"No!" Senator Hino bellowed, making his mentor jump a bit. "I know why you came here. You've come to stop me from bringing this position forward. You want to do it yourself; one last hurrah before your retirement."

Senator Roku frowned. "Nibori, don't be--"

"Well, I won't fall for it," Senator Hino snarled. "I'm going to be the face behind this campaign. In fact, I'll even hold a conference in a few hours just to be certain you aren't able to undermine me."

"This afternoon?" Senator Roku asked in disbelief. "There's no way you'll be able to--"

"I won't have you telling me what to do anymore!" Senator Hino shouted, stalking forward. "You're the one who always told me to be careful, and now look at me! I'm at my prime, and this is all I have to show for it." He spread his arms wide. "If it weren't for you, I could be at the top of my game. Everyone would know who I was! I would be as important as I always wished to be!"

"Or no one would know your name and you'd be some drunken, widowed salaryman," Senator Roku said acidly, putting emphasis in the worst place imaginable.

"Enough!" Senator Hino said, reaching forward and taking his mentor by the arm, forcibly leading him out of the office. "I am going ahead with this campaign. I won't let you weasel your way in on this."

Senator Roku struggled. "Nibori, I'm trying to help you! Getting involved in this now could be political suicide!"

"It will be my greatest triumph," Senator Hino insisted, pushing the older man away. "And you will have no part in it."

That said, the younger man turned on his heel and stalked back into his office, slamming the doors behind him. He stood there for a moment and panted, his fingers curled against the doorknob. He couldn't believe his old friend had tried to deceive him like that. Did Roku think he was stupid? Did he honestly think he wouldn't see through that transparent ploy?

Well, it was of no concern to him. He was going to continue on as planned. He would be the first to speak out against the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen. There might be some resistance, but in the end, he would triumph and be lofted a hero once they were brought down.

He strode forward to his desk and picked up the phone, connecting directly to his secretary. "Saito! Call every news station on our rolodex and get them down here by four o'clock. I have an announcement to make."

-----

"I'm home!" Usagi called out as she raced into her house, her arms aching from the weight of the shopping bags she held. She was about to walk straight into the living room where she could hear her parents watching television. She glanced down at the bags, including the various receipts resting on top of the clothes, manga, and stuffed animals she had purchased. She quickly shoved all but one bag into the closet, struggling to close it afterwards. Eventually, she heard the door click shut and breathed a sigh of relief. Then she stood straight and bounced into the living room, one bag in hand.

Her father glanced over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow. "Only one? I was expecting you to come home with ten."

Usagi was very glad she'd thought to hide most of her purchases. She'd brought home twelve. "No, I was good. But you should have seen Naru. She must have had at least seven."

"Could you two keep it down?" her mother asked gently. "I'm trying to hear."

"Sorry, dear," her husband said quickly, turning back around and swinging an arm over his wife's shoulders for good measure.

Usagi looked towards the television set to see what they were watching. It didn't seem to be anything fun. Just a man standing in front of a building talking.
"What's this?"

"It's Senator Hino," her father said quickly.

"Who?"

Her father sighed in that way he always did. "He's a politician."

"Oh," Usagi said, although she wanted very much to point out that he hadn't answered her question at all. "What's going on?"

"He's giving a press conference."

"What's it about?"

"Usagi, why don't you just watch?" her mother asked, exasperated.

"Because it looks boring," Usagi said truthfully.

Her father turned to look at her again. "Actually, you might be interested in this. He's talking about the Sailor Senshi and that Tuxedo Kamen fellow."

Usagi felt her heart skip a beat. No way was she going to pass up listening to some guy talk about the hero who had saved her life on several occasions. Of course, he was going to overlook the important things like how he was undoubtedly incredibly handsome underneath that mask and the fact that he was destined to marry her just as soon as she could properly fill out a wedding gown. But no one was perfect.

Except maybe Tuxedo Kamen.

She ran around in front of the couch, plopping on to the floor at her parent's feet. She pulled on her father's pant leg, code language to ask him to turn it up. He did so, but she would bet anything that he had rolled his eyes as he did so and mouthed something about how she was bound to go deaf any day now.

"...I can't excuse our law enforcement for being so ill-equipped and ill-prepared to deal with this threat," Senator Hino lectured, his blue eyes darting to look at various members of the crowd.

Usagi tipped her head to the side. "How were they supposed to be ready to deal with monsters?"

"Shh!" her mother hissed. "Usagi!"

"Sorry."

"However, I also cannot excuse the so-called defenders of Tokyo, the three warriors who call themselves Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, and Tuxedo Kamen from what they have done to this city!" Senator Hino said, his hands making slicing gestures through the air. "Witnesses to the attacks on our city have reported that these soldiers are young, possibly no older than fourteen."

"My God," Ikuko whispered. Usagi felt her father's hand pat her head, as if reassuring himself that she was still there.

Senator Hino did not pause while her parents fretted over her. "It is unthinkable that people so young have such dangerous powers, and it is irresponsible to allow them to continue. People have already died as a result of their foolhardiness."

Usagi sat up straight. "That wasn't them!" she yelled, wishing that she weren't just yelling at a television set.

"They do not have the correct judgment to wield these powers. They are a danger not only to themselves but to the entire community! That is why I cannot allow these three to continue operating under these circumstances. The monsters who have invaded our city need to be stopped. But I say that these children need to be stopped as well!"

"They're the only ones who can save us!" Usagi insisted. She turned back to look at her parents. "He doesn't understand. He hasn't seen what those... things can do!"

"Usagi, calm down," Ikuko soothed.

"No!" Usagi yelled, getting to her feet. "I'm not going to calm down. He's wrong!"

Kenji sighed. "That may be, Usagi, but he's entitled to his opinion."

"Not when he's wrong." Usagi spun around and ran over to the television, switching it off.

"Usagi!" Ikuko scolded.

"I'm not going to have you watch that," Usagi insisted. "He's... He's... I don't know what he is, but he can't say things like that about them. He just can't."

Kenji held up his hands. "I'm sure that Senator Hino is in the minority here, Usagi. Everyone knows those three have saved countless lives, that they're the ones trying to save us. Senator Hino is probably just offended because the government can't take the credit for creating them."

"Kenji, really," Ikuko chided.

He shrugged. "It's probably true."

"How can he say that?" Usagi continued, choosing to ignore what her parents had said. "How can he just dismiss all the good they've done?" She folded her arms across her chest. "I bet he'd say something different if they'd saved his life."

"I don't doubt that," Kenji muttered.

"So cynical today," Ikuko answered, shaking her head.

"Someone has to take a genuine look at things."

"And why does it have to be you?"

"Because you and Usagi are too optimistic, and Shingo's too young to care."

"I'm not too optimistic. I simply choose not to see corruption in everyone."

"There is corruption in everyone."

"You've been working at that paper for far too long."

"So they tell me."

"You don't believe him do you?"

Kenji and Ikuko both turned to look at their daughter, four eyebrows raised in her direction. "What?" Ikuko asked.

"Do you believe him?" Usagi asked softly, fearful of their answer. "Do you think they're... dangerous?"

Her parents exchanged one of their secret looks, communicating with words Usagi knew she could never hope to understand. After a moment, her mother walked forward, holding out her arms. Usagi threw herself between them before her mother was ready for the impact, staggering under her daughter's weight.

"Poor little Usagi," her mother murmured sadly. "You shouldn't be thinking about this."

"Just tell me," Usagi whimpered, tears gathering in her eyes.

Ikuko sighed. "I think it's tragic that people as young as you are have to be saddled with these problems. They should be in school getting an education and doing everything else just like normal people their age."

"I think it's cool that one of them can throw fire," Kenji said thoughtfully.

Ikuko's head fell, her forehead landing on one of Usagi's buns. "Kenji..."

"Right, inappropriate. Sorry." Usagi felt a hand fall on her shoulder. She looked up to see her father smiling down at her softly. "I'm just happy that someone is here who can protect you and Shingo." He paused. "Aside from that Motoki of course."

Usagi smiled, certain that her cheeks colored when her father mentioned the name. Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice.

He rubbed her forearm. "Now cheer up. I'm the only one allowed to wear a long face around here."

Usagi left her mother's embrace only to lose herself in her father's. She squeezed him tightly enough to make him complain about his ribs, but Ikuko just chuckled and laid a hand on Usagi's head. Usagi sighed contentedly, feeling as though she could almost forgive Senator Hino for being a complete idiot. She felt content, locked in a perfect family moment.

That's when she heard the sound of the closet door opening followed by a crash.

Usagi's eyes flew open. "Uh-oh."

"What was that?" Ikuko asked, pulling away from the pair of them to inspect the strange noise. A moment later, she called out, "Usagi?"

"Yes, mama?" Usagi yelled back nervously.

"Why is there a mountain of clothes, stuffed animals, and manga in my foyer?"

Usagi looked up at her father's face, hoping to charm him out of yelling at her. But when she saw that wasn't going to work, she wanted desperately for Tuxedo Kamen to magically appear and save her from his wrath.

Unfortunately for her, this time, her hero didn't show up.

-----

Rei heaved a sigh as she looked into her closet, shoving the hangers full of clothing she hardly ever wore to the left and right, searching for a suitable outfit for her father's press conference.

With a grunt of effort, Rei shoved just about all of her wardrobe to one side, exposing a small patch of white she usually kept hidden. They were a collection of nearly identical dresses, varying in size and little else. They had been presents from her father - the same one every year, delivered in the general vicinity of April 17th. Every year, they almost fit.

She reached forward, brushing her fingertips against the fabric. They were expensive and well-crafted; anyone could see that. She could remember receiving the first of many the year after her father had left her at the shrine. It had arrived on time, and she had been so excited when she'd opened it. It was a beautiful dress - her grandfather said it made her look very grown-up. She had held it up to her body and twirled until she felt she was going to be sick. She'd been so happy. She felt like it was proof that her father still cared. Maybe it was even a sign that he was going to take her back.

Of course, she'd learned the truth when she'd waited at the curb for over an hour for her father's limousine to show up, huddling underneath her grandfather's umbrella. He hadn't shown up. It was the first of many disappointments, but it was the only time Rei had ripped the dress off her body and cried until she really made herself sick.

"Stupid," Rei admonished her childhood self. "Thinking that meant he cared about you. His secretary probably bought it for him."

Rei shook her head and covered up the dresses once more. She didn't even know why she'd bothered to look at them. They were just as inappropriate for the event as her Shinto robes.

"I have nothing to wear," Rei muttered.

"I hope you mean that ironically."

Rei jumped a bit, calming when she realized who had spoken. She turned to see Luna sitting on her bed, looking at her with some distaste. "Do you always sneak up on people like that?"

Luna flicked her tail. "If you'd been paying attention, you would have known I was here."

Much as she hated to, Rei had to concede that point. "I have a lot on my mind."

"The press conference with your father?" Luna asked knowingly.

"Among other things," Rei said.

"But that's the worst of it."

Rei scoffed and turned back around to her closet. "I don't need to be psychoanalyzed by a cat, thanks very much."

"Rei, I just want to know what it is that's bothering you," Luna insisted.

"You hardly know me," Rei countered, crouching down to look at her pile of shoes. Perhaps she'd actually get somewhere if she started from the bottom and worked her way up. "How do you know I'm not always this way?"

"That must be a very frustrating existence then."

Rei scowled. "Luna, if you want to say something--"

"I just wish you weren't so hostile with all of us," Luna finally said, coming to her point. "I gave you no reason to be angry, but you went on the defensive the moment you saw me."

Rei threw one of her old shoes to the back of the closet. "I'm in a bad mood."

"Clearly," Luna muttered. "And then there's the situation with Ami--"

Rei covered her eyes with her palm and groaned. "Not that again."

"You know as well as I do that carrying on this feud is ridiculous," Luna said.

"I know no such thing," Rei maintained.

Luna sighed behind her. "Rei, is there a reason you're hanging on to this grudge? An actual reason, not just the tripe you've been spouting off to everyone since this all began?"

"Those are my actual reasons."

"I don't believe you," Luna said. "And if it were true, then you would be rather pathetic."

Rei snarled and stood up. "That's it." She turned around, clenching her fists as she advanced on the feline perched upon her bed. "I don't have to take this from you. I don't understand why you won't let this thing with Ami go. It's between the two of us, and it's not like we're going to let it get in the way of anything. We did just fine against that... car thing, didn't we? And don't think I haven't noticed the looks you've been giving me ever since my date with Mamoru."

"Date?" Luna guffawed. "Rei, don't be delusional."

"Oh, don't lecture me on semantics!" Rei snapped. "You know what I meant."

Luna shook her head. "I just want things to be peaceful between us."

"Well, if you would stop criticizing me..." Rei grumbled.

"If you stopped acting like a spoiled brat, then I wouldn't have to criticize anyone."

Rei narrowed her eyes. She had quite a lot more to say to Luna, but at that point she didn't have the patience to deal with it. So, she reached forward and grabbed Luna by the scruff of the neck, marching over to the open window Luna had no doubt climbed in through.

"Rei! Put me down! This is-- Rei, don't be ridiculous. I'm not just some housecat you can--"

Without ceremony, Rei set Luna outside, slamming the window shut behind her. The cat turned back to the window the moment it was closed, yowling and hissing at her. Rei simply stood there, waving goodbye for a moment, and then turned to get back to her arduous clothing selection.

Suddenly, the screen door slid open and her grandfather popped his head in. "Rei! What is all that racket? Is someone in here with you?"

"Sorry, Grandpa," Rei said, forcing a smile. "Just a pest I'm having trouble getting rid of." She turned and added, "A small, furry pest with a crescent moon bald-spot."

Luna straightened her tail, glared, and then stalked off in an effort to preserve her dignity.

Rei smirked. "I think that did it."

Her grandfather sighed, "Drop them on their heads once, and they're ruined for life."

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Just go back to your... whatever it was you were doing."

-----

It was times like this that Senator Hino was glad he didn't have a family to worry about.

It had long since turned from Thursday to Friday, but Senator Hino still had not left his office. After the success of his speech earlier that day concerning the threat of the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen, he certainly couldn't allow tomorrow's speech to go on without referencing it. More to the point, he had to drive his position home, and be sure those victims of the tragedy at the hospital did not go unavenged. The so-called saviors of Tokyo had been the cause of it after all. They needed to be dealt with accordingly.

"Sightings of these so-called saviors have been reported for nearly a month now," Senator Hino recited, pacing back and forth across his office. He tore a hand through his dirty and wild hair and took a moment to yank his tie loose. "And what good have they done us? The city is losing money trying to fix all of the damage they have caused, and we can hardly keep up with them as their destructive rampage continues. People have been injured. People have been killed. And all because three people have been given powers beyond their understanding and control.

"I am not saying I would do better in their position, but they must not be allowed to continue down this path!" Senator Hino paused, repeating the same sentence over and over again with varying gestures until he had found the right one. "They must be captured and brought to justice. They must be apprehended by any amount of force necessary.

"If they cannot be stopped without aid of a bullet, so be it."

Senator Hino stopped and stared at the papers in his hand. He looked at them with such intensity that he wouldn't have been the slightest bit surprised if they caught fire between his fingers. He started trembling, the papers flapping in the air and the words becoming little more than grey blurs. His jaw clenched, his back stiffened, and the vein on his neck began to bulge.

Finally, he threw the papers into the wastebasket with a cry, but that wasn't enough. He kicked over the can, sending it flying across the room and impacting with the wall. He hit the walls, kicked his desk, and tore a pillow on his couch apart so that it sent a thick fog of feathers into the air. But that still wasn't enough.

"It has to be perfect!" Senator Hino raged. "It has to be the best speech any senator in Japan has ever given." He continued destroying his office, smashing glasses and bottles of alcohol against any hard surface he could find. Once those were gone, he flung himself back over to his desk, leaning all of his weight upon it. He breathed hard and trembled with energy, but he did not feel tired. In fact, he couldn't remember ever feeling more awake in his life.

He looked up from his desk and started whispering although he was talking to no one and had no one to hide his thoughts from. "I have to rally the people behind me. If I gain enough support, my reelection will be all but guaranteed. I could stay in office for the rest of my life. I could be found in any scandal, any corrupt political structure, and still the people would stand behind me because I was the man who saved them from those three witches!"

His eyes widened as he began to realize just how much farther this could go. "And from there, I could continue to advance. I could keep climbing in office, higher and higher until I reached the office of Prime Minister." He stopped and started laughing. "They would even call for me to be emperor. I'd bring back the power to that office and make it more than just a symbol of the state." He wheezed, his shoulders shaking he was laughing so hard. "I would be ruler of all Japan!"

Senator Hino found himself getting absolutely intoxicated on the possibility. He started laughing even louder, perhaps more so than any other moment in his life.
He clutched his stomach as his knees buckled, slipping to the ground. It all seemed so perfect, so simple. Nothing could possibly stop this miraculous assent.

Except perhaps this speech.

Bearing that in mind, Senator Hino dragged himself to his feet, preparing to return to his writing tablet. But before he did so, he looked out his window at the city before him.

"Juuban will be my district," Senator Hino whispered to the night. " Tokyo, my city. Japan, my country. All of this will be mine."

He held out his arms almost as if he expected some divine light to shine down on him from the heavens. He tipped his head back and inhaled the scent of his own ambition mixed with that of spilt alcohol and sweat. Feathers from the down pillow swirled around him, and he could almost picture the music swelling in the movie they would make about his life. This would be the climax, the turning point, right before so much power rightfully fell into his hands.

And all the while, the stars looked down on him and laughed.

-----

Ami was by no means a late sleeper, but even she saw reason enough to know that seven AM on a day when she had no school was entirely too early for her to be up. But that day, she had no choice in the matter. She was awoken by the sound of crashing and banging, along with a few well-placed curses.

Ami groaned. "Mama, keep it down," she mumbled. She rolled over and pulled the pillow up over her ears to try and block out the noise. "It sounds like--"

She stopped, her eyes flying open. She sat up straight in bed, her heart pounding in her chest. She started to panic because it sounded as if her mother was not alone in the house.

Ami grabbed her henshin pen out of the top drawer of her nightstand and ran out to go confront whatever enemy had found its way into her home. She wondered if she'd been found out and they were planning on using her mother to get to her. Or perhaps it was some random coincidence that a youma had just happened to find its way into her home on the top floor of a building with more security than many of Ami's favorite museums.

Ami ran faster, tearing around the corner and nearly slipping on the hallway rug. She followed the sounds into the kitchen and flung herself forward, preparing to do battle with whatever had dared to threaten her family.

"Mama, are you--" Ami stopped herself when she got a good look at the scene before her.

It seemed her enemy was the rack of pots and pans that Dr. Mizuno had managed to scatter all over the floor.

Ami's shoulders sagged in relief, although she couldn't help but be a little exasperated. "Mama, you practically gave me a heart attack," Ami confessed,
clutching her chest just to drive the point home. "What happened in here?"

Dr. Mizuno looked up as she busily tried to load all of the kitchenware back onto the rack. "Sorry I woke you, Ami." She sighed and quickly gave up, stepping over the fallen pots and going about her business with making herself some toast. "It's just that I've had two cups of coffee already, and you know how one makes me. I can barely keep my hands steady."

Ami frowned as she took stock of her mother's attire. The normally pristine woman did not look as well put together as usual. Her hair was still askew, though it was obvious she had tried to comb it into place several times now. Her skirt was twisted with only half of her blouse tucked in. Ami also noticed that her mother had her stockings thrown over her shoulder to be dealt with later. Ami couldn't recall ever having seen her mother so frazzled.

"Why are you up this early? I thought you were on nights," Ami said, covering her mouth with her hand. It was at that moment that she realized she was still holding her henshin pen, and she quickly thrust it behind her back. Suddenly, she was grateful that her mother wasn't as observant as usual.

Dr. Mizuno laughed bitterly. "Yes, Ami, I am on nights. That is precisely what I tried to explain to him when he called." The bread popped out of the toaster piping hot, but Dr. Mizuno was in enough of a hurry to grab it right out of the machine, burning her fingers. She flung it onto the plate and groaned when she realized she'd managed to blacken it. "I can't even work a toaster correctly."

Ami glanced up at her mother fretfully. "Mama, are you sure--"

"Oh, right, what I'm doing up," Dr. Mizuno interrupted. "Well, the new children's wing at the hospital is opening today. I'm not sure if I'd mentioned that."

Ami thought back to Rei's argument with her father that was about that very same subject. She glanced down and said, "I heard about it from a friend."

"Well," Dr. Mizuno continued, apparently not hearing Ami's response. "Long story short, the head of the Board of Trustees - the man who is supposed to be in charge of publicity and presenting Senator Hino before he makes his speech - has gotten the flu. And he has insisted that I take care of the event in his stead."

Ami blinked. "What? But that doesn't make any sense. He should pick someone on the Medical Review Board." Ami blushed when she saw her mother stiffen. "I mean, everyone knows you'll be elected to the board soon, but most of the members still think you're too young. It's going to cause animosity between--"

"Also what I tried to tell him," Dr. Mizuno interrupted, nodding her head. "But he wouldn't listen to reason. He maintains that I am the only person to do this regardless of my age, position, and the amount of sleep I have had. Which is three hours." She paused, practically growling. "Honestly, I turn down one date--"

"What?" Ami asked, her neck burning. "He... He asked you out?"

Dr. Mizuno looked up at Ami awkwardly, like a child that had been caught in a lie. Ami found people always looked like that when they accidentally told the truth. Her mother cleared her throat and said, "I'm sorry for waking you, Ami. You should try and get some sleep. I'll be out of here in a few minutes." She glanced down at her breakfast. "Just as soon as I eat my slab of charcoal."

Ami looked at her mother, hurt that she wasn't willing to talk about her personal life with her own daughter. Granted, Ami had never felt compelled to talk to her mother about what boys she thought were attractive or what teachers she admired perhaps a bit too much. But Dr. Mizuno had accidentally revealed that information to Ami and then refused to elaborate on it. It made Ami feel like a stranger to that part of her mother's life. She wondered if her mother wanted to go on dates, or if she had been going on them all along and hiding it from Ami by claiming to work overtime. Had she been doing it because she feared how Ami would react to her moving on from her father? Or did she simply want to pretend that she didn't have a daughter to make her dating life easier?

Ami felt very much like going back to her room when her fingers tightened around the henshin pen, still cool in her hand. She'd almost forgotten it was there.

She realized that she was keeping important secrets from her mother as well. If Dr. Mizuno were to ever discover Ami's life as Sailor Mercury, she would be devastated. She would think it was her business that Ami was going out and putting herself directly into harm's way. She might even be angry about the damage that had been done to the hospital even though they had been trying to help people, not hurt them.

Sailor Mercury was an important part of Ami's life that had to be kept secret from everyone, including her mother. Maybe Dr. Mizuno's personal life wasn't on the same level as Ami's secret, but suddenly Ami found she couldn't blame her mother for keeping things from her. In the end, Ami supposed that everyone was allowed their secrets.

Besides, the most important thing about their relationship had always been out in the open. They loved each other unconditionally, even if they had secret boyfriends or secret identities.

"Why don't you go rinse your hair with water, Mama," Ami suggested, walking into the kitchen. "Then maybe you can make it do what you want. I'll make you toast with strawberry jam just how you like it. Then I'll get dressed and come with you to the opening."

Dr. Mizuno raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to come, Ami? It's probably going to be very boring."

Ami shook her head and moved forward, surreptitiously hiding her henshin pen behind the knife rack. "I'm sure. My friend Rei might be there, and she'll need the company."

Dr. Mizuno soured. "What's she going to be doing there?"

"Her father's the one giving the speech."

Her mother looked confused. "I thought you said she lived at a Shinto shrine with her grandfather."

"She does," Ami said distastefully.

"But then why doesn't-- Oh, nevermind. I have to get ready." Dr. Mizuno leaned down and kissed Ami on the cheek. "Thank you so much, Ami."

"You're welcome," Ami told her mother's retreating back. After looking after her for a moment, Ami turned to take care of the kitchen, throwing away her mother's burned breakfast and loading all of the pans and such onto the counters for the time being.

After putting some bread in the toaster and starting a batch of chamomile to counteract all of the caffeine her mother had had, Ami walked back over to where she'd momentarily hidden her henshin pen. She pulled it out and held it up in the light, watching it glitter. For some reason, she wondered if Rei did this sometimes, fascinated by the magic she possessed, or if she was still seeing her position as a burden.

Suddenly, Ami thought of how hard it must be for Rei to feel that only one person in the whole world truly loved her. Her grandfather had stuck by her, taken her in when her father made it perfectly clear he wanted nothing to do with her. And then she had been told that her grandfather could no longer be the most important person in her life. She had to devote herself to a phantom princess and a mass of people who would never know her name. She had to fight alongside two people who had not been sympathetic to that, who had been concerned only with the mission and not her own feelings.

Ami wasn't so sure she was the only victim in their feud.

-----

Rei was not in a good mood.

As if it wasn't bad enough that she had to be dragged to participate in this charade, her father had once again proven that he was not to be depended on. He had sent word the day before that he was going to send his car to Hikawa Jinja to pick her up because he didn't trust her to make it there on her own. She hadn't been happy to hear that part of it, but a part of her was happy about the decision. It meant she wouldn't have to deal with public transportation, which was always a plus.

That morning, at exactly five minutes to eight, she had ventured outside to wait for the car to come around to pick her up. And at exactly fifteen minutes past eight, she'd given up on anyone coming for her and gotten on the Number 66 bus to the hospital, where she had been forced to beat a nine-year-old upside the head with her purse when he tried to look up her skirt.

Now she was walking into the newly designated children's wing in the one hospital she would have liked to never see again to be with the man who didn't seem to want to see her.

"Why did I ever let myself get talked into this?" Rei muttered to herself. She sighed and looked around for a familiar face. Thus far, all she saw were camera crews and reporters setting up their equipment for the event.

"I told you I don't need any coffee!"

Rei frowned. "And there he is." She shook her head, marvelling at the fact that her father was losing his temper over something so frivolous. She had never had a conversation with him that didn't end in an argument, but she had hoped that was something he reserved exclusively for her. She hadn't accompanied him to an event like this for some time, and she had generally spent her time sulking or hiding behind her grandfather, depending on how old she was.

Rei pushed her way past yet another camera crew, tossing back a withering glare when she heard one of them whistle as she walked by. After a few moments, she saw her father yelling at someone, though it wasn't anyone Rei had ever seen before. He did not look that much older than her with dark hair and a clear need for braces. He also did not look like he was used to dealing with a temperamental politician.

"Amateurs," Rei muttered.

"I know you said that, Senator Hino," the stranger said, his voice trembling only a little, for which Rei had to give him some credit. "But said you haven't slept in over forty-eight hours, and I just thought--"

"If I wanted you to think, I would have asked you to!" Senator Hino snapped.

Rei rolled her eyes. "Oh, for pity's sake."

"All right, no coffee," the man said, relenting. "But I wish you'd let me get you something to eat, sir. You're looking quite pale."

Senator Hino scoffed. "The woman who does my make-up for conferences will make sure that I am not pale."

The stranger cleared his throat. "Yes, well. I'm sure she would have been happy to do that... only she quit an hour ago."

"She what?!"

"You did make her cry, sir."

Senator Hino slammed his fist on the podium, making even Rei jump. He then picked up a clipboard from the podium and started hitting it against the wood, punctuating every other word or so with a bang. "Have I hired nothing but spineless idiots who do nothing but... lecture me, cry, offer me useless things, and fail to do their jobs?"

With the last, Senator Hino flung the clipboard at his helper like a deadly, rectangular frisbee. The assistant seemed to be too shocked to react. Rei dropped her purse and ran forward, thankful that she'd had some practice running in much higher and more painful heels. She reached out just in time to snatch the clipboard out of the air, wincing as it impacted with her palm.

Rei looked up at her father and said, "Do you make it a habit of throwing things at people like a petulant child?"

Senator Hino scowled at her. "You're late."

"Oh, you noticed that," Rei drawled. "Yes, well it would have helped if you sent your driver this morning like you promised."

"I fired my driver yesterday!" Senator Hino bellowed.

Rei frowned. "You fired Mr. Sakamoto? But he's been working for you since I was a baby. What did he do?"

"He didn't pump the gas fast enough," the assistant muttered behind her.

Rei's eyes widened. "He didn't pump the..." She narrowed her eyes and felt her cheeks color with anger. She hadn't been there for five minutes, and already she wanted to hit him. "How can you just--"

"I need to go over my speech some more," Senator Hino interrupted. "Stay out of my way." He left without another word, disappearing where Rei very much doubted she wanted to follow.

Rei clenched her fists and eyes shut, trembling with anger. Of course, he never treated Rei with any shred of respect, but that didn't make the situation better. He had just dismissed her as if she was one of his bungling assistants, not like his only daughter. It was enough to make her want to hit something.

"Ms. Hino?"

"What?" Rei snapped, wielding the clipboard like a weapon. When she turned to see that the young assistant had been the one to address her, she immediately dialed her anger back as much as possible. She sighed and handed the clipboard to him. "I'm sorry. That was rude."

He shook his head although it was quite clear he agreed with her assessment. "No, it's all right. If you'll allow me to introduce myself, my name is Masuo Jun."

"I'm very pleased to meet you," Rei recited politely, bowing with him. She straightened and said, "I was under the impression that my father's staff hadn't changed that much since the last time I had to do this, but I haven't seen you before."

Jun laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, technically I'm just an intern. I was assisting the assistant... except she failed to show up this morning. Along with just about everyone else."

Rei raised an eyebrow. "That's odd. I was always told they were very loyal." She hesitated. "Of course, I was told that by my father, so it's possible his opinion was skewed."

"No, they are loyal," Jun insisted. "It's just... Well, I think Senator Hino is under a lot of stress."

Rei scoffed. "Stress? Please. It's not an election year. What does he have to be stressed about?"

"His campaign against Tuxedo Kamen and the Sailor Senshi for one thing."

Rei felt all of the blood drain from her face. Her head felt weightless, as if it could float away from her at any moment. "His what?"

"Didn't you hear?" Jun asked. Then he looked embarrassed and corrected himself. "I forgot. My boss had mentioned that you and your grandfather don't watch television much."

"We're busy," Rei said defensively.

"Of course," Jun said awkwardly, bowing a bit. "Anyway, yesterday he held an impromptu press conference saying that the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen need to be held accountable."

Rei's jaw tightened. "Accountable for what? Saving Tokyo on at least five occasions?"

"For the deaths of the people at this hospital and--"

"That wasn't their fault!" Rei shouted, effectively silencing Jun in a second. "They showed up to try and stop anything like that from happening. They tried to get here as quickly as possible, but it's not like they can fly."

Jun looked puzzled. "How do you know that?"

"Because they would have gotten here a lot sooner if they could!" Rei snapped. She bristled and turned back to where her father had gone. "He thinks he can just lay blame on them because they're not involved with the government. The government can't handle what's happening to Tokyo! He's just bitter about it. So he has to take down the Senshi the only way he knows how: politically. The coward's way." She shook her head. "I ought to tell him exactly what I think of his new platform..."

And she would preferably be wearing a red miniskirt and a tiara at the time.

Jun cleared his throat. "That's probably not the best idea right now, Ms. Hino. As I'm sure you can tell, he's been acting... strange."

"Has he?" Rei asked, laughing bitterly. "I hadn't noticed."

Jun didn't seem to know how to respond to that. After a moment, she heard him shuffle away. "Here's your purse, Ms. Hino."

"Thank you," Rei said, reaching back to grab it. "As long as the senator isn't sending you on an errand, I don't suppose I could ask you to get me something to eat."

Jun nodded and bowed a bit. "Certainly. I'll be back in a few minutes."

After Jun had left her alone, Rei dug through her purse and pulled out her red henshin pen, which as always, felt warm in her hands. She watched how it caught the light for a moment, thinking about that day at the hospital. People had been killed, but that wasn't their fault. It wasn't her fault. She was the one who was trying to fix the problem. Jadeite was the one who caused it.

Rei winced at the thought of Jadeite for it always brought forth the image of him staggering out of the alley surrounded by fire, screaming in agony.

"I fixed it," Rei murmured. "And he still blames me."

She closed her eyes and put the pen back into her purse. As much as she would have liked to transform into Sailor Mars and make her father see reason, she knew she couldn't. After all, there were some things heroes couldn't fix.

-----

Usagi yawned as she dragged herself downstairs still dressed in her pajamas. She rubbed her puffy eyes with the back of her hand and continued her procession into the kitchen without any joy. But then how could she be happy when her mother had dragged her out of bed at such an ungodly hour?

"It's 9:00 AM, Usagi," Ikuko scolded when Usagi voiced this opinion to her. "It's not like I made you get up at 6:00 like I usually do."

"I just wanted five more minutes," Usagi whined as she sank into her chair.

Ikuko laughed. "Usagi, yesterday your five minutes was more like three hours. You slept until noon, and even then, you only woke up when Naru said she wanted to go shopping."

"But it's vacation!" Usagi insisted. "I'm supposed to sleep until noon."

"No, you're not," Ikuko said definitively. "Tomorrow, I'll start letting you sleep in until 10:00 if you prove to me that you do something worthwhile with your day."

Usagi's ears perked up as Ikuko laid a plateful of blueberry pancakes in front of her. "Like helping you make cookies?"

Ikuko laughed again. "Usagi, your idea of helping me is still the same as when you were three. You get in the way, break things, and lick the spoons when I'm done with them."

"I'll help for real this time!" Usagi promised as she shoved a large bite of pancakes into her mouth.

"I don't think so," Ikuko answered.

Usagi frowned. "Well, then what should I do?"

"Read a book - that isn't a manga," Ikuko added after she saw Usagi's eyes light up.

Usagi stuck her lower lip out. "It's still a book. You're just prejudiced against it because it's more fun."

"Yes, of course that's it, Usagi," Ikuko answered. "Anyway, you could clean your room or exercise or--"

"None of that sounds very fun," Usagi said softly, stabbing at her blueberry pancakes sullenly.

Ikuko sighed. "The point of it, Usagi, is that you don't do something fun. You do something educational or helpful." She paused. "And whatever it is, be sure it doesn't take place in the living room at 11:00."

Usagi yawned again. "Why?"

"Senator Hino is having another press conference at that time," Ikuko answered. "And since you and your father wouldn't let me watch the one yesterday, I was hoping you'd be nice enough to let me watch it today."

Usagi frowned. "Why do you want to watch that anyway?"

Ikuko reached over and patted Usagi's head. "I know he upsets you, dear, but I've been surprised by the lack of acknowledgement about the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen by other politicians. I don't necessarily agree with Senator Hino's position, but at least he's talking about it. I'm hoping he'll provoke a response from cooler heads. That way, I know who to vote for when it's election time."

"I still wish you wouldn't watch it," Usagi muttered, pushing another bite of pancakes into her mouth. She chewed, had a thought, and swallowed. "Say, do you know where that conference is supposed to take place?"

Ikuko thought about it for a moment, tapping her spatula on her arm. "I think it's at that hospital that got attacked. He's opening a new children's wing there, but he's going to bring up the Senshi for certain."

Usagi nodded. "I see." She took a sip of her milk and said, "Well, I'd better finish up quickly."

Ikuko blinked. "What do you mean?"

Usagi looked up and smiled. "I figured out what good thing I'm going to do today."

-----

Mizuno Emi was not in the mood for this.

Normally, Emi was willing to sacrifice just about anything for the good of her patients and her work, but there were situations where she felt the line needed to be drawn. As far as she was concerned, she had been quite literally shoved over her line, and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

She was not mentally or physically prepared to do this. The chamomile Ami had made her earlier had done little to combat the amount of caffeine in her system. She felt utterly exhausted and was quite sure that it showed on her face. Like most Asian women, she was quite pale, but there was quite a difference between a natural fairness and looking chalky as a result of fatigue. She was neither looking nor feeling her best, and had one of her patients come in and complained of such symptoms, she probably would have told them to go back to bed.

But as her ex-husband had always been quick to point out, Emi never followed her own advice.

"Dr. Mizuno?"

Emi turned at the sound of the vaguely familiar voice. It took her a moment to recognize Rei as the girl who had been out with Ami's... male friend days earlier.
In Emi's opinion, she looked quite a bit nicer now that she wasn't trying so hard.

"Miss Hino," Emi greeted with as much warmth as she could muster, which wasn't much. She had no tolerance for those who made her little girl cry. Unfortunately, it had resulted in several frosty conversations. "Ami had mentioned you would be here."

"She did?" Rei asked, seeming surprised at the fact. She shook her head slightly and said, "I suppose it was only natural that she bring it up when she heard you were going to be introducing my father for his speech."

Emi nodded. "Yes, that is how the subject came up," she said, making it clear that she and Ami had no reason to discuss her otherwise.

Rei was a clever girl, and she took the hint. She clenched her jaw and seemed to get visibly agitated, although she did not lash out. "Have you had an opportunity to meet my father?"

"No, I haven't," Emi admitted, which she considered to be a shortcoming. She had tried to locate him, but from what she understood, he had been walking up and down the halls reciting his speech over and over again. He was acting almost as if this was a career defining moment, although it was far from being so. "Why? Is there something I should know?"

Rei looked puzzled for a moment. Then she seemed to get strangely quiet. She glanced away from Emi and whispered. "No. No, there's nothing at all you need to know about him."

Emi didn't miss the poorly concealed bitterness, and more importantly, sadness in Rei's tone. Others might have overlooked the latter half, but Emi recognized it instantly. After all, she'd had a similar experience.

Her thumb brushed against her left ring finger, and even though she knew it was bare before she moved, she felt a pang when she realized it once again.

She glanced out at Ami, who was taking a seat towards the front of the audience. Emi wondered if her daughter had similar feelings for the man Emi had once called husband. Emi had never thought to look for malice in Ami's heart. There seemed to be such profound sadness there already that there could scarcely be room for anything else. But had Emi overlooked that part of her daughter's character? Did she resent him for abandoning her? Was she bitter when she saw other daughters with their fathers? Did she hate or want to hate, and had Emi really missed that all this time?

Emi looked at her daughter, wondering at her capabilities when Rei cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Dr. Mizuno. My father is coming."

At the younger girl's words, Emi turned to see the senator coming towards her. She was surprised to find he had a similar pallor to her own, the drawn look of a man who had not slept well. Or perhaps at all. He seemed agitated, glaring at his assistant when the boy attempted to do his job by straightening his slightly cock-eyed necktie. Senator Hino continued stalking forward, not even giving his daughter so much as an acknowledgment in greeting.

"Good morning, Senator," Emi said, bowing. "Are you ready to begin?"

There was a strange twinkle in his eye that made Emi feel distinctly unsettled. His lips curved in a slight grin, and he answered, "I am more than prepared."

Emi nodded hastily, and then turned to walk out on the makeshift platform they had constructed for the event. She moved away from the two Hinos, both of whom seemed to radiate so much heat and power that she felt stifled. And yet when she thought of the look in the Senator's eye, so unlike anything she had ever seen before in another man, she could not help but shiver.

-----

Much to Usagi's surprise, Senator Hino's speech at the hospital was not open to the general public. She had gotten into quite an argument with the security guard, insisting that someone who's job was technically to serve the people ought to allow himself to associate with them from time to time. At that point, the guard had implied that she was not the sort of people the senator was concerned with, and that she would probably use her time more wisely by spending all of her father's money at a boutique several blocks over.

When Usagi had attempted to explain to him that she had done that the day before, she had been rudely led back to the street.

"Honestly, the nerve of people today," Usagi muttered to herself as she snuck around the corner, hiding behind the various bushes and keeping an eye out for the guard. "Practically yanking a pretty girl's arm off and tossing her out in the street as if she were... not a pretty girl."

What the guard had not realized of course was that Usagi was vitally important and just the sort of person Senator Hino did need to see. After all, she had decided that her good deed for the day was going to be to talk to the senator and make him realize his gross error in condemning the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen. She was certain that once she explained the facts to him - namely that the three of them were all very brave and that Tuxedo Kamen was far too handsome to be anything but an absolutely wonderful man - he would see reason. He would thank her for straightening him out, publicly congratulate her, and create a national holiday just for her wherein she would be exempt from all homework for the rest of her life and be outfitted with a dress made entirely out of diamonds and pearls. And of course there would be cake.

Usagi sighed dreamily. What she wouldn't give to be eating cake just then. She was still starving in spite of the fact that she must have had at least seven of Ikuko's pancakes before dashing off to reach the hospital.

She shook her head quickly. "Stop it, Usagi!" she ordered quietly. "You are on a mission, and you will not be distracted by thoughts of jewelry, cake, or Tuxedo Kamen." She nodded smartly and continued sneaking around to find an alternate way into the hospital.

It turned out that it wasn't nearly as difficult as she'd anticipated. There was an open window right on the first floor. She bounced up and down a moment, celebrating her luck. Then she hopped up to pull herself into the building, quite certain that once she was inside, she would have no trouble finding Senator Hino.

Unfortunately, Usagi had neglected to take her purse into account. It was slung over her shoulder so that it was usually out of her way. However, she hadn't positioned it so that it would be out of her way for climbing in through windows. She wound up getting the shoulder strap wrapped around her ankle as she climbed in. She immediately started flinging her arms about in an attempt to extract it, but it was in vain. Eventually, she plummeted forward into the hospital, landing rather painfully on her side.

"Ow," Usagi whined, rubbing her left arm. She glanced up at the window and glared. "Stupid thing." She then stuck her leg out and kicked it.

She had forgotten of course that the wall was made of concrete and her shoe was made of cloth and little else. The result was not a happy one.

"OW! Owowowowowow!" She clutched her now throbbing foot and rocked back and forth on the ground for a minute, waiting for the pain to subside.

"Stupid wall," she sniffed. Eventually, she dragged herself to her feet and looked around, wondering where Senator Hino might be.

She paused and thought she heard applause coming from somewhere nearby. It seemed she hadn't arrived before the speech as she'd been hoping, but perhaps she'd still be able to speak with the senator afterwards.

Usagi took a deep breath and pumped her fist into the air. "All right, Usagi! Operation: Save Future Husband is now underway!"

With that, Usagi triumphantly moved towards the noise, limping all the way.

-----

Meanwhile, at the back of the large crowd listening to Senator Hino, another very important observer waited.

Nephrite leaned against the wall, folding his arms in front of his chest as he watched the doctor finish introducing Senator Hino. He smirked, chuckling to himself when he got a good look at the man. He clearly hadn't slept in days, although he wasn't acting like it at all. Then again, he wasn't acting like anything one would consider normal at this point.

Nephrite raised an eyebrow when he saw that the Senator was followed on stage by a young girl he quickly recognized as the one pictured on his desk. He hadn't anticipated her presence, but it didn't seem to be a problem. Ironically, if anyone were going to be truly concerned about Hino Nibori's well being, Nephrite would have thought it would be her. However, she appeared to be far more interested in sulking than her father's mannerisms.

"Dedicated family life indeed," Nephrite chuckled to himself.

Nephrite sighed and checked his watch. If his calculations were correct (and he did not doubt that they were), the zenith would be reached in approximately five minutes, which meant he was going to have to stick around for awhile longer. He had been thankful for his caution concerning his attack on Sakurada Haruna when the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen had shown up. He couldn't very well afford to be lax after having proven the extra attention was necessary.

Still, he wished that he could be finished with his work so that he could return to the Dark Kingdom. He was in the mood for some good brandy.

"I'll drink to you, Senator Hino," he whispered darkly. "And to the help you've given us towards destroying you."

-----

"Now remember, you're just a cat," Mamoru cautioned, pausing just before pressing the doorbell to the Furuhata's home.

Luna scoffed, licking her paw in annoyance. "I am quite aware of how to act in front of the masses, Mamoru."

Mamoru frowned. It wasn't that he didn't trust Luna, but it was different with Motoki than other people. It was more important that he be kept out of it. He didn't want anything to put him in jeopardy, particularly after the incident in front of the Crown with Jadeite.

"Just humor me," Mamoru grumbled, pressing the doorbell.

After a few moments, the door opened a crack. Mamoru smiled when he recognized Unazaki's green eyes. "Hey, Unazaki. Can I come in?"

She nodded brightly, reaching over to undo the chain on the door. Mamoru didn't remember the Furuatas having such a thing before, but after what had happened with their son, he didn't blame them for their anxiety.

The Furuhatas had even gone so far as to make Motoki move back home, at least temporarily. When they had heard about the near tragedy, his mother had wanted to keep her children closer than before. Motoki had moved in without complaint, mostly because it gave him an excuse to not clean his apartment.

"Sure thing, Mamoru," Unazaki chirped, pulling open the door. "I didn't realize you were coming over."

"I called Motoki an hour ago," Mamoru said, laughing a bit when he realized his friend had probably forgotten he was even coming over. "I need one of his old textbooks for a class I'll be taking next term."

Unazaki shook her head. "What do you need to be stingy for?"

"I prefer the term economical," Mamoru said, entering the house. He stepped out of his shoes and slid on the guest slippers effortlessly, knowing exactly where they were from all the times Mrs. Furuhata had insisted on having him over to feed him. "Where is he?"

Unazaki leaned against the door, jerking her thumb in the direction of the living room. "Watching some press conference with Daddy. You know how he is."

Mamoru chuckled, knowing exactly what she meant. Motoki and Unazaki's father was what could only be described as a political enthusiast. He had always loved politics, though he was far too much like his son to be anything but a bystander. Still, he followed all of the happenings with the government like other men followed baseball. Mamoru didn't see much enjoyment in the hobby, but Mr. Furuhata seemed to enjoy it well enough.

"Thanks, Unazaki," Mamoru said, turning to leave.

"Hey, Mamoru," Unazaki called out. She smiled sheepishly and gestured to Luna, resting comfortably on his shoulder. "Do you think I could play with your kitty while you're talking to them?"

Mamoru smiled and turned to look at Luna. "Sound all right with you?"

Luna meowed and hopped off of Mamoru's shoulder, eagerly padding up to Unazaki. Mamoru wasn't that surprised that she was anxious for attention; he wasn't a particularly nurturing owner as it was. He exited the foyer, chuckling at the sound of Luna purring loudly.

Mamoru made his way to the living room, not the least bit surprised to find Mr. Furuhata leaning forward in his chair as close to the television as possible. He was surprised, however, to find that Motoki seemed fairly interested as well. Motoki usually despised watching such things, as his father had attempted to get him interested in politics for most of his young life. He was probably the only parent who felt a pang of disappointment knowing their child had decided to become a doctor.

"Forget I was coming?" Mamoru said by way of announcement.

Motoki glanced up, glaring. "I did not forget you were coming."

"He just forgot to mention it," Mr. Furuhata corrected, shaking his head knowingly. "Typical Motoki."

Motoki sighed. "Three seconds, and I'm already being ganged up on."

"What can I say?" Mr. Furuhata joked. "Mamoru is the son I never had."

Motoki folded his arms and looked sullen. "That's a fine way to treat your first born."

"I like to think so." Mr. Furuhata looked up at Mamoru, which also struck him as odd. Normally, he demanded silence during these press conferences. "So, what brings you to our humble abode, Mamoru?"

"This," Motoki said, tossing a textbook in Mamoru's general direction. Mamoru caught it without blinking, which Motoki paused at.

"What?" Mamoru asked.

"Since when did your reflexes get that good?"

Mamoru rolled his eyes. "I told you I played soccer in high school."

"That's with your feet. Totally different when it comes to your hands," Motoki remarked as if he were reciting some great personal truth.

Mamoru shook his head. "Whatever you say, Motoki." He would have liked to get going right away, but he was on fairly good terms with Motoki's family. He didn't want to do anything to offend them, so he stepped further into the room and took a seat with Motoki on the couch. "So what are you--"

Mamoru came to an abrupt stop. He blinked several times to make sure he was seeing things correctly, but after a moment, he couldn't deny it. Dr. Mizuno was on the screen, applauding and gesturing for another man to come forward.

"I know her," Mamoru remarked. He waited a minute and watched as a vaguely familiar man stepped up to the podium. He looked around for a minute and was rather surprised to see Rei there as well. "And I know her."

Mr. Furuhata squinted. "Ah, yes. Senator Hino's daughter." He looked over at Mamoru, shaking his head. Normally, the gesture would seem harmless, but there was a spark in the man's eye Mamoru remembered from the few political lectures he had sat through at the Furuhata's dinner table. It was nothing short of fanatical, and it had always made him a bit nervous. "Shame on you for not telling me about a political connection."

"Consider yourself disowned," Motoki whispered.

Mamoru laughed nervously. "I didn't know about it myself until recently. I thought Rei's parents were both dead. She lives with her grandfather at Hikawa Jinja."

Motoki raised an eyebrow. "How did you meet her then? You're not religious."

"Friend of a friend," Mamoru answered without pause.

Mr. Furuhata nodded. "Yes, not many people know about the reality of Senator Hino's family situation. He keeps it very much under wraps."

"How do you know about it then?" Motoki asked.

"I have connections," Mr. Furuhata said mysteriously.

Motoki rolled his eyes. "That's your answer for everything."

Mr. Furuhata waved his hand, ignoring his son. "At any rate, from what I understand, the mother died a few years ago. Apparently she had some sort of congenital heart defect that made her very weak. It was amazing she had a child at all, and it greatly shortened her life. After it happened, Senator Hino said that he was sending her to live with her grandfather because he didn't feel he could devote enough time to her well-being. But he only mentioned it once and it was more of an afterthought than an announcement, so many people are unaware."

Mamoru stared. He turned back to the screen, locking his eyes on Rei standing behind her father. She seemed to be consciously avoiding his shadow, though she made no pretense of looking as though she wanted to be there. She looked just as intimidating and angry as ever, and he could no longer blame her for that.

He felt guilty knowing such an intimate detail about Rei's life. Particularly since it was such a painful one. Knowing Rei, she must have thought Senator Hino had sent her to her grandfather because he blamed her for his wife's death. And perhaps that was somewhat true, although Mamoru hoped not. It completely explained her resentful attitude towards him, not to mention her unwillingness to get too close. It even explained why she had gone after Mamoru. He had proven himself to be a good man, which was more than she could say for Senator Hino. Maybe she wanted to hold on to it.

Mamoru closed his eyes, blaming himself for rejecting her even if it had been best for both of them. He wondered if he had been too harsh with her, although he wouldn't have considered that before. Rei seemed to crave sharp words and nasty looks. He hadn't thought twice about dishing out just as good as she'd given, but now that he knew about her parents, he regretted it.

He was also struck by the thought that if his parents were alive, he would hold on to them, even if they tried to throw him away.

"Mamoru?"

He looked up to see Motoki staring at him, looking worried. But then when wasn't he looking worried? "I'm fine," Mamoru said pre-emptively.

Motoki frowned. "You sure?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

Mamoru wondered what he hated more: lying or the fact that he'd gotten so good at it.

Mr. Furuhata groaned, apparently having missed the exchange between Mamoru and his son. "Senator Hino, what has gotten in to you?"

"What is it?" Mamoru asked, feeling his stomach do a strange twist.

"I honestly don't know," the older man confessed, pushing a hand through his bright red hair. "Senator Hino has never been much of a reformer. He's great at backing other people's causes and getting other people to see his way, but in terms of innovation... He's too cautious for that."

Motoki looked over at the screen. "Is he getting daring?"

"More than daring," Mr. Furuhata scoffed. "He's getting stupid. He's opening the new children's wing at the hospital that was attacked, right? Well, instead of just soft-balling it like he should, he's making an issue out of it. Listen, he's standing up there indicting those... the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen."

Mamoru's stomach did another painful gymnastic move. "What's he saying?"

"He's blaming them for the damage done to the hospital among other things." Mr. Furuhata sat back in his seat, apparently disappointed with the politician. "The thing that gets me is that he held a surprise conference yesterday essentially saying the same thing. Granted, he's being quite a bit more passionate than yesterday." He paused, laughing mirthlessly. "And I thought he was over caffeinated then."

Mamoru was quite sure that his heart had joined in on the routine as well. He started to get that sick feeling that something horrible was about to happen,
although it wasn't nearly as intense as it had been before. "So he's been acting... oddly?"

"More than oddly," Mr. Furuhata confessed. "There have been rumors going around that he's been capriciously firing his staff, even people who have been with him since the beginning of his career. Even the more volatile politicians don't do that, and Senator Hino has never behaved like this."

It was stupid to consider it, Mamoru knew. It was too coincidental. An attack at the same hospital on Rei's father with Ami's mother and Rei herself nearby? It was too pat. It was too perfect for the enemy and too horrible for them. It had to be his paranoia making him read into things too much. He shouldn't even dwell on the possibility.

That's what his logic told him. But Mamoru had been starting to think logic was grossly overrated.

"I have to go," Mamoru said suddenly, vaulting off the couch.

Motoki and his father sat up. "What?" Motoki asked. "But you just got here. We haven't even strong-armed you into staying for dinner."

"I can't," Mamoru said, rubbing the back of his neck. His hand came away wet. "I just remembered something I have to do."

Motoki raised an eyebrow. "You told me earlier you didn't have anything to do."

"I was wrong," Mamoru snapped. He shook his head, turning to go. "Sorry. I'll see you later, Motoki. Mr. Furuhata."

Mamoru heard Motoki call out after him, but he wasn't paying attention. He stomped back into the foyer, scooping Luna up in his arms quickly. "Sorry, Unazaki," he said quickly, getting back into his shoes. He jogged out the door with his foot crammed awkwardly into the left one and fumbling for his car keys.

"You look terrible," Luna said as he shut the door.

"We need to get to the hospital," Mamoru said, ignoring her. "I think Rei's father is in trouble."

-----

Rei watched her father step up to the microphone, unsure of what he was going to say and yet certain that she wasn't going to like it.

"Ladies and gentleman," Senator Hino began once the applause from the non-media spectators died down. "I want to thank each and every one of you for coming out here today. I know that it might have been painful for some of you to come back to this place, for even in this time of happiness we cannot help but be reminded of the tragedy that occurred on July 13th."

Rei dug her fingers into her bare arms, amazed at how he had managed to infuriate her in the first three sentences of his speech. It wasn't fair for him to be talking about that tragedy as he called it. He wasn't even there. To Rei, he sounded as though he were belittling their pain even as he pretended to sympathize with it. What did he know of their anguish? Of her anguish? He'd been sitting in his office well out of harm's way. It was insulting of him to try and empathize.

"This children's wing marks a new beginning for this hospital," Senator Hino continued, unabated by the death glare Rei was giving him from behind. "It will no doubt mark advancements in diseases our children often find themselves victims of. Leukemia, cancer." He paused. "Congenital heart disease."

Rei's eyes closed to stop the burning tide that seemed to leap to them immediately. How dare he? How dare he use her mother's disease - his wife's disease as political leverage? He was profiting on her death and his daughter's grief, and it sickened her.

From that moment on, Rei decided to tune him out. As far as she was concerned, her father had hit a new low. He had never even mentioned anything pertaining to her mother up until that time, and the fact that he had chosen to do it in front of her was unforgivable. Coupled with the knowledge that he was going to use this appearance to shake the public's faith in the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen, it was all Rei could do not to shout or simply walk off right then.

Rei opened her eyes, determined not to see anyone catch her in the middle of grieving. Almost immediately, she caught sight of Ami, giving her a worried look from the front row. Rei turned away from her angrily, her cheeks growing hot.

As if being with her father wasn't bad enough. Apparently, she needed to be surrounded by all of her enemies at once. And to make matters worse, Ami was feeling sorry for her. She knew Rei didn't want to be there, she'd seen Rei get upset, and now she was pitying her.

But Ami didn't know anything, did she? She didn't know the significance of what Senator Hino had said. She probably didn't even know that he was dead set on destroying both of them and Mamoru as well. She probably just thought Rei was being unreasonable and selfish. The look of pity might not have been even meant for her. It was probably directed at her father. She'd seen other men give him such looks when they had gotten into fights in public. They felt sorry for him being saddled with such a petulant, disobedient daughter. But she was the one who had been saddled with a bad father. Not the other way around.

"We are rising out of the ashes of disaster, a phoenix to turn all our sorrow to dust," her father recited dramatically.

"I'd like to turn something to dust," Rei bristled, fidgeting in her spot.

Thankfully, no one heard. "But just because we are rebuilding does not mean we should allow the past to be forgotten. Far from it. This new wing will serve as a memorial for what we have lost as well as a promise for the future.

"But we also deserve retribution for what has been done to us."

Rei's shoulders sagged. Here it was.

"For the past few weeks, sightings of three mysterious beings have been cropping up all over the Juuban area. These people - Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars led by Tuxedo Kamen--"

"Led by?" Rei growled quietly, glaring at him out of the corner of her eye.

"--have been heralded as superheroes," Senator Hino continued. "But I say to you that they are not superheroes or heroes of any kind. They are menaces to our way of life. Witches endowed with inhuman powers. Children in possession of forces far beyond their control. They claim to fight for our well being and to protect us from the enemy. But I say to you that they are not fighting an enemy. They are the enemy."

Rei's left eyebrow started twitching. This was beyond ridiculous. He had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. He wasn't even involved in this mess, and yet he had taken it upon himself to be the spokesman against her and the others. It wasn't right, but above all, it wasn't fair.

"These supposed soldiers of justice must be stopped!" Senator Hino shouted, gesturing wildly. "They must be found and captured, kept under surveillance. If at all possible, their powers should be removed so that one day, after rehabilitation, they can be returned to society."

Rei spared Ami a glance at that. Unsurprisingly, the girl looked exactly how Rei felt: physically ill.

"They are menaces to us all!" Senator Hino railed on. "They are no better than common criminals - no better than the Yakuza!"

Rei's back straightened. He was bringing the Japanese mafia into this? Had he lost his mind? Even Rei knew that so much as mentioning the syndicate could result in a death sentence. Or becoming Yakuza themselves.

"They must be stopped at all costs!" Senator Hino raged, spitting and looking crazed. "If I have to take them down with my bare hands, I'll do it! But I will not let this stand!"

At that moment, Rei felt her knees buckle.

She gasped, clutching her forehead and forcing herself to stay upright. She broke out in a cold sweat, her bangs already starting to cling to her forehead. She felt as though her throat was closing up, and she had to fight to keep down the food that Jun had brought her earlier.

It didn't take her long to realize that she had felt this way before. Just the week before as a matter of fact. When Sakurada Haruna's car had turned into a youma.

All at once, things started to click. Her father had been firing people without justification, even people that he had practically been friends with. He had been irrationally violent. He was obsessed with this Sailor Senshi issue when no one else was discussing it. He had never spearheaded a movement. Why hadn't she noticed all of this before?

But then she knew the answer to that. She'd wanted to see the worst in him, when in fact, she hadn't been seeing him at all.

Rei quickly looked out at the crowd, her gaze flitting back and forth. She was searching for one face in particular. That would confirm the sick feeling in her stomach, and then she could set about proving her father wrong by saving his hide.

After a moment, she saw him. Long auburn hair and a dark smirk on a man lazily skulking about in the shadows. He was watching Senator Hino with interest, though he didn't appear to be at all scandalized, which even the more jaded of the reporters felt at that point. It was him: Jadeite's replacement, Nephrite.

"I am surrounded," Rei whispered fearfully.

-----

Nephrite chuckled to himself. It was almost time.

Things were going along unbelievably smoothly. The Sailor Senshi and their caped friend were nowhere in sight. In fact, the only latecomer was a young, limping blonde who probably would not have proven formidable against an insect. In just a few moments, the senator's energy would climax and the youma would appear. Then he could leave with what had been collected and leave it alone to do whatever damage it pleased.

"I will not allow myself to feel unsafe in my own city!" Senator Hino yelled, moving so forcefully that his slicked back hair had gone a bit wild, his bangs hanging in his eyes. "We must pull together so that we can rise above these demons! We must make them pay for bringing such chaos down on us! WE MUST DESTROY THEM!"

Nephrite found himself chuckling at the sounds of protests, gasps, and even a few quiet murmurs of agreement. He had never expected this to be a side-effect of his selecting Senator Hino, but he wasn't about to complain. Apparently, the senator had harbored these feelings for some time, but the spell on his eyeglasses had brought it out of him. It made Nephrite wish that he had thought of it before. Turning the people against the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen would have made the takeover a less bloody affair.

Then again, he doubted Queen Beryl would like it that way.

"Still, I enjoy seeing these people cheer at their saviors' deaths," Nephrite murmured, smiling to himself.

He once again checked his watch, perhaps a bit impulsively. They were moving closer to the deadline. Just a little while longer and then he would triumph...

If nothing interfered. And it seemed that something was about to try.

He stood up straight when he saw the daughter start to move to her father. Nephrite had noticed she nearly collapsed at one point, but he'd paid it no mind. However, now he couldn't ignore her. If she distracted him from his goal, his energy would not reach its peak, and the whole operation would be proven a failure.

He bared his teeth and moved forward. There was no way in hell he was going to see this all crash and burn when he was so close to winning. He would not end up like Jadeite.

He was going to live.

-----

Ami had been disgusted by the speech up until that point, but as she would soon learn, she hadn't seen the worst of it.

Ami had seen Rei stagger, which worried her. After all, the last time she'd seen Rei do anything similar, a teacher at her school had been assaulted. She'd been rather tempted to go to the girl's side to see what was wrong - in fact, she had started to get out of her seat. However, she'd thought better of it when she realized that Rei probably didn't want anyone's help, least of all hers.

It then became a matter of watching Rei watching - well, looking at any rate. Ami saw her violet eyes scanning the crowd, seeking something out in particular. Rude as it was, Ami couldn't help but follow Rei's gaze, trying to determine what she was looking for.

The crowd was too thick for Ami to see much of it, but she did happen to have a fairly clear shot of a side hallway. That's when she saw Usagi, leaning forward and standing on tiptoe to try and get a good look at the senator. She seemed to be hopping around a bit, anxiously living up to her namesake.

Ami furrowed her brow. "What is she doing here?"

"What are you doing?"

Ami turned around, catching snatches of conversation but never really latching on to any of them. Those words and even Usagi was forgotten when she saw Rei hanging on her father's arm, apparently trying to lead him away from the microphone.

At first, Ami thought perhaps Rei had gotten tired of hearing of the politician's nonsense and was trying to remove him before he spouted off anymore. But, no, that couldn't be it. Even if Rei couldn't hold her peace until the end of the speech, she certainly wouldn't try to drag him off. If anything, she'd turn the monologue into a debate.

"I need to talk to you," Ami heard Rei hiss, paying no mind to the reporters and cameramen whispering frantically to one another about this development. It would certainly be great story fodder for the next issue.

Senator Hino darkened because of course he couldn't forget about all of those people watching this display. "How dare you--"

"One word about disrespecting you, and so help me--" Rei started. She shook her head rapidly and amended her words, realizing that they likely wouldn't have an effect on her father. "Please, it's important that you leave. Now."

Her father looked at her for a moment, perhaps not comprehending. Then he turned his face away, and Ami could see the veins bulging on his neck. "Even my own daughter..."

For a moment, it almost looked as if he had been quieted. But all at once, the senator literally pushed Rei off him, throwing her towards the edge of the stage.
She hadn't been prepared for it, and so she went flying back, her heels hitting the curve at the last moment. She tried to regain her balance, twirling her arms and throwing her weight forward, but the momentum of the toss was too much to overcome. In the end, Rei started to pitch backwards.

"Rei!" Ami called, rushing forward as the other girl toppled off.

"Even my own daughter!" Senator Hino raged, turning as red as Mars's high heels. His voice bellowed into the microphone and got redirected out the sound system. It was so loud that they crackled and squealed in protest, making Ami's ears ache.

Ami just barely reached Rei before she hit the ground and grabbed her at the elbows, not particularly caring if she was offended by the maneuver. She steadied the other girl, letting go as soon as she was settled again. She wasn't stupid after all. "Rei, what--"

"It's Nephrite," Rei growled, sounding positively feral. "He's after my father."

Ami's eyes widened in panic and then went right for the senator. He was towering above the two of them, looking crazed. For the first time, she realized the look in his eyes wasn't political fervor: he was possessed. And by the looks of it, he didn't have too long until he was completely taken over.

"What do we do?" Ami hissed, backing up with Rei at her side. She didn't know if proximity was dangerous in terms of Nephrite's curse going off, but anyone could see that it was not a good idea to be so near the senator in his current state.

Ami kept her eyes on Rei's father, worried that he would lunge and attack in front of all these people. Thankfully, he held his ground, though she could tell it was taking a considerable amount of effort on his part. She wondered if it was because he wanted to keep up appearances, or if a distant, saner part of himself was holding his body there. Whatever the case, she was glad of it, particularly when he began to speak.

"I have been disappointed by my colleagues, by my staff, even by people I considered friends," Senator Hino snarled at the girls, spitting. "But I won't accept this from my daughter."

Ami watched as Rei's gaze drifted down from her father's eyes, centering on the gold wire glasses settled around his neck. She seemed to focus on them intently for a moment, dark eyes narrowed in concentration. Then a realization seemed to dawn, and her shoulders drooped underneath its weight. "We're too late."

Ami's heart sank. She looked back up at the senator, a victim for perhaps the first time in his life. Interestingly, while the fury was still there, evident in his posture and every other aspect of himself, Ami saw something else behind all of that. It was hidden well; she probably never would have seen it if she didn't recognize the look from her dealings with his daughter. He seemed like a man betrayed, and a man saddened by that betrayal, not because of the principal of the thing, but because someone he had trusted had hurt him. Perhaps someone he even cared about, even if it was only a little bit.

Ami understood everything so clearly when Senator Hino's voice echoed once again through the room, sending ice into her blood.

"NOT MY DAUGHTER!"

-----

She wasn't supposed to care this much.

Rei kept her eyes on the glasses she had seen her father wear since before they lived apart. She watched as they flashed with red shadow light, casting a dark glow around the room. No one had to tell everyone else in the room what was happening; reports on the Haruna Sakurada incident had been extremely detailed. A hundred screams rose together as one while the glass in his precious glasses cracked. Something like smoke spilled from the lines, twisting into one large mass and rising far above Senator Hino's formidable frame. It smiled.

Rei screamed louder than anyone when it swooped down and devoured her father.

Ami's hands wound their way around her elbows again. At first, Rei thought she was just trying to comfort her, which meant that Rei had to be grateful and angry at the same time. Then Ami started to pull her back, and Rei could just be angry. She was relieved it was so simple.

"We're going," Ami hissed in her ear, her voice remarkably and unforgivably steady.

"No!" Rei shouted, pulling against Ami's surprisingly strong grip. Part of her chastised herself for acting so childishly. This was a man who probably would have turned tail and ran if she were in his position. She had no business staying there with him when he would have abandoned her all over again just when she needed him the most. "I'm not leaving him!"

Ami continued to lead her out, but they couldn't get far with Rei resisting. The other girl let out a quick sigh, betraying her growing exasperation. "We're going to come back, Rei, but we can't do anything if we don't find someplace to transform. There are still cameras rolling, and there are too many people here."

Rei shook her head. She didn't care about being found out. Some things were more important than her privacy. She gave another great tug against Ami's hands and said, "He's my--"

"I know," Ami interrupted softly. It was so quiet and gentle that it had a far greater effect on her than her yelling would have done. Particularly since Rei would never have expected Ami to take that tone with her, all things considered. "That's why we have to go."

Rei paused, unsure of how to respond, and then turned back to the platform. She was met with a sickening sight even though it was not nearly as disturbing as a man trapped in fire or a madwoman murdering without cause or discrimination. Her father was falling away from the shadow, his slick blonde hair turned wild, his face startlingly grey.

That was probably the worst part of the scene. Try as she might not to compare the two, she could not deny the fact that at the moment, her father had the same pallor as her mother at the wake.

She closed her eyes, trying as hard as she could to push the dual images of her mother lying in a coffin and her father lying on the floor out of her head. It didn't work, and she swallowed the bile that tried to fill her mouth. She started nodding before she could speak again. "Fine. Where do we go?"

"I'll lead you," Ami said, keeping a grip on Rei's arms. She was pulling her out as if she didn't trust her to finish the journey, fearing that she would turn back at the worst possible moment.

Rei resented the action even though she was probably reading too much into it. She pulled her arms away sharply, forcing herself straight. "I can walk."

Ami looked at her for a moment, her blue eyes hard. Rei wondered if they were going to get into a fight about this as well, proving Luna right at last. Rei would let the misstep pass if Ami didn't press the issue, but if she did, Rei was not going to back down from her position. And when that happened, she would happily turn back around and rush straight into battle, common sense be damned.

But that wasn't what happened at all. Instead, Ami just nodded, understanding. "Follow me."

With that, Rei wouldn't argue.

Ami led them to a side door Rei and apparently no one else had noticed before. It was laughably convenient, but she wasn't about to scoff at this bit of fortune. They went through one after the other, Rei closing the behind them. She watched impatiently as Ami fumbled through her purse, looking for something. She wanted to get going, but she knew that they weren't going anywhere until Ami was done with whatever it was she wished to do.

"I don't believe this," Rei raged, spinning around and kicking the closed door. She didn't worry about betraying their position. The screams outside were still more than loud enough to cover up the noise.

However, Ami didn't even flinch at the outburst. She kept rifling through her bag unhindered, getting a bit frustrated with her predicament but never allowing the irritation to reach her voice. "Rei, it's not your--"

"Yes, it is," Rei snapped, tearing her hands through her hair. She didn't want those empty assurances from Ami when they both knew they weren't true. Rei could have stopped this, but she'd failed. There was no getting around it. "I was standing next to him the whole time. I talked to him. I saw how he was. I should have known something was wrong, but I didn't because..."

Ami looked at her, expecting her to finish. One look at Rei's face and she knew better than to ask for her to finish. She just slowed for a minute, her eyebrows softening her face. "It's going to be all right."

Rei shook her head. She had about as much patience for Ami's baseless predictions as she did for the earlier assertions. "You don't--"

"Yes, I do," Ami insisted smoothly, finally pulling her computer out of her bag. She paused before getting to work, offering Rei a cautious smile. "I promise."

Rei stared at her, uncomprehending how Ami could possibly know how things would turn out. She wasn't a clairvoyant, but there she was, telling Rei of all people that she knew for certain that everything would be all right. It was not only ridiculous, it was insulting. She opened her mouth to tell Ami exactly what she thought of her words because Rei just couldn't stand for that kind of thing.

But she stopped at the last minute. It had taken her a few minutes, but she did eventually realize what Ami was really saying. It wasn't exactly a prediction. It was just Ami letting her know that in spite of all that had happened between them, she was going to be there. She would help Rei and her father, and she was going to make sure that nothing went wrong. She was really going to set their differences aside, even going as far as to ignore every time Rei attacked her.

Rei couldn't stop herself from being grateful, and at that moment she decided to give Ami some room to breathe. It was time to set her ill feelings aside and deal with the larger problems at hand. That morning, she would never have predicted feeling this way, but Rei's father was much more important than anything else.

"Call him," Rei whispered hoarsely, trying to stretch the muscles in her neck.

Ami nodded and moved her thumb to depress the correct button. Her eyes flicked down to the computer screen, her lips pressed together in a thin line. She even seemed to fidget a bit, perhaps worrying that Mamoru wouldn't be able to answer if he were in a position with other people around. Finally, after a moment that felt a lot more like an hour, there was a beep signaling that their call had been answered.

Ami didn't waste time with polite greetings. "Mamoru--"

"It's the hospital again, isn't it?" he asked, his voice coming through the speaker accompanied by a great deal of static. Rei knew that this had to mean he was already running to get to them.

Rei and Ami exchanged a glance, each beyond surprised to hear that bit of information. "How did you know?" Ami asked, her voice tentative.

"Hunch," he answered, although there was quite obviously a lot more to the story than just that.

Ami nodded, picking up on the fact that there wasn't time. "How long until you get here?"

Mamoru sighed, obviously upset. "I'm still fifteen minutes out."

"Damn it," Rei swore quietly, pacing in what little space they had. It wasn't the worst news she could have received, but it wasn't good either. "That could be too late."

Ami knew that Rei was right, but to her credit, she didn't say anything else on the matter. "We'll start without you then," she said swiftly.

Mamoru paused, his ridiculous tendency to put chivalry over common sense practically blinding Rei with frustration. "You sure?"

"No choice," Ami sighed regretfully, although Rei could tell she was a bit miffed as well. "See you in fifteen. Mercury out."

"Right. Over and out."

Ami closed the computer, and while it looked as though she wanted to take a second to collect herself, she didn't take it. She simply pulled her henshin pen out of her bag a second later. Apparently, that was much easier for her to find. "You ready?"

Rei didn't need a moment; Rei needed to act. So she nodded without hesitation,
yanking her henshin pen out as well. Her fingers were curled tightly around the red metal, and though it should have felt cool, it was like fire in her hands, but Rei didn't mind the heat.

"You have no idea."

-----

Usagi couldn't believe this was happening again. She'd come here to talk to a man, not run away from another monster.

Well, not that she was running away. No matter how hard she tried to fight her way through the crowd, it wouldn't let her through. She'd been by the door the whole time, but somehow, that had made her situation worse. Now she was sandwiched between everyone trying to get out through the one obvious exit, and no amount of screaming was helping.

"Please let me through!" Usagi cried, tears moving down her face. "I'm not even supposed to be here!"

Usagi took a deep breath and turned around, wanting to see what was going on behind her even though she knew that she wouldn't like it. The shadow that had consumed the senator remained upright as he fell. After a moment it began to materialize. It was thin and made of wires all strung together to form its limbs. This was true of everything but its head, which resembled a glass disc, and it had only one large eye that she swore could see everything going on in the room at the same time.

After a moment, the monster wasn't alone. A strange man with dark hair appeared beside it, his hands shoved in his pockets. Usagi couldn't hear what they were saying over the shouts; then again, she doubted she would have been able to pay attention. She couldn't stop staring at the demon's mouth, gold like the rest of its body and always smiling. She shook and tried to squeeze between two people.

"Hold it right there!"

Usagi's head snapped to the right, not quite recognizing the voice, but the tone was familiar enough. In spite of all the danger she was in, she felt a smile spreading over her face. "The Sailor Senshi!"

Sailor Mercury and Mars stood at a door Usagi hadn't noticed until just then, and both of them looked ready for a fight. Mars in particular looked as though she would have liked nothing better than to roast the pair of them on a spit. Even though she was still terrified, she couldn't help but feel better knowing that they had come. It meant for certain that Senator Hino was wrong about them; he had said horrible things about them, but they hadn't hesitated to come to help him. They were as good as Usagi had always believed, and now everyone else was going to know it too.

But then her heart sank a little. Tuxedo Kamen wasn't there. Where was he? She hoped that he hadn't gotten hurt or had anything else bad happen to him. Of course, it was stupid of her to be upset because the people who were here to help her were short by one tall, dark, handsome ally, but she didn't care. She'd gone there on his behalf; the least he could have done was swooped in and carried her off already.

Usagi shook her head and started to study the other door. There was not a large crowd blocking that exit, but it was also a lot closer to the battle at hand. There were advantages and disadvantages to both of her options, and she was terrified of both of them.

"What should I do?" Usagi asked herself, looking towards the two Sailor Senshi as if they could tell her which course was the best.

"Give it back, Nephrite," Mars snarled, stalking forward in spite of the look Mercury sent her that clearly suggested holding back. Usagi was grateful the crowd was thinning so that she could finally hear.

He raised an eyebrow, looking rather amused at the prospect of her making demands. "Give what back?"

"His energy!" Mars snapped, her eyes flashing. "Do it now, or I will make you wish you were Jadeite."

Usagi had no idea what that meant, but it seemed to have an effect on him. Without so much as changing expression, Nephrite held his hand up, palm out, and fired off a shot of his magic. A sphere of light appeared, spiraling out of his flesh. It was much dimmer than she would have expected, but it still hurt to look at for very long. Still, dim or not, it was large enough to hit both Mars and Mercury at the same time. Moreover, it was dangerous enough to send them flying back and into the wall, their bodies bouncing off and tumbling to the ground.

Usagi cried out. Perhaps the attack should have advised her to stay put, but instead she moved forward, pushing through what few people had been unlucky enough to be stuck behind her. Her heart pounded and part of her wanted to turn and go back to the crowd. There was supposedly safety in numbers after all. But she knew she might not ever get out that way; there were too many people trying to move in the same direction. No one else was going through the door the Senshi had come through. It was her best shot at getting out of there alive, even if it did mean she had to be closer to the action than she would have liked.

And all Usagi really wanted anymore was to live.

Usagi glanced over at the man and the monster, waiting to see if one of them was about to suddenly lash out at her. At the moment, both seemed to be consumed with their accomplishment at hurting the Sailor Senshi. Nephrite smiled and turned to the youma, gesturing to the two. "You know what to do."

"Of course, Lord Nephrite," it said, its voice like twisting metal, making Usagi flinch.

That ended the transaction, and Nephrite moved to leave them. But before he really disappeared, he glanced over his shoulder and gave his enemies a little wave. He smirked while they glared, and then vanished without another word.

"Jerk," Usagi muttered.

Mars seemed to agree with her assessment, although her reaction was decidedly more violent. "No!" she shouted, pulling herself to her feet. She turned her gaze to the youma, her dark eyes crackling with rage. Usagi had seen her in action before, and while she had always been very passionate, she seemed much more so that day. Usagi had no idea why she was acting that way, but Usagi felt sorry for her even without that knowledge. She seemed to be in pain, and Usagi didn't like seeing her that way. Like her mother said, the Senshi had enough to be dealing with.

"I'll make you pay for this," Mars promised, her voice murderous. "Give it back."

Usagi winced as it laughed and continued to move forward, ducking behind a row of chairs when the youma seemed to look intently in her direction. She still felt sure that it knew she was there, that it could see her even though its view was obstructed. She tried to be rational and tell herself it was just paranoia, but that didn't stop her hands from shaking.

"If I give it back, I cease to exist," the youma told her, speaking an appalling rationale. "I have no intention of dying so easily."

"And I have no intention of letting you live," Mars growled, lifting up her hands and pushing her index fingers together. Usagi's eyebrows jumped when she saw a spark catch fire. "We do this the easy way or the painful way. Your pick."

The youma laughed again, and Usagi covered her ears. It felt like its fingers were raking against her brain, and the pain was increasing every time it opened its mouth. "I'll take door number three."

Usagi heard the sound of something creaking quickly followed by that of falling chairs. She looked up in time to the row of chairs before her own get thrown aside. She had no idea what was happening, but she still dove to the left, desperate to avoid what was coming towards her.

But she was too late.

She screamed when something cold and sharp wound around her bad leg and pulled her up into the air. Its grip was harsh, and it felt like something was digging into her, sinking into her flesh. She flailed as she was hung upside down, trying in vain to break away from whoever - or whatever - held her.

She looked down at her leg and saw a length of wire twisted around her ankle. She followed it back to where the monster was standing, realizing that it had managed to extend one of its limbs to grab onto her. She concluded with rising panic that it had probably been aiming for her neck and was hoping to use her as bait. She started screaming again, trying to pull herself up to get the thing off her leg.

"Let her go!" Mercury shouted above her shrieks. "She has nothing to do with this!"

It laughed again, and Usagi stopped what she was doing, practically clawing at her ears. "I think I'd much rather peel the flesh off her bones."

Panic threatened to overwhelm her. It felt a lot like drowning in a river that was quickly rising. There was something trying to drag her down, and even though she was fighting to get her head above water, she couldn't get away. She was going to die if she or somebody else didn't do something, and she had only come here to help others.

"No!" Usagi wailed, flinging her body around in terror. She couldn't help but think that if Tuxedo Kamen were there, she would already be safe and sound in his arms. She wanted him so badly that her chest physically ached, and that pain almost outweighed the one at her ankle. "Please, don't!"

"Put the girl down," Mars warned. She was a lot more in control than Mercury, but Usagi knew that her voice shook. "Unless you want to be melted down for something less annoying."

The monster shook its head, a quiet creak similar to the one she'd heard right before she had been attacked. Its one eye almost looked gleeful at this predicament, although that was becoming harder to tell for sure. Usagi's tears were practically blinding. "Actually, I like my plan better."

Usagi almost started panicking about that, but she soon had much more trouble to deal with. She cried out as the demon swung her around like a wrecking ball, the metal fingers straining awfully against her skin. After a few seconds, her body crashed into two others, and she didn't have to venture a guess to know who they were. The three of them went tumbling end over end until they all hit the stage Senator Hino's body was still lying on.

Usagi groaned and pushed herself up on her elbows slowly. Every inch of her body hurt now, but still, nothing was worse than her heart. She wanted Tuxedo Kamen there so badly it was practically debilitating. She was grateful for Sailors Mars and Mercury, but it wasn't the same. They had never personally saved her. She was just another innocent they had to rescue. Somehow, Usagi felt that this made a difference.

Finally, she realized she was lying on top of Mercury and started to move off. She sniffled loudly, searching for the other girl's eyes. Usagi took a breath and started, "Sorry, I--"

She was cut off as the youma yanked her back, making good on its promise not to leave her alone. She screamed and cast her arms out, trying to sink her fingernails into the ground. She had nothing to catch hold of, so she kept moving backwards with no opportunity to slow herself down.

Suddenly, Mercury flung herself forward and grabbed both of Usagi's wrists, and Usagi instantly felt guilty for ever thinking Mercury and Mars weren't trying hard enough. The move managed to impede the youma's progress, but it didn't even come close to stopping it. Mercury looked around frantically for something to serve as an anchor, but there was nothing stable near them. She looked back up at Usagi, blue eyes wide.

"Don't let go," Usagi sobbed, her fingers tightening their grip on Mercury's gloves. "Please don't let go."

"I won't," Mercury promised through clenched teeth. She tried pulling back and yelled back at the demon who was not relenting one bit. "I mean it! Let her go!"

Usagi felt a movement on her leg, and her breathing became quick and sharp. She had no idea what was coming, but she knew it was bad. It was like the horror movies Naru made her watch, when the music suddenly stopped and the dread wrapped around her chest like a tightening vice.

"I think not," the youma answered.

Usagi shrieked again as an unbelievable amount of pain coursed through her skin. She turned her head as far as she could to see individual shoots of metal pushing into her flesh. Blood bubbled up around the places where they had punctured, and Usagi's head swam. She didn't want this. She wanted to be rescued already.

"Where are you?" Usagi whimpered quietly. "Tuxedo Kamen!"

Mercury looked up at her, her mouth dropping open a bit. "What did you--"

Without warning, the shoots moved farther up her leg, scraping against her bone. It was worse than Usagi ever would have imagined, and she didn't care that she wailed like a little baby. Not even Shingo could blame her this time. She thrashed wildly when they moved again and nearly shook Mercury off, but the soldier held fast.

"Hold on to me!" Mercury shouted. She glanced around behind her, her voice breaking.
"Mars, where are you?"

"Right here," Mars hissed, surprisingly close. Usagi whirled to see Mars appearing beside them, a metal folding chair in hand. She lifted it up over her head and brought it down on the monster's extended arm as hard as she could.

Usagi cried out as the ends of its fingers tore up through her flesh, letting go of her the hard way. She was pulled forward and fell on top of the blue soldier. She was still clinging to Mercury and weeping loudly as she moved into her lap.

"Don't let go," Usagi whimpered, winding her arms around the soldier's neck. Part of her knew how utterly stupid it was to be acting this way, but she ignored that section of her conscience. She felt safe this close to Sailor Mercury, and she was not going to allow that to slip through her fingers. "Don't let go."

"I..." she sighed, looking uncharacteristically helpless. Finally, her arms closed around the small of Usagi's back. She felt a movement against her neck,
like Mercury's head was turning. "Mars?"

"I got it," Mars said, her voice dangerous.

Usagi knew that the fight was going to continue and that it was going to be horrible, so she didn't turn around. She buried her face in Mercury's chest and sobbed, wishing that someone else was holding her. She was incredibly thankful for all Mercury had done and would say so as soon as she was able. But Sailor Mercury was not Tuxedo Kamen, and a part of Usagi would never forgive her for not being him.

-----

Mars held the chair in her hands and looked directly at the demon. As much as she hated Nephrite for starting this, and as much as she knew she would eventually make him pay for it, it was the youma's blood she longed for now. She had never thought her life as a Senshi would get so close to her life as Hino Rei. This youma had gone after someone close to her, and even if it was her father, a man she sometimes thought she despised, she was still going to make it pay in the worst way she could think of. No one messed with her family, and slamming that thing's arm had felt unbelievably good.

Killing it would be much better.

It continued to scream in pain long after Mars had promised to take care of the fight on her own, and that sounded even worse than its laugh. Mars forced herself not to wince, refusing to acknowledge any more pain the monster caused. "You stupid bitch!" it screeched, its eye leveled directly at her and seething with hatred.

"I'm not stupid," Mars hissed, her voice low.

It pulled its arm back into place, and Mars watched as it recoiled like a very long spring. Once its body was righted again, it held the injured limb in its other hand. "I am going to make you pay for this, Sailor Mars. If I can't spill her blood, then I will happily rust in yours."

Mars arched an eyebrow, the corner of her mouth rising. "Actually, I like my plan better."

She ran forward, swinging the chair back again. Just when she was in range, she propelled it forward, but she'd made too much of a show of her action. The monster reached out and wound its fingers around one of the legs. It started spinning her around, but she let go before it could go forward with its initial plan. She hit the ground low, sliding backwards on her heels. It threw the chair right at her head, but she ducked just in time, glancing up when she felt the cold metal brush against the top of her head.

"What is this man to you, anyway?" the youma asked, blinking its eye.

Mars narrowed her eyes. In retrospect, perhaps being so enraged at this whole process had been an error on her part. It was no secret that she put everything she had into battle, but she hadn't even thought to mask how personal this fight was for her. Now the demon was asking questions, when it ought to have been shrieking in pain. "What does it matter?"

"I'd like to know," it said simply, as if curiosity was the only reason for its query. In fact, Mars knew that it was looking for information to take back to the Dark Kingdom if it could find a chance to retreat. After all, it had been ordered not to leave them alive, but if it returned with valuable information such as her real name, it would be heralded before it was thrown into the scrap heap.

It reached out and picked up another chair, flinging its arm back and then sending the metal projectile at her head. She rolled out of the way, listening as it added, "Before I kill you, I'd like to know."

She landed on her feet, heels clacking against the floor. She looked up at her opponent in defiance, lip curled. "No hurry then."

The monster wasn't deterred and began to muse about the various possibilities aloud. "He's too old to be your brother. And certainly too old to be your lover," the youma said matter-of-factly. "Then again, you humans--"

"AKU RYO TAI SEN!"

The throw had been a bit wild from her shaking hands, but it still seemed as though it was going to hit its target. The paper zipped forward, nearly making a direct hit. Unfortunately, the youma twisted its torso away from the ofunda although its legs stayed in the same place. It smirked, apparently under the mistaken impression that the display would disturb her rather than just piss her off. "Not your lover."

"Not anyone," Mars snapped, having quite enough of this line of questioning. "He's nothing to me."

"Liar," it muttered darkly.

Mars blinked, straightening. All of the blood in her body rushed right to her ears and her head felt very heavy. She swayed a bit on her feet, literally staggering beneath the weight of its words. It shouldn't have meant much, especially not coming from a monster she was about to turn into a very shiny puddle, but it did.
Because even though it had been a simple taunt, it still rang horribly true.

Her father was important; more important than she'd been willing to admit. For years, she had convinced herself that he was just a man who married her mother and the end result was a baby. After she died, her father had no more place in her life. But that wasn't at all how things were. If he really didn't mean anything, why had she cried when he left; why did she always make every conversation into a battle; and why did she feel so sick every time he didn't show up when he said he would? None of that would have hurt if he meant nothing.

But he was her father, and after all this time, she was finally ready to admit that it meant something to her.

"Mars!"

She looked up in shock at Mercury's call. Her eyes locked on another chair-missle that was now just inches away from her. Mars dropped down flat, once again just barely managing to avoid the blow. She looked up at the youma, whose omnipresent smile seemed to be full of secret wisdom. And that's when she knew she'd been found out.

"Daddy's little girl, eh?" it whispered, too low for either Mercury or the sobbing blonde in her arms to hear.

Mars ground her teeth together. No one mocked her or her feelings and walked away in one piece. She pushed herself up off the ground and ran forward, wanting nothing more than to wring its skinny neck between her hands and twist off its one-eyed head. She would make the monster pay, not only for hurting her father and that girl, but for ever daring to presume it knew anything about her.

Mercury, it seemed, had other plans.

"SHABON SPRAY!" she cried, flinging out one arm towards the fight.

Mars skidded to a stop as Mercury's mist filled the room, putting up a moving wall between Mars and the monster. She glanced around frantically, trying to find its shadow in the fog. When she couldn't so much as seek out a glimmer of metal, she shrieked, stamping her foot. "Mercury, how dare--"

"Duck!" she interrupted sharply.

On instinct, Mars obeyed. The attack didn't come as quickly as Mars would have thought, but it came. Mercury couldn't have possibly seen it coming, but she had predicted the assault the minute Mars had opened her mouth. She'd betrayed her position by yelling, and it had nearly killed her.

That's when she realized that Mercury had done the smart thing in launching her defensive attack. Mars had been about to do something reckless, and it probably would have gotten them all killed. She'd let her emotions get the better of her by running and then by yelling. She wasn't going to make either mistake again.

Mars smiled when she thought of something else very important: while the youma had to rely on sound to locate her position, she had other methods.

She took a deep, silent breath to steady her nerves. Then she closed her eyes, knowing that it would be easier to find her target if she was deprived of all visual distractions. She could still hear things: shouting outside, sirens in the distance, that girl's muffled sobbing. That at least was becoming more distant,
which meant Mercury was slowly getting her out of the room now that they had cover. That meant Mars had to act quickly; if she noticed them leaving, the monster would eventually do the same.

It was easy for her to tell there was a malevolent presence in the room, but pinpointing its exact location took a bit more effort. She had to concentrate as hard as she could, clear her mind of everything, and focus on its aura. Then she could follow its signature and attack, turning it into so much trash. If it was lucky.

But Mars couldn't get her mind completely clear. No matter what she did, she could not stop thinking of her father, lying broken on the floor, proving that someone as formidable as him was just as fragile as any other man. Her enemy had become not only a victim but the person she was supposed to save. She didn't want to care about him. She didn't want to make sacrifices for the man who had sacrificed her. She didn't want to take his life, but she wasn't sure she wanted to save it either.

She was invested when she thought she'd been indifferent, and she didn't have to even ask why. In spite of everything, he mattered. And no one ever, ever laid a hand on people who mattered.

"Especially not you," Mars whispered, bringing her hands up again. "There."

She spun around, pushing her arms out in front of her. She screwed up her face, drawing on more power than she had ever touched consciously. The cloth of her gloves started to smoke as she called on the fire. It licked her skin, but she did not cry out. She simply shouted, " FIRE SOUL!"

The flames shot forward, pushing through the fog and burning it up in the air. It only took a few seconds to prove that she'd been right. The attack hit its target dead on, engulfing the youma in an inferno that grazed the ceiling. It screamed and flung its limbs about, and even Mars had to cover her ears as the noise grew louder and higher. The glass in the windows cracked and blew out, and Mars was driven to her knees.

Finally, it was over, and all that was left of the youma was a smaller fire and the outline of some glasses lying on the floor.

Mars jumped when white filled her vision. She looked up to see Ami, not Mercury, aiming a fire extinguisher at the remaining flames. Mars was a bit disappointed to see that it actually worked.

After a moment, the fire was out, and Ami let the extinguisher drop to the ground. She turned to Mars, looking weary. "Rei..."

"Right," Mars said hoarsely, letting her transformation fade. "Right."

It was done. There was no need for soldiers now.

-----

"Your youma failed."

Nephrite glared over the rim of his brandy, his eyes seeking out Zoisite even before he finished appearing. He raised an eyebrow at the blond general, not necessarily surprised by the news, but surprised Zoisite was the first to know. "Wasting your spies on me again?"

"Forget that," Zoisite snarled, his cheeks turning pink. "Didn't you hear what I said? Your youma--"

"I heard you," Nephrite snapped, his fingers tightening around the glass. He had prepared himself for this outcome, but he had wanted badly to triumph. When he saw how Mars was behaving, he had thought perhaps she would be too emotional to fight rationally. Apparently, he had been wrong; he hated being wrong. "I don't suppose you know exactly what happened?"

Zoisite seemed a bit taken aback he actually wanted to know. He cleared his throat, resting a hand on his hip, and began. "Everything seemed to be in your favor after you left, but then it attacked a random girl. Everything pretty much went to hell after that."

Nephrite scowled, furious at the misstep but thankful the Sailor Senshi had done him the trouble of slaughtering it so he wouldn't have to. "That wasn't part of its objective."

"Obviously," Zoisite drawled, tossing his head. "You don't have enough control over your own monsters. Then again, that's not surprising. You are just giving birth to them out there. And you know how the little nestlings tend to rebel."

"Is that why you're so insufferable? Your mother?" Nephrite asked, forcing himself to be cool and taking another sip of his drink.

Zoisite turned red, but he did not lose his temper. Nephrite hadn't thought he'd be able to manage it, and he was disappointed about the lack of reaction. Then again, he supposed Zoisite was feeling the same. "Are you delusional? That's twice now you've failed."

Nephrite was more than aware of that fact, and he would undoubtedly take out his frustrations violently once he was alone. He didn't appreciate Zoisite bringing it up, and had he not been Kunzite's favorite, Nephrite was quite sure that Zoisite would be a bloody, whimpering mess on his floor.

But, of course, he couldn't do any of that, so he had to settle for a smirk. "Why, Zoisite. I had no idea you cared."

"Don't flatter yourself," Zoisite murmured in a disgusted tone, twirling his hair preciously and turning his nose up. "You're not my type."

"Of course. My rank isn't high enough."

Zoisite bared his teeth and stalked forward. He was finally infuriated enough to show it. Nephrite sighed quietly, happy that he had found the breaking point. It was a shallow contentment, not getting anywhere near to the point of outweighing the loss of yet another battle, but it helped a little.

"Listen to me, you--"

"Remember who you are addressing, Zoisite," Nephrite interrupted smoothly. "I am still your superior, and I can assure you that nothing about me is little."

Zoisite continued glaring at him, but his lips began to curl. "We'll see how long that lasts."

Nephrite narrowed his eyes, rising to his feet. There were some things that could not be allowed to pass without a display of strength. "Kunzite's pet or no, I will not tolerate threats."

His subordinate's back straightened, green eyes flashing with insolence. Nephrite longed to black it, but then Zoisite could claim the threats were justified. "What do I need to threaten you for with two failures in a row? Any minute now, Queen Beryl will be calling you to the throne room to verbally lambaste you. It's only a matter of time until she screams for your blood like she did with Jadeite."

Nephrite curled his free hand into a fist, his voice dropping an octave and rumbling deep within his chest. "There is no need to bring the dead into this."

"I simply came here to warn you about the impending dressing down," Zoisite said innocently. "Stupid of me to do you a favor."

"The next time you get the urge, stick a needle in your eye," Nephrite grumbled.

Zoisite huffed. "See if I try to help you again." His point made, he turned his face away and vanished from the chamber in a tornado of sakura petals.

Nephrite snorted, snatching his glass off the table. He took a long drag, draining it all, and then slamming it back down. He took little comfort in the display, but he knew it would have been worse if he had continued acting mellow.

"Help. Favors. Bullshit." He pushed away from the table, continuing to glare at the spot Zoisite had occupied. "You want my head and my rank, Zoisite, but you won't have either."

Unfortunately, Zoisite was right about the performance of the last two youma. The fact that the trial had failed twice now meant that something in the formula had to be changed. Kunzite had taught him that; he'd taught Jadeite that. Jadeite had just failed to listen out of spite, never forgiving being ranked as second best.

Nephrite was just as prideful as his old comrade, but he wasn't stupid enough to let that rule him. He knew that the only way to be certain that nothing went wrong again meant he was going to have to take a bit more of a hands on approach. He would keep a much closer eye on the next target.

And the next time there was a battle, he wouldn't leave for home.

"Cheers, Senshi. And Tuxedo Kamen," he said, raising his empty glass in tribute to them.

Then he smashed it against the wall.

-----

Rei sat among the wreckage of the entrance to the children's wing with her arms wrapped around her knees. She'd just been interviewed by the third police officer in what felt like the last five minutes, a fact that normally would have irritated her beyond politeness, but she was too tired to be self-righteous. She wanted nothing more than to be left alone.

And to know how her father was.

Seconds after she had dropped her transformation, police and medical personnel had burst through the doors. She'd been surrounded and interrogated almost immediately, and Ami along with her. Medical staff had gone right to her father and taken him away before Rei could even be sure he was all right.

Ami had left some time ago to see what she could find out about his condition, as well as lead a team to where that other girl was. She thought she'd heard Ami call her Usagi. She didn't know how Ami planned to find anything out. She'd asked about him several times, and they had given her the run around - his own daughter. That had been enough to cause a few screaming matches, and now she had nothing left in her.

"How are you doing?"

Rei looked over, a bit surprised to see Ami sitting beside her again. She had expected her to take a bit more time sorting everything out. But she was there now, asking questions, and like it or not, Rei had to answer them. She sighed and turned her eyes forward, preferring it to eye contact. "I've only made one of them cry."

Ami laughed quietly. "Remarkably well then."

Rei swallowed, her fingers drumming against her knees. She was nervous, which she hated. She hated being anxious and feeling weak. She would much rather be a lot of other things much closer to anger.

"How is he?" Rei asked quickly, wondering if she sounded too eager.

Ami pursed her lips thoughtfully, and the hesitation made Rei feel sick. She started to imagine that she had been too late. She wondered if he was in a coma or in surgery or if the doctors were just standing by his bed as he moaned in agony, unable to do anything but watch.

"Ami..." Rei whispered with a shake in her voice.

"He's going to be all right," Ami said finally, the sentence coming out in a rush when she realized what she'd done. She waited until she was sure that Rei had registered what she'd said by letting her shoulders finally relax a little. Then she continued, saying, "Actually, he's probably well enough to go home now, but they're keeping him overnight for observation." She paused. "I think he also wants to stay here. He's probably a bit unnerved."

Rei laughed out loud, realizing that this mistaken impression was probably what had caused Ami's earlier hesitation. It was laughable that Ami had even considered this an option. "My father? Want to do anything but work? You must have gotten him mixed up with someone else."

"That's just the impression I got." Ami shrugged, and Rei could see her duck her head a bit in embarrassment. "Maybe the experience changed him."

"Maybe he remembered to bring his briefcase with him," Rei said sarcastically, the usual bitterness leaping forward to overtake all of those other uncomfortable feelings. She liked the familiarity even if it left her feeling corrupt.

Ami looked down, frowning. She probably didn't approve of Rei's behavior, but she didn't care. Ami didn't know anything about her father or their relationship, and in spite of her epiphany, some things were never going to change.

"My mother said to tell you that you're welcome to see him if you'd like," Ami offered, her voice betraying her hope.

Rei shut her eyes. "What about your friend?"

"My-- Oh, you mean Usagi," Ami murmured, pushing her hair behind her ears. Rei had no idea why Ami hadn't realized what she was talking about, but she didn't care enough about it to give it much thought. "It's a bit too soon to tell. They're fairly certain there won't be any permanent damage, but they can't be sure until she actually tries to walk on her leg."

"Right," Rei said quietly. "I... She'll probably be okay."

"I hope so," Ami admitted. "She's sort of fragile."

Rei narrowed her eyes, shaking her head. "I don't think so." She paused, realizing she was making assumptions when she'd just been annoyed with Ami for doing the same. "I mean, I don't know her, and yeah, she was pretty screwed up during the fight. But I don't think she's going to lose it or not be able to heal. I just..." Rei sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know. I can't explain it."

Ami nodded, looking extremely thankful for everything Rei had just said even if it was totally incomprehensible. After a second, she cleared her throat and said, "I'm sorry about... how things went. With Usagi and the fog and everything. I'm sorry if I... screwed things up."

"You didn't," Rei said, surprised at how easily it came out. "I thought you did at first, but... it was my fight. And you needed to stay with your friend. I understand."

"She isn't..." Ami trailed off, shaking her head. "Well, thank you for feeling that way. I'm glad that there isn't more for you to resent."

Rei closed her eyes, remembering the reason that she'd been so infuriated with Ami in the first place. Because she'd valued the life of another over her own. Now the same thing had happened, but Rei couldn't bring herself to be that upset about it. She wondered what had changed.

"Have you heard from Mamoru?" Rei asked loudly.

"I gave him a call and told him not to wear himself out getting here," Ami answered, apparently not noticing Rei's lack of volume control. "He's still coming. And he's probably still wearing himself out."

Rei smiled. "Yeah. Probably."

Ami looked at her for a moment, licking her lips. Rei could tell that she was preparing herself to say something that she probably wasn't going to like. She started to get tense before Ami finally managed to open her mouth. "I can take you right to his room if you like."

Rei blinked. That, she hadn't been expecting. "Mamoru's?"

"No!" Ami answered, her cheeks turning pink at the obvious and very improper implication. "Your father's."

"Oh," Rei said, her voice souring. "No."

Ami gave her that same frown. "Rei--"

"I said no, okay?" Rei snapped, squeezing her temples between her fingers. This whole conversation was starting to give her a headache. "I don't want to see him."

Ami stared at her, not believing her. "But Rei, he almost... He could have--"

"I know," Rei said, interrupting her again. Her voice was tight, and her fingertips were now all but bruising her flesh. "I know what could have happened, but I still don't want to see him."

"Is he that unimportant to you?" Ami asked, her voice surprisingly cutting.

"Of course he's important!" Rei yelled, eyes flashing. She didn't need Ami's approval, but she sure as hell didn't need her scorn. "If he wasn't, I wouldn't have gone through all that trouble to--" She cut herself off, remembering who was listening. "Look. He's my father, and that makes him important. I get that now,
and as much I don't like it, I have to deal with it. I'm dealing, but that doesn't mean that I have to see him."

Ami continued looking at her, eyes accusing every breath she took. "I'm sure he would feel a lot better if you went and saw him."

Rei laughed bitterly. She was constantly amazed at people's perceptions of her father, but at the moment, Ami was taking the cake. "No, actually. I think he'd prefer if I stayed away."

"You're his daughter," Ami stressed, as if the information had somehow been forgotten.

"That doesn't matter," Rei insisted harshly. "It never did."

"But it's different now," Ami reasoned, trying to put logic and emotions together, and unknowingly failing at it miserably. Maybe they could fit in some instances, but not this one. She seemed to be coming to that conclusion in the silence that followed, her eyebrows knitting together and her tone losing its fervor. "Isn't it?"

Rei shook her head violently. "No. It should be, but it isn't. I could go in there now and see how he's doing, and it wouldn't do a thing to change us. He'd still be awkward and not look me in the eye. One of us would still say something purposefully to make the other angry. He'd be entitled and I'd be defensive and I'd still storm out when I couldn't take it anymore." She paused, the final piece of the narration proving to be the hardest to say. Her breath hitched, but she said it anyway because Ami needed to know this so that she could finally back off. "He still wouldn't come after me." She closed her eyes, finding they were starting to sting and loathing it. "It's how we work. No one really tries, and I end up getting burned."

Rei brought her fingers up to her mouth to subtlety, but forcibly shut it. She was never that open, least of all with someone like Ami. There were things she needed to know, and now she knew them. But Rei found there was more than she wanted to say, and she feared of what details would pour out of her if she allowed the opportunity.

They sat in silence for awhile, and it gave Rei time to collect herself while Ami took in all of that information. Rei could tell she tried to say something several times, but she'd stopped each time. Rei wondered if she or anyone else knew how to respond to that, if there was a way to bring comfort in the face of all of that wrongness.

"I'm sorry," Ami finally voiced quietly. "I didn't know."

She was hesitant, but Rei still felt that she needed to answer. Her hands dropped to her sides, releasing her lips. "Yeah, well," Rei muttered awkwardly. "It doesn't seem possible for a man to be so distant from his own daughter."

Ami shook her head without hesitation. "No, I understand."

Rei scoffed, shaking her head. "I hate it when people say that when they actually have no idea--"

"No," Ami interrupted, her voice like steel. "I understand."

Rei finally turned back to Ami and stared at her openly. She looked directly at Ami's eyes, watching how they hardened suddenly in determination. Rei had always thought she looked lost and that her irises were watery and yielding, but now there was strength in them. She wondered if that's what Mercury's eyes looked like. She'd never had the time to look.

"My father," Ami began in a voice that couldn't even be called a whisper. She shut her eyes and knitted her fingers together, starting again. "My parents are divorced."

Rei raised an eyebrow. "I thought your father was dead."

"Everyone does," Ami said easily, not the least bit offended by the mistake. "I don't talk about him much, so people assume. I don't really mind much anymore.

"My father is a painter. He used to say he was born with smudges on his hands," Ami began fondly. "He's also a great swimmer and quite accomplished at chess as well. He's very smart and very impulsive and... a lot like me. And nothing like me."

Rei nodded, though she had no idea where this was going or why Ami was telling her this.

"When my parents went through the divorce, I was frantic. I knew that at some point, someone was going to ask me who I wanted to live with or that my parents were going to end up fighting over me. I'd heard all of the horror stories before. And I didn't know who I wanted to go with or how I wanted the legal battle to turn out. All I really wanted was for things to be normal again."

"But you chose your mom in the end, right?" Rei asked.

"I didn't choose anybody," Ami answered after a moment. "And there was never a court battle that I ever heard about. One day, my father just... left. He left a postcard he'd painted pinned to my door. An electric eel."

Rei looked at Ami in disbelief, knowing exactly what that meant. Her father, just like Rei's father, had essentially given her up in favor of something else. He hadn't bothered to fight for her, and that meant that he didn't care. Even if that wasn't true, that's how anyone with a heart would perceive it. He'd left her without even a hug or kiss good-bye; just a stupid postcard.

Amazingly, Ami didn't stop to rage about just how worthless that must have made her feel. She just continued with her story, perhaps knowing that it was useless to say something Rei understood so well. "I'm supposed to go visit him at certain times during the year, but it never happens. He never calls to reschedule. He never does anything except send me postcards on my birthday and Christmas. Always a different fish or seascape."

Rei swallowed down her anger on Ami's behalf. It was disgusting behavior, and she felt very much like suggesting that their two fathers be declared winners of every Worst Parent of the Year contest ever held before that day or any other day in the future. But she held her tongue and glanced over, unnaturally curious about something. "What was it this year?"

"A turtle," Ami admitted, laughing quietly. "I don't know why, but I thought that was funny. This doesn't really feel like a turtle year."

"It isn't," Rei told her, cracking the knuckles on her right hand. "So, you haven't seen him since the divorce?"

Ami exhaled, pouting her lips for a second. "No, I've seen him a few times. He has to come into the city sometimes to sell his artwork, and he'll stop by my school and say hello. But I've never been up to his retreat, and those trips into the city are rare. He's been living off some royalties for a few years now. I haven't seen him since I was ten."

"Do you hate him?" Rei asked, her voice thick.

To her credit, Ami didn't seem surprised about the question. She just shook her head and answered, "No."

Rei hung her head, feeling guilty in the face of this selfless admission. "Oh," she murmured sadly.

"I've wanted to," Ami continued softly, taking Rei off-guard. "Sometimes, I want to very badly, but I can't really bring myself to do it. No matter what... he's still my father. I'm angry with him; I resent him; sometimes he makes me want to cry, but, I've never hated him." Ami turned her head, an eyebrow raised. "Do you... hate your father?"

"I thought I did," Rei said, surprised she didn't snap about how it wasn't any of Ami's business. "I was so sure that he didn't mean a thing to me, but then today happened."

Ami nodded slowly. She leaned forward a bit, her arms wrapped around her knees. "It's all right not to hate him, you know."

"It doesn't feel all right," Rei muttered. "After everything he hasn't done for me, and everything he has done, I feel like I should want him dead. He abandoned me after my mother died; he has no part in my life; and it's not like he was a great father when we did live together. He's done everything he can to stay out of my life, and he shouldn't be there. He shouldn't mean a thing."

Rei shook her head, putting her face in her hands. She took a long, shuddering breath and continued against her better judgment, saying, "But then I saw him lying there, and all I could think about was that I might have lost him. He looked dead; he looked like my mother, and even though I thought he was already gone, I didn't want him to leave me.

"And don't tell me that I should go up there because of that," Rei snapped, cutting Ami off before she even opened her mouth. "That's exactly why I have to stay down here. He already thinks that I don't care. He has an image of me built up in his head where I'm the cruel, embittered daughter to his distant, indifferent father. And if I go up there and I see him and I let him know that he matters, he's only going to pull farther away."

Ami reached over, stopping just before her hand rested on Rei's shoulder. She was too scared to be that familiar. "You don't know that."

"Yes, I do," Rei insisted, sniffling loudly. She swiped at her eyes like a child. "I know him. He hates emotion; he doesn't know how to deal with it. He never hugged me when I cried. He'd see the tears, and he would just freeze up like the concept was totally foreign to him. He didn't even... not even at my mother's funeral, he--" Rei cut herself off, covering her mouth with her hand and taking a sharp breath. "If he knows that I care, then he'll just leave. And I want him around, even if it's only a few times a year, because he matters." Rei laughed, her shoulders shaking. "I'm so stupid."

"You're not stupid," Ami told her quietly.

"No, I am," Rei said, nodding. "If I were smart, I would have figured it out before now." She pressed her fingers against her eyes, knowing that the tears were there and wanting to rip them out rather than actually let them fall. "God, why am I telling you this?"

Ami seemed to get tense beside her, sensing animosity in the question even though Rei wasn't so sure it was really there. "I guess because I understand."

"It would be you," Rei said, her breath hitching. "I've been going to all of this trouble to be mad at you, and now you're the only one who understands this."

"I'm sorry," Ami apologized softly.

Rei took a deep breath, tipping her head back. At last, there it was. The opportunity to figure out if she still wanted Ami to go jump off a cliff. She waited for the irritation to come; she waited for the automatic reply of, "Well, you should be" to work its way past her lips.

But it never came, and that's when Rei knew the truth. She wasn't angry anymore.

"Don't be."

Ami blinked, recognizing what the words really meant. She looked about as shocked as Rei would have been had she not been so exhausted. "Really?"

"Yeah," Rei admitted. "Senshi with daddy issues have to stick together, right?"

It was meant to be a joke, so Rei had no idea why it was what set off her crying jag. She thought that she'd had it under control, but suddenly, her shoulders were shaking uncontrollably and she couldn't catch her breath. She started to turn away from Ami, and she was genuinely surprised when Ami's hand finally collapsed on Rei's shoulder. It was a simple act, but it was enough to make Rei turn to her, resting her forehead on her arm. And she kept crying, water flowing out of her eyes and releasing everything she hadn't even realized was there before.

It was an unexpected catharsis and an unexpected truce, but Rei couldn't say she was sorry either one of them had happened.

-----

Even though Ami had called to tell him that the situation was handled, Mamoru had no interest in staying away. For one thing, Rei was bound to be upset about what had happened with her father, and even if he was still irritated about what had happened the weekend before, he wanted to be there for her. For another, he hadn't forgotten about the girls' feud, which had blessedly dissolved into a mutual, cold awkwardness. Still, leaving them alone after a battle with their adrenaline rushing did not bode well for that lasting, and so he hadn't wasted any more time than necessary in getting to the hospital.

Getting in had been surprisingly easy. When he'd reached the barricade keeping the general public out, Mamoru told the same lie he had back at the juku: that his sister was one of the girls involved in the attack. Much to his surprise, the officer acted as though he had been expecting Mamoru. He did give the cat perched on his shoulder a bit of a look, but he let both of them through.

"She's a smart girl," Luna whispered as soon as they passed. "She even knows what kinds of lies you tell."

"Maybe it's because we all tell the same lies," Mamoru muttered as he pushed his way inside.

It only took him a few minutes to find the right room. As he walked up to the last door, he prepared himself for what might be happening inside. If he was lucky, they wouldn't be speaking to each other. If he was unlucky, they would be fighting again. If he was supremely unlucky, they would be killing each other.

"I hate playing mediator," he hissed to Luna.

"I'm the mediator. You're the unhelpful bystander."

Mamoru made a mental note to forget changing her water the next morning and pushed open the doors.

When Mamoru saw Rei's head on Ami's shoulder and tears streaming down both of their faces, he had no idea what to think. He looked down at Luna, who was similarly bug-eyed. Then he turned back to the girls to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating. Finally, he sighed, throwing up his hands.

"I will never, ever understand women."

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