Chapter Nine: Fire and Ice, Part I

	“Hino Rei-san, you’re next.”

	Hearing her name called, the raven-haired girl dressed in the traditional 
robes she had changed into for her archery practice stepped forward and brought up 
her bow and arrow. Dark purple eyes squinted as she mentally estimated the distance 
between her and the target. Fifteen feet. It wouldn’t be too difficult to hit the 
bull’s eye, but she knew she needed to focus. She couldn’t allow overconfidence to 
get in the way of her concentration. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Rei 
slowly drew the string of her bow back until it was taut, and when the teacher gave 
the signal, she let loose, letting out her breath at the same time.

	Her arrow soared in the air toward the target as she and the other girls 
watched. Unlike some of the less talented archers, Rei had managed to keep hers from 
veering off course. It shot straight ahead and firmly planted itself in the wooden 
red-and-white board with a loud “thunk“. 

	But it was not a bull’s eye, as everyone had expected. Some of the girls 
gasped, surprised. Hino Rei, the star of their archery club, rarely missed her mark, 
especially by such a wide margin. Her arrow had hit nearly two inches above the white 
circle in the center. 

	Frowning, their teacher, the handsome Father Arakawa, marked an “X” on the 
tally sheet attached to his clipboard. “Hino-san, what’s wrong?” he asked. “You’re 
not concentrating today. Your arrows are straying.”

	Rei bowed in apology as she finally brought down her bow. She was a little in 
shock herself by what happened. “Gomen nasai, Arakawa-sensei,” she said. “I suppose I 
have other things on my mind today.”

	“It’s fine to have bad days every once in a while, but try not to make a 
habit of it. Our next tournament is in a couple of weeks, and we need everybody at 
the top of their game if we want our team to remain undefeated.”

	“I understand.” 

	Practice continued for about five minutes more until Father Arakawa finally 
decided to call it a day. He then dismissed the girls to the locker rooms to change 
back into their regular school uniforms and go home.

	“Hino-san, I was really surprised when you didn’t make that shot,” Kotono 
said, jogging up to Rei as she headed back inside with her teammates. The blonde 
wasn’t in the archery club, preferring to research paranormal activity with her 
friends in the supernatural club, but Rei had noticed her observing the last ten 
minutes or so of their practice as she sometimes did when her club finished early. “I 
hope my presence didn’t bother you. I was trying to be really quiet.”

	“No, not at all,” Rei assured the girl, smiling.

	Sarashina Kotono was probably the closest thing she had to a true friend at 
the Academy. The two had bonded a few months after Rei discovered her identity as 
Sailor Mars during the Black Moon family’s invasion of the past. Kotono had asked her 
to tell fortunes for the supernatural club’s booth at the Academy‘s annual bazaar, 
and after some persuasion, Rei had reluctantly agreed. Unfortunately, the bazaar had 
been targeted by one of the Black Moon's agents, Cooan, and because of her, Sister 
Maria had been killed by an apparent case of spontaneous combustion and Rei had been 
kidnapped. Not exactly the big success the school had been hoping for. Rei 
understandably didn’t like thinking about it much, but at least she had acquired a 
friend despite the whole ordeal.

	“So, why did you suddenly lose your concentration like that?” Kotono pressed, 
turning around so she was walking backwards. “Was it just a fluke, or something else? 
I heard Arakawa-sensei say your arrows had been straying today, so I assume that 
wasn‘t the first time you missed a target during practice. Is something bothering 
you?”

	Rei shrugged, not really in the mood to talk about the things currently 
occupying her mind, especially with the blonde. Kotono was a nice enough girl, but 
there were some things she just didn’t feel comfortable discussing with her. 

	And then, of course, there were the other things she *couldn’t* discuss with 
Kotono -- namely, the new enemy the Sailor Senshi were fighting. It was too bad they 
had to keep their identities a secret. Given her fascination with the paranormal, Rei 
was certain Kotono would find that subject rather interesting. She wondered what 
Kotono would think if she found out her friend Hino Rei was actually Sailor Mars. 

	“It’s nothing, Sarashina-san,” she insisted. “I was only a little distracted, 
that’s all. Next practice will be better.”

	“If you say so, Hino-san.” Kotono didn’t seem convinced, but wisely decided 
not to push the subject any further. Instead, she stopped walking backwards, just 
barely managing not to trip on the bottom stair, and bowed politely. “Well, I should 
be getting home now. Okaa-sama gets mad if I’m late for dinner. I’ll see you next 
week. Sayonara!”

	“Sayonara!”

	Rei watched the girl leave, then made her way to the locker room inside, 
where she quickly changed back into her uniform. She then left, in no mood to deal 
with the other girls‘ questions about her failures at practice. Popularity, at times, 
was a pain. It almost made Rei long for the days when Tanaka Sayo had mercilessly 
teased her and she had been an outcast among her classmates. 

	Almost, but not quite.

	Reaching into her book bag when she stepped outside, Rei pulled out the book 
she had checked out from the library the day before and started on her way to the 
park to meet the others. The senshi were holding an informal meeting there to discuss 
the new enemy, but Rei hoped it wouldn’t last too long. She wanted to get back to the 
shrine as soon as possible. Her grandfather had fallen ill again, and she needed to 
be there to take care of him.

	Saburo seemed to be sick a lot lately. At first, it had started out as only 
minor colds, which were perfectly normal in the winter. Rei hadn’t really given them 
much thought or concern at the time. He was an old man, and his immune system wasn’t 
as strong as it used to be -- of course he would be more susceptible to illness. But 
then spring came, and the colds didn’t go away. In fact, they had grown worse and 
more frequent. The new school year had hardly begun, and already Saburo had been sick 
three times. 

	It worried Rei, more than she liked to admit. She wished he would go see a 
doctor as she had suggested on several occasions, most recently at breakfast that 
morning. She had a feeling something was seriously wrong with her grandfather, but 
Saburo was being stubborn on the subject.  

	“Hey, Rei-chan!” a familiar voice said, dragging out the honorific. Rei had 
just entered the park and was heading toward her friends, who were already there. 
“What are you reading? You look just like Ami-chan with your nose stuck in that 
book.” 

	Rei glanced up from the page she was reading at the odango-headed blonde. She 
hadn’t really been paying attention to what Usagi had said, too absorbed in her 
reading and her thoughts about Saburo. “Hmm?”

	“Shrine Management Rules? Why are you reading that?” Usagi asked, reading the 
title of the book herself. 

	Sighing, Rei bent down the corner of the page to mark her place and closed 
the book. It looked as if she wouldn’t be getting any more studying done. “Ojii-san’s 
sick,” she informed the other girls, knowing it would be only a matter of time before 
they had dragged it out of her anyway. One thing she had learned over the past two 
years was that it was nearly impossible to keep secrets from the others.

	“Again?” Ami asked softly. The blue-haired girl rested a gentle hand on Rei’s 
shoulder, while the others all murmured their regrets. “Oh, I’m sorry, Rei-chan. How 
bad is it this time?”

	“He can barely get out of bed, though he certainly does try. High fever, 
difficulty breathing, dizziness, bad cough…”

	“Has he been examined by a doctor? That sounds even worse than his usual 
colds.” Amy, the group's resident health expert, had dreams of becoming a doctor like 
her mother, so she was forever dispensing medical advice and making sure the others 
took care of themselves

	Rei shook her head. “Unfortunately, ojii-san is still being stubborn about 
not seeing a doctor. He insists we don’t need to spend the money to treat a silly 
little cold that will go away on its own in a few days.”

	Ami looked thoughtful, rubbing her chin as the wheels in her head churned. 
“You know, okaa-san is a doctor,” she reminded Rei. “The days of house calls may be 
over, but I know she wouldn’t mind stopping by Hikawa to check on your grandfather. I 
could probably even convince her to not charge you for the visit. She would be happy 
to help.”  

	As generous as Ami’s offer was, Rei knew her grandfather would never agree to 
it, and to be honest, she wouldn’t feel right accepting charity either. “Oh, no, 
Ami-chan, we couldn’t ask Mizuno-sensei to do that without some kind of payment.”

	“But Rei-chan, okaa-san wouldn’t mind, really. She does a lot of volunteer 
medical work when she has the time. She couldn’t care less about the money. Seeing 
her patients healthy is reward enough.”    

	“Still…”

	“Will you at least think about it?” Ami persisted.

	Rei reluctantly agreed to discuss it with Saburo, although she already knew 
what he would say to the offer. It was the least she could do. “Fine, I’ll talk to 
him about it, Ami-chan. Arigatou.”

	“That still doesn’t explain why you’re studying shrine management rules, 
though,” Aino Minako pointed out, bringing the subject back to the book she was now 
flipping through. The pretty blonde, also known as Sailor Venus, the leader of 
Princess Serenity’s guardians, was probably Rei’s best friend in the group. A person 
wouldn’t necessarily think that at first, though, considering how they both had a 
tendency to get on each other’s last nerve. “I thought your grandfather took care of 
most of the management of Hikawa.”

	Taking the book from Minako’s hands, Rei put it back in her book bag and 
rolled her eyes. “I think you just answered your own question, Minako-chan,” she 
said. “Since ojii-san has been ill so much lately, I’ve taken on more 
responsibilities at Hikawa, and therefore, I’m looking for more efficient ways to run 
the shrine. These are hard times, and with the economy so bad…”

	“Are you going to hire someone?” Ami asked, pushing her glasses up her nose. 
She had pulled out her own book, some incredibly advanced biology text, to study as 
they waited for Luna and Artemis, Minako’s guardian cat, to arrive for the meeting.

	“No, of course not,” Rei said, crossing her arms over her chest. “That takes 
cash, and it has always been my principle not to waste money like that. We just need 
to learn how to manage our finances better and make do with what we already have.”

	Beside Rei, the blonde with the red bow in her hair suddenly snapped her 
fingers. “Hey, Rei-chan, I have a great idea on how to get extra help around the 
shrine and not have to pay a dime!” Minako exclaimed.

	Inwardly, Rei groaned. Minako had that look in her baby blue eyes that 
suggested Rei was not going to like this brilliant idea one single bit. It was the 
same look Minako got when she decided she would disguise herself as one of Rei’s 
classmates at the Academy so she could see what it was really like to attend an 
all-girls’ private school. That had been an absolute disaster. Not only had Minako 
broken every school rule (as well as a few windows), she had almost blown her secret 
identity as Sailor Venus, since Rei had been possessed by an evil spirit lurking 
inside an abandoned well and needed rescuing. Minako had not let Rei forget that, so 
needless to say, Rei was rather reluctant to investigate further, but desperate 
times…

	“What is this wonderful idea, Minako-chan?” she asked, deciding she might as 
well humor the girl. Who knew? Minako might have even thought of a something useful.

	Minako smiled cheerfully and held up her index, middle, and ring fingers. 
“Three words: Get a husband!”

	So much for that theory…

	“A husband?” Rei said, her left hand clenching into a fist as the blood 
rushed to her face. She couldn’t believe Minako had even thought of suggesting such a 
thing. Minako knew perfectly well how she felt about the subject of love and 
marriage. “You think I should get married? You have to be joking! Why would I--?”

	Minako, apparently oblivious to the very thin ice she was walking on, flipped 
her hair over her shoulder and shrugged. “Don’t blow your nose, Rei-chan,” she said. 
“I know how much you hate boys and all that mushy-mushy romance stuff, but don’t 
think of it as really getting *married*. It’s business. If you find a husband, you’ll 
bring a person to the shrine to work for free. And, of course, he will follow after 
your grandfather and do all the work at the shrine, so you would be free to do 
whatever you like. You could even think of him as your own personal servant and love 
slave!”

	“Minako-chan, that’s terrible!” the last member of their group said, shaking 
her head in disapproval. Kino Makoto, who moonlighted as Sailor Jupiter, was a tall 
auburn-haired girl with a green thumb and an unmatched talent in the kitchen. “A girl 
shouldn’t get married so she can treat her husband like a servant. When people get 
married, it should be for love.”

	Although she knew Makoto was rigt, Rei had to admit Minako did have a point. 
No, she wouldn’t ever actually seriously consider the proposal, but it was tempting. 
Imagine, having somebody else to take care of the major responsibilities of the 
shrine for free… 	

	“A servant, huh?” she murmured. “That might be nice.”

	“You two should act more your age,” Ami lightly scolded, giving them a 
sideways glance from behind her book. “You’re being silly.”

	“My age?” Minako repeated, a forlorn look on her face. She dramatically 
clutched her hands to her chest and sighed. “That reminds me…”

	“I want a boyfriend!” the blonde and the brunette, the perpetual romantics of 
the group, said in unison. 

	Amethyst eyes rolled. “Here we go again…” Rei muttered, once again her usual 
pessimistic self after her brief lapse of insanity. She took her book back out and 
joined Ami on the bench in studying, not at all interested in the boy talk that was 
sure to follow.

	Ever since her humiliating, painful experience with Kaidou, Rei had
resolutely steered clear of romance, just as she had promised. Ironically,
though, her disinterest in love seemed to somehow become a signal for boys to send 
her love letters, give her flowers, and generally act like idiots. Sometimes she even 
had glances from grown men, which tended to incense Minako to no end, as it was 
Minako who was available and ready. Personally, Rei thought Minako shouldn't be so 
eager to get tied down and thought it was silly for her to spend so much time and 
energy on finding a boyfriend when there were much more important things in life.

	"Minako-chan, despite what you may think, men are not the number 
one priority in life. We, especially, should realize that and use our 
energy for more important things," she lectured, interrupting the 
excited chatter. "Remember, the whole senshi thing? Protectors of love 
and justice? Any of this ringing a bell?"

	Minako huffed and sat down on the bench beside Rei. “Oh, come on, Rei-chan!” 
she said, throwing her arm around her best friend’s shoulders. “Wanting a boyfriend 
is a perfectly healthy desire for a schoolgirl!”

	“Perhaps, but I’m not interested. Men are unreliable,” Rei said, turning a 
page. She didn’t even look up.

	“Not my Mamo-chan!” Usagi protested, her eyes bright as she thought of her 
destined soul mate. “He’s perfect.”

	The other girls groaned, but there was no trace of annoyance in their voices. 
In fact, they were all smiling, even Rei. Though Usagi tended to gush endlessly about 
Chiba Mamoru at any chance she got, reminding them of their own lack of love lives, 
they were happy their prince and princess were together. Usagi and Mamoru were the 
perfect couple.

	“How is Mamoru-san anyway, Usagi-chan?” Makoto asked. “Has he suffered any 
more attacks?”

	Their princess’s cerulean blue eyes darkened somewhat at the Amazon’s 
inquiry. A few days ago, just after Usagi and Chibi-Usa fought a tiger that had 
gotten loose from the newly arrived Dead Moon Circus, Mamoru had suddenly collapsed. 
He had needed to be taken to the hospital, where he stayed for couple of hours while 
doctors ran some tests, but since he had been released, everyone assumed it was 
nothing major. Still, they also knew Usagi was worried to death about him.

	“No, I don’t think so, Mako-chan,” Usagi said softly. “At least, if he has, 
he hasn’t told me. Mamo-chan doesn‘t want to worry me.”

	Rei, who knew firsthand how it felt to see a loved one sick, set down her 
book and reached for Usagi’s hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. She knew exactly 
what was going through the blonde’s mind. “But you are, aren’t you, Usagi-chan?”

	The princess nodded, discreetly wiping away a teardrop that had formed in her 
eye with the palm of her hand. “I’m being silly, though, I know,” she said, smiling 
again, though Rei thought the smile looked rather forced. “Mamo-chan told me the 
doctors said he was fine, and he probably had just been partying too much at 
university. If it were something serious, he would tell me, right?”

	“Right,” Rei agreed, even though she had her doubts. In her admittedly 
limited experience, men hated to be seen as weak or sick, unable to care for 
themselves. If Mamoru was anything like Saburo, he was either denying something was 
seriously wrong or trying to hide it from Usagi. Besides, Rei suddenly thought, since 
when did Mamoru start going to parties? Since he wanted to be a doctor like Ami, 
Mamoru was usually in bed well before midnight *every* night, unless his duties as 
Tuxedo Kamen intervened. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more convinced 
Rei became that this ‘too much partying’ line was a little white lie. Her instincts 
were rarely wrong, and she knew that she should tell her princess immediately, but 
Usagi was already so worried, Rei was afraid that she would do more harm than good by 
voicing her suspicions.

	Fortunately, the trio of cats chose that moment to arrive, providing a much 
welcomed change of topic. Luna, Artemis, and their future daughter Diana sprinted 
over to the girls, looking as if they had some important news.

	“Gomen nasai, minna,” Luna panted, apologizing for their tardiness. “We were 
held up.” 

	“That’s okay, Luna,” Usagi assured her. “Did you find out any information 
about our enemies?”

	Artemis nodded. “Tomorrow is the first performance of the Dead Moon Circus,” 
he informed them. “Luna and I think we should go and investigate.”

	“That’s probably a good idea, Artemis,” his mistress said, easily slipping 
into her role as the leader of the Princess’s guardians. Rei always marveled how 
Minako could be silly one minute and serious the next, as if it was as simple as 
turning on a switch. “Let’s all meet in front of the circus tomorrow, right before 
the matinee performance. Agreed?”

	It was agreed, and the meeting was dismissed.

					*****

	After their meeting, Minako promptly decided she would walk Rei back to 
Hikawa, not giving the beautiful miko the chance to refuse. The shrine was somewhat 
out of her way, but she sensed Rei could use a friend, so the two girls walked down 
the tree-lined streets leading to Sendaizakaue, silently marveling at the beauty of 
the blooming sakura blossoms and enjoying each other‘s company.

	The silence between them was not uncomfortable. Minako had known Rei long 
enough to know when she didn’t want to talk about something, and it was definitely 
one of those times. She didn’t press her to talk, figuring if Rei did want to discuss 
her concerns about her grandfather, she would bring up the subject herself. Instead, 
Minako attempted to get her mind off of her troubles by focusing on other things, 
like the weather.

	“The cherry blossoms sure are pretty this year, aren’t they, Rei-chan?” she 
asked, finally breaking through the quiet.  

	Rei nodded. “Hai.”

	“That means you’ll probably have to do a lot of raking at the shrine.”

	“Hai.”

	“I’ll help you if you need an extra pair of hands.”

	“Hai.”

	Minako rolled her eyes at that, getting the feeling Rei wasn’t listening to 
her at all. However, if there was one thing which came easily to Minako, it was 
getting people's attention. 

	“Rei-chan, are you in love with me?”

	“Hai… What!?” 

	That certainly got Rei’s attention. Minako giggled, linking her arm with that 
of her best friend, and landed a playful peck on her cheek. “I knew it!” she said. “I 
knew you were secretly in love with me. No wonder you tried to kiss me that one time 
at your school.”

	“Minako-chan, what ARE you talking about?”

	“Oh, you don’t have to hide your feelings any more, Rei-chan!” Minako said. 
“I know you’ve been secretly burning with passion for me, and why wouldn’t you? I’m 
the beautiful and sexy Goddess of Love! And, guess what, I‘ll tell you a secret, 
too.” Cupping her friend’s ear with her hands, Minako whispered seductively, “I love 
you, too.”  

	For a moment, Rei didn’t seem to know how to respond to that. Her mouth was 
moving, but no words came out, and her lovely violet eyes had widened to nearly twice 
their size. It was as if she had completely lost her voice. Minako laughed, quite 
enjoying the spectacle. It wasn’t often a person could render the miko speechless.

	“What, Rei-chan? Bird got your tongue?”

	Finally realizing she was just kidding around, Rei smiled and lightly smacked 
the back of Minako‘s head.. “That’s ‘cat got your tongue’, baka,” she said.

	“Hey, at least I got you to smile,” Minako said, rubbing the area where Rei 
had hit her. It didn’t really hurt, but traditions had to be followed. “You were 
totally in one of your moods again.”

	“One of my moods?” Rei asked, raising an eyebrow.

	“Yeah, you know, all spaced out and gloomy.” 

 	Rei sighed, her brief smile replaced by the all-too-familiar frown. “Oh, yes, 
I suppose I was, wasn’t I? I’m sorry, Minako-chan. I’m afraid I’m not very good 
company today.”

	Minako shook her head, again linking her arm with Rei’s and resting her head 
on her shoulder. “That’s okay. Wanna talk about it?”

	Her best friend was quiet, staring off into the distance. She didn’t seem 
inclined to answer. Minako took that to mean she didn’t want to talk about Saburo and 
was about to suggest they plan a shopping trip after tomorrow’s circus show, but she 
was surprised when Rei unexpectedly spoke.

	“Sometimes, he is just so stubborn!” 

	“Your grandfather?” It was a fairly pointless question since the answer was 
obvious, and she doubted if Rei had even heard her, but Minako was glad she had 
finally decided to talk to her. It wasn’t healthy for Rei to keep her emotions 
bottled up inside.

	“He won’t listen to me,” Rei said mournfully. “I told ojii-san I would get 
the money for the doctor somehow, even if I had to pawn some of my valuables, but he 
won’t hear of it. He keeps on insisting it’s nothing serious, but I know it is, 
Minako-chan. Something is wrong. I can feel it.”

	“Have you had visions?”

	Rei shook her head, her loose black hair blowing behind her in the gentle 
spring breeze. “No, it’s more like one of my ‘feelings’, the kind I used to have 
when… When I was little.”

	Minako didn’t need to ask for an explanation. She knew about the “feelings” 
Rei used to sometimes get whenever her mother had one of her more serious attacks. It 
hadn’t been easy, but Minako had managed to pry it out of her last year on the 
anniversary of Hino Takara’s death when she, being somewhat of a snoop, had followed 
Rei to the cemetery and saw her visiting her mother’s grave. As far as Minako knew, 
she was the only person in their group who Rei had confided in about her late mother. 
Rei didn’t like to talk about Takara much, nor anything else about her past, for that 
matter, so Minako considered it an honor that the notoriously private miko had 
allowed her that brief glimpse into her life. That, more than anything, sealed their 
friendship, and they had been the best of friends ever since.

	“Oh, Rei-chan,” Minako whispered. “Don’t think about things like that. Your 
‘feelings’ might be wrong. You said it yourself that sometimes you are mistaken. 
Remember the time you tried to exorcise Usagi-chan, thinking she was some kind of 
evil spirit?”

	Rei looked a little sheepish. “She told you about that?”

	“Uh-huh. She told me and Mako-chan all about it when we asked her to fill us 
in on what had happened before we joined the team.”

	“Well, that was only one time, and I was on edge because of all the bus 
disappearances that had been occurring,” Rei said, defending herself. “I don’t think 
anybody blames me for the mistake. Besides, Phobos and Deimos attacked her, too.”

	“Rei-chan, don’t get all huffy on me. I was only trying to make a point,” 
Minako said, rolling here eyes. Sometimes, Rei could be a little too defensive.

	Rei smiled, showing there were no hard feelings, and squeezed Minako‘s hand. 
“I know, and thank you, but I really don‘t think I‘m mistaken this time. The 
‘feelings‘ get stronger the worse he becomes.”

	Minako wished there was something she could say to assure Rei everything was 
going to be okay, but there wasn‘t any guarantee that it would be. For a moment, she 
was tempted to suggest a visit to Kaioh Michiru. The elegant senshi of Neptune also 
had an incredible sixth sense, and on top of that, she could use that mirror of hers 
that she had given to Chibi-Usa to possibly get a second opinion... But then Minako 
remembered, her heart sinking, that they had no idea where the Outer Senshi had gone 
after Hotaru’s rebirth, and they had enough on their plates with this new enemy 
without going through the phone book and the library. Even Ami’s phenomenal research 
skills were being stretched at the moment. Defeated by the lack of options, Minako 
sighed inwardly and fell back on banal words.

	“I guess you’ll just have to force him to see a doctor then. Like Ami-chan 
said, Mizuno-sensei would be happy to examine him, and she probably wouldn’t even 
charge you for the visit.”

	“Oh, no, we would pay her,” Rei insisted. “If I have to, I’ll even go to 
otou-sama and ask him to loan us the money as a last resort. I know he would, if only 
out of guilt. The hard part is convincing ojii-san.” 

	“Well, if anybody can convince him, I know you can. You can be pretty 
stubborn yourself sometimes, too, you know,” Minako teased, poking Rei in the arm 
with her finger.

	“Hey, what is that supposed to mean?” Rei asked, not at all amused.

	“Oh, nothing, nothing!”

	Minako raised her hands in mock surrender, and the two girls laughed, 
starting up the long flight of stairs leading to Hikawa. Their girlish giggles didn’t 
stop until they finally reached the torii at the top, and both were breathless and 
smiling, a sight Minako was glad to see. Rei didn’t smile nearly enough, in her 
opinion. It really was a shame. If it was possible, Rei looked even more beautiful 
when she smiled.

	“So, would you like to come inside for some tea, Minako-chan?” Rei asked, 
once she had caught her breath. “I’ll have to check on ojii-san first, but that 
shouldn’t take too long if you don’t mind waiting.”

	Regretfully, Minako had to decline when she glanced down at her watch. It was 
later than she thought. If she had any hope of making it home before dinnertime, she 
needed to leave right away. The last thing she wanted was to get in even more trouble 
with the dragon lady, also known as her mother. Her failing mark on her math test was 
bad enough without making things worse. “I better not, Rei-chan. I don’t want to be a 
bother. Maybe next time.”

	“Okay, next time.”

	“Tell Kondo-sama I hope he feels better soon.”

	“I will. Arigatou.”

	“And don’t forget about tomorrow.”

	“I won’t.”

	They said goodbye, and Minako turned to leave but stopped about two steps 
down. There was something else she needed to say before she left. She again walked up 
to the torii and took Rei’s hands, surprising the miko.

	“Minako-chan?”

	Minako smiled. “I just want you to know I really do love you, Rei-chan. If 
you ever need anything or just need somebody to talk to, don’t hesitate to call, 
okay? I’ll always be there for you. I promise.”

	Touched, Rei’s face softened. “Arigatou, Minako-chan.”

	“Sayonara.”

	“Sayonara.”

					*****

	Watching the happy-go-lucky blonde with the red bow skip down the stairs, Rei 
once again thought about how lucky she was to find such wonderful comrades in her 
fellow senshi. She never thought it would be possible for her to love them all so 
much. After all the disappointments in her life, she didn’t think she would ever be 
able to trust anyone else besides her grandfather, Minoru, and Miyuki, but 
instinctively Rei felt as if she could tell the senshi anything within their various 
areas -- Minako especially seemed to be able to soothe her, always managing to find 
the right words to make the future seem a little bit brighter, like a candle in the 
dark. 

	She had to admit it felt nice to finally feel as if she really belonged, 
instead of being the freak nobody wanted to be friends with. Even the girls at 
school, like Kotono, had been warming up to her since she started hanging out with 
Usagi, Minako, and the others. Everybody said she had become a lot more approachable 
over the past two years.

	I suppose I really am lucky in some ways, she thought as Minako’s trademark 
red bow disappeared from sight. 

	Rei then went inside the living quarters, where she immediately got dressed 
in her miko‘s robes before heading to the small kitchen. She pulled out the 
ingredients needed for an easy recipe Makoto had given her to try and began preparing 
some miso soup for Saburo. When that was done, she placed the bowl of soup on an old, 
wooden tray and headed to her grandfather’s bedroom, carefully balancing the tray in 
one hand as she slid open the door.

	Inside, she was glad to see Saburo was still in bed, a light blanket covering 
his pajama-clad body. Rei had worried he would try to work even in his condition when 
what he needed was rest. Like her, Saburo took his duties at the shrine very 
seriously and hated when he was “indisposed”, as he often liked to say. He turned his 
head toward her when she quietly entered the room and gave her a small, pathetic 
smile, which she returned.

	“Ojii-san, I see you’ve finally taken my advice and stayed in bed. How are 
you feeling?”

	“Not too good, I’m afraid, Rei-chan,” he answered, hacking an ugly cough that 
sounded worse than when she had left to school that morning. “The fever hasn‘t gone 
down.”

	Setting down the tray on the floor beside his futon, Rei kneeled down and 
placed her hand on his forehead. It felt as if his whole face was on fire. “You’re 
burning up!”

	“It’s not too bad.”

	“Not too bad? That is it. I’m calling Mizuno-sensei.”

	“No, please, Rei-chan, don’t,” Saburo said, weakly grabbing her wrist as she 
began to stand. “I’ll be fine, really. I took my temperature shortly before you came 
in here. It’s only 38.8 degrees. High, but not dangerous.”

	“But ojii-san…”

	“Hey, don’t I smell something delicious?” Saburo asked, changing the subject.

	Rei sighed, annoyed he still wouldn‘t let her call a doctor, but reached for 
the tray beside her. “Here, I made you some miso soup,” she said as Saburo struggled 
to sit up in his bed. She sat the tray down on his lap and removed the lid covering 
the bowl. “I hope it isn’t too hot. I just made it a few minutes ago.”

	“I’m sure it is wonderful, Rei-chan. Arigatou,” he said, taking the bowl in 
his hands and bringing the warm liquid to his lips for a taste. “Mmm, delicious.” 

	Once Saburo was done, she took the tray away and again felt his forehead. His 
fever still concerned her, no matter what he said. Despite his protests, Rei left to 
take the tray back to the kitchen and came back with a pail of ice water and a 
washrag. She dunked the washrag into the water and wrung out the excess before 
placing it on his feverish forehead.

	“Rei-chan, you don’t need to do this. Shouldn’t you be doing your chores or 
studying?”

	“There aren’t any visitors at the moment, and tomorrow is Saturday. No 
classes this week.”

	“But you might get sick as well.”

	“I guess I’ll just have to take my chances, then,” Rei said, looking out at 
the charm office. She had slid open one of the panels of his bedroom when she came 
back with the pail so she could keep an eye out for customers while she nursed Saburo 
back to health. “The important thing is that you get better.”

	“I’d feel a lot better if you would stop fussing over me like a baby and 
concentrate on your work. There’s no need for both of us to be indisposed. You know 
business isn’t as good as it used to be, and with me unable to work…”

	“But--”

	“Please, Rei-chan. I’ll be fine. You’ve done enough for now. The soup was 
wonderful, and I think my fever might be going down a little. Now, go out to the 
office and get to work. I think I hear a couple of girls giggling outside, probably 
wanting to buy a couple of love charms. You don't want to keep them waiting.”

	Rei knew he was right. Since Saburo couldn’t get out of bed at the moment, 
she was the only person left able to take care of the management of Hikawa, and they 
did need the money brought in from the donations. They couldn’t afford to close the 
shrine for an entire day. It was bad enough they had to close when she went to 
school. 

	That didn’t make it any easier for Rei to leave Saburo’s side, though. He 
looked so pitiful and pale, wrapped up in his blanket with the cold compress against 
his forehead. She hated seeing him like that when she was accustomed to seeing him up 
and about, knowing that if anything went terribly wrong he would be there for her. 
This illness brought home to her that Saburo would not be around forever... but she 
didn't want to think about that. Perhaps it was better, as he said, to focus on hope 
rather than despair…

	“Okay, ojii-san,” Rei finally agreed, dunking the washrag one more time in 
the pail and placing it back before going over to the open bedroom panel leading 
outside. A quick glance showed her Saburo had been right about the two girls heading 
toward the office, gossiping and giggling. “Leave the care of the shrine to your 
successor granddaughter and try to get some rest. I’ll check in on you later.” 

	“Arigatou, Rei-chan.”

	Rei stepped outside, keeping the panel open so that some of the cool spring 
air might come inside the bedroom, and entered the nearby office, where the 
schoolgirls were waiting. “Sorry to keep you,” she apologized. “What would you like 
today? A charm? A fortune?”

	The blonde girl began blushing profusely. “Two love charms, please.”

	“Here you go,” Rei said, pulling out the charms from their slot. Vaguely, she 
noticed they were running low and wrote a mental note to make some more later. It 
seemed they could never keep enough love charms in stock. “That will be two hundred 
yen.”

	“Arigatou.”

	The girls paid their donations and left, loudly admiring their new charms. 
Rei could hear them talking about how they both planned to give them to the 
upperclassmen they liked as they walked down the path to the torii, and she rolled 
her eyes. She wondered why all the girls she knew wanted boyfriends so badly. Even 
Ami, the girl who broke out into a terrible rash at the mere sight of a mushy love 
letter, occasionally couldn’t resist sneaking a peak at a cute boy from behind one of 
her ever present books, though she would never admit to it. It perplexed Rei, but she 
had long ago stopped trying to figure it out.

	It wasn’t as if it mattered for her or the other guardian senshi, anyway. 
They had seen the future. Chances were none of them would ever get married. They 
would someday become Neo-Queen Serenity’s guards and the protectors of Crystal Tokyo, 
not exactly a job fitted to marriage and raising a family. Rei couldn’t say she was 
disappointed by the prospect. Her duty and love would always belong to the princess, 
as it should be. But she knew the others, especially Minako and Makoto, still carried 
their own hopes of finding true love like their prince and princess had.

	Everybody had such big dreams for the future, too. Well, at least for the 
future before Usagi and Mamoru took the throne as queen and king of Earth. Rei 
remembered the day of the solar eclipse and how they had all wished on the 
disappearing sun as if it were a shooting star. Makoto wanted to become a bride, of 
course, but also planned on either running a bakery or a flower shop. Ami’s dream was 
to become a wonderful doctor like her mother, and Minako wished to become a famous idol, 
with fans all around the country. Next to theirs, her dream seemed so small and 
insignificant.

	Rei had always assumed she would stay at Hikawa and follow her grandfather as 
head priestess when he passed away, which would hopefully not happen for many years 
to come. For as long as she could remember, that had been the plan. It seemed only 
natural. Besides Saburo, nobody loved Hikawa more than she did and there was no other 
family to take care of it. But lately, Rei found herself questioning if that was 
really her dream, or if she only thought it was because she had convinced herself it 
was. What was her true dream?

	Father Arakawa’s words from earlier reverberated in the back of her mind as 
Phobos and Deimos, flying up ahead, dropped an arrow on the ground. She walked over 
and picked it up, examining the arrow.

	*Your arrows are straying.*

	That was as good a metaphor as any to describe her life at the moment. She 
felt so confused and unfocused, like an arrow without a target, flying blindly in the 
air. Hino Rei would be content to spend the rest of her days at Hikawa, taking care 
of Saburo and becoming a priestess, but Sailor Mars had bigger plans for her. Which 
path should she follow? Did she even have a choice anymore?

	“Go! Phobos! Deimos!”

	Finished with her inspection of the arrow, Rei threw it into the air.
All her practice arrows were tied with red ribbon, and she laughed as she 
watched the crows grasp and tug at the bright strands of material, 
throwing the wooden cylinder to each other with their claws. Despite being
named 'Fear' and 'Despair' they always made her feel as if no problem was
too big. 

	She decided Sailor Mars would worry about the future when it arrived. Right 
now, she just wanted to be Hino Rei.

					*****

	From the open panel in his bedroom, Saburo watched his pretty granddaughter 
play with her pet crows, reminded of when she had first come to Hikawa nearly ten 
years ago. He thought of that day with fondness, a small smile gracing his whiskered 
lips.

	It was hard to believe it had been that long ago. He remembered it clearly, 
as if it was only yesterday. How shy and timid Rei had been, so different from the 
confident and self-assured young lady of sixteen she had become. The sad little girl 
had blossomed into a woman right before his eyes, so much like her mother. She looked 
more and more like Takara everyday. Sometimes he found himself about to say his 
daughter's name to Rei, only just catching himself in time.

	But the day was soon approaching, the day he knew would come eventually no 
matter how many times he prayed it wouldn’t. As with Takara, he would have to let Rei 
go. Her destiny was far greater than being a simple Shinto priestess. That he had 
known from the moment he had set eyes on the girl hiding behind her father’s legs. 

	Rei was special. She didn’t truly belong there, in the humble shrine. 
Someday, she would find her true calling and fly like a phoenix from the ashes to the 
place where she really belonged. Saburo didn’t know when or where it would happen, 
but he knew it was coming.

	Feeling the onset of another coughing fit, Saburo finally broke his attention 
away from Rei and the crows and made his way back to the bed.  

					*****

	Later that evening, in the governor’s office downtown, Keitaro was busy 
packing up what was left of his personal belongings into a large cardboard box. The 
elections had taken place a couple of weeks before, and as most political experts had 
predicted, he had easily beaten his opponent to become one of the newest members of 
the Diet. The office now belonged to the new governor of Tokyo, Kaidou Ace, who would 
be taking over next week after the inauguration, so he thought he would get a head 
start on clearing out his things. 

	Keitaro had expected it would be hard to leave the place where he had spent 
so many years dreaming and working, but he was strangely unemotional about his move 
to the Diet building. Books, files, and other miscellaneous objects were placed 
inside the box with little thought, almost mechanically, and he only paused every 
once in a while to determine whether or not something was important enough to keep. 
Those things that weren’t were either tossed in the large trashcan he had borrowed 
from one of the janitors without a second thought or sent through the paper shredder.

	His work developed into a steady rhythm after a while, unbroken until Keitaro 
reached the bottom drawer of his desk. The drawer mostly contained office supplies, 
most which he left for his successor, but much to his surprise, Keitaro found an old 
newspaper clipping underneath one of his staplers, which would have been hidden from 
view had he not moved the object out of the way. Curious, he reached for the yellowed 
paper and smoothed it out to read.

	The words of the article were faded and hard to read, but the black-and-white 
picture beside the article was easy to identify even after sixteen years. It was a 
photo of his own inauguration, taken right outside the building on the steps after he 
had finished giving his speech. He was still behind the podium set up for the event, 
basking in the applause of the audience, while Takara stood off to the side, a proud 
smile on her face as she cradled baby Rei in her arms. Negishi was also there, 
standing next to him as the outgoing governor joined everybody else in clapping.

	Sighing, Keitaro placed the box currently occupying his chair down on the 
floor and took a seat at his desk, setting the article flat on the clear surface. 
He’d forgotten all about the clipping. He faintly remembered that he had meant to 
give it to Takara, who had wanted to put it in the scrapbook she kept of all his 
mentions in the paper, but it must have gotten lost before he got the chance. It was 
amazing he would find it again on today of all days after so many years.

	“You were always my biggest supporter, weren’t you, Takara?” he asked the 
beaming woman in the photograph mournfully. “I wish you were here now. Becoming a 
Diet member doesn’t seem nearly as exciting without you to share it with. Who will 
stand by me next week when I take my oath of office this time?”

	The photo, unsurprisingly, did not answer. Keitaro frowned, about to crumple 
the old paper up and throw it in the trash when he heard a knock on the door. Since 
most everyone except him and the custodians had already left for the day, Keitaro was 
startled by the sudden sound. He hadn’t been expecting company. Setting aside the 
article, he jumped up from his chair and went to answer the door. 

	“Kaidou-kun, what an unexpected surprise,” Keitaro said when he recognized 
his late-night visitor as the governor-elect of Tokyo. “Or should I call you 
Kaidou-sama now?”

	His former assistant shook his head. “Please don’t, sir. I’m still not sure 
if I deserve that title myself. These past few weeks have been so crazy, it‘s hard to 
believe any of it is real.”

	“You’ll get used to it in time, Kaidou-san,” Keitaro weakly joked to his 
protégé, choosing the middle road. He stepped out of the way and motioned for the 
other man to enter. “Please, come inside and have a seat. I’m afraid I don’t have 
much to offer you by way of refreshments, but if you would like, I can go to the soda 
machine down the hall in the break room and buy us some Cokes.”

	“No, that won’t be necessary. I really only mean to stay for a few minutes,” 
Kaidou said, taking the seat he was offered as Keitaro resumed his spot behind the 
desk. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

	“What is that? You’ve already thanked me numerous times for my assistance 
with your campaign. There‘s no need to say it again.”

	“This has nothing to do with politics, Hino-sama, although I truly do 
appreciate all your help. It is about ojii-sama.”

	“Negishi-sama?”

	“I don’t know if you have been informed of it, but ojii-sama is in the 
hospital again.”

	“No, I didn’t know,” Keitaro said softly. He had been so busy preparing for 
the elections and the move to the Diet building over the last couple of months, there 
hadn’t been much time to visit with his idol. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

	“Yes, he was checked in yesterday. The doctors aren’t holding out much hope 
for recovery this time. They say there’s nothing more they can do, so we’re bringing 
him home tomorrow.”

	“Are they sure? There must be something the doctors can do.”

	“I'm afraid not. The medications just aren’t working anymore, Hino-sama, and
he refuses to go back on dialysis.”

	Exhaling loudly, Keitaro leaned back in his chair, letting the news sink in. 
He had no idea things were that bad. The last time he saw Negishi, the former 
governor had been in high spirits despite his poor health.

	“Hino-sama?”

	“Hmm?” Keitaro said, breaking from his thoughts. “Yes, Kaidou-san, what is 
it?”

	“Well, Ojii-sama has been asking for you,” Kaidou informed him. “I know he 
would really like to see you again. We were hoping you would come over to the house 
tomorrow when we bring him home.”

	“I don’t know,” Keitaro hesitated, the thought of visiting Negishi on his 
deathbed bringing back bad memories. He spun around in his chair, not wanting Kaidou 
to notice how much the news of Negishi's decline had upset him. “I have much to do 
before next week, as I am sure you are well aware. I still need to hire a new staff 
and make the arrangements to move my things into the new office…”

	“I know you are busy, sir, but ojii-sama might not live much longer. We don’t 
expect him to make it to the inauguration. Please, come. It would make ojii-sama so 
happy to see you.”

	There was a long silence before Keitaro reluctantly agreed. No matter how 
much he may not want to see Negishi in the state he was in, he knew he would regret 
it if he didn’t go. “Fine, I’ll try to come tomorrow.”

	“Thank you, Hino-sama. Ojii-sama will really appreciate it. We‘ll see you 
tomorrow.”

	The governor-elect left soon after, quietly exiting the room after saying 
goodbye and closing the door behind him. Keitaro barely noticed his leaving, again 
lost in thought. Another person leaving him...

	Reaching for the newspaper clipping, Keitaro sighed, crumpling the paper into 
a small ball in his hand before throwing it in the trash.

					*****

	By the next morning, Saburo’s condition still had not improved. Rei was not 
thrilled with the prospect of leaving him alone while she went to investigate the 
Dead Moon Circus with the other senshi, but when she tried to get out of going, 
Saburo wouldn’t hear of it, insisting she go have fun with her friends. So, after 
getting dressed, fixing him breakfast, and making Saburo promise he would not 
secretly try to open the shrine and work a normal day while she was gone, Rei left 
for the circus with Phobos and Deimos in tow.

	Everybody else was already there when she arrived, even Usagi, which Rei 
attributed to Mamoru’s and Luna’s efforts more than anything else. Their princess 
looked as if she could fall back asleep at any minute, but she and her future 
pink-haired daughter both significantly perked up at the sight of the colorful circus 
tent and the countless balloons being released into the air. A funny-looking clown 
near the ticket counter was loudly trying to sell seats for the show.

	“It’s the Dead Moon Big Circus Show!” he called, juggling a rainbow of balls 
in his hands. “Get your tickets here! Come see the big show and experience the wonder 
of the mysterious Amazon! Get your tickets here! Only ten thousand yen a seat -- what 
a steal!”

	“I’ll say. They certainly are stealing our money,” Rei grumbled, reaching 
into the pocket of her black jumper for her wallet. Her grandfather was sick with who 
knew what, and here she was, wasting good money to see some stupid, lame circus act. 
That ten thousand yen could have been put to much better use.

	“It is rather high,” Makoto remarked, getting out her own money.

	Minako nodded her head in agreement. “I know. What a rip-off! If these prices 
don’t prove that the Dead Moon Circus is up to no good, then I don’t know what does.”

	It was a sentiment shared by all present, but despite the grumbling, griping, 
and the occasional curse, everybody bought a ticket for the matinee performance -- 
Rei cringed to think what seats at the later shows cost -- and entered the circus 
grounds.

	“Ooh, I want some ice cream, Mamo-chan!” Chibi-Usa said, holding onto her 
future father’s hand and pulling him in the direction of a nearby concession stand. 
“Will you buy me one? Pretty please, with a cherry on top?”

	“Hey, we didn’t come here for fun, Chibi-Usa,” Usagi scolded, grabbing onto 
Mamoru’s other arm. “Besides, if he buys you an ice cream, I want one, too! And also 
some cotton candy and maybe a caramel apple or two...”

	The handsome man in the middle sighed. “Do you girls think I’m made of 
money?”

	“Yes!” both the odango-haired girls chorused, causing everybody to laugh. 
Even poor Mamoru was chuckling, accustomed to always having to buy things for his 
girls. Rei gave him ten minutes before he finally gave into their demands and bought 
the ice cream or whatever triggered Usagi’s notorious sweet tooth.

	“Well, since the show doesn’t start for another hour, I suppose it wouldn’t 
hurt to take a look around the circus grounds,” Luna said once the laughter had died 
down. “Let’s split up and meet back at the tent at 11:45, unless you run into 
anything suspicious. I assume you all brought your communicators?” There were nods 
all around. “Okay, call for back-up if needed.”

	“Yes, ma’am,” Usagi saluted.

	Luna was not amused, shooting her mistress a pointed look that said she 
better take things seriously. “Remember this is an *investigation*, girls. You can 
have all the fun you want before the show begins, but keep your eyes and ears open 
for anything strange or suspicious.”

	The princess pouted. “Aw, you’re no fun, Luna!”

	No fun or not, Usagi was excited when Chibi-Usa suggested she and Mamoru 
go ride the go-karts. She immediately decided to join them, and the trio left to get 
in line, the two girls attached to the long-suffering man‘s arms like dead weights. 

	The others soon followed, with Ami and Minako deciding to go to the wax 
museum they heard about from a passerby, Makoto wanting to try her luck at the 
carnival games, and the cats going wherever. The girls all asked if Rei wanted to 
join them, but she had politely refused. Instead, she took a stroll around the circus 
grounds, her two pet crows keeping her company, and like Luna said, kept her eyes and 
ears open for anything remotely suspicious.

	It was strange. Rei had expected to feel an evil aura surrounding the circus, 
which was one of the reasons why she had brought Phobos and Deimos along with her, 
but she didn’t. On the surface, the circus appeared to be completely innocent. People 
were laughing, children were playing, and lovers were walking hand-in-hand, the girls 
all usually holding a large plush toy in their free arms which their boyfriends had 
no doubt won at one of the booths that were set up all over the place. It was enough 
to make Rei wonder if their hunch about the Dead Moon Circus being behind the recent 
attacks was wrong. Other than the outrageous ticket prices, which Rei still 
considered a crime, there was no proof the circus had anything to do with what had 
been going on around town.

	“Well, this is great,” Rei muttered, kicking an empty soda can with her shoe. 
“Ojii-san’s sick at home and here I am, wasting my time at a circus. What am I? Ten 
again?”

	Actually, when she thought about it, this was the first time she had attended 
a circus. Her parents had never taken her when she was little, and there was never 
enough time or money when she moved in with her grandfather at Hikawa. Rei remembered 
always wanting to go, though. It had sounded like so much fun when she overheard some 
neighborhood kids talking about it one time when the circus had come to town. She had 
been around five or six at the time and she had dreamed of stuffing her face with 
cotton candy and seeing the circus act performed at the big top. Her mother had 
promised they would go on the last day the circus was performing, but that morning, 
Takara had one of her more serious attacks. Her father, of course, had been too busy 
to take her, and Mrs. Yukana had to stay home to take care of Takara, so Rei 
completely missed out on the fun. 

	The memory of that day depressed Rei for a moment. Not being able to see the 
circus had been devastating. She must have cried for an hour when Mrs. Yukana told 
her they wouldn’t be able to go. After her mother had recovered, though, Takara had 
called Rei to her room and promised her that the next time the circus was in town, 
they would go, just the two of them.

	“We’ll have the best time, Rei-chan."

	The best time…

	The circus had returned exactly one year later, but they hadn’t gone. One 
year later, Takara was dead.

	Well, since I’m here, I might as well make the most of it, Rei thought, 
pushing the memory away. Better late, than never, as the old saying went.

	As Rei continued walking through the maze of games, rides, and people, she 
was surprised when she realized she was beginning to enjoy herself. The atmosphere of 
fun and jubilation around her was difficult to ignore. Rei felt herself being caught 
up in the excitement. It was as if all the weight on her shoulders -- Saburo’s 
illness, her confusion about her future, her duty as a senshi -- had been lifted 
away, and she was light as a feather. It had been a long time since she felt so…free.

	“I feel like a kid again,” she said, spinning around with her arms stretched 
out and her long hair spreading out like a fan.

	“The circus will do that to you.”

	“Huh?“ 

	Startled by the childish voice that seemed as if it came out of nowhere, Rei 
ceased her spinning and turned around. Nobody was there, but she did see a 
circular-shaped building that appeared to be completely made of multi-colored glass. 
A sign above the door said it was the House of Mirrors, and a couple was leaving. 

	“That was so pretty,” the woman said.

	The man nodded. “Yeah, it was fun.”

	Her curiosity piqued by the couple’s commentary, Rei decided to take a peek 
inside, at least for a few minutes. The show was beginning soon and she needed to go 
meet the others, but she doubted they would mind if she was a little late. 

	Walking to the House of Mirrors, she paid the fee and went inside, the door
slamming shut behind her.

					*****

	Minako glanced down at her watch, frowning. Most everybody had managed to 
make it back to the tent at more or less around the chosen time, but Rei and the cats 
were still missing in action. She was beginning to worry. It wasn’t like Rei to be 
late. More often then not, she was the one scolding the others for their tardiness, 
not the other way around.

	“Where is she?” Minako muttered to herself, pacing back in forth in front of 
the others. They were all sitting on the benches outside the tent, enjoying the ice 
cream cones Mamoru had generously bought, thanks to Usagi and Chibi-Usa twisting his 
arm.

	“I’m sure Rei-chan is fine, Minako-chan,” Makoto said. “If she ran into some 
trouble, she would have contacted us on the communicators. She probably just got lost 
or something like that. It is a big circus. She‘ll be here soon.”

	Minako sighed, tossing the rest of her strawberry ice cream cone into a 
nearby trashcan. She still wasn’t convinced, unable to shake the feeling that 
something had happened to her best friend, but forced a small smile on her face. “I 
suppose you’re right, Mako-chan. Rei-chan will be here soon.”

	Hopefully, she thought.

	Over by the entrance of the tent, Minako noticed they were finally letting 
the audience inside to take their seats. A young pink-haired girl with a surprisingly 
developed body clad in a skimpy outfit was collecting tickets as people entered the 
big top. “The show is starting,” she shouted. “Please make haste! Curtain time is 
12:00 sharp. You don‘t want to miss our spectacular beginning.”

	“I guess we ought to go find our seats, then,” Ami said, brushing the crumbs 
from her cone off her dress.

	“But what about Rei-chan?” Usagi asked, taking the words right out of 
Minako’s mouth. “She hasn’t arrived yet.”

	“Luna and the others aren’t here either,” Makoto pointed out. “Oh, no, wait. 
There they come.” 

	Sure enough, the trio of cats, a blur of black, white, and gray, were dashing 
toward them, going as fast as their little paws could take them. They apologized for 
being late, Luna scolding Artemis about his weakness for fish, then they all decided 
to go inside, assuming Rei would find them whenever she chose to show up. 

	Minako, along with the cats, was the last person in line, purposely dawdling 
behind the others. She hoped to see Rei running toward them at the last minute, but 
no such luck. Sighing, she stepped forward and gave the girl standing at the entrance 
her ticket.

	“Hey, no cats allowed,” the girl said. She blocked the entrance with her arm. 
“Your kitties have to stay outside.”

	“Are you sure?” Minako asked, surprised. She hadn’t expected they would have 
any problems. “They’re really good cats. They won’t be any trouble at all. I 
promise.”

	“No cats. Get them out of here.”

	“Fine.” 

	They walked a little distance away from the tent, and Minako bent down to pet 
Artemis. “Sorry, guys, it looks like you’ll have to stay out here during the show,” 
she whispered.

	“It’s not fair. I mean, really! Just because we’re cats, we can’t watch the 
circus show. I really wanted to see it,” Diana pouted, glaring at the girl who
wouldn't let them in.

	“Well, since you can’t, why don’t you all see if you can find Rei-chan. I 
can’t imagine what could be keeping her. She usually isn’t so late.”   

	“It is rather strange behavior for her,” Artemis agreed. “She hasn’t tried to 
contact any of you on the communicators?”

	Minako shook her head. “No, I haven’t seen or heard from her since me and 
Ami-chan left for the wax museum. Maybe I‘m overreacting, but I‘m starting to worry.”

	“Well, Phobos and Deimos are flying around over there, loud as usual,” Luna 
commented, pointing her tail toward the two black crows flying over the House of 
Mirrors. “Usually, wherever Rei-chan is, those two are sure to follow. We’ll go check 
it out and contact you if we find anything. Meanwhile, you should stay with the 
others in case the Dead Moon Circus tries anything at the show. There’s a lot of 
people inside that tent, so if they are going to try anything, it’ll be a prime 
opportunity.”

	“Right.”

	Leaving the cats behind, Minako headed back to the tent and went inside. She 
found the others already in their seats in the tenth row, Usagi and Chibi-Usa sharing 
the enormous tub of popcorn sitting on Mamoru‘s lap. Minako sat down between Makoto 
and Ami and tried to focus on the show that was about to begin.

	“Where are Luna and the others?” the brunette asked. “I thought they were 
supposed to be with you.”

	“That girl taking tickets wouldn’t let them come inside, so I sent them on a 
mission to find Rei-chan.”

	“Rei-chan still hasn’t come?” Ami asked.

	“No, I’m afraid not.”

	Makoto frowned, standing from her seat. “That’s weird. I really thought she 
would be here by now. Maybe we should go look for her…”

	As much as Minako would have liked to go searching for her best friend, she 
shook her head. “We better not, Mako-chan. Luna thinks something might happen during 
the performance, so it wouldn’t be a good idea to leave right now. We need to be here 
in case something goes wrong. Luna will contact us if they discover anything.”

	“Yeah, I guess you’re right, Minako-chan,” Makoto said, sitting back down in 
her chair as the lights began to dim, signaling the start of the performance. “We’ll 
look for her after the show.”  

	Much to Minako’s surprise, it actually was a fairly entertaining show. The 
stars were a quartet of acrobatic girls, one of them the rude girl who had collected 
the tickets earlier, and they were quite talented for appearing so young. Minako and 
the others sat mesmerized at the spectacle, unable to tear their eyes away.

	However, as the show continued, Minako felt herself becoming dizzy and 
light-headed. A glance around at her companions and the other people in the audience 
showed her she wasn’t the only one. Some had even passed out. What in the world was 
going on? 

	“My head’s spinning…”

	“This feels great!”

	“This is so much fun!”

	Minako blinked her eyes a couple of times, trying to focus. Something strange 
was going on in the tent. This must have been what Luna had warned her about. The 
Dead Moon Circus was putting their next plan into action, and the senshi needed to 
stop them. She tried to stand in order go outside to transform into Sailor Venus but 
found herself unable, falling right back in her chair. The others appeared not to be 
having any better luck.

	Mamoru was probably the least affected by the spell or hypnotism or whatever 
it was that was doing this to them. He managed to at least stand, rubbing his temple. 
“I’m getting so dizzy,” he said, glancing around as he tried unsuccessfully to walk 
to the aisle. “We should go outside for a little, get some fresh air… The exit… Where 
is it? There are no exits!”

	“What? That can‘t be --” Lifting her head up just a little, ignoring her 
vertigo, Minako’s eyes widened as she realized Mamoru was right.

	All the exits had disappeared.

	They were trapped.

					***** 

	The clicking of her high heels against the floor was the only sound that 
greeted Rei as she entered the House of Mirrors, echoing throughout the empty 
chamber. Besides her, no one else was around. It looked like she had the whole place 
to herself, which didn’t surprise Rei too much. They probably only let a few people 
inside at a time in order not to spoil the effect of the mirrors. Too many people, 
and things would quickly get confusing as you wondered if the person you were seeing 
was real or simply a reflection. Still, she thought there would be at least a couple 
of other people with her…

	Making it to the center of the room, Rei paused and glanced around at her 
surroundings. The walls were made completely of mirrors, all brightly polished to 
perfection, and formed a decagonal shape around her. It almost gave Rei the feeling 
she was inside some kind of prism or crystal. It was very pretty, as the woman had 
said.  

	Strangely, though, she couldn’t see her reflection in any of the mirrors. Rei 
stepped forward toward one of the mirrors and placed her hand against it, realizing 
too late she would probably smudge the polish by touching it with her oils. Still, 
she didn’t pull away, intrigued.

	“The mirrors aren’t reflecting anything? I wonder what kind of trick they 
used to do this. I’ll have to ask Ami-chan if she knows…”

	“Don’t bother. There’s no secret or trick.”

	Gasping, Rei pivoted on her heel. “Who’s there?” she asked, confused when she 
saw nobody else had entered the room.

	Instead of answering, the voice continued. “The reflection in the mirror is 
deciding on your true form, Rei-chan.”

	The voice sounded eerily familiar. In fact, too familiar. “Who are you?” Rei 
asked again. “Why do you sound like me?”

	“Because I am you.”

	In what had been the blank mirror in front of her, an image slowly began to 
appear. A raven-haired girl dressed in the same white long-sleeved blouse, black 
jumper, and beaded choker Rei wore stared at her with amethyst eyes, her left hand 
pressed against the glass where Rei’s right was touching in a perfect mirror image.

	“What?! It’s me?”

	“Greetings, me.”

	It has to be the enemy, Rei thought, backing a little away from the mirror. 
There was no other explanation that made sense. They had been right; the Dead Moon 
Circus was behind the recent happenings.

	“What do you want?” Rei demanded, on guard in case she was attacked.

	The mirror image Rei giggled. “Nothing, Rei-chan. I’m here to show you your 
true feelings.”

	“My true feelings?”

	“I know you, Rei-chan. I know you better than you know yourself. You’ve 
always been an unhappy girl, haven’t you?”

	“What do you know?” Rei asked. “You’re nothing but a reflection! You don’t 
know anything about me or anything else.”

	“Oh, but I do. I know plenty.” 

	The vision’s purple eyes, identical to her own, lowered, and she hid her 
hands behind her back. “Okaa-sama passed away when I was a little girl,” the vision began 
softly. “She was born with a weak heart, and she always seemed so fragile to me. 
Sometimes, I was afraid to hug her in fear she would break, but okaa-sama always 
assured me she wouldn’t. She was such a beautiful person, both inside and out. I 
wanted to be just like her. I was so sad when she died. I didn’t want her to leave 
me. I thought we would always be together, like she said we would. Okaa-sama lied to 
me. I hate her for that.”

	“That’s not true!” Rei said hoarsely. “I loved her! I loved okaa-sama with 
all my heart! Don‘t say things like that.”

	The vision didn’t appear to hear her, continuing its web of lies. “Otou-sama, 
on the other hand, was a bad man. He hated me from the moment I was born. He didn’t 
care about any of us; all he cared about was damned politics. He always disappointed 
us, me and okaa-sama. I bet he was glad when she died. He couldn’t wait until 
okaa-sama was gone so he could finally ship me away. Having a freak for a daughter 
would ruin his precious image.”

	Unpleasant memories of her first day at the Academy surfaced at the vision‘s 
words, and Rei clenched her fists, just as she had done when she overheard Tanaka 
Sayo telling her friends her theory about why Keitaro had sent her away. “I’m not a 
freak! It wasn’t like that! Not at all! Otou-sama was sad when okaa-sama died. I 
remember walking into his office the day of her funeral and sensing his pain and 
anger. It was so horrible. I wish I could have comforted him, but somehow I only made 
things worse. Yes, it‘s true that I still don‘t understand why he sent me away, and I 
don‘t think we will ever be close, but I don‘t think he‘s a bad person. He loved us! 
Okaa-sama said so.”

	In the mirror, the vision shook her head. “You poor, naïve little girl,” she 
said. “You still don’t get it, do you? Nobody loves me. Not even ojii-san. Why else 
would he not have visited me when his daughter, my mother, was still alive? He barely 
knew I existed until otou-sama forced him to take me in. Ojii-san only did it for the 
money. I know otou-sama sends him big, fat checks in the mail every month, including 
huge donations to the shrine. To him, I’m nothing more than cheap labor and a means 
to keep Hikawa in business. He doesn’t care about me at all.”

	“Stop it! That‘s not true!”

	Not wanting to stay and listen to the lies any longer, Rei ran to the exit. 
She jiggled the doorknob, swearing under her breath when she discovered it locked, 
and began banging against door. “Let me out of here!” she yelled at the top of her 
lungs. “This isn’t fun. Open this door right now. I demand a refund! Isn‘t anybody 
out there?”

	Girlish giggles ringed in her ears, taking pleasure in her distress. 
“Rei-chan, it’s no use. You can’t hide from your true feelings. You know I’m right. 
About everything.”

	Rei whipped back around to find that the vision had multiplied. In every 
mirror panel, an exact replica of herself taunted her. “What’s going on here?” she 
asked, flattening herself against the wall. “Why are you doing this to me?”

	“It’s time to face the truth, Rei-chan, to be happy. That’s what you really 
want, isn’t it?”

	“I am happy! I have wonderful friends and…”

	“Friends?” the visions scoffed. “Please! Those girls wouldn’t have anything 
to do with me if I wasn’t Sailor Mars. Who would ever want to be friends with a freak 
like me? Usagi-chan, Minako-chan, and the others -- they’re just using me. They don’t 
really care about me at all. I’m so tired of fighting with them. It’s so 
limiting…limiting…limiting…”

	She had heard quite enough. Covering her ears with her hands to block out the 
army of voices around her, Rei shouted, “No, that’s not true! I don’t think that. 
Enough! That isn’t true. Nothing you’ve said is true. It‘s a lie!”

	Much to her surprise, the voices abruptly stopped, though the reflections 
remained, appearing perfectly innocent. Rei slowly lowered her hands from the side of 
her head, breathing heavily. Had she finally gotten rid of them?

	No. Footfalls began coming toward her, quiet at first, but growing louder 
with every step. Rei had no idea how someone had managed to enter the House of 
Mirrors when she was blocking the door, but she instinctively reached for an ofuda 
scroll in her pocket, feeling an evil presence nearby. Her gaze lifted from the floor 
to see that while nobody else was physically in the room, one of her reflections had 
been joined by some pretty boy with long orangeish hair and piercing green eyes.

	“It’s time to think about my own happiness,” the main vision said, draping 
her arm possessively across the handsome stranger’s chest. “What I want is to find a 
friend who is all mine, a cute guy who will love only me and make me forget all about 
all the people who never did. Okaa-sama, otou-sama, ojii-san, the other senshi, even 
Kaidou-san -- they never really loved me. I deserved to be loved…”

	As Rei watched, the vision then pulled the man toward her. Her arms wrapped 
around the man’s neck, and he rested his hands intimately on her hips. The two 
kissed, causing Rei’s stomach to churn in disgust. That wasn’t what she wanted at 
all!

	“Akuryo taisan!” she yelled, letting the ofuda scroll fly toward the mirror.

	It hit the man on the forehead, causing him to disappear along with the other 
possessed visions of herself. All that was left was her regular reflection, panting 
as heavily as she was. Rei collapsed to her knees, coughing a little. The attack had 
taken a lot out of her, but she was glad it was finally over. She didn’t know how 
much more she could have taken of the so-called “revelations” of her soul.

	“Such horrible things…” she murmured. “I don’t really think those kinds of 
things, do I?”

	She didn’t have much time to ponder the question. Only moments after she 
thought she had broken whatever spell was cast over the House of Mirrors, Rei felt an 
evil presence once again. 

	“Well, I might kiss a man I don’t like once or twice…” the familiar voice 
said, Rei gasping when she saw the evil reflection had returned, along with the man. 
They were now dressed in wedding clothes. “…but my goal is to marry a rich man. That 
is true happiness. Forget about becoming a priestess. Being head priestess of a 
shrine is a joke. I want to spend the rest of my life in comfort and luxury.”  

	Rei’s eyes flashed with burning anger as she pushed herself back off the 
floor and reached for her transformation pen. That was it! That stupid supposed 
reflection of hers didn’t know anything. It was time to do what she should have done 
when the reflection had first appeared. She tossed the pen high in the air and called 
out “Mars Star Power Make-Up!” at the top of her lungs, invoking the ancient power of 
the planet of war.

	Rei expected to feel the familiar heat of the flames encasing her body as she 
transformed into Sailor Mars, but instead, she felt only pain. Her transformation 
wasn’t working. She was at a loss for what had happened. 

	“What’s going on?” she asked aloud. “Why isn’t it working? Why can’t I 
transform? Did I do something wrong?” 

	No answer came to her as Rei felt herself weakening under the intense pain. 
Before she even knew what had hit her, she was on the ground, her aching body 
screaming for rest. Her cloudy mind struggled to make sense of what was happening, 
but it was no use. Violet eyes fluttered close as Rei finally surrendered to her 
unconsciousness, and a childish voice commanded someone named Tigerseye to devour her 
body and soul.

					*****

	When Keitaro arrived at Negishi’s house that afternoon, a familiar feeling of 
dread fell over him as he walked to the entrance and rang the doorbell. He didn’t 
know why he had even decided to come. From what Kaidou told him about his 
grandfather’s condition, Negishi was in bad shape. Maybe he wasn’t even up to having 
visitors, despite Kaidou’s claim that Negishi had specifically asked to see him. 
Perhaps he should leave and come back when Negishi was feeling better…

	Keitaro shook his head. No, he was just making excuses.

	The butler answered the door a few seconds later and showed him inside, 
retrieving an extra pair of slippers for Keitaro to wear. He then led Keitaro 
upstairs to an elegant sitting room connected to one of the bedrooms, presumably 
where the elderly former governor was resting. Keitaro took a seat on one of the 
couches next to Kaidou Ruri and her youngest daughter, finding it the only empty spot 
in the room, and looked around.

	The rest of Negishi’s family had already gathered, all somber and quiet as 
they kept vigil. Ruri’s husband Taro was sitting in the armchair located in the 
corner of the room, smoking a pipe, as was his habit. Over on the loveseat, their 
teenaged daughter sat with Negishi’s current wife, who was significantly younger than 
her ailing husband. Kaidou and Yuri, along with their year-old son, took the other 
couch, sharing with the first Mrs. Negishi, his only real love, and the final chair 
was occupied by Negishi’s long-time friend, Kaidou Subaru, the patriarch of the 
Kaidou family.

	“How is he, Kaidou-san?” Keitaro inquired of Negishi‘s plump, auburn-haired 
daughter, keeping his voice low as not to disturb the quiet of the room.

	Ruri shook her head mournfully, stroking her daughter’s soft curls as the 
girl rested her head against her mother’s bosom. “Not good, I’m afraid, Hino-san,” 
she answered. “The doctor is with otou-sama now, dispensing some more pain 
medication. Hongo-sensei says there’s nothing more medical science can do for him 
except to make his passing as painless as possible.”

	“He’s dying?” Keitaro asked, not really in shock, as he had expected as much 
from what Kaidou had told him, but nevertheless distressed.

	“Hai, it won’t be long now. We’ve already begun the preparations for the 
funeral.”

	“I see.”

	“I’m glad you could come, Hino-san,” Ruri continued. “Otou-sama has always 
thought so highly of you, and he’s been asking to see you.”

	“Your son told me as much, although I have yet to understand why.”

	“It’s not that difficult to understand, is it?” she asked with a small smile. 
“Otou-sama always wanted a --”

	Before Ruri could finish her sentence, the door leading to the bedroom 
soundlessly slid open, and the doctor stepped out. Subaru, who was sitting nearest to 
him, stood from his chair.

	“How is Shinji-san, Hongo-sensei?” he asked.

	Adjusting the glasses on his serious face, Dr. Hongo turned to the rest of 
the family. “For the time being, Negishi-san is comfortable,” he announced. “I don’t 
see any reason why he couldn’t receive visitors, as long as you don’t overwhelm him 
all at once. I must warn you all though, he is under heavy medication, which may 
affect his personality and behavior. Don’t be alarmed if he seems disoriented or acts 
in a way to which you are not accustomed -- it’s perfectly normal when under the 
influence of painkillers. Please contact me on my beeper if anything happens. I‘ll be 
back in a few hours to administer the next dosage.”

	“Arigatou, Doctor. We appreciate it,” Subaru said, walking the doctor to the 
door. When he had left, the elderly man turned back around. “Who would like to go in 
to see Shinji-san first?”

	“I think Hino-san should, Kaidou-otou-sama,” Ruri volunteered, surprising 
Keitaro, who assumed the family would be given preference over him. “The rest of us 
have already said our goodbyes for the most part. Let him go in. Otou-sama wants to 
see him.”

	“Very well. Hino-san?”

	 Slowly, Keitaro forced himself to rise from the couch, walked over to the 
door, which Subaru held open for him, and stepped inside, all the while fighting the 
urge to leave.

	Negishi’s bedroom was dark, save for a small lamp sitting on one of the 
nightstands. It provided just enough light to see the figure of a man laying in the 
center of a majestic, king-sized bed, his weakened body clad in velvet pajamas and 
wrapped in sheets of silk. He was almost unrecognizable to Keitaro, and he couldn’t 
hold back a gasp of surprise at the sight of his once-rotund idol appearing so small 
and fragile.

	“Who’s there?” the old man asked, his sightless eyes turning in the direction 
of the door. His voice was raspy, as if it was a struggle to speak, and barely above 
a whisper. “Subaru-san?”

	Silently, Keitaro made his way over to the bed and sat down on the mattress, 
careful not to disturb Negishi too much. He then reached for his mentor’s frail, 
wrinkled hand and brought it to his face. “No, it’s me, Negishi-sama,” he whispered. 
“Keitaro.”

	“Keitaro-san?” Negishi’s chapped lips cracked into a small smile. “I was 
hoping you would come.”

	“Of course I came. How are you feeling, sir?”

	“Oh, as well as a dying man can expect to feel, I suppose,” Negishi answered 
with a dry laugh that quickly progressed into a mild coughing fit. 	

	Keitaro poured him a glass of water from the pitcher left on the nightstand 
and guided it to his lips. “Don’t say things like that, Negishi-sama,” he said once 
the water had gone down and the coughing stopped. “You don’t know you’re going to 
die.”

	“But I do, my boy, I do. You don’t need to pretend for my sake. Hongo-sensei 
has already told me they don’t expect me to live that much longer, maybe not even 
through the night. It won‘t be long now. That‘s why I came home, to die here 
surrounded by the people I care about.”

	“You’ve accepted it, then?” Keitaro asked.

	The dying man nodded slowly. It seemed his every movement took every last bit 
of strength he had. “I’m tired, Keitaro-san,” Negishi said. “It’s time for me to 
rest.”

	“But--”

	“Dying isn’t so bad, really. The doctors have me so doped up, I can hardly 
feel a thing. Rather nice way to kick the bucket, don‘t you think?”

	Though he was aware Negishi couldn’t see, Keitaro turned his face away from 
the man he had considered his idol, surprised to feel his eyes were watering with 
emotion. “How can you be so flippant about this?” he demanded to know. “You’re dying, 
and all you can do is make stupid jokes. Death is not funny!”

	Negishi chuckled, which only infuriated Keitaro more. “You never did have 
much of a sense of humor, did you? I always told Wataru-san you were too serious for 
your own good.”

	“Well, I apologize if I don’t find anything particularly humorous about this 
situation.”

	“No, I guess it isn’t all that funny, is it?” Negishi sighed, rolling his 
head so he stared blankly at the ceiling. He folded his hands on his stomach. “I’m 
sorry, Keitaro-san. I didn’t mean to be so inconsiderate of your feelings. I suppose 
joking around is my way to deal with all this, but if it makes you uncomfortable, I 
won’t do it anymore.

	“Thank you,” Keitaro whispered before clearing his throat.  He then
continued in a stronger voice. “Kaidou-san said you wanted to see me, Negishi-sama. 
Is there something you wanted to tell me or have me do?”

	“What? I can’t just want to see you one more time before I die without some 
ulterior motive?”

	“Of course you can, but I’m not family or anyone important like that. All I 
am is the nephew of one of your best friends.”

	Negishi shook his head. “No, Keitaro-kun, you’re much more than that,” he 
said, surprising Keitaro with the use of the less formal “-kun” instead of the usual 
“-san”. “Did I ever tell you the story of the last time I spoke to your uncle before 
he died?”

	“No, you didn’t,” Keitaro answered, unsure of where their conversation was 
heading. “What about it?”

	“Before Wataru-san died, he asked me for a favor,” Negishi explained. “He 
knew he wouldn’t live much longer, so he wanted me to promise I would look after you 
for him when he was gone. It was a little silly, I know, considering you were already 
away at college when he died and were well past the age of needing to be taken care 
of by a parent, but I promised anyway. I swore to Wataru-san I would take you as the 
son I never had.”

	“You think of me as your son?”

	Negishi nodded. “Hai. I admit I probably wasn’t the best father figure at 
times, but I did try… And I do love you, my son. I am as proud of you as any father 
could be.”

	Keitaro drew in a sharp breath as the blind man managed to find his hand and 
wrapped his cold, bony fingers around his own. He didn’t quite know how to respond to 
Negishi’s revelation. It was unexpected, yet at the same time, he realized he had 
felt the same. After Wataru died, it was Negishi he went to for guidance and advice, 
whether it was political or personal. He had looked up to him as a man to admire and 
to emulate, someone to idolize as a child worships his father. Negishi wasn’t 
perfect, he knew, but the old man had cared for him in his own special way, and he 
loved him for that. 

	Too bad he had realized it too late.

	“Negishi-sama, don’t go,” Keitaro begged, his voice an urgent whisper. 
“Please, I-I don’t want to lose you, too. I can’t lose another person I care about. 
Don‘t go…”

	“Keitaro-kun, it’s time,” Negishi said with a small smile. “I said everything 
I needed to say. Now say goodbye and send Hoshiyo in here so I may die a happy man.”

	“B-But…”

	“Will you deny a man his final dying wish? Please, Keitaro-kun, go. I’ve 
never been a man who liked long goodbyes, and I know you aren’t either. This is for 
the best. Just say farewell, and perhaps we may see each other again.”

	Keitaro didn‘t want to leave, but reluctantly, he pried his hand from the 
dying man‘s grasp and stood back up. “Sayonara, Negishi-sama,” he said, forcing his 
voice not to crack.

	“Sayonara, son.” 

	With their goodbyes said, Keitaro exited the room to tell Hoshiyo, Negishi’s 
first wife, to come back in. One hour later, Negishi Shinji died in the arms of the 
only woman he had ever loved. 

					*****

	“Mars… Mars… Wake up, our Princess Mars…”

	Two voices were calling to her through the darkness. One was sweet and clear, 
a beautiful lyric soprano, while the other was deep and womanly, an alto to 
compliment her partner. They were unfamiliar to the dark-haired girl sprawled on the 
cold floor, yet strangely, it seemed as if she should know them, perhaps from another 
lifetime. In any case, she didn’t feel threatened by their presence. She sensed two 
auras of goodness and knew whoever they were, they were not the enemy.

	“Who’s there?” Rei asked, struggling to open her heavy eyelids. She was still 
weak from whatever happened to her but could feel herself regaining some of her 
strength. She managed to push up the upper part of her body, propping her weight on 
her elbows and focused on the sight in front of her.

	The voices belonged to two sprites, barely taller than some of the dolls in 
her toy collection. They both wore one-piece body suits -- one red and the other 
black -- trimmed with some kind of iridescent, wing-like material on the back and 
buttocks and black lace-up high heels. Both also had long, raven black hair half 
pulled into a style made famous by Princess Leia from the Star Wars movies to cover 
their ears and blood red eyes. Each held a single, black feather in one of their 
hands, which they used to direct her attention to an image forming in one of the 
mirrors. 

	Rei’s eyes widened when the image became clear enough to make out. It showed 
her friends back at the circus tent, apparently under some kind of hypnotizing spell. 
Enraged by the sight of the people she loved in danger, knowing she needed to help 
them, the rest of Rei’s strength returned, and she sat up, momentarily forgetting 
about the sprites by her side.

	“Everyone! They’re in danger!” Rei exclaimed, silently cursing herself for 
her stupidity. She couldn‘t believe she had been so gullible. If anything happened to 
Minako, Usagi, and the others, she would never forgive herself. “Oh, no! I should 
have been there instead of being tricked by the enemy. I have to help them!”

	“That is the Princess Mars we love!” the two voices chorused in beautiful 
harmony.

	Reminded of their presence, Rei turned her attention back to the fairy-like 
girls. She blinked a couple of times as she attempted to remember how she knew them. 
They seemed so familiar to her, somehow, although she was positive she had never seen 
them before during her lifetime as Hino Rei. She surely would have remembered if she 
had, but she couldn’t shake away the feeling of recognition. Their auras almost 
perfectly matched those belonging to…

	No, that couldn’t be right. Could it?

	Rei gasped upon noticing the raven feathers in their hands, all but 
confirming her suspicions. “Y-You…” she stuttered. “Are you…?”

	The identical girls shared a private smile before nodding. “Yes, Rei-chan, we 
are your guardians,” the deep-voiced one in black said.

	“Please, allow us to introduce ourselves,” the other said, bowing to Rei with 
her partner in perfect unison. “My name is Phobos.”

	“And I am Deimos. What a pleasure it is to finally meet you again, Princess 
Mars.”

	Phobos and Deimos, her pet crows -- Rei was stunned by the revelation. In all 
the years she had known them, never once had she suspected they were anything more 
than mischievous birds with an unusual attachment to her. Yes, it did seem at times 
as if she could communicate with them and they had assisted her a few times while 
fighting as Sailor Mars, but this… This was unbelievable.

	Even more unbelievable, though, was when the two joined hands, causing her to 
be nearly blinded by the appearance of a bright red light. When the brightness 
finally faded away, Rei saw a heart-shaped crystal had mysteriously formed between 
them and started floating toward her.

	“You must transform and save your friends, Princess Mars,” Phobos said. “This 
is your new Mars Crystal.”

	Deimos nodded. “Quick, use it to transform! Then strike the enemy with your 
Mars Arrow. We know you can do it!” 

	“Phobos! Deimos!” 

	Rei grasped the crystal in her hands just as the two sprites disappeared in a 
cloud of smoke. She didn’t even have the opportunity to ask them why they had 
appeared or how to use the glowing crystal they had given her, but she didn’t have 
time to worry about that now. Her friends were in danger.

	“The Mars Crystal? My crystal?” she said to herself, cradling the red stone 
in her palms as she tried to focus on the power she could feel within. The words Rei 
needed came to her like a whisper in the back of her mind, and pressing the crystal 
against her chest, she threw her free arm in the air and yelled “Mars Crystal Power, 
Make Up!”

	With those words, a red light covered her body, and Rei felt a blaze of fire 
coursing through her veins like nothing she had ever felt before. It was euphoric. 
Rei closed her eyes and lost herself in the sensation, realizing how silly she was to 
have doubted herself. She had lost her way, but she had found her dream again. She 
was the soldier of fire who had pledged loyalty to Princess Serenity. To protect the 
princess, the planet, and her comrades, the people she loved so dearly -- that was 
her dream. 

	When the transformation was complete, Rei was dressed in her usual 
red-and-purple sailor fuku, except the bow at the small of her back was longer, her 
sleeves were different, and the ornaments on her choker and front bow had changed to 
a star and a heart, respectively. She also held a new weapon in her hands, the Mars 
Arrow.

	“Rei-chan,” the mellifluous voice of Kaioh Michiru, also known as the absent 
Sailor Neptune, mysteriously sounded in her ears. “You outshine everyone with your 
nerves and senses. Always hone that, and when you think you are being taken advantage 
of by the enemy, stretch a line taut with your soul. Then, with your whole body and 
soul, shoot the arrow of your finishing blow.”  

	Rei did just that, the outline of a bow made of light forming in her hands as 
she drew back her arrow. This time, she would not miss her target. Aiming for the 
ferocious tiger who had suddenly appeared in the room, she released the fatal arrow 
and shouted “Mars Flame Sniper!”, destroying both the animal and the House of 
Mirrors, which shattered into millions of tiny pieces before disappearing into thin 
air. Rei then turned and ran towards the circus tent to help the others, meeting 
Luna, Artemis, and Diana on the way.

	Much to her relief, when Rei arrived, she discovered whatever spell had been 
cast over the circus tent must have been broken when she destroyed the House of 
Mirrors. Everyone had gotten out safely, though they didn’t seem to remember much 
about what had happened. Makoto was yawning as if she had just woken from a long nap, 
and the others looked just plain confused.

	“Are you all okay?” Rei asked, running over with the cats.

	“Yeah, we’re fine,“ Minako said, smiling as she moved to hug her friend. 
“Rei-chan, you’re okay! We were worried about you. Where have you been?”

	“I was fighting the enemy. We were right. The Dead Moon Circus must be behind 
all this.”

	“What? You fought them? Why didn’t you call for help on the communicators?”

	“There wasn’t time,” Rei answered. “When I was passing by the House of 
Mirrors, I felt myself strangely drawn inside their trap, and the mirrors kept 
showing me these horrible delusions. The enemy is obscene, playing dirty mind tricks 
and preying on the doubts inside you! I think they might be after us. We need to be 
careful.”  

	“Shimatta!” Mamoru cursed. “Using the circus show to brainwash innocent 
people, as well as preying on us… We can’t let them get away with it!”

	Rei nodded in complete agreement, turning back toward the circus tent. “We 
have to stop the Dead Moon Circus before more people fall into their trap. It is our 
duty to protect the people of this city. That is our dream!”

					*****

	Back at the shrine, Saburo coughed, his sore, dry throat aching from the 
effort. He was dying of thirst, but a look inside the pitcher Rei had left for him 
before she went to the circus that morning revealed it was empty. Groaning, he 
managed to sit up in his bed, ignoring the slight bout of dizziness he felt at the 
motion and headed to the kitchen, pitcher in hand.

	Once there, he turned on the faucet and filled the plastic pitcher with 
water. He didn’t even bother looking for a glass, bringing the pitcher to his chapped 
lips for a drink. The cool liquid felt wonderful going down his throat, and Saburo 
drank greedily, almost consuming half the container before setting it back down on 
the counter beside the sink. He then headed to the refrigerator, figuring he might as 
well make himself a sandwich for lunch since he was already there. Hopefully, it 
would stay down this time. Saburo didn’t want a repeat of what happened after 
breakfast shortly after Rei left.

	“Kami-sama, what is wrong with me?” he asked himself as he prepared the ham 
and cheese sandwich at the counter. “Why won’t this silly cold or bug or whatever it 
is just go away? I am so tired of feeling this way.”

	Saburo was beginning to think Rei was right about his illness being something 
more than a simple common cold. He never felt so terrible in his entire life. He was 
weak and tired all the time. It could have been because of his age, but no matter how 
hard he tried to deny it, Saburo knew he was getting worse instead of better.

	Sighing, he finished making the sandwich, but lost his appetite almost as 
soon as he took the first bite. His stomach was upset again, and it was a miracle he 
made it to the sink in time before he threw up again. He finished off the rest of the 
nearby pitcher, rinsing away the horrible taste out of his mouth, and slid down to 
sit on the floor, his back leaning against the cabinet.

	He would have gone back to his bedroom, but the fatigue was overwhelming him. 
Saburo doubted he would make it to his bed without collapsing. All he needed was a 
little rest and then he could go back before Rei noticed he had disobeyed her orders…

	He quickly nodded off, turning what was meant to be a short rest into a 
full-blown nap. There was no telling how long he sat there, lightly snoring into his 
chest. The next thing Saburo noticed was the voice of his granddaughter calling out 
she was home from the circus from the living area, stirring him awake.

	“Oh, no, Rei-chan…” he whispered hoarsely as he struggled to stand. Saburo 
reached for the edge of the counter and tried to pull himself up with little success. 
“I can’t let her see me like--”

	“Ojii-san?”

	It was too late. Saburo didn’t need to turn around to know Rei was standing 
behind him in the doorway, most likely wearing that look on her face that had become 
almost the norm ever since he first got sick. Though he knew she was only concerned 
about him and wanted what as best for him, he was growing to hate that look that made 
him feel more like the child instead of the adult of the house. Defeated, he let go 
of his grip and slumped back down on the floor.

	“Rei-chan, you’re home already?” he asked pleasantly, forcing a grin on his 
face. “Did you have a nice time at the circus with your friends?”

	His granddaughter ignored the questions, instead kneeling down on the floor 
beside him. Her violet eyes were filled with concern, but that didn’t stop her from 
gently scolding him. “Ojii-san, what are you doing in here?” she asked. “You’re sick. 
You should be in bed resting, not trying to cook dinner or whatever it is you were 
doing. I told you I would take care of everything. You promised me you would take it 
easy while I was gone.”

	“It wasn’t like that, Rei-chan. Honestly, I just came in here to refill the 
pitcher and make myself a sandwich. I was going to go straight back to bed…”

	“But you were too weak to make it back,” she finished for him, her face 
softening. “I’m sorry. I knew I shouldn’t have gone out today. I should have stayed 
here or at least asked somebody to come check in on you while I was gone.”

	“I’m fine, sweetheart. Really I am.”

	To prove it, Saburo reached for the counter ledge once again to pull himself 
back up. He managed to stand, but as soon as he began trying to walk, his legs gave 
out from underneath him. He fell, stumbling to the ground, and Rei ran over to help 
him.

	“Ojii-san, are you okay?” she asked, sounding more worried than ever as she 
helped him sit back up. “Did you hurt yourself?”

	“No, no, it was just a silly little fall. Nothing to worry about.”

	Rei didn‘t look convinced. “Are you sure?”

	“Yes, Rei-chan,” he insisted. “It’s nothing.”

	“Well, at least let me help you back to your bed,” she said, not taking no 
for an answer.

	Despite his protests, Rei helped him stand up and assisted him back to the 
bedroom and onto the futon. She then wrapped Saburo tightly in the blankets to combat 
the sudden chills that had come over him even though he was visibly sweating and took 
his temperature.

	“39.1 degrees,” she said, reading the thermometer. It was even higher than 
the day before. “Ojii-san, this is not good. Fever, chills, sweating, extreme 
fatigue, loss of muscle control… You have to let me call Mizuno-sensei. Something is 
seriously wrong.”

	Saburo weakly shook his head, stubborn even after all that had happened. “No, 
don’t, little one,” he begged. “There’s no money for a doctor. I’ll be okay. I’ll 
stay in bed, and in a couple of days, I’ll be better. I promise…”

	He began coughing again, and Rei ran back to the kitchen, returning a few 
seconds later with the pitcher and a glass in her hands. She poured him a drink and 
gave him some over-the-counter medicine to take with it. Saburo made a face at the 
sight of the pills, but swallowed them anyway, hoping if he cooperated, Rei would 
forget about getting a doctor.

	No such luck. After his granddaughter was sure he had taken his medicine like 
a good little patient, she stood and started heading toward the open door.

	“Rei-chan, where are you going?” Saburo asked.

	“I am going to call Ami-chan and see if her mother can come by Hikawa once 
her shift at the hospital is over,” she informed him in a voice that said the matter 
was nonnegotiable. “Then I am going to close the shrine for the rest of the day and 
get started on another batch of Mako-chan’s miso soup.” 

	“But I thought I told you --”

	“Don’t worry about the money, ojii-san. I’ll get it one way or another. You 
should rest, and I’ll be back in about thirty minutes with the soup. If you need me, 
I’ll probably be in the kitchen, so just call for me. I’ll come as soon as I can.”

	Saburo opened his mouth to protest, but by then Rei was already leaving the 
room, sliding the door shut behind her.

					*****

	“Moshi moshi? Mizuno Ami speaking,” the familiar voice said, answering the 
phone after the second ring. “May I ask who is calling, please?

	Rei sighed, relieved that Ami was home. She had been worried that she might 
have been at one of her cram school classes or at the library. “Ami-chan, it’s me, 
Rei.”

	“Rei-chan?” Ami seemed surprised by the call. The two of them were good 
friends, of course, but it was rare for either of them to call the other on the 
phone. “Is something wrong? Do you need help with a homework problem or something?”

	“No, it’s nothing like that,” Rei said, smiling just a little bit at the 
conclusion Ami had jumped to about the reason behind her call. She imagined Usagi, 
Minako, and Makoto called upon the girl genius quite a lot to help them with their 
schoolwork. “It’s about ojii-san.”

	“Oh, how is Kondo-sama? Is he feeling any better yet?”

	Her eyes drifting to the closed door leading to her grandfather’s bedroom as 
she listened to Ami‘s questions, Rei’s mouth set into a frown, and she silently 
cursed her stupidity. She was still angry with herself for going to the Dead Moon 
Circus with the others on senshi business when she should have stayed at the shrine 
and taken care of Saburo. Better yet, she should have made him go to the doctor when 
his cold still hadn’t improved by that morning.

	“I’m afraid not,” Rei said, turning her attention back to the conversation 
after a short pause. “He seems to be getting worse. When I arrived back at Hikawa, I 
found him on the floor in the kitchen, too weak to even stand by himself. I had to 
help him back to his room. His fever is really high, too, and he’s complaining of 
chills though he’s sweating like a pig. I think he might have even vomited a couple 
of times while I was gone.”

	“Rei-chan, you need to let a doctor examine him. That doesn’t sound like your 
run-of-the-mill common cold.”

	“I know. That’s why I called you. Is your offer to ask Mizuno-sensei to come 
check on him still available? We don’t have the money to pay her right away, but if 
she could wait a couple of days…”  

	“You don’t have to do that. I told you okaa-san wouldn’t mind working free of 
charge.” 

	“I said I’ll get the money, Ami-chan,” Rei insisted, refusing to hear any 
more about accepting charity. “But can your mother come tonight after she’s done 
working at the hospital? What time does her shift usually end?”

	“It varies most of the time, but she told me this morning that she would be 
home around nine.”  

	“That sounds fine. Do you think she would be willing to come?”

	“Of course, she will, Rei-chan. I’ve already told her a little about 
Kondo-sama’s illness, and she said she would be happy to help in anyway she can. I’ll 
call her at the hospital and tell her to go.”

	“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

	“Would you like me to come over there, too? I can keep you company while you 
wait and help you take care of Kondo-sama.”

	“No, that won’t be necessary, Ami-chan. I can handle things here by myself. 
You probably have a lot of studying to do, anyway.”

	“Are you sure? My homework is nothing that can’t wait. I’m already about two 
weeks ahead in all my classes, so it wouldn’t kill me to take a break if you wanted 
me to help you.”

	“No, I’ll be fine, but thank you for asking,” Rei said, touched by Ami’s 
offer nevertheless. She really was a good friend. “I suppose I should be going now. I 
promised ojii-san I would make him another batch of Mako-chan’s miso soup. I’ll see 
you later.”

	“Okay, goodbye, Rei-chan, and don’t worry too much about Kondo-sama. 
Okaa-san’s one of the best doctors in Tokyo, and I know she’ll do everything she can 
to help him. He’s in good hands.”

	“Thank you, Ami-chan. Goodbye.”

	Placing the receiver back in its cradle before heading to the kitchen to 
start on the soup, Rei prayed Ami was right. 

*****

	As Ami had predicted, Dr. Mizuno Kyoko arrived at the Hikawa shrine a little 
after nine o’clock that evening. Rei, hearing the knock, stood from the silent vigil 
she was holding beside a sleeping Saburo’s futon and went to answer the front door.

	“Konbanwa, Mizuno-sensei,” Rei greeted the doctor as she showed the 
attractive blue-haired woman inside. Once again, she was struck by how much Dr. 
Mizuno looked like an older version of her daughter with the same navy blue eyes and 
matching hair cut stylishly short. “Thank you for coming on such short notice. I know 
this is highly irregular and you‘re probably tired after your shift at the hospital…”

	Dr. Mizuno waved her comments away. “It’s not a problem, Hino-san,” she 
assured her. “I’m happy to help one of Ami-chan’s dear friends in any way I can. You 
and the other girls have done so much for my daughter, this is the least I can do. 
How is your grandfather?”

	“Ojii-san’s sleeping peacefully at the moment, but for a while, he was 
experiencing chills and sweating, as well as vomiting. He also has a very high fever. 
The last time I checked, it was over 39 degrees.”

	The doctor nodded, taking a few notes on the notepad she had pulled out of 
her lab coat. “Ami-chan told me as much,” Dr. Mizuno said. “She also said he’s 
experiencing extreme fatigue. Is that true?”

	“Hai, I had to help him back into bed this afternoon when I came home from 
the circus because his legs were too weak to support him.”

	“I see. How long has he been having these symptoms?”

	“Well, as far as I know, most all of this started today, although he has been 
sick ever since last Thursday. We thought it was another one of his colds at first. 
He had been running a high fever, coughing, and experiencing some mild fatigue and 
dizziness.”

	“Does Kondo-sama fall ill often?”

	“No, not until last winter. That’s when he started catching all these colds. 
It seems he’s been sick more days than he has been well ever since New Year’s.”

	Frowning, Dr. Mizuno placed her notepad back into her pocket. “Thank you, 
Hino-san. I think that’s all I need to know at the moment,” she said. “May I see him 
now?”

	“Of course. Follow me.”

	The doctor followed Rei down the hall to Saburo’s bedroom, standing outside 
the door as she waited. Entering the room, Rei kneeled down beside the futon and 
gently shook her grandfather awake.

	“Ojii-san, Mizuno-sensei’s here,” she said in a soft voice. “She wants to 
examine you.”

	Groggy, but awake, Saburo nodded his consent, either too weak to argue with 
her anymore or finally willing to admit he needed to see a doctor. Rei motioned for 
Dr. Mizuno to come inside, then left to give them some privacy for the examination, 
deciding to make a pot of tea while she waited.

	A few minutes later, Rei sat down at the table in the living area and poured 
herself a steaming bowl of the freshly brewed liquid. It was chamomile, meant to calm 
her nerves, but it wasn’t helping very much. After a while, she simply sat with her 
hands wrapped around the half-drunken tea bowl, staring down at the tea’s surface as 
if she fully expected it to reveal all the answers to the questions she had.

	Ojii-san has to be okay, she tried to convince herself. It’s only a really 
bad cold. That’s all. Mizuno-sensei will prescribe him some antibiotics, and he’ll be 
better in no time. I bet in a couple of days, ojii-san will be back to his old self 
again. I *know* he will. He’s too stubborn to be sick.

	So why did it sound so much like wishful thinking? Even Rei couldn’t make 
herself believe that was true. The “feeling” was back, and it was stronger than ever, 
nearly suffocating her in its intensity. She hadn’t felt such fear since the day 
nearly ten years ago when she found her mother’s body on the floor of her parents’ 
bedroom. It scared her, to the point that when Dr. Mizuno finally exited her 
grandfather’s room and walked over to the table, Rei didn’t even notice her presence, 
jumping and spilling some of her tea at the doctor’s sudden gentle touch on her 
shoulder to get her attention.

	“Gomen nasai, Hino-san,” Dr. Mizuno apologized as Rei reached for one of the 
napkins she had the good fortune of remembering to bring out with her to wipe up the 
mess. The doctor kneeled down beside her at the table and moved the bowl out of her 
way. “I didn’t mean to startle you. Please allow me to help.”

	“No, that’s okay, Mizuno-sensei,” Rei assured her, placing the napkin over 
the spill to soak up the liquid. Fortunately, it wasn’t too big of a mess and easy to 
clean up. She placed the wet napkin back on the tray she had brought out, reached for 
the other tea bowl, and poured another drink. “Would you like some tea?”

	“Yes, thank you.” 

	Dr. Mizuno accepted the offered drink, taking a few small sips before she sat 
it back down on the table, and turned her attention to Rei. Rei couldn’t read the 
emotionless expression on her face, but reminded herself not to jump to conclusions. 

	“How is he?” she asked.

	“Well, my initial examination of Kondo-sama seems to suggest he has caught 
influenza,” Dr. Mizuno answered, much to Rei’s relief. She could practically feel the 
tension of the last few hours flow out of her body at the doctor’s diagnosis like a 
balloon deflating. Never had she been so happy to be wrong in her entire life. The 
flu was bad, but it was nothing compared to some of the other possibilities she had 
been imagining as she waited. 	“Plenty of bed rest and some medicine should do the 
trick,” the doctor continued, “although I would like to continue keeping an eye on 
him for the next few days. At your grandfather’s advanced age, a case of influenza 
often develops into pneumonia, but I believe as long as he follows my 
recommendations, he should be out of immediate danger.”

	“Immediate danger?” Rei repeated. Her fleeting relief reverted back to worry. 
“What do you mean? Is there something else wrong?”

	“Nothing certain as of yet, Hino-san. I do not like giving a positive 
diagnosis without sufficient evidence.”

	“But you do suspect?”

	“Hai. The symptoms you described to me before the examination may be the 
signs of something more serious at work. I’ve taken a sample of Kondo-sama’s blood to 
run some additional tests at the hospital, but until I know more, I cannot know for 
certain. Right now, my suspicions are pure speculation. Perhaps it is nothing. I have 
been proven wrong many times before.”

	“But it could be something, right? Something life-threatening?” Rei pressed, 
lingering on the implication behind Dr. Mizuno‘s words. She had never been known for 
her optimism, usually thinking the worst of everything, and this case was no 
exception. “What do you think it could be?”

	“Hino-san, as I said before, I do not like to speculate on my patients’ 
conditions without most of the facts. For all we know, it could be something as 
simple as a stomach virus or a severe case of anemia. There are many possibilities, 
and I cannot make a proper diagnosis based solely on a list of symptoms. It would not 
be fair to either you or your grandfather for me to give you false hope or to cause 
you worry prematurely.”

	“I am aware of that, Mizuno-sensei, and I appreciate your concern, but if 
there is any possibility that ojii-san may be sicker than we first thought, than I 
want to know what it is. I know you have a strong suspicion of what is wrong with 
him, so please tell me what it is so we may both prepare for what may come.”

	Rei sensed the doctor was still hesitant to play the guessing game, but her 
insistence had worn the older woman down. Resigned, Dr. Mizuno sighed and produced 
the notepad she had written in earlier, flipping back to the page where she had taken 
the notes on Saburo’s condition. She took another look at the scribblings before 
answering, her face grave and serious.

	“Based on the symptoms you gave me earlier -- loss of muscle control, extreme 
fatigue, sweating, chills, fever, vomiting -- as well as the diagnosis of influenza 
and Kondo-sama’s recent medical history, I am inclined to believe he may be suffering 
from acute leukemia,” she finally said. “Remember, though, that is only a premature 
conclusion, and it is very possible…”

	The rest of what Dr. Mizuno said went right in one ear and out the other. Rei 
was only focusing on one word: leukemia.

	“You mean ojii-san has cancer?” Rei asked, interrupting the blue-haired 
woman.

	Dr. Mizuno took no offense at her rudeness, breaking off and giving Rei a 
sympathetic look. “Hino-san, I said it is possible he may have leukemia,” she 
reminded her. “I really cannot know for certain until the blood tests have been 
performed, and even then, the results may not be conclusive. More advanced tests may 
be needed before I can make an accurate diagnosis of Kondo-sama’s condition.”

	“Well, when do you think the blood work will be completed?” Rei asked.

	“In a couple of days, most likely, depending on how backed up the lab is. 
I’ll drop the vial off at the hospital’s laboratory on my way back home, and by my 
follow-up visit, I expect to have the results. We’ll know then if more tests will be 
needed, and we can begin discussing treatment options if necessary.”

	“Is leukemia curable then?”

	“It depends on what type of leukemia we are dealing with and exactly what you 
mean by ’curable’. Patients are rarely ever completely ’cured’, but we can bring the 
cancer into remission in some cases, adding a few more years to their life.”

	“So that’s good, isn’t it?”

	The doctor sighed. “Unfortunately, if what I suspect is true, it may be too 
late for your grandfather. His symptoms seem to suggest acute leukemia, which is the 
faster growing type of the cancer. If we caught it early enough, there may be a 
chance to get the cancer into remission, but many patients with acute leukemia die 
within six months to a year after diagnosis.”

	“No…“ 

	Her face growing pale, Rei shook her head. She refused to believe it. It 
couldn’t be true. Her grandfather couldn’t be dying! It *wasn’t* true!   

	“Please, Hino-san, know that I am not trying to cause you more worry,” Dr. 
Mizuno said softly, noticing her reaction. “You asked me questions, and I am 
answering them as truthfully as I can, but you must remember this is all speculation 
at this point. We don’t know anything yet. This is why I was hesitant to tell you 
this before.”

	“No, I’m glad you told me,” Rei assured her, regaining some of her composure. 
“Does ojii-san know about this?”

	At that, Rei was surprised to see the kind doctor smile. “Hai, he was as 
stubborn as you are about the subject. I didn’t want to tell him, but he was quite 
insistent on knowing what kind of tests I would be performing. I can see where you 
get it from, Hino-san.”

	They both got a good chuckle out of that, breaking the tense atmosphere 
clouding the room, even if it was only for a few seconds. Rei was still concerned 
about Saburo, but she kept on reminding herself that it wouldn’t do any good to worry 
until they knew something more positive.

	“Well, I should be going now,” Dr. Mizuno said, once their laughter had 
subsided. She rose from her spot on the floor and began gathering up her things. “I 
need to get this vial to the laboratory before they close for the night, and then I 
should get some sleep before my early shift tomorrow at the hospital. I’ll return on 
Monday for a follow-up examination, and hopefully, I will have some more concrete 
news. Until then, please don’t hesitate to call either me or Ami-chan if you notice a 
change in Kondo-sama’s condition.”

	“Thank you, Mizuno-sensei. I will.”

	Rei showed Dr. Mizuno to the door and thanked her once again for coming over, 
assuring the doctor she would pay her for the visit and the test by the end of the 
following week. As she had suspected, Dr. Mizuno tried to refuse the offer but 
couldn’t convince Rei to change her mind. They said goodbye, and once the doctor had 
left, Rei went back to Saburo’s bedroom, grabbing an extra pillow and a blanket on 
her way.


AUTHOR'S NOTES: Any comments or criticisms can be sent to me at ElysionDream@aol.com.

Also, some of the dialogue from the chapter was borrowed from the manga, and in case
you didn't figure it out, the temperatures were in Celsius, not Fahreinheit.

DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon is the property of Takeuchi Naoko.