Venus' Flame

Thirteen: Suspicion and Theories! Three Lights' Return.

Rei ended up hearing the news of the pop group's return from a very hyperactive seeming Minako. Her faced curled up in disgust and she made a noise that sounded as if she were about to choke. She blinked and looked at her girlfriend, doing a double take. She still could not fathom the group of pop stars returning to the city, especially since she could have sworn the three died, alongside their princess, in the battle with Galaxia. Her fist curled and she had a reddened face, but not from a blush. She was angry. This meant that this was an enemy that they would be unable to defeat  without outside interference.

Artemis popped his head out from the excited female and gave her girlfriend a sigh of frustration and anguish. He had been dealing with the girl screaming about the idol group's return ever since the group was discovered to be back in the Juban area. Rei gave a soft nod of agreement and pursed her lips, not wanting to say anything that would annoy or shock the girl. There was no way that the raven haired beauty wanted to hurt her girlfriend in any possible fashion. As Minako slammed her advisor's head under the satchel, the shrine maiden gave her a warming glare and waved her in her direction.

She gripped the idol obsessed blonde's arm and whirled her around to face her. The raven haired woman gave her friend a glare that met her right in the eyes. It made Minako ever so slightly nervous, and she knew that. In fact, the girl was showing it in her body, shaking all over the place. Rei gave her a grimace in return. She let go of her arm and rushed off to the other side of the room where she hurriedly nabbed a piece of paper from a nearby bench. She then walked back to the side of the room in which her girlfriend was struggling to balance against the edge of her sofa.

"Stop playing around for attention, Mina," she muttered at the girl with a faint sigh of frustration. "I know exactly what you're trying, and it's not going to work on me. If you mention those boys in my house, you will be kicked out as quickly as you were let in."

"Uh, Rei-chan, they're just girls masquerading as boys—" Minako began to attest, before a pale hand was slammed over her mouth to shush her.

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN!" Rei yelled at her threateningly. "I don't care about that! They've made their way back into the city and they're back at YOUR SCHOOL!"

"R-Reiko, if this is about Yaten-san, that was just a childish crush!" The bow wearing blonde tried to make a point.

The raven haired woman shut her eyes and tried to pace herself before making another accusation towards the blonde. "Do you think I don't know that?!" She felt her vocal chords rattle as she spoke. "Look, Vee, the very fact that they're here means that there's some new enemy."

The blonde tried to laugh it off. "R-Rei-chan, we already knew that there was a new enemy on the loose..." she uttered out nervously. "She's scary!" she muttered to herself as she waited for her girlfriend's response.

"Don't look at me as if I'm talking about some undiscovered corner of the universe!" She accused the blonde, pointing directly at the blonde to emphasise her point. She clearly was blasting onward at high speed and ignored any evidence she was given. "They're here because we're the ones that aren't capable of dealing with it on our own!"

The blonde blinked slowly and began to back away at the other female's severe tone. "Look, Reiko... We can do this ourselves. We have Haruka-san, Michiru-san, Setsuna-san and Hotaru-chan on our side!" She reminded the shrine maiden, trying to get her to see her point of view. "We have the Quartet and Chibi-Usa-chan too! And, don't you forget how formidable Usagi-chan can be when she applies herself. We'll do just fine."

Rei pursed her lips and replayed the vision she'd had in her head. "No, we won't. Remember Galaxia?" She choked out those words as if she were talking about a taboo topic. "Don't be naive! We can't think that history can't repeat itself. We died because of naïveté like yours, Minako! We died protecting our princess!"

Tears began to fall from the blonde's eyes. "D-Don't remind me of that, R-Rei-chan!" The female shouted out in both frustration and anguish. "That was an exceptional circumstance! It won't happen again! If you sit here blaming me, I might just have to go!" Her hands were shaking as she said this.

Rei realised she may have struck a chord too hard and softened her tone. "Oh Mina. Forgive me," she articulated, noticing the tears in her eyes.

"L-Look, we can talk about this later." The blonde let her advisor out of the satchel. "Let's go, Artemis," she whispered.

As the blonde left, Rei stood in shock at the female's strong will and determination. She observed the blonde's shaky movements, which were in stark contrast to her usual bouncy, flamboyant way of carrying herself that she had held just a moment before their conversation. The shrine maiden exited the room and watched the girl rush away from the shrine in shaky anguish, her cat tentatively tiptoeing after her.

"Minako... Don't look so sad," Rei uttered, a downcast expression on her face. People can be hurt in more ways than one.

She sat down inside to assess the situation and think over it on her own. Due to what had just unfolded, she had not been able to warn the blonde of the full extent of the danger that was about to befall them.

Her two crows reacted to their master's distress by taking on their true forms. The woman felt their hands touching her but couldn't quite place it.

"Princess Mars..." they whispered.