Fire on the Sea

By PsychicDreams

She felt him approach and she tightly balled her fists. It was now or never…what exactly was she going to say to him? How?

“What is it, Rei-chan?”

The fiery priestess turned around and looked into the sky blue eyes of her beloved, one of the protectors of her prince, Mamoru. It would be years still before the birth of Crystal Tokyo, or so she hoped. She didn’t want whatever this great freeze was supposed to be…Or had the future been changed by the simple fact that Mamoru had resurrected his Shitennou a year ago?

“Rei-chan?”

Her head snapped up to him as his hand descended on her shoulder. “Jade-chan…”

He became alarmed at the pallor of her face. “What’s happened?”

“I…I…” She took a deep breath and conjured up Usagi’s face in her mind, that comforting presence as she had confessed her deepest secret to her closest friend. “Jade-chan, I’m…pregnant.”

Jade’s eyes widened till she thought they would pop out of their sockets.

“Jadeite?” She said his full name, in hopes that perhaps hearing his Shitennou name would draw his attention back to her. Rei fought the impulse to bite her lip in case he left her.

The Shitennou blinked and then looked at her worried face for a long moment. Then a beautiful smile broke out on his lips and he swung her around the small apartment he owned.

“Jade! Jade! Put me down!”

Reluctantly, he did so, but his smile didn’t leave. Rather it grew the second he looked at her again. She couldn’t help it; his smile was infectious and she found herself returning it. Straightening her robes, she cleared her throat.

He finally seemed to notice her still worried face. “What’s the matter? This is great.”

“You don’t understand…Jade, I’m sixteen and I live with my grandfather. What will Ojii-chan say when I tell him? He has such high hopes for me…and I think he’ll worry that what my father did to my mother and I will happen again.”

“Isn’t there—”

“There’s no way you can reassure him. I’m afraid…” Her shoulders hunched and she looked down at the floor. “I’m afraid he’ll tell me to leave; that he’ll shun me. He’s my only family, Jade.”

“Did you talk with Serenity?”

Again with one word, his words sent her back to ponder her separate world as a Sailor Senshi. He and the other Shitennou still had trouble calling Mamoru and Usagi anything but Endymion and Serenity, even after an entire year.

“I talked to her before I told you. I had to have someone to talk to about it…before you.”

Gently, Jade pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. “Don’t worry, Rei-chan. I’m sure everything will work out. You know that I would never leave you, especially not now. Right? You know just how much I love you.”

She knew, but she had to hear it again, to calm her. “How much?”

“So much that I’d rather cut out, not mine, but Endymion’s heart before I’d hurt you.”

As it was unlikely that he would even touch Endymion with the thought of harm, it was impossible to think of him ever hurting her. And who else but her would know just how trusting that oath was?

Rei pulled away long enough to look up at him. “I have to go. I have chores to do…and I have to break this to Mako-chan, Ami-chan, Minako-chan, and especially Haruka-tachi gently.”

He nodded, but grabbed her hand as she reached the door. “Rei-chan? Can…can I tell Endymion and the others?”

His expression was just so pleading, and so happy about the baby, that she didn’t have the heart to tell him no.

She had managed to gather all her friends in one place at the same time. Out of necessity, and because they deserved to know, she had asked Luna and Artemis to come as well, down to their control center.

And Rei sat tensely, waiting.

Usagi was the first down, pelting down as if she had the fires of hell on her heels. For once, her princess was the first to arrive, as the Senshi had pleaded of her.

“Gomen, I know I’m late—” She looked around, noticing that she and Luna were the only ones there besides Rei. A smile lit her face and her fingers came up in a triumphant “V” sign. “Lucky.”

There was no way around it; Rei had to laugh, and she laughed long and hard. This was the first time she’d laughed in days, since learning of her pregnancy. “Hai, you’re lucky, Usagi-chan.”

Usagi, after having had to detach Luna’s claws from her shirt’s shoulder from where she’d hung on for dear life as Hurricane Usagi ran pell mell down the street, sat down and proceeded to gulp down a cup of tea.

Her eyes were serious, though, as she looked at the priestess again. “What did Jade-chan say?”

“He’s thrilled with the idea,” she admitted with a small shrug of her shoulders. “But it wasn’t him I was worried about.”

Luna looked between the two of them in puzzlement. “What are we talking about?”

Usagi started, as if she had just remembered the cat was there. “Uh—”

“You’ll find out when the others’ get here.”

Silence filled the room, while they waited. Rei caught a number of her princess’ concerned glances toward her, but otherwise endeavored to maintain her false calm.

The first of the groups to come down was Makoto, Ami, Setsuna, and Hotaru, chatting amicably. A knot of fear and apprehension settled in her throat, for no reason she could think of. Her friends would never abandon her.

After a moment of thought, she realized that it was not the thought that her friends would abandon her that filled her with fear, but that she’d spent the majority of her life keeping her secrets…well, secret. Never once had she truly confided something about her, of this magnitude, to anyone before.

“Hey, Rei-chan,” Makoto told her offhandedly and sat down with a huff. “You’ll never believe this, but just as I was leaving, Neff pelted from our apartment as if had set a fire under his rump.” She laughed. “I remember his face…it was total and utter shock! I can only imagine him looking like that was if Mamoru-san told him that Usagi-chan was pregnant!”

The five of them laughed, but all Rei could muster was a tired smile.

Before Ami or Hotaru could inquire about it, the door banged open and Haruka and Minako raced down the stairs, both somehow managing to trip and landing with a huff on the floor. Michiru stood in the doorway, gripping her violin case with Artemis on her shoulder and staring down at the confused mess.

“What’s all that about?” asked Makoto, standing to help sort out the two women.

“We were going to be late!” gasped out Minako, somehow managing to have gotten her torso on top of Haruka’s legs and her legs under the taller woman’s head.

“With Haruka’s driving?” retorted Setsuna easily, sipping her tea.

“It wasn’t all my fault!” Minako spluttered. “Haruka-san was running too!”

“Really?” It made the oldest Senshi turn around with a raised eyebrow.

The race car specialist only muttered, “No comment.”

Michiru glided gracefully down and reached the landing just as the two blondes were standing and settled. When they were all seated and comfortable, Luna turned to the priestess. “What did you call us for, Rei-chan?”

Usagi’s hand came to rest on her wrist and she gave her a comforting smile. Rei drew from the sudden strength of that sometimes iffy princess and took a deep, steadying breath. “Well you all know that Jade and I have been going out for some time.”

“Almost an entire year now, right?” Makoto muttered, glancing at Ami, who nodded.

“Well, about two months ago, he and I…we became intimate. And now…I’m pregnant.”

For a moment, there was no reaction. The Senshi’s hand twisted until she was holding Usagi’s tightly, but her gaze never wavered from her friends.

“So that’s why Neff ran…” Makoto’s voice dribbled off after a few seconds.

“Are you sure, Rei-chan?”

She glanced at the blue-haired girl. “I’m sure, Ami-chan.”

A fist slammed into the table, but because she had expected this reaction from this particular person, she was able to keep her cool.

“You’re only sixteen, damn it!” Haruka’s green eyes were snapping with anger. “How could you not think about this?!”

Rei glared at the taller Senshi. “I did think about this! I’ve thought about it for a long while,” She stood tall, still holding Usagi’s hand, “and I’m keeping my baby.”

A contest of wills ensued before Minako broke them up forcefully. Her face was deadly serious for once and she radiated leader. “Leave off, Haruka-san,” she whispered severely.

“What about your duty as a Senshi?” Haruka spat wrathfully.

“I said leave off, Uranus!”

Minako’s yelling voice slammed into their ears and made Haruka take a step back in inadvertent acquiesce.

“Well, Mars?”

Rei stared her friend down and said forcefully, “This will in no way affect my ability to be a Senshi, nor my sight of what has to be done. I will continue to protect my prince and princess, with my life if need be.”

Her leader nodded and then smiled gently, proving she had suddenly dropped from “Venus” to “Minako”. “We’re with you, Rei-chan.”

She looked at all her friends and saw unanimous support. When she reached Haruka, the older woman simply walked behind her and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. “I’m sorry,” she whispered fervently. “You have my support, always.”

“Don’t ever worry about your support from this end,” Artemis told her, coming up beside Luna in the center of the table. “The Senshi stick together.”

“How does this change the timeline?” Michiru asked, seeing Setsuna’s utterly calm face.

“In no way.”

“So you knew about this before even she did?”

The Time Guardian turned briefly toward her adopted daughter, but went back to her tea, saying, “No, I didn’t, but when something affects the timeline, I’ll automatically know. Then I go back and see what it is.”

“What are you going to say to your grandfather?” Luna interrupted with a concerned look at Rei.

“That…I don’t know.”

Jade was waiting for her outside the game center. “Are you going to tell your grandfather now?”

She nodded soberly.

“Then I’ll come with you?”

Rei stared at him, not having even thought to hope that he would be there with her when she broke the news to the man who had raised her.

“I’ll drive you.”

Haruka’s keys jingled in her hand and she unlocked her yellow sports car doors. “Are you coming?”

Sitting in the back, holding hands, Rei stared through the blonde and teal hair that waved back at them in the breeze from the convertible’s open top. “It’ll be all right, Rei-chan,” her beloved whispered in her ear.

When they arrived at the bottom of the stairs, Rei and Jade got out slowly. His arm wrapped around her waist tightly, holding her close and giving her the strength he knew she needed.

“Do you want us to come up with you?”

Rei turned back to Haruka and smiled, somewhat hesitantly. “No, but stick around in case I come back down with a few trunks and move in with Jade.”

“You think he’s going to kick you out?” questioned the beautiful ocean maiden in worry.

“I don’t know; I just don’t know, but I’d rather have you here for support if he does.”

“You’ll always have a place to stay at,” Jade assured her as they made their way up the stairs, the watchful eyes of Haruka and Michiru following them.

She felt that same feeling of steel melding with her backbone like always, but just as she was about to go up the last few steps to meet with her grandfather, Jade stopped.

“What is it?” she asked him, eager to get this over with and know once and for all what was going to happen.

When he didn’t say anything, she turned to him irritably, only to find him kneeling next to her. She gasped and heard two echoing ones from down below near the street.

“Hino Rei, Sailor Soldier Mars, Princess Raye,” he intoned solemnly and held out a black box, “will you marry me?”

Her hand shook as she opened the velvet container. Inside was the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen and she included Mamoru’s promise ring to Usagi in that. A ruby sat in the center surrounded by sapphires in the shape of an oval glinted at her brightly in the sun. If she looked closely, she thought she could see, in the depths of the garnet, a small diamond studded “M”. M for Mars. Rubies for her, sapphires for him…

She looked back at Jade, who watched her expectantly, obviously willing to give her time to admire the jeweled ring. “Oh, Jade…I…”

“I hadn’t wanted to propose just yet; I had plans to wait for a few years, at least until you were eighteen. But what with this baby, I wanted him to grow up with a family.”

Instead of getting weepy, she demanded, “Him? What if it’s a girl? How dare you generalize like that?!”

A grin flitted on his features, hearing her normal combative mood come back in full swing. “Or her. How’s that?”

She bit her tongue to keep from smiling. “That’s better. And…” Her voice dropped to a whisper, “…of course, Jadeite. I love you so much.”

Jade surged to his feet and held her close. She breathed in the smell of aftershave and the cologne she’d given him for Christmas and it was at that moment that she felt that everything would be all right. Her grandfather would not abandon her, Jade would not abandon her, and her friends would not abandon her. And by god, she was going to make Haruka wear a dress for her wedding if it killed her!

As the Shitennou slipped the ring on her finger, she cast a smile down to the two in the car. It slid to a determined grin, one full of anticipation for the coming battle of “Haruka” and “dress”.

“Shall we go, Rei-chan? My Mars?”

A blush stained her cheeks at his low and loving voice and nodded. “Let’s.”

Things would be perfect.

~~~

End Fire on the Sea.