I don't know why, but for some reason I keep switching between Mina and Minako throughout the story, so I apologize to anyone who finds it annoying. Hopefully I'll be better about it in the next chapter.

xoxo

Mina sneezed, the cold was beginning to sink in to her despite the protective layers of clothes that she wore. She had thought that she was dressed warm enough to play outside, but she supposed that anyone would be cold, no matter how many layers of clothes they wore, after participating in a grueling snow ball war. Wanting to stop and catch her breath, Mina dragged herself out of trenches and over to the sidelines where she could watch her two friends.

"Admit defeat!" Rei yelled as she chucked a snowball aimed at Heero's head. Although he had perfect reflexes, Rei had a great aim and had managed to land a few snowballs on target.

"Hn, yeah right." If he wasn't currently dodging snowballs, he would have laughed. He had to admit that at first he wasn't sure he would enjoy a snowball fight with the two girls, but as the fight waged on he couldn't deny that he was indeed having fun. Grabbing one of the preformed snowballs he had sitting at his feet, ready for use, he took careful aim and threw it right as Rei's head poked out from behind a snow splattered tree trunk.

"Ouch!" Rei groaned and reached for her face where the snowball had connected with her nose. She could hear the crunching of snow as Heero jogged over to her, worried that he might have injured the raven haired girl. Knowing it was risky, Rei parted her fingers and took a quick peek at the boy who was approaching and tried hard not to smile. As he arrived at her side, she noted the look of concern on his face. "Oww my nose hurts."

"Here, let me look at it." Heero pulled his gloves off and gently wrapped his hands around Rei's wrists, prying her hands away from her face. Having his face so close to her own surprised her at first, but kept the emotion from showing on her face.

Wow, he really does look concerned.Rei held perfectly still, letting him examine her nose which, despite feeling cold, was in fact perfectly fine. She watched as he took a small step forward, closing the gap between them. Finishing his quick exam, his eyes flickered up towards her own and she felt her heart skip a beat as her eyes locked onto his own. Neither knew what to say, both being drawn in by the pull the other had over them. He leaned forward and she felt herself doing the same, her lips parting and the rhythm of her heartbeat increase suddenly. His lips were so close to her own, she could feel his warm breath against her cool lips. Her arm which had began to raise, snowball in hand, froze in midair as his lips suddenly crashed down onto hers with such hunger and passion that her mind went completely blank.

xoxo

Mina, although happy her friend had finallyhooked up with the guy she was secretly crushing over, was somewhat annoyed that the singles club had one less member in it. Picking herself up off the snow covered ground which had done a spectacular job at freezing her legs, opened the door leading to the dorms, only to have it budge a fraction of an inch. Eyeing the door in annoyance, Mina twisted and pulled on the locked door, wishing it would just open up and let her in. She didn't have her keys on her, she had been in too much of a hurry to escape her dorm that morning. Glancing at her friends who were still lip locked, she tried to keep quiet as she headed around the corner and followed the building, counting the windows as she passed by them.

It was at the seventh window that she stopped and headed towards it, looking inside the room which, if her count was right, belonged to Ami. The reflection of the sun on the snow made it almost impossible to look into the room, but she figured it would be empty anyways since Ami was rarely in it except to sleep. Peeling off her gloves and shoving them in her coat pocket, Mina first popped the screen off the window before running her fingers under the edge of the window and gently pulling it up. To her delight the window began to slide open with easy. Hoisting herself up onto the window ledge, Mina began to climb halfway through before a flicker of motion in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Turning to look, Mina froze in mid climb and stared with wide eyes at the bed that was not only occupied by Ami but Duo as well.

"Shit Mina!" Ami swore as she kicked Duo off herself and onto the floor.

"Help!" Duo whimpered as he briefly took flight before landing on the floor with a loud thud.

"Holy shit!" Mina scrambled frantically to go back the way she came, only to slip and fall off the ledge and into a pile of snow.

"Serves you right, now stay out!" Ami yelled at her friend before slamming the window shut and closing the blinds as well.

Mina slowly picked herself up from the snow, the cold of her clothes wrapping itself around her like a second skin. Looking over her shoulder, back the way she had come, she wasn't surprised to see both Rei and Heero gone. Shoving her hands into her wet pockets, Mina grumbled as she began her long walk around the school to the entrance where the main doors would be unlocked for sure.

xoxo

Ami glared at the blinds in front of her which blocked her view of her blonde friend who was outside in the cold. She was angry at the intrusion but she felt her cheeks flush suddenly in embarrassment at having her friend interrupt her and Duo. Speaking of which, she glanced over her shoulder to see him sitting on the floor, rubbing his hand and wincing slightly as his fingers brushed a certain spot on his head. Going over and kneeling down next to him, Ami pressed her lips against his hair on the spot which had caused him pain.

"Aw, thanks Ames." Duo grinned up at her, enjoying the treatment she had given his wound. "You know, we could always pick up where we left off." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her which caused her to laugh.

"Hold that thought, I'm going to go get something from the fridge." Leaving the room, she missed the pout that appeared on Duo's face.

"How can you be thinking about eating at a time like this?" Duo's whined followed her out of the room and into the small kitchen where the fridge stood. Opening the door, Ami grabbed a bottle that sat on the bottom shelf before returning to the room, a mischievous smile on her face.

"Who said anything about eating?" Ami held up the brown bottle which had the words Hershey's Chocolate Syrup in white words printed across the front of it. Duo's confused look turned into a grin and he bounded over to her, shutting the door quickly behind her before wrapping his arms around her and catching her lips in a naturally sweet kiss.

xoxo

Mina stared at the door of her dorm room, willing it to open in front of her. She was cold and wet and she knew that if she didn't get into a clean pair of clothes soon, she'd get a cold and that was the last thing she wanted to happen. Maybe Trowa's in. Raising her hand to knock on the door, she paused as her memory brought forth the scene she had witnessed in the kitchen between Trowa and Makoto. What if she's still with him? Dropping her arm, she turned to look down the hallway, eyes shifting from one door to the next. Ami and Duo were in her dorm which meant that Quatre wasn't there, Heero and Rei were probably in his dorm, both Makoto's dorm and her own were off limits in case that couple was in it, which left only one last place she could turn to in her time of need.

Shuffling down the hallway, Mina came to stop in front of a familiar door and hesitated only a moment before knocking on it. Silence greeted her and she waited a minute before knocking once again. She knew she was probably not high up on Wufei's list of people he liked, but she doubted she was hanging out at the bottom of the list with Duo. Knocking a third time, she waited only a minute before concluding that Wufei was in fact not inside the dorm. She would have preferred if he was there and had let her in himself, but his absence wouldn't stop her from entering. The only question now however, was how exactly she was going to enter the apartment. With no tools to use to try and pick the lock on the door, the only other option was to kick in the door. That idea brought a smile to her face.

"I have always wanted to do this." Taking a step back, Mina quickly raised her leg and sent a quick kick to the door. The noise of the kick was quickly drowned out by the loud yelp of surprised that had escaped from Mina. "Shit!" Swearing loudly, Mina hopped about on one foot, the other one throbbing horribly from the pain that kicking a door had brought upon it. It looked different in the movies, it looked easy.Scowling in anger at the door, Mina thought the plan over once more but came to the same conclusion as before. Preparing herself and her injured foot to kick the door once again, she didn't expect to see the door open and Hotaru stand in front of her.

"Mina, what are you doing?" Hotaru asked, tilting her head to the side.

"I could ask you the same thing!" Mina shot back as her leg dropped to the ground.

"I was merely looking for a shirt I had left over here." Hotaru moved out of the way, allowing Mina to enter the apartment. "Why are you here?"

Finally inside a warm dorm room, Mina began to strip off her snow-soaked clothes. Dropping them unceremoniously onto the floor, she left them in a wet pile on the ground and headed to the bathroom. "I need to take a shower and change into something warm before I get a cold."

Hotaru waited until the bathroom door closed before quickly heading back into Wufei's bedroom. After all the time that had passed, she had watched everyone around her pair up and get romantic with someone they cared about. And her? She was stuck in the singles club with Minako. She had told her friends that she cared about the Chinese boy but what she hadn't told them, was that she knew they were meant to be together. It would have sounded crazy and if Haruka found out, she would have murdered the poor boy for just being in her thoughts. Sighing, Hotaru couldn't help but wonder if maybe she truly was crazy. She didn't know why, but she felt a pull towards that boy stronger than any connection she had with the Senshi and although she didn't want to admit it, that scared her.

Plopping down onto the bed that was shoved up against the wall, Hotaru crossed her legs and began to look around the room. After much thought, Hotaru decided to humor this pull towards the boy and figured that maybe, if she had something to talk to him about, she could see if this was something worth exploring. The room seemed unwelcoming and void of any emotions. The walls were covered in different katanas from around the world, each different and unique. Besides the bed, the only other furniture in the room was a tall oak dresser which shared a wall with a closet. The middle of the room was empty, the white carpet seeming as if it was brand new. Lying back, Hotaru looked up at the ceiling and was surprised to find it covered in artwork that seemed so different yet blended together perfectly. Hotaru closed her eyes and tried to imagine the Chinese boy working on the ceiling, taking the time to draw each individual piece; almost like da Vinci. She smirked at that thought.

"And what are you doing in here?" Minako asked from the doorway, surprising Hotaru.

"Uh..." Scrambling to get off the bed, Hotaru crashed into the wall, knocking one of the katanas down as well.

"Thought you were looking for your shirt, not one of Wufei's." The look Minako gave Hotaru caused her cheeks to grow warm and she bent to pick up the katana, wishing to hide her blush. As soon as her fingers curled around the hilt of the katana, she gasped quietly as images flashed through her mind. As clear as if they were her own memories, she could see Wufei holding the katana and going through slow, graceful movements as he practiced. And then, as fast as it had come, the images were gone.

"I amlooking for one of my shirts." Quickly replacing the katana where it had once sat on the wall, Hotaru quickly left the room with Minako following close behind.

"Was it in his room?" Amusement laced Minako's words.

Heading into Rei's room, Hotaru glanced about before going to the dresser and pulling it open, removing the first shirt she saw. "Here it is." She felt foolish for having Minako caught her, but she didn't want to talk to anyone about her crazy ideas, not yet anyways. Turning to leave, Hotaru frowned at seeing Minako in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest and a smile on her face. Minako watched as Hotaru tilted her head slightly to the left, almost as if she were listening to something. "You might want to put some clothes on before Wufei gets back." The smile that slowly spread across Hotaru's lips and curled them upwards scared Minako.

Suddenly, the door of the dorm began to rattle as a key was inserted into the lock. Shocked that her friend seemed to have a sixth sense, Minako turned to stare in horror at the door which was beginning to open. Faster than lightning, Minako grabbed her wet clothes off the floor and turned to run into Rei's room, only to find the door closed. With no other option, Minako went once more into the bathroom, almost diving into the shower and flinging shut the black curtain. She could hear mutterings in Chinese as the boy moved throughout the dorm and headed in her direction. Praying to every deity she could think of, Minako wanted nothing more than for him to leave again and give her a chance to escape.

The bathroom door opened and Minako pressed herself back against the wall of the shower, wet clothes clutched to her now wet towel, wishing she was invisible. What was she going to do? What would she say? What if he used the toilet? Humming in her head, she tried to block out any and all sounds that the Chinese boy made as he moved about in the bathroom. The black curtain was pulled open and Mina's eyes, wide with fright, stared as he stepped into the shower next to her, naked. She might have been okay, might have survived the encounter and had a chance to slip away unnoticed, because for some reason he was really out of it, but she gave herself away with only a sharp inhale of breath.

Wufei spun around quickly and found himself face to face with Minako. Snarling in rage, he did pause momentarily to see that she didn't even flinch, merely stared down at him. He remembered suddenly that he was wearing absolutely nothing.

"Run."

Faster than the speed of light, Minako was gone.

xoxo

Quatre closed his eyes and flexed his fingers before resting them lightly on top of the white keys. His fingers began to press the keys, asking, instead of commanding the notes to come out of them. Although the piano was without its partner, the violin, it was still a beautiful song. Head bowed, he felt himself begin to fall under the powerful spell that the song created. The song, a favorite of his, was so well known he could hear the violin make its entrance. It felt so real to him, almost as if there was someone beside him playing. A soft sound, like that of hair brushing against a fabric, caught his attention and his eyes opened to see that he was no longer alone. The violin he heard had not been imagined.

The woman was beautiful with aqua colored hair and matching eyes. She merely smiled at him before twirling away and beginning to dance in time with the music. He watched her slow, graceful dancing, amazed that anyone could play the violin and dance without missing a note. Being able to share one of his favorite songs with someone who could play the violin so beautifully was a rare pleasure for him. As the song ended, the last few notes lingering in the air, she turned back to face him, the smile still on her face.

"You play very well." It was a simple compliment, but hearing her say that made him blush.

"Thank you." Just looking at her made his heart race and he had to look away. "I have never met anyone who was able to play and dance at the same time." Looking up, he gave her a smile which only caused hers to grow bigger.

"Why thank you." Pushing a lock of hair behind her ear, she returned the violin she had borrowed to its stand against the wall. Her fingers ran lightly along the instrument before she managed to turn and pull herself away from it. "I am looking for a few friends of mine but I cannot seem to find where their dorm is. I would be grateful if you could help me out."

"Of course, I'd love to help." Placing the cover over the ivory keys, Quatre stood up and moved away from the piano. "What is the number of the dorm?"

"It's number 117." Quatre lead the way out of the room with the woman following behind him.

"117?" The number was familiar and Quatre stopped to think for a moment before the memory came to him. "Oh yes, that's Trowa and Mina's room."

xoxo

Mina once again found herself outside and the fact that the temperature was inching closer and closer to the single digits, she was moving as fast as she could towards her dorm room window. It only took a minute for her to find and faster than she thought she could even move, she had the screen off and the window popped open. Shoving her wet clothes in, she climbed in quickly after them, landing softly on her toes, before spinning and shutting the window. Kicking off her shoes and dropping the wet towel, she headed to her dresser and dug around before finding a pair of jeans and a dark green sweater to wear. After pulling her clothes on she dried her hair and pulled on a dry pair of boots and

Mina, after having ran a few laps around the school in hopes that Wufei wouldn't be able to find her, finally made it back down the familiar hallway where the dorms were. Pressing her ear up against the door which led to her own dorm, she tried to hear if there were voices inside. She didn't want to admit it, but it was nothing like in the movies at all, she heard silence. Hoping for the best, she stood on her toes and pulled the spare key off the top of the door and shoved it into the lock. Cold and tired, she wanted nothing more than to get into dry clothes and make herself a nice, hot cup of cocoa. The door swung open and she stepped in to find the couple she had left earlier, snuggled up together on the couch watching a movie. She tried to stay quiet, to tiptoe past them and make it into her bedroom, but the fact she had to open the front door gave herself away.

"Hey Mina, I made...what happened to you?" Makoto turned and arched an eyebrow as she took in her friend's strange appearance. Trowa's gaze remained on the tv which caused Mina to breathe a slight sigh of relief.

"Uh, snowball fight." Trying to laugh it off, Mina began to head towards her room.

"But you're in a towel and is that icein your hair?" That caught Trowa's attention and he turned to look at the blonde girl who looked half-frozen.

Blinking, Mina grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled it around to stare at and sure enough, there were small chunks of ice. "Didn't think that could actually happen."

"Go get in the shower," Makoto began as she went to her friend's side and pulled her soaking wet clothes from her arms. "I'll get you some dry clothes." Before Mina could begin to protest, she found herself shoved into the bathroom.

Makoto went into the small laundry room and placed the clothes on top of the washer before heading back out to where Trowa still sat on the couch. He was watching tv once again but she knew that he wanted to talk to Mina. Glancing at the bathroom door, she saw it cracked open and a blue eye peering out at them. As soon as Mina realized Makoto saw her, she quickly shut the door once again. Smiling at finally realizing what was going on with her friend, she felt like laughing. It seemed so obvious now and she had a feeling Trowa felt the same way. Leaning down, Makoto kissed his cheek before heading to the door.

"I'm going to go look for a receipe, I'll catch you later."

xoxo

Makoto hummed quietly to herself as she headed down the hallway towards the dorm she shared with Hotaru. Even though she and Trowa had been together for a few months, she knew that Trowa had a soft spot for Mina. Chewing on her bottom lip in thought, she fumbled with her keys, not paying much attention as her fingers searched for the right one. Inside the dorm, she saw Hotaru sitting on the counter, eating from a plate of cookies and watching the television that was on the opposite side of the room.

"You know I made those for everyone." Makoto scolded playfully as she joined her friend on the counter and stole a cookie herself.

"Sorry," Hotaru mumbled as she took another bite, "just felt like pigging out."

Makoto glanced at her friend from the corner of her eye before grabbing another cookie. "You never pig out. What's up?" Hotaru sighed and dropped the cookie she held back onto the plate.

"I think I'm crazy." Her simple answer caused Makoto to choke on her cookie as she started to laugh. Scowling at her friend, Hotaru slapped her on the back, harder than necessary.

"Ouch, geez." Leaning away from her friend, she was about to say more but stopped at seeing the look in Hotaru's eyes. Changing her mind, she grabbed a third cookie and took a bite, chewing slowly as she watched her friend. "I doubt you're crazy Hota, but if you want to convince me that you are, start explaining."

Seeing that her friend was ready to take her seriously, Hotaru took a deep breath and let it all come out at once. "I think that Wufei and I are meant to be together in a way that is more than simple attraction but almost as if Destiny herself is telling me that we belongtogether. But then there's the whole fact that he barely even acknowledges my presence and I mean I don't even think of him that way. I mean sure we're "supposed to be together" but we don't even talk much. I can't exactly tell him this when I don't believe it myself. I haven't told anyone else because Mina would try to play matchmaker, Rei would set him on fire and Ami would take this way too seriously. You on the other hand are like a combination of the other three and would probably understand this the best. So what should I do?" She could feel her cheeks burning in embarrassment at having to expose so much of herself to her friend.

"Wow..." This would be considered one of the few times in her life that Makoto would find herself at a loss as to what to say.

"Yeah, 'wow' sums it up." Turning back to face the tv, she plucked another cookie off the plate and began to eat it slowly.

xoxo

Michiru smiled at Quatre and thanked him yet again when they finally reached the dorm. With a small wave, Quatre turned and headed to his own dorm, humming the song he had played not long ago. Michiru watched him leave for a moment before turning back to the door in front of herself and knocking on it. The door opened to reveal a tall boy with brown hair and emerald green eyes. He wasn't surprised to see Michiru standing there and just stepped aside, allowing her entry into the dorm.

"Not curious as to who I am?" Michiru asked as she walked into the dorm and looked around.

"Figured only reason you're here is to talk to Mina." It only made sense considering the only people who visited him occupied the other dorms in the hallway.

"Is Mina here?" She had a feeling her friend was due to the muffled music that came from one of the bedrooms.

"Yeah, bedroom on the left." Trowa nodded in the direction before heading back to the couch to watch the tv.

"Thanks." Heading to the door, Michiru knocked once before entering the room. Mina was wrapped up in blankets with a magazine in front of her and a cup of cocoa in her hands. Looking up from what she was doing, she smiled and patted a free space on the bed in front of herself.

"Long time, no see Michiru." Mina smiled at her friend while tossing her magazine onto the floor.

"Yes, it has been awhile. I hope that you're doing well here?" It had been months since she last saw her friend and she wished that she had time to stay and visit for awhile.

"Yeah, it's not bad I suppose." Blowing on the hot drink, Mina took a swallow before looking at her friend again. "I'm guessing you're here to deliver some news?"

Michiru couldn't help but smile at Mina's words; she always liked getting right to the point when it came to business. "Do you want the short or long version?"

Mina tapped one finger against her cheek as she considered her options. "Start with the short than give me the long."

"Short version is, Usagi's getting out soon. The long version...that's going to take awhile."