Prompt: #82. Ghosts
Betas: None. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, nor am I making any money from them. I merely borrow them from time to time.
Rating: G
Notes: Cross-posted on my LJ.
Summary: She didn't trust him for many different reasons, and any one of them was enough for her to want him out of her temple.
Warning(s): Again, I take information from both the manga and the anime.

Revelation

She watched as he talked with one of the female high school students, a professional yet charming smile on his face.

For a moment, a similar image entered her mind, and her hands tightened around the broomstick just a smidgen tighter before she remembered that that memory belonged in the past, not the present and hopefully not the future.

Because he is Mamoru-san's guardian, she told herself.

She knew quite well that he had been brainwashed during the Dark Kingdom days. Even if she hadn't known, Mamoru's constant emphasis of that fact would've hammered it into her mind. However, it wasn't easy to mentally disconnect the present from the past. It didn't matter how many times Usagi told them that the four young men had been Mamoru's guards during the Silver Millenium because the Senshi only had snippets of blurry images when it came to their past lives. The clearest picture they had were their deaths, which didn't exactly work in favor of the generals.

Therefore, it wasn't much of a surprise that the girls could only remember the Shitennou as evil lackeys of Beryl who'd tried to kill them on multiple occasions. Not to mention one of them had tried to wreak havoc on the holy grounds of Hikawa Shrine.

That was also the reason why Mamoru had insisted that Jadeite started volunteering at the shrine. Despite Rei's protests, the blond General still arrived at the steps of Hikawa Shrine that night. Grandpa had, unfortunately, been overjoyed to see him—Rei had no doubt that it was because of the numerous visitors, both male and female, that Jadeite brought in.

She had come to find that it wasn't simply because Jadeite was a good-looking man (though he certainly wasn't lacking in the looks department, a thought Rei would rather die than to let anyone know). There were certain qualities in him that allowed him to charm people when he wanted to—extra emphasis on the "when."

There were times when Rei wanted to bash him in over the head, and she probably would've done so if she hadn't been sure that Mamoru would've burst out in tears upon hearing the news that one of his Generals had been burned to crisps by the Martian Senshi.

Well, he probably wouldn't have cried per se, but she was sure he would've been devastated to lose one of his best friends so soon after they'd returned to him, un-brainwashed and all.

Usagi, for one, had continually urged for her guardians to build a strong relationship with Mamoru's guards.

"They're going to be around for a while and we're going to build Crystal Tokyo together and they're Mamoru's friends and he's never had friends—well, male friends, that is—and they're really, really nice, I promise. So can't you all just try to give them a chance? If they do something evil—and I know for sure that they won't since I've already tripled cleansed them with the Silver Crystal—you can blast them all the way to Nemesis and they can spend the rest of their lives listening to Esmeraude's laughter," the future Queen had nearly begged.

There was something about the way Usagi's eyes glinted while they discussed this issue that made Rei immensely suspicious and she, of course, pointed it out.

"HAHAHAHA! I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Usagi had proclaimed with a rather exaggerated laugh.

If anything, it made the Senshi even more wary. Rei had been this close to using Akuryou Taisan, to make sure Usagi hadn't been possessed but had been stopped by Ami, who'd already ran a full scan on their princess with her mini computer.

After much persuasion from both Usagi and Mamoru, the Senshi finally made a reluctant truce with the Shitennou. A truce that had nearly been broken several times already within a span of four months. Haruka had even considered running the Shitennou over with her car one day "by accident" just to get the men out of the Senshi's hair. Though Michiru was fairly amused by this idea, she didn't want her lover getting thrown in jail, so she promptly forbade Haruka from going through with her plan.

Zoisite had taken up the particular hobby of harassing Ami just to see her flustered. Though the other Senshi knew that Ami could be more than a handful when you seriously pissed her off, it still annoyed them to no ends that the strawberry blond found it appropriate to bother the Mercurian Senshi whenever he got the chance to.

Kunzite and Minako were ingredients to another can of worms altogether. The general was courteous enough to all of them. However, Minako's reactions altered drastically with every single meetings, sometimes sunny, sometimes brooding, and other times downright murderous, and it was clear to Rei that her mood swings had something to do with the white-haired general. After all, he was always the receiving end of extra bright smiles or glares and clenched fists.

Nephrite was perhaps the only one who had had semi-warm interactions with the Senshi. Makoto had been particularly friendly with him until two months ago. The normally straightforward woman hadn't told any of them about what had happened. Nevertheless, she had since then made it a point to sit as far as she could away from Nephrite whenever they got together while he made what Minako called "moon eyes" at her.

The General that worried Rei the most, however, was the one currently volunteering at her shrine. No, Jadeite didn't harass her as Zoisite did to Ami, but there was just too many things about him that bothered him. On the very top of the list was that mocking glint in his eyes whenever he spoke to one of the Senshi, as if he had reserved it specifically for them. After all, it never happened when he talked to Mamoru or Usagi.

It only irritated Rei all the more that the blond General and Yuuichirou absolutely hated one another. She could barely go through a single day without yelling at the two of them. The fact that she hadn't thrown both of them, let alone one of them, out was in and of itself a major accomplishment; she expected Mamoru and Usagi to give her some form of recognition for that feat once the two of them became King and Queen.

So immersed was she in her thoughts that she didn't notice until said General was standing right next to her.

"Mars—" Jadeite began to say.

"It's Hino Rei," she said through gritted teeth, looking around quickly to check if anyone had overheard him.

His lips slanted upwards into a mocking half-smile, and he repeated after her, "Rei."

Strangely, the lack of any suffixes, let alone an appropriate one, to her name caused a furious blush to blossom over her cheeks.

"Hino-san would be just fine," she snapped, more out of disorientation than anything else.

The smile on his face widened, and he said, as if he were compromising with her, "Rei-chan."

To Rei, it wasn't much of an improvement, but she relented, deciding that it was much too petty and meaningless.

"What do you want?" she asked tiresomely.

"The others will be here soon."

Rei looked up in surprise. She hadn't even noticed that it was nearly time for their Senshi-Shitennou meeting.

Recomposing herself, she shook her head. "Okay." She paused shortly. "Just … continue catering the customers until Usagi and the others arrive."

He nodded in acknowledgement. "Do you want me to bring the tea into your room or would rather do so yourself?"

Her eyes snapped to his. He didn't look away, almost as if he were challenging her.

She knew it was a bit silly for her to continue insisting that she made the tea whenever the other Senshi arrived, since if he'd wanted to poison them, he had plenty of opportunities to do so. Additionally, Ami had calmly pointed out that if they wanted to be worried about someone slipping rat poison into their food and drinks, they should watch out for Zoisite instead; Jadeite would've been more likely to run them down with a truck instead.

"Or an airplane," Makoto had mused out loud, recalling what Rei, Ami, and Usagi had told them.

That, unsurprisingly, made Haruka snort loudly into her drink.

Nonetheless, Rei still held onto the faux sense of security that came with preparing their own food and drinks.

"I'll take care of the tea," she said.

They continued staring at one another for a short while. Therefore, the emotions he went through hardly escaped Rei's notice.

Her temper flared when she recognized disgust and anger in his eyes. How dare he have those kind of feelings when he was the one who'd betrayed his liege and killed the civilians of the land he'd sworn to protect? Brainwashed was hardly a good enough reason.

Before she had the chance to give him a piece of her mind, he spoke.

"Okay."

He turned around and returned his post, not bothering to wait for her to say anything else. Rei stared at his retreating back, and it was only when he was helping one of the patrons when she realized that the disgust and anger might not be directed towards her at all.

A lump formed in her throat, making it nearly too difficult to breathe.

It's just an act. He's trying to get your pity so that you'll accept him back into the group.

But she knew that he didn't need her acceptance. Regardless of what the Senshi thought, Mamoru and Usagi would always make the final verdict.

Closing her eyes, she turned her back towards him and headed towards the kitchen. Different words of comfort formed in her mind but never left her lips, and she knew that it was impossible for her to say them to Jadeite. Not so soon. Not when they were all haunted by nightmares of youmas and plots for stealing energy.

There would come a time when she—and maybe all of them—would let go of the ghosts from the past. But for now, she could only swallow the guilt and pretend to ignore the feelings that he was going through.

~-0-~