AN: Hello my lovely fanfiction readers! I have been struggling with the next chapter of Collide, and I needed a little bit of a break. I wanted to write something different, but I find myself unwilling to step out of the world I've created yet. So, snippets from Twists and Collide was born!

This is going to be a collection of one-shots, all scenes from either Twist and Collide, but they will be from the perspective of the Senshi and Shitennou! They'll mostly be romantic one-shots!

I wrote this mostly for me, but I thought perhaps some of my twist fans might enjoy them, too?

If there was a scene between the Senshi and Shitennou that you wanted me to write, let me know! When I have writers block, I may just write it!

Shout to very three lovely ladies, the original bae-tas, Aya faulkner, Ninjette Twitch and Revy679.

This next scene takes place between Rei and Jadeite in chapter 6: Nephrite awakens, in twist! Enjoy!

And if you like it? Review!

Jadeite and Athena

In which there is palpable tension

She stormed out of the arcade in a flurry of swirling black hair, her shoes pounding against the pavement and her hands clenched into fists. She was so angry. No, she was absolutely furious. She'd shared a quick look with Usagi, who was with a brunette that she did not recognize, as she'd stormed out of there as quickly as possible. Her friends' gaze had been fixed upon her, wide and concerned sympathy shining from the pools of bright blue eyes.

Rei attempted to offer Usagi a reassuring smile as she'd pushed through the glass door, the bells tinkling shrill giving away her less than stealthy departure, but she wasn't sure she'd quite managed. She was a Miko, a fire Priestess and the proud and robust Senshi of Mars - composure was everything - so why did Tuxedo Kamen's blonde-haired friend always manage to get under her skin, and make her lose her temper?

She wished that she could say it was because he was the monster that had kidnapped her, and so many others, and pulled her into the Dark Kingdom while attacking her friends. She'd certainly thought that she'd hated him even as Usagi had pleaded with her to give him a chance.

"It's not his fault, Rei. Mamo-chan says that Beryl brainwashed him. Please, trust him. And if you can't, then trust me."

She did trust Usagi because she could feel it too. She wanted so badly to hate Jadeite. How could she possibly even remotely like the man after what he'd done to her? Beryl's brainwashing be damned! She couldn't though; there was something deeper there, swirling in the cavity of her chest and hidden in the flames that she carefully tried to decipher. Ever since she'd laid eyes on him and he'd looked at her with those eyes, those serious, piercing green eyes, with so much frustration and tenderness watching her, she'd been haunted. He haunted her dreams, the image of his stupid face interrupted her meditations, and it bothered her.

What was she missing? She knew there was something else to the story that Mamoru had weaved for them. Usagi had bought it, hook, line and sinker, but she couldn't let it go. Usagi, her bubbly, compassionate friend, had become the most important person in her life, and she felt an unyielding need to protect her.

Perhaps that was why she was so angry. It wasn't the ridiculous insult he'd angrily spat at her, -calling her a seductress was, indeed, laughable- but the fact that she didn't trust that he wouldn't hurt her friend and, even still, she couldn't help but want him.

The fire priestess gasped, stopping abruptly in her tracks with the realization. Her eyes watered with frustrated tears as she stood, motionless, under the sweltering sun on a crowded street in Azabu-Juban, silently despairing the emotions and feelings that she didn't understand. What was wrong with her? She should have asked Luna for guidance or consulted with the fires in the shrine, but what she did instead was to follow her instinct. It was ridiculous, careless even, but it was like her legs moved of their own accord. Her grey heels clicked loudly on the pavement and the pleated brown skirt of her school uniform vehemently fluttered around her legs with her brisk, impatient, movements.

She didn't even really know where she was going until she stood outside of Mamoru's apartment building, standing frozen outside the entrance threshold, silently debating her next course of action. What was she going to do? It was ridiculous; even if she sometimes felt a fluttering in her chest and a glowing warmth pool in the pit of her stomach at the sight of him, there was nothing she could do about it! So what if the chiselled, Romanesque features of his face elicited strange emotions within her? Or the steady, soul-searching way he looked at her, evoking weird wisps and odd flashes of something that made her want to throw herself at him and crush her lips onto his. The facts were still the same. She didn't know who Jadeite was and she couldn't trust him.

Her face fell, and her heart sank involuntarily as she strengthened her resolve to dislike him. She was a Senshi now, and her responsibility to Usagi, Ami and their search for the Princess would have to supersede the strange feelings she felt for the serious, dark General whose fate was now intermingled with theirs.

She would have turned away. In fact, she was halfway through a retreating swivel when she heard him speak.

"What are you doing here, Mars?" His tone was deathly calm, slightly scathing and tinged with frustration that she was sure mirrored her own. He'd startled her, but she quickly managed to compose herself as she met his level gaze. He was leaning casually against the grey-stoned brick of the building, his arms crossed and his expression completely impassive.

She couldn't read his emotions as even his eyes had hardened into a serious, unfathomably difficult-to-read stare.

His ability to do that, manage to stay so calm with an austere yet arrogant aura, made her blood boil. She hated that about him! Although, deep down in the wise, Miko-level of her psyche, she knew the real reason for her hatred was her inability to contain her passionate responses and furious temper in the face of his stoic seriousness.

She wasn't sure what to say to him. She certainly couldn't tell him the truth, and she was not in the habit of lying. "I was just leaving," she snapped through gritted teeth and would have turned to leave if not for the knowing smirk that splayed mockingly on his lips. How dare he have the audacity to smirk at her like that! As if he knew the confused and tangled mess of emotions ripping through her?

She'd spent a lot of time meditating to calm her passionate disposition. Her grandfather always told her that her inability to control her temper would get her into trouble one day and, dammit, he'd been right! She should have spent more time listening to her grandfather's words of wisdom and then, perhaps, she would not have been possessed to do what she did next. She couldn't have channelled the calm, collected Miko even if she'd wanted to, as the passionate, fury-filled Senshi of Mars flew at him.

She wasn't sure what her original intention had been as her slender form furiously barreled across the short distance between them. There was a brief flash of her slapping that infuriating smile off his face, or even conjuring a fireball and setting him on fire. What she didn't expect was to find her body intimately pressed against his and her fingers laced through the silky hair at the back of his head.

His eyes widened, a startled look of confusion flashing across his face as his lips parted slightly in surprise. Inwardly, Rei felt triumphant, a cord of satisfaction coursing through her at this minor victory. She'd managed to crack the almighty, infuriatingly serious enigma that was Jadeite. It lasted for only a moment though, as his eyes darkened with a passion that matched her own and, with a husky growl, he lowered his head and crushed his lips to hers.

Her heart hammered inside of her chest, and she gasped at the intensity of the passion emanating from both of them as he wrapped his arms around her. One of his palms were at the small of her back, deftly pressing her closer to him while the other cupped the side of her face. The tips of his fingers laced through the strands of her hairline and the pad of his thumb pressed, almost painfully, into her cheek as he pulled her face closer to his.

She'd never done this before. She should have been clumsily fumbling through the motions with uncertainty, but when he nibbled her lower lip, coaxing her mouth open so that his tongue could sweep over hers, it was like she knew exactly what do. In fact, she was dizzy with something, a haze of a half-remembered recollection as if she'd done this before.

She was grateful, at that moment, that Jadeite had enough of his senses intact to recognize the fact that they were pressed against the brick wall, in plain view, outside of Mamoru Chiba's apartment building. He forcibly broke away from her, and she stumbled, breathless and dizzy, her heart lodged in her throat. She was still trapped in a haze of unbearable yearning, so she didn't protest when he grasped her wrist and hurriedly pulled her through the sliding glass doors into the lobby.

She was drowning in a lustful stupor, barely able to wrap her mind around what was happening as he pulled her into the elevator that would lead them to the right floor. She wasn't even sure how they managed to get to the apartment as they stopped several times, a blur of intermingling limbs and passionate kisses as he pressed her against the mirrored wall of the elevator and the white-painted walls of the never-ending hallway that led to apartment 1809. She was breathless and panting at the same time, drowning with her need to be with him, when they finally stumbled through the door.

The sound of the resounding 'click' as the door closed behind them, barely registered in her mind as she completely abandoned any inhibitions of the wise, responsible Rei, and allowed the fiery passion of Mars to completely take over.

The fire she felt was clearly reflected in the purple irises of her eyes as she took control, lips still connected to his as she pushed the general backwards out of the genkan and into the living room. He grunted as the back of his calves collided with the sofa. Without a moment of hesitation, she pushed him so that he fell unceremoniously onto the cushioned seat of the couch.

The look in his eyes, as he stared up at her, almost cut through the fevered fog consuming her. They were hooded and filled with an intense desire that mimicked her own, but there was a tender sadness that glinted there, too. It caused her to inhale sharply, and she swore that her racing heart skipped a beat as a strange, unfamiliar, emotion bubbled up and lodged into her throat.

She should have stopped right then. She needed to figure this out and untangle the confusing mess of things churning inside of her and she couldn't do that with her lips hotly pressed to his and his hands exploring the curves of her body. She would have stopped too if he hadn't firmly grasped her wrist and pulled her onto his lap. The minute he'd touched her, she was lost again, and an involuntary moan spilled from her lips as she parted her legs and straddled him, her skirt bunched up at her hips.

Jadeite growled, the sound practically feral, as her lips once again met his. She shuddered, eyes closed, as she felt his hands press desperately into the skin of her thighs. She whimpered into his mouth as his palms travelled upwards, leaving a trail of tingling hot skin as they slipped beneath the seam of her skirt.

She gasped and pulled away breathlessly, throwing her head back, as the sensations overwhelmed her. His lips pressed to the base of her neck and, she thought she was going to melt when he nipped at the junction of her neck and shoulder.

She was lost. There wasn't an ounce of logic or reason that could stop her from losing everything to Jadeite now. At least, that's what she thought at that moment.

His breath was hot as he nipped and trailed bruising kisses along the curve of her neck. She sucked in a puff of air, her hips, of their own accord, grinding against him. Her body trembled as she realized, with a start, that she was suddenly unbuttoning the front of his shirt. She was desperate to feel the hard, bare expanse of his chest against her fingertips, and she would have, had he not chosen that moment to speak.

"Athena," his tone was hoarse, rugged and tinged with barely restrained desire. The word, one he'd said to her only once before as he'd fallen to his knees on the day Tuxedo Kamen had saved him, was like he'd doused her with a bucket of ice cold water.

What the hell was she doing? She barely knew this man, and twice he'd called her by another woman's name. What was he hiding?

She forcefully pushed herself away from him, ungracefully tumbling off of his lap and landing, with jarring impact, onto the floor. Jadeite let out a strangled gasp of confusion, his brow furrowed and his hands dangling in midair, fingers flexing as if he was reaching out to her. The look on his face could have been almost comical if not for the burning sorrow unfurling in her chest and the tears of confused anguish welling in the corners of her eyes.

She scrambled backwards until her head hit the edge of the coffee table. In one deft movement, she leveraged the piece of furniture and propelled herself swiftly to her feet. "My name is not Athena," she hissed through clenched teeth.

Jadeites clouded eyes cleared and the look of confusion melted into a look of contrition. He growled out an expletive as he scrambled to his feet. He reached for her, but she took a step back. Her furious glare stopped him in his tracks. He stared at her for a moment more, hand outstretched before that cool, impassive look took its rightful place back on his face and his arm fell limply to his side.

"I'm sorry. To me, you will always be Athena," he said, his tone deathly calm and his gaze steady. Her breath hitched, and her eyes widened as she stared back, unblinkingly into his eyes.

There was more to this story. She'd known it all along. She'd seen flashes of it in the general's face and the burning flames in the Hikawa shrine; he knew her and, dammit, somehow she knew him too. How was this possible?

"Tell me what you know that I don't, Jadeite," she demanded, her tone of voice harsh and condemning. When he said nothing, just stared at her without even flinching, her strength dissipated. "Please, I'm- I'm going insane. Tell me, I need to know," she pleaded, and this time her voice broke with emotion.

That, above anything else, affected Jadeite the most, and the look on his face crumpled into a pained expression of regret. He sighed, raking a frustrated palm through his hair. "I'm sorry, I can't," he whispered, and though his voice was filled with remorse, it infuriated her.

Her eyes hardened, and her vision blurred with tears of anger. "Fine. I hate you, Jadeite," she spat. It was cruel, spiteful and wholly untrue but, although she didn't know why, it felt like he'd plunged his hand into the cavity of her chest and ripped her heart out.

Her words angered him rather than cause him pain, though, and fury flashed through his eyes as he opened his mouth to speak. He was interrupted as the apartment door opened, scraping loudly across the linoleum in the genkan as it did.

They both turned, flustered, red-faced with hair askew to be greeted by Usagi and Mamoru. Usagi's eyes were wide and filled with concerned confusion. Mamoru, whose arm was firmly wrapped around her waist, had a pained and knowing grimace etched into his face. Rei's look of startled surprise turned into a scowl of irritation. It seemed like Usagi's ebony-haired boyfriend, Tuxedo Kamen, did that a lot; like he knew exactly what it was that was going on in her head.

She gave Jadeite a sideways glance and noted that he'd crossed his arms, his jaw clenched with fury. She inwardly vowed that she was going to get to the bottom of this. This conversation was not over.

She turned back to the bubbly, wide-eyed, blonde-haired girl that had become her best friend and attempted a smile.

"Rei!" Usagi said with surprise, "What are you doing here?"

oOo