Sweet Surrender

Saiyuki High was like every other high school in Japan. They students hated getting up in the morning and going to school almost as much as they hated doing homework and taking tests. Their football team was one of the best around and everyone attended the games to show school spirit. The cheerleading squad thought they owned the school and wore their uniforms almost every day, regardless of whether or not there was a game. The teachers all wanted to retire as soon as possible and ran out for a smoke or six between bells.

And so, like every other school, Saiyuki High had its cliques. Actually, Saiyuki High had only two cliques: the popular kids… and everybody else. And the indisputable Queen Bee of the popular kids was the very beautiful, very rich and very confident Rei Hino.

She walked through the halls in her high heels as if she owed the school and, in reality, she did. Literally. Her father was a powerful politician that donated large sums of money to Saiyuki High each year and that made even the teachers hesitant to cross the Queen Bee.

And as the Queen Bee, she was at all times surround by the popular kids and jocks. Especially during lunch.

On one fine spring day during lunch, Rei Hino was sitting in the lunchroom with a few of her closest friends: Minako Aino, Haruka Tenoh, Jadeite Williams and Zoicite Adams.

"What do you think the mystery meat is?" Minako asked with a look of disgust as she poked her lunch with a fork.

"I don't know, it's not half bad though," Zoicite said as he nibbled on a piece of meat, earning him a look from everyone at the table.

The longhaired blonde shrugged and turned his attention to the Queen Bee, who was unusually quiet. He nudged Jadeite with his elbowed and pointed at the silent girl, arching a brow in question. His friend responded with a shrug and caught Minako's eye, cocking his head to the girl sitting next to the captain of volleyball team.

"Hey, Rei, what's wrong? You're being quiet."

"We usually can't get you to shut up," Haruka added with a smirk.

The comment earned the tall blonde woman a glare from the lavender-eyed teen and laughter from everyone else.

"Really though," Minako continued after she continued her giggling, "what's up with you? You've been all mopey recently."

A murmur of agreement passed around the table, causing Rei to wave her hand dismissively.

"Nothing's wrong. Just been tired lately."

"Have you been going to parties that we weren't invited to?" Zoicite asked with a pout.

Rei rolled her eyes at the antics of the blue-eyed man and bit into a piece of the mystery meat. The four blondes watched as she winced and tried to act casual while she chewed, though they all knew she wanted nothing more than to spit out the meat and rinse her mouth out.

"I know what's gotten her so down," Jadeite said suddenly, the smirk on his lips causing everyone, even Rei, to lean closer.

"What?" Minako asked, her curiosity peaked.

"Our little Rei hasn't managed to score with anyone in three weeks. Let's not even mention her hook up rate."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Minako said, rolling her eyes as the other two shook their heads disbelievingly. "Rei scored with… she hooked up with…"

The Queen Bee groaned softly and tried to sink into her seat to no avail. She had the maddening desire to wipe that cocky smirk off Williams' pretty little face.

"Hey, wait a minute! When was the last time you hooked up with anyone?"

The only dark-haired teen at the table gulped nervously when she felt four pairs of curious blue eyes on her.

"Well… I hooked up with James…"

"That was…" Zoicite thought for a moment before his eyes widened. "Two weeks ago!"

"No way!" Minako screamed. "It wasn't two weeks ago! It was… holy shit, he's right!"

Rei groaned again before burying her face in her hands as the four blondes continued to discuss her love life. Why couldn't she have normal friends?

"You know what I think?" Jadeite asked. He continued when he felt all eyes on him, three pairs curious one pair murderous. "I think Hino's lost her touch."

"What?!"

The entire cafeteria silenced when they heard the scream from the Queen Bee's table and saw the popular girl herself stand up, her chair crashing loudly to the ground. Upon feeling all eyes on her, Rei blushed softly and mumbled a curse before she picked up her chair from off the ground and sat down, never losing the aloft grace she possessed.

The student body soon came to life again as they continued their conversations. The blondes at the table then burst into laughter at the indignant cry of their leader, the angry glare directed at them only making them laugh harder.

After a few minutes later, their laughter subsided and they all turned to the situation at hand: Rei's seemingly lost love life.

"So, what you're saying is that our little temptress has lost her touch?" Haruka asked, arching a brow as she sipped her soda.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Jadeite confirmed with a smirk as his blue eyes gazed challengingly at the Queen Bee.

"That would explain her lack of… er… extracurricular activities"

Everyone at the table rolled their eyes at Zoicite before turning to an embarrassed Rei.

"Is that true?" Minako teased, her blue eyes practically glowing with mischief.

"Of course not!"

Zoicite and Jadeite shared a look before the former allowed himself to let his infamous smirk appear on his features.

"Prove it."

Rei should have sensed that something was wrong by the deep tone the feminine teenager took on and the look on his and his best friend's face, but she was too enraged and too willing too defend her pride to.

"Fine. How?"

Jadeite leaned over to whisper something in Zoicite's ear, which caused the longhaired blonde to grin wickedly. Minako and Haruka each nudged Zoicite and Jadeite respectively and as the two blonde boys filled in the two girls, Rei couldn't help but feel nervous at the smirks that appeared on the four faces. God, they looked like clones of each other.

"Okay, there is a way you can prove it to us."

Jadeite paused dramatically to make the Queen Bee antsy, though truth be told, she couldn't be any more nervous than she already was. After a few more seconds of silence, he leaned over the table slightly, his blue eyes flashing dangerously.

"You have to sleep with anyone we say."

Rei just smirked, her gaze never wavering as it locked on with Jadeite's eyes.

"No problem. Boy or girl, you just pick the person and I'll do it."

The alarms went off in the lavender-eyed teen's head again when the shorthaired blonde boy leaned back in his seats, his arms crossed. Minako was barely containing her laughter.

"Hotaru Tomoe."

Five hours after lunch, Rei Hino was still trying to get over her shock at the person he picked. Hotaru Tomoe?

The punk girl of Saiyuki High, that Hotaru Tomoe?

Oh, what she wouldn't do to kill Jadeite Williams right now…

Of all the people in the school, why Hotaru Tomoe?

Maybe because she was the only person that wouldn't jump into bed with her. If it had been anyone else, she needed only to offer and they would have leapt to their feet at the chance. But not Hotaru Tomoe. She wouldn't care if it were Rei Hino asking her. Hell, she wouldn't care if it were The Ruler of the Free World asking her. She'd still say no!

Which made it very difficult for Rei. How in the world was she going to get Tomoe to sleep with her?!

The dark-haired girl paced back and forth in her room, trying to think of a way that wasn't forbidden by 'The Council of the Horrible Four Blondes.'

--Flashback –

"WHAT?!"

The four blondes only laughed at her scream and the shock on her paling face. Hotaru Tomoe?! HOTARU TOMOE?! What in the world were they thinking?!

"Are you kidding me?!"

The question only caused the laughter to grow louder. Rei sank slowly into her seat, her eyes wide as she tried to think of any reason not to kill the four right there and then.

"Oh god, Rei, I thought you can score with anyone!" Haruka teased.

"Yeah! Nothing's too hard for The Rei Hino, right?"

Zoicite's mocking only further enraged the Queen Bee.

"Of course not."

Jadeite's laughter stopped immediately as he focused his attention on the angry teen. Rei shifted in her seat, not liking the mad gleam in his eyes.

"There are a few… rules."

"Oh?" Rei asked, trying to sound casual though her mind was still reeling to grasp the reality of the situation. Hn, reality. Right.

"Yes. First of all, you can't tell her any of this. So you can't go up to our dear little Goth and tell her that you need to sleep with her in order to satisfy our bargain."

"Second," Zoicite continued, "you can't get her drunk or drug her. She can't be under the influence of anything-"

"Except Rei's charm," Haruka added with a shake of her head.

"Right," Zoicite said with a nod.

"Third, she has to be willing. That means no raping her, Rei," Jadeite said slowly.

The Queen Bee growled and stood up, her lavender eyes narrowed as she gazed at the blonde man with obvious anger and disgust.

"As if I'd ever sink down to your level."

Jadeite pushed his chair back and stood, leaning over as he snarled, his blue eyes flickering with anger. Minako and Zoicite jumped to their feet to calm the two and avoid a very messy fight in the middle of the lunchroom. As Zoicite pulled Jadeite back down, Minako managed to sooth Rei enough to get her to take her seat.

"All right, any more rules?" The Queen Bee spat out, her eyes burning a hole in Jadeite's skull and vice versa.

"No, that should be all, right?" Haruka asked, looking around to see the other three blondes nod.

"Good."

Rei stood, her exterior cool and untouched as she gave a curt nod to Minako and Haruka and casting a look at Zoicite, completely ignoring Jadeite. As she turned, she heard the shorthaired blonde man speak.

"Running scared?"

Rei flipped her hair, inconspicuously waving a dismissive hand at him, which only those that knew her well caught. The action caused the already enraged blonde man to growl.

"That's your job, Jadeite. I'm going to nail this."

--End Flashback—

The dark-haired girl sighed as she collapsed on her bed, staring at the dark red ceiling. If only she was as sure as she pretended to be.

So, that was the prologue of a new fic I'm working on. I know, I know, I should stop churning them out before I finish the ones that are going, but I really wanted to write this one. I wanted to do an AU of the senshi in high school, aka the Death Trap.

Ah, I have to say, since this is an AU, there will be OOC moments. Well, it's my fic and I have some artistic license but I won't go overboard, promise.

As you've probably figured out, this is another Hotaru/Rei fic. Boy, I just keep churning them out, eh? There will be, as usual, Minako/Rei moments as well as Jadeite/Rei snippets. I can't have those two in the fic without including a little sumthin' sumthin', now can I?

As for the other pairings, it's going to be basically everywhere. Flings, past relationships/hook ups, one nightstands, illegal relationships cough cough and kissing between everyone and anyone.

Don't worry, everyone makes an appearance in this, which will make the fic kinda chaotic at times but eh, high school's a bi- I mean chaotic, isn't it? As for those I don't like much, cough Mamoru cough, their appearances will be shorter and fewer. I can't help it!

Oh, yeah, one last IMPORTANT thing!

Right now, there's a race kind of thing going on between THIS fic and my other new one, 'Bring Me to Life.' I've decided to make one of them one of the main fics and the other one a bit of an extra when I finish (and I WILL finish) 'Fallen From Grace.' 'Bring Me to Life' is a Minako/Rei and deals with the supernatural (for those of you who don't care to read it) and so will be a lot more drama versus the humor in this fic.

Well, I hope there will be humor since most people will tell you I have a horrible sense of humor. When I say horrible, I mean Barney and Big Bird are funnier than I am. Fortunately, I'm less creepy (I hope) than they are so that should balance it out… some.

But enough about the purple living Hell and the giant birdbrain (see, I'm hopeless). The point is, if this fic appeals to you and you want it to be the next main focus, tell me so! Otherwise I'm going to be focusing on 'Bring Me to Life' (but maybe that's what you actually want. In that case, just comment about this fic and tell me to update the other one or whatever. Maybe I should just stop talking to you and myself in these little parenthesis thingies. This is my damn A/N so why am I making side notes in this when this is the side note. God, the heat is getting to me. I swear. I'm not usually this idiotic. Well, I am but I don't want to really admit that to the two whole people that actually read my work cough Blankie and Meg cough. Fer gawd's sakes I thought I told myself I would stop these freakin' things! Argh, stopping now, I promise.)

I'll stop myself while I'm not ahead. Comments, suggestions and advice are always appreciated.