"How..." her voice trembled as she remembered everything that had happened, "How is it that I'm here?" He smiled, and brushed some strands of her hair out of her face. "Well, Blue Thunder, I brought you." Reiko was surprised, but her stunned expression was soon replaced with one of mock anger. "What is it?" asked he, wondering why she was playing games with him. "It's just that I was in your arms for a long time, and I didn't even know about it! It isn't fair!" She folded her arms, and pointed her nose up, the mock evident by the shine of her eyes. He couldn't stop the grin that came to his face. "No you weren't." "I wasn't what?" she asked, not understanding what he was trying to say. "You weren't in my arms for long. It took me less than a second to get here from the cliffs." "Less than a second? Hiroshi, I think you got a heavy hit on that head of yours," she said, playfully smacking the back of his head. "Nope. I didn't." He then gracefully waved his hand in a circular motion, and out of nowhere, a red rose appeared.

Reiko was so amazed her jaw dropped down. "How did you do that?" "Magic," was his short answer. She hesitantly took the flower, and smelled it's scent. It was real. He had made a rose appear. He had powers. "But... you didn't have those when we were... you know," the memory to painful to even pronounce it. "No. I discovered I had powers after we... separated," he said, respecting her silence. "It just happened. One day, about a year ago, I was sitting by the edge of the Tokyo river, mourning on my own misfortune, and I suddenly felt a strange feeling, as if I was opening something that had been hidden for a lot of years. Then, I strongly wished I could see you, and suddenly, the water in front of me formed a mirror, and I saw you," his eyes went dreamy for some moments, as he recalled the whole event. "You were on a room, sitting on a desk, reading something. It was then when I felt hope reserve inside me. By then, I had almost lost hope on finding you, but that vision gave me the strength I needed to continue. Since then, I started experimenting with my powers, and I discovered pretty amazing stuff. I can teleprompt, though not long distances, and carrying one more person with me. I can make things appear from nowhere, and ran very fast. Also, I have a little something of telephatical skills, but they aren't much. I don't know where they came from, but I'm very grateful for having them," he finished, looking at her. She was so surprised by this revelation, she spoke without thinking: "So you are magical too...." her eyes opened wide, and a delicate hand went to her mouth, as a look of total horror crossed her features. "I... I didn't mean anything... I don't know why...." She couldn't think very well, and no excuse came to her mind, as she realized she had just told Hiroshi a secret that supposedly was forbidden to be told.

He just grinned, and patted her shoulder tenderly. "Hey, stop that, Sailor Mercury." If Reiko's eyes had gone just a millimeter more wide, they would've popped out of her face. "How did you know? It was a secret!" "Well, I just knew a couple of hours ago. I was at the Aragosai cliffs when you and the rest transformed. That's why I know about your secret identity." He then got a mischievous grin on his face, and leaning closer to her, whispered in a voice that sounded very seductive in Reiko's ear: "Let me tell you, you look astounding with that shorty-skirt of yours." She blushed, crimson staining her cheeks. She playfully hit his chest, and answered: "Hiroshi no Hentai!" He smiled too, and moved his head closer to hers, until they were nose to nose, and his breath tickled her cheeks. "It isn't my fault your skirt is so short... besides, I've never told you you've got beautiful legs before... and you look smashing with those knee-high blue boots...."

She stopped his whispering by joining their lips on another kiss, devouring each other. Hiroshi leaned forward, and put a hand on her back. Slowly, he made her fall backwards, until she was lying on the bed again, with him on top. They never broke apart, and Reiko caressed his face and neck while their tongues played together. Hiroshi wasn't getting behind, as he ruffled her hair and moved over her. The mood was quickly changing, and they were getting closer and closer to the point where there was no return... Reiko's skin was like satin under his fingers; her hair like soft tendrils of moonlight; her lips like wind and fire... Hiroshi's back was muscular, and she felt as his muscles moved under his T-shirt while he slowly moved from side to side. His hair was so exquisite to ran her hands into... his hands were going lower and lower, almost reaching it's ultimate goal at her chest...

"Hey! Get a room for that lovebirds!" The voice cooled them down quicker than a bucket of icy water. They instantly broke apart, Reiko blushing as the teenager she was, and Hiroshi's cheeks getting redder by the minute. They looked so embarrassed as they realized they had completely forgotten about the people standing outside the room. "Minako, leave them alone!" came another voice from outside, and the blonde face peeking through the door disappeared when someone yanked her from behind. "She's suffering from a severe case of I-don't-have-a-boyfriend-and-I-want-one-now syndrome. Don't worry, I'll hold her while you two get inti. . . do your stuff inside there!" said a voice that Reiko identified as Makoto's.

Silence. More silence. Even more silence. "I...I..." they both said at the same time, and quieted when they realized there was nothing to say. They were both blushing, and looking down. They had avoided doing something they both wanted to, but it just wasn't the right time for it. "We should... we should call them back...." Reiko's voice was low, and she stopped talking, feeling still so embarrassed... how could they have gone so far? Though it had been a very pleasurable experience for her, she knew it had been stupid to go and try it there... by the corner of her eye, she watched Hiroshi's blush, and looked as he was ruffling his hair and scratching his neck. He's as embarrassed as I am. Guess I'm not the only one who was enjoying the show... "You're right. I'll go and call them. You need to rest you foot," he said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Reiko then realized she couldn't move properly with that heavy thing on her leg. "Don't worry. I'm already healed." She pushed the sheets off her, and looked intently at her foot. On her forehead, a small Mercury sigil appeared, and shone for a couple of seconds before disappearing. The glow seemed to grow, and enveloped her completely. Wind was coming from nowhere, and her eyes were closed, as she breathed deeply on every turn. Then, the glow focused on the plaster she was wearing. Her foot was completely covered by the light blue aura, and Hiroshi could see it was having some effect on the plaster. The white thing seemed to tense, and suddenly became whiter than it had previously been. "Done," she said. "What?" he asked, wondering what she was thinking. "Watch." She bent forward, and lightly touched the center of the plaster with the tip of her index finger. A cracking sound was heard, and the thing broke into several pieces, leaving her naked foot out into the air. "I froze it," she simply said, when she saw his amazed look. "Wow" was the only comment he made, although he was truly amazed about what she had just done.

"And now, my clothes." "You wanna undress in here?" An evil grin appeared on her lips and eyes, when she answered: "Now wouldn't you like that, you Mr. Hentai? Of course not. I'm just gonna change into my alter ego. My shorty sailor fuku, as you call it, is much more comfortable than this ugly hospital thing!" She jumped off the bed, and carefully placed her right foot on the floor. Once she was sure it didn't hurt, she started walking normally. "It is useful sometimes to be the Mercury soldier, isn't it?" she wondered aloud, talking to herself. "I've got an excellent healing, and my powers improve it even more." He looked at her for a while, and marveled at how beautiful she looked, even with that ugly hospital robe she was wearing. "Yuck! This thing is disgusting!" she said, grabbing the robe, and making a snorting sound. She then let go of it, and closed her eyes. Her form shimmered, and her robe seemed to get shorter and shorter until it changed into a Senshi fuku. Where seconds before stood Suiseki Reiko, was now a fighter for love, wisdom and justice, Bishoujo Senshi Super Sailor Mercury.

"Ahh! Much better!" She moved around a bit, seeing if the fuku fitted her fine. For Hiroshi, she was angelic. With the back ribbons swaying along her legs, her shoulder blades caressing her shoulders, her hair, which had grown an inch of two after the transformation, brushing her neck, her low neck showing just the necessary of her cleavage to keep him wanting it to slip down... everything was so wonderful to his sight... she really could've passed as an angel came from heaven. "Hey, Hiroshi, wanna come with me or stay here and explain why am I missing?" Her voice snapped him out of his contemplation, and nodded: "Who wouldn't want to go with you?" he said approaching her slowly. She smiled sweetly at him, and answered: "Flattery will get you everywhere." He smiled too, but it only lasted a minute, before her lips met his and no further conversation was done. But, the kiss didn't last long, 'cause Reiko interrupted it by pushing him with her hand on his chest. "But," she said, her cheeks flushed in excitement, "this isn't the time nor the place."

He grinned. His voice was a low whisper, and it blew some bangs out of her face. "At least give a last kiss... for now." She leaned upwards, standing on her tiptoes, and fused their lips on a kiss in which she put all her strength. It wasn't very long either, and when they separated, she said: "Happy?" "Never so." She hugged him tightly, and nestled her face on the hole of his neck. She smelled his scent, and it gave her strength to what was to come. She purred a bit, and whispered: "I'm so comfy in here . .." "Hmm, you're not the only one." She grinned, and he felt it more than saw it. "Let's go. They're waiting," she said, and broke apart.

They walked towards the door, and Hiroshi took the door knob to open it, when a soft hand was placed over his own. She gave him a confident grin, and made a shh-ing movement with her finger. Then, suddenly, she yanked the door open, and four heavy THUMPS followed. On the floor was a mass of arms, legs and groans, which could be hardly be recognized as the Sailor Senshi who fought against evil. Several comments of: "Get your elbow off my eye!" "You're stepping on my hand!" and "Hey, move over!" were heard. Looking up, the couple inside the room saw as Mamoru had a weird and annoyed look on his face, and a HUGE sweatdrop was hanging from his forehead. "I tried to make them change their mind, but you know how stubborn they are!" was the only thing he said, while he shrugged his shoulders. Reiko had a mock anger frown, and snarled at Minako, Makoto, Usagi, and Rei: "What in the name of Mercury do you think you're doing?"

Silly giggles were heard and sillier excuses came to her ears: "You see, we saw this insect on the door...." "Minako tripped, and we had to help her. It was just a casualty that she did so near the door," "Have you ever wondered how entertaining it can be to count the stains on a door?" Hiroshi had a big sweatdrop on his head too, and just giggled too. "Ahh . . don't I know you an awful lot?" said Reiko, and giggled too. The fit of giggles soon took over everyone, and ended laughing so hard that a couple of nurses came into the corridor, attracted by the noise they were making. Before asking anything, they stood dead on their tracks, as they saw a giggling mass of girls on the floor, two young men who seemed to be pretty annoyed, and the most impressive of all... a Sailor Senshi.