Venus' Flame

Three: Meeting

Ami, Makoto, Usagi, Mamoru and Chibi Usa walked into the room, Luna and Artemis being called to the meeting as well. They all sat facing Minako and Rei, who both looked somewhat concerned about something. A soft smile reached Usagi's lips and the girl beat her fist on the table to break the silence.

"Ooh! Minako-chan, Rei-chan, why did you call us to the shrine today?" Usagi asked, scheming intensifying in the girl's expression.

Rei gave Usagi a small glare and rested her hands on the table in front of her. "Have any of you had premonitions recently? Strange dreams involving deaths or silhouettes?" Rei queried, looking over at Usagi in particular. The odango wearing blonde looked like she was about to burst into laughter.

Ami cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Premonitions, you say?" The blue haired genius asked, with a wave at Rei to denote that she was talking to the Shinto priestess.

Rei just gave the shorter girl a nod, secretly seething under her breath. Had nobody else felt what she had? That tragedy was about to befall them and the ones that they loved?

"Now that you mention it, when I first met Usagi, I began to have dreams about a princess that was telling me to 'find the legendary silver crystal.' Of course, that princess ended up being Usako. Could it be that you've found a soulmate?" Mamoru theorised, looking at the others for consolidation.

"Yes, a soulmate!" Chibi Usa echoed her future father's sentiment.

Minako sighed, considering the possibility. Now that she had thought it over, it did seem that whoever the blonde was had been very close with a silhouette. The silhouette called the blonde 'Vee' as well. Minako blushed and stared at the floor.

Rei looked over at Minako and her face went a beet red. Looking down at the floor, Rei considered a few possibilities. There was a blonde girl that always seemed to appear in her dreams. Her name is allegedly Vee and she had a curse of some kind that prevented her from getting her true love. Mamoru mentioned something about a soulmate. Rei's face burnt a bright red and violet eyes looked at the floor.

Mamoru tapped his foot, waiting for either of the girls to speak up. A small smile lit up his girlfriend's entire face as she eagerly awaited a response from the two girls. "Calm down, Usako," Mamoru whispered, noticing his future wife getting increasingly more antsy and excitable.

"Mamo-chan..." Usagi murmured, getting excited as she waited for either of the girls to speak.

Minako's face was still a beet red as her blue eyes met Rei's violet eyes. She thought it over for a moment. Could it be that they'd both met a soulmate in their lives? If so, Minako wondered who her soulmate was. With a burning red face, she looked up at the rest of the group.

Rei was curious as to the significance of the dreams she'd been having, and she was weighing up the plausibility of Mamoru's answer. The raven haired priestess looked at Minako for a second, face beginning to clear of the awkward blush that had been covering it just a moment before. With a small glance at the blonde, she chuckled nervously. The Shinto priestess knew she'd figure this out.

Minako and Rei looked at each-other again. Minako opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish and Rei looked to the side. Usagi was holding in a giggle, which Mamoru was preventing from coming out with a hand over his future wife's mouth. Minako gave Rei a nudge.

"Rei... do you think that we've...?" Minako whispered in realisation.

Rei stared at Mamoru and then at Luna. "Do you think I've found my soulmate, Luna?" she asked.

The black cat looked up at the raven haired shrine maiden with a smile. "It could be a sign," Luna mused, observing the shrine maiden's stunned expression, noting the blush on her cheeks.

"Who is Vee, and what significance does she have?" Rei asked, a soft glance being placed on the black cat.

"I'm not so sure. You said she was blonde with bright blue eyes and a red bow," Luna remembered, looking at the Shinto priestess with a soft glance. "There's only one person that fits that description in this room. But it'll come to you eventually, I'm sure of it." Luna then looked at the rest of the Guardians and Mamoru. "We need to be on the lookout for a new enemy. She's a green haired female that owns purple moths that inspirit people and turn them into monsters."

"Like the atavism of the Daimons?" Chibi Usa wondered aloud, flicking red eyes up at the cat.

"Exactly like the Daimons," the white cat, Artemis, spoke up. "Which can only mean one thing. We're in danger and we need to keep the citizens safe. Diana? Are you present?"

A grey kitten with pink eyes appeared from behind Chibi Usa.

"I'm here," she said, looking at her future mother and father. "It's dangerous right now! If you see any monsters that seem to have come out of nowhere, you need to let the rest of us know immediately! We don't want any unnecessary casualties!"

The group nodded at the young cat's words, and Usagi let out the laugh she'd been holding in for the entire meeting. "Hahaha, so that's what we were brought here for? Love confessions?" The odango haired blonde laughed, looking at her friends.

"Usagi, that's insensitive," Makoto said with a sigh, feeling apologetic on the immature blonde's behalf. "Artemis, Luna, Diana? We'll make sure that the citizens of Tokyo are safe!"

"Not just them, but the whole of the world!" Ami reminded them.

"For the whole of the world," Minako murmured, bringing a glass of lemonade up to the ceiling.

"For the whole of the world!" The rest of the room repeated, the humans clinking glasses.

With a soft sigh, Minako fell asleep on the table.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A girl with blonde hair was hugging another female.

The other female had bright violet eyes and was wearing a bright red dress.

"Vee..."

"Mars..."

"...I love you..."

*Minako Aino, you must stay away from Rei Hino. Danger will befall Rei Hino the nearer you are to her.*

"Vee!" A bloodcurdling scream came from the mouth of the violet eyed silhouette as the ground below them began to crumble.

"Mars... Noooo!" The blonde shouted, her golden dress spinning in the wind as their hands were forced to separate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Rei-chan..." Minako's eyes were filled with tears when she woke up in her bed.