Hello everyone.  Phoenix here.  For a while, I have been trying to think of a
way to do a good Rei and Usagi friendship fanfic.  I finally came up with this
idea.  It's kind of sad, and I may get some flames for this, but this is the
only way I could think of doing this without sounding redundant or cheesy.
Sorry if this offends anyone.  If you have anything to say; comments, flames, 
whatever; send them to Marsfire01@aol.com.   This is a two-part thing, the
first part is Usagi's Heart, and this is Rei's Heart.  They are sort of mirror
stories.  I wrote my story like this so I could show how things can change
in a split second.  You don't need to read both, but it's better if you do.  I
hope you enjoy the story.  Oh, and Sailor moon belongs to a bunch of
corporate people, and of course, the great Naoko Takeuchi.

Rei's Heart

        I never liked change.  It has always frightened me.  And now I can
say that I am justified in that fear.  Things have changed a lot.  And not 
for the better.  Death has changed my life.  Her death.  My best friend.

        Rei Hino was amazing.  She was a princess, a warrior, a priestess, and 
my best friend.  And she was stolen from me, from the world.  It started like a
normal day.  I went to her house to read some of her old manga.  I'm too old
for it, really, but I grasp at my childhood, I long for its innocence, and
the bliss of ignorance.  When I arrived, she was in a knockdown drag out fight
with Chad.  I never knew why she did that.  She always felt awful about it
afterwards, but she didn't know how to act around him.  She was always a
little awkward around guys, guys she liked, reeeaaallly liked. But I saw her
face after she blew up at him.  There wasn't the tiniest spark of happiness
in her eyes.  I searched for a remedy.  Ice cream!  Again, grasping at years
gone by.  She looked at me like I had two heads, but I dragged her out of the
shrine and headed for the ice cream stand near-by.  We came to a light.  It
was red, but I didn't see any cars so I started across the street.  She bent
to tie her shoe, but seemed to decide against it. She took a few steps into
the street trying to catch up with me, because I was halfway across the huge
intersection.  Suddenly, a car came barreling out of nowhere.  She saw it
and dove in front of me, knocking me almost out of the way.  But I had been a
bit too far ahead of her, and I was still hit by the car.

        The sirens came, and we were loaded onto the ambulance.  Rei was
dying, I could feel her drifting away.  I tried to pull her back, but she was 
gone all too fast.  I didn't even get to say goodbye.  Pain and emotion swept 
over me and I passed out.

        I was alive, not very alive, but alive.  I was dying, but so slowly, that 
I stood a chance.  My ribs were broken, several of them had punctured my lung,
my arm was broken, as was my foot, and worst of all, I was in heart failure.
My heart was of no more use.  It was broken.  How appropriate.  But
miraculously, her heart was in perfect condition.  And compatible.  So they
gave me Rei's heart.  She died saving me, and even in death she had saved me.
My best friend is dead.  She didn't die in a blaze of glory, she died saving
me from my own stupidity.

        I never got to go to her funeral.  People tell me it was amazing.
People from around the city who she had counseled at the shrine came.  She was
apparently a very popular miko.  The "group" was there.  They made an
appearance as the scouts, then left so they could mourn in peace.  My Darien
cried.  He used to tell me that she was his little sister.  He looked out
for her and loved her like family. He didn't take it too well.  I think he might
have even been angry with me.  He never said it, but the way he looked at me
when he first saw me tells all.  I don't blame him.  But he isn't angry
anymore.  With me anyway.  Just at fate in general I think.  When I came
home, I saw no one, except Darien, sometimes.  I didn't want to see anyone, I
didn't want them to ask how I was, if I was feeling better.  It didn't matter 
how I felt.  I didn't think I deserved anyone's pity or concern.  All I kept
thinking was "How could I be so stupid? Why didn't see the car, why did I
run across the street?  Why aren't I dead?"  I still wonder.  But one day, I was
staring at my ceiling, alone, pondering things again.  The room was
completely still, and I could hear my heart beating.  Her heart.  And I realized, 
I was dishonoring her legacy.  She was strength, confidence, joy.  She had a
passion for life. She was audacious, spirited, and vivacious.  Rei would want me 
to spread her fire, not shroud it with my grief.

        So I decided to go out and spread joy, and to always be strong, for
her.  My family watched in amazement as I bolted out of the door.  They had 
let me be, on the advice of a psychiatrist, who said I needed to grieve in my 
own way. I rushed over to Darien's apartment and let myself in.  I found him 
paging through his old photo albums, mainly the pages of him and Rei, or Rei 
and me. He gaped at me.  I had made it expressly clear that I was never 
leaving my room, ever.  I sat next to him, noticing that his eyes were 
unusually bright.  A tear slid down his perfect cheek, and I brushed it away. 
My eyes filled. *Strong, I have to be strong.  For her.*  "Darien, I want to 
say goodbye.  I need to.  Will you take me?"  He knew where I wanted to go.  
He hadn't been there either, couldn't bring himself to go.  He nodded.  We 
will lean on each other in our time of need, as we always have, and always will.

        Her grave was a thing of beauty.  Her father had paid for the
elaborate thing, he damn well better after only appearing at her funeral to 
"say a few words" then doing his famous disappearing act.  I knelt by it and 
traced the inscription with my finger.  This strength thing wasn't working and 
the tears came, and came, and came.  Darien laid a red rose on her grave.  I 
thought I would be jealous if her ever gave another woman our rose, but the 
red rose suits her so well.

        I miss her.  I miss how she read my mind, and how she always knew how 
to make me smile.  Sometimes, it was like we could touch each other's souls.  
I find her all over the place.  Whenever I smell a fireplace burning, or the 
scent of cherry blossoms, when I read my horoscope in the paper, or murmur a 
prayer to the ancestors I feel her, her spirit.  On days when I've done 
something typically me, I look in the mirror and think *You really are a 
Meatball head Usagi* and I giggle, because that's more of her.  I can hear 
her when I laugh.  She had almost musical laughter.  I can't think of a mean 
thing to say about her.  And not just because she's dead.  The things I used 
to say to get under her skin were silly and generally made up because I couldn't 
think of anything.  I never understood why she allowed me to be her friend.  
She was strong and I was weak.  She was a crutch through life and I can't 
possibly imagine what I offered her, except a except a nuisance and a completely
dependent useless tag along.  But she persisted in calling me her best
friend.  She pulled me through a lot and helped me to strong when even she 
couldn't be.  What I did to earn a friend like her, I'll never know.

        I fell terrible for Chad.  She never told him how she felt.  One day I
stopped at the shrine pray, and there he was, looking at me with puppy dog
eyes, like he wished I were her.  They never had a "real" relationship, but
he was hopelessly in love with her.  She didn't feel much different.  He was
distraught after her death.  It was like he gave up hope.  And I knew he
wondered if he ever had a chance with her, or if he had wasted all his time.
So walked over to him and told him.  I told him how she felt, how she was so
completely smitten, but too afraid of rejection or being hurt to ever tell
him.  That was the only time I've ever seen her afraid.  I told him how she
hated yelling at him, and how she used to stand at his door and whisper her
apology through the door.  How she used to stand there and whisper her
feelings, knowing he couldn't hear her.  He looked at me.  And he cried on
my shoulder.  But he was happier, knowing that a girl like her could ever love
him.  Knowing that his love wasn't quite so unrequited.

        Something lovely has happened.  When Darien laid that rose down, he
meant it to be ever blooming.  But the rose seems to have a mind of its own.
Practically over-night, it rooted and grew into an exquisite rose bush.  It
blooms constantly, and somehow, the thorns never seem to prick anyone, no
matter how crude and indelicate the handler.  How perfectly fitting, the
rose that grew beyond anyone's expectations.

        Things have gone a bit strange too.  In her monthly exam of the
scouts and our fitness and such, Ami discovered some oddities about us.  
We've all stopped aging.  While our regular bodily functions go on as always, 
our cells have stopped dying, multiplying, etc.  We've just stopped in time.  
Setsuna says we're a matched set and a matched set we'll stay.  Besides, it was
bound to happen sooner or later, we are immortal.  She keeps hinting that 
Rei will back in our lives relatively soon. Say fourteen years or so until 
we find her, seventeen until we go back to normal.  We've got a few years after 
that until we really stop aging.  I have a feeling that with a little work, we 
could find her now.  I have a hunch about what happened.  She's out there 
somewhere, probably crying for a bottle at the moment, but soon we'll have 
her back, our red rose, my best friend.  And until then, I'll keep her in my 
heart.