I opened my eyes and found myself staring at Rei's ceiling. As I sat up, I experienced a wave of dizziness, but that was nothing compared to the aching I felt in my arms and legs. When we expend too much energy attacking, we become weak. Which is why I very rarely attack twice, let alone three times! Still, I felt rather proud of myself. But an inner feeling told me that my other friends were in danger.

"Mako-chan! What are you doing here?" inquired Rei, who was sitting up in bed, looking a bit worse for the wear.

I grabbed the phone and dialed Minako's number instead of answering. She picked up the receiver on the second ring.

"Minako-chan. It's Makoto. Hurry up and transform; we need to find the others and help them!"

"I had the most interesting dream," she remarked sleepily.

"I know... but the others are in danger!" I repeated forcefully.

"Right!" she answered, pulling herself together.

I slammed the phone into its cradle, and reached deep down into my energy reserves. "Jupiter Star Power!" I cried.

"Mars Star Power!" echoed Rei, who had by now felt the same feeling that I had.

The room shimmered in green and red lights; we raced from her room, spurred on by the thought that our friends needed us. Her red high heels and my green boots clattered across the paving stones of the temple grounds as we ran to where we knew we would find our friends.

***

"Did you see Lady Taurus' face when you three showed up?" inquired Usagi. "It's a good thing you showed when you did. Otherwise, who knows how it would've ended." She plunged her fondue fork into a pot, and withdrew it, the bread still firmly impaled. She popped it into her mouth with great relish.

"I'm certainly glad," agreed Chibi-Usa. She, too, managed to dip a piece and successfully ate it. "You three managed to defeat Lord Sagittarius all by yourselves?"

"I'm certainly impressed that you managed to pull off four attacks so quickly," remarked Haruka, admiration in her voice. She bit off a piece of toast which had been swirled through the cheese fondue.

I smiled modestly. "Adrenaline can do the most amazing things to you."

All of us-- minus Setsuna-- were in my apartment, ending things the way they had started: with a fondue party. But this one was to celebrate the defeat of another enemy, Lord Sagittarius. One less to worry about! Lady Taurus had been severely injured, and wouldn't be giving us any trouble again in the near future. I gazed into a pot of fondue, my long fork held idly in my hand.

It seemed that Minako was thinking along the same lines that I was.

"Ami-chan, you'll know if anything new happens?"

"Yes. It's set so that it will trigger an alarm if my computer registers any energy loss patterns," Ami answered, patting her computer. "Oh, Michiru-chan! You dropped your toast!"

"Forfeit, Michiru-mama! Forfeit!" exclaimed Hotaru happily. Chibi-Usa giggled.

"Forfeit!" she echoed.

Michiru smiled and gave Haruka, who just so happened to be sitting next to her, a slight peck on the cheek. I knew it wouldn't do any good to remark that I had seen her purposefully scrape her toast against the side of the fondue pot to dislodge it. Instead, I gave her a Meaningful Look. She merely smiled back at me, innocently.

"Mamoru-chan," I said hesitantly, a few minutes later. "Tell me, do you still have those stones? The ones which happened when the ginzuishou first appeared?"

"The ones which hold the spirits of my four generals?" he inquired. "Why, yes. I always carry them with me." From his pocket, he gently withdrew a small box, and flipped open the lid. On a deep black velvet bed lay four brightly sparkling stones.

"May I... may I borrow Neflyte's?" I hazarded. "Please?"

There was silence. He seemed slightly baffled by my request, but handed it over. I dropped it into my pocket.

"I'd like it back, but yes, you may borrow it for a little while."

"Thank you," I smiled. I hoped that with Neflyte so close to me, I would be able to have pleasant dreams tonight. Real ones, not ones brought about by Lord Sagittarius' influence.

He was about to snap the box lid shut, but Ami piped up timidly, "Um, Mamoru-chan? If you don't mind, I would also like to borrow Zoisite's stone. For a few days."

"Of course, Ami-chan," he answered, and handed it over.

No one spoke, until Rei summoned up the courage to inquire as to whether or not she could have the stone in which was imprisoned the spirit of Jadeite. Mamoru handed it over. There was only one left now, Kunzite's, glowing but looking rather lonely.

"Minako-chan?"

"Why, yes, I think I would like to have it. Just for a little while, anyways?" She took it into her hands gratefully and smiled down upon it.

Usagi linked her arm through Mamoru's. "Mamo-chan. It was a lovely dream, wasn't it?"

He smiled down at her and answered, "Yes, it was. If the other Minions have similar attacks, I think I wouldn't mind getting hit."

"But reality is so much nicer," reminded Usagi.

I sighed. My thoughts shifted from Neflyte to my old sempai to Motoki and back to Neflyte. His smile, the way he looked at me... I picked up a plate under the pretext of bringing more toast to our little party. But while I was alone in the kitchen, I kissed Neflyte's stone. It sparkled back at me, and I smiled.

"Neflyte-kun," I said.