Chapter Ten: Phoenix Rising, Part I
	
	Dressed all in sickly green, Rei stopped in front of the room marked 
“Isolation” and finished tying the surgical mask over her face. The protective 
clothing she had to wear every time she visited was a pain, but they were a necessary 
evil to protect her grandfather from germs while he was undergoing his immune 
suppression drug therapy.

	Saburo’s chemotherapy treatment had not been as successful as his doctors had 
hoped. Although he had enjoyed a brief remission shortly after completion, the cancer 
had returned with a vengeance, stronger than before. His only real hope for recovery 
was the bone marrow transplant that Dr. Mizuno had warned Rei might be necessary. 
Unfortunately, Rei had not been a perfect match, and thus, the need for the drugs, 
which would hopefully keep his body from rejecting her bone marrow when the 
transplant was performed the next day. Until her marrow started to work on its own in 
its new home, Saburo would be vulnerable to any and all infections, his body 
completely helpless to ward off illness.

	Rei had already checked herself into the hospital earlier that evening for 
the procedure that would take place early the next morning. She wasn’t worried about 
her part in the transplant, but she did fear for her grandfather, who looked so pale 
and lifeless as she stared at him through the tiny window in the door.

	What if her bone marrow wasn’t compatible enough? What if his body rejected 
the transplant? What if he caught an infection before his immune system began 
functioning normally again? So many questions were running through her mind. There 
were countless risks and no guarantees… 

	Rei shook her head, trying to shake the negative thoughts from her mind, and 
forced herself to take the advice Minako had given her the day before: Be positive. 
That’s what she needed to do. As her grandfather had learned from his friend 
Miyazaki, pessimism didn’t cure diseases. Reminded of that, Rei found the courage to 
enter the room and plastered a bright, if obviously fake, smile on her face, even 
though he wasn‘t able to see it through her mask.

	“Konbanwa, ojii-san,” she greeted him with false cheerfulness. “Are you ready 
for the big day tomorrow?”

	The weak, fragile man laying in the bed chuckled as he turned his practically 
bald head toward her. His hair had begun to grow back after the first round of 
chemotherapy, but he would lose it all again after the transplant. 	

	“Do I know you, miss?” Saburo joked, squinting his dark brown eyes. “You kind 
of look like my granddaughter, but my Rei-chan is never so happy-go-lucky. 
Minako-chan, is that you?”

	Rei rolled her eyes. “No, it’s me,” she assured him, carefully sitting down 
on the edge of his bed. “But Minako-chan does send her best wishes, as do Usagi-chan 
and the rest of my friends. They‘re all pulling for you to make a full recovery.” 

	“Such nice girls…”

	Rei nodded. Her friends had indeed been wonderful throughout the past year 
since Saburo was first diagnosed, even with the distraction of major battles with 
Nehelenia and Chaos -- the latter which would have resulted in their permanent deaths 
had Usagi not been able to recover their Sailor Crystals. Rei shuddered at the 
memory, for once glad Saburo had been in the hospital at the time with an serious 
infection and therefore had no idea she had technically died after she and Minako 
battled Sailor Lead Crow.

	“Rei-chan, is something wrong?” Saburo asked, apparently noticing how she was 
hugging herself tightly.

	She shook her head and smiled, rubbing her arms like an Eskimo without her 
parka in the snow. “No, of course not,” Rei replied. “It’s just a little nippy in 
here, don’t you think? There must be a draft or something blowing in from somewhere.”

	“Actually, I’m rather warm. They like to keep the temperature high in here. 
Less chance of me catching a cold or something, I guess. Not that I mind. I’m 
accustomed to the heat. I can almost imagine we’re back at Hikawa, and I’m meditating 
in front of the sacred fire…” 

	His dark eyes closed, as if picturing the scene in his mind, and a wistful 
smile played on his lips. Saburo wanted so badly to go home. Rei knew how much he 
hated having to be in the hospital and away from his beloved shrine, even if it was 
necessary.

	“You’ll be going home to Hikawa soon, ojii-san,” Rei declared softly as she 
reached for his hand, sounding far more confident than she felt. “In a few weeks, 
you’ll be good as new. You‘ll see.”

	“You make it sound so easy, Rei-chan,” Saburo quipped, eyes fluttering back 
open as his smile widened. “I hope you’re right. No, I *know* you’re right. We’ll be 
home soon, and everything will be just as it was.”

	“Right.”

	Silence fell over the two as both prayed it to be true. All they had left was 
faith -- hope that somehow, in the end, everything would be okay. Neither liked 
to talk about it, but they were aware that even if the transplant was successful, 
there was only a fifty-fifty chance Saburo would live. The transplant was a risk, but 
it was a risk they were willing to take. Without it, the doctors gave him a month or 
two at best. With it, Saburo might be cured.

	Or, he might die.

	No matter how hard she tried, Rei could not forget that. The thought 
continuously echoed and echoed in her mind until sometimes she feared she might 
scream under the weight of her worries. It had been a long time since she last felt 
anything even resembling happiness. Not even her best friend, the girl who often gave 
the appearance of being on an unending high (untrue as that might be), could break 
through the clouds surrounding her. Between working to keep a struggling Hikawa in 
business, the last two senshi battles, and her grandfather’s illness, Rei wouldn’t 
have been surprised in the least if she had an emotional breakdown. Ami suspected she 
might be suffering from clinical depression, a diagnosis Rei was almost apt to 
believe, even if she would never admit it. 

	All she wanted was to be happy again. Was that too much to ask? She wanted 
her grandfather home, healthy and cured, and to be able to enjoy the rare peace with 
her friends as they finished their last two years of high school. It wasn’t much, but 
at that moment, Rei would have given almost anything for her wish to come true.

	“Hey, what‘s wrong?” Saburo asked after a few minutes, lifting up Rei’s chin. 
Though she tried to hide them by quickly turning her head away, Rei knew even with 
the short glance, he saw the tears watering in her eyes. “I thought we promised no 
unhappy thoughts tonight.”

	“Gomen nasai, ojii-san,” she apologized, wiping away the tears with the 
sleeve of her hospital scrubs. Rei hated being weak like this. She had promised 
herself she wouldn’t cry. Saburo needed her to be strong. “I can’t help it. I’m 
trying to be optimistic, really I am, but it’s so hard…”

	Scooting over in his bed, Saburo patted the spot next to him, telling Rei to 
come sit beside him. She felt a little silly, like a child sneaking into her parents’ 
bed during a thunderstorm, but Rei didn’t protest, taking comfort in his arms wrapped 
around her in a tight hug, as if somehow he could protect her from all the ugliness 
in the world.

	“It’s going to be okay, little one,” he murmured, kissing the top of her 
plastic-covered head. “No matter what happens, you have to believe that.”

	Rei shook her head, not wanting to hear it. “You can’t make those kinds of 
promises, ojii-san, so please don’t. You don’t know what is going to happen. Nobody 
does.”

	“That may be true, but nothing good ever comes out of thinking like that, 
Rei-chan,” Saburo said, his eyes a little sad as Rei glanced up. “You need to have 
hope, even in your darkest hours. Things might seem bad now, but that doesn’t mean 
they will be that way forever. Even if the transplant doesn’t work, and I die--”

	“I don’t want to hear about this,” Rei interrupted him, her voice hoarse and 
angry as she turned her head back toward the closed door. “Don’t talk like that. 
Besides, I thought you didn’t want us to think about the possibility of you dying, 
and here you are, bringing the subject up yourself.”

	Saburo chuckled, but it was a dry chuckle and free of any trace of joviality. 
“I think you misunderstood,” he said. “There’s a difference in being optimistic and 
fooling yourself. I’m not fooling myself, Rei-chan. I know as well as you do there is 
a real chance this might not work. However, I am hoping that it will. Does that make 
any sense to you?”

	“A little…” she answered, although Rei still wasn’t certain she quite 
understood what he was saying.

	 How was that any different from what she had been doing earlier? She was 
just as hopeful as he was that the transplant would work, wasn’t she? She certainly 
didn’t *want* him to die. Rei wanted him to be cured and to be able to return to 
Hikawa. 

	However, if she was being really truthful with herself, Rei would have to 
admit she had her doubts. She wanted to believe the transplant would be a success, 
but Rei had low expectations. She rationalized it would hurt less that way, in case 
something did go wrong, but perhaps she was wrong to think like that. 

	Was that what her grandfather was trying to get her to see?

	Rei was about to ask him, but when she turned back around, she realized 
Saburo had already fallen asleep. It was getting late, and she probably needed to get 
back to her own room before one of the nurses realized she was missing. Carefully, 
Rei untangled herself from his grandfatherly embrace as not to wake him, then tucked 
him underneath the sheets.

	“I love you, ojii-san,” she whispered after hesitantly landing a mask-covered 
kiss on the top of his bald head. “I know I never told you that, and you probably 
aren’t listening to me now, but I do. I’ll try to be optimistic, no matter what 
happens. I promise.”

					*****

	The next morning, after a less than peaceful slumber, Saburo awoke and 
blankly stared at the ceiling as he waited, counting the lines that crisscrossed the 
white surface. Rei was already in surgery, so there was little to do until one of the 
nurses brought in the new marrow to begin the second phase of the transplant.

	The time passed slowly, so a surprise visit by Watanabe Miyuki, his late 
daughter’s best friend, was a welcome change of pace. The blonde, dressed in the same 
ugly green scrubs required of all visitors to his room, quietly entered the room and 
closed the door behind her, disrupting his count, not that he particularly minded. 
Saburo immediately smiled and sat up in his bed.

	“Miyuki-chan, what a pleasant surprise!” he exclaimed, allowing her to give 
him a hug. “What are you doing here?”

	“When Rei-chan told me about the transplant, I offered to come help take care 
of Hikawa for a couple of weeks while you both recovered,” she explained, taking a 
seat in the chair beside his bed. “I’m sorry I couldn’t have been here sooner, but 
unfortunately, the train had some trouble and we were temporarily derailed. In fact, 
I haven’t even had time to take my things to Hikawa. I came here straight from the 
station.”

	“You didn’t have to do that.”

	“Of course I did. Rei-chan would have killed me if I let you go through this 
alone. When I talked to her on the phone, she said if she couldn’t be with you, then 
I was the next best thing.”

	Saburo smiled, touched by Rei’s thoughtfulness. He would have been perfectly 
willing to go through the whole transplant alone, but he had to admit Miyuki’s 
presence was reassuring. With somebody there with him, Saburo didn’t feel quite so 
afraid of what was about to happen.

	“How is Rei-chan?” he asked. “Did you check on her condition before you came 
to see me?”

	“Hai, I talked to one of the nurses on Rei-chan’s floor. She’s still in the 
operating room, but so far, there have been no complications. It’s a textbook perfect 
procedure. They should be finishing up soon. You won‘t have to wait too much longer.”

	Breathing a sigh of relief, Saburo leaned back against his pillows. He hadn’t 
been too worried about Rei, as she was still young and healthy, two of the best 
qualities in a transplant donor, but he felt better knowing things were going well 
during her procedure. Now, all he had to do was wait until it was his turn.

	While they waited, Miyuki brought him up-to-date on what had been happening 
in her life, most of their conversation revolving around Miyuki’s and Kazuya’s brood 
of children, which was currently up to five. Since in Nagano, summer break wouldn’t 
begin for another couple of days, Kazuya had volunteered to stay at home with the 
children while Miyuki went ahead to Tokyo to be there for the transplant. The rest of 
the family would hopefully be arriving on Saturday. Saburo was looking forward to it, 
as he hadn’t seen Takara, Reika, Fumie, and Shigure in ages and had yet to even meet 
the newest member of the family, eighteen-month-old Kado.

	“He really is the cutest baby,” the new mother gushed after regaling Saburo 
with the story behind Kado‘s first word, the none-too-nice “baka“. “Oh, I wish I had 
remembered to bring a picture. He looks just like his father when Kazuya was a baby.”

	“That’s okay, Miyuki-chan,” Saburo grinned. “With any luck, I’ll be seeing 
Kado-chan in person very soon. That‘ll be better than any picture.”

	“I hope you do get the chance to meet him,” she said softly, not realizing 
how that sounded until it was too late. Her sad brown eyes instantly widened when she 
comprehended her mistake, and Miyuki folded her hands on her lap, head bowed in 
apology. “Oh, Kondo-sama, I didn’t mean to say that. Gomen nasai. Of course you’ll 
meet Kado-chan and see Takara-kun and the others. Reika-chan made this adorable 
origami crane in school as a get well gift, and Fumie-chan and Shigure-chan insist on 
singing the song they wrote for you…” 

	Sighing, Saburo patted Miyuki’s glove-covered hand in comfort, assuring her 
there were no hard feelings, though a part of him flinched at the reminder of what 
might possibly happen. For all his positive thinking, the awareness that he might die 
was always there like a disease in remission. It may have been hidden, but never 
truly gone. 

	“It’s fine, Miyuki-chan.”

	“No, it’s not. It was an incredibly thoughtless thing for me to say, 
especially today, of all days.”

	“It was an honest mistake. I know you didn‘t mean anything by it.”

	“But --”

	“Besides, you’re right. There is a chance I won’t ever get to meet Kado-chan, 
although I hope with all my heart I will,” he admitted with a sigh. “In fact, I’m 
rather glad you brought up the subject, painful as it might be. There is something 
I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

	Slowly, Miyuki lifted her head back up, her eyes glistening with held back 
tears. “What’s that?” she asked, her voice shaking only a little as she rose from her 
seat in the hard plastic chair and sat down at the edge of his hospital bed. “Do you 
need me to do something for you? You know I would be happy to do anything for you. 
All you have to do is ask.”

	Saburo nodded, taking the hand Miyuki offered and giving it a gentle squeeze. 
“If something should happen to me,” he said after a short pause of hesitation, “then 
I want you to promise me you’ll take care of Rei-chan.”

	“Oh, Kondo-sama, don’t say things like that. Nothing is going to happen to 
you,” she insisted in a soft whisper. However, Saburo didn’t fail to see Miyuki 
averting her eyes as she spoke, looking down at the floor instead of him. She never 
had been a good liar.

	Still, Saburo pressed, knowing he would not be able to relax and fully 
concentrate on his recovery until he knew his granddaughter would be cared for in the 
event of his death. “Please, Miyuki-chan,” he begged, squeezing her hand even 
tighter. “You and Watanabe-san will have guardianship of Rei-chan after I die, you 
know that. I only want you to promise me you’ll take good care of her. Rei-chan tries 
to be so strong, but at heart, she is still a child, and she needs people to love her 
and help her through this. She’s already lost so much…”

	“You know I’ll take care of her,” Miyuki reassured him. “You don’t have to 
worry. I’ll love Takara’s daughter as if she were my own.”

	“Thank you, Miyuki-chan.”

	At that moment, the door to his room opened and Dr. Asada walked in, along 
with the redhead nurse. Rei’s operation had ended, and it was time for the transplant 
to be performed. Realizing what was happening, Miyuki slid back off the bed to return 
to her chair as the nurse hooked a bag filled with what looked like red gel to the 
metal stand used for IVs and inserted a needle into one of the tubes protruding from 
his body.

	“Is that Rei-chan’s marrow, sensei?” Miyuki asked the doctor.

	“Hai,” Dr. Asada answered. “That’s about 1500 cc’s of bone marrow, or in 
laymen’s terms, roughly about 45 million cells. The transfer should take about five 
hours, so it’ll be awhile yet. Kuruma-san here will be checking on Kondo-sama’s 
vitals every fifteen minutes and keeping an eye out for signs of possible rejection, 
such as rashes and itchiness. If he begins to exhibit any of those signs between the 
check-up times, then please don‘t hesitate to call for the nurse, Miss…?” 

	“Watanabe. I’m Watanabe Miyuki, a close friend of the family.”

	He nodded in acknowledgment. “Nice to meet you, Watanabe-san. It’s always 
warms my heart to know my patients don’t have to go through this ordeal alone. I’m 
the doctor in charge of Kondo-sama’s medical team, Dr. Asada Yasuo.”

	“It‘s a pleasure, sensei.”

	“How is Rei-chan doing?” Saburo asked once the introductions were over and he 
was more or less settled. “Did everything go as expected?”

	“Hino-san performed wonderfully. We couldn’t have asked for a better donor. 
The operation went through without a hitch, and I expect she’ll be up and around by 
tomorrow after getting some much-needed rest.”

	“Good. I‘m glad to hear that.” 

	After making a few last minute adjustments to his IV drip, the nurse and 
doctor left the room, leaving Saburo and Miyuki to their own private thoughts. 
Neither spoke as Miyuki reached for his hand and they both watched Rei’s bone marrow 
flow through the tube attached to the bag and into his body. 

	Please, let this work, Saburo prayed silently. Please don’t let my 
granddaughter’s gift be in vain.

					*****

	Meanwhile, in one of the private waiting rooms on the oncology floor of the 
hospital, Minako and the other three members of the inner senshi, along with a 
red-haired stranger Minako couldn’t help but think was extremely handsome in an 
older, distinguished way, were patiently waiting for news on Rei’s operation.

	Or at least *most* of them were waiting patiently. While the man sat in the 
chair, his head leaned back, eyes closed, and Makoto and Ami were silently engaged in 
their own private activities to keep themselves occupied during the wait, Usagi was 
fidgeting about like she had ants in her pants.

	“Why is this taking so loooong?” the familiar whine of their princess 
demanded, interrupting the relative quiet of the room. “Shouldn’t we know something 
by now?”

	Beside the odango-haired blonde, Ami sighed and rubbed her forehead as she 
set down the medical textbook she had been reading to pass the time. Even the 
kind-hearted future doctor, normally the most patient when it came to Usagi’s 
sometimes childish behavior, seemed to have grown tired of her constant inquiries 
over Rei’s and Saburo’s conditions, although Minako couldn’t necessarily blame her. 
They were all a little frazzled by the waiting, and it had been an extremely long 
morning.

	“These things take time, Usagi-chan,” the blue-haired girl explained for 
about the twentieth time since they arrived. “Somebody will let us know when Rei’s 
operation is over.”

	“But this waiting is excruciating,” Usagi continued, slumping back in her 
chair after exhaling very loudly. “Can’t you go find your mother and ask her how 
things are going? Or maybe I’ll ask Mamo-chan. He’s supposed to be working here 
today…”

	“Usagi-chan, Mamoru-san doesn’t work on the oncology floor, and neither does 
Mizuno-sensei, for that matter,” Makoto pointed out. “I don’t think they’ll know much 
of anything.”

	“But they can always ask around, can‘t they? Mizuno-sensei, at least, has to 
have some connections. Please, Ami-chan?”

	“I’m sorry, Usagi-chan. Okaa-san is busy with her own patients, so we are 
just going to have to wait like everybody else,” Ami said, causing Usagi to frown. 
Reaching for the blonde’s hand, the genius’s face softened in sympathy. “Hey, I know 
you are worried about Rei-chan and her grandfather -- we all are -- but you have to 
be patient. Why don’t you try focusing on something else for the time being, like 
studying? It‘ll make the time go by faster.”

	Cerulean eyes rolled at the suggestion. “Come on, it’s summer break! People 
aren’t supposed to study on vacation,” Usagi declared. Letting out a huge yawn, she 
rested her head on Minako’s shoulder. “Besides, I think I‘m just going to take a nap. 
We woke up way too early this morning. Wake me up when we hear any news about 
Rei-chan.”

	Ami shrugged and reached again for her textbook. “Suit yourself. It was just 
as suggestion,” she said, adjusting her glasses before settling back down to continue 
her reading.

	After a few minutes, silence once again returned to the waiting room as 
Makoto started flipping through an old issue of an arts-and-crafts magazine she found 
laying on the nearby end table and Usagi fell asleep before Minako even had the 
chance to suggest she find another poor soul to use as her pillow. Sighing, Minako 
resigned herself to her fate, unable to find it in her heart to wake her princess 
back up, and carefully shifted her body to a more comfortable position before turning 
her thoughts back to her best friend.

	Out of all of them, Minako was probably the most impatient to hear the news 
about Rei‘s condition, although she was much better at hiding it than Usagi was. Her 
abilities as an aspiring actress were in fine form that morning as she outwardly 
struggled to keep her cool, knowing that going crazy with worry would not help 
neither Rei nor her grandfather. 

	Inside, though, was another story. Her stomach was tied in knots, and a 
thousand thoughts were flying through her head, all converging into one big, tangled 
mess until she didn‘t know what to think anymore. Even though chances were good that 
Rei would pull through without any trouble, especially with the extra physical 
protection she had as Sailor Mars, that didn’t make any of them any less worried that 
something might go wrong. As Ami had told them, any medical operating procedure came 
with some risks, and even a perfectly healthy donor could experience some problems.

	But Minako tried not to think about that, remembering what she had told Rei a 
couple of days ago. She needed to think positive. Rei would be perfectly fine, as 
stubborn and hard-working as ever in no time. In fact, Minako began dreading the next 
few days, knowing how cranky and frustrated the miko could get when she wasn’t 
allowed to work. Rei was one of the hardest workers she knew and hated being idle.

	Maybe I’ll bring some of her calligraphy supplies here tomorrow, so she can 
at least work on charms and fortunes for the shrine, Minako thought, idly twirling a 
strand of her blonde hair around her finger. Rei-chan would like that. And maybe I 
can loan her some of my new manga…

	Minako became so wrapped up in her plans to cheer Rei up, she barely noticed 
when the door to the waiting room opened and an older man with gray-streaked black 
hair and wearing a lab coat stepped inside. However, the others did and immediately 
stopped what they were doing, Ami reaching over to gently shake Usagi awake. Feeling 
the weight on her shoulder lift as Usagi sat back up and yawned, Minako abruptly 
turned her attention to the doctor and the red-haired man, who she vaguely remembered 
Rei mentioning was her godfather.

	“Asada-sensei, did the procedure go well?” the Adonis asked, standing from 
his seat and setting down his cup of coffee. “How is Rei-chan?”

	“Hino-san is fine. She’s resting in her room, sleeping off the effects of the 
anesthesia,” the doctor answered to a round of relieved sighs from Minako and the 
others. “Her operation was a complete success, and we just began the second phase of 
the transplant a few moments ago.”

	“That’s good. When shall we expect to hear word on Kondo-sama’s condition?”

	“The transfer of the donor marrow to the patient generally takes about five 
hours, although we certainly will keep you informed if anything drastic happens in 
the meantime. Until then, keep your fingers crossed.”

	“We will, sensei. Arigatou.”

	Dr. Asada turned to leave after informing them of the news, but before he 
left, Minako jumped up from her seat on the couch. “Sensei, when may we go visit 
Rei-chan?” she asked, anxious to see Rei was fine for herself. 

	Considering her question, the doctor rubbed his chin. “Well, I would like 
Hino-san to get some rest first,” he began, “but I don’t see a problem with her 
receiving a few visitors later this afternoon. I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you 
girls go down to the cafeteria or to a nearby café and get some lunch? By the time 
you get back, the anesthesia should have worn off and you can see Hino-san then.”

	“I am hungry…” Usagi admitted, blushing as her stomach let out a faint growl 
to demonstrate. 

	The others, including the two adults, laughed, finally able to relax a little 
bit now that they knew things were going well so far. “Hey, let’s go to that new 
Italian restaurant down the street,” Makoto proposed once their giggles had subsided. 
“I’ve been wanting to try it out, and I heard it is supposed to have some great food. 
The newspaper gave it five stars.”

	“That’s sounds fine to me,” Ami agreed, gathering up her books to leave. 
“It’s been awhile since I had Italian food.”

	“Usagi-chan?”

	Hopping up from her seat, the blonde enthusiastically nodded. “Sure, count me 
in. You know me, I’ll eat anything if I’m hungry enough.” 

	“Okay, that’s three votes for Italian,” Makoto said, holding up three 
fingers. “What about you, Minako-chan? Any objections?”

	As much as she liked Italian, Minako wasn’t very hungry at the moment. She 
shook her head and sat back down on the couch. “Why don’t you guys go on without me?” 
she suggested.

	“What?” Usagi asked. “Aren’t you hungry, Minako-chan? It’s been hours since 
breakfast, and it’s almost lunchtime. You aren‘t sick, are you?” Bending down, the 
princess placed a cool hand against Minako’s forehead to take her temperature, 
concern in her clear blue eyes. “You don’t feel like you have a fever…”

	“I’m fine, Usagi-chan,” Minako insisted, giving her a slight smile. “I just 
don’t have much of an appetite right now, that’s all. Trying to lose a couple of 
extra pounds, you know… You three go eat, and I’ll stay here.”

	“By yourself? Won‘t you get lonely, though?”

	“I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself for a couple of hours. Now, go 
eat! I’ll be okay.”

	Usagi didn’t look convinced, exchanging worried looks with the other two 
girls, but reluctantly they agreed. “Okay, we’ll bring you back some lasagna or 
something,” Usagi promised as they headed toward the door. “But if you want some 
company, you know where to find us. There‘s always room for one more at our table.”

	“Sure. Ja ne!”

	“Ja ne!”

	The girls, as well as the doctor, then left the room, the door closing behind 
them with a soft click. Minako sighed, leaning against the back of the couch, and 
lowered her eyelids as she mentally said a prayer of thanks for Rei’s successful 
operation and prayed Saburo’s procedure would go just as well.

	“You’re Aino-san, aren’t you?” the redhead man asked as he unexpectedly 
walked over and sat down beside Minako on the couch, interrupting her prayers. It was 
the first time he had tried to talk to any of them that morning, other than a polite 
“ohayo” when they first arrived.

	Baby blue eyes widening, Minako nodded. “Hai, I’m Aino Minako,” she said. 
“How did you know?”

	“Rei-chan talks a lot about you and the other girls,” he replied. “She told 
me you were the pretty blonde who always wore her hair pulled back with a red bow. 
I‘m her godfather, by the way -- Uchizawa Minoru.”

	Embarrassed by the compliment, Minako felt her cheeks warm. “It’s very nice 
to meet you, Uchizawa-san,” she said, bowing her head in an effort to hide how 
flustered she was.

	“The pleasure is mine, Aino-san.” Minoru leaned back and casually swung his 
arm over the top of the couch. “So, you didn’t go with your friends? Aren‘t you 
hungry?”

	“No, I didn’t feel much like eating right now,” Minako said, still looking 
down at the hands she had folded her lap. “I have other things on my mind besides 
food.”

	Minoru nodded. “I see. You’re concerned about Rei-chan and Kondo-sama, aren’t 
you?” he guessed.

	Minako considered lying, not sure if she wanted to talk about her feelings 
with almost a perfect stranger, but there was something about the man sitting beside 
her that made her feel instantly comfortable around him. Maybe it was the fact that 
she could tell Minoru loved Rei almost -- if not more -- than she did, or maybe she 
was still a little star-struck by his handsome, movie star looks, but whatever it 
was, Minako felt compelled to admit to him the truth. 

	“Hai, I am,” she said softly, finally willing herself to look back up.

	“Rei-chan is lucky to have such a devoted friend,” he commented with a small 
smile.

	“Do you really think so? I mean, sometimes we get into arguments and stuff…”

	“Every friendship has its ups and downs, Aino-san. The important thing is 
that when it really counts, you are there for the other. That’s what true friendship 
is. And I, for one, am very happy that Rei-chan has you and those other girls in her 
life. She‘s been so much happier these last couple of years since she met you all…” 
At that, Minoru’s face, still quite youthful despite the appearance of a few lines of 
ages, grew almost wistful, a true sadness in his dark green eyes.

	“What do you mean, Uchizawa-san?” Minako asked, curious by the sudden change. 
She knew Rei hadn’t had the happiest childhood, with her mother dying and being 
shipped off to live with the grandfather she had never met before, but that was about 
all Minako knew. On the rare occasions Minako tried to get her to talk about her life 
before coming a senshi, Rei would usually say there was no point in dwelling in the 
past and immediately change the subject.   

	“Rei-chan’s always been somewhat of a loner,” he explained after a short 
pause to gather his thoughts. “She doesn’t trust many people, afraid that if she 
does, they’ll end up hurting her in the long run. I can’t say I necessarily blame 
her, even though it saddens me that she feels that way. Rei-chan has experienced a 
lot of disappointment in her life over the years.”

	“Like what?”

	Minoru shook his head. “I’m not sure even I know the whole story, Aino-san. 
As I’m sure you are well aware, Rei-chan isn’t very open, even with the people she 
does love. I do know, though, her biggest disappointment is her relationship with her 
father.”

	“The former governor,” Minako remarked, looking around at the almost empty 
room. For the first time, she noticed the absence of Hino Keitaro, which caused her 
to frown. Shouldn’t he have come? Despite their strained relationship, he was still 
Rei’s father and Saburo’s son-in-law. Minako would have expected him to be there.

	“No, Keitaro didn’t come,” Minoru said sadly, answering Minako’s unasked 
question. “He asked me to call if anything happened, but he didn’t think it was 
important to be here today.”

	“Oh.” 

	Minako didn’t know what else to say to that. Superficially, a part of her 
always thought that Rei was exaggerating a little when she spoke of their 
relationship, upset that her father never had time for her. After all, Ami’s divorced 
mother was often busy with work and she very rarely saw her artist father, yet Ami 
still loved them dearly, and while Minako and her mother never saw eye to eye on 
anything, she knew in her heart her parents loved her as much as she did them. 
However, perhaps it was possible for a father to be that apathetic toward his 
daughter, as it appeared Keitaro was.

	“Hai, it’s a sad situation,” Minoru commented with a heavy sigh. “But Keitaro 
isn’t completely to blame. I know you must think he is a terrible person, but he 
isn’t. He’s simply afraid.”

	“Of what?” Minako asked, confused.

	“Love.”

	“Love? That‘s silly. Love is the most wonderful thing in the entire world! 
How can anybody possibly be afraid of love?”

	Minoru gave her a wry grin. “I don’t expect you to understand, Aino-san. I’ve 
only just begun understanding it myself. Perhaps when you’re older. For now, keep 
your dreams of romance. It’s an attractive and refreshing quality in a young girl.”

	For the second time, Minako blushed, but luckily, before he could notice, a 
perky redhead nurse entered the room, diverting the attention to her. 

	“If you would like to see Hino-san now, she is awake and ready to receive 
visitors,” the nurse announced, holding the door open. “The doctor insists only one 
visitor at a time, though. Asada-sensei wants her to take it easy.”

	“Oh.” 

	Hearing that, Minako, who had started to stand with Minoru in order to go to 
Rei’s room, sat back down on the couch. However, a gentle touch on her shoulder 
startled her, and she glanced back up to see Minoru looking down at her with kind 
green eyes.

	“You may go, Aino-san,” he said. “I’ll visit Rei-chan later.”

	Minako shook her head in protest. “No, I couldn’t. She’s your goddaughter. 
I’m only a friend. You should see her first. Besides, I should really wait here for 
the others to come back from lunch…”

	“I’ll tell them where you are,” Minoru promised. “Now, go see Rei-chan. I 
insist.”

	Minako hesitated, but eventually she stood back up to follow the nurse to 
Rei‘s room. “Arigatou, Uchizawa-san. I really appreciate this.”

	“No, thank you, Aino-san.”

	“For what?”

	“For everything you and your friends have done for Rei-chan.” 

					*****

	Back in her room, Rei sighed as she mindlessly flipped through a magazine 
from the stack somebody had left on the table beside her. Ten minutes had passed 
since she had woken up from her operation and she was already bored out of her mind. 
The next few days were going to be pure torture!

	“Well, I suppose a few days of boredom is only a minor price to pay for the 
chance to save ojii-san’s life,” she said to herself, closing the fashion magazine 
and placing it back on the short stack. 

	Thinking of her grandfather, she wondered how things were going with the 
transfer. It should have already begun some time ago while she was still asleep. Were 
things going well? Any signs of rejection yet? Rei hoped Miyuki at least made it in 
time to keep Saburo company during the transfer. Her mother’s best friend hadn’t 
arrived before Rei went into the operating room as planned, so Rei had worried Miyuki 
might not make it until everything was already over, but she hoped she did. Rei 
didn’t like the idea of her grandfather going through the whole ordeal alone.

	A knock and the sound of the door opening interrupted her thoughts. 
“Konnichiwa, Rei-chan!” a cheerful voice called out from the doorway, causing Rei to 
smile at the familiar antics of her best friend. “I’m here!”

	“Konnichiwa, Minako-chan,” Rei greeted her friend, though with a little less 
enthusiasm than the peppy blonde. She carefully pulled herself so that she was 
sitting upright and glanced around, surprised when she saw Minako was the only one 
there. “Where is everybody else?”

	“Oh, while we were waiting to see you, they decided to go out to lunch at the 
new Italian restaurant down the street Mako-chan wanted to try out,” Minako answered. 
“They’ll be back soon. Everybody is really happy with how things went.”

	“You know you all didn’t have to come today. It was only a minor procedure, 
hardly life-threatening,” Rei commented, still amazed that everybody was so concerned 
about her. Even Setsuna, Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru had called her early in the 
morning to apologize for not being able to be there because of work-related and 
school activities and to give their best wishes to her and Saburo.

	Minako shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, Rei-chan. You are our friend, and 
we wanted to be here for you. Besides, we’re just as concerned about your grandfather 
as you are.”

	“How is ojii-san? Have you heard anything yet? Did Watanabe-san arrive in 
time to be there with him?”

	“If you mean that older blonde woman, then yes, I do remember her coming in 
the waiting room for a minute to talk to your godfather before she left again,” 
Minako said. “And everything seems to be going well so far with the transfer, 
although we haven’t heard anything since Asada-sensei came in to tell us you were 
back in your room. As they always say, ’no news is better than gold‘, right?”

	“That’s ’no news is good news’, Minako-chan,” Rei corrected with a slight 
roll of her eyes.

	Minako brushed it off, as she did all the other times she misquoted a famous 
saying, and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Whatever. You know what I mean, right? 
Anyway, how are you feeling?”

	In response to Minako’s question, Rei rubbed the side of her hip where the 
doctor had extracted her bone marrow, reminded of the dull pain that lingered. Dr. 
Asada had told her she’d probably experience some discomfort for the next couple of 
days, but thanks to her heightened healing abilities as a senshi, Rei didn’t think it 
was as bad as she imagined it would be. She could probably even walk if she wanted 
to, yet the doctor still had issued her a pair of crutches just in case, which were 
now leaning against the wall furthest from her bed, as far away as possible so Rei 
wouldn’t get any ideas to get out of bed before she was ready.

	“Well, I’m a little sore, and I’m still sleepy from the anesthesia, but other 
than that, I feel fine. Maybe a little bored, but physically fine.”  

	“Oh… If you‘re still tired, then maybe I should go,” Minako said, starting to 
stand back up from her seat. “I’ll let you get some more rest and come back later, 
okay?”

	“No, you can stay, Minako-chan.” Rei reached for the blonde’s hand, stopping 
her from leaving. For some reason, she didn’t want to be alone right now. 

	“Are you sure? Asada-sensei said he wanted you to rest, and if you aren’t 
feeling up to a visit…”

	“Don’t be silly!” Rei exclaimed, forcing out a laugh. She felt a little silly 
herself, wanting Minako to stay with her like she was some small child afraid of the 
dark, but Rei couldn’t deny the blonde’s presence was reassuring. She needed some of 
Minako’s optimism more than ever right now. “I said I was fine. Besides, there’s 
nothing for me to do here, and I doubt I’ll be able to get much sleep until the 
transplant is finished. Please stay and keep me company. I insist.”

	“Well, if you insist…”

	“Of course I do. Now, sit back down.”

	Following orders, the blonde resumed her seat on the bed, some of her 
trademark cheerfulness fading away. Her baby blue eyes seemed sad somehow, and the 
soft smile on her face had changed to a small frown as Minako pressed her lips 
together, looking at Rei in quiet contemplation.

	“What is it, Minako-chan?” Rei asked, noticing the change in her best friend 
and not particularly liking it. “If you’re worried about me, I told you I was fine. 
You don’t have to be concerned. I‘ll get plenty of rest later, after I know how 
ojii-san‘s transplant went. I promise.”

	“That’s not it,” Minako replied, leaning back on her hands as she shook her 
head of golden tresses. “I was just thinking about something Uchizawa-san and I were 
discussing in the waiting room before the nurse came in to tell us you were awake.”

	“You talked to my godfather?”

	A faint tint of rosy pink colored the other girl’s cheeks, causing one of 
Rei’s eyebrows to arch. “Hai, we had a nice conversation,” Minako admitted. “He’s a 
very kind man, you know, and very handsome…”

	Rei groaned. She should have known, not that she could necessarily blame 
Minako. Even Rei had to admit Uchizawa Minoru was a very good-looking, charming man 
who undoubtedly had a way with women. She might not be interested in the opposite 
sex, but she wasn’t blind. But still…

	“Don’t tell me you have a crush on Uchizawa-san, Minako-chan,” she said. 
“He’s old enough to be your father!”

	The smile briefly reappeared. “I didn’t say I did, Rei-chan, although if 
Uchizawa-san was a few years younger…”

	Rei rolled her eyes at the innuendo, but decided to let it go, not 
particularly interested in what would happen if that were true. “So, what did you and 
Uchizawa-san talk about while you waited to see me?” she asked, getting back to the 
subject at hand.

	“You, mostly,” Minako answered. “And your father.”

	“Otou-sama?” Rei’s eyes darkened significantly. “He isn’t here, is he?”

	“No.”

	“Good.”

	Cocking her head to the side, Minako frowned. “You didn’t want Hino-sama to 
visit you, Rei-chan?”

	“No, I didn’t. Otou-sama doesn’t even know about the transplant, unless 
Uchizawa-san told him about it, which I asked him not to do. I didn‘t tell him.”

	“But why not?”

	“He doesn’t care about us, so why should I? If I had informed him of this, 
otou-sama wouldn’t have come anyway. It would have been a waste of a phone call to 
tell him.”   

	“You don’t know that for sure, do you? He might have come if you had asked 
him.”

	Rei huffed, a few fly-away strands of hair dancing in front of her face, and 
crossed her arms over her chest. What did Minako know? She had two parents who loved 
her with all their hearts. She had no idea what it was like to be completely ignored 
by the one person who was supposed to love her most, as if she were nothing more than 
a liability.

	That was all she had ever been to Keitaro -- a liability. Rei understood that 
now. Her mother had been wrong. Keitaro had never loved her. To him, she was a legal 
responsibility, nothing more. All he had to do was keep her clothed, fed, and 
educated until her twentieth birthday and then good riddance, as far as he was 
concerned. As far as they were both concerned.

	Who cared about love when you had money and power instead?    

	“I doubt it,” Rei said bitterly.

	“Rei-chan--”

	“Believe me, Minako-chan, it’s better this way,” she insisted, interrupting. 
“Otou-sama can’t disappoint me when I don’t give him the chance.”

	“But he also can’t prove you wrong, can he?” Minako pointed out. “Look, I 
know Hino-sama’s disappointed you a lot in the past. Uchizawa-san told me a little 
about it. But people can change, can’t they? You certainly aren’t the same person you 
were when I first met you almost four years ago. And Uchizawa-san says your father 
really is a good person at heart, just scared. I don‘t really understand what he was 
saying, but maybe if you give Hino-sama another chance and show him that love is 
nothing to be afraid of…”

	“I gave him ten years to change, Minako-chan. Ten years!” Rei lowered her 
gaze, only then realizing she was gripping her blanket so tightly in anger, her 
knuckles had turned white. “He’ll never change,” she continued, her voice softer than 
before. “I used to think he would, but that was nothing but a childish dream. I’m 
nothing to otou-sama, and now, he is nothing to me. That‘s the way it is; I‘ve 
accepted it.”

	“I see,” Minako said, although Rei could tell she really didn’t. “I’m sorry, 
Rei-chan. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

	“It‘s okay,” Rei assured her. “You didn’t know, and you were only trying to 
help. Arigatou.”

	“For what?”

	Reaching for Minako’s hand, Rei managed a small smile. “I might not have a 
father anymore, but I’ll tell you the one thing I do have -- the best sister in the 
whole wide world.”  

					*****

	Quietly, Miyuki untangled her fingers from Saburo’s grip and stood, careful 
not to wake him. The transfer, which had ended about an hour ago, had been a success, 
and so far, there were no signs of rejection, although that didn’t mean he was out of 
the woods yet. For now, Saburo was resting peacefully, so Miyuki decided she would 
check on Rei.

	She headed to Rei’s room down the hall after disposing of her protective 
scrubs and paused momentarily at the door when she saw Rei was not alone. Sitting in 
the chair beside her bed, where the dark-haired girl was sleeping, Minoru was busy 
looking over some papers, looking uncharacteristically serious with a pair of black 
reading glasses sliding down his nose. 

	“Nice glasses,” she commented in a whisper as she opened the door a little 
wider and slipped inside.

	Minoru put aside his papers and glanced over at where Miyuki stood. “Oh, 
Miyuki, konbanwa,” he said softly with a small smile, taking off the glasses and 
placing them on top of his work. “They’re only for reading,” he explained. “I guess 
I’m not as young as I used to be…”

	“They look good on you.”

	“Arigatou,” he said, gesturing toward the chair beside him. “Please, have a 
seat. How is Kondo-sama doing?”

	Miyuki sat down, weary but glad to be able to relax. It had indeed been a 
very long day. “He’s sleeping right now. So far, there have been no signs of 
rejection. Asada-sensei was very pleased with how well the transplant went.”

	“Rei-chan will be happy to hear that. She’s been very worried about her 
grandfather. The doctor ended up giving her a sedative so that she would finally get 
some more sleep.”

	“I see.”  

	 Miyuki leaned forward in her seat to brush away a few strands of raven hair 
off of the sleeping Rei’s face, struck by how much she looked like Takara just then, 
eyes closed and her alabaster skin even paler than usual. Poor girl…

	“Rei-chan was very brave today, wasn’t she?” Minoru asked. “Donating her bone 
marrow to save Kondo-sama’s life?”

	“Hai, she cares about her grandfather very much. He’s practically the only 
family she has left, except for Keitaro-san. I don’t know what will happen to her if 
Kondo-sama doesn’t survive this. Kazuya and I will be her guardians, yes, but it’s 
hardly the same…”

	“Miyuki, don’t think about that. You said yourself the transfer was a 
complete success. We have to hope for the best.”

	“I know you’re right, but there’s still a good chance that his body might 
reject Rei-chan’s donor marrow. We can’t assume this is all over on the basis of one 
success. You can keep your blind faith, Minoru-san, but for me, I’ll wait until 
Kondo-sama is declared cured by the doctors and released from the hospital.”

	“Perhaps that is wise,” Minoru commented. “Truthfully, over the years, I’ve 
learned even the strongest hopes aren’t always fulfilled. Don’t get me wrong, I still 
believe in hoping for the best, but I’m no longer blind, as you say. All things 
happen for a reason, good or bad, and I have to believe in that now -- not in hopes 
which can evaporate into thin air.”

	Miyuki frowned, unaccustomed to hearing Minoru sound so…adult. “I miss the 
eternally optimistic Minoru-san.”

	“Me, too.” At that moment, Minoru reached into his pants pocket and pulled 
out his cell phone. She hadn’t heard a ring, but Miyuki assumed he must have put it 
on vibrator mode to avoid waking Rei in case he received a call. “Excuse me, Miyuki,” 
he said, standing. “This is probably the office. I’ve been expecting them to call, so 
I need to take it. Do you mind if I step outside for a few minutes?”

	“No, it’s fine. Take as long as you need.”

	“Thank you.”

					*****

	Stepping outside Rei’s room, Minoru silently closed the door behind him and 
headed to a nearby side hall that was virtually deserted except for a custodian 
mopping the floors for some privacy. He then flipped open the phone and brought it to 
his ear after pressing the appropriate button to accept the call.

	“Mikage-kun, did you get those numbers finished?” he asked, not even 
bothering to ask who was calling, assuming, as he had told Miyuki, it was his office. 
“We really need to get on the ball with this. The presentation is only a week--”

	“Minoru-kun, it’s me,” a voice that obviously did not belonged to his 
assistant said, interrupting before he could continue any further.

	Minoru‘s eyes widened, surprised by the unexpected call from his best friend. 
“Keitaro?”

	“I’ve just returned home from the office, and I thought I should call,” 
Keitaro explained after a brief pause. “I assume things are going well since you 
never called me.”

	“Hai, the transplant was successful, and so far, things look good for 
Kondo-sama. The doctors are cautiously optimistic.”

	“I’m glad to hear it.”

	“Keitaro, you should be here. At least come for a visit tomorrow. It’ll mean 
a lot to Rei-chan.”

	“I’m busy.”

	“The entire day? Surely you can spare ten minutes on your lunch break to come 
to the hospital or on your way home...”

	“I *said* I was busy, Minoru-kun.”

	Minoru’s free hand involuntarily curled into a fist at his side, angered at 
Keitaro’s continued refusals to see Rei. He knew as well as Keitaro did that if he 
had wanted to come, he could have. Keitaro’s position as a Diet member kept him busy, 
yes, but Minoru doubted anybody would have minded if he took off a day or two. The 
only thing preventing Keitaro from coming to the hospital was himself.

	“Dammit, Keitaro, I’m tired of this,” Minoru growled, banging his fist 
against the wall behind him. “Rei-chan is your daughter. The least you could do is 
come check on her and Kondo-sama yourself instead of using me as your messenger boy. 
And don’t give me this crap about being too busy. I didn’t have to be here. I 
*should* be on a flight to Paris at this very moment, on my way to a meeting with the 
execs at Nintendo France, but I managed to have the meeting postponed so I could be 
here for Kondo-sama and Rei-chan.”

	“Well, I suppose you are a far better man than I am,” Keitaro replied.

	“Why are you acting like this?” Minoru demanded to know. “This is cold, even 
for you. I know you are not that heartless, Keitaro. You care about Rei-chan, even if 
you’re too scared to admit it. I know you do, so don‘t even try to deny it, because I 
won‘t believe you.”

	Keitaro sighed. “It’s complicated, Minoru-kun…”

	“What kind of an answer is that? How is this complicated? You are Rei-chan’s 
father; she is your daughter. I think that is simple enough to understand. What I 
don’t understand is why you will not come for a visit. I’m not asking for much here 
-- a short visit with Rei-chan, maybe bring some nice flowers, and a quick hello to 
Kondo-sama. Is that too much to ask?”

	There was a long pause before Keitaro finally answered, “Rei-san doesn’t want 
me there.”

	“Did she tell you that?” Minoru asked, his voice losing some of its edge. “Is 
that why you decided not to come?”

	“Not in so many words, no,” he admitted. “But I think Rei-san made her 
feelings perfectly clear when she decided not to inform me of this transplant. I 
never would have known about it if you hadn’t told me.”

	“And what if she had told you? Would you have come then?”

	“Yes…no... To be honest, I’m not sure.”

	“Why?”

	“Minoru-kun, I don’t want to talk about this right now,” Keitaro said. “I 
only wanted to call to check on Rei-san and Kondo-sama, and now that I know they are 
fine, I have work to do. I‘ll talk to you again tomorrow.”

	“Will you come to the hospital?”

	“If it means that much to you, I’ll think about it. Goodnight, Minoru-kun.”

	“Wait, Keitaro --”

	But by then Keitaro had already hung up the phone, the click echoing in his ears.

					*****

	Back at the Hino manor, Keitaro placed the phone back in its cradle upon his 
desk and sighed. Why had he even bothered to call Minoru, knowing any conversation 
they had about Rei was bound to turn into an argument? It was the same thing every 
time. Minoru seemed even more insistent than ever in his pursuit of a reconciliation 
between him and his daughter, a reconciliation Keitaro had little hope in seeing.

	Ever since the day Rei came to his office and asked for a loan to pay for her 
grandfather‘s medical expenses, their relationship had gone from bad to worse. 
Communication between them was practically nonexistent, to the point that Minoru had 
to tell him of the transplant, and they hadn’t seen each other face to face in over a 
year. Even on her seventeenth birthday, when Keitaro actually made a point of 
attending her special dinner at The Rain Tree instead of canceling or sending someone 
in his place as he usually did, it was Rei who had decided not to come, preferring 
instead to spend the evening with her friends.

	To Keitaro, it appeared Rei had made her feelings toward him perfectly clear. 
She didn’t want to see him, and Keitaro couldn’t really blame her. Rather than 
forcing himself into Rei’s life and risk alienating her even further, he decided to 
respect her wishes and stayed away. That was the real reason why he hadn’t gone to 
the hospital. Maybe it might have been different if she’d asked him to come, but she 
hadn’t. Rei hadn’t even wanted him to know about the transplant.

	Perhaps it was better that way, though. Keitaro didn’t have the faintest idea 
of how a father was supposed to act in that kind of situation, and he suspected it 
was too late to learn. He’d probably make things worse anyway, although how that was 
even possible, he had no idea. Nor did he have any desire to find out.

	Yes, it was better this way, he finally decided before getting to work on the 
papers he had brought home from the office, pushing all thoughts of his daughter out 
of his mind.

	Wasn’t it?

					*****

	The next morning found Rei worried and restless, anxious to see her 
grandfather. Earlier, she’d asked Dr. Asada if she might visit Saburo when the kindly 
doctor came to check on her, but for some reason, he had said “no” to her request, 
even though she was feeling much stronger than she had yesterday after her 
drug-induced sleep. Though she couldn’t be sure, Rei had a feeling he was hiding 
something from her. She could usually sense when a person was lying to her, and the 
alarms were definitely sounding when Dr. Asada had told her there was nothing to 
worry about.   

	It didn’t help matters that she had awoken to another one of her foreboding 
“feelings” stirring in the depths of her heart. At first, Rei had simply attributed 
it to waking in a strange, unfamiliar place, a natural reaction she’d experienced a 
couple of times before in the past. However, when the sensation lingered even after 
Rei realized she was still at the hospital, she began recognizing it for what it 
really was.

	Something was wrong. Maybe not even the doctors could see it yet, but Rei was 
certain of it, and it was frustrating that she wasn’t even allowed to see Saburo.

	“Why can’t I visit him?” she growled, angrily hurling a magazine at the door.

	Unfortunately, at that very second, the door chose to open, and instead of 
hitting its original target, the magazine slapped a pretty blonde in the face and 
fell to the ground.

	“Geez, Rei-chan, if you didn’t want to see me today, you could have just 
asked me to leave instead of pelting me with the latest issue of ‘Hana to Yume‘,” 
Minako said jokingly, bending down to retrieve the magazine and placing it in the 
large pink tote bag she had brought with her. “Wake up on the wrong side of the road 
this morning?”

	Rei blushed. “Gomen nasai, Minako-chan,” she apologized. “I didn’t realize 
you were there. Besides, haven’t you ever heard of *knocking* before you enter 
somebody’s room?”

	“Hey, I thought you might still be sleeping, and I didn’t want to wake you up 
if you were. Don‘t blame me for trying to be considerate. What‘s with the magazine 
missile anyway?”

	“Oh, it’s nothing,” Rei lied. “I’m only a little frustrated, that’s all. 
Asada-sensei still won’t let me get out of bed and walk around. He said maybe later 
this afternoon, but until then, I‘m bored out of my mind.”

	Walking over to Rei‘s bed, Minako slid the tote bag off her shoulder and set 
it on Rei‘s lap. “Then I guess it is a good thing I brought this for you, isn‘t it?”

	“What is it?” 

	“Look inside and find out.”

	Curious, Rei finished unzipping the half-opened bag and started going through 
the assortment of items inside. Minako had thought of almost everything. Her 
calligraphy supplies, needlework, tarot cards, some new manga… Minako had even 
thought to bring Yoshi and Hoshi, her two favorite teddy bears.

	“Minako-chan, you didn’t have to do this,” Rei said, hugging her most 
cherished childhood toys close to her chest, both worn and ragged with age. 

	“Well, I figured you might you might be bored, being cooped up in here with 
nothing to do, so I went to Hikawa and packed up some things I thought you might 
like. Is there anything else you need? I’ll be happy to go back and get whatever--”

	Rei shook her head, setting aside the bears and finishing her exploration of 
the bag’s contents. “No, it looks like you brought just about everything I could 
possibly want,” she declared as she pulled out a couple of her textbooks, which were 
sitting at the bottom of the tote. Her eyebrow arched in Minako‘s direction. “Even my 
summer homework. Why do I get the feeling putting these in here wasn’t exactly your 
idea?”

	Laughing, Minako hopped on the edge of Rei’s bed. “What makes you say that, 
Rei-chan?” the blonde asked innocently.

	“Oh, I don’t know… Maybe because I know you too well, and the last thing on 
you mind during summer break is schoolwork.”

	Baby blue eyes rolled, but both girls knew Rei was right. “Okay, okay, so 
maybe the homework was Ami-chan’s idea, the bag of cookies in the outside pocket from 
Mako-chan, and some of the manga borrowed from Usagi-chan, but I came up with the 
idea of the activity bag,” Minako insisted.

	“Well, no matter whose idea it was, it was very thoughtful of you all to do 
this for me. Arigatou, Minako-chan.”

	Smiling, Minako shrugged her shoulders. “It was nothing. We just wanted to 
cheer you up a little. I know you’ve been worried about your grandfather, so maybe 
keeping busy will get your mind off of things for a while.” 

	Rei’s eyes saddened at the mention of her grandfather, her brief happiness of 
seeing her best friend unable to make her forget the fear she had felt that morning. 
“Do you know how he’s doing?” she asked Minako. “I asked Asada-sensei about 
ojii-san’s condition, but he wouldn’t tell me much.”

	Minako shook her head. “I’m sorry, Rei-chan. I’m not family, so nobody has 
told me anything. If you want to know how he is doing, you’ll probably have to ask 
Uchizawa-san or that other woman. They might not be technically family, but the 
doctors treat them as such. They‘re the only ones the doctors will talk to about his 
condition.”

	“Oh.” 

	Disappointed, Rei leaned back against her pillows and sighed. She knew it had 
been a long shot, but she had hoped Minako might know something more about what was 
happening. Now it appeared she would have to wait until either Minoru or Miyuki came 
to visit before she found out the truth -- that is, if they even decided to tell her 
the truth. She had a feeling not even those two would tell her what was really going 
on in some well-meaning, but misguided, effort to protect her.

	As she half-listened to Minako’s bubbly voice babble on about the latest pop 
idol or something silly like that in an attempt to change the subject, Rei hugged 
Yoshi tightly, burying her face in his soft fur.

	Why couldn’t people be honest with her?

					*****

	“I still think we should tell her, Miyuki. She deserves to know what is 
happening.”

	Across the table, the blonde set down her chopsticks and sighed. All 
throughout breakfast in the crowded hospital cafeteria, the two of them had been 
arguing about the same thing -- whether or not to tell Rei about the problems that 
had arose sometime during the middle of the night with Saburo’s condition. 

	Saburo had developed a mild fever, prompting the doctors to suspect he might 
be rejecting the bone marrow. Luckily, the antibiotics they started giving him a 
couple of hours ago seemed to be working so far, but there were no guarantees.

	“Minoru-san, I told you, this wasn’t my decision,” Miyuki repeated for about 
the tenth time that morning. “I agree with you. Rei-chan has a right to know what 
happened last night.”

	“Then why do you keep on insisting we don’t?”

	“Because Kondo-sama doesn’t want Rei-chan to worry about him and I am not 
about to go against his wishes, no matter what I personally think about the 
situation. Besides, Asada-sensei said Kondo-sama was doing better. We might worry Rei 
for nothing. You don’t want to do that, do you?”

	“No, that’s the last thing I want to do,” Minoru said, absentmindedly 
swirling around the last bite of his pancake in the golden maple syrup on his plate. 
“However, I don’t like keeping Rei-chan in the dark about this, even if it is what 
Kondo-sama wants. I know he is trying to protect her, but what if something happens? 
She’ll never forgive us for not telling her.”

	“I suppose that is a risk we’ll just have to take then. We can‘t betray his 
wishes,” Miyuki insisted. “But, if you want, I’ll try to talk to Kondo-sama again if 
I can and convince him to let us tell Rei-chan what happened.”

	Minoru frowned, but it really was the best they could do. Neither of them 
wanted to break their promise. “Fine, try that,” he said, placing his trash back on 
his tray as he began to stand.

	“Where are you going?”

	The redhead patted his pants pocket. “Outside. I have to make some phone 
calls,” he explained. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, unless you are finished in 
here.”

	Miyuki glanced down at her half-eaten breakfast, her appetite gone. She 
hadn’t been very hungry in the first place. “No, I’m done,” she announced, gathering 
her own trash and following Minoru to the disposal. “In fact, I think I’ll go talk to 
Kondo-sama now and see how he is doing.”

	“Okay, then I’ll see you up there. Ja.”

	“Ja ne.”

	Waving goodbye to Minoru, Miyuki left the cafeteria and went up to Saburo’s 
room. Dr. Asada was just finishing an examination when she came in.

	“Oh, Asada-sensei, how is he?” she asked, closing the door behind her.

	“Better. His fever has gone down some, and the antibiotics appear to be 
working.”

	“Thank the kami-sama,” Miyuki said, letting out a relieved sigh. “Does that 
mean Kondo-sama is out of the woods?”

	“It’s a good sign, but I am reluctant to say any more than that,” the doctor 
explained, placing Saburo’s chart back in the bin at the foot of the bed. “There are 
no guarantees.”

	“I understand, sensei. Is it okay if I stay for a few minutes? I won’t be 
long.”

	“Of course, but keep it short. The patient needs his rest.”

	“I will. Arigatou.”

	After the doctor left, Miyuki took a seat in the chair beside the bed and 
reached for Saburo’s wrinkled hand. A smile touched the old man’s lips as he turned 
his head toward her. “Miyuki-chan…”

	“Hey, I hear you are getting better,” she said. “That’s great.”

	“So they say.”

	“You gave us quite a scare, Kondo-sama. We’ve been worried sick.”

	“We?” he repeated, alarmed. “You haven’t told Rei-chan, have you?”

	Miyuki shook her head. “Of course not. You asked me not to tell her what 
happened, so I didn’t.”

	“Good.” 

	“But now that the doctors have gotten your fever under control, perhaps it’s 
time we did,” she suggested, remembering what she and Minoru had discussed over 
breakfast. “I think Rei-chan deserves to know what is going on. After all, it is her 
bone marrow you received.”

	“No, you can’t, Miyuki-chan,” Saburo said, his grasp on her hand tightening. 
“I don’t want Rei-chan to worry. Please don‘t tell her, please.”

	“Kondo-sama…”

	Miyuki sighed, wishing there was a way she could convince him otherwise. 
While she understood why Saburo didn’t want his granddaughter to know, Miyuki 
couldn’t help but feel guilty about keeping Rei in the dark. She had a right to know 
there was a possibility that his body might be rejecting the marrow.

	“Are you sure?” Miyuki asked one last time.

	“I know you don’t like it, but this is what I want. I’m asking you to respect 
my wishes, Miyuki-chan.”

	“Fine,” she agreed, reluctantly. Standing from her chair, Miyuki smiled and 
gave his hand a final squeeze. “Get some rest, Kondo-sama. I’ll be back later.”   

	“Ja.”

					*****

	Despite the fact it was mid-summer, a cool breeze greeted Minoru as he 
stepped outside the hospital, providing some welcome relief from the sweltering heat. 
Letting the glass door close behind him, he slipped off the olive blazer he wore, 
finding it a little too stuffy to continue wearing in the warm weather, and took a 
seat on a nearby bench. Minoru then pulled out his cell phone and began dialing a 
number.

	His first two calls were business-related, the first to reschedule a meeting 
he’d forgotten was supposed to be held later that day and the second to one of his 
assistants to check on things at the office. Once those two things were taken care 
of, Minoru dialed Keitaro’s number, hoping he could somehow convince Keitaro to come 
to the hospital. They hadn’t ended things well between them last night, but Minoru 
was almost positive if Keitaro hadn’t hung up on him, he might have actually been 
able to talk him into coming for at least a short visit.

	“Come on, Keitaro, pick up the phone,” Minoru muttered impatiently, his foot 
bobbing up and down as he listened to the phone ringing on the other end. “I know 
you’re there. You don’t have to be at work for another hour…”

	The phone rang a full twenty times before Minoru finally decided it was a 
lost cause and hung up. 

	“Shimatta,” he cursed, dialing Keitaro’s office number on the off chance he 
had decided to go in early that day. It wouldn’t have been the first time he had done 
so. 

	However, Minoru only reached the answering machine, Miss Katsuki’s dull voice 
lifelessly reciting office hours before the long, drawn out beep signaled him to 
leave a message. At first, Minoru wasn’t going to leave a message, preferring to 
speak to Keitaro himself, but as he moved his finger to end the call, Minoru figured 
he might as well. It might be the only time he would be able to get a hold of the 
busy Diet member.

	He brought the phone back to his ear. “Keitaro, it’s me, Minoru. You’re 
probably going to kill me for leaving a personal message on this thing, but we need 
to talk about last night. Things aren’t looking as good for Kondo-sama as we 
originally thought, and I think you really ought to be here. Call me back on my cell, 
or better yet, come down to the hospital. You’ll probably find either me or Miyuki 
somewhere on the oncology floor. Please get in touch with me somehow. I‘ll talk to 
you later. Ja.”

	Finished with his message, Minoru hung up and flipped the cell phone close. 
He hoped Keitaro would at least call him back, although Minoru had little hope of him 
doing so. His best friend was probably avoiding his phone calls; that’s what he 
usually did whenever the two of them had a disagreement.

	Minoru rolled his eyes. And some people called *him* the immature one…

	With his business done, he decided to go back inside, gathering his discarded 
blazer and sliding his cell phone back into his pocket. However, before he could open 
the door, the phone rang, the programmed “Super Mario Bros.” ring tone causing a few 
nearby strangers to exchange amused looks. Minoru forgot about heading inside and 
fumbled for the phone once again to answer.

	“Keitaro?” he answered. “That was fast.”

	On the other end of the line, a decidedly feminine voice laughed. “Keitaro? 
That was fast,” the woman repeated dryly. “Good morning to you, too, Minoru.”

	A soft smile breaking on his lips, Minoru leaned his back against one of the 
brick walls making up the exterior of the hospital. “Oh, Jakakuerine, it’s you,” he 
said. “Sorry about that. I left Keitaro a message at his office to call me back a 
couple of minutes ago, and I thought he might be returning my call.”

	“That’s okay,” she assured him, sighing. “I missed seeing you this morning, 
though.”

	“I know. I’m sorry I left so early, but I wanted to be at the hospital as 
soon as possible.”

	“I understand. How are Kondo-sama and Hino-san doing?”

	“Rei-chan is doing remarkably well. Asada-sensei says she might even be 
released from the hospital tomorrow if she feels strong enough. Kondo-sama, however, 
caught a fever sometime last night, and the doctors fear it might be a sign he is 
rejecting the donor marrow.”

	“Oh, no, Minoru… Is there anything they can do?”

	“Well, right now, they’re giving him some antibiotics, which seem to be 
working at the moment, so that’s good. We’ve all got our fingers crossed.”

	“So do I,” she declared. “I know how much Hino-san and her grandfather mean 
to you, so anybody who is important to you is important to me.”

	“Thank you, Jakakuerine. That means a lot to me.”

	“So, did you at least get some breakfast?” she asked, changing the subject. 
In the background, Minoru could faintly hear the sound of something sizzling on the 
stove, and even though he had just eaten, his stomach rumbled. Jacqueline was a 
fantastic cook.

	“Hai, Miyuki and I grabbed something in the cafeteria. Nothing compared to 
your cooking, but decent.”

	“Miyuki?” she repeated. “Would this be the same Miyuki you’ve been in love 
with for the past twenty years?”

	“Um…yes,” Minoru answered cautiously, not sure how Jacqueline would take the 
news that he had been spending time with his former love, no matter how innocent it 
might be. Jacqueline never struck him as the type to get green-eyed over something 
like that, but there was no telling how she would react, especially considering the 
circumstances.

	“Hmm, is that so?” she asked in a voice he couldn‘t exactly read. “Should I 
be jealous?”

	“N-No, no, of course not! I mean, yes, I still care about her, you know that, 
but we’re just good friends. Miyuki and I were finished a long time ago. Actually, we 
never had the chance to really begin. Heck, we never even slept togeth-- Hey, what’s 
so funny?”

	Jacqueline’s musical laughter on the other end, interrupting his ramblings, 
caused him to scowl. “Oh, Minoru, you are so adorable when you think you’re in 
trouble,” she lightly teased. “You didn’t honestly think I was jealous, did you? I 
know I can trust you.”

	“Very funny, Jakakuerine,” he sighed, though inwardly, Minoru was glad she 
was fine with the whole thing. 

	“You know, I really ought to meet the infamous Watanabe Miyuki-san someday. 
I’d love to--” She paused, mumbling something that sounded like “Pas maintenant, 
chouchou. Maman a la téléphone,” to somebody else.

	Minoru‘s smile returned, knowing that if she was speaking in French, there 
was only one person she could have been speaking to. “Is that Angelique?” he asked.

	“Oui, she’s getting ready for day care. Do you want to talk to her for a 
couple of minutes? I need to finish braiding her hair, and I’m afraid I can’t do it 
with only one hand.”

	“Sure, put her on.”

	He heard Jacqueline hand the phone over to the little girl he considered his 
own in everything but name and blood, and a few moments later, Angelique’s sweet 
voice sung over the line. “Minoru-papa? Is that you?”

	“Ohayo, Tenshi-chan,” Minoru said, his voice full of affection as he called 
Jacqueline’s daughter by his special pet name for her. “Sorry I wasn’t able to see 
you this morning.”

	“That’s okay. Maman told me why. One of your friends is really sick in the 
hospital. Is he going to get better?”

	“I hope so.” 

	“I hope so, too,” the little girl said, surprisingly compassionate despite 
her young age. “I’ll wish really hard that he does. I promise!”

	Touched, Minoru’s face softened. Too bad it wasn’t that easy. The world would 
be a much happier place if selfless wishes, like Angelique’s, all came true. 	

	“You’re a sweet girl, Tenshi-chan. Did I ever tell you that?”

	“Yes, but thank you for saying so,” she replied, ever the polite 
five-year-old. “Um, Minoru-papa, will I see you tonight? It’s your turn to read my 
bedtime story, and tonight’s the last chapter.”

	Reminded of that fact, Minoru sighed, rubbing his forehead with his free 
hand. He had completely forgotten tonight was his turn to partake in the nightly 
ritual, and he was afraid he probably wouldn’t make it home from the hospital before 
Angelique’s bedtime. She was accustomed to it when he was away on business trips, but 
Minoru always hated disappointing her, especially when he knew she was looking 
forward to the end of the Japanese fairy tale he was reading to her.

	“I’m sorry, sweetie,” he apologized. “I probably won’t be home until really 
late tonight, so Maman will have to read you another chapter of ‘Le Petit Prince‘ 
instead. We‘ll finish our story some other time.”

	“Oh.” Minoru could sense the disappointment in her voice, so soft and free of 
its usual energy, and it caused a pang of regret in his chest. “That’s okay. I 
understand…”	 

	“No, it’s not okay, Tenshi-chan. I know how much you were looking forward to 
the last chapter.”

	“I can wait a little while longer. You should be with your friend. We’ll 
finish it later.”

	“Are you sure? You’re not mad at me?”

	Angelique giggled. “Of course not! I could never be mad at you, Minoru-papa!”

	“Arigatou, Tenshi-chan,” he said, relieved that she was being so mature about 
the whole thing. Minoru promised himself he would make it up to her, though. “Now, 
let me talk to Maman again. I’ll call you later to say goodnight, okay? I promise.”

	“Okay! Salut!”

	With that cheerful goodbye, the phone was passed back to Jacqueline.	

	“She isn’t too upset about me not being able to read her the bedtime story 
tonight, is she?” Minoru asked once his lover came back on the line.

	“No, it’s fine, chéri. Angelique understands you need to be with Kondo-sama 
and Hino-san right now. She’s probably already over it already. Five-year-olds aren‘t 
known for holding grudges for too long.”

	“I know, but I still feel bad about it. This parenting business is harder 
than I thought it would be. I don’t know if I’m ready.”

	“Well, you better get ready, mister,” Jacqueline teased. “It’s already a 
little too late to start changing your mind now. That reminds me, I have an 
appointment with Honda-sensei this morning, so I‘ll be dropping by the hospital.”

	“Nothing’s wrong, is it?” Minoru asked, alarmed by the news.

	“No, nothing other than the nausea I’ve been having, but that’s perfectly 
normal. It’s just a routine check-up. I‘ll probably be out of there in fifteen 
minutes tops, excluding the hour I‘ll probably have to sit in the waiting room.”

	“Do you want me to go with you?”

	“That’s not really necessary, Minoru. Like I said, it’s just routine.”

	“But I told you I wanted to be there for everything, big or small,” he 
reminded her. “Besides, it’ll give me the chance to see you. I’ll meet you there, and 
afterwards, we’ll have an early lunch in the cafeteria.”

	“Oh, you’re not having lunch with your secret lover?”

	Minoru shook his head, but there was a mildly amused smile on his lips. She 
was enjoying this a tad too much. “Jakakuerine…”

	“Fine,” she sighed. “I’ll see you at around ten, then.”

	“Great. I’ll be looking forward to it.”

	They said goodbye, and after flipping the cell phone closed, Minoru placed it 
back in his pocket, smiling to himself as he thought about Jacqueline, Angelique, and 
everything he had to be grateful for. It was times like these Minoru realized how 
lucky he was. A great job, a devoted lover who would soon be so much more, and a 
little girl he loved as much as if she were his own… It was everything he had ever 
hoped and dreamed to have.

	Minoru only wished Keitaro could experience that same happiness.

	“Maybe I should try calling him again,” Minoru mused to himself as he glanced 
down at his watch. Keitaro would most likely be at the office by now.

	However, remembering the message he had left on the machine, Minoru decided 
he would wait a while longer to give Keitaro the chance to call back on his own. If 
Keitaro wanted to talk to him, he knew where to look.

	With a final heavy sigh, Minoru headed back inside the hospital.

	‘Please call, Keitaro…’

					*****

	“Keitaro, it’s me, Minoru. You’re probably going to kill me for leaving a 
personal message on this thing, but we need to talk about last night. Things aren’t 
looking as good for Kondo-sama as we originally thought, and I think you really ought 
to be here. Call me back on my cell, or better yet, come down to the hospital. You’ll 
probably find either me or Miyuki somewhere on the oncology floor. Please get in 
touch with me somehow. I‘ll talk to you later. Ja.”

	Reaching for the appropriate button on the answering machine, Keitaro erased 
the message after listening to it for a second time. He had to hand it to Minoru. The 
guy was nothing if not persistent. Keitaro thought he had made it quite clear the 
night before that he had no desire to see his daughter when she obviously didn’t want 
to see him, but as always, Minoru couldn’t leave well enough alone.

	Still, Keitaro quite unexpectedly found himself staring at the phone in front 
of him, a silent debate running through his head. If Saburo had indeed taken a turn 
for the worst, the least he owed him was a call to check on his condition. They might 
not have had the best relationship in the world, but Keitaro bore Takara’s father no 
ill will and wished Saburo all the best in his fight against leukemia. However, if he 
did call Minoru back, Keitaro knew exactly what would happen. Minoru would try to 
convince him to come to the hospital to see Rei, and that simply was not going to 
happen.

	Rei didn’t want to see him. Keitaro had accepted that.

	So why couldn’t Minoru?

	“Because Minoru is Minoru, and he is a stubborn fool,” Keitaro muttered, 
answering his own question as the door to his office opened.

	“Hino-sama? Your first meeting of the day is scheduled for fifteen minutes,” 
Miss Katsuki announced, breaking him from his thoughts.

	“Meeting?” Keitaro blinked, momentarily confused as he looked to the door. 
“Oh, yes, the meeting with the Yoshiki-san. Of course.”

	The dowdy secretary, unaccustomed to her boss acting so strangely, regarded 
him with a concerned look. “Is something wrong, Hino-sama?”

	“No, it’s nothing. Send Yoshiki-san in as soon as he gets here.”

	“Hai, sir.” Miss Katsuki bowed and walked out the room, surprised when not 
more than two minutes later, Keitaro exited the office as well, his blazer flung over 
his arm. “Hino-sama?”

	“Change of plans, Katsuki-kun,” he announced, pulling the blazer back on. 
“Cancel my appointment with Yoshiki-san, as well as everything for the next couple of 
hours. I want my schedule cleared.”

	“Cleared? Sir, is there some sort of problem?” the dumbfounded secretary 
asked, her lightning-fast fingers lifting from her computer keyboard when she heard 
the news. “I don’t understand…”

	“I’m taking the morning off.”

	Dull brown eyes widened. “But, sir--”

	“Katsuki-kun, please cancel and reschedule my appointments,” Keitaro repeated 
before she could finish as he headed to the door. “I will be back after lunch.”

	The secretary still didn‘t seem to know what to make of what was happening, 
but finally she nodded just as Keitaro left. 

	“Hai, sir.”

					*****

	Reaching Rei’s room, Keitaro lightly knocked, suddenly feeling very nervous 
as he waited outside. The bouquet of beautiful Casablanca lilies in his left hand 
shook and his throat had become as dry as a desert. Every single instinct in his body 
seemed to be telling him he should forget about seeing Rei and leave, yet somehow he 
found the courage to stay, quietly opening the door when his daughter failed to 
answer.

	“Rei-san? It’s your father,” he announced in a soft voice upon seeing the 
raven-haired girl laying on the hospital bed, her face turned away from the door. 
“May I come in?”

	Again, there was no answer, so Keitaro hesitantly stepped inside, realizing 
with some relief that his daughter was asleep. He set the bouquet of flowers, placed 
inside a beautiful crystal vase, on the table beside Rei’s bed and took a seat on the 
plastic chair nearby.

	“O-Ohayo, Rei-san,” Keitaro began, leaning slightly forward in his chair, one 
hand resting on the edge of the mattress while the other remained in his lap. “I hope 
you don’t mind me coming to see you. I know you didn’t want me to know about the 
transplant for whatever reason, but Minoru-san told me anyway. Don’t blame him. He 
thought I should come see you, even though you made it quite clear you didn’t want to 
see me.” He paused, thinking of the irony. “I suppose it is a good thing you are 
asleep after all, isn’t it?” Keitaro mused, a rueful smile on his face as he gazed at 
his daughter‘s closed eyes. 

	As to be expected, Rei didn’t reply, her chest rising and falling as she 
continued to doze peacefully, completely unaware of his presence in her room. 
Sighing, Keitaro took his hand off the mattress and leaned back in the uncomfortable 
chair.

	“I bought you some flowers,” he continued after a short pause. “Casablanca 
lilies. I seem to remember Kaidou-san telling me one time that they were your 
favorite. He bought you a bouquet of them in my name for your birthday a few years 
back, didn’t he?” Thinking about his former assistant, Keitaro frowned. “Kaidou-san 
still asks about you sometimes, Rei-san, whenever we see each other. You know, I 
still don’t understand what happened between you two that night you called me, asking 
about his engagement to Nozumo-san. Did he hurt you somehow? I can’t imagine 
Kaidou-san intentionally hurting anyone, much less you, but… Well, that‘s in the 
past. There‘s no need to dredge up bad memories, right?”

	Keitaro smiled awkwardly, knowing full well he was babbling. How ironic that 
someone like him, considered to be one of the best orators in the world of Japanese 
politics today, could become as incoherent as a baby while simply talking to his own 
sleeping daughter. He might have laughed at his own inability had he not feared Rei 
would hear him and awaken.

	Who would have thought this would be so hard?

	Hesitantly reaching for her nearby hand, he continued after taking a few 
minutes to regroup his thoughts, still occasionally stuttering and fumbling over the 
words but growing more confident as he went along. 

	“Um…I guess what I really wanted to say is that I’m proud of you, Rei-san. It 
was a very brave thing you did, donating your bone marrow to your grandfather… I’m 
sure Kondo-sama appreciates it very much. I hear he‘s not doing very well at the 
moment, but he has good doctors on his case, some of the best in Tokyo… He‘ll recover 
quickly, I hope… I pray you‘ll never have to go through what I did… Did I ever tell 
you about my uncle Wataru-san, your great-uncle? No, probably not… I don‘t like 
talking about what happened that much. He died of cancer, lung cancer, when I was a 
couple of years older than you… Back then, cancer was pretty much a death sentence. 
The doctors never gave him any hope. They just didn‘t have the range of resources or 
treatments that are available today… Things are better now. Kondo-sama has a good 
chance of surviving… For your sake, I hope he does. Minoru-san has told me how close 
you two have gotten…”

	Keitaro stopped then, slowly releasing the loose grip he had on Rei’s 
fingers. He needed to go before either Minoru or Miyuki came back from lunch or Rei 
finally woke up. It would be better if nobody knew he had been there. Rei probably 
wouldn’t be too thrilled to learn he had visited her after she had gone through so 
much trouble to keep the transplant a secret from him. So, silently, he stood from 
his seat in the plastic chair and took one last look at his daughter, hesitating a 
long moment before he finally leaned and lightly pressed his lips against her 
forehead.

	“I…uh… Sayonara, Rei-san.”  

					*****

	Minoru, having just finished going to lunch with Jacqueline and checking on 
Saburo’s condition, headed back to Rei’s room, figuring it was about time she 
awakened from her nap. The poor girl was probably bored again since Miyuki had left 
to pick up her family from the station and Minako had decided to go gather up the 
rest of their friends for a visit. He came to the door, expecting to hear nothing but 
silence, but was surprised when he heard someone talking through the small crack left 
by the unclosed door.

	‘Who is that?’ Minoru wondered, recognizing the muffled voice as belonging to 
a man. The only male visitor Rei had received so far was him. Minoru automatically 
eliminated the possibility of Miyuki’s husband, because he knew for a fact that they 
had yet to arrive at the hospital. Perhaps it was one of her friends’ boyfriends? But 
it seemed strange that he didn’t hear any women’s voices. If the voice belonged to 
Chiba Mamoru or Tenoh Haruka, he would have expected Tsukino Usagi or Kaioh Michiru 
to be in there too. Maybe it was the doctor?

	His curiosity got the best of him, and Minoru opened the door a little wider, 
barely managing to hold back a gasp of surprise when he saw who the mystery visitor 
was. The man was facing away from the door, but Minoru recognized his blond hair and 
fancy business suit almost immediately.

	It was Keitaro. 

	He came…

	Minoru honestly could not believe his eyes. At best, when he had left the 
message on the answering machine earlier that morning, he thought Keitaro *might* 
decide to call him back if he was lucky. He had asked Keitaro to come down to the 
hospital if he could, of course, but Minoru never actually believed he would, at 
least not without a little more prompting on his part. This was wonderful turn of 
events.

	Not wanting to spoil the private moment between father and daughter, Minoru 
simply stood by the door, a soft smile on his face as he watched Keitaro take Rei’s 
hand and start to speak to her again. He realized then that she must have been still 
sleeping, but not even that fact lessened the joy he felt in his heart. It was enough 
just to see the two of them together in the same room.

	How long ago had it been since that had last happened?

	Minoru didn’t even remember. Years, probably.

	Keitaro didn’t stay much longer after he arrived, but it was enough to 
satisfy Minoru. Hearing his friend’s voice abruptly drop off, Minoru quickly hid 
behind a large potted plant in the hallway, not wanting Keitaro to know he had been 
spying on him. Moments later, Keitaro emerged from the room and left with not even a 
glance in his direction. Minoru breathed a sigh of relief, and after a couple of 
minutes had passed, returned to the room.

	“Hey, beautiful,” Minoru said, knocking on the door as he peeped inside. “Are 
you awake yet?”

	She wasn’t, but as soon as Rei heard his voice, violet eyes fluttered opened 
and she smiled. “Uchizawa-san, konnichiwa,” she greeted him, struggling a little to 
sit up in bed. “Yes, I’m awake. Come in. Was I sleeping long?”

	“No, only for an hour or so, I think. I just came back from lunch.”

	“I guess I’m more lethargic from the bone marrow donation than I expected to 
be,” she commented sheepishly. “I usually don’t fall asleep in the middle of the day 
like that. Either that, or the boredom finally got to me.”

	Minoru chuckled. “Well, it’s to be expected, Rei-chan. The doctors want you 
to get plenty of rest so your body can heal and build up its defenses again.”

	“I know, but I’ll be glad to finally be able to get out of bed again.” Rei 
nodded toward the flowers. “Did you bring me these flowers? They’re beautiful. 
Casablanca lilies are my favorites.”

	Minoru hadn‘t even noticed the beautiful white blossoms, an obviously 
expensive arrangement placed in a crystal vase, until she pointed them out on the 
table. He certainly hadn‘t bought them, and he knew Miyuki hadn‘t either, leaving 
only one other possibility since he doubted her friends had that kind of money to 
spend to spend on flowers, with the exception of her older friends who had already 
sent her a bouquet of yellow roses the day before. 

	“No, I didn’t. Somebody else did,” he said.

	“Who?” she asked, reaching for the vase to inhale the lilies’ delicate 
perfume. “I don’t see a card anywhere to read who sent them. Was it Watanabe-san? One 
of the girls?”

	“They’re from your father, Rei-chan.”

	“Oh.” Speechless for a moment, Rei put the vase back on the table and stared 
down at her hands, collecting her thoughts. “I guess you told him about the 
transplant then.”

	“Gomen nasai,” Minoru apologized, regretting he had said anything at all to 
Rei after he promised her he wouldn‘t tell Keitaro about the transplant. He wasn’t 
sorry he had revealed her secret, though. “Keitaro is your father. I thought he had a 
right to know.”

	“It’s okay. It doesn’t really matter anymore, anyway,” Rei said, regarding 
the lilies with a look of disdain. “Flowers, huh? I suppose that was to be expected, 
getting his secretary to send me some expensive bouquet instead of coming to see me 
himself.”

	“Rei-chan, that wasn‘t--”

	“Well, I don’t want his flowers,” she declared, taking the vase of lilies and 
throwing it into the trash can near her bed. The sound of crystal shattering caused 
Minoru to involuntarily flinch. “I don’t want anything from him. It’s bad enough we 
have to use his money to pay for ojii-san’s hospital bills. If otou-sama thinks he 
can buy my affection, he’s wrong.”

	“Rei-chan…” 

	Minoru wanted to tell her the truth, but he hesitated upon the sight of the 
broken lilies sticking out from the top of the small trash bin, a few of the delicate 
white petals damaged and falling ungracefully on the floor. He had never seen his 
goddaughter act so harshly… Not knowing whether it would be better to tell her, or if 
it would only make things worse, Minoru bit his lip and decided to keep quiet about 
Keitaro’s secret visit while Rei was sleeping. Instead he took a seat in the vacated 
plastic chair beside her hospital bed and let out a discreet sigh that Rei didn’t 
seem to notice.

	“How is ojii-san?” Rei asked after a couple of minutes of awkward silence 
between them, her violet eyes staring blankly ahead.

	“Kondo-sama… Kondo-sama is fine, Rei-chan,” Minoru lied, grateful for the 
fact that the teen wasn’t facing him at the moment. If she had been, she might have 
noticed him briefly closing his eyes before answering, reminding himself that was 
what Saburo wanted.

	As it turned out, though, he failed to completely escape detection. Hearing 
that, Rei turned her head back toward his direction, staring at Minoru with a mixture 
of sadness and disappointment. “Why are you lying to me, Uchizawa-san?” she asked 
softly.

	Minoru should have known he could never get away with lying to the perceptive 
teen. Ever since she was a little girl, Rei could always sense when something was 
wrong.

	“Lying to you?” he repeated, rubbing the back of his neck. “What makes you 
think I’m doing that?”

	“Please don’t deny it. You’re not that great of an actor,” Rei said. “Just 
tell me the truth. Something happened last night, didn’t it?”

	“Rei-chan, I-I…”

	“I’m not a child anymore, Uchizawa-san. Nobody has to protect me from this. 
We all knew there was a possibility the transplant wouldn’t work going into this. Is 
that what happened? Did ojii-san’s body reject my bone marrow?”

	“It hasn’t yet, but Asada-sensei thinks it might be a definite possibility,” 
Minoru finally admitted. “Kondo-sama developed a mild fever last night.”

	“Is he okay?”

	“For the moment, he’s fine, Rei-chan. They’re giving him antibiotics to fight 
the infection, and it appears to be working.”

	Tossing off her blankets, Rei threw her legs over the side of her bed and sat 
up. “I want to see him,” she demanded.

	“But--”

	“Please, Uchizawa-san, don’t. Hand me those crutches over there. I am going 
to see my grandfather whether the doctors like it or not, so you might as well help 
me.”

	Sighing in defeat, Minoru rose from his chair and grabbed the pair of 
crutches leaning against the wall behind him. “Are you sure you feel up to this, 
Rei-chan?” he asked, holding the crutches just out of her reach. “You’re still sore 
from the operation, and Asada-sensei said you were supposed to be taking it easy for 
a couple of days.”

	“I feel fine,” she insisted with a forced smile. “Almost as good as new.”

	The brief flicker of pain that passed across her face as Rei slid off the bed 
proved otherwise, but knowing nothing he could say would make his goddaughter change 
her mind about visiting Saburo, Minoru reluctantly gave her the crutches and went to 
open the door. 

	“Okay, let’s go.”

					*****

	“Kondo-sama?”

	Weakly, Saburo turned his head toward the door, where he saw Minoru standing 
in the doorway, dressed in the familiar green scrubs. “Uchizawa-san, how nice to see 
you again,” Saburo said hoarsely, managing a small smile. “Come in, come in. I’m 
afraid I’m not much company at the moment, but…”

	“Actually, you have another visitor,” Minoru announced. “I don’t think I 
should stay.”

	“Another visitor? Who? I thought Miyuki-chan went to the train station to 
meet her family. I wasn’t expecting her back until around dinner time.”

	Behind Minoru, a young woman with purple eyes hobbled up on a pair of 
crutches. “It’s me, ojii-san.”

	“Rei-chan?”

	“I’m sorry, Kondo-sama,” Minoru apologized. “I know you made us promise not 
to tell her about the fever…”

	“No, no, it’s fine, Uchizawa-san,” Saburo assured him, sighing. “Rei-chan, 
come in.”

	Minoru moved out of the way to allow Rei entrance to the room, and once she 
was settled in the chair beside Saburo’s bed, crutches propped up against the foot, 
turned to leave. “I’ll give you two some time alone,” he said. “If either of you need 
anything, I’ll be right outside the door. All you have to do is yell.”

	“Arigatou.”

	After the redhead left, Saburo turned his head toward his silent 
granddaughter. Rei had yet to say anything more after announcing her presence, and he 
could sense she was upset with him for not allowing her to be told what had happened.

	“Rei-chan, you look like you are doing well,” Saburo commented cautiously, 
breaking the silence between them. “I didn’t expect you to be out of bed so soon. How 
are you feeling? You’re not in too much pain, I hope. I know the doctor said you 
would probably be a little sore for a few days.”

	“I’m fine, ojii-san,” she replied curtly, “but why did you have Uchizawa-san 
and everybody else lie to me about your condition? I should have been told about the 
fever sooner.”

	“I didn’t want to worry you, little one. Besides, I’m doing better now. The 
doctors have been pumping me with medicine, and from what they’ve been telling me, it 
seems to be working. It’s nothing to worry about.”

	“Nothing to worry about? You could have died!” Rei exclaimed. “There’s still 
a chance you will. Don’t take this thing so lightly.”

	“I’m not, Rei-chan,” he insisted. “Believe me, I know better than anyone how 
serious this is, but I don’t want you to worry about me.”

	“Ojii-san…” 

	The teen reached for his hand, gripping it tightly in her grasp, as her 
violet eyes became misty with what looked to be tears. Her reaction surprised Saburo, 
who was accustomed to the Rei who usually hid her emotions behind a mask. He wiped 
away a teardrop that rolled down her cheek, his heart heavy with the knowledge of 
what it was doing to his beloved granddaughter.

	“You’re crying,” he declared hoarsely. “What happened to my strong, little 
Rei-chan, the person who always gives me strength?”

	Rei turned her head away, wiping away her tears with the sleeve of her 
scrubs. “She’s gone, ojii-san. She’s not so strong anymore. Maybe she never was.”

	“Oh, that’s not true. She may be a little scared right now, but even the 
bravest men alive are afraid of something.”

	“But I was so afraid of losing you,” she admitted. “I-I had the most horrible 
feeling when I woke up this morning, but since nobody would tell me what was wrong, I 
started imagining what it could be…”

	“…and you automatically thought the worst,” Saburo said, completing her 
sentence. 

	Saburo realized then the error of his decision to keep Rei in the dark about 
his condition. Instead of sparing her, it had only made things worse. He never 
intended to make her cry, yet here she was, wiping back her tears.

	“Oh, Rei-chan, I’m so sorry,” he apologized. “You’re right. I should have had 
somebody tell you what had happened. I never even considered the possibility that not 
knowing would be worse than if you had known the truth. I just didn‘t want you to 
worry…”

	“I know, but you can’t protect me. I don’t want you to protect me from this. 
It’s my bone marrow inside you, and I deserve to know how it is working. Promise me 
you won‘t hide this from me anymore. Promise!”

	Her voice nearly shook with emotion, making it difficult to refuse Rei’s 
modest request. “Okay, I promise,” Saburo said. “No more secrets.”

	“Thank you.” She gave him a small smile before finally releasing the grip on 
his hand. “So, are you really feeling better?” Rei asked. “You’re not just saying 
that?”

	Nodding, Saburo struggled to sit himself up in the bed, hoping he didn’t look 
as weak as he felt. The antibiotics might have been working their medical magic, but 
he still wasn’t quite up to his full strength yet. “I’m fine, Rei-chan,” he insisted. 
“Just a little tired, that’s all.”

	“I’m glad,” she said, wiping away the last of her tears. “I’m so, so glad!”

	“Me, too, little one. Me, too.”

	They smiled at each other, and for the first time since he had been admitted 
to the hospital, Saburo felt truly at peace, a serenity coming over him that was 
usually reserved for when he meditated in front of the sacred fire. In fact, he could 
sense his whole body warming up, the flames of an unseen fire wrapping around him. He 
felt relaxed as he slowly laid back down and closed his eyes, imagining he was home…

	…back home at Hikawa.

	He could see it, as real as if he were there himself. Saburo’s senses were 
alive as he entered the prayer room, the cackling of the burning fire like music to 
his ears after days of listening to the steady beeps and hums that made up the 
hospital’s symphony. He welcomed the woodsy musk as the inferno consumed the log he 
threw in and reveled in the heat, perspiration mixing with tears of joy. 

	"Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen," he chanted, kneeling in 
front of the fire.

	The flames grew even taller in response and the room’s temperature began 
steadily rising, but Saburo was only vaguely aware of the change. His dark eyes 
focused only the bright yellow, oranges, and reds in front of him, and as he watched, 
an image started to take shape -- a circle with an arrow attached. Saburo recognized 
the sign as the astrological symbol of the red planet and gasped, somehow finally 
realizing what it meant.

	“Mars…” he whispered hoarsely. “Sailor Mars…”

	In the background, he heard somebody say, “Ojii-san? W-What are you talking 
about?”, but Saburo ignored it, entranced by the beauty of the fire -- her power. How 
appropriate that his little fire mistress would wield such a power. Rei always did 
have a special bond with the sacred fire, and now he knew why. The pieces had finally 
fallen into place.

	Rei was Sailor Mars.

	With that revelation, the sacred fire exploded and Saburo jumped back, only 
barely missing being torched by the erratic flames. The heat by then was hard to 
ignore, and no longer was it a source of comfort. He was sweating profusely and his 
vision had grown blurry as he struggled to crawl to the door underneath the smoke.

	“Fire… Hikawa’s on fire… Somebody save Hikawa…” he mumbled, collapsing on the 
wooden floor, too weak to continue moving. “Save Hikawa…please…”

	“Ojii-san, wake up!” a girl ordered, her voice a distant echo in the back of 
his mind. Vaguely, Saburo was aware of somebody lightly shaking him. “You’re 
dreaming. You’re having a nightmare. Open your eyes. Please, ojii-san!”

	“No… You have to get out of here… Hikawa’s on fire… It‘s too late for me… 
Save yourself…”

	“Uchizawa-san! Something’s wrong!” Rei yelled, struggling to reach for her 
crutches and stand. 

	“What is it, Rei-chan?” the redhead man asked, the door swinging open. As 
promised, he had waited outside in case they needed him. “What happened?”

	“I don’t know. Ojii-san started talking strangely, like he didn’t know where 
he was anymore. He isn’t making any sense. I don‘t understand. What‘s happening to 
him? He‘s supposed to be getting better.”

	“His fever must have returned,” Minoru guessed, his face grim. “He’s 
delirious. I’m going to go find the doctor. You stay here “

	“Hai.”

	Minoru left to find Dr. Asada as Rei hobbled back over to the side of the 
bed, leaning over Saburo to place a cool hand on his forehead. He didn’t understand 
what was happening, but whatever it was, he knew it was bad by the look on her face.

	“Takara, what’s wrong?” he asked, struggling to get up. “Something’s 
happened, hasn’t it? Where is Hikawa? Why aren‘t we there? It burnt down, didn‘t it? 
Oh, kami-sama…”

	“Ojii-san, please calm down,” the teen pleaded, doing her best to hold him 
down. “Hikawa is fine. Uchizawa-san went to find Asada-sensei. They‘ll be here in a 
couple of minutes.”

	“A doctor? We don’t need a doctor at a time like this, Takara. We need a 
firefighter. Somebody save Hikawa. The sacred fire… It’s out of control… Mars… It 
feels so hot, Takara…”

	“Please stop talking like that, ojii-san!” Rei cried. “You’re scaring me. I’m 
Rei, your granddaughter. Remember? Takara-san died a long time ago. She‘s gone.”

	Saburo refused to believe it, unable to see anybody but his precious daughter 
in the tear-streaked face of the girl standing beside his be. “Takara, don’t be 
silly,” he scolded, though with smile. “You’re too young to have given me a 
granddaughter yet. Stop playing games. You‘re making me feel old before my time.”

	“I’m not! Ojii-san, don’t you remember me at all? I came to live with you at 
Hikawa after okaa-sama died. Otou-sama didn’t want to raise me, so you offered to 
take me in.”

	“You always did have a wild imagination, Takara…”

	“Ojii-san!”

	By that time, the door had opened again, and in came a doctor along with a 
cute nurse and Minoru. “Rei-chan, let’s go wait outside,” the red-haired man said, 
walking over to gently guide her to the exit. “The doctor needs to examine him. We’ll 
just be in the way.”

	“No, I don’t want to leave,” the teen protested, swatting Minoru’s hand away. 
“I can’t leave. I want to know what is happening to him. Why is he acting like this? 
He doesn’t even know who I am anymore. He keeps on calling me by my mother’s name and 
says the shrine is burning…”

	Again, Minoru reached out to Rei, this time managing to wrap a comforting arm 
around her shoulder. “Kondo-sama’s confused, sweetheart,” he said. “He’s probably 
suffering from fever-induced hallucinations.”

	“Is he going to be okay?”

	Minoru sighed. “I don’t know, Rei-chan. The doctor is going to try his best 
to bring the fever down, but we need to let him do his job. Now, let’s go sit down 
somewhere, and I’ll get you something to eat. You look a little pale.”

	Reluctantly, she agreed, letting Minoru lead her outside. 

					*****

	Outside in the hospital waiting room, Rei sat in one of the chairs in the 
corner, staring blankly off into space. She was in shock about what had just 
happened. Minoru had said her grandfather was fine before, that the antibiotics they 
were giving Saburo were helping, and though he seemed a little weak when she saw him, 
there was nothing about his behavior that had struck Rei as being anything but 
normal. How could everything have changed for the worse so quickly?

	Someone’s shadow fell over her as a man walked over, carrying a bag of chips 
and a bottle of water in his hands. “Here, Rei-chan,” he said, dangling the chips in 
front of her face. “Eat these. They’re not exactly the most nutritious snack in the 
world, but it‘s the best I could do at the moment.”

	“Thank you, but I’m not hungry, Uchizawa-san,” she replied in a flat 
monotone. “You can have them.”

	“I bought them for you. You really ought to eat something.”

	“Maybe later.”

	Minoru sighed but didn’t push it, setting the chips on the end table beside 
her chair in case she wanted them later, which Rei doubted she would. “At least drink 
some water,” he insisted, twisting open the bottle cap for her. “Here.”

	Rei wasn’t really thirsty either, but not wanting to seem ungrateful, she 
took the offered bottle and forced herself to take a few sips of the ice cold water. 
“Thank you,” she said, setting the bottle down beside the unopened bag of chips. 
“Have you heard anymore news about ojii-san’s condition?”

	Taking a seat in the chair beside her, Minoru regretfully shook his head. “As 
far as I know, they’re still trying to stabilize him,” he said. “It might be a while 
before we hear anything. Maybe I should take you back to your room. There’s no reason 
for you to st--”

	“I’m *not* leaving, Uchizawa-san,” Rei declared with the most passion she had 
been able to arouse since they had left Saburo’s hospital room. “Not until I know 
ojii-san is going to be okay.”

	“If that’s what you want to do, then that’s fine. I’m going to see what I can 
find out about Kondo-sama’s condition. There might be an update by now.” After giving 
her hand a comforting squeeze, the handsome redhead rose from his seat. “Are you 
going to be okay here by yourself, Rei-chan?”

	“Yes, of course. Go.”

	Minoru turned to leave, noticing Miyuki and her family as they stepped out of 
the elevator.

	“Miyuki, wait,” he called out, bringing Rei’s attention to the blonde’s 
presence as well.

	Miyuki, carrying her youngest child in her arms, turned around. “Minoru-san, 
I was wondering where you were,” she said. “We just got back from the train station, 
and Kazuya and the others are having a late lunch in the cafeteria. What are you 
doing out here? I thought you would be visiting Kondo-sama or Rei-chan. And what is 
Rei-chan doing out of her room? Did something happen?”

	Minoru took Miyuki by the arm, leading her away from where Rei was sitting to 
explain what had happened. Though they were speaking in low, hushed voices, Rei was 
able to hear almost every word of their conversation.

	“The fever has returned, Miyuki,” Minoru informed her. “The doctors are 
trying to stabilize Kondo-sama right now. They don‘t know if he‘s going to make it.”

	“What?” Miyuki breathed. “I don’t understand. He was supposed to be getting 
better. I thought the medication was working.”

	“The antibiotics have stopped working. They’ve lost their effectiveness.”

	“Oh, no…” Miyuki paled, and Rei saw her eyes glitter before she visibly 
calmed herself and took a deep breath. “Does Rei-chan know about what happened?”

	Minoru nodded. “She was visiting him when he started having more 
hallucinations. And don‘t scold me for letting her, Miyuki,” he said quickly before 
the blonde could say anything. “I know we promised Kondo-sama we wouldn’t tell 
Rei-chan about his previous episode, but she had a right to know. I knew it, you knew 
it, and I’m pretty sure Kondo-sama knew it too. It wasn’t right to keep her in the 
dark about what happened. I think she sensed something wasn‘t right, and by not 
telling her, we made things worse instead of better.”

	“Well, I guess it’s pretty much a moot point now anyway, isn’t it?” Miyuki 
pointed out sadly, shifting little Kado, who was sleeping, to her other arm. “How is 
Rei-chan handling all this? It must have been horrible for her to have witnessed her 
grandfather in such a confused state.”

	“About as well as to be expected, I suppose. I think she’s still in shock. 
She’s been sitting there ever since I led her out of Kondo-sama’s room, staring at 
nothing. She won’t talk unless spoken to first, and when I tried to get her to eat 
something, she said she wasn’t hungry.”

	“Shouldn’t she be taken back to her room? There really is no reason why she 
should stay out here, waiting for news on his condition. I‘m going to take her back…”

	Before Miyuki could walk back to where Rei was sitting, Minoru‘s arm shot 
out, stopping her. “No, Miyuki,” he said. “Let her stay. I already asked her if she 
wanted to go back to her room, and she said she didn’t want to leave until we heard 
some news. It’s fine. I already talked to one of the nurses, and she said it was okay 
if Rei-chan wanted to wait in the waiting room. She’s almost completely recovered 
from the donation, anyway.” 

	“Well, as long as the nurse says it is okay…” Rei could tell Miyuki didn’t 
sound very convinced, but luckily she didn’t press the subject. “I’m going down to 
the cafeteria to tell Kazuya about what happened. I shouldn’t be gone long, but if 
anything happens, Minoru-san, please come find me as soon as possible.”

	“Of course.”

	After Miyuki left, Minoru, distracted from the task of asking about Saburo’s 
condition, headed back to the chair beside Rei and took a seat to wait, the back of 
his head nearly touching the wall as he loudly exhaled. Much to Rei’s eternal 
gratefulness, though, he didn’t try to talk to her again, and the both of them sat in 
silence, time seeming to slow to a crawl.

	‘What is taking them so long?’ Rei wondered, looking up at a nearby wall 
clock. She was surprised to discover it had only been about five minutes since Miyuki 
had left to find her husband. She could have sworn an hour had passed, thirty minutes 
at the very least. Sighing, Rei settled back in her uncomfortable chair, ignoring the 
slight soreness of her hip that still lingered from the operation, and prepared 
herself for a long and agonizing wait.

	And long it was. Every time Rei took a break from her brooding to glance over 
at the clock, it appeared as if the minute hand was permanently stuck in place, 
mocking her desire to see it move. She even began to wonder if it was working 
correctly, but a comparison to her own watch proved the suspicion incorrect. Miyuki 
and the rest of her family arrived in the waiting room some time later, providing a 
momentary distraction as Rei forced herself to greet everyone and thank them for 
coming, but not even their appearance could take Rei’s mind off what was happening in 
her grandfather’s hospital room.

	To make matters worse, it was back again -- the horrible feeling she dreaded 
more than anything in the world. Several times Rei had to fight the urge to run to 
the ladies’ room and hurl, the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach growing more 
intense as the slow-moving seconds crawled by. Her heartbeat had also risen 
considerably and her palms were sweaty from clenching them into tight fists on her 
lap.

	Her grandfather wasn’t going to make it, she realized. Rei didn’t need a 
doctor to tell her that. She had never been so certain of something in her entire 
life. The last time she had felt a “feeling” so deeply was right before she walked in 
her parents’ bedroom and found her beautiful mother dead on the floor, and not even 
that could compare to what she was feeling at that moment. Over the years, her powers 
of precognition had grown and developed, and thanks to Michiru’s training, they were 
now incredibly accurate. That knowledge made her feel even worse.

	“I’m going to check in at the nurses’ station and see if they know anything 
yet,” Minoru said after a while, standing from his chair. “Is there anything you 
need, Rei-chan? Rei-chan?”

	He rested a hand on Rei’s shoulder to get her attention, causing her to 
involuntarily jump as she was startled from her thoughts. “What?” she asked, blinking 
in confusion. “Did you hear something about ojii-san? Is his condition stabilized?”

	“That’s what I’m hoping to find out. I was just wondering if you wanted 
anything while I’m gone. Perhaps something from the cafeteria? I can go down and get 
you something to eat if you want. You still haven‘t eaten lunch.”

	The thought of food made Rei‘s stomach clench, and she quickly said, “I’m not 
hungry.”

	“Are you sure?” he asked, receiving a nod in return. “Okay, I’ll be back in a 
few minutes then.”

	Rei watched her godfather head toward the nurses’ station, but she wasn’t 
holding out much hope for good news. All her hope was gone. To Rei, it was no longer 
a question of if he would recover, but how much more time Saburo had left. If her 
suspicions were correct, it wasn’t much. She wrapped her arms around herself, 
clenching her stomach, and forced herself to not to release the tears she knew were 
welling in her eyes.

	She had to be strong. She had to be.

	“Rei-chan?” 

	At the sound of her name, Rei glanced back up, her eyes meeting those of baby 
blue. “M-Minako-chan?” she sputtered, surprised not only to see the pretty blonde, 
but Usagi, Ami, and Makoto as well. “Minna? What are you doing here?”

	“We’re here to see you, of course,” Minako replied. “I told you when I came 
this morning we would be back later. You know, you gave us quite a scare when we went 
to your room and you weren’t there. We thought something had happened to you.”

	“No, I’m fine,” Rei assured them.

	“You don’t look fine, Rei-chan,” Ami commented, placing her hand on Rei’s 
forehead. “Are you feeling okay? You don’t feel like you have a fever, but you look a 
little green. Is your stomach bothering you? Okaa-san can give you something if 
you‘re feeling nauseated.”

	“It’s nothing,” she insisted, unwrapping the arms she had around her stomach. 
Nothing that Dr. Mizuno could cure, at least. That’s what Rei wanted to say but 
didn’t, knowing they probably wouldn’t understand. 

	“Well, what are you doing here in the waiting room?” Makoto asked, changing 
the subject. “We thought the doctor said you were supposed to be taking it easy for a 
couple of days. We weren’t expecting to find you here. Something happened, didn‘t it? 
Concerning your grandfather?”

	As much as Rei wished she didn’t have to answer that question, as long as her 
friends were there, there was no point in hiding the seriousness of Saburo’s 
condition. They would learn about it eventually, anyway.

	“Ojii-san has a fever,” she said softly, barely able to say the words aloud.

	“A fever?” Usagi repeated. “That doesn’t sound so bad, Rei-chan. People get 
fevers all the time. The doctors will give him some medicine and he’ll be fine. It 
works whenever Mama does.”

	“Usagi-chan, I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Ami explained. Out of the 
four, she was the first to realize the implications behind what Rei said. “Fever is 
one of the warning signs of rejection.”

	“What does that mean, Ami-chan?”

	The blue-haired future doctor’s face was grim as she answered Usagi’s 
question. “It means the transplant might not be working. It’s possible his body could 
be rejecting Rei-chan’s bone marrow.”

	Hearing that, Minako was the first to react, kneeling down in front of Rei 
and enveloping her in a comforting hug. “Oh, Rei-chan,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. 
I’m so, so sorry.”

	“We all are,” Usagi said, sitting down in the chair Minoru had vacated. “But 
Ami-chan only said rejection was a possibility, right? There’s still a chance 
everything will be fine, isn’t there? You can‘t give up hope, not yet, Rei-chan.”

	“Usagi-chan’s right,” Makoto chorused.

	Ami nodded her agreement with the others. “Kondo-sama does have the best team 
of doctors working on him. Okaa-san only has the best of praise for Asada-sensei and 
the others. If anybody can help save him, it’s them.”

	Rei wished she could believe her friends were right, but she knew that it was 
a foolish wish; the feeling was never wrong. It was only a matter of time. Pulling 
away from Minako’s embrace, she clasped her cold hands in her lap and gazed up at 
them.

	“Thank you for your support, minna,” she said, “but I really want to be alone 
right now. You should go home. There’s no reason for you to stay. If something 
happens, I’ll call.”

	“No way, Rei-chan,” Minako refused. “We are not leaving you like this. You 
need all the support you can get.”

	“I’ll be fine, Minako-chan. Uchizawa-san and Watanabe-san are here, and they 
have been great so far. Besides, it could be hours before we know anything positive.”

	“Then we’ll stay, won‘t we, girls?”

	“Of course we will,” Usagi said. “Mamo-chan and I were supposed to go on a 
date tonight, but I’m sure he won’t mind if I cancel once he hears what is 
happening.”

	“And okaa-san is working the late shift here at the hospital, so I’m sure she 
won’t mind if I stay,” Ami said. “What about you, Mako-chan?”

	“There’s nobody but me, so I can stay, too.”

	“Then it’s settled, then,” Minako decided. “We’re staying, Rei-chan, and 
nothing you say will change our minds, so don’t even try.”

	Though Rei again tried to protest, the rest of the girls took their seats in 
some nearby chairs, Minako taking the one on her other side while Makoto sat down 
next to the blonde and Ami chose the seat next to Usagi. Silently, Minako took Rei’s 
hand in her own, and together they waited for Minoru to return with the news.

	They didn’t have to wait long. About five minutes after the girls arrived, 
the handsome redhead reappeared in the waiting room, wearing a look that said he did 
not have good news on his face. Miyuki was the first one to notice his presence, and 
after setting baby Kado on the floor to play with his brother, she stood from her 
chair on the other side of the room where she had been sitting with her family and 
walked over to him.

	“Minoru-san, what is it?” she asked, alerting the others. “Did something 
happened? Did you learn anything about Kondo-sama’s condition?”

	Minoru nodded as Rei slowly forced herself to stand, already knowing what was 
to come. She steeled herself for the news, her face emotionless as her eyes met with 
those of her godfather.

	“He’s gone, isn’t he?” she asked in a surprisingly calm tone.

	“I-I’m sorry, Rei-chan,” Minoru apologized, his soft voice filled with 
sadness. “There was nothing more they could do. The infection had entered his heart 
and though they tried to fight it, in the end, it wasn’t enough. His heart simply 
gave out on him.”

	Miyuki was the first one to react to the news, choking back a sob as she 
violently shook her head in denial. “It can’t be true, Minoru-san,” she said 
hoarsely. “Kondo-sama can’t be dead. He never even had the chance to meet Kado-chan. 
He was so looking forward to tonight, to seeing the kids… Please, tell us this is 
some incredibly cruel joke. Please! There has to have been some kind of mistake…”

	“I’m sorry, Miyuki. I know how much you loved him.”

	“No…”

	Minoru drew his former love into a comforting embrace, letting Miyuki bury 
her face in his shoulder, as one by one the others began to feel the full impact of 
the news. 

	“Oh, Rei-chan, we’re so sorry,” Minako said as she and the others crowded 
around a still stoic Rei. The blonde wrapped her arms around her. “Is there anything 
we can do?”

	“Just leave me alone,” Rei replied, breaking free. Though she knew her 
friends were only trying to comfort her, she couldn’t help but feel suffocated. The 
last thing she wanted right now was their pity and sympathy. “You should all go home. 
You said you wanted to stay until you heard some news about ojii-san and now you 
have, so there’s no reason for you to stay.”

	“But Rei-chan…”

	“Please, just go,” she ordered, reaching for her discarded crutches. “I’m 
fine, really I am. You don’t have to worry about me. I’m going back to my room. Ja 
ne.”

	And so Rei hobbled back to her hospital room, numb inside. She couldn’t 
think. She didn’t want to think. She just wanted to get back into her bed, and sleep. 

	Sleep and forget everything.

					*****

	“Rei-chan!”

	Watching the dark-haired miko hobble toward the door, Minako wanted to run 
after her best friend, but a strong arm held her back. “Minako-chan, I don’t think 
that’s the best idea,” Makoto said. “Rei-chan is probably in shock right now. She 
just experienced a terrible loss. You have to let her deal with this in her own way.”

	“But I want to help her through this, Mako-chan,” Minako said, struggling to 
break free of the Amazon’s firm grip on her wrist. “She shouldn’t be alone, not now.”

	“Do you think we should go after her?” Usagi asked. “I know she said she 
wanted to be alone, but maybe Minako-chan is right…”

	“I think Mako-chan’s has the right idea,” Ami said. “I don’t think the news 
has really hit Rei-chan yet. Trying to comfort her right now could make things worse 
instead of better.”

	“But that’s all the more reason to be there for her, isn’t it?” Minako asked. 
“She shouldn’t be by herself when she finally realizes her grandfather is dead. It’s 
going to devastate her.”

	Makoto sighed, loosening the grip on her wrist but not completely letting go. 
“Minako-chan, I know your heart is in the right place, but comforting Rei-chan when 
she isn’t ready to deal with this is going to backfire,” she explained. “Believe me, 
I know from experience how she must be feeling. All we can do right now is let 
Rei-chan know that we are here for her if she needs us. She will come to us when she 
is ready.”

	Minako doubted it. The other girls simply did not understand Rei as well as 
she did. Rei hated to show any sign of weakness. She kept her feelings bottled up 
inside, and unless somebody forced her to deal with them, that was exactly where they 
would stay until the burden became too much to bear. Makoto might understand the 
situation due to the fact that she had lost both her parents in a tragic plane crash 
a few years ago, but Minako understood the person, and she knew exactly what she 
needed to do, no matter what the others thought.

	“I don’t care, Mako-chan! Rei-chan can yell at me all she wants for butting 
into her business. I can handle it. At least then she would be releasing some of the 
anger she must be feeling.”

	“But--”

	“Girls, do you know where Rei-chan went?” a masculine voice asked, 
interrupting the mini-argument between Minako and Makoto. All the girls turned their 
attention to Minoru and a still tearful Miyuki, who was dotting her eyes with the 
handkerchief he had given her. “We saw her leave a few moments ago, and we were 
wondering how she was dealing with what happened to Kondo-sama.”

	“She said she was going back to her room, Uchizawa-san,” Minako answered, for 
once managing not to blush in his presence. She had more important things on which to 
concentrate at the moment than how beautiful his green eyes were, even when they were 
filled with sadness. “Rei-chan wanted to be alone for a while.”

	Minoru nodded, almost as if he had expected that answer. “I should have 
suspected as much,” he said, more to himself than anybody else, although Minako was 
standing close enough to hear. “Sometimes they are so much alike…”

	“Who?”

	“Oh, don’t mind me, Aino-san. It’s nothing,” he replied with a shake of his 
head.

	“Did Rei-chan seem okay when she left?” Miyuki inquired, bringing the subject 
back to Rei. “Was she upset or anything like that? I’m worried about her. Maybe I 
should talk to her…”

	“No, Miyuki, I’ll go talk to her. You should stay here. The children are 
probably confused by what happened. You and Watanabe-san need to talk to them and 
answer any questions they have about death and dying.”

	“You’re probably right, Minoru-san,” she admitted, looking over at her 
family. One of the two girls, the younger one, was already crying and being comforted 
in her father’s lap, while the oldest boy, Takara, gave his other sister a hug. The 
other two boys were too young to understand what was going on around them, but they 
were crying as well, most likely sensing the sadness of the others. “The kids need me 
right now, but when you see Rei-chan, will you give her a hug for me and tell her I‘m 
sorry about what happened?”

	“Of course.”

	Miyuki thanked him by laying a hand on his arm, and then she hurried over to 
the two little boys, gathering them into her arms and murmuring comforting words.

	“Uchizawa-san, do you mind if I go with you to talk to Rei-chan?” Minako 
asked once Miyuki was gone. “I’d really like to see her.”

	“Minako-chan!” Makoto lightly scolded. “What did I tell you? Let Uchizawa-san 
handle Rei-chan by himself.”

	“It’s okay…Kino-san, is it? If Aino-san wants to come with me to see 
Rei-chan, I don’t mind the company,” Minoru replied, lightly touching Minako’s elbow. 
“Shall we?”

	“H-Hai.”

	Leaving the others behind, Minako and Minoru headed down the hall to Rei’s 
private room. “Thank you for allowing me see Rei-chan, Uchizawa-san,” Minako said as 
they walked side-by-side. “Mako-chan didn’t think we should bother her at the moment, 
which I guess I can kinda understand why since Rei-chan did say she wanted to be 
alone for a while, but I’m worried about her.”

	“I know exactly how you feel, Aino-san,” her companion said. “It’s tough to 
see one of your friends in pain. All you want to do is comfort that person and take 
away all the heartache.”

	“You sound as if you’ve been through something like this before.”

	“Hai, a couple of times, actually,” Minoru admitted. “I probably should warn 
you, though, it isn’t always easy. Sometimes the person doesn’t want your help or 
sympathy, so don’t take it personally if Rei-chan isn’t receptive to your efforts at 
first. Don’t push it. The important thing is that she knows you are there for her if 
and when she is ready.” 

	“I understand. Mako-chan pretty much said the same thing earlier. I know 
Rei-chan probably doesn’t want to see me or anybody else right now, but I just want 
to make sure she is okay.”

	Minoru gave her a small smile. “You’re a good friend, Aino-san.”

	They finally reached Rei’s room. Looking through the small window set in the 
door, it appeared nobody was there since all the lights were turned off, but they 
knew better. Minoru lightly knocked on the door, and when there was no answer, he 
pushed it opened, peeping in through the crack. “Rei-chan?”

	“Is she sleeping?” Minako asked in a hushed whisper from behind Minoru. 
Though she was anxious to see Rei, Minako didn’t want to disturb her if she had 
managed to somehow fall asleep. “Maybe we should come back later.”

	“I can’t really tell,” he said in an equally soft voice, looking back over 
his shoulder at Minako. “She’s facing in the other direction, but I can’t imagine 
anyone falling asleep so quickly after hearing news like that. You stay here for a 
moment, and I’ll go see if she’s awake.” 

	Minako nodded and took his spot at the door, watching as Minoru walked over 
to Rei’s bed. If the girl snuggled under the blankets noticed his presence, she 
didn’t show it, but the redhead continued anyway, taking a seat on the edge of the 
mattress and leaning over to see her face.

	“Rei-chan? Are you wake?” he asked. “It’s me.”

	After what seemed like an endless pause, Rei finally moved, craning her neck 
to see behind her. “Oh, Uchizawa-san, it’s you,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

	The redhead motioned for Minako to join him. “Aino-san and I wanted to check 
in on you,” he answered. “You left the waiting room rather abruptly.”

	“Hai, we were worried about you,” Minako added, coming up next to the bed. 
She still couldn’t see Rei’s face because of the darkness, but it she hadn’t sounded 
like she had been crying. She didn’t know whether she should be glad or concerned 
about that. “Everybody is.”

	Rei rested her head back on the pillow and looked straight ahead towards the 
window, the blinds which had been closed as not to let in the brightness of the 
sunshine. “I’m fine,” she replied flatly. “Nobody needs to worry about me. I‘ll be 
okay.” 

	“Are you sure, Rei-chan?” Minoru asked. One of his hands reached out to 
smooth her slightly tousled black hair in fatherly affection. “It’s okay if you 
aren’t. You can cry if you want, let out your emotions…”

	“Tears won’t bring ojii-san back, will they?”

	“No, they won’t, but it might make you feel better.”

	“I don’t want to feel better. I just want to be left alone for a while. 
Doesn’t anybody understand that?”

	Pulling back his hand, Minoru sighed in defeat. “Okay, if you want us to go, 
then we will.”

	“Actually, I want to stay,” Minako said. No matter what Rei said, she wasn’t 
leaving until she finished what she came to do. “Is that okay with you, 
Uchizawa-san?”

	“Hai, of course it’s fine with me, Aino-san, but Rei-chan…”

	“If I start to bother Rei-chan, she can kick me out herself. Right, 
Rei-chan?”

	The girl on the bed didn’t comment, but Minako took her silence to mean she 
agreed with the conditions and walked over to the other side of the bed. Minoru, 
after kissing Rei on the back of her head, said goodbye and left the room.

	Once the door had closed behind him, Minako took a seat in the chair provided 
for guests and looked at Rei, her heart going out to her best friend. From her 
vantage point, she finally was able to see the miko’s face clearly. There were no 
signs that Rei had been crying, but her eyes, so dark they almost appeared black in 
the dim room, told Minako everything she needed to know. They really were windows to 
the heart -- or was that to the soul? She couldn’t remember the exact saying at the 
moment, but it didn’t matter. No matter how a person wanted to phrase it, Rei was 
absolutely heartbroken by her grandfather‘s death.

	“Oh, Rei-chan…” Minako whispered, leaning forward in her chair. “I’m so, so 
sorry…”

	Amethyst eyes, noticing they were being watched, lowered until they were 
almost closed. “Why are you staring at me like that?” Rei asked, seeming not to even 
have heard Minako. “I don’t want your pity, Minako-chan. If that‘s why you are here, 
you might as well leave right now.”

	“I’m not pitying you, Rei-chan. I’m sympathizing with you.”

	“It’s the same thing.”

	“No, it’s not.”

	“Well, I don’t want your sympathy, either,” she declared, carefully rolling 
over to lie on her back. “What good does sympathy do? It doesn’t change anything. A 
hundred people can say ‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ but it won’t bring ojii-san back, 
will it?”

	“No, but at least you would know you have friends and people who still care 
about you, who want to help you through this.”

	“I’m fine, Minako-chan. I don’t need or want anybody’s help, least of all, 
yours.”

	Minako rose from her seat in the chair and sat down on the edge of Rei’s 
hospital bed. “You don’t really mean that, do you?” she asked. “I know it’s true I 
don’t have much experience with death. About the closest I’ve come to losing a family 
member is when our dog Pochi died about a year before I found Artemis. He really was 
the cutest thing…” She smiled wistfully at the memory of the adorable Dalmatian. “But 
that doesn’t mean I can’t imagine what you must be going through. If one of my 
parents died, I know I would be really sad about it. We might have our occasional 
fights -- me and okaa-san especially -- but I love them and would miss them terribly 
if they were gone. If that were to happen, I hope I would be able to count on you and 
the other girls to help me through. After all, isn‘t that what a friend is supposed 
to do? Help you through the tough times?”

	A sigh escaped from Rei’s lips. “Minako-chan, I know you want to help,” she 
said. “I get that, and I appreciate it, really I do, but you need to understand 
something. You *can’t* help, no matter how hard you try. Ojii-san is gone, and I need 
to deal with that -- by myself.”

	Minako, try as she might, could not understand why Rei was insisting on 
pushing everyone who cared about her away. They wanted to help her. Why couldn’t Rei 
let them? If the situations were reversed, Minako would have been grateful to have 
friends to support and comfort her though the pain.

	“But why? You shouldn’t have to do this by yourself, Rei-chan,” she 
protested, clasping one of the girl’s hands in both her own. “Not when you have me, 
and Uchizawa-san, and Watanabe-san, and the other girls who are all willing to help…”

	“I said you can’t,” Rei said, her voice somewhat harsher and colder than 
before. Even her face had hardened, frozen into an expression of determination and 
stubbornness. “Now, I think you should leave. It’s getting late, and knowing you, you 
haven’t called your mother yet to tell her you’re still here. She’ll scold you if you 
aren’t home for dinner and you haven’t called.”

	At the mention of her mother, Minako rolled her eyes. “I can handle okaa-san, 
Rei-chan. She‘ll understand when I tell her what happened. As much as I like to 
complain about her stupid rules and stuff, she‘s not completely heartless.”

	“I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

	“I won’t, and even if I do, I don’t care. Being here with you during your 
time of need is worth the possibility of getting grounded until I graduate from high 
school.”

	“Minako-chan, go,” Rei ordered, finally yanking her hand away. “You said 
before Uchizawa-san left that if you started bothering me, I had the right to kick 
you out, right? Well, you can consider yourself booted.”

	“What? You don’t mean--”

	“Yes, I do. Now, I want you to leave. And you can tell anybody else who has 
the brilliant idea of coming to see me that I am not receiving any visitors who 
aren’t wearing hospital I.D. badges. I want to be alone, and this time, I mean it.”

	“Oh, I see,” Minako said softly, sliding off the bed. “If that’s the way you 
really feel, then I guess I’ll leave. I’m sorry I bothered you, Rei-chan.”






AUTHoR's NOTES: Any comments and criticisms can be sent to me at ElysionDream@aol.com. 
I hope you enjoy. Only two more parts and an epilogue to go. Yay!

Most of the medical information in this chapter was taken from "I Want To Live" by 
Lurlene McDaniel, a novel about a teenage girl who undergoes a bone marrow 
transplant. Any similarities between the book and the scenes in this chapter are 
coincidental.


Random Notes

"Hana to Yume" - A real Japanese magazine, probably most known for publishing the 
manga version of "Fruits Basket".

Pas maintenant, chouchou. Maman a la téléphone. - Not now, sweetheart. Mama is on the 
phone.

Maman - Mama

chéri - dear

"Le Petit Prince" ("The Little Prince") - A well-known French children's book.

Jakakuerine - This is the Japanese approximation of Jacqueline's name. Minoru has a 
difficult time pronouncing it correctly.

Tenshi-chan - Means "little angel", an appropriate nickname for Angelique.

About the cellphone in the hospital - Yes, I know you aren't allowed to use 
cellphones in the hospital, but this chapter also takes place about ten years ago, 
and I don't think that rule was in affect back then. If it was, then just chalk it up 
to creative license. ^_^ At least I had Minoru go outside the second time he used his 
cell.  

DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon is the property of Takeuchi Naoko.