Mercury smiled at his remark, though she wondered how true it was. Sometimes, it felt like… guys were intimidated by her. It didn’t help that she didn’t really know how to be around them in a more-than-friends capacity either. Ami was good at a lot of things, and even her socializing skills had gotten better since she met her friends and sisters-in-arms, but romance remained her weakness. She was just completely clueless how to go about it. It was easy because she had never felt attracted to anyone that strongly to do something about it, but sometimes she did feel kind of envious of the love that Neo Queen Serenity and King Endmyion had. They always made it look so easy.

Their journey finally took them to the lake that marked the inner part of Elysion. She relaxed a little when she saw it and realized they were making good time. “We’re close now,” she said with relief. “We should be there soon and get you all fixed up in no time.”

At least, she really hoped so.

Hope bubbled up from within him when Mercury said they were getting closer at the sight of the lake. As soon as they got to the gate, this entire mess would be in the past, he was sure of it. He could go back to being a normal human again, and the other Rainbow Crystal  carriers would be saved as well. 

The lake was as clear and as still as glass, and the sky and trees reflected perfectly in on its surface, along with their own images as they walked around the shoreline. Out in the lake's center were four large colored statues of animals, situated in a diamond pattern. One was a black turtle, one was a red phoenix, one was a blue dragon, and the last one that faced them was a white tiger. The tiger's pale pink gems that served as eyes seemed to stare at him, judging his presence here, and Ryo began to sweat.

It was just decoration, right? His imagination was running wild because of the stress, that was all. Statues couldn't see, and they definitely couldn't glare at him like he had committed a crime. As is reacting to his paranoia, his chest hurt, and he stumbled. No, not here! They were so close to getting the crystal! Ryo's knees hit the sandy beach, and his hands dug into it as pain ran through him.

"Mercury, I can't"- he gasped as a bolt of agony interrupted him, and grit his teeth. "You have to get away!" The White Tiger watched him from the lake in silence, and he cursed it in his head as his vision started to fade away. The dark aura wrapped around him, and the taller, broader form of Bunbo emerged with a low growl.

She definitely jinxed it.

As Ryo stumbled and fell to his knees, Mercury felt alarm coursing through her veins. Not again! It was happening more often, and they were so close. His warning made her step back, her mind already running a mile a minute. She had no way of healing him or turning him back into himself. The best she could was try to knock him out or freeze him again. But that would mean she’d have to somehow drag him the rest of the way to the sacred chamber.

She watched in trepidation as the darkness enveloped him and, when it dissipated, Bunbo stood in his place once more. “Ryo, please…” she almost pleaded with him, even if she knew it would likely not help. Maybe if she weakened him with an attack, his human side could come forth more easily? Somehow she’d have to diminish the youma side’s domination.

The moment the youma appeared, however, Mercury noticed things moving from the corner of her vision. With disbelief, she turned to see the four statues on the center of the lake coming alive. Their eyes glittered dangerously, all pairs fixated on the youma.

“Intruder. Dark forces aren’t allowed here,” the tiger spoke.

Mercury gulped. She had not heard about this. “Wait a second! He’s not evil! He’s human! We’re here to fix him!”

The statues never once looked at her, and she was terrified that they wouldn’t listen. Desperate, she finally decided to try the weakening method. “Shine Aqua Illusion!” she cried, sending waves of water toward the youma, making sure to scale back the strength so that it would not actually vanquish him.

Bunbo crossed him arms and stood his ground, the Shine Aqua Illusion attack pushing him back a few feet with the force behind it. His arms froze, but he strained them, and the ice shattered to pieces. Free again, Bunbo fired his blade hand at Mercury. Before it could come close to hitting her, a blue stone dragon intercepted it, and the blade was embedded in its side instead.

The dragon crashed to the ground, but then it slowly stood up and tore the blade out. The broken stone repaired itself, and the healed guardian turned its jade eyes to the youma. From the lake, the black turtle was swimming towards the shore, and the white tiger simply leaped across the gap to reach land. The red phoenix was now hovering in the air, screeching over Bunbo's head.

"You are correct, this monster was once human," the tiger said to Mercury, watching as the other three animals closed in on the youma. "But it cannot be saved. Its body is too weak and its mind is too corrupted. For its own good and for the safety of Elysion, we will destroy it. Stand aside."

The monster was really strong. Maybe she should have tried using her attack on full strength after all. When it didn’t hesitate to try to slice her to bits, Mercury gasped and shielded her face with her hands, knowing she was too late to move and was likely going to die. Her entire long life flashed in her mind’s eye for a split second, and regret for not being able to save Ryo jumped to the forefront.

The pain never came, and when she looked up in surprise, she saw the dragon catch it on its side. “No!” she cried, horrified as it crashed to the ground.

When it simply stood up and pulled out the blade, seeming completely unharmed, she sighed in relief. Clearly it wasn’t going to be easy to kill these guardians. Being made from rock certainly helped.

Hearing the tiger spoke, Mercury’s blood ran cold. Destroy it??

Ryo’s smiling face appeared in her mind and she felt as if her own heart was going to be torn out.

“No! But… the Golden Celestite! We were going to use it to get rid of the youma side. If you could just give us a chance to get there…!” she pleaded desperately.

"Your efforts are futile, Sailor Senshi," the tiger said. Behind it, Bunbo roared and wrestled with the turtle statue, but she could see that he was struggling with the stone figures. 

"Its soul is already too far gone, there is nothing left but a monster." The phoenix dug its stone claws into Bunbo's shoulders and pushed, knocking him down to the ground. He fired a few metal shards, but they were swatted away.

"Now accept that you have failed and leave us to our duty." The dragon pinned the youma down and silently waited, using its weight to keep Bunbo on his back. He flailed and yelled, but he could do nothing. The tiger turned around and walked towards him. The tiger's gait switched to a hunting stalk, and its claws seemed to grow sharper. It froze, and then jumped forward, aiming to dig into the youma and tear it apart.

“You’re wrong! Ryo’s still there!” Mercury cried. How could they think that? She believed that he could still be healed. Of course he was still alive somewhere in there! Maybe his human self was suppressed for now, but if they could just return him to his human side… it couldn’t be too late. It just couldn’t be!

She wasn’t going to give up on him. Usagi had taught her that; to not give up on the people she cared about even if it seemed as if all hope was lost. Usagi had always made her believe in miracles. She had to fight until the end, until there was nothing left. She had to believe. Even if these guardians would not.

As the stone animals pinned down Bunbo, the tiger aimed for the killing blow. Mercury, for once in her life, had no plan beyond protecting the boy she cared about with everything in her. This was a puzzle she could not solve logically. Which meant it was time for the drastic measure and hope for the best. It was time to do what Usagi always did. Do the unthinkable and just believe everything would work out.

Mercury always knew she was the weakest of the senshi. She didn’t have Jupiter’s, Venus’, or Mars’ endurance. She would always be the first to fall in battle. She might not survive this.

But when that tiger leapt, she ran the fastest she had ever run in her life, and intercepted its path. With a loud cry, she jumped in front of Bunbo, shielding him with her own body, and felt claws digging into her body a second later, tearing her fuku into near shreds. Pain stabbed her from all directions and she screamed.

It was oddly like the vision Ryo once had of her, in that time so long ago when he transformed for the first time into his alter ego.

Guess it finally found a way to come true after all.

“You’re wrong! Ryo’s still there!”

In his half awake state, Ryo could barely recognize the voice he was hearing. Ami? As the tiger struck Sailor Mercury, Bunbo watched, no longer struggling to escape.

It was her scream that pierced the haze that Ryo's mind was trapped in. The youma's grip on him loosened, and he was able to see what was going on. Under the tiger's paws, Mercury was still. No, she couldn't be- He refused to even think the words.

The tiger took a step back, taking his paws off of Mercury to study her. "What a brave, but foolhardy action to take over a monster. It's a shame..." Bunbo let out an anguished sound and fought harder to free himself, and in a bright golden light above them, the cry of a horse resounded. 

"Let him go, Guardians," Helios said, astride Pegasus. The winged unicorn and its rider flew lower to see what was going on. 

"Lord Helios..." The animals bowed, and Bunbo was released as they backed away. The youma cried out again, and stumbled to its feet before running towards Mercury with clumsy steps. The stone beasts tensed, but Helios held out a hand to stop them. 

"It seems that he was not as far gone as you thought. Sailor Mercury was correct." Bunbo glowed with a white light and he shrunk and changed shape as he ran, until he was simply Ryo again. Even paler than before, he collapsed next to Mercury and carefully cradled her upper body in his lap.

"Ami! Why did you do that? Please be okay..." Tears pricked at his eyes and he shuddered as he tried not to cry. She couldn't be gone just like that, it wasn't possible...

For a moment, Mercury’s world had exploded in pain. She was unaware to what was going on around her as her brain tried to get out of shock mode. There was a light, she thought… but certainly not that light? She didn’t want this to be the end yet. Her job was not done; she still needed to help Ryo…

When her other senses slowly returned, she thought she heard Helios’ voice. She blinked up as the priest of Elysion and his white horse appeared in her line of vision. Relief washed over her. If she could not continue on, at least Helios was here. He could help get Ryo to the Golden Celestite.

And then he was there. Ryo… in his human form. He almost looked about as bad as she did, but Mercury still felt relief at the sight of him normal again. She winced as he moved her body, knowing without even having to try to assess the damage that it was bad. Blood was everywhere from the deep scratches and not even her armor could withstand the guardian tiger’s claws.

She was surprised to see the tears in his eyes. She’d never seen him so emotional before. “I… had to… save you, of course,” she said simply, though not without some struggle. “Can’t… let them kill you. Won’t… be able to live with… myself.” She smiled and tried her best to hold on. She turned her head toward Helios.

“Helios… the Golden Celestite. We’re trying to… use it to get rid of his youma side. Could you… make sure that it gets done… please?”

Ryo held her tighter when Mercury spoke, relieved that she wasn't quite finished yet. He shook his head at her reasoning.

"But..." he hesitated for only a moment. "I can't live without you either... I won't let you die here, okay?" He didn't care that he was on a time limit, he needed to be sure she would make it back alive with him, or what was the point? Helios directed Pegasus to land, and they walked over to stand by the two people. 

"I will make sure he gets to the gate," Helios said to Mercury. "But you need healing first. Your friend will last another few minutes, but I am less sure about your condition. Pegasus..." It dipped its head, the pegasus' golden horn glowing softly as it pointed at the senshi. Her body glowed with the same soft light, and her wounds began to stitch themselves back together. Ryo watched in enraptured silence as she healed before his eyes. After what felt like a much longer time, Pegasus raised its head again. 

"Now we can retrieve the stone, and I will escort you this time." Helios smiled and waited for them to follow him.

He can’t live without me?

Those were some strong words, and Mercury didn’t quite know how to feel about it. Hadn’t he lived essentially without her for centuries? Of course, she could understand that was different than if she had died, but still… it might as well have been the same considering how little contact they’d maintained. His words touched her, and made her wonder if there was something more behind them. Her heart felt unexpectedly warm at the thought.

Helios spoke, cutting off her thoughts, and she looked at the white horse as it pointed its golden horn at her. As the light enveloped her, Mercury felt warm, and the pain slowly started to abate. She sighed in relief as her wounds closed, wishing she had access to this kind of magic back in Crystal Tokyo. It would make saving lives much easier in the medical wing.

She felt good as new within a few moments, and slowly sat up. “Thank you,” she said empathically, both to Pegasus and Helios.

As the priest offered to escort them, Mercury stood up, softly taking Ryo’s hand in hers. It was not something she would have done in a million years before. But after seeing Ryo almost die, and almost dying herself, she felt as if she needed to hold on to him so that neither of them might disappear. She really needed him to stay human until they reached the stone. And somehow she felt he might if she just held on to him. It made no logical sense, but this was a time when she had to use her heart instead of her head.

“Are you okay? Can you still make it there?” she asked him with a soft smile.

Ryo wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt and smiled when Mercury recovered, letting go of her to let her sit up. He hadn't actually cried in a long time, but then again, he had never held someone he thought was dying until today either. He stood up, and the soreness form his transformation swept over him. He ignored it and focused on the fact that he was human at all right now. That was the first time he had managed to turn back on his own, and it had taken him seeing Ami get hurt to trigger it. Maybe he had more control over himself than he thought...

Ryo was stunned when Mercury took his hand as they walked behind Helios. But instead of pulling away or acting flustered, he squeezed back, and his resolve to stay human strengthened. Now that he knew that it was possible to turn back without assistance, he felt more confident. 

"I'll be fine," he said, smiling back. "I think I can go the rest of the way."

The second half of the trip went faster with Helios leading, and a few hours later, they stood in front of a white stone arc in front of the Golden Kingdom's palace. Built into the top of it was a multifaceted gem, the Golden Celestite. It glimmered slightly, as if dormant at the moment. 

"The Golden Celestite isn't in use right now, so I don't see any problems arising from you taking it back to Crystal Tokyo," Helios said. He held out a hand, and the gem moved out of its stone slot and floated down to them. He took it and handed it over to Mercury. The Golden Celestite was around the size of her palm, and had a spherical shape to it. "I think it would be best if you used it instead of me. Just hold it out and concentrate on purifying him."

The rest of their journey was mostly quiet. Helios’ presence made Mercury feel less inclined to talk about personal things, and the fact that she’d had a near death experience also gave her a lot to think about. What Ryo said and the way he reacted to her getting hurt was… interesting as well. Of course, any friend would be upset over the fact that she was dying, but was that all there was to it? And yes, she would readily try to protect any innocent—let alone someone she knew personally—from certain death, but the urge to do whatever she could, even if it meant sacrificing her life, was especially strong in the moment when she made the decision to shield him from the guardian tiger.

It was like she was ready to give up everything, to throw all caution in the wind as long as he stayed alive. She was not usually known for making such impulsive, possibly foolish decisions. What if the guardians had been right about him being a lost cause? Would she have died for nothing?

And yet she knew that she would readily make the same choice over and over again.

She definitely needed time to sort out these thoughts.

They finally arrived at the palace gate with no more incidents, which she was grateful for. While Ryo had been able to turn back on its own the last time, it had taken her almost dying to do so, and she’d rather not go through that again. She looked up at the gem at the top, hoping with all her heart that this was the answer they were looking for.

She nodded at Helios’ words. “Even so, once we’ve purified all the Rainbow Crystal carriers, we’ll return it to you. This is its rightful place.”

She received the gem, which looked much smaller now that she held it in her hands. She swallowed nervously. Hopefully she would be able to do this right.

Smiling in encouragement to Ryo, she stood facing him and held out the gem in his direction. She closed her eyes, and made a prayer from her heart to heal him.

Please, take all the darkness away. Give him back his peaceful life.

This was it, the moment of truth. Either the Golden Celestite would work and he'd be freed of his youma side, or it would fail. He watched in silence as Helios retrieved the crystal and gave it to Mercury. Ryo held still when she turned the crystal towards him, and waited. 

In reaction to her's silent prayer, the Golden Celestite levitated in her hand, and then exploded into light. The energy it gave off curved towards Ryo and covered him entirely, and he winced as it sank into his skin. The sensation started off as uncomfortable, but then it became more soothing, and his eyes slowly closed on their own. The light started to concentrate in his chest, becoming a bright ball, and then it suddenly pulled something out. Ryo's eyes opened again, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off him.

In between Mercury and him was a floating ball of light, with a darker ball within it. Almost instinctively, he knew it was Bunbo. The light intensified, and the darkness within it shrank until it was nothing but a speck. The light faded, and a small, black crystal shard hit the ground. Ryo blinked a few times until he adjusted to the lack of blinding light, and then he saw the shard. 

Helios stepped forward and picked up the shard, examining it. 

"This is all that's left of the youma," he said, showing them. "It's completely harmless now, and separate from your soul."

"Can...can I have it?" Ryo asked. He wasn't sure why he wanted it, but now that all of his recent problems were stuck in a tiny gem, he wanted to hold it for himself. Helios nodded and gave it to him, and Ryo stared at it for a few long moments before a grin spread on his face. "It really worked!" he said.

It was finally sinking in that he was cured. Even now, he felt less tired, and he looked less pale than before. He laughed and turned to Mercury, wanting her to see it too. "It used to be inside of me and now it's just a rock!" Ryo realized about a second later how ridiculous he probably sounded, and blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, I mean, it's out..."

Mercury could see the light brightening the darkness behind her eyelids. She opened them, watching in trepidation as the energy from the crystal sank into Ryo. For a brief second she was terrified that the crystal, too, would see him and the youma as one and the same and neutralize him completely. But then something was extracted from him, and when it was all over, he was still standing there.

She looked at the ball of light curiously, tainted with something dark within. The darkness soon became nothing more than a small crystal that fell to the ground.

That was it? All that was left of the youma? Mercury was amazed; something that used to be so powerful and dominating had now been rendered completely harmless and shrunk into such a small piece. But she felt so relieved that it was all over.

Strangely enough, she wasn’t surprised that Ryo wanted to keep it. Personally, she’d at least want to keep it long enough to examine it to satisfy her scientific curiosity, but he probably wanted it as a memento of some sort of what he once had before. It wasn’t a pleasant memory, but it was still a part of him nonetheless.

When he suddenly exclaimed in happiness, Mercury’s face broke into a grin. He was regaining color in his cheeks and already looked as if his body was healing from the inside. She laughed when he pointed out that it was just a harmless rock now, but it was a laugh of joy. Ignoring his attempt to play it down, she impulsively hugged him tightly, tears pricking her eyes.

“We did it,” she whispered. “We fixed you. I’m so happy for you! Now you don’t ever have to worry about turning into something you’re not anymore.”

She let him go after a moment and wiped the tears away, hoping he didn’t find her rare burst of emotion as too awkward. She just didn’t remember feeling this ecstatic in a long time.

Ryo caught her sudden hug and returned it. For the first time in a long while, he felt human again. His past was finally erased and no longer affected him. There would be no more worrying about being used against his will, or hurting people accidentally. He was free.

"We should...probably go back with the stone now," Ryo said after she let go.  He politely didn't mention Mercury's tears, though it was comforting to know he wasn't the only one who had cried today. 

"I can take you both back to the Crystal Palace directly," Helios offered. "You're on a time limit, correct?"

---

Sailor Mercury and Ryo arrived back in Crystal Tokyo much faster than they had left it, with the Golden Celestite in tow. Neo Queen Serenity had kept her word and started to gather the other reincarnated youma together while they were gone, and with the stone's powers, the five affected people, and one cat, were also purified and healed ver the next few days. 

To make sure that there were no extra effects to worry about, Ryo stayed in the palace a little longer at Mercury's request. Without the stress of trying to save everyone's lives, Ryo now had time to think about exactly what had happened by the lake as he sat in Mercury's lab once again. Just how deep did his own feelings for Ami run? Or was he simply harboring an age long crush that would disintegrate after enough time? And what was Ami's reasoning behind almost dying for him like that?

When everyone was finally taken care of and the crisis averted, Ami felt much better. Finally she could stop feeling worried for everyone and think about less life-threatening thoughts. The Golden Celestite had been returned to Elysion as promised, and all seven rainbow crystal carriers managed to survive, to resume their old ordinary lives.

Ami had been worried that Ryo would immediately leave after that and they would resume their centuries long radio silence. After everything that happened, she really didn’t want to part with him so quickly. She did like to be thorough, though, so she had requested him to have another full check-up to make sure there really was no other lingering effects this time and that the crystal had worked perfectly. The last thing he needed was more unpleasant surprises.

There were a lot of tests. But there were only so many Ami could run before she eventually ran out of them and had to admit that he was perfectly fine. So today she finished her last and figured she should stop subjecting Ryo to this. He probably had more important things to do with his time. After all, he had his own life to live apart from her.

“So… I guess that’s the last of it,” Ami announced, putting away the equipment and dusting her hands. She wished she didn’t have to say goodbye to him. Why was it so hard all of a sudden? It wasn’t like this in the past. “All the results came back clean. You’re perfectly healthy,” she concluded.

“I must have kept you around long enough, right? You probably need to get back to work or something…” she added awkwardly.

"Hm?" Ryo was jarred from his thoughts when Ami announced that she was done testing him. He slid off the examining table and landed on his feet, straightening his clothes. After the third body scan and blood test, he was starting to wonder exactly what she was looking for, though he didn't really mind all of it. He probably didn't have to go to the doctor for the next three years after today. "That's a relief..." he said, stretching his arms. 

"You're right, I probably should go back..." Ryo said, looking at his shoes. "But...they gave me the whole week off after I requested a sick day, so I'm not in much of a rush." He must have really looked terrible this month if they thought he needed that much time off. Usually, he would have just come in anyway, but this time he didn't want to. 

"I just... that moment in Elysion..." he struggled to say. He couldn't leave without figuring out exactly what was going on there. He'd drive himself insane thinking about it. Ryo looked up again, steeling himself to finally stop going around the issue that he'd been struggling with since middle school. If Ami was willing to die for him, he could talk about his own feelings. 

"What did that mean to you? Because it- it meant a lot to me..."  he blushed, but refused to backtrack. "It took me a while to realize it, but the reason why I never thought much about relationships was because I..." How did he even start? "I've sort of...I really like you, Ami, for the longest while now." 

Ryo finally looked away, torn between embarrassment and shame in himself. "I'm sorry for not having the courage to say anything earlier..."

A whole week off?

Ami suddenly found herself brightening at this prospect. But then she felt silly, because that didn’t necessarily mean he’d hang out with her for a whole week. He must have… other friends.

She realized she knew next to nothing about his life and promptly felt terrible.

When he suddenly started speaking again about what happened in Elysion, Ami’s full attention returned to their conversation. What did it mean to her? She had no idea. She’d been too preoccupied to think about it, although certainly her feelings were trying to tell her something from the way they kept guiding her actions toward strange choices…

And then he said that it meant a lot to him, and she could feel her heart beating more quickly. When he finally admitted that she was the reason he’d never thought about relationships, and that he liked her, had always liked her, Ami felt her skin warming up.

Her mind was going a mile a minute. Was this actually happening? Back in her school days, whenever she got a love letter, she would actually physically get a reaction. A rather unpleasant one, at that; a rash.

But now none of that was happening. In fact, she just felt… happy. And hopeful.

Terribly embarrassed and with no idea how to put all that feeling into words, but still happy.

“Ryo… I… I had no idea what I was feeling, to be honest. I guess I’ve always just… suppressed it subconsciously. Seeing you again certainly… brought something back to the surface, and when I thought you were going to die…” she swallowed, forcing herself to be brave. “I just knew that I couldn’t let it happen. So yes, it meant a lot to me too.”

She managed a small laugh. “I guess my heart knew what I felt before my brain does. For someone supposedly smart… I’m really not any good when it comes to these things. You might have noticed.”

She took a deep breath. “What I’m trying to say is with all these jumbled words… I guess… I’ve always liked you, too.”

She didn’t dare look at him either, and in her very long life, this had certainly been one of the most challenging moments.

Ryo looked up again as Ami started to answer him. He had half expected a rejection on the spot, but this was going in a different direction. So there was something between them that wasn't just one sided. And she hadn't even noticed what was going on. It seemed that neither of them were very good at this. When she returned his feelings, some of the tension slipped out of him, replacing itself with relief and excitement. She had always liked him? It was funny how a life or death situation was the one thing that got them to say what they had been feeling for years. 

He laughed nervously. "And all this time, I thought it was just me..." he said, unable to keep the smile off his face. "Um...well since I have the week off, would you like to...try something out together? Like maybe a date?" Ryo asked. The words felt foreign on his tongue, and he wasn't sure if he was being too forward or not. "I mean, you don't have to. If you're busy, I understand..."

“Took us only a few centuries to get it together, huh?” Ami said with an embarrassed laugh. Oh, her friends would never let her hear the end of this, and especially not Minako. Ami suspected she’d point out the fact that she’d known they liked each other since school and she’d probably get a stern talking-to about shoving aside romance and not paying enough attention to her heart. Not like she hadn’t given that speech enough times already. Minako had finally given up trying to set her up on dates about a century ago.

And now Ryo was asking her on one. Ami blushed, but she smiled in barely suppressed happiness. “I think I’d like that very much,” she said honestly. “I think I could carve some time out of my schedule. Oh! There’s so much I want to show you! The things I’ve managed to invent, my work with curing deadly diseases, research on the most advanced technology, I can’t wait to pick your brain!” He was the other smartest student at school, after all. But then she realized she’d made the date sound just about as unromantic as it could be and blushed again.

“I… I mean… we could also do dinner and a movie. Or something like that, if you prefer. I mean, I enjoy those things too, totally.”

"Ami..." He took her hand in his. "I'm happy doing whatever you want to do as a date," Ryo said. "Don't worry about throwing me off, okay?" He was actually very interested in what she did. The thought of getting to work on anything with her was a nice one. It wasn't like he had no passion for his own job, and Ami would not be herself if she didn't care about what she did. Unconsciously, he moved closer to her. 

"Besides, we can always go out for dinner later, right?" he asked, lowering his voice slightly. He was caught up in her eyes now, and his thoughts trailed off. Were they always that blue? They were just like the lake in Elysion... Somehow even closer together now than they were less than a minute ago, Ryo leaned in to kiss her.

She stopped talking when he took her hand, and realized that although she still felt nervous, she was definitely not having averse reactions to being this close to a boy like she normally did. In fact, something about it felt… comfortable. Easy. Just right. “That’s good to hear, because I really am not as, um… experienced in this department,” she said shyly.

“Dinner later sounds good,” she was saying distractedly, since his face had come really close and her brain had effectively stopped working. It was weird; she didn’t recall kissing someone in a very long time, if ever, and now it was as if she was moving automatically, as if her brain had gone on auto-pilot and left her in the backseat while her body proceeded on its own. Was this the result of all those romantic movies Minako kept insisting she watch for ‘romance lessons’? She’d certainly seen enough people kiss to know how it was done, but she hadn’t exactly…

And then she tilted her head the opposite direction, and suddenly their lips met, and she stopped thinking altogether. It was so different than what she expected, but… better different. It felt like her feet had left the ground, as impossible as it sounded. For a moment she truly shut down everything and just existed in the moment, not quite believing this was happening but so very happy at the same time, and—

“Ami-chan? I need some help with the—whoooa! I’m so sorry!”

Ami sprung backwards like an electrocuted gazelle, her eyes widening as she turned to the door and saw Neo Queen Serenity there. Serenity had closed her eyes with her hands, then she moved said hands to her mouth, and back again.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t see anything! I will come back later!”

Ami froze, completely mimicking the state of a deer in the headlights.

Serenity scurried away, quickly closing the door behind her.

Silence descended back in the room, and Ami stood there for a long time, still with her mouth slightly open, staring at the place where Serenity had been.

This was quite possibly the moment her brain short-circuited and fried.

When she finally blinked and looked back at Ryo, her face grew extremely warm. “I’m… sorry. Not about the… I mean… uh… Serenity.”

And then, she couldn’t really explain it, but she just started laughing, and couldn’t stop for a long time. The whole thing just felt so outrageous and silly and amazing all at once.

“You should know that if you want to be in my life, you’ll likely be getting a whole entourage of senshi. And they can be… really nosy. In a very good way, but still,” she added with a giggle. “Do you still want to ask me out?”

Ryo's eyes fell closed as they kissed, tuning the rest of the room out to concentrate on the moment. He wasn't very skilled about how to kiss, so he wouldn't have known if it was terrible or not by comparison, but he certainly enjoyed it.  One of his hands moved to steady her, and then the sound of a door opening caught his attention. Hearing the Queen's exclamation definitely startled him though. Ami jumped away, and so did he. If her weren't just as embarrassed at being caught like that, he would have found Serenity's reaction funny. 

"Er, no, it's fine..." Ryo said, rubbing the back of his head. He laughed with her despite the blush on his cheeks, happy that she wasn't turned off from the interruption. "Of course I do, I won't give up that easily!" he said. Not after everything they just went through. 

 "I can handle them." He suddenly paled at the thought of what she meant by nosy. "Okay, maybe not by myself, but I can try." Well, he'd probably suffocate under questions and scrutiny, but that was worth it to him if he was with Ami.

Ami was pleasantly surprised when Ryo exclaimed confidently that he wasn’t going to give up that easily. She smiled, her heart swelling up with joy. She’d never had someone willing to fight for her before outside of her friends, and it felt really good.

She giggled when he seemed to momentarily blanch at the idea that the girls would be all up in his business, but she entwined her arm with his casually. Now it felt much easier, somehow, to be doing these things. “Don’t worry, Endymion will give you a quick lesson on how to handle them. They’re harmless, really, now that you’re only human.”

She grinned and started pulling him out of the lab. “Now, let’s see what poor Serenity needs me for, and then maybe we can try this whole date thing.” She walked toward the door, ready and excited to start a whole new chapter in her very long life.