Dec. 27th. Tracking Down the Danger (Nate, Rei)

[Hino Rei]

After the fight that morning Rei had needed to be out of the palace. She'd gotten her appointments taken care of, donned some civilian clothing and had disappeared into the city beyond. Her mind was whirling and heart sour and she though her anger still boiled inside of her the woman couldn't bring herself to go to her friends with it. Already Makoto had seen too much of her upset; the woman had her own problems...

Swallowing the feeling of hypocrisy from not immediately bringing the problem of the Shitennou to their attention, Rei Hino sat at the back of a Starbucks and sipped her coffee. In front of her was the small laptop that she'd reluctantly bought during college. As much as she and the damned thing (Otherwise known as "poko," though she admitted to no one that she'd named it) fought Rei had actually begun to develop a small amount of liking for the technological device. It had its uses, at the very least, and she was giving it a good run now.

The woman sighed to herself and picked her cell phone back up as she finally found the number she'd been looking for. It had taken her three hours, but she finally thought she'd tracked him down. One more phone call would be all she needed to confirm...

An hour later by bus station and the incognito Priestess was standing outside the lofty, fifty-story condo complex in the "ritzy" residential district of Tokyo. Her nose wrinkled just faintly at the sight of the place. It stunk of wealth and American-sized apartments--in other words, a huge space waster. Already Rei was a little annoyed at the extravagant scale to which the Palace had been built, seeing this in the middle of her space-deprived country...

The woman shook her head and crossed the street when the traffic light turned. She'd known what to expect when she'd found out what it was that Nathaniel Bernhardt did for a living and how... popular he was. It had been well worth the small shopping trip and subsequent quick-change in the mall bathroom.

There was a doorman out front who opened the door for her without the slightest pause. Rei smirked faintly to herself at that; dressing for "success" worked, no matter what country you were in. She'd gone out of her way to look so official that no one would question her, and so she walked unchallenged over to the elevators as if she had ever right to be there.

With a ding the doors opened and she went alone into the box. The doors closed after she pressed the button for the approrpiate floor. At least this elevator had good, classical music rather than some of the cheap "original compositions" many of these types of places tried to use.

The entire elevator box was floor to ceiling mirrors, though thankfully with a carpeted floor. Rei took a moment to inspect herself where others couldn't see. She adjusted the hem of the short black skirt she was wearing and unbuttoned the top button of the smart grey and black blouse she'd thrown over a black tank top. Her hair was still wound into a neat bun, lilly-deco hair pin still stuck neatly into the dark twist. The dark hose covering her legs were perfectly straightened and lead down into the tall black pumps that she'd had no issue spending a little extra cash on. That was the one shopping fetish Rei really allowed herself, even though she blushed faintly when she thought of the total on her receipt.

When the elevator stopped and the doors open, Rei adjusted her purse to more firmly tuck beneath her arm and strode out into the hallway beyond. And there was his door. Rei hoped the information she'd gotten out of his press coordinator had been right and stopped before it, pressing one perfectly manicured nail to the doorbell.

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

Twenty five...twenty six...twenty

Nathaniel's arms stopped in mid-pump as the sound of his doorbell echoed throughout the apartment, sounding even over the rock music that was playing rather loudly. Why the hell was his doorbell ringing?

Reholstering the bench press weights, the tall American levered himself up and grabbed a towel, wiping off his sweat as he stalked towards the door with a scowl like a thunderhead sitting on his face.
There had better be a good goddamn reason that he was being bothered on a day off.

There were very few things that he hated more than being bothered when he was actually trying to do something sensible. In the modeling world that was almost entirely unheard, so before people had just learned to accept his penchant for solitary jaunts, he had been constantly bombarded by people who "just wanted to hang out." That had ended really quickly when those people had started getting tossed out on their Dolce & Gabbana clad asses.

So chances were that it was either James, his agent (who had a habit of calling just before he rang the doorbell), or some psycho fan who had just discovered his newest residence. Japan should be far enough out of their reach, but could it last forever?

The stereo was cranked down as he stalked past it, and the towel slung around his neck. Taking a deep breath to focus, so that he didn't just scream at whoever it was in the hallway (he did try to control his temper at times), Nathaniel curled one strong hand around the doorknob and pulled the door open as far as it would go with the chain lock still engaged. It took him a second to register just who was standing there.

The priestess looked completely different from the first time he'd met her, like an actual normal woman. The fiery energy roiling around her though could not be denied, nor could those piercing violet eyes. However, this failed to leave Nathaniel a happy camper.

"What the hell do you want and how the fuck did you find out where I lived," the words were growled out in what could be considered the world's least cordial greeting ever.

[Hino Rei]

At least he turned down that horrible noise Americans liked to call "music." Rei lifted her chin a little higher just as the door was jerked open a few inches and a bear growled at her from inside. Rather than act frightened, because she wasn't the woman simply offered him the smallest of smiles. "When I want to find someone, I find them."

That was the best explanation he was liable to get at this point. Sure, she could have outlined for him the entire web of people she'd gone through in order to track him down... but why should she? Adjusting her purse, Rei's eyes never strayed from the half-shadowed man in the sliver of open door. "You asked me for my help with your dreams."

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

"So you do house calls now?"

Blue eyes narrowed as he continued to stare down at the small woman who filled up the hallway so expertly with her presence. Her composure was unflappable which in and of itself was fairly impressive given how he'd answered the door. The fact that the woman had found him at all was another point in her favor.

He certainly didn't want to deal with this pretentious little twat's temper again, but she had come to him this time, and offered. And after that impromptu meeting with Makoto the other night, well, any clarity that she could help him achieve would be helpful. Fighting with himself the entire time and a headache growing once more behind his left eye, Nathaniel made his decision.

"Hold on a second," he half-growled as the door was shut once more and the lock disengaged. Opening it once more, Nathaniel waved the priestess into his spacious and surprisingly neat apartment, closing the door once more behind her and relocking it.

The living space was huge and open with a kitchen off to the right, a well stocked bar further back and to the left, and the entire rear wall nothing but windows with several different styles of telescopes set up along them. The apartment continued on even after that, but it was cut off from view by an artistically curving wall.

"So what changed your mind, huh?" Nathaniel kept his voice carefully neutral, hands clasped on the towel around his neck as he stood behind her half-naked and looking like he just stepped out of a sports ad.

[Hino Rei]

Rei waited as the door was unlocked and then strode into the apartment as soon as she was invited. A lesser woman might have at least twitched when the door was locked behind her, yet Rei seemed to take little notice of it. Instead she walked straight into the living space with an eye to the telescopes. Pausing by them, the Priestess looked them over without touching a thing. "I'd always intended to help you. Your little... episode... in the palace made me reconsider, that's true enough. I don't believe that you knew what you were doing, however."

The priestess turned to face him (she was strangely proud of herself for not blushing at the sight of his half-naked body) and considered the man before. "You sounded as if you honestly wanted and needed help. And, I have to admit, your problem interests me. I chose to come to you because security isn't likely to allow you in the palace again."

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

Both auburn eyebrows rose to somewhere in the vicinity of Nathaniel's actual hairline as he listened to the woman talk. Everything she said was perfectly polite, but he couldn't shake the suspicion that she was talking down to him. Maybe he was just irritated at having his day and his thoughts interrupted.

He wasn't about to 'fess up to impulsive behavior in front of this self-possessed female and just to satisfy his own suspicious mind, Nathaniel pulled another psychic feel up of her aura, much as he had the first time they'd met. She wasn't lying, and her energy was different.

His eyebrows settled with only one raised, one side of his mouth quirking up as he pinpointed just what was different about her. "Okay, have a seat. We'll talk. You want something to drink?"

The question was dropped casually as he waved at the couch, inviting her to sit where she pleased. Leaning behind the bar, a small refrigerator was opened and two bottles of water pulled out. Walking back over to the priestess, Nathaniel proffered the bottle. "I never did actually catch your name. I know you know mine. You found me easily enough.

[Hino Rei]

Rei's eyes flashed a little as she caught his evaluation of her. Though her lips settled into a line she did not say anything of it this time, merely taking the offered seat on the nearby couch. Ankles crossed in a lady-like fashion, Rei put her purse on the nearby coffee table and her hands in her lap. "Thank you," Water actually would be good, though she'd not actually had time to answer his question. "Hino Rei," The woman gave a polite nod of greeting and leaned back slightly against the seat.

"It wasn't hard. You were still registered in the guest log book. Now. You said that you were having issues with dreams?"

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

Cracking open his own bottle, he drained half of it in one long swallow before settling down on the other end of the couch, half turned in an attractive slouch so that he could look at Rei as they spoke. The twist to his lips was rather self-depricating as she mentioned how easily she'd found his name. In his defense though, being tackled, arrested, and interrogated had a tendency to drive little details like that from one's mind.

Plastic crinkled softly as the bottle was rolled along the left side of his head, the coolness of it easing his growing headache just a bit. "It's a lot more than dreams, actually. I never got to tell you that part. I get really bad headaches whenever I try to focus on these things, and ever since I set foot in this city I've had a low grade headache almost constantly. You," he pointed with one finger, blue eyes spearing her, "made it worse. I felt like I should know you, which is why I followed you that day. Your friend, Kino Makoto, the one with the ponytail, she's even worse than you. I ran into her the other day and after she left, I could barely see. So I know I'm getting closer because my dreams are getting clearer since I first went to your shrine. What I really need help with is getting past this, this wall in my head. It's already changed, but it's still there. And everything I've tried so far has failed. Miserably."

Once he had made up his mind to tell her, everything came spilling out. It was probably more information than she wanted, but this was what Nathaniel had gone to the palace for that day. Having clammed up, he just sat there and stared at her, waiting for Rei's reaction and sizing her up once more.

[Hino Rei]

Makoto? Rei couldn't help the slight deepening of her frown. A return to, what was for her, "normal" subjects actually helped the woman to relax. She shifted until she was a little more comfortable upon the couch, half turned towards nate in order to watch him and one leg tucked underneath her. The bottle crackled a little as she popped it open and sipped of its contents. "Have you considered that this block is something which was meant to be there? That, perhaps, you'll be making a mistake in breaking it?"

The question was an honest enough one, curious really. A part of her felt guilty, somehow, for even thinking it--much less saying it aloud. Rather than wonder at that she brushed that, too, aside and concentrated upon the man before her.

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

Nathaniel made note of the little frown that creased Rei's lips at the mention of Makoto. That hadn't made the little spitfire happy at all. He filed that away for later and just stuck to business for the moment. The priestess was actually listening to him.

"Yes actually I have considered that. I've also considered that this is my mind and I have a right to know what's in here. I can't function very well on the astral plane when the majority of my energy is focused on this. It leaves me open to too much potential harm for me to not know parts of myself. I also want to know why whatever it is has been blocked from me."

[Hino Rei]

The priestess nodded; that made honest sense, she had to admit it. For a long moment the woman merely thought the problem. She knew, now, why it was that he felt so familiar. He had to be one of the Shitennou, just as Hiroki was... and she had a good guess as to which one.

"I can't argue with that," Rei said, finally, "I'll assume that you've tried meditation. Have you sought spiritual help with this before?"

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

"Yes."

That single word carried all of Nathaniel's frustration. "My old mentor did everything she could think of for me before she died, so if you can't do more than one old human woman Miss Magical Princess, then we should just call it quits now."

The model shoved himself up from the couch with a growl, stalking over to the window wall like a caged lion. Movement helped him to contain himself.

"Look, I don't want to fight with you. You can either help me or you can't, and I wish you would quit playing with me and tell me which one it is already."

Nathaniel continued to stare moodily out the windows, well muscled arms crossed over his bare chest as he waited.

[Hino Rei]

Rei tried not to snap at him. Here she was, attempting to help him, and the asshole---She closed her eyes. The priestess took a few deep breaths to control her temper, then replied evenly, "I need to know what you've already tried so that we don't just recross already covered ground."

That said, the woman turned in her seat to watch him. He certainly did have a temper on him, didn't he? That went in line with what her guess was. "Meditation is actually my suggestion... guided meditation. Possibly a little hypnosis and reading. There are things I can try but I can't promise results. Yours is the first case like this I've actually tried to treat."

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

Another of those heavy sides escaped the brooding man as he listened to the priestess' suggestion. He and Carol had already tried that, but that was Carol, not this spitfire warrior princess who actually kicked up his headaches.

Every instinct inside of him was screaming that he should do it. Who was he to deny that voice when it was so vehement? "Fine." Turning around once more, Nathaniel returned to the couch, easily vaulting over the back of it with one hand to land with a decent whump on his former cushion.

"We'll try it your way."

[Hino Rei]

Rei kicked her heels off and shifted a little on the couch to sit on her knees. This was the most comfortable position for her when it came to meditation. This wasn't something she would have ever considered doing years ago. College had broadened her horizons when it came to spiritual study and practices and she'd found that was quite good at astral projection, provided that she had the proper state of mind. She'd never yet tried it in unfamiliar company with a near stranger... or enemy.

The woman held her both her hands out, palms up and straightened her back. "over mine, not touching," she reminded him faintly--it wouldn't have made a difference to some, but Rei feared with actually touching him would do. She felt no desire to jump him, but there was the chance that they would be able to share thoughts. That hadn't happened often, and even then only with her grandfather... it hadn't been the worst way to tell him she was a Senshi, she supposed, but it wasn't how she would have chosen if she'd had the choice.

Rei waited until he'd positioned himself and then closed her eyes, beginning the slow meditative breathing that was second nature by now.