Kunzite's a Creeper!!!

It is, perhaps, the first time in a month that Usagi's dreams aren't riddled with images that will haunt her waking hours. And though she won't know the specifics, she will remember it was a wonderful dream, and that for the first time in awhile, she remembers what warmth feels like.

None of this is what brings her waking, of course. There's a sudden feeling of...grime trying to seep in her skin, reacting to the purity of her own magic that, if left unchecked for too long, will likely see her over a toilet.

When she's finally pulled awake enough to realize she's in the present, she lifts the cape a little, staring at it with confused eyes.

How did it get from the dream to here?

The more she wakes up, the more she realizes.

This isn't the same cape.

It wasn't, technically, the same man who draped it over her.

And now she's awake enough to realize the implications of that, and she opens her mouth.

And screams.

So far, this experience of being on the side of the *good guys* has involved a lot of lounging around in PJs and eating ice cream. Jadeite's actually kind of *liked* it, given that life in the Dark Kingdom never did much allow for things like creature comforts. He hasn't relaxed completely, but he's relaxed *some*. It's been *something*.

And then there's the sound of Usagi *screaming* from the master bedroom of the apartment and *relaxed* is something of the ancient past.

Jadeite doesn't teleport in. Instead, he comes in through the door like he's come within milimeters of actually busting the door down entirely. He's not dressed in his PJs. Instead, he's in some kind of *uniform*, not his Dark Kingdom uniform at all, but something that might be familiar to Usagi in a very distant, itchy-brain sort of way, one in a soft, warm grey with green trim and its own billowing cape, lined in burgundy. His expression is wide-eyed with fear and worry.

He takes all of three seconds to evaluate the situation, and then that fear and worry is becoming significantly more *shock*. Jadeite lifts one hand and ice spirals out from his palm towards Usagi. For a heartbeat, it may actually look like this was planned, and that her Escalation meant nothing to his intentions.

Except--the ice surrounds the cape and nothing else, encasing it completely so that it can no longer touch her. The next thing Jadeite does is step in and try to physically pick the thing up. "...are you hurt?"

Fortunately for Jadeite, she's still half in her dream. Not as far as she would have been had she woken on her own terms (thanks, Kunzite, you jerk, but not really), but that uniform has her partially still back there. And for a second, she's confused.

She does jump at the blast of ice, feels a moment of fear, but that's as far as it goes.

"Endymion was showing me puppies. I've never seen puppies before."

And she blinks, and the last traces of Serenity fall back into that hole in her chest, and she looks up at Jadeite for a moment, eyes wide.

For a moment, it may look like she's terrified of him. In reality, she's terrified for him.

She goes over places in her mind, where's safe?

"He was here. I thought -- they shouldn't look here. They have who they want. Why?"

If she were more awake, she'd be able to plan faster. But she's not, poor Jadeite.

"They don't have what they want. They have part of it, but they don't have all of it, and to be perfectly honest, until you and your ... well, until all of you, all of *us* have been destroyed utterly, I would not expect *her* to be satisfied." Jadeite doesn't react to that fear at all. Instead, as soon as the cape's been regulated to a far corner of the room, he's offering his hand as if to help Usagi out of the bed. "This was a warning. This was Kunzite's way of telling us that he knows where this place is. We have to move. If he's sending warnings still, she hasn't rewritten him again yet. That won't last."

He's being warm and understanding, but Jadeite is also trying to get Usagi *moving*, trying to herd her into getting dressed and ready to go with a sort of distant familiarity to it, like some part of him is used to gently steering royals in the right direction. "Where can we go? This place is not safe. The Shrine is not safe. The Arcade is not safe. School is not safe. I don't know of any other options."

It's an automatic sort of thing, where she takes his hand and gets her butt in gear.

She does take a moment to be a complete and total girl as she realizes her hair is down and free of odangos, and the only boy outside of family who's seen it was Mamo-chan. So her cheeks are scarlet as she puts them up, ignoring any complaints that may come.

"Well, she's not going to destroy any of us. I won't let her." It's the determination that's born from her very core, from a power she hasn't quite yet realized. But she knows, she will do everything in her power to make this promise come true, even if it kills her in the process.

She stares around for a moment, taking in the room. She spots Mamoru's Kendo bag, dumps out the contents, and starts stuffing his clothes in there. Especially the rest of his space shirts. For some reason, she's still determined to keep them safe. The other clothes are, of course, for Jadeite, because she doesn't think he'd like to walk around in skirts several sizes too small.

She tosses the bag on the bed and picks up the box she'd set there and the picture frame and turns to Jadeite, putting them in his hands. "Can you carry these? I don't want them scratched."

(If he looks at the picture, it's the only one she has where Mamoru is smiling that smile, small and soft and just for her.)

She's thinking, of course, as she packs. Blankets. His, anyway, hers can stay here. And his pillows. Then she pauses and stares out the window for a moment before turning to him.

"We have a bed in the attic." Her eyes grow worried, afraid she'll make them sad. "Do...do you promise? That there's no chance...that they'll be safe? If it was just me, I'd...they're my family."

Jadeite doesn't complain. He just takes a step back when Usagi is actually out of the bed. His image shimmers, and abruptly he isn't *in* that elaborate uniform with billowing cape. He's dressed in street clothes, dark skinny jeans and a white dress shirt that's been layered with a pullover cardigen in blue with *aggresively bright* (but thankfully thin) salmon stripes. When Usagi looks like she might be about to change *clothes*, he very politely turns his back and tries not to blush.

He doesn't turn back around until Usagi is handing him things to carry. He nods solemnly, taking the pictures with diligent care. He does look at them, and the pictures make him smile, although there's a sadness to Jadeite's expression. "We should take that cape, in a bag, also. The ice will last until I dismiss it, but we should take it to Mars and have it purified, or to Mercury to be analysed, or destroy it. It cannot just stay here."

The question draws a longer, sadder look from Jadeite, and he shakes his head. "I don't know. I have no idea if my presence will endanger them more than they're already endangered. What I can promise is that I will protect them with my life, if it comes to it. That's the best I can offer."

She doesn't get dressed, of course, not out in the open in front of a boy! It's just her hair she was worried about. However, she will at least go into the bathroom to slip into her own street clothes.

She looks over at the iced cape as he suggests taking it somewhere and she shudders. "Mercury's...busy. I think. But Mars may be available."

She shivers again.

And she's sad she's made him sad. But then she's smiling, large and bright, as though he'd just offered her everything. "Really? You'd do that?"

Jadeite finds himself in a sudden, warm, happy, fluffy hug, because while his best may not seem like much to him, it's everything to her. "Thank you. I just...thank you!" And she pulls back and she's still got her arms around his waist, and she's still smiling. "And it won't be with your life, I promise, I've learned civilians tend to get ignored if you lead the danger away so just do that and just grah!" She's hugging him again!

And then she's pulling back. "Okay, I'm going to get dressed in the bathroom. If you want to get a back, Mamo-chan keeps the trashbags under the sink, or if you want something more sturdy, he keeps those reusable bags in the cupboard by the fridge but if you can't find it I'll get one I get dressed really fast--" And she's in the bathroom, where the clothes she'd barely wore before bed still are.