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"I said three" -- came the aggravatingly calm voice, from somewhere above. "You ran to four."

Not the best of times, Leo. But he'd run out of garbage can and, considering he was the only one of the three that could see his nose in front of his face, he figured he ought to put out an effort. There was Sagittarius down there, blind, and Magellan -- whoever she was -- who couldn't do anything to defend themselves except rely on his directions.

A high-pitched voice, certainly not belonging to Jude, snapped, "Well where is it now?"

Leaping from the building, eyes on the youma, Leo landed on the ground next to it with his palm flat against the pavement. It would have almost been a cool move if, you know, anyone else had been able to see it - and his butt bow hadn't fluttered behind him like a little girl's toy ribbons.

In the next instant, the jungle sprang to life, and he muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

He didn't like the jungle. He was pretty sure it didn't like him, either.

The light was beginning to fade around him, making him less of a blinding distraction and more of a beacon, whoops. He ducked behind a tree, having lost the youma the moment the jungle overtook the city, and muttered, "Thank you, Sagittarius."

From somewhere to his left, the same annoyed female voice demanded, "What the hell?"

Emerging close to Sagittarius, Leo adjusted his hat with calm, precise motions, the tiara from before still securely hooked in his shawl. "No, I yelled it correctly. You just didn't follow directions."

After a beat, he glanced around, brow furrowed. Leo was arrogant and confident in ways Grayson was not, simply because he was Leo, and he was expected to be. More than that, they were in the midst of Sagittarius' jungle, a territory completely unfamiliar, and they'd lost the girl they were attempting to rescue.

There was a startled scream, and then an angry one followed shortly after.

"Come on!" Leo pushed off the ground, sprinting toward the noise. What he expected to do when he got there, well, was not exactly clear.

Magellan knew what she was doing, though. Trying desperately not to get her a** kicked as she searched for something to fight with in the godforsaken jungle.

Turning a corner, dirt spraying under her boots, she muttered, "Seriously, standing there having a shouting match, but noooo." The youma went for her.

She really, desperately wished her arm wasn't still in a cast.

Something caught the edge of her skirt, disrupted her steps and caused her to stumble over a root and fall on her face. She rolled onto her back, heart leaping when the youma loomed over her, and ripped her powder puffs from her hair so hard that she might have actually dislodged some of her hair in the process.

"Powder Puff!" And just like that, some girlish, sparkling powder was infiltrating Sagittarius' jungle. Taking advantage of the youma not being able to breathe particularly well, Dani kicked out, aiming both her feet at its chest, and sent it flying back.

Not incredibly damaging, but it kept the thing from eating her face off. So where the hell were her saviors, anyway?! Not that she needed the help, but seriously.

Leo was tired of nearly choking when Sagittarius grabbed at him. His uniform was fancy and full of sashes, scarves and buttons, okay, but that didn't mean it was all right to just grab wherever he wanted to. There was a body under there, and when one article of clothing got yanked on, it tugged around quite a few more. It also didn't help that the area was suddenly full of powder, which was making it hard to see -- was this how people felt when he performed radiant light? -- and a little hard to breathe.

Grasping his shawl, he pulled it up over his mouth, coughing. Sagittarius' ego aside, they had more important things to worry about.

And then he mentioned tigers.

"You don't have tigers," Leo returned, sounding almost affronted at the very idea. Really, it would be too much for Sagittarius to have a jungle and tigers.

Something elbowed him, and he grunted, one hand going to his side as the girl they were supposed to be protecting sped by him, hell bent on getting to --

"Would you please stop arguing like such girls and help me kill this thing?"

Apparently, Magellan wasn't too concerned about her dogs.

Apparently, she was a lightweight, because seconds later her heel clipped Leo on the cheek, spinning his head like a vicious right hook, and she sailed past them.

"Mother of --" Head ringing, Leo staggered through the powder, listening now for sounds of the youma. Too bad it was difficult for him to discern if the thrashing was youma, Sagittarius, Magellan, or himself.

From behind them, Magellan said fiercely, "Try not to get killed while I save my dogs!" and then there she went, beating through the brush, no idea where she was going.

Except maybe east.

While Leo held his cheek and swung blindly at what he figured was the youma (but could have been Jude, maybe).

Luckily, Magellan was not in earshot anymore, or she would be thorough annoyed that they'd referred to her powder as "fairy dust." She was busily thrashing through the bushes calling for her dogs, who may not have recognized her anyway if she did find them.

If Leo was startled to find that he'd accidentally hit Sagittarius, he quickly forgot it in favor of being annoyed that he was, once again, being dragged around by his clothing. His eyes widened at the sight of the spike lodged in Sagittarius' shoulder, the blood blossoming over his uniform, but he didn't comment. Because he didn't have time.

They were out in the open again, and while Magellan was (presumably) off somewhere safe, they were very much free range.

Wheeling around, he was just in time to see the youma unhinge its jaw and spit. Without thinking, he shouldered Jude, diving after him with the intent for both of them to dodge the spikes. Unfortunately, one caught his cheek, slicing the skin in a neat, horrifying line before lodging in his hat.

And it hurt like a sonofabitch.

Grunting when he slammed on top of Sagittarius, Leo grabbed the closest thing to a weapon - a branch, likely snapped off by an earlier attack - and got to his feet again.

Sometimes, he really wished for an offensive attack. Namely, when he was rushing a youma with a stick.

Magellan was not impressed with what she saw.

She was covered in dirt, aching again from one too many falls, and her dogs had been no where to be found in that stupid jungle. They were now, however, dancing merrily around her heels, yipping at one another as though they hadn't just been running for their lives from a spike-spitting monster of doom. Her eyebrow twitched, teeth gritted against temper, as she watched the two senshi lean on one another, Leo's hand braced on Sagittarius' good shoulder, as they laughed themselves silly.

What was so funny, she had no idea.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. Temper, Magellan. Temper.

Opened them, and lost it anyway. "You guys are complete idiots."

Pointing, long gloves stained with dirt, she was highly irritated to find she was mostly ignored. "I have dusted youma before, I will have you know, and I could have helped you. Look, you're bleeding, and oh my god, you don't even care--"

Her voice faded into the background, Leo laughing so hard he might have been tearing up a bit at the edges of his vision. What had seemed so dire only moments before was now the subject of giddy relief as he pushed Sagittarius' hand away from his wound, helped him to his feet.

"You are insane," Leo said, shaking his head and wiping at his cheeks. He smeared blood, winced at the wound. "How is your shoulder? I have bandages at home," he added, still chuckling a bit.

From behind them, Magellan stomped her foot. "Hello, dumb and dumber. Are you going to bleed to death on the ground or what?"

While Magellan fumed behind them, Leo recognized that something was shifting between himself and Sagittarius. Rather than being driven further apart by their bickering during battle, the conclusion had brought them what he felt was closer. In retrospect, he felt silly for being jealous of Barnaby; while it might have been true that Jude was closer to him, shared more easily with him, they had an undeniable bond. And it wasn't just based on the Colts, though God bless them, a bond couldn't ask for a sturdier foundation.

No, it wasn't the Colts or the Zodiac that made Sagittarius grin at him. It was remembering something that he had done -- and he wasn't even insulted by the comment about his looks. He felt a comradery that hadn't existed before, and it made his heart swell. Aside from with Virgo, he'd never really felt like he belonged with any of the Zodiac.

Trusted them, yes. Was loyal to them, yes. Would die beside them - for them - of course. But belong? Only to Elke, his sister. Even Topher, whom he considered a friend, he didn't feel he really belonged with.

But standing there, connected by a shared victory, he felt like he and Sagittarius - no, he and Jude, could really be friends.

And then Jude leaned in, whispered, and Grayson's stomach flipped.

It startled him, not enough to have him jerk back, but still enough to make his pulse skip a moment. It was foreign and strange, but the moment passed quickly, leaving him confused. He blinked, a faint frown crossing his face, but luckily, that could be explained away by the comment about Hero and Magellan.

"Oh." He blinked again, craning his neck to look at Magellan.

What had that been?

"Oh," he said again, with more feeling. "She is cute."

That hadn't been the question. Had there been a question?

Thankfully, Magellan spared him the awkwardness of the moment by asking suspiciously, "Are you two going to hold onto each other all night, now?"

Okay. So spared wasn't the right word.

Still feeling a little off balance from whatever that reaction had been, Leo nodded and headed to the truck, digging around under the seat for the kit. He jammed his thumb into something and gasped, pulling it back out and sucking on it for a moment. His gaze slid to Magellan and Sagittarius, and he noted with a tiny amount of amusement that the girl was looking at him like he was perhaps Satan himself.

He caught bits of what she said, such as "-don't know me" and "-not from around here" but he didn't pay them too much mind. Whatever their conversation, it was between them. He had plenty of pondering to do when he got home, which inevitably meant he'd be sorting his thoughts out in his diary and then closing the book on them for good.

Because, really, he had a sneaking suspicion as to what that jolt had been.

And it was nothing good, as far as he was concerned.

Gripping the first aid kit, he turned, thumbing it open as he did. He opened his mouth to speak, but Magellan was still talking, and by the look of her, she wasn't the type of girl who took too kindly to being talked over the top of.

"No, seriously," she was saying, arms folded tightly under her chest, shooting Sagittarius suspicious looks. "I'm sure we haven't met. Tick, Tock, calm down." The dogs stopped, ears perked toward their owner, bodies vibrating. "And all you know me as is Sailor Magellan. Period."

Leo could understand wanting to keep your identity secret. He did, at all costs. He also knew that he and Jude could be trusted implicitly, but he didn't blame Magellan for being wary.

Holding up the kit, he asked, "Are you going to doctor your shoulder, or should I?"

They both knew he wasn't great at it, but he was passable. Magellan's eyes flicked to his, and he offered her a smile.

She scowled.

Well, she was cute when she wasn't angry, anyway. Not that he was interested (no, thank you, really) in any case, it was just a passing thought.

Ugh, who did this guy think he was? He was totally trying to stalk her or something in her civilian identity, and that was not cool. First she'd had to hensin in front of Ji-Yeon to save her, and now a couple of guys show up in the middle of the night and suddenly one of them wants to know all about her and write home to his parents about it? She was getting irritated.

Then, he was losing his shirt to be tended, and she turned away, cheeks a little pink. She was only fifteen, okay. She didn't need to be looking at half-naked guys, ugh.

(Even if she kind of wanted to. He didn't have a bad body.)

Unfortunately for Grayson, he was unable to look away from said body, mostly because he happened to be tending it. He didn't take offense to Jude wanting to do it himself, considering that just part of being Jude, but he did feel a little awkward considering... well, considering. Considering what he wasn't going to consider, really.

He was just going to dab this wound on his shoulder. And look just there. Except, was that --

He blinked, all awkwardness forgotten, as he demanded, "You got a 14-1 tattoo?"

Well, it was pretty obvious he had, hadn't he?

Man. That was devotion.

And also permanent.

Magellan finally gave up and stomped around them, helping her dogs into Jude's truck without invitation.