word count = 607

Rob gingerly lowered his aching body into the hot water that filled his bathtub. With a contented sigh, he eased himself down into the deep clawfoot tub in order to get his shoulders and neck as far below the water line as possible. The tips of his dreadlocks, knotted high into a ponytail, just dipped into the water. He wasn't interested so much in getting clean as he was in soaking his tired muscles from the beating he'd taken at the hands of Juno in their sparring match this evening (though clean was certainly a good thing to get, considering how sweaty and dirty he'd gotten in their brief fight).

That had been a lot of fun. A LOT of fun indeed. He was still getting used to the idea that he now had permission to get into as many fights as he wanted, and with the added speed and strength allotted him when he was powered up as Sailor Puck, he was able to put quite the beatdown on his opponents. Of course, given that they were most likely powered themselves, it kind of balanced itself out, as he'd learned under Juno's tender ministrations.

Man, that girl was something. Tall and lithely muscled like a big cat, she could definitely fight, although with her own style, which focused on using her long legs to her best advantage to kick and grapple. His style, of course, relied heavily on his fists and his head. It was interesting to experience the differences in how they fought. And good lord could she pack a punch when she wanted to. He decided he liked the idea of patrolling with her -- they each could add something to a battle that the other couldn't. And she was a lot of fun.

Actually, he mused, he liked the idea of patrolling with a partner in general. The newly-minted senshi still didn't know what the hell he was doing, and in truth he was too stubborn to ask for help. All he knew was he was supposed to go out at night and look for youma and Negaverse people and beat the crap out of them. Hell, he still didn't know what his magic attack did. He knew he'd find out eventually, when the situation arose and he had to use it, but it was still frustrating not to know.

But he didn't want to get frustrated while he was trying to relax and soak out his aches and pains. So he turned his thoughts back to Juno. He was really looking forward to getting together with her for drinks and a chitchat out of uniform. There were so many questions he had about her as a civilian, let alone as a senshi (but of course he couldn't ask those in public without running the risk of being found out and something bad happening to them). His mouth still tingled from the almighty fierce kiss she had planted there, and he reached a hand up to touch his lips. She had probably bruised him there as well, he thought with a wry grin. Did she mean anything by it? Probably not -- it had probably just been the heat of battle, adrenaline coursing through her veins. Oh well, he shrugged to himself, closing his eyes, regardless of whether she did mean anything by it or not he liked her. He hoped they would become friends at the very least.

When Rob opened his eyes again half an hour had passed and the bath water was lukewarm. "s**t." Dragging himself out of the tub, he dried off and hauled his exhausted carcass to bed.