[Rei slowly nods, letting her hands fall off and ball up, fighting to keep herself from crying. She does understand where he's coming from, she really does...]

I understand what you mean. You...really don't have to worry about it though. You've never, ever once disappointed me on anything. That's really...I'm not sure you could, unless you became a completely different person.

[His question though, pushes all of that out of her head and she brushes the hem of her shirt self-consciously. She wouldn't ordinarily share something like this but he needed the encouragement. And really, why hide it, after it was already there.]

I grew up alone. My only friends...before Cerealia? They were people like me. The other planetary guardians, more goddesses. People I was fated to meet. I...never made a friend on my own. Ever. Not till I came here, and you were the first person who ever called me that.

[Sniffing, she finally lets herself look at him.]

You're the first person to want to get to know me as a person, and not as a soldier. Or some...I don't know...set piece. Most people just want me to stand on their arm, like a doll. Or they want to use me for power, or they're afraid of me. None of them took the time to get to know me, before you.