Lost and Found: Chapter 1
Trinity Angel
Rated M

Lost in the cracks of the landslide
You saw me slipping on my blind side

Lost. Lately Minako was feeling lost.

Painting would help. She needed to paint these white walls. Well ivory walls if she was being honest. She'd have never left her walls white. White was too stark, too old, too…familiar? Mina paused as she was brushing her long blonde hair. Where the hell had that come from? Lately, she wasn't sure who was in control of her mind, which was discomforting considering she prided herself on her control. But these thoughts…these memories…they weren't her own. Or were they?

The brush again stopped half way through her tresses, her muscles frozen still, all of her focus going toward the chasing of little white rabbits before they disappeared down their mysterious rabbit holes. If only she could follow…if only she could…what…remember? Remember what? It felt lately that there was something just outside of her reach, something lingering in her peripheral vision fading every time she turned her head to capture the image. Like the pieces just didn't fit the way they should...

What was oddest of all was that she had absolutely no reason to be feeling this way. Her life was finally exactly what she'd dreamed of. Her hands fell from their frozen position, the muscles aching in that familiar way.

Finally, something familiar.

With a sigh, she pinched the bridge of her nose hoping to stave off the headache that was looming. She should be ecstatic: a gorgeous (if she did say so herself, and she did) example of an independent working woman, college graduate in communications, still in her twenties and working an amazing job as a PR representative for the same hospital Ami and Mamoru worked for, youma attacks were practically nonexistent, and maybe most importantly of all, she was in love. The Senshi of Love and Beauty was finally due her comeuppance.

Finally.

Her fiancé, Saito was exactly what she needed. Lively and gregarious, they were two peas in a pod. Half American, he'd grown up in Hawaii and eventually moved to Japan with his family and they'd met in university at a party. All of her friends like him except, Rei, but really, even she couldn't find anything specific as to why she didn't like him. And really, it was Rei. The point was, Saito understood her need to be out and about and besides the occasional fight for the spotlight, and his inability to know when to stop drinking at a party, and his riding her for always being late, and his complete and utter allergy to cats, they couldn't have been more compatible but...

Maybe that was the biggest problem. There shouldn't have been a but, it didn't take her being the Senshi of Love to know that. Love was easy, even when it was hard, it was easy. Not that she'd ever been in love other than with Saito… Assuming she was in love with Saito. They were getting married next month, so why did it feel so wrong? Just earlier this week she'd asked him for a break, something was wrong with her and she knew she needed to find out what before they got married.

Minako knew she should be content, pleased, utterly besotted with where she was, so why did she feel like something was missing? Like she was…half of who she should be. In a moment of rage she threw her hair brush across the room and let out an irritated cry that sounded more wounded than it did angry.

What the hell was going on?

Jumping at the sound of her cell phone buzzing, Mina glanced at the screen and felt her stomach drop at the image of her and Saito that always came up when he called. But why this strange reaction?

She reached for her phone, only to hesitate, her hand drawn to the ring on her left hand. It was really stupid big, but she liked stupid big. Right? Right. Go big or go home. So why was she so annoyed by it all of a sudden? Taking it off, she put it in the top drawer of her vanity and closed it firmly. Odd how she felt a little more calm for it.

The phone rang again and she was about to tell Saito exactly what she thought about him calling back to back like this if it wasn't an emergency.

"What?" Her tone was sharp, abrupt.

"Who pissed in your fucking cereal this morning?" Rei's response was just as scathing.

"Shit. Sorry. Thought you were someone else."

"Who would you be greeting like that? Wow."

"Ah...nothing." Mina felt sheepish. Was she really that mad at Saito? "I have a headache and Saito is getting on my nerves. I don't even know why."

"Another one?"

"Yeah. You'd think I was trying to avoid sex or something."

"Uh, too much information."

"Whatever. You know you wanted to know. God knows I get way too much intel about you and Junichi." They laughed and the pain in her head receded the slightest bit.

"So…Saito…Lover's spat? Kind of untimely don't you think? Upcoming nuptials and all. As in next month."

"Yeah, yeah." Mina waved her hand in the air and let out a sigh that sounded more exhausted than anything. She really should at least tell her friends that she was on a break with her fiancé, but for some stupid reason, it made her feel like a complete and totally failure.

"Don't sound so excited."

"You ever feel like you're about to do something wrong? You know, like that moment you're about to kiss a guy in the club, and you know it's a poor piss idea,-"

"Piss poor." Rei corrected flatly.

"Whatever," Mina plowed on, knowing in her heart she was on to something. "You know it's the dumbest idea that you can do, and you have this split second of clarity. This one moment, one moment, to decide whether or not to do it. Like, you can go all in and know there are going to be consequences, and they are going to suck, but then you couldn't…You could just not. And maybe not is so much more worth it because…because there is something…something…else. Someone… "Mina's words trailed off her mind still reaching for something that she just…just couldn't reach. "Ouch!" Her head pounded sharply in protest. It was so excruciating that it took her a few seconds to catch her breath.

"Mina…are you alright?" Mina's thought screeched to a halt at the concern in Rei's voice. Her instinct went into high alert as if there was a threat looming. Something wasn't right. That was not the response she was expecting: sarcasm, some obnoxious response about blonde's thinking, hell even laughter she expected, concern, she did not.

The silence stretched into a craggy chasm.

"Rei, what's going on?" The tone of the best friend was replaced by the tone of the leader; it brokered no room for nothing but the absolute truth.

"Mina it's probably no—"

"No you don't, Rei. No you fucking don't. Don't you start backpedaling."

"I'm not!"

"I've know you for nearly fifteen years, pretty sure I know when you're trying to bullshit me. Like now. Fess. Up."

"I am not bullshitting you. Listen I have to go. I'll call you back."

"Rei. No! NO!" The dial tone was the only witness to her final desolate confession.

"I think I'm losing my mind." Lost, Minako felt so damn lost.

A sharp pain stabbed through her forehead like someone was taking an ice pick to her frontal lobe. It was so sudden she let out a yelp of pain and pinched the bridge of her nose. Sniffing, she wiped at her nose and was startled to see blood on her fingertips.

Snatching tissues from her vanity, she plugged her nose trying to staunch the bleeding, shooting an irritated glare at her phone that had the nerve to ping with an incoming text.

Rei Hino: Meet us temple. Asap. DO NOT DRIVE.
Me: What the hell?
Rei Hino: asap.

Rolling her eyes, Mina glared at her phone for a moment, before checking to see if her nose bleed had stopped. Fine, but ASAP her ass. She'd spent too much of her younger years trying to get blood stains out of clothing. They could wait.