A/N: Written for the Senshi & Shitennou Mini Bang 2018. Many thanks to the wonderful smokingbomber for making the cover art! Huge, huge thanks to my betas, smokingbomber and minakosaino, who had to put up with chaos of had/has/have :D. Many hugs to those who are still waiting for updates on my other stories and to those who are still waiting for review replies. I'll get to them ... one of these days. *hides*
Replies to anonymous reviews can be found in the last chapter of this story. :)
Chapter 1
This was a bad idea.
Actually, scratch that. This was a horrible idea. The moment Ami Mizuno heard it, she should've put her foot down and said "no". Not to mention that it should've occurred to her what a terrible idea it was because it had come from none other than one Minako Aino. She really should've taken a leaf out of Rei's book and said "no" every time Minako opened her mouth.
She had no idea what had come over her for her to listen to the blonde. Seriously, if she hadn't known better, she would've thought that Minako had placed some kind of spell on her.
"You have to go, Ami-chan. It's your chance to show him what a fun and wild person you can be," Minako had said.
"But I'm not a wild person," Ami had argued.
Waving a perfectly manicured hand in the air, Minako had brushed off her words and countered her by saying, "The key is to let himbelieve you're a wild person. The only reason he'd been monitoring your every move is because he's certain that you're such a goody-goody two-shoes and would rat him out to the authorities when he uses his position to play favorites." She had pinched Ami's mouth to prevent her from explaining. "By showing him that you do, indeed, have a fun side, you'll stop his suspicions. If you want to rat him out once you get evidence that he's a scumbag, by all means. But in the meantime, let's just get him off your back first, yes?"
Rei had looked on with a bored look, though Ami was ninety-six point five three percent certain that she'd seen a look of amusement pass through those violet eyes.
"Amuse her," she'd advised Ami, "or else we'll all have to put up with her whining until after the party." She'd paused before adding, "And if it does work, at least there would be less of a chance of your supervisor catching you when we need you in battle."
Ami supposed that there was some merit to the plan if Rei was backing it up. However, everything afterwards was, in her opinion, a total disaster. When Minako had said "elves", Ami had thought of something along the lines of "Lord of the Rings" elves. She really should've known better.
Standing in front of the door that led to the Halloween party she just couldn't bring herself to walk in, and every five seconds or so, she would subconsciously pull at one of the sky-blue, two-piece chiffon attire she was in. The miniskirt made her feel as if she was always in danger of flashing someone, while the crop top just showed too much skin, barely covering her stomach.
"Mizuno-san, is that you?"
A surprised voice pulled her out of her reverie, and she felt her cheeks warm when she pinpointed it as belonging to a somewhat friendly acquaintance of hers at work, Haruto Kobayashi. Checking one last time to be certain that her clothes were still covering the appropriate parts of her body, she turned around and gave him a shy, embarrassed smile.
"Good evening, Kobayashi-san," she greeted, giving him a bow that was smaller than usual.
She pulled at the hem of her shirt again when she saw his eyes flicker downwards towards her attire.
A pink tinge appeared on his cheeks as he coughed into his hands before commenting, "Um … interesting costume choice."
"Thank you," she replied, though the smile on her face was forced.
She was going to kill Minako.
"So … um … what are you doing out here?" he asked. "Are you waiting for your date?"
"What?" she replied, a blush appearing on her face. "No."
For a moment, she wondered why he would assume that she was waiting for someone, but then she realized that it was quite possible that he thought that she'd wanted to impress her significant other with what she was wearing.
She was going to murder Minako and bury her in a park.
"Oh," Haruto said with a blink. He then smiled brightly at her and said, "Well, then, let's go in then, or else Watanabe-san might think you're looking down on him again."
Her eyes snapped up towards him. "He told you that?"
Haruto's cheeks turned slightly pink again upon hearing her question. "I meant it more as a joke."
She rose her eyebrows. However, she knew she wasn't going to get anything out of Haruto, neither would it be fair for her to drag him into the mess she was in.
Walking through the door, she had to admit that the decorations were impressive. Cobwebs decorated the ceilings, and jack o' lanterns took the place of lamps. However, she couldn't tell if the chandelier hanging over the foyer was new or originally there—she was betting on the latter. A coffin stood at one of the corners with the imitation of a zombie hand creeping out of the crack. Bats flew around in circles in random places, and it took her a moment to realize that they were mostly flying and stopping at the same places, allowing her to conclude that they weren't real.
Her eyes took in the layout, and not for the first time, she wondered where Riku Watanabe had gotten the money from, since she knew for a fact that he hadn't come from a wealthy family. Shoving that thought from her head, she headed towards where she heard the music coming from.
She froze when she walked inside. Haruto had entered after her and was effectively blocking her escape, which she supposed was a good thing, since Minako would probably screech at her if she'd left before saying "hi" to her supervisor. Nonetheless, the urge to run still surged through her as she timidly eyed each person inside the ballroom, mentally taking note of who she knew and who she didn't while searching for any sight of Riku.
"Wow," Haruto said beside her.
Nonetheless, her concentration was hardly on him. Thankfully, she soon located Riku, who was chatting animatedly with someone. She couldn't see what the other man looked like, given that he was standing with his back towards her, except for the fact that he easily towered over Riku, who was already a full head taller than her.
After taking her leave on Haruto, she hurried over towards Riku, wanting to greet and "socialize" with him quickly so that she could leave as soon as possible. However, the room was quite crowded, and by the time she got to where he was standing, she could feel her clothes starting to cling on to her body.
"Good evening, Watanabe-san," she said with a meek smile, her hands still itching to pull at the hem of her skirt and shirt.
Riku turned his head around, and when he realized it was her, the huge smile he had been sporting dwindled down to nearly a sneer.
"Oh, it's you, Mizuno-san," he said airily. His eyes flickered towards her attire before they landed on her face again. "Surprising. I'd almost thought that you would've come here dressed as Albert Einstein."
She wanted to answer that there was nothing wrong with coming here dressed as Albert Einstein, but Minako's voice resounded in her mind.
"No arguments. I don't care if he suggests that every Sailor Senshi should be captured and dissected for the sake of experiments, do not argue with him."
She'd wanted to tell Minako that there was no way Riku Watanabe could capture them, but she supposed that that wasn't the point the Venusian Senshi was trying to get across to her.
Therefore, she bit down hard on the inside of her cheeks before saying, "Great party!"
To be honest, the music wasn't to her liking and she hadn't even tried the food yet, but Makoto had suggested that compliments should work.
"Lie if you have to." That was, of course, what Minako had added.
And apparently, that tactic somewhat worked, since the look on Riku's face visibly relaxed after hearing what she said.
"Hm … and I'd thought that you didn't have the capacity to have fun, Mizuno-san," he said, almost condescendingly. He turned his attention back to the man he'd been talking to before and added, "Perhaps there's hope in her after all."
Ami's eyes landed on the man, and she froze on the spot.
For the past couple of months, the Senshi had been receiving memories of the Silver Millennium. Amongst other undesirable recollections—including but not limited to the Senshi's romances with certain guardians of Endymion—they also remembered how the Shitennou looked like beneath the glamour that hid their civilian identity from others. At that time, Makoto had joked that that was one memory that wasn't needed. Ami couldn't tell if her tone of voice should be categorized as "bitter" or "relieved".
Right now, however, Ami felt that knowing their true looks was perhaps one of the most useful information they'd gained from that disaster.
"A knowledgeable mind always has its uses," the man said. His silver eyes only held a hint of amusement as they slid over to look at Ami while a corner of his lips curved upwards into a faint smile. "At least, if I were the one lying on the surgery table, I would hope that my doctor had regarded soaking up knowledge as superior to having fun."
If Ami wasn't busy gawking at the man— Kunzite , her mind screamed while alarm bells went off in her brain—she would've noticed how Riku froze before a forced grin appeared on his face.
"Oh, yes, definitely! Er … I meant that as a joke, of course, Takayama-san," he said quickly. His eyes flickered between the two before he added tentatively, "Do you know Mizuno-san, Takayama-san?"
The man paused for a short second before answering, "No. I don't."
Riku laughed, a bit too exaggeratedly, as he placed a hand on Ami's shoulder and squeezed. "That's a shame! Well, better late than never! She's one of the most brilliant minds we have at our hospital, and I'm sure she would be honored to become acquainted with someone like Takayama-san!"
Oh yes, she was definitely "honored" to meet someone like him, so honored that she really needed to find a secluded place so that she could check out who this "Takayama-san" was. She was hoping that it was just someone who looked extremely like civilian-form Kunzite.
She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't caught what they had been saying, and she was only snapped out of her reverie when both of them stared at her.
"... I'm sorry. Please excuse me for a second," she said before hurrying away, disregarding the surprised look on Riku's face.
The introspective and calm look on the Kunzite-look-alike's face was much more attention-worthy to her at the moment.
It took her much longer than she would've liked to find some place private enough to find out who this person really was. After walking in on a barely-dressed French maid and Count Dracula swallowing each other's tongue, she refused to check the other rooms with closed doors. Thankfully, she soon found the library (whoever would've thought that Riku had so many books—though it was possible that it was just there for looks).
Locking the door behind her, she sat down in one of the chairs before pulling out her mini-computer.
"Come on," she muttered to herself after she'd entered a few commands.
Though it was much quicker than any electronic devices humans had, it still felt as if it were working much too slowly.
Finally, a whole list of those who were present at the Halloween party popped up, and it took her another couple of seconds to find the name she was looking for. There were a total of four people who had the surname "Takayama", with three of them being male. As if it were some badly scripted movie, the first two names weren't the one she was looking for, and she bit hard into her cheek as she pulled up the stats for "Takayama Kyosuke".
Apparently, he was a patron of the hospital, donating a hefty amount of money each year to different divisions. He also had strong ties with government officials spanning across different countries. No wonder Riku Watanabe groveled to him. Yet, the more she read on, the more suspicious Kyosuke Takayama seemed to her. He was covering up his tracks much too cleanly, as if he were staying in the dark on purpose. If she hadn't seen him at Riku's Halloween party today, she doubted she would've seen him on TV, and that, in and of itself, reminded her a bit too much of the former leader of the Shitennou.
Pressing a few more buttons, she waited as her mini-computer analyzed the aura that surrounded the man, hoping that her paranoia was simply the aftereffects of spending too much time with Rei.
However, the gods weren't so kind to her, and she felt the breath catch in her throat when the results showed quite clearly that there was large energy spike surrounding him, indicating that he was much more different than the other party-goers.
Her heart thudded painfully against her ribcage as she stood up, unable to continue sitting as adrenaline rushed through her.
She needed to think. She needed to find out what to do. Though Beryl and Metallia were no longer around, there was no indications in regards to why the Shitennou were back to life.
She needed to contact the other Senshi.
Tightening her hold around the mini-computer, she was just about to press the "Alert All" button when a voice—a sickeningly familiar voice—resounded throughout the room.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't alert the others to my presence, Mizuno-san."
She froze on the spot as her mind quickly went over her options. However, at that moment, Kyosuke Takayama spoke up again.
"I assure you," he said, "that I mean no harm. I will not attack you unless I am forced to do so."
Slowly, she swiveled around. He stood next to the entrance, with his upper body leaned against the door and his feet crossed at the ankles while he kept his silver eyes trained on her. Though his posture was casual, she couldn't help but feel that he was still on high alert; the tension twisted and turned in the air, filling in the void that existed between them.
His words were an attempt to put her at ease as much as it were a warning, something that hadn't escaped Ami's notice.
Her eyes flickered towards the door momentarily, only to find it closed once more. She remembered quite clearly that she'd locked it after entering the room; it appeared that not only did he possess the powers he'd had as a Shitennou, but he was fully aware of it and knew how to use it.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said slowly, pulling a confused mask over her features.
A corner of his thin lips curved upwards. "Don't you?" He paused for a short second before he tilted his head to one side. "Sailor Mercury?"
Okay, so he had his memories back as well. She couldn't tell if this were a good or bad thing. Given that he hadn't known their true identities while he'd been brainwashed by the Dark Kingdom, perhaps him knowing how she looked like when she wasn't transformed was probably good news. However, it was also possible that there was an even more powerful enemy out there controlling the Shitennou—
"I am not under the control of darker beings, Mizuno-san," Kyosuke said, as if he knew what was going through her mind.
Perhaps he did. After all, she'd always known that he was good at reading people's faces.
"We are not your enemies," Kyosuke said, "if that's what you're worried about." He gestured towards the mini-computer still in her hands. "If you want to be certain, by all means, you can check if I'm in the clear."
She narrowed her eyes slightly before gazing at him straight in the eyes. "The computer can only detect how much negative energy is present in a person under the influence of others."
Something flashed through his eyes, and for a moment, a small streak of satisfaction ripple across her chest, though she kept her face neutral. That little crack in his impeccable façade signified that he acknowledged the underlying message in her words, and her words had hit its intended target.
Though Ami could be kind and gentle, there were lines that should not be crossed.
She could not forget the pain that lingered in the back of Venus's eyes months before Earth declared the Silver Millennium their enemy, nor could she pretend she hadn't noticed how red and puffy Minako's eyes were during that period of time when they were bombarded by memories of the past.
It didn't matter that the Shitennou had ultimately been brainwashed. Months after they'd gotten to known the Princess and the Senshi, weeks before they'd been "reformed" as Metallia and Beryl's soldiers, the seed of doubt had already burrowed itself into their psyche, making them susceptible to the suggestions of the Dark Kingdom.
After Ami had regained her memories of their past lives, there were many nights in which she wondered: By the time the Shitennou were brought over to the Dark Kingdom, were they really being brainwashed? Or was it simply a moment of initiation?
She knew that even if he had been a willing accomplice to Beryl and Metallia in his past life, it wasn't fair for the Senshi to take it against the Shitennou because they could be different this lifetime. Nonetheless, she found it so much more difficult for her to forgive them, in comparison to other people, like the Ayakashi sisters, for example, who'd redeemed themselves this lifetime. Perhaps it was because there were so much more feelings involved in this particular situation.
Not to mention the fact that they hadn't proven that they weren't evil yet.
A tiny voice in the back of her head reminded her that he hadn't actually made true of his threat and attacked her, but she quickly shushed it and placed her concentration back on the man in front of her.
Though he remained silent, Ami could almost see the wheels of his mind turning. She wondered what he was thinking, but then she decided that she didn't really care as long as it wasn't along the lines of hurting the people she loved.
After what seemed like an eternity, he opened his mouth again. "Though I don't expect you to believe us, I do hope that you can kindly grant us a chance to live the life that had been stolen from us before … before we were brought under the control of Metallia again."
Us?
"You mean all of you had been reborn? Again?" she demanded.
A glint flashed through his eyes. Though she couldn't describe most of the emotions included in there, she could clearly decipher "amusement", and it heckled her.
She pursed her lips as he answered with a simple affirmative. However, the logical side of her knew that she couldn't allow annoyance to control her feelings at the present moment. She needed to analyze the situation and decide on what to do. Granted, she knew she could simply ignore his request, tell her Senshi sisters that the four of them were back to life, and leave the decision to someone else.
However, she also knew how powerful Kunzite was.
And it wasn't just when he had been under the control of Metallia and Beryl. She clearly remembered that he had been the most talented amongst the Shitennou when it came to both magical and physical combat. She hardly had a chance to defeat him in an one-to-one battle. Though she supposed that if she were to hit the "contact all" button, she could probably go on defense and wait for the others to come to rescue.
If she promised to keep his secret, on the other hand, that meant that she would have to keep tabs on all four of them. Alone. That was also assuming that the four of them didn't have some hidden agenda to take over the world for evil again, or that the Shitennou no longer believed that the Senshi were out to take over Earth. Or both.
Though Usagi was marrying Mamoru soon, and the two of them would soon be the Queen and King of Earth anyway. She wondered if that would count as "taking over Earth" in the Shitennou's books.
She glanced at Kyosuke again. She supposed that if he did hold some misunderstanding towards the Sailor Senshi, he probably wouldn't waste time in trying to convince her to believe them.
Besides, it seemed like the four of them had been around for a while, given that she had heard his name quite a few times while she was at the hospital before this party. If they were up to no good, she supposed that they would've done something already.
"I confess that it would be impossible for me to look over all four of you at the same time," she relented, her voice much calmer and more collected than what she was feeling.
She knew what kind of a promise she was making when she said those words, and she was certain Kyosuke would've caught on as well, judging by the light smile that appeared on his face.
"You have my word that I would look after the other three," he reassured her. After a short pause, he added, "Unless … you feel that it would be safer for you to look after certain members of my team."
Irritation unfurled at the pit of her stomach as her mind processed his words, and she was tempted to rescind their agreement. However, logic told her that he was simply teasing, and if she reacted too much, it would seem as if she really cared about a certain annoying Shittenou.
"That won't be necessary," she replied, her voice still more rigid than what she would've liked. Recomposing herself and after a short pause, she continued to say, "I'll keep this a secret, but under certain conditions."
Kyosuke tipped his head in affirmation. "I wouldn't expect anything less."
"Despite the relationships each and every one of you had … with the four of us, I wish that none of you will expect anything more," she said. "Therefore, I request that if you need to discuss anything, you'd approach me and vice versa, limiting the amount of unnecessary contact between the two different groups."
He raised an eyebrow at her, and she stared right back at him frigidly.
"We do not need or want a relationship that occurred in a life we had no recollections about, nor do we need or want undesirable complications that are prone to disaster," she said.
Just like there was a switch somewhere, the shade of his eyes shifted to one reminiscent of clouds during a thunderstorm rather than the glinting silver of moonlight. Though the mask of indifference remained over his features, his face visibly hardened.
"You're making unjust assumptions, believing the worst of everything when nothing had happened yet," he said, his voice harsh. "This is unfair to both my brothers as well as your sisters."
"We have our own lives," she said sharply. "We've established relationships and careers throughout these years and I will not have the four of you barge into our perfectly balanced environment just so you can continue something with an unpredictable outcome. Even without the Shitennou's betrayal to the Terran Kingdom, there was no guarantee that things would've worked out neatly like some kind of silly child's fantasy world."
And she would be damned if she allowed herself to give them another chance to cause her sisters despair.
"We are not the same people as we were during the Silver Millennium. It would do you well to remember that," she said, her tone of voice as cold as her element.
"You're condemning everyone with this request, and you know it, Mercury," he said, pushing himself away from the wall and taking a step forward. "My brothers will suffer the fate of forever longing for something they had lost due to their loyalty to their lieges—and before you correct me, you know, perfectly well, that the Shitennou were fighting for what they had thought was in the best interest of the Earth. Regardless of whether or not what they had thought were correct or not, ignorance should not be punished by eternal misery.
"Though it would never be enough, we are working to repay our sins, and if the Prince will have us, we will return to his side, once we'd regained his trust and had established ourselves as suitable candidates to protect his and his beloved's safety. Your sisters would know of our existence by then, and though you claim you have no recollections of your previous life, you and I both know that the truth. Do you truly believe it wise to let your sisters know about our revival then rather than ease them into the fact now?"
"I would rather let them have a chance at something that is free from the chains of the past," she replied, her fingers clenching onto her computer as she forced herself to not waver.
His lips curved into a cold smile, one that hardly reached his eyes. "'Free from the chains of the past'? If that is what you think, you're more naive than I thought you were. More than likely, many of the relationships you would build during this lifetime has a direct connection to what happened in your past life."
His words echoed like the deep rumbling of thunder of an approaching storm, causing Ami to narrow her eyes as a niggling feeling that had bothered her for a while came to the forefront of her mind. While there was nothing about Minako's behavior that should've caused her to suspect things, there was always something there at the back of her mind, telling her that something was off. She now wondered if Minako's fiancé was indeed someone from their past life.
She had categorized it as spending too much time with Rei when that little voice whispered that something was off when Minako dramatically swept into Rei's shrine, all excited and on cloud nine, announce that she was engaged and going to be married soon. After all, "love at first sight" wasn't that uncommon, and being dramatic and loving romance just because it was romance was so Minako that it hadn't seemed logical to Ami for her mind to sound an alert.
As long as said "who-remembers-what-number-it-is-but-let's-call-it-one true love" didn't turn out to be hawks and eagles from some shady circus, that was.
Now, however, Ami wondered if this Ace was indeed someone they should know about, and she knew how sneaky Minako could be when she wanted to hide something.
Come to think of it, they'd never even asked how Minako had met this Ace. Though she supposed they couldn't be blamed, since whenever Minako started to talk about him, the gushing was enough for Ami to zone out and concentrate on other far more important stuff than listening to how perfect they are for one another.
While she was deep in thought, Kyosuke's expression softened.
"I'm not asking you to immediately let my men encounter your sisters, nor am I asking for the four of you to accept their affections without conditions or wariness. However, on behalf my men, I hope that you wouldn't consider asking them to completely cut off contact from the other Senshi until after the Prince and his Princess take their places as the King and Queen," he said, tugging her out of her reverie.
She narrowed her eyes at him again. "Weren't you the one who asked me not to contact the other Senshi? You're contradicting yourself."
The expression on Kyosuke's face was unreadable—or it seemed to so to Ami. She wondered if Minako would've found some kind of missing meaning behind it.
No. That was incorrect. Ami was ninety-nine point four three percent certain that had Minako been in her shoes at the moment, she would've immediately caught on to what Kunzite was thinking.
"I simply hoped that we could have a chance to redeem ourselves beforehand, rather than walk right into your lives without doing something, without the least bit of penance," Kyosuke said.
His words were, in Ami's opinion, too smooth. It reminded her too much of a certain other Shitennou who also possessed a verypolished ability to talk the birds from the trees. Unfortunately, as much as she tried, she couldn't tell from his face what his true intentions were or if this was simply how he was accustomed to speaking. Though she'd had numerous encounters with him in the past, she hadn't quite been the receiving end of his diplomatic acts.
Despite the bitter taste that it would bring to her tongue, she seemingly remembered sibling-like conversations and chess matches between Mercury and a silver-eyed General from Earth.
However, his conditions were … feasible, she supposed. If the Shitennou wanted to redeem themselves, she doubted they could do so within a short period of time.
Definitely no way to do it before Minako-chan's wedding.
"I would like to be informed beforehand, shall any of the Shitennou decide they want to meet my sisters again," she said. "And should there be any reason for me to refuse them, I wish that they would respect the decision."
Kyosuke tilted his head to one side, amused. "What if it was a chance encounter?"
She thought about it for a second before answering, "That would depend on if said encounter really was by accident." There was another short pause before she added, "If any of my sisters run into your brothers by a so-called accident, I would run a full investigation down to the least important detail and should they be proven guilty, you could be assured that neither side would like the consequences."
~-0-~