Disclaimer: Just by virtue of being on this site, you should assume that the characters and stuff aren't mine.
Tokyo, Japan, 1996. The city has 120 million people, so it seems impossible that five people from extraordinarily different backgrounds should meet. A twenty-two year old silver haired Brit. Stationed in Japan for training Japanese troops in Western tactics, and learning Eastern ones in exchange. A twenty-one year old psych major with blond hair, manipulative, but good hearted. Crass, an American studying abroad. A twenty-one year old Japanese theater major, brunette and taking a year off to live in Tokyo. A nineteen year old computer programmer, started his own business when he was sixteen. Business was flourishing, but he is working on a degree in history and a degree in engineering for fun. And a nineteen year old orphan, only one friend in the world, already premed and a minor in politics. Their paths had never crossed, and if they hadn't now, they probably never would. The meeting was so utterly unlikely that fate had to take a hand. With a little help from a parks that seems to be the center for metaphysical activities.
Jed Johnson was not having a good day. First of all, a siren went off near his dorm at four in the morning the one day he could have slept in. He might have gotten to sleep again had his roommate not come in totally wasted five minutes later. Yes, he had suspicions about how closely the two events were related. At any rate, after he graciously (grumblingly) helped his roommate to bed, the idiot leaned over hand puked on the floor and more importantly, Jed's legs. Cursing Jed had cleaned both the floor and himself. But, being both mischievous and vengeful, Jed slowly rigged the room. Roommate's hand in warm water - check. Saran wrap across the toilet - check. Water bucket balanced on closer door - check. Radio alarm clock set for an hour later at the highest volume and on the metal rock station - check. Unfortunately, Jed was in an unusually bad mood and these pranks did nothing to alleviate it. That was how he found himself wandering around a park at six in the morning. Only to be assaulted by this nut job.
Okay, maybe assaulted is two strong a word. Aggravated then.
He had been walking, lost in his thoughts, when someone suddenly grabbed his shoulder. He stilled his urge to spin into a defensive crouch, instead, he slowly turn around. The man grabbing his shoulder seemed normal, although he had definitely ripped off his hairstyle from the human version of beast from Beauty and the Beast. Yes, he seemed the average citizen.
Until he opened his mouth.
The stars foretold this meeting, indeed. The man had gone into this diatribe about the properties of constellations and the alignment of planets. Apparently, the scornful and perturbed look on his face wasn't a good enough hint. Finally, Jed cleared his throat and the man finally closed his mouth.
"Look it," Jed said in his hickiest English, "I dunno what kinda parsley you been smokin', but leave me out of your delusional fantasies. I don't know you and you don't know me and it's the God's honest truth that I want to keep it that way."
"American, huh? That was not revealed." The man said in perfect English.
'Damn it.' Jed cursed internally.
"Although," the man mused, "I'd wager that you are fluent in Japanese. Otherwise, you wouldn't know of my 'delusions', did you call them?"
'Oh great. An intelligent loon.' There were a plethora of books and movies on what crazy-not-stupid people could be capable of.
"Right, well. Now that we understand each other and you know that I am American and I know that you have a good shot at being locked up and put under psychiatric evaluation, I think that it is time to part." he said in his normal, accent-less voice, and gave the man a mocking Eastern bow.
"Wait. We cannot ignore the will of the stars."
"Oh yes we can, and quite easily too, I would imagine."
Jed turned to leave and the man grabbed his arm again. By this point, Jed was really annoyed. "Look it. Let go of my arm and leave me the hell alone. Go back to your astrology books."
"No."
"No? What do you mean 'no'? I'll have you know that that arm has been my personal property for the past twenty-one years and it will still be mine for the next twenty-one years. Plus forty or fifty."
"Just that, no. Our meeting here was fated and I won't let you go until the others arrive."
"What others?"
"The three who are meant to come."
"And how the hell are you going to keep them here, hmm? You only have two hands, and I'll tell you this, it will take both of them for you to even have a chance at keeping me here."
So saying, he broke the man's grip, but unfortunately for Jed, the man was trained in fighting. For the first few minutes, they exchanged blows, neither gaining the upper hand or even landing a hit. They were pretty evenly matched, but the strange man seemed to have an uncanny ability to guess Jed's next move. Jed used this slight advantage to account for why it was he who ended up being pinned to the ground. Just as Jed was wondering if the man planned to keep him like this until the mysterious 'others' arrived, a voice interrupted them.
"What's all this then?"
Jed leaned his head back so he could see the tall shadowy figure. Not making out any features, he muttered, "Oh look, the British have come."
Lieutenant Sergeant Keenan O'Callahan had been out jogging after an abysmal night's sleep. He had stopped for a breather when he realized that the two men having a heated conversation in English had turned to fist cuffs. He ran his fingers through his military-regulation short hair, and wished that he was the sort who could ignore them and go about his way. But no, the year of law enforcement before he joined the military would not allow a civic disruption.
He internally winced when he heard his own voice call the Bobbies' catch phrase. Yes, there was no way that he could let this go. Keenan didn't twitch at the pinned blonde's asinine statement. He was, after all, American, and such things were to be expected. Besides, Keenan was not the sort to let anything past his stoic facade.
The man with long brown hair, who was currently pinning the American, looked up at him, and Keenan could hear the excitement beneath the mystic tone in his voice, "You're here!" Turning to the man beneath him, he added, "I told you they'd come."
The American snorted, "So this guy's a part of your nutty fantasy too?" He glanced at Keenan, "My condolences. If I were you, I'd get out of here while the nut is busy holding me down."
Annoyance entered the man's voice, "I am not a nut. My name is Nathan and I am perfectly sane."
"Oh, yes. Perfectly sane people always pin complete strangers to the ground, claiming that their meeting was fated by the stars." He glanced at Keenan and noted, "Have you ever noticed that the most insane are always those who claim to be the least?"
If Keenan were the type to show emotion, he would have rubbed his forehead. These two were giving him a headache already and he had only been in their presence five minutes. But, strangely, this whole thing wasn't unfamiliar. In fact there was a weird sensation of nearing home. But that wasn't right, home was nothing like this. Home was cold. Emotionless. So much that Keenan hadn't felt anything at planning his only parent's funeral. And the funeral itself was merely tedious.
Keenan was about to say something when he registered too late that someone had shouted, "Look out!" in Japanese. He found himself on the ground next to the American, a skateboard on his lap, and a younger boy on the ground in front of him. The boy raised a startled face to Keenan.
"Oh man! Gomen nasai." The boy cried in Japanese, bowing impossibly from his seat, and frankly looking ridiculous doing so. His long blond hair falling out of its ponytail.
"I knew it!" Nathan positively crowed. "Only one more and we'll all be here."
The American frowned, "Are you just claiming whoever happens to stop by is a part of your fantasy? Because I think that that is cheating and no proof at all."
Ignoring them, Keenan removed the skateboard from his lap and rose. An impressive six feet three inches, especially when compared to the sitting boy's five foot five. Keenan didn't know why he felt a strange sense of kinship to this boy, but it was like he was a younger brother. He stared, his normally stoic face in even harsher lines then usual. He was not one to take an immediate liking to anything. Especially not people!
Not realizing that he was making the boy exceedingly nervous, Keenan studied him as thoroughly as any new recruit. The boy was small, but not frail. He had lithe muscles, not a fighter, but probably extremely flexible. His eyes revealed intelligence, while the quirk in his mouth showed an inherent mischievousness.
"Uh...moshi moshi?" the young boy waved a hand in front of his face.
Keenan was suddenly made aware that the three men were staring at him. He almost felt the urge to blush. Almost.
"Gomen." he muttered.
The boy laughed, "Not a problem. I was just worried that our unexpected meeting caused permanent damage."
"No."
"Well, okay. " the boy sprang to his feet and grabbed his skateboard, but before he could take off, Keenan grabbed his arm. "Nani?"
"What's your name?"
"Zane, and you?"
"Keenan."
"And I'm Jed!" The American shouted from the ground, "Can one of you gents please get this delusional oaf off me?"
"I am not delusional, you're just stubborn. This is destiny." Nathan said disgustedly.
"Let me tell you something about destiny, bucko. It happens on its own, it does not involve pinning a guy to the ground."
"It does if the participants stubbornly ignore it."
"Actually," Zane began with the air of giving a report, "destiny can involve pinning someone to the ground or other mortal activities, because actions shape destiny. Fate, on the other hand, happens both in spite of and because of actions, there is no stopping fate..."
"You see!" Nathan said jumping up, forgetting for a moment that his weight was the only thing keeping Jed in place. Jed, of course, took advantage of this lack of foresight and slithered away from him. Nathan, realizing what he'd done, quickly grabbed Jed's arm again.
"Let go. I'll stay until your last person shows up, I promise."
"I don't believe you."
"A good idea in the general run of things, but I'm serious this time. I'll even swear it to Old Loquacious over there." Jed said jerking his thumb at Keenan. "He doesn't look like the sort that you'd lie to, does he?"
"It is hard to determine the veracity behind the idea of fate or destiny because we have nothing to compare the outline of events to." Zane continued his lecture, blithely unaware that no one was paying any attention to him. "The Ancient Greeks played around with the inevitability of events by using prophecy and the reaction to prophecy. Begging the question, would Oedipus' life occurred the same way if his father hadn't heard the prophecy. Or in other words, was his fate/destiny truly inevitable..."
Jed walked over to Keenan and kneeled on one knee, "I swear to you, good sir, that I will stay here until the loon says that we can part." He glanced at Nathan, "Happy?"
"Ecstatic."
"It is the same sort of debate that follows that of a deity as the only way to prove it either way is through belief. You can either believe that whether Oedipus' father heard the prophecy or not, Oedipus' life would have gone the same way. Or you can believe that hearing the prophecy was the catalyst. Again the question is, are our actions predetermined by events and our personality. Is there really a freedom of choice, and if so, does the timeline change because of it or does it take it into account and is formed in stone by it. Again, will one person do the same thing over and over given the same situation. Of course, like theology, it is impossible to prove anything with belief as the first tenet of proof. Belief by nature is subjective to the individual, even if the society that they are raised in shares a belief system."
"Are you still talking?" Jed asked Zane incredulously.
"Huh? Oh." Zane blushed, finally realizing his audience's inattentiveness and flicked his skateboard's wheels nervously.
Shaking his head, Jed glanced at Nathan, "So, where is this last fellow?"
"He'll be here." growled Nathan, completely losing the mystic tone he had thus far maintained.
Twenty minutes later.
Keenan didn't know why he was still in the park. Its not like he believed Nathan's bull about fated meetings. Maybe it was to force that American, Jed, to have some sort of honor. He would hold him to his promise, no matter how mockingly it had been made.
"Him?"
"No."
"Him?"
"No."
"Him?"
"That's a girl."
"Is it really?"
"Yes."
"Poor girl. She has my pity."
Jed and Nathan were playing a strange version of eye spy, trying to find the last member of Nathan's Delusion, as Jed insisted on calling it. Zane was laying on the hill, blowing dandelions, humming. He looked to be lost in thought. And Keenan was standing watching everything. Overly aware of the time marching by.
"I need to go." He said finally. The other three all turned to look at him. "My superiors are expecting me at 7:30, and I refuse to be late. It is now 6:25, I need to get home."
"Wow. He said multiple sentences." Jed glanced at Keenan, "Mate, whatever they pay you, it is not enough."
"Keep the 'mates' to yourself."
"Would you prefer 'dude'?"
Keenan didn't deign to answer, instead he gave Nathan a pointed look. Nathan sighed, "Give him ten more minutes, if he hasn't arrived, I'll admit defeat and have my head examined."
Jed smirked and Keenan decided that was fair enough. "Fine. Ten more minutes and then we all go back to our lives."
"But we are not technically out of our lives." Zane pointed out, bored with being silent.
Five minutes later, and Nathan was feeling nervous. The stars had not said anything about this. Admittedly, what they said was never clear. For instance, today, all he glimpsed were four shadowy figures meeting him. And this morning he had been going by feeling and bravado. The maddening thing about it was that he was almost certain that he had once had more powers than this flimsy ability. A long, long time ago. Unlike most people, he had always believed that he personally had had a past life. No, his problem was not of belief, but remembering.
But where was the last figure?
He frowned, about to call the whole thing off, when he was distracted by a screeching whirlwind that ran down the path parallel to where they stood. It took him a moment to distinguish what it was shouting.
"I'm late. I am so very, very late! I can't get a detention today! It just isn't fair!"
Nathan watched what he now saw was a blonde girl running down the park path. 'And,' he noted, 'that man reading a book doesn't seem to notice her.' As the laws of physics require when two objects travel on the same path in opposite directions, they will inevitably collide. And this collision had a loud aftermath.
"Again!" The black haired man shouted, picking the book up from where it fell. "What is it Odango-Atama? Do you have a built in tracker that directs you straight at me?"
"What about you, jerk? Why don't you ever get out of the way? Do you enjoy running into me?"
"I was busy, reading my book. Common Sense, as in, you have none. Why are you even in the park anyway? This isn't on your normal path of destruction."
The girl opened her mouth, perhaps to answer or perhaps to insult the man, when the sound of school bells distracted her.
"Oh no! I don't have time for this! I am so very, very late!"
The girl picked herself up and continued her mad dash, presumably to school.. The man stood staring after her for a few moments before shrugging and returning to his book.
"It's him." Nathan breathed.
Zane hopped to his feet, "Who?"
Nathan pointed to the man and Zane nearly shouted, "I know him!"
"You do?" Nathan asked.
"Err." Scuffing his toe, Zane looked abashed, "No, but I really, really feel I should. It's weird isn't it, I've never seen him before in my life, yet I feel as though he is a part of me already."
"I understand," Keenan said unexpectedly, "I feel as though I'd die for him."
"Sorry to interrupt." Jed interrupted, not sounding sorry at all. "But if you don't move, you'll probably never meet him. Oh, and for future reference, I feel nothing of what you guys do."
The four nodded to each other and took off in a sprint after the black haired man. Keenan, Nathan, and Zane because they all felt they had to. Jed because he had nothing better to do than assuage his morbid curiosity about how it would all turn out.
It had happened again. This was not good. Not good at all. The first time he had blacked out, Mamoru had attributed it to stress. The second time was coincidence. But the black outs were now happening no less than three times a week and were obviously getting worse. Case in point, waking up in the park this morning.
That didn't even begin to cover the mysterious bruises and scrapes he had been finding all over his body. If he had to take a guess, he'd say that he was getting the crap beaten out of him. And, apparently, healing extraordinarily quickly.
"What's happening to me?" he asked the air around him. Not expecting or even wanting an answer. But, the way his life was going right now, he got one, of course.
"Well, right now you are about to be pulled into a mad man's fantasy. Where two of our cast feel that they know you even though they have never met you. Our director talks to balls of gas commonly known as stars, and I am just a hapless bystander who got pulled into all of this by mistake."
Mamoru whirled around, and found four men he had never seen before. The man who spoke was apparently the one with short blond hair, as two of his three companions were glaring at him.
The brown haired man cleared his throat, "I don't suppose that you have any sort of recognition of any of us?"
Mamoru was about to snap that of course he didn't recognize any of them, when he paused to actually think about the question.
"Come to think of it, you all do seem kind of familiar. Especially you." He said to the man who had spoken first. The man just smirked at him in blatant disbelief.
"It's true!" Mamoru cried grabbing the man's hand. A shock waved through them and a small light flashed between their hands. Startled, they threw each other's hand down.
After a moment, the blond cleared his throat, "Endymion?"
Mamoru stared at the man, "No, I'm Chiba Mamoru."
"Of course you are." the man muttered to himself, "Well, Mamoru, I know this is kind of forward, but can you clasp hands with Kunzite and the others?"
The brown-haired man turned to the blond and asked somewhat incredulously, "You believe me now?"
The blond laughed darkly, "Oh yes, Nephrite, I believe you. But, I want it on the record that I still think your a nut. And not in the good way."
The brown haired man nodded and was about to turn away when something seemed to occur to him, "What did you call me?"
"Never mind, Nathan, just shake the nice man's hand and say how do ya do."
Nathan walked over to Mamoru and purposefully grabbed his hand. After a similar shock and light as before, Nathan glanced at the blond, shaking his head as though to clear it. "Jadeite, why weren't you the first convinced, your power..."
The blond man shushed him, "I'll explain after prince charming wakes those two."
"Fascinating." the boy with long blond hair said before springing forward and grasping Mamoru's hand. Again, a shock and light appeared, and the boy backed away muttering, "Absolutely fascinating."
After giving his three companions piercing looks, the silver haired man strode forward and repeated the process of the other three. He glanced at Mamoru before straightening his shoulders and saying, "Zoicite, report. What just happened?"
The long blond haired boy stepped forward, "To put it simply, our past caught up with us, Kunzite. We died and were reborn with no memory of our past life. Endymion's touch acted as a catalyst to bring some of our memories forward. We have an instinctive need to protect him, so when we saw him he was familiar, and when we touched him, we remembered some of the past."
Kunzite nodded before snapping his gaze to the other blond, "Why didn't you feel it Jadeite?"
Jadeite shrugged and tapped his forehead. "I'm an empath. It was a protective mechanism from when I was small to block out all things psychic. Apparently including reincarnation vibrations. Speaking of our powers, I seem to remember having a lot more."
Nathan cleared his throat, "As do I. I don't know for sure why this is true. But, my guess would be that we won't fully return until Enymion wakes up."
The four reincarnated men turned to Mamoru who was, by this point, backing away slowly.
"Chiba-san, wait." Kunzite commanded. Mamoru stopped, his spine straightening automatically. "You said you recognized us, do you trust us?"
Thinking for a moment, he nodded his head slowly, "A little."
"Good. Will you accompany us to my apartment?"
Mamoru hesitated for a moment before reluctantly agreeing.
"Nice place you got, Kunzite. I gotta tell you, you look so bizarre with your hair cut." Jadeite called, flopping onto Keenan's couch.
Keenan ignored him and headed for his phone. Dialing the number from memory, he surveyed the four men invading his apartment. He knew everything and nothing about these men, but still they were more family than his father had ever been.
"Manabe." A voice on the other end of the phone said.
"Sir, this is O'Callahan, I'm afraid that I've taken ill and won't be coming in."
"Fever?"
"Yes, sir. 102 degrees Fahrenheit."
"Contagious?"
"Very."
"Alright. Take the whole weekend, I want you in tip top shape Monday morning."
"Yes sir. Thank you, sir."
When he hung up the phone, Keenan realized three of the four men were staring at him. He shifted, slightly uncomfortable.
"I don't know what is stranger, Kunzite lying or calling somebody else 'sir'." Jadeite remarked from the couch.
Nephrite and Zoicite nodded in agreement, while Mamoru just stood there looking as if he felt foolish.
"Sit." he told the three standing men, slightly irritated. "And call me Keenan, O'Callahan, or preferably sir, it isn't the Silver Millennium anymore."
"Oh yeah," Zoicite said, "We should introduce ourselves properly, especially since Endymion has no idea who we are. I'll go first. I'm Zane Wilder, Zoicite in the Silver Millennium. I'm CEO of Zaney Electronics and currently working on two degrees."
Smiling at everyone, he sat down next to Jadeite's feet.
"Hi there, Jed Johnson here. Jadeite of the great SM. I'm just a lowly college student working on a degree in psychology."
"What?" he added noticing their stares.
"Why are you of all people going into psychology?" Nephrite asked shocked.
"So I can screw with people's minds, in more than one way."
Zane and Nephrite groaned in unison, "Should have seen that one coming." Zane muttered to himself.
"I'm Nathan Stone, Nephrite, and I am taking a break from studying theater."
Jed snickered, "Only you would be lazy enough to take a break from a degree in theater."
"Would you make more or less fun of me if I said the stars told me to?"
"More. Definitely more."
"Then, please, forget I said anything."
Keenan stepped forward, "Lieutenant Sergeant Keenan O'Callahan of the British Special Forces. Head General Kunzite of Prince Endymion's guards."
Mamoru got up and said firmly, "Clearly, I am not a part of whatever you guys are. So I think I'll just be leaving."
"No!" all four men said, and Zane hurried to explain, "I promise you are a part of this. Just listen to our story." Glancing at his companions, "Who should tell it?"
"Well, you'd probably put in too much technical language and philosophical musings to be helpful. Nathan would make it even more insane with all his mysticism, and Keenan would only give the barest minimum of information. Therefore, I elect me. Any objections? None? Good. Sit down, Mamoru, this may take a while. Ahem.
"Once upon a time, a completely obvious way to start, but the most accurate. You see, our story takes place long before the Egyptians and cavemen. Long before the dinosaurs and primordial soup, as it is called. Scientists have long theorized that the Earth goes through periods of progress and periods of entropy, and that sometimes cataclysmic events occur that skip entropy to start over again with progress. That is what happened between the Silver Millennium and our own. Something happened that very nearly destroyed the world.
"But, that is the end of our tale. As any tale worth hearing begins, this one begins with a war. Before the cataclysmic event, CE for short, Earth was not the only planet that thrived. There were the intelligent Mercurians, the sexy Venusians, the passionate Marians, the wild Jupiterians, the dedicated Neptunesians, the warring Uranusians, the serious Saturnians, the mysterious Plutians, and the ethereal Lunarians. These nine together formed an alliance to fight off a great evil. Only we Earthlings stood alone. But, since those nine planets kept the evil far enough away, we never had to prove we could stand alone. As a result of our refusal to join the Silver Alliance as it was called and, as they saw it, free ride, trade with our planet grew increasingly difficult. They slapped so many taxes on their exports to us that it was like paying nine hundred dollars for a slice of cheese. This meant, of course, we fell behind technologically.
"Fast forward to half a century after the war, trade is almost non-existent and the uneducated lay person begins to consider the idea of other life forms as a myth. This, Mamoru, is where we need you to suspend your disbelief. Back in the Silver Millennium, Earth was one kingdom with four quadrants: North, South, East, and West. King Cronum III and Queen Terra were the Earth's rulers, while the quadrants were ruled by lesser royalty. King Thor and Queen Sif of the North. King Kokopelli and Queen Ravena of the West. King Ra and Queen Isis of the South, and King Tammuz and Queen Ishtar of the East. We four, were there sons and heirs, I was Prince Jadeite of the West. Keenan was Prince Kunzite of the North, Zane was Prince Zoicite of the East, and Nathan was Prince Nephrite of the South. And you, my friend, were Prince Endymion, crown prince of the Earth. No, don't give me that look, just let me finish.
"Anyways, we four lesser princes left our homes at a young age to join your family in Elysia. Now, this was all very unprecedented as the prince's guard was chosen by the fires at Delphi, and almost always came from noble families or even, on occasion, commoners. It was unheard of for the quadrant princes to be chosen. Apparently, this caused a mass panic. Some claimed that it was the end of the world, while others said it was the beginning of our rise to universal authority. Most changed their minds with each change of the wind. But, by the time we were aware of what was going on, things had calmed and we were generally accepted throughout the kingdom. There were still a few of those apocalyptic nuts, but honestly, they're still around. They breed worse then cockroaches. But, part of the reason for the furor still stood, if we had to guard you for the rest of our lives, who would rule our quadrants. Eventually it was decided that we would still rule, but from a distance, only to visit once a year with you in tow. Conveniently, this also answered the growing concern that our monarchs in Elysia were growing too aloof.
"Around this time, and unbeknownst to us, the Silver Alliance had an eerily similar problem. When the Sailor Senshi were chosen, they were all the crown princesses of their respective planets. This was especially bad because like us, the Inner Senshi had a duty to be at the moon princess' side at all times. Apparently, though, they came to a similar solution to ours. The Outer Senshi, on the other hand, had less trouble because they are supposed to stay on the rims of the solar system most of the time.
"Now, this is where my memories are fuzzy. We were around twenty when something changed. I'm almost certain that we met the princesses of the Silver Alliance, but I don't know how or even why. But, something happened that led to the great CE. We need to know what. As for the Sailor Scouts, hell, we don't even know if the ones in the news these days are the princesses reincarnated or other people entirely. It is all so frustrating. You guys got anything to add?"
Keenan, Nathan, and Zane all shook there heads, and Mamoru waited for somebody to shout, "Gotcha!" When none of them did, he felt annoyed. Very annoyed.
"Look it, I don't know what game you are playing, but I am definitely not interested. Now, what I am going to do is do what I should have done from the beginning and leave."
"Wait!"
"You can't do that!"
"We need you!"
Mamoru was willing to ignore these simultaneous pleas, even though it almost felt like he was ripping an appendage off, but Keenan's cool voice stopped him.
"You don't like something so you leave, is that it? Are you really so selfish? Then perhaps you are right, and we need to continue searching."
"I could have told you that I am not prince material. But, it is not a matter of liking or disliking. It is a matter of belief, and the truth is that I don't believe you."
"So you require proof, hmm? Zane could tell you your IQ, Jed could tell you your personality traits, Keenan could tell you your strengths in combat, and I could tell you something that no one else knows."
Mamoru shrugged, "You can try but I doubt it would help."
"136."
Mamoru blinked at Zane before murmuring, "Lucky guess."
"How about this?" Jed called, "You have a love-hate relationship with the idea of leadership, power, and authority. You enjoy it and are naturally good at it, but you are terrified of becoming tyrannical. Your sense of humor is more subtle than most, but you can get into practical jokes. You never yell when you are truly angry, instead your voice becomes quiet and intense. You don't let people under your guard easily, so I doubt you have many friends, but you really care about people. I would guess that your career angles toward some sort of service to others. Oh, and you prefer whiskey or even beer to wine." Jed smiled slightly as he finished.
His mouth worked for a moment before he could say, "You are studying psychology, right? So I attribute most of your accuracy to that. That last bit was a guess."
"Superior at all blades. Less skilled with bows. Very good at hand to hand combat, but needs to remember to watch the opponent's lower half as well as the upper."
Mamoru had no excuse to give, instead he turned to Nathan knowing that what ever he said would determine Mamoru's next move.
"The stars tell me that every night you dream of a blonde princess who asks you to help her."
Feeling faint, Mamoru slid back into the chair he had taken earlier. Nathan was right, no one else could possibly know that because Mamoru had never told anyone. Running a hand through his hair, he groaned and looked each man in the eye before admitting defeat.
"Let me get this straight, we are all reincarnated royalty from an era nobody remembers."
"That's it." Zane confirmed, bobbing his head.
"I need a drink." Mamoru muttered into his hand before looking up, "I hope you realize that I need time to process all this. Can we call it quits for now?"
"We can, but how big's your apartment?" Jed asked unexpectedly.
"Two bed, two bath. Why?"
"Because I am moving in with you."
"What?"
"I'm moving in with you."
"And when, may I ask, did you decide this?" Mamoru asked trying to hint subtly.
Unfortunately, Jed had always been one to ignore subtle hints, when it suited him. "About two seconds ago." Actually, it was more like twenty minutes ago.
"Why do you want to move in with me? And what makes you think I'll even let you?"
"Oh you'll let me. Besides, my roommate sucks, and I don't imagine that I am his favorite person either. Besides, I already know that we are well suited to living together. It comes of sharing a palace. Plus, it will make us, as your guards feel better."
The other three nodded in agreement, after Nathan and Zane's mouths had snapped shut. They had forgotten how unpredictable Jadeite could be, and it looked like his modern counterpart was no better. But, really, it was for the best that at least one of them was close to him.
"You aren't going to let me say no, are you?"
"Nope." Jed seemed unconcerned by his utter failure in the art of social niceties.
"You know what? I don't even care anymore. I'm to tired to argue. Besides, fate is already hinting by the fact that I grabbed two keys this morning. This is my address and phone number. The rest of you exchange yours."
So saying, Mamoru flipped a key onto the table and swept out the door, not hearing Jed shout, "Stop it with the fate thing!" and Nathan's self-satisfied murmur, "I told you so."
Author Notes:
Wow. This is really, really long for me, and I have just begun. This fanfic chapter is longer than most my stories.
As a side note, Nathan is completely wrong as to why their powers won't manifest completely.
You know, Jed really won't shut up.
Oh yes, listy thing of character stats:
Nathan/Nephrite: 6'1; 21
Keenan/Kunzite: 6'3; 22
Jed/Jadeite: 5'8; 21
Zane/Zoicite: 5'5; 19
Mamoru/Endymion/TK: 6'0; 19
Yes, the girls will be in this as well, just not for a while:
Rei: 5'6; 17
Makoto: 5'8; 17
Mina: 5'4; 16
Usagi: 5'4; 16
Amy: 5'2; 16