Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon.
Chapter 2: A Vision of the Past?
The day had turned out to be uneventful, but everyone still seemed a bit worn out. Rei suspected it was due to their rather late celebration the night before. As predicted, the blondes had spent most of the night in a haze of sugar-induced hyperactivity. Now, their long overdue study session was nothing short of torture.
Rei tried to concentrate on the book in front of her. Across the table, Ami was absorbed in a text book and completely oblivious to the rest of the room. Makoto had disappeared into the kitchen twenty minutes before to make them a 'light snack'. Minako was asleep on her left side and had decided to use Rei's shoulder as a pillow. On her other side, Usagi was playing with a lock of her raven hair.
She sighed softly. How am I supposed to absorb any of this with these two distracting me, she thought irritable. She cast a longing glance at her book bag, where she'd hidden a new manga. But if I get it out, the bimbo twins are going to want to read it with me…
The front door opened and Artemis and Luna strolled in. "How's the studying going?" Artemis asked, jumping lightly onto the table to look at the book Ami was reading.
"Hey guys," Usagi said brightly.
Luna shot her an indulgent smile, but then her eyes widened.
"Luna?" The cat's gaze was frozen on Rei. "Luna," Usagi tried again, knocking lightly on the table to draw her attention.
Minako stirred and sat up blearily. "Was' wrong?" she asked thickly. Rei looked between Luna's shocked face and Usagi's confused one.
"Nothing," Rei said slowly.
"But…" Minako turned to Luna as well.
"Luna, is something wrong?" she finally asked.
Luna seemed to shake herself from her daze. She jumped onto the table, looking anywhere but at Rei. "No, everything's fine."
Artemis glanced over his shoulder at them, then frowned as he looked Rei over. "Your hair…"
She couldn't begin to guess what Usagi had done to her to garner such a reaction from their guardians. She reached up to feel the strand the blonde had been playing with. There were two thin braids by her right temple and a third one was partly finished, held limply in Usagi's hand. "Braids?" Rei asked in confusion. "That's not so bad, I was expecting something horrible and frilly from the way you reacted," she accused the stunned guardians.
Minako leaned forward to examine her as well. "Aw, Rei," she pinched her cheek, grinning when Rei pulled back. "Those look cute on you!"
Ami gave them an annoyed stare. "Is Rei's hairstyle really that big of a deal? We're supposed to be studying," she reminded them.
"I can't study anymore!" Usagi whined immediately.
Rei, however, was watching the two cats. They exchanged a cryptic look before returning their stares to her. "What's wrong?" she demanded, feeling her irritation grow.
"You just look like… someone else," Artemis said vaguely. "We just came to see how the study session was going."
Rei saw Ami frown at them in confusion. "But-"
"Who's hungry?" Makoto asked as she returned with a tray piled high with food. Usagi scrambled up with a giggle, previous conversation forgotten.
Rei stood up with a heavy sigh, followed by Minako. She started to walk around the table and smacked into the blonde. "Sorry," she muttered rubbing her cheek. Minako had a hand over her eye and seemed dazed. "Are you hurt?" Rei asked with a frown. She peeled Minako's hand from her face and inspected the small red mark on her forehead.
"No, I…" Her cerulean eyes widened as she met Rei's concerned gaze. She opened her mouth slightly but no sound came out. "What?" she finally whispered.
Rei cocked her head. Did I give her a concussion? "You sure you're okay?" she repeated.
Minako seemed to come back to herself. She stepped back and flashed a V for Venus with her fingers. "Of course! I'm starving!" She turned and descended on the tray of food that Usagi was rapidly devouring. Rei shook her head. What on earth was all that about?
Minako strolled down the quiet street with Artemis trotting beside her, lost in thought. That was so strange, she mused, I haven't had that kind of déjà vu feeling in a really long time. Something about the way she looked? Or something she said… it felt so familiar… "Artemis?"
"Hmm?"
"What was that about earlier?" She glanced down at him questioningly.
"What was what about?" He replied without looking at her.
"You and Luna were acting funny when you looked at Rei," she clarified, frowning at him. "You said she reminded you of someone."
They paused at the door to her apartment while she fumbled for her key. "It wasn't important," He muttered as he followed her in. He leapt onto the couch and settled onto a pillow. Minako stopped in front of him and set her hands on her hips. He looked away and then back at her with a heavy sigh. "She looked like the Princess of Mars. She always wore three braids in her hair like that, it just caught us off guard."
Minako sat beside him and watched him with interest. "From the Silver Millennium?" She had recovered quite a few memories of their past lives, but she couldn't remember seeing that. "Why did she always wear them? Was there a reason for three?" She loved hearing stories about that time. The idea of having friendships so deep that they spanned lifetimes had always made her feel like a part of something incredibly special.
Artemis gave her a weary smile. "I thought you were tired?"
She gave him her best puppy dog pout. "Please, Artemis? I know you two don't like to talk about it, but what could a story like this hurt?" She batted her eye lashes at him.
He huffed and stretched his paws in front of him. "Alright," he said finally and she grinned. "The Martian custom was to wear a braid for each person in your heart. It was really the only sign that they cared about other people at all, since they weren't the friendliest people." He chuckled lightly at the memory and Minako leaned closer, anxious to hear more.
"That sounds kind of like Rei now," she joked. "Serious and cranky but a softie deep down."
"Yeah," he agreed, smiling. "When she first came to the Moon Kingdom she only had two. If I remember right, they were for two members of her family on Mars. She added the third later for-" Suddenly he stopped.
"Artemis? For who?" she prompted.
He looked away quickly and stood. "I just remembered I have to…" He flicked his tail nervously and looked around. "Luna. I have to talk to her about… I'll see you later." With that he leapt over the back of the couch and disappeared out the open window.
"Huh?" She stared at the empty window. "What's gotten into those two today?" she it up as a bad job she decided to go to bed. She could confront them in the morning.
-That Night-
...She stood in the doorway staring at Rei. Wait, was it her? She was wearing a chain shirt and had a scar down her face. When she turned to face her, Minako realized she'd cut her hair shorter. "Rei, your hair!" she exclaimed as she stepped closer.
"How do I look?" Rei asked with a nervous shrug. "It's so long it gets in the way now, so I thought…"
Minako smiled and touched the three long braids that hung at the side of her face, opposite the scar that shouldn't be there. No, wait, she thought, I gave her that scar…
...Suddenly they were standing outside facing each other. Rei was in the same armor, but she looked younger. She was glaring fiercely at her as she gasped for breath. Minako brought up a long curved sword and swung down at her. Rei raised her own sword to block her and it was knocked back against her face, splitting open the skin next to her eyebrow.
With a roar, Rei tried to lunge at her, forcing her back a few feet. Minako realized that she had a heavy golden chain in her hand, so she swung it at her friend. Rei caught it and sliced at the same time. Her sword came up bloody and Minako gasped. She kicked her away and dropped her sword, clutching at the huge gash in her stomach. Why are we hurting each other this badly? We're supposed to be friends! Without realizing it, she had coiled the chain around her fist. Minako met her cloudy amethyst gaze for a moment then punched her in the face. Rei dropped to her knees, blood pouring down her face. No! I don't want to hurt her!…
...It was daylight again and she was crouched over Rei, who was lying on her back with a sword next to her in the grass. A sword covered in dark blood. Her face was screwed up in pain. "What did you do to her this time?" She turned to see Artemis glaring accusingly at her. I didn't, did I? Why would I hurt her like this? No, I wouldn't!…
"No!" She sat up and struggled with the sheets that had tangled around her. She looked around in panic, gasping for breath. She realized that she was in her own bedroom. It was only a dream. She laid back and tried to calm herself down. It seemed so real.
She stared at the ceiling, trying to sort through the images that lingered in her mind. Rei covered in blood, gasping for breath, hurting... Because of me? She tried to recall more of the dream. They'd been in a bedroom and she was looking at Rei's hair… "She kept the braids," she whispered aloud, sitting up again.
She glanced around and realized it was morning. Fumbling for the clock on her nightstand she saw it was already almost nine. "Good, she'll be awake!" she said as she jumped out of bed and hastily got dressed.
Rei sat gazing into the fire. She kept her breathing steady and tried to focus her thoughts. Something was nagging at her brain. Something I should know. Something I've forgotten. Before Galaxia, before all of it… Try as she might, however, nothing was appearing to her. She sensed a familiar presence entering the room behind her. She wants to talk to me, she's really upset about something, she noted mentally. I wonder what happened…
"Minako," she said softly.
There was a gasp and hesitant steps toward her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you," she whispered in apology. Rei smiled to herself and stood up, turning to the nervous blonde shuffling from foot to foot behind her. "Hi," Minako said uncertainly.
"Hey," Rei said as she stretched her back. "What time is it? Aren't you up kind of early?"
Minako giggled. "No, silly, it's nine thirty. Only Usagi needs more sleep than that."
"Mmm." She realized she'd been sitting here for nearly four hours. That explained why her back felt so stiff. "So what's up?"
"It's Saturday, no school." Minako said as though that explained everything. Rei raised an eyebrow at her. "Want to go get breakfast somewhere?"
"I guess…"
"Great!" Minako linked an arm through hers and started toward the door.
"Minako," Rei planted her feet and tugged the blonde back. "Could I put some clothes on first? I'm still in my pajamas."
Minako quickly raked her eyes over her and giggled. "Oh, yeah." Rei rolled her eyes and gestured for her ditsy friend to follow her. Once they reached her room, Minako took a flying leap and landed sprawled on her bed. "Your bed is so comfortable!"
Rei shook her head as she dug jeans and a shirt from her chest of drawers. She glanced at Minako, who was hugging one of her pillows, before quickly changing. "Alright, where did you want to go?"
She let go of the pillow and rolled onto her back, putting her hands behind her head. Why does she have to wear such short clothing? Rei thought in irritation as she averted her gaze from the exposed skin of her friend's stomach. I shouldn't be thinking like that, she's my best friend! she berated herself. It was an all too familiar inner battle. Minako was her leader, her fellow soldier, her best friend… Kind, caring, beautiful…
"Rei are you listening?"
"Huh?"
She turned back to find the cerulean eyes watching her in mild concern. Minako sat up and cocked her head. "I'm supposed to be the air head, not you."
"I am not an air head!" Rei snapped, reigning her thoughts in. She caught her friends hand and pulled her to her feet. "Let's go."
Later, they sat in silence at a table outside a small café. Rei sipped her tea quietly and regarded her friend. Minako's gaze was unfocused and there was a slight frown marring her flawless features. "Something wrong?" she asked finally.
Minako's attention snapped back to her and she smiled. "No, I'm fine," she said cheerfully. Rei watched her, waiting. Minako's smile slowly changed to an expression of confusion. "Actually I had a weird dream last night."
"What was it about?"
Minako frowned at the table. "About, well… us." Rei raised an eyebrow. "But not us now, us from before," she continued. Rei sensed the beginning of a ramble. "I guess they're not really us either, but they sort of are since we're them reborn…"
"Minako," she interrupted. Wide blue eyes watched her. "Are you saying you had a dream about us during our past life in the Silver Millennium?"
"Um, yeah." She bit her lip. "Except I'm not sure if it was really us."
Rei set her tea down and studied her friend. She looked tired, more than usual. She could see that Minako was trying to hide how much the dream was bothering her. "What do you mean?" she prompted.
"Do you remember anything about what we were like to each other back then?" Rei cocked her head and considered. "Like when it was just the two of us, without the Princess around," she clarified.
"Not really," Rei said finally. "Most of the memories I have are… well…" She frowned, trying to think of any actual memories of just the two of them. "Most of them are about us with the Princess, you know, and the things that Luna and Artemis have told us. Or things Setsuna showed us."
"Well in the dream I had, we weren't very nice to each other," Minako finally admitted.
Rei smirked at that. "We've always been a little competitive with each other."
Minako gave her a stricken look. "Not like that, I mean we were fighting. With weapons. It was pretty serious, too. We hurt each other really badly…" her voice got softer and trailed off.
"That doesn't make sense," Rei said immediately. "Why would we hurt each other? We were friends, all of us." Her words had no effect as Minako continued to frown down at the table.
"Artemis was in the dream. He said 'what did you do to her this time'. It sounded like we got into fights and hurt each other a lot." Minako sounded close to tears.
Rei reached across the table and covered one of her hands with her own. "Minako, maybe it was just a bad dream," she suggested gently.
The blonde shook her head, blue eyes searching her face. "You had the braids. The ones Artemis told me about."
"Braids?" Rei stared blankly at her. "You mean yesterday with Usagi?"
"Oh yeah!" She suddenly yelled, causing everyone in the vicinity to jump. She blushed guiltily but was grinning again as she leaned closer. "I almost forgot, Artemis told me last night why he and Luna were acting so weird. I guess that you, the other you, used to always have braids in your… her…"
"Let's just say they're both me for now," she muttered impatiently.
"He said you always wore braids in your hair, that it was Martian tradition. I guess it reminded them of back then." She cocked her head at her friend. "Do you remember anything about that?" Rei shook her head and Minako grinned mischievously.
"That's too bad. Artemis said that two of them were for people in your family and the third one was someone in the Moon Kingdom who was close to your heart." She grinned and poked her friend in the shoulder. "Do you remember anything about any torrid affairs? Because Artemis wouldn't tell me who it was."
"What?!" Rei felt her face flush and fought the urge to sink below the table. "I'm sure nothing like that- stop laughing! I don't have affairs!"
"Rei's having an affair?"
Rei covered her flaming face with her hands as Makoto's laughter joined Minako's.
"You two," Ami scolded from somewhere behind her, "It's none of your business if Rei is seeing someone."
Rei's head shot up to glare at Minako. "I'm not!" she snapped.
"She was before," Minako explained delightedly. "In our past life."
"Really?" Ami asked with sudden interest. "Who was it?"
"Not you too," she groaned, crossing her arms defensively.
"She can't remember," Minako explained sadly. "Neither can I. Do you two remember anything like that?" she asked, brightening.
Despite herself, Rei was curious. She watched them both frown. "Nope," Makoto said finally. "Really I don't remember much beyond protecting the Princess."
"There has to be more than that," Minako insisted. The other two sat down at the table with them, watching the blonde. "I mean, we all lived in the Moon Kingdom together, right?"
"I guess so," Ami said slowly. "At least that's always been the implication when we've been told things about it."
"So it would make sense that we would have lives outside of protecting the Princess, like we do now," Makoto continued the thought. Her emerald eyes grew wistful and a small smile formed. "I wonder if the rest of us had affairs and things like that. My old sempai…" Ami cleared her throat and Makoto gave a shamefaced grin.
"Anyway," Rei interrupted, "if that's true don't you think we would have remembered something about it?"
"Artemis said that Rei always wore braids?" Ami asked, watching Minako intently. She nodded and dark blue eyes narrowed in thought. "I don't remember seeing them. Even when they showed us images of back then."
"Well, there was a lot going on," Rei said uncertainly. She thought back to the early days of fighting the Dark Kingdom, when they'd first found out who Usagi really was. She remembered seeing them fighting, the Prince and Princess on a crumbling balcony just before their deaths… "What else was in the dream you had, Minako? Did anything else seem out of place?"
Minako looked guiltily at the table, probably thinking about what she'd mentioned about them fighting. Then her head shot up. "We weren't using our powers! We were fighting with swords and wearing armor!"
Rei had to smile at that, the fukus had always seemed a little impractical for battle attire. "What kind?"
Cerulean eyes took on a slightly vacant expression and a smile began forming as she thought about it. "You had a sword and a knife, and you were wearing a chain-link shirt and thick strappy black leather gloves…"
"Chain mail and leather?" Makoto chuckled. "Sounds kinky."
Ami blushed and swatted her arm, causing her to laugh harder. "Makoto, this is serious," Ami scolded, frowning up at her. Makoto bit her lip and schooled her expression. "Think back. In all the visions we've seen or memories you have, have you ever seen us in anything besides our fukus?"
That was a good point. Rei tried hard to remember, but there wasn't a single instance where they'd looked any different than they did now. "I don't ever remember seeing us with weapons like that either."
"Maybe we should ask Luna and Artemis?" Makoto suggested, frowning down at the table.
Minako shook her head. "Artemis was acting weird last night. He started to tell me, then just stopped and ran off."
"Maybe there's something we're not supposed to know," Rei said slowly. "Remember what Setsuna told us about the time line, back when Chibi-Usa was here? They must have a good reason."
"Maybe we should ask Setsuna," Ami said thoughtfully. "She would know if it were something like that. She was there with us, after all."
"Great idea!" Minako cried, leaping to her feet. "I can't believe I didn't think of that!" With that she charged off, leaving the others to catch up. I don't know about this, Rei thought as she jogged after the impulsive blonde.
