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Kunzite

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Khalil was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt. His family was a very traditional Muslim family and he was the youngest of five. In truth, he had been somewhat of a surprise to his parents, who already had several adult and teenaged children.

Khalil was a stubborn child and being the youngest of such a large family he needed to be. His oldest sibling was his sister Zahia, who was twenty-five, married and had a child a year older than her youngest brother. Next was his brother, Basir, who was twenty-two and in his final year at college, studying to take over the family business. Then there was the twins, Rajiya and Ghada, who were both in their final year at high school.

His father Shafiq, was over fifty when Khalil was born. His mother, Daniyah, had thought that she had been going through menopause, and after seeing her doctor had been shocked to instead learn she was 14 weeks pregnant at forty-seven. Khalil had been born healthy and had a pretty average upbringing, a side from being lonely and raised as almost an only child, as his older siblings had all long since left the nest. His parents often babied him, but Khalil was a force to be reckoned with, he was very confident and a natural born leader. He sailed through school, his personality not allowing him to achieve anything less than excellent.

On a cruise in the Mediterranean with his parents at the age of 10, he realised that this was not his first life. They travelled to Greece and Italy along the way, on tours and at museums, hearing stories of ancient mythology, of Greek and Roman Gods and Heroes. The stories sounded familiar and the names resounded with him. At a stop off on the island of Cyprus, at the start of the cruise, he heard of the Greek Goddess, Aphrodite and her Roman counterpart named Venus. When he heard this, the name that echoed in his head was Astarte. He saw a vision of beauty, with eyes as blue as the water their ship sailed on and her hair more golden than anything he had ever seen before.

The legend of the Goddess, Selene and the shepherd, Endymion also reminded him of a dream he would have when he was younger. Only his dream played out very differently, full of tragedy, betrayal and death. The legend had the details wrong. Endymion was a Prince and he was in love with Serenity, a Princess and the daughter of Selene.

Endymion was also Kunzite's brother and friend, along with their other companions, Jadeite, Nephrite and Zoisite. Kahlil wondered what happened to his brothers from another life. He hoped beyond anything he could imagine, that they too, had been reborn in this day and age, and vowed to himself that he would search them out when he got older, even if they were at four separate corners of the Earth.

But only after finding his Astarte, first.

For the rest of his teen years, that thought was what drove him. The hope that one day they would all be reunited and he would be able to make it up to his Prince, his men and Venus- Astarte, for the terrible thing he had done. It wasn't the evil acts the Dark Kingdom had made him and the other Shitennou do that he felt bad for, he knew that whoever that puppet had been, it had not been him. It was the act of letting himself get captured by Beryl and her minions, letting them torture him and mess with his mind and magic, torment him so much that his shield fell and Metalia's darkness infected him, controlled him, possessed him. Making him not return to them. Making her despair over his well being once he was missing and for the innumerable amount of tears that stained her beautiful face and pillow in her grief of him.

Once he had been compromised, the rest were easy for Metalia, for their connection as brothers in arms, in their magic and their mission to protect the prince, made a hole in the defence of the rest. He had been the first to be captured and it had taken the Darkness weeks, l months even, to bring him down.

Kunzite's guilt from his past life influenced Khalil. He never let anyone down, he worked himself to the bone and was loyal and hardworking to a fault.

He knew that if he wanted to search the Globe for his companions, he would need a hell of a lot of money.

Khalil's family were not poor and in fact were quite well off, but they were far from rich. His father's family owned a restaurant and his mother had been a writer and stay-at-home mother. To be able to get the kind of money he needed, he had to do something big.

After high school, Khalil went on to study accounting and mathematics. He figured that using his powers to cheat at investing would not be too frowned upon. Plus, his had always had a highly analytical mind and been fairly lucky, so chances are that he would be able to do well on his own.

After college and a year and a half of interning and working his way up the company ladder, he was promoted and sent directly to the New York office of his Egyptian investment company. He'd worked all through his teens and collage years at his father's restaurant saving every bit and had been personally investing his own money for a few years.

It was around the time of his move that Khalil felt the first traces of evil. The Darkness that had corrupted him and his brothers in their past life was stirring, and Khalil would be damned if they got him again. In the Silver Millennium, he had withheld their torture for close to three months before his barriers slipped, they had used an illusion of the rest of the Shitennou to distract him and slipped into his magic while he was distracted. This life, he would hold out for as long as needed. They would not trick him again.

Since the time that he first discovered his magic, he had been training himself in it, in secret. He needed to be prepared for when he found his Prince again, to be strong enough to uphold his position as the Leader of his Shitennou. He needed to be strong enough to not let Venus down again, to protect her, even from himself.

Two years after his move to the United States, he left his firm and cashed in all the money he had amounted. He was going home for his sister's 50th birthday, then after some time spent with his family he would embark on his search for his past life.

He already had a strong lead on Nephrite. He'd seen a boy in their late teens walking down the street in Manhattan, from the window of a coffee shop he had been at. That was a year ago and when he had sought out the boy, named Nathanial Warringtion, he discovered that he had left town. As disappointed as Kahlil had been, he had hope and a starting point. If the King of the West was in the west, that gave him some ideas as to where Jadeite and Zoisite could be found.

After his time with his family, Khalil started his trip. He bought the first ticket to Europe, hoping luck and fate would help him. It would take him to Copenhagen, Denmark, with a stop over in London, England.

It was in London that he saw her. His Astarte. She could not have been older than 12 or 13 but he was sure it was her. He had been about to head to café to in Heathrow Airport to have something to eat that was not aeroplane food, when a mane of golden hair coming barrelling around the bend, her shoulder bumping his elbow.

He handbag slid off her arm and the contents spilt across the floor. A plane ticket and passport among the lip-gloss, purse and gum.

"Gomen, gomen," she muttered, bowing her head, before shaking it, her long hair floating about and smiled. "I mean 'sorry'," she finished in accented English.

"It's alright," Khalil said when he found his voice. He knelt and handed this girl her passport, which had landed by his foot.

"Ariga- um, thank you." Then she was gone.

Khalil smiled to himself as he ordered his food. Venus had also been reborn, and though she was still but a child, it gave him a chance for the future. A very far off future, but a future nonetheless.

Minako, he mused. That had been the name on the inside of her passport, added with the language she spoke, he was sure she was Japanese. Perhaps he would travel to Japan in about eight years time. She was much too young, and would be for the next several years. No need to rush.

A month later, while in Sweden, he got call from his father saying that his mother had fallen down the stairs and broken her hip. While in hospital, running tests, the doctors discovered that Daniyah had the beginnings of dementia. Kahlil flew home immediately, and his search was postponed.

Once in Egypt he felt chills. He felt he was being watched. His every movement observed by some unseen person.

She came for him during the night. He had just had a long day at the hospital with his father and siblings while his mother had surgery on her hip.

Beryl looked just as his faded memories of her during the Dark Kingdom had. She felt wrong, her energy rejecting his. He fought, tooth and nail, against her. But it was all for naught. Without his Prince or fellow Shitennou to draw power from or a visit to Elysian, he just did not stack up. For what felt like months he was bombarded with dark power, and the only thing keeping him a float was that girl. Minako. Her smiling face and a hope for a distant future.

"I'm sorry Endymion." He muttered, his energy fading. "I'm sorry Astarte. Minako."

And sorry he was. He screamed and raged againat the agent of the Dark Agency that his body became. He dispised the acts he commited against Sailor V.

The only thing he could do was lock his knowledge away. He would not let Metalia know he knew who Sailor V was. Because he did. In his heart of hearts he knew she was Venus. Astarte. Minako.

That poor girl. He remembered she could not have been more than 13. Kunzite heard the love prodiction that fool, Danburite, made to V. He knew she would believe it too. He also knew that she would use it to protect her Princess when the time comes, use it to push everything but her mission aside.

But then Sailor V died. Khalil mourned for the girl he would never know, and before he knew it, Kunzite was being recalled to the Dark Kingdom. Jadeite had fallen and Nephrite followed him into death, both having been killed by their loves.

At this point, Khalil only thought of his Prince. Zoisite would also fall soon too and it would all be up to him and he dreaded it.

But when Zoisite was killed, he felt his long dead heart beat again. Yes, his brother was dead, but she was alive.

Venus was there. And despite the fact she killed Zoisite, he found he could not hate her. Would not hate her, even if he tried.

He only hoped that the Senshi would stop him before he did something truly horrible.

It had been too much to hope for. He let his Prince fall into Beryl's lap. It didnt matter that Serenity had been found and the Ginzuishou restored, Endymion was being turned and if he knew anything, it was that Serenity would never fight against Endymion. The Dark Kingdom would win and Metalia would reign supreme.

Kunzite was killed soon after. A Sailor Planet Attack finished him and he welcomed death.

Now he could return to his Prince.

Serenity did the unexpected then, and stopped the control Metalia had on Endymion and together the Prince and Princess ended the Dark Kingdom.

He served Endymion. Mamoru. As his guardian stone he did all he could to help Mamoru and the Senshi protect the Earth and bring about the next Silver Millennium and Crystal Tokyo. He never expected or even hoped for another chance at life, but he took it. He grabbed it with two hands and didn't let go.

When he awoke in his body, he was in his childhood room in Egypt, the one he had been staying in while his mother had been in hospital. He couldn't remember anything besides feeling the rise of Chaos and now he felt nothing. His senses were going haywire. His body telling him it had been years since his mother's fall and he could not recall anything.

His elderly father found him. He wept, his son was back after being missing for close to six years.

Khalil apologized over and over to his father, and mourned when he discovered his mother had died less than a year after his disappearance. He told his father of his past life, what he could remember and how he knew it to be true. How he worked his whole life to find it, but if Shafiq wanted, he would stay with him and never leave. The last six years had taken it's tole on his family and Kahlil could postpone his past, his father was more important right now.

Shafiq smacked his son across the back of his head, telling him to go, but to not forget to visit. After all, it wasn't everyday that you find out your son was a warrior of legend and the lover of Aphrodite in a past life. His father winked at him and Kahlil laughed.

"She must be beautiful," his father said, "This Minako. If she was the living reincarnation of Astarte, of Venus or Aphrodite, she must be beautiful."

"She is," Khalil said. Even now he had faint echoes of Venus. Somehow he must have met her in the last six years. "Both inside and out. Everyone thought that the Princess, that Serenity was the most beautiful, but Kunzite had eyes only for Venus."

"Go then, Khalil," Shafiq said, tears gathering in his eyes. "Remember to visit though."

Khalil smiled, he loved his father and would have put off his search if Shafiq wanted, but he was relieved that his didn't have to.

"Thank you, father."

Khalil left not a week later. He stated in Japan, after all, if that was where Minako was from and he just had a gut feeling that if Venus was there, then so was Serenity. And of course, Endymion would be right there with her.

That's how he found himself knocking on the door of an appartment in Tokyo. When the door opened to reveal his Prince, Khalil dropped to his knee.

"Master," he said, smiling despite his stern look.

"That was quick," Endymion said. "I only restored you to you bodies five days ago. Oh well, come in Kunzite, it's good to see you old friend."

He stepped inside and Endymion stopped at a small step, turning, "And it's Mamoru, not master."

"Of course," Khalil said, with a small incline of his head. " And I am Khalil. Have any of the others..." He trailed off, wondering if anyone else had made it back yet.

"You're the first, but I always knew you would be."

"If you want to just put you stuff anywhere," Mamoru gestered to the living room, then checked his watch. "I was just about to head to Crown, Usagi and the girls are meeting me there, if you want to come?"

Khalil had placed his bags down and walked toward a picture on a side table, it was of all the Senshi in their civilian formes. He picked it up, studying their faces.

"Minako," he muttered, when he founf Venus, running his fingers over her face. He turned to Mamoru, "Minako?" he repeated, questioning her presence.

"Oh, you know her name?" Mamoru asked and Khalil nodded. "Yeah, she'll be there."

"I ran into her in London once," he said, letting Mamoru know how he met Venus for the first time in this life. "She was very young then, still a child, but she gave me hope that if I was reborn and so was she, you would be as well as everyone else. And that perhaps, in years time, like now, I could look for her."

"C'mon," Mamoru said, grabbing keys and heading for the door. "Let's go."

Khalil saw her the moment he arrived at the arcade. Her back was to the door and she was playing a game. A Sailor V game.

Serenity or Usagi saw him first out of the girls, she tapped Minako on her shoulder and whispered into her friend's ear.

Minako's head whipped around, her golden locks flying about, her eyes wide.

He knew the second she saw him. She squealed, a large smile spread across her face and she flew at him. He squared himself for her assault. She jumped to his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his hips, her lips plastered to his a second later and Khalil felt himself tumble backwards, landing on his behind.

He let out a groan, Minako's mouth pulling away to adk if he was alright. Khalil would not have it though. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her back.

In a pile on the floor of an arcade, Kahlil felt at peace.

"You're back," Minako said. "Oh Kunzite, you're back! Oh, whoops, I got lipstick on you." She giggled, her thumb wiping at his mouth.

"I don't care," he laughed back. "And my name is Khalil, it's a pleasure to met you, again, Minako."

"Again?" She puzzled, standing up and holding out a hand for him. Then her eyes lit up, "Oh, that was you. That time at the airport. I knew it!"

"Khalil," she tested how his name sounded. Khalil had to admit that he liked how she said it.

"Khalil, nice to meet you too."

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