Chapter 6

"Are you sure you're feeling up to traveling?" asked Minako situating herself in a first class seat for an overseas plane trip. Kendal, now wearing a black eyepatch with a gray band, glanced over at the woman. So that his eyepatch didn't look so out of place, he pulled half of his hair back looking more like a blond elf from a certain fantasy movie. He claimed his window seat and she sat beside him where he could see her. He specifically requested two seats on the right side of the plane. He didn't want to spend fifteen hours shifting his whole body to look at her while they conversed or practiced her lines for the movie.

He shrugged, "A few little scratches won't stop me from keeping a film schedule."

"You're so stubborn," scoffed Minako. She held up the script he gave her in the airport just half an hour ago. She began to highlight the sections where the word "Venus" was indicated. She noticed him lean back in his seat and close his eye. She smiled. Good. He was going to rest. He gave her quite a fright when she saw all that blood and what was once his eye. It scared her further when he disapppeared from the scene without a trace. The men declared that his latent powers were reawakening without him realizing it.

It was by sheer luck that a doctor found her number written on a piece of paper in his pocket. Since he had no family here in the city, and his identification was left at the condo, she was immediately called after the enemy was neutralized and dusted. She had just changed back into her street clothing when the call came to her phone.

She was thankful to see that this producer was finally sleeping and allowing his body to heal. He had stitches on his face that were covered with thin bandages. In about two days time, he would be allowed to let them dry out in the air. In another two weeks, he was due to a doctor over seas to assess the removal of the stitches.

Minako returned her attention back to the script, planning to do her best to memorize the lines while on the plane trip. She was going to make sure she played her part as Venus in the best possible way.

Kendal shifted his body in the seat, and he opened his eye. He glanced at the young woman beside him as she muttered the lines to herself. He was surprised to see her extremely dedicated to learning her lines. He glanced around the cabin and saw it was dark. He decided it would be best to sleep and let his body rest and recover.

Minako never noticed him wake and fall back asleep.

The producer immediately woke with a start, his eye wide as he sat up in his seat. He saw Minako looking at him surprised that he stirred so quickly from sleep, her hand had been outstretched in her efforts to wake him up.

"It's time for lunch," she spoke as he leaned back in his seat. She had to remember that he may have mild Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the attack. He nodded his head and looked at her exhausted. "Are you hungry?" she asked him.

He nodded his head and gave a yawn rubbing his face. He winced when he touched the tender skin.

Minako had noted that he slept a good four hours. She made a mental note not to disturb him again for the rest of the trip as he slept. Only when he woke would she ask if he were ready to eat a meal. She noticed that even with the quick wake up, he slowed down as his alert body caught up with a tired brain.

"What would you like sir?" asked the flight attendant. She handed him a menu to look at. Minako noticed him struggling to focus on the menu. "Choice two," he finally spoke handing it back to the attendant.

She nodded, "And to drink?"

"Jasmine Tea."

She nodded her head and began pulling the food items from her cart.

He adjusted in his seat and saw the meals presented to both he and Minako.

The woman beside him began to wonder if she should have waken him up at all. He really did look horrible. She was surprised that he remembered to refrain from alcohol thanks to the pain medication he was prescribed. As he accepted the food and the drink, he placed it on the table in front of him. It looked like he was about to fall asleep again.

Minako paused as she watched noting that he caught himself dozing before reaching out for the fork and knife to begin eating his meal. He paused after two bites noticing the woman beside him watching his movement. "Is something wrong Ms. Aino?"

"You look dead tired."

She described exactly how he felt. Perhaps after all the work he put in with the sleep interruptions at night, his body finally had enough and tried recouping all the sleep from his accident to now.

"I am," he replied taking another bite of the food.

She turned to her food and began eating as well. She paused after a few bites and looked back at him, "During next meal time, would you like for me to let you sleep?"

He thought about it as he pulled the fork out of his mouth. He actually felt quite rested. This was more sleep than he had ever received since the first time he fell into a coma. He was fortunate to have had a girlfriend at the time who refused to let his life support machine plug pulled. When he woke and tried going back to normal life several months later, the woman hardly recognized who he was. She claimed that he was a different person from who she remembered in the same body. Not only that, he found out she was being unfaithful to him during his fight with death.

He submurged himself in his work after that. Sleep escaped him night after night at the smallest sounds or horns honking in the middle of the night. Even if someone began talking in the next condo over, he could hear the noise and it would wake him in a flash.

The only upside?

Sailor Venus.

Around the time he woke up in the hospital the first time, he began to see her in his dreams. He knew in these dreams that she was his equal on the battle field, and they both complimented each other assisting to boost their weaknesses into strengths. When he would wake up, every once in a while, he would catch a glimpse or a picture of her on the news stations how Sailor Moon and her team of Sailor Senshi saved the city again from supernatural monster attacks. Plus, the memories of he and Venus fighting as a team began resurfacing to his memories.

He concluded that he owed her his life. He determined that this movie he was producing, to honor the Sailor Senshi, was his way to thank all of them. More specficially, this film was to thank Sailor Venus.

Especially now. He felt he owed her everything after she saved his life from the monster trying to either kidnap or kill him. His eye and these stitches were a small price to pay for his gratitude towards the Senshi of Love. That was why he couldn't get a half-baked actress to dance around in an orange skirt pretending to be Sailor Venus.

"Kendal?... Kendal~l!"

He returned his attention to the aspiring actress beside him.

"Kendal, you didn't answer my question. Did you want me to let you sleep through the next meal or wake you when it comes?" she asked.

"Wake me up," he replied, "I can't be sleeping this entire plane ride anyways."

She nodded her head and continued to eat.

He stirred awake when the plane began to go through a patch turbulence. His hands automatically gripped the seat arm rests until the jolting subsided.

When all was calm, he looked over to the blonde beside him. A very small hint of a smile began to cross his lips as he saw her curled on her oversized seat and leaned on his shoulder. Okay, so she was beautiful he had to admit. He had assumed that her silence was attributed to learning the script and his near death experience. He knew she was single and had no immediate family in Japan. They were all up in England.

She gave a small sigh and shifted closer to his arm as she continued to sleep. "Kunzite..." she muttered softly.

Kunzite?

He heard that word before. What was it? The name of a person? An item? Where had he heard that before?

He didn't push her off of his shoulder, but he allowed her to rest there. He appreciated that she was there when he woke in the hospital only days before. She may be annoying as heck, but he appreciated her loyalty and persistance. Strangely enough, he was considering there might be something forming... some sort of odd friendship.

Yes, that must have been what it was. He was starting to appreciate her friendship.

She sighed deeply in her sleep with a smile on her face. She shifted her body a little closer towards him.

"Rest well," he whispered. He knew these next few weeks and months ahead were going to be grueling with the film schedule.

Minako slowly opened her eyes. She adjusted herself noticing two weights on her. One rested on her head and the other was resting on her shoulders and bringing her closer to a heat source. She became startled when she saw that weight was an arm and a hand. She froze in her spot with her eyes wide. She moved only her gaze to look at the spot where the man beside her rested. Kendal was asleep again, but her eyes saw his head was resting on top of hers. She quickly darted her eyes to the left side of her body. His arm was holding her close to him and his hand was RIGHT THERE.

She kept still as a stone not wanting to disturb him as he continued to rest peacefully, nor did she want to throw him off of her and accidentally reopen a wound of his.

That might get her fired from a much coveted part she wanted to act in the movie.

The stewardess looked at her with a warm smile on her face almost looking like she admired the closeness the two had. Minako was extremely uncomfortable. "Miss?" asked Minako to the flight attendant. When she got the woman's attention, she asked, "Is he asleep on me?"

The flight attendant looked at the man resting on Minako and nodded her head, "Yes Ma'am. He is."

Great.

Minako thanked her as the woman went to attend to others in the first class cabin. The blonde mentally cursed herself for being in such a predicament. She knew he hated her. And then something happened between the audition tape and being attacked... she couldn't put her finger on it. When did he start being civil towards her?

She still felt really guilty about the incident with his eye. It was something she felt was her responsibility and how it should have never happened. Perhaps when his memories return, his eye will be returned to normal?

She wasn't sure if the crystal worked that.

Well, the least she could do was let him sleep like this so he could continue to recover. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself. She decided to become cozy and return to her slumber.

Minako woke at the next feat of turbulence. She felt Kendal's arm tighten around her subconsciously as he glanced down at her. She looked back up at him with her big blue eyes. He casually removed his arm from her. "Sorry," he muttered surprised that he subsciously did so.

Another wave of turbulence hit the plane and they held onto their arm rests tightly. Minako didn't like this either, but she could only imagine what pain the jolting was bringing to Kendal's face.

Ten minutes later, the plane was smooth sailing once again. The model gave a nervous laugh. She looked at Kendal and noticed some of his bandages beginning to turn a dark red. Her eyes widened. "Kendal! You're bleeding!"

He gently placed his fingers to each of the bandages noticing his fingers pick up blood from the lowest bandage. He frowned. The young woman, knowing a thing or two about doctoring wounds on the battle field, began examining the damage from the jostling. She pressed her lips together. "Would you like for me to help re-bandage it up?" she asked.

Before he could answer, he saw her grabbing the medical kit out of her carry-on bag and begin to work her knowledge of cleaning and treating the reopened wound.

He waited patiently, curious to how she knew how to dress the wound carefully. After applying a liquid bandage and drying it out, she nodded her head and began cleaning the skin from the blood. "Have you told any of the other crew or actors about this?"

"No," he replied.

She looked down at him and frowned. "Not even the film director, Nathan?"

He had not said anything to Nathan about the attack. He assumed that Zachariah took care of that for him. That man really liked to talk. "No."

Minako frowned. "Don't you think they will be asking questions?" He looked at her with an annoyed stare. She raised her hands and huffed. "What? It's common sense to want to ask if you're okay, especially since your beautiful face got scarred."

Beautiful face?

"Don't you mean handsome?" he asked after a long pause.

She looked at him blankly for a moment, before her lips quirked into a smile. "I stand by my words. You're eyes-er, eye is just gorgeous in color, and your face just screams 'MAN'."

He wasn't quite sure how to take that compliment.

Ten hours into the flight... Minako was really, really bored. She couldn't sleep any more. Her head hurt from memorizing the script and reading it in this light.

She looked at the man beside her and sighed. "Kendal?" He returned the gaze watching her carefully. "Could I braid your hair?"

Minako was exhausted from watching the movies on the plane. She had already seen two and just wanted to get off this machine! She gave a frustrated sigh. They already ate three meals plus a snack, and she felt frustrated physically. She really wanted to go climb on a wall or go fight a youma... anything! Something! This small area was too confining! Why couldn't she learn how to teleport anyways? Was that a skill only the men knew? She wished she could teleport the rest of the way to their destination.

She looked around the first class cabin and noticed some empty space. Maybe she could take this time to do some training. Her arms and legs were really stiff from sitting in this somewhat confined area for all this time. She turned her attention to the sign on the plane that indicated she could take off her seat belt.

Kendal took off his glasses. He had been reading some material in regards to this upcoming production. He paused and watched Minako as she stretched standing up from her seat and walking to a space behind them. He curiously watched her as she continued stretching her arms and upper body. He had to take his seat belt off and scoot into the next seat as he saw her sit down on an empty space of flooring in this cabin.

He raised his eyebrow as she began to stretch her body in ways only a trainned athlete could bend. He only saw her physical abilities on video, not live in person. He sat back in his seat and thought for a moment. Was she really that kind of person who couldn't sit still for a long period of time? They only had about three more hours till landing. No, she had even told him too that she spent time in London. So long distance flights were not new to her. Perhaps...

He turned his attention to her after several minutes and watched as she began to do push-ups. She had ditched over oversided hoodie sweater (which she wore most of this flight) exposing her arms. He almost had to pinch himself. Those muscles were real!

He went back to his seat and paused for a minute. He would have to speak to Nathan and rethink her outfits. Most of the other women who played the Senshi in the movie were think and whispy models or actresses. They didn't just get up from what they were doing to go and condition their body during their free time.

Not this young woman.

He now suspected that perhaps... just maybe he actually he casted the real Sailor Venus into his production. That made him just a little bit excited. She already proved that she was "friends" with the Senshi of Love. Maybe Minako did know about all the Sailor Senshi and their true personalities. She might be a good resource to assist the other women...

Or better yet...

He decided he needed to keep an eye on her when the other women on the set began acting as the senshi. Perhaps he might pick up clues that she does indeed know the beautiful warriors or may perhaps be Venus.

Better yet...

He smirked. If a youma attacked their set and only Venus showed up...

Yes, he would know that his suspicions really were true, and Minako really WAS Sailor Venus.

As more and more thoughts crossed his mind.

"Why are you in my seat?"

She crossed her arms as he watched her. Her hoodie was back on to his disappointment.

"Why did you get out of your seat?" he replied.

She scoffed as he smirked and slid back in his own chair.

She sat down still with a huff and turned on a movie.

He still couldn't get her out of his thoughts.. that perhaps he was sitting next to THE Sailor Venus.

He felt his body shaken one more time, and abruptly woke up. He saw Mianko's outstretched hand quickly jerk back with her carry on bags in her hand. All the men and women from first class were also grabbing their suitcases and stored items.

"We landed," she spoke with a smile.

How did he miss that? Was this the beginning of his sleep returning?

He nodded his head and stretched his back and shoulders.

Minako stepped back when he began to stand up and leave his seat. He noticed she was smiling really big as they landed at their intended destination. What she didn't realize was they needed to take one more plane to the small country they were filming in.

She wasn't too happy when she found out.

It was another four hours before they arrived to their intended destination. They were finally in the city where they would be filming. She was estatic once they went through customs and began their travels to baggage claim.

A semi-familiar face greeted them at the exit.

Kendal shook Nathan's reached out hand. He gave a polite bow to Minako as she bowed respectfully to him.

"Good to see you both" he spoke, as he began leading them to his luxury car. Nathan, her new director, had taken Minako's bags and began carting them as she gawked at the buildings around.

"SO COOL!" she exclaimed estatic to be in a new country.

Nathan chuckled with a pleasant smile on his face, "I'm glad you enjoy what you see. The other cast members are very excited to meet you."

"Really?"

He nodded, "Yes. We have been filming for the past five weeks all the parts that did not require Sailor Venus."

"Wow..." she muttered, "So, now all you have left are my parts and the parts with Sailor Venus in them?"

"Correct."

"That's a good use of time," nodded Minako. "I didn't realize how challenging it was to find a Sailor Venus."

"Well," started Nathan scratching his scruffy chin, "Our dear Producer here wouldn't settle for just any actress to play Venus."

"Really now?"

He nodded, "So you must be Sailor Venus' twin to have gotten the part."

She gave a bright smile, "Either way, I am honored to play such a great warrior!"

He nodded with a smile.

The producer, on the other hand, was not quite enjoying this conversation with how quick the two were cozying up to each other. Was Nathan flirting with her?

"Kendal, I think I like this young lady," the director teased, "Where did you find her?"

"Tokyo Airport."

"Really now? A complete stranger?"

"I told you," spoke the silver haired man, "She's friends with Zachariah and his wife."

"Oh yeah. Zach did mention something about getting hitched." There was a pause in the conversation before a smirk rose to the brown-haired man's lips, "He also said he is now surrounded by beautiful women. I can see he wasn't joking."

Minako immediately felt rage enter into the car as a look of murder crossed the features of Kendal.

What was THAT for?!

Nathan laughed, "He showed me a picture of all his wife's friends. I personally think the woman wish reddish-brown hair is cute."

"Makoto? Really?"

Nathan glanced to her before his eyes returned to the road, "Is that what he name is?"

"Yes sir," she replied. "She's a WONDERFUL cook. My friends and I always look for excuses to meet so she can make something delicious for us."

"Really?" he asked quite interested. He made a turn onto the highway.

"Yes. She's also a blackbelt in taekwando."

"Really now?" he asked very interested. "Does she have her own dojo?"

"No, it's more for self defense. What she really wants to own is her own bakery," smiled Minako.

"Hmm, perhaps I should meet her when I return to Tokyo."

Minako smiled. Little did he realize, he already had met her.

"We are a good thirty minutes away," announced Nathan, "I'd advise either taking this time to sleep or brushing up on your lines. When we arrive, we will be fitting you in your costumes and outfits and do a test run with your make-up.

She nodded her head. A huge smile crossed her lips. This was it! She was going to be on the big screen!

Author's Note: I had a few people ask about why I request reviews, and I felt a need to address that. I ask for the reviews to see who is paying attention to the story. I actually have another Fanfiction account with over 50 stories, and the reviews give me information as to who may be paying attention to the story. When I started up Winter, it made me think people had very little to no interest in the story, again because I didn't receive any feedback. I almost shut down my account as a result. I ask for the reviews as a motivation for the reader if they would like for me to update really soon. Other wise, I might not update for another year. Simple as that. I work full time and have a part time job. If I have another person comment about the review thing, I might just discontinue this story line. I am currently working on a fiction story series (not fanfiction) that I do hope to send to a publisher soon. I choose to write this story instead to brush up on my storytelling and writing skills.

I'm not obsessed with getting reviews for this story. It's merely a guage for me to know who cares enough about this story and would like to see it updated.

Also, as a side note, I asked for 12 reviews because at the time, I hadn't yet finished writing Chapter 6. If that goal of 12 reviews was met it would force myself to finish that chapter when I either A) Have the time, or B) Have enough people that tell me they care about the story. If I ever ask for 5-10 reviews, it's to see whose paying attention, and from me, it's also an unspoken message that I have several chapters completed and waiting to be released. So please do not be judgemental in that way. I love you guys and want to make sure that I can give a thrilling, entertaining story in a timely manner. I enjoy seeing reader interaction and want to hear from you all.

No, I do not have a new chapter waiting to be released, so I am not going to put a review count this time. What I am going to do is ask you, the reader, to drop a comment/review about what you think of the story. Send predictions of what you think might happen. What would you like to see happen? Perhaps it's already planned for the story. I don't know when the next time I'll update is because I'll start turning my focus to the books I desire to soon publish.

If I hear from enough of you to update, then I'll update. Sound good?