Author's Notes: Just a quick note to say to those reading and reviewing – thank you for your support. These chapters of the story have been sitting around on my harddrive for over a year now, and I've only just starting posting them on a whim (thanks, flufflybunny!). I didn't do it earlier because I didn't think I was going to finish this, but for some reason…well. I don't really like leaving things undone.

You know, I hate stories that have those comments at the start saying: "read & review or i wont update hee!11!11!"…but I figure that I might as well say something of that ilk myself. I'm currently only posting what I have finished from a year ago, and I am only going to finish writing this if people genuinely want to see where I was going with it. This isn't because I'm a whore for attention – it is simply that with a full time job and a billion cantankerous original characters resident in my frontal lobe, I only have a little time to write fanfic. I myself know exactly how the story finishes. If you want me to share that with you, well. You need only ask.

Seven: Under Pressure

In which it is discovered it is third time unlucky/it is revealed that Mamoru isn't the only knight available for damsels in distress/Luna is declared boy-crazy by the princess of the name and/a new player enters the field and steals the ball in the final seconds of the game.

"You have failed me, Jadeite."

"Yes."

The red-headed queen found herself raising at least a mental eyebrow at this; Jadeite's reply had been very calm and completely without guile. Nothing in the way in which he stood, fist clasped reverently to breast with head bowed low, suggested any agitation at all; his words had been even and though without sarcasm, had been also without shame or plea. Though Jadeite had never been her definition of a snivelling coward, he had worn his emotions far more outwardly than this before his time in deep thought.

Perhaps I left him in there too long after all…but then I never did intend to release him until she awoke. One must take what comes before them as opportunity, one supposes.

Leaning to one side in her throne, the movement intentionally casual in a fashion that was anything but, she asked: "Who was the interference?"

Jadeite did not raise his head, eyes still trained on the highly polished surface of the floor below. "I do not know for certain, but I suspect it was Sailor V."

"She's troubled us before, certainly," Beryl mused, turning thoughtful eyes to her greatest shitennou. "Kunzite. What brings her to Japan? You reported that she had dropped out of sight in Britain."

The white-haired man stood at attention but did not bow his head in the same subservient manner as Jadeite. Rather, he looked directly at his queen as he gave his assessment of the status quo. "It would appear she has returned, but in Japan now as you say. It does not overly surprise me, my queen; much of the activity relating to our own projects has been concentrated in the Tokyo area so it is hardly unexpected that Sailor V should be attracted to it."

Only at this did Jadeite seem to snap out of his pose; he looked up and directly at Kunzite, obviously startled. "You know of Sailor V?"

"Kunzite has been covertly monitoring the girl for some time." Beryl then waved a hand in dismissal, a rather playful tone in her voice. That of course was far from comforting for either shitennou, both of whom knew perfectly well what Beryl like to do for fun. "I had thought it would more efficacious if he played it quietly and close to his chest. Obviously I expected too much."

"You gave no orders to dispose of the girl, my queen."

Beryl was entirely unimpressed by this answer. "So you need orders to kill an enemy now, Kunzite? I would have thought more of you." Before either could seek an answer to this, she blew out a frustrated breath and turned the full weight of her gaze to the younger of the pair. "Jadeite. Go find the last nijizuishou and do not allow it to fall into the hands of Kamen or any of those girls. I will not tolerate further failure from you."

"Understood."

"Kunzite. I wish you to watch the actual extraction and retrieval as potential back-up for Jadeite. In the meantime, continue your research into the forging of the ginzuishou. There is surely an alchemical process which we can utilise to bring it to its true form."

Knowing that there was little point in challenging her orders so directly, Kunzite merely bowed his head in acceptance. "I believe so, my queen."

Once again she returned her attention to the lesser. "Jadeite?"

"Yes?"

"If you can actually get those remaining nijizuishou at the time of collection of the last, do so. Otherwise, use the opportunity to consider your later options towards obtaining them."

"So we have your permission to kill at will, my queen?"

This remark, though spoken once again without irony by Jadeite, still earned him an extremely dangerous look. "I wish for the ginzuishou. If I need those girls alive to make it, so be it."

"But why should you need them alive?"

"I believe the princess to be among them." A look towards Kunzite caused a slow, amused smile to curl up her dark lips. "Her blood might be useful in Kunzite's hands, as he seeks to bring his queen the ginzuishou."

"And bring my queen the ginzuishou I shall."

Beryl's lazy smile vanished as she looked from Kunzite's impassive face to Jadeite; the order was a short and simple bark. "Go."

Jadeite vanished at once; certainly he had learned never to be told twice to do anything. It was quickly obvious why only he had been asked to depart; Beryl's warning to Kunzite was thoughtful and dark.

"Watch him, Kunzite. He seems…peculiar, since his awakening."

"Of course."

That damned Zoisite, she thought sourly under her breath as her most powerful servant left her presence. As silly and vain a creature as he was, at least he could be counted on to do anything for his dear Kunzite-sama. Jadeite, however…I must keep an eye of my own on him. Loyal as he once was, I wonder. I do wonder indeed.


"Hi, Zoisite."

The former shitennou leaned on the doorframe, raised an eyebrow at the blonde girl. "Password?"

She blinked, and succeeded in looking as blank as the Great Wall of China painted freshly white. "Huh?"

A rather amused smile curved his lips in a way that could have been rather disturbing for Usagi, had he not stepped backward to hold the door open for her. "Joke. Ha ha?"

"Um…yeah." She laughed a little nervously but didn't step inside; instead she peered around the slim form and into the quiet apartment. "Is Mamoru-san here?"

"Yes. He's in the bathroom, actually."

At this, Usagi had the grace to look rather embarrassed. "Really?"

"Yes. Really." With a rather staged yawn, Zoisite idly covered his mouth and said off-handedly: "I actually strung him up in the shower after I beat him to death with the toilet brush. I was planning to make my getaway around about now, but then you knocked on the door. Guess I'm going to have to do something about you, now that you're a witness to murder most foul."

Usagi really did take a step back at this, blue eyes as wide as dinner-plates. "Really?"

"No, not really," he muttered as he raked his loose hair back with fingers curled into a rough approximation of a comb. "Are you coming in or not?"

Holding her bag before her almost like she thought it would make a decent shield should Zoisite attempt to become sociopathic, she tried to peek around the slender man again. "Is Mamoru-san really here?"

"No, he went down to the store. We ran out of milk."

Something about Zoisite's voice as he said that – quite possibly it was the odd note of glee – had her asking: "Oh?"

"I threw it out the window when he told me I was a vain self-centred little toad." And though he was attempting to be matter of fact about it, Usagi could hear deep amusement in his voice. "I don't know why he was so upset about it, really."

"So he left you by yourself?"

"I did stop needing a baby-sitter several years ago," he returned dryly. "Aren't you supposed to be in school, anyway?"

"Well…yeah." She looked down at the floor, and then looked up again from underneath her heavy bangs at the man still leaning on Mamoru's doorframe. "But I wasn't feeling well."

"Don't they send you kids home when you're sick?"

"Not sick like that." Usagi gave up on standing in the hallway, instead deciding to take advantage of the nearest wall. As she leaned against it Zoisite came out further, still leaning slightly on the frame as he continued to watch the silly little girl who could be so suddenly serious. "It's just…everything, I guess. After yesterday…what happened…everything feels so wrong!" The words just burst out of her, seeming to surprise even Usagi herself.

"In what way?"

"Just…" Her misery was obvious as she said quietly: "I can't stop thinking about it."

"You mean Sailor V?"

"No. Yes. Kind of. That, too." The frustration was evident in her voice, but the way her knuckles whitened as she gripped the handle of her book-bag more tightly served well to prove it further. "It's just…I tried to kill Jadeite."

"No surprises there, Usagi-san. I would've tried it myself, had our friend V-chan not decided on a bit of deus ex machina."

Blinking, Usagi looked up from where she was watching the toe of her school shoe scuff the carpet in the hallway. "Deus ex whatsit?"

Folding his arms impatiently over his chest, he all but snapped: "Just finish what you were saying."

"Um. Yeah." Though she was beginning to wonder if talking to Zoisite about all this was a good idea, she kept going. After all, she wasn't even entirely sure why she'd come; talking to Mamoru about it all might not have been much better. As much as…well, she didn't like him…he was an all right guy, but…not…

Get it together, Usagi!

She took a deep breath and started over. "Okay. It was…I mean…when V-chan released us, I had the moon-stick in my hand, didn't I? But I didn't even think then to heal him. I just…I wanted to hurt him. Because he was hurting my friends." Though she still looked directly at the ground, her eyes were obviously filling up with tears like storm-drains in a flash flood. "But…that's not a reason for me to want to hurt him, is it?"

"Usagi-san?"

"Yeah?" she sniffled as she looked up.

"You shouldn't talk to me about stuff like this."

She bit her lip as she looked away again from Zoisite's unmoving green gaze; her voice was barely above a whisper when she said: "I'm sorry."

His slow sigh made her look up at him again, this time in surprise. "I'm just not exactly on the straight and narrow myself here. I really do doubt that my moral advice would help much with the salvation of your own soul."

"Yeah. I guess." For a short time silence reigned as she continued to scuff at the carpet; the topic of conversation was abruptly altered as she asked without warning: "Why don't you like me?"

"What?"

Usagi was taken aback by Zoisite's incredulous look; slightly uncertain now she tried to elaborate. "It's just…you seem to think I say dumb things a lot."

"You do say dumb things a lot." At her hurt look, he added: "It's just the truth. It's not going to kill you."

"It sure hurts, though."

The bark of laughter was as sharp and faceted as a shattered stained-glass window. "I should know."

"…do you hate me?" Usagi asked in a very small voice. "For doing to you what I think I should have done to Jadeite?"

"No." With another too-heavy sigh Zoisite came out and joined in her leaning against the wall. Crossing his ankles over one another, he sought from himself a brief confession. "At first I wanted to. But now? No. I don't hate you."

"But you don't like me very much?"

It was obvious to Usagi that he was struggling with the situation as he blew out a long breath, but something in her mind told him not to give him an easy out. "It's not that I don't like you. It's more that…you make me uneasy."

"The way Mamoru-san does?"

That earned her a rather sharp look from the former shitennou; in all honesty he was rather surprised at her perceptiveness. She'd never struck him as a particularly intelligent girl, but he was beginning to think he should begin to reassess his views on her. "Not exactly that way," he explained voice slow and careful. "He makes me half-remember things I can't actually remember at all. You…you make me feel bad."

"How?" Usagi was in fact rather horrified to think that she could make anybody feel bad; just the thought of it was tying up her poor heart in knots.

The look Zoisite was giving her was strictly unreadable, his voice flat. "You make me feel I should be more than what I am." With those words said, he looked up towards the ceiling as if he expected to see straight through it to the world outside, to a sky where he could read the stars even though it was still blue with the light of day. "I wonder if anyone's ever told you this before, but you're a star."

"A star?" Of all the things that she had expected Zoisite to say then, that sure hadn't made the list at all.

"Bright. Brilliant. Shining. A deep hope." The seeming compliment had an edge to it simply because he was giving her a rather peculiar assessing look as he spoke them aloud. "Am I scaring you yet?"

"Kinda."

That really did make Zoisite chuckle, though the sound seemed far less bitter than what he usually came up with. "What scares me, you know, is thinking that if this is what you are…what in heaven is the princess going to be like?"

With furrowed brow and bitten lip, Usagi asked: "What do you mean?"

"I don't remember enough to be certain, but you must have been the leader of her personal guard." With a raised eyebrow he pointed out to her: "You're Sailor Moon, remember? Stands to reason you were the Moon Princess's captain of the guard."

"No way! That would mean I…we…we were all back in the Silver Millennium? But I don't remember anything!"

Zoisite only shrugged at that, but given that he was a living breathing talking walking example of memory loss relating to the Silver Millennium, he didn't really have to do much more than that anyway.

"So you really don't remember anything much at all either?"

"No." As she opened her mouth, he swiftly cut her off by adding: "And for the last time, I don't hate you for what you did. I should really thank you."

Slumping her shoulders and returning to mangling the carpet with the toe of her shoe, she asked quietly: "So why didn't I do it for Jadeite? I mean…you hurt my friends, too."

"Nobody's perfect, Usagi-san."

The silence between them then couldn't quite be called companionable, but it was enough for the time being. Of course silence had never appealed much to the effervescent girl and so soon enough she was saying curiously: "Do you miss it?"

"The Dark Kingdom?" It surprised her slightly, that he was utterly unsurprised by the question. "No. Not really."

"They're still looking for you, you know."

That caught his attention; whipping his head around so quickly it made Usagi dizzy to look at him, he said sharply: "What?"

"That guy. Kunzite. He said to us that other night…he asked what we'd done to you. We didn't tell him. Not even I was that dumb." She laughed at herself, but her eyes were still troubled. "But he thought we must have hurt you or something."

"I suppose the or something's true enough," he muttered, before strengthening his voice to ask in a distinctly odd voice: "Why didn't you tell me?"

It was Usagi's turn to shrug, though she did speak to expand upon the idea. "The others thought we shouldn't. I guess they thought you might run off if you thought they were still looking for you." Usagi gave him a small smile as she added: "I didn't think you would, though. We promised to protect you. And we will!"

Zoisite found himself staring at the floor himself, as if he'd never known before what a good friend it could be when your eyes wouldn't let you look anywhere else. "I believe you."

"Good. Because I never lie." Swallowing, she then managed to find courage enough to add: "And now I've told you this…you hurt Mamoru-san, and we'll get you."

"Excuse me?" he asked, startled as he met her blue eyes squarely with his own.

"I think you must have hurt him once." Kicking a heel back so that it began a rhythmic tap against the wall at her back, Usagi pursed her small rosebud lips. "I think that…if he's the prince, right, looking for the princess…if we all really did live once, on the moon…you knew him. And you hurt him. I won't let you do it again."

Zoisite was trying not to smirk, which both embarrassed and annoyed Usagi. "Got a crush on him, do you?"

"No!"

"Hmm."

Blushing as she looked away from him again – why did he have to hmm like that, as if I was just being a silly little girl! – she sought a subject change and quickly leapt on the first decent idea that sprang to mind. "…did you have a girlfriend? Back in the Dark Kingdom?"

"Oh, and who'd be my girlfriend? A youma?" Rolling his eyes, Zoisite gave Usagi a deeply sceptical look. "Good grief. Those things make the elephant man look like the world's most eligible bachelor."

"Yeah. I guess." Laughing rather abruptly, Usagi managed to burble out through her giggles: "I suppose going out with a girl with big claws for arms would make people look at you funny."

"Bet we'd be the first to get served in the restaurant if she waved a waiter down with those though," Zoisite returned seriously. "Talk about wanting to get someone out of the place as soon as possible."

This comment meant that as Mamoru stepped off the list with two bags of groceries he came across the rather bizarre scene of Zoisite and Usagi doubled over in the hallway outside his apartment, laughing themselves sick.

"What's going on?" he asked suspiciously; though Zoisite and Usagi had never exactly fallen out over anything since the healing, he had always had the impression from Zoisite that the former shitennou was far from fond of the blonde senshi.

"She's cutting class and I'm enjoying her sparkling company while she does. Problem?" Zoisite answered for them both, Usagi still laughing so hard tears were all but streaming from her eyes.

Rolling his eyes at the display, Mamoru passed them both and walked into his apartment, though not without patting her lightly on the head as he did so. "Hey, Usagi-san."

"Hi, Mamoru-san," she choked out as she tried to gain some measure of sobriety; still there was a distinct lightness in her step as she then proceeded to trailed him inside. "I'm sorry for coming over uninvited."

"Don't be. It's nice to see your face." With his back to her he managed to miss the blush that crossed her pretty face, though it was hard to tell it apart from the flush already there from the prolonged laughing fit. "Are you and Zoisite really getting along okay?"

"Yeah. He's pretty cool."

"More fun than you, anyway," Zoisite added as his two cents, coming into the kitchen to join Usagi and Mamoru.

That particular comment of course only earned a snort from Mamoru, already well-used to Zoisite's brand of "friendly" banter. "So who wants some…oh."

Usagi looked up from where she had already dug with gusto into the bag of odango; she did manage the grace to at least look a little shamed. "Were these not for me?"

After snacks had been had – snack time mostly involving Zoisite and Mamoru watching in absolute amazement the sight of Usagi having herself a decent feed – Mamoru announced that it was indeed time to find the last carrier. With little protest, Zoisite dug out the nijizuishou. It took several minutes to wrest it from Usagi – who had never seen it before and like a magpie couldn't resist a pretty shiny thing – but once he had it in hand, the image of the carrier was bare moments away.

"Third time unlucky, I guess," Mamoru breathed out slowly as he looked at the little girl in the heavy coat. "Never met that girl."

Usagi's face – originally rather cheerful as she had oohed over the shirozuishou – had since fallen. "Me, either."

Zoisite's troubled gaze seemed fixated on something rather different to the girl's identity. "I'm not so sure it's her," he murmured slowly as he voiced his thoughts aloud.

"What, you've broken the shirozuishou already?"

"Endymion-sama, I'm not afraid to tell you that you're a jerk, all right?" Huffily he let the image fade, setting the crystal aside as he leaned back into the couch and crossed his arms. "I think it's the cat."

"…is that even possible?" Mamoru couldn't help but show deep scepticism at the very idea of a cat holding a nijizuishou.

"The girl's not fully in frame – she's barely even in focus, for crying out loud. It's the cat."

"Well, if you want to play animal catcher, be my guest."

"Oh, no way. You hold it down and I'll zap it, that's the deal, highness."

"And how are we even supposed to find that cat?"

"Ask your cat?"

"She's got a name, you know."

"I know that." Stiffly, Zoisite then admitted rather grudgingly with his chin held high: "I just don't like cats."

Usagi had been rather bemusedly watching the argument play out; it wasn't until that point that she had caught up with the rapid-fire banter to add in her own two cents. There was an ease to the interplay that felt as strange as it did familiar. She'd never have thought that Mamoru and Zoisite could behave like this together after being enemies but then…it felt wrong that they should ever behave any other way. "Why don't you like Luna?"

"I don't like small, smelly animals."

"She'd be offended to hear that," Mamoru advised, nudging Usagi to keep her quiet as she opened her mouth in outrage on behalf of her diminutive guardian. "Besides, I'm not even convinced that Luna would KNOW that many cats. She's not exactly your average feline."

Usagi grinned quite suddenly, looked down at her watch, "We should go ask her!"

"Where is she?" Zoisite asked as he looked down at his own watch, frowning as he saw it was later than he'd originally thought.

"I don't know, actually. But it doesn't matter. Let's call a meeting at Rei-chan's. Luna always seems to find out when we've got one of those…she's probably with Ami-chan or something anyway." With that said in an extremely decisive voice, she leapt to her slippered feet and pumped a hand in the air. "Let's go!" She did deflate somewhat when she saw the rather incredulous looks the two men were now giving her. "…what?"

"You've very decisive today," Zoisite said finally, apparently only just managing to keep a straight face. Mamoru, on the other hand, was just grinning widely.

Scowling, Usagi put her hands on her hips and returned haughtily: "Well, you're the one who said I was the Moon Princess's leader. I have to try my best because of that, right?"

That wiped the smirk right off Mamoru's face. "What?"

Rolling his eyes to the ceiling, Zoisite said only: "Long story. Let's just go."


"So, who do you think Sailor V really is?" Jupiter asked as she kicked her feet in the air; she lay on her stomach on the floor of Rei's bedroom, watching Rei pick absently at her hakama while Ami tapped out seemingly random digits on her computer keypad.

"What do you mean, who she really is?" Rei asked, finding her voice from amongst her thoughts. "We're all just normal people. I don't think we could just guess who she is in civilian form."

"No, I mean…the whole princess thing. You really think it's possible she's the princess?"

"It would seem likely," Ami said, as usual working away at her computer. "I mean…she's powerful enough to feel safe on her own. That must say something."

Standing up in a single fluid, nervous movement, Rei began pacing her room with a deep line of tension marring her brow. "I think it says that she doesn't trust us."

"I'm sure she has her reasons." Ami's calm voice hoped to defuse Rei's nervous energy, the quiet girl acting ever the peacemaker.

"It still doesn't make much sense," Rei said quietly, now tapping one long finger against her chin as her pace sped up. "We're missing a senshi, right?"

"What?" Mako blinked, giving Ami and Rei both odd looks.

Chewing now on her lip, Rei continued: "Luna said there were five of us. Right?"

"Yes." Ami's near-eidetic memory was excellent for confirming all manner of facts, second hand or first.

"And the princess can't be a real senshi."

This Ami clearly did not agree with, as she near-instantly asked for a decent reason for the assumption. "Why not?"

"Because we exist to protect her, right?"

"I guess we do," Mako answered for them both.

"So…I don't know for sure, but looking around at who we are…it would make sense if we were missing Venus."

Sitting up straight now, flexing out the cramping muscles in her long legs, Mako frowned and repeated the last few words of Rei's latest statement. "Missing Venus?"

"Sailor Venus. Sailor V," Ami said thoughtfully, pausing in her work at the computer to stare off into space and let her brain tick over the possibility. "It matches."

"We don't know that, though."

"Of course we don't know – she won't tell us!" Rei returned smartly, her frustration evident as she sat down quite heavily on her futon. "For all we know, maybe she is the princess and the V…I don't know. V for Victory or something." Sighing she flopped down on the bed, all her energy apparently deserting her for the time being.

"She does wear a totally different fuku to us," Ami ventured carefully. "If she is the princess, she probably remembers more than we do about everything…maybe she's been more afraid of being captured by the enemies and so she's had to learn to protect herself."

"I know what you mean, Ami," Rei said quietly as she stared at the ceiling. "But why doesn't she want us to protect her now?"

There was really nothing to be said to that. It was Mako who finally sought to break the silence, looking at the clock across the room. "I wonder where Luna is. It's not like her to be late."

The laugh from Rei was oddly light, especially given the growing darkness of her mood. "I suppose we have Usagi to blame for the lateness of Mamoru-san and Zoisite."

"I heard that, Rei-chan!" In a true example of the speak of the devil cliché, Usagi entered the room rather grumpily and promptly ditched her book-case on the floor.

"It's true, mind you," Mamoru pointed out as he followed her into the room.

"I'll second that," Zoisite volunteered, slipping off a heavy dark coat as he nodded a greeting to the girl who had looked up at the sound of his voice. "Hello, Ami-san."

The blush that heated Ami's face might have been involuntary, but it was pretty damned obvious even though she might have wished it otherwise. "Hi, Zoisite-san."

"What are we talking about? You all look so serious, with faces like that!" Usagi asked as she plopped down next to Mako and gave her a curious look.

"Yeah, you do," Mamoru added, folding himself down into a cross-legged stance far more elegantly than Usagi. "You know, I was going to bring odango over and I guess that might have cheered you up…but Usagi-chan ate them all before we even got out the door."

"Zoisite helped!"

"I hardly think my one compares to your eight," Zoisite countered dryly. "Seriously, Ami-san. What have you been talking about?"

"The princess."

"We need to find her. We know."

Rei snorted as she pushed herself into a sitting position. "You don't have any better ideas yet, do you?"

"Zoisite thinks I was the leader of her guard back in the Silver Millennium!" Usagi piped up handily, earning Zoisite a Look from Mamoru.

"…you haven't hit your head lately, have you?"

"Don't be too much of an idiot if you can help it, Endymion-sama. I was drawing logical conclusions."

"The best kind," Ami couldn't help but pipe up.

"Exactly. Thank you. I'm just saying this: she's Sailor Moon. You have a Moon princess. Surely they're related."

"I've got to protect her."

Zoisite had to throw his hands up in the air at this, displaying total helplessness at Usagi's current fixation. "…you tell her one thing, and she's like a stuck record." He then successfully ignored Usagi as she promptly stuck her tongue out at him for that comment.

Mako was scratching her head now, trying to figure out exactly what was being implied. "So we all lived in the Silver Millennium then?"

The entire conversation was promptly shot to pieces when Luna then decided to streak in; everyone stared at the state of the little cat, completely aghast. "Luna! What happened?" Usagi gasped, reaching over to pick up the puffing animal who looked like she'd just been in the wars and then some.

Once her breath was caught back, she proceeded to describe the whole sorry tale – like some completely bizarre fairytale, it involved the heroine of the piece first meeting trouble, and then being saved by her prince. Luna looked distinctly pained to remember the gang of cats challenging the "strange one," with the ensuing chase ending in a stand-off in a corner…until the appearance of her saviour.

Usagi was grinning like an idiot at the conclusion of the story; what she burst out with was obviously something she'd been waiting to say since the character of Red Battler had first entered the story. "Luna's got a boyfriend!" she squealed excitedly.

"Oh, Usagi-chan," Luna groaned, burying her face in her paws.

"You do! Oh, I think it's so cute!"

As the poor moon-cat's furry face began to take on a distinctly harassed look, Zoisite broke in. "Luna?"

"Yes, Zoisite?" she asked, seemingly glad for the distraction.

"You said it was a big fat cat, right?"

"Yes," she affirmed, giving him a look that said explicitly that she regarded that fact as hardly the most pertinent of the story.

"Don't tell me it was a big fat blue cat."

Luna was by now beginning to look rather suspicious about Zoisite's fixation on her hero. "It was."

Finally sitting down at last, Zoisite all but tumbled to the floor in what seemed to be weary astonishment. "Now that's what I call the power of coincidence."

Mamoru, who could clearly see what Zoisite was getting at, shook his head as if things like this no longer surprised him in the slightest. "Things like that just seem to happen around us."

"I'd noticed," he returned dryly before noting the looks of confusion on the faces of all those who hadn't seen the shirozuishou's latest image. "That cat just so happens to be the next carrier."

"…you're joking," Luna said in a tone of utter disbelief.

"I rarely joke. I smart ass people, but I don't joke."

Usagi grinned at that. "You joke with me!"

Waving a hand at her, Zoisite didn't even look at Usagi as he commanded: "Quiet."

"Hey! I'm the leader here!"

"Yes, yes. Good for you." Firmly ignoring the wail on Usagi's lips that was set to explode upon the scene, he looked to the cat again. "Luna. Do you think you could find that cat again?"

This made her look rather put upon the spot indeed. "I…I don't know," she admitted reluctantly.

"I could!"

Zoisite gave the pretty little blonde a look that clearly said he was thinking of throwing something belonging to Rei at her head. "Usagi-san, you're taking this leader thing TOO seriously now."

"But if we know who the carrier is, surely Jadeite and Kunzite do! We've got to do something!"

Rei obviously had to agree with Zoisite there, suggesting: "Like wander around aimlessly for three weeks looking for a cat in a city of millions of cats?"

"Actually." Zoisite drew everyone's attention with his sudden air of authority. "I have an idea."

It was the rather shifty glint in his eye that said to Mamoru to be rather cautious of this little idea. "Like what?"

Turning to Luna, he asked: "You said it used a fishbone like Endymion-sama uses roses, right?"

"…yes..?"

"…well, given that Endymion-sama has a sixth sense about you girls and danger…"


"This is NOT FUNNY!" Luna yowled; it was patently obvious why she might feel this way as she ran across the grounds of the park with the gang of cats in hot pursuit.

Watching the melee from a safe distance up upon one of the over-bridges of the extensive greenbelt, Zoisite had to shrug at the moon-cat's distress. "I don't know. I think it's really funny."

"You would," Mamoru said without irony, running his hand through his hair. "But funny or not, I don't think your marvellous little plan is actually working."

Shrugging again, Zoisite watched Luna pull a horrendous one-eighty and circle back for what was the tenth time at Ami's last count. "Give it time."

"I'm sure Luna's willing to do that, yes."

Seeing the dirty look Zoisite gave Mamoru and sensing an impending argument, Rei decided to point out something she'd already tried to explain several times before. "You're forgetting the cat's not Tuxedo Kamen, anyway. Why would he be able to sense when Luna's in trouble?"

"It's got a nijizuishou, Rei-san. It's not a normal cat."

"He's still a cat!"

Zoisite snorted. "So tell that to your talking cat."

"At least she can talk!"

"Guys. Shut up." That was Mako, leaning over the railing to see that although Luna was cornered again, the cat seeking to challenge the gang was not exactly what she had been picturing Red Battler to be.

"…is it me, or is that cat too skinny to be the carrier?" Rei asked, squinting as she took in the scene below the bridge.

"Sure moves like the wind, though. He's got style!" Mako said admiringly, watching the white cat run off a challenger and stare down the entire rest of the group.

Usagi nodded firmly, jumped off the railing where she'd been hanging onto it. "Let's get down there and finish saving the day!"


"Luna? Luna!"

Blearily Luna looked up at the voice of her latest hero; what bothered her intensely in that moment was that although her stressed and tired mind wouldn't allow her to think of it right away, the voice was so familiar to her. She sought it desperately, her fuzzy mind clearly so abruptly that she all but shouted the old name. "Art…Artemis!"

"You're all right." Relieved, the little white cat sat back on his haunches and sighed. "What did you think you were doing, taking them on again? I mean, I would've helped you last time too, if not for--"

"ARTEMIS!" Leaping up, not knowing whether to be happy or angry, the moon-cat simply settled for something somewhere in between as she really took in the sudden appearance of her former comrade. "I forgot…how could I…where have you been?"

"Fulfilling my mission, the same as you." The words were slightly stiff, as if the white cat was taking deep offence at the implication he'd been on a prolonged holiday in Tahiti. "Where's your charge, anyway?"

"She's…oh. Oh dear."

Artemis frowned at the rather alarmed look that overtook Luna's earlier expression of annoyance. "What…oh."

Luna winced as Artemis turned around fully and gave the much larger of the two male cats a rather weak feline smile; as annoyed as she currently was with the white cat, she wasn't particularly inclined to throw him to the mercy of her not-so-secret admirer. "I don't think he liked you saving me."

"Oh, boy."

"Hey! Cat!" Usagi came running over with a shout as she took in the scene; once she got there, however, she simply stared at the three cats in amazement. Luna now stood between the small white cat and the rather oversized blue one. "Whoa! So now Luna's got two boyfriends?" she blinked. "And she says I'M boy-crazy!"

Luna looked like she now had a headache that was on the verge of exploding her poor small head. "Usagi-chan…"

"I'm not her boyfriend," Artemis immediately refuted though something in the tone of his voice suggested that had he been human, there would have been high colour in his cheeks. "I'm her colleague."

Usagi, by now with Ami, Rei and Mako at her side, looked completely blown away by Artemis's words. "Colleague – you can talk?"

"Why so surprised?" came the lazy comment from just behind Usagi, earning rolled eyes yet again from Mamoru. "It's not like you haven't seen the talking cat bit before."

"Shut up, Zoisite."

Ignoring the command of his prince and pushing forward, Zoisite narrowed his eyes at the small white cat and then said abruptly: "You're Artemis, right?"

"You're Zoisite." At the small nod, Artemis gave him a deeply appraising look that stated clearly that trust was definitely not going to be easily won in this relationship. "So you really have turned again."

Zoisite's words were as stiff as arthritic joints, flat as an ironed prairie. "Would appear so."

"But you don't remember much, do you?" the cat asked, the oddly smug undertone causing a tic to begin in Zoisite's left eye.

"Do you?" he asked near-pleasantly, but it was obvious to all who had known Zoisite in this form for any length of time that he was growing irritable. That wasn't the entire reason why Mamoru chose then to break in, but it was certainly a contributing factor.

"What are you doing here and why are you here now?" the dark-haired man asked, unconsciously slipping into a tone that commanded immediate respect and answer. "If you're Luna's…colleague, why haven't we seen you before now?"

"Tuxedo Kamen." Artemis bowed his head reverently, and then straightened up with his head held proudly high. "Luna had her mission, and I had mine."

"So why now?" Mako asked, the words echoed by Rei.

"Luna was in trouble." Saying that reminded Artemis of the presence of Red Battler; he looked to the irritated cat and winced. "I wish he'd stop staring at me like that. It's creeping me out."

Zoisite took out the shirozuishou with a shrug, flipped it easily in one elegant hand. "Guess seeing as we're all here…"

Artemis did the feline equivalent of raising an eyebrow as he calculated Zoisite's meaning and nodded at the largest cat of the trio. "He's the carrier?"

"Sure is. Someone grab it."

Usagi promptly leaned over to gather up and squish happily the rather startled looking cat; it didn't really have much opportunity to mewl in protest given how fast Zoisite then moved. Once again, those who protected him had to admit that Zoisite was proving an efficient ally. The nijizuishou was out in what appeared to be a flash. The only problem – and naturally there was a problem – was that the angle Usagi held the cat on seemed to be all wrong. The nijizuishou promptly flew off out into the sky, disappearing into a distant copse of trees.

"What the—"

Usagi leaped to her feet, quickly dumping the heavy bundle of snoring cat on a rather unprepared Rei. "I'll get it!" she called as she then bounced off out of sight, ignoring Rei's loud complaints about fat cats and sudden weights.

Luna sighed as she rubbed at her aching head, and asked of the group in general: "You think we should let her run off alone like that?"

Pocketing the shirozuishou, Zoisite gave Mamoru a thoughtful sideways look. "She's a big girl now. Though I am surprised she's not a bigger girl with all the sweets she eats."

"You're not telling me anything I didn't know before," Luna muttered, but in all affection; the half-smile faded as she looked down at the slumbering cat with a sigh. "The poor thing."

Artemis decided to take offence at this comment. "I don't hear you saying you poor thing to me! And I took that blow for you!"

Luna tossed her head in the haughty way only females of any species can pull off well. "Yeah, but I'm angry at you."

"For what?" he asked, quite incredulous. "For following orders?"

"Whose orders?" she challenged immediately.

The look Artemis gave her then was downright astonished. "Queen Serenity's orders, of course."

"The Queen." These words had a magic effect on Luna; energised by their mere sound she all but pounced on her wayward comrade. "Do you know who the princess is?"

"Of course I do," he returned, stepping back elegantly so he was still out of her pouncing range. "Sailor Moon is your charge. The Moon Princess is mine."

This interesting little development begged for the input of the entire group, but this was halted by a rather alarmed scream from the direction in which Usagi had earlier disappeared. "Oh, great," Mamoru muttered, flexing his hand tiredly. "I knew we shouldn't have let her go alone." With two nods, he separated them into two groups. "Luna. Artemis. Zoisite. Stay here. Girls? Transform and come with me."

"Yes, sir!" Mako said with a mock salute and a rather silly grin. "Anything for a fight, sir!"

"You really enjoy this too much sometimes, Makoto-san."

"Sure do!" She grinned, her henshin wand already in hand. In their senshi forms the girls then trailed Tuxedo Kamen, leaving Luna and Zoisite to fight it out for knowledge of the past from Artemis. Given Luna's memory of the cat and Zoisite's habit of pestering until he got what he wanted, they were sure that at least one of them was going to get some answers.

Usagi struggled against the tight grip about her waist, trying to raise her hands to beat at the strong arms that bear-hugged her from behind. Given that those arms successfully pinned her own against her sides, she was not getting very far in her task at all. "Let me GO!"

"Tsukino-san. Honestly," Jadeite all but soothed, tightening his grip just enough to make her gasp. She did not release her grip on the cat's nijizuishou, however. "It's better if you let me have the nijizuishou for now."

"How's that?" she snapped back; she could be a bit of a flake from time to time, but not even Tsukino Usagi was going to buy a statement as wild as all that.

"Good question. Maybe I should let you have it after all."

Usagi was craning her head around to tell Jadeite that he was nuts when a strong voice broke into the clearing amongst the tall trees. "Back off, creep!"

"Haven't I heard that already?" Jadeite muttered, but before Usagi could tell him to shut up about their lack of new challenging material he let her go. Startled, she stood stock still, considering her options until he shoved her hard in the back and left her sprawled in the dirt.

Mars pursed her lips, and then scowled direly at the blonde shitennou. "Usagi! Transform!"

"Ye-yes!" Picking herself up rather painfully from the ground, she twisted her hands in the familiar pattern and shouted: "Moon Prism Power…make-up!"

Jadeite seemed totally uninterested in the metamorphosis taking place only mere feet from him. His entire attention was now focused on the tall form watching him just as carefully as he did him. "Tuxedo Kamen," he said slowly, the words sounding oddly wrong on his tongue. It was as if Jadeite thought the name entirely wrong for the individual that they described. "We meet again."

"I'm ready for you this time," Tuxedo Kamen returned evenly, holding his cane far more properly than he had during the last duel; he didn't understand it, but it was feeling…more right now, to hold it as if it were a sword. The weight of it was all wrong, but something was telling him that he knew how to handle such an object.

Jadeite, however, appeared to disagree totally with his growing assurance in his prowess as a swordsman. "Not like this, you're not."

Mars could not help but snort at the odds presented to them. "You can't beat all of us, you know," she pointed out, not without a degree of relish.

"Possibly not. I will try, however." Easily he pulled the shining kodachi from the æther, holding them at the ready again. "Wish to press your luck, girls?"

Firming up her trembling hands Sailor Moon pulled the moon-stick from her own wand-space and snapped it into a pose, holding it before her determined face. "I'll heal you."

Jadeite raised an eyebrow, looking somewhere between amusement and satisfaction. "Is it really so easy, Sailor Moon?"

"I guess not," she admitted, but the blue determination in her eyes did not falter. "But I'll try anyway. I'm the leader. I have to."

"You surely do." Appearing to be more in the mood for conversation than battle right now, Jadeite lowered the glowing blades. "But do you know what being the leader really means, Sailor Moon?"

The query in his voice made her falter a moment, but she found herself quickly enough. "Being there for your friends. Making sure they're safe and happy."

"What if I told you it would make them safer and happier if you gave me the nijizuishou?"

She had to laugh at this, the sound light and disbelieving. "I wouldn't believe you!"

"You should."

Tuxedo Kamen stepped forward, standing just feet in front of Sailor Moon. He held the cane as a two handed sword and gave the shitennou the hard word. "Just fight, Jadeite."

The swords blinked out, Jadeite raising his hands in apparent annoyance. "No. I don't like these odds after all."

"Then I'll even them, shall I?" A sudden dark flash of energy threw Mercury, Mars and Jupiter to the ground; out of the gleaming darkness coagulating in the shadows of the trees walked a man of pale light. "Two against two. Better, Jadeite?"

is it just me, or does Jadeite not seem pleased to see this guy? That startled thought pushed aside, Mamoru then realised that he was fairly sure he wasn't happy to see him again, himself.

"Yes," the blonde muttered, and then drew his kodachi again. "What would you have me do, Kunzite?"

"I'll deal with the girl and the crystal. You do something with Kamen."

Sailor Moon held the nijizuishou close to her chest, her eyes growing progressively more wild as the man approached. "Tuxedo Kamen-sama!" she squealed, tossing the nijizuishou to him. She wasn't entirely sure what she was thinking, but the key seemed to be that the white-haired man wanted the nijizuishou…and passing on the crystal would get him out of her hair for at least a brief moment.

Tuxedo Kamen snatched the nijizuishou from the air, managing to catch it despite the girl's rather inelegant (and rather inaccurate) throw. "Oh, thanks, Sailor Moon," he muttered, holding it tightly in his hand all the same. He had to admit that maybe she hadn't been such an idiot however, because he could see already she was readying her moon-stick.

Still, that was small comfort when he felt the full weight of cold blue eyes upon him. They had barely seen Kunzite that night with Reika, but the memory of his cold presence paled in comparison to his real self.

"Tuxedo Kamen." The voice was a deep roll of thunder, reverberating not only through the air but in his mind itself, making him wince harshly. "Accept you are not my match and give me the nijizuishou."

Focusing entirely on the tall pale man, Tuxedo Kamen accepted that that could be true but that he wanted evidence all the same. "I don't accept garbage like that."

With his attention so caught up in Kunzite, he didn't realise what Sailor Moon was doing until it all went hideously wrong. "Moon…Healing…eek!" The moon-stick clattered to the ground as Jadeite teleported halfway across the clearing and caught her from behind in a move that brought on rather a lot of déjà vu for both parties.

"Quiet."

"Lemme go!" she wailed, the glow of the wand fading fast as she felt his sorcery try to drain the energy from her flailing form. "This isn't fair!"

"I know. Bear with me a bit."

The matter-of-fact tone – the words themselves completely unexpected – meant she couldn't help but gasp: "What?"

While Sailor Moon and Jadeite continued their back and forth struggle, Kunzite raised one strong hand and opened the palm; Sailor Moon gasped at the light that emitted from it, dark and malevolent. "Tuxedo Kamen-sama!"

The blow never left his grip, but it was hard to say if it had ever been intended to land in the first place. Kunzite seemed totally unsurprised by the crescent beam that had dissipated the energy and left Tuxedo Kamen staring unharmed at him.

"Why don't you fight someone with enough memory to be on a par with you, Kunzite?" came the strong voice of a female from seemingly all around them.

Kunzite was unmoved by the disorientation that bit at the minds of all the others at the surround-sound voice. "Ah. Sailor V."

The senshi in question stepped onto the scene from the shadowed wings, seeming to shine with a light all of her own in the dim clearing. What drew the most attention of them most was not her beauty and power, but rather the gleaming broadsword in her own hands. "You can call me princess, thank you." The mask fluttered to the ground, the face beneath it young and determined. "Want to go a round?" she said as she came to stand beside Tuxedo Kamen, blade glinting in the light of her form. "You think you can beat us both?"

Kunzite laughed then, the sound as ugly as it was beautiful. "Haven't we done it before?"

He unsheathed the sword from the air itself, as Jadeite had done before him; it was a one-sided katana, the hilt silver and blue. He raised it and drew it down sharply; no one was more surprised than Kunzite himself when two swords stopped its downward arc.

"You're missing someone from that last time. Kunzite-sama."

Kunzite snapped his sword back, dropping it to his side in one easy movement. Despite the control of his body his eyes could not help but belie his utter disbelief. "Zoisite?"

"Even when you think you've calculated for all the contingencies, another one always comes up," he returned in a quiet, determined voice that only served to cause all surprise to flee from Kunzite's pale eyes. The coldness was back, eyes now flat and unreadable; though his heart was screaming in his chest like a kitten caught aflame, Zoisite steeled his voice and gritted out: "You want Endymion-sama or the princess, Kunzite-sama? You go through me first."

Jadeite whistled from his vantage point with Sailor Moon. "Queen Beryl will be interested in this."

The only word that he spoke to Zoisite was as cold as ice and far sharper than any blade could be. "Traitor."

Swallowing hard at the detachment of the man he loved too much, Zoisite tightened his grip on the sword and met the man's eyes fully. The presence of the princess on one side and the prince on the other strengthened his resolve, made him think that this was what he was to do after all.

I thought I existed only for you, Kunzite-sama. Perhaps…I was wrong. Do I exist only for them…?

The word "traitor" still echoing in his mind, he said thickly: "Several times over, I suspect."

Dismissing the defector entirely, Kunzite sheathed the sword in nothingness and turned to the prince and princess. "We'll leave this for now. This is not over." Having said that, he flicked a hand at his comrade. "Come, Jadeite."

"In a second." Once again Jadeite released Sailor Moon with a suddenness that left her collapsed on the ground; before anyone reacted he shot a beam of light towards the group. Sailor V and Zoisite both leapt at Kamen and immediately sent him sprawling under their combined weight. While this certainly saved him from the brunt of Jadeite's unexpected attack, it knocked more than just the wind from him. The nijizuishou that fell from Kamen's grasp neatly skipped across the ground and straight into the gloved hand of Jadeite.

With a smirk Jadeite looked directly at Sailor Moon, the only one who could see him at this particular angle. "Sorry," he mouthed with a wink, and then he was gone as Kunzite echoed his exit.

"Shit!" Sailor V was on her feet again in one swift movement, frustration colouring her face and her words very red and furious. With her hands unconsciously raising the sword again, she all but spat out: "Shit! I can't believe that—"

Another voice broke into the fray, admonishment lacing every word with reproach. "Princess. Calm down."

"Artemis." Appearing somewhat chastised, Sailor V lowered her sword and rubbed her eyes with gloved fingers. The two cats stepped closer as she visibly struggled to settle herself; one was white and calm, the other black and totally amazed. "I'm sorry. I just…I hate to lose!"

"We all do," Artemis pointed out pragmatically. "But then we have plenty of time to win yet."

"Princess."

"Yes." Sailor V turned her lovely face to Tuxedo Kamen as he spoke her title, though she did not smile. The look that passed between them was held entirely too long; Sailor Moon found her heart was beginning to beat faster, each released contraction painful against too-tight ribs.

This is the way it's supposed to be…right? The prince, the princess…so why does my heart feel so bad? This is the way it's supposed to be…

Her voice shaking, she tried to step closer, failed. "Sailor V, you're…the princess?"

V looked at her; Sailor Moon was sure she'd imagined it, but for a second there had been a flicker of sorrow…pity…apology in those cornflower eyes. "Yes."

Her hands tangled themselves together before her hips, and she found herself staring at the ground again. A shimmer there caught her attention; it was as if the abandoned moon-stick was winking at her, the gesture as peculiarly conspiratorial as had been Jadeite's own wink. Pushing that thought aside – more important things to consider just now — she silently picked it up. Coming before the princess, Sailor Moon bowed low and proffered it to her. "Here," she said in an unsteady voice, her lowered sideways gaze managing to catch the sight of Tuxedo Kamen still staring at the blonde princess in absolute astonishment. Finally pulled her eyes away and focused entirely on the beautiful girl as she raised her eyes and offered her a wavering smile along with the item. "I think this is yours."

Mars, slowly waking up as the influence of the dark magics wore off, looked up blearily to see Sailor Moon holding out the moon-stick to an unfamiliar girl. "What are you doing?" she gasped, sitting up straighter despite the wave of nausea that washed over her and threatened to sweep her to sea entirely.

"She's the princess. This is hers."

The look on her face was unreadable but something about it was still kind. Perhaps it was the regality inherent in the way she held up a hand, the careful way in which she spoke to the trembling girl. "I want you to keep it for now, Sailor Moon."

"What?"

The smile that crossed her face then was brilliant, dazzling; Tuxedo Kamen was quite unable to look away from the shining figure that she presented. "I think you understand what it is. I want you to protect it for me."

"But…it's yours," Sailor Moon said uncertainly, still holding it out to her.

"You need it more than me now."

Mercury and Jupiter were stirring now. The blue-haired senshi was the first to look up. "Princess?"

"Mercury. Mars. Jupiter. Sailor Moon. I wish we could have met sooner, but then…even now is slightly too soon." A look down at her sword seemed to remind her of something. "I must go," she said shortly, sheathing the sword with a saya that appeared to come from nowhere. "We'll meet again soon."

Tuxedo Kamen's voice held a tint of desperation as he voiced what they all were thinking a split second before anyone else had the chance. "When?"

"Tonight," she said; something about her eyes was off as she looked at the man who would be her prince. "At the shrine."

"You know about the shrine?" Sailor Moon asked.

"I know about a lot, Usagi-san. I'll explain it all tonight. Artemis?"

He nodded. "Princess." The two figures then did an about face, leaving without giving anyone the opportunity to ask more questions.

Mercury, still unable to actually stand, gave the others a bewildered look as she leaned on the equally-bewildered Jupiter for support. "What's going on?"

"She's the princess." Tuxedo Kamen's shock was palpable; he had searched long for this girl, for what seemed to be a lifetime. To finally have her before him…gone now, perhaps, but with a promise of answers to come only that night…his mind and heart were having trouble understanding that the search was really over, that she was at last within his ken.

"And she's no damsel in distress, either," Zoisite noted wryly, unable to keep his mouth shut as per usual. His words did serve to make Sailor Moon suddenly realise he was there, because her hand shot to her mouth and she gasped in horror.

"Zoisite! They know you're with us! And they…they might think you're on our side!"

"I doubt there's any doubt on that front, Sailor Moon," he pointed out as he hefted his scimitar, running one finger along the blade lightly. The action drew blood from the pale flesh, but deep in thought he seemed not to notice any pain. "That sword she carried…it's the holy sword."

"Holy sword?" Mars echoed, no understanding or memory in her words.

"I don't remember," Zoisite said quietly, unable to say anymore than that.

Luna's voice was just as quiet, but much stronger in its conviction than Zoisite's had been. "I think I might. Maybe."

"There's always tonight," Mamoru said finally, his transformed form already scattered to the winds. "I think I've…I've had enough for now. Let's just…let it lie for a little while, go to Rei-san's and relax until she shows up." A glance at his watch had his brow furrowing as he used the little normalities of life to bring himself back down to earth. "It's nearly six now. Who knows how long she'll wait before coming back?"

Usagi, still holding the moon-stick despite the loss of Sailor Moon, nodded first at the stick, and then looked up with too-bright eyes. "Right! Is there food at your house, Rei-chan?"

"I suppose I can let you clean out the refrigerator," she muttered, long-suffering but still rather kind. "It's been a long day," she added softly, more to herself than anybody else.

And even though no-one save himself heard it, Zoisite couldn't help but add just as softly: "And it isn't even over yet."

END CHAPTER SEVEN