CIVILIAN NAMES

20th CENTURY


Jadeite had a soft laugh as she talked - with her usual sharp tongue - of her school and of her teachers.

She snorted and sipped her tea, "I am happy I am going to graduate. I just want to become a priestess and helping my grandfather with the Shrine."

He rested his back against the kitchen's fridge, his arms crossed on his chest, his blue shirt's sleeves rolled up to his elbows; he smiled, "You are going to graduate soon, don't worry. This is your last year at T.A. Academy."

Rei glanced at him with a grateful smile on her face, "It's always a pleasure to talk with you, Jun-chan."

He walked to her and kissed her.

His lips were so soft and his scent so relaxing...


The cup of tea was in front of her, tea already turned cold.

She stared at the fridge, her eyes opened in shock: Jadeite was previously there, he was talking to her and he prepared that tea for her.

She placed her right hand on her face and closed her eyes: no, SHE prepared tea after coming back from school and she wasn't talking to him. It was a new vivid vision.

She gently touched her lips; she could feel his lips on hers, his scent still in her nostrils.

"Jun. This is how I called him," she whispered.

Steps came closer. She turned to the door, both scared and anxious at the idea Jadeite was really going to enter the kitchen, but it wasn't Jadeite. Her grandfather stared at her with a puzzled look, "Are you OK, Rei? You look as you just met a ghost!"

Rei had a nervous laugh, "I am fine, don't worry, ojiisan"

Her grandfather nodded and scratched his nape, confused, "Your friends are waiting for you in the yard."

She stood up and walked to the door, smiling, "I'll be back for dinner. Bye."

She reached Makoto, Ami and Minako and they left the Shrine, walking to Mamoru's place.

"Is Usagi already at Mamoru's place?"

Minako nodded at Rei's question, her attentive violet-blue eyes on the raven haired Senshi, "So, what kind of new vision has shocked you so much?"

Rei stopped and stared at Minako, blinking, "Is it so clear?" She sighed, "Yes, you are right. I was sitting in the kitchen having a cup of tea and, suddenly, Jadeite was there, dressed like a normal guy, talking with me. And I was talking with him, as it was perfectly normal to have him in my kitchen."

"It isn't the first time you dream of Jadeite as a normal guy."

Rei nodded at Makoto's statement, turning to the tall Senshi and facing her curious eyes, "Yes, some time ago, I dreamt of Jadeite unconscious in the Shrine's yard, but this time ... " she gently touched her lips, "this time it was a vivid vision, not a dream. I was talking to him, and I called him with a different name: Jun." She didn't specify she called him 'Jun-chan', exactly.

Makoto's green eyes opened wide in surprise, "Jun? Why?"

"Maybe Jun was Jadeite's civilian name." All her friends' eyes on her, Ami kept on talking, voicing what was pretty obvious to them but any of them preferred to forget because it was too painful, "The way we all – Usagi, Mamoru, and any of us - have been reincarnated in this Century as normal guys, it probably happened to the Shitennou, too. They were normal guys with no memories of their past identity and role, then Beryl found them and enslaved them. If Beryl hadn't found them, they could have regained their memories and met Mamoru, the way we met Usagi-chan."

Minako had a soft whisper, "I hate to think about it. It's so unfair. Unfair to them, unfair to Mamoru," she clenched her fists, "and unfair to us."

Makoto tried to smile, changing the subject and moving from the painful past to a brighter future, "What if our dreams and Rei's visions mean that the Shitennou are going to come back, someday? Rei dreamt of her and Jadeite in Crystal Tokyo, after all."

Minako shook her head, cooling down Makoto's romantic hope, "We don't know what our dreams and visions mean. I talked to Artemis: he is confused. The Shitennou died in that cave, killed by Metallia. Nothing was left of them: we saw it. I don't know, honestly, how they could come back. Maybe we are victims of a strange spell. Maybe a new enemy is trying to weaken us, distracting us with these dreams and visions."

Makoto bit her lower lip before to talk, "Does Artemis really think we are victims of such a cruel spell? Mourning our past lovers this way? Hoping for something that won't ever happen? I don't want to believe it!" Her eyes sparkled in pain and rage.

Minako had a sweet and sad smile, "It's just a theory, Mako-chan. Artemis is obviously worried, and I understand his worries. I too prefer to refuse Artemis's theory, but I have to face this possibility, for our sake. Better to be ready for a new threat."

Ami too smiled, trying to cheer Makoto (and herself) up, "Anyway, it isn't true that nothing remained of the Shitennou. Their spirits talked to us after Metallia destroyed their bodies. Their spirits were still alive and, who knows, maybe their spirits are still trapped somewhere, ready to be revived in new bodies or to be reincarnated once again."

"Interesting theory, Ami-chan!" Minako turned round and walked away, a new hope in her voice, "come on, Mamoru and Usagi are waiting for us. I think Mamoru could help us with new theories and thoughts. Or, maybe, an answer!" She hid her previous worries behind her cheerful talk, "Jun! It could be a cute name for Jadeite. I wonder what's the civilian name of Kunzite. Kaito? Shinji? Kazuki? Yuki? Ken? Goro? Kiyoo?"

They happily talked about the Shitennou's possible civilian names - their way to wash away any pesky thought - until they reached Mamoru's place.

Rei listened amused to her friends listing various names whereas she had no name to list: Jun was a perfect name for Jadeite.


Junichi Higashi. Nobusuke Akanishi. Zenjiro Minami. Kazuro Kitamura.

Nurse Akane Nishimura was carefully reading the files about the four comatose boys: they weren't related; they came from different regions (Junichi Higashi was born in Tokyo, Nobusuke Akanishi in Okayama, Zenjiro Minami in Fukuoka and Kazuro Kitamura in Hokkaido); their families had no connections (Junichi Higashi had no family at all); they attended different schools. The only common ground was their missing (they all went missing nearly 4 years ago) and their shocking recovery: they were found unconscious in a cave at North Pole by some Japanese explorers. Nobody was able to explain why they were there and how they could be still alive in that place, but many absurd things had happened along the past years (monsters, missing peoples, magic warriors and so on) so there was nothing to be surprised of, after all.

But there was a thing that amazed Akane the most. When the four boys were found in that cave, each of them had in their hand a small fragment of stone: Junichi had a small fragment of jadeite, Nobusuke a small fragment of nephrite, Zenjiro a small fragment of zoisite and Kazuro a small fragment of kunzite.

Akane smiled: her sister Reika, expert of crystallography and student at K.O. University, was really impressed by that story.


Do you see where I am going, don't you? ;-)

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS! And for reading!