Tengoko: Speedy update! Well, I guess I'll address some things that were brought to my attention: For the most part, Minako/Venus is one of the more prominent characters in the story, perhaps even the main character. However, as it is a Sailor Moon fan fiction, it is important to include all of the characters and not just one or two of them. The Zodiac Senshi are the main enemy and in the next couple of updates you will learn more about them and see some more action, I promise. As for the fate of the Zodiac Senshi, I cannot reveal that without spoiling the story. I'd like to thank those of you who did review and I will ask that you all please review. It does motivate me. Well, I'll stop babbling now and let you read. Enjoy!

Rated M for Romance and Language

Chapter 8: Dreams and Reunions
--

Mamoru loved Saturdays. Mostly because it meant he wouldn't have to wake up early to go to school and then work. He supposed he had no real reason to complain. He was lucky that he was a teacher's assistant at the college and didn't actually have to work a part time job as a waiter or something. He didn't think he'd be able to handle the stress of all that. Yes, this worked out for the best. In this way, location was convenient and the pay was much better. Anyway, being a teacher's assistant had one other perk: he had weekends off.

Still, he cursed that his body was use to waking up at eight in the morning. Even if he said the night before that he was going to sleep in, it never failed. He just couldn't stay asleep. He turned and looked at Usagi sleeping peacefully. He wished he could sleep like she did. Rolling over to his side he put his arm over her and kissed her cheek.

"Mamo-chan," she sighed, opening her eyes slightly. "What time is it?"

"It's eight fifteen, Usa-ko," he said softly, pulling her close to him. "I hadn't meant to wake you up, sweetie. I just wanted to say good-morning."

"No, it's fine," she whispered, stretching as much as she could without bothering him. "I was going to call Minako-chan and see how she was doing anyway. I've been worried about her ever since Norio-san told you that she was attacked yesterday. Plus, now that we have somebody who has fought one of the Zodiac Senshi, we can actually start planning things."

He smiled. A few years ago the thought of planning out a battle or summing up an enemy would never have occurred to his beautiful wife. Yet, he'd noticed that ever since their battle with Galaxia she'd been a little more grown up. Sure, she had those childish tendencies that he'd originally fallen in love with, but his wife was very much a woman now.

"Kenji-san told me that she was fine," Mamoru said, sitting up. "Besides, she's at her mother's house this weekend. Perhaps we can put planning off until Monday."

"She's worrying me," Usagi said truthfully, pulling the comforter up to her chin. "She has not been herself for a long time. I think something is wrong with her."

"Who? Minako-chan?" he asked, looking back at her. "I think she's fine. Probably bitter about having to share her position with Kenji, but that's how Minako-chan is."

"She's been acting strange before then, Mamo-chan." She sat up and looked down at her hands. "Mako-chan has noticed it, too. She came to me the other day and started talking about how Minako will sometimes just stare out of the window and cry. And she sleeps all the time now. It's like she lost her motivation to do anything. She's even been skipping her theater classes which isn't like her at all. The only reason she still goes to physics is because Mako-chan drags her out of bed." She looked at him helplessly. "Mamo-chan... I think she's depressed."

"Well, I don't know what to tell you except that you should talk to her and find out. If she is depressed, she's going to need help getting out of it. These sort of things you just can't leave up to the person to deal with alone. She needs to know that we care about her and that we're going to be here for her no matter what." He got to his feet and walked over to his dresser drawer just as the telephone rang. "I'll get it, sweet heart," he said turning and walking to the nightstand where the phone was. "Hello?"

"Mamo-chan!"

He froze. He couldn't have heard that right. "Chibi…Usa?" Usagi sat up quickly. "Is that you?"

"Yep, it is. I meant to call you last night but some things happened. Anyway, I'm at Seiya-san's house right now."

"Seiya-san? Chibi-Usa… why are you here? I thought that you were going to stay in the thirtieth century. Is something wrong?"

"I was told to not answer your questions until you got here to see me."

Mamoru rolled his eyes. "Let me guess; Setsuna-san is there with you, isn't she? Only she would advise you to be that cryptic. Well, give me the address, Chibi-Usa. Usa-ko and I will go over there just as soon as we get dressed."

--

Minako woke that morning in a cold sweat. Her body practically jolted awake, her lips let out something between a scream and a gasp. Immediately her hand flew to her face, her fingers digging into her bangs as she closed her eyes tightly. Her mind was racing in one hundred different directions, but the image the replayed in her mind was the same over and over again. Her tears were falling uncontrollably and she had to struggle to get her breathing down to a normal pace. This was not the first time she woke up in the middle of an anxiety attack. The dream she had was no ordinary nightmare. It wasn't often you dreamt of being murdered. But she saw the graphic scene, saw the one who had killed her. Of course, she'd never met the woman in real life but assumed she was one of the Zodiac Senshi judging by her uniform. She was powerful, beautiful, and dangerous. Minako didn't know why she'd tried to fight her but, as it turned out, the woman was too strong for Minako and sliced her with her circular blade across her torso; from her right shoulder to her left hip.

Minako opened her eyes. "It was just a dream," she told herself. Looking around she began to reassure her mind. The familiar setting of her bedroom did little to ease her and since she knew she couldn't count on falling asleep again, she got up and began getting dressed.

It seemed her mother and father were out for the morning. Probably had gone to the store and then out for breakfast like they usually did. That was perfect. That would give her enough time to slip out and go for a walk to clear her mind.

"Minako, where are you going?" Artemis asked, watching her pull on her short, black jacket.

"I'm going for a walk Artemis. You are welcome to join me but I may not be much in the way of company. I'm not feeling very talkative today."

Artemis stretched, his paws going out in front of him, his butt in the air. "I'm not sure that's a good idea given what happened yesterday, Minako."

"Don't worry about me," she said, walking over to her desk where her red bow was. She began tying her hair up in its usual style. "I don't intend on walking through alleyways or places where I'll be alone. You should stay here, Artemis. I know you are tired."

He looked at her for a moment. "You are sure you are going to be fine?"

"Of course," she said, smiling to assure him of the fact. She watched him lay back down and then turned to head down the stairs. Her shoes were at the door so she quickly slid them on and was outside in no time.

She had no idea where she'd be walking; she randomly picked a direction and started. "It was just a dream," she kept telling herself. But it was so vivid. Damn. She hated that voice in the back of her head. The one that contradicted reason and rationality. "I'm not Rei-chan. I don't have prophetic dreams." Then why did it seem so real? "I don't know!" She hated this. Why couldn't things go back to how they'd once been. Maybe she never should have gone to college. Her dream was to be an idol. Not some scholar. She was majoring in theater. But did she really have to? Most people became actors because they got discovered or were lucky. She just didn't see how going to the University was going to help her in this cause.

She looked up at the sky. It was a cloudy day. She couldn't see the sun. Maybe it's a sign. "Shut up," she told herself. "Now I'm just being paranoid." She looked down at her feet now regretting she hadn't worn pants instead of the denim shorts she chose. It was a little chilly. It was always hard accepting that the warm part of the year was drawing to an end and winter would be closing in. September was drawing to a close. Usually Minako was excited. Her birthday was in October. But she couldn't seem to get worked up about it this year.

"Minako-chan?" Her head snapped up and looked around for the owner of the voice that had called her name. "Hey," Jed said, putting his hand on her shoulder to let her know he was behind her. She turned and smiled. "What are you doing out here alone? I heard what happened yesterday. You shouldn't…"

"I'm not a child, Jed-san," she snapped, her smile gone completely. "Please don't treat me like one."

He seemed surprised. "I wasn't trying to do that. It's just a bad habit of mine. Now that we are on the same team, we have to look out for each other, you know?" He paused and took her in. She seemed… different. "Minako-chan, are you okay?"

She told herself to nod, to say yes. "No," she said.

"What's wrong?" He dropped his hand lower, touching her arm gently. She looked away. "I know you don't know me very well, and I also know because of Kenji-chan you don't trust us very much, but all of us are here for you now. We are here for all of you." He smiled encouragingly at her. "You can trust me, Minako-chan."

"I just had a bad dream," she said quietly, something barely above a whisper.

"Bad dream?" He looked at her pensively before glancing around at the people around them. "If you don't mind me asking, what did you dream about?"

"One of the Zodiac Senshi killed me," she summed up.

He didn't move for a second, only thought on her words. Nodding slowly, he said, "I can see how that would bother you. But, Minako-chan, it was just a dream. Dreams aren't real. And it's no wonder you had such a dream after being attacked last night. It was fresh on your mind before you went to sleep, and the mind does have a funny way of trying to scare you."

"As strong as the Constellation Warriors are, though, I don't see how this battle will end any other way. You and your friends may be able to defeat them easily, but mine cannot."

"My friends are your friends, too," he said softly. "And I think you underestimate your strength."

"Perhaps Zen-san and Norio-san may one day grow to be my friend. But… Kenji-san…" she trailed off.

"I know he's hard on you, Minako-chan. I mean, he's spoken about you so many times, even before I met you and even before we knew about the double life that you lead. It may seem like he's always on your case, always putting you down and making you feel stupid. He does that to us too when we screw up or do something that he doesn't approve of. That's just the way he is. But, he wouldn't treat you that way if he didn't expect more from you… if he didn't care about you. If he disliked you, he wouldn't even give you the time of day regardless of us being on the same team now."

She feebly listened to his words, barely taking any of them in. When it came to Kenji nobody could convince her otherwise; he despised her.

--

"So… they nearly defeated you?"

Mamoru and Usagi had arrived at Seiya's flat nearly half an hour ago. In that time, Setsuna and Hotaru began telling them about their battle with the Zodiacs. They made it as clear and concise as they could, sparing them the details so as not to worry them so much, but they could see the fear and uncertainty etched in their faces.

"Defeated?" Setsuna repeated, looking into Mamoru's blue eyes. "I think there should be another word for how thoroughly trounced we were."

"We would have died if they hadn't come to save us," Hotaru said, nodding in the direction of the three men who stood to the side of the room. "The Zodiacs retreated when they saw them. For some reason, it seems that are fearful of the Terran Warriors."

"Terran Warriors?" Usagi repeated, confused.

"It's a term used to define anybody who fights for Prince Endymion. The Shitennou would be classified as Terran Warriors, and now, after the conversion, so would they."

"What?" Mamoru asked, confused.

"It means," Yaten said, walking forward. "That we have given up being Sailor Senshi at the behest of our own princess. We were told to come to earth, find you, and pledge our loyalty to you. We have decided to become Terran Warriors, as they term it."

Usagi looked at them all with wide-eyes. When her stare found Seiya, she was surprised to see him staring back at her, his soft gaze the same as it had always been. Mamoru had seen it too. "I guess you are still their leader?"

"Yes," he said, his eyes leaving Usagi slowly. "I know that I have to follow the orders of the Shitennou. The four kings will always be your most trusted guardians. Our princess made that clear. But... if there is any way I can be of service to you... know that I'll gladly do my part."

Mamoru looked at Setsuna who nodded. "Well... I thank you for that." Still, he wondered why their princess would make them do such a thing. It didn't seem reasonable in the slightest... That would be like him asking the Shitennou to go and fight for somebody else. It just didn't make any sense to him.

"That's gracious of you," Chibi-Usa said to Seiya's words. She looked at her father and mother. "Is it fine if I stay here with them? As soon as Hotaru-chan and Setsuna-san are well, I'll return home. But I don't want to leave them until I know they are going to be okay."

Mamoru was about to say something until Michiru interjected. "We keep telling her that we are just fine, but she won't listen," she said, smiling sweetly. Usagi turned towards the doorway where Michiru and Haruka had just come through and shot to her feet. In an instant, they were both engulfed in her arms. They were surprised at first but their shock soon faded into a smile. "It is good to see you, too, Usagi-chan."

"I'm glad all of you are all right."

"We are too," Haruka said, rubbing one of the bandages on her arm. "They could have easily killed us. We were lucky."

Chibi-Usa turned back to look at Mamoru. "I had gone to find you and mom that night," she said. "It was a good thing that Seiya-san, Taiki-san, and Yaten-san were looking for you guys too or I never would have been able to find help for them."

Mamoru stared at his future daughter with awe. She'd grown so much since he'd last seen her. She was seventeen years old now, taller than Usagi, and extremely beautiful. Her hair was longer, falling to just below her bottom and her face was thinner, as was the rest of her body. She was a woman now. He was about to say as much until her comment really struck him. He turned to Seiya. "Why were you looking for us?"

He blinked. "Well, we intended to pledge our loyalty to you. Is that wrong?"

Mamoru didn't answer. He wasn't sure if he believe that. For a moment, the two men just stared at each other, their wills silently battling. It was clear now that Mamoru did not like Seiya being back in Usagi's life. That was to be expected. Still, the fact that Seiya was now one of his guardians did complicate things ever so slightly. "I suppose that will do," he muttered, looking away.

"Well, do we have to do this formally or could you pretty much gather that we have pledged loyalty to you?" Taiki asked. "There's no ceremony... is there?"

Setsuna laughed which caught Mamoru off guard. He answered, "I will consider your loyalty duly marked and I will hold the three of you to it."

"Then, it is time we start trying to figure out how best to deal with our little Constellation problem." Yaten said, sitting down next to Hotaru. "The Zodiacs are more powerful than ever. Right now we have the advantage that they are afraid of the Terran warriors. But soon that fear will wear off and they will charge at us with everything they have. They are not afraid to die for their cause. So... Mamoru-sama... what shall we do?"

"Are they really that strong?" Usagi interrupted.

"They defeated us easily," Haruka said, leaning against the wall. "And that was only four of them. If they all fought us... the twelve of them... we wouldn't stand a chance. It would be the end us."

Usagi turned to Mamoru. "This is bad," she said.

He nodded. "Yes… I know."