Whew! It's a been a whole week, but here it is!
Enjoy and R&R! :)
Yaten laid staring up at the ceiling. They had been with the senshi for a little less than a week, but it felt like so much longer. It had been such a confusing couple of days: arriving in the midst of wedding madness, watching Minako perform, learning about their past lives, and then meeting all of the senshi's past lovers…
The green-eyed man shook his head and tried to ignore the face of the man that had once been with Minako. Kunzite was a very intimidating looking man, but even Yaten had to admit that he was very handsome and could see how Mina could be drawn to him. He felt a knot form in his stomach. Relax Yaten; she said it was over between them. No need to be jealous. He smiled to himself as he mentally relived watching Sailor Venus slugging the lead Shittennou in the jaw with all her might the night before. The knot in his stomach lessened as he rose slowly from his bed. I should go check on her, she seemed pretty out of it last night.
Yaten fussed with his hair for a moment before exiting his room to walk over to Mina's door. He was about to knock when he heard her laugh come from down the hallway. He felt his eyebrows knit together, as he slowly began walking toward the sound of her voice. He halted suddenly when he heard the low murmur of a man that didn't sound like Taiki or Seiya respond. He quickly exited the hallway and saw Minako lying on the big couch in a loose yellow top and a pair of short shorts with her legs resting on the lap of a man he had never seen before. He was about as tall as Seiya, and had short, slightly wavy, silver hair. They seemed to be chatting happily, when the man looked up and noticed Yaten.
"Who is this? You didn't tell me you had a lover living here," the man said, looking slyly at Minako. She blushed and looked over at Yaten.
"I-I d-don't," she spluttered blushingly as pulled her legs from his lap and sat up on the couch. The man seemed slightly disappointed at the loss of physical contact. "Ace, this is Yaten Kou, he is one of our allies from another Star System."
"Oh," Ace eyed him furtively.
"Yaten, this is-" Minako hesitated, not sure how to introduce her old friend. My self-proclaimed mystical lover, the reincarnation of Adonis? Yeah, because that would go over well…
"Kaitou Ace," He rose from the couch and gave Yaten a slight bow that was not returned. Yaten felt that strange knot reforming in his stomach as he watched Minako smile at the man standing next to her.
"Can't say I have ever heard of you." Ace frowned at Yaten's words and cast a glance at Minako who looked over at Yaten with a slightly confused expression.
"Yaten, this man is a friend from my days as Sailor V. He was a Venusian soldier in our last life. When he was revived, he kinda fell into working for the Dark Kingdom and was my enemy, but was also helping me at the same time. He is the one who restored my memories and helped me become Sailor Venus."
"Oh, you mean this is that guy you had to kill?" Mina and Ace both winced slightly at Yaten's question.
"Yes," The answer came out quietly.
"So was he brainwashed like the other Shittennou?"
Minako looked at Ace, interested in his answer.
"Not really, mine was more of a poor choice that didn't work out for me. I tried to change my fate in a way that it would be favorable to my future and it caused me to be killed by the Princess I was supposed to be protecting." He gazed at Minako sorrowfully as Yaten scowled.
"So what are you doing here then?" The smallest Star Light was starting to get really irritated with all these guys from Minako's past life suddenly popping up.
Minako felt her brow furrow as she began to slowly respond. "Well, remember how tired I was after reviving the Shittennou and how Rei said more than just the four of them had been revived? That's because people with certain links to the Shittennou have been revived, too. For example, Ace was the leader of the Dark Agency when I faced him, but he was initially recruited to it by Kunzite and Beryl who claimed his soul. A weird link was placed on them; I'm guessing that's what caused him to be reborn with them. He was restored here, because I kept his talisman all these years and because he is one of my Guardians."
Yaten was about to respond, when a rustle behind him caused him to turn around suddenly. Ami, Kakyuu, Seiya, and Taiki were all coming down the hall from their rooms. Ami looked exhausted, but was leaning slightly on Taiki who had an obvious blush on his face from the close contact.
"Good Morning Yaten," Kakyuu smiled kindly at her starlight and then turned to address Minako, when she noticed the strange man standing with her. Ami's eyes flew wide open and her mouth gaped.
"M- Mina! Is that-" the full question never left the bluette's mouth.
"Everyone, this is Kaitou Ace. He was one of my soldiers in the Venusian army in our last life. Last night he was somehow revived." Minako smiled at the shocked expressions on everyone's faces. "Kaitou, this is Seiya, Taiki, and Princess Kakyuu. They all come from the same Star System as Yaten and together form the Sailor Star Lights, who are our allies."
"I thought only women could be senshi?" Confusion was evident in his voice in Ace's voice.
"It's a long story," Minako giggled. She gestured to Ami, "Kaitou, and this is-"
"Princess Ami of planet Mercury," he strode across the room to the shocked girl, bowed, and kissed her hand. "The one day ruler of the planet of thought and knowledge. It is a pleasure to formally meet you." Ami blushed and withdrew her hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, too."
Ace turned to Kakyuu and bowed, kissing her hand as well. "What a pleasure to meet such a beautiful Princess from a faraway system."
"It is a pleasure to meet one of the handsome people of Venus. Your own Princess has told me much of your former planet." Said Kakyuu as Ace smiled at her flirtatiously, seemingly unaware of the raven-haired Star Light silently glaring at him.
Ami looked at Minako, "Have you informed Mamoru and Usagi of this development?"
"Yes, and they want me to bring Ace over to his apartment so that they may question him to try and understand the reason he was revived and see if we can gain anymore insight into the question of who else might also have come back to life. They also requested you come over as well Ami, since you may catch something the rest of us miss."
"Very well. I will get dressed and head over there. Are you going to leave now?"
"Yes, I was waiting for you to awake so I could give you the message myself." Minako walked with Ace towards the direction of the garage.
"If Taiki is agreeable, I may bring him along with me. Two minds are better than one." She smiled up at her friend.
"I will come with Taiki and Ami as well." Minako gazed at Yaten in surprise.
"Yaten, you should not insert yourself in their business unless you have been asked," warned Kakyuu.
"No it's okay." Minako said quickly. She offered Yaten a small smile, "Don't take too long, okay?"
Yaten felt his stomach twist at her smile. He nodded and then turned back down the hall towards his room to get ready. I don't want to give that guy more time with Minako than he deserves.
Minako glanced over at Kaitou as she drove them towards Mamoru's apartment. He hadn't said a word since they had gotten into the car.
"What are you thinking, Ace?"
He bit his lip before responding. "There's something going on between you and that guy, Yaten, isn't there." Minako nearly crashed the car. "I saw the way he looks at you and vice verse."
"I don't know what you're talking about." She said a little too quickly.
Kaitou looked at her with a smirk. "You're a terrible liar, Princess."
Mina sighed, "It's complicated."
"It always is with you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's a given with you. You always had lousy love fortunes."
Mina felt her teeth grind together in frustration.
"Do you want to talk about it, Princess?"
"No," Came the curt reply.
Silence filled the car as she drove. How was it Kaitou always had a way of getting under her skin? Ace smiled at her, "I won't tease you anymore if you talk to me."
"Can you really promise that? It's kind of embedded into your personality."
He pouted, as though hurt by her accusation and then smiled, "Yes, I promise."
"Things are more than a little complicated when it comes to Yaten and I. For starters, he doesn't live in our Solar System, he can be really confusing, I'm not even sure that he likes me like that, and there's the fact that he becomes a 'she' when in Senshi form."
Kaitou stared at Minako in surprise. "Woah."
"Exactly," said Mina with little satisfaction. It really pained her to spell out all the reasons they couldn't be together when they were so few, and yet so decisive. Ace watched her thoughts play out on her features.
"But you care for him regardless? Here I was thinking that being revived directly into your bedroom meant that I really stood a chance of being your lover this time around," he sighed as Minako's eyes flew open in surprise at his boldness. She glanced over at Kaitou who was looking directly at her.
"Will I never have a chance with you, Goddess?"
It is too early in the morning to be having a conversation like this, Minako thought to herself feverishly. "I did care about you; you helped me as Phantom Ace and made me fall for you. But then you revealed yourself as my enemy and reminded me of the only person I could afford to care about. You put me in a terrible position that destroyed me. You called my feelings of 'love' for you a lie, because I couldn't put you first, but in any amounts, those feelings were there." Mina was gripping the steering wheel tightly. "Then you attacked me. What was I supposed to do? Give up everything I had spent that year working on and join you? You forced me to kill the first person I had had semi-serious feelings for, which was you. I was broken emotionally for so long because of that. It was bad enough when I showed up to rejoin the Senshi, who were still struggling with their own memories, that I had to fight Kunzite."
He sighed and gazed back out of his window, "I'm still going to try to make you love me."
Minako smiled sadly, "You can't expect the damage you caused to just go away, Ace. Why is it always absolute love or nothing with you? Why can't we ever just be friends?"
"That's how handsome men like myself end up in the 'friendzone'." Minako rolled her eyes. "Maybe I should set my sights elsewhere, like that Princess Kakyuu." He eyed the blonde girl, trying to make her jealous.
Mina merely shrugged, "You could try, but I think she is kind of spoken for." She watched out of the corner of her eye as his shoulders sagged.
"Ace, I'm sorry." She really meant it. She hated causing people pain and especially someone that she had once been so fond of. Silence grew between them, heavy and thick.
"You said yourself that it was complicated with Yaten, so why can't you just let him go and love me instead?"
"Because people's hearts don't just work like that, Ace!" Minako felt her face frown. "The Sailor Star Light's showed up and I idol-chased all three of them; I was 16 and still trying to be a child. Yaten was someone who easily saw through my antics, though, and challenged me. I never meant to have feelings for him; my heart played its favorite trick and made me care for someone it knew it could never have. Then, just when it seemed like a good time to act on the burgeoning feelings I had, our last enemy showed and we had to go to the Galaxy Cauldron to fight. We all died and then, when we were reborn, they left to go rebuild their planet. I figured it would be safe for me to love someone from afar, so I just kind of let my heart follow after him. If I cared for someone far away, who I would probably never see again, then I could do my duty. I never expected him to come back like he did. I just- I don't need this to get anymore complicated than it already is."
Silence followed after Minako's speech. Kaitou sighed as he pulled out a card from his sleeve. "The Ace of Hearts. I will never have a chance with you, no matter how many times we are reborn." Minako glanced over at him. He stared down at the card before tucking it away again. "It will take me sometime to fully come to terms with that, Princess."
"I understand," she could feel the coldness in his voice and tears burned in her eyes, "take all of the time that you need, and if you want me to get you an apartment somewhere away from me, that can be arranged."
"No, I don't want that," he said quickly. "Can you just help me to learn how to be your friend?"
Minako smiled at him warmly, "I'll do my best."
"What will you do about your feelings for the alien?"
Minako bit her lip, not wanting to have this talk either, "Right now, I'm trying to ignore them until he leaves again." She pulled the car into a parking garage. "But we didn't just drive across town to talk about how I am going to handle my own love problems. We are here to see Usagi and Mamoru. We need to get to the bottom of this mystery surrounding what happened last night." They both climbed out of the car after Minako parked and proceeded inside the connecting building, towards Mamoru's apartment.
Beryl slowly opened her eyes and took in the world around her. She was lying on the floor of what was once the smooth floor of the Dark Kingdom. Around her though, everything was destroyed; pillars lay crumbling, the floor was broken and smashed, and the ceiling had collapsed in certain places. She slowly sat up and brought her hands to her face. Her long talons were there, gleaming in the patchy underground light. She rose shakily and began to walk slowly across the floor. Is this a dream? She shook her head and then stared ahead into space. The being, Chaos, had given her power to defeat the Senshi and claim her Prince. The price was merely to take the Silver Crystal from the Moon Princess and give it to him so that he could free himself from the Galaxy Cauldron. Beryl bit her bottom lip nervously. The task sounded simple enough, but she hadn't been able to accomplish that task before. How on Earth am I going to do it now?
She walked down a long dilapidated hallway. The damage was so severe that she didn't even recognize what part of the castle she was in. Entire rooms and corridors were caved in. She felt an ache in her head and her stomach. I need food and rest. Her mind was foggy. How did I come back? That being said I had a link to someone, but didn't say whom… She continued her slow walk until she happened upon a room that seemed untouched by the battle that had been waged there. Her mouth dropped open into a perfect 'o' as her mind suddenly took off. Of course! I am alive now because my Shittennou are alive. The link that I placed on them when they swore their souls to me is eternal. She grinned evilly to herself. I bet Endymion begged that Moon brat to revive them, not understanding what that would mean. Not knowing that I would be reborn with them. She entered the room, still thinking quietly to herself. Where the Moon brat is, her Senshi are with her. She stopped at the crystal case that had once contained Jadedite's badly burned body. If I remember the process of turning the Shittennou correctly, they were all rather attached to the Senshi. Each one had one of those Guardians as their lover. The battle at the Moon Kingdom effectively ended those relationships. She looked thoughtfully at her reflection in the crystal. I bet the senshi were less than thrilled at the request… She snapped her fingers suddenly in glee. I need my Shittennou to make this work. I will make it so they are begging to rejoin me. They should have realized trying to escape my grasp was impossible! I will make the senshi loathe them more than they ever thought possible! Even Endymion will dismiss them. Then, when they have nowhere else to turn, they will join me! We will kill Sailor Moon and her infuriating senshi! I will take the Silver Crystal and Endymion and rule the galaxy! She laughed aloud, thrilled with her new plan.
I think a little trip to Japan is in order… but first… Beryl's eyes glowed a dark black, and swirling black energy flowed from her hands. Before her very eyes, the Dark Kingdom began to slowly rebuild itself. She smirked to herself in satisfaction. I can't be a Queen if I don't have a castle!
So, what do you think?! I love your reviews! They make me smile!
