A shriek was heard in the middle of the night but thankfully no one was awake to hear it, or those that were awake, just chose not to listen to someone else's pain.
"JUPITER!" Sailor Moon yelled as she jumped to her friend who had just fallen down with a particularly nasty gash forming on her left arm.
"Why do they always have to hit me so hard, they draw blood?!" Jupiter grumbled as she let their leader quickly bandage her up.
"It's a shoddy job, but it'll keep." There was fear in Usagi's eyes. This night they weren't battling a mechanical animal like they had the previous nights; tonight they were battling flesh and blood foes. They were both humanoid looking with long hair – the features that distinguished them from humans were their pale yellow eyes and scaly skin hued green.
"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!" Minako yelled as she extended her chain and wrapped it around one of the creatures. She succeeded and proceeded on to electrifying the chain. The creature, however, was powerful and yanked hard on the chain entangling Mina within it too. He didn't seem to be affected too badly by the shock, but Mina had felt the residual brunt of it and fell.
"VENUS!" Mars yelled as she ran toward her friend. Sailor Mercury was busy doing some calculations on her computer.
"They are not affected by electricity – they can channel it through their body." Mars looked up after tending to her friend – there wasn't anything serious but her expression was hardened.
"Mars no!" Sailor Moon shouted. The girls were already exhausted from physical fighting and she knew that if they used one of their special powers, it would drain them even more.
"No Sailor Moon. Let her!" Sailor Mercury turned to Mars. "Their DNA is reptilian. Reptiles are scared of fire. Use your fire power!" Sailor Mars nodded and got into battle formation.
"MARS SNAKE FIRE!" she shouted as a ring of fire enveloped one of the assailants. Fear struck him while his companion looked on helplessly. Mars didn't let the fire dissipate, despite her exhaustion.
Meanwhile, on a rooftop not too far away, one masked boy dressed in a tuxedo was holding back three furious other masked men dressed in similar strange garb.
"We have to help them!" One of them whispered to his leader furiously. Mamoru let the hint of a smile show –
"Look at them." The three boys looked on, but were furious to see that the girls were exhausted, and in desperate need of help.
"They need our help!"
"Badly!" The three struggled against their leader's arm, but Mamoru still wouldn't let them past.
"Look at their teamwork. Look at their finesse. Their fighting technique has been refined so well." There was a look of admiration on Mamoru's face as he stared at Usagi tending to the fallen Sailors Jupiter and Venus while Mars was holding off the assailants with her fire. Mercury was busy furiously typing into her computer.
"Sailor Moon! I don't know if I can hold them off for much longer!" Sailor Mars grunted as beads of sweat started to form on her forehead. Her hand was shaking from the sheer power of keeping the fire going. The other assailant seemed to be too scared, and too tired to do anything else. Sailor Moon gave her friends one last lookover, nodded when she saw that they didn't need any immediate attention, and went to stand next to Sailor Mars.
"When I say let go, extinguish your fire." Mars was about to reply but exhaustion got to her. She fell as her fire turned to smoke; the assailant within the ring had, thankfully, been rendered unconscious.
"MARS" Sailors Moon and Mercury ran to their friend while the assailant went for his companion. Sailor Jupiter, who was in a better situation than Sailor Venus, also ran over to help.
"Help, she's unconscious." Sailor Moon looked helplessly at her friends.
"I'll carry her to the apartment." Sailor Jupiter moved in to pick up her friend but stumbled.
"You're still too weak!" Sailor Moon cried.
"We have to pick her up together." Sailor Mercury looked at her friends, doubt in her eyes. Usagi had a big gash in her side, Sailor Venus was still trying to recover from her fall, Sailor Jupiter looked okay, but she was in fact very weak and her…she was always the physically weakest out of all of them. She had always been the brains behind the operations.
"Need some help?" Tuxedo Kamen appeared before them – Sailor Moon's eyes lit up. However, when the other three came, her happiness turned to confusion.
"Who are they?"
"Friends." Was all Mamoru said. He bent down to pick up the fallen Sailor Mars.
"I'll get her to your apartment." His companions looked at him confusedly. Usagi just nodded. One of his companions went to pick up Sailor Venus, but Mamoru stopped him. "She's strong enough to walk on her own." His soldier turned to him, confused.
"But…"
"No buts. I'll come by later." And with that, he took off to the night sky. Sailor Mercury was relieved – Mamoru didn't let their secret out.
"Thank you." Sailor Moon bowed her head to the three shittenou. They just nodded respectfully and took off for their house. The three girls helped their friend get up and made their way back home slowly – beaten from the fight.
Back at the girls' apartment the girls came in through an open window (a window that always left open for these kinds of situations). Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus were so exhausted that they were leaning on their friends for support.
"I'm going to take them to my room. You go check in on Mars." Usagi just nodded at her friend, too exhausted to talk.
She went to Rei's room, but found it empty. Mamoru must have taken her to her room.
When she entered her room, her heart clenched at the sight before. Mamoru was tending to Rei with such compassion that it made Usagi long to have that feeling of warmth from him too.
"Is she ok?" She managed to whisper. Mamoru turned, a sombre expression on his face.
"She is exhausted. She wasn't supposed to hold that ring of fire for that long." Usagi knelt by the bed.
"Can I help." Mamoru put a hand on Rei's forehead.
"Can you soak a kitchen towel in rubbing alcohol please? She has a temperature now." Usagi nodded and went to get up but fell back down almost immediately. Mamoru caught her, concern in his eyes.
"Mam-" Usagi couldn't get any more out because she had fainted. Mamoru immediately rushed over to her and saw that most of her suit on the left side was covered in blood.
"Usagi!" Mamoru took out one of his roses with the razor sharp thorns and cut a hole in her suit to see what the damage was. The wound, despite spurting a lot of blood, didn't phase him. He ran out of the room and barged into Ami's room. She looked back, surprised.
"Ami, what condition are Minako and Makoto in?" Ami looked back at her friends sleeping soundlessly on the bed.
"Not much. Minako had a superficial wound, but I put some iodine on it and Makoto just has to rest. Some other scraps and bruises on both of them, but nothing that we aren't used to. Why?"
"I need you to help me. Usa is going to need stitches." He didn't need to say more. Ami ran to her bathroom and got him a sewing kit and produced a bottle of rubbing alcohol from under her sink cupboard. She also ran to the kitchen and got the first aid kit.
"This is all I have."
"It'll do." She followed him to Usagi's room and watched as he got to work. Usagi, thankfully, was unconscious so she couldn't resist the pain. However, when Mamoru touched the towel soaked in rubbing alcohol on her open wound, she moaned and her stomach flinched from the touch.
"I am so sorry sweetheart." Mamoru muttered and pressed a faint kiss against her forehead. "You can handle this. You have to. Please be brave for me." He continued cleaning her wound, working through his pain from seeing her in pain. After the wound was clean and he could assess the damage, he turned to the sewing kit. Ami had kept busy by sterilising the thread (with rubbing alcohol) and the needle (with a lighter). Mamoru thanked her and took the prepared needle from her.
"It's just a really deep flesh wound. I can sew this up." Ami nodded. Mamoru mentally prepared himself for the pain he was about to cause his beloved and started. Usagi's moans were growing louder and she was stirring from the pain. However Mamoru continued, muttering things under his breath Ami couldn't really hear. The girl moved on to comfort her friend – holding her hand through the whole process.
When it was all done, Mamoru cleaned up in the bathroom while Ami looked after her two friends.
"You should go to sleep." Mamoru told her.
"So should you." Mamoru nodded toward Usagi.
"I am not going to sleep until she wakes up." Ami didn't argue and just left the room wordlessly. She didn't even ask him the millions of questions that she wanted to ask about his companions. The girl went into her room, de-transformed, took a long shower, checked on her friends and finally sat down at her desk. She was exhausted, but adrenaline was keeping her from sleeping. Plus. She wanted to see if her friends would need her.
She opened her computer and was about to type, but stopped. She looked at her phone and contemplated texting Zoicite. For some reason, she really wanted to hear his voice. She tried to talk herself out of it, but the nagging feeling wouldn't stop. Instead of ringing him, she opted for a text message.
Good evening Zoicite. How goes the result analysing?
She got an instant reply.
You mean, good morning? ;p We are done with that. In fact, we finished in a timely manner. I should be returning home soon.
Then, why are you up late?
Reading. I got this new book, and I just could not seem to put it down.
Oh! What book?
I'd rather not say.
Ami laughed. The first time she had been in his room, she just noticed the sheer volume of books. The other times she had been in his room, she started noticing the books and recognised a lot of titles since she also owned them. However, a small bookcase near his bed, that also acted as a night stand, had a lot of shojo manga. Ami never commented on them and she didn't think Zoicite knew she had noticed them.
I've read the entire Ao Haru Ride
That is my favourite manga!
What did you think of the ending?
Fate. I think when people find themselves in the same position, together, after so long…it's fate telling them to be together.
Well, Orange disputes that fact.
Orange is a fantasy series.
True. Ao Haru Ride is one of those stories that just tell you how much someone can grow.
Can I call you? I would love to hear your take on this.
Ami smiled. She checked on her friends one last time and went to Mina's room which was the closest one.
Sure.
A minute later, her phone started rings. Grinning, which was something Ami never did, she answered the phone. Mina found her the next day curled up in bed with her phone in her hand and the biggest smile she had ever sported.
The next morning Usagi woke up with a terrible pain in her left side. Someone stirred next to her which made her jump.
"Usagi?" Rei's voice sounded weak and hoarse.
"Rei?" Usagi tried to shift but the pain was too much for her to handle. A third person stirred to her left. She turned to see Mamoru sitting on the chair, hunched over her bed sleeping, holding her hand. She smiled. Last night's events came to her and she was grateful he was somewhere close. She squeezed his hand softly.
"Mamoru?" She said softly. The boy woke with a start – his dishevelled look looked out of place on the usually immaculately poised self.
"Usa?" He croaked. Usagi smiled sadly. How long had he been awake, fretting over her and Rei? "How are you feeling?" He put his cheek to her forehead to feel her temperature.
"Good. I'm just really thirsty." Mamoru nodded. He looked over to Rei who was trying to get out of bed.
"Rei? How are you feeling?" The girl was still beautiful even after she had a really rough night.
"I need water." Was all she could get out – her voice hoarse and barely a whisper. Mamoru nodded and shot out of his chair to go fetch them water from the kitchen. There he saw Makoto, dressed in pyjamas, making breakfast.
"Hi Makoto." Makoto just nodded, her face showing how tired she still was. Mamoru opened the cupboard to get water when he saw Ami coming into the kitchen.
"Morning Mamoru." She said brightly.
"Morning Ami. Rei's temperature finally went down a couple of hours ago. She doesn't remember this but she kept waking up, delirious from the temperature. Once I stabilised that, Usagi's temperature went up. It seems to have gone down now, but I want to keep an eye on it in case she has an infection." Ami nodded. Makoto struggled to keep up with what Mamoru was saying because she couldn't recall last night's events all that well.
"What happened to Usagi?" Aside from how tired she was, Makoto seemed to not have had been too badly injured.
"What happened to Usagi?" Minako repeated, having heard her friend's question when she entered the kitchen. Mamoru sighed.
"Mamoru, go take the water. I'll explain to the girls. I'll bring in some vitamins and some toast for the girls later on." Makoto turned to fetch the pitcher of water which is when Mamoru noticed the nasty bruise on the side of her forehead. He immediately went over to her.
"What are you doing?" She asked as he peered closely at the bruise.
"I shouldn't have let you sleep last night. You should have gone for an MRI and gotten checked in case you had a concussion." The three girls laughed.
"Mamoru, do you honestly think we would play with fate like that?" Mina grinned at him.
"I check all of us after a fight before we go to bed. We've only had to be hospitalised once." Mamoru thought of his stupidity – of course Sailor Mercury would have the technology to scan for severe injuries after a fight.
"Take this to the girls." Makoto passed him two glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice. Thanking her, Mamoru went back to Usagi's room and gave liquid to two very thirsty girls.
"I feel so much better." Rei commented – her hoarseness had gone and she seemed to gain back some of the very little colour she had.
"I feel good too." Usagi said but Mamoru could sense something different – so did Rei.
"Usagi, you're burning up." Rei touched the back of her hand to her friend's forehead and pulled it back immediately. Mamoru paled. His first thought was that he had to take her to the hospital but they would ask too many questions – especially with that wound.
"I'm fine." Usagi's voice seemed to had gotten fainter. Mamoru got up immediately and went to the kitchen. Ami had just finished telling the girls what had happened that night and was about to answer their questions of who the other guys were (to which she had no answers) when they noticed Mamoru.
"Ami, do you have any antibiotics?" Ami got off the stool quickly.
"No, I don't, but I can go get some."
"You'll need a prescription." Ami was close to tears. Her friend needed a doctor and she was still just a student! Mamoru looked at the girls with a sombre expression on his face. "I know what to do. But in order for me to do it, I need you to trust me implicitly and not ask any questions until we get Usagi on the right track. I really do think her wound is infected and she'll need special supplies. We can't take her to a hospital because then the police will get involved. I don't have these special supplies, but I know someone who can get them." Mina got up and spoke on behalf of all the girls.
"Do whatever you have to do. We trust you…completely." The girls nodded in agreement. Mamoru ran out of the apartment and into his own where he saw his two friends arguing over a game of chess. The minute the say him enter in the state that he was in, their friendly banter was replaced with concern.
"Where's Kunzite?" Jadeite pointed to their brother's room.
"He decided to stay here so that we could argue with you about not letting us help the Sailor Guardians last night." Mamoru brushed him off, thankfully Jadeite didn't take any offence, and ran to his friend's room.
"Kunzite, I need your help!" The older boy immediately got up and rushed to his friend.
"What's wrong?" The three boys all looked at their friend in his state of panic, concerned because they had never seen him like that before.
"I can't answer any questions right now. All I can say is that we know the Sailor Guardians. They're the girls living opposite us." His friends' expression turned from concern to shock. Mamoru just continued though. "Usagi is hurt really badly. I think she has a wound infection." Kunzite immediately straightened up and ushered his friend and brothers out of his room.
"I can go get you everything you need. Do I have time?" Mamoru looked a little worried.
"One hour, tops. She's burning up." The boys entered the living room from the small hallway and stopped dead in their tracks. Mina was standing in their living room.
"Mina…" Mamoru started. But Mina cut him off.
"Mamoru, you'd better have a good explanation as to why you never told us the Shittenou were living opposite us and that they just happened to be your best friends. But right now, I just want my friend to be fine. Can I help?" Mamoru turned to Kunzite. After all, getting the supplies was his mission.
"Are you fit to go on a mission?" The taciturn man asked bluntly.
"Fit as a fiddle."
"I'm not going to stop for you if you stumble or feel weak."
"Your compassion warms my heart." Mina replied sarcastically. Kunzite didn't even seem to acknowledge her reply and instead just put on his coat and walked out the door. Mina followed him but stopped and looked back at Mamoru. "You'd better save her Endymion. We're all counting on you." She turned to follow the stoic man missing the worried look on Mamoru's face.
"Come on Dymi, let's go." Nephrite coaxed Mamoru back into doctor mode and followed him into the girls' apartment. There, they found two very confused girls in the kitchen.
"Mamoru?" Ami asked, looking at the boys behind him.
"Ami. Please. Not now. Has there been any change with Usagi?" Nephrite wordlessly moved from behind Mamoru and went to hug Makoto. He then focused on Ami's reply.
"I think she's the same. I took her temperature. 40 degrees. Mamoru, it's really bad. She's also starting to shiver now. She desperately needs antibiotics and someone to check the wound."
"We have to move Rei out of that room, can we take her somewhere else?" A cough alerted them to someone standing at the doorway.
"No need – I can move on my own." Rei had gone deathly pale again and was only 'standing' because she had propped herself on the doorframe.
"Rei!" Makoto exclaimed, moving out of Nephrites arms toward her friend to help her stand normally.
"I'm ok." The girl croaked. "Take care of Usa-" she was so exhausted, she couldn't even finish her sentence. Before either Makoto or Nephrite could get to her, Jadeite was already standing next to her putting her arm around him. "I'm…" She fainted before she could even finish her sentence. Thankfully, Jadeite had really quick reflexes so he was able to catch her in time.
"I'll take her to her room." He picked her up and made his way before Ami could say something. A few seconds later he came back to the kitchen, a sheepish expression on his face.
"Er…which one is her room?" Ami smiled.
"First door to the left." Jadeite nodded and went back to the hallway. Ami turned to Mamoru.
"What do we do with Rei?"
"Does she have a temperature?"
"102. My usual thermometer broke so I had to take her temperature using my scanning machine. Mamoru, I am really worried. The highest her temperature ever got was 78 and she was in a bad state then."
"Rei's temperature is because of her alias as Sailor Mars – antibiotics won't help." Makoto chimed in. Mamoru shook his head.
"The only way to bring her temperature down is to keep putting cold compresses on her forehead. That's what we did last time." Ami's voice was shaking. She was really worried about her friend and there was not scientific way to heal her.
"We'll continue that course of action and she has to be well rested. Last night her temperature went down. It has to go down again."
"Mamoru, this time Rei really exerted herself. I have never seen her use the snake of fire for longer than a few seconds. She kept it going on for nearly 5 minutes." Mamoru swallowed the lump in his throat. He should have gone in to help when his friends told him.
Makoto and Nephrite had found each other again and were holding on to each other tight. Mamoru and Ami were oblivious to their friends' need to talk, and instead were thinking about medical solutions for the two fallen sailors.
"I need to check Usagi's wound. Kunzite will be bringing surgical tools too so I can cut away any infected bits."
"Mamoru…" Ami started. Her expression was the most serious he had ever seen her have. "What if…what if the wound isn't infected from earth bacteria?" Mamoru paled. He had thought about that possibility but he had leaned more toward the make-shift surgery he had performed on Usagi last night. "I want to think so badly that it is because I did not sterilise the needle properly, or the thread but…" she trailed off. Mamoru nodded.
"Let's go look at it." He turned to his friend. "I'm going…" he indicated to the door. Nephrite nodded.
"It's ok. I'm going to stay with Mako here." Mamoru smiled.
"You two have a lot to talk about." Nephrite looked at his girlfriend and gave a small smile.
"I wish it were under different circumstances."
Ami followed Mamoru into Usagi's room and closed the door behind them. She heard a door close a few feet away – Nephrite and Makoto were about to reach a new level in their relationship. All this trust, all this history… perhaps they would be able to pass on how they dealt with this new information.
Nephrite followed Makoto into her room. He closed the door behind them and sat on the bed. She followed him and was about to sit down next to him when he noticed her nasty bruise. He immediately got up to examine it.
"What happened?" He whispered, noting the ugly purple and green it was coloured. Makoto smiled sadly.
"The…erm…the downside to our job." Nephrite touched her bruise ever so slightly, trying to hurt her. Makoto closed her eyes and leaned in to his touch. He kissed the bruise, as softly as he could and then kissed her on the lips.
"I will kill whoever did this to you." He whispered against her lips. Makoto just smiled and led him to her bed to sit down.
"You have the rest of the Sailor Guardians waiting in line to do that."
"Sailor Guardians… wow." Makoto laughed.
"Well…you're Endymion's guards."
"The Shittenou."
"How did you…how…when…" It was Nephrites turn to laugh.
"I'll tell you my story if you tell me yours." Makoto nodded. It was good see what he knew before divulging her story – she wasn't sure he knew about their last meeting with the Shittenou.
"I guess it all started with a year ago when Mamoru moved to Boston. He answered an advertisement for a spare room in my brother's house. Now, this is where we all start believing in fate; our father bought that apartment in Boston for Kunzite so he didn't really need a flatmate. However, Zoicite and I kept making fun of him that living for three years alone in the states would make him into a really anti-social person. With all the goading and jabs, Kunzite finally tried to prove us wrong by putting an advertisement in the newspaper. Mamoru answered it.
When Mamoru went for his 'interview', Kunzite was expecting someone really boring (on paper, without his nightly activities as Tuxedo Kamen, Mamoru sounds really boring) but turns out that they got along great. This mirrors their past as best friends too. We were all always close, but Mamoru and Kunzite had a different relationship since our brother was always the one who Mamoru trusted most and was most likely to put Mamoru in his place when he was acting a little…strange. I'll get to that in a bit.
Kunzite and Mamoru were living for, around 5 months together without knowing of their cosmic connection. Cue in me, Zoicite and Jadeite going to Boston to visit our brother. You know about Jadeite and Kunzite not getting along, so it was strange that Jadeite tagged along with me and Zoicite – although, I do think it had to do with a failed romance. He wanted to get away from Europe and since we were visiting the States… he decided to tag along with us. Now here is the other strange part – Kunzite allowed Jadeite to stay with us in the house. The apartment had three bedrooms. Zoicite would sleep in the living room, I would share with Jadeite, Kunzite in his room and Mamoru in his room.
The cosmic reunion was…spectacular. Mamoru, of course, knew about the Shittenou, but he didn't know that we were the Shittenou. We didn't know we were the Shittenou, past or present. We were completely in the dark. That night, Jadeite and I were in the apartment, playing chess. Zoicite was reading and Kunzite was studying. Mamoru had a lecture and was bringing pizzas for dinner – it was also the first time we would be meeting him. The minute Mamoru walked in through the door, we all go this horrible headache and it…it was like…memories flooding our brain. Mamoru was the missing link between all of us. We all changed into our aliases – Mamoru into Tuxedo Kamen, and the rest of us in our respective General uniforms. We have memories of our past on Crystal Tokyo, protecting Endymion, but that's it.
We stayed in Boston (much to the chagrin of our parents) and trained with Endymion. There were no youmas, nor any strange attacks, but we still trained. Fast forward to us coming to Japan. We meet you – not knowing who you are, or our connection to you. Now that we know who you are, we can help you and train with you and defeat those…what are they?"
Makoto took Nephrite's story in and was amazed at how Mamoru finally connected with his generals. It wasn't like them and Usagi where each one was found separately. He looked at her expectantly, to begin her story. Makoto took a breath breathe and began – although her gut instinct was telling her that Nephrite hadn't told her the whole story.
"To answer your question… we don't know what they are. Last month this mechanical spider youma appeared and since then loads of them have been popping up at night. This was the first time it was a humanoid species attacking. They look like ferocious foes. Ami will analyse the youmas on her computer and give us an update during our after-attack meetings. Though I guess it will be postponed given Rei and Usagi's state since we usually have it the day after the fight.
You know how we all became friends, but now I guess I can tell you why our bond is so strong. Usagi, Sailor Moon, is our princess – the one that we were trying to find (what Endymion is to you, Usagi is to us). I am Sailor Jupiter, Minako is Sailor Venus (the highest ranking general), Ami is Sailor Mercury and Rei is Sailor Mars. We were all linked, cosmically if you would, during our teenage years when we banded together to fight our common enemies and serve our princess. Along the way, things changed – our princess wasn't just our princess, she was our best friend and we would do anything to protect her. But Usagi would also do anything to protect us. She has grown so much.
I told you about Usagi being a little…immature in high-school, and she still is to a certain extent. But she has grown so much and is so regal and poised in so many ways that there is no way for her to not have our respect. There's not much to say really. We all took a gap year to visit the Moon Kingdom, which is in total ruins, and trained really hard to become the best guardians. After Usa and Mamoru broke up, we were really upset for them, but Usagi wanted to be stronger and better. So we all came together to help her grow. But…you know… we all grew.
We spent one year on the Moon – with the occasional visits back to Earth. Usagi rebuilt her palace and we are waiting for the Crystal to build the Moon Kingdom when the time is right and start diplomatic relations with neighbouring planets. But Usagi trained physically and mentally for her role. The truth us, we all benefited from that gap year.
Ami, Sailor Mercury, learned that she wasn't just about reading and studying and she wasn't just the brains behind the operations. She always felt as if she wasn't more than just that to our group. But one day, during her visit to earth, we all got into a massive argument. I don't know what about. But it was a big one. Neither of us were talking to each other. Ami finally came back and found us all practicing alone. She didn't get angry at us, nor did she shout at us for arguing. She simply went to each one of separately and told us that this one guy she was dating but broke up with before she came to the moon met up with her and broke her heart again. She didn't ask for compassion or sympathy, she just told us facts – that's what Ami does. Of course, we were all SUPER angry at Greg for doing that to her so we came together to plot our revenge. We never got to carry out what we had planned because Ami stopped us, but it was good to bond over what some asshole did to her. She had never been more touched. She found out that she was truly a member of our friendship group, not just our fighting group.
Sailor Mars was so arrogant, vain and self-involved. One year on the moon, learning to play well with others and learning to work in a team was super hard for her. But she did it. She learned to work with circumstances that weren't always to her liking. Of course, Rei had been through so much with her family, we were always lenient on her and her…I'll use the word arrogance here. But truly, she was selfish and spoilt. She sometimes reverts back to her old self, but it's always in good fun and never meant in a malicious way.
Sailor Venus was always the leader of our group – she is always the one behind the strategic fight. During our time on the moon, she learned to be better and stronger while still retaining her personality. I know it doesn't seem like she went through a change, but you have to understand what it's like for someone who has to put everyone else's life before hers. Not just Sailor Moon's, but the rest of ours' too. Yet she still remains ditzy and sometimes vain and driven to pursue her dreams. Being able to maintain both personas so expertly is truly a gift that Venus has.
And me… I still pick fights, am sarcastic, before I found you I was still boy crazy. But before I went to the moon, I always felt that I had to learn to be alone. This stems from the fact that both my parents died when I was young. Even after I had joined the Sailor Scouts, I was…I never truly felt part of their group because I always went to an empty house at the end of the day while they got to go home to families they loved and who loved them back. Don't get me wrong, I was happy and I never felt sad, but I had this idea that being alone was my destiny until I found someone to love me. I did find people who loved me and didn't let me be alone; but they didn't love me in the way I always thought – romantic love. This was the love of a friendship that had bonds nothing could break. They helped me discover that I could still be me in a group of people and continue trying to find love. They are my surrogate family."
Makoto stopped there and looked up to see Nephrite looking at her adoringly. She smiled and went in to hug him.
"I am just glad that I can finally share that aspect of my life with you. I mean…this is such a big aspect of my life that it's amazing I can finally share it with you. He nodded and hugged her even more tight. She closed her eyes and tried to assuage the guilt of leaving out the whole part about knowing Nephrite's betrayal to Mamoru and Crystal Tokyo and her part in his demise. She couldn't quite put her finger on why she had done that, but she thought it wise. Perhaps, in time, she would tell him, but she knew that knowledge of the betrayal would rip him apart.
Jadeite looked at the sleeping girl in front of him and smiled – he knew it was an odd reaction to her current state, but he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she still was even under these circumstances. And it wasn't just that… in the kitchen, when she could barely hold herself upright, she was thinking of her friend, Usagi, who was also in a terrible state. Jadeite craved that altruism and that need for someone to take care of him. He immediately scoffed at himself – who would care for him, a disgraced bastard of one of the richest men in Tokyo who couldn't even get the love of all of his brothers. He looked at the sleeping girl again and felt himself calm down – she radiated beauty, poise, and goodness which made it hard for him to have self-destructing thoughts. He put a hand to her clammy forehead and frowned at how hot she still was. He placed the scanner Ami had thoughtfully left in Rei's room close to the centre of her forehead and waited for it to show that her temperature remained unchanged. He put the scanner back in unconsciously started stroking her hair while his thoughts went to the battle last night.
He didn't know who the Sailor Scouts were. Endymion had taken them on this excursion to see how they could use their powers fighting the evils he had told them about. Of course, he and his brothers knew about the Sailor Scouts and their victories, but he never truly believed that they could fight so well and hold their own against such formidable foes. The boys had arrived late so they had missed how the battle had begun but they saw how each of the guardian fell. Sailor Jupiter, who he remembered was Makoto a past and present love of his twin, was knocked backward when he opponent deflected her tornado blast and used it against her. Sailor Venus, the past love of his eldest brother and present person of interest, was knocked back when her opponent caught her chain and threw her off guard. The only person who was able to keep their opponent on their toes was Sailor Mars…
He sighed. Sailor Mars was his…
"Why Sailor Mars, you look beautiful tonight." The woman standing in front of him smiled. The man was shocked – usually women blushed at his words of admiration, but the beauty before him just accepted his compliments with no humility – she truly was unfazed by most things, just like the stories he was told.
"Thank you General."
"It's my pleasure." He smiled. They were both standing on the balcony looking up at the night sky full of stars. "Are you on duty tonight?" She turned to him, a grin on her beautiful lips.
"As I am every night."
"And the Princess lets you dress like that?" The guardian looked down at her outfit. She was wearing a long, crimson, 1-shoulder dress with that flared a little outward from the waist down; there was a sheer material overlaying the flare that shined a little under the spotlight. Her shoes were 9-inch heeled crimson sandals with a jewelled strap. She had accented the dress with a simple black choker and had styled her hair in a tight bun with a pretty hair stick holding it together.
"Well…my sword does appear on whim."
"Ah yes! One of the many abilities of the Sailor Scouts."
"So, you read about us." She raised an eye brow at him.
"Princess, we had to study you. Our Prince wanted us to know everything about the Moon Kingdom and the Sailor Scouts were a pretty important topic given how close to the Queen you are."
"Actually, we're close to the Princess, not the Queen."
"But the Queen trusts you implicitly."
"Well, we have saved her life on multiple occasions." Jadeite mused that thought.
"I find that hard to believe dressed like that." The girl just laughed and then inched close to him.
"You would be surprised with how we can fight. My girls can take all of you down in a second dressed in our finest clothes. Pitiful Earth males are no match for us." Her breath tickled his ear and he remained rooted in place long after he had stared at her retreating back walking away from him.
He remembered their first encounter – in fact, it had been one of the first memories he had of his past. Sailor Mars had always been his equal – in word spars, sword fights, throwing darts and physical combat. In fact, after their first encounter, it wasn't long after that when they had their second encounter on Earth – a diplomatic mission the Princess had to go own. This time she was on his turf and he could control the situation. He was, a little, nicer to her and even had a conversation about what life on the Moon was like. As they met more often he had began to develop feelings for her, but was too proud to act on them. Sure, she was beautiful, but what could a relationship with her benefit him?
He still felt ashamed, even after all these years, for ever thinking that. Sailor Mars had been the best thing to ever happen to him. He was always considered the weakest of all the Shittenou, but she helped him grow into someone stronger. She also helped him break down his wall of arrogance, a wall he had put up as a defensive mechanism to keep away people from getting too close to him.
So why had they broken up? That was the part he couldn't remember.
The present was starting to mimic the past. From the first time he saw her in the hallway, he felt an instant connection to her. He knew that there was more to her beauty than met the eye but he never really pursued that interest. He had Kai after all who was a good companion. But Rei… he noticed that he was still stroking her hair so he immediately stopped. She must have noticed something amiss because she groaned in her sleep and moved her head instinctively closer to where his hand had been. Jadeite smiled and went back to stroking her, something which seemed to immediately calm her down. He promised himself he would be different this time – he wouldn't act so aloof and he would try to be a better person. For her… anything for her.
Mina followed Kunzite to the staircase – he was so silent she was afraid to make any noise. When they had nearly reached the bottom, an eager voice shouted out to Mina, making her cringe.
"Minako!" Masaaki was sitting on the final step reading an English book.
"Hi Masaaki!" He immediately got up to greet her but stopped when he saw Kunzite. He looked from Kunzite to Mina, a questioning look in his eyes but neither answered. "It's cold here, you should really be in the warmth" Mina continued, feeling sorry for the poor boy. Kunzite had already descended the final step when Masaaki decided to be bold.
"I was…well…since it's so cold, how about you and I go for some hot chocolate?" Mina quickly turned to look at Kunzite hoping that he wouldn't leave her behind.
"Masaaki, I would love to but…" She looked down, embarrassed to look him the eyes. "I don't think it would be right to lead you on when I am, in fact, dating someone else." Masaaki nodded and quickly jerked his head to see Kunzite – that man remained unfazed. Mina, however, looked shocked at the idea of Masaaki thinking she was dating Kunzite. "Zach and I just started dating." Masaaki looked back at her confused.
"Oh…" Mina quickly bade him goodbye and had just descended the last step when Kunzite started walking again. Jogging a little to keep up with his long strides, Mina didn't have the energy to also speak. It wasn't until they were halfway to their destination when Kunzite spoke to her.
"You shouldn't have lied to the poor boy". Mina looked confused.
"I didn't lie…" Kunzite slowed his pace and turned to look at her.
"You're dating Zach?"
"Yes." She didn't want to continue the conversation any more. Thankfully, Kunzite didn't press for more information though he had slowed his pace down so she could keep up at a more leisurely pace. They reached their destination in under 20 minutes – thanks to their power walking.
"We're at a hospital?" Kunzite nodded.
"I help out a few times a month here." Mina looked confused.
"But you're doing a PhD in experimental physics." Kunzite gave her a half smile.
"Yes… but because of my extensive work with computers, I am able to help them with some of their research."
"So, what are we doing here?" This time Kunzite gave her a grin – Mina was so shocked she actually stopped walking in order to process his change. She had only seen the man smile a handful of times and here was actually grinning at her!
"What we're about to do… well…it's not exactly legal." She laughed.
"We're going to break into the hospital you work at."
"Dymi works here too! And technically, it's not really breaking in." He produced a swipe card from his pocket. "I do have access".
"We're stealing from a hospital!" Mina hissed as she followed him through the hospital gates.
"Relax! I'll make my father give a donation".
"It'd better be a big one!" She grumbled. They had entered the hospital where they were greeted by two receptionists behind a large desk. They recognised Kunzite immediately.
"Hello Kunzite."
"Hello Asami, Hello Hinako." The two girls smiled at him and Mina was shocked to see Kunzite walking toward them. "How are both of you today?" He continued small chit chat with them with a hint of flirtation – Mina didn't know whether she was angry or shocked. This was a whole different Kunzite to what she was used to!
"I brought my fiancée to see the computers that I work with." This brought Mina out of her trance. The two girls Kunzite was speaking to peered behind him, looking at Mina with a calculating look and a hint of jealousy in their eyes. Mina collected herself and flashed the girls one of her ditsiest smiles.
"Kunzite here is always talking about his computers so I told him to show me how they work." She turned to look at him with, what she hoped, was an adoring look in her eyes. "My man is just so smart and strong." For a brief second, Kunzite was caught in her stare and he felt a tug at his heart. But he turned back to look at the girls who had changed from looking at her with jealousy to envy. He put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer causing her to nearly break character from her shock.
"You two lovebirds go right ahead! We'll cover for you." Kunzite thanked them with a big smile before leading Mina through the glass doors. They kept their pretence until they were out of the girls' eye sight. Mina immediately broke away from Kunzite while the latter missed her embrace more than he cared for.
"Fiancee? I would never let my fiancé flirt with other girls like that!" Mina admonished. Kunzite had gone back to his stoic self.
"Mamoru and I often steal from the hospital so we can patch ourselves up after intense training so we flirt with Asami and Hinako in order to avoid suspicion."
"Smart. But fiancée?" Kunzite looked at her sheepishly.
"They asked us out but neither of us wanted to date them so we made up girlfriends."
"When did we get engaged then?"
"Last week actually. Then Mamoru plucked up the courage to get engaged to his girlfriend yesterday. All four of us are best of friends actually."
"I hope we gave your colleagues wine."
"Only the best champagne and cupcakes from Old Movies."
"Jupiter's place!" Kunzite looked at her confused so Mina elaborated. "Sailor Jupiter, Makoto, she makes those cupcakes. She works at Old Movies." Kunzite looked impressed.
"I thought they tasted familiar. She's always cooking at our place."
"So why didn't you want to date the receptionists? They are really pretty." Kunzite was too busy leading the way through the maze of corridors to look back at her.
"Mamoru is obviously still hung up on Usagi. He briefly tried to date an old acquaintance of his, but it failed." Mina waited for more, but he had already stopped talking.
"What about you?" Kunzite turned to look at her for a brief moment before turning back.
"I never mix my business and pleasure." Mina nodded – that was a good philosophy.
"Where are we going?"
"Mamoru needs surgical tools. The reason we need to steal is that these are state of the art supplies that we can't buy without alerting suspicion."
"Can Mamoru really operate on her in our house?" Kunzite nodded.
"He's done it once before." He didn't offer more explanation so Mina didn't press on. "You girls really know how take a punch."
"You were there?" Kunzite nodded.
"Mamoru held us back. We didn't know who you were, of course, but we wanted to help."
"Why would he do that?"
"I think he's impressed. In fact, we all were…are. You girls are so strong."
"We trained a lot to be that way." Kunzite turned to shush her. Ordinarily, she would have been angry but three doctors were passing by. He immediate snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her close.
"Hello Kunzite!" One of the doctors, an elderly man, smiled at him.
"Hello Doctor Fukihama."
"I should guess this is your lovely fiancée?" he turned to look at Mina who was smiling at him.
"Doctor Fukihama, Kunzite has told me all about you!" Kunzite turned to look at her hoping that she wouldn't mess things up. "He keeps telling me how happy he is working with such a respected radiologist." Doctor Fukihama smiled at her and then turned to Kunzite.
"Your fiancée is really pretty Kunzite. And a smart girl to say such lovely things." He winked at her. "You two should come over for dinner one night – my wife would love to meet you and…" he turned to Mina suddenly aware that he didn't know her name.
"Mina, Doctor. We would love to!" Kunzite answered inwardly cursing at how things were shaping up.
"Perfect! We'll tell your friend, Mamoru too and Doctor Takeshi – you know those two love going on about their cases." Kunzite nodded while Mina just played the dutiful fiancée next to him.
"We'll set that up!" They exchanged their farewells and went along their ways. Neither Kunzite nor Mina noticed that his arm was still around her waist.
"Just to tell you, pumpkin pie, this week I won't be able to plan anything because my schedule is already full." Mina told him in her ditsiest voice.
"Oh shut up." He said looking down at her, but smiling genuinely. Mina was too shocked to retort back since this was a side to him she had never seen and they had been living opposite each other for 2 months. When they had reached the room Kunzite wanted, he checked around for any bystanders and gave her a nod – meaning that they could go ahead. He tried the door, but it was locked.
"Shit." Mina looked at him, concerned.
"What's wrong?"
"It's locked."
"Use your key."
"I don't have access to this room." Mina clicked her tongue.
"Do you have a credit card?"
"It's not time for shopping!" He said before he realised why she wanted the card. Wordlessly, he handed over a credit card to a bemused Mina.
"Be on the lookout" She whispered as she tackled the door.
"You sure you know what you're doing?" Mina nodded as she concentrated on unlocking the door. "I doubt this will work, this hospital is really advance." Mina didn't have to reply as the open door was proof of her success.
"Oh ye of little faith." She said dryly. "Go in and get what we need." Kunzite went into the supply room and started collecting the things they would need.
"I need your purse." He whispered, his arms laden with stolen goods.
"It doesn't go with your outfit." Mina smirked as she gave him her purse. He just stuck his tongue out at her before putting all the goods in her bag. Mina was too tired to be shocked once more at his playfulness.
"Okay, we're ready." Kunzite gave her back the back, closed the door and put his arm around her waist again. This time, both of them noticed, but neither commented as they made their way back to the apartment.
A/N:
I am such a horrible author, I never wished you guys HAPPY NEW YEAR! A bit of trivia on yours truly – I LOVE New Year's…it's my FAVOURITE time of the year. There is something about starting new. Now, before you think I'm one of those people who quotes "new year, new me"…I'm not. Really. But I LOVE beginnings, absolutely LOVE THEM. Think about it…starting a new book, starting a new TV show…starting a new story where the possibilities are endless (in this case I probably should finish the one I already have ;p) But I love beginnings. And there is not that much pressure like Christmas where you have to make sure to give the perfect present and worry about being jovial (if you're not happy on Christmas Day you get called the Grinch!)…. I give presents on New Year's and there is a story behind that.
In the Greek culture, they celebrate Ayios Vasilis – Saint Vasili. In 330 AD Ayios Vasili was born in Caesarea of Kappadokia (in Greece). He went to study in Constantinople (Theology) and then went to Athens to study philosophy and rhetoric. He then joined a Monastery in Pontos (Greece) where he became associated with being charitable and telling Christians to give to the poor.
A version I had heard when I was really young and loved to hear stories like this was that the mean king of Athens had let his people starve so Ayios Vasilis would hide money and jewellery in bread and go around the impoverished areas and give the loaf of bread with the mini treasure to those who were in desperate need of help. This is how the 'vasilopita' (a cake with a coin) became a tradition to eat on the day the Greeks celebrated Ayios Vasilis.
I love collecting myths and stories like this and adding them to my yearly repertoire. It makes you really think of what we should do. I'm not going to go into a whole theological or philosophical discussion on what man's purpose on Earth is (to be honest I don't think I am cut out for either discipline) but it is interesting to see how things you hear shape you into who you are.
Another example is a personal anecdote that happened to me before I went to study (just an FYI, I studied child psychology within my general degree). I was interning at a school for children with special needs and I focused on this one kid who couldn't speak, didn't even know his name half the time but who could carry a tune (unlike me) and remember the lyrics verbatim (even if he didn't know what they meant). After a (working) week of working with this kid, his mum came Monday morning and asked who Aurora (me) was… and I told her it was me. She smiled at me and said that her kid was singing my name to the tune of twinkle twinkle little star (one of his favourite songs) over and over again. It made my day and a couple of years later, I still remember this and it makes me work harder and really connect with the work that I do.
Wow… look at me ramble on. Hmmmmmmm…..
Anyway! My lovely lovely lovely readers…as always…thank you ?
By the way, here go a couple of comments, generally, regarding my story.
1) I am a very forgetful person. I have forgotten (twice) to go to exams, have forgotten to give in assignments for school and have even, on occasion, lost my car. The only times I am NEVER forgetful is when I am at work – I am a whole new person there which is why work friends think I am someone completely different the minute I step away from work. So I forget what colour Mamoru's eyes are. And generally, their appearance. I haD a notebook where all of this was written and a general plot line (ok, I lie, I had THREE of them) and I forgot them all somewhere. So I'm sorry. His eyes will go blue again at some point.
2) I also forgot how the Shittenou knew about their past – I tried re reading my story but I can't seem to find it. I have started a new notebook with these details so I hopefully don't slip up again.
3) Because I lose my notebook so often, I forget what plotline I have decided to use. There are at least three in my head. I always have a changeable scene in case I don't like how it plays out once I've written it. So sometimes my story can look weird. This is one of the things I am trying to work on as a writer. But I know I can never be a professional writer – so please excuse me.
Thanks to:
Guest reviewers. One of you says that you feel my story is going a different way and that you are now losing interest. I am so sorry. Perhaps you could elaborate more?
V – good choice in name! For two reasons – V (Sailor Venus) and V (V for Vendetta) ;) aye, I do like my reviewers
Slightlyxjaded – my most faithful reviewer à you are…pure goodness. You leave meaty reviews and are always SO faithful
Noelle Anna-Marie – Of course! As long as I still have creative juices flowing ;)
Reidite88 – Another faithful reviewer! I promise not to be late in updating! Judging by your name, you must like Rei and Jadeite à I love that couple too and I think I am really playing favourites since I seem to focus a lot on them :/
Loregaby07 – muchos gracias (?) this is as far as my Spanish goes! I hope you enjoy it :)
Team Senshi – yes! I wanted a story with the shittenou! In my favourite authors you'll see one story about the shittenou which I ABSOLUTELY love!
TaxPrincess – I try! I try and put Mamoru and Usagi in the story as much as I can. They will be central in the next few chapters since Usagi is so ill.
Starrlight812 – your review made my decade! I hope you are still reading :)
Kito - :) I am updating now tooooooooooooooo
Newbie – He just brought Casablanca lilies cause he likes them ;0)