Chapter 25: When I first met you-Venus

—Venus's memory—

"Please, Venus. I really want to go to this ball." Serenity said to Venus.

"Absolutely not, princess. It's too dangerous for you to attend a Terran's ball," Venus said. "What if someone recognizes you? What if someone plans to attack you? Plus, I'm not sure we can trust this Terran prince yet. You've just met him last week, which by the way, I haven't yet forgiven you for sneaking off to earth by yourself."

"His name is Endymion," Serenity said. "And it's a masquerade ball. Nobody will know it's me."

"Please, princess. You have that royal aura. People say you are the most beautiful woman in the solar system. Do you really think someone won't recognize you?"

"Terrans have never seen me, well except for Endymion, of course," Serenity said. "Please, Venus. Please." Serenity pleaded with her beautiful blue eyes.

Venus shook her head, "What am I going to do with you, Serenity?"

"I told you what to do," Serenity said. "Go to the ball with me."

Venus looked at her princess, realizing that being strong-headed and stubborn as Serenity was, she could never stop her princess. If she didn't go with her, Serenity will sneak off by herself anyway. It maybe better to just go with her, at least to ensure her safety.

"Fine, Serenity. But no words about this to others. Not to other senshi, either."

Serenity beamingly smiled. "Thank you, Venus. Now let's go help me figure out what to wear." Serenity took Venus's hand and led her to the princess's enormous closet.

Venus followed Serenity, thinking that at least she liked this part of helping her princess selecting her best dress. And she loved dancing too, so maybe attending this ball wouldn't be so bad.

—

Serenity went with her pink gown with a white mask. Venus went with her satin bright golden gown with the blue mask to match her eyes. Endymion had their names on the guest list as nobles from the Far West kingdom.

This ball was held annually since Prince Endymion had turned 16 years old as the King's attempt to find a suitable noble girl for his only son.

Serenity and Venus entered the ball and then curtsied to Endymion, the King and the Queen.

The ball had started. Endymion asked Serenity for a dance. Immediately after Serenity went with Endymion, Venus was approached by a silver-haired man.

"May I have this dance?" he asked.

Venus took a look at him. Muscular, stiff, armed (although his dagger was hidden, years of training as the head senshi meant that she could spot these things pretty easily), this man had to be a solider, a high-rank one to be in this ball. Seeing that this man was standing next to Endymion earlier, it was not hard to guess that he must be the prince's guard or probably the head palace guard.

She took his hand, "My pleasure." She followed him to the dance floor.

After dancing for half a song, Venus said."You are not at all interested in dancing with me, are you?"

"Excuse me?" Kunzite looked puzzled, for he was sure that he danced well and treated her like a lady that she was.

"You are not dancing with me because you want to. You are dancing with to keep an eye on the prince." Venus said.

"I apologize, my lady, but I am merely doing my job." Kunzite said. Now it's clear to her that he was the prince's personal guard.

"So, my lady, where are you from?" Kunzite asked.

Venus smirked as she thought that he was performing a background check on her as a companion of the woman the prince was interested in. But Venus was more skilled at this.

"I'm more interested in where you are from," Venus said.

Kunzite was puzzled. He used to get his way, not in a spoiled sense, but in a controlled one. As the eldest child of the South Kingdom, he had tons of responsibilities and he always got his answers when he wanted to. This woman was challenging him.

"No need for a pretense. I know who you are." Kunzite said.

Venus smirked. "Then why did you ask?"

"I was just being polite."

"You were just trying to see what I would say or, to be exact, what lie I would come up with." Venus said, "Since you know who I am, may I ask who you are?"

"I'm the prince's personal guard, General Kunzite."

"So the prince told you we were coming?" Venus asked.

"Yes, I didn't agree with him, of course, but there was really no way to stop the prince once he set his mind on something."

"Seems like we both have stubborn royals in our care," Venus said. "Things will get a lot more interesting from now on, general."

Kunzite said, "That's what I was afraid of."

Venus smirked, "The prince's general is actually afraid of something?"

"Enemy armies I can handle, spies I can expose, threats I can deter, but love," Kunzite said. "is something I can't control. And I fear what Endymion might do when he is — in love."

Venus looked through his silver mask. Kunzite seemed so strong on the outside, but when speaking of love, he seemed so vulnerable.

"You don't have love in your life, general?" Venus asked.

"My duty doesn't allow time for such thing, Sailor Venus."

It was weird to hear him say her name without she telling it to him.

"That's a sad way to live, General." Venus said.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Love is the strength that can carry you through life. Without love, there is no strength and no hope."

Kunzite smiled, "I love my prince and my Kingdom, Sailor Venus. That's enough for me."

Venus suddenly felt someone moving suspiciously at the back of the ballroom. She looked through her mask to see a few attendants among many that seemed somewhat suspicious. Concerned for her princess, she decided to part from Kunzite.

"Sorry but I have to leave." Venus curtsied and then walked away from Kunzite. Her mind was on a couple of attendants walking swiftly from the back of the ballroom to the hallway.

Kunzite's eyes followed her. He felt as if he was rejected. No woman had walked away from his presence before. He shrugged at his thought. He had no time thinking about this girl anyway. He had a job to do. He walked out of the dance floor, but still kept his eyes on Endymion and his dance partner.

—

Venus followed two servant girls from the ballroom. With her training, it was easy for Venus to follow them without them noticing. Still in her satin golden gown, she followed them along the hallway and upstair behind the curtain. The servants stood over on the balcony looking over the entire ballroom. Venus saw one servant looking out to clear the way for her friend, while the other girl went behind the curtain to get near the rope holding the chandelier. Venus saw the girl pulling a small dagger out, trying to cut the rope. Venus quickly pulled out her chain and took the dagger from the girl. Both girls saw Venus and rushed to take care of her, but Venus was quicker. She knocked out two girls simultaneously, but the sound of the two girls falling on the floor caused the shitennou to notice the incident. Kunzite looked at the other three shitennou to remain at their station, while he went to investigate. Venus immediately transformed and changed into a disguise as a common Terran palace guard. Her hair was put up in a bun. It was a little nerve-wrecking without a mask, but she was skilled at disguise and was sure she could pull it off.

Kunzite walked swiftly to the scene, seeing a palace guard tying hands of two unconscious girls dressed as servants.

"What happened?" Kunzite asked.

"These two were trying to cause a scene. I suspected they were trying to cut off the chandelier's rope, sir."

Kunzite looked at the rope and followed it to the chandelier hanging right above the King and the Queen. Should the girls succeed, it would be disastrous.

"You did a great job. Thank you." Kunzite said, "I will report to the King and the Queen make sure you get well deserved honor."

Kunzite looked at the guard and realized he didn't know this guy, which was strange because Kunzite knew every palace guard's name by heart.

"What's your name?" Kunzite asked.

Venus looked him and said, "You know my name, General."

Kunzite looked at the guard carefully, still sure that he didn't know this man.

Venus, still in the palace guard uniform, walked closer to Kunzite and looked at him straight in the eyes.

"You failed, General. I don't know how these two managed to disguise themselves as palace servants so close to the royals. You have to be more careful."

Kunzite looked at this man. Admittedly, he did fail in his security plan, but he still didn't trust this soldier whose name he couldn't remember yet.

"What's your name, soldier?" Kunzite asked sternly.

"I'm merely doing my job, General." Venus walked past Kunzite but kept her eyes at him while saying this. Seeing those blue eyes, Kunzite suddenly realized that this guard was Sailor Venus.

As she was walking away, she turned back a little to say to Kunzite, "Brute force is not everything, General. You need your brain and gut instinct too."

Typical generals would take that comment as an insult, but Kunzite was pleasantly surprised that for once he met a girl who could do her job independently, and even doing it better than he. Kunzite kept his eyes fixed at Venus as she walked away, leaving Kunzite to take care of the two unconscious traitors.

Venus transformed back to her gown with a mask. She walked back to join Serenity who was now sitting at a table in the ballroom.

"Is everything ok?" Serenity asked.

"I had to take care of something, princess. Everything is ok now," Venus said as she sat down next to her princess. "But I think we should leave as soon as possible."

"Why?"

Venus said, "Someone was trying to harm the King and the Queen. We should get out of here before they are investigating everyone in the palace. We don't want to risk revealing our identities."

Serenity heard her head senshi's words and realized that things were serious now. She nodded and prepared to leave.

Serenity and Venus walked out of the ballroom. Everyone was still enjoying the music and dancing so no one noticed their absence. But before they could get out of the building, Kunzite stopped them.

"Are you leaving?" Kunzite asked without a formal tone showing that he was talking to Venus rather than Serenity.

Serenity and Venus turned to Kunzite.

"We had to go," Venus said. "You know that."

"Did you tell the prince?"

"No, we didn't," Serenity answered. "Please tell him I apologize for leaving early."

"No problem your highness." Kunzite bowed to Serenity.

"I will escort you out of the teleporter," Kunzite offered.

Venus said, "Not necessary, General. You are needed back there. We can take care of ourselves." Venus slightly pushed Serenity to walk forward, and she tailed closely behind.

"Thank you," Kunzite muttered, causing Venus to turn her head back slightly.

Venus looked at him and gave a small nod.

"I'll never forget this day," Kunzite said to Venus.

She nodded again and turned back to follow Serenity. Nobody saw her mischievous smile.

—End of memory—

"I wish I was there to see Kunzite's face when you told him he failed at his duty." Makoto grinned.

"Well, you will never see it. He only showed it to me," Minako winked at her friend, but she quickly changed to her thinking mode and gave a big sighed.

"What's wrong, Minako-chan?" Makoto asked.

"As much fun as these memories are, I don't think they are strong enough to rescue Nate and Ken."

"I hate to admit it, but I agree with you." Makoto nodded slightly. "But we can't lose hope. We'll find the one that will work eventually."

Minako seemed like she was miles away, lost in her thoughts.

Makoto noticed her usually cheerful friend's change of mood and she realized that recalling memory about Kunzite must have some kind of effect on her friend.

"Are you ok, Minako-chan? Do you want to come to my place? I will make you dinner," Makoto offered.

Minako was considering it for a minute. It was always a comfort to be with Makoto, with her delicious food, cozy apartment and strong fighting attitude. But today Minako felt like reminiscing about the past. She knew she shouldn't dwell on it too much, but recalling the memory of how they first met triggered all suppressed emotions to resurface. And she needed to deal with her emotions on her own.

"Thank you, Mako-chan, but I think I'm just gonna go home tonight."

"But we are not supposed to be alone. I promised Artemis to stay with you the whole time."

"I'm just going home. Tell Artemis to come if he's concerned." Minako gave a forced smile. Makoto knew at that moment that her friend was determined to sort things out on her own for a while.

"I'll tell Artemis that. And call me if you need anything." Makoto put her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"I will." Minako was glad to have her sister-in-arms supporting her like this. She turned her back and headed to the direction of her house, leaving Makoto to look at her friend's silhouette slowly disappearing.

—

AN. I know the masquerade ball is kind of a cliché, but for some reason I keep seeing Kunzite and Venus first met at the ball. So there you go! Thank you, Moonprincess998 , persian85033 , and Guest for suggestions about K/V scene. You helped fuel my thinking :)

Also this one is a little short, but don't worry. More K/V scenes are coming soon.

Thank you all of you who follow and fav this story. Your reviews are my great motivators.

Special thanks to:

Moonprincess998 : I'm glad you liked Jup/Neph scene. They are both tough fighters so I thought it would be fun to have them meet for the first time in a duel.

KageNoNeko : I know there are quite a low of Ami/Zac scenes. I actually didn't plan it that way. I'm more of a Jup/Nep fan. Which couple do you like the most? I can try focusing on them more. Toward the end would be mostly focused on V/K and M/J, but who know what kind of inspiration will strike me again?

James Birdsong: Thank you. Glad you like the story.

persian85033 : Glad you liked the surprise Nephrite got in the duel. It was really fun writing that chapter.