A Second Chance
By: Ryu Niiyama
Chapter 5 ffnetversion
"Master…" Deft fingers slid across the misted window pane as the rain steadily fell, the dark clouds refusing to surrender even to the predawn light. "What a gloomy day this will be…" Kunzite sighed not quite realizing just how prophetic his words would prove to be, and such a fact had little to do with the falling rain. The leader of the shitenno sighed again before moving to collect the clothes he would wear for the day. His time with Minako had been few and far between as of late and despite his concern over the well being of his charge, the silver haired lord felt it best he spent the day reforging the bond between his soulmate and himself. 'She was so upset when I left with Haruka for the expo… I should have known better than to try to run from our problems…' "Besides, who wouldn't want to spend the day in the company of a beautiful, engaging woman?" The polar lord mused to himself. Laying the clothing on his bed, he quickly changed into a pair of sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt. After doing a few stretches the silver haired lord, stepped outside into the pouring rain. Sighing again at the abysmal weather, Kunzite began his morning run.
"This is the residence of Kun Saito. Sorry I'm not in right now but if you leave your name and number I'll get back to you…BEEP" "Saito-san! Please you have to help me! He's gone insane! I don't know how much longer I can hide out before…. No, No get away! Help me ple-"
BEEP…. End of message.
"Ko-chan? Wake up. We're here." Makoto, blinked her verdant eyes blearily as the vision of her boyfriend swam into view. She smiled at the mildly contrite expression that Nephrite wore, he hated disturbing her sleep since she still suffered from nightmares since the death of her parents. "A'ight… Alright, I'm up." Both brunettes reached for their luggage as the train shuddered to a stop at the station. With a yawn, Makoto stepped off the train behind her lover, both of them searching for their transportation amid the confusion. "There she is Makoto. Haruka-san! Over here!" The blonde in question smiled as she saw both Nephrite and Makoto waving at her, and began maneuvering her way through the crowd to meet them. "There you two are! Here, let me take that Mako-chan." Makoto grinned at the ever charming Haruka, delighting in the mock scowl that found its way to Nephrite's face. The verdant eyed woman punched her lover in the shoulder to let him know that she saw his face before he managed to mask it. With a laugh, Haruka turned and led her companions to her car.
"So, how was the competition?" The blonde threw over her shoulder as they neared her car. "Great! Kami-sama, I learned so many new recipes! Poor Nephrite here, has probably gotten sick of my cooking by now since I tried so many new things on him!" Nephrite grinned patting a stomach that looked particularly stuffed. "Hey I have no complaints, but I think I'm going to have to start running with you and Kunzite again Haruka-san, otherwise Mako-chan might dump me for a skinnier boyfriend." Haruka snorted in response, fishing her keys out of her pocket as they arrived at her convertible. "Yeah well maybe she'll be looking for a girlfriend this time around…" The racer trailed off smugly enjoying the sharp inhalation and the blush that broke out on Makoto's face in response. Haruka had been the first to notice Makoto's longstanding crush on Ami, and had even tried to get the brunette to act upon it. Makoto proved unwilling in the end however. 'It's not that I don't love her Haruka-san, but after what she's been through do you think I could really be the one to mend her heart? I don't think so… A love like that, whether Ami-chan admits it or not, doesn't just disappear. So you see I do this because I love her…' Haruka shook her head slightly at the memory of Makoto conceding Ami's heart to another… to one of those 'things' that called themselves senshi. 'Damn shame too. But I suppose Nephrite keeps her happy enough.'
Opening the trunk, the blonde helped Nephrite store the luggage before vaulting herself into the driver's seat. Barely giving her two companions time to seat themselves, let alone buckle up, Haruka revved the engine. "Let's go!" The racer cried out as the sports car tore out of the parking lot, terrified bystanders and cars scrambling to make way.
"Hmmmhahahahaha…. Finally, the time of destiny is at hand. My destiny. No longer, shall I stand idle as this world cries out in pain for its master. I will take it into these hands, with this power, and I will mold it, I will forge it into a force without equal." Cobalt fire flashed ominously as the rain fell in torrents about the city. The figure, shrouded in a black cloak walked towards the ledge of the building from which he surveyed Tokyo, every footfall serving to crumble stone and concrete. Fangs, dripping with venom etched themselves into a grin as a taloned hand shot out from the cloak towards the dark sky. "Come to me sailor senshi. Come and fall before your king. Hahaha…. You thought you could escape my might Serenity, but I promise you, you will bow in subservience to me. And then, your hopes, your dreams, and those whom would fight to see those foolish dreams come to fruition will fall like so much rubble at my feet…"
Dark energy swirled in a vortex, the screams of the damned congregating and forming a physical manifestation of their combined hatred. The dark beast was massive, the concrete beneath it groaning and splintering slightly at its weight. Three pairs of clawed hands clenched, testing their own strength as hideous, malformed yet sturdy black wings beat the air around them. A chimera type screech clawed its way through an unrecognizable maw as keen blue eyes settled upon their master. The summoned smiled with dark fondness upon his creation, much as a father would to his child. "Very good. Go. Find her. Bring her to me…"
With a nod and a parting screech the thing shuffled its way to the ledge of the building and jumped off, fading into the darkness of the night. Now alone the cloaked one laughed aloud again before he too faded into nothingness.
"Yes Serenity, come and surrender to your husband…." These words hung pregnant in the air reverberating eerily before fading as if they had never been uttered. And as the last echo faded, elsewhere a shrine maiden fell to floor, shrieks of pain arching through her as she convulsed uncontrollably.
A groan issued from cracked lips as verdant eyes struggled to open. Rasping coughs caused lungs to contract and expel water and blood, as trembling hands found purchase upon the damp pavement. "Where? An alley, I… I don't even remember how I…" Suddenly spasms racked his weary body as the ice shitenno, found himself clutching his head, emerald eyes widening as pain laced through him.
"Noooo….." The word clawed its way past trembling lips, as the ice shitenno clutched his aching head. The memories of Ami's betrayal coursing through him like a vile poison, making him sick to his stomach. Zoisite threw his body to the side retching until his abdomen ached in protest. Quaking hands wiped at a tear streaked face, as the broken shitenno brought himself to his feet. "Taiki…Kou… I will make you pay for this transgression… with your life. Pained emerald flashed in anger as blonde haired man took off running towards his love… and his rival.
Taiki lay floating in that place between waking and not, aching pleasantly from her lover's fevered reassurances of devotion. "Stars above…. Had I'd stayed four years ago, she would have killed me!" The spent starlight reached out a hand to stroke the unoccupied but still warm sheets that Ami had vacated not too long ago. The brunette tilted her head slightly as she noticed sounds coming from the kitchen. "How can she be so wide awake?" Taiki sardonically questioned no one in particular, before rolling over reluctantly onto her stomach. Bleary mauve eyes caught sight of the small alarm clock nearby and the starlight cursed softly wishing for her glasses. After squinting for a few moments, the starlight determined the time to be nearly seven in the morning. "Stars… Seiya, Yaten! Ugh, they're never going to let me live this down! And I haven't called… our first night back and I've probably had them up all night worried!" Little did Taiki know that Ami had phoned the Kou household already, and it had taken quite a number of rings to rouse either Seiya or Yaten from their slumber…
Ring… Ring…
A mused raven head twitched as snores loud enough to wake the dead issued from a mouth still lightly crusted with the remains of popcorn and Chinese take out. Said snoreswere only drowned out by the television as it blared the endings of a romance film marathon that neither of the current occupants of the house would admit upon pain of death to watching. Though the twin mountains of tissues near the overturned popcorn bowl were testament enough. In another room nearby a silver haired figure lay comatose upon a bed, a worn teddy bear clutched in a desperate grip as a little puddle of drool steadily collected upon a pillow. On the nightstand nearby a phone rung endlessly as it had for the past five minutes, the silver haired figure unable to hear due to the ear plugs jammed haphazardly in her ears. The phone lit up with a garish neon lime green color giving the room all the ambiance of a bad science fiction movie. Luckily for the caller, the slumbering figure opted to forgo the eyemask in favor of ear plugs.
On the next ring the figure yelped in pain as a silver crowned head rested far too close to the phone, closed eyes being seared by a shock of light from the ringing contraption. Covering squinting eyes with one hand, and reaching for the phone with the other Yaten Kou managed to catch the caller before they hung up. "Moshi Moshi, Kou residence… moshi moshi, ara if this is some kind of prank…." Yaten began, getting worked up for a good rant before she realized the reason that she couldn't hear the caller was because she was still wearing earplugs.
"Yaten-san? Are you there?"
Yaten, finally free of the earplugs replaced the phone to her ear. "Ami-san? Hey, how are you?" Ami laughed softly in response. "I am well Yaten-san. I am calling in reference to Taiki-chan. I met up with her last night right before the downpour started. She's… staying with me."
'She didn't come home last night? I guess they didn't revoke her key to the library, heh heh….' Yaten chuckled softly at her off color joke, her mind not fully awake. Which is why switching mental gears so abruptly after she muddled through what Ami just said gave her a mild headache. Or perhaps it was from the sense of dread that was rapidly building up in the pit of her stomach. 'Wait… she?' "Uh… Thanks, Ami-san. Is Taiki…. is she alright? There's nothing wrong is there? I didn't sense any Youma or…" Ami's laughter cut through the fog of confusion and fear that was quickly clouding the starlight's mind. It was rare that Yaten let her true emotions show, even more so since the Lights' brief stay on Earth. However with her mind not completely free of Morpheus' grip Yaten's kind nature and general concern for her sister asserted itself. "Oh. Well uh tell Taiki not to take all day will ya? And she has to cook lunch for making Seiya worry so…."
"Of course Yatan-san. I'll have her back to you as soon as she wakes up… good-day."
It was a stunned and smirking Yaten that hung up the phone. With a laugh the shortest starlight screamed at the top of her lungs "SEIYA! SHE DID IT!"
Taiki looked at the feast laid out before her in suspicious awe. For the fourth time by Ami's count, the starlight looked around obviously searching for evidence of restaurant take out. Ami sighed and looked at her lover with a placating smile etched upon her serene features. "Honestly Taiki-san. Yes I made it, and no it won't kill you. I might not be the chef Makoto is but I can assure in the years of my growing up my mother did not cook before she left for work. So please, stop looking like you're going to have to call poison control." Taiki blushed at being caught, although it's not as though her thoughts were all that unexpected. Since almost everyone that knew Ami well enough to have shared a meal with her normally did so in the company of the others as well. On those occasions, Makoto insisted upon cooking so that Rei, Minako, or Usagi (who could cook very well actually, but usually ended up eating most of the food and the end product NEVER looked like it was supposed to) wouldn't volunteer.
"Hai. Itedakimasu…" Taiki closed her mauve eyes and took a tentative bite… chewed …. and then swallowed. After a second or so a bright smile broke out upon her face. "Ami-san this is delicious!" Ami shook her head slightly before taking a bite of her own breakfast, inwardly beaming at the praise. After they'd finished their meal, Ami began cleaning up after she kicked Taiki out of the kitchen for offering to help. "Oh by the way Taiki-san I talked to Yaten-san this morning. She says you should hurry home and that you have to cook lunch." Ami frowned a little when she got no response but just assumed that Taiki didn't hear her. Which is why she startled so badly when she felt Taiki's warm curves press up against her from behind. The taller woman's hands shifted Ami hair to one side before capturing delicate wrists in a gentle grip. The starlight nuzzled her cheek against the newly exposed skin and deeply inhaled Ami's scent. "Even though I'd rather stay here with you?" The starlight questioned huskily causing Ami to groan throatily in response. The starlight straightened and tugged at Ami's wrists, causing the shorter woman to turn and stumble into her embrace.
Ami's breathing took on a rapid canter as she felt Taiki's gentle hands caressing her back. "Uhh… Tai… Tai-chan…." The blue haired woman moaned helplessly as she felt Taiki kneading a particularly sensitive spot at the small of her back. Taiki pulled back slightly and tilted her head so that Ami would look into her eyes. "Tai-chan…ka? Hmm I like the sound of that. It sounds like I belong to you…" The brunette trailed off as her lips descended upon Ami's, the searing contact drawing whimpers from the blue haired woman. Taiki pulled back again, her amethyst eyes burning like wildfire. "Do I belong to you Ami?" The starlight questioned before kissing Ami with such fervor that the blue haired woman's knees buckled slightly. Taiki smiled wickedly and lifted the smaller woman, forcing her to straddle her hips. The starlight half carried her lover the short distance to the table and laid Ami down upon it.
"No no no, Angel. What's your hurry?" Taiki questioned slyly as she prevented Ami from rising again with a gentle hand upon her chest. Pushing her back down, the starlight crawled upon the table between Ami's open legs holding her weight on her hands at either side of the blue haired woman's head. Taiki leaned in, delighting in the shallow breathing of her lover and the flush that permanently tinged her cheeks. She savored the moment watching Ami's anticipation build as she hovered above her before leaning forward, her lips brushing a delicate ear.
"Does your heart belong to me as you have so effortlessly captured mine?" Taiki robbed Ami of any possible response as she moved one hand to begin unbuttoning the shirt that sought to shield silken skin from Taiki's questing fingers. "Tell me Angel…" Ami could only groan as she felt her shirt being parted and tapered fingers tease her collar bone then delve provocatively between the valley of her breasts, to travel upwards again to repeat the process. Taiki moved lower, kissing a tensed shoulder, as her hand drifted between swells that quivered with every erratic breath that Ami took brushing against her lover's stomach. "Tell me…" Taiki urged again, smiling against skin beginning to become slick with perspiration. Ami swallowed hard, and tried again to answer, but Taiki was making it so very hard to focus. "Taiki-s..san… Taiki, I… Tai…chaaaan…" Just as Ami thought that she could let this torture go on no further and her every instinct drove her to show Taiki just who she belonged to and vice versa… Taiki's watch went off. "Ah! Well I suppose it's time for lunch! I shouldn't keep the guys waiting, besides Seiya becomes an absolute beast if left without food for too long. Ja Mizuno-kun!"
"Wha…?" Ami sat up blinking in complete confusion as she watched her apartment door close. In the space of five heartbeats Ami had gone from being delirious with passion to wondering just what the hell had happened. Incredulously she let out a strangled scream, and a few choice colorful words for added effect. The blue haired woman flopped back down upon the table for a few seconds, before making her way to the shower… a very cold shower, one that might benefit from the use of her powers.
Outside Ami's apartment Taiki let a rare grin lighten her countenance as she heard Ami's response to her little game. 'Hmm I'm sooo going to pay for that. But I think it was worth it…' waiting until she was out of earshot the starlight took her male form and with a bounce in his step and a melody which he began to whistle he headed home.
Verdant eyes glinted dangerously in the shadows as they watched, waiting for their prey. They narrowed in anger as Taiki Kou emerged from the apartment complex after so many hours of waiting. Stealthily, the owner of said eyes rose from his perch and began to trail after Taiki. After a block or two, Taiki abruptly turned into nearby alley. Not wanting to lose his prey the hunter ran after him, only to block soon after as a backhanded fist flew towards his face. Immediately the hunter grabbed Taiki's wrist and swung the idol around driving a fist towards his face.
Taiki ducked using his attacker's now awkward position and his own momentum to tackle him into the nearby wall. The brunette lost his footing in a puddle however and his attacker quickly exploited it delivering a pounding double handed blow to his back, and a knee to his chin. Taiki flew back skidding painfully on the pavement, but the hunter knew that was little more than a glancing blow to the man; he was a sailor senshi after all. True to form, Taiki used his slowing momentum to vault his lanky form into backwards flip, placing him back on his feet. Substantially angered, the musician looked at his attacker who was partially hidden by shadows in the alley, his mauve eyes burning. "Just who the HELL are you!" The starlight roared, all traces of his naturally reserved demeanor gone.
The shadowed figure let out a particularly feminine and not quite sane sounding laugh as he moved closer so that Taiki could see him. "You should know your victims, thief." The man answered as he came into full view. "Wha-?" Taiki began confused, only to trail off as he took in the figure before him. His blonde mane fell in dirty limpid tangles about a slightly bruised face that was more beautiful than handsome, while once vibrant emerald eyes burned a murky olive. Taiki's mind flashed upon a picture that had very nearly destroyed his newfound love with Ami before it'd had even begun…. and her answer to his pained accusation. Such thoughts brought a decidedly dark smirk to his face.
"Zoisite…chan, I presume?"
sigh "Why don't you stop pursing these childish dreams Mina and focus on your future? You have a destiny laid out in front of you… you are a leader, why won't you act like one?" Kunzite had not wanted to say it, especially not here, not on the first date they'd had in weeks, but if he had to hear about the progress of her possible record deal one more time… Why couldn't she understand? 'She has so much potential, the ability to help change the world and still she acts like a child…' Kunzite sighed and tried again to explain how he felt. "Mina I love you so much and it is because of that love that I can't watch you do this…."
Minako leaned forward, not willing to cause a scene in the café they were seated in, as her eyes glared daggers at the man she loved. "Kun-chan do you think of me only as Venus? It that all you see when you look at me?" In a few moments of clarity Minako understood Usagi in a way that she never thought possible and she pitied Mamoru… and Rei, all the more. "You believe in my destiny, but you don't think I can live my life? Despite what you and Luna, since I'm quite sure you talk to her more than you do Artemis, I'm a big girl. And I think that I know what's best for both Venus and Minako, and I can tell you that neither wants the other to 'die' for the sake of destiny." Utterly tired and at the moment disgusted with the one man aside from Artemis that should've known and believed in her more than any one else the blonde dropped her money on the table and left. Kunzite sat there stunned for a moment before he too deposited his money chased after his girlfriend.
"Uggh… I'm gonna die…Yaaaaateen, where's Taiki?" Seiya groaned impatiently from his perch on the couch. Yaten walked in rolling her eyes at the sight of her 'leader' being draped over the back of the lounging furniture. "I don't know Seiya, but I doubt she's still at Ami's…" Yaten winced as she realized what pronoun she'd used in describing her tallest sibling…. And prayed that Seiya didn't catch it. When the raven head popped up, and blue eyes widened Yaten knew that the stars would not answer her this day. "'She'? Yaten, you said that Taiki told Ami how he felt but that's not all that happened is it? If Taiki was in her true form, I doubt that there was whole lot of clarity going on. Taiki broods too much, she lets things build in an attempt to repress them until she can't hold it at bay anymore."
Yaten began to laugh nervously as she took a step backwards. Their greatest strength as both a musical team and a senshi one was that they knew one another so well. Aside from the whole Galaxia scare (and sailor moon's role in the whole mess, Yaten added darkly) they had never been truly divided. The three balanced each other and were almost always in sync… even when it looked like they would kill each other to the outside observer. Which was what made it hell for them to keep secrets from one another. Yaten stopped as she bumped into a nearby table, giving Seiya ample time to corner her. "What did you 'see' when you peeked Yaten?"
Verdant eyes widned as Yaten began to wither under Seiya's 'Leader face' (which frightened both Yaten and Taiki even when they were at their worst). She had forgotten that she'd searched for Taiki after his 'walk' dragged on a little long. What she'd encountered had left the poor empath blushing for hours. Taiki's emotions had been fuller, richer, which meant he'd become a woman again at some point. She was a natural brooder, yet her feelings were passionate, nearly overwhelming even, but she tended to analyze everything far too much for her own good. This trait made Taiki a fantastic Shoji player and tactician, but absolutely abysmal at relationships. As such all of the tallest starlight's emotions were tainted faintly by fear and even that by denial, but last night…. those shortcomings flared brightly for a brief moment and then faded as if they'd never been. Passion, desire, and devotion, slight desperation and a myriad of other similar emotions formed a wall so thick that Yaten couldn't have scaled it even if she wanted to. What had shocked her most was that each emotion was fed by an undercurrent of… love, unlike any other Yaten had ever read from her stoic sibling… at least until Ami Mizuno. "Seiya I don't think that it's any of our business…" Yaten began only to trail off as the raven haired man began laughing at her. "The gossip hound doesn't think it's any of our business?"
Seiya pulled back and smiled not unkindly at his sister. "Yaten, you know as well as I do that those rare times that Taiki does get off her ass and does something about how she feels, she puts everything into it. She's never been in love before, and even if she had been I doubt it'd be like this. I don't want to see her get hurt by this… not now, not after she's finally decided to trust her heart." Seiya spoke quietly, moving to look out a nearby window. The silver haired starlight blinked away a few stray tears, before moving behind her brother and placing gentle hand on his back. "Like you? Is that why you hide behind this mask Seiya? Do you think that perhaps if she turns to your male form that she can love you for who you really are?" Seiya tensed at the question, his hands white knuckling at his sides. "Besides, do you think she can love what you really are! You are a male here Fighter! She will not accept your true form, and you can't play act forever!" The words echoed in the back of his mind constantly taunting him, forcing him to keep this form even when body demanded that he be true to himself. "That's why you're sleeping so much, Seiya. Even I noticed it. You know how long it took us to acclimate to earth the first time, what are you trying to prove?
"This isn't about me Yaten…." Seiya growled out in warning. The silver haired starlight decided to back off, for now. " I don't think you have to worry about Taiki. I looked in on Mizuno-san as well. They love each other. Hell they're almost identical emotionally… Seiya I know this sounds cliché, and if you tell Taiki I'll kill you but… she can't love you if you don't show her who you are. All you've shown her that trademark cocky brashness of yours. She only had the rare glimpse of your romanticism, of your passion and depth. If you're going to do this, you have to go all out." Seiya smiled and turned to face his sibling, his form shimmering as he did so. "Why shrimpet, I didn't know you cared..." Yaten bristled at Seiya's favorite nickname for her but immediately calmed. "Someone taught me that… geez Seiya you sure know how to ruin a bonding moment don't you?" Seiya just smiled, her brilliant blue eyes sparkling. "Yeah, it's a gift. Speaking of which, we've got to set you up on a date, you can't be the only one without a love interest now can you? Oh wait! What about…"
"Shut up! I don't and if you value your life you'll agree…" Before the raven haired starlight could reply a jolt coursed through the both of them. This was the distinct feeling of a starlight transforming. Seiya looked at Yaten sheepishly. "You don't think they're into role playing do you?"
"No…. something's wrong…."
AN: Gah! I finally finished this chapter! Chapter 5 had always been the pivot point, the part where I began to not like the story but I was pretty helpless in changing it.