A Matter of Time

by Crunchysunrises

*New: Chapter 7* Taking place after Stars. The Ginzuishou sends Usagi strange dreams of her past, which helps sent into motion a chain of events that leads to new enemies, unexpected allies and uncovers a centuries old secret.

5. Meetings

Remember: Be kind and understanding to the newly budding fanfic writer. Sailor Moon and the associated characters do not belong to me but to incredibly rich and powerful people who would make no profit by suing me for using their wonderful characters. This is a work of love not a work for profit. All characters and plots that I make up do belong to me so do not steal them or I will be forced to send my Death Fuzzies after you. Remember you have been warned…
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CHAPTER 5

Kikyoku slunk back to her family's quarters awash with conflicting emotions. Fury and a need for vengeance tumbled with shame, hurt and numerous other emotions that became nameless because they were so tangled with so many other things. Silently she slipped in the front door and made her way to her room. When she opened the door to her room, though, she found her twin sitting squarely in the center of her bed.

"Gekidoku what are you doing up so late?"

"Waiting for you. Where did you go?"

Kikyoku averted her eyes. "Somewhere." She began to change into her nightclothes. Gekidoku rose and dragged a half-dressed Kikyoku over to her bed. Firmly she pushed Kikyoku onto the bed. "Where?"

Kikyoku colored as Kunzite's rejection crashed over her again, wrenching her heart. She had been so sure that he would accept her! "To the throne room." Tears welled up as everything but the hurt, shame and betrayal deserted her. "He rejected me."

Then she fell face down across her bed, sobbing uncontrollably. Gekidoku, was, to say the least, confused. Instead of asking the questions that burned in her mouth, she rubbed her sister's back, smoothed her hair, and generally tried to comfort her. When Kikyoku stopped crying, Gekidoku asked, "Who is 'he'?" even though she had a pretty good idea whom 'he' was. But Kikyoku did not answer. Gekidoku peered at her twin's face and found that she had cried herself to sleep. Sighing, she finished buttoning her sister's top, shut the door, turned off the room's light and crawled into bed next to her twin.

Before she fell asleep herself she promised something to the sleeping girl next to her. "Kunzite's going to pay for hurting you."

Then she rolled over and went to sleep herself.

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"Minako!" Artemis hung his head. "You're such a disappointment to me. Where did I go wrong?"

Minako looked up from her manga. "What did I do wrong now?"

"You're so lazy! Sometime I wonder if I made a mistake in giving you the Venus pen."

"I AM NOT! I'm conserving my valuable energy."

"You're the leader of the Sailor Senshi after Sailor Moon. You should be helping her plan training sessions to explore the new powers that all of you now have. You should be looking for the enemy. You should be-"

"Very, very quiet. Stop bugging me Artemis! I've just gotten to the good part in my Sailor V manga! There's a huge battle going on!"

Artemis groaned. "Minako!" He leapt at her, grabbed the Sailor V manga in his teeth, and jumped out the window.

"ARTEMIS!" Minako bellowed angrily. Not deterred by the fact that they were upstairs in a two-story building, she jumped out the window after him. Flipping mid-air and landing gracefully, she spied her cat's tail whipping around the corner of the house. Angrily she charged after him and chased him down the street. Just as she was stooping in her run to catch him, she ran into something. Hard. Falling on her behind, she blearily noticed that it was another girl, who had also fallen on her behind. Someone familiar that she would probably be able to place if the world would stop spinning long enough. When the world stopped spinning, she was very surprised to see who it was.

"Hikaru-chan! Long time no see! How are you?"

"Dizzy." Hikaru started to get to her feet but Minako scrambled up first and gave her a hand up.

"Sorry about that. My dumb cat stole my manga and I was trying to catch him."

Hikaru paused in the act of brushing herself off. "Oh?"

"Yeah. He's such a pest." Minako glared furiously at Artemis who had come back after hearing the loud smack of two bodies colliding at a high velocity.

"You've been very busy since you adopted that cat."

Minako started. "Yeah, well he's very care intensive." Quickly she changed the subject. "Well, where are you headed?"

"To the hospital. I'm in the Red Cross if you don't remember and we're having a function."

"Of course I remember! When do you have to be there by?"

Hikaru looked at her watch. "In about an hour and a half."
"You're going to be really early!"

"Yeah, well I like to be early, then I can work out the bugs in a plan."

Minako laughed. "Let me walk you at least part of the way."

Hikaru nodded. A slightly uncomfortable silence descended between the two old friends, which Hikaru broke with, "I haven't seen much of you since you returned from England."

"Yeah, I've been kind of busy lately."

"I heard that you quite playing volleyball for awhile. I found that hard to believe because you always loved the game so."

A shadow crossed Minako's face. "Yeah, I was busy…er…studying to pass the high school entrance exams. I didn't really have time."

"Yeah. They were kind of tough."

Minako laughed. "Kind as ever! You're one of the smartest people I've ever met. The exams probably weren't that hard for you to pass!"

Hikaru laughed too.

"Anyway, I joined the high school team."

"I know. I was at your last game."

"You were! Why didn't you come say anything to me?"

"All your new friends swarmed up and well…"

"Hikaru! Don't you know there's always room for one more?"

Hikaru shrugged. "I didn't want to bother you."

"You could never bother me!" Minako stopped her friend and stared at her friend's face. What Hikaru wouldn't show with her body language, her face or her voice was clearly written in her eyes. Hurt, betrayal, and confusion swirled there with so many other things that they were unnamable. "I bet you've been going to Juuban High School all this time and never once told me so!"

Hikaru shrugged. "We'd grown apart since you came back from England. I wasn't sure that you still wanted to be associated with a dork like me." She started walking again but Minako stopped her.

"Hikaru no baka! You are not a dork. Of course I still want to be friends!"

"Then why did you almost stop talking to me when you got back from England?"

Pain flickered across Minako's face and her own eyes betrayed a deep hurt. "I had fallen in love while over there. I thought that the boy that I loved returned my love but he really had fallen for a girl that I thought of as my older sister. They had thought I was too young for it to hurt me much-you know like a silly crush. But I had really loved him. When I found out I made arrangements to leave without a trace. When I came back I was too heart sore to talk about it or to be much of a friend to anyone."

Hikaru touch Minako's arm. "I'm so sorry."

"What for? You weren't one of the ones who hurt me." Minako shrugged and started walking again, Hikaru falling into step with her. "Anyway, I'm over it now."

Hikaru looked doubtful but didn't say anything. Minako changed the subject again. "Anyway, what are you supposed to be doing at this Red Cross thing?"

"Odds and ends. You know, help the nurses, and cheer up the patients, that sort of thing. Would you like to help? We need all the help that we can get."

Minako was tempted to say no remembering the last time she had helped Hikaru with a Red Cross event. Hikaru's doubts about their friendship came back though and she caved to them. 'I'm the Beautiful Sailor Senshi of Venus anyway? What can a bunch of nurses and sick people do to defeat me anyway? Besides, I have nothing else to do today. And' she added, 'Artemis is a cat and can't go into a hospital.'

Grinning she said out loud, "Sure I'd love to."

"Great!" Hikaru was clearly thrilled. "Come on!" With that she grabbed Minako's arm and began racing off toward the hospital. Minako had no choice but to run and keep up or to be dragged. 'What have I gotten myself into?' she groaned mentally.

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"HE WHAT?" Sado bellowed. It was one thing for him to say things that hurt people, but it was quite another for any one else to say hurtful things. Especially when they said it to his family.

"He told me to find someone else because he loved Zoisite and wouldn't leave him for me. Even if Zoisite was dead." Kikyoku took a deep breath. "He also said that I was too young for him."

"Stupid clone" muttered Ekirei.

"Did you tell him that you are way older than he is?" demanded Gekidoku.

"By then it was too late."

Zetsumei sighed. "Come here and sit in my lap Kikyoku." After Kikyoku had curled up in her oldest sister's lap Zetsumei continued. "I don't know if I would have approved of Kunzite for you if he had agreed to accept your affections." Kikyoku stirred in her lap and opened her mouth. "Listen. In some ways he IS much older than you are. In years you ARE older than he is. But unlike you, he had no childhood. Born into a man's body, he had to grow up much faster than any child would." She smiled down at her little sister. "You tried for something that was important to you, something that you wanted. You can't be faulted for that."

"Are we going to let him get away with hurting Kikyoku?" demanded Shikaku.

"Of course not." Zetsumei replied calmly.

"So how are we going to get him?" asked Gekidoku.

"Through Zoisite." Everyone stared at Kikyoku. "It's his one true weakness."

"So how are we going to get Zoisite?" Gekidoku. "We can't just openly kill him. After all, we signed a contract with him saying that we would serve him and never betray him to stay out of those horrible crystals."

"And if there's one thing that we keep above all things, it's a contract." Agreed Ekirei glumly.

"Rubeus."

"Who?" asked Sado.

"Rubeus." Shikaku repeated. "He's one of the ones that Zoisite's Master revived from death. He and Zoisite hate each other with a passion. Not only that, he's insane and quite often does stupid things."

"Perfect!" Gekidoku crowed, clapping her hands. Sado slapped Shikaku on the back while Ekirei contented himself with grinning. Kikyoku squirmed with pleasure and Zetsumei gave a shadow of a smile.

"So how are we going to hook our scapegoat?" asked Sado of no one in particular.

"Leave that to me." Zetsumei assured him. "Shikaku follow him everywhere and learn everything you can about this Rubeus. He is going to be a very useful tool."

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Hisui watched Usagi cheerfully run up the temple steps. 'Which is quite an accomplishment,' Hisui reflected ruefully. 'As this place has more steps than Nephrite had bottles of liquor. And that is something I used to think was impossible to top.' Hisui felt an unexpected pang as he thought of Nephrite. 'Poor Nephrite. Drinking incessantly to drown sorrows and pain that he could neither name nor even explain. Driven to loose himself.' He smiled in spite of his dark thoughts as he saw Usagi bound up then engulf Rei in a hug, nearly knocking Rei over. 'I wish I had a light then.' Hisui's mood turned dismal. 'Nephrite found his light only to die for it.' He watched Usagi and Rei talking. Usagi, although obviously upset by something Rei said, nodded and Rei touched her shoulder, saying something else. Usagi brightened visibly and nodded vigorously. Then they hugged again and parted, Usagi turning towards him. 'Would I die for mine?'

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Aequila used the insides of the elevator doors to give himself the once over. 'Pants, shirt, shoes, hair…rose…got it all.' As the doors opened, he began to take deep, calming breaths. Coming to Makoto's door, he took a deep breath, then knocked. For a moment, nothing happened, then the door swung open and Makoto stood there, looking in his opinion, heavenly. She wore an emerald green dress complimented her eyes. The dress, which ended mid-way down her thighs, was hed tightly around her trim waist by a wide leather belt that was exactly the same shade as the leather sandals and the leather purse that she wore. At each ear hung one of her customary rose earrings.

"You're…You're stunning."

She blushed rosily, which reminded his of the rose he had hidden behind his back. With a flourish, he presented it to her. She blushed even more, which made his lips twitch with a suppressed grin. He loved to make her blush over things he did for her. Gently she took it from him and traced a fingertip delicately down one of its soft petals.

"It's absolutely beautiful." Her other hand came up and gripped his arm. "Come inside for a moment."

Without waiting for an answer, she dragged a confused Aequila into her apartment. Swiftly she strode into her kitchen and rummaged in an overhead cabinet, the rose still in one hand. Triumphantly she emerged with a turquoise blue vase, which she filled with water and placed the rose in.

"But I brought that for you to wear!"

She smiled up at him radiantly, her eyes sparkling, and all his arguments in favor of her wearing his flower faded away. "And I thank you for it." She seized his arm and tugged him towards the door. "Let's go."

As she pulled him out the door, his eyes swept over the apartment one more time and he wondered, 'Where is her family?'

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Hisui and Usagi were on their way to meet up with Ami, Haruka, and Mirchiru in front of the Crown Arcade when he happened to glance down at Usagi who was holding his arm as they walked down the street. 'For a moment, just a moment, she looked exactly like that photographer I met during my cruise ship scheme.' He thought. Usagi, feeling his eyes scrutinize her, glanced up in time to see him look away, flushing.

"What?" she asked, her curiosity waking up.

"Nothing."

"Yes, there is something! Now what?"

"Nothing."

Usagi stopped and pulled him to a halt too. "I knew it! There's something out of place! I look goofy!"

"No! That's not it!"

But Usagi was already using the nearest shop window as a mirror and asking random passersby how she looked. Hisui was mortified as people began to stare and the guys she asked about her looks began to ogle her while sizing him up. On top of that, he had the unsettling feeling that all the ladies on the street where doing the exact opposite with him.

"It's nothing like that!" he hissed as he grabbed her a forcefully hauled her away from the window and down the road. She fairly had to trot to keep up with him; his legs were so long and hers so short.

"So what is it?" she asked as he towed her along behind him.

His legs slowed and she no longer had trouble keeping up with him. "You reminded me of someone. That's all."

"A girl! A love interest! Tell me!"

"It's nothing like that!"

"Please! I won't tell a soul! Honest! Please!"

"You've got it all wrong!"

"Hisui-kun! I thought we don't keep important secrets!"

"We don't!"

"This is important! You might break Setsuna-san's heart! This is very important!"

"You've got it all wrong! This isn't important! I only met her once!"

"Her! You said 'her'! I was right! You do have a love interest besides Setsuna-san! You'd better not hurt Setsuna-san with your other love! Your love at first sight!"

Hisui abruptly changed direction and dragged her down an alley. "It was not love at first sight! And I would never hurt Meioh-san!"

"SO WHAT WERE YOU BLUSHING ABOUT?"

"BECAUSE YOU REMINDED ME OF A PHOTOGRAPHER I ONCE MET!" He drew back and leaned against a wall. "Happy, now?"

"Yes." She blushed deeply but stepped closer. "Anyway, what's wrong with that?"

"I don't know! I just didn't feel comfortable telling you that."

"Why not?"

"LOOK AT HOW YOU REACTED!"

"No need to shout!" Usagi tossed her head but continued to watch him from the corner of her eye. "Anyway, I though that you were in love! I…I just wanted to know about Setsuna-san's competition, that's all."

He sighed and dragged a hand through his short blond locks. "I don't just like Meioh-san, Usagi-chan, I love her. Even if the photographer had been a love interest, she would have paled in comparison with Meioh-san. No one can compare with her." He smiled slightly as his eyes became distant. "I know it sounds fast, maybe it is, but I've never felt this way about anyone before. I know I'm painfully shy around women and I'm even worse around her but…she makes me so calm yet so excited and I always feel like I've lost something when she leaves." He sighed. "It's a hundred things and at the same it's nothing at all. All I know is that I'm in love with her."

"Wow."

He laughed. "You've always been one for understatement, haven't you?" He led her out of the alley. "Anyway, why are you blushing?"

"That's one of the most romantic statements I've ever heard."

"That may be true but you were blushing before I told you. So what's up with you?"

"Nothing."

"I told you."

"That was different."

"I can be just as annoying as you can be."

She glanced up at him, "I bet you can." She suddenly glared at him heatedly. "You're enjoying this!" she accused.

"Yes as a matter of fact I am." He grinned down at her. "The reason please?"

She withdrew her hand from his arm and crossed it with the other over her chest as she raised her chin and became avidly interested in some undefined point on the horizon. "If you must know, I was the photographer that you met on the cruise ship."

He stopped dead. "No way."

She nodded and silenced reigned for a moment. Then Hisui started to laugh. After a moment Usagi joined him. The irony of the situation was too great to miss.

"To think that I made a point of protecting a certain photographer and she was really Sailor Moon!"

Gasping they fell against a nearby lamppost for support.

"What's so funny?" asked a familiar voice. Turning to their right, they discovered the others standing there staring at them. Instantly they sobered and turned an interesting shade of red. "Nothing!" they chorused in unison.

"Oh, it has to be something," Michiru persisted. "I mean, you two were laughing so hard a moment ago."

The two culprits shared a swift glance then replied in unison, "Absolutely nothing!"

"You don't really expect us to believe that, do you?" Ami asked.

The two people in question shrank back from the inquisitive stares of their friends.

"Oh dear." Usagi murmured forlornly to Hisui.

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Hortaru was nearly bouncing in the passenger's seat of Setsuna's car. Setsuna glanced over at her and smiled.

"Excited?"

"Yes!" Hortaru paused in her bouncing. "I didn't know that you even had a car much less could drive!"

"One thousand years is a long time and it's even longer in the old form of time measurement-the one that was used during the White Moon Empire. I had to do something to occupy my spare time. Learning about this world as it redeveloped and building a niche for myself seemed like a good idea and it would help me to prepare."

"For what?"

"The future of course. We can't prepare for the past and the present is already happening all around us."

"There's more to it than that."

"Yes, but it's unimportant."

Hortaru looked unconvinced but was distracted as the car went around a bend in the road. She sucked in her breath as she got her first glimpse of her father's country house. It was always so picturesque when that bend was first turned and she was always sharply reminded that she was almost home.

Setsuna pulled up the long driveway and had just stopped when Hortaru whipped her seatbelt off, tumbled out of the car, slammed open the front door, and ran into the entrance room of her house.

"Poppa? Poppa? I'm home!"

Feet pounded across the ceiling, and towards the stairs. Then her father was coming down the stairs and had swept her up into his arms.

"My little Hortaru," he murmured into her ear. "You came home my little girl."

"For a little while," she murmured in his ear. "The war is not over."

He only squeezed her more tightly.

Unnoticed by the pair, Setsuna stood in the doorway for a moment watching the reunion, then fished out a pre-written note from her purse that read,

Hortaru-chan and Tomoe-san,
I've left and won't be back until tomorrow to pick Hortaru-chan up. If there's a change in plans, my cell phone number is at the bottom of the letter. Enjoy yourselves,
Ja ne,
Meioh Setsuna.

Carefully she retrieved a roll of Scotch tape from her purse and taped the note to the center of the door. Then she quietly crept from the house and, starting her car, drove away.

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Minako was in a room with sterile white walls and overly bright furniture that looked terribly mismatched. And Minako knew it must be badly mismatched to make her wince. She was standing with Hikaru at the large, semicircular Nurses' Station. Hikaru was checking herself in and getting what she claimed were only a few, minor, forms for Minako to fill out before she could start volunteering there. Minako was watching a nurse help a boy with loads of equipment into the recreation room when Hikaru tapped her on the shoulder.

"Here." She said, thrusting an imposing amount of paperwork at Minako. "Here's what you have to fill out. If you get everything in order, you can joining in at tonight's training session."

Automatically, Minako hid her hands behind her back. "Are you sure I have to answer all of that?"

"Positive." Hikaru rolled the paperwork up and shoved it down Minako's shirt. Minako gave an indignant squawk and caught the paper as it fell down her top.

"I've got to go now. I'll see you later."

Then she disappeared down a side corridor. Sighing with dread, Minako dragged herself to a nearby seat and small table.

"Uncomfortable as well as terrible looking." She muttered as she got down to work.

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Rei had swept the Temple grounds, scrubbed the floors, did the wash, and was now resting. Her stomach pointedly reminded her that it was about lunchtime and she should eat but she didn't really feel like cooking. Yuuchiru and her grandfather had decided to go on a spiritual quest in the forest towards the back of the Temple's land and wouldn't be back for several days so she would only be making lunch for herself. This also meant that she would have the Temple to herself and all the chores to go along with it. Surprisingly, Usagi had offered to help her with the chores and was even useful to have around. The only problem that had come up as a result of this arrangement was that Usagi had wanted her to come along on an apartment hunting expedition for Hisui. She had been hard pressed to find grounds for ducking out.

Jiyuujin Hisui. Jadeite. They were one and the same person and it was confusing her terribly. For as long as she had known of his existence, even before she found out she was the reborn senshi of Mars, she hadn't liked or trusted him. For her entire senshi career, he had been a dangerous enemy who had almost killed her before she could be awakened. He had been one of the most dangerous enemies that they had ever had because he had been their very first enemy. Dangerous for many reasons, some of which was the fault of the senshi themselves. Things like their inexperience, ineptitude, and their lack of teamwork to name a few. He had had tons of experience and memories in conquering and crushing an enemy while they had had no experience or memories to speak of and had nothing really going their way except for extraordinary good luck. Never once had she any doubt that Jadeite was evil. At least not until recently.

He had turned around and contradicted everything that she had known, or thought she knew, about him. On the one hand she was thankful, even grateful to him, that he had found Usagi in time to protect her. But now she had no idea what to think about her former enemy, much less how to act around him. Unsure of what to do, she acted as she had since Usagi had saved him and he had woken up in her Temple. She wasn't sure that she trusted him, but she didn't exactly distrust him either anymore. Maybe-

She was interrupted in her musings by her crows hopping around her, cawing loudly and flapping their wings. Laughing, she got to her feet. "I suppose that you're both hungry." Her stomach growled loudly. "Well so am I."

She went in and came out again with their special feed. Swiftly she spread it around the courtyard for Phobos and Deimos as her own stomach rumbled angrily. That done she decided to do something that she rarely did. She decided to order delivery from a restaurant. Quickly she found a likely candidate to supply her lunch in the tissue paper pages of the tome known as the phone book. She began to dial the listed number. As she was dialing she heard a commotion outside the Temple. Looking up she saw her crows harassing a squirrel. Her hand jerked as she yelled, "Don't you dare harm a hair of the squirrel! I am sick of cleaning up dead animals!" Her hand, still dialing, punched wrong numbers for the last three digits of the restaurant's listed phone number. Unnoticed, she raised the receiver to her ear.

"I said leave it alone right now!"

Ring. Ring. Ring.

"And I meant it!" Sulkily, the crows flew away, leaving the poor squirrel to scramble into the safety of the nearest tree's branches.

Ring. Ri-

"Moshi moshi?" asked a deep masculine voice.

'Sheesh. Women probably order delivery from this place simply to hear this guy's voice!' Blushing at her thoughts, Rei responded, "Hello? Is this Ginko's?"

The voice laughed. "No. You've got a wrong number."

"Oh." Rei felt slightly foolish. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you. I'll just-"

"NO! Don't hang up." The man sounded slightly desperate. Rei hesitated. "Please." He added.

"What's wrong?" Rei asked curiously.

"Nothing really is wrong per say." The voice now sounded sheepish. "I'm just really lonely, that's all."

"Lonely?" Rei asked, adding in her mind, 'with a voice like that the whole package has to be great! Why would he be lonely?'

"Yeah," he continued. "Really lonely. Then this beautiful girl's voice comes along but she's not really here to talk to me but to order delivery from some restaurant. It's a real disappointment."

'Beautiful voice? Me?' Rei wondered silently while her mouth impulsively promised, "I'll stay and talk awhile." As soon as she heard the words, Rei hit herself in the head. Now her stomach was going to eat her! And what if he was really some ecchi old man who pretended to be young and sweet but was really evil and stalked young girls before murdering them in hideous ways? Why it was her duty as Sailor Mars to find him out and take appropriate action! Her course of action decided, Rei settled down with a glass of juice, some cheese, crackers, and rice cakes to talk to this fascinating voice.

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An hour later, Minako was having problems. She had filled out everything that she could but what she needed now were her parents' signatures to say that she could work there. "The only problem is," she muttered crossly, "they're out of the country again." She squirmed in her unpleasant chair as she considered her limited options. Then a thought hit her that made her grin devilishly. What the hospital staff didn't know wouldn't hurt them. Quickly she gathered her paperwork and strode over to the desk. "I'm just going to get my parents to sign these. I live really close by and should be able to come back and start training." The young nurse nodded her understanding and waved goodbye to Minako from the patient's chart that she was filling out. Shrugging, Minako left and found the nearest public bathroom. Using the sink counter as a table, Minako pulled something from her subspace pocket that she hadn't used in ages. Her Sailor V pen. Smiling, she uncapped it.

"Listen, I want you to sign my parent's signatures on these forms. I'm gonna give you a push for a start like I always do but the rest is up to you. Oh, and you're signing nothing bad. It's just a bunch of hospital forms saying that I can volunteer."

The pen started writing the signatures almost as soon as it touched the paper. After waiting a few minutes, Minako gathered her papers and headed back to the desk she had just left. Smirking to herself she thought, 'Artemis is going to throw a fit when he hears.'

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Haruka and Mirchiru arrived home after a long day of apartment hunting with Usagi, Ami, and Hisui to find their penthouse rather empty. No, really empty. Haruka raised an eyebrow.

"Wonder where everyone is."

Mirchiru smiled a small smile. "They're fine wherever they are. We would know if they weren't." Haruka nodded her agreement. "Which means," Michiru continued, "that we have tonight to ourselves unless otherwise stated."

Haruka began to grin. "How about dinner at a nice restaurant, an outdoor concert, then a drive along the beach?"

Michiru's small smile widened. "That sounds lovely." She took one of Haruka's hands in one of hers and started tugging her towards that bathroom.

"But first we need to bathe." She threw a coy look over her shoulder at her partner. "You can wash my back."

Grinning, Haruka followed her into the bathroom.

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Hisui looked around his apartment in satisfaction. It was a large, roomy place with two bedrooms, two baths, a large kitchenette, and a balcony as well as a huge front room. It also appeared to be quite affordable. The others had said that it was too good to be true. He had even had the phone lines connected and the television package ordered. Then he had bought a refrigerator, a washer, a dryer, a television, and of course a phone. Tomorrow he was buying furniture. Hopefully the Outer Senshi would be there to help him curb the more interesting tastes of the Inner Senshi.

On a whim he took out the communicator that Usagi had given him earlier, grimacing at its bulky calculator-like design and pink coloring. She had promised him a watch communicator that wasn't pink as soon as she could win one at the arcade, whatever that meant. Until then he was stuck with this thing. She had assured him that it could call all the other communicators, even the Outers', even though it was a bit out of date by their standards. Before he really knew what he was doing, he had pressed Setsuna's button.

"Yes?" She asked as her face appeared in the tiny screen. "Oh, Jiyuujin-san!" she appeared startled. "How did you get a communicator?"

He grinned at her. "Usagi-chan." He hesitated for a moment. "Would you like to do something with me?"

"Jiyuujin-san! The communicators are for business only!"

"All work and no play makes Jiyuujin Hisui a dull boy." He tried to look innocent. "And the same might be said about Meioh Setsuna."

She sighed. "I'm on call for Hortaru-chan. She's at her father's and she may need to come home in a hurry."

"That's an excuse." He stated bluntly. "You know as well as I do that you could teleport if the need demanded it. As could she. As could Sailor Moon. I dare say that it's only a matter of time before the other Sailor Senshi will be able to too." He decided to strike a blow at her soldier's honor. "You're not afraid of me, are you Meioh-san?" He knew she wasn't but the taunt had the desired effect.

"Of course not!" she snapped.

"Good!" He declared briskly. "Meet me at the Tokyo Tower in forty-five minutes."

"I'll be there." Her image faded from the screen as she broke the contact.

"I never doubted it." he murmured at the empty screen.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

In a little café hidden in the depths of Tokyo, Setsuna stared at the empty screen of her communicator in exasperation. She wasn't certain whether she was exasperated with herself, with him, or even with Usagi. Usagi for giving him the communicator, him for using it, or herself for allowing him to throw her off with it and talk her into a date. 'What's done is done so live with it.' She told herself.

'Besides,' murmured a tiny voice at the back of her mind, 'you don't really mind that he talked you into a date, do you?'

'Shut up,' she snarled at the tiny voice. But that tiny part of herself continued despite her warning. 'In fact you're really quite pleased about all this.' Before it could say more, Setsuna shoved it to the back of her skull where she kept all her thoughts and feelings about Jiyuujin Hisui, better known as Jadeite, tightly corked. This one joined its brethren. 'I have a duty where I will never be able to have a companion,' she reminded herself harshly. 'So I won't even think about him that way.' She finished her tea.

"Still," she murmured aloud. "I would hate for him to think that I'm afraid of him. It simply wouldn't do, so I have to go. To protect my honor, nothing more or less." She smiled. Leaving the café, she looked for a suitable alley for Sailor Pluto to teleport home from. After all, it wouldn't do to show up looking like this for her date.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Rubeus looked up at the tap on the door of his quarters. Going to it he found a beautiful woman and a man who somehow seemed indistinct. The woman had ivory skin and long dusky hair that tumbled around her waist with the fringe brushing her crimson eyes. She wore a simple black dress that resembled a caftan. The sleeves were short and the hem brushed her calves. The neck revealed only the tips of her collarbones and she wore neither jewelry nor makeup. The man at her right shoulder was a shadowy figure, even under direct light from his rooms. Shadows seemed to cling to his form so that only his outline was visible to the casual observer. From his outline one could tell that he wore utilitarian clothing that, while loose, did not impede his movement in any way. His hair was short and all one could tell was that he carried a huge knife. The oddest thing about the pair, aside from their sudden appearance, was the fact that they were both barefoot.

"Hello. What do you want?"

"Not very polite." Growled the man as he took a step toward Rubeus.

The woman touched his arm and he ceased his advance.

"We are here," said the woman serenely, "to conduct some business with you."

"I don't need you." Rubeus snarled before trying to swing the door shut. The door never made it to the frame. The man's foot stopped it. "Listen to her." He made a distinctly unpleasant gesture with one hand that his body shielded form the view of the woman. It clearly said 'Or else.' For a moment Rubeus sized him up. Deciding that he didn't like the odds, he turned his gaze to the woman. "Please come in."

She nodded her acceptance of his reluctant invitation. He led them to the main room. It was a large room with a high ceiling and a huge roaring fire along one wall. More light came from spherical light holders fixed on the wall, illuminating the sparsely furnished room. The woman took the only seat in the room and the man stood at her side. When Rubeus tried to sit on the coffee table, the man glared at him so furiously that Rubeus reconsidered. 'This is my place! I'll do whatever I like!' Defiantly, Rubeus sat on his table, the only other stick of furniture in the room besides the chair.

"As I said earlier, what do you what?"

"To help you Rubeus."

Rubeus laughed. "Lady, no one ever does anything without a price."

"Our service is to help you kill Zoisite and destroy Kunzite. Our price is that we get to be the ones to actually kill Zoisite."

Rubeus regarded her narrowly. "Who's Kunzite and what's in all this for you?"

"Kunzite is the man who has all of his body except for his head trapped in a wall in the throne room. He is Zoisite's lover and his only truly weak point."

"Zoisite has many, many faults." Rubeus scoffed.

"But he can overcome them. That one he cannot escape."

"Why?"

"Love. It is a strong and utterly binding chain."

"You still haven't said what you get out of this. And what makes you think that I want to cause harm to Zoisite?"

"You hate Zoisite with all the passion that you are capable of. You would give anything to destroy him. As for us, we would get the satisfaction of watching Zoisite die. It is a fair deal."

"You seem to know a great deal about me."

"Only what is easily seen."

"What do you have against Zoisite?"

"He stole something."

"I wouldn't put it past him." Rubeus sneered. "But how do I know that I can trust you? I don't even know your names."

"Our names are irrelevant and as for trust, how do we know that we can trust you?"

"You don't."

"There's your answer."

Rubeus rubbed his chin. "I'll have to think this over."

"Think as much as you like but don't think too much, we have limited time." She rose. "We will be back for your answer." Then she and the man glided to the door and were gone before Rubeus could even guess in which direction they had left. "Strange." He muttered before heading in to do some serious thinking.

Down the hall and around the corner, Zetsumei turned to Shikaku. "What do you think he will do?"

"Accept us. He'll try to use us of course." Shikaku grinned. "But that's to be expected."

"He'll find that a much more difficult task than he thinks." Zetsumei agreed.

"Now that we have a shield against the Master's wrath about Zoisite's impending death, what do we do?"

"We visit the so called 'brothers'. One can never have too much insurance about these things."

Shikaku nodded as Zetsumei's si appeared in her hands.

"This time though be less imposing Shikaku. These two will be less easily cowed than that fool was."

Shikaku laughed. "I'll be good."

Zetsumei swung her si over their heads, causing a black mist to envelop the pair in its dark embrace. The two faded and vanished leaving what appeared to be an empty corridor.

Nephrite slowly floated to the floor, frowning. He had been strolling down that hallway when those two had bustled up and had their little conversation. Now he thought rapidly, 'I don't like the way this is going one little bit. I don't trust Zoisite but I have a gut feeling that having those two, and whoever else they represent, roaming around is far worse than having Zoisite live. So what do I do?'
In a flash of light, Nephrite disappeared to his own apartments to do some thinking of his own.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Hisui stepped from a narrow alley mouth near the Outers' apartment building, acutely aware of the eyes of the females of the population on him. It brought the usual rush of emotions, especially embarrassment, and a blush to his cheeks but this time there was an unexpected smugness. 'If their eyes are nearly popping out, I must look fine for my date with Meioh-san.' He wore black slacks; a loose collared blue shirt that matched his eyes, and a black leather jacket. Although he had combed his hair earlier, it had already sprung into its usual disarray. He announced himself to Setsuna over the intercom before being buzzed up. When Setsuna opened the door, his heart nearly stopped. 'She's a goddess hidden in the flesh,' was his first thought. She wore a short red dress that came to her mid-thigh and red slippers, both of which brought out her eyes. He tried to put his thoughts into words and seemed to fail miserably.

"You…you look…you look fabulous." He had the terrible feeling that he was flushing a brilliant shade of red as well as stuttering. If only his face would cool down just a little. He was greatly relieved when she blushed red too. "Thanks," was all she managed. Grabbing her matching purse, she locked the door and they left. She peeked at him out of the corner of her eyes, "What are we doing?"

He grinned down at her, "You'll see." He thought for a second. "How do you feel about horses?"

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Ami entered her juku classroom and set up her working space around her computer. The teacher, a tall woman with huge glasses, came in and began class almost as soon as she entered the room.

"Today we are going to make first contact over the internet with students in other juku classes around the world. Get the addresses for your private chat rooms and the names of your partners if you forgot them from the folders with your names on them at the front of the room. A copy of the assignment is also in the folder. Good luck." Then she collapsed in her chair and took roll. Fighting her way to the front of the room, Ami grabbed the folder with her name on it and returned to her terminal. Soon she was in the chat room. Her partner wasn't there yet, so she pulled up a window and started surfing the internet. She was particularly amused by the various theories that ran rampant on the internet about the various lives and identities of herself and the other senshi. Periodically, she checked back to the chat room for her partner. Just when she was getting discouraged, the word, Mercury? appeared in the chat room. Followed by, Are you still there?

I'm here. Zephyrus isn't it?

Yes. Sorry I'm so late but the teacher lost his keys to the room and we only just got in.

Oh.

He's a bit absent minded.

lol.

The conversation rapidly passed into chit chat and planning for their project. For Ami the rest of the class period passed pleasantly.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Zoisite had the terrible suspicion that someone had a contract out on his life. It was a sixth sense you acquired in the Dark Kingdom, to know when others have it out for you. And Zoisite's sixth sense was screaming. Whoever had it out for him had made one very large mistake. They had let Rubeus in on their plans and that moron couldn't keep a neutral look if his life depended on it. And it did. So now Zoisite was slouched in his throne, trying to think who had a reason to kill him, how they would likely do it, and if they would try talking to Rubeus for support. Sighing he rearranged his legs again. He hadn't realized before but he certainly had a great many enemies, even after Sailor Moon annihilated most of the Dark Kingdom. It was certainly depressing. 'No one really likes me. Except for Kunzaito-sama and that girl. No, not the girl because she doesn't know who and what I am. I only really have Kunzaito-sama.' A rebellious part added. 'And he can't help or comfort or even speak to you with words, only his eyes. Right now, you're really alone.' Zoisite promptly squashed the traitorous thought with a low snarl.

"Looks like you're having problems."

He knew that voice. Nephrite!

"What are you talking about?" Zoisite shot back.

"Only that there are people who wish to kill you, but you know that don't you?"

Zoisite settled back in his throne. "I don't see what concern it is of yours."

Nephrite shrugged. "Let's just say that I prefer you to your enemies. Besides, with you out of the picture, the competition will get fiercer and who knows whom they will turn on next."

Zoisite nodded slowly. "How would you know who they are?"

"I saw and overheard two of them talking in a hall when they thought that hey were alone after speaking with Rubeus." Zoisite took a deep breath and said the words that he thought that he would never even consider saying to Nephrite of all people. "I assume this makes us temporary allies?"

"Yes, I guess it does."

Zoisite stood up and moved to stand close to him. "Then we'd better go to Earth to plan our next move out. It's a little safer to talk there than it is here."

Nephrite nodded. Together they teleported to Tokyo.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Usagi was desperately lonely. She was so used to having small children with magical powers under foot that the lack of such children was driving her wild. And, just when she really needed him to help her find a way to fill the void left in her life from the loss of first Chibiusa, then Chibi chibi, Mamoru needed to be in America. Oh sure, he had offered not to try to go to American college and stay with her in Japan, but she wouldn't be the one to stand in the way of his important dream. In fact, she would do everything in her power to ensure that everything worked out for him and he realized his dreams-even if it meant facing the new enemies alone. Not alone, she reminded herself, but with the other senshi, the cats, and Hisui-kun. Usagi sat up on her bed and glanced at the small table in the center of her room before her heart shattered and plummeted into her feet. She had been checking on a child that wasn't there. She had subconsciously been expecting to see Chibiusa reading there or Chibi chibi coloring a picture there for her. But there was no one, and all she saw were ghosts from bygone days.

She lay down on her bed, sick at heart. The phone rang but she couldn't be bothered to answer it. Someone downstairs did. Moments later, Shingo popped his head in her doorway. "There's some guy named Chiba Mamoru calling you. From America I think." Usagi had dived at the phone at the mention of Mamoru's name. "Mamo-chan? Mamo-chan?"

"Hey Usako! How are you?"

Without missing a beat, Usagi told him that everything was fine in Tokyo. Nothing to worry about.

Shingo discretely left he room to hang up the downstairs phone. He was happy to see his sister so animated. She had seemed so sad and melancholy for awhile now and that upset him although he didn't show it. So when her boyfriend had called from America he had quietly informed her and conveniently forgotten to tell their father. It had turned out to be a good gamble. Shingo picked up the controller and continued trying to beat level one of his new Sailor V game.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

After a few hours at the hospital Minako knew something about her rather vague future-she was never going to be a nurse. She winced as she remembered her numerous mistakes and klutz attacks and the subsequent transfers between the floors. Finally the nurses had all asked to sit very still and very quietly. She was not to move a muscle, especially not to help. They had all been very polite. Too polite as a matter or fact. Miserable and mute, she flopped into a chair in a hallway to sit still and watched her surroundings as she waited for the staff to decide what to do about her.

Down the hallway, a door seemed to explode outwards and nurses seemed to tumble out. They were followed by a scream of agony that Minako knew all too well from being a Sailor Soldier. In the hallway, a pair of nurses was filling out the chart that had been in the plastic bin on the door. Other nurses were hurrying in with complicated looking machinery. Curious, Minako stared as the scene unfolded before her. People bustled in and out of the room all looking worried. The screams continued, increasing in frequency and volume, then seemed to just stop. The flow of people slowed and finally stopped. Eventually no one came or went from the room. Minako sat and watched the room, waiting for the nurses to come and drag her to her fate. After what seemed like hours, propelled by morbid curiosity, Minako covertly shuffled down to the hospital room that had captured her curiosity. The door creaked when she tapped it ajar and she cursed under her breath. Still she slipped around the door and into the room.

This room was dim so it took a few moments for Minako's eyes to adjust to the sudden lack of bright fluorescent lights. The walls were sterile and white except for about six inches from the ceiling where fish seemed to swim in a riot of bright colors on smooth wall paper. On the far side of the room was a huge window that looked out onto Tokyo and underneath it was a wide sink and counter. Next to the sink and counter was a closed door that probably lead to the room's restroom. To her immediate right was a small gray dresser and from the corner of the ceiling immediately over the dresser hung a small television. In the far corner of the room was a narrow hospital bed around which busily hummed lots of complicated looking machinery. In the center of the bed lay a figure. It was a man wrapped in an amazing amount of bandages. His head, his chest, all of his right arm, and most of his left arm were wrapped in the bandages. Minako could not tell if anymore of him was bandaged because the rest of him was covered by a white, nondescript blanket.

"Who's there?" The voice was rich and deep but there was a harsh edge to it. Minako shoved her own feelings out of her mind and assumed a cheerful voice.

"I'm Aino Minako. It's a pleasure to meet you." She bowed.

He snorted. "I'm certain."

Minako straightened, frowning.

He continued. "What are you doing here?"

"Well-" she began cheerfully.

"None of that!" He snapped out. "I can't stand liars. No one sent you in here."

Minako flushed. "I wasn't going to say that!"

"Sure."

"What I was going to say was that I'm a hospital volunteer."

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

"Why are you so rude? Didn't anyone ever teach you manners?"

He was silent for a moment then asked in a much different, more polite tone, his original question, "So why did you come in here?"

Minako's flush returned and she took a deep breath before answering as honestly as possible. "I was curious. I wanted to see who was in here."

He was dreadfully silent for a few minutes and Minako was getting horribly uncomfortable. She was beginning to wish that she had lied between her teeth when the man gave a sharp bitter laugh.

"At least you're honest. It's not nice but the truth rarely is."

Minako instinctively protested. "That's not true!"

Her mind whirled. 'If I had never known that I am the reincarnation of the Princess of Venus then I would never have stopped being lonely. I wouldn't have the other Sailor Senshi or my memories of a time long past that needed to be remembered. I would be alone…and while I can handle being alone, it is not a path I would choose to take.' His voice broke in on her thoughts.

"What makes you so certain?"

"Experience." She smiled a small, sad smile that he could not see. "Lots of experience."

"Really? You sound too young to have so much experience."

She replied levelly. "And you look too young to be so badly injured."

"Touche."

He shuddered under his blanket. "Are you cold?" Minako queried anxiously.

"A little." He admitted.

Minako went to the chest of drawers and checked the drawers; they were all empty. Suddenly, Minako felt cold. Quickly she scanned the room. Not a personal possession in sight. Whoever his family was, they hadn't visited him yet. Minako's heart ached for the man in the bed. She swallowed hard so that her voice wouldn't betray her feelings. Her voice was bright once more, although her eyes no longer smiled.

"There's nothing here. I need to go to the nurses' station to get you some more blankets."

"I don't want to bother you, so-"

"It's all right. Really." Minako smiled at him brightly, then remembered that he couldn't see her. She stretched out her hand to touch his neck, the only exposed part of him not bandaged, then remembered that that would scare him. Her hand stopped and hovered over his skin, mere millimeters away.

"Can I touch you?"

He visibly stiffened. "Why?"

"To promise that I'm going to come back." She looked at his stiffness uneasily. "Don't hurt yourself by being so stiff. I won't touch you if it makes you uncomfortable."

"No. It's all right." She could see him slowly begin to relax. "Go ahead."

Slowly and tentatively she touched him lightly. "I'll be back. I promise."

Then she left.

Before heading to the nurses' desk, she carefully noted the room number. Then she unceremoniously darted down the hall to the nurses' station. "Excuse me!" she panted to the nurse behind the desk. "But may I have two or three blankets?"

The nurse was elderly with gray hair shot with white, a pudgy form, and tiny, mean eyes hidden behind huge glasses. "Why?" she demanded crossly.

"Because I promised a patient I get them for him."

The woman glared at her for a moment, then grudgingly, "Hold on, I'll get them."

The woman bustled from behind the desk, disappeared into a doorway for a few moments, and returned with an armful of blankets which she thrust in Minako's general direction. Minako grabbed the blankets and strode away, glad that the woman hadn't recognized her as the disastrous volunteer from that morning. She knocked on the door before entering. "I'm back."

"I can hear that."

Shrugging she dumped the blankets on the dresser before approaching him with one. She swallowed hard, suddenly nervous. She had known that she wasn't very good at nursing people before she became a volunteer-taking care of the other senshi when they had had a cold had taught her that. The many humiliations she had had earlier in the evening had only reinforced that knowledge with a vengeance. He trembled slightly, calling Minako back to the time and place she was. Biting her lower lip hard, she carefully began covering him up.

"Are you okay? I'm not hurting you am I?"

"No. I'm fine. You aren't hurting me." He turned his head toward her voice. "We never properly introduced ourselves. I'm Inferus Kane."

"Aino Minako."

"It's a pleasure meeting you Aino-san."

Minako laughed. "You're only saying that because I brought you blankets."

He laughed. "Possibly."

"Can you stay and talk with me?" he asked as she began to carefully cover him with another blanket.

"Sure!"

"Is there a chair for you to sit on in the room?"

Minako hesitated. "No" she finally admitted.

"Then you'll have to sit at the foot of my bed."

"Oh no! I couldn't! What if I jarred you?"

He laughed again. "They have me on so many painkillers, I would noticed in you tap-danced on my chest."

She laughed and, having finished with all her blankets, gingerly sat at the foot of his bed.

"See?" he said, feeling the additional weight on his bed, "I didn't shatter."

Minako laughed nervously but didn't move.

"So who are you Aino Minako?"

"Huh?"

"Who are you as a person? What are your hobbies, favorite foods-you know, that type of thing."

"Well, I'm in my first year of high school at Juuban High and on the school's volleyball team. I love P.E. and hate math and literature-"

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Safir opened the door to see a pair of individuals he had never seen before and suddenly wished he had never seen. The woman was as stunning as the man seemed incomplete. She had ivory skin and long dusky hair that tumbled around her waist with the fringe brushing her crimson eyes. She wore a simple black dress that resembled a caftan with short sleeves and a hem that brushed her calves. The neck revealed only the tips of her collarbones and she wore neither jewelry nor makeup. The shadowy, almost incomplete, man at her right shoulder seemed to have shadows cling to his form so that only his outline was visible to the casual observer. From his outline one could tell that he wore utilitarian clothing that, while loose, did not impede his movement in any way. His hair was short and all one could tell was that he carried a huge knife. The oddest thing about the pair, aside from the overwhelmingly evil atmosphere they seemed to give off, was the fact that they were both barefoot.

"I assume that this isn't a mistake or a random urge to socialize with my brother and I. What do you want?"

It was the woman who spoke. "Let us in. We wish to talk."

"You can do that fine from where you are."

The woman pursed her lips. "This is a private matter that cannot be discussed in the hallway."

Demando, hearing the voices, approached the door to stand next to his brother. "What's going on?"

"They want to talk to us."

"Do they? About what?"

"He won't let the lady say." The man broke in.

"Really?"

For an instant Demando's and Safir's eyes met. In that instant, with their eyes, they consulted each other and came to a decision.

"I'm sorry but Safir has the right of it, we aren't interested in whatever deal you have to offer us. We don't get involved in other people's schemes because we work alone."

"You will be missing out on a great offer. One that will never come again." The woman warned.

"I'm sure we can do without." Safir replied coldly.

"If you change your mind, I will know and return."

Demando inclined his head regally and the strange pair left without a backwards glance. The brothers watched them go.

"Are you sorry?" Safir asked.

"No. Whatever they have planned, we would probably end up as the scapegoats of the entire affair."

"As I also assumed." Involuntarily, Safir shuddered as he shut the door and leaned against it. "They felt so evil…like the cloaked creature of our nightmares."

"I know." Demando placed a hand on Safir's shoulder. "Shall we go back to our tactic for survival in this pit of misery?"

Safir nodded, the ghost of a smile on his lips. "Complete neutrality."

"With it we'll let the others fight to the death and take the blame for the failures, then kill the victor and finish the Master's orders."

"With the added help of knowing where they made their mistakes. One of which, I've just seen."

"They tried to talk here, where nothing is truly a secret."

"We won't make that mistake."

"Of course not. Even Earth is a better place for secret councils."

With that the brothers returned to the inner, most secure, chambers of their apartments to watch events unfold around them.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Usagi glanced at her watch as she gulped more air into her tired lungs. 'I gonna be late!' She forced her furiously pumping legs to pump faster. Minako appeared at her by her side from a side street.

"O-Over s-sleep?" puffed Usagi.

"Yup. T-too l-long at the h-hosp-pi-pital l-last n-night."

Usagi nodded her head, saying nothing else. Suddenly Makoto was there with them.

"M-MAKOTO?"

She nodded. "Yeah. T-Too l-late a d-date l-last n-night." She gulped more air. "I-I must be g-getting out of pr-practice to be this wi-winded."

The other two nodded and gave a weak semblance of laughs. As they approached the school building, Minako glanced at her wristwatch and shrieked, "Two minutes!"

The trio ran even faster. They bolted across the courtyard, through the front door, scrambled up the stairs, and scampered down the hall to tumble into their homeroom in a giant heap on the floor as the bell rang. Ami looked up at them from her desk. "You were almost late."

"But not quite!" Minako replied triumphantly as they pulled themselves off the floor and slipped into their seats. Ami put her head on her folded arms on her desk and closed her eyes. Minako and Makoto followed suit.

Usagi eyed her friends. "I'm not the most observant person in the world but something happened to the three of you last night. Even I'm more awake in the morning than the three of you are right now. What happened?"

Makoto blushed. "Aequila-kun and I stayed out late on our date last night."

Usagi laughed. "You really like this guy, then?"

Makoto ducked her head. "Yeah. I do. He's the best guy I've ever met."

"Even better than your old sempai?"

Makoto flushed cherry. "Yes. Much better."

Usagi grinned and hugged her. "I'm glad."

"What about you Minako-chan?" Makoto asked.

Minako cleared her throat. "Well, um…I'm kinda volunteering at the hospital and-"

The other girls gasped. "Is that a good thing to do Minako-chan?" Ami asked faintly.

Minako snorted. "You mean have I killed anyone yet. The answer is that the building is still standing and the patients are all still living."

"That leaves a wide margin of error," Makoto murmured to Usagi. Usagi elbowed her in the ribs none too gently and said to Minako, "And?"

Minako flushed slightly and her eyes became distant. "I met this guy…." Everyone groaned causing Minako to snap back to her surroundings. "WHAT?"

"Minako-chan you're always meeting some guy!" Usagi exclaimed.

"This is different! I'm not in love with him!"

"WHAT?" The other girls nearly fell out of their seats.

"I can make friends with males without wanting to date them!"

"Of course." Ami agreed, making peace within the group. "So what do you see in him Minako-chan?"

"We get along well and…He needs me." Minako's eyes became distant as her mind reverted to an image of the evening before. "He's all alone with no one to care about his fear or his pain or his loneliness. He has no one. Except me now."

Usagi laid her hand on Minako's arm. "We're sorry." Minako nodded. Usagi decided to change the subject. "What did you do last night, Ami-chan?"

"I went to my juku class as usual. The person I have to do my project with is a boy our age who seems to be quite intelligent and thoughtful. From what I've seen, we'll work well together."

"Ami's got a crush!" Squealed Usagi delightedly.

"I do not! We've only just met!"

Makoto put a gently restraining hand on the blue-haired girl's shoulder. "Don't be angry Ami-chan. Obviously something happened to Usagi-chan last night that's given her so much energy this morning."

Usagi nodded enthusiastically as her eyes glazed over. "Mamo-chan called from America last night."

The other three looked at her sharply. "Did you tell him?"

Usagi snapped back to herself. "Of course not." she said seriously. "It would only worry him since he is away. I won't let anything interfere with his important dream. Especially anything concerning me."

There was a moment of silence as the other girls digested this knowledge. Then the bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom.

"Don't wait up for me!" Usagi told the others as they gathered their stuff. "I have a Manga Club meeting today after school."

"Hai." The others chorused in unison as they all broke up to go their different ways until lunchtime.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Zoisite and Nephrite had spent all that night and most of this day scheming and planning. While with the other man, Zoisite had kept an optimistic outlook on the chances of his and Kunzite's continued survival if the Shiin Family of Ate was out to get him. They had finally finished their planning session. Nephrite had decided to return to the Dark Kingdom while he, Zoisite, had chosen to remain on Earth for awhile. Now he was alone and he could face the facts as they were. He was a dead man. Even worse, he had failed Kunzaito-sama again and this time they were both going to die because of it.

Aimlessly he wandered the streets of Tokyo. Absently, he wondered at the lack of humans on the streets today. The streets were still jam packed with humanity but it no longer felt claustrophobically packed with bodies. His feet slowly took him by the coffee shop where he had had ice cream with that girl and he stood staring for a moment. Shaking his head and snarling at himself that he was getting soft, he moved on. Later that day he found himself back in the park. Sighing, he collapsed on a nearby bench, leaning his head back against the back of the bench, his legs stretched out in front of him. Slowly Zoisite closed his eyes, not caring for the moment whether or not he was vulnerable. Instead, he listened to the breeze in the trees and the murmur of the nearby lake. Softly and slowly, so that Zoisite didn't notice until it was too late, the sleep that he had denied himself last night caught up with him and claimed him as he half sprawled on a park bench in the Juuban district of Tokyo.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"I HATE STORMS!" Usagi wailed in dismay.

It had begun to rain during the Manga Club meeting. From that moment she had fervently begun praying that it would let up. Now that the meeting had let out, she had to face the awful truth: she was going to have to go home in the rain.
"At least its not thundering and lightening" she mumbled.

Just before she stepped out into the torrential downpour a memory teased her that caused her to pause. There was something in her locker that was perfect for this situation…something her mother had made her bring to school a few days ago…With a squeal of joy, she darted down the hallways of the school to her locker and quickly opened it. Inside lay a huge, pink umbrella that was large enough for several people and it was all hers! She may not even get wet! Cheered by this stroke of luck, Usagi set out in the rain the umbrella handle in one hand and her school satchel in the other. On the way home though, the weather went from bad to worse. Thunder and lightening began to crackle across the sky as the rain began to come down even harder. It was even coming in from the sides of the umbrella. Usagi whimpered as another bolt of lightening creased the sky to be followed by a boom of thunder.

"Great!" she moaned. "Now I'm wet and scared! And the rest of the day had been so good!"

Swiftly she weighed her options and choices. There was more mud to possibly spatter herself with in the park but it was longer to use the streets. Another crash of thunder resounded, following a blinding flash of lightening, made up her mind for her and she veered off towards the park. What was extra laundry compared to lightening and thunder anyway?

As she ran through the park, she noticed something that made her stop dead in her tracks despite the storm. On a park bench, sitting perfectly still, sat a man. Cautiously she approached him. It was the man whom she had met in this very park and had later eaten ice cream with. Now she approached him more easily. He was sitting perfectly still, his legs stretched out in front of him and his head leaned back against the back of the bench, his open eyes staring unseeingly up at the storm and the stinging rain drops that fell all over him, drenching him.
"Hello?"

Zoisite rolled his eyes over toward the source of the voice. He saw the girl that he had known it belonged to standing next to him under an umbrella, looking worried for some reason. Despite the umbrella, she was soaking wet. He was slightly irritated by her presence, he had been having a lovely daydream about being struck by lightening and being killed. It was a far more pleasant fate than what would happen if the Shiin Family outmaneuvered him. She moved so that the umbrella covered both of them.

"Are you okay?" She reached out with one hand and touched his shoulder gently through his sopping coat.

"Yes. Go away."

Her eyes widened but she didn't move. Instead she said, "We never introduced ourselves. I'm Tsukino Usagi." And there, in the rain, she bowed to him. He rose and bowed in return saying, "I'm Hanafubuki Kenji." They stood looking at each other. Finally she said, "You gave me a lot of money to pay for our sundaes-way too much to throw around so easily-and I wanted to return the change to you. I don't have it with me but-"

"It's okay." He broke in. "Keep it."

"But-"

"It's fine. I gave it to you and I don't want it back."

She nodded her understanding. The concern, which had never really left her face, deepened. "Is everything okay with you?"

He blinked at her. "Why?"

Wordlessly she gestured at the bench.

"And you're worried about me?"

She nodded.

"Why?"

"Because you're not really a bad person. And you're very lonely. You need a friend to care about you."

Zoisite was so shocked that it took him several moments to realize that she had once again covered them both with her umbrella, entwined her arm in his, and was tugging him down the path in a definite direction. As he opened his mouth to protest, lightening forked across the sky, an unusually loud blast of thunder chasing it. With a small shriek of fright Usagi dropped her umbrella completely and grabbed Zoisite's arm tightly in both of hers while pressing her face into his shoulder.

Zoisite looked down at the petite blond then and couldn't restrain the wry smile that twisted his lips. She, who screamed at him in the park when all others were sensibly avoiding him, she who overwhelmed him and kidnapped him to addict him to chocolate and ice cream, was afraid of a mere thunderstorm? He laughed out loud, surprising himself as well as her. It was a real laugh-one that he hadn't heard from himself in a very, very long time. It was not calculated to hurt, or deride, or mock, or scorn or gloat; instead it was born of pure, thoughtless, pleasure and nothing else.

Her face shot off his arm, her face a brilliant red, and she snatched her arms away from him to fold over her chest self consciously. Still chuckling slightly and strangely feeling much lighter for the laughter, he leaned down and scooped up the handle of her pink umbrella and her school satchel in one slender hand. With the other, he pulled her arms apart and positioned her hands so that her arms encircled the arm that was attached to the hand with the umbrella so that her hands overlapped over the joint of his elbow. For a moment his hand lingered over both of hers and the errant thought, 'Her hands are so much smaller than mine,' drifted through his mind. Then the moment was over and he removed his hand so that it could carry her school satchel. A new thought pinged through his skull, 'Why am I doing this?' while his mouth shocked him further as it promised, "I'll walk you home." She nodded, her wide eyes grateful, "Arigatou Hanafubuki-san" she murmured before gently tugging him in the appropriate direction.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Ugh! You're wet!" Minako wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Thanks a lot," said Artemis dryly. "You smell good too!"

"At least wet girl doesn't smell as bad as wet cat!"

"Children!" Luna interrupted giving the pair, especially Artemis, a nasty glare, "Behave."

"Yes Mother," Artemis muttered. Luna cuffed him.

Minako giggled.
"Now, Minako-chan, will you please get some towels for the lot of us from your bathroom?"

"Sure Luna." Minako cheerfully walked off leaving a noticeable trail of puddles after her as she went.

"Tell me again why we need her to look for that guy?"

"Because she has disguise power. She can go places that we can't." Luna sniffed. "She's your charge anyway."

Artemis sighed. "You won't let that go."

"It's true."

Artemis sighed again.

Minako reappeared in another outfit all together, carrying two towels in her arms and moping up the trail of water on the floor by dragging her feet on the floor over a towel. Carefully she helped Luna to dry off. Reassured, Artemis allowed Minako to help him dry off. Roughly, she rubbed him down, managing to turn him upside down and shake him while 'helping' him dry off. When she was done she gently placed him on the floor, where he slumped miserably on the floor.

"Luna, why is the room spinning and jumping?" Artemis passed out.

"Minako-chan!" Luna leapt to Artemis' side and peered at his inert form anxiously.

"Yes, Luna?"

"Why did you do that?"

Carefully Minako picked her unconscious cat up and began to carry him to her room.

"Because he ate all my curry!"

"Minako-chan!"
"Luna, I made that curry especially for my lunch tomorrow and he ate it all! It's not as if he stole some or most of it. He ate it all! And as the soldier of love and beauty who is sworn to uphold justice, I must punish him in the name of Venus!"

"You sound like Usagi-chan!"

Minako paused on the stairs and looked at Luna in shock. "You mean to say that you eat all of Usagi's curry? Luna I'm shocked and disappointed! I thought that you were above Artemis' bad behavior! Obviously, I misjudged you!" Then she kept going up the stairs and into her room. Luna stood on the stairs in shock for a moment, then bound into Minako's room saying, "Aino Minako, you know I could never eat as much as Usagi-chan!"

Minako hummed under her breath as she placed Artemis in the center of her bed. Lightly she said, "Denial isn't always a good thing. You should trust the other senshi and I enough to come to us with your problems. Now, what has Artemis done to make you so unhappy that you have to eat so much?"

"I'm not in denial and Artemis and I have not had a fight!"

Minako sighed as if dealing with an exasperating child. Luna almost screamed in sudden, almost overwhelming, annoyance with the girl.

"Is anything the matter Minako-chan?"

"Not really." She glanced at the clock on the wall and screamed.

"What? What is it?"

"I'm missing Card Captor Sakura!"

She raced across the room, pounded down the stairs, and moments later the theme music for Cardcaptor Sakura was blaring through the house. Luna sighed and shook her head in defeat. Nimbly she leapt up to the bed and curled up next to the unconscious Artemis. She placed her head on her crossed paws and closed her eyes. But she couldn't sleep. She sat up and regarded Artemis for a long moment. Then she leaned down and gently kissed him on the cheek. Satisfied with this act that she would never commit while he was conscious, Luna curled up again and slept.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Zoisite looked down at himself and wondered again how Usagi had gotten him into them. He was wearing black pants that were tight, even for him, and a huge black and yellow vertically striped shirt. As the stripes ended quite far from the end of the shirt there was room for the letters S.O.S. to be printed in huge black letters on a yellow background. Usagi reentered her room carrying a tray with two mugs, a steaming teapot, milk, cookies, plates, napkins, and marshmallows.

"I didn't really feel like tea, so I made us some hot cocoa instead." She looked at him, suddenly anxious. "Is that okay?"

"No, of course not." he reassured her. Silently he wondered, 'What is hot cocoa?'

Carefully, Usagi poured the cocoa in the mugs and sprinkled marshmallows in them while Zoisite set out the plates and napkins. Curiously, Zoisite looked down at the dark, steamy liquid in his mug before steeling himself to pick up the mug and take an experimental sip. Picking up the hot mug, he brought it to his lips.

"Wait!"

Zoisite's muscles jarred to a halt, causing the cocoa to gently slosh against the interior of his mug.

"Here." Usagi slid a spoon into his mug. "It's really, really hot. Sip it from the spoon."

Zoisite nodded taking the spoon handle in one slender hand, once again preparing to take his first sip. When he did, tastes that he had never tasted before exploded into his mouth, one of which he could easily identify. Chocolate! Silently he savored his first sip of cocoa before reluctantly swallowing. As he came out of his reverie he realized that unconsciously he had closed his eyes while tasting the cocoa. Opening his eyes he saw a pair of enormous blue eyes staring at him hopefully.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it!"

She seemed to heave a sigh of relief before taking a sip of her own.

"I'm glad."

Zoisite's eyes wandered around her room as they talked and drank their cocoa.

There were a surprising number of rabbits and pictures in her room. Her bed spread was covered in rabbits, stars, shooting stars, and crescent moons. Stuffed rabbits and other animals sat on her desk, her bookcase, her dresser, the small table they were sitting at, her bed, her window seat, leaned against her closed closet doors, and around the walls. Equally prevalent were the photographs. The walls of her room had a few posters, and framed odds and ends. As well as hanging on the walls, photographs sat on every available surface and even with the stuffed animals on the floor. A particularly large photograph in a silver and gold frame caught his eye. Seeing where his gaze lingered, Usagi retrieved the photograph and handed it to him.

"Arigatou" Zoicite murmured.

It was of a group of ten girls, most of whom wore the Juuban High School uniform. Usagi sat in the center of the group, straight and tall, with her uniform skirts gracefully spread around her and her long blond hair flowing down and around her slight form. Her enormous eyes openly laughed as she happily smiled. In her lap lay the head of another girl who appeared to be about a year younger than Usagi. Her shoulder length ebony hair lay in heaps in Usagi's lap. Immense luminous black eyes shone with exuberance and her lips were parted with now silent laughter. She clasped in her long delicate fingers a beautiful purple flower that matched the slight purple highlights in her hair. Against Usagi's back leaned a small child with bubble gum pink hair that was done up in cones that were reminiscent of Usagi own hairdo. In fact her entire face appeared to be a miniature replica of Usagi's own face. A petite child, she appeared to be no more than seven or eight years old. Dressed in the uniform of some grade school or other, she was shrieked with laughter, and her huge red eyes fairly glowed with joy.

Behind the trio and to the right, comfortably leaning against the trunk of a huge tree that was obviously ancient, was a tall brunette with large vibrant emerald eyes and rose earrings. With a slight smile and a cocky tilt to her head, she appeared to be the epitome of nonchalant confidence. Leaning against the brunette's shoulder was a smaller blue haired girl with huge sapphire blue eyes. The waves of her dark blue locks tumbled across the other girl's shoulder and her deep blue eyes danced merrily as she opened her mouth to say something. Her neatly pressed uniform was tidily arranged around her and in her lap lay a thick book, one slim finger marking her place in it.

Another pair of girls, about a year older than Usagi, also sat under the tree. The one leaning against the tree, her hair cut boyishly short, wore the boy's version of the Juuban High School uniform. Taller than even the brunette would be while standing, she was sandy-haired with wide sky-blue eyes and wore an arrogant smirk. Leaning against her side was a girl with wavy shoulder-length aquamarine hair and vast aquamarine eyes. Everything about her from the way she wore her uniform to the way she sat to the way she smiled was calmly elegant. She leaned against the sandy-blond's shoulder instead of the tree trunk. Although it was almost hidden by her skirts, Zoisite could just make out the fact that the two girls were holding hands. 'So they have a relationship like mine and Kunzaito-sama's.' Zoisite thought sudden tightening of his chest and a terrible pain. To divert himself from things that he couldn't fix, yet, he went back to studying the photograph.

To Usagi's left and slightly below her sprawled a blond with long blond hair the color of molten sunlight. 'Like Usagi's hair…or Jadeite's.' thought Zoisite. Her blue eyes twinkled mischievously and her lips curved into a wicked grin. Her uniform was casually draped over her form and in her hair she crisply wore a brilliant red bow. Using the blonde's stomach as a pillow was a raven haired girl with large slightly slanted violet eyes. Her long raven hair had slight violet highlights that matched her eyes fanned out around her body. She didn't wear the Juuban High School uniform like the other girls did. Instead she wore the uniform of a local private school named the T*A Private Girls' Academy. Her violet eyes burned with intensity as she radiantly smiled towards the camera.

Slightly apart from the group but still a part of it sat a woman with a sense of timelessness. Tall, with dark green hair and dark red eyes, she was dressed in lavender skirt and coat with a white blouse and red bow under her collar, she appeared to be only about a year or two older than any of the other girls. She smiled with quiet mirth as her eyes sparkled with suppressed amusement. On either side of the woman sat a pair of cats: one black and one white. Both had tiny golden crescent moons in the center of their foreheads. If cats could smile, he was certain that they were.

The picture was mounted in a silver and gold frame. The body of the frame was made up of silver swirls. Randomly placed around the frame among the swirls were twelve tiny gold symbols. Although they were vaguely familiar, Zoisite couldn't really place where he had seen them. Except one. Around the picture there were four copies of one symbol: the symbol of the Moon Family. Zoisite shook his head in sudden fierce rejection. Usagi had nothing whatsoever to do with the Sailor Senshi or the moon. Nothing at all. She was a normal, very average human teenager. Nothing more and nothing less.

Usagi, who had been watching him as she nibbled on some of the cookies, asked, "Is anything the matter?"

"No. Nothing." He gave her a sidelong look, suddenly terribly hungry for companionship; companionship that knew him for who and what he was not who and what he appeared to be. Despite himself and the Dark Kingdom, Zoisite was a extremely social person by nature and he needed love, acceptance, friendship, and companionship. When Kunzite was around he got what his starved soul needed to survive from the other man. But Kunzite had been taken from him and he needed someone. Someone to hold him and tell him that everything would be okay. That together they would make everything be okay. But he didn't have anyone and he wasn't going to have anyone either. Nephrite was an ally of convenience, if Zoisite died who was to say he himself wouldn't be next. This Usagi girl didn't know him for himself or else she wouldn't be so kind to him. She would run from him screaming.

Zoisite was startled from his thoughts by the feeling of fingers on his face. Brought back to himself, he found his cheeks suspiciously wet. Usagi was gently wiping his cheeks with her small fingers, as his unnoticed tears streamed down his face. She seemed to know that he was back in the here and now because she now murmured softly to him, "What's wrong? Can I help you?"

Zoisite shook his head fiercely and crabbed backwards away from her, until his back squarely hit the side of her bed. She was a total innocent to his world and he found that he wanted it that way. For once he did what he felt was the right thing, not what he felt had to be done.

"No! You have to stay out of it-and away from me!"

Either the girl was hard of hearing or she ignored him as she scooted closer to him. She only stopped when her face was mere inches from his. Gently she slipped her slender arms around his chest and moved her head so that her lips were next to his ear.

"Maybe I can't help you with your problems but I can hold you while you cry."

Zoisite's eyes widened and he moved his head so that he could stare at her face. It was open and sincere and her large, expressive eyes reflected her honest wish to help him. Zoisite felt something in him crack under her gaze but he stubbornly refused to breakdown in front of her. Gently she pulled against him.

"It's okay. You're safe here-with me-and you can afford to cry. Then you can be strong later, when you have to be. Never pass anything up Hanafubuki-san because it may never come your way again."

Although he willed it not to, his lower lip began to tremble. Usagi pressed her advantage by hugging him more tightly. Something about the physical contact, the only nice touching that had happened to him in a very long time, broke that something in Zoisite that had kept him from crying. Tears welled up in his eyes and he let out a low, wrenching sob as he collapsed against her. As he wept, Usagi rocked him. And in her arms, he found a temporary place to rest his weary load.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Alone he sat in the part of the castle he had claimed for himself. Actually, at one time it had been the resting place of Beryl's so-called 'great leader.' He chuckled to himself at the thought. Vaguely he wondered how long he had been here since he had left his other warriors in Zoisite's care. It didn't really matter as he had no human needs anyway and he was almost positive that they could take care of themselves.

He grinned to himself delightedly. He had them all fooled into believing that he was as weak and hungry as Beryl and her mistress had been. Despite the beliefs of Zoisite and the others he really had no need for energy. Oh, he could use it easily enough but he didn't really need it. His one weakness was his need for dark emotions. He needed hate and fear and pain and the like to sustain him. His thought again turned to Beryl and Metellia.

Unlike that fool Beryl and her mistress he didn't feel the need to trumpet his weaknesses to those who followed him so he ordered them to collect energy for him so that they would believe that he had the same needs as his predecessors. All he really needed was them to feed off of. All the lovely negative emotions that they were spawning were quickly bringing him back to full health. He frowned darkly.

When he had resurrected those men, he had simply assumed that they would radiate darkness the way that Sailor Moon and her followers radiated light. But they weren't. Or at least not as much as they should have. Safir and Demando were staying out of the political undercurrents in the Dark Kingdom preferring to sit still and see who won which meant that they weren't putting off any emotions that he would find interesting. Nephrite too was waiting and watch for awhile but he seemed to have at last decided to dip his fingers in the mix. Still, he wasn't particularly dark either. Kunzite should have been a particularly dark spot but he wasn't. Sure he was in pain and yes he was afraid-but not for himself. He seemed to have almost stopped caring about what happened to him, instead focusing on Zoisite and Zoisite's danger and pain. It was disgusting to see one of the most ruthless and dark men he'd ever seen worrying himself sick over a subordinate-maybe he should stop sustaining Kunzite in the wall. It would certainly make for a more interesting show. Zoisite used to have such an interesting and pleasing variety of darker emotions but with every trip he made to Earth he became more calm-and was it possible lighter?-afterwards. Someone down there was being a bad influence on Zoisite. The only one who was really playing the way he wanted him to was Rubeus. At least he was vicious enough to put off a good amount of nastiness.

Speaking of nastiness it had been one of his more brilliant moves to allow Zoisite to awaken the Shiin Family. They were exactly what he needed, assuming that they never turned on him of course. That would make his life considerably… inconvenient. He may not have been around during the Silver Millennium but he'd heard tales about that family, particularly this generation…

He gave a mental shrug and decided to divert himself from slightly alarming possibilities concerning the future. His mind gently probed through the castle. Safir and Demando were reading, Nephrite was planning something with the yoma, Rubeus was planning something with the Shiin Family that was somehow going to end with the death of Zoisite, and Zoisite was…was…he wasn't anywhere in the Dark Kingdom. The Master frowned. If the Shiin Family and Rubeus weren't planning to murder Zoisite anyway, he'd have to have a talk with the man about these too frequent excursions, but as things were now…

He mentally shrugged again. Things were good as they were. He always found it entertaining to give his underlings a free rein until he needed them. His stomach rumbled. It was time for a before dinner snack. Gently he reached out and sampled some of Rubeus' greed. Delicious.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

He had finally fallen asleep, his head in her lap. Gently her fingers smoothed his curly hair away from his tear streaked face. When she had called to him in the park his eyes had frightened her. They were so lonely and lost. He had looked like he longed for death. Something in Usagi had rebelled against his longings for a useless death and she had, against her better judgement and to her own surprise, brought the strange man home with her. She smiled wryly to herself. Actually, he might not have come if the storm hadn't frightened her so badly that she had really needed him to take her home.

Now, after crying himself to sleep, he was laying on the floor of her bedroom with his head in her lap. What was she going to do with him? Ruefully she eyed her bed before deeply sighing. She would be sleeping on the floor tonight. Gently she rolled the high-strung little man over onto his back and dragged the blankets down to the foot of the bed. Then she backed away from him. There was no way she was going to be able to lift him. She was decidedly diminutive and while he wasn't particularly rangy, he was too large for her to lift as Tsukino Usagi. 'After all, we can't all have our strength carry over to our human forms the way it does for Mako-chan and Haruka-san,' she mentally rationalized with a broad smile. A moment later, Sailor Moon gently picked up the sleeping man on the floor, deposited him on the bed. A flash of light later, Tsukino Usagi was covering him up. And he didn't so much as twitch a muscle throughout the entire operation.

Usagi scrutinized at her watch for a moment. Dinner would be soon but she wasn't sure what to do about her guest. Unbidden the entire scenario played out in her mind as she imagined what would happen. Shingo would come in to call her down to dinner, see Hanafubuki-san, and make a big deal about a person sleeping in her bed. Of course her parents would come up to see what was going on. Hanafubuki-san, because his features were so effeminate, might be mistaken for a girl-until he got out of bed. Seiya's pants were just too tight for him and would give the whole matter away in seconds. Then her father would find the nearest object-sharp or not-and impale Hanafubuki-san with it. Painfully. Usagi winced. Not pleasant. Instead, she wrote a note to Hanafubuki-san that she was going to eat dinner and to stay up there if he woke up. Then she went downstairs to wait on dinner.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Pensively Makoto ran a finger down one of the petals on her rose. She had been so surprised and delighted when Aequila had given it to her. Now it was already wilting. It was such a pity, that something so beautiful and precious and given with such love should die so soon. Through her mind she heard one of her battle cries, 'I, Sailor Jupiter, the Warrior of Thunder and Lightening and Guardian of Nature, will punish you on the behalf of Father Jupiter!' She squinted at her dying rose.

"Guardian of Nature, eh? I wonder…"

She stood up and stepped away from her table. A moment in time and a brilliant flash of light later, Sailor Jupiter stood there. Makoto had always loved plants so her apartment had always been full of potted plants. In a closet in the entryway she kept pots and planting materials. Lovingly Sailor Jupiter prepared a pot, all the time allowing her energy to flow out through her fingers and into the soil. When it was ready, she gently picked up her rose and planted the end of its stem in the earth. Carefully she wrapped her fingers around the remaining stem and concentrated deeply. Her magic flowed through and into every cell of the rose whispering to it to grow roots and a trunk and branches and leaves and many buds. At first slow and tentative, the rose quickly grew into a full rosebush. Sailor Jupiter, grinning with delight, sat back and ran the back of one gloved hand across her sweaty brow, leaving a long black streak across her forehead. A flash of light later, a perfectly clean Makoto sat looking proudly down at her new rosebush. Humming happily under her breath she picked it up and headed off to her bedroom. After all, it had too heavenly a scent to waste in the kitchen or the living room.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Okay, I'm in."

"We're very relieved Rubeus."

They were standing on the roof of the Tokyo Tower at night. From their vantage, Tokyo was a beautiful fairyland filled with soft, glowing lights and warmth. The view was picturesque but the trio on the tower neither noticed nor cared. Zetsumei and Shikaku stood on one side facing Rubeus who stood opposite them.

"So what exactly are your plans for Zoisite?"

"It's very simple. You and Gekidoku will follow Zoisite and watch him. He will go nowhere and do nothing without the pair of you knowing about it. Together, you will discover him in a misdeed." She gave a particularly wicked smile that sent chills up and down Rubeus' spine, "It will be very easy and fast from that point to dispatch Zoisite and his lover."

Rubeus nodded his head decisively. "I understand. But where is this Gekidoku of yours? I cannot wait around for her nor can I go look for her."

"Right here" came a soft, childish voice from shadows near his elbow. Rubeus startled and peered down. A diminutive, angular girl stood at his elbow. She had long ebony black hair that brushed the back of her legs and clouded green eyes. Her skin was lightly tinted with a sickly green color underneath which she appeared to be deathly pale. Dressed in a scarlet skirt that ended just above her knees and a scarlet turtleneck that had long sleeves and ended around her hips, she wore a woven red belt around her tiny waist.

"You? You are the sickliest child I have ever seen! What use would you be to me?"

The child's lips tightened briefly. "I could run messages or errands for you. That way nothing will get by you. As for my being sickly, I am much more than I appear to be. I won't let you down."

He snorted. "If you get into trouble, I won't be there to help you."

She bowed her head. "I understand and accept your terms."

"Good. I'm glad that's settled." Zetsumei and Shikaku turned to go.

"What?" Zetsumei asked a trace impatiently.

"What do I call the pair of you?"

She answered without hesitation. "You may call us Lady and Lord of Ate."

Then her si appeared in one hand. In one smooth gesture she swung it over their heads causing a black mist to envelop them. In seconds they disappeared into the mist which then quickly dispersed, leaving Rubeus alone on the roof with the child Gekidoku.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Here are the translations if you need them…(If you didn't notice I added some of my own names to the character names from the series-ex.-Jadeite's human name and the princess names for the other senshi.)
Tsukino Usagi = Serena = Sailor Moon = Princess Selenity
Mizuno Ami = Amy Anderson = Sailor Mercury = Princess Hermesia
Hino Rei = Raye Hino = Sailor Mars = Princess Ariesa
Kino Makoto = Lita = Sailor Jupiter = Princess Zeuna
Aino Minako = Mina = Sailor Venus = Princess Aphrodita
Meioh Setsuna = Sailor Pluto = Princess Persephonia
Tenoh Haruka = Sailor Uranus = Princess Calaisina
Kaioh Michiru = Sailor Neptune = Princess Poseidonna
Tomoe Hotaru = Sailor Saturn = Princess Cronua
Chiba Mamoru = Darien Shields = Tuxedo Kamen/Mask = Prince Endymion
Luna = Luna
Artemis = Artemis
Jiyuujin Hisui = Jadeite = Jedite
Nephrite = Nephlite = Nephlyte
Hanafubuki Kenji = Zoisite = Zoicite = Zoycite
Kunzite =Malachite
Rubeus = Rubeus
Safir = Sapphire
Prince Demando = Prince Diamond
Furuhata Motoki = Andrew (from the arcade)
Reika = Rita
Ryo Urawa = Greg
My Characters:
Tellosummo Ventum Aequila = ( vice versa) = Eagle from the Top of the World
Kikyoku = Serious Depression
Gekidoku = Deadly Poisons
Sado = Sadism
Ekirei = Plagues
Shikaku = Shadowy Assassinations
Zetsumei = Death
Shiin = Death
Ate = Discord