Tension of the Past
Part 13
*~*~*~*
Kunzite's eyes revealed him to be just as shocked as Venus.
He wasn't in the flesh, but an image, a body of light, shades of gray and pale blues, he stood in front of the table where Endymion kept his guardian crystals, his white hair and cape blowing with an ethereal wind.
They stood, facing each other, no sound, just looked until Kunzite averted his gaze from her, searching the room for his master, Prince Endymion, thoroughly disturbed by the fact he was summoned not by his sovereign, but by a young woman who's acquaintance had altered his life.
"Kunzite?"
He looked back to her, and finally said, "You have changed since I last saw you, Sailor Venus."
She lowered her head slightly, and then picked it up. "You look just the same!"
She tried to laugh, but stopped as the general's lips twitched slightly. Flushing, she wiped the sweat off her palms onto her fuku, and began to pace.
"Are you in need of something?" he asked.
"I... no. I'm not. Why are you here? Is there trouble? An enemy against my queen?"
Kunzite shook his head, but smiled at her. "You know, I've always admired your loyalty," he said. Venus was taken aback.
"W-what?"
"In the Silver Millennium," he explained. "You would frequently forgo your free time to bring your princess back to the moon. When she traveled to meet the prince. I remember watching you as you tried to tear Serenity from this planet. Very amusing. People of Venus are quite beautiful when vexed."
A small smile softened his face as she blushed. Kunzite looked closely at her for a moment before sighing.
"You've lost some of your charm, though."
"What makes you say that?" she asked, insulted.
"You look pale. Your heart is bleeding."
Venus turned away. "I don't need you to speak of my heart. You know nothing."
"Nothing? Then why is my memory among the ones that keep the wound open?"
She stiffened, turned back to him, and said, "I have no idea. I barely knew you."
"And yet... after so many lifetimes... you still remember me."
"You tried to kill my princess in the Silver Millennium! You tried to kill Earth in this lifetime!"
"Ah," he breathed. "And I apologize."
"This is getting me nowhere," she said. "Please. Go back to wherever you came from."
"Believe me," he answered. "I would have if I was able to. But I cannot."
"And why is that?"
"You alone are keeping me from leaving."
*~*~*~*
Star Healer's eyes widened as she listened in from the crack of the door, her body pressed against the wall. Kunzite... a general of Endymion...
Why was this happening? Why was this dead man still in Minako's heart? Why did Yaten feel so... so...
"Me?" Venus' voice rang out. "Then leave if you don't want to stay. I release you. I don't want to keep you from Zoicite."
*~*~*~*
"Aah." Kunzite locked her in his gaze as Venus stepped back, startled at her words. "Waiting a long time to say that?"
"I... I..."
"What?" he asked. "Please. Tell me. I wish to return as soon as possible. I wish for you to return as well."
"What do you mean?"
"You have been with us for a while now..." said Kunzite. "It's a bit unnerving to have a live woman's spirit join us. You don't even say anything."
"But... but I'm alive. I'm here. I feel here."
"Always?"
Venus blinked at those words. "Sometimes... sometimes I feel as if I've lost a part of myself. I'll feel so happy... and then..."
"Then what?"
"I don't know," she whispered. "I feel hollow. I feel desperate and alone. Even with my friends. I... I don't know why this happens to me!"
"Yes, you do," he said forcefully. His scowl reminded her of Yaten for some odd reason. "Don't think about her. Focus on you. You're getting closer."
"I haven't felt this way for nine hundred years! Why now?"
"It's been building inside of you. You need to let it out. You can't let it bottle up inside. Don't you see how old you are?"
"That's just it!" she cried. "I've always been old! Children... children can see through that... I remember more of the Silver Millennium than even Serenity... so much of my past... I've been through too many things not to forget... not to grow older... not to stay as young as the others."
"What have you remembered?"
"Pain... destruction... happiness that crumbles with my touch." She looked up at him. "I've never been able to keep happiness... to keep love. I am so tainted. You can't tell me I was pure back then. I was never pure."
"You were," he said quietly. "You have always been pure."
"Then why can't anybody love me?" she sobbed. "Why am I so repulsive?"
The spirit stepped towards her. "You hate yourself. How could anybody be with another who hates themselves? It's destructive, it's painful. The men who took advantage of you..."
"Kaitou Ace... Adonis," she whispered and looked up at Kunzite, her eyes glistening.
"He died as Danburite. I'm so sorry," he breathed, and feigned touching her hair. "Your pain... your heart ache."
"He... he obeyed you," she said. "Took your orders."
"I knew he had loved you in the Silver Millennium. That pain was what I needed to use against him. You never noticed him."
"I... I should have..." she whispered. "I should have. He was my Tuxedo Kamen... he was my knight in shining armor... just because of social class systems... that's why nothing... I should have seen him."
"He was your enemy," Kunzite said. "Just as I was."
"You..." she said. "You knew..."
"I did..."
"In... in the Silver Millennium... did you... did you love me?"
Kunzite placed a ghostly finger near her lips, and shook his head.
"What does it matter? That is over with. Danburite is over with. All the others are over with. All you are left with is now. You have fallen along the way, have broken your heart. Pick up the pieces. Fall in love again..." He stopped himself and smiled. "Ah, yes, you already have... but before... before anything, fall in love with yourself. People come and go, but you are always left with yourself. Your divine self. Never forget that."
A tear rolled down Venus' cheek, and the general stepped back to his crystal.
"I see I've shed enough light to be able to leave," he said. "Please take heed of my words."
"Kunzite..." she whispered. "Are... are you happy...?"
He grinned for once, and said, "I'm going back to Zoicite, aren't I? Don't leave yourself. Please. Take your time. Stay with your princess. Your friends. Be with the one you love."
"Please don't go," she begged. "There's still so much..."
"You have all the answers you need inside of yourself. Trust your pure heart. Trust those who love you. Know you are loved, you are strong. You have a person you must protect, but this time, the barriers have been shattered. The human heart has enough room for the entire universe! Remember that!"
And he was gone. And Venus collapsed and began to sob. And Star Healer began to open the door when...
VENUS! MY BEAUTIFUL DARLING! MY WONDERFUL ANGEL!
Minako's head snapped up and searched around the room for the voice. The low hum of came from Chibi-Usa's room, and Venus ran into the other room, colliding with Star Healer. Bother staggered away from each other.
"Ya-Yaten?" She stood up tall, looking in bewilderment at the alien senshi.
"Minako..."
"Were... were you here the whole time?"
Yaten nodded, but did not look guilty.
"...The whole time?" Minako repeated.
"Listen to me, Minako." Venus turned away from the senshi, towards the sleeping children, but Star Healer grabbed her hand, pulling her back. "I've heard that voice all night. Calling to you-"
Venus recoiled from other woman's touch. "How... how could you do such a thing? I thought you cared... I thought you cared enough to... I would have told you..."
"Don't tell me you didn't hear the voice!" Yaten cried. "Something's after you-"
"I didn't hear anything!" she cried. "Nothing besides... Isn't enough you were there for everything?! But do you have to make an excuse for it? Do you have pretend to protect me?!"
"I'm not pretending!"
"You are..." she backed away. "You always were... when you were being nice... I thought... I thought somehow... you cared..."
"Listen to yourself!" cried Yaten. "What are you saying?! Did you hear nothing that man told you?!"
"THE TIME HAS COME. JOIN ME!"
And a brilliant burst of light engulfed Venus, pushing Yaten away as she tried to reach to her, stopping all time.
*~*~*~*
Engulfed in the light, frozen to the bone, aching with pain, and her first thought was, the princess.
"SMALL LADY!" she screamed, but her words were absorbed in the light. Both children were sleeping sound and snug, close to each other, undisturbed.
"This light is for only you," a voice said. A deep voice. A mesmerizing voice. A familiar voice.
"Who's there?!" she cried. This time she could hear it in her ears, knew it had gone out into the space, but she knew the children didn't awaken.
"The one who has always cared for you..." the voice answered. "I have watched you since the beginning of time. Goddess of Love, powerful leader of the protectors of Serenity. I am so saddened at the rewards you are given. You were meant for so much more..."
The light began to condense. To turn into a tiny, incredibly intense star that hovered ever so close to her face. Such an icy light.
"I can lead you to your greatness..."
"I don't want to be great... I want to protect my queen!"
"How much you have changed! To lose all your dreams!"
"I have fulfilled all of them!"
"And what of love? What of that cursed heart you carry? What the dead general told you is all very sweet... the rules apply to others... but you. You will never be able to be loved by any one! Least of all a soldier from another planet already in a forbidden love!"
"Why are you attacking me like this?!"
"I am only showing you the truth... I want to help you... I have always loved you... ALWAYS. I can take away your pain... take away that curse you have..."
"My... my curse..."
"Let me be with you forever..." the voice pleaded. Venus reached up and touched the star, and it exploded around her, slicing her nerves, and yet she did not cry out in pain. But in joy. Such joy! To no longer feel her heart!
The pain was gone, all gone. No more.
She laughed in delight, and watched with avid curiosity at the horrified look on Star Healer's face.
"What..."
Minako looked down to see her heart in between the two, a small star pulsating, screaming, sobbing in little flashes of it's light, calling out to it's owner... and to Yaten. Star Healer reached out to hold it, to keep it away from this shell of a person, but as the star moved closer, willingly, sobbing in relief...
"DESTROY IT. THAT IS THE ONLY WAY. NO MORE LOVE TO CONTEND WITH. ONLY YOU. I WILL GIVE YOU THE STRENGTH YOU NEED."
Venus slapped Star Healer's hands away and closed in on her heart, feeling her palms burst with tiny pin pricks of pain as it tried to flee it's cage.
"Minako. Don't do this."
She ignored the woman and pressed her palms together, feeling the light flatten with her compression.
"MINAKO!" Star Healer screamed... the children were still asleep even with that volume. Yaten grabbed her hands hard, yanking her down to the ground, the heart spinning out of the woman's grasp. Venus righted herself, and stared deep into the eyes of Yaten, touching her soul, scraping against the vulnerable points of her past. Star Healer's knees nearly gave way.
Call Seiya... call Taiki... notify the others! The urgent plea ran through her mind over and over and over again. But she knew... she just knew they would not be able to help. This was all up to Minako and her. Only them.
They watched each other for a moment, the bead of light in their vision.
"I'll hurt you if I have to," said Star Healer. "But I won't let you destroy your heart."
"Hah! You never helped to protect it! To think I actually cared for you in such a way... to hope that somehow I could change your feelings for Kakyuu... I realize now, what I have always ignored. Love has never existed for me... I fight for it, and yet it evades me."
"I won't let you destroy something so precious to me!"
Venus lunged for her heart at the same moment , and a scream omitted from the star as both women touched it, the space around them fading away into darkness with their screams.
"One thing you must know, Yaten, with your power is this. To touch the emotions of the heart is one thing... but to touch another's actual heart is another. Your own will stop and your life will depend on the beat of another, until it calls you back. Remember that, or you will not live a day..."
"Yes, teacher. I promise."
*~*~*~*
"Yateeeeen-kun."
Yaten groaned at the annoyingly high pitched voice that disturbed his slumber, and rolled over onto his back, taking the sheets with him. He did want to face reality, and so, left his eyes closed.
"Come on, sleepy head... wake up..."
"Nhhh..." He flopped his wrist in front of his face, waving the person away. Probably Seiya, the annoying bastard. This wouldn't be the first time he had woken him up before Yaten's alarm clock rang. Getting up at 6:15 was hard enough already!
"Yaten... get up... I have a surprise for you..."
"Huh?" Finally he opened his eyes, readjusting his gaze, and decided now would be a good time to scream. "AINO-SAN! WHAT THE-"
Minako clamped a hand over his mouth, leaning over him, her yellow hair spilling over her shoulders, encircling Yaten's face, a veil to the outside world. Minako pressed a finger to her smiling lips.
"You don't want to wake up the entire town, do you?"
Yaten proved he did by shouting to his companions, the sound muffled by her palm, and flailing his arms to try to bat her away. Minako had him pinned, though, and Yaten's energy was draining away. He narrowed his eyes at her and muttered something under her hand, and Minako raised an eyebrow.
"WHAT did you say?" She scowled when he rolled his eyes. "I'm not stupid! I heard everything! It's not nice to insult a poor vulnerable woman." Yaten muttered again, but Minako ignored it. "If you promise to be quiet can I let you go?"
Yaten nodded, and Minako pulled her hand away.
"SEIYA! TAIKI! I'M BEING ATTA-"
"You promised!" cried Minako and she slapped her hand back down, but it was too late. Footsteps were promptly heard, and the door was kicked open, showing the leader of the Three Lights in a way she had never been seen before. Minako knew she should have brought her camera.
Seiya's jaw dropped open as he stared at the girl on top of her distressed victim.
"A-Aino-san?"
"Hi, Seiya-kun," she looked back, not getting off of Yaten. "Nice boxers."
Seiya backed away from the door, hiding the heart print with the wall. Taiki's head peeked into the room, clutching his terry cloth robe closed around his neck defensively.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" the tallest Light asked as he surveyed the room, Seiya began to smirk, and Yaten raised his head in rage.
"GET HER OFF OF ME!!" he screamed.
"I don't think so," said Seiya. "This is way too good."
"Fine, fine," said Minako, and got off of the bed and smoothed out her dress, while Yaten threw off the covers, and scrambled away from the girl, shaking off the chills that rose up his spine.
"You DO know what time it is, don't you?" asked Seiya to Minako as he pointed to the clock. Three daunting numbers blinked back at Seiya's delicately manicured finger, and Taiki's face paled at the "4:45". They had had a photo shoot the night before that hadn't ended until 11:30, and they had an interview at 7:30 this morning. It was going to be one hell of a day.
The girl nodded and grinned. "I know... it's just that-"
"Just nothing," interrupted Yaten as he tied his robe closed. "You're leaving. We don't have time for this."
"You DO have time for this," she said, and turned on her heels to face him.
"You have NO idea what our day is like today-"
"Actually, I do," she said, and unfolded a sheet of paper. "Interview at 8:30 with Tenkai Tomaseya, a publicized lunch with Himeko Rose at the Golden Doors until 2:30, after that you have about three hours to yourself until you have to have to open a new club and do a gig until 10:00 tonight." She smiled. "Never underestimate the charming power of Aino Minako."
"Oi. Well then, you understand we need to go back to bed. I'll be up in an hour, Yaten-kun. You can last that long. Ja, Aino-san." And with that, Seiya walked back to his room.
"I assume you reserved a table at the Golden Doors for you and the others." Minako nodded. "See you there. Enjoy, Yaten-kun."
"Don't leave me alone with her!" cried Yaten, but the plea fell on deaf ears... or very cruel ones, anyway. The laughter of his supposed friends stopped with the shutting of their doors. Seething, he ignored the girl in his bedroom, shrugged off his robe, and climbed into his bed.
"Yaten."
"Go away."
"Yaten-"
"Did you not hear me?!" he shouted, and shot up, about to chew her out like he never had before... except that expression on her face stopped him... such a bitter-sweet face... so intent. Yaten groaned, and rolled out of bed, following Minako out of his apartment up to the roof.
It was getting close to summer, and the still air was warm, but a breeze from the north brought a bite. Yaten wished he had put his robe back on. Silk pajamas weren't exactly warm.
"So why are we up here?" he asked, aggravation building up as he rubbed his arms. Minako moved to the edge of the roof, and leaned against the railing, staring at Tokyo Tower through the darkness. "Aino-san?"
"Shh." She barely turned to him, but he could see her raise a finger to her lips, and Yaten moved to her side, peering out into the horizon. "It's coming... wait a minute..."
And there it was. A lightening of the sky, barely discernable, but there. A quiet blue that transformed the entire world, casting shadows and dimming lights, a proclamation of a new day. Yaten was not impressed.
"So? It's dawn, it's early, and I'm tired."
He moved to go, but Minako grabbed his hand, and he stopped to watch her never take her eyes off the sky. "Wait." She didn't let go of his hand, and for some very strange reason, Yaten wasn't compelled to tear it away. With her hand over his he felt warm, felt safe, and somehow calm... He looked back to the ever brightening sky.
The heavens opened up for the sun, the orb of fire slowly making its way above the horizon from its sleep. And with each slow inch upward, Yaten watched as the rays of light sped their way to Minako, and to Minako only.
Eyes widening, he watched hers close, basking in the warmth and enclosure. Such warmth, such light. Sunrays filtering through golden hair, making them light on fire. Orange glow against peach skin, a radiance never seen before, and Yaten could not look away.
She opened her eyes, and turned to him, a faint smile on her lips, and her eyes glinted gold. She really did shine.
"This is the only time," she murmured. "Where I have never felt separated from who I am. I feel Minako here. I feel Sailor Venus here. I just feel me. The sailor crystals are separate from us, right? And yet... I feel it is a part of me... as if it dissolves into my heart..."
"...Do you wake up this early everyday?"
Minako shook her head. "Only special occasions... or when a battle that will alter lives is approaching."
"And what is it this time?"
"I... I don't know," her smile broadened though. "Both, I think."
She squeezed his hand, and he felt his hand tighten its hold on hers. She turned her entire body to face him this time, and lowered her head, her bangs covering her face, hiding the blush.
"Yaten-kun... I... I remember you saying something yesterday at the idol audition about not finding her..."
"W-what?"
"Your... the one you love?" Yaten looked slightly away, and it was at that time Minako's heart sank. Taking her hand off his, she stepped back, and pulled something out of her pocket, small and flimsy. "I came by... to tell you not to worry. That you'll always shine no matter what happens... as long as the sun rises."
The orb of fire hid behind a building, dulling the girl in front of him. He began to step towards her, not knowing why or even caring, but he knew he needed to be close to her in that moment... to give her something... something he didn't know could be given by him...
He stopped though, when she held out the object, a book...
"This is for you," she said quietly. "I... I'm getting you won't be here forever... and I... I just want to say... thank you for everything... and that I... that I'm..."
He stared at her with fascination as she tried to get her words out, as her eyes said everything.
"Thank you..." he said quietly, and placed his hands on the book, his finger intertwining with hers. Time seemed to stop as they looked at each other, two people worlds apart, nearly complete opposites, and yet... not so different, now that he thought of it. Not so different at all.
The sun rose above the building, and Minako winced as the light hit her eyes. Letting go of the book and shielding her eyes, she backed away from Yaten.
"I... I'll see you at the Golden Doors." And she turned her back, running to the door, and racing down the steps.
Yaten watched the door, half imagining she would burst back onto the roof, but after a few moments turned back to the sky, basking in the glow of Minako's sun, and remembered the book in his hands. He opened the book and read the painstakingly written inscription to him.
Dear Yaten, I hope you come to love this book as much as I have. Don't forget you are always welcome where we are. Good luck in your new life, and may you find the love you have been searching for. Love, Minako.
Sighing, he looked over the edge, down to the street, and watched a young girl, golden hair flying in behind her as she ran down the street, a trail of sorrow leading back to the place beside him.
*~*~*~*
Venus groaned as she regained consciousness, and tried to sit up, but found she barely had the strength to open her eyelids. When she did, though, the first thing she saw was Sailor Star Healer laying beside her, out cold, her hands tightly holding a small ray of white light that gently pulsed with contentment as it floated inside the confining spaces of her palms.
She tried to reach out, to touch the other woman, but her hand flopped down as all her energy was spent... something was so terribly wrong... She couldn't feel anything except the cold. She felt so hollow, so completely empty... and yet she could feel something as the small rays flashed against her skin.
"Yaten...?" There was no answer, and if Minako had a heart, it would have stopped. She tried to get closer to her, but stopped as her chest heaved with the effort to breathe.
Please don't let it end like this, she thought. Not like this...I'm so close.
The mist rolled in and surrounded Venus, clouding her vision, and when it dissipated, the silver haired senshi was in her arms, her head snuggled into Minako's shoulders... and yet she was still lifeless... if Yaten was breathing, she couldn't tell.
She dropped her hands to the star, and the heart's cage of fingers parted, the speck of light shooting out and away.
"Wait..." she whispered. "Come back... please come back..."
The light turned around and sped to her face, finger rays of light touching her face, probing, searching.
"Why do I want you to come back?" It made a large pulse. "I'll die if you don't..."
It was the wrong answer, and Minako watched as it compressed into an even smaller orb, and moved to the still body in its heart carrier's arms, trying to nestle into the chest of Yaten, only to find in anguish the heart place was already taken.
"Please..." she whispered. "I'm sorry... for not wanting you... I do... I do want you... broken and all... it's all my fault. I'm so sorry I broke you..."
In retaliation, the star expanded into a huge sphere of silver showing not a scratch had been made, and engulfed the two women in its body, their identities dissolving with the darkness.
Minako watched as a light within the light began to form and condense, take shape, into a pale version of herself, and the enigma floated towards her, reaching her, caressing her, and entered her.
"W-what is this?" she cried.
"Shhh...I shall not hurt you..." such a gentle voice, a kind voice, unlike the one before.
"Who are you?"
"Your higher self... I dwell in the place you call the heart..."
"The... the other voice...?"
"That was you're lower self...it dwells in a corner of the place you call your mind. A place that is accessed frequently for protection from the world... the time is coming where both parts of you have the ability to be separated when certain forces meet them."
"Chaos..."
"No...only you can bring out the lower self... but Chaos, if she can feel your pain or anger or sorrow, can take control of it and use it to tempt you. But the higher self is accessed only by the force of your own will. A choice... we come through you as you... we cannot be separated or accessed by another."
"Why are you here?"
"We need to heal our heart."
"And Yaten...? What about her? Is she alive?"
A look of deep sadness crossed the spirit's face. "Let us be the focal point for now."
And the enigma ceased to speak, and opened her mind to the memories of Minako's enter past. From the Silver Millennium to the Twentieth Century, and up to the present.
"You need to let go of the attachment to these memories... they will always be there, always. But do not dwell in the past, or the future, for the present moment is the only moment. These memories are used as lessons, as teachings. Know what you did and remember what is not happy for you, remember what is, and take it to heart."
And as the memories played on, Minako cut loose, and let go. And died.
*~*~*~*
"You are just in time," Pluto said to the figure as she appeared next to the solitary guardian.
"I am sorry I did not come sooner..."
"No need. There is no time here. I will be sure Serenity does not enter while you are here though..."
"We are no longer the same person... it makes no difference now..."
"Really? I still see the Usagi-chan in you, Sailor Cosmos."
The soldier smiled briefly, but looked on at the silver orb half covered in mist.
"Venus," she whispered. "This was her first battle."
"But she was not the first to fight."
"Mercury... she overcame it, when Chaos took her doubt of Star Maker..."
Pluto nodded. "The enemy was no longer outside Earth... it was within ourselves. A solitary battle."
"She lived though..."
"A sun harboring a billion lives speeds to this Earth, a force magnified to ours, bound by strings that no one can see. The lives of the senshi will end when we invite them to our home."
"A sense of peace had blanketed Mercury... I could not take my eyes off of her. It was as if she had died and come back to life. She had."
"Yes..."
"The battle could not have begun without Kakyuu and the Starlights. The ultimate battle."
"There will always be war, isn't that what you said?" Pluto asked.
"There will always be war if we are at war with ourselves," Cosmos elaborated. Pluto smiled.
"All of us had our battle..."
"And won the first time." Cosmos' heart deflated. "But the second..."
"When those around us were tempted and did not fight it. Luna, Artemis, Diana, Ichigo, Taka... Endymion... Kakyuu..."
"Kakyuu had begun her battle the day before the ball..." murmured Cosmos.
"She was victorious then. It was another issue."
"Her lover who died on the first Kinmoku?"
"He was the end to both Kakyuu and Seiya," stated Pluto.
"And Taiki?"
"When she began to think about the growing relationship between Ami and Taka, even if it was only plutonic. Luna and Diana's fall was the relationship between Artemis and Venus..."
"Artemis' issue was the past loves of Luna..."
"Ichigo began to question his importance. Taka began to question his existence," sighed Pluto.
"A domino effect. The battles we had won were now coming back. Without the support... without the reassurance of love in our lives, we had nothing to fall back on. And Yaten... throughout all of this..."
"She was the last."
"What do all of these things signify?" Cosmos muttered to herself. "We fell because of love. Of the belief and trust in love and partnership. And I ran... back to the twentieth century."
"And you are here now to fight Chaos alone... to bring us back. Do you know how?"
"I am able to stand alone. I can defeat her."
"You could have done that without my counsel."
"I want them back," Cosmos said. "I want them all back in my life."
"And if they have moved on...?"
Cosmos shook her head. "They haven't. I feel them surrounding me... their sailor crystals are taken. But their souls, their hearts... ne... their stars are still in the cauldron. I spoke with the guardian before I came here. She has not sent them out yet... they refuse, and wait for me. But I need the sailor crystals from Chaos in order to bring them back to their forms."
"You cannot take them from Chaos."
"But I can call them to me... I can call them back to their stars."
"With what?"
"With love." Cosmos' smile brightened. "There is only one source of life... we are never apart from each other. We are all one, no matter what. The same is with love. Love is love. All shapes and forms... we love each other fully and to the utmost. We fell because we deviated from that one source... we fell out of love with ourselves... a thought, a gesture was all Chaos needed to tempt."
Cosmos straightened. "I can fight now. I can win."
Pluto fell to one knee and kissed the hand of the soldier in front of her.
"Thank you," she whispered. "For being you."
"Pluto... please... get up." Cosmos flushed, and Pluto smiled standing next to her sovereign. They looked out to the sphere of light as it disappeared into the mist. "I wish them the best of luck."
"Wasn't much of a story, was it?" asked Pluto. "I told Small Lady I would be telling you one."
"Well then... I remember Venus had told her and Diana a story... about... Hinako-hime, was it? And Apollo?" She laughed. "I forgot how it ended."
"Well, then," said Pluto. "I'll be keeping my word now, won't I?"
*~*~*~*
Minako's eyes fluttered open, silver streaming through her lashes as she regained her sight. For once she felt fully, completely free.
Sighing in contentment, she smiled and rolled over and remembered Yaten.
Yaten who wasn't breathing. And laying in between the two women was a small piece of paper, folded into a tiny square. Venus slid her hand to it, and brought it back to her, opening it, and reading the inscription she had written to Yaten so many years before. She had kept it all this time.
Minako could sit up in the silver light, and she did quickly, rolling Yaten over onto her back, and gently caressed her cheek.
"Yaten... Yaten, wake up." No answer, only silence. She could feel the light ripple in concern of the sphere, and Minako slapped the woman's face lightly. When nothing happened, she leaned into her face, trying to feel breathing. "Come on. Yaten, wake up."
Tears of frustration slipped down her cheeks, and she wiped them away fiercely.
"Yaten. Yaten. YATEN!!"
The enclosure of light pulsed faintly, a heart beat. A heart beat.
"Yaten," she whispered. "Come on, wake up. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. For not listening to you. To not telling you the truth... about my curse... about my life... please... please stay."
The light pulsed deeper.
"I want you to stay here with me... I don't need you to, Yaten... I don't need anybody to stay for me... but... but I want you to. Doesn't that make it so much more?"
The silver light throbbed now, as if blood actually flowed through veins hidden by the light, and but Yaten still did not move. Minako lowered her head, hair spilling over onto the lifeless body, a tear dropping onto the woman's pale skin.
She felt Yaten flinch, and jerked her head to her face, watching for any sign.
"Can you hear me?" She brushed the silver bangs away from Yaten's face, her fingers tracing down to her lips, ever so lightly. Yaten did not answer. "Where are you...? Please, come back... wake up, Yaten."
She lowered her face to the sleeping soldier, and lightly, ever so lightly pressed her lips against Yaten's.
A butterfly's wind against her face as eyelids opened, and arms encircled, holding tightly, reaching down, pressing to each other, heart against heart, mind against mind... soul joining soul.
"Minako..." A sigh, a wonderment, a question.
They looked at each other, staring, hesitating, and Minako moved back as Yaten sat up, but the silver haired woman did not break away as she held tightly to her hand. They sat on their knees facing each other, and only then did they realize the sphere of silver had disappeared, back into Minako's body.
"Thank you," Yaten murmured, and Minako nodded. "Did you take care of the voice...?"
"A new enemy. An old one, actually... Chaos. No... it was me. My shadow self. Chaos used it against me." Yaten stared at her. "I have a feeling this will not be the last time I meet with her."
"Are you okay?" asked Yaten.
"Truthfully?" answered Minako. "I've never felt better."
"I'm glad to hear that."
It was an awkward silence, even as Yaten squeezed Minako's hand. The golden haired woman smiled, and handed her the slip of paper.
"It fell out." Yaten smiled, and tucked it away. "You kept it all this time?"
"I destroyed the book..." said Yaten, flushing slightly. "Over a love I had found and lost."
"Oh..." Yaten shifted closer, hooking a finger under Minako's chin, keeping her from looking away.
"I can't say it'll end immediately. I still... I think I still love her. But... but I know I need to let go. I... I don't want to hurt you anymore, Minako. You've always been there, and I've always hurt you."
"I know... don't worry," she said. "I'm in love with you, Yaten."
Tears came to Yaten's eyes as the emotion washed through her. Wave upon wave of innocence, of simple truth, and of the base, the foundation. Love. So much love, it hurt.
They kissed briefly, and Yaten brought their foreheads together. "Give me some time... please... I don't want anything to come between us. I don't want there to be any doubt."
"Alright..." Yaten was surprised to see Minako smile as they moved away. They stood up. "Actually, I'm relieved. I need to be alone too. I've never known who I really am... I think it's time to find out."
They stood up, and began to go back to the palace, but Minako stopped.
"What is it?"
"I'm a little scared of what Makoto's going to do to me..." she admitted. "I was supposed to tell her first... and with losing the bet..."
"I agree. Let's stay."
"Oh no!" squealed Minako, and grabbed Yaten's hands. "It was a tie. I still need to see you in that dress!"
*~*~*~*~*
END PART 13
*~*~*~*~*
Part 13
*~*~*~*
Kunzite's eyes revealed him to be just as shocked as Venus.
He wasn't in the flesh, but an image, a body of light, shades of gray and pale blues, he stood in front of the table where Endymion kept his guardian crystals, his white hair and cape blowing with an ethereal wind.
They stood, facing each other, no sound, just looked until Kunzite averted his gaze from her, searching the room for his master, Prince Endymion, thoroughly disturbed by the fact he was summoned not by his sovereign, but by a young woman who's acquaintance had altered his life.
"Kunzite?"
He looked back to her, and finally said, "You have changed since I last saw you, Sailor Venus."
She lowered her head slightly, and then picked it up. "You look just the same!"
She tried to laugh, but stopped as the general's lips twitched slightly. Flushing, she wiped the sweat off her palms onto her fuku, and began to pace.
"Are you in need of something?" he asked.
"I... no. I'm not. Why are you here? Is there trouble? An enemy against my queen?"
Kunzite shook his head, but smiled at her. "You know, I've always admired your loyalty," he said. Venus was taken aback.
"W-what?"
"In the Silver Millennium," he explained. "You would frequently forgo your free time to bring your princess back to the moon. When she traveled to meet the prince. I remember watching you as you tried to tear Serenity from this planet. Very amusing. People of Venus are quite beautiful when vexed."
A small smile softened his face as she blushed. Kunzite looked closely at her for a moment before sighing.
"You've lost some of your charm, though."
"What makes you say that?" she asked, insulted.
"You look pale. Your heart is bleeding."
Venus turned away. "I don't need you to speak of my heart. You know nothing."
"Nothing? Then why is my memory among the ones that keep the wound open?"
She stiffened, turned back to him, and said, "I have no idea. I barely knew you."
"And yet... after so many lifetimes... you still remember me."
"You tried to kill my princess in the Silver Millennium! You tried to kill Earth in this lifetime!"
"Ah," he breathed. "And I apologize."
"This is getting me nowhere," she said. "Please. Go back to wherever you came from."
"Believe me," he answered. "I would have if I was able to. But I cannot."
"And why is that?"
"You alone are keeping me from leaving."
*~*~*~*
Star Healer's eyes widened as she listened in from the crack of the door, her body pressed against the wall. Kunzite... a general of Endymion...
Why was this happening? Why was this dead man still in Minako's heart? Why did Yaten feel so... so...
"Me?" Venus' voice rang out. "Then leave if you don't want to stay. I release you. I don't want to keep you from Zoicite."
*~*~*~*
"Aah." Kunzite locked her in his gaze as Venus stepped back, startled at her words. "Waiting a long time to say that?"
"I... I..."
"What?" he asked. "Please. Tell me. I wish to return as soon as possible. I wish for you to return as well."
"What do you mean?"
"You have been with us for a while now..." said Kunzite. "It's a bit unnerving to have a live woman's spirit join us. You don't even say anything."
"But... but I'm alive. I'm here. I feel here."
"Always?"
Venus blinked at those words. "Sometimes... sometimes I feel as if I've lost a part of myself. I'll feel so happy... and then..."
"Then what?"
"I don't know," she whispered. "I feel hollow. I feel desperate and alone. Even with my friends. I... I don't know why this happens to me!"
"Yes, you do," he said forcefully. His scowl reminded her of Yaten for some odd reason. "Don't think about her. Focus on you. You're getting closer."
"I haven't felt this way for nine hundred years! Why now?"
"It's been building inside of you. You need to let it out. You can't let it bottle up inside. Don't you see how old you are?"
"That's just it!" she cried. "I've always been old! Children... children can see through that... I remember more of the Silver Millennium than even Serenity... so much of my past... I've been through too many things not to forget... not to grow older... not to stay as young as the others."
"What have you remembered?"
"Pain... destruction... happiness that crumbles with my touch." She looked up at him. "I've never been able to keep happiness... to keep love. I am so tainted. You can't tell me I was pure back then. I was never pure."
"You were," he said quietly. "You have always been pure."
"Then why can't anybody love me?" she sobbed. "Why am I so repulsive?"
The spirit stepped towards her. "You hate yourself. How could anybody be with another who hates themselves? It's destructive, it's painful. The men who took advantage of you..."
"Kaitou Ace... Adonis," she whispered and looked up at Kunzite, her eyes glistening.
"He died as Danburite. I'm so sorry," he breathed, and feigned touching her hair. "Your pain... your heart ache."
"He... he obeyed you," she said. "Took your orders."
"I knew he had loved you in the Silver Millennium. That pain was what I needed to use against him. You never noticed him."
"I... I should have..." she whispered. "I should have. He was my Tuxedo Kamen... he was my knight in shining armor... just because of social class systems... that's why nothing... I should have seen him."
"He was your enemy," Kunzite said. "Just as I was."
"You..." she said. "You knew..."
"I did..."
"In... in the Silver Millennium... did you... did you love me?"
Kunzite placed a ghostly finger near her lips, and shook his head.
"What does it matter? That is over with. Danburite is over with. All the others are over with. All you are left with is now. You have fallen along the way, have broken your heart. Pick up the pieces. Fall in love again..." He stopped himself and smiled. "Ah, yes, you already have... but before... before anything, fall in love with yourself. People come and go, but you are always left with yourself. Your divine self. Never forget that."
A tear rolled down Venus' cheek, and the general stepped back to his crystal.
"I see I've shed enough light to be able to leave," he said. "Please take heed of my words."
"Kunzite..." she whispered. "Are... are you happy...?"
He grinned for once, and said, "I'm going back to Zoicite, aren't I? Don't leave yourself. Please. Take your time. Stay with your princess. Your friends. Be with the one you love."
"Please don't go," she begged. "There's still so much..."
"You have all the answers you need inside of yourself. Trust your pure heart. Trust those who love you. Know you are loved, you are strong. You have a person you must protect, but this time, the barriers have been shattered. The human heart has enough room for the entire universe! Remember that!"
And he was gone. And Venus collapsed and began to sob. And Star Healer began to open the door when...
VENUS! MY BEAUTIFUL DARLING! MY WONDERFUL ANGEL!
Minako's head snapped up and searched around the room for the voice. The low hum of came from Chibi-Usa's room, and Venus ran into the other room, colliding with Star Healer. Bother staggered away from each other.
"Ya-Yaten?" She stood up tall, looking in bewilderment at the alien senshi.
"Minako..."
"Were... were you here the whole time?"
Yaten nodded, but did not look guilty.
"...The whole time?" Minako repeated.
"Listen to me, Minako." Venus turned away from the senshi, towards the sleeping children, but Star Healer grabbed her hand, pulling her back. "I've heard that voice all night. Calling to you-"
Venus recoiled from other woman's touch. "How... how could you do such a thing? I thought you cared... I thought you cared enough to... I would have told you..."
"Don't tell me you didn't hear the voice!" Yaten cried. "Something's after you-"
"I didn't hear anything!" she cried. "Nothing besides... Isn't enough you were there for everything?! But do you have to make an excuse for it? Do you have pretend to protect me?!"
"I'm not pretending!"
"You are..." she backed away. "You always were... when you were being nice... I thought... I thought somehow... you cared..."
"Listen to yourself!" cried Yaten. "What are you saying?! Did you hear nothing that man told you?!"
"THE TIME HAS COME. JOIN ME!"
And a brilliant burst of light engulfed Venus, pushing Yaten away as she tried to reach to her, stopping all time.
*~*~*~*
Engulfed in the light, frozen to the bone, aching with pain, and her first thought was, the princess.
"SMALL LADY!" she screamed, but her words were absorbed in the light. Both children were sleeping sound and snug, close to each other, undisturbed.
"This light is for only you," a voice said. A deep voice. A mesmerizing voice. A familiar voice.
"Who's there?!" she cried. This time she could hear it in her ears, knew it had gone out into the space, but she knew the children didn't awaken.
"The one who has always cared for you..." the voice answered. "I have watched you since the beginning of time. Goddess of Love, powerful leader of the protectors of Serenity. I am so saddened at the rewards you are given. You were meant for so much more..."
The light began to condense. To turn into a tiny, incredibly intense star that hovered ever so close to her face. Such an icy light.
"I can lead you to your greatness..."
"I don't want to be great... I want to protect my queen!"
"How much you have changed! To lose all your dreams!"
"I have fulfilled all of them!"
"And what of love? What of that cursed heart you carry? What the dead general told you is all very sweet... the rules apply to others... but you. You will never be able to be loved by any one! Least of all a soldier from another planet already in a forbidden love!"
"Why are you attacking me like this?!"
"I am only showing you the truth... I want to help you... I have always loved you... ALWAYS. I can take away your pain... take away that curse you have..."
"My... my curse..."
"Let me be with you forever..." the voice pleaded. Venus reached up and touched the star, and it exploded around her, slicing her nerves, and yet she did not cry out in pain. But in joy. Such joy! To no longer feel her heart!
The pain was gone, all gone. No more.
She laughed in delight, and watched with avid curiosity at the horrified look on Star Healer's face.
"What..."
Minako looked down to see her heart in between the two, a small star pulsating, screaming, sobbing in little flashes of it's light, calling out to it's owner... and to Yaten. Star Healer reached out to hold it, to keep it away from this shell of a person, but as the star moved closer, willingly, sobbing in relief...
"DESTROY IT. THAT IS THE ONLY WAY. NO MORE LOVE TO CONTEND WITH. ONLY YOU. I WILL GIVE YOU THE STRENGTH YOU NEED."
Venus slapped Star Healer's hands away and closed in on her heart, feeling her palms burst with tiny pin pricks of pain as it tried to flee it's cage.
"Minako. Don't do this."
She ignored the woman and pressed her palms together, feeling the light flatten with her compression.
"MINAKO!" Star Healer screamed... the children were still asleep even with that volume. Yaten grabbed her hands hard, yanking her down to the ground, the heart spinning out of the woman's grasp. Venus righted herself, and stared deep into the eyes of Yaten, touching her soul, scraping against the vulnerable points of her past. Star Healer's knees nearly gave way.
Call Seiya... call Taiki... notify the others! The urgent plea ran through her mind over and over and over again. But she knew... she just knew they would not be able to help. This was all up to Minako and her. Only them.
They watched each other for a moment, the bead of light in their vision.
"I'll hurt you if I have to," said Star Healer. "But I won't let you destroy your heart."
"Hah! You never helped to protect it! To think I actually cared for you in such a way... to hope that somehow I could change your feelings for Kakyuu... I realize now, what I have always ignored. Love has never existed for me... I fight for it, and yet it evades me."
"I won't let you destroy something so precious to me!"
Venus lunged for her heart at the same moment , and a scream omitted from the star as both women touched it, the space around them fading away into darkness with their screams.
"One thing you must know, Yaten, with your power is this. To touch the emotions of the heart is one thing... but to touch another's actual heart is another. Your own will stop and your life will depend on the beat of another, until it calls you back. Remember that, or you will not live a day..."
"Yes, teacher. I promise."
*~*~*~*
"Yateeeeen-kun."
Yaten groaned at the annoyingly high pitched voice that disturbed his slumber, and rolled over onto his back, taking the sheets with him. He did want to face reality, and so, left his eyes closed.
"Come on, sleepy head... wake up..."
"Nhhh..." He flopped his wrist in front of his face, waving the person away. Probably Seiya, the annoying bastard. This wouldn't be the first time he had woken him up before Yaten's alarm clock rang. Getting up at 6:15 was hard enough already!
"Yaten... get up... I have a surprise for you..."
"Huh?" Finally he opened his eyes, readjusting his gaze, and decided now would be a good time to scream. "AINO-SAN! WHAT THE-"
Minako clamped a hand over his mouth, leaning over him, her yellow hair spilling over her shoulders, encircling Yaten's face, a veil to the outside world. Minako pressed a finger to her smiling lips.
"You don't want to wake up the entire town, do you?"
Yaten proved he did by shouting to his companions, the sound muffled by her palm, and flailing his arms to try to bat her away. Minako had him pinned, though, and Yaten's energy was draining away. He narrowed his eyes at her and muttered something under her hand, and Minako raised an eyebrow.
"WHAT did you say?" She scowled when he rolled his eyes. "I'm not stupid! I heard everything! It's not nice to insult a poor vulnerable woman." Yaten muttered again, but Minako ignored it. "If you promise to be quiet can I let you go?"
Yaten nodded, and Minako pulled her hand away.
"SEIYA! TAIKI! I'M BEING ATTA-"
"You promised!" cried Minako and she slapped her hand back down, but it was too late. Footsteps were promptly heard, and the door was kicked open, showing the leader of the Three Lights in a way she had never been seen before. Minako knew she should have brought her camera.
Seiya's jaw dropped open as he stared at the girl on top of her distressed victim.
"A-Aino-san?"
"Hi, Seiya-kun," she looked back, not getting off of Yaten. "Nice boxers."
Seiya backed away from the door, hiding the heart print with the wall. Taiki's head peeked into the room, clutching his terry cloth robe closed around his neck defensively.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" the tallest Light asked as he surveyed the room, Seiya began to smirk, and Yaten raised his head in rage.
"GET HER OFF OF ME!!" he screamed.
"I don't think so," said Seiya. "This is way too good."
"Fine, fine," said Minako, and got off of the bed and smoothed out her dress, while Yaten threw off the covers, and scrambled away from the girl, shaking off the chills that rose up his spine.
"You DO know what time it is, don't you?" asked Seiya to Minako as he pointed to the clock. Three daunting numbers blinked back at Seiya's delicately manicured finger, and Taiki's face paled at the "4:45". They had had a photo shoot the night before that hadn't ended until 11:30, and they had an interview at 7:30 this morning. It was going to be one hell of a day.
The girl nodded and grinned. "I know... it's just that-"
"Just nothing," interrupted Yaten as he tied his robe closed. "You're leaving. We don't have time for this."
"You DO have time for this," she said, and turned on her heels to face him.
"You have NO idea what our day is like today-"
"Actually, I do," she said, and unfolded a sheet of paper. "Interview at 8:30 with Tenkai Tomaseya, a publicized lunch with Himeko Rose at the Golden Doors until 2:30, after that you have about three hours to yourself until you have to have to open a new club and do a gig until 10:00 tonight." She smiled. "Never underestimate the charming power of Aino Minako."
"Oi. Well then, you understand we need to go back to bed. I'll be up in an hour, Yaten-kun. You can last that long. Ja, Aino-san." And with that, Seiya walked back to his room.
"I assume you reserved a table at the Golden Doors for you and the others." Minako nodded. "See you there. Enjoy, Yaten-kun."
"Don't leave me alone with her!" cried Yaten, but the plea fell on deaf ears... or very cruel ones, anyway. The laughter of his supposed friends stopped with the shutting of their doors. Seething, he ignored the girl in his bedroom, shrugged off his robe, and climbed into his bed.
"Yaten."
"Go away."
"Yaten-"
"Did you not hear me?!" he shouted, and shot up, about to chew her out like he never had before... except that expression on her face stopped him... such a bitter-sweet face... so intent. Yaten groaned, and rolled out of bed, following Minako out of his apartment up to the roof.
It was getting close to summer, and the still air was warm, but a breeze from the north brought a bite. Yaten wished he had put his robe back on. Silk pajamas weren't exactly warm.
"So why are we up here?" he asked, aggravation building up as he rubbed his arms. Minako moved to the edge of the roof, and leaned against the railing, staring at Tokyo Tower through the darkness. "Aino-san?"
"Shh." She barely turned to him, but he could see her raise a finger to her lips, and Yaten moved to her side, peering out into the horizon. "It's coming... wait a minute..."
And there it was. A lightening of the sky, barely discernable, but there. A quiet blue that transformed the entire world, casting shadows and dimming lights, a proclamation of a new day. Yaten was not impressed.
"So? It's dawn, it's early, and I'm tired."
He moved to go, but Minako grabbed his hand, and he stopped to watch her never take her eyes off the sky. "Wait." She didn't let go of his hand, and for some very strange reason, Yaten wasn't compelled to tear it away. With her hand over his he felt warm, felt safe, and somehow calm... He looked back to the ever brightening sky.
The heavens opened up for the sun, the orb of fire slowly making its way above the horizon from its sleep. And with each slow inch upward, Yaten watched as the rays of light sped their way to Minako, and to Minako only.
Eyes widening, he watched hers close, basking in the warmth and enclosure. Such warmth, such light. Sunrays filtering through golden hair, making them light on fire. Orange glow against peach skin, a radiance never seen before, and Yaten could not look away.
She opened her eyes, and turned to him, a faint smile on her lips, and her eyes glinted gold. She really did shine.
"This is the only time," she murmured. "Where I have never felt separated from who I am. I feel Minako here. I feel Sailor Venus here. I just feel me. The sailor crystals are separate from us, right? And yet... I feel it is a part of me... as if it dissolves into my heart..."
"...Do you wake up this early everyday?"
Minako shook her head. "Only special occasions... or when a battle that will alter lives is approaching."
"And what is it this time?"
"I... I don't know," her smile broadened though. "Both, I think."
She squeezed his hand, and he felt his hand tighten its hold on hers. She turned her entire body to face him this time, and lowered her head, her bangs covering her face, hiding the blush.
"Yaten-kun... I... I remember you saying something yesterday at the idol audition about not finding her..."
"W-what?"
"Your... the one you love?" Yaten looked slightly away, and it was at that time Minako's heart sank. Taking her hand off his, she stepped back, and pulled something out of her pocket, small and flimsy. "I came by... to tell you not to worry. That you'll always shine no matter what happens... as long as the sun rises."
The orb of fire hid behind a building, dulling the girl in front of him. He began to step towards her, not knowing why or even caring, but he knew he needed to be close to her in that moment... to give her something... something he didn't know could be given by him...
He stopped though, when she held out the object, a book...
"This is for you," she said quietly. "I... I'm getting you won't be here forever... and I... I just want to say... thank you for everything... and that I... that I'm..."
He stared at her with fascination as she tried to get her words out, as her eyes said everything.
"Thank you..." he said quietly, and placed his hands on the book, his finger intertwining with hers. Time seemed to stop as they looked at each other, two people worlds apart, nearly complete opposites, and yet... not so different, now that he thought of it. Not so different at all.
The sun rose above the building, and Minako winced as the light hit her eyes. Letting go of the book and shielding her eyes, she backed away from Yaten.
"I... I'll see you at the Golden Doors." And she turned her back, running to the door, and racing down the steps.
Yaten watched the door, half imagining she would burst back onto the roof, but after a few moments turned back to the sky, basking in the glow of Minako's sun, and remembered the book in his hands. He opened the book and read the painstakingly written inscription to him.
Dear Yaten, I hope you come to love this book as much as I have. Don't forget you are always welcome where we are. Good luck in your new life, and may you find the love you have been searching for. Love, Minako.
Sighing, he looked over the edge, down to the street, and watched a young girl, golden hair flying in behind her as she ran down the street, a trail of sorrow leading back to the place beside him.
*~*~*~*
Venus groaned as she regained consciousness, and tried to sit up, but found she barely had the strength to open her eyelids. When she did, though, the first thing she saw was Sailor Star Healer laying beside her, out cold, her hands tightly holding a small ray of white light that gently pulsed with contentment as it floated inside the confining spaces of her palms.
She tried to reach out, to touch the other woman, but her hand flopped down as all her energy was spent... something was so terribly wrong... She couldn't feel anything except the cold. She felt so hollow, so completely empty... and yet she could feel something as the small rays flashed against her skin.
"Yaten...?" There was no answer, and if Minako had a heart, it would have stopped. She tried to get closer to her, but stopped as her chest heaved with the effort to breathe.
Please don't let it end like this, she thought. Not like this...I'm so close.
The mist rolled in and surrounded Venus, clouding her vision, and when it dissipated, the silver haired senshi was in her arms, her head snuggled into Minako's shoulders... and yet she was still lifeless... if Yaten was breathing, she couldn't tell.
She dropped her hands to the star, and the heart's cage of fingers parted, the speck of light shooting out and away.
"Wait..." she whispered. "Come back... please come back..."
The light turned around and sped to her face, finger rays of light touching her face, probing, searching.
"Why do I want you to come back?" It made a large pulse. "I'll die if you don't..."
It was the wrong answer, and Minako watched as it compressed into an even smaller orb, and moved to the still body in its heart carrier's arms, trying to nestle into the chest of Yaten, only to find in anguish the heart place was already taken.
"Please..." she whispered. "I'm sorry... for not wanting you... I do... I do want you... broken and all... it's all my fault. I'm so sorry I broke you..."
In retaliation, the star expanded into a huge sphere of silver showing not a scratch had been made, and engulfed the two women in its body, their identities dissolving with the darkness.
Minako watched as a light within the light began to form and condense, take shape, into a pale version of herself, and the enigma floated towards her, reaching her, caressing her, and entered her.
"W-what is this?" she cried.
"Shhh...I shall not hurt you..." such a gentle voice, a kind voice, unlike the one before.
"Who are you?"
"Your higher self... I dwell in the place you call the heart..."
"The... the other voice...?"
"That was you're lower self...it dwells in a corner of the place you call your mind. A place that is accessed frequently for protection from the world... the time is coming where both parts of you have the ability to be separated when certain forces meet them."
"Chaos..."
"No...only you can bring out the lower self... but Chaos, if she can feel your pain or anger or sorrow, can take control of it and use it to tempt you. But the higher self is accessed only by the force of your own will. A choice... we come through you as you... we cannot be separated or accessed by another."
"Why are you here?"
"We need to heal our heart."
"And Yaten...? What about her? Is she alive?"
A look of deep sadness crossed the spirit's face. "Let us be the focal point for now."
And the enigma ceased to speak, and opened her mind to the memories of Minako's enter past. From the Silver Millennium to the Twentieth Century, and up to the present.
"You need to let go of the attachment to these memories... they will always be there, always. But do not dwell in the past, or the future, for the present moment is the only moment. These memories are used as lessons, as teachings. Know what you did and remember what is not happy for you, remember what is, and take it to heart."
And as the memories played on, Minako cut loose, and let go. And died.
*~*~*~*
"You are just in time," Pluto said to the figure as she appeared next to the solitary guardian.
"I am sorry I did not come sooner..."
"No need. There is no time here. I will be sure Serenity does not enter while you are here though..."
"We are no longer the same person... it makes no difference now..."
"Really? I still see the Usagi-chan in you, Sailor Cosmos."
The soldier smiled briefly, but looked on at the silver orb half covered in mist.
"Venus," she whispered. "This was her first battle."
"But she was not the first to fight."
"Mercury... she overcame it, when Chaos took her doubt of Star Maker..."
Pluto nodded. "The enemy was no longer outside Earth... it was within ourselves. A solitary battle."
"She lived though..."
"A sun harboring a billion lives speeds to this Earth, a force magnified to ours, bound by strings that no one can see. The lives of the senshi will end when we invite them to our home."
"A sense of peace had blanketed Mercury... I could not take my eyes off of her. It was as if she had died and come back to life. She had."
"Yes..."
"The battle could not have begun without Kakyuu and the Starlights. The ultimate battle."
"There will always be war, isn't that what you said?" Pluto asked.
"There will always be war if we are at war with ourselves," Cosmos elaborated. Pluto smiled.
"All of us had our battle..."
"And won the first time." Cosmos' heart deflated. "But the second..."
"When those around us were tempted and did not fight it. Luna, Artemis, Diana, Ichigo, Taka... Endymion... Kakyuu..."
"Kakyuu had begun her battle the day before the ball..." murmured Cosmos.
"She was victorious then. It was another issue."
"Her lover who died on the first Kinmoku?"
"He was the end to both Kakyuu and Seiya," stated Pluto.
"And Taiki?"
"When she began to think about the growing relationship between Ami and Taka, even if it was only plutonic. Luna and Diana's fall was the relationship between Artemis and Venus..."
"Artemis' issue was the past loves of Luna..."
"Ichigo began to question his importance. Taka began to question his existence," sighed Pluto.
"A domino effect. The battles we had won were now coming back. Without the support... without the reassurance of love in our lives, we had nothing to fall back on. And Yaten... throughout all of this..."
"She was the last."
"What do all of these things signify?" Cosmos muttered to herself. "We fell because of love. Of the belief and trust in love and partnership. And I ran... back to the twentieth century."
"And you are here now to fight Chaos alone... to bring us back. Do you know how?"
"I am able to stand alone. I can defeat her."
"You could have done that without my counsel."
"I want them back," Cosmos said. "I want them all back in my life."
"And if they have moved on...?"
Cosmos shook her head. "They haven't. I feel them surrounding me... their sailor crystals are taken. But their souls, their hearts... ne... their stars are still in the cauldron. I spoke with the guardian before I came here. She has not sent them out yet... they refuse, and wait for me. But I need the sailor crystals from Chaos in order to bring them back to their forms."
"You cannot take them from Chaos."
"But I can call them to me... I can call them back to their stars."
"With what?"
"With love." Cosmos' smile brightened. "There is only one source of life... we are never apart from each other. We are all one, no matter what. The same is with love. Love is love. All shapes and forms... we love each other fully and to the utmost. We fell because we deviated from that one source... we fell out of love with ourselves... a thought, a gesture was all Chaos needed to tempt."
Cosmos straightened. "I can fight now. I can win."
Pluto fell to one knee and kissed the hand of the soldier in front of her.
"Thank you," she whispered. "For being you."
"Pluto... please... get up." Cosmos flushed, and Pluto smiled standing next to her sovereign. They looked out to the sphere of light as it disappeared into the mist. "I wish them the best of luck."
"Wasn't much of a story, was it?" asked Pluto. "I told Small Lady I would be telling you one."
"Well then... I remember Venus had told her and Diana a story... about... Hinako-hime, was it? And Apollo?" She laughed. "I forgot how it ended."
"Well, then," said Pluto. "I'll be keeping my word now, won't I?"
*~*~*~*
Minako's eyes fluttered open, silver streaming through her lashes as she regained her sight. For once she felt fully, completely free.
Sighing in contentment, she smiled and rolled over and remembered Yaten.
Yaten who wasn't breathing. And laying in between the two women was a small piece of paper, folded into a tiny square. Venus slid her hand to it, and brought it back to her, opening it, and reading the inscription she had written to Yaten so many years before. She had kept it all this time.
Minako could sit up in the silver light, and she did quickly, rolling Yaten over onto her back, and gently caressed her cheek.
"Yaten... Yaten, wake up." No answer, only silence. She could feel the light ripple in concern of the sphere, and Minako slapped the woman's face lightly. When nothing happened, she leaned into her face, trying to feel breathing. "Come on. Yaten, wake up."
Tears of frustration slipped down her cheeks, and she wiped them away fiercely.
"Yaten. Yaten. YATEN!!"
The enclosure of light pulsed faintly, a heart beat. A heart beat.
"Yaten," she whispered. "Come on, wake up. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. For not listening to you. To not telling you the truth... about my curse... about my life... please... please stay."
The light pulsed deeper.
"I want you to stay here with me... I don't need you to, Yaten... I don't need anybody to stay for me... but... but I want you to. Doesn't that make it so much more?"
The silver light throbbed now, as if blood actually flowed through veins hidden by the light, and but Yaten still did not move. Minako lowered her head, hair spilling over onto the lifeless body, a tear dropping onto the woman's pale skin.
She felt Yaten flinch, and jerked her head to her face, watching for any sign.
"Can you hear me?" She brushed the silver bangs away from Yaten's face, her fingers tracing down to her lips, ever so lightly. Yaten did not answer. "Where are you...? Please, come back... wake up, Yaten."
She lowered her face to the sleeping soldier, and lightly, ever so lightly pressed her lips against Yaten's.
A butterfly's wind against her face as eyelids opened, and arms encircled, holding tightly, reaching down, pressing to each other, heart against heart, mind against mind... soul joining soul.
"Minako..." A sigh, a wonderment, a question.
They looked at each other, staring, hesitating, and Minako moved back as Yaten sat up, but the silver haired woman did not break away as she held tightly to her hand. They sat on their knees facing each other, and only then did they realize the sphere of silver had disappeared, back into Minako's body.
"Thank you," Yaten murmured, and Minako nodded. "Did you take care of the voice...?"
"A new enemy. An old one, actually... Chaos. No... it was me. My shadow self. Chaos used it against me." Yaten stared at her. "I have a feeling this will not be the last time I meet with her."
"Are you okay?" asked Yaten.
"Truthfully?" answered Minako. "I've never felt better."
"I'm glad to hear that."
It was an awkward silence, even as Yaten squeezed Minako's hand. The golden haired woman smiled, and handed her the slip of paper.
"It fell out." Yaten smiled, and tucked it away. "You kept it all this time?"
"I destroyed the book..." said Yaten, flushing slightly. "Over a love I had found and lost."
"Oh..." Yaten shifted closer, hooking a finger under Minako's chin, keeping her from looking away.
"I can't say it'll end immediately. I still... I think I still love her. But... but I know I need to let go. I... I don't want to hurt you anymore, Minako. You've always been there, and I've always hurt you."
"I know... don't worry," she said. "I'm in love with you, Yaten."
Tears came to Yaten's eyes as the emotion washed through her. Wave upon wave of innocence, of simple truth, and of the base, the foundation. Love. So much love, it hurt.
They kissed briefly, and Yaten brought their foreheads together. "Give me some time... please... I don't want anything to come between us. I don't want there to be any doubt."
"Alright..." Yaten was surprised to see Minako smile as they moved away. They stood up. "Actually, I'm relieved. I need to be alone too. I've never known who I really am... I think it's time to find out."
They stood up, and began to go back to the palace, but Minako stopped.
"What is it?"
"I'm a little scared of what Makoto's going to do to me..." she admitted. "I was supposed to tell her first... and with losing the bet..."
"I agree. Let's stay."
"Oh no!" squealed Minako, and grabbed Yaten's hands. "It was a tie. I still need to see you in that dress!"
*~*~*~*~*
END PART 13
*~*~*~*~*
