Romance begins for our young lovers..and boy, is it going to be a rocky ride...





"Um, Iria? What don't you believe? Iria?.... Iria??" Quatre asked, a bit worried for his sister. She looked as if she had seen a ghost. He waved a hand in front of her face. She didn't move. He frowned and snapped his fingers inches away from her nose.

She jumped and laughed sheepishly, with a slightly nervous edge. "Oh, heh, nothing...sorry. Why don't you go see your friends, I want to have a little talk with Star here."

Quatre's frown deepened, a little line appearing between his eyebrows. "What aren't you telling me?" He said, uncharacterisically blunt.

"Nothing you'd be interested in," Iria said, attempting nonchalance, "Just...girl stuff."

The little crease between Quatre's eyebrows deepened. "What girl stuff would make you pale like that? Iria, I'm a big boy now, you don't need to protect me from whatever...this...is." He glanced over at Minako, who was now toying with the hem of her hospital gown, looking quite endearing and harmless. Of course enemies had made that mistake about him before he drew his gun, still with an innocent expression, and opened fire. Maybe she wasn't all she seemed, maybe she was more, either way, his heart sunk. "Stupid," he thought, "Can't let my guard down for a pair or big teary blue eyes, or an innocent face. This is war, I am a soldier. I am not as weak as everyone thinks me to be."

Iria frowned back at his impudence, "It's just girl stuff Q, you know, periods...tampons..."

Quatre snapped out of his thoughts, blushing furiously, "I..uh... better check on the guys, bye!" He stammered and rushed out the door.

Iria chuckled, her little brother might be as gentle as they come, and in comfortable with his feminine side, but he was still male, and no male, dead or alive, wanted to be in the room if the icky, biological girl stuff was being discussed.

I stared at trigger-happy boy.

Trigger happy boy stared at me.

The long haired friend stared, open-mouthed at the crushed gun. "Shit." he mouthed as he walked toward us, his own gun drawn.

My vision started to waver again, my senshi reflexes had kicked in a last burst of adrenaline, but it was fading fast. I wavered, trying to hold the angry boy's gaze. I met his eyes, and suddenly, I didn't feel so good.

A shorter blond boy just had time to skid into the room, breaking into a run as he saw the scene, shouting something unintelligible, waving his arms frantically, before I unceremoniously passed out.



Heero looked at the girl, then at his gun, then at Quatre, who was babbling a mile a minute about how she is a guest and not to shoot her. Apparently Quatre hadn't seen his gun, because he couldn't shoot her now anyway, and he had the odd feeling that even if he did, it wouldn't do much good anyway. He grunted and holstered his ruined gun. He glanced back at Duo who was softly muttering, and pinching himself. Heero couldn't hear what Duo was saying, but he had a strong suspicion it was some from of American profanity. He could speak English nearly fluently, but cursing in English was never something he quite got the hang of. He didn't particularily care, Spanish was the best language for expletives anyway, they had so many creative words.... but it would have been handy to know what Duo was calling him whenever he got mad, or insults Duo could understand. Duo's grasp of Japanese was sketchy at best. Often he wished they shared a common mother-tongue, they could have avoided many minor clashes and misunderstandings that way. It was odd though, he'd had no trouble understanding Duo's rant earlier... It was then that he realized that Duo had been babbling in Japanese. Heero shook his head, and turned back to Quatre. The perfect soldier pushed his discoveries to the back of his mind for later contemplation, concentrating instead on the matter at hand. "Explain." He said bluntly the Quatre, pointing at the bloody, unconscious girl.



"Hi Dr. Winner!" Minako chirped. Her smile faded a little, Ami had wanted to be a doctor so badly...

"Iria, please," Iria replied.

"Huh?" Minako said, blushing a little at her tendancy to get lost in her memories, she just couldn't, wouldn't, believe that it was all gone.

Iria smiled tiredly at her, "I said, please call me Iria. Dr. Winner makes me feel old."

"Okay Iria," Minako replied, "How are my tests?"

"Perfect," Iria said.

"Oh good," Minako said, attempting to slip off the x-ray table, but Iria's hand stopped her.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Iria said, her face less friendly, more serious.

"Oh." Mina said, then gulped and shifted back fully onto the cold, uncomfortable table. "Uh...okay."



Heero reluctantly carried the girl back to the infirmary, being explained by Quatre as a war victim that Trowa had found, and could not find a hospital for their recovery. Damn them and their soft hearts. This person, and the other one, wherever she was, were dangers to the mission. While he was fairly sure no one would let themselves be carved up for the off-chance that the gundam pilots would come along and rescue them, but they still might be connected to oz in some way. Innocent civilians or not, they were simply liabilities. He sighed, and continued to trudge purposefully up the stairs. He wasn't quite sure how he'd been talked into carrying the girl back to the infirmary. "Damn Quatre and his soft heart, and his puppy dog eyes." He grumbled.



"So Minako, you realize that only days ago, you were nearly dead, found on the road with your companion, gutted like a fish." Iria began conversationally.

"Minako looked a little bit nauseated, "Yes, well, that's what I've been told, I was unconscious at the time..."

Iria nodded, "Well, here you are, in perfect health, a week later, walking and talking with no infection, no overwhelming pain or weakness, and very little scarring?"

"I guess so." Mina replied, she'd always been a fast healer, even before her senshi powers emerged, it was a natural gift. She shrugged.

Iria shook her head, between annoyance and disbelief. "Your test results are abnormal...no inhuman, to say the least."

Minako fidgeted nervously while Iria paused to gather her thoughts.

"What I'd like to know, Minako, is what are you, exactly, and," she paused to steady herself, trying not to look as scared as she felt. The power levels registered had been incredible, almost the equal of a gundam. Logic told her it had to be some sort of glitch, that no one could contain that much power in their body without simply exploding, but her heart was hammering and if she hadn't been sweating every drop of liquid out of her body, she probably would have wet herself in fear. "...and... do you mean us any harm?" she finally stammered out.

Mina met Iria's eyes, seeing the abject terror in her shaky gaze. Iria was afraid of her. "Don't be afraid," she pleaded mentally, "I'm not a monster, don't fear me, don't hate me..."



*******

"...Hate me..." My voice echoed around in my head,

"Yes, hate you..." a ghostly voice replied. My Queen came into view, black smoke billowing around her.

"No!" I cried, "Don't hate me, I didn't mean to! I didn't think!"

"No you didn't think, you never, ever do, you stupid child." Haruka replied rising from the black mist.

"Never thinking, just betraying your friends, stupid, useless Hotaru," Michiru added, coming up to lay a hand on her lover's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I wailed, sobbing.

"Hotaru..." I heard Setsuna call from behind me, I whirled throwing myself blindly into her arms. Her hands wrapped around my shoulders, then tightened around my neck. She was choking me! I caught her gaze, her eyes maliciously red, nothing like the last time she had appeared to me.

"You killed us Hotaru," she growled, her voice deepening, becoming more threatening.

"You're..not...Setsuna..." I choked out, gasping suddenly as my throat was released, waking with a start, soaked in a cold sweat. Was this the evil that Setsuna had warned me about? Or had it just been a nightmare? Something shuffled politely in the open doorway behind me. I dove for the floor, in ingrained habit that Haruka had mercilessly pounded into an instinct, rolling to my feet and scanning the area for danger coming up nose-to-nose with a startled blond carrying a cup of tea. I was on eye level with him, which therefore made him short. I had 'shot up' in the past year, at least that's what Haruka and Michiru had said. Damn, remembering them hurt, 'That was not them in the dream' I reminded myself, but still, I wasn't completely sure. I was taller than Minako by a few inches now, but the grand height of 5'5 wasn't at all impressive, especially for a guy.

The short blond jumped slightly in surprise at my sudden movement, but to his credit, he didn't leap backwards, or spill his cup of tea. We stood there, sizing each other up, until an unfamiliar brown-haired boy with oddly gravity-defying bangs walked into the room, carrying a tray of food. He set down the tray, and took in the scene before him. He raised an eyebrow and leaned against the doorframe, looking subtly dangerous.

I was the first to break eye contact. "Uh.. Sorry." I said quietly, "You just surprised me, habit took over I guess..." I continued awkwardly, trailing off. The brunette simply nodded in understanding, and the blond looked at me curiously for a few more moments, before replying;

"Dinner is on the tray. My name is Quatre Winner, is my house." He said relaxing minutely, looking at me as if I had confirmed a dreaded fear of his. "The tall brunette is Trowa, the longhaired one is Duo, and the one who pointed a gun at you is Heero. Wufei you haven't met yet."

"Is he planning a dramatic entrance like the rest of you?" I snapped. I really didn't mean to, it just slipped out! Besides, he was staring at me like I'd broken his heart. Good job Hotaru, you know these people for less than an hour, and already I'm fucking up. As usual.

He looked at my face, which I suppose was somewhat crestfallen, and softened. He sighed, "Sorry," he said, shaking his head, "It's just been a really odd day."

I brightened a little, attempting a smile, "Tell me about it."

He smiled a little in return, "I didn't know what you liked, so I had the cooks make a variety. Eat as much or as little as you like, if you need anything, just use the buzzer," he said pointing to a little red button beside the bed. He turned to leave, pausing just before the door, turning back to face me, "I'm sorry," he apologized, "What's your name?"

I looked up, surprised at his concern, "Tomoe Hotaru." I replied.

He nodded slightly, "It's a pleasure to meet you Hotaru, even if it was slightly...unconventional." he smiled, as I blushed slightly. It was only after he left that I realized I'd forgotten to ask about Minako.



Quatre closed the door behind him and leaned his back against it, eyes closed. Maybe if he wished really hard, he could wake up. The problem was, we wasn't sure he wanted this to be a dream. As soon as he had set eyes on Minako there had been something awoken in him. Problem is, he didn't know what the hell it was. "Please don't let it be the beginnings of love..." he groaned inwardly. Hotaru, with her lightning-quick combat reflexes had shown that there was no way that they were innocent victims of the war. He knew he couldn't afford a relationship with a civilian... but a potential enemy, that would just be suicide. He flinched as he forced himself to think like a soldier, it physically hurt to think of Minako as an enemy. "But I have to, I can't take any chances, the fates of millions, billions even lie in our hands." he resolved as his space heart sent another spasm of pain through him.



Minako:

I fliched, as an unfamiliar tingling spread through my chest. It seemed to be probing...odd. I gasped as a searing pain ripped through my heart, "What's happening?" I panted, tumbling to the floor. Waves of pain washed over me... blurring my vision until all I could see was red.



"I am a soldier.. I can do this." Thought Quatre as he braced himself against the next wave... he concentrated on his training.



Suddenly, my vision cleared, odd, because the pain kept coming. Scenes of a life in fast forward flew by me, pausing every now and then on a particularily important event, a birth, and moments later, a death. A childhood, growing up an object, lonliness, and feeling lost and unwanted. It quickly became apparent, once the scenes neared puberty, that the main protagonist was Quatre. She saw him meeting the Magnuacs, discovering the gundam and piloting it, she saw him kill for the first time, and was disgusted with the vision, but soon replaced with sympathy as he cried at the end of the battle, and prayed to Allah to guide the souls of the soldiers he killed to paradise, they were just doing their jobs. It soon became apparent that Quatre was a dedicated soldier, and though often viewed as weak by others because he retained his kind heart, he was stronger for it...



Quatre began to waver, as he held out. "What's happening?" he cried mentally. Minako, looking rather young, aroung 12 or 13, flashed by his field of vision, moving at an inhuman speed, moving swiftly through unfamiliar streets, a white cat perched on her shoulder. She ducked and weaved through the busy streets of an unfamiliar european country, coming to an abrupt halt in front of a dark alleyway. He heard high, shrill cries of pain. The image of Minako smiled ferally. Quatre felt bile rise in his throat, was she going to stop to enjoy the poor woman's pain? Apparently not. Still grinning she dove right into the fight, the white cat leaping off her shoulder to land gracefully on the top of a dumpster. Darting behind the mugger, turns out the perpetrator this time was a woman, she grabbed a fistful of long hair, and pulled her off the other, struggling woman. The mugger was so startled by Minako's sudden appearance that she dropped her gun, jerking against Mina's iron grip. Mina's smile slipped a little as she groped for something with her free hand, finally coming up with a pair of handcuffs from somewhere behind her, and cuffed the offender's hands around a rung of the dumpster. The mugger thrashed against the cuffs, finally realizing what was going on, with the lightning quickness the situation he moved at. She began the curse and struggle, spitting on Mina's shoes.

"Ewww..." she said, speaking for the first time in this episode, "That's really nasty, not to mention rude." The mugger glared at her, slightly confused... this wasn't the way things were supposed to happen.

The dazed victim stood slowly, teetering on her heels as she brushed off her ruined skirt, and turned shakily to Minako, "T-thank you," she stammered. "Y-you saved my life!"

Minako grinned, "All part of the job! Do you think you can get the police yourself? Those handcuffs will hold until they get here..."

"Yes," the woman replied, looking a great deal more steady than she had a few moments ago, "I have a cellphone. Who are you? Where were you keeping the handcuffs?"

"Sailor V, friendly neighborhood freedom fighter!" she struck a dramatic pose, "but as for the handcuffs..." she trailed off, winking at the woman and leaning in close to whisper, "Don't ask unless you really want to know..." Then, she was gone, patrolling the streets once again, and the scene in Quatre's mind faded to eight women, one of them Minako now her present age, and beside her, was Hotaru, but the rest he did not recognize. They stood in a protective arc in matching mini-skirted uniforms around a beautiful couple with a child between them and three cats at their feet, they appeared to be royalty. Behind them was an enormous crystal palace, "So this is what Minako was talking about," He mused, as he suddenly realized he was inside Minako's memories.

"No," Quatre resolved, "She's good. I don't know how or why, but I'm sure, my space heart tells me so. She is not evil, I can't think of her like that, even if she could be dangerous... somehow I know she wouldn't voluntarily hurt us..." and abruptly, the pain stopped. That left four mysteries to contemplate; What is this 'Sailor V' persona and what is she capable of in that identity, where is she from, who were the other women and the regal couple in the vision, and probably the most pressing mystery of all, just where WAS she keeping those handcuffs?