Author's Note:

Yes, another fanfiction. As before, the disclaimers go as follows:

My email address is Guardian4@atlantic.net. If you want to email me about my story, please put fanfiction in the subject line. Sailor Moon was made by Naoko Tacheuchi, I don't own it.

Also, Rei and Mamoru never went out, k? And Kunzite and Zoisite are not lovers. I also used the relationship between the Shitennou from the manga, not the anime, which means they don't hate each other. I also use only the manga attacks for the Senshi. (Since in the Manga, Mars doesn't have Fire Soul and only talismans in the first season, I'm going to borrow a second season one, even though she doesn't have her Star Power transformation.)

Hidden Truths

Chapter 4

Makoto was awoken at, from what her alarm clock said, 3:27 in the morning by her communicator beeping harshly in her ear. Her hand snaked forward and grasped it tightly in her hand. Venus's face appeared in the small visual.

"Attack out at 5th street. Come as quickly as you can. Bring Nephrite."

"Agreed."

"Venus out."

The visual went dark and Makoto pulled out her henshin wand. "Jupiter Power, Make-UP!"

It was Jupiter who left the bedroom and banged her fist hard on the guest room door. It opened in a moment, Nephrite looking disheveled. She immediately suppressed the thought that he looked remarkably handsome.

"You want to know if we're lying about your friends, then come with me. There's an attack going on right now. Stay hidden when we get there. I don't want your friends to see you."

He nodded and his body brightened with a dark reddish brown color. When it faded, he was in a uniform, but not one she had ever seen him, as a Dark Kingdom Shitennou, ever wear. It was a much darker gray edged in burgundy with an elaborate shoulder pin on the top of his right shoulder. It was much more detailed than his Dark Kingdom one. The evil one had tended to be a rather drab light gray and no ornamentation on it whatsoever.

She pushed the thoughts aside and led him from the building at a dead run. She jumped down the stairs as fast as she could and burst from the front door with a low bang as the door slammed against the outside wall.

They ran, equal in stride and speed, he having no trouble keeping up with her. The night was still, as if it held its breath for what would happen in the silence and upcoming joined battle.

Jupiter heard it before she saw it. With a small gesture of her hand, she signaled for Nephrite to disappear in the shadows. He did it so well that one moment he was there and the next he wasn't. It was rather startling.

Her presence was welcomed by glad cries from the Senshi and glares from the remaining Shitennou.

"Where's Nephrite?" asked Venus as she thrust her chain toward Zoisite when he headed for Mars's unprotected back.

"Somewhere around here, staying hidden. I don't want them seeing him."

"Good idea."

Jupiter nodded. "Supreme Thunder!"

Jadeite dodged her lightning and she cursed, though she had not expected anything else. A frown played at her lips. There was something different about their fighting that night. Almost as if they were holding back for some reason. Why? Was there something they had up their sleeves, intending to use against the Senshi? One something particularly tough?

Zoisite thrust an ice spear toward her and Jupiter dodged. She had not realized this was exactly what he had wanted her to do until she had her back to Kunzite and Zoisite in front of her, effectively trapped in a pincer movement. With an ice spear in front of her and two boomerangs behind her, both ready to fly, she didn't know what to do. Venus and Mars were calling on their attacks, but Jadeite was making tough work for them.

Moon jumped up and called out, "Moon Frisbee!"

Her tiara attack was deflected by a shield around the three of them, effectively ending any counterattacks from her fellow Soldiers. The dome was a pale black, barely able for her to see through it. She only hoped that her death served its purpose to show Nephrite that his fellow Shitennou were no longer his friends. She felt a kind of sadness that he had to find this out, but there had been no choice. They had to get him on their side, or the Senshi would lose the war with the Dark Kingdom, Earth falling like the Moon Kingdom before, a thousand years ago.

Zoisite's ice spear flew at her chest as Kunzite thrust a boomerang at her. Jupiter fell to the ground, bracing herself for a quick leap back to her feet as the magical weapons pierced the air where her head had been momentarily before. Zoisite cursed and before she could move, Kunzite's boot connected with her stomach.

The wind was knocked painfully out of her and she fell to her side on the ground, trying vainly to get her breath back. Zoisite aimed his spear over her heart and propelled it down to her.

There was no where to move, Kunzite's boot on her stomach keeping her immobile, and she braced herself for the pierce as it would rip through her flesh.

It never came.

A shattering of the shield alerted her to outside interference and a sword sliced straight through the ice spear, cutting it in half. Her head jerked to look behind her expecting to see Venus, since she had the Moon Sword from the olden days.

Nephrite gripped his ornate sword tightly in two hands and he glared at his friends. Kunzite, Zoisite, and Jadeite looked to be paralyzed with shock.

"So you sold out to Beryl and Metallia. You sold our liege, Endymion, for power! Unfortunately, the Senshi told it true and no thing saddens my heart more except knowing that that witch holds my friend in that evil's clutch. Kunzite, Zoisite, Jadeite, unless you come to your senses, you fight me. And I will get Endymion back even without your help," he warned, his voice dangerously low.

"Nephrite, what are you talking about?" Zoisite demanded. "Endymion was a traitor. He was always going to the Moon people, always consorting with them. He was planning to bring down his entire kingdom for that treacherous Moon Princess! He—"

"Moon Healing ESCALATION!"

Zoisite whirled in time to be enveloped in Sailor Moon's white light. Kunzite, right behind his friend, got a brunt of it himself.

"Sailor Moon, look out!" Jupiter cried.

The blonde turned, as if in slow motion, and a white gloved hand grasped her wand wrist. Jadeite and her wrestled to keep control of the power, the Ginzuishou's light thrashing wildly around. He was liberally slammed with that bright light, but he didn't let go. Things in his head were confusing him, trying to tell him something, trying to show him something. But his only concern was of Zoisite.

"I won't let you take another of my friends!"

It was then that Sailor Moon realized that despite them being brainwashed and evil, they still had that comradeship that the Senshi had. They would have felt the same way had the positions been reversed and the Senshi under Beryl's control. She couldn't fault him for caring about his friends, though she doubted being caring and having friends were encouraged in the Dark Kingdom.

Her power fizzled out and the white light faded away. The top of the crescent moon wand slammed into his chest and he grunted in pain. Sailor Moon knew if it went on much longer, she would lose her grip on the wand. He was stronger than her, for one, and crushing her wrist for a second.

"Burning Mandala!"

The rings burned Jadeite's back and he cried out, letting go of her wrist. He looked over her shoulder at probably Kunzite and nodded. His body wavered and disappeared into a black portal that opened behind him.

Sailor Moon swiveled around and saw Kunzite trying to reach Zoisite who was out cold on the ground and guarded by Jupiter, Nephrite, and Mercury, while also defending himself against Venus and her attacks. He was stumbling quite a bit and his concentration seemed to waver frantically. Finally, with a growl of mixed emotions, he disappeared as well, his eyes lingering on Nephrite and Zoisite.

Sailor Moon gasped and coughed. Now that the adrenaline was gone, she was feeling the taxation of her power and her fight over the wand with Jadeite. Mars quickly supported her and she gave her black-haired friend a weak smile.

Nephrite kneeled next to an unconscious Zoisite and put two fingers against his neck to find a pulse. When he obviously found it, he sighed in relief and some of the tension left his shoulders. He looked up at them. "You were right. I'm sorry I doubted the honor and word of the Senshi. What will you do with Zoisite?" he asked hesitantly. "I understand that you might want to do him harm, considering how he was trying to kill you in battle…"

"We won't hurt him," Mercury said quietly. "After all, you did the same as Zoisite and we didn't harm you. At least, not intentionally," she added, gazing at Jupiter from the corner of her eye. She was obviously referring to when the Soldier of lightning had tied him up rather tightly to her sofa.

Jupiter blushed a little, but met his and Mercury's eyes steadily. She said nothing.

"We need to get Zoisite to somewhere safe and we need to get Sailor Moon home. She's wiped," Mars said, rather urgently.

Venus nodded. "Jupiter?"

Jupiter sighed and nodded back. "Fine, he'll go at my place."

"This is where we split," Venus said. "I'll go with Mars to get Sailor Moon home. Jupiter, you, Nephrite, and Mercury will get Zoisite to your apartment. I'm sending Mercury along to check for Dark Kingdom traces and to check you over, just in case you might have gotten hurt. The last thing I want is for you end up in a hospital."

Jupiter rolled her eyes and nodded, casting a worried glance at their now motionless and sleeping leader in Mars's arms, who was no longer supporting her, but barely holding her upright.

When the other three had left, Jupiter and Nephrite did the same trick as they had done on the other King, only this time Jupiter had his feet. With Nephrite's rather impressive strength and her own, it only took two of them to carry him and leaving no strain on Mercury and her wounded leg. Jupiter hadn't noticed it until she had winced when she walked.

She prayed the elevators were working. She did not want to lug Zoisite's body up the three or more flights of stairs and she was worried that Mercury's leg might give out any second. It would not do her any good to climb that many stairs with an injury such as hers was.

There was silence on the walk and much grunting from the tired green Soldier. The daylight was just breaking as they walked in the lobby of her apartment building. The only problem they had to worry about then was meeting someone on the way to her home.

Mercury limped to the elevator to see if it was working. The yellow tape was gone and when the blue-haired girl pressed the up button, it opened. For once blessing her luck instead of cursing it, the two warriors maneuvered into the metal box with the comatose man in their arms. Using the elevator would decrease the chance of anyone seeing them on the stairs.

Jupiter leaned wearily against one of the walls and shifted Zoisite's feet a bit so they weren't pressing into her breasts. "When he wakes up, you have to tell him to watch what he eats. He's pretty damn heavy for such a thin one."

Mercury opened her mouth then shut it again with a blush. Jupiter had a shrewd notion that what might have come out of her mouth would have corresponded with what she had barked out when they had carried Nephrite to her apartment that other night.

Nephrite managed a tired smile and Jupiter noticed the dark circles under his eyes that had appeared in the space of the two hour battle and a half an hour to get Zoisite to her home. He must have taken the realization that his friends were against him harder than she had thought by his attitude in battle. It must have hurt like a sword wrenching and tearing his heart, yet he had put on that bravado and such for her sake, to save her. She felt unaccountably guilty and sorry for him.

The ding of the elevator interrupted the tense silence and the door slid open. Mercury poked her head outside to see if anyone was there. She slowly left it and waved her hand to indicate it was clear. For now. If they didn't hurry, they might have some difficulties with the other apartment inhabitants.

Jupiter handed her key to Mercury and the ice Senshi wasted no time in opening the door. They had just closed the door when they heard another one open down the hall. There was the sound of a high pitched voice and footsteps coming toward her apartment. Jupiter cursed. Mercury and Nephrite turned to her in a panic.

"It's the 'nosy neighbor' of this floor, Mrs. Flowers," she whispered. "No one likes her and she's taken a particular interest in me since I live alone. I'm usually out the door before she gets up. It's the main reason I'm never late; if I stay late, the better the chance I run into her."

An imperious knock cut off further conversation. "Dear, Makoto-chan. Are you there? Is there something wrong? You're not out at school yet. You'll be late."

Mercury and Jupiter looked at Nephrite when Mrs. Flowers said her name, but his face was studiously blank, if weary and sweat-soaked. "I'm…not feeling well."

"Oh, dear, don't worry. I'll come right in and bake you some of my famous chicken soup. I know you have the best ingredients, dear."

Only with her Senshi reflects and speed could Mercury have ever got to the door and lock it before it was opened. She slumped against it, a cold sweat running down her face and fear in her eyes. The doorknob was tried several times.

"Makoto-chan, open the door." Her voice sounded very irritated.

"Uh, I'm really sick and I think it's contagious. Mrs. Flowers, you're so good to me that I wouldn't want you to get laid up with whatever it is that I have. It would make me feel so bad that I wouldn't be able to take care of you since school must take precedence."

Mrs. Flowers seemed to be thinking about this since there was silence on the other side of the door. Jupiter prayed to every god that ever was that it would convince her to go.

At last, she said, "You're right. Well, I must be off. My friend isn't in town and she asks that I walk her dog every morning and every evening. Hope you feel better, Makoto-chan."

Footsteps away from the door.

Mercury dropped to her knees and gasped in relief. Jupiter felt like crying in relief herself. Nephrite raised an eyebrow. "Where do we put Zoisite?"

"Guest room with you. There's one more mattress in there."

He nodded and they trudged their way back there, wishing for nothing more than a shower and some sleep.

"Jupe-chan, I don't think you should go to school today; neither should Sailor Moon. You're both exhausted," Mercury said from the bedroom doorway as they set Nephrite's comrade down, rather tersely.

"I agree with you," she said, flexing her shoulders to relieve some of the tension.

"I'll bring you your work. Get some rest."

"I will."

Nephrite and Jupiter looked at each other as Mercury made a stealthy escape from the balcony window.

"Thank you," he said at last.

She shrugged uncomfortably. "No problem. Don't tell my name."

He nodded and she left the room.

End Chapter 4