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 5

Kunzite stumbled, clutching his head as he appeared in the anteroom of his quarters. Jadeite waited for him, his face bleak and saddened. From the shadows under his eyes, he knew his friend was having the same problems as he was.

These strange voices and visions in his mind. And why was Endymion, the traitor, prominent in most? And gods above, why was a feeling of happiness and contentment attributed to these visions?

"What did that retched Moon Princess do to us?" demanded Jadeite.

Kunzite shook his head. "I don't know."

"What happened to Zoisite?" The Shitennou of the Far East division's voice was quiet, almost as if was afraid of the answer. "And what happened to Nephrite? Why did he turn against us?"

"The Senshi got to him." Kunzite didn't know if he meant Zoisite or Nephrite, and in the end it didn't really matter. The answer could be applied to both.

Jadeite dropped his head into his hands and groaned. "I have the worst headache that I've ever had in my entire life, and that includes all the ones those Senshi have been causing me."

"I agree. Let's just get some sleep. Maybe in the morning I'll know what to tell Her Majesty, Beryl."

"Huh?"

Kunzite gave him an incredulous look. "You didn't actually think she wouldn't notice that two of her best subordinates are now missing did you? If I don't come up with something spectacular to tell her, we'll be the ones to pay."

He groaned. "I had forgotten about her."

Kunzite stared at Jadeite. Forget about Beryl? For even a moment? Come to that, even he had forgotten about her. That was a very dangerous sign. "What has that Moon Princess done to us?" he whispered.

When Zoisite woke up, it was to a room he didn't recognize. He bolted upright in alarm and only Nephrite's voice calmed him. He was sitting cross-legged on a thin bed with green sheets and a green comforter.

"What's going on?"

Nephrite sighed and spun out a tale that Zoisite's analytical mind simply could not grasp. He shook his head as Nephrite finished.

"Nephrite, I think you may have hit your head. It's not possible," he said as gently as possible, and rather carefully.

His friend got to his feet and grabbed his arm. He dragged Zoisite from the bed and into a brightly lit room, the sunlight streaming in from a balcony door on the far wall. A couch against the right wall, one that looked to have been rather misused lately and large piles of coiled rope on the seats.

"Does this look familiar to you, any of it?"

Zoisite shook his head in wonderment as he looked out the window and down at the street below.

"I didn't tell you the worst part yet."

The King of the European division recognized that tone of voice and turned around, grim-faced. "What?"

"Kunzite and Jadeite turned traitor. They're working for Beryl and Metallia."

"Impossible! They would not betray us! Nephrite, think about what you are saying and who you are talking about! Can you imagine Jadeite, let alone Kunzite, turning traitor to the Golden Kingdom, to Endymion?"

Nephrite's brown eyes glared at him and he was caught. Nephrite's gaze had always held something in them that could paralyze someone. All that knowledge that the stars had gifted him and he kept it hidden as best he could. But when he was angry, his barriers shattered and one could see the power and knowledge in them.

"I don't lie. I've seen it myself."

"When?" he asked shakily.

"Last night, when the Senshi fought them. And you. You were on the receiving end of one of my attacks when you were going to kill Sailor Jupiter."

"Impossible." Zoisite couldn't get his voice above a whisper.

"And even worse, Endymion is trapped there, unconscious and wounded."

Zoisite gripped the edge of the windowsill. It just wasn't possible…It couldn't be. "What are we going to do? And where are we?"

"We are in Jupiter's home. Only…we are not to call them by their Senshi names when they are not Senshi. No one knows the Senshi exist here."

"They aren't Senshi all the time? And no one knows they exist? This day has been full of surprises and it isn't even over yet," Zoisite said weakly.

"They will be here later, to talk to us."

"Where are they now? Shouldn't this kind of thing take precedence?"

Nephrite shook his head. "I don't know where they are. Also, the Princess is a Senshi here."

"The Princess? The Moon Princess?"

He nodded. Zoisite groaned. "What are they playing at?"

"You'll see if there is another attack by Beryl. She…has the Ginzuishou and has the ability to…heal them."

His ears pricked up. "How do you know?"

"Because she did it for you and I'm told for me as well."

"But, Nephrite, what do we do now?"

His friend only shook his head and shrugged.

Kunzite practically jumped from his bed as a hand touched his shoulder. Jadeite looked at him shakily as he took in where he was.

"Beryl's lair? How did we get here?"

Jadeite shook his head and sat down in a chair. "I passed countless youma on my way here and they didn't even touch me. Rather, most bowed to me or got out of my way. Kunzite…I think we must be some kind of warriors for Beryl."

"What are you saying?" he hissed.

"Think about it: How else would we have gotten here? And don't you feel as if you've been asleep for a long, long time? And we both know Beryl was trying to mind-control most of the populous of Earth. What if she somehow succeeded? Damn, I wish we had Nephrite and Zoisite here."

A knock on the closed door brought Kunzite alert. "Come in," he said warily with a warning glance at Jadeite.

The youma was well-endowed in the chest area and when she bowed low, the two Shitennou got a very good look at her cleavage. She didn't straighten as she spoke. "Her Majesty Beryl wishes to speak to the Shitennou immediately in the throne room."

"Accepted."

It left, closing the door quietly. Kunzite turned to Jadeite. "Where the hell is her throne room?" he whispered.

"I don't know. Let your feet take you there. That's what I did with your room. It seems our bodies are conditioned like so many years to know where everything is, even if our minds don't."

Kunzite was skeptical, but did as Jadeite had suggested. Amazingly enough, it worked. The leader of the Shitennou almost gulped at his close proximate to the evil witch in the heart of her den. A fiery rage built inside of him against the woman, but he carefully kept his expression neutral. He wasn't so sure Jadeite could do the same, but for both their sakes, he hoped he could.

"Where are Kings Nephrite and Zoisite? Where are they?" she demanded irately. "And why haven't you discovered the identities of the Senshi yet? I want the Ginzuishou from the Princess' hands!"

Kunzite fought to keep a nervous tick from appearing under his eye. "They are...We Shitennou developed a plan to discover the identities of the Senshi. The Princess seems to think with her Ginzuishou, we'd come to her side. So when she used it the last time, Zoisite and Nephrite erected shields against her power and withstood the…attack. Then they pretended to collapse and were taken into their custody. With the Senshi thinking the two are good, they might be more open-mouthed or careless."

Kunzite had no idea how he knew all this or how he could lie so smoothly to this woman, but she accepted the details of the fight without a problem. He simply blessed his luck and didn't second guess it.

"A risky plan, but it might work. You must get the Ginzuishou so we can release our great leader, Metallia. And kill those pesky Senshi!"

"Yes, Queen Beryl," they chanted.

She waved them away and they quickly exited the room. They shared a glance and headed back to Kunzite's room. As soon as the door was closed, Jadeite turned to him. His face was completely white and he was shaking slightly. Kunzite couldn't blame him. He wasn't much better.

"How do we know these things? And what is she talking about?"

"I think we need to surreptitiously find out what's been going on. Is there a library or something here?"

"Down the hall to the left."

They stared at each other as they said it at the same time. They quickly left the room and only stopped when they saw a stone-like coffin.

By unspoken agreement, they approached cautiously and peered within. Kunzite jabbed his elbow in Jadeite's chest as he gasped. Endymion looked to be asleep, but there was something not right about it. A wound on his right side might account for his sleep, but not totally.

"We have to find out what's going on here," he whispered in Jadeite's ear.

The commander of the Far East division nodded, white, and they proceeded down to the hallway as quickly as they could without seeming to run.

Zoisite and Nephrite were waiting for the Senshi when five girls entered the Jupiter home. Their faces were made for laughing, but on each was a grim expression and they looked the Kings over with a critical eye.

Each held out a pen and that convinced them that whatever else these girls might be, they were the Senshi. Zoisite's eyebrow rose as he identified each one.

Sailor Mercury. A young girl with perpetual sadness around her beautiful blue eyes. They were much like his, those eyes; so calculating and calm. She was tranquil at the moment, but there was no mistaking those tense muscles that were ready to jump in front of her princess at any moment.

Sailor Mars. There was a fighter if he had ever seen one before. She would fight till the end, in every aspect and not just battle. Her eyes flared with fire and when she looked at him, Zoisite could tell she had the same kind of eyes as Nephrite, though different. Where Nephrite held knowledge of events, she held knowledge of souls. It almost made him shudder.

Sailor Jupiter. She was the one who was offering them sanctuary at her home, at her safety's expense. He had no doubt that even if she wasn't a Senshi, she would be able to care for herself. She had her body halfway overlapping her princess. Her eyes flashed like lightning as she looked at him and Nephrite's comment about him nearly killing her invaded his mind. He nearly looked away, but he would not be cowed. Not when the Prince's life was in danger.

Sailor Venus. A leader and that was obvious to even the most obtuse. The way she held her head…like Kunzite. And that brought a pang of pain. He missed his friends. She was also overlapping the princess, her body slightly ahead of Jupiter's. The red bow in her hair tried to make her seem girlish, but it did not. Gold would have gone better, but he digressed.

And Sailor Moon.  The Moon Princess looked at him with sympathy in her great blue eyes. Those eyes that had captured the Prince's heart for all lifetimes held a wisdom he would not have expected. And her sympathy was not feigned; she understood it and felt it much like many would or could not.

"We have chosen to appear to you in our civilian forms simply because we cannot afford to always be in Senshi form," Venus said. "We shall introduce ourselves to you shortly, but first," She held up hand, "When we are in Senshi form, you call us by our Senshi names. When we are not Senshi, you refer to us in our civilian form. It is for safety. My name is Aino Minako.

"Sailor Jupiter is also known as Kino Makoto.

"Sailor Mars is known as Hino Rei.

"Sailor Mercury is known as Mizuno Ami.

"And Sailor Moon, the Moon Princess, is known as Tsukino Usagi.

"Tell no one of the information that has been so greatly given to you. It was worth much debate. The Princess is convinced that you can be trusted and I hope for all our sakes that she is right."

There was silence after her speech and the beeping of the communicator was easily heard.

End Chapter 5