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 9

Artemis woke her in what should have left her plenty of time to get to school. However, fate had conspired to make her departure a whole lot more difficult than she really needed it to be.

The moment Usagi had awoken and saw Minako in her school uniform in her bedroom, she had to be silenced to stop her screeching. Then her mother came into the room and Usagi had pushed her into the closet.

Seeing her daughter up and awake before she had come in caught Ikuko's attention and she stayed for a full five minutes longer than necessary. Finally Usagi convinced her mother that she was all right, had no such evil diseases, and had to get dressed for school.

Minako had not been out of the closet for a minute when someone else passed through. She was shoved into bathroom quickly and the door shut in her face. Normally, Minako didn't mind Usagi's little brother Shingo, but at that moment he and the rest of the world were conspiring to make her deadly late for school, something she didn't really need, considering what she had told her mother last night.

Cursing under her breath, Usagi grabbed Minako's wrist and thrust her out of the window when he left. Minako was sure that Usagi only wanted to help her friend, but shoving her out of the window like that kind of did the opposite. Minako only had time to grab onto a branch before plummeting to her death a second time in the space of five hours. She wasn't Sailor Venus anymore and Minako couldn't do what Venus could without Venus actually being present.

Slowly she climbed down and ran toward her school, Artemis by her side. Then she remembered she had gotten a uniform from her room last night, but not her bag and books. When she groaned and explained it to Artemis, he ran off toward her house.

Her legs were working full out to get to school, but it was a lost cause and everyone on the crowded streets knew it. They parted for her sadly and shook their heads as she passed, but Minako had perseverance. She would not give in.

Then Artemis was back, dragging her book bag with him. She didn't even stop to pick it up. Rather, she slung it up into her hand while moving at top speed and flinging Artemis in the air. She prayed to every god out there that a miracle would come.

And a miracle did. A car passed her then slowed. A red convertible door opened for her as she reached it. One glance at it and she was hopping in. Whatever else Nephrite might be, he had one helluva car and it would get her to school faster than her legs could ever think of going.

Panting she told him to step on it toward her school. He did so, going faster than she normally thought was right in a car. He dodged past startled pedestrians and other cars. In five minutes, rather than thirty, Minako was at her school building.

When she turned to thank him, however, she saw that it wasn't Nephrite driving the car. "Kunzite," she whispered.

He smiled crookedly at her.

"Nephrite lent you his wonderfully expensive car?"

"I wouldn't say lent exactly."

"Why do you have it anyway?"

Kunzite looked away. "I needed to go somewhere with fresh air and Nephrite told me of a place. However it would take so long to walk there that there would be no point in going. So I borrowed his car."

"Well I can thank heaven that you did."

He glanced at her in surprise. "Why?"

"I would have been totally late without the help. But I got to go; the bell will ring any minute."

And she was right. No sooner had she entered the gates than the gong sounded and students, watching her in surprise, made for their classes. She wasn't entirely certain why until she looked back at Kunzite in the car.

He was still there, watching her. She guessed to make sure she got inside on time or something. But an outsider's view…She nearly laughed. Always late Minako was driven to school in a red Ferrari with a drop dead gorgeous guy in the driver's seat.

She waved at him and the frown on his face disappeared into a smile. He threw the car into gear and drove off, going slower than when she had been in the car.

The rest of the day was completely uneventful compared to her morning. She met up with Usagi, Ami, and Makoto after school and they made their regular trip to the Hikawa Shrine. She filled the others in on the details. And then that reminded her…

"Ami-chan?"

"Hmm? Yes, Minako-chan?"

"Have you ever hung for dear life on the outside window sills of your house?" she asked sweetly.

"No, I can't say that I have."

"Well, since Zoisite and I nearly ran into your mother last night when we brought you home, we had to hang on outside your bedroom window. Had it not been for Jadeite catching me, I would have died. And you would have felt so guilty. To assuage this guilt, you would have convinced your mother to widen all the window sills on the outside of your house. As you see, I am not dead, but that does not mean you should neglect widening the window sills."

Ami's eyes were wide at the tale. "Minako-chan! You were hanging from those window sills?"

"Yes and you definitely need to change them!"

"All right, all right. I'll talk to my mother."

"See that you do," she said and the other girls laughed at the aristocratic air she put on. Minako caved in a moment later and giggled with the girls.

"Usagi-chan!"

Usagi turned around to see Naru running toward her. She smiled, but it was with a little less cheer than what she normally had with her friends. Minako knew the others were feeling the same as her: guilt. It was because of them and the Senshi that she no longer could hang out with other, Non-Senshi, friends.

"I'm going to a movie with a few friends, but I got a ticket for you too. It's that new American movie, Lord of the Rings. It was supposed to be awesome. Do you want to come? You did say you wanted to see it."

Usagi looked torn. She knew that her princess had wanted to see that movie, had wanted to see it for months, but had wanted to see it with Mamoru, and if not him, with the other girls. But it would be another of the many denials to Naru that would break their friendship for good. Naru wasn't giving in, but this was the last chance to keep that friendship going.

Minako could rescue her friend, but had two different decisions she could make in that course. She could drag Usagi up the stairs, saying she had promised them she would and make it look like she had wanted to go but couldn't. Or she could just say 'go' and explain to her later what had happened. One would ensure the friendship and good graces of Naru and the other would destroy the childhood relationship that the girls had.

Venus was just as torn as Minako. She knew what she should do, that the world rested on her shoulders, but if she went to the meeting it would make Usagi unhappy. Both Venus and Minako agreed wholeheartedly on one single thing: that if the princess wasn't happy then it was their job to make her happy and keep her that way. She meant more to them than the Earth did.

"Go on, Usagi-chan," she said when the silence had stretched thick and Usagi had opened her mouth to answer. "We'll tell you everything that happened, we promise. Not missing a single detail." She winked playfully.

Usagi smiled joyfully and immediately agreed with Naru that she would come. Naru sighed and smiled, happy instead of apprehensive. "What were you going to do at the Shrine, Usagi-chan?" she asked before they left.

"We're going to talk about this drop dead gorgeous guy that drove Minako-chan to school this morning," Makoto supplied with a meaningful look at her other blonde friend and second-in-command.

"Oh, I don't want to tear you away from that. I know you love stories like that."

Usagi looked back at the three of them. As sure as if she had said it, this was a test. A test to see if she would really rather come with her than stay and listen. This was her last chance to bug out and end the friendship if she really didn't want it.

"Usagi-chan," said the quiet Ami's voice, "you really should go. You see, I want to see the movie too, but with my studying and cram classes after school, I don't have the time. I want you to go so you can tell me all about it in as much detail as I know you'll remember. And if you don't go, I'll never forgive you."

Minako couldn't tell out of the five of them who was more surprised at this bold statement, the other girls or Ami herself.

Usagi recovered first. "Sure! I promise Ami-chan! Let's go Naru-chan; I'm dying to see this movie!" And her enthusiasm came back in full force and Naru laughed as she was led away at high speed for the movie theater.

Makoto and Ami looked at her. She turned and walked up the Shrine steps, the other two following. When Rei saw them without a Usagi, she was ready to blow her top about her being late when Minako cut in, in a soft voice that silenced the normally outspoken Rei.

"I let her go with Naru-chan. Their friendship would have ended then and there if she said no. I could have saved her image in Naru-chan's eyes if I said she promised and she didn't look like she wanted to go, but the friendship still would have ended. And Usagi-chan would have been miserable. Our first duty is to the princess and then the planet, whichever it might be. You know that Rei and you also feel as I do: the princess is our friend and it breaks our hearts to see her sad. Do you think I made the right decision?"

It wasn't a question that was asking if she made the right decision, per say, but more like asking if Rei would have done the same thing had the positions of the two been reversed.

"Yes, you did."

Minako nodded. "So what do we have to talk about?"

"The Shitennou," replied Luna, coming out from the Shrine with Artemis behind her.

"I thought so. What part of them do we need to concern ourselves with?"

"Asking this question of Usagi is pointless," Luna said, complete with a roll of her eyes, "because she'll say yes, but you girls, especially you Minako, are the ones to ask and can be trusted to weigh the good and bad and unknown factors. Do you trust them, Rei?"

Rei cocked her head. "I…don't know. There are no traces of evil inside them anymore and they did help us."

"Makoto, do you trust them?"

Makoto crossed her arms over her chest. "I can say that, not quite yet, but nearly."

"Why?"

"Luna, they've been living in my home for nearly a week now and they haven't touched me yet."

"I see. Ami, do you trust them?"

Ami didn't answer right away. "All my tests have been either inconclusive or in their favor. They haven't done anything to harm us since that blast with the Ginzuishou, but they haven't done anything outside of battle to win that trust."

"Minako, do you trust them?"

"Yes."

Surprise was registered. She knew she was the most likely person to say 'I don't know' or no, not yes. "Why?"

"Last night when we took Ami-chan home, Zoisite and I were hanging from the outside ledge of her bedroom, hiding from her mother. When Dr. Mizuno's back was turned, Zoisite helped me get back inside to detransform her. But when she was turning around and I got back out, I couldn't grab the window sill in time. If Zoisite hadn't grabbed me, I would have died. He was under no obligation to do that. And then, when we were trying to figure out how to get down, Jadeite caught me. Both times they could have let me die or attacked me if they were evil. I trust them."

"I see," replied Luna again and sat in silence. Nothing was said between the girls, but Minako knew they were thinking about what she had told them.

"Don't say you trust them just because they helped me," she said suddenly and they looked at her in shock. "That's just the reason I trust them. Let them earn each of your trusts as individuals."

"I can see the fundamentals in that," Artemis murmured. "It would be better for everyone to have trust in them wholeheartedly by themselves and not because they helped someone else and that person trusts them. It doesn't clear up any lingering doubts, just hides them."

Her friends nodded at the wisdom of that statement. "Oh, guys? I won't be able to make it to the meeting tomorrow," Rei said.

"Why, Rei-chan?" Ami asked in surprise.

"Because the sisters at the school have something planned, some sort of meeting, and everyone is required to go to it. Mandatory, you know. If I don't, my grade will suffer and so will the rest of my school life."

"All right then, we'll have the meeting at my house," Makoto stated. "Hell, we need the Shitennou in on this one anyway. We'll call you if something happens, Rei-chan, or send someone over to get you."

"Send someone over to get me?" she repeated in surprise.

"Yeah, Nephrite still has that Sanjouin Masato identity and that hot Ferrari of his. Minako-chan got a close look at the interior of it this morning."

A sly look from Makoto and interested looks from Ami and Rei. "Well, I was going to be late to school, none of it my fault I assure you, when this red car pulls up. I immediately recognized it as Nephrite's, so I jumped in. It was when I got out that I saw it wasn't him driving the car."

"Aino Minako-chan, you got into a car with a stranger driving it?" Rei exploded.

"Not exactly a stranger; more like Kunzite."

"Oh. But just keep in mind, that's not exactly okay!"

"Yeah, but it sure made a scene at school." Minako savored that morning moment to the fullest. "For the first time in my life, Minna, I was envied by every girl in the school for being driven there in the hottest car by the hottest guy!"

The other girls giggled.

End Chapter 9