Author's Note:

This story, while called 'Return of the Valkyries' is NOT related to 'Walk of Valkyries'. That's more of a short story that ended where it began: one part. My email address has changed to Guardian4@atlantic.net. Please put Fanfiction or something similar in the subject line so I know what the email is about.

Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Sailor Moon, etc.

Minako's husband – Kyle (Kunzite)

Makoto's husband – Matt (Nephrite)

Ami's husband – Zale (Zoisite)

Rei's husband – Jared (Jadeite)

Haruka's husband – Aren (Adamite)

Setsuna's husband – Cirocco (Cordylite)

Michiru's husband – Ian (Iolite)

Hotaru's husband – Raine (Rhonite)

For convenience, I named all the new Kings with the same first letter of their name. The Shitennou names I think are pretty able to figure out.

Return of the Valkyries

Chapter 7

Asnee was praying that it was all a dream, that she had not asked out her godfather. It had been an unusual pairing, or so she had been told by her grandmother, when her grandfather had picked the younger man to be godfather to his child. Technically, he wasn't her godfather, but her father's, yet when her father had died when she was five, he had stepped in and been her godfather. He had helped raise her with her mother.

"Tell me it isn't true," she said when she saw Venus…no Minako, sitting in a chair next to her bed.

"It's true."

"But if I'm her granddaughter, shouldn't I be able to do the things she can?"

"Not necessarily. She is a Senshi, you are not. Being a Senshi adds something to the person, like physical strength and magical powers. Besides that, your grandmother's first life, when she was born, was on Jupiter, in the Silver Millennium that I explained to you before. They were the strongest of races. When she was reincarnated, Mako-chan retained that strength and being a Senshi adds even more to her. That's why she can do some of the things that you can't."

"Why were you talking in code before?"

"In case anyone was listening on our frequency. With these strange kidnappers, you never know."

She skipped over that for now. "Why can't I be a Senshi?"

"That is a long story and one we really don't have time to go into. Now you know why we all know your grandmother. The only condition that I must place on you is this: You are hereby charged never to reveal our identities ever and not acknowledge during training to the other Guard that Jupiter or Nephrite are your grandparents."

"Fine. I just can't face Zoisite-sama ever again." She rolled onto her side and faced the wall.

"You didn't know that Zoisite was Zale."

"It doesn't matter."

"Fine, sulk if you want. It isn't what I would expect from someone from Mako-chan and Matt's genes, but I suppose if you feel the need…Now I have to go. Venus Crystal Power, MAKE-UP!"

Venus left the room. It was only a moment later that Asnee followed her out.

"Jupiter, may I speak with you?"

Jupiter winced when she heard her granddaughter's voice. Slowly she turned around and looked into her daughter's hazel eyes. "Yes?"

Asnee led them to an alcove where they wouldn't be seen. Shocking the Soldier, the Captain immediately wrapped her arms around her waist and hugged her tight. "I've missed you, grandma!" she whispered fervently.

Jupiter smiled through happy tears and hugged her granddaughter back. "And I've missed you, Asnee. You don't know how hard it was for me to train you and not tell you who I was."

"Lovely moment."

Asnee's head snapped up, but Jupiter looked at her husband more slowly. She had recognized his voice faster than Asnee ever could, since they were soulmates.

"Grandpa, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean what I said before on the training field!"

She managed to keep her voice down, but her face was in tears. Nephrite smiled and pulled his granddaughter into his embrace. "It's all right."

She smiled against his chest and hugged him tighter.

Jadeite could not believe what he had found. It denied all that he had seen around the palace, all the areas he had searched. The kidnappers had left something behind.

"Finally!" he said as he picked it up.

His triumphant smile turned into a puzzled frown. The whole palace had been immaculate of clues, so why would this one be missed? True, it had been hidden deep and was easily overlooked, but still…why?

He met up with Kunzite a moment later, his commander overlooking the city from a balcony.

"I think I found something."

The silver haired man turned sharply to him, all his attention drawn the shorter one. "What?"

Jadeite handed him the piece of stone. "It looks to be broken in half, so that would mean the design is only half, but…it could mean what the kidnappers are."

"Or it could be something to throw us off."

The design had only part of a dagger crossing some circles that could mean the sun or the moon. "Let's let Mars do a reading on it tomorrow. By then, it'll be our turn for guard rotation of the Royal Family."

"How is Kynthia doing?"

"Well, the Senshi say that she sometimes comes in to watch her grandparents rule over things. Often times, she stays in a guest room, away from her husband, Trion. Helios has gone back to Elysian and his priesthood for the time being to see what he can find out. Chibiusa, well, she's been traveling in the dignitaries' circles to see if anyone knows anything. Kynthia seems to be at a loss as to what to do. Trion is seen even less than his wife. I caught him leaving the palace once, but he was back in so quickly that I don't know what he could have been doing that would take that short a time.

"Let's tell Zoisite and Mercury to contact the Outers as soon as possible," the commander continued. "I want to know if they have found out anything, possibly seen this symbol, whatever it is, somewhere around."

"Commander," Jadeite responded to the tone of dismissal and left to find his fellow King. Zoisite would tell his wife what he had left off with once his guard duty rotation came.

"Can I tell Keahi, Nixie, and Roshaun when they get back?" Asnee asked eagerly.

Jupiter looked uncertain and glanced to her companions. Mars, Mercury, and Venus all looked a bit downtrodden at the question.

"No, I'm afraid not," Venus answered finally.

Asnee's face fell. "But…why not?"

Keahi was Mars' granddaughter, a veritable fireball of energy. Oddly enough, though Mars had had two children, the boy had chosen to become a Shinto Priest, probably because of his great psychic ability. The girl that she had had, Candace, had died in the invasion of the Black Moon. Mars had yet to forgive them for it.

Unlike her father, Keahi had joined the guard like her grandmother, though she didn't know it. Jupiter and the others had always had a sneaking suspicion that perhaps her son, Pyralis, knew his mother was a Sailor Senshi. Mars maintained she had never told him, but she did concede that perhaps he had seen something once, through his ability, which was near equal to hers.

Nixie, which was not a nickname but her full one, was Mercury's granddaughter. She was constantly laughing and sometimes a little too loud. Unlike her grandmother, she did not inherit a shy gene. The girl didn't know the meaning of the word shy or quiet. She had taken after her mother, one of two girls and one of three children, who had also become a member of the guard. She had pale blue hair that verged on white, which she allowed to flow to her waist. Her green eyes she had inherited from her grandfather, the only one in Mercury's line to have green eyes and that included her two other children, the male a lesbian, and the female a writer.

Roshaun, his complexion much like his grandfather, was Venus' grandson. He and his father both had become guards. Like both his grandparents and his father, he had inherited a strict loyalty code and believed in duty above all else. Inevitably, his father's strict attention to duty had broken up his marriage. His mother had tried to persuade her son, Roshaun, to come live with her, but he had stayed with his father, who he believed was in the right. The boy had been fifteen and it hadn't exactly been traumatic when she had left since he had a solid grounding to logic and loyalty. Considering that Venus and his mother had never once gotten along, it was altogether with a less tense atmosphere when they were together after that.

He was a serious boy, but when he smiled, it was like he was transforming. While he may have inherited much of the characteristics of his father and grandfather, his smile he had inherited from his grandmother. One smile and the girls would fall and fawn all over him. Needless to say, he didn't exactly like that so he rarely smiled.

The four of them, Asnee, Nixie, Roshaun, and Keahi were inseparable, much like Makoto, Ami, Minako, and Rei were. The Outers children were good friends of the four, but because of the section of guards they had joined, they didn't see too much of them.

Much like the Inners and Outers, there were two distinct sections of guards that paralleled the Senshi. The 'Inner' guard, as it were, protected the palace and its inhabitants. The 'Outer' guard, again as it were, guarded Crystal Tokyo.

As of the moment, Nixie, Roshaun, and Keahi had been sent out a few weeks ago to contact the border guard, where Vasanti, Camdyn, Brooks, and Bronwyn were.

Vasanti, unlike what people assumed, was a girl and much to the pride of Pluto. Her long hair was a dark red color, taking after her grandfather, but having garnet eyes like grandmother. All the Outers children, with a few exceptions, had been in the guard. The only two that hadn't had been one of Uranus' children, who had become a racer, and one of Saturn's two children, who had become a doctor, under Mercury's tutelage.

Camdyn was Uranus' grandson, the son of her only daughter out of four children. He resembled his mother, who looked like his grandmother, instead of the predominant (except for eye color) male looks from his grandfather, although he did receive his grandfather's height.

Brooks was Neptune's granddaughter, her only one out of three children, two daughters and one son. One of the daughters couldn't have children, the other having no interest in any kind of relationship whether with females or males. All her children had been in the guard. There were really no prominent traits, since all the children and grandchildren tended to be a perfect mix.

And Bronwyn, like her name and its meaning, was dark and resembled her father's figure. Rhonite's physical build tended to take over in the genes and balanced Saturn's weaker one. Saturn had had two boys, both quite energetic. One of them had become a doctor, due to his healing ability, the only one of them to inherit it from his mother. The other had gone into the guard.

"Why not?" Asnee persisted, drawing Jupiter from her contemplation of children and grandchildren.

"Just because you know doesn't mean that they can know," Mars explained.

"I would have thought that Roshaun would have been Captain of the Guard," Mercury commented.

Asnee colored slightly. "He is," she whispered.

"Say what?" demanded the Senshi.

"I'm only the Captain of the Guard until Roshaun gets back. I'm like the second-in-command." She took a deep breath and plowed on. "It was originally offered to Keahi, but she turned it down. She just wanted to fight and protect, not lead."

"Regardless of who the Captain is, you are not to inform any of the Senshi's children of who we are," Venus said at last.

Asnee's rather disappointed look didn't change; if anything, it got worse.

"Asnee, please understand why we are doing this," Jupiter pleaded. "We can't risk our identities. If you were a Senshi, then you would have to keep it from the others anyway. It is simply the way of a Sailor Soldier."

"Oh." She sighed and trudged from the room, muttering, "All right."

"How far do you trust her to remain silent?" Mars murmured.

"As far as I can throw her," Mercury said immediately.

"That wouldn't be too far," Venus replied.

"I trust her intentions to keep her promise, but when she gets excited, her tongue tends to get loose," Jupiter explained. "We'll see how long her promise lasts."

"Agreed."

End Chapter 7