A.N.: Okay, well no one made a guess as to who would have a rough night. ::Pouts:: You people are no fun…See the chapter title? Yep, that's right. I'm giving Sailor Pluto a hard time. Review responses below. Enjoy the chapter (it'll be the last until Saturday…I've two finals to cram for ^_^;). There's Japanese here too (sorry!!!) because I couldn't help myself. It may not be entirely accurate because I have yet to take classes. I've tried to translate all of it, but if I've missed anything, do please let me know.

Setsuna tossed and turned in the bed. After the meeting and discussions, the Senshi (and the two men) had been given living quarters for the night in a room in the castle. The main room was behind, of all things, a rather nice rendition of the Greek Gods and Goddesses. It branched off into seven connected rooms, and three bathrooms. Haruka and Michiru shared a room, for obvious reasons, as did Usagi and Mamoru. The Inners drew lots, and Mina would share with Rei while Mako shared a room with Ami. Chibi-Usa and Helios were planning to share a room as well, much to Mamoru's displeasure. It was nothing personal against the priest…merely the shotgun-toting overprotective father complex that was timeless and universal whenever boys dared put moves on their little girls, despite the 'little girls' being all grown up. He sent threatening glares in the poor priest's direction, until he learned that Hotaru would have a single. Mamoru immediately made sure that the two girls would room together, and Helios was given a room of his own. This came about because rather than sharing a room with Hotaru as she normally did, Setsuna asked for a single room for tonight. She knew that the memories would return to her tonight…memories of him, of their happiness, of how all was shattered in an instant…with these unhappy thoughts plaguing her mind, she slipped into unconsciousness, and immediately began to dream.

Sailor Pluto stood in front of the Time Gates, as she had been for centuries past, and would be for centuries still to come. Such was the life of the Guardian of Time, the Keeper of the Key and the Gates. She twirled the Key staff in her hands in absent patterns, before beginning to practice. Dancing a deadly dance with grace and beauty, she was unaware of the dark eyes that watched her every move with admiration. Bored of the same routine, she thought she'd try something she had seen through one of the window portals she'd used to scan the timelines for disturbances.

Spinning the Key rapidly in her hands, she threw it hard into the air and did several back flips. Reaching a hand upwards, she managed to push the descending Key into the air again before doing a graceful cartwheel forwards. She had seen a soldier do such a thing while training through one of the portals, and thought it'd be interesting. The soldier had caught the staff, after the cartwheel, in his hands with the staff vertical, and brought it straight down in a forward motion to strike the air in front of him. What Setsuna had failed to take into account, however was the weight of the Garnet Orb Talisman on one end of the Key. The Key was not able to make as many revolutions as the staff had, and thus missed her hands, and proceeded to strike her quite sharply on the head, rendering her unconscious.

'Pain…' was the first thing that passed across Setsuna's thoughts. 'That was a bad idea…oh my head…' The next moment, she realized that instead of lying on the rather cool ground of the Void of the Time Gates, her head was in fact somewhere soft, but firmly hard, and warm. And, there was a warm breath near her face! Setsuna sat up abruptly in shock and alarm, and then promptly collapsed again as bright stars literally exploded behind her eyes.

"Don't move…you've a rather nasty bump on your head." A dark, silky smooth, masculine voice said soothingly. Setsuna struggled away despite the pounding headache she now had, turning to face the man.

"Trespasser…" she hissed, searching frantically with her hands for her Key. "No one may pass though the Gates…" The mystery man gave a light chuckle that sent butterflies fluttering in Setsuna's stomach.

"No worries, lovely. I'm not here to go anywhere. I was merely trying to help…" By now, Setsuna had found her Key and for the first time got a good look at the intruder. Her movements stilled in her abstract fascination. He was a play of dark and light, with straight black hair of medium length tied loosely back, wisps escaping to frame a pale face. His sharp, bottomless dark eyes gazed into her garnet ones. The man stood with a fluidity of motion that was almost poetic. "As you seem to be all right now…I'll be taking my leave. Try not to sleep for the next few hours, lovely, you might have a concussion." With this, he turned, dark clothing swirling about his form in an unseen wind, and melted into the shadows. Setsuna was left sitting on the ground with a pounding headache, a strange, alien sensation in her chest, and the distinct impression that she should have noticed something. She struggled to her feet, and looked to where the man had disappeared, thinking. With a start, she realized what it was. She hadn't sensed his presence! As Time guardian, she should have been able to sense all that approached herself or the Gates, but hadn't even felt him once! Setsuna shook her head, then groaned in pain and began rummaging through her subspace pocket for painkillers.

An indefinite amount of time passed again before he returned (or rather, before he made his presence known) again. "Hello again, lovely. I see you are none the worse for wear…?" Sailor Pluto spun in the direction of that voice, and watched in fascination as the shadows seemed to swirl about before drawing back to reveal the man's tall, lithe form.

"Who are you?" She hissed, tensing.

"Kurayami no Shihaisha." He replied, giving a formal half-bow. Sailor Pluto raised the Key slightly.

"'Ruler of the Dark'?" She repeated. She dropped into a defensive stance. "What is your purpose for coming here, Evil one? Whatever it is, you shall be punished for contemplating it!" The man raised his hands in mock defense.

"No no no, dear Lady! You mistake my meaning. I am not evil…just Dark." Noticing her confusion, he elaborated. "Light and Dark, as you know, are both types of power. Dark is associated with Evil because it is so easy to corrupt. That does not mean, however, that all Dark is Evil, nor all Light Good. My name is Kageno Shinkenmeijin, the Severe Master of Shadows. I am a Shadow King, thereby my title."

"That does not reassure me regarding your intentions." Sailor Pluto bit out. Inside, however, his words made sense. Sailor Senshi had powers based on their associated planets. They were also inherently Good. Yet some planets were by nature Dark, like Saturn, the planet of Death and Rebirth. This meant that Sailor Saturn, if ever she were to Awaken, would be a Dark, albeit Good, Senshi. He noticed her weakening resolve and pressed forward.

"Besides, lovely, if I had wanted to do something, I would have done so already. Am I correct in assuming that you cannot sense me?" He was right, and he knew it, the bastard. "Since you cannot sense my presence, what would have prevented me from harming you before, if that were my intentions?" He had a good point. Sailor Pluto stood straight and tall once more, dropping her stance. She visibly relaxed, but kept a good grip on her Key.

"Very well, you have convinced me you bear me no ill will. Nevertheless, you are not allowed to be here. Leave." Sailor Pluto repressed the urge to turn after her words of dismissal. It would have given her an air of superiority, but it was unwise to turn ones back to a stranger, no matter their intentions. An irritated thought then immediately entered her mind. "And cease using that term of endearment. I do not appreciate being called 'lovely' by a man I do not know." She snapped, coloring slightly. He chuckled, a sensual sound that caused the color in her cheeks to heighten.

"But it's true, you are quite the vision. Besides, lovely, I do not know your name…" He trailed off, slightly suggestively. She didn't know what possessed her to respond, but she did.

"Princess Setsuna of the planet Pluto. Senshi of said planet, Sailor Pluto, Guardian of the Gates of Time and Keeper of the Key." She said primly, fighting to keep the warmth out of her face. "Now leave, please. This is your last warning." The shadows reached out to the man once again.

"Well then Princess Setsuna, I bid you farewell." He melted into the shadows again, and Setsuna nearly sighed in relief, until his damnable voice of shadows and silk imparted one last message. "For now…" Setsuna suppressed the delicious shudder than ran down her spine and caused her chest and stomach to flutter. Those last words contained a hint of a promise.

True to his words, he came back several more times in the following weeks, and each time Setsuna threatened him less and less. Soon, she actually came to look forward to, and enjoy, his visits, and a relationship began to blossom. His wit was sharp, and he was incredibly intelligent to boot. Setsuna found herself enjoying her duties as Guardian of Time for the first time that she could recall. She finally had a friend. Together, the two of them would scan the timelines for disturbances. His biting comments regarding various of the things that they'd see made her smile and laugh. Together, they easily overcame intruders trying to use the Time Gates for evil purposes. Friendship quickly turned to love, and Setsuna had never been happier. Then, one fateful day, something happened to shatter that happiness.

"Anata no watashi?" Setsuna murmured softly. She leaned against her Shadow King's strong chest, his arms around her waist and his chin against her shoulders. "You and me?"

"Itsumo, itoshii. We will always be together, my Beloved." He answered, lips brushing her ear with every whispered word of silk. His tone spoke of nothing but love for her.

"Eien ni, koibito." She sighed happily in reply. "Forever…" She tilted her head back to kiss him. Just as their lips met, Sailor Pluto's senses screamed in alarm. The two of them quickly broke apart and leapt back as a large orb of energy blasted the spot they'd been standing it. "Who goes there?!" Sailor Pluto demanded, bringing her Key out of her subspace pocket. Behind her, Shinkenmeijin created a sword of the shadows, and stood alert to other dangers that may be present.

"How. Dare. You…" A woman's voice sliced through the air, practically dripping with venom. She faded into view, wavy dark hair swirling with her anger, pale eyes filled with fury.

"Fate…" Sailor Pluto gasped. She whirled in alarm as another voice added it's input.

"An intruder! At the Gates of Time…he must be dealt with…" This woman's straight light hair remained in place, but her dark eyes sparked and crackled with enraged energy.

"Destiny…Please, I can explain…!" Sailor Pluto said desperately, fearing, not for her life, but for that of her lover. Fate and Destiny were often cruel. This time was no exception.

"There is nothing to explain, Setsuna of Pluto." They bit out in unison. Sailor Pluto cried out in pain as a wave of energy blasted her off her feet. She landed, skidding, several feet from her initial position.

"'Suna!!" the Shadow King shouted in alarm. He tried to dash to her side, but found himself crashing to the ground as several rings of energy wrapped around his form. He gave a gasp of pain as they tightened to a point beyond uncomfortable.

"Please, Destiny, Fate, I beg of you to release him!" Sailor Pluto said weakly, using her Key as a crutch to get unsteadily to her feet. The two merely smiled mercilessly.

"You were meant to perform this duty alone, Setsuna of Pluto. Your task as Guardian of the Gates of Time and Space is to destroy all who approach them." They intoned. "Why, then, is this man still alive?"

"Because I love him…!" she said, trying to get to his side. "Dead Scream" She whispered. This endeavor did not work, as another energy blast cut through the garnet orb of energy and once again threw her back, away from his prone from. This blast caused her to de-transform as well.

"Stop it!" the Shadow King gasped out. "Kage Kakomu Hakai…!" This was one of his strongest attacks, causing the shadows to surround and destroy the opponent at which it had been directed. To his surprise, Fate merely flicked her hand, and the building shadow attack dissipated.

"You cannot harm us, foolish Kurayami no Shihaisha." Fate began. Destiny finished.

"We are Fate and Destiny, we control the lives of all. It is not in our place to kill, so…" They linked hands, and directed a ball of energy at the bound Shadow King. Shinkenmeijin gave a hoarse cry of pain as the ball struck and engulfed his bound form. It felt as if he were being ripped to shreds from inside out! He went limp, panting shallowly and shaking with aftereffects of pain as the energy was completely absorbed, and the glowing rings binding him disappeared.

"Anata…!" Setsuna cried softly. Fate turned to her as Destiny waved a hand, levitating Shinkenmeijin's trembling form into the air. "Please…" she entreated, kneeling, on hands and knees before Fate. "What have you done to him?"

"We have merely bound his powers for eternity." Fate said, dismissively. Unheeding Setsuna's tears, she snapped her fingers, and caused the Gates to appear and open ominously.

"Set…sun…a…" The voice Setsuna so loved, now hoarse with pain, caught her attention. She turned her tear-stained face towards where he was floating ever closer to the open Gates.

"No…please, don't…!" She gasped out, reading Destiny's intentions.

"Aishteru…" With this last declaration of his love, Kageno Shinkenmeijin was thrown forward through the Time Gates. Setsuna somehow scrambled to her feet despite the heels and long, dark garnet, almost black dress that she now wore and stumbled towards the Gates, but they closed with finality just before she got there. Setsuna threw herself against them, pounding at the closed Gates in futility, before sinking to her knees and falling forward. Her long, dark forest green hair obscured her face as she broke down sobbing with her loss.

"For disobeying your duties and your Destiny, you shall be the solitary Keeper of the Gates until the Stars accept their Mistress." Destiny said in a glacial tone. She disappeared in a puff of mist.

"For daring to defy Fate, Princess Setsuna of Pluto, you shall never find the Dark Ruler you so profess to love." This said in a callous manner, Fate faded from view, leaving the grieving Plutonian Princess to her suffering.

'Meioh.' Setsuna thought abstractly through her tears. 'Ruler of darkness. That shall be my surname from this point forward, in memory of my lost Ruler of Darkness… I am Meioh Setsuna.'

Two pairs of blue eyes, in differing shades, watched on as the suffering Senshi of Time tossed and turned in agitation in her sleep, tears squeezing through tightly closed eyelids, slipping in unending streams down her cheeks. Empathetic tears fell from the cornflower blue, while the possessor of the sky blue gently brushed the dark bangs from Setsuna's forehead.

"She's been alone for so long…in pain for so long…" Minako murmured, brushing at her tears. "Usa-chan…"

"I know, Mina-chan." Usagi said softly. "I have a feeling, though, that the Shadow King has not been lost forever." Her voice, still soft, took on a note of knowledge, and pure power, influence of being the Mistress of the Stars. "Do you not agree, Princess Venus?"

"Indeed, my Lady." Minako agreed, her voice, too, changing with her Princess powers, growing warm and light despite the tears still wet on her cheeks. "I feel…something…in the air, an activation of a too long dormant Bond?…No, the reparation of a broken Bond." She smiled brightly, heartened by this information. The two of them each gently brushed a hand down the sides of Setsuna's face. This movement soothed the anguished features, and causing the woman to fall into a deeper, more restful sleep. Bidding each other soft goodnights, Usagi and Minako each sent a silent prayer to their planets for the Shadow King to reveal himself soon, before leaving for their respective rooms.

A.N. Heh. Don't you just hate Fate and Destiny? I got the idea from the phrase "Fate's a bitch." I thought it appropriate…kind of obvious who the Shadow King is by now, isn't it? So the next chapter will have some happiness, some tears, and some action. Not necessarily in that order, mind. Until then!

SerinityRules: Boy, tough customer, aren't you? Normally, you'd be right. But, this is not the normal case. I'll explain how it is that Chibi-Usa and Hotaru are the 'same' age and only 'a year younger' than the Inners in the next chapter.

Jewel: Fine by me. ^_^ Here's the next chapter. Your turn ^_~

Crystal-Winter: Why thank you. Sorry, though, you'll have to wait. Damned Organic Chemistry…

Celesta Evenstar: Thanks! I'm happy to have been able to convert someone to this fandom. ^_^