Mina was stretched out comfortably on her couch petting the white cat that
she had acquired less than a week ago.
"Okay, okay, names...Let's see, Snowball is out. How about Lucifer? After all, you're no Angel, despite that white coat of yours. Okay, no. Um.... Fluffy?" She asked with a twinkle in her eye.
The white cat looked up at her and she felt the slightest prick of claws on her arm.
"Alright, alright, no to Fluffy too." Mina laughed.
Just then there was a knock at her door. Checking through the peephole she saw two women and one guy standing outside on her step.
"Damn. Why is it always two girls and a guy? Why can't it ever be two hot guys? Minus the girl?" She asked the cat who had come to the door with her.
"Hello?" She asked as she opened the door.
The blonde in the middle smiled and Mina had a brief thought that this woman would have made a great model. Maybe that was why she was there. Actually, all three of them had such unique looks that she would have loved to use them in a couple up coming photo shoots.
"Hello, my name is Serena and these are my friends, Rei and Darien." the blonde began hesitantly, her Japanese accent giving away her origins.
"Would you rather speak in Japanese?" Mina asked, switching over. She had spent a lot of time in Japan as a child and the language was almost as familiar to her as English.
The blonde smiled at her gratefully, "Yes, thank you. I'm afraid it's been awhile since I took English in school and I was never good at it to begin with."
"I understand. School and I didn't mix too well either." Mina said with a grin.
"Would you mind talking to us for a moment? It is about the cat that you found in the subway a few days ago."
"Oh." Mina said, realizing that these might be the cat's owners with a sinking feeling in her gut. She had grown attached to the fur ball. "Would you like to come in?"
"Yes, thank you."
The trio walked in and sat on the couch while Mina took one of the chairs.
"So, are you his owners?" Mina asked.
"No. Artemis is your cat if he's anybody's." The blonde said with a laugh.
"I don't think I understand." Mina said, puzzled. Just then she saw the black cat from the other night sitting at the man's feet. "Hey, that cat was here last night!"
"Yes. This is Luna. The white one's name is Artemis." The girl stated, picking up the black cat and petting it.
"Artemis, hmmm? Well, that is better than Fluffy, I guess." Mina said absently as she tried to figure out what was going on.
"Fluffy?" the blonde managed to spit out in surprise before falling into the guy, Darien, sitting next to her, giggling helplessly. The other girl and the guy both seemed to be trying not to smile as Artemis stalked stiff legged to a corner and began to ignore them as only a cat could.
"I'm sorry." The girl said as she tried to regain her composure. "Anyways, I have something of yours. We came to return it to you." Serena said, pulling out an orange pen.
"This isn't mine." Mina said, taking the pen curiously. It was quite beautiful, the gold symbol of Venus on the outside complementing the orange well.
"Yes, it is. But you won't remember having owned it, so don't worry about it." The girl looked like she wanted to continue but couldn't find the words.
"That pen is your history." The raven-haired girl, Rei spoke up. "If you open it, you will finally learn who you are."
"But there is a price." The blonde said quickly.
"There is always a price." Rei said, "But some things are worth it."
Serena looked at her friend for a moment before turning back to Mina, "If you open the pen, there is no going back. You seem to have a good life going here and I don't want you to lose it. And that may be a consequence of opening that thing."
"I have no idea what you are talking about." Mina said, beginning to think that she had just let three complete loonies into her apartment.
"Don't worry about in Mina. You're not really supposed to understand. We'll head out now. That was all we came for." Serena said standing up. The other two stood as well and followed her to the door.
As they were filing out Serena hesitated for a moment and pulled out a card with her name and several phone numbers written on it.
"Have you ever heard of the hero Sailor V?" She asked as she handed it to Mina.
"Yes, of course." Mina said, wondering what this was about.
"Give me a call if you ever meet her."
And with that the three people headed out, the black cat trotting at their heels.
"What the hell? Sailor V is a video game hero. How would I ever meet her?" Mina asked as she threw the card down on her coffee table next to the orange pen.
"And what do you know about this whole thing, hmmm?" She asked the white cat sitting at her feet.
He just looked up at her, and she sighed.
"Sure, plead the fifth on me. Geesh." She said, heading towards the kitchen to start dinner.
* * * * *
"So, what do you think?" Serena asked as they walked towards the hotel they were staying at.
"I don't know." Darien replied.
"If Mina doesn't open the pen on her own, Artemis will find a way to get her to do it." Rei stated matter of factly.
Serena sighed, "I just hope this all works out."
"It will. Now, let's go check out those news reports that Artemis mentioned to Luna." Darien said, wrapping an arm around Serena.
* * * * *
Mina was taking a walk through Kensington Park, trying to clear her mind and figure out what had happened the other night. She couldn't stop thinking about the people that had shown up yesterday. Finally she had decided that she needed to go for a walk and get some fresh air.
Those people had been insane and yet...there was something about all of them that seemed almost familiar. And they had that black cat with them, Luna. The one that had been in her house the other night. And Artemis had obviously known them. But they had said that he was her cat. What exactly did that mean? Did they used to own him and were giving him to her? Was this some new program of the Human Society to help bring up adoption rates?
And what did a video game hero have to do with anything?
Suddenly, up ahead of her she heard a scream.
She raced towards the sound and stopped in her tacks as she saw a young woman being attacked by...something. She had never seen anything like it. The only word that seemed to fit was monster. Suddenly the things claws hit the woman and she collapsed on the ground.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" Mina shouted.
As the monster turned towards her, she cursed, "Shit, shit, shit. Smooth move Mina."
The monster slowly began to walk towards her, almost like it was stalking her. Her brain was working in overdrive, trying to figure out how to escape.
"Mina!" She heard someone yell.
Both she and the monster turned towards the voice but all that she saw was her cat, Artemis.
"Mina! Open the pen!" Artemis yelled.
"What the hell?! You can talk?" Mina shouted in shock.
"The pen! Now!" Artemis shouted as the monster leapt at her. She grabbed the orange pen that Serena had given her and ripped off the cap. Just before the flood of memories hit her she saw Artemis leap onto the monsters face and heard the monster howl in anger.
Then, there were a thousand images and feelings as her memories came rushing back into her. Memories of being Sailor Venus, of betrayals and deaths, oaths of loyalty to a long destroyed kingdom and friendships that had beaten death himself.
But before she could process everything, the part of her that was Sailor Venus came roaring to the surface, in full battle readiness, sensing evil near. When she opened her eyes, she only had a moment to take in Artemis laying on the ground, the monster hovering over him before she attacked.
"Venus Love Chain Encircle!"
A gold chain formed in her hand and whipped forward, encircling the surprised monster and holding it. But the monster was putting a lot of strain on her chain with its struggles. The chain wouldn't be able to contain it much longer.
"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!"
A beam of pure light came from her hand and hit the struggling monster. A scream of pain tore through the quiet of the park and a flash of bright light blinded anyone who might have been in the area. When the light finally faded, the monster was gone, destroyed.
Venus collapsed on the ground, drained from the power needed for those attacks, attacks that she had not used in such a long time, and crawled towards the white form laying unmoving on the grass.
"Artemis?"
* * * * *
Serena clutched the seat and Luna dug her claws into Serena's leg as Darien took the final turn at a frightening speed into the veterinary's parking lot. In the back seat of the rental car, Rei was already unbuckling her seat belt. Almost before the car was even in park the four of them, Rei, Serena, and Darien, were out of the car and racing towards the entrance. Inside they saw Mina, sitting in the waiting area.
Mina looked up as the three of them came crashing in to the room and gave them all a weak smile.
"Hey guys, long time."
Serena grabbed her old friend into a hug, "It'll be okay. I promise."
Mina had called them, sobbing, from the veterinary's office less than twenty minutes ago. All that Serena had been able to make out was that Artemis had been hurt in a fight with a monster.
Rei walked over to Mina and pulled out a bottle of aspirin and handed it to her, "I remember what I felt like after opening my pen. You may want these."
Mina smiled wanly at her raven-haired friend and immediately popped the lid off the bottle and swallowed a couple of the pills inside. As the pain in her head began to recede, Mina filled the group in on what had happened. Supposedly she had also called an ambulance for the girl that had been attacked but had only stuck around long enough to see that the paramedics found her before taking Artemis to the vet.
"And I almost didn't wait that long." Mina muttered.
After almost an hour of waiting, one of the veterinary assistants came out and smiled down at the group.
"Your cat came through surgery wonderfully. We'd like to keep him overnight but he should be alright."
"Thank god." Mina whispered as Serena hugged her again.
"Hey, where's Luna go?" Darien asked as Mina got up to deal with the paperwork.
* * * * *
Luna dodged the people in the back room as she searched for Artemis. She knew that they had said he was going to be okay but she had to see him and make sure.
Eventually she made it to the kennel area and saw Artemis inside one of the cages. His fur had been shaved in several places and ugly stitches could be seen through the light gauze he had been wrapped up in. Nudging the latch, she managed to get the door to swing open, a feat easier to accomplish from outside the cage than inside it. Inside, she sniffed the white cat carefully, still smelling the remnants drug they had used to knock him out during surgery.
"Artemis, you fool. What were you thinking, attacking a monster like that?" Luna spit out angrily at his sleeping form. "What am I supposed to do if you go and get yourself killed, hmm? Who's going to make stupid jokes and stop me from killing Serena if you don't get better?"
She paused a moment, fighting down a sob that threatened to break free, "So...so, you have to get better, okay? Because I love you, you stupid fur ball and if you die, I'll kill you."
"A little extreme, don't you think, kitty cat?" Came the soft reply.
"Artemis! I thought you were still knocked out."
"Maybe I am. After all, I think I just heard you say you love me." Artemis said with a weak half smile.
"I said no such thing. You must be on too much pain medication." Luna said indignantly.
"Too bad. 'Cause I love ya too." He replied, opening a single eye to look up at her.
"What did you say?" Luna asked, stunned.
"Nothing, I'm still knocked out, remember?" Artemis said.
"Nothing, really?" Luna said, indignation in her voice as she pounced on the infuriating white cat in front of her.
"Hey! What the stitches!" Artemis yelped.
"Now," Luna said, brandishing her claws in front of Artemis' face, "What was it you just said?"
"I love you."
"Good. Because I love you too. Now get better fast so I can kill you." Luna said, walking out of the cage.
A soft chuckled followed her as she left to go find Serena again.
* * * * *
That night they all spent at Mina's house talking about the past and what had happened to each of them over the last few years. As Mina's new memories had a chance to settle in her head the conversation turned to scout business and their new enemies.
"So these new enemies are attacking people in places other that Tokyo now?" Rei asked.
"It seems like it. It only makes sense after all. Why risk a battle when you can just relocate?" Mina said.
"I miss Ami. She would have been able to tell us where else they might be attacking people." Serena sighed.
"Well, Artemis noticed the news reports and that's what made him suspicious. There's no reason why we can't keep an eye on the news and where similar reports are coming from." Darien said.
The group fell quiet for a moment at the mention for Artemis.
"Well," Mina said finally, breaking the silence, "I think that I should stay in London instead of returning to Tokyo with you guys. If they're attacking here, at least one of us should stay to keep an eye on things."
Serena looked at her friend, "I'm not sure I like the idea of you staying here to fight by yourself."
"Isn't that what you did?" Mina said with a small smile, "Besides you guys will only be a call and a teleport away if I need you."
"Alright, Mina. I understand. Your life is all here in London, too. We would never ask you to drop everything for us." Serena said.
"Thank you." Mina said, "But now that I remember how to teleport, don't you think for a moment that I'm going to miss out on the shopping in Tokyo on the weekends."
* * * * *
The next day, Artemis was released from the veterinary's care. When Mina told him that she was still going to live in London for the time being he looked over at Luna as he announced that he was staying with her.
* * * * *
The rest of the day, Artemis kept trying to get a chance to talk to Luna alone but there was always someone else around. Finally he just sighed and waited for everyone to go to bed and give him a chance.
* * * * *
Later that night, Luna and Artemis were sitting on the roof of Mina's house.
"Luna, I'm sorry. But Venus is my charge. I neglected my duty once. I can't do it again. I can't leave her here to face the enemy all alone."
Luna turned and licked his cheek, "I understand, love. And if you were to do any differently, you wouldn't be the cat I have known for several lifetimes."
"Then you aren't mad?" Artemis asked.
"Mad? No. Besides, it's not like the scouts aren't going to be seeing each other almost every week at their meetings. This will just give you lots of time to miss me and realize how lucky you are." Luna said with a sly look.
"Oh, I know just how lucky I am. But you can remind me any time you want to." Artemis said, rubbing his cheek against Luna's.
* * * * *
AN: Ahhh!!! Mina's chapters are done. Woo hoo!!! Would you believe that this was actually supposed to be about the same size as Rei's chapters? But no, I just had to keep adding stuff. And I hope you all like this chapter. It's a little longer than normal but I wanted to end this section of the story. Anyways, I have great plans for the next few chapters...that is if the characters don't hijack me again and do their own thing. grrr. Anyone else have that problem?
Okay, to my awesome reviewers:
Adyen ~ Ah! Thanks so much! I try but editing is one of those things that I don't always do as well as I should, usually because I'm so happy to be done that I'm too busy doing happy dances. Thanks for the help.
Marni ~ thanks. Hard to believe that this really was supposed to be a one shot thing when I started.
Dark Magician Girl ~ hee hee, I think I'm done with the cats for awhile. It's time to play havoc with some other characters. How you like how their story ended here though.
Shinigami ~ hee hee, those are some of my favorite movies but they are kind of hard to find. Lady Hawke is actually an old Michelle Phiffer movie. The story is told through the eyes of this thief Mouse. The Last Unicorn you actually stand a better chance of finding in the book store that the movie store. It's about a unicorn that becomes human. Diana, will probably not show up in this fic, but I definitely have a special place in my heart for her for my own reasons. She and I actually have the same name. ; ) I'm not telling who the general is that is going to show up. Geesh, I need a little mystery here. And if I do this the way I'm planning, it will actually be Venus who runs into the outers first, not Serena. Okay, enough secrets divulged to you!
Dria ~ Jadeite fan, hmmm? We'll see. lol. Thanks, for the originality comment. There are so many Sailor Moon fics out there that it is hard to find a fresh way of looking at the story. But I'm glad you like.
S. L. Butterworth ~ I am so glad you like the cats. I actually haven't read that much stuff with them as main characters so I wanted to work them in. I hope you still like them. I'm not sure if the scenes between those two are up to par here but I hope you still like. And making Serena more mature was more a self defense thing for me. I would have gone insane trying to write a clingy character. Probably end up yelling at my computer more than I do now.
Venus Smurf ~ hee hee. Coming from someone whose writing is as awesome as yours, that is one of the best complements I've ever gotten. Thus, you get as a thank you an longer than normal chapter and an earlier than planned update. Thanks!
Bluejello ~ Thanks again for the heads up. I swear I can't edit my own stuff. And thanks for the improvement comment. That is something that I seriously pray for, that I get better not worse.
"Okay, okay, names...Let's see, Snowball is out. How about Lucifer? After all, you're no Angel, despite that white coat of yours. Okay, no. Um.... Fluffy?" She asked with a twinkle in her eye.
The white cat looked up at her and she felt the slightest prick of claws on her arm.
"Alright, alright, no to Fluffy too." Mina laughed.
Just then there was a knock at her door. Checking through the peephole she saw two women and one guy standing outside on her step.
"Damn. Why is it always two girls and a guy? Why can't it ever be two hot guys? Minus the girl?" She asked the cat who had come to the door with her.
"Hello?" She asked as she opened the door.
The blonde in the middle smiled and Mina had a brief thought that this woman would have made a great model. Maybe that was why she was there. Actually, all three of them had such unique looks that she would have loved to use them in a couple up coming photo shoots.
"Hello, my name is Serena and these are my friends, Rei and Darien." the blonde began hesitantly, her Japanese accent giving away her origins.
"Would you rather speak in Japanese?" Mina asked, switching over. She had spent a lot of time in Japan as a child and the language was almost as familiar to her as English.
The blonde smiled at her gratefully, "Yes, thank you. I'm afraid it's been awhile since I took English in school and I was never good at it to begin with."
"I understand. School and I didn't mix too well either." Mina said with a grin.
"Would you mind talking to us for a moment? It is about the cat that you found in the subway a few days ago."
"Oh." Mina said, realizing that these might be the cat's owners with a sinking feeling in her gut. She had grown attached to the fur ball. "Would you like to come in?"
"Yes, thank you."
The trio walked in and sat on the couch while Mina took one of the chairs.
"So, are you his owners?" Mina asked.
"No. Artemis is your cat if he's anybody's." The blonde said with a laugh.
"I don't think I understand." Mina said, puzzled. Just then she saw the black cat from the other night sitting at the man's feet. "Hey, that cat was here last night!"
"Yes. This is Luna. The white one's name is Artemis." The girl stated, picking up the black cat and petting it.
"Artemis, hmmm? Well, that is better than Fluffy, I guess." Mina said absently as she tried to figure out what was going on.
"Fluffy?" the blonde managed to spit out in surprise before falling into the guy, Darien, sitting next to her, giggling helplessly. The other girl and the guy both seemed to be trying not to smile as Artemis stalked stiff legged to a corner and began to ignore them as only a cat could.
"I'm sorry." The girl said as she tried to regain her composure. "Anyways, I have something of yours. We came to return it to you." Serena said, pulling out an orange pen.
"This isn't mine." Mina said, taking the pen curiously. It was quite beautiful, the gold symbol of Venus on the outside complementing the orange well.
"Yes, it is. But you won't remember having owned it, so don't worry about it." The girl looked like she wanted to continue but couldn't find the words.
"That pen is your history." The raven-haired girl, Rei spoke up. "If you open it, you will finally learn who you are."
"But there is a price." The blonde said quickly.
"There is always a price." Rei said, "But some things are worth it."
Serena looked at her friend for a moment before turning back to Mina, "If you open the pen, there is no going back. You seem to have a good life going here and I don't want you to lose it. And that may be a consequence of opening that thing."
"I have no idea what you are talking about." Mina said, beginning to think that she had just let three complete loonies into her apartment.
"Don't worry about in Mina. You're not really supposed to understand. We'll head out now. That was all we came for." Serena said standing up. The other two stood as well and followed her to the door.
As they were filing out Serena hesitated for a moment and pulled out a card with her name and several phone numbers written on it.
"Have you ever heard of the hero Sailor V?" She asked as she handed it to Mina.
"Yes, of course." Mina said, wondering what this was about.
"Give me a call if you ever meet her."
And with that the three people headed out, the black cat trotting at their heels.
"What the hell? Sailor V is a video game hero. How would I ever meet her?" Mina asked as she threw the card down on her coffee table next to the orange pen.
"And what do you know about this whole thing, hmmm?" She asked the white cat sitting at her feet.
He just looked up at her, and she sighed.
"Sure, plead the fifth on me. Geesh." She said, heading towards the kitchen to start dinner.
* * * * *
"So, what do you think?" Serena asked as they walked towards the hotel they were staying at.
"I don't know." Darien replied.
"If Mina doesn't open the pen on her own, Artemis will find a way to get her to do it." Rei stated matter of factly.
Serena sighed, "I just hope this all works out."
"It will. Now, let's go check out those news reports that Artemis mentioned to Luna." Darien said, wrapping an arm around Serena.
* * * * *
Mina was taking a walk through Kensington Park, trying to clear her mind and figure out what had happened the other night. She couldn't stop thinking about the people that had shown up yesterday. Finally she had decided that she needed to go for a walk and get some fresh air.
Those people had been insane and yet...there was something about all of them that seemed almost familiar. And they had that black cat with them, Luna. The one that had been in her house the other night. And Artemis had obviously known them. But they had said that he was her cat. What exactly did that mean? Did they used to own him and were giving him to her? Was this some new program of the Human Society to help bring up adoption rates?
And what did a video game hero have to do with anything?
Suddenly, up ahead of her she heard a scream.
She raced towards the sound and stopped in her tacks as she saw a young woman being attacked by...something. She had never seen anything like it. The only word that seemed to fit was monster. Suddenly the things claws hit the woman and she collapsed on the ground.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" Mina shouted.
As the monster turned towards her, she cursed, "Shit, shit, shit. Smooth move Mina."
The monster slowly began to walk towards her, almost like it was stalking her. Her brain was working in overdrive, trying to figure out how to escape.
"Mina!" She heard someone yell.
Both she and the monster turned towards the voice but all that she saw was her cat, Artemis.
"Mina! Open the pen!" Artemis yelled.
"What the hell?! You can talk?" Mina shouted in shock.
"The pen! Now!" Artemis shouted as the monster leapt at her. She grabbed the orange pen that Serena had given her and ripped off the cap. Just before the flood of memories hit her she saw Artemis leap onto the monsters face and heard the monster howl in anger.
Then, there were a thousand images and feelings as her memories came rushing back into her. Memories of being Sailor Venus, of betrayals and deaths, oaths of loyalty to a long destroyed kingdom and friendships that had beaten death himself.
But before she could process everything, the part of her that was Sailor Venus came roaring to the surface, in full battle readiness, sensing evil near. When she opened her eyes, she only had a moment to take in Artemis laying on the ground, the monster hovering over him before she attacked.
"Venus Love Chain Encircle!"
A gold chain formed in her hand and whipped forward, encircling the surprised monster and holding it. But the monster was putting a lot of strain on her chain with its struggles. The chain wouldn't be able to contain it much longer.
"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!"
A beam of pure light came from her hand and hit the struggling monster. A scream of pain tore through the quiet of the park and a flash of bright light blinded anyone who might have been in the area. When the light finally faded, the monster was gone, destroyed.
Venus collapsed on the ground, drained from the power needed for those attacks, attacks that she had not used in such a long time, and crawled towards the white form laying unmoving on the grass.
"Artemis?"
* * * * *
Serena clutched the seat and Luna dug her claws into Serena's leg as Darien took the final turn at a frightening speed into the veterinary's parking lot. In the back seat of the rental car, Rei was already unbuckling her seat belt. Almost before the car was even in park the four of them, Rei, Serena, and Darien, were out of the car and racing towards the entrance. Inside they saw Mina, sitting in the waiting area.
Mina looked up as the three of them came crashing in to the room and gave them all a weak smile.
"Hey guys, long time."
Serena grabbed her old friend into a hug, "It'll be okay. I promise."
Mina had called them, sobbing, from the veterinary's office less than twenty minutes ago. All that Serena had been able to make out was that Artemis had been hurt in a fight with a monster.
Rei walked over to Mina and pulled out a bottle of aspirin and handed it to her, "I remember what I felt like after opening my pen. You may want these."
Mina smiled wanly at her raven-haired friend and immediately popped the lid off the bottle and swallowed a couple of the pills inside. As the pain in her head began to recede, Mina filled the group in on what had happened. Supposedly she had also called an ambulance for the girl that had been attacked but had only stuck around long enough to see that the paramedics found her before taking Artemis to the vet.
"And I almost didn't wait that long." Mina muttered.
After almost an hour of waiting, one of the veterinary assistants came out and smiled down at the group.
"Your cat came through surgery wonderfully. We'd like to keep him overnight but he should be alright."
"Thank god." Mina whispered as Serena hugged her again.
"Hey, where's Luna go?" Darien asked as Mina got up to deal with the paperwork.
* * * * *
Luna dodged the people in the back room as she searched for Artemis. She knew that they had said he was going to be okay but she had to see him and make sure.
Eventually she made it to the kennel area and saw Artemis inside one of the cages. His fur had been shaved in several places and ugly stitches could be seen through the light gauze he had been wrapped up in. Nudging the latch, she managed to get the door to swing open, a feat easier to accomplish from outside the cage than inside it. Inside, she sniffed the white cat carefully, still smelling the remnants drug they had used to knock him out during surgery.
"Artemis, you fool. What were you thinking, attacking a monster like that?" Luna spit out angrily at his sleeping form. "What am I supposed to do if you go and get yourself killed, hmm? Who's going to make stupid jokes and stop me from killing Serena if you don't get better?"
She paused a moment, fighting down a sob that threatened to break free, "So...so, you have to get better, okay? Because I love you, you stupid fur ball and if you die, I'll kill you."
"A little extreme, don't you think, kitty cat?" Came the soft reply.
"Artemis! I thought you were still knocked out."
"Maybe I am. After all, I think I just heard you say you love me." Artemis said with a weak half smile.
"I said no such thing. You must be on too much pain medication." Luna said indignantly.
"Too bad. 'Cause I love ya too." He replied, opening a single eye to look up at her.
"What did you say?" Luna asked, stunned.
"Nothing, I'm still knocked out, remember?" Artemis said.
"Nothing, really?" Luna said, indignation in her voice as she pounced on the infuriating white cat in front of her.
"Hey! What the stitches!" Artemis yelped.
"Now," Luna said, brandishing her claws in front of Artemis' face, "What was it you just said?"
"I love you."
"Good. Because I love you too. Now get better fast so I can kill you." Luna said, walking out of the cage.
A soft chuckled followed her as she left to go find Serena again.
* * * * *
That night they all spent at Mina's house talking about the past and what had happened to each of them over the last few years. As Mina's new memories had a chance to settle in her head the conversation turned to scout business and their new enemies.
"So these new enemies are attacking people in places other that Tokyo now?" Rei asked.
"It seems like it. It only makes sense after all. Why risk a battle when you can just relocate?" Mina said.
"I miss Ami. She would have been able to tell us where else they might be attacking people." Serena sighed.
"Well, Artemis noticed the news reports and that's what made him suspicious. There's no reason why we can't keep an eye on the news and where similar reports are coming from." Darien said.
The group fell quiet for a moment at the mention for Artemis.
"Well," Mina said finally, breaking the silence, "I think that I should stay in London instead of returning to Tokyo with you guys. If they're attacking here, at least one of us should stay to keep an eye on things."
Serena looked at her friend, "I'm not sure I like the idea of you staying here to fight by yourself."
"Isn't that what you did?" Mina said with a small smile, "Besides you guys will only be a call and a teleport away if I need you."
"Alright, Mina. I understand. Your life is all here in London, too. We would never ask you to drop everything for us." Serena said.
"Thank you." Mina said, "But now that I remember how to teleport, don't you think for a moment that I'm going to miss out on the shopping in Tokyo on the weekends."
* * * * *
The next day, Artemis was released from the veterinary's care. When Mina told him that she was still going to live in London for the time being he looked over at Luna as he announced that he was staying with her.
* * * * *
The rest of the day, Artemis kept trying to get a chance to talk to Luna alone but there was always someone else around. Finally he just sighed and waited for everyone to go to bed and give him a chance.
* * * * *
Later that night, Luna and Artemis were sitting on the roof of Mina's house.
"Luna, I'm sorry. But Venus is my charge. I neglected my duty once. I can't do it again. I can't leave her here to face the enemy all alone."
Luna turned and licked his cheek, "I understand, love. And if you were to do any differently, you wouldn't be the cat I have known for several lifetimes."
"Then you aren't mad?" Artemis asked.
"Mad? No. Besides, it's not like the scouts aren't going to be seeing each other almost every week at their meetings. This will just give you lots of time to miss me and realize how lucky you are." Luna said with a sly look.
"Oh, I know just how lucky I am. But you can remind me any time you want to." Artemis said, rubbing his cheek against Luna's.
* * * * *
AN: Ahhh!!! Mina's chapters are done. Woo hoo!!! Would you believe that this was actually supposed to be about the same size as Rei's chapters? But no, I just had to keep adding stuff. And I hope you all like this chapter. It's a little longer than normal but I wanted to end this section of the story. Anyways, I have great plans for the next few chapters...that is if the characters don't hijack me again and do their own thing. grrr. Anyone else have that problem?
Okay, to my awesome reviewers:
Adyen ~ Ah! Thanks so much! I try but editing is one of those things that I don't always do as well as I should, usually because I'm so happy to be done that I'm too busy doing happy dances. Thanks for the help.
Marni ~ thanks. Hard to believe that this really was supposed to be a one shot thing when I started.
Dark Magician Girl ~ hee hee, I think I'm done with the cats for awhile. It's time to play havoc with some other characters. How you like how their story ended here though.
Shinigami ~ hee hee, those are some of my favorite movies but they are kind of hard to find. Lady Hawke is actually an old Michelle Phiffer movie. The story is told through the eyes of this thief Mouse. The Last Unicorn you actually stand a better chance of finding in the book store that the movie store. It's about a unicorn that becomes human. Diana, will probably not show up in this fic, but I definitely have a special place in my heart for her for my own reasons. She and I actually have the same name. ; ) I'm not telling who the general is that is going to show up. Geesh, I need a little mystery here. And if I do this the way I'm planning, it will actually be Venus who runs into the outers first, not Serena. Okay, enough secrets divulged to you!
Dria ~ Jadeite fan, hmmm? We'll see. lol. Thanks, for the originality comment. There are so many Sailor Moon fics out there that it is hard to find a fresh way of looking at the story. But I'm glad you like.
S. L. Butterworth ~ I am so glad you like the cats. I actually haven't read that much stuff with them as main characters so I wanted to work them in. I hope you still like them. I'm not sure if the scenes between those two are up to par here but I hope you still like. And making Serena more mature was more a self defense thing for me. I would have gone insane trying to write a clingy character. Probably end up yelling at my computer more than I do now.
Venus Smurf ~ hee hee. Coming from someone whose writing is as awesome as yours, that is one of the best complements I've ever gotten. Thus, you get as a thank you an longer than normal chapter and an earlier than planned update. Thanks!
Bluejello ~ Thanks again for the heads up. I swear I can't edit my own stuff. And thanks for the improvement comment. That is something that I seriously pray for, that I get better not worse.