Summary: She wasn't ready for the life as a senshi. She was alone and there was no-one else. So she ran. Ran away and made sure she couldn't be followed. A very different reaction for Sailor V.

It's Either Fight or Flight

"I wasn't ready for it."

A girl with long blonde hair stared at the cat incredulously.

"A warrior? Me?" She whispered and the cat nodded.

"All you have to do is accept. You'll have everything you ever wanted. Beauty. Fame. It's your birthright after all."

"He didn't tell me the dangers."

"So, all I have to do is say: Venus Power, make-up, right?" she whispered and the white cat Artemis nodded, a smile crossing her face. Idly she tied the red ribbon - it symbolized love he'd said and she was about to become a warrior for Aphrodite. That meant she'd be beauty. That meant no guy would ever try to hurt her again. She giggled and raised her hand in the air.

"VENUS POWER! MAKE-UP!"

"He didn't tell me that what I was fighting weren't monsters. Not really. He told me we were fighting the Dark Agency."

"Minako-chan. All you have to do is point your arm at him and say: Venus Love Chain Encircle. That's it." The twelve year old nodded and took a deep breath and glared at the monster before her. It had manifested in the form of a giant bird. It's golden wings and harpy-like claws were extended in the intent to harm. She pointed her hand at it.

"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!"

"In a sense we were because the dark agency had opened the way for IT to come through."

"Hey, Minako, you'll be back for dinner. Right?" She glanced at her elder sister Green eyes were smiling back at her and her white hair had been braided and tucked over one shoulder. She was wearing a beautiful turquoise dress and a white cardigan hung on her shoulders. Her athletic figure was standing over the stove as she contemplated what to actually cook for tea. Their parents were hardly home anymore, being busy with their own hectic lives and so. Minako bit her lip for a second wondering. "I'm cooking Western food tonight, with spag. bol with beef!" She looked somewhat excited and Minako had to laugh. It was a rare occassion in the Aino household for beef and western foods.

"I'll be back for dinner." She said finally as she left.

"But what we were fighting were people who'd come into contact with IT. Innocents."

The scream stopped her and she bolted in the direction the scream had come from. Somebody was in trouble. Artemis would yell at her if she didn't attend to it. She turned another corner and a man dressed in black was cowering on the ground.

"Are you okay?" She asked him quietly and his bloodshot eyes looked up at her.

"Energy." He rasped and she took a tortured step backwards.

"What?" His eyes widened and his hands moved to grasp his own head and let out a tortured scream.

"ENERGY!" And... and right before her eyes he changed. Flesh melded together and arms and legs became indistinguishable. His anguished face looked back her until it was replaced with that of a snake. She gasped. Youma. Monster.

"ENERGY!" It laughed and she moved out of the way. Quickly.

"Minako-chan! Transform." She heard Artemis yell and her instincts took over.

"The realization was awful. I'd killed over 20 people. I was a murderer. No worse. A serial killer. There was no other way to say it."

"It was human..." She whispered in shock after the fight had passed and Artemis nodded.

"I'm a murderer." He shook his head.

"It was for the cause Minako-chan." Tear-filled eyes met his.

"No. I'm still a murderer." She using the most angry words she could think of.

"Minako..."

"And you let me. Artemis, how could you?" He smiled.

"It was for the common good." She shook her head vigorously.

"I don't want to do this anymore." His sad eyes looked at her.

"The day you accept being a sailor senshi Minako you accepted the responsibility of defending the world." Her tear-filled eyes met his as she turned away.

"It's your responsibility to care for innocents Minako." Her head turned.

"Everyone I kill is an innocent Artemis." Her nodded and she got to her feet.

"I need to think." She said quietly and ran. Artemis didn't follow her.

"I wasn't ready for this responsibility. A thirteen year old can't be ready for this sort of stuff."

Her elder sister, her Oneesan, blinked as Minako entered the room. Tears pouring down her face.

"Hey, Mina? What's wrong?" She asked quietly and the girl looked at her.

"I'm a murderer." The elder girl's brow furrowed for a moment and decided to quickly disregard the comment. Minako was obviously distressed and probing would probally make her more so and she winced at the poor wording that came out of her mouth.

"What are you going to do about it?" She asked, biting her lip as Minako sat next to her burying her face in her Oneesans lap.

"I dunno..." The younger girl mumbled in the skirt. Golden Week was beginning soon the older girl realised as she ran her fingers through Minako's hair, it was obvious something was bothering the girl was obviously getting to her. She'd suggest a trip to her parents tomorrow, maybe somewhere in Hokkaido or even Kyoto would be nice and somewhat inexpensive. It was worth a try to help her sibling out... and maybe her parents might even agree to leaving a few days earlier than the official week, school was not agreeing with the elder girl.

"Would you like to take a break?" She asked slowly, her heart almost breaking at the tear-filled eyes that looked up at her.

"A break would be nice."

"I wanted to stop it. I wanted to run away. Pretend life was normal. That it would never happen. That it never did happen."

"Minako, did you make your decision? Are you ready to come back?" The blonde turned and smiled. The cat purred ready for it. An innocent felt that it was it's duty to protect innocents after all. And Minako had an over devealoped sense of justice due to being fed far too many Shoujo and Shonen manga's and anime's.

"Um... I need more time..." She muttered and he nodded and smiled. It was still to much for her to digest. Her blue eyes were saddened and teary. But all of a sudden they perked up.

"By the way Artemis. How do you eat?" He glanced at her surprised. This was something she would usually ask. Normalcy. Maybe she was trying to be normal.

"I do work." He muttered and she tilted her head.

"As what? A mouse catcher?" He glared at her and took a deep breath.

"No, I'm a electronic engineer." She blinked.

"Huh?"

"I basically create manage phone lines and look after radio waves." She blinked, she hadn't expected that but she supposed she should have... he was the one who'd created the Sailor V machine.

"As a cat?" He smiled sadistically.

"As a human." He eyes widened.

"Do you transform?" In the blink of an eye a white haired, golden eyed man stood in front of her and she gasped

"Wow."

"I wanted to stop all this 'senshi business.' I wasn't ready for it and there was no one I could talk to other than Artemis and it was plain he wanted me to continue to kill innocents and save others."

"I'll go now." She said smiling and he nodded. In cat form again. She crossed the road to about halfway before she turned around again.

"Hey! Artemis!" She called and he smirked.

"What Minako?"

"When your human do you still react like a cat when around a female cat in heat?" He blushed.

"Minako!" He yelled and she grinned.

"I'm not going to dignify that with an answer." She pouted and he turned around. A loud honking noise of a semi-trailer was heard and he spun around again quickly to see the normal reflexes of Sailor V, Sailor Venus, not working. In shock she stared at the truck and he shut his eyes tightly as he bolted away. There was nothing he could do. He couldn't call for help. Besides that was the driver's job and he couldn't watch her die. She was his student. He was too attached.

With that Artemis left the scene of the crime.

"I just didn't want to kill anymore."

Reviews are appreciated.

Authors Note: This dabbles into the comments introduced when Sailor Uranus was born; the monster came from the boy and yet there seemed to be no prescence of the Dark Agency or the Dark Kingdom/Negaverse so I went with it in this fanfiction. It does involve the death of character as well as it is written very jumpily to portray her emotions and confusion. Please read and review it would be much appreciated.