When Artemis learns of a raft of jewelry robberies in the Jȗban district, he and Sailor V decide to lay in wait to capture the masked thief in action. Manga canon, but set before Sailor Moon Chapter 1. Written for Mamoru's Birthday 2021 and the 30th Anniversary of Codename: Sailor V.

Rated: T - Drama/Crime - Words: 1,835 - Artemis, Mamoru C./Darien S./Tuxedo Kamen, Minako A./Mina/Sailor Venus

A/N: Many thanks to Sinjazz1327 for beta reading this fic for me! Check her out on Instagram under SinJazz1327.

"Mina, come and look at this."

Minako pouted as she dumped her bag in the corner of her bedroom.

"Artemis! I've only just come back from school. Couldn't you wait a little while before getting down to business."

"A warrior of love and justice has no time to waste, Mina."

The pompousness in his tone made Mina seriously consider throttling the white feline. With a sigh she crossed the room and peered over his shoulder. It was a newspaper article about a Jȗban jewellery store being robbed.

"So what?" Shrugged Mina.

Artemis moved his head up to look at Mina, contorting his neck as only a cat could.

"I've been noticing a lot of robberies like this recently. Most of them seem centred within the Jȗban district, but their radius is slowly expanding. And…" A serious expression fixed upon his feline features. "…I've been sensing something odd about these crimes. Something not dissimilar to what led me to your school about a month ago."

Minako's eyes widened ever so slightly. Had it really been just thirty days since she'd landed on Artemis on the school field? It felt much longer than that.

"Artemis, are you saying this is connected to the enemies we've been fighting?"

"I'm saying it might be. I've input all the data I could from the news reports and deduced where the thief is most likely to strike next. Get your compact ready, tonight we're going to hold a stake out."

Minako tilted her head in confusion. "A steak out?"

Artemis nodded in confirmation. "That's right, so we can catch this criminal in the act."

"…But…What's eating meat got to do with jewellery...?"

Artemis body slumped in exacerbation. He breathed in slowly through his nostrils as he righted himself, his eyes closed as if praying for strength.

"What I mean is, we're going to go to one of these jewellery stores and monitor it all night in case the thief shows up."

"No way!" Exclaimed Minako. "I can't stay up that late. I've got school, volleyball practice, spending time with…" Minako stopped herself from naming the twenty ninth boy she'd fallen for that week. "…Hanging out with Hina, and then there's…" She clasped her hands together and averted her eyes skyward, an innocent expression on her face. "…My precious beauty sleep."

"Mina! You've got a job to do! It's your duty to…"

"Catch crooks?" She interrupted. "Pretty sure that's what we have the Metropolitan Police for. Call that woman, what's her name, Sakura something or-"

"Sakurada Natsuna. And I don't want to involve her or the regular authorities if I can avoid it. If this is the enemies we've been fighting, they'd be no match for them."

"And if it isn't then Sailor V would be major overkill don't you think!?"

"Maybe so… But then again…" A sly smirk crossed his face. "...that'd just dissuade future criminals, right Mina?"

Now Minako's body slumped, knowing Artemis had won the argument, just as he'd won every argument over the last thirty days.

Across town, Mamoru Chiba consulted the map and his accompanying notes. It was about the sixteenth time he'd done so that day. The jewellery store didn't seem particularly secure, but he was wary about running into any unforeseen complications.

He shook his head, mildly appreciating how insane this all was. In many ways it'd been easier several weeks ago, back when the dreams had first begun. Back when he'd practically sleepwalked through his crimes. Nowadays he approached his heists with the same rationality he applied to his school studies.

He moved away from the papers on his desk and crossed his apartment to the chair, picking up the white mask from the pile of clothes. Did knowing what you are doing make it worse? He supposed it did, but he didn't care. He couldn't care. For as long as he could remember, a piece of him had been missing and this Mystical Silver Crystal was the key to getting it back. It had to be.

Surely today of all days, fate would smile upon him? After all, it wasn't everyday a guy turned sixteen.

Eyes dilating, ears twitching, Artemis did his best to survey the area from the roof, the full Moon hanging massive in the sky above.

The jewellery store was inside a shopping mall, so there was no way to observe it directly, at least not discreetly. So he'd settled for the roof of a bridge that connected two halves. It overlooked an open plaza at the back of the mall where people might take a break from their shopping sprees. Behind him, Minako, already transformed, yawned for the thirtieth time that night.

"Artemis," she moaned. "This is a total waste of time. Right now I could be catching up with my homework or something."

"Mina," Artemis began through gritted teeth. "We both know you wouldn't be doing your homework and that 'or something' means either napping or ogling those boy idols in your maga-"

Artemis' breath caught. His keen ears had detected something. Had that been… the breaking of glass?

His suspicions were immediately confirmed when a loud bell rang out through the air! He trained his ears again, struggling to pick up anything over the noise of the alarm.

Footsteps, coming closer?

A chinking noise, perhaps a ring landing on the ground?

And a fluttering sound. It wasn't a bird though, it was more like a large piece of fabric, like a ca-

He didn't need his ears anymore. Both he and Minako could see the culprit running across the plaza. His black cape might've concealed him amidst the night were it not for the red inner lining, not to mention the white mask and shirt he sported. If this was one of their usual enemies, Artemis had to commend him on his dress sense at the very least.

"Mina, time to go to work."

"Alright, but I'm not making any big speeches. I'm too tired and fed up for that tonight."

"Just get on with it!"

Minako pouted and stood up.

Though she wasn't in the mood for big speeches, Artemis' charge was ever the idol and struck a heroic pose. Evidently, she'd angled herself just right for the Moon to silhouette her because the thief stopped dead and looked directly at her. He raised the cane in his hand, obviously ready to do battle.

The two costumed combatants leapt towards one another, Minako's crescent Moon compact colliding with the thief's cane mid-air!

As they both landed, Mina was the first to turn around, the thief clearly surprised at her skill. Minako was sticking to her 'no speeches' promise, but she did shoot a smirk at her opponent before wagging her finger in the air.

Artemis related to the silent, yet obvious, annoyance of the tuxedo clad criminal. The crook rallied himself and began charging straight at Minako.

Mina also charged but transferred her momentum into a series of flips. That caught the thief off guard enough that she was able to swipe at him with her crescent moon compact as they crossed one another.

Minako elegantly righted herself and spun around, striking another pose. A second later there was a clattering noise as what looked like most of the stolen jewels fell to the concrete. The masked thief stared at the almost completely empty bag in disbelief. Though he still possessed a handful of tangled gold and silver necklaces, he frowned and threw aside the remainder of his haul.

With that, he began to run across the plaza, Minako giving chase…

Mamoru struggled to concentrate the next day. He'd barely gotten away last night.

If he hadn't that would have been the single worst birthday since… well… since the birthday that had shattered his life in the first place. Since the birthday that'd set him on this insane path. Regardless, he wasn't going to give up. But maybe he would lay low for a while. He didn't want to run into anyone like that girl again.

A thought occurred to him, and he shook his head, knowing how ridiculous and illogical it was. Then again, his life had become incredibly ridiculous and illogical lately hadn't it.

So… why not?

He left his apartment but soon returned from a nearby cake store. After a bit of preparation, he closed his eyes and concentrated hard. In previous years, he's wished to know himself, to finally find that missing piece of his soul. But since he was already working on that, he decided to ask for something different this year. He wished that he'd never run into any more blonde sailor-suited warriors ever again.

With that, he blew out the candle and devoured the cupcake.

As expected, school and volleyball had been painful after the late night 'exercise' Mina had put herself through. She hadn't even had the energy to talk to the thirtieth boy who'd caught her eye that day.

After returning home and dumping her bag, she internally groaned when she saw Artemis was looking at the newspaper again.

"The police recovered the stolen goods and the mall will be upping its security from now on. I don't think that guy will be heading back there any time soon."

Minako wasn't pleased. "Oh great. I suppose that means we're steaking out somewhere else tonight, right?"

Artemis shook his head. "No, I don't think so. There is something… odd about that guy, b-"

"No kidding. Who wears a tuxedo to steal stuff?"

Artemis ignored the interruption. "But from what I saw he didn't have any special powers. I don't think he is one of our enemies so we can leave him to the police."

Minako let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, that means-"

"That means…" Artemis shot her a familiar sly smirk. "... You'll have plenty of time to study after all!"

Artemis tapped a thick text book he'd laid out on her desk. Minako groaned, albeit this time very much outwardly.

She suddenly wished the masked thief was aligned with her enemies. That'd at least be less stressful than her homework.

But Minako knew in her heart of hearts that she would never lay eyes upon him ever again…

A/N: Just a head's up, the next story in this anthology series should be published on 10th September. However I also hope to put out a new fourteen chapter fic between now and then called 'Triantáfylla' I hope you will all check out if you can.

Also just to let you know I am involved in a discord called 'Moonlight Legends' which is dedicated to sharing all sorts of Sailor Moon fanworks, including other fanfics. If you would like to join so you can share your own work, get help with your current projects or just connect to other fan creators shoot me a PM and I'll send you an invite. All are welcome!