Chapter 6

The walk towards their destination was a quiet one. Rei never looked back to see if he was following her—though he supposed she didn't need to, with her sharp senses as a Senshi.

They stopped in the courtyard. Without the temple visitors, the place was surrounded by a serene atmosphere, especially under the night sky. The old man was nowhere in sight, and Jun wondered for a moment if he were purposely giving him and Rei space.

Though he wouldn't put it past Rei to request for privacy before searching out Jun.

"I owe you an apology."

Rei's voice brought Jun out of his reverie, and he frowned, wondering why she was apologizing.

As if she'd sensed his confusion, she continued, "I shouldn't have lost my temper towards you this afternoon."

Realization dawned on Jun, and he shook his head, a soft chuckle leaving his lips. "You don't need to apologize to me." He paused for a second before continuing, "I was … I should've thought things over a bit more before springing my request on you."

Rei turned around. With the moon behind her, Jun couldn't see her expression as well as he would've liked.

Of course, that meant that she could catch any nuance on his face the moment they occurred.

She was and is second-in-command to Venus after all.

The silence that followed made Jun shift in his position, and he was reminded of that nightmare he'd had of Jadeite and Sailor Mars, the one on the moon in the garden where she'd told him to stay away from her. He wondered if this particular meeting would turn out the same.

Unexpectedly, he felt a boulder drop in his stomach. While he had been prepared to leave Yua to Rei's care, the whole sentiment was completely different if he were ordered to move out of the temple.

Just thinking about it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"That," she said, "wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I lost my temper today."

He looked at her, waiting for her to elaborate, before he realized she was probably thinking about certain incidents from their previous lives.

"You do this. Every. Single. Time. You always think that you know what other people are thinking and feeling … What are you going to do? Go home and start withering until there's nothing left but a husk of your original body? Let anger and depression overwhelm you before some evil power takes you over again?"

It hadn't made sense to him when she'd said it, but now, it did.

"It's not your fault," Jun said.

"To you, it never was, was it?" she asked softly.

If anything, the confusion in Jun grew. He didn't know if it were his imagination, but he thought he heard amusement and nostalgia, and maybe even a hint of regret, in her voice.

But before he could contemplate anymore on that, she spoke again, her voice back to the calm and collected one he was so accustomed to by now, though her words weren't any less shocking to him.

"I won't throw you out of the temple," she said. "You're … Yua's older brother this lifetime, and she needs you. And Jii-san … needs you as well."

The underlying meaning in what she said didn't escape him, so he said, "You said 'this lifetime'. So that means that I know Yua and Jii-san in my previous lifetime as well?"

It was after the words left his mouth that he realized how many things could go wrong with him asking the question. It was as if he hadn't learned from the lesson he'd received that afternoon. Nothing good came out of him prying too much into his past life.

Nonetheless, a part of him wanted to know, anticipated the answer from Rei. Despite knowing all the terrible things that were associated with his past, he couldn't help wanting to understand more about who he was in the past, before he became that monster who'd helped bring the Silver Millennium and the Golden Kingdom towards destruction.

"Yua … was my sister," Rei replied, "and Jii-san was your mentor."

No wonder he felt an inexplicable closeness to the old man.

"You really don't remember much about the past," she suddenly murmured, almost as if she was saying it to herself.

"I … just remember what I've seen in nightmares … and random tidbits that appear in my mind," Jun confessed.

The Queen and King hadn't asked much about what he knew about the Silver Millennium and the Golden Kingdom, so Jun had assumed that they all knew about what he'd dreamed about. Apparently, they'd thought he'd remembered more than he actually did.

Rei didn't answer him, and silence blanketed over them once more. Now, however, Jun felt much more at ease, knowing that he wouldn't be shunned by her.

Sure, nobody wanted someone they liked to hate them. In Jun's case, perhaps it was because of what he had seen in his nightmares, but he wasn't even thinking about courting Rei. Not that he wasn't attracted to her, quite the opposite really, but wooing her was at the bottom of the list of things on his mind at the moment. He was quite happy with the fact that she wouldn't stop him from seeing Yua anymore for the time being.

Definitely not going to become that monster in the nightmare.

"Are you really not going to consider returning to the King's side?" Rei asked, surprising him once again.

Jun stared at her. From the corner of his eye, he saw her clench and unclench her fist, but he kept his gaze firmly on her face, despite the fact that her expression was still clouded by the shadows.

He remembered how Minako had been reluctant to let the silver-eyed man go back to the King's side, so why was Rei so generous to him?

"The King misses you … all four of you," she continued to say.

"I'd thought …" Jun started to say before stopping himself.

He didn't know how much of one's personality was retained between reincarnations, but he was certain that Rei wasn't the type of person who would let someone into her heart easily. He didn't know why she was treating him this way, in a way that could almost be described as gentle, for the time being, but he wasn't going to push his luck.

However, there were some things that couldn't and shouldn't be left in the background to fester.

"I … Jadeite … He … He killed Sailor Mars," Jun said softly.

Rei's body visibly stiffened upon hearing his words, if only for a few seconds, and he could hear some suppressed emotions when she spoke again.

"Jadeite … had been under the control of other beings," Rei said. "I … we are willing to believe that most of the things that he had done were against his will."

"That's not the impression I'd gotten when Minako-san spoke with that silver-eyed man. I don't see how I'm any different from him," Jun replied, despite how surprised he was.

"She doesn't want him to come back for her own reasons," Rei replied. "It's ... complicated."

It was clear to Jun that he wasn't going to get more information about this from her, so he simply stood there with polite attentiveness on his face.

After all, she wasn't the only person he could get information from

"The reason I wanted to speak with you tonight is because I want you to know, if you want to return to the King's side, I won't stop you. You are welcomed to be his personal guard again … as much as you are also welcomed to stay here," Rei said.

~-0-~

If anything, his chat with Rei left Jun with more questions than answers, but at least he didn't feel like he would be thrown out of Hikawa Shrine at any moment anymore. One of the biggest pluses was the fact that Rei seemed at ease enough nowadays to give him a polite nod when they saw one another—or at least whenever she acknowledged his presence. Admittedly, there were a couple of times when he felt that she'd pretended to not see him so as to not interact with him, but at least she was civil whenever their gazes met.

He'd thought about finding a job but was quickly discouraged by the old man.

"Not before you figure out if you're returning to the King's side," the old man instructed him.

Jun resisted the urge to ask: What if it took him a couple of years to decide?

He doubted the old man would appreciate that question, especially with that knowing look on the latter's face, as if Jun would agree to becoming the King's personal guard once more anytime soon.

So, other than the days when he was busy with temple duties, he rekindled his enjoyment towards visiting Old Oak Tree. The next most logical thing on the list of things to do was, of course, to figure out why the sudden change in attitude towards him, especially in Rei's case. He knew he couldn't get that information from the shrine maiden, so the best way around it was to ask those who knew her better than he did.

His choices were either Neo-Queen Serenity or one of the other Sailor Senshi, but he had a gut instinct that it would be a bad idea to dig for news from the Queen herself.

He was still left with three choices, but Minako's name was immediately placed in the "not unless I'm in a life-or-death situation, and even then, handle with caution" category. Despite her ditzy exterior, Jun knew better than to try to play games with her, and he couldn't guarantee what she said would be true.

That left him with either Ami or Makoto to dig news from.

He'd considered concentrating on getting information from Ami. If anything, she sort of still owed him one from what happened at the search department. Never mind the fact that there seemed to be something going on between her and Zen, though neither had said anything just yet.

Much to his surprise, however, his opening came one particular day when Minako didn't come to Old Oak Tree without any warning, and Makoto was left with the situation of where she had to work both the kitchen and counter. She was just considering closing for the day when Jun walked in, and after explaining the situation to him, Jun had offered to take Minako's place for the day.

He didn't know if it were because she was simply grateful for any help she could get that day or if it were because he'd kept a clean record ever since the Great Freeze had ended, but she immediately left him a few instructions before rushing back into the kitchen again.

Since it was the first time he worked there, he wasn't certain if the customer flow could be considered normal or not, but by the time Makoto informed him that it was time to close up the shop, he had lost count of the number of cups of coffee he had handed over to customers.

Makoto offered to pay him back in cash for his help, which he turned down, and the two of them soon found themselves sitting at one of the tables with two plates of cake and two cups of chamomile tea.

"I seriously feel bad for not paying you," Makoto said as she picked up a fork and poked it into her chocolate velvet cake.

Jun picked up his fork to cut into the apple cinnamon cake as a light smile found its place on his face. "I wouldn't say 'no' to the promise of lifelong supply of cake, you know?"

"Now that's just being greedy," Makoto replied, pointing her fork at him while a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes.

"Darn it. My perfect plan is foiled," Jun said with just a touch of dramatic flare, causing Makoto to laugh.

"No free cakes for the rest of your life," Makoto said, picking up her cup of tea, "but I suppose I can, let's say, answer some questions you might have."

Jun stared at her.

A corner of her lips tugged upwards. "You didn't think I'm that stupid, did you?"

"I never thought of you as stupid," Jun said, doing his best to look as sincere as he could.

"Nah, I don't think you did," Makoto said, taking a sip out of her cup before placing it down back on its saucer. "But admittedly, I can't read people as well as Minako-chan, and neither am I as sharp as Rei-chan."

So much for Jadeite being good at reading people.

Later, in retrospect, he would worry about the fact that he was still underestimating people even when he was free from the powers of the Dark Kingdom. At the current moment, he could only concentrate on his blunder.

His cheeks burned, and he took a bite out of the apple cinnamon cake. The simple task of swallowing seemed a lot harder than usual tonight. Even though the dessert was as delicious as always, it felt more like chewing sand to him.

Makoto didn't immediately speak again, and he felt his skin prickle with unease as the seconds slipped past. It wasn't until he was halfway through his cake when she spoke again.

"So … the questions."

Her voice was light, and for a short moment, Jun considered not asking anything. He wasn't all that surprised when the first word out of his mouth wasn't a question.

"Sorry."

Makoto tilted her head to the side. All of a sudden, a brilliant smile appeared on her face. "Seems like Serenity is correct. You are different from both your past life self and the Dark Kingdom goon."

Jun blinked at her, though he couldn't say he was very confused that they'd spoken about him (and maybe even Zen) behind his back.

"Apology accepted, by the way," she said, a slightly upward lilt in her voice. "And ask away."

When he still didn't say anything, she raised her eyebrows at him.

"I'm still not going to offer you free cake for the rest of your life even if you don't ask questions about Rei-chan, you know?"

"I didn't mean that," Jun answered, his cheeks burning once again.

And he wasn't planning on just asking questions about Rei, though it didn't feel right adding that in at the moment.

"Then stop being stupid and ask the damned questions already," Makoto said with a smile. "I haven't got all day."

"That silver-eyed man that I saw the other day, when you burst out of the kitchen," Jun said.

A look of confusion appeared on Makoto's face before it was replaced by realization and then surprise. "Not exactly the first thing I thought you would ask, but I guess it's not too surprising that you're asking about him." She took another small bite out of her cake. "His name is Takahashi Koichi."

Jun stared, and he nearly dropped the cup of chamomile tea before he managed to steady his hand.

"You're kidding me."

Makoto raised her eyebrows at him. "Does it look like I am?"

"But he's … he's …"

"A high-ranking member of the rebellion, yeah."

"Didn't you already destroy that possibility a thousand years ago? Didn't you and your sisters already burn every possible way back for me the day after I arrived at your Princess's doorstep?"

That memory suddenly came back to Jun, different pieces from different memories clicked together, and he understood.

"He was acting as a spy for you, a thousand years ago, just when the rebellion started," Jun said.

"Before it started."

Jun remained silent, recalling all the failed attempts at assassinations and other projects, and he wondered how many were the works of Koichi Takahashi.

"How many spies did you guys have?" Jun asked with a frown.

Makoto laughed, genuine humor swimming in her eyes even when the loud, throaty laughter died down into little chuckles. "Really? You're asking that question when you know it's—well, okay, I suppose you don't have your memories from the past, but I doubt Kunzite would be amused by you underestimating him either way."

Kunzite …

"He's technically the only one we know. How many spies did Venus send in without us knowing? No idea. How many other people did Koichi-san recruit while he was in there? No idea either."

True, the two leaders—and Jun had no idea why he categorized Koichi as a leader in his mind—hardly showed their final hands.

"Aren't you afraid of what I might do with this information? I mean, there are still rebels out there," Jun commented, placing his fork down on the table though he was nowhere finished with his cake yet.

Makoto mimicked his move, before folding her hands and placing them behind her head. "Minako-chan didn't mention anything about keeping information from you. And Rei-chan is letting you live with Jii-san. They must think you're trustworthy to a certain degree." She paused for a second before adding, "And if you betray Endymion again, I'll just go ahead and beat you into a pulp before putting you through a meat grinder."

Technically, he hadn't sworn his loyalty to the King yet, but Jun doubted it would be wise for him to mention that at the moment.

"Are you really not going to ask any questions about Rei-chan? Or are you just shy about it?"

The fork Jun had just picked up fell out of his hand, leaving behind a clattering sound as it landed on the table.

Makoto's lips quivered and her eyes twinkled, though he supposed she was already being kind by not laughing at him straight out.

He picked up the fork again, clutching his fingers around the base before loosening it slightly a couple of times before he poked it into the cake.

"There's … not much for me to ask, I suppose," he said cautiously.

He internally cringed when he thought he heard a note of melancholy in his voice.

Makoto stared at him, attentiveness written all over her face as she waited for him to elaborate. She absentmindedly scratched her cheek before allowing her fingers to play with the fork. That was when he noticed that she hadn't eaten much of it and there was still at least three-quarters of it left.

"I mean, she's allowing me to live at Hikawa Shrine … That's already so much to ask from her. I can't continue to impose myself on her like this. I … I don't want to become the person … the Jadeite from my dreams and bother her," he admitted.

Confusion flickered through Makoto's pretty green eyes. "What do you mean, impose yourself on her?"

"I know my presence troubles her," Jun said, "both in this lifetime and in our past lives. It would be—"

"Hold up, hold up," Makoto said, her eyes wide. "Let me get this straight. You think that your presence troubles her? As in, you think she hates you?"

"Well, she does," he said. " … Doesn't she?"

Makoto ogled him. Then, loud laughter slipped out of her lips again. Her whole body shook, and she held onto the table edge with one hand, as if to steady herself, as she wrapped an arm around her waist as Jun watched dumbfounded, not certain what was so funny about what he had said.

"Oh dear," Makoto gasped when the laughter finally died down a bit. "This is too much. And to think that you were supposedly good at reading people."

"She wanted me to stay away from Yua-chan, and she wasn't … She seemed rather upset when she saw me at Hikawa Shrine the first time I was there," Jun pointed out.

"That's because she's worried about you," Makoto said as she grabbed a napkin and wiped her eyes. "For someone who's supposedly renowned for reading people, you really suck at your job."

"Hey!"

"It's true," Makoto said with a shrug. "I mean, I can understand it the first time because Mars isn't really forthcoming with her feelings and stuff, but since this is the second time you're getting everything wrong, I totally have enough reasons to call bullshit on your skills."

Jun's breath hitched. Although he was generally still confused with the implications of Makoto's words, something inside him seemed to have connected the dots.

Makoto leaned forwards, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "She's worried that you'll be swayed over to the dark side again because of her. She doesn't want to see you die in front of her again, so she thought it would be best to keep you away from her altogether."

"It's not her fault," Jun objected.

Makoto shrugged again, leaning back into the chair she was sitting in. "To be honest, I don't remember much about our past lives, just tidbits here and there, and besides, I can't possibly know what happened to you back then. But I do remember that you got swayed by Queen Beryl after her rejection for you to stay by her side, and Mars wondered if she shouldn't have been so harsh on Jadeite."

"It's not her fault," Jun repeated himself, shaking his head. "I … Jadeite is a fool."

Makoto raised her eyebrows.

"Sorry, was a fool," Jun amended quickly, causing Makoto to snort. "I mean, I don't remember what happened either, but if he accepted darkness just because Mars rejected him, then he's more naïve and petty than a simple child. It's sad to get rejected by someone you love, but Mars did nothing wrong by cutting him off if she couldn't reciprocate his feelings. It would've been worse if she strung him along, giving him hope that things could work out between them."

"Harsh, but true," Makoto commented softly. "To be honest, I don't think things were that easy or black and white? But whatever."

Jun sighed, leaning back into his seat as irritation towards the Jadeite in the past continued to grow. Confusion warred inside him. Most people had a petty side, and Jun was no different, but to submit himself to the dark side just because a woman rejected him …

It didn't feel like something he would do.

But he also couldn't deny the fact that he felt a connection with the name "Jadeite". Deep inside him, he knew that had been his name.

"Hey! Remember when I—well, when Jupiter told you that Mars had a vow of celibacy?" Makoto asked, breaking him out of his reverie.

Jun nodded.

Before Makoto could continue to speak, loud tapping could be heard coming from the window beside them.

Jun looked up to find Naoto Watanabe standing there, fuming, while he glared at the two of them.

"You don't have time to face me, but you have time to sit there, drink tea, and eat cake with a pretty boy!?"

Though his voice was muffled, Naoto's words could still be heard loud and clear through the window.

A growl came from Makoto as she stood up, the chair nearly falling over. After making a rude gesture at Naoto, she unhooked the curtains, allowing them to cover the windows.

Moments later, Naoto entered the café and stalked over to where they were sitting.

Makoto rolled her eyes to the ceiling and sighed before shooting Jun a wan smile. "I should go clean up the kitchen so we can close up. I'll chat with you later."

Ignoring Naoto, she stood up and walked into the kitchen.

Jun blinked. He'd thought Makoto had cleaned up the kitchen before sitting down with him to talk.

Makoto's place was soon taken over by Naoto, who contented himself by crossing his arms over his buff chest and glaring down at Jun.

Nephrite.

Jun was a bit surprised himself when his mind provided that name for Naoto. Judging from what he had gone through in the last couple of days, it didn't seem like he was hallucinating or being overly creative though.

Therefore, he hardly blinked when Naoto picked up the fork and cleaned off the cake Makoto had left behind. For a moment, Jun wondered if Makoto had left it there on purpose.

"What are you doing here?" Naoto suddenly asked after finishing off Makoto's chamomile tea, too.

"... Business related stuff," Jun replied.

"..."

Technically, Jun wasn't lying.

"This is the second time I've seen you here." Naoto paused for a second before adding, "Sorry about hurting your shoulder last time."

"No worries about it," Jun replied.

"So you work here now?" Naoto asked.

Why did that sound more threatening than it should?

"... Not really. Minako-san didn't come in today, so I was just here to help."

"She called you to come in—"

"No, no, I just walked in at the right time," Jun explained quickly, having no doubts that the "she" was referring to Makoto and not Minako.

He wasn't Zoisite. He didn't have any desires to be body slammed into the ground just for a few laughs.

That seemed to appease Naoto. Or at least Jun didn't feel like he was in any immediate danger for the moment.

"I should get going then," Jun said as he stood up.

"I thought she said she was going to chat with you later."

Not like he could get more information with Naoto around. Jun wasn't even sure how much the man remembered about their past lives.

"It seems like whatever you needed to tell her is much more important," Jun said with a smile plastered on his face. "See you around."

~-0-~

Winter was peeking around the corner, and the night wind carried a touch of her coldness towards those walking around the streets. Thankfully, Jun had remembered to grab a scarf this morning before heading out that morning.

He was about three streets down from Old Oak Tree when a car stopped a couple of meters away from him. He probably wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't for the familiar blonde who stumbled out of it, still hissing something towards the driver before slamming the door shut behind her.

The driver immediately got off, circled around the car, and grabbed her arm, preventing her from walking away from him.

Jun stopped in his stride, suddenly wishing that he'd taken a different route home.

It wasn't as if he could hear what they were arguing about, but he had a feeling things would take a turn towards something that he shouldn't witness.

He was just considering turning around to take a detour when the argument between Minako and Koichi—Kunzite—got louder, and then his hunch was proven true.

He should've taken a different route home. He really, really didn't need to see his former leader (could he really be considered former?) trapping Minako against the car and kissing her.

As if things weren't bad enough, his phone chose that moment to start ringing. Just like a badly scripted show, he tried to stop the ringing but his mind couldn't decide whether to pick it up or silence it, so he ended up doing neither.

When he finally got it to stop ringing by shutting his phone off, he looked up and found both Koichi and Minako staring at him, with the latter's cheeks bright red.

Koichi placed a hand on top of Minako's head, opened the door to his car, and maneuvered her back inside. She didn't put up a fight, and Jun couldn't help wondering if they somehow knew how to communicate with one another nonverbally.

Koichi walked towards Jun, and without even acknowledging it, Jun stood up just a bit straighter, like a soldier standing at attention. Koichi didn't even say a word, but when he passed by Jun's side, the latter wordlessly turned around and followed him.

~-0-~

A/N: Many thanks to my beta, Nerys! Huge thanks to those of you who've read, added to alerts, and faved! Huge thanks to merlinsaprentice and Valkyrie Celes for reviewing!