Although it wasn't far away, the drive to Starlight Tower was long and tense. As Kunzite directed the car steadily through the inky roads and swimming streetlights, he was vaguely amazed that Izou had even agreed to come with him at all. Perhaps some part of him did know he was truly Zoisite.

He glanced over to the boy in question. If Izou was Zoisite, then Kunzite had to admit he didn't know this side of him. Izou's face was stony, staring straight ahead as white lines streaked through the glass of the windshield. In an attempt to lighten the mood, Kunzite tried once to break the silence.

"Izou…"

"I don't know you," was all Izou said crossly.

It was a surreal experience, to hear the same words in the same voice, and yet sound completely different. The two fell back into silence again, as the tunnel neared is opening.

When they reappeared out its end, the road stretched directly to the heart of the Tower. For a city that was so alive at night, the surrounding area was strangely deserted. The fleshing trees rustled in the night, casting odd, thriving shadows against the glow of the streetlights. They flickered by them in increments, black heartbeats flashing against the windows as Kunzite steered them closer and closer to the Tower.

About halfway, Izou felt a jolt in his gut.

"Stop."

The command came so abruptly that Kunzite immediately halted the car. They lurched forward and he glanced over at Izou, who was staring intently through the windshield.

"I won't go any further."

Kunzite glanced back at the Tower, still some distance away. It seemed more ominous now than before, the way it stripped the sky in half as it threatened to puncture the heavens. But Kunzite needed them to be closer.

As though reading his mind, Izou interrupted him the moment his hands shifted onto the steering wheel.

"You bring me any closer," Izou murmured, "and we are done."

In another life, Kunzite would have been alarmed and coldly galled by the heft in which Zoisite was speaking to him. But the balance of power, ironically, was different now, and Kunzite knew it. Strangely, it didn't upset him, but it did unsettle him.

"At least step out of the car," Kunzite compromised. And without awaiting Izou's response, Kunzite did just that. The door swung shut with a distinct firmness.

With his back to the vehicle, Kunzite stood outside there, alone, for a few moments. In all honesty, the silent night breeze was an appreciated and preferred companion, and for a split second, Kunzite wondered if he was better off alone. This entire thing was beginning to unravel into nonsense. Why hadn't Zoisite woken up yet? What was blocking his memories? How much of this did they have to mire through, before Zoisite would finally return to him as they were? Perhaps it was better to remain a bachelor, Kunzite felt bitterly. At least the empty wind felt the same, Dark Kingdom or not.

But the passenger door opened and closed, and Kunzite turned to face the solemn figure that was his lover's reincarnation. Izou was staring at the Tower with the face of a pallbearer, a crack creeping into his eyes.

"You remember," Kunzite said.

Izou's face broke into anger now, and his eyes flashed over at Kunzite.

"Don't you dare assume what I remember," Izou whispered.

"You're fighting it," Kunzite intuited. "Why."

Izou shook his head, taking a step back.

"Why shouldn't I?" he whispered, fists shaking ever so slightly by his sides. "That thing…" He gestured to the tower with a jerk of his head. "Isn't exactly welcoming…"

Kunzite's brow furrowed, and he glanced back over at the monument. Yes, it did appear formidable, but Kunzite couldn't necessarily see it as menacing.

"We stood on the tallest ledge here," he began quietly, as ghosts of the memory began to lift. "Together. It was our last stand, our final battle."

When he was met with silence, Kunzite took it as a sign to carry on.

"We were on top of the world," he continued softly. "The last of the Shitennou: Kunzite, Zoisite. We had everything in our hands. I held you close. We were close." In the breeze, Kunzite could even hear the soft intake of breath Zoisite had taken back then, as he had relaxed into the crook of Kunzite's neck. The way his spine had still been tight. How warm his cheek had been, especially the split skin where Kunzite's finger had grazed.

He turned his head to finally look back at Izou, who was still gazing at the tower unreadably. "I know it is hard to accept," Kunzite said, facing Izou squarely now. "But I know you know my words to be true. You must remember."

Izou's eyes flashed up at Kunzite then, but this time, they were dark and sullied with a great deal of feeling. Feelings that Kunzite could not read, for they flitted and cracked and welled from one another that Kunzite could hardly catch them, let alone understand them. The only one he could recognize as a whole was pain.

"Why?" Izou demanded. "Why must I remember?"

Kunzite didn't understand the question. "...For us," was all he could answer simply.

Izou's eyes flashed with incredulity. "Us!" he exclaimed. "A couplehood, in a life that I don't even know, a life that's dead and gone! You speak as if we were star-crossed lovers!"

"Star-crossed, fated, destined, however you want to put it," Kunzite retorted heatedly, "it is truth. "

"It is madness," Izou shot back. "I can't believe it. I won't believe it!"

"If it is madness, then it is one we both share!" Kunzite countered with thunderous stress. "Because this is here where your dream comes from, Izou! The one of being surrounded by beauty - by peonies, roses, and raining blossoms. Of being held by someone as petals kiss your cheek. I know it, because it is I who held you in it! "

There was another silence now, broken only by the sound of their heavy, steady breaths. But surely this had to be it, Kunzite thought to himself, as he saw the depth slowly returning to Izou's eyes. Surely now Zoisite would remember.

But instead Izou's face fell into an expression that Kunzite never expected. He looked heartbroken.

"And what if you're wrong?" Izou whispered, and his voice cracked. "What if you got the wrong boy, Saitou-sama?"

For a split second, Kunzite was struck numb. The thought had never occurred to him.

"I'm not," was all Kunzite could answer. "You are Zoisite."

Izou shook his head. "No," he whispered again, and his fists, tightly clenched, began to shake again. "I'm sorry, Saitou-sama, but I'm not."

A sick feeling punched Kunzite deep in the gut then, but his mind raced in defiance. No, this couldn't be a possibility. Izou was real. Zoisite was real. Izou was Zoisite. It had to be true, because if it wasn't, then Kunzite did not exist. Only a sad, desperate madman named Kunihiro.

"You must," was all Kunzite could say, more to himself than to Izou. "I know it."

Izou shook his head, a look of agony on his face.

"I don't even know myself," Izou nearly choked out. "How can I know anything beyond that?"

"You don't have to," Kunzite was quick to push. "You can just be. You are Zoisite, and you will always be Zoisite, memory or not-"

"But I'm not!" Izou shouted now. "I'm Izou!"

The name pierced the night air with an awful resonance. It struck Kunzite quite unexpectedly, sharp and deep like a blade in thick flesh. So unexpectedly, in fact, that he even took a step back.

"No," Kunzite said, as he shook his head, trying desperately to realign his thoughts. They briefly flitted over to the Tower. The picture! If he could just get to it, maybe dig it up - he should've done this ages ago, but finding Zoisite had been the top-most priority -

"You don't understand, Saitou-sama," Izou's voice was saying, far away. "I can't do this."

It took Kunzite all the mental effort he could summon to draw himself away from the Tower. To hear what Zoisite was saying. It was difficult, and even with forced concentration, the words echoed like sound above water.

"I can't be with someone who's always going to treat me like I'll be someone else someday."

"But you're not," Kunzite said again, his frustration growing. "And I won't-"

Izou was shaking his head again. But this time his shoulders were spent, and his bangs were lowered. Tears streamed down his cheeks as his soft voice cracked through the dark night.

"I'm sorry, Saitou-sama."

"No." This was it, Kunzite realized. He was losing him, and he couldn't lose him again. "Izou. Please." Please remember. Please stay. Please just give this another chance. Please...anything.

It shredded Izou just as much to say these words as it was for Kunzite to hear them, but he remained footed in his stance. His arms twisted around himself tightly to give himself strength. His eyes screwed shut.

"I have to go." With great agony, Izou was about to tear himself away, but Kunzite instantly stepped forward to stop him. Abruptly, Izou's hands flew to either side of his head now, halting Kunzite to keep his distance. A plea for space.

"Please don't," Izou whispered, his voice cracked. "Don't come near me, Saitou-sama. I can't do this. I can't bear to think of a past life when I don't even know myself in this one! No matter…" He bit his lip, and Kunzite's heart raised in a beat of hope. "No matter what ...we may have been, or what you may believe. I'm sorry."

With that said, Izou turned on his heel. He had to leave as soon as he could. He couldn't bear another moment here, another chance for his mind to be jumbled around into something he didn't recognize or understand. Thankfully, it seemed Saitou-sama - or Kunzite - understood.

"Why?"

The question was asked so simply, so quietly that Izou had to stop and swivel his face over to Kunzite once more. The man was standing with an unreadable expression on his face, so blank and lost that it looked like stone.

"Because if you are wrong, Saitou-sama, " Izou whispered tearfully, "then I would just be a stupid, foolish boy with a heart you took and broke."

The words stung Kunzite deeply once more, this time with the force of talons. It felt hard to speak or even breathe. When he finally managed to find his voice, it was hoarse and uncharacteristically injured.

"And if I am right?"

Izou's eyes were deep and dark, possibly from the crying. But Kunzite felt that the shadows of something much sadder.

"You say you held me in that dream," Izou called, his voice carrying over the air with more strength than he felt. "Tell me… is the memory a happy one?"

Kunzite could only remain silent. But Izou knew.

"I thought so."