She shouldn't have been there. Perhaps, he knew, he shouldn't have been there either, watching as she bathed in the moonlight like it was milk, her golden hair stark and luminous against the dark water, her power rippling through him in beckoning and oppressive caresses that had most men falling to their knees. A good thing, his knees were sturdy or he might have joined them.
The celestial bodies of the Silver Millennium were terrifying to behold in his realm of mortal men, but in the central Kingdom of Elysium, they had become merely a formality of daylight to iron out diplomacy and politics that never swayed in their favor. Regulated visits that feigned equality while his men feigned tolerance because any of them could have snuffed out his entire army with a wave of their hands. Even still, he never felt any threat from this one. Not the one with the bluest of come-hither eyes and pouty lips that haunted his thoughts if he was careless enough to leave them empty.
She and her soldiers insisted that Peace was their mission and promised their good intentions while their Queen sat atop her silver and ivory throne without moving an inch, cold stone like the crystal she wielded. The Lunar guardians had always been kind, charming, and far more accepting than Kunzite had been lead to believe, and it caused his suspicions to run deeper. Were they seeking information by seducing his men? Or were they truly chasing the wild rabbit to keep the little Princess safe while trying to prevent war? All for the sake of a Miracle Romance he'd never believed in. He'd always wondered how he could seek peace with something he didn't trust? Yet it was because of her that he tried.
But she never spoke to him directly, could scarcely hold his eyes, and Kunzite assumed that it was because her Princess was running wild through his gardens with his Prince at all hours of the night and as head of the Elysian guard he wasn't supposed to be privy to that. Except against his better judgment he was more than aware and even a guilty party to the forbidden rendezvous under the guise of a statuesque sentinel when he was all too glad to oblige Princess Serenity's guardian with his company. Too happy to damn himself by falling prey to the Venusian's untamed curiosities and drown in the oceans of her beauty that ran deep into the girl's soul.
Kunzite knew all too well the danger that lie just beneath her golden countenance that illuminated the lake's waters like a midnight sun. Venus was powerful, a hardened soldier through and through, more so than those under his command and yet a carelessly purposeful brush from her hand, a simple word spoken innocently enough seemed to hold carnal intentions, and her scent of oranges and honeysuckle had consumed him completely in his weakest moments. She was beauty incarnate, and the reason that Love itself could be deadly.
A death sentence more beautiful than he could have imagined.
As a King and Soldier, that was the night he failed them. As a man, flawed and with desire, he fell prey to his captivation as he watched bathe in the silver light that spilled over her the way that oil meets water and her golden aura defied the very moonlight that she served so loyally. No other beauty could touch her, Venus absorbed into herself until everything else seemed dull and insignificant, but she was not soft. She was sharp as his blade, and when she paused her bathing, shifting her attention toward him as he moved into the light toward the water's edge, her lips curled knowing in amusement.
"I was wondering when you would join me."
"I'm not here to join you." He returned flatly, attempting to keep his frown when he would have rather obliged this ethereal creature's every desire as they fluttered from under her lashes. But she was there outside of the law, without permission, without anyone knowing of her presence. It wasn't the first time she'd done this, but this time Kunzite should have sent her away.
"Only to watch? I'm not opposed if that is your thing General, but to touch is far more satisfying." Venus eyed him, crown to boot, making no move to conceal her bared chest. In fact, she very purposefully cupped the water in her hands and poured it between the valley of her breasts, tilting her head back and exposing her alabaster throat to the night. "Your Summer season is hot. Heavy. That uniform does not appear very accommodating."
"Something tells me if I join you, the lake will not offer me any relief."
She hummed a confirmation in her throat, shifting her eyes toward the stars. "A little too late for shyness. Don't you think?"
His voice came out cold. So flat and harsh in comparison to what he wanted to say. "We discussed this, Venus. You should leave."
"Yes, I know. We need to be better than them, stronger in our resolve. But do you really think that a child of Venus can truly deny her nature? That she would offer her love so freely?" His eyes widened, and he swallowed, the dry knot almost choking him. "I speak my mind, General. You know above all that my words can't be spoken at court. You do feel the same, after all." She eyed him with purpose again, steady and arresting, finally holding his eyes and stripped him bare to the soul with them. "Join me?"
Kunzite began the task of undressing with a roll of his eyes, quaking hands concealed by the darkness as he pulled the boots from his feet and the tunic from his chest. It was with reluctance that he removed his sword, placing the items neatly on the bank of the lake with the knowledge she could end him in mere seconds with or without it. Perhaps she already had just by reading him so easily, destroying his guise of indifference with the very emotion she was sovereign of. An emotion he felt down to the marrow of his bones.
He almost didn't remove his trousers until Venus clicked her tongue at him and shook her head, pointing very blatantly at his groin. He rolled his eyes again and obeyed her lewd order, finding a sort of thrill in her pointed stare as he sauntered into the cool water to join her. "What exactly had you hoped to get from this Venus? I am not Endymion, I am not up for playing your reckless games."
"I am not my Princess, and while it may be reckless, love is no game." He tensed, holding in a breath when she touched him. When her power seeped into his skin from the pads of her fingers while she shamelessly began to explore him. Kunzite had never seen her eyes look so certain before, but as always there was something sad and wistful in them. Dreamy, longing and more beautiful than the vast oceans he'd sailed. "I came here with the hope that you would finally make me yours."
"I have had your body, Mina." He whispered with the memory of the storm ravaged night she came to him, rattled and quaking beneath the weight of it all. The night she claimed him.
"I had yet to give you my heart." Cool to the touch, she brushed her fingers across his cheek, and suddenly understood the clarity in her eyes. It was love.
"Why me?" It came as a breath, her touch so distracting, her scent overpowering the Earthy waters of the lake. An intoxication induced by no magic, or perhaps just that feeling tugging at his heart he'd denied for so long. And what he wouldn't give to surrender himself to this feeling. To free himself with the words.
"The way you feel is no secret, least of all to me. You know why, Kunzite." She whispered softly, weaving her arms around him so he could feel her skin against his own, her breath against his lips, the magic of her permeate into his soul. "I know because I feel it too." He watched the tears glass over her eyes, her brows furrow with fear as if she knew the darkness surrounding them. As if she was there solely to ward it away from him and whispered in a shuttering breath. "Gods I feel it Kunzite."
To hear his name, the way she said it, was enough for him to swallow their unspoken words for both of them with one of many forbidden kisses, and for better or worse, he gave himself to a Goddess that night, and she gave herself to him forever. A soul binding promise of everlasting love.
Even if her Sovereign of the Silver Crystal could spy them from above, it didn't matter, it wasn't even a thought. Their limbs wrapped around each other, diving and writhing into each other until the stars burst in the sky and euphoria was all-consuming. He'd spill her onto the grassy bank of the lake to take her, and she'd overpower him to offer him more.
The true name of Venus was a forbidden thing, almost as forbidden as it was to love her the way that he did so completely. Her every touch and word was guarded near him in the company of his Guard, his Prince, his King. But tonight, she shouted it to the stars with every moan and whispered word and he could feel every breath of it as he inhaled it into his lungs. She loved him, so completely that he could feel nothing else. No pain or fear, only Venus, and he found himself pulling her close to keep her, shuttering himself into her with declarations of her name. The words they wanted to say were never spoken, so Kunzite offered her the only revelation of those three words that he could.
"Mina."
She shot up in bed, gasping to the darkness of her room with her own name reverberating through her mind from across the ages on the deep voice of her long lost lover. Sweat sheened on her skin and it took Mina a moment to unclench her fists from their grip on the sheets in the realization that she was back in her tiny apartment near Juban, and that she was herself. Not a certain Elysian General.
The clock read two AM on her nightstand, and she allowed a slow calming breath to ease from her lungs as she chugged down what was left in the water bottle she kept by the bed. Her stomach was tense, heart thundering, and the urge to throw on her shoes and race from the house was nearly overwhelming. It meant that Khai was dreaming too, that he needed her, and it damn near killed Mina that she was too stubborn to respond to the fated red thread that bound them together. That tugged at her chest until it ached.
"Are you okay?" Artemis lifted his head sleepily, producing a wide-mouthed yawn as he staggered up the mattress toward her. Her guardian was used to the dreams, the nightmares that sometimes woke her up shrieking in horrific memory of a past that never seemed to wander far from Aino Minako. The small white feline was unphased, to say the least.
"Fine. I think." She offered, unconvincing and surprisingly out of breath, her body reeling with want from the dream and still fighting the urge to run across town and tear down Khai Zoltan's apartment door until he'd speak to her. "I'm nervous about the trip is all."
"The beach could do you some good. Usagi was right, you know."
Her lips tensed, but Mina nodded her affirmation and sat back against the headboard, fidgeting with the pillow in her lap. "I just don't know if I can handle being under the same roof as Khai for an entire week, Arti. After everything, how do we just move on?"
"I mean to be fair, you weren't exactly approachable when he wanted to talk, and now that you do he's moved on. Is that so hard to believe?"
"He hasn't moved on Fuzzbutt, he's just wanting to keep his distance is all." Mina sighed, staring out the window with some sick hope that he'd be standing outside in front of her building. But the street was still empty. "I asked for it. Serves me right for pushing him away when I had the chance to hear his side. Find out what really happened and clear the air. Then Usagi and Mamoru's wedding happened, and..."
They had spent the entire night under a mutual truce in order to not ruin their best friend's big night, keeping the massive rift between them to private moments while they danced and plastered fake smiles for cameras. That was the first night she dreamed through Kunzite's eyes, feeling, and seeing what Beryl did to him. Mina snuck into his room just to hold him, knowing he'd had the same dream without understanding why they shared it. She hadn't planned on him making love to her the following morning, only to use her distant Venusian nature to show her the extent of his feelings. The weight of it had been too much for both of them.
"And you drove him away for an entire month. Are you saying you forgive him?"
"I don't know. Something just tells me it wasn't his fault. He's too loyal. He wouldn't have ever hurt someone he…" Blinking, Mina shook off the thought, the intensity of the emotions she felt from the strange dream she'd just woken from clouding her current judgment. "... nevermind."
Even before she remembered him Mina had always dreamed about Kunzite, but it was never like this unless they were close. Never from his perspective where she could see through his eyes and feel everything he'd always kept hidden from the world. She could feel the fear inside of him when he looked upon her all God-like and powerful, when her beauty was blinding and so intense that he could see nothing else in her presence. Mina could feel the way he denied himself, how hard he resisted falling in love with her when she was so fated to fall in love with him. He feared nothing, and yet he feared the depth in which he loved her, and with reason.
She'd never been able to see Venus that way because she was so linked, so connected to that version of herself that even now bore such a resemblance to Aino Minako that she couldn't tell the difference sometimes. Kunzite, or the man he'd become, choked on it even now.
"Well," Artemis began, interrupted by another yawn, "As long as you're aware of how thick-headed you've been, we can move onto the fact that this bonding could be a valuable exercise in creating at least a professional relationship with them. All of them. Now go back to sleep, you know it won't be that bad. Plus you still have another day to- ACK!"
Mina made a face and threw the pillow she'd been holding at the white furball, turning on the small lamp beside her bed while Artemis tried to look threatening on his way to sulk out into the living room to go sleep on the couch. It only proved to make him look more adorable with his mussed-up fur and sleepy green eyes and Mina grinned after him victoriously.
Too worked up to sleep, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and frowned. Normally the thought of spending a week with the girls at the beach would have her beyond excited and overplanning all of the fun things they'd get to do, but adding in the boys just spelled trouble. Things were tense, but overall amiable between most of them, so when Usagi so gleefully announced that she and Mamoru had planned the trip for all of them it was a bit of a shock. Rei's fires, things in the news gave them all the tell-tale signs they needed to know that whatever catastrophic event that would launch them into the 30th Century would come sooner than they had expected. This was important to Usagi, so she was dead set to make it important to her too.
Apparently, Usagi, Ami, and Rei had spent a week at this insanely creepy mansion with a private beach some years ago and the owners were excited about the return business with the promise of additional guests. Leave it to Usagi to make friends with the Addam's Family, but she'd been so happy about it, standing in the center of a rather divided room while Mina and the girls all posed impatiently in front of the patio door to Mamoru's flat while four oversized men huddled as close to the door as possible.
She had been guarded, but foolishly hopeful when their eyes met across the room and he looked so indifferent, but Mina still remembered. She remembered to look at his hands as they clenched into balls, his lips as they subtly tugged down at the corners, the minor but remorseful shift of his eyes and the tense furrow of his brows. She remembered watching the fury ignite behind his grey eyes, knuckles white and nostrils flaring like he had any right to feel any hostility toward Usagi for forcing this on them when she needed them united, not divided.
Mina's whole body had tensed in alarm, ready to take him out if he so much as uttered an unkind word to her, but Kunzite never had been a stupid person so she'd be a fool to think Khai was any different. She slowly relaxed, only letting down her guard when he closed his eyes for a moment, exhaling a deep, calming breath and kept his silence, allowing his rage to simmer into something manageable.
Maybe Mina was just too stubborn to admit that Usagi was right, and she and Khai really needed to get their shit together before The End.
She raked her hands down her face, digging her fingers into her eyelids. "How the Hell am I going to manage this?"
"Go to sleep!" A small, rather irritated voice, came muffled from the living room.
Mina rolled her eyes and slid off the bed, crouching to grab her dusty old luggage out from under it, groaning to herself that she hadn't traveled anywhere since she moved to Tokyo. A sudden shiver shot down her spine with the realization that the last time she opened this bag was when she escaped from her life in London. So she shook off the dust like just another old and unwanted memory and dragged herself to her closet to begin the dreaded chore of packing.
"I still hate you." Khai grumbled, occupying himself by playing Tetris with the luggage quickly piling up in the van they typically used for their band on Friday nights. "How the hell do you expect us to all fit anyway? You know how Zaki is with packing."
"This is a bonding exercise, after all, won't be so bad to sardine together for a few hours." Mamoru chuckled, eyes gleaming at the pointed glare Khai paused to deliver. "Never know, you might even thank me later."
"This whole thing is just the fast track to one of us meeting an early death. Again."
"Seriously though, jokes aside, have you ever taken a vacation for fun in your entire life? At your age, you're likely to die sooner from being so uptight. And not sleeping." Mamoru replied with a mirthful grin that he was quick to wave off like the man wasn't actually a heart surgeon. Nevermind that he was just barely thirty. He turned, lips parted to retort just in time for him to see Mina strolling toward them lugging a surprisingly small blue bag from the corner of his eye. "I mean, I'm kinda being half serious here Khai."
He answered Mamoru with another glare because he knew better and turned to grab the next bag, nearly colliding with a very specific, very beautiful blonde. Khai froze, swallowing hard when he met her wide blue eyes, watching her quickly look away in favor of Usagi's very pink bag resting just at his feet. Mina had clearly just showered, the potent scent of oranges and honeysuckle slapped him in the face and all Khai could wonder was how the hell he was going to survive a several hour road trip with that perfume tugging at his memories.
"Should I just leave this here?" Mina asked, breaking the awkward silence with an awkwardly meek tone that didn't suit her at all.
"I'll take it." He replied, trying and failing not to brush her hand when she passed him the plain rectangular luggage. He couldn't help but notice it was the perfect fit for the space he had to fill in the van, and not heavy so he could rest it on top of his acoustic guitar case. But the moment he touched her, she withdrew her hand like she'd been bitten.
"Thanks."
"Of course." He managed, thinking he should say something, anything, but the words seemed to stick to the roof of his mouth like peanut butter. It had only been a week, maybe less since he'd seen her and Khai felt like he had about a million years worth of words to say, a thought of her for every star in the night sky, yet nothing in any language he spoke fluently seemed to be enough.
Mina's hair was still slightly damp, her face bare and fresh like the early morning dew still sparkling on the grass, the sun bringing light into her pale blue eyes that had started to shift into a deeper hue with flecks of green making their appearance known with the promise of golden magic. The eyes of a child born from the sea. Venus's eyes. Not that she would look at him directly.
Mamoru looked downright amused by the very awkward standoff and Khai had a mind to punch him in his handsome smug face. He actually had the nerve to sit there and feverishly text Usagi who wasn't even ten feet away, beaming and chattering with Nigel and Makoto about this incredible historic mansion they'd be staying at. Clearly replying to whatever gossip his Prince was feeding her. But thank goodness Zaki had an obsessive packing problem, the sound of his name interrupting the moment because of course, he needed Khai's help to finish lugging his bags. So he brushed past her without another word or glance to save himself from saying something he'd regret. Saved by the narcissist.
Sardine was an understatement. The van was packed, but surprisingly most of them were in good spirits about the trip overall while Khai sat pressed against the window beside Mamoru frowning at the scenery as it passed because Makoto insisted on riding shotgun with Nigel to help navigate and feed him snacks. Less than an hour in, Khai noticed Mina had fallen asleep against the window opposite him with Usagi passed out and snuggled with her while the other four were crammed in the back with the luggage. Aside from some chatter early on in the trip they'd grown fairly quiet.
"You love her, don't you." Mamoru whispered, pressed tight against Khai's arm, pinning him to the window with no means to escape. It was more of a statement than a question, one he knew the answer to but couldn't bring himself to say the words. They were painful and unfair. Especially after the past few months.
"I deserve every bit of hostility she's given me. I should have stuck to my plans to stay away but," He shifted his grey eyes from the two sleeping blondes to Mamoru who always seemed to look so worried during these more serious conversations. "The moment I saw her, I knew it wasn't possible."
"After Harvard, I knew it wouldn't be." He sympathized.
"Yes well, a lot of good that's done me. Not that I can expect any less given the extent that I've damaged her." Khai brooded,
"You weren't the only one," Mamoru reminded, "and she did kill you. Twice. That has to count for something."
He'd said that to Khai more than once as though he tried to make sense of it too and he wished he could take that doubt away from Mamoru. Knowing like all things in his life, only duty could wash that insecurity away. "Only time will tell, but when you've lived many lives with only one heart to break, the score ceases to matter."
"You really think she's cursed?"
"An egocentric curse means nothing when the person imprinted on her soul time and time again spends his incarnations breaking her heart. Perhaps that is her curse."
"Your soul was stolen from you, not given freely. Measures were taken to ensure your reincarnation granted you a pure heart. You are a curse on no one."
"We talked about this." Khai sighed tiredly, drifting his stormy eyes out toward the sunlight beyond the window. "Curse or no curse, some broken hearts just cannot mend. I have to live with that."
"Hey Lovebug, wake up we're here." Jeison was poking her head obnoxiously from behind, chuckling at her half-hearted insults as she swatted him away, her eyes drifting open to the absolutely stunning shoreline of a private beach. The front yard was nestled on top of a generous hill, a path lined by tall grasses leading downward toward the sand. They were surrounded by cliffs, hiding a sprawling gothic mansion from the world offering a peaceful sort of privacy even if the house looked like the one from Bates Motel.
"Who are these people, the Munsters?" Mina grumbled sleepily, shoving Usagi off of her shoulder toward Mamoru.
"They're nice people, just a little... eccentric." Rei commented, climbing her way out of the sardine can to escape their claustrophobic bindings. "They are reeeaaallly into the haunted house scene too by the way."
"Fifty bucks says we end up chopped up into cat food by the end of the week." Zaki muttered, climbing clumsily over Jeison, who basically fell out of the van after him and onto the gravel driveway proclaiming he was on as far as bets went.
Mina smiled to herself, gathering her things to join the others on the driveway where Usagi was happily greeting the owners like they were her best friends. She turned a bit too sharply and came face to face with Khai as he leaned back into the car to grab something from behind the seat. The scent of many cool and spicy desert nights hit her like a million memories, his face was so imprinted in her mind that she no longer knew how to feel about it.
His brow was scarred through as it always had been only a little less severe. His hair was still long and silver against tanned skin and sharp features that were only slightly less rugged than they had been. Khai's teeth were straighter, though the bridge of his nose still had a minor bump in it, he wore a silver hoop through the left side and Mina was the most curious about his nose. His eyes were grey and ancient but younger than they had been, his body less scarred and worn out but he stood tall and proud like he wasn't overburdened by blood and unspoken words and guilt he didn't know how to atone for. He was beautiful and tragic, and Mina supposed she had that in common with him.
Khai's breath on her lips brought her back to reality and she hadn't realized she was closing the gap between them. But he stood off to the side, gesturing carefully with a hand so he didn't touch her. "Go ahead."
She nodded, glancing briefly into his gorgeously carved features for only a moment longer before her fingers tightened on her bag and Mina retreated passed him into the pleasant Summer heat. The rush of the ocean breeze invigorated her deflated spirit, finding her lips tugging into a relaxed smile as that wistful and dreamy feeling from the crashing sound of the waves washed over her. Usagi's loud introductions to the owners tearing her from a momentary reverie of a terrace by the sea with a powerful warlord with long, silver hair.
Even in the middle of the day, the house was dark, and far creepier on the inside than the outside suggested. Admittingly there was an odd energy about it that Rei insisted was fine but a chill kept shivering down Mina's spine as she followed the group through the dimly lit antique filled rooms while the owners took them on a tour, complete with stories of their supposed ghosts. But the house did have a rather solemn history of love and loss, like most old homes by the sea, and Mina could feel a specific kind of energy that felt like heartbreak imprinted in the wood carvings of banisters and doorframes. A classic tale of Rei might have expelled any dark energy that had lingered there, but to Mina this was just more proof that tragic or not, real love was eternal.
"This looks like a movie set." She whispered, mostly to herself, tracing the pads of her fingers along the wood carvings on the fireplace in the common room.
"At least movie sets have wi-fi." Zaki complained under his breath, scowling as he observed an old antique globe. Mina giggled, stepping slowly to finger the thick velvet drapes, admiring the lush fabrics and trimmings.
"You'll survive." Khai commented, stepping in front of the fireplace where she'd just been, chin lifted to study the painting of some hunting dogs hung above the mantle, muttering under his breath. "This painting is hideous…"
"You never were a big fan of paintings with dogs in them." Mina stated with the memory of a very similar painting from eons ago that Kunzite had unknowingly replaced with one of her very first portraits. Well, as close as any man could come to the likeness of Love's embodiment.
"It isn't always about that." He muttered, giving her the coldest of side eyes. "Maybe it's just an ugly painting."
"Maybe." Mina agreed, knowing full well it often had everything to do with their past and she had a bad habit of reaching for that piece of him that was Kunzite. The lighter, more animated man that Khai was, felt more like a ghost of the man she loved once upon a time, and that was easier for her to accept. She could tell by the way he sighed that he knew she was only agreeing to avoid an argument.
"I believe the time to discuss old memories has passed."
"The time? Or the chance?" Mina posed, glowering back when his eyes narrowed at her.
"Are we really going to do this now?"
Mina stepped forward, pausing Zaki to glance up from spinning the globe from the corner of her eye. "Well, we can't just do this when it's convenient for you or we'll never have the conversation."
"I tried-"
"Hey guys, we just got here." Zaki pointed out, stepping between them when Khai began to raise his voice and earn the knowing stares of the others, pleading at them with his grassy green eyes. "Maybe save the dramatics for five minutes?"
Khai responded with a deep breath through his nose, and let Zaki pull him back toward the group leaving Mina to exhale the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Jeison came back into the room, draping a comforting around her shoulder, kissing the top of her head. "Don't worry about him Lovebug. You know how he is."
"I know." Mina agreed. She knew he was broken.
They rejoined the tour as rooms were being assigned, naturally giving Usagi and Mamoru the suite as newlyweds, and Makoto was all too eager to share a room with Nigel to allow the rest of them their own space. Not that Mina really wanted to be alone in a big creepy house that reminded her of the House on Haunted Hill. Her room was beautiful though, a great view of the ocean, a private bathroom, and a bed big enough to share with four people. Not that she slept well on a normal night.
The dreams washed over her in oppressing waves, dark maelstroms of events she had memorized by now that were always far more vivid in dreams. A hard sob jarred her awake, and Mina wished Artemis was there so she could bury her face in his soft fur, snuggle his warm little body close and allow his affectionate purrs to lull her back into a hopefully dreamless sleep. But he wasn't with her this time, going back to sleep would be wishful thinking and the strange surroundings had her anxiety peaking until it was difficult to breathe. Mina needed air.
The scent of the ocean carried on the warm summer breeze adding a mild chill that felt refreshing against her sweat sheened skin as she stepped out onto the stone balcony above the front porch. Salt sweetened the air and the summer bugs sang their symphony to the night, but beneath it all, a familiar song strummed on an acoustic guitar from below where as soft as he sang, his voice seemed to drown out all the noise around her.
It wasn't like she didn't regularly go to their shows, but for some reason, the sound of his voice, smooth with its rough edges and lighter than his deeper speaking voice, brought tears to her eyes. Mina sank down to the floor of the balcony and pressed her cheek to the cold stone of the railing, letting his voice pull emotions out of her that she wasn't ready to face. Mina cried, let the sobs wrack her body and the ache consume her chest, tears she'd held in for too long simply pour from her eyes as the lyrics hit her ears.
She cried herself to sleep like that. Huddled on the balcony with her arms tight around herself, trying to hold herself together while Khai sang her to sleep.
Rei found her like that the next morning, concern laced in her violet eyes and wearing heavily on her brow. Her fingers were warm against Mina's chilled skin when she brushed the bangs from her face and gently shook her awake. "Hey, we were looking everywhere for you. Are you okay?"
"Fine." Mina croaked, her red swollen eyes and tear streaked cheeks a very telling sign that she was, in fact, not fine. But it wasn't the first time Rei had found her like this.
"You slept out here last night?" The Priestess frowned and helped her to her feet. Mina's neck was stiff, muscles sore from crying and sleeping awkwardly, feeling hungover without the pleasant experience of getting drunk first.
"I guess." She replied sheepishly, letting Rei run her fingers down the length of her golden blonde hair like a concerned mother. Mina noticed she was already wearing her bikini.
"We're all heading down to the beach. I recommend sunglasses and a nap, lots of water and sunbathing. You are going to take it easy and NO volleyball."
"Yes, mother." Mina snorted pathetically and dragged her ass inside.
She'd wanted to flaunt how great she looked in her new orange bikini, lined with a nautical navy blue, but the beach was private and anyone there she wanted to impress was clearly not interested. Everyone else seemed to have found their own little world, the agenda of bonding succeeding rather well, with one exception.
"This is how it should have been." She whispered mostly to herself. Even when it wasn't quite right. She was still alone, and Mina wondered if she should have stayed that way even back then. If her failure, her weakness when she fell in love could have spared them all if she would have just remained alone. But love was always worth the fall, was it not?
She could feel his eyes on her though, that weight they carried across centuries of someone who had seen battle of the heart and soul, but it was heaviest now with the war he'd won against the mind. It wasn't uncommon for her to catch him watching her in unguarded moments while she walked the beach or sat around the fire at night telling ghost stories that left Zaki and Usagi clinging to each other in fear.
"Take it easy, you know she'll have nightmares." Mamoru stopped her mid-story to lean in with a nervous sort of amusement.
Mina would smirk devilishly in the firelight, causing a flush to rise the cheeks of their dark haired Prince by her response. "You'll thank me later you know. She'll need strong arms to protect her from them. I'm counting on you."
Khai rolled his eyes, scoffing silently as he grabbed his guitar by the neck and left the room. Mina tried to pretend it didn't bother her. That his silence, and blatant avoidance of her wasn't offensive when they should have been trying to find some common ground.
"Want me to talk to him?" Mamoru offered, but Mina shook her head.
"It's only been two days. He can't avoid it forever." She returned with a small but hopeful smile, that fell when Mamoru raised his brow to respond.
"Neither can you."
She let it slide until the third night. The ache was becoming too much because everyone had grown so tight in such a short amount of time and there she was, sitting at the dinner table like a rogue dandelion seed lost to the ocean air without a plot of land to root her. Regardless, anytime she and Khai were in the same room together, it affected the entire group. They grew more tense, became more guarded and careful about what was said. It was too quiet save for the rumbling of Khai's deep voice as he spoke with Mamoru in hushed tones. Mina had had enough.
"Something you want to share Khai?" Her brow raised, tapping her fork lightly against her lip, and everyone grew rigid in their seats.
"Not particularly."
"We're supposed to be bonding. Not discussing business." She tensed her lips and bore her eyes into him from across the table, ignoring the pointed looks from the others. "It is important that we grow comfortable enough to at least speak to each other."
"This is hardly the place." He glared back with a sort of calmness that unnerved everyone else, but not her. She knew that look well and refused to be intimidated regardless of the tension their silent standoff brought everyone else.
"It never is. And I'm tired of it." Dishes clattered as Mina rather forcefully set down her fork.
"We're really going to do this here?" His grey eyes darkened, and Khai sat forward on his arms with his lips tensed into a hardened line. "I tried to keep this between us weeks ago but you didn't want to talk because it was inconvenient for you."
"OK, so I admit it! I wasn't ready! Excuse me if you just waltzed back in like nothing happened after you just tried MURDERING us all a few years ago and I was blindsided! I won't even START on London, on the Silver-"
"We get it Mina. Sit down." He growled, gripping the table so tight Mina thought it might splinter under his fingers.
"NO! We're not doing this on your terms anymore Khai."
"Okay fine." He began a little too calmly, everything else in the room seeming to dissipate around the edges of their fury. Eyes locked and blazing with anger, something chemical and hot between them that had even Rei scooting slowly away from Mina. "If I recall I TRIED to give you space, but wasn't it YOU blowing hot and cold at me? Flaunting yourself at our shows and stringing me along with your kisses and false intentions? I'm DONE with it Mina, this is not the time or place for it but there you go. We talked. Happy now?"
You could cut the air with a knife. It was more than Khai had said the entire three days they'd been there combined. She knew he was right, but she also knew that he'd shown up at her doorstep more than once and didn't he know it just wasn't possible for either of them to stay away? That their link, that red fated string tied them together as powerful and potently as Usagi was tied to Mamoru? Okay, maybe not that strong, but the others were no better of course but none of them, none of them had the history, and the idiocy to react like this. "You KNOW I'm impulsive and irrational, and I care too much about everything! So when do you plan on making it the right place?"
"Maybe when you learn yours."
Mina felt like calling him out on something, anything. But he'd never asked her for forgiveness, never came to her demanding anything other than answers for her wayward behavior that she hated herself for on more than one occasion. She'd promised herself to never forgive him, to hate him, and tolerate him only when their duties required it. But Khai was wonderful. Gorgeous, generous, funny in a dry sort of way, loyal, and…. Ugh, the list went on. So instead of admitting her own shortcomings, shocker, her first impulse was the coward's way out, the easy solution to run away.
By the time she'd made it up the creaking old stairwell and stormed into her room she felt like a galactic level idiot. They were so childish about this whole thing and yet justified all at once. At least Khai could handle it with some semblance of grace but she was just as irrational and impulsive as ever. Mina pressed her back against the door, the warm breeze rushing into the drafty room between the sheer curtains around the balcony doors, spilling moonlight against the hardwood floors. Her deep exhale seemed to echo in the almost romantic room that was more likened to an old Elysian palace than anything else, and she clenched her eyes, telling herself she'd try and make amends in the morning.
"Ow…" She hissed, pulling her hand out of her luggage quickly, wondering what the hell would have cut her while she was rummaging in search of something more comfortable to wear to bed. Sucking on the pad of her injured middle finger, Mina dug deeper to find the source, her heart stopping when she found it.
It was an old photo. The tree-lined boulevard was alive with trees bursting with white blossoms, a very green park in the background at sunset. Mina remembered that summer well. Tears filled her eyes and she sat back on the floor to let the silver light filter in through outside on the old polaroid. Her own younger, much more innocent and unburdened face beamed back at her from under Saitou's arm.
A haunting image because his pale blue eyes were lifeless and yet he smiled with his beautiful white teeth and dimpled cheek. No light reflected back from them, his pupils wide and unaffected by the bright flash and yet his face was so much younger and seemingly unburdened. A demon wearing Khai's face, offering her affection and laughter that was nothing like the man she loved so long ago, and yet she had fallen so hard for Saitou. He was beautiful, charming, and dangerous, and everything the man that Khai was now. Mina never forgot the moment she kissed him for the last time, how their promise bracelets fell silently to the ground but something loud had exploded between them when she looked into his eyes. Something powerful enough, that she'd always remembered Saitou's eyes to be grey.
He felt like the asshole of the century all over again. If nothing else, dinner was sufficiently more awkward for their childish display that ended with Mina storming off to her room. Having lost his appetite, it wasn't long before Khai excused himself to calm down with a walk by the beach in a failed attempt to clear his head. It was late now, the house grew as silent as the creaky old mansion could get, and he'd perched himself up on the railing of the wrap around porch with only his guitar and the full moon to keep him company.
If only he could get his mind to grant him the same peace the late hours of the night could give him, the soft rushing of the waves in the distance, the crickets and cicadas chirping in rhythm. He avoided sleep when he could. The threat of dreaming about his sword slipping like butter through her abdomen, and the blood, the pain, the sensation of her sword taking him with her was usually what jarred him awake with a scream primed in his throat. The other option was to relive beautiful moments, intimate ones from he held the embodiment of love in his arms and she sought to crush him from the emotion she felt for him, because he felt it as though it were his own. Khai could only imagine even the elephants stampeding through his thoughts were a mere whisper in comparison to the noise in Mina's head. It was all so- heavy.
For all of her stubbornness and insecurity, the fear that drove her away, how could he ever believe that part of her didn't want him as much as he'd longed for her? How could he stay away from such a beacon? He paused his song to frown at the moon, because on the other hand, how could he believe their love once upon a time would mean anything more than the duties that bound them now?
The screen door abruptly squealed open, and like an angel in a red dress there she was. Her chest rose and fell with heavy breath and she fell on her hands against the railing to try and catch it, curtains of gold falling over sun kissed shoulders to shield her. Only for a moment before they fell away to reveal her tear streaked cheeks as she lifted her eyes up toward the swollen moon that cast silver light shimmering over the dark waters.
Khai swallowed a dry knot in his throat, quenching his sea salted lips before he gently set his guitar down and slipped quietly from the railing. "Are you alright?"
Head snapping toward him, Mina took another slow breath, fixing her posture in a failed attempt to keep her cool. "I just can't sleep…. Are you?"
"I try not to sleep." He admitted, tearing his eyes away from her toward the horizon as if it carried all of the answers for them. Always searching for relief from their bloody history, from the longing for their ever damned soul bind. "I don't want to dream about things I do not deserve."
"That isn't entirely up to you to decide, you know."
His lips quirked with a dry smile, nodding with his affirmation before he finally looked at her. "You had a dream, didn't you?" Khai took a step closer when she nodded, fixing her eyes on the planks of the porch between them. "Would you walk with me?"
"Yes." Mina said more meekly than she'd probably ever said anything before, nodding once while she folded her hands in front of her. He did a thing where he wanted to take her hand, offer his arm, something and stood there awkwardly a moment before shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans and simply walked from the porch, mentally berating himself for being a moron.
The wind whispered promises through the grasses, sifting a comforting touch through their long tresses, and Khai was all too aware of Mina shuffling quietly behind him toward the shore. The crickets and cicadas filled the summer air with a louder harmony as they walked toward the beach where the sea collided and caressed the sandy shore keeping the silence between them from becoming too thick. He hadn't bothered with shoes, not pausing his stroll onto the sand still warmed by the sun that had long since set, leaving her to pause and discard her sandals. Khai kept walking toward the lapping waves, thinking he might just walk straight into the sea, and let it swallow him.
Fingers curling into the thin cotton of his t-shirt from behind halted him as the ocean washed over his feet, saturating the hems of his jeans. Khai hadn't heard Mina shuffling through the sand after him, so he turned to meet the moonlight gleaming in her worried blue eyes.
"Hey Khai… I'm really, really sorry."
"I've been a monster to you, and you're the one apologizing to me?" A smile softened his carved features, smoothing out his frown lines in favor of something kinder. It was hard for her, Khai could tell as he turned to face her, watching her search with her eyes for the right words when he deserved none of them.
"You were right is all. About me, about everything. I guess I didn't realize that until you disappeared on us after Mamoru and Usa's wedding, and after that morning I couldn't tell you…" Tentatively he put a finger on her lips to quiet her, only for Mina to pull his hand away, wrapping her fingers around his wrist and holding his hand in both of hers. "I wanted it to feel like those dreams again. It's all that I've wanted or dreamed about since you came back but I couldn't... I just couldn't forgive you Khai. But I do. I forgive you."
He nodded his understanding. He'd been less than accepting of her feelings initially no matter how hard he tried to stay away, like a magnet he'd always found himself in situations just within her proximity. It hadn't been his proudest moment, making love to her the morning after the wedding, remembering the ways a Venusian could feel through avenues of touches, kisses, affectionate gestures. So when he poured his whole heart into her that morning only to find that nothing had changed except another tick mark on the doomsday clock toward Crystal Tokyo. Khai didn't know what else to do but leave like a damned coward.
He'd taken off to his house in Dubai for a month, determined to let her go only to find himself. He'd found Kunzite. The constant fight, the push and pull of memories and horrors that kept their hearts in a tailspin never left, but he learned what he could from them and tried to pack away the rest. Returning only to find her waiting for him, ready to talk when he couldn't anymore.
"I told myself long ago that I'd never hear you say those words. Then you did, and…"
"It was too late." Mina finished quietly, squeezing his hand in hers. The surf washed over their feet as their eyes met again, and he nodded.
Sensing his distraction in the brief beat of silence, Mina laced her fingers with his and began to pull him to walk with her through the lapping surf. They sunk into the silence with those final words and he watched as she walked just in front of him, the moonlight glimmering in her golden hair and highlighting her sun kissed skin while the red dress she wore floated around her thighs while she kicked through the surf. As usual, he couldn't keep his eyes off of her, even when she gazed dreamily out across the ocean to face the moonlight, it was like she was forgiving something far away as well.
The house disappeared in the distance behind the cliffs and Khai couldn't tell how long or how far they walked, fingers entwined and warm with nothing but the sounds of the night to speak for them. He tugged her arm to halt her when he couldn't bear it anymore, watching her eyes dance between his in silent question under bright silver rays that illuminated the beach. He hadn't seen a moon this bright since Elysium.
"I have to ask. Your dreams, are they my memories?"
"Yes." she replied quietly, averting her eyes to watch her toes dig into the sand. They were alone, more alone than they'd ever been with nothing but the cliffs, the sea, and the very Moon itself to bear witness as Venus and Kunzite reunited at the edge of the world where no one could judge them. Where no one could harm them. And when Mina looked back up into his face, eyes glassy and sad, familiar eyes that haunted his memory. "He loved her. Truly loved her."
Khai nodded in response, feeling the telling prickle of emotion behind his steely eyes that he tried to avert from her, only for the tear to fall down his cheek regardless. He didn't know how to put into words the things Venus had allowed him to feel. All of the pressure of her duties, her solemn vows and the crushing weight of her nature they always tried to suppress. The love that she embodied, and gave to him. "I dream of her too, your memories. I've felt so much… too much…"
"My memories." She whispered, reaching to brush away the tear with her thumb.
"Yes." He nodded in affirmation and clenched his jaw, finally locking eyes with her and no matter how he tried to look so calm and collected, Khai knew she could see straight through him."How do you carry the weight of it?"
"Their love?" He nodded again, leaning into her fingertips as they slid gently along his cheekbone. They traced the wet trails of his fallen tears from his darkened lashes down toward his lips and Mina whispered again. "Our love." A shuttered breath forced its way from his lips, panting against the tips of her fingers that lingered and traced the contours. "Our love was never heavy Khai. It's strong… strong enough to withstand all of that darkness, that evil. That's where all that weight comes from. I loved Saitou because he was you, and through all of that darkness...I think he loved me too. I like to think that maybe he still does?"
He'd tried so hard, for so long to not break the way he had in front of Mamoru. Khai wouldn't have let the guys see it had it been a voluntary symptom of his broken mind, but the guilt, the very darkness she spoke of bubbled up in the truth from her words, and he fell to his knees in front of her. Mina stiffened a moment as his arms wound around her midsection and he buried his face into the thin fabric of her red summer dress, and he let the sob wrack his shoulders. Wounds he'd tried to let scar over, reopened and poured from his eyes. For once it seemed, Kunzite had a choice. "How can you forgive me?"
Mina's fingers slipped into his hair, stroking as she held him against her with a telling sniffle. "I don't carry it Khai… I feel it. Every facet of our love, I feel it like it's a sword in my stomach. Sometimes I think it will tear me apart, but most of the time, it gets me through the day. To know that you're safe, that you're YOU. Even if you hate me and I've pushed you away and all that's left is for me to stand by your side in duty-"
"Stop it." He lifted his face, the water lapping around his knees, soaking him from the waist down. "Did my dreams teach you nothing? You know how he felt, how could you ever think that I am capable of hating you, Mina?"
"Tell me how you feel about me then." She kneeled down with him, letting the rush of the cold sea rush over her legs and try to suck her down into the sand with him.
"It's hard for me not to look you in the eyes and just tell you how much I love you. I know I'm not him, not entirely, but I am. It's been long enough that I think you know that."
"I think love is a great start." Mina smiled and bit her lip, leaning forward on her knees to watch his eyes shift like moonstones in the starlight while they danced back and forth between hers. "Trust me, I know how crazy that sounds."
He smirked, but it was with care and hesitation that his hand slid over the damp fabric of her dress to pull her closer. "I don't think you know how crazy half the things you say sound."
Playfully, she smacked his chest, her momentary laughter cut off when he kissed her. It was brief, but goosebumps dotted her arms from it and no sooner had he begun to pull away, Mina threw her arms around his neck and nearly knocked him over, her fingers lacing through his hair to reunite their lips again. Sweet and salty like saltwater taffy he had no qualms about pulling her against him, letting the waves wash over them, content to let the tide carry them out to sea just to feel the hum of her sweet whimper against his teeth when he slipped his tongue between her lips.
"Dance with me." She whispered against his lips when air became an unfortunate necessity, her eyes deepened and locked onto his soul with playful intent.
"Should I find some irony that you're wearing a red dress?" Khai smirked and took her hands in his, pulling her to her feet and against his chest. He felt wild and more alive than he ever remembered feeling when they began to move in a perfect waltz.
"Gloves are off this time." She declared with a giggle, the water glittering and splashing around them in the moonlight while they moved in perfect grace without boundaries or prying eyes. The surf became their accessory, kicking and splashing, and twirling through it until they were both soaked through, breathing hard with saltwater clinging to their hair and skin. Laughter echoing down the vacant beach.
The night was theirs, and the later the hour became, the further from the house they walked, talking about dreams and memories, things from the past that had molded who Khai and Minako were in the present. The more he spoke, the harder Mina fell. Faster and faster until boundaries became a thing of memory, stripping them bare with insatiable thirst on every imaginable level or state of being.
They tumbled until they couldn't fall any harder.
Somewhere in the twilight of a very early morning they dressed, sleep deprived and love drunk on each other they stumbled back the way they came while the stars blinked out and the sun set the sky on fire. "I found an old picture of us… me and Saitou on that boulevard-"
"Burn it." He spoke quietly and bent to kiss the crown of her head. "I'll even let you take another one."
"Only if you smile." She bargained.
He did smile, right then and there. "Anything you want."
Mina giggled, lifting her chin to wink one of her dazzling blue eyes up at him. "You might regret that later."
"I've been through worse… but let's get some sleep first. We have plenty of time to make new memories."
Khai yawned, and kept Mina tucked under his arm as the house came back into view looking far less ominous than it did just the day prior. He waited for her while she grabbed her sandals, still nestled by the beach where the sand met stone and with her hand in his they walked the path together.
Nigel greeted them on the porch, grinning his wide offensively charming smile over a cup of coffee that needed no words to be invasive but he lifted his mug in cheers anyway. Jeison however, paused what appeared to be a rather intimate conversation with Rei to shift on the porch swing they shared with a raised brow, the snark on his lips even more offensive than the sparkle in Nigel's brown eyes. "Good to see you two getting along."
Khai glared over Mina's head toward the blonde General who nudged his snickering raven haired Priestess, only for Nigel to finally toss in his two cents over a sip of coffee like some damned Foldger's commercial. "I can guess what you've been up to all night, but why do I feel like you're walking with that stick shoved further up your ass than normal?"
"Watch it Nigel... " Khai growled, but Mina smiled as his arm tightened around her shoulders, her arms lacing tight around his waist. She never could pass up a chance to get under his skin.
"Yeah, you try walking two miles down a beach with sand where sand should never go."
Mina beamed up in return when Khai glared down on her, the humor of the way Nigel promptly spit his coffee over the railing and howled completely lost on him.
"You're lucky I've decided to love you." He grumbled, pulling her into the house where the rest of their family, Senshi and Shitennou alike, were having a perfectly normal breakfast.