Author's Note: I'm glad that at least a few people are interested in this story, and I hope that I didn't keep those of you I speak of waiting too long for this update. I managed to get a lot of this chapter done last week, but of course the Thanksgiving weekend kind of slowed me down.

Anyway, there are a couple of things I forgot to mention during my little introduction before the start of the first chapter. The first is that this story follows the continuity from the original Sailor Moon manga and Sailor Moon Crystal (mainly the manga more than Crystal). Second, this story has no connection to that crossover series between Sailor Moon and Tokyo Mew Mew that I tried to start years ago. I kind of dropped that series because hardly anyone read the first story, and because I'm pretty sure that whole project is cursed! Long story.

Well, now that I've gotten that out of the way, on with the show!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon (or The King in Yellow).

Chapter 2: Brand of the Yellow Sign

It was close to 1:00 AM as Minako read through the lines from her film script for perhaps the twentieth time that night. Artemis had been helping her rehearse her lines for the scene she was to perform with Keisuke the next morning, with the white cat reading the lines of Keisuke's character. The scene depicted Minako's character, Cassilda telling her lover how they must end their relationship so that she may fulfill her duty to kingdom and family. Minako felt that she not only had a good grasp on her lines, but that she had the emotions of her character down. During the whole rehearsal process though, Minako felt that there was something about the whole scene that was… off.

Artemis sighed as he closed his copy of the script. "I think that's enough rehearsal for tonight. You have to start filming pretty early tomorrow, and I think you have your lines down."

"Yeah. I think you're right," Minako agreed with a heavy sigh as she tossed her copy of the script on the wooden coffee table. She plopped back into the ugly orange-red armchair behind her and took a sip from the glass of iced tea she had nearby. "Of course no matter how much I rehearse though, this scene is going to be a real challenge considering I'll be playing it with Kunzite."

"I still think you should back out of doing this movie. I don't know what's really going on here, but if Kunzite and his new friend Hilda are behind it, we could be playing right into their hands."

"True, we can't exactly trust Kunzite or Hilda, especially since Hilda insists on being so vague on what exactly this mission of theirs is. Then again, if they're trying to stop some sort of new threat rather than cause it themselves, we can't afford to turn a blind eye to whatever's going on. For now, it's probably best if we just play along with this whole game."

"Mina! How can you even consider working with someone like Kunzite? He tried to kill you and the others, and very nearly succeeded!"

Minako looked out the window to her left up at the brilliant crescent moon in the sky, thinking back to her earlier encounter with the former dark general, recalling his attitude, the look in his eyes, and the way he seemed to blush a bit about his nervousness of being in the film. "He's not the same Kunzite we've dealt with before."

"How can you be sure of that?"

"Honestly, I can't," Minako admitted as she turned her head back to him. "But the way he acted when we met him again at the studio… don't ask me how I know, but I could tell that he had changed. He was no longer the ruthless general who served Queen Beryl. In fact… he's probably turned back to the man he was before Beryl tainted him. Remember Art, he and the other Shitennou were once good men."

Artemis let out a heavy sigh. "I know. The Shitennou were originally Mamoru's protectors in the same way that you, Rei, Ami and Makoto serve as Usagi's guardians."

"Right. And Kunzite was my counterpart. In fact I recall that he was a pretty descent guy."

"But you don't remember him that well, do you?" Artemis asked, looking her straight in the eye.

This time Minako let out a heavy sigh. "No… I don't. For some reason, my past life memories of Kunzite have never fully returned, and honestly I never tried to get them back after everything that happened with the Dark Kingdom. Still, I'm going to trust my instincts on this. They never usually let me down."

"We should at least contact the others and bring them in on this. They should at least know that one of the Shitennou is suddenly back among the living."

"I already tried that before the rehearsal. Couldn't get through to any of them." The blond took of her wrist communicator and tossed it onto the coffee table. "Even that thing seems to be on the blink."

"Are you kidding me?" Artemis jumped from the couch onto the coffee table to take a closer look. He opened up Minako's communicator and began to fiddle with some of the buttons, but no matter what the feline did, all he got was static. "This situation just keeps getting worse and worse! Of course… even if we could get through to the others, they'd be too far away to help."

Minako nodded in agreement. At that moment, she and the others were pretty spread out. Usagi and Mamoru were away enjoying a romantic trip in Hawaii, while the Outers were all in Europe on one of Michiru's concert tours. Rei meanwhile was in Kyoto dealing with some issues with her father, and likely also trying to get out of dating some new suitor her father wanted her to marry. Ami was in Massachusetts checking out a potential medical school, while Makoto was in America's Midwest visiting her new boyfriend; a young man that Minako couldn't help but think was all wrong for her for reasons even she couldn't quite identify.

"Still, we should at least let the others know that Kunzite's returned," Artemis continued. "Especially since Hilda mentioned that the other three Shitennou were revived too and on missions with some comrades of hers. They should be on alert in case each of the other Shitennou happens to be where they are."

Minako got up and stretched. "You work on that. In the meantime, I should turn in. After all, I've got a big morning tomorrow. And it's like they say, 'the early stone-thrower kills the bird'."

Artemis shook his head. "I think you mean, 'the early bird gets the worm'. But yes, you really should get some rest. Hopefully by morning I'll have the communicator working again."

Minako began to head for the bedroom, but then paused when she got to the doorway. "Hey Artemis, was anything about the scene I just spent the night rehearsing strange to you?"

"I'll admit it was kind of depressing, but nothing out of the ordinary. Why?"

"I don't know. It's just that while rehearsing it a few times earlier I had this sense of… don't know, some kind of déjà vu." Minako sighed and shook her head. "I'm probably just imagining things. Well, goodnight Art."

Keisuke was gazing at the moon out the window of his own hotel room. He had been going through rehearsals of his own with Hilda for the last few hours, and it had not been an easy process. The whole time Keisuke had been distracted by what happened during his earlier encounter with Minako. While her attitude towards him had been totally understandable given their past, Keisuke found that he was greatly discomforted by the fact that Minako clearly still saw him as an enemy. Of course there was no way that such an attitude could change overnight.

In the other corner of the room, Hilda let out a heavy sigh as she held the bridge of her nose. "Okay. I guess we may as well just call it a night. You at least know your lines, but there's still no emotion behind them. But since we only had so much time to work, all we can do is hope that you'll do a better job once the camera starts rolling."

"Sorry if I'm not cut out for this mission," Keisuke responded, not taking his eye away from the window. "Perhaps you should've chosen one of my fellow Shitennou for this mission instead of me."

"Nah. My boss said it was either you or nobody. Of course I can't tell you why that is, but know that she has some good reasons for picking you. It's not an ideal situation, but we both have to work with what we've got."

Keisuke didn't react to this, at least not outwardly. Inside he was once again annoyed that his new superior had yet another secret from him. The reality of it was that Keisuke was very grateful for this second chance at life; that he had the opportunity to redeem himself and go back to serving his prince like he was supposed to before Beryl found and tainted him yet again. The one thing that the silver-haired general couldn't tolerate though was that he was being constantly kept in the dark about his mission. As Hilda had just said though, he had no choice but to work with what he had.

"She got to you, didn't he?" Hilda continued. "Meeting Sailor Venus again is the reason why your head hasn't been in this. So what's the deal? Did you two date in your past lives before everything went to hell?"

Keisuke finally turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow. "I'm merely discomforted by the fact that she simply doesn't trust me. And your assumption is absurd. The people of Earth were forbidden to fraternize with the people of the Moon Kingdom."

"That didn't stop your prince and the Moon Kingdom's princess from shacking up. Being their chaperones, you and Venus probably saw each other on a pretty regular basis. Are you honestly going to tell me that there were never sparks between the two of you?"

"I find it doubtful that there were." Keisuke turned back to look at the moon. "And even if there were sparks between us as you suggested, it doesn't matter now."

"Wait, back up. What do you mean you find it doubtful that there were sparks? Don't you remember any of your times with her during that life?"

"There are certain… gaps in my past life memories where Sailor Venus is concerned. When you told me that she and I would more or less be working together on this mission, I tried recalling those times we might've worked together during the Silver Millennium and found I could recall nothing."

"Well that's a tad… inconvenient." Hilda tossed her copy of the unfinished movie script onto the couch and leaned against the wall. "You don't remember anything concerning her from that time?"

"Nothing beyond a few brief encounters, particularly our very first meeting." Keisuke turned back again to look at her. "But if we did have romantic feelings for one another as you seem to assume, we wouldn't have acted on them. Such a thing would've been taboo, and our duties to our respective kingdoms came first above anything. And before you make another argument about how such things did not stop my prince, it had not been my place to tell Prince Endymion who he could not love, even though I did object."

"If you say so, big guy." Hilda stretched and began to head for the door. "Well, you had better turn in for the night. You have to get up bright and early tomorrow for your first big scene."

"Hilda," Keisuke spoke. Hilda stopped at the door. "I apologize again if I'm not living up to your expectations. Another reason why I may have seemed distracted during our rehearsal is because something about that scene seemed… familiar to me. I can't explain why."

Hilda's lips curved into a small smirk. "The scene we've been going over is of Princess Cassilda telling her lover that they can't see each other anymore because of duty to her kingdom. Maybe it's familiar to you because you and a certain someone had a very similar conversation once long ago. Worth thinking about, isn't it? Well, goodnight big guy."

With that, Hilda finally departed, leaving Keisuke to stare back up at the moon again. He had to admit that theory about why the scene he'd been rehearsing was so familiar made sense, at least logically. Once again Keisuke tried to recall what had happened between him and Minako back during the time of the Silver Millennium and kept drawing a blank. After a few more minutes, Keisuke finally gave up on his efforts at recollection and went to get ready for bed. He had a mission to complete, and as uncomfortable as it was, he needed to give it his best.

It was fairly early in the morning as Minako sat in her trailer at the location for the first scene. She was already dressed in her costume: an elegant green and white gown from the Middle Ages with long sleeves and a long flowing skirt. The only thing that she didn't like at all about the outfit was the corset that had been wrapped tightly around her midsection. While Minako appreciated that her costume needed to look authentic, she felt that there was a limit to that authenticity. Hanging around Minako's neck was a gold-colored necklace with a large and obviously fake emerald, and her normal red bow had been replaced with a gold tiara and diadem.

The makeup artist had just finished up with Minako when a knock came at the trailer door. Minako gave permission for whomever it was to come in. As the makeup artist finished putting her tools away, Minako watched the door open on the mirror and saw Keisuke come in. The silver-haired general was clad in a long-sleeved blue shit with a piece of bronze-colored armor covering his chest, along with a flowing red cape and long black pants. Minako noted how dashing Keisuke looked in that outfit, though it seemed to her that he always looked dashing no matter what he had on.

"Minako, may I speak with you for a moment?" Keisuke asked.

Minako rose from her chair and turned to face him. "I don't see why not."

The makeup artist nodded to them both as she finished putting away her gear and headed for the door. They waited until she was gone before either of them started talking.

"Okay. So what's this about?" Minako asked, crossing her arms.

"I just wanted to be clear about where we both stand," Keisuke explained. "What we're about to do is challenging, or at least it is for me. I don't want whatever bad blood we have between us to interfere with our task."

"Don't worry. I can be very professional when it comes to this sort of thing. But don't think for a moment that I trust you."

"I'm not expecting you to, not after everything I did. I guess what I'm really trying to find out is, do you still consider me to be an enemy?"

Minako looked Keisuke right in the eye. "Honestly… I don't really know. I can tell that you're not the same man you were when you worked for Beryl. But like you said, I can't exactly trust you after everything we've been through. Tell me something though, what do you intend to do once this mission you're on with Hilda is finished?"

"I intend to try and go back to the life I had before Beryl found me for the second time, and to continue the protection of Prince Endymion. That was my original destiny."

"Well… if that's true, then I guess that means we'd be working together."

"We did once before during the Silver Millennium… or at least we seemed to. Minako, how much do you remember of me from our past lives?"

"Not much really. But then maybe that means we didn't work together as often as you think we did."

A dark chuckle escaped Keisuke's throat. "Perhaps not. Though… it might've been nice if we did." He glanced around the room and noticed that it seemed like something was missing. "Say, where is your little furry companion?"

"You mean Artemis? He's back at my hotel working on my communicator. I haven't been able to get through to Usagi or any of my friends since I got here, not even by cell phone." Her eyes narrowed at Keisuke just a bit. "You and that new girlfriend of yours wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

Startled by Minako's remark, Keisuke quickly composed himself and cleared his throat. "First of all, Hilda is not my girlfriend. That commanding shrew is the last woman I'd want as a potential wife. I'm only working with her because I have no choice. Second, even if Hilda were blocking communication with the princess and the rest of your team, she probably wouldn't have told me. She seems to keep me in the dark about everything, not that you'd likely believe me."

After a moment, Minako's expression softened. "I believe you… for now anyway."

Keisuke sighed. "I guess that's the best I can hope for at the moment."

Minako nodded. "We better get to the set. I'm sure they're expecting us already."

From their trailers, Minako and Keisuke arrived on the set of the first scene, the bedroom of Princess Cassilda. Minako had already taken her first position sitting on the end of the bed. Keisuke meanwhile was waiting behind the door for his cue. As the stagehands finished their final preparations, Mason sat patiently in his director's chair.

"Alright Ms. Aino. As you know, this is one of the most important early scenes of the film," Mason began. "This is the moment where Princess Cassilda tells her lover, Altair that relationship must end. I remind you of these facts because I want you to remember the level of emotion being relayed here. Think of the way you'd act if you had to give your own lover this news."

Minako nodded. "Got it."

Mason made a gesture with his hand to the crew. "Action!"

In another moment, the cameras started rolling. As the scene began, Minako sat where she was, facing away from the door and looking as serious as possible.

There was a knock at the door, and Minako took a short breath. "Come in, Altair. I've been expecting you."

The door opened and Keisuke entered the room. "Cassilda. I must speak with you."

"I know why. By now I'm sure the news has spread all over the kingdom. A date has been set for my marriage to the King in Yellow."

"And… have you done nothing to stop it?" Keisuke asked, taking another two steps into the room.

"No… and I shall not. We've known this was coming for years, my love. This contract was made when I was a girl no older than eight. Now that I am of proper age and the King is ready to wed, I am obligated to go to him."

"You have no obligations to that… that creature. Especially when such a contract was made when you were an innocent young girl!"

"I have an obligation to my kingdom!" Minako argued as she stood from the bed and faced him. "If I do not wed the King as arranged, it would mean war with Carcosa! You're a soldier. You better than anyone that are army doesn't even come close to matching the power of that kingdom, nor the power of their King himself."

"I would fight the armies of the underworld itself to protect and keep you," Keisuke declared as he came closer to her. "That is how deep my love for you is."

"And my love for you is so deep that I cannot stand by and let you throw your life away." Minako turned away from him. "And that is why… that is why you and I must part way. You and I can no longer continue to be lovers."

A look of shock appeared on Keisuke's face. "How can you even think such a thing? How can you throw away what we had so casually?"

"There is nothing casual about this at all." Minako turned back to face him. "Altair, please believe that I could love no other man the way that I love you. But our kingdom must come first. Could you imagine the disaster that would be brought down upon our heads if we were to continue as we are? Carcosa would bring doom upon us all. That is why are time together must end."

Suddenly Keisuke grabbed Minako by the arms and pulled her close, causing a startled cry to escape her throat. A look of rage was on his face. "Dammit! I cannot let this end, you hear me? In all the time we've been together my feelings for you have grown into a burning flame! I can't just extinguish it as callously as you can! The kingdom can be damned for all I care! I will not let you go!"

Minako broke free of Keisuke's grasp and slapped him hard in the face. Keisuke stumbled back a bit, and they both looked at one another in shock for a few moments. That slap had not been in the script, nor had the part where Keisuke had grabbed Minako. Despite this deviation from the script though, the cameras kept on rolling.

In another moment, Minako finally composed herself and continued. "My darling. I know that this is painful for both of us, but this is our fate. Our time together has ended, but know that I will always love you. Now go… it is painful for me to be in your presence right now."

Minako turned away from Keisuke. After a moment, Keisuke turned on his heel and marched out of the room.

"Cut! Print!" Mason ordered. "That was magnificent! A perfect performance."

"Sir, don't you think we should do another take?" the assistant director asked. "They did go a little bit off script there."

"Nonsense! If there's one thing I've learned in all the years I've been doing this, art is a living thing. At times in the heat of the moment, the actors will alter a scene in a better way than it was originally written. Besides, I doubt we could replicate that level of passion a second time. Now then, we shall take a break for twenty minutes! Afterwards we shall begin filming the opening scene where Altair learns of the marriage date. Mr. Tenju, I trust you have prepared for that scene?"

"Um, of course," Keisuke answered as he came back through the door.

"Splendid. Well then, let's get to it, everyone!"

With that, the crew began to scatter in preparations for the next scene. Meanwhile Minako began to head back for her trailer.

"Minako, wait!" Keisuke called, causing her to stop and turn back. "I'm sorry for grabbing you like that before. I don't know what came over me."

"I should probably be the one to apologize for slapping you like that," Minako responded. "That was too far. You really got into that scene, didn't you?"

"Yes, well… that exchange between our two characters seemed to remind me of something. I'm not exactly sure what it is I'm recalling, but whatever it was seemed to stir up sort of old anger that seemed to get the better of me. Again, I apologize."

"So, that scene felt familiar to you too, huh?" Minako's response caused a surprised look to form on Keisuke's face. "Odd that'd we'd both be getting some kind of weird déjà vu from it. Well, I'm not needed for the next scene, so I think I'll go back to my trailer and take a short nap. That whole thing really wore me out."

Keisuke remained rooted where he'd been standing as he watched Minako walk off. He hadn't expected that Minako had also been having familiar feelings about the scene they had just performed. Keisuke wondered if they were recalling something from their past lives, or if they had inadvertently fallen under the spell of the movie that was likely the enemy's trap.

After ten minutes, Keisuke had finally wandered back to his trailer. Fortunately a sudden rainstorm had delayed the filming of his next scene for a bit, so he more time to think. Keisuke wanted desperately to figure out why both he and Minako had found that scene they had just done so familiar. He wracked his brain trying to come up with an answer and kept drawing a blank. It seemed that the harder he tried, the further away the answer became.

Keisuke sighed heavily as he sat back in his chair before the mirror in full costume. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind of all thought, especially the question that now plagued him. In the process of doing so, the silver-haired general had fallen asleep.

In his dreams, Keisuke had gone back to the time of the Silver Millennium, to the time when he was Kunzite of the Shitennou and chief protector of Prince Endymion. It was night as he stood on one of the balconies of his family's castle in the center of his homeland. Sailor Venus was with him. The two of them had finished a patrol together earlier in the day, and since they were in the area, Kunzite had decided to give the captain of Princess Serenity's guards a whirlwind tour of his home city. Much to Kunzite's delight, the blond Venusian had been very impressed by what she had seen of the city.

At that moment, Venus was looking out over the city in the middle of that vast desert oasis. Kunzite couldn't help but notice how the light of the moon above magnified Venus's beauty, making her appear more like a goddess than ever. Seeing her like that, Kunzite could no longer deny his attraction towards her, or the feelings he had developed for his Moon Kingdom counterpart during their recent missions together. He knew that pursuing a relationship with Venus was one of the ultimate taboos, but he didn't care. Kunzite felt that they were meant for each other.

"Your land really is beautiful," Venus commented, still looking out over the obsidian roofs of the city's buildings. "But then I guess there's a lot about the Earth that's beautiful. I can see why the princess is so drawn to this world."

"I'm glad you approve," Kunzite responded. Nervousness had overcome him, but he was doing a good job of hiding his feelings. "Of course… I doubt that my homeland hardly compares to the beauty of the Moon Kingdom, or to the kingdom of your home world."

"No. Your kingdom as just as beautiful as anything I've seen on Venus or the Moon. There's no need to place its grandeur beneath them."

With those last words Venus turned and smiled at him, and it was in that moment Kunzite realized he could no longer keep his feelings hidden. Now was the time to tell her how he felt.

Kunzite placed a hand on her shoulder. "Venus… during this time we've worked together, you and I have become quite close. You're one of the strongest warriors to fight at my side."

"I feel the same way about you. The two of us make an excellent team, and I can tell this world is in good hands with a warrior as strong as you protecting it."

"What I'm trying to say Venus is that… I've fallen in love with you. In the time we've spent together, you've managed to capture my heart. I can no longer picture my life without you at my side. Surely you must feel the same way."

Venus turned her gaze slightly away from Kunzite as her face turned a deep shade of red. "I… I confess that I too… have developed deep feelings for you." She then looked the silver-haired general in the eye. "Despite my efforts I can't deny how strong this connection between us is. You and I seem to be two of a kind, perhaps part of a set."

Kunzite gently took hold of Venus's chin. "If what you say is true, then perhaps you and I were meant to be together."

With that, Kunzite leaned in to give the blond a kiss, but just before their lips were about to meet, Venus pulled away. She then turned around and took two steps away from him.

"We can't," Venus spoke. "Kunzite, as strongly as we feel for each other, it just wouldn't be right. Romance between the people of Earth and the people of the Moon Kingdom is forbidden."

"But… that taboo isn't stopping my prince and your princess."

"Their relationship is all the more reason why we can't be together!" Venus declared as she turned back around to face him. Tears had formed in the corners of her eyes. "A romance between us would only call attention to their relationship. If people learned that the guards of the prince and princess were carrying on a relationship as well, our kingdoms might sever off relationships entirely. The princess and prince would be forbidden from seeing each other ever again. I can't take the risk putting Serenity through that kind of pain!"

"Nor can I risk Endymion suffering the same agony. But… surely if we were careful…"

Venus turned away from him again. "Kunzite… the two of us have to try and forget that what we said this night. For the sake of our two kingdoms, we can be no more to each other than what we are now. I'm sorry."

With that, Venus leapt towards the sky and teleported away with a flash of golden light. Kunzite had raised his hand for her as she left, only to slam it down on the railing of the balcony after she had left. He turned to look out at the city, tears clouding his green eyes. In that moment is mind was caught in a twister of sorrow and anger over being rejected by the only woman he ever felt he truly loved.

Keisuke's eyes snapped open as his dream suddenly came to an end. He shot up in his chair and looked at himself in the mirror, processing everything his subconscious had just shown him. Keisuke was certain that what he had just experienced was no mere dream, but a memory of his past life. Somehow the scene that he and Minako had just performed together had caused it to surface, and that memory was the source of the burst of anger he had felt during the performance. The similar conversation between their characters had caused Keisuke to feel that anger from that memory a second time.

Leaning forward, Keisuke rested his elbows on the counter before him and rubbed his temples. He found himself recalling the theory Hilda had about his relationship with Minako in their past lives and couldn't believe that she had been right. Of course the recollection of this memory had only raised more questions for Keisuke. Just what had been the relationship between him and Minako been in their past lives, and what were his feelings for Minako now? More importantly, Keisuke wondered if the performance of that scene had caused the same memory to awaken in Minako.

Minako at that moment was leaning back in the chair in her dressing room, staring blankly up at the ceiling. During her nap she had indeed recalled the very same past life memory that Keisuke had just regained, and the experience had left her totally stunned and confused. Minako kept wondering why she was only just recalling this memory now.

"Crap…" Minako whispered for the fourth or fifth time in a row as she finally sat back up.

What bugged Minako the most about this whole thing was that she had a very incomplete picture of her former relationship with the head of the Shitennou. She had seen the end of their doomed romance, but not the beginning or the middle. Plus the fact that they apparently had been in love with each other once before made Minako wonder how she felt about Keisuke in the present. Minako had to admit that Keisuke seemed like a good man now that he was no longer Beryl's puppet. She also noted that he was extremely handsome… and in very good shape.

Minako suddenly began picturing what Keisuke probably looked like with his shirt off and slapped herself lightly in the cheek. "Dammit girl. Get your mind out of the gutter. You need to focus on the big issue right now."

Suddenly Minako heard some sort of pawing at the corner of the door. Grateful for the distraction, Minako got up to answer the door and saw Artemis on the top step.

"Art! You came all the way out to the set?" she asked as she stepped aside to let the feline in.

"I've actually been here for the last hour or so," Artemis admitted as he came in. "I'm afraid I've had no luck fixing the communicator. I don't know what's causing this interference, but I just can't break through it."

"It's just as well. The others are two far away to back us up with whatever's going on here."

"I saw the filming of that scene they had you doing with Kunzite. Are you okay?"

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well Kunzite ended up getting pretty aggressive with you during that performance. That man is dangerous Mina. You shouldn't drop your guard around him."

Minako went sit back down in her chair. "Keisuke's not a bad man. He just got a little too caught up in his performance. The director actually liked it, so it all worked out."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Why are you defending him? Mina, is there something I should know?"

"Well… earlier I got back one of the missing memories from my past life and it turns out Kunzite and I had fallen in love with each other." Minako turned to the mirror and began removing her makeup. "Say, do you want to get something to eat? I'm apparently done filming for today, and that scene really caused me to work up an appetite."

The white feline's jaw had dropped and his tail had gone as straight and rigid as a board. "WHAT? Mina! That couldn't have possibly been a real memory! It has to be some kind of enemy trick!"

Minako let out a heavy sigh. After what she had just gone though, she was in no mood for one of Artemis's lectures. "Trust me. This was a real memory."

"But… how the hell could you possibly have fallen in love with someone like Kunzite?"

"You're forgetting one thing, Art. Keisuke was originally one of Mamoru's bodyguards. He was a good man before the Dark Kingdom twisted his mind and turned him against us."

"Well surely you didn't pursue this romance, did you?"

"No. From what little I remembered I broke it off before it even really got started. Us going out would've caused Usagi too many problems." Minako then once again that last moment she looked back at Kunzite before teleporting away, and how in that brief moment she had seen the pain in his eyes from being rejected. Thinking of that moment caused Minako's chest to tighten a bit, and she found herself wondering how Keisuke was doing. "I think I should go see how Keisuke's doing. It'd be a good chance to ask him if he remembered the same thing I just did."

"I really don't think that's a good idea."

Minako rose from her chair and headed for the door. "Yeah, well… I don't really care what you think. I need to see if he's okay."

Lyle stood at the edge of a dirt field out behind the studio's lot. Clutched tightly in both his hands he held an urn made of a dark-grey metal covered in black dirt and oozing some sort of green slim from the brim around the lid. His tie was uncharacteristically crooked, and his skin was as white as a sheet; yet his mouth was curved into a blissful smile and his eyes were filled with a mixture of pure terror and sheer wonder. Reading the final acts of that play the previous night in One-Eyed Pete's castle had changed him. A veil had been lifted from his eyes and he now saw the true nature of the universe; a truth that he had heard from the mouth of the King himself.

He didn't know if it had been only a vision or if he had actually been transported there, but while reading the play Lyle had seen the kingdom of Carcosa with his own eyes and had met its ruler. The King had shared much with Lyle, including his plans for the Earth, and he had promised Lyle that he would give him a position of glory in the new world if he would act as his herald. Lyle had always gone with the deals where he would benefit the most, and this had been the deal of a lifetime. When Lyle had returned to the castle, Pete had given him the urn and instructed him on what to do with it. It was a simple enough job, and Lyle was pleased to do it.

Eventually saw Minako walking across the lot in her search for Keisuke, and it was then he knew that the time to carry out his task had come. He kneeled down and gently set the urn down on the ground.

Lifting the urn's lid, Lyle dropped in a strand of golden hair from his pocket that he had earlier learned had come from Minako into the vessel. He didn't bother to ask Pete or Mason how they had gotten the hair, for it didn't matter. "In the name of the King, I call upon thee. Deliver the Sign unto the chosen one."

A few second after the hair had fallen into the urn a flabby green shape shot out of it and burrowed into the ground with incredible speed. With his task complete, Lyle got back to his feet, turned around and walked away, whistling casually with his hands behind his back.

Keisuke was pacing around the lot, still in full costume. He had hoped that going for a walk would allow him to clear his head, but it wasn't working. Just as Keisuke turned around to go back to his trailer, he saw Minako standing before him. He found that he was glad to see the blond, yet at the same time she was the last person he wanted to be around because he had no idea how he should feel about her.

"Hi there!" Minako greeted with a big smile. Keisuke thought that she seemed a little nervous, but dismissed it thinking he was just imagining things.

Suddenly a nervousness of his own, Keisuke cleared his throat. "Uh… Minako. Is there something I can do for you?"

"No, no. I, um… I just wanted to see if you were okay. I mean with the way you freaked out during our first scene together, I thought something might be wrong."

"Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine. I just got a little carried away throwing myself into the role. Again, I apologize."

"That's it, huh?" Her smile faltered and Keisuke thought that this time her voice held a hint of disappointment in her voice. Minako shook her head and her smile fully returned. "Well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Keisuke smiled and nodded. "Well, if that's all, I should probably go. They'll probably want me back on the set very soon."

"…Wait," Minako spoke as Keisuke started to walk off. "Before I go, there's something I wanted to tell you about."

Keisuke turned back around to face her. "Go on."

Minako suddenly found that he couldn't look him in the eye. That calm expression of his made it impossible to guess what he was thinking, and she was suddenly afraid of how he would respond to what she was about to tell him.

Minako's face was bright red as she finally started to speak. "Well you see… I had this dream earlier while I was taking a nap in my trailer. Actually it wasn't a dream, but a memory. A memory… of us."

Keisuke became even more interested in what she had to say, but retained his cool expression. "A memory of us? You mean… from our past lives?"

"Yep. We were visiting your homeland. It was night and we were in your castle, and… well… some things were said."

It was suddenly hard for Keisuke to retain his mask of calm, for he had a pretty good idea about the memory the blond was talking about. "What exactly was said between us?"

Before Minako could answer, the ground beneath them suddenly began to rumble. A gigantic mass suddenly burst out a few feet from where they were standing, forcing them to jump back. It was then that they managed to get a good look at the creature. The thing was a gigantic worm at least twenty feet long and as wide as a minivan. Its flesh was sickly pale greenish-white, and its body was covered in hideous green eyes. The most horrible feature of the thing though was its face, which was that of a newborn human baby with pitch-black eyes and a grinning mouth filled with tiny sharp fangs.

A look of utter disgust formed on Keisuke's face. "What is that thing?"

"I don't know, but it's ugly and has the worst sense of timing!" Minako declared as she clutched her chest. "And it needs to die! Venus Crystal Power… MAKE-UP!"

With that, Minako became enveloped in a pillar of golden light that shot up into the sky, fading moments later to reveal her in her alternate form as Sailor Venus. After her transformation had finished, the worm giggled and focused its total attention on Venus.

Venus pointed her index finger at the monstrosity like a gun. "Crescent Beam!"

A powerful beam of gold light shot from the tip of Venus's finger and struck the worm front, but did no damage. The beast let out another childish giggle and spat a glob of yellow slime down at the blond. Venus jumped back at the last second and the projectile struck the spot where she had just been standing, melting a hole in the ground.

"Okay. Time to break out the big guns," Venus decided as she cricked her neck. She then blew a kiss into her hand, causing a heart made of golden energy to appear in her palm. "Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"

Venus extended her palm, causing the heart to fly from her hand and circle around her multiplied to form multiple rings. When the hearts had gained enough speed, the finally came together and became a blast of gold electricity that shot across the battlefield and struck the worm. The creature cried out in pain as the energy shocked it. When the energy finally faded, the worm looked down at Venus with an expression of utter fury. It spit out another glob of yellow acid, and this time the projectile managed to hit Venus in her upper left arm.

Venus cried out in pain as she held her new wound. The worm meanwhile giggled with delight at the pain it had caused.

"Venus!" Keisuke called out before glaring up at the worm. "I've had enough of this!"

Suddenly Keisuke became enveloped in a pillar of black energy that shot into the sky, gaining the attention of both Venus and the worm. In the darkness of the energy, Venus saw what appeared to be stars. In seconds the energy subsided to reveal Kunzite in a new form. A white cape with a dark-blue underside hung from his back, and he had on a black uniform shirt underneath a piece of silvery-white armor that covered his chest. White gloves covered his hands, and he had on long black pants with knee-high armored boots made of the same metal as the armor covering his chest. Hanging from the wide golden belt around his waist was a large sword with an ornate silver handle and black sheath.

Despite Kunzite's transformation, the worm decided to ignore him and turned its attention back to Venus. Just as the beast spat out another glob of acid at her, Kunzite charged across the battlefield and made it to the Venusian's side. As another yellow blob flew down towards them, Kunzite raised his cape to shield them both. Suddenly a cylindrical pillar of darkness filled with tiny white stars surrounded the duo and blocked the attack, seeming to absorb the acid blob into nothingness. Meanwhile inside the pillar, Venus was pressed against the pillar's wall by Kunzite's body.

"Are you okay?" Kunzite asked with concern.

"I think so," Venus answered. "Looks like that thing's attack was only strong enough to leave a small burn."

"My instincts tell me it's only toying with us. If we don't finish it off soon, it'll start to cause even more damage. For now though, take a moment to rest. This barrier won't last for much longer, but it should provide you with enough time to recover."

Venus nodded and started looking around the enclosure. It was not pitch-black darkness that surrounded them but the darkness of the night sky. Venus felt as though she were standing in a sea of stars. It was then that Venus remembered that this was the true form of Kunzite's power: the power to call forth the darkness of the night. It was not a frightening darkness but a gentle one, the kind that one could be content to fall asleep in.

Though faint, Venus could recall being protected by this power before in the past, though she couldn't remember the exact instances when that happened. Even so, Venus found that she felt safe surrounded by this power, safer than she had felt in her life. That safety brought with it a sort of contentment, and before she realized what she was doing, Venus wrapped her arms around Kunzite and rested her head on his shoulder as her eyes closed.

The blond guardian's actions caused Kunzite to blush. "Uh, Venus? What're you doing?"

Venus's eyes snapped open and quickly pulled back as far as she could within the tiny enclosed space, her face an even deeper shade of red's than Kunzite's. "Sorry! Just felt a little dizzy there, I guess. Long day, you know?"

Suddenly the darkness around them began to thin. In a few moments the barrier was gone, and the worm was looking down at them with an expression of inhuman rage. It let out a deep inhuman roar not meant to come from any such creature with the face of an infant.

"Stand back! I'll handle this!" Kunzite declared before drawing his sword. The blade of the weapon was made of some odd black metal or crystal and had strange runic symbols carved down its center. The silver-haired general raised the sword as the blade suddenly gave off black star-filled energy. "Darkest Night's End!"

With one swing of his arm, Kunzite sent forth a powerful wave of night energy that sliced the worm's body in half down the middle. As the two halves of the creature began to split apart and fall to the ground, the darkness quickly began to swallow them until there was nothing left. Seconds later, the darkness faded to nothing.

Venus stood clutching her wounded arm, blinking in utter surprise. "Were… were you always able to do that?"

"I don't believe so," Kunzite answered as he looked at his blade. "This sword is new. I do not know how I came to possess it, but I believe it has magnified my power."

"…Glad you didn't have that thing when you worked for Beryl."

"Indeed." Kunzite sheathed his sword and walked towards Venus. "How's your arm?"

"It should be okay. My power is already starting to heal the wound."

"Mina!" a familiar voice called. The two looked to see that Artemis had arrived on the scene. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"We got attacked by this ugly worm thing. And no Art, Kunzite had nothing to do with it. In fact he's the reason why it's dead."

Artemis eyed Kunzite suspiciously. "I don't suppose you'd know anything about where this worm came from."

Kunzite shook his head. "I'm just as much in the dark as the two of you are."

"Bang up job there, General," another familiar voice chimed in. The three looked to see Hilda approaching. "Glad to see that the weapon I gave you works well."

"So you're the one responsible for my new costume and weapon," Kunzite realized.

"Thought you could use an upgrade, especially considering how powerful this enemy of ours is. Be glad I didn't dress you in a costume like the one that prince of yours uses. Fighting in a tuxedo? What's up with that?"

"I think it's time you gave us some answers, Hilda," Venus cut in. "First off, are you the reason why Artemis and I can't contact our friends?"

"No. That's the enemy's doing. But it's probably better that they don't get involved in this anyway. Better to have someone else left to take up the fight in case we fail."

"So this enemy is that powerful? Then who or what is it?"

"Sorry. I'm still not at liberty to say." Hilda cautiously looked around the lot. "In fact I probably shouldn't even be talking to you in the open like this. I have no idea how many people here this thing may have corrupted already, and I can't reveal myself to it too soon. But it should be clear to you know that we're on the same side."

"You can't expect us to just take your word for that!" Artemis argued.

"Forget it Artemis. It's clear that we're not going to get anything from her right now," Venus told him. I don't trust you Hilda, but I do trust Kunzite. And since you and he are working together, that's good enough for me right now."

"Wait, you trust Kunzite?" a stunned Artemis asked.

Venus turned on her heel and began to walk off. "Let's go Art. It's been a long day."

Artemis could do nothing but groan with frustration before chasing after her. As the two left, Kunzite changed back to his civilian form.

"Long day, huh?" Hilda remarked as she moved to stand next to him. "So, how'd your big scene go?"

"It… revealed to me certain things which I had forgotten," Keisuke admitted. "You were right Hilda. It seems that there was more between Venus and I during the Silver Millennium than I thought. I don't have the full story though, and it's left me confused."

Hilda's lips curved into a pleased smirk. "Well, well. Seems like my boss was right in picking you for this mission. There may be hope for this world yet."

"What do you mean?"

"…Forget it. Just thinking out loud. Right now I have something else I need to give you." Hilda then delivered a powerful punch to Keisuke's gut that caused him to fall to his knees coughing. "That's for calling me a damn shrew earlier!"

After a moment, Keisuke managed to stop coughing and looked up at her. "How… did you know I…"

"That little charm bracelet of yours that binds you to my service is also a listening device. I need some way to keep tabs on you, what with your rather checkered past and everything. Now suck it up and get on your feet! They're expecting you on the set, so get your worthless ass over there!"

Groaning, Keisuke managed to get back to his feet and trudged off towards the set. It seemed that his current mission was only getting harder and harder.

Minako sighed heavily as she emerged from the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. It had been a long day, and a particularly long night with all the lines she still had to go over for her next scene. So much had happened and it was proving a lot for her to process. For one thing there was the mystery surrounding this new enemy that Keisuke and Hilda had come there to fight. The one thing Minako was sure about was that the worm creature she and Keisuke had face was likely just the beginning of what this new threat was going to throw on them.

Of course despite the enormity of this new enemy, the thing that concerned Minako the most was her relationship with Keisuke, both past and present. Ever since that memory of their meeting from their past lives awakened in her, Minako was no longer sure about how she felt about the silver-haired general. Then of course there was that awkward moment between them inside the barrier Keisuke had erected around them to block one of the worm's attacks. Minako could still remember his scent and the warmth of his body pressed against hers. She couldn't deny that she had a physical attraction towards him at least, but then Keisuke had hardly been the first handsome man she was hot for.

In the end, Minako could only be sure of two things. The first was that even if the two of them had been in love with each other in the past, it wasn't like they could just pick up where they had left off as if nothing had happened. Too much had changed for both of them, and Minako knew that just because she had gained that memory of past didn't mean Keisuke had regained it as well. The second thing was that even if she tried to pursue a romance with Keisuke in the present, it would only be doomed like it was in the past. Despite being the goddess of love incarnate, true love was just not in the cards for her; Minako had learned that fact years ago when she had fully awakened.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Minako decided that it was best to just put everything out of her mind for the time being and go to bed. She was too exhausted both physically and mentally for any more serious thought. Minako wiped away the condensation on the mirror that had formed from the steam of her shower and glanced at her left arm. Her magical abilities had healed her wound nicely, but it seemed that the worm's attack had left some sort of mark. It was not a scar, but more like a tattoo or a birthmark, colored a sickly yellow and shaped like some sort of alien hieroglyph.

Minako wondered if she should have the mark looked at, but in the end decided to just wait for a bit and see if it faded away on its own. She didn't want to make a big deal out of nothing, which is what it probably was. Yawning, Minako headed into the bedroom and started getting dressed for bed.

Mason and Lyle's footsteps echoed through the empty halls of Hellmouth Castle as they walked though the east wing. In minutes they had arrived at the room that One-Eyed Pete was using as an office. The room was of medium size, with thick cobwebs decorating the corners where the walls met the ceiling. Pete was sitting behind a giant oak desk surrounded by candles, writing something with a quill pen made from a crooked black and grey feather.

"I trust you gentlemen have news," Pete spoke, not taking his eye off the page he was writing on as he dipped the tip of his pen in a bottle of ink.

"The Coffin Child has delivered the Yellow Sign to Ms. Aino," Mason reported. "However, I'm sorry to say that the child perished in battle."

Pete was indifferent as he continued to write. "It matters not. In fact the Coffin Child's demise was to be expected. What matters is that Ms. Aino has been branded and will soon be ready for the King's arrival."

"There is one hitch though, Maestro. It's the way that the Coffin Child was rubbed out," Lyle interjected. "It wasn't Aino who wiped it out, but the guy playing her lover."

Pete finally paused in his writing and looked at the two. "Is that so? Well now, that is an unexpected twist in our plot. How big of a threat do the two of you estimate him to be?"

"I'm not really a good judge about this sort of stuff, but my two cents is that we shouldn't let our guard down with him."

"We should wait for a bit to eliminate him though," Mason told them. "We've only just started the filming, and there are far too many scenes left for him to appear in. Having to recast would set us back quite a bit."

"No, no. You're quite right. It's still far too soon to write out Cassilda's lover." Pete leaned back in his chair and tented his fingers in thought. "Mr. Worth does make a good point though. This young man may be a problem for us, albeit a minor one."

"So what do we do then?" Lyle asked.

Pete's abnormally large mouth curved into a smirk. "I think we should test this young man's power to see just how strong he is. He's going to get killed off anyway, so we may as well have a little fun before we finish him off. Besides, I want to know all there is about our mysterious knight's strength so that I can make his death scene as glorious as possible."

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter was on the long side, but I knew it was going be a lengthy chapter going in because of the flashback and battle scenes. The hardest parts of this chapter to write were the flashback and the scene of Minako and Keisuke's performance. I apologize if Keisuke/Kunzite seemed a little OOC in this chapter. He's proving to be a tad hard to write for at the moment. I hope everyone at least liked how I updated his look and gave him a new weapon. The main reason for Kunzite's little upgrade was because I wanted him to have sort of a knight-like quality.

I hope to have the next chapter up by next week or so, but it'll depend on what my work schedule for the week is like and all that. So until next time, please review and let me know what you think.