A/N: Huge, huge thanks to all of you who've read, reviewed, faved, and added to alerts! Happy Chinese New Year to all of you who celebrate it. Hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

Chapter 3

"You may go in now, Mizuno-san," the secretary said to Ami, who was sitting on the sofa for visitors.

Shooting the lady a grateful smile and a soft "Thank you", Ami walked towards the door. She'd seen the building she was in a couple of times, had even seen it while it was being built. At that time, she remembered being at awe at how quickly the construction had gone. Now, however, knowing that who the owner was, she was no longer surprised.

After announcing her arrival, the secretary swiftly left the room, closing the door shut behind her.

"Good afternoon, Mizuno-san," Kyosuke greeted as his hands left the keyboard and he leaned back into his chair.

"You're the one behind it," Ami immediately accused instead.

His eyebrow shot up and his eyes took on a humorous glint. "Well, I suppose that's one form of greeting, though I would have to inquire what you are referring to."

In a burst of anger and courage, she stalked towards his desk and slammed both of her palms on top of the table. "You know what I'm talking about. You're the one who framed Ace. You're the one who got him thrown into jail."

A look of mild interest appeared on his face as he propped up his chin with one hand. "Are you suggesting that I framed, let's say, a random person? But we both know that's not the case."

Ami blinked rapidly a couple of times. "So … you're admitting that you did frame him."

"Did I?" he asked as he looked off to the side, as if in thought. "I'm under the impression that I haven't admitted anything."

"But you just admitted that Ace wasn't a random person," Ami replied.

A look of mild surprise appeared on his face. "Hm … I hardly can call a Venusian soldier who'd been allocated to my army any random person. In fact, I believe that your leader might recall the young man who'd been so enamored with her that he'd signed up to be sent to Earth, just so he could see her."

Ami's mouth dropped open. "No."

Kyosuke raised an eyebrow.

"You're … you know … you must've known that he was getting married with her. That's why you're lying—he can't be someone from our past life," Ami stuttered, trying to convince herself.

Tapping his hand on the table, he asked, "Is Venus getting married?" He tilted his head to one side. "And are you telling me that Venus had forgotten to inform you that her fiancé is the reincarnation of Adonis?"

Ami stared at him, the implication of his words hitting her like a mountain of bricks. However, she shook her head, brushing away that for the time being—she could have a good talk with Minako after she'd dealt with Kyosuke.

"That," she said slowly, "is not the point. You must think I'm incredibly daft if you believe that you can get away with framing Ace and throwing him in jail days before Venus gets married with him. She'd run a background check on him already, so we know that he didn't do what they are accusing him of doing."

Not to mention the fact that this might very well bring Minako in contact with Kyosuke. For Serenity's sake, she'd forgotten about that possibility. She didn't want to think what would happen if Minako was to meet Kyosuke right now. She didn't even know if she should mention it to Kyosuke. Was that his plan all along? Was that what he had wished would happen when he'd set out to frame Ace? She wasn't even certain anymore. However, he did mention that he'd wanted time for the Shitennou to redeem themselves. That meant that the possibility of Minako finding him alive couldn't possibly be an outcome he had been waiting for.

But that was also before he'd known Minako was getting married, and knowing Kunzite, he couldn't possibly had made such a monumental error, could he?

Throwing caution to the wind, she said to him, coldly, "You do know that once she figures out, and mark my words, she will find out, that you are the one behind this, you'll find her at your doorsteps earlier than you'd expected."

He froze on the spot, and under other circumstances, Ami might've found it hilarious because it wasn't everyday one could catch General Kunzite of Earth unawares, but at the current moment, she couldn't find anything amusing about the situation.

"You're telling me that you haven't thought of that possibility?" she asked in disbelief.

He didn't answer her, and she couldn't tell if he was thinking extremely quickly right now or if he was completely at a loss at the moment. Biting down on her lower lip, she wondered if she should call Minako right now. She wondered if she could call her. Nonetheless, she needed to know where Minako was right now. She needed to know if the Venusian soldier had discovered the name "Kyosuke Takayama" yet.

Making up her mind, she decided to call one of the other girls first, to see if they'd spoken to Minako yet.

"Mako-chan? Have you spoken with Minako-chan yet?" she asked, giving Kyosuke a cold glare before walking a small distance away.

"Ami-chan?" Makoto spoke up on the other end.

Her grim tone of voice didn't bring Ami any comfort, so she wrapped her free hand around her middle and sucked in a deep breath.

"I'm going to meet with her right now. Apparently, the two thugs who are trying to frame Ace were hired by someone, and Minako is convinced that the police were getting orders from higher authorities, so Ace is still in jail, but Minako is going to find that 'somebody' who hired those two thugs. I volunteered to go with her because that person is apparently affiliated with the yakuza—"

"What!?" Ami swirled around and stared at Kyosuke.

Okay, so he had ties with the law enforcement and the yakuza. No wonder Riku was kissing up to him so desperately.

"—and Rei is keeping Usagi busy because she wanted to come with us after finding out that Ace got thrown in jail. The last thing we needed was for her and Mamoru-san to be tangled up in this pile of mess. Hey! Do you think you can check who's actually behind this? I mean, I think Minako's way of 'beating the information out' is great, but it might be a bit slow."

"I'll check and get back to you," Ami said, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible.

After exchanging a few more words, she hung up and glared at Kyosuke with her fists clenched. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, not certain on what to say first. It was tempting to give into her petulant side and tell him "I told you so", but she knew that it wouldn't solve the problem they had at hand. She didn't want Minako walking in here, and she was pretty certain Kyosuke wanted to avoid that scenario as well.

"Well then, I do hope you have some back-up plan because she's apparently hunting down the people behind Ace's imprisonment," she finally said.

Massaging his temples, he let out a sigh before saying, "I'll think of something."

"I suggest you hurry, since she's not known to be slow or patient," she said coldly.

If she weren't worried about how to stall Minako, she would've found it amusing how much he resembled a child at the moment. However, now, she could only sigh, her shoulders slumping in wariness. She just knew it was a bad idea to make a deal with Kyosuke. She should've just said "no" and let the other Senshi deal with it. Or maybe she should've gone back on her words and just lied to him.

"I'll walk you out," Kyosuke finally said as he stood up from his chair.

"That won't be necessary," she said, though her voice was much calmer than how she felt. After a short pause, she added, "I'll try my best to stall her, but I can't guarantee how soon you'll see her at your doorsteps. She's good at sniffing out clues when she wants to."

"I remember," he replied, and for a moment, she thought she saw fondness flash through his eyes before he took in a deep breath again.

"For the record," she said, turning towards him again when she'd reached the door, "I'm not fond of surprises." She looked at him straight in the eyes. "This will be the only time I will put any effort into helping you. Should this happen again, please be assured that I will be all too happy to let my sisters handle the situation. Have a good day."

~-0-~

She let out a sigh as she waited for the elevator. She didn't know why she bothered to promise to help him. Really, he deserved having Minako release hell on him. Though she supposed that since it was Minako and him , she couldn't really be certain it would end in a fight.

"Good day."

The voice startled her out of her reverie, but she was even more surprised to identify who stood next to her. Therefore, she could only gawk until a congenial smile blossomed on his face.

"I'm assuming you're leaving the building. Unless it's actually your hobby to watch elevators come and go."

"... Right," she said quietly before slipping through the open doors of the waiting elevator.

She wasn't all too surprised when he followed in behind her.

He stood across from Ami inside the elevator, tipping his head towards Kyosuke's secretary. Her barely-muffled giggles resounded in Ami's ears as the door closed and they started moving downwards.

"I didn't know you worked here," she blurt out, no longer able to hold in her curiosity.

He had always been the Shitennou she'd known the least. Perhaps it was because he was never overly outspoken, or perhaps she just never had the chance to get to know him. And maybe it was for that reason, she didn't feel as much hostility towards him as she did towards the others.

"Well, despite our status, we are, unfortunately, not who we used to be. It's much harder walking into banks and asking for a loan these days. General Jadeite, Knight of Patience and Harmony, personal guardian to the High Prince of Terra doesn't have the same influence nowadays as it did before," he said, shaking his head in mock misery.

Ami covered her mouth and laughed upon hearing his words. Her eyes were still twinkling her mirth when she answered, "Mm, yes, I do suppose that it will be a bit hard to get that loan."

Jadeite held out his hand and gave her another smile. "Ito Junya, at your service."

Ami didn't bother hiding the grin that hadn't quite left her face as she took his hand and shook it. "Mizuno Ami."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mizuno-san."

"Likewise," she said, and she was more than surprised to realize that she actually meant it.

"So … what got you to come here today? If it's because of that old man—" He tilted his head upwards in what she supposed was the direction of Kyosuke's office. "—I have to say you have incredibly bad taste in looking for someone to chat with. Between you and me, never look for him if it's anything short of a war," he said conspiratorially.

A small laugh left Ami's lips upon hearing her words, and she felt some of the stress that had built up during her talk with Kyosuke melt away.

When she didn't say anything, he tilted his head to one side. "I'm actually serious. I really don't know why you're here. The last thing Kyosuke mentioned to us was that he'd made a deal with you, and you looked rather stressed when you were waiting for the elevator, so I'm supposing something happened."

Ami bit down on the inside of her lower lip as she gazed at him, pondering if he was telling the truth. His face held mild interest, but other than that, she couldn't find the spark of scheming that she was so accustomed to with Kyosuke and a certain other Shitennou. She didn't know if this was because he was genuinely honest in his intentions or if this was just his game face.

The elevator reached first floor before she had the chance to decide on what to do, and Junya motioned for her to exit first.

"Did you drive here?" he asked.

"No, it's not too far from where I was, so I just walked over," she replied.

"Do you need me to help you hail a taxi?" he questioned.

She shook her head. "It's … I think I would enjoy a bit of a walk right now."

"I would offer to walk you home, but seeing that we'd just met five minutes ago, that'll probably be a bit inappropriate," he said. He glanced over her shoulder and offered, "Would you like a cup of coffee? It's without amorous intentions or ulterior motives—well, maybe just two motives, since I'm awfully curious, and I do wish to get on your good side."

~-0-~

She couldn't say that she didn't wonder if she'd done the right thing. She supposed it wasn't too scandalous for her to have a cup of coffee with Jadeite, and Rei wouldn't be overly offended if she did somehow see them in the cafe. Maybe. Frankly speaking, Rei would probably be angry at her for hiding the fact that the Shitennou were back to life, if the Martian princess hadn't already seen it in the fire.

Well, she supposed that that wasn't the only thing she should be worried about. Really, why was she sitting here when she should be doing something about Minako? However, for once, she seriously didn't know where to start, and perhaps that was why she remained in her seat, quietly thanking Junya when he handed her a mug.

"The coffee here is quite good," Junya said, take a sip out of his mug.

"He got her fiancé thrown in jail," she blurted out.

It was after the words left her mouth that she realized that she had been a bit vague in her words, but Junya obviously understood what she meant, if him choking on that mouthful of coffee was any indication at all.

"You're kidding me," Junya said, wiping his mouth with a handful of tissues.

Placing his mug back onto the table, he leaned back in his seat, a look of awe imprinted on his face when she shook her head.

"For Gaea's sake—" he breathed out before he chuckled. "Damn. You have no idea how rare this is."

"What? Him getting people thrown in jail?" she asked dryly with a raised eyebrow.

He laughed again. "No wonder he fell in love with you."

There was no question who he was talking about, and she felt warmth traveling up to her cheeks. Perhaps it was because of his tone of voice, or maybe it was because he had been quite the delightful company so far, but she didn't feel as stung by him mentioning him as she had been when Kyosuke did.

Lowering her eyes, she took a sip out of her mug of coffee. It was, indeed, quite delectable, much smoother than the other place she had been frequenting for her daily dose. She made a mental note to add this place to her everyday route to the hospital.

Junya didn't seem to notice the thoughts that went through her mind. Instead, he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and chin on top of his laced fingers. "You can't just stop there now, or else you'll seriously have me begging for details, and trust me, that won't be a pretty sight."

The expression on his face reminded Ami so much of a child that she almost had trouble stifling a laugh. It was so different to the persona that he had shown her while they were walking here and it fascinated Ami that the childlike innocence and gentlemanly etiquette could flow so seamlessly into one another.

He raised his eyebrows upon noticing her silence and perhaps even her amusement because he then said, "You don't believe me. I would tell you to ask around, but given that the only persons you could ask probably shouldn't know of our existence, you'll have to go on my words: I can make quite a scene. I'd say I can give the bratty young one a run for his money if I wanted to."

Ami blinked at him. "Are you certain that's the argument you want to use? It might very well convince me not to give you the details."

"Damn it! My plan is foiled," Junya said with a shake of his head. With a sigh, he leaned back into his chair, the smile on his lips a contrast to the misery implied in his words.

Ami took another sip of her coffee before she answered, "I suppose … since you already know the most crucial part of what had happened, it wouldn't really make sense for me to withhold the rest of the information." She tilted her head to one side. "Other than for the purpose of torturing you."

"Hm … someone we both know always described you as sweet," he said, a boyish grin on his face.

"Perhaps I'd changed," she quipped, knowing exactly who he was talking about.

"Dear Gaea, please tell me you didn't," he said, a look of faux horror on his face.

She laughed softly into her hand before she proceeded to give him a concise rundown about what had happened.

He let out a whistle once she was finished. "You're lucky he didn't get Masato—that's Nephrite, by the way—to hammer him into a pulp. Wait—sorry, no, it's probably enough for him to want to strangle Ace with his bare hands. Getting him jailed is probably the least dramatic thing that's going through his mind right now."

" Least dramatic?" Ami asked in disbelief.

In her opinion, using all sorts of connections to frame someone else and get them thrown in jail because he was marrying the person you had a relationship with one lifetime ago seemed pretty dramatic to her.

"Well, to be fair, there are moments when I really don't know what's going on through that scary brain of his, but I can assure you that this is rare. Like, I never saw him do something without calculating every possible consequences before, and at the risk of the other girls finding out that we're alive so early on?" Junya shook his head. "So, like I've said, I do think the last logical part of his brain that hadn't been consumed by rage yet did manage to remind him to be a bit less … well … dramatic." He paused before adding, "Not to mention if the same thing had happened to us, I daresay, we would've done something a lot worse."

The way he looked at her was meaningful, as if he were trying to convey some kind of message for his brother, and for the first time during their conversation, Ami lowered her head, discomfort stirring at the pit of her stomach.

"So … what do you plan to do now?" he asked.

She had an inkling of suspicion that he'd steered the conversation away on purpose, but she welcomed it anyway.

"I … don't really know for certain," she admitted. "She's on a warpath to find out who's behind the whole thing right now, and knowing her persistence, she'll manage to find out it's him sooner or later. In the meantime, I can only try to stall her … something which I should be doing now, really."

She sighed, rubbing her temples.

He shook his head. "Kyosuke might've been angry, but I doubt he'd completely lost his mind back then. I'm pretty certain it should take some time before she discover it's him."

"Hopefully," she said, a bit doubtful.

"I'll go talk with Kyosuke and see what I can get out of him. Maybe there's some way to fix all of this," Junya said, standing up.

Ami stood up as well and gave him a nod. "Thank you. I … really appreciate it."

He shrugged and gave her a wink. "Hey, it's the least I can do for someone who's willing to give us a second chance."

She smiled back at him. At that moment, though she couldn't say she completely trusted him and despite the fact that it had led to all this fiasco, she suddenly felt that perhaps the deal wasn't completely that bad of an idea after all.

~-0-~

After parting ways with Junya, Ami decided to go to Hikawa Shrine, if only to make sure her Princess didn't decide to join into the whole pile of mess. Her hunch was proven true, based on the loud declarations of "going to punish the person who dared to stand in the way of true love" even before she stepped into Rei's tearoom. Thankfully, that was the only thing she had to worry about that day, though she was a bit worried when there was no news from Makoto or Minako.

After a sleepless night and no news from either of them, Ami woke up early and called Makoto, and her wariness grew when her Jovian sister didn't answer. She then mulled over the merit of calling Rei, but then she would have to explain why she was acting like she was the secret identity behind Ace's imprisonment.

Her shift at the hospital was, in contrast, a lot more boring, allowing her to spend more of her brain power contemplating on what to do. She had considered calling in sick, but without knowing where Minako and Makoto were at the moment, it would've been a pointless endeavor.

Her agitation continued to grow throughout the next day, and she soon found herself at Kyosuke's office again. However, much to her dismay, the man wasn't in his office, according to his secretary. She briefly wondered if he had been murdered and buried by one Minako Aino before she ditched that idea in the bin. If that were the case, Junya probably would've contacted her by now.

Finally, just when Ami was at the brink of believing that Junya hadn't contacted her because Minako had managed to murder and bury all four of the Shitennou, the Venusian in question appeared at Hikawa Shrine, as cheerful and bright as any other day, dark circles under the eyes lightened by clever usage of make-up.

"So … were you caught in the act?" Rei asked after Minako sat down beside Ami.

"Hm?" Minako blinked at her.

"The last time I've heard from you was three days ago, ready to slaughter whoever had framed Ace. What else was I supposed to think? I thought your disappearance was because you needed to lay low and possibly find a way out of Japan before the authorities threw you in jail, too," Rei replied with her arms crossed over her chest.

Her violet eyes flickered over to Makoto's green ones.

"W-we were busy," culprit number two stammered.

"Busy? So busy that you decided it would be a good idea to not let us know that you're still alive?" Rei asked. "I almost didn't know what to tell Usagi. She was worried sick about the two of you and was this close to running after the two of you just to make sure that you were safe."

Identical looks of guilt appeared on Minako and Makoto's faces, causing a niggling feeling to blossom at the back of Ami's mind.

"Sorry! We'll … there won't be a second time," Makoto promised.

"There better not be," Rei huffed. After a pause, she asked, "So I trust that everything was settled?"

"Yeah … of course it was," Makoto said.

"Good. So when's Ace going to get released?" Rei asked.

"He was released two days ago," Makoto replied, her response swift.

"So I guess there won't be any delays in the wedding then," Rei said.

"..."

The niggling feeling at the back of Ami's mind continued to grow, traveling down to the pit of her stomach and festering into that nasty sinking feeling one got when they just know they are about to receive horrible news.

Rei raised an eyebrow at the silence she'd received. Makoto fidgeted in her seat and twisted her fingers around. When she noticed Ami staring at her frantic moves, she stuffed both of her hands on her thighs under the table and out of sight. Minako, on the other hand, stared at her teacup as if she'd suddenly found something interesting in there.

"What are you hiding from us?" Rei demanded, narrowing her eyes.

"... Well … erm … we … I mean to say …" Makoto said with each word lower in volume than the last.

"I'm calling off the wedding," Minako said softly.

"Wait, what?" Rei questioned, whipping her head around and staring at her.

"I'm calling off the wedding," Minako repeated herself, her voice firmer than the previous time.

"Because of him?" Ami asked quietly.

Minako, Makoto, and Rei all turned their heads and stared at her.

"Him who?" Rei demanded.

Her eyes were tumultuous, and Ami could almost see a hint of plea, a desperate wish and hope fighting against the inevitable.

"How did you … you knew they were back to life?" Makoto whispered, her eyes focused on Ami.

"I …" Ami started to say. In the end, she sighed and nodded.

"And you didn't think of telling us?" Minako asked in disbelief.

"I … it's complicated," Ami said, shaking her head.

Rei stared at each of them coldly. "That's one way to put it."

Her voice snapped Makoto and Minako out of their disbelief. For the second time that day, guilt flashed over their faces again.

"Rei-chan, I … we …" Makoto said.

"So what should we call this? History repeating itself? Once those four come back into our lives, we decide that we're going to follow our footsteps from our past lives? Is this what our teamwork supposed to look like? Full of lies and pretense and not telling one another important things?" Rei asked.

Her questions felt like licks of a whip against Ami's skin, and the calmness in Rei's voice made it all the more painful. She'd known that she would've felt guilty for the rest of her life if she'd never given the Shitennou a second chance. However, that didn't stop her from feeling ashamed once she was facing the actual accusations of lying to her friends.

Taking in a deep breath, she opened her mouth. "Rei-chan."

She tried her best not to flinch when Rei trained her violet eyes on her.

"I admit that it was … unwise to not let the three of you know that the Shitennou are back to life. However … when I met with Kyosuke-san—that's Kunzite's name this lifetime—I … he was different from the man we'd fought, the man who'd helped Metallia and Beryl. He reminded more of the man I'd first met in the gardens of Terra in our past lives."

"The man who'd decided to believe Beryl's lies," Rei said.

"They were foolish back then, but it … didn't feel right sending them to their deaths for their stupidity," Ami replied.

"May I remind you that their stupidity was what cost us our lives, our Princess's life, and the whole of Silver Millennium?" Rei asked.

"Be that as it may, Usagi-chan would've wanted to give them a second chance," Ami said. "And besides, if Kyosuke-san had wanted to, he could've killed me that night."

Rei froze. After a second, she sighed. "That's debatable. Your attacks are much stronger now."

Ami smiled. "But he doesn't know that, and he didn't try to attack me." She tilted her head to one side. "Though he did threaten to do so if I weren't willing to talk."

"He's just bluffing," Minako spoke up, waving her hand and rolling her eyes. "Not counting the time when he's under the control of Metallia, of course, but he's a big, grouchy teddy bear who needs to be kept away from the diplomacy table because he doesn't know how to speak to people to save his life."

"So you figured you'll just snuggle with the big teddy bear to get Ace out of prison?" Rei snarked.

"Rei-channnn!" Minako whined, scuttling towards Rei.

"Go away. I'm still cross with you," Rei said, attempting to push the blonde away from her.

"You know you love me," Minako said, hugging Rei around the shoulders despite her protests.

"That's 'loved', past tense," Rei scoffed, still trying to struggle out of Minako's grasps.

"I'll awaken that love again if it's the last thing I do!" Minako cried dramatically before trying to kiss Rei.

"Go away, you annoying twit," Rei growled.

Ami bit down on her lower lip to avoid laughing and thus having to face Rei's wrath. After a short while, she opened her mouth again. "All kidding aside, I'm sorry I've kept their return a secret."

Makoto scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm sorry we didn't call earlier, too, Rei-chan." She sighed. "It's just that … everything happened so suddenly. I hadn't expected to see him again, and … those three days were just chaotic. I was trying to figure out if … if he was real or not. Not just if he was really alive or not but if he was trying to lie to me, so he just took me to Elysion, and reception isn't exactly stellar there."

"Elysion?" Ami asked in surprise.

Makoto shrugged. "He said something about it being the sacred place of Terra, and if he were still under the control of darker powers, he wouldn't have been allowed there." When she saw Rei opening her mouth, she quickly added, "I know that there's still the possibility that he could be swayed before he accepts darker powers. But … he knows we aren't his enemies this lifetime. There had been a lot of distrust in our past lives. Even before the Terrans were brainwashed, there were still suspicions and disbelief between us and the Terrans."

"They've accepted that Usagi-chan will become queen, and they are willing to swear the same loyalty to her as they will swear to Mamoru-san, once they'd redeemed themselves," Minako said, still hugging Rei.

"They're not exactly one to keep their words," Rei protested.

"Perhaps," Minako said, tilting her head to one side. "But we're not the same girls we were before. Back then, we had ignored the signs of distrust and suspicions. But we won't this time around. If there are any signs of betrayal … we know what to do."

Though she was smiling, there was a hint of sadness and determination in Minako's voice. Rei's expression softened as she clasped Minako's forearm with one free hand.

"Even if you'll be heartbroken again?" she asked.

"A million heartbreaks will be worth with it as long as Usagi-chan is safe," Minako said with a smile. "But Queen Serenity sent us here for a second chance, and I don't want to give up on that just because of fear. Not to mention why do you think Usagi-chan is always worried that we're sacrificing our love lives for her?"

"But we're not!" Rei protested.

"Of course we're not," Minako said. "Even if we don't end up in relationships with the Shitennou, I still think it will be a good idea to have a good relationship with Mamoru-san's guardians."

"You can't be certain that Mamoru-san would want them back," Rei said.

"Oh please. You're talking about Mamoru-san here. I'll be surprised if he doesn't have tears in his eyes when he welcomes them back," Minako said with a roll of her eye.

In the end, Rei sighed and nodded. "Fine. I won't kill them on sight. Good enough for you?"

"Excellent," Minako said.

"And no more lies between the four of us, especially when it concerns important issues like former enemies coming back to life," Rei added, to which Ami and Makoto immediately nodded.

"No more lies," Minako promised with a smile before she kissed Rei on the cheek. She then stood up with her eyes narrowed. "And now if you would excuse me, I have score to set up. I can't believe Kyo-chan didn't tell me that Ami-chan knew he was back to life!"

~-0-~