Chapter 4

A faint glowing orb with gold ivy decorations appeared in front of Minako. She had no idea if it was coincidence or because magic was involved, but it happened when she was alone.

At the same moment, she heard his voice: "Send this to her."

The orb dropped into her hand as she reached for it. Without warning, a flash of light filled the room and faded just as quickly.

Her eyes widened in surprise when she found Kunzite standing in front of her.

If anything, he appeared just as shocked to see her before realization dawned on his face. A frown then appeared as if he was in thought.

"How did—"

"What is—"

If both of them speaking at the same time didn't prevent them from starting a proper conversation, the appearance of the other remaining Shitennou would've. Minako would've been more shocked by their transparent forms if her mind wasn't much more preoccupied by the fact that they'd appeared out of nowhere. It was clearly connected to the orb Kunzite had sent her, but why and how?

Nephrite's brows knitted together, as if he were confused before he stared at Kunzite.

"You cheated on Venus!?"

Jadeite and Zoisite's eyes snapped over to Kunzite. The latter sighed, but he was disrupted before he could say anything.

"You did what?"

"Mars is going to kill me."

Zoisite twisted his lips. "Pretty hard to do that when you're probably already dead."

"She'll find a way to do it. Trust me."

A grin appeared on Nephrite's face. "You'll have Kunzite as company, don't worry."

"I didn't cheat on Venus."

The other three Shitennou froze on the spot, similar looks of confusion on their faces. It might've been because of the amount of information in that one sentence Kunzite had uttered, but more than likely it was because the man had bothered to answer at all.

With a wave of his hand, the other three Shitennou disappeared, and Kunzite was again alone with Minako.

They gazed at one another until Kunzite's expression softened into an endearing smile, and he gestured for her to speak first.

Minako lowered her eyes and rolled the orb around in her hand. "What is this?"

"She … there were things that I didn't tell you before I left," he said.

She tightened her grip around the orb as she bit down on her lower lip. Though he didn't specify, she knew he was speaking to Venus and not "Eros".

"I suppose I need to watch over the Prince when he meets with the Moon Princess while you and the other generals aren't around."

"You know that's not what I meant."

"What am I supposed to know then?" she asked; the calmness in her voice surprised her. Nonetheless, she continued to speak: "Why the four of you are here? How you managed to return even though nobody had seen signs of the army for months? Or why you're here in a transparent form?"

His jaw tightened, so briefly than any other person would've missed it. Instead of answering her question, he said, "I don't know how you managed it, but I know who you are … who you really are."

Was this a test? A humorless laugh left her lips. "Not exactly the most subtle way to change a subject."

"I don't know how much time I have, and there are much more important things at stake."

Minako's lips curled into a sarcastic smile.

"Venus."

Scathing words died in her throat before they got the chance to be uttered. She couldn't but stare at him. Sure, her disguise hadn't been perfect, but she was certain she didn't do anything that could've exposed herself.

His eyes flickered towards the orb in her hand. "That was supposed to activate in her hands, and in her hands only."

Now that was just cheating.

She sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm not her."

He opened his mouth, only to close it again. A sigh escaped him before he spoke: "You probably have a reason for keeping your identity a secret."

Minako opened her mouth, but before she could speak, he held up his hand.

"I'm not going to force you to tell me why or how." The corners of his lips quirked upwards into a small smile. "I trust you."

She was not going to get guilt-tripped into spilling her secrets.

"I'm not her," she repeated.

"I understand."

No, you really don't.

"Then send a message to her. From me." His expression turned somber. "Take care of Endy for me. I managed to send this orb before we—the Shitennou got captured, and if she encounters me on the battlefield—"

He looked at his hand, his lips momentarily pulling into a thin line before he gazed at Minako once more.

"Kill me on sight."

Silence blanketed over them as Kunzite waited for her to answer him.

I can't. I can't bring the message to her. Whatever you tell me today, I can't pass it on to her.

But that wasn't something she could tell him; he would ask for an answer, and she wouldn't have one for him.

And so, she nodded.

~-0-~

Makoto once said that she was envious of how easy it was for Minako to lie. It wasn't hard for others to believe in the words that fell from those plump lips while bright, seemingly innocent eyes looked at them. Every so often, even those who knew the Minako under those layers and layers of protective masquerades would fall victim. Perhaps it was because people were so accustomed to her "bad acting skills" that nobody managed to catch on when she wanted to intentionally lead them down the wrong paths.

Minako sometimes wondered if that was the reason why people so easily believed her when she told them that she was okay.

Sometimes, she almost believed it herself.

~-0-~

A couple of months ago, she would've thought that the fact that she didn't have to witness the fall of Silver Millennium again would be a blessing. Now, she knew that she'd been far too naïve; reality would always find a way to make things difficult.

She didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Kunzite. As if on cue, he disappeared right after she nodded, the look on his face right before he vanished a clear indication that he was just as surprised as she was.

Before she could attempt to figure out how and why, however, a bright white light surrounded her, forcing her to close her eyes.

She couldn't help but stand there, shell-shocked, once she opened her eyes again.

She was no longer in the Golden Kingdom. In fact, if the tall buildings from a distance away were any clue, she had been sent years—centuries, if not thousands of years—into the future.

There were times when she wondered what it was like to be Ami. Or rather, how the latter would react if she was met with a situation like this.

No.

Minako knew what it was like. She wasn't really Eros after all, and she knew what Venus during the Silver Millennium did not.

Logic, in the end, didn't help when it came to life and death situations concerning lovers. Especially when the person you loved stood on the opposite side of the battlefield, brainwashed and determined to destroy everything you loved. Eager to hand your head on a silver platter over to a false queen was just the icing on the cake.

Minako couldn't remember if Venus had seen Mercury cry. Perhaps it was because the smiles shared were uglier than tear-streaked, screaming faces.

She supposed that she should've been much more composed. After all, she'd had many more years of practice in pretending, and she would've been much more embarrassed if someone she knew had been there to witness her, with her body collapsing down on itself while she stared at her surroundings with a strange sense of detachment.

Nothing made sense—perhaps it never did, ever since she got sent back to Golden Kingdom. But she had no idea why she was suddenly transferred out of the past.

Perhaps it is because they're already—

She closed her eyes, knowing that she shouldn't let what happened to the Shitennou get to her. After all, it wasn't the first time. Nonetheless, on top of the sorrow, she felt a feeling of failure. She was supposed to find a way to save the Shitennou, yet …

But perhaps … maybe the orb Kunzite sent me contained a part of their souls! Perhaps that was why Michiru-san said that parts of their souls were missing!

Her eyes immediately snapped towards her hand. However, the orb was no longer in her hand. She immediately looked around herself but to no avail.

It was as if the orb had suddenly vanished into thin air.

~-0-~

It turned out that she'd landed in a time before the Dark Kingdom became active. She supposed it made sense. To be honest, she wasn't even sure if the orb really contained a part of the Shitennou's souls. Not to mention she couldn't remember if she'd lost the orb before or after the white light enveloped her. So she wasn't going to say no to a second chance.

Similar to when she first landed in the Golden Kingdom, the first thing she did was find a place to stay. Money wasn't really a problem since she could always raid the treasures Venusian nobles had hidden on Earth when they thought they had a chance to escape before the fall of Silver Millennium—technically, they were never going to come back for the treasures, so she felt that it was a matter of finders keepers.

Therefore, she spent her free time roaming the place where she'd landed. If her experience in the Golden Kingdom was anything to go by, the magic taking her through time most likely landed her in a place where she would have "easy access" to the Shitennou. Her only problem now, however, was finding them. This wasn't like the Golden Kingdom where she could just ask someone for the whereabouts of the Shitennou.

She had a gut feeling that, just like the Golden Kingdom, the losing part of their soul thing happened before they were brainwashed, so unless she was very much mistaken, the Shitennou in the current era were probably still normal citizens.

At least, she hoped.

She couldn't remember the details anymore; after all, it had been centuries. But she knew that Kunzite had to have been brainwashed before she met Ace because Danburite had served under Kunzite. How long did it take for someone to climb the ranks in the Dark Kingdom? Maybe he didn't need to climb the ranks per se. Once he got brainwashed, his powers might've been enough for him to get a quick "promotion", similar to the way Mamoru had after Beryl kidnapped him.

For the thousandth time since she'd been whisked away, she cursed the fact that she was the only one back here. Sure, she could access the command center computers, but how was she supposed to use them when she had no idea what she was looking for? Had Ami been here, she probably would've thought of some kind of program to track the orb or something. As it was, she could only count on luck.

And it appeared that luck wasn't on her side at all.

After five months, she hadn't even gotten a glimpse of one of the Shitennou. She did almost run into the younger version of Neo-Queen Serenity though. Thankfully, she managed to slip into the closest clothing store. The store manager's smile became a bit forced when she stayed there for thirty minutes without buying anything.

Maybe that's what I get for trying to change the past, she couldn't help but think to herself.

That thought was quickly pushed from her mind. These things didn't come with manuals, and not everyone got the chance to travel by magic. The fact that she'd managed to borrow the mirror from Michiru should be a sign that it was destiny.

Her optimism was challenged when another three months passed and still no progress whatsoever. Even though she'd spent so much time during the Golden Kingdom, at least she'd seen Kunzite the moment she landed there. Now, she was almost tempted to move to another city just to try her chance.

It was on another seemingly ordinary day. Autumn was just around the corner, and the day could be considered hot. Almost hot enough for her to consider staying at home. She left her home later than usual, two hours later to be exact, because staying in an air-conditioned room was much more tempting than going out into the sweltering heat.

She'd just locked her door to her apartment and was on her way over to the elevator when she heard the door across from hers open. Moments later, she heard footfalls, and when they stopped next to her, she turned around, ready to greet her neighbor, a nice old lady who was also her landlord.

The words got stuck in her throat, and she almost bit down on her tongue.

Perhaps it was because she stared for a moment too long, but the other person turned and looked at her.

Time seemed to have stopped at that moment, and time and space seemed to have dissolved into nothingness.

"Have I … seen you before?" he finally spoke.

She swallowed and blinked twice before she allowed a friendly, teasing smile to appear on her face. "Do you say that to girls often?"

A light pink tinge, so inconspicuous that it could easily have gone unnoticed, appeared on his face, and she remembered that she didn't know him this lifetime yet.

The thought that maybe it was still too soon for her to joke like this to this Kunzite flashed through her mind, but it was quickly brushed away by the slight quirk of his lips upwards.

"Only to familiar-looking young ladies who forget their keys every so often," he replied as they got onto the elevator.

An embarrassed laugh left her lips. "So … you've heard."

He gave her a small nod. "My grandmother … worries about you very often."

"Your grandmother?"

"Your landlord."

"... Oh."

So she was much closer to the Shitennou than she'd thought she was. And she wasted time for nothing searching around the city.

~-0-~

It was as if her luck turned for the better. After she'd met Kunzite the other day, she saw the other three Shitennou a couple of days later. She was just in the process of unlocking her door when the three young men walked up to her neighbor's door.

"Oh, that's the hot chick Kouhei mentioned the other day, isn't she?"

The door across from hers opened, just as she was blinking, and the aforementioned Kouhei appeared.

"And Kouhei can hear your stage whisper through the walls," he said before he noticed Minako.

His eyes widened slightly before they shifted back on the Nephrite of this era. If looks could kill, the latter would've died a thousand times.

"Hi!" Minako said with a bright smile and a little wave.

If anything, Kouhei appeared even more uncomfortable.

"Hi," current era Jadeite answered instead, a pleasant smile in place.

"I didn't catch your name last time," Minako said to current era Kunzite, turning around so that she was facing them properly and not twisting her body around.

"His name is Akamine Kouhei," current era Zoisite answered. "He's twenty-four years old, and he started his own company at eighteen. He's currently sing—ow, ow, ow, not the hair, goddamnit!"

Minako watched with wide eyes as Kouhei grabbed the strawberry-blond by the ponytail and threw him into the apartment. He looked at the other two young men with an eyebrow raised, as if he were either waiting to see what they would do next or warning them. Or both.

"Nice to meet you—" current era Jadeite said, tilting his head to one side in question.

"Minako. Aino Minako."

"Hasegawa Jousuke. Nice to meet you, Aino-san, and see you again," Jousuke said with a nod before he entered the apartment across from Minako's.

"Matsuyama Natsuo," current era Nephrite said. "And the kid that got manhandled by Kouhei is Genji Zekou. You don't have—"

He stopped whatever was about to say when Kouhei stepped towards him.

"See you again, Aino-san," Natsuo said and then he quickly added, "If you don't have a significant other, you really should consider Kouhei here."

Natsuo then slowly made his way into the apartment, all the while keeping his gaze on the silver-haired man and holding his hands in front of himself in a defensive gesture.

"He's only abusive towards us, so don't worry!" Zekou's voice came from inside.

You forgot "towards his enemies, too".

Most people thought Zoisite was the cruelest one out of the Shitennou, but Minako knew better. Kunzite could definitely give the former a run for his money under the right circumstances.

"Sorry about them," Kouhei said.

"It's not a problem," Minako said with a shrug. "They're hilarious."

"Kind way of saying they're idiots," Kouhei said.

Minako laughed. "They care about you."

Kouhei opened his mouth but quickly shut it again. A frustrated and slightly awkward expression appeared on his face as he casted hesitant glances towards her. It made Minako wonder what he was thinking about.

At that moment, Kouhei's grandmother appeared at the door.

"Oh, hello, Minako-chan."

"Good morning, Akamine-san," Minako greeted.

"I haven't seen you in a while. Have you met my grandson?"

"Yes, I have," Minako replied with a smile. "We met the other day while I was waiting for the elevator."

"Oh, how lovely," Kouhei's grandmother said. "Kouhei-chan visits me twice a week, and I remember you said you were here searching for someone, weren't you? If you need help, don't hesitate to ask him. He knows quite a lot of people in the city."

"Will do," Minako answered as she smiled at Kouhei. Though I've already found the people I'm looking for.

~-0-~

When the Golden Kingdom Kunzite had given her the orb, Minako had thought that perhaps her mission was accomplished, but it probably wasn't, if the magic that sent her back in time felt it necessary to drop her off here as well.

So, she did the only thing that seemed logical, and that was to follow her instinct.

She'd thought that it would've been harder to "slip" herself into Kouhei's life. She didn't want to come across as some kind of stalker or something, so she couldn't exactly just find some random reason to keep bumping into him.

However, help came in the strangest forms of ways, and soon, Minako found herself sitting inside Kouhei's grandmother's apartment.

Kouhei hardly batted an eyelash when he saw Minako in his grandmother's living room.

"Minako-chan is helping me with my computer again," the old lady said as a form of explanation.

She then disappeared into the kitchen.

"So … this is the fifth time?" Minako asked casually as she sat down on the sofa.

"Sixth," Kouhei corrected as he walked over to where she was sitting and sat down next to her. "She invited you over twice during the first week she started."

"Ah, right," Minako said with a nod.

Kouhei sighed as he took off his jacket. Perhaps he'd forgotten that he had something heavy in his pockets because the movement caused the pocket holding that object to swing in Minako's direction, hitting her on the arm.

"Are you okay?" he asked, alarmed, after he'd apologized as he looked at the spot where the object had hit her.

"What do you have in there? Rocks?" she joked, her face scrunched up in pain, as she rubbed the inflicted area.

Much to her surprise, Kouhei nodded. "As a matter of fact …"

He then proceeded to take the object out of his jacket's pocket.

Minako could only stare as she half-heartedly listened to him talk.

"I found it in my car the other day, and I have no idea what it is. It looks like some kind of crystal and maybe gold, but I asked around, and nobody knows what it is. Zekou and the others wanted to take a look at it after I told him that it occasionally glowed."

Had Minako been any other normal human being, she would've been surprised with how calm Kouhei appeared.

"Most people would just send it in to be tested on or investigated. Especially if it seemed to have appeared out of nowhere," Minako pointed out.

Kouhei shrugged. "It seems harmless. Other than the fact that it occasionally glowed and I can't seem to find where one would put the battery in. Maybe it's sealed inside?"

"… You're not thinking about hammering it open, are you?"

He laughed. "No, that's something Natsuo would do. I trust Zekou's talent with techy stuff. If anyone can find this thing's power source, it's him."

Well, good luck with that.

She was pretty sure that the thing in Kouhei's hand didn't have a power source—or rather, the orb didn't have a power source in the traditional sense of the matter. She didn't even know why it glowed, to be honest, because she'd only held it for less than an hour. She wondered if it was because parts of the Shitennou's souls were in it.

Her heart rate quickened as her eyes flickered towards Kouhei. He was holding the orb right now. Assuming that there were parts of the Golden Kingdom Shitennou's souls in there, would they somehow connect with the parts inside Kouhei?

She didn't know, but if the orb was still glowing, maybe the soul parts were still in the orb.

Again, assuming there were soul parts inside the orb in the first place.

~-0-~

Just like Minako had thought, Zekou couldn't figure out what the orb was, so the object continued to remain in Kouhei's hands.

"Should I get the orb back from him?" Minako thought out loud to herself as she sat in her living room.

She sighed, wondering if this was how Artemis and Luna had felt when they were first awoken. Then again, the two felines had definitive tasks, so they probably weren't as lost as she was.

The orb probably was one of the keys to restoring the souls of the Shitennou's, but the thing was she had no idea how the whole thing actually worked. She wasn't even too sure about how the orb ended up in Kouhei's car—she could probably safely assume that it was accomplished by either the magic that had sent her back or because the orb was originally created by Kunzite. Neither of those options posed a threat to her, so she wasn't going to let it bother her.

Pushing herself off the couch, she grabbed her keys and wallet before heading out. She was running out of groceries, and since Kouhei's grandmother didn't call her over, she assumed that the man wasn't visiting today.

She was just passing by one of the aisles in the supermarket when she remembered that she was also running out of paper towels. Her taste in paper towels was apparently similar to others around the area, since the section where they usually were was empty. She looked around, and much to her delight, there was still some more on the top of the shelf. She tried to grab it, but it was slightly out of reach for her, and every time she almost managed to grab the edge, it slipped right out of her hand.

"Damned plastic," she muttered to herself as she reached again.

She was about to give up and call someone over, when a hand reached out and grabbed a bag of paper towels and dropped it into her shopping cart.

"Kouhei-san!" She blinked in surprise and just a bit of secret delight. "Thanks!"

She swallowed a giggle as she glanced at the shopping basket in his hand. The whole look of him doing everyday shopping was as amusing as it was endearing.

"Do you live around as well? Or are you shopping for Akamine-san?" she asked.

"Shopping for my grandmother," he answered. "She got ill over the weekend, so I'm getting some extra stuff for her."

"Oh, is she okay?" Minako asked, worried.

His grandmother had been extremely nice to her since day one, and it wasn't even just because she wanted to set Minako up with her grandson.

"She's got the flu," he said. "But it's nothing to worry about. She looks frail, but she's much stronger than she looks."

Minako nodded. "Would she mind if I visit her?"

"Of course not," he answered. "You know she adores you."

"She should've told me she'd gotten ill. I've had experience taking care of people when they are sick," Minako said as she took the shopping basket from Kouhei and placed it into the cart.

"I've learned it the hard way not to try to take care of her when she is sick," Kouhei said as he took over the job of pushing the shopping cart around. "The last time we tried, she turned it into some kind of competition."

"Competition?"

Kouhei nodded. "She tried to get everything finished before we even thought about the chore."

They continued to walk around, grabbing things they needed and throwing them into the shopping cart.

They were waiting at the line when Kouhei remembered that his grandmother had also run out of salt. A small smile appeared on Minako's face as she watched him walk briskly over to the correct lane.

This kind of life was … surprisingly comfortable and something she'd never thought would be possible.

And she liked it more than she would dare to admit: Just the two of them together, like any other normal couple; chatting about everything and nothing at all without the worry of the past, present, or future; not on the alert that there might be some monster lurking in the corners waiting to jump out and attack the citizens of the city.

She could momentarily forget that she still had worries, like needing to protect a queen who might or might not be the only hope to keeping the universe safe.

They went to his grandmother's place after they'd finished shopping, and as Kouhei had said, his grandmother was more than delighted to see Minako.

After visiting the old lady, she went back to her apartment. Just as she was about to open the door, he spoke.

"Minako-san."

With her hand still on the doorknob, she turned her body halfway and looked at him, her head tilted to one side in question.

"… Do you …"

"... Do I …?"

He then said something so fast that Minako almost didn't catch what he'd said. However, when the words processed them in her mind, she blinked at him, her eyes wide.

He lowered his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, his cheeks slightly pink. It was so rare to see Kunzite, albeit a form of him without his memories, flustered that Minako almost wished she had her phone with her, so that she could take a picture.

"I'm sorry if I was too forward. I'll … Just … I … Can we just—"

"I'm single," she interrupted his ramble.

He froze on the spot, almost like a deer caught in the headlights.

"I'm single," she repeated, this time slowing the pace of her words just down a bit. After a short pause, she added, "And I just might be available for dinner tomorrow night."

The moment he realized what she meant was, in Minako's opinion, one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen. His features softened, and the corners of his eyes crinkled as a brilliant smile tugged on his lips. He was already a handsome man, but at that moment, he seemed to glow with happiness, and she didn't think anyone could blame her when her heart rate became just a bit quicker than usual.

It was also at this second that Minako realized that there were still differences between Kouhei and the other incarnations of Kunzite. The Kunzite she'd come to know would never allow his emotions to show like this.

No secrets. No masks. No need to hide anything.

She knew she couldn't deny herself this, neither could she bring herself to reject him. Besides, she had been trying to find a way to slip herself into his life so that she could try and find a breakthrough in regards to how to save the Shitennou in the first place, and she also needed to find a way to retrieve the orb. Maybe this was a heaven-sent opportunity.

So, for the first time after nearly nine months, Minako felt a new burst of optimism.

~-0-~

A/N: Thanks to all of you who've read, faved, and added to alerts!