Chapter 5

If someone asked Minako when was the happiest moment of her life, she could probably name more than a couple of those. The three months following the moment she and Kouhei arranged a dinner date, however, had to be the most relaxing days she'd ever had after she'd become a Sailor Senshi. She didn't even realize three months had passed until she realized that her birthday was coming up.

"Happy birthday," Kouhei said to her with a smile as they sat across from one another in his apartment's dining room.

She grinned at him, momentarily relishing in the warm, fuzzy feeling she felt inside before she remembered the Minako in this era was also having a birthday.

Her thirteenth birthday. My thirteenth birthday.

That meant that she was about to meet Artemis and become a Sailor Senshi.

Her eyes met with his, and she froze on the spot, knowing full well what this meant.

Increased sightings of youma. The younger version of herself meeting Ace. Ace … who was a henchman of the Dark Kingdom Kunzite. Her Kunzite. Brainwashed.

Followed by his death, leaving behind a stone, and then centuries of separation until that day when she confronted King Endymion.

Her vision blurred before she could put a stopper on her emotions.

The expression in Kouhei's face dropped, and he extended his hand across the table to hold hers.

"What's wrong?"

He looked around with a frown, as if he were trying to quickly figure out what made her upset. His gaze then landed on her again.

"Minako, please tell me what's wrong," he said as he shifted his chair so that he was sitting closer to her.

Get a hold of yourself.

She could do this. This should be easy. She'd been doing this all her life.

She sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes, willing a smile, a genuine smile, to appear on her face.

"I'm just happy to have you here with me," she said quietly, giving him a smile as she cupped his face with her hand.

His frown deepened for just a second before he gave her a smile—she recognized that look. He didn't believe what she was saying, but he didn't want to push her.

She leaned forward, resting her forehead on his shoulder. She realized that she liked this position because she didn't have to worry what her expression might be showing.

She shifted her body until she was sitting on his lap, and judging from the way his body momentarily stiffened, she'd surprised him. However, he didn't push her away, neither did he say anything, so she took that as a sign that he wasn't overly offended by her actions.

"As long as you're not trying to kill Endy? I think Kunzite would let you get away with murder."

That comment from Nephrite came back to her, a memory from a time long lost in the sands of time, when the Shitennou were brave and noble guards and generals to the Prince of Earth and their names untainted by the tendrils of darkness.

Kouhei slowly and gently wrapped his arms around her. She closed her eyes, allowing herself to relax onto his body and trying to remember everything this moment had to offer. His scent. His warmth. The soft sound of his breathing. The way his fingers absentmindedly played with strands of her hair as his hand rested on the small of her back.

"Kouhei-chan?"

"Mm?"

"Call my name."

He pulled away slightly from her, a hint of confusion hidden in the depths of his gaze.

"Please?" She wrapped her hands around his arm that was in front of her and shook it while looking at him with puppy eyes.

A soft laugh left his lips. "Minako."

She placed her head on his shoulder. "Again."

"Minako."

"Again."

"Minako."

She closed her eyes. "Again please?"

"Minako." He placed a kiss on the top of her head. "Minako. Minako. Minako."

Like she'd told Neo-Queen Serenity, if she and her sister Senshi had been given the opportunity to choose, they would rather have centuries of their lovers' accompaniment than not at all.

Regardless of how much it might hurt her in the future.

~-0-~

Another month passed. Throughout those four weeks, Minako felt as if there was a blade hanging right above her head, waiting to drop at any given moment. Every single day, she thought she would suddenly lose contact with Kouhei, that he would disappear into thin air, and she would hug him tightly whenever he walked through the door, the same soft smile on his face. If he felt that something was off about her, he never mentioned it.

Until these moments suddenly stopped, in the most unpredictable way possible.

~-0-~

Kouhei called home that one day, mentioning that he would be home late, so Minako would need to grab some groceries. After grabbing what they needed, she walked out of the supermarket, bags in hand, when she stopped in her steps. Her eyes widened in surprise and a hint of panic had just entered her eyes. She had posed to turn around, to go back into the supermarket.

When time stopped.

A leaf that had fallen off a nearby tree suddenly froze in midair. The little girl had one leg stretched across a puddle, her foot just inches from the ground and a cheerful smile carved into her features as if she were stone. Birds flying halted, as if they were simply drawn into the sky and not living beings.

The thirteen-year-old Minako Aino had stopped in her motions midway, simply millimeters before her future version would've appeared in her line of sight.

Suddenly, a glowing object appeared in front of the older Minako. Bright light erupted from it and then disappeared just as quickly. Everything remained the same.

Except for the absence of a young blonde beauty who'd traveled through time and space from the future.

~-0-~

Minako blinked. It took her a moment to realize that the object floating in front of her was the Deep Aqua Mirror. It took her another couple of seconds before she realized she was no longer on the streets in front of the supermarket. She'd thought that she was completely surrounded by darkness except for the light from the mirror, until her eyes started adjusting.

She was surrounded by darkness because other sources of light—stars, galaxies, and other celestial bodies—were too far away to cast their light on where she was. She guessed that she was still breathing because of some ward erected by the mirror.

"Take me back," she said quietly when she looked back at the mirror, fury lashing out like a writhing snake through her veins. "Take me back."

But of course the mirror didn't answer. Instead, someone else answered for it.

"It won't, and it can't."

Minako's body stiffened, and confusion dulled the anger that had been building up inside her. Slowly, she turned around, and for a moment, she didn't know what to say, how to react.

"When am I?" became the first question out of her mouth.

Somehow, she knew she'd traveled through time again, and judging from the way he was now in his transparent form yet again, this was after the Dark Kingdom had fallen.

"You're back in the year of 2249," he replied.

She inhaled deeply, as if it would somehow help to alleviate the feeling of sadness and failure in the pit of her stomach.

"How did you know I would be here?" she asked, pushing her emotions to a far corner of her heart for the time being.

It wasn't time for emotions yet. That could come later on.

"I didn't know," he answered with a shake of his head.

"Then, how did …Why are you here?" she asked.

Her heart thudded against her chest. There must be a reason why he was here instead of Crystal Tokyo. Even though he was in stone form, she knew that he wasn't one to leave his prince all alone.

"We're … I suppose the four of us are on our way back to the Galaxy Cauldron," he replied, nodding towards somewhere behind her, "and then some kind of power pulled us over here."

Four?

She turned around and first saw the mirror before she noticed the remaining Shitennou standing a small distance away, presumably to give Minako and Kunzite some privacy.

"The mirror pulled you over here?" she asked.

"I believe so," Kunzite replied with a nod. "At least, the power seems similar."

"Why … why were you on your way to the Galaxy Cauldron?" she asked despite the fear growing in her heart.

He gazed at her without answering, as if he knew she knew the answer.

"But then how do you know it—" She gestured towards the mirror. "—couldn't bring me back to wherever I'd wanted to go? How did you know where I'd wanted to go?"

"You went back in time," he replied. "I didn't know back then, as Akamine Kouhei, but you went back to my past."

"And you wanted to prevent me from going back in the first place," she concluded, remembering how he'd wanted her to forget their past.

He remained silent again, and she knew she was right.

"But you know I went back into the past, so why did you try to stop me?"

"Because I know it wouldn't work. Because I know you would be upset, thinking that you've failed when it isn't your fault," he answered.

"But I did fail," she said. "I … I was supposed to find a way to prevent you from losing parts of your souls or somehow bring back your souls, but I failed at both tasks."

"You didn't fail, Minako," he said. "It was destined to happen." He sighed. "This was why I didn't want you to go back in time."

"Destiny, fate. Both of those can be changed," she said.

"Not in most cases."

"Serenity did it. So did Endymion."

"They're different," Kunzite said. "And if this is what it takes for them to be safe and happy, then it's worth it."

She couldn't argue with that. She wanted to, but she knew that was both of their priorities.

However, she must've been sent back in time for a reason. Heck, Michiru must've let her borrow the mirror for a reason. The Outer Senshi didn't love Serenity less, and if the Neptunian soldier knew this might be harmful to Serenity, then there was no way she would've let her get this far.

"What happened to the orb that you found in your car?" she asked, breaking the silence that had fallen and slightly changing the subject.

He shook his head. "I have no idea. It wasn't something I brought around with me, so it wasn't on me when I got brought to the Dark Kingdom. I guess something inside me knew that it contained parts of the other three Shitennou and my souls, so that part of my memories was locked when I became …"

Minako's heart sank. So she'd been correct. The orb did hold a part of the Shitennou's souls, and judging from what Kunzite was saying, he didn't know she'd also traveled back to the Golden Kingdom.

This version of Kunzite had no idea that she was also Eros.

However, she didn't have time to dwell on those thoughts because at that moment, Kunzite's image started to fade.

"I must go," Kunzite said. He opened his mouth as if to say something before he stopped himself.

"Kunzite …"

"Forget about me," he said. "Take care of Endymion. For us."

"No," she said, stubbornly fighting back tears. "He needs the four of you."

He shook his head with a smile. "No, he doesn't. Not anymore."

"Kunzite …"

"Good-bye." The smile fell from his face, and for once, a hint of sadness seeped into his gaze.

His form finally faded away, turning into dust and floating away into the vast expanse of space, as a soft whisper brushed against her, causing tears to fall from her eyes.

"Minako."

~-0-~

Once again, she traveled by magic, though this time, she hardly noticed it. She felt dead inside, as if all emotions had suddenly been sucked out of her. She was hardly even bothered when Sailor Pluto appeared in front of her, holding on to the Deep Aqua Mirror.

"Are you alright?' the older Senshi asked.

Minako lifted her eyes, glanced at her, and breathed in deeply. "I might need a moment."

Pluto nodded. "To get angry? Or because of …?"

Though she trailed off, Minako knew that the unspoken word was "sadness".

Minako shook her head. She wasn't angry at Pluto. How could she be? It wasn't PIuto's fault by any means. Besides, she didn't know who or what she could direct the blame towards. The mirror? She probably should've been glad that she'd been given a chance at this in the first place. Kunzite? He just wanted the best for her. Destiny? There was no point to it, and she didn't like doing things that were pointless.

On the other hand, she did feel sadness, but even more than that was a sense of helplessness. However, she knew that no one could help her there.

"It'll be dumb for me to ask if I can go back in time again, won't it?"

"You would've approached me in the first place, before Michiru-chan let you borrow the mirror, if you didn't already know the answer."

Minako fell silent and nodded. It took a couple of minutes to get all her emotions under control, and all the while, Pluto stood by her side, watching over her and giving her a quiet support that she hadn't known she'd needed.

Finally, she gave Pluto a wan smile. "I guess I should go back to the palace now."

She'd just taken two steps forward when Pluto spoke up: "I'd thought you would've wanted to ask some questions and get some answers."

She whirled around and stared at her in disbelief. "You—you're willing to tell me?"

"I'll let you know if I can't," Pluto promised gently.

Pluto was correct; Minako did have a lot of questions. But now that she was given a chance, she suddenly didn't know what to ask. So when the first question tumbled out of her mouth, she mentally sighed, glad that this wasn't a situation where the number of questions she could ask were limited.

"Why did we get sent here?" Minako pointed at herself and the mirror. "I thought it would've sent me back to the palace or even somewhere, sometime else."

Pluto gave pause, as if she were thinking about how to word her phrases before she answered. "It probably brought you here because it knows its mission is finished, and it knows that you would have some questions about the whole thing that I might be able to explain better."

Minako felt her breath catch. That meant … she wouldn't get another chance at saving the Shitennou.

"The talismans are powerful objects," Pluto continued to say. "There are … some aspects of it that even I do not understand yet. However … I do know that under circumstances, powers from the other talismans can be 'borrowed', so to speak."

"So you're saying …" Minako's eyes landed on Pluto's Garnet Orb.

Pluto nodded. "Neptune's mirror borrowed power from the Garnet Orb to send you through space and time."

"How did it know where to send me though?" Minako asked. "It didn't know what I was planning to do. I didn't know what I planned to do when I first went back. And I … I still don't know why I was sent back in time because nothing changed."

"Minako-chan," Pluto said softly, placing a hand on top of the younger Senshi's head, "most of us can't be certain what we will do when we are dropped into a situation. The powers of the orb and the mirror must've deemed it necessary for you to be there for certain events to be set in action or else they wouldn't have sent you where you'd gone."

"You're saying it as if the orb and the mirror are sentient beings."

"They're very ancient artifacts," Pluto answered, and Minako couldn't tell if she was joking or being serious.

Her mind was soon preoccupied by another frightening thought.

"So the Shitennou lost parts of their souls because of me?" Minako asked, her eyes wide in alarm.

Pluto shook her head. "I wouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions."

Minako clenched and unclenched her fist as she swallowed. "I … Pluto … do you think I'm selfish for wanting to bring them back to life?"

She needed a second opinion. She knew she could ask one of the other Inner Senshi, but she wasn't sure she wanted to let them know what had happened. If the Shitennou were never going to come back to life, it was better for her to bear the burden alone.

Pluto didn't immediately answer. A look of contemplation appeared on her face as she gazed at Minako.

"Minako-chan, we are all driven by our ability to love," she said. "Queen Serenity changed the course of time in order to save Princess Serenity out of love, and that, in turn, gave us the beautiful future that we know now."

"That's different though," Minako replied. "I've always … Mars went as far as to take on the vow of chastity back during Silver Millennium. The rest of us, Mercury, Jupiter, and I … we've never said it out loud, but we always placed duty over everything else."

"And did you do anything that would place your duty in danger this time?" Pluto asked.

"I almost did," Minako confessed. "One step in the wrong direction and … and the future as we know it could change."

"But you didn't," Pluto pointed out. "You did everything within your power to prevent possibilities that might change the future."

"I … Yes. I did," MInako admitted, her shoulders slumping down.

Had she been more rash, more daring, she could've taken more drastic measures to save the Shitennou. She could've gone up to one of them and tried to convince them. If they needed proof, she had plenty of ways to show that she was indeed from the future. It didn't matter whether they would believe her or not. Or she could even approach Queen Serenity. If there was anyone who would believe her, it was Queen Serenity. The point was she hadn't even thought about it because she knew the beautiful future where her Princess lived a wonderful life despite some problems might be gone if she took one too many risks. Even the thoughts of killing Beryl to save the future some trouble only came to her because it would save her Princess some heartbreak.

"Duty and love doesn't necessarily have to be separate from one another," Pluto said.

Minako jerked backwards. "I … You know what happened between Ace and me."

Pluto nodded. "I find it strange that for someone who believes that destiny is made with our own hands ends up believing his so-called fortune-telling."

"But he—"

"Especially when he's a very jealous young man."

Minako fell silent.

"We're no longer in the past, Minako-chan. You're no longer … well, technically, you're no longer Venusian. Even if you are, we are under different circumstances. Metalia is long gone, and the curse holding the Shitennou to the Dark Kingdom had long been cleansed and broken by the Silver Crystal. Your duty and love no longer are at odds with one another."

Her words lifted a boulder from Minako's heart, and something suspiciously similar to relief seeped into her heart.

Could she and the other Senshi—Could they—

"But … I saw him. I saw them before the mirror brought me here. They're already traveling towards the Galaxy Cauldron. But … how did they have forms if they've disintegrated on Earth? And if they're traveling to the Galaxy Cauldron, wouldn't that mean that … that they're gone?"

"They probably have forms because it's in space, and its connection with the soul is slightly different from that of Earth. I suspect the mirror also had a hand in helping them gain forms for a short moment of time," Pluto explained.

Minako nodded slowly. "Kunzite did mention that they'd felt a power similar to the mirror pull them over." She glanced at the mirror. "But they're traveling to the Galaxy Cauldron. Right now. What if … what I figure everything out after they'd reached the Galaxy Cauldron? What if they're no longer them when and if we do bring them back? What it … what if we can't bring them back?"

Pluto gave her an apologetic smile. "That's one thing I can't tell you."

Minako stared at her. Pluto remained silent, a serene expression on her face.

Pluto isn't the type to string people along.

But she can't tell me everything because it might change the future.

And things aren't in place yet, so it can still be changed.

She knows that I must do this alone.

There might be a chance I might fail, but …!

Suddenly, a smile appeared on Minako's face, and seconds later, it was mirrored on Pluto's face.

~-0-~

Luna walked into her shared bedroom with Artemis. The white feline was sitting curled up next to the window. Although she couldn't see his face, she could almost feel his sorrow in the air.

"Artemis." She jumped onto the ledge and walked over to him. "Are you alright?"

He made an indistinctive grunt.

"At least Minako-chan is back now," she said softly, rubbing the side of her cheek against his.

"I know that," he finally sighed and picked up his head. "But she's not saying anything, and … it's not like her. She disappeared for a week and kept her mouth shut about what she'd gone through? Not the Minako-chan I know."

"But she seems happier now," Luna said.

"Which makes the whole thing even stranger," Artemis replied. "She found out about the Shitennou, and she's not complaining. Luna, how can that be normal? I've expected her to cry, to complain, or even get so angry that she refuses to talk to me for weeks, but … not this. It's as if the Shitennou are back to life and not …"

"I know, Artemis," Luna said, "but you know Minako-chan better than I do, and even I know that if she doesn't want to say what's on her mind, she's not going to tell you."

"I know," he said before he rested his head on his paws again. After a short moment, he asked, "How are the other girls doing?"

"Ami-chan and Mako-chan are doing fine, but they didn't know about the Shitennou in the first place. Rei-chan … isn't talking to me," Luna confessed.

"She knows." It wasn't a question.

"We … probably should've told them about the Shitennou in the first place."

Artemis shook his head but didn't answer.

Luna sighed. To be honest, she didn't know what the correct answer was. She didn't know if there was a correct answer. If the Shitennou couldn't come back to life, the girls would be heartbroken, regardless of whether they were told the truth or not.

"Perhaps … time will heal the wounds."

Artemis closed his eyes. "... Perhaps."

~-0-~

Aspen walked through the hallways of the Crystal Palace. It was the first time they were on duty, so they were more cautious than others who had been there longer. Therefore, they could hardly be blamed when they were taken aback when a box appeared out of nowhere in front of one of the doors.

"Mahira, is that supposed to happen?" they asked the other guard who was patrolling with them.

Mahira glanced towards where Aspen was pointed and muttered to herself, "Oh right. You just moved here a couple of months ago." She then nodded and said, "It's probably an unknown artifact from the previous centuries. Citizens often find things left behind by ancestors that might hold magical properties. In the past—that is, before our Queen and King took the throne—people would just ignore them or didn't know what to do with them. The Queen and King had set up a couple of centers for people to send in these objects, just in case they hold dark powers and need to be cleansed. If it's something the centers can't handle, they'll be sent to the palace. Over the years, the number of artifacts that show up has dwindled down, but every now and then, you'll still see some of them being sent in."

"But what if it is something dangerous? Like … so dangerous that it could blow up the castle?" Aspen asked.

"They wouldn't be able to get past the defenses Sailor Mercury put up," Mahira answered.

As they walked past the box, Mahira noticed that part of the name got blurred, perhaps by the rain. A small frown appeared on her forehead. She would need to let one of her superiors know about this. While it was perhaps a small problem, it also pointed towards glitches in the system. From her experience, small things like that could lead to bigger ones. Besides, if this parcel needed to be sent to the Palace, it was obviously something that couldn't be handled by the centers, so they might need to contact the person who'd sent it in. Hopefully, the centers had done their jobs well and had taken down the full name of this "Akamine" person.

Her attention, however, was soon distracted by more questions from Aspen, and so she didn't notice that glow that momentarily shined through the cracks of the box.

A soft, warm glow that almost seemed like hope.

~-0-~

Fin.

~-0-~

A/N: Thanks to everyone who'd read, faced, and added to alerts!