Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon.

Chapter 3: Arising Questions

The light from the full moon cast a pale glow onto the otherwise dark garden. The soft breeze that blew sent her long golden hair flowing in the wind. Hidden behind a particularly tall oak tree, the senshi of love silently kept guard over her princess. While she knew she should not be indulging her princess in these secret trips to Earth, Venus could not deny that Serenity gave the brightest and happiest smiles around the crown-prince of Earth. Even with the full knowledge of what severe consequences would most likely occur if the two lovers were discovered together, she could not bring herself to truly tear the two apart.

'Obviously Mercury, Jupiter and even Mars feel the same way or they would not have turned a blind-eye to tonight's trip.'

Suddenly, the sound of extremely soft footsteps brought Venus out of her thoughts. Recognizing the sound as someone who was attempting to keep his or her presence hidden, she purposely kept her body relaxed to mislead the intruder into thinking she was not aware of his or her presence. As soon as she sensed the person was just a few feet behind her, Venus instantly whipped around and pointed a golden light sword she had conjured with her chain before the person could react.

"If you value your life, you will not come a step closer," Venus warned in a soft, but stern tone.

Taking a closer look at the man before her with the light emitted from her sword, Venus quickly recognized the man as the person she saw with Endymion the first time she had followed Serenity to Earth. If she recalled correctly, Venus believe she had heard the Earth prince address the man before her as Kunzite.

'From what Mercury told me, Kunzite is the leader of the four Shitennou who guard Prince Endymion,' Venus recalled from the conversation she had with Mercury not long after she had found out Serenity's secret meetings with the prince of Earth.

"Please Lady Venus, I mean no harm to you or your princess," Kunzite calmly said as he raised both hands up to show he had no hidden weapons, "My current position is merely the same as yours. Just as you are surely looking out for your princess, I am here to watch over my master."

Sensing no malice from the Shitennou, Venus slowly lowered her hand and dispersed the light around her chain. The hostility that had been in her eyes lowered as she acknowledged Kunzite's words with a nod. Returning her gaze toward Serenity and the Earth prince, she found the two were locked in a tight embrace. Even from afar she could see the sadness painfully apparent on her princess's face, indicating that the meeting between the two lovers were about to end.

"Do you approve of this?"

The question slipped from her lips before she was even aware of it. If Kunzite was surprised by her question, he hid it well as his voice remained calm when he answered with a simple "No."

"Then why?"

Why let them meet?

Why let them fall deeper in love?

Why are we risking a possible war between the Earth and the Moon just to let them have a few short moments together?

Silence hung in the air as the two watched Endymion offer a single red rose to Serenity as he used his other hand to wipe away the tears that had began falling on the Moon princess's face. After the two lovers exchanged a promise to meet again on the next full moon, Serenity slowly began to make her way toward where Venus was waiting.

Just as Venus was about to step out of the shadow and meet her princess half-way, Kunzite surprised her by answering her earlier question.

"They are important to us, so we put their happiness above all else. Just as their love for each other make them irrational, so does our love for them."

Having not expected the usually silent Shitennou to answer her question, Venus stood rooted as she momentarily found herself pondering his words. Even as the senshi of love, Venus had not been able to completely accept the risks her princess was taking to meet with her lover.

'And yet this man was able to speak his feelings without any hint of doubt.'

"Love really does make people do crazy things."

Venus let out a soft chuckle before turning her head to meet Kunzite's gaze. To the Shitennou's surprise, Venus gave a soft but sorrowful smile before saying, "Who knows what that emotion will cause us to do next time."

Not giving him a chance to respond, Kunzite could only watch as Venus quickly made her way to Serenity. Once together, the two were wrapped in an orb of light before it shot into the sky towards the glowing full moon.

The loud ringing of an alarm clock filled the room before being shut off when a hand shot out of the covers to slam on the off button. With a soft groan, Minako pulled the covers over her face to shield her eyes from the sunlight that was slipping through the creak of her curtains.

"Minako get up or you'll be late for school!"

Jumping onto the bed, Artemis yanked the covers off the sleepy girl with his teeth. Knowing her feline friend would not relent until she did as he said, Minako slowly sat up. Letting out a tired yawn, she found herself wondering about her dream. It was strange how she could remember every detail of the dream except for the man's face and the conversation that had been exchanged between them.

"Hey Artemis, did Mamoru-san have personal guards back during the Silver Millennium?"

Visibly stiffening at her question, the white cat had a thoughtful look on his face as if deciding how to answer Minako's question.

"Why do you ask," Artemis asked obviously delaying having to answer the question, but with genuine curiosity laced in his voice.

"I had this dream of a time during the Silver Millennium before the war broke out between the Earth and the Moon. I was on Earth watching over Serenity as she met with Endymion. Then near the end I was talking to a man and for some reason it's only his image that's very fuzzy in my mind. All I can remember was that he was watching over Endymion like I was watching over Serenity."

Artemis remained silent as he watched Minako's obvious effort in remembering more about the mysterious man in her dream. Coming to a decision, the feline gently called out to his long-time partner to regain her attention.

"To answer your question, yes. Just like Princess Serenity had you and the others as her protectors, Endymion also had personal guards."

"What happened to them? Were they also killed during the battle with Beryl and Metalia? Although I don't remember fighting along side them when..."

Minako went silent, not wanting to relive the little memories she had of her finally day during the Silver Millennium. While it made sense to her why those small memories were painful, Minako could not help but feel that there was something else about that final battle that brought about this intense feeling of grieve and sadness. It almost felt like her mind was purposely blocking out the memory to contain the overwhelming hurt.

"Minako, please trust me when I say that there are somethings better left forgotten."

Brought out of her thoughts, Minako felt her heart twist at the look in Artemis's eyes. They were filled with pain, sadness and guilt. As curious as she was about what her friend was referring to and most likely hiding from her, Minako did not want to force an answer out of the cat. She had too much faith in her long-time friend and confident. Patting his head to let him know she understands, Minako got out of bed to begin her day.

'Artemis will tell me if it's important.'

Walking down the quiet white hall of the Juban hospital, Ami came to a stop at a door with a sign marked 'Furuhata' next to it. Softly knocking on the door before entering the room, she found a bandaged Motoki fast asleep on his hospital bed. Closing the door behind her to avoid unwanted eyes, Ami activated her visor to make a quick check on her friend's condition. To her relieve, her analysis found no permanent physical injuries external or internal.

'It seems he just need time to recover from having his energy drained.'

Not wanting to disturb Motoki's rest, Ami quietly pulled out from her school bag a 'get well' card she and the girls had gotten and placed it on the stand next to the bed. As she was about to turn off her visor, her scanner suddenly picked up a signal that caught her attention. Pulling out her mini computer, Ami made rapid key strokes as a frown began to form on her face.

'These readings, they're not an exact match, but the energy signature is similar to the ones of the stone that Kunzite took. The signal seems to be coming from below.'

Turning off her visor but keeping her computer in hand, Ami swiftly made her way out of the room. Walking not too fast to avoid unwanted attention from the hospital staff or patients, she began to make her way toward the direction where the computer had pinpointed the signal. She soon found herself in front of a door she know lead to the hospital basement where the furnaces were located. On the door in big red letters were the words: DANGER! AUTHORIED PERSONNELS ONLY. Attempting to turn the door handle, she was not surprised to find the door to be locked. Taking a quick look around to make sure she was alone, Ami pulled out the copy of her mom's key card she had secretly made a duplicate of for when they needed to sneak in to check on an injured friend or victims of an attack.

A soft 'click' from the door signaled she had successfully gain entrance without triggering any alarm. Slowly descending down the short dark staircase, Ami turned her visor on and activated its night vision. Once at the bottom, Ami surveyed her surrounding and found nothing out of the ordinary. Switching on the dim lights, she found the dark room around her was empty except for the humming furnaces at the end of the room and a few electrical control panels on the walls to their sides. Returning her gaze to her computer, she saw the energy signature was right below a few feet from where she stood.

"There must be another one of those stones buried underground," Ami whispered to herself.

'It'd be too dangerous to leave it here. We can't risk the enemy attacking the hospital to get this stone.'

Pulling out her transformation rod, Ami let out her transformation cry. In a flash of light, she transformed into her Sailor Mercury form.

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"

The streams of water sent forth from her harp collided into the spot where her computer had pinpointed the energy signature. Once the dust caused by her attack cleared, Mercury walked up to the small crater she had created having caught sight of a purple glint. Kneeling down, she picked up the purple-pink gem and immediately recognized it as a zoisite gemstone.

"Does this mean there's a gemstone for each of the Shitennou's?"

"You always were the quickest to pick up on clues Mercury."

Startled by the male voice, Mercury quickly spun around and rose to a defensive stance with the gemstone clutched tightly in one hand.

"Zoisite, so we were right to assume all the Shitennous of the Dark Kingdom have been revived."

A frown formed on the Shitennou's face at the water senshi's mention of the Dark Kingdom.

"I suppose you could say we have been revived, but in no way are we still afflicted with Beryl and the Dark Kingdom. We have been granted a chance to once again serve our true master."

"This prince of yours that Kunzite had mentioned in our last battle I assume."

"Right again Mercury. I'm glad to see you're still as sharp as I last remembered."

Confusion clouded Mercury at his words and knowing smile. A sense of frustration welled up in her as she felt like she was missing something important. The man before her looked exactly as he had when they last fought year ago and yet he was completely different.

'No different isn't the right word,' Mercury thought as she continued to watch the Shitennou with a weary gaze, ' It's more like this Zoisite feels more familiar, but why would that be. This man has always been an enemy, in this life and during the Silver Millennium.'

"That expression of yours also haven't change," Zoisite said with a hint of fondness causing Mercury further confusion.

"What are you-"

"I mean you always had this look in your eyes when something puzzles you."

"I don't understand."

"I'm sure you will figure it out," Zoisite replied with sadness in his eyes.

Before Mercury could question him further, the stone in her hand began to give off a bright purple glow.

"What the-"

"NO, you have to let it go!"

Too stunned to react, Mercury became engulfed by the stone's glow. The image of a frantic Zoisite reaching for her became hazy as she found herself blacking out.

"They should not continue to meet."

"And yet here you are escorting her to do just that. Your actions betray your true feelings Mercury."

"..."

"We are their protectors, so let us protect their happiness."

"Even if it may be short lived?"

"Especially if it's short lived. Besides, I'm sure you will figure it out."

Turning to face the man behind her for the first time since her arrival. Mercury fell into the man's embrace.

"You always overestimate my abilities Zoisite."

"Mercury, I-"

"Mercury, wake up!"

"Mercury!"

"Mercury snap out of it!"

"Please get up Ami-chan!"

Blinking the haziness out of her eyes. Mercury found herself surrounded by four concerned senshis.

"What happened," Mercury asked as she slowly pushed herself up.

"Thank goodness you're okay," Sailor Moon said as she wiped the tears that had been forming in her eyes.

"We came looking for you when you didn't meet up with us at the shrine like you said you would after checking up on Motoki," Venus answered, "Luna was able to track down the signal on your communicator."

"As for what happened, you'll have to fill us in," Mars said as she indicated to the small crater behind them.

Memories of what happened hit her as Mercury surprised the others by shooting up and frantically looking around as if searching for something.

"Zoisite, where is Zoisite?"

Remembering why she had came down, Mercury looked at her empty hands and frowned.

"He took the gemstone."

The others were surprised not by her words, but by the strong tone of bitterness and betrayal laced in her voice.

"Mercury what are you talking about," Sailor Moon asked as she placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, "You were alone when we found you. We didn't see Zoisite or any gemstone. We just found you passed out with your computer in your hand."

Handing Mercury the computer she had dropped in her haste to stand up, Sailor Moon watched her normally mild-manner friend with worry.

"We should get out of here while the coast is clear," Jupiter suggested as she saw shadows pass the creak of the door, "Wouldn't want anyone to find us and start asking questions."

Nodding in agreement, Venus detransformed and indicated for the others to do the same. Once everyone was back in their civilian form, Minako turned to the still silent Ami.

"You can tell us what happened after we get out of here."

"I'm just glad you're okay," Usagi said with a genuine smile, "You shouldn't let whatever happened get you down. Cheer up Ami-chan."

Nodding at her friend's words of comfort, Ami tried to return Usagi's smile with one of her own, but as she followed after her friends up the stairs, it instantly vanished. Not even her princess's smile and cheerfulness could bring calm to her whirling thoughts. Her mind was just filled with too many questions.

What had set off the zoisite gemstone?

Why had Zoisite not kill her when she had been unconscious?

Why were his eyes filled with such dread and worry when the gemstone had engulfed her in that light?

But what plagued the water senshi's mind the most was the vision she had seen when engulfed by the gemstone's light.

'Was that real? Had it been a forgotten memory of my time during the Silver Millennium?'

Knowing she was not likely to find the answers to her questions by herself, Ami knew who would most likely hold at least some answers to her questions. As soon as they stepped out of the Juban hospital, she stopped and called out to get the others' attention.

"Get Mamoru-san. We need to speak with Setsuna-san as soon as we can."