I have nothing new to say about chapter one beyond that it is now slightly easier to read. Enjoy!

I do not own Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon.

Only One

---Chapter One---

Minako sighed in relief. That was the last box, which meant she wouldn't have to haul anything else up the three flights of stairs to her apartment until tomorrow. "I hope they fix the elevator soon," she muttered as she sank onto her couch. The colonies were supposedly more technologically advanced than Earth, but so far L2 was a lot like being back in England, minus the famous British accents. Her English was a little rusty, and already Minako longed for Ami's promised phone call and the sound of good old Japanese. But Ami was flying back to Tokyo from Harvard today, so she probably wouldn't call until tomorrow.

Minako sighed again.

How had she gone from the ditzy high school girl by day, Sailor Venus by night persona to Dr. Aino, the psychologist barely out of med-school with four articles already published in prestigious medical journals?

She'd taken Psychology her senior year of high school on a whim- and to get enough credits to graduate. Her teacher had gone gaga over her term paper, titled "The Mind of a Super-Villain." He'd signed her up for a scholarship to one of Tokyo's best universities, and to everyone's surprise, she got it. Minako spent two years there before transferring with Ami to one in Germany and then finishing at Harvard. Her most recent article, an insistence that not all delusions are schizophrenia-based, had not gone over all that well with the general public, since she'd used "Queen" Relena as one of her examples. The fiasco the Peacecraft Princess had caused eight years ago was still a touchy subject with most of the people of Earth and the colonies. And that article had led her to be transferred from her internship at Sunny Hills Asylum in California to Shadyside Asylum on L2.

So here she was. Minako looked around the box-filled apartment.

"I need a cat."

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Ding. Catherine Bloom looked up from the racy romance novel she'd been reading as a pretty blond woman entered her shop. This pet shop was mostly a side-job, something peaceful to do when she got tired of the circus. "May I help you?" Catherine asked, putting the book down and leaving her counter area.

The blond woman smiled nervously. "Ano…yes. I'm looking to get a cat. Or a kitten. Preferably a white one."

Catherine smiled back. The woman's accent was strange, but not unfamiliar. "We just got a few kittens in yesterday, and if I remember correctly…Ah." She lifted a small white ball of fur up out of one of the enclosures. The blond woman's eyes lit up as she took the kitten. "A boy, four months old," Catherine said.

The kitten looked up at the blond woman with big blue eyes, and she grinned. "Perfect."

"He'll have to be registered. Do you have a name picked out?"

Minako paused. Artemis was out of the question; he'd stayed in Tokyo with Luna. So what, then? "Jyou."

Catherine frowned slightly. "Joe?"

Minako smiled, though of course Catherine had no idea why. "Yeah. Joe."

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Minako cuddled her adorable little kitten. "Oh, I wish I didn't have to leave you. But if Minako doesn't go to work, Joe-chan doesn't get any tuna." Joe meowed loudly. "I know! It is horrible." She put the kitten down. "Let's see, I've got my keys, briefcase…" Meow. Minako looked at Joe. He had managed to climb on top of the end table near the door. He batted at a red ribbon falling out of her odds-and-ends box, knocking the accessory to the floor. Minako froze. She hadn't worn a red ribbon in her hair since… But that was eight years ago. Wasn't it time she got over him? She plucked the ribbon up off the floor. "Why not? Thanks, Joe-chan."

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"Hi, I'm Dr. Aino. I'm supposed to meet with Dr. Johnson…"

The receptionist nodded. "He's busy at the moment, but Gertrude will show you around and later Dr. Johnson will meet you in your office." The receptionist gestured toward a nearby nurse, who came forward and smiled pleasantly.

"Right this way, Dr. Aino."

Minako followed Gertrude down a long white hallway. "You only have three patients in your charge, but two of them are quite easy. Their files are in your office." Gertrude flushed in embarrassment. "I probably should have taken you there first."

Minako smiled reassuringly. "No, I'd rather meet them like this."

Gertrude smiled back, though hers was one of relief. She peered into two rooms across the hall from each other. "Those two are still asleep, but they aren't very active anyway. And here…" Gertrude paused at the next door. "The other nurses said Mr. Maxwell was in a… bad mood this morning, so perhaps later… Dr. Aino?"

Minako pulled herself out of her memories. Here she had said she wouldn't think of him, and one of her patients has the same last name. "Gomen… I mean, sorry. I knew someone with the same last name once, that's all. Bad moods don't bother me." Gertrude looked hesitant. "If you're sure…"

Minako smiled with difficulty. "Quite sure."

Gertrude unlocked the door. "Mr. Maxwell?" she called as they entered. The room was similar to a hospital room, with a few personal effects here and there to mark it as a permanent residence. But that wasn't what made Minako stare. The man seated on the bed was glaring at her with violet eyes she hadn't looked into in eight years. It was him. He frowned. "You shouldn't have come here, Aphrodite."

Gertrude's eyes widened. "Dr. Aino, we should leave. Mr. Maxwell tends to get violent when he mentions Aphrodite."

Minako blinked and dazedly followed the nurse out of the room. As soon as Gertrude had locked the door, she turned back to the stunned psychologist. "Dr. Aino, are you all right?"

Minako nodded. "Just a bit shaken. He has very intense eyes, doesn't he?"

Gertrude smiled, slightly reassured. "Yes, all of the girls are afraid of them. Here, I'll take you to your office."

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Knock knock. Minako looked up from Regina Gianini's file. "Come in," she called as pleasantly as she could manage. A rather stereotypically handsome doctor entered her office. He smiled charmingly.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Johnson."

Minako stood up out of respect for her superior and shook his hand. "Dr. Aino," she introduced herself.

His eyes drifted over her, and she began to feel uncomfortable. "My, you are lovely. Would you be interested in having dinner with me sometime? Say, tonight?"

Minako stepped back. "No, thank you. I'm expecting a very long-distance phone call, and I can't miss it."

Dr. Johnson backed off, his smile ever-so-slightly less charming now. "All right, perhaps another time."

Minako smiled icily. "Another time." Like never, you creep. He left, and she sat back down in relief. She pushed Regina Gianini's file aside, leaving just one more to go through. This, though, would be the hardest. Minako remembered the handsome young man she'd met eight years ago. She had literally run into him after volleyball practice, thus missing her bus. He'd very generously given her a ride on his motorcycle. Before leaving, he'd shown her a picture of a girl he said was his sister and asked if Minako knew her. The girl was Hotaru. Minako shook her head. "Stop daydreaming," she told herself. "That's what Rei would say. And she'd be right." Minako opened the last file and forced herself to read the contents out loud. "Duo Maxwell, age twenty-six. Resident since A.C. 198.

"Diagnosis was difficult, but we finally settled on dissociative identity disorder with schizophrenic tendencies. He has two other personalities, known as Hades and Shin. When we can get him to communicate, Hades tells us that common Greco-Roman mythology is completely incorrect. He also seems to believe he is having a rather passionate love affair with Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Beauty."

Minako put the file down on her desk and took a deep breath. She had to read all of it.

"As for Shin, he claims to be the prince of Saturn. He very rarely mentions a sister named Viola. More often he mentions two girls, one named Mina and the other Alyssa. He seems to be in love with Mina and friends with Alyssa."

Minako had to pause again. This was too much; she'd never manage to read about these things as though they were mere fabrications of Duo's out-of-whack mind. They weren't, and she wasn't the only one who knew it. But she continued anyway, more out of a sense of duty than a desire to read about what she knew was coming.

"Duo himself appears to be the dominant personality, as over time he has become aware of the other two. He refers to them as his 'past selves' and describes their experiences as merely dreams. Duo seems to have had a connection to the deceased Princess of Venus, as it was her death that triggered his symptoms." Minako made a sound of frustration. "But I'm not dead!" It didn't matter. She sighed.

"Duo also has made some mention of the belief that he was a Gundam pilot. Duo is mostly harmless but still occasionally suicidal, particularly around the anniversary of the Princess of Venus's death. Shin is mild-mannered and shy, though bitter. Hades is violent enough that nurses are afraid to go near him, but his outbursts are rare. Medication is largely keeping Duo lucid and calm, but his suicide attempts are still frequent enough that he is unlikely to ever be released from this facility." Now Minako fought the urge to cry. Eight years ago Duo had left Mercury with Hotaru, but none of the Senshi knew what had happened to the two of them between their departure and those awful, hurried moments after Relena's assassination. Hotaru refused to say, though the Senshi all shared worried suspicions that she had been involved in the assassination. It hadn't helped that Minako's decoy had been killed on the scene. According to his file, that was the reason for Duo's admittance to Shadyside two months later. So Duo thought she had really died. And that triggered the resurfacing of his past selves… Minako closed her eyes.

---End Chapter One---

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