Authors note: sorry bout not updating in a while, I had completely forgotten about it for a while apologises again but in recompense I have made this chapter extra long!! Hope you like it and as always please read and review.
Solutions
"we'll meet again, if not in this life than the next"
Kunzite walked through the palace, patrolling for the last six hours corridors A and B. No intruder would appear there, that was obvious, and even if they got close to the palace, Ami's alarm detection system would warn them in advance.
But it was no use
Every step he took as he marched, the thought duty would enter his mind; he forced that concept on himself. Duty meant lack of freewill, lack of freewill would mean he had no choice – and that he was thankful for every day of the six months since he last 'saw' Mina. Because without duty he would surely die.
His heart was broken, his will was broken, that was the only thing left. Duty devoured him, till no one could see the Kunzite that they had once known and loved – now he was almost like a statue, stoic and cold.
Jaedite peeked behind a corner to look at Kunzite; his face showed the sadness he had for his friend. He knew Kunzite was broken, Mina had changed him. Even when everyone first thought she was dead, Kunzite knew…. He always knew she was alive and needed his help. The more Jaedite thought about the past, the more he realised the bond between the two, suddenly a memory passed through him, he cringed.
"I'm dead Jed, without her I'm dead" Kunzite's words hit him,
"but she wouldn't…" he had tried to persuade, but Kunzite's look had told him… it had shown him that Kunzite was dying, dying of a broken heart and there was nothing he could do or say to help, after all he knew if the same happened to him with Rei, the same fate would probably befall him.
Of course Kunzite was stubborn, committed to his vow to Endymion, but that wouldn't hold long anymore, everyone knew that.
"Hey" a familiar voice called to Jaedite, it was obviously affectionate, Jaedite swivelled around to see his Rei staring back at him, looking worried.
"Hey"
Jaedite replied,
"how is he" Rei asked with concern,
"he…
his…. Heart is broken. I may be no expert at this, but I can see
it as plain as daylight, he's going to die Rei" Jaedite
stuttered, tears welling up in his eyes in frustration, Rei knew what
he was saying was correct. All the scouts had talked about it, and
all knew that his heart was broken, that he was but a husk of his
former self and they didn't have to be an expert to know that when
one's heart is broken, they did die.
They tried everything; Usagi had even attempted to use the silver crystal to grant her wish of bringing Minako back to life. But to no avail.
It was fruitless to think that his duty would keep him alive, the heart wins all matters, and his heart was lost without Minako, his mina chan.
"Come on, Usagi and the girls want to go shopping, I was hoping you wanted to come with me" she asked her voice compassionate. He smiled, she was so soft, so caring, not just the fiery Martian that attempted many a time to use her flamethrower on him – not that he didn't love both sides of her.
"Yeah I think I will" he replied, following Rei's lead he left the corridor.
The four scouts and their counterparts sat in a café overlooking the Tokyo park, an awkward silence had filled the room as each of their thoughts drifted to Kunzite.
"We have to do something" Makoto demanded after several minutes of silence,
"Like what" Rei grumbled, not directing her comment to Makoto but still annoyed at her current helplessness,
"Maybe we just have to let this run it's course" Usagi interjected, tears rolling down her eyes, after all Kunzite and Mina were both dear friends, and it broke her heart thinking how Kunzite's heart was broken and the fact she had lost one of her very best friends.
"But" Ami pleaded,
"What else can we do" Nephlyte answered,
"no, I won't except it, there has to be some way, I've lost Mina I refuse to lost Kunzite as well" Rei growled, banging her hand on the table which made everyone jump in fright, Jaedite comforted his beloved who was now crying.
"Ami, is there anything physically wrong with him?" Endymion asked,
"He asked me not to tell you, but I ran a physical on him a few months ago, and his body is shutting down – there's nothing causing it, it's just happening" Ami spoke, forcing the tears that started to well in her eyes back,
"I wish we could do something, but he has spent every waking moment patrolling, forcing all of us to give up our guard duty, and when we 'force' him to stop he spends his time in the rose gardens" Zoisite replied hopelessly,
"and there is no reasoning with him, talking to him is just pointless" Nephlyte added quickly,
"then what" Endymion growled,
"are we supposed to just sit here, no I won't let that
happen… there has to be a way I can't lose him. I WON"T LOSE
HIM" he growled angrily, everyone sat taken aback yet sympathised,
"The only way is to get Mina back guys" Makoto interjected,
"we
tried that, it didn't work" Usagi sighed sadly,
"we could
visit the galaxy cauldron" Rei suggested which was met with an
intense gaze by Ami,
"you know as well as I if we tamper with
the galaxy cauldron the whole universe could change, the basic fact
of it, is Mina is dead" Ami sympathised yet recognized the severity
of Rei's comment.
"Then what!" Rei retaliated,
"hey
hey hey" Jaedite interjected, placing his arm around Rei in order
to bring the argument to a close, Rei accepted this proposition
readily, she needed the comfort, more than she cared to admit.
"We let nature run its course" Endymion admitted defeated, clutching Usagi's hand,
"But"
Ami cried,
"It's no use" Usagi sighed,
"Then I guess" Makoto added,
"It's final" Rei conceded, all knew it was a matter of time before Kunzite would join Mina – even though she knew he'd be happy, it made her sorrowful to lose him.
"For who can fight the constraints of true love" Usagi replied in answer to everyone's quandary.
Suddenly the sound of the café door opening caught everyone's ear, yet none paid attention.
It was surely another person, coming to relax in this sanctuary near the gardens of Tokyo,
"I'll have a vanilla latte with extra cinnamon" the person placed her order at the front register, everyone sat alarmed now. This was mina's favourite drink, Mina's!! They swivelled around to look at the customer who ordered the drink to check if it was but a coincidence (even though no one had ever heard of anyone liking cinnamon that much)
Long, flowing golden hair,
Gorgeous figure,
Long legs,
Blue eyes……
The
customer turned to have a seat at a nearby chair, everyone's jaw
dropped as they realised that was most definitely Mina, or her twin
by any statement. The likeness was astounding, they were but the
same person, everyone could see that,
"MINA!?" Usagi
cried, bounding from her chair towards the person, who everyone, with
their jaws dropped, noticed looked beyond fearful.
"do
I know you?" the person squeaked, as Usagi's vice became tighter,
everyone stood up to go to the person,
"Mina?" Usagi
questioned, standing back for a moment, the person smiled happily.
"I'm sorry but I think you have me confused with another person" she giggled lightly,
"what?" Usagi spoke fearfully,
"My name is not… who did you say, oh Mina? My name is Naio Mikano" Mikano smiled happily, everyone stood dumbfounded,
"but you must be" Usagi cried, Mikano looked at the girl and felt a great sorriness, this Mina they talked of must have meant a lot to them. Mikano smiled, it wasn't in a mock but that of compassion, and slowly she walked forward and wrapped her arms around the frail girl.
"I don't know who this Mina was, but she's lucky to have a friend like you" Mikano comforted Usagi softly, who reciprocated the hug gently and gratefully.
After several moments the two broke apart, everyone looked eagerly, wishing that it still was Mina reincarnate, wishing that their hopes and wishes had come true – that miracles do happen…
Everyone
could see that Mikano was a kind girl, caring and gentle in all
aspects. After all, to her they were strangers, and yet she showed
compassion never less, this reminded them most about Minako – Rei
began to shed a tear as she watched the girl smile while she talked
to Usagi.
"I'm... I'm sorry; I just thought you were...
Were "Usagi stuttered, teary eyed,
"There is no reason to apologise" Mikano cooed gently, there was no doubt that all the people standing around her had mistaken her as their friend,
Slowly Mikano turned to the bench and picked up her vanilla latte, strangely a part of her seemed excited to see these people. But she had no knowledge of them? She had never met them before in her life…
"Please don't go" Rei squeaked as Mikano turned back around, latte in hand.
"I wouldn't dream of it, it's not every day I get to make new friends" she smiled happily, the generals still stood speechless,
"But if you would let my buy you all a cup of coffee, I'd feel less guilty about the mix up" Mikano cheerily spoke,
"But
you didn't –"Ami stuttered,
"please" Mikano urged,
"Alright" Ami spoke on behalf of everyone. Ami could see that Mikano was doing this more for their sakes, especially Usagi's, than her own – silently she uttered a word of thanks to the woman.
"Ok let's see" Mikano scanned the sea of faces before her,
"May I order for all of us?" Mikano asked tenderly,
"by all means" Usagi responded, somewhat curious as to what she would order.
Mikano turned to the cash attended,
after having a brief look at the sales board on the wall and began to
place her order,
"I'll have one chai latte, one strawberry
milkshake, one mocha caramel latte, one decaf espresso, and three
cappuccino's but make one of those decaf" carefully the sales
assistant punched in the orders, and Mikano paid, then turned around.
Everyone
looked wide eyed at Mikano, that was exactly their orders,
"so
tell me, who was this Mina? Maybe I can help find her..." Mikano
gestured,
"Wait, how did you know our orders?"
Endymion blabbered, dumbfounded,
"Lucky guess" Mikano winked,
and then began to walk where the scouts were previously sitting.
Everyone followed her, eager all to
ask her questions that would tell them if she was really their Mina;
they all sat down in the café booth,
"So may I ask you all
your names?" Mikano asked politely, no sarcasm underlying her
voice,
"Oh
how rude of us, my name is Mizuno Ami" Ami introduced herself,
"my
name is Hino Rei" Rei followed,
"my name is Kino Makoto"
Makoto proceeded,
"My name is Brant Zane"
"kina Nathaniel"
"Miso Jason" the three generals
introduced themselves, all giving their alter ego identities,
"my
name is Chiba Mamoru" Endymion introduced himself,
"and my name is Tsukino Usagi" Usagi proceeded.
"pleasure to meet all of you, you may call me Mikano" Mikano reciprocated all of their greetings,
"wow
the famous miss Tsukino, I can't believe I am finally meeting you"
Mikano gushed,
"umm" Usagi spoke, confused,
"Oh
sorry about that, I work in the modelling industry as well, I go
under the name Grace Hart" Mikano spoke cheerily,
"you're
her? The new model for L'Oreal?" Usagi spoke, now wide eyed,
"umm
are we missing something" Rei stated matter of factly,
"Grace
Hart, I've heard that she's getting a sum of 5 million dollars
for a six month contract with L'Oreal" Ami explained, Zoisite
looked at Ami wide eyed – she never was much for gossip, she just
gave him a smile with a shrug,
"I ran out of stuff to read" she laughed.
"It definitely is an honour to meet
you miss Tsukino" Mikano gushed once again,
"please call me
Usagi"
"Usagi" Mikano smiled, glad to be less informal.
"well to get back to matters, please tell me about this Mina you were talking of, who was she?"
"A very, very dear friend" Usagi sighed,
"What happened" Mikano asked,
"she went away" Rei spoke hollowly, feeling the well of tears
open again.
"Oh I'm sorry, do you know if she's ok?"
"She died" Ami interjected, Mikano looked wide eyed,
"Yeah" Usagi died,
"Sorry if I startled you, but you look so much like her" Usagi tried to offer a friendly smile, but still hurt.
"please
don't apologise, I hope we can still be friends?" Mikano asked
hopefully,
"yeah we'd like that" Usagi spoke sorrowfully,
staring at the beauty that reminded her so much of Mina.
"three thirty already" Makoto sighed, Mikano's eyes went with shock, everyone looked on curiously.
"OH SHIT IM LATE" she yelled in shock,
"for what?" Endymion asked,
"photo
shoot, they are going to kill me" she jumped out of the seat,
"Sorry about this, to make it up to you all, would you like to
come to an after party at the plaza at 9pm" Mikano smiled,
gathering her things, and turning to bolt out the door.
Everyone looked quite bewildered and dumbfounded as they watched her leave the café.
"Wow, you don't see that everyday"
Nephlyte stuttered,
"she's just as bad as you Usagi" Rei
groaned,
"yeah kind of reminds you of Mina hey?" Makoto sighed hopelessly.
"Looks and acts like her" Rei added,
"yeah then why isn't it her?"
Ami sighed,
"I've got it!" Usagi exclaimed unexpectedly,
everyone looked at her,
"you are so right Rei, she looks and sounds like Mina! So if Kunzite sees her.." Usagi was now clearly excited.
"he'll be alright, knowing she's
ok" Makoto now spoke cheerily,
"there are so many holes in
that plan" Zoisite groaned, only to be ushered silent by Ami.
"Now
to get Kunzite to go" Rei grinned excitedly, hope now flourished
within her.