"I don't want to hurt you… but please, don't hurt her. She's my sister and I couldn't bear for anything to happen to her, not after all she's been through."

"Oh, it's already too late for that. And whether you hurt me or not, you've as good as killed me. From her point of view anyway."

Minako woke up in a cold sweat. "It was just a dream…" she tried to convince herself, but it seemed too real. A dream, or another memory? She lightly slapped her cheeks a few times to try to wake herself up. Whichever it was, it doesn't matter right now. I've got to get going, I promised I'd meet Adonis this morning.

She ran down the stairs and quickly grabbed a piece of toast from the kitchen. She still had the whole slice of bread hanging out of her mouth as she opened the door to find Rei standing outside it.

"And where are you off to?" Rei asked, her hands on her hips.

Minako quickly swallowed the last bites of her breakfast. "Oh, just… out. To meet Adonis."

"I see," Rei tapped her foot. "And you didn't even realize that you were forgetting something, did you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You promised to call Usagi when you got home last night. She was worried sick about you. Called me practically in tears about it."

"Oh, sorry. I got distracted. She could have just tried calling me instead," Minako replied.

"She did. You didn't answer," Rei responded coldly.

Minako didn't know what to say. I had so much on my mind last night, I guess I didn't even notice the ringing…

"Anyway, it doesn't matter now. She's off on a date with Mamoru today. But I'm coming with you, wherever you're going. You've been acting too much on your own lately," Rei said as she started to walk forward. She stopped and looked back at Minako. "Well? Aren't we going this way? Adonis is at Mamoru's after all."

….

We walked all the way to Mamoru's apartment in silence. I can't even tell if Rei is annoyed with me, or just being her normal self. Did I do something wrong? I don't know what to do anymore.

"Oh, Minako! That's you, right?" Rei and Minako both heard a voice say as they walked into the lobby. Shinzo was waving at the two of them. "Is this another friend of yours?"

"Hi, Shinzo," Minako smiled politely. "Yes, this is my good friend, Rei."

"It's nice to meet you! I just moved in here a couple days ago," Shinzo said cheerfully as he put out his hand.

"Welcome to the neighbourhood," Rei said, returning Shinzo's gesture and shaking his hand.

Minako noticed that Rei seemed to shiver as she shook the boy's hand. "Are you alright, Rei?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she replied, but without saying another word to Minako or Shinzo she started to head up the stairs.

"Well, I'm sure I'll see you around!" Minako waved to Shinzo as she ran after Rei. "What was that about?" she whispered quietly to Rei when she finally caught up.

"When I shook his hand, I sensed something strange about him," she replied.

"What did you notice?" Minako asked quickly. "When I met him last night, he said I looked familiar and asked if I had a sister… that made both Adonis and I suspicious that he might have some connection to the past."

Rei nodded. "That makes sense. In some ways, his aura felt very similar to that of Adonis. He seemed unsure of himself, but also full of guilt, as if he had done something horribly wrong" she sighed. "That's all I can tell you right now."

When they finally made their way to Mamoru's door, they found Adonis already waiting outside it for them.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Adonis," Minako said coyly, happy to see that Adonis' whole face brightened when she came into view.

"That's alright, I wasn't waiting long," he responded. Seeing the smirks on both Minako and Rei's faces, he started again. "Okay, I was getting a little impatient. I really wanted to see you."

Minako grinned. "I wanted to see you too," her expression suddenly changed to be more serious. "Did you find anything out about Shinzo?"

Adonis shook his head. "Not much. Just that he's living alone and he moved here because he felt like this was the area he belonged in. Or at least, that's what he told me."

"That makes sense," Rei joined in. "I think you were both right to believe that he is someone from the past… And for some reason, it seems that he's starting to awaken his memories."

As they started to walk back to the lobby, they heard a loud crash. Minako and Rei both ran to the front door to see what had caused the noise, and found Shinzo collapsed on the ground.

"Shinzo? Are you alright?" Minako spoke as she went to his side to check if he was hurt. There doesn't seem to be any injury…

As he opened his eyes and glanced at Minako, he seemed groggy, and not fully present. "Psyche… is that you?"

Minako took one sharp breath in and stood up, walking away from where the boy lay. She started to pace. He's about the same age as Kagami… He recognized me and asked if I had a sister. And now he's confusing me for her past self? Could he really be… "Cupid? Is that you, Cupid?"

"That's right… that's my name, isn't it?" he said, but he still looked confused. "No… how could that be my name? What am I saying? I'm Shinzo. That's who I am now, that's who I've always been. Right?"

"Let's start by going through what happened," Rei stepped forward. "What made you collapse all of a sudden?"

"I… I saw someone walking outside," he started. "She looked a lot like you, Minako. But younger, about my age. She seemed angry, but I wanted to call out to her for some reason. I was about to walk out the door when she just… vanished. That's the last thing I remember."

Minako started to shake uncontrollably. If this really is Cupid, then I didn't kill him back then… he lived until the fall of the Silver Millennium. That's the only way he could have been reborn. I feel relieved, but at the same time lost. Where do we go from here?

Adonis saw how Minako was reacting and walked over to her, standing behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders. "Don't worry. This means we have the upper hand. Now we can learn who Cupid really was, and understand the truth."

"You're right. But that means helping him to fully awaken, doesn't it?" Minako asked. "I don't know if I want to put anyone else through that."

"It's true. And I more than anyone understand what it's like to have to deal with that pain of remembering a time when your actions were corrupted by some other power," Adonis admitted. "But whether we want them to come back or not, the memories are there, and it's only a matter of time before they are released. We all have things from our past that we have to face up to. It's better to accept them than to pretend they don't exist."

He's right. So what am I afraid of? Her eyes widened. "There's something more important we need to deal with right now though."

"What?" Adonis and Rei asked simultaneously.

"Kagami! Shinzo said that he saw her walk past, and that she looked angry. Whatever her reasons are for being in this area, we can't just ignore that she's near us," she said as she ran out the door. Not knowing where she could have gone, Minako just trusted her instincts and ran as fast as she could in whatever direction her intuition told her to go.

"I'd better go with her," Rei said as she stood up and brushed the dust off her knees. "You stay here and keep an eye on Shinzo."

Adonis started to protest. "But—"

Rei held up her hand and closed her eyes. "Remember what you just said to Minako? Taking care of him and trying to learn what he knows is equally important right now. Minako trusts you," she sighed. "I wasn't sure that she should. But I changed my mind. If she trusts you, then so do I." She left the building and followed after Minako.

….

"Minako!" she heard Rei calling from behind her. "What were you thinking running off like that? You can't transform right now."

Minako didn't respond to Rei's question. She looked desperately around her, scanning every single head in the crowd of people before her to try and spot Kagami. She clenched her fist. Something feels different. Not just around me, but inside me. "Maybe not. But maybe…"