A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I haven't had a lot of free time since Friday. Hope you enjoy this chapter, and please let me know what you think, good or bad.

Chapter 7

The sun was just beginning to set as Makoto made her way to the small cafe she and Sol had decided on meeting at. The orange rays of light danced across the light clouds in the sky creating a very romantic atmosphere. Sol had wanted to pick her up from her apartment, but Makoto knew that would raise a lot of questions. Questions she wasn't prepared to answer. Sol had protested about meeting her, but she stayed firm and told him it's either this or no date.

She wore lightly a light green turtle neck sweater that fit snuggly against her body with lightly faded blue jeans. It wasn't revealing but it showed she had curves, just the look she wanted for tonight. Sol had asked that she meet him at the cafe at 7:30 and it was a little past that now, but it was only a block away so she didn't hurry. As the windows came into view she saw Sol sitting at alone and waiting patiently. The Maitre'd greeted her upon arrival and asked how many, Makoto responded saying she was meeting someone.

As she turned the corner Sol looked up and greeted her with a warm smile. When she got close to the table he stood up and moved around to pull her chair out. Makoto thanked him politely as she sat down thinking this was a very good start to their date. After they had both seated Makoto noticed he was wearing still wearing his school uniform. "You didn't go home and change after school?" She asked. Sol looked down at his attire and ran his hand through his light blonde hair "I didn't have time. I forgot that I needed to do some stuff after school and before I knew it, it was almost 7:30." Makoto grinned a little as she turned her head slightly and gave him a look out the side of her eye. "I'll guess this will have to do" she teased.

The waiter approached the table and asked if they wanted anything. Sol ordered a coffee, black and Makoto ordered a green tea with a little honey. They continued to chat while they waited for their drinks to arrive and Makoto noticed that his eyes weren't just a light brown but actually a very light blue on the outside of the iris that turned into a dark green towards the pupil. The two colour contrast made it seem his eyes were brown from a distance. She quickly found herself fascinated by his eyes, the right had a little more blue than the left. Sol continued to talk, but she didn't hear a word of what he said, swimming in his eyes. The waiter came with their order, breaking her out of this reverie.

"So how did you like the first day back to school?" Makoto asked as she blew lightly on the steaming cup of tea. Sol was already taking a sip of his own hot drink and as he put the cup down his eyes turned sad, the constant smile he had had since she arrived fading. "It was nice to get out of the house" was all he said to her though. She knew he must be terribly hurt right now, and wanted to comfort him, tell him everything was going to be ok. She wanted to be the one to take away his pain, but sadly Kino Makoto had no idea this boy had just lost both his parents. She would have to watch him suffer in silence for the time being.

"I met Sailor Jupiter" he said suddenly, perking up. Makoto took a slow sip from her tea and swallowed, enjoying the honey after taste. "Oh, what was she like?" She asked, trying to sound sincerely interested.

"She reminded me a lot of you. Strong, graceful and full of confidence. But not as pretty" he replied looking deep into her eyes. Makoto could feel her cheeks going hot, knowing she was probably lighting up the dim room with the glow coming off her face by now. Sol let out a little laugh and reached over as he softly took her hand in his. She noticed the thick gashes on his hand had now turned to scars, tracing straight lines up his freckled knuckles and fingers. "You are beautiful Makoto-chan. You don't need to blush at hearing that when it's the truth." His confidence in what he had just said only made her blush more and she found that she couldn't stop smiling. "You're much more charming than I would have thought considering the way you asked me out today."

"I have to admit I was pretty nervous, but when you said yes all that disappeared" he said softly, still holding her hand. As they continued to talk Makoto quickly found he was indeed much more charming than she would have thought. He seemed to know exactly what to say in almost every topic they talked about. The minutes turned to hours as they laughed together, Makoto delighted she could at least help Sol in this way. It didn't hurt that he was attractive and witty as well, so Makoto decided to just forget about his buried pain for the time being and enjoy the evening.

-/-*-\-

The dark figure watched from the shadows as the boy and girl continued their date. Just yesterday he had meddled in affairs he knew nothing about. If he hadn't shown up at least one of those pesky Sailor Senshi would be dead right now. This one was the key to getting at the Sailor Senshi. He could be used, manipulated. And he was also the weakest of them. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. But we need more time. After the Sailor Senshi had scolded him for helping, the watcher knew he wasn't part of their circle. Not yet, but his tenacity could prove useful in this situation. After the ordeal of what happened yesterday, the unseen foe was quite upset and considered tracking him down and making him pay. But the figure waiting in the shadows had come up with a better plan. Why get the small worm out of a fit of rage when he could be used to reel in the big fish. But he needs to prove himself to them. He needs to show them that he's worthy of their trust.

-/-*-\-

The sun had gone down, and the crowds around the Crystal Palace had thinned. Minako was glad they were finally able to inspect this force field without someone raising questions. Discretion was probably the best tactic right now as they had no idea what was causing it either. Ami had ideas, but it was all speculation. And what they needed right now were answers. Answers for these strange new creatures that kept popping up. Answers for how they were supposed to help Usagi become queen.

Rei checked her watch for what had to be the hundredth time and exhaled impatiently "Is Mako-chan going to show up? She said 8:30 at the latest and its 9:15 now." Minako looked over at her quick tempered friend and grinned a little "You know Rei-chan, matters of the heart cannot be rushed. If she is having a good time with Sol, we should just go on without her and let them have a little fun."

Just like everyone else that came to the unseen boarder around the Crystal Palace, the girls had all tried reaching out to see if their hands would go through. But just like everyone else, they were stopped short by an invisible barrier. Ami guess they needed to be in Sailor form to pass through, but they couldn't exactly transform and walk through with all these people around. So they decided to wait it out. After a short time Makoto had informed them she would return later that night and proceed with the rest of the group. Now they were faced with carrying on one short.

Minako looked at each girl in turn. They looked terribly bored. Minako had enjoyed watching all the handsome boys coming and going so she didn't mind waiting. But now things were pretty quiet. Usagi stood up from the bench she was sitting on and pointed at the sparkling palace, her voice taking on determined tone "We'll go without her. We need to see inside, erm, find out what this force field is." Rei exhaled again and put her hands on her hips "You just want to go in and day dream of walking the halls with Mamoru-chan." Usagi seemed to shrink as the other girl scolded her for letting her true intentions show.

Minako got in between them, holding her hands out "Whatever the reason, it's getting late. Either we go in now, or we don't go in at all and we have wasted our time tonight." She looked at Usagi who nodded in agreement. They all took a quick look around to make sure no one was watching them and then went through with their transformations.

Yellow ribbons swirled around Minako as the clothes she was wearing disappeared and were replaced by her Sailor Venus outfit. She rather enjoyed this outfit, thinking the contrast of white and orange went well together, matching her blonde hair. The other girls went through similar transformations, but all had different colour schemes.

Minako was the first to approach the barrier, eager to see if this would work. Her hand reached out inching closer to where it had been stopped before. What if we can't get through? Her heart skipped a beat at the thought. She knew where her hand was now was about the place they had been denied before. She turned to look at the other three girls, and they watched, wide eyed and earnest. She steeled her nerves, and pushed forward.

There was a slight tingling sensation in her hand and arm where they had passed through the force field. Urged on by her own success, she moved forward slowly. As her body began to get enveloped in this strange energy she held her breath and closed her eyes. It passed over her like a wave in slow motion, sending strange unfamiliar sensations throughout her body. It was almost like being tickled with a feather, but it didn't tickle. Not exactly pleasant, but not unpleasant either. Once through she turned to her friends and waved for them to follow.

As each girl went through, they closed their eyes and held their breath as well, not entirely sure how to approach this strange phenomenon. Except Usagi, she had laughed and giggled as she walked past the barrier. Once inside, it was a short jog to the main entrance of the Crystal Palace. A large door less arch way greeted them as they approached. Minako looked on in wonder at the sparkling beauty of the crystal walls, her reflection bouncing back. They all hurried inside, high heels clicking against the crystal, in case someone came to see the palace for them self and wonder how these four got in. The large room just beyond the entrance had corridors and hallways going in every direction, a giant staircase that split into three other stair cases leading to the upper chambers of the palace.

Minako didn't remember putting this much detail into the layout, but then again she had only really helped with the entertainment areas. Things like the Ball Room and the Theatre with a large stage set in the middle. So she turned to Ami and asked her friend "Where do we go from here?" Ami scanned the area with a puzzled look "I guess we go to the main control room." The other three girls waited for her to continue, to tell them which way that was. "I don't have my hand held anymore, and this place is huge. I don't remember exactly how to get there, but I think I can point us in the right direction at least." Upon hearing the news, Usagi groaned and slumped her shoulders "We should have put a map right here at the entrance like when you go into a mall" she said pouting.

Ami led the other three girls up the staircase she thought was the right way. They picked their way slowly, admiring the naked beauty of the crystal. They passed rooms and chambers, dining areas and hallways that led to balconies. After some time it seemed Ami got her bearings of where they were and a few wrong turns later they came to the first set of doors they had seen since entering. The glass like doors in front of them looked thick and heavy, with large handles instead of knobs. The phases of the moon were engraved into the edges of the large doors, meeting at the top by a full moon, half of which was one each door, meeting together when the doors were closed.

Minako reached out and grabbed the handle then pulled. The door moved amazingly with little effort for how thick it was. After the door was opened enough for the other girls to enter Minako stood with her back to it, discovering it was thicker than her shoulder width. Obviously Ami had planned this in case of an attack so this room would be much more difficult to enter.

As Minako was the last to enter she remembered seeing this room when they had gone to the future. King Endymion had brought them all here to show them video footage of what had happened. Images of the desolate future flashed in her mind. Not going to happen this time, she thought. Minako watched as Ami walked to the main control consol, as she got close the crystal opened. Ami jumped back with a start and slowly her small hand held computer was pushed out. "This is amazing. It's almost like this palace is sentient." She remarked as she reached out and grabbed the hand held device.

"So this palace knows us?" Usagi asked astonishingly. Ami turned around and nodded slowly. "it seems that way. Perhaps the technology is far beyond anything we could have imagined." Minako watched as her slender hands began pressing buttons. Window after window appeared on the large screen in front of them, none of which made any sense to Minako. "I can't believe this" Ami said after a short time. "The palace has completely integrated my super computer. This palace can do everything my computer could, and more. If what I'm seeing here is right we should be able to just select a location, input dimensions and.." The blue haired girl tapped one more button and turned around as a small step stool came out of the floor. The other three girls yelped in alarm, not expecting anything to come out of the floor.

"We can take down any wall, or put up one instead. We can do anything with this. This is absolutely incredible" Ami whispered more to herself than the other three. Minako didn't understand any of what Ami said next so she just smiled and nodded. Ami continued to talk to herself excitedly, hands flying over the large consol in front of her. "Everyone look at this" she after a short time. Minako did as the other two and moved closer to where she stood.

"See these four dots of different colours on the screen?" Minako looked closely at the screen and saw a blue, red, gold and pink coloured dot all close to each other. "Yes. What do they mean?" She inquired. Ami tapped a few more buttons and each dot moved to the left of the screen, stacked on top of one another. The dots expanded into profiles. Profiles of each of them. The gold dot turned into a picture of Minako, showing current vital stats such as heart rate, blood pressure, and overall mood. Her mood was calm until she realized what she was looking at, and it turned to mild shock.

"So... So this palace does knowus" Minako exclaimed. Ami nodded slowly. "I don't know how yet, but perhaps it has to do with us building this place with our powers. Maybe part of us has gone into the palace itself." Minako looked at Usagi and Rei who had stunned looks on their faces, still shocked at what they were seeing on the screen. Minako had recovered quicker than the other two.

An idea occurred to her. "Ami-chan, can you use this to locate Mako-chan?" Ami raised her hands of the consol and thought for a few seconds. "Maybe, let me try something..." Her hands flew over the buttons again, and the bird's eye view of what they saw inside the palace zoomed out. Ami tapped a few more buttons as the view traveled to different parts of Tokyo. Darting one direction and back again. Scanning and searching. After a short time the screen centered on a small green dot. They all leaned in for a closer look as the view slowly zoomed in. Minako realized then that the dot was moving.

Minako stepped back in amazement, staring at the screen. "How can this do that? It's not like we programmed all of Tokyo into it?"

"This control room, well the entire palace actually, has sonar-like ping technology. Because the palace knows our own energy signature's it can sync up with them as it emits an echo of that signature. I don't know what kind of range it has, but it seemed to locate Mako-chan quickly." Ami explained. Minako furrowed her eye brows, looking hard at the blinking green dot as it slowly made its way down a street. "Can we actually see what she's doing instead of this dot?"

"Unfortunately we can't do that. This is only for locating." Ami answered. Usagi stepped to Ami's other side, staring hard into the screen and asked "Can we use this to find more of the monsters?" Minako looked at her friend, taken aback by the insightful question, and inwardly kicking herself for not having thought of it. "We would need a monster first I think. Plus it might only be able to locate that specific monster. But perhaps we can have it search for similar energy signatures; I don't know the extent this can go to." The girls were quiet after that, all thinking to themselves. Minako looked up again at the blinking green dot, having made it's way to the next street. I wonder what you're up to right now Mako-chan? She thought, a devilish smile spreading her face.

"What about the force feild?" Rei asked impatiently. "That is the reason we came here in the first place." Ami blushed a little and turned her attention back to the large consol in front of her. She tapped away, the occasional 'oh' escaping her lips. Minako turned her attention to Usagi who had a concerned faraway look on her face. "What's wrong Usagi-chan?" Upon hearing her own name, she snapped her head quickly in Minako's direction, a weak smile appearing on her face. "I was just thinking that maybe we could locate all the monsters and possibly heal them. Turn them back into people." Usagi's shoulders slumped lower and lower as she spoke. Minako knew this was a burden her friend couldn't carry alone. She could do many things, even save the world from darkness. But the thought of losing even one person weighed heavy on her. These qualities are what make her the true Queen. Her compassion and love for everyone and everything. Rei closed the distance between them and put one arm around Usagi. "Usagi-chan we are helping them. What if there was some small portion of their humanity left inside, watching as they hurt other people? Then we essentially become their saviours." Rei wasn't mocking or scolding her friend. When Usagi needed her, Rei was usually the most compassionate. For a time at least.

"I think I got it." Ami said, interrupting them. "It does act like a security system, just like I thought. It seems this palace will defend itself if necessary. Defences we didn't put into place. What was activated was for low level threats." Minako turned her head to the side, pursing her lips together in thought. "What if it had been activated for a higher level threat?" The blond girl asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think we should just leave it for now. We came and found what we were hoping for. It's getting late and I still need to study tonight. Do you three mind if we come back another time?" Minako nodded in agreement, the other two mimicking her response. As the other girls excited the control room, she turned around and looked at the now blank screen, picturing the blinking green dot. As a smile slowly spread her lips she began to think about where Makoto and Sol could be right now. A dimly lit park bench? All alone? She let out a quiet laugh as she exited through the large door way.