A Love to Last for All Time
A Sailormoon/Dragonball Z Fanfic
Copyright to Marisa Price, 1997. Based on Takeuchi Naoko's _Bishojo
Senshi Sailormoon_ and _Code Name Sailor-V_, and Toriyama Akira's
_Dragonball_. Both series copyright to their authors and their sponsors.
This story is not written for any profit whatsoever.
By Marisa Price
Special thanks to James Nutley for his C&C.
Special thanks to Kimberly Lim and Thom Youngblood for encouraging me.
Special thanks to Chris Bowen for introducing me to DBZ.
Extra-special thanks to Oren Laskin for getting me into Sailormoon and
letting me keep my Sailor-V and DBZ websites on his server.
--------------------------------
If you like my writing at all, please give this story a chance-- even if
you DESPISE both Sailormoon and Dragonball Z.
This is going to probably turn into a major lemon around.... part IV or V.
It is NOT going to be a "lemon for the sake of being a lemon" though, so
don't worry about that. HOPEFULLY there will be a reason for the adult
scenes.
This story is almost completely about Aino Minako, so, although it is
TECHNICALLY a Sailormoon fic, it isn't really. It's a crossover too....
Sorta.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Some background [READ ME READ ME READ ME]
This beginning of this story takes place BEFORE Sailormoon Stars,
somewhere between Sailormoon SuperS and Stars. The timeline from
Dragonball Z is the Cyborg/Cell Saga.
Some information about Aino Minako:
Aino Minako is the Japanese name of Sailor Venus (Mina in
D.I.C. "Sailor Moon"). For those of you who haven't seen every single
Japanese Sailormoon episode or read the manga, I figure I should explain
a few things.
First of all... Before Sailormoon there was a manga series named
"Code Name: Sailor-V" (see http://mizuno.res.cmu.edu/~marisa/sv.html )
by Takeuchi Naoko. This series is all about a thirteen-year-old Aino
Minako and the cat Artemis who helped her become Sailor-V (NOT Sailor
Venus).
When Takeuchi Naoko was approached about having her manga made
into anime, they asked her if she could possibly expand the storyline a
bit. The expansion of the Sailor-V series became "Bishojo Senshi
Sailormoon."
Aino Minako became Sailor Venus, the last of the inner-senshi to
be found in the Sailormoon manga (and anime.) In the Sailormoon MANGA,
Sailor Venus was at first thought to be the Moon Princess because she
had a crescent moon on her forehead when she transformed into Sailor-V
(and, at first, when she transformed into Sailor Venus). It was later
discovered, of course, that Usagi was actually the Moon Princess, and
Sailor Venus received the basic circlet like the rest of the senshi.
However, and this point is VERY VERY vague in the anime, it turned out
that Sailor Venus was actually the LEADER of the Sailor Senshi, which
is why she has a different transforming pen than the other inner-senshi
and why she has a guardian cat of her own.
For you poor people who can only see the DIC episodes of "Sailor
Moon" ;_; I can only say that they treated Minako like CRAP!!! They cut
out EVERY reference to her being Sailor-V, and they took out the whole
episode about Sailor-V in the first series of Sailormoon. I guess it was
too violent for them or something. I dunno. Basically they made her into
an idiot. Sigh.
This story is primarily based on the Sailormoon and Sailor-V and
Dragonball Z mangas, but I do refer to a few instanced from the anime. The
one episode that I REALLY use was cut from the DIC version, from the
first series of Sailormoon.
The story that they cut can be summed up like this: Minako goes
off to study in England and fights there as Sailor-V. She meets up with
a handsome guy named Alan and falls in love. Later she meets Katerina
(oneesama/older sister), who is an agent of a crime-fighting
organization called Interpol. Alan, Minako, and Katerina do lots of
activities together as friends, and Mina completely misses that Alan had
fallen in love with Katerina. Katerina (of course) never noticed that
Minako liked Alan (yeah right). Anyway, Minako faked her own death when
she found out that Alan was actually in love with her friend, and took
off for Japan. There is more to the story, but that is all you really
need to know to get the gist of MY story--- go watch the episode ^_^
At the end of the episode, Minako finally gives up on Alan because
she can't come between him and Katerina. I PERSONALLY agree with Usagi
who says, "How CAN you forgive them? How CAN you?!"
USUALLY the episodes with Minako as the focus are about Mina
running off, getting depressed, etc. She seems to be more prone to
depression than any of the other senshi, and doesn't always seem to be
quite comfortable with the others. She tries to put on an immature
facade, but it seems as if she has had some bad experiences in her
past that she is always trying to tap down. Usagi once said of her,
"Minako is more mature than any of us..."
Well, this story is an exploration of her character.
If you don't like depression, angst, sex, and convoluted
endings- go read something else. ^_^
I will give more information as time goes by, especially since I
will be freely combining Sailormoon manga and anime, and DBZ manga and
anime.
Here is what I have written so far, please tell me what you think....
Best Wishes,
Marisa Price
--------------------------------------
<Diana is the daughter of Luna and Artemis, she is Chibi-Usa's
("Reenie's") guardian cat. Small Lady is Chibi-Usa's name in
Crystal Tokyo. In the late Sailormoon manga we discover that
Luna and Artemis were emmisaries from the Planet Mau, which
has its own Sailorsenshi, Sailormau ^_^.>
A Love to Last for All Time
A Sailormoon/Dragonball Z Fanfic
By Marisa Price
Minako: "I wonder if someday, somewhere, I'll run into him. A true
friend who shares my feelings. A person who understands the real me..."
Code Name wa Sailor V Book 2 Page 126.
Translated by Alex Glover.
Written by and copyright " 1994 Takeuchi Naoko.
Dream by night, wish by day...
Love begins this way.
Loving starts
When open hearts touch, and stay.
Sleep for now...
Dreaming's how
Lovers' lives are planned.
Future songs and flying dreams,
Hand in hand.
Love it seems,
Made flying dreams
So hearts could soar.
Heaven sent,
These wings were meant
To prove, once more,
That love is the key...
Love is the key.
You and I
Touch the sky,
The eagle and the dove.
Nightingales
We keep our sails
Filled with love.
And love it seems
Made flying dreams,
To bring you home to me....
---"Flying Dreams" from _The Secret of N.I.M.H._
(Written by Paul Williams, sung by Paul Williams)
Prolouge
35th Century Crystal Tokyo
Venus sighed and stared blankly at the mirror in front of her.
She sat at an old-fashioned mahogany beauty table and tucked her legs
under the matching stool. She reached out and hesitated over the neatly
arranged items on the tabletop... an inlaid silver comb and an engraved
silver brush... Before finally settling on the brush and picking it up
with her delicate fingers. The brush lightly touched her hair, and she
began to stroke it through the long golden strands.
The mirror reflected her image back at her, and she regarded the
perfect blonde-haired, blue-eyed figure looking back at her. It was as if
she
saw a stranger.
Venus slowly reached out her free hand and pressed her fingers to
the hard cold glass, tracing her fingers on the image she saw there.
Then the hand fell back, and she brought it up to touch her own face.
The mirror had not lied, nor did her fingers, they found the same smooth
firm perfection there. It was hilarious almost; she was a thousand-plus
years old, and not a wrinkle to be seen.
"I'm like some sort of doll..." Venus mused, and let her hand fall
back into her lap.
"I WON'T, OTOSAN!!" A female voice yelled, interrupting her
thoughts.
"DIANA! How can you SAY such a thing?!" A new voice yelled back.
Venus started; it was Artemis.
The voices drew closer and she heard the female voice, Diana, say,
"You always try to control me! I am a grownup now! I don't have to do
what you say anymore!!"
"Grownup?? What are you talking about? You are more immature now
than you were when you were just a baby!" Artemis steamed back at her,
his voice vhement, "You and Small-Lady spend all your time chasing after
boys! And you're ALWAYS in human form! You're not a human,
Diana. You need to remember that!"
Venus wondered if she should get up and close her door, not
wanting to inadvertently eavesdrop on this obviously private conversation.
She stood up, brush still in hand, and started toward the open portal.
"I want to be a HUMAN! I have a choice of both forms!" Diana
retaliated.
"Diana! You are a cat! It is just WRONG to think you are
otherwise!" Artemis fumed, his voice growing louder as they both neared
her room and Venus neared the door.
As Venus reached the door she heard Diana yell, "NO! I don't want
to be a cat! I don't have to make the same choices that you did! Besides,
there
aren't any others of our kind here! This isn't Mau! If I want to fall in
love,
I HAVE to fall in love with a human, or no one! Unless you want me to
date some stray alley-cat!!"
Venus saw the two heading towards her room, both in cat form;
Diana's face was flushed and she looked furious, Artemis looked both
frustrated and unsure.
Artemis fumbled, "Diana.... You're just not..."
"STOP IT!" Diana interrupted, "Don't tell me what to do! You are
just scared of me being human because it changes all the implications of
what YOU are, Otosan! You're partially human too! Yet you spend time
SLEEPING in Venus-sama's ROOM and BED!!!! I remember the time
when I was back in time and I saw you STARING at Venus in the NUDE
like you were in love with her! Mom even noticed!"
* * * * *
"Hey, Mom," says Diana. "Those eyes that Dad looks at Minako-sama with,
they look just like a lover's eyes."
"Come on now, Diana," says Luna.
Luna bites into Artemis's tail. "But, I'm not just going to let you peep
into
the bath."
(from Act 38 - Dream 5: Venus Dream, Originally appeared in Nakayoshi,
August 1995.
Translated by Alex Glover <kurozuki@nwlink.com>. Version 1.0, 1.97.)
* * * * *
Diana's voice faded to a stop as she heard a loud clatter, and
Artemis and Diana turned to look at Venus who stood propped up against
the doorjamb. The silver brush which she had previously held loosely in
her hand now spun in slow circles on the glass floor.
"Venus-chan!" gasped Artemis and he reddened. He turned furiously
to Diana and yelled, "How COULD YOU! How COULD YOU SAY SUCH
A THING!! Venus-sama is my dearest friend, and we are joined together in
our
duties to the Queen and King! And you KNOW how much I love your mother!
How could you even insinuate....!"
"I... I..." gasped Diana, and then she began to cry. She managed
to gasp out, "Oh Venus-sama, I'm so sorry! Oh no! I didn't mean that! I
was just trying to.... Oh no! Please forgive me..."
Venus closed her eyes and held her breath for a moment, trying to
calm down. She had mastered her emotions over the years... Practice
helped. Finally, she took in a deep rush of air and leaned down to pick
up her brush up from where it had finally come to a stop on the floor.
She said gently, "It's alright, Diana-chan. I forgive you. Just...
If you're going to fight with your father, leave me out of it, alright?"
"Venus-sama...!" Diana gulped, and then turned and fled, tears
streaming down her soft grey cheeks, not daring to look at her father or
Venus again.
Artemis stood there, his head hung down to his chest, his eyes on
the floor.
Venus hesitated, and then queried, "Artemis?"
Artemis looked back up at her, his own eyes shining with unshed
tears, and mumbled, "I'm sorry Venus-chan... You know none of that's
true..."
Venus nodded slowly and then did her best to smile a gentle smile
at Artemis and said, "I know, Artemis... But, dear friend, your daughter
IS right... You need to let her make her own decisions... Even if she
is still immature..."
Artemis nodded slowly and murmured, "You're right. I KNOW you're
right. I know SHE'S right... Now that Helios has finally returned to
propose to
Small Lady... I'm afraid that Diana will take up with some human too. It's
so
difficult to let them go, you understand that don't you?" He blinked his
wide
green eyes at her.
He didn't know it, but he had just struck a blow to his friend.
Venus turned away to look down the hall at Diana's quickly
retreating form and said quietly, "No, Artemis, I WOULDN'T know..."
Her companion froze and said quickly, "Oh, Venus-chan, I didn't
mean...."
"I know, I know," Venus brushed it off, and started to turn back
to her room. She paused as she was partially through the doorway and
looked back at the dumbstruck Artemis and added, "Go talk to your
daughter, Artemis... Listen to her. And remember how lucky you are to
have her..."
And, before he could reply to that, she closed the door behind her
and locked it.
Venus walked back into her room, her bare feet digging into the
plush carpet. She set the brush back down on the beauty table, and then
turned to open a pair of glass doors leading to her balcony.
The doors opened noiselessly, and she slid out into the warm
summer night. The stars glowed in the heavens like gems reflecting the
earthly lights of the crystal city below. All the world was filled with
a silvery hazy glow.
Standing out from all the other stars was Venus; the planet sat
low on the horizon, the brightest light in the sky. It rested somewhere
between twilight and darkness, alone in it's radiance.
"Just as I am alone," she thought. "Oh please Artemis, don't curse
this on your daughter..."
Venus stared at her motherworld, and felt the soft summer wind
blow past, pulling back her hair with gentle tugs.
The wind brought back memories of flying dreams.
And Minako remembered.....
20th Century Tokyo
Minako stretched and sighed, flipping her hair back over the arm
of the couch. She stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, twirling one
loop of hair with her index finger. She re-crossed her legs and caused
Artemis (who had been so contentedly asleep at her feet) to jump awake.
"Mina....." the cat growled.
Minako heard the grumble and looked down at him. She saw his glare
and rolled her eyes, "What? Just because you are napping, I can't move
my feet? It IS my couch."
Artemis blinked at her for a moment. He finally cursed under his
breath and stood up, nose in the air. Then, turning his back on her, he
haughtily jumped over to an adjacent chair. As usual, Artemis tried to
give a grand demonstration of the traditionally fluid grace of the cat
as he leapt; and (also as usual) he failed miserably.
Minako giggled as one of Artemis' legs slipped mid-landing and he
suddenly found himself face-to-face with the upholstery. To say the
least, the slip completely ruined the effect of hauteur he had been
trying to achieve.
Artemis scrambled to hold onto the chair (and the shambles of his
dignity) with his claws, and (eventually) managed to pull himself back
up. Once he finally stood solidly on the beige armchair, he flicked his
tail twice with frustration and sat down, his back still facing Minako.
He refused to meet her laughing gaze as he sank down fully on the
soft material, tucking his paws beneath him. Properly settled he paused
to look back over his shoulder, throwing a disparaging glance at the
still-giggling girl, and then closed his eyes again.
Minako shrugged off Artemis' attitude. It was, after all, nothing
new, and she knew that he wasn't REALLY offended by her giggling. They
had been together a long time, almost four years in this life... And
many times that in the previous one. Their personalities were different,
but they had come to respect and understand one another... As well as to
depend on each other.
No one else on this small blue Earth understood her quite as well
as this white cat; he was not only her ever-present companion through
the passing years and lives, but also, undeniably, her greatest friend.
She sighed and tried to kick herself out of the reflective funk
she seemed to suddenly have fallen into. She reached out to grab her
soda off the table and then took a long drink, finishing it off, and set
it back down on the table with a slam.
Artemis said dryly, one eye opened part-way, "Couldn't you be just
a tiny bit more ladylike, Mina? Or, at least, a bit more respectful of
others?"
"Oh, sorry. Thought you had gone back to sleep," she replied,
sticking her tongue out at him.
Artemis growled at her, "Exactly why you should have been trying
to be quiet."
"Oh, Artemis, give it up, OK? I don't need this today," Minako
said, sitting up and stretching her arms out over her head before
allowing them to fall back loosely to her sides.
"Well, you figure we finally get the chance to have some quiet
time to ourselves, and all you do is act restless," Artemis complained,
watching her stand up and go over to fiddle with a can of fish food. She
finally got it open and then wrinkled her nose at the smell.
The small goldfish she had won at the last festival swam lazily
about in a medium-sized bowl. Usagi had given her the tiny aquarium for
her seventeenth birthday, upset that Minako had been keeping "the poor
fishy" in a pint jar. It wasn't a particularly spectacular tank, but
Usagi had carefully picked out pretty blue stones and small pieces of
jet black glass for the gravel. To finish the effect she had made (all
by herself) a small lopsided ceramic castle to sit as a centerpiece.
Minako sprinkled some of the golden-brown flakes onto the skin of
the water and watched as the bright orange fish suddenly appeared from
inside the castle. It clumsily waddled up to the surface and began to
eat greedily.
"Minako? Are you even listening to me?" Artemis said after a few
minutes had passed and she still hadn't answered him. He opened both
eyes and looked at her as she gazed down at the little fish.
"Hmmm?" Minako said, turning to look at him, her shining hair
following her like a cloud of sunshine. She was a portrait of light--
but, as she turned to look at him, Artemis saw that the brightness was
shadowed by the darkness within her eyes.
"Mina-chan? What's wrong?" Artemis asked, standing up on his chair
and looking at her pensively.
Minako sighed and turned back to stare at the goldfish. She
finally said, "I'm sorry, Artemis. I didn't mean to ignore you. What
were you saying? That I'm restless? I guess you're right."
She replaced the lid on the jar of fish food and finally turned
around to flop down on the couch again. She stared momentarily at
Artemis and then, her hair falling in gold waves about her shoulders,
she shrugged forward to let her elbows rest on her knees.
Artemis watched, bemused, as Minako sighed and reached out a hand
to fiddle with the empty soda can.
Minako finally said in a barely audible voice, "It's just... It's
just that I am still so LONELY, Artemis.... Even after meeting up with
all the other senshi."
"Mina...." He said sympathetically, having heard this tone before,
and hopped back over to the couch to rub his chin against her arm. She
swept him up in her arms for a moment, holding him tightly to her.
Finally, she relaxed and set him back down next to her.
She leaned back and looked down at the carpet, wondering how to
explain all the emotions which filled her. Her azure gaze trailed back
to the room, suddenly falling again on the aquarium.
Inspiration filled Minako and she shrugged at the fish bowl,
saying, "I feel like that goldfish sometimes, Artemis. All golden and
pretty to look at, but trapped inside of a little glass bowl and
separated from the world outside..."
Artemis looked confused, so she continued, "I already know my
future as well as I know my past, and I just feel like I am going to be
swimming in circles forever, trapped by the fate that someone else has
already decided for me."
Artemis was surprised at the depth of her introspection, and even
more amazed that she hadn't mixed her metaphors or slipped into one of
her traditional faux cliches. This, more than anything, made Artemis
concerned.
Concerned about this lovely girl who had dedicated her life to
helping others.
He said, cautiously, "Minako-chan... You shouldn't feel like
that... You aren't trapped! Remember, Pluto once told us that the future
is not necessarily permanent. And... Even if it is... Unlike that fish
you aren't ALONE. You have all of us-- Luna and Diana and I, all of the
senshi, and Usagi to love you and to be with you..."
Minako laughed and reached out to gently stroke the soft fur on
Artemis' forehead. The glitter of tears welled up in her eyes, but she
did her best to fight them down and managed to say, "Yes. I have the
senshi. I have you. But... those loves are different than the kind of
love I want, the kind of love I am looking for. I want someone who loves
me more than anything else in the world, someone who is as much a part
of me as I am of them... I want a love like you have with Luna, as Usagi
has with Mamorou-san..."
Artemis looked at her blankly for a moment before saying, "But...
Mina-chan... Why don't you think that you will find that sort of love
someday? You are still very young, and the reincarnation of a being from
the Silver Millennium; you know that your life will be very long! You
still have time to find that love you are seeking...."
"Artemis, think about it!" Minako said sternly, "That's what I
meant before by my fate sealing me inside! I ALREADY KNOW what my future
is, and we saw the future in Crystal Tokyo there was no sign that I had
ever found anyone to love. I know that a thousand years from now, no...
Even more than that! That I will STILL be alone. How long am I going to
have to wait? Forever, probably. And who could I find anyway? I know
that until Neo-Queen Serenity reforms the world that everyone I see
around me would just grow old and die while I stay young. How could I
love someone knowing that?"
She laughed bitterly for a moment, and Artemis stiffened,
wondering at the despair he felt in her, saying, "But... You only saw a
glimpse of the future, Mina. How do you know that there wasn't someone
there for you? And, as I said, Pluto said that future isn't necessarily
permanent..."
She looked down at her hands and said quietly, "I just KNOW,
Artemis. I know that it's going to be forever just as it always has
been... We senshi protecting our Princess, our Queen, our friend.
Protecting HER love and HER life and HER dreams, at the cost of our
own."
Artemis hissed and was going to begin a rebuttal when she suddenly
continued, wiping at a tear that had strayed down her cheek.
"Don't get me wrong, Artemis! I don't really mind that, you know.
I love Usagi and I would protect her always. I love this planet and I
WANT to have the honor of being one to protect it. But... I have always
been so ALONE. Even with the others I am always lonely... none of them
really understand me. They all think I am a silly, simpering idiot."
"That could be because of the way that you act..." Artemis said
dryly, and then regretted it as soon as he saw her pained gaze and the
new tears flowing from her eyes.
"So what?" She asked him. "So what if I act like an idiot? It's
because all of a sudden I'm not on my own anymore. They want me to be a
leader, THE leader, and out of the blue I am supposed to know everything
and be everything that everyone wants me to be!!"
"Minako-chan..."
"I'm not good at it, Artemis! I know I am this reincarnation of
Venus from the past and that I am supposed to be the leader of the
senshi. I try my best when I need to... I try to lead as well as I can.
But... I'm not very good at it! I haven't been doing it my whole life
like the original Venus had been, and I have a lot to learn," she cried.
Artemis raised one of his paws up and placed it over her mouth,
quieting her for a moment.
He said in the brief breath of silence, "Minako-chan. You CAN be a
good leader! I have -seen- you be a good leader. You just need to stop
this immature act that you have so carefully developed. Before you met
the other senshi you were a lot more... dignified. Why have you changed
so much?! I -know- that you aren't really like that, I have seen you act
like the intelligent, rational, conscientious person you can be. So...
Why do you act like you do around the other senshi?"
Minako sighed as Artemis' paw fell away from her lips, and she
reached a clenched hand up to wipe furiously at the tears that stained
her cheeks. She said in a muffled voice, "I.... I'm just SHY, Artemis.
As crazy as that sounds. Maybe it's because I feel so DOMINATED by the
way that Rei and Usagi and Mako-chan and Ami-chan act. I mean, Rei is
always in control, and she has her special powers of perception. Usagi
is always happy, even in the worst of times, and her love and joy fills
us all with happiness when we need it. Mako-chan is so strong and so
powerful and she is someone who fights first and would defend you to her
last breath. And Ami-chan... she is so brilliant. What am -I- compared
to them? I'm -NOTHING-."
Artemis looking at her, shocked. He finally managed to get out,
"MINAKO! How can you say that? How -CAN- you? There are many things
about you that make you very important to ALL of us."
"Like what?" she asked bitterly. "What can I do, Artemis? The
only things I am good at are volleyball and looking pretty. Both of
which I've had to set aside. I'm not a volleyball star anymore because
I have to skip practice and games to fight, and, although I look good
and all still, I had to give up on modeling and singing and all the
other stuff which I used to enjoy so much." She paused and looked at the
speechless Artemis and then said flatly:
"No wonder no guys like me, what is there to like? I haven't been
the same since Alan left me for Katerina anyway."
"Don't be a fool, Minako," Artemis finally said.
"But I am a fool already, Artemis. I am the fool of the senshi. I
gave up on everything that I cared about to become a defender of what
OTHER people care about. I'm just a soldier now... Not a individual..."
she turned away from him, her slender frame racked with small sobs.
"Minako, you can still be yourself... You are STILL Aino Minako,
and we all love you for YOU! YOU being the person that makes us all
laugh and smile..." Artemis began.
"...laugh and smile?" Minako cut in. "Yeah, too bad the laughing
is usually directed AT me."
"Mina..."
"You know what I would give to have someone who truly loved me,
Artemis? Someone who loved me like Mamoru loves Usagi?" she asked him,
her tears slowing, and she wiped her dripping chin on her sleeve.
"MINA...."
"I don't care if it only happens for an instant... but to just
KNOW that I had been loved liked that... Even for a whisper of time...
Would make living worth it for me.... Make it seem like there was some
REASON to keep on with things even though I might never be able to be
anything other than a soldier," she reached out to Artemis with her
pleading eyes, and, even more persuasively, with the pleading of her
soul.
"Do you understand, Artemis? If I knew that someone loved me like
that, somewhere, I wouldn't be so lonely..." she finally said when he
didn't answer.
Artemis nuzzled her arm again and, looking up into her deep blue
eyes, he said, "Minako-chan... You don't understand what you are wishing
for. Imagine if you found the love of your life, and he loved you in
return, and then you just had to turn around and leave him behind in
order to be a sailor senshi. Can you imagine the loneliness you would
feel once you had FOUND the love you were looking for, but had to give
it up? It would be a choice between giving up on him or giving up on the
senshi... and I don't think you would ever give up on the senshi. You
know your duty to them, you have already lived and died for each other.
So it would have to be him... And yet, once you let him go, you would
always know 'what might have been' was still out there, and it would
make you even lonelier."
"I.... I don't know, Artemis... I never quite thought of it like
that," she admitted quietly.
He prudently didn't say anything as she worked it all out in her
head.
After a while she said, "I don't know, Artemis. I just don't know.
I... know I need someone... but every man I have ever fallen for has let
me down or fallen in love with someone else... Especially Alan..."
"I know you loved Alan, Mina-chan, but he didn't love you back, He
didn't deserve you..." Artemis said softly.
"I know, " said Minako, her face clouding, "But he sure made it
seem like he loved me. You don't know even half of the story...."
Artemis put his paws on her leg and stared up at her with serious
eyes. He finally said, gently, "I know more than you think I know,
Mina..."
She laughed bitterly and said, "Well, then you should know why my
life is the mess it is, and why I try so hard to hide it all behind a
mask of sunshine and happiness. I know I can't escape being senshi... I
AM senshi, it's in my veins, the very air that I breathe. It traps me
like water contains that poor pretty goldfish in that small glass bowl.
I guess I should probably just resign myself to the fact and get it over
with. There isn't ever going to be any 'ai'* for 'Ai'no Minako."
"MINA!" Artemis said yet again as she stood up.
"Forget it, Artemis. Just leave me alone for awhile, OK? Why don't
you go visit Luna?" her words were acidic, and, before he could respond,
she turned to walk quickly out of the room.
Artemis heard her footsteps storming down the hallway and then a
click as her door opened. A second later it slammed shut and then there
was the audible noise of the lock being fastened.
And then there was silence.
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* This is my attempt at a linguistic pun. "Ai" means "Love" in Japanese.
Takeuchi Naoko was careful to make all the names of the senshi reflect
their planets and powers... The "Ai" in Aino Minako is supposed to
represent Venus, who was the goddess of love in Greek (Aphrodite) and
Roman (Venus) mythology. Aino Minako can be something like "Ai no Minna"
or something like "Love of Everyone"
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*Chapter II: ....coming soon....*