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. -------------------------------- 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..." After my orignal writing of this synopsis, Takeuchi-san released one additional volume of Sailor-V, that was published in Run-Run magazine. This volume added to the original storyline, and we find out that Minako had one other love lost... Kaito Ace, a.k.a. Saijou Ace, a.k.a Adonis, a.k.a. Danburite. WHEW! What does all that mean? Well, Danburite/Adonis was once in love with Sailorvenus in their past lives. He was jealous because she loved Kunzite (DIC version: Malachite), but he stayed in the background the entire time. His love for her allowed him to be reincarnated on Earth, but he was possessed by the Dark Kingdom. In the end of the book, Sailor-V (now Sailorvenus) has to kill him. She had found out her mission, remembered the past and her princess, and in the process lost someone she loved. Well, my 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 -------------------------------------- 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 . 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. ------------------------------------------------- * 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" ---------------------------------------------------------- *Chapter II: ....coming soon....*