Chotto minna! This is actually something I've wanted to do for a bit so let's get to it... disclaimer: I don't own Sailormoon or anything related to the anime or manga. Please don't sue. Once a star... by Angel Eternal email: angel_eternal_01@yahoo.com URL: www.geocities.com/angel_eternal_01/index.html The wind whipped his hair, he lifted his face; welcoming the cold slap. He needed it to clear his head. He needed to find her... "Mina! I can't believe that you came later than Serena!" A beautiful blonde, with two meatballs on her head, stuck her tongue out at the young woman in priestess robes. "Thanks a lot for that Raye!" The raven-haried priesstess stuck her tongue out at the blonde. "Would you shut-up Serena?" A petite blue-haired girl looked up. "Hey Serena, at least she's not screaming at you." The brunette laughed, her green eyes twinkling. "That's a first isn't it Amy?" The blonde-haired girl that was standing in the doorway sighed. "If you're done lecturing me Raye, can I come in? It's freezing out here." Raye glared at her. "You can come in so I can finish screaming at you." Mina rolled her eyes. "That's so kind of you Raye." A white cat sauntered in. "Sorry we're late guys." Serena smiled at her black cat. "See Luna? And you said that we would be the last ones to come!" The black cat smiled at her. "Yes, for once it's refreshing to see someone come in after you Serena." Mina sat down next to Serena. "So what's up?" Amy sighed. "Nothing. As you guys know, since the Doom sisters have turned good, and Ruebeus gone, a youma only turns up once a month." "That's if we're lucky." Raye interupted. Serena shook her head. "Hang on, isn't it a good thing that there aren't any more youmas around? Doesn't this mean we can get on with our lives?" Mina sighed. "Yeah, but I don't know about you but, I'm bored! I guess, I've just been doing this danger stuff for too long now." Amy nodded. "It's not just you Mina. I know if all the youmas disappear, I will be so bored!" Lita interupted. "Yeah, but technically, isn't evil supposed to be always around? Like we defeat one evil, another will take it's place?" Serena groaned. "That's not very encouraging Lita!" Luna interuppted. "So...if there's no scout business to attend to...what is the meeting for?" All the girls looked at her. Serena was the one who answered her. "What else?" "FOOD!" then they all looked at each other "AND GIRL TALK!!!" The whole night was spent chowing down chocolate cake and icecream, and talking about guys...especially one guy in particular... "Darien!" The girls watched as Serena went flying into Darien's embrace. There was just a trace of envy on their face. And why not? Darien was just gorgoeus, with ebony black hair, ocean-blue eyes... he was tall, well-built. It was obvious the guy worked out, and boy did it pay off! None of them really had what Serena and Darien had, and didn't everyone want what they have? Love everlasting? Amy sighed. "Well, I've got to go to the book-store..." "And I've got to buy new pans..." Lita said. "And I've got training." Raye finishd. Mina stared at all of them. "You've all got to be kidding!" They all shook their heads. "What am I supposed to do?" Amy looked back at Serena and Darien. "You can always hang around them." Mina glared at her. "Thanks, but no thanks Ames." she sighed, "Well, this means home for this girl." They all seperated. Mina walked on, she sighed. With practically no youmas around, her friends all seem to be busy with their own particular things; Mina was left all by her lonesome half of the time... "Hey Mina." She turned around..."Oh my god! David?" "Mina? Hi! You want to come over? I just finished cooking and..." Mina grinned. "Be right there Lita!" Hurriedly she threw on her coat, she was still a little stunned over seeing David. She hadn't seen him, or kept in contact with him since she left England. Since she was walking at such a fast pace, she had gotten to Lita's appartment in record time. She knocked on the door. Serena was the one to open it. "Oh hey Mina! Wow, how fast did you walk? I mean didn't Lita just call you?" Mina grinned at one of her best friends. "The thought of food..." Serena nodded, understanding perfectly. Amy and Raye were there too. "Hey Raye! How'd training go?" Mina sat next to her, reaching for the cookies. Raye shrugged. "As usual." Mina turned to Amy. "Did you find the book you were after?" Amy shook her head. "Unfortunately no, it was out of stock." Serena looked at Amy curiously. "How can a book go out of stock. Don't tell me lots of people wanted it!" Amy just stared at Serena until she sat back down, mumbling somthing about 'a bunch of dorks...' Mina grinned at Serena. "You guys, just wouldn't believe it...an old friend of mine showed up this afternoon." Lita walked in with a pot of tea and cups. "Really? Are we gonna meet her?" Mina's grin became even wider. "Him." Lita smiled mischievously at her. "Is he taken?" Mina laughed. "I don't think so..." she glanced at everyone now. "In fact he invited me to dinner tomorrow night. You know to catch up and stuff..." Raye grinned at her. "Is he the reason that you aren't dating anyone?" Mina huffed. "I do so date!" Serena shook her head, "Not seriously." she then grinned at Raye. Mina blushed, "That is not because of David!" Lita leaned forward. "So he has a name?" They thought it wasn't possible, but Mina's blush itensified. "Of course he has a name Lita!" They all collapsed into a fit of giggles, Mina noticed that even Amy was laughing. "Amy! I counted on you not to sink to their level!" Amy, still giggling, "I'm sorry Mina..." *** the next night **** David knocked on the door, he checked the address one more time, just to make sure. Mina's mother opened the door. "David! How nice to see you! My, we haven't seen you since we were in London!" David smiled, he had always liked Mina's mother. "Yes, it's been a long time. Mrs. Aino She looked up. "Oh, there's Mina now, you two have fun." "Yes, ma'am." Mina smiled at him. "I'll be home by 10:30 Mom." with that said, she grabbed her coat and practically dragged him out. "Hey Mina, slow down! What was that for?" Mina rolled her eyes. "As if you didn't know! If my father saw you, you two would be talking about London the whole night!" she grinned at him. "I don't know about you, but I want to have fun!" "This food is fabulous! I wonder if Darien had ever taken Serena here?" David smiled at her. "You do mean Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity right?" She looked up at him, nearly chocking. "What?!" David laughed at her bemused expression. "Mina, when you told me that you needed to find your past...I did some research. At first I was completely stumped, your past before you met me was that of a normal teenager. Then I remembered Artemis your cat. I know you don't know but I overheard you talking to someone, and all I saw was you with that cat. So I figured that you had a talking cat, there was something mystical happening. Soon after you left, I started to hear about the famous Sailor Scouts, fighting in Tokyo. Soon after that I saw pictures, first it was just Sailormoon; whom I presume is Princess Serenity. Then I saw a bigger group photo. I knew it was you Mina. Who could ever look at Sailor Venus and not see Sailor V?" Mina was stunned. "But the disguise magic..." He grinned at her. "Oh Mina, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out! You moved to Tokyo, around the same time, Sailor Venus appeared on the team...Sailor Venus has a white cat, so did Sailor V, so did Mina...you getting my drift here?" She nodded. "I don't get it, why are you here then?" He looked deep into her eyes. "I'm just going to ask you once Mina, are you happy?" "Of course I..." He held up one finger to silence her. "Are you content to play bodyguard to some whiny, bratty princess? Are you content to be forever in Sailormoon's shadow?" Mina's face turned deathly white. David sat back in his chair, watching her. "Well Mina?" She looked away from him, from that gaze that knew too much. "What do you want from me David?" "Nothing..." "Nothing? Then why...?" He leaned forward again. "All I want from you Mina is...you." Her blue eyes widened. "What?!" He smiled at her. "I want you back Mina, as my partner.It hasn't been the same. You were always the one that reporters chased..." the smile turned into a grin. "Remember the time when we were in a bank, dealing with the robbers; and that lunatic reporter shows up?" Mina smiled. "Yes! He claimed to be madly in love with me. He wanted to save me!" she collapsed into a fit of giggles. David grinned. "Wasn't he the reporter that set up your fame? You became reknowned because of that reporter!" Mina smiled wistfully. "Posters, games, movies..." "You were a star!" Mina sighed. "Opperative word David ...'were'." David shook his head. "You can be a star again Mina! The world still adores you! Just come back with me!" Mina shook her head. "David...I moved because of my father, it would be pretty hard just to up and leave my family and friends!" Earnestly, he took her hand. "Mina, we can fight right here..." Forcefully she withdrew her hand from his grasp. "And what? Desert my friends?" "They are nothing without you!" Again, she shook her head. "No, I was the last of the Scouts to join the team..." David sighed, frustrated. "Why do you want to stay? To protect your 'Princess'?" Mina nodded. "David, that is what my life is all about! To protect the Princess!" "So is this what you will come to? Mina? A body guard?" She shook her head. "It's more then that David...these are my friends, Serena is the best friend I have! I am not about to throw that away!" David sighed. "Look, I can see this topic is upseting, think about it will you?" he took her hand. "Don't answer me now, think about it...I promise not to pressure you on this." Who could she possibly talk to about this? Aretemis? No, he wouldn't understand, and he will only see one side of this...Serena? How could she, when it means that Mina could be deserting her... Raye? Again, she wouldn't understand...Lita? Lita's very loyalty, will offer her no choice but to pressuade Mina in one course of action...Amy? Will Amy's level-headedness be exactly what she needs? Mina picked up the phone, and automatically dialled Amy's number. "Hello? Amy Mizuno speaking..." "Amy? Hey it's Mina, can I talk to you about something?" "Sure, why don't you come over?" "Thanks Ames..." Mina knocked on the door, as expected Amy opened it. "Hey Mina! I'm glad you could come over, since I'm here by myself." Mina smiled at her. "Thanks, I really needed someone to talk to, and really, you were the only one I could think of to call." Amy frowned. "What's wrong Mina?" "Well..." Amy gestured for her to sit down. Mina noticed that there was already a plate of crackers and glasses of soft drink. "Remember how I told you about David, my friend from Englad?" Amy nodded, urging her to continue. "Well, he's actually my partner when I was Sailor V, and he want's me to be his partner again." Amy nodded. "So, let me guess, he's urging you to be his partner, probably reminding you of your glory days as Sailor V..." Mina's eyes widened, and she nodded vigourously. "Yes! That's precisely what he did! He asked me what I was doing...playing body guard to a whiny, bratty princess..." Amy smiled. "Yes, Serena can be whiny, but she's far from acting like a bratty princess!" Mina smiled back at her. "I agree first he suggested that I go back to England to fight crime with him..." "You said no right?" Amy asked, suddenly worried. Mina grinned. "Of course, I reminded him that my parents would be seriously pissed were I too disappear for months...I mean they're paranoid enough as it is! So he said, we could fight crime together right here in Tokyo...I said I can't just desert my friends like that. Well, he said the offer still stands..." "And you're very tempted." Amy concluded. Mina stared at her hands. "Yes...I know, I shouldn't even have to think twice,my loyalty to the Princess..." "Is not being questioned." Amy took her hands. "Mina, look at me..." Mina obeyed the quiet tone of command. "Serena would understand, I think all of us would." Mina shook her heads. "But I could be deserting you..." "Mina, you as Sailor V, was our inspiration...Serena adored Sailor V. She still does." Amy sighed. "I know you don't want to, but I think you should talk to everyone about this." Mina shook her head. "But they won't understand! They'll think I'm weak!" Amy shook her head, "You know they won't." *** that afternoon at Mina's house *** "Thanks everyone for coming..." Mina grinned at Serena. "Especially you Serena!" Serena grinned at her. "Mina, what is this all about?" Luna asked. "Is this Scout business?" Mina smiled at the cat. "For once Luna, this is Scout business..." "Are there any youma around?" Raye asked. Mina shook her head, "No..." she then looked at Amy, who smiled at her encouragingly. "I just wanted to say, that my old crime-fighting partner..." "David? David's in town?" Artemis asked. Mina nodded. "Yes, as I was saying, David has asked me to join him again..." "As Sailor V?" Raye asked frowning. Mina nodded. "Yes, he's offered that we could fight crime here in Tokyo." "Absoulutely not!" Artemis glared at her. "Artemis, I haven't said yes!" Luna spoke up. "Then what is this all about?" Mina drew in a deep breath. "I said I'd consider it." "WHAT?!" Everyone started to shout...Mina couldn't understand a word they were saying. "Please, everyone, one at a time!" first, she looked at Raye. "How could you even consider it Mina? I know being Sailor Venus, hasn't exactly been thrilling these days, but that doesn't mean that we don't need you anymore! God! Trust for you to run off the minute something like this has come up!" Mina sighed. "Raye, I am not running, I am not going anywhere..." Raye glared at her. "Yet." Mina sighed, she looked at Lita. "Look Mina, our loyalty is to the Princess first, and always. You just can't dump us the minute something like this comes up! I know when you were Sailor V, you had vidoe games, posters, movies...but please..." Mina held up one hand, "I know Lita..." she looked at Amy. "You already know what I think." Mina nodded, she looked at Luna. "Mina, you aren't just Sailor Venus, you are also the Princess of Venus...if you refuse to be Sailor Venus, you are also denying your claim to your throne. I know that the throne doesn't mean much now, but in the future... will you deny who you are?" Mina smiled at Luna. "Thanks, I haven't thought about that." she turned to Artemis. He was still glaring at her. "Absolutely not. If you go ahead with this I am not going with you." Mina nodded, she turned to Serena...the one person who's opinion mattered the most. If Serena told her not to go, she wouldn't. Serena looked up at her, her blue eyes shining. "Do whatever you feel is best for you Mina..." Mina went to her and hugged her. "Thank-you." she whispered. She turned to the others, "Guys, I need to go talk to David...I need to...think..." "Mina, help me?" Mina whirled around, there on her balcony was David. He was dressed all in black, he had his black mask on; his black and white cape swirled around him...once again he was the Night Hawk. "Just this once Mina...be Sailor V...help me..." How could she refuse the entreaty in his eyes? With a swirl Mina let the power come over her...being Sailor V was so different from being Sailor Venus. The source of power was the same, but there was that slight twist to the transformation that made Sailor V so thrilling. With her mask firmly in place, Sailor V took Night Hawk's hand. "Let's go!" "Mars...Fire...Ignite!" The youma stumbled backwards...this was a stong one. To have such a powerful youma appear after weeks of having absoloutely nothing... Sailormoon had her wand out...she was trying to keep the other, smaller youmas away with a force field. She glanced at Sailor Mercury who had just frozen one. "Mercury! Where's Sailor Venus?" Mercury shook her head, "I can't contact her! She's not reponding! What if something happened to her?" Sailormoon's eyes widened in panic. "We can't get to her now!" Sailor Jupiter aimed one of her thunder bolts to another youma. "Well assuming that nothing happened to her; it would be really nice if she showed up anytime now!" Mars suddenly screamed. "You guys, gotta help me now!" Sailormoon turned to look at Sailor Mars...that youma was really powerful. She glanced at Mercury. "Mercury! Can you deal with these?" She nodded. "Mercury..." Sailormoon turned her full concetration on the youma that Sailor Mars had been fighting. "Moon...Scepter...Annhilation!" Nothing. A rose flashed down. "Tuxedo Mask!" Tuxedo Mask jumped down. "There were more coming up behind you, but I dealt with those." Sailormoon jumped up and hugged him from behind. Then she turned to the others. "We all have to combine our powers!" "Moon...Scepter..." "Mars...Fire..." "Jupiter...Thunder..." "Mercury...Bubbles..." All at the same time the Scouts unleashed their power...the youma staggered backwards...Tuxedo Mask saw that it needed just another kick...he turned and saw that none of the Sailor Scouts were in any shape to deliver the killing blow. He took out another rose... Sailormoon was the first to recover. She glanced around, she recognized Darien's appartment. Then she glanced around. "Darien!" He came running in. "Serena! Thank God you're alright!" She looked worriedly up at him. "Are they going to be okay?" He nodded. "I think so...I couldn't get any of you to the hospital. None of you were awake to de-transform." "Did we get him?" Darien smiled down at her. "Sort of." "Whatja mean 'sort of'?" "He needed just an extra little nudge...it would have worked if..." "Mina was there." Darien and Sailormoon turned around. Sailor Mars had woken up. "Hey Serena!" Serena yelled as a very heavy bundle dropped on her, knocking the wind out of her. "Sammy! Get off!" Sammy, Serena's ten year old brother grinned down at her. (AN: sorry guys, but I'm just guessing Sammy's age.) "Check this out Meatball Head!" Serena tried to focus on the thing that Sammy had thrust into her face. "Back up a bit Sammy, I can't see a thing." He did, Serena was stunned to see her idol's face staring straight at her. She grabbed the paper out Sammy's hand. "Can you believe it Serena? They actually spotted Sailor V at a downtown robbery! With her partner Night Hawk! Can you believe it? They're here! Here!" Serena stared at the black-white photo. There she was, Sailor V... Serena's idol...Serena's friend...flashing her famous 'V'ictory sign. Mina... CRASH! A whole potful of steaming porridge crashed to the ground. For once Lita didn't care. She stared at the picture of her friend, emblazoned on the front page of the newspaper...Mina...betrayal! The same pharse repeated over and over in Raye's mind. She shut her eyes, but it was useless. All she could see was Mina, grinning at her, flashing her 'V' sign...in black and white. Raye sat in front of the fire, trying to cleanse her mind, make sense out of the madness. She couldn't get the image of it out of her mind. Chad had run up to her bubbly and excited. Raye only looked at it once...once was enough for her to remember it all of her life... betrayal. Amy stared at the paper. She was so sure that Mina wouldn't succumb. But she did. She deserted them in the hour of their direset need...Amy had been so sure... "Artemis? Artemis I'm home!" "He's not here Mina." Mina whirled around. Luna was sitting on her other window. Mina couldn't quite see her, since she was sillouheted by the sun. "Well where is he?" "He's with Serena..." Mina was confused. "What is he doing there?" "Mina, he warned you...if you went ahead with this, he would have nothing to do with it or you." "But...Luna..." The cat shrugged. "I'm just the messanger...Sailor V." with that Luna leapt out of the window. "Luna!" Mina ran to the window. But Luna was no-where to be seen. She sank down to the floor. How had they known? No-one was supposed to know! She glanced at her bed. There was shredded newspaper on it. She got up and walked to her bed. Yes, the newspaper was torn, but she could still see what was on it...her own face... Mina walked up to Serena's house. She stood in front of the door, debating with herself. She needed to talk to someone get it straight. Finally she mustered up the courage to knock. Serena answered the door. Mina stared at her. For once, she couldn't see anything in Serena's eyes. She used to be able to see whatever Serena thought. Nothing. How could she possible explain? How could she have succumbed like that? How could explain to the person she was supposed to protect, why she did what she did? Serena stared at her. Mina sighed. What could she say? "I don't know what to tell you Serena." she looked away. Nothing... Serena was silent staring at her, willing for her to say the words... "I'm sorry..." Serena just grabbed Mina and hugged her. "I forgive you." she whispered Mina was stunned. That's it? That's all she had to say? Serena was such a wonderful person...she felt the tears start to flow... Serena pulled away, Mina noticed that her eyes were also glistening with surpressed tears. "Serena...it was only for that once; he needed my help and I..." Serena shook her head. "You don't have to explain to me. Just promise that you'd be there when we need you?" Mina nodded. Their communicators started to beep. Serena flipped her's open, so did Mina. Raye was there. She said only four words. "We need to talk." Serena and Mina went to the temple together. When they got there, Lita, Amy, Luna and Raye were already there. Mina looked around. "Umm...where's Artemis?" she asked timidly. Luna stared at her. "I don't think he's ready to talk to you." Raye waited until they sat down. She said only word. "Explain." Serena glanced worriedly at Raye. She knew that Raye was truly furious. When she was, she would go all cold. That was frightening, they were so used to seeing the fire in Raye's eyes, that this...cold fury was daunting. Mina looked down. "David needed my help." "We needed your help Mina." Lita spoke up. "What? I didn't..." Mina was startled, they had need her? Then she looked closely. Under Raye's hair, she could see a scrap of cloth. Amy's arm was bandaged. Lita's foot was also bandaged. She looked at Serena. In answer, she took off her jacket. Mina was hurt to see the dozen scratches and shallow wounds all over Serena's arms. Mina was stunned. How could Serena have forgiven her? She was supposed to protect her! Mina looked again at Serena, she saw forgiveness in her eyes. Mina was again stunned by the realization that Serena had truly forgiven her. "I..." she didn't know what to say. "We needed you Mina!" Mina looked up, sorrow. She knew that she couldn't be Sailor V and Sailor Venus. For one shining moment she thought it was possible. She could be both...but now she saw that it was an impossiblity. She looked at each of them. Raye's face was stony, revealing no emotion Lita had this expression...a questioning look in her eyes. Amy too had that questioning look. Luna was just as expressionless as Raye. Serena...she was forgiving. Were they all prepared to hear her and forgive her? They probably won't be as forgiving as Serena had been. She took in a deep breath. "Last night, I came home; I needed to think...my head was whirling. Then David came...I guess I still wasn't thinking clearly. He asked me if I could help him. Just that once he said. So, just like that I went with him. I kept telling myself, that just once...for old times' sake. I never thought...I didn't bring my communicator with me...I know that was stupid. I just figured that nothing was going to come up. Nothing has been coming up...I know that is really a lame excuse. I can't think of anything to justify what I did." the whole time she had been looking at the ground. Now she looked up. "I am sorry." Silence. Mina turned to Amy first. "Mina, we really needed you out there. When I couldn't reach you I was so scared. I thought something had happened to you...I mean why else wouldn't you have responded. I got nothing. Do you have any idea how terrifying that was? Thinking you were in trouble, and being able to do nothing about it?" Mina looked down at the ground again. "I'm sorry Amy. I know it was incredibly stupid of me to leave the communicator..." Amy sighed. "It's okay Mina." Mina turned to Lita. Lita shook her head. "We can't trust you anymore Mina! Do you know why we couldn't defeat that youma? Why? Because we needed you! Our combined powers weren't enough...we needed everyone's power! If Tuxedo Mask hadn't shown up when he did, we would be very dead Mina." Mina felt the tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry...you're right. I don't expect you to trust me anymore...I don't trust myself!" With dread, she turned to Raye. Raye was silent for the longest time, then she finally spoke, she spoke in a very low voice. "Mina, I'm going to say this just once...you had better stay away from me...stay far away...when I am able to talk to you without frying you...I would talk. Until then...stay away from me." she then turned to Serena. "Serena, if you don't mind, Artemis is going to stay with me." Serena nodded. "That's fine with me Raye." Then Raye got up and walked away. Luna turned to her. "Mina, it's going to be hard to get over this...but I think we will get over it. I think we just need to know that you're goin to be there for us when we need you." Mina nodded. ~ a week later ~ Mina was in the park...staring at the sky. She hadn't seen her friends for a week now. She saw Serena now and then...but she was always with Darien. Darien hadn't been too happy with her either. Once he talked to her when Serena wasn't there. "You have no idea how close your friends came to dying...how close Serena had come to dying. If anything had happened to her because of you; I would hunt you down...I can not believe that she had forgiven you! I know I wouldn't have." Raye hadn't approached her either, but she had seen her often enough. She had told David, that no, she could never be Sailor V again. That part of her life was over. David, as far as Mina knew, had gone back to London... "Mina...you had your chance. But to tell you the truth, I think you've lost your edge. You rely too much on your 'magic' now. It's a shame too." A shame? What was a shame? That she had learnt more about herself in the last year than all of her fourteen years? That she finally had the kind of friends that you could depend on for life? Yes, Mina now depends on the power within her; and that dependance had given her more confidence in herself. But David was wrong...she hadn't lost her edge. Far from it. Mina stared at the sky...she noted that the sun was slowly lowering, the sky-blue had turned into a dusky pink...she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Mina looked up, and stared into dark, liquid blue eyes. "Amy..." Amy sat down next to her. "I couldn't concentrate on my homework..." Mina knew that was a lie. Amy? Unable to concentrate on homework? "How's the others?" Amy was staring at the sky. "Well...Serena has been bugging Raye to talk to you...typical stubborn Raye, of course refuses. Lita...Lita hasn't said much...about what she feels...Mina..." Mina looked at her. "Yeah?" "I would have done the same thing..." Mina laughed, it had no humour in it. "No you wouldn't have! You're too dependable, you're not forgetful. You would never have forgotten to take your communicator!" Amy stared at her. "Are you saying that I'm incapable of falling into the moment?" Mina stared at her. Amy smiled. "That's what happened, didn't it? You fell into the moment. I'm telling you, if I were you...if I had an oppurtinity to re-capture the glory of being Sailor V...I would have. Which one of us wouldn't? You were Sailor V. Movies, posters...it must have been hard to leave that all behind..." Mina shook her head, "Believe it or not Ames, I have never regretted what I did. I would rather be Sailor Venus, because that is who I am. Yeah, being Sailor V was fun and all...but she's not me..." Amy nodded. "I know what you mean...Sailor Mercury...she's me and then again she isn't. Sometimes when I'm Sailor Mercury, I wouldn't know who Amy Mizuno is. Being a Sailor Scout...there's nothing like it in the world." she sighed. "I guess, I wanted to say that I forgive you. It just occured to me that I never said it. I suppose I wasn't ready to say it then." Mina smiled, and then on impulse she hugged Amy. "Thank-you. You're the second person to say that." Amy smiled. "Let me guess, Serena was the first." Mina laughed. "Yeah...that girl could love the whole world if she was given the chance." ~ the next day ~ "Mina, are you sure you don't want to come?" Mina nodded, she really didn't feel like going out. Her parents sighed. Mina had been acting very depressed for a long time now. Her mother was worried, Mina always managed to bounce back from anything. An hour later, there was a knock on the door. Mina sighed, she set down the T.V. dinner that she had stuck in the microwave. She opened the door. Lita stood there. "Lita! Come in." Lita smiled tentatively at her. "Umm, I bought you some chicken..." Mina almost pounced on it. "You are a god Lita!" she brought the roast chicken into the kitchen. Lita spotted the T.V. dinner, she grabbed it and dropped it into the bin. "Are you trying to kill yourself?" Mina grinned at her. Lita sat down on a stool. "Mina, I just wanted you to know that I forgive you...I mean everyone makes mistakes right?" Mina felt tears start to well in her eyes. Lita spotted them and took out her pristine white handkerchief. "Don't do that Mina!" Lita grinned at her. "Promise you won't tell?" Mina smiled waterily at her and nodded. Lita sighed. "I must have forgotten to bring my communicator a dozen times now." Mina smiled. "You're secret is safe with me..." As Lita started to chatter, Mina smiled inwardly...Lita was practically a second mother to all of them. She really didn't know what she would do without her. Raye stared into the flames, letting the fire seep into her, bond with her. "You've got to forgive her you know." Raye didn't turn around, she didn't have to, she knew who it was. "I will forgive her when I'm ready. You're meddling won't help." "It's been over a week now Raye...you know she's sorry...why do you have to drag this out longer than neccessary?" "I'm not dragging anything...I told you, I will talk to her when I'm ready and not a moment more!" The figure behind her sighed. "What more could your flames tell you that Mina herself can't?" Raye concentrated, trying to block out the voice. "What I feel..." ~ the next day ~ Serena's communicator beeped. She grabbed it and flipped it open. Darien, came to look over her shoulder. Amy's face came up on the screen. "Everybody! Another youma attack! In the park!" "Mercury...Bubbles...Blast!" Sailor Mars nodded at her. "That's good...should keep him occupied for a while." Sailormoon dropped lightly beside them, Tuxedo Mask following closely. "Sailor Mercury, have you spotted any weaknesses?" Sailor Mercury shook her head. "I'm afraid this one is going to be like the other." Sailor Jupiter sighed. "At least this is only one thing..." she didn't get the rest of her sentence out. "Sailor Jupiter!" Sailormoon ran to her side, she started to activiate her healing power. "Where's Sailor Venus?" Sailor Mars demanded angrily. "Are you okay Lita?" Sailormoon asked. Groggily she nodded. Sailor Mercury sighed, frustrated. "We've got to combine our powers..." "But that's not going to work! We need Sailor Venus!" Sailor Mars sniffed hauhtily. "Didn't I tell you? She can't be trusted!" Sailormoon glared at Sailor Mars. "Look..." "We can't argue now! We've got to combine our powers!" Sailor Mercury shouted, really frustrated. "Mercury Bubbles..." Sailormoon sighed, this would have to wait. "Moon Scepter..." "Mars Fire..." "Jupiter Thunder..." "Venus Love-me chain..." They all looked up, startled to hear that voice. Sailor Venus winked down at them. Together, as a team they released their powers. "BLAST!" "ANNIHILATION!" "IGNITE!" "CRASH!" "ENCIRCLE!" Their powers combined...obliterating the enemy... Sailor Venus jumped down next to Sailor Mars. "I was once a star..." Sailor Mars shook her head. "You will always be a star." THE END Well minna? What did you guys think? Please tell me!!!