Why? Oh, why me? he thought while he stood before the temple. Needless to say he could have found a better place to stay, but somehow it was required for him to establish contact and, as far as he knew, the temple was the place to do so. He straightened himself a bit and walked in. Just as he thought, the old man looked at him as if he were a ghost.
"Mr. Hino," he said, trying to sound as normal as possible, "I suppose?"
“Do I know you?” the old man asked, still confused.
“No, not really.” His eyes shifted a bit. “I’ve come all the way from Mumbai, and I really need a place to stay, you see, my grandfather used to be the high priest of a temple just like this, back in India, and he told me that if I ever found myself in Tokyo, I could always come to your temple for shelter, Mr. Hino.”
“Well, I’m always looking for new assistants.” Grandpa Hino sighed. “Though I’d rather hire some pretty girls, there’s always work to do around here… What you said your name was?”
“Arnav Smith,” the blond man said, a bit uncomfortable to speak the name he hadn’t used in years.

He settled down in the small bedroom Grandpa Hino had given him and changed into the temple clothing. I’ve forgotten just how comfortable these were, he thought and laid on the bed. He knew, for experience, that life in a temple started quite early in the morning and it would be wise to get some sleep. A knock in the door changed his plans when he was face to face with an extremely angry black haired girl.
“YOU?“ Raye cried and reached to her pocket. “How dare you… MARS CRYSTAL…”
“Shut up!!! Somebody might hear you!!!” he said, trying to stay calm “It’s not what you think, let me explain…”
“MARS CRYSTAL POWER MAKEUP!”
“Have it your way then, Sailor Mars.“ He sighed, but made no movement to attack her.
“There is no way I’ll let some Negascum like you try to steal energy from my temple… again!” she cried.
“Fine then, go ahead and incinerate me or whatever it is that you do with your Mars fire thingy, this time I’m not exactly in the mood for a fight.”
“Jedite? Is it really you?” The look on her face made him wish he had a camera.
“Yes, it’s me,” he chuckled. “Like I said before, this is not what you think. I need to talk to Luna and the others as well; we might all be in danger.”

It was past dusk and the both of them were sitting on the stairs, He had changed into his Negaverse uniform and she was still wearing her fuku. The moment was quite uncomfortable for both of them. He looks different, somehow, she thought.
“We thought you were dead,” she said, breaking the silence.
“I wasn’t… as you can see.” Jedite sighed. “But then I guess Luna never told you…”
“Told us what?” Sailor Mars frowned.
“The truth…”
Raye stood up abruptly.
“What do you mean by that?” She looked at him, enraged. “Who are you to talk about the truth anyways?”
“Things were a lot different back then.” Jedite turned his face up to meet Raye’s eyes. “And just for the record, among my… colleagues, I’m known to be deviously sincere.”
“Yeah right,” she snorted. “Just like the whole bunch of lies you just told my grandfather…”
“I…” He started but was cut short by the sight of the other girls and the cats climbing up the long stairway. It appeared funny to him, if only for a moment, that he was actually relieved to see the familiar black cat approaching.
“Luna, at last…” he greeted, as calmed as ever.
“Jedite.” The black cat seemed a little shaken though. “Is there something wrong?”
“You mean you REALLY knew he was alive???” Sailor Mars cried.
“Of course I knew,” answered Luna, trying to keep calm.
“And when were you planning to tell us?” Raye was becoming more anxious with every turn of the conversation. Obviously, Jedite thought. As for the other Sailors, well, he wasn’t actually connected to anyone else, so he couldn’t tell what was exactly going through their minds; but by the look on their faces Luna was going to have the hell of a time clearing up the truth to them.
“It was all a setup… back then,” he said. “It was all meant to train you, it’s a long story, and I suppose Luna has already explained some part of it to the other Scouts on the way here… And I think that’s the first subject you need to discuss among yourselves before I try to explain whatever it is that brought me here tonight. So…I guess I’ll just leave you guys alone for a while.” He teleported to a nearby spot and looked.

Jedite knew few to none details about the training mission: it had been his and Zoycite’s training as well. Malachite had told them that it had been a job hired by Artemis, and quite a shock it had been to find out he was just a white cat; the orders had been to set up a mission that appeared authentic to both the Sailor Scouts and the Generals in training, preparing them both for any situation they might have, but more important, to get all the inner Sailor Scouts together before any real enemy could reach them.

They argued for what it seemed like ages, but he found himself quite amused just watching their reactions: Mercury, as always tried to be reasonable and keep calm among her friends; The girl he was told to be Jupiter was just holding Sailor Moon, who cried and whined as usual. And Mars paced around while occasionally directing murderous glances at him. Out of all five, the only one who actually seemed to have known it all before hand was Venus, or Sailor V as he had known her, she just nodded and tried to help the others take the news. I hated it too, Jedite thought, recalling the moment when he was taken out from eternal sleep. It had passed more than two hours when they finally were calmed enough to go talk to him.

“Will you tell us why you’re here now?” Sailor Moon asked, her eyes still a little puffy from the tears, yet the way she looked at him was completely different.
“About a week ago in earth time, something collided in between both realms, we don’t know what it might be but it’s been draining energy from our reserves,” he said, worried.
“That sounds like an internal affair of the Negaverse.” Artemis narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “It has nothing to do with us.”
“Actually,” Jedite turned to see the white cat, “whatever it is, it’s making an active presence here.”
“You mean…” Ami nodded in understanding.
“It’s stealing our energy to try something in your world.” He sighed. “And we need to catch it while it’s on earth in order to destroy it and save our world. But, since earth realm is YOUR territory, we need your cooperation.”
“Sounds terrible.” Sailor Moon placed a hand on his shoulder. “Are you alone in this?” Jedite looked at her, almost touched by her concern over him.
“No.” He pulled away from her touch “The others are looking for some other place on the planet where it might be any sign of activity from the thing. They sent me ahead to contact you; somehow we thought it might be better if only one of us delivered the news instead of all four.”
“Why you?” Mars frowned, and he knew she was still mad. “Why not sending Neflyte for that matter?”
“That is something I don’t know.” Jedite smirked, thinking of just how everybody liked Neflyte… That’s until they’ve known him for a week. “As far as I know you would have reacted a lot better had it been Neflyte instead of me…”
“We’ll help you,” said finally Sailor Venus. “That’s what we do, anyways.” She smiled and the other ones, except Mars, nodded in agreement.
“When will the others show up?” Jupiter asked, a little tired.
“Tomorrow half past noon.” Jedite realized he was also in bad need for some rest. “At the park, I guess you’ll be there too.”
“Of course we will,” said Luna. “But for now, we must go and get some sleep. I believe tomorrow will be a long day.”
“I think so,” he said. “By the way, considering the current circumstances; I believe there’s no call for uniforms.”

* * * * * * * *

He laid on the bed for the second time that evening and was again interrupted by her knocking on the door. She had changed back to her human clothes and so had he. It was a completely different mood.
“You were saying that you didn’t lie to my grandfather before my friends arrived?” Raye asked, still a little bewildered.
“That’s true.” He sat on the bed and she took a step into the room and closed the door. “I told him the truth, a little bit mixed up but the truth. I did, in fact, came here from Mumbai and my grandfather did use to run a temple.”
“So, you were human once?” She sat beside him on the bed, the rage in her eyes turned into curiosity.
“I was, not so long ago.” Jedite sighed, he wasn’t too keen on sharing his personal details with anybody, not to mention a sailor scout, but somehow he knew it might help to gain her trust. “We all joined the Negaverse when we turned 18, up to that time I was just a regular kid, living with my grandfather in Mumbai, I even went to school and all those things.”
“Why did you join?” Raye smiled at the thought of Jedite in a school uniform.
“Why did you become a Sailor scout?” He smiled back at her; it was a shy smile, more out of nostalgia than anything else. “It was just meant to be.”
“Your parents, where are they?” she asked.
Jedite stiffened at the question and his eyes filled with rage.
“Don’t ever mention my parents again,” he said just in the same tone he would have used four years earlier, when he was supposed to be an enemy.
“I think I must go now.” Raye stood up and walked to the door, and then she turned back to Jedite. “Don’t ever speak to me like that,” she snapped and walked into the hallway.

It was something well known among the Negaverse Generals, at least among the four in service Of Queen Beryl, that there were certain subjects out of limits of any conversation; Jedite’s parents was one of them: probably the only secret he really had, not that there were that many secrets between them; after that many years of being a team, they had eventually grown to know each other quite well. Sometimes Jedite thought there might be something like friendship among them; of course they wouldn’t get along most of the time, even if they weren’t as loud as Zoycite and Neflyte, He knew Malachite and himself had their own animosity. But Jedite also knew either of them would give their life for the cause. He smiled sadly at the thought, letting sleep take slowly over him.

* * * * * * * *

She sat on the bench. Some kids were playing by the lake while their mothers watched nearby; the group of ladies looked not much older than her, maybe a couple of years or so, all of them seemed to be housewives whose life revolved around their children. She could hear them talking about school, cakes, yesterday’s yoga class. It will be so easy to just blast them all, she thought, running a hand through her dirty blond curls. Sometimes, though, instead of blasting them, all she could think about was how nice it would be to be one of those women, for a change: to have someone to wait for everyday, someone who would actually show up on time, someone who would actually put her before anything else. She raised her hand and aimed to a blond lady who had just joined the group. So easy… she thought and smirked. Let's see if you can smile like that once I’m finished with you. She closed her fist and lowered her hand; what difference would it make, anyways? Besides, she did have someone to wait for. Her green eyes lighted up a bit and she searched her bag for her camera. From that angle, the group of housewives made an interesting picture.

Thinking about photographs, it had been a long time since she had taken a spontaneous picture; mainly because there weren’t many things to photograph in the Negaverse, and mainly because her schedule rarely left her anytime to wander around Earth Realm. Another figure caught her eye, this time it was a familiar one: a tall man leaning on the fence that surrounded the lake. He hadn’t noticed her yet. She grabbed her camera once more and looked at him through the lens: his platinum blonde hair fell across his shoulder, while his silver eyes stared thoughtfully at the burning end of the cigarette he held between two fingers of his left hand. Such a habit, darling, she smiled, knowing that he only smoked when he thought no one would see. She took the picture and pondered whether to reveal herself or just wait for him to notice her; truth to be told, the image of the strongest warrior of the Negaverse, indulging himself for a moment, held a certain charm for her. Yet, on the other hand, the idea of her lover being caught red handed was too appealing to let go. She grabbed her things and approached; cautiously, not wanting him to notice until it was too late. All in all it was a perfect opportunity to practice her training; she raised her mental guards and moved on as smooth as she could, trying to blend with the crowd.

He raised his hand and the offending item was gone. Caught, she thought, a little disappointed for her loss, yet eager to reach him. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and whispered in his ear:
“I thought you’d quit.”
“Quit what?” he chuckled and turned his face to kiss her.
“Your lips.” She pouted, breaking the kiss “They taste normal, but this time I’ve got a picture to prove it.” “Then we must call it a draw,” he said and stepped out of her hug.
“Deal.” She smiled and leaned on the fence beside him. “How long have you been here?”
“Apparently, long enough. Did you find anything?” he asked, and she knew his mind had returned to their mission at hand.
“No, Europe is clean,” she said, reaching to brush a platinum lock out of his face. “Did you?”
He just shook his head and leaned softly to her touch.

For any normal person, the two of them would have looked like a couple of foreigners backpacking through Japan. She was wearing jeans and a green tank top, subtly revealing her feminine figure and a scar that ran from her shoulder to, as only he would know, the upper part of her breast. He was wearing a much wasted set of black jeans and a long sleeved black tee, with three buttons, from the neck to almost two inches down the sternum, all of them undone; as she knew, he couldn’t bear anything around his neck. They just appeared normal to everyone, except the blond man who silently approached from the other side of the lake and the girls following him. They knew better.

Malachite was the first one who noticed them; Zoycite saw the sudden change in her lover’s expression and felt the hand holding tight around her wrist. How much they’ve changed, she thought, noticing the five girls. All of a sudden she wondered how the past four years might have affected those girls, maybe even more than anybody from their generation; these girls are marked, and for the first time since she had met them, Zoycite felt a kind of sympathy for them.

Jedite noticed her and waved eagerly, she smiled and the hand around her wrist was abruptly taken back. Time to rebuild your guards, she thought, looking at her lover’s stoic expression. The moment of self-indulgence was over and he once more became the “Ice King".

“I am pleasantly surprised to see your mission was successful,” Malachite greeted the younger General.
“Thank you, sir,” Jedite replied and his eyes narrowed for a second. “I’ll consider that as a compliment, coming from you.”
“Sailor Scouts.” The older man bowed his head politely to the girls.
“Malachite…” Luna took a step in front the small group and was about to say something when the General interrupted.
“Luna, please accept my most sincere apologies,“ he said to the black cat. “But I must assume Jedite already informed you the circumstances under which we were forced us to return to Earth and break the vow of secrecy we made about the training mission.”
“Aren’t you missing one member?” asked Ami, a little confused.
“Apparently, Mr. Sanjoin doesn’t feel the need to show up on time,” Zoycite retorted.
“Not my fault your watch is fast,” a most dreaded voice snapped behind her.
Zoycite rolled her eyes and turned to see Jedite; the blond general just winked at her in silent understanding.
“Did I miss anything important?” The auburn haired man grinned and turned to see the Sailor Scouts. “Besides meeting these beautiful ladies. I mean.” He looked at Serena and something clouded his eyes for a second, Zoycite couldn’t figure out what it was “You’ve grown, yet it seems like it was last night when… Never mind, I’m just glad to see you’ve turned out so well.”

* * * * * * * *

After a few words, they all went their separate ways. Before proceeding any further, they had to find a suitable place to establish their headquarters; Neflyte’s manor had been discarded immediately, the official explanation had been that it was too ostentatious and prone to be revealed, Zoycite knew that the actual reason was that Malachite preferred to use a place of his own, rather than feel indebted to any of his underlings. Same thing happens with this place, she thought while checking the luxurious, yet incredibly sober, loft he had taken for both of them to stay while on Earth. He could have asked for my opinion… at least. It was not that she disliked the place or anything like that; but recently Zoycite had been pondering a lot in whether their relationship was going anywhere.

He was sitting on the couch, looking at the snapshots they got printed on the way to their residence. She could see him, while he studied each and every one of the photographs in his hands, lingering on a particular one and separating it from the rest. Zoycite sighed and moved to sit beside him.
“You should tear this one apart,” Malachite said with a half smile.
“Why? Is the closest I’ve gotten to the real you in quite a while.” She took the picture in her hands.
“What is that supposed to mean?” As usual, the question revealed nothing of whether he was actually concerned about the comment.
“You know what it means.” Zoycite narrowed her eyes; all of a sudden realizing that she had been really angry for quite a while. She stood up and walked to the door, expecting him to stop her any time and feeling even more frustrated when he just stared at her like nothing was happening. She reached for the knob and this time she got her response.
“Fine then,” he said, walking over to her side. “You got me; I know I have been acting stranger than usual. But you must know it was never my intention to neglect you.”
“I know, love.” Zoycite relaxed and turned around to wrap her arms around his waist. “But is not just that.” She kissed him softly on the lips. “I think it’s time for us to make a decision.”
Malachite sighed and touched his forehead with hers. “Guess you are right,” he said in a whisper.
Zoycite held her lover close. She knew it would take more than one simple argument for Malachite to give in and make some serious changes to their current state; but at least she had made her move for the night.

* * * * * * * *

He had been there for almost three hours, doing nothing, just looking at the jewellery shop from inside his car. Do something, the voice in his head cried out, but his body remained still. What would I tell her anyways? he thought. That I’m sorry? That everything she saw that night was just a set-up to train the Sailor Scouts, or worse, a set-up to cover up the fact that I was just too scared of falling for her? The thought had been revolving in his head from the moment he was told they were to return to Earth Realm. Yet, he wasn’t about to let the others, especially Zoycite, notice how much it still affected him.

What if she sees me? A sudden fear invaded him. What if she passes by and recognizes my car? He touched his right shoulder; the scars from the thorns were still there, a reminder of the only time he ran away from anything.

It had been a tough decision, he remembered, meeting with Queen Beryl and Malachite in the throne room and requesting his immediate removal.
“Are you aware that we are not only training the Scouts here?” The older General asked, doing his best not to show distress.
“I am,” Neflyte responded; he knew the whole charade had to work for Jedite and Zoycite as well.

Four years later, outside of a jewellery shop he laughed, remembering the look on Jedite’s face when he was taken out of the crystal. But the morning before that fateful night, Neflyte had actually wondered if, in some mysterious and twisted way, that set-up wasn’t teaching him a few lessons as well.

“Under what circumstances do you request this?” was all she asked, and Neflyte knew that in the Negaverse there were no such things as personal reasons.
“I’m afraid that the Scouts might get suspicious, given the events of last night regarding Sailor Moon’s young friend.” He had spoken, using his innate ability to lie, and cursing himself for the words he was speaking “That girl is just too attached to me.”
Malachite and Queen Beryl deliberated for a while; Neflyte remembered it like the most stressing moments of his life. In the end she left it all up to the older general.
“That was quite an indecorous thing to say,” Malachite scolded him once they were alone in another room. “Specially if you are talking about a lady.”
“As if I needed you to tell me that,” Neflyte smirked.
“And you cannot just quit for every girl that manages to get in your pants or, worse, in your wallet.” Malachite had touched a particularly raw point, and Neflyte knew it had been on purpose.
“Molly is not like that.” Just to make him say those words. “As if you wouldn’t know when a girl is really special!” Yet, Neflyte had known him for quite a long time.
“Then, why are you leaving her?” Malachite’s grin only broadened in triumph.
“I’m not…” He knew there was no point quarrelling. The older one had quite a strong set of arguments.
“You are such a coward!” Although the words were strong, the tone remained a friendly one. “But I will help you anyways, just leave it all to me, Neflyte, though I must warn you it will be painful.”
And in many ways it had been.

Yet, there he was, four years later, outside her mother’s jewellery shop, trying to make up his mind on whether to go inside or not.

Suddenly, she appeared from around the corner: red locks framing a pretty face and the graceful movement of her body as she walked down the street… hand in hand with a boy about her age. Neflyte couldn’t believe his eyes, her companion was just a sleazy, dull boy with huge glasses and, yet, she appeared radiantly in love with him. For a moment the world went numb for the auburn haired man; somehow he managed to speed up the car and drive away, not noticing the green blue eyes staring in anguish or the young heart beating fast a the familiar vehicle passed in front of her.

* * * * * * * *

She was fast asleep beside him, with her eyes closed and her slightly parted lips she almost looked peaceful. He gently brushed a lock of copper hair away from her face and sighed. His head, like always, was revolving with more thoughts than he could express.

I know you are not happy anymore. He spoke to her in silence. Don’t you dare believe I just don’t notice the way you look at me now. Of course I know that something is wrong. The problem, my darling, is that you’ve grown and changed; you’re not the same person I trained six years ago, you’re not even the same impulsive brat you used to be when I first brought you down here. You’re still hot-tempered, but you’re not as childish as you were. And after all this time together, you’ve finally stopped worshiping me.
And I want it just as much; I want us to live together like a normal couple, I want to be able to tell you what’s going on with me, especially now that everything is just too messed. But revealing such weakness might be even more dangerous that you’ll ever know.
She moved around in her sleep, turning her back to him. Malachite just stroked her hair and got out of bed; it would be pointless to stay in the bedroom if he couldn’t sleep anyways. He walked into the living and noticed the photographs still lying on the coffee table. That stupid picture, he thought, gazing at the offending one. But I must admit, darling, you’re really good at revealing that part of myself I try to hide the most. He took it and placed in the back pocket of his jeans. Not wanting to waste more time doing nothing, he decided to go out and take a walk to clear up his mind if not his lungs.

And there he was, again, in the same place, in the same position, and doing the exact same thing he had been doing that very morning when his picture was taken. He knew smoking was a low down vice, undignified to say the least, inappropriate for someone in his position; yet, it was the only little thing of the sort he allowed himself to do. Not that he did it on a regular basis; he could make a pack last for almost a year: addiction was a luxury he couldn’t afford. Yet, for the last week, he had been going through hell.

It all started when the intelligence forces of the Negaverse informed that The Entity had been noticed to display some forms of manifestation on Earth Realm, the city of Tokyo to be exact; and it had been obvious, considering that the main sources of positive energy were located there. Of course, the Queen and her council immediately turned their eyes to him, who had commanded the successful training mission four years ago, and, of course, he felt obliged to volunteer his team for the task. I would rather have sent us all to death, he reproached himself. For he knew, from past experience, that his squad and the Sailor Soldiers held a story that went deeper than just a training mission.

It was the truth he spoke to no one (not to mention the cause of his current problems) that he remembered clearly everything that happened over a thousand years before. The Silver Millennium, its splendour, its demise, was engraved deep into his memory. And those recollections tormented him for a long long time. Absently, he touched his temple, feeling a faint scar: an imperceptible circular mark, product of a machine burning his skin, more than twenty years old. He knew there were some others, just like that, hidden under his long silver hair; all of them a product of being reborn with the memories of a past life intact in his brain.

“Everybody knows you do that, don’t you know?” a familiar voice said behind him “Hell, even the youma know…”
“Aren’t you supposed to be crying under a tree for your lost love or something?” Malachite disappeared the smoke and turned to face the auburn haired General, somehow relieved to be around a well known comrade.
“And that’s something everybody knows as well,” Neflyte smirked. “The main difference between me and you, is that I cover my problems with lies, while you just deny them. Yet, I wish I could take a nice picture of you smoking.”
“Hate to bring the news to you.” The silver haired man took the photograph out of his pocket. “But someone has already been there and done that.”
“So I see.” He took the picture from Malachite’s hand and inspected it. “An intelligent brat she is, spoiled to the core, but I can’t deny she has a fine set of brains… among other attributes.”
“Don’t start, Neflyte…” the older man said, not in the mood to tolerate his colleague’s disdain for Zoycite.
“You know, there’s only one thing that brings me here every time.” Something about the way the second General spoke, felt like he was delivering something important. “I’ll never forgive myself for not telling Molly the truth, I mean, it’s not like you find something like that everyday.”
“Don’t get so emotional,” Malachite said, as cool as ever “That sort of indulgence might cost a lot more than…”
“They’re worth?” Neflyte raised an eyebrow then smirked. “Guess you’re right, anyways, I always knew there was just no way that a brilliant man such as yourself could actually love someone the likes of Zoycite.”
“Stop it, Neflyte,” he said, annoyed to have someone messing around his personal life.
“I was just saying.” The auburn haired man smiled. “Sorry if it bothers you.”

He walked into the apartment early in the morning; a faint smell of tea emerged from the kitchen, where she stood in her underwear with a mug between her hands, her hair falling loose down to her waist: a vision to him, pretending to be absorbed reading a book, laid on the counter beside the tea pot, just to ignore the fact that he had been out the whole night. She is worth trying, he thought, and walked to her.
“Sorry for coming home this hour,” he said, uncomfortable with it. “I could not sleep and went out for a walk and a smoke, but apparently lost track of time, guess I have just been under a lot of stress lately.” The admission felt like a blade through his gut, yet the look in her eyes was worth it.
“It’s O.K.” she said, placing her mug next to the book and pouring some tea into another one she handed to him. “Things haven’t been easy in a while, yet I’m glad you finally say something to me.”

He accepted it and took a small sip of the infusion. If only for that moment, things seemed to be a little better.