Chapter 16-Osui & Jousui, Dirty Water & Clean Water

Opening the door a crack wider, she invited decorously, "Please come in.

Quite matter-of-factly, he stepped in neatly and removed his shoes, as good manners dictated. Casually, he said, "Ami, I didn't mean to be rude, coming here without a warning, but I knew I had to."

"Um....how?"

This time considering his words carefully, Urawa Ryo fumbled around for a moment for the right phrases. Slowly, he started, "Well, you see, I have the sixth sense. And I knew you from so long ago...I had to remind you about it...and, of course, to say sorry."

Looking surprised, she blinked. "You didn't know me from childhood or anything, did you? I also wasn't aware that I knew you that well, but you talk as though you know me from a long time ago."

"But I do," he smiled gently. "I know your secrets, well, at least two. Number one, you're the sailor senshi of Mercury. Number two, you're also the past Princess of Mercury as well." He paused. "You'll be queen one day, though, when the time of birthright comes. You still don't remember who I am, though, do you?"

Shaking her head, she murmured, "I'm sorry, but no. I suppose your sixth sense told you about me?"

"No. I have full memories of the Silver Millennium. You were Ami back then, as well, and I was gifted to be one of the select few that knew your intimate name." His voice drifted away as he talked more in remembrance. "I'd known you since you were born the Crown Princess, but not in this life, the past one. I grew up to be a commander in the army, Greg. An old friend who used to pester you to dance at every social occasion so the paparazzi wouldn't talk."

Ami cut in softly, sadly, "But no one else asked, either."

Shifting uncomfortably, Ryo shook his head. "No, that's not it. There was someone, a rival of mine, at least. I loved you in the past, but when I told you, it was too late. General Zoicite had already claimed your heart."

"I'm split into five parts now, isn't it? Princess Mercury of the past, Mizuno Ami of the present. Senshi Mercury. To you. To Zoicite."

"What do you remember of him?" asked the brown-haired boy, voice low.

It was her turn to try and recollect the silver times. Memories were so hard to draw upon, and she hadn't had any flashbacks. "Great intelligence and compassion. Curly, long blond hair, the most amazing green eyes I'd ever seen; they rivaled even Makoto's. He was the quietest general, with the strangest sense of humor when you knew him. He was nice, and sweet, and funny, and it was always contested between the other senshi who was shyer, me or him."

Sighing and knowing that his feelings and what his powers told him were correct, he wished they hadn't been confirmed. He prompted, "Go on."

Medium blue flashed lightly, turning a shade lighter. "And I loved him, with all of my heart. He drew me out of a shell, even when he was in one himself. But then there was a red-haired demoness that came and stole everything we had away. Zoicite betrayed me, his prince, the Golden Kingdom, everyone. You told me you loved me then, and I couldn't take it anymore; I just broke down and slapped you. The final battle...I'm sure you remember it, and I don't want to recall it."

An odd, slightly sick triumph spread over Ryo as he tried to push it back. So she knew that Zoicite had betrayed her...was evil.....not to be trusted, only he, an old friend. But his heart leapt and fell when he heard how he had tried to take Zoicite's place while he was gone, and she regarded him as the lowest filth on Earth. Or the Moon, at the time.

As if she could read his thoughts, Ami denied, "No. I know what you're thinking. He wasn't evil to start with, and I want to know what that witch did to him. Just because–just because in the past he lost a battle for his soul doesn't mean that he'll be evil in this life."

"But he's battling now, isn't he-"

A soft beeping noise met their eyes, and she stammered, "Um....Greg...no, it's Ryo now, isn't it?"

"Yes. Your fellow senshi are waiting for you. And you haven't found your Moon Princess. They'll be waiting...and he'll be there. Ask him. Ask him if he remembers. He doesn't, you know? When we met him, he'd already lost everything."

Leaving before she, he muttered, "He still owns your heart, doesn't he? Oh, Ami..." Bitterly, he cursed his powers that had been so useful before. He knew his fate, her destiny, and Zoicite's path. But all three paths, as the others's were, were hopelessly intertwined. Until some would be cut out of the picture....
~ * ~ * ~
Impatiently tapping her foot on the dirty, gum-plagued sidewalk, Rei tossed back her long, dark hair and asked, "Where is she?!"

"Who? Oh, Ami? She's never late; give her some time. Minna, I'm starting to think that Usagi could be a sailor senshi. Or someone from the past."

Their eyes bulged out to unreachable limits. "What?! Tsukino Usagi, the klutz and crybaby? I mean, we do love her and all...but...it seems so improbable."

Glaring at them, Minako retorted, "Well, she _did_ take the news rather well about us being senshi, almost as if she knew subconsciously, like her conscious waiting to be told."

"You've been spending too much time with Ami," the miko muttered, feeling a headache coming on."

Ami ran up that moment, her breath coming in puffs and pants. "Sorry I'm late...Ryo came over. He said you guys told him where I lived. He hasn't changed much since the Silver Millennium...or maybe he has."

"What?!"

She sighed and massaged her temples. "He's a Planetary Knight. Do you guys remember them? He told me...a lot of things about the past...and now the memories are coming, fast and furious. It hurts so much." She wiped away a tear making its way down her cheek impatiently. "The others–they must be the other Knights. Shinozaki as the Jovian Knight, Sukareru Venusian, and Yuuichirou Martian."

While they were still trying to absorb the newest piece of information, which really shouldn't have been so surprising, a magnificent bird flew over to perch on Makoto's arm. "Hokushin? What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise.

Looking oddly at Makoto, the eagle ruffled his feathers and glanced warily at the steady stream of civilians passing by before telepathing to them all, 'The question that should be asked is why are all of _you_ here? This is a dangerous place!'

Snapping her fingers, it dawned on sapphire blue eyes before anyone else's, although Rei was just a step behind Ami. "That's right, Luna said it was the location of Chiba Mamoru's new corporation! Who is supposed to be the reborn Prince of the Earth."

"Think we should check it out?" While Minako asked this, she was also checking out her watch, hoping that she could get safely home before five o'clock, Sukareru's usual time to show up by the Tsukinos' mailbox.

Biting back the impulse to snap at her, the senshi of fire and flames dissipated the anger in controlled breaths, which Phobos and Deimos had been after her to do for quite a while. "Mina, I think we're going to be here for quite awhile. Or at least Ami and I will be. If you have to go, go."

"Sorry...it's just that I don't want to see Sukareru....ah, shimatta!"

The other three blinked as she ducked behind the brunette; three other guardians consequently appeared on the scene: Tansei, Shippou, Erimakitokage. Meanwhile, a blond-haired, blue-eyed man casually strolled up to them. The guardians ducked out of sight, Tokage inched nervously onto Ami's shoulder, trying to camouflage blue, but it wasn't a very successful attempt. The snake couldn't exactly change color, and a large silver boa around Minako's neck wasn't going to help, so he slithered through a crack into her school bag. Grumpily, a red and blue bird made its way into long raven tresses and hid near Rei's collar, trying not to move too much. An eagle is not the easiest thing to hide–he couldn't fit into backpacks or in hair. Grouchily, he tried to hobble off unnoticed, made his way around the corner of the building, and flew to perch on the building, peering down at them and spiraling among the skyline to get a better view at times.

"Konnichiwa, Sukareru-san," Makoto said politely, as she uncomfortably pulled the tensing blonde out from behind her, wondering why she felt as though she was throwing her friend to the wolves.

"Makoto. I hope by now that you've all realized that I'm the past Knight of Venus. The four men that work for Chiba Mamoru, Prince of the Earth, are the ones you should be enemies of, not us."

Tossing her long hair back, Rei asked, "Why? Who are they, anyway?"

"I'm surprised you don't know. They are the legendary and infamous generals of Endymion. Kunzite, Nephrite, Jadeite, and Zoicite–Ami's Zoicite. Ryo-kun told me about that. You didn't forget that I was the Knight Commander, did you?" Ami sighed and knew she was going to get it, from the curious looks on her friends faces. Each of his words was filled with bitterness as he continued, "I'll give you a refresher course, as I've been trying to give Minako. You all fell in love with them, Endymion's generals, when they visited the Moon, even though you all knew that society and the Solar System would never allow the four Inner Princesses to marry the four Kings of Earth. Even a match between the senshi and knights would have been more acceptable than that–they were considered foreigners, barbaric, and unfit for you. Although I must say, their powers and battle skills were famed throughout the Silver Alliance. So anyway, you fell in love, as Greg–Ryo of the past–predicted. The turned to the side of evil, betraying their prince and you, their soulmates, which made you weaker. Which was why they killed you, or you killed them and died in the process. Why all the inhabitants of the Moon and your kingdoms died. Why you couldn't defeat Metallia. Why-"

"Stop." Minako had interrupted him now, tone steely, eyes flashing. The four gulped, as a visible and blazing aura flared up behind her, and Rei, the only one with her skills honed enough to see it, held her breath as her eyes widened as they took in its magnitude. "That was beyond our control. What we did was meet four remarkable men. We fell in love with them, and they fell in love with us. And the world ended...and it wasn't our fault."
~ * ~ * ~
In the middle of work, Yosouya's attention was caught by a girl he had meet one evening, a mysterious, almost destined meeting that had triggered a whole new set of memories that he had instinctively left alone, drawing a dark curtain. Still, a brilliant light shone through the black, and even though he had thought it would be white, it was blue. Like the girl's eyes, medium blue sapphires that had glowed. She was special, he could just feel it, even though he knew his fellow generals would have laughed at him for talking like a romantic. Her hair was also a remarkable shade of that color, the strangely everlasting lights at sundown had brought out shimmery glints. The other man, whom Kouseinou had identified as Urawa Ryo–which might have explained his protectiveness and odd jealously, had volunteered the information that her name was Mizuno Ami. Friend of water...it fit her appearance: cool, calm, flowing. But there was something in her eyes that hurt him, cut into him deeply, but he didn't know why. What Kouseki Yosouya did know, however, was that there was something akin to it in his own eyes. In Mamoru's eyes, in Kouseinou the stern commander's, Kyosei's–even though he said the stars were all he needed, and even Kasen, who sometimes forgot who his girlfriends were when they showed up at his door. Not that they were at the dorm very often....but even he felt like he knew what it was.

Loneliness, not for each other, but for life, for love. He nearly laughed at that, he had become a fast skeptic in that after seeing his brother fall in and out of what he had condemned to be love, but did he really know what it was? Mechanically, he continued to work. The image in his mind's eye blurred and slowly drifted away, like fog, concealed in the mists, when he was interrupted by a knock. Hazy emerald eyes opened, and when Yosouya saw his visitor, he gulped. "Kouseinou...did you...want something?"

"Yes, I wanted something. Stop broadcasting your thoughts over the line! Do you realize what you're doing to us?"

He blinked as the other two came in, Kasen and Kyosei. The former's appearance was immaculate, although there was an eerie look he couldn't quite identify in azure blue depths, and the latter's messy brown hair indicated that he had been on the roof, or whatever amount of roof they actually had (that part that wasn't covered by plastic tarp). "He's right. That's really a very attractive girl you're thinking about, but you're delving too deep."

Kyosei telepathed, 'Some things are just to private to talk about out loud. So you've finally achieved expressing the deepest desires of our souls, in words, I mean.'

'Nani?'

Half-heartedly smiling at his friend, the silver-haired general went to stand and look out the window, nodding. 'What we want, besides the return of the Golden Kingdom and to serve our prince faithfully, is a treacherous emotion. A dastardly one that brought us to the end of the Silver Millennium."

Kasen plopped down unceremoniously on the floor and looked up at them. 'Love. Quite simply, an emotion that can't be expressed. We're lonely, and for some reason, the world seems dark now.' His cocky voice took a turn so it sounded scared, frightened. 'I don't know why, because we should be happy. It's dark now...and I've never liked the dark.'

'Your nature should have been light. Your entire being used to emanate the brightness. I don't know what happened either, but I think I know now. We feel–"

In unison, four gens and one soft tone joined them from floors above, unknown to them, chimed, 'Alone. We are alone.'
~ * ~ * ~
"Order! Order! The meeting of the current generation of guardians will now commence!"

They blinked confusedly at her until Artemis laughed, saying, "Luna, there's no need to act like we're in court once more. So anyway, we called you all here for a good reason. The Moon Princess Serenity has still not been found. We must find her, and when we do, there's something else that should appear. Her birthright, to be precise, which is considerably consequential in battling the oncoming darkness which we all feel. It's growing stronger."

Gathered among his fellow guardians, Tansei chirped softly, "The Ginzuishou, also known as Imperium Silver Crystal in the past. Last wielded by her mother, Selenity."

Irritated, Phobos and Deimos asked, "Can we stop naming Serenitys and Selenitys? We've established we can't find the Moon Princess or the Ginzuishou. Now what?"

"Logically," hissed the silver snake, coils shining, "we should search for her. She doesn't wear the crescent moon sigil on her forehead in this life, and her powers as the Princess of the Moon are dormant; she is totally unaware of her past life."

Curiously, Tokage inquired of the sulking crab guardian next to him, "Don't the senshi have a bond to their princess?"

Raising her head, Koori nodded. "But after a thousand years of being sent to the future, plus the fact that they died and were reborn, have put quite a few cracks in that connection, to say nothing of the relationship."

"Alright, so we can't find the Moon Princess and have no means of finding her anytime soon, or so it seems. We'll work on that. Next on the agenda is the Knights." The lime green bird had always been a tad bit more impatient than her princess, which helped keep Makoto in check.

Hokushin stretched his wingtips with a sigh and said, "My dear Aoao, must you always be so pushy? The Planetary Knights are indeed an odd generation indeed."

The white Moon cat nodded. "Really, it's scandalous how General Ace stalks Mina."

Shrugging, the icy-hued Koori muttered, "Mercury visited Ami once, recently, and was caught following her one day. She met that evil bastard, too!" Before it dawned on them, she hissed, outraged, "General Zoicite!! And I don't think she even knew it was him! The dangers!"

"Mina met General Kunzite already, and they were friends. It seems he doesn't keep in touch anymore, working under Chiba Mamoru." Luna shot a warning look towards Artemis, telling him not to interfere with her revised version, since he was insanely jealous and protective.

Grumbling, Aoao said, "Well, General Nephrite hasn't seen Lita, and I don't intend for him to." Little did she know...

Quietly, Phobos added, "Neither has General Jadeite associated with Rei."

"What is wrong with you closed-minded old nags?!" asked Tansei angrily. The red spots on him seemed to stand out even more as he puffed himself up in fury. "They deserve another chance! They were fine before Mamoru came. What you haven't comprehended is that they are the growing darkness. Kasen, Jade, he was perfectly fine, he was so sunny, so cheerful. He was kind, funny, good-hearted–" His voice cracked in the middle as he turned away, and the eagle next to him tried to awkwardly reassure him. Dismayed, the others just looked at each other and shrugged, not knowing exactly what to say anymore.
~ * ~ * ~
Walking into the library, delighted that Mamoru had ordered his fellow generals to try and sort out their paper-jamming mess and work with whatever they had for the day so he could finally be free, the blond-haired, green-eyed gen nodded charmingly to the librarians, who did something quite unexpected–in his view–they swooned. Blinking, he shook his head and headed for the engineering and technology section, clearly labeled, until a flash of blue caught his eye. What had reminded him of that captivating shade again? Ah, Mizuno Ami. His heart stopped then and there as he caught sight of her, cheeks flushed as she bent over something. Yosouya's sharp gaze then took in her companion, an obviously over-eager and delighted Urawa Ryo. Feeling a growing pain, as though having taken a stab like at the end of the Silver Millennium (his hand twitched unnerving to his ribs, where he had indeed been injured), he shook it off and gathered an armful of thick books. Taking them to a concealed table next to them, he eavesdropped shamelessly. Snippets of conversation that reached him were:

"Ami-san, that's brilliant!" Adoringly, Ryo added, "You're so smart, it puts me to shame."

"Please don't say that. It makes me uncomfortable. Anyway, there are more things you could do to make it easier...."

After a short while, they stood, and he sneakily trailed them outside and sat on a bench, ignoring the strange look from a police officer standing just inside the doors.

Ami smiled slightly and said, "Sayonara, Ryo-san. It was a pleasure to help you."

"Arigato gozaimisu, Ami. I'm so relieved that you've forgiven me. I hope we run into each other again, in the future."

Surprisingly, relief came over Yosouya, although he was still imperceptibly frightened that he might actually be her boyfriend. To his immense satisfaction, Ryo left uncomfortably, while the blue-haired girl looked perfectly natural walking off in the opposite direction, seemingly oblivious the staring observer.
~ * ~ * ~
Yuuichirou shifted slightly, feeling unnerved. Purple eyes had been boring into him almost the whole dinner, and he was getting tired of it. He really adored Rei, but this was making him extremely uncomfortable, and he wanted to put a stop to it. "Excuse me, Rei, is something the matter?"

"No, nothing," she replied easily, taking a sip of her drink. In reality, her hands underneath the dainty tablecloth twisted the silver bracelet she had begun to wear recently, a gift for her sixteenth birthday that the girls had all chipped in for. "Why?"

"To put it bluntly, you've been watching me. Can you ask what you want and put an end to it?"

Her eyes flashed angrily. This newly-adopted, lordly attitude of his was peeving her and quite rightfully too. "Fine. You knew I was a senshi, didn't you? Why didn't you tell me you were a Planetary Knight?"

"How–how did you know?"

"I thought you knew me, Yuuichirou. After all, you _are_ my boyfriend, and you've known me for the past thousand years or so. I can do fire readings, and the fire tells me what it chooses fit to disclose. You are the Planetary Knight of Mars and the present reincarnation of Chad."

Apprehensively, the brunet retorted, "I didn't exactly know you were awakened. Was I just going to one day walk up to you and say, 'Rei, you're a sailor senshi that runs around in a very short skirt fighting evil, and I'm a knight that isn't as skimpily clad that defends you to the death'?"

This really set her flaming, and Rei remarked coldly, "How nice of you to comment on my attire. I didn't really have a choice, you know. And it was just supposed to be a secret? And what about the fact that you didn't tell me about the whole soulmate thing."

"Minako could have told you about it."

"It's definitely abnormal to have a soul divided between me, the Princess of Mars, you, and General Jadeite!"

Unable to contain his smirk, Yuuichirou added, "You're forgetting the senshi of Mars."

"Nani?"

"What, you don't remember? The senshi and the princess were two different entities, yet they existed in the same body, which is why transformation sticks are used. If I recall correctly, General Kunzite first fell in love with the beautiful senshi of love."

Irritated, she asked, "Now you're admiring other women, one of my best friends, to say the least?"

"Everyone calls her the reincarnation of the goddess of love! What do you want me to say, that she's a hag?"

She sighed. "Never mind. It doesn't matter anymore. But I have transformed, and it's still me. Hino Rei, not another senshi, I'm not just stuffed somewhere else."

Muddy brown eyes suddenly came alive as he found the solution. "Rei, what power level are you up to?"

"Second or third, I think, but it's not going to keep increasing after third unless we really fight, instead of just training."

"That's it, then! In this life, you probably can't access the senshi of Mars until you've reached your highest power level."

She shivered, nervously fingering the ends of long raven locks. "That's creepy."

Later that night, as they were leaving, Rei said, "Yuuichirou, I don't think we should be dating anymore."

"What?! Just because I didn't tell you about me being a Knight and you being a senshi?"

"What if I _wasn't_ the princess, and you were just going to have a fling with me, your real loyalties lying with her? You'd just have abandoned me if she came along. And then there's the issue of Jadeite. You didn't even consider that part of the equation."

"So I was just supposed to ignore the way I felt, because someone ordained that you and he were soulmates? I don't think so. So are you going to run into General Jadeite's arms again?"

"That was it, Yuuichirou. That was the last straw." Gleaming purple eyes glowed in fury as black hair swirled, and he swore that he could have seen a glint of red in them instead of the usual, exotic amethyst. "You pushed me over the edge with that. I thought we could stay friends, but I don't think so." They had luckily reached the temple, she gracefully opened the door. "I think it's better if we don't see each other again, even casually, Yuuichirou. Sayonara."

Watching her go, he banged his head against the steering wheel despairingly. "Jadeite...I know it's you she loves, and if you hadn't been in her memories, it would have been fine. Everything would have been okay. Rei, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it, any of it, really...I didn't mean it. Please don't leave me alone. I have to see you."
~ * ~ * ~
Drumming his fingers on the cherry wood table, Mamoru demanded of himself, or the entity within himself, ‘What are the Inner Princesses to my generals?'

'They are soulmates, young prince. They hear each other's thoughts and share one spirit...and are meant to share a life.'

‘Nonsense. My generals belong to me. They're not only my birthright, they're my only companions. No one else has a hold over them.'

‘I hate to dispute you, prince, but you're very wrong. But there is a way you can remedy the situation, Mamoru...the Earth calls for their blood. They were the ones that brought about the downfall of the Golden Kingdom... Remember, Mamoru. Remember how they turned your generals from you? They'll do it again, given the chance. But they are weak now. You can take them unawares...and if I can remember correctly, there is a way you can prevent them from being reborn, once they are dead. They will never prove a threat to you again. What do you think, prince? Is it a plan worthy of us?'

His dark ebony eyes gleamed thoughtfully in the dark, and Mamoru smiled sinisterly. ‘It's utter brilliance...yes, I think it will fit very well in the scheme of revenge.'
~ * ~ * ~

Paths of Thorns