Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Every Time I Love You ❯ One ( Chapter 1 )

In the beginning, this story was supposed to have been a Inuyasha story but as I was removing it from all sites and preparing to rewrite it again, I thought of one of my favorite other couples: Kunzite and Minako. I had always thought they, like the other Senshi and Shitennou, were giving the bad part of the schtick when Usagi and Mamoru came out of it unscathed.

Anyway, I decided that Minako and Kunzite it is. Speaking of which, if my research is correct, Kunzite was the commander of the Middle East. So keeping with that theme, he will come from that location. I am not an expert on that region so I am certain as time goes by there will be mistakes in my research. But remember we are in the Age of Crystal Tokyo. Selenity has just awakened the world and things have begun to set into motion things for changes in the world. This means that the others have been dispatched elsewhere. So, seeing the other Inners may be few and far but we will have to see.

By the way, they won't have their full memories of the Silver Millennium. I will try to explain this later on. >>

And this brings me to another thing: this story won't be written fast. My priority right now is To Find You Again so that story will have a finale. I will work on this one as much as Muse will allow. So bare with me on this. :D

Every Time I Love You

By Suseh

Chapter One

“Magnificent. Spectacular. Possibly once belonging to a member of the Dark Kingdom?” Artemis inquired casting a glance at his quiet companion at his side. He could see she seemed to be studying the item behind the locked glass case. He could tell that she was trying to reach back in memory as to where she had seen that sword before, but she was having a hard time trying to go that far back. He knew that the Inner Senshi were still having a hard time trying to reconnect with most of their past lives and one of it seemed to be the Silver Millennium. Venus herself was having an even harder time. No matter how much she had tried, the memories would not come. Artemis had chalked it up to her trying too hard, but Artemis pondered if something had purposely locked away the memory for the Inner Senshi.

“Interesting,” she answered carefully, still letting her eyes take in every inch of the beautifully cared for item.

“Interesting?” Artemis demanded wanting to throw up his hands and walk away. Part of him wondered if coming here was a lost cause.

Minako blinked turning her head to look at her companion. “What do you want me to say? That I recognize it?”

Artemis sighed running his fingers through his long, white hair. “I suppose I was hoping there would be that ‘Eureka’ moment and we could solve this mystery within the hour and report to the Palace that the sword was nothing more than a lost cause.”

“The thing is I feel a connection to the sword,” she said honestly with a hint of frustration coloring her words, “but I cannot understand why. There is so much of the Silver Millennium I cannot remember. I had always thought that we would have already unlocked all those memories to make peace with not only ourselves but with all that has happened in the past, but I feel, Artemis, that without the ability to unlock these memories both myself and my Inner Senshi won’t be able to reconcile with past selves.”

Artemis looked at her thoughtfully.

“Does the museum have any idea who the last owner of the sword belongs to?” She asked tapping her chin.

Artemis shrugged. “No idea. We could go find the curator and ask.”

Minako smiled and made her way toward the direction she had seen the curator take the moment after he left them. Artemis jogged after her, catching up quickly to walk beside her. He had never seen Minako in such a state of determination. As they rounded the corner, they found the curator going over the morning with his staff.

“Ah, Lady Venus and Lord Artemis,” the curator greeted again warmly once he had dismissed his staff and sent them off in every direction of the large museum. “I do hope everything was to your satisfaction.”

“It was,” Minako replied, “but may I inquire about the person who donated the sword?”

The curator’s thick brows knitted together in thought. “Come,” he said motioning for them to follow him toward a set of rooms in the front, “I’m sure we will be able to find that answer.”

As the two of them followed behind the curator, Minako took a moment to soak in the artifacts they passed by. There was so much history within this large building that she wondered if anything else belonging to the Earthen Royal Family may still be here among them, even perhaps mistaken for another era. She would not be a bit surprised. Archaeologist were still uncovering things even more now than they had prior to Selenity placing the world to sleep. Mentally, she told herself she would return later and perhaps ask if they would allow her to look at pieces in other collections. Maybe, just maybe, it would help trigger many of the lost memories both she and her fellow Inner Senshi had lost.

“Come right in,” the curator’s voice broke through her reverie and motioned them to follow him in. He moved to the filing cabinets and started pulling files on the sword. Closing the cabinet once more, he placed them on his tidy desk and took a seat. He removed his glasses from the pocket of his sweater and started going through the files.

Minako and Artemis took a seat and waited for the curator to find what they were looking for.

“Ah!” the curator exclaimed as if he had found the last treasure of the Old Dutchman. “The owner of the sword comes from the Middle East. A young Sultan named Malik Hussein. It does not give a complete history of the sword, only that it was offered to the museum as a goodwill gift.”

Leaving the office, Minako touched her teleportation bracelet and set it to the coordinates of the Crystal Palace. She had been truthful with Artemis when she told him she did not understand the extent of the connection to the sword. After all, she could remember extraordinarily little of the Silver Millennium or its downfall. There had been brief periods of memories but that had been more than a flash. She had thought they would have gained these memories by now. Yet, there had been nothing. Not a thing. She had once pulled Selenity to aside to inquiry why their memories had remained so fuzzy. Selenity had been vague in her reply, telling her that it would come in time.

This left Minako in frustration. She could not understand why she felt that Selenity was hiding it from them. She had never done something like this, but it had been Ami who explained that she “believed that Usagi-chan doesn’t want us to continue our guilt for the loss of our lives.”

Minako may have bought this answer a long time ago when they had been nothing more than teens. Now she wanted to know why all the secrecy. She would not question Selenity because she knew it was pointless. Instead, she would go straight to Endymion since it was, he, anyway, that had brought the sword to her attention.

As both teleported from the museum and into the main hub of the Palace, Minako made a beeline toward the direction of Endymion’s office. She knew that he would be looking over several new treaties that the United Nations had proposed just several weeks ago and Selenity would be busy with other matters having to deal with the country. It was all the better. This would be her chance to talk to Endymion.

“Good morning,” Ayame greeted from her desk pausing from her work to glance up at the Senshi of Love and Beauty. “Boss has been waiting for you.”

“Great,” she murmured and knocked on the closed door.

“Come in,” came the muffled voice from the other side.

Opening the door, Minako stepped into the large crystal room. She closed the door quietly behind her and waited for Endymion to finish with the paperwork.

“Ah, Minako-san,” Endymion greeted warmly setting aside the papers and giving his wife’s commanding Senshi his full attention. “What did you find out about the sword?”

“Well,” she began taking a seat and looking down at her hands, “the sword was given to the museum as a goodwill gift from a Sultan named Malik Hussein….” Her words trailed off as she kept her gaze down on her lap. She was not sure if she should tell Endymion about the connection, but at the same time she knew that she should not keep something so important like that from him either. He may be King, but he was also her friend and she could use his counsel on her thoughts. “The thing is, Endymion-sama, that I felt something. I am not sure how to explain it, but I feel like that sword and I share a connection. I just do not know how.”

Silence hung heavily between them as Endymion took in her words. He had not expected a connection to come into play but nevertheless it offered Endymion something. What? He was not sure.

“Endymion-sama, about Malik Hussein, do you know anything about him?” She pressed glancing up at him.

“There really is not much we know about him. The only exception is that he rules the entire United Arab Emirates. We have sent numerous invitations for him to visit us but he always sends out ambassadors in his place,” Endymion stated sitting back in his chair and rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “I always thought it was weird, but I can on deduce that with a rule such as his, he is pretty much busy.  However, recently we were informed that due to the sword being given to the museum that he will arrive in Japan in a few short weeks to commemorate a ceremony over it.” There was a brief pause as he leaned forward. “Selenity and I are unable to attend. We have an engagement that evening in London so you will have to go in our place.”

“Maa, of course, Endymion-sama,” she said with a nod of her head.

Endymion smiled. “I appreciate this. You are dismissed, Minako-chan. Go enjoy the rest of your day.”

Minako rose from her chair and headed toward the door. As she stepped out of the door, she paused and could feel the butterflies in her stomach move. It was a feeling she had never felt before and she could not understand why. Shrugging it off, she pushed herself off giving Ayame a “have a good afternoon!” as she disappeared down the hall.

Minako ran a nervous hand over the gold dress removing any wrinkles and she glanced around at the growing crowd. At her side, Artemis watched the crowd file in and grow by each second. Minako had been surprised that he had decided to come along with her. She had expected to remain behind with Luna but at the last minute just as she was getting into the limo, he had jumped in fully dressed in a black tux and tie.

The two of them had spent the entire week together doing as much research as they could on the young Sultan. What little they had found on him told her that he was roughly between the age of twenty-four to twenty-five years. He was the oldest of four children and had been named the heir to the throne by his father. Minako had learned that rule in the Arab world was a cut-throat and most rulers never made it to the throne.

Minako shuddered at the thought of such events playing out during the Silver Millennium. She may not have an exact memory but the little she had told her that it was not that far off from the other planets’ systems of rule. Jupiter being one of those brutal places of rule. She could never understand how her friend managed to survive such things.

“Ah, Lady Venus, how good of you to come!” Suzuki Ichiro, the Director of the Museum, greeted taking her hand and laying a feathered kiss upon her knuckles.

“It is good to see you, Suzuk-san,” she returned the greeting with a warm, welcoming smile gracing the corners of her painted pink lips. “I must say you have gathered quite a crowd for this event.”

“It is not everyday that we gifted such a magnificent item, my lady,” he said glancing briefly behind him, “but there is reason I have come to you.”

“Oh?” It drew out her curiosity as she tilted her head. “Yes, there is a gentleman you have garnered attention from.”

“And who would that be?” What guy did she not garner attention from? It happened all the time and often Minako would simply decline their offer. It was not that she was not interested. It was simply that she had doubt that anyone could have the ability to keep up with her. Plus, Minako had learned for quite some time that her duty had and would always come first before love.

“Our honored guest, Sultan Malik Hussein, is waiting an audience with you,” Ichiro stated gesturing the gentleman on the far right of them. His silver hair was a stark contrast the black suit he was wearing.

Waiting…yes.

Minako fought her nerves and swallowed. The funniest thing about this was the fact Minako had been waiting to him too. Perhaps….all her life.

End Chapter