Minako idly cracked her knuckles, examining the nails on her other hand at the same time. “You cannot believe how bored I am,” she said with a yawn. “There’s nothing to fight with, not even stupid people who try to invade Crystal Tokyo.”

Princess Serenity glanced over with an amused smile. “Isn’t that good? We’re the strongest country all around. With the best fighters, and the best brains.” She smiled at the blue haired woman, who looked up from her chess game to acknowledge the compliment.

“No that’s not good! I’m bored to tears!” Minako wailed. “I was so damned bored I even got one of the guardsmen to advertise my need for an opponent. If I don’t fight, how am I supposed to let off my steam?”

Princess Serenity tsked her tongue in disapproval. “Don’t tell me what your motivation is. We’re not supposed to fight just to let off steam. If you need to do so, knock your head against the wall.”

Minako blinked lazily. “That would just kill my brain cells. At least when I fight, I can vent out everything on the poor unfortunate. All my dislikes, my hatreds, my complaints…”

“Senshi Minako?” a guardsman called out. “I've finally found an opponent for you.”

Minako clapped her hands with glee. “FINALLY! Hey! All of you! Why don’t you come and watch?”

The Inner senshis all groaned. “I can imagine what Uranus will have to say about this,” Makoto muttered. “She was always scolding me for being so blood thirsty. Now the title’s rubbed off onto you.”

“Oh, I’m worse than you, have no fear. It’s a good thing she and the other Outer senshis are all away on retreat then,” Minako replied brightly. “Are you coming or not?”

“No!” Ami called out from her corner.

“I can’t lose again,” Rei continued. “Or this will be the tenth time in a row I've lost to her today!”

Minako huffed, grabbed up the chess board and tugged them with her other hand. “You can continue playing in the practice arena. Just come with me!”

Ami and Rei threw glances at Princess Serenity, who just shrugged and followed Minako out of the room.

“Truth be told,” she whispered to the two disgruntled senshis. “I’m rather bored myself, and Minako fights so well, even if she does resemble a rabid wolf when she fights.”

Minako sauntered into the practice arena. “Who volunteered?” she called out. “I’ll give you a hundred pieces of gold just for being this brave. The person, who was standing in the shadows, slipped off his hood and turned to face the senshi.

“That is most kind, but I’m really after something else.”

“You’re Kunzite’s son?” Minako asked in disbelief, staring at the mass of silvery hair that hadn’t been seen in such a long time.

The man choked. “Kunzite’s *son*?” Then he smiled slightly, though it never touched his eyes. “I forget. You five have aged so much. No. Kunzite at your service in person.”

All five women present stared goggle eyed, with dropping jaws. “Impossible! You’re at least in your late thirties if not forties. How can you still look like you’re in your early twenties? It’s been twenty years!”

Kunzite coughed modestly. “Perhaps it has something to do with being a member of the Dark Kingdom Sect. The fact that you are so surprised tells me something. How long has it been since you last set eyes on Zoisite?” His silver eyes were cold, cold as ice and unreadable as a glass mirror.

Princess Serenity paled. “Is he alive at all?” she hissed at Rei, who was nearest to her.

“I-I-I think so. The guards all say that the food is eaten everyday,” she whispered back.

“I’ll defeat all of you in exchange for Zoisite,” Kunzite continued. “And I’ll be kind to you.”

“Such arrogance!” Makoto snorted. “Don’t forget you were the one who turned tail and ran twenty years ago. Or have you forgotten our Silver Crystal?”

Kunzite smiled again. “The Silver Crystal? You can bring it out if you want. It won’t be of any help. It may even be a hindrance.”

Princess Serenity gave a smile to match his. “In that case…. Guards! Go with senshi Rei to collect the prisoner. Hurry up!” She turned to Kunzite. “Where are your friends?”

“They were busy and couldn’t come today. If all three of us were to come, you would accuse us of being bullies! That’s not the reputation we’ve built up over these years.” He stared back at the glaring Princess with an amused expression as if to say, Oh come now, that doesn’t suit you at all.

Rei unlocked the door to the heavily warded cell cautiously, peering into the cell, which was near pitch dark. A flame snapped into existence above her fingers, and she held it up, looking for the blonde. A blow to her head knocked her flat to the ground, extinguishing the flame at the same time.

“Damn you, you little bastard!” Rei screeched.

“Don’t you dare light another fire here. And I’m sick of hearing that from the guards all day long. If you want to insult me, try something more original. Kunsaito’s here, isn’t he?”

Rei stared angrily at the gaunt figure above her as her eyes grew accustomed to the lack of light. She hadn’t believed that the man above was really Kunzite. But looking at how young Zoisite still looked – no more than twenty – she had to believe. But he looked haggard, and thin beyond words.

Zoisite smiled, in acid-bright temper. “We are bonded. Twenty years being cooped up in this dark hole isn’t going to change that, you old hag.”

Rei screeched in anger. “Old hag?! Who are you calling old?”

Zoisite flipped her a flippant smile. “You. Is there any other old hag around here?” He held out his hands and shook them slightly. The magic-constraining manacles slid off his thin wrists easily. The senshi took a step back.

“Since you can do that, why did you stay here all this while?”

The volatile green eyes flashed. “Twenty years can teach a person a lot of things. It can also change a person greatly. But it cannot change my memory. I told you that Kunsaito would come back for me, wait and see. So I waited.” He smiled at Rei’s shocked expression. “Come now, that isn’t so difficult to understand, is it? You came to get me for a purpose so hurry up! I don’t want to spend a minute longer than necessary here.”

“Kunzite’s alone by himself. He can’t win against our Princess and the four of us. We’ve grown much stronger in these last twenty years. Nobody can defeat us, not even the neighbouring countries. This time, you may lose your head for certain.”

Zoisite yawned in her face and cackled in a pitch an octave higher than normal. Rei winced painfully when she heard that laugh. “Sorry, must be all the rough treatment for twenty years. But don’t rest on your laurels too early – you may not be able to eat your words back.”

Rei snapped a flame into existence purposely next to Zoisite, and watched in satisfaction as he flinched and raised one arm to shield his sensitive eyes. “Shut up!” she shouted in her best commander voice, clamping one hand on his arm. “I want to hear what you have to say when we tear your precious Kunsaito to five pieces.

Mamoru walked briskly down the corridors, clenching his hands as he ran through what the guard had told him in his head. Twenty years! Who’d have thought Kunzite would really come back? Twenty years was a long time to wait to dig up long buried, old wounds.

“Serenity! What’s going on?” he asked, bursting into the practice arena without even a knock.

The Princess turned and bestowed a radiant smile on her consort. “Mamoru! I see the guard managed to get you! Nothing much, just a routine drill to make sure that we haven’t lost our touch.”

Mamoru’s eyes slid past his confident Princess to lock with Kunzite’s silver ones. They had changed, greatly. Mamoru continued staring into them and he finally figured out who they resembled. Zoisite’s in the past, when he had been strictly Kunzite’s teacher, had eyes as unreadable as these silver ones now.

A whisper of cloth, and Rei and Zoisite entered the chamber.

“Why isn’t he in chains?” Princess Serenity asked her senshi coldly. Since she married Mamoru, she was now the head of the Silver Millenium Order in name. The senshi of Uranus was still the tactical leader.

Zoisite threw the manacles across the floor with such exacting precision that it landed right at the Princess’s feet. “You obviously don’t care about the welfare of your prisoners. If you need to blame anybody, blame yourself! Your original plans had not included a twenty year incubation period, I believe.”

He was squinting, Mamoru realized with a start, and shading his eyes with one stick-thin hand. Twenty years without light….

“Zoisaito? Bear with these conditions for a while longer before I get you out,” Kunzite called gently across the room.

Zoisite smiled widely and folded himself against the wall. “I waited for twenty years. A few more minutes isn’t going to make much of a difference,” he replied gaily. The four senshis, one Princess and her consort stared at each other. Had twenty years of solitary confinement tipped Zoisite over the edge? None of them remembered ever hearing him this…whimsical.

Kunzite flicked his wrist to fling his cloak back. “In that case,” he said, his hands free of any weapons, “we should begin. Who volunteers to be first?”

Minako stomped her foot. “This is ridiculous. One would have thought that you would be smarter after all this time. I’m really sorry that you came back,” she said, a length of her love chains between her hands. “But I’ll make sure I settle you once and for all. And finally, my wish can be fulfilled. And trust me, I've had a lot of experience killing people.”

Kunzite made no reply, made no move as Minako charged him. He could sense a magical lattice imposed on her, much like a crystal’s lattice structure. So, Princess Serenity had discovered a way to confer the Crystal’s defensive powers onto themselves without having to carry the Crystal all around. Clever. The chain flew towards him as the senshi of Venus flung it, and his other hand moved in a blur so fast all that the people watching was a gray streak of colour. Against all precedents, Minako was thrown back against the wall. Apparently, they hadn’t gotten rid of the irritating white flash yet – Zoisite took a few minutes to regain his eyesight.

“Impossible! How did that happen?” Minako asked, rubbing her head, paling when she saw blood on her hand. “I was protected!”

Mamoru did a quick scan over Kunzite. Other than the fact that his aura had strengthened considerably, there was no physical or magical shield over him. Certainly not a lattice structure like the ones over the senshi, the Princess and him. So how had he managed to attack Minako such that her own protections blasted her?

“So you were. But didn’t I tell you that the Crystal was going to be a hindrance,” Kunzite said coolly without a smile. “And I always answer to challenges, no matter how long ago they were issued. Who’s next?”

Minako surged to her feet in rage, but high pitched laughter that she’d never heard before stopped her. “You better rest Minako. That blow to your skull wasn’t a light one at all. If you over exert yourself, you may permanently damage your brains,” Zoisite informed her brightly with a smile on his thin lips. Minako scowled and flung another of her chains at her, but Kunzite’s hand moved again, and this time, they registered a purple blur alongside the gray blur that his arm made. Minako crashed into the wall again. And this time, she didn’t bother to get up.

Rei bounded into place opposite Kunzite. “Try this for a change!” she challenged, throwing a shikigami at him. The firebird form crumpled in mid air as something sliced through it neatly. Rei gaped. “Nobody has ever been able to touch my shikigami. What the hell did you do?”

Zoisite nodded sagely. “That’s for us to know, and for you to find out.”

Makoto growled in irritation. His wise crack remarks and smug expression were beginning to irritate her greatly. She brought up a hand to slap him across the face, but he dodged the blow easily. He hadn’t lost his speed.

“Temper, temper,” Zoisite cautioned, though he wasn’t keeping his in check very well. Pot calling the kettle black. One thin hand inched up towards the senshi’s face before Zoisite forced it back down by his side.

The second shikigami, bigger and more powerful than its predecessor shared the same fate, unfortunately, and it made a sizzling hole where Kunzite’s hidden weapon had downed it. The fearsome stink of aborted magic tainted the air, and Kunzite wrinkled his nose in disgust.

“Anybody else before I take Zoisaito away?”

Princess Serenity looked at Ami, saw her brow furrowed and her fingers flying over the portable lap top that she carried around with her all the time, and she looked up at the tall senshi of Jupiter. Makoto caught the Princess’s signal, and stalked to face Kunzite. He’d grown even taller, towering over her, and maybe even the senshi of Uranus.

“Can you figure out what he’s been using against us?” Princess Serenity whispered to Ami, peering at the screen where lines mapping the energy fields, auras, and goodness knew what else criss-crossed all over the place.

“I’m trying to. The most I can ascertain at the moment is that his weapon is formed purely of energy. Mental energy at that, and very tightly focussed. Kunzite must have gotten a hell of a lot more powerful if he can manipulate energy into such a compact state with such ease and using only the power of his mind. Incredible! Without the link in us to our individual planets, we can never achieve his level of skill.”

Princess Serenity scowled. “Never mind about that! How is it that the Crystal is of no use against him? Or rather, why is the Crystal attacking us instead? Is he manipulating it in anyway?”

“No. The Crystal’s shields protecting us are untouched. But Kunzite’s made use of a loophole in how the Crystal works to defeat us.” The Princess turned surprised eyes on her consort.

Mamoru held up a finger. “While I may not have spent as much time as you over it, I remember Ami saying that the Crystal protects us by reflecting our opponents’ attacks. So obviously what Kunzite has is something which can reflect our attacks. But it’s not another Crystal.”

“Very good, but not on the bull’s eye.” Kunzite’s comment drifted towards them, and the three absorbed adults looked up to find Makoto sitting on her bum with a very dazed look, a few leaves scattered around her. The tall, youthful looking man walked to where Zoisite was, still leaning against the wall.

“These twenty years must have been hell for you,” he murmured softly, taking one thin hand in his. “It was cruel of me to leave you behind.”

Zoisite laughed softly resting his head on Kunzite’s strong shoulder, reveling in the feel of his once-disciple’s arms around him. “it wasn’t your fault. When we go back, I’ll dig Nephrite-sama out and knock him on the head. But I wondered sometimes if you’d forgotten me completely. I’m glad I was wrong. It wasn’t really hell, just lonely, and dark.” In all senses of the word, he wanted to add, but didn’t. “You’ve grown so powerful. Why is your hair is still so short?” Delicate fingers reached out to finger a few of the silky strands. “It should be longer than mine, and I've got to cut mine.”

Kunzite smiled. “Don’t bother to cut your hair. I like it just the way it is. I’ll always leave my hair this length out of respect for you.”

Zoisite lowered his eyes, and Kunzite’s brow creased in puzzlement. “What’s the matter, Zoisaito? Aren’t you happy…? Or is it something I've said.”

“Out of respect?” Zoisite echoed. “You still treat me as your teacher.” He stated it like a fact, not a question, and his voice sounded sad and disappointed all of a sudden. Kunzite understood.

“Not only that. I never said it out straight, Zoisaito, but I love you. I beg your pardon for assuming you knew that.”

The slanted emerald eyes sparkled with unshed tears and pure, unadulterated joy. “Oh Kunsaito—“

“Enough of that!” Princess Serenity growled. “You’re making me sick. All these syrupy talk—“

Kunzite and Zoisite turned their eyes simultaneously on her, Zoisite’s blazing with anger and Kunzite’s strangely emotionless. “Shut up!” they shouted in unison. “If you’ve got a problem with us, you can get out of here!”

Princess Serenity turned purple. “This is my palace. I’ll take you on a one to one then! I don’t believe I can lose.”

Kunzite smiled, the silky smile of a predator toying with his prey just before it pounced. “I accept. I want to see how well you can psyche yourself. Whenever you’re ready, you may begin.”

The Princess growled, stepping to the centre of the arena and changing into her battle gear and taking out her Moon wand. It was a new weapon she developed but a short while ago. Alone, it could change a part of the molecular structure of her opponents. Combined with the Silver Crystal, it made her near invinsible. But she was at a distinct disadvantage here – she was used to looking into her opponent’s eyes to infer what move they were going to make next. All fighters had four main emotions – happiness, anger, fear and sadness. Kunzite didn’t seem to display anything when he strolled into a fight, how was she supposed to perform up to her usual standards?

Kunzite bowed mockingly to her, ceding the first attack to her as was proper. Zoisite eyed the black haired consort of hers suspiciously when he kept fingering something hidden beneath the billowing folds of his cloak. Not trusting either him or the senshi of Mercury, he carefully inched towards them.

Princess Serenity had cleverly deactivated the protective barrier of the Silver Crystal around her so that Kunzite’s attack would fail. Her tactic was partially accurate – though her own attacks couldn’t be used against her, Kunzite still had the more conventional means of attacking to rely on, i.e. energy bolts, other assorted magical arsenal. Occasionally, something purple would flash across the room and vanish. The match was taking a lot out of both of them to judge from their heavy panting and the decreasing speed of their attacks and defences. Blood from shallow cuts spotted the floor, Princess Serenity’s pristine white skirt and Kunzite’s deep grey robes.

The Princess sent one blast after another from her moon wand at Kunzite, forcing the silver haired man to retreat two steps back, and Mamoru seized his chance to throw something at him. The rose tore a jagged scratch down Kunzite’s hand, and the force field he had generated to absorb the Princess’s attack shuddered into disarray. The split second before the beam from the moon wand hit Kunzite, an ice crystal flashed up, small but useful enough. It met the beam straight on, and was reduced to steaming vapors immediately.

Zoisite hissed, temper boiling over. “You dishonorable rat!” Without thinking, he rushed the taller, bigger man, and was thrown off easily. Twenty years of near-deprivation had taken its toll on his energy level. Another rose was poised above his neck, but something flashed, and Mamoru hopped back, squalling with pain.

“An energy boomerang? What a truly interesting weapon. You’ve surpassed my expectations of your skill and energy.”

Kunzite held out his hand and the boomerang returned to him like a homing pigeon to it’s beacon. “Than you for the compliment. Sorry that I’m not able to return it,” he said mockingly, and before the Princess’s outrage could find an outlet in angry words, continued. “Your Crystal does not actually reflect weapons. It returns the weapons in the opposite direction of the weapons’ final destination.”

“You know more about the Crystal than I do,” the Princess admitted grudgingly.

“It was originally ours,” Kunzite pointed out. “We’re caught in a draw, there seem to be no others who can measure up against me, so I will take my leave now with Zoisaito.”

“STOP!” Princess Serenity screamed out so forcefully all the senshi’s clapped their hands against their ears, gritting their teeth and straining so that they wouldn’t be blown against the wall by the gale that Serenity had generated. Mamoru looked at his wife with new respect. “You are going nowhere! I’ll fight out the last battle with you!”

Zoisite looked concernedly at Kunzite. “Are you sure you want to agree to her wish?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. Trust me, ne?” Kunzite quirked one corner of his mouth. “Besides, if I don’t give her one last fight, we won’t be allowed to leave. She’s wounded. I won’t take longer than two minutes to wrap this up.” Louder, to Princess Serenity, “I request that Consort Mamoru be kept at the side. I’m sure you wouldn’t want him to taint your name further.”

Mamoru glared, but kept to the side when the Princess waved him away. They stood opposite each other once more, and Kunzite kept his boomerang. Zoisite started one foot forward, then stepped back again, nodding to himself.

“What’s going on?” the senshis asked one another. “He’s going to be mutated if he thinks he can stand alone against our Princess’s moon wand.

Mamoru looked at the contentedly smiling Zoisite. “What’s going on?” he asked, hoping that he sounded humble enough.

Zoisite looked at him distastefully and moved two steps away. “Don’t think you can win me over with that act. I haven’t turned senile yet. Your debt against me is still present. You expect me to fall for your cheap trick? I am not going to give you another chance, you despicable rat!”

Mamoru winced. “I didn’t expect such a gentle person like you to bear grudges—“

“Shut up Mamoru and just watch,” Rei hissed, eyes glued on the two combatants like a hawk eyeing it’s prey.

They took up their positions, Princess Serenity actually managing an intimidating glare with her sweet features. “It’s quite easy actually, the living are susceptible to "impressions." If you get the idea that you’re sick, your actual condition will get worse. If you get the idea you can’t breathe, then it will actually hurt to breathe. By raising my ki, I shrink that of my opponent and make him unable to move . Your thoughts become your reality! There are no exceptions! I! Cannot! Fail! You! Will! Die!”

Kunzite’s silver eyes boring steadily into Princess Serenity’s cornflower blue ones. For a moment, it seemed as Kunzite’s knees were about to give way. Then, he glared back, his expression a hundred times more potent that the Princess’s. “Don’t try that trick with me,” he said quietly. “I've mastered it better than you ever can.” This time, it was the Princess who had to take a step back.

“So, that was what you’ve been doing for the last twenty years. Apart from honing your natural mind magic, you’ve managed to block out all your emotions when you come onto the field, and hence your opponent will not be able to guess what your next move will be. Very clever, considering how much you were like an open book when you were younger and that manipulating mind magic is as easy as breathing for you. I should have expected that when I engaged my ki. Since that technique is unknown to me, let’s settle this fair and square. One strike per person.”

The air was thick enough to cut and butter a slice of bread. Princess Serenity held her moon wand straight out in front of her, braced her feet and activated it’s powers. Minako shot a sideward glance at Zoisite. How unfortunate it would be if he got zapped by the beam. She was sure he would appreciate the chance to save his darling Kunsaito in this last and most important battle. The crux of the battle dawned, and the senshi of Venus lunged at Zoisite, shoving him to the centre of the room.

“Minako!” the shocked senshi shrieked. “You’re not supposed to interfere!”

“Zoisaito!” Kunzite shouted. No matter how big an ice crystal he formed, it wouldn’t be enough to save him from the Princess’s attack. He shot out his boomerang at frightening velocity and slid to the side, the boomerang knocking Zoisite to his knees so that the beam whizzed harmlessly over his head and buried itself in Minako instead. But a second beam followed, this one more powerful than the first, and sparks flew as it raced towards Kunzite….

The white flash obliterated the area that both Princess Serenity and Kunzite occupied. Zoisite held his heart in his hands, not believing that Kunzite was dead. If only he had been more attentive, than Minako wouldn’t have been able to use him to distract Kunzite, and this wouldn’t have happened…. There was no way Kunzite could defend himself, not when his boomerang lay at Zoisite’s feet. It’s outline was still as sharp as ever, the energy still compacted and not fraying out. Silent testimony to Kunzite’s frightening mind strength.

The first sound that could be heard in a long while other than Zoisite’s jerky breathing was heavy panting that couldn’t possibly be mistaken for a woman’s.

“Kunsaito?” Zoisite called out, hardly daring to believe, but hoping with all his might that the impossible could happen.

“…Zoi…sai…to…”

Zoisite shrieked with joy, dashing forward and squinting against the glare of the light to hug his love in exhilarated desperation.

“You didn’t die!” Rei gasped in shock.

“Do I look like I’m dead?” Kunzite asked dryly, flicking his long silver hair over his shoulder, his other hand supporting Zoisite as both of them got to their feet. The light had finally dimmed to an acceptable level, and everybody could see the motionless body of Princess Serenity on the floor, a purple boomerang next to her.

“You had a second boomerang?” Zoisite asked rhetorically, his voice breathless with awe.

“Very…strong…” Ami mused, reaching out to touch the boomerang and exclaiming when it dissolved away.

“I don’t allow people to touch my weapons without permission,” Kunzite informed her tartly. “Never underestimate the power of the mind. I made a mistake when it came to the Princess. If only I hadn’t wasted the first boomerang.”

The Princess was alive and aware, and she looked up at the silver haired man with grudging respect. “We’re locked in another draw it seems. I underestimated you too. If only I hadn’t wasted my first beam. Go on then, before I change my mind. You’ve already finished off one of my senshi, I don’t need you to cause any more trouble.”

Kunzite bowed condescendingly towards her. “You ought to rest three months in bed. The blow to your head wasn’t a small one, neither are the rest of the scratches.”

Princess Serenity grimaced. “Don’t push your luck. My senshi will see you out.”

Kunzite made his way to Zoisite, and together, they paced to Mamoru’s side.

“We've got a present to give you,” he said calmly. Mamoru wrinkled his face in wary apprehension.

“A present? I thought you’d ki-“

Zoisite smiled slyly, 8 ice crystals between his fingers. “Oh? You want me to do that?”

“N-no.”

“Good. Here. I’d like you to take this.” Zoisite held out a handful of deep pink sakura blossoms, took Mamoru’s hand in his and dropped the petals. They drifted down, looking nothing but innocent, but Mamoru found out otherwise to his horror.

“Ouch!” he shouted as the petals cut into his palm. “Damn you, you little bastard!”

Zoisite locked eyes with him, emerald against blue, and spat out a sizzling volley of curses that left everybody in the room shocked and whispering in amazement.

“Now *that* was a beauty,” Makoto murmured to herself.

“Nephrite-sama would be pleased to hear that you can do that,” Kunzite said with a slight smile. Zoisite grinned up at him.

“Picked it up over the years. By the way,” he told Mamoru, who was still clutching his hand and wincing in pain. “Revenge is a dish best eaten cold. We've had twenty years of cooling. Happy finding out what’s in store for you!”

Princess Serenity peeled herself off the ground after Zoisite and Kunzite had left, hand in hand, and wobbled over to her consort’s side.

“That’s just a surface wound, nothing to worry about. Go and see the physician to have it wrapped.”

“Indeed. I’ll put you to bed as soon as you get your injuries treated as well. The rest of you girls might as well follow. Is there anything we can do for Minako?” Mamoru busied himself by picking out the embedded blossoms as the remaining three senshi bent to the grisly job of clearing the senshi of Venus’s charred remains.

“Spiteful as she was twenty years ago. I can’t help but wonder if she could have avoided this if she’d just let the Kunzite matter rest,” Ami murmured to Rei.

“Hmm, that’s quite true. I may not like that little bastard, but I don’t think everything has to go to her always. Oh well, Uranus will probably call it an object lesson for the rest of us.”

“Ironical, don’t you think?” Makoto said, adding her two cents worth. “The senshi of Venus was motivated by hate and her egocentric nature. But then again, love is selfish.”

Rei chortled. “I’m surprised you can indulge in such higher level thinking…Hey! I was just joking, don’t glare at me like that!”

Mamoru twisted sharply to avoid getting impaled by the giant form that dropped sharply from the sky, a menacing pink shadow. But there was more trouble coming his way. He dropped flat onto the ground to avoid the low flying ice crystals and rolled when something stabbed through the grass next to him. And still there was more…Mamoru stared at the blurry purple light coming towards him on all sides…. Hell, this was worse than the army’s obstacle course.

“Mamoru, wake up!” Princess Serenity grumbled sleepily, pinching him awake. “That’s the fourth time this week that you’ve been screaming in your sleep. How on earth did you get this nightmare. What is it?”

Mamoru looked at the Princess and mopped his forehead free of sweat. “I-you-well…” he mumbled something nearly incoherent and inaudible, a giant sweat drop on his head.

“Speak up,” the Princess snapped. “Did I hear you say something about a giant sakura blossom about to cut you into half?”