Minako had felt the urgent need to get out of her house today. She wasn't really sure what had made her want to get away, but she had felt as though her room was currently smothering her, and so she had told Artemis that she was going for a walk, and that she would be back as soon as she had cleared her head. He had of course offered to go with her, but she had declined, wanting to be alone for a little while. Brushing a stray lock of blond hair out of her eyes, she walked away from her house rather rapidly. She wasn't quite sure where it was she was heading, but she just wanted to be as far away from her house as was possible right now. Glancing around at her surroundings, she raised an eyebrow slightly as she watched a couple kids just running down the street. Sometimes, just sometimes she missed the days of being so carefree, of not caring about what you looked like, or how you were doing in school, or even really what you wanted to be when you were older, but then again, she also knew that she wouldn't go back to those days again because, those were the days when she didn't know the people she knew now, and even though it hurt her to avoid them, and sometimes it even hurt her to see them, she knew that she wouldn't trade in those days for anything, Even if it meant eternal happiness would be hers.

Slowing down as she walked, the smallest of smiles appeared on her features as she continued walking, spotting herself in the window of one of the houses that she passed by. She liked how she looked these days, she had recently gotten rid of the large red bow in her hair and instead liked to keep it perfectly down, she did wonder at times if her friends would easily recognise her without the distinguishable bow in her hair, but she thought it looked a bit less childish without the bow in her hair. Playing with a stray lock of hair her blue orbs darted around at her surroundings as she tried to figure out just where it was that she was headed. She hadn't actually been paying any attention to where she was headed, The second she looked around though, she knew that she recognised the area. Obviously, she knew that she was in Azabu-Juuban, but what she found to be the most amusing was the fact that she had just gone past Usagi's house without even really noticing it. Ignoring the urge to go and see if her friend was home, she sped up her pace a bit more, deciding to go to the Crowns Game Center since it was nearby, maybe she could talk to Motoki, it felt like ages since she had spoken to him.

Reaching the game center, she brushed a bit of hair out of her eyes, entering it and looking around. As she did, her blue orbs darted around as she looked around to see if there was anyone around that she knew. Not spotting anyone, she walked over to the old Sailor V game and grinned slightly to herself, this game had always been one of her favourites mostly due to the fact that it was based around her although it wasn't as fun as the actual thing, she could remember the old days of playing this game with Usagi who she had to admit was that little bit better at it then she was. Putting some money in, she started to play it, wondering if anyone she knew would actually come in or not.

Confusing. If he had to chose the word to best describe the way in which he had felt for the past year, that would have been the chosen one. Kunzite was not a man to be easily confused by a situation. He was the kind of man that could look at things objectively, analyze them and tie them together with a relative ease. His own existence, however, was something that stirred confusion, although it shouldn't have. Nearly one year ago, Kunzite had been involved into a great battle – at that moment, he did not suspect that it would be his last – and, after milennia, he had finally fought on the right side of the barricade. Nothing had ever felt as right as fighting alongside Endymion-sama had. He had been able to remember to long past days of the Silver Millennium, in which they were sparring, so that he could train the younger man into battle. Things should have never taken the turn they did, Kunzite was painfully aware of that. Yet, he was also grateful for the fact that he finally had the chance to mend things and use his powers for a good cause. That battled turned out to be his first and last opportunity to do so.

Being powerless, being just an ordinary human being shouldn't have had too much of an impact on him now that he had all of his memories back. Kunzite could perfectly remember the times before Beryl found him again, when he had been nothing more than Shin Blackwell, a normal young man with an ordinary life and ordinary ideals in life. Without his powers, he should have returned to being the same man but things weren't that simple. At that time, he hadn't know about his existence as Kunzite. Now, he knew about it and the way he saw it was that Kunzite was who he was, what defined him. Shin was nothing more than an identity which helped him mingle in an ordinary environment, in which people knew nothing about the Earth having once been a peaceful kingdom, protected by a prince and his four guardians, nor about the war between the two kingdoms.

It felt strange not being a Shitennou any longer, not having that special sensibility towards energy or the ability to manipulate it according to his will. He preserved his agility and his skills in combat, however, therefore it only felt natural for him to resume his martial arts trainings in his free time. Well, actually he had plenty of free time on his hand, which he divided between his training and his lover. Occasionally, he would get in touch with Mamoru-sama. The separation between him and the tsuki no hime worried Kunzite, mostly for the fact that he was aware how much it made the Prince suffer. He didn't show his worries, however, neither did he pry into Mamoru's personal life. Things would get sorted eventually, he was confident in that. In fact, having left training a couple of minutes before, Kunzite decided to pay Mamoru-sama a visit and see how he was doing. His pace was neither rushed nor slow as he crossed the sidewalks of Azabu-Juuban towards the residence of the younger man. It was not the first time when he walked down that path but, strangely enough, this time his attention was drawn by one of the buildings he walked by: Crown Game Centre. He remembered it both from the days in which Shin had been a child that spend all of his money there and from the days in which the senshi used it as a base of operations. Before he could put too much thought into what he was doing, Kunzite found himself walking inside, his eyes instantly drawn to a blond seated in front of one of the games. Recognition was instant, despite the lack of the red bow he had been used to see in her hair lately. He could have turned around and walked out but, instead, Kunzite approached her. Other than an exchange of looks, they never talked since he found his life restored. ”Minako...”, he spoke her name once he was behind her, his expression unreadable but his eyes having a certain warmth to them, in spite of their color.

If there was one theory that Minako went by in her life it was the fact that the past should remain as the past. There was a reason for this exact theory, but it was a reason that the blond did not like thinking about. Sighing softly to herself, she stopped playing the game for a second. There were some things that the blond girl still didn't like thinking about, and it was the past. Whether it was her past life as Aphrodite, or when she first started as Sailor V in London. Both had sad memories for her, although she did wonder if Katarina and Alan were still alright, she hoped that they were happy together. The last time she had seen them was just after she had 'died' they were sad, but they were comforting each other and that had made her happy. She wondered if they still remembered her, she knew herself that no matter what happened, the two of them held a dear part of he heart since they were the only civillians to know who she was, and even though she had had to leave them in the way that she did, they were still people who meant a lot to her.

Sighing again, Minako directed her gaze dwon at her hands, this was why she kept the past in the past. If she thought about, there was some rather sad things back then, and rather ironically, there was a lot of failed relationships or crushes, whatever; there was Kunzite, Higashi-sempai, Danburite, Alan, Kunzite again to an extent, heck there was even her crush on Yaten there. Smiling slightly to herself as she thought about the other girl, Minako shook her head thsat was definitely a complicated thought, at one point she had felt like she could love the other girl, but now...now she felt as though she could actually make a friendship with the other girl, maybe. She definitely still felt awkward around her, but she was trying her hardest to create a friendship with her. It was hard at times, especially with her current changes in her personality and her life, but it was still kind of fun at times. She did find it amusing though that Yaten was probably the only one out of her ex crushes that she could actually have any sort of friendship with, especially since most of them were now dead, or just people that she didnt really want anything to do with anymore.

Biting her bottom lip gently, she directed her gaze back at her game again. she had left herself in a safe spot, so she knew that she wouldn't be dead yet. Grinning slightly to herself, she directed her gaze down around the side of the maching and waved when she saw Motoki, she would have gone to talk to him, but she could see that he was talking to someone, and she didn't really want to disturb him. She had to admit that most of her life she had had a little crush on Motoki, but she was fairly certain that almost all of her friends had had a thing for him, most of them of course hadn't told him that, except for Makoto maybe, she could vaguely remember that it seemed like Motoki liked her the most out of the four friends, of course that was just a feeling that she got from them. She'd always had a flair for relationships apart from hers. Probably coming from being the Senshi of Love at the time. Going back to her game again, she continued playing content to just sit there for a little while longer before going outside to do something else.

Getting into her game, Minako heard a painfully familiar voice behind her saying her name, jumping slightly and hitting her knee against the game, she wrinkled her nose slightly "Ow." she muttered softly to herself, rubbing her knee slightly as she remembered about the voice behind her "Motoki-kun?" she said rather hopefully as she turned in the direction of the voice, a hopeful look on her face until she saw that it was in fact Kunzite "Kunzite." she stated, a slightly blank look on her face, of all people that she had expected to run into here, Kunzite was definitely not one of them "What are you doing here? This isn't exactly the kind of place I would expect to see you."

Kunzite, former prince of the deserts, could easily pass off for the king of ice. Silvery-white hair, eyes which appeared to be made of molten silver, his very appearance was that of an ice statue, an impression which was doubled by the fact that his emotions rarely showed in his expression. Deep under the glacial expression, there was an entire volcano of emotions, the predominant one, at this moment, being guilt and remorse. The past was something which weighed heavily on Kunzite's soul. Some things he was proud of. He was proud of the fact that he had been special, that he had been chosen to become the guardian of Prince Endymion and that he had become a friend of the young man. These few things were far outweighed by the ones which he felt ashamed of and which he wished he could magically erase from his memories and from the memories of the ones which had to suffer because of his deeds. Kunzite had not betrayed only the kingdom and the prince which he considered to be a younger brother and a friend. He had also betrayed her.

Falling in love had been something completely unexpected, even more so as it happened to be with one of Princess Serenity's guardians. It was somewhat ironic, after all the lectures he served Endymion about how it was not wise to allow his feelings to lead him into breaching one of the sacred rules of the two kingdoms. Preaching without knowing how strong love could be had been easy. Kunzite had never imagined that love could take over someone that easily. With a glance of her eyes, Aphrodite had managed to steal his heart and become the reason for which it was beating. The man had never seen himself as the romantic type but he found himself dreaming of spending his entire life by her side. Kunzite never imagined that they would end up being each others' death. With his mind taken over by Beryl's dark energy, all of the love Kunzite felt for her had turned into hatred. Aphrodite was the enemy which stood in the way of the one he served and she needed to disappear. Pushing the blade of his sword through her body had been... satisfying, even if the feeling only lasted for a little while before she delivered a fatal blow to him. Clarity only sunk in mere seconds before he died, to be reincarnated into another existence in which he had no chance to mend his mistakes, because he found himself thrown back into fight, opposite to the woman he used to love and her friends. He didn't even remember Aphrodite, there had been no spark of recognition when he first saw Aino Minako. Fate was being cruel to them.

Two times they had been enemies. This time... Kunzite didn't know what would happen. For the moment, he had managed to recover his memories and he was no longer under anyone's influence but Kunzite often woke up to wonder if fate would decide to play another trick on him and he would become a pawn of some evil woman once again. He could only hope that him and Minako would not become enemies again but he was certain that they would not be lovers. His heart had been given to someone else and, despite the small flame that burned inside his heart when he saw her, Kunzite was certain of his feelings for the other man. That flame made his heart thump louder in his chest now that he was so close to her. Judging by her reaction to his voice, he expected their meeting to be a very harsh and unpleasant one. It hurt to see the way in which she looked at him but his expression remained as passive as always, masking the hurt. ”It looked familiar”, was all the answer he gave. It would have been too much to reveal that he was not sure why he walked in. ”We need to talk...”

There were many things about the past that Minako wished that she could change, and honestly if she had her way then the first thing that she changed would be ever meeting Kunzite. Although he had made her happy back then, she often wondered if it was worth all of the heartbreak that she had gone through. She knew that Usagi had gone through the same thing as Serenity when it came to Endymion, and to her it was all worth it, but the couple that Minako had thought would never break up had actually broken up when the blond girl had decided rather suddenly that she was in love with Seiya...Or at least that she had some feelings for Seiya of some kind. Minako had seen the affect that it had had on Mamoru, so once again she was honestly left with the question of 'was it all worth it...' As much as her heart screamed yes, that every little bit of pain was worth it when you find that person, her brain screamed the exact opposite and told herself that she should shield herself and her friends from the pain that came with love and betrayal, but she knew that she couldn't protect herself or her friends from something like that.

Sighing softly, the blond girl closed her eyes for a moment, biting her bottom lip gently. Sometimes the memories of what had hapened back then seemed so real to her, almost as if they had happened only years ago rather then centuries ago. Shuddering slightly she wrapped her arms around herself remembering that final fight. She hadn't wanted to fight him, but he threatened her princess and her queen, and if there was always one thing that she believed in it was that duty came before matters of the heart, that Serenity...Usagi was the most important thing and that nothing should stop her from protecting her, and so she had protected her with everything that she had in her and she had failed. She had never been as good at fighting as Morrigan was, and it was for that reason that she often wondered at how she had ended up as the leader of Serenity's guardians instead of Martian princess, and her failure to protect her princess only made those feelings worse. She could still remember how it had hurt when he pushed his blade through her. She knew that she was dead, that she wouldn't be able to protect Serenity anymore, but she also knew that she could prevent him from getting anywhere near her and so she had done the first thing that came into her head which was to thrust her own blade through him before she blacked out completely not even able to see if she had killed him or not as her pain and everything else disappeared.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes again as she looked at Kunzite. It seemed as though she couldn't get away from him. She knew that like them he would always come back because he was meant to guard Mamoru just as they were meant to guard Usagi, but it was frustrating. How was she meant to move on with her life if he was always there...how was she meant to leave the past where it belonged if he didn't leave her alone. Hearing his words, the smallest of smirks appeared on her features slightly "Well i'm sure you tried to kill someone around here." she said in a rather bitchy tone before clearing her throat softly "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that." hearing the last thing he said, she shook her head with the smallest of laughs that had slightly bitter tinges to it "I don't really think there is anything we need to talk about Kunzite." she stated in a neutral tone as she looked at him. That was honestly the way that she felt. In her opinion there wasn't anything for them to talk about, but if he felt so badly that he needed to have a conversation with her, then she would listen to what he had to say, however pointless it ended up being.

He would have never admitted it to anyone but Kunzite hated the position in which he found himself. He had been nothing but a simple man before, lacking any power that tied him to what he had used to be in the past. The difference was that, back then, Kunzite didn't have any memory of the past. Ignorance hadn't been bliss, it had been downright luxury. Ignorance had been synonymous to lack of guilt and, in retrospect, Kunzite was realizing that it had been the best state in which he could find himself. Being brainwashed had also been a conveniently remorseless state, as his perspective on everything that had happened and everything he was doing was completely altered. The way in which he was now, plagued by remorse, consumed by guilt... Kunzite hated it because it made him feel weak. He liked being in control, he liked fighting threats and defeating him. Weakness was intangible, he couldn't fight against it, he couldn't defeat it, he couldn't ignore it. He felt trapped and he should have been the one trapping his enemies, not the other way around.

Minako's presence only served to make that feeling of weakness seem stronger than it had ever been. Aside from his Master, the woman in front of him had been the one which had suffered the most because of his actions. He was supposed to love her, he was supposed to make her happier than she ever dreamed of. Their life should have been quiet and peaceful and they should have had a family, one day. The day never came because he had been tricked – he had allowed himself to be tricked, failing to see the real threat to their kingdom, to their Prince. He killed her. His sword had pierced her flesh right in the chamber which had been witness to the love and passion that had bound them. His blade took her life away, with its usual, flawless skill. The same went for her attack, which claimed his treacherous life. Having to remember those moments were sheer torture, plaguing his dreams, twisting them to horrid nightmares that made him wake up at night, completely horrified. Zoisite's embrace was soothing in those moments but it was not enough to make everything go away.

Kunzite thought that confronting her might be a solution but he hadn't expected her to be so cold. She had all the right to be like this, even worse. That didn't mean that it was any less hurtful for Kunzite to see her acting this way. Her accusation made his usual icy mask falter, guilt showing in his expression. He remained quiet. There was no real answer he could give to that, not when the chances were very high that she was right. It was not something Kunzite was proud of but he had tried to kill so many people that he couldn't remember them all. He dismissed her apology with a small gesture of his hand, trying to recollect his usual stoic expression. ”There are many thing...” He sighed, trying to collect his thoughts. ”I don't even know where to begin. And... You probably don't even want to listen to what I have to say.”

Minako was basically a ball of emotions right now, torn between annoyance that he was there, anger due to the fact that, well it was him and that lingering little feeling of sorrow that she felt whenever she was near him, and it was that little bit of sorrow that fueled her anger really, she hated feeling like that, in fact she was actually tired of feeling things when it came to him, but unfortunately she was an emotional person which she blamed on her position in life although she wasn't anywhere near Usagi when it came to her emotions, at least she usually had a good grip on them, and when it came down to it her emotions always came second to her duty, Usagi always came before love or anything like that, which she had to admit was kind of amusing due to the fact that she was the former Senshi of Love and you would have thought that love would come first in her books, but Usagi was her best friend and quite possibly the most important person in the world to her apart from Rei really. Honestly, sometimes she couldn't help but wonder what she would do if neither of them were in her life.

Twisting a stray lock of hair around her fingers, she kept her blue gaze away from him. In a way it hurt her to look at him, and she definitely had a better control of her feelings when she wasn't looking at him. She knew she that she could never change what happened, but in a way she knew that she wouldn't even if she could. She had learned that things happened for a reason, and she figured that she obviously wasn't meant to be happy when it came to love, and she was starting to realise that it didn't bother her as much as it used to. Honestly, if it came down to it, she would do it all over again if it meant keeping Usagi safe, no matter how much it hurt her or anything like that. Biting her bottom lip gently, she looked down at the floor for a moment, the smallest of smiles on her features as she thought about that, it was quite possibly the first time that she had accepted her fate, and she felt that little bit better because of it, perhaps things weren't going to be all that bad really.

Honestly, Minako hadn't expected to have this kind of reaction to him, she was a nice person...Most of the time, abut she hadn't really expected to run into him or anything like that, and well, there were things there that she just really didn't want to talk about, or think about or anything like that. Really, she wasn't the type of person that usually avoided her problems or anything like that, but this was one she would rather not deal with, ever. Turning to look at him again, she raised an eyebrow slightly at his words "Whatever gave you that opinion?" she stated with a soft laugh, she wasn't really positive that she found any of this to be amusing or anything like that, it was just more that she couldn't believe that he would actually bother to talk to her about this, the past was the past and she would rather have it kept that way "I really don't think there is anything to talk about Kunzite." she kept the look on her face neutral as she resisted the urge to actually glare at him. She didn't really think that they needed to sort out their issues either, she figured it would just be easiest to avoid talking to him, or ever seeing him...ever.

"Whatever gave you that opinion?"

The more this conversation was going on, the more Kunzite was beginning to regret having walked inside and approached her in the first place. He was not made for this, for discussions which revolved around feelings that got hurt far too many times for a simple “I'm sorry” to fix anything. Once upon a time, Kunzite has been completely convinced of the fact that he was not the kind of person that would ever fall in love. He just wasn't the sentimental type of person and, aside from that, it had been more important to him to focus on his destiny. The unexpected happened and Kunzite realized that he had been mistaken to believe that certain people were just not made to fall in love. There was a difference, though, between able to give your heart to someone and accept theirs in return and being able to deal with all the complications that came along with love, even when you were the reasons why things got so complicated in the first place.

He didn't answer Minako's question, because he couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't make things worse than they were. Kunzite kept his eyes on her, although her words stung. He didn't want to look weak in front of the blonde girl whom he had hurt so much during both of her lifetimes. Kunzite understood that she had plenty of reasons to be mad at him and hate him and he accepted that. He would have thought her to be insane if she would have just shrugged everything off too easily and acted as if nothing had happened – too much had happened. Minako was a burden that weighed heavily on his soul. If Kunzite wanted to be able to feel truly free of the past, to be able to have a quiet and normal life alongside the man he loved, he needed to talk to Minako first. He needed her to listen to everything he had to say even if, at the end, she would still hate him. Earning forgiveness would have been ideal but he didn't expect that to happen. Kunzite considered forgiveness to be a privilege to which he wasn't entitled to. He wouldn't beg for it.

”There are plenty of things to talk about. Avoiding them doesn't mean that they don't exist”, Kunzite replied. ”I'm not going to beg for your forgiveness, Minako. I'm not going to ask you to accept me back in your life, if that's what you fear.” He had loved her and she had loved him but remained in the past. Kunzite found someone that made him happy and he hoped that Minako would be just as lucky.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt as though she was starting to get tired of all of this. Sure she didn't want anything to do with him, but maybe, just maybe she should try and get over it. No, that was the wrong word for it, she was already over it she didn't have any feelings for Kunzite apart from her anger, and maybe, just maybe it was time that she let go of that as well. It would have been a lot easier if she hadn't had to fight him as much as she had over the years, but maybe this time he would actually be good and stay that way. She hoped so, not for her sake or his sake, but for Mamoru's sake, she knew that he cared about them the same way that Usagi cared about her and the others, and she knew, or at least she figured that it hurt him everytime they turned on him and Usagi, after all they were meant to protect him with their lives, not try and hurt him and the girl that he loved. Boy things could be very hard and conflicting sometimes, it often made her want to just give up altogether, although without her powers she figured that she was pretty close to have given up, even if she didn't actually chose to 'give up'

Of course that didn't mean that she really wanted to listen to what he had to say to her or anything like that, she thought that if they wanted to be free from everything then perhaps it was just better to avoid the things that had caused them so much pain in the past and just worry about their futures and what they were going to do. She was happy, or at least content with where her life was going right now, and reliving the past just made it...a little uncomfortable for her in a way. She would never be able to forget the past, but ignoring it just made things easier for her, and it made it easier for her to move on with her life. Of course never seeing him again would make it a lot easier for her, but that would never happen since she would come across him in the streets every now and then, that was a given and she wasn't that rude to say anything bad or anything like that. Honestly, she would feel guilty if she did.

Sighing softly at his words, she glanced at him "Can we just not Kunzite. Anything that's happened has happened." she glanced away for a moment before looking back at him again "I honestly just want to forget it as much as possible. We have different lives now, we are different people and if we are lucky you'll stay good this time." she couldn't help that last comment, the smallest of smiles appearing on her features as she said that. She wasn't in the mood to be completely nice to him right now.

"Can we just not Kunzite. Anything that's happened has happened."

If only things could be as simple as Minako was making them sound. Yes, his treason had happened in a very far past but that didn't make it any less present in his conscience, in his dreams – or nightmares, better said. Kunzite could understand the wish to leave it all behind, to loosen the burden of the painful memories. What he didn't understand was Minako's way of dealing with things. He thought that he did deserve being ignored for the rest of his life but, at the same time, he thought that he deserved the chance to be heard, to explain himself and to apologize before Minako would take the decision never to listen to him again – if that was even possible. If something miraculous were to happen to help them regain the powers that they have lost in Sunnydale, then they would return at being the guardians of the Princess of the Moon and of the Prince of Earth. Given that the Prince and the Princess might have to fight together to protect the planet, they would also have to learn to cooperate, whether Minako liked it or not. Tension made a team weak and vulnerable in front of the enemies – that was one of the lessons which Kunzite had been taught in the past, during his training for a military career.

At Minako's next words, in spite of Kunzite's efforts to keep his cold, emotionless mask on, it became very obvious that he was hurt. His fists clenched by his sides but he refused to look down, despite the hurt and the shame. She didn't understand anything. This was exactly why he had wanted to talk to her and explain what had happened but she refused to listen and now she was making comments like this, that were threatening to destroy all of the confidence he had managed to build. He had not made the choice to become evil simply because it had looked like a much better alternative or because he had been avid for more power. No, Kunzite had been perfectly content with being just Endymion's guardian and friend. Protecting the future ruler of the planet was his destiny and he would have never wanted to get sidetracked from it. Unfortunately for him, Beryl had exploited one of his weakness – his brotherly love for the other Shitennou – and she forced him to join her. If the other three young man wouldn't have been in danger over his refusal, he would have never sided with that witch.

He didn't have a choice the second time either. He had lead a perfectly normal life, thinking that he was nothing more than an average young man, with average ideals in life when, all of the sudden, the red-haired witch destroyed everything and claimed him to her service without him being able to open his mouth to protest against it. Did Minako even imagine the fact that Beryl had killed his human family in her wish to sever his ties with humanity? Kunzite looked down into her eyes, silently, before stepping to move past her, wishing to get out of the arcade. Minako managed to hurt him so deeply that he couldn't say anything more to her.

Truly, Minako did wish things were that easy, she had learned years ago that life was never that simple no matter how much she actually wished that they were. It had been that way since she had become Sailor Venus, it was just that things eventually got harder. She still wished that things had gone differently in England, she still missed her friends back there even if she didn't talk about them anymore, or even really think about them. At least moving on from that had been easy, well easy for them anyway. Directing her faze down to her hands while she played with the bottom of her skirt. Should she forgive and forget about the past? It had been so long ago and she was no longer the same girl that she had been back then, in fact she was rather different to what she had been like back then, and perhaps that should be the reason why she should just get over it, and yet thinking about it still upset her, and that was the thing that bugged her the most about all of it really, the fact that she still couldn't get past the hurt feelings and the fact that she wasn't sure if she would ever be able to bring herself to forgive him for everything, especially considering this was the first real conversation she'd ever had with him since then.

Glancing up at him after her words, she saw the look in his eyes and felt a pang of guilt, had she meant to hurt him with her words? Perhaps, but did she feel good about the fact that she had hurt him? Certainly not, and it was that little fact that made her realise one thing about herself: she was a petty and spiteful girl right now and that was not her. If her past self could see her now, she would be bitterly disappointed about what she had turned into, heck she was rather disappointed in herself. When had she become such a cold and bitter person that she actually went and hurt people's feelings, had losing her abilities actually changed her that much? Shaking her head, she dragged her gaze away from him, not wanting to see that look in his eyes, a look that she definitely wasn't used to seeing when it came to him. She made a mental note not to mention this conversation to the others although she had a feeling that Rei might possibly be proud of her in a way.

Waiting for him to say something equally harsh back to her, she bit her bottom lip gently. She didn't really think there was much that he could say to hurt her, but she had honestly never thought that anything she said to him could really hurt him either. When he didn't say anything back, she glanced up at him again, only to see him look at her before walking away. Sighing softly, she stood up from her seat and followed him out, reaching out a hand to grab his arm lightly "I'm sorry." she said softly, actually meaning it "I can be a horrible person sometimes without meaning to." she sighed softly and looked away from him "I didn't mean to say that, or at least not like that." she had meant it as a joke in a way, but it was a pretty bad joke honestly.

Kunzite had never imagine that the road to redemption would be an easy one but he had never imagined just how hard it would be either. He never expected that forgiveness would come to him on a silver platter, without him making any effort towards earning it. This encounter with Minako, however, made Kunzite feel as if forgiveness was slipping further and further out of his reach. Worse than that, it made him doubt that his efforts were worth it. What did he want to prove to the Sailor Senshi anyway? Wasn't it said that actions spoke louder than words did? Kunzite's actions, so far, established him as a traitor in their eyes and there was no telling how many words, how many apologies and explanations, would be sufficient to make them understand that the man who they thought him to be and the man he truly was were two entirely different persons.

Wasn't he laughable, letting a seventeen year old girl get to him like that? Kunzite imagined that Zoisite would laugh and something really unkind to say about the way he just walked out of that parlor after Minako delivered that low blow. Withdrawing like that wasn't something which Kunzite had a habit to do. On the battlefield, in front of the scariest of enemies, it didn't matter to him how low his odds were. He stood his ground and fought until he proved his strength. Sometimes the harshest defeats came from the most unexpected of enemies, didn't they? All he wanted to do right now was walk back to his place and lock himself in his room and just avoid anyone for the entire day – or even for the next days, while he decided what to do next with his life: whether he should continue proving that he was a good man that had circumstances had perverted or whether he should just let everyone think of him what they wanted, while he just tried to learn to live a normal life again.

As tempting as the second option was, Kunzite had to wonder if chosing it didn't mean that he would be betraying Endymion-sama yet again. Hadn't they been reborn into this time so that they could be his guardians? Beryl got to them first and turned them against him but now she was gone and so was all evil. Should the lack of powers mean that they were supposed to forget about their purpose? Didn't they have a debt to pay towards the raven-haired man, for having betrayed him in the distant past? The train of his thoughts was derailed when he felt a touch on his arm. Kunzite turned around, his face betraying his surprise when his eyes fell on Minako. His gaze was quickly averted away from her, even as she uttered an apology. How could he know for sure if she truly meant it? He let out a sigh. ”What did you mean to say, then?”, he asked, a little coldly. There was only one meaning which he could give to her words and that was that Minako thought him to be weak-minded and easy to brainwash. He folded his arms in front of his chest as he waited for an answer.

If she had spoken to Usagi about this, Minako would have received the same response and that was the fact that in her mind everyone deserved forgiveness and she knew that the other girl did truly believe that she just found it hard to think like that herself. She could tell that Kunzite did feel guilty about what had happened and in a way she knew that it wasn't exactly his fault so didn't that mean that she should just get over it? No people that knew Minako definitely knew that she wasn't the type to let things go that easily although really it did depend on what the issue was. Was she a bad person for not wanting to trust Kunzite? She didn't think so, she knew that Usagi did in her weird way but that was one of Usagi's faults as well as a strength in her mind, the other blonde was just way too trusting. She would prefer to be mistrusting and looked down upon then to trust everyone and be stabbed in the back once again. It was one of those little lessons she had learned over the years, one of the good things to come out of her failed romances.

To say that she was surprised when he walked off would have been a slight under exaggeration, she had expected him to say something back to her that could have been equally as harsh and it was that which made her feel guilty about her words. She didn't think that Kunzite was the kind of person to just take someone insulting them even if she didn't exactly mean it that way, wasn't that a sign that he had truly changed? that he wanted to be a good person. The thing was that it wasn't just him she would have the same reaction to any of his friends, it was just that he was the only one that had come over to her and really he was the only one that she had ever really spoken to. Now or in the past really, but she knew that they had all hurt her friends in the same way that Kunzite had her and she figured that they were all having the same problem as him she just wasn't ready to trust them yet. That didn't mean that she needed to be hurtful towards them, she wanted to grow up well this was her chance to show that she had or that she was.

Eyeing him she couldn't help but cringe slightly at his words what did she mean? She didn't even know that herself, she tended to speak without thinking a lot of the time, sometimes it was from the heart and sometimes it was just her mouth talking for her. Pulling away from him slightly she looked down at the ground and wrinkles her nose she wasn't certain about what she should say to him especially as she didn't want to make things worse with him ... glancing up for a second she kept her eyes away from his and instead stated at his arms folded "I...don't know" she admitted rather lamely "Ive never met you when you were anything but evil" she sighed softly not sure if what she was saying was stupid or what "I don't count the past in that obviously, you and the others have tried to hurt my friends three times now." she paused and glanced away once again a frown marring her features "I want to believe that you could stay his way, that some other evil won't find a way to manipulate you to follow their own good, you deserve to be happy just as much as we do. I will tell you this though if any of you do hurt my friends ever again I will make whoever does it miserable!" she groaned as soon as those words left her mouth Well done Minako she thought to herself Way to make things better between the two of you! she looked back at him "Usagi-chan tells me that everyone deserves a second chance, that everyone has some good in them. If Usagi-chan trusts you then I will, I trust her judgement more then anyone elses." that was certainly the truth anyone that knew her knew that Usagi was definitely the person she trusted the most when it came to other people "I don't hate you or anything a part of me wants to but I can't. I want to trust you and I will unless something happens." she hoped that Usagi would be proud of her for the things that she was saying.

Sighing softly to herself she directed her gaze to the side the tiniest of smiles on her features as she did "I'm sorry." she added not certain if he would believe her or not and only partially caring in a way. She was trying and she was proud of herself for it, she would have to tell Rei about this conversation later and see how the other girl would have handled things. She knew that she had handled them badly and she had a feeling that Kunzite wouldn't really want anything to do with her, but again that didn't really bother her as they weren't friends although she did want to sort of attempt to make things better between the two of them no matter how weird and awkward it was between them. Twisting a lock of hair around one of her fingers she stared off into the distance a little bit. If she wanted to believe that the past was the past then this was the moment for her to move on from everything including the more recent past and yes that did include Sunnydale in her mind "if you are going to be around Mamoru-san then we might have to at least get along right?" she tried to say that in a slightly perky way until she remembered the way that the relationship was going between Usagi and Mamoru "Maybe anyway...depending on what happens with Usagi-chan and Mamoru-san." well she had definitely put her foot in it now, she was awkward and slightly nervous and was now officially rambling and making a complete idiot of herself.

"Ive never met you when you were anything but evil"

Kunzite was ready to contradict that statement until Minako clarified the fact that she did not take the past into account. Thinking about it, it made sense that she would not count the days of the Silver Millennium – the one that had met him back then had not been Aino Minako, it had been Aphrodite. There was no telling how much of the woman he used to love had been passed into this teenage girl who was so skilled with her hurtful words that she was hurting him more than others ever managed to do with sharp weapons. It was clear that she had Aphrodite's memories but was it also the same personality? Kunzite didn't think that was possible. Aphrodite and Minako had been born in different times and raised in completely different circumstances – the elements that played an important part in shaping an individual had varied from one to the other. The same was true in his case, except for the fact that he considered his situation to be far more complicated. He didn't know if he was the same Kunzite that had lived in the Silver Millennium, or if he was a normal man carrying Kunzite's memories. He remembered how he had been before Beryl got to him again and it didn't feel to him like he was the same man. It didn't seem like he was the same general he had been either.

As much as he hated to admit it, Kunzite was going through a very serious identity crisis and he hated it, because it made him feel completely vulnerable. If he was vulnerable, that meant that he was an easy target for anyone that might have suddenly decided to use him once again against the ones which he was supposed to protect with the cost of his own life: Mamoru-sama and the other three Shitennou. He idly wondered whether the blonde girl in front of him had gone through a similar situation when she remembered her past life and he arrived to the conclusion that it was highly unlikely that such a thing had happened. If she had a little bit of Aphrodite in her, that meant that she was strong and that she recovered quickly, adjusting to the truth about her existence. Kunzite had to admit to himself that the petite blonde in front of him could be much stronger than he was. If only this strength allowed her to give him a second chance... Fighting the urge to sigh, he felt the need to highlight a crucial detail to Minako: ”Every time we tried to hurt you, we were not ourselves. I know we have our own blame, for being too weak-minded but...” The sigh he had tried to contain left his lips. ”I don't think you could ever understand this, Aino-sama”, he continued, purposely using the most polite formula to address her and put the necessary distance between the two of them. ”Nobody can understand until they have been in a similar situation and I hope that neither you or your friends ever have first-hand experience with it.”

”If you honestly think that we deserve being happy, than I am thankful” Kunzite said, watching her briefly. ”I don't know if we do deserve happiness after everything we have done. Maybe we are fated to suffer until we are finally allowed to rest in peace, without anyone disturbing out eternal slumber, maybe not being allowed to rest until we fulfill our destinies is our punishment? As far as I am concerned, I shall do everything that rests in my powers to prevent being used again. If I have to die to prevent that, I will.” He sounded completely determined. Kunzite didn't want to become a puppet on a string again, not only because it was a humiliating position to be in but also because that would have hurt too many people. ”I am grateful that Serenity-sama is so forgiving.” Kunzite ignored the thread for the simple reason that he was determined not to give Minako the slightest of reasons to put it into practice.

"I don't hate you or anything a part of me wants to but I can't. I want to trust you and I will unless something happens. I'm sorry."

The change in Minako's attitude made Kunzite adopt a slightly less closed stance. He unfolded his arms from in front of his chest and he tucked them into the pockets of his pants, looking at Minako when she looked away from him. ”Arigatou, Aino-sama, but you don't need to apologize. I was the one that needed to apologize and to earn your forgiveness. The fact that you are willing to trust me until something bad happens is more than enough for me.” Minako mentioning Mamoru and Usagi made Kunzite's brows furrow into a small frown. ”It's a little ironic. In the past I opposed to Endymion-sama and Serenity-sama's relationship, as it defied the laws of both kingdoms, and now, when I see how Mamoru-sama is faring, I find myself wishing that they had another chance. I guess when so many people try to ruin a relationship, it falls apart, sooner or later?” Kunzite knew for what reasons Mamoru and Usagi were not a couple any more but he still felt a pang of guilt for the pain his Master felt. He deserved to be happy.