Before Proceeding Forward

by Vchanny

Summary: One shot, Kunzite and Artemis have a chat.

All characters (c) Naoko Takeuchi

Just outside Shiba Kōen's fenced in campus, just past the sports court on the back side of the school, stood a tall, tan, twenty-something male with silver hair down the middle of his back, stray hairs randomly fluttering in the breeze. Dressed in pressed khakis and white linen shirt, the backpack over his shoulder was the only clue to who he was: a university student. Perhaps there to meet a student he was tutoring, or perhaps simply there for nostalgia's sake—missing days past. Not that any of that was true.

The truth was, he was Kunzite. One of the Four Heavenly Kings. And his master, or mistress rather, had recently awoken, and her plans to take over Earth were about to be in full swing. Until a few months prior, he had been happily living his life, unaware that the reoccurring dreams he'd been having nearly his whole life were, in fact, memories. His true master, his brothers, his lover, peace, betrayal, war, death. But the moment Beryl found Metalia's tomb, deep in that icy cave and regained her memories, his intensified, becoming more vivid, more clear; and he knew it wouldn't be long before she found him, and made good on her claim to his soul. It really, was no longer his choice anymore. He would help her find the others, awaken them, if the poor bastards hadn't already, and help her with her plan of revenge.

But, before all this happened, he needed to stop here.

He needed to see her. If there was one thing he remembered more than Endymoin, or falling for the wicked witch's plan, it was her. Her eyes haunted him. In his dreams, he swore he could smell her, feel her, taste her. He needed to see her one time before it began.

"Higashi-chan! You hit it too far!"
"My bad!"
"I got it!" a third voice called out.

And then, there she was, running in his direction at the stray ball. He leaned over the fence and picked it up; she was only a few feet away now.

"Here you go."
They locked eyes as he tossed the ball to her, and her face reddened. "Oh," a nervous chuckle escaped her lips, "Thank you!" She bowed quickly, smiled, and took off back to the court, glancing back just once.

"Minako-chan, who was that?" he heard them, as he put his sunglasses on and gathered the few things he'd set on the bench. "He's so cute! What did he say?"

As he began to walk away, a rustling in a tree caught his attention. From it, jumped a white cat, who somersaulted and landed directly in front of his path, hissing. Kunzite remembered enough to know who this cat belonged to. "Compose yourself, Artemis, was it?" The cat seemed to smirk at him, and then began pacing in a circle around Kunzite's legs.

"What are you doing here?"

A condescending chuckle left Kunzite's lips. "I should be asking what took you so long."

"You don't get to ask the questions. What are you doing here?" he repeated.

"Nothing concerning, furball."

"Hey! I'll show you furball!"

Kunzite reached down, despite protests, and grabbed the cat by the nape of it's neck. "And what exactly are you going to do, kitty? If I wanted you dead, or her, for the matter, it would have been done."

"Put me—meow! Down!" the feline cried out while flailing his arms in vain, hoping to get loose.

Kunzite rolled his eyes and set the cat down.

"Thank you." The cat looked over to the volleyball court, visibly settling down now that he'd been released. "And, I suppose you're right." His gaze met Kunzite's. "So, what are you doing here, then? Not trying to steal her away from her destiny are you?"

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"I see. I need you to leave her alone."

"You haven't even awoken her yet," he quipped.

"No, I haven't," came the defensive reply. "I just found her. Wait—how did you know who she was? How did you know she was here?"

His eyes looked back to the court, "I just knew. I knew she was here. I felt it in my bones. I just needed to see her, just once, before you unlocked the woman inside. Before all the hurt and pain came back." Before we're enemies again. "She's so happy right now."

"You're awfully sentimental for the enemy."

He smirked at the cat, and then turned back to the girls playing. "You obviously don't have all your memories back."

"What? Of course I—okay, well, maybe not. But I remember enough. You and your men led the charge that destroyed our kingdom. Which makes you, the enemy."

"As I suspected. Don't fret, cat. Soon, I won't remember much more than you do. My clarity will cloud over as her poison over-takes my mind and body, and I will once again, be her puppet."

"What are you talking about?"

Kunzite merely adjusted his bag on his shoulder and walked past the white feline. "Don't worry about it. Just awaken her, and train her well. She's going to need it. Phase two is about to happen, and you two need to be ready." And with that ominous note, he strode away from the dumbfounded cat. The trials she and her partner were about to face would be cruel, but he hoped the ultimate cruelty, the return of her unfiltered memories, would wait to surface until after his demise. Because he knew, that ultimately, Beryl would fail again. And he would die. Again. He just hoped that those sad, blue eyes wouldn't be staring him in the face for a second time, haunting him for another thousand years.