There's a pounding in my chest
It's getting hard to breathe
Morning's coming but not yet
So take your time with me
Whisper sweet and pull me close
Never let me go
Never let me go

Warm. Minako was so warm. It was the perfect kind of warm too, not overly so, but deliciously so. Inside and out. For once, everything felt just right and perfectly in place. It was an astonishingly good feeling, one that she hadn't felt in forever…a life time if she was being honest. It was oh so tempting to ignore the pull of consciousness and fade back to sleep but the feeling of breath against her bare shoulder was enough to have her surfacing, albeit slowly.

She was also sore, but in a way that would never have her complaining. Good gods, she felt so good. So good.

Perfect. Content. Whole. The list could go on but if she was going to be awake before dawn, she was going to do something productive. Like watch him sleep.

Rolling over as gently as she could, Minako winced as she found he was asleep on her hair. A quick pull and maybe a bald spot later, and she was resettling on her side. She had to tuck her arms in tightly and eventually bite down on one of her fingers to keep from reaching out to him. By the rosy color of the light creeping into her bedroom, they'd probably only gotten a few hours of sleep by this point and she was loathe to wake him. He'd more than earned his slumber this morning she thought, feeling a warm glow start to surround her. For hours he'd worshiped her, mind, body and soul. And just when she thought she couldn't manage a second more of his attentions, he proved that she could.

"Oh my God, Kahlil. Stop. You have to stop. I can't." Breathless Minako thrashed under him, her hands leaving where her fingernails were biting into his back to grip the wrist of the hand that slid between them and was working her ruthlessly. "I cannot."

A harsh explicative in what may have been a forgotten language, punctuated her statement. Kahlil only laughed and bit down on her neck.

"You can." His thrusts were almost languid, but Minako knew damned well that was feigned.

"No, goddamnit, I –ah!" Minako's breath caught and her grip on his wrist turned brutal. "I will break your wrist. I WILL BRE—Oh my God, please, please, please. "

With a brilliant flash behind her eyes, Minako combusted for the umpteenth time, and it was the most ruthlessly beautiful thing she'd ever felt. She wasn't sure how long it took her to come back to earth, because she was certain that she'd just visited fiery Venus, haunting Luna, and every planet in between.

"There you are…" Mina opened her eyes to meet Kahlil's far from empty gaze. How his eyes could be so cool in color but warm at the same time was inexplicable. She had to know.

"How do—"His hips rocked shallowly against hers and her question was stopped by an aftershock robbing her of breath. Mina's eyes narrowed at his laughter.

"No. Absolutely not."

He bit down on the lobe of her ear and with the confidence of a King demanded, "Again."

Biting down on her aching lower lip to catch a sigh, Minako released her finger which moved with a mind of its own toward his face. It was like he'd broken down every wall she thought she had and was recreating her into something else. Something she hadn't been in a long, long time. Whatever it was, it felt right…it felt like she was exactly what she was supposed to be. Not lost…but found.

She wanted to thank him.

He was beautiful; his sharp angles tempered by the complete and utter peace of his slumber. Her fingertips paused just before the tip of his nose, hesitant to wake him, but…but oh, how she longed to touch him, to brush her fingertips over the planes of his face, of the expanse of his chest, of…well anything honestly. She needed to touch him almost as much as she wanted to crawl inside of his skin and make a home never to be parted from him again. This man was so much a part of her that it was a bit terrifying. Her heart swelled painfully until the only release she could find were the tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.

"Stop watching me sleep, Minako," Kahlil murmured sleepily without opening his eyes. "It's creepy."

"Sorry," Mina choked out. The watery laugh she punctuated her apology with had Kahlil's eyes snapping open and looking over her with concerned scrutiny.

"Stop. I'm fine," She managed, covering her wet eyes with her palms. Kahlil frowned softly and gathered her against his bare chest with a sigh.

"Good cry or bad cry?"

"I don't know," Mina cried softly against his chest. "I missed you so much. So much. Please don't go again, Kahlil."

He didn't reply instead pulled back and managed to pull her hands away from her face.

"Don't hide from me, Mina, please."

"I'm not hiding. If I were hiding I'd be bawling in the bathroom with the water running." She tried to laugh but it still sounded too choked. "Oh my GOD. I can't stop crying! What the shit?!"

"You know, you've covered me with more snot than anyone, including my little sisters."

"You have sisters?" Mina asked softly, hiccupping as she tried to harshly wipe the still falling tears from her eyes. Kahlil caught her hands and leaned in to kiss down the salty trails on her cheeks until he found her lips. It was another moment before he pulled back again.

"I do."

"There's so much I don't know…So much I missed," Mina whispered softly.

"So I'll tell you now."

Shifting, Kahlil draped an arm over the dip of her waist and pulled her closer. As the rosy hues of dawn brightened into day, he told her everything she wanted to know, and more. About the fiercely loyal child who grew to be a fiercely independent man who became a pawn, almost broke, and rose again to find his true purpose in this life while wrapped in memories of the last.

Daylight crept in around the window shade, but Mina ignored it, knowing she could go a lifetime without its light if she had this man before her. After his story finished she pressed her fingertips to his lips and let out a sigh.

"Did I ever tell you about soulmates?"

"When? Before?"

"Yeah, back then. In the Silver Millennium."

"Not…No, I don't remember you mentioning it."

"Do you think we were in love back then?"

Kahlil paused to think.

"I think I loved you as best as a man could love a goddess," He eventually replied softly.

"I think you're right. I think we loved as best we could around—" She gestured wildly with her hand. "Well, everything else. Let me back up. Do you even believe that there's such a thing as soulmates?"

"I'm not sure. I think that…"Kahlil paused to gather his thoughts. "I think that some loves are greater than others."

"Ours was the greatest, naturally," Minako smiled.

"Naturally," Kahlil grinned and looked so boyish that Minako took the time to memorize him just like that.

It was a moment before she spoke again.

"When I was little, before I even became Venus, my mother told me of a gift that was granted to very few. No, no, let me back up even more. One of the gifts of the Venusian people was the ability to see relationships. Different attachments are different colors, and most of us could see that. I know it seems weird, but for us, it was simply what we saw."

"Do you see them now?"

"Eh, it comes and goes. It's easier when I'm a Senshi, but lately, if I focus hard, I can just make them out."

Kahlil nodded and Mina continued.

"My parents back then, they were special, this was the gift, they were soulmates. Now people use that term more freely than we ever did. Everything is 'she's my soulmate,' 'he's my soulmate', but back then, people didn't have to say it because everyone could see it."

"Your parents were soulmates?"

"Yeah."

It was so nice to have someone keep up with her sometimes fractured train of thought but now that she'd caught up with her train of thought, she hesitated. What if this thing that she'd been raised with once upon a millennia ago scared him? What if it was too much? Sometimes it was too much for her: all the feelings, all the knowing, all the everything.

"Minako?"

Maybe she shouldn't say. Maybe it wasn't happening, hadn't happened this time around. Maybe the red string she'd seen around them was a play of the light.

"Mina?"

Maybe it was too soon, they didn't really know much about each other after all. Maybe she should wait…But wasn't waiting what she'd done before, accidentally dragging him along?

Shit.

She couldn't bear to think of losing this all because she'd simply told the truth. But he deserved that, didn't he?

Subconsciously, Mina's face slipped into a soft serene smile and she allowed one of her many masks slip back into place while she figured this out. She was so engrossed in her thoughts trying to come up with an acceptable strategy that she nearly missed the flash of hurt that turned his warm eyes to stone. He pulled back to the edge of the bed and gave her a smile, but the warmth it held had cooled.

Did he just put on a mask? It was disconcerting to be on the receiving end of one of her own most frequently used tactics.

"Kahlil, wa—" He pulled his pants on and didn't wait for her to finish.

"Bathroom?"

Mina sighed and gestured to a cracked door. "There."

The door closed behind him and she dropped her head into her hands, lost.

Even when soul mates were involved, love still wasn't easy.

Big surprise, except not.

When Kahlil returned to the room, he started gathering his scattered clothing. He'd pulled his hair into a loose bun at the back of his head and Mina found her fingers aching to muss it, but the moment was gone. His state of half dress looked delicious and she wanted to tell him so, but it was wrong. She could feel it in the air, in her heart. It wouldn't bring him closer, it would just push him further away.

"No. Stop. Stop."

"Mina, it's fine." His voice sounded tired. Was that what she'd sounded like before? Before she'd found him? She had to fix this.

"Kahlil, I—"

"There's this part of me, part of Kunzite maybe, who only wants to remember when I had all of you."

"We'resoulmates," Mina blurted kneeling at the foot of her bed, letting the sheet pool around her hips. "The colors I saw around my parents, I see it around us. Sometimes I don't even have to squint. It's there for all the world to see, or, well me.

"You are, for better or for worse stuck with me for this eternity, and the next, maybe longer. Our connection, it exists, whether you believe it or not. Venusians could bond like that. The more it grows, the more of you I'll be able to feel, the more of me you'll be able to feel. And it's permanent, obviously. In this life, we're practically perfect strangers, but we're connected. Even when your body wasn't your own, we were still—" Mina sighed and looked up from her tirade. He'd stopped moving and was watching her closely, scrutinizing her again like some of the answers may be written all over her face.

"Without you I will eventually just fade away." Mina sighed and looked down still feeling guiltier than she should about a decision that she'd long since made.

"It's why I asked to forget. I was worthless. You think I'm a mess now, I was literally a slow motion train wreck, structurally unsound and waiting to implode in a ball of flames. And, for good measure, I probably would have taken a few people down with me. I was freaking fourteen. It would have been bad. How was I supposed to protect Serenity and lead the Senshi when I was falling apart? I was barely dealing with becoming Minako with Venus in my head and then—"

Her words had started softly only to end with her practically yelling and gesturing to the heavens angrily. And then, like a puppet with her strings cut, the bluster was gone and she dropped back to the mattress, gathering the sheet around her and plucking at it lightly.

"Mina I understand," Kahlil stated softly but Mina shook her head, sighed and looked back up, needing him to see the truth she hoped was written all over her face.

"A part of me will always need you, but it's more than that, you are a part of me. Kunzite, Kahlil, whoever we will be in our next life, you will always be tied to me. We don't have a choice, because that's what we need, another thing in our lives that don't give us a choice." Her voice was bitterer than even she expected.

"Mina, I chose you a long time ago."

"That's just it! No, you didn't. We were already on a path and we just kept walking it because there was no choice."

"And before that? Back when you first stepped onto Earth, before my latest round of mistakes, before I even knew your name. I. Chose. You. Mina. I chose you, will choose you, and will continue to do so until my soul fades completely from existence."

Mina blinked. Her mouth opened to argue but with two quick steps, Kahlil was across the room. Grasping both of her arms, he pulled her up until her bare chest pressed against his.

"I. Want. You." His voice was harsh and were it not for the breathiness hidden beneath, she would have assumed he was back to commanding his troops. "What part of I want everything did you misunderstand?"

Oh, was that him trying to be condescending? Mina narrowed her eyes at his tone and Kahlil smirked.

"Stop trying to strategize your way away from me, Mina. You cannot tell me you want me in one breath and shove me away with the next. Let me know you, rest with me, let me ease the exhaustion you hide."

"Ease? You call last night easing exhaustion?" She huffed, but he continued on, undeterred.

"Minako, Agapi, let me in. Let me love you."

Could she do that?

Yeah, she could do that.

For a moment the silence hung between them, leaving Mina suspended between what she'd lost and what she could have. Was there really any choice? Her exhale was soft against his lips as she let it all go. She wondered if her face showed how vulnerable she felt right now and from the way his eyes widened slightly she figured it did. Thought it wasn't easy, Minako let her expression linger a moment longer. It would take some time to remember what it felt like to have him inside her walls, but she knew it was worth it.

It was so worth it.

Mina looked down a slow smile curling her lips feeling the way her heart skipped a beat when he reached out and brushed his fingertips against her face.

"I won't be easy on you, Tariq." She looked up and her smile turned haughty and hid the elation she felt as she let her fears go.

"I'd expect nothing less," His lips curled at one corner.

If anyone should be able to do this, it should be her. Love was her element after all. If she couldn't surrender to this man who already held her heart in the palm of her head, then she was a fool and not worthy of the Venusian blood still coursing through her veins. Her chest swelled and something within her broke in the best way possible. There was no place else for her. She'd be pure stupid to think anything else.

This was exactly where she belonged.

The silence echoed between them, their breath mingling. All haughtiness fled leaving behind only a genuineness that was as heavy as it was brilliant.

"Trust me." The kiss he pressed to the corner of her mouth was sweet as sugar.

"Yes." She returned the kiss with a simple brush of her lips. "But why are you wearing pants?"

He laughed and with the sound Minako was certain.

She'd been found.

You could stay here in my arms so tight
We could lay here in this perfect night
I could love you if you'd let me dear
So stay right here
Stay right here
Right here