Title: Sleeping With The Enemy

Chapter: Two

Author: Silent Figure

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor have I ever owned the characters of Sailor Moon or Sailor V.

Minako was bored. She was a few hours into her first ever job and already she couldn't wait to get off of her shift. And she had a good three more hours to go too. At least the first few hours had been somewhat entertaining, she'd been trained and showed around the library, learned the inner workings and how to handle the not as complicated as she thought computer system. Well it hadn't been the most entertaining thing she'd ever done or something she'd really liked, but at least it had kept her busy. Glancing away from the computer screen, which was glaring at her with its archaeological text that she felt was far too complicated for her to mentally compute, she spared a look at the clocks time which had promptly moved one minute ahead from the last time she had checked. Groaning she spun away from the computer screen and decided people watching might be more fun. Placing her chin in the palm of her hand, she looked eagerly from person to person. She wasn't surprised to find nothing exciting. There were a few people scattered around reading fiction, others hunched over their homework, and a few kids running around away from their embarrassed mothers who tried to keep their voices down as they demanded their children's return to them. "Oh Venus, how on Earth am I supposed to survive this", she whispered in frustration.

"Maybe you should start by doing your reading. It will help pass the time", Artemis's voice whispered from underneath her, effectively startling her.

She couldn't help but jump a little before pushing away from her desk and glancing down to make sure there really was a white fur ball near her feet. "You do realize pets aren't allowed in the library", she whispered back furiously.

"Ummm…yes, I do. I don't have one with me", another voice replied which drew her attention away from the cat under her desk to the young woman in front of her.

It took her only a split second to recognize the girl she had run into a couple days before. 'Oh good. I've given her a better excuse to find me crazy', she thought to herself in a bit of a huff. "I'm sorry. I..ugh..I'm new here. My first day today. Just reciting the rules. Keeping em' fresh in my mind you know", she practically stuttered out with a smile.

"I guess…", the girl acknowledged with a slight smile. It took Minako a moment of silence before it hit her that the girl hadn't approached her for a talk. "Oh so how can I help you", she asked.

"I have to access the research database on the Mieji period for a research project", the girl replied rather quickly.

"Oh sure, just one sec. I'll get you a passcode for the computer", Minako chirped as she typed on her computer, and clicked away only to find that she'd hit the wrong program. It took her nearly ten minutes to find the access code that would allow Ami to view the online documents she was looking for, but she was proud of herself as she pressed the print button. Looking up she'd noticed that the girl had her face buried in a book, having realized that she'd wait longer than a second.

"Umm here ya go", Minako said holding out the paper with a login and passcode for the database. The girl took it with a meek, "thanks" and headed towards the computers.

Only a few moments after the girl departed did, she overhear a couple of girls walking towards her desk talk about the one who had just left from there, "What a dork. I can't believe Mizuno is already working on our history project. It's not due for weeks".

"Everyone knows it is because she doesn't have any friends, let alone a social life. I heard that she's already got into that prestigious new cram school that is supposed to open soon. Has had acceptance for months", the black haired one replied to the other.

"Like I said a total loser", her friend replied as she stopped in front of Mina and turned her attention on Minako.

"What can I do for you ladies", Minako asked with more attitude then she intended. She couldn't help but feel a bit of protectiveness over the blue haired girl who was subject to her peers ridicule simply because she was smart.

"Wow. You are like, really pretty for being a librarian", the girl stated in a rather shocked tone.

"Thanks. Now is there something I can help you ladies with because frankly I have more important things to do then listen to young girls gossip about nice girls who are simply trying to get ahead in the world", Minako replied curtly.

"Umm yeah we'd like a login for the internet", the girl asked snidely, clearly unhappy with Minako's disapproval of their behavior towards the Mizuno girl.

This time Minako was much quicker at getting them a login, for both the reasons of trying to get them away from her quicker and because she had a better handle on it after looking for the code for the Mizuno girl. She handed the girl the sheet of paper but held it as the other girl tried to grab it, making sure to get her attention, "If I hear any loud noises from you girls or find that you are disturbing anyone else in this library then you will be promptly kicked out. You hear?"

"Yeah we get it", the girl groaned as she yanked the paper away from Minako and headed off towards the computers muttering to her friends, "she may be prettier then most librarians but she certainly is way meaner."

Normally about now Minako would have been feeling bad for her behavior, she didn't like to be mean and had certainly never been referred to as mean in her life but today she felt no remorse. Those girls had been rude and snobby, probably insecure over their own academic standings and were just taking it out on a girl who put most of her focus on hers. "Wow, maybe you should stay an eighteen year old. It is making you more mature", Artemis mumbled from underneath her.

She nearly jumped from surprise, having forgotten that he had been there the whole time. "Why thank you Artemis", Minako responded as she reached for her manga and flipped it open to the last page she had been on. It was only a moment after that, that she felt a hard pinch that could only have been caused by the cat underneath her desk biting her. She yelped "OW"! and tumbled off of her chair after she'd jumped out of surprise. When she stood back up she took quick note of the younger girls she'd yelled at, giggling at her expense. It took every inch of her will not to stick her tongue out at them. "Jerk", she mumbled to the cat beneath her.

"Get to work", he ordered pointedly. Groaning she did as she was bade and immersed herself in the ancient lore that told of a moon goddess who fell in love with a prince, who had been dressed as a simple shepherd.

"This is stupid", she muttered, "and I highly doubt this has anything to do with what really happened".

"There are many different versions and some of them have common threads, that could be linked to the truth. Now quit complaining." Sighing Minako finished the last one of the versions of the depressing Greek myths of which the Moon Goddess could only visit her lover in his dreams, since he would sleep for all eternity, before she clicked on the next available document about legends and folklore of the Moon Kingdom.

…

He had finally finished reading and analyzing the field reports from the Dark Agency's failure. Placing his pen down he glanced at his personal notes that revealed all he had gathered of Sailor V's power. It seemed that her attacks were miniscule in comparison to his, a good sign for those near his level. But she had displayed signs of maturity in her powers, which made him wonder to what extent could her power reach. He had no doubt in his mind that this Sailor V was at the very least a young teenage girl judging by her actions, words, etc. So her naivety would be greatly useful as she would not know or comprehend the true ability and goals of his Kingdom. She mostly assuredly did not understand that she was facing what humans would refer to as a great and terrible evil. Sitting back he glanced at the clock on his wall which told him the time of the outside world, with a blink and a mere thought he was able to see the time of his new home base. Tokyo, Japan. His eyes landed on another sheet of paper which was in another's hand writing. Midway through his diagnosis of Sailor V and her abilities on his second day a messenger had brought him a slip of paper with two addresses written on it and a message which read A library I discovered that has a great deal of resources on this Moon Kingdom. You may find you need a few days to go through their archives so I recommend a place to stay. I have already taken the liberty of setting up two safe houses, an identity, and a background story for us. Yours is the second address. The first is the library. Your back story is waiting for you in your new apartment. You're welcome. There was no signature that marked the sender and there was none needed as he knew there was only one person this could've come from.A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts and he briefly thought about transporting to this safe house, but he didn't feel like jumping into his new role just yet. He was rather aggravated that Zoisite had taken the initiative to do this as he had not formerly accepted the mission in the first place. "Come in", he grunted as he turned and faced the door.

Only a moment later, in strode another blonde who was far more infuriating and a much bigger pain in his ass than the sender of the note. "So I'm here to report to you oh gracious one", Jadiete practically sneered.

Kunzite felt no need to take the bait. He was not interested in an argument with his quick tempered subordinate. "What's your plan?"

If Kunzite were not exceptionally powerful he would not have been able to stop the flyer which had been thrown so fast his way that it would have at the very least left him a gash on his face had he not caught it. He glanced down and read the flyer which advertised for some Jewelry Boutique's huge sale. He couldn't help but raise a brow as he met Jadeite's eyes. "The Owner is quite popular in this area. She is one of the best selling Jewelers in Juuban and her annual clearance sales draw in a rather large crowd. One large enough to allow us to begin harvesting energy to our Queen Mother. With the energy draw being so large Sailor V will have no choice but to respond. I've already captured the owner and replaced her with a youma disguised as her. The energy draw is set to begin tomorrow. So there will be no need for any of your input let alone your interference."

Kunzite resisted rolling his eyes. The plan was too rash, with little actual thought put into it, no strategy to actually trap Sailor V and there was no back up plan to be had from what he could tell. "Well you better wish for luck so you don't fail as clearly you are lacking a contingency plan for if something goes wrong", he voiced his opinion. A small ounce of smugness washed through him as Jadiete glared at him, revealing the truth in Kunzite's diagnosis.

"Nothing will go wrong. The plan is flawless", Jadiete replied arrogantly masking the doubt which had briefly flitted across his face.

Having said his peace and not at all in the mood to argue or to be generous by way of giving out advice, he nodded his head in acceptance and waved his hand, thus signaling his dismissal of the other general. Jadiete was gone within a blink of an eye clearly not wanting to waste any more of his time with his least favorite comrade. Turning back towards his desk he quickly realized he had little to do now that he had gone over the dark agency files and Jadeite was leading the charge against Sailor V. Glancing briefly at the clock and then back down at the note with an offer of something to do on it, he resigned himself to officially accept Zoisite's offer and closed his eyes thinking of the address in his hand.

…...

Three hours later Minako found she had a hard time keeping her eyes open as she finished the last of the various Japanese versions of the myths and legends of the Moon Kingdom she'd opened up on the database, as she had had enough of reading the all too similar and minutely different Greek myths. With a yawn she stretched and looked around the library glad to see that most everyone was packing up and getting ready to leave. Her shift was finally coming to a long awaited end. She'd only managed to get through a couple more moon legend stories, but very few of them were actually useful. As far as her memories could tell neither were all that accurate to what had actually occurred in that life time, though she had to admit that her memories were fuzzy at best. She could barely remember what her princess had even looked like. She did think it was cute, however, that every story that she had read so far was some kind of love story between the princess of the moon and some Earthen man. That had been the only connecting theme in all the stories she had read so far. Sitting back in her chair she tried to make herself remember her princess and whether or not she had had a great love story as these legends had suggested. Apart of her had to admit it sounded right, but she had always been a romantic in this lifetime. Closing her eyes she tried to imagine what her princess's love could have looked like, but nothing came to mind. She could only draw a blank. She knew that as a Venusian she had gone to Earth before as Adonis had explained in his last moments, perhaps she had met her princess's love there. With the uprising thought of Adonis, her thoughts took a turn for the darker, but a voice saved her from reliving those memories by meekly calling out ,"Good night." Her eyes opened quickly and she noticed the blue haired girl walking away towards the doors of the library.

"Good night", she called back but the girl did not turn around. Perhaps she had imagined it? Or the girl did not hear her? There was no one else who had passed by her desk that she had seen. Sighing she stood up noticing that most everyone had left or were on their way out.

"Time to close up", she muttered as she began to make her rounds, checking for any people who had not realized that the library's hours had now drawn to an end. The library was not too large of which she was glad as she walked around, picking up books that had unceremoniously landed on the floor in the children's section and placing forgotten research journals back in their places. She shut off the computers and various lights quickly and took out the trash, mentally checking off the closing duties she had been told of earlier that day. Apparently their philosophy of teaching was learn by experience, not exactly the best teaching method to have without supervision as she was sure she would forget something important. Finally finished, she picked up her coat and purse, with keys to her apartment in hand as she made for the doorway. She opened the door but stopped as she was sure she felt a strange current of energy rise in the air, as if something were happening. Something not quite right, not quite normal. She looked around her on all sides before shrugging it off as her eyes could find nothing wrong or out of place. There were no screams to indicate a youma, so perhaps it had just been a strange feeling. With the key handed to her this morning by the managing librarian, she locked up the front doors and descended the steps. Waiting for her at the bottom of the stoop was Artemis looking at her expectantly. "Did you forget that book I told you to check out", he asked, clearly already knowing the answer.

It took all of her will power not to reach out and strangle the cat. All she wanted was to go home, eat some dinner, take a nice soothing bath, and watch some t.v. before bed. After all, her audition was the very next day and she had to open early in the morning too. She needed to be well rested.

"Do I really need it", she couldn't help but whine. The glare she received from Artemis gave her, her answer. She couldn't help but stomp her foot before she turned on her heel, whipping out her keys, "Fine."

She re-entered the library and headed straight for the section she knew the book would be in. "This is ridiculous I'm not even in school anymore and I still have homework", she grumbled in frustration. Apparently during the day Artemis had researched and printed a list of books on the subject of the moon kingdom located in the library that she was to rent, in order, and to read. How the hell no one had noticed a cat using a computer in a library in broad daylight was beyond her understanding. Unless of course said cat had some type of magical power that could knock out people's memories, which she did not for a second doubt. She stopped short as she realized the lights were on in that particular area of the library where she was headed. She was certain she had shut every single light off in the library. She may have been a ditz but that was the first thing she knew to do on her duties as closing librarian. She could practically hear alarm bells ringing in her head and her defenses immediately went up. It took all of her restraint not to transform into Sailor V right then and there. Taking a calming breath she stepped forward as quietly as she could, utilizing at least some of her Senshi skills. She turned the corner and came face to face with something she had not expected. To say the least, he was gorgeous. At most, he was the most handsome man she had ever seen. All of her former crushes, Kaitou Ace, Saitou, or even Otonaru could not hold a candle to him, despite their similiar features. His hair was long comparable to those who had fallen under the category of her type, shoulder length and like the men before him, his hair was platinum blonde, almost white looking. But his skin a nice contrasted tan. His frame was tall, sinewy, and muscular with broad shoulders and strong biceps that just exuded masculinity. However, of all these attractive features to her what stood out most of all were those eyes. Ice blue, analytical, even in the simple task of reaching for a book, and when they turned on her, she froze.

For a brief moment, which felt like an eternity, time halted, the breath hitched in her throat, and her stomach did a sumersault. She registered shock and even, wonder perhaps, in his eyes and she was certain he was witnessing the same in hers. The sound of the book he had been removing from its place on the shelf hitting the floor broke the daze that had befallen them both. The two snapped out of it and to her utter surprise she caught a look of smugness cross his features. Apart of her was embarrassed, he had caught her checking him out. But the proud part of her, reminded herself that he had been doing the same. She straightened her shoulders and finally found her voice, "How did you get in here? The library is closed."

She cringed on the inside as she realized her voice had sounded almost breathless, something she noticed did not escape his attention. The hint of a smirk had grown into a full blown one. "The same way most everyone does, through the front doors. I guess I was using the bathroom when you were closing up. When I came out all the lights were off. I figured I could just do some reading and leave when I was done", he replied all too smoothly.

She couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. She hadn't seen him come in and she was damn sure she would've noticed someone like him entering the library, but it could've been when she was reading she reminded herself. The teenager on the inside practically screamed in frustration. She could've been flirting with him for a couple of hours if she hadn't have been reading those stupid legends. He could be taking her on a date now! The 14 year old inside pretty much yelled. It took some inner strength but she managed to squelch her inner turmoil and remind herself that she was an adult now. Mature, sexy, adult women did not just throw themselves at grown men and judging from the arrogance that was now radiating off him in waves, he was used to women like that. This thought made her bristle on the inside. Boy crazy she may be but she wasn't that big of a floozy. "Yeah well I'm afraid you can't stay here. Sorry closed is closed. We're open tomorrow at 7 a.m. if you'd like to get your reading done then", she replied firmly. Gone was the breathlessness and awe.

He didn't reply immediately, it seemed that he was contemplating something. Perhaps that he would argue or just sit down and ignore what she had just said. Somewhere deep inside her, a feeling of unease was beginning to blossom. Finally he nodded in acceptance. "Very well. Tomorrow then", he shrugged as he reached for his jacket which had been hanging on a nearby chair. He walked past her heading towards the doors only to stop, "Will you be working tomorrow Miss…?"

"Aino and yes", she replied turning to him. He just nodded and then continued on his walk leaving her a little confused and very unsettled. Her heart was racing from that encounter. Oh she was so very attracted to him and yet she had a strange underlying feeling that she had been lucky tonight, and not for the reason of having met him. Glancing down on the ground she noticed that he hadn't bothered to pick up the book he'd dropped. "Hey you could at least pick up your book", she called over her shoulder only to find him gone. She hadn't heard the doors open or close.

Probably because she'd been off in her own world. Sighing she bent down and picked up the book, dusting off the cover a little, "Jerk", she muttered. As she glanced at the title she found she was a little shocked. It was the very book that Artemis had sent her to retrieve. She glanced back towards the doors again, wondering what a guy like him would want with a book on archaeological theory, one specifically about the moon. Her first thought, given her track record with men, was that he most definitely was an enemy. But an agent of the Dark Kingdom would not have left when she had told him to, since they held power to subdue humans, maim them, and most especially kill them. Especially ones that got in their way. No, while she had sensed something off about him it had not felt inherently wrong. She did not feel the shivers of fear that ran down her spine and could only have been caused by the youmas she had faced in the past. In fact, a far more foreign feeling had settled over her. Like she had known him before or something. "Is there a reason you are just staring into space wasting time rather than hurrying up. The last bus is due in five minutes. Don't want to miss that or you'll have to walk in the cold", Artemis's voice interrupted.

She did her best to hide her annoyance at the nag. "I swear to God you are worse then my mother. I have no idea how I'm going to survive until we find the other scouts", she grumbled more to herself then to him but received a glare none the less for mentioning her thoughts out loud.