In an AU where the other girls don't waken Venus continues the fight alone. This is series of connected one-shots in a world where the dark kingdom doesn't attack and the shittenou are out living regular lives. Expect mostly V/K but with side doses of all the other Senshi/Shittenou, U/M, and H/M.

I own nothing.

When Minako first awakens as Sailor Venus she is 12 years old and suddenly dealing with the memories of a very not 12 year old warrior goddess.

Did Selene ever consider the ramifications of this grand plan of hers?

Some of these memories may help make her into a better soldier, may help her to survive battles, but others (a lot of others to be honest) make her blush and squirm and understand jokes adults thought went over her pretty, blonde head.

Seriously though, how had she and Kunzite never been caught? It should have been statistically impossible.

But more than anything else Minako feels terribly alone.

Despite the fact that suddenly admirers seem to be pressing in from all sides. Artemis says it was the same when she was Venus, and while she enjoys it at first the attention quickly becomes bothersome.

Thank the goddess for Artemis. Her constant companion in her previous life and this one was always there to help her sluice through memories, figure out new attacks, and nag her into perfection (… well, close enough to it.) But for all of this there was still a hole in her heart that longed for her sisters-in-arms and her sweet charge.

And another, with hair light starlight and eyes like steel, though she never mentions him to her feline guardian.

As the leader of the senshi it was understandable she would be the first to awaken, but then time passed. One week, six months, three years, time slipped by with no sign of any of them.

Artemis was stumped. Minako was disheartened. There seemed to be no actual enemy to fight, just random youma created from negative energy and looking for more.

(So many coffee shops… which was beginning to get weird. And one very, very uncomfortable fight at a hot spring which she and Artemis swore to never discuss again.)

In a desperate bid to find her sisters she launched her career as a popstar. She had always wanted to be one, and clearly drawing media attention in her senshi persona wasn't helping with the search.

Maybe, like her, they had awoken alone? Maybe if they saw her, heard her they would come to her?

She should not have been surprised when it did not work. She is surprised when it leads her to Neptune and Uranus.

Saying her relationship with them had a rough start is a gross understatement.

Over time they grow to be allies (friends?) along with the sometimes present, always there Pluto. But while they were senshi, they were not the ones she sought.

(Maroon eyes watch her with compassion, "I'm sorry Minako-san, I don't know where they are. Until they awaken they are shielded from my sight.")

And life continues: three more months, two more years, two platinum albums, and finding Saturn.

(Another messy episode that all were happy to put firmly behind them.)

Somehow she has managed to find and gather all the sentinel senshi of the outer solar system but can't seem to find any sort of lead on the inner guardians or their princess.

Some days even Artemis can't convince her she's not a failure.

Then one day she catches a flash of silver hair at her club in London. She knows it's him; she can feel it in the way the red string on her finger tightens. She also knows that he will have searched for Endymion.

(And where the Earth Prince goes the Moon Princess follows.)

So, at 19 Aino Minako, Venus reborn, presses forward through the crowd to her first lead on Serenity in this lifetime. It is time to reacquaint herself with her greatest weakness.

(Her greatest love.)

Thoughts are always welcome.

PA