Yall the Muse fought me SOOOO hard on this intro! Plus, I have all the smut written in advance! So I also had to decide the order in which everyone would get some! :D I don't have Jupiter and Bardock written though, kinda stumped on that one, unfortunately. So… like Unleashed, if I get an ASSLOAD OF REVIEWS I will try and update QUICKLY! So R&R! Love yall, and ENJOY YOUR SEQUEL! WOOOOOOO!
Queen Serenity blinked in surprise to see the princess of Mars, her closest friend, running from the Temple of Mars in naught but her robe and bare feet, heading for the outskirts of town. "What in the… REI-CHAN!"
"FINE!" Rei shouted back at her, giving a little wave as she reassured the queen that she was alright.
"Majesty?"
Serenity held up a hand to silence the Saiyan delegate behind her as she studied Sailor Mars and shook her head slightly. "I sure hope she's really ok," she muttered to herself. "What is it, Nappa?" She finally asked, giving a heavy sigh.
"His Highness formally requests an audience with you, today if it wouldn't be an inconvenience."
"Shit," she mumbled. "I'm sorry, Nappa. Today is booked solid… dear gods, I really don't mean to seem rude, but…" Serenity gnawed on her lower lip for a moment and fluffed her hair as she thought about trying to squeeze him in sometime that afternoon, but Nappa's chuckle snapped her out of it.
"Vegeta told me to assure you that he completely understands if you can't make time for him today. He knows all too well how precious the time of a ruler is. Tomorrow, perhaps?" Nappa suggested.
"Dear gods, no… I promised Chibi-Usa some time together tomorrow… tell you what, Nappa. Day after tomorrow sound good? I'll even see Vegeta before anyone else, you have my solemn promise." She grinned a little and shook her head. "Though my answer will still be a no."
Nappa frowned at that and sighed; Vegeta had seemed far more troubled this morning than usual and he expected an epic explosion out of the crown prince when and if Serenity refused him again. But strangely enough, when he'd predicted a foul mood at the mention of the queen, the man he'd raised like his own son had only looked… sad. And then happy and hopeful. I've heard that a woman can drive a man mad and didn't believe it… maybe it's finally happening to the boy, he worried to himself.
"Sere? Sere!?"
Both Nappa and Serenity snapped around to look at Sailor Mercury, who was glancing back down the main drag, her brows furrowed in deep concern. "Did you see Rei running like the devil was chasing her? She wouldn't even answer me! I think we should go see what's up."
"No, Ami-chan, she assured me she was just fine. You know Rei as well as I do; if she needs help, she'll likely ask for it. Oh, damn. My apologies, Nappa. Ami-chan wasn't in the throne room when I greeted you last time. Ami, this is Nappa, general of the Saiyan armada. Nappa, this is Ami, princess of Mercury and goddess of wisdom."
Mercury managed a little smile though she was still worried about Rei, and stepped forward to greet him in Saiyan. "Very pleased to meet you, general. I hope that your stay is pleasant so far?" She looked him up and down with a flick of her eyes and marveled at his size as she drew closer to him, amazed by just how… huge he was. Dear gods, this warrior could likely step on me on accident and not even notice the blue smear on his boot. "Damn, you're big," she blurted out in Saiyan before she could stop herself.
"And you're a midget," Nappa chuckled. Reaching out, he tipped her chin up to look her in the face and immediately jumped back, his eyes widening at the jolt that ran through him. "Sweet merciful gods…"
"Oh, fuck," Ami groaned.
"Nappa? Ami? What's wrong?" Serenity asked slowly. Ami had nearly jumped out of her skin as well, and now the Senshi of water was white as a sheet and looked damned close to fainting. And then Nappa slowly stepped forward… only for Ami to bolt. "Whoa… Nappa…? What did you do to my Ami?" Serenity asked suspiciously. "I've never seen her run that fast. Ever."
"Not yours," he growled softly. "Mine. Contact her as soon as possible… if she speaks Saiyan, she knows the repercussions of running from a warrior that's felt the pull for her. Tell her she has a one day head start before I give chase."
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Rei plopped down in a patch of bloodstained grass and burst into an uncontrollable bout of tears at the sight of the red stains—too much blood for anyone to have survived the loss of for long—and of a bent and twisted staff lying there as well. "Cracked… she actually cracked the Garnet Orb," she sobbed. "Dear gods… Setsuna, I'm so sorry… please forgive me for not being on time, I swear—I ran as fast as I could."
Every instinct was screaming at her to call the queen immediately, to ask her if she'd felt Setsuna's death and had her starseed, but Rei knew she couldn't do it. She was alone in this; she was the only one that remembered out of the Senshi.
But there was no body. No starseed. Only the blood and the broken Time Staff. "Keep it together, Rei," she whispered. "There has to be an explanation for this. There has to be. Maybe…" Rei couldn't help but hope that someone had found Setsuna and had her somewhere safe, and that her sister was healing as she thought about it. "Please, Chronos, please…" She prayed, kneeling there with her head bent. "Please, if you can hear me, let your daughter be safe. Or… show me where she is so that I may bury her properly."
After an hour of waiting with no response in the small fire she'd conjured shortly after praying, Rei gave up and blindly hoped that no news was good news. She'd continue her search for Setsuna between her required duties to Serenity, but something told her that she wouldn't find a body. She managed a watery smile at that; if Sailor Pluto's body couldn't be found, and Serenity wasn't blowing up her communicator because she'd felt the oldest of them pass, it could only mean that Sets was alive.
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Vegeta actually jumped a little in surprise when he was suddenly slammed against a wall, an elbow to his throat and the sound of a woman snarling low in his ear. But when he tilted his head back an inch he relaxed at the sight of Sailor Mars. "Relax, Nappa, Bardock. It's alright. Take a walk for a minute while I have a little chat with the princess." He grunted at them once when they wouldn't move, but once they were a ways down the hall, he shrugged her off and leaned back against the stone. "So… what did I do now?"
"Do you know where Setsuna is? She's missing, and all I found was blood and her broken Time Staff. Have any reports come in from your men, maybe? Vegeta, I need to know now!" Mars snapped, giving him a little shake. Then she followed his gaze, turning to see Serenity standing there fiddling with her hands as she blushed and looked back and forth between Vegeta and the floor. "Oh. Sorry, Majesty, I was just—"
"Interrogating a guest in your usual manner?" Serenity asked with a little smile. "I assure you that Ami is fine, Rei. That's actually what I'm here to talk to His Highness about. I'll handle it."
"Huh? Ami!? What happened to Ami!?" She yelled, turning back to Vegeta to shake him once more when she found a shit-eating grin on his face. "So help me Ares, if you don't tell me—" A ball of flame formed in her hand as she spoke, but before she could unleash it Serenity had grabbed her hand from behind. "Sere?"
"Nappa felt the pull for Ami this morning when she was delayed, asking me about you, actually. Which is what I'd like to ask you, since you're here. Where were you headed in such a hurry?"
"Oh, that…" A brief, nervous look was exchanged with Vegeta, who just shrugged a little, at a loss at how to answer for her. This was her rodeo, not his, and he was not saying anything to the queen that would give away the fact that they'd just gone back in time that morning. "I… I had a vision." At least it wasn't a total lie.
"Oh? Was everything alright, Rei-chan?"
"Yeah, it should all pan out fine in the end," Rei said nonchalantly. "If Vegeta here would cooperate," she added with a dirty look, knowing that he'd do anything to look good in front of her sister.
"I don't know anything," he finally said, "but if I hear anything, you'll be the first to know, Highness."
Rei nodded at that and decided to get out of there before Serenity suspected that something was up. "Thank you, Prince Vegeta. Sis, where's Ami-chan?"
"Hiding," Serenity purred mysteriously, giving the Senshi of fire a wink. "You won't have to worry about her; Nappa's chasing her starting tomorrow, but she's hiding in a place that will be hard to catch her in."
"The pool," Rei snickered. "Good to know if I need to find her. I'll leave you two to discuss what I know are plans to hook the two of them up. Good luck with that." Shit, Nappa was going to need it; short of the scenario that had gotten them together the first time, Ami was going to be a tough nut to crack.
"So," Serenity said once Rei was out of earshot. She looked back to Vegeta and was surprised to see him just watching her with such a violent mix of emotions in his eyes that it made her more than a little uneasy. "Prince Vegeta?"
"Sere?" He breathed, finally dropping that wooden Saiyan mask that he'd had up all morning. The only one that had seen through it was Nappa, but his most trusted general knew better than to pry whenever Vegeta say not to push the issue. He'd looked forward to this moment since he'd woken that morning to find himself back in Crystal Tokyo… but he'd also been terrified of it. Terrified that she'd remember how he'd been the last time, what he'd done to her people, how her home had been destroyed the first time.
"Vegeta… are you alright?" She asked in concern, stepping towards him with only his well-being in her mind. Serenity wasn't prepared for the crushing hug that he pulled her into, his arms and tail wrapped so tightly around her waist that she was having trouble breathing. "Vegeta?" She squeaked.
"Just… just let me hold you for a moment," he said unsteadily, burying his face in her hair to breathe in her scent, to assure himself that she was really alive and not still lying dead in her chambers, her body wrapped carefully in clean linen. "Please," he whispered when she struggled a little.
"What… what's wrong?" She barely managed through the tight hold.
"I…" Vegeta swallowed and came as close to the truth as he could. "I had a nightmare. In it, you were dead and there was nothing I could do to save you," he replied, his voice so soft and shaky that she only barely understood him. The prince felt her relax into his embrace at his confession and his grip on her loosened just a fraction. "You killed yourself because you hated me."
"Oh, Vegeta… I don't hate you," she sighed. "Don't ever think that just because I rejected a proposal of marriage. I just… I need time. And it might be a lot of time, I don't know. I'm just not ready to remarry."
"I understand… r'sha. I'll… give you your space if you'd like, but it doesn't mean I'll stop asking you to be mine," he sighed into her hair. "And… I'm glad you're unharmed. I nearly lost my composure in front of your sister when I saw you standing behind her."
"Vegeta, that's actually sweet," she said gently, looking him in the eye to feel that damnable pull again when released her. Apparently he'd felt it too, because he was tugging her back into his arms and kissing her slowly, lighting a fire in her that she hadn't felt in over a hundred years.
"My apologies," Vegeta said quickly when she lightly pushed at his chest after a full minute. He'd felt her return it though, leaning into his embrace for just a handful of moments that had made him purr happily. "I didn't mean to lose control, Sere."
"It's um… alright. Anyway, the reason I sought you out was Ami and Nappa. I thought I'd tell you that Ami is terrified of how damned huge he is… well, that and the fact that she's never been interested in anyone romantically in her life. So it's going to be quite the chase. She's a very fast swimmer, faster than any Saiyan I've seen in the water, and she's hiding in the water section of her temple. Nappa will never catch her."
"Shit, woman. Nappa can't even swim," Vegeta cackled.
"And Ami can breathe underwater," Serenity huffed. "Sounds like a Mexican standoff."
"I'll speak further with Rei about it since your Inner Senshi are close-knit. Between the two of us we should be able to come up with something."
"Michiru likes match-making, you know. And she's closer to Ami than most people know since they share the same type of powers. Maybe she could—"
"No, the princess of Neptune is occupied elsewhere at the moment," Vegeta sighed, recalling yet another one of his little guilt trips. Thankfully, Michiru had only spoken with Rei when she'd remembered being killed and had suddenly woken up in her bed as if nothing had happened. Damned ESP. At least she hadn't said a word to Haruka, though Michiru had said that her lover seemed to suspect that something was up. Rei had put the goddess of the ocean on duty, keeping watch over another Senshi that would need a bit of a push to take her mate. "Don't ask," Vegeta said quickly when Serenity opened her mouth to question him. "Just trust me and don't ask, r'sha. So… I don't suppose you'd have supper with me tonight in my chambers?" He asked, hoping not only for a yes, but for a change of subject.
"Um… I'd better not," Serenity whispered bashfully, looking at her shoes. "Haruka would have a fit, and since she's on my guard detail tonight…"
"Tomorrow, maybe?"
"I'll… uh… I'll think about it, Prince Vegeta." The queen felt bad when his eyes looked sad and disappointed, and she sighed guiltily before leaning in to peck him on the cheek. "I really will think about it."
"I suppose I'll be waiting with bated breath, then," he replied as smoothly as he could, grasping her hand to kiss the knuckles. "I'll be seeing you again tomorrow, Sere. Inform me if there's any change on Ami's location."
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Drawn inexplicably to the marble temple near the center of the city, Turles studied and appreciated its architecture before walking in through the doorless entrance. "Hello?" He grunted in Solarian. The temple seemed empty at first glance, but he could sense the energy signatures of several people, most of them towards the back near the altar.
That odd feeling of being drawn got stronger as he continued, and no longer fighting it, he let it guide his feet towards a door as he passed what looked like several priestesses, dressed in see-through white shifts. Normally he would have appreciated their beauty, at least on a carnal level, but something about that door had him unable to focus on anything but finding out what was on the other side.
"Hey, you can't go in there," a brunette said softly, placing a warm hand on his shoulder. "That's the inner cloister."
Turles blinked and looked at her, shaking his head to indicate that he didn't understand. He pulled out translator that Raditz had given him and switched it on. "I only speak a little Solarian."
"Ah, sorry." The priestess repeated her previous words, and gave him a reassuring smile when he scowled at her. "Only priestesses of the love goddess are allowed in there. Sorry."
"But… but I have to…" Turles placed his hand on the door and closed his eyes in concentration. "I was drawn to this door, woman, and I don't know why, but I need to know what's in there."
"Oh… so you're…" The priestess gave him a funny little smile and shook her head. "Never mind. Just hold on a moment and I'll check with the high priestess, ok?"
Turles smirked when she scurried off, but didn't bothering lowering her voice; she obviously didn't know a thing about superior Saiyan hearing.
"He's here, he's actually here! Rei was right!" She said hurriedly to an older woman, dressed much more modestly, who was standing behind the altar.
"You doubted a vision that the goddess of passion had?" The high priestess snorted with amusement. "Man the fort for me child, I'll take him in."
"So," Turles grunted, when the older woman approached him, "some goddess foretold my coming?"
"In more ways than one," the lady snorted, chuckling as she knocked twice on the door before turning the knob and ushering him in.
"Huh?"
"This is the temple of the goddess of love and lust, boy. I don't know about you Saiyans, but our goddesses are very real and tangible. The inner cloister, this area of the temple, is the goddess's home, her living space."
Turles looked around and honestly didn't see anything homey about it at all, and said so.
"You have to go further in, boy. This is just the entrance, the foyer," the woman chuckled. "Don't be nervous," she teased, "go on in and worship the goddess properly," she added with a wink.
Turles froze at that phrase, as a flash of a woman's voice came to him, a light and beautiful voice, speaking similar words. And with it came an image of a perfect, lightly tanned body beneath him, the memory of hearing her moan his name. "M—Minako," he whispered softly.
"Well, your memories are coming back an awful lot faster than Rei said they would," the woman said warmly, patting him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Rei said that while she might remember bits and pieces of you, she wouldn't remember anything else. The goddess of time ensured it."
"I… I don't understand," Turles said, rubbing his forehead.
"You will," she replied gently. "And when you do, don't breathe a word of what happened, not if you truly love her."
"Who are you?" Turles asked, unable to hide his growing confusion.
"My name is Michiru," she replied with a little smirk. "The goddess of the ocean. Now go on in. We'll have someone bring supper in a few hours."
Before he could ask another question she slipped out the door, leaving him alone in the cream-colored foyer. "Well, shit. No point standing around, I suppose." Turles went through the next door and found himself in a large living room, but contrary to the status of the inhabitant, it appeared to be furnished for comfort, rather than rank.
"These are my private chambers, the inner sanctum," a woman's voice—that voice—said sharply from his right. "I don't know how you got in here, but—"
She stopped talking when Turles turned and looked her dead in the eye, flooding her with a wave of déjà vu as she felt a strange tugging in her belly. "Who are you?" She whispered, backing up as he approached her. Minako gasped when her back met the wall and he quickly closed the gap, pressing her against it.
And then he kissed her without warning and her body relaxed against him as if it knew him well. Mina moaned at a flash of memory and another wave of déjà vu; him kissing her like this, passionately and slow… "Slow," she whispered, breaking away. "I—I remember you saying that…" She also remembered the way he'd whispered it in her ear as he'd filled her, swamping her with a level of pleasure she'd never felt before.
"You remember me," he groaned, dipping his mouth to her neck. "Good," he whispered between kisses, "because I need you, Minako. I need you now."
"But who are—" her words were cut off by a short kiss.
"Later, Mina. Later. We'll talk all you want later," he promised as he yanked her dress down her shoulders, letting it pool around her feet. Turles wasn't sure if it was him or her that unfastened his fatigues, but before he could even think about what he was doing he was inside of her, moaning her name as he bit down on her shoulder. Her cry of pleasure spurred him on, and he gave her everything he had, body, heart and soul, focused only on making her cling to him as she came.
That first orgasm brought another flash of memory for her, and she cried out his name in ecstasy as he thrust into her harder, immediately taking her up again to tighten around him and whimper in complete surrender. "I'm yours, Turles," she gasped, not even sure where those words had come from or why she was saying them; they simply felt right.
"That's right, Mina, you're mine," Turles growled possessively, finally letting himself take his pleasure. "Oh, I'm not done with you yet," he chuckled darkly when she tried to slide to the floor; he kept her legs wrapped firmly around him as he hardened inside of her once more. "But I will let my goddess choose the venue this time. I'd like to worship her properly."
It was all coming back to him now in bits and pieces, and while he couldn't think through the haze of lust overcoming him in order to put those pieces together, he knew damned well who she was and what she was. But most importantly, she was his again, and he was going to make this second chance count.
ONE DOWN! WOOOOOOOOO! Of course I had to make Mina the first, the poor girl arguably suffering in Sac more than anyone! And I totally ship her and Turles! R&R!