Total Eclipse- Minako's Story 

Part Two
By: Zellie


                               "Every now and then I fall apart...."
	Total Eclipse of the Heart Bonnie Tyler. 



	During the year I was twelve, my life changed drasticly.
There were rumors of war beging to spread to the outer planets,
and the senshi were called out to keep peace. I had also begun
my training a few years back and was in full swing now. I was lucky.
I had a training partner.  Kunzite ended up serving me very well. We
were constantly going at some fight or another which caused  the court 
to think that we had fallen for each other...well, at the time we hadn't...at
least not yet. It was heard all over the planet. The princess was set for
life. Yeah....right. As I look back now, I can't  imagine what they must have
thought. Kunzite and I spent the last  summer I was home actually
talking, instead of throwing insults back and forth at each other. He
was fifteen, and was going to be sent  to leave at the end of the 
summer. I knew it would never be the same around the castle without
him there to taunt. 
	Over the years, this little game of our came to be all in fun.
We knew each other like no one else knew us. I think that Rei was
the only one who knew me as well as Kunzite did. He would torment 
me at dinners and I was loose my composure and kick him under the
table, then look smug. After he yelped, Daddy would look at me with
the most disdainful look and I would cower. Mother would look on and
would glare at Daddy and we lost the facade of "the happy royal family." 
I doubt it ever was like that, at least I never remembered it that way.  
But, Kunzite was always there to comfort me when Daddy lashed 
out and I cried.   By the river, near the garden, it didn't matter, as long 
as I wasn't in the house any more. The the fighting broke out and Mommy
wasn't there to protect me any longer. She left me miserable as well
as Daddy and I don't think she was incredibly happy, either. I think 
she knew something was going to happen to her before she left,
which was why she started to be by herself more. She needed to 
cope with losing us, but we needed to cope with loosing her even more.   
	One day  we heard news that the war had broken out, indeed.
My mother was in the front line. It was terrible, she was stationed
on Pluto and that was there they started. A terrible massacre insued
afterwards. The senshi banded together and the enemy retreated, 
but not without a few casualties, my mother being one. Setsuna and 
her mother came to bring us this terrible news. Setsuna, was then 
only a child. She had the eyes of one who has seen too much. I still feel
that she didn't deserve what  fate had in store for her. But then again, 
nither did I. Setsuna came to us and pulled me aside, asking that I tried
to remian calm. I looked upon her a terrible, cold sinking feeling brewing
in my stomach. 
	"Minako, please try not to take this so hard. Your mother was
killed in battle." Try not to take it hard?! What did she want me to do?
Smile and say,'that's too bad.'? I began to cry. Her mother leaned down
and they both hugged me. I kept screaming that it wasn't  fair, and that
she should have made it back to us, but nothing was going to bring her
back-and I knew that. But, I shut down from then on. I swore to myself
I would never die in battle.  I looked up at my father with the tears streaming
down my face and saw tears in his eyes also. But the look of hatered he
had for me I knew I was sunk. He balled up his fist and with his other
hand prepared to whack me upside the head. A sickning crack 
was heard and I felt very dizzy. I fell to my knees and covered my head
for fear that I would be hit again, trying desperately to remain conscious.    
	"It should have been you Minako! Why did it have to be the
one I loved! Why couldn't it have been you? I'm going to kill you, you
little monster! That way you can join your precious mother!" Those
words scared me forever. My father, the one parent I had left wanted
me dead. Setsuna grabbed my wrist and ran. I got off my knees as 
fast as I could and followed fear replacing the pain in my heart. Her
mother held my father back, along with a few of the palace guards.
"Let me at her!" I heard his rage as we got out of the castle. 
	As soon we were safely away I fell into the fields and
cried. Setsuna kneeled down next to me and patted my head. "Minako-chan
it'll be okay. Mom, won't let anything happen to you, and I know other
people won't either. " I nodded and continued sobbing. I wouldn't be
able to stay there, he might try and kill me.  I sniffled and sat up a little,
leaning my elbows on my thighs. 
	"Thanks, Setsuna." I savagely whiped my tears away.
How childish, I was crying like a baby! But the pain in my heart
was overwhelming, I couldn't contain it. "I don't know what to do! 
He'll find me where ever I go!"              	
	"Well, we'll just have to find somewhere where he won't, huh?"  
This was the beging of my lifetime friendship with Setsuna. She cared
so much, but I think that she saw the entire thing comming, so knew 
what to expect, after all, she was the daughter of the mistress of time,
and had to learn the trade eventually, and with the possiblity of loosing
her mother like we had lost mine she would have to know how to use
the timekey and control the time warp.  "Hey! Who are you?" Setsuna 
stood up protectively in front of me. I looked up to see Kunzite standing
there and instictivly covered my face where my father had smacked me. 
It was going to turn into a nasty bruise. 
	"You don't have to worry, Mina-chan, I saw the
whole thing. They had to sedate your father and he's locked
up in the infimary. I was worried about you, you took a really
nasty hit there." Kunzite tried to kneel down in front of me, but
Setsuna kept blocking him. "Who are you, anyways?"  She stood
up a little taller, which I found surprising as she was already 
towering over us both, even Kunzite, who was really tall for a boy his age. 
	"I'm the mistress of time and space, Sailor Pluto!" He
shrugged and knelt down again. "Do you know this kid, Minako?"
I looked up and nodded, still covering my face. She moved over
slightly, he crawled up right in front of me and finally she
sighed and kneeled back down next to me again. "I'm
watching you." He just looked at her with his normal non-chalant
way and that set her off. She didn't scare him at all. Good warrior
he would make. 
	"Now com'on let's get a look at that Minako." He tugged
at my arm and I held it in place while shaking my head. I didn't want
to him to see it. He might do something drastic to my father, though
I couldn't think of what. I knew that he didn't like the way Daddy treated
me already, but this would push him over the edge.  "Minako, stop
being so stubborn." He tugged again, and I still clamped my hand 
to the side of my face, it prevented it from hurting a little.  "Please?" He 
asked. I swallowed and opened my mouth to reply, but he sized the opportunity
and pinned me while pulling my hand away from my face. This
caught me off guard and down right surprised me. 
	"Kunzite!" I rolled my head over to the side. "I'll be fine, you
don't have to worry." Setsuna thought this whole thing was incredibly
funny, and Rei would have too, probably. Kunzite looked down at me 
and sighed. Then he patted my head gently and I finally gave in and
let him see my face.  "Are you happy now?" I shifted under his 
grip. Over the years he had matured greatly and had learned to 
hide his emotions very well, aside from me. I could always tell 
what he was thinking. He seemed very hard on the outside, but I 
knew the insecure underconfidant self, that was the Kunzite I loved. 
	"That is a nasty one. I guessed as much. We heard the
sound of it all the way at the gate house. Besides, by the time I had
gotten there I saw you on the ground and was so afraid something
had really happened to you." If he only knew. He cared about me so
much and I hadn't realized it until then. How could I just leave him like
that? This was going to be harder than I thought.  I looked over at 
Setsuna who seemed deep in thought.
	"Could you let me up now?" I inquired. He looked 
down at me, said 'oh' as If he had forgotten I was still pinned
under him and went back to his kneeling position. "Thanks, " I
said, sitting up.  I looked him in the eyes and saw a strange color
that weren't normally.  They had a cold, hard, distant look to them.
Little did I know, that this would be his normal look for years after. 
Everyone had such distant looks on their faces that it led me to 
wonder just what everyone was thinking about. "Kunzite?" I asked
looking at him and watching him come back to reality. He had 
been very angry looking but then he turned back to me and smiled.
The change in facial expression was so rapid that I wondered if he
was okay. "A-Are you okay?" I reached over to take his hand. 
	"Minako?	 What's going to happen? I mean you can't
stay here, obviously. And I have to leave soon and I'm not leaving 
until I know that you're going to be okay. I'm not going to let him do
anything to you again." 
	"Very brave you are, but could you really stand up to 
her father like that?" Setsuna spoke for the first time in a long while.  
She smiled. Kunzite was going to make a good soldier.  
She looked him over. He was built  tall and slender, yet muscular, 
and coming from Venus, was most likely very strongly magic based.
"Where would you have to go, young lord Kunzite?" Setsuna wasn't
that much older than him in actuallity, but she didn't know that. 
He turned on her with a grim expression. He had let me take his
hand and squeezed mine slightly. 
	"I have to go to be in Endymion's guard-the head
general." He looked down. For so long I had seen him flaunt this,
and watched him be so excited as the time came nearer for him to
go. Now it looked as if he was regreting ever being born.  He sucked
in a deep breath, looked over at me and then continued. "I'm not
leaving until I know Minako is going to be safe." I looked at him with
wonder reflecting in my face. I never knew he cared about me so 
much, I had thought he only treated me like a younger sister. But 
then, I wondered if he actually loved me beyond that. Could he 
actually? I had to know more.
	"What are you saying?" I asked. He looked at me
with a sadened expression. He had never looked at me that way
before. "Well, what are you implying at least?" His eyes seemed to
search mine. It was then that I knew. He really did love me, but with
his being three years older than me, he was also three years 
ahead of me in growing up.  I was still a child compared to him. Twelve.
He deserved to be with someone older, someone closer to his age.
Someone more experienced. But then, how much more 
experienced can you get than a Venusian? I smiled at him, to let
him know that I knew how he felt. I just let it roll off me though, it would
change after he got to Earth.  There would always be someone else.
This made me sad again. I would lose him.  On the exterior I looked 
happy, but inside I was being torn to pieces by everything that was 
happening. It was too much to deal with.  My smile faded. 
"I'm really tired. What are we going to do?" I wanted to sleep. Just
sleep for years, that was a Venusian trait. When we become
depressed we just sleep for hours on end.  But I wanted to crawl into
a hole and die, right there,  just get it over with. Maybe it would
take pain away. But the pain wasn't going to go away. 
	"I think I know where to hide you..." Setsuna looked
at me in a strangely happy way. "You're going to have to move to 
the moon eventually...so why not sooner? The power of the Imperial
Crystal will make it seem like you're one of the family. You will become
Lunarian...and still be closer to Kunzite than if we put you somewhere 
else. You see? Also this will put you in a better position to get to
know the princess a little better. " She glanced behind her as we 
heard foot steps behind us. They were soft, so it wasn't Daddy. I still 
found it hard to not be afraid. Setsuna stood up and hugged her mother.
"Mom, I know where to put Minako!" Her mother looked down at me and
had a quizzical expression on her face. "She can go to the Moon early!"
Setsuna looked very proud. Her mother smiled and replied.
	"That's a very good idea!" She nodded and I was
sent back to the castle to pack. That was going to be so hard to
do. I had to leave my home, the place I loved with all of me. I would have 
to leave that night. The tears rolled down my face again as I stuffed 
dresses and such articles into a gym bag. There was so much I wanted to
bring with me, but couldn't because I didn't have enough room. My jewelry
box, my music boxes, and that lilly sculpture that Kunzite had given me were
things I would not leave behind for anything. I stuffed as much jewelry 
into the box as possible. The last thing I packed was my teddybear. He
was always with me, and always would be.  I went over to my window and
opened it for the last time as I leaned out to look at the garden. I could hear 
the birds  in the distance singing. I wished I could have had the freedom to
be like them. They always have the liberty to go where ever they want
and are so free. I envied them. I still do, I think.  I sighed and closed
my window. I can't believe I left it all behind, now, but I turned my 
back to my pain, and forgot I had any feelings so I could leave
with out my pain showing through too much.  I walked out of
my room, and left my life with it. 
	Later, I had met Kunzite outside by the garden.  I had 
five minutes until I had to leave. I wanted to cry, I wanted to tell
him I didn't want to go, I wanted to tell him couldn't leave him, but
I was too afraid. I didn't want to get hurt anymore than I already was.
I bit my lip and watched him pace. The stars were out so I watched
them after a while.  Then, Kunzite turned around suddenly and 
pinned my arms to my sides. "What are you doing?" I asked, 
surprised.  
	"You're going to be okay, right?" His eyes stared 
into mine, and I had to look away. He shook me a little until I 
looked back at him. "Right?" I think he needed the reasurance
more than anything at that moment. I nodded, while my heart
was screaming at me to tell him. Tell him it wasn't going to
be fine, I wasn't going to be happy, I need to be here with him.
"Alright then." He turned away and dropped my arms then started
to walk away. *He's just going to leave like that? Stop him! You 
can't just let him go like that!* My mind was racing, when he turned around
and kissed me, deeply. I was shocked. I had never been kissed 
in my life and I least expected it from him. Then he pulled back and 
studied me. "Minako, you're going to make it. I promise. I won't ever be 
too far from you, you understand? Here." He handed me a small necklace, 
it was a locket, I looked up at him with a questioning look. I opened it up 
and found it...empty. This confused me even more. "Let me explain," he
said, holding up a hand, "I don't think you really need a picture to remember
me by. Besides, I'll be seeing you in a little while. I'll stop by on the Moon 
before I go to Earth. But I want you to remember, you'll always
be mine, 'cuz I'm not letting you go. You won't either, will you?"
I swallowed hard. 
	"No...I won't let you go, either. Ever. I swear it."
And I never have.    

                                       ~Notes From Zellie~
	Hidey-Ho! Well people? How's it going? Any better?
Well, I want to thank all of you who have supported me so far, 
even if it was in the smallest way. Those two e-mails ment so much,
thank you both. Well, It's getting late so I'll let this one go.  
Thanks again. I love you all. ~Zellie