Rating: PG13

Pairings: Minako/Kunzite and Minako/Motoki

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon copyright 2001 Naoko Takeuchi/Kondansha, Toei Animation. All rights reserved. Sailor Moon characters and their respective names are trademarks of TOEI Animation. Licensed by DIC Entertainment, L.P.

Summary: Minako remembered what happened on the Moon Kingdom long before the other Senshi. Despite what people see, Minako is not a cheerful, bubbly blonde. She is a teenager with more feelings and memories than she can handle. This is a prequel to Mental Connections.

Author's Notes: You said you wanted to know more about the Minako in Mental Connections, so here she is, as angsty as you can like. I have a few comments. I changed Venus's appearance, too bad. Also, I never liked Reika.

"You complete baka!" Usagi seethed. Her face was the red of a tomato. "Can't you say anything nice?"

"Of course I can, Odango, just not to you," Chiba Mamoru replied, looking as calm as ever.

Aino Minako watched this proceeding with worry. Did the two really hate each other? It was really impossible to tell. Admittedly, they shouted insults back and forth, but they did it on a regular basis and from very close range.

"Ooh," Usagi growled, stomping over to their booth. "If murder wasn't illegal..."

"Just kiss him, and get it over with," Minako grumbled at her.

"Minako!" Usagi wailed, glaring at her. "Never going to happen," the blonde added firmly.

How wrong she was. "Just wait until she remembers," Minako thought evilly. She would get Usagi and Mamoru together one way or another. In the back of her mind she questioned if their present loathing could stand in the way of destiny, but on the outside Minako flashed a sly grin. "That's what you say, but not what you mean. How can you ignore the fact that Mamoru is gorgeous?" Usagi thunked her head on the table.

"Really, you shouldn't fight with Mamoru-san so often," Mizuno Ami commented.

"Me? He starts it!" Usagi protested.

Ami rolled her eyes. "I have to go. There's a test tomorrow," she announced, looking pointedly at Usagi.

"She's right!" Kino Makoto realized, a slight panic crossing her face. She didn't care much for school but worried about the test. That was Makoto for you, as spur of the moment as ever.

"Shouldn't you go study?" Hino Rei demanded of Usagi.

"But Rei-chan--" she began. Rei cut her off with a glare. "All right but only because failing annoys everyone other than me." Usagi muttered the last few words under her breath. The three girls left shortly to study.

"I suppose you'd like me to go. You look troubled, again," Rei noted.

Minako turned to look into her eyes, the eyes of a normal teenager. All Rei worried about was school, boys, and what to do with her life. Granted, she was a Senshi, but it only required so much of her time. Minako envied her; she had many more complex things to worry about.

The blonde smiled cheerfully. "Looks can be confusing, Rei-chan."

Rei's eyes seemed to probe hers. Minako knew that Rei sensed that she hid something. "That's deceiving," the priestess corrected. "I'll see you later. I should go help Grandpa."

When Rei was out of earshot, Minako sighed. She was loath to be so cheerful, but she was the Senshi of love. She couldn't act the way she felt, or everyone would know that she hid something. She didn't like to pretend stupidity when she was actually intelligent. It annoyed her to be corrected by her friends about what she already knew. "It's just to add to the dumb blonde image," she always told herself.

"Konnichiwa, Minako-chan," a pleasant voice greeted. "Alone again?" Motoki slid into the seat across from her. She nodded. "Something on your mind?"

Minako looked into Motoki's concerned green eyes. She liked Motoki. He was sweet and kind and attractive; that's why she chose him as her pretend crush. She had confided in him before, and he had listened patiently and consoled her. At the moment, though, Motoki was not the person she wanted to see.

Minako smiled sweetly at the man. "Nothing important, Motoki-chan."

"If you're sure," he replied. As he walked past her, he patted her shoulder. "If you need to talk, I'll listen."

She nodded. She couldn't trust herself to look at him, afraid tears would fill her eyes. Motoki had sounded so much like him just then. Tears did indeed begin to fill her eyes. Blindly, she stood and ran out of the Crown, not focusing on where she was going.

Motoki was nice and cute, but Minako couldn't escape the fact that Motoki wasn't him. She really tried to make herself like Motoki, but his image always changed. His eyes grew paler and turned blue; his hair lengthened and lightened; his body became hard and muscular.

"It's not fair, damn it!" Minako shouted mentally. Why did only she have to remember? Why did she, the Senshi of love, have to suffer where the others did not? Why did only she face the pain of betrayal? Sometimes Minako caught herself searching their gazes for a hint that they might have recalled the past. She never saw a change. What hurt her most was their forgotten love.

The moment Artemis found her was when she remembered everything. She became Sailor V to be able to fight crime and hide her true form of Sailor Venus until the right time. For two years, she had fought petty crimes. She was hit with a shock at seeing her first youma, but she knew where it came from.

As Sailor V she had watched and trained Sailor Moon from afar. Artemis gave Luna information on a need to know basis and lied about their location. It was with great relief that she saw Sailor Mercury transform; her princess was no longer alone. As soon as Mars and Jupiter appeared, Sailor Venus showed up to help them.

It was then that Minako truly realized that they did not remember. Before it hadn't been real; it had been strange to her that they would not know what she knew. Why couldn't they remember? Sailor Mars was the start of her problems.

Sailor Venus had cringed inside when she saw Mars' hate of Jadeite. Mercury hadn't so much as batted an eyelash when Zoicite showed up. Jupiter had been different. Nephrite had had a relationship with Usagi's friend, Naru. Only Minako had realized that he saw the same inner strength and caring in her that Makoto possessed. As Minako witnessed his death with great sorrow, she could almost swear that she saw Sailor Jupiter's eyes fill with tears for a moment, tears not for Naru's heartbreak.

Minako sniffed and pulled her wrist across her eyes. She looked around with sour amusement at where she had come. She was on the outskirts of the Juuban shopping district in the exact spot where she had seen Kunzite. She came across him as he was floating about in the air, a trait in the Dark Kingdom generals that grated on the nerves of the other Senshi. He had just been observing the trickle of people, who seemed unable to see him. He turned and looked straight into her eyes. She had known that he wondered why she could see him. Then, he was gone.

He had always been there for her in their past life. Kunzite, head of Prince Endymion's guard, leader of the shitennou, and her true love. As a princess, Minako had been flirtatious and cheerful, but underneath her exterior she had been dutiful and protective of her princess. At present, she wondered why Artemis never noticed the fact that she had regained her past attitude and wondered why she was always hiding something. Upon following her princess to Earth on occasion, she came face to face with Kunzite, who refused to leave his prince's side. It was one of the reasons that she immediately liked him; they had something in common, even if it was their mischievous charges. Though she had fallen deeply in love, she had to wait for Princess Serenity to announce her relationship with Endymion. Interaction between the earth and moon was strictly forbidden, but Minako knew that Queen Serenity would bend any rule for her daughter.

Before Serenity had so much as considered it, Jadeite, who had always been the quickest tempered of his comrades, turned on his prince to join the Dark Kingdom. He said that Serenity had bewitched Endymion in order to pull the earth under the moon's rule. Nephrite and Zoicite followed soon, and Minako sensed how distant Kunzite had become. Finally, he, too, switched sides to the Dark Kingdom. That day her heart had broken in two. It was too short a time before the Dark Kingdom attacked the Moon Kingdom, and she had to face him again but only in battle. She did her duty in protecting her princess. She saw Mars fall to the hands of Jadeite, Jupiter to Nephrite, and Mercury to Zoicite. It left only she and Kunzite. She fought only through strength of will, refusing to let him attack her princess without a fight. That, she knew, was why she fell so quickly. The last memory she had of her past life was the slight flicker of emotion in his cold eyes as she slid off the blade of his sword while whispering his name.

Minako squared her shoulders against her unseen foes: her mind and heart. She tried to hate him, but no matter how hard she tried, she always failed it. The only task she was incapable of was hating someone she had known as good. Her legs crossed, and Minako shifted on the wall she had sat on. She looked around, almost expecting Kunzite to appear. She blinked back tears as she caught herself hoping again. She felt warmth on her forehead and found with surprise that the symbol of Venus was blazing there. Quickly, she scanned for anyone who might see it, but their eyes seemed to slide right past her. She put her fingers up to touch it, and power blazed through her. Her vision swirled and became shadowy. She was falling into darkness. Suddenly, she remembered that it had happened before. She had blocked it out somehow, an attempt to relieve her mind, she supposed.

Steady on her own two feet once more, Minako took in her surroundings. She remembered, now. This was the Dark Kingdom. She had followed Kunzite here last time and forgotten. There. Her eyes rested on the gray, hunched form. His back was to her, and he seemed to be focusing intently on nothing. "Kunzite," she heard herself whisper. She had done it before.

The man leapt up and whirled around. "Reveal yourself," he stated, his eyes searching the shadows where Minako stood. Fearlessly, she stepped forward into the dim light, if it could be called that. "Who are you?" he challenged, taking in her body appreciatively.

"A figment of your memory," she replied sulkily.

His eyes glinted. "You have no right here, mortal."

"Nor have you, mortal," she answered, refusing to take her eyes from his.

Kunzite shifted his eyes away. "I am no mortal. You are in the Dark Kingdom and should not anger the inhabitants here."

"You almost sound like you care," Minako commented, her eyes glistening. "He's right; I shouldn't be here."

Kunzite's eyes moved back to hers. "I care for no one," he stated.

"Now," she added for him. He cared for no one. That thought and the empty tone would keep her awake for weeks.

"What right have you, girl, to come here and insult me? How did you get here?" he demanded.

"Magic. I have every right to insult you, man." She spat the word as an insult.

Black power slid into his hand. A slight twitch could be seen near his eye. "You are finished here."

"Kunzite, wait," Minako said suddenly. The fire in his hand faded at the strange note in her voice. She closed the distance between them and pressed her lips to his. She felt his arms come quickly about her waist as he returned her kiss with force. Her arms slid about his neck. She had longed to hold him for so long, and she had no doubt what the outcome of this encounter would be. He hardly cared for a human girl's feelings.

The general pulled away suddenly. His eyes held several emotions, Minako noted, a genuine grin gracing her face. His eyes were focused past her. "You must go," he murmured, pushing her towards the darkness roughly.

Minako moved into the darkness before spinning to see why he had done this. Zoicite appeared next to Kunzite. He sighed before putting his arms around Kunzite's waist. Minako let her power remove her from the Dark Kingdom before she could see anything else. "

"They never showed the slightest inclination towards each other in the past," she mussed. "Except the time Zoicite was drunk." She smiled a real smile again.

The Juuban shopping district materialized around Minako. Her unusual happiness left her. She had jeopardized herself and all of the Senshi with that meeting. Kunzite cared nothing for her, but why had he not killed her outright? He had pushed her away before Zoicite could find them. This had raised more questions than answers and solved none of her problems. Her feelings for Kunzite were hardly dissolved by kissing him.

Minako sighed and began trudging away. She had to put a stop to her unrequited love. She could not watch Kunzite from a distance, waiting for the opportune moment to jump him. He could not return her feelings; he had no heart left. She had desperately wanted for him to take her, consequences be damned. That, she realized, couldn't happen. The other Senshi and her princess were more important that an old, disloyal love interest, even if she always loved him. She could not hurt people she loved to get someone who did not love her. Still, the memory of his lips on hers surfaced. She remembered how many similar encounters they had in the Silver Millenium.

Sighing loudly, Minako forced Kunzite from her mind and switched her mind to thinking of a way to keep her from doing something so stupid again. She had to build herself against the feelings she had for him so that she wouldn't remember loving him every time she tried to fight him. He was the enemy. Minako's eyes widened at an unexpected thought. She tilted her head to the side. Love someone else, her mind told her. "It might work," she thought.

Motoki turned the key in the door as he finished locking up the Crown. All of the metal shutters were pulled over the windows and the door locked tight. It was time for him to head home. He turned and had to stop himself to not step on the girl standing there. "Minako-chan," he said with surprise. He hadn't expected to see her for several days after she ran out.

"Motoki-san," she began. "There's something very important I have to tell you." He looked at her expectantly. "Not here," she said emphatically.

"All right," he agreed frowning. He led her around the back and unlocked a side door. They stepped into a small store room, and Motoki turned on the lights and closed the door. "What is it?"

Minako considered Motoki for a few moments. She remembered how kind and polite he was. She took in his fair features and smiled slightly at him. "I--" she began, unsure of what to say. How do you tell someone that you have to fall in love with them? Taking a deep breath, she kissed him. Impatiently, she forced down the feeling that she was betraying Kunzite; he had betrayed her. She started to wonder if Motoki was going to be angry at her, but then he started to respond. She forced herself to think only of Motoki and enjoy the feelings that his lips on hers created.

Motoki pulled away and looked down at her with slight confusion. He watched as her eyes flicked around nervously. "Is that what you wanted to tell me, Minako?" he questioned.

Minako looked up into his caring, sincere green eyes. "No, I wanted to tell you that I am Sailor Venus, and I had my heart broken in a past life. I'm only kissing you to make myself forget," she wanted to say, but she didn't say any of it. "Yes," she replied simply. She hugged him and buried her face in his shirt to hide the stubborn tears that formed in her eyes. She didn't want to hurt Motoki the way she had been hurt.

Motoki forced her chin to tilt up so that she would look at him. He brushed away her tears gently. "Gomen, Mina-chan, I don't know why you're crying." She shook her head, her eyes looking down. She couldn't stand the earnest look his eyes held. "I won't hurt you," he stated.

Minako forced her eyes back to his. She knew that he meant it, but she wished he didn't. She still felt the strange sense that she was betraying Kunzite. She wished that Motoki wouldn't really care for her so that she would never hurt him. She knew what it felt like to be brokenhearted. She didn't want Motoki to feel it. She couldn't let him get hurt. "I won't hurt you, Motoki," she whispered, her eyes staring into his. He smiled at her. "I will love you," she promised him mentally. "I will love you and only you. Someday."