"Wait, don't go on the couch..." Yuuta said, putting an arm around Amina to keep her in place. "The bed is much better, and I was comfortable until you got up." He sounded more disappointed than angry about it. 

Kazaki made a gagging sound at the sight and closed the door again. "We'll be downstairs when you're ready..." she said before leaving.

"I'll stay for a little bit," she agreed, blushing at the arm he had put around her to keep her from leaving. She knew if she really wanted to leave, he wouldn't stop her, but the contact felt so nice. She curled up against his side and allowed herself to drift off into sleep for a little longer.

~~

When she and Yuuta finally got up for the day, Kazaki offered to drive her back to Minako's place on her bike. They decided to stop at a street market so Amina was able to eat breakfast before returning to her friends house.

"So, did you enjoy meeting Mako-chan last night?" She asked after they had purchased their food. The other woman had been pretty quiet and stalk still when she entered the room and saw Makoto and Amina wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. She didn't know Kazaki well enough to know if she was genuinely enjoying herself or was faking it.

Kazaki ate her breakfast as she and Amina walked around the marketplace. Ever since they had gotten to Tokyo, Kazaki's memories of the Silver Millennium had gotten more vivid than usual. They were even starting to meld into her dreams, like the one she had last night after seeing their Princess. She had been thinking about that particular dream since this morning, to the point where she couldn't even be bothered to tease Amina and Yuuta for sleeping in the same room. Amina's question snapped her out of her thoughts, and she blushed in embarrassment.

"Y-yeah, of course!" Kazaki said. "I've always wanted to. Thank you for setting that up..." She sounded more genuine than usual when she spoke, but still looked troubled by something.

"No problem, I'm glad you guys enjoyed it," she responded. She tilted her head to the side. Something was still bothering Kazaki. She didn't need to be an empath or use her abilities to see it. They continued to walk around the market in silence, Amina wondering if Kazaki would open up or if she'd have to prompt her. After several more minutes of silence, her decision was made.

"Alright, what's still bothering you hun?"

Kazaki glanced at Amina in surprise before she looked at the ground, sighing. She was probably acting really weird if people were starting to get concerned. She really needed to get a better grip on her emotions. Yesterday had only made them worse.

"Was I that obvious?" she asked. "It's kind of ...complicated. And senshi related. It's just me over thinking things, don't worry about it."

"I am a senshi you know, you can tell me. I know you're not use to me and I'm new to you, but I've been active for several years now, maybe I can help?" Amina offered suddenly worried. Kazaki had always come across as very in control of her actions and her emotions, at least what Amina had seen. So this seemed a bit out of character. She still wanted to help if you could however.

Kazaki stopped walking and looked at Amina, unsure what to do. She knew she just wanted to help, but what if she didn't understand? This entire reincarnation business was a mess...

"Have you ever had trouble with memories? Memories of yourself from a different time?" she finally said, sounding exhausted. "Sometimes I don't know what part of me is Sailor Io and what part of me is normal. Seeing...Makoto-sama," just saying her real name instead of Princess was a mental effort for her, all because of the Silver Millennium. "just reminded me of some, uh..." Kazaki blushed again, recalling the flashbacks she had gotten earlier. "feelings I apparently had before I died." She still couldn't decide if the emotions were really hers, or not, or even a blend of them, and it was driving her insane.

Amina paused for a moment before answering. "If I had a previous life I don't remember it. No memories have come back to me as of yet," she admitted. "I can see how trying to sort out some emotions from a previous life from your emotions today can be troublesome. Neither you nor Makoto were the same person you were in your previous lives."

She was silent for several moment, her brain trying to come up with a solution to help her friend. "I can try and teach you the breathing and meditation techniques I use when my empathic abilities overwhelm me and I can't seem to keep my emotions separate from those of others."

"You think that would help?" she asked, hopeful. Kazaki was willing to trying anything to control the memories. She didn't think she'd be any good at meditation, she was too high strung at times, but maybe the breathing exercises would work. As long as it got the emotions out of her head.

"I think at the very least, it can't hurt to try," Amina said, smiling at the other girl. "We can give it a shot later tonight if you'd like?" That would give her time to go back to Minako's place, shower, change and do some sight seeing of her own.

"So what are you guys up to today?"

"Tonight would be great," Kazaki said, thinking about how good it would be to possibly not dream of her past for once. They reached Kazaki's green bike again, and she threw her trash in a nearby receptacle before sitting on the seat, waiting for Amina to get on behind her. 

"Hmm, I think that Kumo really wanted a few pictures of Tokyo Tower, and then we were going to check out a few of the Shinto temples," she said, strapping her orange helmet on.

"Ah, Rei family owns a Shinto shrine, Hikawa Shrine. She's a priestess there. Why don't you guys go check hers out? It's honestly gorgeous and I've been to a lot of the Shinto shrines in the Tokyo area. They do a lot of upkeep there," Amina said.

"How about we meet back up at the hotel after dinner and I can teach you some breathing exercises. Just give me a text when you're ready." She gave the younger girl her cell number as well as directions on how to get to Rei's shrine. She hoped they did end up stopping there. She knew Rei was still curious about them and wanted to learn more.

"Sounds good, I'll see if we can get a tour!" Kazaki said, smiling again. She revved her engine and curved back onto the road when Amina was secure on her bike, riding to Minako's house. "I'll text you later then."

After dropping Amina off, Kazaki went back to the hotel, and the Galilean Moon Senshi went out to see Tokyo Tower and visit the zoo. In the afternoon, they took a bus to the Hikawa Shrine and stayed with Rei for a while. Yuuta started off taking pictures for drawing references, but ended up getting sucked into helping Rei's grandfather move things around with Yuuchirou while the girls were led around the grounds. 

Late that night, Kazaki contacted Amina just like she promised. She had pushed the memories aside for most of the day, but now that she was preparing to sleep, she started to worry again. What if the breathing exercises didn't work?

Amina received Kazaki's message and began to gather her stuff. "Hey Minako, I'm headed over to the hotel to teach Kazaki some breathing exercises," Amina called as she threw a spare change of clothes into the bag. She honestly had no idea how long this would take and it would be easier just to be prepared.

"Do you know any quick places I can grab a bite to eat that's super close to where they are staying?"

Minako looked up from the manga book she had been reading on the bed when Amina called. 

"Are you sure you aren't just sneaking off to see your boyfriend?" she teased, sticking her head into the guest bedroom. "I think the Crown Fruits Parlor is pretty close."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Amina said blushing. Geeze, she liked the guy and suddenly he was her boyfriend. Besides, he didn't like her, when would Minako get that through her head.

"I have no idea how long this is going to take, so I don't know what time I'll be back, don't wait up." Smiling at her friend, she raced out the door and headed to the subway station. She took the train to the area the hotel was in and got off. Crown Fruit Parlors was closed for the day, but Amina managed to find some street vendors were still open.

Eating her food quickly, she made her way to the hotel and up to the floor where Kazaki and the others were staying. Taking a deep breathe and knocked on her friends door.

The door was opened by Kumoka, already dressed in her pajamas. "Hi Amina," she said, covering her mouth as she yawned. "Kazaki's over there." she pointed to the other side of the room to a sliding glass door, where a small balcony was. Kazaki was in the same outfit she was in that moring, leaning on a railing as she looked out. Fuyuko stood up from the bed she was sitting on, smiling at Amina. 

"Oh, are you here to help her out?" Fuyuko asked, before lowering her voice a little "She hasn't been sleeping very well since we got to Tokyo, but she won't tell us why..."

"I'm going to try." Amina gave the younger girl a smile. "Would you two mind hanging out with Yuuta for two hours or so? It's better if we have silence."

She walked over to the balcony after putting her bag by the door. She went to stand beside Kazaki on the window. They remained in silence for several moments, Amina allowing the other girl to gather her thoughts. "You ready?" she asked softly.

Fuyuko nodded. "Come on, let's go in the other room."

Kumo groaned, but listened to her. "Yuuta's all tired after the shrine though..."

"Well that's what happens when you move huge bags of rice around for a few hours!" They went out into the hallway, leaving Amina and Kazaki alone. Kazaki turned away from the view of Tokyo and looked at Amina.

"Whenever you are," she said, unsure on how it would work but determined to try.

"Alright, so I suggest finding a place where you can sit comfortably. I like to sit on the bed. Some prefer a chair, or sitting cross legged on the floor. Whatever makes you the most at ease. The point of this exercise is to become relaxed. We're going to focus mainly tonight on working on the type of breathing and beginning to clear your mind. Clearing your mind isn't an easy task, our minds do tend to wander," Amina said, getting comfortable on the bed, leaning against the wall.

"Don't get too frustrated with yourself if you can't keep it clear for more than a few seconds at a time. This takes work." She waited until Kazaki was comfortable before continuing. "Do you have any questions before we begin?"

Kazaki followed Amina back into the room and sat on her bed, crossing her legs. She was her teammates' tactician, the one who made the plans during fights. And even before she became a senshi, she was always focused on something, whether it was music, her bike, or some strategy game. Kazaki had a feeling it wouldn't be very easy to clear her mind. 

"So there isn't some kind of trick to getting this?" Kazaki asked. "No tips to make it a little easier?"

"I'm going to walk you through with the best tips I know once we get started and I see how you're doing. This isn't a "it's gonna fix it in a few hours" type of thing. This is going to require work and practice from you," Amina explained.

"So we're going to do some breathing in and out exercises where I'm going to count and tell you when to hold until you get use to the pattern on your own. Are you ready?"

Kazaki gave a disappointed sigh, but nodded anyway. She really wanted to get this done as fast as possible, but these things took time. She wasn't a stranger to practicing though. Kazaki just had to think of the end goal, and she would be fine.

"I'm ready," she said.

"Alright, so when we inhale, I'm going to count to seven, then you're going to hold it for one count before slowly releasing your breath for 7 counts. You want to breath in slowly and release it slowly. It's all about control. Once you get the hang of it, you won't even have to think about the counts of your breath, you'll just be able to do it and then you can allow your mind to clear," Amina said.

She gave Kazaki a chance to absorb that information for a moment before she continued. "Breathe in, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, pause, and release 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7." They repeated the excessive several times before asking Kazaki if she wanted to try it without Amina counting for her.

The first few times Amina did the count, Kazaki struggled, but she eventually go the hang of it. She put all of her thoughts on breathing right, pushing everything else out of her mind. Kazaki nodded when Amina asked if she wanted to try by herself. Breathe in...breathe out... Breathe in....breathe out....Amina could see the tension draining out of Kazaki. For a few moments, she was calm, eyes closed as she continued to breathe. But soon the memories trickled in again, as if filling the blank space she had made in her head. Kazaki started to look uncomfortable, and her breathing went uneven. After another minute of struggling, she opened her eyes and gasped.

"C-crap..." she said, looking winded.

"Are you ok?" Amina asked, opening her eyes from her light meditative state that she had been in when she sensed a change in Kazaki. She had been doing well for a while but Amina suspected that whatever it was that was bothering her decided to intrude on her mind once again. She wanted to go over to her and comfort Kazaki physically but not sure if it would be allowed nor did she want to crowd the other woman.

"Yeah, I think...." Kazaki said, trying to steady herself. "I let a memory get in, that's all." She could still see bits of it in her head, Sailor Jupiter's back as she walked away from Castle Io, going off to serve the Moon Kingdom. An overwhelming sense of sadness hit her, and Kazaki scrubbed at her eyes in an attempt to wipe the tears away. "I'll try again."

"It's fine if a memory comes in, it's bound to happen," Amina said gently. "You were doing great so don't be so hard on yourself yah?" Amina pretended that she didn't notice the tears that had begun to streak down Kazaki's face, wanting to give her some semblance of privacy. Whatever the memory was, Amina had a feeling that Kazaki was going to have to deal with the memory before it left her alone.

"Are you ready to try again? Do you want me to count you in, or do you think you're fine to pick it up on your own?"

"I...I'm okay," Kazaki said, shutting her eyes again. She went still for about half a minute this time before giving a frustrated sigh. "Alright, maybe I can't do this right now." She looked down at her lap, sniffling. "Sorry about falling apart like this..." She hated crying in front of people, but she couldn't stop it.

"Hey, it's fine, there's nothing to be sorry for yah? Dealing with pent up emotions and memories is difficult. It sounds like you need to work through this before you're able to move on," Amina said softly, reaching out and putting her hand on the other girls knee in comfort. She sucked in a breathe as she was dragged into the memory that had been plaguing Kazaki.