Kazaki stiffened when Amina touched her, the memory intensifying. She stared off into space as it took over completely, no longer responding to the outside world.

---

Kazaki- No, Sailor Io stood at the gate of a stone castle. It was a series of tall, brown brick towers linked together by a series of bridges. The outside was decorated with twisted vines and plants. A few trees had managed to sprout and grow from the very walls as well, making the castle look like a natural part of the forest surrounding it. The tallest tower was flying a flag with the symbol of Jupiter, the cloth whipping in the wind.


Standing at attention beside her were Sailor Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto, all a little older than they were in the future. Callisto was barely recognizable, being fully grown. In front of Io was Sailor Jupiter, accompanied by a few guards. A large green and white starship was waiting to take off, bound for the Moon Kingdom.

"Are you sure you have to leave by yourself? I can send one of us with you," Io offered. She didn't feel right letting her Princess go off along, not after what happened to the last Guardian who went to serve the Queen. Flashes of a funeral echoed in her mind, along with a sharp sadness. "Or maybe Queen Serenity can wait another year..." she fretted. Jupiter put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Stop worrying about me, I'll be fine," she said with a smile. Io hadn't realized how tall her charge had gotten over the years, taller than her even. "I want you four to stay here and guard the planet while I'm gone. You can't do that if you're with me."

"R-right, I know, but-" Io looked down at her boots.

"I'm trusting you to keep Jupiter safe, can you handle it, Io?" she asked. Io nodded, unable to talk as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Of course I will."

Amina gasped as she attempted to get air into her lungs when she was finally released from the memory. What the hell had that been? She'd never had that happen before. Were her powers evolving? She had recognized Kazaki, or really Sailor Io from the Silver Millennium. From the conversation, Amina could guess it was around the time Jupiter moved to the Moon Kingdom to take her place as part of Princess Serenity's court. She could see that Io was upset. It was obvious that the two women were close, but she had the feeling that the emotions ran deeper on Io's end then they did on Jupiters.

"Are you ok?" she asked when she thought her breath was under control.

It took Kazaki a minute to realize that she was still in the hotel room with Amina. The vision had been so vivid this time, for some reason. As soon as Amina had touched her, it had gotten so much clearer.

"That's never happened before..." she said, holding her head. Kazaki blushed slightly when she realized Amina was concerned. "Wait, did you see the memory too?" she asked, embarrassed now.

"Yah, I did," Amina admitted apologetically. This had never happened before and she had no idea what had caused it. "I'm so sorry, I'm not sure how I was able to see it. Do you know anything about the memory? It may help you work through it."

Sometimes people could get stuck on memories until they worked through the feelings associated with it. With Kazaki, she may be stuck on that, and that was why she was having so much trouble.

"I'm...I don't know!" Kazaki said, distressed. Why did that particular memory hurt so much? Was that an important moment for her past life? But why? If only she could remember what led up to it. She stood up abruptly. She needed to clear her head and think. "I-I have to go somewhere, sorry!" Before Amina could even ask where or why, she had stormed out of the room. A few minutes later, she was downstairs in the hotel's parking garage, revving her motorcycle and pulling out. Kazaki wasn't sure where she was driving to, but she couldn't stay still anymore.

Amina sat in shock as Kazaki left the room in a rush, visibly upset. She hadn't meant to see the younger woman's memories. Apparently she was so upset with Amina she couldn't stand to be around her.

The blonde snapped out of her stupor. She needed to leave before the others came back. Scrambling off the bed, she grabbed her bag that she had let by the front door and rushed out. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why did she think she was capable of helping anyone? So lost in her thoughts, Amina didn't notice that the people she nearly ran over was Yuuta, Fuyoku and Kumoka, who were just returning from a junk food run.

One she was free from the hotel, she started back towards Minako's apartment, only to pause. If she went back now, Minako would start asking her questions, not expecting her back so soon, and there was no way that the younger blonde could find out about what happened here. Turning towards the nearby park, Amina decided to kill some time there.

The blonde was going to have to figure out how to apologize to Kazaki for the intrusion into something so private. If she wasn't such a worthless idiot, she'd have better control of her powers and none of this would have happened. Perhaps Amina should offer to make amends to Kazaki by offering to leave the area.

Feeling suddenly exhausted, she spied a tree a little ways off the path and into the bush. It was secluded enough that she should be able to rest unseen until she was able to return to the Minako's house. Making herself comfortable, Amina didn't notice that she quickly fell into a fitful sleep.

Yuuta almost dropped his fast food when Amina slammed into his shoulder, as she ran by. He turned to look just as she disappeared around a corner. What was Amina doing?

"Who was that?" Kumo asked around the fries she had shoved in her mouth earlier.

"I didn't get a good look at her..." he said.

"How about we just go check on Kazaki and Amina upstairs?" Fuyuko said. "They're probably hungry." When they reached he right floor and entered the room, neither of the girls were there. 

An hour later, Kazaki pulled back into the hotel, feeling more relaxed. She needed to apologize to Amina for breaking down on her like that. When she stepped into the room, Yuuta, Fuyuko, and Kumoka were waiting, Yuuta pacing back and forth impatiently. He immediately went to her, grabbing her shoulders.

"What happened? Where did Amina go?" he asked. She pulled away from him, confused.

"What do you mean? I left her here when I went to ride my bike...Maybe she went back to Minako's house. I kind of..." Kazaki looked at the ground. "lost my cool while she was helping me, and I stormed out."

"What did you say?!"

"Yuuta, that's enough," Fuyuko touched his shoulder, her icy tone enough to make him back down. "Leave Kazaki alone, I'm sure Amina just left to go to sleep. It's late anyway." she softened a little. "How about we check on her tomorrow?" Yuuta looked like he was going to argue, but he deflated instead.

"Fine, we'll go tomorrow," he said, before slinking off to his room, hands in his pockets. Yuuta was sure that girl was Amina now, and he wished he had chased after her. He hoped she was okay...

Minako yawned as she sleepily walked down the hallway on her way to the kitchen. She wondered if Amina came home last night or if she stayed at the hotel again. Decided to see, the blonde senshi of love made her way silently to her guest bedroom in case Amina did return and saw that the door was open. Guess she was having too much fun, she mused to herself. Grinning, she went into her kitchen to make herself a breakfast.

A few hours later, she was just finishing doing a load of laundry when she heard a knock on her door. Curious as to who was there, as she wasn’t expecting anyone, she went to answer the door.

“Hi,” she said surprised. “What are you guys doing here?”

"Sorry to bother you," Fuyuko said. "We were just wondering if Amina was here. She just disappeared last night, and we wanted to check if she came back here." Behind her, Kazaki was staring at the ground, unable to meet anyone's eye. What if Amina was gone because of her? She didn't mean to do anything like that. 

"Is she here?" Yuuta asked impatiently, trying to look over Minako's shoulder into the house. He had been anxious about her all night, convinced something had happened to her. It was obvious by the dark shadows under his eyes that he didn't sleep very well.

"No, she wasn't here when I checked her room this morning. I assumed she was with you. Come in and tell me exactly what happened," Minako demanded, leaving no room for any arguments. What had happened to Amina? Minako had a feeling that she knew but she wanted to confirm her suspicions first.

Once they were all settled in her living room, she got down to business. "She went to the hotel last night to help one of you with meditation and clearing your emotions. So what happened?"

Kumoka nudged Kazaki from her seat on the couch, urging her to speak. Yuuta wasn't even sitting down, instead opting to lean against a nearby wall facing the conversation.

"Well..." Kazaki started, not very comfortable spreading her problems out on the table in front of everyone. "She was trying to help me. I kept getting these old memories and all the feelings attached to them after we got to Tokyo. I couldn't really separate them from my own thoughts, so I was having trouble concentrating on anything." She sighed. "When Amina was helping me last night, she somehow saw the particular memory bothering me, and I...kind of got frustrated with myself and ran off. When I came back, she was gone already."

"And when you left you didn't say a word to her about why you were leaving did you?" When the leader of the Galilean senshi nodded, Minako groaned. Oh boy. She knew exactly what was going on her. Dammit Amina, I thought you were doing better!

"I don't know how much of this you guys actually know, but Amina has incredibly low self esteem and self worth. She's fine or at least can fake it for the most part, but a lot of it pertains to her past. Don't ask me to tell you, that has to be something she needs to tell you," she said when she saw several faces about to ask, especially Yuutas. Amina's past wasn't her story to tell and she would divulge what the older woman had shared about her horrid past with her.

"While you may not have meant to do any harm when you left Kazaki, Amina most likely took the abrupt leaving as you being so upset with her about her viewing your memory that you couldn't stand to be in the same room as her. My guess is, is that she went to find somewhere to kill a few hours, not wanting to come back to my place too early to seem suspicious and probably fell asleep somewhere. She should be back soon," the senshi said reassuringly.

At least the other blonde senshi had come back after falling asleep the last few times. Minako still remembered the first time Amina had done something like this. She and the other Sol Senshi had been in a panic trying to find her. Now they knew to remain calm and Amina would show up after a few hours, usually apologetic. She couldn't blame the girl for how she reacts given her past but Minako had thought that progress was being made and she was doing better; at least that was the impression she got from the dinner the other night.

She glanced over at Yuuta. It was clear to her that the male senshi really cared for Amina. They'll be good together once they both get over themselves and realize they love each other. Minako smiled to herself. Looks like she'd have to play match maker a little more.

"Wait, what?" Kazaki said. "I didn't mean that at all. And now she thinks I hate her..." She felt like scum now. She really needed to apologize and get her act together. She usually wasn't that easily distressed, and now it was hurting others. Yuuta was even more panicked now. 

"She runs off like that often? But Tokyo is huge! What if something happened to her? We have to go searching right now-" 

"Yuuta! Calm down, please." Fuyuko said. "We don't need two people getting lost, since you don't even know your way around at all. Uh, Minako-san, do you have anything that needs...heavy lifting?"

"Hmmm...The patio furniture is still sitting outside, and I should really get that moved into the garage before it snows. Can you do it for me, Yuuta-kun?" Minako asked. He blinked in surprise, but there was something in the way Minako had said it that made him agree.

"Yeah, sure..." Hesitantly, he left the room and went out the back door.

"It's been a while since she's done this. It's not that she runs off, it's that she doesn't want to return early and have people ask questions and find out something is wrong. It tends to backfire on her on occasion. I'm fairly certain she does it more often than we know and we're never any of the wiser. She's never meant for anyone to get worried," Minako said, attempting to soothe Yuuta before he went outside.

"Kazaki, come with me to the kitchen please, let's prepare some lunch for everyone." Not waiting for a reply, Minako headed to her kitchen, expecting the other senshi to follow. She took out some ingredients from her fridge, giving some to Kazaki with simple instructions on how to prepare it. They worked for several moments in silence before the leader of the Sol Senshi began to speak.

"I know how difficult it can be to remember more than anyone else. I had my full memories for a long time before any of the others. I actually think I'm the only one that has their full memories of the Silver Millennium. On top of that, you have the pressure of being a leader. You feel like you're expected to behave a certain way. To always be put together, never let the pressure show. I can tell you one thing, having your friends and sharing the burden isn't a bad thing. You started to do that with Amina. She is able to help you with your memories, you just have to give it time. I know she believes that she's not able to, but I've seen Amina do some pretty amazing things. Let her help you. If that memory is causing that many problems, it sounds like you're going to have to confront it before it gets worse. If you ever need any advice or just want to talk, my door is always open to you."

Kazaki wasn't much of a cook, but she followed Minako into the kitchen anyway. Kazaki was chopping up a tomato when Minako spoke again.

"So you have the memories too?" Kazaki asked. But then again, should she really be that surprised? Minako had been Sailor Venus for longer than she had been Sailor Io. And if anyone knew how a leader should act, it would be her. She waited until she was done talking before saying anything again. 

"You're probably right. I just...didn't want to drop my burden on anyone else. It was bad enough for me, and none of them deserve to have to deal with the memories too. I was afraid I was going to trigger them somehow if I talked about it," Kazaki explained. "But I really should stop ignoring it, I think I'm just making it worse."

"I've had memories since I awoke as Sailor V. As time went on or events happened, more memories would awaken. There were some I had to deal with in order to move on with my life like failing in my duties to protect the Princess and allowing her to die," she said quietly. It was still something she had to deal with every time Usagi got herself into trouble, but she was able to put those feelings aside and deal with the situation at hand.

"The memories will continue to get worse until you deal with them. They aren't meant to be ignored and they don't like being ignored either." She regarded the younger woman. Once she deal with her memories and the emotions attached to them, Minako could see that she would be an even better leader than she currently was. She'd be confident in herself and her abilities.




It was official, she was an idiot. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but she had and now it was well into the afternoon. Trust her to be able to do anything right. Hopefully Minako thought that she had spent the night at the hotel, and she would just play along. She opened the door quietly, praying that Minako wouldn't be around. She closed the door quietly behind her and paused. She could hear voices in the kitchen. Figuring that Minako had a friend over, probably one of the other Sol senshi, she headed through the living room to escape to her room.

Or she wouldn't be going through the living room. Fuyuko and Kumoka were sitting in the living room. Crap, did that mean that Yuuta and Kazaki were here as well? Backing away from the room, she attempted to head down the hall to her room and escape that way.

Minako's example memory of letting her princess die hit a little too close to home for Kazaki, but this time she tried not to push the thoughts away. "I noticed," she said, remembering the nights when her past played out in her dreams. Did that particular memory bother her so much because she thought she was responsible for Jupiter's death? It was a ridiculous thought, since she had no chance of even knowing about the Dark Kingdom's plan, but maybe it still bothered her. Had seeing Makoto triggered her guilt?
_______________________________________________________

In the living room, Fuyuko saw something moving in her peripheral vision, going down the hallway. She turned to look just as Amina's ponytail disappeared around a corner. "Amina?" she called, standing up.

Amina heard Fuyuko called her name and ignored it. She hoped the younger woman hadn't really seen her and if she stayed quiet enough, maybe Fuyuko would think she hadn't really seen Amina and give up. She crept quietly to her room that she was staying in.

She had decided that she was going to leave not just Sapporo, but Japan as well. If she quit her job, she'd be deported. And the only way to leave Sapporo was to quit as she was in the middle of her contract. With no school willing to sponsor her Visa, she'd have to leave the country.

Frowning at the lack of an answer, Fuyuko went down the hall to check if someone was really there. Before Amina could slip into her room, Fuyuko touched her shoulder. 

"Amina, why don't you want to see us?" she asked. Why was she avoiding them on purpose? "At least tell Yuuta you're okay, he's really worried..."

Amina froze as Fuyuko came into the hallway. Dammit, apparently she had been spotted. She felt her heart twist at the hurt tone of Fuyuko when she asked Amina if the blonde if she didn't want to see them. How could she tell the younger girl that yes, I am avoiding you because I don't want to hurt any of you anymore and it's just better if I'm gone?

"I'm just going to put my bag into my room, then I'll be back out." Without waiting for a reply, she continued down the hall to the room she was staying in. Closing the door behind her, she leaned against it rubbing her hands over her face. This was turning into a disaster. So much for being able to quietly slip out and leave. Tossing her bag onto her bed, she contemplated packing as much as she could as fast as she could in order to make a quick get away. Coward, the voice in her head whispered. It was right, the least she could do was stick this out until they at least left, then she could go back making plans to leave.

She knew that Yuuta wasn't in the living room and she doubted he'd been in the kitchen, which left the backyard. She entered the backyard, closing the door silently behind her and stood there, waiting for Yuuta to see her.

Yuuta was focused on picking up one of the wicker couches Minak had sitting outside, trying his best to not think about Amina. This immediately failed when he felt someone watching him. He almost dropped the furniture in his hand in his hurry to turn around and see who it was.

"Amina!" he said, running over to her. When he got closer, she could see that he looked nearly exhausted, but relieved to see her. "You're okay right? I thought you were hurt somewhere." As he spoke, he looked her over, checking for any visible wounds. "What happened last night?" From inside the house, the girls were discreetly peeking out the window at the two in the backyard, wanting to see what was going to happen.

"No, I just didn't want to go back to Minako's after I left so I killed some time in a nearby park and fell asleep. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry anyone," she said, her eyes downcast. Yep, she just kept messing up this situation more and more. Yuuta was now upset with her for accidentally falling asleep in the park.

Part of her desperately wanted to be wrapped up in his arms and told that everything was alright, that she was a pathetic screw up, and that she could stay in Sapporo and didn't have to leave. She kept her mouth shut however, not wanting to be seen as desperate and more pathetic than she already was.

"I'm just happy you're okay," Yuuta said smiling. Last time he had left her alone, Amina had been injured. He had no desire to see her like that again. He hesitated for a few moments, and then pulled her into a hug. Yuuta wasn't sure what had driven him to do it, but it felt right. It was the only way for him to show her how much he worried about her. He let Amina go, blushing slightly. "Uh, sorry if that was out of line..."

Goddess, that had felt so good being wrapped in his arms. She felt her heart clench as he let her go, blushing and apologizing if it was too forward. Wanting to continue to feel that comfort his embrace provided for her she stepped towards him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest.

She could feel his emotions with this much contact and his while slightly erratic and worried about her began to calm hers, allowing her downward spiral to cease and her head to finally clear. She'd been acting so silly. She really was going to have to apologize to everyone for her actions for worrying them and see if they could sort everything out. For now though, she wanted to stay right here.

Yuuta was surprised, but definitely happy that Amina wasn't angry at him. He held her again, resting his chin on the top of her head and closing his eyes. As they stood out in the yard, Minako and the other senshi watched. 

"I think it's safe to say that they're okay for the moment," Fuyuko said. "But maybe you should wait a bit to apologize, Kazaki. They seem to be busy." Kazaki nodded. 

"Yeah, maybe I will." Minako grinned.

"See? She came back, just like I said! I wonder if they'll go any farther..." Minako looked at them intently, waiting. 

"We should go inside," Yuuta said after a while. He didn't let her go though.

Amina nodded, slowly pulling back from Yuuta.She knew she had probably overstayed hugging him, with him being Japanese.

"You're right, I really should apologize to Kazaki and try and make it up to her somehow." While she didn't think she'd quit her job and leave the area anymore, it was still always an option. Now she had to find a way to apologize to Kazaki for invading her privacy like that.

"Apologize?" Yuuta asked, as they walked back to the house. "I thought Kazaki wanted to apologize to you." When they got inside, Minako looked slightly disappointed, while Kumoka shoved Kazaki in Amina's direction. 

"Alright, I get it!" Kazaki said, before turning to look at Amina.  "Uh...About last night. It was my fault, okay? I just got really angry with myself and left, and I didn't say anything," she explained, looking down again. "Sorry..."

"Yah, I kind of saw something, a memory I shouldn't have and she took off. She seemed pretty upset," Amina replied as they walked back into the house. She eyed Minako curiously as the blonde senshi looked disappointed. What was going on with her?

When they went into the house, Kazaki was pushed towards her and Yuuta by Kumoka who said something to the other girl in return. The blonde's brain stuttered to a halt as she heard Kazaki apologize for last night.

"So you're not mad at me for loosing control of my powers and seeing your memory when I shouldn't have?" She asked quietly.

Kazaki smiled slightly. "No, not really. It was more kind of embarrassing...But I'm not mad at you. And to be honest, you really were helping me. That was the clearest memory I've gotten yet. I probably needed to see it eventually," she admitted. "Could you maybe...help me again? I mean, if you don't want to, it's fine."

"I've never heard you ask someone for tutoring before," Yuuta said, grinning at Kazaki. She gave him a glare.

"This isn't exactly schoolwork."

"If you'd like sure," Amina said, not quite believing that Kazaki wasn't mad at her. Was she only pretending not to be mad because Yuuta was here? She searched the younger girls face. She seemed genuine enough. The blonde could feel some of the tension bleed from her shoulders. Maybe this would be alright afterall.





Minako watched stealthily from her window as she watched Amina reunite with Yuuta. "Awww, they're so cute together!" she gushed. They really needed to admit their feelings to each other and they were taking forever to do it! It was time for the Goddess of Love to stage an intervention. A plan began to develop in her head. She would need to call Mako-chan and get her on board for this as well. May as well kill two stones with one bird! Make the Gallillean senshi happy and make Amina happy. Makoto shouldn't be able to resist that logic!

"Hey Fuyuko..."