A Third Life

Kunzite had been living in Crystal Tokyo for two years now. He used the alias Saitou Kunikiyo as he went about his life. His true name, he learned quickly, was recognized by most of the citizens. Apparently the Dark Kingdom and the Golden Kingdom were taught extensively in history classes now.

The home he had awoken in had belonged to an elderly couple who had found him unconscious on the street near their home. He carried no identification on him, just the clothes on his back, which weren't of particular interest. They assumed he had partial amnesia, and so he slowly learned about the time and place he had awakened in.

It had been millennia after all. 1000 years since he had been serving the Dark Kingdom, but the world had been frozen for much of that time. He didn't completely understand that part, nor did he really care. His priority had been to find Zoisite, but as it turned out, Crystal Tokyo was even bigger than the original city. He tried for a full year to find his partner, but to no avail, nor did he find any other members of the Shitennou.

It was after the first year that Kunzite set his sights on another target. Surely King Endymion had his memories of the Golden Kingdom now. If he did, and he still had his powers, he would be able to track down the remaining Shitennou. Kunzite had spend most of the last year planning on a way to meet with the king face to face, but with a face as recognizable as his by the Sailor Senshi that were also commonly found around the palace, he could hardly just walk up to the door.

Kunzite had studied this new world extensively. He needed to know how much of the past the general population knew about, just how many people might recognize him by his face alone. How much of the two kingdoms of the past did the people know about? Unlike the people of the twentieth century, these people were fully aware of what had happened. It meant that Kunzite needed to keep a low profile. Mention of the Dark Kingdom or even the Shitennou was often met with negative responses.

He also studied the palace itself. It's apparent security set up, routines of the palace guards, which guards were attentive and which were more relaxed. He studied the roles of the Sailor Senshi themselves, the political obligations of the two monarchs. He even studied the school schedule of their daughter. He had considered using her to get to the King for a while, but decided against it as she was often accompanied by Sailor Pluto. The little pink haired brat was more trouble than she was worth, and Kunzite was without any of the powers he once held.

His plan used the fact that people in this time were too trusting of others. He could get himself into the palace without trouble. The difficulty would come after that point. There were no blueprints that he could find of the interior of the palace, so it was impossible to know just what kind of battle field he would be on until he was there.

He dressed himself in old, torn clothing with a shredded cloak over his shoulders. He waited just out of sight of the guards at the main entrance of the palace. It was well into night and the streets were quiet. As two o'clock approached, a new set of guards came out, conversed with the first set for a moment, and then replaced them entirely. Kunzite knew these two well now, younger men, raised in a time when there was no reason to mistrust one another.

It had begun to rain lightly, and Kunzite pulled the tattered hood over his pale hair. In truth, there were many ways he would prefer to do this, but given the circumstances, he saw no dishonour in using such a method. Granted it was hardly charging in head first with a full army, but he had not an army, nor even the ability to teleport or create himself a weapon.

He hunched his shoulders and kept his eyes on the ground in front of him as he began to slowly approach the two guards. He staggered a bit, and before he was even half way there, he had the guards' attention.

“Sir, are you alright?”

Kunzite didn't reply. As he drew closer, he kept his eyes mostly closed, fluttering occasionally. He reached a hand up to his head and paused his approach. Knowing he had their full attention now, he collapsed to his knees as though in pain.

As expected, the guards ran forward. “Sir? What's wrong?”

Kunzite made his breathing sound laboured, “I... where...?” Faking a sudden sharp pain, he moaned as he continued to press a hand to his head. “...who...am...”

Figuring that that should be sufficient to make his point, Kunzite then closed his eyes and collapsed completely, falling on to the now wet ground.

“Call the physician!” one of the guards said, and the second ran off. The first one rolled Kunzite onto his back and checked his vital signs. The hood fell back, and the guard gasped. Kunzite thought for a second that perhaps his face was more recognizable than originally assumed, but that was not the case. “He's young...” the guard commented to himself.

Kunzite didn't exactly consider himself 'young', but it would be easy to assume that the man who staggered towards them had been an old man.

Soon the second guard reappeared with who Kunzite could only assume was the palace physician. Three men then together carried Kunzite into the palace.

As Kunzite's eyes were closed the entire time, he couldn't be sure, but he heard no other people along the journey, which was a relief. The fewer the better.

He was laid down on a small bed in what must have been a sick room. “I'll take care of him from here, thank you,” the physician said, and the other two men left.

The doctor looked him over, checked his vitals again, and scratched some notes down a piece of paper. “No fever, pulse and breathing are normal,” he said to himself as he wrote, “patient is a man who appears to be in his late twenties, probably dehydrated.” He continued to write a bit more silently before putting the pad down on the counter and turning the lights down. He opened the door and closed it again, leaving the room very quiet.

Kunzite opened his eyes and looked towards the door without moving his head at first. The doctor was indeed gone, and Kunzite moved quickly. He got off the bed and checked over the sick room quickly. Indeed there was a second room that appeared to be reserved for more complicated procedures and operations. It had scalpels, which would be enough of a weapon for what Kunzite needed.

Taking the small blade, Kunzite slowly opened the door and found no one in the hall outside. He continued down the hall from where he had entered the palace slowly. It was quiet; most of the servants were asleep at this hour. He found a set of stairs and took them, figuring that the royals likely sleep on one of the upper floors.

For a building with such an extravagant exterior, the interior was rather simple and easy to figure out. He continued up the stairs until he reached the top. This floor had a silver carpeted hall and was quite small with only four rooms. The most impressive doors where at the end of the hall, and Kunzite went right to them. Interesting how they were unguarded.

He opened one of them slowly and silently. The light from the hall cast light onto the large bed of the King and Queen, only one of whom was in bed. Kunzite had picked this day for a reason. The Queen and her inner Sailor Senshi were away on a business trip in North America. The King has remained behind in Crystal Tokyo. Not only did Kunzite not have the Queen to worry about at this moment, but none of the Inner Senshi who would recognize him were in the palace either.

He slipped into the bedroom and closed the door behind him. He allowed his eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light and then he slipped over to the side of the bed.

Kunzite wasted no time and threw his hand over the King's mouth, both waking him and silencing him. Endymion instinctively moved to fight back, but Kunzite showed him the scalpel he had brought along with him, the blade shining in the moonlight from the window. “Don't move, or I'll slice your throat,” he said and Endymion stopped fighting.

Endymion's eyes tried to focus on the face in front of him, probably recognizing the voice, and Kunzite couldn't help but smile. He hadn't been Endymion's biggest fan when the two of them had been forced to work together in the Dark Kingdom. Of course, Kunzite's memories of the Golden Kingdom told him that everything about this was wrong, but Kunzite currently felt no loyalty to either this man or the woman, Beryl. He needed information right now, that was all.

“Do you know who I am?” Kunzite asked.

Endymion squinted, still trying to fully take in Kunzite's face. It only took a few more moments for his eyes to grow wide in both recognition and shock.

“I'll take that as a yes. My intention is not to harm you, I just need something from you. Do you understand?”

Endymion nodded, and Kunzite slowly removed his hand from the other man's mouth. “How are you alive?” the King whispered.

“That answers one of my questions, you don't know.” Kunzite had been hoping that the King might have been able to shed some light on that, but apparently not. “Get up.”

Endymion did as requested, but Kunzite kept the blade close enough to remind the man who was in charge of this situation. “You have your memories of the Golden Kingdom, correct?” Kunzite asked.

“Yes. I'm surprised that you do.”

“I need to find the other three. You're going to help me do that.”

Endymion looked from Kunzite to the scalpel and then back. “You can put that away,” he said.

“I don't think so.”

“I'll help you, but I can't do anything from this room. I'll need to get dressed.”

“You may.”

Kunzite moved away from the King, but keep as close as he could without getting in the way. As soon as the King was dressed in his regular attire, Kunzite closed in again with the blade, standing behind the King with his hands on his shoulders. “Where do you need to go?” he asked.

“Two floors down.”

“And what's there?”

“A control room. There's a computer there that I can connect to telepathically. I can use it to track down the other Tennou. I mean it, Kunzite, you don't have to hold that blade.”

Kunzite had a feeling that he was telling the truth, but he couldn't take that chance. “If you plan to do what I ask, then you won't have to worry about it.”

The pair moved slowly, but without running into anyone along the way. Once inside, Endymion attempted to move towards the main panel, but Kunzite held him back. “Hold it,” he said, reminding the King of his weapon. “How do I know that you aren't going to try and alert someone to your situation?”

“You have my word.”

“Not good enough.”

Endymion took a breath, “Kunzite, I don't know how you are alive now, nor can I tell you if the others are as well, but I can understand your desire to find them, especially Zois-”

“You know nothing of it!” Kunzite snapped. “Don't pretend to.”

“You don't have your powers any more, do you?” Endymion asked. “You wouldn't be holding me here with a scalpel if you did. If I truly wanted to escape, I could.”

Kunzite hated to admit that he was right. He had hoped that Endymion would be as powerless as he, but no such luck apparently. He removed the blade and shoved the man towards the control panel. “Find them,” he ordered.

Endymion said nothing, but placed both his hands on flat panels. The controls lit up and Kunzite stepped forward to observe. Endymion closed his eyes and a map of the city appeared on the large screen in front of the pair. In the centre was the palace, and from there a visualization of what looked like a sound wave extended throughout the city in a growing circle. One by one, three dots began to blink on the screen and Endymion opened his eyes. “There they are,” he said.

“Which one is Zoisite?”

Endymion shook his head, “I can't tell.”

Kunzite glared over at the King. “Like hell you can't. Which one is he?”

“I truly do not know, I'm sorry.” The King walked over to the screen and pointed at the closest dot. This caused the screen to zoom in on the location. “This is a temple, Zenyoumitsu-ji .” He moved finger back and then to the second dot, “this is the more upscale section of the city. Well off business men and their families mostly. It's a decent sized home.” Then to the farthest dot. “This is... a section of the city I'm working to clean up actually.”

“What do you mean?”

“Even Crystal Tokyo has its problems. The income of the people in this area is lower, crime exists, as well as some less than commendable professions. This particular building is a brothel.”

Kunzite looked over the map again quickly, memorizing the locations. “We'll start with the closest one and work out.”

“We?” Endymion asked.

“Yes,” Kunzite looked at him in the eye, “you are not free until I find Zoisite.”