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Comforted by Lightning
He is twenty-six years old when he suddenly remembers.
It is a mundane, ordinary evening and he's just gotten in from another mundane, ordinary date with another vapid, faceless girl who was only interested in him because he was well-known on the university soccer team while he was in undergrad. He's lost count of how many girls he's dated through college...twenty-five? Twenty-six? Maybe thirty-one. At least four were one-night stands and the others never made it past a second date. Some didn't even make it past a first.
Like tonight. Hell if he'll be calling that girl again. Mindless babble about how cool he was when he played soccer and how she never dreamed he would ever ask her out because they moved in different circles but it must have been fate that intervened!
Bullshit, he thinks. They just happened to be in the same bar the weekend past and he thought she was sort-of pretty-ish, with long brown hair reminiscent of something he couldn't quite put his finger on, and he made the mistake of flirting with her after one too many. A sober date was all it took to tell him she wasn't the right one.
He locks the door behind him and kicks his shoes off. He's been searching for the right girl since high school and he knows when he meets her, he'll just know she's the right one. He'll feel lightning and electricity and he can't explain how he knows this, he just knows. It's something innate within him, like the laws of physics.
He sighs heavily and flops on the couch, turns the television on, and rolls his head. He probably needs a few stiff drinks, but he can't have a hangover the next morning because he has a meeting with his dissertation professor and that wouldn't go over well.
Fifteen minutes later, just as he picks up the remote to turn the news off and head for the shower, a report comes on that makes him pause a fraction longer, his thumb on the off-button, hesitating.
He always did love astronomy.
"...and tomorrow night, astrologists say that the planet Jupiter will be visible to the naked eye in the sky, next to the planet Venus. Those with reflector telescopes can see Jupiter more clearly, including the Great Red Spot and several moons..."
The television flashes an image of the planet. The greatest storm in the solar system is visible below the equator. As a static image, it looks more like a painting than a massive vortex larger than the earth itself, with over 400 kilometer per hour winds.
And out of nowhere, as though a streak of lightning has hit him from the inside out, he sits bolt upright.
Images and memories flood his mind — memories he doesn't remember and yet does remember, and fuck, his very fingers grow cold and numb with remembering.
He barely manages to turn the television off before he collapses on the couch, holding his head in agony.
Fuck. No wonder he expected to feel lightning and electricity when he met the right girl.
~ Silver Millennium
She is standing in a meadow outside the palace. The storm is almost upon them; the sky has already turned dark gray with heavy clouds that obscure the looming, anvil-shaped ones high above. A sharp unswing of wind brings a smattering of fat drops that dot her uniform. The skirt and flap collar both billow, the skirt lifting to show flashes of her thighs and the curve of her buttocks. Her hair tangles fiercely behind her and for a moment, as she stands there with arms hanging at her sides and chin tilted defiantly, he thinks she is a goddess instead of a princess and a guardian.
"Princess!"
The word sounds odd to his lips — his Prince has told them that the Moon Princess's guardian soldiers are also princesses by their own birthrights, though for some reason, it seems strange to refer to her thus.
She doesn't hear him or ignores him, he isn't sure which. He knows from their disastrous first meeting that she can pack a punch that might just rival Kunzite's, but he touches her shoulder anyways. Probably because he's a masochist or some shit; that's what Zoisite would tell him.
She jerks when he touches her and he snatches his hand back. She glares at him with a cold, calculating look, as though debating how to rebuke him (or attempt to hit him) for daring to touch her. He cuts across her before she can speak.
"The storm is going to be bad!" he shouts above the wind. "For your own safety, you should come back inside!"
But at that, she bursts into laughter. The sound nettles him and makes him feel like a scolded child; his anger wells up inside of him. This is exactly why he and the others don't like the moon princess's guardians. They are always aloof and haughty, as if they think they are better than the shitennou!
Holding her sides, she gleefully sputters, "Bad? This is nothing compared to the storms of my guardian planet! I just wanted to see what it was like! So far," (at this, she turns to look at the darkening sky) "It's rather disappointing."
He grits his teeth at the insult that Earth's storms are nothing to the planet Jupiter's storms. Why the hell did he even bother to come out here? She doesn't want his protection and he isn't in a mood to offer it anymore. Endymion is out of his mind if he thinks they can pull off civility to these women!
But suddenly, as the rain comes in on stronger gusts, smattering the both of them, she says more thoughtfully, "Our largest storms are bigger than your planet Earth, with speeds so high that it's impossible for you to imagine. But still..."
She closes her eyes and inhales deeply as a crack of thunder, louder than any so far, reverberates off the earth. The scent of rain and wind fills in the air. His powers tell him that another burst of lightning is coming and it will be very close, and he tenses. Seconds later, a brilliant flash illuminates the dark landscape and her eyes snap open. She gives him a small smile, completely unafraid as more thunder booms above them almost simultaneously.
"I didn't mean to sound condescending," she shouts apologetically over the wind. "The truth is... I've missed storms since I arrived at the moon as a little girl." She wraps her arms around herself even as the rain begins in earnest, drenching them. She closes her eyes again. "There are no storms there. It feels so nice to be in one again. To feel the rain against my skin... the thunder in my bones... the lightning in my very nerves..."
He is slightly mollified by the apology and her description. He wonders what he would do if he could no longer experience storms.
What a sad thought.
"I know what you mean," he shouts back. "Lightning...is one of my powers. This," he gestures around at the weather, "Feels...comforting."
Her eyes open again. Green and large and no longer cold, but interested and unified in a commonality. There is a flash of mutual understanding along with another spear of deadly lightning.
She answers, "It is one of mine, too."
For weeks, he wonders about the others. Were they all reborn...? ...or just him? If all of them were reborn, had the others reawakened? If they had, where were they?
He watches the stars, trying to discern whether the others are alive or not. He feels that they are — he can see it in the heavens and he feels it in his soul. So he looks everywhere he goes, scanning endless faces in the crowds: in lecture halls and across the quad, in restaurants and cafés and in the convenience stores late at night when he craves milk pudding. In department stores and along the sidewalks and even in the little shinto shrine for Ukemochi tucked away down a side street near his flat, right across the alley from the late-night diner he likes to frequent.
And eventually, it is the Knight of Patience and Harmony he finds, first.
~ Silver Millennium
Soaked to the skin, they watch the skies a while longer. Others would think it far too dangerous to stand out in a meadow with the storm raging around them, and for others, it would be too dangerous. But for the two of them, who command lightning and thunder, it is exciting. Only when the sky becomes as dark as night and the wind is gusting far too much, do they turn and run for the castle, bursting with silent laughter at defying the elements.
They have almost reached their destination when she slips on the wet grass of the neatly trimmed castle lawns. He catches her and hauls her up roughly into his chest so she doesn't crash. The contact of their skin touching sends a twist of electricity through his core. Abruptly, he realizes that her leotard is completely drenched and her nipples are puckered hard against the sodden fabric from the cool rain. It is almost see-through.
Endymion warned them a week earlier not to gawk at the sailor guardians in their revealing uniforms, but it is very hard not to appreciate her tall, lithe, dripping form — the never-ending legs, the aching tight nipples beneath her white outfit, the indention of her navel on that slender long torso. She is a goddess, he thinks, not some mere princess. She catches him staring and he quickly diverts his eyes and pulls her under a covered walk as another fork of lightning lights the dark sky for a fraction of eternity.
"My apologies," he mutters, releasing her hand and looking away. "You should change and take a warm bath. Not that you would catch a cold, but...still..."
Unexpectedly, just as he starts to walk away (because his manhood is hardening quickly), she grasps his hand and he feels the tug all the way up his arm. Hardly daring to breathe — is she going to hit him or not? — he glances back at her warily.
To his surprise, she gives him a small smile. "You should change, too." Then, with a pretty flush over her high cheeks, she murmurs, "And I wouldn't be opposed to...taking a bath. Together." Her eyes flicker to his crotch, his erection becoming more and more obvious.
His breath catches painfully as more lightning cracks behind her. It seems like it races up their arms.
As though it is binding them together.
He had never dared to hope for anything like this, or even remotely expected it from any of the sailor guardians. But he isn't one to ignore Fate, either. They are bound by the law of storms.
Hands interlocked, he leads her through a servants' door into a dark corridor where the rain is more muffled and, sensing no one around, he pulls her close and kisses her to see what she will do.
His heart nearly bursts through his chest with excitement when she kisses back, her fingers clawing at his uniform as she lifts to her toes to reach his mouth more fully.
The concert is a joint effort between several protégé musicians at one of the largest opera houses in the city. He learns of it from his professor, who was given a ticket by a friend in the university's music department. His professor can't attend, and insists his top student Nozori take the ticket and spend an evening away from schoolwork.
He goes only because he tells himself it is a good opportunity to scan more nameless faces in a large crowd, to search for three others he had once called brothers-in-arms in a past life, or even for the man who was once the Prince of Earth. He dislikes wearing a suit, but it was a nice event and he knows better than to wear jeans and a t-shirt. His Prince would be proud, he thinks wryly. Nephrite was always the most rebellious of the four Kings of Heaven, despite his title.
But when he finds his seat, near the front and on an aisle, he is shocked beyond speech.
The young woman seated next to him has sleek raven hair and large violet-blue eyes and wears an evening gown of dark red. As she looks up at him, they both know. Her mouth parts slightly, her eyes widen in confused surprise. For a moment, he reads her gaze easily: does he remember? Does he know me? Does he know himself?
Is he an enemy?
He starts to speak, to say her guardian name because he has no idea what she calls herself in this era, but immediate panic floods her features when she realizes what he intends to do.
"Hino Rei!" she hisses. Her fingernails clench into her palm; she looks utterly terrified.
The young man sitting beside her glances up. With a jolt, Nephrite realizes it isn't a man at all, but a woman with short blonde hair. She is, however, dressed very much like a man, and there is a cold look in her light blue eyes. He is startled again, for she almost looks like a man he knew once, though not quite. The eyes are different.
To the girl Rei, the woman asks in a deep, sultry voice, "Who is he?"
Rei grips her hands together in her lap and doesn't answer right away, unsure how to phrase it or even what to say. She still has no idea just how much he remembers.
He sits down gingerly, hoping to put her more at ease. Inclining his head, he says, "Aoyama Nozori. But once... a very long time ago... I was known by a different name."
Under her breath, hugging herself as though the action might protect her, Rei mutters, "I knew I had a strange feeling about tonight." She looks as though she is in agony. "I couldn't understand what the fire meant this morning, but..."
The masculine girl is mildly interested and gives her an appraising look. "You said it wasn't a bad feeling though," she counters.
Grudgingly, the Guardian of Fire replies, "No. But..." She glances at him once before she leans over to the other girl and whispers, "He was once one of the four who served Prince End — "
"OkayIgetit," the other girl hisses back. Her cold, light blue gaze darts back to him. "Tenoh Haruka," she says.
He jolts. "The Tenoh Haruka? The race driver?" He wonders if Rei is dating her. He thinks briefly of Jadeite and his heart aches for the comrade he hasn't found yet.
She gives him a small smile. "The same." Then, to Rei, she muses, "Which one was he?"
"The Knight of... Wisdom and Comfort."
As Rei says the words, her face relaxes somewhat upon remembering his official title from so many millennia ago. Yes, despite being rough around the edges, he was the one who used common sense and logic to analyze situations, and the one who offered kind words and sympathy to those who needed it.
But under Queen Beryl, during his first rebirth, he knew he fought against the sailor guardians most unjustly. No wonder she looked so pained at first.
"I promise," he murmurs, leaning towards her and ignoring the way she stiffens at the closeness, "I'm not your enemy. I was given another chance, apparently. But I don't know where the others are. I haven't found them yet. I don't know if they're alive or if they remember. I've been trying to find them."
She relaxes again. "Oh."
Haruka leans around Rei and it suddenly occurs to him that she is also a sailor guardian, though he has no idea how he knows this. He has never met her before, in any life. She asks, "So... what do you do? Now, I mean. In this time."
"I'm a doctoral student at Tokyo University studying weather. My professor gave me the ticket tonight. Told me to step away from my dissertation before I lose my mind over research on lightning. What he doesn't know is that I'm losing my mind trying to find the other three, and..." He glances at Rei. "I don't know what Jupiter's name is in this era, but...her, too."
To his surprise, Haruka laughs. "He'll have a lot in common with Setsuna," she snickers, mostly to Rei. "They can bemoan writing dissertations and doing lab work together!"
He doesn't get a chance to ask who Setsuna is nor does Rei have a chance to tell him what Jupiter's name is; the lights dim twice to signal the start of the performance and the auditorium falls silent.
He sits through two world-class performances in nervous anticipation and confusion; one musician, Kaiou Michiru, is apparently Haruka's actual partner (as he learns during a brief intermission, along with the fact that none of the other guardians could attend this evening and Jupiter's current name is Makoto, though they all call her Mako for short). As Michiru plays, he realizes that she too is a guardian, though like Haruka, not one he met several millennia ago. Perhaps Setsuna is also a guardian he never met.
It is on the third and final performance that he realizes it was Fate that brought both him and the Guardian of Fire together, in adjacent seats, for this event.
The pianist's name is Wakana Jirou. But when the young man walks onstage and bows to the audience, both Nephrite and Sailor Mars suck in identical sharp breaths of recognition and shock. Without thinking, she grabs his arm painfully as though to ground herself before she is struck by proverbial lightning, and he just barely stops himself from grabbing her hand for the same reason.
Fate, indeed. Except they were too slow; people always are when it comes to getting hit by lightning. Even proverbial lightning.
~ Silver Millennium
She tastes like lightning itself, he thinks, as his hands rake under her short skirt to cup her arse and he holds her against him. She has unfastened several buttons on his uniform while their kisses grow deeper and headier, open-mouthed and wet and burning, and her fingers press into the flesh of his sternum as hungrily as her mouth devours his. One of his hands snakes up between their bodies to cup the back of her neck and her jaw.
"We need," he mutters between desperate kisses and thunder, "to find a more private venue."
"It's a castle," she retorts, dragging her hand under his uniform towards his ribs, and rubbing her hips against his, grinding against his hardness. "Surely there are...private rooms..."
His fingers tug at the sodden bow on the front of her uniform, dripping water between them. "A few," he concedes. "Or we could just go to my own."
She catches his hand and squeezes his fingers. "Your rooms sound... nice." Her voice is breathless.
They both know that the pianist didn't know who he really was before tonight because they both witness the moment Jadeite awakens within Wakana Jirou.
He is in the middle of a song, focused and reverent as his fingers fly upon the ivory keys. His eyes are closed and his brow furrows as he bends over the instrument passionately. He is brilliant in his playing, a true master, and the audience is spellbound.
And then suddenly, as though he's hit a wrong key and was the only one in the opera house who even realized he played a wrong note, his eyes snap open, his head jerks up, and his fingers falter for a split second that seems more like an eternity to at least three of them.
How he keeps playing despite the onrush of memories of his past life, of how they were controlled by Beryl to fight those they loved and the Prince they had sworn their lives to protect (twice, damn it), Nephrite will never know.
(He certainly couldn't have done it. He collapsed on his own couch, for fuck's sake. For hours.)
Beside him, Hino Rei looks anguished, with her hand over her mouth and tears streaming down her face and her other hand gripping his arm, still. She can do nothing to help in this moment.
Haruka merely rolls her eyes and pulls Rei's hand away from her face, squeezing it slightly to comfort her.
When Jirou finally finishes, he bows too quickly and — face white with fear — hurries to the wings.
Haruka leans over to the both of them. "You both look as pale as death," she leers. "Good thing Hotaru couldn't join us tonight!" Then, more warmly, she adds, "Come on. As soon as the lights come on, we can go backstage." Smiling at him, she explains, "The benefits of being romantically involved with one of the performers, you might say. Though... apparently, that makes two of us." She nudges Rei as she insinuates.
Rei shakes her head. "No. I haven't seen him in... years! Millennia! I can't... what if he doesn't — ? Oh gods...! The last time...!" Her face is ashen as she remembers Beryl.
He grasps her hand tightly, the hand still gripping his arm. "He remembers," he murmurs, as people around them begin to stand, gushing over what a wonderful evening it was. "We both know his memories returned. We saw it happen. It was because we were both here, Rei." He probably shouldn't use her given name, but he can't help it. Knight of Comfort, and all that. Familiarity helps.
Rei looks at him, searchingly, and takes a shaky breath.
Haruka rises and stretches, the grin on her face rather indecent. "Come on. I'll bet money Michiru cornered him backstage to hold him hostage until we can get there."
Rei groans. "No bet. I know she did."
~ Silver Millennium
He isn't entirely certain how they make it to his chambers without being seen, but as soon as the door closes behind him and he locks it for good measure, she raises her hands to her chest. In a burst of soft light, her uniform vanishes. Lightning outside his window outlines her stunning, nude form for a brief moment and he stares in awe.
Defensively, she says, "I know I'm taller than most women..."
He silences her with a gentle kiss, his hands caressing her jaw. She hisses at the contact of his wet clothes brushing against her.
"Don't," he rumbles between scalding kisses and clumsily removing his jacket. "Don't you dare try to tell me you aren't perfect. You're a goddess and I thought that the second I saw you. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met."
She's unfastening his pants while rubbing her soft, firm breasts against his hard chest and he thinks he might actually be slightly dizzy.
"I hit you thirty seconds after we met," she reminds him, dragging her lips down his throat. "I should apologize for that..."
"Fuck," he hisses, stepping back to yank his boots and pants off. "Pretty damned sure I loved that, too."
"Can't say that surprises me. Though, Serenity went on about diplomatic incidents and all that." She laughs, the sound mixing with the booming thunder. It thrills him to his very core. Grabbing her, her grappling him, their mouths fusing desperately and their rain-slick skin sliding together, they stumble to his bed.
Haruka was right: Michiru did indeed corner the blond-headed pianist.
They find him backstage, sitting on an upturned crate with his head in his hands as though in pain.
But he doesn't run away from them or hide when they appear. He merely looks up, his eyes flicking first to Nephrite with a gutted expression before shifting to Mars. When he looks at her, he suddenly seems desperate — hungry, yet in agony — and the two move towards each other at the same time, wrapping themselves in a tight hug, hands grasping each other's clothing so tightly for fear of losing the other again. He holds her as though he needs an anchor to keep from drowning without realizing he's drowning in her.
Nephrite is reminded that he needs to find Jupiter; he suddenly misses her something fierce. He wants to hold her the way Jirou is holding Rei.
Haruka breaks the tension, linking her hands behind her head with a sigh. "Guess we'd better take them to headquarters and call a meeting. They'll want to meet their Prince Charming again."
Michiru giggles. "Oh, Haruka. Can you imagine Mamo-chan's face? And if he gets upset, you know our darling little Usa will, too. Perhaps we should ease them into it."
Haruka laughs. "Nah. Just one of those things we have to deal with and we may as well get it over with. Though..." She glances at the two Kings of Heaven with a shrewd look. "I wouldn't be the first bit surprised if it was Bun-Head who wished for their rebirth in the first place. She may not be as shocked as we think, Michiru."
~ Silver Millennium
After the worst of the storm passes, the rain becomes a steady downpour. The low thrum buzzes in his head in the afterglow of making love to the Princess of Jupiter, soothing and quiet. The occasional rumble of thunder in the distance is calming instead of electrifying now, making them both sleepy as they lie entangled beneath silken sheets.
He isn't sure how much time passes, but he is almost asleep when she finally speaks — her voice low and drowsy and content.
"That was as amazing as Venus said it would be."
It takes a good ten seconds for the murmured statement to process through his brain. His brow furrows.
"Venus?" he finally mumbles, his hand squeezing her breast gently.
She sighs and twists her head to rest it on his shoulder, her palm sliding over his chest. "Apparently, she's been sneaking off with your Head General for at least two weeks — "
His eyes snap open. Kunzite is sneaking off with Venus? And had been for two weeks now?
Without warning, he barks out a laugh. "Are you shitting me?"
He feels her smile against his skin. "She's... very persuasive, Venus is. She was the one who told us to give the rest of you a chance."
"I don't even want to know how she got Kunzite between her legs." He's still laughing. "Son of a bitch! He acts all cool and reserved, when in reality, he's panting after her as bad as I wanted to get you!"
"Knock it off," she chuckles good-naturedly. "Let me get some rest, Nephrite."
"I'm impressed if I wore you out, love."
"It was great fun though. The storm made it..."
"Perfect," he murmurs.
"Yes," she echoes. "Perfect."
Rei, Huraka, and Michiru ask the two of them to wait before coming into the command room, which is oddly situated beneath an arcade of all things. The Guardians of Fire, the Deep Sea, and the Winds go down first to smooth the way a bit, to prepare the other guardians for the appearance of two of the Kings of Heaven.
Left alone with Jirou, he asks softly, "You okay?"
Jadeite nods, his expression still numb, even though he's not really okay. He's still processing and Nephrite can tell. He just isn't sure what to say.
Rei explained on their way here that reawakening occurred at different times for all of the sailor guardians. Jirou and Nozori learned that the guardians reawakened when they were fourteen, but then after dying a second time in the battle against Beryl (after the Knights of Heaven) Princess Serenity wished for them to be reborn again. After their second rebirth, they fought several more enemies, including one who stole their star seeds, but the guardians' lives are currently in a lull. Rei insisted that even though they have been reborn more than once, their memories always return. It seems the Knights of Heaven are experiencing something similar, she theorized, and likely the other two will appear soon.
Michiru is suddenly before them again, smiling a secretive sort of smile that Nozori finds unreadable. Serenely, she says, "You may come down now. Your Prince is eager to meet you both."
At the bottom of a set of glass stairs, within an elaborate command center, they find the other guardians, as well as the King they knew as Endymion but who is now Chiba Mamoru, a medical student.
Endymion looks just as Nephrite remembers, though he seems both pained and overjoyed at the sight of them.
It is then that Nephrite really focuses on the girl who was once the heiress to the Moon — standing beside the man she loves, she alone looks the least surprised to see two Knights, just as Haruka said. She did use her crystal to reincarnate them, he thinks numbly.
Mamoru's voice brings him back to reality. "Nephrite... and Jadiete... is it really the two of you? Or... I suppose I should call you Jirou and Nozori, shouldn't I?"
Nephrite's eyes snap to his king, who looks pale and reserved, yet a desperation lurks in his blue eyes. A hope that his oldest comrades have returned.
"Either name is fine, Your Majesty," Jadiete says quietly, kneeling. "We are at your service. Though... this is very unexpected for us — for me, in particular. My memories only returned an hour ago. Please... would you give me time to adjust? I'm still... rather overwhelmed."
Without second thought, Mamoru blurts, "Of course!" He has already hurried forward and helped Jirou back to his feet.
By this point, Nephrite's eyes have fallen upon the girl who calls herself Mako.
Gods, she looks just as he remembers: tall, beautiful, a bit younger but still mature, all that luscious brown hair and those big wide eyes. She's wearing a short skirt and sweater and tights, her long legs set off by ankle boots, and he wants to kiss her until he runs out of breath.
As for her, she's staring at him in shock, as though she can't believe he's real. As though she's as overwhelmed as Jadiete. Without warning, she breaks from the group and bolts up the stairs. Nozori swears under his breath and starts to turn towards the stairs, but he jerks back to himself. A searing pain rips his chest; he desperately wants to chase Jupiter, but he needs permission, and he completely forgot to kneel before his King —!
"Go after her!" Mamoru's voice cuts through his tormented thoughts. When Nephrite looks at him, his King looks stunned that he would even hesitate.
He doesn't need telling twice. He takes the stairs two at a time and bursts out of the arcade, looking left and right and there she is, hurrying down the late-night sidewalk blindly. He chases after her and he catches up with her under an awning of a little shop.
"Jup— Mako-chan," he corrects himself, grabbing her arms and pulling her around to hold her close. "Mako..."
"Don't," she gasps, and he can hear tears in her voice. She diverts her eyes and adds thickly, "If you aren't real... if it's just a dream... I want to wake up!" she cries, and she suddenly presses her hands to her ears. "Wake up, please let me wake up!"
"It's not a dream," he says softly, pulling her close. "I was reborn, just like you. I remember everything."
"I know they said that, but... My first duty is to my Princess," she protests, her fists clenching into his shirt. "And I'm scared! If you're real... if you remember..."
A new voice interrupts, chirpy and musical and almost child-like. "It was my fault, Mako-chan. I'm sorry. I thought you'd be happy."
They both turn in surprise. The Moon Princess stands behind them, alone, looking rather sheepish and guilty. They never even realized she was there at first, that she followed them. "You all never told me back then," she elaborates. "During Silver Millennium. That you were in love with them. But this is a different time, a different world." She adds softly, "It isn't fair that I should find true love and the four of you don't. It wasn't fair that Beryl and Metallica used the four of them for their evil purposes and murdered them when they remembered the truth. So I asked the Silver Crystal to resurrect them. For all of you. And for Mamo-chan."
He feels just as stunned as Mako sounds when she murmurs, "Usa... you... did that? For us?"
Usagi smiles. "Of course! I want you to be happy too, Mako-chan. And you always wanted a boyfriend, didn't you? You and Mina are always going on about it."
"But our duty," Mako says softly, even as her fingers dig into his shirt. "As guardians! Usagi —"
Usagi merely shakes her head. "What's so hard about doing both? Being a guardian and being in love?" Forcefully, she insists, "You can do both, Mako-chan! I do both, don't I?"
"Well, sure, but that's different —"
"There's no reason why all of you can't, either!" Usagi beams, looking as though this settles things. "Now we just need to find Kunzite and Zoisite! Oh, this is so exciting! I should get back to Mamo-chan, though — he didn't know I did this until tonight. Are you two coming back?"
"In a minute," he says quickly, and Usagi gives him a brilliant smile before she turns and skips back towards the arcade, her twin tails trailing behind her.
When she disappears inside, he says quietly, "She's really something else, isn't she?"
Makoto sighs and rests her forehead against his chest. "She is. That's what makes her so special." She pauses, then glances up at him and reaches a hand up to trace his cheek. "What is it you said your name was now? I can't exactly call you Nephrite in public."
He smiles down at her. "Nozori."
"Nozori," she repeats, her lips curving. "Rare gemstone? That seems ironic."
He laughs. It suddenly strikes him that his name makes sense now. "The universe works in mysterious ways, doesn't it?" he agrees. "Come on, gorgeous. Let's go back for a bit or they'll think I kidnapped you and no one knows where I live. Although — that's not the worst idea I've ever had..."
She chuckles with him as they start walking back, and the sound washes over him like balm.
He feels like lightning is coursing through his veins. It feels right.