AN: Its ALIVE muhahaha! Sorry, couldn't resist. Its been over a year and a half. Updates mean I better get at least a few emails! *********************** Zoicite: Rebirth Chapter Two *********************** Granite looked at the Earth that lay below him; his steel gray eyes were hard and held nothing but contempt for the world which bore his people and cast them out, almost a millennium from now. He sneered and looked up as his partner entered the room. Marble flashed him a cold smile and went to his side before linking his arm with hers. She sniffed as she viewed the world. “Will we rule this one as well darling?” Granite snorted and tossed black hair behind one broad shoulder as he leaned down to kiss her. Marble’s green eyes gleamed in response. “Who is there to stop us my pet?” A small cough drew their attention to the man who stood in the doorway of the spaceship. As one they bowed. The man’s gaze narrowed and he frowned slightly, studying the pair before him. “Don’t underestimate the past Granite, Marble, for it built the future. Be wary and be careful of the senshi.” Granite dared to comment. “But Emperor, the senshi of the future aren’t even strong enough to fight against us! If we wanted we could take them, we could kill them and Crystal Tokyo would be ours…” “Perhaps,” their leader barked. “But we have no use for Crystal Tokyo. To capture that place would hold no pleasure, no future either for those people love their Queen dearly. They would fight to the last even after we killed her and I have no use for an empty planet. “That is why we came to the past. Without Neo Queen Serenity these people will be ours and that revenge is sweeter than any death I could plan for that woman. Any mere man could bring about Crystal Tokyo’s downfall but only I can make sure that it never exists!” The Emperor nodded brusquely to his minions and with a whirl of his vermilion cape exited. Marble looked up at her lover, her features tight as she licked her suddenly dry lips. “The Emperor…” Granite sighed as he dropped another kiss on Marble’s brow. “The Emperor wants this, pet. If we give him this victory we will forever be in his favor but if we fail…” Marble shuddered and gripped Granite closer before pushing him away abruptly. Her green eyes flashed brightly. “Then we cannot fail!” she said savagely. “Five to kill and all our dreams will come true, four senshi and the ‘Princess’.” She held her hand out to Granite, face fierce and flushed. “Five to kill,” she repeated softer. Granite chuckled mirthlessly and took her hand in his. “Yes,” he whispered, “five young girls stand in our way but soon, oh so soon, nothing will.” ************************************************************************************** Zoicite looked at his watch and sighed before picking up the pace. He had a shoot in twenty minutes and with his car in the shop he was going to have to walk, or more likely run, the two miles there. His ex-wife had caught him on the phone though and between the argument they got into he had totally lost track of the time. Of course with anything involving Melissa he lost track of the world. That woman was mesmerizing, so mesmerizing that he had been duped into a fake marriage that cost him half his savings. He pelted down the stairs of his apartment building at full tilt, lost in the picture that his mind had called up. Melissa’s beautiful figure, long sapphire hair, clear cerulean eyes, and a voice that could charm snakes. Without pause he flew though the revolving door, into the bright Tokyo sunshine, and right into a young girl. They both went flying. Zoicite smacked the back of his head against the pavement with a sickening thud, shook it woozily to clear it, looked up to see who he hit, and gaped. Melissa stared at him through a pair of glasses. But Melissa would never be caught dead wearing glasses… And Melissa would never cut her hair that short! Though he had to admit that he liked it, and he did know fashion. He could never make it as a photographer otherwise… He was babbling to himself… “Excuse me sir…” He blinked again and looked to see the lovely creature was standing next to him, offering him a hand up. Still dazed he took it and felt his eyes widen when she pulled him easily to his feet, despite her small frame. Her lips were moving still but try as he might he couldn’t make his mind focus on them. Instead his gaze traveled to her other hand where she held a book, Advanced Physics for the Inquiring Mind. Melissa would never be caught dead reading that either. Suddenly he noticed that the woman had paused and seemed to be waiting for him to respond. His mind struggled for a reply before he finally gaze up. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I just seem a little shaken.” Frank blue eyes studied him before the woman nodded brusquely. “I thought so. I believe you hit your head rather hard on the pavement and that you might have a concussion. I think we should get you to the hospital.” “But, but,” he tried to object and she shushed him. “My mother’s a doctor and I’ve been studying for it since as long as I can remember and trust me, we need to get you checked out.” He started to protest again but another thought struck him suddenly. Even if this mysterious maiden wasn’t Melissa she was certainly beautiful enough to be Melissa, and smarter than his ex too. He hadn’t even looked at another woman in almost two years, unless she was in a photo shoot, but his interest was piqued and the idea of this beautiful woman taking him to the hospital certainly appealed to him. With a mental shrug he nodded sheepishly. “I guess we should go ahead and go.” Those fabulous eyes grew speculative before she nodded briskly. “All right.” Suddenly she wrinkled her petite nose. “Oh bother. The hospital is almost five miles away. I know! This is just by the apartment of a friend of mine.” With that said she wrapped his arm around her slim shoulders to provide support for him should he suddenly lose consciousness and began to walk purposely off towards a tall apartment building a block or so away, Zoicite in tow. When they stopped outside of it the woman helped him sit on the curb and turned to go through the door. His voice stopped her. “Miss,” he started. The woman turned back to look at him and a strand of blue hair fell into her eyes. Unthinking she brushed it back as tilted her head to one side, waiting for him to continue. His heart lurched once as he cursed his fascination with aqua colored hair. “I was wondering since you’ve made yourself into my Guardian Angel and all if you’d leave me with a name so I can know who to thank.” The woman grinned, suddenly shy now that she wasn’t faced with a problem, before replying softly. “I don’t know if you need a check up or not sir. You seem awful articulate to me but…” she paused to give him a somewhat larger smile, “my name is Ami.” “Thank you,” he called out, “and don’t call me sir. My name is Zoicite.” For a single instant her eyes widened with shock and she stepped back a pace, fear in her face, before it smoothed away again. She nodded once, face pale, before turning and fleeing into the apartment building. Zoicite stared after her, dumbfounded, before sighing. Even after numerous girlfriends and a failed marriage one would think he would finally realize that there was no understanding women. ************************************************************************************** Ami sighed deeply, massaged her temples, and knocked on the door to Darien’s apartment. She really didn’t want to be here, not that Darien wasn’t a great guy, but more to the point he was Serena’s guy. Its not like she had any personal interest in him but Ser-chan didn’t always see things that way. She had the tendency to blow things way out of proportion and even now, with them back together and all, things were still a bit shaky. Ami’s jaw tightened. But she needed a car and Darien had one and was close. Her logical mind told her that was the only option to get Zoicite, oh Mercury!, to the hospital safely. Her first priority was her patient, her second was what Serena was going to do when she found out. After all when it came to Darien Serena was never very rational. She sighed and knocked a bit louder on the door. Oh Mercury as if Serena’s very likely jealous fit wasn’t enough her ‘patient’ was a very handsome MAN named ZOICITE. Her brain tried to work that one out logically and nothing added up, period. It could be all one huge coincidence but when her mathematical side got hold of that one the sheer logistics of the impossibility of it all it made her head spin. “Come on Darien,” she muttered to herself and knocked again. Suddenly the door flew open to reveal a soaking Darien dressed only in a towel, looking as exasperated as she felt. “Oh my…” she murmured as Darien’s eyes grew big. “Ami? What’s going on? Is Serena in trouble? Is it an attack?” “No,” she replied weakly, “I just really need a car. You see there’s this man I kinda ran into and when he fell I think he might have gotten a concussion and the hospital is five miles away and I didn’t know how else to get him there but then I thought of you and I know you have a car and I thought you might be able to get use there, if you don’t mind to terribly much? But I had no idea you’d be… ummm… well I’m just going to go die now,” she finished lamely. Darien chuckled a bit and grinned. “I’m not sure I understood half of that but I don’t mind giving you and… well whoever a ride to the hospital. Just give me a sec to get dressed, okay?” Ami paled and nodded vigorously. Several minutes later a grimacing Darien appeared again in sweat pants and a torn sleeveless top. “You know,” he said in a conversational tone as he locked his door, “this is a real act of friendship Ami. I never go anywhere but the gym in this get up. Let alone my future place of business.” She blushed harder and started stammering. “Its okay,” he said with a forced laugh and a wave. “Come on and lets meet this mystery man that you managed to knock out.” ************************************************************************************** Zoicite managed to stand rather shakily when the beautiful girl, Ami, returned, a man right behind her. He shaded his green eyes and squinted. Suddenly his face went slack with shock. “Darien?” he called in surprise. The man paused and shaded his cobalt eyes as well before a happy grin split his handsome features. “Zach?” his friend replied in disbelief before jogging the last few steps to where he unsteadily stood to pound him on the back and pump his hand. “By the planets!” Darien chattered, “I thought you were still in America… What are you doing here? How’s Melissa?” Zoicite coughed and let his gaze be drawn to where Ami stood shyly back, intent sapphire eyes studying the scene playing out. He shook his head slowly, wary of the throbbing there, and smiled ruefully. “I moved back about six months ago. Melissa and I divorced several years ago.” Darien’s grin faded and he cursed softly. “I’m sorry Zach. I know you worshipped her. I also know she wasn’t worth five seconds of your time. You were too good for her.” Zoicite’s eyes grew unfocused as he reflected on pain that was still to sharp sometimes, pain that had left him in a depression so deep only now was he starting to recover. “Sometimes, sometimes,” he whispered, “sometimes I think that she was right and that I simply wasn’t good enough for her…” Unsettled by this comment Darien chose to ignore it. Suddenly bringing himself back to the present Zoicite braved another grin, this time a little more lopsided, but one none the less. “And I changed my name. Or not really changed it but took up my real name. Zach was what Melissa wanted me to call myself. Melissa is gone. Its just Zoicite now.” In Darien’s eyes there was that flash of indescribable emotion that had flitted across Ami’s face when he told her his name. And speaking of Ami… He turned so that Darien noticed her. “Darien this is a young lady… well it’s a long story. She thinks I may have a slight concussion and came here to ask a friend for a car..." Darien laughed, relieved by the change of subject. “This is a small world! I was the friend Ami came to get.” Ami snorted and looked decidedly uncomfortable at their attentions. “I take it you guys know each other?” she asked in a dry voice that brought still more laughter. Darien beamed. “Yeah, when I first did some modeling for some money Zach… Zoicite was the photographer at a lot of my shots. We became pretty good friends but then the old fox moved to America.” Zoicite nodded. “We haven’t seen each other in years. Odd coincidence huh?” Ami smiled tightly. “What would you say if I told you I didn’t believe in coincidences?”