Chapter Four: Forgotten Memories                 



The barely conscious Shadow senshi had been taken to Mamoru's apartment to rest, hoping to keep them from anybody who might find their memory loss a bit unusual. For the next couple days, each of the girls came over in the hopes that the Shadows would wake up and have their memories. Presently, none of the Shadow senshi had done so and only Usagi and Mamoru were at the apartment with them.

"I wonder why they haven't woken up yet."

Usagi was perched in a chair and leaning on her hands with her cheeks, staring at Yamito's relaxed face with a sigh. Her mind was in a million different places as she stared into his calm features, an odd look pressed on her own face. Mamoru finally walked into the room with a cup of tea for her and shrugged lightly, "Maybe soon, they seem to getting there strength back. I haven't seen the others this cheerful in months though. Even Haruka and Michiru are a little relieved."

"I'm so glad they are happy again, maybe now we....." Usagi trailed off as a low groan came from Kurai as he started to stir on the floor. Usagi got up quickly and walked over to him, setting her hand on his shoulder, "Kurai, can you hear me?"

Kurai's icy blue eyes opened up and he looked around slowly, before finally coming to a stop on her, "Where am I?"

"At Mamoru's apartment, with all of the other Shadow senshi."

"Mamoru? Who....." With a bit of effort, he slowly sat up and looked around, holding his head in pain, "Who are you?"

She worriedly looked at Mamoru and then gazed back to him, "It's me, Usagi."

He gave her a confused look, then rubbed his eyes with his fingers and thumb. The other Shadows started to stir around them and he spoke while rubbing his eyes, "I was with others. We are they?"

"The other Shadow senshi? They are right here."

Pulling his hand from his face, he looked at her with a blink, "Shadow senshi?" A shocked chuckle escaped her and she rubbed her head in defeat, not believing how much they had lost. Seeing her reaction, his eyes wandered to Mamoru and he tilted his head a bit, "What is a Shadow senshi?"

Mamoru opened his mouth to explain, but Usagi quickly did it for him with an exasperated look on her face, "The Shadow senshi? From another dimension? Counter parts to the Sailor senshi? Warriors for good and the safety of the Earth?"

"Shadow senshi? Sailor senshi? What are you talking about?"

Suddenly, Yamito opened his eyes and put a hand to his head, pushing his hair back from his face and speaking in a gruff tone, "Where am I?"

Usagi looked over at him with a blink and then smiles lightly at his voice, turning to him with hope in her eyes, "Yami, do you remember anything?"

Sitting up from the floor, Yamito pulled his hand from his head and looked to her slowly with his dark gaze, "How do you know my name?"

"Because we've met before! We fought the Priests together! Come on! Shadow Mars!" She huffed and pointed at him, then to the others, "Shadow Jupiter, Shadow Venus, Shadow Mercury!"

A long silence followed as they all stared at her in confusion. Kage and Suteki had come around by now and were also questioning what was going on. Giving a small amount of hope, Suteki looked at Kurai in thought and stuttered out his name, "Kurai?"

Usagi and Mamoru both looked at him in surprise and Usagi cheered loudly, "That's right!"

"Yamito, Kage." Suteki continued while looking around to them all, then rested his hands on his legs and let out a slow breath, "And Suteki."

"See, you do remember!"


For the next few hours, the Shadow senshi cleaned up and, at the same time, Mamoru and Usagi were sitting in the room trying to help them remember. Usagi was a bit frustrated as she tried to help them remember, but nothing so far had shown they knew anything about their past. A knock on the door sent Mamoru out of the room and he returned with Minako and Ami, with happy smiles on their faces.

"So they don't remember anything?"

Mamoru nodded a bit as they entered the room and he looked from Minako to Usagi, who was sitting by Yamito, trying to help him remember, "It's the strangest thing, they remember each other but not about being Shadow senshi, fighting the Priests or even the Sailor senshi." As they got further into the room, Minako walked over and sat next to Suteki with a huge grin on her face.

"Suteki?" Minako's voice was soft as she sat down, but he just looked at her blankly. Setting her hand on his arm, she tried to keep from crying at the sight of him, but managed to stay dry, "Do you know who I am?"

"Uhm, you are....." His voice trailed away as his brow knitted in thought, then he shook his head and smiled weakly, "You seem familiar?"

She returned the smile and flicked her hand through his mop of blonde hair, "Baka blonde. You drag me out of my house half-naked on more than one occasion and I'm only familiar?"

With a sheepish grin, he rubbed his head and laughed a bit, "Half-naked?" She nodded at him with a tint of red across her cheeks and he chuckled even more, "I'm wishing I could remember now." Everyone's mood seemed to lighten at the two and Usagi looked back to Yamito with a distant little smile on her face. He just looked at her silently and pushed back some of his hair with his thumb, a realization coming to him about her.

A few feet from Suteki and Minako, Ami slid closer to Kurai slowly, her eyes locked on him intently "Kurie, do you remember me? When we would sit in the library and," She cut off and look at all the others with a tinge of red across her face, pushing her chin down into her chest a bit. He just blinked at her and she cleared her throat slightly, "Study?"

"A library does sound very familiar." Looking to him with a smile, she returned it and nodded, happy to see a little bit of his memory was still in there.

Meanwhile, Kage stood up and walked over to the window, staring out into the city, "So, what you're telling us is that you are some kind of heroes that fight evil, and we are too?"

Mamoru watched him calmly and leaned back in his chair, his hands wrapped around a warm cup of tea, "Something like that."

"So how do we do all of these incredible things you're talking about? Magic words?"

"We have these henshin sticks." Ami explained and held out hers, and then cast a glance to Kurai, "You Shadow senshi have rings though." The Shadows looked at their hands, but found them bare. Yamito rubbed his empty fingers against each other and looked up at her, talking in his usual cool voice.

"I don't have a ring."

Minako quickly grabbed Suteki's hand and looked for the ring with a blink, "Where is it?" Obviously confused, she looked up to him, then over to Usagi, "It isn't here."

Usagi looked at Yamito and held up her hand, pointing to her ring finger, "Did you guys have some rings on before?" Yamito just looked at his hand and shook his head, and all of the others did the same. Suddenly the bell rang and Mamoru went to get it, then returned with Makoto and Rei close behind. They got the same news as the others came in to see the guys all awake.

"Kage!" Makoto cheered and ran across the room, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly. Kage blinked in surprise and held his arms above his head, then looked at Usagi and mouthed to her quietly, 'Who is this?'. Usagi smiled weakly, thinking Kage looked funny, but feeling sorry that Makoto would soon learn the truth about him. Kage had a very confused look and sighed a bit, looking at the girl clinging to him with a blink. Makoto just looked up at him with a girlish smile and rested her chin on his chest, "I missed you!" To her surprise, he pushed her arms away from him slowly and stepped back rubbing his head slowly. A hurt look crossed over her face and she held her hand over her chest, "What's wrong?"

"They don't remember anything. Not us, the Priests, the Shadow senshi, only each other." Mamoru explained and looked at Makoto, whose face dimmed a bit and she looked at Kage with a hurt sigh. He just blinked at her back and tried to remember anything about this girl, but coming up blank. The entire time, Rei knelt and stared at Yamito, resting her hands on her knees and looking him over carefully. By this time, Yamito was looking right back at her coolly, a questioning look in his eyes. She had remained silent, until now.

"Yamito, do you remember dancing with me?"

Everybody looked at her strangely and he just stared at her back, equally silent. The look in her eyes made him wince a bit and he actually looked a bit worried for a moment for some reason, "Dancing?" She was surprised by the look in his eyes, and still fought back the urge to be suspicious of him, but she was quickly taken by his voice as he spoke a bit more, "I vaguely remember a girl in a red dress, and music. Everything else is like looking through a foggy window. I can see blurry images, but nothing specific."

Usagi was watching the two silently, then looked at Yamito with a light smile, "Maybe in time you'll remember more."

He just nodded a bit and looked away from Rei, back down to his empty hands on his lap. Both Rei and Usagi watched him intently and Mamoru watched them all, before changing the subject a bit, "In the mean time, what about the current situation?" The guys looked at him strangely but all of the girls sighed at the reminder while he continued, "These figures that looked like the Priests, what do you think they wanted with the Dark Prism? They should know the Omega Master is sealed for forever in it. I can't see why they would try and steal it."

Kurai glanced over at Yamito quickly and Yamito looked up, then looked at him with a light nod. Kurai nodded back and tilted his head a bit, "Dark Prism?"

"The prison of the Omega Master. We have it hidden in Rei's temple but the Priests found it there. The Omega Master must be planning something."

Kurai just looked to Usagi and his brow knitted together in thought, "If they found it, why didn't they take it?"

Ami offered an explanation to him with a smile at his interest, her eyes never leaving him, "Usagi used the Ginzuishou to protect the Dark Prism from any evil force that tries to obtain the Prism. She created a box that will only open for her."

The four guys looked at each other for a moment, then Yamito looked at Usagi with a cool gaze, "We would like to see the Prism, maybe it will jog our memory to see it."

Usagi blinked and looked at him, somehow feeling unnerved again about him, like when they had first met. Shaking off the thought, she started to answer but Makoto interrupted her, grabbing onto Kage's arm with a smile, "Oh, come on. We don't need to see that thing. We need to spend some time together and try and help them remember."

Everybody's attentions moved to her, except for Yamito, who kept looking at Usagi for a moment, then looked at her also with an odd smile teasing his lips. Kage rubbed his head sheepishly and looked at her, then to Yamito for a moment. In a moment of silent understanding, he nodded his head to Yamito and looked back to her, "Sure, hopefully we can remember who we are and, more importantly, who you are."

Suteki caught on and nodded, then looked to Minako with a grin, "Care to show me around, pretty girl?" With a smile on her face, she nodded and pulled him to his feet, then took him by the arm and started to lead him towards the door. Whispering a few things to him as they were leaving, she giggled and made him grin then call out as they disappeared out the door, "Let's meet up later and see if any of us remember anything!"

"Come on, Kage. I'm going to take you to my place and whip you up a gourmet meal."

Kage glanced at Makoto with a blink, then his stomach growled at the mention of food and he put a hand on it, "A meal? 'Bout time, I was beginning to think you people would let me starve." They both waved good-bye to the others and headed out the door, Makoto lightly clutching to his arm as they did. At the same time, Ami put her hand on Kurai's and smiled a bit, speaking with a very happy tone now.

"Kurai, I think we should go a do some reading. Maybe if you find the book you were reading last it will help you remember."

With a glance to her, Kurai nodded and rose to his feet, "Alright." She did the same and they both left, leaving only Usagi and Rei with Mamoru and Yamito. Rei quietly leaned over to Yamito and whispered into his ear quietly, making Usagi blink at them. Yamito blinked a few times and as she leaned back from whispering, then looked at her with a glimmer of interest in his eyes.

"Is that legal?"

A wicked grin crossed her face and she winked at him, then rose and walked out the door as she called over her shoulder candidly, "We haven't gotten caught yet." Looking to Usagi once more, he quirked a brow and rose to his feet slowly. Usagi just watched him with an odd look on her face and he put his hand in his pocket slowly, then followed after Rei. Before he left through the door though, he spoke loud enough so she could hear, but more to himself then anybody else.

"You would think after that many times, someone would catch on to us."

Mamoru rubbed his head a bit at them and looked to Usagi, and was genuinely shocked at the look on her face. Although she was smiling, a certain pain reflected in her eyes as she leaned back against the couch slightly. He just shook it off and walked over to the couch, sitting next to where she was and leaning back with a sigh, "Sounds like old times again."

She just sighed an agreement and leans her head onto his leg, hugging it lightly as she stared at the floor, "I don't know, Mamo-chan, they feel different. Like only part of them are here. Yamito was making me feel......"

Her voice trailed away and made him glance down at her slowly, but she closed her eyes and he decided to not to push it, "Well, they don't have their memories, Usako." He pointed out to her and watched her setting his hand affectionately on her head a bit. She sighed again and nodded her head, smiling happily at his touch. Thick silence filled the room as he watched her breathing, and the relaxed look on her face. Finally, he got enough breath to ask and tilted his head a bit as he ran his fingers of her hair a bit, "Usagi?"

"Mmmm?"

Her tone told that she was either asleep, or almost asleep, from the exhaustion of the last few days. Still, he just smiled weakly and asked anyway, "Is there something between you and Yamito?" He didn't get an answer, as she drifted slowly into light sleep against his leg. Her face did twitch a bit as she held his leg lightly and let her breathing loosen up, making Mamoru wonder if she had heard the question or not. With a shrug, he let it go and decided to trust her, and not to ask again.


Next Chapter: Reliving the Past