Note: I have nothing to do with Sailor Moon and its characters except to be a fan who enjoys the series and the movies very much. This story is my extrapolation of the storylines as received in North America. I apologize if this story doesn't quite fit into the Japanese series.

"Oh, Darian, I'm so glad Ms. Haruna changed her mind about detention!"

Darian smiled and shook his head.

It was a stroke of fortune that Serena's teacher had a date to prepare for, hence her cancellation of Serena's sentence in detention for that day. Serena had, as usual, disrupted class somehow, either by giggling in her sleep or eating in class. Right about now she should still be sitting in the classroom, struggling with some sort of essay. Today, though, she was able to walk with him around Tokyo before she had to go home.

He sighed, taking some comfort in the ready way Serena had latched onto his arm and rested her head against his shoulder. Now that he was with her, he did feel slightly guilty about neglecting her so much. He loved her more than he'd ever thought he could love anyone, and would gladly give his life for her. In fact, he had already done so several times. Spending time with her was something he usually enjoyed.

Despite that, however, he couldn't help worrying a little about leaving Jed to Lita and Mina's rather rough mercies. But Jed had insisted that he go to see Serena.

"Go, Darian," he'd said, smiling at him. "I've had you to myself long enough. Your princess deserves at least some of your attention."

Jed had been right, of course. He'd spent nearly all of his waking hours with Jed, ostensibly to help him adjust to human life. The truth was he enjoyed spending time with Jed. He took great pleasure in his company. He no longer felt the loneliness that had haunted him for so long.

That reminded him of where he was, and he focused his attention on Serena once more.

"I'm glad Luna decided to go home," she was saying. "Now I get to be alone with you."

"I don't mind Luna's company, Serena," he said. "I like her."

Serena waved her hand. "Oh, I know, but sometimes I like to get away from her nagging. And whenever she's with us it's like we have a chaperone looking over our shoulders."

Darian smiled. "Well, if you put it that way," he said, then leaned down and kissed Serena.

The truth was that he was also glad of Luna's absence. Sometimes her presence made him uncomfortable and less willing to be so open with Serena, but this time he was glad because he knew exactly where the cat had gone.

Before they'd parted the day before, it had been decided that Luna and Artemis would approach Amy and reveal the news about Jed's return. The two cats would have an easier time explaining things than he, Mina, or Lita would, being a bit less emotionally involved in the situation: he could scarcely be considered neutral, and the two girls were enjoying themselves too much flirting with Jed.

Being with Serena gave him an opportunity he hadn't expected. He wondered if he should try explaining about Jed to her now or if he should wait until the others were with him to back him up.

Serena's eyes were sparkling as he straightened. She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder again. "I wish we could just stay like this forever," she murmured.

Although he agreed with her, his thoughts turned to the secret he was keeping from her. Their relationship wouldn't last if he kept the truth from her. True, they had evidence that it would, but how would his keeping secrets from her affect it?

Only, how should he broach the subject?

"Darian, you seem awfully quiet today," Serena said suddenly.

Darian jumped. "Oh, sorry," he said. "There's a problem I've been trying to solve all day, and I just can't get it out of my mind."

"Maybe I could help," Serena offered. Then she grimaced. "Or maybe not. You know, problem solving isn't my best subject."

Darian grinned. "Nor mine, it seems." He swallowed. "Well, maybe you can help. Serena, how would you feel if there was a chance that one of our enemies from the Negaverse came back, only with a good heart instead of one consumed with evil?"

"Enemy?" Serena frowned. "Like who?"

Darian looked away. "Oh, I don't know. How about Jedite? Or maybe Malachite or Emerald."

"I don't know, Darian," she said after a moment. "But how could they? They're all dead, right? So there's no way they could come back, with or without a good heart."

Darian sighed. "But just suppose--"

"Oh, look!" Serena cried, pointing down the street. "I wonder if Andrew got the new Sailor V game in yet!" She tugged him down to the arcade.

Darian sighed again. As much as he loved her, Serena could be somewhat flighty at times. He doubted she even remembered what they'd just been talking about. And the one response he'd gotten back from her didn't exactly fill him with confidence.

He was still sighing as Serena pulled him inside.

"Hi, Andrew!"

Andrew, standing a little ways in, turned around. He smiled when he saw them. "Hey, you two! I was wondering if I'd ever see you guys in here again."

Serena had relinquished his arm and was moving towards Andrew. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "But Ms. Haruna kept giving me detention, and she always assigned all these long essay questions and hard problems to do."

Andrew laughed. "Well, I have just the thing to cure those detention doldrums, Serena," he said. He pointed towards the far wall. "The new Sailor V game came in yesterday. I've just plugged it in, so you can be the first one to play it."

Serena jumped up, cheering. "That's great! Thanks, Andrew." She sprinted to the back of the arcade and settled herself in front of the new machine. To Darian it looked as though she were settling in for a long stay.

He looked up as Andrew approached.

"Hey, Darian, you and Jed are still coming over tomorrow night, right?"

Darian hooked his arm around Andrew's neck and pulled him down. "Hey, keep it down, okay? Yeah, Jed and I are coming over."

Andrew frowned up at him. "What's wrong? It's like you don't want to admit that he's your cousin or something."

Darian shook his head as he released his friend. "It isn't that, Andrew. It's just that I haven't told Serena about Jed yet."

Andrew blinked. "What? Why not?"

Darian sighed, trying to think up a plausible reason. "Well, you see, Jed's sort of shy and--"

Andrew stared at him. "Shy? Jed? The same one who invited Mina and Lita along Sunday afternoon?"

Darian glared at his friend. "Well, he invited them because he wanted to give you and Rita some time together." Then he sighed again, unable to keep up his pretended irritation. "Okay, well maybe 'shy' isn't the right word. Maybe 'reserved' is more accurate."

"You mean reserved like you."

Darian started to protest, but swallowed it. He knew he wasn't as open and easy-going as Andrew, but it still hurt a little to be reminded of it. "Yeah, like me. Anyway, I don't think he'd be too comfortable with Serena's enthusiasm and exuberance. Sometimes it can be a little trying."

Andrew nodded, suddenly understanding. "She can be brash at times, can't she?"

"Well, I've been trying to think of a way to tell her to control herself that won't upset or hurt her," Darian said. "I like how quickly she bounces back from disappointment or bad experiences--like detention, for example--and I don't want to take that away from her. But out of respect for Jed's sensibilities I have to try."

Andrew clapped him on the shoulder. "I wish I could help you," he said. "But you know Serena better than I do. You might want to ask Mina or Lita to help you."

Darian sighed. "I know, I know." He shook his head.

"Boy, do I know."

* * *

Amy sank down onto the bench.

"I don't believe it," she whispered. "Jedite's alive."

She couldn't believe what Artemis and Luna had just told her. How could Jedite still be alive? And if he had been alive all this time, where had he been? Surely he would have attacked them the moment he returned, right?

"I don't understand," she said. "I thought Jedite was dead."

"To paraphrase all those murder mystery shows," Artemis said, "did you see the body?"

Amy shook her head. "I mean, we always assumed he was dead. Why else would Nephlyte suddenly appear when we'd been fighting Jedite's minions all that time? And when Zoisite didn't start her attacks until after Nephlyte died, it made sense that he wouldn't have appeared on the scene unless Jedite was dead."

Luna sighed. "According to what Darian said, Jedite was sealed in crystal by Queen Beryl and sentenced to sleep forever."

Amy shivered. "And knowing Beryl, to have nightmares the entire time, right?"

Luna nodded.

Amy shivered again. "Okay, so he wasn't dead, only imprisoned. So who set him free? Was it Mina or Lita? I mean, I can't imagine Rei or Serena doing it."

"Darian set him free," Artemis said.

"Darian?" That was almost as unbelievable as Jedite having returned to Earth. As far as she knew, Darian didn't have any special powers to speak of. Unless...

"Wait a minute," she said. "He did it as the Prince of Earth, didn't he?" From the surprised expressions on the cats' faces, she'd guessed correctly.

"That's right," Luna said. "Artemis reasoned that while Darian and Tuxedo Mask might not have the power to free Jedite, Prince Darian of Earth would, the same way Princess Serenity is that much stronger than Serena or Sailor Moon."

Artemis nodded. "And of course, it had to be Darian."

Amy nodded. She could see it now. The Prince of Earth had considerable power in his own right. Darian had used it to transform first into Tuxedo Mask, and later into the Prince of Earth. And it would have to be Darian because he was the only one with any knowledge about the Negaverse's darker secrets.

She sighed. "So Jedite is back among the living," she whispered. She looked from one cat to the other. "What does that mean for us?"

"Well," Luna said, "Jedite is no longer Jedite. He calls himself 'Jed' now."

"Neither Luna nor I sensed any negative energy in him," Artemis added. "Of course, Luna was suspicious of him, but I never doubted him for an instant."

Luna's back arched as she glowered at her partner. "Listen, bird-brain, I apologized to him for that, so will you just drop it already?"

Artemis' back rose as well. "I'll drop it when you stop distrusting my judgments, furball!"

Amy put dropped her hands onto their backs. "Please stop fighting," she said. "We don't have time for you two to get into a cat fight, okay? Just tell me more about Jedite. I mean Jed."

The cat's relaxed, but refused to look at each other.

"Come on, guys," Amy pleaded. "What else should I know about Jed?"

Luna spoke first. "He's staying with Darian for now. Actually, Darian practically insisted on it. After Darian freed Jed from Beryl's crystal, he took care of him until Jed woke up two days later. Since then, they've been practically inseparable." She shook her head. "I'm worried about it."

"And what's wrong with the two of them spending time together?" Artemis demanded. He turned to Amy. "The cover story Darian and Jed concocted is that Jed is Darian's cousin who has only recently discovered the connection between them and that's why he came to Tokyo."

Amy frowned. "That's the cover story?" she asked skeptically. She, like all the Sailor Scouts, knew that Darian had no memories of his family. "Is it working?"

Artemis nodded. "According to Mina and Darian, Andrew and his girlfriend buy it completely. Jed even made up this story of a friend using a computer to generate a picture of the most likely combination of the physical characteristics of Darian's parents to figure out what Darian looked like." Artemis tilted his head. "Darian said that you could do something like that, only in reverse, to come up with what his parents might have looked like."

Amy nodded. "Sure, I'd just need to draw a probability curve of--" Seeing the distracted expressions on the cats' faces, she broke off. "Well, it's possible in either way. I guess with that kind of proof to back it up the story does make sense."

Artemis nodded. "Apparently Andrew agreed with Darian that you could do the same thing. And Andrew knows you well enough to know what you're capable of."

Amy felt herself flushing, but shook herself out of it. "Okay, the cover story works, then." She frowned and looked at Luna. "So what's wrong with the two of them spending so much time together?"

Luna shook her head. "I don't know. It doesn't seem natural somehow."

Artemis sighed. "Look, Luna, if they're supposed to be cousins, it makes sense that Jed would stay with Darian, right? And since they've only just discovered the relationship between them, naturally they'd want to spend time together to learn more about each other and, if the cover story were actually true, Darian would be using this time to pump Jed for information on his own parents."

Luna glared at him. "Look, I understand all that, all right?"

Artemis glared back. "Then quit trying to analyze it!" he snapped. "You know they have to become friends now if they're going to be friends in the future, right? If Darian and Jed don't bond here and now, Jed won't be there to save Darian when Nemesis attacks, which will cause all sorts of problems up and down the timestream."

Amy sighed. All the talk about time travel had her head spinning, and she was supposed to be the most intelligent of them all. Everybody's reasoning about whether or not the future was set for them made sense, but she could also find faults in every attempted path at logic.

"Guys," she said, "let's just say that anything that we do now may change the future, okay? So it's important that Darian and Jed get to know each other well enough to be good friends. Can we leave it at that?"

Both cats nodded, though they continued to glare at each other. Finally, Luna looked away.

"All right," she conceded. "But I still think it's unnatural," she muttered a moment later.

Artemis growled low in his throat. "Just give it a rest, Luna. It's a guy thing, okay?"

Luna spun around. "And what would you know about 'guy things,' fishbreath?"

"Guys!" Amy shouted. "Just relax, all right?"

"Well, being a guy," Artemis snapped, "I certainly know more about it than you would, flea-bag!"

"Who are you calling flea-bag, tick-brain?"

Amy sighed. She was stuck with a catfight on her hands, even if she didn't want one.

* * *

Jed didn't know whether to feel happy or scared.

He'd noticed the envious glances some of the other men on the streets had shot at him. He supposed he couldn't blame them, seeing as how he had Lita clinging tightly to one arm and Mina firmly wrapped around the other. It was like a replay of the other day, when he'd been with the two girls, Andrew, Rita, and Darian. Now, though, he was all alone with Mina and Lita, and as much as he liked them, he still felt nervous.

"Jed, what is is?" Lita asked suddenly. "What's wrong?"

Jed grimaced, then smiled down at her. "It's nothing. I guess I'm a little scared about being out here alone."

Lita frowned. "Alone? What does that make us, then?" she demanded, gesturing to Mina and herself. "Chopped liver?"

"No," Jed stammered. "I just--"

"It's all right, Jed," Mina said, leaning around him to glare at Lita. "You haven't been out anywhere before without Darian, have you?"

Jed sighed. "No. This is only my third time out of his apartment, and my first time without him." He laughed, feeling embarrassed. "I guess I've been depending too heavily on him, haven't I?"

Mina shook her head. "It's all right," she repeated. "It's understandable, really. You've already spent a lot of time with him so you'd naturally trust him more than anybody else." She made an expansive gesture. "This must all be new to you, so of course you'd look to him for reassurance and support." She squeezed his arm. "But I'm here for you, too, and so is Lita. And so are Luna and Artemis, even if Luna did distrust you at first."

Jed felt himself flushing. "Thanks," he said softly. "You don't know how much that means to me." And they couldn't know. How could they know that trust didn't usually come so easily to him? He'd trusted Darian instinctively. There was something about him that made him believe in everything his friend said. Maybe it was the nobility and integrity that seemed to shine out of him. Maybe it was the fact that they shared some things in common, like their former service to Queen Beryl.

Or maybe it was just that Darian was the first person in a very long time to treat him like a friend.

"Hey," Lita said, tugging on his arm. "Lighten up, will you?"

Jed blinked, then smiled. "Okay, I'll try. But you'll have to keep me from drifting off."

"Sure!" she said, winking at him. "But you have to tell us what you like to do first."

"What I like to do?" Jed frowned. "I don't know. What kind of things do you like to do?"

Lita stared at him, then sighed. "I forgot. You haven't had time enough to do more than go sightseeing and shopping, right?"

Jed nodded. "Sorry."

"I guess we could--"

"Look!" Mina said, pointing.

Jed turned and followed her gaze. He immediately saw a black cat and a white cat glaring at each other, their backs arched and their fur bristling. A moment later he caught a glimpse of gold against the black fur and realized that the cats were Luna and Artemis. They were crouched in front of a miserable-looking blue-haired girl that looked strangely familiar.

His eyes widened. Unless he was totally mistaken, the girl was Sailor Mercury, the one Mina and Lita had called Amy. She looked like the one he remembered as having been at the airport that last night before Queen Beryl sealed him away in crystal. And she'd been aboard that leaky ship he'd used for his romance cruise scheme, and before that she'd been there when Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars brought three bus loads of drained girls back from the pocket dimension he'd sent them to.

He felt a chill sweep over him and started to shake. He wasn't ready for this. He wasn't ready to face one of the Sailor Scouts who had every reason to hate him. But Mina and Lita were dragging him in her direction.

The girl jumped up as they approached. He saw the color drain from her face, but she didn't back away or lunge forward like he'd expected. Instead, she remained where she was, glancing down at the cats for a moment before looking up again.

"Hey, Amy!" Lita called. "Did Luna and Artemis tell you?"

The girl nodded slowly. Then she took a step forward.

Jed froze. He couldn't go through with this. He wanted to run away, back to Darian's apartment. He felt safe there. Out here in the opening he felt scared and trapped. He tried to back away, but Lita and Mina held him in place. He cringed as the girl started to raise her hand.

"How do you do, Jed? My name is Amy."

Jed blinked. He stared at the girl, then down at her outstretched hand. Surely she couldn't be--

Mina nudged him from one side. Lita elbowed him sharply from the other.

He took the hint and hesitantly reached out to clasp Amy's hand. "Uh, hi. I'm Jed. I think you also know my cousin, Darian?" He winced, suddenly realizing how strange it sounded, especially when the person he was saying it to already knew the truth about him.

To his surprise, Amy smiled. "I do know Darian," she said. "I'm glad he finally has some clues to his family."

Jed's jaw dropped. Out of the corners of his eyes he could see that Mina and Lita were also gaping at Amy.

"What?" Lita stammered. She glanced down at the cats. "Didn't you tell her?"

"Of course we did," Luna said, no less stunned than the rest of them. "Amy, don't you know who that is?"

"Of course I do," Amy said. "It's Darian's cousin, Jed, the one who used computer technology to develop a picture of Darian by combining the characteristics of Darian's parents and selecting the most likely representation of what Darian looked like. He's also the one who once upon a time served Queen Beryl of the Negaverse but who has since been granted a second chance at life and freedom."

Jed shut his mouth. He couldn't believe Sailor Mercury was taking their meeting so calmly. He'd expected--

He didn't know what he had expected. Everyone had told him that Sailor Mercury was the smartest of the Sailor Scouts and the one most likely not to overreact when they met. And she hadn't. Instead, she was behaving as though they were both ordinary people being introduced by mutual acquaintances.

That, at least, wasn't what he was expecting.

"You're taking this awfully well, Amy," Mina said.

Amy shrugged. "Why shouldn't I? It isn't as though I didn't know that it was possible for Jedite to change, right? I mean, the Nephlyte that died defending Molly was an entirely different person from the one we first fought, right? And some of our other enemies become our friends after they realized truths about themselves and the causes they were serving. It's only fair that I should give Jedite--excuse me, Jed--a chance as well. And after everything Luna and Artemis told me about you two trusting him and Darian taking care of him and insisting that he stay with him, I was already predisposed in his favor." She grinned at Jed. "I hope Lita and Mina haven't been talking your ears off. Sometimes they run off at the mouth."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Mina snapped. "Look who's talking! I'm not the one who recites scientific formulas the way other people recite the alphabet."

"Yeah," Lita said, "who are you calling 'motormouth'?"

Jed couldn't help laughing. This immediately drew everyone's attention to him, but he didn't mind. A moment later, the others started laughing as well, which only caused him to laugh harder.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Amy," he finally managed to gasp out. "I hope we can be good friends."

Amy smiled at him. "I'm sure we will be, Jed," she said. "After all, we have a lot in common with each other."

Jed blinked. "Oh?"

Amy glanced down.

Jed followed her gaze. He looked up and saw her wink. His eyes darted back down again. He felt the laughter rising inside him again. "Oh," he gasped. "Right."

Mina and Lita had caught on and were staring pointedly at the ground in front of Amy.

"Hey! I said I was sorry!"

Jed laughed harder, joined this time by everyone else except for a very angry Luna.

It felt good to laugh, and it felt even better to be laughing with friends.

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