"Why do you say that?" she asked, curious as to why he viewed himself no longer worthy of her. She knew he was, regardless of what he had done while under the control of the Dark Kingdom. That wasn't him. She knew he was still the good, honourable man that she fell in love with a millennium ago.

Kunzite placed one hand under Minako's chin and gently tilted her head upwards, chuckling when their eyes met. "Anyone who would dare to hurt someone as angelic as you doesn't deserve the honor," he said softly. "Perhaps I am not the same man. Perhaps I have changed for the better. But the past...cannot be undone. You deserve to be with someone who will not serve as a constant reminder of pain."

"Do you think we blame Mamoru...err...Endymion," she corrected herself, not knowing if they were familiar with his name in this lifetime, "for what he did while Beryl brainwashed him? For all the pain he caused Usagi and all the pain he caused us for having to watch her hurt and not knowing how to help her? Do you think he is a constant reminder of pain for any of us?" she asked gently yet firmly, determined to drill it into his head that he was still worthy of her.

Kunzite met her words with silence. She was right, and he knew it. Did Endymion deserve Serenity? No. Did Kunzite deserve Minako? No. But did that mean they couldn't have another chance. No, it didn't.

"Do you..." he struggled to say, "think we couls try again?"

"I'd like that," she said, beaming at him. She wasn't sure how much either of them had changed since the last time they were together, so they could be completely incompatible, but she didn't think so. She was so sure he was her soul mate and that it wouldn't matter.

"I think it may be best to take things slow and maybe start over rather than pick up where we left off. We're both different than we were back then."

Kunzite nodded in agreement as a smile spread across his face. His happiness at being able to be with the most beautiful girl in the universe was immeasurable. Getting another chance was everything he could ever ask for. Taking her hands in his, he said, "I promise I won't fail you this time." To add to his charm, he kissed her hand and stood, pulling her with him. "Do you have any classes for today?"

"Just the one that's currently in progress. I was running late and had gone into the cafe to grab coffee and something to eat since I overslept again," she laughed nervously. God, he was going to think her so bad for being late to class.

Kunzite couldn't help but laugh.  A thousand years later, and she was still the same Minako he knew and loved.  "I had a few classes today as well, but I'm quite ahead in those courses.  If it's not too much to ask, would you like to accompany me on a walk around the city?"

He mentally slapped himself.  No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get rid of the habit of elegant speech.  It had stuck with him all the way through the Dark Kingdom, and now it was with him in this new reincarnation.  What an annoyance, he thought.

"Sure, this was my only class today and even if I went now, I don't think I'd be able to pay attention, and my professor is kind of a stickler for being late," she said.

"How long have you been back?" she asked him, curious.

Kunzite grinned at hearing about Minako's professor.  There was always that one professor who got onto you about the stupidest things.

"About two years now," he said, placing both hands behind his head.  "I woke up one day in an apartment, and found myself enrolled at university and already half of the way through my basic college education.  It was like Serenity gave me a new life, a new opportunity.  It's strange that we've never met since now.  Tell me...have you...seen my brothers at all?"

He knew her answer would be no, but it was at least worth a shot.

"Wait, you've been around for 2 years and you haven't contacted me once?" she said, backing away from him for a moment. And what was this about Usagi helping Mamoru give them life again? Why didn't the other blonde say anything? And how in the world had she kept it from them for 2 years? Minako felt hurt hat Kunzite hadn't tried to contact her. "Were you ever going to contact me or were you just going to let me live my life thinking you were dead?"

Kunzite couldn't help but roll his eyes at Minako's foolishness. "Calm down, you're overthinking this. How could I contact you if I didn't even know who you are? The only name I knew you by was Sailor Venus."

"Ask Mamoru? Apparently ask Usagi since she helped to bring you guys back. I still can't believe she did that and didn't tell me!" Minako said, then proceeded to grumble about Princesses running off to do what they liked without telling anyone and how was she supposed to protect her if she didn't tell them she was going to do stuff like this?

A tad frustrated, Kunzite ran his fingers through his hair. "Slow down. I have no idea who they are in this life, nor have I seen them. I think I was reincarnated when Serenity used the Imperium Silver Crystal to defeat her most recent enemy. The positive energy must have had some sort of reaction with my life stone, and reincarnated me in the process. As far as I'm concerned, neither prince or princess know I exist."

"So you don't know that Mamoru is the reincarnated version of Endymion in this life? Where were you reincarnated, where are the other shintennou?" she asked quickly, her mind going a million miles an hour, trying to piece everything together.

Kunzite shook his head. "I had no idea who Mamoru was until a few moments ago. If I knew my brothers were here, why would I have asked you earlier? I have no idea if they were reincarnated with me or not. I just woke up one morning in an apartment, with all of my memories, but no answers to any of my questions."

"We need to fix that," Minako commented as they walked along the park. While she was glad that they found each other, part of her was already regretting her decision to take things slow. She was so sorely tempted to pick things up where they had left off, even though she knew that it was the best that they take it slow. God, this was gong to be a complete test of her wills wasn't it?

"Hey, have you been to the aquarium yet?" she asked suddenly, looking up at him.

Kunzite blinked. "Erm...what's that?" he asked, scratching the back of his head. He felt rather silly asking such a question, but he didn't remember any sort of "aquarium" back during the Silver Millennium.

She grinned to herself as she got the answer she expected. "We have so much we need to catch you up on in this life," she said excitedly. "The aquarium should be pretty quiet right about now, did you want to go today or go another day?" she asked. As much as she wanted to go, she didn't want to drag him anywhere he did want to go.

Kunzite dared to wrap his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. "I'll go anywhere with you," he said. He was curious as to what exactly was in this aquarium.

They arrived at the aquarium just after it opened, Minako all but dragging Kunzite along with her. She quickly paid for their tickets and hurried down the hall to one of the exhibits. It was a tunnel that went through the aquariums largest tank. You could see the sharks, manta rays, coral, and all the fish. Mina figured if she was going to introduce him to aquariums, this was the best way to start! She couldn't wait to see his reaction.

"This, dear Kunzite, is an aquarium," she said excitedly as she pushed the doors open for the exhibit.

Kunzite couldn't help but smile down at his beloved, happy to be with her and glad that they were able to move past what happened before. Their lives were in for so much happiness and love from this moment on. But, there was something they needed to discuss. Deciding to wait until later, Kunzite turned his attention to the inside of this "aquarium."

He marveled at the uniqueness of the room around him, spinning in a slow circle as he gazed at everything. There were large tanks that seemed to take the place of walls, and there were dozens of different sea creatures swimming around. It was like they were inside the ocean, in their own personal paradise.

They were the only ones there at that moment, because most people were either at work or at school. Dazed, Kunzite walked along, running his hand across the glass. There were multiple different kinds of fish swimming along, mindless of the beautiful scene they were creating. Red, blue, yellow, orange, pink, black, practically every color imaginable was swimming around in the tank. He continued to walk, reaching a different section of the aquarium. The eerie silence was nerve-wracking, but peaceful at the same time. He looked around, wondering why these tanks were empty. He got particularly close to one, putting his face up to the glass to try and find something in the murky water.

"AH!'

Kunzite jumped backwards in surprise, tripping over his own feet and toppling to the floor. His mouth was wide open, and his eyes were wide with panic as he stared up at the grand creature in the tank. It's size was immense, and it stared at him with blank, black eyes. He felt his terror creep through his body as the thing blinked before swimming away. It had a large fin at the top of its back, and a very large tail. Kunzite wondered how such a big creature wouldn't be able to shatter its glass cage.

He realized how hard he was breathing, and struggled to control himself. The creature was gone, thank goodness, but thinking about its strength made Kunzite too uncomfortable to sit there any longer. He stood briskly, rushing to enter the next exhibit. "W-what the hell was that?!" he asked Minako.

Mina leaned against the entrance of the exhibit as she watched Kunzite wandered around in awe. She couldn't help but wonder if he had ever seen anything like this back in the Silver Millennium when he was on Earth; probably not though given his expression of wonderment. She didn't even know if where he grew up had been by any large bodies of water.

She continued to watch him for several more moments, allowing herself to be lost in thought. She knew that they had agreed to start over, but a part of her couldn't help but wonder if she was making the right decision. Eventually, she would have to tell the girls that she was together -or was it back together? - with Kunzite. She winced at the thought of how mad Rei would be when she informed them that the Shintennou were back.

If her memory served, all of the inners had paired of with Endymion's Shintennou. The pain of betrayal was one that they all shared and felt deeply. It wasn't something that someone could get over easily. It would take time, even for her. She still felt as if her heart was broken and a part of her wanted to hold back from Kunzite lest he hurt her again. For others, like Rei, they may have a difficult time with the news, but Minako knew that if any of them were to begin to heal, she needed to let the girls know what was going on.

The blonde haired woman was startled out of her musings when Kunzite stumbled back from the glass, tripping over his feet and landing on the floor, with a shout. He demanded to know what the creature that had swam in front of him in the aquarium had been. Mina looked at the creature and had to stifle a laugh, not wanting to hurt his feelings. She could completely understand how he would be terrified of the creature.

"It's a great white shark. They are predators in the wild, but don't eat humans. The rare cases of sharks attacking humans are usually a case of mistaken identity with the shark thinking that we're a seal or something else that they naturally eat. Usually they take one bite then let go once they realize we're not what they thought we were," she explained as she walked over to him, kneeling beside him, and placed a comforting hand on his arm. "In captivity, the sharks are fed regularly so they don't get hungry and eat the fish in the aquarium. Even if you jumped in right now I doubt they'd be bothered with you. The glass is also pretty thick so there's no chance of it breaking and being able to get at you."

"Common," she said, standing up. "Let's go check out another one of the exhibits, they have whales and dolphins there, I'm sure you'll like them much better!"

Kunzite scoffed, wiping his hands on his pants.  "Don't eat humans, my ass," he grumbled, following Minako into the next room.  

"I really hope these 'dolphins' don't look like they deserve their own scary theme song," he said, entering behind the blonde goddess.  Without thinking, his fingers brushed against hers, and his hand had suddenly gone the extra mile.  Her hand was now clasped in his, and he could feel the sparks traveling between their hands.  He clenched is jaw in concern, hoping she wouldn't pull away.  

The further entered the room, and Kunzite saw a giant pool in the center.  Multiple women, who were dressed in watersuits and standing around the pool, were making strange hand signs.  One of the women noticed them and jumped down from her ladder, heading over to greet them.

"Sorry guys," she said, smiling, "but we don't have a show for another three hours.  You're welcome to come back and watch!"  

Confused, Kunzite looked at Minako, begging her to deal with this.  He had no idea what the heck this lady was talking about.

Mina frowned when the lady said they weren't doing another show for the dolphins for three more hours.

"Would it be possible just to take a quick look at the dolphins? You see, my friend here has never seen dolphins before, and he's only in town for another hour or so," she explained, giving the lady her best innocent look. She really hoped the woman bought it and allowed them to take a peak. She really wanted Kunzite to see the dolphins today.