Venus Falling

Chapter 1

 It was almost noon when Minako left the studio. She was running late. Hopefully, Kenji would still be waiting for her at the corner. She had promised to meet him at eleven-thirty, but her manager had insisted on recording an extra song today despite her protests. She ran. Her hood pulled down over her hair and eyes to minimize the chances of a fan recognizing her. There he was, waiting at the corner like always. "Kenji!" she called as she ran the last few yards between them. "Sorry. You know my manager...he wouldn't let me go until everything was perfect."

Kenji turned as she stopped in front of him. His blue eyes were warm as he pulled her into a friendly hug. "I understand, Mina," he told her. "Though if he was after perfection, I don't see why you weren't done an hour ago." He did that all the time. Joked about how perfect she was, but there wasn't much perfect about her anymore. Ever since Sailor V, everything had been a mess. Not that he knew any of that. Though Minako hated keeping secrets from him, this was one that she had to keep. It wasn't just her secret, after all.

"One of these days, you're going to see how wrong you are about that." She smiled as he took her hand and started leading her down the street. "So lunch and then hang at my place?" It was how their Tuesday afternoons usually went.

"Lunch, yes. I can't really hang this afternoon, though." Her features fell into a frown. This had been their tradition for three years now. Every Tuesday was their day unless she was off on tour, and then they usually spent the afternoon chatting on the phone. "I'm sorry, I tried to get them to move it to tomorrow, but well...you know my dad Mina, he hates having to rearrange his schedule."

"What's going on then? Maybe I could come with you, and we could hang after?" She dreaded not having plans. Usagi would probably insist on dragging her out. Or Rei might instead.

"Not this time." He stopped walking in front of a small, near-empty restaurant. "The usual," he called to the waiter, and Mina nodded. "It's a press conference, sort of. To announce some new task force that my father wants me to head. But it's closed to the public. Only a few people will be there."

"Oh, alright then. I'm sure I'll be able to find something to do without you." She looked down at the table, a little disappointed.

"I don't know how long it is going to last, but if I can, I'll drop by your place afterward, okay?" He asked, trying to cheer her up. Minako just nodded and smiled up at him. She wasn't upset, not really. Kenji was a part of the defense force. Things like this happened, though they usually didn't happen when she'd already had plans with him.

And then her cell phone rang. Mina pulled it out just enough to look at the name. Usagi. She shoved the phone back into her pocket. That girl was the last person she wanted to talk to right now. But it kept ringing. "Sorry," she said to Kenji and stood up, walking towards the door as she answered the phone. "What is is Usagi?" There was the chance it was Senshi business, and she didn't want Kenji to overhear.

"We're all getting together at Ami's at one. Luna says there's something important to tell us. Can you come, or you want someone to drop by later to fill you in?" Usagi said all of this in one long gasp, not even stopping to breathe.

"I'll be there," Minako told her. "Sorry, Usagi, I've got to go now. Kenji..."

"Oh, you're with Kenji." There were Usagi and someone (probably Makoto) giggling into the phone. "See you later then."

Shaking her head, she returned to her seat. "Sorry about that. Usagi's a persistent one," she explained.

"Ah, Usagi. That explains it." Minako looked at him, questioning. "You always have that look on your face after talking to her. Like you don't know what's going on."

She laughed a little. "She has that effect on people, yes." Their food came just then, and they pair quieted for a few minutes as they ate. Minako wondered what this thing with Luna was about. There hadn't been much in the way of Senshi duties for a while. Sure there had been a couple of random youma attacks, but even that had been over a month ago. Well, she'd find out soon enough. Looking at her watch once she'd finished eating, she saw it was almost twelve-thirty. She'd have to leave now to make it to Ami's place on time. Kenji, it seemed to be on the same page.

"I'm sorry; we didn't have a lot of time today. I've got to get going, or I'll be late. But we'll take the whole day next week to make up for it, okay?"

"Sounds good," Minako said with a smile. They stood together and hugged again. "See you next Tuesday then." She headed out the door with another smile towards him as he took a moment to pay for their food. She wanted to wait and walk with him, but she had to hurry to get across town. She would not be late for this.

A/N. I  started writing this years ago then put it aside for a long time. I think it's about time to start posting it now though. I've got a good bit already written that just needs to be proofread so I'll hopefully be posting consistently on it for a little while.