Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, but I did write this story.  
Therefore, please do not take this and say it's yours. (Not like anyone
would.)  If you want to post this on a page go for it.  Just give me 
credit and email me and tell me.  This takes place after The Sailor Moon R
movie.
	
	
		Part 1: A Change in Life
		Chapter 2: A Pretty Kitty Named Ace.
		By  Trachtemis <Trachtemis@hotmail.com>
	
	Mina awoke to the sound of Arty putting - and licking - in her ear.
She smiled and hugged the fluffy white cat.
	"Is that my Cuddle Bunny?" Mina asked, kissing his little ears.
	Artemis grumbled, "Don't call me that."
	Mina sat up with a huff. "Maybe another cat would like it better,"
she snapped.
	Artemis sat on his back haunches, "Is that a threat?"
	Mina laughed, "You never know...klutz the cat."  
	And with that, she left for the shower.

	Mina emerged from the shower about ten minutes later, refreshed and 
wrapped in a pink towel.  Her long blonde hair lay flat against her shoulder 
blades and towel and dripped across the orange carpet.
	"Mina Aino!  You march yourself back into that bathroom and dry off 
properly.  I just had the new carpet put in..."
	Mina rolled her eyes and went back into the bathroom as her mother 
continued to nag - reprimand - her.  Before she slammed the door, she 
grabbed the cordless phone.
	
	Serena put down the latest 'Sailor V' comic as the phone began to 
ring.  She sighed and answered on the second ring.
	"Hello?"
	"Hi Serena."
	"Hey Mina.  Fancy you called."
	"Uh...okay.  Hey there's this..thing I wanted to do privately today,
without Artemis and I don't think he'd understand.  Can you send Luna over 
to keep him company?"
	"Sure.  What do you have to do?  Is everything okay?"
	"It's private, but everything's okay."
	"Promise?"
	"Promise."
	"Okay.  I'll send Luna right over."
	"Thank you Serena...  By the way, How's Rini?"
	"Rini's all right.  She's calmed down now.  I think she's eating 
pancakes right now or something."
	Mina let out a little laugh and then got serious again.
	"Well that's all good.  Don't  forget to send Luna as soon as 
possible."
	"All right."
	"Okay. Bye."
	"Bye."
	Serena hung up the phone and sighed.  Mina had sounded so serious.  
She almost sounded sad.  Serena never got a moment to wonder what Mina had 
to do before Luna entered the room.
	"Reading comics again Serena?  What about your math homework?  Don't
you have a big math test tomorrow?" Luna began.
	Serena looked at the black cat with the crescent shaped baldspot on
her forehead. "Yeah Yeah, I know.  Mina just called.  She want you to go 
stay with Artemis while she goes out."
	Luna licked a paw and pushed back her whiskers.  "Okay," then more 
seriously, she asked, "Is everything all right with Mina?"
	Serena shrugged, "She swore she was fine so she probably is.  I mean
everyone needs sometime alone, even Mina.  Well I told her I'd send you as
soon as possible, so..."
	Luna got the message, "Fine Serena, but please try to study.  I 
don't need a grounded scout."
	Serena laughed.  Luna scowled.
	"It's not a joke!  Serena, as the Moon Princess, you must be 
available to fight evil.  You can't be sneaking out and getting into more.."
	"Artemis is waiting," Serena interrupted.

	No more than five minutes later, Luna was outside on her way to 
Mina's.  It was only a couple blocks away; only a ten minute walk.
	It wasn't usually a busy street or sidewalk that Luna used but it,
sometimes, was filled with rumbling, uncaring, unseeing, trampling feet or 
baby strollers since it was near a park of some kind.  That particular day it  
was extremely busy.  Some kind of festival was being held at the park.  
Therefore, she forced to take the 'alternate' but quicker route, through the
allies.
	Not more than two minutes later, poor Luna was encircled by two 
dozen ally cats.
	"Now...Can't we talk about this?" Luna pleaded with them as they 
closed in on her, pushing her against a dead end.  Frightened that they had
her trapped and weren't going to let her go, Luna crouched down and hid her 
head with her paws.
	Just as the ally cats were about to jump, a neatly cleaned fish 
carcass appeared between Luna and the ally cats.  All the cats looked up to 
see a big fat gray cat on top of the wall, that made the dead end, and 
above some trash cans.  He gave a weak pathetic meow, causing the cats to 
scatter and scramble back into the shadows of the ally.
	Feeling no longer threatened, Luna lifted her head and saw the fish
carcass.
	'Oh no.  I know that meow and fish carcass.'  
	Slowly Luna turned to see Hercules on the wall behind her.  She gave
him a weak smile.  Hercules jumped and landed beside her unexpectedly.
	"Uh...hello Hercules."
	"Meow," he responded simply.
	"Um, thank you.  See you later."
	And with that, Luna took of running in the direction of Mina's 
house.
	
	Mina crept towards the small stone shrine in the back woods of 
Tokyo.  The shrine consisted of three stones: two set up vertically about 
ten inches apart with another slab of stone set up horizontally across the
top.  A little brown wicker door kept a secret ritual of mourning closed 
away from prying eyes.  Three long sticks held up the string decorations of 
a death shrine
	Mina knelt in front of the shrine and laid a yellow rose in front 
of the wooden door.  She then gently kissed the gold ring on her engagement 
finger.
	"Kaitô...I mean Adonis.  Please rest safely.  A dear friend you are
and a greater lover.  You aren't forgotten." She sighed as the tears began 
to flow down her cheeks.  Helplessly, she put her head to her knees and 
cried.
	"I miss you..."

	Amethystia watched the weeping scout and smiled as a wicked thought 
entered her mind.

	About and hour later, Mina was walking home with puffy cheek bones.
She sincerely missed her love Ace.  He had helped her out a couple times 
and she	had learned that he was her mysterious lover, Adonis, from the Moon
Millennium.  The bad thing was that she never noticed him because he had not
been born with a high rank so he had not been let near the princess.  The 
Princess had noticed a different man: Malachite.  This enraged Adonis and 
when he was reborn on the Earth, he started to work for Malachite in hopes to
one day pay Malachite and Princess Venus for his broken heart.  So when Mina
went to China to shoot a movie as a Chinese Princess with Kaitô Ace, Adonis,
he took that time to help her fall in love with him.  But she wasn't sure if 
she really loved him because Mina always put things before love, like her 
job.  Also she was always flirting with another guy.  The enraged Adonis 
decided that if he couldn't have her to himself no one would so he tried to
kill her.  Sailor V ended up winning after V-beaming Adonis.  He then told 
her her final love fortune.  That she would never find true love.  And with 
Adonis dead, he was right.  She only had two things to remember him by: his 
ace of hearts card, his final fortune, and the twenty-four Karat gold band
that she wore on her 'engagement' finger.  He would never be far from her 
mind.
	'What I wouldn't do to have him back in my arms or at least in sight
again,' she thought sadly.     
	"Why did I have to kill him!?" She cried out.  
	Suddenly she stopped walking and looked around.  Everyone was
staring at her.  A light blush crossed her face.  Embarrassed, she smiled
and took off running.
	'Oh man!  How humiliating!' 
	A perturbed meow sounded under her.  Mina stopped in mid-stride and
saw that she had stepped on a little cat. 
	The cat was a calico cat of tan, white, and black.  He had a bump on 
his head from Mina's shoe.
	Mina bent down and scooped him up.  "Oh poor..." she quickly checked 
his forehead.  It was completely white.  "Kitty," she finished.  She wrapped 
him in her jacket and ran all the way home.
	As she threw open the front door, she called, "Mom, I'm home!"
	Finding the house empty except for two cute kitty lovers curled 
around each other a sleep, she brought the calico into the kitchen.  It was 
still out cold.  She placed him on the table and got some ice from the 
freezer.  She wrapped the ice in a towel and placed it on the cat's head.  
The cat slept and once Mina was sure that his bump had gone down, she took 
him upstairs.
	 As she was placing the cat in Artemis's wicker basket, she heard 
the door bell ring.  She ran her hand down the cat's back and then ran down 
the stairs and answered the door.  
	A tall young man with short blonde hair stood there.  He was wearing 
dirty stone wash jeans and a white muscle T-shirt.  His eyes were hidden by 
some strange shadow.  
	"Um...hello?" Mina asked.
	"Plumber," he murmured.
	"Um...but there's nothing wrong with our plumbing."
	"Well you never know.  It's always good to have it checked."
	Mina nodded and stepped out of the way.  "Okay then, come on in."
 	The young man entered the house and went straight to the kitchen.
He opened the cupboards under the sink and looked at the pipes.
	"Um...don't you need some tools?" Mina wondered aloud.
	He looked up at her.  "Not really.  So what's a pretty girl like 
you doing this Friday night?  Got a boyfriend?" He inquired.  
	Mina blushed.  "A boyfriend? Um...no...well yes.  Our love is 
forever.  He's quite nice though he has done some things I don't appreciate.  
He's blonde haired, blue eyed....gorgeous...."  Mina began to daze off as 
she thought of Ace.
	The plumber's cheeks turned red and he slammed the cupboard doors and
began to walk out of the house.
	Mina snapped out of it and asked, "So how are my pipes?"
	"Fine," he growled and exited the house.
	Mina watched him leave and wondered, 'What ticked him off?'