By Senshi
of Ruin and Mizu no Senshi
Act Eleven Recap:
(Mamoru’s POV)
“It is valuable insight, don’t you think?” she asked the
blue haired girl. When Mercury frowned, Venus continued, “As long as she
believes this then she will not attack us to kill. That gives is a significant
advantage over her.”
Mercury looked curiously at the leader of the Dark Senshi,
“What are you suggesting?”
Venus smiled and turned back to leafing through her song
sheets, “You’ll see…”
Dark Venus and Dark Mercury decided to lay a trap for
Sailor Moon and she fell right into it.
“So you came, Sailor Moon”
Sailor Moon whirled round as the familiar voice of Dark
Venus echoed around her. Blindly she stumbled around, trying to see in the
gloom.
Even though she is the enemy, I had to go to her aid and
luckily I managed to persuade Kisho to help me.
“I just thought” Mamoru begun uncomfortably, “It sounds
like a trap. I was going to go just to keep an eye on things, but with my
powers not being fully awakened…”
“You wondered whether I would accompany you” Kisho finished
for him, “Why not bring this up at the meeting?”
“I don’t know” Mamoru admitted. He knew all of his friends
had reservations about Sailor Moon. He glanced at Kisho, “Will you come with
me?” he asked.
“Only because you’d go alone if I said no” Kisho declared
a little haughtily, but Mamoru could see the beginnings of a smile on his face
as he said those words.
I really hate being the leader and the fact that I have
not awakened my powers yet really frustrates me. How can I protect them and be
the leader if I can’t fight properly? Kisho is by far better suited to the job,
but…
Well, it seems like I might not have to worry about being
the leader for much longer…
*****
Act Twelve:
Komoro Seiichi sighed to himself. Every so often he would
glance up and see yet another curious fan watching him through the window. He
was beginning to feel like an exhibition in a museum and he really wished that
Hina would hurry up with the coffee.
At the beginning of the week, Seiichi hadn’t minded all
the charity work. In fact he even enjoyed doing something normal for a change,
but after a few days of being followed by fans and whispering behind his back
was starting to change his mind. Of course, Hina was a fan, too, but she was
mature about her obvious admiration for him. Seiichi didn’t know what all the
fuss was for anyway. He just liked to play the piano. He played because it
calmed him and gave him an escape from the reality that he was often faced
with.
It would seem, he thought, as a piercing shriek cut
through the everyday noise and bustle of the hospital, that his reality was
about to rear its ugly head again.
Jumping up from his seat, Seiichi raced round the corner
and towards the screams. He halted when he saw two things. One was the
unconscious form of a doctor lying on the floor and the other was Hina. She was
knelt over the doctor, a feral smile etched across her face.
“Hina-san?” Seiichi asked, a little hesitantly, as she
carefully stood up, as though getting used to her body. She took a tentative
step in his direction and for a moment Seiichi saw a flicker of the young woman
she had once been in those soft brown eyes.
“Komoro-san…” she whispered before lunging towards him.
“Youma!”
Her smile became a gleeful snarl as she recognised the
term. Seiichi stumbled backwards, unsure of what to do. The hospital staff were
equally unsure and none of them aided him as Hina advanced, one hand out
stretched as though to grab him round the throat.
Seiichi turned and ran. He didn’t have time to see if Hina
was following him as he crashed straight into someone. They both hit the floor,
even as Seiichi struggled to regain his footing and continue in his flight.
Until, that was, his gaze met that of the person he had ran into. As he looked
up his heart skipped a beat.
“It can’t be…” Seiichi whispered.
*****
Masaki had to get out of the house. He couldn’t bear to be
around Haru and Tori for another minute. When his mother had finally come out
of her room, Haru had been almost sickeningly nice to her, presenting her with
flowers and promising that he would never behave like that again. He was even
fixing the coffee table. Masaki didn’t like it. He almost preferred his father
to be drunk than this fake nice routine that he carried out for a few hours.
Yes, it only lasted a few hours and then Haru would be back to the bottle and
his old ways.
Thus Masaki had decided that Tori was safe enough with him
for a while and decided to go for a walk. He didn’t have a college lecture
today and was at a loss. He was supposed to be using the free time for
studying, but he just couldn’t find the motivation. Masaki frowned at this. He
knew his grades had been suffering, but he had never deemed them important,
even before he learned of his past life and destiny.
Masaki, in truth, no longer cared for the normal life that
he had left behind that day a few weeks ago. He had, had nothing going for him
as Ueda Masaki anyway. He had friends, before he moved anyway, but they had
always seemed apart from him somehow. Now things were different. His friends
here in Tokyo were still apart from him, but their destinies were entwined
together, forming an unbreakable bond. Despite this, Masaki couldn’t help but
wonder had he not been Jadeite, would Mamoru still have spoken to him? Would
Taro and Kisho still have wanted to be friends with him? Probably not, he
reasoned, thus their friendship was built on the foundations of what had once
been and Masaki hated this.
Still, despite all of that, he still found himself
entering Crown. He mentally winced and regretted his decision when he saw that
Kisho had obviously been thinking along the same lines and that he and Taro
were arguing, again.
“I’m not Mamoru’s keeper!” Taro was shouting angrily
whilst waving the mop he held in one hand under Kisho’s nose. Kisho, unlike
Motoki who was hiding underneath the counter, was not scared of Taro’s wrath
and simply swatted the mop aside.
“I didn’t say you were” he replied coolly, “I just asked
if you had seen him. A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ would suffice.”
Masaki couldn’t help but smile at this. In truth, he
admired Kisho and his ability to keep calm no matter what the situation.
“Well I haven’t!” Taro hissed, “So why don’t you just
leave me alone!”
Kisho turned to do just that and it would have been the
end of it had Taro not decided to act like a child and kick the bucket of dirty
water over, managing to soak the older man’s trainers and trouser legs.
Kisho turned, a flicker of annoyance on his face as he
walked up to Taro and forced the taller man back against the counter.
“Taro. A funny choice of name” Kisho remarked before
turning away, “Especially for someone with an older brother.”
Kisho brushed passed Masaki, but the younger man let him
go as he studied Taro’s reaction to this insult. The name ‘Taro’ meant first
born and Masaki had been aware of the fact that Taro had an older brother, but
he had wisely kept from commenting on this fact and, indeed, it was not his
nature to do so.
“You bastard” Taro whispered and Masaki realised that his
older friend was shaking.
“Kimi-kun?” Motoki questioned, coming out from underneath
the counter now that it seemed to be safe, “What was that all about?”
“Nothing!” Taro snarled as he turned and fled into the
back room. Motoki sighed and then smiled as though noticing Masaki for the
first time.
“Masaki-kun. Konnichiwa!”
“Konnichiwa” Masaki replied half-heartedly. He sorely
wished he had stayed at home, especially as it appeared that Motoki wanted him
to try and cheer Taro up.
“You are his friend” Motoki pointed out. “If I try to
speak to him, he will just get angry again.”
“I know, but…” Masaki trailed off. He wasn’t any good at
that sort of thing anyway. Motoki was now ushering him into the back room and
it looked as though he had no choice.
“Good luck!” Motoki called cheerfully before hurrying
away.
Masaki sighed. Taro was standing at the back of the
storeroom, his fists clenched tightly at his sides.
“Taro-kun?” Masaki called, a little apprehensively.
Taro turned around, his eyes lowered, but Masaki could
sense just how upset and hurt he was feeling, though the latter would not act
upon this.
“What was that all about?” he repeated Motoki’s words,
“Why was Kisho looking for Mamoru?”
Taro shrugged, “Just because we don’t share the same
mother…” he trailed off, “That bastard had no right to point that out in front
of everyone.”
Masaki chewed nervously on his lower lip, unsure what to
say.
“Something happened yesterday” Taro allowed, when he
finally managed to get control of his emotions, “I don’t know what. I think
Kisho wanted to talk to Mamoru about it.”
Masaki nodded, “I haven’t seen Mamoru-kun at all today.”
Taro smiled slightly, “That’s what I told Kisho.”
“Told him?”
“Ok, shouted at him. He just manages to annoy the hell out
of me with his ‘I’m so superior and you are nothing, but dirt’ act. Doesn’t it
bother you?”
“I don’t let him get to me.”
“I see. Why are you here?”
“I was bored.”
“Right” Taro nodded, seemingly a little disappointed that
there were no Youma or Senshi to fight.
“You’d better get back out there” Masaki pointed out after
a few minutes silence between them, “Motoki won’t be happy.”
“You’re right” Taro sighed and turned to leave, but then
paused, “Masaki?”
“Yes?”
“You won’t tell anyone about… you know.”
Masaki shrugged, “Why would I? Its none of my business.”
Taro smiled. “No, it isn’t.”
“I might hang about for a bit, though” Masaki added.
“Why?”
Again he shrugged, “I haven’t got anything better to do.”
******
Mamoru walked down the hospital corridor, searching in
vain for Hina. When he enquired where she was with reception they had just told
him to follow the fans, and that was what Mamoru had been doing. The hospital
was busier than ever and he could only assume that this had something to do
with its star visitor.
Mamoru had decided to surprise Hina at work and take her
out for some lunch. He used to do that a lot, before he became Tuxedo Kamen,
and he decided that it was high time that his life retained some of its
normality. This brought a smile to his face. What was normality anyway? Though
his life had been so carefree and safe before that day in Crown. Mamoru sighed.
His doubts had started to fade, but now that their mission seemed to be going
nowhere, they were again surfacing. His greatest fear was being alone with this
burden, now there were four of them, but Mamoru still held this fear. It was a
part of him and he knew it would never go away completely.
Which was why, when someone ran straight into him and
knocked them both onto the tiled hospital floor, Mamoru’s immediate reaction
was that there was a Youma attacking him. He rolled away in panic, even as he
heard the person whisper something under his breath. Mamoru froze when he
realised that the voice was human and he berated his actions. He stood, trying
to regain his composure, as did the young man that had run into him. Mamoru
looked up at him and started to grow uncomfortable as the other continued to
stare at him, long past the point of politeness.
Then, as Mamoru’s nerves calmed, he realised that he
recognised the youth before him.
“Komoro Seiichi?” he was aware that he sounded like a stupid
fan in the stunned awe that he spoke, but he couldn’t really think of anything
else to say.
The man in question seemed taken aback by his bluntness
and frowned slightly as though unsure how to retort. In the end he settled for
an apology.
“I’m sorry” he smiled shyly, “I should have been watching
where I was going.”
“You were in a bit of a hurry.” Mamoru allowed, not
wanting to let him off lightly, even if he was a celebrity.
Komoro-san shook his head, “You would be to if you had a
couple of crazy fan girls chasing you.”
“Crazy fan girls?” Mamoru looked over Komoro-san’s
shoulder, but couldn’t see anyone.
“I must have given them the slip” Komoro-san said in
relief, “I don’t mind signing autographs, but chasing me around was just too
much.”
Mamoru wasn’t sure what to make of this and instead
enquired to know where Hina was.
“You must be Chiba Mamoru” Komoro-san replied to this,
“Hina has told me a lot about you.”
“She has?”
Komoro-san nodded, “She was called away. She’ll only be a
little while. We were going to meet in the cafeteria.”
“I’ll come with you, if you don’t mind?” Mamoru decided
and when Komoro-san indicated that he was fine with this Mamoru started to
relax a little.
The cafeteria was just round the corner and was surprisingly
empty. Mamoru sensed that Komoro-san was grateful for this and he offered to
get the coffees, as he didn’t think Komoro-san would want to be bothered by the
stares and requests for autographs that the staff would give him. He appeared
to be in agreement and Mamoru did that, wondering why on Earth he was bothering
at all. He wasn’t exactly a social butterfly and he was only vaguely familiar
with the Moonlight Sonata anyway and admitted this to Komoro-san when
they sat down.
To his surprise, Komoro-san didn’t seem offended by this
in the slightest, “I don’t expect you to be. Most of my fans are female.”
“How long have you been playing?” Mamoru asked, wondering
again why he was even bothering to take an interest in the young star. He
frowned slightly as he studied Komoro-san’s face for a few minutes. He seemed
familiar somehow and Mamoru found he could relax and talk openly round him,
something that he could rarely do, even around people he had known for years.
“I started when I was ten” Komoro-san answered, “I had to
practice every day in order to get really good” he seemed a little
uncomfortable talking about himself and Mamoru was content to let the matter
drop.
“What time did you say Hina was going to meet you?”
Komoro-san shrugged, “When she’s finished. She might be a
while yet.”
“I see” Mamoru smiled slightly, “So she left you to fend
for yourself?”
Komoro-san shot him a wry grin, “I can take care of
myself.”
“At the speed you were running from those girls, I beg to
differ.”
He leaned back in his chair, seemingly more at ease with
the situation, “You don’t know the half of it.”
There was another meaning behind his words, Mamoru was
sure of this. He could usually read people quite well and Komoro-san was open
enough with him, but there was a somewhat guarded expression behind that shy
smile of his. His gaze continued to dart towards the entrance to the café.
“Are you afraid they’ll come back?” Mamoru asked.
“Who?” he started as though he had been thinking of
something else.
“The fans?”
“Not really.”
“Then why are you so edgy?”
“I’m not.”
“There’s Hina” Mamoru suddenly spotted his fiancée as she
pushed open the door to the café and stepped somewhat delicately inside. Her
brown eyes quickly cast around the room until they settled on Mamoru. She
smiled and beckoned him to come over to her.
“Chiba-san--” Komoro-san started, also getting up from his
seat. Mamoru ignored him and hurried over to where Hina was standing.
“Where have you been?” Mamoru said, drawing her into an
embrace. Hina returned this comfort, but Mamoru winced as he felt her nails
digging into his back, even through his shirt.
He pulled away, or rather tried too, but she wouldn’t let
him go. “Hina…” he broke off as she laughed softly in his ear and whispered:
“Don’t be frightened, Mamoru-kun. You, too, must surrender your energy to the
Great Ruler.”
“What?” Mamoru gasped as she threw him to the ground. He
knocked into several chairs as he fell, landing sprawled on his back as Hina
stood over him.
People were starting to run now, screaming and pushing each
other in their efforts to escape. Hina smiled a smile that made Mamoru’s blood
run cold as she stepped in front of one nurse and calmly placed a palm over the
terrified woman’s face. She gasped as fronds spread out from Hina’s hand to
engulf her face, draining her energy even while she screamed. Then, finished,
Hina moved to the next person.
“Chiba-san!” Mamoru was drawn out of his daze when
Komoro-san knelt down beside him, concern etched across his face. “Daijobu?”
“I-I think so” Mamoru was grateful to the other man when
Komoro-san helped him to his feet. Unluckily for both of them, Hina had seen
this display and, with two strides, was beside them. She reached out with a
hand to grab Mamoru, but Komoro-san stepped between them, clasping onto her
wrist before her hand could connect with Mamoru’s face.
Hina frowned in annoyance and tore her wrist free and then
used her free hand to call upon the Youma powers. White light shot from her
palm and struck Komoro-san in the chest. He was thrown back several metres and
didn’t get up.
“Seiichi-kun!” Mamoru cried out as the other man hit the
floor. His eyes were closed, but Mamoru could see the rise and fall of his
chest. But there was no time to worry about the young star. Hina gave a small
cry and slumped to the floor as the Youma released its human guise. It slashed
at Mamoru with a razored hand. Mamoru
leapt backwards, gasping in disbelief as its blade cut into the metal table
behind him.
Mamoru looked frantically around. There were too many
people for him to transform here so he did the only thing he could do. He ran…
and the Youma chased him.
****
“Seiichi? Daijobu?” his vision swam before his eyes, even
as he managed to fight off the threat of unconsciousness. The blow the Youma
dealt him still stung and brought tears to his eyes as they opened to focus on
the worried face of his companion.
“Seiichi!” his companion urged, “Get up. You’ve taken
worse hits, now get up!”
He frowned at his companion’s tone, but did as he said.
Seiichi staggered to his feet, the entire room was swaying before his eyes.
Shutting them briefly offered him some relief and when Seiichi opened them
again the cafeteria was swarming with doctors and nurses helping those who had
fallen.
“Komoro-san?” a nurse came up to him, concern etched
across her face as well as some awe to be speaking with him, “Do you need to
sit down?” she asked.
“I’m fine” Seiichi shook her off of him and took a
tentative step in the direction that the Youma had taken. “I’m fine.”
*****
Taro and Masaki were walking back from Crown when the
Youma appeared. Masaki had hung around for the remainder of the day, whereas
Taro didn’t mind his company, he got the impression that it was much more than simply
boredom, but after the events of this afternoon, Taro knew that there were some
things that one just didn’t want to talk about.
“Taro. A funny choice of name” Kisho remarked before
turning away, “Especially for someone with an older brother.”
Taro’s father had an affair and thus he had been the
first-born to his father and his mistress. He had lived with his real mother
for several years before she met someone else and no longer wanted to be
bothered with him. Taro’s father had stayed with Kanaye’s mother and she had
forgiven him and agreed to take Taro in and raised him as her own son. Of
course, with a name like his, Taro suspected that everyone guessed his
parentage, but he hated it to be voiced aloud so bluntly like that. It still
hurt him… even now.
To get to Taro’s home they had to walk passed the local
hospital and, as fate would have it, the Youma happened to be coming out of
there at exactly the moment they were walking passed. Taro welcomed the
distraction and, after making sure that all the people in the vicinity were
unconscious as the Youma had drained them, Taro transformed. Masaki followed
his lead and they decided to confront it.
Nephrite led the attack by slashing at it with his sword.
The Youma screamed in pain and lashed out with a scythe like arm. Its arm
struck Nephrite’s blade and he almost dropped it from the force of the blow.
“It’s strong,” he gasped as his aching fingers clutched
onto his blade. Jadeite immediately tried to capture it in one of his domes,
but the energy was simply reflected on its shiny armour-like skin and the
magics struck the blonde king, throwing him to the ground.
“What the hell?” he swore as he rolled out of the path of
more deadly magics. Again the Youma struck and both kings found themselves
being forced back down the blind alley that the fight had led them to.
“What kind of Youma is that?” Jadeite demanded as their
backs hit the wall behind them.
Nephrite shrugged, “Lets attack it together, okay?”
Jadeite nodded in agreement and hurled another purple bolt
of energy at it as Nephrite threw a fireball its way. The Youma was hit and the
men cheered as the attack struck home and knocked it to the ground.
Their victory, however, was short lived. Nephrite stepped
up to deliver the killing blow when the Youma started to glow white,
momentarily blinding the red haired king. He winced and used his cape as a
shield as they both took a wary step backwards.
When the light faded Nephrite was dismayed to find an exact
duplicate of the Youma standing beside it.
“I really hate it when they do that” Nephrite sighed to
himself and raised his sword again. As he did so, both Youma struck. He gasped
in pain as he was thrown to the ground by the force of the blow, barely managing
to roll aside as a curved blade struck the ground where he had been lying
seconds before.
Glancing to his left, Nephrite saw Jadeite struggling with
the other Youma. It had pinned the blonde against the wall and, as Nephrite
watched, it slammed its un-scythed hand into his chest. Jadeite cried out and
clutched the steel wrist in agony as his energy was transferred to the being
before him. The blonde fell, semi-conscious, to the ground, his sword
clattering at his side.
“Jadeite!” Nephrite made to go to his friend’s aid, but
his hesitation had cost him dearly. He managed to avoid the first blow, but the
second caught him around the side of the face, slamming him back into the brick
wall. Nephrite gagged as it got a grip around his throat and raised its scythe
above his head. He winced, preparing himself for the pain. Then the ground
before him exploded in a blue light, knocking both Youma off balance. Nephrite
felt the grip round his throat slacken and he slumped down beside Jadeite in a
daze, even as he raised his head to meet the gaze of his rescuer.
“Now we’re even,” Kunzite told him, as he ran a finger
down his sword, charging the weapon with his magics before slashing again at
the pair of Youma. Nephrite scowled, but was too relieved to think of a witty
come back. Tuxedo Kamen knelt down beside Jadeite, getting stunned assurances
from the blonde that he would be okay, before the masked man would allow
himself to enter the battle.
Nephrite struggled to take up his sword, but his grip was
too weak to even lift it, let alone muster the strength to stand and fight.
Dizzily, he let it fall down at his side as his gaze wandered to the battle
before him.
Kunzite appeared to be doing most of the fighting. Mamoru,
even in Tuxedo Kamen form, was not strong enough to do much damage to the Youma
with his cane and barely managed to keep himself from becoming skewered by
them.
The black haired king, on the other hand, appeared to be
able to hold his own. Neither side was winning, but it was becoming clear that
Kunzite couldn’t keep up this level of combat forever. A chill went through
Nephrite at the exact moment that the Youma managed to knock Kunzite’s sword
from his hand. They could well lose and, indeed, Mamoru had now been thrown
back to join them on the ground.
Panicked, Kunzite called up a sphere of purple energy in
one hand and made to throw it in the advancing Youma’s face. The other caught
his wrist before he could release the magics and threw the king to the floor as
though he were nothing. He landed between Jadeite and Nephrite and the latter
could see the exhaustion in his eyes, even as both Youma now turned their
attentions to Tuxedo Kamen.
“Mamoru” Nephrite whispered as they slowly advanced on the
masked man. The red haired king struggled to stand, but the world went black
and white before his eyes and he slumped down again, barely able to keep his
eyes open. Jadeite, too, had tried to get up, but this resulted in the blonde man
doubling over with a combination of fatigue and pain. If they de-transformed
they would have no chance… but like this…
The first of the Youma had now reached Tuxedo Kamen and
had hauled him to his feet by his shirt. The other drew its scythed arm back
and Nephrite heard his own shout of protest, mixed in with that of Jadeite’s as
Kunzite managed to stagger to his feet and snatched up his blade. The second
Youma noted this and with a quick flick of its wrist magics lanced out and
struck the oldest king, knocking him back down.
There was nothing they could do… How could Nephrite force
himself to fight when his body was no longer obeying his commands?
Once again, the second Youma raised a hand to Mamoru… and
then exploded in a shower of blue light. Nephrite gasped, once again using his
cape as a shield as the surviving Youma dropped Tuxedo Kamen and whirled around
the face this new threat. It barely had a chance to do that before it befell
the same fate as its partner.
As this one exploded, the energy it collected was
disbursed, flowing back into its rightful owners. Nephrite felt his strength
returning and he was able to stand, shakily, and hurry to Mamoru’s side.
“Daijobu?” he whispered and was satisfied when Tuxedo
Kamen nodded, though the fear and relief was obvious on his face, even behind
the mask.
“Who…?” he trailed off as he raised his head to stare at
the man standing a few feet away from them.
Nephrite followed his gaze, noting in some annoyance, that
Kunzite had drawn his sword again as though looking for a fight.
The man standing before them was clad in a uniform very
similar to the ones that the three kings wore now except his was in white and
the lining was green. He wore silver boots and white gloves, a cape attached
with shimmering gemstones fell over one shoulder and, as Nephrite stared, he
skilfully flipped it over his shoulders. His hair was silver-white and tied up
in a ponytail. A few shorter strands fell down each side of his face. His eyes
were an intense shade of pale blue and gave Nephrite an uncomfortable sense of
familiarity as his gaze matched the man’s own.
Before he could stop himself, he took a tentative step
forwards, the familiarity nearly overwhelming him as a part of Nephrite, deep
down, recognised the man.
“Master” he whispered, automatically halted just before
him and knelt. Jadeite and Tuxedo Kamen followed suit, the look on Jadeite’s
face confirming Nephrite’s own thoughts whilst Tuxedo Kamen only showed some
confusion. Kunzite held back, suspicion and fear were the only emotions he
would allow to break through before he, too, stepped forward though, unlike his
comrades, he would not kneel.
“Master” Nephrite repeated, now knowing whom the man was
he could not bring himself to meet his eyes.
“Master?” Kunzite echoed almost scornfully.
“You are…” Mamoru spoke next, his confusion clear, but
still he was respectful, “Our Prince?”
“The Prince?” a different voice rang out and Nephrite
looked over the white haired man’s shoulder to see Sailor Moon, with her
plushie in one hand, staring in awe at his Master. This sent shivers down
Nephrite’s spine for reasons that he could not comprehend.
She took a step in his direction, “Are you? Are you really
the Prince?”
“I am” he spoke softly, but with the authority that
Nephrite recognised as that of a true Prince, “I’m Zoisite. The Prince of the
old Earth Kingdom.”
******
“Your plan has failed” Venus said almost triumphantly as
she approached Dark Jupiter. The brawny Senshi seemed at ease, despite the fact
that her Youma were defeated and that the Prince had now appeared. “Perhaps now
Beryl-sama will realise the mistake she has made.”
Jupiter turned and smiled coldly at her leader, “I fear
you are quite mistaken, Venus. It has all gone entirely as I planned.”
This stopped the blonde in her tracks, “What do you mean?”
“Simple. Beryl-sama wants the Prince, right? Of course, we
don’t know who he is… yet.”
“Your point is?” Venus asked, pretending to sound bored.
“We do know who one of them is” Jupiter’s smile turned
into a feral grin, “We can use that to destroy the kings and capture the Prince
for Beryl-sama. I’m surprised you didn’t think of that yourself? But then I
suppose you are too busy singing and preening yourself to make such use of the
knowledge that we do have of them.”
With this, Jupiter turned and walked away, back down the
path to Beryl’s throne room, intend on sharing her plan with the Queen.
“So” Venus whispered to herself, “The Prince has finally
shown himself. Jupiter may be strong, but she underestimates them. This could
prove to be quite interesting…”
******
Act Thirteen Preview:
“You are just going to leave” Kunzite said coolly, lightly
pressing the tip of the blade to Zoisite’s throat, “You will not give us any
explanations or even a clue as to your identity. What is your motive?”
“Kunzite!” Nephrite shouted again, this time reaching out
and pulling the black haired king’s sword hand down, “Show Zoisite-sama some
respect!”
“Respect doesn’t come with status. It has to be earned”
was his reply, “Him simply turning up and announcing that he’s the Prince does
not mean that I will automatically bow down to him and nor should any of you.
Where is your honour?”
~~~~~
“You seem confident of this?” Venus scowled, “Finding the
Prince was my mission, remember?”
“And you failed” Jupiter replied sweetly, “Beryl-sama
knows that I will find him and bring him before her.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of” Mars commented darkly.
~~~~
“Don’t worry about it.”
“What?”
Komoro-san shrugged lightly, “Whatever it is that you are
concerned about. I’m sure you’ll work it out.”
“I’m that easy to read?” Mamoru questioned, smiling
slightly at the man’s perception.
Again, the pianist shrugged, “Just don’t underestimate
yourself.”
Mamoru shook his head, and didn’t reply. He just wished
that he had the same confidence.
~~~~~
“Transform!” he tried again, wishing desperately that
Mamoru or, better still, Zoisite-sama was present.
“No” Kisho refused, letting go of Nephrite to lean against
the wall and gingerly touching the gash across his cheek, “No.”
“No? That thing has probably attacked half of Juuban by
now. We have to stop it!”
“I can’t!”