Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. You should know this by now.
Notes: This is set in the same universe as Safe from the Storm, and another fic that's hosted only on my livejournal. You don't need to read the other stories to understand this one however.
Zoisite's first dress is delicate and peach colored. It has lace at the end of the sleeves which trail down over his hands. Kunzite makes disapproving sounds since it could tangle up his fingers or catch on something, hindering him from reaching one of his many secreted knives. Nephrite makes noises of disgust although Zoisite suspects that it is merely because he makes an attractive looking woman and Nephrite has always appreciated fine specimens of the female form unless it's a fake. Jadeite nods because Zoisite pulls the deception off well and Jadeite, who spins illusions with a leisurely thought, admires the effort he put in. Endymion just tries to keep a straight face as Zoisite pulls on his auburn wig.
"Your majesty, if you have nothing better to do, I can tell you where you can shove that oversized ego of yours," he smirks when Endymion has the decency to duck his head. "I know you're just jealous because I'm pretty."
"You're damn freaky, is what you are," Nephrite snorts but shudders as he looks away.
"I think he pulls the look off well. Your masculinity is just being threatened," Jadeite comments, helping Zoisite apply the make up.
Nephrite makes some sort of suggestive retort—Zoisite doesn't hear as Jadeite distracts him by pulling his chin back to face him with a stern command to stay still. He pouts but lets the Eastern King work on his face. Kunzite begins to brief him on the mission—information gathering, which as Spymaster makes sense, but it's in a secluded temple, one that only admits female visitors. Wards around the temple repel even Jadeite's finest illusions and due to delicate issues, Endymion could only entrust Zoisite the mission.
The mission goes off without a hitch. They discover that the temple was being used to traffic potent drugs, but Zoisite manages to deliver the information in time for Endymion to catch them.
Zoisite muses for awhile about sending the dress as a joke to Nephrite. In the end, he stows it away in a box and keeps it as a memento from a job well down.
*
His second dress is blue and made of silk. He receives it as a gift from his meddlesome mother, a heavy handed hint that he needs to start thinking about marriage to a suitable woman. Laughing, he teases her into forgetting about wedding plans for the rest of the evening.
Afterward, a servant delivers it to him—he had tried to leave it behind, but his mother is nothing if not persistent. He tells the servant to sit it aside and returns to his papers for some time. After awhile, he readies for bed but stops when he spots the dress's box again. He pauses but wanders over and pulls the dress back out.
It is long and flowing, Prussian blue, and has rolling ruffles that remind Zoisite of waves. He runs his hand over the fabric, tries to imagine his supposed wife one day wearing it. Looking at it though, his first thought is how it would enhance his figure, accentuate his long, lean body. It is loose enough to hide his muscles and knives.
He pales as he realizes just what he is thinking and drops the dress back in the box. He shoves it under his bed irrationally, just wanting it out of his sight.
*
His third dress is red and velvet, sinfully soft and embroidered in golden flowers. He buys it himself, hidden in a new disguise, and lets the vendor think it's for his daughter. He goes over every inch of his personal quarters, looking for spying devices, before he puts it on. It is by far the loveliest thing he has ever worn in his life and he pauses in front of a mirror to try seeing what piling his hair on top of his head looks like.
He looks nothing like the women Nephrite chases, hardly even like the ones he likes—they are soft and curvy where he is lean and sharp, but his face has always been elfin and delicate—effeminate—and his hair is long and wavy.
He risks a smile at the stranger in the mirror. The beautiful lady smiles back.
*
It's Kunzite who discovers his secret first.
He had always been so careful with his dresses, hiding them in places no servant or snooping relative could break into. Kunzite, however, is just powerful enough to recognize the spells hiding something. The Prince's greatest General breaks the spells—if Jadeite had laid the spells, Zoisite pouts, then Kunzite wouldn't have ever noticed in the first place—and is merely confused.
Zoisite nearly trembles. When Kunzite merely refolds the dresses and hands them over to Zoisite without batting an eye, Zoisite decides that that is why he adores his superior. Nephrite will laugh, Jadeite will frown, Endymion will try to be terribly kind about it, but Kunzite is the only one who doesn't care.
"What you do in your down time is for you to decide," Kunzite explains. "As long as you're healthy and happy, then do as you wish."
He gives Zoisite one of his rare smiles and they return to their conversation from before as if nothing has changed.
*
His new dress is a gift from Nephrite. The Western King meant it as a joke, but it turns out to be perfect for his next mission. It is pale, creamy linen, wrapped around Zoisite like a toga. Kunzite helps pin it on him while Jadeite works on his make up.
He never wears it again after he returns from Mercury.
*
Just before the first reports of unrest start springing up, Jadeite gives Zoisite his finest dress yet. They are alone and Jadeite slides it over to him after they finish tea. It is in the style of Jadeite's people's dress. It is silken and pale green, like new green shoots. There is golden phoenixes stitched in delicately and a large taijitu covers its back. The obi is red.
The others surprise Zoisite with gifts to go along with it. Nephrite presents him a delicate wooden fan that he carefully snaps open. Endymion gives him wooden geta to finish the look. Kunzite helps him into the dress and then braids pink roses into his hair.
He looks around at all of them and marvels at their kindness to him. Their generosity doesn't erase the agony Mercury's indifference inflicted upon him, but he is soothed as they all go into the city in disguise.
*
All his dresses burn when his castle is destroyed. Zoisite would sob if everything else wasn't already going to hell around them.
*
His first dress is a gift. It is from Jadeite again and it is one of the best reproductions Zoisite has ever seen. Jadeite gives it to him once they finally return to Crystal Tokyo. Zoisite feels terrible since at least Mercury doesn't abhor his very presence like Mars does to poor Jadeite and yet it is Jadeite giving him the gift.
"It's not fair." He doesn't even dare pout since he knows he'd probably end up sobbing if he tried.
Jadeite shrugs. "It's a thank you gift." Before Zoisite can protest, he hurries on. "You didn't have to come with me, but you did it without even asking. You stayed by me this whole time. So take the dress, Zoisite." He pauses then smiles. "Maybe it'll bring one of happiness."
The dress is quite similar to the original, and Zoisite wonders how Jadeite found someone to capture the look so well. The color is a little deeper, there is flowers falling around the phoenixes, and the obi has silver thread in it now. He wears it out in the gardens without shame, taking a paper parasol with him as he watches the cherry blossoms fall down around him.
*
His next dress is also a gift, a wedding present specifically. It is beautiful and blue as the sea, flimsy and silky. Ami helps him carefully into the dress, zipping him up and settling the flowing ruffles over his wrists.
Wearing dresses is nice, but helping his new bride into her dress that matches his own, is much, much better he decides.