Title: Tea Time
Author: Strausser
Spoilers: Hades arc
Timeline: Second Chances
Disclaimer: Kurumada Masami-sensei owns Saint Seiya. If I owned it, the world would be a frightening place.
Frog Zelos had a best friend. Her name was Persephone.
Yes, that's right, THE Persephone, daughter of Demeter, wife of Hades, beautiful goddess and Queen of the Underworld. He loved her more than any other, and she felt the same. When she had been first brought to Hades, the Emperor had asked the then Frog Spectre to show her around, since it was the Frog's duty to carry out the orders of his superiors, which consisted only of Emperor Hades and the three Judges. Even though she had been nervous, he had been able to ease her discomfort and even tap into some hidden areas of her mind that she reined with tight control. Sooner than expected, they had become best friends, and although he had gone through many reincarnations, she always remained his one, true constant. What he loved best about her was not her no-nonsense attitude, not her hidden streak of cruelty, not even that she would confide secrets to him that she would never tell another soul. None of that mattered to him as much as he loved to watch her move.
Like tall blades of rice under the warmth of a summer's breeze was how she moved, with grace and poise and all the other words he could never think of to describe how elegant she looked when she was doing nothing more than floating from the cushions to the kitchen and back again with tea. She always brought him tea, from leaves she had grown in her mother's garden and dried her self before packing them into a pouch, and kept it with the luggage she always brought when it was time for her to return to the World of the Dead. Each year there would be a new flavor to try, but she would never allow him to brew. So he watched her move, gliding through the kitchen as she boiled the water and dipped the infuser. And all the while she would speak on mundane things, for she lived on Earth and was fascinated by all Earthly things.
"I bought a telephone," she announced proudly, smile showing off teeth of the purest white, set against lips of rose red.
"You did not have one before?" he asked as he blew off the steam that lifted from tea that smelled of flowers.
"I did," she responded. In a fluid motion he did not take his eyes from, she swept her own tea cup from a tray on the table before them, took a small sip, then placed down the cup. "But this one is touch-tone."
Zelos smiled. "I thought you were going to tell me it was a mini-computer."
"Bah!" She stuck out her tongue in such a dignified way. "You know I hate those things. Too many ways for me to read about things a goddess has no right reading about." There was a glint in her green eyes, a shine that spoke volumes of things that only they understood. Things that never needed to be discussed because they could read it in the others' expression.
He finally sipped his tea, a little sweeter than what he was used to, but for her he would taste anything. "You don't need to read about it," he finally said. "You already know everything. It saddens me that there is no more I can teach you."
"I don't know about that. Every time we visit I end up learning something new." Her eyes gleamed again. "Like last time when I finally found out about your ultimate attack."
He chuckled. "Is it because you love me that only I, out of all one hundred and eight Spectres, received that special gift?"
Blonde hair flowed as if carried by an unseen wind. "No," she began, "but it does make me wonder if the other Frog Spectres had the same gift?"
"They never told you?"
"They never told me."
He did not tell her either; she just happened to see it in action. When confronted, she scolded him for keeping such wonder a secret, and made him promise that he would use the attack at her beck and command. There was no choice but to agree. She was the only godess he acknowledged; she had but to ask and her desire would be granted. And he understood her well enough to know she would make good on such a request, which was why he had kept it a secret in the first place.
Tea was once again past his lips and down his throat, now cool enough for him to finish the cup. Once done he placed down the teacup on the tray and leaned back against the softness of the cushions. Eyes could not keep themselves from grazing, beginning at the small curve of her nose, past full lips, down a pale neck, eyeing the hint of cleavage at the nape of her dress, down both sinewy arms to long fingers that lazily held a teacup with both hands. She was a masterpiece to look at, any man would agree, and he adored pretty things. The best thing about her was that she knew he liked to watch her, so she would move like a graceful ballerina every time she was with him, even for the slightest of motions. She had lifted the teacup to her lips and drank, allowing one droplet to spill from the corner of her mouth. It was not a tease; it was meant to be entrancing.
He listened intently to her tale of Adventures in the Village, becoming more and more unresponsive as his eyelids grew heavy. She seemed to glow ethereal as she spoke, the words a jumble of phrases that he did not understand, but said in a melodic tone that lulled him to pure comfort. In the midst of her story, she paused, and cried out, "Zelos! Are you falling asleep on me?"
"It's your fault," he calmly replied. "You drugged me."
With mock affront she said, "I did no such thing."
His response was to smile and gently shake his head to show his disbelief.
"If you fall asleep I will not hesitate to punish you."
His smile grew, as did his fondness for her. "As you command, Empress." No longer could he keep his eyes open. As his lids drooped to closed, he noticed her smile, warm like the sun. He tried to smile back, but the overwhelming urge to sleep was far too powerful. But before drifting to slumber, he heard her speak again.
"Either you're working too hard, or this is the last time I bring over chamomile tea."
owari