Fandom: Sailor Moon (PGSM, the live-action)
Title: Sweetness
Author: SweetFirefly
Rating: T/PG-13
Genre: Romance/Angst
Pairing: Nephrite X Ami Mizuno; hints of Kunzite X Ami Mizuno and one-sided Nephrite X Queen Beryl.
Spoilers: Up to the Special Act.
Summary: She is sweet.
Disclaimer: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon doesn't belong to me, or there would be so much more Nephrite X Ami.
A/N 1: And, so, Sweetness is the second victim to my revision mood. Since decided to nicely erase all the lines I used to separate scenes, I have to upload it all again. How fun...
It's my first Nephrite X Ami fic; in truth, it's my first PGSM fic! I enjoyed watching the series so much that I couldn't wait to start a fanfic. Since English is not my first language, and this fic was written without the help of a beta, I ask you, reader, please, to warn me if you find any kind of grammar and spelling error.
This little thing expresses Nephrite's point-of-view of his relationship with Ami-chan.
Sweetness
She is sweet.
You don't need to observe her 24/7 to realize that. In fact, anyone can easily guess the personalities of the Sailor Team: crazy Moon, serious Mars, tomboy Jupiter, sweet Mercury. Sweet, sweet Mercury, with her shy smile and determined look.
Of course, it isn't as if you pay her more attention than you should. You have Beryl-sama, the most attractive and beautiful woman of the world. You don't need to run after those filthy Sailors. The only reason you know Mercury is sweet is because you like to watch your enemies and know their weaknesses.
"Yeah, it's only because I wanna know their weaknesses—"
"Talking to yourself, Nephrite?"
Zoisite raises his clairvoyant bright eyes to you, as if he knows something. Feeling your cheeks getting red, you close his piano in a burst, walking away in rage and wondering why the hell Beryl-sama insists on keeping this annoyance at her side.
She is sweet.
That is very clear, even if she's at Kunzite's side all smiling, as if wearing that bastard's colors and being brainwashed is something to be proud of. You hate Kunzite because Beryl-sama brought him back herself, you hate Kunzite because he shines on Beryl-sama's eyes much more than you, and now you hate him again because he brought a Sailor Senshi to replace Zoisite, and Beryl-sama likes it.
It makes you feel like kicking something, and that's what you do, along the corridor, so furious with the world that you don't realize she's near until her smile flashes in the darkness.
And you won't hear Kunzite's underling, and you won't look at her, and you won't think that, even now, with the dark power running through her veins, she's still as sweet as she was before, but a poisonous kind of sweetness, that one which fools you and kills you if you're not smart enough to avoid it.
She smiles to you in the darkness, and you hate Kunzite even more, because the idiot can't even do a bloody brainwash spell right and erase the good things of a person.
She is sweet.
But you forget that, and she calls you pathetic, and you see red.
Why should you listen to what a bloody Sailor Senshi has to say, you, one of the great Shitennou? Why does her sweetness die out when she talks to you? How can she affect you so much?
Without realizing what you're doing, you attack her, hoping with from the bottom of your heart that you can just end her life and her smile once and for all. But she easily avoids your attacks, like a slippery snake, and you're getting angrier and angrier; and Kunzite's sword holds your weapon, his small eyes full of malice. And you fight him, because you hate him, because he's a stupid, because he brought her to live in the kingdom and to turn your head upside down.
Of course, pitiful as you are, you can't stand a fight against him, and you fall on your knees, your clothes torn, your beautiful cape slashed and Beryl-sama won't see you in a thousand of years.
And you hate Mercury too, now, because she barely looks at you before going away.
She is sweet.
And it's a strange kind of sweetness, this one, which appears after your fall.
On the ground, feeling dirty and pathetic – practically begging for someone to appear and put an end on your idiotic life – you wince at the sight of her smile.
"Sightseeing?", you asks, your voice bitter (not sweet), and you only realize something's different when you look at her eyes.
They are not the scary, cold eyes of Dark Mercury. They are much more alike the eyes of Sailor Mercury, the shy one, and they shine when she shows you a brand-new cape.
They shine with sweetness.
She throws the cape at you, and you run your hands through it, the fabric soft at your touch. Her words are a mixture of the bitter irony you hold in your heart and the voice she had when she was just Mercury:
"All alone… I don't like it."
She walks away.
And you touch the fabric once again, unable to believe in what just happened and cursing Kunzite under your breath for taking her freedom, all the hatred you had suddenly gone.
She is sweet.
And free.
And, for you, it's like a fresh breeze in the heart. (Of course, girl gave you a cape, you want her to be happy. Beautiful cape, really.)
Kunzite doesn't seem to share your feelings, though. And you watch as he plays with her and the Princess, trapping them, making them run in circles like rats in a cage. And you're angry. Very, very angry.
But you'll wait, because you know now that you must wait to get better results.
And you follow him when he goes to Earth, and you see, in shock, when he raises his sword to kill her, for he can't stand losing the hold he had on her, he can't stand watching her slipping through his fingers; he can't stand seeing her alive and happy and not being his.
For once, you feel so superior.
You run, and you hold his sword just like he held you before, and his eyes are full of anger and hatred as he asks, in his softer and most dangerous voice:
"What are you trying to pull?!"
"I wanted to… get in your way!", you say, proud of it as you've never been proud of anything before.
When he sees your eyes, he knows you won't let him harm her, and backs off, his face contorted in rage just like yours were not long before.
"You're a fool", he mutters bitterly, disappearing in the air.
Gosh, it's like someone washed your soul.
You look at her again. You know she's not going to remember you, and you're glad, for it means she won't remember anything of the time she was Dark Mercury either, but something, deep in your heart, stings a little.
Unable to look at her sweet face anymore, you also disappear.
She is sweet.
And you cry out Beryl-sama's name in agony, but her scared face is the last thing you see before dying.
She is sweet.
And you're a stupid pathetic human being; first running in a world you never cared to know, kicking everything on your way, and then letting yourself be carried to that absurd place by that crazy turtle guy. Even your former Master looks at you with pity, as the things just fall from your hands to the ground because you just can't stop the anger, as you can't stop the memories of her from taking hold of you.
And then those girls arrive, and they giggle when that idiot Motoki calls you Nefukichi, and you don't realize who they are, only that they're laughing at you. And you feel like kicking and punching and killing, because the one of the left, the one with the shy sweet smile, reminds you so much of her and you know she would laugh at you and call you pathetic if she got to see you in a state like this.
And, 'course, the crazy tomboy almost killing you doesn't make it any easier to face the situation.
She is sweet.
The shy sweet girl sees you dropping things like an idiot, and retrieves it for you, suggesting, as if talking to a child, that you'd better hold one thing at a time. And you shudder, because you just know that voice, and, when she starts cleaning the floor like you should be doing, you suddenly recognize her.
The shame is so awful that you run for your life.
Maybe because you would not stand she calling you pathetic again.
She is sweet.
Her cookies aren't.
But, somehow, that bitter taste is the best thing you've felt in weeks, because, even if the cookies are burnt and awful, they have a little bit of her own sweetness, the one which helped you to get up in the Dark Kingdom and face your enemies, the one which gives you strength now to face the difficulties along the way.
And she giggles, watching you eat, and you look at her baffled, completely oblivious as to why she's laughing, but seeing her laugh already makes you feel better than you've felt in a long, long time.
You think that maybe being a human it's not so bad, after all.
She is sweet.
And you'll pay her back for the sweetness.
You don't remember where you learned that kind actions need repayment, but the desire of bringing something to her, something that can make her feel good like she made you feel is buried inside you like the memory of the beautiful cape she gave to you.
And Motoki gave you money, you don't know exactly why; but you're happy, because now you can buy something for her. And you think about what you will give to her, remembering happily that big horn thing, wondering if she'd like.
And you go after it, thinking about the Master and realizing that he was right; it feels good being a human. It's good to repay her. It's good to see that smile you like so much (yes, like, why not?), and feeling that sweetness that come in waves to enlighten you.
It's good to feel that thing in the heart, that one that pounds when she's near.
You don't realize that you're dying, but, if you had had the time to think about it, you'd be happy that you were thinking about her until the very end.
She is sweet.
But she's too far from your touch.
Now, you're dead, like your other companions. You are still around, of course, for as long as Endymion live, the Shitennou shall protect him; you feel loyalty for the man and share a bond of friendship and family with your fellows, even with Kunzite. Still, you cannot walk around freely, as you were never reborn but by Beryl's hands, and Beryl's doings were erased.
The half-life you live is the only one you can, and you're conformed.
Sometimes, however, you feel that taste in his mouth, and think about her. Whenever you do, you wish that your next life to be better for you. You wish to be human again.
Deeply, in your heart, you wish you can be with her for real.
You wish you can taste her sweetness at least once again.
Song I've heard: Miracle, by Vertical Horizon
Thanks to: sailormoon(dot)mundoperdido staff, who helped me in downloading the eps and the songs from the show, and everyone who writes Nephrite X Ami fics!