And here is part 3 of the Follow your inner moonlight series, this time with the adorable Ami/Zoisite.
Hope you like it and thanks for reading!
Follow your inner moonlight (Solve the equation to find the unknown)
"Can you stop touching things please?!"
"I'm trying to help!"
"We decided by common agreement that I would take care of the hardware installation while you document the software architecture. You're good at theory, I'm good at practice - your words."
Ami pouted, but placed the integrated circuits she had picked up back on Zoisite's workbench next to the multicolored polycarbonate sheets and returned to the laptop she had connected to her mini super-computer to continue her work.
He could have at least said a minimal 'thanks for your consideration' but she knew better than to expect any kind of gratitude or civility from her newly appointed - unwanted - colleague.
Time had passed: Usagi and Mamoru had married, the Shitennou had been revived and the guardians along with their charges had at last begun preparations for the steadily approaching dawn of the New Silver Millennium.
Things were moving pretty slowly. After all, not much could be done without the old kingdom's technology at their disposal, so naturally Ami and Zoisite were stuck together setting up the main computer network and new research facility under the Crown arcade, a natural choice in location, if only for the sake of nostalgia. Of course, the girl-genius had no qualms about receiving this important job, no doubt one only she could do and which she could trust no one else to take care of.
Everything was all well and good, except for, well, Zoisite...
There was no denying that the young man's intellect and abilities rivaled her own, and sure, if she had to pick someone to lend her the hand she frankly did not need he would have been the only reasonable choice… but Goddess, he was just so darn insufferable!
He was childish, bossy, impatient and his pride in his skills bordered on obnoxious. Ami was never one to be easily angered, but with this man she had to keep a thermos of warm tea at hand at all times to soothe her steadily growing temper. Honestly, there was no greater mismatch in the entire world than the two of them together.
Looking out of the corner of her eye at the Shitennou who was concentrating on setting up multiple platforms around the main power generator, the soldier of Mercury noticed for the first time the deep dark circles under his green eyes.
Ami had to admit he really was working hard, impossible behavior aside. She wondered whether he was usually as vigorous in accomplishing his tasks or whether it was the guilt of the past and wishing for redemption that fueled him. From what she knew of him there was a fat chance of her figuring out the answer and an even fatter one of Zoisite telling her himself.
Come to think of it, she really didn't know very much about him, period.
Maybe that was their problem - lack of communication. You couldn't have an efficient team if the members hardly talked to each other. Maybe she should change that.
Trying to channel her inner Usagi, Ami forced a smile on her face and returned to his side, looking over his shoulder at what he was doing. She watched him place various gems on the 25 inch polycarbonate platforms and noticed that among them were large pieces of Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite and Kunzite, along with a fist-size lump of gold that was placed in a spot closest to the center.
She was intrigued.
"Excuse me," she started politely, keeping the smile on her face, "but may I ask what you are doing?"
She saw his shoulders tense.
"I'm setting up the main generator," he answered tersely.
"I know that," Ami replied patiently, "but what's up with the gems?"
Breathing out through his nose, Zoisite put the final stone on its slab and turned to face her.
Impassive green eyes met large blue ones for a brief moment before he averted her gaze almost instantly.
He cleared his throat.
"Do you know how we were resurrected?" he surprised her by answering her question with another question.
"Well, I know it was the power of Mamoru's Golden Crystal that returned you to your human forms," she recited from her memory of the event, pushing her round glasses up her nose, "but what does that have to do with the generator?"
Looking up at him, she caught him averting his eyes again, a faint pink glow coloring his cheeks. Strange.
"Everything," Zoisite replied, shoving his hands in the pockets of his designer jeans and starting to sway back and forth on his heels, eyes firmly planted on the floor. "You see, in the old kingdom, we didn't have electricity or engines or things of the sort. What we used for power was the Earth's natural energy."
"The Earth's natural energy?" she repeated his words, not quite understanding the concept.
"Yeah," he slowly began stepping away and leaned back on one of the platforms, now crossing his arms over his chest, ending in an awkward stance. He still wasn't looking at her, which come to think of it was a habit of his Ami had never really paid much attention to up until now.
"Well, to channel any type of power, you need conductors to carry the energy from its source to the receiver, and our awakening and our status as kings got me thinking that maybe our namesakes were such conductors, along with other stones that shared similar properties. Of course I was right. After that it was only logical that gold was the strongest of them all."
"Ah!" The light bulb lit over Ami's head. "So basically you're using the gems to capture the natural energy that surrounds us and then transform it into power!"
"Inexpensive, eco-friendly, and limitless source of energy." He smirked proudly and looked fondly at his invention. "It's not perfect yet, but once we get the king and queen on the throne and we have more resources at our disposal, I'm certain we'll be able to turn this into the main source of power for the kingdom."
Ami clapped her hands together in genuine excitement and admiration. "That's absolutely brilliant!"
Zoisite's eyes widened and in a flash, he turned away from her and started getting back to work. "Well, of course it is, I thought of it after all," he muttered and she noticed his voice sounded a few octaves higher.
"Now will you please get back to your job and let my genius mind do its own thing?"
Ah, there he went again, dismissive and rude when she was just trying to be friendly.
"I'm trying really hard here, Zoisite." Ami said between her teeth, fighting hard to maintain composure.
"To what? Not work I gather."
She closed her eyes and counted to five.
"To be nice!"
This made the general stop what he was doing and leaned forward on his arms over the generator, his back and curly dirty blonde ponytail the only things he faced her with.
"That seems like a waste of time if you asked me. I don't really see why you'd even do something like that."
Why was he being so difficult? Had she done something to him? Was she ever mean to him? Did he just naturally hate her because of everything that had happened with the Dark Kingdom?
Ami didn't know why she wanted his approval nor why his rejections always upset her, but they did and if this went on, there was no way they could continue working together, which was an even more upsetting thought. She didn't want that and she wouldn't allow it.
"Because I am nice! I like being nice!" She felt her voice steadily rise and she couldn't find it in herself to keep her tone level anymore.
Zoisite lowered his head and spoke somewhat roughly "You don't have to be nice to everyone all the time."
"BUT I WANT TO BE NICE TO YOU!" Ami screamed and stomped her foot in frustration, her patience lost and her anger bubbling to a violent boil.
The Shitennou turned around so suddenly it made her jump. He looked at her with raised brows, wide eyes and mouth hanging slightly open like he had just witnessed the most unexpected plot twist ever.
"Did you just stomp your foot?" he asked, his voice echoing his bewilderment.
Blushing at the realization that she had actually lost her cool, it was her turn to do a 180 and show her back to him.
"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to raise my voice like that, it was very rude, I shouldn't have - "
"Why?" Zoisite interrupted her blabbering. From the sound of it, he had gotten pretty close and was now standing right behind her.
"W-why what?"
"Why do you want to be nice to me?"
The question caught her off guard. Why did she want to be nice to him? Why did she keep trying when it was always clear he had no interest in returning the sentiment?
"W-well, you are our allies and colleagues, we kind of have to work together and help each other out," Ami rambled, not quite sure what she was saying anymore, her usually high-functioning brain close to overloading in the face of unavoidable mortification. "B-besides, Mamoru and Usagi care a great deal about you and you're very important to them - EEP!"
She yelped when Zoisite grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around to face him so fast it made her dizzy. "But what about you?"
His proximity startled her and was sending her already erratic mind whirling.
"What about me what - what?"
"I don't want to hear your logic, I want to hear your feelings," he said, clutching her shoulders and towering over her with that emerald gaze of his that was for the first time unwavering from her own. "Why do you want to be nice to me?"
His eyes, his voice, his touch, his warmth - she was too conscious of all of them and all of them were making her feel faint. Her heart was hammering inside her chest and her legs had lost their strength to the point that they were barely sustaining her weight.
"I - "
She didn't know how to respond. For the first time in her life, Mizuno Ami had no real answer to a question. It shocked her to her core.
"Ami..."
Her whole body stiffened at the sound of her name leaving his lips. He had said it with such unexpected yearning it left her speechless.
Their eyes locked, their expressions ones of surprise and comfort, as if the way they stood before each other lifted a curtain off a door to a distant place from where a beautiful memory entered, finally finding its way home.
Zoisite slowly raised his hand, aiming for her cheek, but stopped when he saw the dirt and grime on his skin. Before he could lower it, Ami caught it in hers and brought it to her face where she cradled her cheek in the warmth of his palm.
"Because I wanted you to like me." The answer came to her without effort, like it was knowledge she had been born with all along, and as Zoisite's face lit up with the warmest of smiles, she knew it to be true.
Slowly, he lowered his head and brushed his lips over her forehead, leaving a spot of heat on her already warm skin.
"I always have, though," he said softly, his voice like a breeze in her ear. "For millennia I've liked you more than anything. Your beauty, your intelligence, your kindness… if you were any more perfect I'd think you were a figment of my imagination."
Blushing, Ami lifted her hand and brushed a few curls away from his glowing face. "Why did you never tell me? Why were you always so cold to me?" she asked, confused by all of the facts and feelings that were still overwhelming her.
He shrugged. "Because I thought you didn't feel the same way. You certainly didn't remember what we used to have in the past. I guess…" his cheeks reddened even more profusely, "I guess I was too afraid to be rejected, so I just pushed you away."
Ami smacked him over the arm playfully. "If you would have held me like this, there was no way I could have rejected you."
"Really?" he smirked.
"Really."
"Then, what if I did this?" He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close, while his other continued to brush against her smooth jawline.
She giggled shyly, having no intention of pulling away. "I definitely wouldn't have rejected you then."
"Oh?" Zoisite chuckled and to her surprise leaned forward and placed a kiss on her cheek. "What about this?"
The warmth of his breath made her tremble in his arms.
"Mhm. That - that would have worked too." Her voice had dwindled to a faint whisper, her face becoming so hot she was worried she had gotten a fever. But when he tilted her head up to meet his slowly approaching one, her whole body stopped functioning completely.
"And this?" he breathed the question over her lips and kissed her before she could even begin to confirm.
Ami felt like she was flying as his mouth gently caressed her own. As if she were breakable to the touch, his lips lay such light kisses on hers that were it not for their warmth she would barely feel them at all.
Shy and inexperienced, the pair let their bodies work for them, soft lips testing and exploring the other's chastely, eagerly and passionately all at once. It was delicate and wonderful and Ami could not imagine a feeling more beautiful.
After what was definitely not enough time, Zoisite pulled back and with the widest grin she had ever seen on his young features pulled her into a rib crushing hug that she more than happily returned.
"You can't imagine how relieved I feel right now," the Shitennou laughed in her ear and made her giggle by laying swift pecks on her neck.
"I think I have an idea," Ami sighed and with no little unwillingness untangled herself from his embrace, the heat of their bodies against each other reaching a level she did not want to experience just yet.
Holding hands, the two stared at each other like a couple of grinning fools, too lost in their happiness to realize just how silly they looked.
"So," Zoisite was the one to break the comfortable silence, "does this mean I can work without forced friendly interruptions now?"
In an out of character fashion, Ami snorted. "I can assure you there will be no forced friendliness, but I can't promise no more interruptions." She got on her tiptoes and smacked a kiss on his smiling lips to prove her point.
He laughed and pulled her back to give a kiss of his own. "I think I can live with that."