Day 3
Jadeite blinked his sky-blue eyes before sitting up in his camouflage sleeping bag. His eyes lazily scanned around the tent he was in, before resting their gaze upon Zoisite's old diary. It lay in Nephlite's arms. He shuffled over quietly and carefully plucked the book from Nephlite's light grasp. Flicking past pages he had already seen, he read the newest entry that was made last night. Jadeite's eyes widened in surprise as he read Malachite's and Zoisite conversation.
"I can't believe I slept through it all." He mumbled as he unzipped his sleeping bag and rolled out. He crawled out through the tent door and in through the neighbouring tent's door. There he saw Zoisite sleeping peacefully on Malachite's chest, their breathing perfectly in time. Zoisite's dark-blonde hair fell gently around her face and was draped majestically over her shoulders. Malachite's hands were wound loosely round Zoisite's waist.
"They were just meant to be, weren't they?" someone spoke and Jadeite jumped about three feet in the air.
"Nephlite!" Jadeite hissed angrily once he noticed that his teacher was standing right next to him. Nephlite saw his diary clutched in Jadeite's hand.
"Did you want to write anything?" he asked.
"Can I draw instead?" Jadeite said hopefully. Nephlite nodded and passed his student a pencil. They both walked into the tent in silence and sat down on the bare side. The only noise to be heard for half an hour was the faint scratching of Jadeite's pencil on the paper as he sketched the sleeping couple. Soon the picture was finished, complete with shading. Jadeite showed Nephlite, waiting for an approval.
"That's good!" Nephlite exclaimed, a little too loudly.
"Wha..." Malachite sleepily tried to sit up, forgetting about the beauty on top of him.
"Mmm?" Zoisite opened her eyes and looked up to see Malachite looking down at her.
"Good morning!" she said happily.
"Sleep well, Zoisite?" he asked with a smile, totally oblivious to the two observers. Nephlite hurriedly snatched the diary and pencil out of Jadeite's hands and started to write down what was happening.
"Yeah." She whispered, twiddling a few strands of Malachite's pale mint green hair between her fingers.
"Let me see!" Jadeite whined to Nephlite, who was hiding his diary from Jadeite.
"GET OUT NOW!" Malachite shouted so loud even the tent shook with fear. Jadeite and Nephlite trudged out obediently and wandered into their own tent.
"Let's get ready." Zoisite said, lifting herself off of Malachite's lap.
"Alright then." He replied with a sly grin. As quick as lightening, his finger tips went up and brushed themselves against Zoisite's armpits. She squealed loudly and leapt over to her side of the tent. Laughing, Malachite pulled his uniform out of his bag and started to get dressed.
A few minutes later, everyone was out in the sunshine, helping make breakfast.
"How about we take a shortcut and cook the beans and egg together?" Jadeite asked helpfully.
"No. I've had it before and not having it again." Malachite rejected the idea completely, remembering the last time he took a shortcut whilst cooking. Jadeite sighed. He was really hungry.
"I have a better idea!" he yelled, scaring a few pigeons away.
"Is it about food?" Nephlite asked whilst brushing his long hair.
"No. How about we go on a hike today?" Zoisite and Malachite nodded in agreement whereas Nephlite stomped his foot and said,
"That's not fair! I'll hurt my feet."
"You're being more of a girl than me." Zoisite said tauntingly.
"Shut it!" he quipped darkly.
"Both of you stop it." Malachite told them. "We're going on a hike today but we don't have to do any climbing if you really don't want to."
"Thank you." Nephlite huffed. The pan of beans resting over the fire and they were shared out evenly between four plates. Toast and scrambled egg was also ready in no time and all four of the campers ate it greedily. Zoisite and Jadeite then went to wash up whilst Malachite and Nephlite put together a huge packed lunch. It included two ham and cheese sandwiches, an apple, some biscuits and a couple of packets of crisps each.
"That should do." Malachite said after packing the food into four separate rucksacks. Zoisite and Jadeite ran back to camp, being careful with the plates and pans. When they got back, everything was ready for them to get going. The plates were put away speedily and the bags were loaded one at a time onto everyone's backs. The four Nega-generals set of in a medium walk across a rough field full of rabbit holes and an uneven ground. A dense forest soon loomed up in front of them all and they tried to take the clearest path through the tall pine trees.
"Ugh, can we eat yet?" Nephlite moaned, collapsing to the floor dramatically.
"Yeah can we?" Jadeite followed Nephlite and landed on the spiky pine needles.
"Ouch!" he screeched as he pulled one that was tangled in his hair and had pricked his head.
"Get over it! We haven't been walking for that long." Malachite spoke, looking up to see the sun shining at an angle above his head. Suddenly, a scream echoed through the forest. Everyone froze.
"What...was...that?" Zoisite whispered slowly, her voice almost non-existent.
"Stay...there..." Malachite replied with the same quietness. He crept forwards, being careful not to tread too heavily. The scream was heard again, louder, clearer.
"Ugh! Shut up Serena!" an angry voice yelled.
"Calm down Raye, there's no need to shout." A calming voice stopped all the noise. There were no footprints to be heard, no birds tweeting, no girly screams and no distressed yells. The woods were silent. They were still silent as Malachite turned and walked back to the three generals who were huddled together behind a tree.
"Wha-what was it?" Zoisite's shaky voice broke the silence.
"I think some campers; like us." He said.
"Maybe they're in trouble?" Jadeite wondered.
"I think we should check them out. One of them did scream." Malachite decided and walked off with the three younger generals closely following. A fit of giggles erupted from a bit further into the forest. Speedily, the four Negaverse occupants strode forwards and nearly tripped over a long, bright yellow rope.
"Where do you get rope this yellow?" Nephlite asked, kicking it with a navy blue boot.
"Hey! Do you mind?" A screechy little voice came from the bushes, pulling the bright yellow 'rope' through the leaves.
"Serena be quiet. It's a guy." Another voice spoke. The owner of that voice stood up from behind a bush and looked at the four people standing in front of her.
"Hmmmm..." she tapped her brown-haired head and put on a thinking expression. 'I swear I've seen two of those people before.' She thought.
"Wow!" Serena, the blonde-headed girl poked her head through the bush and stared at Jadeite for a long time.
"Hi, I'm Lita. Do I know you?" the brown-haired girl said.
"Um... No." Nephlite replied. 'One of them does seem slightly familiar though.' Then he had a sudden thought of who these two girls could be, especially the blonde one. "No. Definitely not. We don't know you."
"Hi, I'm Serena!" Serena shouted gleefully, jumping up into the air. Her yellow hair was in bunches with two buns on the top of her head.
"Hello. My name is Amy." A small girl with blue eyes matching her blue hair stood up.
"I'm Raye!" The angry girl that was shouting earlier got up and brushed mud off her knees.
"And my name's Mina." Another blonde stood up with a red bow in the back of her hair.
"Hello..." the generals said like robots. They were all thinking the same thing: 'These are the Sailor Scouts.'
"A-hem! My name is Jadeite and this is Nephlite, Zoisite and Malachite and we're from the N-" Jadeite was cut off.
"'orth Pole." Malachite gave him a stern glare to shut him up.
"Isn't it a bit cold there though?" Serena asked.
"No, we're used to it." Zoisite said nervously. Serena's hand slithered back into the bushes to grab a donut and it came back out to meet her mouth.
"Can we have lunch now?" Jadeite grumbled.
"Sure, why not." Malachite gave in as Nephlite and Jadeite jumped around everyone joyfully. Zoisite went bright red with embarrassment.
"Do you want to sit with us and eat?" Mina asked nicely. Malachite nodded slowly before following the five girls along with Zoisite, Nephlite and Jadeite into a small clearing, just behind the bushes. There was a giant picnic basket in the middle and five hold-alls surrounded it, creating a sort of campfire seen but with lunch. The girls (or possible Sailor Scouts) sat down on the hold-alls and invited the generals into their lunch circle. Zoisite and Malachite sat together on the soft grass whilst Jadeite and Nephlite fought over who was going to sit with Lita on her jumbo hold-all.
"So why are you all the way out here?" Jadeite asked after being shoved to the floor by Nephlite.
"My granddad arranged for us five to have a camping trip here. He told us he was going to book a cabin in the next valley but he must've forgotten because they won't let us in." Raye sighed.
"That sucks." Zoisite said sympathetically. "What are you going to do?"
"We don't know. We've been walking all day, trying to find someone to help us." Mina replied with a sigh.
"What sort of stuff do you girls like?" Nephlite tried to lighten up the mood.
"Oh! I love food and sleeping and bunnies!" Serena started giggling as pictures of cute bunnies eating cakes and ice cream popped into her mind.
"I quite like martial arts and cooking." Lita smiled.
"I guess I'm the nerd of our group. I like everything to be logical." Amy put in.
"Me and Raye are more of the outgoing type because we both wanna be in films and stuff." Mina grinned; showing a set of sparkly teeth. Raye nodded in agreement.
"I like studying stars and space." Nephlite said.
"Ooohhh, what's your favourite planet?" Serena asked excitedly.
"Probably..." Nephlite stopped to think for a moment. "Jupiter."
"The Moon is the best." Said Serena.
"The Moon isn't a planet; it's actually a round piece of iron, quite like Mercury." Amy piped up with her 'clever statement of the hour'.
"I thought it was made of cheese." Jadeite sulked.
"What do you like doing Jadeite?" Raye asked.
"I like playing Minecraft and Terraria." He replied.
"I thought I was the only one who played those!" Mina remarked.
"Nope."
"Zoisite, what about you?" Amy requested.
"I like horses, music, writing, reading and art." The green eyed general counted of her favourite hobbies on her fingers.
"I like horses too!" Malachite announced.
"Why didn't you tell me on Monday when you found out that I liked horses?"
"I think we both had a lot on our minds that day." Malachite smiled as he remembered Monday night.
"Haha, that's true." Nephlite laughed.
"What happened on Monday?" asked the forever curious meatball head.
"Nothing interesting..." Zoisite said slyly.
"Are you sure?" Raye questioned them suspiciously.
"I'll show you later." Jadeite whispered to Raye with a smirk. Lunch was almost done at this point, with only a few donuts left that were quickly snatched up by Serena and Mina.
"Now what?" Nephlite said after a while.
"Maybe we should go back or something?" Zoisite suggested.
"We can't just leave the girls stranded here." Jadeite whispered.
"What should we do about them then?" Malachite asked.
"They could sleep with us." Jadeite hissed.
"WHAT?!" Malachite screamed.
"Shhh! I mean they have one tent and us lot have the other. Duh!"
"Oh right. I guess that's ok."
"Um...girls?" Nephlite spoke up.
"Yeah?" the girls chorused.
"Did you want to stay in one of our tents?" he asked politely.
"Wow, really? That would be a great help!" Raye beamed.
"Yes please!" Ami squealed happily.
"We can all be BFF's!" Serena shouted.
"Errr...no." Malachite whispered to Zoisite with a chuckle. She smiled a reply, her eyes glittering like morning dew.
"Should we get going then?" Lita asked, shielding her eyes from the sun. "It looks like we've been here a while."
"Follow me!" Nephlite shouted. He and Jadeite skipped off with their arms linked singing, "We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz!" Soon, everyone was skipping, singing and laughing along. Even Malachite had his own little skippy-time. A few hours later, they arrived at camp, completely exhausted from skipping for two hours straight.
"That was...was fun." Zoisite said whilst gasping for air.
"Phew!" Lita exclaimed, throwing herself on the floor. Everyone else joined her. Malachite rolled over to Zoisite and put his arm round her.
"I wish we could always do this." Jadeite breathed.
"That'd be nice." Nephlite replied. After a few minutes, Raye stood up.
"So, where are we sleeping?" she asked.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. We better sort out the tents." Nephlite said. They all got to work, manoeuvring bags, sleeping bags, roll mats, and hold-alls. By the time each tent looked homely enough to suit everyone, the sun was slowly dipping below the horizon.
Zoisite's and Malachite's tent, or rather, the Nega-general's tent, lay four sleeping bags squashed together. The five bags (one for each person plus a food bag) split the tent in half, making it seem as if Malachite and Zoisite were still sharing and Jadeite and Nephlite were back in their own tent. This tent, the left one, was a lot neater than the right one. In the right tent, there were already clothes, towels and blankets thrown everywhere. The only tidy part was a watery-blue sleeping bag with a pile of maths books next to it labelled 'light reading'.
"What do we think about them then?" Amy asked.
"Them?" Serena pointed through the tent wall to where their neighbours would be.
"Yes, them."
"I think they're kind of suspicious." Mina said.
"I keep getting MEGA-Nega-vibes!" Raye agreed.
"What should we do then?" Amy seemed worried, her usually calm expression vanishing completely.
"Well, we did defeat the Negaverse about six months ago and I'm sure they can't still be alive after what I did with my Moon Stick." Serena answered.
"So are you saying we should just take it easy and see what happens?" Lita questioned the Moon Princess.
"Yup. Scout meeting...over!" Serena shouted and started flicking through a manga all about her. Meanwhile...
"They seem very alike to the Sailor Scouts." Zoisite mused aloud.
"I know that Raye, Serena and Amy are Mars, Moon and Mercury." Jadeite replied helpfully.
"The three M's." Zoisite giggled.
"Who are the other two then?" Nephlite asked.
"They look very similar to Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus to me." Malachite said.
"Mmm, they do but I don't think they've recognised us." Zoisite nodded.
"Maybe we should just relax a bit then?" Nephlite put in.
"Sounds good. Who wants dinner?" Malachite called.
"Yeah!" a loud reply came from next door. "We have pizzas if you'd like to cook them. We can all share!"
"Yay! Pizza!" Jadeite squealed.
"Calm down, Jeddy." Zoisite patted his head and followed Malachite out of the tent.
"Look there." He whispered, pointing at the sky as the last rays of sun disappeared.
"What?" Zoisite asked.
"The cloud. It's as pink as those pretty flowers from Monday." Malachite smiled.
"They were sakuras and pink roses." She said thoughtfully.
"They were as beautiful as you." He leaned over, brushing loose strands of Zoisite's dark blonde hair behind her ears. She blushed slightly and looked at the floor.
"Don't hide your beauty from me Zoisite." Malachite stroked Zoisite's face lovingly. She looked up at the perfect face in front of her, taking in its every detail to treasure forever. Malachite and Zoisite looked into each other's eyes just for one second and could see every emotion, every thought. Their lips met immediately, with a result of quiet hums from the couple. Stars littered the black sky over head, making the sky shine brightly upon the two lovers.
"Another kiss? Woooo!" Nephlite shouted.
"Better get the diary out then!" Jadeite laughed. Malachite stepped back quickly; making sure his hands weren't tangled in Zoisite's hair.
"You two are such a pain!" Zoisite hurled one of her boots at Nephlite's head. It missed, but only by a couple of centimetres so it still messed up his hair. All he could do was gasp and run back into the tent to fetch a hairbrush.
"What's up?" Lita came out the tent, with the other four girls in tow.
"Nothing. Just Nephlite over-reacting because I messed up his hair." Zoisite smirked and turned back to Malachite.
"I suggest we finish that off later, my beautiful Sakura." Malachite breathed in her ear before asking Lita if he should start cooking the pizzas yet. Zoisite hid her blushing cheeks with her gloved-hands and sat down automatically. She started to daydream, as usual, about Malachite.
"Here. We've got pepperoni, meat feast and Hawaiian." Lita handed Malachite the three pizzas for him to cook.
"This'll take about twenty minutes I think." He said, loading the three pizzas onto the fire.
"What should we do whilst waiting then?" Raye asked. Everyone thought for a moment.
"We could tell stories." Mina suggested.
"Yeah!" Jadeite jumped for joy. "This is the best day ever!"
"Can I go first?" Nephlite asked hopefully.
"Sure! Go ahead." Amy replied.
"Ok then," Nephlite started. "Once upon a time there was some guy named Malachite, his wife Zoisite-
"What?" Zoisite exploded.
"Ahem. –And some weirdo called John. One day, Malachite was walking down, erm, Negaverse Way when he accidently bumped into someone who was carrying a sword. His name was John. John got really, really mad. He made a hole in Malachite's head with his sword and put a lime in it. Then he sewed it back up and walked off. From then on, all Malachite could think of was limes."
"Not me?" Zoisite pretended to be all teary-eyed all cuddled up to Malachite. He chuckled and rubbed her back to comfort her.
"And all he could say was the word 'lime'. The end."
"That was the most horrible story ever." Serena screeched.
"So?" Nephlite objected.
"Serena's right." Zoisite nodded in agreement.
"Fine. Who's next?" asked Nephlite.
"I'll go!" said Raye. "Once upon a time, there was a girl called Moon and a girl called Mars. They hated each other. They hated each other because they both loved someone named Earth. He was a prince, and a good looking one at that. One day, a terrible war broke out. Moon wanted to help Earth defend his kingdom but she just tripped up and got in the way. Mars, however, was a great help. Not only was she great with a sword but she was also very tactical. Suddenly, someone threw a bucket of water over her. She immediately got hyperthermia and Earth gave her a big hug to make her warm again. The end."
"That's not very fair." Serena sulked.
"You don't have to comment on everything you know." Mina said.
"How's dinner getting along Malachite?" Lita, who hadn't said anything for ages, asked.
"Um... I don't think it's going all that well actually." He replied uncertainly.
"What's wrong?" she asked seriously.
"Pizzas don't cook too well on fire."
"I have an idea! Has anyone got a phone?" Jadeite jumped up excitedly.
"Oh, I do!" Mina handed over an iPhone 4s. Jadeite rang a number. It rung once, it rung twice...
"Hello?"
"Hi! Could I have three large pizzas please?" Jadeite spoke.
"Sure, what toppings?"
"Can I have one with lots of meat, the really nice pepperoni one and the one with pineapple on?" he said hopefully.
"Yep. And I'll need your address or location so we can deliver."
"I'm near-ish to a forest and a lake and some mountains."
"I'll need a bit more detail than that."
"Well, I think I can see a plane from here and-" Beep! "... Oh."
"Did the pizza man hang up on you?" Mina asked.
"Yeah." Came the disappointed reply.
"Have you lot all got plates?" Malachite replied.
"Yeah, do you want us to get them?" Lita questioned.
"Yes please and then I can share the pizza out."
"But it's burnt." Nephlite argued.
"It'll have to do." Malachite sighed.
"We better get our plates then." Zoisite nudged Nephlite and Jadeite and the threesome disappeared into their tent and reappeared with four plates. Nine plates were stacked neatly next to Malachite and he loaded each one with a small amount of pizza. Everyone started eating and talking.
"How long are you stuck here for Raye?" Jadeite asked.
"Until Sunday unless we can get a taxi or something." She replied.
"Oh well. At least we have a place to stay and some extra company now." Mina lightened the mood with her optimistic statement.
"I guess." Raye agreed.
"What should we do tomorrow?" Amy thought aloud.
"Not sure actually. What do you want to do?" Malachite interrogated.
"We could read?" Amy suggested.
"Ugh. Can't we do something that's not boring for a change?" Serena moaned.
"What do you suggest then, hmm?" Raye fought back.
"We could build a rope swing?" she proposed her best idea.
"We don't have any rope." Lita reminded her.
"Neither do we." Zoisite muttered.
"But Serena's hair is long enough and Zoisite, you can tie really good knots, can't you?"Nephlite said excitedly.
"My hair is mine. End of story." Serena shouted.
"I feel sick." Jadeite mumbled after hovering up the last of his pizza.
"Maybe you should go to bed." Amy said.
"Or you could let Nurse Venus come to the rescue!" Mina jumped up and started posing dramatically.
"Or he could just go to bed." Malachite put in.
"Maybe we all should." Lita thought.
"Yeah, even you're looking a bit pale, Malachite." Zoisite said. Everyone hurriedly washed up their plates and piled into the two tents.
"This has been a long day." Mina breathed.
"Yeah, and a good one too." Mina added.
"I think it was actually the best day of my life; even if I was stuck with Serena." Raye smirked.
"Hey!" Serena yelled.
"This was definitely an awesome day because Nephlite looks just like my old boyfriend, only way hotter!" Lita whispered excitedly.
"Goodnight!" Amy said from inside her sleeping bag.
"We should get into bed as well." Lita said and climbed into her bag.
Meanwhile, in the other tent, everyone was getting changed. Well, almost everyone...
"Aren't you getting changed Zoisite?" Nephlite asked.
"It'd be a bit awkward don't you think?" she replied.
"Just get changed in your sleeping bag." He said.
"Fine." And with that, Zoisite ducked into her sleeping bag, pulling her fleecy pyjamas in with her. Her sleeping bag squirmed for a few minutes before her head resurfaced above the fabric.
"Night guys." Nephlite said sleepily.
"G'night."
"Goodnight."
"Sleep well."
"Sweet dreams." Nephlite sat up immediately.
"Who was that?" he called accusingly.
"Lita!" four girls chorused.
"Well, you too then, Lita." He lay back down and went to sleep. There were quiet whispers coming from the girl's tent and synchronized snoring from the general's tent.
"Sounds like their asleep." Malachite whispered to Zoisite, gesturing towards Nephlite and Jadeite.
"Are you suggesting that we-"
"Carry on what we started? Yes." And with that, Malachite swept Zoisite into a big hug and they kissed in the dark. Only the dim light of the moon illuminated their happy but tired faces. Zoisite's arms curled round Malachite's bare torso and his hands toyed with Zoisite's green hair band, gently pulling it out of her hair. He twisted it delicately between his rough fingers.
"I feel sick..." Jadeite was sat up, his face paler than the light of the moon.
"Ugh."Malachite groaned, pulling away from Zoisite slowly."Wake up Nephlite and then he can take you outside for some fresh air, ok?"
"Ok Malachite." He said unsteadily and shook Nephlite.
"Why did you wake me up?" Nephlite moaned, rubbing his eyes.
"I feel sick and you have to take me outside." Jadeite told.
"Fine." He grumbled and took Jadeite out into the crisp air.
"We should go to sleep too." Malachite whispered.
"Alright. Goodnight Malachite." Zoisite replied quietly and rested her head against Malachite's chest. He chuckled slightly and gave her one last kiss.
"Goodnight Sakura." He whispered. Malachite closed his platinum eyes and his breathing became slow and steady.
"I love you." Zoisite said in the quietest voice imaginable. Zoisite was in a deep sleep by the time Nephlite and Jadeite walked back in.
"Goodnight Jeddy."
"G'night again Nephy."
I'm really sorry it took so long to write this. I had nearly finished it but the laptop broke down for a few weeks. Then, when it was usable again, all my work had been deleted. I was really angry because there was one I had been working on for ages and it had over 7,000 words. Oh well. Please R&R!