A/N: I'm baaack! *duck numerous flying sharp objects* I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I got sidetracked by life, summer school, final exams, homework, other story ideas, and organizing/writing my own original story.

Anywho, here's the latest chappy. Hoe y'all like it.

Chapter 10

It had been several months since Nephrite's birth and the beginning of the trio's subsequent stay in Elysian and Kunzite was getting irritable. He was bored to death with all of the nothing going on. He needed something stimulating to do. Sear was busy with this and that, through no fault of his own, and Nephrite was busy playing with Helios.

Kunzite's nerves were frayed almost to their bitter end. While, true, he and Nephrite had been given free reign throughout the island sanctuary, and true, they didn't have to watch their backs or their steps wherever they went, he still felt trapped. Every time he had tried to snatch a seat in one of the boats headed to shore, he was politely told to leave. It was driving him insane.

He took a deep steadying breath and closed his eyes as a cool breeze brushed lightest across his cheeks and disturbed his silvery tresses. When he opened them he again, he gazed out over the single pool before him. He had stumbled upon this place completely by accident while on one of his desperate searches for something to do. Father Aeryn had called the water here the Sacred Pool. From then on, Kunzite had chosen his place as his quiet place to think.

His mind wandered to what lay beneath the water's surface. It was strange but, now that he thought about it, he hadn't taken a dip in several days due to the still lingering bite of winter. Today, however was a sweltering day, more suited to summer than to spring. Decided, he scooted forward till his feet dipped into the water.

It felt wonderful when compared to the intense wet heat of the air. Without any further thought on the subject, Kunzite stood and strode deeper into the water until his feet barely touched the bottom before taking a deep breath and diving under. The feeling of the water was unusually soft and seemed more like a caress. Plus, the feeling of his clothes floating weightlessly around him was almost...angelic. It was perfect.

However, the strange part came when Kunzite opened his eyes under the water to see where he was going. To his intense surprise, his sight was no more blurry beneath the water's surface than it was above. It was as if he was a fish; he felt perfectly safe and secure here. Memories of his first few moments of life came back to him. This water had almost exactly the same feel as the waters of the spring where he was born.

Delighted, he surfaced to take a deeper breath, and then plunged beneath the water once more. He swam throughout the pool, investigating the several, curious clefts where the water drained into other pathways. Allowing curiosity to take control of his actions, Kunzite took one last breath and propelled himself down on of the intriguing waterways. White stone lined the sides of the canal before abruptly changing to a darker stone, probably marble of some sort.

His chest was beginning to show the tell tale signs of needing to breath, and Kunzite resolved to obey the ever growing command…after he swam just a little further. He could see what appeared to be a small circular pool ahead and resolved to reach that pool before surfacing for breath. After all, his chest might hurt a bit, but hey, it was a challenge. And there had been a distinct lack of convenient challenges available in the Sanctuary of Elysian.

Closer, closer, almost there, there!

Angling himself upward, he broke through the water drew a breath shaking the water from his eyes. When his sight cleared he took in his surroundings with no little surprise. He was no longer in the sanctuary, of that he was absolutely certain. The Sanctuary of Elysian was made of white marble and almost completely open to the elements, while this place was completely enclosed with only a large, domed window in the roof to allow the sunlight in directly overhead.

But that wasn't what caught and held Kunzite's attention.

That honor was bestowed upon the several young faces of what appeared to be a class of students and their teacher who seemed equally transfixed by him. Kunzite cocked an eyebrow in interest but waited for one of the strangers to speak first.

For several moments, nothing happened. Then…

"Impossible." Kunzite's gaze shifted to the face of the oldest person present whom he believed to be the teacher. "Impossible," the elder repeated.

Kunzite cocked his eyebrow again as the teacher repeated that single word over and over. His interest in this situation was steadily dropping. "Can you say anything other than 'impossible'? It's getting rather annoying."

Silence.

Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Kunzite took a deep breath and began to submerge himself again when another voice called out.

"Wait!"

Obeying for the moment, Kunzite turned to the new voice and was met by the visage of a young blonde male possibly seventeen.

"How are you doing that?" the youth asked.

Kunzite's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? I'm swimming. I thought that was rather obvious."

The youth flushed but held his temper. "I meant, how are you in the water?"

Kunzite sighed. Honestly, how stupid can this person be? "I got in just like any normal person."

The blonde seemed to catch the subtle insult and his eyes narrowed. "I could command you." It was stated as if it was meant as some sort of threat and Kunzite had to work to hide his rather rude snicker.

"I have answered you truthfully. It's not my fault your vocabulary is too small to understand what I'm saying. Although," Kunzite glanced briefly at the teacher who seemed to have paled a bit, "looking at your teacher, here, I can almost feel sympathy for you."

With a sly smile and last glance at the fuming youth, Kunzite submerged to continue swimming through the waterway. He was tempted to continue forward, but the thought of Nephrite searching for him, was enough to convince him to turn around. Thus he resumed his journey, this time back through the waterway from which he came. He watched the dark stone become pure white once more and when it seemed like his chest would explode, he surfaced.

He blinked stupidly for a few moments, before an unexpected weight slammed into him, knocking him back underwater. He fought off the weight and surfaced once again, this time looking to his right where he had forced the weight to go. Only to be greeted by a grinning Nephrite.

He sighed and mussed the other's hair. "Hello, Nephrite."

"Where've you been, brother? Helios and I were looking for you everywhere! I couldn't feel you very well. It was as if you were suddenly miles away." The younger of the two gazed into Kunzite's eyes with teary celestial orbs. "Don't do that again. I didn't like it."

Kunzite suddenly felt guilty and flushed. He sighed again and stood, taking his brother with him. "I'm sorry, little one. That wasn't my intention. I promise not to do it again without telling you."

"No. You have to take me with you next time. I don't like being left out of things." Those young, blue eyes grew hard with frustration as Nephrite crossed his arms in an amusing show of stubbornness.

Kunzite chuckled. "Fine. As you say. Next time, I'll show."

"Yay!"

Kunzite shook his head as an easily pleased Nephrite bounced behind him. He glanced up and saw Helios standing by the water's surface. The priest's already pale features were paler yet and his mouth was hanging open in shock.

"Hello, Helios. I'm sorry about all the trouble," Kunzite apologized. He was now level with the priest and only now noticed the other priests standing further back under the wisteria overhang. They all had matching faces of horror almost identical to Helios'.

Kunzite's guilt began to create a rather uncomfortable stone in his gut. Did he really scare them that badly?

"You touched the water."

Kunzite's eyes shifted back to Helios. "You both touched the water," the young priest repeated.

Was that it? Was there something wrong with the water? Something he should know about?

Nephrite latched himself onto Kunzite and stared at Helios as well with just as much concern. "Is it wrong to touch the water?" he asked.

Helios seemed to shake himself out of his shocked daze and his eyes cleared. He shook his head. "No, no, nothing like that. It's just…no one has ever been able to even stand to touch that water let alone swim in it before. I'm the only one who could ever touch it, but even then it burns. It never burned you? Not even once?"

The young priest's eyes were hopeful and interested. Kunzite shifted, uncomfortable with being the center of attention. "No. It felt like…" What do I say? "It felt like the water I was born in?" "It felt like the Fountain of Youth?" Don't be ridiculous, Kunzite. They'd never believe you, and even if they did…would that be a good thing? "It felt like normal water."

XxX

Kunzite lay on his bed contemplating the events of the day. Nephrite, as usual, was curled up against him and he absently stroked the brunette curls as he repeated the intriguing events of the day in his mind.

Water could burn? The only time he'd ever experienced that phenomenon was when he'd accidentally touched boiling water. He'd quickly learned not to repeat that specific action.

His eyes shifted to the open window by his bed and stared at the setting sun. Suddenly his eyes seemed drawn to the numerous dark spots on the sun's surface. His eyes narrowed as he studied the fiery orb as it neared the horizon. Something inside him trembled with some emotion he couldn't identify. Nephrite seemed to sense it too because he whimpered then jerked awake.

"The voices…" Nephrite cried as he sat bolt upright in Kunzite's bed.

"Nephrite, what is it? What do they say?" Over the months, Kunzite had learned to trust Nephrite's voices with his life because they were always unerringly prophetic in nature.

The brunette turned to the setting sun with fear in his eyes. "They're afraid…of the sun."

"The sun?"

The youth nodded mutely. "They say to beware of…something. I can't make out the last word. It's garbled like a voice speaking into a pillow. But they're all afraid." Nephrite began shivering uncontrollably.

Kunzite sat up and embraced his brother, running his fingers through the younger's hair as the unsettling feeling within him grew as well. Then he heard another voice intrude into his mind.

'Kunzite! Nephrite! My child…!'

Then the sun flared brilliantly just as an intense pain invaded the two Shitennou's minds. They screamed as the sensation tore at their defenses. They were suddenly one person, not two separate beings. They felt each other's pain, felt each other's fear, felt their mother's pain, felt their mother's fear, and felt…another's pain and terror.

In the unity between Kunzite, Nephrite, and their mother, it seemed there was another…being trying desperately to catch hold of them. This foreign yet familiar sensation was filled with absolute terror and the kind of pain no one should ever have to suffer. The three united beings sent out a life line of energy toward to newcomer.

The floundering being tried desperately to grasp the line, but then another wave of terror and pain waved through them…and the newcomer was gone leaving an unexpectedly painful emptiness where the other should have been.

Then Kunzite understood as the unity of moments before began to fade. "…brother…"

Silence.

A/N: Yay! Cliffy! I introduced the Sacred Pool, the mysterious youth who thinks he can command Kunzite (idiot ^^), and the new brother. Although I took him away before revealing who it was. You'll just have to guess who it is, ooorr wait till the next chappy. ;)

Yes, I know I'm evil. ;)

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