Adins Presents
"My Four Kings"
Today's Episode: Shapes of Things to Come
Zoisite's head felt like a sheet of arctic ice splitting down the middle as one of those Deadliest Catch boats plowed its way through. Jadeite had spent plenty of nights on the couch watching that damn show and the sound of the ship's engines rang awfully similar to the hulking construction machines that had been chugging, cranking, and whirring on the other side of the street for the last six weeks.
Winter was gone, finally, replaced by a damp and dreary spring that wasn't trying hard enough to bring new life to the cold city. Ugly piles of dirty, plowed snow clung feebly to the corners of parking lots and medians. The temperature didn't rise above fifty degrees but once or twice so far and almost every day was punctuated by brief, chilly rainfall or sheets of depressing fog.
His thoughts were interrupted by a burning scent and he looked down at the grill to see the egg turning black.
"Son of a bitch." He complained in a somewhat lackluster way.
Jadeite leaned back from where he sat in the office of the Four Kings Bar and Grill, "What?"
"Burnt an egg." Zoisite grunted.
"Do we have a customer?" Jadeite asked and tried to twist his head to see out the narrow space, but failed and refused to put for the effort needed to stand up.
"No, it was for me." Zoiste answered and swiped the blackened remains off the grill and into a nearby garbage can.
No customers. There hadn't been many of them since the construction started across the street. The noise was just unbearable. The contractors had assured them that they would try their hardest not to infringe on the Four King's usual business, but that was a shallow sentiment. Most of their regular customers still dropped by for dinner when the construction site was closed, or at least when the heavy machinery wasn't operated, but most days it was a steady stream of emptiness and mechanical noise that patronized their establishment.
Zoisite's hands clenched around a rag and he imagined for the briefest of seconds that it was Mamoru's neck…
"You're getting that look again, Zoi." Jadeite called to him. Zoisite's hands relaxed.
"What look?" he grumbled back.
"The "I want to strangle Mamoru." look." Jadeite returned.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Zoisite lied.
"Strangle him maybe because of this Project Serenity thing of his that happens to be in construction a hundred yards away from us." Jadeite reminded him, "A project that is currently keeping all of our customers away and will likely ruin us in the end because it will offer world-class shopping and many options for fine dining..."
"God, stop." Zoisite ordered. He sounded like he was reading a brochure.
Jadeite stopped. With a heavy inner groan he turned back toward the desk and continued rapping on the keypad of the adding machine. The numbers were growing steadily larger, just in the wrong direction.
The door of the freezer swung open and Lita emerged wide-eyed, shivering and somewhat unkempt. She kicked the door closed with her heel and set down her retrieved tub of yesterday's chili on the counter. She let out a slightly exasperated breath and grinned sheepishly.
"I didn't hear you guys come in." she said.
"We've been here for an hour." Zoisite grudgingly replied.
"Right." She replied hastily and adjusted waist of her jean skirt, "I've got to run down to the grocery store." She fumbled with her keys for effect, "You guys need more beans for your chili."
Zoisite's overdeveloped sense of hearing, honed through many years of eavesdropping on his companion's conversations through floor boards and drywall, detected a muffled snicker from somewhere close by at the mention of "beans for your chili." He didn't bother rolling his eyes.
"Be right back!" Lita announced and was out the front door without a moment's hesitation.
"I think someone put some beans in her chili." Jadeite openly commented with his usual sophomoric mirth.
"Jesus…" Zoisite replied. His mood was not improving.
The freezer door opened again and Nephrite emerged. He was whistling the "Andy Griffith" theme song and re-doing the buckle on his belt. Jadeite leaned to the left to peer around the corner of the office door, pushing the lateral play of the office chair to its maximum and he delivered a congratulatory nod in Nephrite's direction.
"Do you carve a tick mark in it with your Bowie knife after each time?" Zoisite grumbled half under his breath.
"Get them tattooed, actually." Nephrite returned and offered an appreciative grin to his unappreciative colleague, "Wanna see?" Zoisite didn't bother replying, "I'm actually starting to run out of room. Gonna have to keep tally on my thighs if this keeps up."
Nephrite slapped his comrade hard on the shoulder and he winced under the pain. Nephrite swung around the front of the counter and made his way down to his bar, whistling happily and preparing to busy himself by cleaning glasses that hadn't been used in days.
The front door opened and a late-middle-aged man in a blue shirt and navy shorts walked in lugging a bag of mail on one shoulder. Zoisite waved to him and intercepted him at the bar. Their local mail carrier was a genial sort; divorced, no kids, liked bass fishing and had a nylon fetish. With so little to do Zoisite dedicated a generous amount of free time to prying into the private lives of the few return faces these days. The mail man also very much liked Lita's somewhat famous sourdough biscuits which became a hot seller when she was brought in part-time to help out in the kitchen. He also made it rather clear that "biscuits" was meant to be taken as a double-entendre as well as a pet name for Nephrite's currently absent girlfriend.
"Heya, Zoi." He greeted enthusiastically, "No biscuits today?"
"Afraid not." Zoisite replied.
"That's too bad." He wasn't feigning disappointment, that crestfallen look was all too genuine. "Business getting any better?"
"No, unfortunately." Zoisite replied and leaned back against the counter, "Might actually be getting worse."
"Well, just hang in there." The man offered hopefully, "They say the recession is turning around, finally. Things will pick up, I'm sure of it."
"I certainly hope so." Zoisite agreed and took the stack of mail from him, "Jadeite, do we have anything going out for the mail today?"
The young de-facto manager of the Four Kings walked out of the office with an envelope that looked like it had been opened and resealed about a dozen times and handed it to the postal carrier.
"Sorry, tax season." Jadeite apologized, "Had to make sure everything was in order."
"Yeah, gotta make sure Uncle Sam gets his share." The man laughed, "Well, you kids take care." He walked to the door and as he exited he called behind him, "I want to get a hold of some of them biscuits next time!"
"Ok!" Zoisite unenthusiastically replied.
A tearing sound called his attention. Jadeite and Zoisite glanced toward the end of the bar where Nephrite, red-faced and shaking, had ripped his towel in half.
"Motherfucking biscuits and… fucking cock-wranger… FUCK!" He stammered. When Nephrite was truly upset and broiling with rage his speech was the first function to suffer. He took in a breath and steadied himself, "Just one good, clean, uninterruptible haymaker is all I want."
"So why don't you?" Jadeite asked, "The guy's a tool."
"Because I enjoy freedom." Nephrite answered, "And if I curb stomp a civil servant I'd go to jail."
"Speaking of, I'm going back to my four-by-four cell." Jadeite said dejectedly and shuffled off back the office.
Zoisite flipped idly through the mail and tossed the papers in random piles as he went. There were bills upon bills to pay. They were already dangerously close to missing their lease payments on the building and they had to curtail their electric and water usage such to the point that they didn't turn the lights on in the restaurant during the day. There were few customers the way it was, so nobody tended to notice or care. He threw a cutlery vendor's catalog to the side and the next thing in the pile was a postcard.
The card had no return address. The front depicted a meadow of budding flowers against a backdrop of snow-capped mountain peaks. On the back of the card was written the word "Spring" in instantly recognizable handwriting.
"Another card from Kunzite?" Nephrite asked in an uncharacteristically somber voice. He had moved to stand just behind Zoisite's right shoulder.
"It's the same as the last one." Zoisite remembered. It had arrived in the middle of February, a rather austere card with a picture of snow-shrouded woods, a stream, and a small footbridge. The word "Winter" was written on the back.
They hadn't seen Kunzite since the night that Mamoru, or Darien Shields, unveiled his "Project Serenity" at the city's Christmas Party. Surely the revelation that they had so completely failed in their duty as Mamoru's guardians affected them deeply, but to Kunzite it was an impossible burden. Rather than face it he disappeared. Just a few days later Usagi failed to show up for her shift and she too dropped off the Four King's radar. Zoisite simply couldn't wrap his mind around what might have happened, but he knew that Mamoru, Darien… Endymion… was at the center of it.
Kunzite gave no indication where was or where he was going. They searched the city for days, but found no trace of him. They even alerted the police who couldn't come up with anyone fitting Kunzite's descriptions in local prisons, drunk tanks, or, thankfully, morgues. Only these two postcards provided any link between the Shitennou and their erstwhile leader. In typical Kunzite fashion the cards were humorless, direct, but effective and strangely empathetic. The hopeless romantic in Zoisite prayed that the imagery of Spring meant that wherever he was, Kunzite was experiencing a rebirth. He tempered his hope with logic, however, the cold logic that everything else wasn't getting any better. The business was failing, their money was dwindling, and their relationship with the man that should have been closer to them than blood had all but evaporated. Zoisite realized too late that he was crushing the postcard in a clenched fist.
"This is our own personal purgatory." Zoisite mumbled to himself.
"What?" Nephrite asked.
Normally he would be getting misty and teary-eyed when reminiscing over shared nostalgia, but this was the true Zoisite speaking; not the preening, candy-shelled, celeb-gossiper, tabloid-reading, fashion conscious Zoisite of the modern world, but the essential Zoisite.
"I thought this was our second chance." Zoisite answered, "But it's not. This is penance." He looked through the windows at the construction site across the street, "Losing everything we've built is a fitting punishment for everything we destroyed."
"I don't think so, Zoi." Nephrite replied, "Somehow I doubt that the universe would waste it's time to bring us back again just to punish us." He glanced skyward ever so slightly. Zoisite imagined the stars above that Nephrite was once frightfully attuned to, "This shit that happened with Mamoru… Darien… whatever the fuck… it's like a grindhouse movie with a missing reel."
"A movie?" Zoisite scoffed, perceiving Nephrite to be making light of his deep sentimentality.
"We're missing a big chunk of the picture." Nephrite explained, "I've been thinking about it…" he leaned down and made sure Zoisite heard him clearly, "… between all the sex I'm having with Lita."
"God almighty…" Zoisite turned to walk away, but Nephrite grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.
"No, seriously." Nephrite continued and didn't give his partner a chance to protest, "You might think you're the only one who sees the big picture, but I've got my eye on this too. Lately I've started to feel it out."
"What do you mean?" Zoisite asked, intrigued.
"Think about it when you go to sleep tonight. Clear your head and just look up at the ceiling. Filter out all the noise and problems from this place and just concentrate on your breathing." Nephrite instructed and offered a grim sentiment, "It'll hit you like a cold breeze, or like the pins and needles you feel when your arm wakes up after you slept on it wrong."
"What?" Zoisite asked breathlessly.
"Something, I don't know… out there…" Nephrite gestured to what might have been the whole universe, "Something just doesn't feel right."
Ares sat near the door with his tail wagging of its own accord. The displaced soul of Endymion, mingled with that of Mamoru knew on some level that this behavior was laughable and, in any other circumstance, grounds for commitment to a sanitarium, but he had become accustomed to certain canine urges and this one, while silly, was at least endearing.
Rei returned home every day just before six o'clock. Her routine was so well-defined that she often would walk through the door at exactly ten minutes to six several times a week. It would vary a few minutes day-to-day, but not by much. As he heard the car pull into the driveway Ares' front paws moved about and planted into the ground. He had to stop himself from joyously leaping in the air. The car door shut, there were footsteps, the jangle of keys, the click of the lock and then the door swung open. He jumped up from his sitting position, tail wagging with enough force to knock the young woman over, and let out a happy yelp.
"Ares!" she greeted him enthusiastically and grabbed the scruff around his neck with both hands, rubbing him furiously, "How was my good boy today?"
He whined happily and circled around her. Luna sat nearby on the arm of the couch watching the scene with silent amusement. The two old friends had become closer in the last month or so. She was the one who encouraged Ares to indulge in the instincts of his host body. Having spent much of her long life in the form of a feline, Luna was something of an expert on the subject.
Their routine played out as it did almost every day. After she wound down from a day at work and brief stop at the gym Rei would eat a simple, no-frills dinner, feed her pets, then take Ares out for an evening stroll. Many times they would return from their walk just as the moon was cresting over the treetops and Ares would become transfixed by its glow, so much so that he often walked into things like mailboxes and lamp posts, much to Rei's amusement and mild concern for his well-being.
For all the catastrophes that seemed to be developing around him, Ares was content to live in Rei's care in his guise as nothing more than a lovable, if somewhat smarter-than-average canine. He had to credit Luna for her excellent conversational nature and their shared history, but he found the simple pleasures of being a dog their own reward. Unfortunately it was a double-edged sword as every time he would contemplate the subject it reminded him just how limited his resources were.
He hadn't been able to establish regular contact with the Shitennou. Only twice over the last few months, both thinly-disguised as "accidental" encounters during their evening walk did Ares manage to speak to them and only through Jadeite. Both times Ares managed to wriggle his leash out of Rei's grasp and take off running into the woods with Jadeite in hot pursuit. "Don't worry, I'll get him back!" he shouted obviously trying to impress the young woman before he too disappeared into the trees where they could converse in secret.
Foremost on his mind was what had become of Kunzite. For such an unshakable will as Kunzite's to not just falter, but completely break down did not bode well. He spent hours bouncing ideas off Luna trying to think of where he might have gone; the Middle East was a strong contender, Kunzite's domain during the Silver Millennium, but there would have been some sort of paper trail. Aside from that was the issue of who Mamoru really was. He called himself Darien, a name that didn't mean anything to Ares. Nothing was making sense and it was incredibly frustrating.
However, one other question plagued him, a question that Luna inadvertently raised some months ago. She mentioned she lived with Rei and not Usagi because Rei needed her more. She avoided the subject whenever it was raised and consistently played down Ares' suspicions with casual dismissal. However, one night Ares was awakened by a sound: nothing.
One night just a few weeks ago Ares awoke, picked his head off the blue pillow that he slept on at the foot of Rei's bed and noticed that she wasn't there. How she managed to slip out of the room without waking him up was enough of a mystery. Where she had gone was the greater of the two. He glanced around the room to see that Luna was also absent. The door of the bedroom was closed, but that didn't hinder the supernaturally dexterous canine for long. He managed to work the knob almost silently and soon the door was open.
The house was dark. Rei kept all the curtains drawn even during the day. Ares had come to know that she was a very private person, not introverted, but isolated and sometimes very much alone. She didn't let it show often, but every once in a while he could see the loneliness creep into the corners of her eyes as she sat reading or working on her laptop. Ares padded his way around the house looking for her on the couch, in the kitchen, or even the bathroom. She was nowhere to be found. The car was in the driveway, the front door was locked
That was when he remembered the basement… He had never been down there.
Ares spun around and faced the door down to the basement which stood just a little bit off to the left side in the entryway of the house. He sniffed around the bottom of the door, but could detect nothing. He heard nothing and in the darkness he saw even less. His agile paws sought out the handle. This one was a lever-type doorknob, much easier for him to open. He was careful not to make any noise as he put one paw on the first step. He was afraid the stairs would creak as so many basement steps did, but he was relieved to find them to be made of poured concrete.
He moved swiftly down. The basement was divided into two halves, one of which contained the furnace, washing machine, and clothes drier, the other which was used for storage. His snout pushed between boxes looking for some unnatural scent to guide him, but he found nothing. Clothes were hung from the rafters and there were multitudes of dresses and business suits in garment bags draped over an old sewing machine. He perused a row of shelves detecting the scent of candles, Christmas ornaments, and old paper. Nothing seemed out of place. He was about to return upstairs when a peculiar glint caught his eye.
At the opposite end of the basement from the furnace was another door. It looked old and cobbled-together, not like the rest of the house. The door was made of wooden slats painted a hasty white and it was held shut by a pivoting block of wood. There was light coming from behind the surprisingly well-fitted seams. Ares approached the door, but a shadow, so faint as to nearly be invisible, halted him. It was Luna; she was somewhere in the room. He couldn't be sure if she had spotted him, it was almost pitch black in the basement, but he didn't wait to chance it. He silently turned around and made his way back upstairs to Rei's bedroom and shut the door.
Endymion was no coward, neither was Mamoru for that matter, but something within Ares had given him the most intense rush of fear and dread either of them had ever experienced. He couldn't sleep the rest of the night and only managed to doze off just as the sun came up. When he awoke Rei was climbing out of bed, stretching and yawning as though she had been there all night.
Luna did not speak of the incident to Ares and for several weeks in a row there was nothing out of the ordinary to disrupt their routine; until tonight.
Ares awoke again with a start. The bedroom was empty. Rei was not in bed and Luna was not there either. With practiced grace Ares opened the bedroom door and made his way down the hall to the basement door. He had told Luna he didn't appreciate secrets and tonight it was going to come to a head. He had no quarrel with his old feline friend, but the air needed clearing. He had a very clear idea of what Luna was up to: she was trying to awaken Rei's dormant memories from her past life and didn't want to get anyone's hopes up that she would be successful. It was a decent supposition, and more importantly it was hopeful. He reached the basement door and lifted a paw to the handle. He pulled down, but door didn't budge.
A deadbolt had been installed on the door.
He couldn't help but let out a small, instinctive, animalistic growl.
Zoisite finally had a day off after what felt like months.
Actually, it was months.
He meandered his way through the shopping mall, one hand in his pocket clutching his wallet for all it was worth lest he be pick-pocketed (one of his baseless fears from watching too much reality television), the other holding a beverage that he was currently loudly slurping; a sickeningly sweet frozen mocha concoction with a double espresso shot and a frothy head of whipped cream. Normally he would have gone for something a bit more refined, but he was indulging himself. His vision wandered to severely overpriced boutique stores and the ever-popular perfume cart, but he forced himself to walk on.
He eventually made his way to Borders which was where he tended to do the majority of his shopping. Zoisite consumed media at a ravenous pace far greater than the perpetually plugged-in Jadeite could even hope to achieve. Zoi was a voracious collector of DVD's, CD's, magazines, and books. He didn't derive enjoyment out of many of them, he just liked having them. They looked good filling up shelves and he would always be ready to entertain anyone he happened to bring home… his face fell. Now where the hell did that come from?
He sauntered through the aisles looking at nothing until he came to the sitting area where there was a display set up promoting books about various hobbies. Apparently Borders was having something of a "hobby month" and there were plenty of introductory and how-to guides on sale covering everything from stamp collecting, gardening, and aquariums to woodworking and Chia-Pets. A large, colorful, coffee-table sized book caught his eye. He chuckled at the title of "Practical Mineralogy – A Rocking Hobby." He reached for it.
His hand brushed against another and an electric charge shot through him. His brain shrieked "Mercury!" but his lips shouted "Ami!"
The young woman didn't even flinch at Zoisite's outburst. She pulled her hand back and nodded at him in vague recognition.
"Ami, hello!" Zoisite greeted again, trying to play down the odd looks he was getting from everyone else in the store who were surprised by his shout.
"Hello." She replied politely and that was all.
"You probably don't remember me." He said and extended his hand, "I'm Zoisite."
"From the Four Kings restaurant." Ami returned, "I remember."
"Right. Yes." Zoisite answered. Ami wasn't even registering an emotion on her face, it was amazing. Zoisite suddenly felt terribly awkward which was strange for such an extrovert as him, "Fancy running into you here."
Ami only nodded and didn't vocalize a reply. Zoisite fumbled again for something to say. He was not attempting to impress her or anything; he was just trying to hold a conversation. It was devilishly impossible with Ami. She seemed to have a numbing effect on him by her quiet and somewhat blasé manner.
"So." Zoisite stalled, "Reading up on rocks, huh?"
"Looks like you are, too." She returned.
"Not really, just browsing." Zoisite laughed unsteadily, "Just looking to look, you know, Gemini personality. I bounce from one thing to the next."
"I see." She replied and picked up the book that started this, "You don't mind, do you?"
"Oh no, of course not!" Zoisite acquiesced and scratched the back of his head, "It's all yours."
"Thanks." Ami replied. She looked like she was about to leave.
Zoisite stepped in front of her awkwardly and asked, "I don't, um… suppose you could recommend something?"
"What do you mean?" Ami asked with a hint of incredulity.
"Something to keep the old noggin working." Zoisite answered and inwardly cringed. Noggin? He was talking like Kunzite did to Usagi…
Ami took one cursory glance at the table and picked up the thickest book there was. She presented it to Zoisite with a placatory smile, "Try this one."
With that she walked away. Zoisite felt strangely angry, but he couldn't place what, if anything he was angry at. He assumed it was anger at himself for completely failing in a meaningful social interaction, but he shrugged it off. He almost set the book down without looking at it, but he noticed the title "Amateur Astronomy" and felt a cold shiver. He ducked into an aisle so as not to be seen and he unsteadily opened the book to the index. A flood of anxiety hit him and he followed the index to the page labeled "Mercury."
There was nothing there.
He let out a weary sigh and followed it up with a disbelieving chuckle. To think something so ridiculous… that she would know what nobody else know and leave Zoisite a secret trail of breadcrumbs to follow. He felt a peculiar, empty pain in his chest when he realized that wasn't the case. Something within him actually was yearning for the fantasy. He looked over the edge of the counter but could not see the aqua-tinged hair of the young woman anywhere in the store.
He walked out of the aisle and set the astronomy book back down on the table. He saw that the large coffee-table book "Practical Mineralogy" was back in its cradle. He looked around again, but saw no sign of Ami. Against his better judgment he picked up the book and flipped through it. It was arranged alphabetically so he turned to near the very end. He paged to the entry on a bright yellow crystal called 'zoisite.' There, inside the white space of the letter 'o' was drawn in almost invisibly small pen strokes, a tiny smiley face.
: )