Jemmea

I sat in the range waiting for Zero. I was supposed to meet him today, and I was nervous to with my news. His opinion would ultimately affect my decision to go through with this or not. He always looked out for me, and I trusted him more than I trusted myself.

I sat in one of the booths again, my feet up on the chair. I held my ring with the fingers of my other hand as I extended both arms. I twisted the ring slightly back and forth, watching it catch the light.

Zero soon arrived... with a bow and arrows. "I have something different for you today." This change distracted me from my plans.

"Huh?" I replied.

"The weapon of choice of the huntress. I thought we could use a change," Zero replied as he walked around past the booths. I spun around and slid off the other side, going to meet him. I think he must have liked the nickname Orion. "Stand beside me and watch my stance as I take a shot." I obliged. Once he fired, I turned to see him successfully hit bull's-eye with this, too.

He handed me the bow and switched spots with me. "Are you sure I'm even going to be able to pull this back?" I asked.

"Pretty sure," he replied, handing me an arrow. He walked me though knocking the arrow onto the string. "Let me see you get in the stance before you shoot."

I did what I recalled seeing him do. My body was upright, facing him, feet shoulder length apart. "Ok, now keep your arm out straight and pull back to the corner of your mouth," he directed. I turned my head and did just that, but the bow was somewhat hard to pull back. Then I felt a hand under my elbow, guiding it up, and turned to look instinctively when Zero yelled, "Pay attention! You're holding a loaded weapon!"

"Sorry!" I yelped and turned back.

He huffed. "You have to keep this forearm in line with the arrow." So he tells me now. I did, and it was a whole lot easier to pull back.

I took my shot and the arrow skidded across the floor. "Next time take a moment longer to aim before you release, but that wasn't bad for just getting a feel for it."

"You do it again and I'll observe." I handed the bow back to him and he did just that. Watching him was pretty cool. "You're a much better Orion than I am an Artemis," I told him. I was playing with my ring again, which he still hadn't seemed to notice. "Actually, would it be ok if we came back to this? There's something I would like to talk to you about."

He turned to me, narrowing his eyes and lowering the bow as I dropped my hands. "Sure," he replied skeptically.

I nodded my head to the side. "Let's go sit." Zero set the archery equipment down and followed.

I perched myself again on the counter of a booth, and he sat in the nearby chair as I crossed my feet and swung my legs a little. We looked at each other and I bit my lip. "Well, what is it?" he asked.

I was nervous. He probably wouldn't approve, and I wasn't sure what that would mean for me. I didn't know what to say, so I just held my left hand up next to my face, the back facing him. He noticed it. "Really?" he said. I couldn't read him yet, but he wasn't yelling at me, so that was good.

"Yeah," I replied. "What do you think?"

"Well... it's pretty," he replied.

I dropped my hand. "Not that," I retorted. "What do you think about the decision?"

"Why are you asking me?" he returned.

"Because you've always looked out for me," I answered. "I want to know."

He sat back in his chair and slightly flicked his wrists up, not really sure what to say. "Well, I don't know, I don't really know anything about this guy. I mean, I know he's doing this project for you, not for me, and he obviously really likes you, but what do you think of him aside from being a 'cold, cold bastard?'" he recalled.

"I think the world of him," I replied, looking back down at my ring. I realized Zero didn't really know anything about Seto and me. "I met him when I first moved to Domino. I liked him because he let me be. In fact, I think he's the only person I have ever liked when I first met them-"

"You didn't like me?" Zero interrupted.

"What? The first few times I met you, you were taking my cigarettes away and making me go back to my room. Of course I didn't like you," I retaliated. "You did, however, earn my respect when I first met you, which most people will go a lifetime without." He accepted this and I continued to tell him about Seto. "After we met, I had to go back to my father's island, where I ran into Seto again. It turned out he and my father were business rivals, and he had kidnapped Seto's little brother-"

"Your father kidnapped people? Children?" Zero said in disbelief. Zero had never discovered the extent of my father's horridness.

"Yup," I replied, "he did... Anyway, I helped Seto rescue his brother, but he ended up rescuing me from my father. He did pull one stunt that I was quite upset with him for: my dad came looking for me, and Seto knew about it and didn't tell me. Instead, he just kept me close to protect me from my father, so I guess I can't hate him too much for that. And, I mean, apart from that he's really smart, and driven, and so sexy- mmm, as you can imagine, the sex is amaz-"

"Ok, I really don't want to hear about it, and I certainly don't want to imagine it," Zero intervened.

"Right, sorry." I tried to move away from it. "But aside from that, he's always on top of things and knows what he's doing-"

"You are talking in general now, right?" he pleaded.

"Yes, Zero," I responded, stopping myself from adding that it could still fit either context. "I don't know. He makes me happy, and I think I make him happy. I hope so... he's been through a lot."

"Like what?" Zero asked.

I told him about Seto's adoption and taking over the company. "After that, he kept conquering whatever he felt like."

"Including you?" Zero countered.

"Yeah, actually," I confessed. "When he proposed, he said that he wanted to have everything, and he didn't feel like he could have it without me."

"...Well, how do you feel about being a trophy wife?" Zero asked.

"Well, I hadn't thought about it like that-" So I took a moment to think about it. "I suppose I'm fine with it, so long as I'm his trophy wife. He only depends on himself, so he doesn't need to ask me for anything. And I have enough assets that I won't need to depend on him either, which I'll be able to keep because he will no doubt want a prenuptial agreement. I don't care enough about anything to disagree with him on issues. Aside from that, I get to just do whatever I want all day. That really doesn't sound so bad."

I looked to Zero. "Well," he was finally giving his answer, "I wouldn't have recommended it, but that all sounds good."

I smiled. "Thank you, Zero."

"So do you want to get back to shooting?" he asked, not much for these conversations.

"Actually," I replied, "I kind of feel like going to get ice cream. Want to come? We can come back to this after."

He sighed. "I guess."

I hopped down. "Ok, I always go with Mokuba so we'll stop up and see if he wants to come, too." On our way up, I said, "This will be good. I don't think Mokuba really likes you." Zero just looked at me. Right, no one wants to be disliked by a kid. "But it's just because of how Seto feels about you. Mokuba's very protective of Seto, and Seto hates you. Don't take it personally, though, Seto hates everyone, but Mokuba's sweet and rather easy to win over." I thought for another moment, "In fact, the only people Seto doesn't seem to hate are Mokuba and myself, but that might only be because he thinks I'm pretty."

"I think he likes you for more than just that," Zero replied, referring to my hand.

"Well, I hope so," I replied. The elevator doors opened and I walked down to see Mokuba. He was alone in the office when I stuck my head in. "Hey Moka," I said to catch his attention.

He looked up and ran to me, grabbing my hand and looking at it. "It's true! He did it!" Then he hugged me. His hugs were more encompassing now that he was at least as tall as me.

"Yeah, he did. Hey, I was wondering, Zero and I are going to get ice cream. Do you want to come? We can celebrate."

Mokuba still clung to me, but pulled back to look at Zero skeptically. Zero stood back a bit, quiet, with his hands in his pockets. Mokuba agreed a bit hesitantly. I don't think that he knew quite what to think of Zero, but that was partially why I wanted to do this. By the end of this trip I predicted that Moka would come to fully accept Zero, and that would make my life just a little easier. By the time we had each consumed our final lick of ice cream, my prediction had come true.

Next Chapter: Agreement

"Mmm. That reminds me," I answered coolly, "I already have a prenuptial agreement drafted if you want to read it."

"Why yes," she replied sweetly, not offended at all. She knew me well enough to know this is who I was, not that she wasn't a practical person herself. "Let's see what I'm getting myself into."