Blueeyedevil06 thank you for being my beta
Chapter 42 - Date Night
It was Friday night and Nephrite was elated. There hadn't been another youma attack that week, and he was walking hand in hand through the park with Lita after a wonderful dinner. He had gotten his wish. Beryl and her minions hadn't put a damper on his time with Lita.
He noticed Lita freeze in place, and he stopped to look back at her. "What's wrong?"
"How good are your acting skills?" was her only reply.
"Why?"
"We are about to cross paths with Rui and Masato Sanjoin. Pretend you don't want to kill him."
He tried to hide his confusion when, all of a sudden, the other couple stepped under a light, and he was able to see them. Then it was his horror he was trying to hide as he saw Rui walking hand in hand with Dark General Sapphire. "I can't do this." he hissed.
She grimaced and said, "You don't have a choice."
Dammit, he was furious with the Dark Kingdom. They were messing up his date after all.
He leveled a look at Sapphire as the girls hugged. He decided to play this as the protective guy type. That would make it easier to hide how much he wanted the guy dead. He said, "So, if you hurt her, I'll kill you, and I'll have lots of back up." He had to admit that didn't sound very close to Lita's advice of trying to sound like he didn't want to kill him.
Sapphire responded, "You have nothing to worry about from me. She is amazing."
That was not what Nephrite expected or believed. "I've heard that line before."
"It isn't a line." Sapphire huffed, "She's everything I need. She is like a pure light in the darkness."
Nephrite scowled. No way. No way, did he believe Sapphire. If Rui cried, Lita would cry, and that he couldn't tolerate. He had to put a stop to this. He said, "You should come to my friends' place with us all tonight. They would really like to meet you." And, he added to himself, then they could kill him. Hopefully, they just wouldn't get anything on the walls.
Much to his chagrin, they were not able to go to the penthouse. Rui had made some odd excuse. He chuckled that she knew enough to be careful of their secret but not enough to keep from dating the bad guy.
He knew his night wasn't going to end up with LIta in his arms now. They watched Rui's house as Sapphire dropped her off and kissed her at the front door. He cut Lita a look and said, "Don't even say it. A kiss from him can't be hot." He heard her sigh.
Once they watched him drive away, they walked up to Rui's door and knocked. She was startled that they were there, but she let them in.
Lita looked at her with teary eyes and said, "We need to talk."
"Shoot, is he married? Do you know him, and he's a cheater?" Rui looked heartbroken.
Nephrite looked at Lita, and she had started to cry. He knew the next time he saw Sapphire, he would kill him, slowly.
Lita shook her head and said, "It's worse? Yea, worse. He is the Dark General we just faced. He told us his name is Sapphire."
"He's evil? But, he talks about my light." she sounded very small.
Lita said, "Light chases away evil. Maybe it gives him a new feeling. I don't know what to say."
"But, he said he was falling for me." Rui wept into Lita's shoulder.
Lita held her and said, "I don't know what to tell you. He might be telling you the truth. He also wants to kill us all."
"I'll break up with him." She pulled out her phone.
Nephrite grabbed it, "I am not asking you to talk to him. Just don't tell him yet. The wedding is tomorrow, and we don't want to risk angering him. Do it for Serena."
Rui nodded, "I'll wait to end things with him. Should I wait and give them a bit of a honeymoon?"
Nephrite rolled his eyes, "We all know Serena wouldn't want you to hold off and torture yourself. She would be furious when she found out."
"When?"
"Surely we aren't telling them until after the wedding." he said.
Lita kissed him on the cheek, "But, you were willing to take them to the penthouse?"
"It would have been solved then." he said. He heard Rui sniffle and he said, "Sorry, that wasn't what I meant to say." he mentally added "out loud."
Lita looked at Nephrite and said, "I'm staying here with her tonight. She won't want to be on her own."
He nodded and agreed. He knew after her being possessed by the dark energy that came from Beryl, she would struggle to know the man she cared about was a part of that very thing. Stupid Dark Kingdom. He had plans for Lita that night.
He knocked on Kunzite's door a short time later, and he answered with a gruff, "What the hell are you doing here?"
Nephrite smiled. It wasn't only his evening that was going to be messed up. "I am reporting to you, boss. I know Sapphire's alias."
Mina appeared behind Kunzite and she said, "Sapphire has an alias?"
He replied, "Yup, and as soon as I say it, I bet you will let me in. Masato Sanjoin."
Kunzite opened the door to let Nephrite in, "Shit! That fucker is messing with Rui?"
"She says that he told her he was falling for her and that she was his light. Whatever the truth is on his end, she's brokenhearted. She was falling for him. You saw her talk about him at lunch all week. Hell, she asked Mina if he could be her soulmate. Lita is there right now comforting her as she cries."
They all sat down on the couches in the living room. Nephrite continued, "We ran into them on our walk this evening after dinner. I tried to invite him back to the penthouse. I knew we could destroy him there. He didn't seem to recognize us. He said he had to get home and couldn't go. We waited in the bushes at Rui's house like stalkers and waited for him to drop her off. Once he did, we told her who he was. She agreed to wait to tell him it was over until Sunday. We wanted to give Darien and Serena some time to get married. She would have waited longer. You know how she would do anything for Serena."
Mina nodded, "It is also the only way Serena will accept us not doing anything about it right away. Even she will agree that she should be given her wedding day."
Kunzite had grown quiet. He had been thinking of a previous conversation with Mina. "Wait, what if he really meant that she was his light?"
"I don't understand." Mina said.
"That blue haze was bothering me ever since Serena mentioned it. Raye even said it gave her a bad feeling. What if she really is his light? What if he is under Beryl's thrall or someone else's?" Kunzite turned to Mina. "You told me she has all of the signs of finding her soulmate. I have too much trust in your abilities to discount what you said just because it happens to be Sapphire."
Mina's eyes grew large, "You think he is possessed like Rui was? But, she acted so differently."
Kunzite shrugged, "I just can't get myself to write off what you said. I told you. I have too much respect for you and your abilities."
Mina blushed, and said, "Okay, next time we fight him, I need to actually look to see if he is her soulmate. What should we tell her?"
Nephrite said, "I think we should leave it as it is for now. We don't want her to suffer for no reason, but we don't know we are right."
"I'm ninety five perscent sure he is her soulmate. I told you Mina isn't wrong about these things."
"But, even she said she would have to look to make sure."
"That is where the other five percent is. I think things just got a hell of a lot more complicated. We can't kill someone who isn't evil. Serena will have to save him." Kunzite sighed. "And, it's my job to tell Darien. He's going to be pissed that she has to put herself in danger."
Mina said, "At least he's not the type to kill the messenger."
"Let's wait and see first. I am about to have to tell him on Sunday about all of this, and by then, she will be his wife. Tell me that is going to go well."
Nephrite's eyes grew large, "Never, for one moment, did I begrudge you the fact that you are in charge. But, right now, I am ecstatic."
Kunzite stood, "Let's go talk to Rui. She should know everything that is going on."
They arrived at Rui's house late in the evening, and a very puzzled Lita answered the door. "What are you all doing here so late."
Mina beamed at Lita and said, "We have a theory and Rui needs to hear it."
Kunzite said, "I will be telling this theory. It's mine."
They all went in to find a crying Rui. Mina and Lita sat next to her and hugged her.
Kunzite decided he should just tell the facts, "Rui, I think it's possible that he is actually in love with you, and you are his soulmate. I also think he may need to be saved from Beryl." And if he was wrong, he wanted to make sure that telling her was on him, and not Mina.
Rui's head snapped up, "What? You think⦠What?"
"I think that you are his light. I think he is taken over by evil energy. Serena and Raye both noticed he had that blueish haze, remember?"
She just nodded.
He continued, "I am going to talk to Serena and Darien Sunday. You know that Serena would want to save him, especially for you."
Rui asked, "Are you sure?"
Kunzite looked her in the eye, "I trust Mina's assessment of what you are going through. Before we heard this, she said it could only be soulmates. The others have doubts, but I don't. I believe we will find this haze, that Raye said gave her a bad feeling, is the result of a malevolent act against him."
"So, there's hope? I know. I know that, if it is between any of you and him, that you will kill him. But," she looked Kunzite in the eye, "You know what it feels like to find a soulmate."
"And, so does Serena. Trust us." he replied.
She nodded, "I will."
Kunzite rubbed his hands over his face. He knew he had a lot to back up now. He also knew he would be Serena's shield through all of this. He wouldn't ask Darien to put her at risk and then step back. His life was now on the line.
