*

* * *

Soft light feathered in from the windows, lightly dusting Ebony's soft features and gracing Diamond's silver hair.

Rolling over, Ebony gently rested on Diamond's chest, feeling the heave of every movement, every breath propelling from his sensuous mouth.

"Today's the day, Ebony." He said, sighing with laziness.

She said nothing, but took hold of his hand.

"I know…" she finally spoke.

There was an extended silence for a few moments.

"Are you scared?" he asked softly.

"No! I'm fine! I just want to teach the old bag that I know what I'm doing and that I have more strength than she could ever dream!" she retorted, but grew quiet once again.

"You know, Ebony, it doesn't make you weak if you're afraid." Diamond cooed, brushing the strands of hair from her paled face.

"Then what does it make you, Diamond? If not weak, then what? Cowardly? How nice." She bit her lip.

The prince took her face into his hands and kissed her gently.

"It doesn't make you any of that." Stroking her cheek tenderly. "It doesn't mean anything except you're nervous about new experiences. It okay…"

"You can say that…" she looked away.

"What do you mean?" he inquired, concerned.

"You are so strong… you haven't struggled with anything as long as I've known you… a few days… but enough… Somehow, you know how everything works and even if you don't, you aren't hesitant at all." Ebony took a deep breath, then let it out with a windy sigh.

Diamond smiled.

"Sweet Ebony. I doubt Sapphire has left you uninformed about my past- don't worry. I knew he would eventually tell you. He's good at knowing when to speak, though I never credited him for it before." He smiled sheepishly.

"But he doesn't know all, not my emotions, not my…" Diamond trembled fiercely, though he didn't know why. "I have been scared; confused in situations that I don't know what I'm feeling."

"Like what." She scoffed sardonically, only to be stared at solemnly in the eyes by her lover.

"You."

"W-wha…?"

"The first time I saw you, I mean the real you, not the childish body you were trapped in, but you, I got a feeling that I never felt before. Something about you, Ebony. It baffled me, and it scared me, I guess. Oh, I don't know. But your voice, your eyes, God knows how I love your eyes, but how they scared me. I saw something in them that I- I didn't understand. I had never felt that tight knot in my stomach and yet such a flowy feeling, not at anyone. And never had I wanted someone so much… your body and… I don't know what… It made me think."

Touching her cheek and lips lightly, he smiled.

"But it was only that I was unfamiliar. Not that I was truly a coward."

Ebony reached to caress his hand, the beautiful hand which touched her so timidly, yet with too much flame.

"This conversation kinda drifted… but I like the direction it's going in…" she grinned.

"What I'm trying to say is, Ebony… or, what I was trying to say…" Diamond blushed, having lost his train of thought.

Ebony giggled.

"Sometimes you have to bear with the fear, and don't ever mistake it for weakness. Had I not given into the curiosity of my fear, I don't think I would have ever… fallen… so –so… deeply…" he shut his mouth, trying to stop the quivering of his jaw. However, if he had completely covered that up, she still would have seen the tears that made his eyes blurry, yearning to fall, but abstaining nonetheless.

Ebony saw his darkened eyes sparkle with emotion. Her eyes, in return blurred up as well, and she felt her heart leap.

"Diamond…" she bit her lip.

"Ebony, I…" Their voices kept getting lower and lower every time one of them said something, Diamond's voice now only raised a bit above a whisper.

There came a knock at the door.

Diamond groaned, even more upset by Ebony's saddened sigh, disappointed to not be able to hear more.

"Who is it?" Diamond called, clutching a blanket around his waist and hobbling to the door.

"It's Emerald, Diamond. For respect, I'll stay out here, but I have a message from your brother." She cooed, the tone of her voice upgraded a bit from her melancholy clatter she spoke in the previous day.

"What is the message, Emerald?" he asked patiently, trying only to keep from over-exposing himself. His attempt was failing nevertheless and he heard a muffled giggle from the bed. Looking back, he heard Ebony snort, her face red. He glanced down and did a doubletake to see his backside in full view. Ebony whistled and laughed out loud.

"Uh, heh." Emerald laughed from outside the door. "He said only that I should wake you and we should leave a bit early, since the trip there takes a bit more energy, taking a longer time. We don't want to be late, and the only way to arrive on time is to leave a few hours early. Besides, it is noon." She walked away, the patting of her naked feet echoing through the palace halls.

"What?!?" He squawked. "It's noon?!?" he flipped around to see Ebony's fully exposed body standing up, halfway done making the bed.

Smiling, he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. The blanket that was attempting to cover his fell to the ground in a silken flutter, leaving only skin to skin. He felt her body, warm underneath his and felt the fire come back again.

Ebony back rose of it's own accord, pressing her to him in one swift movement.

"Ohhh.." he moaned, suddenly fully aware of the throbbing desire that pulsed endlessly through his veins.

Ebony stood up straight, pulling softly away, despite her own passion.

"Diamond… we can't… we have to get ready…" she whispered softly, but his hands had already begun to trail up and down her body.

Turning to him, she stared into his narrow but beautiful eyes, noticing once more the hunger that blazed beneath.

"Your hunger grows every day, I swear." She shook her head, laughing.

"It feeds, Ebony, it feeds." He chuckled with a corny response.

"Ah, but why does your body have to be so gorgeous?!?" she sighed, grinning.

"I'm just like that, I guess." He smiled.

Sighing, Ebony took his head in her hands and kissed it with all her might. He joined her within a split second, pulling her so close to him, they felt like one already, though he had not yet entered her.

"Oh!" she cried in surprise, then returned her mouth to his.

They fell onto the bed, not caring that it was late, not caring that Sapphire waited, not caring about anything. Just each other.

* * *

They emerged from the bedroom, dressed in their usual attire. Taking Ebony's hand in his, he continued walking until they reached the kitchen.

The two came upon Sapphire and Emerald, who moved slightly away from each other as to not draw attention when they walked into the room. Sapphire was drinking a mocha, and Emerald had an Ameretto. In unison they looked to Ebony and Diamond, smiled and each took a sip from their coffee. Neither the prince nor his lady noticed the fact that they held hands under the table, softly stroking the palm of one another.

"Good morning." Emerald chimed in a happy tone.

"Well, good morning, Emerald." Ebony grinned. "And you too, Sapphire."

"Hm?" Sapphire looked up and blushed. He had been staring at the green-haired woman with awe and love, not noticing that one had spoken until he heard his name. "Oh, uh, good morning, Ebony. And you too, Diamond." He smiled contentedly.

"Well, good morning to the both of you." Diamond nodded and walked briskly to the faucet, taking a cup from the cabinet and filling it with water. Glancing to Ebony, she smiled and did a quick nod of approval, as he poured her a glass as well.

"You might want to begin teaching Ebony to use some of the Black Crystal's magic, Diamond, in case she needs to convince." Emerald suggested, surprising him.

"Oh! –Uh, yeah, I guess I would need to do that!" he blushed and stifled an embarrassed laugh. "I'm sorry, Ebony. I forgot- I was a bit, uh, heh, distracted." This time Ebony grew red and coughed loudly.

"Yes, well, we all have our distractions." Emerald smirked, glancing swiftly at Sapphire, too quick for the others to catch onto it. "You might choose to do it now, before we have to get going."

"Thank you, Emerald, for reminding me. I wasn't as prepared for this as I thought." Grabbing Ebony's waist, Diamond strolled from the room into the next to begin training her ability.

Sapphire sighed, and Emerald giggled, both leaning into each other in a loose embrace.

"Should we tell them?" Sapphire asked quietly, in case they could hear.

"Nah- let them figure it out for themselves." She simpered, then kissed him lovingly.

In the next room, Diamond held Ebony's hands, thrusting them outwards from her body, though he stood behind her.

"Then, you press your hands out, like this," he demonstrated, "and focus all your energy into an object. Here, try this vase."

She bit her lip, closed her eyes, and her facial features strained for results.

Nothing.

"No, hun, you don't press out your strength, but your emotions. When you get a certain emotion, you can focus on letting it out, like when you get adrenaline. The more emotion you have, the harsher the force from your body will be." She blushed, thinking of something else fitting to the similar description. Diamond recognized the look and smiled lusciously.

"Not that." He grinned, then went back to her training.

"Try thinking of how angry Serenity makes you, how Usagi ignores you and makes you feel insignificant."

A tense posture glazed over her eyes, then her entire face. Her lower lip trembled with the force of her angered face.

"YAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed and thrust energy into the air. The purple lightning-like karma crackled fiercely, crashing into a wall, scorching it black.

Diamond stood, frozen in awe.

"Whoa…" he gulped. "Well, uh, that's good. That's, uh, really good…"

Ebony took a deep breath, and let it out shakily.

"You have a lot of power, Ebony. Much more than even I ranked you as having. And I completely believe in you. Now, all you have to do is center it."

"How do I do that?" she asked, finally catching her breath, though she hadn't breathed for the first few 20 seconds after she threw the energy.

"First thing is, you have to keep a stance about you. Keep tall, outward, chin upward, know that you rank high. This posture will help you regulate your body's natural center. As you expel this, know what you're aiming for and why- what emotion you're trying to express though energy." He explained as she took deep breaths.

She hurled the energy across the room, this time much more concentrated and thick.

"Now, that is how you have to use it. But you can't take breaks to breath in between. You'll have to find a way to re-harness it without taking up so much time. When you use these attacks, you don't have the time to regather. Let's practice a few times to get the hang of it, and you could try a few ways to do this without regrouping…" Diamond went on.

Neo Queen Serenity stood in her conference room with the senshi.

"I need you all to be there." Serenity spoke. "I don't trust him."

The Scouts nodded.

Emerald knocked lightly on the open door to the training room. To her surprise, she found it burnt and scorched with electric flames, dying out.

"I believe we should be on our way, you two." She informed them, slightly altered.

"We'll be out in a moment. Wait for us in the transportation room." Diamond glanced at her, and she smiled in approval, then turned and darted from the door.

Ebony bit her lip slightly in uneasiness.

"Sweetheart…" he crooned, brushing his hand over her soft hair.

"Yes, Diamond?" she looked to him painfully.

"Don't worry. I will protect you with my life." He smiled, and cupped her face in his palm. "And all my heart."

Pulling to him, they joined in a sweet kiss, innocent and reassuring.

Taking her hand, Diamond led her into the mirrored room in which Rubeus had held his missions with the 4 Sisters of Deception. This was their transporting device to go to future or past Tokyo, never failing in destination, though the age of the machine somewhat affected its ability to speed through time as it used to. Sapphire stood patiently while Emerald hoisted herself to a mirror.

They each clambered into one of the mirrors, holding each other's hand.

"Is everyone ready?" Emerald called out, smiling.

"Hold on." Ebony spoke, clearing her throat. "I just want to thank all of you for coming with me and supporting me, and even though I've only known all of you for a few days, you've been the best people in my life in such a long time… and, I just want to thank you all. You don't know what it means to me." She grinned bleakly, stricken with emotion.

Sapphire smiled.

"Ebony, you are such a wonderful person, and we've glad to be helping you." He told her.

"You deserve it." Diamond said in a hushed whisper, and ran his hand lovingly down her arm.

"Thank you- thank you all." She beamed, trying to keep tears of joy from falling down her face.

"You deserve it." Diamond said again, this time quieter than before. Clearing his throat loudly as a change of subject, he spoke. "Now, hold on to each other's hands. Tight. You don't have to cut of the other person's circulation, but I don't want to lose anyone in time. God knows how hard it is to come back."

And with that, they shot off into time.

At the Crystal Palace in Tokyo, the queen sat anxiously on her crystal-framed bed, head in her hands.

"What's the matter, dear Serenity?" Endymion asked kindly, sitting down beside her, after silently making his way to the bed.

"I-I'm kind of nervous… about the meeting with Diamond…" she said hesitantly.

"Why, love?" he questioned with utter gentleness.

"Be-because, Endymion, I… I…" she sighed, in confusion over anxiety.

"You…?" he gestured for her to go on.

"I don't know, really. He used to be in love with me, but it seems as if he's over it, now. I don't know why, because it wasn't too long ago that he saw me and was still trying to win my heart. It's all so sudden, it's mind-boggling. I just can't help think about what might have changed that… something big must have happened, but I can't place my finger on what it might be."

He listened intently, gazing to her twiddling fingers.

"Plus, he does have our daughter." She added.

"Yes… how is that relevant?" Endymion pondered.

"He's a sick and deluded man, a liar, a cheat, a sneaky, evil, conniving man and I just can't begin to think what he could have done with her, having changed so much in the past month or two, and how she is anyway of use to him. What the hell could he be up to- he's not the man who would just help someone out of the goodness of his heart." She scoffed.

"Who knows? Maybe he's a good man inside, just damaged on the outside." He suggested, rubbing her arm in comfort.

"Let's just hope so, Endymion. 'Cause he's got our baby." She let out a whimper.

"It's okay. He won't hurt her. He wouldn't dare." An angry look came into his eyes- a look of hatred, a look of rage- a look of a father towards someone who threatened his little girl.

"I guess you're right. We'll just have to see."

"Don't worry, Serenity. She'll be okay."

"Thank you, Mamo-chan." She grinned childishly and snuggled into his arms.

"That name makes me feel so young- Ah, was I ever that young?" they laughed- it was the only thing they could do to keep from worrying.

So they kept laughing.