Chapter 6

(Venus)

After we reached my bedchamber, I sat on my bed; he sat in my comfortable armchair.
"Princess Venus," General Kunzite began.
"Venus," I corrected him automatically. "You may call me Venus."
"All right then, Venus," he said smiling. "I'm Kunzite, simply Kunzite." He stuck out his hand, and I shook it. He was so handsome, with his hair falling into his face.
"Okay, I suppose you're wondering what went on down there," I said, taking a deep breath. He nodded. "Okay that man down there, that was Hogoshi Kou. He's the son of Duke Hogoshi, the King and Queen of the Sun's most loyal advisor. I don't care what or who he is, he's a rude, arrogant pig, and I don't like him at all." Kunzite smiled at that. I smiled wanly back and continued. "He's constantly trying to move in on me. I hate it! It's disgusting. Just today, my parents had come all the way from Venus just to tell me I was to be married to that pig! I tried to argue, but I couldn't! Oh, Kunzite, I don't want to marry him! He's so disgusting! I can only imagine what he'd do to me if I were his wife, and I don't like him, not at all! I don't love him, I never have loved him, and I never will love him. Kunzite, what can I do to tell my parents how I feel?" I concluded, dissolving into sobs.
He was quiet for a moment, but then, to my surprise, he took me in his arms, and held me close. Normally, this would have thrilled me, but I was too upset at the moment. I was glad I had a shoulder to cry on. After about 10 minutes, I lifted my head. "I'm so, so sorry," I stammered. He smiled.
"It's all right," he told me. "I'm glad I've made a friend while I'm here."
I smiled. My friend that's what he called me. "We'd better get back downstairs," I told him. He nodded, and held out his arm for me. I graciously took it, and we walked downstairs together. I did a scan for Kou-san; he was nowhere in sight. I breathed a sigh of relief.
We walked into the ballroom, and I could feel the stairs of my friends on me. I gave them a wan smile; just to let them know I was OK. Another song struck up, and Kunzite held out his arms to me. "A dance?" he asked me, smiling. "No interruptions, this time." I grinned broadly and stepped into his arms. As we slowly moved around the ballroom, I was happy I had accomplished making another friend.

(Mars)

I located Venus and Kunzite now. They had re-entered the ballroom, and Venus looked happy.
Mercury seemed to be enjoying herself, something she hadn't been able to do at balls
for a long time. I nearly stopped moving when I realized, neither had I... I glanced at
the floor.
Jadeite, sensing my thoughts were straying, stopped dancing. "Mars? Is
something wrong?" I looked up, feeling lost, confused and dazed. Nothing like
my usual composed self. Who was I? I wasn't Princess Mars anymore. I was
simply... Mars...
"I- I," I was stammering! "I have not enjoyed myself at a ball ever... not
once in my entire life." Jadeite's eyebrows raised.
"Why is that, do you think?"
"I'm not sure. I've never had a partner before either..." Jadeite looked sincerely
surprised.
"A beautiful girl like you has never had a partner?!" He realized what he had
said, and then promptly hit himself on the head. "Forgive me, Mars," he said finally,
after he had been glaring at the floor for awhile. "But I find it hard to believe you've never
had a partner before..." I decided to forgive his outburst. It was concern for a friend,
surely not... He looked up at me and smiled again.
It was not the easy smiles he had broken into before. It was an awkward "I've
said something stupid, please forgive me" kind of smile. I didn't know how to
return that, so I simply nodded.
"Would you like a drink, Jadeite?" I asked. He nodded. I turned and headed
for the table that held the drinks. I didn't see him stand there a second or
two, looking after me, and looking furious with himself. Then he followed.

(Mercury)

"General Zoisite, I believe that I need a rest from all this dancing." I smiled up at the blond haired, blue eyed general.
"Please, Princess Mercury, just call me Zoisite." He said, returning my smile.
"Then if I'm to call you Zoisite you are to call me Mercury, not Princess or Princess Mercury or Guardian Mercury, just Mercury." I told him, pretending to be mad. He took my hand and gave it a quick kiss.
"Then, Mercury, will you dance with me?"
"Again?
"Yes."
"I'd be happy to General Zoisite." He spun me around the dance floor, one of my hands held in his and the other on his shoulder. I could only feel happy, all the pain from my father's words and all my hate toward my friend's parents went to the back of my mind as he spun me around the floor. When the song ended we went on to a slow song. This time he pulled me closer then before, and I could feel his breath on my head. I rested my head against his shoulder and sighed. When the song was over we pulled apart.
"Mercury, if I wanted to find you tonight where would I look?" Zoisite asked, he sounded as if he was making sure it didn't sound like he wanted to be improper, but just to talk.
"The hall next to yours, the door with the sign of Mercury on it."
"Thank you, but for now, I hope we can dance again?" Zoisite asked, eyes shinning.
"Yes General." I said with a smile.
"Then Princess would you like a drink as of this moment?" I nodded and we each picked up a drink. This night might have turned out better then I thought.

(Jupiter)

I flipped on the lights. "Here's your room, General." I said.
"Nephrite!" he exclaimed. "Call me Nephrite!"
"Alright. I will this time, but only if you call me Jupiter." I said, smiling.
"Sure, but where's your room?" he asked. "I would like to see it..."
I shrugged. "Whatever you want... my room's this way." he followed me down the long stone corridor, and up a spiraling staircase, to the guardians' floor. I pushed open the door with the green symbol of Jupiter on it.
"Wow." Nephrite said to me. "Your room is very beautiful."
"Thank you, I'm rather proud of it..." I said, blushing. I was really quite proud of my room. The walls were a shade of forest green, of course. My billowing curtains by the window were a shade of light gray, and the same with my bedcover. I had several small paintings on the wall done by a court artist. Most of them were of the forest, and I had a picture over my bed of a storm in its full rage. There was a door near the back of my room, a glass one, that led out to a balcony. His room had a small balcony also, as it turned out later, directly below mine. My ceiling was a stormy gray.
He walked around, marveling at the paintings. I felt rather uncomfortable, like I was baring my soul to a stranger. I picked up my cat, Callisto, and petted her nervously. While he was walking around, he was so absorbed in the murals that he nearly tripped over my dog, Europa. He avoided her just in time, and it surprised me, but instead of growling, like she does at normal intruders, she jumped around excitedly, and tried to lick his face. "Wow, Europa likes you!" I said, taken aback.
"What, she's not like this all the time?" he asked, trying to avoid my dog's crazy leaps for his face.
"Of course not, she usually ends up tearing strangers' pant legs!" I said, laughing.
"Well, she's gonna break my nose if she keeps this up!" he said, still dodging, but laughing at the same time at his funny predicament. Laughter is contagious, especially with me, because soon, I was laughing so hard I was crying.
"Europa, c'mere!" I called. She jumped up on my bed next to me, and lay down.
"Well," I said, between laughs, "I think it's time for us to get back to the ball. They're gonna think we fell off a cliff!" I said, my laughter subdued.
"Perhaps we should let them believe that..." he said.
"Nah... Anyway, I'm starved. You can try some of my cooking." I said, and smiled.
"You cook... when's your birthday?" he asked.
"December 5th. Why?" I asked. He ushered me out on the balcony.
"Let's see, it's late November... it should be in the sky..." he said, pondering. His eyes searched the sky. I stared at him, confused. "Aha!" he exclaimed. "Right there!" he pointed up into the sky. "See that pattern of stars? The one I'm pointing to? No, the other one. That's it!" At this point, I was very close to him, as to try and see from his point of view.
"What's that?" I asked, confused about what he was trying to show me.
"That is Sagittarius. The constellation you were born under. It stands for expansion, travel, and learning new things. It also has a very close connection to food. That's what got me wondering when you told me you cooked."
"ohhh..." I said. Lights were starting to go on in my head, as I realized his purpose of showing me. The both of us suddenly realized how close we were, and took a step back. I blushed.
"Well, I believe we should get back to the ball, Nephrite, before they send out a search party." I said.
"Sounds good to me, Jupiter." he said. He was the only one, except for the other guardians and my father and brothers, to call me Jupiter. Only Jupiter. We returned to the ball, and I saw Venus and General Kunzite dancing, along with the rest of the senshi with the general they were appointed to. Nephrite must have noticed also. "Care to dance?" he asked. I didn't reply, just slipped into his arms, and we danced.