Ami trembled as she held the pillow as firmly as possible over her face. She did not care if she cut all the oxygen off; right now the only that mattered was that she did no see anything that was any way connected to human hygiene. Ami knew she was blushing, her entire body was hot.
The blush had started from the tip of her delicate toes to the tip of her roots. The hands, which were holding the pillow, were even a deeper color of red than before. Ami just new she was going to break out into a rash next, which was what had happened when she was a child.
Zavier blinked at the spot on his bed which he new Ami was seated on. The large pillows he had seated on his bed covered her entire form. He preferred the larger body pillows to snuggle into ever since he had lost his other source of heat in the night so long ago.
Ami heard the sounds of him moving and prayed that it was to get some clothes on. For his life he had better be putting close on. If she saw anything…Ami felt her skin grow hotter. Ami slowly began to regulate her breathing. Actually that was all she was thinking about. In and out, in and out, if she let her thoughts wonder she was going to faint. Ami had ever been more mortified in her life.
Zavier pulled the shirt over his head and tried not to laugh. Her hands had brightened considerable, which meant that her thoughts had wondered. He bit the inside of his mouth to keep from laughing. It was probably very funny to him, but she would probably kill him while him while he slept if he so much as smiled.
" Ami what are you doing in here?" Zavier questioned. He walked over and removed the pillow. Her red cheek clashed with her dark head of hair and her eyes were bright with embarrassment. Ami groaned and buried her head in the bed.
" Igroofphed."
Zavier blinked and pressed his lips together to keep from laughing again. Really she was the cutest thing.
" Repeat that?"
" I don't know." Ami all but screamed. Her eyes widened when she realized that she had about bit his head off. Ami groaned and buried her head in her hands again.
At that Zavier did laugh. He really could not help it. He had been fighting laughter since she had screamed at him. It was all too much like so long ago he about died when he had walked in. But she had completely ruined the effect when screamed and grabbed the pillow.
Ami looked up at him in complete shock. Her eyes were wide with absolute shock. He was laughing? The…the…MAN!
" What, may I ask, sir," Ami threw as much sarcasm as she dared into that word, " is so funny?"
" There are lots of things that I could say and most of them would cause you to turn tomato again. Then you would never be comfortable around me again, and frankly I am not willing to risk it." Zavier informed her his voice still colored with laughter.
" Really? Like what?" Ami challenged. It startled her to hear it comes out of her mouth, but she realized that she wanted, no, needed to hear the answer. Something needed that answer and well…she was going to get it.
" Huh?" Zavier said looking dumbfounded. Was his shy Ami taking the situation into her hands? He had to remember that this was Ami and not Athena. Athena would have strangled herself before she let something like that out.
" You heard me." Ami told him in a candid tone. She had absolutely no idea where this spout of confidence came from, but she would use it while it lasted. Though she might have a slight blushing problem from now on in the presence of this man, but at least she would know that she caused it, and not him. It would, perhaps, make it bearable.
" Ami," Zavier mummered his voice soft, but still insistent, " you know that this will open up doors, and I need to be absolutely sure you want to open them?" Zavier mummered.
" Zavier," Ami whispered, because the look in his green eyes took her breath away, " I am sure. I need to know."
Zavier nodded and ran a hand through his hair. How did he start this? " The first time I met Athena there was really no attraction. I mean I was too worried about the woman who was trying to bleed to death on me. Head wounds, as you know, bleed far too much for anyone's sense of mind. I had to use my gift of healing in the end."
Ami watched him pace and slowly it dawned on her what was going on. She was aware that she was the one who had opened the door, she just prayed she was ready for the consequences that it was going to bring.
" It was not till later that I realized that I was falling for her. But she was so painfully shy, far worse that you and it was difficult to be in the same room with her. She would see me enter and leave as fast as possible. She always had the most obvious reason to leave, and I began to wonder if I was imaging things. But slowly I began to notice that she watched me, and other things became apparent. It was not till I was injured that she admitted that she was falling and it scarred her silly. Two years later we uh…lets see how to phrase this…bonded."
Ami looked at him blankly and he shook his head. " I don't think I need to explain that, and right now I am not willing." His tone was firm and Ami did not feel up to arguing.
" And then she died." His voice went horse and she could tell it was hard for to talk about it. " I spent years locked up in the library. I hardly ever saw anyone. It was until Serena came in and yelled at me and gave me the sternest talking down I have ever had. She put my mother to shame." His eyes flickered with amusement.
" And then, after four thousand years, you show up. At first I think I loved you because of what you were in the past. In my heart you were Athena. And then subtle things began to make themselves known. In so many ways you were she. It was so uncanny it was real. But then certain expressions were different. Subtle things had changed. And then I realized it was not Athena I was in love with, it was Ami."
Ami gaped at him. Of all the things she had thought he was going to say, that was not quite one of them. She would have said something, except she had no voice.
" You were so different than her. You refused to kill anyone and hated the idea even though it would and will be the only way to survive. You hated the fact that it was the only means to which you would live. Athena never really minded killing for Serenity. If it was the only way she would live, then by all means she would. Those little things made you very dear to my heart." Zavier turned and looked her square in the eye.
" So Ami," he questioned his eyes boring into her with an intensity that shook her to her soul. " Is that what you wanted to know? And if it is, what are you going to do with it?" Ami's eyes widened and she starred at him.
" The ball is in your court Ami. Now do you drive in and shoot or do you pass?"
~*~
Minako shifted her stance and glowered at the man in front of her. Glowered as much as she could without looking absolutely ridiculous. Since the mud in her hair was drying and it was caking to her face, she knew that was about as close to possible as pigs flying out of her butt.
She heard Makoto grumbling about irritating men and that she wanted a hot bath and dead bodies and she was going to kick some ass if they did not do something soon. Minako had to work at it but she kept her self from laughing. If she laughed then she was going to cry from exhaustion and she had absolutely no intention of doing that.
" What the hell do you want?" Minako snapped her tone very irritated but Minako had no energy to curb the tone to something less…harsh.
" I believe that the question is what do you want Minako?" the silver eyes man mummered in a tone that still held that same rustic quality that she was finding attractive. Minako felt her temper rise.
" What I want? Well, I will tell you what the hell I want. I want fang boys to buzz of and leave me alone. I want my mother back, but she is dead. I want to know what the hell is going on. I want to know why you, or someone, who looks a hell of a lot like you, keep coming up in my dreams. I want a lot buddy and I am seriously about to loose my top." Minako growled in a tone that was dangerous with out being loud. Her eyes had not lost a hint of the furious gold that marked her temper, nor had her expressions lost their icy fury.
" Follow us and everything will be explained." He mummered.
" Like hell I will follow you. For all I know I will walk into a blood donning session and I am the snack in between!"
" Do you really believe that I would eat you?"
" Have you given me anything that would prove that you would not? Your timing here was almost to perfect." Minako bit back. She felt Makoto flank her and heard the whooshing of her Bo.
His silver eyes were thoughtful, if you can consider flint thoughtful, and she would have sworn that his lips twitched. " You are right. I have offered you nothing." He walked forward and she heard Makoto flinch and suck in a breath of air. He placed a dagger in her hand and brought it to his throat.
" If you do not believe me, then go ahead and slit my throat. But if you want the answers to the questions that you offer to me, then I would come. The princess is where I am. Trust me Minako."
Minako looked into his eyes as if she was trying to read his soul. He starred back unflinching even when she brought the knife closer to his throat in his warning. If he so much as breathed wrong then he would have to have a fast acting bandage or his would die.
Minako lowered the knife, but the look in her eye was wary. " If you so much as move a pinky toe I will remove it, do you understand? I have gone through to much these past two weeks to but up with any monkey business."
He nodded and his face relaxed to where she thought he was going to smile. Minako was disappointed though, because a split second later it was back into his mask.
" By the way my name is Kris." His silver eyes showed some amusement, as if he was letting her into an inside joke, and she cocked a brow at him.
" Well, Kris, are we going to stand here all day or are we going to get to back in the sun and allow all this mud to be a permanent resident on my person?"
A soft chuckle rang from behind Kris and the tallest man stepped out of the shadows. Minako had known he was there only because she had seen him move into the trees. His chocolate brown eyes locked on Makoto and stayed. Turning Minako watched in fascination as a soft blush crept into her friend's cheeks. It went as quickly as it came though, and Minako was left wondering if she had imagined it.
The man, who Kris told her in a low voice was Nathan, turned on his heal suddenly and motioned for them to follow. Minako had a sudden urge to smack him. Minako watched his back closely and noticed his shoulders were slightly shacking. He had better hope, for his life, that he was not laughing and that Makoto did not notice.
Minako tried to keep up with where she was going, but in her personal opinion a tree was a tree. They all had bark, leaves, and things she would rather not think about living in them. The sound of the forest coming alive in the dewy dawn was beautiful and Minako enjoyed every bit of it. The way the air was crisp and clean and how it was easy to breathe in and out, but the part that was the best was that it gave a clear message, you made it another day.
Makoto trudged on behind her best friend but her thoughts were no where near as complacent as Minako's. She knew her friend trusted this guy, Kris, and that she was going to go with him because of that instinctive trust. Well she had no such ideas, and she was going to kick his butt if he so much as moved a step wrong.
She refused to allow anything to happen to Minako. She may one day be loyal to some princess, if what everyone had been telling her was true, but until then she would protect Minako with every ounce of her body. Hell, even if she did swear absolute loyalty she would still never allow anything to Minako.
Makoto was not stupid, she knew that Minako had a iron in her that was shockingly hidden by a sweet façade of innocence, but there was no way in hell she was every going to see her as anything but the smiling child she was. It was impossible. She had known Minako as Minako to let anything, even her past persona, change that. If being a soldier meant that Minako had to become hard, hell to that idea.
Makoto glared into the back of the tall man in front of her. She also found much to her surprise that she could tell the skill of people just by watching how people moved. The silver haired man was WAY out of her league, but somehow she knew that the brunette that was laughing at her, he would get his ass kicked for that, was more in her league.
Makoto looked up and pursed her lips as they moved into a castle. Her skin tingled as she walked through a barrier that was completely of magic. Show time.
~*~
Rei starred out of the window and prayed that something would come up. Jason was coming toward him, she could feel him somehow, and she did not want to be cornered with him, not yet anyway. Rei felt like she needed time to figure out her feelings, and being around him only managed to confuse her. Either that or it caused her to become so pissed off she lost all rational thought. Both reactions that left her with no answers.
She knew that he wanted to talk to her. It was a feeling, some of it coming from the back of her head, and she just needed time. She knew why he was doing it, he was worried about something and it scarred her.
So when the gates opened and two mud covered figures rambled in, both looking tired but very curious, Rei had all the excuse she could need.
" MIKO! MAKO! YOU ARE ALIVE!" Rei screamed at the top of her lungs before running in a head long decent, that if she had 1/10 of Serenity's past clumsiness, would have sent her head first down the stairs, toward her friends that she had thought were gone forever. Tears welled up in her sparkling violet eyes. She dove into their waiting arms and laughed through the sounds of her and their tears. They were home.
~*~
Serenity watched from the balcony and smiled gently down at the sight. All she needed was Ami to come trudging and she would have the Senshi in the same room again for the first time in four thousand years. Life was good.
But it was going to get bad very fast. She could feel Beryl's hatred building like a black hole, and like that destructive force, wanting to destroy all she had worked to achieve.
Wrapping a delicate hand around the crystal and the other hand clenched into a fist, she vowed to never be separated from those four that she loved. She would win, and have kids, and live forever with the four best friends she had ever had. Now just how to get there?
