Sailor Moon is not mine (Hide an application for the rights behind back) I'm not going to steal it!! (Looks guilty)

Chapter three

Idiotic Notions

By Saki Midnight

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                On earth, a young man gazed up into the sky intently.

"Something's happened." He said, shaking his dark curls out of his face.

"What?" His companion asked, glancing up from his whittling. He was sat against a tree, while his friend stood.

"Something has changed." He said again. The other youth stood up and came to his side. "We should-"

A cry ripped through the air. The blond shared a look with him. "Not again!" He yelled in despair and they both shot off into the trees. The two ran fast, so fast that it looked like they weren't human. They emerged from a line of trees moments later, breathless. Their gaze fell upon a two other young men, wrestling another to the ground.

"No! He's hurt, let me help!" The boy said, struggling against his captors. "Let me go to him!"

"Don't just stand there!" One of them cried to the two at the edge of the clearing. His silver blond hair glinted in the sunlight as the tie fell out of it. "Stop fighting me!" He shouted, and gave the boy a light backhanded crack across the cheek. He stopped for a minute, then began to resist again. "Neph!"

The curly haired teen jumped to action. He crossed the space of grass in a few strides. As he got closer he realised something.

"Where are his gloves?" He yelled in panic. "Zoi, Where are they?"

"Here!" the blond called, rushing towards them. Slowly, the thrashing subsided, and the boy stopped struggling. His eyes closed, and he fell unconscious. The silver haired teen levered himself up and sat down heavily in the grass beside the sleeping lad. As he spoke, he fitted a pair of blue, almost black riding gloves onto the youth's hands.

"This is the second time so far this week!" He grumbled. "What was it this time?" He asked Zoi.

"We were walking, and I stopped for a moment." He faltered, then went on. "He carried on without me. I should never have left him, but I saw a particularly interesting flower…anyway, I heard a shout, and by the time I had caught up with him, he was cornered. I had no choice. A swift slash and he went down. Trouble was, as he fell, he touched his hands-"

"Why the hell wasn't he wearing his gloves!" The silver haired teen roared.

"I don't know!" He yelled back. "You can't expect me to watch his every move! I was alone!"

"Zoi's right." Neph cut in, making peace. "The only person who can handle him alone is you. Go on." He prompted Zoi. He watched as the blond rocked back on his feet and closed his green eyes briefly.

"Anyway, he backed into a tree, and the one who had touched him fell to the ground. He took a minute, then started towards him. I didn't think, I just grabbed him and got him as far away as possible."

"Alright." The silver boy took a breath. "Alright. Sorry."

"How is he?" One of the others, another blond asked. They looked over him.

"Just sleeping." Zoi said, flopping down with the others. "Jade, do you have any of those biscuits I made this morning?"

The other blond frowned, but reluctantly pulled a drawstring bag from his pocket. He shared the biscuits between them silently. They ate, and chatted.

"Em," Jade began between mouthfuls. "Did you feel it happen?" He referred to the situation that had taken place. "You got here awfully quickly."  

"Yes, I did." Em replied, shaking his white blond hair. He and the silver haired boy looked quite alike in appearance. "It was strange. I felt like I had to lend my strength. I knew something was wrong right then."

They all looked to the sleeping lad, who stirred at that moment. He awoke, revealing an astonishing set of midnight blue eyes, which coupled with his unruly jet black hair, made him look very unique. As a matter of fact, he was extremely unique. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, as he surveyed his surroundings he groaned.

"Not again!"

"Yes. Again." The silver haired teen replied dryly. "And this time, you left poor Zoi to fend for himself."

"You've changed your tune." The boy in question pointed out, but was silenced at the look he was returned. The blue eyed youth put a hand to his red cheek.

"A necessary action." He remarked coolly at the shock and anger present on the other's face. "You were not yourself."

"Kunz." Em warned. "Don't push it."

"I'm sorry. But he needs to be more careful."

"Don't speak to me like that!" The woken teen's voice rose in menace.

"May I remind you," Kunz said importantly. "That I was appointed leader. That makes me well within my rights to chastise you fully for your lack of sense."

"And may I remind you, that you were appointed by none other than myself. You serve me. Get used to it." He shot back coldly, before getting to his feet and stalking off. Kunz waited a few minutes, before barking,

"Malachite, go after him."

The other boy got silently to his feet also, and disappeared after his errant master. Neph stared at Kunz.

"You've really stepped in it this time." Neph remarked. Kunz scowled at him, and then disappeared back towards the great grey green building in the distance.

                Em detransformed as he ran to catch up with the other boy.

"My-"

"Don't say it!" The boy rounded on him. "Don't call me that."

"Darien," Em fell into step beside him, breathing heavily. "He didn't mean it. You know what he's like."

"I don't care."

"Well I do." Em said firmly. "He was right, you shouldn't have removed your gloves. You know how much of a risk it is."

"Do you know what it's like?" Darien asked cruelly. "Do you truly?" He watched as Em squirmed, trying to find an answer. "Right, well don't speak of things that you do not know." He said shortly. He kept a fast pace, but Em kept up. "I will speak to him later." He said grudgingly. "If I see him now, likely that he'll end up impaled by my sword for his careless actions." Darien ended grimly. They headed through the trees towards home. "I'm sorry Tranq. I just-"

"Don't worry about it." Em said softly. They strode into the grounds, and were met with an air of impatience. People were everywhere, running about. Maids were carting fresh sheets and towels about, servants were running messages and several platters of food passed them on their way. Darien caught hold of a passing maid's arm.

"What's going on?" He demanded. Before she could answer though, someone shouted her and she scuttled off.

"There you are!" A voice cried, and Darien turned to it. A young woman hurried down the steps, her brown hair flying behind her. It was Tara, the housekeeper. "Quick, come with me. Your father's back-"

"He's back?! But he wasn't supposed to return for a few days yet!" Darien exclaimed incredulously.

"Well, He's back now, and he's going mad because you weren't here to greet him. And then you didn't turn up at all, and he was demanding to know where his son was. One of your Generals is with him now I believe."

"Oh no!" Darien cried out in horror and raced into the building. Em was hot on his heels, and he glimpsed Zoi, Neph and Jade out of the corner of his eye, following them. They made their way quickly to the main hall. A sight met Darien's eyes. His general was standing before his father with his head lowered, mumbling something.

"It's your responsibility to look after him!" Darien's father shouted back. In one swift movement, he darted forward and gave him such a crack across his cheek that he went sprawling to the floor. He kneeled and lowered his eyes toward the floor. Darien strode across the room with Em at his side, and faced his father.

"What is going on." He asked, in a crisp voice. "What gave you the right to just hit my head guard?"

"He was being insolent!" The brown haired man replied flippantly.

"That may be so," Darien said icily. "But he's mine to punish. You forget the status that he still holds."

Darien's back was straight, and he carried himself with authority. He turned and went down on one knee to Kunz. A hand stretched out, gloveless, and he touched the other teen's cheek briefly. When he rose and turned back to his father's chair, his own cheek was bruised, and puffy, in the same place Kunz had been struck.

"What you inflict on him, I will take and make it mine." He said clearly, his voice ringing through the huge hall. "That goes for any one of my men. You entrusted them to me. That means that anything they do, falls under my jurisdiction."

He swept out of the hall, and Em went with him. Kunz got to his feet slowly and left also, Jade and Neph either side of him and Zoi behind.

Darien strode into his chambers and threw the curtains open.

"Gods, that man gets harder to reason with everyday!" He said exasperatedly, sitting on the edge of his bed. Kunz hurried in. His cheek still stung, but now it was no more than a red mark. Em disappeared into the bathroom, and came out a minute later with a wet cloth. He pressed it tenderly to Darien's swollen skin, and let the boy take it from him.

"What is it with you lately?" Kunz asked in surprise. "You argue with everyone, and fly into tempers."

"Sounds very much like another friend of mine." Zoi put in with a wink.

"I know exactly who you're talking about." Jade added with a conspiratal grin.

"Shut it, you two." Kunz snapped.

"But they are right." Neph pointed out.

"And you." Kunz said, but his voice didn't have the drive.

"At any rate, we'll be in for a long week." Em said. He wasn't dressed in his general's garb anymore, but in a tunic of burnt orange. "The King is not happy, and no doubt that we'll be on the receiving end."

"He'd better not." Darien looked up grimly. "Why are you still dressed like that?" He demanded tiredly. The others detransformed. Neph, in similar dress to Em, but the shade was a dark red, sat down on the end of the bed. Kunz, in pure white, found a chair, and Zoi and Jade, in sky blue and light green, took the floor, whilst Em leaned against the wall.

"My Prince," Kunz said softly. "You tax your energy too much."

"I don't care." Darien replied fervently. "He shouldn't have done that. Not to you Kev. Especially not to you."

"Well, no use changing it now." Kunz said briskly. "Let's just hope that your father calms down, before he does some serious damage."

"I think that we should do something about it." Neph spoke up.

"Like what Nate?" Zoi asked. The other young man shook his head. "Go into hiding?"

"Perfect!" Darien snapped his fingers, and Kunz let out a moan.

"Zac!" He put a hand over his eyes. "Why did you have to go and open your big mouth?!" Jade gave him a slap over the back of his head.

"No, don't you see? I'm sick of this place. It's the same every day. I want to do something new!" Darien's eyes lit up. "That's a brilliant idea."

"Jase!" Zoi cried in pain as Jade cracked him a second time. "That hurts!"

"Well next time you should be more careful. You know how impressionable Endy is."

"Like two peas in a pod, eh Nate?" Em said wryly and Neph agreed wholeheartedly.

"And where would we go my prince?" Kunz asked with a patronising air.

"There!" He shouted, brandishing a finger at the clouds. Kunz squinted after it.

"The sky?" He snorted. "And how do you propose that we get there?"

"Not the sky, you idiot. The Moon" he closed his eyes. "I've always dreamed about it, always wanted to go. Well now I have the perfect opportunity." He got up. "We'll board a transport, and go there."

There was a muffled 'ow', as Jade whacked Zoi over the head again.

"Stop it Jase." Kunz warned. "Or next time, I'll hit you."

"Oh, shut it, the lot of you." Em called out, exhausted. They all went silent. Within ten minutes Darien was curled up, fast asleep. The boys relaxed then.

"What did he do?" Zoi asked, staring at Kunz's pink mark.

"I'm not sure…he just touched my face and it went to him." He replied uncomfortably.

"Hey, Tranq, heard from your sister lately?" Jade asked.

"Nope, I've not written to her in a while yet. Eager for info?"