The Fire of Love
He awoke with a terrible ache in his body and saw that he had fallen asleep on the marble floor in front of the fire, which was now cold ash and harsh autumn daylight flowed into the room through the window.
There was a knock on the door and he straightened his uniform and the door opened before he got to it and outside stood a servant.
"His majesty wants to see you in his study," the servant said and bowed.
"Tell him I'll be right there," he said and with a bow the servants disappeared.
He stretched his aching muscles and walked out of his room.
"Did you get lucky last night?" Kunzite asked him as soon as he stepped into the Prince study, indicating his clothes.
"No, I fell asleep on the floor," he said and sat down in a chair, "have I missed anything."
"No, we haven't begun yet", Endymion said, "Zoisite isn't here yet, we can't start without him."
"Strange that he isn't here yet?" Nephrite said twirling a crystal glass filled with water between his palms.
"You're right, he's never late," the Prince said.
Jadeite could see that Kunzite looked worried at the mentioning of Zoisite being late. Suddenly the door opened and a flushed panting Zoisite came in.
"Sorry I'm late," he said and sat down in a chair tying a ribbon around his hair to keep it from falling into his face. "I overslept."
"Had a late night?" Nephrite asked him. "Up studying again?"
"Zoisite, next time you take a guest to the garden for an extended period of time tell someone about it," the prince said, "the Moon Queen almost got sick with worry when they couldn't find Princess Mercury last night."
"I'm sorry, your majesty," he said, "it won't happen again."
"I said the queen got worried. I knew you were with her, because I saw you two leave," the Prince said, "and I know that you would never hurt her."
"No sir, I would never hurt her," he said with a quiet voice, very unlike him and the Prince gave him a worried look.
"Are you feeling well?" he asked him and Zoisite nodded.
However, as the meeting continued it became soon clear that Zoisite was anything but well. After an hour his skin was so pale it looked almost transparent and his green eyes was glassed.
"Zoisite I think you should go and find a healer you don't look so good," Jadeite said and Zoisite's lips twitched into a smile.
"I look as I feel," Zoisite said and got up, "if you will excuse me, your Majesty, I don't feel very well."
"We can finish this later," Endymion said, "no one will benefit from you getting sick on us."
Zoisite got as far as to the door before he collapsed and Kunzite caught him before he hit the floor.
"I can't breathe", he said and fainted.
"Zoisite," Kunzite gasped and sank down on his knees with the blond man in his arms.
"Nephrite, get a healer now," Endymion said and Nephrite hurried out of the room.
Jadeite got down on his keens beside Kunzite and checked for a pulse on Zoisite's neck. It was faint and irregular but there, his skin felt hot, like fire and loose hair tendrils was plastered to his face. Two crimson spot stood out on his unnatural pale cheeks.
"What can be wrong?" the Prince asked he had sat down beside them and put a hand on Zoisite's shoulder but pulled it back like he had been burnt and looked at his hand and Jadeite could see that he indeed had been burnt.
"Your majesty, are you all right?" he asked and Endymion traced his finger over the burns and nodded as they disappeared beneath his touch.
"It's Zoisite we should worry about," he said and Jadeite saw worry written all over his face, "something is terribly wrong with him."
"We should take him to his room," Kunzite said and got up from the floor still holding an unconscious Zoisite in his arms.
As they left the room they met Nephrite and the healer.
Back in Zoisite's private quarters the healer gave him a thorough check, while the others waited outside the bedroom.
Everyone was worried and Jadeite even caught himself biting on his nails, something he hadn't done since he was five and new at the court. It was actually Zoisite that had made him stop with that bad habit, every morning before practise Zoisite had rubbed on some ill tasting lotion on his fingers to get him to stop. But now he was so nervous that he did it out of reflex.
He looked at Nephrite and saw that even if he didn't show it he was worried too, since he was chewing on a strand of his hair, which was also a bad habit that Zoisite had cured. The first time Zoisite had seen Nephrite doing it he had given him a thorough scolding and threatened that if he ever saw him do it again he would cut his hair off. The threat had proved to be real when Nephrite in spite had chewed on his hair and Zoisite had been over him with a pair of scissors and a few minutes later Nephrite was practically bald, suffice it to say he never disobeyed Zoisite again. No soldier in the palace army disobeyed him, if they valued their honour and life.
Jadeite didn't know if Zoisite had broken any bad habits the Prince and Kunzite might have had but it was pretty clear that he had have an huge impact in their lives. When he thought about it, he could remember vaguely a fight about ten years ago when Zoisite, who had been ten, and the Prince, who had been eight, had had an heated argument about a sky blue blanket that the Prince was dragging with him everywhere he went, Endymion had had it since he was little and in the five years he had had it, it had turned from sky blue to dull grey. The argument ended with a victorious Zoisite coming out of the Prince room with the blanket, head held high and limping.
Suddenly the door opened and the healer came out and the grave look on his face hold them that he hadn't any good news to tell.
"He is sleeping now," the man began, "but his condition is very grave and there is nothing that I can do."
"What's wrong with him?" Kunzite asked.
"His life energy is almost completely drained," the healer said.
"Then why didn't he try to drain energy from me when I touched him?" Kunzite asked.
"Because he can't drain or receive energy in the quantities he needs right now," the healer said, "I reprogrammed some crystals to try and replenish him but it seems like something is draining what little energy he gets."
"Can I see him?" Kunzite asked.
"I was just gonna suggest that someone would watch him," the healer said, "you can go first."
The healer gave Kunzite a little black stone attached to a golden chain.
"Hang this around your neck and were it inside your clothes while in there so the crystal won't take your energy."
Kunzite nodded and did as he was told and walked into the room.
"He will be fine, won't he?" Endymion asked and the healer shook his head.
"I've only postponed the inevitable," the healer said, "he is dying and there is nothing I can do to prevent it unless we can find the reason for this, then I might be able to reverse whatever it is."
"Is there absolutely nothing you can do?" Endymion asked and the healer shook his head.
"Nothing."
They all sat stunned in the parlour after the healer left. Jadeite felt like crying, why Zoisite? Why did it have to be Zoisite?
"Someone once told me that the Gods allow humans like Zoisite to live for a little while so we will know what wonders the Gods can achieve," Nephrite said, "seems like whoever said it was right."
"Can we wait with burying him until he is dead?" Jadeite said with an angry look at him. Another of Nephrite bad habits, that not even Zoisite managed to cure, was that he said the wrong things at the wrong time.
"I was just saying..." Nephrite begun but was interrupted.
"Will you two please shut the hell up!" Endymion said.
They were all close in age, the prince was born a year after Nephrite and Jadeite and they were born a year after Kunzite and Zoisite making them the oldest, but Kunzite was born on the spring and Zoisite late at winter thus making Kunzite oldest of the all.
A pressing silence fell over them, a silence none of them felt compelled to break so they sat there with a beautiful day outside that seemed to mock their sorrow.
"What a beautiful necklace you have there Mizuiro," Akai said. All the other eyes were turned her way and a faint blush spread over her cheeks.
"There is no need to be embarrassed Mizuiro-chan", Midori said, "we are your friends."
"That's right," Kiiro said, "and as your friend we all have the right to know who gave it to you, ne?"
Typical Kiiro, she practically already knew; she never said anything about it, but made every effort to make you tell so everybody else got to know.
"I got it from Zoisite-san", she said and they all smiled knowingly.
"The one man with a brain in all of Earth's court and you manage to catch his interest", Serenity said.
"I would be surprised if you two actually talked about something without dissecting it first," Akai said with a smile.
"He took me to the garden and he taught me the names of the flowers there," Mizuiro said.
"Well, I guess that's romantic in a way," Kiiro said, "I mean heart and brain has to communicate for being romantic."
"I thought Zoisite-san didn't like women," Midori said, "the only women I saw him ever talking to was Aiiro and that was during the war otherwise I only saw him talking to other men at the court."
"Well, considering the intellectual quote on the females at the court I too would rather talk to others," Akai said, "and the question isn't if Zoisite-san likes girls or not but does Aiiro likes boys?"
A sudden knock on the door made them all turn and saw Queen Serenity standing there.
"Am I interrupting?" she asked them.
"Not at all hahaoya", princess Serenity said, "please join us."
"I'm afraid I can't, love," the queen said, "I have an important meeting with some officials otherwise I would love to stay."
"It's a beautiful necklace you have their Mizuiro," the queen said and walked up to her, "did you get it from Zoisite-san?"
"Yes, my queen," she answered.
"Well, a little romance have never harmed anyone," she said with a smile and put a pale slender hand on Mizuiro's cheek, "and at your age it's only natural, just be careful."
"Yes, my queen."
"Good," she said and walked out of the room.
"Where were we?" Kiiro said and looked questioningly at the others and they all laughed.
They were sitting in the prince study looking very unhappy, there was no good news on Zoisite's condition, despite the fact that the crystals pumped him full with enough energy to blow up a small island he didn't get better - more like the opposite. They had been able to speak to him earlier but that was all. It seemed like the more energy he got the more he lost.
A sudden knock on the door dispelled the gloom from a moment and a servant came in.
"This letter just arrived," the servant said, "it's from the Moon Queen."
Endymion took the letter and the servant left. The prince scanned through it and groaned.
"What is it?" Nephrite asked.
"She wants to meet to plan the wedding," he said, "I completely forgot about that."
"Understandable," Jadeite said, "considering the circumstance."
"I'll have to write the queen a letter and tell her that we have to postpone this wedding," Endymion said, "I can't even bring myself to think about having a wedding while one of my Shitennou is practically lying on his deathbed."
"I can't imagine dying at the age of nineteen," Jadeite said, "we survived a war that cost billions of lives and now one of us is lying inches from death by unknown causes."
"It's a wonder that we are still able to feel this much after this war or maybe it's just that he is one of us that makes this so much harder?" Nephrite said and they all went quiet. All of them thinking the same thing that they would have to grieve a loved one, one they perceived as more than a friend in arms, more than a friend a brother.
Jadeite was sitting in his study looking into the fire not really seeing it. The time had passed midnight a long time ago and he would do best in going to bed, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. His thoughts were too confused to give him a good night's sleep, thoughts of Zoisite were interrupted by thoughts of raven black hair.
He took a sip from the warm spiced wine he had poured to himself, he normally didn't drink except on parties and official meeting when it was required to do so, but now he felt like it, even though he could here Zoisite's voice telling him never to drink alone.
A soft knocking on the door woke him out of his thoughts and he went to open the door, outside stood a small slender person wrapped in way to big cloak.
"That took time," a female voice said, or rather a girl's voice on the verge of womanhood, "you really know how to keep a woman in suspense."
The lithe creature swept past him and into his room and he closed the door. She removed the cloak and the first thing that caught his attention was the raven black hair and then the beautiful face with big blue-purplish eyes.
"Hime-sama," he said completely stunned at seeing Princess Mars in his room in the middle of the night.
"Hai," she said, "it's me Jadeite-sama."
"What are you doing here?" he asked her. "Does anyone knows you are here?"
"No, I came here on my own," she said and looked confused at him, "aren't you happy to see me?"
"I'm very happy to see you," he said and managed to give her a small smile, "but there will be hell to pay when they find out you are missing on the moon."
"Nobody knows I'm in your room," she said and he looked at her with a stupid face, "they know I'm on Earth."
"Come again," he said.
"I was the one who came with the messages," she said, "I was suppose to wait for an answer and since it grow late I had to stay on Earth and the Prince was kind enough to offer me a place to sleep in the palace."
"Still doesn't explain why you are in my room in the middle of the night," he said and she sighed and muttered something that sounded like 'stupid men' but he wasn't sure.
"I was supposed to leave a message for Zoisite-sama from Princess Mercury she was home but she sent me this letter before I came here but they wouldn't let me see him so I came here to you and ask you if you could give it to him," she said and held out a white envelope with the signet of the Mercury Royal Family.
"Sure I'll give it to him," he said and took it.
"May I ask why I couldn't see him?" she asked him.
"It seems like he caught a cold last night," he lied to her, "the weather now gives everyone a little problem with their health."
"I see," she said, "glad it wasn't something serious."
"Can I get you anything?" he asked her. "The only thing I have to offer at the moment is some warm spiced wine, but I'm guessing you are to young to drink?"
"One glass won't harm me," she said, "and I'm going to be seventeen in a few weeks."
"I thought you were younger," he said as he led her to his study and seated her in a comfortable chair in front of the fire.
"I'm not sure if I should be flattered or insulted by that," she said and accepted the glass with the warm wine he handed her.
"Dose it matter?" he said and sat down. "You are beautiful either way."
He looked at her and saw crimson spots spreading over her cheeks and he wasn't sure if it was his words or the heat in the room. To get the conversation going again he thought about something neutral to talk about.
"I've never been to Mars," he said and she looked up at him, "what does it look like?"
She looked at him and took a sip from her glass.
"It's very much like a dessert land like the once you have on Earth," she began and got a dreamy look on her face, "except the sand is red as blood and it's in constant motion because of the winds so the sky seems to be as red as the land. Since the water on Mars is sparse and runs deep underground it only rise to the surface in oases. Lush domes, designed like giant glass bowls have been placed over them and small communities has been created there."
He listened to her talking about her home planet and family and he started to remember his own family, he hadn't seen them since he was five years old and that would be nineteen years ago on his birthday in two months.
He didn't remember that much about them except that he had a little sister and brother, he couldn't remember their names though. During the war he had got news that his father had died when their home had been attacked but the rest of the family was unharmed. It had troubled him that he didn't feel anything when he heard of his father's death, but then again he hadn't seen the man since he was five and from what he could remember about him he didn't seem like a person anyone would miss.
He hadn't liked his family and had been glad to get away from them and to the court and get friends and even though their training sometimes got though he never once wanted to go home.
"Jadeite-sama," she said and touched him and he returned to the here and now, "am I boring you?"
"No, I just started remembering my own family when you talked about yours," he said, "I'm glad that you have a family that loves you."
"Didn't your family love you?" she asked surprised.
"I don't know if they did," he said, "I sure as hell didn't like them."
"That's sad," she said, "not to be loved and love one's family."
"Actually I count my fellow Shitennou as my family," he said, "for nineteen years we have trained, lived and bled together. I wouldn't want to change anything in my life, except maybe the war, so many loved ones were lost."
"So your friends has become your family," she said and he nodded, "that seems nice."
"Well it was a little shaky when we started to notice that girls were for more than pulling their pigtails," he said, "then we weren't so good friends all the time."
"Are any boys that?" she asked him with a smile.
"I guess not," he said.
"Can I ask you a question?" she asked him.
"Of course."
"Well, me and my friends were talking today and we all had noticed that Zoisite-sama didn't talk that much to the females at the court," she said and he knew what she was hinting at and smiled, "and we wondered if he liked girls or not?"
"What do you think?" he asked her with a smile and she blushed.
"I think he does like girls," she said shyly.
"He dose," he said, "he just doesn't chase them around the palace like others does."
"Seems like the perfect man," she said and he laughed.
"I've heard people say that before," he said, "and I guess they are right most of the time."
"Isn't he as nice as he let's on?" she asked.
"He is as nice as anyone can be, it's just that we have known him for a very long time."
"I see," she said, "well, Mercury sure is going to appreciate this bit of information."
"Princess Mercury?" he said surprised.
"Yes, she and he were talking the other night after they both disappeared from the banquet, Mercury said he took her to the gardens," she said with a smile, "I guess smart, lonely people attract each other."
Jadeite smiled now he knew what the prince and Zoisite had talked about this morning.
"Tell Mercury she can feel flattered," he said, "as far as I know he has never taken anyone out into the garden."
"I see," she said and got up, "it has been nice seeing you, but right now my bed is calling me."
"Yes, it is rather late," he agreed, "I should turn in too."
He followed her to the door.
"I hope I have a chance to see you before you leave," he said.
"I'm counting on seeing you before I leave," she said and walked away.
He went out on the balcony and stood there letting the fresh, chilly night air ruffle his short blond hair. In the distant he could see the light from the funeral pyre, as he stood and watched them he saw one of them flicker and die soon another followed. Soon every fire would flicker and die, soon all traces of the war should be gone and life returns too normal.
Iie, things wouldn't be normal, Zoisite was dying, and with him gone, everything would go wrong. He was the one that kept their spirits up, not just in battle but in the grey mundane reality he kept them up. How could they possibly be happy without him being with them, always there to help them with their problems and stay up late if they needed company. Everyone's brother everyone's friend. He'd do anything for them and never ask for anything in return, not even now when he needed their help. They couldn't do a thing to help him from dying. Nothing.
Whiteout him they would be next to powerless, The Four Kings of Heaven would be a joke if one of them died. Separate they had strong powers, together their combined force could destroy an entire planet. Their power was deeply rooted in the four elements water, air, earth and heat or more known as fire, outside that they had other abilities that was individual.
He thought back to the day they had got the title...It had been in the middle of the summer and the day was absolutely perfect, clear sky blue heaven, not a cloud in sight. A brisk wind blowing making the bright sunlight bearable.
It had been a happy day, they had finished their training and was now to be officially declared as the Shitennou, The Four Kings of Heaven, ever since their training had begun, they had been referred to as the Shitennou, but that was not their official titles. To prove that they had left their old lives behind when they arrived at the court they had been given new name, names taken from semiprecious stones.
They had been given new uniforms for the occasion they were white with gold linings on the front and brown flowing capes.
The biggest problem was nobody knew how the ceremony was suppose to go, the last Earth prince to have Shitennou had been hundreds of years ago; it was a rare occurrence and the circumstances around it were extremely fuzzy. The only thing that was clear was that if a child of the Earth ruler was born with the mark of Earth on his forehead it was time to look for the Shitennou.
Normally the mark of Earth didn't appear on the successors forehead until the old King died and then it didn't matter if it was the first born or not.
Well, of course one person had known something about the ritual, and that had naturally been Zoisite, months before the ceremony he had locked himself in the library and studied every available book on the subject and so he knew more than anybody else and yet there wasn't much he knew about it, but since nobody else knew anything, he knew pretty much.
Standing in the blazing heat from the sun while the High Priest of the Sun temple read and incantation in an old language that would do something like call the powers of the four corners of the heaven according to Zoisite.
As the High Priest read the incantation dark clouds came rolling in and the wind stopped blowing.
Suddenly strong winds from north, south, west and east started to blow and converged on the podium were they stood and the marks for the four elements appeared on their foreheads.
Kunzite air, Zoisite water, Nephrite earth and he fire.
It had been a wondrous day and the four strong winds meeting like that and not harming them was a good sign that they indeed were the Shitennou. That had been five years ago and even though it had nothing to do with the other planets, or
the Moon Kingdom, the Moon Queen had sent two representatives, two people no one had ever expected to see, Princess Uranus and Princess Neptune. Next to the Moon Queen herself the two princesses from the outer planets was a incredible honour, although something that even exceeded them was the elusive Princess Pluto who stood guard at the Time Gate since the beginning of time till the end of time.
Although she didn't greet them with her presence she had sent a message to them with the outer princesses and with her respects a scroll telling about the past Shitennou role in the history of Earth and what they really was about. The scroll had been in an ancient, dead language and after the Prince had given up trying to read it after the third attempt, Zoisite had taken over and read it, naturally, without stammering or much thinking.
Much of the scroll had been clues to finding the four that was to becoming the Four Kings of Heaven, and little about the ritual appointing them and some about their powers but the most important in the scroll was their duty. Their duty was the same as the duties as the heaven to protect the King of Earth. After that followed tales of previous Shitennou and their adventures in the past, Zoisite had stopped there for no obvious reason and said that they had been gathered there to celebrate not study ancient history and everyone agreed. The rest of the night he had seen Zoisite talking to the outer princesses obviously enjoying their company as they seemed to enjoy his, maybe it hadn't been that surprising they were the same age.
As the last funeral pyre flickered and died he pulled his thoughts back from the past and looked up into the heavens and saw that instead of the black velvet of night it had taken on the gradually lighter tone of predawn.
He sighed, soon a big funeral pyre would be burning in the sacred temple, even though they were the Prince protectors they were essential to his survival, like the heaven with it's rain and atmosphere was essential to the survival Earth, as it had stood in the scroll, the Shitennou was human incarnation of the four corners of the heaven as the Earth Prince was an incarnation of Earth itself.
Suddenly restless he left his quarters and ventured down into the Fire shrine and stood there in front of the holy flame. He stepped over into an alcove and removed his clothes and put on a tunic, barefoot he walked out on the cold marble floor and up to the fire, it was warmer near the fire but hardly enough to make a difference. There were three more shrines, one for each element, this section of the palace had been sealed off upon till five years ago, when they had learnt what it actually was, and now the shrines was being attended to by specially appointed servants.
His element fire, just like her the raven haired goddess that had captured his hearth, even though he had thought himself in love many times it felt different this time. She was different, she occupied his every waken thought and also his dreams.
He had fallen for her the first time he saw her which was when she and the rest of the Inner Senshi joined their battle and the war turned to their favour.
She seemed to be lit form inside by an eternal fire that affected her entire surrounding, he had seen it in his squadrons as soon as she had set foot in the compound they seemed to get their spirits back, even the most battle wary solider seemed to regain some of their strength and will to fight. Even he who had seen to many of his soldiers die in squeamish and out right battles that he lead them into felt that they might just have a chance now that they had help.
"They told me you might be down here," a voice said and he turned and saw princess Mars standing there.
"I see you have gotten your reply," he said as he saw the letter in her hand and she nodded.
"I have," she said, "I'll go back to the moon but I wanted to see you one more time before I leave."
She walked up to him, he marvelled at her beauty, she was as fire, a creature made of fire to serve fire. Suddenly he got an idea.
"Would you like to help me with something?" he asked her and she looked hesitant on him.
"What would that be?" she asked.
"It take to long to explain," he said, "you just have to trust me, you think you can do that."
"I think I can," she said hesitant and looked straight into his eyes, "yes, I trust you."
He walked up the stairs to the fire and stood on the edge he turned toward her and reached out his hand.
"Leave the letter and take of your shoes," he said and she did so, her dress was small enough and wasn't in any danger of catching fire, "now come up to me."
Carefully and probably nervous she walked up to him and took his outstretched hand, he pulled her close as he reached into the fire and cleared a path to the middle of it. With sure steps he pulled her with him into the middle of the fire and the path closed and they were surrounded by fire.
Frightened she latched onto him and he put his arms around her trembling body and she relaxed a little.
"Are you familiar with the legend of the Phoenix?" he asked her and she shook her head. "The Phoenix is a bird that burns itself every five hundred years and get reborn out of its own ashes, it's supposed to symbolise eternal life."
She looked up at him and now she was truly frightened as she noticed how the flame closed in on them and suddenly they were in the middle of a blazing inferno, flames flowed right through them searing them with their warmth, heating their souls.
He looked into her eyes and saw that even though she was terrified she trusted him enough to stay and not leave the circle of fire.
"Don't be afraid," he said and held her closer, "as long as you are with me the flames won't hurt you."
"I love you," she said and he looked at her, stunned, "I loved you from the moment I saw you, that day we arrived on Earth to join you in the battle against the youma."
"I love you too," he said as he realised that that was what he felt for her, he loved her and he had done that from the moment he had laid eyes on her.
"Dai suki da," he said and she leaned up to kiss him, he captured her lips in a loving kiss. As the kiss intensified the flames around them grew higher kindled by the pureness of their feeling toward each other.
As the kiss ended and they stood there panting looking at each other the noticed they were standing on the floor in front of the stairs up to the fire.
He noticed something warm between their joined hands and he motioned for her to let go and as they did so they revealed a little red Phoenix bird.
"Seems like we have received a gift from the fire," he said, "you take it as a proof of our love for each other."
"I'll treasure it forever no matter what the future brings," she said and she bent to pick up the letter and put on her shoes and left the room, but not before she had kissed him good bye.
Jadeite was in Zoisite's bedroom together with the prince, they had diced that they would take the watch together and sent of Kunzite to his room with the explicit order to get some sleep.
Jadeite sat in the rooms window and looked at the unconscious from of Zoisite lying among white pristine sheet like he was dead.
'Iya, stop that thinking,' he chided himself, 'he is going to be alright and don't dare think anything else.'
They were in on their third week of Zoisite's mysterious illness, the healers were surprised he was still somewhat alive considering the condition he was in. The prince was also worried about that and on top he was also worried that there had been no word from the moon since Mars had left with their replay and he thought that the Moon Queen was maybe thinking about breaking up the engagement.
A knock on the door startled them and they got up as a servant looked inside; he stayed in the door so the crystals wouldn't steal his energy as he wasn't wearing any protection against them.
"What is it?" the Prince asked.
"Two messengers from the moon has arrived and are requesting to see you, your majesty," the servant said with a bow.
"Who are they?" the Prince asked.
"Princess Mars and Jupiter, your majesty," the servant said.
"Tell them I'm coming," Endymion said and sighed, "are you coming or are you going to stay here."
"I'm going to stay a little while longer," he said, "Nephrite should be here shortly, I leave when he arrives."
The prince nodded and left the room, Jadeite sat down on his knees beside Zoisite's bed and took his hand between his, it was cold and limp, suddenly he felt a slight twitch and he looked up and saw that Zoisite's eyes were open though they didn't seemed to be focused on anything.
"Tasukete," he whispered, "tasukete...mizu."
Mizu, why would he be asking for water? Whatever it meant he hadn't time to figure it out now since Zoisite was trying to get up from bed. He grabbed hold of him to get him down onto the bed again but Zoisite managed to shove him out of the way.
Completely taken aback by the assault he crashed into the wall and fell to the floor. Groggy he got to his legs and started after him, Zoisite didn't seem to have made it far since he was struggling with Nephrite inside the living room.
"Hanase!" he screamed trying to twist himself out of his grip.
"Not likely, my friend," he said. Jadeite came up to them and together they managed to get Zoisite down on the floor. The words that left his mouth was nothing they would ever guessed could be coming from him.
"Does he even know what some of those words mean?" Jadeite asked Nephrite as the hauled Zoisite up from the floor and into the bedroom.
"How I'm suppose to know that," Nephrite said, "not even I know some of those words."
"That's because you don't read or listen to other people," a voice behind them said and the looked up and saw Kunzite standing there.
"Aren't you supposed to be in your room sleeping?" Jadeite asked him, dodging a fist aimed at his jaw.
"I was, now I'm here and it seems like you need some help," he said and with a flick of his wrist he had rendered Zoisite immobile, by erecting a force field around him.
"Thank you," Nephrite said, "who knew the little bugger would be so strong when being this sick."
"Well, I'm here now you can both leave," Kunzite said.
"I'm not going I just came," Nephrite said and Kunzite looked at him and Nephrite took a step back.
"I said get out," Kunzite said and looked at them both with a stern gleam in his grey eyes.
"It's Nephrite's turn," Jadeite said, feeling a little insecure.
"What part of 'get out' is it that you don't get?" he asked them and they both hurried out.
Outside in the corridor they stopped and looked at the closed door to Zoisite's quarters.
"I know they have known each other longer than us but isn't he taking this a bit to far," Nephrite said absentmindedly chewing on a lock of his long hair.
"It's not our business," he said and pulled the abused strands out of his mouth. "And I know that you are just as worried as he underneath the cool surface."
"And how do you know that?" Nephrite asked him with a smug grin on his face.
"You are chewing on your hair," he said, "if Zoisite knew it he would cut it off."
"And who has been biting on their nails?" Nephrite said and grabbed his wrist and held it so his abused nails was clearly visible.
"So we are both going to get scolded when he gets better," Jadeite said.
"If he gets better, that is," Nephrite said and walked away. Jadeite stood in the corridor suddenly feeling very lost and he walked with heavy steps to the shrine to see if he could lose himself for a few hours in meditation.
She had excused herself from the meeting as she had nothing to do with it, she had only accompanied Midori to Earth. She walked through the corridors of the palace trying to sense Jadeite's ki.
There it was, but it was so faint and sad like something very saddening had happen to him, she managed to track him down by using his ki as a pinpoint.
She found him in the shrine sitting on the floor in front of the fire, his shoulders were shaking as if he were laughing at something but the closer she came she could here that he wasn't laughing he was crying.
She put a hand on his shoulder and he turned and looked at her and she could see that his eyes were red from all the crying and his cheeks were flushed.
"What's wrong?" she asked and sank down on her knees before him and he just shook his head. "Please tell me? Maybe I can help?"
"There is nothing you or anyone else can do," he said and she put her arms around and he burst out in tears again. She held him close to her as he cried. She wondered what in all the world could get a grown man that had survived the horrors of a war against youma to cry like a frightened child.
She looked up and she found herself staring into the flames and in the flame she saw flashing green eyes and blond hair in a vision, it was short and unfocused but with it came the feelings, deep affectionate feelings. As the picture disappeared she got a sense of ending and she knew that whoever it had been that she saw was going to die.
In the darkness of Mizurio's bedroom no one, not even she noticed the small water droplets that adorned the water lily returned to their natural state and trickled down from the petals on her night-shirt and bare skin.
Translation of Japanese words
-chan = used by girls and friends, also to children and pets
-san = is used to people you don't know equvelent to Mr. Mrs
hahaoya = menas mother
hai = yes
tasukete = help me
hanase! = let go!