"So, Kunzite, what do you say of some exercise?" Nephrite asked him, clapping him on the back. "Or would you rather join Endymion in dreaming of beautiful women?"

Kunzite smirked up at him, narrowing his eyes. "Shut up." He stood and banged a fist onto his Prince's head to get his attention. "But we do have to get ready to see the Queen later tonight."
"Right," his Prince agreed, rubbing his head. "I need a bath."
"While you're going to the training rooms, send a servant with bath water," Kunzite told Nephrite off-handedly. "I'll escort the Prince to the meeting, but you three have to clean up in time for dinner."
"Sir," Nephrite nodded, then turned and smiled, slipping out of the door. Once in the hall, he caught a passing maid and told her the Prince would need bath water, and asked for directions to the training rooms.
When he got there, he saw a young woman taking out her energies on a large, red punching bag.
Kick, turn, punch, elbow, kick, body-slam, punch, repeat.
"Makoto!" one of the women resting on the side-lines hopped up, tossing her towel and water-bottle down, where a graceful woman with long waves of teal-green hair straightened them. The other woman walked over to the girl she had called "Makoto," the same who had been attacking the punching bag so methodically, and slung an arm around her shoulders. The woman was tall, with short blonde hair, dusty dark blue eyes, and an air of diabolical charm. The other girl was sweaty with exertion, panting lightly, with a long curly brown ponytail, narrowed green eyes, and a tall, full form clad in grey sweatpants and a white tank top.
Nephrite stood just inside the doorway, the sounds of people sparring and working out surrounding him, salty sweat thick in the air, and watched the small group a few feet away from him. Oddly, the rest of the occupants of the room took particular pains to keep away from this one peculiar little group, though Nephrite was yet unsure as to why.
The brown-haired girl blushed a little at the arm thrown over her shoulders, and the blonde woman looked down at her. "What's wrong, Mako-chan?" Her tone was serious and concerned. The teal-haired woman glanced up, her hands pausing. There was something in that voice that brooked no arguments and stopped all playing.
The brown-haired girl sighed. "The Princess went to earth, Minako got hurt, and I didn't do anything."
The blonde woman squeezed her shoulders. "There was nothing you could do, Mako. Minako couldn't be moved, Serenity wouldn't leave without her, and joining them would just be putting everyone in more danger."
"But I couldn't help," Makoto choked out. She broke from the friendly embrace and slammed her fist into the heavy punching bag, tears in her eyes.
"Excuse me," a gentle, musical voice asked softly, and Nephrite jumped. The teal-haired woman was beside him. The silken layer of aristocracy and inquiry overlaid sword-sharp intelligence and a core of steel. Only Nephrite's keen, talented eye allowed him to catch it. "But do you need something?"
"Ah," he replied, slightly embarrassed at having been caught eavesdropping. "Forgive me, lady," he bowed slightly, "I couldn't help overhearing. By chance were your friends speaking of the Princess going to earth?"
"Sh," the woman warned, sending a hunting look around, then narrowing her sharp gaze on him. "How do you know about that?" she asked in a low voice. The blonde and brunette came over.
He was feeling decidedly uncomfortable under that gaze. She was a beautiful woman – graceful and slender, with soft hair and sweet, large eyes any man would easily be sent to his knees over – but there was something subtly fierce in her look that undermined all elegance and sent chills down his back.
The blonde woman put an arm around the teal-haired woman's waist, drawing close to her back, and the brown-haired girl stood a little away from the pair, sending him the same type of look – distrusting, sharp, and with a willingness to fight if necessary. "What's going on, Michiru?" the blonde asked in low, dangerous tones.
"This man knew about Serenity's trip to earth," the woman replied, unsettling gaze still on Nephrite.
"That's classified."
"Yes."
They all looked at Nephrite, who felt decidedly outnumbered. "Ladies, please," he held up his hands in a placating gesture. "My name is Nephrite – I'm one of Endymion's guards. Both the Princess and Sailor Venus can vouch for me."
They gazed at him a moment longer, then, without trying to be discreet about it, looked at each other.
"I'd like to call his bluff," the brown-haired girl, Makoto, said.
"He's all yours, lady," the blonde replied, giving him one last, enigmatic look, and taking the teal-woman away.
"Come with me," Makoto ordered, eyeing him as they walked out of the training room.
As they headed down the corridor, he glanced back. "I hope I don't sound too forward, but are they, those two, um . . ." he cocked his head and made a funny face when Makoto looked over at him.
"Yes, they're in love." She made a noncommital gesture, shrugging. "It works for them."
When they arrived at Senshi hall, Nephrite glancing on either side of him nervously, Makoto pointed out the various rooms. "This hall is for the Inner and Outer Senshi," she told him in a lecturer's tone, pausing at the beginning. "These two doors," gesturing to a grey iron door with an hourglass on a pedestal beside the doorway, and one opposite it – a black iron door with a finely wrought cage holding a live Death Beetle, "are the chambers of Pluto and Saturn. They don't come here often, though, so we just try to keep the rooms tidy in case of surprise visits." She took him a few feet further to another pair of doors. One door was grey-blue, with a blindfolded hawk on a stand beside it, the other iron with a blue-greenish tinge, iridescent fish darting in a tall tank beside the doorway. "Uranus and Neptune – you just met them," Makoto told him, and he suddenly knew why everyone had kept away from them in the training room. He wouldn't want to mess with the Outer Senshi, especially not that famous pair.
"Come," Makoto moved on, but stopped as a man stepped out from the room to their right.
When Nephrite looked, he saw the door was golden and a crystal sword was sheathed in a crystal stone on the floor beside the doorway. Across from that was a shimmering forest green door, a slender, leafy tree potted beside it. Looking farther down the hall, he caught a brief glimpse of red, with a real burning fire, and blue with a slender ice sculpture. At the end of the hall were two doors, both white, with a small, glowing crystal on a velvet pillow between them.
"Artemis!" Makoto went forward. "You were on Earth – can you identify this fellow?"
Nephrite turned to the blonde man who frowned and nodded, as if wondering why Makoto was wasting her time asking him. "Of course," he told her crossly. "He's one of Endymion's guard. Why?"
"Just checking," she smiled a little uncomfortably. There was an awkward pause and the girl piped up again. "How's Mina-chan?"
He glanced at her narrowly. "Resting. I don't want anyone to disturb her."
The young woman stood straighter and glared at him. "You forget who you're speaking to, Artemis," she told him dangerously, and Nephrite looked at her in surprise. There was a brief battle of wills between the pair and Artemis finally looked away.
"Forgive me, princess," he murmured.
"Princess?" Nephrite asked, stunned.
"Jupiter," she replied, a little shy, indicating the green door across from Venus'.
Nephrite stepped forward and fell to his knee, hand over his heart. He took her hand and kissed it gently. "Forgive me, my lady, for not giving proper greeting."
Her blush spread and she reassured him. "It's okay." She smiled down at him, red dusting the bridge of her nose, and Nephrite rose, still holding her hand. She looked away and noticed Artemis' impatiently tapping foot. The latter gave her a long-suffering glance and she pulled her hand from Nephrite, straightening. "I haven't seen Venus since she got back and she can tell me to get out as well as you can. So if you will please, Artemis, take this gentleman back to the training room for me, I will gladly forget your rudeness just now."
Artemis made a disgusted noise and motioned for Nephrite to follow him. With a lingering look back, the latter did.
Makoto sighed when they were gone and headed toward Venus' room. She felt a little sorry for exercising her authority so blatantly over the Queen's Advisor, but he really had been rude. I'll ask Minako why he's in such a bad mood, she speculated as Venus' door swung open under her touch.