~~A/N: Moshi moshi faithful readers! Here cometh Chapter 5! Hope you all liked the last chapter! As always, suggestions, constrictive criticisms, and sweet fudgy things welcome. Just a note: I have exams coming up soon so this story may not be updated for a while. Just letting you know. Assuming someone is actually reading this of course. Only three reviews this chapter… L Ah well. Forth, brave readers!~~
Zoisite woke with a jolt as Jadeite kicked him. "That's for last night," the other man grumbled. Zoisite sat up with a silent curse.
*Damnit Jadeite, did you have to wake me just then?! She had opened her eyes, curse it! She looked about to speak!*
"Zoi?" Mamoru asked. "Something up?" Zoisite shook his head, trying to clear it.
"No. I'm fine." Mamoru looked slightly sceptical, but let it drop. Kunzite smiled softly as he packed up his sleeping bag.
"Come. We have much ground to cover."
*Speed is what we need now,* Zoisite thought. *Before these questions drive me mad.*
Within a very short space of time the camp was packed up and the speeders were once again racing across the plains. This time Zoisite drove, his face set in a determined mask, not even glancing at the map, as the way was burned onto his eyelids. Kunzite stood behind him, his grey eyes scanning their surroundings. Jadeite again stood at the back of the last speeder, crossbow at the ready. Mamoru navigated from the centre, but Zoisite paid no attention to the instructions sent to him from time to time. If anything, he anticipated them. Kunzite glanced down at the younger man from time to time, growing more and more concerned as the day wore on. When Mamoru ordered a break for a brief lunch, Kunzite practically had to drag him off the speeder.
"We've got no time to spend idling Kunzite, " Zoisite told him in a low voice.
"True, but we cannot ride all day without a rest," Kunzite admonished gently.
"You don't understand, Kunzite, I need to find her. I have so many questions, the answers to which only she can give."
"I understand you have questions Zoisite, so do I, but…" Zoisite cut him off.
"You still don't understand. But you will. When it is your turn." With that, Zoisite turned and went back to the speeder to wait. Kunzite shook his head slightly and headed over to the others, sitting down beside Mamoru, who had overheard the conversation.
"What was that all about?" he asked in a low voice.
"I don't know." Kunzite glanced back at the lone figure waiting for them. "It's like… overnight he's become obsessed with finding her. It's… weird."
"Maybe he knows something we don't," Mamoru suggested quietly.
"Maybe. He said I would understand when it was my turn. Whatever that means." Kunzite frowned slightly as Jadeite bounced to his feet.
"Hey, you two!" he called. "Are you going to sit around all day or are we going to get moving?" Nephrite chuckled under his breath as he gathered everything together, replacing it on the speeders.
"And it's about time, too," Zoisite murmured as he leapt onto the speeder, taking up position on the back. Unslinging his bow, he nocked an arrow and stood ready. Kunzite shot the younger man a worried look before lightly leaping into his place. Suddenly Zoisite's head snapped up as Nephrite fell from his position on the back of his speeder.
"Nephrite! What is it?!" Kunzite called, alarmed.
"Something's… in my head… trying to control…" Nephrite choked out, trying to stand. Zoisite whirled, taking in the snowy landscape in a second. He raised his bow and aimed as Jadeite grabbed his crossbow, aiming at a hint of purple behind a mass of white bearing down on them.
"Snow dancers!" he called to Kunzite, as Nephrite managed to rise, hands groping for his sword.
"Hold him down! There's an U-Tahime trying to control him!" Zoisite yelled, firing into the group of snow dancers. One shrieked and fell, but another took its place as Mamoru and Kunzite each seized one of Nephrite's arms and bore him, struggling, to the ground. Jadeite shot another snow dancer, swiftly reloading and firing again. Zoisite fired another two arrows, taking down another dancer, clearing the way to the U-Tahime. Sighting down the shaft of the arrow, he released it as Jadeite launched another bolt straight into the purple creature's heart. The two missiles both struck at the same time, one in the head, one in the heart. The creature gave a horrible scream as it fell, setting off the snow dancers, which gave their own cries of pain as they fell to Zoisite's arrows. Jadeite fired one last shot, felling the final snow dancer as Mamoru and Kunzite raised their heads, relaxing their grip on Nephrite's arms.
Mamoru sighed, relieved, as he pushed himself up off the snow. "Well," Kunzite remarked, getting to his feet, "That was a bit of fun."
"Speak for yourself," Nephrite murmured through a face full of snow. "Thanks for that."
Mamoru looked serious. "We're going to have to watch out for those. Neph could easily have killed us had we not moved swiftly." Nephrite bowed his head slightly. Mamoru nodded to Jadeite and Zoisite. "Nice shooting, you two." Jadeite grinned cheekily, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"Come on, we need to get going again," Zoisite said, jumping back onto the speeder. "We've lost too much time here." The other men quickly remounted the speeders and took off.
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The rest of the day passed without incident. As night fell, the tents were pitched. Zoisite had been silent ever since the battle, and Kunzite was getting increasingly worried.
"Zoisite, are you sure you're alright? You've been so quiet lately."
"It's nothing, Kunzite, I'm fine," Zoisite reassured him. Kunzite raised an eyebrow. "Seriously. I'm fine."
"Watches the same as last night?" Jadeite asked. Nods all round. "Good. And Zoisite if you kick me awake again, I will kick *you* to Kingdom Come."
Zoisite laughed and took up his place at the door. "I'd like to see you try, Jadeite. Good night." Jadeite rolled his eyes as he slithered into his sleeping bag.
"G'night."
Zoisite smiled softly as he watched his friends fall asleep, but his mood turned serious as he again reached into his pack for the sapphire crystal. Holding it in his cupped hands, he stared into it. He could not help but wonder... *Tonight, when I sleep… will I dream of her again? This time… will she speak to me? I can only hope.* He sighed and reached for one of his quivers, and spent a while checking and rechecking the feathers and points. At last his watch was over, and he woke Jadeite by the simple expedient of whapping him upside the head.
"That's how you're waking up tomorrow morning, count on it," Jadeite groaned, clambering out of his sleeping bag and taking up the watch position. Zoisite merely grinned and settled down to sleep.
Once again he followed the blue line to the pillar. He sped through the corridors towards Mercury. This time, when he rounded the final corner, the room had changed. Large crystal blocks dotted the room, presumably for displaying something, yet they were bare… he searched over each one but found nothing, until he came to the last one. Inside were the three wands he had seen in her painting, and the blue lyre, all sealed in ice. He frowned slightly: how had they sealed those in? He shook the question from his head and turned to the trapped Senshi.
He placed his hand on the clear glass panel as he had done before and again her head slowly drifted up. Her cerulean eyes snapped open to lock with his… yet she did not speak. She raised her hand and placed it against his, only the glass stopping them from touching, a soft smile curving her lips. "Mercury," he begged silently, "Speak to me!" Still she remained silent. "You know we are coming," he whispered. "You can feel us near."
She nodded slowly and opened her lips, softly uttering one word: "Yes…"
Zoisite's eyes shot open and he sat bolt upright. Jadeite scowled. "Bah. You moved."
"Go figure," Zoisite replied softly, his mind still on Mercury. *She spoke! She knows we come!* He shook his head briefly and looked up. "Come on then! We have precious little time."
As Nephrite, Jadeite and Mamoru finished loading everything, Kunzite took the opportunity to talk to Zoisite alone. "Zoi, what the hell is wrong?"
"What do you mean, Kunzite?" Zoisite asked, eyebrows raised; a picture of innocence.
"You've been acting strangely ever since that first attack. What the hell is going on?"
"Nothing! Seriously, Kunzite, I'm fine! Just a little edgy. That's all."
Kunzite's eyes narrowed. "Not buying it, Zoi." The younger man opened his mouth to say something, but Mamoru interrupted.
"Come on you two! Hurry it up! At this rate we'll never get there!"
'Coming!" Zoisite called and raced over to his speeder, leaping into the driver's seat.
"This conversation isn't over Zoisite," Kunzite murmured as he made his way to the vehicle. "Before this day is over, I will have some answers," he softly vowed, leaping up onto the back of the speeder. Zoisite gunned the engine and the group sped off.
~~A/N: Again, thanks for reading and hopefully reviewing!
Here, as usual, be thanks:
Nabooru: Cliffie answered! They're getting closer…
K. Wyse: Zoi with bow and arrows reminds you of Legolas? Hey… I think you're right… yum.
Ocianne: *bows* Thanks for that! The itals were meant to be a dream-sequence. Yeah, I love these pairings.