Author's Notes: Ooh, burned my tongue. Ouch.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Chapter 4: Maybe There's a Devil (Or Something Like It) Inside
Her head ached from the sudden burst of memories that unleashed like a damn breaking apart. Everything was there in her mind, released, but it was scattered and not pulled together into a flowing continuity. She could remember the scent of her old home, but could not quite connect it with the memory of its complete image.
She could remember the politics, her roles, but not exactly who she dealt with.
But she did remember several memories that she could roughly piece together...
Jadeite was a general...they had met several times....
They had....
The looks in his eyes...his voice..
They were...
Fire Bird. My Fire Bird.
They had been lovers.
As she walked up the steps to the shrine, she was numb to her surroundings as she processed
the information.
Lovers.
She and Jadeite.
She could see the memories in her mind, being in dark corners with him as he whispered teasing words to her, lips against hers, hands on her skin in burning caresses.
But it was more than just physical.
Every memory of it, as broken as they were, screamed that she indeed had loved the blonde general fiercely.
Which was why...
Why she had kept quiet about Serenity and Endymion, when duty dictated she inform the Queen. But she could not be so hypocritical, when she herself was carrying on her own affair.
She felt tears blur her vision as the implications of it all became painfully clear, and as she reached to the top of the steps and began walked towards her room she blinked as she saw a figure in the courtyard.
She felt it like a knife in the heart as she saw the familiar blonde hair and blue eyes. She ran, ran as fast as she could to the small pond and dove in...
Water was more suited to Ami and Michiru, opposite to her fire...
As her raven hair clouded around her and she closed her eyes, feeling the water surround her all over, she wished for nothing more than to be momentarily voided out.
For she was fire, and water extinguished flames.
She could barely feel arms grabbing hers, being pulled out of the water...she didn't see the person carrying her towards the sacred fire.
"Fire Bird, such a hello....you are unique. Do you really think I'd let you put out your flame so easily?"
She moaned quietly in her semi-conscious state, as he began shedding her wet clothing and cast them aside as he shed his worn general's jacket and wrapped her in it, as he placed her before the sacred fire. The fire that she was spiritually connect to not only elementally but religiously. She was a Shinto Priestess in this Era, and in the past had been an oracle priestess once. He recalled her once saying before learning politics she was trained in divination for she was born with the gift that occurred in some generations of Martian Royals.
He smooth damp strands of hair out of her face gently. In his solitude, his frozen state, his mind semi-consciously dwelled on her. Sometimes he wanted to hold her, sometimes he wanted to strangle her. That she could forget him so, that they betrayed each other, that she would look upon other men, that they were doomed....
Too much.
It was too much.
And as he thought, she dreamed. Of a dimly lit place that was incense scented...red and violet silk draperies...warm arms surrounding her.
She was laying down, in someone's embrace.
Her violet eyes met icy blue as she smiled.
'When do you have to return to Earth?'
'Two hours.' he replied, holding her closer.
She snuggled against his shoulder.
'Sometimes I wish we could be together openly...then I wouldn't have to worry about you flirting with other women.' she sighed, poking his chest.
He chuckled.
'It's an act, my darling Fire Bird. I could never want another, you consume me like the flame you are.'
'Then I suppose that really makes us a divine comedy, utterly tragic and hopeless.'
'I suppose it does. Must we think so negatively? We should enjoy the time we have together, for who knows what will happen tomorrow?'
'Sometimes I do.'
'Oh yes. That is true.'
She sat up, looking down at him, her eyes serious.
'I do love you, Jadeite, I want you to know that whatever may happen, I love you.'
He smiled and nodded.
'I know.'
The memory faded as her eyes fluttered open, hearing the crackling of the sacred fire. She felt it's warmth on her face and sat up slowly, feeling an unfamiliar material against her skin. Her damp hair was plaster to her back as she looked at what she was wearing.
Grey, a general's uniform jacket.
With a gasp she looked around and saw him there, seated in the corner shirtless wearing grey uniform pants.
He regarded her silently, with no smug line or sarcastic drawl. So unlike him. He always had something to say with her. She remembered.
"Jadeite. Why are you here?" she whispered, hiding any anxiety within her.
"I would think it would be obvious. The dreams, the fleeting images.."
"You sent them?"
He shook his head.
"They were signs. Surely you knew?"
She looked away. She should of known, but she didn't....
"I didn't notice it. I never thought..."
"That I would return?"
"Yes."
"Because you had forgotten."
"Yes." she whispered, closing her eyes.
"To think I was so close to you when I was last here, had I known....ah but we were enemies. I would have killed you had I gotten the chance."
"And now? Will you kill me now? Something is changed in you." she said, opening her eyes once more.
He smirked.
"Yes, I remember everything, Fire Bird. But I also remember serving the Dark Kingdom, and that has left its mark. I don't think I may ever be the same as I once was, the man you knew in the past."
"What does it matter?" she murmured, more to herself.
He stood up, walking towards her slowly and she got to her feet quickly.
"It matters Fire Bird, because I did not return to this place for energy or for Metallia."
"Then why did you return? How did you return?" she asked, lifted her head a notch to look up at him.
"I returned because I was never dead. Just frozen within a crystalline imprisonment for failing to kill you and your senshi. After the Dark Kingdom's fall, I eventually was freed. As to why...to reclaim what is mine."
"And that is?"
He smirked, grabbing her by the chin and moving his face close to hers.
"You."
And he pressed his lips against hers.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
She sat in her chair and listened as delegates drowned on about intergalactic politics and the ever-infamous topic of the possibility of Earth joining the Silver Millennium instead of existing in a separate governing sphere.
She rested her chin in her hand, trying to not look utterly bored, but it was difficult when the same points were being made over and over and merely cleverly altered to sound different. As her gaze drifted over the other officials, it stopped at the icy blue gaze that pinned her and the Earth general actually winked at her and smirked.
She was startled for a moment and then scoffed, turning away in a haughty gesture. The audacity of that man! Winking and smirking at her as if she was some sort of common whore. She briefly wondered how many women fell for that smirk, and questioned their sanity.
She hated arrogant men with a passion.
As the meeting finally ended, she wanted nothing more to than to stretch on her chaise lounge and read some of the novels that were gaining popularity those days. She also very much wanted a nice Gravedigger to go with it, which was a potent alcoholic drink that she loved to indulge in on the occasion.
She could feel a tension in her neck and shoulders and sighed as she rubbed her neck and closed her eyes.
A pair of hands slipped onto her shoulders and began kneading and rubbing, massaging her sore muscles.
She almost moaned and looked over her shoulder to see the blonde general.
"You!" she whispered vehemently and moved away from him.
"Come now, your highness, your muscles are quite tense. The least I could do is remedy that. An apology for our first meeting."
She eyed him speculatively then slumped her shoulders and waved her hand.
"Well I suppose you are of some use. Very well." she said, turning and smirking when he couldn't see as he continued to massage her neck and shoulders.
She had to admit, he was skilled at that and her muscles soon relaxed under his touch.
"Hmm, you know, I can be useful in relieving any other tension you may have." he whispered hotly into her ear.
She tensed, and he could feel so, and elbowed him in the stomach.
"And here I thought you were possibly redeemable. Good day, general." she muttered, walking to her chambers with her head held high like a proud queen.
He watched her go and smiled.
"And here I thought I'd be bored."
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
She broke the kiss apart, pushing him away. She wiped her mouth, eyes flashing.
"You vile, loathsome, creature!" she yelled, backing away from him.
She felt a dull ache in her heart at the brief flash of misery in his eyes before they truly reminded her of ice.
"If you want to make this difficult then! You always were a challenge...I wonder though if in these days you're worth it."
She scoffed in indignation, running to the wall and grabbing a parchment off of it.
"In these days I'm better prepared. Akuryo Taisan!" she cried out, flinging the anti-demon scroll at him.
It landed on his chest, burning as he used what power he had in him to pry it off. Rei could see the mark left behind, a small outline of the scroll.
A vortex opened and he stepped in, looking over his shoulder.
"I trust you will not make the mistake of assuming this is over. You will be mine again, Rei-san." he said, enunciated the -san honorific, a mockery of his time when he worked at the shrine.
She watched him go, her expression neutral.
Inside her emotions were chaotic, and her heart felt bruised and bleeding. She couldn't believe it, the amount of sadness that suddenly filled her, as if the part of her....the part of her from the past was crying out for him.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
::authoress screams:: Tension breaker. Had to be done.