Okay, I think I got a bit confused at the end of the last chapter as to what direction I wanted to take this story. Ah well....at least I can always rely on the good old "replace chapter" function to help me set things straight! Usual disclaimer still applies.
Thanks to all those readers that took the time to tell me what sort of scenario they wanted appearing in the next few chapters as well as those who gave me a few more ideas to expand on! This way I can plan accordingly. Thank you all! Just a little note: I'm going to make some of the Generals, especially Jadeite, a little more jerkier than usual - just a warning!
~M.A.
Chapter 5
A lithe red figure dropped silently down onto the balcony. Looking around, he made a small gesture and seconds later, another masked figure landed down beside him.
The first figure took a piece of thin wire out of his pocket and poked it into the keyhole. Seconds later, there was a small snap as the door opened slightly.
"Is he in there?" the second one asked, looking around to see if anyone had noticed their presence.
The first figure started at the sound of his companion's voice.
"Rei, you alright?"
The red figure nodded. "Sorry, I haven't gotten used to your voice sounding like that."
"Don't worry - I haven't exactly gotten used to your disguise yet either."
"At least you're not giving me weird looks this time," huffed the first figure.
"Hey, your disguise is kind of cute."
"I thought you were saving those for General Kunzite."
The second figure smirked, "I am. So, can you sense anyone in there?"
The first figure simply closed her eyes. "No. Unless he's cloaking his aura really well, he's not here."
"I wish I had that skill of yours sometimes," the second figure sighed as the two of crept in silently.
The first figure reached up and pulled off the piece of fabric covering their face. "It's not all it's made out it to be." Rei grimaced.
Minako yanked off hers as well and ran her hands through her short hair. This would take some getting used to. She was so used to her waist length hair that having her hair this short made her as though she was missing something. "So...what exactly are we looking for?"
The other senshi just shrugged. "Anything that can be classified as blackmail material, I'm guessing."
"Good idea."
"I try."
"Hmm....." Minako yanked open a few drawers. "I seem to have stumbled onto something."
Rei glanced over and blanched. "Minako, how about you leave his underwear drawer alone?"
"Just checking." The Venusian shrugged. "Well, aren't you curious?"
"About what?" Rei headed over to the closet.
"Boxers or briefs?"
The fire senshi flushed bright red. "Minako! Ditch that drawer already!"
"There's only so much I want to know about General Jadeite." she muttered under her breath as she continued rummaging.
Minako simply grinned as she strolled over to where Rei was. "I bet he has a stash of dirty magazines somewhere. All guys do."
"If he does, it's probably back at home," Rei's voice was muffled as she continued searching in Jadeite's walk-in closet.
Suddenly, both of them froze as they heard the unmistakable sound of the door opening.
"Uh oh."
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"Hey Kunz, about that blond that's chasing after you?" Jadeite ducked to avoid as Kunzite's fist smashed into the air where his head was scant milliseconds ago.
"What about her? And don't leave you side open like that. It's every easy for an enemy to take advantage of that."
The two of them continued their match. "Apparently, she's the Duchess of Titan or something...and she has a huge crush on you."
"What made you think that?" Kunzite rolled his eyes as he aimed another kick at the blond General.
"I asked her."
"You WHAT?"
"I asked her," repeated Jadeite, wiping his forehead, "Just this morning in fact. I saw her hanging around that youth that attempted to beat up Nephrite and I yesterday. The kid's some kind of trainee from what I gather-"
"No," interrupted Endymion, "I ran into the brown-haired one yesterday. Odango Atama called him the high general of Jupiter or something."
"Him?" The blond general said incredulously, "I don't believe it."
"Don't worry," the raven-haired prince assured him, "We'll get even with them. Soon." Endymion grinned, "As far as I know, nobody here knows about your abilities yet - especially yours, Jed."
"Yeah, I guess so." Suddenly Jadeite spun around and headed towards the entrance.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Nephrite called to him.
"I left sword in my room!" called back the blond, "How the heck am I suppose to fight without one?!"
Jadeite ran his fingers through his hair, winking at two of the girls he passed in the hallway. However, a frown soon appeared on his face. It was his wish that he could run into at least one of those two insolent youths today - then he could teach them a lesson they wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon.
Unexpectedly, his wish was soon granted as he arrived at his chambers. As he opened the doors and strolled in, he started as he noticed two people standing near his closet - one of them the dark-haired youth who had just challenged him yesterday.
The three of them simply stared at each other for a moment before a sinister grin appeared on Jadeite's face as he started walking towards them.
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Rei's mouth dropped open in shock. He wasn't suppose to be back until an hour later!
She could only stare at him until an evil grin appeared on his handsome face as he started towards him.
Wasting no time, she grabbed ahold of Minako's arm and the two of them made a beeline for the balcony doors. Rei was only two steps away when she felt a hand grab onto the back of her shirt and she was thrown unceremoniously onto the ground.
Two light blue eyes stared down triumphantly into her eyes. "Well," Jadeite smirked at her, "This is turning out to be a good day after all."
Her eyes widened in fear as he started moving closer. Suddenly, Rei lashed out, her long legs sweeping out as she threw him onto the floor and ran for freedom.
"This is Sailor Mars you're dealing with here, buster." thought Rei as she leapt off the second-floor balcony, "If you want to catch me, you'll have to try harder."
She pitched forward due to the flying momentum of her leapt; only her outstretched hands prevented her from landing smack on her face. Rapidly getting to her feet, she gave the furious one last glance before she raced off.
"Damn!" Jadeite swore as he leapt off after the agile youth. He pursued him through the courtyard, pass the fountain....
"Now where did that brat go?" He looked around before he noticed a familiar figure pulling himself up the wall with the aid of the ivy growing on the palace walls. Jadeite quickly hid behind a pillar and watched as the boy as he leapt from his place on the wall and onto the balcony a few feet to the left. He smiled as the dark-haired boy gazed around for a moment, trying to see if the General had managed to catch up. Apparently satisfied by what he saw, the youth had disappeared inside seconds later.
"Gotcha!" Jadeite thought smugly as he retraced the path Rei had just taken. Moments later, he landed silently onto the balcony. So this was where the youth or the so-called High General lived. "High General indeed," he snorted, "I'm sure he won't be getting on our nerves so soon after I'm through with him." and with that, Jadeite kicked open the door-
-and instead of finding the dark-haired youth he was chasing after, he found himself staring at the vision in front of him.
Rei stared at him in surprise before she gave an angry shriek and marched up to him. "Who are you and how dare you barge in like this!" she yelled. "Note to self: Idiotic general is smarter than I give him credit for." she thought to herself dryly.
Meanwhile, Jadeite couldn't peel his eyes off her. The gorgeous raven-haired woman in front of him was currently dressed in a silk red dressing gown, which, besides showing off a lot of leg, highlighted her slim figure. His eyes travelled over her body appreciatively.
However, Rei wasn't quite too sure if she should be enjoying his glazed expression or ranting at him for barging into her room unannounced. Making up her mind, she raised a hand and snapped her fingers in front of Jadeite's face.
"I believe I asked you a question." she said coldly. "Who are you and what are you doing in my chambers?!"
Jadeite rapidly unglued his eyes from her long legs, although he still snuck a look at her figure every so often. "I was pursuing a dark-haired youth when I noticed that he had escaped onto your balcony by climbing the ivy. Of course, I had no idea that a beautiful lady such as yourself was present; if I had known, I would have knocked." He finished the last part with his most charming grin which seemed to have no effect on this particular woman.
"Oh," Rei raised an eyebrow at the term. "Care to describe him for me?"
"This person caught my friends and I off-guard yesterday and this morning, I discovered that him ransacking my chamber." His expression darkened. "I should warn you to be aware of him, he is mentally unstable, possibly armed and extremely dangerous. A Grade A psychopath is what I say."
"I see," Inwardly Rei was raging at Jadeite's description of her alter-ego; "Grade A Psychopath! I'll show him psychopath! In fact, when I'm through with him, he won't even recognize his own mother!"
Instead she pretended to look worried. "Are you sure he isn't hiding in my chambers? Because the thought of having such a dangerous person loose around the palace is giving me the creeps!" She wrung her hands nervously as she snuck an indiscreet glance at Jadeite to gauge his reaction.
"I'm sure he won't be back. If he tries breaking into your room again, I'll clobber him to death." Jadeite's face darkened. Suddenly, he gently pulled Rei's hand up and kissed it. "I'm General Jadeite, my lady."
Rei was still staring at him in shock. "Oh...I'm Rei." she said faintly, wondering how it was possible for one kiss to have such an effect on her. Then she gave herself a mental shake. "This is the jerk we're talking about here!" she scolded herself as she plastered a smile on her face. "Well, it was nice talking to you, General."
"Call me Jed."
"Anyways, if you wouldn't mind, I was changing when you made your unexpected entrance...."
Jadeite took the hint, although he rather irrelevantly wondered what she would look like with nothing on....
Rei rolled her eyes when the faraway look came into his eyes again. Walking past him, she opened the door and smiled sweetly, "I'll be seeing you around...Jed."
The General grinned at her. "You sure will."
After Rei closed the door, she leaned back, letting her breath out. "Now that was close." she thought. Luckily she had just detransformed back into Rei before Jadeite had barged in or else......
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Meanwhile the Generals were continuing with their opinions about a few occupants of the Moon Palace as Jadeite rejoined them.
"What took you so long?" demanded Endymion as he blocked another blow from Zoicite.
The blond General recounted what had happened, finishing with the fire sprite he had just encountered.
"You sure she wasn't hiding him in her chambers somewhere?"
"I thought about it, but she didn't seem like she knew anything about it."
"Maybe the guy's her boyfriend?"
"Him?" Jadeite laughed out loud before his expression darkened. "I don't think so and if I hadn't been taken by surprise I would have given him a lesson he wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon."
"Then we wouldn't want to disappoint you." called out a voice across the arena.
The generals whirled around to see one of the two said youths standing with a familiar figure with long silver hair.
"Odango's henchmen. I should have known." snorted Endymion.
"You! What do you want?" shouted Jadeite, murder in his eyes as he recognized the previously-mentioned youth.
"Tsk, tsk," Rei shook her head although her eyes were filled with mirth, "Temper, temper, my dear General."
"Don't tell me you're still sore about yesterday?" Serenity asked teasingly, "Some people have no sense of humor."
"Well, I guess that means we don't have to return these after all." said Makoto, giving Serenity an evil grin.
The generals watched as the dark-haired youth held up five pairs of VERY familiar looking swords. "We found them on our way down to breakfast," she continued breezily, "But I guess if you don't want them back..."
Endymion stalked up to them angrily. "How did you get ahold of that?" he demanded.
"It's called picking the lock, going into the room and taking it, idiot." muttered Makoto under her breath.
"Hey, you were the one who left it lying around." Serenity retorted and then she gave the Earth Prince a sickeningly sweet smile, "I guess we should be going now, seeing as you don't seem to mind."
The three of them started backing away as Jadeite gave an angry shout.
"Run!" yelled Makoto and the three of them raced away, with four angry Earth Generals and one extremely pissed off Prince of Earth after them.
"Faster," gasped Serenity as they raced through the corridors.
"Left, no, right!"
"Faster!"
Makoto turned her head to see the Terrans gaining. "Gardens!" she gasped out.
"Don't look back!" snapped Rei as she sprinted up the stairs, four steps at a time.
However, at that moment, Serenity tripped over the last step and fell
face forward.
"Ow...." she moaned.
"Sere!" Rei hesitated for a moment, before Makoto grabbed her arm. "Venus and Mercury are watching, remember?"
The Martian princess bit her lip before the two of them raced away, which was just as well because Endymion had just appeared at the bottom of the steps.
Seeing his archrival, his lips curved into a smirk as he thundered up the stairs. However, Serenity had another plan in mind. Just as Endymion was about five steps away, she finally managed to turn the secret lever located amongst the intricate designs on the pillar and a second later, the door to the secret entrance slammed shut with a resounding bang.
Endymion swore as he stared at the place the Moon Princess had just occupied in disgust. Hopefully his friends had more luck tracking down Serenity's accomplices. At that moment, he heard some shouting coming from his right. Raising an eyebrow, a satisfied smirk finally appeared on his face as he took in the situation.
Rei and Makoto had planned to rest inside the training grounds and wait for the others there. Unfortunately, their rest was soon interrupted as four familiar figures leapt into sight.
"Damn." Makoto swore as she noticed that they were effectively surrounded.
Rei just smacked her forehead, "I can't believe this."
"Believe it, twit." sneered Jadeite, "Because I still have to repay you for this morning."
"Well, well," Endymion had an evil grin on his face as he headed towards them, "Look at what we have here."
Rei and Makoto just glared at him defiantly.
"Give us back our swords." Nephrite demanded.
Makoto didn't even blink. "And why should we?"
"For one," drawled Endymion, "You probably don't even know how to use one."
"Two, because we don't want your filthy hands over it." hissed Jadeite as the Generals all moved closer to the two disguised Senshi. "Now hand them over!"
"I don't think swords that have been broken in half already are that useful." cut in a new voice from something above.
At that moment, a familiar voice also echoed throughout the area. "Sharbon Spray!"
Within seconds, the whole place was engulfed in fog and being used to Mercury's fog, Rei and Makoto made their escape.
"Over here!" called out Venus, her love-me chain dangling over the side of the railing.
The two of them used the chain to pull themselves up. "You know what, you arrogant pig?!" yelled Makoto into the fog, "Two days. Then we'll see who the real experts are."
By the time the fog cleared, Endymion and his Generals were the only ones left.
"You know what?" grounded out the Prince of Earth, "This means war."
************************************
"As angry as I am, I don't think this warrants a planetary war with the Moon." Kunzite said calmly before his eyes took on an evil glint, "Yet."
"I didn't mean that," Endymion growled "I mean, we are going to get our hands on those three and then..."
"Let's strangle them."
"How about we actually use these, now that we've gotten them back," interrupted Zoicite, strapping his sword securely to his belt.
"Best idea you've had all day." snapped Jadeite. "What happened to that high IQ you couldn't stop yakking about, genius?"
"I assure you, my intelligence quotient is still a fair bit higher than yours." Zoicite replied coolly. "So there's no need to worry about that fact."
"Stop arguing children." Kunzite cracked his knuckles, "Before I'm forced to bang your heads together."
"That's a shame. Then you could have seen if that makes a difference or if Jed is still stupider than Zoi." Nephrite laughed out loud.
"Traitor."