Chapter Two
The world is painted in red.
He slashes his sword across a nearby enemy's chest, spilling more blood onto the saturated ground. How many has he killed today? He lost count soon after the battle began. Twenty? Thirty? Ha! A drop in the bucket compared to the countless more he has murdered over the course of his lifetime.
Yes, murdered.
Zoisite holds no delusions anymore that what they do is noble and righteous. The enemy soldiers they fight on the battlefield are no different than them. They all have friends, families, lovers who they were fighting to protect, who would cry tears of heartbreak when news came of their loved ones' deaths.
Yet, he still kills.
Another soldier falls, slain by his blood-stained sword.
He knows no other life. From the moment he was born, he was destined to fight, to uphold the honor of his family's legacy of military service. His own desires mean nothing.
One more down. More blood on his hands.
"Onward!" he shouts at the top of his lungs, glancing back at his remaining troops.
They're showing signs of fatigue, their once-pristine uniforms soiled and torn. He knows he doesn't look much better. The scout he sent to spy on the enemy's camp has underestimated their number, putting them at a severe disadvantage in battle. His troops are still more skilled, but if Kunzite doesn't arrive with reinforcements soon…
To be honest, Zoisite can't bring himself to care much anymore. He always knew he would die on the battlefield, just like his father and grandfather before him. The only reason he continues to defend himself is to defend them, the soldiers under his command. They need his leadership, so he keeps going, painting the soil a deeper red below his horse's hooves as he cuts through the enemy's seemingly never-ending line of troops.
Kunzite's reinforcements almost arrive too late, Zoisite's troops cut down to nearly a third of their original number by the time they join the fray. Their appearance does bolster the survivors' spirits, however, giving them a second wind. Zoisite, spotting his longtime lover on the front lines, pulls on his horse's reins, steering him to the left.
"What the hell happened here, Zoisite?" Kunzite asks. "This was supposed to be a simple siege operation."
"Intelligence was compromised. The enemy's numbers were far larger than originally anticipated," Zoisite says, coming up beside him. "I suspect a mole tipped them off about the raid."
Kunzite's eyes narrow. "Any idea who?"
"Not yet. We've managed to hold them off, but – Argh!"
Piercing, blinding pain emanates from his left shoulder. On instinct, Zoisite releases his hold of the reins and grabs at it, soaking his hand in his own blood. There isn't a lot of it, yet he quickly growswoozy and light-headed, his vision fading in and out.
Poison. The enemy must have coated the tip of their arrow with some fast-acting toxin.
"Zacharias!"
With lightning-fast reflexes, Kunzite wraps his arm around Zoisite's back, catching him before he falls off the horse in a bout of dizziness. He orders some nearby troops to shield them, then managesto get Zoisite safely down to the ground, laying him on his uninjured side to inspect the wound.
"Leave...me be...Khalil," Zoisite wheezes. "You must...take over...command..."
"Quiet!" Kunzite says in a rough, yet strangely tender, voice. "I'm not letting you die, Zach." To a nearby soldier, he barks, "You! Get me a healer, now!"
"But, sir! To bring a healer into active battle –"
"Do you not speak Terran? I said, NOW!"
Zoisite's body shakes with tremors, his breathing becoming erratic. There is no point in sending for a healer. The poison is too quick, meant to kill within minutes. He'll be dead before any medical help could arrive.
He's scared beyond words, yet a part of him is relieved. Finally, an end to this life of bloodshed. He's never really believed in such things like an "afterlife" or "reincarnation", but if such a thing did exist, he silently wishes his next life to be a peaceful one, full of love and beauty.
Using his remaining strength, Zoisite cranes his neck to the side. Kunzite is leaning over him, his long hair falling over his face like a curtain. Zoisite longs to run his fingers through the silky white tresses one last time, to kiss away the tear he saw trailing down his cheek – to hell with whoever was watching –but his body won't cooperate.
"Zacharias, hold on," Kunzite says in a soft voice, gripping Zoisite's arm. "There's no time. I'm going to try to yank this arrow out of your shoulder. I don't know if it will stop the poison, but..."
"N-No, don't – AHHH!"
Zoisite awoke with a gasp, jolting himself into an upright position. Heart beating fast, he grabbed his left shoulder, exhaling when he found nothing protruding out of the bare skin.
Only a dream.
His eyes roamed around the bedroom, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. It took him a moment to remember that he was on the Moon, a guest of Queen Serenity of Silver Millennium. The night before, he'd attended a masquerade ball held to welcome the visitors from Earth. He had danced with Princess Hermione of Mercury, intending to seduce her for intel, yet at the end of the night, it was not in her bed he found himself. Instead...
"Another nightmare?"
He glanced to his left. Next to him on the bed, Kunzite was laying on his side, head propped up on his elbow. The blanket barely concealed his nudity, draped loosely over his hips and leaving his torso bare.
Zoisite wondered how long Kunzite had been awake. They had shared a bed enough times over the years for Kunzite to know it was better – and safer – to let him wake on his own, rather than to try to awaken him when he was in the middle of one of his "night terrors".
"Sorry, did I wake you?" Zoisite asked, running a hand through his tangled curls.
"No, I was already up." Frowning, Kunzite reached up to caress Zoisite's cheek. "I'm worried about you, Zach."
Zoisite slapped his hand away. "Well, don't be," he said. "I'm fine. Everyone has nightmares."
"Not as often as you."
"And you would know that, how? It's not as if we sleep together every night." Indeed, last night was the first time in months.
"Yes, because of your steadfast refusal to commit to anyone…" The blanket shifted even lower as Kunzite sat up, letting out a sigh. "I'm surprised you even deigned to take me to bed last night when you had your choice of available partners." There was a hint of bitterness in his deep voice, but he knew Zoisite had no desire for romantic entanglements.
At least, not any more. After what happened that day on the battlefield...
"Don't act as if you didn't have your own pick of willing bedmates, my dear Khalil." If Kunzite was unhappy with the state of their current arrangement, it was his own damn fault; no one had forced him to come to Zoisite's bedchambers. "Princess Ishtar seemed particularly taken with you…"
At the mention of the Venusian princess, Kunzite's body went strangely stiff for a moment, his fingers gripping at the silken sheets. Before Zoisite could question him about it, however, he relaxed, smiling and cocking his head to the side. "Jealous? She is widely considered the most beautiful woman in Silver Millennium..."
Zoisite arched an eyebrow. "Even more beautiful than me?" he asked, cupping Kunzite's chin in his hand.
Kunzite smirked. "No one is as beautiful as you, Zacharias."
"Good answer."
He leaned forward, capturing Kunzite's lips in a passionate, needy kiss, determined to erase any thought of the pretty princess from his mind. Who Kunzite fucked when he wasn't around was of no importance to him, but when in his bed, Zoisite demanded his full attention, unwilling to play second fiddle to anyone. Kunzite got the message, gripping the back of Zoisite's neck as he swirled his tongue inside his mouth, the two of them falling back upon the mattress.
Closing his eyes, Zoisite moaned when Kunzite's mouth left his, traveling his jawline up to his ear before roaming down his neck. His knee settled in between Zoisite's thighs, spreading them apart, and his hand wrapped around his already half-hard cock, moving up and down the shaft in the practiced rhythmic motion he knew Zoisite enjoyed.
Yes, this is what I needed, Zoisite thought, hooking his arms around Kunzite's broad back and pulling him closer. The mornings he woke from one of his nightmares always set him on edge, but all memories of that horrific battle faded to the back of his mind as Kunzite's mouth once again found his, their bodies grinding against each other. Soon the room was filled with a symphony of heavy pants and loud moans, the sounds almost – but not quite – concealing a knock on the door.
"Don't answer that," Kunzite practically growled.
Not that it was necessary. Zoisite certainly wasn't inclined to stop what they were doing either until whoever it was knocked again, that time a female voice calling out, "I come with breakfast, Lord Zoisite." With an annoyed huff, he pushed Kunzite off of him and sat back up.
"Stay there. I'll get rid of her." After kissing Kunzite one more time, he climbed out of bed and reached for his robe, tying it loosely around his naked body before opening the door.
A maid with curly purple hair stood in the hallway, carrying a heavy silver tray laden with fruits, breads, and pastries. She bowed her head, careful to keep the tray level.
"Good morning, Lord Zoisite," she said. "Where would you like your breakfast to be served?" Her eyes looked over his shoulder at Kunzite, whose only attempt at modesty was to pull a silken sheet over his lap. If she found anything shocking about the sight, she didn't show it, her face showing no flicker of emotion as she turned her attention back to Zoisite. "In bed, my lord?"
Zoisite flicked his wrist in the direction of a small table in the corner of the room, then moved aside so the maid could enter. "Over there is fine."
She carried the tray to the tablet and set it down, pouring two cups of sweet-scented tea. As she did so, Zoisite thought he caught sight of a moon sigil on her forehead, underneath the modcap she wore.
"Is there anything else I can do for you, my lord?" she asked when she had finished. "Perhaps draw you a bath?"
"No, we're fine for now. Thank you."
Dismissed, the maid curtsied, then left the room, Zoisite peeking out the door a few moments later. There was no sign of her, the corridor empty and quiet.
When he closed the door and turned back around, Kunzite was sitting back up in bed. "A spy?" he asked.
"Most likely."
Sighing, Kunzite pushed his hair back off his face. "Silver Millennium may be willing to allow Earth to join the alliance because of Prince Endymion's crystal, but if they've sent out spies, they clearly don't trust us yet."
"I don't entirely trust them, either," Zoisite admitted, crossing his arms. "The king's sudden illness right before he was due to travel to the Moon is too coincidental."
Kunzite frowned. "You believe His Majesty was poisoned? But I thought Dr. Caduceus said he was only suffering from exhaustion due to overwork."
"I'm afraid the doctor may not have been entirely truthful, Khalil."
Zoisite sat back down on the edge of the bed. After his disastrous discussion with Endymion, he had been reluctant to confide in anybody else about his suspicions until he found more concrete proof, but he supposed it wouldn't hurt to have an extra set of eyes and ears to help with the investigation. There was a time he told Kunzite everything, trusting him with his deepest, darkest secrets. Though they were no longer as close as they once were, if anybody would take his concerns seriously, it was Kunzite. Zoisite told him about the conversation he had overheard between the king and Dr. Caduceus right before they left for the Moon, Kunzite keeping quiet until he finished.
"I admit it does sound like the king and Dr. Caduceus are hiding something," Kunzite said, "but you said yourself that the doctor told King Oberon that he found no trace of toxins in his blood."
"No Earth-native toxin, at least," Zoisite said, absent-mindedly twirling a strand of his hair around his finger.
"You suspect the Lunarians of foul play?"
"At this point, it's too soon to cast blame, or to even say for certain a crime has taken place. We should keep a close eye on Prince Endymion, though. If the Lunarians did have something to do with King Oberon's illness, the prince may be their next target."
"Agreed. I'll tell Nicomedes and Julian to be on their guard, have them keep their eyes and ears open for anything suspicious," Kunzite said. "In the meantime, I'll leave the bulk of the investigation in your hands. Keep me abreast of any new developments."
After an informal breakfast with Zenobia and Bellona in the royal gardens – Ishtar had morning guard duty and couldn't join them – Hermione excused herself, remembering she had promised Zoisite a tour of the palace library.
It was an unexpected request, though one that pleased her. A library wasn't the type of place she thought a military man would find of much interest. Then again, the men in Prince Endymion's guard all came from noble families, presumably well-educated in more than warfare. She berated herself for making assumptions based on stereotypes as she walked to Zoisite's bedchambers.
She had just turned the corner when she saw the door to his room open. However, the person who stepped into the hallway was not Zoisite.
Catching a glimpse of long white-blond hair, Hermione instinctively hid behind a nearby marble statue of Queen Serenity and pressed herself against the wall.
Two men's voices reached her ears, one she recognized as belonging to Zoisite. They were speaking in soft tones, making it difficult to discern what they were discussing, and though Hermione managed to catch the occasional random word, none of them added up to much. Her natural curiosity getting the best of her, she risked peeking through the small gap in between the statue's arm and body during a pause in the conversation, her eyes widening.
In front of the door, Zoisite was locked in a passionate kiss with another one of Prince Endymion's guards, the one who had captured Ishtar's interest when they had arrived yesterday.
She covered her mouth with her hand, muffling the gasp that had threatened to escape as she once again hid from view. Zoisite and Kunzite were…lovers? Such a sight was not all that shocking among the citizens of Silver Millennium, but she had always been under the impression that homosexual relationships were frowned upon in Earthian society.
Hermione took another peek through the gap. With one final kiss, the two of them said their goodbyes, Kunzite retreating down the hall in the opposite direction.
"You can come out of hiding," Zoisite said once Kunzite was out of earshot.
She stepped out from her hiding place behind the statue. "How did you know I was here?"
"Your heels." He turned around to face her, smiling. "They're not quite suitable for spy missions."
Her cheeks warmed. "I wasn't spying," she said. "Did you forget my offer to show you the palace's library this morning?"
"Oh, right." He rubbed at his forehead. "You did mention something about that. It must have slipped my mind," he said, opening the door to his suite. "Come in. I still need to shower and get dressed, then we can go."
"I can come back later." Gossip spread quickly around the palace. If she was seen entering or leaving the room of one of Prince Endymion's guards, scandal was bound to follow.
"Nonsense. I won't take long," he said. "I insist."
Hermione looked once again around the vicinity. The corridor was empty save for the two of them, no one else in sight. After a moment of hesitation, she stepped inside the room, Zoisite closing the door behind them.
He waved a hand toward the breakfast tray sitting on a table in the corner. "Feel free to partake of our leftovers. We weren't very hungry this morning, so there's plenty left."
"Thank you."
Though she had already eaten breakfast, Hermione snatched a blueberry muffin from the basket and sat down in an armchair near the fireplace while Zoisite left the room to take a shower.
As she waited, she noticed a leather-bound book on the table beside her chair. She picked it up after she finished eating the muffin, flipping through the pages in mild curiosity. It was written in Terran, the lingua franca of the Golden Kingdom, and titled "Red Like Roses, Black Like Sin". Careful not to lose the place marked by a ribbon, she turned back to the first page and began to read.
Hermione became so engrossed in the story that she didn't notice when Zoisite came out of the bathroom.
"Are you a fan of Dorian's works as well?"
"Oh, sorry. I saw the book and –" She looked up from her current page, startled to see Zoisite standing in front of her completely naked, save for a towel wrapped around his shoulders, which he was using to dry his long blond hair. Her cheeks burning, the book fell out of Hermione's hands. "Oh, no, I lost your place!"
She leaned over to pick it up, but Zoisite was faster.
"I don't mind," he said with an amused chuckle. "I've read this novel many times before. I know exactly where I left off reading." After a short pause, he handed the book back to Hermione. "You should keep it for a while."
Hermione managed to look up at Zoisite's face, making a concentrated effort not to let her eyes wander any lower. "You would let me borrow it?"
"Go ahead. You look like you were enjoying it."
"It's not my usual choice of reading material," she admitted. Her gaze dropped back down to the cover of the book, her fingers stroking the raised Terran characters. "I don't read much fiction."
"A shame. To me, there is only one thing better than getting lost in a good story."
"What is that?"
"Sex," he replied without a trace of embarrassment.
As he walked over to the wardrobe and began getting dressed for the day, Hermione brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear, again trying not to stare at the naked man only a few feet away. She couldn't resist taking a few covert peeks, though, a nasty scar on his back near his left shoulder blade catching her eye. It was the only blemish on his otherwise gorgeous body.
A battle wound? she wondered. The shape and size of the scar suggested a puncture of some sort, perhaps by an arrow. As archers were a prominent part of Earth's militaries, it seemed a likely assumption.
Zoisite glanced back at her, stepping into a pair of slacks. "Like what you see?" he asked, a slight smirk on his lips.
Hermione quickly turned her attention back to the book, turning to a random page and holding it close to her nose in order to block the view. "I don't know what you mean," she lied, Zoisite letting out a boisterous laugh.
Honestly! The man had no shame.
She did, however, like what she saw. Very much so.
Though Hermione was familiar with drawings and statues of the nude male body, and she had researched the anatomical differences between the sexes in the course of her studies in human biology, she had never seen one in the flesh. She risked another peek, biting down on her lower lip as she moved the book over just far enough to the side to catch one more glimpse of his bare buttocks before Zoisite finished pulling up his pants.
"Um, I didn't realize you were gay," Hermione said, pushing any inappropriate thoughts out of her mind. After all, he was attracted to men, not women.
"I'm not." Selecting a clean shirt from the wardrobe, he pushed his arms through the sleeves.
She frowned, her brows creasing in confusion as she finally closed the book and set it aside. He wasn't? But… "Was that not Lord Kunzite I saw you kissing earlier?"
"It was." Zoisite smiled, tying his hair back with a thin green ribbon. "And, believe me, I assure you he is very much a man."
"Then…?"
"I do not discriminate when it comes to whom I take to bed." Walking over, Zoisite placed his hands on the arms of Hermione's chair, looming over her. His shirt remained unbuttoned, his toned abdomen on display. "Pleasure is pleasure and beauty is beauty, no matter what form it may take, be it male or female."
Hermione's breath hitched at the back of her throat. "Is that so?" she asked, craning her neck to stare up at Zoisite's eyes.
"I believe so, yes."
Their faces were so close together that she could feel his warm breath blowing down on her. Hermione closed her eyes, mentally willing him to bridge the gap between them, and soon she felt his lips brushing against hers, soft and feather-light. Her mouth opened slightly, allowing him entrance as Zoisite cupped her face between his hands. He deepened the kiss between them, Hermione responding back in equal measure, but when she reached up to place her hands on his shoulders, he pulled back.
Left breathless and confused, Hermione opened her eyes.
"You were going to show me the library?" he reminded her as he finished buttoning his shirt.
"O-Oh, right." She had almost forgotten. Hermione inhaled a deep breath to calm her racing heartbeat and stood, pressing the book he let her borrow against her chest. "Let's go."
The library was located in a building on the far side of the palace grounds. As Hermione led Zoisite through the familiar path, she tried her best to push the kiss – her very first – out of her mind, focusing instead on giving him a guided tour of the palace, pointing out various paintings and statues they passed along the way and giving him a brief history of the works. To her surprise, Zoisite seemed genuinely interested in the artwork, asking questions and pausing whenever a certain piece caught his eye.
"You enjoy art," she commented as they came to a stop in front of a painting created by the talented princess of Neptune, Thalassa. He seemed especially taken with it, staring at the scene of a mermaid perched upon a large rock, waves splashing around her.
"Does that surprise you?" Zoisite asked, hands behind his back.
Everything about him surprised Hermione, to be honest.
"I enjoy beautiful things, wherever they may be found," he continued when she didn't answer. "In art, in music, in words, in nature…"
"In the human body?" she asked, remembering what he had said earlier.
Zoisite chucked. "Yes, that too."
"Is Earth beautiful?" Hermione had often viewed the blue planet from afar, but she had yet to visit Zoisite's home planet. Travel between Earth and the Moon had been strongly restricted, though once the treaty was signed, that would likely change.
"Parts of it are," Zoisite said after a long pause, the two of them continuing on their way. "Elysion, our home base, is a paradise too stunning for words, but outside the boundary…" He sighed. "Well, it'll take time for some scars to heal, if they ever do."
He didn't elaborate further than that, but no explanation was necessary. Hermione knew of the recent wars that had plagued the planet. The exact numbers were unknown, but she heard over a half-million soldiers had lost their lives in battle, along with almost as many civilians who wound up caught in the middle of the conflicts through no fault of their own.
Though she was supposed to be the one leading him to the library, Hermione fell behind Zoisite, staring at his back and remembering the scar she had noticed. They were both soldiers, yet he was so much more experienced than she was when it came to fighting. She'd been involved in some mild skirmishes, battling against the monsters that occasionally appeared, but nothing compared to the bloodshed he must have witnessed – must have caused – as one of the Golden Kingdom's top generals.
Hermione had never taken a human life. It was something she had prepared herself to do, if it meant protecting the life of her princess or defending the kingdom, but every day she hoped it would never come to that, that those on the Moon would continue to live the peaceful lives they enjoyed under Queen Serenity's rule and the Silver Crystal's power. She couldn't imagine bearing such a heavy weight on her soul.
"Which way do we go next?" Zoisite asked.
Hermione, caught up in her own thoughts, collided with him when he came to a stop.
It was only his quick reflexes that prevented her from falling on the marble floors, his hand wrapping around her wrist and pulling her back toward him.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she said, mortified. She pulled her hand away. "I-I wasn't paying attention."
He laughed. "No harm done."
They had made it to the end of the corridor, the path breaking into two. Taking the lead once again, Hermione turned to the left and motioned for Zoisite to continue following her.
It didn't take long after that for them to reach the palace library. Upon walking through the ornate doors, Zoisite let out a low whistle, his eyes wide as he took in the multi-story room, each wall covered with wooden bookshelves filled with more books than any one person could even hope to read in a lifetime.
"Very impressive…"
"Lower your voice," Hermione said, bringing a finger to her lips. She nodded toward the tables in the center of the room, where various scribes and scholars sat, their faces buried in books and scrolls. "There are people studying."
"Oh, sorry," he whispered. "But it's true. I've never seen so many books and scrolls in one place. It puts even our Library of Alexandria to shame."
Hermione smiled, taking pride in his admiration. It was she who encouraged the queen to expand the formerly modest library to its current state. Her goal was to one day gather copies of every known book ever published, preserving them for future generations to enjoy. "The palace library is the largest in our solar system, hosting books from all nine planets and the Moon and written in over five hundred different languages."
"I can believe it." Reverently, he ran his fingers over the spines of a group of books on a nearby shelf and selected one at random. "This is written in Jovian," he said, flipping through the pages, "the most widely spoken language on Jupiter."
"I'm impressed."
A frown crossed his lips as Zoisite placed the book back on the shelf. "We Earthians are not as ignorant of the other planets as some would like to believe."
Her eyes widened, horrified by her innocently cruel remark. She had only meant to compliment him, but considering the wide-spread Lunarian stereotype of Earthians as "stupid hicks", she saw how her words could come across as insensitive at best, patronizing at worst. "No, of course not. I didn't mean to impl—"
"No offense taken," he said, grinning. "It's fine."
He really had a beautiful smile.
She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear before heading toward the Earthian section at the back of the library. "Um, our selection of Earthian books is perhaps not the largest, but I can show you what we have…"
Zoisite reached for her elbow, stopping her. "I would rather see the Mercurian section, if you don't mind."
"Y-You would?" Composing herself, she shook her head. "I mean, right this way."
Hermione led him up the spiral staircase to the Mercurian section on the second floor, by far the largest in the library. Due to her native culture's emphasis on knowledge and education, Mercury's citizens produced an abundance of books each year, with the aim of sharing what they learned with the rest of Silver Millennium.
"Incredible… Did you write any of these books?" Zoisite asked.
"A few," she admitted. Her duties as a princess and guardian didn't leave her as much time to write as she would have preferred, but she tried to publish at least once a Mercurian year.
"Which one would you recommend?"
"I doubt you would find any of my works of interest, Lord Zoisite. I don't write fiction."
He shrugged. "Sometimes the pursuit of knowledge can be just as gratifying as escaping into your imagination," he said.
"In that case… Can you read Curian?"
"Some. I'm a little rusty, though."
Hermione rubbed her chin, browsing the shelves for a book she thought he might enjoy. Anything too scientific or technical was instantly ruled out. Zoisite didn't strike her as someone who would be interested in such subjects, and the jargon would be difficult for a non-native speaker to understand. Perhaps something historical, or…
"Is there a particular subject you enjoy?
"Botany," he replied after only a short pause. "I've always been interested in plant life, particularly those plants that grow on other planets."
"Is that so?" Perhaps she had misjudged him. "Well, Princess Zenobia is more of an expert on interplanetary botany, but she did assist me with research on a text I wrote last year on medicinal herbs and poisons."
"That sounds perfect," Zoisite said, coming up behind her and reaching for a book on the top shelf, beyond her reach without the aid of a ladder. "Is this the book in question? A Botanical Encyclopedia Of Interplanetary Medicinal Herbs And Plants?"
Though he wasn't touching her, Zoisite was still standing close enough to her that Hermione felt the heat radiating off his body, the fragrance of his Earthian cologne tickling her nose with unfamiliar, yet enticing, scents. She inhaled deeply, attempting to calm her suddenly racing heartbeat.
"Y-Yes, that would be the one," Hermione managed to say.
"Excellent. I look forward to reading it," he said, his mouth right next to her ear.
A pleasant shiver ran up her spine, Hermione turning her head just far enough that she could see his face out of the corner of her eye. He was staring at her with that same look he gave her when he had first arrived on the Moon, his mouth only inches away from hers. All she would need to do was move a little closer...
The sudden appearance of a young woman in the robes of a library page reshelving some books a few feet away from them brought Hermione back to her senses.
What was she doing? She had only just met Zoisite. She wasn't the type of person who went around kissing random men she barely knew – or any man, for that matter.
Taking the book back, she motioned for Zoisite to follow her down to the check-out desk on the ground floor. "I'll check it out for you, as thanks for lending me your book," Hermione said.
"Thanks. I appreciate it."
DISCLAIMER: "Sailor Moon" doesn't belong to me.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope you enjoyed! I'll be taking a break from posting over the weekend, so the next chapter will be posted on Monday.
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