"Ow! She would choose to pull this stunt after Minya and Amity went home and when Raye's needed at vespers," groused the young woman, painfully picking herself out of the prickly blackberry bramble into which she'd accidentally landed. "Little brat. And on a new moon night too. At eighteen she should be beyond such games."
She ought to have been grateful to only land in the bramble, though, since trying to transport without Amy's expertise at coordinates was a dicey proposition at best. A full-body shudder went through her as she realized that she could as easily have ended up in a cesspit instead of a garden.
"Ser," she hissed low. "Serenity…are you there? Ser? Honestly, I don't know what possessed her. I swear, when I get my hands on her..."
Her muttered tirade startled an owl, who, in turn, startled the young woman by hooting eerily in the darkness.
Clapping a hand over her mouth, she stifled the scream that rose in her throat. "It's okay…it's okay. It was just a bird. Like Raye's…only…not."
Steeling herself, Lita crept through the still gardens, softly calling. Unfortunately the place was enormous and very, very dark. There was no end to the places the wayward princess could wind up. Pulling out yet another blackberry thorn, Lita sucked the dot of blood from her thumb, laving the small wound with her tongue. She was, unfortunately, the perfect example of that.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here, creeping about and up to no good?" A mocking male voice came at her from the darkness.
The oath that she silently mouthed just then would have had Luna washing her mouth out with soap had Luna been there to witness it. Of course, had Luna been there, SHE wouldn't have been in such a fix. Lita immediately decided that, at that precise moment, discretion was definitely the better part of valor. She dared not be caught breaking the restrictions on Lunar-Terran travel.
Picking up her skirts in both hands, she fled.
"Shit!" she heard the voice cry. "He's getting away! Damn but he's fast!"
Aha! So the man, whoever he was, hadn't gotten any better a look at her than she had him. So much the better!
The dim light of the new moon was a mixed blessing. For while it hid her, it also made it hard to see where she was fleeing to. Lita stumbled through the dark gardens with the man in hot pursuit. She could hear his feet pounding close behind her…and getting closer. Of all the times to have left her short sword behind. She had to do something…fast.
Skidding around a large piece of statuary, she darted off in a new direction, cutting across the lawn. It was risky, as there were fewer places to hide, but if she could put some distance between herself and her pursuer, it might just be worth it.
Lita decided it definitely was NOT worth it when a heavy body slammed into hers from behind, knocking her roughly to the ground and pinning her there. He weighed a ton, or at least it seemed that way. As she gasped for breath, she found herself summarily rolled, pinned, and bodily searched with a definite lack of delicacy.
"OW!" The crack of her hand meeting his face was loud in the dark night, as was the male yell.
"Pervert," she hissed, shaking her now stinging palm. Searching for weapons was one thing, but when his hand landed on her bosom and stopped and stayed there, that bumped it up into unacceptable groping.
"Damn," called the man loudly, amazement clear in his tone. "It's not a kid. It's a woman."
Lita bit her tongue for the longest moment so that she would NOT call her captor another of the names on Luna's most-banned list. Her tone was fierce, though, as she spoke. "Yes. So would you mind getting OFF already?"
"Not so fast," said another male voice, filled with disapproval. "What exactly do you think you're doing on the castle grounds, miss? Looking for something to steal?"
"Hunting for a rabbit," Lita shot back, tongue firmly in cheek.
"Well, in addition to trespassing and breaking and entering, you do know there are laws against poaching in the royal gardens and forests, do you not?" It was that stern second voice again.
Actually, she didn't. In fact, Lita had never heard of such a thing. All loyal Jovians were welcome on Io castle grounds, so this was a first. Also, she was indignant at the breaking comment, because the only thing that she had done was possibly having slightly crushed a blackberry bush. And it fought back just fine all on its own, as her scratched hands could attest. A response was definitely called for, though, so Lita mumbled something unintelligible.
"I didn't understand that," muttered the first man. "We'd better take her in. Can hardly see my hand in front of my face out here." Lita groaned. Perhaps he'd have understood her better if he'd gotten OFF of her and let her draw a decent breath.
"Do we know where En is?" the first man asked after a moment's thought.
"Kunz and Zoi are looking right now. He disappeared again."
Lita's head spun. Coons and Soy? Whoever her captors were, they didn't sound like they were speaking Terran Standard. She was suddenly regretting having taken the extra elective classes in botany instead of Interplanetary Languages. Amy had warned her that would happen.
The feel of cold metal locking her wrists together made her gasp. "Well I never!"
"That's right," chuckled her captor, finally shifting his weight off of her. "And we're here to make sure you don't." Yanking her to her feet, she found herself quick-step marched toward the distant lights of the castle. When she began protesting vigorously she wound up not only bound, but gagged and carted off over the man's shoulder.
Compared to the darkness outside, the bright lights within the castle were blinding when she was first brought in and plunked unceremoniously down on a chair. Lita blinked owlishly as she heard the first man say, "Well, let's get a look at you, sweetheart. Hello now…aren't you a beauty, Green Eyes? Pity to have to lock such a sweet ripe thing away in the dungeons."
Damnable Terran pervert, Lita thought with gusto.
Squinting her eyes, she managed a glimpse of honey blond hair and very blue eyes that reminded her a bit of Minya. Those eyes were sweeping her from head to toe and, when she noted that they paused far longer than necessary at her chest, she began to curse in fluent Jovian, switching to Martian when she needed more ammunition, though of course it merely came out as gabble since she was gagged.
The sound of rich laughter coming from the doorway had both she and the blond man turning. Lita's eyes widened in shocked recognition and she moaned. It would be just her luck to be in such a humiliating spot before the handsomest man she'd ever had the misfortune to meet before.
"Do you know what you've got there, Jadeite?" said the newcomer, sauntering in and kicking the door shut behind him. He gently tipped up Lita's chin for a good long look, then trailed a finger lightly down her cheek in a caress that had her catching her breath. "You've caught yourself one honest to goodness, authentic Jovian Royal Vixen."
That crack made Lita snarl behind the cloth in her mouth. Had she been free, she probably would have bitten the man, handsome or not, with as much force as the fox he'd compared her to. His amused, "Better let her loose so we don't have another 'Incident'," mollified her not at all. She kicked both Jadeite and Nephrite in the shins as hard as her satin slippers would allow. Sadly, the effect was much muted by their boots, serving only to bruise her toes.
"What?" asked the blond, looking completely confused. He was definitely reminding her of Minya now.
"She's a princess. The crown princess. From Jupiter. What brings a lady like you here on a night like tonight, I wonder?" mused the infuriating man, looking out the window searchingly toward the star-filled night and making no move to free her.
His words, however, had a profound effect on his friend. Her gag was IMMEDIATELY removed, as were the shackles, and then the blond man skittered away from her so fast he practically left a vapor trail.
"About time," she sniffed, rubbing at her chafed wrists and straightened her disheveled skirts. "This is an outrage!"
"Oh shit," Jadeite yelped, sounding slightly panicked. "I assaulted a planetary princess. Again. Kunz is going to have my ass in a sling for the rest of my life over this one. And the king…Oh Gaia!
As he turned back from the window, a hint of amusement danced in Nephrite's midnight blue eyes and he stifled a chuckle. He seemed quite satisfied for a reason Lita could not seem to fathom.
"Well, you could say it was turnabout. I mean, her little friend did the same to you when you were eight. Or you can blame it on me. After all, Princess Lita DID hit me back when."
Stunned recognition registered in Jadeite's face and he groaned, running his finger along the not quite straight plane of his nose which was a legacy from their memorable first encounter. "Oh perfect. She probably brought her violent Martian friend along too."
"I didn't," sniffed Lita indignantly, shooting him a narrow-eyed look of disapproval. "Princess Divinity Raye is undoubtedly right in the middle of conducting vespers as we speak…and being a perfect lady too. Too bad we can't say the same about some others and gentlemanly behavior." Her tone was acid.
"Look, I'm sorry, Princess," Jadeite said hastily, trying to mollify the irate royal. "You have no idea. In the dark I thought you were a bandit or an assassin. I was just trying to neutralize a threat to Endymion. I swear I never meant to…"
Whatever it was he was going to swear to, Lita was never destined to know. For just then the door on the far side of the chamber opened, and a parade of people streamed in. First there was a tall man dressed in black with half armor, who was being hauled in by a still taller caped man with hair nearly the same shade of silver as Serenity's. She knew this for a certainty, because immediately following them WAS Serenity, being ushered gently but firmly in by a third man with long strawberry-blond hair worn in a queue and cunning green eyes.
The party of four froze as they caught sight of Lita, Nephrite and Jadeite.
"Omigosh…Lita!" squealed Serenity, her voice betraying both delight AND embarrassment.
"Lita?" inquired the strawberry-blond man politely.
"Lita," agreed Jadeite, looking sick to his stomach.
"Serenity!" snarled Lita, immediately leaping to her feet, her urge to throttle the Moon Princess coming forth full force AND showing clearly on her face. After, of course, she killed the man who had dared to manhandle the heir to the Lunarian throne.
"Endymion!" hollered the silver-haired man in alarm, shoving the Prince of Earth out of the way and drawing his sword, least Lita prove some kind of a threat.
"Kunzite!" The prince made a warning noise in his throat and a violent hands-off gesture. The silver-haired man stopped, but he did not look one bit happy about it.
"Zoisite?" asked the Moon Princess sweetly, hinting without really saying so that now would be a good time for him to let go of her. He had been a true gentleman and she would hate to see one of her guardians do something drastic.
Nephrite started to laugh until his sides hurt, drawing looks in varying degrees of bemusement or disgruntlement from every other person in the room, but he didn't care. It was so ridiculous he laughed until the tears were rolling down his cheeks. He simply couldn't stop.
That, of course, got Serenity going. She began to giggle like a schoolgirl. After a moment, Endymion joined in, his rich baritone filling the small room. Zoisite too joined in, struck by the absurdity in the situation and by the fact that he recognized by name, if not by sight, the princess of Jupiter and judged her as meaning no harm. It was contagious and Lita finally gave in, snickering behind her hand.
Only Kunzite and Jadeite failed to join in, Kunzite looking quite displeased by the fit of hilarity that seemed to have overtaken everyone, and Jadeite looking afraid that Kunzite was going to bite him. Of course a moment later it was all moot.
Crickets did not even dare to chirp as the main door to the chamber flew open, slamming hard against the wall. Jadeite, in a moment of shocked yet reluctantly fascinated interest and recognition, paled. Serenity and Lita exchanged horrified looks, gasping as one as they spotted, framed in the doorway, the furious raven-haired spitfire who looked like an avenging angel brandishing a razor-sharp saber, a golden shield and the trademark ferocious glare that had terrorized suitors from around the galaxy.
"RAYE!"
