Poisoned From Within

By Bashfulglowfly

Chapter Two

"OW! Fu-aaahhhh! What the HELL! There isn't any gold in there, so why are you digging?"

"Shut up you big baby!"

Kunzite ignored Nephrite's complaints of his treatment at the hands of Zoicite and stared at his prince.

Endymion braced both hands against the railing of the balcony and stared blindly out at the city. The setting sun turned him into a living statue of gold.

"Dymion?"

He turned and looked at Kunzite. Silently he walked back inside the apartment and shut the balcony doors. Jadeite walked up and handed him a beer. Endymion tilted the bottle to his lips and drank deep. He sighed and rubbed his face with his free hand. "You done?" he asked.

Zoicite nodded and tossed the bloody gauze into the trash. "Pussy here will live."

Nephrite growled and made an obscene gesture.

Zoicite didn't even bother dignifying it with a "you're not my type." He put the first aid kit back into the cupboard.

Endymion laid his hand on Nephrite's shoulder. It glowed golden for a moment then faded. Endymion released his shoulder and finished off the rest of the beer, tossing the empty bottle into the recycle bin.

"One thousand and twenty-eight years ago. Today."

"Huh?" Jadeite looked at his prince in puzzlement. He knew Dymion only had the one beer, so the remark couldn't be from drunkenness.

"One thousand and twenty-eight years ago today was when Serenity…was when Serenity was murdered." Endymion slumped down in a chair and released his transformation. Mamoru looked at his friends. "I still miss her."

The Shitennou released their transformations. They didn't try to touch their prince or hug the pain away. That wasn't something they did. But they knew that he knew how they felt. Nobuyuki rotated his shoulder. "Well, that probably explains why Jupiter was especially violent today."

Soichiro snorted. "Mercury. She gets colder every damn time we see her. She might as well be a damned robot."

"Mars wasn't much better than Jupiter." Said Jun. "She was burning everything in her path." He looked up at Kazuya. "What about Venus?"

Kazuya's eyes were shuttered. Like they were every time Venus was brought up. "She was her usual emotionless self."

The four Shitennou sighed. Their minds went back to the past when they were the lovers of the Senshi. When Venus was a madly passionate woman who loved Kunzite as much as she loved her princess. When Mars would rage angrily at Jadeite one minute and rip off his uniform the next. When Jupiter laughed and danced amongst the flowers she loved so much. When Mercury blushed vividly at the slightest hint of public affection.

Mamoru shoved himself to his feet. "I can't stay here. I'm going for a walk." Kazuya started to stand but Mamoru waved him down. "I doubt very much anything is going to happen. Beryl doesn't release her bitches twice in one day." He scooped up his keys from the bowl on the credenza and walked out.

He didn't pay attention to where he was going. He just wanted to walk. To try and empty his mind. He was two years older than he was when the Silver Millennium ended. He had been twenty. Serenity just sixteen. He smiled as he recalled her smile, her laughter and her, occasional, tears. He remembered holding her lithe body as they danced in the ballroom under the watchful eye of her mother. Holding her as they walked in the moonlight under the watchful eyes of her Senshi. Holding her as they made love under the watchful eyes of no one at all.

He looked up and found himself outside a Catholic church. Something compelled him to go inside. Like many Japanese, he was not Christian. Actually he wasn't very religious at all. He suspected that many would say that he was angry with any and all of the Gods for taking his lover away from him.

They could be right.

He stopped in the doorway and let his eyes adjust to the quiet gloom. Services weren't being held so obviously the priest in charge saw no need to waste light. It was brighter closer to the alter but he didn't want brightness. He walked around the side and found where people could donate money and light a candle. He dropped several coins into the collection box, picked up a candle and lit it. He sat down and stared into the flames.

"Do you see anything?"

Mamoru put his heart back into his chest. He hadn't heard anyone come up. He saw a female shape sitting on pew in front of him. The gloom of the church didn't allow him to see what she actually looked like.

"Excuse me?"

"Did you see anything in the flames?" The girl asked.

"Uh. No."

"Oh. You were staring so hard at them I though you had."

"No. I was thinking about something else."

"I see." The girl shifted. "I hope that the person you lit the candle for will get better soon."

"She won't. She's dead." Mamoru knew he was being too blunt but he couldn't help himself.

"I'm sorry. But the pain does ease after a while."

Mamoru felt himself grow angry. "How the hell would you know?"

"I'm from Sendai." She said.

Mamoru scowled. He was about to ask, "What the hell does Sendai have to do with anything?" when the girl continued speaking. It was as if she heard his unspoken question.

"My parents died last year. I don't know if it was the Earthquake or the Tsunami that killed them. Their bodies were never recovered." She paused for a moment. "In my high school, 627 students were killed either by the earthquake or the tsunami. Two hundred and ten were from my grade. I had known sixteen of them since kindergarten. Eight people from my class were killed."

Mamoru opened his mouth to say something but the girl relentlessly continued.

"It took me three days to find my little brother. He had to have his left leg amputated above the knee because it was crushed when a wall fell on him. His school had 398 students die. 77 of those were in Shingo's grade. He had known eleven of them since kindergarten. Twenty students in his class were killed including his best friend and his girlfriend."

Mamoru could feel the girl's eyes upon him even if he couldn't see them. "So you don't have a monopoly on grief."

"I'm sorry. I'm a jackass."

"Yes, you are." Agreed the girl. She stood up. She started to walk away but paused. "I really am sorry about your loss."

Mamoru stood up and bowed deeply to her. "I am very sorry about your parents, brother and schoolmates. I am deeply sorry about whatever distress and pain I may have caused you."

"That's okay." She turned and started walking towards the door of the church.

"Wait!" She paused, head tilted to listen. "I'm Mamoru. What's your name?"

"It's Usagi."

Mamoru ran for the door but by the time he got there, she was gone. There was no one in sight.

"Damn."