Chapter Eight
Kunzite stood in the garden for a moment before turning to deliver the letter he held. A part of him was sad that he would only be able to see Venus in passing. He was definitely grateful to be home again, but he felt that he wanted to see more of her. A silly crush, Kunzite. Leave it alone. He knocked on the Prince's door before entering.
"Endo-kun?"
The room was dark, but the Prince awoke to the voice and turned on a light. "Kunzite? Really?" He jumped out of his bed to greet his friend with a hug. "I wasn't sure what had happened to you."
Kunzite let go of his friend and they each took a seat on a bench at the end of the bed. "No need to worry about me." He chuckled for a moment and then pulled the letter from his pocket. "I have something for you."
The Prince's eyes lit up. "From Serenity?"
Kunzite nodded as the Prince took the letter and began to open it. "Yes. Her guardian will be delivering them from now on, along with taking your responses back."
Endymoin looked to his friend somewhat confused. "Is there something wrong, then, Kunzite?"
Kunzite went into a brief description of the events that had occurred over the last two days. The Prince was saddened to hear that he could no longer meet with his lover, but nodded after his friend explained to him the reasons. After some short discussion of what the Prince had told everyone as to where he'd been, Kunzite retired to his own room for the evening.
Several days had passed, and Venus had not come to retrieve the Prince's letter. Unfortunately, Kunzite had no explanation for the love-sick prince. He honestly did not know why she hadn't come. His only hope was that it wasn't his doing. The first few nights, he had stayed up and paced the halls, but after she hadn't showed up, he started waiting in his room. He'd spend the time thinking about all the diary passages he'd read. And more specifically, the last two. Originally, he thought that it was only he who had an attraction, but he found that she had started to form feelings of some sort for him, too. He would have asked, but he didn't want her to know how he'd found out, and before he could come up with a clever way of extracting the information, she'd dropped him off. So, the nights he waited, he played imaginary conversations through his head. Different scenarios, different outcomes. Some good, some bad, and some very, very good.
On the sixth night, Kunzite noticed across the courtyard, that a light in the Prince's room had been lit. He moved to another window, curious to see if he could see anything, and thought, right before the light went back out, that he'd seen a female figure. Venus? He quickly ran to his chamber door, and headed straight for the garden as fast as he could.
But, he was too late. As soon as he reached it, there was a flash of brilliant light from across the way, and she was gone.
"Damn it." He hung his head, disappointed that he didn't make it in time. Defeated, he returned to his room and tossed in his bed for a while, and then fell asleep.
"Nooo, Serenity!" Venus pleaded.
"Please?" she begged another time as she looked up to her friend with her bright blue eyes. "It's been days, I just wanted to send another. Please!? Just one. I promise."
Venus hung her head and reluctantly agreed. She had delayed in gathering his response, and it made her feel guilty. She just hadn't wanted to run into Kunzite. The small crush she'd began to develop during the time he'd stayed in her room made her uncomfortable. This was the first time since she'd vowed to herself not to be romantically involved that she'd had one. And for whatever reason, it was hard for her to brush the thoughts away. Avoiding him was the only way she could ignore it. And even then, he was still running through her head all day.
After a short time, Serenity finished writing her note, and Venus left her room again. Once more, she found herself trekking the darkened halls of the Earth's palace. She got a little turned around at one point, however, avoiding a set of guards, and ended up a little lost. After a few moments of looking around, she arrived at what she thought was the prince's door. She knocked lightly, and then turned the knob. If it wasn't his room, she could pretend she was some servant or something. "Prince Endymoin?" she whispered softly into the room. She closed the door behind her as she entered. The person in the bed stirred. "Prince?"
Kunzite rubbed his eyes. Who was in his room this late at night? He rubbed his eyes sleepily as he sat up in his bed. "Who is it?"
Venus couldn't tell if it was the prince or not. It was too dark. "Prince, it is I." She hoped he recognize her voice, she didn't want to reveal herself to anyone else.
Prince? Who would be looking for the prince this late at night? Unless... Kunzite leaned over to turn on a lamp. "Venus-san?"
Venus gasped. She had the wrong room. Not only the wrong one, his room! Of all people...
He grabbed a shirt next to his bed and put it on, remembering how embarrassed she seemed to be the first time. "Back a second time tonight, Venus-san?" Kunzite got out of his bed and ran his hand through his hair. "I imagine there must have been much pleading to get you to come back again today."
Venus blushed as he put his shirt on, but stared quite shocked at what he said afterward. "How did you know I had been here once before tonight? I was sure no one had seen me."
Kunzite poured himself a glass of water and took a sip before he continued. "I saw you from across the courtyard earlier. Actually," he sat the glass down and took a few steps toward her, "I had hoped to run into you then. But, I was late getting to the garden."
"Oh," she fumbled to get the letter out from her robe's pocket. She felt clumsy and awkward with him being so close to her. "Well, as you can see, Kunzite-san." He took another step towards her, and she grew more flustered, "I have lost my way. Would you help me deliver this?"
"Of course. Follow me."
With that, Kunzite led Venus to the prince's chambers, explaining to her how he thought she'd gotten mixed up and gave her some helpful hints to navigating the halls when she had lost her way. The prince was sound asleep when they got there, so she simply left the note next to his bed, and the two exited the room.
"I think I have it from here, Kunzite-san. Thank you again for helping." She gave a slight bow and turned to walk away.
"Wait," he grabbed for her arm so she wouldn't turn away. "I'll walk with you. Wouldn't want you to get mixed up again."
Venus blushed, not that he would have known, it was too dark, and accepted his offer.
The walk was silent for the most part, some small talk here and there. As they reached the garden, Kunzite took her hand in his before she could reach to grab her pendant, and gently kissed it. "Until next time, Venus-san."