Seeking Love

Chapter 15

When one walks alone - he is no one, for there is no one to know of his existence.

-Star seer A34BE

"Where were you!" scolded Kunzite. His fist pounded down on the desk in font of him.

Endymion sat back in his chair at the library. His was a fluster of confusion; overwhelmed with the trillion threads of thoughts spinning through the brain of his. "I came as fast as I could, what was I suppose to do?" He raised his hands up in defense.

"You're suppose to be a Prince!" said Nephrite. "The leader of this kingdom. I know you've had a lot on your plate lately, but what do you think the King and the council are going to say about this?"

"I don't need a lecture Nephrite!" Endymion hollered back, throwing a pen at his face - the next item would be a book.

"I think you do! What were you doing?" asked Jadeite.

"The Moon Kingdom is going to be up in arms about this fiasco," Zoisite added on, his forehead furrowed.

"Good! Then they might as well revoke this engagement while they're at it!" Endymion knew he was acting like a spoiled brat, but there nothing else to say. It was how he handled all his problems when he couldn't face the consequences. He hated himself for that.

"Think about what you just said! Do you hear yourself? You don't want that, deep down, you know without the Moon Kingdom – you wouldn't be able to continue your projects in the lower rings," said Kunzite.

Turning away from his guardians, his eyes focused on a blank spot on the wall. It kept their voices tuned out long enough for him to calm down.

"News, we're heading back to the Moon boys," stated Mina as the five girls marched into the room. Her face in honest irritation. "With this last attack, the Moon council wants us back at home. Plus, we're taking the m-mons.. the thing, back with us. It falls under our jurisdiction, if you have a problem with that - check your legal books."

"My deepest apologies Princess," Kunzite rushed to Mina's side, a hand resting on her shoulder to show his grievance. "If only we'd been there sooner."

"We were fine without you," retorted Serenity. She removed the man's hand from her guardian. "If only your guards weren't sleeping on the job, maybe we could have prevented this."

"Our guards weren't sleeping! The attack couldn't have been foreseen!" Endymion rose from his chair. He wasn't going to stand for these accusations.

"Sit back down," Kunzite ordered. He knew he'd reap the consequences of his words later.

"You, don't understand anything!" shouted Serenity in Endymion's face. "All you care about is your fancy lifestyle! How I see it, I don't see how Prince Endymion keeps you around, you're a lazy sack on a log!" Her face was red, for the first time on the trip it was due to the pure agitation rushing through her veins. She was a volcano finally erupting under the pressure. "And as for you.. Prince, your generosities these past weeks have been graciously given, but it is an empty excuse for your guardian's lack of character. Thank you for your apologies, but there isn't much the planet of Earth can do for us now." Her word were a hot whip splitting the air.

"We will be leaving in the morning on the first flight back to the moon," announced Mina. She gave the Prince a look of remission as she curtsied out of the room.

Mina was trying to get Serenity to talk to her while her Princess was busily stuffing clothes into any space available in the suitcase on the bed. Most of the thrown garments missed their target, and had ended up strewn across the floor. It was clear that Serenity was looking for something to do to keep her busy, the servants had been dismissed from the job. Having connected the dots from Takeshi to the monster – no one knew what should be said to their leader.

Serenity's brain had shut down. Her walls were being re-built at lightning speeds around her heart. Takeshi had left her vulnerable to his weapons of emotions, how stupid was she to let him into her life. She wanted to yell at him, to throw every sharp and heavy object she had at him, but then she thought about his kisses, their talks. Was he a monster? Or a man? Her memories kept biting chunks out of her sanity. This whole trip had been a waste of her time, as she originally suspected it was. At least now she had real proof to take back to the Queen and the council. This disaster had to blow the engagement to shreds, it had to.

"Excuse me, Princess.. I know you wanted me leave you alone, but I thought you'd ought to know. I talked to Nephrite, and he said it would be alright if you talked to the prisoner," Mina said, her hand on Serenity's arm.

Serenity's functioning as a buzzing bee finally ceased, and she sat on the one empty space on the bed. "I'm scared.. I'm truly scared." Her body trembled, her eyes were red, but no tears came.

"I think.. it would be good for you. To get everything off your chest, he will just keep digging at you if you don't face him."

"You're right. You are always right Mina." She leaned against her friend, letting her head sit on her shoulder. Mina moved herself to enclose the Princess in her arms.

Takeshi was a stone lumped onto a cot in the center of a white washed room. Someone, a nurse, clothed him in a rough paper made jumper. He could hear the buzzing energy coming from the lights which filled the spherical prison, there was no apparent source. He tried to keep his eyes clammed shut, and his mind focused on the healing of his body. He had been trained to let the pain in, in order to let it dull faster. His awareness of time had become distorted, no clue how long he had been transformed or how long he had been in the cell. Remarkably, even in this state his whole body had relaxed, and his mind was at peace. He failed in his mission, failed his master, and he was a dead man sitting on ice. Why did he feel so elated? Rooted in his gut, he knew the reason. His last strand connected to humanity laid with the Princess, and she was still alive.

Serenity had put her cloak on and discretely walked down to the dungeons. A guard let her through, she stated that her business there was to interrogate the prisoner, one white lie... upon another. Did that make it a real lie?

She saw him, now a weakling on a slab. She didn't know what to do, to say. Half of her wanted to go ask if he was alright, and to check his bandages for infection. The other was scared of who he was, he had tried to kill her after all, he had used her innocence against her.

"Wake up," Serenity ordered.

"I'm awake Princess, just resting my eyes from the bleating light!" Takeshi called back to her.

"Don't call me Princess here."

"Why? Do you still feel like Serena?" he teased. His mouth couldn't decide if he should smile or not. Takeshi had made his way over to the pane of glass that let Serenity see him.

"No! Just answer my questions. Tell me who sent you!"

"Ooo.. snippy. That's new. I like it. It makes me all tingly inside luv. First though, could you get me something more comfortable to wear. Being this vulnerable to your rapturing eyes is making me feel self conscious."

He was getting on her last nerves. "Fine, don't tell me. We'll find out soon enough."

"That's right Princess.. you will." His forearm came up to the glass, pressing against it ready to escape.

Serenity could feel the physical tension between them, as if the wall and window didn't exist. She scanned him up and down, how could he do this to her? Turning around with a Princess's grace, she left him in his cell.

Earth Year: 22nd Century 55th Earth Cycle

Running the sewers was his specialty now. The others called him King of the Slew because he knew every passage, entrance, and exit there was to know. Taki had been living with his friend, Etsu, now for 5 years. They had created and built a system with other orphans they found on the streets. It was either join them or die on the streets. Each group they formed became designated to jobs for the communities survival as a whole. If anyone wanted to step out of line, they had their feet cut off - literally. Taki never liked that job, so Etsu was always the one to hand out the punishments. The day started out as usually, he checked to see what formation the guards were taking and reported back. He was running fast today; he was going to spend his extra time trying to get something special for Etsu - his birthday was the following day.

He'd been planning for 9 months now, and had found 2 other boys to help him. He obtained decent looking clothing. The slacks were a little too long, but he doubted any of the 'walkers' would noticed. People who lived above were called a 'walker' because they had the leisure time to just walk about with no real purpose in mind. They never looked down at the filthy street they trodded in. Climbing up through the sewage ladder, he came out in an empty alley. The shop he had in mind was right around the corner. He went through the doorway, a bell ringed at his entry.

"What can I help you with young man?" An older gent, in his 50s, behind a counter cleaning asked him.

"I..I.." He hadn't talked to a walker in years. He'd been working on his accent, but it hadn't been perfected. "I need sum..something for my friend. Id's his birthday ya-you see." Whew - Not too many slip-ups.

"Hmm.. a birthday you say. Well, lets see what we have here in my shop." The old man started moving boxes, dust bellowed everywhere. "I think this might do." In his arthritic hand, wrinkled fingers clutched a gold chain. Attached to the chain was a golden pocket watch. Old, but still working.

Taki's eyes grew wide. The old man could tell he hit the spot, he had a gift for these type of things. "How much money do you have on you son?"

Taki reached into his pockets, and showed the man. It seemed he had enough to purchase the relic. The transaction was being made at the register when two rings resounded behind Taki.

BOOOOOOOOM! A gun shot, right into the old man's heart. Taki turned around in shock at his two mates. Looking back at the old man, he slumped onto the counter. No menace in his eyes, just acceptance. The old man worded to him to take the watch, and his eyelids slid closed. Taki shook his head in disbelief, this wasn't his plan. He told the boys to just come into the store and pretend to steal stuff, not shoot the man. He grabbed the watch, and ran out the door. The authorities would be on their way.

Back in the sewage, Taki looked at the watch rolling it over in his hands. The gold was varnished, and there was a blood stain imprinted on the spring. The price tag still attached showed that it had been four times more then the money he had paid. Opening the contraption up, there was a picture inside. The old man with his wife and child in a family portrait. What had he done? He was about to throw the watch into the stream before him when he heard Etsu's voice calling him in the distance.

"Hey, whatcha got there?" asked Etsu.

"It's nada.."

"Whatever, let me see it."

"I told you! It's nothin'!" Taki turned his back on his friend.

"Fine! I wont tell you the good news I heard."

With that, Taki faced Etsu again. "Tell me!"

"Only if you swear you'll show me what ya got!"

"Promise!"

"Okay, well... I found us a sponser."

"A sponser?"

"You know! A sponser, a person whose gonna train us to do jobs, to kill those walkers," exclaimed Etsu as he pointed upwards.

The face of the old man jumped back into Taki's mind. Kill. You had to kill to survive. "Sounds great."

"I know! We're going to meet him tomorrow. Now show me the watch!"

"How'd you know what it was?"

"I know everything!" Etsu's eyes didn't look right in the shadows of light.

Taki handed him the watch. The other boy clicked it open, and saw the picture. A look of disgust ran over his face. "Why'd you get this? It's a piece of junk. Look, there's even walkers in here."

So much for that gift, thought Taki. "It's something I picked up, no biggie. Give it back."

"No!" Etsu raised it above his head, and threw it into the muck a few meters away. "No biggie, right friend?" he said shrugging his shoulders and walking away.

Taki made sure he was gone, and waded over to the point he saw the watch go in. Taking a deep breath, he dove into the filthy water. Feeling around the slimy bottom, he caught the chain and pulled. It might be a piece of junk, but it was his first innocent, the first life he had stolen.

Present Day

Endymion was still fuming in his shower. One could have sworn the steam coming off his body was his skin boiling the water with his man tantrum. After all he had done for her, she was going to treat him like this? He wasn't going to take it, he was a gentleman- a person, a human being! No one should have to answer to such a up-play of an misunderstanding. It was about time to give that little meatball a piece of his mind. He grabbed a towel, and began to dry off. He didn't even bother to put a shirt on, just sweatpants and some slippers.

Serenity was dashing back to her room. She still wasn't sure how she felt about Takeshi, but she had seen what was written on the man's arm against the glass.

'I'm sorry. I am. But they're listening. Kill me, please, before they do.'

The words transcribed in dried blood was still fresh in her memory. After all that had happened, he wanted her mercy? She trusted him before, that was a huge mistake. Why should she trust him again? As if he was really on her side? Serenity leaned against the wall, an ivory wallpaper of stripes, her lungs felt like they were collapsing on her. It seemed like she was breathing out of a straw. White spots filled her vision, and the horizon began to tilt vertically.

When she came to, she saw a blurry figure hunching over her. Black hair filled her vision. De ja vu?

"Princess!" Rei called out, she had been sent out to go find her leader. Seeing Serenity falling to the floor, she had rushed over. "Serenity! Can you hear me? Serenity!" She put her hands to the girl's face. The stupid girl had a fever, no wonder she passed out. Rei was in the process of picking her up when she saw Endymion, still wet, striding towards her. Did he hear me? Rei thought in a panic. She brisked Serenity up into her arms and started for the door to their rooms.

Where was she! Endymion swore he had just seen those floating blonde buns a second ago. He got to the jade door, and started knocking.

"Can I help you Kunzite?" asked a voice behind him. Mina was standing there, arms folded across her chest.

"Is Mina in there? I need to talk to her this instant," he demanded.

"I'M OBVIOUSLY RIGht... har... she's inside," responded Mina, her eyes mere slits. She was just as sick of this man as Serenity, he looked like a mad dog. "She's busy, what can I pass along sir."

"You don't have to pass it along, I'll just tell you now since you seem to be her owner. Whatever she has to say about the Earth Kingdom, she can stick it up her... she can just not say it! I.. My Prince was kind enough to let you stay here, and now you are leaving with your last words as insults. Don't think that the Prince will ever marry someone from the Moon! All of your souls are as cold as the rock you live on!"

Serenity was standing behind the door, and had heard the whole conversation; especially the parts including 'owner' and 'cold as rock'. "YOU can get out of our hair - NOOOOWW!" She had whisked the door open, and was yelling at full volume to the shirtless man. "We might just be 'women', but we hold our standards high. Apparently, too high for you to even see! Leave Mina alone! You don't deserve her attention with your self-righteous ass in her face!" Her blood was boiling.

"You talk in second person now? You think that'll make you sound smarter for a dim-whit? Guess what! If you had as much brain as all that hair you had, maybe you would know better then to talk to a superior like this! It's outrageous! Like I said before, just go back where you came from!" He turned around, he had permanently become unglued from his sanity. Walking away was the best thing he could do.

"You need to go put on a shirt, and act like a REAL MAN!" Serenity yelled at his cold back. How dare he call himself a superior, that chauvinistist!

"Princess... you do know you said Mina when you were addressing me..." whispered Mina into her ear.

"ARHHHHH! I know! Thank god he's too dumb to have noticed. I HATE MEN! I'm officially going man-vegan!"

Ya! Hopefully you are all still enjoying this series. It's not going to be a short one, that I can promise you now. Hence, the background look on Takeshi.. he's a character too. I try not to neglect any characters, they deserve a storyline too. Thanks again for reading. :D