Seeking Love

Chapter 20

Serenity had made a cushion for her elbow with a tattered silk dress, she was lying on her side with her head propped up against her hand. Takeshi sat cross legged on the other side of the dim room staring at her. Night had fallen, and Serenity had cheese and grapes brought up to the attic. So far she had gathered pieces of Takeshi's past, but there was still a big blank space about the present and future.

"What made you change your mind about killing me?"

"You really want to know?" Takeshi raised an eyebrow in reply.

"Of course. I don't step where I'm not prepared for the journey."

After a long pause and deep sigh, he answered her. "You. You are the one who changed my mind. It's as simple as that. There's this glow about you, and not just some physical attribute, but it's as if you wear your heart pinned to your jacket. Growing up, as you now know, I always thought the royals had it in for us. I felt like the carpet you would tread on. Really, not even a carpet, just the dirt and crumbs that end up being swept underneath. Survival, that's been bred into me. There's only one other person, beside yourself, that I would have gladly given my life for. Times have changed, and one night while I tossed and turned – I knew I couldn't live if your blood stained my hands. You make me want to see the world in a different perspective, to be that person who can lead a better life."

Serenity only felt pity for the man. There was no compassion, no love brewing in her heart. What he had been through, his childhood – she couldn't imagine what they were truly like. She still felt like she was looking at him from the wrong end of a telescope. All that mattered now, was that she find the source of the madness. This 'Sir' is the one who turned Takeshi into the monster he became. "Tomorrow is your hearing. I'll be there, but I'm not making any promises to what your sentence will be."

"Whatever is bestowed upon me, I am sure it will be in the fair judgment of thy lady."

"I don't know what you see in me, and I don't know if I'm really the one who changed your decision. Seems to me that seed was planted many years ago." Her eyes glanced at the pocket watch still sitting in it's owners hand. "I will let you sleep here tonight. There is no way for you to escape, so don't try. I think it fair enough that you spend one night outside of a cage before your final call."

"I dream of no paradise." A last phrase to end the conversation, to end the night, to start the end of many things.

Serenity tossed the clothes back to their pile, thought twice about leaving the last few grapes for the man, they remained, and snapped out of the room.

Endymion as soon as he returned to the palace, on orders from Kunzite, drug himself to visit the Princess. He was suppose to come up with a reason to excuse the Earth Kingdom from the ball, how he was suppose to do that - he didn't know. Kunzite's excuse for skipping out on the duty was that it wasn't the 'Prince's' job to deliver such a disposition. Endymion assumed it was his cuffs after being caught for his escape. He rolled his eyes while he navigated his way to her quarters. As much as the teleporting was convenient, it also made him feel lazy. What would the world fall to if walking became obsolete?

Rapping on the door, there was no answer. Pressing his ear against the wood, out of old habit, he could hear subdued crying on the other side. Knocking again, the sobs stopped, and a bloated face peaked into the opened crack. Eyes swollen and red, as if hay fever had come over the victim. Her blonde hair was a bush not to be messed, and there was even a trickle of a new stream of nose goop - eh. It wasn't the Princess, but... Mina?!

"I – I was looking for the Princess." He couldn't get over how ridiculous the girl looked in front of him.

"She's not here." Serenity was about to close the door in the man's face, only another fly to shoo away.

Endymion pressed his hand on the door to keep it open, and he slid into the room. The lights had been off, and there was a mountain of tissues lying on the floor. If the Princess was here, there was no way to find her in the aftermath of this storm.

The sniffling girl was sitting on the bed, ignoring him – as usual. He was getting use to the act. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong or just sit there in a slump? You know, I can have a listening ear once in a while, and unpredictably - it is turned on right now."

That got him a weak small smile. "You don't even want to know what's going on in my head right now."

He didn't, but he wasn't going to be that callous, not today after his date with Natsumi. Looking around the room, he spotted a fresh box of tissues for Mina to blow through. "I can guess there's a lot of snot. So here, take these, and tell me what happened." He lifted his hand and hovered over her back to give some sort of comfort, but thought against it. He let it land on her shoulder instead, a gesture he would have done for one of his guardians when they had deep talks.

Serenity didn't care anymore, about anything. Her life was falling a part. It was the apocalypse of her life. "You really want to know huh? Well. One, I'm stuck in an engagement. Two, I have no want to be part of it. Three, the guy is a piece of blank paper." Her fingers rose one by one following her count. "Four, then this man I do like, he turned out to be a mess. Five, I'm only 18! Then I have all these responsibilities to deal with! I just want to be a normal girl! Not that this is a complete sob fest, because YOU! YOU make my life 10 times more complicated then it already is. You are always there – I mean you are here of all times. You can't handle my opinions, my words, my life! You make my thoughts a mess too!"

Taken aback, Endymion didn't know how quite to take it all in. Maybe this was more of a girl to girl conversation then he thought. How was she mad at him?! He should be mad at her! Taking a deep breath, he blamed the accusation on the peak hysteria of emotions. "Okay. Focusing on the former problems, you're stuck in a arranged marriage. I know all too well how that feels." Serenity looked up at him in spark of the connection. "I can't say I've been too fond of my supposed other half, but I haven't really met her either." He tried to lay it on light and sweet. He was still getting use to seeing this girl so unconfined with her feelings. He thought she was going to be a closed book until the day he died. "Then that other guy, eh – throw him out the wolves if he makes you feel the way you do." Now he was turning into a therapist, how ironic. Here he was helping this teary eyed girl, and he couldn't sort out his own problems with Natsumi. "To the point, a guy shouldn't make you feel like you're dying, myself included."

That got another smile with a bonus of a laugh. "Me dying? I don't think so." Serenity blew her nose into another tissue; it felt like sand paper against her nasal. "It's more like I can't decide if I want to kill him or not."

"Dealing with life or death are we? In that case, just go to sleep – that's always a good median."

Serenity laid her head down against her pillow. How did she let this arrogant man into her bedroom? How does he do it? One moment they are yelling at one another, and the next he's putting her to bed. "By the way, the Princess, she's not here – I think she's in the garden looking for your Prince, she has some ideas about the ball."

He konked himself on the head, sometimes he felt too simple minded. "Oh yeah, that's the reason I came by in the first place. I needed to talk to her about that. I'll get out of your tangled mass of hair now, and let you rest." Endymion skirted out of the room, before the sleepy girl started yelling at him for making fun of her bush head. This was a little too much of a new side of Mina for one night. He wasn't sure if he would call that an up or down moment on their amusement park ride, but he felt the warmth still growing in his heart.

It was like being nailed into a coffin. Takeshi couldn't close his eyes. He stayed in the same spot, still crossing his legs, the blood flow had long gone, his lips were dry from the stagnant air. The Princess had been all too generous with letting him stay up here, and now he wished for the confines of his cell. There he felt safe, it was familiar, and it was in complete darkness. Here, his mind would wander, but then his eyes would land on that dusty mirror. The antique wood frame covered in cobwebs, but still retained the strong power of a reflection. After all he told, he wouldn't be surprised if he never woke up once his eyes closed to this world. He hadn't told Serenity much of Sir's future plans, Natsumi, or what he knew about the Prince. He wanted to be better, but old habits die hard. If he told all – he knew he would have a target on his back from both sides; survival was still his priority. Without life, there was only the mysteries of death - and he was not ready to inquire just yet of that realm. Plus, that Prince – his family line was the reason he was in this predicament, the root of it all. Why he had to hide his whole life, why he had no family. Judgment day was coming for that man soon enough.

As if on queue, the lit dripping wax candle blew out. A chilled presence swept through the air, Takeshi was in no plight to flee or fight, but he couldn't stop his eyes looking up towards the ceiling – her entrance was always so grandeur, it made him gag.

"Takeeeshiiii.." came a giddy voice, "You seem comfortable. How was your little chat with the Princess?" Natsumi had a way with conversations. On the surface they seemed harmless, but underneath they carried a deep wrath. "You must not hold any regret in your heart dear brother? You sit there in mere content." She was saying this all with a red lipped smile plastered on her face. It gave Takeshi a sickening feeling, yet he stayed sitting.

"I've changed my mind, and there's nothing you can do about it. Kill me here, I will not fight with you, and I will never again fight for you!"

"We will see about the latter. As for the former, I have no intentions to kill you brother." The red headed vixen stepped out of the smoke, and hopped to crouch before him. Her foot kicked the bowl of fruit over in cruel spite. Her pointer finger, the nail encrusted in gold, slid under his chin. It's pointed spike dug into his tender flesh. "You see, unfortunately, our plan seems to be falling apart, and well - I've come up with a new one."

"As if we could really have ripped apart the engagement. There is no way to stop the Earth and Moon alliance. Your body can't get you everything! Anyway, how did you even find me?"

"It was not hard at all." She looked at the mirror in a smirk. "There is a reflection in glass too," and her head swiveled to the window like a bobble head.

Moon Dust! What had he been thinking? As always, Natsumi was still his superior when it came to stealth. "If you aren't going to kill me? Then what do you plan to do?"

"Sir wants you for one more thing."

"I told you, I wont fight for you."

"You don't really have to." Her hand rose before her face, and she was inspected her other nails. They were as pristine as always, a shiny gloss of blood red. The tips began to grow, and her hand morphed into an unnatural shape, it formed into the shape of a silver claw. "Oh – I almost forgot, Sir wanted to say," her voice grew deep, replaced by a more eloquent tone, "'Thank You' for all you've done. Not only were you a good little boy, but seems like you donated your hand to the cookie jar." The voice slid back into the peppy sarcasm. "Sorry brother, but as you know, this is going to hurt."

Diving down towards his heart, her hand sunk into the warm flesh. Only a trickle of blood spilled onto the antique blush carpet. A green liquid ejected and began to seep into his veins, and his mind went blank. NOOOOOOO!

"NOOOOOO!" Nephrite yelled out. Not again! He was still at 0-4 in the match against Jadeite. They were in the midst of warming up for their training session for the new weapons. The Princess had brought them to the training grounds. At the moment, the room was only a field of short grass, black graph walls curved up into a large dome, and the two men were throwing a disc, a simple game of pass. The only rule was that every time you jumped to catch it, you had to 'cut' off a limb. In other words, the first time you dropped the disc, you were not allowed to use your left leg; making you look like a hopping pogo stick. The next limb was your right hand, followed by the fingers on your left.

"Boys," Mina called out. Ami had finished calibrating the new court, and the training session was about to begin. Zoisite went over the details on how to take off the safety of the DNA gun, they were loaded with a bullets of paint instead of the treatment. During his explanation, the surrounding field grew, and multiple buildings were erected to look like dojo houses. The insides were a maze of paper screens, and bamboo walls. It would not be easy to pin point a target, nor easy to hide from the enemy. The generals insisted it be a 'rematch' for the capture the flag; once again overly confident in winning the round.

Each person was placed in a different sector of the map, and had to wait until the buzzer sounded. They would have to rely upon just themselves at the start of the battle. There were no gadgets for communication, and that left strategy between a team open to the wind.

Serenity pulled at her stealth suit. Everyone was wearing them, but her skin tight pants kept riding up in the most uncomfortable way. She hated the trainers as much as she loved them, they were comfortable – but they looked ridiculous. Ami had ordered them, not out of Mina's magazines, but from a weapons dealer living on her planet.

BBBUUUZZZZZzzzz

Sliding around a totem pole, Serenity looked at her surroundings. The sounds of a clanking bamboo water fixture was put on repeat as the ambiance to the game play. Her bare feet slowly walked across the cool wood flooring, her eyes and ears alert for any other signs of movement. She found the sliding door of the four walled room, and slid it open. There was a dirt path, not good to hide her trail, but nothing else seemed to help her work around the problem. Stepping out of the room, she sprinted down the path. Slowing down at a corner, she crouched to take a peek around. She saw two people dressed in black, and they weren't her soldiers. Holding the gun close to her chest, she released the safety. Taking a deep breath in she lunged out and quickly let off two shots. Each hit dead center in the chest, this was just too easy. Nephrite and Zoisite looked at her with open mouths, and put their hands up in defeat. However, Nephrite started wailing at the top of his lungs calling out their position. "OOOOOVVERRR HEEERRRE! SHEE'S HEEEERRE!" Serenity would have to haul her ass out of there, or she was going to get shot at herself.

Endymion heard the call, possibly two or three clicks away. The arena was playing tricks on him. He knew the room couldn't be this big, but he kept finding himself running in circles. That's when the idea hit him. Reaching down to touch his toes, he quickly stretched out his calves, and then moved on to making sure his hamstrings were in order. Making a run towards the building in front of him, he leapt into the air at the last second before his face became part of the wall. Catching the edge of the roof with one hand, he was able to pull the rest of his body up. Planting his feet on the roof, he tested out the strength of the structure, it was strong enough for him to walk on without making a lot of noise. Now he had a one up on the rest of the players out there, and he knew there was no way he wouldn't be the winner. Taking strategy into mind, he didn't head straight to Nephrite's voice, instead he thought of where the enemy would run. Looking at the surroundings, there was a bamboo forest to the North, a river to the South, and the East and West were more dojo styled buildings and then two large sand courtyards. The sound was coming from the river, so it was a 90% chance that the person was headed to either of the courtyards, and a 10% chance that they were coming straight at him. It was either wait it out, or be the fox hound that he was.

Serenity slipped through more passage ways, but took a few routes through the buildings, there was more cover that way. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a creak a few feet away from her. Stepping away from the paper door, she was at an advantage because the sun was on the other side of the wall. A shadow grew, but Serenity quickly recognized the figure as Makoto.

"Makoto!" Serenity whispered. "It's me, Ser- Mina.. whatever. It's me!"

The girl tore straight through the wall, not caring that it wasn't suppose to be a door. Makoto shared that she had found Ami, and that she was sitting high up in the bamboo grove. They would call out bird signals if she pin pointed where the other team was at.

The two moved together through the rest of the halls. Serenity lead them East. Unfortunately, they didn't find anyone, but a bird call from Ami told them that somebody was headed their way. Sprinting forward to an archway, Serenity's feet touched scorching sand. Fortunate for her, she was running fast enough that it did not burn, but she quickly found shade underneath an enormous momiji tree. The red maple leaves were a stark contrast to the white sand. Makoto was just behind her yelling out obscenities.

Makoto hid behind the trunk while Serenity climbed up the sturdy branches. Looking out, she saw a black figure jumping the roofs heading northwest, away from them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flaming ball heading for her. Jumping out of the tree, and landing with a roll she looked up. There was a gaping hole about 5 ft. in diameter.

"REEEIIII! You almost killed me!"

"Ooops. I saw the black." Rei walked in from the other entrance of the court shrugging her shoulders.

"Next time, LOOK. What if this were a real battle?"

"I said sorry... jeez."

"Hey, Ami just called out another signal. There are two guys about to corner our girl Mina, we gotta skedaddle," said Makoto.

Jadeite and Kunzite had found a target and were closing in fast. The running blond went into a building. Kunzite had walked around to the back, and Jadeite followed in. This dojo was different then the others he had traveled through. The halls were all narrower, barely any room for him to move side to side, yet to even turn around. Kneeling down, he let his ear rest on the wood floor. Slowing his own heartbeat, he focused on his hearing senses. There was a pattern of feet running, the trail making an imprint in his mind. Doubling his speed, he would catch up to her in a matter of seconds.

Following the lead of the man she saw, Serenity began running on the rooftops while Makoto and Rei ran on the ground to the location Ami had directed them to. Up here she could feel the wind passing through her hair, and a scent of cherry blossom passed her way. She felt like she was flying between bounds from one tile to the other, and she was more then half way there.

WHOOOSH!

A bullet had missed her head by a mere centimeter. Jumping to her right on her next leap, she searched for her aggressor. It was him! He was holding to the roof with one hand, and had shot the gun with the other, but was now scrambling up the wall for a reposition. She wouldn't give him another chance, that was the second time today that she had almost been 'killed.'

Pulling out her gun, she fixed her aim on his back, and pulled the trigger. CLICK... click, click, click. It wasn't shooting. The damn safety! Pulling it down, she tried finding the black figure again. No luck, he had moved. Now, it was either run or hide.

Makoto was about to take the back entrance to the building, when Rei told her to hold on. She lit a small flame at the end of her finger, and lit the panel in front of her. It burned in seconds, but stopped when it reached the next panel. "Shortcut anyone?"

Endymion had given up trying to get on the roof again, so he had dropped back down. Going on pure instinct, he ran around the corner of the building Mina was standing on. He would have to find another angle of trajectory... or, he could take his chances. It was just a game, one he didn't plan on losing, but a time for some luck to kick in. He opened the panel, and ran in. He couldn't hear any movements above him, she must still be standing in the same spot. Being as stealthy as he could, he didn't make one creak on the wood; a technique taught to him by his father. Walking on the balls of his feet, he stood right underneath his target. Closing his eyes, he raised the gun straight in the air and let off a single shot.

Mina had sweat dripping down her brow, back, and everywhere else her skin was wrapped by the black suit. Making a quick decision after hearing footsteps coming towards her, she turned around and crouched at a corner. She couldn't run forever. Another set of footsteps came from behind her, and another few sets coming from her sides. She was a rat in a trap. Readying her gun, she counted to three, and turned the corner and let out a range of shots. Peeling her eyes open after the array of noise, Makoto and Rei stood in front of her – covered in yellow paint.

BANG!

Looking over her shoulder, Jadeite stood there with a smirk on his face. "Gotcha." Kunzite ran up behind him, overly prepared for the battle. Slumping his shoulders, and jutting his bottom lip out, he protested about not letting off one shot!

The walls around the five began to disappear back into their former forms, the black graph. Only a few feet away from them stood Serenity and Endymion. Serenity had a splatter of white paint between her legs, her face looked like a steaming kettle. Endymion was bent over laughing at the display.

"The score stands, 4-1 Earth," Ami reported as she walked towards the group. Nephrite and Zoisite behind her.

"Nice show girls, but no match for us!" Zoisite said with a mouthful of popcorn, his hands held a large tub of the treat.

"You were the first two out!" said Makoto.

"Ya, but our team was the one that survived!"

Serenity stood with her hands on her hips, humility – a trait she was suppose to be practicing as a royal anyways. "Looks like we are even now," she said towards the overly pompous ass in front of her.

"Don't take it too seriously, it was just a game, and a good one at that," said Endymion.

Serenity was oddly glad that everyone was in such a good mood. It was a nice change from the past few days. All the stress, and stored energy finally had an outlet. Her sailors were back to their usual selves, and back into the swing of things with the generals.

Finally getting the chance to peel of her outer clothing, her skin finally got to breathe again. Serenity let her hair down from its tied up bun, and her hair fell down around her face in wispy curls. Turning the water to a bath on, she sprinkled a small amount of rosemary into the tub. She was about to dip her toe in when a persistent knocking finally reached her ears. What now?!

Putting a robe on, she went to answer the door.

"Serenity, I came up with an idea!"

"Shhh.." Serenity held her finger to her lips. "You don't know who is listening." It was Rei. Couldn't she have come at a different time? "What is it?"

"I have an idea for the ball! I just talked to Ami about it, and she is in the process of making letters. The ball, it is going to be a masquerade! You know, with masks, costumes, over-sized and obnoxious decorations!"

That would fix a lot of their problems, and keep their identities hidden. Serenity quickly agreed, and sent Rei away. She could just see the steam taking all her heated bath water away. Other then focusing on washing the stink off her body, there was only one other thing pulling at her mind. Takeshi, and his hearing later that day.

Sorry it has taken me longer and longer for me to update, and less chapters. I really wanted to get this story done before school started, but no luck there. Hopefully my decrease in adding chapters isn't deterring any of you away. I'm trying my best! Thank you!