Chapter 67: The Other Side of the Story

[Scene: Trig class. Zoi is taking notes as the teacher writes on the board. Jeddy hisses to get his attention, then throws a paper star that lands on Zoi's desk. Zoi unfolds the note.]

HE MISSES YOU

[Zoi crumples the note into a ball. He knows it's a lie. Kunzite doesn't miss him at all. He's probably in their secret meadow with some other gullible virgin explaining how though he's been with a lot of people, he hasn't yet found his one true love.]

[Damn Kunzite, and damn Jeddy for making him cry in math class.]

[After class in the hallway Jeddy catches up to Zoi.]

Jeddy: [accusatory] Why haven't you called Kunzite?

Zoi: What?

Jeddy: He's starting to think you don't love him.

Zoi: [sarcastic] So Kunzite misses me, does he?

Jeddy: Kunzite's as sick as a dog. He roams around his castle pining for you. He looks like he's going to die.

Zoi: [smiles] Really?

Jeddy: You seem pretty pleased about that.

Zoi: I am pleased! He deserves to suffer! HE dumped ME.

Jeddy: He dumped you for your own protection. Billy Blackmoon and Kunzite go way back. You're alive right now only because they think Kunzite's finished with you. The Blackmoons are watching, so Kunzite doesn't dare visit you, not even in secret.

Zoi: He could have found some way to let me know he still cares.

Jeddy: No he can't. He doesn't trust himself to stay away from you. He'd rather break your heart than do anything that might put you in danger. He can't even bear to spy on you, so he doesn't know if you are alive or dead half the time. Why haven't you called him?

Zoi: He told me if I called him, he'd take me away and never bring me back.

[Jeddy just stands there waiting like there is a second half to that sentence.]

Zoi: I can't leave here.

Jeddy: Why not?

Zoi: Because I have a family!

Jeddy: If you loved him as much as he loves you, you'd be willing to leave all that behind.

Zoi: It's not that simple. My parents went through an ugly divorce. My father is responsible for me right now. I can't just vanish into thin air. He's going to get into a lot of trouble.

Jeddy: So?

Zoi: So?

Jeddy: That's not your problem.

Zoi: Yes it is. I care about my dad.

Jeddy: And when you get killed by the Blackmoons? Do you think your dad's going to be any better off after that?

Zoi: That's different.

Jeddy: Why?

Zoi: It won't be me that does it to him… Tell Kunzite to come back here if he really does love me. Even if he has to do it in secret.

Jeddy: Kunzite can't protect you from the Blackmoons.

Zoi: So what? I don't care. Tell Kunzite it's not his job to protect me from the Blackmoons. If Kunzite loves me the way I love him, he wouldn't run off and leave me to die alone. He'd stay with me until the end.

Jeddy: Kunzite's been busy. He's trying to convince Mother to turn you into a Shitennou.

Zoi: [makes a sour face] She won't do it. She hates me.

Jeddy: [smiles] Ha! That's an understatement!

[It stings Zoi to hear his worst fears confirmed.]

Jeddy: It's not just you as a person she hates. She hates the effect you have on Kunzite. He hasn't even killed a servant in the whole time he's known you. You're making him…sweetnatured.

[Jeddy shudders]

Jeddy: She can't have that. She's told him repeatedly she won't elevate you, but Kunzite can be really pigheaded when he wants to be. She'd curse him for his insolence, but she can't think of anything that would amuse her more than letting him watch you grow old or die.

Zoi: So there is no hope?

Jeddy: None.

Zoi: That's what I thought.

Jeddy: Though here's my advice–If you ever want to be a Shitennou you better learn to stop worrying about everyone's problems but your own.

[Jeddy sighs.]

Jeddy: It is pity. I would have loved to have had you as a baby brother.

Zoi: [smiles warmly] Really?

Jeddy: I'm so sick of being the youngest and the smallest. It would be great to have someone a lot weaker than me in the house so I can have someone to pick on for a change.

[Zoi just stands there as Jeddy walks away]

[At lunch Zoi buys a bowl of vegetable soup. He eats slowly, to acclimate himself to food again. He's still morose, but there is a glimmer of hope to it. Kunzite still loves him, in his own self-defeating and misguided way, and it has given him a new lease on life.]

[For the rest of the week he resumes eating normally, knowing that Kunzite still has feelings and they might actually see one another again, despite the bitter feeling he can't seem to shake that tells him that won't happen.]

[He still cries himself to sleep, but more from loneliness than despair. He was wrong about Kunzite not missing him. Maybe he's wrong about that as well?]

[Finally Friday comes around. Zoi sits at his table in Biology class. He's finished his lab, so he's opened his book and is gazing at a picture of himself and Kunzite he has tucked between the pages.]

[It's a funny picture, so he brought that one because it makes him smile. It shows Kunzite and Zoi at the beach in Hawaii. Zoi's brow is furrowed as he lies on his towel and stares at his book while doing his Trigonometry homework, with Kunzite lying there with his eyes closed, a contented smile and not a care in the world, using Zoi's back as a pillow.]

[A hand reaches out and swipes the photo]

[Zoi looks back in outrage and meets a pair of hate-filled brown eyes]

Esmeraude: [glances at the picture then glares back at Zoi] Well isn't this interesting.