AN: Yeah, I've been gone for a reeeaaally long time. I'm sorry about that, but it feels like the process of getting my bachelor's, going to grad school, and everything involved in that just sucked out all my creative energy. I've posted all of twice in at least the past six months, and it could be longer. I don't know. That being said, I'm going to try (but please don't get mad if I don't) to get back to this story on a more regular basis. I'll try. Really.

Disclaimer: Still not mine and never will be, more's the pity.

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Zoisite made a face. "I wish you had not brought her up. I had almost forgotten."

Jadeite nodded his agreement. "She was a cold-hearted b-"

"Enough, Jadeite," Kunzite reprimanded. "You should not speak of Mistress Cassandra in such a way, regardless of your feelings."

"Well, she was," he said defensively. "She made poor Neph miserable for months."

"Was it that terrible, Nephrite?" Endymion asked. "I knew she was less than kind, but you never said anything to me."

"Of course not," the older man replied mildly. "Are you insane? I was already behind the rest of you in using my gifts. I wasn't going to complain to my prince because some priestess didn't like me. She just would've been more difficult and I never would have gotten anywhere."

"That hardly makes it right," the prince insisted.

Nephrite shrugged, making the starlight burnish his chestnut hair. "It didn't last too long. Besides, if not for Mistress Cassandra, our lives might not have ended up this way."

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Jadeite decided Kunzite was being terribly unreasonable, putting him on punishment patrols for the fourth week running with no sign of letting up. He hadn't intended to get involved with a married woman and end up setting her irate husband on fire. And he was fine once Zoisite was done with him.

It wouldn't have been so bad if his punishment had any chance of turning interesting, but naturally his leader knew that. He was just walking circles around the prince's gardens every night. Nothing happened there without the prince knowing, and everyone knew it, so he didn't even get the chance to catch someone committing a gossip-worthy indiscretion. And because it was so close to Endymion's precious roses, he couldn't even practice with his fire.

"It would be irresponsible," he said in a high pitch completely at odds with the general he was imitating. "We must make every effort to protect Prince Endymion's beloved flowers, as though he could not simply heal them in two seconds on the off-chance something did happen."

"Is this something a woman told you?"

His well-honed instincts had him spinning, a fireball leaping from his outstretched hand in less than the space of a heartbeat. That same heart then stopped when the flames, powerful enough to incinerate a grown man in seconds, ground to a halt in a delicate lady's palm before twining around her wrist like a bracelet, not even leaving the faintest hint of redness.

Not willing to admit defeat, his other hand drew his sword as he gathered fresh flames and held them out in warning. "Who are you, and what business do you have in the prince's private gardens? Only those with his express permission are permitted here."

"Is that so? I assure you, my lord," she said, voice silky, "I did not intend to trespass. I merely need to speak with one of my priestesses on an issue raised by her supervisor regarding a young Seer being trained here." Her words were seemingly perfect and polite, but he could hear the traces of disdain in his title.

Jadeite tried to call back the fire still dancing around the stranger's wrist, but it was completely unresponsive. It was like nothing he'd ever experienced. He moved his higher, expanding the area it lit, and took her in.

He'd noticed her delicate build immediately, since he'd expected a threat and had found only a tiny woman, but that wasn't the same as seeing it. She might have been called fragile by anyone else, but he could sense underlying steel in her that defied the expectations. For all her petite size, there was nothing breakable about this woman. She wore all red, a siren-bright color that highlighted her raven-colored hair and porcelain skin. He couldn't make out the color of her eyes, but they were luminous in the illumination provided by the flickering fireball in his hand.

Instead of shrinking from his scrutiny, as so many of the ladies in his acquaintance might have, she only lifted her chin and did a survey of her own. "If you are what your kingdom hopes to use to build relations with the alliance, they had best reconsider. Your manners are rather appalling. My priestess, if you please."

She'd finally given him some information, though he rather thought it had been deliberate on her part. "You're not Terran."

"Indeed not."

"You still haven't told me who you are or what you're doing in the prince's garden."

"You would find I did say why I was here already."

His eyes narrowed. "No, you said you were looking for your priestess, but there would be no reason to look for her here. She doesn't have the right to come here any more than you do." A fiery whip cut across his path as he took a step forward, and though he was able to seize control of the flames it was enough to make him pull back again.

"You are a disrespectful child at the best of times, but you have crossed a line by speaking thus to the princess. It is time you are punished for your impertinence." Cassandra stepped into view, as distant and composed as ever even as she tried again to kill him.

"Enough, Taya. He has done me no harm and does not know who he addresses, so he cannot be blamed for his suspicion, however poorly handled."

Jadeite bristled. "You're trespassing. How am I the one handling this poorly?"

"Watch your tongue, boy," the priestess hissed.

"Taya," the lady said sternly. "You will remove yourself from this conversation and wait for me to join you at the gate."

"My lady –"

"That was not a question. Go. The boy and I will talk a little longer." She waited until her command had been followed before returning her piercing gaze to his. "What is your name?"

"You've refused to tell me yours, so I don't see why I should answer that."

He was shocked when she smiled. It was quick and almost secret, but it was there and in that moment he felt as though he'd finally unlocked a mystery he'd been plagued by. "Normally I would not tolerate such rudeness, but as my priestess attempted to harm you and I am, as you say, somewhere I should not be, I will allow it this once. I am Princess Mars."

"Princess…?" Realization hit and he hurriedly knelt. "My apologies, Your Highness."

"And you are who, precisely?"

"Jadeite, Shitennou of the East." His indignation flared and he got back to his feet. "Wait, why am I apologizing? You are where you're not supposed to be, and you did refuse to identify yourself. I'm not in the wrong."

Footsteps announced yet another arrival. "Settle down, lad. There's no need to cause a scene." Hyperion stepped between the two combatants – for the princess' temper had flared as well, and both were prepared to attack. "My lady, your arrival is most unexpected."

"So I see," Mars responded. "You need to teach your pupils some manners, Master Hyperion. This one is quite rude."

Jadeite's lips peeled back from his teeth in an undisguised snarl. He was going to say something biting, but Hyperion waved him aside as Mars moved to join her priestess. "Calm yourself, lad. She's not one to make angry, and your fire is nothing to hers."

"I was doing my duty," he protested. "She was the one causing trouble."

"That's enough. Yes, Lady Mars could have handled the situation with more grace, but the same could be said for you. I don't care who threw the first stone, Jadeite. What matters is that you could have caused an interplanetary incident."

"Hyperion, I was just doing my job."

"Then you'll get to explain that to Kunzite when he hears about this. You're already in trouble with him, boy. Do you want to make it worse?"

He was tempted to say Kunzite would agree with him, but he rather doubted it. The first Shitennou would approve of his doing his job, but he would be highly displeased with the poor outcome of his meeting with the princess. Kunzite believed in appropriate behavior at all times, which was part of the reason he was on punishment duty in the first place.

Seeing the conflict in his charge's eyes, Hyperion softened his tone. "I don't fault you for doing your duty, lad, and it was purely bad luck that you met with Lady Mars here. I'll make a deal with you: if you can apologize for your rudeness, sincerely, this matter will go no further."

Jadeite scowled and repeated his one argument, even knowing it was childish. "But I was just doing my job."

The old tutor sighed. "You're still young, but I know you understand strategy. If you were planning to rendezvous with the lady in a later mission, would you want bad blood between you, or would you prefer to temper your behavior to maintain good relations?"

"I'd prefer to make amends," he admitted grudgingly. "But she's not part of a mission, Hyperion. She intruded and refused to identify herself."

"Yes, she did, and that was a mistake on her part, one she is no doubt already aware of. Lady Mars is very proud, though, and she won't admit to it. You're going to have to be the one to reach out if you want to smooth the way for later work, because you'll have to work together in the future."

Mars regarded him closely. "You speak very freely of my nature, Hyperion."

"And yet we both know I am correct, my lady. A good teacher never forgets their students, no matter how many years separate them."

Her assessment continued for a moment longer before she nodded. "Very well. To honor an old teacher, I will consider myself chastised this once. I should have obeyed the customs of this world more carefully."

"Your diplomacy has improved, at least," Hyperion remarked.

Jadeite wrinkled his nose in disgust but finally submitted. "I owe you an apology, Princess Mars. While I maintain that my initial response to your presence was correct, I had no reason to be rude after the matter was cleared up."

"Thank you." She turned that sharp gaze his way, and he felt as though she was looking into the center of his being. After several heavy beats, she looked back at the tutor. "I will need to speak to you when I am done with Taya."

"I'll be in my office. Any guard will be able to escort you if you do not want your priestess to do so."

Without another word, the princess swept toward the gate. In doing so, she passed through a patch of light thrown from a nearby window. Jadeite's breath caught in his throat.

He stood by his first appraisal of her, in that she was small but not fragile, and he had gotten the basic description down. Seeing her clearly for the first time, though, was like seeing a dream made real. He'd known her skin was porcelain, but not how it seemed to gleam, and her dark hair picked up the light in such a way that it looked almost violet instead of black. Her face, caught in profile as she turned down the aisle to reach the gate, was the sort of thing he might have found on statuary done by the old masters. Something in him called for this proud princess in a way he couldn't understand, almost as though recognizing something that had always been lost but was now found in her.

"Jadeite? Lad, are you all right?"

"She's…" He stopped, struggling for the right words, the ones that would feel true as he spoke them. Eventually he settled on the ones that were as close to accurate as language could express. "I don't understand it, I don't know what it means, but somehow, she's my destiny."

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AN: The worst part is probably that I've had like 75% of this down for a very long time. I just couldn't figure out where to go next, so it languished on my hard drive. Hopefully it was good, even if there's no way it was worth the ridiculous wait. As always, I'd love to know what you think. Till next time!