It was way past dawn. The cool morning air met his face with an icy bite, and it smelled of dew on the leaves in the morning. All was still quiet, except for the soft chirping of little birds in their own habitat. With this in mind, General Zoicite continued leaping swiftly from one tree to another as silently as he could. With precise and closely calculated movements, he jumped off from the treetops gracefully with the ease and skill as that of a flying squirrel. As he made his way to the guest wing of the Moon Palace, he plotted an escape routine, lest he met his colleagues before making it safely to the privacy of his own room.

It would not be the first time he came home from a party at so late, or so early, a time. He knew his fellow generals were used to his late night promenades that lasted until dawn. He also knew that they knew better than to ask him about what had happened that night that kept him so late, because they very well knew the answer. General Zoicite was a romancer by reputation, notoriously so, and it was habit for him to go home in the morning, or however long his nights of passion took. But this situation was different.

Zoicite knew that they would suspect something of the usual sort as soon as he reached there. But he also knew that today they would question him thoroughly, as his "involvement" was now with the princess of Mercury, a controversy, and possibly, a scandal waiting to happen. He shook his head. Not even Kunzite will believe me when I say that I didn't bed Princess Ami, he thought miserably. This might be a problem…

He snapped out of his listless musing as the drab marble balcony came into sight. The room it led to was empty and deserted, with no visible signs of life. General Zoicite smiled, relieved to a superlative degree. Good, he said to himself, having relaxed a great deal at what he had seen. I don't have to deal with them at all. Without any qualms, he neared the balcony of dull gray. So far so good. He continued his aerial journey until he finally touched down on the cold floor. It's clear sailing fro—

"HEYY, LOVER BOY!!!!" A collective voice exclaimed, catching the bewildered General Zoicite off-guard. In his great shock, he lost his balance and was hanging over the balcony at an alarming angle, his arms flailing about in fright. The unfortunate general would have fallen over to his death in the thorny bushes below, had General Kunzite not gripped his shirt in the nick of time to steady him.

"DAMMIT, you scared me out of my wits!" The sweating and trembling General Zoicite shouted angrily at the faces that were so intently focused upon him. Expectantly, he looked upon the faces of the still-lovesick General Jadeite, acting as boyish as he was the night before, the impishly determined face of General Nephrite and the stoic expression on General Kunzite. His expression mellowed, and his anger turned into an expression of pure tire and exasperation. "What the hell do you want?" muttered a weary Zoicite.

"HO, ho, ho," Jadeite chuckled merrily, slapping Zoicite on his broad back so hard it made him cough dryly. "And where, may I ask, have you been sleeping last night?" Zoicite pushed him aside as he strode toward the generals' quarters and out of the balcony. "None of your business, Jedeite," he mumbled bluntly, unfastening his cape, and draping it over the warm, leather upholstered sofa in the midst of their sitting room. Nephrite laughed as well. "Come on, Zoicite," he joked, coming into the room with him and Jadeite. "We all know that you were with the Princess Mercury last night." His eyes squeezed shut as he laughed jovially. "You should've seen your face, Zoicite! You looked so puppy-eyed and, and--"

"HE'S in LOVE," Jedeite piped in, much to the angst of the fuming Zoicite. "Didn't you notice, my dear General Nephrite?"

"By jove! What should I have noticed?" Nephrite inquired playfully of his fellow general.

"—That Jadeite was acting stupid last night, drooling over that Princess of Mars," Zoicite interrupted, his voice dripping of sarcasm. To Zoicite's surprise, Jadeite looked quite pleased, and he did not seem the least bit miffed at his friend's remark. "No, that's not it," he told Zoicite in playful reprimand. "Glory be, Nephrite! Zoicite only danced with only one woman last night!"

"Good heavens! Why, that is one for the books! Pray tell who this fortunate girl is, as if I didn't know?"

General Zoicite was visibly annoyed. "I'm warning you, Jadeite… Nephrite…" he grumbled menacingly, his rich viridian eyes shrinking to terrifying slits. "Don't be so nauseatingly cute. It doesn't become you…"

At this, General Jadeite's cerulean eyes widened in understanding, and he finally decided to quit his playful charade. "Oh, come on, Zoicite," he coaxed. "You know we were only joking." Instead of a fit reply, his friend threw him a menacing stare, stood up wordlessly and disappeared into his quarters, slamming the door behind him.

Nephrite let out a low whistle. "Jadeite, looks like we went a little too far this time," he told his fellow general with wide eyes. Jadeite raised his eyes to the heavens and shrugged. "I don't think that we're the ones at fault here," he declared simply, sitting down on the firm leather sofa. "You know Zoicite by now, Nephrite. When that guy comes home, he usually starts with a play by play description of his night's happenings. He just doesn't seem to be himself today."

"Well, neither are you, Jadeite," a deep, gruff voice interrupted them. A figure in gray and platinum blonde started walking slowly from the balcony to join the two generals. The stoic expression on General Kunzite's face did not change even as the intensity of his voice became stronger. "You accuse Zoicite of not being himself, while you act in that shameful manner," he declared disdainfully, his silver eyes looking pointedly at his fellow general. "Before you decide that he is not himself, you should kindly explain to us first why you are acting that way. So boyishly uncouth!"

General Jadeite remained unruffled by such remark. "Well, if you must know, I freely declare that I have been captivated by the beautiful princess of Mars. She has bewitched me beyond antidote," Jadeite declared with a giddy grin on his face. General Nephrite laughed at his friend's unusual display of playfulness. "You sound like you're very much smitten, Jadeite!" With a resounding chuckle, he slapped the blonde-haired general on the back, and rested his face on his hands. "Uh… I, too, have to admit that Makoto has gotten to me as well," he confessed uneasily. "Why Nephrite, you're on a first name basis with her already?" Jadeite said as he shook out of his reverie, only to find his friend in the same silently wistful state.

General Kunzite shook his head disapprovingly. "Pathetic," he muttered under his breath as he arrogantly observed his two daydreaming friends. Nephrite snapped out of his trance with a start. "But Kunzite," he began hesitantly, almost forgetting what they were originally discussing. "Don't you suspect something strange with Zoicite, today? I, er, we didn't mean to annoy him so early in the morn, but we didn't suspect that he had such a short fuse today."

"Very well, I will talk to him for you," decided Kunzite, his cape flying behind him as he turned to visit Zoicite's vast quarters. He stopped cold in his tracks just in front of the door, and cocked his head over to give the two a sidelong glance. "Will I tell him your apologies?" he asked expectantly of the guilty party.

"Yes, please," Jadeite told him, taking a big bite of the truffles that lay on the servier on top of their coffee table. Kunzite opened the door, and disappeared into the room, shaking his head.

Just then, the wide, chestnut wood doors of the four generals' chambers flung open, and a very disheveled Prince Endymion appeared in the threshold of the doorway. His shiny green-black hair was uncombed and unruly, and his blue eyes shone with lovesick lights. His tuxedo looked like it was worn without being pressed, the bowtie undone, and the red cummerbund which adorned his waist the night before now hung absently from the side of his hip.

General Nephrite cocked his eyebrow in understanding, as the now-serious General Jadeite rushed to help the Prince. "Serenity, I presume?" he inquired, a good-natured smile forming on his face.

Leaning on the strong arms of General Jadeite, the young Prince Endymion grinned wistfully.

"You better believe it!"

   

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