Kunzite drummed his fingers against each other in a terse, steady rhythm as the silver eyes underneath his furrowed brows surveyed the sunny outdoor landscape. His eyes wandered from the tall peaks of the gargantuan trees and their thick foliage, to the sparkling waters of an immaculate white marble fountain.

The view was breathtaking, as anyone with a sense of beauty would say, but the somber general was in hardly any mood for "smelling the flowers". His white eyebrows met below the tanned, wrinkled brow as he tried to do a little thinking…

Had he really heard the words "Forever" and "Eternity" from his best friend? It was most unlikely to hear the said terms coming from a man whose longest romantic relationship lasted for a mere week. Kunzite thought it was highly possible that it wasn't Zoicite he was talking to--but a bloody impostor. And I am not merciful to people who deceive me…

The moment he came into the room, the first thing he saw was the other general's blonde head buried in his hands.

"Care to tell me what's wrong, Zoicite?" he had asked in his usual blunt tone, walking over to the green velvet ottoman. With a slight flick of his wrist, he flung his silver cape behind him and seated himself on the chair in front of his best friend. His nonchalance vanished as Zoicite's face came into his sight, the strong features contorted in a flushed, painful expression.

"ZOICITE!" He exclaimed, his eyes widening in surprise. Acting on his impulses as he gently supported his friend's back and lay him on the green silken sheets of his grand canopy bed. "What in the world happened?" Kunzite demanded in his gruff, hurried manner as the tension in Zoicite's face began to ease upon feeling the comfort of the soft cushions beneath his head.

Zoicite tried to smile, amidst the writhing and groaning caused by the hellish pain in his head, for his friend, who was waiting expectantly for an explanation. "It's a long story. But if you'd like to hear it, I'll gladly oblige-just don't you divulge a word of this to anyone else, huh, Kunzite?"

And so the reclining general tried to cheerfully narrate his story in between head spasms, as the General Kunzite walked back and forth around their quarters, trying to scavenge up a few things to treat Zoicite's ailment with. Though he was busy looking for aids and medicine, his ears were attuned to the excited voice of Zoicite, his eyebrows cocking higher in surprise as he heard unusual words come out of the other general's mouth.

Impostor, he muttered suspiciously in his mind. You are not Zoicite, he concluded while walking 'round the room, as Zoicite spontaneously went on.

Impostor… he was still muttering a few minutes later, in his solitude in front of the window.

But the thought vanished as he remembered the sparkle in the extraordinarily brilliant green eyes, unmistakably Zoicite's, as he blabbered about the virtues of this Princess of Mercury. "She made me feel so different," so went the other general, bed-ridden with a cold compress to the back of his swollen head. "Kunzite, you--of all people--should better believe me! It was like she was the only woman in the world that mattered."

Kunzite snorted in disbelief in spite of himself. Now why can't I bring myself to believe him? Is it because of the fact that I have been hearing this line for the past three years, each time a new woman manages to seduce Zoicite in a more unusual way than all the others? He had countered Zoicite with these points, giving him quite a surprisingly accurate approximation of how many times he had said that in the past few years, and also giving him specific examples of these women who had invoked similar remarks from him. But his arguments got waved off with a flick of a wrist.

Still, the steadfast general was implacable. Oh. Is this a different different because the wench happens to be a princess? He had asked then, not admitting defeat yet. The remark invoked a frighteningly violent reaction from his friend, who, for a minute forgot his aching head and stood on top of the bed, eyes flaming and glowering down at the seated Kunzite.

DID YOU CALL HER A WENCH?!?! The furious general had asked loudly of his unblinking friend, his breathing in short and angry intervals. In his usually cool viridian eyes had flashed now irate sparks which appeared for the supposed Princess Mercury's sake. HOW DARE YOU!! Why… Why--I've got a good mind to… to…

Before Zoicite could continue his enraged speech, or the display of violence that was supposed to come after it, the spasms in his head had taken over him and caused him to collapse--landing on the softness of the green satin sheets. The emotionless General Kunzite had cocked an eyebrow at his friend's pathetic attempt to avenge the maiden's name, and shaking his head in disapproval, had heaved to get Zoicite into a better position as he lay on the bed.

Kunzite remembered his walk out of Zoicite's quarters, after he had propped his best friend on soft pillows and replaced the cold compress on his reddened forehead. He had fought with himself about telling the others Zoicite's status--yet he knew he must do so, because he knew they were going to grill him about it, sooner or later. Now I wish I had not told them, he thought, remembering with disdain Jadeite's triumphantly satisfied mien when he told them the romance that had taken place last night. "I told you he was acting strange, didn't I?" echoed General Jadeite in his brain, over and over.

Forgetting his embarrassment over Jadeite's smugness, he now focused his attention on the Princess of Mercury. What kind of woman could this Princess be to invoke such feelings from Zoicite? The General Kunzite tried to remember which of the nine princesses Zoicite's woman was. The first thing he remembered was a beautifully sunny young girl with long, flowing blonde hair and charmingly playful blue eyes. No, that's not her-that's the Princess of Venus, he thought, with added effort banishing the graceful golden locks of hair from his imagination so as to resume his reflection. He sorted through all the princesses at the ball, from the ethereal Princess of Saturn to the elegant Princess of Neptune, from the raven-haired Princess Mars to the earthy beauty of Princess Jupiter, until he had eliminated everyone except for the gentle, blue-haired princess. The one in the blue dress, she must be the Mercurian Princess, he concluded. The gentle and the quiet one.

The pensive general leaned back on the softness of the royal blue velvet backing as he tried to recollect his first impressions on the blue princess.

Ah, I remember her now! She was the one beside the Princess of Mars, Enyalis Rei. The one with lilies-of-the-valley crowning short blue-black hair. Kunzite smiled in spite of himself as he tried to side the demure beauty to Zoicite's former fiancées. The mere thought of the gentle, docile Princess Mercury beside the loud, boisterous Duchess of Charon Moon made the serious general chuckle. As he tried to sort in his mind through all the fiancées and women his best friend had ever encountered, and his skepticism grew as he found that none of them came even close to the blue-locked princess in any way.

I always thought Zoicite chased the wrong women, he supposed as he tried to forget the women he had just compared to the tempered Princess Mercury. He always seemed to go for those beautiful ones without an intellectual bone in their slender, graceful bodies. Is this maiden any different from them, without regards to manner and appearance? How do I determine if that quietness is due to simple-mindedness or plain stupidity? This Princess Ami does seem to be fair in face… does this immediately indicate a lack of substance, as with all other beautiful women?

Either way, as with his other romances, I would stay out of the way, Kunzite sensibly decided, treating the past event as just an ordinary one. I could not possibly care less if this woman gets heart-broken as expected. It has happened too many times before; it has become routine.

As Kunzite prepared not to weary himself any longer on a topic he was unnecessarily thinking about, a sudden lapse of memory broke his thoughtful departure. The youthful protest of the Prince Endymion a few minutes ago recurred in his mind:

Kunzite returned to knitting his brows once again and staring coldly at the sunny view of the window. Endymion is right, thought he, again drumming his fingers together in that all too familiar rhythm. Zoicite would probably get away with his hanky-panky among duchesses and baronesses, but never with a Princess. It's one thing if he has a short affair with her, but what if, by chance, she conceives? The wrinkled forehead tried to picture what would happen if the blonde debonair general disgraced the Mercurian princess.

There would be strained relations between the Earth and the Moon Kingdoms. Queen Serenity was sure to come to the rescue of one of her wards, come what may. This Princess, being the sole ruler of Mercury, was obviously someone who needed the Queen's protection.

It was a scandal involving the highest monarch of a planet. A scandal that was sure to cut a deep wound into the honor of the Mercurian royalty. It might even result in a war between Earth and Mercury.

Considering the fact that this princess had alliances with all seven princesses of the remaining planets, there might even be interplanetary war.

Lives would be spent; property would be at risk.

Kunzite's pensive expression eased slightly. There was a possibility that these prophecies of doom would not wield its cruel blade at the galaxy. No wars would ensue, no diplomatic relations would be at risk, no lives would be wasted…

Except for one.

And that would be on Zoicite's execution day.

   

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