The Princess Mercury sighed. "I guess that's Rei-chan and the rest, calling me to go down to breakfast," she told Zoicite hesitantly, wishing she didn't have to go. "Goodbye, Zoicite." As she started to slowly stand up from the bed, Zoicite hastily reached out to grab her arm. "Wait, Ami," he beseeched her, his deep green emerald eyes filled with a deep concern. "Your friends will suspect something if they see me in your bed."

The expression on Princess Mercury's face was one of sheer surprise, and delightful innocence. She finally nodded in understanding as she began to realize what he meant, much to Zoicite's amusement.

He looked out at the direction of the glass door, beyond which was the balcony. "I will go in the same way I came. But let me get out, before you open that door," he said determinedly, even as the pains in his head grew even more immense. He tried resolutely to stand up, even as the spasms in his head grew tighter and tighter. Princess Mercury flew to support him, holding her weight against his to keep him upright. "Are you sure?" she asked him softly, lines of worry forming on her fair brow. "Are you well enough to start leaping on and off ledges?" she inquired again, a smile playing on her lips as she remembered last night's escapade.

General Zoicite smiled. "Aren't you the mother hen, Ami?" he asked her teasingly, even as his head felt as though he was banging it against a diamond wall. He let go of the Princess and stood up by himself. "Of course, my head still hurts quite a little bit," he told her, cringing inside from the lie he had just told. To his great surprise, the Princess Mercury pulled on his shirt playfully. "Bend down Gen—I mean, Zoicite," she ordered, an unusual kittenish grin on her face, her sapphire-like eyes shining with playfulness. General Zoicite dutifully obliged, and to his even greater surprise, the Princess planted a soft, delicate kiss on his forehead. "There," she whispered, a girlishly coy expression on her gentle face. "I'm sure it will get all better now."

Still trying to get over his astonishment, Zoicite slowly stood up and faced the smiling princess. "Good-bye now, Princess," he gratefully said as he bowed down in respect. "And thank you very much…" With that, he ran to the glass door, drew it ajar before he could change his mind, and jumped clear off the balcony the happiest man alive in the galaxy.

Meanwhile, the Princess stood there in grim disbelief at her daring and brazenness, breaking out in cold sweat in embarrassment. The blush that should have come when she kissed Zoicite's brow started to set in, and she felt flustered beyond belief. As she opened her door to meet her friends, her face had flushed a deep, deep scarlet, almost like the rose that lay in the crystal vase on her bedside table.

A piercing laughter met her in the hallway.

"GOOOOOOOOD MORNING, Ami-chan!" The Princess Venus exclaimed at the sight of her blue-haired friend emerging from her quarters, seemingly more red-faced than usual. "Did you sleep well last night?" She asked in her usual childishly curious manner, her chin resting on her palms as she faced the Princess Mercury squarely, wide azure eyes meeting equally blue, but impish eyes.

The Princess Mercury shifted uncomfortably in her place, with the demeanor of one being interrogated in a dim room, under an accusing white spotlight. "Uh, um…" she stuttered, both conscience and reason tearing at her as she looked from Venus's prying mien to Jupiter's and Mars' determined grins. "Well, if you must know," she continued in calculated and concise statements. "I turned in early last night, and slept until you called for me, Minako-chan."

In unison, all three princesses' inquisitive faces fell in apparent disappointment.

"Oh." The Princess Mars immediately blurted out as soon as she had recovered from their comic setback.

"…so you did… hmmm…" The Princess Mercury nodded violently in hopes of convincing her friend. She bit her lip, bracing herself from what Mars had to say next.

"…well, you see, Ami-chan…" Mercury broke out in cold sweat as she suspensefully waited to be found out of her lie.

"…we all thought that…" The poor princess squeezed her eyes tightly as she prepared herself for her friends' reprimands. Her fingers were rammed tensely against her palms and her body shook all over as she desperately tried to steady herself against the wooden door.

"—That we should all go down to breakfast immediately!!" Princess Jupiter interrupted gaily, an apologetic expression on her pretty face as she wagged her index finger back and forth across Mercury's relieved face. "I know you are all very hungry, so I took the liberty of telling the kitchens to prepare warm pancakes for all of us!" The Princess Jupiter laughed audibly, her hands upon her hips as her open-mouthed friends looked on. "Come on! Let's go, let's go! Come on!" She cried eagerly, taking the crestfallen Princess Venus and the fuming Princess Mars by their arms, and forcibly dragging them to the dining hall. As Venus and Mars plotted silently during the halfhearted march to breakfast, the Princess Jupiter threw a knowing wink at Princess Mercury, who was enjoying a sigh of relief, leaning against the wall for support. Princess Mercury graciously returned the wink with a grateful smile, after which she half-ran to join her friends, reveling in the excitement from the lie she had told and had gotten away with.

"Arigato, Mako-chan," she whispered with damp eyes to figure in green brocade in the other end of the long hallway. "I'll pay you back someday…"

   

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