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True




      Venus hid in the corner at the ball, silently on duty even 
then, and though the Queen had ordered her to relax, no one would 
approach the leader of the Senshi.   She gazed hopelessly out over 
the dance floor and all the couples...a joy denied to the leaders 
who were always on guard.   It was a price Kunzite knew to well.
      Jupiter had tried to shake her out of her funk, but her reply 
had been short and a little sad.   Kunzite caught only a kind order 
to go and enjoy herself without further ruining her evening by 
consoling the loveless. 
      Something broke in him then - it couldn't have been the wine 
that made him so forward, he'd scarcely touched it.
      So when he glided up to her and breathed,  "May I have this 
dance?" He could only wonder if he'd gone mad.	When she looked up 
in startlement and something gleamed in her eyes as she said, "You 
....Yes.  I'd be glad.", he knew that he would never be sane again.
      The Crystal palace seemed to fade around them as the spun out 
onto the dance floor, lost in a whirl of glittering silver and gold.
      Neither danced as a courtesan, but both moved with the grace 
of a fighter - it would be impossible to find a more graceful couple 
that night, but neither noticed the stares they gathered, lost in 
their own movement.
      When the songs changed, they drifted to a less populated room,
to be heard, and he whispered to her softly smiling face, "You looked 
lost, little goddess."
      She turned half-away, sudden shields half raised in her eyes at 
the question, and it was a long moment before she answered, "I...was 
feeling so alone...thank you - even if it's pity, I needed some time 
off my watch..."
      "It isn't pity.  You're beautiful, you know."  Kunzite didn't 
have to exaggerate.  She was without a doubt the most exquisite 
creature he'd ever seen - on any world.    Silently he cursed whomever 
had made her think herself plain, or unwanted.  A thousand deaths 
would be too good for them.
      "I...thank you..."  It had become so quiet that only the two of 
them could be heard, and he belatedly realized that they were outside, 
in the gardens when she whispered that.
      "You still look lost, little goddess." She trembled in their 
embrace, and distantly he realized he was shaking too.   
      She should never have to look like that.	"I'm scared."  Blue 
eyes bored into his, searing links of chain into his heart.  
They were anything but afraid...fearless.  Perfect.  The eyes of this 
Senshi would never be less. 
      "Scared?"  It was like looking at a mirror to his own eyes.   
Eyes that were windows to the soul, blocked and shuttered for all 
time, never to reveal the feelings beneath.   Only her voice gave 
her away when she answered.   
      "Yes." Her voice shouldn't sound like that.  Ever.  It was 
too horrible to hear the stress in her voice, to know just how 
close to broken she had come.  
      "You should never need to be afraid of anything...tell me what 
it is that frightens you so, and I'll make it go away."  It was 
almost a desperate plea from Kunzite, soft as the jokingly phrased 
request was.  'Let me help.', It said.  'Let me into your heart 
the way you have taken mine.'
      "You.  I'm afraid of you."  Time Stopped for him then.  It 
was as if a sword had been driven through his heart.
      "I'm sorry I scared you, little goddess. "  He looked suddenly 
stricken..."I guess I should leave.." Kunzite tried to disengage 
from her without thought.   Thought would be impossible with this 
much pain.
      Pain he saw mirrored on her face as she clutched to him before 
he could go.
      "Don't go.  Stay.   Please?"  He would never have thought that 
she would beg.   Ever.   It hurt that her plea was caused somehow by 
him, and the pain hung between them like a weight.
      "Yes." Kunzite couldn't have refused if he'd been ordered to.
      "It's not you I'm afraid of but when you're near...I'm 
terrified..." Venus whispered softly into his ear, as they sat 
near the arbor of roses under the light of the earth.
      "Why?"  He knew, then, how she must feel - the weight of 
his existence hung on her reply, and he was petrified with fear 
that she would send him away.   
      And then he would be alone again.   Every prayer he could 
think of he offered to Selene, 'Moon Goddess - don't let me be alone 
after meeting her.   I could never bear it.'
      "You...something in you calls out to something in me, and I'm 
afraid....I want to answer that call, but I don't know if I dare."
Selene heard, perhaps, or maybe..
      He kissed her then, softly as he answered.
      "Then I'll hope that there is nothing you wouldn't dare...
because I see you, and... I'm so afraid I'll never see you again 
when you go away...I...it's....Listen, I feel it to. "   They 
were held so tightly together as to seem one person in the 
earthglow, then, and she asked -
      "Scared?"
      Kunzite answered, "Terrified."
      "Then..could you stay?  Even if it was a long time?  Even 
if it  was a thousand years?"
      "I'd stay if it were forever."
      "Could you though?  Could you live forever?"
      "If it ment being with you, I could outlive the stars, little 
goddess."
      "...We won't always be in the same place.   We both have duties."
      "Yes.  Neither of us...could give up what we are.    We will 
not fall apart.   I swear to you - no matter what it may cost me, 
I will always return to you.."