Rules Are Meant To Be Broken-Part 8
Ami sat before her elaborate mirror, brushing out her hair systematically. She was looking forward to resting, because her muscles were still sore and protesting over yesterday's events. Today, she had spent the entire day half-arguing and half-talking with Zoicite, who also carried her back to her room when the healers said that she could return to her own chambers. She had protested, feeling extremely embarrassed in her rather precarious position in his arms. Ami's hand paused for a minute in its activity, remembering the feeling it had given to her to be cradled so delicately, almost lovingly, by someone...she hadn't been held like that since her childhood, so long ago. But there were more feelings besides safety and serenity, feelings that she didn't want to deal with.
Ever since the general had come from Earth, her life had changed. The princess was tired of change: she had lived a comfortable life until she was ten, when she was sent to the Moon. She had tried to adapt to life on the Moon and succeeded with the help of her four friends. But then her world had shattered again, first when her mother died, then her father. Ami had become the Princess of Mercury, and she had to rule alone. Her over-dominating council towered over her at times, doubting her fitness to rule, until she had been forced to remind them exactly who she was. Then she had to deal with Greg: kind, sweet, dependable Greg, who was hopelessly in love with her. There was nothing she could do about that. And so she lived with her daily problems, taking the good with the bad of her new life. And then HE came along and disrupted her third world.
Charming, handsome, likeable, teasing, and insufferable General Zoicite was a contradiction in himself. It was strange how she balanced three positive traits with two bd characteristics. Form the beginning, she had known he was trouble-right? Of course, her instincts always led her in the right direction...and then slowly, slowly he had begun creeping into her life. Damn his craftiness and slyness and evilness!
Of course, she wasn't really being fair, she scolded herself. But Zoicite would leave soon, like everyone else had left her. First her parents, then Leon, who had brought about this dratted visit in the first place. Even the other senshi and Serenity had left her when they had all departed from the Moon...this time would be no different. Sighing, Ami put down her brush and turned around as the door opened. "Hello, Kathrina. Did you have a nice day?"
"Yes, indeed, Miss Ami. There was such talk around the palace today," the maid said, shutting the door. "All about that nice General Zoicite and about his saving you. You wouldn't believe how many of the young ladies admire him, for his looks and charm. All of them want to visit Earth and see the other young generals, to see if they're like General Zoicite."
Feeling her mouth twitch undecidedly, as if it weren't sure whether to smile or frown, she replied mildly, "Is that so? How interesting."
"And relations have improved with the Terran Embassy, my lady. The council is so much more willing to meet with certain demands. These Terrans aren't as bad as we really thought they were, aren't they?"
‘That's open to discussion,' the blue-haired one thought to herself. Smiling to herself, she commented automatically, "Are the talks tomorrow going as scheduled?"
Kathrina nodded, straightening the bed covers and a few of Ami's most treasured possessions on the nightstand. "They've announced an early adjournment, though, in light of your injuries. Are you sure you feel all right, Miss Ami?"
"I'm feeling fine. Don't worry." Turning to stare out the window, Ami exhaled deeply, her eyes catching the glow from the moon. "It's such a beautiful night, isn't it?"
"Oh, it is, but Miss Ami, you shouldn't leave the windows open like that! You'll catch a cold!"
After Kathrina had left for the night, Ami got up from her bed and opened the windows once more. She looked out into the cool night breeze, enjoying the peace and serenity. And serenity reminded her of her friends...she would have to get in touch with them tomorrow. Doubtless they had heard of her unfortunate incident...too bad she had been busy with Zoicite all day. Did his name always have to come up in her thoughts at the most inopportune times?! Sighing, she settled down for another restless night of troubled sleep. And it was all his fault. Him and his haunting, annoying, beautiful eyes.
~~~~*~~~~
The next morning, the blond-haired general had just been deep in contemplation, walking along the halls of the palace barely watching where he was going, when he was nearly run over by a blue-haired whirlwind. As both he and the princess landed on the ground, he sweatdropped and pulled himself up gingerly, cursing his fading but still painful bruises. "Good morning, your highness."
Looking up at the offered hand into deep green eyes, Ami flushed darkly as she realized who she had run into. "Zoicite! I'm so sorry-"
"Think nothing of it. It's one of my favorite activities to do in the very early morning, did you know? Being run over by beautiful princesses who also aren't watching where they're going?" he teased gently. "So where were you going?"
"Well, the talks are canceled again-"
"And I thought we came here to do business," Zoicite laughed. "But go on. I'll stop interrupting and adding inappropriate comments."
Straightening her dress, which was a peaceful medium blue shade, the princess was almost floating with her happiness. "Yes, do so. My friends, the Inner Princesses, are coming to visit tomorrow. We're having an informal picnic tomorrow afternoon-do you think you could come? I want you to meet them informally first."
As she looked up at him anxiously, the general smiled at her eagerness. He could almost see the adorable child she had been, full of life and vivre de joie. "Of course I will."
"Wonderful! We'll meet in the garden tomorrow-the one in the labyrinth."
"Your highness? A quick message from the Princess of Jupiter has just come in-she's about to leave."
"Oh!" As Ami turned to leave, she looked back at the gen, who was still standing there. "Will I see you later, then?"
"Of course, my lady. You can count on it."
~~~~*~~~~ Ami smiled brightly when the image of her brunette friend appeared on the screen. In the background, men and women in flight suits were running around, loading the ship and making sure that everything was working and on schedule. "Hey Ames! So how have you been? I heard about that accident in the mines. Are you okay?"
"I'm all right, don't worry. Are you sure you can drive that airship by yourself, Lita?"
"Of course. It's no problem. Besides, the flight crew won't leave me alone; the captain will be hovering behind me the entire time. And don't you remember the last time Haruka visited the Moon? She taught me how to drive hers, which is a lot bigger than the Thunder Giant here. So what's this about a charmer general that I hear who's visiting you from Earth?"
"Oh...Zoicite's just one of Endymion's generals. He knew Leon very well, and he's a very nice man. I asked him to come and meet you all tomorrow afternoon."
The brown-haired princess raised her eyebrows skeptically. "‘A very nice man?' What happened to the whole men-avoidance thing you had going since you were eighteen? Oh darn...that captain's calling me now. It's time to take off. Otherwise, I won't make it on time to see this extraordinary general you've met."
"I'll see you tomorrow, then. Have a safe trip," Ami smiled, relieved to be let off the hook. But Lita's words had invoked old memories that she wished she could be free of.
"Sure. But don't forget, Ami, if he hurts you, we'll all hunt him down."
"I don't think that'll be necessary."
"Oh, but I could use the training-"
"No," she said firmly, "and the crew's signaling you."
"All right then. We'll have to continue our conversation later."
~~~~*~~~~
"Sir? Commander?"
"What is it, lieutenant?"
"None of the communications officers on the Outer planets are responding."
"Hm...let me take a look. Everything seems to be normal..."
"But sir, usually only Pluto's stations are this silent. What if there was an emergency?!"
"Still, it doesn't look very serious. This has happened once before, and everything still seems to be functional...oh! Look at this, a disturbance is passing through the airspace right now. Just some comets...I'm sure it'll be over soon."
"Oh! Sorry I didn't think of checking that before calling you over, commander."
"That's all right, lieutenant. Nice job of alerting us, though, in case something was really wrong. The comet is just passing by Jupiter now, I guess..."
~~~~*~~~~
Ami had had a very busy day, and almost everyone was asleep. The only people awake were the sentries that patrolled the hallways, but most of them were meeting with their commanders late this night. Mercury was a peaceful place, and riots or attempts on the princess's life rarely occurred. Nodding at one of the sentries, who saluted her in turn, she proceeded down yet another empty corridor. Suddenly, she smirked slightly as she spotted a certain blond-haired general turning around the corner...
Zoicite shivered, feeling an icy wind blowing all around him. It was as if he were trying to walk through a snowstorm. Strange, the Mercurians, while adapted to living in the cold temperatures that reigned on their planet, had attempted to heat the palace for their guests' comfort. Rarely had he ever experienced such cold...
"General Zoicite. Your lips seem to be turning blue," said a familiar voice from behind him.
Turning around, he sighed in relief when the iciness stopped penetrating his bones. "Ami. Yes, well, Terran biology is a strange thing. Is this another habit of yours I should know about?"
"Well," the princess said slyly, "I thought you needed a wake-up call, being asleep on your feet almost. You really didn't sense that I've been following you for three corridors already?"
Groaning, the blond-haired man ran a distracted hand through his hair. "I hope to high heaven that Kunzite never hears about this."
Smiling slightly, Ami replied, "Well, I can't make any promises...but if he's anything like Mina, I would have both sympathy and empathy for you."
Looking blank, the general asked, "Mina?"
Glancing away, ashamed at her slip of the tongue, the princess nodded. "For the senshi...Mina is the Princess of Venus, and she is also the planet's sailor senshi."
"Just how many of you princesses are senshi, anyway?!"
Doing her best to ignore his slightly rude phrasing, telling herself that it was the shock, Ami shrugged her slender shoulders gracefully. "Well...Rei of Mars...Lita of Jupiter...Hotaru of Saturn...Michiru of Neptune...Haruka of Uranus...and Setsuna of Pluto..."
Trying to close his mouth, he managed to exclaim, "But-but that's all the planets...so all the princesses are senshi...except-except for-"
"Except for Serenity. Yes." Looking around their surroundings cautiously, she was relieved to see no one else around, not even any stray sentries. "Of course, not that you know everything, I'll have to kill you."
"What?!!"
Dragging the protesting Zoicite into a niche, she covered his mouth, eyes darting around frantically to make sure that no one had heard. "You idiot...I was only jesting!" "Sorry," Zoicite mumbled into her hand rather unsuccessfully. His eyes widened as the sounds of footsteps echoed along the hall.
Turning around in a full circle, Greg frowned. He could have sworn he heard a male voice a few minutes ago. "Hello? Is anyone here?" After a few minutes of complete silence, he sighed and turned. "Guess not...maybe it was my imagination."
When he had gone around the corner, Ami yanked the general out into the clearing again. "Must you be so loud?
"My apologies, my lady," the gen stammered, feeling mortified.
"I'm sorry, Zoicite. I didn't mean to be so harsh, but it's very late at night, and the guards tend to take any disturbances very seriously. And if they saw me...you might have been in danger."
Nodding, he said, "I understand. It's the same with us generals and Endymion."
"And you especially, right?"
Acknowledging her statement gravely, the general held out his arm. "It's getting late. You shouldn't be up so late."
"And you should?" Taking the proffered arm delicately, Ami asked, "And may I inquire, what were you doing, skulking around here?"
"Nothing...well...you first."
"I? I was just going over some last minute plans for the picnic tomorrow. That's why I was so tired. I don't normally stay up this late," she smiled innocently, crossing her fingers behind her back angelically.
Looking closely at her with sharp green eyes, Zoicite felt his heart melt at her disarming smile. "Well...if you say so. But I still don't believe you."
"And they say generals are such gentlemen," the princess murmured demurely, casting her eyes down as her mouth curved up into a smile.
"Oh, we are. Especially around beautiful princesses."
~ * ~ * ~
"Hmph," Greg scoffed to himself. ‘Beautiful princesses, my foot! He's flirting with her, and blatantly, too!! Shameless. Absolutely outrageous. And so conspicuously, too! In plain sight of everyone in the whole palace!' he rumbled angrily, ignoring the fact that no one was about. All right, so he wasn't supposed to be following his priceless, porcelain princess around-and that-that general, but it was for her own welfare. The next day, he promised himself, he would tell her all about Terran generals and how they wished to influence Mercury by making their princess fall in love with one of them. Of course, it wasn't exactly true, but soon enough the general would leave, and Ami would forget all about him. Right? Right...
Looking ahead, the Prime Minister saw that he was falling behind the couple and hurried his footsteps, although he remained on guard to keep them silent. He had learned from one of the best-Ami. He felt a little guilty at spying on her in such a fashion, but it was for her own good. Imagine the scandal if one of the Inner Princesses fell in love with a nothing general of course! ‘But she would never fall for him...right? Of course not! She was more sense!' he consoled himself. And yet...the signs were plain. The whispers were beginning to start in the servants' wing already, about how much time their princess was spending with that charming Earth general who had saved her in the mines.... Then Greg looked at the persons ahead of him again, who had paused in front of the princess's chambers. Sighing with relief that she would be going to safely to bed and that he would leave her alone until tomorrow, his eyes widened to the size of saucers as he took in the scene before him, barely breathing in his shock and horror.
~ * ~ * ~
"Ami, I think that this trip to Mercury was one of the best things that ever happened to me, even though it was for mourning. But we've been able to lay Leon to rest, and he deserved it after such a long time."
"Yes, he did," she agreed softly as they paused outside her room, having come to their final destination. "And we've learned things about each other's planets, and you've accepted your healing again-haven't you?"
Looking away, Zoicite didn't answer.
Seizing his hands, she persisted, "Haven't you? Please, Zoicite. You have a gift, and gifts should be used for the better of the world."
"If I had gotten to my family earlier...would I have been able to say them? It's a question I aks myself often."
"You can't live forever like this, Zoi. You have to let the past go sometimes, or it will dampen the future."
"Can't live with it, can't live without it." Sighing, the general nodded slowly. "All right. I'll try-but for you and no one else."
Smiling warmly at him, she let go of his hands and drew them away slowly. "I guess I'll have to be satisfied with that then, my brave general. You won't forget about tomorrow, now, will you?"
"Of course not." Feeling the strangest but loveliest of feelings come over him, Zoicite sighed quietly. She had called him Zoi-twice, but in the most important of times. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"Everything." He reached out with shaking hands to cup her face in them delicately...and then, as they were both lost in the feeling that had come over them, the general lowered his lips to hers gently. A few seconds of heaven later, the world shattered when she broke away from him.