Oy, sorry about this taking almost 2 month's- but as I explained before, had exams and stuff, not to mention a big mural for art I had to finish, and just the general nuttiness of school. Classes are even worse now, but what are you gonna do? Hmm, I should probably rant about my life in a blog instead of here shouldn't I? Oh, "Kage" is pronounced "ka-geh" I believe, not "cage". *sobs* this fic is starting to turn into a soap opera … SAVE ME!

August Moon
Part 9 : May I have this dance?
©MMI T h r e a d s

Naru bit her thumbnail in angst as she gazed across the room at Nephrite. He was arguing with one of the cleaning staff about something, she didn't know about what though. Not that it mattered though. Naru sat on a blue velvet chesterfield across the room from the object of her affection. Apparently it had been a gift from the royal family of the Moon, though Naru could swear that it would be something she would find in her grandmother's house, rather than a palace.

"Is something bothering you, Naru?" Jadeite asked, leaning over. Naru felt a little bad about what she had done. After her rather slow recovery from her riding accident Jadeite had insisted he take her on a more thorough tour of the castle. It was obvious how he felt about her, and she knew how she felt about him, so there would have been no question that she would have declined in order to avoid the romantic awkwardness of the situation if he were to take her around the castle, but Naru hadn't seen Nephrite since he had visited her and introduced her to Daun after the fall, and she missed him greatly. So, in a moment of selfishness and disregard she listened more to her aching heart than her mind and had agreed with Jadeite. Naru hadn't heard of Nephrite leaving the castle so she knew he would be around here somewhere, and she knew she would run into him eventually.

And she had.

After over an hour and a half of drudgery and boring tours of an old building, though quite intriguing, but not the thoughts that were runner through her head at the moment.

She had never felt that way about anyone before. The way she would walk into a room and see him standing there. All at once she would be filled with both feelings of anxiety and calming. It took every inch of her knowledge of what was "proper" not to run over to him and just wrap her arms around him, or take his hand in hers, or even give him a kiss on the cheek, or something even more.

So she just sat and watched and listened to Jadeite drone on about the ugly furniture from the Moon Kingdom. Jadeite leaned back into the chesterfield and ran a hand through his hair. "To be honest, I'm not actually sure what the purpose of this room is. There are by far too many in this castle, but nobody ever said you could live too comfortably. Actually, if anything, I'd say it's only real use is to just keep all the decorative gifts from the Moon Kingdom in one room." He smiled motioning to the coffee table near his feet and a line of candelabras in a china hutch. He looked at Naru again.

"My apologies, am I boring you?"

Naru looked up from her long gaze in Nephrite's direction and blushed.

"Oh, no. This is interesting." She lied. "So is this everything the Moon Kingdom has ever sent…"

"No, there are plenty more knick-knacks around the castle, these are just the ones that… uh," He paused, searching for the right words. "Don't go with the current decorating tastes."

"So you mean all the ugly ones?" Naru replied bluntly.

Jadeite grinned in shock. "Uh, yes, exactly."

Naru looked to Nephrite across the room again. "Sorry to get all distracted like this, but do you know why Nephrite is arguing with that man?" She asked, lowering her voice slightly.

Jadeite moved a little closer, likely looking for any excuse. "I think he broke something irreplaceable."

Naru nodded and began to shift away slightly but Jadeite put his hand gently on top of hers.

Naru looked up again in surprise.

"Though I doubt it will be missed. We guardians have to put of this illusion about caring about this stuff." He added grinning.

Naru smiled slightly.

"Come on," He said, standing up and pulling her with him. "It's a lovely day, let's go outside."

Naru took one last glance at Nephrite as she was pulled away from him. It hurt so much to be so close to him, yet feel so far away.

What hurt even more, he had seen them enter, but had never paused to say hello; say hello to her.

"I… I'm sorry Nephrite-sama. This will never happen again… I promise." The servant begged as he stood in front of the broken vase.

Nephrite crossed his arms in annoyance- partially over the servant's incompetence, and partially because Jadeite sat on the other side of the room. Jadeite, himself, wasn't that irritating, but his obsessive bride was. She seemed to follow Nephrite around everywhere, all moony-eyed at the high-ranking guardian. As flattering as it was, she still was a nuisance. If she were older and more attractive, or at least had larger breasts he might consider entertaining her useless attraction to him, but she looked almost 14, even though Jadeite claimed that she had told him that she was 18.

If he was to believe that!

Becoming nervous over the guardian's silence, the young, male servant fell to his knees and began cleaning up the broken pieces. He had a wife and small child to support; he didn't have to luxury not to humiliate himself in front of the royalty and guardians. Nephrite was one of the worst, most condescending residents of the castle. The King and Prince seemed even more polite some days. Nephrite's pompous demeanor was only out done by the general to the King's entire army, Kunzite-sama.

The servant shuddered at the thought of what he had once seen the guardian do to one of the servants who had spilt cleaner all over Kunzite-sama's dresser.

The servant had never seen his friend since the incident.

He began to pick up the pieces ever fasters.

Nephrite clenched his jaw in annoyance.

Why hadn't they left yet? What on earth could the possibly be doing in the ugliest room of the castle? And why was he so frustrated with the servant anyway? He should be thanking him; no punishing him- the vase was hideous; was there was no loss in its destruction?

Nephrite made a brief glance at the clock in the corner of the room and the darted his eyes to where Jadeite and Naru sat.

They were leaving.

Nephrite sighed. He wouldn't miss his meeting after all.

Nephrite uncrossed his arms and looked down onto the servant. "I trust you'll be more careful in the future- perhaps you should practice carrying things at home to avoid this feminine quality in the future?"

The servant continued to clean, ignoring the obvious insult, but also didn't dare look up at Nephrite, afraid of the look in his master's eye.

Nephrite began to leave, and was half way across the room when he added, "And don't go near my room… ever!"

"Yes… sir, Nephrite-sama." The servant muttered loudly.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Jadeite asked, holding the flower out to Naru. She nodded as she gazed at it in his hand. It was a lavender lilac in full bloom. He gently moved behind her and tucked it into the hair-tie of her half back. Naru cautiously mover her hand to the back of her head to see where it was and smiled.

Jadeite had taken her to the palace gardens; which was situated right under the balconies of the ballroom. It was a beautiful garden- flower and trees covered the small plot of land- some areas so dense Naru could hardly see through. For a moment she felt reminiscent to when she had first met Daun.

She and Jadeite walked along one of the many paths that passed under a row of cherry trees in full bloom. He led her to an opened are where a large fountain spurted crystal water into the air. Naru felt a little nervous around Jadeite like this, all alone, but in the end, she would have to fess up the truth to her feelings.

Jadeite was motioning for Naru to sit down by the fountain when one of the gardeners came out from the bushes and bowed slightly.

"My apologies for interrupting you, Jadeite-sama." He said, taking a short glance at Naru. "But Kage-sama needs to speak with you. It should only take a moment."

Jadeite let out a heavy and very obvious sigh, but nodded.

"I'll be back in a moment Naru, you may wait here if you wish, or you may return inside with me…"

Naru waved her hand. "No, I'll wait for you here. It's a lovely day out here."

Jadeite took a lingering glance at her before following the gardener off into the labyrinth of foliage.

Naru seated herself down on the stone rim of the surprisingly quiet fountain and gazed off at the garden surrounding her. Though some of the trees were still budding, most were surprisingly almost in full bloom. All around her she could only see vibrant greens and splashes of pinks and reds and violets. She had never been in a place as beautiful as this.

Naru sighed as she enjoyed the moment as a light breeze danced in her red hair.

A soft giggle followed, though not from Naru.

She looked up suddenly, remembering how it had all begun.

She heard the sound of tree branches breaking and turned around to see Daun come out from a small patch of trees. Recognizing Naru, she smiled and approached her.

"I miss trees, real ones, not the ones where I used to be… they were trees, but only to the eyes. Something else in reality..." She said, shaking the leaves from her long black hair. The dark purple hi-lights the sun brought out almost matched her eyes.

Naru watched Daun run her hand through her waist length black hair and sighed, feeling a little bit smaller. Naru desperately wanted hair like Daun's- long, straight, back. Not short, wavy and hopelessly red. Her hair would never attract the same attention that Daun's did. Daun pushed the majority of her long hair back over her shoulder to reveal a rust colored dress. It was modeled after something a peasant would be found wearing, though it was clear that it was made of high quality fabric. Naru wondered if she would ever look half as mature as Daun did.

Daun crossed her arms and eyed Naru. "So what are you doing out here?" She asked, grinning.

"Oh, Jadeite offered to show me around the palace… again."

Daun smiled mischievously. "Given up on Nephrite already?"

"Never." Naru said, her eyes widening at the indirect and unintentional insult. "I was just being polite and… and…"

"You thought you might catch a glimpse of Nephrite if you were dragged around the castle for half the day." Daun finished.

"I'm not doing very well, am I?" Naru muttered sadly.

"I'm not going to lie to you." Daun said, sitting down next to her.

"I know there's a ball coming up…" Naru began, playing with the folds in her dress. "Do you think you could tell Nephrite to ask me? I would but…"

Daun's golden eyes softened her expression. "Well I would… but I don't know if I'm even on good enough terms to ask that of him. He's rather hard to get through to. But I'll do my best." Daun smiled.

"I really don't know what I'd do without you, Daun." Naru thanked, turning towards her only friend.

"Oh, I'd do anything for you Naru. And there's nobody I'd let get in between you and Nephrite- things will work out eventually. Everything takes time. Everything."

Naru nodded. "But I suppose I shouldn't waste my time on trivial things like love, when I should be trying to help him, so he doesn't betray the Earth Kingdom, so he won't lay frozen in eternity."

Daun frowned. "I don't know if you can prevent him from betraying the Kingdom, you don't know how that will alter the future, but you can stop him from doing it willingly."

Naru shook her head. "But I just hate to think of him doing that to his friends, to his home, to everything. I want to help him from a fate he doesn't deserve."

Daun put up her hand to slow Naru down. "Let's get to know him first, before we do anything else," She paused as she recognized the expression on Naru's face. "Sorry."

"No, it's okay. I should be used to it by now- this tearing pain inside of me every day, of being so close, yet so far away. I'm used to it now, it's almost comforting in some ways."

"No one should ever be used to that." Daun said shaking her head.

After a quiet moment, Daun stood up suddenly. "I'll think of something fun to do and we'll go do that later. I'm still busy looking at… trees and the world."

Naru heard soft footsteps on the cobbled pathway and looked up expecting Jadeite, but instead met the nonchalant stare of Nephrite.

He wore tall black boots, tan breeches, a white shirt and heavy, woolen sweater-vest with an unbuttoned collar. His hair was tied back in a messy pony- tail. He was either behind in his visits to the barber, or had finally decided to grow his hair out.

He walked up casually next to Daun and Naru could have sworn he was moving his hand to put it around Daun's waist, but Daun moved away, and there was no way she could have seen Nephrite's arm move.

He nodded to Naru and smiled at Daun.

Of course he would smile at Daun. Why would he smile at Naru? Why would he ever smile at Naru when someone like Daun was around her?

Naru sighed mentally and nodded back to Nephrite. "Nephrite-sama." She said sweetly, but also quietly. She always got choked up around him, she didn't understand why. Maybe it was merely Daun's presence. Why would Naru bother to compete for Nephrite's attention was Daun was standing right next to her?

But Daun would never do that to Naru, so Naru's mind was a little at peace.

For a moment Naru thought she saw Nephrite look nervously between the two women, then a longer glance at Daun in some expectation, but it all disappeared in another second.

Daun's acknowledgement of Nephrite echoed Naru's.

"Nephrite-sama." She smiled, bowing slightly.

Nephrite, an obvious attractive and powerful individual, and thusly, arrogant individual smiled slyly at the subtle attention both women were giving him.

There was another awkward pause before he finally gave up and broke the excruciating silence.

"Uh, Daun, may I speak with you a moment."

Daun nodded and smiled as she began to trail Nephrite a step behind, as he led her down the path of cherry trees.

She turned slightly, before she rounded one of the corners and gave a 'thumbs-up' to Naru.

Naru smiled, partially in relief.

The moment Nephrite and Daun were out of Naru's sight her turned around and pulled Daun into a long, messy kiss.

"What was all that about?" He growled, moving back slightly.

Daun ran another hand through her hair. "Oh come on, all this acting is exciting. I'm having fun and I think you are to." She said, sticking out her tongue.

Nephrite rolled his eyes in annoyance. "No, the truth this time."

Daun crossed her arms, while still in the hold of Nephrite. "It's rather obvious how Naru feel's about you… I just haven't figured out the proper way to break our little tryst to her is all. You do realize we've befriended each other?"

Nephrite rolled his eyes again. "It's not as if she's going to kill you in rage- it's not as if she's even capable of that you know."

"I know, but still, a teeny part of me," She said, demonstrating with her he hand. "Feels bad about this. I'll tell her soon enough. Besides, I know you're enjoying this."

Nephrite narrowed his eyes slightly. "I suppose it could be entertaining, though it is handy to know this in the future."

"Well, now you know." Daun said poignantly.

"Still don't know why we would have to waste all this time on account of her feelings anyway."

Daun raised and eyebrow. "You do remember that nasty little marriage agreement with the Moon Kingdom, right? I don't think flaunting ourselves is the best course of action anyway."

"True, but do they actually expect me to be faithful to someone I have moderate interest in and hardly ever see?" Nephrite sighed. "How about we just worry about it when the problem presents itself."

Daun nodded. "Come on, let's go somewhere else." She said, changing the subject.

Naru was silent. She didn't know what to say, what even to feel.

"So, what do you think?" Jadeite asked again. Naru bit her lip. She wasn't sure how long she could drag out the silence for, how long it would take her to say what she had been waiting a long time to say to Jadeite. She didn't want to hurt him, she really didn't want to, and by playing this illusion out any longer, she would be.

Sensing Naru's growing discomfort, Jadeite turned his head away. "Look, if you don't want to go, it's alright. You probably shouldn't go with me anyway, I know a few delegates from the moon will be there, and I know they won't think too kindly of seeing on of the Prince's guardian's with another."

"No, it's not that…" Naru said, shaking her head.

"Then what?" Jadeite asked innocently.

"I…" Naru began as she breathed in heavily, but as her lips moved to for the next word, the whole sentence, that 'I don't think I should because I don't feel the same way for you', she paused as she remembered something. She remembered how prettier Daun was than her, how she was a better dancer, more fun to be around, more out-going, more independent, more attractive to someone as proud as Nephrite.

Naru had no chance of going to the ball with Nephrite, least of all now. Maybe Daun would talk to him there, tell him more about Naru and one day soon he would realize all that he had been missing with her, and would make everything right again.

"I… I would love to." Naru said smiling. "I'm just not feeling too well right now, I'm a little tired. I should probably go in and rest now."

Probably go in now and cry.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Jadeite apologized. "I should have noticed that."

"No, no, don't worry about it, I'm fine, really."

Jadeite smiled. "If you're sure."

He looked away for a moment and a different grin erupted across his face. One Naru knew she was responsible for.

And that hurt her even more.

End Part Nine.

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