August Moon
Part 11 : The Look Upon His Face
©MMI T h r e a d s
The castle seemed to shake with excitement as Naru passed down through the halls. The ball would be in two days.
And she was still stuck with Jadeite.
She clasped her hands behind her soft blue dress and stepped briskly down the steps of the winding stairs at the back part of the castle. Though impressive in design, they were nothing in comparison to the one in the main hall of the castle.
She took a left at a grossly oversized portrait of the Kind and down another long hallway that was poorly lit. She walked passed one of the kitchen entrances- there were three kitchens in the castle, one big one and two smaller ones. This was one of the small ones. She savored the aroma of cooking chicken as she rounded another corner and up to two intricately engraved double doors that she pulled open.
A medium sized, whitewashed room opened up to her that was dotted with tables and chairs. This was common room where any members of the castle staff could go and get a meal. On the right wall was swinging door that likely led to the kitchen. At the very back of the room were two sets of glass French doors propped open that led to a small balcony that overlooked the courtyard of the castle from two floors above. A gently breeze wafted in as she approached the far left corner of the room where Nephrite, Jadeite and Zoisite sat together, finishing a meal.
They stood up abruptly as they noticed Naru had reached the table. Nephrite was silent, Zoisite mumbled a food-filled greeting, and Jadeite got her a chair. They reseated themselves after Naru had sat down next to Jadeite.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Naru apologized. "I had just come in from riding when I got the message you wanted to see me, but I wanted to change and bathe first…"
"Oh know, don't worry about it." Jadeite said, waving a hand in dismissal.
"So why did you want to see me?" Naru asked curiously.
"No reason." Jadeite shrugged. "Just thought it would be nice if we could eat together."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Naru apologized again.
"Really, there's nothing to worry about." Jadeite said smiling to her. "You must be terribly hungry, I'll have one of the kitchen staff whip something up for you-" Jadeite offered as he began to rise from his chair.
"No, no, don't worry about it. I'm actually not very hungry at all. I ate before I left this morning. I'll have something with you later."
Jadeite pulled the chair back in and returned to his sandwich.
Naru fingered the tie-ends on the built-in corset of her dress as she studied the three men at the table slowly.
She knew things had been hectic at the castle the past few days… with the upcoming ball, and the Prince's return, and other things she did not know the specifics of… but as she watched Zoisite fiddle nervously with his chopsticks, she could tell there was something more going on.
Perhaps specifically with him, but she dare not ask.
If it not for his behavior that tipped her off, it was because he wore one of his semi-official uniforms- not like the one she had first seen him in, and not like the formal ones she knew they all had, but had never seen. What he was wore was a similar design in white, only less extravagant. The high collar that wound around his neck was partially unbuttoned, gold embroidered epaulette's dashed his shoulders, from his right shoulder epaulette a matte-gold braid hung attached to the undone button by his neck. The cuffs of his sleeves were large and folded back, and a golden cuff link was in each. Naru also noted that his beautiful hair was tied back tightly.
She desperately wanted to know what was going on, but she still couldn't ask. It wasn't he business after all.
Her eyes shifted to Nephrite as she watched him drone on to Jadeite about castle gossip. His hair was also tied back, but not in as neat a manner as Zoisite's was. He sat tall in his seat and only wore a partially buttoned dress shirt.
Naru had to look away.
Jadeite on the other hand wore a thick gray sweater.
She couldn't take this much longer, she really couldn't.
'So are you looking forward to the ball, Naru?" Zoisite asked in between mouthfuls of his meal.
Naru snapped back to reality and nodded a 'yes'.
"That's good… the King throws them so often nobody seems to care anymore …heck, half the time he never even shows up."
"Are they meant for him?"
"No," Zoisite said shaking his head, "For his son, whenever he returns from extended leave to the Moon Kingdom, the King feels it necessary to throw him a party."
"And considering the size of the one we had for the Spring Solstice I'm surprised he has any money left to throw another three weeks later…" Nephrite added with a strange sigh. He opened his mouth to add something, but paused, closed his mouth and reclined back into his chair a little.
Zoisite seemed to stiffen for a moment, but continued in with his meal.
Again, Naru wanted to ask if anything was the matter, but decided against it.
Almost all at once she noticed the distinct sound of boots clamoring across the stone floor in approach to them.
She turned her head slightly to see a tall, darkly dressed man stalk directly up to them.
He stood about a foot away from the table and folded his hand behind his back slowly. He was dressed in a similar uniform to Zoisite's, only black. A black and red cape with lavish epaulette's billowed out from his shoulders. He had shoulder-length silver hair and shoulders as broad as Naru was tall. He towered over everyone at the table, and the look upon his face did not give Naru any immediate friendly impressions.
Zoisite put down his chopsticks slowly. For a moment, Naru thought she saw a tremor of fear pass over the young man's body.
The nameless guest narrowed his eyes at Zoisite and clenched his jaw. "I need to speak with you, Zoisite… NOW."
Zoisite stared up at the man for a moment, partly in shock, and partly in fear it seemed.
The man's eyebrows began to crease slightly and Zoisite whipped the napkin up from off his lap and began to excuse himself from the table.
Excuse himself painfully slow.
With the man's impatience growing, he grabbed Zoisite forcefully by the forearm and yanked him up from the table and led him to the balcony.
She could hear them begin to argue about something- well, mostly the stranger yelling and Zoisite listening.
She couldn't make out completely what they were saying, but she thought from the sounds of it, Zoisite was in trouble for not doing something, or taking too long to do it.
After the initial shock of the display had passed, Naru raised her voice.
"Who… who was that?" She asked above a whisper.
It was this time that Nephrite responded.
"Kunzite Calder- Commander of the King's army, and the highest ranking of Prince Endymion's Guardian's …and you're best not to forget that name."
She could sense the intimidation Nephrite and Jadeite felt at the return of their commander.
She also noted Jadeite hadn't jumped on the chance to introducer her to yet another person, as he had been doing all week. It seemed the party was over for them now.
Naru wasn't sure what to think about what she had seen go on the other day in the common room when she had first met Kunzite and seen that less than warm display between him and Zoisite.
She wondered if they got along, but again, it wasn't her business, and she didn't want to gain a reputation for being nosy.
It was fairly obvious that Zoisite was the youngest and least experienced out of the four, so Kunzite was likely just frustrated with that. And the long trip back from the moon probably didn't help either…if it was a long trip- however the people of earth did get back and forth still was not known to her either.
Naru sat in the castle garden leafing through an old volume on the history of the Earth and of the Moon. She didn't know anything about her current circumstances after all.
Daun was usually found here. She had some strange attraction to the garden. Maybe it reminded her of her place in hell before she had come here. Sure it was hell, but it was a nice spot- all the trees and flowers and sunlight everywhere… it was almost identical to this spot. Except this area was enclosed by castle walls.
Today for some reason, she was nowhere to be found. Naru didn't mind though, she liked the silence.
She heard footsteps on cobblestone pathway and looked up to see Jadeite approaching her. He wore a light tunic and had his hands rammed into his pant's pockets. He looked surprised to see her there.
"I didn't know you were out here. Thought I'd take a walk before Kunzite dumps more work onto me."
Naru smiled and put her book down.
"He's quite the tyrant then, I take it?"
"Oh no, well, only when he's in a bad mood… which is quite often these days. He's just stressed out with all of his responsibilities, and the Earth and Moon Kingdom's aren't on the most fantastic of terms anyway… I think he just needs to stop and relax for a moment. Maybe then everything wouldn't seem so topsy-turvy to him."
"Well that's good to hear, I was worried for a moment. Are you going to introduce me to him sometime?"
"Oh course- uh, sorry about the other day. It didn't look like it was the best of situations, judging from the expression on his face. I felt terrible about it. I'll introduce you two next time we meet."
"And if he's in a pleasant mood." Naru added.
Jadeite nodded slowly. She could tell he didn't like that reality, but that's what it was.
"May I sit down a moment?" Jadeite asked, taking a step forward.
Naru nodded.
Jadeite took a seat down next to her.
"Reading up on History, I see." Jadeite said, glancing at her book.
"Yes," Naru said, nodding. "Since I don't remember anything, and probably never will… might as well start teaching myself this stuff again."
"Well, at least for the most part we never had a boring history."
Naru smiled. "That's very true."
Naru looked up to Jadeite as the wind blew gently through his blond hair, and the sun shaded his eyes to the color of the sky.
He looked back to her and smiled.
She could tell her wanted to tell her something, or say something, or do something, but she didn't know what. She could only dread what it could be.
At that moment she felt absolutely terrible about what she was doing, she wanted to confess her true feelings, but couldn't bring herself too. Like Jadeite couldn't.
His blue eyes darted to the sundial near her and then back to her face.
"Uh… I'd better get going," he said, placing his hand on hers. "It was nice talking to you. I'll see you tomorrow at the ball."
Naru smiled in response as he got up and excused himself as gentlemanly as he could.
End Part 11