Chapter Four

They ended up having tea in her room. She lit candles, and the tray was set carefully on the bed. Nephrite poured, hands shaking slightly, as she set out biscuits fro the both of them. All was done in silence, as if neither knew quite what to say.

The towel on his head was starting to slip, so he shrugged it off, reaching up to untangle pieces of his hair from it. He instinctively pulled out his brush, and caught quizzical look from her. "Lady?"

"How did you do that?"

He smiled slightly. "We all have a...pocket, of sorts, that we keep such things in. Jade may like to pretend that he keeps his flute elsewhere, but this is where it actually comes from." He looked at his brush again, frowned, then slipped it back in the pocket. One did not brush their hair at tea. Instead, he took fingers of shadow and pulled his hair back, leaving it loosely fashioned.

Jupiter didn't notice this; she was staring into her teacup, remembering.

|You should talk to him. He listens best of all of us.|
|I do not know what I wold say.|
|Don't lie, cousin.|

She blinked it back, then picked up her teacup. He did the same, and they quietly toasted each other. She took a short sip of tea, then blurted out, "Do you believe in love at first sight?"

He sipped the tea--hints of vanilla and orange--and considered the question. She watched him, trying to keep her face composed, trying to keep it all from slipping out of her eyes.

Finally, he answered, "No, I don't."

"Oh." Jupiter took a biscuit, broke it in half, then paused. "But what if you've seen it happen?" she asked, eyes down.

He regarded her for a moment. "Do you know someone it's happened to, Lady?" he asked.

She ate the biscuit, first one half, then the other. She shook the crumbs off her fingers daintly, then picked up her cup again. She took a sip of her tea. Then, quietly, she said, "Yes."

His eyebrows went up. "Really? Love, actual love, and not lust?"

"Oh, it's love," she replied, voice too casual. "But..."

"But what?" he asked gently.

She raised her head to meet his eyes, and her eyes shone bright and raw. Once again, he saw part of her revealed, and it tore at something inside him.

"She didn't wait." The words were like lumps of lead in her mouth. "And now..." She looked back at her cup. "Now...she could lose it."

"This happened to a friend of yours, Lady?" he asked, voice soothing. He had the impression she just barely held it together.

"Yes," she said. Her voice came out in barely more than a whisper.

Nephrite leaned back, cup in hand. Something about this stirred his memory. "Recently?" he asked, keeping his voice as gentle as possible.

"Yes," she said, in the same hollowed out tone.

This morning, Jade had said something...what was it again?

|He found her.|

Oh, yes...

Nephrite's face split into a grin. "He didn't wait either, Lady," he said.

She looked up from her cup. "Pardon?"

"Your friend..."

"Venus," she supplied, the word sharp and quick, as if to conserve air.

"Your friend, Venus, is with my Commander, Kunzite," he said, still smiling. "I don't know if you saw him the other night--tall? sour looking?"

"Silver hair?"

"That's him."

A tightness in her shoulders slowly eased. "Is he the one Jade calls a 'stuck-up prig'?"

"No, that's me," Nephrite sighed. "Kunzite is 'Commander Giant Stick Up His Ass,' after his tendency to, you know, make Jadeite do what he's supposed to do."

His words had further effect; the tension in her face, her body, eased even more. A tentative smile appeared on her face. "My cousin has a way with words."

"It'll be the death of him," he said, taking a sip of his tea.

The smile slid away. "As well he knows," she said, voice soft. "It's something he wishes for, I..." Her voice trailed off, as if she'd said something she hadn't meant to.

"Yes," he replied. "Yes."

There was a moment of quiet, then he cleared his throat and asked, "More tea?"

She nodded, and he poured. After a moment, he said, "So your friend, Venus, is worried because..?"

Jupiter sipped her tea, then turned the cup in her hands, thinking. "She has something of a reputation here," she began.

"Ahh. A bad one?"

She nodded.

"She shouldn't worry too much," he said, keeping his voice light. "The Commander told us stories about her for years, his one dear love. But it didn't keep him from..." He spread his hands, trying to think of a word. "Practicing," he finally said. "When he could."

"Venus...practiced as well," Jupiter said. "But it's more than that."

"How so, Lady?" he asked.

She paused a molment, then said, voice low again, "This stays between us."

He was momentarily taken aback, then quickly said, "Do you wish me to swear on something?"

Her eyes went wide for a moment, then she shook her head. "No, no. I trust you."

The words came so easily, she could hardly believe it. She tried them once more, just to be sure. "I trust you." Same easiness, same fluidity, same spreading warmth in her chest...

He nodded slightly, as if the repetition did not surprise him. "Thank you, Lady," he said, voice husky. |That must be hard for you,| he thought. |Thank you, again...|

She shook off her daze, sipped at her tea, then carefully set the cup down and told him about Venus. It wasn't a long story, and when it was done, she watched him carefully. He seemed to be digesting it all, absently crumbling a biscuit between his fingers.

Finally, he said, "I can understand why she is concerned, but..."

"But?" Jupiter asked.

"He--the Commander--is...I've known him almost my whole life," Nephrite said. "He's the toughest bastard I've ever met." He paused, unsure if he should add more details. He had no problem displaying his personal magic, but Kunzite could be awfully touchy about such things.

"Oh?" Jupiter throughtfully sipped her tea. "Perhaps, then, you could speak to her?"

"Venus?" He paused, then grinned. "Yes, yes I could. Tomorrow?"

She nodded. "When Jade was here, he reminded me to remind you that your presence will be required tomorrow."

The words were innocent, but they changed the mood of the room in a snap.

"This means I should get to bed soon, I suppose," he said, trying to keep his voice innocent. He picked up his cup and sipped again at his tea, thinking of a way to change the subject back, to recover a mood which wasn't nearly so...loaded.

"Yes," she said, and her voice had gone soft again.

He did not let himself catch her eyes now, instead letting them fall to the tea set. The china had a pretty pattern of thin, deep green leaves around the edges, and was obviously both well-cared for and well-used. He smiled to himself. "You do this a lot, don't you, Lady?"

"Tea?" She seemed surprised. "Whenever I can..."

"No," he said, before he could stop himself. He raised his head, met her eyes, before he could stop himself. More words followed, as if he'd now lost total control of his tongue.

"No. Help your friends, I mean. Protect them.' His voice was gentle. "'Take their needs upon yourself."

Unexpectedly, tears sprung to her eyes. She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat, then stood up. Her hands blindly found the tray, and she said, "I'll clear these away, you get some sleep. The summits can be..."

"Lady?"

She paused, plates in her hand, and met his eyes. They were warm, cinnamon warm, smoky in color, silk in their feel on her.

She thought he would thank her again. If he did, she didn't know she could stand it.

But he didn't; he only nodded to her. Even so, tears welled up in her eyes and she nodded back quickly. She gathered the rest of the china as quickly as she could, and he rose and moved towards the bed.


She left the room with no intention of going back to it. Yet here she was, sneaking in not an hour later, excuses tumbling through her mind. She'd forgotten to brush her teeth, wash her face. She wanted to change her shirt, put on her slippers. She wanted an extra blanket and pillow for the couch.

(She wanted one more moment in that room with him in it. Just one more.)

When she entered the room, hands quivering, heart in her throat, a candle on the table still burned. Its low light cast shadows across the bed, where Nephrite appeared to be asleep: breathing low and regular, form curled up facing him. She moved to her dresser and (quietly) pulled out another shirt, then stepped to the bathroom.

She came out fifteen minutes later, shaking out her hair, arms comfortably bare to the cool room. All she had to do was get the linens, and she'd be set, and all without waking him.

She moved to the table by her bed to set down her hair tie, a ritualized gesture. The candle had burned fairly low, and she licked her fingers to snuff it.

The hair on the back of her neck pricked up just before she heard the soft, "Don't."

She looked over to the bed. He was watching her, and his eyes held that same, unreadable look she'd seen before.

Only, now, something in her understood it.

He turned fully towards her. His hand slid from under the covers, fingers uncurling from his palm towards her.

"Lady..."

She reached out and touched his finges, warm and still slightly pruned. For an eternal moment, she stared at the contact between them.

Then she moved her hand over, flipped the covers aside, and slid in beside him.