The Dragon's Thunder ------------------------------- By Elements of Desire Part II ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Is it just me or has Mako-chan been acting extremely strange these days?" Minako said worriedly. "Mako-chan is always strange right around this time of the year." Rei said, as she set down her teacup. "But-" Minako began. "No buts, Minako-chan, you should know why by now, anyway." Rei said softly, interrupting the blond. "Minako, I know it's been awhile since we were last able to be out together." Rei began, watching Minako slightly stiffen at the memory of the last time they tried to have a rendezvous, but she continued on, "But, you don't seem so well yourself these days, and with Ami-chan and Zoi-kun around, I know it must be difficult for everyone." Minako laughed, somewhat nervously, "Who'd have thought that she would be the first, nai?" Minako winked. "Iie," The dark-haired woman nodded in aggrement. "You maybe, even Mako-chan who is forever talking about her 'sempai', but never Ami-chan!" Rei agreed, joining in the gossip as the two giggled. "But they are such a cute couple!" Minako squealed. "And I bet you especially enjoy watching Ami-chan's face redden every time we try to dig her for the details, nai?" Rei asked good-naturedly. "But, we can't help it can we?" Minako retorted with a laugh. "Iie! I can't think of anything better to do!" The two smiled at each other. "How long have we been friends Minako-chan?" The dark-haired woman asked her with a soft smile, as the two looked out to the streets below them. "Oh, I don't know, twenty, maybe thirty hundred years or so, probably more. You know that I was never good with numbers or time for that matter, that's what we have Ami- chan for." "Hai." Rei replied, the smile never leaving her face. "Why do you ask Rei-chan?" Minako finally gave in to her curiosity, not wanting to beat around the bush any more. "Minako-chan, ever since that day with Jadeite, you've been...different." Rei said, watching Minako stiffen again. "Please tell me what happened after I left." The blond looked down to her cup with a sigh, "Rei- chan…" She begun. "And don't you dare lie, remember what happened the last time you tried that trick on me." The dark-haired woman said with a grin, as Minako glared at her. "Hai, I had to cut my hair to shoulder length for the first time in like forever because of a pyromaniac friend out for revenge." The blond continued to glare, but her gaze moved back to her cup and sighed wistfully again. "Minako-chan?" The dark-haired woman probed gently. "He asked if we ever wondered that maybe the generals might not want us back." Minako finally said in a hushed tone. "What!" Rei exploded, as people from other tables glanced over at the two beautiful women by the window, they were attracting enough attention already, but with Rei's outburst they had everyone's attention now. "Why that jerk!" She exclaimed, as she pounded one fist onto the table, rattling the wares. "How dare he! Why I ought to-" "Rei-chan! You're embarrassing both of us!" Minako told her friend, smiling nervously as she tried to settle her friend from her furious ranting. "Slap him in the face and let's see how-mumph mmm hmph." Rei struggled, as Minako clamped one hand over her friend's mouth, smiling brightly at the other customers as she grabbed their bags with her free hand and hauled the struggling Rei towards the elevators. Only when the door closed on them did she relinquish her grip on the dark- haired woman. "Minako-chan!" Rei roared at her, coming into the blond haired woman's face with a fist, before turning and pacing back and forth in the small compartment of the elevator, after a while she finally calmed down. "Okay, I can take this." Taking a deep breath she turned back to her friend's amused face, "Look Minako-chan, I know I overreacted a little but-" "A little?" The blond asked, arching one golden brow in amusement. "Okay, okay, a lot! But you shouldn't believe anything that jerk has to say to you, Kunzite-kun would be falling all over himself when he sees you again, like every other guy that you've ever met and whatever Jadeite said to you is a lie because-" "You're living proof of it." Minako finished for Rei, as the other had enough sense to blush at this. "Minako-chan…I…me and Jadeite…we were just not meant to be." The dark-haired woman, turned away just as the door dinged open. "What are you going to say to Usagi, or Mako-chan for that matter if things are like this between Jadeite and you? What can you say to me?" Minako asked as the two stood at the curb, after a long pause of silence. "Gomen nasai Minako-chan but-" "That's not good enough for anyone Rei-chan, I know it and you know it, and Mako-chan knows it." "Mako-chan knows?" Rei asked in disbelief. "Hai, and we can all see that you're quite distressed over it, whether you wish to admit it or not!" "Minako-chan-" Rei looked suddenly very sad, as her eyes gleamed with unshed tears. "Komban wa min'na!" A voice called to them, startling the two. Rei turned away, knowing who it was as she quickly closed her eyes and wiped away any sign of her previous state. "Komban wa Mako-chan!" Minako said with a grin. "Komban wa Mako-chan." Rei joined in, forcing herself to smile brightly, but the other seemed too distracted to notice, one which brought her great relief and also piqued her own curiosity. "You will never guess who I ran into!" She exclaimed happily. "No way! Are you sure?" "Hai, hai, he was definitely the one!" Makoto beamed in her seat, shifting as she crossed her leg for the tenth time sense she sat down. "No way!" Minako exclaimed again, sighing slightly. "Isn't it so romantic Rei-chan? Rei-chan?" "Huh?" The dark-haired woman snapped out of her trance and shook her head slightly, as if to ward off a thought, or a memory. "Hai, hai, definitely." "Rei-chan, did you here a word I said?" Minako asked suspiciously. "Hai, you were asking Makoto who she saw." Rei said absent-mindedly. "Oh, I asked that five minutes ago!" Minako yelled at her friend, and knocked on the dark-haired woman's head. "Wake up sleepy head." "What do you think you're doing!" Rei yelled back angrily. "Guys, guys…guys?" No answer, as the two girls before her continued to argue. Sighing in disappointment, Makoto got up and walked away, not wanting the two to dampen her mood, and I thought I would've been over once Usagi and Rei grew out of it! I guess it was only wishful thinking. She couldn't believe her good luck! First she was finally able to convince Usagi to stop teasing her about the earlier events, then she ran into Zoisite and Ami talking about how Zoisite felt the coming of another general, and bam! Like magik! There he was! Her gorgeous auburn haired, blue-eyed, stargazer! She sighed at the memory, he was even better looking then her old sempai, and true they both had dark hair, but her sempai looked nothing like him, he was definitely the one, she felt it in her guts. She was going to march right up to him, since she found out that he worked at a local university, teaching astronomy to students. She was going to invite Minako and Rei to come along, being that the two were best friends, not counting Usagi that is, and they always hanged out together, but obviously they had other things on their minds. So, sighing discouraged, she tried to build up her courage again as she neared the university. It was, actually, quite beautiful. The steel bones of the building arched up, curving into shapes of art. She walked up to a structured post, a large oval like dish, empty and totally black. When she reached it though, a flash appeared, underneath the brilliance of the sun, a 3- dimensional diagram of the campus appeared. She drew up to the keyboard and typed in the place she was searching for. "Astrology Lab, three blocks from current location, go to your right two blocks and up one block. The building would look like this." A friendly female voice answered. Smiling, Makoto thought that these little gadgets were indeed interesting after all. No wonder Ami-chan has been so absorbed into this new technology for the last few centuries, I never really understood how interesting it is until now! Almost skipping down the steps, she thought about all the things she'd be able to do now, now that there's three generals, not that Jadeite had joined yet, but they will in the end. Look at Ami-chan, the cool, yet still shy surgeon of the Head of the Medical Staff, was now absolutely glowing with joy, when she stopped blushing that is! It's been a while since a wedding, the last she remembered attending was Minako's last husband, whom Minako had divorced twenty years later, and who had passed away sometime ago. He couldn't stand seeing her, day in and day out, never aging. They never seemed to care about it until they themselves started to get old! She thought bitterly as she clutched her fists together, but then relaxed them as a bright smile appeared on her face as she approached the astrology building. Entering into the classy building, she stepped into the glossy marbled room, as the glass door slid close from behind her. Smiling, she walked briskly over to the desk, "Is there a Dr. Nephrite around here?" She asked hopefully. "Oh? Do you have an appointment miss?" The woman looked up at her smiling politely. The auburn haired woman looked startled, her emerald- green eyes flashing momentarily in confusion. "An appointment? I didn't know I was suppose to make one." She said sadly. "Are you not a student?" The sectary asked, unsure how anyone on the campus could not know about making appointments. "Iie, I'm just a very old friend that he might not even remember, but I was around the neighborhood, and thought that I might drop in and say hi, just in case you know?" She told the lady, bowing her head in shame at being so giddy that she forgot all else. "Then, I'm sorry but-" The woman started, giving her a pitying look, but the door opened at that moment, as he walked in. "Lydia, did you hear? They found something! My theory is proven, can you believe-" His brown wavy hair was now cut short, but it was messy, as if he hadn't combed it in days. His blue eyes looked tired, probably from nights without sleep, and working throughout the day, but he was glowing with excitement and still looked extremely handsome; that was until he saw her and his mouth dropped open. Most men usually fell over at the sight of her, when she steps out of nowhere that is, for she was beautiful and towering, giving the impression of the goddess Athena, as many would say, comparing her to the voluptuous goddess; and for good reasons too! Her long brown hair cascaded in strands of soft chocolate-colored curls around her face, held back in a French twist, no longer the ponytail that she had outgrown so long ago. Her emerald-green eyes had darkened, after years of experience of life and love, now resembling very much the emeralds that still sparkled on her left ring finger that her Kenji had given her so long ago, mayhaps even more lovely for they shone with a light of their own. She wore a soft-yellow sundress today, in hopes of pleasing him when she meets him for the first time after such a long parting between the two. True, it was a bad idea to do so without wearing a jacket, and causing more then a few other males to walk into things on the streets (like lampposts or mailboxes), but she couldn't wait to see him so she forgot. The gold-green scarf around her neck complimented her eyes immensely, and she decided to put on her yellow sandals, all of which brought out the tan of her skin. Smiling, she had to hold herself back from running to him and hugging him with all her might, like Usagi was prone to do in Mamoru's presence, but instead she stretched out her hand to the frozen man before her and greeted him in the best way she knew how. "Hi there, my name is Makoto, Kino Makoto. It's nice to see you again after such a long time Nephrite-chan." The man kept gawking at her, as if unable to absorb the situation in completely. "Nephrite-chan?" She asked, fearful that she had done something terribly wrong. "Daijobu?" She asked, approaching him with a worried look on her face, and gently setting her hand on his arm. He jumped, as if burned by her touch and tripped and landed on the floor with a thud, never once taking his gaze off of her. "You-You're a-a-woman!" He finally blurted out. Surprising her so much by his statement that she was taken aback and didn't know what to say. A laugh broke through the tension between the two as they both turned to the chuckling secretary, who was holding onto her sides as if they hurt. Finally, when the laughter had died, did the secretary stagger over to the two bewildered people, and rested a hand on Makoto, while the other tried to catch her breath. "You must-ha-you must excuse Dr. Nephrite. It's just that he-he has a very bad habit of being afraid of women. Other then his girlfriend Naru-chan, he has a inclination to run the other way when it comes to the female species, especially beautiful women." The woman finally explained between bouts of chuckles and laughter, as the doctor glared at her, but he remained on the floor. Makoto was shocked; two thoughts entered her hazy mind at that moment, the first being the bewilderment of finding out that he had a girlfriend? The second was the anger at finding out he did, how dare he cheat on me! The anger won over the bewilderment, and for the first time in twenty or so hundred years, she picked up a man a head taller than her, and shook him, really hard. "How dare you cheat on me you jerk!" She asked, the anger boiling at the thought of him with anyone other than herself, shaking the dazed man, she shook her free hand in front of his face, surprising the secretary for both her angry outburst and her strength. "I leave you alone for about a few thousand years, and you dare cheat on me?" The woman was clearly insane, the secretary thought with distress as she raced to the telephone, no matter how beautiful the auburn-haired woman was, she was definitely insane, dialing security, she quickly called for help. Silver Millennium, the gardens on Earth… "This is a beautiful night!" The green-haired princess said with delight as she slipped her feet up to the surface of the lake again and wiggled her toes in amusement, then dropping the leg back in and giggling. "Certainly is." The man beside her said, looking at her with equal amusement, only his was laced with adoration, shining at her through his light-blue eyes. "What do you mean?" She asked smiling impishly. "Do you imply me, or do you imply the stars?" "You outshine the brightest of the stars." He whispered into her ears, as she blushed profusely, from the compliment or his sudden nearness was not decided, but all of a sudden she felt hot. "Always the charmer Nephrite-chan?" She smiled, as she turned to him, trying to ignore the sudden warmth that rushed within her body, as her blood pounded in her veins. "Only for you." He smiled, and picked up a limp hand that lay on her lap before bring it to his lips, and giving it a soft kiss. "I bet you say that to all the girls." She finally said after she found her voice again. "I can love no other but you, for it is you who owns my heart completely!" He smiled again, as the stars above twinkled and winked at them, singing the songs of the galaxy. "He did what?" The odango-haired blond exclaimed excitedly. "No way! That is way romantic!" Another blond said, sighing as she leaned further into the couch. "He certainly sounds dreamy!" The red-haired girl beside the blond agreed, with a nod of her head as she set a small book onto her lap. "Guys, I'm trying to study, can you keep it down please?" A muffled and sleepy voice came from behind a large book. "Ami-chan stop trying to take a nap and listen up. It's not our fault you stayed up till midnight with Zoisite out on the balcony, doing whatever it was you were doing last night!" Rei said with a slight evil grin, just before Minako snatched the volume down, pulling it onto the floor to reveal a sleepy blue-haired girl, head tucked into her arms. The thump of the book brought the girl's head up to meet the bemused and expected grins of her friends, as she blushed beet-red for having been found out. "Wh-what do you mean min'na?" She asked timidly. The rest of the girls saw this and laughed good- naturedly at Ami's new predicament. * * * "Rei! Don't you dare die on me!" She screamed at the ragged, unmoving body of the red-haired senshi, one whose body was still pinned down by the sword, and she was not helping much by shaking it. The blood kept flowing, scaring her so much so that all formalities were gone, this was not Sailor Senshi Mars, this was one of her best friends, one who had first laughed at her when she first started to learn how to throw a lightening bolt and burned the side of the wall a meter away from the actual target! She was the one who always argued with Usagi and Minako, she was the one who always started the pillow fights by saying something annoyingly true but mean and shrewd, she was the fire, the temper, the loyalty, the royal snob of the group and now she was dead! Dead! She can't be dead! Her head screamed, she can't be dead, killed by someone she'd had obviously loved, not Jadeite! Not Jadeite, the one they've been trying to set her up with, the silent Jadeite in her company, but whom she found later was as spontaneous and as funny as Minako, and who was crazy-no matter how hard he tried to hide it-about Rei. Not one of the generals! It couldn't be, not Endymion's best friend who always played pranks on the other generals-even on Nephrite-and who always got in trouble for it, while Kunzite will sadly shook his head in embarrassment, but she could tell that the they were all laughing inside. What about Nephrite, her mind suddenly became alert, as she realized that if Endymion's best friend, and second in command was now a betrayer, what about her Nephrite? What about Minako? And Kunzite? And Zoisite? And Ami? A icy-blue light shoot into the air, blinking out of existence after a few minutes, and she gaped, wide-eyed. No! Not Ami-chan too! It can't be! She ran out toward the front to join Minako, she would need me, she doesn't know! She saw her, a mile off, fighting off the youma's with a vengeance, tears flowing down her cheeks. What do you say to someone who had just lost her best friend? Her mind suddenly asked, and she felt ashamed for staying so long there beside the dead bodies of Rei and Jadeite. "Venus! Behind you!" She cried, "Jupiter thunder, zap!" She sent out a lightening bolts, causing a break in the youma army, the soldiers and Venus looked relieved for a moment but they did not even glance her way, it was too risky, you lose your head that way. "Glade you could make it Jupiter." Venus said, a smile of relief was on her face, "Where's Mercury?" She noticed how Venus didn't even mention Mars, she knew the answer, but she didn't see Mercury's light, that was obvious. "She's with Mars." Jupiter said slowly, as she zapped another part of the youma army. Venus didn't answer, she just kept on fighting, perhaps she didn't hear, perhaps she pretended that she didn't, or perhaps she did and she refused to linger over it at the moment. "The Princess?" Her voice was worried now. "She's with Endymion, I cannot be there now; it is not my place." Her only response was a love-me-chain that took another chunk out of their enemies' line. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm too lazy to write an author's note, I mean good grief! Isn't the story long enough?! So here ya go, from here on out ALL my stories will and do NOT make any phrofit(s), the SM characters are property of Naoko Takeuchi and DiC or whatever corporation that has their stamp on it! It's definitely NOT me, I would know if I owned that! From here on out ANY stories, old or new, without Disclaimers are now disclaimed of all crimes, I am not responsible for these things, and I will NEVER want to be responible for these things! WHEEW! I hate using notepad, I'm transfering like a story OVER 20pg long and am I exhausted from writing! But Venus is gonna start soon, and I have an idea on how to write it, but it will be much slower being that winter break IS ENDING! So back to the books! Please, don't push me for Venus, it'll only annoy me and make me CONCIOUSLY take longer just to piss whoever pissed me off in trying to make me hurry! I have school to go to REMEMBER? And I want to good to a good University, and this is a VERY important year, so don't try your luck on me busters! *looks to everyone with a threatening eye.* ANYho, NEXT part will be REALLY intense, don't ask me where the heck the idea came up, because i really don't know, and hey, well...I better not spoil it ;) Read on! Questions, comments, suggestions, criticisms, whatever! at: oceanblues@usa.net Ja! Elements of Desire