Nephrite opened his eyes. He was sure he heard someone was talking. It had to be Lita. But to whom did she talk to? Reluctantly, he sat up even though his eyes were protesting. He looked around searching for her, and found her. She was talking to a...bird? To satisfy his curiosity, he stood up and headed to her.

"Better take it. This is the last seed I can find," her voice seemed so soft and weak. From behind, Lita looked oddly unusual. Nephrite frowned. Sitting next to her, he grasped her chin and turned her face to look at him. What he saw shocked him and then worry began to consume him. Lita's eyes were dark and weary, telling him she hadn't been able to sleep well.

"Why is your eyes like that?" he asked concernly. Lita turned back her gaze to the bird and managed to curve a fake smile.

"This is what would happened to you if you don't sleep during nights," she said, bending her head lower and let her heavy, untied hair fall, hiding her pale face. Nights!? How could I don't noticed that? Nephrite frowned even deeper.

"Are they the dreams you'd been telling me?" Nephrite asked softly, trying to tell her he was concern not nosy. He reached her hand, offering her a silent comfort. Lita was a bit startled by the tenderness he had shown her and she realized that she wanted to be comforted. By him.

"They come more often now. Whenever I tried to close my eyes, the images come back, haunting me endlessly and persistently. And I don't know how long I can stay awake like this," tears of frustration surged up until they gathered at her eyes, waiting to scroll down. But Lita stubbornly held her tears back.

"There's one time when I dreamed I was walking around, I saw they were torturing a woman until I can bear to watch it anymore, because instead of helping her, I was watching her suffering!" A tear escape from her teary eyes, and Lita quickly wiped it away. She only wanted someone to listen to her not sympathy and she was grateful because her hair was hiding her face.

"I wish I know when this all going to stop. I'm...I'm tired. I want to sleep even for a few minutes without dreaming about it. It became more and more disgusting and horrifying and terrible and..." Lita left her sentence hanging. Her cheek was wet with tears and the lump that had been growing at her throat demanded to be release. She could not and would not cry in front of him. All these years she trained herself to be tough, to not to cry easily, to endure every pain and hurt by herself but why she was crying just because she telling him her problem? Nephrite knew something was wrong. He reached out his fingers to tuck her hair behind her ear, so that he can see her face.

She was crying. He realized. Unable to meet her eyes to his, Lita clumsily wiped off the tears. She wanted to run away from him, so far from him, so that he couldn't see she cried. Hastily, she stood up. Nephrite was aware of her intention and quickly grabbed her hand before she could walk away. Lita turned her face to meet his face in surprise. For a moment, none of them were moved or spoken.

"And?" his voice was persistent but gentle and caring. Lita knew exactly what he was asking her.

Looking away, she answered his question honestly,"And I don't have anyone to...to comfort me, to share the burden with me."

"Will I do?" Nephrite said simply but meaningful enough to make Lita snapped her head to face him. Eventhough her mind tell her to walk away, but her heart were dying to be in his arms, to feel the safety and protection when he hold her tighter, telling her everything was going to be alright and most of all to taste to sweetness of his lips and the way he expertly kissed her.

Drown into the sapphire eyes of his and his promises, Lita sat down. His hand hold her hand tightly and then yanked her towards him. Lita felt the joy of having his strong arms wrapped around her, offering her comfort.

Lita knew she had to cry. All the night she was in fear, frustration and tension and now, Maxfield were giving exactly the thing she had longed during the sleepless night, the urge to cry in his arms was so great that she had released all the emotions inside her, damping his neck with her tears while she hold him tightly.

Eventhough Lita looked tough and untouchable but inside she was still a soft and sensitive woman. She told him she was living alone and with all those idiot and naive boys dumping her, she must had grown tougher, harder and most of all she must had learned to hide her feeling. Her cries had gone and Nephrite was half convince that Lita had fall asleep. Lita slowly pushed herself away.

"I'm sorry," she said as she wiped her tears away, embarrased for unable to control her feeling. Nephrite had nothing to say for her apologize, so he just smiled.

"You know, I really like being here," Nephrite spoke up, breaking the ice.

"You like being here?! I'm going mad if I stay here for another day!" she exclaimed. I'm going mad if I stay here another day with you. She added silently.

"You don't know how it feels to be a businessman. Here I feel calm and peaceful because my board directors aren't here to persuade me to do something," he said as he looked at the sea, wanting to be away from everything.

Gone with her earlier feeling, she began to tell him her opinion. "You know something, if I were you, I will tell them to go to hell. I mean, this is your business isn't it? You own the company. Why should you listen to those craps they told you?"

"That's a very interesting teory, Lita," he teased her. "Perhaps I will tell them that."

"Well, you are most welcome, Maxfield. Come on, I'm starve," she quickly stood up.

Maxfield... How he loathed to lie to her. He wanted her to say his real name, to call him Nephrite, the name that he had been using for over a millenium. Looking at her brought him such a peace that he longed to feel. He felt that he had found something that had been missing in his life. The feeling being with her was too familiar, that he began to wonder who she really was. Sighing inwardly, he srood up and went after her.

* * * * * *

Serena sighed. Darien groaned. Sitting in front of them were six guardians, sitting saparayedly and refused to speak to each other. Darien thought it was a little foolish while Serena thought it was kind of cute.

"How can you even considering this as cute?" he whispered at her. "The word frustrating is more like it." Serena muffled a laughter at the looked of her beloved fiance's tension look.

Relax darling. They just needed time before they could co-operate with each other. They would make a great team, if you ask me," she whispered back. Darien started to groan again.

Serena looked out. In her heart, she prayed that Nephrite and Lita were still alive. She wanted to cry everytime she watched the news. But Darien hold her close, offering her comfort and courage to go on. No matter what the damn news said, Serena knew that they were still a live. Why?

Because Nephrite is one of the generals. Serena smiled at Zoisite's words.

* * * * * *

Maxfield?" Lita called out for him. Still no answer. She inhaled a gulp of air and began collecting woods. She knew she heard something but when she called out for him, there was no answer and it began to spook her.

Just as she turned around to go back to the place where she and Nephrite had stayed, she heard a rattle sound. Lita frozed. It really did sound like a....snake! She immediately dropped the woods and before she could even turn around to see it, a shapr pain shot at her leg and within a second her body felt physically numb.

"Maxfield!" she screamed for a last time before she fall completely, hoping he could hear her and he did. Quickly, he ran to the where the voice came from. Her body went rigid when he saw Lita laid unconsciously on the ground.

"Oh, God, Lita!" he hurried towards her and saw two holes which blood had ran out freely. There's no other reason except snake. To his greatest horror, he found that Lita wasn't breathing. He quickly recalled the mouth to mouth resuscitation that he had learned long ago.

"Come on,Lita" he prayed as he pounded her chest. His prayer had been answered when Lita coughed and opened her eyes, revealing the green emeralds.

"Hurt..." her voice was so soft that he had leaned to her. "Didn't think can....make it..." she whispered again.

"No! You are going to make it. I'll make you survive this!" he hold her close to his chest, hoping he had enough power to transport back. Closing his eyes, he tried to tranport but the power lasted for awhile and then it faded.

"Damn IT!!" he exclaimed in frustration. Her body felt so cold against his skin and she looked so pale. Trying again, he gathered the power were left but once again, he failed.

"DON'T DO THIS TO ME!!!" he shouted hugging her closer. He tried until he was exhausted but he was unwilling to stop. His panic increased when Lita was unmoved and she looked like she had died.

Suddenly, a light shined out from his chest and Nephrite that power overwhelmed him. It healed his power and his wounds that had caused by thorns. In a blink of eyes, they were once again at Tokyo. Nephrite was dumbfounded of what had happened. But when Lita let out a small wince and he was no more hesitated. He ran quickly to the hospital, ignoring the spectaculars around him.

Bursting in, he shouted for help. It was all happened in a flashuntil he was too exhausted to even opened his eyes....

"Mr Stanton," a voice woke him up. Looking at clock, Nephrite was surprised to see he ahd been sleeping for only a half an hour. Turning his attention back to the doctor, he nodded his head as if to tell him to proceed.

"That young lady is lucky. If she was send here late for more than one minute, I don't think she'll survive it," he explained. "Furthermore, I suggest you go home and take some rest." Nephrite watched her sleeping peacefully.

"I'll come back tomorrow," he told him. He pushed the door openedand then turned back to face him. "I will be grateful if you keep this as a secret for awhile. I don't think I could face the reporters now," he asked hesitatedly.

"You have my word," the young doctor said convincingly. "Thank you," he closed the door and looked around before transporting back to his house, hoping to find some rest because he had overused his power.

He began to strip off his jacket, leaving the white shirt on and plopped on the sofa. Within a second, he fell into a deep slumber.