a Sailormoon fanfiction by Dejana Talis -not to be used without permission- Written for the 2007 Ficathon on shitennou.com. It was twilight, and the fireflies were out in full force. Tiny flickers of light darted here and there among the roses, filling the garden with shimmering glitter. The last rays of sunshine had disappeared beneath the horizon, but the moon had not yet risen to banish the magic of the evening with its harsh glow. Zoisite had been to the moon once. He hadn't liked it much. Everyone spoke breathlessly of the wonders of Silver Millennium, but underneath the sparkle it was all so much bare rock. The Moon Kingdom was indeed wondrous, but it was all artificial. Without the queen's mysterious magic, there would be no life there. At least Terra could claim that advantage over the elite kingdoms that surrounded it. He wondered if the same were true of the citizens of the various kingdoms. Could artificial worlds give rise to people as warm, as deep, as real as Zoisite's own countrymen? Were the high-and-mighty inhabitants of the other planets as false as the civilizations they built? The sight before Zoisite's eyes that evening did nothing to settle those questions. Sailor Venus stood motionless in the garden, as if captivated by its beauty, staring off over the roses with her back to her silent observer. Fireflies flitted over her hair, bringing the sparkle she always seemed to carry to visible life. There was always something unreal about Venus, something beyond the physical plane. Even in the growing darkness, Zoisite had recognized her instantly. From behind, her thick blonde hair covered her all the way to her knees. Had he not been familiar with the Sailor Soldiers and their uniforms, Zoisite might have thought she was naked. No woman of any station in the Golden Kingdom would wear a skirt that short. For once, Zoisite regretted the information that was privy to his rank. He could almost picture her as a goddess, descending to earth to bring pleasures beyond his wildest dreams. For a moment he indulged the fantasy, the thought of Venus standing naked in the garden making his mouth run dry. Zoisite's jaw tensed and his lips thinned. Venus' bounty belonged only to one man, the only man he would never dare to challenge. There was only one reason the Venusian soldier would risk an unannounced visit to Terra, and it wasn't for Zoisite's benefit. He wondered if he was catching her on arrival or departure. If he approached her, would she smell of sunshine or of Kunzite's musk? His fists clenched at his sides and his eyes burned as he thought of them together, wrapped in each other's embrace, tangled in the sheets of Kunzite's bed. How could such a smooth, reserved man of such vital station take such a woman to his bed, a temptress and a Sailor Soldier besides? Of course, Zoisite himself was far from innocent. He, too, had a discreet tryst with one of Queen Serenity's soldiers. He was not, however, to be compared with the likes of Kunzite and Venus. He and Sailor Mercury behaved in a manner appropriate for members of high society. Hand-holding and the occasional kiss on the cheek were the limits of their affection. Admittedly, it wasn't for lack of trying on Zoisite's part. He would have preferred the fiery exchanges of Mars and Jadeite to the cool indifference of his Mercury. He watched Kunzite and Venus slipping off to feigned appointments and envied them until his stomach churned with bitterness. He wanted fire, spark, the dangers of passion that his fellow generals had made the spice of their lives. The reserved Sailor Mercury, however, would have none of it, and Zoisite could not put her aside, it would be unseemly. If only he could have a woman who risked it all to see him whenever the desire struck her. If only he could have Venus. He ran out of time to think as the ethereal goddess turned around. To Zoisite's acute embarrassment, she didn't seem the least bit surprised to see him watching her. To his further horror, she smiled her tantalizing smile and began to walk toward him. He forced himself to remain casual as she approached, forced himself not to watch her hips sway under her gold skirt, forced himself to smirk in greeting as he tried to ignore the sudden pounding of his heart. "Evening, milord." There should have been a law against this, against her, against fair sirens with their godlike beauty and their alluring eyes and their soft lips that begged him to move closer... "Evening, milady." Zoisite enjoyed a brief burst of relief as the words came out without a trace of the tension that lurked behind them. She smiled up at him, all sultry and suave, blue eyes watching him from beneath long lashes. Zoisite breathed in. Sweet sunshine. "No, I haven't been to him yet." Zoisite could not hide his brief flash of surprise and shame. Venus grinned then, tilting her head with a mischievous curl of her lip, delighting in the small victory. God, he wanted her. He wanted her soft flesh beneath his hands, and her bright eyes alight with passion, and her body naked in his bed. He couldn't explain it - until now, his interest had been a mere wistful fancy - but standing this close to her he could think of nothing but his aching desire to hear her moan his name. "I don't have to see him," Venus breathed then. She moved closer - Zoisite hadn't realized there was still so much space between them - and suddenly her hands were on his chest. "He doesn't know I'm here. Perhaps you need the company more." Zoisite swallowed the groan that was rising in his throat. His mind was racing. Could this really be happening? A minute ago he had been alone, and now Kunzite's lover was pressed against him, so close he could feel her breath on his neck. It was his impossible dream come to life. It couldn't be real... but the warmth of her body was no fantasy, the gloved hands resting on his chest were no illusion. "I have all the company I need," he forced himself to rasp out as the side of him that valued decorum and dignity threw up a desperate protest. "You don't love her." Zoisite regained some ground as cold pride edged a fraction of his desire aside. His eyes narrowed, and he cast a sharp look at the temptress, but could not quite bring himself to push her away. "You overstep your bounds, milady," he said icily. It didn't matter that her words were truth; he didn't want to hear them from Sailor Venus. "Come, Zoisite, it's my duty to know such things." The soldier's tone was airy, but she seemed to realize she was on shaky ground. Her hands stilled on the general's uniform while her words pressed forward. "From the beginning, it was never Mercury you wanted." She whispered the words like the long-kept secret they were, and Zoisite caught himself leaning closer to hear. "The rest of us were pairing off, and you couldn't be left behind, could you?" Zoisite's mind was screaming alarm in a futile attempt to override his body. Sailor Venus knew too much, far too much. He had to escape, even if it meant losing face, even if it meant losing the longed-for warmth of her against him... "Of course, you would have preferred there be no romance between the worlds at all, but you couldn't prevent it," Venus went on. Her hands were moving again, sliding lower on his body toward a place where a dull ache was growing. With these hands she gave Kunzite all he ever wanted, but for these few precious moments they were Zoisite's, and his breath became heavier despite his efforts to remain composed. "Mercury was there, so you took her, but what you really wanted was me..." Venus leaned in. Her lips sought his, found them, took them. Zoisite's eyes flew open and then squeezed shut. The kiss was everything he had always imagined it would be. Her warmth spilled forth from her lips to his, flooding him with a tingling that spread all the way to his toes. This was the passion that kept Kunzite bound to her, the fire that filled his heart and his bed. It was warm like sunlight and smooth like chocolate, with a taste Zoisite would never forget. Venus' hands were at his belt and he wondered wildly through the haze if they would move, if she would offer him more of what she had to give, and what the consequences would be if she did. She was Kunzite's, and a bounty only Kunzite was deserving of... The kiss broke as Venus suddenly stepped back from him, leaving Zoisite in an overwhelmed daze. She glanced down at his hands frozen at his sides, his feet rooted to the ground, his body unresponsive in ways she couldn't fail to notice. He gaped stupidly for a moment, his brain refusing to spark into motion, but Venus looked into his eyes as if recognizing something he didn't know was there. "As I thought," she said quietly. Suddenly the coils of tension dropped away from Zoisite, and his blood cooled as if a fresh wind had blown through him. He blinked and it seemed a veil had been pulled from his eyes, and his mind was free to function. Sailor Venus was still standing in front of him, and she was still impossibly beautiful, but the desperate yearning to possess her body had vanished. Something had released its hold on Zoisite. Venus' gaze dropped to the ground and she spoke quietly, almost regretfully. "You took Mercury to get closer to me, but you want me so you can get closer to him." Kunzite. The name flashed in Zoisite's mind without needing to be spoken, and he could not hide his shock. The surprise on his face was all the confirmation Venus needed. Zoisite opened his mouth to argue, to declare the very idea ridiculous, to assert that he had simply been too startled to react to Venus' kiss, but only a hoarse stutter passed his lips. His mind frantically flew back to his earlier thoughts of Venus' hips and hair, and her naked body sprawled across her lover's bed. He tried to imagine her caught in the throes of ecstasy between her lover's arms... and shuddered as his inner eye turned more hungrily to the white-haired figure leaning over her. Venus' hair paled in comparison to Kunzite's platinum waves, her fair face vanished beside his chiseled jaw and thin lips, her slender body seemed frail and waiflike compared to the eldest general's sculpted form. Zoisite's heart pounded in his chest as he once more envisioned his respected leader bending over his lover - not Venus, but Zoisite himself. Had this desire been lurking inside him the entire time, just waiting for him to entertain the thought? "As long as he has me, he will never want you." Zoisite was jolted back to reality by Venus' harsh words. He looked down at a face filled with possessive fire, all traces of loss and disappointment gone. Eyes that had been alluring now burned resolutely; a posture that had been seductive was now the unyielding stance of a warrior. Sailor Venus was looking at him as something entirely different: a rival. At the same time, all Zoisite could do was glare, because she was right. Kunzite would never want a pretty-faced plaything or a smooth-tongued strategist when he had the epitome of both in a superior package. Seeing her first battle had been won, Venus turned and began to walk away. Although he had not yet come to grips with all that had just happened, Zoisite was still thinking clearly enough to know he had stumbled into a very dangerous position. If Kunzite - or worse, Endymion - learned of this, everything Zoisite had worked for could be lost, including any chance he had of capturing the eldest general's heart. He hurried after the departing soldier and seized her by the arm. "If you tell anyone..." The face Venus turned to him was colder than he had ever imagined the legendary butterfly could be. She did not fight his grip, seeming to have been expecting something like this. "Far be it from me to destroy anyone's love, however forbidden." Her smile could not have been more opposite to the one that had earlier ensnared him. She had him by the heart, and there could be no firmer hold, no more complete control. "What do you want?" Zoisite's mind swiftly took inventory of everything he possessed, both tangible and intangible; what could he offer a Venusian? How could he escape this nightmare? How had he gotten himself into this mess? "Let Mercury go." Pressed against him one moment, fighting for his lover's honor the next. Clearly there was much about this woman he did not understand. "Release her from your sham of a courtship - gently - and I will tell no one you envy your superior's mount." Mortified by her vulgar words, Zoisite released her arm. Venus' lips twitched in a smirk and she walked away, her stride now fully confident. Why shouldn't it be? She had won, and had obtained some damning information about a rival besides, and now she was off to share a bed with the man they both desired. Soon she would be between those silk sheets, hearing Kunzite's dark voice rumbling her name... Zoisite turned and ground his fist into a pillar, gritting his teeth. She had played him from beginning to end, but her tricks were clear to him now. She would not get the chance to shame him so again. No matter what it took, he would triumph in the end, no matter what lengths he had to go to. Even if it took a thousand years... Someday, Kunzite would be his. Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon and its associated characters and canon are the property of Naoko Takeuchi and Kodansha.