The Past Life

We continued to see each other, once, sometimes twice a week. I started to become more sure of myself when I was with him, willing to try out new ideas that I had come up with. However, it would always be my Master in control, and it was not long before he was questioning this.

“You know, it's not a servant I want in bed... it's an equal.”

“Master, I...” I trailed off for a moment. Was I a disappointment after all? I couldn't be something I wasn't. “I am not your equal...” I finished.

He pulled me close to him, our bodies still covered in a fine layer of sweat. “I know you don't think of yourself that way,” he said, pressing his forehead to mine, “but you are that to me.”

I closed my eyes, distraught that I couldn't live up to his expectations. “I'm sorry, Master.”

“No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. Don't worry yourself about it.” Master rolled over and got out of bed, making his way to the bath. He waited at the door, looking at mas ridiculous really, that this should bother either of us.
e. “Zoi?”

“I'll be there shortly.”

He nodded and slipped through the door silently. I suppose we were both a bit troubled. I because I couldn't be want he wanted me to be, and he because he had asked that of me. It w
I sat up and looked at the door that he had gone through. This had been going on for a month now and neither of us had said verbally what our feelings were for each other. I hoped, for his sake, that his feeling for me were not the same as mine for him. It would make this easier on him when it did have to end. I dreaded that day.

I could hear the sound of water when I followed him, he was in the bath already. Normally we would relax together, but something was holding me back. Now that my feelings for him were at the front of my mind, I couldn't think of anything else. I knew I couldn't change the way I felt, but if I could, I'm not sure I would want to.

Every time we were together was better than the last. These emotions I was feeling made it so much more than physical ecstasy, it became psychological as well. Just being near him put me in a state of joy.

The other Shitennou had picked up in my change of attitude. All three had commented on it on separate occasions, though none could have suspected the cause. I'm certain our Master must have noticed as well, though he never felt the need to mention it.

“Are you out there, Zoi?”

I was brought out of my thoughts and back into the present. There was no reason for me to keep him waiting. I wanted every second I could get with him.

“No magic.”

“No magic,” I confirmed, holding my short sword in front of me.

Nephrite would often blame his loses to me on the fact that I used some kind of spell against him. While I often would do this, it was truly his own emotions that got in the way. I never threw anything at him that he shouldn't be able to handle.

Kunzite was taking a breather, having been busy instructing Jadeite and the Master earlier. He left Nephrite mostly to me, since it was an emotional barrier he needed to break.

“Stay calm and focused,” I instructed.

He did try, I'll give him that. His first few attacks were well thought out and carefully executed, albeit slow. I was easily able to counter and strike back. It was then that he started to slowly lose his temper. His eyes narrowed at first, and his sword moved quickly, but carelessly. “Focus,” I said, hoping he would rein himself in. It didn't happen.

Deciding that this mock fight would now end, I dodged his next lunge without trouble and caught his ankle with my foot, causing him to fall forward into the ground. Jadeite's laughter in the distance did nothing to calm him and I had to rest my knee on his back to get him to stay put, before Nephrite ran off to throttle him.

“Hold it,” I said when he tried to get up.

“Get off of me, I'm going to kill him!”

“No,” I said, applying a bit more pressure, “you are staying right there until you calm down.”

Nephrite made an exasperated sigh, but stopped struggling at least. I gave him a full 20 second count before letting him go, handing him his sword after he had brushed himself off. If it had been a few months ago, he probably would have stormed off, but not this time. He had matured since then and waited for me to lecture him, once again, about his temper. I wouldn't do this, however. He knew exactly what I was going to say, so why say it? “Did you want to try again?”

“What?” he looked up, surprised. “Maybe later...”

He started back for the rest of the group and I followed. Jadeite had a smirk on his face that told me he was up to no good. I ignored it, hoping that Nephrite would do the same.

“Master,” Kunzite began, beginning to move further out into the field, “shall we continue?”

“If you don't mind, it's been a while since I spared with Zoisite.” Master looked over at me, “if you're willing.”

I looked over at Kunzite, who didn't seem to mind one way or the other. “Certainly,” I agreed and followed him back out.

We took our stances, each waiting for the other to make a move. It was true, it had been a long time since we had spared, mostly due to me never showing up for practice. I had been showing up more and more lately, mainly to be closer to Master. It's not as though the practice would hurt me either. Kunzite had noticed me being present more often than not, but had likely assumed it was because our Master had been attacked recently and we all needed to be better prepared.

Master motioned with his hand for me to attack first. I took a moment to observe his position before striking. It was a weak move, anyone could see that. Even before Master and I had become... intimate, I never did well in matches against him, always afraid I would hurt him.

After a few seconds of this, Master backed away momentarily. “You're holding back. Don't.”

I struck again, this time with a bit more force. Still not at my full potential, but Master seemed happy at this minor improvement.

We continued, evenly matched for a few minutes before it happened. I felt the energies in the area shift, even though I had not invoked any spell. Moments after noticing this I felt something catch my foot and I fell forward.

I had been in the process of making another advance with my sword in front of me. I managed to throw it out of the way quickly before I fell right into my Master, knocking us both to the ground. Thankfully, his sword too had been down.

It took us both a moment to get our breath back before we noticed the rather familiar position we had ended up in. I was looking down at him, neither of us moving when we locked eyes, both of us well aware of the audience we had.

Jadeite suddenly broke out in laughter, Master and I as well as Kunzite and Nephrite stared at him. This had been his doing.

I stood up, offering my hand to my Master to help him up as well. I just shook my head at Jadeite while Kunzite was ready to let him have it.

“You idiot! Do you realize how dangerous that was?”

“Kunzite! There was no harm done,” Master offered, laughing lightly. He picked up the sword I had dropped and handed it to me. “I think you won,” he said and then gave me a wink before turned back to the others.

I was temporarily frozen to the spot. A little shocked that he made such a gesture in front of the others, even though they couldn't see. Realizing that I should get a move on before anyone commented on me staring, I shook it off and joined the others as well.

Jadeite had a sheepish look on his face when he walked into the music room later that day. “I'm sorry, Zoisite. I shouldn't have done that. Kunzite's right, it was dangerous.”

“And Master was right, no one was hurt. Just be careful from now on, OK?”

“I will. Thanks,” he said, before lowering his voice a bit. “It was really funny though.”

I shot him what I could muster for an annoyed look, but only ended up chuckling lightly. I surprised the heck out of prankster beside me of me.

“I don't think I've heard you laugh since... I don't think I've heard you laugh!”

“Hmm. Don't tell the others.”

Jadeite too laughed, but tried to calm himself when he head the door open behind him. He relaxed once again as he saw who it was. “Master, I should apologize to you as well.”

“Accepted,” Master smiled. “Would you mind if I spoke to Zoisite alone?”

“No, not at all,” Jadeite replied heading for the door. His footsteps could be heard heading down the hall before Master spoke.

“Interesting joke of his.”

“It could have been worse. Kunzite might have landed on you.”

Master chuckled at this mental image before getting to his point. “Will I be seeing you tonight?”

It had been a few days since I had last visited Master's chambers and I had the next two evenings off the night watch. Not to mention that Jadeite's prank had raised some rather immoral thoughts. “I'll be there.”

Master walked up to the piano bench and leaned down close to me. “I look forward to it,” he said quietly before pressing a soft kiss to my lips.

My immediate though was that this was a really public place, but that worry was pushed aside quickly as I returned the kiss, bringing my hand to his cheek. 'After all,' I thought, 'the door is clos...'

The sound of the door clicking shut then started us both and we turned quickly towards the sound. At the same time, we realized what had happened. Jadeite had left the door open, and neither of us had noticed. Someone else had closed it just now.