The Past Life

I tried to ignore the women who were staring at us and instead kept my attention focused on my Master as his father lead him from one family to the next. It was not easy.

At least half of the ladies present had forgotten that our Master was even in the room. It looked like Kunzite was getting most of the attention, which was to be expected. As the leader of the Shitennou, he was about as close to Master Endymion as one could get save for the Master himself. On top of that, he was tall, handsome, and his jet black hair was not quite as shocking as that of the rest of us.

That is not to say that we weren't getting looks as well. Nephrite and I seemed to be receiving our fair share, and Jadeite, despite his age, was not left out. A few of the younger girls present seemed to have taken an interest in him.

“The one Master is speaking with now is Matsuno-san. On the other side of the room in the blue dress is Iwata-san. You should dance with them,” I heard Kunzite say.

“Why's that?” Jadeite asked.

“Because you are taller than they are.”

Nephrite almost couldn't contain his laughter and I was smiling myself. It was true that Jadeite was rather short, and most of the girls present were in fact taller than he was.

Jadeite shot Nephrite an icy glare before allowing Kunzite to continue. “Closer to us in the red and white dress is Nakamura-san. She is a bit taller than you, but has been looking at you for the last ten minutes or so.”

“She has?” Jadeite looked at the girl in question, who blushed and looked away quickly. Kunzite had a good eye.

Looking back at my Master's progress through the introductions, he was passed the half-way mark. Kuroki-san was next up and was more than eager. She bowed politely, but rose again sooner than most of the other girls had and certainly did more of the talking. She was different from the others, acting in a much less formal manner, something the Master would appreciate.

I did not like her. Whether it was her informal attitude towards my Master, or how she was being much too forward with him, I don't know. I do know that Master had certainly taken a curious interest in her at least, and it worried me. He should have moved on to the next family by now.

“Zoisite?” After Kunzite spoke my name I became painfully aware that I had staring at the girl. No, glaring might have been a better word for it. Surely I wasn't acting this way because she had gained Master's attention, or was I?

“Jadeite,” Kunzite said, ignoring me for a moment. “Do you think you can handle going for the first round of dances?”

'Damnit, why can't I keep a better rein on my emotions?' I silently berated myself.

“I think so...” Jadeite said in answer to Kunzite.

“Then please do.”

The time dragged as Master spoke with the last few families. Kunzite wanted to speak to me alone, and I knew that if he asked the wrong questions I would give myself away. He had said it once before, I was a terrible liar.

Master finally finished speaking with the Kusaka family and his father said a few more words before the music started, but I was hardly paying attention. How could I justify my reaction to Kunzite when I couldn't even justify it to myself?

“What is wrong with you?” he hissed once Jadeite and Nephrite had left to find dance partners.

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit.”

I refused to make eye contact with him. Instead I watched our Master. He was dancing with Hanada-san, the daughter of one of His Majesty's advisers. I felt nothing when I watched them. There were no feelings of jealousy, or whatever it was that I had felt before, even though they appeared to be having a good time. She was smiling and they spoke easily to one another. So what had triggered that reaction in me before?

“You haven't been acting like yourself for weeks now. First you are unusually cheerful, then you became even more withdrawn then ever, and now this sudden display of anger? You are going to tell me what is going on. I know it has something to do with the Master.”

So, he knew that much. I'm sure my expression of surprise gave away the fact that he was right, so there was no sense in denying it. “It's nothing that you need to be concerned with.” It wasn't a lie, but it was all the truth I would let him know.

“It is my concern if something is effecting the ability of one of the Shitennou to perform his duties.”

“And has my performance been effected?”

“No,” he relented. I managed to relax a bit, he was going to back off. I was fortunate. “Will you tell me why you suddenly acted like a dog with it's bristles raised when our Master spoke to Kuroki-san?”

I shook my head. “I don't know.” The truth again.

Kunzite seemed to accept my answer and let the matter drop. I did notice his attention wandering over to the girl in question. She was fidgeting in her seat, already anxious to get a dance partner. I suspected that only one person in the room would be acceptable for her. There was something very different about that girl.

I needed to think about something else. Jadeite and Nephrite both appeared to be having a good time. Jadeite was still having some difficulty, but his dance partner didn't seem to mind. He had gone straight to Nakamura-san, the girl who had seemed interested in him.

Nephrite was dancing with Katou-san. She was older than most of the other women present, at the age of twenty, and was the daughter of one of the most respected members of the palace guard. I never expected Nephrite to be the most graceful dancer because of his height, but he surprised me. He almost seemed at home on the dance floor, though he didn't even hold a candle to our Master.

I suppose his endless lessons on etiquette, proper protocols, and everything that one needs to be trained in to one day be the King of Earth would have included dance. Regardless of which dance partner he choose, he could always manage to make even the clumsiest of girls look elegant.

I felt some sadness and regret when I watched my Master. I knew that many of these girls would never get closer to him than this one dance. They would never be as close as I was to him, and yet they could have a moment like this. A moment where they were watched by all in the centre of the ballroom, while I had to hide and sneak to get close to him.

The music ended for a few minutes to allow the orchestra a breather. Jadeite and Nephrite returned, both grinning like idiots.

“Enjoyed yourselves, I take it?” Kunzite commented.

“That was better than I was expecting it to be,” Jadeite said.

“She's still looking at you,” Nephrite teased.

“We still have a job to do,” Kunzite reminded them. “Don't forget that.”

The music was about to begin again, and so Kunzite and I left our posts and waited for our Master to pick his next partner before choosing our own. Kondou-san was next on his list, and after she accepted, Kunzite immediately made his way over to Kuroki-san. I suppose it shouldn't have shocked me, if there was something out of the ordinary about one of the guests, Kunzite would want to know about it.

I choose Tamura-san, the daughter of another member of the palace guard who had retired. I knew that she was one of the girls who was most likely to be overlooked by our Master that night. Not that she wasn't attractive or didn't come from a respected family, she was just not very high up on the priority list. She politely accepted my invitation.

It appeared that while Kunzite had gotten Kuroki-san onto the dance floor, it wasn't without a bit of resistance. Tamura-san noticed the direction of my gaze.

“She's an odd one, isn't she?”

“She does stand out,” I agreed. “Where you speaking to her?”

“I had a few words with her. She is determined, I'll give her that. Most of us are aware of what this ball really is.”

“Oh?” My position required me to keep quiet on what I knew. Tamura-san knew this of course.

“You don't have to play innocent. We all know that it's a set up for Prince Endymion and Hina-san. Well... most of us anyway.” She nodded in Kuroki-san's direction at that comment. I continued to keep my silence on that matter, and changed the topic slightly.

“You know Kusaka-san?” I asked, noting the familiar use of her given name.

“You forget, my father was in the royal guard. Our families knew each other well.”

“Of course.”

“She's a very kind girl, and will make an excellent Queen. Quite pretty too.”

We continued to talk about my life in the palace and her life at home. I was surprised to learn that she was already courting a young man from the same town her father had retired to. I asked her why she accepted the invitation to come her if she was already seeing someone.

“Well, we all know that I was out of the running before this even began, but how can one turn down a few nights in the Earth palace? Personally, I came for the food.”

Her frank remark made me laugh. I was glad to have danced with her as I was feeling much more relaxed by the end of it. I escorted her back to her seat and told her to enjoy the rest of the evening.

I found Kunzite, and the look on his face told me that he wanted to speak to me about Kuroki-san, but it would have to wait as we were both expected to choose new partners at this point. “Dance with Kawai-san,” he said to me quickly as we passed. I turned and looked at him, confused by his comment. 'Why Kawai-san?' I asked myself, but took his advice and asked her to dance next.

She blushed a deep scarlet when I did, and then I knew why Kunzite had picked her. She must have been staring at me, and Kunzite would have picked up on that.

I did my best to dance with her, but she was so incredibly self-conscious that she was tripping over her own feet. “I'm so sorry!” she would apologize, but then would make the same mistake again seconds later. I felt sorry for her, but didn't really know what to do to help her relax. We hadn't danced long before something caught her eye and she stopped completely. “Oh, wow...”

Following her line of sight, I saw that my Master was dancing with Kusaka-san. They were a sight to see. I had never seen any two people who looked better together than they did at that moment.

All the other couples on the dance floor had also stopped by this point to watch the pair. They almost seemed to move together as one entity, in perfect time to the music. If anyone in the room had been doubting Kusaka-san's chances at being the next Queen, this would have changed their minds. They were beautiful together.

When the music ended, the ballroom erupted in applause. Master seemed surprised that they had been in the spotlight, but bowed and thanked everyone. He glanced in my direction for a moment, perhaps to check on my reaction to this. I smiled and nodded and he seemed satisfied. I truly was happy for him, and felt much better about myself because of it. Whatever I had felt earlier most certainly hadn't been jealousy, and for that I was grateful.