With All of My Heart

Nephrite was still cursing the little brats on his way home. Honestly, how could a group of ten year olds make such a mess? He hated birthday parties, hated them with a passion.

It was already dark when he left Crown, he should have been home hours ago, but that damned Motoki had made him stay overtime. Granted the promise of extra money was useful, but the less time he had to spend in that place, the better. Maybe he should think about looking for another job.

Most of the lights were out in the house when Nephrite got to the gate, save for the living room and Zoisite's bedroom. Nephrite rolled his eyes, knowing full well what was going on in there. Those two were worse than teenagers with their hormones. Would it be so much to ask that they keep their pants on when others were home?

As Nephrite opened the door and kicked off his shoes, he noticed something that stopped him cold. An extra pair of shoes at the door that most definitely belonged to Mamoru.

He suddenly had this feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was very wrong with this situation.

Making his way to the living room first, Nephrite found Jadeite alone, stretched out on the sofa. “I saw Mamoru's shoes at the door,” he began, “where is he?”

Jadeite responded by simply pointing up at the ceiling.

Nephrite looked up for a moment, then back down at the blond. “Don't tell me that he's up there... with them...?”

As if on cue, the distinct sound of bedsprings and the creaking of floor boards could be heard. The house had thin walls, and one could hear pretty much everything that went on in it. “Does that answer your question?” Jadeite asked, getting off the couch. “I'm going out.”

Nephrite followed Jadeite as he made his way for the door. “Where are you going?” he asked, hoping for some kind of a distraction from the noise overhead.

“Out,” he repeated.

“Going to get hammered again?”

Jadeite rolled his eyes, “and if I am?”

“You're not even twenty yet,” Nephrite replied, folding his arms. “Who the hell is serving you?”

“It's none of your damned business,” Jadeite replied as he grabbed a leather jacket off the hanger.

Nephrite watched him pull his shoes on and contemplated following him, possibly in secret. It would be better than staying here. “Fine, whatever.”

Jadeite walked out the door without an other word while Nephrite was still debating. Finally he settled on grabbing the phone off the wall instead and dialed Ami's number. He hung up quickly when the sounds from upstairs got louder. He definitely heard nothing short of a scream from Zoisite in conjunction with a lower pitched moan that was not coming from Kunzite. He was the one chuckling.

Deciding it was best if he make this call outside, Nephrite took the cordless phone with him and stood just outside the door. Ami didn't need to hear any of that.

Ami had transferred back into Japan after spending a couple years in the United States. Nephrite was certainly grateful that she was more in the neighbourhood these days. Teleporting half-way around the world was a bit tiring, but cheaper than the phone bills.

It rang four times before she picked up. “Moshi moshi?”

“Hey, it's me.”

“Oh, Nephrite! How are you?” she asked. She didn't sound particularly busy, which was a good sign.

“I've been better,” he replied.

“What's wrong?”

“Oh, just looking to get out of the house for a while. I know you said you would be busy, but are you doing anything right now?”

There was a slight pause before she answered. “I was just about to make dinner, I can make enough for two if you wanted to come over here.”

Perfect! “That sounds great. It'll take me fifteen minutes or so to walk there, is that alright?”

“That's fine. I'll see you soon.”

---

Nephrite pressed the door bell to Ami's apartment. Since moving back to Japan, she had gotten her own place, which made things much easier on him. Not that her mother was really around all that much anyway, but she could be. That was the point.

The door opened, and Ami greeted Nephrite with a smile. “Come in,” she said, and stepped out of the way for him.

He had only been in the apartment a couple times in the past few months since she'd had it. Work kept her busy, and it seemed that the small amount of free time she did get was during the times that he was working. The apartment was smaller than the one her mother rented, but that was to be expected. It was her first place, and she really only needed to house herself and the occasional guest.

Nephrite didn't really pay much attention to the details of the apartment this time. It was Ami herself that drew his interest. She wore a white blouse and navy blue skirt which stopped above the knee. She wore a light blue apron over top, assumable because she was still cooking and her hair was pulled back in a partial ponytail. She was beautiful.

“Um, would you like to come in?” she asked after he had stared at her for a good long while.

“Right, sorry.”

She closed the door behind him and offered him a seat in the dinning room. “I'm still working on dinner, but there is tea ready.”

“You look nice,” he commented awkwardly. Nephrite had never been particularly good at the whole compliment thing, but she really did look great.

Ami smiled. “Thank you,” she replied before returning to the stove.

Nephrite poured himself a cup of tea and then turned back to watch Ami. His gaze traveled down her back, the indent of her waist, over her hips, and down her legs. He knew it wasn't particularly polite to stare at any part of a woman for any length of time, but he couldn't help it. Not with a body like that.

Ami cleared her throat, and Nephrite immediately lifted his eyes. “I'm sorry I don't really have anything too fancy for dinner. I don't usually have the time to make anything that isn't 'instant'.”

“That's fine, I'm sure it's better than any of the slop Jadeite throws together.”

This got a giggle out of Ami for some reason. “Jadeite does the cooking, does he?”

“Unfortunately he seems to be the best at it.”

Nephrite wasn't really sure what he said that was funny, but he did like seeing her laugh. She grabbed a couple of plates from the cupboard, scooped some rice from the cooker onto each one along with some vegetables and a bit of meat. He didn't care what she said about it, this was some of the better food he has seen in a while. “Thank you,” he said when she offered him the plate.

Ami sat at the table across from him and grabbed her chopsticks. “I can make us something nicer next time, I just need a bit more time to plan.”

“There is nothing wrong with this,” Nephrite insisted, shoveling the food into his face.

Ami ate hers a bit more slowly. “So, you're having some problems with the others?” she asked. “I don't mean to pry, if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine.”

'The exact details, no,' Nephrite thought to himself. “I don't mind, it's just that the house isn't big enough for the four of us. Zoisite and Kunzite are especially difficult to live with.”

“Is that so?”

“I'm just looking forward to moving out.”

Ami looked up from her food. “You plan to get your own place?” she asked.

“As soon as I have the money.” He had been doing better lately at Crown. He wasn't working more, but his paycheques were definitely getting bigger. Supposedly he had been throwing fewer breakable things around in the past couple of months.

He noticed Ami looking at him then. She looked like she wanted to say something, but chose not to. “What is it?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Oh, it's not important, but if you are ever looking for a break from them, you are always welcome here.”

Nephrite was going to offer his thanks, but the ringing of the phone on the wall cut him off. “I'm sorry,” Ami said as she stood from the table and went to answer the phone. “Moshi moshi?”

Nephrite worried that it was work calling her in again, but the look on her face told him that probably wasn't the case. She looked confused by something.

“Wait, calm down, it's OK. You're going to have to speak slower, Usagi-chan.”

Usagi? Nephrite suddenly remembered the whole reason he was here and what was going on at the house right then. Nephrite watched Ami intently now.

“I can't understand you, Usagi-chan. Please try to calm down. Where did you say Mamoru was?”

Great. Just wonderful. Nephrite was getting the feeling that he was going to have cover for Mamoru very soon, and making things up on the spot was not his forte.

Ami was nodding a bit as she listened to Usagi, and then looked over at Nephrite. “He's with the Shitennou?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “OK, so what's wrong then?”

'Think, Nephrite. Think.' What excuse could he use? Of course, without knowing what Usagi did, it made things especially difficult. 'Why the hell should I even cover for him?' was his next thought. Regardless of his position in Nephrite's past life, there was no way Nephrite could condone his actions, but at the same time, exposing what he was doing didn't seem right either. Usagi would be so hurt.

Ami sighed, “Usagi-chan, what's wrong with him spending a bit of time with his friends? I don't intend to sound mean, but you just spend a couple days away from him with us, right?”

This was sounded a bit better now. Ami looked a bit more relaxed as well.

“That's true, I guess, but still it's not like he'll be gone for long, right?” Ami gave a small smile while she listened. “Well, if you ever do need to talk, you can always call me, OK?”

The call ended shortly after and Ami returned to the table. “Usagi-chan was just upset because Mamoru wasn't home and they had planned something for tonight. Was he at your place when you left?” she asked.

Nephrite nodded and looked down at his plate, which was mostly finished. “Yeah,” he said without elaborating.

“Is there anything wrong?”

Nephrite shrugged, unable to think of anything to say. He wasn't even sure which side of anything he was on at this point.

“Are you two having a fight? Is that why you came here?”

Nephrite shook his head and poked at his food.

“I'm sorry, if you don't want to talk abo-”

“That would be better,” Nephrite interrupted sharply. He regretted doing so immediately, but given the options, not talking about it seemed best.

An uncomfortable silence followed while Ami finished her dinner. She offered to take his plate and then proceeded to clean up the kitchen in silence. He need to do something to fix this.

He stood and joined Ami in the kitchen. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that.”

“No, I'm sorry,” she said, “I shouldn't have pushed you.” She had finished putting things away and was starting to pour water to do the dishes. “How long do you need to stay?” she asked.

“I'm not really sure,” Nephrite replied. How long would they take anyway?

Ami paused a bit before speaking. “If you want, I could always make the couch into a bed. You could spend the night if you need to.”

Nephrite looked up. She looked a bit embarrassed for making the offer, which he couldn't really understand. He didn't have to work until noon tomorrow, so he would have plenty of time to get back and change in the morning. Staying here for the night would be the safest way to avoid walking back into a situation he would rather avoid. “Do you mind?” he asked.

“Not at all,” she said, looking almost relieved. “If you want to wait in the living room, I'll be finished here in a few minutes.”

“I can help if you want. Just tell me where things go.”

Ami smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”