The Past Life

It felt good to be back in my uniform and seated at my piano once again. I brushed my fingers over the keys lightly after I lifted the cover. The servants who cleaned in this area of the palace would close the cover whenever they cleaned, as well as collect and stack my sheets of music on the table, not necessarily in any particular order. While this normally bothered me, I barely thought of it now.

It would not be long before the others started arriving for our meeting and I was hoping to play some before that. As I ran my fingers over the keys, playing a familiar piece I had memorized years before, the events from the past twenty-four hours ran through my head. My foggy and fragmented memory of the incident began to clear up somewhat.

I had not been playing for long when the door to the music room swung open, I continued to play, however. I never liked leaving a piece unfinished. It would leave the whole room feeling on edge and restless. That was not the feeling this room needed, especially not now.

It was not a long piece, but when I did finish it, I saw that all of the other Tennou were waiting for me. Though, it wasn't as though anyone was particularly anxious to get this meeting started. Kunzite and I knew what was to be discussed, Nephrite had a pretty good guess, and Jadeite was picking up on the aura of unease the rest of us were giving off.

I remained seated as I usually did, and Nephrite took his spot against the wall. Kunzite surprised most of us by going to the window and staring out at the grounds. Jadeite seemed to stand awkwardly in the middle of the room, not sure what to make of the whole situation.

Nephrite got everything started, though it was with his usual grace, or lack there of. “This is about our 'friend' in the basement, isn't it?”

Silence from Kunzite followed, so I answered Nephrite's question with a simple nod. Looking at Jadeite confirmed my suspicions that he did not know what was happening. “So... there will be a trail, right?” he asked, taking his best guess.

Nephrite opened his mouth to speak, but luckily he caught my eye first. I shook my head, and he fell silent again. It would probably be best if I was the one to explain it.

“There will be no trial. He has admitted his guilt,” I began.

“So what happens now?”

“Are you familiar with the punishment for attempted assassination?”

He shook his head in the negative.

“What about actual assassination?” I continued.

“Y.. yes,” he stuttered.

“They are the same.”

Several emotions were evident on Jadeite's face then, none of them were pleasant for him. I stood and offered him the only seat in the room, which he accepted. He rested his elbows on his legs and his chin on his hands, which were clasped together, partially covering his face. I looked up and saw that Kunzite had still not moved from the window. I was about to check on Nephrite when Jadeite spoke again, though he was having difficultly with his question. “Do... do we... are we the ones... who...”

“Yes,” I answered quietly.

“When?” came Nephrite's question, his voice far louder than it needed to be.

I looked again at Kunzite, then back to Nephrite. “Two days.”

This news surprised him as it had me, though he didn't feel the need to ask why. I turned back to Jadeite. “You won't have to say anything, and you will have to do very little,” I tried to reassure him, “but your presence will be required.”

I caught a slight nod of his head, though I was sure not much of it had sank in.

Kunzite was still lost to the window. I walked over and stood beside him, speaking as quietly as I could manage. “We don't have much time, we should probably think about a rehearsal.” I hoped that this would be enough to bring him into the meeting, but I soon realized this was not going to happen. “Tomorrow evening, perhaps?”

Kunzite exhaled a breath he must have been holding. Finally he turned to me and confirmed, “tomorrow evening,” before turning and leaving the room without another word.

The rehearsal went without any problems. Despite how detached Kunzite had appeared the day before, he had managed to gather together some of the senior members of the palace guard. Master Endymion's father wanted this to be as quiet as possible, and none of these men would talk.

I had seen very little of the Master since I was under Dr. Hirai's care. I suspected that he had spent much of his time either alone, or trying to convince his father to call off the proceedings scheduled for the next day. This would be futile, but he would try.

Jadeite seemed to have come to terms with what was happening. I suspect that he probably had spoken to our Master earlier. While he would often come to me with any questions concerning his duties as a Shitennou, he would seek out our Master's council in any other affairs. They were much more like brothers.

Kunzite had managed to take the leadership role once again. He was still very distracted, but he too had managed to either deal with his feelings, or at least push them to the side for the time being. Everything went much more smoothly as a result.

Nephrite hadn't outwardly expressed any distress he may have been feeling. Whether he was simply dealing with this better than the rest of us, or if he found some other outlet, I don't know.

“So, we all know our jobs for tomorrow then?” Kunzite asked, his voice was strong and confident. Exactly the thing that was needed at that time. “Good. We meet back here at nightfall tomorrow. This will go precisely as planned and will not be spoken about afterwards to anyone who was not present. Those are orders from the king. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir!” came the voices from the few guards present.

“You are dismissed.”

The ten or so men turned and re-entered the palace. The four of us remained outside for a moment longer, standing in a rough circle, facing each other. “Are we ready?” Kunzite asked.

Three nods answered his question and then Nephrite asked his own. “Are you ready?”

“I am.”

“Until tomorrow evening then,” Nephrite said to excuse himself.

After he left, I turned to Jadeite. “Are you going to be alright with this?” I asked.

“I think so,” he replied, though his voice wavered.

“No one will blame you if you look away. Remember that.”

He considered my words for a moment before excusing himself as well. Kunzite waited until he was inside the palace before speaking. “You sure you're not being too easy with him?”

“He's still a child.”

“Is he? I'd say he's had to grow up pretty fast.”

“Perhaps,” I conceded, then changed the subject. “We're on duty.”

“We?”

“I'm allowed partial duty.”

Kunzite looked at my sceptically for a minute, but relented knowing that I, unlike him, would follow what the doctor said.

Each night, two of us were on duty outside our Master's bedroom door. Until now, it had seemed like a rather extreme precaution, even to Kunzite. The decision had been Master's father's, and now I was happy that he had made it.

When we arrived, Kunzite knocked lightly on the door. Master answered and saw that it was his night watch, seemingly surprised to see me as well. He was about to turn to go back into his chambers when he stopped. “Zoisite, may I have a word with you in private?”