:: Greenstone: History ::

Naru sat on the end of the playground slide, her arms folded round her knees, her head resting on her arms. She sat in a bright, happy place of childhood, with a woman's dark pain in her heart. Usagi, standing leaning against the slide a few feet away, felt helpless to say anything to reach or console her. She still tried. She had to try.

'I can't,' Naru said softly. 'It doesn't matter if he's a bad person. I still love him.'

'Well, sorta,' said Usagi, a little embarrassed. She hadn't discussed that much, even with her best friend.

Nephrite was not sure how he felt. He sat in an ornate stone chair, turning the kurozuishou in his hand, gazing at its smooth facets.

Osaka Naru... why did the kurozuishou respond to this girl? Is it the energy of love? Her voice came back to him, clear and strong. I'll protect Sanjouin-sama... I love you...

Disturbed by these memories, Nephrite dismissed them as pointless. However confused he might be, he still thought like a warrior, still looked for anything that could be strategically important. Sailormoon knew Naru's name. Perhaps, in that case, Naru knew Sailormoon's true identity. He could defeat her yet.

From behind a pillar, Zoisite watched, and saw the crystal in Nephrite's hand, knew what it was, and knew what he would do.

Slipping through the weave of the fabric of reality, Nephrite materialised outside Naru's bedroom window. Again, the kurozuishou is reacting... resonating with her... could the ginzuishou be concealed inside a human body?

The kurozuishou, his guide, passed easily through glass and curtains, and he followed a moment later. Just as Nephrite could pass through solid matter, he could see through it, layer by layer. His mind's eye found its way through Naru's quilt... her pajamas... her sealing skin itself. There was no crystal within her. A dead loss. He retreated again, through the wall, preparing to leave.

Naru stirred in her sleep. Her eyelids flickered, then flew open. Somehow, she knew he was there.

'Sanjouin-sama!' she exclaimed, struggling up. All she could see was his shadow through the curtains. He must be standing on the balcony outside. She knew him by his silhouette alone. He stood with his head down, pensive, it seemed. She wanted terribly badly to reach out to him, to do something to make things easier for him, to show her love.

'Sanjouin Masato is a disguise,' he said. 'My real name is Nephrite. I don't want to deceive you. Are you listening?'

'You're a wonderful girl. Because of you, I learned what love means. It doesn't exist in the warped society I come from. Betrayal is commonplace... if any of them thought it would give them an advantage, they would kill you as soon as look at you. I always thought that was the normal way for things to be... but your love has opened my eyes.

'I am thinking of joining Sailormoon, to fight on her side. If you can tell me anything about Sailormoon... please, let me know.'

Naru's heart ached. The one thing he was asking for, and it was not in her power to give. 'I'm sorry. I don't know anything.'

'Wait!' Naru leapt out of bed, tore open the curtains. There was no-one out there.

'Nephrite-sama...' Knowing his name was no comfort. She sank to the floor, her back pressed against the cool glass of the window.

Nephrite, concealed from Naru's eyes, was triumphant. Understand love? He could use it. If she knows Sailormoon's identity, she'll surely get in touch with her now.

Other eyes were upon Naru. Unsympathetic eyes. Zoisite stood on a rooftop with three strange women.

'Goodness me. Is he really that silly? Falling in love with a human female? Well,' murmured Zoisite, 'you heard him.'

'We'll bide our time,' Zoisite said, leaning against the illuminated 'Happy' sign that dominated the roof. 'Nephrite is quite a warrior. I don't want to risk a direct confrontation... we could really get hurt. Take the girl hostage and lure him out.'

'H'lo,' she mumbled into the receiver. There was silence at the other end. 'Hello?'

'Naru-chan? What is it?' Usagi was alert now, and worried, but trying to keep her voice down.

'I thought... you're the only one I could talk to...' Naru sat on the floor, her hand cupped around the mouthpiece. She couldn't tell everything, even to Usagi. But she couldn't stand being alone with this knowledge.

'Sanjouin-sama is looking for Sailormoon. He's in some kind of trouble... but there's nothing I can do...'

'What was that about Sanjouin-san?' Luna asked from the floor. Usagi paused. 'Naru-chan - are you crying?'

'I'm sorry,' Naru said hastily, 'forget it.' Usagi began to protest, but Naru went on. 'It's okay. Talking to you has made me feel much better... thank you...'

Naru did not see that Nephrite was once more outside her window. 'Usagi,' he repeated.

'Really?' Usagi asked. There was no reply. Her heart sank. There was no way she could leave Naru alone at a time like this. She ran upstairs, put on the first clothes that came to hand, and dashed out of the house. Pelting through the cold streets with Luna, she gasped 'I'll bet Nephrite's using Naru-chan again!'

'I'm not a cat!' Usagi wailed. She strained to keep up, but stopped in her tracks when the world seemed to warp around her. The pavement, the concrete walls to either side, the sky above twisted and buckled.

'What is this!? I know - it's the youma! Where are you? Show yourselves!' She was too angry to be afraid. Tsukino Usagi might not be able to deal with this situation, but Sailormoon could.

Sailormoon whirled to a halt, and saw, to her horror, Nephrite appearing with a dark chuckle.

This was a definite 'oh crap' moment for Usagi. 'Please don't tell anyone!' she said desperately, uselessly.

'You have nothing to worry about,' said Nephrite. 'You're going to die right here!'

'I don't wanna!' Screaming, running, half-falling, she somehow managed to avoid the bolts he shot at her, but finally she stumbled and could not get up right away. Nephrite loomed over her, exultant. 'Say your prayers.'

A red rose slashed through the air and landed between them. They both looked up to where it had come from. Tuxedo Kamen stood atop a lamp-post, his cape streaming in the wind. (How does he get up there?)

'Defeat ill becomes the beautiful Sailormoon,' Tuxedo Kamen declared. 'I will fight you.'

As Nephrite squared up to take on the two of them, a voice spoke in his mind. Nothing could have come as more of a surprise to him. He was used to being alone in the darkness of his mind, but there was Naru's voice, piercing, afraid. Help me, Nephrite-sama! He was visibly shaken. Sailormoon and Tuxedo Kamen stared at him, wondering what was happening now.

'This fight will have to wait,' Nephrite said. 'Sailormoon: since I know your true identity, I can strike at you any time, anywhere. Don't forget.' He was gone, leaving Sailormoon distraught. Now what do I do?

'Don't despair,' said Tuxedo Kamen, 'even if your cover has been broken. Farewell!' He walked away.

In the street below Osa-P, Luna looked up and saw a weird figure floating through the air, Naru's limp body slung over its arms. Time, she realised, to call out the Sailor Senshi.

Not long afterward, Nephrite stood in Naru's bedroom. It seemed she was long gone. On top of the bedcovers lay a note.

'Give us the kurozuishou and we'll give you the girl.' Some stooge of Zoisite's. That fool. Why should I care what happens to some girl?

And yet, in his mind, Naru was all he could see.

In the cellar of an abandoned store, Zoisite's servants waited. Naru was manacled to the wall, a small, forlorn figure in orange and green pajamas.

'Nephrite-sama!' Naru cried. (I've been trying not to interrupt the flow of this story with my comments, but really, when you saw him come down those stairs to save her after all, didn't you just want to let rip with a hallelujah chorus?)

Gotcha.

'You can attack me, you can send assassins after me, and that's fine. But nobody messes with my girlfriend.' </Buffy>

The battle was swift. For all their smoke bombs and reptilian speed, the women were sorely outmatched by Nephrite, armed with what seemed to be a sword of solid light. Two of the women had been knocked out within seconds and the third stood pinioned against the wall, the blade at her throat.

'You can tell Zoisite that I will not be handing over the kurozuishou,' Nephrite said. Dismissing the failed kidnapper, he turned to look at Naru.

Rescue!

'There's no need to thank me. Even I don't know why I rescued you. Besides... I deceived you, all along. And I may do it again.'

Held in his arms, Naru felt utterly safe. He was carrying her away from that terrible place, back towards the park. She leaned her head against his warm, strong shoulder.

Naru's eyes turned to his right sleeve. There was a jagged rip in it, and a stain which, despite its greenish colour, could only be blood.

'It's nothing,' Nephrite tried to say, but her eyes were blazing with concern. She struggled down from his arms.

'It is not! You got this for my sake. Those freaky ladies might come after us again. Here, take off your jacket.' She led him into the park, and made him sit down at the foot of a tree. Nephrite did as he was told, and Naru, using her teeth when the material would not rip at first, tore a strip from her pajama jacket. She started to bandage his arm. Nephrite watched her, as bemused by the tenderness on her face as by the answering warmth he felt inside. He was ruined... could never go back to the Dark Kingdom... a marked man... but he felt happy, for no reason other than that he was with her.

'On Third Street,' she said suddenly, 'there's this café that serves really delicious chocolate parfaits.'

'Liar,' she said gently. 'But there are generous lies.' She tied the ends of the bandage and settled herself beside him. Nephrite moved his arm experimentally. 'Thank you.'

'I always wished I could go there for a chocolate parfait with you. That's my little dream,' Naru said.

'No,' she said, beaming. 'I feel too happy.' Suddenly she looked preoccupied. 'Oh yeah. Is Sunday a day off in that evil kingdom, too?'

He stared at her for a moment, startled. She was so sweet, so serious, so funny. For the first time since he could remember, Nephrite wanted to laugh, not sarcastically, not cruelly, just a simple, honest laugh that bubbled its way up and burst out irrepressibly. He let it; it felt better than anything ever had.

'Oh! I can see you smiling!' Naru exclaimed, and burst into peals of laughter too. The gentle sound filled the night around them. Naru rubbed at her eyes. 'Silly... I'm crying and laughing at the same time...'

Owww.

Pure malevolence lanced at them out of the dark. As Nephrite lunged to push Naru out of the way, it seemed to him that it really was hate made solid that struck him and burst through his shoulder, creating a splitting blossom of agony that threatened to overwhelm him. It was a thick, gnarled cluster of thorns, driven in so deeply that the jagged ends protruded from his back. Tiny golden lightning bolts crackled up and down its length. Zoisite's creatures stepped forward.

It wasn't worth it, Nephrite saw. His own life certainly wasn't worth it. Whatever happened, he could accept if he knew Naru was safe.

'NO!' she screamed back, senseless, fearless. She laid hold of the thorn and dragged on it with all her might.

The thorn sparked, crackled, shocked her, and she hung on. Her hands blistered but she would not let go. She whimpered, sobbed, but continued to pull.

'Run while you still can!' Nephrite pleaded. 'It's all right. You've done enough!' Then, slowly, incredibly, mercifully, the thorn began to slip from the wound. The assassins stared in disbelief.

'Nephrite-sama,' Naru sobbed, 'don't die.'

'Then I'll finish the pair of you,' snapped one of the women. She leapt in the air, hurled a cluster of vicious little bombs at the two of them. Nephrite pushed Naru away, shielded her with his body.

The blast was intense. Clouds of oily black smoke filled the air, and the kurozuishou rolled end over end onto the grass. As the smoke cleared, it revealed Nephrite still hunched over Naru, his shirt burned away, his back torn and bloody. Naru opened her eyes, saw him hovering above her, his face pale and sweaty, his eyes almost unseeing.

In the air above them, Zoisite appeared, hand outstretched. 'Well done,' he said to the assassins. 'The kurozuishou is mine.' The crystal rose obediently through the air to his hand. 'Aren't you lucky?' he asked Nephrite, his voice always gentle, teasing. 'You get to die with the girl you love. Torment them however you like.' That was to the assassins.

'You... weasel,' Nephrite choked. Naru stared at his injuries, sick with fear. The assassins stepped forward. Once more, Nephrite told Naru to run. Once more, she refused. The assassin who had impaled Nephrite on the thorn raised her vine-like arm again, and...

'Hold it right there!' Three figures, outlined by brilliant white light, appeared amid the trees. The cavalry had arrived, and it wore a sailor suit. Sailors Moon, Mercury and Mars had come to see that justice was served, and that courting couples could spend an evening in the park unmolested.

It was not to be. Confused by the dense fog of a Shabon Spray (you can't say those little bubbles aren't worth their weight in gold) the three women were cut down by a combined Fire Soul/Moon Tiara Action attack. Their ashes blew away into the night, and the three girls turned their attention to the huddled pair on the grass.

Nephrite, supported in a sitting position by Naru, spoke softly to Sailormoon. 'It looks like no-one will find out your identity now.'

'Please,' she said helplessly, 'don't die.' He wasn't listening to her. Breathing was becoming more difficult.

'I'm sorry,' he murmured to Naru. 'I don't think we'll get to share that chocolate parfait.'

'Don't say that.' He reached up one bloodstained hand, and very gently touched her face. She pressed his hand to her face with her own, eyes closed.

'I deceived you to the end... I'm sorry. I'm truly glad... to have known you.' He grew still. The hand Naru held slipped from her cheek.

Love lies bleeding

Shining light

'No,' she said urgently,'don't.' He was past hearing. A soft light shone from within his body, which seemed to grow translucent, unreal, then broke into many coloured motes, bubbles of lights, shifting and intangible.

'You promised! You said we'd go out for chocolate parfait together!' The bandage dropped to the grass, empty. Trying to hold the bubbles together, to hold them to her, Naru realised the hopelessness of it and screamed. 'NO!'

The Senshi held back, afraid to speak to her or touch her. Utterly alone in her grief, Naru wept bitterly. 'You can't do this to me...'

Nothing was left of Nephrite but the glowing points of light, gently ascending to his home in the stars.

The End