At first angry was the word that Zoicite wanted to use to describe how he felt at the moment – but then he decided that was hardly descriptive enough. Perhaps livid or enraged would at least come a bit closer. Somehow an innocent encounter had turned into something gone so horribly wrong.
He had been strolling through the Moon Palace hoping to encounter the Mercurian Princess he had grown fond of when he heard hushed voices coming from another corridor. Curious, as he tended to be, he turned to follow the voices, recognizing one instantly to be Jadeite’s. Zoicite followed the voices until he reached the end of the hallway, then he carefully peered around the corner to find the source of the conversation. It was there that he had found Jadeite with none other than the Martian Princess. She was dressed in a silky red gown and was standing with her back against the stark white wall. Jadeite hovered over her, standing precariously close with one arm propping him up against the same wall, their noses nearly touching from the closeness of their proximity.
Zoicite grinned to himself realizing that he had finally stumbled upon Jadeite’s secret. For quite some time now Jadeite had been mysteriously disappearing for extended amounts of time, claiming that he simply found himself lost in the halls of the Moon Palace. This seemed to be a ludicrous explanation if Zoicite ever heard one – especially considering that Jadeite was notorious for his tracking abilities. This though, this finally explained everything. It was no secret that he fancied the raven haired girl, but the fact that she did indeed return the sediment was something new.
Jadeite leaned in and kissed her lightly on her check, to which she smiled in return. Zoicite slowly took a step back so as to avoid being seen and as he turned he had the misfortune of bumping into one of the Palace servants who then proceeded to drop the contents of her serving tray all over him. The loud clatter of the plates crashing onto the floor echoed down the hallway, and if that wasn’t enough, the poor girls shouts of apologizes was sure to draw the attention of anyone within a 2 mile radius. Zoicite looked down on himself to see that he was now covered with a pitcher of wine and several other food items – most notably what appeared to be a tomato was now smeared across his white jacket. He quickly looked over to where Rei and Jadeite stood to see that they were now staring at him wide eyed. To make matters worse, somehow Kunzite had also been drawn to the hallway and now stood with a grin plastered to his face as he took in Zoicite’s appearance. That is until he looked over to where the other couple was standing and a frown suddenly overtook his features.
Kunzite turned to the couple and Jadeite almost shirked in response, knowing the chastising that was sure to follow. Seeing as how Kunzite was never one to disappoint when it came to discipline, Jadeite was quickly given a scolding for being caught standing so indecently. Rei merely gave him a glare that almost rivaled Kunzite’s own before turning and walking away. Jadeite attempted to follow her but was stopped when Kunzite spoke again, telling him that he may pursue the Martian Princess later with an apology after they were done talking. In the meantime, Zoicite worked on carefully extracting the food from his uniform all the while telling the servant girl that he wasn’t angry – even when that wasn’t truly the case, but why make her day any worse than his own? He glanced down at his sword to realize that the wine not absorbed by his clothing had managed to spill down the length of his sword and it was now also covered in the sticky substance. At least his hair had managed to escape unscathed.
Perhaps out of pity more than anything, Kunzite told Zoicite to take the remainder of the afternoon off to clean himself up before resuming his duties later that night. Jadeite, on the other hand, appeared as though Kunzite was nowhere near done with him. For a moment, Zoicite imagined himself being in Jadeite’s position as he also pursued one of the Senshi that he had been pre-warned not to have relations with. It seemed as though when something was that important you had no choice but to proceed despite the obvious risks.
So now, here he was, walking through the halls of the Moon Palace covered in a multitude of colors and trying not to outwardly scowl as every person he passed blatantly stared at him. Finally he exited the Palace on the South end. He had been told that there was a pond on the outskirts of the Palace grounds and he figured that would be as good of a place as any to hide out and clean his self up. Most importantly he was concerned about what the sticky substance would do to his sword if he didn’t clean it as soon as possible. This day was not off to a good start that was for sure. Although at the very least Kunzite did give him the remainder of the afternoon off which he certainly couldn’t complain about.
With a sigh, Zoicite finally arrived at the small pond and found it deserted – just like he had been hoping for. He approached the two large boulders that sat on the water’s edge and started to unclasp his cape, letting it drop unceremoniously to the ground in a heap. Next he worked at pulling off his jacket which now started to feel stiff from the myriad of substances it absorbed. He kneeled by the water and scooped up a handful of the clear fluid, shivering at the cold temperature as he splashed the water against his chest trying to feel at least a little less disgusted. Deciding that a full scrub down in the shower was inevitable he sat on the nearest boulder and swung his legs over onto the other boulder, resting his boots against the rough surface. He unsheathed his sword and started working on cleaning the sticky fluid from the once shiny façade, grumbling to himself that this day had to get better for the sake of his sanity.
