Minako punched Adonis in the arm in her playful manner as they walked down the hall, first pausing to make sure that no one was looking. She often joked that it would be unbecoming of a princess to be seen doing something so violent, but he laughed at her saying that she was more warrior than princess anyway.
‘And how would you know?’ she would ask, her voice full of her normal teasing nature.
He would smile and wrap his arm around her before responding, ‘because I am in charge of the whole Venusian army and not even I am warrior enough to match you.’
They would laugh and she would follow up with some crude joke that she had heard in her travels as lead delegate for the moon. Sometimes he would blush at her words, other times when he was in the mood he would top her comments with some of his own making her the one to blush.
The couple had known each other their whole lives having been raised in the same circles since birth. Adonis was 22, 3 years her senior. He often liked to tease her about being younger saying that he could teach her a thing or two. One day she took him up on his offer thinking that he would back down being a man of all talk, but she found herself surprised when he brought her to his room and became the first man she ever laid with. They were not in love, nor were they exclusive to each other, although from time to time they found themselves sharing a bed during her visits from the moon. Her parents still held hopes that she would marry the esteemed soldier, but the young couple knew better.
‘Tell me about Earth,’ he had begun begging her a few months ago.
She would shrug her shoulders with indifference and wait for him to pay her a compliment before continuing. At first she tells him about the most boring parts of her trip, and only after then she tells him about Endymion and his legendary Shitennou.
‘I will become a Shitennou,’ Adonis announces, his voice booming with pride.
‘I don’t know that you are handsome enough,’ she teases him in return.
His eyes check the hallway to find that they are still alone. He presses her with more roughness than necessary against the wall and says ‘but I am your legendary lover’ before he places a firm kiss on her lips, smiling when her hands start to wind their way around his neck. She moans deep in her throat and he pulls away, continuing down the hallway as she runs to catch up with him.
She will payback his favor, and he smiles knowing that she, being the bolder of the two as she grew older, would wait until she knew they might get caught to do so. Whether it be a stolen kiss or a teasing touch as her hand slids down the front of his pants for the briefest second with her alluring touch, she would have her fun – after all, it was the competition that he had started.
‘But,’ she would continue once he acknowledged her look of indignation, ‘I have yet to meet their leader. He is always away with Endymion making some excuse or another for his absence.’ Her words were childish, but he knew that she was trying to mask her disappointment of not being able to satiate her curiosity. ‘I hear he is the best looking of them all.’
Adonis had heard the same rumors, and for a man who lusted after beauty, he knew that he would not be satisfied until he had the chance to know the validity of the words being spoken of the stranger. Minako was very similar to him in that respect. It would not surprise him if she chose to have an affair with any of those men – forbidden or no.
Today though, was different. She didn’t bother with her distractions or games; she spoke of the tall imposing man who seemed to have claimed her attentions. It was the way that she spoke of him though that caught his attention. The man didn’t seem interested in her beauty – which was quite the statement considering the goddess that she was. His comments to her were intelligent with perhaps a hint of flirtation.
‘It must be hard having such a bundle of curiosity for a Princess,’ he had said to her. The Prince said the Shitennou’s name, almost scolding him with his tone. Serenity had laughed as the blushing senshi ushered her away.
Venus turned back to the man, ‘you must stay busy having such a voracious prince.’ With a wink she and the princess were both gone, transported back to the moon.
Adonis knew in that moment that he would meet this man to decide for himself whether he was as legendary as spoken of, or a mortal who could do no more than reached for the stars, never truly able to grasp them. Although he feared that by the faraway look in Minako’s eyes that this man now held something even more precious than the heavens themselves.
