“Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command.”
Alan Watts

Nephrite couldn't remember when it had started. He couldn't remember when she'd stopped being a victim of his plan and started being a victim of his feelings. Perhaps it was her warmth. Perhaps it was her belief. Perhaps it was the way she looked at him: like he was human. Like he was real and believable and honorable. Admiration and delight, all contained in those human eyes.

At first it had been so simple. All the trappings of success, the shiny car, the sunglasses and the tastefully expensive watch... easy to impress. Then somehow, the look in her eyes had become more and more important. Now she was important.

Important to him.

How could love come from such pretense? How could he feel like this? How could he feel at all?

Nephrite felt scared of it, when he allowed himself to think; so he didn't let himself think too often. He just let the feeling take him; this love which had shed its false trappings and turned real. Real and fatal.

Fatally addictive.


DISCLAIMER: I own neither of these characters. They both belong to Naoko Takeuchi.