Love at Second Glance by Calico Kat Author's Note: I'm using these charchters without permission, they're owned by someone else. Please don't sue me, I'm making no money off this story. Also, those of you offended by Kunzite and Zoisite's relationship in the original version of Sailor Moon, this story's all about them, you have been warned. I know that Kunzite was supposodly Zoisite's mentor, and since I never really caught what he was supposed to be teaching him I am assuming that it is battle skills. I've also decided to have Zoisite be one of Kunzite's underlings, although in Japan they seemed to be referred to as the four kings as if they were all equals. Oh well, I'm making up my own ranking system, why write fanfics if you can't bend the story some, ne? Note that words between - - are thoughts (-like this-), that confuses some people. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Love at Second Glance Part 1 Dedicated to everyone who loves Zoisite for who he is, and not what they want 'her' to be. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Good job, you're learning more quickly these days, you know." "Only because I've such good teacher." Kunzite nodded absently, acknologing the compliment, then said bluntly, "You are dismissed." The younger man smiled and dissapeared in a swirl of cherry blossoms, leaving Kunzite alone once again. He found he liked it that way, without all his pesky underlings to train. Very few in his legion had the potential to achive any noteable rank. There were three that he bothered to train privetly. Zoisite was showing the most promise in sheer power, all though Kunzite knew the man was far to impetuous and vindictive for his own good. Kunzite sighed and teloported to his study. Inhaling deeply he appreciated the dusty rich smell of his many books, and the sour tang of metal that wafted from his weapon's collection. Both were much more pleasent than the salty sweet smell of sweat that tainted the practice arena. In the center of the bookshelves and weapons racks sat Kunzite's desk, a large black and gold marble desk with more secret compartments than one could count on two hands. Sitting down in the black painted dragonbone chair's soft gold cushions, Kunzite popped a hidden catch in one of the intricite carvings of dragons dancing through thorny vines that decorated the desk. He waited a few moments before reaching up to remove a drawer from what looked like unbroken marble. In the drawer was a sizeable amount of official document paper. Alone it might have been normal for someone of Kunzite's rank to posess such. But, next to the paper, sat a bottle of magicly enhanced gold ink used only by Beryl's personal scribes, and a stamp with the distinctive seal used only on papers written by Beryl herself.Beryl should have been the only one to posess such a stamp, the original stored in the large jewl of her tiaria. Kunzite grimaced as he thought of all he had gone through to obtain the copy. Kunzite ignored the illegal items and reached under the stack of paper to pull out a large black notebook. He sat it on the desk and returned the drawer to it's hiding place. Flipping open the notebook he pulled out a Earth-style ball point pen and reviewed and edited his notes. The plan was feasible. If he could build up a large enough legion of youma, using forged documents made from his stolen supplies, to draw other dissatisfied officers into his army, he could overthrow eryl and place himself as the ruler of the Dark Kingdom. All he needed was a concentrated power source that he alone could weild aginst Beryl, and a position a bit closer to the power than the one he held now. Metallia would support him if he proved to be stronger than Beryl, and- Continuing to stare at his notes as if nothing was wrong Kunzite anylized the new presence. Breathing deeply, as if sighing, he caught a faint wiff of cherry blossoms. Lowering his mental defenses enough to use his 'sixth sense,' the ability to detect magical forces, he sensed a framilier presence almost directly above him. It was probaly close enough to read Kunzite's large neat hand writing over his sholder. Focousing his energy Kunzite wheeled to fire an energy bolt at the intruder, and watched in satisfaction as a stunned Zoisite fell to the floor. The younger man began to summon his trademark petal storm to teleport in, and found himself facing a wickedly shap double edged sword, which Kunzite had grabbed off a nearby rack. "Try and leave and I'll kill you. I really don't know why you're alive now. How much did you read?" "N... none Lord Kunzite. I simply came to tell you..." Zoisite felt the sword barely peirce his neck, just enough to send a fat drop of blood trickling down onto his uniform. "The truth Zoisite, I can tell when you lie." "All of it, I read all of it." Zoisite squeaked, his thoat tightning as he tried to quell his fear. Kunzite didn't bluff, if he said he'd kill someone, he meant it. "I see..." Kunzite trailed off looking down at the sword, then back up to the trembling copper haired man. "Please my lord, don't kill me!" "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't run you through right now." Zoisite's eyes widened to saucers and he bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. "Please, I didn't mean any harm!" "No reasons then?" Zoisite simply shook is head, too scared to anwser. "Well then, you showed a lot of promise Zoisite. Such a waste of talent. Too bad, so sad, see you on the other side." Kunzite sighed as he yanked Zoisite to his feet, pulling him up by his long poneytail. Unlike some of Beryl's officers Kunzite didn't enjoy resorting to execution. But if he didn't kill Zoisite now it would be Kunzite soaking in his own blood. Or mabye not, in Beryl's army there were fates worse than death for traitors. "Lord Kunzite please! I'll help you! I'm a very good spy, and I know almost all the hidden passages in Beryl's palace! I'll do whatever you want! I'll help you take down Azurite!" Zoisite moaned, the usual death plea. Kunzite decided that this made it much easier to kill the younger man, he hated people who resorted to begging. Muttering an obscene comment to whatever god might be listining Kunzite drew his sword arm back, preparing to gut the copper haired man. He expected Zoisite to beg some more, as most of the youma he had killed before would. But Zoisite simply closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the trembling stopped and his face shifted from pleading to grim indifference. This, and the strange feeling that he was about to strike down and old friend or a brother, caused Kunzite to halt the killing stroke. For a moment there ws tense scilence in the study, then Kunzite lowered the sword and knocked Zoisite to the ground. "Damn you! I can't just kill you like that! Why don't you just whine like the others?" Zoisite cautiously sat up and brushed his sweat soaked bangs from his eyes. "It didn't seem to matter wether I begged or not, I thought I'd die either way." Kunzite muttered a few more curses and glanced down at the younger man. "It's going to be a lot harder to kill you now." "I meant what I said Lord Kunzite. I've no love for Beryl, and no praticular loyalty to the kingdom." "You're a self centered self perserving brat, aren't you?" "I suppose so my lord." Kunzite sighed and leaned aginst the dragonbone chair, pondering the situation. Finally he strightned and motioned for Zoisite to come closer. Zoisite eyed him warily but slowly came to stand four feet in front of him, there he stayed not intending to come any closer. Kunzite lept foward and grabbed Zoisite's poneytail again, pulling the smaller man's head back until Zoisite's gaze met his own. With his other hand he reached back and pulled out a small black pellet. Holding it before Zoisite's fear filled green eyes he asked, "Do you know what this is?" Zoisite shook his head as well as he was able, "No my lord." "It's an ingenious little device I picked up from the earth relm. The humans usually use it to keep control of people they don't trust much, and quite frankly, I don't trust you to not run off to Beryl as soon as I allow you to leave. When triggered it releases a considrible amount of poision into the blood stream. There's no known antidote, since in the earth relm this drug offically dosen't exist. The poision is slowly absorbed into the walls of the blood veins, eventualy eating through them. Usually the victiam goes into convulsions and tears that weakend tissue right off. It's a horribly painful way to die. Now, how would you like that to happen to you?" Kunzite asked cheerfully. "I don't think I'd enjoy it my lord." Zoisite said, he really didn't like where this conversation was going, but Kunzite was far more powerful than he, and he decided it best to remain submissive. "Good, because if you're a good little boy and follow my orders you'll never have to go through with that. But if not..." Kunzite shoved the pellet into Zoisite's upper arm, using his magic to part skin and muscle and bond the pellet to the bone. Then, with equally little effort, he closed the wound. "If not I'll simply trigger that little pellet, and you'll be dead. How old are you Zoisite?" "Nine... nineteen, Lord Kunzite." "With a good long life ahead of you I suppose?" "I'd hope so my lord." "Let's keep it that way Zoisite," Kunzite said bluntly, releasing his hold on the silky copper hair. "You are dismissed, I'll see you tomorrow at practice as usual." "Yes, Lord Kunzite," Zoisite said, as if really breathing for the first time in a long while. Kunzite laughed out loud as the frightened young man teleported away. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zoisite reformed himself in his two room house with one thought raging through his mind, revenge. But, Kunzite was far mor powerful. And, apparentlly there wasn't much he could do with that blasted poision in his arm. -Mabye he was bluffing. No, Kunzite never bluffs, he dosen't need to.- Sighing he flopped onto his bed and tried to doze off. He hated no win situations. Kunzite had always been his overlord, as far back as Zoisite could rember. He had even been one of Kunzite's pet students, for the past year or so. But he'd never really felt Kunzite's presence in his life as he did now. Never had to aknoloadge that another being had complete control of his life. Jerking up from the bed he screamed angerily at the wall, "It's not FAIR!" But the wall didn't seem to care one way or the other. Zoisite sank back into the covers in despair. He realized that up till now he had felt nothing but respect for the silver haired man, on the rare occasions when he thought of someone besides himself. Well, that wasn't entirely true. There were a few times during the training sessions when Kunzite traded his uniform jacket for a loose fitting shirt, or took it off enterily. Then Zoisite had found himself feeling a little more than respect for his mentor. -He probaly hasn't ever thought about me that way. But what if he has? What if... NO! I refuse to think of being used-like-that! I'd rather die! I'm sure he's too professional to do that anyway.- Giving a groan of something between sickness and anger, Zoisite walked across the small room to retrive a bottle of purloined wine from a small ice box in the corner. The box was cooled by a minor formless youma, or soul youma. Zoisite fed it some of his own energy, noting that the nearly invisible creature was looking a bit lighter than usual. The small cloud clicked happily in response and began generating considerbily more cold air than before. -Should I drink this? I know I can't always hold alchohal well, but I've never really been drunk before. Never had a reason to get drunk. But the way I feel now, it' so humiliating! I need to forget this for a while. First time for everything...- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I'm having you pair off today. So choose a partner and start sparring. Anyone who draws blood will be punished, so take care!" Kunzite said, survaying his legion of youma. As they moved out on to the practice feild, Kunzite went into a small observation booth at one end. The booth had been built specificly so that the commanders wouldn't have to hear their troops annoying mock battle cries. By now Kunzite's legion was one of the most powerful in the Dark Kingdom, and was considered the elite. Kunzite focoused on the few youma who showed real potitinal. Ninjaria was skilled in all forms of martial arts, and a shrewd diplomat when pressed, she was definitly the prime canadite for promotion. Thetis showed much potential with her mastrey of water, but she seemed to be in love with one of the younger officers, Jadeite, although she was careful to hide it. Kunzite feared loosing this powerful ally to him. And Zoisite... where was Zoisite? "Hiya Kunz-sama *hiccup*" Kunzite jumped in his seat to see Zoisite leaning on the arm of his chair. His long copper hair cascaded over his sholders, unusually unkempt. His uniform was tousled and several of the jacket fasteners undone. The smell of wine on his breath was nearly overwhelming. "Zoisite why aren't you out on the feild?" Kunzite asked, hoping Zoisite wasn't 'too' drunk. "Thought you wanted me boss *giggle* I'm in on all your plans now." "Zoisite, go out on the feild." Zoisite paused, indecisive, then smiled down at Kunzite, "Don't you think I'm pretty?" "Zoisite, get out, now." "But... don't you like me?" Zoisite asked, before Kunzite could anwser he went on. "I really like you you know. I mean, you're very handsome. I'm sorta pissed about the whole poision thing, but I do like it when we're sparing and you take your jacket off. I'm not really that ditzy you know *hic* not my fault you beat me so many times. I get all distracted. I just like the view *hic* and having you push me around." Kunzite felt the color rise in his cheeks and forced himself to remain calm about this. He'd never really thought about other men like 'that', and had certanily never had anyone of the same sex tell him anything of he sort to his face. "Zoisite-" "I really like other men... don't talk about it much though *hic* But I love the way you..." "That's enough! Just-" Kunzite paused, instinctivly reaching out to catch Zoisite and the younger man passed out. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Part One ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, finally finished the first part of the story, it took me forever to get it sounding right. There's only going to be two, mabye three, parts as Kunzite and Zoisite try and assasinate Lord Azurite, the only general who ranks above Kunzite. Oh yeah... they'll probaly fall in love too, hence the story's title. About the author, me, Calico Kat. People keep on asking me if I'm a boy or a girl, since I keep on writing Kunzite/Zoisite fics (they're scattered across the web). I am a girl, thank you. I'm under twenty and over ten, and simply love Zoi-chan. If you actually want to read more of my stories, comment on this one, or talk about your Zoisite obsession e-mail at: calico516@aol.com