A.N. Another short. Somewhat inspired (I suppose subconciously?) by Micacite's My Sin. I didn't knowingly borrow from it, but now that I look over the story I realize it has some unintentional similarites maybe - just wanted to give credit where credit is due (or something like that.) It could just be that I'm paranoid. Oh, well.

Moon Gazing

“Princess, come here!” a voice hissed frantically. But in the darkness it was impossible to find even that faint glow of white that always betrayed the moon child.

Sailor Jupiter was not in the mood for games tonight. Serenity had announced that she and the Prince were meeting by night in order to 'gaze at the Moon' – but Jupiter only wanted to be snuggled up in her warm bed with her book.

“Princess!?” she whispered, risking a small jolt of electricity to light up her surroundings briefly. All this accomplished was to make her even more blind in the darkness. The brief flare jolted her finger and made it tingle.

“Damn.” She nursed her finger - she was young and didn't quite have perfect control of her powers yet.

“Excuse me?” a very masculine voice asked. Whoever he was he was far too close for comfort. Jupiter swallowed and took a fighting stance.

“W-where are you?” she called. She was more than a little nervous right now. If they were caught – perish the thought – she didn't know what the Queen would do to her, let alone the Earthlings. She'd heard horrible stories about how hideous they were, and how barbaric their customs seemed. She shuddered.

“May I inquire, are you by any chance another Moon Princess?” the man asked. She whipped her lightning dazzled eyes to the left and glimpsed a tall shadow. Whoever he was these Earthlings must be giants – he was half a head taller than she (and she was taller than some of the men on the Moon).

She gulped.

“No.”

“Somehow, I thought not,” she heard the man mutter to himself.

“Uh, I'm looking for the Moon Princess,” she declared, lifting her chin, “I don't mean you any harm, I simply want to return with the princess. So if you could please just tell me where she is, I'll be on my way.”

The man cocked his head to one side, and his tone when he spoke sounded amused.

“How old are you?”

Jupiter frowned.

“I hardly see how that has anything to do with -”

“I'm nineteen,” he added, stepping closer so that the moonlight fell on his dark features.

She involuntarily gasped. Despite everything she had been led to believe she found that Earthlings were quite handsome.

Do they all have beautiful brown hair and sparkling eyes? She wondered. Then shook herself.

“Uh, just tell me where the princess is.”

“I'm going to guess that you're...eighteen?”

She blinked, and he took another step toward her.

“Sixteen?” he asked.

Jupiter, caught up by his eyes and the commanding way he carried himself, felt rooted to the ground and unable to move.

“You can't be younger than that, surely?” he finished, standing before her and looking down at her with a meltingly kind smile.

“I'm...fourteen,” she murmured.

His brows snapped together, and she caught a breath as she saw him frown. Unconsciously she readied herself to attack.

“Well, it must be the moonlight,” he said at last, shaking his head so that his flowing hair whisked around his face – it reminded her of a lion's mane, “because I could have sworn the princess's guardians were older.”

“Well, I'm the youngest,” Jupiter blurted out. She cringed inwardly at her own ineptitude.

But he seemed intrigued inspite of her blundering forthrightness. In a very courtly and somewhat protective fashion he offered her his arm.

“I believe you are looking for your princess and I am woefully distracting you from your purpose, allow me to escort you in your search, lady...”

“Jupiter,” she answered, gingerly taking his arm.

This was a thrill unlike any she'd experienced before. A tall, handsome man was escorting her through a garden in the moonlight. This was better than that book Mercury had let her borrow.

“Jupiter?” he asked, “Lovely.”

She blushed. Was he referring to her name or herself?

“I am Lord Nephrite.”

“Oh, that's an unusual name,” she said without thinking.

To her relief he only chuckled.

“Believe me I've been told so many times. It's my court name,” he added, “not my personal name.”

Jupiter nodded. She understood about private names, courtly names and family names – every name had a certain power and meaning to it. It was dangerous for anyone to know your real name – it was like letting them see the real self that was hidden inside.

She smiled up at him shyly and caught her breath yet again as he answered her shy smile with his own warm, regal one.

“Are you a prince?” she asked innocently.

“No,” he grinned, “Just a normal human, I'm afraid, but I serve the prince in a similar capacity to the manner in which you serve your princess.”

“You're a guardian? A warrior?”

“Well, I can fight,” he admitted, “but I prefer...less violent methods of persuasion.”

Something about the gleam in his eyes made her shiver in a pleasant way. It was all very confusing. Maybe, she thought, she had simply dreamed the whole thing in the first place and Serenity was safe in her little bed asleep.

Nephrite stopped them suddenly, laying a gentle hand on her arm.

Leaning close to her ear, he whispered, “Look there, Lady Jupiter.”

Jupiter strained her eyes to see where he pointed and nearly fell over. Serenity was walking through the Earthly gardens arm in arm with a tall, dark haired man in armor.

“The prince.” she breathed.

She heard a low chuckle beside her.

“And now you'll forget all about me,” her companion complained mockingly, “everyone does when they see Prince Endymion. It's alright though,” he continued, eying her as though his heart was breaking, “I'll get over it in time. I always do.”

She giggled, softly and was pleased to see him wink at her.

“I think,” she added, bravely, her cheeks coloring, “that you are just as handsome as the prince.”

She didn't dare to look at him, but she felt him turn his lovely eyes on her profile in surprise.

“Only 'just'?” he asked after a moment.

“Oh,” she laughed, “don't fish for compliments.”

“Now this will not do,” he commanded, in a stern tone, turning her face toward him with a finger.

“Lady Jupiter, I demand you make judgment with those beautiful emerald eyes – who is the better man? Myself or my prince?”

Jupiter suddenly felt too shy to keep up the banter under his gaze and fell silent. He sensed her discomfort and frowned slightly as though he was the one passing judgment now - and the verdict oddly seemed very important to Jupiter.

“Jupiter!”

She turned away sharply, relieved by the interruption.

“Is it time to go?” the moon princess asked, sadly.

“Yes, it's past time we were both in bed!” Jupiter clucked disapprovingly, she gave the smaller girl a push in the direction of the portal in the lower gardens of the Golden Kingdom.

She turned to run after her princess when a light touch on her wrist stopped her. She felt her heart beat irregularly as a pair of strong hands settled on her shoulders and forced her to confront Nephrite's searching face.

“You have been reprieved for tonight, Lady Jupiter,” he said somberly, “but the next time you visit you will have to confess which of us is more to your liking.”

Jupiter looked into his eyes with slight defiance.

“I may not like either of you,” she countered, “I barely know you, after all.”

“That is why you must come as often as you can,” he explained, as if this should have been obvious from the start, “in order to judge between us more fairly.”

“I hope you will chose wisely, lady.”

He released her and deftly lifted her hand to his lips to plant a light kiss on it. Jupiter's cheeks glowed as he returned her hand to her and into her other hand dropped a small, red bloom.

“A token,” he said, lightly, “so that you won't forget me entirely.”

Jupiter knew it was highly unlikely she would ever forget this man, or this night.

“Farewell, Lady Jupiter.” He smiled, his playful demeanor returning.

“Don't keep me waiting too long!”

Jupiter caught herself sighing and shook herself hard. He probably said that to all the Earthling girls.

“The princess!” she gasped suddenly, and turned to find Serenity smiling at her with an innocent yet mischievous look in her eyes.

Jupiter groaned, she would never hear the end of this.

“I didn't realize they were so young,” the taller man commented.

“Young,” the other replied, “by our standards, but you know they say the moon people live thousands of years.”

The other man snorted.

“Anyway, why does it matter?” the second asked, curiously.

“Oh, I just wondered,” the first answered, nonchalantly, twirling a rose stem in his hand.

“The moon certainly is beautiful tonight, my lord,” he continued, absently.

“I thought you were only interested in the stars,” the other man commented, amused.

“Well,” Nephrite grinned, “Let us say that...tonight has changed my perspective somewhat.”

“I have a feeling we'll both be doing a lot of moon gazing from now on.”