Title- Divinest Sense
Author- Starbrigid
Rating- R, for various things, just to be safe
Disclaimer- Sailor Moon does not belong to me, it belongs to Kodansa, Toei Animation,
Takeuchi-sama, and other various associations.
Summary- The Nephrite/Naru saga could have gone very differently. What would have
happened if Zoisite had gone after Naru first?
Author's Note- This is about what I believe could have been another way the Nephrite/Naru
saga went. It focuses not around Nephrite or Naru, though, but around Zoisite. It's almost
more of a portrait of his character than a story. This would not have been written if it wasn't
for my new Dark Kingdom obsession. Yes, Dark Kingdom, not Negaverse. This is firmly written
in the Japanese SM, so it includes male Zoisite and yaoi content. If those disturb you, don't
read this.
Divinest Sense
By Starbrigid
He seemed to me as if he were coming
With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger
So that it seemed the air was afraid of him...
-Dante, Inferno
Much Madness is divinest Sense-
To a discerning eye...
-Emily Dickinson, Number 435
At that moment in time, Osaka Naru was not very happy. Her once-best friend Tsukino Usagi
had blown her off yet again.
When she had asked Usagi if she wanted to go to the arcade and play some video games,
the odangoed blonde had denied politely, telling Naru she had to clean her room. There had
been something wrong with the way Usagi had said it, so Naru, in a rare moment of
suspicion, had followed Usagi from a distance. Her thoughts had been proven correct.
Usagi had met up with the school brain, Ami, and the two girls had walked to a Shinto
temple. A beautiful dark-haired priestess had greeted them, and the three of them had
entered together.
Why didn't Usagi want to do anything with her anymore? She recalled that it all had started
when she had the dream about the monster attacking her, and Sailor Moon saving her from
it. Could Usagi have been so weirded out by her description of the dream that she ditched
Naru? The trouble was, Usagi just wasn't that type of person. She wasn't judgmental at all.
Even if she had been, it would have been a ridiculous reason, anyway.
Naru's attention switched to her surroundings. She had skipped her bus home in hopes that
Usagi would want to do something. She'd have to walk back. It wasn't that far, anyway. She
had done it plenty of times.
Actually, she was rather near the park. That meant she was about ten minutes from home.
She glanced at her watch, and realized that if she hurried, she'd be able to finish all her
homework before dinner.
Suddenly she heard a polite cough. She saw a clean white pair of tennis shoes on the
sidewalk before her. "Osaka-san?" a male voice called.
Naru looked at the person who had addressed her. He had sharp green eyes, long copper
hair, and looked a good deal older than she was. He had a slender figure, clad in a
nondescript white t-shirt and blue jeans. Or at least she assumed he was a he. There was a
female air about him, and if his voice was higher, she would have thought he was a woman.
She straightened up. "Hai? Do I know you?"
The boy giggled a little, though Naru didn't understand what was so funny. "No, you don't
know me, Osaka Naru, but we share a mutual acquaintance. I'd like to talk to you, if you're
not in a hurry. It's about Sanjouin Masato."
Naru felt her face become hotter. "Um-" she bit her lip nervously. "Sure, I guess. But could
we keep this brief?"
The boy's green eyes narrowed prettily. "Of course, Osaka-san. If you cooperate, this will be
very brief indeed. Would you mind going to the park for a discussion?"
She frowned. There was something about him which made him seem like he was so much
older than he was, and there was something uncanny in the feminine, predator-like air that
hovered around him. Everyone about him screamed that he didn't belong here. She was silly
to think that, though. Naru told herself she was imagining things. There was nothing wrong
with him, and nothing to fear at all.
"That would be fine," Naru finally responded. "May I ask who you are?"
"My name is Zoisite," he told her, with an odd look on his face. "Come on. You asked if we
could hurry, remember?"
He took her arm and led her into the park. His hands were unusually pale, she noticed. He
set himself down on a wooden bench with catlike grace. Then he gestured for her to do the
same.
Once they were both settled, Zoisite leaned in and studied her intently. Looking at his face,
Naru realized she had been mistaken. He couldn't have been that much older than she was,
maybe one or two years older at most. Also, his young features were quite remarkable,
almost beautiful.
She was startled when he finally spoke. "So, Osaka-san. I am correct in my assumption
that's your name, right?" She nodded. "I am of the understanding that you have a
somewhat... unique... relationship with Neph- Sanjouin-san."
Normally Naru would have wondered about his sudden revisal, but she was too embarrassed
by what he had said. "I'm not sure what you're implying," Naru said, slightly shakily. "But
we're not..."
"No, you're not lovers," Zoisite said bluntly, enjoying the pained look that crossed the young
girl's face at his phrasing. He paused a second, then continued on, rather cruelly.
"Though you do want him. You want him so much I can practically smell it, all over you. But
Sanjouin-san doesn't want you." A smirk crossed his pretty face. "Yet still, he feels
something special towards you. You mean something to him, something he can't explain. He
doesn't even know what it is himself."
Suddenly, Zoisite's intensity jumped up a thousandfold. "Now, Naru, if you got hurt, it would
hurt him too. If you were killed and he saw your body, the beauty of death and judgment, he
would break like one of those fucking Ming Dynasty vases he loves so much, fall and splinter
into a million pieces-"
Something maniacal started to show itself in Zoisite, and his girlish features and fuck-me
eyes turned unearthly. She wanted to run away from him, get as far she could from there.
She knew she wasn't safe with him, and she pushed up from the bench, and began the
motions of sprinting away. But his surprisingly strong grip held her wrist, and she found she
couldn't run at all. She felt an odd sort of strangled panic rising inside of her.
Then suddenly she found her voice and her strength returning. "Who are you? How do you
know him, anyway?"
He ignored her query, simply pretending as if she had never said anything. Zoisite remained
silent, then turned on her furiously.
"You're in love with him, and the real bloody kicker is that he's been lying to you all along. He
isn't really Sanjouin Masato, he's Nephrite, the second general in the hierarchy of the Dark
Kingdom. He's an evil being who fights the sailor senshi, and he isn't even human!"
Something in his thoughts had incensed him, and he had impulsively blurted out more than he
ever should have. The only reason why? He wanted to hurt this plain little redheaded
schoolgirl, this measly human, hurt her beyond belief, for daring to love Nephrite.
Naru felt her body suddenly freeze in shock. Zoisite's monologue had it's desired effect. "No.
That can't be true. You're lying!" Naru choked out.
"Oh really?" Zoisite said idly. "Watch, little girl. I'm the third general, you know." With a
flick of his slender wrist, his normal clothes changed into an official looking gray uniform with
green lining. "See? Now put away all your fright for a moment and consider what I'm going to
say rationally. Nephrite is the second general, I'm the third. That means that he's my
superior. That gives me a motive for going after what's dear to him- a.k.a., you."
Naru sighed grimly. There was something so deeply, intrinsically true about what he had said.
Somehow, she had known it was the truth from the start, even though she had denied it.
"What are you going to do to me, Zoisite-san?" She knew that running from this man would
be completely useless.
To her utter shock, he burst out into laughter. His hands began to shake, and his mouth
broke out into a wide grin. In between chuckles, he managed to force out, "Oh this is so
FUNNY!" Naru winced as his laughter raised in pitch to become truly unbearable.
"You aren't going to torture me or whatever because Nephrite's in the way of you getting a
promotion," she whispered. "It goes deeper than that, I can tell. You hate him horribly, and
you want him dead like nothing else. You hate him more than anyone else in the entire world!
And it's for something he did to you, I can tell. Sometime long ago."
Zoisite's laughter abruptly stopped, and turned into something darker. "Don't presume to
judge me or my relationship with Nephrite, you pitiful human. I'll show you your place, now!"
Rage contorted his features, then he leaned back for a second. "Oh, and you were wrong.
I'm not going to torture you. I'm going to kill you, Osaka Naru, and enjoy every single second
of it."
Her eyes widened as fear filled her. Instinctively, she cried out, "Sailor Moon! Wherever you
are, help me!" Suddenly, she found she could no longer speak. Zoisite grinned at her
cheekily.
"Sailor Moon can't help you now, Nephrite no koibito. No one can."
Zoisite reached out with a gloved hand and pushed her forcibly. She crashed down into the
pavement, wind knocked out of her. Then suddenly he was on top of her, slender thighs
straddling hers, hot breath on her cheek. Beautiful jade green eyes and full, blood-colored
lips loomed above her face, tantalizingly close. Zoisite shot a sexy, seductive smile at her.
Then he raised his right hand, and a moment later, a dagger-shaped ice crystal appeared in
it.
"Say goodbye, Naru-chan," he whispered to the young girl. Then his right hand plunged
downward.
***
When Zoisite teleported into their quarters, he found Kunzite sitting on the bed, waiting for
him. He grinned at the other general, then walked over to a large, full-length mirror. He
withdrew the clasp from his long hair and let it fall out of the ponytail, coming nearly to his
waist. He began combing it repeatedly.
Zoisite was surprised to hear Kunzite approach him. "Hai?" he asked smoothly.
Kunzite bit his lip. There was something different about Zoisite, something he couldn't quite
place. It baffled the Ice King to no end. "Zoisite," he finally said, "Where have you been?"
"Oh, nowhere," Zoisite said lightly. He turned and faced Kunzite, giving him a dazzling smile.
His silky red-gold hair fell over his left shoulder in a no doubt deliberate display.
"Where have you been?" Kunzite asked, more firmly this time. "Answer my question."
Zoisite shrugged prettily. "It's nothing for you to worry yourself about, Kunzite-sama. Come
on, let's get to bed." He reached out and took his lover's hand.
Kunzite felt an unusual substance on Zoisite's hands. He took them in his own and stared at
them in fascination. "Zoisite," he finally spoke. "There's blood on your hands."
The younger man gave him a cheerful smile. "Yeah, what can you do? I'll clean them off
before, okay?"
"That's not what I mean!" Kunzite shouted, control lost for a second. Zoisite shrunk back. It
was rare that Kunzite lost his temper like that. "Who did you kill?"
"Kunzite-sama, we're both tired, and none of this really matters. Come on, let's go to bed,
okay?" Zoisite put his arms around Kunzite's neck and tilted his face up towards the older
man's. His close proximity had an instant effect on Kunzite.
"Zoi-chan, I need to know-" Kunzite forced out, his voice different than before.
"Ssssh," Zoisite whispered to him. Kunzite groaned as the other general's tongue grazed up his
neck ever so softly. Then Zoisite pushed him against the stone wall of their chambers and
crushed his lips to Kunzite's, much more roughly than his lover had expected. He felt
the man's body press against his, and moaned in desire.
He lifted Zoisite and tossed him onto their bed, then followed him onto it. But to his
surprise, Zoisite did what he had never done before. The volatile little sakura rolled over so
he was the one on the top.
He straddled Kunzite, and realized it was exactly how he had straddled Naru. He could kill
Kunzite like this, kill the most dangerous man in the Dark Kingdom. He fixed his eyes on his
lover's ice blue ones, and realized he could raise his hand, form an ice crystal, and stab
downward.
Then, with a growl, Kunzite pulled Zoisite down onto him. As their lips met in animalistic
ferocity, he decided that the Ice King would live.
***
Nephrite, fully dressed, stumbled down the stairs. He had been up late the night before,
working out the details of one of his plans. He was sure the Sailor Senshi wouldn't find him
out this time. It was time to put it into action today.
He decided that he didn't have time for breakfast, but he would take a quick look at the
morning paper for any possible money news. One of his aides had brought it in and placed it
on the kitchen table. He sat down and inspected the front page. Unsuspectedly, he nearly
gagged at what he saw there.
FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD OSAKA NARU FOUND DEAD IN PARK.
Nephrite's eyes surveyed the picture at the top with a strange detachment- Naru's dead
body in glorious, full color. It was covered in crusted blood, but still resembled the energetic
girl he had known.
If the general had read all the text, he would have found out that shards of ice had been
found in the wounds. But his eyes were fixed on a spot just above the words CONTINUED ON
PAGE 5. At the bottom of the page, a single sentence caused a strangled cry to rise inside
him.
FOUND CARVED INTO THE DECEASED'S FLESH, ON THE UPPER THIGH, WERE TWO WORDS.
NO ONE HAS YET FOUND THE MEANING OF THEM, BUT WE ARE INCLUDING THEM IN THE
HOPES SOMEONE WILL RECOGNIZE THEM.
FOR NEPHRITE.
*Finis*
Don't forget to review!
No flames please.
Author- Starbrigid
Rating- R, for various things, just to be safe
Disclaimer- Sailor Moon does not belong to me, it belongs to Kodansa, Toei Animation,
Takeuchi-sama, and other various associations.
Summary- The Nephrite/Naru saga could have gone very differently. What would have
happened if Zoisite had gone after Naru first?
Author's Note- This is about what I believe could have been another way the Nephrite/Naru
saga went. It focuses not around Nephrite or Naru, though, but around Zoisite. It's almost
more of a portrait of his character than a story. This would not have been written if it wasn't
for my new Dark Kingdom obsession. Yes, Dark Kingdom, not Negaverse. This is firmly written
in the Japanese SM, so it includes male Zoisite and yaoi content. If those disturb you, don't
read this.
Divinest Sense
By Starbrigid
He seemed to me as if he were coming
With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger
So that it seemed the air was afraid of him...
-Dante, Inferno
Much Madness is divinest Sense-
To a discerning eye...
-Emily Dickinson, Number 435
At that moment in time, Osaka Naru was not very happy. Her once-best friend Tsukino Usagi
had blown her off yet again.
When she had asked Usagi if she wanted to go to the arcade and play some video games,
the odangoed blonde had denied politely, telling Naru she had to clean her room. There had
been something wrong with the way Usagi had said it, so Naru, in a rare moment of
suspicion, had followed Usagi from a distance. Her thoughts had been proven correct.
Usagi had met up with the school brain, Ami, and the two girls had walked to a Shinto
temple. A beautiful dark-haired priestess had greeted them, and the three of them had
entered together.
Why didn't Usagi want to do anything with her anymore? She recalled that it all had started
when she had the dream about the monster attacking her, and Sailor Moon saving her from
it. Could Usagi have been so weirded out by her description of the dream that she ditched
Naru? The trouble was, Usagi just wasn't that type of person. She wasn't judgmental at all.
Even if she had been, it would have been a ridiculous reason, anyway.
Naru's attention switched to her surroundings. She had skipped her bus home in hopes that
Usagi would want to do something. She'd have to walk back. It wasn't that far, anyway. She
had done it plenty of times.
Actually, she was rather near the park. That meant she was about ten minutes from home.
She glanced at her watch, and realized that if she hurried, she'd be able to finish all her
homework before dinner.
Suddenly she heard a polite cough. She saw a clean white pair of tennis shoes on the
sidewalk before her. "Osaka-san?" a male voice called.
Naru looked at the person who had addressed her. He had sharp green eyes, long copper
hair, and looked a good deal older than she was. He had a slender figure, clad in a
nondescript white t-shirt and blue jeans. Or at least she assumed he was a he. There was a
female air about him, and if his voice was higher, she would have thought he was a woman.
She straightened up. "Hai? Do I know you?"
The boy giggled a little, though Naru didn't understand what was so funny. "No, you don't
know me, Osaka Naru, but we share a mutual acquaintance. I'd like to talk to you, if you're
not in a hurry. It's about Sanjouin Masato."
Naru felt her face become hotter. "Um-" she bit her lip nervously. "Sure, I guess. But could
we keep this brief?"
The boy's green eyes narrowed prettily. "Of course, Osaka-san. If you cooperate, this will be
very brief indeed. Would you mind going to the park for a discussion?"
She frowned. There was something about him which made him seem like he was so much
older than he was, and there was something uncanny in the feminine, predator-like air that
hovered around him. Everyone about him screamed that he didn't belong here. She was silly
to think that, though. Naru told herself she was imagining things. There was nothing wrong
with him, and nothing to fear at all.
"That would be fine," Naru finally responded. "May I ask who you are?"
"My name is Zoisite," he told her, with an odd look on his face. "Come on. You asked if we
could hurry, remember?"
He took her arm and led her into the park. His hands were unusually pale, she noticed. He
set himself down on a wooden bench with catlike grace. Then he gestured for her to do the
same.
Once they were both settled, Zoisite leaned in and studied her intently. Looking at his face,
Naru realized she had been mistaken. He couldn't have been that much older than she was,
maybe one or two years older at most. Also, his young features were quite remarkable,
almost beautiful.
She was startled when he finally spoke. "So, Osaka-san. I am correct in my assumption
that's your name, right?" She nodded. "I am of the understanding that you have a
somewhat... unique... relationship with Neph- Sanjouin-san."
Normally Naru would have wondered about his sudden revisal, but she was too embarrassed
by what he had said. "I'm not sure what you're implying," Naru said, slightly shakily. "But
we're not..."
"No, you're not lovers," Zoisite said bluntly, enjoying the pained look that crossed the young
girl's face at his phrasing. He paused a second, then continued on, rather cruelly.
"Though you do want him. You want him so much I can practically smell it, all over you. But
Sanjouin-san doesn't want you." A smirk crossed his pretty face. "Yet still, he feels
something special towards you. You mean something to him, something he can't explain. He
doesn't even know what it is himself."
Suddenly, Zoisite's intensity jumped up a thousandfold. "Now, Naru, if you got hurt, it would
hurt him too. If you were killed and he saw your body, the beauty of death and judgment, he
would break like one of those fucking Ming Dynasty vases he loves so much, fall and splinter
into a million pieces-"
Something maniacal started to show itself in Zoisite, and his girlish features and fuck-me
eyes turned unearthly. She wanted to run away from him, get as far she could from there.
She knew she wasn't safe with him, and she pushed up from the bench, and began the
motions of sprinting away. But his surprisingly strong grip held her wrist, and she found she
couldn't run at all. She felt an odd sort of strangled panic rising inside of her.
Then suddenly she found her voice and her strength returning. "Who are you? How do you
know him, anyway?"
He ignored her query, simply pretending as if she had never said anything. Zoisite remained
silent, then turned on her furiously.
"You're in love with him, and the real bloody kicker is that he's been lying to you all along. He
isn't really Sanjouin Masato, he's Nephrite, the second general in the hierarchy of the Dark
Kingdom. He's an evil being who fights the sailor senshi, and he isn't even human!"
Something in his thoughts had incensed him, and he had impulsively blurted out more than he
ever should have. The only reason why? He wanted to hurt this plain little redheaded
schoolgirl, this measly human, hurt her beyond belief, for daring to love Nephrite.
Naru felt her body suddenly freeze in shock. Zoisite's monologue had it's desired effect. "No.
That can't be true. You're lying!" Naru choked out.
"Oh really?" Zoisite said idly. "Watch, little girl. I'm the third general, you know." With a
flick of his slender wrist, his normal clothes changed into an official looking gray uniform with
green lining. "See? Now put away all your fright for a moment and consider what I'm going to
say rationally. Nephrite is the second general, I'm the third. That means that he's my
superior. That gives me a motive for going after what's dear to him- a.k.a., you."
Naru sighed grimly. There was something so deeply, intrinsically true about what he had said.
Somehow, she had known it was the truth from the start, even though she had denied it.
"What are you going to do to me, Zoisite-san?" She knew that running from this man would
be completely useless.
To her utter shock, he burst out into laughter. His hands began to shake, and his mouth
broke out into a wide grin. In between chuckles, he managed to force out, "Oh this is so
FUNNY!" Naru winced as his laughter raised in pitch to become truly unbearable.
"You aren't going to torture me or whatever because Nephrite's in the way of you getting a
promotion," she whispered. "It goes deeper than that, I can tell. You hate him horribly, and
you want him dead like nothing else. You hate him more than anyone else in the entire world!
And it's for something he did to you, I can tell. Sometime long ago."
Zoisite's laughter abruptly stopped, and turned into something darker. "Don't presume to
judge me or my relationship with Nephrite, you pitiful human. I'll show you your place, now!"
Rage contorted his features, then he leaned back for a second. "Oh, and you were wrong.
I'm not going to torture you. I'm going to kill you, Osaka Naru, and enjoy every single second
of it."
Her eyes widened as fear filled her. Instinctively, she cried out, "Sailor Moon! Wherever you
are, help me!" Suddenly, she found she could no longer speak. Zoisite grinned at her
cheekily.
"Sailor Moon can't help you now, Nephrite no koibito. No one can."
Zoisite reached out with a gloved hand and pushed her forcibly. She crashed down into the
pavement, wind knocked out of her. Then suddenly he was on top of her, slender thighs
straddling hers, hot breath on her cheek. Beautiful jade green eyes and full, blood-colored
lips loomed above her face, tantalizingly close. Zoisite shot a sexy, seductive smile at her.
Then he raised his right hand, and a moment later, a dagger-shaped ice crystal appeared in
it.
"Say goodbye, Naru-chan," he whispered to the young girl. Then his right hand plunged
downward.
***
When Zoisite teleported into their quarters, he found Kunzite sitting on the bed, waiting for
him. He grinned at the other general, then walked over to a large, full-length mirror. He
withdrew the clasp from his long hair and let it fall out of the ponytail, coming nearly to his
waist. He began combing it repeatedly.
Zoisite was surprised to hear Kunzite approach him. "Hai?" he asked smoothly.
Kunzite bit his lip. There was something different about Zoisite, something he couldn't quite
place. It baffled the Ice King to no end. "Zoisite," he finally said, "Where have you been?"
"Oh, nowhere," Zoisite said lightly. He turned and faced Kunzite, giving him a dazzling smile.
His silky red-gold hair fell over his left shoulder in a no doubt deliberate display.
"Where have you been?" Kunzite asked, more firmly this time. "Answer my question."
Zoisite shrugged prettily. "It's nothing for you to worry yourself about, Kunzite-sama. Come
on, let's get to bed." He reached out and took his lover's hand.
Kunzite felt an unusual substance on Zoisite's hands. He took them in his own and stared at
them in fascination. "Zoisite," he finally spoke. "There's blood on your hands."
The younger man gave him a cheerful smile. "Yeah, what can you do? I'll clean them off
before, okay?"
"That's not what I mean!" Kunzite shouted, control lost for a second. Zoisite shrunk back. It
was rare that Kunzite lost his temper like that. "Who did you kill?"
"Kunzite-sama, we're both tired, and none of this really matters. Come on, let's go to bed,
okay?" Zoisite put his arms around Kunzite's neck and tilted his face up towards the older
man's. His close proximity had an instant effect on Kunzite.
"Zoi-chan, I need to know-" Kunzite forced out, his voice different than before.
"Ssssh," Zoisite whispered to him. Kunzite groaned as the other general's tongue grazed up his
neck ever so softly. Then Zoisite pushed him against the stone wall of their chambers and
crushed his lips to Kunzite's, much more roughly than his lover had expected. He felt
the man's body press against his, and moaned in desire.
He lifted Zoisite and tossed him onto their bed, then followed him onto it. But to his
surprise, Zoisite did what he had never done before. The volatile little sakura rolled over so
he was the one on the top.
He straddled Kunzite, and realized it was exactly how he had straddled Naru. He could kill
Kunzite like this, kill the most dangerous man in the Dark Kingdom. He fixed his eyes on his
lover's ice blue ones, and realized he could raise his hand, form an ice crystal, and stab
downward.
Then, with a growl, Kunzite pulled Zoisite down onto him. As their lips met in animalistic
ferocity, he decided that the Ice King would live.
***
Nephrite, fully dressed, stumbled down the stairs. He had been up late the night before,
working out the details of one of his plans. He was sure the Sailor Senshi wouldn't find him
out this time. It was time to put it into action today.
He decided that he didn't have time for breakfast, but he would take a quick look at the
morning paper for any possible money news. One of his aides had brought it in and placed it
on the kitchen table. He sat down and inspected the front page. Unsuspectedly, he nearly
gagged at what he saw there.
FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD OSAKA NARU FOUND DEAD IN PARK.
Nephrite's eyes surveyed the picture at the top with a strange detachment- Naru's dead
body in glorious, full color. It was covered in crusted blood, but still resembled the energetic
girl he had known.
If the general had read all the text, he would have found out that shards of ice had been
found in the wounds. But his eyes were fixed on a spot just above the words CONTINUED ON
PAGE 5. At the bottom of the page, a single sentence caused a strangled cry to rise inside
him.
FOUND CARVED INTO THE DECEASED'S FLESH, ON THE UPPER THIGH, WERE TWO WORDS.
NO ONE HAS YET FOUND THE MEANING OF THEM, BUT WE ARE INCLUDING THEM IN THE
HOPES SOMEONE WILL RECOGNIZE THEM.
FOR NEPHRITE.
*Finis*
Don't forget to review!
No flames please.