Meeting with the Mercurian 12/28 (Mamoru, Ami) [FI

[Chiba Mamoru]

After spending the morning and afternoon hunting for an apartment, Mamoru had returned to the palace. Although this was the last place he wanted to be at the moment, he had to get his things packed up so that he would be able to move into a new home. He was planning on doing his best to avoid all interaction with Usagi and her senshi, but then he had to go and decide to check on his email out of habit. There, nicely worded and very professional, was an email from Ami requesting a meeting with him.

He briefly considered ignoring it and being busy with something all evening long, but then that would be running from his problems. Mamoru had no intention of running from the senshi, even if they all had the power to make his life rather uncomfortable. Besides, she seemed to be willing to share information about the Shitennou and for his friends’ sake he needed to know whatever it was that she was planning on telling him.

That was why he was here in his new chambers awaiting the arrival of Ami, he was simply glad that it was her coming and not Rei. He really had no desire to meet with her anytime soon ...

[Mizuno Ami]

Ami was easily able to find the information she needed - the location of Mamoru's new, and she assumed temporary, chambers. Perhaps it was because she had a mission or perhaps the emotions which were running through her from the meeting with Usagi that morning, from helping deal with the African situation, and then the needed energy she had burnt working in the palace's hospital, but Ami was not particularly concerned with the appearance of heading to the now single former consort's quarters alone.

She was dressed rather formally, not in her Senshi uniform, but there was no question that she came to his door as a representative of the queen. Ami was completely composed, focused on the facts, the calm logic. She would need it to get through this meeting with the man who had so callously hurt Usagi.

Ami took a breath and knocked on the door.

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru sighed irritably when he heard the knock on the door. This was a meeting that he wasn’t particularly looking forward too, but he had committed himself to it and there was no backing out now. He stood from where he had been busy packing boxes and made his way over to the door. He glanced around at the abnormally messy room with a frown before shrugging and opening the door. Ami should know perfectly well that he was moving, therefore she ought to understand the boxes and the stuff scattered about.

He gazed politely at Ami and said, “Good Evening Ami ...”

Mamoru gestured for her to enter and dryly added, “Make yourself at home.”

[Mizuno Ami]

Ami entered but did not move to take a seat, though she noted the state of the room. Obviously, her assumption that this was a temporary arrangement was correct.

"Good evening, Mamoru. It would appear that you are moving on rather quickly."

She handed him the folder she hand with her. "Usagi wanted to share with you the information that we have on who we suspect two of the Shitennou are. All indications are that Nathaniel Bernhardt is Nephrite. There's less evidence, but we suspect that Khalid ibn Maleec is Kunzite."

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru stiffened slightly at her words, but he continued to keep his tone neutral. “There isn’t any reason to hang around the palace. It would only cause everyone to be uncomfortable.”

He paused a moment before adding a in a slightly more bitter tone, “Anyway I wouldn’t want to keep other guests from being able to visit the palace simply because I’m taking up room here unnecessarily.”

Mamoru took the folder from Ami and glanced at the contents briefly, attempting to reign in his feelings again. He didn’t feel like getting into another argument and besides he had no real reason to be angry at Ami. She hadn’t really done anything and he respected her enough not to want to take all of his frustrations out on her.

As for the Shitennou, he knew who Nathaniel was at least by sight. He was glad to have more information on the man so that he would have the opportunity to seek him out himself if he wanted to. He had never met this Khalid person, but he would find the chance to make his acquaintance at some point as well. After a moment of looking at the folder’s contents Mamoru glanced back up to Ami.

He toyed with the idea of keeping Zacharie’s existence to himself, but the senshi had shared what they knew with him and it was only fair to do the same. Therefore after setting the folder down on a nearby table he said almost conversationally, “While I was out searching for a new apartment this morning I ran across a man named Zacharie Babineaux. You might want to look into him, sense you all seem so keen on keeping an eye on my Shitennou and all.”

[Mizuno Ami]

She glared at him for just a moment, and it might seem as if the room dropped a degree, "Then you have no intention on making it right?" She understood Usagi's anger. But she also knew just how much Usagi had loved Mamoru and how much she was hurting. Ami was also surprised by how unaffected he seemed to be by the whole thing.

Ami watched as he examined the contents of the folder. Before she could convey the rest of what Usagi had asked her to tell him, he was telling him about a lead. There was not much deduction required, not with Jadeite restored and a suspected Nephrite and Kunzite identified. "Zoisite?" Her voice was quiet, and she was finding it much more difficult to keep her emotions under control, to focus on logic and why she had come here.

Ami took a deep breath, forcing herself back to the safety of professionalism. "Thank you. I'll let Usagi and the others know. We'd like to keep the channels of communication open regarding the Shitennou. And Usagi wanted me to tell you that she'd like to retain a professional working relationship in the event that you'll work with each other again at some point."

[Chiba Mamoru]

For a moment Mamoru began to feel irritated again as Ami glared at him and he felt the chill in the air. However, once again he swallowed down his anger and kept his tone neutral. He had no intention of allowing her to see how much he was hurting inside because of this whole situation. Respect he might have for her, but that didn’t mean he was going to break down in front of her.

“I wasn’t aware that she wanted me to make this right Ami. She was the one that gave me my ring back not the other way around. It seemed pretty final to me.”

Still even while he was saying that, a small part of him did began to feel just a tad hopeful. He had thought he had lost everything, was it possible to make things right again?

Mamoru was somewhat surprised at how Ami was taking the news that he might have found Zoisite. He watched her carefully for a moment before shrugging and saying, “You were kind enough to give me the information on the other two, therefore it was only fair to give you Zacharie’s name. I do appreciate any information you can give me.”

He was also a little surprised at the fact that Usagi wanted to retain a professional working relationship with him. Mamoru didn’t think she would trust him again, at least that was what he had gotten from her the night before. Once again his heart began to feel a little more hopeful that perhaps things weren’t as bad as they had seemed earlier.

“You can tell her that as long as she intend to give the Shitennou a chance, I will be more then willing to retain a professional working relationship with her.”

Mamoru hesitated a moment before adding, “Ami, hurting her was never my intention ...”

... I loved her, he finished silently not able or not willing to finish his thoughts out loud.

[Mizuno Ami]

Ami's jaw clenched slightly and she briefly allowed herself to wonder if Mamoru had ever truly known Usagi if he could say such a thing. Usagi was the most forgiving and understanding person that Ami knew, and here was Mamoru questioning whether Usagi would want reconciliation. She shook her head slightly, this was not why she was here.

She nodded slightly at his statement about the sharing of information, though her hand at her side curled into a fist. Ami had volunteered for this, and she knew that she had to focus on logic not her own anger. She could not focus on her anger at him hurting Usagi - which was much more significant than she let on, nor on her anger at him for keeping the Shitennou a secret.

"I will let her know." She was a bit amazed that he thought he was still in a position to make demands to Usagi or to give any requirements.

She raised an eyebrow slightly and then nodded. "I think she knows that." From what she gathered from Usagi, the primary issue was not that he had been unthinking in not sharing the truth about the Shitennou, but rather the way he had been when she confronted him with it, when he was told that he had indeed hurt her.

She turned to go, knowing that there was not much she could say civilly to the man. However, she stopped as something occurred to her, a thought of a chance she was not sure she could forgive herself if she did not at least ask. Ami took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing on keeping her voice from sounding too small. "Can I talk to him?"

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru nodded briefly in response to Ami’s words. He fell silent as he watched Ami turn to go. He was a little surprised when she stopped, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. However, he didn’t have to wait long to find out what she was doing.

At first his only reaction was to stare at her, uncertain as to who he was. However, it wasn’t long before he realized that it could only be Zoisite. Mamoru stiffened in surprise, not having expected any of the senshi to actually want to speak with the Shitennou. After Rei’s reaction he had simply assumed that they all would react in such a fashion. Perhaps he really had been too quick to judge ...

He was quiet for a long moment, wavering between refusing and accepting her request. He wasn’t use to calling on his Shitennou when other people were around, but it wouldn’t hurt him to do so. He also tended to call all of them together, but he ought to be able to just summon Zoisite and so Ami’s request really wasn’t much of a problem. Therefore he simply shrugged and murmured, “I don’t think that would be a problem. Let me go and get him for you ...”

Mamoru then turned and went to retrieve the stone that was Zoisite. He placed the stone on a table near Ami before closing his eyes and concentrating on calling for Zoisite.

[Zacharie Babineaux]

He could feel something tugging upon him, something nearby. To say that the Shitennou were entirely aware of the world around them would be something of a fallacy--they had an idea, but it was more like being half-asleep at all times. Unless they were called.

Zoisite felt it to be some kind of penance, really.

The familiar tug rustled him into waking, however, and for a long moment Zoisite wasn't aware that the others had remained sleeping (he could feel them, distantly, but they were dreaming)... and then he was blinking at his liege and...

For the longest moment he merely stared at the woman in their presence. It wasn't usual in the least for Endymion to call them when another was about and certainly not one of them. "Amelie," he whispered.

[Mizuno Ami]

Ami bit her lip as she looked at the stone that Mamoru had set on the table. Her hand was still balled into a fist, but now it was to stop her from reaching out to touch the stone. She wanted to, but she some how felt that to do so would be... an invasion of some sort.

When he appeared, she looked up from the stone, still biting her lip. Logic and reason seemed to flee from her as she looked at him. She did not even realize that there was a tear running down her cheek.

"It's Ami now..." She had asked to speak to him and yet she had no idea what to say. So many things were running around in her head. She wanted to ask him why; she wanted him to hold her; she wanted to know that he was truly good now, and yet she could not find the words to say any of it.

Her hand lifted slightly from her side, fingers uncurling, wanting to reach out and touch him, even though the bit of reason that was not completely banished told her that he wasn't solid, that she couldn't touch him. "Zoisite."

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru seated himself in a chair not too far away. He wanted to give the two of them as much privacy as he could, even though he still had to stay in the room. For the first time since he had talked with Rei about Jadeite he wondered if he had really done the right thing. When he first had the Shitennou he didn’t bother mentioning them to the others simply because he was a private man and he also was aware that the girls would only view them as enemies. They didn’t have their memories at the time and he really hadn’t thought it would be a good idea to mention that he had the Shitennou with him. Eventually it really had just become something he didn’t think about much, perhaps he really should have made an effort to at least mention them to Usagi though. She could have told him if the senshi could have handled knowing about them or not.

He sighed softly to himself, really starting to wonder if maybe this entire problem was his fault. He knew he probably could have at least handled the conversation with Usagi better. Mamoru knew that he hadn’t really tried to explain himself very well at all. Perhaps he really did need to rethink his position on this.

[Zacharie Babineaux]

"A-ami... yes." Zoisite nodded faintly, eyes never wavering from her face. For the first time since they'd been imprisoned, Zoisite had to wonder if Kunzite might be right. Perhaps they were being punished... and he especially had something to be punished for. Ghosts didn't need to breath and didn't posses bodily function, yet he managed to glup anyway; Zoisite considered such things to be latent reflexes, when he had the time and reason to think about it.

She was crying, and it was his fault. He reached for her then and his fingers slipped through her cheek, nothing more than a strange play of light upon bare air. "I'm sorry," he murmured, all the wit and sarcasm and loftiness of his being momentarily suspended into nothingness. His gaze fell to her feet and he turned his head just a inch towards Mamoru. "... you... called my liege?"

[Mizuno Ami]

Ami smiled slightly as he reached to touch her, even though he was incorporeal and she could not actually feel his fingers against her cheek. The gesture was enough to cause her to smile a little bit.

At his apology she did not protest. What could she say? It's all right. There's nothing to apologize for. I understand. None of those were accurate. Nor would they be enough. I forgive you. Ami wanted to, but she could not quite yet. She wanted him back, but she remembered too clearly him killing her, remembered fighting him in this life as a teen.

As his gaze moved to her feet she whispered, "I want to be able to forgive you."

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru glanced up from his thoughts when he heard Zoisite call him and smiled somewhat sadly at his friend. He would explain the entire situation later when he could explain it to all four, well three of them. For now he wanted to give the two of them as much time as he could and so he merely said, “I called because Ami really wanted to be able to talk with you.”

Once again he fell silent, feeling as if he was intruding upon something that really ought to be between the two of them.