Forum: Crystal Tokyo
Type: Relaxed

Plot Summary:
After Crystal Tokyo was built, all the sailor senshi began to settle into their happy lives. With the world at peace, there is less work to be done, allowing them to live their dreams and settle down. Usagi was of course the first to birth her foreseen daughter, Chibiusa. The rest of the girls begin to think about their own futures, too, and Mako especially begins to realize she longs for a family of her own.

Mako has fulfilled her dream by opening her bakery and flower shop, and Nephrite, who had been reincarnated by the power of the Silver and Golden Crystal soon after Crystal Tokyo's era began, has been helping her run it. Their relationship started off a bit awkwardly, but soon they settled into the roles of close friends, carefully keeping themselves from stepping over the unseen line. Mako has long forgotten about her past life's involvement with him and sees her only as her best friend ever since he came back into her life. She finds they mesh well, and he's always eager to help out in her shop, so they become fast friends.

But is that all they will ever be, or has something else been happening underneath all the platonic gestures all along? As both of them try to figure out what they want for their future, they must decide if they're brave enough to take a leap of faith to get their happy ending.

Details on any necessary information: Both Mako and Nephrite have been affected by the Silver Crystal's longevity so they've stopped aging at their early twenties. They have lived in Crystal Tokyo for quite a long time in prosperous years. The RP will take place quite a while after Crystal Tokyo is built when the world is at peace and after Chibiusa is born (she is currently on her early teenage years).

Restrictions: Only for Mako and Nephrite, the rest will be NPCed

Source: N/A

OOC Thread: N/A

Characters:
- Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter: Played by Sailor Mercury
- Nephrite: Played by Addelyn

These days, Mako felt like her life was perfect. She had her friends—her new family, really—and she lived her dream every day. Her flowers and bakery shop was thriving, and every day she was kept busy with customers. She would alternate between working in the bakery and in the flower shop, loving both the ability to create delicious cakes and helping a customer pick just the right flower for their occasion. Mako had had several male customers thanking her for saving their relationships thanks to those flowers. Every time that happened, she felt proud of herself and her vast knowledge in plants. Most people think any flower would do for any occasion, but that couldn’t be more wrong. They had their own languages, and nothing pleased her more than helping others communicating it.

Today she had an order for a wedding cake due. Wedding cakes were her favorite. It fed directly into her own hopeless romantic tendencies, and she always poured so much love into making them. She only needed to do the icing left, but she was so excited to get started and had decided to come in early today. It was strange, but watching other people being happy in their relationships didn’t make her so wistful anymore. Sure, she still wanted it… maybe… someday. If the right person came along. But she was just happy being happy for others.

Watching Usagi and her own family, especially with Chibiusa now growing up, did make her wonder if she could ever have that. Mako had long abandoned her foolish dream to marry her sempai after realizing it was just a silly childish crush. She’d properly gotten over him, had figured he didn’t deserve her anyway, and had looked only forward. But now as she put on her apron and went to find the cake, she wondered if she had moved on too far. When was the last time she even glanced at a guy and considered him in a romantic way?

Mako paused with her decorating cone aloft. She thought hard, feeling surely she was wrong. Surely it hadn’t been that long that she couldn’t even remember. Minako must have dragged her into what she called boy-watching not too long ago, right?

Right. But she remembered being bored during it. Bored! Mako was suddenly stricken. Had she completely been turned off when it came to guys?

No. She still wanted her dream wedding. She just… couldn’t figure out why no one seemed attractive anymore.

This might be a problem…

When Nephrite had first been reincarnated by the powers of the Silver and Golden Crystals, he had felt lost in this new world. It was so different, yet achingly familiar to the one he had grown up in, to the Earth he knew. Yet at the same time, everything was different, so much faster, everything was easy and convenient. He quickly grew to appreciate technology and all that it had to offer, but sometimes he found himself yearning for the simplicity of his previous life.
 
He found himself struggling to find his place. He was no longer needed as a fulltime guard for King Endymion, in the same way that the Inner senshi weren’t required for Neo Queen Serenity. They would still be there, and they made sure one of them from each group was in the palace at all times, usually Kunzite and Minako, leaving the rest free to follow their dreams, except he didn’t know what his dreams were. He had grown up knowing he was the heir to his Kingdom and destined to be the bodyguard and companion to Prince Endymion. His entire life had been laid out by others for him. He had little choice in what he was to do with it, or whom he would marry. He had rebelled, becoming a ladies’ man, easily charming women. It wasn’t until he met Princess Jupiter that things changed. He fell in love with her, despite knowing that his romance would never meet his parents’ approval. It hadn’t mattered to him. For once in his life, it was something he had chosen for himself.
 
When he had first been reincarnated, he picked up the persona of a ladies’ man, going on frequent dates, charming the ladies. He always had someone to call, never being along on a Friday night unless it was by choice. Something changed however. He found that he was no longer enjoying the flirtations any longer. Honestly, he couldn’t remember the last time he had been on a date with a woman, and the thought didn’t bother him nearly as much as he thought it would. Something must be wrong with me, Jadeite is getting more action than I am yet it doesn’t bother me at all, he mused, carrying the latest order of baking ingredients into the back of Makoto’s shop.
 
“Mako, where do you want these?” he called, knowing she would be here, working on a new wedding cake order that had just come in.

The sound of a familiar voice jolted Mako out of her musings, and she nearly put icing where she wasn’t meant to. Catching the drop of cream with her other hand quickly, she heaved a sigh of relief. With both hands aloft, she turned to face the visitor. Nephrite. Now that was someone she didn’t expect to be a permanent fixture in her life, and yet somehow he had. She didn’t really expect to be friends with him or anything when he first came back, still feeling awkward and uneasy with all the bad blood between them before. Though not as wary as Rei or Minako had been initially, Mako had simply chosen not to be around him at first.

However, when he saw her in her shop one day and offered his help, she found she couldn’t turn him down. He was always nice, kind, and never tried to push his way into her life. He wasn’t there unless he was welcome, and soon she found herself enjoying his presence. When her friends started drifting away with their own careers, Nephrite was always there. Suddenly, they’d spent many nights baking and laughing and having dinners together that weren’t dates but that her friends insisted obviously were.

Mako shook away the thought. That was silly. She wasn’t dating him. They were friends and it was nice. Why ruin that?

“On that free space on the counter, please,” she directed him, pointing to a clear space nearby. “Thanks for picking them up, by the way,” she added with a smile. “I’ve just got to finish the icing on this wedding cake. It’s due by noon.” She turned her attention back to the cake and started working carefully. It needed to be perfect. She could afford no more distractions.

He put the package on the counter, grabbing a box cutter and slicing the box open, so all Makoto had to do was unpack it when she was ready. That done, he wandered over to the workstation she was set up on and looked over the cake. It was definitely a unique request with the cake flavours and the colours, but as usual, she had done an amazing job with it. 

"Relax, you've still got time, it's only 9 in the morning and it looks like you're almost done the icing and decorating, so it will have time to set in the fridge before the client comes to pick it up," he said. Eyeing some dirty mixing bowls she had discarded off to the side of the work station, he grabbed them, bringing them over to the sink. Looking at the pile of dishes waiting to be washed, he sighed. Apparently the staff hadn't done their job last night. He had no idea why she kept them if they couldn't do the tasks they had been assigned. Her shop wasn't very big, so they didn't have more than 2 helpers to help take care of the dishes, mind the front etc and clean at the end of the night. 

He quickly loaded the dishes into the industrial washer he had finally convinced her to buy. It made clean up easier and quicker for them, allowing them to push out more orders when they were busy. Or at least that was the logic he had used to convince her to buy it. Honestly he had just been tired of doing non-stop dishes. So, as far as he could see, it was a win-win situation. 

"What else is on the to-do list today?"

“I know, I would just be less stressed out when it’s done,” Mako replied, her attention still fully on the cake. She definitely had set a high standard for herself when it came to these orders, but she prided herself on her bakery’s great reputation. Her customers knew she never gave anything short of 100% and that complete satisfaction was always guaranteed. Mako had yet to receive a single complaint about her cakes and she intended to keep it that way.

When she heard the sound of water running and dishes clinking, Mako paused, looking over. She saw Nephrite taking care of the dirty dishes and immediately felt guilty. “You don’t have to do that,” she said quickly. “You don’t even work here, but you’re always doing so much more than those who actually do,” she added with a laugh. “I feel like I ought to start paying you.”

She truly appreciated his help, but lately she’d noticed his life had started revolving around her shop. It was her business and her life, and while it wasn’t the intrusion that felt like a problem to Mako, she’d become concerned at how he had no time to spend on his own. Did he not have his own hobbies? Things he wanted to pursue now that all of them had all the time in the world to do whatever they liked?

She pondered how to broach the subject without offending him.

“Uh… just the flowers for the wedding bouquet,” she answered his question distractedly. “From the same customer who ordered the cake.”

It was actually a good idea to have both shops running together; she’d become a one-stop shop for almost all wedding needs. Now if only she could find her own groom.

Nephrite snorted under his breath as Makoto joked about him doing more than the people she had hired to work here and how she should pay him. It wasn't he first time this had come up and it seemed no matter how much he told her he really didn't mind helping out, she was his friend after all, she still felt guilty. Sometimes he wondered if he did it out of a sense of duty for all that she did for him after he awoke in Crystal Tokyo to help him adjust to this new life. No, if you were doing this out of duty, you would have stopped coming in on your own ages ago, yet here you are, almost every day. The other Shittennou had expressed concerns with how much time he was spending at her shop. His thought drifted back to the conversation he'd had with his friends the other day. 

"Nephrite, why do you spend all your time Makoto-sans shop? You have no obligation to her, don't you want to live your own life?" Kunzite asked softly, concern etching along his face. 


"Yah, I haven't seen you go on a date in just about forever," Jadeite teased, he himself ready to go on another date. 


What his well meaning friends didn't see was that he was actually happy. Sure, he didn't have a lot of free time, spending most of it at Mako's shop to the point where most of the employees didn't know that he actually didn't work there and thought he was a manager, listening to him as they would Mako herself. And sure, he sometimes felt a bit lonely, like he was ready to settle down and find that someone he would spend the rest of his life with, but for now, he liked his life just as it was. He would only leave the shop if Makoto asked him to. 

"Where's the order for it, I can start gathering the flowers you'll need," he offered, putting away the last of the dishes.

Mako hesitated only a bit, before she moved to the little office at the back of the shop, found the order in question, and handed it to Nephrite. “Thank you, again,” she said, starting to feel like words would never be enough to properly convey her gratitude. Heck, she’d thanked him so much that she wondered if the words had already lost their meaning.

“Listen, when I’m done here, I don’t actually have any other orders to take care of today. What do you say we go out for dinner and let one of the employees actually watch over the shop for the rest of the day?” Before he could protest, she quickly added, “And I insist, because feeding you is the least I can do after all the work you’ve done here.”

Maybe when they weren’t both running around working, she could actually sit down and have that talk with him. Mako didn’t like the feeling of taking advantage of him, and that feeling had actually bothered her for quite some time. Her friends kept saying he liked her, and that was why he was so devoted to her, but that was just silly. If he liked her, he would have said something by now. Besides, being with him was easy and comfortable and totally platonic. They never had any awkward moments and Mako liked that. She liked it when things were simple and pleasant. So why would they ever jeopardize that?

"Sounds good," he said as he took the order. Deciding that she needed a break, he decided to arrange the flowers himself. He spent the rest of the day helping the staff fufill the orders. When he finally returned to his office, he near collapsed on his chair, bone tired. The people today had been more easily irritated than normal and had been very difficult to handle. He'd had to mitigate so many problems today it wasn't even funny. A long time ago he had never had the patience for this kind of stuff, preferring to use his sword to solve problems and leave the words for Kunzite and Zoisite. If only they could see him now. 

Finally glancing on his desk, he spied a box of chocolate with a note on top, his name written in Makoto's elegant writing. Picking up the note, he read it quickly. She was inviting him to dinner that night at 8pm at one of the best restaurant in the city. It was also Valentine's day, getting a seat at that place even when it was the most romantic day of the year took reserving months in advance. How had she managed this? Was she asking him out on a date? He found himself strangely pleased with the idea. He looked at the clock. It was 5:30, if he hurried he would have enough time to shower, change and grab some flowers for her. He grinned. Maybe things were looking up.

Sometimes, it paid to be so connected in the food and restaurant business. Mako had once saved the life of this restaurant’s manager when a mishap caused their kitchen to lose the batch of desserts they had prepared for a VIP party event. The manager, having heard of Mako’s bakery’s reputation, had called, and frantically put a rush order for dessert to feed fifty people for the same day. Somehow, Mako had worked her miracle and managed to fulfill it with time to spare. Ever since then, the manager had told her that she would always have a table at his restaurant, no advanced reservation necessary. “You managed to give me what I needed in less than a day, and I’m willing to do the same for you,” he’d said.

Mako hadn’t had an occasion that she felt appropriate to call in that favor. But when she’d thought about Nephrite and how she really wanted to do something nice for him in order to pay him back for all his help, she’d finally found it. And so true to his word, the manager had gotten her that table on the same day. She’d also left a box of chocolates on Nephrite’s desk—she’d baked too much for a Valentine’s order and figured he deserved it. She felt kind of bad that it was technically leftover chocolate, but hey, it was a spontaneous gift.

After showering and putting on an elegant black dress that showed off her long legs, Mako tried to put on some nice makeup and style her hair a little, only because she knew the restaurant was one of those expensive places with a specific dress code. She’d already gotten a free table; she didn’t want to appear like she didn’t respect the manager. Once she’d finished, she glanced in the mirror and smiled. She looked pretty, if she did say so herself. And Mako didn’t often think that.

She checked the clock; it was a little before eight, and she would get there in time if she walked fast. Since it was close, she’d told Nephrite they should just meet there. Closing her apartment door behind her, Mako started the walk over, already thinking about which items on the menu she wanted to try. She’d been saving this trip for quite some time, and now she was really looking forward to eating some gourmet food that she didn’t have to cook herself.

 
As he stood outside the restaurant Makoto had asked him to meet her at, Nephrite ran through a mental checklist in his head. He had dressed nicely in an emerald green button down shirt with charcoal slacks and black dress shoes. His hair was tied back in a low ponytail at the nape of his neck, secured with a leather band, decorated with symbols from the Earth Kingdom. In his arms, he was carrying a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, courtesy of Makoto’s store. He had grabbed the flowers, leaving the money in till which he had placed in the safe for the night. In the morning, he would ring up the flowers, and hopefully Makoto would never be the wiser.
 

Taking a deep calming breathe, he centered himself, before walking into the restaurant, looking around the tables for her.

Mako arrived just in time, and was glad when she saw Nephrite standing inside, seeming like he’d just arrived himself. “Hey! Glad you could make it,” she said with a grin. “I hope you haven’t waited for too long.”

She took in his appearance and smiled appreciatively. He certainly looked good all dressed up like this, and it was nice that they could see each other in an occasion other than working hard in the shop and bakery. She’d almost forgotten what it would be like to kick back and relax these days, and she was glad she’d spontaneously decided they both deserved to have a nice meal tonight. It seemed like both of them could really enjoy this.

It took her a moment to notice the bouquet of flowers in his arms. “Oh! Is that…?” She wasn’t really sure what to think in the beginning. Well, actually, her first thought was they looked familiar, but her shop wasn’t exactly the only flower shop around. Secondly, for a brief second she irrationally wondered if he was delivering those flowers to somewhere around here. It wasn’t until another few seconds that she realized they might actually be for her.

And the thought surprised her, because while it was a sweet gesture, she didn’t feel like she deserved it. They’d hung out together before, and he never gave her anything as… meaningful as flowers. So what was the occasion?

Moderator bump. If you are still interested in continueing this roleplay, please make a post within the next week. Otherwise this will be moved to the Graveyard. Thank you!

"No, I haven't," he said smiling, as she arrived. She looked beautiful, absolutely stunning. She always did, but there was something a little extra special about it today. "These are for you." He watched her gauging her reaction. She seemed surprised that he would bring her flowers. Was that not what one did when they were out on a date? Occasionally, modern ways of courting still confounded him, despite how long he had been awake for. 

"Sir, Madam, your table is ready," the host said gently. "If you would be so kind as to follow me?"

"After you," Nephrite said, sweeping his arm in a grand gesturing, indicating that she should go ahead of him.

“Wow, thank you,” Mako received the flowers, happy but found it completely surprising at the same time. “They’re beautiful.” She wanted to ask what the occasion was, but decided not to. Maybe he was just being nice?

When the host offered to take them to their table, Mako nodded and followed him. She’d reserved a corner table for them—private and rather quiet so they could talk easily without being bothered by all the traffic. As she settled on her seat, she was beginning to feel giddy at how fancy all of this was. All she wanted was a nice dinner with a friend. True, she wanted to treat him nicely, but now it was starting to feel as if they were on a date or something.

“So, should we get a bottle of wine maybe? I think we both deserve it after all our hard work.” She began to peruse the menu, excited to try all the gourmet dishes. The price was rather high, of course, but her business was going good and she didn’t often splurge, so she wasn’t worried. The restaurant had quite a lot of selections of French and Italian dishes, and she imagined Nephrite probably had never tried some of them. She couldn’t wait to see what he’d pick.

"Wine would be great," he said. "Why don't you pick something?" he knew she was more familiar with the modern wines and foods than he was and would be able to pick something that would go with both of their meals. He settled himself in to figure out what half the stuff on the menu was. 

What ever happened to simple food? Now-a-days everything seemed so complex. What was wrong with just plain meat and some vegetables? And what was puree anyway? Or prosciutto? Was that one even meat? Somehow he doubted it. 

"Is there anything you would recommend for me to try?" Perhaps just having Makoto pick for him would be the easiest.

Makoto called one of the waiters over, asking him for recommendations on the wine, and eventually selected the rosé wine. She felt it was appropriate for the occasion and theme and had always liked the taste. She hoped Nephrite would like it too.

She giggled when he asked her to pick the food, too. He probably had no idea what half the names were, and Mako didn’t blame him. They would confuse anyone who weren’t familiar with French and Italian cuisine. “I think we could share a fondue—that’s always fun, and theirs is particularly delicious. And I think we can also share a Margherita pizza.”

She figured pizza would make the atmosphere more… laidback and less fine dining. And it would still be delicious, so it was win-win.

She returned the menu to the waiter, who told them their food should be right out in a couple minutes. “So…” she turned back to Nephrite. “This is nice, right? We should totally go out to fancy places more often. I know the manager of this place; that’s how I managed to secure a table on such short notice. Helped him out with a crisis once.”

She paused, then added, “Is this too… I don’t know… stuffy? Would you have rather gone to a diner or something?” she asked, suddenly paranoid that she’d only made him uncomfortable by inviting him here. There did seem to be higher expectations, not just in dressing better and keeping good manners, but also in what the place represented. People generally go here on dates, dinner celebrations, or important meetings—occasions with certain significance. She did feel a bit strange being there with a friend on an ordinary dinner.

Nephrite stared at her blankly for a moment as her words registered in his mind. The restaurant was too stuffy? Was she herself feeling uncomfortable in the restaurant and had wanted to go to a diner? 

"I'm confused," he admitted, putting down the napkin he had been fiddling with when the waiter had taken their order. "I thought it was the norm on date to go to establishments such as these, especially today, the holiday for lovers." His heart hammered in his chest as a feeling of dread began to build. 

Had he read the situation wrong and this wasn't a date after all, but a good friend treating a friend to a meal?

His instincts were normally better than this, but he was beginning to fear they had failed him this time.

Date?

The word lodged itself into Mako’s mind and caused a short-circuit. The panic area in her brain flared up at this unexpected development. Date?? Who said anything about a date?? She frantically recalled the message she’d written to Nephrite—no, definitely no mention of a date there. And when she suggested the dinner earlier in the day, there was nothing about a date in her speech either. She was sure of it. Where did he get the idea—

The holiday of lovers.

Oh, god. It was Valentine’s Day. Mako hadn’t forgotten—she’d had a lot of Valentine’s Day orders for today after all—but it just hadn’t clicked somehow. It wasn’t relevant to her personally, so she hadn’t even thought of—crap. The leftover chocolates. Crap crappity crap. Did Nephrite think…? Oh God. Her face flamed as she thought of how he must’ve thought those chocolates were Valentine’s Day chocolates from her. And not just friendly Valentine’s Day chocolates, either. That, combined with the invitation to this nice restaurant…

A string of very creative and vulgar curses ran through her mind.

“Nephrite…” she stammered, not quite sure what to say. This was so embarrassing. She didn’t want to make him feel ashamed, but she needed to straighten things out. “I’m… I’m so sorry. I didn’t even realize… but this wasn’t… I didn’t mean for this to be a date.” Now her cheeks were truly red. “I didn’t even think about it being Valentine’s Day, oh god, I’m so sorry.”

She buried her face in her hands, unable to even look at him.

Was she embarrassed to be seen with him on a date? Or was it the fact that she was mortified at the thought of Nephrite believing it was a date and the possibilities of him liking her. Either way, he felt his heart drop to his stomach. Did she not remember their love in Silver Millennium? He had originally put the past in the past and given up any hope of rekindling any sort of relationship, content in just being in her life as a friend. He had thought any feelings from the past had been long buried. 

How wrong he had been. 

Her invitation to dinner that night had sparked hope and his love for her once more. Seeing her reaction to the mere idea of this being a date shattered him in so many ways. 

"I see," he said, his voice void of emotion. Without a word, he pushed his chair back, and stood up, the napkin he had placed on his lap fluttering to the floor. Giving her one last look, he silently exited the restaurant, forcing himself to keep his head high and his body relaxed and natural looking as possible, hoping people didn't notice. 

The waiter, not noticing Nephrite's departure brought their food 

He didn't go into work the next day, or the day after that. 

Soon the days began to blend together, soon a week had passed. He rarely left his home, only to get food when he needed it, making sure to steer clear of her flower shop. He ignored his phone, only answering if it was one of the Shittennou or King Endymion. Nephrite knew that he was allowing himself to turn into a mess, yet he couldn't bring himself enough to care. 

He knew she had been by, the meals she left at his door with sternly written notes that they needed to talk. Unable to bring himself to eat anything she'd made him, his fridge quickly became a graveyard for those meals.  Jadeite, seeing this and proclaiming that good food, especially good food that Makoto made, couldn't go to waste and came over every day to bother him while he stuffed his face.

Mako didn’t understand a thing.

Nephrite didn’t say anything, just walked out of the restaurant. Left her with all their unpaid and uneaten meals. It wasn’t that he’d left her with the bill that annoyed her the most, of course. But who the hell just walks out like that in the middle of the dinner?! He didn’t even talk to her!

Bewildered, Mako had ended up taking all the orders home and paying for them. Then she’d tried to track down Nephrite, but he was cutting her off. He wouldn’t see her, wouldn’t take her calls, wouldn’t care how long she banged on his door. Or left meals and sternly worded letters through the crack of said door. He didn’t come to work, which… well, he wasn’t really an employee, which was fine she supposed. She’d always felt bad about treating him like one anyway.

But this wasn’t what she wanted. At all!

She decided to give him space. He still wouldn’t talk to her. She tried to talk to his brothers, to Usagi, Mamoru, everyone. No one could help her.

Mako couldn’t take this crap anymore.

After a week, she camped out in front of his door. She wouldn’t leave until he came out, because he had to come out sometime, right? She would wait as long as she had to. She would play this game and beat him with her own stubbornness. He didn’t know how determined she could be.

Finally, when it was approaching twelve hours, Mako decided she needed to take it to the next level. She stood in front of his door and yelled, “Nephrite! I know you’re in there. If you don’t open this door in the next five seconds, I will transform and break it down for you. I know neither of us really wants that because there’ll be damages to pay and all that, so let’s just resolve this like adults and freaking talk!”

Nephrite growled when Makoto began banging on his door. He was aware that she had been waiting for him for the last 12 hours or so outside his door. Stalking to his door and opening it, he started at her for a moment. 

"Get in here before you annoy my neighbours and they begin complaining." Turning around, he walked back into the apartment, not caring if she followed him or not.

Nephrite wisely opened the door, though Mako wasn’t happy about his irritated tone. She was the one who’d been waiting for him for half a day, thank you very much. She followed him inside and closed the door, taking every bit of willpower in her not to slam it. “Like it’s my fault I’ve been out there as long as I have…” she muttered under her breath.

“So what’s the deal here? Are you going to tell me why you’ve just been giving me the cold shoulder? Is it honestly just because of the misunderstanding? Because you didn’t even give me a chance to apologize and explain. I’m sorry if I offended you, but I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to hurt you in any way,” she said in frustration. It had felt as if she’d committed some huge offense, but she hadn’t done anything beyond trying to be a good friend and treating him to a nice dinner. It wasn’t really her fault that he’d misconstrued her intentions, was it? Okay, so she was dumb for not realizing it was Valentine’s Day, but you know what they say about making assumptions.

Nephrite rolled his eyes at her muttering. No one had held a gun to her head and made her sit out there. She had no one to blame but herself. He had been foolish to allow himself to think that she returned his feelings, that she felt for him the same as he did for her. In he ensuring nights since what he liked to refer to as "the incident" it had become increasingly clear it was becoming too painful for him to be near her. 

When he had been resurrected, he had easily been able to push down any feelings he once had for her, simply content to be near her. Now that they were out, they weren't go easily ignored. As she talked, he went over to the table that was by his door, his hands touching the paper that had been left there. 

~~

"You need to stop moping," Kunzite declared, taking a seat in the chair across from where Nephrite was huddled on the couch. 


"I'm not moping." He glared at Kunzite's raised eyebrow, knowing his friend was skeptical. Okay, so maybe he was moping around a little, so what? He just got his heart shattered. The love of his life made it very clear that she did not feel the same way for him. 


"The King and Queen require someone to handle a long range political mission. It's a long term mission, and you'll be gone for one or two years, depending on how the negotiations go. You would be acting as the King and Queens official representative. You have a good head on your shoulders and good instincts for these type of things, and I think right now, getting away and getting your head back on straight is something that you need." 


A mission? Long term? The idea was appealing, being able to get away for a bit. Or a while from the sounds of it. It would also be good to be able to use his skills once more, especially in service of the king. He turned the idea around in his mind, examining the pros and cons of it. 


"Everything you need to know is in this document. I'm going to leave this here for you to look at later. I need an answer by the end of the week, don't take too long to think about this." Standing up, Kunzite looked at his friend, shaking his head. He really hoped that he took the mission. "Oh and Nephrite, take care of yourself."


~~


That had been two days ago. He still had a few days to make his decision, but having her here, in his space, pushed him to make up his mind. 

"There's nothing to discuss Makoto. You may not have meant to hurt me, but the damage is already done," he laughed softly, the noise sounding hallow even to his own ears. When had he gotten this pathetic? His eyes glanced over to her. Should he tell her, or should he simply disappear. No, he owed her at least this. It was bad enough that he had been out of the shop for this long. He felt slightly guilty for the other workers. 

"I think that I should at least tell you that I'm taking Kunzite up on his offer on a long range mission. It'll be taking me away from Earth for a few years at least." Hopefully longer. Please don't push this Makoto. Just let me go. 

“Okay, what damage? I don’t understand anything because you won’t talk to me! It was an embarrassing misunderstanding, yes, but that’s all, right? I feel like I’m missing something big here.”

Her eyes bulged when he told her he was going away. Not just from Japan. From Earth. Ouch. Talk about taking avoidance to the next level. “For a few years? Nephrite, what… you’re being totally unreasonable. Why is this necessary? You seriously can’t stand being in the same planet as me anymore?” she asked in disbelief. Despite the ridiculousness of the plan, she felt herself hurt that he would actually go to such lengths to stay away from her.

"Who said this has anything to do with you? Did you stop to think that maybe I want to feel useful for once since I was reincarnated into this blasted time period? I don't have a purpose anymore. I was the Prince's guard, his companion. We  sent on political missions if the situation called for it." He collapsed in a chair, holding his head in his hands as he continued to speak. 

"I had a purpose, a use. Here, I'm a drift. Don't take it the wrong way, I have enjoyed my time helping you in your shop, but my skills and training have been going to waste. The opportunity came up and I took it." He refused to admit how big of a part her recent actions played in his decisions. The more the thought about it though, the more he felt like it was the right move. He didn't fit into this time period. He was outdated with little use anymore. 

At least this way he was needed.

Everything Nephrite was saying stung. Mako suddenly felt like the most self-centered person in the world. It didn’t have anything to do with her? But then why had he avoided her for this long after abruptly leaving her in the middle of dinner? It made no sense.

She hadn’t realized that he felt purposeless. She had wanted to talk to him about finding his own passion in life; that was the whole point of that dinner. She’d wanted him to stop wasting his life helping her. So this was what she wanted, right? For him to find his own way.

Still, it hurt when he said that his skills had been going to waste. Sure, the bakery and flower shop didn’t require what he had trained all his life for, but… he had seemed to enjoy it. Even if Mako had the same concern, she didn’t know why it still hurt like hell having him say all of this so bluntly. It wasn’t like she ever made him stay or work for free. In fact, she kept telling him he didn’t have to.

“Right. Of course,” she said finally, feeling completely lost and devastated for reasons she couldn’t fathom. “I’m sorry I made you work for free for this long. I meant to tell you that you should go and pursue something else… something you really care about. Something that’ll be good for you.” She sighed and ran her hand through her hair. “That was what I wanted to talk about during that dinner, actually.”

She paused, then, feeling like there really was nothing more to say after all, she turned away from him. Because looking at him right now hurt too much.

“Well. In that case… I wish you well. I hope you find something better out there. I’m sorry to have… wasted so much of your time.”

She waited to see if he wanted to say something else before she opened the door. “I hope when… if… you do come back… you’ll stop by and say hi.” She turned to look at him one last time. “Goodbye, Nephrite.”

ooc:

He could see the pain he caused her, and he began to hate himself. He never wanted to cause her pain, yet that's all he seemed to do. It was probably best that he was taking this mission. It would be good for both of them. He had enjoyed the work at the bakery and flower shop, it had helped, but it wasn't enough to fill the massive hole in his life. 

The words he wanted to tell her, to bring her perhaps a semblance of comfort were lodged in his throat. The words she spoke cut him deep. Did she not want him at her shop? Was the dinner just a polite way to get rid of him? 

He wanted to call out to her, to stop her. 

"Makoto." By the time he spoke, it was too late; the door was already closed and he could hear her walking down the hall. 

He had never felt so alone in his life.

It had been months.

Months of silence, months of longing. Mako never realized just how much she’d gotten used to having Nephrite around. How much she depended on him and how much she was enjoying his company. Maybe she’d taken him for granted after all, because clearly she had no real idea of how much he was worth to her until he was well and truly gone.

She had had to hire an extra employee to replace the work he usually did, but that only solved one part of the problem. An employee was a stranger, not a friend. She still missed him. Him, not what he used to do for her.

She wondered if he was safe. It kept her up at night sometimes, thinking of this mission so far away. Was it dangerous? Surely the other Shitennou would let her know if something had happened to him, right? But would they even know? Did he keep in touch with them?

Her friends had eventually gotten tired of her being so depressed all the time and directed her to Kunzite to ask for information. Mako had gone back and forth with the decision, remembering how Nephrite had asked to be given some space and she wanted to honor his wishes. She’d ruined his life enough as it was.

But eventually she couldn’t deal with the not knowing anymore. She just wanted to know if he was okay. That was all. At least that was what she told herself when she knocked on Kunzite’s apartment door, hoping he would be able to give her some answers.

Kunzite stopped reading mid sentence when a knock sounded throughout his apartment. Who would it possibly be? He wasn't expecting anyone. Carefully marking his place, he put the book down on the table and gracefully rose from his favourite reading chair. He contemplated grabbing his sword which lay on the table by the door; he didn't sense any malicious intents from the other side of his door and decided to leave it for now. It was still within reach if he should need it. 

"Makoto-san," Kunzite greeted as he opened the door. "What brings you here this evening?"