Name of the Storyline:  Mercurial Romance
Name of the Creator(s):  Addelyn, JupiterThunderCrash
Forum: Crystal Tokyo
Advanced or Relaxed: Relaxed
Plot Summary:  
Having finished medical school before the events leading up to Crystal Tokyo, Ami is the doctor to the Royal Family and the royal guards. The Neo Queen Serenity and the Inner Senshi have come up with a new idea on how to protect Crystal Tokyo from their enemies. The task of creating the program on Crystal Tokyo’s powerful super computer has fallen to Ami and someone she never thought she’d see again.

The Shitennou have been revived and have retaken their rightful place as the Royal Guards to King Endymion. As Zoisite has always been incredibly smart and good with technology, he has been asked to work aside Ami on the protection system. The two initially do not get along and this causes many fights. They slowly learn to get along and respect each other and Zoisite slowly falls back in love with Ami. Before anything between them can happen, Daisuke enters their lives and Ami begins to pull away from Zoisite in favour of spending time with Daisuke. Who is this mysterious man and what does he mean to Ami? Does he have a connection with her past?

Daisuke thought he was an ordinary human living in Crystal Tokyo until one day he discovers he’s not. He finds himself drawn to the Senshi guardian of Neo Queen Serenity, Sailor Mercury. Can she be the one that unlocks his hidden past?

Details on any necessary information:  
Ami Mizuno- JupiterThunderCrash
Daisuke- JupiterThunderCrash
Zoisite- Addelyn

Restrictions:
No Otaku characters and any require cannon characters will be NPCed by either Addy or JTC.

Note to admin: We’re submitting this storyline early because everyone’s been sick lately so we figured if we submit it now, it’ll be ready to go (Between this approved and Zoisite profile ) by the time JTC’s done her exams.  So this is basically just saying we’ll be starting the RP mid-Dec after exams.

Source(s): N/A

OOC Thread: N/A

Member to Character List:


Ami Mizuno- JupiterThunderCrash
Daisuke- JupiterThunderCrash
Zoisite- Addelyn

Zoisite clenched his first in anger. How could his King ask him to do something like this? He knew how Zoisite felt, about how he was trying to avoid her, yet Endymion had gone and ordered him to complete this task regardless. He had to work with her, the woman he had been avoiding like the deadliest plague since he had been reincarnated and taken his rightful place as King Endymion's guard in Crystal Tokyo.
 

He wrapped his arms around himself as he contemplated the computer system before him. It still hurt to remember her and now, he was forced to work with her day in and day out. Was this his punishment for all the sins and atrocities he had committed? He gripped the controls tightly as some of the more horrific acts he had committed began to flash through his mind. No, not now, why did this have to happen now? She was about to come in to the computer systems room any minute and he couldn’t bear it if she saw him so weak.

Sailor Mercury walked down the winding halls of the palace,  heading for the computer control room. She still wasn't fully on board with what she was going to do, but that didn't mean she wouldn't try. Neo Queen Serenity really wanted to get this defense system up and running, and was trusting her to do it. Usually Mercury wouldn't even hesitate to accept a request like that. She loved experimenting with their technology and pushing it to the limit, but there was a catch to working on this project. She had to do it with Zoisite. Usagi had said she didn't want to overwork her with the stress of having to be responsible for the entire thing, so Endymion had volunteered Zoisite to help as well. 

He and the other Shitennou had been revived for a while now, and she had long since gotten used to seeing him around as they did their work. Mercury remembered the past though, and even if she understood that the events that happened were not entirely Zoisite's fault, she still wasn't completely comfortable. She wasn't openly suspicious of his intentions though, and if Endymion trusted his men to be capable, so would she. Besides, Zoisite was smart, and he definitely wouldn't hinder the process of constructing the defense system. And maybe she should try to build up some kind of relationship with him, if only to try and ease the tension that was definitely between them. 

With that plan in mind, Sailor Mercury smiled slightly and opened the doors to the computer system's room. She was greeted to a view of Zoisite at the controls. She couldn't see his face form this angle, but his shoulders looked tense. Was something wrong with him?

"Zoisite, are you alright?" she asked, temporarily forgetting her nervousness around him and stepping inside. The doors behind her closed with a quiet hiss. It was just the two of them now.

Zoisite groaned softly when he heard Mercury ask him if he was alright. Could he ever catch a break?

“I’m fine.” His teeth grit in frustration as another memory assaulted him. He wanted to curl up in pain on the floor. His flashbacks tended to not only bring the memory of what happened, but replay sensory memory as well. Attempting to concentrate on his breathing in order to get himself under control, he took a deep breath. He could hear Kunzite in his head telling him to breathe in, hold, then slowly release. Allowing himself to follow his friend’s direction, he could feel the memories receding. With it, the pain slowly faded. When he no longer felt as if ever nerve was on fire, he opened his eyes.


After giving himself a short moment to get his bearing, he quietly resumed work, hoping that she had ignore him after he snapped at her.

Sailor Mercury backed away a few steps and gave Zoisite some space at his response to her question. He was clearly not fine, but he didn't want her help, and she wouldn't force him to take it. Zoisite didn't look injured, so maybe it was just a bad migraine? She should ask Endymion if he knew about this later... She looked to the side at a computer monitor until he had recovered, not wanting to embarrass or bother him. 

Hesitantly, she took the seat beside Zoisite in front of the computer's mainframe, watching him fiddle with it. He really did seem to know what he was doing with it. It was going to take a while to hook up the computer's new programs to the security cameras and gate systems of the city, but at this rate, they could definitely get it done in less than a year. Maybe even less than six months.

"Are you trying to set up the scanner program?" she asked, after a few minutes of observation. Her chair was a good few feet away from him, but she could see his work from her own screen. "It would work smoother if you switched this code to a combined if statement. Then you can give it all of your parameters at once."

Zoicite's lips pressed tightly together as she attempted to correct his programming. Could he not get any peace today? He was still rattled from earlier, and was having difficulty keeping a handle on his emotions. 

"I'm currently setting up the computers parameters to complete certain tasks while a trigger event is happening." His typing became more furious he attempted to loose himself in his work. Maybe if he ignored her long enough she could go away?

"Yes, but a series of while statements are rather inefficient to use to program every possible trigger event," Mercury continued, more insistent now. All thoughts of being uncomfortable went out the window when it came to less personal matters, and she wouldn't hesitate to tell her opinion just because she wanted to be nice. People's lives would depend on this system to work. 

"It would be much easier to comprehend if you used if statements instead. Doing it this way will work, but it'll end up as a block of nearly indecipherable code to anyone not familiar with it." That would be fine if only they were using this computer, but all the Senshi and Shitennou had to be able to operate it as well. Sometimes simple really was better in this case.

The headache that had appeared when the flashbacks started began to pound insistently, only to be made worse by Mercury's nitpicking. Either code would work fine, but he honestly wasn't in a a mood to deal with this today. Every word that came out of her mouth lite his nerves on fire. Finally, he'd had enough. He stood abruptly, his chair clattering to the floor behind him. 

"It seems to me that you want to do this entire project on your own since you do nothing put nitpick at every little thing I do since we started on this project together. By all means, have at it,"  his arm swept out, indicating the massive computer system. "Don't let me stand in your way." With that, he stalked out of he room. Once the doors closed behind him, he brought one hand up to his head. Dammit. Why did she always bring out his temper? Even in the Silver Millennium, she had been on of the very few people to make him loose his cool. Shaking his head, he headed towards his room. He kept the temperature in his room cooler for moments like this and was able to make it dark. This was going to be a bad one, he could just feel it.

Mercury jumped a little as Zoisite got up, no understanding what he was doing. She let him talk, too stunned at his outburst to try to counter it.  She came back to her senses just as he left the room. 

"Wait, don't-" The doors shut, cutting her off. "go..." She sighed, sinking in to her own chair. Well, that went great, didn't it? She had driven him off in less than an hour. But he was being so stubborn! She had just wanted to make the code better. After a few minutes of her thoughts switching between regret at being too abrasive and irritation at Zoisite leaving, she stood up as well. Mercury couldn't allow herself to sulk about this, they needed to work together. She and Zoisite were both adults, they could surely work their differences out. Collecting her thoughts and emotions, she opened the door and left the room, going down to the Shitennou's part of the castle. Maybe if she talked to him, he'd come back.

Zoisite stumbled down the hallway that lead to his room. Ever since he was reincarnated, he would get terrible migraines every time memories from his time in the Dark Kingdom were trigger or anything to do with the betrayal of Prince Endymion. So far he had been able to keep it under wraps and hide it from everyone...well, almost everyone. Kunzite knew, but that wasn't a big shock for Zoisite. Kunzite knew everything that went on with the Shittennou, it was his job after all. As for Mercury finding out, he could play his off as anger and frustration and with any luck, she would never find out.

He was terrified of anyone besides Kunzite finding out. He didn't want the pity or the looks that screamed how pathetic he was by not being able to deal with his issues. He was barely able to deal with the worried glances Kunzite sent his way. Opening the door, he shut let it close behind him, as he maneuvered around his furniture. He didn't need to turn on the lights to find his way to his bed in his small living quarters.

The King and Queen had offered them larger suites, ones that were equal to those the sol senshi had in the palace, but the Shittennou had turned them down, opting to take the small, more cramped quarters. They felt after all they had done, they didn't deserve that kind of luxury. Honestly, they were still surprised that the King was wiling to trust them as he had. If Zoisite were in Endymions place, he wouldn't trust them again so quickly. He supposed that was the difference between he and his King; Endymion had a great capacity for love and forgiveness. He collapsed face first into his bed staying there, un-moving for several moments before another wave of pain wracked his body, causing him to curl up on his side, gritting his teeth.

Now wandering around the designated Shitennou area, Mercury started to search for Zoisite's room. She didn't usually spend much time in this part of the castle, so she ended up wandering around for a few minutes trying to get her bearings, not wanting to bother anyone by asking. As she looked around, Mercury wondered exactly what she was going to say to him. Would she apologize for being too forceful? She could barely talk to him normally, and now she was going to convince him to come back? Maybe this wasn't the best plan... Back in the past, she remembered Zoisite being somewhat prideful in his skills, so she'd go in that direction and compliment his programming. She really did think he was good, even if she had failed to say anything earlier. Mercury finally found the door marked with his name, and hesitated before finally knocking. 

"Zoisite...?" she called. "Are you in there?"

"I would leave him alone for now, if I were you." The leader of the Shittennou stepped forward from where he had been watching from the Shadows. He knew Zoisites  memory attacks were becoming more frequent of late and the migraines were becoming more severe. He was at a loss of what to do and had wrestled with the idea of going to his Prince for help. He had failed to protect his brothers in two lifetimes now, he didn't want to fail them in a third. Shaking his head, he wondered if the Mercurian in front of him had anything to do with his brothers recent attack.

"Kunzite," Mercury said, just noticing him. How much had she zoned out to have not seen him standing there? And what exactly did Kunzite know about his behavior? Was there something more to the headache she had witnessed? She was getting curious. "Sorry for intruding, but is Zoisite...okay?" He was acting strange earlier when we were working together, and then he stormed off... I can wait to talk to him if he needs time." Mercury really didn't want to walk away now after coming so far, but she didn't want to pressure him either. "If you want me to leave, I understand."

"He will be fine, with time. If you wish to stay, that is up to you. I cannot tell you what to do. Just know he is most likely not going to open his door anytime soon." With that, he turned, cape swishing out behind him as he disappeared down the hall. He really needed to talk to the others. Zoisite was getting worse and it was becoming beyond the Shittennou capabilities to deal with. 

Perhaps Mercury would be able to help him. It was an interesting thought and he'd have to keep an eye on the situation.

Mercury nodded at Kunzite before he left, and watched him turn the corner, thinking about what he had said. Did Zoisite do this a lot, enough to develop a pattern? She frowned to herself and looked at the closed door again. She'd just wait here until her came out then. He eventually had to leave. Mercury leaned against the wall beside the door and got comfortable, pulling out her handheld computer to work on something else.

A few hours later, she was slumped down in a sitting position, haven fallen asleep as she waited. Her head lolled to the side, and her sailor fuku and computer had faded, leaving her in a comfortable, but still somewhat formal light blue dress. The symbol for Mercury glowed faintly on her forehead, but she was otherwise peaceful looking.

Several hours later Zoisite finally stumbled out of his room. He was feeling slightly better and had decided that food was in order. Just as he was about to turn down the hall and make his way to the kitchen, he noticed a figure, sitting against the wall beside his door. 

Who in the world could that be? Upon closer inspection, he found Mercury, but she was no longer wearing her Sailor Mercury fuku. She was dressed wearing a light blue formal dress. It looks like a more modern version of her Princess dress Zoisite thought to himself. She had looked good in that, he had always thought so, but this dress? It made her look stunning. The blonde felt his cheeks heat up at the thought. 

The question of the day was what was she doing asleep outside of his room? Had she come looking for him? Had she waited so long she fell asleep? He couldn't just leave her there, it wasn't the right thing to do. Sighing, he bent down to pick her up. The only option he had was to bring her back to her room.

Ami shifted slightly when Zoisite touched her, but she didn't wake up, allowing him to carry her. As he walked back down the hall with her, her expression changed into something more pained, and she shifted again, her planetary sign flickering. Whatever she was dreaming of was becoming less pleasant. Her lips parted slightly, allowing a single understandable word to slip past them. 

"...Hermes..." the rest of her sleep talk was too slurred or quiet for Zoisite to get. Ami seemed to calm down after that and relax again.

Zoisite couldn't help but wonder who this "Hermes" was. Was he a past lover? As far as he knew, he had been the only lover she had ever taken during the Silver Millennium. Had she lied to him? No, she wouldn't do that, it wasn't like her. Maybe this Hermes was a lover she had taken recently? He felt his blood boil at the thought. 

All too soon he turned down the corridor to the Senshi's rooms. Thankfully all the doors were labelled with their planetary symbols, making Mercury's easy to find.

When Zoisite got to Mercury's door, he would find it locked. Despite Ami being in his arms, the scanner refused to let him in. It seemed that the lock would only admit certain people in, and only if they were awake. 

"Can I help you?" a familiar voice said. Sailor Venus had just come out from her own room and had seen Zoisite. She noticed Ami in his arms, and looked confused. She didn't appear to be hurt or sick, just...sleeping. "Did something happen that I should be aware of?" she asked, raising a brow at the general before her. Venus didn't sound angry, just curious. If Zoisite had really wanted to hurt Mercury, he wouldn't have carried her back into this part of the palace. The senshi would have sensed a conflict anyway.

"I found her outside my room, slumped against the wall asleep. I figured I would do the nice thing and return her to her rooms, but it appears I cannot enter," he explained curtly, yet politely. He felt uncomfortable being seen with Mercury in his arms, like he had been caught doing something wrong. He just wanted to return the blue-haired girl to her rooms, get his food and then return to bed to finish sleeping off his migraine.

Venus was surprised when she heard what had happened. That didn't sound like Mercury at all...unless she had been pushing herself too hard again. Weren't she and Zoisite supposed to be working on the computer system today? This was an interesting development. Instead of further questioning him, Venus smiled and stepped in front of him. She touched Mercury's door and it slid open.

"There you go!" she said, moving aside to let Zoisite through. "Sorry about you having to bring her back over here. If it happens again, just come get me, Rei, or Makoto and we'll handle it."

"It's not a problem," Zoisite said stiffly. He walked into her room, quickly locating her sleeping chambers. Her living room alone was easily 4 times bigger than his entire quarters. And you could be living like this if you hadn't turned down Endymion a voice in his head said. No, this was his punishment. No luxuries in life. They didn't deserve it. Not after everything they'd done, every atrocity they committed. 

He walked into her bedroom and laid her gently on the bed. Spotting a blanket at the end of the bed, he pulled it over her, not wanting her to be cold. That finished, he looked down at her, marveling how much she reminded him of his Mercury. Unable to resist, he leaned down and kissed her forehead gently. Squeezing his eyes closed as tears threatened to fall, Zoisite quickly left the room. He forced his posture to remain relaxed and casual so no one would notice anything was amiss. He had to get over the fact that she was no longer his.

"Well?" she asked, eyebrow arched in question. She knew the answer that Zoisite had given her last night to be true, but she couldn't resist teasing her friend. 

She was the Goddess of Love and her love senses were tingling with these two. They were soul mates, meant to be together and would always find each other in every life. It was quite obvious to her that Zoisite still loved Ami; he would have simply woken her and not carried her back if he didn't.

"Um..." Mercury stared down at her plate again, fully aware of how she was being stared at. Should she talk about the trouble they were having working together? She didn't want to worry Neo-Queen Serenity, so she would tell the minimum amount of info needed. 

"I was waiting to talk to Zoisite about the project, and I must have drifted off after a while," Mercury said. "I've had a few late nights this week..." That wasn't a lie either. The dreams hadn't started just last night, similar ones had been happening for a couple of weeks now. They weren't quite nightmares, but they kept her up with questions all the same.

"So why did you go to his room to talk to him? Couldn't it have waited until you saw him today?" Minako asked curiously. She knew that she had the entire rooms attention at this point and Ami was most likely dying of embarrassment on the inside but she was a woman in search of answers and she wouldn't stop until she got them!

"And what's been keeping you up so many night in a row?" Rei asked from across the table.

Well, there was no getting out of it now. If Minako wanted all the details, it was pointless to stall any longer.

"We had a...personal misunderstanding earlier, and I wanted to clear it up before it got worse," she admitted. There was definitely some tension between the two of them, but they could hopefully start to get over that.

"I've been having some recurring dreams," she said to Rei. "The kind that might be connected to the past. I'm not completely sure what may have triggered them, and they're still too blurry for me to try and interpret. It's frustrating..." Ami sighed.

"Ami-chan, you really should sleep more," Neo Queen Serenity said, looking concerned. Jupiter nodded.

"You'll run yourself into the ground staying up and worrying about things like that," she said.

Zoisite, now headache free, walked into the computer room several hours early while the King, Queen and Senshi were having breakfast, determined to get some work done. If Mercury had followed him to his room shortly after he had stormed out of the computer lab, then nothing had been done yesterday. The blonde couldn't help but feel responsible and guilty for that. But then again, no one made her follow me. I never asked her too so I really shouldn't feel bad about no work beyond my own not being done. 


With that thought firmly in his head, Zoisite lost himself in the coding for the new security system, not hearing when Kunzite stopped by to check on him before the leader of the Shittennou left for his own breakfast.

Ami smiled. "You're right, it's probably nothing to worry about anyway. Just memories. I promise I'll try not to think about it too hard."

Neo Queen Serenity beamed in response. "Good! And as for you, Rei..."

"What did I do?" Mars said.

"I saw you up last night sitting in front of the fire, don't pretend! You need to sleep more too!" Mars looked appalled.

"I'm only looking because I'm trying to predict any threats to the peace around here! I'm not doing it for fun!" she fired back.

"Well...meditate earlier!" They continued arguing about Rei's sleep habits, surprising no one else at the table.
___________________

After breakfast, Mercury went back to the computer room to start up work again. She hadn't gotten much done at all yesterday, and she wanted to catch up. The doors slid open at her presence, showing that Zoisite was already coding again. She hadn't seen him this morning at all, so he must have been in here. Hesitantly, she walked in and sat down, this time staying a little farther away. After a long stretch of nothing but the sounds of typing, she finally worked up the nerve to say something.

"Thank you for taking me back yesterday..." Mercury said.

"Hmm, oh, it was no problem," Zoisite said, distracted with what was on screen. He decided if he ignored her today, and basically every day, from now until he was finished working with her, he could maybe get through this. 

He glanced over at her. She did seem more well rested today than she had the day before. Returning to what was on his screen, he nearly growled in frustration. In every scenario he had run, when they were attacked, the system failed. He had even gone back and input the coding she had suggested the day before. Nothing. Only have the commands worked.