"Shadows in the Moonlight"
by Vega

Chapter 1

Yemma-sama sighed and scratched his massive red head, shifting the position of his hat. Damn, but these sorts of cases made him sweat. He hated them with a passion, but there was no way around it. He'd have to sentence this soul, even though he knew any and all punishment he meted out would seem unfair.

"Kunzite-sama," he huffed, closing his tome and chewing on the end of his pen, "I am sincerely perplexed by your record."

The melancholy general did not look up. He remained where he stood, legs stiff and straight, arms folded almost casually behind his back, and his lavender-silver hair falling over his face, masking his expressions from the check-point's occupants. He would have been the perfect picture of dignity and bearing, had there not been a large tear in the front of his jacket, and a matching one in his heavy cloak, turning the soft civility into tragedy.

"You were doing well, exceptionally well, in the first couple decades..." Yemma forced himself to continue, wishing that he did not have to do this, but knowing that he did. "But then you backslided something horrible. Right after..." he paused a moment, checking his notes again, "right after you were brainwashed by Beryl."

The General flinched at the name, and all saw it, but he did not look up.

"Kunzite-sama, you were the harbinger of much evil, and I cannot allow you to go unpunished for it." Yemma said softly, peering at the curious man, "However, I know most of it was not your fault. Beryl took control of you and made you do those things, and it is noted in the records. So, with your death, her control on you has evaporated and you have returned to your former self, and thus have an awareness of your actions and guilt in their memory. I cannot morally send you to the lower Hells, as I would have, had you still been under Beryl's power, and so I sentence you to existence in the highest Hell there is."

The poor soul only nodded.

"Kunzite..." Yemma said softly as one of the ogres led the man to a door, and the downcast icy-silver eyes flicked up to meet the giant's for the first time. Yemma was startled to see that the man was silently weeping. "In time, I can try you again, if you request it. And perhaps by then you might have suffered enough to warrant entry to Heaven. Until then, take faith and do not succumb to Hell."

Kunzite said nothing in response, and only turned to go.

"Oh!" Yemma exclaimed, flipping his record book back open, "I almost forgot. You have the chance to say one thing to one living person of your choice before you go, Kunzite."

The white-haired man paused, then looked back to Yemma, his eyes wide.

"Anything? To anyone...?" He whispered hoarsely.

"Yes," Yemma conceded, "Now."

"Minako..." Kunzite closed his eyes and folded his hands across his breast. "My dearest love... forgive me..."

Yemma saw the General smile, another tear slipping down his cheek, then dismissed the man, wishing -and not for the first time- that he never had to deal with such a case again.

"Anno." he sighed, shifting in his chair and pulling out his record-tome once more. "Bring in the next soul to be sentenced..."

***

"Kunzite..." the golden-haired girl sighed, shifting in her sleep, "I forgive you... I love you..."

To her side, a white cat perked a curious ear. "Wonder what that was...?"

*** 

Nephrite was bored. Plain and simple.

There was nothing to do in Highest Hell. For the billionth time since he'd arrived, he scratched at his shoulder, marveling at the fact that the wound was completely gone, vanished without even leaving a scar.

That hurt his vanity a little. He would have liked a scar. It would have proclaimed his courage, and his noble death. Behind him, boot-steps approached on the cobbles, and Nephrite straightened from his position at the lava-fountain, removing his own boot from the ledge to stand straight.

"What now, Zoicite?" he asked a little irritably.

He didn't hate the slender General anymore, and nor did Zoicite hate Nephrite, for their enmity had been fueled by Beryl, who had used competition to get the best from her Four Kings. But some of the old wariness remained.

"Kunzite is here." Zoicite said softly, a gentle gloved hand lighting on the auburn-haired man's muscled shoulder. "I just thought you'd like to know."

Nephrite turned with wide brown eyes to stare down the path to the entrance-way to Highest Hell.

There stood his commander, Kunzite, his posture strong and proud, yet his eyes weary and defeated. His white hair shrouded him like a halo, and Kunzite looked more the angel than ever.

Nephrite bowed his head with that thought. How come they all looked more lovely in death? Zoicite was pure his face mark-less, his golden curls of hair perfect and gleaming.

Nephrite himself looked a like a dark prince, reddish light playing off of him at every opportunity.

But Kunzite....

Kunzite virtually glowed with ethereal beauty.

It didn't surprise him when Zoicite approached the First King relevantly and embraced him warmly. What did surprise him was when Kunzite then approached himself and hugged him as well.

"It had been a long time, my friend." Kunzite whispered, and Nephrite instinctively knew his leader spoke not of the last time they saw each other in Beryl's Halls, but when they had last parted as servants of Endymion's.

"Yes, it has." Nephrite agreed with a pat on the white-haired one's back. They separated, and Kunzite's eyes swiftly perused the barred landscape. "There's not much to do here." Nephrite offered with a shrug.

"It's better than suffering in one of the lower Hells." Zoicite added, sending a little glare in Nephrite's direction.

Kunzite waved all that away. "Is there no way to gaze upon Earth?" He asked with liquid silver eyes.

Nephrite only shook his head. "There is, Kunzite-sama... but..." he glanced furtively at the only building in the area. "We are not allowed to use it." Kunzite's face grew hard. "That is to say," Nephrite added hastily, "Not unless we defeat the two ogres in a competition of their choice."

"And so..." Kunzite raised an eyebrow, "Why have you not? We are the Four King's of Endymion's Army! Surely we have the power to defeat ogres!"

To the side, Zoicite muffled a sob in his glove. He was a sensitive person, and Kunzite's words hurt him deeply. It took the other two a moment to realize why, but when they did, Kunzite was instantly sorry.

"Zoi-chan, please, I didn't mean it, I forgot..." Kunzite murmured soothingly as he wrapped his arms around the trembling general's shoulders. "We'll find him eventually. You needn't grieve for Jadeite."

Zoicite pushed away from the larger man, his cheeks stained with crimson. "Please don't do that again," he whispered. "I'm not your source of amusement anymore, Kunzite, you can't take advantage of me like that."

Nephrite wisely kept his mouth shut as Kunzite blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry, Zoicite-sama, I didn't mean to––"

"I know." Zoicite interrupted. "It was Beryl. But... but I still need to.. Well..." he did not continue, and Kunzite did not press him

Both knew that in reverting to their former goodness, each had begun to love his princess once more. Kunzite yearned for Minako, just as Zoicite was incomplete without Ami.

It was a Hell in itself, knowing that they had hurt the one's they loved so dearly and were unable to do anything about it.

Nephrite looked away, his mind burning with visions of Makoto. Unlike his fellow Generals, he had not been fortunate - and at the same time, cursed enough - to have been alive when Sailor Jupiter had been active. He covered his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Jadeite," he began, and the other two looked in his direction, "You don't think they sent him to a lower Hell, do you? After all, we all ended up here... why shouldn't he?"

Kunzite sighed. "Last I saw, Beryl still kept his crystal by her throne. He's still alive, but trapped in it for all eternity." Nephrite closed his eyes respectfully. Poor Jadeite...

"But!" Zoicite protested, clutching Kunzite's cape, "The Sailor Scouts destroyed Beryl! I felt it when Princess Serenity did it!"

Kunzite merely nodded, "As did I. But that does not necessarily mean that the spell woven around Jadeite would automatically dissipate. Beryl was very upset, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if the spell had been powerful enough to out-last time."

Nephrite looked up, and narrowed his deep-brown eyes at the building that housed the ogres and the window to Earth. What he wouldn't give to gaze upon his beloved Makoto once more. Never mind Naru, he knew she had loved him, and he had loved her too, but what he felt for his Thunder Princess was a thousands times deeper and stronger.

However, he knew that no matter how much he yearned to see her just one last time, he knew that if he were to win the right to look at Earth, he'd use it tracking down Jadeite. Then, perhaps, put in a formal request to Yemma or that Kami fellow to help his friend.

He felt honour-bound to do so.

With quick determined steps, he began to approach the building, and behind him Zoicite and Kunzite halted their discussion and followed after him.

"Neph!" Zoicite called, and Nephrite winced. Only Zoicite would use such an informal form of address. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm going to challenge the ogres and find out where Jadeite is." he explained patiently without looking down on the smaller man. "It's the honourable thing to do."

Behind him Kunzite asked, in equally serious and quiet tones, "Do you think you can win?"

It wasn't a jibe, Nephrite knew, but a simple, straight-forward question.

"We'll see..." he said, "Now won't we?"

****

["Hey, Oolong! Look at this!" Gohan said, holding up the tiny scrap of crystal. Nestled in the palm of his mittens, it almost looked as if there was a man trapped inside of the shard, but that was just the light, now wasn't it?

"We don't have time to look at ice, Gohan!" Oolong responded irritably, continuing to wade through the hip-deep snow. "We need to get to those dragonballs before whoever it is that's collecting them uses them to make a wish!"

Gohan shrugged, put the crystal in his pocket, and forgotten about it. After all, a few days later, he was too busy helping his father fight Dr. Willoo to worry about whatever he had jammed into his pockets.]

Gohan rolled over in his bed and stared at the crystal, propped up against his bed-side lamp. When his mother had found it in his gi pocket earlier that day, she had wanted to take it away from him, thinking it was some evil talisman that Piccolo had forced upon her son, but Gohan had explained where he got it from and begged his mother not to throw it away.

For there really was a man trapped inside the crystal.

He picked it up now and held it in the slanting rays of the setting sun that came in through his bedroom window. The light did not pool on the wall in rainbows, as he thought it would, but as deep blue and purple waves.

"How odd..." he muttered, laying back onto his pillow and twisting it again.

And then he stopped. The man's eyes had moved. Gohan was sure that they had been staring to the left when he'd first picked up the crystal, but now they were staring straight at him, gazing on him with a sea-blue plea for help.

Gohan bolted upright and scrambled over to the window, angling the glass so as to get the best view of the blond man's face. Feeling both immensely foolish and filled with excitement at the same time, Gohan whispered, "Are you alive, little man?"

Inside the eyes seemed to sparkle with hope.

"Can you answer me?" The hope seemed to fade from the eyes, to be replaced by sadness. "If you can hear me," Gohan said logically, "look to the left."

Immediately the eyes flashed to the left.

"Oh!" Gohan exclaimed, and dropped the crystal. "Gomen!" he apologized and snatched it back up. Inside the man looked nauseated. "You can't move, can you?" he asked the man, and the blue eyes darted to the right, which Gohan took to be ‘‘no'.

"Are you trapped?"

The eyes looked left. Yes.

"Can I help you?"

Yes.

"How?"

No answer, the man looked straight ahead.

"Oh, I guess you can't answer that one." Gohan muttered. He was about to say more when the hall light flicked on, and his mother came in.

"Gohan! Who are you talking to?" she demanded and Gohan sheepishly ducked his head.

"The man in the crystal." he answered obediently.

Chichi sighed and rolled her eyes. "Put that thing away and finish your studies before bed, understand?"

"Yes, 'kassan." the boy said again and stood and went to his desk, setting the crystal and the man therein on his bedside table once more. However, as soon as his mother had left the room, Gohan quickly snatched it back up and opened the window, not even bothering to change out of his jacket and slacks into his gi, and leapt into the air.

"I know who can help us, little man." he said to the figure trapped in the crystal as he flew North. Inside, the man's eyes were wide with fear. "Don't worry!" Gohan laughed as he saw this, "I won't drop you! I'm gonna take you to Kami. I bet he knows how to get you out!"

Below them, the forest rushed by at a dizzying pace, and if Jadeite hadn't been frozen, he was sure he would have lost his lunch.

***

Nephrite stood glaring at the two ogres. They both looked like fools, but they were both strong, and fast.

"They say only one person had beaten them." Zoicite whispered nervously in his ear.

"If one human can, so too can I." Nephrite growled and pushed off his fellow General. He then shed his jacket and torn shirt. To the side, there was a deep throaty chuckle.

"Human?" the deep voice laughed, and the Three Kings turned to glare at him. Nephrite was secretly surprised to see how large the man was, but hid his shock. He narrowed his eyes at the man, who smirked back.

"Who are you?" Nephrite ground out.

"Radditzu." the man smiled, "And the brother of the man who escaped from here."

Nephrite began to approach Radditzu, but Kunzite told him to "Hold, Nephrite. We may as of yet learn something here... without a confrontation." The auburn-haired General grimaced and obeyed.

"Radditzu..." Kunzite began, polite yet wary at the same time. "Your brother escaped from here?"

The large man only nodded, his unruly mass of spiked black hair shaking.

"How?"

"He beat those two," the man said, pointing to the ogres, who were still arguing among themselves over who got to fight Nephrite, oblivious to everything around them. "But I can't figure out how." he admitted. "Kakarotto's just a third-class weakling. I'm an elite, and I still haven't been able to win my way out of this planet's Hell. Only up a few levels." His smirk became a toothy smile that would have frightened anyone... except Kunzite.

"You've fought your way up from a lower Hell?" Zoicite asked nervously, his hands trembling.

Nephrite, how had silently been assessing Radditzu all the while, finally spoke up. "You laughed when I called your brother a human. Why?"

Radditzu began to chuckle once more. "Kakarotto? A human? No! My brother is a Saiyajinn!" The man crowed proudly, and thumped the front of his blasted armour with a gauntleted fist.

Nephrite only rolled his eyes.

Zoicite cowered behind Kunzite.

And Kunzite simply looked to the ogres, who were now going at each other with their clubs. "Humph" he muttered, "If they keep that up, Nephrite won't have to fight them to defeat them."

"Yes." Nephrite agreed as Radditzu looked on, "They'll do it for me."

***

"––it was weird." Minako admitted, and Usagi hugged her sympathetically. "I thought... for a second, I thought I was in love with that slime, Kunzite!"

Beside them, Luna and Artemis exchanged a glance.

"Do you think they're starting to remember...?" Luna hissed under her breath.

***