Copyright Aviatrix8, 2000. Sailor Moon and all related characters are property of Naoko Takeuchi, and are used without permission. (That's probably a good thing; I don't think she'd want to see them used like this. ^_~)

Notes: Here's another silly Black Moon piece by me... And a fan service one for the ladies no less! ^_~

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A Black Moon fanfic

"Payback"

by Avi

Esmeraude sashayed down the hallway of the Nemesisian palace, a satisfied look on her face. She had just gotten some valuable information from her informants, which she was dying to tell Prince Dimando. She was sure to get a bonus of some sort...

However, she had not been able to find the Prince thus far, which accounted for the faint mar in her otherwise smug expression. She had already tried the throne room, but had discovered to her dismay that Dimando wasn't there yet. So, to her extreme annoyance, she found herself forced to wander the hallways of the palace, trying to find some clue to where her ruler might be.

Just then, she spotted Rubius strolling down the corridor, from the opposite direction. Esmeraude wrinkled her nose slightly. As much as she despised the man, she really did have to find out where the Prince was...

As he approached, Rubius didn't bother to acknowledge Esmeraude's presence; that is, until he found his path blocked by a feather fan. As he glared at its owner in annoyance, she addressed him imperiously.

"Do you have any idea where Dimando-sama might be, Rubius?" The distaste in saying the latter's name was obvious in Esmeraude's voice. "I have a message of the utmost importance to give him." At her tone, Rubius bristled.

"How the hell should I know?" he replied, rudely. Esmeraude looked offended for a moment, then sniffed.

"Hmph. Well, I should've known better to ask low-class vermin like yourself information on royal matters. Perhaps I can find someone more competent who can tell me... Certainly more intelligent."

With that, she turned her back on him and began to stride away. Rubius snarled under his breath. Then, a thought crossed his mind. A wicked gleam entered his eyes.

"Wait, Esmeraude," he called out. The politeness in his tone made Esmeraude stop in her tracks. As she turned to look at him curiously, Rubius walked up to her and smiled.

"Actually, I think I do have an idea where Prince Dimando might be; it had completely slipped my mind..." Esmeraude arched an eyebrow skeptically.

"Is that so?"

"Why, yes. I do believe the Prince might be in the royal baths at the moment." Rubius's smile widened a bit as Esmeraude flushed.

"The... Royal baths?" she said weakly. Rubius nodded gravely.

"Of course," he continued in a falsely considerate tone, "I'd understand if you're reluctant to go and give him your message in person, which I believe is very urgent... So, I'd be happy to go in there and tell it to him for you." At this, Esmeraude looked indignant. She drew herself up haughtily.

"Certainly not!" she retorted. "I cannot risk divulging this information to anyone else; I'll give it to Prince Dimando myself!"

With a toss of her head, Esmeraude marched down the hallway, in the direction of the royal baths. Meanwhile, Rubius crossed his arms in front of him and chuckled to himself.

"Yes, I thought you might do that," he said, smirking.

***

Striding briskly down the corridor, Esmeraude slowly felt her indignation drain away. Though she would've never admitted it, she had begun to regret letting Rubius talk her into checking the royal baths for the Prince. In fact, the whole thing sounded like Rubius's idea of a joke; it was certainly his brand of sick humour.

So when she arrived at the baths, Esmeraude was both surprised and reassured by the sight of one of the imperial bodyguards standing at attention outside the doorway; they were only around when protecting a member of the royal family. Slowing to a sedate walk, she made her way towards the entrance.

As she approached, the guard, a woman, glanced at her suspiciously for a moment, but recognizing her as an ally, gave the latter a brief nod. Esmeraude made as if to walk past the guard, but at the last moment, turned abruptly and headed into the baths.

"Don't mind me, dearie," she simpered, flicking her fan indulgently at the guard. "I have a message of vital importance to give Prince Dimando; it just cannot wait." The bodyguard blinked at her words, then spoke.

"But the Prince is--" Then, it finally dawned on her that Esmeraude had gone inside the royal baths. "Hey, wait!" the female guard cried out to her. "You can't go in there!" Hesitating at the doorway, she stood there, obviously torn between duty and entering a men's bath.

By now, Esmeraude was halfway down the passageway, the guard's protests having fallen upon deaf ears.

"What a prude!" she thought in disgust. If the bodyguard had been really doing her job, she would've gone in after Esmeraude already. Then again, perhaps she should be grateful that the guard was a woman; now, she would be able to give her message to the Prince in private.

Esmeraude found herself blushing as she walked, and tried to suppress it. Though she herself had sneered at the guard's prudishness, she also knew that it wasn't exactly ladylike to go into a men's bath. But remembering the information she had to give Dimando, Esmeraude resolutely put aside her sense of propriety.

"That information is sure to make up for my walking into here," she thought to herself smugly. "Prince Dimando might even reward me... And if he wishes to give it himself personally, well..."

As she fantasized about rewards involving the personal attentions of her Prince, Esmeraude suddenly realized that her face was turning red again. Reluctantly, she put a damper on those thoughts, composing herself by examining the architecture of the royal baths.

She had just entered the main area, which was easily as large as ladies' communal bath in the palace; that was interesting, since the royal baths were supposed to be reserved for the personal use of the Prince, and him alone. However, unlike the ladies' bath, the large pool of water near the entrance was surprisingly unheated; just deep enough to swim in, it was probably reserved for that purpose.

Esmeraude strolled along one side of the pool, her high-heeled boots making loud clicking noises on the tiled floor. They seemed to be the only sounds in the room... After a while, she began to wonder if Prince Dimando had already left the baths, and that perhaps she had put herself in a potentially embarassing situation for no reason at all.

Then she heard it: the faint noise of a spray of water; or more precisely, the sound of a shower running. Her mouth dry, Esmeraude walked past the wading pool, into another area of the baths.

Here, the layout was more in keeping with the other baths found inside the palace: to one side, lay the expected pool of heated water, as large as the first one she walked by; to the other, various taps for running water. But these things went unnoticed, as Esmeraude's eyes were fixated on the centre of the room.

For there, stood what she was looking for: a single shower stall. Circular in shape, it was quite large, and constructed entirely of purple glass; at the moment, steam poured out into the open air above it. As she approached, Esmeraude could see a male figure silouetted inside, somewhat hidden by the clouds of steam; as she got closer, she thought she caught a glimpse of white in his hair.

Stopping in front of the shower stall, Esmeraude was about to knock on the door, when she paused. This was far too good an opportunity to pass up...

Her heart pounding, she tried the handle to the stall door. Finding it unlocked, she let it swung open silently, also letting out a gust of steam. The person in the shower didn't seem to notice this; his back was turned against her, as he faced the spray of water in front of him. Through the steam, Esmeraude could see that he was shampooing his hair.

Finishing this, he wiped off some lather that had dripped into his eyes. Then, reaching out, he began to feel blindly along the one wall of the stall. Esmeraude glanced where he was searching, and spotted what he appeared to be looking for: a bar of soap. Smirking, she plucked it from its shelf and handed it over to the man in the shower.

"Looking for this, my Prince?" said Esmeraude coyly, placing the soap under his searching hand. The bather took it from her gratefully.

"Thank you. I..." He then paused, as his mind registered the fact that the voice was female; it also reminded him that he was in a men's bath.

Esmeraude saw the figure's back stiffen. Slowly, he turned his head, taking extra care not to move the rest of his body around. His eyes met hers.

As his indignant gaze fell upon Esmeraude's, she noticed something odd: The bather's eyes were not violet, as she had expected, but deep blue. As her gaze moved up, it was then that she realized, with mounting horror, that the white suds were dripping off dark blue hair.

Esmeraude opened and closed her mouth silently, for once at a loss for words as an outraged Saffir glared back at her from the shower.

***

Outside the royal baths, the female bodyguard still stood at her post, peering uneasily through the doorway, when she heard someone whistling. Turning, she saw Rubius strolling down the main hallway, a little too casually. The guard glared at him.

"I take it this is your doing," she snapped, pointing down the passage to the baths. Rubius feigned an innocent expression.

"Why, whatever could you mean?" he replied, his voice dripping with false sincerity.

Just then, there was a high-pitched shriek that made both of them wince. This was followed by a string of expletives, made this time by a considerably deeper voice.

"Gee, I didn't know Saffir knew swearwords like that," commented Rubius in amusement. The bodyguard buried her head in her hands.

"Man, I'm gonna get canned for this," she moaned to herself. "If I'm lucky..."

As voices continued to drift out of the royal baths, the two found they could unintentionally overhear the following conversation.

"S-S-Saffir!" stammered out Esmeraude's voice. "What are you doing in the shower?"

"It should be pretty obvious," snapped Saffir, his voice noticably strained.

"I meant," she amended hastily, "What are you doing in the royal baths?"

"Prince Dimando let me use them," Saffir replied testily. "In case you've forgotten, I'm his brother, so I have some right to be here... Though I can't say the same for you," he shot back, suddenly. "What are you doing in a man's bath, Esmeraude?"

"I... I have a very important message to give Prince Dimando," she replied, her voice faltering a little. "The message was so urgent that I just had to give it to him in person, and I heard he was in the royal baths, so..." She trailed off.

"Your devotion to duty is touching," commented Saffir, his voice heavily laced with sarcasm. "Now... Would you mind closing the door to the shower, please?"

"Uh... Right." There was the sound of the stall door closing, then the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps, which faltered for a moment as if someone had almost slipped on the wet tiles.

Esmeraude stormed out of the royal baths. Seeing Rubius leaning against the threshold, she pointed her fan at him accusingly.

"You!" she snarled angrily. "You told me Dimando-sama was in there!" Rubius waved a finger under her nose mockingly.

"I never told you he was in there," he said, smirking. "I only said he might be." Esmeraude looked as if she was about to throttle Rubius, but was interrupted by someone else's voice.

"Oh, so you're the one responsible for this." All three turned to see Saffir materialize in the doorway, wearing only a towel and an irritated expression. Rubius shrugged.

"Hey, it's not my fault she jumped to the wrong conclusion," he replied airily. Saffir arced an eyebrow.

"Really." He glanced at Esmeraude to see if she had caught Rubius's remark, but the woman had turned her fury onto the hapless bodyguard.

"And you! Why didn't you tell me the Prince wasn't in there?" she snapped.

"I tried to!" protested the female guard. "But you never gave me a chance!"

"Enough of this." Saffir stepped in between the two, and addressed the green-haired woman. "Esmeraude, if you're looking for my brother, he's in his chambers." He then gave her an arch look. "Although... I suggest knocking on the door first." Esmeraude seethed. Tossing her head haughtily, she glared back at Rubius.

"I'm going to get you for this," she said threateningly, giving him a hateful look. Then, Esmeraude dematerialized out of the hallway. A moment later, Rubius also phased out of sight, a smug look apparent on his face. Saffir sighed heavily. He then turned to the shamefaced bodyguard.

"Next time, try at least warning me before someone tries to barge in here, okay?" he told her sternly. The guard nodded, her face red. Satisfied, Saffir walked back into the royal baths, running a hand through his damp hair.

"Honestly..." he sighed, in exasperation. Then, surprisingly, a bit of a smile crossed his face.

"I suppose I should be happy Esmeraude found me in the baths rather than my brother," Saffir murmured to himself, amused. "She would've found out about the rubber duck..."

*****

After citing the location of the latest negative point on 20th-century Earth, Esmeraude glared up at the projection of Saffir's face in annoyance, as she sat in her flower-perfumed bath.

"I don't suppose you could've waited until I got out of the tub before telling me to get on with my mission," she commented archly.

"It was imperative that I inform you as soon as possible," replied Saffir blandly.

As his image faded away, Esmeraude was astonished to see a surprisingly evil smirk cross Saffir's face. She would've almost thought she'd imagined it, if she didn't catch a faint trace of his voice before he completely disappeared.

"Let's just call it... Payback, shall we?"

END

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