Power Play
A Sailor Moon Fanfiction.
All characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi.
He gave her a disapproving glare, with tight lips and furrowed brows and mean vibes and everything. Minako stood her ground and took a defiant pose, arms akimbo.
"Your face will freeze if you keep it like that a moment longer," she drawled.
"And I'll have you to blame it on."
"Me—oh, honestly!" Minako threw her arms up and rolled her eyes, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
"I beseech you to change. Now."
"You will beseech me nothing, mister."
"That's general Kunzite to you. And—fine—I command you change."
"No way, general Kunzite," she mocked.
"Now," he said in the most authoritative tone he usually reserved for the most stubborn of his soldiers.
Minako's stance changed as she scoffed, "Well, General Kunzite, what do you want me to change?" she blinked prettily and twirled her hair in her fingers. "My clothes? My shoes? My hair?" Her face hardened as she went down the list, "My face? My intellect? My personality?"
"Might I suggest your attitude as well while you're at it?"
Her tone turned steely, "General, if you're so offended by my presence, then why don't you—" shove it, just shove it up your arrogant— "—ask another envoy to have the honor? Or why don't you go on by yourself? All I've got to say is I'm all for world and lunar and intergalactic peace and all that other crap you self-important cows talk endlessly but do little to nothing about."
"You're out of line, princess," his said, a hint of exasperation in his voice, "now just go back to your chambers and change into something more professional."
She tugged at the bottom of her blazer and glanced at her skirt, the most demure outfit she had probably ever put on. "This is the most 'professional' I'll get. Take it or leave it."
He didn't even look under her chin. "I hardly think dominatrix heels make a flattering impression in major peace talks."
Minako eyed her shoes thoughtfully. They were the most inconspicuous pair she had, and yet he found reason to ridicule her. "Oh and you would know what they look like, hm? A strong man like you—" her lips twitched as the thought passed her mind, "—it's too predictable. Of course you would like being cuffed, blindfolded, and whipped in the bedroom."
An image popped unbidden into her head and she fought down the flash of excitement that came with it.
She was peeved to see that her taunting seemed to have no effect on the very stoic general. She blew her bangs upwards. "Well? Say something, O Sir Emotional Rock."
His face remained impassive. "I'll whip you if you don't change into something more appropriate."
Minako silently berated her overactive imagination.
Then he was right in front of her. He breathed and looked a little taller, a little bigger, "Right—now."
She scowled up to his face, "Gods, they're just damn shoes."
"Offensive shoes."
"Offen—!"
He mentally groaned. "Forget what I—"
She tiptoed up to his face. "You're just afraid to see a woman who looks like she won't accept any of your bull!"
"Princess,"
"You don't like my shoes because you know I can step all over you with them!"
"Princess—"
"Who would be looking at my feet anyway?!" her pitch was near hysterical. "Well, unless they had some sort of foot fetish…"
"Minako!" he laid two huge hands on her shoulders and turned her around. "Just go and change the bloody shoes." Minako would've spat something back at him if his hand hadn't found its way to the base of her spine, resting there for a moment before pushing her firmly but gently forward through the door. He closed it at her livid face.
Kunzite mentally bit his tongue over and over again as a slow, muffled clap resonated throughout the suddenly larger room. Jadeite stalked up to his side, ending his applause in a dramatic flourish with his gloved hands. "Bravo, Kunzite. You really know how to talk up a woman."
"Dominatrix heels?" Nephrite mused at the other end of the room.
"Anything two inches and above counts as inappropriate to Kunzite—fashionably, sexually, or otherwise." Jadeite chuckled, "Give her a break, you dolt. Rei's the one with S&M heels." His eyes glazed over as he lost himself in what Kunzite hoped was a fantasy and not a memory.
"You made her change twice already," said Nephrite, "and she looked fine each time. It's not her fault she manages to make anything and everything she wears look…" dare he say it? Kunzite would pummel his face in with his bare—
"Damn sex-ay!" sang Jadeite, finishing Nephrite's sentence and sealing his doom.
Kunzite's ominous stride towards Jadeite was halted as he heard Zoicite laugh from the other doorway. Was everyone privy to his heated exchange with Minako?
"Gods," he said, "you can cut through yours and Minako's sexual tension with a knife."
Kunzite closed his eyes for a moment and started counting backwards from ten. "Okay. That's enough, all of you. I just didn't want her to be taken lightly or objectified by the—"
"Oh that's so sweet of you, Kunz," Zoicite interrupted, sarcasm dripping in his lazy drawl, "but I think Minako can hold her own quite well."
"I'm not saying she isn't capable—"
"Yeah, he just doesn't want to be distracted by her gams throughout the entire meeting!" Jadeite quipped.
"Quiet, fool. You're really asking for it." Nephrite whispered loudly. "Everyone knows he likes her rack anyway."
Jadeite threw his head back in a howl of laughter, prompting Kunzite to consider reaching out and snapping it off, but his attention was brought to the door as it softly opened.
First a fully clothed leg, with a foot neatly covered in decent black pumps, followed by the other. Kunzite sighed in relief. Yes, finally. As his gaze traveled upwards, his mind went blank.
Minako's shoes were actually four inches now, but the heels were covered by the pants so Kunzite wouldn't notice. The higher leverage lifted her backside just a little, and lent more swing to her already alluring saunter. She had a gorgeously cut blazer, she pulled her hair back severely to a ponytail at the middle of her head, and she wore no jewelry save for the trademark heart-link chain around her waist.
She was satisfied with the silence of the room, and the expression on Kunzite's face.
"It's either legs or bust, general. All my other suits are le smokings."
Zoicite peered at her from behind Kunzite's shoulder. "Um, Minako. I think you forgot your shirt. And your bra."
She placed her hands on her hips. "I never wear shirts under le smoking suits. Never have, never will. The androgyny of the suit is meant to be offset by a flash of femininity. Monsieur Saint-Laurent would agree with me."
Jadeite spoke up, "I wholeheartedly agree with Monsieur Saint-Laurent, bless his soul!"
Kunzite finally gave in and Nephrite and Zoicite left the room, arguing whether they should carry Jadeite's unconscious body to the infirmary or have Zoicite look for Mercury instead.
Kunzite waved at the door, his magic slamming it shut. He turned around to face Minako, who was smiling sweetly up at him. "You should know," she said, "that all my suits were given to me as gifts from designers I've modeled for on Earth. As stifling as I find them, I am particularly attached to my le smoking suits, because when I wear them people don't call me beautiful… they find me intimidating, fierce... powerful." Her voice dropped to a low pitch, "are you intimidated, general?"
His face remained as cold as stone, though his eyes were positively livid. He remained quiet.
Minako stepped closer to Kunzite, her smile never wavering. She brought her mouth to his ear and let it linger for a while, her lips lightly brushing the side of his face. She whispered, "I don't take orders from anyone, general."
Kunzite lost himself for an iota of a second, reveling in the electricity that sparked throughout his entire body until he noticed something. He took her elbows and stepped back. Minako looked at him thoughtfully. They were almost eye-level.
"You…" he whispered, "you're still wearing those fucking dominatrix heels."
A beat of silence.
Minako didn't know whether she should laugh until she cries or scream until he cries.
She did the former.
"I…" she breathed, "that—oh gods, of all the—" she clutched her stomach as peals of laughter flowed out of her mouth and she hung onto Kunzite's shoulder for support.
Kunzite stayed as motionless as a rock. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Minako wiped a tear away from her eye, leaving a faint swipe of kohl across her cheek. "Gods, that was fucking hilarious. Who knew that you could be so…" She suddenly straightened herself out, placed her hands with a gratifying slap around Kunzite's face and kissed him at the side of his mouth, to which he moved an inch towards.
She noticed it. So she kissed him again fully on the lips, and she felt absolutely ecstatic, as always, at how his lips parted so easily under the slightest pressure from her tongue. When she felt his arm reaching up to her waist, she laughed into his mouth and she gave him one last kiss on top of his lips, right under his nose.
Imagine the princess's delight when he leaned in just as she was drawing back.
He didn't do that last time; it was always him pulling back.
"Mmm," she smiled, looking like the cat that had ate the bird. "Fine. You win. Okay? I'll put a shirt on. Just this once. Just let me keep my shoes."
Kunzite stopped contemplating her bright eyes and wet lips and barked, "Once? What do you mean this once? You will dress appropriately from hereon, princess."
She shrugged. "I don't see why you should worry. You know what it takes to get me into my clothes now."
She gave him the most conspiratorial look he had ever seen and turned to walk towards the door. She turned back to him once more as she reached it. "So, what you have to do now is figure out how to get me out of them."
Kunzite graced her with a most un-Kunzite look that left crazy images in her head as Minako tumbled up the stairs to her chambers.
The general let out a long breath of relief. He played the right card. It was either that suit or the other, leggier one.
"Damn," he muttered. As long as he doesn't see her ankles, he should be able to concentrate.
Smiling, he added another tally to his side in his mental scoreboard against this game of seduction with Minako.
Up in her chambers, Minako smiled triumphantly at her reflection. Serenity appeared at her side with a selection of shirts.
"So I guess the plan worked?"
"Yup," she winked at her. "He's a legs guy."
"Dammit!" Makoto swore. "Nephrite told me he liked your chest!"
"Hah!" Rei's voice swelled, "I told you, Jadeite's right! He's quite perspicacious when it comes to those matters."
"I always thought le smoking suits were the most… persuasive of all outfits," Ami shared.
"That's because Zoicite is a boob guy," Rei answered matter-of-factly. Ami's face flared in record time.
"Ladies," Minako bent down to attach a slim, golden anklet under her pants leg. "If there's one thing we learned here, it's that the power comes from the woman, not the clothes!" she straightened and looked at the full-length mirror at the other side of the room, experimentally crossing and uncrossing her legs.
Makoto rolled her eyes. "Stop with the playing and just sleep with him already! You guys have drawn this out long enough."
Rei laughed as she remembered how she walked into the training arena and balked when she saw Kunzite and Minako attached by their mouths. "You both kiss like you've been doing it for ages."
"Every other day for three weeks now," Minako confirmed.
"Really?" Serenity's eyes widened. "I did not know this! What, from the way you two fight or ignore each other all the time."
"Maybe it's time you two let your—" Ami coughed, "—mutual fondness out in public? It would be healthier for the both of you. And all of us."
"Are you kidding?" Finally satisfied, Minako stood up and snatched her pen from the dresser, tucking it into her breast pocket. "Foreplay's always the best part." She gave them a very, very wicked smile. "I love a man with such… endurance. Makes you wonder how he'll be in bed."
She walked out with squeals of scandalized delight from Serenity and shouting from the rest of the girls.
She found Kunzite waiting for her at the lobby. As she reached him, she said, "I'll match your score later. Just you wait."
He couldn't help the tug at the edge of his lips at that comment. "I'm peeing my pants in anticipation."
Another burst of melodic laughter filled the hall, which was smothered just as quickly as it came.
Needless to say, the Earth and Lunar representatives arrived late for the meeting.