2528/Please Have Patience

Please Have Patience
Date of Scene:	27 April 2025
Location:	Crystal Tokyo
Synopsis:	In a quiet moment in the garden, Usagi and Masato share a moment, a hug, and their concerns for the youngest of the Shitennou.
Cast of Characters:	Nephrite, Usagi Tsukino

---

Nephrite has posed:
When he finally laid eyes upon the garden Mako-chan had told him about, Nephrite understood what she had meant by the grandness of it. Even in such harrowing times, it stood like a hardy beacon of life and hope, precious resource that it was. It gave him a renewed appreciation for the simplicity of the fresh produce, that he had helped make food using the ingredients here.

Currently, he was holding a small wrapped bento with some of the results of that effort. It was strange how it felt so connected, that it would return to the garden to be eaten.

As his gaze roamed the greenery, though, he spotted Usagi on her own-- perhaps the worst thing to be, in all of this. Food was a comfort and one he doubted she would decline.

Boots set towards her, and he called out. "Usagi-san."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Alone really was a terrible thing to be, but Chibiusa was in her room, with her friends, and Mamoru was with the Shitennou, especially. Usagi... had been in the kitchen, for a time, and had drifted through the room where the King's comatose body lay, with Luna and Artemis, and where Sailor Venus, the future version, at least, stood vigil, giving her energy in a continuous defense.

Now she was here, in the garden. The sky is dim, but the garden still grows. It still offers shelter, and food, and the sweet scent of flowers...

And a bit of warning, when people step close. She's not nervous, but she twists, and then there's the voice calling, and Nephrite will see surprise bloom over her face, but no hesitation.

"Nephrite-kun! Were you looking for me? Come over, there's room on the bench."

She pats the space beside her, looking out.

Nephrite has posed:
"I haven't seen much of you, between... everything." He acknowledged, and he supposed he'd spent the majority of his time in the infirmary, between some light cooking and meetings with the King. It had been a very busy blur for them all.

He did glance at the bench, a little surprised at the invitation to sit, but he took it. Settling beside her, he lifted a brow. "Have you eaten enough?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I was with Mamo-sama and Amy for a little while, and then we went to rescue a few more civilians," she informs Nephrite, smiling at him as he accepts the invitation. "The other you - and the other Kunzite! - were out there too, but they're here, now."

A beat, and her stomach growls, and she laughs a little, sheepish.

"Um, I guess that's a no, huh? Is that for me? That's nice of you!"

Nephrite has posed:
"Noodles with tomato and mackerel sauce, plain onigiri, and some chrysthanemum greens." He notes forgivingly, and surrenders the bento to her. "I don't know how Mako-chan does it, but she really can make a feast from next to nothing." Small wonders.

It takes him a moment to fully register the relief that comes with the news of Kunzite, however. The name clicks into place in the back of his head-- the *other* Kunzite-- and sapphire eyes search her for a moment. "So, he's not with the Black Moon Clan?" It's a whisper that clears away a small mountain of dread in is chest, and he looks to the grass. "Thank the Gods for that..."

Distantly recognising that she lacks context, he turns his head back to her. "We found records of people that left on the ship. Kuroda. They looked just like him. We weren't sure if he might've been one of the children that they--" He stopped short there, and shook his head. "Zoisite hadn't let the Boule brothers incident go, that just sent his head spinning further."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She accepts the bento with all the care of someone being handed the crown jewels. "And Makochan made it too! She's a goddess of the kitchen, you know, she can do anything."

She has opened the bento, split the chopsticks, and stuffed noodles into her mouth before Nephrite is able to register the relief, and she looks at him for a moment with packed cheeks and wide eyes, then gulps, hard.

"He's not! Of course he's not, oh no, were you worrying about that?! I mean, I guess that makes sense, with those Boule Brothers, Zoisite thought it, but - no, no he's not."

The explanation is provided, and Usagi's eyes are only widening more and more, until those bright blue eyes are practically half of her face. Is this really hers to share? Maybe she'll hold onto that - for the moment - talk to Malakai, or Mamochan, at least -

"I'm sorry you had to worry about it. But he's here on Earth, and he had rigged up a bunch of things so he could fight the Black Moon Clan - he's not one of them at all." But his family, apparently is, and that's... wow, that's something. "That's how Zoisite was feeling. How... were you feeling? Besides better now."

Nephrite has posed:
That's a difficult question, and he hesitates for a moment. "What we uncovered in the research did give me pause. I couldn't disprove the possibility-- without our stones, our counterparts wouldn't fair that much better than anyone else."

And, without saying it, the idea of a Kunzite purely shaped and fuelled by the malicious energies of Nemesis would have been a terrible echo of the past. A unique and specific demoralising. Still, he shakes his head. "I just didn't accept it, I suppose. After everything that's happened in this world, and sharing a past... Thinking he'd have fallen a third time, to the same ends. The Kunzite I know would sooner give up on reincarnation entirely, than let that happen again."

He let his elbows rest on his knees and leaned on them, brown hair tumbling over his shoulder with a shake of his head. "I didn't want to think about it. I just told myself he'd be reborn again into peace if we had to put him down... Eventually."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi is quiet, for a moment. She can understand his fear, her heart full of sorrow at the thought of worrying, in such a way, of fearing, for the sake of someone so close to the heart. The worst she had had to worry, was that her girls could be dead, in this sad, awful time.

They, who have lived and died in cruel times, know very well that there is worse than death that could come from them.

"I'm glad the worst didn't come true," she says quietly, "But if it helps - I believed the same as you. I couldn't think that Kunzite would be reborn to betray Mamochan again. I couldn't believe he'd ever let that be his fate."

It's bad enough it happened once. Again?

It's not that she thinks the others let corruption happen to him. It's not that she makes the mistake of thinking Kunzite is special.

It's that she's pretty sure Kazuo would rather die - and had the will to make it happen - and she thinks that isn't just inherent to the parts of him that are Kazuo.

She leans over, not so much brushing against him as letting her weight settle against him, an offer of comfort, contact, touch.

"...do you want a hug? I'm asking, because I know we haven't talked a lot. Otherwise, I'd have just done it by now."

Nephrite has posed:
A small part of him thought, 'Is that even allowed?', before he recognised that the undertow of that was a strange, pervasive grief. Something deeply penitent. It wasn't something that he had ever had in abundance, still coded as highly improper in his mind. Something of a rare exception, usually offered to Mamoru, if anyone.

Perhaps that was as good a reason as any to accept it. Something grounding, from Usagi to Masato, despite anything else.

"You could hug me, if you like." He grants quietly, hopeful that Mamoru will not find out and pinch him for it.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's a hesitance that Usagi is familiar with - not from within herself, but from too many friends, who want to reach out and don't know how to ask. It means that there's the greatest temptation in the world, to reach out without waiting for verbal permission, to grab and manhandle and hold Nephrite, because -

This has all been a lot. Have the others been giving him hugs? Has he been getting the hugs he needs?

His quiet voice makes her think, maybe not.

So she shifts away, then stands, setting her bento down - and then, while he's still sitting, hugs him from the front. She's short enough that even with him sitting, his head could probably rest on her shoulders, and she wraps her arms around him, warm and strong and protective.

"If it's up to me, you might get hugs all the time, you know. I like hugging my friends - I even hear I'm pretty good at it."

Nephrite has posed:
Of course, she is. He is, too, secretly. Perhaps it shows, once his tension settles, and he starts to hug her back. The same way that he squeezes Mamoru is present in how she squeezes him, and this is mirrored in return.

Briefly, he thinks about the future-Zoisite's awakening earlier, and how he spoke of what he knew of his 'truest heart', and this too in regards to his faith in Kunzite-- now gratefully confirmed. But Usagi, from one life to the next-- her truest heart...

Nephrite supposes that Usagi might embody, in her own way, a certain quality of presentness and of loving connection. The station through which many tracks pass, so to speak. It's true that they haven't spoken much, but Nephrite thinks that he has formed a deep sense of faith and trust in Usagi, somewhere along the line. Learned lessons, perhaps.

"I'm glad to have gotten the chance to be your friend, you know." It must be said, at least once. "I don't take that for granted."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's not a surprise at all, in the end, that Nephrite, large and broad and strong as he is, can give a good hug. He's gentle, for all the obvious strength of his form.

Usagi hugs with strength, but not the grappling of a squeeze - just the warm, firm pressure of someone who knows just how much to hold to loosen a muscle, to show strength, to make it clear that she can hold him, and that he could, if he wanted, give way. She would stand for him while he was down.

They've not had the chance to get close, not with all that's happened in their lives, but she's glad that's changing.

"I'm glad for that too," she says, and does not try to release the hug, not unless he indicates he's ready for it. It doesn't occur to her, even a little, to worry about this - not when Nephrite is Mamoru's, is his friend, is his brother, and ironic, for a conversation that settled fears of the worst, but she never for an instant considered that this could be a betrayal of any sort.

"It's good to know you. It's been good, to know you. Being here... it reminds me that I'm so glad, for the chances we've had back home."

Nephrite has posed:
"Me too." He concedes, and it feels like a strange secret shared privately, like a cone of silence has decended upon them for a moment. "Being here has been... awful. As Masato. As Nephrite. As a human being."

In so many multitudes of the word, ancient and new, adjacent and same.

"If I were in your shoes, trying to navigate all of this-- past, present, alternate future-- I'd have come completely undone, by now." Large hands cover her small frame for a moment longer before the shift, seeking her arms. A signal that they must loosen. "All of this really does bring into stark relief just how crucial it is that the past remains behind us. That nothing like that ever happens to divide us all, again. But, even so..."

His brows furrow. "Maybe Zoisite wasn't ready for something like this."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's an intimate thing, to acknowledge the horrors of this place. This time. This garden, with all its beauty, is a balm to the nerves - but also, a cut to them, to remember that this is the only one of it's kind, on this world, that they walked so much of the city and saw not a single living plant, that this could be all there is.

It's so sad.

"I kinda knew it would be bad," she murmurs. "Nothing else would have made Chibiusa-chan leave her family, her home. But this..."

It's still so much, and there's the way people look at her.

With so desperate, yearning hope. The conviction, the worship, the need, for her to fix things...

"I'm a little impressed with myself, for not, but Chibiusa-chan needs me. And Mamochan does too. And... so does everyone else. I might not be their Neo Queen Serenity, and I might not ever be - I hope I never am - but I'm what we have." The Silver Crystal, at her broach. The power, in her heart. The hope, rekindled when King Endymion looked at them, solemn and hurt.

"It really does. We're not who we were - we're not what we were. We're... we're not what we became here, either, because this world, and all it's hurts... it isn't ours. And it doesn't have to be. And -"

Zoisite, his name like a pinprick, just enough to wound, to bleed.

"...it's hard for all of us, but him - I could tell it was really hard, for him, to see those Brothers, and... I know he's figuring a lot of things out. I don't know if any of us are ready, for this. But I think he'll like, rise to the occasion, you know?"

Nephrite has posed:
There's a hesitant lick at lip, because it isn't that Nephrite does not have faith in Zoisite. He, too, believes that he can rise to the occasion if given the right support. But...

"I know that he... wants to. He's trying to." A faint nod, because that much is true. "And you're right, he's struggling. Deeply. There's still things that he wants that... aren't good for him. He's still finding his footing, learning how to connect to people. To care about things beyond his little circle. So much of who he was, and his magic, was in his empathy."

Sapphire eyes lift to her, and Nephrite does not expect Usagi to fix things-- perhaps he's one of the few. It is as much his own burden, in his mind. She cannot shoulder everything. She should not, either. As strong as she has to be for Chibiusa, and as a leader here, he understands that one of the best ways to spare her from becoming another Neo Queen Serenity is to take his own share of responsibility.

"Our grip on reality in the Silver Millenium was completely shattered, and each of us four came away with completely shards of it, on top of that. There are ghosts there he can't get closure for, and it's causing confusion." He doesn't go too far into detail there, so as not to totally betray Zoisite's confidence. "I worry that if he makes missteps here-- even if we don't lose him now-- we still could later on."

This is incredibly earnest, and an honesty from his that he feels she deserves. He doesn't want to hide anything from her. Regardless of arrangements of information within the Shitennou-- or Zoisite's 'I'll tell Mamoru but not Usagi' and all the other bitterness. As Usagi's friend, he is honest.

"He told me something today. About what he was doing during the time I lost track of him, when we were in the subway."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There is no expectation that there will be a betrayal of trust. There's no expectation, none at all, that Usagi has earned the inner depths of Zoisite - or Nephrite, at all. Their friendship is new, though their acquaintance has been tested plenty, in the past, but it hasn't been threaded with silk, with softness, with warmth. Friendship is a warm blanket, a life raft.

An offer, sincerely made.

And a listening ear, and patience, for the words that come.

Zoisite is a complicated person. A complicated subject. Damaged, like all of them are, the lingering remnants of what they've lived through, what they survived, what they didn't.

There are things he wants, that aren't good for him. But what are those things? And why... why aren't they good for him?

She doesn't ask, just yet. There's much Nephrite is still saying.

"It's hard to reach out to people, sometimes," she murmurs, "Especially when you've been hurt. There are lot of people who just - withdraw. Zoisite... I know he doesn't particularly like me, but I don't want him to be uncomfortable, or to hurt, you know? I want him to feel as safe, as he can. To be safe. That's why I try not to push him. Sometimes I get the sense that he's been pushed to the edge, already."

She doesn't know why. Wouldn't be able to begin to name the edges of it. But she knows that he hurts, and that he suffers.

Nephrite looks at her, and she looks at him, her own clear blue eyes soft with compassion, but resolute.

"If so much of his magic was in his empathy, he must feel so off-balance, now. A part of him that's not missing, because - he cares so much. I see it, you know? How much he cares about you, and Mamochan, and Tamakun, and Kazuo-kun... how much Mina-chan cares about him, and I know there's so much fire in him, and just like with Rei-chan, it reminds me that fire can be good, instead of just scary."

There's a warmth in Zoisite, that isn't for her, but exists, like a candle that could become a hearth fire, like the start of something, and it warms her to see it.

"I - won't pretend I don't worry about that," she says, honestly, because even with that warmth, there's truth, and strategy, and worry. "When he got between Mako-chan and that reflection - because he was worried, about if they could be Kunzite... I was worried. And a part of me doubted, if I could rely on him in a fight - because I can tell, that when he loves someone, he loves them, and he'll put that first. I can't blame him, because I'm that way too - for Mamochan, for Chibiusa-chan, I'd do anything, you know?"

And so, she recognizes it, in someone else.

"But... and I hope this doesn't sound mean! But - I think... if he's going to make his missteps... we should be there, and stand at his side, and offer him our hand - but we can't... I don't think we can stop him. It has to be his choice. So much of everything - it wasn't. The things that happened in our past life... none of us knows all of what happened. We all saw bits and pieces and we remember things, but even that's just what we saw - or thought we saw."

And then Nephrite says that most tenuous thing. That there was something he did, while they were in the subway. She wants to know. She wants to know.

"Would he want to me to know?"

Quiet. Gentle.

Nephrite has posed:
*I want him to feel *safe*, she says-- for Zoisite not to be uncomfortable or hurt-- and he believes her. And is frsutrated, too, because Zoisite does not believe her.

Usagi understands more than that bastard gives her credit for. With hope, in time, he'll see it. Nephrite can see it, the faith that she has in him; that the others have in him. As he said to Zoisite himself, there are people trying to reach him--

"That's just it. I don't think he knows what he wants." Nephrite answers finally, a sobering tick to the corner of his mouth. "The rest is true, too. What I want most, I think, is just to know that whatever happens next-- because he's going to chase this, no matter what anyone else thinks or whether he's got good reasons to-- he won't lose anything he's gained. That we won't let him slide backwards or cut himself off from us. He may try very hard to, if something goes wrong because of choices he made, or if he doesn't get what he's after..." He trails off there, and bows his head lower in a strangely formal way.

"I'm looking after him. Please have patience in him for a little longer."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Nephrite - Masato - bows his head, apologetic and formal, making that that so striking plea, and Usagi...

Reaches out, and pats the top of his head. Hopefully, he won't feel condescended too, because that's not her intent, at all. It's just that when feelings are so formal - offered so sincerely, but in this most formal and ritualistic of ways, she can't help but want to break through the barriers of formality.

"Of course I will! Of course I will."

Patience isn't always her strong suit - her temper can flare hot and fast. But forgiveness is in her nature, and second chances, and the letting go of grudges.

"I'm sure that when Zoisite knows what he wants... he'll be glad to have you, and everyone else standing with him. Because he's not going to lose anything he has." And maybe, she can't make a promise like that. Maybe, this isn't hers to give.

Too bad. Nephrite chose her to confide in, and she's never given anything less than everything.

"Even if he makes a mistake... even if he trips up on the landing... I think it would be pretty hypocritical for a klutzy crybaby like me to hold that against him. He might not believe it, and that's his choice - but we all went through a lot to bring him back. There's no way we're giving up on him now."

Nephrite has posed:
The head pat isn't expected, and yet somehow, does not surprise him. Just as with the hug, he accepts it for what it is. Affectionate, and pulling them back from anything too hard or too serious, to reassure.

How like Usagi, to keep things from becoming too somber.

"I appreciate that." He admits quietly, and lifts his head to offer her a faint smile. "I did want to throttle him about what he pulled, back there, with Mako-chan. I know they worked it out betwqeen them, but if he does anything like that again..." There was a faint laugh to the end of that. Truthful, but light-hearted. "If she doesn't punch him, I will."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
When he lifts his head, she smiles at him, and reclaims her seat beside him, bento once more firmly in her lap, ready to be devoured. There's a half of it left, since feeding her heart was considered more important than feeding her stomach.

"It was dumb, but it was brave. Mako-chan's the type who respects that kind of thing, especially when it's sincere. But I'm with you on a next time."

She huffs, cheeks puffed out.

"If it happens, while you're going at him I'll take pictures, so he can remember the lesson."

The punch would be very informative, after all. Very instructional.

"...thanks again, for the food. I'd love to say, that as a gesture of our friendship, I'll share, but... I'm really hungry. Next time, okay?"