The yellow glow of the lantern was welcome, even if it was only to allow the guards a better view into the cell. It shone warmly, allowing a generous illumination of the rough stone walls. It fell across the smooth slab of rock that made up the floor, catching every tiny pebble and speck of dust, giving it its own shadow.

But one shadow in particular was far greater, swallowing the rest in a long, asymmetrical strip. Roughly, its outline betrayed shoulders and a lowered head.

It was Hatsumomo's shadow, and his head was lowered because he was studying with delight and some trepidation the sprawled form of his new cell mate. Unconscious and utterly lacking any grace of posture, Hatsumomo nevertheless knew upon sight who this new prisoner was. Who indeed. Of all people, to think of being chosen to share this tiny stone room with him...!

If the cupric blond curls were not the giveaway, then the milky white skin was. Milky white. Creamy white. Hatsumomo racked his brains for a comparison that did not somehow relate to dairy. Ghostly white. There, that was better. Marble white. Better still. Hatsumomo had always prided himself on what few books he'd read, and what little they'd done to hone his vocabulary. He'd vowed to himself that even now, even after they'd locked him up, he'd never lose what little skill with words he had.

And now what a delight it was to have a living, breathing companion upon whose beautiful face he could practice his metaphors and similes. But this was not just any companion. Not at all. For there, lying in a senseless heap before Hatsumomo, was one of the shitennou. The shitennou! There was no mistake; those illustrious four kings had been the talk and fantasy of the entire Dark Kingdom. And, like anything that is talked of or yearned after, there is no doubt of its authenticity when it is actually found.

And Hatsumomo, a former servant boy to the chambers of Queen Beryl-sama, had been wanting to see the four kings since he'd first heard of them. And now that he finally had seen one (locked up with him for that matter!), he felt certain he was not mistaken. This was one of them!

It was the things he had heard, those strange and very unkingly rumours that had drawn Hatsumomo to the shitennou. And, being a former chamber servant to Queen Beryl-sama herself, Hatsumomo had heard them all. There were Jadeite's flirtations with lesser youma (a practice considered by Hatsumomo to be the equivalent of a man screwing a pig). Then there was Nephrite and his virtual hermitage. And of course, Kunzite's barely clandestine relationship with his apprentice king, the young Zoisite.

Who, according to Hatsumomo's deductive skills, was the one sharing the cell with him at that very moment.

He smiled to himself. Indeed, there would be plenty of explaining to do when young Zoisite-sama awoke.