AN: This is a bit of fabrication out of whole cloth. I hope you enjoy it. If anyone wants the background on this, email us and we'll be happy to share our views. In any case, please let us know what you think.

SECOND THOUGHTS

". . . and thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless."

Gloved hands gently shut Peter Pan and the large silver-haired man set it aside. In his lap, trustingly leaning against him was a five-year old girl with red-touched golden curls and wide gold eyes. She sighed, both in pleasure and in discontent. She loved the time she spent with him, and was sorry that the book, and probably the visit, had come to an end.

"Kunzitosama," she said, turning her head so that warm gold eyes met ice blue. "Can we go to Neverland?"

"Why do you wish to go there?" he asked, an unfamiliar emotion twisting in his heart. The thought that she would want to spend time with someone else caused him pain.

"Do you want to play with the Lost Boys?" he asked sharply.

"No, Kuzitosama," she replied earnestly, hurt he would even think such a thing. "I just want to see mermaids, and a real pirate ship, and Tinkerbell. I don't want to go if it makes you upset."

"Hoshiko-chan," he said, lifting her in his arms until they were almost nose to nose. "I am not upset. I just don't want to share you with them."

"Never, Kunzitosama," she promised fervently. "I don't love anybody but you. I promised Zoisato I would share after I married you."

"Very well, then," Kunzite, head general of the Dark Kingdom, stood with the child in his arms and reached into the book and apparently pulled out a small glowing shape with wings.

"You will need some pixie dust," he reminded her. "You will also need a happy thought."

"You!" Hoshiko cried, smiling at him like the sun rising in the morning.

"Then we will see if it works," Kunzite said, his heart twisting with another emotion, but this one he recognized. Until now, though, it had only surfaced when he was with is love, Zoisite.

Playing along with the child, he waved the 'pixie' to sprinkle the dust on her and caused her to rise in the air. He then 'replaced' the 'pixie', took Hoshiko's hand and led her to the window.

"Which way, Hoshiko-chan?" he asked softly. He looked down at her trusting face, and knew that he would do anything necessary to protect her, even without the orders of Queen Metallia.

"Second star to the right," she replied, pointing out a particular star. "Straight on 'til morning."

"Then let us go," he said, stepping off of the windowsill to hover in midair, fifteen feet above the ground.

Hoshiko never hesitated. She kicked off of the windowsill, trusting that the pixie dust and her happy thought would keep her aloft. She came to a stop up against Kunzite and threw her arms around him with a laugh of joy. He smiled in genuine pleasure and began rising in the air, wrapping his warm arms and cape around the child who clung to him so tightly.

**** **** ****

It was nearly midnight when Kunzite returned with Hoshiko tucked securely in his arms. He helped her change for bed, and then sat brushing her hair as she chattered about what they had seen. When she became sleepy, he put her into bed and produced a thornless rose for her, which she clutched in her hands as she fell asleep.

"Aishiteru, Kunzitosama," she murmured as he bent to kiss her forehead.

"Aishiteru, Hoshiko-chan," he whispered, pressing his lips to her forehead just above her eyebrows, relishing the tingle of latent power as he did so.

When he stepped away, he sensed the approach of another.

Zoisite moved up beside his lover and snuggled under his arm.

"You were out late," he said. It was not an accusation or a question, but simply a statement of fact.

"We finished the book," Kunzite replied softly, burying his face in Zoisite's hair. "Hoshiko wanted to see Neverland."

"Akari already wants to see Wonderland," Zoisite said.

"Then take her there," Kunzite murmured, his arm tightening around the smaller man. "You know our orders. We are to give them anything and everything they want unless it is against local laws or potentially harmful. The only request we cannot grant is to take them with us."

"It is a mistake," Zoisite's emerald eyes flashed with anger.

"It is not our choice to make."

"Kunzitosama, are you having doubts?"

"Of course I'm having doubts!" Kunzite exploded, his eyes glowing. He froze as the child in the bed tossed a bit before settling down again.

"I care too deeply for her not to have doubts, Zoisite-kun," he said, lowering his voice with effort. "There is no way that either of the girls will survive in the Dark Kingdom. There is no sun there, and no true earth. Hoshiko and Akari would both wither and die, no matter how much power Queen Metallia gifted them with."

"Yes," Zoisite agreed. He turned his head towards the adjoining bedroom when he heard a sound of distress.

"You woke her," he said softly, and then moved away to quiet and soothe the other girl.

Kunzite listened to the quiet conversation, smiling when he heard Zoisite promise to take Akari down the rabbit hole into Wonderland as soon as they had finished with the book.

Knowing he was tempting fate, Kunzite approached Hoshiko again, and then manifested a perfect pink rose with no thorns. He laid it gently on her pillow so that she could smell it, and was caught off guard when her golden eyes opened.

"Are you leaving now, Kunzitosama?" she asked sleepily.

"Yes, Hoshiko-chan," Kunzite answered. "It is time for me to go back to my Queen."

"Will you ask when we can come to stay with you?" she asked, unaware of Kunzite's reservations.

"I promise to remind her," he said. "Go back to sleep, aisuru."

"Good night, Kunzitosama," she whispered as he bent to kiss her forehead again. This time, he exerted a bit of power of his own, and was rewarded with a visible flare when he stepped away.

"Good night, Sailor Sol," he whispered, then teleported away.

In the quiet bedroom, the only illumination came from a shining symbol on the forehead of the girl sleeping quietly. It was in the shape of a circle with a dot in the center.

VOCABULARY: aisuru = beloved aishiteru = I love you Hoshiko = starchild