CHAPTER THREE
MEETINGS
Serenity stared at the river, it's liquid silver curves calming her
fragile
nerves slightly. she thought, rather calmly in her opinion.
She shivered slightly at the last part, wondering how she
was
going to protect herself out here without her Guard.
she laughed to herself, gazing upon the
battered emergency kits. Two had survived her crash, even though the pod
had
been nothing but makeshift metal by the time she crawled from it, bruised
but
alive. She let her eyes roam to the river again, sighing, trying to calm
herself enough to get moving. She knew that the days out in this part of
the
System were shorter than those on the Moon, but only by a few hours; she
also
knew that they were mostly uninhabited. She'd decided that they must have
landed upon a moon, though she didn't know if it was Saturn's or Jupiter's;
it had to be a moon, though, because otherwise they would've been found
already. Something in her mind also told her that more than the Senshi
would
be looking for her, since they'd gone down after the Prince's ship.
She sighed to herself, and wondered if she'd EVER get to meet Endymion.
Her
mother handled all the negotiations with Earth, claiming that they were
"tricky" and not for the inexperianced Princess. However, Serenity always
thought there had to be something more behind the story, and there was,
only
it wasn't as scandal ridden as the Princess would've expected. It was the
fact that Selenity KNEW the people of Earth weren't happy with the Moon
Kingdom--too simple, they said. And this made it dangerous for the young
girl, though an engagement to Priam would most likely brighten relations
with
the Blue Planet. As to why she'd never met Endymion.....certain advisors
on
the Moon had spread rumors of the trail of hearts he'd left in his wake,
briskly taking what he wanted and moving on. These were NOT true, but
Selenity couldn't be too careful when it came to her daughter. Still, that
morning's image of Endymion was etched upon her mind: hair a shade of the
starless night, skin tanned and naturally darker than her own, and eyes
like
dark blue sapphires, twinkling at her. She'd gone on autopilot for the
conversation, and surprisingly had remembered everything she was supposed
to
say.
she thought to
herself.
She looked to the river some more, then decided she'd better get moving if
she wanted to find shelter and food and possible comfort before the day
ended. Slowly she stood, and softly began to arrange the two kits so that
one was strapped across her and hung at her hip and the other sat on her
back. It was then that she heard a soft crack.
she asked herself immediately, feeling panic flare
through
her. She looked to the river again, trusting its reflective surface to
give
her a clue to what had made that noise, if anything. When there was no
follow up noise, she finished adjusting the straps and leaned down to pick
up
the small, mostly ornamental dagger Venus had given her. It had been a
gift
from her people, who having nothing better to do with their time,
manufactered weaponry, specializing in swords and daggers. As her fingers
clutched the hilt, she heard another distinct crack....at which point she
truly felt the panic rise in her.
she whispered to herself, and tried to believe
it...until she looked to her right and swallowed a gasp as a figure emerged
from the rushes barely a yard from her. It, he, it, HE was tall, with a
black cape lined in red flapping back from his armored body. He knelt by
the
stream and slowly began to splash water on his face, then cup it in his
hands
and drink it, still not noticing her. His hair was midnight black and
plastered to his skull, only faint traces of the normal blue sheen showing.
She stared at him as a deer stares into headlights, paralyzed and
fascinated,
unable to look away. He rubbed his face once more with the water and
looked
in the river again; his posture changed slowly as he realized that someone
else was there, and in an instant his sword flashed in his hand and he was
pointing it at her, demanding, "Who are you?"
She screeched and fell back, frightened, as he advanced. His dark blue
eyes
pulsed with heat, and his skin was darkened by the shadow cast by his hair
across his forehead. Her eyes widened, and she managed a whisper of,
"Prince
Endymion?"
The words shocked him, and he stepped back a pace or two, and finally let
the clear light of day fall over her. She had white-blond hair that right
now fell in a heap around her body from two large balls on her head, and
clear, softly shaded blue eyes, now in a wide eyed expression of fear. Her
skin was white and looked soft; a crescent moon shone from her head.
"Princess Serenity?" he asked.
She nodded, and he felt a pang of idiocy go through him. "Princess, I'm
sorry, I didn't recognize you..." he stammered out.
"No, no, Prince Endymion, it's all right," she replied quickly, trying to
ease his fears. she thought.
"Did you get seperated from your guard?"
"Why yes, Princess," he replied, then did a double take. "Don't you have
a
guard as well? The Senshi, if I recall?"
"Yes, you're right. But unfortunatly, in the crash, we were seperated,"
she
replied, getting to her feet and dusting off her long, white dress, noting
that it wouldn't be white for too much longer.
"You crashed as well?" he asked.
"I'm here, aren't I?" she said, smiling gracefully. He seemed a little
taken aback at her informal tone, and wondered if the crash had jarred her
brain too much. She saw his look, and laughed, giggles bubbling from
inside
her like a cool spring. He stared at her some more, unsure of what to make
of it, and wondering if she was crazy.
"Oh no, Prince Endymion, I'm not crazy," she giggled. "Just friendly!"
"Friendly?" he said, more to himself then to her.
"Yes, Prince of Earth. Friendly. I'm not much for protocal, you know. So
hard to keep straight," she said.
He grinned at that; if Kunzite hadn't drilled him again and again, he
wouldn't know a thing either. "You performed flawlessly on the ship,
though..." he trailed off.
"I practiced a lot, all right?" she replied, stubborn, and he felt a laugh
coming on at her defensiveness.
"Yes, Princess," he said, sheathing his sword. "Formally, I am Prince
Endymion, of Earth." He gave a short bow.
"Formally, I am Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom," she replied,
curtseying.
"As the Prince of Earth, I would like to make a formal request," he asked.
"Go ahead, Prince of Earth," she replied.
"I would request the company of the Princess of the Moon Kingdom in my
travels to find the guard. I would act as her protection," he said.
"Request granted, Prince of Earth," she said. "As the Princess of the Moon
Kingdom, I have a request to make."
"Go ahead, Princess of the Moon Kingdom," he said, wondering privately
what
request she was going to make of him.
"I would request that we cut the formal chit-chat before I forget what I'm
supposed to say," she replied, somehow holding a straight face.
The grin he gave her brightened her day instantaneously, and her heart
fluttered inside her a little at the warmth of his eyes. "Request granted
happily, Princess Serenity," he replied.
"Just call me Serenity," she said softly, grinning happily at cheering him
up.
"Then call me Endymion," he said.
"Endymion," she said, twirling the name around her tongue. "I like it.
Long, but I like it."
"Thank you Princess..uh...Serenity," he replied. "Now, if you don't mind,
I
think we should be moving. The days are shorter on these moons, and we
really must find shelter before dark."
She nodded, and they moved off.
"SHUTUP!!"
Kunzite felt the headache begin as Venus, once again, tried to
quiet Mars. However, the girl just wouldn't quit. She hadn't
in the past ten minutes when everytime they'd tried to propose
to propose a plan, she'd balk at it. It was really, sincerely,
pissing him off; Venus as well, he could see. She kept
muttering the words "VENUS CRESCENT..." then stopping. He
assumed it was one of her attacks, and smiled to himself. This
girl-- he corrected--took about as much flak
from her Senshi as he did from his Generals. That is, next to
nothing.
It had seemed all right to begin with, just about a half-hour
ago. Using his powers, along with Venus and Mars, to clear the
fog, they'd seen that their two ships were about fifty yards
apart. His Generals had eagerly taken up the idea to move the
two ships closer together, and take advantage of the protection
that would offer. After all, Mercury had pointed out that this
was a moon of Saturn, and the moons of this planet were
reknowned for their danger. So they'd moved the ship, and
then, seeing that the day was far from done, decided to have a
meeting about the Prince and Princess.
he mused, remembering how Jupiter and Mars had glared
at Jaedite and Nephrite across the tent. His Generals,
obviously unimpressed, easily returned their glares. Mercury
had arrived with Zoicite, still healing from his wound, and
while the other two gave her an odd look she greeted Jaedite
and Nephrite very kindly and asked how they felt. They
responded cordially, much to his delight. He'd already had
enough of Senshi vs. Generals; now he just wanted cooperation.
Then there was Venus. She showed up last, flashing a smile at
him as she dusted herself off, and checked out the Senshi.
Finally, very drily she'd said, "They don't bite, you know."
Both pairs in conflict flinched just a hair, and Jade (as they
called him), said, "Of course not, Lady Venus. We just prefer
to stand over her."
"As do we," Mars replied, a bit more ice in her voice than
Jade had.
"Let's get down to buisness, now," Kunzite had broken in.
"Any ideas on how we could find them?"
"I could try a star reading, my liege," Nephrite had
immediately spoken up.
"I could do a fire reading," Mars said.
He looked to Venus, and she nodded. "Go ahead, Mars,
Nephrite," she said. Then, "Mercury, do you think you could
patch into these ship's computers and get a working map of this
area?"
The Senshi looked pensive for a bit, then responded, "I could
try, Venus."
"Zoicite, assist her as much as possible," Kunzite added.
"And what are you two fearless leaders going to do?" Jade
broke in, voice razzed with sarcasm.
He and Venus looked at each other, barely surpressing a grin.
"Do what all leaders do," Venus said.
"What?"
"Supervise," Kunzite replied.
Yes, it had all seemed to work out then. However, both Mars
and Nephrite's readings failed miserably; Mercury and Zoicite
had very little luck as well, though they were able to explain
why the readings failed.
"This is a moon of Saturn, Lady Mars," Zoicite said.
"SO! What does that mean?" the frustrated warrior replied.
"It means, Mars, that your powers will be blocked somewhat.
Powers do strange things in the Outer Planets, but especially
around Saturn," Mercury filled in.
"No one knows why, but they think it's because of the rings,"
Zoicite finished.
Still, the two had been frustrated, Mars the more so because
secretly she wanted to show up the Generals. She couldn't
believe they'd joined with them; Venus was usually smarter than
this. So she lashed out at everyone, becoming a nuisance.
Now, this. Venus and Mars stared coldly at each other, until
finally Mars said, "I've had enough of this craziness. We can
find the Princess by ourselves, with no help from these
weakling creeps." She turned and walked to the flap of the tent
they scavenged from their ship and set up. "Venus, if you need
me, I'll be out searching." She walked through the flap.
Venus let out an exasperated sigh and bit her inner lip,
drawing out salty blood from one of the many wounds there.
"Please excuse Lady Mars," she said quietly. "She is usually
much more..er, friendly. I believe the double stress of losing
the Princess and her usual skills not working right have caused
her to forget
herself."
Nephrite calmly smiled. "She has a temper just like her
planet, doesn't she. Fiery and red. And a reputation for
being as....warm....as the planet she comes from." He sighed,
gloved fingers rubbing together in an odd gesture, and added,
"It's the name, I think. It needs to be changed. Perhaps
Sailor Hissy Fit? Sailor Vain? Oh, I got it--Sailor Wench!"
Kunzite nearly groaned outloud, and his jaw tightened
abruptly; Zoicite looked death at the overly rude general;
Jaedite looked back at his friend, amazed that he would dare be
so out and out NASTY about Mars. It wasn't Nephrite; usually
he was quieter, softer spoken, and the best schemer and liar a
man could know. And he wondered what his friend would actually
say if he knew what happened to Jaedite when he saw Mars....
The Sailor Senshi, meanwhile, had all gwacked at the crude
general. "That was in very bad taste," Mercury finally spoke
up, looking as severe as she could.
"I'd always heard you Earth generals were nicer than that,"
Venus said. "My sources always remarked on you politeness."
Jupiter talked--actually, exploded--last. Her anger had built
from the first words out of his mouth; at first, she'd tried to
tamp it down, hoping to be civil about this. Then, though,
he'd given a snobby look to Venus at her remarks, and seemed
about ready to say something. So she took her turn.
"You pompous, arrogant, no good fool!" she shouted. "What the
hell is wrong with you? Couldn't you see Mars was upset?" She
took a step forward, eyes flashing emerald as if tiny chips of
the precious jewel were implanted in them. "Venus is right--
she's just concerned about the Princess. Hell, I'm a nervous
wreck, and I bet you are too! It's not every day you lose your
liege and get stranded."
"Nervousness is for the weak," Nephrite said. Actually, he
was downright scared for Endymion, but he wouldn't let this
Senshi see that.
he thought sourly. Sudden confusion scattered his
thoughts to the wind as his body reacted to something he
wouldn't understand, couldn't understand until many, many years
later. The anger left his face, and in its place came a faint
pinkish color.
"Then you're the weaklings," Jupiter snarled. "Well, maybe
only you; these other Generals seem man enough to accept their
emotions!"
Jade thought.
Zoicite thought, eyes flicking quickly to see
Mercury.
"And besides, Nephrite, Mars is not a Wench, or as you
implied, a Slut. In fact, I think you owe her an apology.
Now!" Jupiter demanded. It was only after she finished the
statement that she caught the change in expression, which sent
her own mind into spirals....
Not too unlike Nephrite, her anger began to bleed away, turning
into something almost entirely different. Confusion filled her
green eyes, not unnoticed by Nephrite; it only served to set
off a secondary wave of emotions between them, as if their
minds communicated what their bodies didn't.
he thought bitterly as
he stared at her. Suddenly he turned, made
a short bow to Kunzite, and vanished out of the tent flap,
leaving everyone confused. Jaedite, sensing there was
something more to his friend's distress than just Jupiter's
harsh tone, followed him.
"Nephrite! Where are you going?"
The older and most spiritually centered of the generals
stopped, turned, and looked at his best friend with anguish in
his eyes. "I have to get away," he said softly. "I have to
think...and apologize. Tell Lady Jupiter she was right, I was
wrong." His cape swirled around him, and he spat in finality,
"Leave me be, Jade."
Mystified, Jaedite turned back to deliver the message, only to
find Lady Jupiter gone. "She left shortly after you did--to go
check on Mars, she said," Zoicite filled in.
Jaedite shook his head and walked out then. He found that,
like the others, he needed to get away. The others watched him
leave with a peculiar emotion inside of them, as if they'd just
entertained melancholy among them.
"I hope this isn't an omen," Kunzite finally said, breaking
the silence. He turned slightly toward the remaining Senshi.
"My pardon, Ladies, for the behavior of Nephrite. He has never
been really adept at disguising emotions, and when he tries, it
comes out wrong."
"If you must apologize for him, then I offer an apology for
Mars," Mercury spoke up quickly.
"Yes," Venus added. "She is the most frustrated of all of us
right now. Her house and planet are in fiercly devoted to the
Moon Kingdom's family. There are stories about her mother that
would make you cringe, and she seems hell bent on following her
footsteps." A small smile alighted on her lips as the memories
came back to her, and it touched and cleared her eyes of all
the frustration of the day.
Zoicite let a smile as small as hers flash back at her. "I'd
like to hear them sometime, Lady Venus."
"As would I," Mercury said primly. "I'm not much for the
court gossip or history, Venus."
"Too caught up in the latest medical texts, I know. Lately
those odd computer texts as well," Venus replied with a
dramatic note of hopelessness her voice. As if she was
whispering to a confidante, she whispered to Kunzite, "Mercury
has a court reputation of being brainy and cold..."
"Venus!" she cried, blushing a faint blue.
"...though you shouldn't believe it," the leader finished,
eyes sparkling at Mercury, whose blush had spread and turned
darker.
"Ah yes, I know the feeling," he replied, his voice becoming
conspiritorial. "Zoicite almost NEVER leaves the library, and
we have to nearly always pull him away from a book when it
comes time to train and practice." It lowered to a raspy
whisper, tickling Venus' ear with his breath. "His reputation
is of scholarly indifference--to everything." He added
something else that made Venus whirl, eyes sharpened to two
blue flecked silver points of blue light. "Really??" she
asked.
"Kunzite, please," Zoicite pleaded, also blushing a reddish
color. Suddenly, a petal
swirled around his head, and he spoke up, "Kunzite, it's
getting rather late, and we don't want to be out there after
dark."
"That's right, it's dangerous," Mercury added.
The two leaders sighed. "Always looking out for their
leader," Kunzite said drily.
"Like mother hens," Venus added.
"Cluck, cluck, time to go, Venus!" Mercury said, walking to
and tugging insistently on her arm. With a light sigh and a
wave, she was pulled out of the tent. Outside, they heard a
small mumble, and then there was a ball of light, like a will-
o-wisp, floating outside. It quickly moved away.
"They're certainly nice," Zoicite said.
"Yes, yes they are," Kunzite said, a little grimace coming
over his face. "Do you think those four will ever get their
minds straight and be able to work together?"
"Hard to say, Kunzite. We all usually work together, but
never with anyone else--we're Earth's top guard! Well, except
for the Sea Four, but I don't even want to think of them."
"Neither do I. Petty little monsters."
"Yes, yes." A sigh. "I'm sure they will eventually get used
to working with us."
"I suppose so."
"Though I doubt they'll ever be friends. There's too much
friction."
Kunzite shook his head. "I believe you're right, Zoi." His
fingers curled around his cape, and in a motion he disappeared
in a blue sizzle.
Zoicite let out another, heavier sigh. "Unfortunatly, so do
I," he said soberly, then whispered "Zoi!" and vanished in a
whirl of petals.
(
geocities.com/tokyo/shrine) (
geocities.com/tokyo)