Knives fell, hitting the chopping board with clear rhythmic strikes. Peeling of the blades, were finely sliced pieces of gyu-ten, ox tongue, cut exactly to one millimeter thick pieces, not one more, not one less. These were to join the assortment of light sandwiches and hors d’oeuvres that were to presented for inspection by the chief chefs.  Orders were for one millimeter thick sandwich fillings, two millimeter hors d’oeuvres slices and three millimeter cubed fillings for the pasties.  Thus, not a millimeter more, not a millimeter less, otherwise, they knew that heads would be rolling.  However, not a grumble could be heard by those servants, who did as they were ordered, it was a pleasure for them to be serving the gentleman of the house.
    Large arrays of food lain on the stainless steel bain-marie, waiting to be carried out for inspection. Excitement filled the kitchen, a guest was in the house, they hoped that the guest would be fitting for the host, oh so mighty was he!
 
    “Wait, she said something just before she disappeared, about her father…” Minako tried desperately to remember what it was.
    “Her father occupation, it must be… painter!” Makoto ran excitedly towards the keyboard.
    But Usagi had reached it before anyone else, and had her fingers hovering over the keyboard trying to find the alphabets. “Why can’t they have the keys in order?” she asked as she scanned for the “i” slowly.
Artemis pressed Usagi away and expertly typed in the word. The screen flashed affirmative, and immediately, words appeared.
 

    Bars ran across the screen to indicate the status of the installation.  Soon, the bars were complete, and choices appeared for them to choose their actions. Luna selected the decoder, and ran the gobbledygook that was supposedly a message. The computer beeped at its completion, revealing the message:   Mumamsafe-noworry
    “She is trying to say to her mum that she is safe and not to worry!!” Usagi jumped up excitedly, “so she’s safe!!” Running to Mamoru’s arms, she squeezed him a hug, while the others cried out in ecstasy.
    “Wait a minute,” Mamoru said, “there’s still the imaging program that we have to open to see what she is doing.”

    Ami’s heart leapt in joy as she saw the imaging program confirm its operation on her screen, they had seen the disk after all. She also hoped that they had received her message, nevertheless, that wasn’t important, as long as she found a way to bypass the security system, she would be able to send messages to them without restraints. Now, she could only pray that there would be no errors in the programming, because if there were any, she would lose all forms of communication.
    She heard a knock on the door, and she pushed the computer into her draws- out of sight. She yelled out, “please come in!”
    An old lady appeared at the doorway once the door was opened, “milady, you are awake then. His Lordship has been worried this past half an hour, worried of the possible effects of bringing you here. He wanted me to tell him immediately if you had any ills from this sudden, unexpected travel.”
    “If you would so kindly tell him that I am fine.”
    “Milady, if you please, his Lordship would like to see you in his chambers, his direct orders were to bring you to him once you were awake if you were feeling no ill effects.” The old woman looked at her kindly, perceiving the feelings of confusion that she had beheld. She turned away from her and began to look into the wardrobes, “my, my, there are plenty of things for you to wear, perhaps this one will suit you.”
    Ami looked at the simple laced v-neck dress that had been handed to her, and the matching shoes to go with it. It was pale blue, and embroidered with white lace around the neckline, like her skating dress, it caressed and covered her shoulders, the sleeves which went halfway up her lower arm, were edged by an undercover of dark sapphire silk. The slim dress reached halfway to her calves, she looked at the mirror in front of her as she placed it to her body, while it was tailored for hug her hips, it flowed loosely to her thighs. She knew that if she was to turn or duck down in fast movement, her dress would flip up to reveal her underwear. She couldn’t imagine meeting her captor in such a short skirt, although it was longer than her fuku (well, almost every dress would be!), her modesty could not permit it. She shook her head and handed it back to the old woman, but the woman did not budge. The woman smiled at her and said, “It will suit you perfectly,” and returned the dress to Ami’s hands.
    The shoes were blue stumps embossed with the symbol of Mercury by threads of pale blue, so pale that it almost seemed white. Although the heels where not very high, they were high enough to create a striking curve shape. Ami carefully laced up the ballet-shoe-like straps that twined their way up her calves. It reminded her of the shoes that Michiru wore with her fuku.  Michiru, SailorNeptune,
    The man, whoever he was, had gone to immense lengths to design dresses and shoes of her liking, and no matter how much she despised him for being the enemy, she was touched by his concern. His concern in all her matters, her welfare, it was something that she was not accustomed to, but she could begin to enjoy.

    A sharp cracking noise awoke their alertness immediately. Transforming once again into their Senshi forms, the four girls started towards the stairs. Mamoru grinned at Motoki, “to top of all the shocks you’ve been getting…” Mamoru closed his eyes as a breeze of wind swept from behind him, Motoki fainted at the sight of Tuxedo Kamen standing in front of him. Joining the rest of the girls, he headed up towards the arcade.
    They could not see the front door of the café, but waited for a moment. The sound of crushing glass drew them to the doorway adjourning the café and the arcade.  Leaping out from behind the pillar, they screamed at the lone figure, “who are you?!”

    “Your lordship, the lady is awake, I have tended to her dressing and she will be led to you in a few moments.”
    “Good,” he said, fingering at the bow at his tuxedo nervously, “get the refreshments ready in the dinning hall then.”
    “Of course sire.”
    He had gone to great lengths for this meeting, and he was determined not to fail to make a good impression on Ami. The normal shroud of his rank had been replaced by something that humans were more accustomed to seeing, although he was sure that the Princess was more than accustomed to seeing generals in full uniform, he felt certain that she was a lady whom preferred peace to war, dress than uniform.
 
 

Next