Princess of Ice
Saturday 6:30pm
    She hesitated as she opened the heavy doors leading to the Function Room 2. She looked down at herself self-consciously, she could only hope that she was dressed correctly for the function. Just to check one more time, she hurried into the Powder Room to check herself out one more time. She had declined help from her friends to help her choose her clothes, she did need some time to herself after all.
    It was already the second day since the happiest day of her life had passed. Time flew by unknowingly, she hardly knew where the days went. She had walked around, her head in the clouds, her feet above the ground. She didn’t know how she passed those days, only that all her friends were with her. She remembered celebrating with her mother on the night of her success.  School had flown by on Friday like a dream, she was very unlike herself, her concentration span had been low, she had never been like that before.
    The only thing that she had noticed was that Asuka had kept his distance, not that he had much time to himself because the autograph frenzy had begun yet again. Unbelievably, a picture/autograph frenzy had also begun with her. At first she was shocked but happy, now, she was just tired.
    Haruna-Sensei had been nice, and overlooked her most conscientious student daydreaming for the day, she had even organized a celebratory dinner with the whole class tonight. She had afternoon tea with her friends on the next day, and dinner with Asuka in a small but regal restaurant.
 
    She smiled fondly as she remembered going home that afternoon afterschool with her friends, going into a room full of white lilies, and a large invitation card leaning against her bookshelf for dinner that night. She had heard of the restaurant before, and knew the dress code was not exactly informal. Her friends flew into a frenzy, sorting through her wardrobe, looking for the ‘right’ dress. In a way, she was glad that it happened, otherwise, she would have had to go through the headache of it herself.
    Asuka always seemed to have the right timing. He knew exactly when to say things, when to do things for the greatest effect. On ice, his jumps were legendary, and took the audience’s breath away by the sheer impulsiveness. In real life, his actions took her breath away by the embarrassment that it caused with her friends. He probably knew, somehow, that she was to have lunch with her friends, and somehow, knew that they would all be going to her house, on that particular day. Usually, her friends steered away from her apartment and had fun in the Arcade, or at the Temple, it was just this day that they had to have all been at her house, in her room…
    Ami leaned towards the mirrors, the makeup was a problem. Not that she had ever known exactly how to apply everything, she had watched the fuss that Minako had always made, but she had never realized how difficult that application was. The blush was a little too dark. She pulled out a tissue and rubbed her check gently, until the color was just right. She took a deep breath again, last night’s makeup had been slightly more successful.

    She had allowed Minako to do her makeup, and she had done it like a professional. She wore a pale blue spaghetti stripped long dress. It was a sleek, slim dress, with a bell-bottomed flare towards the ankles. Rei had said that it would look good when she danced. She hadn’t imagined herself dancing, but she was glad that she had followed their advice.
    The secluded restaurant was one of natural beauty. Each table was in its own large room, the glass walls facing a man-made lake and Tropicana trees. They had their full privacy, no noise from other patrons. Each building only accommodated 4 rooms, with a total of 10 traditional western buildings, all of a different style, and you couldn’t see anyone else in sight.
    She didn’t know how Asuka had managed to book a table in this restaurant, but it was certainly impressive. In all the places that she had ever gone to with her mother, this one in particular topped the list of the most splendid ones. They had two personal waiters, one violinist, and one pianist in the room with them, although they discretely disappeared when they wanted to be left alone. She could only smile when Asuka had asked her to dance, beside the grand balcony facing the deep blue water.
    Now that she thought back on the previous night, she was sure that her mother and her friends had known about the plans beforehand but didn’t tell her about it. Her mother had conveniently been too busy to drop her off at the restaurant, when later, a limousine arrived at her front door. The way her friends had insisted to go to her apartment for a change, something they had never asked for in their lives.

    For a long time she stood in front of the hand basins thinking about the previous night, she wasn’t quite sure how long though, only that Minako had appeared from nowhere, and slapped her hard on the shoulders. This girl was beginning to learn something to Makoto, she thought. “Hey Ami, what are you doing here? Dinner’s going to be in the Function Room 2 not the toilet!”
    “Um, I was just…”
    “Here, let me fix your blush, it’s a bit dark you know.”
    “I know…”
    The rest of the evening passed with drinks, toasts, chitter-chatter, she didn’t really know what was going on, in a way, she didn’t care.  Asuka wasn’t here celebrating with the rest of the class, Ami wondered where he was and her mind drifted to wherever he was, she didn’t quite know where…

    A little way away, three darkly shrouded men stood in the shadows, perched on the roof of the restaurant facing the windows of Function Room 2. Their faces although unseen beneath the obscuration, projected hate and evil to the otherwise calm surroundings of the night. They scanned the Function Room, waiting for their rivalry to appear, when at last the loathed foe appeared, they rubbed their hands in anticipation.  They would wait for the right time to strike.

    He walked quickly into the Hotel from where the car dropped him off, he was late again, something which he was often criticized for. The night air was cool against his skin, the soft breeze pushed his hair away from his forehead. He closed his eyes to enjoy the moment, it reminded him of…
    A hand gripped his shoulder as he felt himself being lifted above the ground. Immediately opening his eyes, he realized that what he was feeling at the moment was true, someone was lifting him several feet of the ground by the shoulder. Wait a minute, several feet, he was 5 feet 9, so whoever it was doing this had to be at least 8 feet or so tall! He twisted his head to behind him, in order to see who was doing this to him. It was an action that he would regret for the rest of his life. A creature from his darkest nightmares stared straight into his eyes. He eyes rolled to the back of his head, as he slumped into the strength that held onto him, he fainted.
    The creature looked at this pathetic human being, wondering how this man could bring the downfall of the Bishoujo Senshi. Flinging his head back, he laughed maniacally. His laughter faded quickly, leaving an indescribable trail of sound behind him as he left into the night.

    “To avenge…”
    “To avenge the death…”
    “To avenge the death of our Queen!”
    “Our Royal Lady Queen…”
    “Queen Beryl.”
    “For her deepest wish…”
    “…and that of our present King…”
    “…the master, the Royal King - Lord Takechi…”
    “We will avenge…”
    “…and revenge…”
    “…kill all obstructions…”
    “…this SailorMercury…”
    “…she who destroys our plans…”
    “…shall be destroyed in return!”
 

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