Author's Note: Sailor Moon and fellow characters are NOT mine. They are the creation of another brilliant mind, whom I just happen to be stealing ideas from.

The Royal Ball

"Argh! Will you two hurry up? We're going to be late!" Makoto yelled through the door. Sometimes, I'm not exactly sure who is the child and who are the parents! Makoto thought to herself. She pounded on the door one more time.

"Alright already, we're coming!" she heard her father yell as he came to the door. Swinging it open her father gave her a slightly pained look. "If your mother would just believe that she looked beautiful in anything, we could get out of here…."

"I heard that!" yelled her mother from the bathroom. She emerged from the vanity area setting an earring into place. She looked absolutely lovely, which was no surprise seeing as she was a queen.

"Mom, you look really great!" Her mom smiled.

"Thank you sweetie."

"See, I told you it wasn't just me!" Her father shot her mother an annoyed look.

"I don't believe you because you're biased." She reached up to give her husband a kiss. "But I love you anyway."

"Alright you two love birds, can we FINALLY leave now? We're going to be late!"

"Makoto, what are you so impatient for?"

"Mom, it's my first official ball at the Moon Palace! And we're going to be the last ones there! Come on!" she said, dragging each of her parents out of their chambers by their hands. Laughing, they followed her out of the castle.

"Rei!" Makoto ran up to her long-time friend. "How are you doing! You look gorgeous in that dress!"

Rei blushed a little as she did a quick twirl in her beautiful red ballgown. "It's good to see you too, princess." Makoto hit her playfully in the shoulder. "Hey! No hitting—you're supposed to be on your best behavior tonight!"

"Yes, mother," Makoto mocked. "And don't call me princess—around here, no one would know which one of us you're talking to."

"Hi guys!" Minako walked up to them. "Isn't the palace absolutely beautiful tonight?"

"It's so dreamy!" Makoto answered. "I could seriously fall in love here."

Rei leaned over to Minako and whispered, "That girl could fall in love anywhere…."

"Be nice! It's my first time to the palace since I was a little girl. I get to drool a little bit!"

"Well, it's not like Castle Io is a shack you know!" Minako said.

"True, but it's not the Moon Palace either!"

Queen Serenity smiled as she approached the group. "Welcome girls. It's good to have you all in the castle again."

All the girls curtsied before the queen. "Oh please, do stand up. You are all here as guests, not as subjects. Besides, what would Usagi say if she found all of her friends bowing to the whole family? You know that it would go to her head."

"Moooooooom! I'm not a spoiled brat!" Usagi called out as she ran up to the group. "I'm so excited that you guys are here! You should see the buffet—there's soooo much yummy food!" Shaking her head, Queen Serenity left the group.

"Usagi, how can you always be thinking about food!" Rei said incredulously.

"Because I'm always hungry!" Usagi replied as she stuck her tongue out.

"Oh no, you two aren't going to start again, are you?" Ami asked as she joined the group.

"Ami!" Usagi ran up to hug her best friend. "I was hoping that you would make it."

"But of course. I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

"Oh my gosh, who are the hunks!" Minako was practically jumping up and down as she pointed over to a group of guys who had just entered the ballroom.

"Oh, well, the one in the middle is Prince Endymion. The rest of the guys are his personal guard, I believe," Usagi said, while blushing.

Rei looked from the group of guys back to Usagi. "Endymion? As in Prince Endymion? As in the boy that you've had a crush on since diapers! Oh my god do they grow them well on Earth!"

"SHHHHH! Rei, they'll hear you!" Usagi whined.

"What's the matter Usagi? Still don't have enough courage to go up and actually talk to him?"

"I do too! And do you always have to be so mean to me?"

"Why do YOU always have to behave like a baby?"

"I am NOT a baby!" Serena shrieked, stamping her foot.

"Good," Rei replied with a smirk. "Because now they're all looking at us. So here's your chance—go say hi."

Usagi looked like she was about ready to cry. "You can be so unfair!"

"Fine, you don't want to go say hi. Well, I will."

Rei walked over to the guys who were chatting about the palace. "Hi, Prince Endymion. It's so good to see you again! I know you probably don't remember me, but I'm Rei, Princess of Mars. It's been a long time since we've seen each other."

"Rei, of course I remember you! And you're right, it has been ages. Oh, but forgive me for being a bad host. Rei, these are my friends Zoicite, Kunzite, Nephrite, and Jadeite. Guys, this is Princess Rei Hino"

They all bowed before the Princess. Rei blushed with the attention.

"Actually, it's good timing that you came over—I was going to re-introduce Jadeite to you this evening anyway. You remember him? The two of you met on the Moon a few years ago. We're having some security problems and so Jadeite has been assigned to Mars to help keep an eye on things.

"Really? What's going on?"

"Don't worry Princess, it's nothing much. I'm just choosing to be extra cautious. Queen Serenity agrees with my father that it's better to be overly cautious rather than caught off guard."

"Um….well, okay."

Jadeite stepped forward. "Please, Princess, let me escort you to the dance floor. There's no reason to worry about anything tonight."

Blushing again, she smiled at her friends over in the other corner as she was lead out onto the dance floor.

"Oh my gosh! That girl's got moves! She was only talking to them for a couple of minutes and she's already on the dance floor with a hunk!" Makoto exclaimed. "Why can't I be that lucky!"

Hope that you enjoyed it!