Dragons!

In the Midst of Dragons!

Chapter One

Tiara looked out of her window, deep in thought. Many things had happened in the past two days. The one particular thing that bothered her was how her mother, Washu, had given up her queen position to her. Tiara didn't think she could handle all of the responsibilities of being queen.

She had known this day would come, but this early? Tiara was only sixteen. Maybe it was because she had the very rare ability to shapeshift… She didn't know the reason, but she would find out.

"Tiara! You need to prepare for the banquet! Get dressed and get down here." Tiara got up at the sound of her mom's voice, and looked at the clock. Seven-thirty. The banquet was scheduled for ten. "I'd better start getting ready! Jeez!" Tiara practically jumped over to her closet.

"Where is it?! Oh. There." She grabbed the dress that Washu had given her the night before. It had emeralds around the neckline; they were specially placed there to match her eye color. The dress glittered all over. Diamonds adorned the sleeves. Tiara couldn't believe she was the one who was expected to wear this… She was only a princess wearing dull dresses (By royal standards) last night, and look what she would wear today, the best you could buy.

Tiara fixed her hair, a thirty-minute affair, and then admired herself in the mirror. She turned around, looking at the dress from every angle. She also did some poses. "Wow. I just can't believe that I'm being given the privilege to wear this… Oh well. I'd better get down there. I don't want mom yelling at me."

Washu looked nervously upstairs at her daughter's closed bedroom door. "What could she be doing? Tiara!" "I'm coming mother!" Tiara stepped out of her room, as gracefully as she could manage. Washu looked surprised. "Well. You do look beautiful today, Tiara. Very much like a queen. Don't you think so, Duo?"

Tiara looked at her dad, and was happy see him nod. She gave a slight smile and made her way down the stairs. The family dog came up to greet her, but he was trained not to jump on people so he just barked a welcome. Tiara was happy to see her best friend, Cassia there to welcome her as well.

Cassia walked up to Tiara. "Well. Now I know why I haven't seen you in awhile. You've been promoted! I just can't believe it." Then Cassia leaned over to whisper. "And you also got that hair of yours tamed for the occasion too. How did you manage?" With a smile, Tiara greeted her friend and walked on to the living room, Washu, Duo, and Cassia trailing behind.

Tiara sat on the couch and smiled. "So, when do the guests get here?" Cassia sat beside her. "I told the guys to be here at nine-thirty. And now, it's nine. So expect to see them soon." Tiara looked at her. "You mean the guys? Heero and them?" Cassia grinned. "Exactly. I knew you'd appreciate it. It took a bit of convincing to get that Trowa guy to come though."

Washu looked out the window across the room. "Well, I'm expecting like fifty people, so your father and I will prepare everything. Come on, Duo." Duo frowned. "Why? It's boring!" Washu grabbed him and pulled him behind her. "Stop whining. You will help me and that's that."

Cassia and Tiara watched as they disappeared into the kitchen. "So, Cassia, before the guys get here, want to run around?"

Cassia frowned. "What? In that dress?! Oh! I get it. Yeah, sure." With that being said, Cassia shapeshifted into a tiger, while Tiara shifted into a cheetah, her favorite form.

Cassia smiled the best she could manage, with a tiger's jaws. –So. Let's race, even though I know you'll win.- Tiara braced herself. –Yeah. Okay. We've got like five minutes. I'll beat you, with time to spare.- Cassia too, braced herself. –Yes. First to the lake wins. Shortcuts are allowed. Three...two..one...GO!-

Tiara sped off in front of Cassia, low to the ground. Cassia jumped from tree to tree, using her shortcut. Tiara looked behind her. Cassia seemed to be faster than usual. –Hey, did you drink some extra coke this morning or something? You are pretty fast for a tiger.- Cassia laughed. –Yes. I guess so. But it's not against the rules, now is it? Now keep running, or I'll beat you!-

Tiara kept a steady pace of about 55-mph. She didn't want to use up all of her energy at once. The lake glimmered about fifty feet in front of her, while Cassia was about fifteen feet behind her. It was anyone's race. But then, with an unexpected twist, Cassia leapt from a tree in front of Tiara. –Heh. Look! I'm beating the fastest land animal! Yeah!- After saying that, she jumped into the lake.

Tiara stopped beside the lake, watching Cassia splash about. –Okay. You won. Now let's just get back to the palace. We're probably late already.- Cassia looked at Tiara. –You always have to ruin my fun. Don't you? Well. Just leave without me! I don't mind.- Tiara took off, heading for the now gathering guests. –Well, I guess I'd better go too.- Cassia shook off the water that covered her and followed Tiara.

Chapter Two

By the time Cassia caught up with Tiara, she found that she was already greeting guests and having little discussions. Cassia deshifted as well and begun doing the same. Tiara looked at her. "What are you doing?" Cassia smiled. "Well, I'm helping you. What does it look like? Oooo and look at that! It's Mr. Stud himself!" Tiara looked to where Cassia was looking. Sure enough, it was Heero.

Tiara took off at once. Cassia could only laugh to herself. "She sure doesn't act like a queen… but then again, being sixteen years old and having the responsibility of watching over a whole dimension is pretty hard to imagine doing. Maybe she just wants to have one last chance to be her old hyper self." Cassia shrugged and continued welcoming the seemingly unending line of guests.

Heero spotted Tiara running at him and prepared himself to catch her. She almost always jumped into his arms. Today was a special day indeed. He was finally able to stay in this dimension for awhile. Tiara had waited a long time for this day and so had he.

"Heero! I missed you so much!" Tiara jumped into his arms and hugged him. Heero smiled. "So, how's Duo doing? Lucky guy. He got advanced aging when he was brought here."

Tiara smiled. "Fortunately, he's doing great. He still acts as he did when he was fifteen. But other than that, he and Washu are doing well." Tiara glanced at the other three. Quatre and Trowa were admiring her gundam, Aquarius Alpha ZERO while Wufei just sat on the grass, head down.

"Well, I see Wufei hasn't changed. He's still as anti-social as ever." Wufei looked up and scowled at her. A minute later, he walked toward the lake. Heero nodded. "Yeah. The only reason he came is because there's no mission for him to complete. I don't think he'll be a part of the party."

Cassia called Tiara from the porch. "Everyone's in! Come on, Washu's waiting. And you know how she is, impatient as can be." Trowa and Quatre took the obvious hint and went into the palace along with Cassia. Heero and Tiara held back.

Heero smiled. "I missed ya'. On every mission I went on since I last saw you on L-1 that day, I've thought of you. And the day I return, you are promoted to queen. What does that leave me? Peasant?" Tiara grinned. "That's the good part. Mom said that you might become king. Hey, if we play our cards right, who knows?" Tiara looked around. "Well, we'd better get inside. All we need is mom getting mad at me." Heero, still holding Tiara headed to the palace. "Yes. I've seen her mad before. And I don't want to see her that way again."

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Barely anybody noticed Heero and Tiara enter the living room. Almost a hundred people were gathered around. Tiara said to Heero, "I guess mom misestimated the turn out. More people came than she thought." Heero nodded. "Yeah. But hey, maybe we can get some time to ourselves, you know?" Tiara smiled and put her right hand to his cheek. "Be patient. I know mom doesn't have patience, but I know you do. You proved it when you waited till today to see me. The sooner I get this thing over with, the sooner I get some time to myself." With a sigh, Heero put Tiara down. "Go ahead. I'll be there for your big speech and everything. Go get 'em Tiara."

Tiara gave Heero a kiss. "Don't worry. I will. I am pretty nervous, but knowing you'll be out in that crowd makes me feel much better. Thanks sweetie." Heero watched her run toward the dining room. "Bye… Damn. I should've come a day earlier…" Heero began to follow the path Tiara had taken, but someone grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Hey, Heero. Are you and Tiara planning anything tonight?" Heero turned around, only to find himself face-to-face with Cassia. "Maybe. Why?" Cassia rocked back and forth, hands on hips, smiling mischievously. "Oh, I don't know. I was just thinking, she'll be done with the speech in about five minutes. It started like three minutes ago. The speech isn't that long." Heero continued on his way to where Tiara was making the speech, but with a quicker pace. He said thanks to Cassia for warning him of the speech ending before he entered the huge room. When the door closed behind him, Cassia smiled. "He's so sweet. I can see why Tiara loves him so much. Pretty nice guy."

This is my first Fanuc. I hope you like it so far. I'm still working on it, so just bear with me.