A/N: whoot a somewhat revised version of this year's NaNo…yay NaNo!
Serenity Tsukino was born to Kenji and Ikuko Tsukino, of 1542 Evergreen Circle, in the Windcrest Community. The only thing Kenji and Ikuko ever did out of the ordinary was name their daughter Serenity. It was a strange move, and to this day neither one of them have any idea where the name came from, or why when the nurse walked in with a birth certificate they both blurted out the name. They would continue to wonder this for many years, and decided whenever in public to call their daughter Usagi, because it fit better with the rest of the neighborhood, and fitting in was what the Tsukino's did best.
Kenji Tsukino was a doctor, a dentist in fact, there were fourteen other dentists in Windcrest, 27 lawyers, 10 surgeons, 15 specialized doctors, 12 pediatricians, 30 business executives, 22 advertising agents, and a few successful real estate agents. Ikuko Tsukino like every other mother in the subdivision was a homemaker, she fixed dinner, cleaned house, and as Serenity grew older tried to arrange play dates in order to catch up on the latest gossip. Serenity was an only child, which was definitely not ordinary, but try as they might Kenji and Ikuko could not seem to have another child even after seeing one of the specialists in the neighborhood.
Though as time went by Ikuko began to be glad of this occurrence for Serenity was such a peculiar child that training her to be normal, or at least be perceived as normal was not easy. The first strange thing about the child was that even as an infant she did not cry, which would have suited other mothers just fine, but with chatting with neighborhood mothers, Ikuko found she had none of their complaints and was therefore sorely left out of the conversation. It was a wonder then that Serenity was cared for at all, because without crying there should have been no way for Ikuko to know when she was hungry or when she needed to be changed, but somehow whenever Ikuko felt the need to feed or change the young child, it seemed to be exactly at the moment it was needed.
Kenji though was hardly affected by this at all for it was rarely the practice of men in the neighborhood to discuss children, unless of course they were boys and had reached the age of sports or intelligence, once and awhile a daughter would be mentioned if she was growing up particularly pretty. But since his daughter, though a very beautiful baby was not a boy and did not play sports, he did not feel as if he was yet left out of any sort of conversation, and therefore had not yet discovered that his daughter was different, despite the complaints of his wife. Therefore his Sunday golf game conversations mainly focused on professional sports and the occasional story about someone else's all star son, conversations he felt fully comfortable having.
Serenity's first birthday was the first real occurrence where her parents began to suspect all was not right with their little girl. The rainbow over the house was very easily attributed to coincidence, despite their having been no rain that week, but halfway into the party when the parents were exchanging gifts that really had nothing to do with Serenity, a silver box appeared on the table. No one had been directly looking at the table and therefore no one had seen the box suddenly appear, and when questioned no one at the party knew anything about it. Upon inspection a small card was written "Happy Birthday Princess Serenity," it was strange certainly but being the rational people they were no one thought much of it. The box was opened and inside was a small silver charm bracelet, the perfect size for little Serenity's wrist. Upon the bracelet was an engraving that no one could make out and it was decided it was simply a design, and a pretty one at that.
There was not more thought given to the bracelet until after the guests had left and it was time to give Serenity her nightly bath. When Ikuko reached to take off the new bracelet so as to prevent it from getting wet and tarnished, she found that she was unable to do so. The clasp that she could have thought she used that afternoon was gone, and the bracelet could not fit over Serenity's hand. Ikuko pondered the situation for sometime before calling Kenji. Kenji, who prided himself on being like every other man in the neighborhood had very little to do with the care of his own child, especially being that she was an infant, was undoubtedly surprised to hear Ikuko call when she was supposed to be bathing Serenity.
"Yes dear?" Kenji called, he made sure that he was affectionate enough towards his wife so that she did not complain but not so affectionate that she bragged to the other wives and therefore got him in trouble with the other husbands. He used the endearment carefully and deliberately did not run up the stairs to her, instead he awaited an answer of what she needed, for she knew better than to ask him for help with the child.
"I cannot get this bracelet off of Serenity in order to give her a bath." For a moment Kenji was confused as to what she meant but then remembered the strange silver bracelet. It was a pretty thing but simple nonetheless and certainly not worth time away from his paper, after all it would definitely discussed the next afternoon at lunch. He shrugged, glad that his wife could not see and went back to reading.
"It cannot hurt to have it on, just leave it be." He knew his wife well enough, she would be annoyed by his answer and her particular way of doing things was wholly disrupted by leaving the bracelet on. But such things couldn't be helped, there was a way to things and that way included him reading the paper before bed, and they did not included figuring out how to get a cheap bracelet off of his daughter's wrist. He smiled when he heard the water run and knew that his wife had conceded.
The matter of the bracelet was not brought up again mostly for Ikuko's stubbornness, even though a few times Kenji had wanted to inquire whether or not Ikuko had found a way to remove the bracelet from their daughter's wrist. The bracelet though became the least of their worries as soon Serenity began to talk, and while it may have been something Kenji could have talked about with his golf buddies, for certainly foretold a genius to have Serenity already speaking at one year old, the manner in which she spoke was much too strange.
It was unintelligible to them, and yet it certainly was not baby babble. The child would point to something and then make a sound, reaching for it. It was given to her and the child was quite content, the process would continue often, always the same sound used for each object, after a month she began saying entire phrases and then appeared largely confused when her parents did not answer her, or worse yet when they did. Now Kenji did take small amounts of time to try and train their daughter to speak the right words, often they would not give her what she wished for unless she repeated the word that they used for it. Thankfully the child was a quick learner but she seemed lax to stop using her other tongue.
"oubuda" 15 month old Serenity cried, and Ikuko sighed grabbing the ball with her hand.
"No Serenity Ball, this is a Ball!" Ikuko said wondering why the child knew the right word but often would not say it unless prompted. She was annoyed that her perfectly planned life had to be so disrupted by a perfectly abnormal child.
"Mother…no Ball, oubuda, please susu!" Ikuko sighed the muddled half English half gibberish would certainly not go over well with the rest of the neighborhood. Though sometimes she got the feeling that he daughter felt as if she was speaking the wrong language. She sighed and handed over the ball.
"Did I hear more of her jibberish? Ikuko dear you must get her to stop that." Kenji kissed her forehead to take the bite out of his words, but his wife merely answered with a frustrated sigh. Her husband did not have to spend all day with the insane child, she had worked her entire life to fit in perfectly and she had to give birth to such an odd child.
"I am trying but she seems to speak fluent jibberish and is only learning English, it shall take her time, but how are we to keep the neighbors from finding out?" Kenji kneeled down beside his wife and for perhaps the first time truly looked at his child, and realized her eyes were not blue as he had once thought but violet and her hair was blonde but seemed to be growing fainter instead of darker. He sighed this child certainly would not fit in well with the rest of the neighborhood. He wondered what age was old enough to wear contacts.
"Keep at it Ikuko, she will learn, we just have to stop responding when she speaks that way, she will pick it up quickly, she is obviously a smart child."
Serenity grew up quickly and for once Kenji was right about his daughter, for she learned English and was speaking it much better than the other children in the neighborhood her age. Something which made her parents quite proud in public, but in private they were constantly worried that their daughter would slip up and speak her strange tongue.
By her second birthday their daughter's strange quirks began to be increasingly troublesome, her hair had grown to an unusual length and was more of a silver than a blonde, a fact that Ikuko tried to hide with hair dye, but no matter what they tried it never lasted.
The rainbow reappeared, but no one took notice of it. Serenity was now speaking perfect English though she seemed to hate speaking it. She was given strict instructions to never speak her other tongue and answer to the name Usagi. On top of that she was ordered to only speak as well as the other children.
Ikuko knew they were being harsh with the child, but there was no helping it. The child was just plain odd after all and the only way for her to fit in and be happy, was to stamp out that oddness as soon as possible. Ikuko left Serenity in her room as she prepared for their guests, glad at least that her daughter was self-sufficient. Though having a two year old that acted as a ten year old had certainly not been part of her plan.
Having set the table and made sure the cake was still perfectly frosted, she when up to Serenity's room. The child had braided her already long hair into a crown around her head with the rest falling down her back.
"Come Usagi, you must come downstairs your friends will be arriving soon." Ikuko held out her hand for her young daughter.
"They are not my friends they are not real!" Ikuko let out a gasp as her daughter's outburst and flashing eyes.
"Serenity! That is a horrible thing to say. Now behave yourself and come downstairs." Again Ikuko held out her hand and this time Serenity took it. Ikuko shot a familiar glare at the silver bracelet that had yet to leave her daughter's wrist.
Downstairs Serenity sat at the head of the table and mustered up a smile when guests began arriving and sitting around her. They passed her gifts which she opened diligently until she caught a glare from her mother, at which point she began ripping the paper without care. She did not see the presents within but gave a fake cry of delight at each one. As time wore on Serenity would grow to hate these parties, they would become shorter and shorter so that she could disappear to her room.
It was in her own room that the real party began, and her second birthday was no different from the ones that would follow.
"Your Highness, happy birthday." Serenity smiled as a bright silver box was laid before her. Upon opening it she saw a small tiara of silver and dustrite a beautiful jewel made from enchanted faerie dust. It could change to any color to match its wearer's outfit. Serenity lifted it from the box gingerly unable to believe such a thing was hers.
"It is a gift from the faeries your highness, they have worked since the day of your birth to make it for you." Serenity nodded to Artemis unable to fully form words, she could not believe they had worked so hard for her. Artemis came up beside her and took the tiara from her and placed it gently upon her head.
"Much better, it is high time you began looking like the Crown Princess you are." Serenity blushed as everyone around her stood and bowed.
More gifts of jewelry and art were given to her, there were a few toys from all over the world, numerous books…but perhaps the only gift that could possibly rival the faeries' tiara was given to her by Prince Endymion. The young boy led a beautiful horse right into the ballroom, followed by his horrified parents. They were relieved when the entire court began to laugh, Serenity included, instead of showing displeasure, in other kingdoms such an act could have meant war. The King and Queen were glad to learn that the Kingdom of the infant princess was as peaceful and as kind as they had heard.
Without any of the formalities that may have been expected of a young princess, Serenity got up and ran to the horse. The horse was pure white with a glistening silver mane and hooves. Its eyes were crystal blue showing that the horse had a gentle demeanor.
"It is beautiful! May I ask who is kind enough to bring such a gift? I am afraid you were not announced." The royal trio stared in shock at the young princess, Serenity was used to this, even among her own people, it was unusual for one as young as she to be so intelligent. The mystics had attributed it to the fact that she was the only one able to rule and the stars therefore granted her the intelligence to do so.
"I-I am Prince Endymion, your highness." The young boy bowed, his dark brown hair falling softly over his deep blue eyes. He was tall for his age, and was very untamable by his parents, making him as unique a prince as Serenity was a princess. It was very unusual for future royalty to be free spirited, for being trained from birth to put God and country before all else.
"Well Prince Endymion, I LOVE THE HORSE!" The formalities were forgotten once again as the girl squealed loudly in delight. "Does he have a name?"
"You may call him whatever you wish Your Highness, but I have been calling him Spirit." Serenity looked at him and then at the horse and slowly nodded your head.
"Yes that name suits him quite nicely. I like it." The young girl began stroking the horse's mane absent-mindedly as she thought about the name. "I do hope you will visit more often Prince Endymion, for I can see you have gotten quite attached to this horse on your journey here, and I would be remiss if I did not let you come visit, and I would also like to get to know the person that would give such a marvelous gift.
Prince Endymion bowed once again, slowly beginning to feel at ease in the presence of the young child, though it was still awkward talking to a child who could barely walk as an equal. The princess though, had a definite charm and he could sense that behind him his parents were already scheming.
"Yes Your Highness I shall be glad to visit whenever you should like my company." Serenity frowned at his words.
"If we are going to be friends I would wish you to call me by my name, and I should hope that you would have some joy at visiting me if you were do so, for I would hate to feel as if I were forcing you." Prince Endymion could not help but laugh at her words.
"My dear Princess, it seems all formalities are naught with you, and I should love to come and see you as often as possible. It seems both of our personalities are ill suited for the ranks of royalty." Serenity nodded knowing that he was not yet fully comfortable with her as his speech was still that of a prince and not of a ten year old boy.
"Your Majesties, please come and sit at the head of the table with Her Highness." Artemis said with a bow pointing to the seats next to the spot Serenity had just vacated.
Serenity looked with a smile to Artemis and led her newfound friends to the open seats beside her. She had no doubt their visit had been arranged but most likely Artemis had wanted it to be a surprise. He enjoyed his position as her right hand and caretaker, and often did whatever he could to make the little princess smile.
The rest of the party went off with much jovialty as Serenity even talked Prince Endymion into attempting to dance with her, and Serenity's short legs made a rough job of it, providing great entertainment for everyone gathered.
The party was dying down and Serenity was bidding a fond and informal farewell to "Endy" as he was already being called when a servant rushed in.
"Your Highness! They are asking for you!" Serenity's eyes darkened and she heaved a sigh. Artemis glared at the messenger, he had been against this whole plan from the beginning.