Timeless
"Why can't a girl just buy a decent pair of jeans anymore? Why do they have to feel uncomfortable or look like the hide of a cheetah? Is nothing sacred anymore," complained twenty-two year old Serena Tsukino.
"Don't mind her," her friend Rei Hino told the clearly frazzled assistant. "She's just on another one of her morality tirades. I'll help her." The assistant gave a grateful bow and hurried off to find a quieter customer to help. "You know," Rei said, running her fingers through her hair, "If you weren't so picky about things, you'd have more friends."
"What do my principles have to do with finding friends? I have plenty of friends. What do you think about these," she asked holding up a pair of dark-blue jeans.
"I don't know," Rei sighed. "I haven't seen them on you. Why don't you go try them on and see what you think."
"Fine. Don't forget, we're meeting the girls for lunch in half an hour."
"How could I? You've talked of nothing else for the past week. Well, that and Pride and Prejudice."
"What," she whined, turning around. "It's a really good book!"
"Yes, and you've read it ten times this week alone. You need to get out of the apartment more often."
"That's why we're having lunch outside today," she teased, scampering off to the fitting room.
Rei shook her head. Her best friend was one lonely girl. She had no idea how wonderful the real world could be, and she would never know if she stayed shut up in the apartment they shared. Rei and the girls, Ami, Makoto, and Minako, always had their eyes peeled for any change in Serena's attitude, but there never was one. Even when they were around Serena's crush, she concealed her feelings well and never let him know how she felt. Instead, they bickered and teased each other without end, convincing the girls that there was still some hope.
"I don't think that I like any of these," Serena announced, returning from the fitting room with three pairs of jeans on her arm. "Only one of them has a crotch and even then, they barely cover my hips. If I was going to buy this pair, I'd have to buy fifty different t-shirts to drape over it."
"Why won't you show off your figure a little. You're not fat, you know."
"I know I'm not fat," Serena shot back. "I just...I just don't feel comfortable with people staring at me. You just like to tease poor Yuuichiro with a hint of flesh. I'm not like that."
Rei came from behind and put her arms around Serena's shoulders and said, "It doesn't have to be that way, dear. You can dress modestly and still look beautiful. Maybe we should get Mina to come shopping with us. She's a fashion consultant, and maybe that's what you need."
"Maybe...Come on," she said, shoving the jeans back in their cubby. "Let's go, or we'll be late for lunch."
You never let anyone see that you're sad. Let someone in.
"Endymion, dear, why don't you go hunting today? You've been spending too much time in the library lately. It's not good for you to be so alone."
"Mother, I'm not alone. I've got my guards, and they're amusement enough. I'm not hiding from anyone, if that's what you're worried about. I just need some time to be alone."
The Queen of the Earth sighed. She knew what her twenty-five year old son was doing, and he most certainly was not alone when he was doing it. He was meeting the Moon princess in secret whenever he had the chance. He knew that it would get his kingdom in trouble, but he pushed that danger aside for love. She thought it wonderful that he was in love, but the lady in question was not a safe choice in the political arena. "Son," she began, "Please be careful. I don't want you getting hurt."
"I know how to hunt, mother," he said, his eyes darkening with understanding.
The Queen stifled a smile. "I only want you to be happy."
"I don't need to hunt anymore to be happy." With those words, he sped out of the room, grabbed his quiver and bow, hopped on his horse, and galloped off into the woods. Of all the nerve. What did his mother think? Was he some sort of fly-by-night? That he was reckless and didn't care about his country? How could she think so little of him?
Let me make up my own mind. I have great plans for our home. You'll see.
Endymion continued for miles without stopping. He stopped suddenly when he saw a glimmer of gold flashing between the trees. Tying his horse to a nearby branch, he slowly walked in and out of the old forest, the glimmer of gold leading him farther and farther away from the world that he knew.
Suddenly, everything went dark, the trees disappeared and there was no noise. Endymion spun around, searching for anything familiar. "What's going on," he wondered aloud. "Where am I?"
A voice whispered in his ear, "Follow the gold. You won't regret it. Trust me."
"Who are you? What's going on?"
"Follow the gold. You'll know soon enough."
Endymion hesitated. There was something familiar about that voice. Should he follow the gold? What would it bring? He thought that he could use an adventure, a break from his duties. He was well-trained and grown. He could handle anything. Endymion was straight and determined. He would take that chance.
He walked toward the gold with a firm grip on his sword. The golden light grew and grew around him, until it ultimately engulfed his body and the space between. The light grew hot and pressed down on him like the sun on a summer day. He struggled to stand. The pressure was enormous. The light pulsed as if testing his strength and then flashed again, forcing him to close his eyes.
When he opened them, he was in a land like no other. A land he had never seen, and would never see again in his lifetime. Oddly enough it felt familiar and wondrous all at once. The land was covered with tall buildings covered in glass and strange vehicles moved on their own, spewing smoke from one end. Endymion looked around slowly and saw that he stood in front of a particularly large building that must have been at least twice the size of his castle at home. He saw people coming in and out through double glass doors and giving him strange looks.
He was still in his armor. Running his fingers through his hair, he sat down on the nearest bench and gazed into the sky.
"Do you need some help?"
Did he dare to look down? Endymion adjusted his eyes to the setting sun and saw a young woman standing in front of him. She had beautiful golden hair and a smile that made him feel all soft and warm inside. She had on a pair of blue pants and a big, blue shirt with long sleeves that hid her slender form. "Serenity?"
"Excuse me?"
"Are...are you...Serenity?"
"No, I'm Serena. Do you need some help? Are you lost?" How strange. He used the name that she heard so often in her dreams.
"I don't know," he said, standing. He was a good foot and a half taller than her. "I'm...Endymion," he said, extending a hand. She looked so much like Serenity. Surely he could trust her.
She reached out to take his hand in welcome and felt a most peculiar sense of deja vu. A shock of static went through her and she shivered visibly. There was something about this man that she knew. Something she couldn't quite place. He looked so much like...like...
"Do I know you? Have we met before?"
"I doubt it. You look like someone I...know back at home. But I do not think that we have met before. Can you tell me where I am?"
"Well, for starters, you're outside my apartment building."
"Yes. But what country am I in? What...what time is this?" He had heard of time travel as an ancient magic only rarely performed, but he never knew it was possible.
Serena wrinkled her nose. Who was this guy? "You're in Japan. It's--"
"What year is it?"
"It's the year two-thousand and two. Where did you come from?"
"Two-thousand and two," he murmred to himself. "I have traveled far, haven't I? I come from a distant world," he said, looking directly at her. A shock swiftly flowed through him from the intense stare of her blue blue eyes. "I am not from your world. At least...I am not from your time."
"Are you joking me? I know I read an awful lot of strange novels, but this isn't funny. Where do you come from?"
"Novels? Did any of them involve time-travel?"
"A few. And then there are plenty of movies that start out like this. No one ever believes it possible." Serena sat down on the bench. "Are you sure--You're really not joking?"
"No. I was just hunting and then sucked into this place by a golden light. I don't know anything else."
"Well...w-why don't you come inside? Some people will think it strange with you running around in medieval armor in the middle of summer." How was she going to explain this to Rei?
Endymion followed the young woman through the double glass doors, ignoring the strange look from a man at a desk, and stopped outside a strange split panel. Serena pushed a button and the panel opened up.
Upon seeing the confusion on his face Serena explained, "It's an elevator. It lifts you up to a different floor of the building. Come on." Endymion followed her inside. When the doors opened again, they were outside a hallway lined with many doors. "We're in room 334." Serena produced a key triumphantly from her pocket and unlocked the door, leading him into the entry-way of her apartment. "I know you don't have anything else to wear, but, would you mind removing your boots? Rei used to live in a temple and likes to keep the place clean. I don't want her yelling at me more than she already will. You can wear these," she said, handing him a pair of slippers after he had removed his boots.
Serena removed her own shoes and wandered over to the couch, flopping down ontop of a pillow. "This is just weird."
"Pardon me, miss, but what is weird."
"Please call me Serena. Come sit down. I just think that it's a little weird that all of this is happening. Do you have any idea why this is happening?"
"No, I'm sorry. I was just told that I would not regret following the light."
Serena giggled. "Well, you're not dead. You just somehow traveled between time and space and landed in the twenty-first century."
"I suppose so."
Serena realized how awkward it was with a grown man on her couch. Alone. In the room with her. "Yes, well. You can stay here as long as my roommate doesn't mind and as long as my landlord doesn't find out. We have an extra room by the bathroom that you can use. We can't have you wandering around the city with nowhere to go."
"That is very generous of you. I'm afraid that I will be more of a burden to you, though."
"Well, that may be so, but I don't want you to be alone and confused. I'll try and help you learn about this world while we figure out how to get you back to your own."
"That is very kind of you, Serena," he said, taking her hand and kissing it.
Serena blushed.
The front door opened and Rei stepped inside, staring straight ahead at the two on the couch. "Darien?"
Author's Notes: I had the most fantastic idea for a story around 9 this morning, and this is chapter one of that idea. I have the whole story planned out, but I'm only putting up two chapters to see how well it does. I'm extremely sorry about the updates to my other stories. Hopefully this spring air will inspire me.