Author's Note: Happy New Year! I spent the majority of my time off during the holiday break doing a ton of drawings and paintings, and listening to music (and a bit of work). The ideas for this story came from a combination of one drawing and a classical cover of a pop song (nothing to do with work lol). Maybe it's too soon to start my second fic but I'll give it a try anyway.
The story's rating and genre are placeholders for now. They may change as the story progresses.
Cover image: Princess Neptune & Uranus from the Silver Millennium era. I love Neptune's waist length hair and Uranus's platinum blonde hair in the manga! (I'm running low on ultramarine and grass green on my Prismacolor pencils because of HaruMichi!)
Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailor Moon characters in this story.
1995, Tokyo
The young aqua-haired girl took on the stage on a luxury cruise at Tokyo Bay. She played her violin beautifully, and mesmerized the audience with her techniques and beauty.
The virtuoso was hoping to grab the attention of a blonde, handsome teenager dressed in tuxedo sitting by the table. However, the young blonde was the only person in the audience who did not look interested in the playing, and walked out abruptly during the middle of her performance.
Later, the two met at the grand staircase where a painting called "The End of the World" was hung. The blonde teenager observed the painting with a heavy heart and seemed to be pondering upon something. The aqua-haired girl was sitting on the stairs, waiting to hear what the blonde had to say about her painting.
"Did you paint this?" The handsome teenager asked.
"You're famous, aren't you? You had lot of fans in school. One of them wants to ride along the coastline with you." The aqua-haired girl responded.
"The end of the world. I'm surprised that a well-to-do girl who can't even kill a bug can paint such a tragic fantasy."
"It's not a fantasy. I can see it clearly! Just like you can."
"Ridiculous. I am Tenoh Haruka, the first junior racer in Japan. Memories of my previous life or the end of the world have nothing to do with me. If someone has to do it, then you can do it." Haruka said, then raising her voice. "And I don't want you snooping around me anymore!"
963, Moon Kingdom
Princess Uranus and Princess Neptune were born on the same year. As a celebration of the birth of two princesses in the outer solar system, Queen Serenity gifted Miranda Castle to Princess Uranus, and Triton Castle to Princess Neptune. Each castle levitated and revolved around its respective planet and served as a citadel to protect the planet and its people. The two baby princesses would be raised and nurtured in their respective castles, and eventually become senshi and guardians of their home planets.
Queen Serenity also arranged that the two princesses be partners - they would work together as a team to protect and defend each other's planet as their own. Princess Uranus would be given a Space Sword and Prince Neptune would receive a Deep Aqua Mirror when they both turned twelve years old. The Queen did not elaborate on her master plan, but indicated that through their collaboration, their talismans would complement each other and guide them through building the partnership.
975, Triton Castle, Neptune
Beautiful sound of violin music echoed throughout the palace.
Smiles and nods were seen on the face of the old violin master and a middle age lady.
The twelve year old aqua-haired girl had her eyes closed, violin and bow in her hands, and chin rested on the instrument. She skillfully drew the bow across the strings, moving her wrist back and forth rhythmically for elegant vibratos. She was already playing technically demanding masterpieces from the great composers of her planet. It was almost hard to believe that such masterful sounds were produced by someone at this tender age.
"Excellent as always, Your Highness," The violin master complimented. "That's it for today. I'll see you again in a few days."
"Thank you." The young aqua-haired girl bowed gracefully.
The violin master soon left the grand room, leaving the young and middle age ladies there. The young one was Princess Neptune, and the older lady was Lady Despina. The two were ready to discuss their travel to Uranus next month. This would be Princess Neptune's first time visiting her neighboring planet for a formal introduction to her future senshi partner.
"Your Highness, that was a lovely performance," Lady Despina said, "We can't wait to watch you perform at Miranda Castle next month."
"Thank you, but I haven't performed to anyone outside of Neptune. I don't know if they'll like Neptunian music-"
"I'm sure this is not what you're worrying about."
Lady Despina, who took a pivotal role in raising and nurturing Neptune since her parents' death, was a motherly figure to the young princess. She gently placed her hand on the tweenager's and smiled.
Neptune's cheek felt warm.
"You're right," Neptune answered, looking down on the creamy marble floor. "I have never met her. I am nervous."
"Remember, Queen Serenity is always right. Her Majesty had plans for you and Princess Uranus. You just have to trust her."
"What is Princess Uranus like?"
"I do not know. But you'll find out on your own. This is how you will form your partnership." Lady Despina explained.
"I know. I just hope that she wants to work with me."
"I know you'll try your best to make this partnership work." The lady smiled. "Your Highness, I know I mentioned it many times already, but please remember to try to keep your Mirror out of sight from anyone until you meet Princess Uranus. Queen Serenity said that the mystic power is kept inside the talisman, and only Princess Uranus can unleash its power to its full extent with her Sword-"
"And before then I can only use it when it's absolutely necessary, like if my life is in danger. I understand." The young princess finished her sentence.
Lady Despina smiled and nodded approvingly.
Titania Arsenal, Uranus
Sound of fighting was heard outside the arsenal.
A young child, dressed in loose white linen tunic and a marine blue belt, wearing no armor, was battling an adult in a sword duel. The man looked like an experienced warrior, wearing a suit of light silver armor. He was fast and strong, but he seemed to be having a hard time prevailing over the agile and crafty child in a simple sword fight.
"Don't hold back!" The young child commanded.
"Your Highness," The man panted, "I don't dare to do that!"
As he lunged forward with his sword, the young child dodged briskly, tackled the man over and pointed her sword at the man chest, its tip touching his armor.
"I got this round." Princess Uranus said and smiled. "General, three to one. I'm leading. Six more rounds to go."
"Your Highness, you have won." The general said.
"Not yet. We agreed to ten rounds," Uranus said. "How about I get you a better sword."
The Princess turned away and started making her way inside the arsenal.
"Princess! Please wait!" A voice was heard from afar.
Uranus turned her face towards the source of the voice and saw the butler of her palace running towards her.
"Your Highness," The butler said as he approached her, panting. "Our visitors from Neptune are here. Could you please come back to the castle with me and get prepared?"
"Not yet. I have six more rounds to go," Princess Uranus said with a wink. "Plus, this is much more fun than playing dolls with another princess."
The butler's face turned pale.
Miranda Castle, Uranus
Royal staffs in the palace greeted Princess Neptune and her travel companions as they arrived.
"I sincerely apologize for the absence of Princess Uranus. She has been training at the arsenal since this morning. Our butler has gone out to bring her back here." The royal ambassador said. "I will help you to get settled and show you around. Please make yourself comfortable here."
Neptune smile gracefully.
"I can't wait to meet Princess Uranus."
Neptune settled herself in the guest chamber and changed into a more casual outfit. She then asked the royal ambassador to take her to the garden so that she could do some sketches.
The ambassador led her to the Garden.
"Here we are. This is Rosalind Garden. Please enjoy yourself and let me know if you need anything else."
"Thank you."
Neptune glanced around the beautiful scene. The garden was situated on the elevated level of Miranda castle, and was quite different than her Thalassa Garden in Triton Castle. It was a little breezy and chilly, and flowers of blue, ivory, and golden colors could be seen everywhere. The scent was fresh and airy. It was nonetheless a grandiose and serene scene.
She took out her sketchbook and started capturing the scenery of her surroundings.
After a few sketches, Neptune held up her sketchbook to take a look at her sketching from different angles. Suddenly, the wind picked up and blew her graphite pencil away. She quickly set her sketchbook on the bench and ran after her pencil. The wind was so strong that her waist length aqua hair got in the way, obstructing her vision and she lost track of where it went. She quickly twisted her hair into a bun and tried to follow her way to the lost pencil.
The aqua-haired young lady made it to a small garden bridge. She thought that the pencil must have been lost at that point, since there was no way it could have traveled across the bridge. When she decided to give up her search, a transparent portal suddenly appeared in front of her on the bridge. It startled her. It was pellucid, and almost invisible had she not observe meticulously. She immediately looked around at her surroundings - the bridge, along with the rest of the garden still looked the same. The portal continued to open and glowed subtly at its rim as if it were inviting her inside. Neptune looked again and saw the same garden through the portal. Out of curiosity, she stepped forward and walked through it, and afterwards the portal vanished behind her.
Everything seemed to return to normal. Standing on the same bridge and in the same garden, Neptune wondered what she had seen before. It was no big deal, she thought. The young princess progressed along to the other side of the bridge. But as she continued to walk, the wind became harsher, trees and flowers around her started disappearing, and the pavement under her feet gradually morphed from limestone into sand.
Soon Neptune realized that she was standing on a sandy beach. Ocean waves were heard from her ears and there was a sea not far away from her sight. It was an unbelievable transformation and she did not expect that a serene garden could turn into an opulent view of the sea within steps. The sound of waves was clearly audible as the strong wind was driving the water bodies. Whitecaps were visible on the sea surface. The young lady proceeded closer to the water for a glimpse of the scene.
She stood there for a while, dazzled by the view and the sound. But a sudden strong wind blowing past her gave her a second thought about the indulging sound and the dreamy view. Even though she was in Miranda Castle, she couldn't let her guard down completely.
She grew a bit wary and decided that it was best to go back and be prepared to meet Princess Uranus.
As she turned away, she realized that the garden was no longer within her sight. There was nothing but sand and the sea in her panoramic view and there was not a single tree or flower nearby. She looked down for her trail of footprints in the sand but it was wiped out and resurfaced by the strong wind. Feeling a little uncomfortable, she tried to make her way back by walking away from the sea, hoping that she would get back to where the bridge was.
After a bit of walking, Neptune was pretty sure that she had taken more footsteps away from the sea than she had towards it, and yet the garden was still nowhere to be seen. Feeling nervous that she might have been lost, she started to take off and run towards where she came from.
"Stop right there!" Neptune heard someone yelling at her.
She halted her footsteps and turned around. She saw someone running towards her, with a sword in hand, pointing at her direction. That person stopped just a few steps away from her.
Neptune looked carefully. The young person appeared to be about the same age as her, a little taller, with short, blonde hair, and dressed in a loose white linen tunic. She couldn't tell if it was a girl or a boy. Based on the deeper voice, she guessed that it was a boy. The young person seemed surprised and perturbed by her presence there.
"Who are you? How did you get here?" The blonde inquired.
"Where am I?" Neptune asked.
"Answer my questions!"
Not knowing who the person was, Neptune did not want to reveal her true identity. Perhaps he was a Uranian, but there could be a chance that it was an enemy pretending to be a Uranian and setting up a trap to capture her. After witnessing her parents' tragic passing, she learned to protect herself in any way she could and not to trust anyone easily. She wanted to get out of there without a confrontation or a fight, and return to the palace soon.
"I'm not an enemy."
"Then who are you?" The blonde persisted.
"Trust me, I'm not-"
"Perhaps I should find out with my sword then." He interrupted and stepped closer. The sword was now closer to Neptune's chest.
Neptune remained calmed but she was ready to fight if necessary. She was hoping to calm down the person in front of her so that she could figure out how to get out of there.
"Fine. I'm a visitor, from Neptune," Neptune answered.
The blonde hesitated a little.
"Are you Princess Neptune?" He asked.
"No," Neptune replied quickly, hoping that the prompt response would remove that doubt.
With head tilted slightly, the young blonde was still waiting for a more elaborated answer.
"I'm the bodyguard of Princess Neptune," Neptune made up an answer.
"What are you doing here?"
"I don't how I got here. I was in Rosalind Garden and…and a portal appeared on the bridge and I walked past it."
"Did you know this is a forbidden territory in Uranus?" The blonde asked with a raised voice.
"Had I knew this I wouldn't have stepped through that portal. Now can you show me the way back to the garden, please?" Neptune was getting a little impatient.
"Humph, let's make a deal then," He said. "Since you're a bodyguard, you should have great combat skill. If you can beat me, I'll lead you the way back there."
"But-"
Before Neptune could say another word, the blonde began to charge at her.
Neptune was not prepared for this. She did not expect to fight a random Uranian, or an unknown person or even an enemy during her visit. Plus she wasn't really a bodyguard and practically had no melee combat skill. Her only power came from her senshi training at Sao Arcane Sanctum and her Deep Aqua Mirror. She was pretty sure that her Mirror could fend off the attack but she could not use it until she exhausted all her options.
The tweenager was brisk and powerful with the sword and exercised his combat skill masterfully. All Neptune could do was to dodge the attacks while trying to figure out how to stop this unnecessary confrontation.
"Please stop! I didn't come here to fight!" Neptune yelled.
The aqua-haired princess could barely hold off the attack. She was sidestepping and eluding in order to avoid being struck by the sword. Surprisingly, her Deep Aqua Mirror hidden under her clothes seemed to be guiding her subtly by accurately predicting the moves of her opponent. The fact she could dodge all of the strikes successfully surprised her. However, it seemed to impress her opponent as well.
"You're pretty good, huh?" The blonde said, catching a breath. "No one was able to hold off my sword for this long."
The tweenager decided to maneuver his sword with more advanced moves. Neptune startled. She continued to take the defensive side and tried her best not to launch an attack.
Suddenly, the wind picked up and sent a strong tailwind towards Neptune as she tried to take a step back to dodge another strike. The wind force was too strong and created almost like a wall behind her, preventing her movement. There was nothing she could have done but to watch the blonde and his sword lunging forcefully at her.
Luckily, he stopped just in time, and the sword came to a halt right at her chest, without inflicting an injury. The two tweenagers stood froze as it happened.
Neptune fell down onto the sand when the wind slowed down and her body still responded to her command to move backward. She panted heavily, realizing that she was almost seriously harmed.
"Ha! I won!" The blonde proclaimed, lowering the sword. He smiled, held out a hand for Neptune to help her get back up on her feet. "Look at how tense you are. You really thought I was going to hurt you?"
"Fine, you won. Now can you lead me back to the garden?" Neptune said as she got up.
"But you didn't win," The tweenager said with his eyebrows raised. He skillfully slipped the sword back into the scabbard suspended from the marine blue belt. With arms crossed, he let out a cheeky grin and said, "Looks like there's no good fighter on Neptune. Your princess must not stand a chance facing enemies."
Furious at the derogatory remarks, Neptune held out her hand to hurl an air wave towards the blonde and sent him down onto the sand. As the tweenager fell, she immediately dove forward and pulled out his sword from the scabbard, and pointed the weapon towards him, the same way as he did to her before.
"My princess or I can take your princess down on any given day!" Neptune cried.
The blonde was shocked by the powerful wave, but more amazed by how strong and brisk the aqua-haired girl was. But something also didn't seem right.
"How can a bodyguard have such power-" He wondered.
"I'm done playing with you. Now get me out of here!" Neptune interrupted the young blonde.
The tweenager looked at the sword pointing at his chest, and then smiled wickedly at Neptune.
"What if I don't help you? Are you going to hurt me?" The tweenager inquired.
Feeling helpless, Neptune lost her calmness.
"What is this place?! Who are you?! If it's forbidden then why are you here?" Neptune questioned.
"I asked you questions first. I'm not answering yours until you answer mine," The blonde remained calm with a smile on his face.
"I'll tell you what I'm going to do." Neptune said. She tapped the tip of the sword on her opponent's shoulder, "I will hurt you if I have to."
"Humph. What will your princess say if she knows that you hurt a Uranian?" The blonde negotiated calmly. He seemed to know that Princess Neptune was destined to protect Uranian as Neptunian.
"Well, I'm a bodyguard. My job is to protect my princess. I have no interest in the wellbeing of Uranian," Neptune made up an answer again.
The young blonde burst into laughter.
"Why are you laughing?" Neptune demanded.
No response coming from the young blonde except more laughter. Neptune was angry and frustrated at this point. She really needed to return to the castle soon. Bluffing or not, the laughter was pushing her over the edge. She shoved the sword further, and the tweenager was shocked by her action. He did not anticipate an attack coming from her. His white linen immediately started to dye in red.
"Aww!" The young blonde cried.
"Oh no! I-I'm so sorry!" Neptune exclaimed as she realized her own action. She dropped the sword immediately and crawled closer to him. "I…I didn't mean to-"
"It's…it's okay," he said, wincing from the pain.
"No, let me see," Neptune said nervously and examined the fresh wound on his shoulder. She could have healed this minor cut with her Mirror, but she couldn't take out her talisman for this purpose as she had to keep her promise. This poor child in front of her just had to heal with time.
"Let me help you." The young princess grabbed a handkerchief from her pocket to help stop the bleeding and cleaning up the wound. Luckily it wasn't a deep cut.
"This is Princess Uranus's retreat, the Oberon," the blonde said as Neptune was taking care of his wound. "No one is supposed to come here uninvited."
"I apologize. I shouldn't have come in here and caused a scene," Neptune said as she felt guilty for her actions.
"No, it was my fault too. I was bluffing and fooling you the whole time." The young blonde said.
Neptune looked at the tweenager, and then a knowing smile appeared on her face.
"So we'll just call it even then?"
"Deal. I won't tell my Princess," the tween smiled.
Neptune smiled. As she continued to care for the injury, she could tell that the blonde had his marine blue eyes gazing at her visage.
"What are you looking at?" Neptune asked, briefly looking over.
"I am thinking, you must have been mistaken for Princess Neptune before."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because you do look like a princess," he said.
Neptune grew quiet, hoping that it was an innocent comment and her identity was not revealed. She needed to come up with something more believable in case she ran into him again later.
"Well, Princess Neptune could use a doppelgänger, right? Her bodyguard would be the best person for the job." She answered.
The only response that came from the young blonde was his admiring eyes.
"Well, have you seen Princess Uranus?"
The blonde stayed quiet.
"Hmm?"
"I seldom do," he answered, "I guard the retreat, and Princess doesn't come here often."
"So who are you?" She asked.
"I..I'm the son of the commandant-general. Haruka is my name. What about you?"
"I'm Princess Neptune's bodyguard. I've told you already."
"I know that. What about your name?"
Neptune looked away briefly, hesitating.
"Michiru," she made up an answer again.
"Nice to meet you Michiru," the young blonde said with a genuine smile.
"I'm not sure if it's that nice after you held me at sword point, and I injured you," Neptune chuckled.
To be continued.
What do you think? I'd greatly appreciate your review!
Note: Like Miranda and Triton castles which were named after the moons of Uranus and Neptune, the names of the building/structures and some other characters in this story were also adapted from the names of other moons of their respective planets.