Gravitation: A Bishoujou Senshi Sailor Moon Fanfiction

Chapter Two: Predilection

"Father, I don't necessarily see the point in challenging Freya for the rank of Taicho. Fukutaicho is perfectly fine with-" The statement, made by Rei moments before departing for the Moon for their meeting with Selenity, had earned her a backhand across the face that would have sent a non-martian woman spiralling back several feet, instead of simply forcing a stagger.

The results of several centuries worth of intense battle training that all martian citizens had to go through and the fact that such punishment from her father was absolutly normal.

"No child of mine will ever be satisfied with second place! You will contest Selenity's ruling or you will face the dire consequences that we give traitors to our kingdom. Don't think the punishments for you will be any less severe than the common spy simply because you are royalty by birth. You must uphold the title by your actions or face a treatment worse that death!!"

It was that little speech alone that had convinced Rei that she had to speak up in the meeting. She knew her father wasn't bluffing and the notion that saying she didn't care one way or another again would get her disowned.

She hadn't always been the oldest child in the Martian royal family after all...

So for the week leading up to the journey to earth, while she was keep under constant watch by the Lunar Monarchy's elite guard, she was able to convince a few of them to spar with her.

After the first few days, however, it was clear that it was a bad idea as she had killed three of them and sent the rest home nursing potentially life-threatening wounds.

From then on guards from Mars' elite squads had been called in and were at least then able to get away with only broken bones.

Maybe not so contrary to popular beliefe, Mars was a planet made up of warriors.

While their were other planets like that, Mars was by far the most proficient in raising harded,hardy, battle-ready killing machines.

Whereas Jupiter trained it's warriors to practice stealth and efficiency over brute strength and military force and Uranus trained it's citizens to value the power that lay within the body with delecate movements instead of in the sword or at the end of an axe and whereas both planets made it's military training optional to both men and women, Mars required years of service in it's army for both genders from the age of seven until death. They were taught the basics of every form of combat known to martian kind and were drilled in it constantly, excelling in their chosen field.

Ares, before he had been crowned King and thus taken off active duty had specialized in overpowering the enemy by the sheer mass of his body and the power stored within it. He stood at over seven foot tall and weighed at least three hundred pounds of pure muscle. He was the ideal soldier to be produced by the Martian Kingdom and he never let his daughter forget it.

Rei, being significantly slighter than her father and taking after her mother, who had actually been the sister of Queen Selenity and therefore of the Lunar race, was more natually skilled in magical undertakings than in those of battle. Given that fact, her father had taken a particular interest in ensuring that the balance between Rei's gifts proformed a complete 180 degree turn.

She was required to do every form of excersise conceivable upon waking up at 4:30 a.m. until breakfast at 7 a.m. at 8 she was required to go through two hours of private tutoring on general academics. From ten until eleven p.m. she was drilled in swordsmanship, hand-to-hand combat, battle tactics, martial arts, general fitness, archery, and destructive sorcery in two hour rotating intervals with half hour breaks for lunch and dinner at 2 and then 6. At ten she was required to be in bed, leaving her four hours of every day to herself, which she was been convinced was better spent on independent training rather than doing frivolous things like read or socialize.

It was how her three brothers before her had been raised as well, though they had all left for greener planets by the time she had reached the age of six when it was determined that she would be crowned the heir to Mars' throne and when her father had finally taken notice of her existance. He hadn't been very thrilled when his fourth child had been born a female and had been rumored to have attempted to strangle her in her bassinet days after she had been born.

Rei knew it wasn't wise to second guess her father and therefore did not do it often. She preferred to be his pretty little killing machine and avoid getting strangled in her queen sized bed.

She also knew, however, that no matter how many ways she could kill a man using her left ear, that she didn't stand a chance in actually defeating Minako for the position of General of the Inner Senshi.

Minako possed the talent for leadership that had been bred out of her by her father's constant leaning. She possesed the strength of will needed to be able to die for a cause or person that she believed in. She possesed the self-confidence and self-assurence to know that her decisions were the right ones and that she had the skills needed to carry them out.

Maybe most importantly in Rei's eyes, Minako possesed the ability to balance her life in accordance to what she truly wanted and not what was required of her.

She'd gone through rigourous training in order to become a senshi and to gain Selenity's confidence, without doubt, but she also managed to weave rediculous flower garlands in the middle of a meeting that questioned a major part of who she was and just how capable that part was of existing.

Being the Senshi of Venus was not all that Minako was.

She was a flirt, a party-girl, a ditz, an empath, and an independent spirit.

There was nothing that Minako could be told to do without given a justifiable reason why she should do it and even then she spent hours in intense deliberation as to whether she should do it or not.

She truly followed her own beat and it was that quality, that not even the High Queen of the Silver Millenium could quelsh, that made Rei think that Minako was actually the perfect person to lead the Solar System's senshi army.

So despite what her father said and what his opinions on the matter were, Rei vowed to herself that while she would put up a valiant effort into beating Minako in the Trials (and not incurring her father's wrath in the process) and if she didn't...

Well...Let's just say that she didn't even want to think about what would happen if she lost...


"Are you certain that you want to go through with this? The initial selection had nothing to do with how the senshi matched up against each other but only on the qualities that Selenity saw while she observed all of us."

"I know, I have a feeling though, that Bellona, for some reason, is almost desperate to beat me in this." Minako remarked with a curious tilt of her head following her question

"Her father will probably feed her to wild hogs if she doesn't."

Minako, utterly confused by that last comment took a moment to reflect on her tea partners.

Sitting on her left was the Crown Princess of Mercury while on her right was the Crown Princess of Jupiter. She'd had a close relationship with both princesses since they were in diapers, due to the fact that their parents were close friends.

In fact, she was friends with the princesses of all the inner planets except for that of Mars, likely due to the animosity that was rampant between it's rulers.

It was a sad state of affairs, she reflected, that someone like Rei, whom she could feel was a better person that the ruthless machine that her father had raised her to be, had to be so isolated on any given occasion.

Here she Ami and Makoto were, having tea in the Lunar Palace Gardens while Rei was off training. At every function that went on that involved more than one planet Minako would always notice or would hear about how the Princess of Mars was so well behaved and stood rigedly at her father's side, bowing and smiling when necessary and only occasionally talking to her cousin, Usagi. While the Outer Court Senshi stuck to themselves and most of the Inner Court did as well, Rei was always the odd girl out.

More of her father's brainwashing to be sure...

"...I think...I'm going to throw the trials..." Minako said, in between sips of earl grey.

"..." Was the general consensus of the other two occupants at the table.

"I just think that Rei wants it more than I do. Sure I may who Selenity thinks is the most capable but I just don't think it means as much to me as it does to her. She deserves it more."

"...Are you outside of your damned mind?!" Makoto shouted, slamming her fist down on the table, upseting the three cups of tea. "What makes you think someone like that could efficiantly lead the most powerful army in the Solar System let alone the universe?! You'd actually entrust the saftey of the Princess to someone like her?!"

"While I'm not as vehemently against it as Makoto seems to be, I do agree that Bellona is not a wise choice to lead the Senshi. She doesn't posses nearly as many of the key qualities that are needed for a Taicho as you do. She may,in fact, be one of the worst options based on the influence that her father holds over her. What would happen if Ares arbitrarily decided that he didn't like the way Selenity-sama was doing things and attempted to influence his daughter to order the rest of us to attack? Theres no way you can hand over control to one so easily controlled." Ami offered, moping up the tea with a handkerchief she pulled from hammerspace.

"I think you guys underestimate her more than a little. She really couldn't be as bad as you seem to think."

"Have you ever talked to the girl, Mina?" Makoto questioned. calmingly slightly and steeling herself to talk to a third-grader

"Well...Not as of yet, she didn't seem to want to talk after the hearing..."

"And at any of the functions we see her at where is she? No further than two feet away from her father unless it's to take a piss, in which case he stands outside the door."

"So he's just overprotective alot of fathers are-"

"No, Mina. You can't do this. We won't let you. If it comes down to it, Ami and I will drug you and take your place somehow but you cannot forfeit to her."

Slightly terrified at the prospect of being drugged (As mercurians also had a knack for poisons as well as medicines), Minako decided it was probably more in her best interest to listen to her friends' advice and promise that she would fight her hardest to hold on to her title.

Though there was no reason that her hardest didn't have to purposly give Rei the edge over her did it?


A/N: I think I went a little OOC on some characters but the chapter just sort of flowed this way. I know Rei is very unlikely to be subservient to anyone, lest of all a man, but lets remember the time period and the fact that the senshi from the current era are different people for the most part than they were in the silver millenium. Take Usagi for example, She's so different than Selena-hime that the majority of the characters refused to believe they were the same person. Same goes for everyone else. Rei is still Rei essentially though and that will come out farther along in the fic but for now she basically cowtows to her father. Minako is just...well, Minako I guess... Predilection is also a Gravitation song and I don't own it or BSSM.

Notes on the titles in Chapter Two

His Royal Majesty the King of Jupiter, Zeus- King of the Planet of Jupiter and Makoto's father. I felt I should include Hermes and Zeus in here because I was probably not gonna get another chance. Given name is Arashi which means Storm and obviously fits pretty nicely.

His Royal Majesty the King of Mercury, Hermes-King of the Planet Mercury and Ami's father, Given name is Hakuran which can mean Wide Knowledge. Appropos given that Mercury is the planet of Knowledge.

Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Jupiter, Aello-Aello is one of the Harpies who are winged demons of tornado's in Greek Mythology. I thought about naming her after the Harpies' mother but Elektra just seemed too predictable. Aello means the Stormy One which I though to be pretty well fitted if for nothing else but the meaning. Given name is obviously Makoto.

Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Mercury, Minerva- Minerva is the Roman equivelent to the Goddess Athena who the goddess of knowledge, wisdom and justifiable war. Given that I think it's pretty obvious why I picked her. Given name is obviously Ami.