Cats And Rabbits
I don't own Sailor Moon, or any of the characters, and all that fun stuff.
Two:
Darien was sitting in his study, dressed comfortably for the first time that day. He was puzzling through his schedule for the next day, trying to work out how he would manage to escape the festivities long enough to keep himself fit. Waking up early, though it was something he had never had to do, seemed like the best option. All of the ladies would be sleeping fashionable late in order to have to appropriate amount of beauty sleep, but the practice fields would be crowded with all of their retainers.
With a sigh he flipped over another picture.
His mother had decided to supply him with every young ladies picture, and a description of all of her assets. So, now even the time that he didn't spend with the eligible ladies of the solar system was spent with them around.
The woman who looked back at him hair long black hair and intense brown eyes, she was dressed in red and wore a golden tiara that was studded with diamonds. The Princess of Mars.
He had met her earlier in the day, and was afraid that he didn't want to repeat the encounter. The Martian Princess was forward and abrasive, but still lacked the ability to comprehend more than basic facts. Complex words were beyond her, and metaphors just seemed to overload her mental synapses. On the other hand, she recognized when she was being insulted and she had a dark beauty that drew Darien to her.
The Martian Princess had also expressed surprise upon learning that the Mare where going to be arriving. At least three of the nine planets believed the women of the Moon to be ugly as sin. While it was comforting to know that he wouldn't have to worry about being taken in by the enemy Darien was becoming ever more apprehensive. It seemed a bad omen that the Mare were the last to arrive when they had such a short distance to travel.
Tossing the picture aside, Darien took up the papers about the Princess of Mars. He propped his legs up on the large oak desk that was littered with papers, and leaned back in his leather chair.
His study was his favorite room in the massive palace. It was small, and private so he didn't have to worry about being disturbed by unwanted visitors. He had a collection of reference books and his favorite books set in the floor to ceiling book shelves in three of the walls, and the wall behind his desk was taken up completely with a large bay window. The heavy maroon drapes were always pulled back so that he could marvel at the view. Aside from the oak desk and leather chair that the prince was currently occupying there were a few more chairs and small tables in the room.
He loved this room. Plus it had so many concealed exits that he could slip off anywhere he desired without being detected.
Darien turned back to reading about Princess of Mars, Princess Ares Tyr Hino of Mars. It was ironic that with so many names he would still call her "Princess" or if he needed to be specific "Princess Mars."
The door flew open with a crash, startling the prince from his musings.
Andrew stumbled into the room, breathing hard, as though he had just won a sprint. He collapsed into one of the chairs. "Why this room?" He panted.
Darien blinked. "I like this room." He paused to scrutinize his blonde friend, "You know you are no athlete, Andrew. Why don't you leave delivering messages to the messengers, they may not find me with your speed but they will still give me the message faster."
Andrew glared at Darien. "This is the thanks I get!" He huffed.
The dark prince gave his friend a measured look, waiting not so patiently for what ever news Andrew had deigned important enough to disturb him. He tried to repress the smile that was tugging at the corners of his mouth, the news could be anything. Perhaps a Princess spoke a word to him. "Move" was Darien's best bet for that.
"The Mare are here!"
Darien was on his feet in an instant. "Where?"
"Its too late now, your majesty." Andrew said mockingly. "If you'd been in your room like any normal person is at this time of night you would have been able to see them. Hell, I would have been able to see them."
"Oh." Darien sat down heavily. "What time is it?" He queried.
"Only one in the morning."
"Seriously?"
Andrew nodded, confused by his friend's surprise. Everyone in the palace knew that the Prince was a night cat; he had been up all night a couple of times only to sleep through lunch, to his parent's dismay.
It struck Darien that no one would be practicing at this hour, he could get in a few hours of sword practice and then go to sleep until he was aroused to make an appearance at Lunch.
"I'm going to go get some practice in, Drew. I'll talk to you later."
Darien left his friend staring after him with confusion in his blue eyes. After a moment he shook his head and yawned. "Weirdo." Andrew murmured. "Doesn't understand the appeal of a good nights sleep."
Darien changed into a light linen set of exercise pants, they moved around his legs a little as he walked, and showed off his muscular legs. For a shirt the Prince had grabbed a linen tunic with silver trim, he didn't really care about the shirt since he planned to abandon it while he practiced. In one hand he carried his sword, in the other his bow, and strapped across his back was a quiver full of arrows.
He approached the courts smiling, the light of the full moon would give him plenty of light to shoot by... And he really didn't need much light to do pattern dances with his sword.
He strung his bow as he walked, when he looked up he stopped dead.
He was confronted with what must have been a goddess. A woman with long pale hair that fell in graceful waves to her calves stood on the archery field. She was dressed in a long white tunic that was belted at her waist and a pair of white pants. The tunic reached her knees but had slits in the side up to her hips; and the whole outfit was made of a fine flowing material that threw every perfect curve of her body into stark relief. She stood there with an impossibly large bow raised before her.
All of the color in the scene was washed out by the light of the moon, so the woman seemed to be a creature of light. She was glowing.
She knocked an arrow, drew back the string, paused, and the arrow fly.
Darien was rooted to the spot, it was all he could do to remember to breathe in and out when his eyes were filled with such beauty. Was she human or a Goddess sent to guard the earth? Had he been missing this sight all of his life?
He stood rooted to the spot, watching the Goddess for the better part of an hour. Every time she knocked a bow he loved her grace, when she pulled the string back to her ear he marveled at her strength, when she released the string and set an arrow flying he blessed her skill.
And then she unstrung the bow.
He felt devastated, she was going to leave. What if she was one of those pixies who only appeared once every fifty-third full moon when the wind was right and the planets were aligned just so? He would never see her again, he knew it.
She reached her hands back and began to bind up her hair.
The spell was broken; Darien could move. He walked over to the target to find twenty arrows nestled into the center. He tried to pull them out, but they resisted. The harder he pulled the more the arrows resisted.
"You have to cut them."
Darien spun around, startled that the Goddess had spoken to him. Her voice was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard. It was pure and ringing, like wind chimes coming together to form words.
She stepped forward, crossing the grass between them so gracefully that Darien would have been surprised if she touched the ground at all. "You have to cut them. I used barbed arrows, they wont come out unless out cut them." A knife appeared in her hand.
Darien smiled dumbly at the woman; he would have counted himself to be lucky if she decided to stab him through the heart.
She looked at him strangely, obviously unsure what to make of this man in front of her. "I will cut them out, if you move your hand." She rested one hand on his, and gently moved it away from the arrows.
As soon as her hand left his skin he missed the warmth and the soft, though calloused touch of her hand.
She worked the broken arrows out the back of the target, "See." She said as she held one up in the moonlight.
The barbed tip was sharp and dangerous, sent flying from a long bow Darien would not have been surprised if it could pierce his heavy plated war armor. In any out light he would have been frightened by the implications, but with the moonlight reflecting softly off of the metal tip it looked beautiful.
She was speaking again, Darien was mesmerized by her perfect lips as they moved to form words.
"You can put poison or acid in it so that it will release once the barb tears through, but I always thought that was a bit excessive." A pause, and again her eyes got that strange look as though she wasn't certain what to make of the man in front of her. "I mean... If you are a good enough shot the target should be dead before the acid has time to release."
She bent over to gather up the pieces of the arrows, and walked back to where she had left her bow and quiver.
Darien followed, there were so many words in his head that were competing to escape. He felt like his mind was a bee hive, or a sinking boat where everyone was trying so hard to escape that nothing did. He was just waiting to drown.
"You are amazing."
She straightened with a kind smile on her face; Darien was immediately gratified that something good had escaped if he could spend his life making her smile it would be enough. "Thank you."
"I have never seen anyone shoot a bow that large before, its so shocking."
Again the smile. "You should see it on horse back; that is really amazing." She paused and extended her hand to him. It took Darien a moment to realize that she wanted him to shake it, not bow over it like a courtier. "I'm Bunny."
"Darien."
"A pleasure."
Thanks for the reveiws. Also, thanks to srsmoon for letting me know that I had anonymous reviews disabled. I've remedied the issue, so now anyone can reveiw. -LS
