Yongo

Serenity and Endymion

Chapter 7: The Princess or the Pig

- - -

Last Time...

A moment later, he looked like he had composed himself. His face took on an apologetic look, "Princess, I'm sorry," growl, "it seems the food still doesn't agree with me." He too took a step back not wanting to do something to embarrass himself again. Serenity stopped him.

"Serena, please," she corrected him, "and it's ok." She boldly grabbed his right hand, "I will ask the chief to prepare some special Earth recipes for you, maybe that will help."

Endymion's heart skipped a beat. He took another step back and offered her a faint smile. Serena looked embarrassed and quickly retracted her hand. Endymion realized what he had just done, but it was too late. The princess had muttered a quick farewell and briskly walked away the flower she had placed in her hair slowly loosening and falling out as she walked away. 'Idiot!' He belittled himself, "why did I do that!" He muttered a profanity under his breath. 'She thinks I rejected her hand." He looked at his right hand and paused, he could still feel her soft and delicate fingers leaving his hand.

Now...

- - -

Back in his room, Endymion was pacing and reminiscing about his encounter with the Princess. He sighed and let himself drop on the bed with his back facing the ceiling and groaned. After a minute or so he pushed himself off the bed and began pacing again. He looked at the huge grandfather clock in the room, ''the guys are probably still with the princesses...'' he thought out loud. He looked around the room noticing the hand stitched drapes pushed to the side of the huge glass window, the faint designs on the wall making out figures dancing and laughing. He smiled, 'just like the moon people,' he thought to himself. While letting his mind trail back to the princess, there was a knock at the door. His heart jumped, 'could it be?'

Another knock hit the door.

"Who is it?" He inquired and quickly added, "Come in please." The door slowly opened and in came one of the palace's servants carting in a covered platter. "What's this?" He asked hoisting himself of the bed and looking at the food. Before he could reply, another person followed the servant. "Princess!"

Serena looked up and threw him a faint smile, which made his knees buckle. Luckily, he was still standing by the bed. "Princess," he repeated. "... Serena," he corrected, "what's all this about?" She made her way fully into the room and guided the servant to place the food cart next to a small table with two chairs in his room.

"Right here is fine. Thank you so much, you can return to the kitchen now, I'll take it from here." With those words, the servant bowed to Serena, gave a side glance to the prince and escorted herself out of the room with a smile. The princess turned to Endymion and answered his question by lifting the lid off the platter. "Here you go. I hope we got the recipes right. I made sure to taste each dish first before they gave it to you." It was Earth food.

The prince grinned at the princess. "Oh man, wow! Thank you so much... this is my favorite too!! How'd you know?!" The princess chuckled at his informality and approached him with her own.

"Well, d'uh, you're a prince. Who DOESN'T know the prince of Earth's favorite meals? All I had to do was ask the right people and voila!" She saw him eyeing the meal while chuckling at her candor and decided to let him eat in peace. She turned around to leave. Before she could take a step in the direction of the door, she felt his hands cup her's. She slightly turned first looking at her hand in his then at his face. He wore a pleading face and his forehead was furrowed. "W-what?" The girl stammered trying to keep her beating heart from jumping out her mouth.

"Won't you stay with me?" She blushed, and he realized he was still holding her hands. He slowly let go, feeling her fingers twitch in his direction as he did. He smiled sheepishly trying to ease the atmosphere. Turning his gaze to the food, "to eat." He looked at her again and her blue eyes were complimented by the reddish hue on her cheeks. "Won't you stay to eat with me?" He chuckled and shifted his weight. Not being able to keep looking into her eyes, he peered at the food again. "I can't eat all this by myself." Getting the courage to glance at her one more time he cleared his throat and admitted with a blush of his own, "I don't want to eat alone." His blush grew deeper, "so, please, stay." This time, she was the one to drop her gaze.

---

"Ooooh! Twy this one!! This one was we-we good!!" The young man seated on a chair across from the animated girl had a perplexed look on his face.

"But, Serena, you haven't tasted it yourself yet? How do you know it's good." Chuckling, he watched the girl reach for the food she had pointed at earlier as she shoved it in her mouth. "And slow down will you? It's wonder you haven't chocked on your food yet."

She disregarded his last remark closing her eyes and savoring the new taste that was now in her mouth. "Mmm~..." She sighed. Unbeknownst to her, the boy shifted in his seat. "Mmm~...!" Eyes still closed, the princess brought the napkin to her glossed lips as she swallowed what was in her mouth.

The prince watched her with flushed cheeks and in wonder, 'I've had that kind of chicken before, but never THAT kind of a reaction. Maybe...' His hand reached for a piece and plopped it into his mouth. 'No... tastes the same... She must be some kind of an epicurean or something... just, wow!"

"But I have. I told you earlier."

"Told me what?" He had forgotten the question he asked.

"I told you I made sure to taste the food before hand. To make sure it was appropriate for you."

"But Serena, I can barely remember tastes myself." He paused for a bit and considered what he just saw. "Just how much of a taste did you have?" The girl blinked. Then snickered, but did not reply. Not knowing what this meant Endymion pursued, "well?"

"I had the chef make double of each serving. So I," she laughed nervously looking at everything but the young man in front of her, "I had my own helping earlier." She waited for his reaction but the room was quiet. She finally made the decision to glance at him and noticed his face looked tight and constipated and he was shaking a little. 'Oh no! Did the food make him sick again?' She guessed. But before she could take action he burst out into laughter.

"Haha! I knew it! You ARE an Epicurean!!" At this point, he was holding his stomach and having a hard time breathing from all the laughter. He was still laughing very hard and his breathing turned into throaty inhales and wheezing.

At this, the princess threw her napkin on the table and with her weight pushed her chair away from the table. Her reaction was able to help get rid of his laughter. "You-!" Was all she able to say. With a face colored with red fury, she stormed out of the room before he had time to grasp what had happened and with a slam of the door, knocking one of the portraits off the wall, she was gone.

---

"What the fuck man? You and this girl!" Jadeite exclaimed. Kunzite shot him a dark look.

Flinging a fork at Jadeite he said, "What did I tell you about yelling obscenities?"

"Ouch, dude. What the hell? Really? A fork? What would the Queen say if she say if it-"

"Shut up." Nephlite voiced Kunzite's thought and turned to the prince. "You. While Jadeite's choice of language was incorrect the idea behind it remains the same. What IS it with you and this girl?"

"The Princess!" Endymion asserted more vocally than he had intended. Everyone in the room furrowed their eyebrows.

Zoisite spoke first. "Dare,… what was that just now?"

Trying hard to compose himself and cover whatever he just let lose, "what was what? Kunzite threw a fork at Jade."

"Really?" Kunzite smirked. "We're gonna fall for that right? Really? Darien. Really?"

"What do you take us for?" Jadeite chimed in, "Fools?" Nephlite smiled at the irony but let Jadeite continue. "We've been together all our lives and, you don't talk about girls like that."

"Like what?" Endymion question still trying to get a grasp on what had happened as well. 'Why HAD I reacted like that…'

"Sounding all 'protecting their honor' or whatever the hell kind of tone you just took." Zoisite finished.

"Pah! 'Protecting her honor?' Come on!" The prince protested. "Please." Nephlite eyes narrowed and he examined his friend. "What?" Endymion shifted against the wall he was leaning on. "Why the look?" He then noticed the rest of the three men eyeing him the same way. "Guys." Was all he was able to muster.

"You like her." Jadeite was the first to admit what the other generals all were about to say.

Before the prince could protest, Nephlite cut in, "You like the Moon Princess."

All Endymion could do was shake his head while trying to figure it out for himself as well, 'is that it? Is that what that was…?'

"Shaking your head won't let the feelings come out dude, it's too late. You LIKE her. We're right aren't we." Jadeite declared with a smile; it wasn't a question but a proclamation.

"No." Was all the prince said, not looking up. "That can't be right." At that, the room filled with scoffs and traveling chuckles. This time Kunzite spoke all the while eyeing the other generals while Endymion was blankly staring at the carpet in thought.

"Of course he doesn't." Endymion looked at his silver haired friend. "Of course he doesn't." He repeated still looking at the other generals. "He can't like her." At that, the other generals backed down, all of them sharing a similar look. Endymion noticed Kunzite's tone.

"What do you mean 'can't.'"

"Well," Kunzite chuckled, "I mean," he snickered, "LOOK at her. Loot at how she eats." He paused but the prince cut him off anyway.

"What's that supposed to mean Kunzite?" He had a dark glare about his eyes. "What's wrong with the way she eats?"

"Darien, I've seen pigs that have better table manners than her. It's a wonder she never has a lady in waiting with an extra outfit at hand at the dinner table." This time Kunzite laughed and looked at the other generals who joined in his laughter. This seemed to add fuel to a fire the dark haired prince did not know was brewing inside him.

He threw the other three a death glare as he said, "she is a princess. How dare you compare a princess to a pig."

"HA! Princess he says." Kunzite continued, "calling her a 'princess' would be implying she has any kind of finesse to her." He began to walk slowly towards the prince. Taunting him with every step. "She seems to be the one no amount of etiquette classes could fix, quite frankly." He paused and huffed. "Perhaps…" he eyed the prince and a new gleam hit his eyes, he continued his slow pace towards the prince who was now making his own advance. "Perhaps, enrolling her in the animal training classes would be of more use to the likes of her."

The other generals in the room tensed and eyed their prince. They braced themselves for what was pending.

"Take that back." Endymion managed to say through clenched teeth. "Kunzite. Take that back."

"Your highness," he responded with a slight bow accompanied by a swirly wave of his hand, "why should I?"

"She is the princess of one of our greatest allies. I will not have you speaking about her that way."

"Ahh, but, your highness. You and I both know you do not care about the politics of Earth and least of all the Moon."

"Regardless," he spat out, "she is a princess and should be spoken of as such general."

Kunzite tried to suppress a smile. "If I remember correctly, I seem to recall you referring to her as a… something or another. Am I wrong?" The prince paused, his face flashed with regret which soon returned to fury. Noticing this Kunzite finished with, "So you do remember."

"Kunzite." Whispered the prince clearly losing whatever control was over him. The other generals all wore weary faces, but were still ready to pounce at the right moment.

"Your highness," Kunzite began again, "you seem a bit… upset. Have I upset you? What does it matter what we say about her?" This time he did not hide his provoking smile, "After all, she's just a second rate, pig of a woman, 'princess.'" He executed his last word with a touch of venom.

At that the prince's inner animal overtook his senses and he made a leap for Kunzite. Kunzite did not move. He did not need to, before the Endymion's feet left the ground, the Jadeite, Nephlite and Zoisite were holding him. But, after all, this was the prince of Earth and even with three of the strongest men of earth holding him back, in his fury, he was still able to fight them off. The prince's current main source of strength, his fury, was also his greatest weakness and the other three were able to maneuver him into a submissive lock against the wall.

Kunzite filled the room with laughter, and then looked at the prince with soft warm eyes. The eyes of an apologetic friend. Kunzite walked to where the prince was pinned against and cupped his hand affectionately around Endymion's chin. "Darien." He smiled, his eyes gleaming, "you like her."

-

The room was quiet. The boy was still pinned against the wall, but as his body relaxed, so did friends' grip around him. His breathing was slowing and his eyes were looking into the silver ones of his closest friend. The friend who had always helped the prince find reason, the friend who had always given great advice, the friend who had never been wrong... Endymion furrowed his eyebrows. Shook himself free of their grasps and found his way to a near by loveseat.

"I…" he looked up at his friends, and a smile crept on his face. "I like her."