A/N: No they don't belong to me but I do very much love to play with them, we can all share the sailor moon sandbox :-)

Whiners Never Prosper

Endymion walked the halls of the palace as though a wild beast were at his heels, through the winding corridors ignoring everyone and everything in his path. Familiar faces and greetings were ignored and as he passed the only word heard in his wake was a mere whisper of "Usagi."

The knock on her door interrupted the letter she was in the process of writing, but when the familiar face of her hand maiden Lily entered her sights she gently laid he letter aside to address the young woman.

"Yes Lily?"

"Please excuse me your majesty but, your son is requesting an audience with you. I tried to tell him you were busy but he is not taking no for an answer."

"Ah yes, but that is Endymion's way is it not? Just like his father I am afraid. Tell him to come in and I will deal with him myself. Did he mention why it is he has come seeking my assistance? " she inquired.

"No my lady, but he was mumbling a name under his breath, I did not catch exactly what it was but it did sound foreign, he might be having problems with the visiting ladies in the palace again."

"I believe I know what he is after, send him in and please if you would be so kind as to bring me a cup of tea?"

"Of course my lady, I will return shortly." With that said Lily gave a small courtesy and left the room to let in the impatient Prince on the other side of the door.

Endymion appeared in the doorway not a moment later and anxiously greeted his mother.

"Hello mother, please excuse the interruption but I have a few questions that require some answers that it seems only you can supply me with." He rushed through as he took a seat on a low couch next to where she was seated behind her desk.

"And what might the nature of these questions be child? If this is about not choosing a bride or how specifically to get one woman to commit to such a thing those are matters better brought to your father's attention than my own."

"No mother, it has nothing to do with brides, well perhaps it does, but I can not even find the one woman who has seemed worthy of my intentions. She has caused me a great deal of trouble already and she only just arrived recently. I believe she is a friend of yours, or at least her mother is, Jadeite has informed me that she is currently at the palace paying you a visit."

"Oh you mean the Lady Usagi? She is indeed a friend of mine, her mother and I are very old acquaintances, back from before even you were born and your father took the throne. What exactly about her do you have questions of? She is a very sweet girl, I would not believe you if you dared claim she has done something offensive to you during her stay here, it is highly unlikely."

"No of course not, but that is the problem in the first place!" he was cut off immediately by is amused mother

"You mean you wish she would do something offensive to you then?"

"Yes! I mean no, she…"

"Well you seem very confused about this Endymion, perhaps you should rethink what exactly you want from this woman." His mother interrupts again.

Just then there is a slight wrap on the door and Lily enters with a kettle of tea and two teacups on a tray along with a cup of cream and a jar of sugar.

"Your tea my Lady."

"Thank you Lily."

She lays the tea down on a table near the couch currently occupied by one very irate Endymion and leaves with a simple "Good day" as a farewell.

"Perhaps a cup of tea will help to calm yourself down and clear your head." His mother chided as she poured a cup and added a spoon full of sugar before passing it to her son.

"Now Endymion, please continue, I do believe you were just about to wish ill manners on one of my personal friend's daughter and I am curious as to why a gentleman such as yourself would even suggest such an atrocious thing in my presence."

"I never accused her manners of being anything, mother! That is the problem." He whined

"Please do stop whining, it is very unbecoming of you dear." She teased

"If you have no problem with her manners then what precisely do you have an issue with?"

"She is a tease! A siren in the depths of the ocean, a nymph dancing in the forest to tempt me! Every time I have attempted to find her she has disappeared. She leaves her mark on my generals and my little brother after only a chance meeting yet I search the palace for nearly a day and only catch glimpses of her after she is already gone! She haunts my dreams and thoughts with her beauty but until a mere hour ago I did not even have a name to put to her face. She is already in my head and I have yet to be properly introduced to the woman!"

"It is hardly fair to accuse the woman of avoiding you intentionally or teasing you for that matter, she has only been here two days after all and the palace is very large. Perhaps you are trying too hard to catch her attention, I do not believe your generals were actively looking for her when they chanced upon her and I know for a fact your brother meeting her was quite accidental. It is all a matter of being in the right place at the right time; you just need to fix your timing dear."

"But can you not just set up a meeting with her for me? I refuse to just sit back and leave it to chance that I meet her before she returns to wherever it is she came from!" he was almost screaming at this point much to the delight of the queen.

"My son you need to calm down, I may be able to arrange a meeting for you but you must recall that I am not her mother as I am yours, I have no authority over where she goes or what she does and with whom she chooses to keep in her company. Lady Usagi is very different from any of the other woman here at the palace and she has a certain…charm about her that people are attracted to but she is not to be taken lightly." She was scolding him by this point but even after a rather wounded expression from Endymion she continued on to make sure her point got across properly.

"She does not tolerate being falsely accused as you have already done so and she is not quick to forgive when she is wrongly faulted, be wary of what you say to her or you may find yourself on the receiving end of one brutal tongue lashing. She may be a proper lady but if she is anything like her mother that will not stop her from defending herself from unwarranted accusations."

"I do not want to insult the woman I only wish to meet her and have my presence known to her!" he was getting angrier by the minute and his mother's words were doing nothing to sooth his emotions.

"Well I shall see what I can do to help but as you have found she is not the easiest of people to track down, I will let you know when I have found her if a formal introduction is necessary. I can assure you she is aware of your name already as both your father and I have mentioned you in passing but your unfortunate lack of presence upon such occasions means she does not yet associate the name with your face." She paused briefly a smile slowly creeping onto her face.

"I would even dare say that you seem to be the more elusive one as she has already made a formal appearance at breakfast this morning and did nothing to hide the fact that if I am not mistaken, is being accompanied by your generals for the remainder of the day. Perhaps you should find them and inquire about their plans for the lady as they are far easier to track down than the woman in question."

"Which generals exactly were to accompany her today?" he asked suspiciously

"As far as my knowledge all of them, but I believe it was Nephrite who had originally made the plans for the afternoon. He did not mention a picnic to you? I believe he had said he would." She replied offhandedly

"He did indeed, but he left out the part about who else would be attending the activity, though he did mention something about a bunny that I did not quite understand. I can not believe my own generals are plotting against me! Jadeite himself did not inform me of her presence when I questioned him before their departure and he knew I was looking for her!" he was all out screaming now and as much as it amused the queen she knew she had to but an end to it.

"Endymion you really do need to calm down, I am sure your generals have a perfectly good explanation for their actions, all you need to do find them. When you do so you will have your answers. Now may I please get back to my letter now or is there something else you wish to speak with me about?"

"Did they mention where this picnic would be held?" he asked dejectedly

"I heard mention of the hills beyond the western forest but I was not paying very close attention, it is rather rude to eavesdrop into other people's conversations you know."

"I know mother, thank you very much for your help." He gave a quick bow and turned to leave the room but was stopped in the doorway by his mother's cryptic voice reaching his ears once again.

"She is very special to me Endymion, like the daughter I never had. Please do not do anything rash when you finally do meet her. She is not like the common woman of these parts; she is so very fragile even though she may not appear it. Be careful with her my son because if what you seek of her is her heart, or her hand in marriage you may be in for far more than you ever imagined."

Endymion turned to catch his mother's eye but she had already given her full attention back to the unfinished letter on her desk. He left her presence with a quiet farewell and a whispered promise of respect of the Lady Usagi.

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In the hills Serenity's story had left the 4 generals feeling rather unsocial, having nothing said between them for several awkward minutes. It seemed the only ones unaffected by her tragic tale where the horse grazing in the shade of the nearby trees. Even young Darres had felt a sudden chill at her words of regret and an uncharacteristic calm took a hold of the boy. The silence continued for several more long minutes as the men looked to one another for answers as to what should be said next but it was Serenity's quiet voice that finally broke the spell as she snapped out of her trance like state.

"I am sorry, I seemed to have runaway with my imagination again, it is an awful habit of mine. I hope I did not offend anyone with my silence but it is still painful to think of my father." She apologized

"Nonsense Bunny" Malachite comforted her "From your accounts your father was a great warrior and you have every right to grieve for never knowing him. I assure you your silence was not offensive but I do believe I can speak for my men also when I say that our silence was not meant to offend either but your story and revelations stole the breath from our bodies and the words from our lips."

Serenity glanced in his direction and flashed him a small but appreciative smile in gratitude.

"Thank you for your kindness Mal, I have put it behind me now I promise. Now I think we have other urgent matters to attend to do we not? We can not have a proper picnic without the food now can we?"

Serenity's stomach decided to make its desires known just then and let out an audible grumble that had the generals laughing and left Serenity's face crimson. A few seconds later her stomach got an answering call from Nephrite's stomach that somehow relayed to Darres' stomach before ricocheting to Malachite's stomach leaving every member in their company laugh that much harder.

"Well I guess since we have the majority it is time to eat gentleman" Nephrite spoke quickly while he rustled in the basket full of food. He turned his head to Serenity and sent her a wink and added "and Bunny"

They laid a cloth out on the grass in the shade and happily ate their prepared food quite content to be in each other's company and outside enjoying the sun on their skin and the light summer breeze in their hair. They took their time eating and eventually a cheerful banter was once again gracing their company, rising spirits and ensuring a smile on each face.

Back at the palace Endymion was busy plotting his next attempt of catching Serenity's attention and debated with himself whether or not he should try to follow his generals and rearrange their afternoon plans to include himself. He came to the decision that it would be in his best interest to do just as he planned. His tracking skills were top notch thanks to years of practice and with his favorite horse carrying him towards his quarry he had no doubt that he would catch her this time.

With his mind set for tracking he made his way out past the stables and into the grassy clearing that corralled his kingdom's horses. He gave a sharp whistle and looked out expecting to see Zeus's familiar black and powerful body come bounding to him but was surprised when he did not hear his footsteps nor saw his usual approach.

"That's odd" he said to no one in particular and whistled again slightly louder this time. He waited calmly for a reply but when none came again he started to get frustrated.

"Zeus where the hell are you? This is no time for games!" he screamed into the corral, startling several of the horses close to the gates.

The horses looked at him blankly slightly perplexed by his anger but most of them turned their backs to him and wandered away to find some shade from the midday sun totally ignoring the fuming prince.

'Where the hell did he get off to?' he fumed to himself. It was very uncharacteristic of his horse not to respond to his call and he could not think of any legitimate reasons why he would do so.

'Unless he's not out there…' his brain finally supplied as an answer. He quickly scanned the horses freely roaming and went to check the stable stalls after not finding the specified animal.

'Damn it! Who would take my horse? All the stable boys are accounted for and unless Jadeite has a death wish he knows not to let anyone near my property.'

Frustrated and determined to reclaim his horse from whoever dare steal his property, he grabbed a saddle from the barn and threw it on the back of a young chestnut stallion he used for purposes other than battle. Within minutes he was in his saddle and ready to go, a small fire blazing in his eyes that would build during his search and be unleashed on the unlucky being responsible for his favorite horse to go missing. He dug his heels into the sides of the horse and quickly disappeared into the landscape heading towards the western forest and the hills that laid beyond.

Yes my loves I have returned! Crawled out of the hole that I had been stuck in for many many moons to finally get rolling on this bad boy again. Now that I have a little more free time then I used to I might actaully be able to update more often, yay! I hope all you wonderful fans out there forgive me for this update taking me entirely too long but I will try to be better from now on. This one is dedicated to all my lovely reviewers, you know who you are :-D you keep me going you crazy crazy people! Well I hope you enjoyed the chapter and hope to hear from some of you soon! Next update might not be till next week but that' infinetly better than last time....*ducks things flying at head* Love you all!