Silver Millennium, Kunzite

The Princess of Venus was beautiful.

Or so they say, Kunzite thought as he tread through the royal gardens, cursing his luck that he had gotten stuck with guard duty the moment when his prince had decided to run off, probably with the princess of the Moon. He had never seen the much rumored about beauty with his own eyes; denizens of other planets tended to keep within the boundaries of their own places (Princess Serenity being an exception), but just the name of Venus had other staring starry eyed into the distance. Kunzite scoffed as he paused to brush aside a low hanging branch.

"Blubbering fools." If they could be tricked by a woman's beauty like that, they were not true warriors. Kunzite was sure that even if he saw Princess Venus, he wouldn't be smitten. After all, he was a busy man as the leader of the Four Kings of Heaven and the king of the Middle East. He had no time to barely spare the girl a look, much less fall in love. And his wife certainly wasn't going to be chosen on the fragile basis of looks. The sound of voices drew his attention from further along the path, and he hurried along until he reached a fountain. Two members of different royal families stood together on the path in front of the fountain, admiring the bubbling water streaming from the statue at it's center.

"It's so pretty Endymion, I wish we had something like this on the moon." Princess Serenity commented, her head leaned against Prince Endymion's broad shoulders.

"I could arrange for one to be built there too." Endymion replied with a smile. Princess Serenity squealed happily and clapped her hands in delight. Kunzite cleared his throat before he spoke.

"I'd hate to ruin the happy moment, but Prince Endymion should be otherwise occupied right now." Both royals spun around at his voice, and Endymion's blue eyes widened.

"Kunzite! What are you doing here?" He looked flustered and embarrassed at the same time, unsure of what to do now that he had been caught.

"That, Highness, is what I should be asking you." Kunzite replied, crossing his arms, "I will be sorely failing in my duties as your head guardian if I left you this way, so I must ask you to come with me now." Before the prince could respond, there was a loud rustling from the trees on the other side of the fountain, and a tall figure burst out of the undergrowth. Angry eyes blazed with irritation, and a voice snapped out,

"Princess! You've come here again, just like I suspected!" Long golden hair whipped around the girl that stood before them, the orange and white sailor uniform dotted with loose leaves from the journey to finding the runaway princess. She was a complete mess. But Kunzite couldn't bear to tear his gaze from her, as if an invisible force had glued him to the spot.

Why can't I look away?

Silver Millennium, Venus

When Venus realized that their princess was once again AWOL, she grit her teeth in frustration and told an equally furious Mars that she would personally make sure to bring back the princess this time. Soldiers simply took too much time, and previous experience had told Venus that the princess was quite adept at running away from those sent to fetch her. Getting lost in the midst of the ridiculously enormous Terran gardens wasn't helping her mood either.

"I swear, when I get my hands on the princess…" Venus muttered as she pushed aside branches tangling in her long hair. The princess enjoyed Earth a little too much for her liking, and Venus knew all too well the rules that were supposed to keep the two kingdoms separate. The four guardians, along with the princess, had been educated on proper conduct since childhood, and as leader of the sailor guardians Venus was expected to follow them to the tee. Now, if only a certain princess would cooperate, her job would be made a lot easier.

"Oh Endymion, that would be wonderful!" Princess Serenity's voice drew Venus's attention, and she trudged forward out of the bush currently entangling her skirt into a clearing with a large fountain.

"Princess! You've come here again, just as I suspected!" She put her hands on her hips, her eyes glaring at the princess who turned around to stare at her lead guardian in shock.

"V-Venus!" Serenity put her hands up in front of her, "It's not what it looks like."

"Oh, I know EXACTLY what it looks like!" Venus snapped, "You took advantage of poor Ami-chan's kindness and snuck out during lessons again! You should have seen the look on her face when she came to report that you had played Houdini!" Princess Serenity bowed her head in shame.

"I'm sorry…I just really wanted to pay a visit."

"I said she could come." Prince Endymion intervened, putting an arm around Serenity's shoulders. Venus bit her lip and bobbed a small curtsey.

"With all due respect Prince, I understand your…kind thoughts, but our princess is quite unruly and doesn't listen to rules. If the queen finds out she's down here again, I'll have failed as a guardian." Venus didn't notice the tall man standing near Endymion until he spoke.

"It must be hard, taking care of a hyperactive princess." The voice was deep and warm, tinged with a bit of amusement as it spoke, making its way deep into Venus's heart before she even looked over for its master. Her jaw nearly dropped as she took notice of the man with long silver hair, dressed in full military wear next to Prince Endymion, matching silver eyes glinting with mirth as he watched the banter between princess and guardian.

Who is he…?