Disclaimer: The Reality Benders own nothing of Sailormoon, only this unusual storyline.



Chapter Eight:

Dancing in the Plaza

"Yaten, would you just stop pacing around?! You're driving me nuts!" Taiki snapped.

"What?" Yaten asked distractedly, stopping in his pacing and staring at his best friend.

"Oh, forget it," Taiki groaned.

The Lights and Kakyuu were already ahead at the plaza, watching as the people came in. The sun hung low in the sky, and it gleamed a pleasant yellow orange across the square. The orange globes that decorated the plaza were lit.

Yaten was pretty nervous when they were suddenly told to wear masks. He didn't know why all of a sudden they had to wear one. In his opinion, it just made it harder to figure out which person was Hotaru in the crowd; she hadn't arrived yet, and he wouldn't know what costume she was wearing.

Kakyuu didn't help. She just grinned at him when he told her this and said, "That's easy. Just pick which girl is the prettiest in the crowd for you."

He had to resist the urge not to fly onto her.

Yaten stared at his costume and wondered if it was all right. If anything, it was different from what others wer wearing. He was dressed as a fairy prince. His outfit had thin golden chains across the front, a high collar and tight sleeves. He had a thin golden band (slightly thicker than wire) that went across his forehead and through his bangs and reappeared again on his hair, and it was his crown. The outfit was basically a princes'—it was all dark blue with green edges too—and the only thing that signified him a fairy was the pair of fairy wings on his back.

When Kakyuu picked it out, he thought it was ridiculous. When he put it on, he had a different opinion. All right, so maybe he did look good in it. Especially after he put on the mask. But it wasn't going to help him any when he was still gathering up some pluck to ask Hotaru to dance. And him not knowing who she was among this lot was not going to add comfort.

Kakyuu suddenly came sweeping among the Lights who were quietly sitting down a stone bench, apparently not too eager to dance. She was dressed as a phoenix, and her red and gold outfit glittered in the fading sunlight. "Hey, Seiya!" she chirruped as she reached them. She grabbed Seiya's hands and pulled him up. "Let's dance!"

Seiya was dressed as a hunter (though it looked too nice and grand an outfit to be a hunter's anyway) and he said to Kakyuu, "Um…I'm not sure…"

"Come on!" Kakyuu said, ignoring his remarks and pulling him onto the dance floor. The two vanished in the dancing crowd.

Yaten watched them leave, then turned to Taiki, who was dressed in a devil's costume. Yes, the theme doesn't suit him much, but it wasn't your stereotypical devil's cosume. He doesn't have horns and neither was he holding a trident. He didn't paint his face red either ("I'd die before I would!" he had yelled when Kakyuu asked).

He had put red contacts on his eyes, and was dressed from head to foot in red. His outfit was not unlike Yaten's, but it was more oriental in style. The edges and buttons on his outfit were gold, and he had a red headband across his forehead. The only thing that signified him as a devil was his mask, which was red with horns pointing upwards at its edges. He looked quite handsome in the whole, but then again, who says devils can't be handsome?

Anyway, Taiki's glaring red irises were more than what Yaten can bear to look at, so he looked away, and Taiki sighed. "Geez, I'm not going to hang around with you if you keep acting like that."

"Like what?" Yaten asked.

"I dunno…just all funny…" Taiki stared at him again. "Why have you been acting so strangely these days?"

"What are you talking about?" Yaten snorted, but inside he was nerve- wracked. "I'm acting like I normally do."

"No you're not," said Taiki bluntly. "We see even less of you than before, you're too quiet, and what's more…why did you take Hotaru out to town?"

Yaten thought he'd keel over and die at that instant. "I—uh—well…you see…"

Taiki stared at him for a moment then burst to laughter. "Oh, I know. You're up to something, aren't you?"

"Huh?" Yaten asked, completely dumbfounded.

"Don't kid around," said Taiki, grinning at him. "You're up to something, right? You know, trying to get her back for what she did?"

"What?!" Yaten gasped, staring at his best friend, who simply laughed.

"Don't worry, man, I'll keep your secret," he grinned. "I'll let you get back on that Outer. And if you need any help I'm ready. Still got to pay her back for getting us nearly into trouble."

Yaten didn't know what to say. Taiki got it all wrong, but Taiki's being wrong might just be his way out of the jam. "…uh…yeah…"

Taiki laughed and stood up. "Hold on a minute. I think I'll go to the musicians awhile. I have to talk to them about performance." He shrugged. "Better than being a wallflower."

As Taiki turned around, Yaten looked at the plaza entrance, and stood transfixed.

Four girls had just entered, all masked. One was an angel, another was a gypsy, the other was a fortune-teller, and the last one was a fairy princess. Yaten couldn't take his eyes off the fairy princess, and just barely registered that they had 'partner' outfits.

He knew quite well that these girls were the Outers. Haruka was the angel, Michiru was the gypsy, Setsuna was the fortune-teller, and the beautiful raven-haired fairy princess was none other than Hotaru. Yaten resisted the urge to swoop down to her at once and catch her hands and have her dance with him.

The other Outers looked around, then the four all separated. It must've been their plan so that they would be inconspicuous to the townspeople.

Yaten turned to look at Taiki. He handn't noticed. Seiya and Kakyuu were still dancing animatedly on the dance floor. But he caught Kakyuu's eye.

What are you waiting for? she demanded, Go!

I can't! he retorted. I mean—everyone's looking! If Taiki, Seiya or any of the other Outers see me and Hotaru together, I'll be dead meat!

Baka! What are you wearing on your face, huh?

Huh? Yaten touched his face and felt his mask.

And what is she wearing on her face?

Yaten looked, and saw that she, naturally, had a mask of her face too. Oh…

Since the Outers don't know what you're wearing and the other guys don't know what she's wearing plus the both of you are masked…

Kakyuu did you and Kakyoku-mama plan this?! Yaten demanded, finally understanding what Kakyuu was saying.

Hmm…maybe… she smirked as Seiya spun her away.

Well, Yaten realized, she had a point. He took a deep breath and moved quickly across the floor.

The fairy princess stood alone, as if wondering what to do next. She felt all alone, really. This time, there were no Outers to guide her along, and so she was left standing. She was certainly not going to dance until someone asked her to. Dance, they said. Have fun, they said…yeah right.

But as quick as thought, she saw about ten young men moving towards her, looking all as if they were going to ask her to dance. Hotaru felt nervous; how could she pick one she wanted to dance with? She took a step back, wondering if she should try and lose them in the dance floor, when a dark blue and green blur swept in front of her, blocking her view of the other young men with his magnificent wings.

Surprised, she saw a young man there dressed as her male counterpart (fairy prince, that is) and he bowed deeply. "May I have this dance, Princess?" he said softly.

Hotaru felt startled. Then she realized that she might just be referring to her costume. But then, as the young man stood, she realized that it wasn't what he meant. She knew him.

"Y-Yaten?"

The Kinmoku prince smiled and casually took off his mask a bit, and Hotaru saw his bright green eyes twinkle at her. Hotaru felt herself go instantly at peace. She smiled at him as he placed his mask back on.

Yaten then swept her hands in his and spun her onto the dance floor, much to the disappointment of the other young men.

"I see that I have to move quickly or lose my dances to other people," Yaten replied with a handsome smile that made Hotaru blush.

"I wasn't really sure on who's offer to accept," she replied with a charming smile that made Yaten go rather faint. "Thank you for asking me to dance."

Yaten hesitated a moment before saying, "To dance with you was the only reason why I came in the first place."

The both of them blushed a brilliant scarlet at this pronouncement. They quite forgot everyone around them as they danced. They were only aware of themselves.

Yaten grinned at her, his emerald irises gleaming brilliantly from behind his mask. "You dance quite well." Understatement, he added to himself. Indeed, Hotaru was light to his touch and as graceful as a swan.

Hotaru replied, "I guess I do. But it's only because Michiru and Haruka taught me well."

Yaten shook his head. "Nope. That quality is wholly yours."

Hotaru blushed again and they went into the crowds.

As they did, Seiya, Taiki and Kakyuu were together in a clump. Seiya looked a little short of breath and said, "Hey, Taiki, what've you been up to?"

"Nothing much," he replied with a grin. "Wallflowers, right Yaten?—Yaten?"

They looked and the third prince was gone. "Where did he go to?" asked Kakyuu, feigning innocence.

Seiya was looking around and he frowned. "Who's Yaten dancing with?"

Taiki and Kakyuu looked quickly to the direction he was indication, and they saw the handsome fairy prince dancing with a lovely fairy princess in the dance floor, just visible between the crowds of people around them.

"Well, whoever she is, she's making Yaten smile more than he had in a year," commented Taiki.

"I see," Kakyuu said with a smile. "She's lovely, isn't she?"

"Yeah, I suppose," Seiya said. "What do you think, Taiki?"

"She is," Taiki nodded in agreement. He looked to the left and grinned. "Just as lovely as whoever that is."

Seiya and Kakyuu looked and they saw that Taiki was referring to a pretty sandy-haired girl dressed as a very pretty angel. She was surrounded by a gaggle of young men pleading her to dance with them, and she was refusing all of their invitations.

"You're kidding," said Kakyuu. "You're not going to ask her, are you?"

"I can try," he grinned.

"Now you're acting weird…" Seiya shook his head.

Kakyuu almost laughed as she watched the devil skirt across the dance floor to ask the angel to dance. Then she frowned. There was something familiar about that angel… then it struck her. "Taiki!!" she cried.

"What?" he asked, turning back to her.

Kakyuu bit her lip. If Taiki danced with her (in case she unknowingly accepted), he might probably realize who he was dancing with and end up fighting with her. But then again, her aura was dimmed on purpose and so was Taiki's, so they mightn't notice who each other was at all. It was too cute to pass.

"Kakyuu?" Taiki prompted.

"Nothing," Kakyuu replied with a smile. "Go get her, you devil."

Taiki shrugged and went off. Kakyuu had to fight the urge to laugh when the angel, who looked rather amused, did accept the invitation. She wanted to laugh all the more as they chatted and laughed together.

If only Taiki knew…

He was dancing with Haruka Ten'ou!!



Michiru and Setsuna were together for a moment. "Setsuna!" Michiru exclaimed. "Have you seen Haruka or Hotaru?"

"I think that's Haruka," said Setsuna, pointing at the angel.

Michiru's jaw dropped as she saw Haruka the Angel dance with someone dressed as a devil. "Haruka's dancing? With whom?!"

Taiki Kou, Setsuna wanted to say but she calmly said, "I don't know. But she looks pretty happy." They have some things in common…they're stubborn, they're determined, they're passionate at what they do…no wonder they'll get along.

Michiru shrugged. "All right, all right. But where's Hotaru?"

Setsuna pointed, and they watched Hotaru the Fairy Princess dancing with someone dressed as a fairy prince. The perfect couple. "Not fair!" Michiru said with a smirk. "She's dancing already."

"Let them be," grinned Setsuna. She watched Yaten and Hotaru dance with the look of bliss on their faces. They look like such a sweet couple…if only the feud wasn't in their way…

"Well, let's not just stand here," said Setsuna. "Why don't we find our own partners and dance?"

"You're joking," Michiru raised an eyebrow. Setsuna stared blankly at her and she sighed. "All right. Let's go." And the both of them scattered in the plaza, where they were very quickly invited to dance by some young men.