Chapter One: Betrothed to the prince of Earth

Queen Serenity looked down at her six month old daughter, who happily looked up at her and wrapped her tiny fingers around her one of her mother's long silver pigtails. King Amadeus walked up behind his wife and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. He put one of his fingers inside her other tiny hand and her hand closed around it. Queen Serenity disentangled her hair from the baby's hand and laid her daughter in the white cradle and watched her fall asleep. Two hours later, King Jeremiah, Queen Lucinda, and their son, Prince Endymion from Earth came to the baby's christening. The adults talked quietly while Queen Serenity held her daughter and three year old Endymion stood next to his mother. ".It's settled then," said King Amadeus. "When Serenity turns seventeen, and Endymion is twenty, they will be married, uniting both the Earth and Moon Kingdoms." Sixteen years later, on a warm, sunny June afternoon, Princess Serenity, or Usagi as she liked to be called sat out in the royal gardens, picking flowers to arrange and put in her room. She looked up and saw Princess Ami, of Mercury and her best friend coming toward her. "Hi Usagi!" she called. Usagi waved and looked toward the bustling town outside the castle gates. It was a Monday, and most people were out shopping or doing laundry. Ami sat down next to Usagi and began picking flowers as well. Ami looked up after a few minutes and saw her friend gazing out toward the market. "Don't think of going out there," she scolded. "Remember what happened the last time?" "Ami-chan?" asked Usagi, giving Ami her pleading face. "No. I kept your secret last time, and I promised that that would be the last time." "Please? You know that I like to see what my people are doing." "No. You just like to look outside your betrothal and look for hot guys. So, you're taking me with, girl!" exclaimed Ami, giving Usagi a mischievous grin. Both girls went to Usagi's room, abandoning the flowers and dug through the trunk underneath Usagi's bed. They each pulled out a long skirt and a peasant blouse and put them on. Usagi added a tattered apron that she had snatched from the servants' quarters and took down her two odangoes. She put all of her hair into a messy bun and pulled out two cloaks, one for herself and one for Ami to hide their faces. She opened her window, like so many times before and both girls climbed down the white trellis that stood outside Usagi's window. They climbed over the unguarded part of the wall and emerged out of the forest that surrounded one side of the Moon Palace. Usagi grabbed her coin purse and gave Ami a handful of coins, keeping some for herself. She looked down into the palm of her hand and began mentally counting out how much change she had. She wasn't watching where she was going and crashed into a tall man with shoulder length white hair and a white shirt and pants on with a purple cape pinned to the shoulders. Usagi fell backward and finally looked up. Her hood fell to her shoulders as she hastily gathered up the coins. The man bent down and picked up some of the coins, then stood up at the same time as her and looked into her deep blue eyes. He pressed the coins into her hand and then turned around and walked off. Ami rushed forward. "Are you all right?" she asked Usagi. "I'm fine," breathed Usagi. "Do you know who that was?" "No, why?" "It was Prince Demando, from Nemesis. I'd recognize him anywhere. He's a major enemy of Prince Endymion." "He's cute," commented Usagi. Ami shook her friend. "Hello? Usagi? You're betrothed to Endymion." "I know, but that doesn't mean that I can't look at guys," she said. "Do you think he recognized me?" she asked, coming to her senses. "I don't know. He stared at you an awful long time." "We'd better not stay too much longer." "You're right," said Ami, looking at the guards meeting and talking quietly. "They've discovered that we're gone. Let's get back, fast!" exclaimed Usagi, dashing toward the forest. They leapt over the back wall and climbed the trellis again and quickly discarded their peasant clothing. The doorknob turned and Queen Serenity walked in. "Usagi, thank goodness you're here. Where were you two?" she asked. "Um.we were in the cellar, looking for my old dresses. Ami-chan wanted to see them and compare them to hers, since we don't remember them." "Serenity, darling, you know that the only dress that I saved of yours is your christening gown. I didn't save any after we lost your father, because they brought back too many memories," she said sadly. "I forgot," said Usagi sheepishly, grinning. Serenity stepped forward and hugged her daughter. As she pulled away, she whispered, "Don't forget, Endymion wants to have dinner with you tonight. He'll pick you up at seven." "I know," she said, turning to Ami. "Ami-chan, I hate to kick you out, but Endymion wants to have dinner with me tonight." She rolled her eyes. "And I have to get ready." "That's fine. You have fun, you two lovebirds," she said, leaving the room. Usagi sighed and sat down in front of the mirror, realizing that her mother probably knew full well where she had been, judging on the sight of her hair. Serenity sat down on the bed and watched her daughter brush out her long blonde hair. "I wish that you wouldn't lie to me, Usagi." "I'm sorry, Mother. I thought that you wouldn't like it if you knew where I had really been." "Over the wall and into the market. I know. I used to do it when I was your age. I did the same thing with my hair." "How did you know though, besides my appearance?" "Prince Demando of Nemesis stopped by here, warning me that you were out there. He's a really nice fellow, said that he crashed into you in the street and sent your coins flying. He seemed quite taken with you." "That's what Ami said. Too bad for him that I'm betrothed." Serenity got up and pulled out a pink strapless dress for Usagi to wear for that night. She helped her daughter put up her hair and put matching pink bows in the odangoes. Usagi slipped into a pair of pink shoes, grabbed a pink shawl to put around her shoulders and hurried down the stairs to the entryway to meet Endymion, or Mamoru as she called him. He leaned down and kissed her as they met. "Hello, beautiful," he said. She blushed and looked down. He gently took her arm and led her out, stopping to ask Queen Serenity what time she wanted her back. "Before midnight," said Serenity. He escorted her to his car and they went to the restaurant. Usagi was quiet all through the dinner, and though Mamoru tried, he couldn't get her to say anything. Her thoughts were lost on the handsome prince from Nemesis. After a two-hour dinner, Endymion escorted her back to the palace after a very uneventful date. He leaned down to kiss her once more, but she had already turned away and was walking up the stairs to her room. She flopped down on her bed and thought about how she had crashed into him, and he'd recognized her, even through her peasant disguise. She decided, before going to sleep that the next time that her mother held a ball, which would be at the end of the month for her seventeenth birthday, she would talk to the prince from Nemesis and ask him how he knew it was her.