Yaten paced around his room, every now and then he would stop a moment, deep in thought and chew a bit on his finger. He resumed pacing, not even noticing the golden sunrise of Kinmoku that gently filtered through his courtyard window.

"I give up!" He yelled and flung himself onto his bed in aggravation.

'I just don't know what to do.' He thought as he stared up at his ceiling. 'Seiya is really important to me, not just as a brother, but as a friend. If he doesn't stay here with Kimiko, then I'll never get to see him again.' He rubbed his eyes. 'But . . . on the other hand, if I tell Kimiko that Seiya wanted to leave, then she would probably put him under guard watch and he would hate me and then try to commit suicide or something.'

"YARG!" Yaten yelled out in frustration and pounded his bed with his fists.

A knock gently sounded on Yaten's door, and the angry prince sat up and gave his door a dirty look. "What do YOU WANT?" Yaten tried not to yell.

The door opened slowly and a very tired looking Taiki walked into the room.

"What's wrong with you?" Taiki's eyebrows knit together in concern.

"Nothing . . . absolutely NOTHING!" Yaten grabbed a pillow and screamed into it.

"Yaten?" Taiki was taken back by the anger his brother was showing. "What's gotten into you?"

Yaten sighed and looked at Taiki a moment. "Where were you last night?"

"I spent the entire night . . ." he trailed off, knowing that it would sound wrong. "Well," he tried again. "I was talking with Usagi, or more correctly, Princess Serenity." Taiki took a seat on Yaten's bed.

"So . . . you talked to her about that, ne?" Yaten sat up a little.

"Hai," Taiki hesitated for a moment, not sure how to deliver the news. "Yaten, you know how we were going to go back and visit Minako and Ami?"

"Yeah . . ." Yaten sat all the way up. Something had been mentioned about the girl he loved, and he was a little curious why she hadn't been replying to her letters.

Taiki sighed a moment, and then looked his brother straight in the eyes. "Yaten, when Usagi left her kingdom, everything was destroyed, and everyone . . . except for her."

"You mean?" Yaten felt the sting of tears come to his eyes.

Taiki just nodded solemnly, and Yaten took the pillow and screamed into it again.

"Well," He pulled the pillow off of his face and stood up, facing Taiki. "While you were having a fun filled chat with Princess Serenity, I had to entertain Seiya as he came in here and pretty much told me his idea for SUICIDE!" Yaten yelled, his face turning red from anger and from everything that had been happening lately.

"What?" Taiki looked up at his brother in shock.

"I can't do anything about it," Yaten collapsed onto his bed, distraught. "I'm going to lose Seiya, and I've already lost my Minako . . ." He whispered into his blankets, letting angered sobs shake his body.

Taiki sat in a state of shock, and he decided it would be best to leave Yaten alone for a while, to let the new information filter through him. Taiki stood up slowly and left Yaten alone for a while.

When Yaten finally stopped crying, he stood up and went over to his desk and opened up a drawer. He pulled out a single red ribbon from the drawer, and sighed as he clutched it tightly. " . . . Minako . . ." He whispered.

***

Usagi awoke to the morning sunshine delicately trickling in her room. This was it, the morning of the ball; tonight her beloved Seiya would be pledged to another. She sighed and rolled over, looking out the window of her Kinmokian prison.

'I need to leave tonight,' she thought. 'I'll never love anyone ever again. I can go back to my kingdom and remain in isolation for the rest of my years."

Usagi sighed; knowing her fate would be a difficult one. She knew that sometimes nights on the Moon would get very lonely, and she would want someone to hold her, but she would never again feel the warmth of Seiya's love for her.

Usagi arose, rather sadly, as she thought about all of her memories that she had with Seiya. 'He treated me so kindly, to him, I wasn't anybody, but he treated me like a princess. I could have been a peasant from the Moon and he still would have shown me the same love.' Usagi clutched her heart as she stood at her window; her long blonde hair cascaded down her back like an elegant river of gold.

There was suddenly a knock on her door, and Usagi walked over slowly. She was just wearing her thin cotton nightgown, and hoped that it wasn't anyone too important. She opened up the door. "Hai?"

"Ohayo, Madam." Sayuri stood at the door, smiling.

"Ohayo, Sayuri-chan. How have you been?"

"I've been better." Sayuri smiled.

A moment of silence followed.

"Is there something you wanted to ask me?" Usagi asked, placing her hand on her door handle.

"Oh!" Sayuri slapped her head. "Gomen, I forgot all about why I was here." She pulled an envelope out of one of her dress's pockets. "Here you go, there is an invitation to the ball in there, I was sent to deliver this to you. You can't get into the ball this evening without it." She smiled.

Usagi reached out and took the envelope. "Arigato." She smiled. "Are you going to the ball?"

"Hai," Sayuri blushed a bit. "One of the palace guards asked me." She looked down at the ground and then looked back up at Usagi. "Well, I'll be going. If you need me, you know where to find me." Sayuri smiled and left and Usagi closed the door.

Usagi turned the envelope over a few times in her hands, examining it. She then sat down at the desk in her room and broke the royal seal that sealed it shut. Inside she found the invitation, just as Sayuri had said, but there was also another piece of paper in there. Usagi was curious, so she picked it up and opened it up. The paper said:

-Usagi,

Darkness falls upon the ground,

But I will be nowhere when found.

Look upon your valiant knight,

In a place we called respite.

When the stroke of clock reaches nine,

I'll not be found again in time.

Look to me before that hour,

Lest I should fall to a darker power.

~S.

Usagi held the note in her hands, and they were trembling. She knew just who had written the note; it was her beloved Seiya. But it the poem meant she was supposed to look for him somewhere before nine o'clock, otherwise he would leave?

'What does he mean?' Usagi picked the envelope back up and looked inside it again. Inside she found a dried rose, and she put her hand to her mouth.

'Oh . . . he must mean in the garden. I know he wants to see me before he is legally betrothed to Kakyuu. This is awful, I can't bear to see him again and know it will be the last time I see him.' Usagi put the note back inside the envelope along with the flower and invitation. She placed it slowly on her desk and tried to fight back the tears that had come to her eyes.

'I need to put this out of my mind . . . I just HAVE to.' Usagi rubbed her eyes to try and get the tears to go away.

"It's hopeless, it's all hopeless." Usagi sighed as she stared out her window.

"What is hopeless?" A deep voice behind her asked. Usagi screamed and turned around, and she was face to face with Nibori, the head of the guards.

"How dare you come into my room!" Usagi stood up, she already hated this man, and now he had come into her room, without even knocking.

"I knocked, Your Highness." He sneered.

"I am not even dressed, how very rude of you!" Usagi yelled. "Get out at once, and wait until I am in proper attire!" Usagi now sounded more and more like Princess Serenity.

"Fair enough," Nibori sighed and went out of her room. Usagi breathed and sigh of relief, and she knew that she had to quickly dispose of the note that Seiya had written her. She picked up the envelope and took the note and rose out of them and quickly hid both underneath her mattress. Then she replaced the envelope where it was on the desk and then she quickly donned a red dress, and then went to the door again.

"I hope that whatever business you were sent for was important business." Usagi scowled as she stood at the door.

"I was just sent to make sure that you had everything in order for the ball." He smiled a fake smile; Usagi really didn't like the aura he was projecting.

"Well, everything should be in order, I just have to go to the tailors and pick my gown up and I'll be all ready." Usagi gritted her teeth. "Thank you for your concern."

"Actually, I'll send one of the servants to pick it up for you, I am ordered by Queen Kimiko that you are not allowed to leave this room until the ball. And all letters and messages that are delivered to you will have to be screened by me first." He sneered.

"So . . . I am under house arrest?" Usagi placed one of her hands upon her hip and tried to keep her cool.

"To put it bluntly, Princess, hai."

"Well, I hope you have fun." Usagi started to shut the door on Nibori.

"Princess, I am afraid that I have to stay in the room with you, because there is always other things to do in these rooms that need to be surveyed."

"You think I'm going to try and escape out the window or something?" Usagi scowled.

"Well, I was told that you escaped your planet that way." He derided.

Usagi couldn't help and ignore this comment, and she slapped him as hard as she could across the face. "How DARE you say that about me! You don't know ANYTHING that happened to me, you don't KNOW! If you EVER take that tone and insult me like that again, I will not be charged with the consequences!" Usagi was so angry she was trembling, and she turned on her heel and went back into her room and sat at her desk.

Nibori reluctantly entered, rubbing his cheek from her painful blow. He had never felt so much force from a woman in a slap, and he wasn't sure if his face would turn black and blue because of it.

Usagi picked up the invitation she was sent and handed it to him. "You had better screen this invitation, because I'm sure that it is full of plots to destroy everything." She turned back around and sat down at her desk, and Nibori carefully read the invitation, and saw nothing wrong with it, so he handed it back to Usagi and then took a seat in a chair near the window.

As they sat in silence, Nibori started to feel a little guilty for the comment he made and the way he had been treating Princess Serenity. He sighed and watched as Usagi slowly brushed her golden locks of hair.

"Look, Serenity-hime," Nibori started.

Usagi turned her head and looked at Nibori.

He sighed and looked away from her gaze. "Gomen . . . I haven't been treating you with the respect that a princess from a far away kingdom deserves. I hope that you will forgive me for the comment that I made."

Usagi sighed and brushed her hair a little bit more. "I know that you haven't been treating me with the respect that I deserve, but . . ." She sighed. "I forgive you."

"Arigato, Serenity-hime." Nibori bowed a small bow.

Usagi tried to push away the anger she felt towards Nibori, and decided to carry on a civilized conversation. "Are you attending the ball, tonight?" Usagi started to play with her hair, unsure of how she should put it up.

"Hai, my duty will be to guard Kakyuu-hime tonight." Nibori smiled a small smile, and then his face regained its normal composure.

"That must be a nice honor." Usagi smiled.

Nibori blushed a little. "Hai, it is a great honor."

***

[A/N: I hope you like the latest chapter, it has been hard to add onto this story, sometimes the ideas just aren't coming to me. But . . . I should be updating later, and with an illustration for add! *is excited* ^^ R/R Minna!]