TSUKI NO HIKARI
The Ball
As Serenity was showing him the garden, he couldn't seem to think of what she was showing him. They had revealed what their people had both said about joining alliances, so they knew that duty pushed the marriage. That little fact would make it hard for her to trust him or to fall in love with him which is what he really wanted. It may sound strange, but he wanted her love more than anything, he realized that he might be falling in love himself. He decided that wasn't why, he just really wanted to ally himself with the moon.
Serenity on the other hand was working really hard to think about what she was saying, and not on the young man before her. She knew that he wasn't listening to her, but she kept on speaking as if she didn't notice that he wasn't listening to her. She knew that if she stopped talking then she would start staring, and if anything was the most abhoribal thing for a princess to do, that was it. You never stared openly at a young man just because he looked good.
When she was done explaining every little detail, she looked at him and said, "And that is all that there is about the Moon Palace's Garden."
"Beautiful," he breathed before he realized what he was saying. Luckily enough for him was that she thought that he was talking about the garden.
She looked at him, she knew that he was talking about her, but she decided to act like she didn't know that and said, "I know, the gardens of the Moon are legendary among the other planets, but I personally have wanted to see the Earth's gardens. Are they beautiful?"
"They are," Endymion started. He at first had a blush on his face, but as she spoke his face had changed to a thoughtful look. "We have roses and tulips to go with what you have here."
"What are roses?" Serenity asked. She had never heard of such a thing. She had heard of tulips, they were her mother's favorite flowers, but roses she just couldn't remember ever hearing that name.
He looked at her with a smile on his face and said, "They are a beautiful flower that bloom in red, yellow, white, pink, and very rarely blue. I will warn you about the blue roses, they can erase a person's memory, and if they hadn't been previously in love, they wouldn't remember their entire pasts. My favorite is the red rose."
Serenity looked at him with a look in her eyes that he wasn't so sure that he could figure out. She said, "I would love to see one, but my mother said that going to Earth without an escort is impossible, and the only escort are my guards who wouldn't let me do anything, especially Haruka-san. She is so completely over protective!"
"You don't have to go to Earth to see a red rose," Endymion said with a small smile playing on his lips. She looked at him with hope as he said, "I have one here."
"May I see it?" She asked hopefully. He could see the hope in her eyes, and hear it in her voice. He pulled a red rose that was just in full bloom out from behind his cape and handed to her.
He watched in amusement as she looked at it. He never thought of what it would be like to give a rose to someone who had never seen it before. He said, "Do you like it?" She nodded still completely taken with it. "Well, you can have it."
"Do you mean it?" She asked tearing her eyes away from the rose and looking up into his with big hopeful eyes that no one could say no too.
"Of course I do," he said with a smile.
Unknown to the two talking in the garden, there were ten girls and five boys watching from different places. They consisted of the princesses of Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, the Queen of the Moon, the King's four guards, Kunzite, Jadeite, Nephlyte, and Zoisite. They all wanted to see what would happen if they left the two alone.
The watched the little exchange between the two people, and Haruka, being overprotective as she is, wanted to go out there and pound Endymion's face in. Michiru kept her in check, and watched with a happy smile that her princess was finally falling in love. All of the senshi had someone who they loved, whether that someone knew it or not. Michiru and Haruka had each other, Hotaru had that young man from Saturn, what was his name? Duo wasn't it? Setsuna had Kurokomo, Rei had Jadeite, Ami had Zoisite, Makoto had Nephlyte, and Minako had Kunzite.
Their Princess on the other hand had been too busy playing matchmaker with them that she had never found a match for herself. Now it was their turn to play a little bit of matchmaking. Princess Serenity and her mother were a lot alike, but they just didn't see it because they were apart so often. Queen Serenity had to rule the kingdom, but Princess Serenity was always gone on some tour so that she would be able to see what she was going to rule over when her mother died. She didn't like the tours however, because they made her think that her mother really was going to die, and they just wanted her to be prepared for it when it happened.
Rei and Ami were hiding behind a bush. They had ended up directly behind King Endymion. They hadn't meant to end up there, but in a way they had the best seats in the house. They could hear everything that was said, while the rest had to either strain, or had no chance of hearing what was being said.
Queen Serenity was the only one alone, and she was actually on a balcony that overlooked the garden. She was actually doing a little bit of scheming. She wanted her daughter to be happy, and the people, but she also wanted the senshi to be happy. The Outer Senshi all had her loves, but the Inner Senshi didn't have anyone. She was determined to fix that little mishap that destiny did.
She looked at them, and started to think of whom the senshi would pair up with when her eyes landed on the King's guard. Those four men had showed some interest when they first arrived. She knew who would make the perfect couples. First was Minako who would go perfectly with Kunzite. Makoto who loved to cook and other things of that nature would fit perfect with Nephlyte. Next was the fiery Rei she would fit with that Jadeite perfectly. And last but not least was the very shy Ami who would fit with Zoisite perfectly.
Now how was she supposed to pull this off? All of the senshi and guards were helping her play matchmaker with Endymion and Serenity, but she was about to do it with them as well. Suddenly, it dawned on her as to how to start. The escorts to that ball in the evening would be the best way. She would have the guards escort the senshi.
Later that day, the ball had already began, but the royalty and guards had not come out yet. They were about to be called out as Queen Serenity was explaining what they were to do. She had already paired up the escorts, so now they were finding out what they were to do when they entered.
The ballroom was a wide opened room that had a dais at then end in which they were to enter, and a dais at the opposite end where they were to walk to. First would come out Ami and Zoisite. They would walk to the other end, and at the top of the stairs they would separate and stand at opposite ends of the dais looking at each other. Next was Rei and Jadeite, and they would go and do the same thing two steps lower from Ami and Zoisite. Rei stood beside Ami on the right, and Jedaite stood beside Zoisite on the left. The others did the same. Queen Serenity was the next to come out. She went to the throne and set down.
Finally the time came. The herald called out, "Presenting their highnesses, King Endymion of Earth and Princess Serenity of the Moon." They walked out, and the people watched them. They held their heads up high, and their arms were linked. They walked up the dais, and bowed before Queen Serenity simultaneously. When they stood up, they took their places at the sides of the thrown. Serenity was on the right, and Endymion was on the left.
The music began again and the people started dancing to it. Serenity watched with a sad smile on her face. She never danced at these balls because no one would ask her since she was the princess. They were all afraid that she would turn them down, and no one ever danced with her because of it. She knew that her mother had gone through this when she was younger. She was taken by shock when King Endymion said, "May I have this dance?"
Princess Serenity stared at him for a moment in shock, but quickly recovered as she said, "I would be honored to dance with you." At this she placed her hand into his and he led her down the stairs and onto the dance floor. The people cleared the floor as they took to the waltz that had just started.
Not a word was spoken, but it was the most wonderful feeling that Serenity had ever felt. Never having the chance to dance with anyone before other than her instructor, Serenity was very happy to dance with someone. She spent the time thinking about the person she was dancing with. Was there a possibility that she would get what she wanted and still is fulfilling her duties of serving the people? She sure hoped so.
She didn't notice that the senshi were dancing with their own partners because she was too caught up with her partner. When the dance stopped, everyone clapped, and the young King and Princess exited the dance floor. They went out on the terrace for a little privacy, and Serenity was happy to get some air. For some reason the spacious ballroom had become quiet stuffy.
They walked in silence for a while until they came up to a gazebo. They stepped inside, and were both still able to hear the music floating on the wind towards them. She looked up at the earth, and Endymion stood beside her. He was unable to keep his eyes from her, no matter how beautiful the earth looked from this perspective. What he saw was much more beautiful.
"Is the earth as beautiful on it as it looks from here?" Serenity asked still staring at the blue and green orb.
"In a way," Endymion said.
"What does that mean?" Serenity said looking at him.
"Well, I used to think that I would rather be there more than anywhere else, but now that I've met a true angel, I think that I would rather stay here," Endymion said. He watched as a blush formed on her pretty face.
"You really do flatter me," Serenity said looking back up at the earth.
"Serenity," Endymion said in a much more serious tone.
"What is it?" she asked looking at him in confusion.
"I would like to ask you something very important," Endymion said.
"What would that be?" Serenity asked becoming more and more confused, but yet hopeful.
"I would like to ask for your hand in marriage," Endymion said.
Serenity looked at him in surprise. She didn't expect that, or did she? What was she supposed to say? Well she didn't care about protocol, and said, "Why?"
Endymion was surprised by her question, but he answered easily enough, "I do believe that I have fallen completely in love with you. When I'm with you, my heart speeds up, my pulse goes a mile a minute, and I can't control myself in most ways."
That was all Serenity needed to here, and she hugged him and said, "I will accept. I think that today, I have fallen in love with you."
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AN. IMPORTANT. THE STORY IS NOT OVER. The next chapters will cover the wedding, and the other senshi. Please review, ja ne.
