Hi minna! Sorry for the lateness in this latest installment, but with final exams and papers my life has not been my own! Anyway, it's great to be back, and thank you soooo much to the lovely people who have reviewed my pet project! Your comments mean so much to me. Thanks especially to the NCS and college crowd (y'all know who you are!)

Once again, the characters of Sailor Moon belong to the lovely Naoko Takeuchi, not me, 'kay? The lyrics at the beginning are from the song All Souls Night by Loreena McKennit. Check it out sometime, she's really awesome (:



Chapter 3

Somewhere in a hidden memory
Images float before my eyes
Of fragrant nights of straw and of bonfires
And dancing till the next sunrise


Serenity belted the ends of the long brown skirt around her waist and turned hesitantly to face the guestroom's full-length mirror. Her cornflower blue eyes widened in amazement as she stared at her reflection, the reflection of a stranger.


Gone were her trademark odangoes identifying her as a member of the royal family of the Moon. Her long silver-blonde hair hung in a simple braid down her back, tied at the end with a white ribbon borrowed from Minako (who had enough ribbons for fifty girls.) A cream-colored tunic covered pale arms and shoulders. Small-embroidered flowers traced the modestly low neckline lovingly and ribbons hung from the edges of the three quarter length sleeves. The soft brown skirt soothingly caressed her legs, and her feet were encased in supple leather boots. A small knife with a silver hilt peeked out of the top of her left boot, a token reminder of Makoto's self-defense training exercises.

"Who are you?" Serenity whispered softly at the girl in her reflection. That girl was not a princess of the Moon. That girl did not have a deathly ill mother. That girl did not have to carry the weight of the entire kingdom on her young thin shoulders.
Serenity took in a deep breath and walked to her bureau. She carefully placed the chain holding Gingzhiouso under her tunic so the large crystal hung low, hidden in the valley between her breasts. With a flash of silver from her fingertips the gold crescent moon on her forehead faded into oblivion.

"No one must guess who you are," Serenity muttered as she grabbed a long cloak from the pile of clothes Minako's maid had brought, "or there will be diplomatic hell to pay."
Servants noted how a young blonde woman, obviously of no importance judging from her simple dress and hesitant manner, walked past them in the servants' hallways; however as they had lords and ladies to attend to, they promptly forgot all about her. Serenity slipped outside into the main courtyard and looked around in confusion at the noisy bustling crowds. Walking carefully around joking guards and craft vendors shouting their wares, she soon noticed a group of merrymakers carrying wood and lanterns for the All Souls Night festivities and hastened to join them as they left through a gate.

Others soon joined the revelers as the followed a worn hill path and Serenity looked around in wonder at the large numbers of people. Some, like herself, were garbed in festival attire complete with bells and ribbons. Others were dressed more somberly and carried paper lanterns to burn in memory of their dead. All were caught up in the heady mood of celebration, celebration of life and love. Eerily glowing lanterns on either side of the path served as a guide and Serenity soon heard the loud sounds of music and people. The incessant drumbeat quickly turned from a dull murmur to a full roar.

"Oh my Goddess!" Serenity halted mid-stride and stared at the distant figures of people dancing in the wavering darkness around enormous bonfires. Music filled the air, all instruments coming together in a primitive joyful beat. Groups of children clumped around storytellers, and men engaged in archery and ground combat contests. People gathered on the banks of a nearby river full of paper boats holding little candles.

Serenity's eyes glowed obsidian with the light from the bonfires, and she decided to venture toward a particularly large bonfire, drawn by the young men and women circling the seductive flames. So focused was she on her the fire that she failed to notice the tall shadow in front of her until it was too late.

"Oomph!" Serenity cried as she plowed into a very hard, very solid, very male form. One minute she was walking and the next she was on the ground, her skirt tangled around her legs and her tunic twisted and baring one shoulder. She opened her eyes slowly and rolled over into a sitting position.

She noticed her skirt was bunched up around her thighs and her tunic was crooked. Serenity groaned softly and felt her face flush a dull red. She braced her hands on the ground to stand and suddenly found herself gently lifted and carefully set on her feet again. The arms that held her were strong and Serenity felt a small tingle at the base of her spine. Strange.

"I hope you are alright," a pleasingly husky voice asked. The shadows were dark and Serenity could not make out the stranger's face or his expression. When he turned his head however she caught a glimpse of turbulent blue eyes, with scattered flecks of silver from the moonlight. Serenity gasped quietly as shiver raced through her body.
'What is going on?' she thought alarmed. When she realized the shadowed man had asked her a question and was waiting for an answer, she blushed and started fidgeting with her skirt.

"I am fine, thank you," she answered shakily, and gave her savior a wobbly smile. She carefully took a step back and felt her body immediately scream in protest from the distance between her and the man. Interesting.

"I am so very sorry, I was not paying any attention to where I was walking." She stared at his eyes in fascination- they were deep like whirlpools and just as multifaceted.
'Whoa there Serenity, you have no business with this stranger's eyes, no matter how beautiful they are,' she chided herself silently. Giving him a strange look 'Turn and walk away, turn and walk away, turn and-'

"Wait! What is your name?" The stranger reached out and caught Serenity' hand as she turned, his voice soft and taut with desperation. The light from the nearby bonfire caught him full in the face, and the fire lit up his eyes to an unearthly yellow color. Serenity gasped again, this time in a kind of pained empathy at the haunted expression on that beautiful face.
The light lovingly caught and kissed the crevices of his straight nose, his cheekbones, the curve of his lips. His hair was long, dark, and smooth as a raven's wing, tied back from his face with a piece of leather. He looked like a memory from a dream; a dream Serenity no longer had the luxury to experience.

Serenity gaped at him like a landed fish and as his hand gripped her own she felt the earth thrum approvingly beneath her feet.
'Yes,' it seemed to echo, 'I have been waiting for this since the dawn of time.'

Intense storm-tossed blue eyes caught and held startled sky-kissed blue eyes and Serenity began to tremble slightly. Dangerous. Way too dangerous.
His eyes, oh his eyes glowed like hellfire and there was nothing else, no bonfires, no music, and no festivals- no, nothing outside those eyes.

'I've got you,' they seemed to say, 'and I am never going to let you go.'

A loud shout from the group of dancers broke the spell and Serenity found herself once again standing near a bonfire. The handsome, lonely- 'Lonely Serenity? Where did that thought come from?' - man still held her hand, a concerned and slightly amused look on his face.
"I didn't mean to startle you," the man began and Serenity had the strongest urge to smack the smugness out of his voice.

"Yes, well you can't just grab a girl's hand and not expect her to jump a bit," Serenity bit out more forcefully than she intended, but Goddess his touch was distracting.

'No Sere, don't even go there!' Serenity sharply reminded herself. Her whole body felt unnaturally flushed and she still trembled from the stranger's nearness.
'Get a grip missy! You are not some young impressionable schoolgirl who falls for every handsome man who crosses her path! Love does not fit in your schedule at the moment,' Serenity thought gloomily.

The man just grinned sheepishly, but used her hand to draw her closer to his body. Serenity tried to pull back but soon found herself a hair's breath away from his face. And his mouth. Oh Goddess!

"I am sorry, but I couldn't just let you leave like that. There is something about you..." His dark eyes looked at her quizzically, as if she were an insurmountable riddle he was dying to solve.

Serenity tried to pull away again, but if anything the stranger just brought her closer as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

'How in the Goddess is this possible!' Serenity thought shakily, her heart pounding and her thoughts scattered by her impossible closeness to that, that... 'Sere leave now before you do something that you are going to regret! You have a duty to your mother and people and you can't just-'

"Eep!" Serenity gave a sharp intake of breath as the stranger leaned in and-

"Let's try this again, shall we? My name is Endymi- umm, Mamoru." Serenity frowned briefly at his obvious lie.

'If his real name is Mamoru, I'm the Princess of Mars. Sorry Rei.' Serenity's musings were cut short as she felt "Mamoru's" breath feather lightly her lips and cheeks.

"What's yours?" He asked. She inhaled his words and felt her insides dissolve.

'Keep calm Sere, stay tough, don't weaken, don't, wait, SERENITY!'
It was too late. The war within had begun- on one side was her duty, her position, her obligations; on the other side was her heart, her unfulfilled dreams, her sacrificed desires.

"I, ummm, I..." Serenity wanted to weep with sorrow and shout with joy. She had not planned to fall in love with a stranger, from Earth no less! 'Oh Mother, I am so sorry!'

Love! Who said anything about love? But Serenity could not deny the insidious feeling that left her strangely vulnerable and powerful at the same time. This man had come out of nowhere and completely turned her life upside-down. He could be her salvation. He would destroy her.

'I love him? I... I love him,' Serenity thought wonderingly. Bliss was quickly followed by desolation.
'After tonight I can never see him again.'