Woot! Another chapter! ^_^ Hope you enjoy! Oh, and two people have seen Serenity in her true form, Jadeite (but he doesn't know yet) and King Damien, the prince's father ... (and he knows!).
Disclaimer:: Sailor Moon in no way belongs to me.
**********
Serenity lay in her bed, confused by the kiss. What the hell had that been? She had been lying on her bed for two hours now and she was still restless. Standing up, she kicked off her covers and walked towards the balcony. It was all Andrew's fault. And he was going to die for it. Looking around, she gently climbed down the balcony sides and landed on the ground. Heading towards a wall, she pushed gently and the wall opened to reveal a long hallway. Stepping in, she ran down the corridors and soon ended up on the inside of the village. She didn't care what time it was. That sneaky, matchmaking, optimistic idiot was going to pay.
Andrew looked at the clock on his shelf and wondered why he wasn't sleeping yet. For some reason, he was scared. Looking around, he glanced at all the shadows and wondered where this paranoia came from. Holding a candle, he sat on his bed and placed it gently on the table near his bed. He jumped. Was that a creak he just heard? "H... hello? Whoever's there I am a mighty wizard that can turn you into a toad!"
Silence.
It worked. Andrew grinned and blew the candle out. He lifted the covers when ... CREAK. Alas, the poor boy was reduced to hiding under his blanket. Peeking out from the corners of his blanket, he looked around.
"...Andrew..."
The soft whisper echoed through the room, deadly and frightening. Aw, hell. The man whimpered in fear. "...yes?"
"...Andrew..."
It was closer this time and he thought the voice sounded familiar. "Yes?" Was his voice really that high and squeaky?
"...Andrew... you have been a naughty boy..."
He jumped. He knew that voice. It was the voice of his Aunt Gertrude. The evil woman who used to call him a naughty boy and pinch his cheeks. She died a long time ago! "...A ... aunt G... Gertrude? I ...is that you?"
"Yessss... a naughty boy..."
He was reduced to whimpering and sniffling. "I ... I'm sorry for whatever I did. Just don't pinch my cheeks!"
"...You're not sorry..."
"Mommy!"
"..." Serenity raised an eyebrow. Did he just call for his mommy? This was just too easy. "Your Mommy can't help you now..." She walked over to the bed and blinked at the quivering mass of blankets before her. Was Andrew really 23 years old?
He could see her silhouette through the shadows of the blanket. He frowned. Aunt Gertrude seems to have lost a lot of weight during her after-life. Not to mention getting curves. Then, the figure bent over him and he whimpered once more.
"BOO!"
Andrew screamed. Yes, the all mighty, powerful, brave Andrew screamed like a girl. Jumping two feet in the air, he landed a heap of blankets and limbs on the floor. Wait a minute ... "Serenity!!!!"
"No! It's your Aunt Gertrude here to punish you for what you did to Serenity. A powerful Wizard, eh? Honestly, one would think someone as intelligent as you would come up with something better." She pursed her lips and sat down on the bed, watching Andrew get tangled further into the blankets. Yet she offered no help. His head popped out of the mass of blankets and glared at her. "Mind letting me a hand?"
"Um ... let me think. No."
"What was all this about anyway? Is it about that time I put ink into your drink? Or how I fed you frogs legs instead of beef jerky..."
She listened as he listed off all he had done to her and she felt herself getting sick. HE had done all that? Then, one of the words hit her. "FROG'S LEGS?!"
"Well, I can explain ... you see we ran out of beef jerky and the frog was all we had left ... and ...!" He sweat dropped. Even that sounded lame to his ears. "Oof!" Did she just kick him? Yep, she did. And through the rest of the night, poor Andrew was tangled in his blanket while Serenity kicked him for everything he had done.
**********
Darien opened his eyes and groaned against the sunlight filtering into his room. It can't be morning yet. Rolling slowly out of bed, he fought against the headache that threatened to rise. Walking over to the mirror, he winced as he saw his reflection. There were bags under his eyes. Why? Because he had been kept up all night because of a stupid kiss. He finally realized what the problem was. He hasn't had a woman in a long time. Yep that was it. It had to be. Grabbing a shirt nearby, he adorned the cloth and ran his hand over his face, sighing heavily. He had kissed her back. It had been obvious. An image of the princess shot into his head and winced. She was nothing like what he liked. Tall, built, and for goodness sakes she had a wart on her nose. She was not the woman for him. Princesses should be small, lithe, and gorgeous. Just like the queen or the senshi were ... nothing like Princess Serenity.
"Long night, Dare?" Jadeite entered the room, raising an eyebrow at the disarrayed prince. His shirt was lopsided and he was wearing just his boxers.
The prince growled and looked over towards his guard. "Don't you knock?"
"I did. Three times in a row. You never answered." The blonde grinned and leaned against the doorframe as the prince's eyes widened. "Your parent's are waiting in the throne room. Your father seems anxious to talk to you."
"My father? What would he want to talk about?" The prince went into his bathroom, getting ready for the day ahead. "Aren't we supposed to go home today?"
"No, your father said that we were going to stay here a bit longer. He's been in a strange mood lately." Jadeite frowned and shook his head. King Damien has definitely been in a strange mood. Walking around and asking strange questions about the princess, he had the servants in this palace weary.
Darien came out, dressed in his proper attire. Wearing his armor, he walked over to the Jadeite and raised an eyebrow. "Strange mood you say?" He frowned, remembering the kiss once more and decided that it due to a strange mood. He grumbled, "Must be a bug going around."
"What you say?" The two men walked down the hallways and towards the throne room, their boots making loud staccato taps on the floor.
"Nothing."
"Something happened last night. I know it! You found a girl!" Jadeite grinned as his prince stopped and seemed to choke on something. "I knew it! Who is it? Was she gorgeous?"
"It's nothing like that!"
"Oh, that's right. You went into the village with the princess ... so that means ... you kissed the PRINCESS?!"
Darien raised an eyebrow and looked at his friend. How the blonde man's mind worked, he would never know. He would put two things together that shouldn't make sense, but they did somehow in the end. He coughed and continued to walk. "No."
"Ye gods! You did!" Jadeite watched fascinated at the red blush that crawled up the prince's face. The man was blushing! "I don't believe this. You actually ... kissed her."
"Ah! Here we are at the door!" Without another word to the blonde general, Darien pushed the door opened and went in. "Father you said you wanted to talk to me?" He hugged his mother good morning and bowed to the king, looking towards the closed doors.
Jadeite stood outside, fuming. "You're not getting away that easily, Prince Endymion." With that he turned and walked towards the prince's room, determined to wait for him there.
Darien stared at his father who seemed to be smiling a lot more than usual. "Father?"
Terra looked towards her husband and smiled worriedly. The man was up to something. She could see it in the way he was grinning like an idiot all the time. She wondered slightly if he found out about Serenity's disguise.
"Endymion, perhaps you should be more gentle with princess?"
Terra's eyes widened. Damien knew! Tugging urgently on her husband's tunic shirt, she looked into his eyes. All he did was smile at her and turn back to their son. But how did he know?
"More gentle, father? She has enough strength to take out an entire army. At least that's what it looks like." He frowned and wondered if his father had somehow found out about the kiss.
"Tell me, Endymion. If she wasn't so unique looking ... would you shun her so?"
"Um, maybe not. She is rather intelligent and amusing to be with. She would have made a good friend, but for some reason I can not ignore her looks."
Terra had enough of this. Her son was pig! All he cared about was looks and he was going to lose a special woman if he kept up with this. " Prince Endymion Darien Terran!! I will not hear that you judge girls by their looks! You should care about their personalities! What if I looked like Princess Serenity? Would that have made a difference? Hmm? Would it make me less of a mother and queen and wife?"
Darien's mouth opened and then closed. Why was his mother so angry? "No, but that is different. You are my mother!"
"That does not make any difference, my son. I want you to march towards Serenity and apologize for your behavior these past few days!"
"My behavior! She's the one wh--"
"Now!"
"Yes, mother." With a bow of his head, he walked out the door, feeling very much like a punished child. He could hear his father laughing in the background. Oi, some help that man was.
"Now you, King Damien! What is this sudden change in mood?" She turned her fury towards her laughing husband who silenced as soon her narrowed eyes landed on him.
"Ehh ... what sudden change?" He backed up nervously as the small woman took a step forward.
"Don't think I'm going to be fooled by that innocent act. Now what do you know?"
"Umm ... nothing!"
"Yea right."
"Now Terra, don't talk to me that way. I am your husband not your son." He tried to straighten his back and glare back at his wife, but she just glared back and he withered.
"Now, sweetie. You don't make much of an imposing figure that way you're backing away from me, Damien. Now tell me what you know." Terra was smiling in a way that made Damien feel like a hunted creature and he smiled nervously back.
"I saw Serenity ... in her true form."
"That's why you wanted him to be more gentle with her! You're just as bad as Endymion!! I can't believe that..." Damien sighed and sat down on one of chairs. Whenever his wife got into a mood like this, it would take at least half an hour for her to become quiet and gentle again. He would just have to wait and listen to the queen complain about chauvinistic men.
**********
Serenity walked through the front gates of the palace, nodding slightly at the confused guards. But after years of knowing the princess, they had learned that she would usually appear out of nowhere. Walking through the palace she headed towards her bedroom, reaching the prince's room. Realizing that she wasn't in her disguise, she readied herself to hurry to run past when the door swung open and out came a pleased General Jadeite.
"Ah, ha! I know you're out here Darien! I can hear your footsteps!" He looked around.
"General Jadeite!" Aw, shit. Serenity almost kicked herself; she wasn't supposed to know that man.
His bright blue eyes landed on the lovely girl in front of him. She was wrapped in a cloak and her silver hair fell in streams around her shoulders. He grinned, remembering. "Why hello! I remember you. You threw the clock at me!"
She almost face-vaulted and tried to hurry past him, but he blocked her way with an arm. "Please let me go. I have somewhere to get to."
"You know ... you look a lot like the queen ... unlike the princess. Hmm ... you're the real princess!" He smiled at his discovery and resisted the urge to congratulate his intelligence. After days of trying to figure out what the girl and princess had in connection, he finally figured it out.
"What?! You must be delirious m'lord. I am not the princess. Do I look anything like her?" She widened her eyes and looked at him from under her long eyelashes.
"No, but the princess looks nothing like her mother. You, on the other hand, are an exact replica of the gorgeous queen."
"Yes, I hear that a lot. But I am ... the personal assistant of the princess. And now I'm late for something she has asked me to do! Please sir, let me pass!" When he didn't budge, she kicked him the shins and ran away as the man gripped his knee. She ran towards her room and shut the door closed, leaning against the door. What in the world was she going to do?
**********
Darien turned the corner, hearing some very colorful words from his general. Looking at the blonde man leaning against the wall gripping his right knee, the prince raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Jadeite? What are you doing?"
"She kicked me!"
"Who?"
"Ow, I can't believe she kicked me."
"...Who?"
"Next time we me--"
"Jadeite, for God's sake, who?!!"
"Serenity."
Darien frowned and looked at his general. "Serenity? The princess?"
"How many other Serenity's are there in this place?"
"Eh, right. Now, why'd she kick you?"
"Because I wouldn't let her pass, that's why."
"Why didn't you let her pass?"
"Because I was talking with her!" Jadeite looked down at his knee and wondered if it was bruised. He didn't notice the incredulous look on his prince's face; he just gripped the place where he had been hit.
"You were badgering her about the kiss, weren't you?!" The prince walked over to Jadeite who continued to ignore him.
"No, nothing. I found out something about her that she didn't want us to find out." Jadeite looked up to see a dangerously mad prince standing quite close to him. Backing up, he bumped into the wall suddenly afraid by the look that entered the dark blue eyes of the prince.
"You know her secret?" Darien smiled softly and crossed him arms. It seemed the princess had grown careless. "Well, what is it?"
"She's..." Jadeite trailed off as she realized how desperate his prince wanted to know the information and grinned. "What do I get in return by telling you? I mean I got hit by a clock and kicked. That's quite a lot of beating."
"Jadeite!!"
The servants wondered as a blonde haired general ran down the hallway, only to have the sophisticated Earthling Prince coming down after him waving a sword. Shaking their heads, they figured that they would never be able to figure out the strange ways of the Earthlings.
**********
Sorry! I'm going to be really sporadic letting out the rest of the chapters b/c I'm busy. -.-; Anyway, here's what I've had time to write so far. Enjoy!
