Title: A Lifetime with you – The Story of Unlikely Lovers
Chapter 2
After their things had been taken care of, Selenity allowed Serenity to change out of her dress and left her, Haruka and Michiru went in to the courtyard to do whatever they liked. Serenity was not a very happy little girl. She wanted to go and be in the gardens by herself and play with the little rabbits she had found there. But her mother's words were the law as far as she was concerned so she had to be there.
Haruka noticed a change in Serenity's attitude. If anything, she seemed a bit cool towards him, unlike before. He knew that this was his fault and decided to be nicer to her.
"So little princess, what would you like to do?" Haruka asked bending down to her height.
Serenity looked at him sharply glaring at him . She didn't like the way he spoke to her at all. It made her more aware for her small stature for her age, and brought up the bad time that they had the last time. Before Haruka knew it, Serenity was running away as fast as her little legs could take her.
Haruka just blinked and looked at her. Then he felt Michiru hit him.
"What did I do?"
"You made her feel small," Michiru said chidingly.
"How?"
"Bending down to her height, calling her little and using a babying voice? Now go and get her. I don't think your mother or Queen Selenity would appreciate it if we go back without her."
"OK, ok. Darn you girls are so sensitive," Haruka grumbled as he ran after her.
'She's a fast little thing,' he thought as she was almost to the end of the courtyard. Haruka caught her just before she entered the gardens.
"Hey wait,"
Serenity turned around abruptly as Haruka caught her hand. She tried to pull it free from his grasp for a while but gave up.
"What's wrong with you?" He asked slightly out of breath.
"Go on and say it!"
Haruka was confused. "Say what?"
"That you don't want to be around me at all. That you think I'm a baby and that the only reason that you're being nice is because your mom made you. Well you don't have to be nice to me. I'll be going along now," she said turning to go.
"Wait. Look I'm very sorry for the way I treated you before. I honestly want to make it up to you. Just give me a chance, please?" Haruka said extending his hand.
Usagi studied Haruka for a long while. "Ok," she said taking it.
"Now why don't you meet Michiru formally?" He said bringing her back to where Michiru was.
Usagi had her head down. She was a bit embarrassed that she had acted in such a way.
"Welcome back Princess," Michiru said kindly.
"I'm very sorry for my behavior," Serenity said with embarrassment.
"It's all right. So where are we going?" Michiru asked.
Serenity wasted no time thinking about it. She knew exactly what she wanted to show them. "Follow me," she said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Where are we?" Michiru asked as the entered a small clearing.
"This is my favorite part of the gardens," Serenity said as went to a dark area in the bushes. She pulled out a blanket and spread it as best as she could. She sat down on it and gestured towards it. "Sit down," she offered.
They sat down and then Selenity produced a medium sized bag out of thin air.
Michiru noticed the bag. "What's that for?"
"You'll see soon enough," Serenity said. And surly they did. Before long, they had their first visitor, a beautiful gray rabbit with black tipped ears. Soon other rabbits with all shades and mixtures of black, brown, white and gray came out of the bushes.
"Oh, how beautiful!" Michiru exclaimed, looking at all the rabbits.
"How did you discover this place, Serenity?" Haruka asked.
Serenity turned red. "I was trying to hide form my instructors," She mumbled.
"Don't worry, I know the feeling," he responded picking up a rabbit. He noticed a rabbit nibbling on the bag she had brought. "Your rabbit is eating your bag," he pointed out.
"Oh! I almost forgot about these!" she exclaimed. She opened the bag and pulled out an apple slice. She fed it to the hungry rabbit on her lap and then gave the bag to Haruka. "Here. They love these," she said.
Haruka took the bag and saw that it contained not only apple slices, but carrot sticks, spinach, lettuce and cabbage leaves.
"Where did you get all of these?" Michiru said looking in the bag.
"I convinced the cook, Morris, to give them to me. He said that rabbits loved these and he's right," Serenity said with a giggle as a rabbit jumped up and took an offered carrot stick from her fingers.
"Do they have names?" Michiru asked.
"No. I guess I should give them names, shouldn't I?"
"It's not necessary, but it is a good idea," Haruka said.
"Will you guys help me?" Serenity asked.
"Sure," Michiru said with a smile.
And for the rest of the afternoon, they named and fed the rabbits. Michiru came up with the idea of giving each a different colored ribbon to tell them apart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dinner was calmer than expected. This time there were no insults or crying or food throwing involved like the last time. Everything went smoothly.
When Queen Selenity went in to put Serenity to bed, she found her still in her dinner clothes, sitting on her bed looking out of the window.
"Serenity, why haven't you changed yet?"
"I was going to, but I was just looking out of the window and I kind of, forgot," She said meekly.
Selenity laughed. "Always in a daydream," she said ruffling Serenity's hair a bit.
"Not always," Serenity said, defending herself.
"Ok then, mostly. Come on, let's change you," She said picking her up.
"Can I have the light blue nightgown?" Serenity asked as her mother led her to the closet.
"Why that one? I thought that you loved the pink one?"
"Well I like the blue one now. It reminds me of the sky," Serenity said sleepily.
Selenity looked down at her daughter. "Anything for you sweetie," she said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That night, after everyone had gone to bed, they were all awoken by a piercing scream, which shattered the silence of the night. Queen Selenity bolted up out of her bed. "Serenity," she whispered rushing to put on her robe. She quickly went to her daughter's bedroom.
The scream also woke up the rest of the sleepers in the East Wing of the palace. They came out into the hallway just in time to see Selenity go into Serenity's room.
"Mother what's happening?" Haruka asked Queen Mai.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," She said walking down the hall. The other's followed. "You and Michiru go back to your rooms and go to sleep."
"Yes mother," Haruka said closing his door. Michiru did the same.
~~~~~
Queen Selenity was holding a crying Serenity when they came in.
"What's wrong Selenity?" Kaiya asked.
"I don't know. She won't stop crying," Selenity answered, slowly rocking the little princess in an effort to calm her down.
By now the princess was in her own little world, reliving her nightmare. She tried to close her eyes to make the images go away but they got worse.
"What's wrong Serenity, talk to me," her mother urged her when she had finally calmed down.
"I-I had a bad dream," she said as best as she could.
"About what?" Selenity asked, very concerned.
"About you and everyone else. You-" She said stopping in mid sentence.
"Me? What about me?"
"You- you, I can't remember," she said finally, after a while.
"It's alright, rest now," Selenity said putting her back to bed. She ushered the others out of the room. Before anyone could open their mouth Selenity spoke.
"We'll discuss this in the morning. Goodnight everyone," she said walking away. The others returned to their bedrooms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning found them in the conference room.
"I don't like this Selenity," Haru said to her.
"What child would wake up from a dream screaming, then know exactly what she dreamt about but the very minute she begins to tell us, forget about it?" Hisa asked.
"It's a bad omen Selenity," Kaiya said to her. "The seas have never led me wrong and they now have an ominous feel to them. Something big is going to happen, but not now. If only I had the Mirror."
"It was just the dream of a child and nothing more," Selenity said firmly.
"Tell me something, has she, to your knowledge ever dreamt before?" Mai asked.
"No never," Selenity said thoughtfully.
"Have you been developing her psychically?"
"She's too young and has only just started her training. Like I said, it was only a child's nightmare and nothing more. Now I don't want to hear anymore on the topic, so if you would excuse me," Selenity said getting up and leaving.
"I had forgotten how stubborn Selenity is," Haru said.
"She won't take this seriously and we can't convince her otherwise," Kaiya said.
"Maybe she's right. Maybe it was just a child's dream, not to be taken seriously," Mai said.
"Well in any case, it no use dwelling on it. Let's go," Hisa said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While the meeting was going on, Haruka and Michiru used that time to interrogate Serenity.
"Why were you screaming last night, Serenity?" Michiru asked.
"It almost gave me a heart attack," Haruka said.
"I had a nightmare. It was very scary, that I know."
"What was it about?" Haruka asked.
"I don't remember. All I can remember is being so scared and my heart beating very fast. And that it had something to do with my mother," she reflected.
"My parents were talking about it all last night. They think that it might be serious," Michiru said.
"Really?" Serenity asked. Michiru nodded.
"But I can't remember anything. Anyway Mother said not to worry about it, that it was just a dream. So I am not going to think about it anymore," Serenity said firmly. The others agreed with her.
"So what are we doing today, Princess?" Michiru asked.
"I want to go to the lake, but we need a grown-up to go," Serenity said.
"Why can't we go by ourselves?" Haruka asked.
"Because the lake is very deep and mother is always afraid that I will fall in and drown. I can't swim you know."
"But we can. We shouldn't bother the grown-ups now anyway. And it will be fun," Michiru said.
"I don't know, mother wouldn't like it if I go by myself," Serenity said skeptically.
"Oh come on! We'll take care of you. And we won't go swimming in it," Haruka said.
"Of course not! It's too cold in there. The water temperature is 3o above absolute zero," Serenity said.
"We definitely can't swim in that," Michiru said.
Serenity thought about it for a while.
Haruka saw her indecisions and added, "What could go wrong?"
"Ok then," She said finally. "But we have to go back for our coats and we must wear hats." She said finally. The other two agreed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Shhh," Serenity said as they slipped under a few shrubs. They had to sneak into this part of the gardens as the gates which led to them were locked. They always had a guard in front of them. This wasn't always so, but Serenity didn't know why they started posting one there. Nor did she ask, because if her mother ever found out that she was in this part of the gardens, she would be severely scolded.
The children ran quickly down the hill that led to the lake. From the top, you couldn't see the shoreline, so they ran down for a little while and then used the stairs as it was to steep to continue along their previous path.
When they reached the bottom, Michiru instantly fell in love with the place. The fine grey sand glistened with fine crystal grains which made the beach seem to glow and sparkle in the sunlight. The water was still and had a silvery tone to it, which made the whole atmosphere urethral.
"This place is simply beautiful, Serenity," Michiru said.
"I know. I love coming here with my mother. We try to come once a month together, but lately mother doesn't have time anymore," Serenity said with a sad look in her eye.
Haruka felt sorry for her. He was again reminded that she was lonely here. "Why don't you tell your mother how you feel?"
"Because she's been busy lately and I don't want to disturb her. But enough of this. If you two really want to see the water, there's a small dock just over there," She said pointing to the west.
"Let's go," Michiru said eagerly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Aren't you coming with us Serenity?" Haruka asked from his place on the pier.
"No," she said wearily. She remembered that her mother had told her something about this pier and she was trying to figure out what it was, so until then, she was staying on shore.
"Aw, don't be scared. It's beautiful here," Michiru said dipping the tip of her shoe in the water.
"You should come off now. I have a bad feeling about all this," Serenity said after a while. She looked slightly distressed.
"Come on Michiru, we have to go back to the palace anyway, it's almost lunch," Haruka said looking at his watch.
"Alright," she responded. As they were both getting ready to walk back they felt the pier shift. They stopped abruptly.
Serenity then remembered what her mother had said. 'Don't walk on the pier, it's unstable,' she thought.
"Get off now!" she yelled.
But as they made their move the pier suddenly collapsed under them. Haruka and Michiru were instantly shocked by the sudden near freezing water. What was worse was that they were sinking fast. Their clothes were dragging them down beneath the surface.
While they struggled to remain afloat, Serenity stood their frozen. If she ran to get help, they could very well die before she even reached the stairs. But she couldn't even swim and if she could, they were still twice her size. She would never be able to pull either of them to shore.
~~~~~
Haruka saw Serenity on shore frozen in fear. He wanted to yell at her to get help, but all of his energy was going into staying above the surface. Michiru was not so lucky. She was very tired and the water was draining their energy fast, her movements were beginning to slow. They both were. Haruka looked back towards the shore, wishing that she would do something.
~~~~~
As she saw them start to slip beneath the surface, her mind shut down and her subconscious took over. She extended her arms before herself and with all the magical energy she could gather, sent out a strong beam of it to where the two went down. They slowly started to rise out of the water. The amount her small body was putting out caused her crescent moon to glow brightly and her eyes to glow a silvery-white.
~~~~~
In the palace, her mother was in her office, finishing up some paperwork when she felt her daughter's life-force and magical energy dramatically increase. "What's going on?" she said to herself. It felt like Serenity was in trouble. Queen Selenity quickly rushed towards the point of origin of the magical energy without even thinking about it- the lake.
~~~~~
As soon as they were safely to shore, Serenity dropped to the ground, out cold from the amount of magical energy she used.
Michiru and Haruka were also unconscious. After about 5 minutes, Serenity with much effort opened her eyes. Although she was exhausted to the bone, she had to make sure that her friends were fine.
She slowly crawled on her hands and knees to where they lay. When she touched them, they felt like ice-cubes. Before she fell asleep, she did the only thing she could. She took off her coat and put it over the sleeping figures and then fell unconscious herself.
~~~~~
Queen Selenity wasn't the only one who felt that sharp magical energy increase. And they decided to check up on it.
~~~~~
Mai and Kaiya were on a terrace when they spotted light in the distance. It looked like it had originated from the lake, but they weren't sure. As they were going to Selenity's office to tell her about it, they saw her run out of there. They decided to follow her.
~~~~~
Felix, the guard in charge of the gates to the lake saw Queen Selenity and behind her, Queen Mai and Kaiya.
"Good day your majesties," he said with a bow when they were near enough.
"Open the gates quickly Felix," Queen Selenity demanded. He quickly complied although he was a bit miffed that she hadn't returned his greeting. She quickly descended down the stairs.
"Sorry Felix, but she's a bit on edge," Kaiya said as she and Mai passed.
When Queen Selenity reached the bottom, she looked around for any sign on her daughter. Mai and Kaiya reached her.
"What's wrong Selenity?" Mai asked.
"I felt Serenity's life-force diminish," She answered. "I don't know where she is."
"Maybe we should follow those footprints?" Kaiya asked pointing down.
They all looked down and saw that there were three sets of prints. This meant that Haruka and Michiru were there with her as well.
The first thing that they noticed as they climbed the next hill was that the pier was broken. "Oh no," Mai whispered, fearing the worse.
Selenity then spotted something on the sand. It was large and brown and strangely enough, had a tail… … … …
She ran towards the object with Mai and Kaiya right behind her. As they drew closer, they realized that it was a lioness and right next to her, was a tiger. Selenity knew instantly who it was. But before she could even speak to them, she saw why they were their and curled up in the sand. The two of them were around the children, obviously protecting them from something.
"What happened?" Kaiya said kneeling down. She touched Michiru and felt that she was cold and wet. Mai went to Haruka and also realized that he too was cold and wet. Selenity bent down where Serenity was. She was dry and warm but also unconscious.
"Haruka and Michiru fell into the lake and Serenity pulled them out," the lioness responded.
"How is that possible? Serenity's dry," Selenity remarked picking her little girl up.
"Tell me something Selenity. Why did you come here?" the tiger asked.
"Because I felt Serenity's energy in…crease," Selenity answered. The lioness nodded.
"But how could she? She's only had a few months' training, and what they've been teaching her hasn't even reached that level," Selenity said.
"Necessity is the mother of invention," the tiger remarked.
The lioness looked at her. "What is that supposed to mean, Naferti?"
"Oh just ignore me Nala," Naferti said with a laugh.
"I do that everyday," Nala grumbled.
"Enough you two. Now I know why I didn't miss you two," Selenity said getting up. They took the children back to the palace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Serenity opened her eyes, she noticed that she was in the medical section of the Palace. Haruka and Michiru were also there.
"Ah, the princess is finally awake," Michiru said smiling.
"Have a nice sleep?" Haruka teased.
"What happened?" Serenity asked.
"We actually have no idea," Michiru said frankly.
"What?" Serenity asked.
"It's true. We just woke up a few minute ago, so we don't know how we all got here. But my guess is that our parents brought us here," Haruka said.
"And that we are going to be confined to the palace from now on," Michiru said with a sigh.
"How right you two are," Mai said coming into the room.
"Oh, hello mother," Haruka said sweetly.
"Don't even try it Haruka. I'm upset at you, at all of you," She said.
"I'm sorry Aunt Mai," Serenity said. "It was my fault for bringing them down there and for not remembering sooner that the pier was dangerous."
"It's not all your fault Serenity. We shouldn't have convinced you to take us down there in the first place," Haruka said.
"After all you were the one who wanted to bring a grown-up with us, but we convinced you otherwise," Michiru added.
"You're all to blame. Serenity you should have known better," Queen Selenity said coming into the room.
"Sorry mother," she said with her head down.
"From now on, whenever you leave the palace, you will bring these two with you," She said holding up a large basket. Two heads popped up over the top of it.
Serenity squealed. "Kittens!" She said excitedly.
"They're rather large to be kittens," Haruka remarked.
"They are special kittens. One is a lion cub and the other, a tiger cub," Mai answered. "They've been weaned already."
Selenity placed the basket on the floor and took them out one at a time and placed them on the bed with her. Serenity hugged them and they in turn licked her face and gently bit at her hands.
"Now, you three are prohibited from going to the lake unless you have an adult with you. Also you need to be back at the palace at eleven in the morning and again at five in the afternoon. Is that clear?" Mai said.
"Yes mother,"
"Yes Aunt Mai,"
"Good. Now we'll leave you three to get some rest," Selenity said picking up the basket. She started to reach for the cubs but Serenity protested.
"Can't they stay with me?" She pleaded.
"Alright, but I'll send their parents for them in an hour," Selenity said kissing her daughter's forehead. She and Mai left closing the door behind them.
Haruka and Michiru both got off their beds and went to Serenity's.
"Oh they're soo cute!" Michiru said excitedly. "Can I hold them?"
"Sure," Serenity said giving the tiger cub to her.
"What are their names?" Haruka asked.
"Hm, I don't know," she responded.
"This one's name is Shika," Michiru said looking at the collar.
"What does that one say?" Haruka asked.
"Ambika," Serenity said.
They sat and played with the cubs for a while before Haruka suddenly had a thought.
"Serenity who brought us out of the water?" Haruka
"I don't know Haruka," Serenity said putting the tired cubs into the basket. She yawned sleepily. "I'm tired. I'll lie down now," She said lying back against the pillow.
"Ok princess, goodnight," Haruka said.
"I'm tired as well. Goodnight princess, goodnight Haruka," Michiru said also lying down.
"Goodnight Michiru," Haruka said lying down. Soon the two girls were fast asleep, but Haruka found sleep difficult. He knew that Serenity must have done something to help as the grown-ups would have taken too much time to get there. But what exactly she did escaped him. She said she couldn't swim and she definitely wasn't strong enough to pull both of them in that freezing water. He thought about it until his head hurt and sleep finally caught up to him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day found Serenity as bouncy and cheerful as ever, and Haruka and Michiru with colds. The only sympathy they got from their parents was a 'serves you right for going down to the lake.' They felt horrible and agitated and Serenity's cheerful disposition wasn't helping their moods a bit.
Serenity was kept away from them for fear that she would catch their colds, but she managed to sneak in on the third day. They were in their beds in the medical wing, feeling horrible with stuffed up noses and coughs which made their whole chest and throat hurt and horrible headaches which kept them from sleep. Haruka was just about to throw his pillow at the air filtering machine fro making too much noise when a small head poked its way around the door. It was followed by another and a larger head with blond hair.
"Hi!" Serenity said in a cheery voice, entering the room.
"Good morning Serenity," Michiru said with a cough.
"Good morning," Haruka grumbled.
"Aw, is someone feeling bad?" Serenity asked going to sit on Haruka's bed. He turned his head away from her. She looked at Michiru.
"He's been grumpy ever since we woke up with these colds. Pay absolutely no attention to him," Michiru said smiling.
"I'm not planning to," She answered also smiling.
"Why are you here?" Haruka asked annoyed.
"Well I was bored and I managed to escape from my lessons, so I decided to come here," She said.
"Your mom will be upset princess," Ambika said jumping on the bed.
"I'll go in a minute," She assured them.
"I hope so. I don't want to hear my mom lecture us again," Shika said also jumping up on the bed. She scratched her ears in annoyance.
"You run off too much, Serenity," Ambika added. "You need your lessons to help you prepare for the future."
"Now you sound like my mother," Serenity grumbled. Michiru giggled.
"Come on, lets go back now," Shika said jumping off the bed and pulling on her skirt.
"Oh all right!" Serenity said jumping off the bed. "Good bye!" She said leaving the room.
"Good bye Serenity," Michiru said before the door closed. She turned to Haruka. "What's wrong with you? You barely said two words to her."
"Leave me alone," He responded covering his head with the blanket. Michiru finally gave up trying to talk to him after a minute of him ignoring her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Princess Serenity where have you been?" Demanded Lady Samantha.
"Sorry Lady Samantha. I just made a wrong turn in the palace," She answered.
"Well that young lady is simply unacceptable. I will personally come for you when it is time for classes to start and I will take you to your next class as well. Now sit down," she said sternly.
"Yes Lady Samantha," Serenity said. As soon as Lady Samantha turned around Serenity stuck out her tongue at her.
"Now take out your quill and paper," She said going to the front of the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During the last week of their visit, Haruka and Michiru's colds were almost better but they were still kept away from Serenity. She was allowed to visit them, but she did have to wear a surgical mask and cover up from head to toe. Haruka remarked that she looked like an under grown nurse.
When the last day of their visit came, Serenity was very sad. Once again the castle would be quiet and she'd be all alone. Serenity was a bit resistant to going to see them off. She didn't want to cry in front of anyone and she knew she would if she went.
"What's wrong princess," Ambika asked concerned.
"Nothing," she said quickly.
"But there is something wrong. You hardly touched your breakfast this morning," Shika said.
Serenity sat on the floor besides them. "I'm upset because Haruka and Michiru are leaving today and I'll be all alone again."
"You won't be totally alone. Ambika and I will be here," Shika said putting her head on Serenity's lap.
"And there's your mother and our mothers and Lady Luna and Lord Artemis. You'll have people to talk to," Ambika encouraged.
"But it won't be the same. I wish my mother never brought them here in the first place. Then I wouldn't feel this way," Serenity said, tears had begun to roll down her face.
"You don't mean that do you?" Michiru asked from the door. Serenity looked up to see Haruka and Michiru standing at the door.
"What are you guys doing here?" She said quickly getting to her feet and wiping her eyes and walking to the door.
"Don't cry because of us, Serenity," Haruka said. "We'll come and visit again as soon as possible."
"Yes we will. And maybe you can come visit us," Michiru added.
"You think so?" Serenity asked.
"Of course," Haruka answered.
"I've never been off of the moon before," she said to herself.
"You'll love it on Neptune," Michiru said.
"Come on we have to go now," Haruka said taking Serenity's hand. Ambika and Shika followed.
~~~~
When Serenity, Haruka and Michiru went to the launch area, everyone else was there. The first thing Mai noticed was that Haruka and Serenity were holding hands. She thought that they looked so adorable like that. Selenity and Kaiya noticed as well but remained quiet.
As the adults said their goodbyes, Haruka turned to Serenity and gave her a very fast kiss on the cheek. She looked surprised but didn't say anything to cause him embarrassment. She hugged and was hugged by Mai and the others.
~~~~
Selenity saw how sad Serenity was as the ship lifted off.
"Cheer up dear. You'll go visit Haruka next year and you two will write to each other in the meantime," Selenity said picking her up.
"Really?" She asked.
"Of course," Selenity assured her walking back towards the palace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 2
After their things had been taken care of, Selenity allowed Serenity to change out of her dress and left her, Haruka and Michiru went in to the courtyard to do whatever they liked. Serenity was not a very happy little girl. She wanted to go and be in the gardens by herself and play with the little rabbits she had found there. But her mother's words were the law as far as she was concerned so she had to be there.
Haruka noticed a change in Serenity's attitude. If anything, she seemed a bit cool towards him, unlike before. He knew that this was his fault and decided to be nicer to her.
"So little princess, what would you like to do?" Haruka asked bending down to her height.
Serenity looked at him sharply glaring at him . She didn't like the way he spoke to her at all. It made her more aware for her small stature for her age, and brought up the bad time that they had the last time. Before Haruka knew it, Serenity was running away as fast as her little legs could take her.
Haruka just blinked and looked at her. Then he felt Michiru hit him.
"What did I do?"
"You made her feel small," Michiru said chidingly.
"How?"
"Bending down to her height, calling her little and using a babying voice? Now go and get her. I don't think your mother or Queen Selenity would appreciate it if we go back without her."
"OK, ok. Darn you girls are so sensitive," Haruka grumbled as he ran after her.
'She's a fast little thing,' he thought as she was almost to the end of the courtyard. Haruka caught her just before she entered the gardens.
"Hey wait,"
Serenity turned around abruptly as Haruka caught her hand. She tried to pull it free from his grasp for a while but gave up.
"What's wrong with you?" He asked slightly out of breath.
"Go on and say it!"
Haruka was confused. "Say what?"
"That you don't want to be around me at all. That you think I'm a baby and that the only reason that you're being nice is because your mom made you. Well you don't have to be nice to me. I'll be going along now," she said turning to go.
"Wait. Look I'm very sorry for the way I treated you before. I honestly want to make it up to you. Just give me a chance, please?" Haruka said extending his hand.
Usagi studied Haruka for a long while. "Ok," she said taking it.
"Now why don't you meet Michiru formally?" He said bringing her back to where Michiru was.
Usagi had her head down. She was a bit embarrassed that she had acted in such a way.
"Welcome back Princess," Michiru said kindly.
"I'm very sorry for my behavior," Serenity said with embarrassment.
"It's all right. So where are we going?" Michiru asked.
Serenity wasted no time thinking about it. She knew exactly what she wanted to show them. "Follow me," she said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Where are we?" Michiru asked as the entered a small clearing.
"This is my favorite part of the gardens," Serenity said as went to a dark area in the bushes. She pulled out a blanket and spread it as best as she could. She sat down on it and gestured towards it. "Sit down," she offered.
They sat down and then Selenity produced a medium sized bag out of thin air.
Michiru noticed the bag. "What's that for?"
"You'll see soon enough," Serenity said. And surly they did. Before long, they had their first visitor, a beautiful gray rabbit with black tipped ears. Soon other rabbits with all shades and mixtures of black, brown, white and gray came out of the bushes.
"Oh, how beautiful!" Michiru exclaimed, looking at all the rabbits.
"How did you discover this place, Serenity?" Haruka asked.
Serenity turned red. "I was trying to hide form my instructors," She mumbled.
"Don't worry, I know the feeling," he responded picking up a rabbit. He noticed a rabbit nibbling on the bag she had brought. "Your rabbit is eating your bag," he pointed out.
"Oh! I almost forgot about these!" she exclaimed. She opened the bag and pulled out an apple slice. She fed it to the hungry rabbit on her lap and then gave the bag to Haruka. "Here. They love these," she said.
Haruka took the bag and saw that it contained not only apple slices, but carrot sticks, spinach, lettuce and cabbage leaves.
"Where did you get all of these?" Michiru said looking in the bag.
"I convinced the cook, Morris, to give them to me. He said that rabbits loved these and he's right," Serenity said with a giggle as a rabbit jumped up and took an offered carrot stick from her fingers.
"Do they have names?" Michiru asked.
"No. I guess I should give them names, shouldn't I?"
"It's not necessary, but it is a good idea," Haruka said.
"Will you guys help me?" Serenity asked.
"Sure," Michiru said with a smile.
And for the rest of the afternoon, they named and fed the rabbits. Michiru came up with the idea of giving each a different colored ribbon to tell them apart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dinner was calmer than expected. This time there were no insults or crying or food throwing involved like the last time. Everything went smoothly.
When Queen Selenity went in to put Serenity to bed, she found her still in her dinner clothes, sitting on her bed looking out of the window.
"Serenity, why haven't you changed yet?"
"I was going to, but I was just looking out of the window and I kind of, forgot," She said meekly.
Selenity laughed. "Always in a daydream," she said ruffling Serenity's hair a bit.
"Not always," Serenity said, defending herself.
"Ok then, mostly. Come on, let's change you," She said picking her up.
"Can I have the light blue nightgown?" Serenity asked as her mother led her to the closet.
"Why that one? I thought that you loved the pink one?"
"Well I like the blue one now. It reminds me of the sky," Serenity said sleepily.
Selenity looked down at her daughter. "Anything for you sweetie," she said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That night, after everyone had gone to bed, they were all awoken by a piercing scream, which shattered the silence of the night. Queen Selenity bolted up out of her bed. "Serenity," she whispered rushing to put on her robe. She quickly went to her daughter's bedroom.
The scream also woke up the rest of the sleepers in the East Wing of the palace. They came out into the hallway just in time to see Selenity go into Serenity's room.
"Mother what's happening?" Haruka asked Queen Mai.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," She said walking down the hall. The other's followed. "You and Michiru go back to your rooms and go to sleep."
"Yes mother," Haruka said closing his door. Michiru did the same.
~~~~~
Queen Selenity was holding a crying Serenity when they came in.
"What's wrong Selenity?" Kaiya asked.
"I don't know. She won't stop crying," Selenity answered, slowly rocking the little princess in an effort to calm her down.
By now the princess was in her own little world, reliving her nightmare. She tried to close her eyes to make the images go away but they got worse.
"What's wrong Serenity, talk to me," her mother urged her when she had finally calmed down.
"I-I had a bad dream," she said as best as she could.
"About what?" Selenity asked, very concerned.
"About you and everyone else. You-" She said stopping in mid sentence.
"Me? What about me?"
"You- you, I can't remember," she said finally, after a while.
"It's alright, rest now," Selenity said putting her back to bed. She ushered the others out of the room. Before anyone could open their mouth Selenity spoke.
"We'll discuss this in the morning. Goodnight everyone," she said walking away. The others returned to their bedrooms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning found them in the conference room.
"I don't like this Selenity," Haru said to her.
"What child would wake up from a dream screaming, then know exactly what she dreamt about but the very minute she begins to tell us, forget about it?" Hisa asked.
"It's a bad omen Selenity," Kaiya said to her. "The seas have never led me wrong and they now have an ominous feel to them. Something big is going to happen, but not now. If only I had the Mirror."
"It was just the dream of a child and nothing more," Selenity said firmly.
"Tell me something, has she, to your knowledge ever dreamt before?" Mai asked.
"No never," Selenity said thoughtfully.
"Have you been developing her psychically?"
"She's too young and has only just started her training. Like I said, it was only a child's nightmare and nothing more. Now I don't want to hear anymore on the topic, so if you would excuse me," Selenity said getting up and leaving.
"I had forgotten how stubborn Selenity is," Haru said.
"She won't take this seriously and we can't convince her otherwise," Kaiya said.
"Maybe she's right. Maybe it was just a child's dream, not to be taken seriously," Mai said.
"Well in any case, it no use dwelling on it. Let's go," Hisa said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While the meeting was going on, Haruka and Michiru used that time to interrogate Serenity.
"Why were you screaming last night, Serenity?" Michiru asked.
"It almost gave me a heart attack," Haruka said.
"I had a nightmare. It was very scary, that I know."
"What was it about?" Haruka asked.
"I don't remember. All I can remember is being so scared and my heart beating very fast. And that it had something to do with my mother," she reflected.
"My parents were talking about it all last night. They think that it might be serious," Michiru said.
"Really?" Serenity asked. Michiru nodded.
"But I can't remember anything. Anyway Mother said not to worry about it, that it was just a dream. So I am not going to think about it anymore," Serenity said firmly. The others agreed with her.
"So what are we doing today, Princess?" Michiru asked.
"I want to go to the lake, but we need a grown-up to go," Serenity said.
"Why can't we go by ourselves?" Haruka asked.
"Because the lake is very deep and mother is always afraid that I will fall in and drown. I can't swim you know."
"But we can. We shouldn't bother the grown-ups now anyway. And it will be fun," Michiru said.
"I don't know, mother wouldn't like it if I go by myself," Serenity said skeptically.
"Oh come on! We'll take care of you. And we won't go swimming in it," Haruka said.
"Of course not! It's too cold in there. The water temperature is 3o above absolute zero," Serenity said.
"We definitely can't swim in that," Michiru said.
Serenity thought about it for a while.
Haruka saw her indecisions and added, "What could go wrong?"
"Ok then," She said finally. "But we have to go back for our coats and we must wear hats." She said finally. The other two agreed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Shhh," Serenity said as they slipped under a few shrubs. They had to sneak into this part of the gardens as the gates which led to them were locked. They always had a guard in front of them. This wasn't always so, but Serenity didn't know why they started posting one there. Nor did she ask, because if her mother ever found out that she was in this part of the gardens, she would be severely scolded.
The children ran quickly down the hill that led to the lake. From the top, you couldn't see the shoreline, so they ran down for a little while and then used the stairs as it was to steep to continue along their previous path.
When they reached the bottom, Michiru instantly fell in love with the place. The fine grey sand glistened with fine crystal grains which made the beach seem to glow and sparkle in the sunlight. The water was still and had a silvery tone to it, which made the whole atmosphere urethral.
"This place is simply beautiful, Serenity," Michiru said.
"I know. I love coming here with my mother. We try to come once a month together, but lately mother doesn't have time anymore," Serenity said with a sad look in her eye.
Haruka felt sorry for her. He was again reminded that she was lonely here. "Why don't you tell your mother how you feel?"
"Because she's been busy lately and I don't want to disturb her. But enough of this. If you two really want to see the water, there's a small dock just over there," She said pointing to the west.
"Let's go," Michiru said eagerly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Aren't you coming with us Serenity?" Haruka asked from his place on the pier.
"No," she said wearily. She remembered that her mother had told her something about this pier and she was trying to figure out what it was, so until then, she was staying on shore.
"Aw, don't be scared. It's beautiful here," Michiru said dipping the tip of her shoe in the water.
"You should come off now. I have a bad feeling about all this," Serenity said after a while. She looked slightly distressed.
"Come on Michiru, we have to go back to the palace anyway, it's almost lunch," Haruka said looking at his watch.
"Alright," she responded. As they were both getting ready to walk back they felt the pier shift. They stopped abruptly.
Serenity then remembered what her mother had said. 'Don't walk on the pier, it's unstable,' she thought.
"Get off now!" she yelled.
But as they made their move the pier suddenly collapsed under them. Haruka and Michiru were instantly shocked by the sudden near freezing water. What was worse was that they were sinking fast. Their clothes were dragging them down beneath the surface.
While they struggled to remain afloat, Serenity stood their frozen. If she ran to get help, they could very well die before she even reached the stairs. But she couldn't even swim and if she could, they were still twice her size. She would never be able to pull either of them to shore.
~~~~~
Haruka saw Serenity on shore frozen in fear. He wanted to yell at her to get help, but all of his energy was going into staying above the surface. Michiru was not so lucky. She was very tired and the water was draining their energy fast, her movements were beginning to slow. They both were. Haruka looked back towards the shore, wishing that she would do something.
~~~~~
As she saw them start to slip beneath the surface, her mind shut down and her subconscious took over. She extended her arms before herself and with all the magical energy she could gather, sent out a strong beam of it to where the two went down. They slowly started to rise out of the water. The amount her small body was putting out caused her crescent moon to glow brightly and her eyes to glow a silvery-white.
~~~~~
In the palace, her mother was in her office, finishing up some paperwork when she felt her daughter's life-force and magical energy dramatically increase. "What's going on?" she said to herself. It felt like Serenity was in trouble. Queen Selenity quickly rushed towards the point of origin of the magical energy without even thinking about it- the lake.
~~~~~
As soon as they were safely to shore, Serenity dropped to the ground, out cold from the amount of magical energy she used.
Michiru and Haruka were also unconscious. After about 5 minutes, Serenity with much effort opened her eyes. Although she was exhausted to the bone, she had to make sure that her friends were fine.
She slowly crawled on her hands and knees to where they lay. When she touched them, they felt like ice-cubes. Before she fell asleep, she did the only thing she could. She took off her coat and put it over the sleeping figures and then fell unconscious herself.
~~~~~
Queen Selenity wasn't the only one who felt that sharp magical energy increase. And they decided to check up on it.
~~~~~
Mai and Kaiya were on a terrace when they spotted light in the distance. It looked like it had originated from the lake, but they weren't sure. As they were going to Selenity's office to tell her about it, they saw her run out of there. They decided to follow her.
~~~~~
Felix, the guard in charge of the gates to the lake saw Queen Selenity and behind her, Queen Mai and Kaiya.
"Good day your majesties," he said with a bow when they were near enough.
"Open the gates quickly Felix," Queen Selenity demanded. He quickly complied although he was a bit miffed that she hadn't returned his greeting. She quickly descended down the stairs.
"Sorry Felix, but she's a bit on edge," Kaiya said as she and Mai passed.
When Queen Selenity reached the bottom, she looked around for any sign on her daughter. Mai and Kaiya reached her.
"What's wrong Selenity?" Mai asked.
"I felt Serenity's life-force diminish," She answered. "I don't know where she is."
"Maybe we should follow those footprints?" Kaiya asked pointing down.
They all looked down and saw that there were three sets of prints. This meant that Haruka and Michiru were there with her as well.
The first thing that they noticed as they climbed the next hill was that the pier was broken. "Oh no," Mai whispered, fearing the worse.
Selenity then spotted something on the sand. It was large and brown and strangely enough, had a tail… … … …
She ran towards the object with Mai and Kaiya right behind her. As they drew closer, they realized that it was a lioness and right next to her, was a tiger. Selenity knew instantly who it was. But before she could even speak to them, she saw why they were their and curled up in the sand. The two of them were around the children, obviously protecting them from something.
"What happened?" Kaiya said kneeling down. She touched Michiru and felt that she was cold and wet. Mai went to Haruka and also realized that he too was cold and wet. Selenity bent down where Serenity was. She was dry and warm but also unconscious.
"Haruka and Michiru fell into the lake and Serenity pulled them out," the lioness responded.
"How is that possible? Serenity's dry," Selenity remarked picking her little girl up.
"Tell me something Selenity. Why did you come here?" the tiger asked.
"Because I felt Serenity's energy in…crease," Selenity answered. The lioness nodded.
"But how could she? She's only had a few months' training, and what they've been teaching her hasn't even reached that level," Selenity said.
"Necessity is the mother of invention," the tiger remarked.
The lioness looked at her. "What is that supposed to mean, Naferti?"
"Oh just ignore me Nala," Naferti said with a laugh.
"I do that everyday," Nala grumbled.
"Enough you two. Now I know why I didn't miss you two," Selenity said getting up. They took the children back to the palace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Serenity opened her eyes, she noticed that she was in the medical section of the Palace. Haruka and Michiru were also there.
"Ah, the princess is finally awake," Michiru said smiling.
"Have a nice sleep?" Haruka teased.
"What happened?" Serenity asked.
"We actually have no idea," Michiru said frankly.
"What?" Serenity asked.
"It's true. We just woke up a few minute ago, so we don't know how we all got here. But my guess is that our parents brought us here," Haruka said.
"And that we are going to be confined to the palace from now on," Michiru said with a sigh.
"How right you two are," Mai said coming into the room.
"Oh, hello mother," Haruka said sweetly.
"Don't even try it Haruka. I'm upset at you, at all of you," She said.
"I'm sorry Aunt Mai," Serenity said. "It was my fault for bringing them down there and for not remembering sooner that the pier was dangerous."
"It's not all your fault Serenity. We shouldn't have convinced you to take us down there in the first place," Haruka said.
"After all you were the one who wanted to bring a grown-up with us, but we convinced you otherwise," Michiru added.
"You're all to blame. Serenity you should have known better," Queen Selenity said coming into the room.
"Sorry mother," she said with her head down.
"From now on, whenever you leave the palace, you will bring these two with you," She said holding up a large basket. Two heads popped up over the top of it.
Serenity squealed. "Kittens!" She said excitedly.
"They're rather large to be kittens," Haruka remarked.
"They are special kittens. One is a lion cub and the other, a tiger cub," Mai answered. "They've been weaned already."
Selenity placed the basket on the floor and took them out one at a time and placed them on the bed with her. Serenity hugged them and they in turn licked her face and gently bit at her hands.
"Now, you three are prohibited from going to the lake unless you have an adult with you. Also you need to be back at the palace at eleven in the morning and again at five in the afternoon. Is that clear?" Mai said.
"Yes mother,"
"Yes Aunt Mai,"
"Good. Now we'll leave you three to get some rest," Selenity said picking up the basket. She started to reach for the cubs but Serenity protested.
"Can't they stay with me?" She pleaded.
"Alright, but I'll send their parents for them in an hour," Selenity said kissing her daughter's forehead. She and Mai left closing the door behind them.
Haruka and Michiru both got off their beds and went to Serenity's.
"Oh they're soo cute!" Michiru said excitedly. "Can I hold them?"
"Sure," Serenity said giving the tiger cub to her.
"What are their names?" Haruka asked.
"Hm, I don't know," she responded.
"This one's name is Shika," Michiru said looking at the collar.
"What does that one say?" Haruka asked.
"Ambika," Serenity said.
They sat and played with the cubs for a while before Haruka suddenly had a thought.
"Serenity who brought us out of the water?" Haruka
"I don't know Haruka," Serenity said putting the tired cubs into the basket. She yawned sleepily. "I'm tired. I'll lie down now," She said lying back against the pillow.
"Ok princess, goodnight," Haruka said.
"I'm tired as well. Goodnight princess, goodnight Haruka," Michiru said also lying down.
"Goodnight Michiru," Haruka said lying down. Soon the two girls were fast asleep, but Haruka found sleep difficult. He knew that Serenity must have done something to help as the grown-ups would have taken too much time to get there. But what exactly she did escaped him. She said she couldn't swim and she definitely wasn't strong enough to pull both of them in that freezing water. He thought about it until his head hurt and sleep finally caught up to him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day found Serenity as bouncy and cheerful as ever, and Haruka and Michiru with colds. The only sympathy they got from their parents was a 'serves you right for going down to the lake.' They felt horrible and agitated and Serenity's cheerful disposition wasn't helping their moods a bit.
Serenity was kept away from them for fear that she would catch their colds, but she managed to sneak in on the third day. They were in their beds in the medical wing, feeling horrible with stuffed up noses and coughs which made their whole chest and throat hurt and horrible headaches which kept them from sleep. Haruka was just about to throw his pillow at the air filtering machine fro making too much noise when a small head poked its way around the door. It was followed by another and a larger head with blond hair.
"Hi!" Serenity said in a cheery voice, entering the room.
"Good morning Serenity," Michiru said with a cough.
"Good morning," Haruka grumbled.
"Aw, is someone feeling bad?" Serenity asked going to sit on Haruka's bed. He turned his head away from her. She looked at Michiru.
"He's been grumpy ever since we woke up with these colds. Pay absolutely no attention to him," Michiru said smiling.
"I'm not planning to," She answered also smiling.
"Why are you here?" Haruka asked annoyed.
"Well I was bored and I managed to escape from my lessons, so I decided to come here," She said.
"Your mom will be upset princess," Ambika said jumping on the bed.
"I'll go in a minute," She assured them.
"I hope so. I don't want to hear my mom lecture us again," Shika said also jumping up on the bed. She scratched her ears in annoyance.
"You run off too much, Serenity," Ambika added. "You need your lessons to help you prepare for the future."
"Now you sound like my mother," Serenity grumbled. Michiru giggled.
"Come on, lets go back now," Shika said jumping off the bed and pulling on her skirt.
"Oh all right!" Serenity said jumping off the bed. "Good bye!" She said leaving the room.
"Good bye Serenity," Michiru said before the door closed. She turned to Haruka. "What's wrong with you? You barely said two words to her."
"Leave me alone," He responded covering his head with the blanket. Michiru finally gave up trying to talk to him after a minute of him ignoring her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Princess Serenity where have you been?" Demanded Lady Samantha.
"Sorry Lady Samantha. I just made a wrong turn in the palace," She answered.
"Well that young lady is simply unacceptable. I will personally come for you when it is time for classes to start and I will take you to your next class as well. Now sit down," she said sternly.
"Yes Lady Samantha," Serenity said. As soon as Lady Samantha turned around Serenity stuck out her tongue at her.
"Now take out your quill and paper," She said going to the front of the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During the last week of their visit, Haruka and Michiru's colds were almost better but they were still kept away from Serenity. She was allowed to visit them, but she did have to wear a surgical mask and cover up from head to toe. Haruka remarked that she looked like an under grown nurse.
When the last day of their visit came, Serenity was very sad. Once again the castle would be quiet and she'd be all alone. Serenity was a bit resistant to going to see them off. She didn't want to cry in front of anyone and she knew she would if she went.
"What's wrong princess," Ambika asked concerned.
"Nothing," she said quickly.
"But there is something wrong. You hardly touched your breakfast this morning," Shika said.
Serenity sat on the floor besides them. "I'm upset because Haruka and Michiru are leaving today and I'll be all alone again."
"You won't be totally alone. Ambika and I will be here," Shika said putting her head on Serenity's lap.
"And there's your mother and our mothers and Lady Luna and Lord Artemis. You'll have people to talk to," Ambika encouraged.
"But it won't be the same. I wish my mother never brought them here in the first place. Then I wouldn't feel this way," Serenity said, tears had begun to roll down her face.
"You don't mean that do you?" Michiru asked from the door. Serenity looked up to see Haruka and Michiru standing at the door.
"What are you guys doing here?" She said quickly getting to her feet and wiping her eyes and walking to the door.
"Don't cry because of us, Serenity," Haruka said. "We'll come and visit again as soon as possible."
"Yes we will. And maybe you can come visit us," Michiru added.
"You think so?" Serenity asked.
"Of course," Haruka answered.
"I've never been off of the moon before," she said to herself.
"You'll love it on Neptune," Michiru said.
"Come on we have to go now," Haruka said taking Serenity's hand. Ambika and Shika followed.
~~~~
When Serenity, Haruka and Michiru went to the launch area, everyone else was there. The first thing Mai noticed was that Haruka and Serenity were holding hands. She thought that they looked so adorable like that. Selenity and Kaiya noticed as well but remained quiet.
As the adults said their goodbyes, Haruka turned to Serenity and gave her a very fast kiss on the cheek. She looked surprised but didn't say anything to cause him embarrassment. She hugged and was hugged by Mai and the others.
~~~~
Selenity saw how sad Serenity was as the ship lifted off.
"Cheer up dear. You'll go visit Haruka next year and you two will write to each other in the meantime," Selenity said picking her up.
"Really?" She asked.
"Of course," Selenity assured her walking back towards the palace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~