After so long and so much begging, I have ceded to the demands of a friend. This piece of fan fiction was started about the start of November last year, and published a week later. Not even an entire week passed before I had called the piece finished and went on with life. Now, I am continuing "When Purple Clashes with Pink" because a friend begged me to, and I thought it might be good to come up with something new for a change.

Calethos Verilain Blacksworth
"When Purple Clashes with Pink"
Chapter 5: Proposal
Re-edited June 2nd, 2004

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It was rather lonesome, being in the dining hall all by themselves without their husbands with them. The eight of them envied their queen. She had her husband attending the meal. But, they couldn't exactly complain, they were, after all, the best of friends with each other, and they hadn't gathered together in agreat many years as friends.

Each face was pretty, something better than the average model could have hoped to present on a good day, perhaps faces to compete with supermodels even. Each had been successful in their career choices. Each woman had had their plans and dreams play to completion, and all they had to do was just sit back and enjoy the rest of their retirements. Of course, none of them had ever planned on retiring when they still looked beautiful and were graceful.

The woman with the flowing blonde hair sipped the red substance from her glass and put it down on the table, then picked it up and sipped again. Her cheeks were already reddened, and one could tell that she was almost completely drunk, but it did not matter to anyone. The one with the bright blue hair would help the blonde to bed and would monitor the blonde if she needed to. That was simply her nature, and she was talented at what came to her naturally.

The brunette looked from face to face, smiling politely, not knowing what really to say in the various conversations they were having about catching up. The raven-haired one stared off into the distance as if seeing something there just behind her princess. Perhaps looking for something or someone she couldn't quite make out in the distance.

Then there were three who were a subgroup of their own, almost completely talking amongst themselves. The sandy blonde, the aqua-headed one, and the woman with dark green hair sat nearest each other and communicated in low-toned whispers, every now and again laughing quietly about something one had said. After a while, the entire group was talking to each other, having conversations with everyone at the table. There were no longer subsections, but casual conversations about random nothings taking place within the entire group. Queen Serenity smiled about every little thing from Rei's child having found a new seashell just last week, to Minako's child being a brain in his school. And when she smiled, everyone felt compelled to smile as well.

At the corner of the table, sitting across from an empty chair, was Tomoe Hotaru, better known in the age of The New Silver Millennium as Sailor Saturn, not that anyone besides the ones at the table knew that. She smiled along with the rest of the group, her belly filling with the same laughter, her heart the same warmth as the rest of the Senshi, but she felt also uneasy. Her best and closest friend, Chibiusa, had only just come back from the past again, this time for good. She had no idea how she would react to the girl when she finally made an appearance to the table, and she wondered if whatever reaction she had might give her away to the rest of her friends. She sighed barely noticeably. Only three people in the room, Endymion, Serenity, and Setsuna, noticed the sound from her as she continued speaking with Minako about why she still wasn't married and that she hadn't really looked for anyone. Queen Serenity began to worry, but hid it well enough from everyone in the room.

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"Crystal-san," a bright pink-haired woman said to an older-looking female, "what do you think of mother's newest child?" The woman lowered her arms so that the sleeves of a gown could be placed onto her arms. She knew she was late, not that it mattered much anyway because she knew the dinner wouldn't start without her. It was, after all, a welcoming back party for her, with her friends having gathered together for it.

"I think your little sister is a darling," replied the older woman with a gentle and motherly tone. "I think my grand daughter and your sister would get along well. She seems like a nice, loving child, playful, active, and outgoing, even when I try to make her stay inside."

"She loves the sun," the pink-haired girl said. "I refuse to believe that she'll stay nearly as light-skinned as mother and I. She's going to come home sunburnt, I believe, maybe a tan like the one Setsuna-san wears."

"Indeed." The woman chortled.

A moment passed while the ruffling of the gown was heard. "Crystal-san..."

The woman waited for a few seconds, then asked, "Yes, Princess?"

Another few seconds left. "What do you think of... couples?"

"Couples? Well, I always thought that love was one of the main themes of the human race. People getting together is natural in that regard. Why? Did you scout out someone when you were in the past?"

"I suppose you could say that."

"Ah. Well, the past is the past now, and you cannot return there again. You're back in the present, and that's all that matters at the moment. Besides, back then, there weren't many decent men."

Another moment fluttered by. "What do you think of Haruka-san and Michiru-san? Do you... approve of them being a couple?"

Crystal continued on with putting the finishing touches on the gown. "Well, I have to say that at first I thought they were going to come after me to join in their acts. But then I got used to them being around. Neither of them ever tried to hit it off with me. Both were friendlier than most, but then again, every one of your friends are. I hear they got good husbands, all of them. Well, all but those two, and Tomoe-san. Even Setsuna-san has found the time to get married."

Chibiusa chuckled. 'No pun intended, I'll bet,' she thought to herself. "What do you think of people like them though?"

It took Crystal a moment to answer. She was a bit confused. "Well, I don't really know. I suppose they're people just like you and me and, you know, have their chance at love too." She paused a bit, then continued. "Well, I suppose I don't really mind. But I really don't like the subject. I think it's a bit off of you to bring something like that up here at your welcoming reception. Besides, your mother won't let you go back to the past, nor let anyone from the past come here to the future. So, I don't think you'll ever see that young man again."

Chibiusa stayed silent for the next few minutes. Crystal finished with the flowing white-gray gown with hints of purple hanging at the fringes. She had little nerve, but she resolved to go through with what she had planned to say to her friends. She rose to her feet and began walking toward the dining hall.

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Someone whispered into the queen's ear. The queen listened and waited, then dismissed the person who had told her about her eldest daughter. The queen nodded after the person had left, then spoke. "Friends," she said regally, though with some hint of hesitation, "Chibiusa has some wonderful news to tell you later on this evening. I know she has been planning this since before she came back from her recent trip, and she is very eager to speak her mind."

"Oh!" said an inebriated Minako. "Wonderful! News of Chibiusa-chan!" She raised her wine glass high and grinned. It was obvious that she was having a little too much fun.

More nods came from Serenity. She wore a mask of happiness over her worry, covering it up so well that she even fooled the ones she loved into thinking none had ever existed and that the quiver in her voice when she had spoken was just something they misheard.

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Chibiusa came down the crystal staircase and flowed into the dining hall like a waterfall, her long gown trailing behind her, purple flowing from the ends of the fabric, making it all that more colorful and pleasing to the eye. All eyes were cast upon her, then to each other. Nobody spoke. Each smiled gently, motherly, as they all thought of her as their own daughter, each having a hand in raising her.

Mizuno Ami gave Chibiusa a tutor when she needed one and gave slight nudges towards the field of medicine as a possible career choice. Hino Rei was helpful in training Chibiusa in the traditions, new and old, of the people of The Silver Millennium. Kino Makoto taught her how to be the most feminine that she possibly could be (while at the same time showing her how to be tough and strong like a man). Aino Minako had tried to profess how to go about loving somebody, but, as always, she was still a ditz and sometimes clueless. Chibiusa had never held it against her. To Meiou Setsuna, Chibiusa was her first friend, and later, a daughter in spirit, as she tried to teach duty while patiently guarding the Gates of Time. Tenou Haruka, like Makoto, had taught Chibiusa how to be tough, but also gentle. Kaiou Michiru had taught Chibiusa the fine arts, even thought Chibiusa adamantly declared she had absolutely no talent but still played the clarinet just fine. But to Tomoe Hotaru, Chibiusa was no daughter. She was something else entirely. She held her breath.

"I am sorry for making you wait so long," Chibiusa said slowly and in a whisper.Her nerve was waning.

"It was well worth the long wait," Hotaru said. Queen Serenity cast her eyes away from Chibiusa and onto Hotaru. Chibiusa looked at her mother and noticed whom she was staring at. Her resolve was fading. What if...?

"We heard you had wonderful news to tell us, Chibiusa-chan!" Minako blurted out.

Chibiusa laughed. "Minna," she started out at the end of her laugh, giving a happy note to the word, "I have something important to say, but I don't know how to say it, or even if I should. I am afraid. I am afraid to lose your friendships, afraid to lose your love and trust. I am afraid you won't understand, and that you'd give me strange looks whenever I walk near."

Hotaru's heart thud loudly against the ribs in her chest. She had been waiting for that moment, for that one declaration to the entire world. She had wanted it so much, but she couldn't push Chibiusa at all into it or else risk spoiling it for her.

"I..." She stared blankly at the faces. Each was eager to hear what she had to say. She held up a hand, closed-fisted, toward the group, palm up. The hand shook, but Chibiusa couldn't help it. Adrenaline rushed through her to no end. She opened the fist. A ring lay inside. The diamond shone like fire, every color imaginable emblazed against the crystal in the chamber. Every set of eyes except those of her parents went wider. Theirs were narrower at the sight.

"You've gotten engaged!" shouted Makoto. "That's wonderful news indeed!" The group of people began talking again about whom Chibiusa would be engaged to. They guessed that perhaps it was Helios, or maybe someone she had met recently.

Chibiusa steadied her hand.

"So who is it?" asked Ami excitedly.

"Yes," said Rei, "we all want to know who."

The voices clamored to know to whom she was engaged. Chibiusa felt herself as a deer caught in headlights, still and motionless, afraid of what would eventually come and at the same time unable to get away. Finally, one voice rang louder in her ears than all the others. "Yes," the voice said.

Every voice was blocked out except for that single one. The same word kept echoing throughout Chibiusa's head. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes..." She collapsed to her knees, still holding the ring on her outstretched hand. A moment she sat there, eyes wide as saucers, holding the ring in her hand. A moment passed like an eternity passes. "Put your hand on a hot stove for a second and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it seems like a second. That's relativity," once said Einstein. Chibiusa had put her hands on the stove for what seemed many hours.

A moment arrived in which nothing existed but Chibiusa, the ring, and her beloved. Her beloved smiled and kept saying, "Yes." Everything around them was pure blank space. Chibiusa saw, as if in a daydream, her beloved rise from the seat and come to claim the ring.

Chibiusa collapsed.