Chapter Three: Lovers Quarrels; The Senshi Mingle

Author: StarlightMichi

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Morning dawned crystal clear. Though she didn't know why, Neptune had always assumed that dawn on the Moon would be different from dawn on Kaiohsei. She rolled onto her side, forgetting for a moment that she was now sharing a room. The lumpy form of Uranus on the other bed caught her off guard, but only for a moment. Neptune stared at the back of her golden head, trying to decide how she should feel. Though she wanted to feel angry at the other senshi, she just couldn't. Besides, it wasn't in her nature to be upset for long.

Neptune lay for a long time, just thinking. She wasn't sure if she was required to get up or not, and it felt good to lounge. She stared at the ceiling, reviewing the events of the day before in her mind. She took a deep breath, then rolled out of bed and stood up. Uranus didn't move a muscle, and Neptune squinted her eyes towards the other form. Either she was a really heavy sleeper, or a really good actress. Shaking her head, Neptune walked to the wardrobe. Though she was still irked at the other senshi, Neptune did her best to make as little noise as possible.

Selecting a comfortable dress, Neptune slipped out of her nightgown, dressed, and left the room, her stomach rumbling for breakfast.

Uranus, contrary to belief, was actually both a light sleeper, and a terrible actress. She was, however, a very good lounger. She had awoken when Neptune had, but had remained still, preferring to stare at the wall and pretend she was a rock to rolling over and letting the other woman know she was alert. The sound of Neptune's nightgown falling had startled Uranus, and she was still recovering from the shock of knowing that Neptune had changed barely five feet away from her. Shaking her head as she heard the door close, Uranus turned over to stare at the other wall.

Unfortunately, the wall was painfully similar to her own. With a grunt, Uranus sat up, shaking her head to toss her bangs out of her eyes. They were getting long. She decided she should get them cut soon. She stood, stretched, and looked at her wrinkled clothes. There was no way she was wearing a dress, she decided. Rummaging through what she hopped was her wardrobe she found a nice shirt and pair of loose pants.

Dressed and ready to go, Uranus headed out of the room, intent on breakfast as well.

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"Venus, you're out of your mind, do you know that?" Mars popped a piece of pear into her mouth, chewing intently as she stared at the blonde senshi.

"What's so crazy about it?" Venus demands, pouting a little as she stirs her hot chocolate.

"Did you listen to yourself?" Mars shook her head, swallowing her mouthful. "You think she's a guy, Venus! You, of all people, should know this isn't true." Venus pouted, her lower lip sticking out and making Mars grin. "You look about ten years younger when you do that…" her comment only made Venus pout more.

"Well, we'll see who's right!" Mars arched an eyebrow at Venus' challenging words, and watched in wonder as the senshi of love and beauty stood, and walked off to the door, a swing in her hips that made the raven-haired girl narrow her eyes and look towards Venus' target. She groaned inwardly as she spotted Uranus. If she knew what was good for her, the tall woman would run.

"Are you lost?" The sultry voice made Uranus raise an eyebrow as she glanced towards Venus. Recognizing her from the previous day, a scowl was halfway to her face when she decided against it. Instead, she smiled and replied, "not lost, really. Just looking for breakfast."

"I can help you with that," Venus assured her, expertly twining her arm into Uranus' as she leads her towards the buffet table. "They usually serve breakfast like this, and you chose what you wish to eat." Her flirty tone made Uranus grin, and almost laugh. It was humorous more than effective, but Uranus let the other girl lead her forwards.

"So," Venus asked as she steered Uranus towards a table once she had her plate, "Are you seeing anyone?" Her words made Uranus choke on a piece of bread as she stared at Venus with wide eyes.

"Ex…excuse me? Seeing anyone?" Uranus stared at Venus, torn between laughing and choking again. Venus batted her eyes at Uranus, and gave the senshi her most charming smile. Even Uranus wasn't immune to her charm, and though the taller girl found her rather immature and giggly, she couldn't help but smile a bit. Besides, Uranus wasn't one to pass up flirting.

Well, this was enough! Mars strode over, an angry, flushed look on her face. She wrapped her fingers around the top of Venus' arm and pulled. "Excuse us," she hissed towards Uranus, not looking the least bit interested in the taller senshi's thoughts. "Venus, I need to talk to you." She pulled the blonde away, Venus protesting the fierceness.

Uranus furrowed her eyebrows at the pair, shrugged, and decided to enjoy her breakfast.

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Neptune poked at the food on her plate. She wasn't quite sure what the cream-colored, fluffy stuff was and had been hesitant to try it all morning. With a bit of a grimace, she lifted a bit to her lips, and tasted it cautiously.

"They're called 'potatoes'. They're from Earth." Neptune glanced up, meeting the eyes of a tall, brown-haired woman who smiled. "Potatoes?" Neptune asked, looking down at her plate.

"Well, these ones have been pounded into a sort of pasty-fluffy substance," Jupiter took a seat across from Neptune at the aqua-haired woman's inviting gesture. "They're not too bad, if you add a bit of salt." Neptune frowned, and Jupiter picked up a small ceramic bowl, sprinkling its contents lightly atop the potatoes. "Salt. It's also from Earth."

They sat discussing the foreign foods brought to them by Endymion's cooks, and Neptune sampled a few more things on her plate. By the end of the meal, she knew she liked 'potatoes' but didn't care much for 'banana's'.

It was strange, she thought as she walked down the hall, how different things are on other planets. Though she knew her summoning here was serious, she couldn't help but be a little excited at the prospect of learning a new culture. Maybe she'd even get a chance to talk to Endymion's guardians from Earth.

The sound of splashing halted her thoughts, and she turned to face a large glass door. The light shone through it's frosted panes, and Neptune couldn't quite make out what was behind it. Carefully, she turned the golden handle and opened the door. Beyond it was a very large courtyard, rather oddly shaped, in her mind, with a deep pool of water in the middle of it. A fountain nearby, which fed the pool via a small stream, was the source of the splashing she'd heard.

"Oh!" A startled voice said behind her. "I didn't realize anyone else was here." Neptune turned and greeted Mercury, who stood with a soft towel in her arms. "I usually go for a swim in the afternoons, it helps to relax me."

"Can anyone swim?" Neptune asked, eyeing the pool with suppressed delight. Though she'd only been gone for a day, she already missed her ocean swims terribly. While this crystal-clear pool was hardly worthy of comparison, it would make a nice compromise while she was on the Moon.

Mercury nodded, and led Neptune to a small side room that held towels for swimmers to borrow. With a few quick words of apology, Mercury hurried off to an important meeting—Neptune guessed it was to discuss what she, Pluto and Uranus already knew—and left the sea-senshi on her own.

With a content smile, Neptune sank into the water.

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After the meeting with Queen Serenity, the soldiers on the moon met in the garden to talk about what they'd heard. All four were quite humbled by the news, and Venus looked especially worried.

"Well, now we know what that secret meeting was about," Jupiter said, trying to fill the silence. It was hard, since she herself was rather nervous. Mercury and Mars nodded their heads in distracted agreement.

"We need to train harder." Three heads turned to look at Venus, surprised. "If there's something so horrible out there at Serenity-sama summoned Pluto, Uranus and Neptune, that means she's really worried about it. We need to train harder. We've been lazy."

Mars nodded her head in agreement, while Jupiter voiced a soft "Yes, definitely."

"Uranus called us… what did she say? Oh, 'a bunch of giggling girls'. I don't want that to be true." Venus looked like she was ready to pout, though her tone was completely serious.

"We should start tomorrow," Mercury added, looking towards the other three for agreement. "Tomorrow morning, right here in the gardens before anyone else is awake. There's plenty of room, and it's far enough away from the housing area's that no one will wake up." Three heads bobbed yes as Mercury eyed the group.

"Alright, tomorrow morning, an hour after dawn." With that, the group dispersed, each ones head full of important thoughts.

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Pluto tapped her fingers idly against her time staff. She was standing on the balcony above the rear of the palace, looking far into space in the general direction of her home planet. Her eyes held a distant look, and she frowned to herself.

There hadn't been a single disturbance since the first rip in time. While most would take this as a good sign, it made Pluto uneasy. It meant that whoever, or whatever, had caused the first rip was still here. They could be plotting. They could be on their way as she stood there thinking. Her fingers tightened around the cylindrical base, her knuckles white.

A soft hand on her shoulder made her jump, and she turned to look into concerned blue eyes.

"I'm worried too," Neptune said, removing her hand from Pluto to set both gently on the marble railing in front of her. "I feel uneasy, but I don't know why." She stared across the grounds, watching people mingle in the archways between the expansive gardens. They were all so cheerful, she noted. Why couldn't she be that happy?

"I just wish I knew more." Pluto's voice broke into her thoughts. The normally serene and confident tone that accompanied the soldier of time was wavered, and tight. It made Neptune all the more uneasy. Stoic, solid Pluto was worried.

"There's nothing we can do now but keep our guard up," Neptune said, trying to find confidence in the fact that there was nothing outwardly wrong around them. It didn't help. She'd much rather see whatever evil they had to face, than know that it hid in the shadows, out of their sight.

Pluto nodded her head in silent agreement, and the pair stood silently, watching below them. A flutter of skirts caught Neptune's eye, and she turned to the right. She watched as the Princess of the Moon, Serenity, entered the gardens. It was the first time that Neptune had seen the princess, and she knew at once that the rumors of her beauty were true. Even from such a distance, the grace with which she moved conveyed her royalty. Her hair flowed in long silver waves from two buns atop her head. The white of her gown was only slightly lighter than her hair, and shimmered with a pear-like quality that mimicked the tiny pears she wore in her hair.

"The princess is out," noted Pluto. Neptune glanced towards the other woman, confused by the humor in her voice. "Is that unusual?" she asked the time-senshi. Pluto smiled and shook her head.

"No, but just watch." Neptune did so. Serenity seemed rather certain in the path she was taking. Her steps neither wavered, nor slowed as she made her way through the twisting garden path. Neptune was fortunate in that the balcony was high enough to see over the hedges. It was easy to follow the path of the princess.

"Who is that?" she asked, as Serenity met up with an armored man hear a fountain.

"That is Endymion of Earth. Serenity's been meeting with him in the gardens for a week." At Neptune's puzzled look, Pluto smiled. "I spoke with Serenity's guardian, Mercury, earlier today. She told me that Serenity has been meeting Endymion every day since he and his guardians arrived for the Council."

"Does Serenity-sama know?" Neptune asked, referring to Queen Serenity, naturally. At the shake of Pluto's head, Neptune frowned. Something was definitely not good about this situation.

As she watched, Serenity and Endymion slipped through a secret door, out of view of the two senshi. "Should we tell her…?" Pluto shook her head. "Serenity-sama has enough to worry about right now. Besides, there's no harm in a little romance." Neptune couldn't help but smile at that. She had to agree that seeing Serenity with Endymion—both had looked quite blissful at the time—was light heartening. Maybe they weren't supposed to be meeting, but what harm could they possibly do?

Neptune turned to go, leaving Pluto alone on the balcony once more.

The End Chapter Three

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A.N. Well, I'm not quite sure if I like this chapter or not. Please Review it for me, and let me know what you think? I may end up changing it.