Wow, it's been a long while since I've updated this one…

To Blackdragon-of-tears- I'm glad.

To NevieGirl- Don't worry; I don't plan on discontinuing this one!


Serena once again paced, this time in the royal gardens. She seemed to spend most of her time pacing these days. She felt restless and ill at ease, and she was sure she knew why, even if it was ridiculous. If she did love the arrogant bastard, well, damned if she was going to actually tell anyone!

"I resent this." She said out loud, growling at an innocent rosebush that snagged her skirt, tearing the delicate sky blue fabric. "Why is it I have to marry him? It's utterly ridiculous!"

Her sleek black cat blinked owlishly up at her, emitting a small quizzical mew.

"Shut up, you." Serena commanded, glaring down at the cat, then relented and scooped it up. "Oh, Luna, why won't you talk to me anymore?" She asked plaintively, rubbing her cheek against Luna's soft fur. "What's wrong? What did I do?"


Wufei slipped quietly out of his tent into the pearly gray light of false dawn. He hadn't bothered to put a shirt on yet; anyone crazy enough to be up this early probably wouldn't mind. He did, however, have his sword belted around his waist. Even in a supposedly secure camp, only an idiot went unarmed during a war.

"Captain Chang." A quiet voice said in greeting, and Umi materialized in front of him, seeming to rise out of the damp fog that lay all around them.

"Umi." He replied, nodding. "Lovely morning, isn't it?"

"I liked last night better." She said, falling into step beside him. "I hate fog. I was born further south, and we never had fog in our village."

Wufei smiled. "I grew up in fog a hell of a lot thicker than this." He told her, then went on to describe in poetic detail the cluster of huts too small to be called a village where he'd been born. He told her about his mother, his neighbors, the mountains, the forests, training to become a soldier, the visits from his father, everything.

"Oh, you should have written books, Wufei." She said when he was done, her eyes wide with appreciation and surprise. "You're wasted on war with a talent like that."

"If you thought that was good, you should hear him describe the domes on the moon." One of the soldiers they were passing laughed, and Wufei noticed that the sun had risen without him noticing, and the camp was coming alive.

"Would you, Captain Chang?" She asked wistfully. "I've never been there, and I've heard the main dome is the most beautiful thing in known space."

"Hooked another one." Another soldier commented with a resigned smile. "He can calm the most savage of women by spending an hour telling her how beautiful she is."

"And not repeating himself once." The first soldier added with a laugh. "After hearing him talk, what woman in her right mind would want one of us?"

"What woman in her right mind would want you anyway?" The soldier's comrade retorted, gaining hearty laughs from everyone within hearing distance.


She'd never done this kind of thing before; she usually wrote spells or royal decrees. Her chamberlain handled other matters for her, freeing her to chase away suitors. But no way in hell would she allow an underling to write something this important.

Luna watched Serena from the shelves above her desk, her huge violet eyes never blinking. The cat had seemed thoughtful and troubled for days now, but Serena barely noticed as she chewed the end of her pen nervously, striving for all she was worth to make what was in her head come out right on paper.


Rei watched the lazy sway of space debris around her private shuttle, finding the slow, aimless drifting calming. She needed to be calm now. More than anything, she had to be totally in control of herself. Any sign of panic, unease, or hostility might get her killed.

She'd discovered Chang Wufei's greatest weakness, and it was not snakes or spiders or monsters in the night. No, his weakness was something even worse in Rei's eyes.

His weakness was Serena.

Well, damned if she'd hand that information to her mother. She'd take it straight to Serena herself and try to get her childhood friend out of harm's way before Queen Ikari found out through other channels.

Her small communit crackled as the Moon's traffic control finally spotted her.

"Unidentified shuttle, you are drifting into established shipping lanes," A nondescript male voice hailed her. "I repeat, you are drifting into established shipping lanes. Please correct your course. Your current orbit is hazardous."

"Thank you, Control." Rei responded with a slight smile. "To what degree must I correct if I wish to dock?"

"Twenty even east," The man supplied after a brief pause. "I have to ask you to identify yourself first, however."

"Of course," Rei said. "Princess Rei of the Mars Federated Kingdom. Would you be kind enough to alert her Majesty Queen Serenity to my presence?"


"Rei!" Queen Serenity exclaimed, abandoning protocol and dignity to wrap the princess of Mars in a rib-crushing bearhug. "It's been so long!"

"Too long, Aunt Serenity," Rei agreed with a sad smile for the woman who was more mother than the one who had birthed her. "And I'm afraid pleasure plays no part in my motives in coming here. Where is Princess Serena?"


Bwahaha! Fear me, readers, for I can keep you in suspense indefinitely! Will Rei warn Serena of the Queen of Mars' intentions in time? What does the war hold for Wufei? What will Rei's defection cost her? Find out, next time on Sing for Me, Rabbit, chapter 4!

I am so evil…