Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own the others, especially dear Mamo-chan. He belongs to Usagi-chan…oh, and Naoko-sama.
Seven girls sat in the library, half asleep from the heat of the sun. Three of the girls, all dressed in identical plain dresses of orange, red and white, sat together, huddled in a protective group. Two others, the oldest in the room, obviously, sat away from the others. One had sandy hair, cropped to the neck, and wore trousers. The other had long, aquamarine hair, and sat with her hands primly folded in her lap.
The other two sat slightly separate from the others, with their heads bowed. One had short blue hair, and the other had brown hair tied in a ponytail.
The awkward silence was interrupted when Serenity's stomach growled. She clutched at her belly and moaned.
"I didn't have breakfast!"
The Ladies Mars and Venus rolled their eyes, but the brunette in a green dress unhooked something from her belt. Serenity's eyes brightened as she realized it for what it was.
"Cookies! Are they Jovian cookies?"
The Lady Jupiter laughed. "Yeah. I made them myself. They're really good, if you want a taste…"
She trailed off as Serenity eagerly jumped off her chair and dragged it next to the Jovian princess. She took the clear bag and removed an oddly shaped cookie, in the form of a ball and brown in color. With a sigh, she popped it in her mouth.
"Ooh…" she groaned. "This is so good! I've never tasted anything better! What's your name?"
The Lady Mars snorted. "That's the Lady Jupiter. Don't you know anything, Serenity?"
To which the Moon Princess stuck out her tongue. " 'Course I do! I just forgot, is all." She turned to the blunette and crossed her eyes, causing her to let out a short giggle.
"What's your name?" Serenity peered at her. She ignored the sigh of disbelief from behind her as the blunette looked up shyly.
"I am the Lady Mercury."
Serenity stuck out her hands, looked at them, wiped crumbs from them on her dress, and held them out again. "Will you be my friend?" Her blue eyes turned to the Lady Jupiter. "You too, but only if you make more cookies like that!"
There was only a moment's hesitation before the two girls grasped a hand firmly. Then Serenity removed another cookie from her bag, but rather than eating it, she looked over at the other two girls.
In a moment, she was standing next to them, and broke the cookie in half, revealing a center filled with chocolate chips. She held out a half to either of them.
"Here you go! My name's Serenity!"
The aqua haired girl didn't pause, and accepted the treat with a smile. "I am the Lady Neptune."
However, the boyish one was sullen, refusing to even meet Serenity's eyes. "I don't have to be friends with you." She snarled.
Serenity bit her lip. "You don't want to be?" And tears gathered at the corner of her eyes. Instantly, the girl's face softened.
"No, of course not!" But she could not stop the tears that fell in salty trails down the cheeks of the pale girl. In a desperate motion, she grabbed the cookie half and stuffed it in her mouth, motioning wildly.
"Mm! I like it, see? It's very good!" And her eyes turned solemn. "My name is the Lady Uranus. Although I do hate that title…"
"I hate the 'Ladies' thing too." Serenity sniffled, wiping at her face. "But Mama says everyone should have a name, and I can't call them just by their planets; it would be disrepectfular."
"Disrespectful…" They all glanced at the Lady Mercury, who blushed and buried her head in her arms, but the Lady Venus smiled at her.
"Thank the Gods! Someone who can understand Serenity and correct her, besides her mother." Serenity stuck her tongue out at her, and the room burst into laughter.
When it subsided, Serenity peered through golden lashes at the Lady Uranus. "So? How do you want to change the names?"
"We'd need something we would remember easily." Venus mused.
"And something that no one else would really understand…names in a different language!" crowed Venus.
"And which one could that be?" Mars asked sardonically. "Remember, all the rulers and nobles are educated in every single major language in the world."
"So we find one that is minor." Jupiter had said, at first shyly, but at the awed looks she continued more confidently. "There are some languages in countries that aren't as grand that are still being worked out. Or at least that's what my mom says."
"So we find an easy one to learn and use it!" Serenity cried happily.
"The question is, which one?" Uranus leaned back in her chair, and there was a long silence, until a certain blunette spoke up.
"Japanese."
"What?" Mars inclined her head. "Japa-what? Is that some type of drink?"
"No!" Mercury shook her head. "There is a diminutive island in the Terran sovereignty, called Japan. It is still developing, but the language is relatively unproblematic to become skilled at."
There was another hush, before Venus spoke up, voicing everyone's thoughts. "Japa-what?"
Mercury sighed. "I mean that on Terra, there is an island called Japan. They're still working out the kinks in it, but it's supposed to be easy to learn. I heard about it from my mother."
"That's settled then." Said Uranus brusquely. "But how do we learn it? And what names will we use?"
"We are in the library." The Lady Neptune looked around carefully. "And I suppose since every kingdom making a language must always send a copy of it's basic rules to the Moon Kingdom, it should be here."
"But the Terrans aren't exactly on speaking terms with the Moon right now." Uranus argued.
"Still…" Neptune stood and walked into a long aisle, reemerging a few moments later clutching a huge tome to her chest. "If someone, a lunar spy maybe, were to sneak down, I'm sure they would have found at least the basics."
"Let's find names first…" Serenity jumped eagerly up and down. Neptune flipped it open to the last few pages, and quickly found a chapter filled with Japanese names.
"I like this one…Ai…" Venus pointed to the one of the first. "Fits, don't you think?"
"No way." Jupiter shook her head. "It's too obvious. Don't pick for meaning…pick for sound…" at the looks they gave her, she smiled sheepishly. "Or both, whatever."
Mercury was the first to finish. "I'll be Ami Mizuno, but as they refer to people starting with the surnames first, it'll be Mizuno Ami."
"What does it mean?" Mars peered at the large book, and squinted as she read what Ami had written in a neat hand on a piece of paper next to it. " 'Friend of Water'? Wouldn't you rather ice?"
Mercury looked down. "There is another meaning…it also means Second beauty of Water, so I guess we could use that."
Mars smiled triumphantly. "Well, I've found mine! I am Hino Rei," she said, trying out the new backwards pronunciation. "It means 'Spirit of Fire'! I like it…"
Jupiter scribbled something down. "I think mine, Kino Makoto, means 'Truth of Wood.' It also says I can use Mako for short."
Venus waved a paper in the air. "I've got Aino Minako, Mina for short. It means 'Beautiful Little Child of Love'!"
"Someone's flattering themselves…" Uranus muttered, and they all laughed, except for Venus. She crossed her arms and pouted.
"What have you got then?" She snatched the paper and read it. " Haruka Ten'oh, 'Distant Heaven King'?"
Uranus grabbed it back. "Shut up!" But any further ranting was cut off when Neptune announced hers.
"I am 'Michiru Kaioh', Complete Ocean King'." They don't put queens in here, apparently…"
"What about you?" Venus looked at her cousin, who was staring at one line she had written. "What have you got, Sere?"
Serenity wrinkled her nose. "I don't know why, but this just seemed to leap out at me. It's 'Tsukino Usagi', which means 'Bunny of the Moon'."
There was a short pause, and then she spoke again. "Well, we all have our names. But what about the other planetary princesses?"
"They aren't here, are they?" Mars said, somewhat irritably.
'No…" Serenity shook her head. "But they should still get a name! Does anyone know them? Pluto and Saturn, I think."
Slowly, Neptune and Uranus raised their hands.
"What are they like?" Serenity, curious as always, pounced on them. "Are they very nice?"
The two girls exchanged glances. "We'd rather not say." Said Neptune, rather testily. "We've actually already thought of names."
"It should be for Pluto 'Setsuna Meioh', which means 'Momentary Dark King.' And for Saturn… 'Tomoe Hotaru', which means 'Firefly sprouting from Earth'."
"Well. Now that that's settled, let's get down to lessons now." Mercury began. "We will begin with sounds."
There was a collective groan, before the library was filed only with the sound of Mercury's voice, now steadier in the presence of those she could now call friends.