Moonlight Densetsu

Chapter Two - Artemis is Quatre's friend and Suspicious Plans

--+--

A very worried Small Lady paced back and forth outside her mother's bedroom. Luna had locked her out when she'd started running around the large bed screaming and crying. She had every right to. And she'd been waiting for almost an hour. Even some stupid guy dressed all in white got to go in!

Life really isn't meant to be fair.

Small Lady sighed, she had to get her mind off her mother. 'Think happy thoughts!' she thought.

Diana called her on the communicator earlier. Said she was in trouble for taking Quatre outside in the rain. Artemis had found them soaking wet in the gardens. What he was doing out there himself was a mystery. Chibi-Usa grinned, Diana said she wasn't allowed dessert at dinner. Considering the fact that the girl was getting her own share of giant chocolate chip cookie that probably didn't matter.

Being five years old was hard.

Apparently Quatre had been upset about her skipping lunch. He knew what a betrothel was. He was six afterall. The princess remembered that before the betrothing thing had been announced that he had used the older kid scheme. Had it in his head that it meant superiority and that he could boss her around. She didn't take kindly to that and vaguely wondered if he still had the bruise...

Suddenly Chibi-Usa heard voices from inside and before she knew it, the man in white was rushing out and Luna followed him at a brisk walk. The doors, left wide open, surely meant that she could go in.

Serenity sat up, she knew her daughter had been in her room earlier. Luna had said so. She sighed, the stupid doctor said she needed more rest. As if! What was she, a child?

"Mommy?" her pink-haired offspring called. The queen's soft voice answered.

"Small Lady? Oh, sweetie. Come here!" the young girl looked to her right to see her mother sitting up in bed. She held her arms out wide. This meant: hug me!

And so Chibi-Usa did. Rushing into her arms, crying her eyes out about death and fear and not being ready to be queen. Serenity smiled sadly, she didn't want to upset her only child. More than she already was.

"Shh... shh... it's okay baby. I'm perfectly fine! See?" Chibi-Usa looked up into her mommy's eyes. Watery red met calm blue. And the princess saw something that she hadn't recalled noticing beforehand. Tiredness.

The queen's eyes showed age. Oddly enough. She wasn't old or anything.

"You sure?"

"Yes. I wouldn't lie to you, would I?" the simple question making Chibi-Usa's pink covered head to shake from side-to-side.

Serenity's face suddenly broke into a mischevious smile.

"And why am I the one in bed? Afterall, weren't you the one with Purple-Spot Syndrome? I see your spots seem to have mysterously disappeared! A miraculous recovery? Or by magic perhaps?"

Small Lady smiled sheepishly "Um... well, I guess I just magically healed up! Yeah! And... I'm all better now!" The queen laughed.

"Well, since Luna seems to think I'm sick, and you might still be a little contagious, I suppose we'll just have to spend the rest of this dreary day in bed. Eating plenty of junk food to make us better and reading plenty of wonderful books. Manga, of course."

Chibi-Usa grinned, her mommy always knew how to make things better. To a child, chocolate was always the best medicine. When given the right dose. Overdoses tended to make children hyper and crazy. And make them draw on their mother's nice white walls.

And so, that's how Luna found the two. Surrounded by many manga and chocolate bars. Of course, Serenity had to read the books out loud to her daughter since she couldn't really read.

--+--

The young prince of Jupiter sighed. He did that a lot lately. What was he, 40? Pah!

Quatre was a bit upset. The princess he happened to be betrothed to was always hiding from him. Sure he'd been a little mean to her and used to pull her hair but he'd grown up a lot since then!

So what if it was only a week?

He liked her. As a friend. She was good at making him laugh too, however unintentionally. Sometimes she was really sweet and nice and sometimes she was meaner and scarier than the queen of Mars! Quatre knew that no man would ever be able to understand the mystery of women.

Quatre sat in the large guestroom he'd been given. The prince had just changed out of his soaking wet clothes. Diana, who he thought was nice, had told him some story about a rainbow and he couldn't help but wonder if it were true. Diana's father had found them and they got in trouble. Him not so much because Diana had actually ratted herself out. She talked a lot.

The rain had subsided, but the clouds had yet to disappear. Quatre had a lot to complain about, luckily for others though, his father had taught him to scream and cry in frustrationwhen nobody was around.

His thoughts wandered back to Chibi-Usa. What was her problem? Maybe it was the whole "having-to-be-married" thing. It was a big thing. Especially when you're only five. And six. He wondered if she'd told all her friends yet. He wondered what it would be like to be king of... wait! Was it the Moon or Jupiter? Or both? Maybe she'd just be queen of the Moon and he would be the king of Jupiter. Maybe.

Quatre was good at one thing. His rather spontaneous actions. He never really thought twice. Yes, he and Diana had something in common.

"I'll go visit Artemis! He'll have something for me to do." apparently Quatre was bored. As many people are.

The prince headed out the door, all the while thinking that he'd get lucky enough to find the pink-haired princess on the way to Artemis' study.

--+--

Artemis sighed. He did that a lot lately. What was he, 40? No, he was 31.

Being 'old' was hard. His own daughter had betrayed him earlier when he'd made her and Quatre get out of the rain. She had called him an old geezer. That really stung him too! What kind of four year old was she? Whatever happened to kids respecting their parents? Maybe she was a little too spoiled. Or maybe it came from hanging out with a spoiled princess. Not that Chibi-Usa was bad, since there probably had never been a princess who wasn't spoiled or a little crazy, but still, Diana should be training to be an advisor who advised the princess. Not get her into even more trouble than usual.

So what if they were only little kids?

His thoughts were interupted by a knock on his study door. He hoped it was Luna. His wife always knew how to make him feel a bit better. Stay away from your perverted thoughts!

"Come in," and the wooden door opened to reveal the prince of Jupiter, Quatre.

Artemis smiled, "Hello Quatre-sama." he stood up and bowed, the proper thing to do when addressing royalty. With an exception of Small Lady and her mother who hated such formalities.

"Artemis! I'm bored." said the blond boy. Artemis sighed again. He sat down and motioned for the child to sit in the mauve armchair in front of his desk. He was glad Luna hadn't gotten to decorate their bed chambers too.

"Well Quatre-sama, I guess we'll just have to do something about that! Now let's see what we have for our young prince to do..." as his sentence trailed off, Artemis rose his right hand and made a circling motion. With a little plop! a packet of crayons and a pad of paper appeared in Quatre's lap.

The boy stared down at the crayons before looking up.

"I'm far too old for drawing! Little kiddie things!" Artemis tried his best not to laugh.

"Of course, for drawing. But that is so you can help me work... um, you see, today I have to plan the dinner for tomorrow night's ball! You know it is to announce the princess' and your engagement. My wife requested this enormous task of me!"

Quatre's face broke out into a large smile. He liked doing important things. He was no ordinary prince, he liked to feel important. His father had taught him the best way to feel important was to do some good hard labor. And do it with your hands!

So the two got to work, Artemis wondered if he would get in trouble for planning the dinner when Luna was actually the one who was supposed to do it. Oh well...

--+--

Night approached and Serenity and Small Lady had hopped out of bed fully recovered when Diana ran in announcing that dinner was served. How they could eat even more than all the candy they just had was beyond anyone in the castle.

The dining hall was huge. And the table was long. Very long. And the two girls sat opposite eachother. They did this because it meant that they could slide the food down and see if any of it would fly off the table. Luckily, Luna and Diana ate with them. This meant that the food would not go to waste and the carrot cassarole (the queen and princess hated carrots) would not mysteriously vanish out the window.

Serenity made a quick note to herself to finish reading Ami's letter after dinner. And make a quick trip to the bathroom with Luna. For confidential reasons.

Luna, was quietly seething. A servant had given her the message earlier saying that Quatre had planned the ball's dinner. She had already done that! The servant apologized many times, saying that Prince Quatre had wanted to or something. Luna hoped that wasn't some kind of cover story of her husband's. Because otherwise he was a dead kitty.

Hiding behind royalty was fun for Artemis. He did it many times to spite his wife. How anyone could enjoy doing that, we aren't quite sure.

So the roasted pig came and was gone quicker than you could say 'piggy!'. Chibi-Usa had inherited her mother's eating habits and was quite proud of them. Eating contests were a piece of cake for the two royals. Literally.

The queen had mastered her eating skills! Now she could have somewhat good manners when eating like a pig. Faster than lightening she could swallow drumsticks whole and not spill anything anywhere other than on her plate!

Her daughter however, being only five, had no time to master her 'skill'. This was an unfortunate thing for Diana, who sat on the righthand side of the pink-haired menace.

The little gray-haired girl sighed. Anytime with food was something she didn't really look forward to, unless she was the one eating. And she was, but had considered not taking Chibi-Usa's cookie later after the cotton candy princess had made some of her own mashed potatoes go flying right on Diana's plate. Needless to say, she was pretty grossed out. And Diana always spoke her mind.

"Ewie! You disgusting!" what? She was only four. Her language skills aren't gonna be that great when she's not able to concentrate on them.

Chibi-Usa looked over at her double-'dangoed friend. (as Diana had two small odangoes on each side of her head) Diana glared at her. That was a first. The pink-haired girl shrugged, not realizing what she'd done. And so dinner resumed. Somewhat, since the two girls' mothers had witnessed the interaction and were laughing their heads off.

After receiving questioning glances the queen ended the meal. Far too anxious for dessert. Being older, she got more than just one giant cookie. She got a whole plate of them. This always got her jealous looks from her daughter and Serenity, being a good-goody, would eventually share the glorious prize.

They didn't always only get giant cookies. They had pudding, cakes, brownies, candies, and even a cat-shaped jello. How the chefs did that, nobody really knew...

--+--

"I don't believe this! You want children doing the job?" a figure in a semi-dark room paced in front of a table around it sat five other figures. They were all distinguished as male. The man pacing stopped and turned to the table.

"Don't you dare go against what I wish, J! Who better, children are far too stupid and foolish to realize the consequences of their actions! And if our plan were to ever faulter - as I know it won't, then our chances of being shot down are much slimmer!"

"How can you honestly say that? Just go around and kidnap children and force them to do whatever the hell you want them to do? You are a fool Barton! Have you not heard what the people on the moon have declared? If we go out farther into space, they won't hesitate to kill the boys! Those inhuman beasts are heartless and won't give a damn about their age!"

The man, Barton, smiled rather evily.

"So what? If they get killed in the process, so what? It's no real loss. We'll just find replacements for them. It will be easy. How else are we to get true freedom?" Barton headed to a steel door, he opened it and stepped out. He turned back to the five men sitting.

"Those are my orders! So hurry up! You have only a short amount of time! The mobile suits are already finished and ready!" he walked out and the door closed.

The man, J, was the first to speak.

"Fool. If the Lunarians, or any other planet were to attack, the MS wouldn't last! We will, of course, be using our secret weapons, right, gentlemen?"

The men laughed, a low sort of guffawing sound. A man with a considerably large nose spoke.

"What is he getting at anyway? It would take years to find a child with such capability! As well as to train him!"

"We'd better get to work anyway."

One by one the men too, left the room.

--+--

Notes:

Angelight: Okay... the inevitable question. Couples. Hm... that's a pretty good question. I might make it Quatre/Chibi-Usa. I've never read one with that couple. Others... I dunno. Any suggestions, people?

Flame Ivy Moon: Yay! You love my story! I'll try to update as much as I can! It's not that I'm busy. Just lazy. Something we all can relate to.

Mystlady: This is the first Chibi-Usa-centered one I've ever read too! And she isn't all that annoying if you understand why she is the way she is.

Hoshiko Megami: I hope there's an interesting middle and end too. Thank-you uh, loyal fan, for reviewing!

The Desert Fox: Well I revised the prologue thing but it was removed... I hope you don't find it confusing in the future! I try. Wow... I'm decent.