AN: Wow, my first Sailor Moon story. Though I've written plenty of other things before, I've never made the leap into fandom… until now. I'll tell the truth: I'm excited and terrified at the same time. And worried. Honestly worried that I won't do the genre justice. I'm posting the prologue of this first because I'm curious to see how it will be received. If people like it and review, the chapters will follow (they are longer than this, so you know). If no one reviews, I will take the hint and not post anymore. Oh, and if I am annoying you right now, gomein. I am not always this insecure.

Don't worry if you are a tad confused at the prologue. These are almost always meant to confuse and interest you. As long as the latter happens, I can deal with the former.

Remember, please review! I need it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. It belongs to the lovely Naoko Takeuchi. Trust me, if I did own it, I wouldn't be so nervous wondering if anyone is going to read this. And now:

Blood and Water

Prologue

"Serenity, did you hear me?"

Princess Serenity looked up quickly to see the eyes of her four senshi upon her, each with a different expression ranging between worry and fear. Her fork clattered down to her plate and her face flushed hot when she realized that she didn't even know which one of them had been speaking. Had she heard them? No, she hadn't heard anything in days.

"Serenity?"

It was Venus who placed her hand over hers, Venus who spoke kindly with worry in her soft blue eyes. She surveyed the princess slowly, those same eyes shimmering with emotion and understanding, and for one horrible moment Serenity thought she might start crying as well.

"Are you all right? We understand if you are still upset with the news and are willing to listen if you need to"

"I am fine," Serenity said, speaking slowly so her voice would not betray her emotions. She looked up and forced a smile that hardly seemed to fit her face, with her cheeks still tight from the tears she had shed two nights in a row. She feared her heart might split under the weight of that lie. She was not fine. Far from it, as a matter of fact. She was starting to believe that she might never be fine again.

"You can talk to us," Sailor Jupiter said, leaning forward from the opposite end of the table. Serenity turned to her and opened her mouth, didn't trust herself to speak, and closed it again. 'I can not talk about it,' she thought. 'Talking does no good and it only reminds me.' When she finally thought she could say something without weeping, she opened her mouth and was interrupted by the crash of Sailor Mar's fist against the table. The dishes clattered together and her eyes flamed.

"Don't you dare shut us out of this Serenity. Don't you dare! We care about you far too much for this!"

Serenity's troubled heart had finally found an emotion she could safely grasp: anger. She rose, her long silver hair brushing the sides of the table and down onto the floor. Her face was calm, composed, but beneath the gentle beauty twitched an anger barely held in check. She smiled at Sailor Mars and the look was neither snide nor sincere, simply impassive.

"I will do as I please, Mars, as control over my speech seems to be the only true control I have left over my life." She nodded to the surprised senshi and gracefully began to leave the table where they had all been eating their breakfast. "If you will excuse me."

Mars jumped up as if to follow her and Venus quickly caught her hand.

"Let her be, Mars. She needs to be on her own right now."

A look passed between the two senshi, speaking volumes in its silence:

But we can't just let her suffer by herself! We should be talking to her! Calming her! Finding out exactly what is wrong!

Not until she wants to talk. She won't talk until she's ready.

But I don't want her to suffer! She's my Princess, my…

Friend. You will always be her friend. Let her sort this out a little in her head first. Let her come to you.

Mars slumped back down into her chair, looking defeated and upset. Venus' hand slipped away and up to her heart. Suddenly it was as if she could feel Serenity's painin her own heart, could taste it as something real in the back of her throat. This was no little girl problem that was eating away at their Princess; this was heartbreak, fear, anguish. And another emotion, which slipped and fought to evade her, was it… love? Yes, love. Red hot and fiery forbidden, it leapt up into her mind like wild fire. Her eyes filled with recognition and she looked back at the door which Serenity had escaped from. She wasn't even aware that the others' eyes were upon her, all she could feel was Serenity's pain.

Surprisingly, it wasn't even the senshi of love who voiced it, this thing that Venus had just become aware of. It was Mercury.

"She's in love with someone else, isn't she?"

Venus could only nod vacantly, wondering why she hadn't felt it before.

Marriage! What a terrible word at that moment. Any other word could not have brought near as much pain.

Burying her face in the pillow, Serenity began to cry harder as the realization struck her once more.

Married. Married to some brainless, stuff shirt, idiot prince! Married to someone who wouldn't love her, someone she could never love in return, not when her heart already belonged to

Jerking her head up, Serenity leaped over to her dresser and yanked at the top drawer. Tears stained her cheeks in shiny paths and she could feel the silver strings of her hair stick to them as she sobbed frantically and searched the drawer. Where was it? It was all she had! Had one of the senshi found it? Taken it to her mother? No they were her friends! They

Her hand touched something hard amongst the clothing and she sighed in relief as she pulled it out. The pocket watch that he had given her ticked softly in the palm of her hand, as calm and consistent as a lover's heartbeat. Wiping at her tears which seemed to fall never ending, she slowly walked back to the bed and sat upon it.

Serenity had waited her whole life to fall in love; her whole existence had seemed geared towards it. During the day she would giggle at boys the way all the other girls did (Boys are strange! I'm never getting married. Not me, nuh-uh) but at night she would dream of a man soft and kind who would hold and protect her always. He was nameless and faceless (as most dream lovers are) but she felt in her heart that he was a real person.

Now she was eighteen, a woman, and she felt as if she had finally found him. But somehow in the deepest lulls of her safest dream, reality had snatched him from her. Somewhere, in the mature part of her that was the spitting image of her mother, she understood the reasons. It was because she was a princess, with obligations and responsibilities to a kingdom that barely knew her face. It was because her obligations, as she was so often told though the concept was increasingly hard to grasp, extended beyond her kingdom and into the galaxy. Because she was to be married, to a prince whose planet she could not even find on a map, while the man she loved stayed on Earth and lived without her.

All because the man she loved was not a prince.

Burying her head back into the pillow, Serenity allowed the tears to take over once more. Crying herself into hiccups, she didn't even notice the pocket watch stop ticking.