Good evening and once again DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon is not mine.
Also once again: please critique or ^_^ tell friends of yours
about the story and have them read and critique it in your stead. Many
thanks for those who so choose to take the time to do so!
The Rose Prince
Chapter Two
"Why on earth are you asking me about catching a fairy?" giggled Ami quietly as she and Sere whispered beneath the droning of the Duchess who was trying to enlighten them with the wonders of-something that they weren't paying the least attention to. It was one day after she had seen the shadowy figure the first time and the morning after she had seen it a second time. Sere had tried an idea of her own to get it to come to her but at the end of the night she ended up having failed; and she had turned to Ami for another way.
"Because I saw one in the garden," Sere replied solemnly. Ami looked dubious and then gave in, if only to appease her friend.
"Well, I know that if I was your fairy, I wouldn't want to be seen. So, if the fairy thinks you can't see her, then maybe you can catch her off guard," offered Ami. Then the Duchess whirled on the pair and they were forced to pay rapt attention. Sere thanked Ami later before retreating to her own room to think.
If it was a fairy, what could she feed her? Would she be her friend like Ami? Sere knew the fairy would be pretty but how old was she? She looked taller than Sere, or at least the shadow had looked taller than Sere. Only a little bit taller, Sere had convinced herself. It had taken Princess Serenity's best will to wear the traditional family hair style for the women; it involved separating her long silky hair down the middle and making two buns, one on either side of her head with a thick section of her hair streaming down from each. If her mother didn't look so graceful wearing it that way, Sere/ Princess Serenity would not have deigned to even try it; even as a child she had known it was particularly different. However, eventually grew rather fond of the style, and it became second nature to have her hair that way. However, she would never compromise her height. That was something she had always been touchy about, or at least since she had been able to frown-that age was probably about five name days old. Her mother insisted she was petite and adorable, and that as a princess, it suited her. Sere would have none of it.
"One day I shall be as tall as the palace Mama!" she had declared at the age of six; that was one year ago and her sentiments were much the same. Regaining her train of thought, the princess decided that if the fairy was a little taller than her that was okay. It probably meant the girl was a year older than her. Maybe, Sere thought with a smile playing on her lips, she could be my older sister.
And so the trap was set.
Having asked Ami to help her, Sere was sure that this time she would not fail. The moon was a crescent that night and Sere hid in the shadows around its light. Ever since she had glimpsed that fleeting figure in the rose garden, she had looked for her again and again; the Princess assumed it was indeed a 'she' because she suspected the elusive figure of being a fairy. Who else would wander the gardens at night, alone? (besides her of course)
It was not so much a trap as a new angle, and as Sere crept out of the shadows and into the center of the roses, she looked around briefly. No one, it seemed, was there. Her height was not very impressive for a seven year-old and as such, she barely needed to lean over to inhale the scent from one of the lavender roses on the bush. As was customary, she spread different colored petals on the skirts of her gown and sat down lightly. To anyone else it would have appeared as though her eyes were closed but in truth, she could see vaguely through her lowered lids. A shadow that had not been there moments ago now melded with the shadows of before. Of course it was too late; she had already seen the unnatural movement.
Before the shadow could react, she stood swiftly and ran towards it. Not having thought anymore of the plan out, she did the only thing she thought might be able to suppress a fairy or a shadow-she tackled it. Both bodies hit the hard stone ground, Sere on top of course. Worriedly, she looked down at the figure in the moonlight on top of which she sat. She had not meant to be so forceful, but she had been trying to catch this shadowy being for a long time-nearly two years by her child counting methods-two days to any other form of counting. As she examined the supposed fairy closer, she frowned; did fairies usually have short hair, short black hair? Making sure that she had the upper hand, Sere shifted her weight off of the body beneath her. It groaned, rubbing its head. Sere's mind went haywire; this wasn't a 'she'; it was a 'he'. She shook her head sadly. It had been her greatest hope to find a fairy in her garden and play with her. Instead she had this poor boy who no doubt was in a bit of discomfort and probably would not be her friend.
"Aw, whadya do that for girl?" the stranger asked, still sprawled on the floor, rubbing his head gingerly. "You've got some nerve you know," he added, though not contemptuously, more or less thoughtful.
It was then that Sere noted this boy must be older than her, at least ten name days old, maybe a little more. Then he looked straight up at her; she gasped. He had the most amazing eyes she had ever seen. A new light of hope formed in the back of her mind. If he wasn't fairy-and obviously he was not- then that didn't mean he wasn't some other magical being, right? She applied this question to her own logic and came out with an affirmative. Maybe, she thought excitedly, he's a shape changer like in Mama's stories.
"I asked you what did you do that for?" This time the boy articulated, catching Sere in the middle of another of her contemplations on what he might be.
"Huh?" Her voice seemed very light in the presence of his-she quickly tried to lower it, to no avail- so she crossed her arms and stood up straighter, as though that might make up for the number of years he had over her. The boy might have chuckled in amusement but before he could, she was very near his face, staring inquisitively and with an uncomfortable scrutiny, which was explained in the next sentence she spoke.
"Are you a demon?" she finally asked. It had occurred to Sere that maybe this boy with his dark hair and oceany eyes was a dark creature instead of a new playmate-her Mama's stories had those too. So, she wasn't sure whether to be scared or relieved when he laughed at her. Deciding neither was any good, she ended on the feeling of irritation, or as irritated as Sere could get at that age.
"Why are you laughing at me? I'm not stupid like some of those princesses in Mama's stories! I even told her so once and she said so too! And, and-if you're a demon I'm not scared!" she finished defiantly. He was still laughing.
She glowered at him, which was only possible because he was still sitting- comfortably it now seemed-on the stone ground while she was standing. As the last of his laugh died away, he looked straight at her once more.
"Well, I know you're not stupid. But are you smart?" he asked her in ten- year fashion that insinuated that he had the logic of a child that all people seem to retain on average until they hit their fifteenth name day. Of course, some of the lucky ones stay that way forever. Sere was taken aback by his boldness for a moment and then, flustered, she answered with a boldness of her own.
"I'm smarter AND braver than you are!" To her annoyance, the boy seemed to find this even more amusing and laughed once more, though this one was much shorter.
"Oh really?" he challenged, eyes flashing with an intriguing light Sere in her naivety could not place as mischief. Not to be daunted, nor to be bested, she replied tersely but with as much conviction as she could muster.
"Really!"
For a moment the boy was silent and Sere was all too pleased to let him stay that way. This was definitely a demon, she decided, frowning fiercely at him. The boy only smirked at her, staring at her from underneath his unruly ebony bangs; he noted that her frown was one that seemed to disapprove of him to the full and utter extent of his mere existence. He continued smirking. Suddenly he stood and Sere noticed that he wore a long black cape over some light armor the color of the midnight sky. It wasn't much really but the tunic beneath was the same color; the only distinguishing mark between the armor and tunic was the glint of silver that indicated the edges of the armor itself.
"Come on then," he said and with an absent wave of his hand began walking away.
She on the other hand wore her soft, lavender nightgown with layered skirts; even her sleepwear had layers she sulked silently as she scampered to keep up with the boy's quick stride and lifted her skirts so as not to trip over them. The stars shone down upon the pair as they weaved their way through the garden to the North end where it exited into a widespread green area. Here the grass was exceptionally soft and not twenty feet from the garden's exit there was a shimmering lake. The lake had rocks sticking up through the middle, presumably to step on to cross the lake; Sere had never been to this part of the grounds in all her years. She did not know what the rocks were for and so when the mysterious young boy gestured for her to follow him as he leapt to the first rock, swaying only slightly, she did not move.
"What? Are you scared? I thought you said you were smarter AND braver than me?" She knew he was taunting her but she didn't care. Children seldom live for anything but the moment and at that point in time, Sere lived to upstage this 'demon' and then tease him mercilessly about it afterwards. Moving towards the lake with the speed of her anger, she stomped her way over to the edge. She waited.
"Well?" she questioned emphatically. He gave her a puzzled look, which for a moment turned sheepish and jumped to the next rock, no swaying included. Sere took a deep breath and examined the distance. Then, resisting the urge to squeeze her eyes shut, she leapt to the first rock, landing square in the middle. She grinned up at the boy with pride and a look that read I-did- it-you-stupid-boy! They jumped together until they nearly reached the end of the line. The boy would not say it aloud, but he was impressed. This girl was brave and definitely not afraid of the task he had set before her.
The moon was still high in the sky but in its crescent form it did not spread as much light as Sere would have preferred. Shrugging, she watched as the boy jumped to the land from the last rock and she looked at her jump. It was larger than the others and as fate would have it, it was the rock she needed to get to in order to get back to blessed firma terra. Sere would not blind herself as many children might do; she knew full well she might not make the jump. Unfortunately, instead of doing the other thing other children might do-turn around and run away-she chose to try the leap. Otherwise this 'demon' she had acquainted herself with might never stop bothering her. She sighed; she had so hoped for a fairy. Oh well. Inhaling deeply, she leapt for it.
And she made it too. The problem was that when she landed her foot slipped out from under her, sending her head long into the waters of the lake. It was not cold and for that Sere was thankful; after all the days of complaining about the swelteringly hot summer days, she was glad that the lake water seemed to still have remnants of the sun's warmth in its depths. The temperature though, would not have been the least of her problems. The fact that she could not swim might have.
The boy was duly surprised when she made the jump and then went splashing into the lake. He was going to laugh when he realized she wasn't surfacing. This puzzled him until it occurred to him that she might not be able to swim. A minute later and he decided that was definitely the case. Without taking another second-which would have been most likely critical-he dove in and swam in the dark water, looking for a trace of lavender. It was lucky for him that he could hold his breath long. Meanwhile, Sere was not happy. In fact, she might have been scared-though she would never admit it-had she not been downright furious. Instead of noting that she could barely hold her breath another moment, she was dwelling on how best she could take care of that black haired, blue-eyed, over-confident 'demon' who had so easily taunted her into this whole mess in the first place. As her breath left her and her flailing arms felt something grasp them, her last thought was of getting her Mama to send the 'demon' to their deepest, darkest, dirtiest, and of course, smelliest dungeon. It would later occur to her that their palace had no dungeon.
The boy dragged Sere up onto the grassy land near the edge of the lake; dead body weight was bad enough, but saturated dead body weight was somehow a great deal worse. She seemed okay, he thought on a close inspection. Sure her clothes were soaked, and her hair was out of the weird style it had been in previously; it had looked like two buns with streamers coming out of them on either side of her head. Now of course, it was in a tangled mess behind her and it was only at this time that he noticed how long it was- past her feet actually. Her eyes were closed and her pale skin now close to white, but she was coughing and as long as she was coughing, she wasn't dead-and that was what mattered, right?
Sere sat bolt up, coughing the rest of the water out of her lungs. Then, she blinked, looking with unfocused vision at some blurred shapes before her; when she realized what it those shapes melded together to be, she attacked. Shooting off of her heels, she tackled the boy once more, growling something about being mean and awful and above all, annoying. The boy might have found it funny if she hadn't been trying to strangle him, and so instead, he was both insulted and equally annoyed.
"You're the one who's smarter and braver! Aren't you? Well, how's I supposed ta know you couldn't swim?" he said after she exchanged her attempts to strangle him for trying to strike him. Through heated breaths, the girl swung another small fist at him as he stood quickly from his former position on the ground and evaded it.
"If you hadn't teased me I wouldn't have had to prove it to you!" she yelled at him, upset and angry. Her small cheeks had regained their normal pale skin tone but also flushed with extra pinkness. She was very annoyed, very.
"Who said anything about proving? I just asked you a question!" he insisted, lying and dodging her fueled punches with condescending ease that shouldn't have been possible for a ten year-old boy, even a demon.
"Look," she said finally stopping to glare at him instead and continued, "If you hadn't been in my rose garden none of this would have even happened. Demons aren't allowed here. I know, because Mama said that they are bad creatures that trick people. So how did you get here?" The boy nearly fell over. She thought he was a demon. How odd. But his mouth was running away with him and not thinking-as many children tend not to do-he retorted rashly.
"You're so stupid. And, and, spoiled. Before MY Mama died she read me all sorts of stories about beautiful princesses and how nice they were. You're obviously not either! And, I am not a Demon! I'm a Prince!" he said proudly. His pride was short-lived because Sere's temper was flaring once more.
"Stupid? I am not stupid you Demon thing!" she cried angrily. But that was not the only reason she was angry. Even at the age of seven she knew she had just been called unkind and ugly. Those were two things she knew her Mama was not, but she had never thought about herself. Was she ugly and unkind? Well, to this Demon of a boy maybe she was. She momentarily convinced herself that she did not care.
"Well, I'm not a Demon!" he replied tartly.
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
Silence flooded the area and even the distant crickets seemed to stop, as the heated argument between the two children seemed to take priority over all else. Sere was glaring with all of her fury and the boy simply stood, looking down at her. The wind that swept through was warm like all night breezes in the summer but Sere shivered. The coldness of the water was only noticeable once one left the lake and she had left it what seemed like many, many minutes ago. Suddenly she felt her anger seep away from her and the cold come upon her, the coldness of her wet clothes, the coldness of being thought stupid, ugly and worst of all, unkind. Now that she thought about it, she had been very rude. Maybe all of this was all her fault. She held back a sniffle and shivered again. She turned away from the boy who claimed he was a prince and jumped back onto the rock she had fallen from before.
"Wait, what are you doing?" the boy called after her. He had not meant to be so harsh; he did actually think she was very much like the princesses his mother had told him about, even pretty. And, he knew she could be nice. He had seen her with Princess Ami in the gardens before, when he had been looking once more for the way out, but that was another story. The point now was to apologize, and be the Prince his mother had raised for nine years of her life, and his.
Sere made it all the way to the other side of the lake without mishap, shivering still and still sad inside. She turned to see the boy following her, and she made her speech as quickly as possible before running back into the gardens.
"I am sorry. I did not think and was rude. I guess maybe you aren't a Demon," she paused and then added, "You are a Prince." Silently she added to herself, a Prince of the roses and gave him a wondering stare. And then she ran as fast as she could, into the garden, winding around its many corners and pathways.
Leave it to me, she thought unhappily. I go looking for a fairy and I find a Prince, and not just any Prince! No! I go off and find the Prince of the Roses. As every child knew, the Prince of the Roses was one of the most powerful magical beings in the world and as such, Sere felt that insulting him had been doubly worse for the matter. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she cried at herself inside, thinking and knowing full-well that her mother would have at least had the grace to walk away with her dignity, not run away like a frightened cat-no offense to Luna. In her child's eye she saw herself and all the mistakes she had made in the course of a few hours and all the things that not only were bad for normal children to do, but nearly unthinkable for a Princess. And then the moment of her contemplation, thick with confusion and physical shivers, was no more. I don't care, she thought defiantly against her own seven year-old conscience.
Even as she thought it, Sere knew it to be a lie.
The scents of many flowers flooded her nostrils. She had not realized how tired she was but soon the fatigue hit her and she collapsed, exhausted. It had to be nearly morning. The sky was lighter, even if the sun wasn't up yet. Breathing deeply, she inhaled and found herself sitting in front of the roses. Not caring if she pricked a finger or her entire hand, she grabbed a rose and gently broke it off, cradling it in her palms.
Never had she felt so sad. She had not had enough interaction with others, and because she had been so sheltered, she had not known how to deal with that boy's taunts. Her eighth Name Day was approaching and though she was still young, her very status had raised her beyond her years as far as speech and other scholastic things went. But socially she internally conceded that she was inapt. Her Mama had told her she did beautifully at the dinners and many meetings she was forced to attend, but of course, then she was normally silent.
A sigh escaped and she felt her body shiver once more. She was too small to be outside, shivering like this. Surely she would be ill tomorrow. And what would she tell her Mama? What? Some warmth trickled its way down from her eyes and plopped unceremoniously onto her now only damp skirts. The sniffle she had been holding in finally made its way to the surface and she rubbed her face with her small fists harshly. Her Mama was always so calm and composed; she never cried that Sere saw. But Sere was a child and she acknowledged that and let herself cry the rest of her energy away and she fell asleep.
The boy was breathing heavily by the time he reached the sleeping princess. Not only had he run the entire way through the garden and gotten lost three times in his haste, but even before that he had slipped and fallen back into the lake himself and had to swim to the other side. All in all, things had gone down hill the moment the little princess had run out of his sight. The ten year-old's gaze of pity softened to one of sympathy. He knew that look, the one that still showed glistening tear stains and the down turned corners of the mouth that conveyed a feeling of sadness and abnormal aloneness. He knew that look. In the moon's several last glowing beams, he picked up the sleeping princess, with some trouble, as he was only ten, even if a Prince. Eventually though, he situated the Princess so that he could easily hold her small frame.
Soundlessly he slipped through the halls of the palace, and without even trying, he located her room. Even had there been a dozen guards patrolling in the same vicinity, he would not have been seen and neither would the princess. This boy, this Prince cloaked himself in discretion and something extra that might have been called magic, which enabled his easy and safe passage. He slipped her onto the bed, and closed the curtains after tucking her in under all of the covers. He wondered absently, unlike any other child his age would have, if this was how an older brother felt. The whisper that lay over the sleeping princess was disembodied because even as it was said, the source of the words was as distant as the breeze of roses that had brought him there.
"I'm sorry too, Princess."
End chapter two. Please take a second to review even if it's only two words or one of encouragement, like: good job, or keep going! (please?!) Have a nice day,
Kaji Hikage Kaji@oz.zzn.com or Kajihikage@adelphia.net
The Rose Prince
Chapter Two
"Why on earth are you asking me about catching a fairy?" giggled Ami quietly as she and Sere whispered beneath the droning of the Duchess who was trying to enlighten them with the wonders of-something that they weren't paying the least attention to. It was one day after she had seen the shadowy figure the first time and the morning after she had seen it a second time. Sere had tried an idea of her own to get it to come to her but at the end of the night she ended up having failed; and she had turned to Ami for another way.
"Because I saw one in the garden," Sere replied solemnly. Ami looked dubious and then gave in, if only to appease her friend.
"Well, I know that if I was your fairy, I wouldn't want to be seen. So, if the fairy thinks you can't see her, then maybe you can catch her off guard," offered Ami. Then the Duchess whirled on the pair and they were forced to pay rapt attention. Sere thanked Ami later before retreating to her own room to think.
If it was a fairy, what could she feed her? Would she be her friend like Ami? Sere knew the fairy would be pretty but how old was she? She looked taller than Sere, or at least the shadow had looked taller than Sere. Only a little bit taller, Sere had convinced herself. It had taken Princess Serenity's best will to wear the traditional family hair style for the women; it involved separating her long silky hair down the middle and making two buns, one on either side of her head with a thick section of her hair streaming down from each. If her mother didn't look so graceful wearing it that way, Sere/ Princess Serenity would not have deigned to even try it; even as a child she had known it was particularly different. However, eventually grew rather fond of the style, and it became second nature to have her hair that way. However, she would never compromise her height. That was something she had always been touchy about, or at least since she had been able to frown-that age was probably about five name days old. Her mother insisted she was petite and adorable, and that as a princess, it suited her. Sere would have none of it.
"One day I shall be as tall as the palace Mama!" she had declared at the age of six; that was one year ago and her sentiments were much the same. Regaining her train of thought, the princess decided that if the fairy was a little taller than her that was okay. It probably meant the girl was a year older than her. Maybe, Sere thought with a smile playing on her lips, she could be my older sister.
And so the trap was set.
Having asked Ami to help her, Sere was sure that this time she would not fail. The moon was a crescent that night and Sere hid in the shadows around its light. Ever since she had glimpsed that fleeting figure in the rose garden, she had looked for her again and again; the Princess assumed it was indeed a 'she' because she suspected the elusive figure of being a fairy. Who else would wander the gardens at night, alone? (besides her of course)
It was not so much a trap as a new angle, and as Sere crept out of the shadows and into the center of the roses, she looked around briefly. No one, it seemed, was there. Her height was not very impressive for a seven year-old and as such, she barely needed to lean over to inhale the scent from one of the lavender roses on the bush. As was customary, she spread different colored petals on the skirts of her gown and sat down lightly. To anyone else it would have appeared as though her eyes were closed but in truth, she could see vaguely through her lowered lids. A shadow that had not been there moments ago now melded with the shadows of before. Of course it was too late; she had already seen the unnatural movement.
Before the shadow could react, she stood swiftly and ran towards it. Not having thought anymore of the plan out, she did the only thing she thought might be able to suppress a fairy or a shadow-she tackled it. Both bodies hit the hard stone ground, Sere on top of course. Worriedly, she looked down at the figure in the moonlight on top of which she sat. She had not meant to be so forceful, but she had been trying to catch this shadowy being for a long time-nearly two years by her child counting methods-two days to any other form of counting. As she examined the supposed fairy closer, she frowned; did fairies usually have short hair, short black hair? Making sure that she had the upper hand, Sere shifted her weight off of the body beneath her. It groaned, rubbing its head. Sere's mind went haywire; this wasn't a 'she'; it was a 'he'. She shook her head sadly. It had been her greatest hope to find a fairy in her garden and play with her. Instead she had this poor boy who no doubt was in a bit of discomfort and probably would not be her friend.
"Aw, whadya do that for girl?" the stranger asked, still sprawled on the floor, rubbing his head gingerly. "You've got some nerve you know," he added, though not contemptuously, more or less thoughtful.
It was then that Sere noted this boy must be older than her, at least ten name days old, maybe a little more. Then he looked straight up at her; she gasped. He had the most amazing eyes she had ever seen. A new light of hope formed in the back of her mind. If he wasn't fairy-and obviously he was not- then that didn't mean he wasn't some other magical being, right? She applied this question to her own logic and came out with an affirmative. Maybe, she thought excitedly, he's a shape changer like in Mama's stories.
"I asked you what did you do that for?" This time the boy articulated, catching Sere in the middle of another of her contemplations on what he might be.
"Huh?" Her voice seemed very light in the presence of his-she quickly tried to lower it, to no avail- so she crossed her arms and stood up straighter, as though that might make up for the number of years he had over her. The boy might have chuckled in amusement but before he could, she was very near his face, staring inquisitively and with an uncomfortable scrutiny, which was explained in the next sentence she spoke.
"Are you a demon?" she finally asked. It had occurred to Sere that maybe this boy with his dark hair and oceany eyes was a dark creature instead of a new playmate-her Mama's stories had those too. So, she wasn't sure whether to be scared or relieved when he laughed at her. Deciding neither was any good, she ended on the feeling of irritation, or as irritated as Sere could get at that age.
"Why are you laughing at me? I'm not stupid like some of those princesses in Mama's stories! I even told her so once and she said so too! And, and-if you're a demon I'm not scared!" she finished defiantly. He was still laughing.
She glowered at him, which was only possible because he was still sitting- comfortably it now seemed-on the stone ground while she was standing. As the last of his laugh died away, he looked straight at her once more.
"Well, I know you're not stupid. But are you smart?" he asked her in ten- year fashion that insinuated that he had the logic of a child that all people seem to retain on average until they hit their fifteenth name day. Of course, some of the lucky ones stay that way forever. Sere was taken aback by his boldness for a moment and then, flustered, she answered with a boldness of her own.
"I'm smarter AND braver than you are!" To her annoyance, the boy seemed to find this even more amusing and laughed once more, though this one was much shorter.
"Oh really?" he challenged, eyes flashing with an intriguing light Sere in her naivety could not place as mischief. Not to be daunted, nor to be bested, she replied tersely but with as much conviction as she could muster.
"Really!"
For a moment the boy was silent and Sere was all too pleased to let him stay that way. This was definitely a demon, she decided, frowning fiercely at him. The boy only smirked at her, staring at her from underneath his unruly ebony bangs; he noted that her frown was one that seemed to disapprove of him to the full and utter extent of his mere existence. He continued smirking. Suddenly he stood and Sere noticed that he wore a long black cape over some light armor the color of the midnight sky. It wasn't much really but the tunic beneath was the same color; the only distinguishing mark between the armor and tunic was the glint of silver that indicated the edges of the armor itself.
"Come on then," he said and with an absent wave of his hand began walking away.
She on the other hand wore her soft, lavender nightgown with layered skirts; even her sleepwear had layers she sulked silently as she scampered to keep up with the boy's quick stride and lifted her skirts so as not to trip over them. The stars shone down upon the pair as they weaved their way through the garden to the North end where it exited into a widespread green area. Here the grass was exceptionally soft and not twenty feet from the garden's exit there was a shimmering lake. The lake had rocks sticking up through the middle, presumably to step on to cross the lake; Sere had never been to this part of the grounds in all her years. She did not know what the rocks were for and so when the mysterious young boy gestured for her to follow him as he leapt to the first rock, swaying only slightly, she did not move.
"What? Are you scared? I thought you said you were smarter AND braver than me?" She knew he was taunting her but she didn't care. Children seldom live for anything but the moment and at that point in time, Sere lived to upstage this 'demon' and then tease him mercilessly about it afterwards. Moving towards the lake with the speed of her anger, she stomped her way over to the edge. She waited.
"Well?" she questioned emphatically. He gave her a puzzled look, which for a moment turned sheepish and jumped to the next rock, no swaying included. Sere took a deep breath and examined the distance. Then, resisting the urge to squeeze her eyes shut, she leapt to the first rock, landing square in the middle. She grinned up at the boy with pride and a look that read I-did- it-you-stupid-boy! They jumped together until they nearly reached the end of the line. The boy would not say it aloud, but he was impressed. This girl was brave and definitely not afraid of the task he had set before her.
The moon was still high in the sky but in its crescent form it did not spread as much light as Sere would have preferred. Shrugging, she watched as the boy jumped to the land from the last rock and she looked at her jump. It was larger than the others and as fate would have it, it was the rock she needed to get to in order to get back to blessed firma terra. Sere would not blind herself as many children might do; she knew full well she might not make the jump. Unfortunately, instead of doing the other thing other children might do-turn around and run away-she chose to try the leap. Otherwise this 'demon' she had acquainted herself with might never stop bothering her. She sighed; she had so hoped for a fairy. Oh well. Inhaling deeply, she leapt for it.
And she made it too. The problem was that when she landed her foot slipped out from under her, sending her head long into the waters of the lake. It was not cold and for that Sere was thankful; after all the days of complaining about the swelteringly hot summer days, she was glad that the lake water seemed to still have remnants of the sun's warmth in its depths. The temperature though, would not have been the least of her problems. The fact that she could not swim might have.
The boy was duly surprised when she made the jump and then went splashing into the lake. He was going to laugh when he realized she wasn't surfacing. This puzzled him until it occurred to him that she might not be able to swim. A minute later and he decided that was definitely the case. Without taking another second-which would have been most likely critical-he dove in and swam in the dark water, looking for a trace of lavender. It was lucky for him that he could hold his breath long. Meanwhile, Sere was not happy. In fact, she might have been scared-though she would never admit it-had she not been downright furious. Instead of noting that she could barely hold her breath another moment, she was dwelling on how best she could take care of that black haired, blue-eyed, over-confident 'demon' who had so easily taunted her into this whole mess in the first place. As her breath left her and her flailing arms felt something grasp them, her last thought was of getting her Mama to send the 'demon' to their deepest, darkest, dirtiest, and of course, smelliest dungeon. It would later occur to her that their palace had no dungeon.
The boy dragged Sere up onto the grassy land near the edge of the lake; dead body weight was bad enough, but saturated dead body weight was somehow a great deal worse. She seemed okay, he thought on a close inspection. Sure her clothes were soaked, and her hair was out of the weird style it had been in previously; it had looked like two buns with streamers coming out of them on either side of her head. Now of course, it was in a tangled mess behind her and it was only at this time that he noticed how long it was- past her feet actually. Her eyes were closed and her pale skin now close to white, but she was coughing and as long as she was coughing, she wasn't dead-and that was what mattered, right?
Sere sat bolt up, coughing the rest of the water out of her lungs. Then, she blinked, looking with unfocused vision at some blurred shapes before her; when she realized what it those shapes melded together to be, she attacked. Shooting off of her heels, she tackled the boy once more, growling something about being mean and awful and above all, annoying. The boy might have found it funny if she hadn't been trying to strangle him, and so instead, he was both insulted and equally annoyed.
"You're the one who's smarter and braver! Aren't you? Well, how's I supposed ta know you couldn't swim?" he said after she exchanged her attempts to strangle him for trying to strike him. Through heated breaths, the girl swung another small fist at him as he stood quickly from his former position on the ground and evaded it.
"If you hadn't teased me I wouldn't have had to prove it to you!" she yelled at him, upset and angry. Her small cheeks had regained their normal pale skin tone but also flushed with extra pinkness. She was very annoyed, very.
"Who said anything about proving? I just asked you a question!" he insisted, lying and dodging her fueled punches with condescending ease that shouldn't have been possible for a ten year-old boy, even a demon.
"Look," she said finally stopping to glare at him instead and continued, "If you hadn't been in my rose garden none of this would have even happened. Demons aren't allowed here. I know, because Mama said that they are bad creatures that trick people. So how did you get here?" The boy nearly fell over. She thought he was a demon. How odd. But his mouth was running away with him and not thinking-as many children tend not to do-he retorted rashly.
"You're so stupid. And, and, spoiled. Before MY Mama died she read me all sorts of stories about beautiful princesses and how nice they were. You're obviously not either! And, I am not a Demon! I'm a Prince!" he said proudly. His pride was short-lived because Sere's temper was flaring once more.
"Stupid? I am not stupid you Demon thing!" she cried angrily. But that was not the only reason she was angry. Even at the age of seven she knew she had just been called unkind and ugly. Those were two things she knew her Mama was not, but she had never thought about herself. Was she ugly and unkind? Well, to this Demon of a boy maybe she was. She momentarily convinced herself that she did not care.
"Well, I'm not a Demon!" he replied tartly.
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
Silence flooded the area and even the distant crickets seemed to stop, as the heated argument between the two children seemed to take priority over all else. Sere was glaring with all of her fury and the boy simply stood, looking down at her. The wind that swept through was warm like all night breezes in the summer but Sere shivered. The coldness of the water was only noticeable once one left the lake and she had left it what seemed like many, many minutes ago. Suddenly she felt her anger seep away from her and the cold come upon her, the coldness of her wet clothes, the coldness of being thought stupid, ugly and worst of all, unkind. Now that she thought about it, she had been very rude. Maybe all of this was all her fault. She held back a sniffle and shivered again. She turned away from the boy who claimed he was a prince and jumped back onto the rock she had fallen from before.
"Wait, what are you doing?" the boy called after her. He had not meant to be so harsh; he did actually think she was very much like the princesses his mother had told him about, even pretty. And, he knew she could be nice. He had seen her with Princess Ami in the gardens before, when he had been looking once more for the way out, but that was another story. The point now was to apologize, and be the Prince his mother had raised for nine years of her life, and his.
Sere made it all the way to the other side of the lake without mishap, shivering still and still sad inside. She turned to see the boy following her, and she made her speech as quickly as possible before running back into the gardens.
"I am sorry. I did not think and was rude. I guess maybe you aren't a Demon," she paused and then added, "You are a Prince." Silently she added to herself, a Prince of the roses and gave him a wondering stare. And then she ran as fast as she could, into the garden, winding around its many corners and pathways.
Leave it to me, she thought unhappily. I go looking for a fairy and I find a Prince, and not just any Prince! No! I go off and find the Prince of the Roses. As every child knew, the Prince of the Roses was one of the most powerful magical beings in the world and as such, Sere felt that insulting him had been doubly worse for the matter. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she cried at herself inside, thinking and knowing full-well that her mother would have at least had the grace to walk away with her dignity, not run away like a frightened cat-no offense to Luna. In her child's eye she saw herself and all the mistakes she had made in the course of a few hours and all the things that not only were bad for normal children to do, but nearly unthinkable for a Princess. And then the moment of her contemplation, thick with confusion and physical shivers, was no more. I don't care, she thought defiantly against her own seven year-old conscience.
Even as she thought it, Sere knew it to be a lie.
The scents of many flowers flooded her nostrils. She had not realized how tired she was but soon the fatigue hit her and she collapsed, exhausted. It had to be nearly morning. The sky was lighter, even if the sun wasn't up yet. Breathing deeply, she inhaled and found herself sitting in front of the roses. Not caring if she pricked a finger or her entire hand, she grabbed a rose and gently broke it off, cradling it in her palms.
Never had she felt so sad. She had not had enough interaction with others, and because she had been so sheltered, she had not known how to deal with that boy's taunts. Her eighth Name Day was approaching and though she was still young, her very status had raised her beyond her years as far as speech and other scholastic things went. But socially she internally conceded that she was inapt. Her Mama had told her she did beautifully at the dinners and many meetings she was forced to attend, but of course, then she was normally silent.
A sigh escaped and she felt her body shiver once more. She was too small to be outside, shivering like this. Surely she would be ill tomorrow. And what would she tell her Mama? What? Some warmth trickled its way down from her eyes and plopped unceremoniously onto her now only damp skirts. The sniffle she had been holding in finally made its way to the surface and she rubbed her face with her small fists harshly. Her Mama was always so calm and composed; she never cried that Sere saw. But Sere was a child and she acknowledged that and let herself cry the rest of her energy away and she fell asleep.
The boy was breathing heavily by the time he reached the sleeping princess. Not only had he run the entire way through the garden and gotten lost three times in his haste, but even before that he had slipped and fallen back into the lake himself and had to swim to the other side. All in all, things had gone down hill the moment the little princess had run out of his sight. The ten year-old's gaze of pity softened to one of sympathy. He knew that look, the one that still showed glistening tear stains and the down turned corners of the mouth that conveyed a feeling of sadness and abnormal aloneness. He knew that look. In the moon's several last glowing beams, he picked up the sleeping princess, with some trouble, as he was only ten, even if a Prince. Eventually though, he situated the Princess so that he could easily hold her small frame.
Soundlessly he slipped through the halls of the palace, and without even trying, he located her room. Even had there been a dozen guards patrolling in the same vicinity, he would not have been seen and neither would the princess. This boy, this Prince cloaked himself in discretion and something extra that might have been called magic, which enabled his easy and safe passage. He slipped her onto the bed, and closed the curtains after tucking her in under all of the covers. He wondered absently, unlike any other child his age would have, if this was how an older brother felt. The whisper that lay over the sleeping princess was disembodied because even as it was said, the source of the words was as distant as the breeze of roses that had brought him there.
"I'm sorry too, Princess."
End chapter two. Please take a second to review even if it's only two words or one of encouragement, like: good job, or keep going! (please?!) Have a nice day,
Kaji Hikage Kaji@oz.zzn.com or Kajihikage@adelphia.net