I don't own Sailor Moon or Gundam Wing.

Erroneous Sands

Chapter Three : Pretty Lady

Rei gave a big fake smile as she walked down the extensive majestic stairs that lead from the second level of the palace to the polished marble floor where her mother, father, and the royalty of Mercury stood. Makoto, as usual, was four steps behind her wearing a piece of lengthy red cloth over her head that almost reached her hips, as well as a piece of lighter cloth to cover her mouth. Long layered skirts hung on her hips and a shirt that hugged her body yet was loose around her arms, belling to hide her hands, adorned her top. She wore no shoes and no jewelry. This was the uniform of the higher servants within the Martian palace. No part of their body was to be shown besides their necks, which bore no jewelry symbolizing their stature of wealth, their feet, which bore no shoes, also symbolizing how much money they had, and their eyes.

Rei reached the ground and curtsied, Makoto mimicking her motions four steps behind her. However as Rei stood, her best friend stayed in her curtsied position. "How nice it is to see you again, I hope your stay is a pleasant one," she spoke, her fake smile returning.

The Princess of Mercury curtsied as she gave Rei a smile that was just as bogus as her own. "I am much obliged," she returned. Rei's smile this time (however some may call it a smirk) was real as Ami expressed her thanks. The girls' tone was so light and kind that all Rei could do was smile. However, just as Rei was to suggest that Ami follow her to the porch in the back for tea, her mother interrupted her.

"Rei, dear," she said, her arm hooked around Rei's fathers arm, "why don't you tell Princess Ami the celebration we're having tonight?" She smiled as Rei stared back at her mother with blank eyes.

Celebration, what celebration? She gave a quick glance back at Makoto who, by the slight motion of her shoulders barely moving, Rei could tell, shrugged. Turning to the King and Queen of Mercury she gave a shaky smile and clasped her hands in front of her dress. "Oh… yes of course. The celebration tonight, I was never good at explaining such gatherings as you were mother. Why don't you explain?" Her mother merely laughed and shook her head.

"Princess Ami, I wanted Rei to tell you herself but it seems that she has already forgotten." At her mothers slight giggle the Mercurian royalty chuckled along. "Tonight is an occasion I am sure that you'll want to attend to. Sir Arlot is gracing us with his company as well as signing books."

The Princess of Mercury gasped but quickly remembered her stature and covered her mouth. Glancing over to Rei she gave her a look that said 'how could you have possibly forgotten this?' Rei gave her a blank look back. Turning her head she returned the Queen of Mars' smile and said, "I would… I would be honored to attend!"

Rei rolled her eyes. This was an occasion for Ami, not for herself. Sir Arlot was a famous writer who's main study was the abrupt explosion of the two boundary rocks. He also wrote small novels in which Ami had found fairly nice to read. Giving a rude sigh she walked over to the now giddy Princess of Mercury and looped her arm through hers. "Well, now that that's out, Ami and I will be on our way to our tea. Thank you mother, father, King, Queen, we'll see you all tonight." With that the two of them walked off, Makoto still four steps behind.

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"And when had you planned on telling me this?" Ami asked as soon as they sat down. The porch was lit up with the morning's luminosity, patches seeping through the small beams that held the porch together. The faint, yet sweet, smell of Casablanca's was evident as Rei took her seat and sighed.

"Look Ami, you know that what Sir Arlot does is not my kind of thing. I completely forgot about it. But hey, I'll look on the bright side, maybe there'll be some cute boys there," she grinned as Ami gave her a look of disbelief. Laughing out loud she gave Ami a 'just kidding' look. Her friend just huffed and took a sip of her tea.

Shaking off her friends' comment Ami looked up to Makoto, who was standing against the porch wall, arms crossed and eyes barely open yet oddly enough just as alert as any of the guards she had seen on her way in. The girl was a complete mystery to her. She'd met her a couple of times and saw the looks that she and Rei shared which could only mean that Rei didn't exactly treat her like a servant. The two were closer than that, but then, since there was no one watching, why did Rei not offer her tea?

"Makoto-san," she began. The servant's eyes turned slowly towards hers. Ami almost jumped. Green? Green eyes? Since when had any person on Mars had green eyes? Usually violet, blue occasionally and the eventual black or brown but green? Very unique… very different. "Would you like to join us for some tea?" The girl gave a bow and politely refused, crossing her arms again and looking out over the royalty's land, eyeing anyone who passed.

Ami gave a look to Rei who merely sipped her tea and acted as if nothing had happened. Makoto was lucky that she declined as the Queen of Mars walked out onto the porch. Turning to Makoto she said, "Oh, dear Makoto would you mind running to the market for a few? I'm afraid it's Kagura's day off and Marietta is visiting her sick father."

Makoto curtsied. You couldn't tell but she was smiling beneath her coverings. The Queen was too kind to be a Queen. She'd never heard any other royalty say, 'would you mind.' Staying in her curtsied position she replied, "Of course your highness."

"Fabulous, here's what I need you to get…" Handing Makoto a long list she smiled and walked away. But before completely walking out of sight she called, "We need it for tonight so if you could leave as soon as you could, that would be wonderful." Makoto smiled again. The Queen was just too kind. Turning to Rei and the Princess of Mercury she curtsied for them.

"It was an honor to be in your company, Princess Mercury, Princess Mars," and with that she stood and left.

Ami put a finger to her chin and tilted her head, watching Makoto's silhouette become smaller and smaller. "She's quite odd…" she commented.

Stirring her tea with her spoon, Rei let out an awkward laugh of a sort. "You don't know the half of it," she murmured.

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Makoto sighed. At least the list was short, for the kitchen had most of what they needed. Patting the money pouch now attached to her waist she hopped the amount was going to be enough. The market wasn't too far away from the castle, but she'd have to walk fast if she wanted to get there, get the items on the list and then get back before the sun began to fall.

Looking at the bottom of the list she grinned. There, scribbled in the Queens handwriting, it said, 'and I added a bit more money for you to grab a small something to eat.' Next to it was a small smiley face. Since no one was around Makoto let out a long and heavy laugh. She knew why the Queen was so kind to her. She and her husband had revealed to her long ago that she had had no parents, no siblings, and no relatives at all still living. For that Makoto believe that the Queen thought that she had to be a sort of replacement mother for the girl. But why was what confused Makoto the most. She treated the other servants as if they were servants. Yet she treated her as a sort of daughter. Not outright, of course, but in small ways like this, by giving her a bit more money just so she could get some food.

It was nice to have the Queen treat her like a daughter (secretly of course) but Makoto had always wondered what her real mother was like… She'd realized long ago when she was a small child that she looked far different from any other person on Mars. But why was she so different?

Strange thoughts plagued her mind all the way to the market. Her feet were reddened from the sand and the hot sun above made beads of sweat develop on her forehead. By now the sun was right overhead and beginning to drop down towards the horizon again. Quickly Makoto shuffled through the market, grabbing the odds and ends on the list. Once everything had been bought she took the last few coins and bought herself a pear. She licked her lips just thinking about the juiciness of it. Just imagining the juice sliding down her arm as she takes another bite into its sweet flesh. Holding it up to the sun she smiled. Oh how she loved pears…

And then the pear was gone. Makoto gasped and stood up. A boy far younger than her ran to her left with the pear. He'd grabbed it right out of her hands! "Hey! Stop, thief! Somebody stop him!" she called, running after the boy. Bad move. Stopping she turned around and ran back to the bags of groceries she had bought only to find another boy picking them up and running in the opposite direction. Right now the groceries were far more important than a single pear. Picking up her skirts she ran in a very unladylike manner, shoving through people and yelling for the boy to stop. Reaching out, she grabbed the back of his shirt, slowing him down.

"Give me those back!" she cried as the older boy struggled in her grasp. The boy didn't respond in words but flung his arm behind her in means to hit her in the face. In the process of ducking Makoto let go of his shirt and the boy was off again. He ran around the corner of a small hut and Makoto followed only this time she hadn't expected to be hit on the forehead with a large stick. Groaning she fell to the ground in a heap of skirts and red. Now how the hell had that boy gotten a hold of a stick that big? Rolling over she groaned again. Putting a hand to her forehead she felt a small trickle of blood. Trying to push herself off of the ground Makoto found the task a lot harder than she though it would be.

Hearing a chuckle behind her Makoto almost jumped as a hand was placed in front of her. "Let me help you up," came a kind voice. Turning around Makoto tried to see who was helping her. But with the sun right behind him and Makoto's blurred vision the guy just seemed like a blob to her. Thinking nothing worse could happen she took his hand and, with a strength Makoto had not anticipated, was pulled to her feet.

"The groceries…" she mumbled, taking a step and almost falling as a wave of dizziness came upon her. The man beside her chuckled as he caught her beneath her breast.

"Fear not, they're right here." He pointed to a heap beside him and sure enough Makoto recognized them as the groceries she had bought earlier. Pulling herself from the mans grasp as stumbled over to the groceries and picked them up.

"Well I guess I'd better be off then… thank you for your help." Taking another shaky step forwards Makoto heard the man chuckle behind her again. The ground in front of her seemed to move and wave. It then began to tilt to the right as well as Makoto's body. This time, however, she was not caught by the guy behind her. Another man in front of her grabbed her shoulders and kept her steady.

"Sit." He simply said. And Makoto sat. She was beginning to be able to see what her two saviors looked like. He held something out in front of her and Makoto soon recognized it as her pear. "Eat." He said again. And Makoto ate. While she ate her first savior spoke again.

"I," he said, placing a wet cloth to Makoto's forehead, "am Quatre." Makoto wondered how this strange man had come up with a wet towel so quickly. But right now that was not of her concern. Who were these two men, and why were they helping her?

"Heero," her second savior said. The girl now realized that he didn't like to speak much. Quatre spoke again.

"This here is Tatsuki," he slightly shoved the small boy who had stolen her pear in front of her. "I believe he has something to say to you."

The small boy clasped his hands behind his back and stared ferociously at the ground. Digging his toes within the reddish sand he rocked back and forth. By his torn white shirt, which had gone red with the sand, and his tearing shorts Makoto could tell that this boy was homeless. Looking down at her half eaten pear she felt guilty. Swallowing the bite she had just taken Makoto smiled at the small boy. Touching his chin so that the little boy looked at her she held out the pear to him. He grabbed it and ran away. But not without calling a 'thank you, pretty lady' behind him.

Makoto blushed but realized now that the sun was getting closer and closer to the horizon. "Oh dear," she cried, stumbling and grabbing her bags. "I really do have to go. But I thank… you…" Makoto had turned and finally gotten a good look and what her two saviors really looked like. They were probably the two most handsome men she had ever seen. Blushing she looked down and stammered out her thanks. "Um, thank you for saving me." She curtsied and looked up to find them both bowing to her. Blushing even deeper she found that it was hard to look at them without almost drooling.

"Thank you for gracing us with your kindness," Heero said as Quatre kissed the top of her hand. The two smirked at the young girl. Her cheeks were so red Heero almost thought it was a sunburn.

"Y-yes… well… Goodbye then," she curtsied again and picked up her groceries, walking back towards the palace.

"Goodbye, pretty lady," Quatre said. He knew she heard him for her slight stumble. He grinned as he opened his hand and looked down. Inside of it was a small black object. "Did you place it on her?" he asked Heero once she disappeared over the dunes. It was funny how she knew nothing about them, yet they knew almost everything about her and her best friend.

"Of course," came Heero's curt reply as he turned and began to walk away. Quatre looked down at a small beeping object in his hand. His eyes followed the red dot as it moved. Sighing he turned and followed his friend. "Now all we do is wait…" he mumbled to himself.

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Whew, okay then, here's chapter three! I finally got the G-boys in there. I'm pretty sure that the other Senshi will show up at some point, but I'm not so sure about the other G-boys. What do you guys think? Should I add them? Well I'm off then, and thank you for reading!

Eternalhime