This is the first chapter where we actually see Scouts of any kind in Japan for this story series. They will have already been on Earth before, of course, either because they originated there, or because they traveled there for one reason or another. [See Books II through IV, at least, for more information, please.] But this will be the first time most, if not all, of them visit Japan in the timeline of this story series, at least.
I hope you enjoy the chapter, of course, folks. And that you will comment on it and other chapters for other volumes in this story series, for that matter, as well. But if you choose not to, so be it.
With no further ado, then, let's get back to the story here, and see where it takes us all. TUS out.
Inside Darien's Chambers In The Imperial Palace
Kyoto, Japan, Earth
June 11, 987 - June 12, 987
While Serena and several members of her royal Court were most likely either conversing with her parents or getting ready for their upcoming trip to Japan, Darien was reading from one of his scrolls. He was doing that for at least a little while, as he was also sitting behind a table in his Imperial Palace chambers on a chair of some sort. Darien was reading a scroll that had to deal with the various characteristics of certain plants that Serenity had sent to him some time before in a message canister sent from the Moon. He'd not yet planted them in the New Moon Garden of that Japanese palace's grounds. But he was quite seriously considering doing so sometime in the near future, if it'd somehow be at all possible for him to do so sometime later on in his own life. Those particular plants from Queen Serenity were now being stored, for at least the time being, in one of his various garden sheds, at least, if not more than one of those sheds of his, on the Imperial Palace's grounds.
He read that scroll for at least a little while, in fact. He only stopped reading it after he got a very strange feeling about Serena and others that he currently knew well enough in his life. He couldn't quite explain it at the current time, as well. But he just had this very strange feeling about those very same people in his life.
He soon went in search of his parents, who were Japan's Emperor and Empress, at least as of the current time. Their names were Emperor Peter and Empress Elaine. And they ruled over Japan from their capital city of Kyoto, whenever they could possibly do so at all.
He eventually found his parents heading back to their own Imperial Palace chambers. They soon afterward asked him what was on his mind. For they'd somehow guessed that something of sufficient enough importance might possibly be on his mind at the current time.
He thought for a few seconds, before answering them. He said, "I have a very strange feeling that we'll be having some visitors here in the very near future. Like maybe in the next twelve to eighteen hours, at the very latest, Father." He said this as he and his parents arrived just outside his parents' chambers. His father then opened them as needed, and all three of them entered those chambers in very short order.
It was nine hours later, time-wise, in Kyoto than it was in Moon City at the exact same time. Serena and the other members of her traveling party might leave the Moon in the necessary way on the day that they might consider to be June 11, 987. But they might not necessarily appear in Kyoto on the day they might reckon as June 11, 987, for the obvious reasons. In fact, where it might be 11:30 pm or so on a particular day in the Moon City area of the Moon, it'd actually be nine hours later, time-wise, than that in Kyoto. Meaning, of course, something like 8:30 am on the following day of the year, quite naturally, for instance.
"How soon do you think they'll be here in actual reality, then, Darien?" asked Empress Elaine, once they were all behind at least one secure enough locked door, if not more than one.
"If I'm not too mistaken here about this particularly strange feeling of mine, I'd not be all that surprised if they show up somewhere on the grounds of this very palace of ours by 8:30 am or so tomorrow. In fact, I think we'd best expect that if they actually come here, they'll be here by no later than 9:30 am or so our time, Mother."
"What do you suggest we do, then, Darien?"
"I think that we should make sure that we'll be able to put them all in at least four or five chambers for at least as long as they're here on Earth with us, Mother. I strongly suspect that Serena and several members of her crowd will be coming here to visit us for at least a little while. And if I'm right, we'll need at least a few chambers for them all to stay in. There'll also be at least a few males accompanying Serena and other members of her Court on their visit to us here, if I'm not too mistaken here."
"Which quite naturally might mean that they'd have to be assigned chambers that are far enough away from the ones that are assigned to the females in their group, of course, Darien."
"Of course, Mother. I think it'd really be a good idea to put Princesses Destiny and Bethany with each other." He then explained why, if his parents didn't already know why by then in each of their lives. Which was quite possibly the case for them, at least up to that point in time for each of them, in fact.
"Okay, Darien. We'll put those two together, then. What about Serena and Raye, then?"
"Separate chambers, if at all possible. Amy and Serena could stay in the same chambers. While Raye could stay with Lita. I have this feeling that we'll somehow also see Princess Sylvia from Israel. If so, then I think we can put her with Mina. If she doesn't, then Mina could possibly have chambers of her own for as long as she's here with us, I think."
"That may take care of our female visitors, Darien. But what of our male visitors?" asked Emperor Peter.
"I suspect that they'll be the special friends of each of those girls, Father. I believe, if I'm not too mistaken about such things here, that we'll be seeing Prince Greg from Mercury, Prince Steven from Venus, Prince Ken and/or Prince Andrew from Jupiter, Princes Solomon and Renaldo from the Moon, and Prince Chad from Mars. Not to mention the possibility that we'll see Prince Rolando from Scotland here on Earth as well. I could be wrong about such things, of course. But for some strange reason, I really don't think that I am here."
"Where do you suggest we put them? And how do you suggest we assign chambers to them all, if they show up here, as you seem to think that they'll eventually do, Darien?" asked Empress Elaine.
"Greg can stay with Steven. Solomon and Renaldo can stay together here as well. Rolando can stay with Ken and/or Andrew, if he shows up here, just as I suspect that he might eventually do here."
Darien's parents considered these suggestions for a few moments. And then Emperor Peter asked, "If Rolando doesn't actually show up, then what about Ken and/or Andrew, Darien?"
"If there's just one of them, they could stay alone in one group of rooms for themselves, while they're here. If both of them show up here, and Rolando doesn't, then they could stay in the same chambers with each other, of course, Father."
His parents looked at each other for a few moments. Then they briefly stepped out of his earshot into another part of their chambers, so they could discuss the matter in relative privacy for at least a little while, quite naturally. He patiently waited for them to return to where he was now sitting on a chair elsewhere in their chambers.
Eventually, of course, they came back to him. Emperor Peter then said, "All right, Darien. Go ahead and handle this matter exactly as you feel that it should be handled here. You now have our authorization to have any of our people do anything that you think is necessary for us to do before our friends get here, just as you seem to think that they eventually will do here, Darien."
"Thank you, Father and Mother. Then, if you'll excuse me, I'll begin the necessary procedures for us to be able to host them here well enough, if at all possible."
"As you wish. You may now leave us to handle things just as you think they need to be done here, Darien."
Darien then left his parents' chambers in very short order, of course. He began taking care of whatever he possibly could take care of, prior to his friends' now-expected arrivals in Kyoto, Japan. No matter what it was, and no matter who he needed to talk to, as he did so, he then began taking care of all the necessary things that he'd have to take care of before Serena and several other members of her current crowd would show up later on.
Needless to say, he didn't sleep much over at least the next few hours, if not even longer than that. He was only able to return to his chambers again for a while after about 2:30 am on June 12, 987. After he did so, he spent most, if not all, of the next five or six hours sleeping quite deeply in his very own bed. Most, if not all, of the time that he spent in his bed, he spent dreaming of the times that he'd previously been on the Moon in his very own life, at least, if not any other times in his own life as well.
He wondered, "Why are you coming here with several members of your current crowd, Serena? I wish I knew why you were coming here with them, in fact, Serena."
Serena didn't answer him, of course, as he wondered why she and other members of her crowd were most likely coming to Japan for the first time in their lives. But he was still reasonably certain that he'd eventually find out, just the same.
He eventually woke up at about 7:45 am local time on June 12, 987. After which he quite quickly dressed in the very same uniform that Queen Serenity and Prince Daniel had earlier given him during a previous visit of his to the Moon, in fact. He hurried to the Imperial Palace's main dining hall. And he quite soon wolfed down a good-sized breakfast. After doing that, he then set off for the New Moon Garden elsewhere on the Imperial Palace's grounds. For his earlier feeling had also suggested to him, at least, if not also his parents as well, that they'd quite suddenly appear there without much, if any, previous warning at all.
He soon sat down on a bench near the main fountain of that garden. Darien patiently waited for the expected guests to show up there quite suddenly. He was currently the only one who was still in that garden. Darien would continue to be the only one there until they all showed up as well.
At exactly 8:30 am, just as he'd earlier expected that they might, a portal became quite visible, just as soon as one of Serena's feet had passed through it enough to make it visible, near enough to where he now was. Serena was the first of her current group to appear completely outside the portal on the Japanese end of it. Her twin sisters were the next to appear out of it. Raye and her male Martian counterpart appeared next. Then Mina, Steven, Amy, Greg, Solomon, Renaldo, Lita, Ken, and Andrew each left the portal as well, in that exact order. After Andrew himself finally left the portal well enough, it then became completely invisible once again, in fact.
As soon as he knew they were all here, he arose from his current bench. Darien went to where he now knew they all were. The first of them that he saw was, quite naturally enough, Serena. She and her current companions were all walking toward him. Even though they didn't yet know it, either. He saw them from about fifteen or so feet away, but they didn't yet see him, at the same time.
He then reached under his uniform's frontmost portion. And he took out a long-stemmed red rose from an interior pocket there. He briefly looked at it, and then he threw it from behind a large rosebush so that it'd land just about six feet in front of Serena's party, when it landed there. He did so while hidden, of course.
Serena was the only one of her party to see the rose as it sailed toward her. But she didn't spot Darien either as he threw it or while it was still in the air, prior to its landing just in front of her. She soon saw the now-flying long-stemmed red rose. And she soon said, very quietly, "He's here, somewhere, people," to all of her current companions here. And she did so almost too quietly for anyone else who was now with her to be somehow able to hear her now say that, in actual reality, here.
A few moments later, after that red rose had landed just in front of her, she quite carefully picked it up, due to the fact that there were actually several thorns on its stem. She looked at it very briefly, and then she said, "Prince Darien, I know you're here somewhere. Though I don't exactly know where we are here right now, I know you're still here, just the same. Please come out and show yourself to us all."
Prince Darien realized almost immediately that he probably should do just as she'd now asked him here. But just before he did so, he first very quietly chuckled to himself. He did so very quietly, quite naturally enough, in fact. And then he left his current hiding place elsewhere in the garden, so that he could show himself to Serena and the rest of her current companions.
As soon as he did so well enough to suit them all, Serena said, "Hello, Prince Darien. It's so good to see you again, in actual reality. It's been a while since we actually have done so, I think."
"Too long, if I read your meaning well enough here, Moon Princess Serena."
"Even one day is actually too long for me, I think, under normal enough circumstances, Prince Darien, to be away from you."
"It's good to see you again as well, Serena. Now I suppose that you should be quite tired out from your trip here from Moon City, everyone. If you'll come with me then, I'll have my brother and sister attend to your things and bring them to the chambers here that you'll all be using while you're here with us all. They're waiting for us outside this very garden, in fact, everyone."
"Fine, Darien. Lead the way, then, if you feel you must do so," said Serena, after first looking at the rest of her current companions. Darien then began to do as he'd just suggested for them all here.
His brother Prince Jacob and his sister Princess Caroline soon met up with Serena and the rest of her current crowd for the first time, if they'd never done so before, in each of their own lives. Then Darien had Jacob attend to the needs or wants of the males in the group, while he had Caroline do the same for Serena and the rest of the girls in it.
He said, just before his sister Caroline led all the girls in the group away as needed, "Serena, I suppose you'll want to talk to me later, then."
"Of course. But I think that first we girls, at least, should have the opportunity to lie down for at least a little while, Darien. For when we left Moon City earlier, it was still June 11, 987. We're nine hours later than you are, time-wise, if I'm not mistaken too much here, Darien. It was about 11 pm or so our time when we left Moon City, I think. So I hope you can understand well enough that we might very well be quite tired right now."
"Of course you might be. Feel free to lie down then, if you feel you must all do so here, Serena."
Then Caroline led all the girls away from the area again. Darien himself soon returned to his own chambers again as well, in fact.
After he did so, he soon resumed his reading of the scroll that he'd been reading on the previous day. Darien read it for a while until he was once again hungry. After he became hungry enough again, he went to the Imperial Palace's main dining hall so that he could quite naturally get himself some food and drink for his lunch. He began consuming his lunch at about 2:40 pm. It took him about twenty or so minutes to finish doing so here.
After taking care of all his dirty dishes and things there again, he left it and began making the rounds elsewhere in the palace. Either in terms of his work in the palace's five main gardens, or his work in whatever areas of the palace's grounds in which he might normally keep all his animals lodged, whenever possible. Those animals included several horses, several birds, a few dogs, and at least one cat, if not more than one cat, in fact.
All his horses that were lodged anywhere on the Imperial Palace's grounds had at least some Arabian blood in them, in terms of their respective ancestries, if they weren't entirely Arabian in them. His birds included several different varieties, whether of Terran origin or not. Serenity had, at least once, given him unhatched eggs from birds that were native to at least one, if not more than one, of the Moon Kingdom's inhabited worlds. Many, if not most, or all, of those types of birds from which those eggs had come actually were falcons or eagles of some sort, most likely. His dogs and cats, though, were all of complete Terran origin, in fact.
He didn't know all the exact names of every kind of dog that he currently kept as a pet. But he knew that he had at least one dog of foreign origin elsewhere on Earth. Specifically from the area of the Adriatic Sea, in fact. He had at least one, if not more than one, Dalmatian, or at least a potential ancestor to the breed that would later be known as the Dalmatian. Other dogs that he had as pets included a Canaan Dog, or at least a potential ancestor of such a future dog. Several dogs of East Asian origin also belonged to him. Dogs like the Japanese Chin, for example. Plus at least one, if not more than one, dingo of Australian origin, in fact. He was still waiting for more dogs to arrive in Japan from elsewhere in the world. Mostly of types that would remind others of greyhounds, for instance, if not entirely of such types.
He also kept as pets at least one Siamese cat, if not more than one, and a few tame enough tigers that he'd saved from harm and taken care of for several years. He'd done so for several years, once it was quite certain that they'd no longer be able to survive out in the wild any longer in their lives well enough. For at least one of them had been at least partially, if not entirely, blinded by various circumstances in their lives, if not more than one of them. Another tiger had found himself in a rather unexpected battle against at least one animal of a different species, while he was changing from a cub into an adult tiger. And Darien had fortunately encountered that certain tiger before he'd either been killed or wounded too seriously by his opponent or opponents in battle. Darien had saved that tiger by firing enough projectiles of various sizes and shapes at that tiger's opponent or opponents. And he soon brought that tiger home again. He took care of that tiger, and he eventually tamed him enough to make it possible for that tiger to be lodged on the Imperial Palace's grounds as well. He didn't tame him entirely. But he still tamed him at least enough to make it possible for certain other people in his own life to take care of that tiger well enough. If and whenever he wasn't able to do so in his life, for at least a little while.
He quite naturally had to keep all the animals that he had who weren't completely tamed far enough away from those that were. He kept his tigers about a quarter of the palace's perimeter away from where he kept most, if not all, of his other current animals, as well. And he only allowed a very certain few other people to go where they were kept, of course, whenever the need arose for them to ever do so at all.
His siblings, for instance, weren't included among those people. Mainly for the reason that if something sufficiently bad ever happened to him, like on the Moon, for example, there'd still be at least one of them who could rule Japan after their parents. Darien might be the next ruler of Japan, or he might not. But if he wasn't, there'd have to be someone else who could take over after his parents were dead in their own lives, quite naturally enough. Meaning either Prince Jacob or Princess Caroline, in fact.
It took him several hours, most likely, to attend to all of his various animals. But he eventually finished attending to them all by 7:30 pm or so that same day.
After attending to them all, then, he soon went back to his chambers again. And he took a reasonably quick shower there. He then donned the uniform that Queen Serenity and Prince Daniel had earlier given him again. For it'd earlier been washed, dried, and returned to his chambers while he was otherwise occupied that very day by any of the necessary people on the palace's grounds. Then he went in search of whoever else he could possibly find of his Moon Kingdom friends, as a matter of fact.
So now Serena and several members of her crowd are now beginning to visit Darien and his family on Earth. They'll have to attend to certain other matters soon enough, especially after a few of their friends show up in the area as well, whether or not others are with them at the same time. But for now, at least, they're all going to try and enjoy themselves for as long as they can, in any case.
Until the next chapter, folks, I'll close this. There's still quite a lot of the story to tell here, for sure, though, and I hope you all stick around long enough to read it. It's not going to be all pleasant to read, because the Negaverse certainly won't let it be, among various others, but I'll still try to keep it as pleasant as I can, wherever I can, and however I can. TUS out.