Sorry it took so long to update, guys, but I promise that I'll have this wrapped up in the next few chapters, and then I'll be updating my next stories. I hope you guys enjoy the next two or three chapters in which this story is going to finish up.
Hotaru, however, crawled into a ball on her bed to think some more.
The next morning...
Hotaru had fallen asleep attempting to think about how she could even feel the love that had so recently been feeling for Trunks, that Serenity had unintentionally wrenched from her very own grasp. Bulma walked in just then, and flung open Hotaru's curtains to further wake the young girl.
"Good morning!" Bulma said, trying to get a smile out of the girl that she knew she would be unable to receive, because Hotaru was unable to give it to her.
"What are you doing in here, and so early at that?" Hotaru asked.
"Well, you do remember that today you have to attend the ball with Trunks, ne?" Bulma questioned the still tired princess of Saturn.
"Yes, I unfortunately remember this, why?" Hotaru asked angrily, feeling the pain of hatred for him and Serenity flare up from within herself.
"Take it easily," Bulma said shakily, "I was just going to train you, Setsuna, Michiru, and Serenity on how you must enter, participate, and exit the dinner party. Please, if you could be down at the main ballroom for 8:30 that would be grand!" Bulma said, as she backed her way out the door, a forced smile on her face.
'Hotaru's become most unpleasant since that curse was placed upon her... I do hope that they find a way to break it, and I hope they find it soon...' Bulma thought.
Hotaru sighed aloud in her room. 'I don't mean to be rude and skittish towards my friends, but I just can't help it, with this curse, all I can feel are negative emotions... I honestly hope that they realize that I'm not cross because I'm turning on them all, that it's only this god-forsaken curse upon me... Oh, what shall I do?' Hotaru thought, as she dressed herself for the ball.
2 Hours Later...
"I'm so glad you all showed up, this will make things so much easier on Vegeta and myself." Bulma said, gesturing to a rather angry looking saiyan.
"Keh, you onnas better get this right quickly, I haven't got all day, besides, you're cutting into Hotaru's training time. And not only is it making her angry, but it's making me angry too." Vegeta growled at them, rudely as usual in the early morning.
"Vegeta..." Bulma said sweatdropping.
"He's entirely right, though." Hotaru scoffed, angrily. She knew this was cutting into her training time. The only time she had right now to get rid of her anger from this bloody curse.
"Please Hotaru..." Serenity whispered. 'I never meant for any of this to happen... I just wanted to be with Trunks, but Hotaru always puts everything and everyone before herself. Why does she do such things?' Serenity looked long and hard at Hotaru before the girl's cold gaze fell upon her.
"I don't know why I ever did it before," she told Serenity, who looked horrified that her mind had been read, "But I will never, ever do it again. Not for you, not for earth, not for the moon, and not for-" but Hotaru's declaration of self-centered origin hesitated as she came to Small Lady's name. "And not for the Small Lady." she finished, but her heart had hurt her to say those words. Serenity turned, tears in her eyes, and followed everything Bulma said very closely.
Michiru watched on in silent pain as the thing closest to her daughter was eaten up by a curse she had taken on in an effort to keep her Queen happy. Michiru decided that it was now or never to fix this curse. As soon as Bulma finished, Serenity ran out of the grand ballroom, Michiru glided gracefully towards Trunks's quarters, and Hotaru flew out, smirking grandly to mask her pain and anger, with Vegeta to train until a few hours before the ball.
In Trunks' room
"Trunks, look. I have to tell you this now, or you'll never figure it out. Technically, Hotaru is bound not to tell you this, or tell anyone to tell you this. You're supposed to figure it out. But you are the only person who can break this curse. If you love her you have to tell me now, because if you don't there is no hope for her. Because there is no pretending." Michiru said hurriedly.
"I love her. I would die to save her." Trunks replied to Michiru, who smiled with tears still in her gorgeous aquamarine eyes.
"Since she didn't tell me to tell you this, it should work. Let's pray to Serenity the first that it does! You have to proclaim your love for her. Your love must not only be told to everyone at the ball but it must be sealed with a very intimate kiss. If you are indeed pretending to love her, she will only die because of it." Michiru watched carefully for anything negative in Trunks's reaction. But there was nothing. And so she let him speak.
"I've... er... never kissed anybody before." He told her. Michiru, who had turned around, spun back around twice as quickly.
"W-what!" she asked him.
"Nope, never." he replied sheepishly.
"Oh my... Well, I guess we'll just have to fix that, now won't we? Not in a sense of actually letting you kiss someone, but just teaching you how to position yourself in a manner that would be comfortable to kiss people in." Michiru said.
"Oh, lovely. You mean you're going to teach me?" he asked, his voice shaky.
"Do you have a better idea? The ball is in 5 hours." Michiru pointed out coldly. She only wanted her daughter back. It wasn't exactly her daughter, but Hotaru was the closest thing that she and Haruka had to a child.
"No, that will be fine, it's just that, it'll be hard to do something like that with somebody who I don't have feelings for." he replied reasonably.
"Would you rather me get Serenity?" she asked evilly.
"Absolutely not!" he replied.
"Then think of me as Hotaru." She scoffed, turning on her heel to leave. "I'll be back in an hour. You better be here, or there will be hell to pay for you."
"Yes ma'am!" he replied shakily.
Training
"Great job Hotaru. And by the way, nice gi. Where did you get it?" Vegeta asked her, smirking as usual.
"Sataru gave it to me. As a present. It's from home." she replied. The gi was black with purple sparkles woven into the fabric. They sort of outlined the symbol of Saturn in the middle of it, but those sparkles were silver.
"Yes, it's catching. Maybe I can get Bulma to make me one with a V and green sparkles." he said, mocking her.
"Do not mock me. You forget how much more powerful I can become when angry. And then it doensn't matter how I use that power, just how much of it I decide to unleash." Hotaru struck back.
"I'm only kidding, don't be hasty." Vegeta scoffed. He didn't exactly enjoy being told off by a child, or one who appeared so in both appearance and knowledge. "Just how OLD are you anyway?" he asked her, rather randomly.
"If you don't count each death I've gone through... I'm 174 years old." she replied, her voice rather calm, and completely truthful.
"Well, then I guess you are just a tad older than me as well?" he said, making his voice light as it could get, as they made their way back into the house.
"I'm going to get ready for the ball, if you don't mind." she said coldly, and she glided away from him and up to her quarters.
"Not at all." he muttered when she was well out of ear shot.
Trunks's Room
"Well, I hope you're ready to learn this. It's rather simple." Michiru had arrived a moment ago, and Trunks was extremely pale, and still shaking.
"I- I ... I'm ready as I ever will be." Trunks stuttered.
"Good," she told him, and she said, "Step up until you are nearly pressed against me." Trunks looked at her and she glared at him. He stepped up to her. "Good. When you step up to Hotaru, your body will be touching hers, but since I'm not her, I see no need." Michiru said. It did indeed amuse her just how shaky this boy was getting. He nodded, his pale color unchanging still. "Place your hand lightly on my hip. On Hotaru's you would place it commandingly, so she doesn't feel your fear and step away from you. And you'll need to do this all in one sweeping motion, or she'll realize what you're doing."
"Um, Michiru... How do I know she won't be expecting me to do something?" he asked her.
"You don't." she replied. "That's good, just like that. The other hand will support the back of her neck, just around here." Michiru took his other hand and placed it with his palm in the middle of her neck and his fingers curved to fit her neck's curve. "You feel that? That's one of the most liked and comfortable positions for both a male and female to kiss in."
"That makes sense, it doesn't seem like it would cramp to easily," Trunks said, glancing in the mirror, "and it looks classy, too." he told Michiru.
"All right! You're getting it!" she told him. "Now, let's go through all of this quickly, so that you can take Hotaru by surprise." she said, and he nodded. "We'll start by mock dancing." he nodded, and took Michiru into a friendly dancing position. Then suddenly, but with all the smoothness and grace with someone who'd been doing such romantic things all of his life, Trunks swept her into the comfortable, but not too close position that he had learned only moments before.
"That was really good!" Michiru said, smiling, taken a bit by surprise. "Now, to teach you actually how to kiss..." Michiru said, and he got even more pale. "Not to worry, I won't be kissing you. Just telling you how to do it. Hopefully it works well enough to make your earlier grace look even better, and show more of your love." she smirked, slightly.
"O-okay." he told her.
"Now listen carefully. Don't do exactly as I say just yet, until you understand." she paused while he nodded, then continued, "When you kiss someone, or go to kiss someone, you close your eyes. See why I said don't do anything yet?" smiling, she went on, "You leave your lips slightly open, and make sure that they're a bit moist, because then they're softer, too. I will touch them with my fingers to see if you understand. Now do what I've said so far, and move forward slightly." she said.
Trunks wet his lips a little and pursed them for a second. Michiru nodded, and he closed his eyes slowly, leaning forward slightly with his lips ever so fractionally open. She reached out a finger and brushed it across each of his lips.
"Well done, Trunks." she told him. He smiled in relief, some color returning to his face.
"Now all I have to do is keep my nerve, and I hope I remember all of this." he said, laughing shakily.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine." Michiru told him.
Serenity's Room
'I wonder if that was the curse talking, or if Hotaru-san really meant that?' Serenity thought, laying on her bed. 'After Endymion died, all I really ever thought about was myself. The only one who cares for Rini-chan the most really is Hotaru. I hope I didn't push her over the edge!' Serenity lay, in tears, on her bed up until the hour of which she got ready for the ball.
Her white dress was rather pretty. It was a halter top that reached the neck in the front, but had a low back. On the dress itself, there were white glitter threads embroidered as flowers and leaves into the silky fabric. Tying the silky white ribbon that held the dress to her neck and essentially onto her body, Serenity smiled tearfully. 'Hotaru loved this dress on me when I wore it to my wedding to Endymion.' she thought. She pulled her hair up into meatballs with pig tails that were wavy, and her silver hair held pearls around each ball, with her signature crescent moon pendant around her neck, marking her as the Neo Queen of the Moon. Her normal crescent moon earrings were also in their place, to be used as quick communicators if need be. 'Minako-chan, I wish you were here.' she thought. Sighing, she walked down to be announced into the ball with one of Trunks and Gohan's friends.
Michiru's Room
'I hope that Trunks will pull this off!' Michiru thought. She then donned a gorgeous, strapless aquamarine dress. The thick fabric had an underlying fabric to make it stay pushed out except where it was supposed to show her figure. It fell in a classy slant to the ground after hugging her hips, and was kept pushed out by the underlying fabric. She left her hair in it's normal wavy style, and put in her favorite white pearl earrings. She placed a gold chain around her neck with an aquamarine jewel inside the gold heart, which was her transformation stone in the case that she needed it. Smiling wearily, she joined Serenity in the entrance hall.
Hotaru's Room
In her room, Hotaru snapped her fingers. 'If I weren't so shy as a front, I might have an ego about the way I look in this dress.' she thought to herself conceitedly. It was a black dress with a tight figure the whole way down. There was a very thin top fabric which came down further than the layer beneath and was cut jaggedly, and twirled out as she turned. The spaghetti straps were lined with sequins on the elastic, and the back tied across a small gap that showed her back.
Leaving her hair normal wasn't much to pleasing her, so she snapped her fingers and caused a silver chain tiara to appear in her hair. Deciding she liked it, she put in the matching fountain earrings. Then her favorite necklace, the silver chain with and S, and H, and a T combined into a beautiful, but small, symbol, was on her neck after snapping her fingers.
"Just right. Maybe then those fools will realize who I really am. The royal Princess of Saturn. I have been and always will be!" Hotaru said to herself, as she left to join the rest in the entrance for the ball, where she and Trunks would be announced last.
Trunks's Room AGAIN
'Oh wow, I hope everything goes correctly, I don't want to mess things up for Hotaru!' he thought, as he put on his suit and pulled his long hair back into a ponytail. Even without trying, his gorgeous hair fell into his deep, magnificent eyes, making him look even more attractive. His silver hoop earring was in place, as usual, and although his mother would hate it, he'd leave it in because maybe Hotaru would like it.
He walked down the stairs and through his humongous house to the other end where the grand ballroom was located. There, as all of the guests were finishing up with their announcements and entries, Hotaru stood with Michiru and Serenity.
"You look wonderful." Trunks said to Hotaru. She merely looked at him, and scoffed. Serenity was announced next, and she walked into the ballroom with who Trunks recognized as Trey, Gohan's and his friend from school. After their grand entrance, Michiru wished him a silent good luck that echoed through his mind as she spoke it in hers, and she walked down, announced with Ryuichi, another friend from school.
"And last, but never least, our most important guests, Hotaru, the Princess of Saturn, and Trunks, the Prince of the Saiyans!" the man announced. Hotaru gracefully took Trunks's arm, and smiled an evil smile, one only he and those who came to know her would recognize. The sign of her knowledge of death in the midst. As they walked in to the tumultuous sound of applause, Hotaru whispered something to Trunks.
"You will never save her. I am the Shi no Tenshi of death and rebirth. I am her. She will not ever love you again." she grinned evilly.
"No..." Trunks whispered, a silent tear streaming down his still fake smiling face.
SOOOO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO GET THIS UP! I hope you all liked it, and if it isn't finished in the next chapter, it will be in the chapter after that. Please review, but any flamers, if you could please email them to me I'd appreciate it!
Sincerely, Jade Hallet