Chapter 3:
Queen Serenity sat in her room pondering the matter at hand, her daughter's future husband. Queen Serenity and her daughter had been at the palace for a week now and it still was not clear who would be the best choice for Serenity.
The first name that came to mind was Mamoru. He was always very polite to Usagi. He held doors open for her, he spoke kindly to her but he seemed to greatly bore the princess. He also seemed to be stressing her out with his constant worrying.
The next name that came up was Taiki. He, like Mamoru, was very polite to the princess but he seemed a little less up tight and seemed like he knew how to have fun. Usagi seemed the most relaxed around him. He wasn't so uptight that his worrying would give Usagi an ulcer but he wasn't so rowdy that Usagi would be terrified when she was around him. That thought brought her to the next prince: Seiya.
This boy was always causing some sort of trouble but most of the time he seemed to weasel his way out of it. He was a very smart boy and this made his love for mischief even more dangerous but he really did seem to entertain Usagi, at least when he wasn't telling her that girls were stupid. He was very rowdy and crazy and his "second" was always following him around: Prince Yaten.
When she thought of this prince she had to laugh. He was probably the most sarcastic person she had ever met and he was only seven! He was probably the most effeminate out of the four. He carried a comb in his pocket if one single hair fell out of place and according to Queen Kali he spent and hour each night choosing out his clothes. Queen Serenity liked Yaten the most but she was almost certain that Usagi was not too fond of him. He didn't seem to want to talk to Usagi at all. He really just ignored her.
Queen Serenity knew that she wasn't going to be certain of who Usagi was to be engaged to on the first visit, that would take years, but she thought she would at least have a vague idea of who she would choose but she really had no idea at all.
"I hope this works out." mumbled Queen Serenity as she closed her eyes and nodded off to sleep.
Sayumi was lying down on the grass of the beautiful palace gardens when Prince Demando snuck up behind her and covered her eyes.
"Demando, take your hands off my face." snapped Sayumi. Demando quickly removed his hands.
"What's wrong?" asked Demando. Sayumi sat up and held out her hand. In it was a silver chain, upon closer inspection Demando could see that it was broken into two smaller chains. He saw Sayumi wear this necklace all the time. It was a simple silver chain but it meant the world to Sayumi. Her parents gave it to her before they died 3 years ago.
"How'd it break, Sayu?" asked Demando, using her nickname, while kneeling down next to Sayumi.
"Kessin grabbed it from behind. He pulled it right off my neck!" Sayumi shoved it in her pocket. Demando circled his arms around Sayumi.
"I'm never getting married!" Sayumi sobbed into Demando's shoulder. "Every suitor my aunt chooses for me is a jerk!"
"Hey!" said Demando "I'm one of the suitors your aunt chose. You could marry me." Sayumi pushed away from him and shook her head.
"My Mom chose you before she died remember? And besides I could never marry you. Relations between earth and Nemesis are terrible. People would be outraged!"
"It doesn't matter what other people think!" Demando stood up, pulling Sayumi up with him, he grabbed both of her hands. "We could run away together an-" Sayumi pulled her hands away from Demando.
"What are you talking about! I would never do that! I just can't leave everything!"
"But w-"
"No! Just stop it! Go back Nemesis!"
"You know that's what you want to do! Why do you care about what other people think?"
"GO! Go back to your dirty, uncivilized people!" screamed Sayumi.
"Fine!" screamed Demando back as he stomped back inside the castle. Sayumi stood her ground for a few seconds after Demando left but she broke down quickly. Hot tears began to spill down her face. Sayumi leaned against a tree for support but soon she slid down onto the soft green grass.
"I didn't mean it." whispered Sayumi.
"SAYUMI!" Sayumi cringed. Kessin walked into her line of vision. "There you are. I think we've gotten to know each other pretty well over the last week or so." Kessin didn't seem to notice that Sayumi was crying he just grabbed at her arm until he made Sayumi stand up. His face was very close to Sayumi's now, he had terrible breath. "I think we should get married." Sayumi didn't care anymore.
"Fine." whispered Sayumi. "We'll get married" Either way my life is pointless thought Sayumi. Kessin grabbed Sayumi around the waist.
"I knew you would say yes!"
Sayumi didn't see Demando for a long time after that so over the years she lost interest in her own life and began to watch the life of the four princes and the one princess that gathered at the palace of the Northern Hemisphere of earth every year for ten years. Over the years Sayumi saw that the five children learned to respect each other, at least as much as children can respect each other, but ten years had passed since that first meeting and Sayumi knew that Usagi's future husband would be announced soon.
Yet again Sayumi stood outside ready to greet the Moon princess. By now Sayumi was twenty five, married to Kessin and had an adorable four year old child. Sayumi was glad that her little girl, Arisa, didn't look like her father.
Arisa squirmed out of Sayumi's arms as the Royal carriage stopped in front of them. The beautiful sixteen year old princess stepped out her carriage. Arisa made a run for the carriage but Sayumi grabbed the back of her dress.
"Let the princes greet her first." Arisa slumped her shoulders and grudgingly obeyed.
Mamoru walked up to Usagi first. He gently took her hand in his and softly kissed the top. "It's nice to see you again Serenity."
"You know that you don't have to call me Serenity." reminded Usagi through a peel of beautiful, soft laughter. Mamoru still didn't seem to realize that it was alright to loosen up a bit. He was still uptight and less than cheerful. Sayumi realized that Mamoru only looked at the political advantages of having Usagi as a wife. It would make an unbreakable bond between the moon and earth but he didn't realize what a beautiful kind person Usagi was.
Next to come greet Usagi was Taiki. The way he greeted her brought a smile to almost everyone's face. He took Usagi's hand and then swept down on one knee and kissed Usagi's hand.
"It is always a pleasure to see you." He said sounding very dramatic and poetic. Usagi giggled and played a long. She curtsied low and said in an equally dramatic voice:
"The pleasure is mine." But this performance didn't last to long. Usagi curtsied way to low and after a few seconds began to fell but before she could hit the ground someone caught her.
"You really should be more careful, Odango." Said her "captor". Usagi stood up, brushed imaginary dust off of herself and turned around.
"Seiya I swear if you call me that name again I will sho-" a quick glance from her mother made her regain her composure. "I mean I am thrilled to see you." Seiya grinned at Usagi. That grin made all of Usagi's negative thoughts escape from her mind and she stupidly grinned back. Then some where around her she heard a sarcastic:
"That's attractive." Usagi looked to her left to see Yaten standing next to her. Usagi raised an eyebrow.
"What are you saying?"
"Nothing." Said Yaten. He almost had a grin on his face but Yaten would never admit that this girl made him want to show any signs of happiness. Yaten bowed and mumbled: "I'm glad you are here." Usagi nodded at him and smiled.
Arisa could no longer contain herself. The four year old girl ran over to Usagi as fast as she could and grabbed her leg.
"Usagi! Usagi!" she squealed in delight. Usagi looked down at the little girl and without hesitation picked her up.
"Arisa you've gotten so big! I can barley pick you up!"
"Hey! Are you calling me fat?" asked Arisa. No one was expecting that! Sayumi walked over to Usagi, laughing the whole way.
"Arisa, what are you talking about?" asked Sayumi. Arisa stuck her tongue out at her Mother. "If you do that too much it will stay like that." Arisa squealed and stuck her tongue back in her mouth. Usagi gently set Arisa down and hugged Sayumi.
"You're raising such a beautiful daughter!" said Usagi letting go of Sayumi.
"I am, aren't I?"
"Where's Kessin?" asked Usagi.
"Right here." Kessin came up behind Sayumi and put his arms around her waist. Even after nine years of marriage Sayumi still felt a chill go down her spine when Kessin touched her. It was kind of sad that Kessin never noticed that Sayumi was completely disgusted by him.
Kessin was twenty eight now and he didn't look so repulsive in fact when Kessin turned nineteen he stopped looking repulsive all together but he still had a repulsive and perverted personality. At one point Sayumi thought of running away but when she found out that she was pregnant with Arisa she knew she couldn't.
Kessin looked like he was about to say something else but before he could Queen Serenity called for quiet.
"Quiet please. I have an important announcement to make and if you would follow me to the throne room I will tell you all."
There was a loud uproar of noise and everyone began to follow Queen Serenity.
Usagi heard many excited voices around her. "This is it! She's going to announce who Princess Serenity is going to marry!" As Usagi walked the butterfly swelled up in her stomach.
"Do you know who it's going to be?" Usagi turned around to see Seiya talking to her.
"No but I wish I did. This is so unnerving!" exasperated Usagi. "I am going to die of anticipation before my Mother can tell everyone!"
"Relax Usagi! She knows that you like me the best!" Usagi gave Seiya a nervous smile.
"Sure I like you the best." But the truth was Usagi had developed a strong bond with all four princes and she just wanted to know which one she was going to be spending the rest of her life with. She had never kissed any of them but she came very close to lots of time. She was not permitted to hold hands with any of them or kiss any of them, not until she was engaged to one of them, in fact she had never kissed anyone so she really wanted to know what it felt like.
As Usagi stepped into the throne room all eyes were one her. She saw the four princes lined up in the front of the room and immediately she joined her mother in the front. Serenity began to speak and everyone fell silent.
"As you all know my daughter has been searching for a husband among these four men." She gestured to the four princes. "After ten years I have finally made my decision. The man my daughter is going to marry is" all the princes looked nervous but not as nervous as Usagi. She was on the verge of fainting. "Prince Yaten."
