Author's note: Back again…thanks once again sousie and Silver Moon Goddess1 as well as my newest reviewer, Megan Consoer for your reviews! I just love reading reviews! I'm so sorry about how late this is – I've been so busy and insanely tired that I really didn't have the time or the energy to write stories until about now – and now classes are starting up again. Ugh – I can't win! When I was at my parents' house they kept me busy all the time – plus we had a storm that knocked out the power for 9 hours…and the internet was out for longer. It was wonderful I can assure you (I like being sarcastic every now and then). Now that I'm finally moved into my apartment and situated, I can finally get back to writing – so I apologize for the tardiness. Just a quick note, Hotaru is supposed to be younger in this story maybe from around 6-10 years old. Also unfortunately this chapter's going to be a bit short, so I apologize for that as well. Usual disclaimer – I don't own Sailor Moon, and just like that quick and easy…to the story!
Chapter Four: "So What Kind of Girls do you Like?"
"Well Sergio, I've got a rather busy day of filling out papers, and preparing for the ball in a few hours." I told Sergio. It was an hour after the breakfast fiasco, and I had a lot of work to do. I had asked Sergio to take a walk with me around the Crystal Gardens of the Palace. We should continue to get to know each other better – since he is going to be one of my primary guards. "I've been so stressed out by Nehellenia re-appearing that I haven't done a damned thing for this ball yet. Fuck, I'm so screwed." I said – more to myself than Sergio.
"D-D-D-Darien?"
"Yes Sergio?"
"If it's not too much trouble…I think that I could be of some service in helping you with the ball."
"I wouldn't want to trouble you with that Sergio. I mean I've got the interior decorators coming over, as well as a few of the court women – they can help me handle all of this."
"Oh I see." I looked over at Sergio who was slumped over next to me; his blue eyes had filled sadness.
"But I always said the more the merrier – so if you'd like to help, then that's fine by me."
"I would love to!" Sergio squealed, "I mean – well my mother in her spare time used to be very keen on decorating. She helped plan all of the weddings that we've had so far – she's even helping to plan Mina's wedding. I kind of got into it as well when I was little; I was always fascinated by my mother's attention to detail. It also helped me to understand that just because I was going to grow up and be a ninja – it didn't mean that I had to be cruel and uncaring. My father seemed a bit aloof when I was small, so I always told myself that I wanted to be warm and friendly – the complete opposite of him. I mean don't get me wrong, he still loves all of us, he just has a different way of showing it." Sergio said, then looked over at me, "oh excuse me my lord, I didn't mean to babble like that about my family."
"No, no, Sergio – I like hearing about your family. It's nice, my parents died when I was six – my memory of them, I'm very sad to say is very minimal. Hearing about families makes me happy, more than anything. Also I'm glad that you're opening up to me, I want you to feel comfortable here Sergio. After all this is your new home."
"You're completely right D-D-D-Darien." Sergio said with a smile. We walked in the Crystal Garden for a while, until Greg ran up to the both of us.
"Your highness." He said, panting.
"Whoah, take it easy there Greg, catch your breath first."
"Thank…..you." Greg said, taking the time to catch his breath. "I just would like to tell you sire that the princesses are here."
"Wonderful – why were you in such a rush though Greg?"
"They were very adamant about seeing you sire. I did my best to oblige them."
"I see. Well, let's go Sergio – we have some lovely ladies waiting for us."
"Yes D-D-D-Darien."
"Thank you Greg for the message."
"You're welcome sire, I shall be in the kitchen requesting snacks and drinks for everyone."
With that we went our separate ways, and Sergio and I went to the ballroom, where the princesses where waiting for us. They were sitting around the ballroom, engaging each other in conversation. When they saw me they all got up and gave me a small curtsey – some more out of politeness than being happy to see me. "Thank you ladies – you don't have to do all of that though…it's not necessary." I said, as I looked at them, then turned to Sergio. "May I introduce you lovely ladies to Sergio – my newest bodyguard." A couple of the women stared at him with interest.
Without hesitation the princesses approached Sergio like he was a brand new puppy that they had received for Christmas.
"Hi my name is Princess Amy Mizuno, please call me Amy." Amy said, coming over to Sergio, she was blushing and staring down at the floor, her blue hair perfectly framing her face.
"Hello, how do you do. I'm princess Raye Hino – but you…" she said looking Sergio up and down, "can just call me Raye. I hear that you're a respected member of the Tsukino family – I've always admired the Tsukino men…their washboard abs, and their…"she started looking down towards Sergio's crotch region, "reputation of being well-endowed."
Sergio looked to me in a panic, blushing from head to toe and I just shrugged. "Uh…greetings madam." He said, bowing to her. Princess Raye decided to take it upon herself to give him a hug instead – which caused an outburst from another princess.
"Raye – you shouldn't be hanging all over king Darien's employees – it's not ladylike you know." She said, flinging her gorgeous aqua-colored hair over her shoulder. "My name is princess Michelle Kaioh. Feel free to call me Michelle if you would like." Then she glanced over at me, "why hello again my king." She purred flirtatiously and gave me a wink.
A growl erupted from the other side of the room – where a princess that I hadn't noticed before was standing. I knew that there was only one person who would go into somewhat of a jealous rage when it came to Michelle – and just as I suspected, I spotted princess Amara in the corner of the room. A shadow was over her face. "Michelle you shouldn't flirt with a man that you're not involved with. It might give him the wrong idea." She said – coming out from the shadows, her arms were crossed, and she was sneering at me – obviously unhappy that she came with Michelle to help me decorate for the ball.
"Lovely to see you too Amara." I said smiling at her, she just glared at me, then turned her head. Amara is Michelle's girlfriend – they are very close, and Amara tends to get very jealous. She and I don't always get along because she thinks that I'm trying to steal Michelle away – which I'm not, no interest in her even though she's a beautiful woman with class to spare.
"Hmph" was all she said as she walked away from my vicinity, she took a quick glance at Sergio to see what the fuss was all about – staring at him for a brief moment, then looking away.
Finally, another Princess – whom I knew to be Raye's shy little sister approached Sergio, gave him a small curtsey and smiled brightly up at him. She opened her mouth to say something – but no words came out. "Go ahead Hotaru – say hello." Raye encouraged her sister. Hotaru just stared at Sergio, then ran away smiling, and hiding behind Raye. "She must think that you're cute – what can I say…little kids."
"I'm not a little kid! I'm a young lady." Hotaru said, still hiding behind her elder sister.
"Of course you are sweetie." Raye said, "sorry Darien – I had to look after her today, since the baby sitters are all on vacation this week for some odd reason."
"I understand." I smiled at her, "how are you doing today Hotaru?"
"I'm fine." She said, staring at me, Hotaru was still a bit scared of me despite the fact that she had known me since the day that she was born. Amy had been exactly like her when she was little, but after Amy's sixteenth birthday she seemed to come out of her shell. I hoped that the same was true for Hotaru.
"So cutie – what kind of girls do you normally like?" Raye said to Sergio, coming closer to him and resting her head on his shoulder.
"Um…girls? Well…I uh…" Sergio said – he was completely red in the face.
"Well duh…of course unless you're gay or something…then please forgive me! Damn it why do I always fall for men that I can't have?"
"Girls…I don't really have a preference." Sergio said nervously.
"Intriguing…well am I…" Raye said, pressing her breasts against Sergio's chest, smiling "your type?"
Sergio gulped, "my lady…"
"Raye…" she said smiling.
"R-R-R-Raye…."
"Oh how cute, he's so nervous he's stuttering. I've got this one in the bag."
All I could do was look at them and sigh to myself, once Raye got her claws on someone – it was hard to get her off of them. Almost impossible, and as much as I wanted to help Sergio – it wouldn't be an easy task that I could help him with anytime soon.
"I don't mean to…offend you or anything…but my heart already belongs to someone…" Sergio said
"Fuck!" Raye exclaimed, "see just like I said, I always fall for men that I can't have."
"I'm sorry R-R-R-R-Raye, but you're a very attractive woman…" Sergio stammered.
"Really? Well that bitch will be history once you get to know me." Raye purred, once again all over Sergio, her lips nearing Sergio's, and Sergio staring nervously at Raye.
"Ahem." I said, deciding that now would be the best time to save Sergio from Raye's claws, "I think that the interior decorator should be here sometime soon." Almost right on cue, Trista entered the ballroom.
"Sorry I'm late – I got here as quickly as I could."
"Just in time. Everyone this is Trista – our interior decorator who will help us with all of the decorations."
"Hi everyone." Trista said, giving all of us a bright smile and bowing to everyone in the room.
"Thank you Trista, now I'm going to have to call in Lita so that way we can decide on the menu."
"I'm already here your majesty." Lita said as she walked into the room with a graceful curtsey. "I have a few ideas for the menu that I'd like to go over with all of you, but I would like to let Trista do her thing first. I like the food to go along with the ambiance of the room, and I know that your royal highness also enjoys that idea since we discussed it previously."
"Yes Lita, excellent idea. Well why don't you stick around while Trista, the princesses, Sergio, and I figure out what to do with this room. I'm sure that the kitchens don't need their head chef to supervise them right now." She smiled at me, a light blush crept onto her face which didn't go unnoticed by Michelle, I could tell by the look in her eye.
"So Darien, where should we get started?" She asked matter-o-factly. "Do you have any color swatches that we can see Trista, or did you pick out the colors already?"
"Actually I already have something in mind – a theme, I brought some color swatches as well to show you what I had in mind. I really wanted the theme to be moonlit rose romance. The colors would mostly revolve around different shades of red, however I also wanted to lighten up the room with silver tones – maybe with a hint of a light blue to really show the blue off." Trista then proceeded to pull out a few swatches, mostly consisting of a few deep reds, along with a couple bright ones. Two swatches with two different silvers – one a bit darker than the other; finally she pulled out some swatches of various light blues.
"That sounds wonderful!" Raye squealed, pressing her body closer to Sergio's while the other ladies crowded around Trista.
"Raye…why don't you come and look at some of the swatches that Trista has brought – we need your opinion, especially since you do love the color red." Amara commented sourly, as she gazed at Sergio – unsure as of yet what to make of him. Immediately Raye joined the crowded pack of women to get to the color swatches.
While they surrounded the table looking, I heard murmurs consisting of things like "ooh this one is so pretty!" Followed by "I don't know if I like this one" or "this one is gorgeous…but what do I have to wear that will make me go with the theme?" Unfortunately I couldn't get in close enough to see the swatches partially due to the fact that the ladies were all over the table – and despite my height I could barely see any slivers of color swatches, also I was warry of getting too close to Amara – who would occasionally look up from the table and give me a glare. Amy, of course being the most considerate of all the princesses, would occasionally arise from the jumbles of cloth all over the table – and pull a few out to show me. I guess that Trista brought more than just swatches.
"What do you think of this one?" She would ask – holding out one arms length for me to see.
"Whatever you lovely ladies pick is fine with me. I'm not necessarily the person to ask about these things." I told her with a smile, despite the fact that I wanted to be involved in all of this, there wasn't really much that I could do in terms of deciding colors for the ball. I would often leave that up to the ladies – as per usual. "But maybe you should ask Sergio his opinion on the different colors." I said, looking in Sergio's direction.
Sergio looked relieved, standing away from the group of color-crazed women a few feet away from me. Amy decided to shyly walk over to him, long pieces of cloth trailing behind her. He looked surprised to see that Amy was approaching him, and a bit more relieved that it was her instead of Raye.
Author's end note: Sorry to end this at such an awkward place (promise it won't happen again) but I have some work to do…so I'm really sorry! But I must get back to homework despite the fact that my creative juices are flowing. Thanks for being so patient, and I promise that I will get the next chapter out soon.
