"Venus, is your head in the clouds? Dodge the balls, don't step in for a greeting!"
Artemis bristled as he sat behind the contraption that was throwing balls randomly at the leader of the soldiers, her team standing off to the side from the practice range around the elegantly clad princess. He glared at the girl, who seemed to be flushed and distracted as she moved around, appearing to be swimming in slow motion. His voice snapped her out of it for a moment though.
"You're just trying to hit me you dumb cat!"
"Venus!"
The leader stopped, flushing a dark shade. Luna sat on Serenity's lap, staring at her and frowning. "Artemis is your partner; you must try to treat him as if he has been alongside you forever. He's training you, so please don't act like an inexperienced fighter. You have been training, haven't you?"
Pursing her lips, Venus nodded, not appreciating the scolding she was getting from the black cat.
Artemis started the machine up again, and finally focused, Venus dodged the balls, becoming comfortable with their speed. Once she could dodge everything that came at her, she drew her chain and began to hit them back, annoying Artemis as he began to duck and shift to avoid getting hit by the return fire.
Serenity sat quietly for the most part, but she giggled as Venus began to smile and enjoy the activity. Finally her partner called for the next girl and Mars took her place, glaring at her leader.
"Boys on your mind?" She took a defensive stance, waiting for Artemis to start and for Venus to go back to the others. Mars dodged ten balls or so before she began to throw fireballs at them, making them explode before they got too close. While she was making little explosives, Mars thought about her childhood. Her mother had the same attitude as she did; a spiteful attitude towards the leaders of Venus. The heir of Venus was head of the Soldiers that were specifically assigned to the princess, and the favorite of the Moon Kingdom, while those descended from Mars royalty were called hot headed and generally ignored by everyone. The Mars women could lead, they could be the ones to organize everyone, and they deserved the respect that the self-centered air-headed Venus women got!
Venus swallowed, feeling that Mars was blasting the rubber balls apart with a lot of aggression. Too much aggression. Serenity cleared her throat quietly, looking down at Luna and stroking her spine gently. Jupiter let out a low whistle, and Mercury stared blankly at the training.
"Alright Mars, alright. Enough destroying the balls; switch with Mercury." Artemis was taking inventory of how many training balls he had left and twitched an ear. He'd have to think of something else for Mars to do for basic training if he wanted to keep his equipment intact.
Mars stomped off the training field and stood next to Jupiter, glowering at the red bow that Venus had in her hair. The green clad warrior took a step away from the raven haired girl, laughing nervously. "So what're we having for dessert?" Her laughter died when Mars turned her fiery gaze upwards and she sighed, falling silent.
Mercury moved as little as possible, her eyes narrowed as she calculated where Artemis was shooting the rubber orbs. She wore her visor that showed calculations, percentages, and other useful things that only she could see. The icy warrior froze them and surrounded herself with fog, making the whole place misty and hard to see. While everything was foggy and misty, Venus felt a light touch on her wrist. She jumped, her eyes widening when she saw a glint of silver and a smear of grey. A finger rose to closed lips and a smile formed on the sixteen year old mouth. She let her hand be lifted up to his mouth and felt a kiss on her palm before she felt his absence and sighed. Leave it to a boy to make her so confused while she was trying to focus on training.
When the fog lifted, Venus, Serenity, and Jupiter all looked rather flushed. Mars still looked mad, and Mercury went back to the princess's side so that the last soldier could start her training. Serenity watched Jupiter train and sighed, looking down at Luna with a complex expression on her face. Venus saw the lowered head and laid a delicate hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze.
Jupiter's training went normally. She dodged, returned the rubber balls, shattered a few with lightning, and laughed as she moved about the practice area. She saw it as an exercise and truly enjoyed it, which made Artemis relax finally. There were at least two soldiers who were competent and good at the training. Although Mars was perfectly competent and good as well, she was more interested in venting her anger rather than getting better skills, and unfortunately it showed.
After the training concluded Luna brought the girls to Queen Serenity, who was sitting on her throne and waiting patiently for them. Venus stopped for half a step to admire the ruler of the kingdom, her silvery purple hair cascading down onto the marble floor. She was so beautiful, so regal… She felt a rush of respect for the woman and almost felt guilty that she was so childish in comparison.
"Serenity, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars. The five of you are living together, but four of you are new and haven't been told all the rules of the kingdom or this palace yet." Serenity cleared her throat, smiling. "Your responsibility is to protect Princess Serenity. She is training to rule in my place and there is a threat that is coming towards us. I need you all to be on guard and to be alert at all times. Luna is always with Serenity," The Queen nodded at the cat, who nodded back and puffed up a bit, looking proud, "And Artemis will stay with Venus. Venus, you will need the most training since you are to be the leader of Serenity's guard and Artemis will be able to help you with that." Artemis lowered his head, appearing modest and humble, but Luna could see his tense posture. He didn't want to train Venus and she knew it. "Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter, you all will be training for several hours every day for right now. When the Generals are on their routine visits you all will be training with them, and when they aren't here, Artemis will be guiding you four with singular and group exercises."
Serenity pouted and nodded while the Queen told them about uniform expectations, when meals were served, how to get things they wanted, such as supplies, and about dances that were held for holidays and special occasions. When they were dismissed supper was being served. The generals, Endymion, and various other nobles were at the table. Venus sat next to Serenity, who was seated beside Endymion. Kunzite was reclining in his chair on the other side of the blonde girl, looking nonchalant and devilishly handsome.
It didn't look like his mouth was moving, but Kunzite's voice drifted over Venus's ear. "Would you like to meet me later on, Princess?"
Venus looked down at her plate and tried to hide a smile, lashes fluttering. "Where?"
"The pond with the clearing, at say, one in the morning?"
"Not midnight?" Venus smiled, having a little laugh.
"The other couple will be meeting then." This time Kunzite smirked, raising a brow. Venus raised one in return, noticing the very slight tilt of the man's head towards the Prince and Princess that was to her left.
"Well alright then. I'll be there if you will be."
Kunzite smiled as he sipped at his drink, watching Venus out of the corner of his eye. The meal continued with Serenity asking Endymion about Earth, Mercury and Zoicite having a tense debate about book training versus real experience, Mars and Jadeite glaring at each other silently, and Jupiter looking at her plate with a beet red face while Nephrite tried to make it less obvious that he was sneaking glances at the tallest girl.
After supper the girls were dismissed and allowed to go back to their rooms or walk around the palace. It was determined to be free time, and so long as one of them was with the princess, everything was going as it should be. Serenity and Venus walked silently to the common room, sitting in two of the large chairs. Luna was talking somewhere with Artemis, Mars and Mercury were sitting in the library reading, and Jupiter was trying to get into the kitchen to help with the cooking, much to the disdain of the palace chefs.
"So… is everything alright?" Venus stretched her legs out, flexing her toes. "You seemed kind of upset watching us train; does this impending threat bother you?"
Serenity shook her head, sighing. "Oh no, I'm not worried about the threat honestly, it's just… You all are so great, so grand, so strong. My mother is so grateful that you all are here, so proud that she has you all guarding me, and I want to be as great as the rest of you."
"Wh.. what?" Venus sat up straight, looking at the princess.
"Guards for the royal family, completely dedicated to me… What did I do to deserve your protection? I was born a princess, but I feel so helpless, like a doll. I can't even train with you all, I must sit in a pretty dress and watch."
"But you're going to be a leader, head of the Council when you take the throne. That's so much power, so much good you can do-"
"But I can't help any of you. And, and, you're all supposed to be leading your people as well! So you are all warriors and princesses." Serenity lowered her head, her face flushing as her eyes welled up with tears. "I want to train with the soldiers too!"
Venus stared at her charge. How could she convince Serenity that it'd just be too dangerous? Too dangerous for her, at least, who has had no training up until now, versus her guards, who although they too were princesses, had been training for any dangers that might come about.
"The Silver Crystal... It could help me, it works miracles, Mother told me so!"
Venus cleared her throat, smiling. "But Princess Serenity, there are so many other things to think about, like how to make your people happy, Endymion, what great clothes you'll have when you rule..."
Serenity pouted, muttering softly, "I hate having the same name as all the other women of this family."
Fidgeting, the soldier licked her lips. "Well, why don't we call you something else then?"
The princess looked up, hopeful. "Really? Like what?"
"What about... Sere." Venus poked her index fingers together, looking nervous. She had never tried to come up with a nickname before and wasn't sure that what she said would be any good.
"That's really cute," the princess muttered. "Sere... Sere... I like it!"
Beaming, Venus nodded. "Then from now on I'll call you Sere!"
Relaxed, Sere played with her hair and talked to Venus about how to sneak out of the palace to meet their dates by the pond.
A/N: This chapter is shorter than the others, but I'm trying to do more updates so that I can't focus on the problems in my life. So… Here's to the next chapter, where Venus and Kunzite have a romantic meeting?
2017 A/N: I feel like I had forgotten to put it in the original story, but the guards of Serenity are both princesses and warriors in their own right!