Chibiusa stared. And stared and stared and stared.

"What are you watching?" Duck whispered. She sat near the gardens of the Academy where she had first met Freya.

"Shhhhh," Chibiusa shushed her. She'd situated herself in the garden, her sketchbook in her lap as she intently stared at the roses in the garden.

Duck didn't get it. She stared at the roses so intently she thought her brain would melt. But her diligence paid off as a pair of butterflies soon emerged from the field of roses, dancing together. They spun around each other, almost like a pair dancing a pas de deux. So that was what Chibiusa had spotted. She quietly watched as the pair danced some more then flitted off. "It was like they were dancing ballet!"

Chibiusa quickly took to sketching, doodling the butterflies emerging from the roses. "Miss Kitter wants us to study movement, and since it's such a nice day, I thought that looking for butterflies would be a great idea."

"They sure are pretty cool," Duck nodded, watching the pair of butterflies land at another rose. They reminded her of the way Fakir and Illia were dancing the pas de deux while practicing for the stage performance. She wanted to dance with Fakir that way again, like they did in the bottom of the lake. She had to get better at ballet so she could be a good partner for him.

Duck stood up suddenly. "I want to get good at ballet so I can dance like those butterflies!" She wanted to dance like she felt when she was Tutu. She shifted her weight, drawing one foot up into an awkward arabesque. Her supporting leg wobbled and buckled a bit until she fell forward into someone. "QUAAA-" her exclamation was cut off as her face merged with someone's shirt.

"Do be careful, Duck."

Duck stumbled backwards, attempting to recover from her fall. "That really scared me, but I'm glad you were there to catch me, Miss Freya!"

Chibiusa stared up at the blonde upperclassman. Freya sure was pretty with her long hair, reminding her of Minako, but she also carried a watering, reminding her of Makoto's green thumb. Chibiusa had seen her briefly on the far end of the gardens when she first sat down. She'd been certain Freya had left the gardens a while ago.

"Your roses are attracting so many butterflies," Duck blurted out. "They're so pretty and they dance like ballerinas and it's really neat to see them dancing together like Fakir and Illia are doing while practicing for the next ballet."

Freya smiled with a bit of a laugh at how Duck could simply run on sentences so easily. "I have been hoping to attract more butterflies to the garden." She blushed a bit at the thought.

"I'm kinda surprised you didn't audition for the role of Kaguya," Duck rambled on. "You're really good and passionate, even when you auditioned to dance with Mytho before and won first place so easily."

"I wanted to focus on the garden a bit," Freya admitted. "And Illia is well suited for a leading role. She dances so beautifully and passionately. I'm happy to see her succeed. I'll simply compete against her for the next performance."

"I wanna see that competition," Duck nodded assuredly. "I bet it'll be really amazing with you two dancing against each otherrrQUA-" She clamped her hand over her mouth as she saw a giant butterfly boy descend into the garden.

Chibiusa nearly dropped her sketchpad. This place was weird.

"I'm sorry I really wasn't expecting that," Duck apologized.

"That's Papillio," Freya turned, trying to hide her blushing. "He's a flower arranging student who loves to visit the garden. I've wanted to keep the garden fresh for him."

"Flower arranging?" Chibiusa watched Papillio kneel down and inspect the beautiful flowers. It made sense for a butterfly to be skilled in the art of flower arranging. She had no idea that ikebana was even taught here.

"I had no idea there was flower arranging here," Duck marveled.

"You should come to the flower show tomorrow night," Freya invited the pair. "Papillio is headlining."

"Beautiful flowers as always, Freya!" Papillio called out to her.

"T-take as many as you like," Freya stammered. "I know they'll be happy to be used in such beautiful art."

Papillio leaned over, plucking only a pair of hyacinth from the ground. "I shall bring you more bulbs to replace these tomorrow!"

"I'll make sure to tend them until they bloom beautifully again," Freya waved him off before turning to bury her face in her hands.

"Miss Freya, are you okay?" Duck asked in concern.

"Someone's in love," Diana blurted out.

"I-i-i-it's not like that," Freya objected before almost immediately conceding. "No, no, it is like that."

"But you still can't have him."

Duck nearly stumbled in surprise as the words echoed in the garden. Behind her stood an upperclassman with brilliant purple hair pulled back into a low ponytail. She approached, shoving Duck out of the way.

"Papillio is mine," Violeta stated forcefully, shoving her face into Freya's. "I plan to confess my feelings for him at the show tomorrow. Don't get in my way, flower child."

Freya wrinkled her nose. "You're only doing this because I already announced I would confess my feelings at the art show."

"Well I can't have you take him from me," Violeta wrinkled her nose in anger. "We'll confess our love and he'll choose who he wants. But of course it'll be me. I'm definitely much prettier and skilled in arranging the flowers. You just make flowers grow."

"Flower growing takes lots of love!" Duck attempted to defend Freya.

"No one asked you to but in, duck-lipped child," Violeta hissed, scowling at Duck for a moment before turning on her toes and stalking out of the gardens.

"Oh what am I going to do?" Freya knit her eyebrows in worry.

"Confess your love!" Chibiusa encouraged her. "Offer him something from your heart, something that only you would think to give him. That way, he'll know it comes from true love and emotions!"

"Something only I'd give him," Freya thought for a moment. She had to consider the possibilities. Violeta shared flower arranging with Papillio. She only shared flowers with him. But there was something she had that Violeta did not. The gardens.

"Surely there's something that would be meaningful to only you two!" Duck chimed in.

"Something only meaningful to us," Freya pursed her lips together a bit. "He and Violeta share so much. Flower arranging, art class, even the show tomorrow. It's not as if I could give him a dance. That wouldn't fit."

"Well you goth love flowers," Chibiusa pointed out. "And your garden is beautiful. He even mentioned bringing you bulbs to keep your flowers growing. What if you gave him his own flowers?" She immediately thought of Papa. He gave Mama roses several times. That seemed like the thing people do to show their love to each other.

"Well he could come pick his own," Duck pursed her lips together like a duck.

"I think you might be on to something, Chibiusa," Freya pondered the thought. "Perhaps there is something I can do for him, something that Violeta never could."

"That's the spirit, Miss Freya!" Chibiusa cheered her on.

"Alright," Freya nodded with certainty. "I'll give him a gift from my heart tomorrow. It'll be something that only I would give him."

Chibiusa smiled brightly. The feeling of love in the air was a great thing. "I'm sure it'll be great!"

...

Author's musings

Chibiusa the matchmaker! But a champion of love and justice surely would know more about love than most! After all, she has a love of her own. A certain someone that is always in the back of her mind, waiting for her to call for him.

This mini story was originally meant to be one chapter, but I ended up writing 9 pages. Oops.