Seeking Love

Chapter 4

Endymion arrived at the Palace, and quickly showered himself off. He found his guardians already in the dining room. Zoisite was sitting at the head of the table, and an empty seat, for Endymion, was on his right. The ladies hadn't arrived yet, and this left a few moments for the gentlemen to share their days stories with the Prince.

"Endymion! You're never going to believe me, but I think these women are... WITCHES! They've put a spell on me! I can't do anything but worry about if they're comfortable, or have opinions about.. anything! It's like.. I can't stop thinking about them. Even right now! I'm thinking about them. How can this be happening? You should have stayed, you would have been able to protect us" Kunzite explained with panicked eyes. This slowly melted into a big grin accompanied with glazed over eyes. He could have been on cloud nine.

"Is that all you have to report?" Endymion asked with a hint of annoyance. How could this be happening? His guardians were obviously weaker than he thought. They were falling into the soldiers' trap.

"No sir. Of course not. Umm.." Zoisite was trying to think up of something more significant details from the day. "Actually, it was odd, but one of their soldiers did not attend today's affairs. I believe, it was Miss. Mina that did not join us. They said that she was tired, and not adjusting to the time change very well," reported Zoisite.

"Now is that the end of it?" Endymion said, dragging out the 'now' to express his boredom with his guardians.

Everyone was silent. The Prince obviously wasn't in the mood to hear anything positive about the visit. It seemed better to just keep their mouths shut for the time being. The gape of silence presented a perfect time for the arrival of the Princess and her guardians as they strode into the room.

Mina led the group, as expected. She was in another gorgeous white evening gown. It was strapless, and the fabric flowed down and around her legs. Various shades of vanilla, ivory, and light browns overlapped each other and a delicate white silk ribbon was tied under her bust line that created a flamboyant bow placed on her back. Her golden hair was in a bun with a few strands falling around her face. Moon crescent diamond earrings adorned her ears, and a matching necklace dangled around her neck. The affect of it all was obvious on the Prince's face, he was melting to the floor.

Rei glided in wearing a silk ruby red gown. The straps came off the shoulders, and the back was open to show off her shoulder blades and curvacious spine. Her hair was worn in a loose fishtail braid with a silk red ribbon intertwined with it. Makoto was wearing an emerald green one-strap dress that had a slit up the left leg that reached her mid-thigh.. Brown hair was messily pinned into a bun with emerald hair pins. Ami wore a calm blue cocktail dress. There was intricate beading all around the hem accentuating the fullness of her dress. Serenity walked in wearing a yellow spaghetti strapped dress. It was made of the finest silk, but it also had a layer of sheer chiffon fabric as thin as rice paper on top. The front of the dress had a plunging V that outlined her neck as well as her full bust.

The Prince, Kunzite, was the only one who stood up once the doors closed behind the soldiers. Seeing how impolite the other men saw themselves since they were gaping at the girls, quickly followed suit. They were star struck by the five figures who glided into the dining room. How were they suppose to be able to eat if their mouths wouldn't close?

Each guardian moved from their seat to help a lady sit at the table. The Princess was on the other end of the table facing the Prince, and the soldiers were seated opposite of the guardians.

A light Caesar salad was served with soft bread rolls and butter. The soldiers quickly picked up the conversations where they ended earlier in the day. The room was filled with chatter and discrete giggles. A seafood bisque was brought out as the empty plates were taken away. Everyone was famished from the day. The only two people who stuck out like sore thumbs were Endymion and Serenity.

Those two were the only ones keeping to themselves. Each too busy reminiscing their own days, and replaying them in their head. They had thoughts that it all had to be a dream, but of course it wasn't. Both knew that something was wrong with what they had done earlier, but the gaiety of their adventures was enough to overwhelm the guilt inside.

The main course arrived, and talking decreased to sparse comments about the chicken and steamed vegetables. The food hadn't stopped the chatter and the building relations between soldier and guardian. One of the servants who waited on drinks noticed them all playing cat and mouse. One would stare at the other, but once eye contact was made, they would quickly look away in embarrassment. Blushes reached the cheeks of the soldiers, as well as the guardians. You could tell that the men were having a hard time keeping a straight face. Princess Serenity noticed the weird body language, and started laughing to herself. This caused more confusion to stir in the room, and everyone's blush deepened.

Desert was served next; a warm brownie with a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream on the side. Endymion and Serenity still hadn't noticed each other through the suffocating room of flirtatious gestures. The two kept to themselves looking at their companions or at their food. It didn't help that a huge bouquet of flowers blocked their view of one another. Even so, they were both too tired to become part of the conversations surrounding them..

After another long hour of socializing, everyone agreed that it was time to get some sleep. There was a lot in their schedule for the following day; the Spring Festival being the highlight. The two groups said their good nights, and parted ways. The sleeping quarters for the men were on the complete opposite side of the palace. The women in the east wing, and the men in the west.

Once inside the room, everyone rushed to Serenity's side. It seemed that the story would not be waiting until morning. Plus, the soldiers couldn't get the pictures of the guardians out of their heads. It seemed quite impossible. Even Ami had a difficult time settling down to read a book, and not have her mind wander to Zoisite.

"It seems that all of you have found your perfect match," teased Serenity.

"You have no clue! It's like they were meant..." Makoto's voice trailed off after seeing irritation enter Serenity's face. Any sort of negative composure was rare for Serenity.

"I don't know.. to be honest with you. We are all having a good time. One thing that keeps popping up in my mind is what happens when we are suppose to tell the Prince that I'm not really the Princess of the Moon Kingdom? What will happen? Do you think relations between the two kingdoms will get worse?" asked Mina.

"You guys can't be serious! It has only been one day! One day! How are you all coming to the same conclusion of a person's character based off only a few hours with them. They have been born and trained to be sweet, nice, and to court young ladies like us," Serenity looked at each one of her soldiers. They all wore expressions of self-doubt. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so harsh. Please... don't get all mopey. We, or I, will just have to figure something out. Maybe this charade will just have to be played out for a bit longer than we expected, even up past the wedding," Serenity sighed.

Mina gave Serenity a hug. "If only we could right? But no, I couldn't do that to you. You are the Princess of the Moon Kingdom. It is your destiny and privilege to rule over the people. I cannot simply take that away from you. If you aren't the one to fall madly in love with the Prince, then this marriage is not meant to be."

"You don't understand. It is going to happen whether I like it or not, especially if the reports you are all telling me ring true. My mother will only cancel the engagement if we can find proof that the Prince won't be a suitable and reliable king." It was like a bomb of everlasting gloom had gone off. Self guilt, and thoughts of impossible happy endings flowed through the room like a tsunami.

"I don't like all this negative talk. It's a terrible vibe, and it's going to make us all age quicker," Rei exclaimed. "Enough of the Prince and his guardians. I want to hear about your day with this Takeshi fellow!"

Serenity smiled at this, and she started to answer all the questions being thrown at her. She also grabbed her gifts and presented them to her soldiers. She even had left over truffles to share.

"I wish that somehow things could just turn out alright. In the end, will I have to announce that I don't want to marry the Prince? Everything is going according to plan, but... it is quickly becoming a jumbled mess. There's this destined Prince, and then there is Takeshi."

"Can I offer some advice?" Ami asked. "Princess, you should just go with your heart, and when I say heart – I mean the chemical reactions going on in your head that has created your instinct to lead. That is what I always do when I'm in a bind, and I don't know what to do, or at least when I don't know if I should chose to read about quantum physics or neurophysics. "

"You're right. I shouldn't let the stress grab hold of me like this. Things happen for a reason... don't they?"

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