Affair - Chapter 7
by Sereko
sereko13@yahoo.com


I've posted a few updates along with this chapter - just fixing
a few grammer problems and what-not in previous chapters. But,
obviously, the main attraction for the week is this, Chapter 7. 
Nothing particularly new or exciting in this chapter, but I 
still like it. Hope you do too! Please excuse any spelling/
grammer/etc errors in this one, I wrote it all quickly on a 
jump of inspiration...so I didn't spend as much time carefully 
rereading it as I usually do. 



Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the characters
associated with the story. I merely use Naoko Takeuchi's genius 
as a starting point for my own storytelling.




----------
Chapter 7
----------

	There were cheers and applause when the queen finished her 
announcement. The two young monarchs of whom she was talking stood 
serenely in front of her dais. A tear, one of several, fell from Princess 
Serenity’s closed eyes and dropped to the floor. The general consensus 
among court members was that she was extremely happy at the engagement 
and that was the reason for her tears. Only three people in the throne 
room knew otherwise: the princess herself, her newfound fiancé Prince 
Arian and her best friend Amile of Mercury. 
	The turn of events were so shocking to Serenity that she still 
hadn’t fully accepted them until her mother called her into the throne 
room. She was fortunate enough to have had Arian and Mercury inform her 
of the engagement before she had to hear it from her mother. It seemed 
like only minutes ago when the news came spewing out of Mercury’s lips…

-----

	Finally! She had looked everywhere at least three times and in 
five hours had still not been able to find the princess. However, as she 
once more turned the corner to the main hall of the East Wing, she 
spotted her dear friend. She looked a bit shaken, a bit happy but a bit 
nervous. 
	“Princess!”
	The exclamation made Serenity jump three feet. It took her a good 
few minutes to calm her heart. “Nice to see you, too, Ami. How are you 
doing?”
	“No time for pleasantries, your highness. I have urgent news that 
I must tell you.” She glanced around at the hall around her, noting a few 
guards here and there. “But we must find a place with a bit more privacy.” 
She dragged the princess by the hand quickly until they were securely on 
a balcony overlooking the Eastern Gardens.
	“What is it? What is wrong, Ami?”
	Mercury did not readily answer her liege and that scared Serenity 
more than anything ever had. Mercury was stalling and Mercury *never* 
stalled. 
	“Tell me,” she said more forcefully.
	“Well, I do not know how to start…” the senshi trailed off 
hopelessly. Now that she had the princess in front of her, she had no idea 
what to say. How could she broach the topic gently?
	“Tell me,” Serenity voiced dropped almost to the point of command.
	Mercury’s shoulders stiffened immediately under the tone and her 
worries were shoved out of her head. “I have been informed by Mars that 
the queen has arranged for you to be married to Prince Arian.”
	The princess erupted into laughter. “Oh, my dearest Ami, that is 
a good one. Do you tell this joke to get back at me for disappearing 
today? I will tell you now that I am not sorry for it…” she could not 
finish her sentence. She had brought her head up to stare at her friend 
only to notice that the other woman held tears, not mirth, in her eyes. 
“Ami?”
	“I am sorry, Sere. I am so so sorry. If only it really were a 
joke,” she sobbed. 
	Serenity’s heart fluttered erratically. “A-Ami? What do you mean? 
It cannot…you cannot truly be telling me that…that I am engaged to Arian?” 
The senshi of Mercury nodded just as another voice from behind the 
princess confirmed it.
	“It is true, Sere. She is telling the whole, god awful truth.”
	With what little grace she possessed, Serenity turned around to 
face the object of her supposed affection. “Ari-chan?” Without having to 
think about it, Arian collected her into his arms as realization slowly 
dawned on her. “Are you serious? How did this happen?” Those were the 
last coherent words that she spoke for quite a while. Her breath was 
jumping just like her heart and the soft tears that she was shedding 
were all keeping her from being able to form any intelligible sounds. 
Arian held her closer and explained all that he had learned from his 
father about the engagement. 
	At the end of his account, something happened to Serenity before 
Arian was able to softly wipe away her tears. She had violently jolted 
in his embrace and crumbled to the floor. He followed her down, as did 
Mercury, and they both noted that she was fiercely clutching her upper 
left arm. 
	“Princess? Are you hurt?” Mercury was already trying to pry the 
blonde’s hands away from her shoulder, but it was a difficult task. 
Serenity’s arms were like vices. As another groan came from her, Arian 
helped Mercury and they were finally able to sneak a peak at the injured 
area. They were a little more than confused when they could find nothing 
there, no bruise or cut or any indication of an injury. Still, the 
princess groaned again. “Sere? Does your shoulder hurt on the inside? Is 
it something we cannot see?”
	Serenity’s only answer was to turn on the floor and whisper, 
“Mamo-chan.”

-----

	“Prince!!” called a frightened Kunzite. He quickly disposed of 
his current adversary and sprinted towards his liege. He, like his prince 
and the rest of the men in their company, were unaware that a division 
of archers had hidden themselves in a nearby tangle of trees. No one had 
had enough time to react before the first line of arrows was fired. 
Unfortunately, that left them all defenseless for attack. 
	Though initially the prince had stumbled back at the hit, he was 
admirably able to continue fighting off the soldiers in front of him. 
Still, he let out a long sigh of relief as Kunzite and a few of his men 
came to his aid. As they formed a protective cocoon, he was able to safely 
fall to the ground. The pain was unbearable. Not life-threatening, more 
annoying like a paper cut on one’s knuckle. 
	Carefully, he shifted so that he could look at the injury on his 
shoulder. He was happy to find that the arrow had missed anything vital 
and he would probably be able to recover the full use of his arm. 
	“Are you all right, your highness?” Kunzite had left his fighting 
men to check on the degree of Endymion’s injury. He carefully pressed 
his fingers around the wound and mumbled under his breath, “Princess 
Serenity will never forgive me for this.” 
	Endymion’s back went rigid. The movement caused Kunzite to 
accidentally hit the arrow, which, in turn, caused the prince to hiss 
loudly. 
	“I am sorry, my liege! I did not mean for that to happen!” 
	Endymion ignored his fumbling apologies. “Forget it, Kunz. Forget 
it.” He turned his head so that he could stare directly into his general’s 
eyes. “What I want to know is if I heard you say the name Serenity.” As 
if speaking the name called her to him, Endymion immediately felt her 
presence swell within him. He could barely keep from shaking his head in 
astonishment. An entire planet away and their connection still held true. 
	She sent a hug of compassion that he could have sworn he actually 
felt. He also noted, however, that she was in pain. Ironically, it was his 
injury that was hurting her. Before he could continue his semi-conversation 
with his beloved, Kunzite stumbled over an explanation. 
	“Yes, sire, you did. I…I ran into her at the teleportation room 
in the palace. She was the one who informed me that I had to find you so 
that we could come to this battle. She also asked that I prevent anything 
from happening to you.” He ran a hand through his long hair. “And since 
you were hit by an arrow, she is going to flay me alive.”
	Endymion was a little more than confused. Why would Serenity tell 
Kunzite about their relationship? It didn’t make sense. His confusion 
slipped through to his princess via their link and she answered with a 
brief flash of Kunzite and Venus in the Moon gardens.
	/ ‘He knew I was the Moon Princess when we ran into each other 
at your palace. I felt no need to keep the rest from him. He is in the 
same predicament as we are.’ /
	This new piece of information had the prince raising an eyebrow to 
his friend. Kunzite had to halt in his efforts to remove the arrow because 
of it. “The woman you were talking about last month on the balcony? When 
I asked about love at first sight? That was the senshi of Venus?”
	There was a slight fear in his general’s eye. “Y-yes, prince. But 
however did you find that out?”
	And so the conversation continued. They talked about Endymion’s 
bonding and of their relationships. Anything to keep the prince’s mind 
off of the fact that Kunzite had broken the arrow and was pulling it out 
of his shoulder. 

-----

	Serenity sucked in a breath as another sharp pain lanced through 
her arm. The arrow had been removed and she could imagine the large amount 
of blood that must have been oozing from her prince’s wound. She wished 
she could do something to help. 
	‘But of course!’
	While Arian and Mercury were still fretting about her, she pressed 
her right hand to her left shoulder tightly. A few seconds later, shining, 
silver light spread around her hand. 

-----

	Endymion didn’t know what to think when he suddenly felt his arm 
flex of its own free will. Seconds later, blood stop pouring from his wound 
and he watched as his tissues and tendons melded back together. Kunzite 
fell back to land ungracefully on his behind. “What on Earth is happening?”
	The prince was asking the exact same question to himself. 
	/ ‘Hope that helps, my love.’ /
Endymion smirked. But of course, it was his dearest who had done it. 
Somewhere amongst their interviews earlier that day, the prince had asked 
carelessly and playfully if Serenity had any special powers being a 
Lunarian. The princess promptly replied, quite seriously, that she was 
gifted with the power of healing. Not all Lunarians were blessed with the 
power, only a few here and there and she was one of them. The only setback, 
she continued despite her black-haired companion’s slack-jawed state, was 
that she could only heal others, not herself. 
All of this was quickly explained to Kunzite before he decided to have a 
coronary. After a bit of mumbling on the general’s part, something about 
how it was unfair that the prince had his own portable first aid kit and 
he didn’t, the two men jumped back into battle. 

-----

	It seemed like such a short time ago when she had experienced all 
of that, but, in truth, it had been several hours before. Now, Serenity 
sat in her bedroom in a trance. Arian and Mercury had carefully guided 
her there after the engagement ceremony. Well, that was only partially 
true. 
	They had initially tried to slip her out a side door in the grand 
hall when she requested a private meeting with the queen. Mercury could 
only cringe from outside the office doors as the princess screamed for the 
engagement to be revoked. Queen Serenity merely shook her head. The fact 
that her daughter did not wish to be married to Arian in no way changed 
the fact that they were going to be married. The queen tried to reason 
with her by saying that at least she was engaged to a dear friend and not 
a stranger. Had it not been for Mars’ intervention earlier that week, the 
queen had planned to make marriage arrangements with the nobleman Mertan 
Derahn of Destine. Either way, the princess was to be married in three 
months time. 
	More arguing and shouting and screaming and several other 
unpleasant things occurred before Serenity exited the room. Her face was 
colorless and devoid of any emotion. Mercury carefully gave her a hug of 
sympathy before Arian slipped his arm around the blonde’s waist to guide 
her down the palace halls. 
	Serenity let out a mournful cry at the memory. Her mother had 
barely even listened to her. She had just wasted her time yelling at a 
brick wall. 
	[‘Usako! Usako, what is wrong?!’]
	There was no outward indication that the blonde had heard Endymion. 
She merely continued to sit on her bed, her hands folded in her lap. She 
stared straight ahead at her bedroom wall. 
	[‘Are you all right?’]
	Standing up demurely, she took precise steps to her armoire. A 
few pulls and tugs later had her standing in her nightgown with her dress 
on a hanger. She turned and began walking to her bed. There was still 
some light out, but she hadn’t the energy to do anything but sleep. 
	[‘Usako!!’]
	Her steps faltered. 
	[‘Please, tell me what has happened. You are scaring me. Usako…’]
	“No…” she mumbled. Her head was shaking and her hands came up to 
hold it as if she were in pain. “NOOOOOOO!” The floor caught her as she 
crumbled. 
	The two guards who were always stationed outside of her door 
turned in panic. One immediately ran to get a senshi, while the other 
knocked on their liege’s door. “Princess!” When he wasn’t answered, he 
knocked harder. “Princess!! Are you all right?!” After several more knocks 
and yells, the guard was about to break the door down. He stopped when he 
felt the senshi of Venus lay a hand on his shoulder.
	“Do not worry. I can sense her and she is not in any trouble 
physically. Let me speak with her.” The young man nodded and watched in 
amazement as Venus jolted the door lock with a burst of power. The door 
practically opened on its own after that. 
	Once inside, Venus was not nearly as calm as she had been. She ran 
to her princess who was sprawled out on the floor next to her bed. Heaving 
sobs wracked her body and she held her hands in tight fists. Venus 
approached very cautiously. When she was inches from the other blonde, she 
knelt on the ground and ran a hand through the other girl’s hair. “Shh, 
princess. Tell me what troubles you.”
	Serenity didn’t acknowledge her. 

-----

	“Another one?”
	“Yes, your highness. This particular uprising began a few weeks 
ago. The Terrans have handled it well with a low casualty rate and several 
territorial victories. However, the dark side’s soldiers are not dwindling 
in number. No matter how many the Terrans kill, more are made to replace 
them. Their power has greatly increased since the last uprising the year 
before. It will be several weeks more before the Terrans can reasonably 
contain them.” The page checked his charts once more to make sure than he 
had covered all of the necessary information. 
	The queen nodded. “It is as we predicted. The darkness is not at 
full force yet, though they may already be past the half way point.” Queen 
Serenity took a moment to think, a moment that found the page nervously 
shifting his weight from foot to foot. 
	“Though I hate to hold any faith in those atrocious Earthlings, we 
shall wait to see if their forces can subdue the darkness. However, if they 
fail to stop the uprising, we must increase our alert. Double security. Four 
men where once there was two. *Only* if the uprising is successful. If it 
fails like the others, then the darkness has not gained as much power as 
we have assumed and there will still yet be time before we need to prepare 
ourselves.”
	“Yes, of course, your highness.”
	She nodded to him in dismissal as if she were bored. Once he had 
gone and the door closed behind him, she let a sly grin grace her face. The 
queen was sure that she had heard her daughter scream somewhere in the 
middle of her conversation with the page. She would be surprised if the 
entire palace had not heard. No matter. It was about time that spoiled girl 
felt the cool hand of discipline. 

-----

	She was being held by the captain of her guard. Correction: She was 
being *fiercely* held by the captain of her guard. Serenity could have 
sworn that the other girl was in worse shape than she was. 
	At the moment she was trying to pretend it was all just a sick dream. 
A very sick, very twisted dream. How could fate possibly be cruel enough to 
introduce her to the love of her life only to have her intended to marry 
another? It had to be a dream because fate wasn’t cruel. Oh, wait. She was. 
Scratch that theory. 
	So it was real. And so far she was unable to think of anything that 
she could do to fix the situation. She had already yelled profusely at her 
mother and that had gotten her nowhere. Arian had informed her earlier 
that he had tried yelling profusely at his father and that, too, had gained 
them no ground. She would have tried to run away to the Earth, but then she 
eventually would have missed her home. Well, she assumed she would miss it. 
People usually missed their homes when they ran away, didn’t they? 
	If anything, she would miss the silver grass and seeing the Earth 
large in the sky. She would miss the Sea of Serenity with its placid waves. 
And she would miss her friends. Mercury had stood by her since she was a 
child. The other senshi she barely knew and they, in turn, only knew enough 
about her to be able to protect her. Oh, and she would miss Venus. They had 
just begun to get to know each other and the captain of her guard was really 
a sweet girl.
	Which is why she appreciated the fact that Venus was there with her, 
comforting her. 

-----

	It had been a month – a month! – and he could bare it no longer. 
Not that he ever could, mind you. The day Serenity had shut him out, he felt 
like his world had fallen apart. He had been so worried about her when he 
felt her emotions drop to the freezing point. Despite all of his efforts, 
she would not tell him what had happened. He fretted for days, pacing when 
he should have been sleeping and bringing rage to his sword in battle when 
he should have stayed calm. 
	The not knowing ate away at him for a long time. Until one day when 
he woke up and finally convinced himself that he had to move on. She wouldn’t 
tell him what had happened. She wouldn’t tell him anything, for that matter. 
Something had happened to her and, no matter how worried he was for her, 
she pushed him away and acted as if she didn’t know him. If she was going 
to forget him, he had to find a way to forget her too. 
	It would have been much easier had he at least been able to allay 
his fears by talking to her face to face. However, he was still in the 
midst of battle and could not make a secret trip up to the Moon anytime 
soon. 
	There was a loud cheer outside. Jadeite threw open the flap of his 
tent and stuck his head inside. “They have fallen back!! Did you hear that?! 
They have finally fallen back!!” He promptly dropped the flap and ran to 
spread the news to someone else. 
	A retreat? Endymion shook his head in disbelief. 
	Now, what had he been saying? That he couldn’t make a trip to the 
Moon because he was in the thick of battle? Well, it seemed that fate was 
on his side. 
	Another face popped into his tent. It was Zoicite with a big grin 
on his face. He merely hooted in joy before running off to join Jadeite. 
	Two seconds later, Endymion was interrupted by Kunzite. Not only 
his head, but his entire body entered the tent. “Great news, your highness.”
	It’s now or never, he thought. “And I can imagine that the second 
we return home, you will be sneaking into the teleportation room for a 
trip to a certain moon?”
	Kunzite blushed becomingly. Endymion would never be able to get 
over the vast difference in his friend’s attitude whenever Venus was 
mentioned. He turned from ice captain to school boy with the flick of a 
hand. It was remarkable.
	“I would like to join you.”
	The general choked on his smile. He raised his head to stare at 
his prince with watery eyes. “Excuse me, highness?”
	“You heard me, Kunz. I would like to join you. There is something 
that I must speak to the princess about.”
	“But if you are caught, then…”
	“Then what? I would be punished just that same as you would be if 
you were caught. Seeing as how you have managed several trips over the past 
several months and have yet to be seen by a guard, I think I might possibly 
be able to manage just this one excursion.” There would be no persuading 
him. Endymion was going to go and that was final. He made it clear to 
Kunzite, on the other hand, that he would much prefer traveling with his 
general than without. Kunzite new the Moon Palace and could coerce Venus 
into sneaking the princess away to a secluded spot for him. 

-----

	The breeze was cool. The sky was clear. It was a beautiful evening. 
Sheer white drapes were ruffled by the smooth gusts of wind that were 
sneaking through Serenity’s open balcony doors. Not a soul on the Moon 
would have had trouble sleeping that night. 
	That might have been why it was so startling to see Venus briskly 
walking into her bedroom from the balcony. She seemed fully awake and 
active. Was she plagued with thoughts of Kunzite like Serenity was with 
thoughts of Endymion? That could be the only logical explanation as to why 
the two weren’t sleeping like two young babes. 
	“You are coming with me.”
	“What?” Her question went unanswered as Venus grabbed her hand 
and began to drag her out onto the balcony. “Where are you going?”
	“We. We are going to your sea.”
	“My sea?”
	Venus turned her head over her shoulder and winked. “The Sea of 
Serenity.”
	“Oh, Venus,” she giggled. “It is not *my* sea.”
	“It was named after your bloodline. That is good enough for me.” 
The senshi picked her princess up and jumped cleanly down into the gardens 
below without a second thought. Serenity had the good grace to flush at 
the excitement of it all. 
	She was loathe to admit that she liked the spontaneity of the 
situation.
	She opened her mouth but forced it shut when Venus snapped back 
at her, “No more questions. You have been brooding in your room, alone, 
for long enough. We girls are going to have some fun.” 
	A shadowy figure could be seen up ahead. It was leaning against 
the tall brick wall that enclosed the palace. Upon closer inspection, 
Serenity recognized the figure as a girl and as a senshi. “Ami-chan!”
	Mercury smiled. 
	“You invited Ami along too?” the princess asked her captain. 
	“But of course! All your favorites are attending tonight. It is a 
celebration for you.” Venus was about to pick her princess up again to 
carry her in a leap over the wall when she was knocked forward. Serenity 
had thrown herself into Venus’ back while wrapping her arms around the girl’s 
neck. “Serenity?”
	The blonde just hugged tighter and pressed her cheek against her 
senshi’s. “Thank you, Venus. You are the best.”

---

	Not two minutes later, the three escapees were running wildly across 
the outer grasses of the palace. Serenity was still insanely impressed with 
how very high her senshi could jump, but pushed her admiration to the side 
as the wind tugged at her hair. She was smiling. Gods, she had almost 
forgotten the feeling. 
	Speeding up as much as she could she was able to catch up with her 
guard. It irked her to no end that they were nowhere near giving it their 
all and they were miles ahead of her. High jumps, fast speeds, Serenity 
supposed there must have been several other wonderful things bred into a 
senshi on top of that. She sighed, flung out her arms and let out a laugh 
as she tumbled along. 
	“I love you, girls. I hope you know that. I really, truly love 
you!” she yelled the last line while twirling once in a circle and then 
continuing forward. Reminiscing about when she was on the Earth and running 
just as wildly through green grasses, she closed her eyes and absorbed the 
night. 
	She was jolted to alertness when someone grabbed her around the 
waist to catch her. “Easy there! If you run that fast, you might just 
continue right on into the lake!”
	Her eyes opened wide. “Ari-chan!” she screamed in delight. She fell 
forward in his embrace and gave him a tight hug. “You are here, too!”
	His warm, amber eyes sparkled. “Would I let you girls have all the 
fun?” He kissed her temple. “Of course I am here, Sere.” His voice dropped 
to a lower pitch as he whispered, “I am always here for you.”
	“Now, now. Do not forget about me, your highness.”
	That proper tone. That husky voice. Serenity’s smile grew wider as 
she let go of Arian and turned to her left. A tall, toned man with long, 
white hair was standing a few feet away. 
	“Still as formal as ever, Kunzite,” she said as she curtseyed. Then, 
and without any warning, she flung herself at him just as she had done with 
the others. She whispered into his ear, “It is so good to see you.”
	“You, too, princess.”
	Serenity felt tears prick the backs of her eyes. She clung tighter 
to the general. He, in concern, returned the favor. The whisper “I missed 
you” almost slipped past her lips before she could catch it. She had to 
reprimand herself. ‘It is not him. He may smell of the Earth and of those 
beautiful red flowers known as roses, but he is not the one.’
	Pulling away, partly in embarrassment, she let Venus take her place. 
The small bit of water in her eyes dried quickly as she began to talk 
cheerfully with her friends. They waded in the sea and splashed each other 
for the fun of it. It was a great night, just what the princess needed. 
	
---

	After at least an hour had passed, the group’s energy started to fade. 
Their humor and joy stayed with them, luckily. Kunzite and Venus were sitting 
together while leaning against a tree next to the beach. Arian and Mercury 
were having a contest of sandcastles just a few feet away. Serenity stood 
somewhere in the middle, enjoying the conversation of both pairs. 
	Her laughter at a joke that Arian had cracked stopped dead when she 
saw a dark form out of the corner of her eye. It was about ten feet inland 
and facing the sea. Serenity shuddered when she saw it start to walk towards 
her. She felt trapped knowing that the sea was a few feet behind her and 
there were groves of trees to her sides. 
	“Ven-Venus. Ami-chan…” her voice trailed off. The two girls took 
notice as did the men. They all turned their heads to see what their friend 
was seeing. They made no move once they saw the dark shape.
	That didn’t make Serenity feel any better. The figure was still 
hidden by the shadow of the tree that Venus and Kunzite were leaning against. 
She couldn’t see anything but its feet that were still steadily coming towards 
her. “Venus! Do not you see it? Quick! We must get out of here!”      
	She took a step back towards the water. 
	The figure took another step forward. The moonlight finally began to 
shed more light upon him as he passed the last shadow of the tree. It crept up 
his legs and past his waist. As his face finally came into view with one 
last step, Serenity gasped. 
	“I assure you, princess, that I am no one to fear.”

 

 







End Chapter 7
--------------

Well? *she asks with a questioning
look in her eye* I wrote this 
chapter in about two or three 
hours...one of those 'It came to
me' type of things. ^_- I hope 
the speed with which it was 
written didn't detract from the
chapter as a whole. 
 

Please send ANY comments to me, Sereko. 
My e-mail is: sereko13@yahoo.com