MEETINGS By Sailor Mountainsong Rated PG-13 Hey-Hey!! I’m back with my latest demented story! (Everyone groans) Ok,ok! this one isn’t demented. This takes place during the Silver Millennium. It’s about how all the senshi met each other in the first place, but primarily Uranus and Neptune since they’re my favourites. I would recommend reading the character list or you will get royally confused trying to figure out who’s from where. Character list & their planets: Mercury ~ Princess Mercury ~ Prince Hermes Venus ~ Princess Venus ~ Princess Aphrodite ~ Prince Apollo Moon ~ Princess Serenity ~ Queen Serenity Mars ~ Princess Mars ~ Princess Demos ~ Prince Ares Jupiter ~ Princess Jupiter ~ Prince Zeus Saturn ~ Prince Cronos Uranus ~ Princess Uranus ~ Prince Oberon Neptune ~ Princess Neptune ~ Princess Nereid ~ Prince Poseidon Pluto ~ Princess Pluto ~ Prince Hades All other characters are from the moon (instructors and such). All the princesses with planet names are the ones we know and love. Their brothers all have the names of the Greek gods that correspond to the planets. The only exceptions are the Prince of Uranus, The name doesn’t change in Greek mythology so I named him after one of Uranus’ moons, and the prince of Venus, since I didn’t want to name a guy Aphrodite. I named him after the Greek sun god. The younger daughters (where applicable) are named after moons. *Insert boring disclaimer here* “My Queen.” The two figures, almost identical except for a slight height difference, bowed in unison before the throne of Queen Serenity, Ruler of the Silver Millennium. They straightened to see that the Queen had been joined by five girls, approximately two years younger than their own fourteen years. The Queen stood and nodded her head to them. She gestured the younger girls forward, when four boys and two more girls raced up, the boys the same age as the girls already standing there, and the girls appearing a few years younger. The Queen gave them and irritated glance as the youths separated into five groups. “May I present your counterparts?” the Queen walked over to the first group of youths. “This is Princess Mercury and her twin brother Prince Hermes.” She gestured to the two blue haired youths, then moved to the next group, which contained three blondes. “This is the Princesses Venus and Aphrodite, and Venus’ twin, Prince Apollo.” The next group held only one girl, who had long blonde hair in the royal odangoes. “This is my daughter, Princess Serenity.” She moved to a group of three, a girl and boy with deep purple hair and a younger girl with flame-red. “This is the Princesses Mars and Demos, and Mars’ twin, Prince Ares.” She moved to the final group, a boy and girl with light brown hair and startling green eyes. “This is Princess Jupiter and her twin, Prince Zeus.” The Queen then gestured to the two that had just arrived. “I hope you all will do your best to see that the twins of Uranus, Princess Uranus and Prince Oberon, are settled into the palace.” “My Queen, where are the representatives of the rest of the outer planets arriving?” Uranus asked. “They will be here tomorrow. I will present you when they arrive.” They all bowed and left, the inner Princesses already latching on to Uranus and Oberon. “I am a girl, you know.” she kept saying. The inner Princesses didn’t seem to care. Uranus gave up, and started chatting with her brother and the Princes. This wasn’t the first time she had been mistaken for a boy. ******************************************************************************************* The next day: Six youths stood in front of the throne. Queen Serenity sat on her throne, flanked by Uranus and Oberon on one side and the inner Royalty on the other. Serenity went through the introductions, and then presented the new arrivals to those already there. She stood behind a youth with black hair and purple eyes. “This is Prince Cronos of Saturn.” No one asked where Princess Saturn was. If she ever awoke everyone would fall over from surprise-in the five seconds it took before they died. Serenity moved behind a girl and a boy with dark green hair and garnet eyes. “This is the Pluto twins, Princess Pluto, Prince Hades.” She moved behind a group of three. The Uranite twins stared openly. The elder girl and the boy had aquamarine hair and the bluest eyes, while the younger girl had sea-green hair and hazel eyes. Oberon leaned close to his sister and whispered “That younger girl is beautiful.” Uranus was only half listening. She was too busy staring at the older girl. “This is Princess Neptune, her twin Prince Poseidon, and their younger sister, Princess Nereid.” Serenity stepped back to her throne and sat down. “Uranus, Oberon, will you please see that your fellow outers are settled into the outer’s wing? Your training will begin in three days.” The Uranite twins nodded, their eyeballs still glued to the Neptunian princesses. They left the room, followed by the recently arrived outers. ******************************************************************************************** Uranus threw herself onto her bed. It had been two weeks since the elder daughters had begun their training as senshi. All the royal children took scholastic courses together, The males took extra courses that would help them be good Kings, the elder daughters trained to be senshi, and the younger daughters were training to be whatever. All three of them had dreams of being highly effective Queens for another planet. Nereid and Oberon, in fact, had become quite inseparable. Aphrodite and Zeus had been going around together lately, and Demos and Hermes were never far apart. Everyone was placing bets on how long before they became serious couples. Uranus sighed and flipped onto her back, throwing an arm over her face. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice when Oberon entered her room and walked over to her bed. “Sis? what’s wrong?” Uranus removed the arm from her face and groaned. Oberon looked at her, concerned. “Isn’t your senshi training going well? I thought you’d be good at it.” Uranus sighed. He apparently wasn’t going to leave until she told him. “Training is fine. I’m doing very well. How’s Nereid?” “She’s worried. Neptune is upset about something.” Uranus flinched at the mention of Neptune. Oberon didn’t miss the movement. “Aren’t you getting along with Neptune? Is that the problem?” Uranus shook her head. “Then what the heck is wrong with you? You’ve been moping around like a rejected lover for-”Oberon stopped as realization dawned. “My God! You’re in love with Neptune, aren’t you?” Uranus just nodded miserably. Her brother had known for years that she preferred girls to guys, and he had never seen anything wrong with it. Now she blessed him for that. Oberon sat on the edge of the bed and held out his arms. Uranus leaned into his hug, wishing that he could take away all her problems. Tears slipped down her cheeks and onto her brothers shirt, He didn’t seem to mind. “Poor girl. I don’t know what to say.” Oberon just continued to hold his sister as she cried, murmuring encouraging nonsense to her. She gradually fell asleep, and he laid her back down on the bed and sat thinking. A moment later there was a knock on the door. Oberon looked up as Queen Serenity entered the room. “What’s wrong?” the Queen asked, seeing where Oberon was. “I was passing in the hall and thought I heard crying. Is there anything I can do?” Oberon looked up at her, then gestured to a chair. “Please have a seat your Majesty. This might take a while to explain.” Serenity seated herself and listened while Oberon told her, as well as he could, what was wrong with Uranus. Serenity sat in silence for a moment while she tried to think what to do. The an idea dawned. “You know, I think I just might be able to do something. You’ll have to help, and we’ll need to get Poseidon and Nereid in on this, but I think we can do it. If you can leave your sister for a while, I would like to speak with you and them, right now.” Oberon nodded and followed the queen down the hall to the Neptunian rooms. When Poseidon opened the door and saw who was there his eyes grew very wide. He quickly invited them in and called Nereid. “I’m sorry I can’t ask Neptune to come out, but she is rather indisposed at the moment.” “What’s wrong with her?” Serenity asked, worried. “She’s-how to put this-she’s in love, your Majesty.” “Serenity. I’m only Majesty on formal occasions. Who’s the lucky young man?” “It’s not a young man, it’s a young woman. Princess Uranus.” Nereid replied. Oberon gasped, while Serenity smiled. “I think that this will work then. Will you three please join me in my chambers?” They nodded, and followed Serenity out of the outer’s wing and into the main part of the palace. Once in her rooms they all seated themselves and waited. “It’s traditional of me to send the children of families that will have to work closely together out on little trips. These can take two days to two weeks, depending. I think it might be a good idea if the future rulers and senshi of Uranus and Neptune went out on a little trip to get to know each other better, don’t you?” Oberon started laughing. “That’s downright awful. Would we be taking rooms at inns?” “No, you are sent out into the country, you take tents and supplies, and learn to live together. I think three tents will be fine, don’t you?” comprehension was slowly dawning on the Neptunian youths. “You mean, I assume, that the future kings share a tent, the future senshi share a tent, and Nereid gets her own?” “Of course. Neptune and Uranus will have to sleep together, in the same tent. I sincerely hope they learn something from this experience. You will leave tomorrow morning. Don’t worry about lessons. And I would think that you should probably go pack now, and tell your sisters what is going on.” The three conspirators left the Queens room smiling. ****************************************************************************************** “Uranus! Hurry up! We have to meet the others in the courtyard in five minutes!” Oberon shouted into his sisters bedroom. Uranus came out holding a small backpack. “Where are we going again?” “We’re going on a short camping trip with the other outer rulers. Now come on! We’re already late!” “You just want to see Nereid!” “Of course I do! Now come on!” They raced out the door of their suite and into the courtyard. The Npetune royals were already there wiating. When Neptune and Uranus saw each other they lost most of their enthusiasm. They went up to where Serenity stood waiting to give them their instructions. “Princes and Princesses of Neptune and Uranus. You will have to work in close concert with each other for much of your lives. Especially your senshhi. This means you must be able to work together without reservation, and trust eachother completely. As is tradition, you will go out into the utter wilderness for two weeks. You will have all the supplies you need, they are there already, along with your tents. You will live together, without any other human contact, for this period of time. It is hoped that this will make you all much closer friends. Now, as for tent assignments, I’m afraid there will have to be some sharing, as we currently have trainees in the Royal Gaurd out on practice missions. Oberon and Poseidon will share one tent, obviously, and Neptune and Uranus will share another. Nereid, you will have your own, since you will not have to have the kind of closeness with the others in future years that the Kings and senshi will need. Any questions? No? Then I will see you in two weeks.” Queen Serenity waved her hand, and the group suddenly found themselves out in the middle of nowhere, with a pile of supplies beside them. “Well, we might as well get set up and settled in, what do you say?” asked Oberon cheerfully. The others joined him in sorting through the supplies. Neptune and Uranus were careful to each give the other a wide berth. Their siblings tried again and again to get the two into a conversation but nothing would work. Finally, after most of the gear had been set up in a camp situation, and the tents pitched far enough away from eachother that any late night conversations wouldn’t wake the others, Oberon blew a fuse. “What is your problem?! You’re both moping around like you’ve been sent to prison, and you won’t even talk to each other! You have to sleep in the same tent, and you’re going to be partners for the rest of your lives, so you’d better get over the attitude problem right now! I don’t intend to spend the next two weeks watching you two ignore each other! Now the least you could do is talk!” Oberon was slightly flushed from his outburst. “You haven’t even said hello, and it’s nearly time for supper! What are you afraid of?” He apparently ran out of things to say, because he didn’t continue after this last chastisement. Uranus and Neptune looked at each other. “We really should talk to each other, at least. It won’t be very pleasant around here for the next two weeks if we don’t.” Neptune said softly. Uranus winced, and turned her back on the girl. “I don’t have anything to talk to you about. I don’t know why we were sent out her, but I do know Serenity had an ulterior motive. I don’t want to be anywhere near you.” ~It hurts to much~ she added silently. Neptune looked heartbroken by Uranus’ words. “I’m taking a walk,” she murmured, and left the camp. Oberon went over to Uranus while Nereid and Posiedon went after Neptune. Oberon considered his words a moment before he spoke. “That wasn’t especially nice of you.” “Why should I be nice? It hurts to much just to see her, hear her voice, let alone be around her this much. It hurts, Oberon.” Oberon sighed. “I know it hurts, I’m not denying that it probably hurts a lot more than I would guess. But she wants to be your friend. Can’t you try to get along? For her sake?” “I want to be her friend too! But how long would it be before I couldn’t hide how I felt and it started interfering? It’s better that we don’t become friends.” “You can’t run forever. It’s already affecting you. You never cry, but you should have seen yourself yesterday. Uranus, love isn’t something you can control, it’s not something you can hide, and it’s not something you can run from.” Oberon walked off, leaving Uranus to tink over what he had said. “Neptune?” Nereid called to the figure who was seated hunched over on a log. The figure appeared to be crying. “Are you okay?” “How can I be okay?! She hates me!” “She doesn’t hate you. She’s just scared. She’s never had a friend before, besides her brother.” “She hates me. You heard her. How can I share a tent with her? How can I even be anywhere near her, when I feel this way and she hates me?” “Have you ever thought of talking to her about it?” Poseidon asked as he walked up to them. “What?!” both girls shrieked in surprise. “I’m serious. A girl who looks like her, I mean with her hair cut likke that and always wearing men’s clothes, do you really think that she did that to attract guys?” Neptune looked at him in startlement. “Think about the way she acts with us at the palace. Plenty of boys would like to court her, but she doesn’t even notice them. But when the other Princesses flirt with her she flirts right back. Maybe you should talk to her tonight. It might help.” Poseidon walked off, back to camp, leaving Nereid to help her sister dry her tears and calm down. “Ready to go back?” Nereid asked after Neptune looked like her normal self again. Neptune nodded, and they stood and walked back to camp. The boys looked up as they walked into the clearing. They were carefully preparing a supper over the campfire. Uranus remained focused on her task of setting out a table cloth and eating implements on a large flat rock that would easily serve as a table. Neptune went to help put the finishing touches on the cooking while Nereid went to her tent to grab a sweater. Supper was a subdued meal, with Neptune and Uranus lost in their own thoughts. The others left them to themselves, sensing that the problem would be solved soon. Hopefully before one of them went insane. The entire group went to their tents early, everyone having picked up on Uranus and Neptune’s bad mood. Neptune was gathering her courage to speak. “Why do you hate me so much?” she asked in a soft voice once they were alone in their tent. Uranus stiffened. “I don’t hate you. How could I hate you?” Neptune was surprised. “Then why do you act like you don’t want anything to do with me? I want to be your friend.” ~I want to be so much more than your friend...~ she added silently. Uranus still wouldn’t look at her. “I don’t have friends. When people find out a certain thing about me they always hate me. Only Oberon sticks with me.” Uranus’ voice was cold. Neptune was startled. “Why would anyone do that? And what’s so bad? I can’t think of anything that would make me not want to be your friend. What is it?” Neptune was thinking about what Poseidon had said earlier. Was it possible he had been right? “If I told you, you wouldn’t want to share a tent with me, you’d want to be far away from me.” “Just tell me. Please, Uranus?” Uranus sighed. She couldn’t say no to this girl, even when giving in would probably hurt her more than anything. She sighed. “Have you ever wondered why I take such pains to look like a boy?” Neptune nodded. “It’s because, if people knew I was a girl, they’d freak out at my flirting with other girls.” Neptune’s heart leapt in her chest. “Why is there a problem with that? Flirting, I mean.” “Because. I don’t do it just in fun. I like girls. As in love.” Uranus turned farther away from Neptune. “Love? You probably don’t know what love is, how much it can hurt!” Neptune regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth. “Oh, I know what love feels like. It feels like a knife stabbing you in the heart and twisting. Whenever you see the person it goes in a little farther, twists a little more, until you think you’ll explode with wanting tht person. Don’t lecture me about love. You can’t even BEGIN to guess what kinds of things I’ve felt.” Neptune was shocked at Uranus’ reply. She had never guessed that the taller girl had even felt pain. She was so self confident, so assured. Neptune was silent for a moment. She watched her future partner breathe heavily, trying to control her emotions. Being this close to Uranus made it hard to think. She finally fought it off. “Who was she?” “What?” “Who was she? The girl you were talking about? The one you were in love with?” Uranus flinched. She should hav seen that coming. “I can’t tell you.” Neptune put an arm around Uranus. Uranus’ heart convulsed painfully at her touch. She wanted to take the smaller girl in her arms and kiss her and never let her go. “Please tell me? I want to help.” Uranus sighed. She couldn’t think beyond the fires that were lit along her skin whrever she touched Neptune. She whimpered slightly, then, “You,” she whispered, barely even making a noise. Neptune drew back, startled. Uranus moved away from her. Neptune sat for a moment wondering if she’d heard what she thought she’d heard. “You love me? As in real love?” Neptune exclaimed. Uranus looked down. “You must hate me. You can go share a tent with your sister if you want. I’m sure you two could find lots of cute boys to discuss.” “We could if both of us liked boys that way.” Neptune retorted. It was Uranus’ turn to shout “WHAT?!” Neptune laughed. “Nereid is going out with Oberon. Please don’t tease me that way Neptune. You like boys.” “No, I don’t. Can I get any clearer? I like girls, same as you. I’ve known that for years, even if I never found someone I liked, or wanted as a lover, until I came to the moon. I just wish she’d had the courage to admit her own feelings sooner. It would have saved us both pain.” “You mean...?” Uranus never finished her sentence. Neptune’s lips cut her off, and Uranus thought her heart would break in happiness. She pulled away after a long time. She just sat, looking a Nepune. “You know,” Neptune said impishly, “It gets cold at night. If I had someone to keep me warm, I’d sleep better...” Uranus laughed. She dragged her bedroll over. “You’re evil. How am I supposed to sleep with you beside me, huh?”Neptune smirked. That’s for you to figure out. Oh, and it’s a custom on my planet not to wear anything when you sleep.” Uranus gulped. “If we’re to be partners, you’re going to have to be well-versed in my customs.” Neptune laughed as Uranus turned bright red. It’s a wonder that either of them sept at all that night. The rest of the vacation went much better, although Poseidon sometimes complained that between the four of tham they’d kill him with all the sickeningly sweet loveplay. ******************************************************************************************** “Not good enough! Do it again! Do you think enemies are going to go easy on you, Mercury?” The instructor for the martial art of Tae-Kwon-Do was furious. “Jupiter! She won’t break! Stop pulling your blows! Venus! This isn’t a beauty pagent! Let’s see some sweat! Mars, That could be improved. Straighten that leg! Pluto, stop blanking out! The time line isn’t going to be worth much if it’s guardian blanks out all the time! Uranus! Let Neptune fight her own battles, stop helping her! Neptune, the next time I see you mooning over Uranus, I’ll throw you out! Back to work, do it again!” The senshi-in-training groaned and moved back onto the practice grounds. After only a few more minutes of practice, the instructor stopped them. “You’re improving. You are dismissing early today because Queen Serenity wishes to speak to you. I would recommend that you all shower beforehand. Dismissed!” The Princesses ran out of the room, grateful to be away from the instructor from Hell. They quickly showered and dressed in formal court garb before walking into the throne room. Their brothers and sisters were already there. Serenity sat on her throne, dressed with incredible formality, so the group aproached the throne with a great amount of decorum. “Well.” Serenity said when they were all assembled. “I’ve called you all here to witness a little ceremony. Six of you have come before me to ask for this, and now I must receive blessinge from each of you for it to happen.” she gestured and the three younger daughters stepped forward. They went to stand on the dias’ that were placed around the room, one for each planet. She gestured again and all the Princes walked to their dias. She gestured a third tome, and the elder Princesses, having caught on to what she wanted them to do, Walked over to their place beside their siblings. “Princess Aphrodite of Venus and Prince Zeus of Jupiter, you have permission to approach the throne.” Those two stepped forward. Serenity spoke to the youths still on the dias. “These two have asked that I bless their engagement. If it were a normal pair I wouldn’t need to go through with the formalities, but as representatives of two different planets, I must ask for the blessing of the future King and senshi of each planet. Do you give your blessing on the engagement of these two?” The yes was resounding. Serenity smiled. Princess Serenity walked forward and placed her hands on the heads of the future rulers of Jupiter. As your future Queen, I place the blessing of the moon on you. May you live together in hapiness.” Uranus smiled, thinking how the moon Princess had changed in the four years she had known her. She had gone from an immature babyish twelve year old to a poised, grown up young woman of sixteen. They had all changed. Serenity gestured for Aphrodite and Zeus to return to their siblings. She raised a hand, and silence once again descended. “Princess Demos of Mars and Prince Hermes of Mercury. Step forward.” the entire process was repeated for those two. After they had left the area in front of the throne Serenity called the next pair. “Princess Nereid of Neptune and Prince Oberon of Uranus. Come forward.” Srenity repeated the procedure and was about to dismiss them when Oberon cleared his throat. “Pardon, your majesty, but I have a request. Well, Nereid and I do. You see, there is a pair I know who are more in love than anyone I have ever met, but they can never, by the laws of their planets, marry. But by the law of the moon, they can. We would like it if you could overrule planeary law, just this once.” “Who is the pair? If they are that much in love I will certainly do all I can for them.” “My sister, Princess Uranus, and Nereid’s sister, Princess Neptune.” There were collective gasps from all around. Uranus and Neptune were doing fairly good impressions of stunned oxen. “Let them come forward.” the Queen said, almost laughing at the expressions of her court. Neptune and Uranus came forward. Surprisingly for them, though not the rest of the people gathered in the throne room, the collective cheer when the Queen asked for the blessing of each of the planets was almost twice as loud as any of the others.