Chapter 3: Fates are Crossed

	Venus placed the tiara on Sailor Mars' 
forehead and held it in place. Mars quivered slightly 
and opened her eyes. "How strange, a feeling like… like
 burning flames just spread through my body!"
	"That's what happened to me, too," Venus said, "only 
it felt really warm and pleasant to me."
"Well, that would make sense then, wouldn't you think? Since
 your power is love and mine is fire." Venus nodded at Mars' revelation.
"We should go find Mercury and Jupiter," Venus suggested. The
 two best friends left Mars' quarters and walked down the 
hall to find the others.
On the way to Jupiter's quarters, the two ran into a very
 frantic Princess Serenity. "Venus," she gasped, running 
towards her and grabbing her shoulders, "I really need to 
talk to you!"
Venus looked to Mars and rolled her eyes. "Take these to 
the other girls," she instructed, handing the two remaining 
tiaras to Mars, "I'll be in with the Princess if you need me.
" Mars nodded and left.
Serenity grabbed Venus and dragged her to her chamber, 
locking the door behind them.
"Hey, why don't you use that lock when your boyfriend is 
around?" Venus teased. Serenity spun around and glared 
angrily at Venus, who sunk her head down.
"This is no time for joking! This is serious!"
The Princess doesn't have time for joking? There must 
really be something wrong! Venus thought to herself. She 
sat in a large, cushy chair and leaned into it comfortably.
 "What is it, Princess?"
Serenity's bottom lip trembled as she approached Venus. 
"Tell me, is it true that the Earth has finally taken action?
 In war, I mean?"
"Yes," Venus said calmly.
Serenity shook her head and covered her mouth with her hands.
 "No, no! That can't be true! That can't be…" she sat down on
 the bed solidly. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes.
"Don't cry, Princess!" Venus soothed as she stood and walked 
over to Serenity. She placed her arm around her shoulder. 
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you. Me and the guardians…"
"STOP PRETENDING!" Serenity screamed and shoved Venus roughly
 to the floor. "You know why I'm upset. I don't care what happens
 to me, it's… it's…" Serenity wailed and threw herself across the bed.
Venus rose from the ground, straightening her orange skirt. 
She touched her tiara to make sure it was still intact. Sobs
 racked through Serenity's body, and she moaned Endymion's name
 over and over again. Venus watched the hopeless girl cry and 
whimper, not knowing what to do.
The Princess finally got a hold of herself and straightened up. 
"I know that matters between Earth and us are very grim, but, is
 there any chance I might, just might, still be able to see 
Endymion?" Serenity looked away, already knowing the dreaded 
answer.
The two remained silent, until Venus answered softly, "Princess,
 it's only for your own good. Earth is just to dangerous, you 
can't trust anyone…"
"I can trust…"

Venus held up her hands and Serenity stopped. "You can't 
trust anyone. Not even him. I'm really sorry, I'm going to 
have to keep a close eye on you."
"NO!" Serenity pounded her hands on the bed like a child 
throwing a temper tantrum, "You can't keep me from him! I HATE YOU!"
Venus watched her somberly. "There's nothing I can do, 
Princess. It's my only option. Your mother even granted me
 and the other three guardians powers especially for your 
protection."
"I DON'T CARE!!!"
"I'm sorry."

After a sleepless night of watching the Princess snore,
 Venus was forced to go with Serenity on a picnic. 
Serenity had insisted that they should go because it was 
such a beautiful day outside. Venus trudged far behind as
 the Princess skipped ahead of her into a field of flowers. 
She sure has recovered fast, Venus thought.
Venus laid a blanket out over some grass while the Princess
 ran about trying to find just the right flowers to make a 
daisy chain with. Venus watched her carefully and she set 
out the food and began to eat. Serenity joined her after a 
while, scarfed down her entire meal, and begged Venus to let
 her go and pick more flowers.
"You may go, but stay where I can see you," Venus ordered. 
Serenity agreed and bounced away happily.
Venus continued to munch on her food as she 
watched Serenity attentively. After a quarter of 
an hour, Venus realized that 
Serenity had made her way pretty far out of her reach. 
"SERENITY!" Venus hollered, "come back!" Serenity shook her 
head no. "What? Come back here!"  Venus demanded.
Venus peered across the field at the young Princess, who 
suddenly yanked a silver crystal out of the front of her dress.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!" Venus screamed. She scrambled onto her feet 
and ran full speed towards the girl. The light from the 
crystal began to engulf Serenity's body, and Venus made 
a wild dash and dove for her feet, grabbing tight around 
her legs. "Gotcha!" Venus laughed.
"No you don't!" Serenity laughed back. The light 
covered them both, and in a flash the two were warped
 to Earth, where they dropped out of the blue sky and
 landed on the ground with a thump.

Venus sat up and slapped Serenity across the face. 
Serenity turned her head defensively. "You little…" 
Venus screamed hysterically, "look what you've done! 
Now BOTH of us are in the middle of a WAR ZONE!"
"Look's pretty peaceful to me…" Serenity murmured, 
terrified for her life of the psychopath that Venus 
had just unleashed. She had never seen this side of 
her before.
Venus looked about angrily, and realized Serenity was 
right. It was peaceful. They appeared to be in a courtyard
 of some sort, outside of a large building made out of 
pretty stones.
"This is the Earth castle." Serenity said softly as 
Venus wandered around, looking for nothing in particular.
"Well, it seems like a nice place, but we are kind of in 
the middle of a war, so we maybe we should go home." Venus 
said sarcastically.
"After I find my Endymion," Serenity said while standing.
"No. Now."
Serenity glared at Venus. "No. We're here, so I might as 
well find him."
Venus grumbled as Serenity ran off to find her love. She 
stomped angrily over to a rock sitting by a small, 
trickling stream. She lowered herself to sit down and 
tucked her up knees, holding them to her body. Venus leaned
 over the water and gazed down at her reflection. She 
really liked her tiara; it made her feel like royalty. She 
ran her finger along its golden rim and watched as her 
reflection did the same.
Venus listened to the twittering birds and the babbling of 
the stream, and she felt relaxed. Maybe it's not so bad here,
 she thought. She looked back at her reflection, but this time
 hers wasn't the only one there…
"YAAAAH!" Venus yelled as she twirled her legs around, kicking
 the man who stood behind her in the knees. He fell with a 
startled yelp. Venus watched the body over her shoulder, her
 breath heavy from the adrenaline rush. The man began to get 
to his feet, but Venus ordered, "Who are you?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you?" the man moaned as he stood, 
"You're the one intruding in our palace."
Venus glared at him. "I asked, who are you?"
The man stared at the blonde in disbelief. She 
obviously didn't know his rank. "I am Kunzite," he said 
with a deep bow. He moved his arm just so that his cape 
would swirl about his muscular body. His long white hair 
hung about his tanned face. "I am the leader of the four 
Guardian Generals of Earth."
"Really?" Venus mused, "well, I happen to be the leader
 of the four Guardian Soldiers of the Moon Kingdom."
"Really," Kunzite mocked. 
Venus scrunched her nose at him. "Well, I didn't want
 to come here in the first place, but my duty is to 
protect the Princess at all costs. I'd be put to death
 if I was to be found..."
"Oh, so she's here again?" Kunzite stopped her ramblings.
"You know her?" Venus asked curiously.
"Yes, she's been seeing the Prince. They're really crazy 
about each other," Kunzite explained.
Venus rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it. I caught them 
half-clothed in her chamber one night."
Kunzite laughed. "Yes, I've heard both of them tend to be
 quite mischievous," Kunzite stopped and eyed the delicate
 girl. He admired her figured body and soft featured face.
 "You haven't introduced yourself yet," he pointed out.
"Oh, yes," Venus stood quickly and stuck out her hand, 
"I'm Sailor Venus."
Kunzite found it amusing that this girl didn't curtsy to 
him like any other girl. She shook his hand like a man.
 He liked it.
"So," Venus said, looking away, "you must be one of the 
generals Endymion was talking about the other night. You 
oppose the war, right?"
"War is pointless," Kunzite huffed, "all it does is kill. 
It will never solve anything," he paused, "and how could 
the Earth ever declare war on a place that has nice girls 
like you?"
Venus blushed. "Um, thank you."
The two remained in the silence for a moment, until Venus 
abruptly said, "Well, I need to find Princess Serenity. You
 can't leave her alone with Endymion for too long, you know.
" She laughed nervously, trying to ignore the way Kunzite was
 looking over her body. How can he even think about coming 
on to me? Venus thought in disbelief. He very well knows that
 neither of us is allowed to have 'other engagements' due to 
our ranks. Venus glared at him, but her hard gaze softened 
when she noticed how handsome he was.
"Of course, it is your duty, after all," Kunzite said, 
somewhat disappointedly, "but I can help you find her, 
I know where everything is around here." Kunzite 
hoped she would accept.
"I can find her by myself, but thanks anyway." In attempt to 
show her complete disinterest in him, she swept her head 
around, held her chin high and her arms by her sides as she 
strutted out of the courtyard. Her hair followed behind her, 
streaming elegantly in the gentle breeze.
Kunzite watched as Sailor Venus made her dramatic exit. He 
knew she wasn't interested in him, but every moment he liked 
her even more. He admired her spunk, determination, and 
beauty. He knew her pain, her sacrifice, and her loneliness, 
all for the protection of the Princess.
He was going to get that girl. Together they could learn to 
live.