"A White Rose, A Red Rose" - Chapter 6 
by Miaka

Welcome back loyal fans!  If you have made it this far I am VERY 
grateful to you.  I love writing this story, I love the sappiness, 
and I like guessing how many people are actually reading this.  
Well, once again my e-mail address is nitehawk@silcom.com  and my 
web page is http://www2.crosswinds.net/santa-barbara/~animegals.  
If you want to read ahead in the story, you know where to go, and 
if you do, don't forget to sign the guest book!
My adress is nitehawk@silcom.com!  I don't mind e-mail!  

Thanks again to all my friends and editors out there, you're 
GREAT!  Chichiri, thank you so much for your support!  Melinda, 
Twilight, Sailor Venus/Minna, Saturn/Hotaru, and all those that 
will have supported me by the time that I publish this!  

Disclaimers:  yada yada ditto ditto don't own Sailor Moon, wish I 
did type thing.  

"A White Rose, A Red Rose" - Chapter 6 

     Slowly Mamoru walked back down the path to his bedroom, still 
staring at the rose.  He could not get the girl's face out of his 
head.  Her eyes had caught him in their trap and he could see them 
in his mind's eye.  Thinking back on it, he realized that she had 
been wearing glasses.  But her eyes were so bright they had shone 
right through them.  She was truly a beautiful girl, like a beam 
of light on a moonless night.   

@-->-->---

      "Mamochan, it is time to wake up!"  Usagi chirped happily.   
It was morning and the sun was just coming over the horizon, the 
morning star still shone brightly in the sky.  "Wake up you silly 
or else you will miss the morning star!"
     Mamoru looked out the window to see the sun shining brightly 
into his window.  Quickly he scanned the sky for the morning star.  
When he found it he smiled and said to her, "Found it Usa, didn't 
miss it!  So don't worry, I haven't missed it in years and I am 
not about to start now!"  
     "Silly, that is because I don't let you miss it.  And you can 
not refuse me anything, so if I want you to get up, you will."  
Usagi giggled
     "Well if we get to that subject, you don't refuse me anything 
either, so we are even."  Mamoru was enjoying her joy this 
morning, especially after what had happened the night before.  But 
still he knew that something was wrong, even despite her apparent 
joy.  "So what is bothering you?"  he asked with a sigh.
     "I would say that the better question is what is bothering 
you?"  she asked back quickly, laughing slightly.
     "Nothing gets past you, does it?"
     "Of course not, I am your friend and I have known you for 
years, you can't escape my gaze,"  she ended in a fake voice that 
he guessed was supposed to sound malicious.  
     "Well, as you don't seem to want ot talk about your problems 
and I don't want to talk about mine, let's talk about something 
else," she suggested quickly before he could say anything more on 
the topic.  She really did not want to talk about the man that she 
ran into last night, she would have to face him sooner or later, 
most likely sooner, and she preferred to spend a nice hour with 
Mamochan, than to go over her problems.
     "Well then, how is the rose?" he asked, knowing perfectly 
well how the rose was.
     "Let's see, I think it started to wilt yesterday.  It all of 
a sudden just lost a petal . . ."  Noticing the sudden drop of his 
spirit, she went on quickly,  "Hey, it was a joke!  The rose is 
still blooming, and it is going to stay that way, representing our 
close friendship."  she almost choked the last words out. 'Close 
friendship, I don't want a close friendship, I don't even want to 
be friends with him, I want more,'  she thought, but erased the 
thoughts quickly lest Mamoru catch them.
     'Close friendship, so that is all she thinks of our 
relationship.  Friendship, I don't want to be her friend, I want 
more!'  he thought.
     'He didn't contradict me, he must want just a friendship . . 
.' "The locket has been playing beautifully as well, do you want 
to hear it?" she asked, trying to put a happy note in her voice.
     "That would be lovely, I can see better into your feelings 
that way."  He laughed a little at the last words.
      "You can already tell my feelings, so why do you need the 
locket?" she asked, giggling again.  "But very well, you shall 
hear it play."  She opened the locket and it began to play a sad, 
almost mournful melody, betraying her feelings as it always did.  
     After a few minutes of listening to it, Usagi suddenly looked 
at the sun in the sky and asked, "Uh, Mamochan, are we not going 
to be late for breakfast again?  And I have to wear a dress today 
because of some stupid company that we are having!  Yuck."
     "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have to wear my 
full armor.  It is so uncomfortable.  By the way, have you noticed 
that a lot of the events in our life seem to be coinciding?  You 
have to wear something you hate, and so do I, things like that."
      "I know what you mean, but then we were always rather close.  
Anyhow, we have got to get to breakfast, Mother is going to kill 
me!"  
      "You know, one of these mornings we are going to have to 
purposely get to breakfast early.  It would scare them half to 
death." 
     "That would be fun!"  Usagi exclaimed, "They would never 
expect us to be early for anything, we are late so often. . . and 
I still say that it is all your fault!" 
      Mamoru laughed heartily and Usagi joined in.  "You know, you 
are almost a lady, you will be in two weeks, and you still have 
not changed a bit from when you were three.  Still as innocent and 
happy as ever, though I imagine you have grown a bit.  Well, catch 
you later Usa!"  

@-->-->---

     "Serena! Come on!"  Makoto screamed, pounding on the 
Princess's door.  Once again the girl was late, and on such an 
important day!  The Terrans were here and she had the nerve to 
sleep in!  They were to be introduced over breakfast!  "Serena, 
you know that the Terrans are here and we have to go meet them!  
The court must enter with you today, so if you are late, all of us 
are!  Get out here!"  
      By now all four members of the court surrounded the door and 
were trying to get her to come out.  They heard her laughing in 
there and could not for the life of them figure out why.   Was she 
enjoying making them late?  
      Suddenly the door swung open and out flew their Princess, 
almost knocking them over.  "Sorry I'm late, I, uh, had trouble 
getting into my dress!"  she explained quickly, but not 
convincingly.
     "You might as well add a 'Yea, that's it!' to the end of your 
statement," Rei muttered beneath her breath.  Serena just ignored 
her.
     "Well, we had better run if we don't want to be any more late 
then we are!"  Mina put in quickly, hoping to avoid the usual 
morning argument.  

@-->-->---

     Mamoru hurriedly put on his armor and strung his sword around 
his waist.  'I am going to be so late, this is no way to meet the 
Queen of another planet!  But then, I have not been on time for 
breakfast in about thirteen years, just about as long as I've 
know, Usako.'  He laughed at the thought.  'I am prompt for 
everything except breakfast, and everyone just writes it off 
saying that I am a heavy sleeper.  If they only knew. . .'  He 
laughed again.  
     By now the entire guard was knocking on his door telling him 
to get out of his room, "Endy!  We are supposed to be in the 
Dining hall in five minutes and if we do not start now there is no 
way that we can make it in time.  So come on!"  Kunzite called 
through the door.
     Endymion stepped through the door and shut it behind him.  
Quickly, all five of the men set off in a dead run for the dinning 
hall.
     
@-->-->---


      Upon reaching the hall they found that the Princess and her 
court were also late, and fortunately the Queen was the only one 
there.  
     "Good morning, Gentlemen.  I see you and your men take after 
my daughter, but then you have had a long journey and I am sure 
you needed the rest,"  the Queen said with a smile on her face.  
"Introductions will take place when my daughter and her court 
arrive, that way it will only have to be done once,"  she added as 
she saw Prince Endymion was about the present himself and his 
guard.  
     Fortunately the party did not have to wait long for the 
ladies, in just a few minutes all five glided into the room, the 
Princess coming leading the way.  
      The Princess's expression was one of sereneness and peace.  
She looked elegant as she seemingly floated into the room and 
curtsied before her mother.  The other four copied her movements 
and expressions exactly.  Each held herself in the exact same 
mannerism, and each moved exactly the same way.  
     But none of them looked the same, each of them looked exotic 
and beautiful, but each in their own way.  No two features were 
the same.  Even if two of their hair colours, or eye colours were 
the same, they were in some way totally different.  
      The guards would have, and almost did, gawk at their beauty 
had they not been trained so well.  The Prince on the other hand 
felt the blood drain from his face.  The Princess, the one leading 
the party, was the same girl that he had insulted the night 
before.  It was then that he noticed that both this girl and the 
queen had the same hair style, that meant he had insulted the 
royal hairstyle of the moon.  He cringed inwardly.  No wonder she 
had said that he would never want to mention their meeting in the 
garden again.  
      The Queen stood and calmly introduced her daughter, "May I 
present my daughter, the Princess Serenity, heir to the Silver 
Millennium."  
     At her name, the Princess stepped forward, the expression in 
her face and eyes never changing.  After her mother was finished 
speaking, she introduced her court.  "I am Princess Serenity and 
this is my court, Princess AinoMinako of Venus, first in command.  
Princess HinoRei of Mars, second in command.  Princess KinoMakoto 
of Jupiter, third in command.  And Princess MizunoAmi of Mercury, 
fourth in command."  At each of their names, the Princesses 
stepped forward and dropped into identical curtseies.
     The Prince then stepped forward and introduced his guard in a 
similar fashion, though without quite as much grace.  (I didn't 
think you needed me to go through it all AGAIN.  [Chihiri - "rats!  
Juat Kidding!"])  
     The group then sat down for breakfast and began to eat.  The 
court finally doing something that was not identical to the 
Princess.  As they ate and the Queen talked Serenity began to 
examine the hearts of the guard.  She was surprised to find that 
they were not all Terran, each of them had some of the Terran 
blood in them, but they were predominantly from the neighboring 
planets. 
     Intrigued, the Princess began to look further into their 
hearts.  Blocks and barricades crumbled before her search and 
allowed her a closer look at the different men.  
     Kunzite, she found, was part Venusian.  Jedite, part Martian, 
Nephlite, part Jupiterian, and Zoicite, part Mercurian.  Amazed, 
she looked closer at their blood line.  The Terran blood was 
crumbling before the other blood.  Each of them had a special 
power, drawn from their planet, but each time they used it 
destroyed some more Terran blood, making them more powerful, but 
at the same time less Terran.  And the loss of the Terran blood 
would mean a stronger pull toward their own planet, they would be 
able to know, like her guard did, when someone was of the same 
blood as they.  
      Serena almost laughed at the thought of the arrogant Terran 
Prince having a guard of what he would have termed as 'aliens'.  
The most ironic thing about it was that they matched her guard 
almost perfectly.  She liked them all instantly.  Jedite she noted 
had powers similar to Rei, he was the only one to respond when she 
had looked into their hearts and his response had been to look at 
her and smile.  
     Endymion watched as the Princess went from guard to guard 
examining their hearts.  He was surprised that all of them allowed 
her in and Jedite had even smiled at her.  'How is it that when 
anyone else, my mother and father included, tries to see into 
their hearts they hide, but as soon as this Princess tries, they 
allow their barriers to crumble before her gaze?  I am the only 
one they have ever opened to, and now they open to this stranger?!  
And yet, it is like last night, I had the feeling that I could 
tell the girl anything and everything, it is the type of feeling 
that I have only gotten with Usagi.' He sighed exasperated.  
     The Princess was just turning her gaze to him when the Queen 
stood and made her final acknowledgment.  "As the Prince Endymion 
and his guard are guests to the Moon and Serenity and the Prince 
Endymion will have to get to know each other anyway due to the 
peace conference, I thought it best, and the Terran Queen and King 
agreed, that we split you up into pairs, that way if anyone wants 
to go anywhere they will always have someone to go with.  I 
thought it best to divide you according to rank; Kunzite with 
Minako, Jedite with Rei, Nephrite with Makoto, Zoicite with Ami, 
and Endymion with Serenity.  The Terran King and his Queen will be 
arriving tomorrow, so the peace conference will start then."  With 
that the Queen exited the room and left the Prince and Princess 
alone with the guard and court.  
     The guard sat silently watching the movements of the court 
and their Princess.  For some reason all of them looked at the 
guard, the Prince and then their Princess.  The Princess gave a 
nod and then all five women relaxed.  Makoto even went so far as 
to put her feet up on the table and lean back in her chair.  The 
four guards took the cue and settled back as well.  The Prince 
although he let himself relax somewhat, was still sure that the 
Princess was going to do something to him so he kept his guard up.  
      It was Rei who finally started the conversation.  "So, what 
are we going to do, stare at each other all day long? I suggest 
that we take our guests on a tour of the castle, that way they 
won't get lost as easily."  The others took up the idea and soon 
an animated argument was in full swing over where they should 
start the tour.  
      Finally the Princess raised her hand and all four of her 
guards fell silent, much to the amazement of the Terran guard.  
Never had they seen such loyalty and obedience, her word was 
definitely their law.
     "Do the Guard have any desire on what part of the palace they 
wish to see?"  she asked reasonably.  
     The court shifted nervously.  'She only says reasonable 
things like that when she has some plan, or she is playing Queen 
for the day, which do you think it is?'  Rei silently asked the 
others.  All four decided that she must have some diabolical 
scheme.  The Princess still loved games, and she was very good at 
them.  Sometimes her court wished she had not had quite so much 
training, she was just too good.  
      The guard meanwhile decided what they would like to see, 
and, ironically enough, each one wanted to go the place their 
escort did.  That left only the Prince and Princess.  
     As the others took off in their respective directions, 
Serenity turned to Endymion and asked in a Queen-like voice, "So 
what is it that you desire to see, the conference rooms? Te 
kitchens?  What?"
      "The gardens," was his only reply.
      "Very well," came the cold reply back.
      The two walked in silence as Serenity lead the way to the 
gardens.  Finally Endymion could take it no more and spoke.  You 
know, I have given it much thought and I decided that your hair 
looks more like odango atama that meatballs."  (<--"Baka!" - 
Chichiri)
     Immediately she stiffened, and after a moment of silence 
turned to him and spoke. "I have tried to be calm and collected, 
the perfect Princess that I am not, all because my mother wanted 
me to get along with you.  But no, you have to make fun of me.  
And to think that I even let mother make me wear a dress, I still 
fail to see why it was necessary."  The last sentence was said 
under her breath, but Endymion caught it nonetheless.  
     "You know, with an attitude like that you will never make 
anyone love you."  Endymion found himself saying.  'Oh my, what am 
I saying, I feel like I can't control my mouth, something about 
her just makes me speak without thinking, like when I talk to Usa, 
but as least I say nice things to her.'  
     "For your information I am only like this when I am with you, 
and many people love me!  Look at how many suiters I have had,"  
she fired back.  'He makes me so mad, but I still feel like I 
should be throwing myself into his arms and not standing here 
arguing.'  
     "But did you ever love any of them?" 'Endymion, why do you 
care?' he asked himself.
     "Am I married?"  she asked after a moment.
     "So the man who you love does not love you back,"  he stated, 
wondering how he knew.  Yet as soon as he realized that she loved 
someone he felt like his heart was being ripped to shreds.  ("Ha-
ha-ha!" - Chichiri)
     "You are so aggravating,"  was all she said.

@-->-->---

     The King and Queen of Terra arrived safely and soon the peace 
conferences began.  Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion were 
forced to sit with each other for long hours listening to their 
parents talk.  
     The guard and court had nothing to do without the Prince and 
Princess to guard and keep from fighting, so they spent long hours 
going to the neighboring towns and looking around the garden.  
     On one such day, after morning lessons, the guard and court 
sat next to the lake in the garden trying to decide what to do.  
After several suggestions that were vetoed instantly by everyone, 
Ami finally suggested something.
     "As we have nothing better to do, why do we not go back to 
the library and study some more.  I personally would like to learn 
more about the Terran botany."  
      "How about we don't?"  Jedite immediately said. "Why don't 
we go swimming instead?"  
     "I personally agree with Ami, it is a very good idea to go 
and study some more.  One can never get enough knowledge, and 
these libraries are extensive,"  Zoicite exclaimed, while Ami 
blushed.
     "I like Jedite's idea better, or we could go and do a fire 
reading,"  Rei said, she had always been one quick to add her 
ideas.
     Seeing that an argument was about to begin Makoto stepped in 
with her own idea,  "Well, I know that we have not really done any 
good training recently, and Mina does not like us to get out of 
practice, so how about a tournament to see who is the best fighter 
among us?  Today we can fight without magic, and tomorrow with."  
      At the word 'training' both Minako's and Kunzite's ears 
perked up.  "I think that is a splendid idea,"  Mina spoke 
quickly.  "And as leader of the court I say that we are doing it."  
     "I agree with Lady Mina,"  Kunzite said, "So men, go 
prepare."  With that, all parted to go prepare for the fight.  
     
@-->-->---

     Ten minutes later, all eight of them were gathered in the 
training room, prepared and ready to fight.  Makoto's eyes gleamed 
as she looked through the array of swords, testing their weight 
and deciding which sword she wanted to use.  Ami calmly picked up 
a lightweight sword and tested its weight carefully.  Smiling, she 
walked back to her place.  
     "Don't know why she even bothers testing the sword's weight, 
she always uses the same one,"  Mina muttered so Ami could not 
hear.  
     Kunzite smiled at her remark.  He and the guard had all 
brought their personal swords, the ones that had been customized 
especially for them, but nonetheless, Nephrite was still 
determined to go through every single sword with Makoto.  The two 
were discussing the make and weight of the sword, deciding on 
which style and size to use for the day's tournament.  
      Mina had her sword at her side, her father himself had made 
her the blade and she used nothing else.  Rei used a rapier that 
was of typical Martian style.  Finally Makoto and Nephrite picked 
their weapons and went over to the mat where everone else stood 
waiting.  
      It was decided that they would draw straws to see who would 
go against who.  After that, winner would fight winner, loser 
loser and so on.  The straws were drawn and Kunzite was matched 
against Rei, Zoicite against Mina, Nephrite against Ami, and 
Jedite against Makoto.  
      While Kunzite and Rei fought, Ami walked over to Jadeite and 
apologized.  "I am sorry Jade that you could not have been paired 
against someone else first, you see Makoto is the best but one.  
You really do not have much of a chance, and knowing her, she will 
not fail.  She would consider it betrayal."  
     Jadeite laughed at her remark and answered, "And I apologize 
to you, Ami, you see Nephrite is the best I have ever seen, but 
one.  So you also do not have much of a chance."  
     "Then I am sorry for him," she stated with a true strane of 
sympathy in her voice.
     "How so?"
     "That I can not be a more worthy opponent for him.  You see I 
have not taken the time to really learn this sport, you see I work 
best with water and ice for battle."
     "A true Mercurian Princess I see, Zoicite also is like that.  
You see for some reason, the Queen told us that we were chosen by 
destiny, we each have a power, and Zoicite can use water and ice.  
I use fire."
     "Fire?  You really ought to battle Rei some time, she is 
always complaining that she wants to have a good fight again like 
when she was on Mars, but to her a good fight is fire against 
fire.   Have you seen the fire room yet, it is quite intriguing.  
We keep all the different fire symbols in there and a complete fire 
proof set of histories dealing with fire, we actually have a room 
like that for each of the elements we use and we train in them 
frequently."  
     "Really?  I will have the Lady Rei show me at some time," 
Jadeite stated with real intrest.
     They stopped the conversation there as Rei lost the battle 
and Zoicite and Minako stepped up to fight.  Although both were 
excellent with their weapons, Mina was better and Zoicite lost 
quickly. The last two battles went quickly as well, for both 
Nephrite and Makoto were far superior in skill than their 
opponents.  
      The next matchings were Mina against Nephrite, Makoto 
against Kunzite, Jadeite against Ami, and Zoicite against Rei.  
     The losers went first and Jadeite won the first round.  Ami 
held her own well, but she did not hold a fighter's spirit.  Next 
Rei won, much for the same reason.  Finally the  winners came up 
and the two battles moved quickly, Nephrite and Makoto won both, 
not to anyone's suprise.
     The final rounds came up, Makoto against Nephrite, Mina 
aginst Kunzite, Jadeite against Rei, and Ami against Zoicite.  
      Zoicite won his battle and Ami blushed as he helped her up.  
      Jadeite won his battle and asked Rei to show him the fire 
room as a prize.  She coloured brightly and then agreed.
      Kunzite won his round and both he and Mina walked to the 
wall with smiles on their faces. 
     Finally came the battle that everyone had secretly been 
waiting for, Nephrite against Makoto.  Both were exceltent and the 
battle lasted for well over an hour, but all good things must come 
to an end and Makoto knocked the sword out of his hand and then 
pinned him to the ground with her sword at his throat.  
     The guard watched the scene amazed, only to one other person 
had Nephrite ever lost, and certainly he had never lost to a woman 
before.  But Nephrite took it all in stride.  
     "I daresay now he will fall in love with her," Jadeite 
whispered to Rei, who snickered in reply.  
     The party was just getting water and resting before going to 
change when the Princess entered the room.  She looked around and 
a small look of disappointment entered her eyes.  Makoto saw it 
immedietly and called to her, "Sere, go get changed out of that 
dress, you are going to fight all of us!"  The Princess's face 
brightened and she left without a word.
    "All of us?"  Kunzite asked.
     "Oh yes, all of us, one at a time of course.  Basically she 
will go through each one of us and each time a person falls the 
next will jump in without giving her time to rest,"   Ami 
answered, suprising the guard.
     "Do you do this often?"  
     "No, most of us get tired of losing, but Makoto trains with 
her almost every day, but now we must rest, there is a long battle 
ahead of us."  
     A couple minutes later the Princess entered dressed in lose 
white pants and shirt.  She looked perfectly comfortable and 
natural in them.  The sword that she had with her was obviously 
made by a master craftsman and was not only stunning, but deadly 
looking as well.  
     Serena took her postition in the middle of the floor and 
waited for the first attacker to come.  Quickly she went through 
all eight of them ending with Makoto and then Nephrite.  

@-->-->---

     Endymion sighed, it had been a long day.  Now he just wanted 
to find his guard and maybe have a duel with Nephrite to release 
some of the stress that had been building up all day.  Princess 
Serenity puzzeled him exceedingly.  She was so calm and collected 
in the conference rooms, and displayed herself well, and besides 
that she was incredibly beautiful.  But then outside the 
conference rooms she would turn up her nose at him and walk away, 
just as she had done now.  He wondered briefly where she had gone 
off to so fast.  
      Quickly he walked to the training room where he assumed his 
guardians would be, but in no way was he prepared for what he 
found.  
     Just as he entered the room, Serenity was helping Nephrite up 
and handing him his sword. "You have great skill,"  she was 
comenting.
     "But by no means compared to yours.  Now I have been bested 
by three people, an two of them women!"
     "Is that so bad?"  Makoto shot in.
     "Not in the least,"  came his reply as he looked back at her.  
Makoto felt blood rush to her cheeks and knew she was blushing.  
     Kunzite was the first to notice his liege, and immediately an 
idea entered his head.  'Prince Endymion can beat Nephrite, I 
wonder what would happen if . . . no he would never agree to it, 
would he?'  
     "Agree to what?"  Mina asked looking up at him. 
     "I never said anything," Kunzite replied, suprised.
     "Yes, you did, you were muttering something about the Prince 
not agreeing to something," she replied in a flippant tone.  'What 
is he so worried about?'
     'I'm worried because you are reading my thoughts,'  he 
thought out to her.
     "But . . .  " 'Wait, I didn't ask that out loud, did I?  The 
part about what is he worried about . . .'  Mina looked straight 
into Kunzite's eyes and saw him staring back at her.  'Now what 
were you saying about the Princess and Prince?'  she asked bring 
him back to the orginal topic.
     'What would happen if they were to duel Mina?'  
     'Kunzite, I can see that we are really going to get along 
well,'  was her only reply as she turned to Serenity and anounced, 
"Prepare yourself Sere, your last opponent has finally arrived."
     Everyone's gaze turned toward the door and Endymion realized 
what he was supposed to do.  So quickly he exited and returned a 
moment latter dressed in a loose black shirt and pants with his 
sword hung at his waist.  
     
@-->-->---

     Serenity stood alone on the training floor when Endymion 
reentered, all the others had fled to the safety of the observer's 
room.  Endymion wondered briefly why they took the precaution.  
     The two stood facing each other for long moments, neither of 
them moving but just standing there sizing each other up.  Then 
suddenly both of them moved at the same time, flying in toward the 
other.  They both moved at incredible speeds, too fast to make out 
with the naked eye.  The only way those watching could tell what 
was happening was because of the blurs of black and white that 
would stream around the room.  They seemed to be everywhere at 
once, but they seemed to match each other perfectly, skill for 
skill.  What she lacked in brute strength she made up with speed, 
and so on.  
     When the court and guard had left the room, Ami had gone off 
by herself for a moment and then had returned in a strange outfit, 
an outfit with a VERY short skirt.  She blushed brightly when she 
noticed Zoicite staring at her but had pretended nothing was the 
matter.  The others quickly explained that this was their uniform 
and she had to wear the thing to access certain equipment.  
     Mercury pressed her temple and immediately a blue visor 
appeared over her eyes and she began to read off attack powers and 
skill levels.  
     Zoicite could not take his eyes off her.  He had known she 
was beautiful, but now that he could really see her, she was 
stunning.  Never in his life had he seen a girl with this much 
beauty.  True the Princess was beautiful, but she was of a 
different kind of beauty, plus she was already taken.  But Mercury 
. . . well to put it mildly he was smitten.  
     Mina took her eyes off the battle for a moment and glanced 
over at Mercury, she was calmly reading off numbers and telling 
them what was happening.  But still, a faint blush lingered in her 
cheeks.  Mina turned her eyes to Zoicite and she almost laughed 
out loud.  He was outright staring.   
     Kunzite felt a sudden mirth well up in his chest and turned 
to look at Mina.  Merriment daced in her azure eyes and she looked 
like she was doing her best to conceal her laughter.  He followed 
her gaze and immediately understood.  Zoicite, the most reserved 
among the guard was openly staring at Mercury.  'Zoicite has never 
even looked at a woman before, he says love would keep him from 
his studies,' he thought.
     Mina turned to Kunzite and her smile brightened, 'Well, as the 
Guardian of love, I say that he has fallen in.  Look at how their 
auras are moving.'
     Kunzite looked, and sure enough both Mercury and Zoicite's 
auras were flowing, almost reaching out for the other.  He could 
see faint sparks when the auras would fit and it looked like they 
were trying to meld together.  
     'You saw the sparks?!'  Mina cut into his thoughts.
     'Yea, they are pretty hard to miss, I mean they are like 
flashes of light,' Kunzite replied, startled at her attitude.
     'Kunzite, look straight into my eyes.  Why didn't you tell me 
that you are Venusian,and a Guardian at that!'  
     'What are you talking about?  I am human.  My father was Lord 
Malachite . . . '
     Mina cut him off, 'Your father was Lord Malachite!   He was a 
Venusian Lord!  He fell in love with some Terran woman and went to 
Terra so that he could marry her.  I guess he never told anyone 
that he wasn't Terran, I wonder if your mother knew.  You see, 
only Venusians can see those sparks.  Those kind of sparks only 
present themselves for one of two reasons, 1)  the two are bonded 
in some way from birth, usually twins, or 2) the two poeple are 
soul mates.'
     'You mean that Mercury and Zoicite are  . . .  are you sure?'
     'I am called the Goddess of Love for a reason you know!  If I 
say they are, then you can bet they are!  I don't play around with 
the source of my power, and neither should you.  As a Venusian you 
draw your powers from Veneus you know.  We can have the Princess 
or Makoto do a blood test later on, though you will most likely 
prefer the Princess, Makoto uses lightning to test blood, shoots 
it through your viens, where as the Princess just sort of looks 
into you.'  
     The two stood in silence, dwelling on their own thoughts.  
'The son of Lord Malachite . . . but doesn't that mean . . . man 
is he going to love this one!'  Mina thought
    'Why was I never told?  Surely the King and Queen knew?  Are 
the others also from other planets?'  More questions like these 
ran through his head when suddenly he felt Mina almost start 
laughing again and heard her think, 'Man, is he going to love this 
one!'  'What am I going to love?'
     Mina blushed, 'Sorry, didn't know you were listening.  Back 
when my father and yours were young men they made a pact between 
them, and then had my mother, the Senshi of Love at that time, 
confirm it.  The pact was that if they ever had children, and if 
they were a boy and a girl, the two would marry.  The reason that 
they had my mother confirm it was because, like I can, she could 
manipulate the flow of love a little bit to make sure her child 
would be the soulmate to whatever child your father might have, so 
unless you have any brothers or sisters, we are those children!  I 
mean I never bothered to look at my own aura when I looked at 
Mecury's, but look!'
     Kunzite looked, and felt his heart leap with joy.  Their two 
auras swirled together, as one.  
     
@-->-->---

	Serenity and Endymion still fought on, the clashing of their 
swords and the ever moving blurs the only thing that betrayed 
where they were.  Blood began to splatter the ground, his running 
deep red, like the red rose,  and hers a translucent silver, 
almost like tiny liquid moon beams.  
     The guard and court were begining to worry, the two had been 
fighting for one and a half hours without a rest and Serenity had 
already fought eight battles that day.  Plus the amount of blood 
loss was growing.  Makoto and Nephrite were the only two to really 
understand what was happening, even when Mercury explained what 
she saw through her visor.  

@-->-->---

     Another hour passed without incident, and the two still 
fought on.  Makoto and Nephrite sat right up against the window, 
almost as if they were hypnotized by the skill the two combatants 
showed.  
      Suddenly the black blur shifted quicker and with more power 
than it ever had before and the resounding crash sounded through 
the hall.  The two blurs paused for less than a split second and 
the observers saw two broken blades fall to the ground, two 
handles followed.  Serenity and Endymion were now battling without 
weapons. 
     After another hour the two blurs suddenly stopped at the 
exact same moment and fell to the ground.  For the first time in 
three and one half hours the others could acctually distinguish 
features.  The guard and court quickly ran out to check their 
Prince and Princess. 
     Mercury and Zoicite ran up and the others gave them room.  
They sat down beside the two and began to heal their wounds.  
Suddenly, Serenity began to glow silver, but instead of healing 
her own wounds like it usually did, the silver light flowed over 
to Endymion and began to heal his wounds, his blood disappeard 
from off the floor as the light worked.  Just as suddenly a burst 
of gold light came from him and flowed straight over to her, 
healing her wounds in much the same fashion.  

@-->-->---

     Serenity felt her consciousness begining to slip and knew she 
would not be able to hold her own much longer, the loss of blood 
and previous exhaustion were catching up with her.  Blocking his 
attacks she noted mildly that his attacks were not as harsh as they 
had been.  She looked into his eyes and realized that he had lost 
as much blood, if not more than she.  She sent a mental apology as 
she lost conciousness and fell to the ground.  
     Serenity was about to start using her power to heal herself, 
she could not see who was around her, or where she was and so she 
wanted to be in full strength for whatever might be coming.  But 
then she felt Mamochan, he was in pain.  Her pain and wounds 
forgotten she sent her healing energy out to him, and soon she 
felt his coming to her.

@-->-->---

     Endymion swung a kick at Serenity and she blocked 
effectively.  He noticed that she was moving slower and becoming 
more defensive.  Her small body shook slightly and he wondered how 
much blood loss she had suffered.  All of a sudden she looked 
straight into his eyes and he could feel her losing consciousness, 
the strange thing was that he could feel himself going with her.  
'Strange, neither of us are going to win, for we will both hit the 
floor at the same time,' he thought dryly.  He heard Serenity's 
plea for forgiveness just as he went under.  
      The next thing he knew was Usagi's pain.  Something had 
wounded her and she had lost a lot of blood.  He immediately felt 
her energy begin to work on him, healing his wounds, and sent his 
energy back to heal her.  

@-->-->---

     That is where I am going to end Chapter 6, you see it was 
just getting so long that I decided "Enough is Enough!"  I will 
now start a new chapter!  
    PLEASE e-mail me!  I want to know what you thought about this 
chapter, was it confusing?  Exiting, boreing?  PLEASE E-MAIL me!  
I don't care what you have to say, just as long as you say it!  
Thanks for reading, catch you next week!
Ja Ne and God bless you!  My adress is Nitehawk@silcom.com.com.
~Miaka