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Usagi, Rei, and Minako chatted happily on their way to the kitchens for breakfast. They were slightly worried, however, that they hadn't found Makoto on their way. They might have to end up eating the regular cook's food! Oh, it wasn't bad-tasting in the least, but when Makoto was cooking…. There was simply no comparison. All entering the doorway at the same time, they all saw the pair at the small table at the same time, which made for a ridiculously loud "AMI!!!!!!!!" let loose from all three as they rushed to their friend. Questions pounded over the small girl. "What are you doing up??" "Are you okay??" "Why were you up early enough to beat us???" "Why did you only tell Makoto you were up???" All were silenced, however, by a forceful "Shaddup!!" from Makoto. Ami took her face out of it's wincing expression and looked up at her circling friends. "Hi." She said simply, with a sweet smile. Mouths dropped, and a Rei looked ready to punch her, but that face – and that smile – they found it irresistible. Grumbling to themselves, they settled down in their usual spots around the table and let Makoto dish out breakfast. * * * * Needless to say, the Prince and his entourage had stayed beyond the planned time of vacation, since they had voted unanimously on it. Each had reasons for making sure the girls had enough comfort in this time of need. Of course, it was all out of generosity to the "friends" that they had made… Now, however, since the princess was deemed healthy and happy as ever, their excuse had run out. And not one was less eager to leave than the other. The only thing they needed was a new excu—ahem!--reason to stay. "Come on, Usako, I know you can think of something!" Mamoru urged his companion. Usagi was half-turned away from him, her face a mask of deep thought. Her eyebrows drawn together in distress, she spoke to the garden which she faced, "I – I really can't think of a thing!" Mamoru turned his face away from her in thought. Suddenly Usagi's eyebrows went up and a slow impish smile came over her face. She looked at him side-long. "Well….. There is one thing that is sure to keep you here for a while," she hinted as she suddenly developed a rather serious itch on her left hand's second-to-last finger. Mamoru looked up at her in confusion, then looked down at her hand. His eyebrows, also, went up. His eyes on her fingers, he opened his mouth, trying to decide what to say. "I – I – uh….." Usagi turned to him expectantly. He finally looked up at her with a tortured expression. "I'd have to … think about it..." Hurt, the moon princess turned away, her face to the ground. Her prince looked away, his thoughts deeply troubled. He didn't want to hurt her like this. If only she hadn't brought it up. But wait – he should think this out. Why didn't he want to hurt her? He loved her! Did her love her enough to spend his life with her? Mamoru hesitated. Well, let's look at it another way. Why didn't he want to say no? It would hurt Usagi … and … Well, why didn't he want to say yes? Um…. So the question was, which was more prevalent in him, "and…." or "um…."? Usagi was desperately trying to keep from bawling all over the place, when she felt a soft touch on her arm. She looked up, her eyelids filled with tears, into Mamoru's smiling face. The prince took both of his princess' hands into his, so that she was forced to turn back to him, and looked deeply into her shaking eyes. "My dear Usako, just looking at you puts all my doubts and fears at rest. Your shining heart is more powerful than any crystal. I would be the happiest man in all of time if you would let me wed you." Naturally, her eyes spilled over with all her held-back tears, and some more for good measure. She threw herself into his eager embrace, her arms flying around him. Mamoru could hardly get her far enough apart from him to kiss her, and knew he probably wouldn't for some time. * * * * The echoes of the princess' joyous scream carried throughout most of the palace grounds. Usagi had decided to tell them right away, dragging her fiancée behind her as she ran to find them together in a small room playing cards. Of course, they all came running up and hugged their euphoric friend as hard as they could. Then they all hugged Mamoru, who was taken quite off his guard, and rushed their attention back to Usagi. They got all the details, causing a few moments of flushed faces from the happy couple. Everyone up and down the hallway from the excited group knew the events, and it was not long until the entire palace had heard. The Queen was very happy for them, and immediately scheduled a ball in celebration. The whole kingdom was happy. And the girls had another ball to prepare for… * * * * The day before the ball, the five princesses were anxious for the fun to begin. Amazingly enough, Usagi was managing to spend most of the day away from her prince, since Mamoru was busy with something undefined, but as a result was driving her friends nearly insane. "So, Ami-chan, you're going to the party, right?" She brought the group's focus on their quiet friend. As Ami hesitated, Makoto looked at her with gentle encouragement. Ami smiled at her and nodded, turning to Usagi. "I wouldn't miss it for the world." The tightly-wound girl let out a yell of happiness and hugged the Mercurian princess. "Oh, Ami, I never knew I'd see the day…!" Ami smiled and gladly hugged back. Suddenly Usagi threw her away and looked toward the sky. "The sun will be setting soon!" she declared excitedly, looking back at her friends. "Let's go get ready!!" * * * * Ami still needed a great deal of help getting ready, having very little practice at doing any of it herself, but the girls found it much easier now that she was willing for their help. Ami was pleased with it, too, she realized, as she found herself beginning to have fun. Maybe this isn't half so bad as I thought of it… Ami found several other fine points to her new way of handling this situation. The most obvious was that her attire suited her better. Without her stubborness feeding that of her friends, they felt more inclined to work to her wishes. And since she bothered to comment upon what she liked and disliked, and offered suggestions, they could get a better feel for how she wanted to dress. Another benefit had to do with the attention her friends gave her. When she followed along with them, they didn't focus on her, and when they did, it was in a spirit of friendship, not war. Ami realized that she found this much more enjoyable. Despite all this, the part that Ami favored out of all was her nerves. Now that she had begun to tell herself that this was okay, and that she was not willingly throwing herself into a lion's den, her body seemed much more calm and quiet. She could much more easily take in her environment in this state and more fully experience the events. Ami smiled at Makoto as the girl put the finishing touches in her hair, and when the Makoto offered Ami her arm, she gladly took it with a grin and they walked together to catch up to the other girls. * * * * The girls chattered excitedly as they walked down the hallways to the ball. As they turned the last corner, they all laughed at a comment Usagi had made. When they looked up, they found five tuxedos waiting for them. Usagi gave an elated shout of a greeting as she ran to her fiancée. The other girls watched them walk off with smiles until their attention was drawn to the other four left in front of them. "Oh, Kunzite!" Minako exclaimed as she walked up to him. "It's so nice to see you again!" She readily took up his offered arm and walked off. With a touch of hesitation, Jadeite offered Rei his arm, but she took it with a smile and he seemed to relax a bit. Makoto accepted Nephrite's arm with a knowing wink at Ami, and for once the shy girl could smile back easily. Her admiration of the fact was interrupted by a slightly questioning demeanor coming from Zoicite. Ami turned to him and realized that he was offering her his arm. "Oh!" she let out, and hastily accepted, lest he think her ungrateful and impolite. She blushed and looked down from her lack of grace, but chanced a look at his face to find him smiling at her, and allowed herself to relax and look forward. * * * * As Ami and Zoicite caught up with the other couples, they drifted into the excited conversation eagerly. Although they were generally physically comfortable in eachother's presence, the general and princess could find little to talk about. In truth, Ami realized with surprise, they had known eachother for less than a fortnight, and had only had a chance to converse for one night. She then recalled the reason she had not been in a favorable condition to talk to him, and decided to end that train of thought. The ten found themselves entering a hall filled not with scattered tables and a dance floor, but several large, long tables and a small bit of dance floor off to the side (no doubt to be enlarged when dinner was over). Ami became a bit anxious, lest she have to sit far away from her friends and thus be forced to spend so much of the evening in isolation, but her fears were quickly put to rest. Zoicite led her graciouly to a seat between Makoto and himself, with the other two couples across from them. Of course, Usagi and Mamoru had the head of their table, with their friends closest to them on both sides. Ami was actually glad for the more formal meal. It allowed her to ease into the strangeness of the evening without being called upon to talk often. Yes, she thought, sitting in a contented silence between one of her closest friends and someone who, oddly, she felt was almost as close, this was even pleasant. Of course, her real passion was the dancing, and now that she had the opportunity of dancing well to look forward to, she looked forward to it indeed. * * * * As dessert was taken away, Ami felt again that feeling that she should do something about the change of activities, but was too distracted to want to or know what to do. She had been talking pleasantly with all the people around her -- even the kind gentleman about her age adjacent to her -- and rather wanted that to continue, rather than it change for the worse. She knew her the shift from sitting and eating to dancing and talking would be less than smooth or easy; she was resting solely on the comfort that she would do it in the company of her friends. Which made the next thing to happen all the more an unwelcome surprise to her. As the young man across from her finished his story -- she had learned earlier that his name was Marcel -- and couples were beginning to leave the tables for the dance floor, he paused nervously for a moment, then asked with false boldness, "Would you care to dance with me, Your Highness?" Ami felt her heart fall into her stomach her face fall almost as far. She began to open her mouth, then realized she had neither the words nor the courage to tell this man no. There was a small scuffle beside her as a wine glass was hastily put down and the contents quickly swallowed. Zoicite's voice rang out, or seemed to in Ami's ears, "I'm sorry. She has already promised the first dance to me." He added in an even less friendly tone, "But perhaps later she will indulge you." At such a reply from such a respected guest, Ami's hopeful suitor was taken aback and silenced -- as was Ami, but in a much different way. She turned in even greater surprise to Zoicite, her face expressing her startlement of the untruth, then her gratefulness at its nature. When Zoicite was satisfied by Marcel's reaction, he looked to Ami, worried now of her reaction. Pleasantly surprised, he happily returned her benevolent smile for his own, full of understanding and caring. The music started up, and he held out his hand to her, his eyes silently requesting her hand, his smile broadening. Ami gladly took his hand, her smile growing along with his. He led her to the floor and easily took her into his arms in the dancing position. As they fairly skipped to the quick tempo of the music, Zoicite said playfully, "I hope you will excuse my presumption, my lady. You may be able to swim through a tempest, but I highly doubt you could have survived the clumsy feet of that dancer." Ami laughed with a lightness she had rarely felt before and joyfully pranced about the floor with her partner. * * * * Ami sighed contentedly as she headed back to her room alone. She had finally managed to slip away to solitude after the generals and prince had left them and all her friends had sufficiently gossipped wildly about the party. Presently she heard hurried footsteps behind her, and then Makoto was walking alongside her. "So?" Makoto questioned eagerly. "How was it? Did you die of boredom or embarassment?" "Neither!" Ami exclaimed happily. "I know it's amazing, but I actually enjoyed myself! Who knew this could actually be worth it?" "See!" Makoto said, as if she had orchestrated the whole effect. "I knew all it took was some positive thinking!" "Well... There were some other major factors that significantly improved the experience..." Ami said reluctantly. "Oh?" But Makoto was too quick to let that slide. "Hmm... I wonder what those might be?" she prodded. Ami smiled at her playfully. "Yes, Mako-chan, you are always full of wonder," she dodged, and sprinted off toward her room, with Makoto close behind her.
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