Fly me to the Moon

Prologue: Meet, Makoto Kino

I sat in my rose garden in the country on Earth. My 'delicate' hands were covered in mud. I hated to think of what my clothes looked like. The green traveling gown I wore was covered in dirt. My close friend Princess Minako bought the gown. It was bought for me so long ago that I knew it wasn't in fashion. Oh well, I suppose it would do for my purposes. It didn't matter though, Quatra, my bodyguard, was still going to kill me. I suppose I should explain who Quatra is and why I care about what my bodyguard thinks. But for you to fully understand I would have to start at the very beginning… By the way, I'm Makoto Kino, exiled Princess of Jupiter…

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My mother was the Princess of Jupiter. She never lived long enough to become Queen. I am a bastard child. My father is unknown. They say my mother disappeared one night after a fight with her mother the Queen. I believe it was a Beltane night. She went into our Emerald Forest and came back two weeks later pregnant. It was the largest scandal ever and Princess Relena (we'll get back to that person later) always rubbed it in my face.

Princess Alyssa, my mother, died at childbirth shortly after the Queen and King of Jupiter died. I still blame myself for that. There had to be a ruler of the Royal Bloodline. My mother had a half-sister, the Lady Anadis Peacecraft Dorlan. My aunt Anadis proclaimed herself Regent while I was growing up. But then, somehow, she made herself Queen. She had a husband already; I don't remember his name because he died two years before I was born. He died mysteriously after getting to greedy. Anadis two children through that marriage, Relena Peacecraft Dorlan and another boy who was sort of the black sheep of the family. The reasons why he left were never discussed.

While proclaiming herself Queen, Anadis made her daughter Princess. Where was I while all of this was happening? I was growing up in court, becoming a lady. Relena, even though she was two years older then I, constantly harassed me. She hated that I was a Princess and of impure blood. All of the royalty were descended from either the Goddess Athena or the Goddess Artemis (by a couple thousand years). My side of the bloodline had both. Anadis and Relena were only halfblooded. That's one of the reasons why Relena hated me so much.

See, most Jovian royalty have a special gift through our blood legacy, the most popular being able to purify water and to be very persuasive (to people not of any Royal Bloodline of any planet). I knew for a fact that Relena had those powers. Not very useful, another reason she hated me. My powers are, err…complicated. But as for Anadis, it is said that she destroyed an army during the Planetary Wars with plants. An affinity with plants being one of the lesser-seen powers.

So from the ages one to about twelve, my life was a living hell. But at thirteen all hell broke loose. Queens of Jupiter always have their own guard; Anadis had her 'Queens' guard' and at the age 15, Relena got her own contingent of guards, the 'Ravens.' She thought I was flirting with her favorite (the guard was off limits to any female), I think his name was Heero Yuy. This was all a lie. But now she was out to kill me.

Killing was punishable by death (though I doubt Anadis would have killed her precious daughter). But there was something in our society called the 'court duel.' This was just another sort of assassination attempt. I had my own guard as a matter of fact. Actually it was only one. Anadis had been reluctant to give me even him and she was supposed to follow tradition. My guard was Quatra, he's five years older then I, and had been my best friend, guard and protector at court (but he was such a softie that people tended not to be that afraid of him).

Quatra trained me when I was old enough to learn. We were friends secretly before he was announced my bodyguard. That was a relief because I thought Anadis was going to give me someone I would hate. It turned out that through a will, the Winner son was to be my bodyguard (it's actually Lord Quatra).

Other then the assassins and attempted food poisonings (the former Quatra took care of and the latter my magic took care of), Relena's Ravens found ways to taunt me into court duels (trivial things). I fought them but they just kept coming. Good thing I was a good swordsman but the bad thing was when a Raven had strong magic, which was most of the times. Quatra was unable to interfere because if he did, I would loose what little standing I had in the court (Relena had turned everybody who mattered against me, except for the servants who were below her). I lost half of my duels but mainly because the Ravens had been trained in fighting all of their lives and one or two knew magic, not the natural sort of magic though.

But remember when I said I was an exiled princess? It was a self-exile. In my last month of court Relena had three of her Ravens challenge me to a duel to the death (most duels ended after first blood was drawn). The first 'Raven' I fought was Relena's pet. His name Manji I think. He was one of the few magicians.

He had been trying to embarrass me by using his magic to prove that I was weak. I should have had a natural magic proof shield like all others of my bloodline but I didn't. I remember he said something about my mother and then everybody said my eyes were glowing and then the weather changed and lightning struck him. Needless to say, he died.

My second duel was sword to sword with Lady Kyoko. I was trying to be merciful after I injured her and turned to leave. She got up and used a dagger to try to kill me. I turned and tried to hold her back as I held the dagger between my hands. Electricity ran between my hands and sort of…killed her. People say my eyes had been glowing a mint green.

I was challenged to my third and last duel to the death the day after my second duel. That wasn't fair at all. I was still injured. Quatra appealed to the Queen that it wasn't fair. She had him tortured for a day for saying things against her policy (she tortured everybody. I even had a couple sessions but we of the planet Jupiter heal fast. That wasn't necessarily a good thing because she had them last long). I fought and in my injured state I almost died. The only reason that I won was because my opponent, Lady Noin, panicked when I touched her sword with my bare hands.

She knew what happened before to the other two people that I fought to the death. My new ability frightened her. She stopped the fight at that point and announced herself satisfied. I knew at that point that Relena wouldn't let me live. I had actually won a battle but the war was far from over. If Relena didn't kill me Anadis would, they both tended to kill what they thought wasn't useful. Besides I was 18 and at 21 I would reach my majority and then there would be a major court battle over who got the throne. I didn't want to be queen and I didn't want to die so I just left…Welcome to the wonderful life of Makoto Kino, ex-princess of Jupiter….

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I was looking at the ground with interest. The rose seeds that I had planted a moment ago were now up to my knees. That was one of my powers, to speed the growing of plants. I could also control the weather (that power was not one seen in my bloodline). The latter power was an energy drain but the former came so naturally. Quatra had told me that by rights I should have been Queen. I was stronger magically then Anadis (or even with). But she was ruthless. The people of the inner court weren't happy with her as Queen but her threats (that she always carried out) of torture scared them straight. She was an effective (yet vindictive) queen. I wouldn't call her a good queen but the population (minus the courtiers who actually were around her all the time) was content more or less.

"Makoto, Makoto are you all right?" Quatra asked me. "Huh?" I was so confused. "You kind of spaced out there for awhile. What were you thinking about?" Quatra took a seat on the stone bench behind me. He was dressed casually for a change. "I was thinking about how things have changed, about home…I'm 20 now. It's been three years Quatra," I said with a look of longing on my face.

"Why, do you want to die that badly?" he asked, his crystal blue eyes saddened. "Goddess no! I am glad to be free of all the political intrigue, the duels and most of all that horrible Relena. It's the freedom and at the same time…" I trailed off as I picked the mud from under my nails. "At the same time what?" he asked.

"I don't think you understand Quatra…You are half blooded like me, but at least you know where you came from. I only know that my mother was full-blooded Jovian and I don't know about my father. But the blood that runs through my veins…it's a sort of homesickness…I just want to feel the soil of Jupiter through my bare toes. I want to jump through the wheat fields of Io. I want to skinny-dip in a lake on Ganymede. I want to-" I stopped as Quatra started to laugh.

I feel myself start to flush. "Skinny-dip Mako? What's next, swimming through the ice cold waters of Europa?" We both laughed. Quatra got up and began to walk to my kitchen. Quatra, Merle (our housekeeper who lived here every other week) and me were the only ones who lived at my large country manor. It wasn't really expensive. I had more then enough money because of my heritage. Anadis didn't know about the money my mother left me. With the money I had there should have been more servants but they sort of quit when I took up cooking and cleaning. We only had Merle because it wouldn't be proper for me to live with a man who was five years older then me when we weren't married. If my old governess Asuka would have seen me now, she'd be in hysterics. But Quatra was my best friend and would stay that way.

"By the way Makoto…Isortofburnedyourbestpot," Quatra mumbled as he walked faster. It took awhile for the words to register but when they did…I was chasing him up the hill into the house. He burned my favorite pot! Remind me never to let him in the kitchen again.

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