Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Decided Bride ❯ Lesson 3 and the Silent Piano ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Serenity sighed as she slowly reached for the handle on the door. She gritted her teeth, and slowly pushed on the door to allow her entry. It was locked. A smile lit up her face, thinking that Motoki had forgotten or was too busy, and that she would not have to face him and Darien again! She turned around to leave, but was stopped by the sound of the door being unlocked and opened.

"Ahhh, so you did make it Usagi!" Motoki said, sounding rather cheerful.

She turned around slowly. "Yes, I did, unfortunately." She took a step forward to come into the door.

He held his hand out to stop her as he himself stepped outside and shut the door behind him. "We have to go around back to my room so you can change first," he said.

Serenity eyed him suspiciously. "Why?" she asked, as she could sense something was being plotted, but couldn't figure out what.

"The main room is …undergoing some renovations. We have to go upstairs for now," he said. Unfortunately for Motoki, Serenity had not missed the way the corners of his mouth had twitched ever so slightly as he was trying to suppress a smile.

"Where's Darien?" she asked suspiciously.

"He's busy," Motoki replied quickly. She stared at him, but said nothing. He gave her what seemed like an innocent smile, but she did not let him fool her. She did, however, allow him to lead her away from the door.

They made their way around the building to the back where the door led into the kitchen. From the kitchen Motoki led her up the stairs to his room. It was empty. She sighed as she pulled the same dress she had on the previous night out of the bag she had brought with her. "I'll let you change. Come downstairs when you're ready," Motoki said before opening the door to leave.

She shot him a look. "I thought you said that the main room was undergoing renovations," she said sharply.

Motoki smiled cheekily. "Did I say that? Oh right. Well, they should be done by now."

She glared at him as he closed the door behind him, chuckling. Serenity gave a deep sigh as she changed her clothing, but kept her hair pinned up. When she was done, she walked out the door and down the stairs to the main room. The door leading from the hallway to the main room was closed, and she discovered upon trying to open it that it too was locked. She let her breath out very slowly as she counted to ten, and knocked on the door.

"Motoki, this isn't funny. Let me in." She heard a soft click from the lock, and the door slowly opened. The opening was blocked by Darien. She looked up into his eyes.

"My lady," he said gallantly as he swung the door open and stepped a little to the side so that she could look into the room. Serenity couldn’t help but gasp. All of the tables and chairs had been pushed to the sides of the room, leaving a large empty space in the middle. Every table had at least five candles on it of varying sizes, giving the room a golden glow. Motoki was sitting behind the piano again, leaning against the wall, his hands behind his head. She looked back at Darien.

He gave her a small bow as he held his hand out for her to take. "I would be honoured if the Lady would look upon this man with favour and allow him the pleasure of a dance," he said softly, slowly bringing his eyes up to meet hers.

Serenity felt herself flush as she put her hand into Darien's. She very nearly fell to the floor as he took the hand she had just given him and placed a gentle kiss upon it. Before she had a chance to say anything, he pulled her gently to the middle of the room, and placed one of his hands onto her hip, while his right hand never lost contact with hers. Soft, gentle notes started to drift over to them from the piano.

"How...why….uhh, where…." Serenity had a hard time getting her words out, and she cursed herself for it.

He smiled. "Is there something amiss, sweet lady?" he asked as he slowly started to guide her around the room. The song was not too spirited, but they still moved around the floor at a good pace.

Her eyes grew wide as she stared at him, almost forgetting what she had wanted to ask. "Wh-where are you from?" she finally managed to get out.

He looked at her with a slightly confused look in his eyes. "Does it matter?" he asked, his voice almost losing the softness it had held up until that point.

She nodded. "I know you're not form around here. That-what you just did-isn’t a custom here."

He looked at her with even more confusion, one of his eyebrows arched. "What, complimented you?" he asked, his voice and demeanour no longer formal, but rather, confused.

She shook her head. "No. THAT, how you, umm…." she trailed off. He looked fully perplexed. "How you kissed my hand," she finally finished, her cheeks burning up.

He frowned at her. "Well, you are right, I'm not from around here. I'm from Earth."

She gawked at him. He was from Earth, the very place from which her future husband was coming from. She gulped. "From earth? Why didn't you tell me that?" she said, and immediately bit her tongue at the comment. She sounded like she was almost mad at him for being from earth, rather than surprised at hearing he was from there.

A slight look of hurt crossed his face, but not for very long. "I didn't think that it was important where a person was from," he said, a little coldly.

"That's not what I meant," Serenity said, trying desperately to think of a way to smooth out what she had just said. "It's just that, I'm curious about the earth, and I would have already had you answer a few questions for me." She looked shyly into his eyes, hoping that he believed her. Darien looked a little sceptical, but nodded his head in acceptance of her statement. Serenity could feel her hear pounding inside her chest. Now at least she could learn a little bit about her now home, and possibly her new family. "What is earth like?" she heard herself ask. She was rather shocked to see him laugh.

"You ask me a question that would take days for me to answer, and you would still not have a good idea of what I am talking about. You would need to go there to see what it is like," he said.

She frowned a little. "Well, I am planning on going there soon. I just wanted to know what to prepare myself for."

He gave a sigh as he looked over top of her head. "It's hard to explain. The planet is filled with many wonderful things. The forests are incredible, they smell of the rain and sun. The mountains reach for the stars with their snow covered peaks, and the oceans with their depths tell tales that we can't yet comprehend." He looked down at her. "The most beautiful though are the nights, when you can sit atop a hill and gaze out into the vastness of the universe, with the moon hanging in the center of it all, glowing with all it's majesty."

She smiled. It was a shy smile, one that she could not explain. She was enjoying listening to the man in front of her explain such beauties.

"Why are you going there?" His question startled her and brought her out of her daze.

"I-I'm going to be going there with the princess after she is married," she said, not being able to come up with any better explanation.

His features contorted into a frown. "How do you know she will accept the Prince of the earth?" he asked gently.

Serenity suddenly felt cornered, not really knowing what to tell him. She didn't really feel like saying 'I'm the princess, so I know!' Instead, she looked over to Motoki. "I just have a strong feeling, that's all," she said, and then glanced back up into his eyes.

He looked to be deep in thought. "She has not even met the man yet," he said rather bluntly.

"That doesn't mean that she cannot marry him," she replied.

"Yes, but she does not know what kind of man he is, whether or not she could love him. Do those things not concern her?"

"They concern her a great deal!" Serenity replied back, a shocked look on her face. "Have you not noticed the lack of peace that has been between the two planets all these years? She realizes that this union could bring about that much needed peace!"

He stared at her blankly. "I know very well how little peace there has been, and I also know that for the same reasons the Prince is coming here to seek her hand in marriage. He doesn’t know what to expect of her either." They were both silent for a few moments.

"What is he like?" Serenity finally asked quietly. She missed the faint blush that crossed the young man's cheeks.

"Who, the Prince? Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious to know what kind of man I-uh- my mistress might marry, that's all," she said, and looked at him expectantly.

Darien sighed a little. "Well, people say that he is a just and fair ruler, and a descent warrior. He loves his people and his planet," he said, and then stopped talking.

"I've already heard those kinds of things. I want to know what kind of man he is, what are his interests, so on," she said, trying to coax more information from him. She stared at Darien's seemingly embarrassed face, waiting for him to reply. Suddenly, he stopped dancing. "Why did you stop?" she asked. As soon as the final word hit the air she noticed that the song had ended and that Motoki was staring at them, a grin on his face.

"Would you two like another one? I don't think that Darien is teaching you much at the moment," Motoki said to the two. Serenity felt Darien's hands drop away from here, leaving her feeling oddly cold.

He nodded to Motoki, and then looked back to her, an apologetic look on his face. "A thousand apologies," he said, "I seemed to have forgotten why we were dancing in the first place." Serenity was about to say something when out of nowhere Darien whipped out a red rose and held it out to her. "I pray that the gentle lady shall forgive me," he said in a half whisper.

Serenity accepted the rose from him. "Th-thank you," she said as she smelled the bloom. They heard Motoki start playing again. Serenity placed the rose on the nearest table and accepted Darien's stretched out hand. They started their dance across the floor, this time a slower one than before. She gasped slightly as Darien pulled her in close to him. He had his left hand on the small of her back, and the other was in contact with her left hand. She could smell him, he smelled like clean spring rain. She felt her heart thudding in her chest as she felt him put a little more pressure on her back so she came in even closer and was almost leaning on him.

He leaned down a little. "You don't seem to need to be taught how to dance," he said quietly. She smiled to herself, remembering how Motoki had told him she had wanted to learn to dance.

"I suppose I learn fast," she murmured back. She tensed as he laid his chin on top of her head, and he sensed her tension right away. He removed his chin and looked down into her eyes, which were full of confusion.

"You need to learn to relax. I can feel it when you tense up," he said in a husky voice. Serenity felt shivers run up and down her back. She mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' but didn't find her voice to say them. He chuckled a little as he brought her left hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on it. He kept the two hands at his shoulder and once again placed his chin on top of her head.

Serenity gave a small sigh as she leaned her head against his chest, still rather tense. She could hear that the song was almost over, and she was both relived and sad about it. Suddenly, she felt Darien shift her over and bring her into a dip. She gasped as she noticed that his face was only centimetres from her own. His hair fell around his face, framing his eyes. His gaze was intense, causing her to involuntarily shiver.

"I told you to relax," he murmured gently, his voice deep, husky, masculine.

She nodded her head, but could not tear her gaze form the midnight blue eyes that were staring deep into her own, as though they were searching her soul for answers to unasked questions. They seemed to glow and smile, as though he was trying to relax and soothe her. She could feel his breath on her face, smelling sweet and intoxicating. She felt her own breathing quicken, and the grip on her waist tighten.

Motoki didn't miss any of this as he gazed at the couple from behind the already silent piano.

I do not own the rights to Sailormoon or any of the characters. That honour belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, and I am simply a lowly author who can use her characters for my plots.