Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Decided Bride ❯ Meet Jasmine ( Chapter 14 )

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

Dawn broke early. Serenity had purposely left the curtains to her balcony open so that she could wake up with the fist beams of dawn, since the doors were mad of glass. Her eyes fluttered open as the new light teased her. She sighed deeply and contemplated putting her head under her pillow and going back to sleep. On second contemplation however, she reluctantly pushed the covers off herself and got up.

She stretched her arms high above her head and yawned. As she stood up she took the top blanket off her bed with her and wrapped it around her shoulders. Only eleven more days until they arrived. She walked over to the bookshelf and found the book Artemis had given her and each of the other girls on the history of the politics of earth. She lit a few candles and settled herself comfortably into the sofa, and started to read.

After about fifteen minutes she was already starting to yawn again. This was not something that was overly interesting. She put the book down beside her on the sofa, and got up again. It would still be another hour before Luna came to 'wake her up,' and she didn't want to open that book again. She smiled to herself, quickly got dressed in her pants and loose shirt, pinned her hair up, put it under her hat, and climbed down the tree. Within minutes she was outside the stables. She felt her hands shaking a little as she entered.

Some of the stable hands were already shuffling about, bringing feed to horses, still rubbing the sleep from their eyes. She walked around for a while before she found the Master of Horse. Serenity always though of him as an uncle, since she had spent so much time at the stables when she was younger, and he was always there. He was examining one of the younger mares that still needed to be broken in.

"Good morning," she said cheerfully to him.

He looked up and his face broke into a smile. "Good morning Usagi! How are you today?"

"I'm fine, thank you. Yourself?" she replied.

He nodded his head to say all was well. "What brings you here so early?" he asked, rubbing the mare's velvety nose.

"I wanted to see how the young horses going to earth were doing," she said. Her mother wanted to give a pack of ten horses to the King and Queen of earth as a gift. The horses of the moon were exquisite creatures, ranging in colors only from smoke grey to white.

"They're doing just fine. Jasmine here is already showing spirit. She's a smart girl, this one. Senses the excitement in the air." He looked at the horse lovingly as he spoke. The mare nickered gently. Serenity smiled as she reached out to rub the soft nose. The beautiful creature stared at her, patiently letting the princess play with her face. She was one of the whitest horses they had in years. Serenity was almost sad to see her go, were it not for the fact that she would be going with her.

"When are you going to start breaking her in?" she asked.

He looked thoughtfully at the mare. "This afternoon I think," he said as he gave the horse an affectionate rub on the neck. "She'll make a good horse for speed and agility," he added. Serenity nodded. "Do you want to help?" he then asked, looking at Selenity with an affectionate smile, already knowing what answer he was going to get.

Serenity's face broke into a smile. "I would love to!" she squealed.

Master of the Horse laughed. "Wonderful. Bring the girls too if you like. We have two other horses I want to start on as well."

She nodded. "I will," she said as she reached up to rub the mare affectionately behind the ear. Jasmine accepted the attention for a moment, but then got restless and shook Serenity's hand off. Both people smiled. "I'll grab the brushes," she finally said.

He chuckled. "You know where they are. However, I need to go and attend to a few things." Serenity nodded her head as the man bowed ever so slightly, and left. She quickly went and retrieved a curry comb and brush. She came into the stall and started to brush the animal. The mare nickered softly with pleasure as she leaned into the smooth long strokes of the brush.

"There, see, we can be friends. You like this don't you?" Serenity murmured to the horse, causing Jasmines ears to flick backwards.

"What are you doing here?" came an all-too-familiar voice from the stall door.

Both horse and groomer looked to the tall speaker leaning against the stall door. "My, you really don't belong in the stables if you can't even tell when someone is grooming a horse," she replied sweetly.

Darien smirked from behind the stall door. "Nice comeback," he said cheekily. "I meant why are you here? I thought you worked inside the palace."

She shrugged her shoulders and continued brushing. "I do work in the palace. I love to come here too, though. Besides, I wanted to see this beauty and see how she's doing," Selenity replied, keeping her voice as to sooth the horse again. She saw Darien out of the corner of her eye reach out and touch the animal's muzzle. She felt Jasmine shudder under her fingertips and then calm down instantly. Serenity smiled to herself as he switched to the curry comb.

"She is a beauty," Darien murmured softly.

Serenity nodded. "She's one of the best we've had in years. I'm sure earths royal family will be pleased with her." She noticed him look at her with a confused expression on his face. She smiled. "Jasmine and the other nine horses in this stretch are a gift to the royal family when they come to visit," she added simply to take away his confusion.

His face broke into a smile. "Really? Well, I'm sure they will be very pleased. Jasmine still needs to be broken in though, doesn't she?"

Serenity nodded. "We're starting on her today," she replied as she brushed down the mares back. Darien stepped into the stall and ran his hand along the horses side, who didn't seem to mind the additional human contact. Serenity stopped brushing and watched him as she examined the horse from every angle. He ran his hands expertly up and down her legs, bent them to check her hooves, took her face gently between his palms and examined her eyes and teeth. All of this without making Jasmine flinch once.

"She's magnificent," he finally murmured, giving the horse an affectionate scratch behind the ear. At this point Serenity realized that she was still staring, and quickly looked down, busying herself with brushing out Jasmine's tail, a trail of fire spreading across her cheeks.

"You seem to know your horses," she said, trying to keep her voice calm and level.

"They are something I enjoy, yes. I was thrilled when I got this position," he said, still staring at the horse. He eyes suddenly shot to Serenity. "That reminds me, I need to get to work." Serenity looked up at him and nodded as he took his leave.

She let out a shaky breath as soon as he was gone, and leaned her head against the horses sleek neck. Wonderful, she thought to herself. Another reason for my heart to betray me.


--------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------


"There you go, good girl! Good girl!" Mina cooed as Serenity slowly eased her weight off the mares back. She was standing on a stool next to the nervous mare, with her hands on the horses back. She slowly put more and more pressure on until she was holding herself up. They had been going through this exercise for about half an hour, and the horse was starting to get antsy.

"That's probably good for now. We'll have to come back later to try again," Serenity finally said. Mina nodded her head as she continued her reassuring tone with the animal, her hand travelling up and down Jasmine's neck. Serenity put the stool to the side and grabbed two brushes. She and Mina started to scrub the animal down.

"She's doing well for her first time," said Mina gently.

"I know, I'm impressed. Ami's probably enjoying her ride. I wonder how Rei and Lita are making out with Safflower," Serenity pondered out loud, and Mina giggled. "What?" she asked.

Mina looked at her over the horses back at Serenity. "I still don't understand why your mother decided to name these ten horses after earth flowers. "

Serenity smiled at her friend. "Mama thinks that earth flowers are the most beautiful creations, so she wanted to honour the horses with their names."

Mina was still giggling. "It makes sense, but I don't even know what this 'jasmine' and 'safflower' plants look like, much less any of the others."

Serenity smiled too. "Well, you can see them when we go to Earth," she said cheerfully.

Mina frowned. "You're still set on accepting him," she said, more a statement than a question.

Serenity nodded her head slowly. "Yes. Like I promised though, I won't tell mother until I meet him and I'm sure I'll say yes." Mina nodded. "Mina, can I ask you to stand in for me when they arrive?" Serenity asked suddenly.

Mina didn't even look surprised, since she was Serenity's decoy when she needed it. "Of course," was all she said, and the two lapsed into silence. Serenity suddenly heard Mina gasp. "Who is that?!" she squeaked out.

Serenity looked over her shoulder to follow her friends gaze. She smiled. "That is Darien. He's new here," she said as she watched a certain raven-haired man leading a horse into the barn. She looked back at her friend who at the moment resembled a dead fish, her mouth hanging open and eyes wide.

"You know him?" she gasped out, her eyes never once straying from the object of her adoration.

Serenity giggled as she nodded her head. "Compose yourself Sailor Venus, he's coming this way." Mina's mouth snapped shut, but she didn't lose her doe-in-the-headlights look. Serenity looked over her shoulder again as she heard Darien's footsteps approaching.

He gave them a dazzling smile. "Good afternoon ladies," he said, his voice cool and smooth like water.

"Hi Darien, how are you?" replied Serenity cheerfully. Mina only managed a small wave with her hand that was free of brush.

"I'm fine. How's Jasmine doing?" he asked in return.

Serenity looked back at the mare. "She's doing alright. I think she's had enough for now though. I'll come back later in the evening to try this again," she said, and with that she brought her eyes back up to Darien's. He had that damn smirk on his face again!

His eyes shifted from hers to look at Mina. "I don't believe we've met before," he said, "My name is Darien. Might I inquire your name, Lady?" Serenity felt an odd stab in the pit of her stomach, but said nothing. She looked at Mina who seemed to have regained her composure.

"Nice to meet you Darien. I am Mina, Princess of Venus and Senshi to Princess Serenity," she said casually.

Darien lost the impish look on his face, and instead had one of respect and solemnity. "Princess, the honour is mine," he said as he bowed ever so slightly at the waist.

Mina giggled. "There's no need for that. Just Mina is fine. We’re not at court here."

Darien laughed as he straitened up. "I suppose not. I think many of the courtiers would complain about the smell," he said.

Mina laughed too now. "Most likely," she said, enjoying the sound of his voice and laugh.

Darien turned back to Serenity. "Perhaps I'll see you later Usagi," he said, and then he turned back to Mina and bowed again before taking his leave.

Mina stood there looking at her princess with an odd look on her face. As soon as Darien was out of earshot, she spoke up. "Usagi? I thought he was new here. How is it that he treats me like the royal one and you like a normal woman?" she asked.

"Thank you for reminding me Mina. He, well…he doesn't know I'm Serenity. Motoki gave him 'Usagi' as my name when we first met. I didn't want him to know I'm the princess. After all, he's from earth," she concluded.

Mina stared at her. "Ok, I have a few questions for you. Number one, when did Motoki come into this? Where did you two meet? Two, how do you know he's from earth? And three, why have you not introduced us to him earlier!" Serenity laughed, although a little uneasily. She told Mina the whole story about how she and Darien had met, thus explaining her visits to Motoki's tavern. By the end both girls were laughing.

"You mean you actually asked Motoki to teach you how to act around men? I'm hurt Serenity that you didn’t come to me, the very personification of love!" Mina said with a giggle.

"I'm terribly sorry my lady!" Serenity said mid-giggle. Both girls stood there for a few moments, before they silently packed the brushes away, led Jasmine to her stall, and moved on to the next horse..

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.