Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Decided Bride ❯ Motoki to the Rescue ( Chapter 17 )

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

Serenity paced her room, every muscle, nerve, and fibre of her being on edge. She had been high strung for the past two days, as well as all morning, and couldn't get herself to calm down. Things were finally starting to calm down after the arrival of all the parents (she shuddered at the memory of all the hugs and kisses and pinched cheeks...honestly some people forgot how old she was now!) She wanted to go see Jasmine as well as…no, just Jasmine, she corrected herself. No 'as well as'. However, Selenity had arranged for a seamstress to come that afternoon to fit her for a few new gowns, and she couldn't leave until that ordeal was over.

She heard a faint knock on the door and nearly jumped out of her skin. "C-come in," she managed to stammer our.

The door opened and in popped Ami's head. "Am I disturbing you?" she asked gently.

Serenity shook her head. "No, please, come in. I need something to occupy me right now."

Ami's face broke into a smile as she skipped in. Serenity noticed that she was dragging an arm behind her, and was rather surprised to see Motoki attached to that arm. "Motoki, what are you doing here?" she asked, happy to see her friend.

He smiled at her as he wrapped her in a bear hug and lifted her off the ground. "I just came to see how you were doing, since you haven't come down to the tavern for a while," he replied as he let her down, happy to see her smiling.

"Sorry, it's been so hectic around here the past few days. I haven't been able to get out at all," she told him.

Ami giggled. "That's true. None of us have. I think that Lita is getting quite antsy being away from her usual routine of training, and Rei is climbing the walls not being able to go look at the cute stable boys."

Motoki laughed as did Serenity, but Motoki noted the sad look on her face. "Well, hopefully things will slow down over the next few days," he said.

Serenity nodded her head. "Yes, it should. Not much, but somewhat," she said, knowing that those words were probably not true. She decided to change the subject. "What have you been up to Motoki?" she asked.

Motoki shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing really. I've been working, but that's about all," he said nonchalantly. Serenity sat down on the sofa and motioned for him and Ami to take seats as well. Motoki accepted, but Ami shook her head.

"I need to go and find a book in the library. I only brought Motoki here so he wouldn't be interrogated half a dozen times on his way up. I'll be back shortly," she said as she headed over to the door.

Serenity nodded as she turned her attention back to Motoki. "Ami and the girls tell me you've been a little high strung the past few days," he said rather bluntly.

Serenity looked at him with blinking surprised eyes. "What do you mean?" she asked, her higher pitched voice betraying her. He raised his eyebrows at her. She humbly accepted the gesture. "I don't know, I suppose I’m just nervous, that's all," she said, hoping he would not ask her for more details. She brought her gaze up to meet his.

He had a very calm look on his face, one that said he knew there was more to it than that, but he wouldn't ask. Instead, he simply turned to another person as his topic. "Well, would you mind explaining why Darien has been so high strung the same number of days?"

Serenity gaped at him, not knowing what to say. Finally she found her voice. "How should I know? Shouldn't you be asking him that? I haven't even seen him for two and a half days!"

Motoki sighed. "I know that, that's how long he's been high strung. Every time I mention your name he gets all quite and won't talk to me about you, and he gets jittery."

Serenity stared at him wide-eyed. Then her gaze turned more mellow. "I can assure you Motoki, any feelings that Darien has right now are not caused by me," she said coolly.

He looked at her curiously. "How do you know? You haven't seen him in three days, remember?"

"Two and a half," she blurted out. Serenity bit her tongue at her comment, and watched Motoki's face go from surprise to consideration to realization.

"Sorry, my mistake," he said slowly, a small grin creeping onto his face. Serenity could feel herself growing warmer and uncomfortable. She hadn't really just more or less admitted to Motoki that she was keeping track of how long she had not seen Darien, had she? At leas I didn't tell him it's been two days, 16 hours, and 25 minutes, she thought.

Serenity flashed Motoki a smile. "No problem, it's not like we're keeping track!" Motoki raised an eyebrow. Serenity shifted nervously in her seat. "So, are you going to be busy in the next week? Last time I tried to come Naru stopped me and told me you would be bust for a few days."

Motoki nodded his head. "Actually, I came here to invite you down to the tavern tomorrow night with all of the girls. After all, in a week you're not going to have time for me, at least not in an informal way. I wanted to throw a small party."

Serenity's eyes shone with excitment. "That would be wonderful. Tomorrow night would be fine. I'll tell the girls," she bubbled.

Motoki laughed. "No need to, I already did," he said. Serenity let out a pleased squeal. "Naru will be there as well as a few other people that you know from around town. We'll start at 9:30 so that you can get away from everything here," he concluded.

She nodded her head eagerly. "I'll be there for sure," she said. There was a soft knock on the door. "Come in!" Serenity called. The door opened and in walked the Seamstress. She paused in the doorway.

"Oh, I'm sorry your Highness, I hope I’m not interrupting anything," she said cheerfully.

Both people smiled at her. "I was actually just leaving," Motoki said to her, and then looked back to Serenity. "I have to get back to the tavern, I promised Naru I wouldn't be gone too long." Serenity nodded her head and followed him with her gaze as he walked to the door. After giving a bow to the Seamstress, and flashing Serenity one last smile, he left.

The Seamstress looked at the sitting princess. "May I call my girls in?" she asked. Serenity nodded and put on her best fake smile as she stood up, mentally preparing herself for the ordeal.


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Motoki made his way out of the palace and headed strait for the stables. He didn't come to the palace very often, and so he got lost twice, but finally found the place he was looking for.

The building was bustling, with stable hands taking horses to and from training rings, washing stations, and stalls. He walked around for about ten full minutes before he finally found who he was looking for. Darien was standing next to a pure white horse, talking to the Master of Horses. Motoki came over to them and was greeted with two smiling faces.

"Motoki, it's been too long!" exclaimed the Master. Motoki shook his outstretched hand as Master slapped him on the back hard, causing Motoki to stumble a little. "How are you lad?"

Motoki grinned. "I'm doing just fine." Darien snickered at his stumbling friend.

"What brings you to the stables? Serenity isn't here," Master of Horse asked. Motoki swallowed hard at the mention of Serenity's name, and noted a surprised look cross Darien's face.

"I-uh-I'm not looking for her. I came here looking for Darien." He was starting to pray that Darien would not ask him any questions in the next ten years.

"I'm done with him now, so he's all yours," Master said, and with that he smiled at Motoki one last time, gave him another hit on the back, and left.

Motoki looked up at Darien. Before Darien had a chance to ask anything, Motoki started to talk. "So, umm, who is this?" he asked, patting the horse gently on the neck.

Darien looked at the animal affectionately. "This is Jasmine. Master just put me in charge of her training since she seems to be comfortable with me."

Motoki nodded, laying a hand on the horses chest. "She's a beauty. A really fine horse," Motoki said a little shakily. He was starting to panic due to the look in Darien's eyes, a searching look as though he was going to kill him if he did not answer his question as to why he might have been looking for the Moon Princess. So to try and save himself, he rushed on speaking. "I-I came here to ask you something. Are you busy tomorrow night?"

'The Look' faltered for a brief moment. "Why?" Darien asked in a cool voice as 'The Look' returned.

"There's going to be a small get together at the tavern as a small good-bye party for Usagi." Motoki could have jumped for joy as 'The Look' disappeared at the mention of Usagi's name.

"Good-bye party?" he asked, a little confused.

Motoki nodded his head. "Yes, remember? She's going to Earth with the princess."

Darien stared at him for a moment, and then remembered the conversation he had with Usagi when they had been dancing the second time at the tavern. She had asked him about the earth, and when he asked why, she had told him "I-I'm going to be going there with the princess after she is married."

He felt himself shiver a little. "Sure, I'll come. What time?"

Motoki smiled. "Come sometime between 9:00 and 9:30 pm. You can come earlier if you like, but that's the time we're starting."

Darien nodded his head. "Fine, I'll be there."

Motoki grinned as he gave the horse one final rub. "Ok, I'd better get going. See you tomorrow!"

Darien nodded, and the two men parted. Not until an hour later did Darien remember that he had wanted to interrogate Motoki.


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.