(Holiday Special) Title: Sleeping Serentity - Chapter 1 Author: Aquamarine Angel E-mail Address: aquamarineangel@sailormoon.com Web Address: http://www.geocities.com/universe_guardians/ Rated: G _______________________________________________________________________________ "What do you suppose Luna and Artemis are up to? They've been awful secretive today. I can't help being a tad suspicious," Mina commented. She getting sick of being excluded. She wasn't use to having Artemis ingore her. "It's kind of hard to say... I think maybe they're devising a plan to take over the kingdom. Maybe even the world! That would explain their odd behavior, wouldn't it? If my theory is correct, and we found out about it, we would have to report them. They wouldn't want to get caught now would they?" Bunny suggested. Everyone looked at her in amazement. "This is Luna and Artemis we're talking about, meatballs for brains! Or havn't you noticed? Those two are the difinition of practical and boring. They LIKE being ruled! Why would they try to take over the world?" Raye burst out. How weird could Bunny posibly get? "Raye is right, Bunny. I think you're letting your imagination run away with you, again," Amy said gently. It seemed that Bunny's feelings had been hurt by Raye's insulting outburst. "You must admit, something IS going on with those two, though," Lita commented. "Well lets think logically, here. What have they been doing this past week? What could they be up to? Have any of us done anything to make them so.. uptight today?" Amy asked, taking control of the situation. Everyone looked at each other, nervously. "Do you want a list..." Lita asked. "I think that answers Mina's original question," Amy replied, sure of herself. "I guess so," Bunny mumbled. She had been hoping that it was something more exciting than a few arguments and a stack of broken plates. She was getting really sick and tired of doing the same thing day in and day out. She knew that if something dramatic didn't happen soon, she would go insane. Which gave her an idea. What if she were to make her own excitment? The cottage, in the deep depths of the forest, was getting to small for her imagination. What if she went into the city? Maybe she would meet the prince! As this idea of hers swelled up, and grew inside her, she knew she would have to carry it out. It was just to big of an adventure to pass up! She also knew, however, that she couldn't go alone. She would have to con her friends into coming with her, somehow... "Girls!?! Where are you? Come here!" A woman called. It was Luna. The girls looked at one another. Should they listen to Luna or not? She sounded a bit disturbed. "Come on, everyone. No need to make Luna more upset with us," Amy said as she jumped to her feet. Everyone followed reluctantly behind Amy, as she led them out of the valley and towards the small cottage. Luna was pacing frantically, with Artemis watching with a slight smile of amusment on his face, when the girls entered the little white cottage. When Luna spotted them, she immediatly started talking. "Something has come up, I'm afraid. You may have noticed that Artemis and I have been a bit agitated as of late. You see, Artemis's cousin, my best friend, has fallen dreadfully ill. I'm afraid we're going to have to go away for a few days to see what we can do for her. You five, on the other hand, must stay here and take care of things. We leave tonight," Luna explained. No one quite knew what to say. They had never been left alone before. "Artemis? I hope your cousin is going to be alright, but do you think you should be leaving us all alone...?" Mina asked. He smiled. "You girls are nearly sixteen. I'm sure you'll all be just fine. As long as you be sure not to go to far into the forrest, don't talk to strangers-" "-and steer clear of all civilization-" Bunny interrupted. "-there is no need to worry. Nothing remotely dangerous ever comes out here," Artemis assured them, ingoring Bunny's angery comment. He very well knew that she was sick and tired of the forrest. She wanted to see the galaxy. He laughed under his breath at the resemblance between her and her mother. Both restless and recklace. "Still... We'll miss you both," Mina said. "Are you two all packed up, or should we help you?" Amy asked. "We have everything under control. Don't worry about it. Now, why don't the five of you go out, and look for some berries. I think I saw some raseberrys not to far from here when I went chasing after our escaped horse this morning..." Luna said, glancing at Bunny. "I'm really sorry, Luna. It was an accident. I was only trying to-" Bunny started. "Don't worry about it, my dear. Everything turned out all right. Luna successfully retreived Beauty, and you escaped that nasty fall with only a few bruises and damaged dignity," Artemis interupted. "Bunny doesn't have any dignity, Artemis. She lost it years ago," Raye commented. Bunny stuck out her tongue in reply, so starting another famous tongue war. Everyone else in the room just shook their heads in exasperation. Luna was espeacially upset, seeing as she was leaving these girls alone and they were acting like irresponsible children. Artemis was to easy going to care to much but, at Luna's glare, he decided that he'd better interfere. "Bunny, remind me to teach you how to ride a horse when we get back," Artemis said, distracting both the girls from their little fued. When he had all the girl's attention, he went on. "That goes for all of you. I really don't see any reason for you girls not to learn." "Really!" "Will you!" "That's great!" "Thank you Artemis!" "You're the greatest!" The girls were in a fit of excitement. Luna had never let them try to horse-back-ride for the soul reason that she thought that they would break their necks. Now that their was a threat that they would break their necks if they didn't learn, she couldn't say no. However, she wasn't to pleased with this idea. She decided that she'd yell at Artemis later when the girls were out. "Calm down, and grab the baskets over there. Have fun, be back by supper, and for heaven's sake be careful!" Luna said as she shoed the girls outside. When the girls were well out of ear shot of their guardians, Bunny spoke. "This is great!" she exclaimed. Everyone looked at her, astonished. "Great!? Bunny, that's terrible," Amy chided. "Artemis's cousin gets sick and you say that it's great! How low can you get?" Mina reprimanded. "What do you mean, great?" Lita added. "She just likes human suffering. She has meatballs for brains, after all," Raye said, disquested. Bunny took a double take. Then she realized what she must have sounded like. "Oh my Goddess! I'm sorry! That came out wrong! I didn't mean it the way it sounded! What I ment was that it is great that we get to be alone for the next few days. We've never been on our own. Not that Luna and Artemis aren't going to be on our tails, we can do whatever we want!" Bunny explained. "You know, she's right..."Raye commented to Amy. They all nodded in agreement. "But just what are we going to do about this new freedom?" Lita asked. "Why go to the city of coarse!" Bunny replied. She sounded really sure of herself, but she knew her friends would argue off this idea. "The city!" they all cried out. "Yes, the city. Why not? We've never been there, so it'll be a great experience. We do have to face the rest of the world someday, after all. Better sooner than later! And if you're worried about getting lost, it's not possible! The path is obvious and signs are everywhere," Bunny declared. "But what about robbers, theives, and wild beasts!?" Amy exclaimed. "We can take care of ourselves. Artemis didn't secretely teach us martial arts for nothing," said Lita. She was one of the more adventurous of the group. The prospect of danger didn't faze her. She was uncertain at first, but the desire for adventure had won her over. Bunny grined at her. "If the rest of you are just a bunch of fraidy-dogs, Lita and I will go with- out you," said Bunny. She had another card up her sleeve and she was going to play it. "Afraid? Me? I have the very soul of fire! Nothing scares me! Count me in!" claimed Raye. "If you three think you're going to have all the fun you are mistaken! I'm going too!" Mina stated. The four glanced at Amy, who stood silent. She sighed. "If we're going to do this we had better do this right. We need to plan things properly. We'll con some information on estimated expenses out Luna and Artemis tonight, at supper," Amy gave in. The girls spent the rest of the day chattering happily about what they hoped to do in the city. ________________________________________________________________________________ Like it? The next part is on the way!