At the very back of the banquet hall stayed the royals of the galaxy. There were twelve thrones, each one glittering in all its majesty.

The Princess Mercury was sitting on the stool beside Princess Serenity’s Throne. On her left side was the Princess Mars. The Princess Mars was wearing a blood red satin gown like hers, except for a little difference, as it had a violet trimming. Her shiny long hair glinted in the light of the crystal chandelier, revealing highlights of deep violet, as deep as the violet in her eyes, which were hidden behind the mask of red sequins.

The Princess Mars sensed Mercury’s gaze, and smiled at her. Mercury smiled in gently in return, as Mars held out her hand to her. She took it, and squeezed it affectionately as they looked around at the massive banquet hall, where the masquerade ball was in full swing. "Ami-chan, are you fine?" the Princess Mars whispered to her as she stared off. Mercury nodded silently. The other princess nodded, too, understandingly. She knew all too well how shy her friend was, and she must certainly feel uncomfortable sitting on a chair among her fellow royals for the public to see. She squeezed Princess Mercury’s hand tighter as a sign of her sympathy.

"Excuse me, your highness." Both princesses turned around to see the first of the four generals standing in front of them. Jadeite was blond, with cropped hair unlike that of the other generals. He bowed down low as a sign of respect, and when he stood up straight, they caught a glimpse of his blue eyes, which were hidden like all the other guests'. "Princess Rei, may I have this dance?"

"Uh, excuse us for a while, please," Mars hastily told Jadeite. The Princess Mars hesitated for a while, and looked at the Princess Mercury beseechingly. "Why, what’s wrong, Rei-chan?" Mercury inquired when she saw Mars’ slightly annoyed expression. "I was not counting on dancing with any man tonight. You know I can very well do without," she whispered quite grumpily.

Dear Rei. Always the man-hater. With a look of comprehension, the Princess Mercury finally reassured her, "Don’t be such a man-hater, Rei-chan. Go dance with him. I’ll be fine here." The Princess Mars looked at her with obvious uncertainty, as Mercury confirmed what she had just said by shooing her away. Princess Mars then turned to Jadeite and finally said, "I’d love to."

Sometimes, it's nice to see Rei-chan with a man… Princess Mercury, a smile tugging on the corners of her lips, watched them walk hand in hand to the dance floor as a new song began. She listened intently to the melodious first notes, and she recognized it after a few seconds. It was the…

"Moonlight Rhapsody," someone interrupted her thoughts with the very same word she was thinking of. She turned around and was face to face with yet another general. Her eyes met his from behind the masks, and she saw that his was a deep green shade, and exquisitely so. His thick blonde hair was tied back with a plain gray band, and he had two tendrils of long wavy blond hair on each side of his face. Behind his gray and green trimmed general’s uniform was a long flowing green cape. She recognized him immediately. It was General Zoicite, the third general. "Such a beautiful song, isn’t it? Good evening, your highness," the general proceeded to say, kneeling down and kissing her hand. "May I have the pleasure of this dance?"

The Princess Mercury flushed a bright pink as she thought of what to say. She looked around for help, but unfortunately and very much to her great astonishment, she could not see anyone in sight. Princess Serenity was dancing with Prince Endymion. Princess Jupiter was dancing with the General Nephrite, and Princess Venus was dancing with the General Kunzite. And finally, she caught the eye of Princess Mars, who was in the arms of General Jadeite.

Mars recognized the alarm in her friend’s eyes, even behind the ice-blue mask. She gave her an encouraging look over General Jadeite’s shoulder that told her the same things Mercury had told her, Dance with him.

The Princess Mercury finally nodded, though she was still unsure of what to do. The General Zoicite held his arm out for her to take, and she took it. They walked to the dance floor without a word, Mercury silent because of pure shyness and modesty, and Zoicite quiet because he was feeling something queer in the very depths of his chest.

The ball had started ordinarily enough, Zoicite decided. They had been presented in a very satisfactory manner, indeed, as he idly recounted how the people had kneeled to show them respect. He smiled vainly as he thought of the attention he got. Now, if only I could get this attention everywhere I go…

Now, the public began to fill up the dance floor again, just as they had before the royalty and the generals came in. General Zoicite smiled. He loved the atmosphere of parties. Usually, he wasted no time in dilly-dally, and proceeded to dance with all the ladies. He now wondered in genuine bewilderment why he was still sitting there, doing nothing. As the orchestra began to play a selection, he looked over at his fellow generals. To his surprise, Kunzite and Nephrite were nowhere to be found. Why, that's something you don't see everyday—those two starch bags must actually be partying! He scanned the room for the two generals carefully.

He saw them finally, among the Princesses. General Zoicite watched in amusement as the stone cold Kunzite tried to ask the starkly contrasting Princess Venus to dance. The bubbly Princess Venus graciously obliged and they made their way to the dance floor. General Nephrite, however, easily asked the Princess Jupiter the same question, and soon they were following General Kunzite and Princess Jupiter to the dance floor. An amused smile formed on his lips. Kunzite just doesn’t have my charm, or my beautiful face, for one, he mused arrogantly as he watched him struggle with a waltz. Luckily for him, the Princess Venus was a decent dancer, so his clumsiness was concealed. General Zoicite could have started laughing out loud at his colleague's naïve attempts if he had not seen General Jadeite standing alone in a corner, seemingly intent on something.

He walked right on over. "Hey, Jadeite," he greeted cheerfully, raising his champagne glass a bit. "Thinking again? Will you stop being so serious? This is a party!" General Jadeite looked at him for a moment, then turned back to what he was staring at. Stealthily, Zoicite came closer, and looking from over Jadeite’s shoulder, tried to figure out what the other general was looking at.

General Jadeite reluctantly looked away as in acknowledgement of Zoicite’s curiosity. "Look at the Princess Mars," Jadeite told him. "Isn’t she beautiful?" Zoicite, all the while amused at what could have been sentiment he heard in his fellow general's voice, tried to look in the direction Jadeite was pointing to. The finger led him to the very end of the banquet hall, where the royals dwelled. A flowing vision of blue satin met his eye, captivating it with its grace and gentleness. The Princess Mars had short blue black hair crowned in a garland of white lilies that glistened in the halcyon light of the chandelier, and for all he could imagine, she probably had blue eyes. Eyes as blue as his hair was gold. Though she was at the other end of the titanic banquet hall, her image was so clear to him, her beauty so immense, her docility so endearing…

The General Jadeite, a boyish expression replacing the serious one, rudely interrupted the deep trance. "Zoicite, ol' boy, I'm going to ask her to dance with me," he told his friend eagerly, surprising him in more ways than one. Too bad about that, I was going to ask her the very same thing, Zoicite told himself silently. And from the way Jadeite's acting, he must be very infatuated with her… "So, how do I look?" He looked at General Zoicite expectantly. "You look dashing, Jadeite ol' boy; simply ravishing, as one might say," returning his friend's pun with a convincing but fake grin, as if nothing was wrong. But something was terribly wrong.

For some reason, he was terribly jealous. His possessiveness puzzled him so. He had never felt this way before. He knew all too well that he had absolutely no right to feel that way, but it was something beyond his control.

Jadeite, unaware of the goings on in the other general's mind, had another proposition to make. "Zoi-san," Jadeite began. "Would you come with me? Maybe you can ask Princess Mercury to dance. You know, I'm a little surprised by you, Zoicite. By now, I could have bet a thousand silver pieces that you would have danced with ten maidens already!" The other general, putting another mask on top of the one he wore, tried hard to sound congenial for his friend's sake. "Well, to tell the truth, I am surprised myself," he told him without a trace of the insane jealousy he was harboring.

"How about you, Jadeite? I'm surprised at you as well." An attempt to get the conversation going was faring excellently. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the General Jadeite acting as giddy as a schoolboy," he said bluntly, a smidgen of sarcasm in his comment.

But Jadeite, not being his usual self, didn't seem to notice a bit. "I know. Just thinking of all her long, violet-streaked raven hair drives me crazy!"

Long, violet-streaked raven hair? Zoicite repeated in disbelief, and in tremendous happiness. Long, violet-streaked raven hair?

"So, my friend, will the Princess Mercury be the first of the twenty you will be waltzing with tonight?"

Zoicite's voice was gruff, and all hints of sarcasm immediately disappeared. "No, I'm afraid that she will be the last of one."