OK! Totally new plot line! As will all the rest for now on! Which, after this one, is really only a few. I am debating on whether to do one about Earth, or Darien. I figure it's gonna be a lot like the Moon one, but I think it might be kind of interesting. If you think I should, please tell me! Right now, I'm not planning on it. I am already wanting to get into the normal chapters, but if I get enough of a response, I just might think it's worth it! E-mail me! sailoreuropa@geocities.com


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				    Time Honored
			    Prologue Seven - Uranus



	"Please! There's no way Nelson could win! He may be big, but he's too weak after the last fight!" I argued with a very frustrated young man. He sat in front of me, his face in an extreme frown. I sneered, knowing I was totally winning this discussion. I crossed my arms, and turned my head from him. He coughed a phony excuse and left before I could jibe him anymore, leaving me even more happy with my victory. I trotted off, not even bothering to pick the trail of my dress off the ground. I didn't really care if it got dirty. In fact, that would be a great excuse _not_ to wear it again.
	I hated dresses. I had a whole of about thirty of them, all the vain efforts of my mother, in hopes I would actually wear them all. HA! I only wore them at social events, where it was frowned upon for girls to wear slacks, which I usually wore. Right now I was wearing a silk, high waisted yellow...._thing_ , that made me look more like a yellow cream puff, than a girl. I couldn't wait to get home. I didn't know this Serenity chick, nor did I care that she was getting engaged. I probably knew a lot more about this one, than I did about my own. I despised the idea of being arranged, and if it wasn't a requirement for queens-to-be, I would have disbanned it years ago. But, it was. Much to my loathing.
	"Haruka!" Ah, my lovely mother. The cause of this hell in heels.
	"Haruka! Stop!" She gasped before catching up with me. "You'd think you didn't want to talk to me...." She said in between desperate gasps. 
	"Wouldn't want that...." I muttered before turning to her. "Yes?" I smiled. She smiled a knowing smile back. She laughed. 
	"Have you seen your brother? I must introduce him to someone, but for the life of me, I can't find him anywhere!" She said.
	"Nope, sorry." I shrugged. As if I even cared. 
	"Well, if you do, please tell him that I need to see him." She said walking off. 
	"Nice talking with I you." I mumbled. Nice to know she cares about her children, I thought wryly. I wandered off myself, walking about the gardens, trying to escape the crowds of people that milled about the Palace. I walked amongst the hedges, the last sounds of people finally disappearing. Through the darkness I saw a bench, and sat  down. 
	"Finally!" I said, leaning back and taking my 3 inch high heels off. "Ahh...." I said, massaging my feet. "Those things are murder! How can they stand it?" I sat back farther, and leaned against the wall behind it. I sighed. 
	"HARUKA!" Now what?
	"Haruka, hide me! Please, you gotta help me!" I watched my younger brother run next to me, and sat down, huffing and panting the whole time. "Mom's trying to get me! Please, you know what happened last time she tried to drag me someplace!" 
	"Yeah, I remember well enough. But you can do your own work." I added snidely. 
	"Well, just please, if you see her, don't tell her where I went! Just pretend I never came by here!" He ran off in the opposite direction he had come in, and I sat there, still, wondering what in the hell just happened.
	"I love my family......" I sighed. I hoped for a little peace and quiet, but, unfortunalty, that wasn't gonna happen. 
	"Haruka! Oh, there you are! Haruka, come, I need to introduce you to someone....." My mother found me. She must have radar. I think maybe she can sense when her children have the least interest in seeing her. 
	"Damn....." I muttered. "Who?"
	"The Family from Neptune. The family your brother will be wedded into." She answered, trying to grab my wrist. Oh, wonderful. Just what I wanted. I sighed and began to follow her. Just  as she began to babble on again, I slipped behind her, and into a long row of tables, each with a different ornate and elaborate floral designs. I hid behind a particularly vulgar one and ducked down. Just as her voice had gone out of range, I popped back up, looking around for any sign of my family. I breathed a sigh of relief as I noticed not a familiar face in sight. I began to make my way to the buffet, when someone jumped me from behind. 
	"Haruka! Where's Mom?" Eurian asked me. I gave a low growl. They must all hate me. 
	"She went off to find the Neptune Family. Wanted to introduce me to them. You know, you can't avoid her all night. Sooner or later, she WILL find you, and you WILL have to meet her. You know that, don't you?" I sighed, rolling my eyes. And as long as she couldn't find him, she was going to hound me. I wasn't about to let THAT happen. 
	"Yeah, but I'm hoping it will be later, rather than sooner. Besides, moms off in her own little world right now, so ecstatic about this arrangement thing. Figures that I'll be the perfect little king for that planet. Like I care. I'm having too much fun being single." He said, picking up a glass of wine that one of the waiters handed him. He took a big gulp and exhaled loudly. 
	He certainly was. My brother. Prince, champion fencer, horseback rider and interplanetary playboy. He's screwed with someone from just about every planet, and had the most notorious reputation for being a heartbreaker. I was surprised when the Neptune Queen had signed the betrothal  papers. They were the most stuck-up planet in this galaxy and everyone knew it. They loved music, art, literature, and most importantly, their royal family. And my brothers new fiancee was the most beloved of all. Prim and proper Michiru. Her reputation of being a prude was almost as infamous as my brothers' of being a player. 
	"So, what's this Michiru like, anyway?" He asked, trying to look around carelessly. I snorted. 
	"You are so predictable. It figures you knock the system one minute, and then be so callous as to wonder about her looks." I laughed long and loud. He was so vain. 
	"Oh please, I said nothing about her looks!" He snapped quickly. 
	"Oh, shut up. I'm known you all my life, and I know when you're interested. And I know why too." I added. 
	"Oh really? Why then?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. He was so quick to drop his defenses. He forgot all about his fight. 
	"Because you know all I know about her. That she's a prudey little priss, with a stick the size of an elm up her hole." I shrugged. "And you wanna know whether you can wear her down. You want to make her melt the way all the other girls do. It's only a matter of trophies, and you want to add her to your collection." 
	"Please....." He muttered. I snorted another laugh as he turned his head away. I was right and he knew it. Hell, I usually was. Besides being handsome, my brother could also be dumb as a brick. 
	"Yeah, well, good luck." I said, tilting my own wine glass to him in a salute. "You'll need it all in a sec." He turned towards the right and we both saw my mother walking towards us, followed by a couple, both with aqua hair that flowed down their backs. I made a quick retreat, knowing what was coming wouldn't be pleasant. My mother, my brother, and his new fiancee. Think I'd rather take dive into a waterless pool. 
	I high tailed it into the ballroom, for the first time. My mother would never find me in this sea of royalty. She knows I never come in here anyway. I hated being around this many people. I usually stayed outside, where I was able to be alone. Usually. However, she wasn't smart enough to figure out that I was usually trying to avoid her, and often came inside to keep from running into her. It worked out nicely. Well, normally it did. 
	"Thank God." I said as I slipped into the throngs of people that were moving towards the dance floor. I made my way onto the skirts of it and sat down in one of the empty chairs. I clutched my head in pain, as all the girls in party gowns chatted excitedly around me, about their new beau, or the color of the new season's dresses. God, I hated being a part of this. I hated being royal, being expected to act brainless and vain. I wanted to be strong, and opinionated, like my father was. Not stupid and quiet like my mother. I hated wearing make-up, dresses, heels. Especially heels. I really despised my image, and the way I was expected to be projected to the public. It wasn't long ago that I had hid my true identity to anyone outside the palace walls. My mother forbade me to wear jeans, or cut my hair short, play sports and pretty much do anything I wanted. Finally, I got fed up and went out and chopped my hair off, without telling anyone. Then, I went to the racetracks, and rented a car. I flew around that track for four hours, alone. When they realized who I was, it was the talk of the planet. Uranus princess looks male. Yeah, so what? Who the hell cares? 
	Well, apparently, my mother did. She chewed me out, and I was stricken to me room for three weeks. That was, until the poll came in. She was, apparently, the only one in the Kingdom that didn't like the real me. The public had loved the unique princess that called their planet home. Mother was appalled. Of course. I couldn't care less though. I never knew why I was suppose to hide my real personality from my people. Why did I have to be like the other air-headed princesses? No one respects them. Well, certainly not me. 
	She finally came to that realization. She let me be myself. Well, most of the time. I still wasn't aloud to wear slacks to social gatherings, instead of this torture chamber they call an evening gown. How was I suppose to run in this? And I still couldn't cuss in public. But, what she doesn't know, won't kill her, right? That's how I saw it. She can play pretend in front of the people, while I stand behind her, telling all the citizens the truth. She'd never find out. I'd make sure of it. She didn't know what the public wanted. All she knew was manners, and grace and charm, and ever since dad died, the whole Kingdom was shaded by my mothers naive way of looking at life. Putting up fronts, and telling people what she THOUGHT they wanted to hear. While they stood there confused and puzzled by what they saw, and what she told them. And until I was aloud to speak in front of the people, they had no idea what the truth was. She kept them too far from it. 
	But I wasn't about to do that. She would know what that was like, because I kept her as far from me as I could. She had no idea what the real Haruka was like, and she had absolutely no interest in finding out. Fine. She can play games as long as she wants. I was going to rule like a true queen, once it was my turn. They would find out what it felt like to be empowered. I had no emotions for my mother, except pity and contempt. I couldn't stand to look at her sometimes. The way she would tell people that the salon had "accidentally" cut my hair short. I didn't care. I liked myself. And whether she wanted to know the real me or not, I couldn't care. I hated her. I hope that she wakes up from her dream one day, and realizes that her life isn't perfect. That dad's gone, and she couldn't run Uranus if her life depended on it. And I hope it kills her. So I never have to feel the pain of sheltering again. Or the hurt of her stupid covers. I hope it kills her. 


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OK! This took me FOREVER to write! Whew! I've been getting a lot of flack for not updating soon enough, and I'm sorry! I'm gonna try to work harder. But, I do have some good news! Time Honored will now, not only host this story, but all of my independent ones, too! I have many ones that I haven't posted on my pages, but only on other fanfic sites. I have a few already done, and one other series that is in the works! You can check out the archive VERY soon! - Michelle Merriman