"Get back here princess!" yelled an exasperated Mercury as she rushed through the Moon palace corridors, in an unstoppable chase after her sworn-to-protect princess. "You need to finish this equation!" Mercury screamed, though knowing that the blonde about to inherit the most powerful kingdom in the universe wasn't listening. The Royal Court was used to these races, and just looked at them with a grin. How many times had they been crashed by their princess, or one of her hunters?

But this time, it was something different. They had never before seen this blue haired beauty after Serenity. It had always been this friendly blonde, leader of the Senshi, Lady Venus, princess of the second planet in the solar system. Less times, it had been a brunette, usually with a frying pan in her hand, persecuting the daughter of the Queen. What was her name... Oh, yeah, Lady Jupiter, princess of the biggest planet in the galaxy. But the most common sight, was a raven-haired young lady, lady Mars, princess of the planet of fire. Those chases were the worst, because they always ended in one of theirs well too known tongue fights. They could fight for hours, and never seem to tire.

However, this was the first time the maids and guards were interrupted by this blue tornado. Tired of chasing after Princess Serenity, Lady Mercury stopped, and glowing with anger, smashed one of her fists in the wall. Lady Mercury, princess of the smaller planet, but most faithful to the Moon, was considered as the shyest of the Senshi. But only Queen Serenity and her own mother knew about her real personality. If she got angry, there was no human force capable of stopping her. The last time she had gotten mad, the poor victim had finished like a cube of ice, and took him about a week to stop the shattering of his teeth.

Releasing the now frozen wall, Ami walked calmly to the meeting room. Rarely you could see her out of the library, and it was a miracle if she wasn't with a book in her hands. Even so, almost every male in the Moon wished to see a smile in her lips, and longed for a word directed to them. It was said that her hair was like the midnight skies, her lips as roses in bloom, her eyes as a pair of stars, and her nose as the bridge to heaven. She had received unaccountable letters from anonymous men, telling her how beautiful she was, and a lot of other sappy things. Gossip spread through palace, as someone dared to say that she was even more beautiful than Princess Serenity. She was aware of this, but didn't pay attention. At the Senshi meetings, her friends would giggle and say: "Hey, Mercury. Guess what? I found out that Vega, the chief of security had fallen in love with you. Aaaaannnd, that Parion, you know him, don't you? He is the champion of the last tournament in fighting skills. Well, he was asking what kind of flowers you liked. Way to go pal! How do you do it?" or any other comments.

And every time she just shrugged, and continued reading her book. She wasn't interested in boys, well, not as much as her friends. She was rather lonely, and didn't like dates at all. This lack of attention didn't bother the Senshi, who were always telling her the new conquests she had made. She was now patiently waiting for her friends to arrive to the meeting, reading a book called "Plutonian's and Earth's sub-genetics, applied to the structures of galaxies," while Lady Mars was making one of her usual meditations, when the serenity was abruptly interrupted by the opening door, while two Senshis, Jupiter and Venus, ran in and started congratulating her, and screaming in joy. They took the book from her hands, and told her, stopping themselves once in a while to blink an eye to her: "Mercury, you did it again! Girl, you have to tell us your secret. This time, you really made an impression. And this time, it is reeeaally big!"

She wasn't really interested, but asked anyway: "What are you talking about?" Lady Jupiter and Lady Venus giggled again, then looked at each other, and burst out laughing. They continued for about 2 minutes, when they noticed a slightly angry Lady Mars walking towards them.

With a voice that really scared them, Lady Mars said: "Whatever it is, say it quickly and shut up." The princess of Mars wasn't always like that, but since she had sensed a terrible evil coming near the Silver Millenium, her mood had changed drastically. And she was extremely irascible after her meditations. Slowly, the two boy crazy princesses calmed down, and said: "Mercury, remember when this morning you went horse riding?" The blue haired girl nodded, and they continued, between giggles: "Well, at the same time, the prince of Saturn, Ren, was there, and saw you. It took him five minutes to get your name, age, and tastes. I am sure that when you return to your room tonight, you will find quite a surprise."

They looked at each other again, and Lady Venus said to her friend: "I bet you a big cake that it will be a bunch of white roses," referring to Mercury's like in flowers. The tall senshi thought for a moment, and answered: "Done. But I think it will be some chocolates. If you loose, you will have to present me that cousin of yours, Max. He is soooo hunky!"

The two girls giggled again, and Rei rolled her eyes, while muttering under her breath: "This two will never grow up." Then, she left the room, saying goodbye. However, the two girls weren't paying attention, they were talking to each other, very low. Mercury sighed, and thought: "I bet they are planning a match-make again. I hope it doesn't turn out like the last one," remembering when Jupiter and Venus had convinced her to go on a date with the duke of the house of Tai'shar, in Neptune. He was still recovering from the slap on the face she had given him, for messing with Uranus. Lady Uranus was one of her best friends, and she couldn't stand hearing him say that she looked liked a tomboy.

She sighed again, and looking through the window, she saw it was dark already. She picked up her books, and turning to face the two just-now-self-named-cupids, said: "Good night, guys." The girls looked at her, and answered politely. Too politely, if I may say, Mercury thought, They must be up to something.

Ignoring the stares she knew was receiving from behind, she left the room, and walked slowly to her quarters. She started thinking about her life, and comparing it to Lady Venus--no, Minako's. (Only the Senshi knew the real names of the other fighters. It was one of the secrets best kept in the Moon Kingdom. For the rest of the people, they were known as the princesses and Senshis of their respective planets).

Mercury was always in the library, reading, studying, and learning something new. However, she knew very little about life. It was amazing to calculate how much more Minako, or Makoto (Lady Jupiter) could say that she didn't understand. For example, why this insidious habit of always trying to get some guy to look at? She had heard several times, when Mako (short for Makoto) had told the rest about her last adventure with a man. Although she seemed careless, and continued reading the book, she was paying more attention than anyone else was. It was intriguing to hear what they had done. Also, what was this kiss they always talked about? According to the dictionary, to kiss is to touch something with the lips to show affection. The only kisses she had received were the ones her mother gave her when she was little, and they had nothing of incredible. The romantic novels she always read, (hidden of course. She couldn't let anyone see that a princess such as herself read those things) made her heart beat faster, but she still couldn't pinpoint why. Also, she had promised herself only to "kiss" the man that made her feel like that. Sighing again, she entered her room, and closed the door behind her...