Chapter 1

disclaimer & credits: I don't own Sailor Moon. The wartime
scene and the way Serena and Darien met was inspired by the
story, "Training Camp". It is a wonderful story, and I want you
to read it!

*********Serena's groggy eyes blurred into focus. The sound of a
steady rain outside her window registered into her now-awakening
brain. Serena groaned and ducked back into the cocoon of warmth
provided by her make-shift sleeping bag. She did NOT want to
wake up. She knew she would only here more bad news about the
war. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, and taking a big wake-up
step, threw off her covers and crawled out of her cot, only to
fall right off onto the hard, cold, wood floor. She lay there
for a second, thinking of how dumb she was to completely forget
that she was sleeping nearly two feet off of the floor. She
slowly stood up, relishing the little poppings in her back. 
Today the new trainees would be arriving. She looked all around
at her companions sleeping in their cots. Lita, Raye, Amy, and
Mina. They had all arrived at camp at the same time and were
placed in a patrol together. They had all become close friends
immediately, though probably because there were no other girls at
camp at all. She walk over to the small, square window over her
bed in their small, one-bathroom, one-room cabin. Looking out
the window, Serena took in the overcast sky. It had stopped
raining. Serena felt an overwhelming surge of loneliness. Oh
mother, thought Serena, I miss you so much. I wish this
pointless war could be over so that I can come home! Serena
turned away from the window. Her story was far different from
anyone else's in the cabin. She was quite simply the moon
princess. That alone was enough for anyone to straiten their
posture. When Serena's mother had found out about the war on
Earth, she had tried her best to keep out of it. But when talk
came about that the Enemy's next stop was to be the moon,
Serenity decided to bring the war to a swift end and she sent her
only daughter away to help Earth with a heavy heart. Serena was
sent to Earth as a regular recruit. She sighed and began her
morning exercises and stretches. Though she was friends with the
people in her cabin, she barely knew any of their lives. Sure
she knew their likes and dislikes like any friend would, but she
still felt that she didn't know them. She yawned, and careful
not to awaken her sleeping friends, crept out to the water
reserve not far from her cabin. She took a sufficient amount to
wash her knee-length hair. Her superiors wanted her to cut it,
but she refused stubbornly. She would NEVER cut her hair short. 
But she always kept it in a long, golden braid in a crown around
her head, or of course, her ever-famous meatballs. In case
anyone was watching, she had to put up a lame act of struggling
with the two large buckets of water. She dumped the water into a
large, crude, metal tub basin. She tiptoed to her cot and pulled
out the special soap her mother had sent with her. She only
shared the soap bars with her friends, because she knew that if
it was ever found, it would be taken away. She undressed and
crawled into the shockingly cold water. She began scrubbing
herself and the scent of roses filled the small bathroom and
wafted up to her nose. She made suds in her long hair, and
quickly rinsed off, ringing out her hair. She put on her robe
and carried the basin out back to empty it. She was grateful
that the girl's cabin was secluded and was surrounded by trees
on all sides, because she surely would have felt uncomfortable
with young men being able to see her clearly in her robe. She
went back in and slipped into her underclothes, breeches, and
frilly cotton shirt, and tunic. The tunic bore the king's
emblem, a cross with a dragon wrapped around it. Blue and
silver. She longed to be in her own white and gold. She got a
fire going and grabbed her fine blade. Her sword was quite the
talk of the camp. The blade was pure steel, the pommel, the
finest silver and gold. At the butte of the sword, was a
platinum crescent-moon. Serena kept it well guarded. She sat
down on the hearth, sharpening the blade and letting the fire dry
her hair. One by one, her friends awoke, each going on about
their morning routine. Before breakfast, Serena strapped on her
scabbard and braided her hair. The familiar sound of the trumpet
blasted through the rain-cleansed air. The others retrieved
their sword and the walked down to the mess-hall. Raye and Lita
placed a bet on whether or not there would be any girls amongst
the new recruits coming for the North border. Raye said there
would be no new girls. She was probably right. They found a
place to sit down and cringed at the same old slop they had every
morning. Lita wrinkled her nose. "They should let ME be in
charge of the cooking. Do you think they could let us practice
training on the chef?" Raye snorted. "Not if you don't want the
capitan down your throat." Mina nudged Serena. "Speak of the
devil. Here he comes." A man who would have looked like Conel
Sanders(the KFC guy) arrived in the mess-hall just as another
trumpet went off and everyone stood up straight and saluted. 
Capitan Barendieu was kind and understanding, but the man just
tried too hard to be a comedian. He loved to tell jokes, and
that would have been okay had he not been so bad at it. Just the
same, everyone decided it was best to go along with the act. He
gained his regular post on a platform in the front of the room. 
He signaled for everyone to sit. "At ease. As you all know, the
new recruits will be arriving soon. Some of you will become
their new training partners." There were some groans and some
sounds of approval coming from the crowd. Serena didn't really
mind. The girls weren't paired up with one another anyway. And
she really didn't like her present partner. Sean was a great
friend, but provided no real challenge in sword fighting. "I
will expect all of you at the docks at 0500 hours to greet the
new soldiers." That wasn't much time. Everyone hurriedly
finished their breakfasts and reported to the docks. Mina was
standing by Serena when the ship came into view. Mina said
exactly what Serena was thinking. "Kind of a big ship for a few
new recruits." A very large vessel, maybe as long as 100 yards
long and 50 yards wide, with a tall mast and white sails crept
closer. "We must have a lot coming." Serena watched,
fascinated, as they lowered the ramp and a figure appeared at the
top. He had midnight black hair and brooding blue eyes. He
scanned the crowd and started down the ramp, and behind him
followed about 40 new men. Serena guessed that Raye had won the
bet. She could see no women. The men were dispatched to their
new cabins. Serena could not take her mind off of the young man
she had seen, even as she was training with her partner. Being
unfocussed in sword fighting can be costly. "Ooooff!" Serena
took a painful kick in the side from her partner. He stopped to
look down on her. "What's gotten into you? You always pay
attention to your training." Serena grabbed her sword and stood
up. "I don't know, Sean. I guess I was just sidetracked." Sean
rolled his eyes and smiled. "Well, on with it, shall we?" Serena
got the feel of her sword back again like an old friend. 
"Ready." Sean lunged for Serena. She blocked the blow easily and
parried it. As the fighting grew more intense, Serena did not
sense the young man behind her watching her. "Ha!" Serena
laughed victoriously as she knocked the sword right out of Sean's
hand. Breathing hard, Sean grinned and said, "Got me again."
Serena felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. She turned to find
Capitan Barendieu with the young man standing behind him. She
snapped to attention. Barendieu smiled and said, "At ease."
Serena hardly relaxed. "I saw you fighting, and I think you
would make a good partner to young Darien here." Darien stared at
him in shock. "What?! How could you pair me up with a girl?! 
She doesn't look like a warrior to me." Serena felt the blood
rushing to her face. Oh really? She just put on a meek smile. 
"Well, you will just have to find out for yourself, now, wont
you?" Darien raised an eyebrow at her. "I suppose so." Her drew
his blade. He took a swipe at Serena's middle. Serena made
small; talk while they were fighting. "What's... your story
for.... coming to ...camp?" She sputtered out with the effort of
fighting. Darien just gave her a confused look. ".....My
parents felt...that I could help.....with the war effort." 
"Really? Mine too." A small crowd had gathered to watch them. 
"Darien....Do you..want to hear a secret?" Darien just glared at
her trying to figure out a way to beat her. "What?" Serena gave
him a sly grin. "The trick to winning a sword fight is..."
Quicker than they eye, Serena struck Darien's sword out of his
hand. They sword went flying and she caught it in the air by the
handle. "...to have a sword!" It took Darien a few minutes to
recover his senses. Then he bowed low. "Serena, sorry I
underestimated you. Maybe, sometime, you should care to show me
some of those moves?" Serena was about to reply when the Capitan
interrupted. "Wonderful! You will become partners right away! 
Sean, Will is your new partner." Sean winked at Serena with a
slight frown. "Too bad he wont be able to keep me on my toes
like you do! I'll miss you!" Serena hugged him and promised
they would always be friends. With that, Sean and the General
left, leaving Darien and Serena alone. Darien bowed again. 
Serena suppressed a giggle. She was all too familiar with THAT
pose. "Such manners!" Serena remarked sarcastically. "But I am
NOT the kind of person you should be bowing to, I assure you."
Darien looked up at her, a bit shocked. "Such modesty! Anyway,
since we are to be partners, I feel I should get to know you
better. Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to lunch?"
Serena almost burst out laughing, but she held back because she
did not want herself to seem more ignorant than she knew she had
already made herself seem. "Of course. I'll be waiting under
the bell outside the mess-hall door." Darien surprised her even
more by taking her hand and kissing it lightly. Serena nearly
fainted. Oh THAT's rich! "Please sir. I assure you. I am no
porcelain doll that needs your special attention. He he. As you
saw yourself." Darien smiled and Serena felt her heart melt. "I
shall see you at the midday meal." With that, he turned on his
heals and started along the path that led to his assigned cabin,
leaving a dazed Serena. Darien was no sooner out of sight when
his friend Malachite stopped him in his tracks. "Are you
INSANE?!" Malachite stormed in a whisper. "What?" Darien asked
defensively. "You treated that girl like she was some kind of 
princess! She is sure to suspect who you are!" "So?"
Malachite felt the definite need to box this idiot in the ears. 
"If she finds out that you are the Dauphin of France*, this whole
operation goes under!" Darien rolled his eyes. "Don't worry
Malachite! I have everything under control!" "And I am the King
of Spain. Get real. Darien, you should've seen the look on your
face when you looked at her. She's got you wrapped around her
finger! Besides, if she finds out who you are, don't you think
she will love you for your tittle instead of you?" Darien paused
to take this in. He thought back to those innocent blue eyes. 
"No Malachite. I don't think that she is like other women." 
"Say what you want, Darien, but I think there is more to her than
meets they eye."

********** Dauphin of France*------In this story, Darien is the
Dauphin of France. The Dauphin,(pronounced Doe-fon or Doe-fawn)
is the name given to the heir of the throne by rightful birth. 
The story takes place in France, because this is where the
fighting is. Darien is the Dauphin of France, but he ends up
protecting the Earth. In my story, France in the dominant
country and this takes place before the plague hit France in the
early 1200s and before the new world was discovered.

**********Hey! I hope that wasn't too hard to follow! Well, I
g/g, but I really, really, really, want to hear what you think. 
This only my second fanfic and I want to know how I am doing. If
nobody likes it, I'll just stop it right here. Please e-mail me
and don't forget to read the other story posted by me, UNEXPECTED
OBLIGATIONS. Thanx a lot!!!!