Chapter 6 Danielle walked up to the Palace Guard the next day, "I'm so glad that this storm is finally over!" "Yeah, I know! I much prefer days like this," he nodded in agreement. "Have a good day Danni!" "You too!" she smiled back and entered the palace. The senshi had told her to wait in the lobby until someone came and got her. Queen Serenity appeared and Danielle stood up. "Your Majesty," she courtseyed. "Danielle, I want to apologize. We've all been in bad moods lately, especially me." "That's all right. I know I came at kind of a bad time," she smiled. "Hopefully some of your cheerfulness will rub off on all of us," Serenity laughed. They made their way to the main offices. "How do you become so strong fighting like that?" the queen asked, "I mean you defeated our most impulsive and focused senshi when you beat Sailor Mars." "Well, you see, I had a pretty rough childhood, and an even worse adolescence. I've almost been trained to the point where I become a totally different, totally aggressive person when I fight. You saw that," she bit her lip as she said the next line, "A lot of it comes from my dad... As for focusing, I HAVE to be, or else I might sing something like ' Show me what you got,' and if I'm not concentrating hard enough on what I want to happen, we might end up seeing the enemy from the inside-out," she chuckled. "Wow, I hadn't thought of that. There'd also be phrases with 'I' that would end up hurting YOU, huh?" "Yep." "Anyway, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but there's something that comes along with being a new senshi..........paperwork; not my idea, but it must be done," Serenity informed. Danielle looked at the 5 inch stack of papers in front of her and rolled her eyes and a sweatdrop appeared over he head, "Great," she said slowly. "If you need me, I'll be in the conference room with Endymion fine- tuning the plans for the new city park. Sailors Mars, Venus and Jupiter are down at the training level giving lessons to the Juniors; Mercury-" "Let me guess; Library?" Danni smiled. Serenity smiled and nodded, "And Pluto, well, she's always around somewhere or another." "Thanks," Danielle sat down at the table. <> <> <> <> <> Danielle was halfway through the questionnaire when Pluto walked in giving her an odd look. Danielle knew what that meant. "You know don't you?" Danni assumed. Pluto nodded. "Please," she began to beg. "Don't worry," Pluto stopped her, "Your secret's safe with me. But you know, if Andrew is ever going to help us too, you're going to have to tell them sooner or later." "I know. I will eventually, but I want them to know I'm trustworthy. Endymion and I are so different almost total opposites; I don't want them to think I'm a liar when I tell them." "I can see your point." "Besides, I've been going over this ever since I decided to return home, and I still don't know where to start. Not to mention, none of them even remember anything about me yet." "Just remember: The longer you wait, the harder it'll be," Pluto advised. Danielle nodded. <> <> <> <> <> When she was finished, Danielle gave the papers to the receptionist, and was going to go talk to Mars, Venus and Jupiter to apologize for the other day, but she ran into Endymion before reaching them. "King Endymion," she walked over next to him. "Hey," he said. "Hey. So what's the new park gonna look like?" "I won't bore you with the details, but I will say there's going to be one heck of a garden." Danielle smiled, "Plenty of roses, I'm sure." "You bet. Hey, has anyone told you about the ball yet?" "Ball?" "Geez, no one told you yet, and half of it's in your honor." "Me?" "Yeah, it's a celebration of our victory over Zeldelak and the newest senshi." "Wow, don't I feel special," she said playfully, but at the same time thought, "His destruction and my return celebrated at the same time; how ironic." Endymion laughed, "Now you won't feel so out of place. It's customary for all the senshi to come de-transformed for every ball." "Cool." "Bring Motoki along too, we're eager to meet him." "Uh....I....don't think so," Danielle argued. "Why not? He can't be that bad." "No, I mean he's actually very good. It's just that...well....I don't know if...People might think...." she said keeping calm this time. "Just let him tag along," the king interrupted, "He doesn't have to do anything." "Your majesty.....Please," she started whining. "That's an order," he smiled playfully. She sighed and gave in, "Yes, your highness." "Has to meet him eventually, I guess," she thought. <> <> <> <> <> "Motoki?" Danielle called when she got home. "Still unpacking!" He replied from his new room. Danielle went in, helped Motoki put away the rest of his clothes and listen to him talk about his day. He mentioned a new friend that was going to teach him how to dance. "Speaking of dancing, There's going to be a ball at the palace, Motoki." "Really? Cool." "King Endymion wants me to bring you too." "Is that going to work? We only have the one mask, and I can't wear sunglasses in the Palace." "We'll have to find a way. If not, I guess I'll have to explain us earlier than I thought." "Well, it sounds like fun," Motoki nodded. "At least I should get to see Sailor Charon again," he thought.