Cats And Rabbits

I don't own Sailor Moon, or any of the characters, and all that fun stuff.

Prologue:

He paced.

Like some deadly cat kept caged in the royal menagerie, he crossed the full length of the room in a few lithe strides only to turn back in frustration. Every muscle in his body was taut. With his blue eyes flashing and his silky black mane in disarray he looked even more dangerous than the black panthers he favored.

He had found the edge of his proverbial cage, what would happen now was a mystery that many were frightened to see solved. He could resign himself, like the lions, and move back to the lazy life he had known before he discovered the cage. Like the cheetah, he could continue to pace the length of his enclosure testing every limit for the rest of his life. Either way, he would ultimately live in a cage.

Or there was the third option, the option that froze hearts when they saw it in his eyes. Like the black panthers he could fling himself against the cage, locked in an enduring struggle until he was free... Or dead.

For now he paced, while those around him watched with bated breath; afraid to make any sudden movements lest he be startled into fighting.

"Of all the hair brained ideas that have popped into Mothers head, why did he have to listen to this one!" With his nose a mere inch from the highly polished wood paneling on the wall he turned sharply on his heel. His flashing eyes met the clam blue scrutiny of his best friend Andrew's eyes.

Andrew was the cheery, collected counterpoint to his friend's moody spontaneity. In both personality and looks the men where like night and day. Andrew was of moderate height, with blonde hair and an easy smile; his friend towered over him, the typical tall dark and handsome mystery man.

Andrew shrugged; unable to step up to the challenge that flashed in his friend's eyes, unable to say what they both knew was the truth. "Calm down, Darien. I'm sure they will both have forgotten by tomorrow." They both knew it was a paltry lie.

"Miserable harpy." Darien muttered, running one hand through his hair.

Crown Prince Endymion of Earth, Darien to his friends, had been handed an ultimatum; choose a wife or have one chosen for you. Of course, it was never so simple as just going out and marrying some simple girl who would be grateful for his name and easy to put to the side. A common born wife would have solved to many of his problems, and would have been too easy to deal with. No, he had to marry an aristocrat. An Earthling Lady at worst, a Planetary Princess at best. Nothing could be easy.

His ever so loving mother had proposed a Convention of Peace, at the end of which he was to announce his engagement.

He could strangle the woman.

The convention would simply be a succession of balls, parties, and abysmally boring social events during which every eligible lady in the solar system would attempt to get her claws into him. They would want matrimony for power, and would be anything but biddable wives. The "Convention of Peace" would attract every empty headed, power hungry, pretty face in the vicinity. It would attract women like his mother, the type of women he had vowed never to marry.

Why had his father listened to that terrible shrew on this issue?

Darien knew why, he just refused to admit that his father was selling him for a little insurance.

The King was worried. There had been murmurs that the new rulers of the Moon Kingdom were preparing for war and garnering support in their bid for power; apparently winning their freedom wasn't enough for them. If war did break out again then the Earth would need every resource at their disposal, and as many allies as possible.

Of course, the promise of grandchildren to secure the Sheilds' line didn't hurt in making the King eager to see his son wed.

"What are you going to do?"

The prince shrugged as he draped himself over a plush arm chair. "Hell if I know." He let his breath go in a deep sigh, trying to dispel his anger. His mother might be an intolerable succubus but his father genuinely cared. "At least I won't have to deal with the Lunarian Princess."

Andrew's silence was disconcerting. It would be hard enough to deal with the six week long convention with out having to deal with an empty headed Princess who had an eye for his blood. "I don't... Do I?"

"No."

The Prince relaxed. "Don't scare me like that!"

"No, not the Lunarian Princess." The blonde refused to meet his friend's eyes. "But twelve of the Mare are coming."

"Damn!"

The Mare were the nineteen ruling houses on the moon. Each of the Mare had a large province to rule under the direction of the Royal house. In return for their cooperation each of the Mare had a voice in the Maria, the governing council that made decisions and advised the Royal house.

Absently Darien corrected his friend's pronunciation. "MAH-ray, Andrew. It is pronounced, MAH-ray. They aren't horses after all."

Darien could only begin to consider what trouble must be brewing if twelve of the nineteen Mare were coming to earth.

"I'm sure they aren't sending every member of the houses." Andrew responded, when Darien voiced his concern. "Maybe there are only twelve with daughters of the appropriate age. They won't look so much like spies that way."

"Ugh!" The prince hung his head. "So not only am I to be meat on a platter for thousands of women, I am also going to have to watch twelve little minxes to be certain that the do not stick a knife in anyone important."

Andrew smiled wickedly.

"This is unbearable!"

"I wouldn't know." Andrew said with a shrug. "I'm only the third son of a Lord so I won't inherit a penny. My only claim to fame is that I am best friends with the Crown Prince. Thus, no one ever tries to stick knives into me."

Darien stuck his tongue out. "I wish you all the luck with ladies sticking knives into you. You may have all twelve of the ones who wish to disembowel me."

"Don't be so hasty, your majesty." Andrew quipped with a mock bow. "I don't want them if they are as ugly as legend says."

Both men laughed heartily at this. No one on the Earth knew much about the Moon since it had stolen its freedom nearly ten centuries earlier, but it was said that the women who resided on the moon had absorbed some of the grey moon dust and now appeared as hags.

Darien wouldn't have been surprised if the Lunarian Princess was an air headed twit who lacked the cover of a beautiful face to lull the universe into overlooking her stupidity.