It was getting late and, honestly, Endymion was quite tired, but the thought of spending even just a few more minutes with Serenity was enough to make him ignore his exhaustion. The gardens were amazing at night; within the threes, tiny globes of light seemed to dance amongst the branches with the artificial wind, and the pathway was lit from below, as if they were travelling on a softly glowing river.

"It's the stones," Nephrite revealed, bending down to pick up a luminous pebble and bouncing it in his hand.

"I've heard of corals that do the same thing," Zoisite mused, taking the stone from him and walking off, examining it closely. Nephrite rolled his eyes and took up another stone to toss as they walked. As they moved through the garden, admiring the up-lit greenery, they eventually came across the very outlet wherein he, Nephrite and Zoisite first saw the senshi and Serenity, and Endymion smiled to see the blonde princess perched on the side of the fountain, right where she had been. This time, however, she was looking out at them, smiling and gently kicking her feet as she and her friends waited.

"You really must tell us about the shortcut you use to get here," Kunzite remarked, taking a seat on the giant stone to one side of the fountain.

Venus winked, "Where would the fun be in that?"

"So," Jupiter smiled mischievously as everyone settled, Endymion deciding to take a seat beside Kunzite as Serenity was surrounded by Mercury and Venus, the latter of which was leisurely braiding one of the princess's long pigtails with a fond touch. "Your bet – who won?"

The bet? Endymion's brows furrowed and he glanced over at Nephrite. Had they really forgotten about the bet? What had his time been?

"Well," Kunzite smiled, reaching into the inner pocket of his coat, "Cretair and Leran were nice enough to hand the winner the results, and I have them right here."

"No way!" Jadeite stood up and reached for the slip of paper, which Kunzite casually handed over, completely nonplussed. The blonde scanned the results sheet, scowling, "But you only beat me by six seconds!"

"Six well-earned seconds," Kunzite shrugged.

Jadeite rolled his eyes and handed the paper back, then crossed his arms and looked to Venus. "So, what do we have to do?"

Venus cocked her head to the side, her blue eyes as confused as Serenity's were curious. "What do you mean?"

"I couldn't think of anything for a prize if I won the bet," Kunzite explained, a touch of humor in his voice, "So I thought I'd let you choose something potentially embarrassing for them to do."

"Oh ho," Venus looked remarkably sinister at that moment, "How exciting…. I choose…" she seemed lost in thought, her eyes moving from face to face, meeting his gaze twice as the gears in her head slowly turned. With a smile, she turned to Serenity and cupped a hand around her mouth so they couldn't lip read her idea. Jupiter, Mars and Mercury leaned in to hear the idea, and in a flurry of whispers and giggles, the Princess of Venus turned to them with a rather haughty look on her face. "Makeovers."

"What?" Zoisite choked.

"Makeovers," Venus repeated with a mischievous smile, "You know, where we dress you up, do your hair, and add some makeup?"

"Don't worry," Jupiter continued, her tone soft yet threatening, "We know what we're doing."

"And we won't do something as embarrassing as… say… holding a fashion show or anything afterwards," Mars lilted dangerously.

"Why do I think she's lying?" Zoisite commented, his tone a little put-off.

Jadeite laughed nervously, as though going along with a joke, "Right, no fashion show." He paused, his gaze changing from Mars to Kunzite as he spun a question, "Right? 'Cause that would be against the agreement – one embarrassing consequence, not two."

Kunzite shrugged, "I said it was up to Venus; I can't control whether the challenge is compound. You would have had us serenade you in front of the masses, so I don't see a problem here."

"Me neither," Nephrite agreed confidently. He shrugged, "Bring it on."

"Nah," Venus commented, flipping her hand as though brushing the notion aside, "she was just kidding; it takes too much effort to throw together a fashion show in less than a week, and with the festival coming up it'd be nigh impossible to have it seem anything but official business. You're off the hook for the fashion show."

"But we will insist you wear what we put you in for the entire night," Mars amended off-handedly, taking a seat beside Venus and pinning them with a look that dared them to protest.

Crossing his arms, Jadeite shrugged in agreement. Endymion felt a little relieved at the downgrade in potential embarrassment; he'd still be wearing whatever they come up with, but at least it wouldn't be in front of a lot of people. … just Serenity. …but they wouldn't… they wouldn't… would they?! Just what would they be dressed as?! In some of the Arabic subkingdoms when a sultana was in power over her region, she would sometimes surround herself with half-dressed men who would fan them all day long. Surely they wouldn't do something like – … would he wear something like that if Serenity requested? Looking at her now made his face feel flush, of course he would. He'd try to move mountains if she requested it of him; wearing something strange for her would be easy. Was the Moon Kingdom like that? He hadn't seen any men walking around without shirts on, but then – WHAT WAS HE THINKING?! He looked away quickly, embarrassed at how easily he was carried away, forcefully pushing thoughts of Serenity dressed in Arabic garb from his mind and hoping his face wasn't nearly as red as it felt, or, if it were, hoping that no one would notice.

But of course they did. He didn't see the girls' inquisitive looks, but he felt them, and was infinitely grateful when Nephrite seamlessly covered for him. "He's probably just thinking about how embarrassing Jadeite's concert would have been. A makeover is nothing compared to that."

"You really would have made them sing for you?" Jupiter asked, a brow quirked.

"Oh, not just to him, but about him," Nephrite was quick to correct.

"With rehearsals," Zoisite added. Serenity giggled.

"And what would you have had everyone do if you won?" Venus asked, smiling at Serenity's reaction. They told Serenity and the senshi of the proposed consequences for those who lost the race, stopping to explain about the snipe – "But everyone knows it's imaginary?"

"Pretty much."

"So, basically, you would look like a bunch of gullible fools while trying to convince other gullible fools to join you?"

"Pretty much."

"How long would you have had to hunt for this thing?"

"We didn't discuss," Zoisite said, looking to Endymion for his input.

Endymion shrugged, feeling fully recovered from his earlier embarrassment now as he replied, "At least two days."

Jadeite scoffed, and Nephrite chuckled, "Makeover's sounding pretty good right about now, eh?"

"We would've looked like a bunch of loons!" Jadeite replied, and as the word slipped, he, Endymion, and the rest of the Earth consort immediately became uncomfortable, which was, in hindsight, the worst thing they could have done.

"'Loon'?" Mars repeated, almost dangerously, "That wouldn't happen to be a derogatory word stemming from 'Lunar', would it?"

Serenity's face fell from curiosity to veiled sadness as she considered Mars's words, and immediately Endymion knew he would never use that word again. "It's not like that," he assured quickly, and all eyes were on him. He floundered, attempting to think up the best explanation possible but coming up with nothing because, in all actuality, Mars was correct, despite how much he wanted it to be otherwise. Despite how much he wanted to keep Serenity's hopeful gaze. He was stuck, dead in the water and losing them.

"It's a long story, actually," Kunzite commented, coming to his rescue, "Stemming from old superstitions about the powers of the full moon."

"It's actually rather interesting," Nephrite added, "All the stories so many cultures have put together stemming from that time of the month, all the oddities they say a full moon will summon."

"But nothing negative about the full moon itself," Zoisite added succinctly, "Just the magic that it brings to bear in humans."

The girls were quiet for a moment, before Venus quirked a brow at Mars and pressed, "Magic, huh?"

Jadeite rolled his eyes enough to make a show of it and sighed, "Again, all superstitious hooey. 'Loon' is now generally used to mean crazy person –"

"To reflect how illogical it is to believe in old superstitions about the moon causing transformations and making people insane," Kunzite interrupted before Jadeite threw them back into mad explanations.

"Transformations?" Venus replied, a smile at her lips as she casually turned from Mars to Mercury and Jupiter. She seemed to be playing with them, but after a slip-up like 'loon' they could do whatever they wanted, in his mind. He'd expect the same sort of thing if one of them had mentioned Earth or Terra as slang for something negative.

"Yes," Zoisite said, his voice getting lower and slower, as though preparing to tell a ghost story, "Like men into bloodthirsty wolves."

The girls were quiet, the knowing look slowly being replaced with nervous disbelief.

"You're kidding," Jupiter replied.

"No," Zoisite responded, "Legends from all across the world tell of these monsters that charade as men until the power of the full moon releases their inner strength and bloodlust." The girls were paying rapt attention as Zoisite told the tale, completely oblivious to Nephrite as he crept around behind them. "They hide amongst normal people, living normal lives, just biding their time as the moon goes through its phases, biding their time until…"

"BLEH!" Nephrite yelled incoherently as Zoisite finished in a shout, "They transform into wolves!"

Serenity shrieked, cowering behind her hands; Mars jumped, Venus jumped up and swerved as though ready for action. Mercury suddenly had a small book in her hands, but Jupiter… Jupiter yelled right with Serenity but had turned immediately and slugged Nephrite in the arm.

"Ow!" Nephrite complained, though he smiled as he stepped away, grasping his arm about the sight of impact.

"Serves you right!" Mercury piped up, looking cross as the book she had been holding suddenly disappeared. She turned immediately to put a hand on Serenity's back comfortingly. The Princess was still shocked.

"I hope you bruise," Mars added crossly, turning to comfort her Princess as well until the blonde girl started laughing hysterically. The senshi relaxed then, all of them; Venus joined in first, laughing just as heartily, then Mercury, chuckling quietly as her Princess beside her was doubled over, holding her stomach she was laughing so hard.

"I was so scared!" she enthused, "You were like 'BAH!' and Deme just punched!" she was nearly breathless from laughing – at this point he couldn't help but smile, but the look of nervousness on Zoisite's face still had him wondering if they had done something terribly wrong. Remembering how quickly the girls had reacted to the bear, Endymion wondered just how close Nephrite had come to being pummeled with one of their attacks, and suddenly understood Zoisite's trepidation.

"Do you have any more?!" Serenity asked excitedly, practically irresistible. If Endymion had any truly scary stories to recite, he would have started immediately.

Zoisite still looked unsure; Jadeite looked downright hesitant, staring at Nephrite who minutely shook his head to signify that he wasn't badly hurt. Endymion didn't quite believe him. Venus seemed to pick up on the cues and instead looked skyward, "It's actually getting a little late," she commented, "Maybe another night for scary stories?" she asked, giving Kunzite an apologetic look. Jupiter stood and spoke quietly to Nephrite, who quickly dropped the hold on his arm and shrugged, rotating it nonchalantly.

"That sounds good," Kunzite replied politely, and Venus nodded.

Mars and Mercury stood, Serenity following their lead. "We're going ice skating tomorrow night, so how about Wednesday?" the Princess asked brightly.

She was looking right at him; he smiled and nodded, sure that if anything had been planned for that night, the other activity could be rearranged for another time. She smiled and gave a little wave, wishing them a goodnight as she and her guardians exited the gardens. They started walking back the way they had come, and only once they were sure they were out of earshot started whispering.

"Are you hurt?" Kunzite asked, standing beside Nephrite.

"It's just a bruise," the brunet responded. "When she wheeled around I could tell that she pulled her punch as soon as she recognized me. I'm fine."

Kunzite asked again, his tone now serious and directing, "Are you hurt?" There was a different intent around the phrase; the first was to ascertain Nephrite's general health, to see if he needed medical attention; now it was to establish Nephrite's ability to perform his duties. Endymion doubted that they would actually need to protect him here in the Moon Kingdom, despite the dissatisfied members of the crowd at the zoo the other day, but they all understood that his protection was Kunzite's main priority.

To demonstrate, Nephrite whipped his arm around as though brandishing his sword; the movement was less than fluid, but manageable. "Like I said, I'm fine."

"Perhaps taking it easy on the surprises would be best where the Princess's Guardians are concerned," Zoisite commented.

"Or just request that they go "off duty" when we're hanging out," Nephrite offered as an alternative, furrowing his brows at Zoisite's suggestion, "Did you see their faces? The surprise was perfect. And, like I said, Jupiter pulled her punch when she recognized me, and now that we've got a night planned for ghost stories they'll be expecting it so they won't blow our brains out. Serenity loved it – I bet they'd accept coming as Demeter, Aphrodite, Bellona and Athena if it made her happy!"

"And what if they can't?" Jadeite replied, "What if they're always on duty but for official functions?"

"Then we might have to be weary of our actions when we're with them," Zoisite replied, "Or maybe deign other activities to pass the time with."

Endymion didn't like where this conversation was heading at all. He enjoyed spending time with Serenity and her Senshi – he liked watching how his friends interacted with them and didn't particularly enjoy the idea of them changing their habits or personalities in an attempt not to startle the girls into accidentally attacking; he especially wasn't comfortable with the underlying notion that they were suggesting all of this – focusing and discussing in detail about an otherwise harmless play – to guarantee his safety. "I would like to continue on normally, if possible. If we are having conversations like this I'd bet they are, and their concerns are probably along the same line as ours – if not a little more serious since we are dignitaries from Earth. I'd prefer we not change what we've been doing."

Nephrite nodded in agreement, Jadeite and Zoisite looked a little weary, but accepting, and Kunzite cryptically replied, "I'll speak to Venus tomorrow."

Author's Note:

ZOMG THE STORY BACK FROM THE GRAVE! 8O Chokay, so I'll keep working on this story as random "teehee write fun time" stuff ^_^ I have Wednesday planned to death and Friday is already written (heh heh, has been for a while now~) so writing Tuesday's ice skating and figuring out what happens on Thursday might trip me up a bit, so sorry if the next update takes a while. ^^' It shouldn't take as long as this one did…

! Oh! But if you like this story with Endymion, might I self-promote Cardinal King? Now that Summer is over I'mma get back to work on that humor/drama!

Thanks for reading! 3