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"Come on, Ami-chan!" Usagi was leading battle against her friend's eternal shyness, with Rei, Minako, and Makoto fighting at her sides. "You absolutely have to come to the ball tonight! If you didn't come, it would be .… it would be ...." she paused, searching for an appropriate term. "High treason!!" supplied Makoto eagerly. "That's right!" Minako chimed in. "And you wouldn't want Serenity to be angry with you, would you?" Thick lashes flickered for a moment over the sparkling blue eyes of the center of the conflict. The quiet princess was remaining so, her face not towards her friends, but a heavy leather-bound volume that was one of the girl's favorites. Of course, she wasn't reading at all, but she was sincerely giving it her best effort. "Aaaaay-meeeeee!!!!" Usagi whined loudly, echoes traveling up and down the empty corridor that Ami's spacious chair occupied. "You can't stay in this corner of a hallway all night! It isn't right for a young woman to be sitting alone when she could be dancing the night away!! And what could you possibly do otherwise?? Sit here and stare at that pile of paper for hours on end???" A calm turn of the book's page affirmed it was so. "Aaarrgh!!" The daughter of Serenity turned away in frustration. "Ami-chan," began Rei quietly, which was quite unlike her in a case such as this one, and it caused all of her friends to stop talking and turn to hear her next words, including Ami. Once she saw that she had the timid princess's attention, Rei continued, following her own suggestions for her friend as she said them. "You are going to close that dusty book…" she began, closing Ami's book, "get out of the chair…" as she helped her out of her chair, "…and come with us so that you can get a simple dress on before you make us all late." And with that she let the Mercurian princess down the hallway. For a moment the other girls just stood in their places, blinking from the sudden end to their war. But at a demanding motion from their victorious friend, they all scuttled after the two. * * * * Now, when Rei said "a simple dress," she had really meant the fanciest thing they could get that girl into, which was fairly simple for the other girls' tastes. After another brief struggle, and a bit of an argument over the fact that the girls had neglected to mention that this was a masquerade ball, and thus required even more extravagant dress. But that was easily won, as soon as one of the girls hinted at how less noticeable she would be without her shining face visible. The elegant ice-blue silk dress her friends had managed her into had far too many frills for function, Ami thought, excepting maybe to get caught on anything within reach. She found it suffocating and excessive, while at the same time it left her neck and chest far more open than she would have liked. She simply sighed to herself and permitted her friends to dress her as they would like. Well, she mused, at least it lets me breathe. Her short deep blue hair she would have left alone, but the girls had insisted upon beading it with small pearls and tiny white flowers. The ice-blue mask they gave Ami matched her dress, and covered only the top half of her face, down to the middle of her nose. The shoes were her favorite part about the whole thing -- the elegant boot having come into fashion, she found them sufficiently covering and not impossible to walk straight in. Finally, it seemed, the princesses had readied themselves and Ami twice over, and they left their rooms to seek the ballroom. * * * * The five girls eagerly scuffled through the large open doorway with a million other people, both rich and poor. Ami noticed this with relief. At least she wouldn't have to be stuck in that room with a bunch of snobbish dukes and duchesses. The people she found most intriguing to talk to were peasants and merchants, people who worked for their living, and worked hard. Nobility always discussed such trivial, surface things, but average citizens could talk about the truth behind all the glamour. When Ami drifted back into the conversation her friends were eagerly gossiping about the event. "I hear the Prince of Earth will be here tonight, and he's bringing his generals along with him!" Usagi bubbled happily. The others moaned, and Ami rolled her eyes along with them. "I guess we won't be hearing from our dear Usa-chan as soon as she spots him!" Makoto commented to the other four. "At least she'll only be chasing after one cutie tonight!" Minako affirmed, much to the indignation of Usagi. "Are you insinuating that I would chase after any man, cute or otherwise, with my dear Mamo-chan waiting for me on his Earth???" she demanded. Ignoring this, Minako continued. "Maybe we'll get a chance at some of the guys here tonight, without Usa-chan monopolizing them all!!" Ami intervened in the ensuing war with a detached voice. "Who would want a chance at them, anyway? Really, you two, I don't see what you find so exciting about letting a man step on your toes all night long." The two girls instantly stopped in wonder and focused their attention on the quiet princess. "You can't honestly mean to tell us, Ami, that even though you don't walk up to them and ask for it, you don't even want a man to love you???" Usagi questioned with a shocked expression. "You don't want someone to hold you in his arms and whisper to you how wonderful you are??" "To send you letters full of love and always buy you presents...." Minako continued romantically, her eyes focusing on something distant. "To pine for you when you're not around and then rejoice when you come to him..." The others eagerly chimed in. "To dance with you until the soles of your shoes wear off, but never tire of it..." "To be content to simply sit with you nearby and stare for hours into your loving eyes..." Ami stopped her friends' reverie quickly and without ceremony. "You are forgetting, friends, that all those things require a great deal of attention, which is not really what I'm looking for in any person. So lets just move on and you all can tell all your dance partners about it while I sneak off with a good novel...." "Oh, no you don't!" The girls grabbed the retreating Ami and dragged her off into the party. Tables and chairs were set up all around the edges of the dance floor, providing rest for weary dancers and a place to set the elegant snacks and drinks that lied waiting to be eaten on long tables at each end of the room. Usagi immediately led the girls to one such table and proceeded to fill a plate with sugary goodies. After the girls had gotten what refreshments they wanted, they headed for a table to sit at and wait for requests to dance, as proper ladies would do. Ami would have just as soon chosen a less-obvious table and not waited for prospective partners to seek her out, but her friends headed for a table that was front and center, and Ami was helpless to follow. Once seated, the girls chattered away, but Ami was silent. Just being around all these people made her muscles tense and her eyes widen. She tried to make her body relax, and hopefully thus, her mind, but her efforts went in vain. She slowly sipped her glass of juice to conceal her discomfort, but could only guess at her success at hiding it. At any rate, her topmost priority was to remain hidden amongst her friends, so she might as well work towards keeping her sanctuary in place. When she returned to the moment, however, she noticed that Usagi was already gone. Smothering a bit of distress, she inquired to her the remaining girls as to her whereabouts. "As predicted, she ran of with our dear prince at the soonest possible moment," Rei answered with only the slightest jealous twinge in her voice. Ami nodded and proceeded to talk with Rei, Makoto, and Minako. Soon, however, she was left quite alone as her friends were taken off by handsome men, all likely to step on their feet, Ami thought. She had learned to dance easily and quickly, and positively loved to do it, even though she did so rarely. The part she found so distasteful about it all was the partner. In order to fly across the floor, she was forced to let a man get far closer than she would have let even the closest friend, and let him drag her about the floor as he so pleased. She had found in her past experience that it was a rarity to find a partner that actually could dance, and dance well. She sighed to herself and eagerly chatted with Makoto, her only friend not snatched up by some unknown male, and hoped desperately that she wouldn't have to go through that ordeal. Makoto saw her distress and did her best to comfort her. "Ami, you know, it's not so bad dancing with a guy," she offered. "It's only for a few minutes and he can hardly begin to ask you your name if you don't want him to." Ami smiled weakly and tried to accept the well-thought words, but couldn't for anything tell her friend her real reasons for not wanting to dance. Too soon for Ami's will, Makoto was asked to dance. The tall princess looked at her quiet friend as if to ask permission. With a heavy heart, Ami shooed the girl off to have fun with her partner. Makoto smiled with sympathy and well-wishing and then got up to accept. Makoto didn't really want to leave her friend in such distress. She knew how much the poor girl hated being put in uncomfortable situations, and leaving her alone to wait for that situation to come to her was just as unfair. It was really too bad that she was so unsociable -- all of the other girls had so much fun with things like this. And poor Ami just sat there working herself into a deeper and deeper fret. Makoto was silent as she danced, trying to think of a way to help her friend. "Uh.....Princess?" came the request. Makoto looked up to her partner and noticed him for the first time. Later came the realization that the man had recognized who she was. "How -- how did you know who I am??" She came back to the moment slowly and in segments. The man across from her smiled with a bit of embarrassment. "Well, you do stand out." Makoto almost blushed from the statement. And something else, she thought... I wouldn't blush simply from a compliment... "Princess?" he asked again, with more courage this time. "Yes?" Makoto brought herself to the moment once again. "I was just wondering why you were so quiet. I have heard that you aren't quite the silent type." Now there was a bold statement, Makoto thought to herself. But she didn't take offense, for it was perfectly true, and answered with as much bluntness as her partner. "It's my friend, actually. She gets so shy at these sorts of things, and never really has any fun." "And you were trying to find a way to get her to have fun?" Makoto nodded, and he looked thoughtful. Positively plotting! Makoto thought with excitement. "Well, I may know someone who can help." The princess' eyes sparkled in enthusiasm. "Who? Where?" she inquired eagerly. "My friend, Zoicite." Makoto was taken aback. This was one of the generals? Why didn't she notice before? And which one was he?? He saw her questioning expression and smiled. "I'm Nephrite, of Prince Earth’s four generals. Zoicite's really a life-of-the-party kind of guy -- he can get any girl to have a great time. He is a bit vain about it, but I'm sure your friend will be laughing in no time." Well, he's certainly got his work cut out for him, Makoto thought. But any chance was better than none. She nodded. "Let's see what your Zoicite can do!" * * * * The Mercurian princess sat at the table alone and, as her friend had predicted, was working herself into a highly advanced state of nervousness. She kept trying to take deep breaths and calm down but she was so anxious she could see the liquid shaking in her glass when she held it off the table. Suddenly she sneezed lightly, and looked up to see Makoto glancing her way while spinning across the floor with the partner she left with. A small chill went through her as she realized what this bode. This is going to be bad, she thought. Very bad.
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