Let's see... Does a good story begin "Once upon a time..." or "My name is..."? I don't know, for while this story, my story, has all the elements that make up life-- things like romance, angst, drama (AN:...hehe Relena), happiness, loneliness, friendship, and solitude, it isn't necessarily a good story. But, like I said, it's mine. And by now, I'm sure you're wondering who I am.

In my life, I have been called many things: Selene, Serenity, Serena, Usagi, Cosmos, Sailor Moon, Neo-Queen Serenity...The list goes on. In a few of my lives, I actually got the chance to be normal...but that was one out of a thousand.

This story starts when I was Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom.

* * * *

Countless Years Before....

* * * *

"But why?" Serenity whined to her mother. "Why can't I hang out with them anymore!! They treat me like I am equal....they don't care I'm the Princess of the Moon!"

Selenity, a frustrated look upon her face, replied, "That is exactly it, musume. LOOK AT YOU! Your hands are callused, you know how to fight, and you are MUDDY! (AN: Not to mention she no longer separates her contractions) For Selene's sake, YOU ARE A PRINCESS, AND AS SUCH, you are to leave the fighting to the Planet Princesses and Princes. They are here to protect YOU, not vice versa!! Therefore, no more training at ALL with the Princes."

"But mother..." Serenity protested.

"I don't want to hear it child," Selenity interrupted. "Now, the delegation from Earth is here, so get cleaned up and prepare to meet your betrothed, Prince Endymion."

"WHAT!!!" Serenity's face was pure shock.

Selenity stood up from the chair in her private study, silvery dress rustling as she turned her back to the surprised, frustrated, tear-stung face of her daughter. It was an obvious dismissal.

* * * *

'Ooooohhhhhh!!!' Serenity fumed silently, her French-braided golden hair flapping as she stormed down the hall. 'Why won't she even listen to me!? She never even asked me if I wanted to marry that dumb Endy-baka. SHE NEVER EVEN TOLD ME I WAS BETROTHED TO THE KONOYARO! And she doesn't even consider my reasons for training with the court.' Serenity glared down at her callous-roughened, slightly chalky hands. (AN: in case the reference to chalk isn't understood, people such as mountain climbers or swordsmen put chalk on their hands in order to keep the sweat from making their grip slippery.) 'What if something happens to the court? Who would protect me the...!'

"OOF!!" Serenity fell flat on her butt, the breath knocked out of her, as she turned the corner leading to the Royal Wing.

"You should watch where you're going, Moon-face," A bright, mischievous voice mocked.

Serenity looked up. "It's not my fault that the great Shinigami can't see around corners."

A dark, rich laugh cut through the air...and a pale hand came into Serenity's line of sight.

"Would you like a hand up, Serenity?"

"Thank you, Duo," the Moon Princess replied, grabbing onto the hand. She was promptly pulled to her feet.

"Daijoubu ka, hime?" Duo asked, the braided 17 year old looking deep into his friend's sky-lit eyes. "You look...angry."

Serenity stomped one of her delicate, steel-toe boot shod feet. "Darn right I'm angry," she declared. "My mother won't listen to me! The minute she found out that I was training with you guys, she summoned me into her private study and decreed that I would stop training with the five Planetary Princes, and then she decided that training with the Princesses was unacceptable as well. Then she told me to get cleaned up, as my new betrothed whom she had not even bothered to ask me about before she signed the damn contracts, nor did she inform me afterward about him, had just arrived." Serenity's tirade slowly ran down, and her breathing began to calm.

Duo had backed away to a nice, safe distance. While he wasn't exactly afraid of the Tsuki no Hime, it was better not to get close to her in a rage...she was a lot like the Princesses of Mars and Uranus in that respect. However, Serenity's story had sparked Duo's curiosity. He hadn't heard of her betrothal either...and he had a feeling that if one of his best friends had known about it, the betrothed guy would be dead now.

Duo took a step closer, violet eyes wide, and asked, "So who's the lucky guy, Serenity?"

"Prince Endymion of Earth." She bit off.

Something clicked in Duo's mind...'Hmmm...didn't Heero mention something about an Endymion? I think he did...but what was it!?'

"Oooohh. Why can't I remember?" Duo shouted.

"Remember what, Duo?" Serenity asked, looking confused.

"Remember...that I have to see Ami-chan, Sere. So I'll see you later." Duo rushed, trying to cover his lapse.

Serenity's face brightened. "Tell Ami-chan I said 'Hi', okay?"

"Sure, uh-huh, buh-bye, Hime-sama," Duo called, slowly backing down the hallway before turning around and running, his trademark four foot braid flying out behind him.

The Tsuki no Hime watched until Duo turned a far corner in the marble corridor, then she turned around and started again on her way to her rooms.

'Geez...that sure was weird.'

* * * *

Duo had stopped the minute he turned the corner, and waited for Serenity's footsteps to fade away. His violet eyes, normally so full of vigor and life and laughter had changed imperceptibly. Now, his eyes only held concern, worry, fear, and a barely perceivable determination...

Black lights began to shimmer around him, as the fun-loving Duo called forth his 'Ultra' Personality....Shinigami. Black leather pants appeared as did knee high black leather boots. A crimson silk shirt hung loose over a white undershirt, and two wide silver bracelets engraved with the planetary signs of Saturn and of Mercury circled his wrists. A silver cross nestled comfortably at the hollow of his throat and a black circlet formed under the loose bangs. Shinigami then called his scythe into existence.

"What the HELL!" Duo exclaimed, the cold yet sympathetic look Shinigami held in his eyes changing momentarily back into that of Duo Maxwell's normal expression...then it reverted, and he whistled softly. "What the Goddess just happened (AN: kind of weird, huh...Duo being Shinigami, yet using an oath meant to attract a different divine spirit)? The normal transformation is armor...this one is new."

Shinigami cursed again...'I'm forgetting why I transformed in the first place.' The brown-haired braided man sighed. 'He's not going to be happy with this. But hey...' and the God of Death got to work.

*Heero,* he called and waited for a few minutes. *Heero!* Shinigami called again, more insistently and waited for another little while. *Damn it! ARES!*

*WHAT!* The voice of Heero Yui, otherwise known as Ares, entered into Shinigami's head. *What in Selene's name do you want, Shinigami? And this had better be good or else omae o korosu.*

The irony of that statement struck Shinigami as funny. *Kill Death!!??* He laughed. *That's a hoot*

*SHINIGAMI!* Ares yelled.

Duo sobered immediately. As funny as the thought of Heero coming after the god of Death was, he really didn't want his friend angry...oh no, it was a bad idea to anger the God of War. *Heero, what do you know about the Prince Endymion of the Earth?*

*Why?* Heero asked guardedly.

*Because he's coming here to meet Serenity-hime...his betrothed* Duo hesitated at the last statement...telling Heero that Moon-face was betrothed would be like someone calling Wufei aka Shenlong, a baka onna.

And Shinigami was ever so correct.

*DAMMIT!!!! I did NOT think that Queen Selenity would go so far! I knew she wanted a truce with Earth badly, but KUSO. She wasn't supposed to make a decision before I had presented my case against Endymion. THIS IS NOT GOOD, SHINIGAMI!*

Despite the distance between the God of War and the God of Death, Shinigami could still feel Heero's powers surge, a seething, boiling, feeling very unlike the aura Heero normally gave off... "Uh-Oh." Duo muttered, "Heero's going to go hurt something unless he calms down."

*ARES!* Shinigami called. *PUT THAT CONTROL YOU ARE SOOOOO PROUD OF BACK INTO PLACE!!! You are about to fry the city.*

Only silence came back.

*DAMN IT ARES! Think about Serenity! And how she'll feel...NOT TO MENTION THE INNOCENTS YOU ARE GOING TO HURT IF YOU DON'T CONTROL THAT TEMPER OF YOURS!*

A softly muttered reply reached Duo's ears...not his mind. "I hate it when you are right." Before Duo stood Ares, not in his normal black armor and red cape, but something very similar to Duo's latest transformation.

He wore black and a red the color of barely oxygenated blood. His pants, like Shinigami's, were black leather, but looser than the God of Death's skin tight ones...mainly to hide the myriad weapons Ares never went without. A black leather jacket (AN: I know that it is sooo unlikely that they'd have black leather jackets but these outfits are extremely important later...ok maybe not extremely, but I like them!) hung loosely over a white skin-tight shirt and blood-red vest. The only accessories to the new outfit, besides the normal weaponry, were a single gold earring combining the sigils of Mars and the Moon and a red-gold circlet underneath the wild brown hair.

"Shinigami?" The normally emotionless man asked. "What on Mars are we wearing? What happened to the ARMOR we are supposed to be wearing?"

Shinigami simply looked at Ares. "I have no idea. These outfits are more than a little strange..." He broke out laughing. "And you look hilarious."

Ares simply glared. The God of Death stopped laughing. "Anyway, what are we going to do about Endymion and Serenity?"

"I don't kno...." An extremely loud, extremely angry voice cut through Heero's admission.

"SHINIGAMI!!!! WHAT THE DEVIL HAVE YOU DONE TO OUR NORMAL TRANSFORMATIONS?"

"Eep! It's Wufei! And he doesn't sound too happy! Ares, hide me!" The oh-so brave Shinigami cried.

"Too late," Ares spoke, his mouth twitching just a little. "He's already here."

While Duo had been cowering behind Heero, Shenlong had arrived. In a whirlwind. Without a whole lot of warning. Which made Ares have to throw up a shield. And that didn't make him too happy. And as Shinigami had pointed out earlier, an unhappy Ares is an unpleasant Ares.

THWACK!!! A dagger barely missed the whirling form of Shenlong, burying itself hilt deep into the marble column behind him.

The whirlwind stopped.

"That's enough." Heero stated, hand still outflung.

Shenlong, God of Dragons and Justice, simply stared. "He got you, too, Ares, and you say that that is ENOUGH??!!"

Heero finally got a good look at Wufei. The normally white and blue clad teenager was now wearing a pair of loose dark green pants of an indescribable material. He wore a white undershirt of the same material, a silver dragon had been emblazoned upon it...the leather jacket at his side had the same emblem. Around his neck dangled a ring on a silver chain. If you looked close enough at the ring, a tiny pattern had been picked out in the signs of Uranus and Jupiter. In addition to the clothes, two katanas were strapped across his back, and a sheath for an unknown weapon hung at his hip. The God of Dragons was deadly enough alone, Heero thought, but with the katanas he was practically unbeatable...unless he challenged his sister, his girlfriend, or was dumb enough to challenge Heero himself.

"Look at Shinigami, Shenlong." Ares stated.

Shenlong took his angry gaze off of Ares long enough to see what Ares was talking about. He took a deep breath. "Alright, if Shinigami didn't do it...who did? And why? It's not like these things are very useful for protecting those we are supposed to protect."

"Who knows? The way today is going, it probably means Fate decided to play a joke. On us."

" What else could have gone wrong today, Ares?" Wufei demanded. "Are the girls alright?"

"So far as I know, they..." Heero's response was interrupted by a loud shriek coming from the Royal Wing. "SERENITY!"

Autumn Hime: Well, that's the end of this chapter. Does this seem similar to anybody's? I can't decide whether this is mostly original or completely unoriginal.I know it's bad habit to start a fic and then start another one without finishing the first, but I have soo many crazy ideas running around on slips of paper, the more that I get down, the better.

Hope you enjoyed!