Disclaimers- Sailor Moon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko-san, and not me at all! Also, to Toei animation, and though I hate to admit, the English version to Clover Wave and Dic. However, the original characters featured belong entirely to me, and the plot line is mine as well! If I catch any "thieves", you�ll have to face my wrath!

In this chapter:

It was 1:30 p.m. the day after the arrival of the Pluto no seito. They had awoken at 8 a.m., still awestruck by their surroundings�their grand bedroom in the Moon Palace. Between then and breakfast, they�d spent no time making themselves look beautiful, rather, unpacked since they hadn�t the night before. The trio had simply been much too busy exploring every detail of their room to even glance at their luggage then. After they lunch, promptly at noon, each took her sweet time making herself up to look as gorgeous as the royalty staying amongst them did.

On this day, Kokoro let her rose-red hair down completely-- a fluffy bunch of locks that fell to her shoulders. Putting it in curlers for an hour or so, it turned out not loopy, but wavy like the sea of the planet Nanaki. She�d lightly applied a pale lavender eye shadow to her eyelids, accenting her gorgeous violet eyes. As for apparel, she sported a long, silky, lavender dress spotted with dots of cerulean. Its sleeves were about a foot long, and didn�t cover her shoulders. From her left ankle to knee a slit in her dress showed her legs off, and her feet were graced with light blue sandals. She was very eager to show off her new look in public.

Shizuka took things slightly differently, not wanting to get so done-up, at least this early on. She wore a simple white yukata that displayed designs of black sakura flowers. Her hair was in the usual ponytail, but was light and soft from all the time and care Shizuka had put into brushing it. Her dark face showed no makeup; only natural beauty highlighted her. Her black-strapped wooden sandals made delicate noises as she walked about the room, preparing herself to be seen outside.

Kodomo was the slowest at making herself look like a shining princess. She wasn�t as good at it or as used to it as these other two were. For that matter, the lavender-haired girl wasn�t even a princess like the other two, so she had absolutely no previous experience. She decided to wear the lovely cerulean gown that had been given to her by her mother, supposedly. Sure, she wore it quite often, but it was a favorite of hers and she couldn�t decide on anything else. This dress was almost entirely made of silk, and looked slightly like an elaborate nightgown rather than a formal dress. Its shoulder straps were about an inch wide. The dress dipped halfway down her back, showing a bit of her skin. In the front, it looked like she wore a matching belt, but it was only the way the dress was made. The silk beneath the "belt" was a slightly ruffled for a "flowing" look.

Kokoro helped her with her hair and makeup. She left her two large buns on either side of the top of her head, but wrapped her ponytails each into a loop and secured the ends to her buns. The loops hung down just past her ears, and looked very cute with her blue eyes. Kokoro applied some pale pink lipstick to Kodomo�s lips, and then put very pale blue eye shadow above her eyes. When she was done, Kodomo looked like a beautiful, innocent young princess.

Now that they were all done, they decided it was time to strut what they had. Exiting their room (and trying their hardest to remember meeting Pluto at 3), they walked through the palace until they reached the gardens� exit. The three passed many nobles wearing very fancy clothing as well, but every now and then some people turned to look upon the girls.

Walking out the exit, they entered the gardens. There were many paths one could take. Kokoro was overwhelmed. "Sugooooiiii! Look at this one�it says �Elegant Hedge Maze�. Oooh, let�s try it!" Her light heart and carefree attitude seemed to match very little with her looks.

Shizuka shrugged. "If you want to, I�ll go."

Kodomo smiled. "Alright then! Let�s do it." At once, the glamorous three began on their way in. It became Kokoro�s idea to split up since the maze was like no other ever made. Each went their separate way. They didn�t need to worry about getting lost; there were plenty of other guests in the area as well.

There were four paths. Kokoro chose the one to the far right and never looked back. She was so amazed by the vastness and beauty of the maze that she didn�t want to give her attention to anything else. She walked quite a way� On her trail, she�d passed trellises of pink roses as well as bushes of red ones. �This must be a lovers� path,� she thought to herself with a giggle. After a short while, she noticed there seemed to be no one else to near to her. Seeing a small rest area up ahead, she turned into it. The only path that led in was in the "room�s" left corner�where she had entered. In the center of the place was a small, raised pond with glistening koi swimming around. There were two long, white benches that faced the pond, and she took a seat on the one on the left.

As she was admiring the lovely paintings of multicolored roses on the sides off the pond, her gaze trailed off a little to the side, and through the bushes she could just barely make out a face. It wasn�t directly on the other side of the bush before her and it wasn�t straining to look at her. The face was about five feet away from the other side of the hedge, and was casually glancing in her direction. She made out the very handsome face of a young man who must�ve been around her age. When her violet eyes caught his olive-green, she saw him blink with surprise and turn away. He began to walk away, but Kokoro didn�t want to lose him. She headed quickly out of the rest area and started looking for him.

Following the noises of fast-moving footsteps, she called out as calmly as she could, "Chotto matte! Please, show me who you are!" Her desire to see this young man grew with every second she searched for him.

Then, in the opposite direction she had been going, a voice spoke, "I can see you� But you have to find me." Whipping around, all Kokoro caught was a wisp of white hair as he began to move again. Finally, she caught him. She saw him, his whole figure, through the bushes. His side was facing her, so he didn�t have a clear view of her. He wore an ash-gray tuxedo with a white tie and red undershirt. He was certainly handsome.

Deciding to take her turn and taunt him now, Kokoro whispered, "Now I�ve got you! It seems you want to find me also, huh?" And, as before, she turned and began off before he could get a good look at her. Then, to Kokoro�s disappointment, she noticed she�d taken a wrong turn and had ended up at a dead-end. She sighed.

"Once again, I�ve found you! You�re kinda cute, too." This last sentence was spoken with a playful laugh, a very handsome one, too.

Without turning around, Kokoro said, "Wait! Really, this is getting old� and I have to return to my sensei soon. Please, can you just show yourself so that we may meet?"

"Not a chance!" the playful voice responded. "Go to your sensei then, and I�ll see you tonight, at the ball!" It sounded like a challenge, so, taking a deep breath of air, Kokoro began back the way she�d come.

Speaking to him, but really to nothing but air, she gave her final words. "Fine! Just wait!" All she heard after was his charming laugh, a laugh of pure enjoyment. From seemingly nowhere, a teal rose dropped in front of her. Smiling, she picked it up and carefully tied it to the upper corner of her dress.

Out of the maze at last, Kokoro saw she was the final one of the trio to exit.

"Geez, Koko-chan, what took you?" Kodomo questioned, apparently irritated. "It�s already nearly 3!"

"Ah, gomen ne! I had a great time!"

"Kokoro, it was only a maze," Shizuka told her, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah," Kodomo huffed. "In the one I chose I got stuck behind a big group of people who were really slow� it ticked me off! I didn�t think I�d be back in time. And Shizuka�s," she continued, pointing a thumb at the yukata-dressed one, "was almost as bad. She said it was hardly a maze at all� or more of an attraction for little kids!"

Kokoro kept a shining grin on her face. "Yeah, well mine was better. I can tell you about it later if you want, but we need to meet Setsuna-sama now!"

Back together, the three friends hurried into the main ballroom. They knew which one it was because they had studied the maps to the palace in their room the night before. They easily found Pluto, who greeted them with a warm smile.

"Atashi no seito," she began, "oh what mischief have you been up to today?" Her face showed she was only joking around.

"We�ve had great fun so far, Pluto-sensei!" the most lively of the girls, Kokoro, replied.

"Hontou? That�s wonderful. And Kokoro, that�s a beautiful rose you�ve found. I hope you didn�t take that from the garden�"

Kokoro just laughed a little. They and all the other guests turned to the stage in the room as the Princess Usagi walked out to begin the introductions with her mother who was already on stage. Kokoro touched the rose on her dress lightly in hopes she would see that mystery man once more.