Crystal Flaws - Part 05 Crystal Ties

Terrance woke when a bright morning sunbeam rudely shone through the window and onto his face. He stretched and almost fell off the narrow bed he slept on. Opening his eyes in surprise, Terrance realized he had fallen asleep on the couch in the Library. He looked to the other couch and saw Hotaru was still there too and sound asleep. Terrance wondered who had come in and covered each of them with a blanket, but hadn’t woken them up.

Putting one hand under his cheek, Terrance unabashedly stared at Hotaru while she slept. He admired how the early sunlight made the purple highlights in her hair glow. He also noticed how her impossibly long purple-dark eyelashes rested against her cheeks and how her pale rosebud pink lips were pursed into a slight pout. He thought to himself, [She looks like a perfectly created and delicate porcelain doll.]

Lost in thought, Terrance didn’t notice Hotaru had opened her eyes. He blushed when he realized she had caught him staring at her, but quickly pulled himself together. “Morning, Sunshine,” he quietly said with a smile.

Hotaru blushed to the roots of her hair and turned to look at the ceiling. “I’m not a good morning person,” she quietly said. “I’m sure I look a mess.”

“Actually,” Terrance said, refuting her claim, “I was just thinking how pretty your hair looks with the morning sun reflecting off of it.”

Hotaru didn’t quite know how to respond to his statement and she felt kind of funny waking up with him there. Also, she couldn’t help noticing how incredibly good looking he was with the morning sunlight glinting mahogany in his hair and highlighting the deep midnight blue of his eyes.

The silence was stretching out between them and Hotaru quickly asked, “Who covered us up? Did you?”

Terrance shook his head no and shrugged his shoulders. He looked at her with a relaxed, slightly amused smile, which for some reason unnerved Hotaru. Pushing the cover off, she sat up quickly.

Terrance noticed Hotaru looked like she was going to run away. He also sat up and ran his fingers through his hair. “Um, are you hungry?” he asked her.

“No, not really,” she quietly answered as she stood and began to fold up the blanket she had used.

Terrance tried again. “We need to plan what we’re going to do today and I’m hungry. How about we have breakfast and we can decide what we’ll do then?”

Hotaru tossed the folded blanket on the couch as she said, “We don’t need to make any plans. I think I’ll go to my room instead.”

She turned to leave and Terrance was standing in front of her. He smiled. “Remember I told Sailor Venus we’d do things together while Serenity and Elios were gone? Do you want me to get in trouble with her? Please join me for breakfast,” he earnestly requested. “We’ll see what plans we come up with. If you still don’t want to be with me then at least I’ll be able to tell Venus I tried.” He ended his plea by giving her big, hopeful, puppy-dog eyes. With his tousled hair, Terrance truly was irresistible.

Hotaru sighed in defeat then nodded her head. Terrance’s smile grew as he offered her his arm. Tucking her hand in the crook of his arm, Hotaru allowed Terrance to lead her to the breakfast room.

When Terrance had been a Dark Kingdom Prince, he had not lacked feminine attention. The Generals however, had taught him to be extremely cautious regarding women, and for good reason. Many of the Dark Kingdom females had seen Terrance as a possible quick route to power. Trying to seduce him was often included in their secret plans to unseat Beryl and become queen.

When Terrance had become a CTEM soldier, he hadn’t lacked female attention either. However, he had been very dedicated to his job and hadn’t paid attention to what was available. He had considered Serenity then, but that had been because he hadn’t been able to explain the connection he had felt to her.

Now as the Prince of Earth, Terrance found he was again suspicious of the attention he received from women. Terrance also felt his life was plenty full with being a part of the royal family and with his royal duties and studies. There had been a few women Terrance admired, but he told himself there was plenty of time for that later. He didn’t have a good reason to rush into anything. Because of this, Terrance was not used to having to work to keep a woman’s interest.

Terrance racked his brains for an idea that would keep Hotaru with him after breakfast. He came up with and rejected many ideas as they walked. They had filled their plates and sat down, and he still hadn’t come up with something he felt she would accept. They started to eat when it finally dawned on him. The only time Terrance had seen Hotaru really relaxed and having fun was when they had spent the morning together two days before. She seemed to really enjoy the time they had spent working their powers out and exercising together.

They finished eating and sat quietly as they drank their coffee. Terrance put his cup down and thought, [Let’s go, Ter. It’s now or never!]. “Usually I like to work out in the morning,” Terrance stated then asked, “Would you want to go and do that now?”

Hotaru thought, [I guess that wouldn’t be a problem and I do want to work out.] She looked up and quietly said, “Yes, that sounds like a good idea.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Asteroid Senshi and the Pegasus brothers had agreed to meet about nine o’clock for breakfast. Ceres had been late getting ready and the other girls had gone ahead without her.

As Ceres walked, two of the Pegasus brothers entered the hall ahead of her. They spotted Ceres and waited for her to catch up to them. One of the brothers put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her. He smiled, and with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes asked, “Miss me?”

Ceres looked at him suspiciously.

Jabbath tried to keep up his charade as he feigned an innocent expression. “What? I’m Castor.”

She looked at his face again then coolly said, “No. You are not Castor and get your arm off of me.”

Surprised, Jabbath lifted his arm as he asked, “How’d you know?”

Volans, who had silently watched, burst out laughing.

Ceres didn’t answer Jabbath’s question. Instead, she transformed.

Both Jabbath and Volans quickly took a step back from her.

Angrily, Ceres glared at them as she let her pink power aura glow around her.

The two men took another step backwards. Jabbath nervously said, “It was just a joke. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you angry.”

“I don’t like the ‘Name Game’ you play,” Ceres quietly said. She stepped forward and threateningly raised her voice to a growl, “If you *EVER* try to play that game again with any of us, in the name of the Asteroid Ceres, *I WILL PUNISH YOU*!” Ceres stood posed a moment for effect, then de-transformed.

Smiling at the stunned brothers, Ceres sweetly said, “Let’s go. We’re late.”

Two very subdued young men followed after her. Volans looked at Jabbath and whispered, “How did she know?”

Shaking his head, Jabbath answered, “I don’t know, but I’m not going to try that again.”

The rest of the gang was already in the breakfast room eating. Castor put his coffee cup down and stood when Ceres entered the room. He said with a smile, “I waited for you. Sit here. Tell me what you’d like and I’ll get our plates.”

Ceres gave him a relieved, slightly watery smile as she quietly said, “Thank you.”

Castor, surprised by the emotion in her eyes, gave her a concerned look. He asked, “Is something wrong?”

Shaking her head no Ceres said, “I’m fine, but I am hungry,” as she sat down.

Jabbath and Volans had also entered the room. They got plates of food and sat down to eat. At first they were pretty quiet, but by the time they finished eating they were cutting up and joking as usual.

Ceres was relieved to see their little conflict hadn’t affected the brothers too badly.

The group talked together and decided to take a picnic to the cliff and go swimming for the day.

Ceres and Castor lingered over their coffee while the others left to get ready to go. Once they were alone, Castor took Ceres’ hand in his and quietly asked, “Why are you upset? Do you regret saying you’d go out with me?”

Looking up quickly, Ceres saw the worry in his eyes. She squeezed his hand reassuringly and said, “No. That’s not it at all.”

Castor looked relieved then said, “What is it then? Can I help?”

She shook her head no and responded, “I handled it already, but it did shake me up a bit.” Ceres internally debated with herself then decided to tell him what happened.

Castor’s eyes flashed angrily as she finished telling him. He said, “Jabbath did that because he’s a nosey pain-in-the-butt. Last night I wouldn’t tell him anything he could tease us about. He was trying to trick you into spilling something.”

Nodding her head in understanding, Ceres said, “I disliked the ‘Name Game’ from the beginning, but now I really hate it. He could have unintentionally hurt us badly if I had thought he was you.”

Gravely Castor nodded his head yes. “I love my brothers,” he said then added with a sigh, “but sometimes it’s a real disadvantage to have three other people around that look just like me.”

Thinking a moment, Castor then chuckled, “I would’ve loved to see the looks on their faces when you told them off. My brothers may be pains, but they aren’t stupid. I don’t think they’ll try that again.”

Smiling, Ceres said, “Good. They’d better not.”

Castor looked at Ceres. He hesitated then asked, “How did you know he wasn’t me?”

Ceres thought about it then answered, “I don’t really know. I just…did. I guess it was because he acts different from you. His smile and expressions are different. I don’t think I could accurately tell your brothers one from another, but I know who you are now.”

Castor smiled as he looked into Ceres’ eyes. He reached up to gently touch her cheek then cleared his throat. He quietly said, “That means a lot to me. It’s not often someone can make me feel unique.”

Ceres blushed at his heartfelt words. She said, “I guess it really can be hard to be a multiple.”

Nodding his head, Castor said, “Sometimes it’s great, but many times you feel like you’re just part of a group. Sometimes I feel like introducing myself as, “Hi, I’m number two of four.”

Ceres laughed at his light joking words, but she didn’t miss the sad undertone that was there. She knew Castor was someone special and unique. She wished there was a way to help him feel that way about himself too.

An idea came to mind, and before she thought about it, Ceres blurted out, “You could get a tattoo. That would make you look different from your brothers. Maybe on your forearm where it could be seen easily.”

Castor looked confused as he asked, “A tattoo? What is that?”

As Ceres explained what it was and that it was permanent, Castor began to really like the idea. She made sure to tell him that it would hurt to get one, but that didn’t deter him.

Ceres thought a moment then asked, “Would a tattoo show when you transform?”

Castor answered, “It would show if I wore short sleeves or kept my sleeve rolled up.”

Surprised, Ceres asked, “Your clothes make a difference when you transform?”

Castor said, “Of course they do. We still have clothes on after we transform. They don’t disappear.”

Intrigued, Ceres asked, “What if a Pegasus isn’t wearing clothes when it transforms?”

Castor felt like he was stating the obvious when he said, “It would be naked.”

Ceres briefly imagined a Pegasus without fur then shook her head. She thought, [That can’t be what he meant!]

They looked at each other a little exasperated. They knew they were using the same language, but for some reason they didn’t seem to be communicating.

Ceres thought hard about it and said, “So, a Pegasus can be naked or clothed in their Pegasus form too. Right?” Castor nodded his head yes and Ceres asked, “How would a naked Pegasus look different from a clothed one?”

Totally perplexed and a little embarrassed, Castor sighed. He knew she was asking honestly, but he couldn’t figure out what she didn’t understand. He tried to speak as simply as he could, “The Pegasus would be naked just like it would be either clothed or naked in its human form.” He blushed as he said, “‘Everything’ would show.”

Finally, Ceres understood. She said, “Oh, I get it now!” She thought, [I always wondered why certain physical attributes didn’t show on a Pegasus!]

Another thought occurred to her and she said, “So, to a Pegasus, our horses are naked. Right?”

Castor blushed a deeper red and said, “Yes. That’s just one of a few reasons why we aren’t comfortable around horses.”

Another question occurred to her. Ceres asked, “Are Pegasuses able to take their clothes off in Pegasus form?”

Castor sighed. With a smile he said, “You have a lot of questions. That’s okay though. I’m sure I’ll have lots of questions about surface humans too.” He then answered her, “Pegasuses can take their clothes off, but it’s like another transformation.”

Smiling Ceres said, “I guess we have a lot to learn about each other.”

Castor smiled back and agreed.

Ceres then returned to the previous subject by saying, “If you’d like, I can find where a good tattoo place is and we can go check it out.”

“Thank you,” Castor said, “I’m not sure I would do it, but it wouldn’t hurt to look.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Terrance and Sailor Saturn had finished working out their powers and were now considering exercise options. They had used the gym the last time, so Terrance suggested the outdoor practice field. He knew it would be available on a Sunday morning. Saturn agreed so they headed outside.

Terrance started to review what was on the field and how they played. Saturn interrupted him by saying, “It has been a while, but I think I’m still pretty familiar with this field and how to play.”

Surprised, Terrance asked, “Have you participated in Senshi Tag Practice often?”

With a mysterious slightly amused smile Saturn answered, “Yes.”

“Great,” Terrance responded, “I guess that means we can start.”

They each moved to opposite ends of the playing field and began to work their way through the playing area. Because it was only the two of them, Terrance knew he couldn’t use the ambush method. They had to actively search for each other.

Terrance had been searching for almost an hour. He had caught sight of the blue skirt of Saturn’s uniform only once or twice. Each time she had managed to disappear before he had caught up to her. Terrance thought, [It’s harder to play with only two people,] as he stood next to the building in its shadow.

Saturn had been one of the original designers of this game when the field was first built. She had not designed the field, but she had spent many hours with Sailors Uranus and Neptune testing it. Saturn’s job had been to design the tag dots. She had chosen their size, color and materials. She was also the only person who knew a secret about the dots.

Saturn saw Terrance pause in the shadow by the building and decided this was her chance. Silently she snuck up behind Terrance. She licked the back of the dot and barely touched it to the back of Terrance’s pants. It stuck like a magnet and he had not felt the feather light pressure. Saturn crouched down and silently leaped straight up. Her foot pushed off of Terrance’s shoulder so she could reach the rooftop.

Almost falling over from the surprise push, Terrance spun around and looked up. He was stunned to see Saturn on the roof above him. Her musical laughter fluttered down to him as she turned and ran the length of the building. Terrance quickly sprinted around the building. He couldn’t believe she had been able to sneak that close to him and he hadn’t heard her!

Terrance saw Saturn leap off the roof and run to the center of the clearing. He started to pursue her but stopped when she stopped and turned to face him. Both of them were breathing hard from running.

Terrance panted as he called out, “What? Are you giving up?”

Saturn shook her head no. She turned her back to him and looked over her shoulder with a saucy smile. Her violet eyes sparkled with laughter as she posed with one hand on her hip and patted her butt with the other hand.

Terrance’s eyes widened as he stood there appreciating Saturn’s flirtatious stance. [God!] he thought as he stared at her hand patting her butt. He noticed that her skirt would flip up slightly on the upswing. Mesmerized, Terrance felt his entire body react to the enticing sprite standing in front of him.

Saturn had consciously thought to show Terrance he had lost the game. As she watched him stare she realized what she was really doing. Shocked, Saturn admitted to herself that she was flirting! Also, if she could base it on Terrance’s expression, she had done it well. Saturn had Terrance’s full-undivided attention.

Blushing, Saturn silently scolded herself. [Flirting *IS NOT* a part of my personality so cut it out!] Turning to face Terrance, she put her hands on her hips. Loudly she admonished with exasperation, “Not *my* butt, check *YOURS*!”

Terrance had the grace to blush when he heard her words. He quickly reached around and was shocked to find a green dot firmly stuck to his pants.

“How, how did you…?” Terrance’s question trailed off as he stared at the offensive green dot. Never before had he lost this badly at this game!

Saturn could see the unbelieving dismay on Terrance’s face. She thought to herself, [Now I get to see if he’s a good sport.]

Terrance walked up to Saturn and she kept her face carefully neutral. He asked, “How did you do that?”

Saturn shrugged.

Chuckling, Terrance handed the dot back to Saturn as he said, “So, you won’t tell me. Well, it’s clear you beat me. You’re good at this. We’ll have to play again so I can figure out how you do it. Not today though. I’m tired and it’s almost lunchtime. Are you ready to get cleaned up and eat?”

Saturn smiled and nodded her head yes. They walked back to the Palace together.

Later as Hotaru showered, she thought about the game and Terrance, [Not only is he good looking, but he doesn’t get bent out of shape if a woman is better than him at something.] Hotaru sighed. She realized she was in danger of liking Terrance more than she was comfortable with liking a guy.

After lunch, Terrance suggested a trip to Crystal Tokyo. He asked Hotaru to help him find a gift for Elios and Serenity’s new apartment at the Palace. The two of them had a great time together and came back with a beautiful painting for the apartment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Asteroid Senshi and the Pegasus brothers had also returned to the Palace and the Queen invited them all to dinner.

They had a very noisy and fun dinner together.

The Pegasus brothers went back to their rooms to pack after dinner. Telling his brothers he needed to do something, Castor said he’d catch up. He saw Terrance and Hotaru just leaving the dining room.

Castor asked, “Could I talk with you for a moment, Terrance?”

Terrance shrugged his shoulders and said sure. Hotaru said she’d meet him in the Library and went ahead.

Terrance asked, “What do you need? You’re…?”

Castor smiled a bit ruefully and said, “Castor. Can we go to the garden? I have a personal question to ask.”

Terrance agreed so they walked outside and sat down by the fountain.

Again Terrance asked, “What’s up?”

Castor haltingly explained, “I, um, asked Ceres to go out to dinner with me this Wednesday. I was wondering, could you recommend a nice place for us to go?”

Terrance nodded his head thoughtfully then said, “There’s a place I’ve heard is nice in Crystal Tokyo called The Jade Tree. It’s a dinner and dancing place.”

Looking up, Castor smiled. He remembered he had liked dancing with Ceres. “That sounds perfect,” he said.

Terrance told Castor how to get there then said, “It is a place you need to be dressed up nice for.”

Dismayed, Castor asked, “I have to wear a tie?”

Terrance laughed, “Well, maybe not a tie if you don’t want to. A nice jacket, shirt and dress pants should be fine.”

Castor thanked Terrance for his help and happily went to pack.

Terrance thought about the conversation with Castor as he headed for the Library. He thought about how happy and excited Castor had been and it reminded him of how Elios was with Serenity. [Hm, Ceres and Castor. Definitely interesting,] he decided.

Terrance passed his father in the hall on the way to the library. Terrance asked, “May we speak a moment?”

They went to the King’s office and Terrance told his father that Venus had asked him to spend time with Hotaru until Serenity came back. His father agreed to temporarily suspend Terrance’s studies and most of his royal duties. Happily, Terrance said, “Thank you,” then left.

The king sighed and thought, [So, Venus set this up. It figures!]

Castor had managed to take Ceres aside before he left and tell her about the place Terrance recommended. She said it sounded nice too. He tried, but he just couldn’t stop himself from giving her a small kiss. His brothers hadn’t seen it, but Castor and Ceres were still teased for going off alone.

Continued...

Thank you for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did like my story, or if you have any (kind and gently worded) suggestions/comments about my story, please let me know. I truly appreciate feedback. You can email me at ndeblock@att.net .

This story was edited and enhanced by the great mind and imagination of Sophia Prester. Her help and ideas have been of great value to me! Thank you Sophia! ^_^

Sophia Prester is also the author or a *wonderful* continuing Sailor Moon epic called “Empire of the Sun”. Her story is very intricate and absorbing and I highly recommend reading it! The most up to date version is on Fanfiction.net . ^_^

Bye, Luna Hope