Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ FairyTales ❯ Snow White, Rose Red ( Prologue )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Snow-White, Rose-Red

There once was a poor widow who lived alone in her hut with her two children Usagi and Rei. However because they were like the flowers which bloomed on the rosebushes around the cottage their mother called them Snow-White and Rose-Red. This is their story...

Usagi laughed as she ran and gambolled around the meadow in front of her home. Long grass that was beginning to turn brown, tickled bare legs that weren't protected by a sky blue smock. Long slightly curly sun-streaked blond hair past her waist was held from her face by a navy blue ribbon.

A pink butterfly leisurely fluttered around Usagi who was picking a bouquet of flowers, making large cerulean blue eyes widen in curiosity as the butterfly landed on her nose.

With a grin Usagi stopped picking flowers and stood still trying to look at the butterfly with her eyes crossed. "You're so kawaii!" breathed Usagi loudly in relief, seeing that it was only a pretty butterfly that had landed on her nose and not a bee or wasp.

With a startled flutter of wings the butterfly fluttered away to a different part of the meadow. "Darn." sighed Usagi as her peach coloured lips began to pout slightly.

Then a small brown rabbit hopped into view of the pouting girl. "Kawaii!!" squealed Usagi running after her namesake towards the edges of the meadow a bunch of flowers clasped forgotten in her hand.

The rabbit stopped to look back at Usagi before it began to hop into the forest. "Wait don't go in there!!!" Usagi cried out a few seconds behind her prospective playmate.

Stopping Usagi gazed into the trees thinking about following the rabbit. Her mother had always been adamant about her not going into the forest to play, even when her sister Rei was with her. But she didn't see what was so scary or bad about the forest.

Beams of sunlight broke through the forest canopy to spill onto the brush and ferns below closer to the ground. Various birds could be heard chirping merrily in the branches of the trees, while even Mr. Bunny was munching on some leaves and was looking at her, as if wondering why she wasn't coming after him to play.

'He's not very far in, so it doesn't count for going in,' thought Usagi to herself, 'and I wouldn't really be gone for long just for a few minutes, mother won't mind I'm sure.'

Her mind made up Usagi stepped into the forest and walked up to the rabbit. Smiling she sat cross-legged among the ferns and looked at Mr. Bunny, who was still eating away. "Here Mr. Bunny, come here." motioned Usagi as she dropped the flowers she had been holding and dug into one of her pockets and took out a piece of brown bread and placed it in her hand.

The bunny wiggled his nose smelling the freshly baked bread and quickly made up his mind that she had something good and hopped over to Usagi. With a small smile Usagi gave the rabbit the bread and began to pet its' soft fur gently.

It had taken more effort than usual but Mr. Bunny was beginning to trust her. Usually all the animals of the forest that ventured out into the meadow; birds, squirrels, foxes, rabbits, and deer would come to her as if tame to be petted, stroked softly and get scratched behind the ear. Mr. Bunny had been a challenge but she had finally won him over, or so she thought.

Suddenly the rabbit twisted away from her and began to hop away yet again. "Hey come back!!" protested Usagi going after the rabbit deeper into the woods, forgetting that she wasn't even supposed to be in there in the first place.

The forest grew darker and the birds that had been happily chirping broke off suddenly. What had seemed peaceful and safe before now looked bleak and dangerous.

A human-like figure shrouded in a dark coloured cloak stepped out from behind one of the tree trunks that were larger than some of its brethren. He had watched the blond-haired girl come into the forest after the rabbit.

From the forest he had sometimes saw the girl playing in the meadow alone or with her dark-haired sister. Mesmerized he had watched the girl pet the rabbit with long, delicate fingers. It had been so long since he had seen a girl so closely.

Sunlight had streamed down making her blond hair blaze up golden like the sun, while a pleased smile had graced pert peach toned lips.

A part of him had almost wanted to step out from his hiding place and let her see him, but he knew he couldn't. Besides the fact that he would scare her, then she would never come into the forest again or go near it. He would never see her smiling carefree face again if he did that.

Even more did he want to show himself to her, if only to stop her from following the strange rabbit deeper into the forest. "Foolish girl." he muttered turning around and heading deeper into the forest in a different direction, his form blending into the tree trunks. For the forest always hid its true nature when viewed by the eyes of an innocent.

"Snow-White come in for dinner!" yelled out Rei's mother from the open doorway as the afternoon sun came streaming into the cozy one-roomed cottage.

Two beds were pushed up against the far wall neatly done up with fresh linen. A small wooden table stood in the middle of the room with a bowl of red and white roses that perfumed the cottage with their elegant fragrance. Three wooden stools surrounded the table, while across the room in the hearth popped and crackled a small fire under a large stew pot.

"Snow-White come in!!" called her mother again as Rei placed the broom back against the wall, having finished sweeping the floor. "Snow-White, oh Usagi come in dear!" yelled her mother for the third time.

That was a new record, their mother never had to call her more than twice, even mentioning food would usually make Usagi come running.

Rei didn't enjoy going outside as much as her sister did, instead she was content to stay inside and help her mother keep the place clean, which was hard considering how much of a slob Usagi unfortunately was.

"Rose-Red will you go fetch your sister?" asked her mother, slight worry evident in her maroon coloured eyes. "Alright." nodded Rei as she put on her red cloak over her red smock dress as she headed out the door.

She really didn't see how Usagi could run around the way she did, without stockings or leather shoes on. Carefully violet coloured eyes gazed out from beneath long black bangs to the meadows around her. "Usagi!" she called out as pearly white teeth nibbled on ruby red lips in worry. There was no sign of Usagi anywhere and repeated calls remained unanswered.

Rei stopped and looked nervously the darkening forest as her midnight black hair the same length as Usagi's but straight shifted around her face like a veil in the slight breeze. The forest really creeped her out for some reason and that was another reason she didn't like going outside to play in the meadow.

Usagi knew better than to go into there especially since they were told by their mother countless times never, ever to enter no matter what. She knew how dangerous the forest was, didn't she?

"I can't find her mother." sighed Rei as she came back into the cottage half an hour later. She had checked everywhere, even hiding Usagi's hiding spots to no avail. "Alright lets eat then." said the mother setting out two wooden bowls instead of the usual three. "Aren't we going to look for her mother?" asked Rei confused as she sat down on her stool.

She didn't voice her worries that maybe Usagi had gone into the forest. "It's already getting dark Rose-Red, even with sufficient light if we went to look for Usagi in the forest we would only get lost ourselves. The best thing we can do is to wait for morning and get help in looking for her then." replied her mother answering her unsaid question about the possibility of Usagi being lost in the forest.

'No.' thought Rei as her stew sat untouched and grew cold. Both her and Usagi had heard stories about people who had become lost in the forest. Huntsmen children, woodcutters, all had remained lost despite efforts to find them.

Then Rei realised that her mother knew about that too. Usually her mother used her pet names for them, Snow-White and Rose-Red unless she was upset then it was Usagi and Rei. Clearly she was worried about Usagi but didn't want her worrying as much as she was.

Neither one of them ate any dinner and afterwards they went to bed. Rei starred up at the ceiling unable to sleep with sorry over her sister. She somehow knew that Usagi was in the forest, frightened, alone and lost.

A single tear trickled down Rei's pale cheek, as she remembered a promise they had made to each other a few years back.

They had been in the meadow Usagi surrounded by her usual flock of wild yet tame animals, when Usagi had stopped scratching a small fox behind its' ear to look at her solemnly. "Rei promise me, promise me we will never separate from each other." she has said quietly. Surprised by both the tone of her voice and what she had said, Rei had dropped the meadow flowers she had been picking. Then she had saw the pleading yet serious look in Usagi's blue eyes, what she was asking was very important to Usagi for some reason. "Not as long as we live!" grinned Rei as she grabbed her sisters' hand and squeezed it affectionately.

'We promised never to separate, and I broke our promise,' thought Rei sadly as tears made her pillow soggy, 'I can't let her be scared in the forest alone.'

So she waited for mothers' breathing to become long and deep indicating sleep, then she slipped out of her bed she shared with Usagi quietly. Noiselessly she crept around the cottage and gathered supplies; rope, food, candles and a hairbrush in a medium-sized reed basket as she changed back into her red dress, stockings and shoes.

A final after thought as she was putting on her red cloak was to grab a handful of ofuda's. The ofuda's were used around the cottage to protect it from anything that came out of the forest that was bad. Bringing some along would probably come in handy since she planned on going into the forest.

"Goodbye Mother, I'll find Usagi and bring her back." whispered Rei as she went through the door silently.

After she left maroon coloured eyes drifted open and long deft fingers brushed long dark green hair out of her face. "So it has begun." murmured Setsuna as she stood up and disappeared in a flash of bright light.

The tears had long since dried on Usagi's face as she stumbled through the forest of closely-knit tree trunks and thorns. She just didn't have any moisture left to even cry, as her mouth was also bone dry.

Usagi was hopelessly lost, after following Mr. Bunny for a few minutes the rabbit had suddenly disappeared; leaving her alone in a place that suddenly seemed far different than it had first appeared.

Small, yet stinging scratches adorned the exposed parts of her flesh, while twigs and leaves were tangled in her hair. That was when she realised she didn't remember the direction she had come from, whichever way she looked seemed exactly the same as the last. So she has picked a direction that had looked promising and had headed off, deeper into the woods of course.

She was just so hungry and tired now after walking for several hours, with a sigh she collapsed leaning on a tree to rest. Usagi kept on blinking her eyes blearily battling to stay awake despite being more exhausted than she had ever been in her life. "Mother, Rei.." she yawned as her eyes drifted closed, the battle against falling asleep lost.

"Stupid branches." muttered Rei as she made her way through the intertwining branches that seemed to be purposely blocking her path. The candle she held cast a pitiful circle of light out into the darkness around her.

Through periodical breaks in the canopy Rei would small glances of the full moon. She may have thought it was dark now, but without the moon it would have been even darker and nearly impossible to see even if her hand was in front of her face. And Usagi was out in the forest alone without even a candle. "Ouch!" Rei yelled as a branch she had pushed away from her face with her hand, swung back to hit her in the nose.

A voice began to chuckle amused at her from the inky darkness surrounding her.
"Who's there?" demanded Rei as she moved around the candle, her startled violet eyes darting about her rapidly. "It's a little late to be going to your grandmothers isn't it Little Red Riding Hood?" laughed the voice again from behind her. "Hey you!" shouted out Rei angrily, "Do you think I'm out here in the middle of the night for such a silly reason as that?" She turned around to confront the person who was being so rude to her.

Violet eyes widened in shock as they starred into the gleaming tawny coloured orbs, surrounded by silver-black fur. A large wolf was starring at her, his eyes level exactly with hers, a REALLY big wolf.

"Epp." Squeaked Rei as she slowly and carefully began to back away from the wolf. "Hey what's in the basket Little Red Riding Hood?" asked the wolf with a feral grin stepping closer to her again. "Get away from you creep!" Rei yelled as she swung the basket with her eyes pressed tightly closed.

The basket faintly glowed red as it rammed into the side of the wolves head, with a large smack of wood impacting furry flesh. Rei cringed mentally inside at what she had done as panic began to make her heart beat faster. Surely doing that would only make the big wolf attack and eat her without doubt now.

"Itai that hurt! What did you do that for?" complained the voice of the wolf as Rei still had her eyes closed. Any second now the wolf would attack her, any second now. After a few seconds of nothing happening to her Rei cautiously cracked open an eye. "What?!" she shouted in shock for what sight met her gaze.

Instead of the large silver-black wolf there was a boy around her age with long chestnut hair below his waist, wearing ragged black clothes as his right hand massaged the side of his head where a large red basket mark was forming.

"Do you usually go around hitting people with baskets Little Red Riding Hood?" pouted the boy staring at her accusingly with eerie violet coloured eyes a different shade from hers. "Who are you, what are you?" demanded Rei, backing up until her back was pressed softly up against a tree. "Isn't it quite obvious what I am? Shouldn't the question be what you are?" grinned the boy looking over at her his eyes even more strange as gold specks danced across his violet irises for a split second. "What do you mean?" Rei answered a confused and perplexed look plastered on her face.

"Hmm you really have no idea," murmured the wolf boy thoughtfully before continuing, "I am cursed to be a werewolf. Having the ability to change into a werewolf was great at first, but during the full moon I have no control over it and I transform stuck as a wolf until the end of the full moon. But at each new full moon I've found that I'm stuck for a longer time as a wolf. Eventually after a full moon I'll be stuck as a wolf permanently." "That's terrible." Replied Rei in sympathy.

For she realised the boy was an outcast. He would never be accepted by people for his curse, only feared and ridiculed for different from them and as something they couldn't understand. Then to forever be stuck in an animal body with a mind still completely human, would almost be a fate worse than death. Eventually he would probably go crazy from it, at least if he did the boy might not know his hopeless situation in his crazed state.

"Yeah it's not exactly great having this curse, that's why I'm on a quest to get revenge on the witch who cursed me. Declared the youth as his eyes narrowed in determination. "Oh yeah I almost forgot, my name is Duo." Grinned Duo sheepishly as he made a small carefree bow towards her. "What kind of name is that?" asked Rei trying to keep from laughing at the were-wolf. "Hey now," sulked Duo a bit, "I have two forms human and wolf a double life really, I thought it was a good name. What's yours anyways?" "Sorry Duo, I didn't mean to be rude my name is Rei." apologized Rei bowing towards Duo slightly. "And you made fun of my name?" grinned Duo teasingly.

Before Rei could respond angrily to Duo's teasing, his stomach began to rumble in hunger that almost shook the surrounding trees. "Hungry?" asked Rei questioningly with a raised eyebrow. "Well maybe a little.." admitted Duo scratching his head in embarrassment. "I have some food in the basket, I'll give you some on one condition." Rei grinned impishly slyly glancing at Duo out of the corner of her eye. "What's the condition?" Duo replied as he warily looked over at her.

"If you do something about your hair, maybe cut it." Smiled Rei not realising how Duo would react. "No don't cut my hair!" cried out Duo as he grabbed his hair and held it protectively from her. Rei tried to keep from laughing as Duo continued to hold his hair as far away from her as possible as if he was going to hurt it. "Let me put it in a braid for you then," she asked, "it's just too messy leaving it down like that. There's twigs and who knows what else in it right now, and you'll be able to move around easier with it in a braid."

"You promise not to try and cut it?" Duo asked peeping down at his chestnut hair and staring at a twig he saw caught in his locks. He liked having his hair long and hadn't really noticed that it was twig filled and as messy as it was. "I promise." Rei assured as she rolled her eyes and opened up the basket, taking her hairbrush that was beside the ofuda's. "Now come sit in front of me Duo." Rei commanded as she pointed to the open space before her. "But.." began Duo playing with his hair nervously as he glanced at the hairbrush. "Duo sit down." frowned Rei glaring at Duo. "Okay. Just don't glare at me again like that please." pleaded Duo as he shivered in fear and sat down quickly.

The two remained silent as Rei began to brush Duo's hair except for when Rei was trying to brush out a knot in his hair and pulling too hard causing Duo to bellow in pain.

"So what are you doing in the forest all alone Rei? It's too dangerous a place for someone like you to be in day let alone night." enquired Duo as he munched on some brown nut flavoured bread. "I'm looking for my sister, she wandered into the forest alone and got lost a few hours ago so I'm going to find her." sighed Rei trying not to cry as she plaited Duo's hair into a braid that ended up going down to his waist and tied it up using one of her hair ribbons.

"What! Are you out of your mind Rei?" hollered Duo as he turned around to search Rei's face to see if she was telling him the truth. "What makes you think I'm crazy?" shouted Rei furiously as she sprang to her feet. "What makes you think you can find your sister yourself in this huge forest, when she could be anywhere by now? All you're going to do is get lost yourself and your sister wouldn't want that. Come with me and at least I can bring you back the way you came safely till you're out of the forest." pleaded Duo as he stood up and held out a hand towards Rei.

"No! I'm not giving up on Usagi, I will find her and I don't need your help to do it!" screamed Rei as she grabbed her basket and began to stomp away into the darkness. "Don't say that I didn't warn you about the risks Rei it isn't just dark and easy to get lost in here, there's things in the forest you wouldn't imagine in your nightmares. Good luck cuz you're gonna need it." Duo yelled as he waved in farewell after the retreating figure of the red clad girl.

"Stupid girl is going to get herself killed." muttered Duo as he fingered his newly braided hair. "So why don't you go after her then?" whispered a voice amusingly from the direction Rei had come from in the shadows of a large oak tree. "Alright who's there? You better show yourself or else." sneered Duo as he shifted his eyes to the shadows surrounding the tree, his eyes starting to shift to gold.

"Did I startle you?" chuckled the voice though it held little amusement. One of the shadows separated from the rest to stand in a shaft of weak moonlight from above. "Figures YOU would be here I've heard all about you," smirked Duo in recognition at the person who stood in the moonbeam and continued, "as for your first question, I'm not going after her. I'm not the hero type you're much more noble than me, See you around." smiled Duo as went on his way.

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"Did you lure the bunny into the forest Zechs like we ordered?" demanded a cruel hate filled feminine voice. "Of course my queen I live to obey your every command." replied Zechs as he kept his eyes respectfully lowered. "Zechs you are a faithful vassal and knight to us, in reward you may gaze upon your queen."

He looked up and pretended to gaze at his queen like he was in awe of her 'beauty'. Blood red hair tumbled past pale bare shoulders. A low-cut purple sateen dress clung to lumpy curves Zechs rather wished he didn't have to see. Rouge, make-up and power on her face covered up what he figured was more wrinkles than ten elephants together would have had. She might have been beautiful once, like maybe a hundred or more years ago.

"As always your breathtaking beauty leaves me speechless my queen." praised Zechs as he quickly averted his eyes again before he went blind. "We are pleased by your flowery words knight, you may leave knowing your queen is pleased with you." "Thank you my queen." saluted Zechs as he got up and left the throne room without making it look like he wanted to run out of there.

'Your breathtaking ugliness leaves me speechless in revulsion.' thought Zechs nastily to himself as his lips curled up in a sneer. "So your mission was a success I presume?" inquired a highly amused male voice. "Of course Treize it was child's play, though I don't understand why she wanted me to lure some little girl into a forest to get lost." replied Zechs as looked over at Treize. "Don't underestimate Beryl whatever reasons she had for doing that was for a good reason." smiled Treize. "You mean there's another reason besides the fact that the girl has more beauty than Beryl in just her toenails and Beryl is jealous of her?" Treizes smile grew wider in amusement as he nodded his head. Beryl may have had her plans but he had plans of his own. For now he would serve her faithfully until the right opportunity presented itself.