Title: A Rain of Roses 
Theme: Image
Genre: General/Humor
Version: Manga
Rating: G

	“How much longer do I have to pose like this? My arms are getting 
tired.”

	“Just a little while longer. I’m almost finished.”

	“Define ‘almost’. Is this the same ‘almost’ you use when you say 
you’re almost dressed, yet you haven’t even decided what to wear?”

	Peaking around her easel, Serenity stuck out her tongue at her model. 
“I don’t take *that* long to get dressed.”

	“The last time I took you to the ball, I had to wait over an hour 
before you were ready,” he reminded her.

	“Yes…well…” Unable to come up with a suitable retort, she stuck her 
tongue out again, and Helios laughed.

	The two of them were out in the royal gardens of what used to be the 
Golden Kingdom. Serenity had asked him to be the model for her latest 
painting, which normally wouldn’t have been so bad had she not posed him in 
such an uncomfortable position. Standing in the middle of the central rose 
garden, he had his arms raised up to the heavens and his head slightly tilted 
back as if he was looking up at the sky.

	Of course, he couldn’t actually look up unless he wanted to be 
blinded by the bright afternoon sun, another reason for his uncharacteristic 
grouchiness. Whatever she was painting, he hoped it was a masterpiece after 
all the torture she was putting him through.

	“Okay, you can take a break now,” Serenity announced about ten 
minutes later.

	“Hallelujah!” More than happy to be able to move around again, Helios 
dropped his arms and went over to see what the painting looked like so far.

	Serenity, however, immediately blocked his view of it, covering his 
eyes with her hand when she caught him glancing over her shoulder. “No, no, 
no. You know the rules, Helios. No peeking until I’m finished.”

	“Not even a small one?”

	“Not even a small one. Now, why don’t you go sit down over there and 
eat some of those snacks Eos brought out for us? You’ll need your strength 
for the next session.” While Helios had been posing, one of the Maenads of 
the shrine had brought out a tray of delicious looking sweets and set it down 
at a nearby patio table.

	“Another session? I thought you said you were almost finished.”

	“I meant I was almost finished with the part I was working on,” she 
explained. “I still need to do your face.”

	Helios sighed but didn’t argue, knowing that he couldn’t ever say no 
to his maiden. After a short break for tea and cookies, he got right back 
into position, doing his best not to talk or smile since he knew she was 
painting his face.

	He did, however, occasionally sneak glances at his maiden, thinking 
how cute she looked, her lips pursed and her brows furrowed together in deep 
concentration as she worked on her painting. Instead of the elaborate dresses 
she normally wore, Serenity had dressed down in what she called her “painting 
clothes,” -- a pair of torn paint-spattered jeans and a pink smock -- and her 
rose-colored hair had been pulled back into a simple ponytail, a change from 
her usual odango style. Helios couldn’t help but think she looked beautiful 
even without her usual glamour, and, despite his best attempts not to, a 
smile flickered on his lips.

	“Helios, be still!” Serenity scolded, wagging her paintbrush in his 
direction. A bit of white paint, presumably for his hair, spattered on the 
ground. “You’re going to mess me up!”

	“Sorry!”

	He set his face into position again, as still as a statue until 
Serenity finally set down her palette tray and paintbrush, announcing that 
she was really and truly finished. Helios then came up behind her, resting 
his hands on her shoulders as he got his first look at the completed 
painting.

	“It’s beautiful, my maiden,” he complimented her, amazed at always at 
her talent. Sailor Neptune, her mentor and teacher in the arts, had taught 
her well.

	“Do you really think so?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. 
“It didn’t turn out exactly as I planned…”

	“I love it,” he assured her.

	In fact, Helios personally thought it was one of her best paintings. 
It was of him in the rose garden, but Serenity had added a shower of roses 
falling from the sky, a few of the delicate petals landing on his hair and 
clothes. Even though he had posed stationary, the way she had painted him 
almost made it seem as if he was twirling around, and Helios noticed she had 
added a rose to his left hand.

	“What are you going to call it?” Helios asked.

	“Hmm… What about ‘A Rain of Roses‘?” she suggested, and he smiled, 
kissing the top of her head.

	“That sounds just about perfect.”

DISCLAIMER: "Sailor Moon" is the property of Takeuchi Naoko.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Any comments or criticisms can be sent to me at 
ElysionDream@aol.com. Written for the sm_monthly community at
Livejournal.