Title: Written in the Tea Leaves Theme: Tea Genre: Romance/Humor Version: Animanga Rating: PG “Hey, let me do a tasseography reading on you.” Taking a final sip of his cup of peppermint tea, Helios raised an eyebrow as he looked across the table at his beloved maiden. “A tasseography reading?” “You know, reading tea leaves,” she said, already reaching for his cup. “Hey, what if I wasn’t finished with that?” he playfully scolded her as she took the cup from his hands. “And I do know what a tasseography reading is. I just didn’t know you did.” “Sailor Mars has been teaching me,” Serenity explained, rotating his cup three times, then turning it over on a saucer to get rid of any extra liquid that might be left. “She says I have a gift for it.” “Really?” “You don’t believe me?” “It’s more like I’ve never been a fan of these supposed ‘fortune- telling’ methods,” Helios admitted, taking a couple of chocolate cookies from the large plate in between them and placing them on his now empty saucer. Sailor Jupiter had made them specially for their afternoon tea, and they were delicious. “No offense to Mars-sama, but things like reading the future in tea leaves and tarot cards sound like a lot of mumbo-jumbo nonsense to me.” “I wouldn’t say that. The last reading I did came true.” “What did you predict?” “That you and I would have tea in the gardens this afternoon,” she said, a triumphant smile on her face. Helios resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Of course that came true, Serenity. You were the one who invited me,” he gently reminded her instead. “I just invited you for tea. You were the one who suggested we have it outside in the gardens.” “But we always have tea in the gar--” Not wanting to burst her bubble, Helios stopped mid-sentence and sighed. If she really wanted to believe that she had correctly foretold the future, what was the harm in that? “Okay, what do the tea leaves say?” he asked, humoring her. “Lessee…” After setting the plate of cookies aside, Serenity placed his cup in the center of the table so that they could both see inside. Her brow furrowed in concentration, and a bit of her tongue peaked out from the corner of her mouth as she leaned over for a better look. “You know, you look really cute like that,” Helios couldn’t resist saying, laughing when she looked up to glare at him. “I’m trying to concentrate, Helios!” “Sorry, sorry! Do you see anything thing yet?” Serenity looked back down into a cup. “I see…a sheep,” she said after a short pause. “The first symbol you see is supposed to be the person’s dominant character.” “And what does a sheep mean?” “That you are a calm and peaceful person, which is true.” “I thought you were supposed to be reading my future,” Helios said with a frown, “not analyzing my personality.” “I’m getting to that,” Serenity replied with a dismissive wave of her hand as she took another look into the cup. “Ah, there’s a rose near the rim. That means a deepening of love.” She smiled. “I like the sound of that.” Helios looked at the spot where she was pointing. “I don’t know… It looks more like a small and fluffy cloud to me, Serenity.” “Well, clouds are nice, too. They mean happy optimism,” she said, looking for more symbols in the scattered tea leaves. “Oh, there’s a horseshoe. I bet you can guess what that means.” “Good luck?” he guessed. “Correct. It’s in the middle section of the cup, which means that good luck is coming to you soon. I also see what appears to be a piece of cake, which means that a wish will be fulfilled, and there will be a celebration.” Hearing that, Helios nearly choked on the cookie he had just put in his mouth. She couldn’t possibly… “Helios, are you okay?” she asked, looking up at him with concern in her ruby red eyes. “I’m fine,” he insisted, patting his pocket to feel the small box inside. He was being silly. Serenity couldn’t possibly be able to figure out his secret surprise by something as crazy as reading tea leaves. “What else do the leaves say?” “Well, I can see a sun, which means a new beginning, and there’s a heart, another symbol that’s easy to guess the meaning,” Serenity continued, pointing out the respective shapes in the tea leaves. “That over here --” She pointed to a grouping that looked like a mountain range to him. “-- looks kind of like a burning fire.” Her face suddenly turned a bright red. “What does that mean?” Helios asked, confused by her reaction. “Uh… Fire means passion, hot emotion…sexual desires.” Helios felt his face grow hot as well. “I-It might not be a fire,” he stuttered. “I think it looks more like a couple of mountains, personally.” “Well, mountains symbolize a difficult, but possible, goal.” “What goal?” Serenity shrugged her shoulders. “Something that’s related to the other symbols,” she said, her brows again furrowing together. “It seems like whatever it is, you will achieve it. All the other symbols point to positive things: good luck, happy optimism, a celebration due to a wish being fulfilled, a new beginning, love… Oh!” “What? What is it?” Despite himself, Helios’ heart began to beat a little faster. “There’s a circle on the base of the cup. That means you will definitely have success in whatever your goal is,” she explained, cocking her head to the side. “But it almost looks kind of like a ring as well, with that little grouping of leaves at the top that almost looks like a jewel.” “What do you think it means, then?” “The ring symbol is usually associated with, well, obviously marriage, but-- Helios?” Helios’ eyes widened, and he took the cup away from her for a better look inside. They had disagreed on what some of the symbols were supposed to be, but even he had to admit that the circle on the base did look amazingly like a diamond engagement ring. But how…? “Helios, is something wrong?” Serenity asked. He chuckled, sitting the cup back down on the table. “Forgive me for doubting you, Serenity,” he said. “You truly do have a gift for tasseography.” “I don’t quite understand. I haven‘t even come to a conclu--” Standing up, Helios reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny blue velvet box. “I was actually planning to do this tonight, but since the element of surprise has been ruined, I think I better do this now,” he said, Serenity staring at him with a look of confusion and expectation on her face as he kneeled down in front of her and opened the box. Inside was a beautiful rose-cut diamond set in an intricate gold antique ring setting. “Maiden, I love you. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” Serenity gasped, and, taking the ring out of the box, she placed it on the ring finger of her left hand. “It’s beautiful, Helios,” she whispered, tenderly pushing back a strand of hair that had fallen in his face before bending down to kiss him on the cheek. “Of course I’ll marry you.” 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.