Disclaimer: Sailormoon & concepts belong to Takeuchi Naoko. Kou Kira/Starstriker & Kou Aoi/Starkeeper belong to Cassandra Sisenta, and the three Starlights who feature in this little One Shot, Kou Hikaru/Starhunter, Kou Josei/Stardancer & Kou Amai/Stardreamer are my own creations.

Notes: This entire little escapade was inspired by the latest chapter of Stars Align To Destiny by Cassandra Sisenta, in which both I and my Starlights-In-Training guest starred. ^^ I heartily suggest that you skip over to Cassandra-san's page and read said story, which is full of fan-Starlights yumminess. =^-^= lol.

Oh, and for anyone who's still actually waiting for a new chapter of Walk A Mile, I have good news! Chapter Eleven is in the works, and will hopefully be finished and posted sometime in the next couple of weeks! Gasp!

Behind The Scenes

"I can't believe you made us do that."

"Do what?"

"That! That!"

"And you say I'm the childish one..."

The muffled voices from the hallway trailed off for a moment, and the rattling of a key was followed by the door swinging open under Josei's hand. The girl sighed and stuffed the key back into the pocket of her pants, then picked a stray string from the sleeve of the coffee-colored suit she was wearing.

"You are the childish one, Hikaru."

"Saa..." in vibrant red, Hikaru followed the other Light into their shared apartment, hands clasped behind her head. "You two are just no fun!" Lowering her arms, she flopped onto the nearest seat—which happened to be an armchair—as Josei went into the kitchenette to rummage through the refrigerator for a bottle of water. "We're going to have to get used to doing TV spots sooner or later anyway, right?"

"I don't want to get used to them." Amai muttered half to herself as she stepped in from the hall and shut the door behind her, then proceeded to tug at her own yellow suit uncomfortably. "Hikaru, why did we have to wear these? I do like Taiki-san, but..."

"It's not your color, Amai." Josei said, wandering into the living room, water bottle in hand.

"Pfft!" Hikaru made a dismissing noise, waving a hand in Josei's general direction. "We were on there as The Lights biggest fans, right? We had to be dressed like this!"

"No, we didn't." The purple-haired girl raised an eyebrow, shaking her head as Hikaru undid the buttons of her jacket and loosened her tie. "That was your idea."

A shrug was her only answer, and Josei rolled her eyes skyward.

Sometimes, she was more than convinced that Hikaru identified with Seiya far too much for anyone's good. It was obvious that her friend was going to enjoy performing—assuming they got the Go Ahead from Kakyuu-hime, of course—but sometimes she could be a little too... enthusiastic.

For her part, Josei wasn't sure if she was looking forward to recording or not, and Amai most definitely wasn't. She had to admit that, if Kakyuu-hime did say it was alright, being on the stage would be good for her painfully shy friend.

"Hikaru, get your feet off the table."

The aqua-haired girl blinked, surprised, and then dropped her feet back to the floor with a snort. "Anyway, we're all going to need our own colors, too."

Both Josei and Amai looked blank. "What for?"

"For our outfits." She said, as if it was the obvious answer.

"Outfits..."

"Hai! Our suits, you guys!"

"Nani yo?!" Josei demanded.

Amai cleared her throat. She had already discarded her jacket and tie, and was seated on the couch—but still looking uncomfortable. "Hikaru... I... don't intend to become a man for this..."

"Nani?" Hikaru's eyebrows jumped, and she sat forward abruptly. "Why not? Seiya-san says it's great!"

"Maybe for her." Josei commented, "but I don't plan on becoming a man, either."

From the expression on her face, Hikaru simply could not believe what she was hearing. But then, she had been listening to Seiya's stories about Earth and being a guy ever since the beginning of her senshi training, and it was all but engraved in her mind.

Really, she supposed, there was no need to change her gender. She and her partners weren't planning on joining The Lights, after all. They were only distant relations of the guys from The Lights—no need for their own group to be all-male as well.

She finally declared; "well I plan on being a guy!"

"Oh, no." Josei said dryly, "hark, for I shall die of shock!"

A glare.

"Remind me again why we're doing this?"

Silence, then Hikaru managed; "uh—as part of our training? We need to be able to handle people! Lots of people! Huge crowds and coliseums of people! What better way to do that than becoming stars and being on the stage in front of them all the time?"

Amai looked as if she might faint.

"You're grasping for straws there, Hikaru." Josei commented.

The other Light pouted.

"Anou..." Amai fidgeted to catch their attention, hazel eyes looking worried. "If what Hikaru is saying is true..." she looked toward the other girl; "we were on the television, right?"

"Yeah..."

"But we were on there as girls." The shy senshi pointed out, "if you're a man instead of a woman the next time you're on the television... won't people notice?"

Hikaru stared blankly for a moment—

—and Josei began to laugh uncontrollably. "And she's thwarted at the last second!"

"Oi!"

Pushing off the chair, Hikaru dove at her giggling friend, knocking the violet-haired girl sideways. They both crashed into the carpet with muffled thumps, with the unofficial 'leader' of the Starlights-In-Training pinning Josei down with her own body weight while she pinched her upper arm repeatedly...

"Itai! Itai! Itaiitaiitai! Hikaru!" Huffing, Josei shoved Hikaru off of herself, then rubbed at her arm. "That hurt!"

Hikaru sniffed. "No one'll notice, Amai-chan. Everyone was paying attention to the posters of The Lights that were behind us, not on whether we were boys or girls."

The brunette looked unsure. "Hai..."

Josei was still glaring and rubbing her arm. "I'm going to bruise!"

"Anyway!" The aqua-haired girl declared, "I still say we each have our own colors!"

"Not this again..."

"We also need to name our group!"

"Hikaru... Kakyuu-hime hasn't even said it's alright, yet..."

"Of course she will!"

"You have a lot of confidence..."

"And we should be prepared for when the time comes!"

"You are insane, do you know that?"

"Come on, Josei!"

"Fine, fine." Josei waved her off with apparent irritation. "We'll think of a name."

Softly. "Saa... what do you suggest, Hikaru?"

"I'm glad you asked, Amai!"

"Oh no."

"What?"

"Kami-sama, save us all..."

"I resent that, Josei!"

"What was your idea...?"

"Amai-chan, I'm rather partial to 'Josei And The Pussycats'!"

"....."

"Baka!"

Hikaru was taken off-guard when Josei's half-full water bottle suddenly bounced off her shoulder, and yelped indignantly before turning a scathing glare on the offending party—"you could have just said 'no'!"—and then meandering into the kitchen to find something to snack on.

.....

"Anou, minna..." Amai said softly after a moment.

Josei glanced toward her, and Hikaru called out from the kitchen; "what, Amai?"

"Has anyone thought about what Seiya-san and the others are going to think when they see that interview on the television?"

You could have heard a pin drop.

"Uhh..."