Title: Promise Well Kept

Author: Kamel

Word Count:2,225

Pairing: n/a

Genre: General

Rating: PG

Notes:

Summary: After their battle against Galaxia, the outer senshi return to their normal lives and continue to keep a promise they made months ago.

A look of pure enthusiasm engulfed the young child's round, pudgy face as four stars shot across the night sky one right after the other. One of her three guardians mentioned something about 'they're going home,' but she was more excited about what she had just witnessed – the act of watching for shooting stars was one that required patience, something young children often did not have and the little girl was no different. "Did you see that?" the ecstatic girl asked, tugging at the arm of her other caregiver.

The oldest of the three women gazed down at their adoptive daughter with a small smile. Being able to spend moments such as this with her untraditional family was reason enough to keep fighting to protect this planet and the princess. Her smile grew as Hotaru began to bounce up and down against the sports car while the others leaned against it. "Yes," the time guardian answered with a nod. "Did you make a wish, hime-chan?"

Hotaru grinned widely out of sheer excitement. "Mmhmm! What did you wish for, Setsuna-mama?" she asked, tilting her head.

Setsuna could have easily answered the question, but that would have defeated the purpose. After all, everyone knew you were not suppose to share your wish with anyone else. "It's a secret. If I tell you, it won't come true," she teased. Her answer was met by the little girl's pout. Seven year olds did not enjoy to be beaten by their own logic, especially when it withheld information they wanted to know.

"That's no fair," Hotaru grumbled with a frown, receiving a small chuckle from Haruka.

"Hime-chan, would going out for ice-cream make it all better?" the F-1 racecar driver asked, giving her a quick wink. Ice-cream – or any type of dessert for that matter – made everything better. Suddenly, the unfairness to the no sharing wishes rule would be long forgotten; if only ice-cream worked that way for politicians or world leaders.

"Yeah! Ice-cream!" Hotaru shouted, very much agreeing with the idea. She began to bounce once more. "Can we go right now, Haruka-papa?"

Although she was fully aware of her lover and roommate's glaring – both completely oblivious to Hotaru – Haruka nodded. Michiru, sighing slightly, crossed her arms over her chest, not at all looking forward to the sugar high their daughter would be experiencing around bedtime, but… they did have a rough last couple of days, they all were long overdue for a break. Maybe just this once it would be alright – if Haruka was in charge of putting Hotaru to bed later tonight. However, if that were the case then their little girl would probably be up until a very odd hour. Haruka always managed to spoil the girl. They had a very strong parent-child bond.

"Let's go!" Hotaru said, pulling open the door to the backseat. "I want a scoop of strawberry with chocolate syrup and sprinkles with a cheery on top!" she stated, climbing in.

Haruka met the glares of Michiru and Setsuna. They both were thinking the same thing, Hotaru was already pretty hyper. Factoring sugar in was going to be a bit dangerous to this equation. "This would thing could have been avoided if Setsuna would have told her the wish," Haruka teased, walking around her car to open the passenger door for Michiru.

XXX

There was another thing they had learned about raising children early on besides their skewed sense of logic – their appetites widely ranged from being able to eat an entire horse in one sitting or a spoonful was enough to fill them up. With the case of the ice-cream, a few spoonfuls were enough to do Hotaru in, giving Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna a side of strawberry to their vanilla, mint, and chocolate. That being the case, they hadn't embraced for a major sugar rush, but that was another lesson. Any amount of sugar, large of small, was enough to induce a rush of great magnitude.

Being the primary playmate, it had become Haruka's duty to calm the young child down. Immediately upon arriving home, Hotaru took her Haruka-papa to the living room, wanting to play a few rounds of Mario Kart on the Gamecube she had been given months ago by her caregivers. However, Michiru and Setsuna were not too aware whether or not the system had been intended for their daughter or Haruka herself. Hotaru handed off one of the controllers to Haruka as Setsuna took a seat on the living room couch to watch.

"Okay, we'll do one round of the tournament, hime-chan," Haruka tried to reason. "And then you have to go to bed, it's past your bedtime."

Hotaru nodded, success, but Setsuna's eyebrows furrowed as she frowned. "Doesn't a tournament take a while?" she questioned.

The time guardian had hit the nail right on the head, this part of the game could take a while – especially if you had the rainbow course of whatever it was called. However, Haruka was relying on the fact the child had a short attention span. After a couple of rounds of driving nearly the same course over and over again, she was bound to get bored, right? That was her theory and she was sticking to it. It had to work. "No," Haruka replied, brushing off her roommate's concern. "It will be over in a few." Technically, it was not a lie, but she was not exactly sure if it was the truth either for that matter."

"Video games at this time of night?" the sea goddess remarked, entering the living room from the kitchen carrying a tray containing four cups of tea. Michiru placed the tray upon the coffee table before joining Setsuna on the couch. Unofficially, they had given themselves certain jobs as Hotaru's caregivers – Haruka was the playmate, Setsuna primarily focused on her education and Michriu was responsible for the nutrition; naturally, Haruka was more laid back and often spoiled the girl. "You'll be tired for tomorrow morning's violin lessons, hime-chan."

Hotaru placed her remote on the carpet floor and crawled over to the couch. The child pulled herself onto the couch next to her two mothers as Haruka attempted to decide which Mario brother she wanted as s driver – not that it truly mattered, she would accidentally switch them at some point during the race. "Michiru-mama," Hotaru said in a small whimper. "We just saved the world, I think we deserve a break from violin lessons – I promise to practice extra hard for the next lesson…"

Bemused, Setsuna took her cup of tea and stood. Maybe her roommates had plans to stay up, but the time guardian was ready to retire to bed. "I'm heading off," she announced causing the child to run over for a quick hug. Setsuna placed a small kiss on the top of her head. "Good night, hime-chan – Michiru-chan, Haruka-chan."

"Night, Setsuna-chan," Michiru replied, watching Hotaru head back for her controller. Apparently the conversation about the violin lessons had been forgotten, but she had decided just this once, they could skip the lesson as long as Hotaru kept her word – she had to practice extra this week or it meant for a very unpleasant double-lesson in the future.

From Haruka's general direction, Setsuna heard a 'uh-huh,' which she translated to good night. Holding her cup of tea carefully, she went up the stairs, hearing whines from Hotaru for her Haruka-papa to hurry up. How hard was it to pick a driver and a passenger? The general rule was to pick the smallest characters, they went fast; therefore, Setsuna always picked the babies when she played. Hotaru went for that green dinosaur and the ghost. IT was such a weird game; she didn't try to understand either.

Taking a caution sip from her tea (Michiru enjoyed hot tea, one must be careful of drinking Michiru-prepared tea), Setsuna entered her bedroom a placed her cup on the nightstand next ot her bed, mindful of her half finished novel. She would be quiet upset if she split tea on her book. Yawning faintly, Setsuna blinked away watery eyes – she was more tired than she realized. AT her dresser, Setsuna pulled out a drawer and tossed her pajamas onto her bed. Before turning around, her maroon eyes caught sight of a small ring box. She smiled slightly, taking out the silver band and brought the lavender gem to her lips.

They all had matching rings – she, Michiru and Haruka. It was a simple design, nothing over the top. It symbolized the life they had together, the promise they made to raise Hotaru. During the time of Galaxia, they had taken them off, they were not needed because, as sailor senshi, they had a duty to their princess and future kingdom. However, that battle was over. They had returned to a normal life and it that life, they were Hotaru's caregivers. It only seemed natural to bring the rings back out; she was sure Haruka and Michiru would definitely agree.

Setsuna tucked away the empty b ox into her dresser and placed the ring on her nightstand to be worn tomorrow morning until further more.

XXX

"Stop hitting me with those red shells!" Hotaru whined as her mini-kart recovered for what felt like the millionth time in their second race alone. Haruka was cheating, she did not know how, but she definitely was – the logic of a child.

"I didn't hit you that time! It was Bowser!" Haruka retorted as she crossed the finish line.

Hotaru huffed, setting her controller on the floor. "That's not fair," she grumbled.

"Hmm? Don't you want to finish the rest of the tournament, hime-chan?" Haruka asked, tilting her head.

Shaking her head in return, Hotaru stood up and took a hold of Michiru's hand. She pulled her mama onto her feet. "Haruka-papa, it's time for bed," she replied. "Maybe we can finish tomorrow morning?"

Michiru opted to mention the violin lessons - that would put the child in a sour mood. It was affirmative, no lesson tomorrow, Mario Kart was clearly more important. Haruka chuckled, holding out her arms. Hotaru released Michiru's hand and grabbed her papa in a massive bear hug. "Goodnight, hime-chan. Sweet dreams," she murmured, kissing her forehead.

"Night, Haruka-papa – golden dreams," Hotaru replied brightly, running back over to Michiru who took her hand. Haruka, once more, chuckled as the two of them went up the stairs.

Quietly, they tip toed past Setuna's bedroom door, though Michiru seriously doubted she was asleep. Setsuna was always the last out of all of them to fall asleep, even if she was the first to go to bed; she stayed up reading novels of all sorts of genres. Setsuna had an amazing collection of books, a collection Michiru was quiet jealous of. The sea goddess wanted to read many of them, but time never seemed to be on her side.

Michiru pushed open the bedroom door to Hotaru's room. The young child released her mama's hand and flipped on the light switch, causing many lamps to illuminate the room. Hotaru grinned widely, she loved her lamps and her parents knew – they were always aiding to make the collection even bigger. "There's a new lamp in the antique shop in the shopping district," she stated. "Chibiusa-chan told me so; can we check it out later?"

"We'll see, hime-chan," Michiru answered, pulling out the little girl's pajamas from under the pillow. "Maybe after lunch tomorrow – remember that chandler we saw in the opera house?"

"After Michiru-mama's performance? Yeah! It was huge! And so pretty!" Hotaru gushed, pulling her shirt over her head. She took her nightgown from Michiru. "That would be awesome to have in my room, but I wouldn't be able to sleep in here anymore – maybe I could sleep with Setsuna-mama."

Helping to get the nightgown on, Michiru giggled slightly at the child. "Maybe, but I think we would have trouble getting the chandler through the door."

Hotaru huffed. "You're right – can you take a picture for me the next time you go? I can keep that in my room," she reasoned, climbing into her bed.

"Yes, you can and I will," Michiru promised, tucking her daughter into bed. "Goodnight, my little firefly," she said softly, kissing Hotaru's forehead.

"Goodnight, Michiru-mama…"

Smiling faintly, she stood up and walked to the door. She switched the lights off before stepping out of the room. Leaning against the bedroom door, Michiru looked up to find Haruka smiling back at her. She pushed herself off the door, Haruka wrapped her arm around her shoulders and lead her lover into their own room. "The sea is finally calm once again," Michiru stated.

"We can return to our daily lives. For now," Haruka replied, pulling out a small box from Michiru's jewelary box on the vanity set. Delicately, she took out the silver bands they had retired many months ago. "We can focus on raising Hotaru once more."

"Yes," Michiru grinned, taking her ring from Haruka's open palm. She slipped the band onto her finger. "We have a bright future ahead of us, Haruka…"

End.