"What do you mean, you can't show up?" Setsuna asked into her phone. "Is everyone like that? Is everyone sick? Oh, I see. Okay." She hung it up and glanced over at the other three. "So all the Inner Senshi have managed to get themselves sick and won't be useful in battle or anything until they recover."
"What are they sick with?" Michiru asked.
"According to Ami-san, a really bad stomach bug. They can barely get up from their beds."
"Let's take care of them!" Hotaru suddenly announced, making the three look over at her. "Well, why not? They'd do the same for us if we were sick, why not do it for them? Besides, we're their friends, and this is the best way to show we care!"
"I don't see any harm in that. It sounds like fun, actually!" Michiru smiled.
################
Ami was lying on her couch when she heard a loud but polite knock on her front door. She quickly jumped out of her bed but slowly trudged over to the front door and opened it. "Hello?" She asked in a slow voice, her eyes widening when she saw Hotaru there. "Hotaru-chan! Why are you here?"
"I'm here to be your caretaker! I heard you were really sick, so..." She poked her head inside. "May I please come in?"
"Sure." Ami held the door open for her and flopped back onto the couch. She couldn't help but to notice Hotaru was dressed like a nurse with a conservative mindset. She had on a pink blouse, a white apron that went to her knees and had two pockets, brown tights, white nurse shoes, and a pink nurse's cap.
"You like my outfit? Haruka-papa tried to dress me in something more revealing, but Setsuna-mama put a stop to it very quickly. She said something like this was more fitting for a ten-year-old girl." Hotaru smiled, and Ami sighed.
"Sounds like Haruka-san." The TV was on but muted, and Hotaru looked over at it.
"Do you want me to unmute this?"
"No, I had a hard time concentrating on it. It was mainly just background noise my mom said would soothe me."
Hotaru turned it off and felt Ami's forehead. "You're really warm!" She said in surprise.
"Yeah, Mom took my temperature shortly before she left. It's not very high, but I still have a fever." Ami explained. Her pajamas were chosen in consideration to her condition, they were a light blue frilly camisole with matching frilly shorts. "I don't need much, I just feel really tired."
"I understand. Well, if you ever do need something, Nurse Hotaru is here to take care of you!" She posed with a grin, making Ami smile weakly. She kneeled by the couch. "On more serious matters, do you think this is the work of the enemy? Do you think they made you guys sick so you couldn't go after them?"
"I don't think so. After all, that would require knowing our identities, and as far as I know, they don't know them. They would have to infect the entire town, and you guys and Mom aren't sick. It's probably just your average, run-of-the-mill stomach bug."
"Oh, well that's not as fun! At least it's not a plan by the enemies!" Hotaru giggled. Ami giggled as well, then held her stomach.
"Quick, bring me that blue bowl on the kitchen table!" She directed, making Hotaru spring up and run over to it, pluck it off the table, and dash back over to Ami. She set it beside the couch on the floor, and Ami leaned over it and loudly vomited orangish-brown vomit into it. Afterwards she wiped her mouth off and rolled over on the other side.
"Looks like chocolate chips and pepperoni!" Hotaru noticed.
"My dinner. Mom didn't know I was sick last night, so we ate gourmet pizza and chocolate-chip cookies. It's been coming up all this morning and it burns." Ami started coughing.
"Do you want me to rinse this out?" Hotaru asked, but Ami shook her head.
"Just leave it there in case I need it again..." Shortly after she said that, she fell asleep, leaving Hotaru with nothing to do. The smell of the vomit was too strong for her, so she decided to explore Ami's so-called mansion.
It wasn't so much a mansion as it was a really fancy apartment building, but Hotaru could still see signs of their great wealth here and there. She walked into the kitchen and found everything covered in stainless steel, with the marble floor polished perfectly and the light shining brightly over everything. Next to it was a small but lavish dining room, with polished golden oak floors, a huge cupboard lined with various colors of china plates, a glass dining table, and a crystal chandelier overhead.
Hotaru went back into the living room to check on Ami, who was still asleep. She managed to tangle herself up in her blanket, possibly due to her constant squirming, so Hotaru gently untangled it the best she could without waking her and wrapped her up in it again. The living room was quite modest, with only a flat-screen TV, orient rug, and marble statue showing off their status. She ran into the hallway, finding several doorways there. She pulled open one to find a computer room and went inside.
Inside she found a marble desk with a computer sitting on top and several tall bookcases which were stuffed with various textbooks, most of them medical. Out of curiosity, she pulled one out and opened it, finding a chapter on the common cold. She put it back and looked behind her, finding a giant black telescope. She went over to it and found its coordinates already programmed in the direction of the planet Mercury, and she smiled to herself as she wondered who could've possibly used it last. Hotaru left that room and shut the door, then went into the bedroom directly across from it, which turned out to be Ami's actual bedroom.
She was expecting some sort of blue watery theme, but the room was pretty generic looking, in her thoughts. Her bed was dark green and was covered in giant colored pillows, and there was a white silk curtain around it that could be drawn around her for privacy. Several bookshelves lined her walls, and Hotaru was surprised to find a a manga volume here and there. She even managed to find a recent edition of Run-Run. There was a white dresser on one side, which Hotaru didn't open, and also a closet, which Hotaru did open. She found several formal dresses hanging up, along with a dozen pair of shoes. A bunch of old childhood dolls and toys were in there as well, but instead of just being shoved in, they were set up in little scenes that captured them eternally. She shut the closet door and left Ami's bedroom, trying the door next to it, only to find it locked.
She figured that was Ami's mom's room and therefore had locked it for a good reason. She tried the last door and found a bathroom behind it, which was all painted in a rosy pink color. The toilet was pink, the sink was pink, and their small bathtub was pink. She noticed it also had a shower nozzle attached to it, and thought the idea of combining them was strange. She quickly ran back to the living room to check on Ami again, finding her awake and sitting up on the couch, holding her head. Hotaru ran over to her.
"Are you okay? Do you need anything?" She asked worriedly, but Ami shook her head.
"I'm sorry for waking up so early, but I was having a really strange fever dream." She explained. "I wonder if my fever is getting worse..."
"Hold on, I'll get something for it!" Hotaru ran into the kitchen and found a washcloth hanging over the sink, and she quickly ran cold water over it and placed it on Ami's forehead. "Do you think that'll help?"
"It should bring my fever down a little." Ami answered.
"Do you remember what your fever dream was about?" Hotaru asked, crouching next to her.
"I can't remember it very well, I just remember seeing someone in a dark hallway holding a candle. I couldn't make out their face, but they were dressed in Rei-chan's clothes. They started running towards me, crying for their mother, but right before they grabbed me, I woke up."
"Well, fever dreams aren't supposed to make much sense."
"True." Ami started coughing really hard and leaned over her basin and vomited again. Afterwards she kept coughing, and Hotaru jumped up again. Ami simply giggled weakly and wiped her tears. "I'm a terrible doctor, here I am getting sick!"
"Nonsense, doctors can't help it if they get sick too! It's a risk of business, but if you love what you do, then who cares what happens?" Hotaru demanded. "Besides, you're not a doctor yet, so it's fine if you get sick."
"I could be, if I wanted to be. In some countries, there are doctors who are sixteen, like me! And they're certified and everything!" Ami insisted.
"Did I ever tell you what I wanted to be?" Hotaru asked, and Ami shook her head. "I wanna be a nurse when I grow up. I want to help improve the health of others!" She smiled.
"What a great dream! I just want to be a doctor because Mom's one. I saw how hard she worked to make people feel better, and I thought to myself: 'That's who I want to be.'"
"Maybe we could work together someday! You could be the head doctor of the establishment. Before you came along, nobody knew what to do. But then, Doctor Mizuno Ami came along and solved the case, and everyone instantly made her the head doctor. But of course, she would be nothing without her trusty Nurse Tomoe Hotaru by her side!" Hotaru laughed, describing it. Ami laughed weakly.
"Why did you come over here to help me, anyway?" Ami asked. She laid back down and adjusted her washcloth accordingly.
"It was my idea all along once I found out you guys got sick to help you. I said that if we got sick, you guys would take care of us, so we should do the same. Surprisingly, my guardians all agreed." Hotaru explained.
"Where are the others?"
"Setsuna-mama's with Minako-san, Michiru-mama's with both Makoto-san and Rei-san, and Haruka-papa is with Usagi-san and Chibiusa-chan!" She smiled.
"Sounds about right. I wonder if they're having any trouble?"
"Maybe, maybe not. You're a very good patient, you know."
"Thank you, Nurse Hotaru." They both giggled. Ami's communicator suddenly beeped, and she looked over at it on the coffee table. Hotaru brought it to her and she turned it on.
"Ami-chan, there's some Senshi business going on! You have to get downtown quickly!" Makoto commanded her.
"But we can't fight! We're all sick!" Ami protested.
"That's what Michiru-san told me, but I just told her Senshi business waits for nobody, even if they're sick. If Hotaru-chan is with you, bring her along too. We need a lot of help!" She suddenly started coughing and hung up the call, leaving both Ami and Hotaru to stare at each other.
"She's right, Senshi business is important! But at the same time, you're sick! Nobody wants a barfy Sailor Senshi!" Hotaru cried.
"Whatever happens, happens. Everyone else is sick, but they're still down there." Ami jumped out of bed. "Come on, let's do this!" She ran into her bedroom to get her pen. Hotaru pulled hers out of her pocket.
"Somehow I can't shake the feeling that this is a bad idea..."
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Super Sailor Mercury and Super Sailor Saturn soon found themselves where the Senshi told them to be, and the scene wasn't like they pictured. They found the three transformed Outers scolding the transformed Inners for not listening to them and staying in bed like they were supposed to. By the sounds of it, their patients had given them a much harder time than Ami had given Hotaru. Mercury started coughing again, making the team look over at them.
"Saturn! You're finally here! Now you can help us defeat the monster!" Super Sailor Uranus announced.
"No way, we'll deal with it!" Super Sailor Mars shot back.
"You're too sick! We told you to stay in bed!" Super Sailor Neptune snapped at her.
"We're fine!" Super Sailor Jupiter promised. "Right guys?"
Mercury simply turned around and vomited on the ground again, making the girls gasp in surprise.
"Well, no matter! We can still defeat this monster!" Jupiter jumped out of hiding and did her traditional pose.
"Sailor Senshi have shown up? How annoying." Sailor Lead Crow rolled her eyes.
"You bet we've shown up, and this time, since you interrupted our recovery, we won't go easy on you!" Super Sailor Venus promised, posing as well.
"Recovery? What do you mean?" She asked, her curiosity peaking a bit.
"We're ill with a stomach bug, and we really don't feel like fighting anything, so just go away!" Mars demanded, also doing her pose.
"Why would I do that? The person I checked already had a dull Star Seed, which means they'll turn into a monster, which means you have to deal with them!" She grinned.
"Just leave us alone!" Eternal Sailor Moon pointed at her.
"Also, you guys might want to invest in a better shower, you all stink of vomit." Her phone-booth appeared and she stepped inside it. "So long!" She laughed and vanished, leaving the girls alone.
"How rude! We only smell like vomit because that's what we've been doing all day!" Jupiter protested. The woman suddenly turned into a monstrous form of a nurse.
"Sailor Nurse!" She laughed.
"What are the odds that we're being attacked by what we actually needed?" Mars asked.
"And why am I getting vibes that we've done something like this before...?" Venus started to wonder.
"Time for your checkups!" The monster formed a stethoscope and twirled it around, wrapping it around both Mars and Venus. She tightened it, making the two girls cry out in pain.
"Deep Submerge!" Neptune fired her attack at the monster, knocking her back.
"Time to check those reflexes!" She formed a giant hammer and aimed it at Mercury, who was still in the middle of a coughing fit.
"Mercury! Look out!" Saturn cried, pushing her out of the way and having the hammer narrowly miss them.
"You saved me!" Mercury said in surprise. "You really are an amazing nurse." Saturn smiled at her, and Mercury smiled back.
"Time to take your medicine!" The monster flicked her wrist and several types of pills fired out at Eternal Sailor Moon, making her scream and run away.
"Mars! Flame Sniper!" Mars fired her own attack at the pills aimed at her and melted them all. She suddenly swooned from her illness and leaned against a nearby pole.
"Venus! Love and Beauty Shock!" Venus fired her attack at the monster, knocking her down to the ground. "Now, Sailor Moon!"
"Alright!" Eternal Sailor Moon formed her wand. "Silver Moon! Crystal Power Kiss!" She fired her attack at the monster, making her scream.
"Beautiful!" She turned back into a regular woman and passed out, her Star Seed going back into her forehead.
"See? We did alright for being sick! Just admit it!" Mars grinned.
"Only because we were here! If we weren't, you guys would've been dead!" Uranus insisted.
"But now it's back to your houses to care for you more..." Super Sailor Pluto sighed a bit, as if she was dreading that moment.
"Be more excited than that! I am an amazing patient!" Venus smiled and ran over to Pluto.
"Most of you were, until your fevers went down..." Neptune held her own head.
"Come on, let's go back to your place!" Saturn smiled at Mercury, who smiled back. They quickly left the bickering Inners and Outers alone.
#################
Hotaru rinsed the pizza-cookie barf out from Ami's basin in the sink and gave it back to her. Ami had fallen asleep almost as soon as they had gotten home, which Hotaru simply smiled at. She sure could sleep when she was sick. She wasn't sure what else to do, so she pulled out one of Ami's own books and started reading it. Ami had woken up several times in the day, but she would almost immediately fall back asleep. Her fever had gone down significantly, but she still wasn't able to keep anything down. As Hotaru was sitting in the living room reading, she lost track of time and soon the sun had gone down and Ami's mom had come home.
"Excuse me? Who are you?" She demanded, making Hotaru look up from her book.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Dr. Mizuno. I'm a friend of Ami-san's, and she asked me to look after her while you were at work. I hope you don't mind..." She suddenly blushed and looked down at her book. Dr. Mizuno looked over at Ami, who was still asleep. She felt her forehead and drew back in surprise.
"Her fever is gone!" She looked over at Hotaru. "You did an impressive job of keeping her company, miss. She was clearly in good hands."
"Thank you! I hope I did good, since it's a dream of mine to become a nurse!"
"I think you'll make a fine nurse. Now your work here is done, so please go home and let me tend to my own daughter."
Hotaru nodded and started to put her book up, but Dr. Mizuno shook her head at her. "I'll handle it, just leave it on your chair." Hotaru nodded again and gently set it back down on her chair, then went home. Her own house was fairly close to Ami's, so she had no trouble finding it despite the darkness.
Dr. Mizuno put the book up and hung the wet washcloth back up. Ami slowly woke up and look at her mother in surprise.
"Mom? You're home early..." She managed in her groggy state.
"There wasn't much for me to do today. And there's not much to do here either, since your fever is already down, thanks to your little friend." Her mom explained. "Can you hold food down? If not I won't make you dinner."
"No, I can't." Ami answered, and her mom simply nodded and went into the kitchen. "Thank you for taking such good care of me, Hotaru-chan..." She whispered to herself, then fell back asleep.
##############
Meanwhile, the next day, all of the Inner Senshi found themselves perfectly healthy, while Michiru and Haruka most certainly did not.
"Why are we the ones who always fall ill?" Michiru demanded as Setsuna pulled her hair up into a ponytail.
"Well now you can tell us all about how your days as nurses went!" Hotaru smiled. "Starting with you, Setsuna-mama! How did your time taking care of Minako-chan go?"
"Her? It was terrible. She always demanded things she couldn't keep down, only to puke them all back up again, and repeat the cycle. It was a nightmare." Setsuna sat down on a chair and held her head, as if the simply memory gave her a headache. "I don't want to think about it."
"Really? Sounds like a very interesting story." Michiru grinned at her.
"Yeah, now you have to tell us since you brought it up!" Haruka grinned as well.
"Please tell us, Setsuna-mama? It's not like we're going anywhere!" Hotaru smiled at her, and Setsuna sighed.
"Alright, since you three insisted so much, I'll tell you the story. As you know, it happened yesterday, and I was assigned to her because I figured my maturity and level-headiness was something she would need, being as sick as she was..." And thus, Setsuna told her tale, which is literally a tale for another day...