Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and my original characters,
everything else belongs to someone else so suing me is now pointless.
Making Observations
Hotaru was in no rush to get to school the next morning and stood in front of the elm tree as she waited patiently for Rini to show up so that they could walk to school together a week after her near miss with the car. Tugging at her skirt absently Hotaru wished that the schools would make the skirts longer but Rini said that was just wishful thinking as the people in charge were guys and of course they weren't going to go for covering up the lovely view the skirts provided. Hotaru didn't believe a word of it but she really did wish she didn't have to wear the stupid skirt. Looking around Hotaru enjoyed the brisk breeze on her face and wished that school was over already instead of beginning in forty-five minutes. She didn't care for school at all and Rini was what made it tolerable. Not that the kids still picked on her, most had grown out of it by now but some still treated her like a freak and she hated feeling like one.
"Deep in thought?" A voice said and Hotaru turned to see a boy with green hair and blue eyes standing nearby, watching her with a friendly smile on his face. He was fairly tall and Hotaru figured that her head would probably just pass his shoulder if they were to stand back to back. He was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt despite the fact that there was a slight chill in the air. His hair was drawn back from his face in a small ponytail and Hotaru thought it suited him though she'd never say so.
"Just thinking." Hotaru said shyly as she smiled back at him, thinking he was a nice guy. Normally she was uncomfortable around guys but there was something about him that was comforting, almost as though she'd knew him.
"A worth endeavor, uncommon for teenage girls." The man replied with a grin before walking slight closer so that there was only a meter separating them. "Of course I don't spend a lot of time with teenage girls if I can help it so what do I know anyway, right?" He added with a wink to let her know he was just fooling around.
"Well I can think of several girls who would fit that description nicely." Hotaru said as she fiddled with the straps of her backpack, blushing slightly at all the attention.
"I'll bet you do. Well I better be going, people to see and things to accomplish. Farewell for now, milady." The man said with a gallant bow and grin before turning on his heels and headed off down the street, whistling a tune she didn't recognize just loud enough for her to hear and make her grin. Whoever that man was he had really lightened her mood and Hotaru hoped that she ran into him again, he'd seemed like a really nice guy and he looked about the older scouts' age, maybe he was single and she could introduce him to the girls, take their mind off worrying about her.
"Sorry I'm late, Hotaru. Have you been waiting long?" Rini asked as she came to a stop in front of Hotaru minutes later, panting slightly from her jog. "I thought Amara or Michelle would be with you till I got here since we aren't suppose to go alone anywhere."
"Michelle dropped me off, there was a traffic jam and I thought I'd seen you on the street so I convinced Michelle to let me out down the block." Hotaru said as she pointed down the street to the next block over. "Obviously it wasn't you but Michelle had already left. I haven't been waiting long though and as you can see nothing happened to me."
"Well next time I'll be on time, promise." Rini said with a fierce look, her pink pigtails practically vibrating with the determination in her voice. "Anyone wants to get to you they're gonna have to get through me first, Hotaru."
"I know that Rini, now lets get to school before we're late and end up in detention." Hotaru said with a cheery smile as she motioned down the block where they're school could be found. "Plus didn't you say you wanted to talk to one of your teachers about a project that they assigned for this week? If you want to do that we'll have to hurry."
"Oh yeah, we'd better hurry then, huh?" Rini said and at Hotaru's nod the two started walking quickly in the direction of their school, completely unaware that they were being watched from afar by the mysterious man Hotaru had been talking to earlier. He'd always liked Hotaru and hoped that whereever Damien was he wasn't getting into any trouble.
"Dang it." Ami said as she struggled to open her car door, juggling the groceries she had in her arms without much success. It was either set all the groceries down on the pavement, risking them falling out of the bags and unlock it or risk dropping everything in a quick attempt to get the key in and turned before her groceries fell and hit pavement. She was ready to give up and set the groceries down when she felt someone tap her shoulder blade, surprising her enough that she came close to dropping the bags right there and then. Turning around Ami's eyes met chest and then looking up locked on a pair of beautiful brown eyes that twinkled back at her with good humor. "Can I help you?" Ami asked as she tightening her grip on one of her bags before it could slip from her grasp.
"Actually I was going to ask you the same question, would you like some help getting your door open?" The man asked as he motioned towards the door with his thumb. "I assure you I'm not a mugger or something terrible, plus there are plenty of people around to hear you scream if I did have bad intentions, which I don't. I'd appreciate it though if you'd let me help you, my mother would turn over in her grave or come back to haunt me if I didn't help a lady so obviously in distress." He added with a hint of laughter in his voice. "So will you let me help you?"
"Well for your mother's sake I suppose I must." Ami said with a laugh as she shuffled the bags just enough so that she could hand him the keys. Watching him she smiled when he simply opened the car door and then stepped aside so that she could put her groceries onto the seat. Glad to no longer have to hold them Ami made sure that they'd stay put before straightening up to thank her rescuer. "Thanks for your help, I really appreciated it."
"No problem, my pleasure." The man said with a wide smile and Ami had the oddest feeling that they'd met before.
"I'm sorry, this is going to sound strange but have we met before? You look very familiar somehow but I can't place where we might have met." Ami said as she closed the car door, leaning against it as she looked up at him, trying to place his face but coming up with a blank. "Do you live around here? I don't think it's from school."
"Well as far as I know I've never met you, but you never know, maybe we knew each other in a past life." The man said with a wink and a chuckle, Ami having no idea how close she was. Smart girl was his Ami. "Though I'm sure I'd remember you if we had met, you don't strike me as the type someone could forget, even from a past life."
"Well I don't know about that." Ami said with a slight blush though she got the feeling that he was more kidding with her then flirting. In fact it was almost like talking to Darien or Andrew, strange as that was considering she didn't know the guy from Adam. "I'm Ami by the way, Ami Mizuno. It's nice to meet you." Ami said as she held out a hand, smiling when he took it in a firm handshake.
"I'm Damien Hermes." The man said with a smile as he shook her hand, his larger one nearly swallowing hers in his though his shake was gentle. "It's nice to meet you, Ami."
"Funny, you don't look Greek." Ami said with a wider smile then explained when he looked at her questioningly. "In Greek mythology Hermes was the god of thieves and a messenger for the gods. He was known as Mercury in Roman mythology. I've always loved reading about other countries' cultures and stories; I've always been a fan of Egyptian and Greek in particular."
"Most people don't ever make the connection." Damien said, as he shot her an admiring look, really not surprised in the least that she'd seen the meaning behind the name. Not that she knew who he was of course; they truly wouldn't meet for several more years. "I should have know that you would, you have a very intelligent look about you."
"Well you obviously have his clever way with words, Damien." Ami said with a smirk, not at all use to the flirting of such a good-looking guy. "And I'd love to stand here and let you flatter me but I have to be going, I'm supposed to be meeting some friends soon and I have to get these groceries home."
"Well then till we meet again fair lady." Damien said with a small bow, his brown eyes sparkling with humor. "It was nice meeting you, Ami. I hope that we meet again soon."
"I'd like that." Ami said with a friendly smile as she opened her car door and slid in. "Bye."
Watching her drive away Damien smiled and waved even though there was really no way she could see him waving. He probably should have stuck to just observing her but once again his instincts had kicked in and he didn't really see any harm in helping her with her groceries, that couldn't possibly affect the course of history, could it? Knowing his luck you never knew.
Eli was not at all pleased as he sat in the park, watching people go past him without really seeing them, his anger blinding him. It should have been so simple, he'd pushed her, she'd gone flying and she should have ended up in pieces surrounded by twisted metal. Prince Damien had most definitely not been part of the scenario; he'd spoiled everything. Then again the other man made a habit of interfering with Eli's plans, he really needed to be broken of that habit before he wrecked something important. He knew why Damien was here of course; he should have expected Queen Serenity to send some of her loyal soldiers after him when he'd transported himself into the past. He hadn't expected her to send Damien though, that had been an unexpected and unappreciated surprise. He also doubted that the man had come alone, this was too important for it to be totally entrusted to the annoying prince. The question was who else had come along for the ride? He doubted that it would be one of the princesses, that left their husbands and children. Perhaps it was Rini's husband, since it was Princess Hotaru's life on the line in the first place. Then again Priest Helios might have opted to stay behind to protect the Queen and the others against the minions Eli had left behind. Odds were Serenity had picked someone who the scouts wouldn't recognize to blend in and alter history as little as possible. That would explain why Prince Damien had left his wife's side, especially considering the condition she'd been in after Eli had been done with her. Things were getting interesting, Damien would be a worthy opponent under normal circumstances, what kind of adversary would he be with everything he held dear on the line?
"And he opened the door for you and everything? Sounds like a nice catch, Ami." Mina said with a big smile as she patted Ami in the shoulder, smiling wider when Ami flushed a bright red. "What ever would Greg say?"
"It not like he asked me out or anything and if he had I would have told him about Greg and declined. He was just being a gentleman and if I see him again I'll introduce you and you're welcome to him, Mina." Ami said with a dark look. "He did seem really nice though, we must being invaded by knights in shining armor lately."
"Yeah, first some guy risked his life to save Hotaru from that car accident and now another guy appears out of nowhere to help Ami with her groceries." Lita said with a bright smile as she picked up a cookie, waving it as she made her point. "We should have gone out instead of hanging out here, we're missing out on the new fish in the pond."
"Well if they're is someone out there with intentions to harm Hotaru or any of you other girls knights in shining armor will come in handy most definitely." Luna said with a nod of her dark head. "We can only hope that there won't be any more situations that require one of you girls to be rescued from a bad situation."
"Well lets just hope that this was a solitary incident or god only knows what Amara will do." Rei said with a smirk. "I huge out with her yesterday morning at that new gym we decided to try out and boy did she ever beat the punching bag to a pulp! I'd really hate to be the guy who pushed Hotaru if Amara ever gets a hold of him, there won't be anything left of him put a pile of mush when she gets through with the sin of a bitch. Michelle said she's been plotting all sorts of horrible tortures too."
"That's Amara." Serena said with a wink as she reached for another of Lita's cookies. "So Ami, when did Greg say he'd be down for a visit? Bet you're counting the days huh?"
"He should be here by the end of the week." Ami said with a fading but still there blush. "So has Trisha had any more luck figuring out who pushed Hotaru and then used some sort of magic to hide his identity? That alone makes me think that this was deliberately aimed towards a Sailor Scout, otherwise why would he have known that he needed to hide his face?"
"No, Trisha's tried everything she can think of with no luck." Serena said with a small frown as she looked off into the distance. " We need to find some way to find out though, especially if we're all in danger and not just Hotaru. It's possible that he didn't know who she was, that he covered himself from someone else but I think Ami might be right, she usually is after all."
"Well I'd prefer to find out in a way other then another attack occurring." Luna said with a dark look. "And if there is someone out there who means any of you girls harm they better prepare for a fight because they'll find out how difficult it is to beat the sailor scouts."
Making Observations
Hotaru was in no rush to get to school the next morning and stood in front of the elm tree as she waited patiently for Rini to show up so that they could walk to school together a week after her near miss with the car. Tugging at her skirt absently Hotaru wished that the schools would make the skirts longer but Rini said that was just wishful thinking as the people in charge were guys and of course they weren't going to go for covering up the lovely view the skirts provided. Hotaru didn't believe a word of it but she really did wish she didn't have to wear the stupid skirt. Looking around Hotaru enjoyed the brisk breeze on her face and wished that school was over already instead of beginning in forty-five minutes. She didn't care for school at all and Rini was what made it tolerable. Not that the kids still picked on her, most had grown out of it by now but some still treated her like a freak and she hated feeling like one.
"Deep in thought?" A voice said and Hotaru turned to see a boy with green hair and blue eyes standing nearby, watching her with a friendly smile on his face. He was fairly tall and Hotaru figured that her head would probably just pass his shoulder if they were to stand back to back. He was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt despite the fact that there was a slight chill in the air. His hair was drawn back from his face in a small ponytail and Hotaru thought it suited him though she'd never say so.
"Just thinking." Hotaru said shyly as she smiled back at him, thinking he was a nice guy. Normally she was uncomfortable around guys but there was something about him that was comforting, almost as though she'd knew him.
"A worth endeavor, uncommon for teenage girls." The man replied with a grin before walking slight closer so that there was only a meter separating them. "Of course I don't spend a lot of time with teenage girls if I can help it so what do I know anyway, right?" He added with a wink to let her know he was just fooling around.
"Well I can think of several girls who would fit that description nicely." Hotaru said as she fiddled with the straps of her backpack, blushing slightly at all the attention.
"I'll bet you do. Well I better be going, people to see and things to accomplish. Farewell for now, milady." The man said with a gallant bow and grin before turning on his heels and headed off down the street, whistling a tune she didn't recognize just loud enough for her to hear and make her grin. Whoever that man was he had really lightened her mood and Hotaru hoped that she ran into him again, he'd seemed like a really nice guy and he looked about the older scouts' age, maybe he was single and she could introduce him to the girls, take their mind off worrying about her.
"Sorry I'm late, Hotaru. Have you been waiting long?" Rini asked as she came to a stop in front of Hotaru minutes later, panting slightly from her jog. "I thought Amara or Michelle would be with you till I got here since we aren't suppose to go alone anywhere."
"Michelle dropped me off, there was a traffic jam and I thought I'd seen you on the street so I convinced Michelle to let me out down the block." Hotaru said as she pointed down the street to the next block over. "Obviously it wasn't you but Michelle had already left. I haven't been waiting long though and as you can see nothing happened to me."
"Well next time I'll be on time, promise." Rini said with a fierce look, her pink pigtails practically vibrating with the determination in her voice. "Anyone wants to get to you they're gonna have to get through me first, Hotaru."
"I know that Rini, now lets get to school before we're late and end up in detention." Hotaru said with a cheery smile as she motioned down the block where they're school could be found. "Plus didn't you say you wanted to talk to one of your teachers about a project that they assigned for this week? If you want to do that we'll have to hurry."
"Oh yeah, we'd better hurry then, huh?" Rini said and at Hotaru's nod the two started walking quickly in the direction of their school, completely unaware that they were being watched from afar by the mysterious man Hotaru had been talking to earlier. He'd always liked Hotaru and hoped that whereever Damien was he wasn't getting into any trouble.
"Dang it." Ami said as she struggled to open her car door, juggling the groceries she had in her arms without much success. It was either set all the groceries down on the pavement, risking them falling out of the bags and unlock it or risk dropping everything in a quick attempt to get the key in and turned before her groceries fell and hit pavement. She was ready to give up and set the groceries down when she felt someone tap her shoulder blade, surprising her enough that she came close to dropping the bags right there and then. Turning around Ami's eyes met chest and then looking up locked on a pair of beautiful brown eyes that twinkled back at her with good humor. "Can I help you?" Ami asked as she tightening her grip on one of her bags before it could slip from her grasp.
"Actually I was going to ask you the same question, would you like some help getting your door open?" The man asked as he motioned towards the door with his thumb. "I assure you I'm not a mugger or something terrible, plus there are plenty of people around to hear you scream if I did have bad intentions, which I don't. I'd appreciate it though if you'd let me help you, my mother would turn over in her grave or come back to haunt me if I didn't help a lady so obviously in distress." He added with a hint of laughter in his voice. "So will you let me help you?"
"Well for your mother's sake I suppose I must." Ami said with a laugh as she shuffled the bags just enough so that she could hand him the keys. Watching him she smiled when he simply opened the car door and then stepped aside so that she could put her groceries onto the seat. Glad to no longer have to hold them Ami made sure that they'd stay put before straightening up to thank her rescuer. "Thanks for your help, I really appreciated it."
"No problem, my pleasure." The man said with a wide smile and Ami had the oddest feeling that they'd met before.
"I'm sorry, this is going to sound strange but have we met before? You look very familiar somehow but I can't place where we might have met." Ami said as she closed the car door, leaning against it as she looked up at him, trying to place his face but coming up with a blank. "Do you live around here? I don't think it's from school."
"Well as far as I know I've never met you, but you never know, maybe we knew each other in a past life." The man said with a wink and a chuckle, Ami having no idea how close she was. Smart girl was his Ami. "Though I'm sure I'd remember you if we had met, you don't strike me as the type someone could forget, even from a past life."
"Well I don't know about that." Ami said with a slight blush though she got the feeling that he was more kidding with her then flirting. In fact it was almost like talking to Darien or Andrew, strange as that was considering she didn't know the guy from Adam. "I'm Ami by the way, Ami Mizuno. It's nice to meet you." Ami said as she held out a hand, smiling when he took it in a firm handshake.
"I'm Damien Hermes." The man said with a smile as he shook her hand, his larger one nearly swallowing hers in his though his shake was gentle. "It's nice to meet you, Ami."
"Funny, you don't look Greek." Ami said with a wider smile then explained when he looked at her questioningly. "In Greek mythology Hermes was the god of thieves and a messenger for the gods. He was known as Mercury in Roman mythology. I've always loved reading about other countries' cultures and stories; I've always been a fan of Egyptian and Greek in particular."
"Most people don't ever make the connection." Damien said, as he shot her an admiring look, really not surprised in the least that she'd seen the meaning behind the name. Not that she knew who he was of course; they truly wouldn't meet for several more years. "I should have know that you would, you have a very intelligent look about you."
"Well you obviously have his clever way with words, Damien." Ami said with a smirk, not at all use to the flirting of such a good-looking guy. "And I'd love to stand here and let you flatter me but I have to be going, I'm supposed to be meeting some friends soon and I have to get these groceries home."
"Well then till we meet again fair lady." Damien said with a small bow, his brown eyes sparkling with humor. "It was nice meeting you, Ami. I hope that we meet again soon."
"I'd like that." Ami said with a friendly smile as she opened her car door and slid in. "Bye."
Watching her drive away Damien smiled and waved even though there was really no way she could see him waving. He probably should have stuck to just observing her but once again his instincts had kicked in and he didn't really see any harm in helping her with her groceries, that couldn't possibly affect the course of history, could it? Knowing his luck you never knew.
Eli was not at all pleased as he sat in the park, watching people go past him without really seeing them, his anger blinding him. It should have been so simple, he'd pushed her, she'd gone flying and she should have ended up in pieces surrounded by twisted metal. Prince Damien had most definitely not been part of the scenario; he'd spoiled everything. Then again the other man made a habit of interfering with Eli's plans, he really needed to be broken of that habit before he wrecked something important. He knew why Damien was here of course; he should have expected Queen Serenity to send some of her loyal soldiers after him when he'd transported himself into the past. He hadn't expected her to send Damien though, that had been an unexpected and unappreciated surprise. He also doubted that the man had come alone, this was too important for it to be totally entrusted to the annoying prince. The question was who else had come along for the ride? He doubted that it would be one of the princesses, that left their husbands and children. Perhaps it was Rini's husband, since it was Princess Hotaru's life on the line in the first place. Then again Priest Helios might have opted to stay behind to protect the Queen and the others against the minions Eli had left behind. Odds were Serenity had picked someone who the scouts wouldn't recognize to blend in and alter history as little as possible. That would explain why Prince Damien had left his wife's side, especially considering the condition she'd been in after Eli had been done with her. Things were getting interesting, Damien would be a worthy opponent under normal circumstances, what kind of adversary would he be with everything he held dear on the line?
"And he opened the door for you and everything? Sounds like a nice catch, Ami." Mina said with a big smile as she patted Ami in the shoulder, smiling wider when Ami flushed a bright red. "What ever would Greg say?"
"It not like he asked me out or anything and if he had I would have told him about Greg and declined. He was just being a gentleman and if I see him again I'll introduce you and you're welcome to him, Mina." Ami said with a dark look. "He did seem really nice though, we must being invaded by knights in shining armor lately."
"Yeah, first some guy risked his life to save Hotaru from that car accident and now another guy appears out of nowhere to help Ami with her groceries." Lita said with a bright smile as she picked up a cookie, waving it as she made her point. "We should have gone out instead of hanging out here, we're missing out on the new fish in the pond."
"Well if they're is someone out there with intentions to harm Hotaru or any of you other girls knights in shining armor will come in handy most definitely." Luna said with a nod of her dark head. "We can only hope that there won't be any more situations that require one of you girls to be rescued from a bad situation."
"Well lets just hope that this was a solitary incident or god only knows what Amara will do." Rei said with a smirk. "I huge out with her yesterday morning at that new gym we decided to try out and boy did she ever beat the punching bag to a pulp! I'd really hate to be the guy who pushed Hotaru if Amara ever gets a hold of him, there won't be anything left of him put a pile of mush when she gets through with the sin of a bitch. Michelle said she's been plotting all sorts of horrible tortures too."
"That's Amara." Serena said with a wink as she reached for another of Lita's cookies. "So Ami, when did Greg say he'd be down for a visit? Bet you're counting the days huh?"
"He should be here by the end of the week." Ami said with a fading but still there blush. "So has Trisha had any more luck figuring out who pushed Hotaru and then used some sort of magic to hide his identity? That alone makes me think that this was deliberately aimed towards a Sailor Scout, otherwise why would he have known that he needed to hide his face?"
"No, Trisha's tried everything she can think of with no luck." Serena said with a small frown as she looked off into the distance. " We need to find some way to find out though, especially if we're all in danger and not just Hotaru. It's possible that he didn't know who she was, that he covered himself from someone else but I think Ami might be right, she usually is after all."
"Well I'd prefer to find out in a way other then another attack occurring." Luna said with a dark look. "And if there is someone out there who means any of you girls harm they better prepare for a fight because they'll find out how difficult it is to beat the sailor scouts."