Adventures of the ChibiScouts III Chapter 10 School Days III, a sailor moon fanfic

Adventures of the Chibi-Scouts III
Crossroads to the Future
By "Tuxedo" Will Wolfshohl and Doug "Candle Light Author" Helm

This story and our other stories reside at our Shoujo Fiction . com domain. Comments are encouraged!

Chapter 10 "School Days III"

Only Luna's purring disturbed the serenity of the early morning air of the Tsukino home. The black lunar cat was stretched across the mother of the house's lap, her eyes closed, and every part of her young feline body enjoying the treatment she was receiving. Her mind though was a different story. Luna thought that she was being undignified but couldn't help but like the attention.

Ellen Tsukino for her part was sitting on the couch, sipping a cup of coffee, and enjoying the stillness of that Monday morning. She glanced at the clock and smiled slightly. Soon Serena and the rest of her family would be up. 'Serena is sleeping a little late,' she thought as she glanced at the clock again, 'Not that I'm complaining mind you... Maybe she crawled in with Reenie.'

The thought of her preteen niece made Ellen frown slightly. 'I still can't figure out why Reenie doesn't like Molly.' Serena's sudden announcement of that fact explained some things but left questions unanswered. 'Molly's a great kid and Serena thinks the world of her.'

"What's the matter, Mommy?" The voice of her young daughter made her jump.

Luna opened both eyes to regard her former teen charge and blinked hard. 'Oh, she looks so adorable!' Luna cooed to herself as she regarded Serena in her school uniform. 'Reenie looks cute in her school uniform but...' Serena was definitely in her element. It was identical to Reenie's in style -- a blue pleated skirt, white blouse, white socks, a big red bow on the her chest, and red trimming around the neck and sleeve-ends. One difference was evident besides her lack of shoes -- a ubiquitous rabbit-head patch sewn on the front pocket. 'She doesn't have her hair up yet... It looks good down.' She started to think about Serena her hair down wearing a blue bow standing next to Mina. 'Scary...'

"Good morning, honey," Ellen greeted her daughter after she had recovered from her initial surprise, "I didn't hear you come down."

Frowning a little, Serena hopped onto the couch beside her mother. Kneeling, the youngster questioned innocently, "Why would I be loud, Mommy? Daddy's asleep and so's Sammy."

"And what about Reenie?"

"She woke me up." Serena made a face. 'I was having a nice dream too.' "She thought I was being lazy." The blonde gave her mother a hug then, which was returned.

"I see you got dressed already," Ellen commented. Normally her daughter would eat breakfast first before dressing for school. Serena shrugged. "Can I ask you something, sweetie?"

"What?" Serena asked, reaching out to stroke Luna's soft fur.

"I was just wondering... Do you know why Reenie's mad at Molly?" The eight year old considered for a moment and then nodded sadly. "Why?"

Serena heaved a sigh and began, "Reenie is..." The youngster paused as if trying to find the word. "Jealous." It was said slowly as if Serena wasn't sure. "She thinks I love Molly more than her." 'It's silly but she IS just a kid.'

"Oh..." Ellen offered as a response. She had the strangest feeling that Serena had a handle on things a lot more than she did, at least where her niece was concerned.

"Mommy?" the golden-haired girl asked after several seconds of silence.

"What?"

"Can I please go to Raye's after school today?" Serena asked, giving her mother a pleading look and those big blue eyes.

Ellen smiled. "Sure, sweetheart. But remember, Molly's coming over to babysit you. You'll need to be back by six."

"Yep!" Serena chirped, excitement coming into her eyes.

"Why don't you go see where Reenie is?" Ellen inquired and smiled to herself as her daughter nodded. Jumping from the couch, she ran out of the room calling out to Reenie. Ellen chuckled. Some things never changed.

- - - - -

It was almost eight o'clock and Lita Anderson was dressed for school; her twin sister on the other hand was dawdling. Her mother frowned at her blue-haired daughter before declaring, "Amy, do you want me to send you to school in your pajamas?"

'Mommy wouldn't do that,' Lita knew. 'But Amy better hurry up or Mommy will get really mad.'

"No, Mom," Amy answered their mother. She pushed her cereal bowl away and pouted slightly.

Mary Anderson ignored her daughter's pout and directed, "Well then, if you're done, go and get dressed. You don't want to be tardy." She gave her girl a hard look until Amy moved away from the table and went to her bedroom.

"We have to go to Raye's after school, right?" Lita asked her mother.

"That's right, Lita. Chad's been nice enough to let you stay until I come get you from the hospital. That should be about seven. You and Amy, try and get a good start on any homework by then."

"If Reenie's there, she'll make us do it," the little ponytailed girl remarked sourly. Seeing her mother's expression, she continued, "I like school, Mommy, but Reenie... Well, Reenie can be really bossy sometimes."

Reassured, her mother chuckled and then asked, "Did you sleep okay last night?" Lita nodded. "How about your sister?"

Lita glanced towards her and Amy's bedroom and then back at her mother. "Amy just doesn't like the first subject. She thinks music appreciation is boring." She giggled then before adding, "I told her she should like it 'cause all of the people who wrote that stuff are dead." The mother of two only shook her head.

- - - - -

Mina Aino was on a mission. Every fiber of her being shouted this as she marched down the sidewalk towards the entrance to Southside Elementary School. 'How dare she?' She planned on telling Reenie off for NOT including her in any Sailor Scout business. She had briefly considered telling Amy and Lita off as well but had had second thoughts. After all, both Anderson sisters were bigger than her plus Lita had taken on an older girl in a fight. That was reason enough for the little blonde to decide not to provoke her friends.

The Raye and Serena invaders were a different matter. She wanted her friends back and she had a plan to accomplish it. She was going to implement it as soon as she saw "them". She stopped at the gate, looked around the playfield, and spotted a familiar cluster of girls. 'Dang it. Where's Reenie?!' Mina wondered as she marched across the tarmac towards the group of third-graders. 'She would ruin my plans and make me hunt her down!'

This thwarting of her perfect plan gave Mina's temper a little kick. She'd spent most of the time during her preparations for school working herself up into the proper mood to tell the people masquerading as her friends what she thought of them. 'How dare they take away Serena and Raye-Raye. Serena must be scared.'

"Hi Mina!" Amy called out. Lita, Raye, and Serena turned to regard the blue-eyed girl with bright smiles.

"Hi!" Raye and Serena chorused together.

The little blonde marched right up to the girls, looked Raye and Serena up and down, and commanded, "Get lost!" All four girls blinked in surprise. "Go on. Get out of here!"

"Do you have a new favorite show?" Lita asked warily. Mina changed favorite TV shows like most people changed their socks. What was worse, the eight year old expected them to know everything about that show and was offended if for some reason, they didn't. Lita was mildly surprised then when Mina didn't answer. Instead, she gave her a death glare, her blue eyes flashing with anger.

"Uh, like what the heck," Serena wondered.

"I know who you are," the ribbon-wearing blonde hissed. "And I want you body snatchers to go away!"

"But..." Serena began only to abruptly close her mouth as her ribbon-wearing friend pointed an accusing finger at her.

"You took away my friends. Now give them back!" she demanded.

At this point, Amy, Lita, and even Raye fully expected Serena to burst into tears. They were not expecting Serena to give Mina a look of absolute disgust and casually remark, "Frankly, Mina, I don't give a damn." Mina was so shocked her mouth fell open. The pigtailed blonde turned to Lita and asked nonchalantly, "What classroom am I in again, Lita?" She told her. "Thanks," and with that, the little Moon Princess turned regally away from her friends and walked toward the classrooms.

"That was bizarre," Amy muttered.

"Hey Mina. What's got your ribbon in a knot?" Raye asked her friend who was staring flabbergasted after her now vanished princess. 'I don't sense any Negaverse influence.'

"Artemis told me that Luna told him that Reenie went and got you two from the grownup universe," Mina explained and then gave Amy and Lita an annoyed look, "And DIDN'T tell me!"

"Serena didn't know either, Mina," Lita interjected.

"Well, I want you and that... that..." Mina had just been about to say imposter but decided to amend her demand. "I want you and Serena to just go home."

"I promise we will, Mina, as soon as we're done here." 'I suppose I should be pleased that she loves the other me and Serena so much but...'

"Done?" Mina inquired with her hands on her hips, "Done with what?"

"You can tell her, Amy. I'm gonna go see if Serena's okay."

- - - - -

"Ree-Ree!" Reenie winced at both the name and the voice.

Turning, she saw Melissa strolling into the classroom and over to her desk. "Hi Missy... Do you have to call me that?" Her best friend gave her a mock pout. "You're a little late today."

"Mom wanted some help unpacking some stuff for the restaurant," the lavender-haired ten year old explained as she plopped down in her desk to the left of her best friend. "So why didn't you call me yesterday? I called you Saturday and your aunt said you were busy, but I know you didn't come over and see me."

Reenie really did not want to explain why she hadn't called Sunday. "Sorry Missy. I had 'things' to do Saturday."

"Serena's keeping you hopping again, eh?" In her opinion, Serena was a cute kid and all but Reenie spent way too much time with her and her little friends.

"No, just family stuff." The pink-haired girl squirmed a little. Thankfully, Melissa dropped the subject. "I guess Aunt Ellen forgot to tell me when I got back."

"Oh."

"I would've waited for you outside but Rachel grabbed me first." The youngster was glad to see her friend accepted that without rancor. "Of course, she said we have a Student Council meeting after school. I hope it doesn't go super long."

"Hey I know, Reenie!" Melissa exclaimed. "You can come to my place for supper. We got that class presentation to work on for next week."

"Can't," the pink-haired girl replied.

"Come on. I was calling you on Saturday so we could get it done. My dad's harping on me to finish it because he thinks I'm just dragging my feet."

Reenie chewed her lip for a moment and said, "I tell you what, Missy. I'll call Aunt Ellen at lunch and check if it's okay."

"I can't see why she'd say no."

"Because..." She looked around to see if anyone else was listening. "She's sore at me," Reenie finally admitted. Her friend blinked in surprise.

"Why Ree-Ree?"

"Melissa?"

"What?"

"Call me that again and I'll hurt you."

- - - - -

'Class rep?!' Serena Tsukino complained as she sat in the front row of the classroom listening to the teacher making announcements. 'ME?!' She gave a mental snort. 'What in the world was I thinking?!' As her counterpart wasn't around to be questioned, the little girl pushed the thought out of her mind. 'Smallest in my class. No big change there...' She was the size of most of the first-graders but apparently fairly popular as well.

She gave the blackboard a guilty look. 'Have to do a better job tomorrow.' Serena had had no warning about the fact that she was the 3-3 Class Representative. That meant a certain amount of responsibility -- one of which was to write the date on the blackboard before class. This sudden elevation in responsibility had had the pigtailed blonde wracking her brain trying to remember what else she would have to do.

It had caught Serena completely by surprise. Luckily, Lita had reminded her as well as that little Serena was gung-ho about doing her best at it. 'I could kick Reenie for not telling me!' she whined as their teacher directed them to get out their math books. 'But I guess it really ain't her fault and my class must've wanted me to be it.' Reenie was grabbed almost immediately when they arrived by a girl whom she later found out was the Student Council President for some discussion. 'I feel sorry for Reenie. She's a grade rep and that's even more work!' Raye had given it a try and was the tenth grade rep last year. She couldn't help but feel a little proud of her daughter. After a moment, she decided, 'I'll make something special for her when I can.'

Serena resisted the urge to look behind her to where Lita was sitting. The little ponytailed brunette was in her class, which she considered a good thing. Raye, Amy, and Mina were in different classes. 'Oh yeah and Carrie's in my class.' She'd grown since their last encounter. Serena still couldn't get used to Carrie being bigger than she was. Carrie was friendly although she was better friends with Mina.

The girl still sported a patch of Sailor Moon on her pocket. Speaking of patches, there were definite favorite Chibi-Scouts amongst her schoolmates. Sailor Chibi-Moon being leader seemed to be most respected. 'That's only natural I suppose.' She smiled at Carrie. 'At least, I have one supporter but not being in the same class as Mina must be hard on her.' She mentally grinned. 'Well maybe not. Us girls don't have many classes together in high school.'

"Serena," the petite blonde's head came up from absently staring at the page of her textbook to regard her teacher. "Why don't you come up here and solve this problem for us."

She came up to the chalkboard and glanced up at the problem the teacher had written there. Serena then grabbed a piece of chalk from the tray and climbed up on the stepstool next to the chalkboard. She was about to write forty-three after the equals sign when she paused and gave the question another look:

5 x (9 - 2) =

After a moment, she turned to give her teacher a suspicious look, turned back to the blackboard, and wrote "35".

"That's very good, Serena," her teacher cooed. The little girl beamed at her with pride. "Can you tell the class why the answer is thirty-five?"

"'Cause of the brackets," the blue-eyed child explained confidently. She turned to face her classmates, some of which were now staring dumbfounded at her. "See without them, the answer would be forty-three because five times nine is forty-five and you subtract two from that is forty-three. But since the nine minus two are inside the brackets that goes first. That's seven and five times seven is thirty-five."

There was dead silence in the classroom. Serena glanced about and started to get nervous because now everyone, with the possible exception of Lita, was staring at her in slack-jawed amazement. 'What?!' The eight year old glanced over her shoulder. 'You'd think I had suddenly transformed or something...' She glanced down at herself just to make sure that she hadn't spontaneously changed into Sailor Moon.

"Excellent Serena!" her teacher declared with one of the largest smiles Serena had ever seen. "You must have studied extra hard." Not sure how she should respond, the little girl simply nodded. "Well," her teacher instructed, "Serena, you can go sit down. Carrie, why don't you come up and do the next one."

Serena, feeling mildly annoyed by the looks the class was giving her, couldn't help but smile as Lita gave her a thumbs-up sign. As Serena settled into her seat, her brunette friend whispered, "I bet that was super-easy for you, huh Serena?" 'Being a grownup must be great.'

"Yeah," Serena whispered back and then silently wondered, 'Maybe I overdid it... I wonder how Raye's doing?'

- - - - -

While Class 3-3 was working its way through math problems, Class 3-1 was having a pop vocabulary quiz.

Mina Aino frowned down at the quiz paper before her and then glanced towards where Raye was sitting -- a desk to her left and up one row. The beribboned blonde observed that the raven-haired imposter had a deep frown on her face. 'You can't tell me she's having trouble with this too!' the nine year old deduced. 'I thought she was supposed to be seventeen or something...' The priestess had quickly explained why they had come from the other universe and it made Mina start to feel guilty. She was not about to apologize to Serena for her feelings, however, especially because Serena had been more than a little hostile to her. Mina was, nevertheless, not as mad as she had been. She glanced at Amy. 'Amy's not having any trouble...' That was normal. Amy was bent over her paper, her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth deep in concentration. One more look at Raye confirmed that the "supposed" teenager seemed to be having difficulties.

Mina was right. Raye Hino was frowning at her quiz sheet, her brow furrowed while she thought, 'I should know this stuff! It's not that hard conjugating stuff.' The raven-haired girl skipped the question she was working on satisfied that the next question down on the quiz sheet would be easier. 'Why do I think this is hard?' And then grinning to herself, she mentally shouted, 'HEY! Anybody in there?!' The knowledge was there but she really had to concentrate to access it. She snorted softly and shook her head.

"Just try your best, Raye," the teacher softly encouraged from behind her. Raye was so startled that she nearly slid out of her seat. The eight year old turned and stared up at her third grade teacher for a moment and then back down at her quiz paper.

"Okay," the priestess agreed. She resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at Mina who had been unkind enough to giggle. Eventually, it was over and Raye, along with the rest of her classmates, turned the other areas of language.

- - - - -

The vocabulary quiz done, Class 3-1 proceeded to mathematics. Raye watched as Amy neared the blackboard to work on a problem. The little raven-haired girl paid close attention to see how this version of her genius friend performed. Given how her classmates reacted when Amy raised her hand to volunteer, the little blue-haired girl was acquiring the reputation as a know-it-all.

"Amy," their teacher instructed, "I'd like you to please draw two parallel lines."

"Okay, Ms. Barlow," the youngster agreed and took the chalk.

'That's easy!' the priestess decided then glanced towards Mina. Her fellow Sailor Scout was fidgeting and quite obviously restless. Raye turned back just in time to see Amy adding to her diagram. The two parallel lines that she was supposed to draw changed into a square and then...

"Amy, what's that?" her teacher questioned after a few seconds of silence.

"It's Necker's Cube," Amy supplied pointing to the figure with her chalk. "It was first published in 1832 by a Swiss Crystallographer named Louis Albert Necker. It not only has parallel lines but parallel edges as well. Note that it appears to alternate between two different spatial orientations."

Her third grade classmates sat and stared in bewildered confusion. Raye blinked hard -- the cube seemed to be moving. The awkward silence was broken by Mina when she moaned aloud, "Oh no! The body snatchers got her too!"

Raye shot the beribboned girl a startled look as the class giggled. 'Did Amy make the jump over?'

- - - - -

It was nearing the morning recess when Serena was given a hall pass and asked to return some maps to the supply room. As the pigtailed girl walked down the nearly empty hall dangling the key, she thought, 'I'm glad I know where it is... I would've looked silly asking where it was.' Of course, the only reason why she knew was because she had helped her teacher get some supplies before class.

As she neared the steps to the second floor, Serena noticed a familiar face in the corridor. She slowed slightly as she came nearer Mina Aino. Mina was standing outside her classroom holding a bucket of sand in each hand. She appeared annoyed and sullen at the same time. The meatball-headed blonde gave her counterpart a small smile and tried to look sympathetic. 'I wonder what she did...'

The ribbon-wearing blonde had been sulking so much that she'd been sent out into the hallway. 'It wasn't my fault!' she whined as she scowled at the floor, 'Amy's been taken over too. I wonder if I'm next...' Her moody thoughts were distracted by the sound of footsteps approaching her. Mina for her part glared at Serena. The glare melted away as she noted that the Serena lookalike was giving her a sympathetic look. She turned to look down the way the pigtail girl had come but didn't say anything. Her princess however said simply, "I'm sorry," before speeding up a little and continuing on her errand.

'I shouldn't take out my feelings about my Mina on her,' Serena decided as she mounted the stairs, 'That isn't fair to either of them. Maybe if I explain... But how can I explain something like that to a little girl?' Serena sighed a little.

She had just reached the next floor when she heard a familiar voice from behind her. "Serena, what are you doing out of class?" It was Reenie.

"Returning these," Serena replied, hefting the maps, "Where were you?" She noted a gaggle of girls, including Melissa, were coming up the stairs.

"We just finished PE," Melissa supplied.

"Was it fun?" Serena wondered. She knew Reenie was quite the runner.

"We don't have time for that, Serena," Reenie countered. "You shouldn't hang around the halls." The pink-haired girl glanced at the group of girls around her. 'They think I give my little sis special treatment.'

"Don't mind her," Melissa interjected. "She's just cranky 'cause we had to jump the boxhorse today." Serena gaped up at Reenie who blushed. "So how you doing, munchkin?"

"Good! Molly's babysitting me tonight." The ten year old was very glad that her future mother had said "me" and not "us". Melissa, however, seemed to understand the implication and gave her pink-haired friend a knowing grin.

"Enough talk," Reenie commanded. "You need to get back to class, Serena. You're lucky I'm not on hall monitor duty now or I'd..." She was interrupted by the younger girl.

"Big Sis, you're the one slowing me down," Serena retorted before turning and marched off down the hall. Snickering followed in her wake.

- - - - -

Serena got back to her classroom just as the bell for recess sounded. After checking in quickly with her teacher, she happily followed her classmates outside. Almost immediately, she was corralled by Raye who dragged her off. Lita, who had greeted her sister, didn't follow. "Like what's the deal, pyro?" Serena asked massaging her wrist.

"What was with you and Mina this morning?!" Raye demanded, apparently not in the mood to be gentle. Serena shifted uncomfortably as her best friend glared at her, "Well?"

"Mina just... She pushed my buttons. I've already had one Mina tell me she doesn't want to be around and..." Serena broke off and gulped. She blinked rapidly as if trying not to cry.

"Princess," the little priestess' voice softened, "Would you apologize to Mina? For me?" When Serena didn't immediately respond, Raye held her friend's hand and added, "You know Mina will be there for you when you need her. We all will." The eight year old swallowed hard. It was quite clear to Raye that her princess was on the verge of crying. As it was, the little girl's eyes sparkled with tears.

"What about Amy?" Serena sniffled and tears started to role done her cheeks and her bottom lip began to quiver. 'She's leaving me too.'

"One battle at a time," Raye replied. "Amy's over there and we're over here."

"I guess," Serena said throatily as big fat tears started to slide down he cheeks. She wiped her face with her sleeve. 'Raye will get mad if I cry.'

"Please make up with Mina. I bet you'd feel just as upset if somebody came and possessed my body, wouldn't you?" Raye was more than glad to see her friend nod vigorously. "We'll need her help, especially..." She trailed off and mentally winced, 'I can't tell her I think Reenie hoodwinked us. I meditated this morning and there wasn't a thing. I even made sure I was focused...' Raye gave a rye snort. 'Twenty minutes felt like an hour, not to mention how long it took me to settle.' She frowned again.

"What?" Serena asked. She looked miserable but calmer at the same time.

'Better not go there,' the raven-haired child thought. "Come on, Serena, let's go make peace. I don't want Lita deciding everybody but you are a bunch of meanies."

She turned to lead her princess back to where their friends were when Serena spoke up, "Raye, maybe Mina could help us."

"How?" Raye asked in a puzzled tone. 'Sometimes I don't know where that airhead's mind goes!'

"Well... She could distract Amy while me and you talk to Lita."

"You want to remind her that she replaced Amy's dead real sister?" Raye asked in a harsh whisper. "Are you nuts, Meatball Head?!"

"Gosh, I didn't mean that, Raye. I meant why Reenie came to get us. She might not like us in her friends' bodies but if we do our mission quickly, we can go home." 'I'm already starting to feel weird like last time.'

Raye considered and then firmly nodded. "Well come on we better start building our bridges again if we want their help."

- - - - -

Mina, despite her best intentions, found herself feeling sorry for Serena. Her friend's doppelganger had apologized in such a tearful and heartfelt fashion that Mina found it almost impossible to stay mad at her. Now as the six third-graders ate lunch in the cafeteria, Mina sat beside Serena and across from Carrie. Mindful of her other non-Scout friend's presence, Mina commented, "I bet being a grownup is great. You don't gotta sit in school and you can do anything you want."

"You can quit after grade nine if you really want to, Mina," Serena replied around a piece of cheese. "But why would you wanna do that? I mean you're gonna be a model and everything."

"Really?!" she asked, turning to fully regard her pigtailed friend. 'Wow! The grownup me is famous!' When Serena nodded, Mina clapped her hands. "Do I get to act to?" She then stuck her tongue out at Carrie who had rolled her eyes.

'There she goes again,' Carrie thought. Both blondes had quite the imagination.

Serena finished chewing, swallowed, and gave Mina a puzzled frown. "You aren't doing any Sailor V stuff here?"

"Sailor V?" Mina and Amy asked together. Lita had a look of intense concentration on her face as if she were trying to remember something.

"Are you trying to tell the future?" Carrie chimed in. "I mean isn't that Raye's gig?" Although Raye's last foray into prediction (in that case predicting her report card) didn't work out.

"Yeah Sailor V. You mean YOU don't know about her?" The meatball-headed eight year old's eyes opened wide and she stared at Mina until Raye gave her a stiff poke in the ribs. She followed it up with a furious look that made Serena suddenly nervous. Serena then started putting her index fingers together looking sheepish.

"Oops." 'Dumb-dumb Serena. She would've been in preschool here.'

"Oops?!" her friends, excluding Raye, asked.

"WHO," Mina demanded, "IS SAILOR V?!" After a long look at Raye, Serena launched into a detailed description with some caveats of who Sailor V was.

Raye heaved a mental sigh and shook her head. 'Well, at least they aren't fighting.' She then looked up as Lita drew her attention. "What?" she asked as softly as she could yet still be heard above the noise of the cafeteria.

"Is she making that up?" Lita whispered. A sixth-grade girl who looked like Mina working with the police and beating up crooks in England seemed implausible. Still, she had heard that name somewhere. 'Maybe it's one of Amy's ghosts.'

"No, why?"

"That just sucks," Amy grumbled, which completely surprised Raye.

"Why?" the raven-haired child asked.

"Now all she'll want to talk about is THAT show and we don't know anything about it." Lita and Carrie nodded.

"I heard that, Anderson!" Mina snapped. Lita bristled but Amy only scowled. "So why don't you tell Serena about Necker's square or whatever it was?"

"It was Necker's Cube," Raye corrected, earning a frown from her blue-haired friend. Serena, Lita, and Carrie glanced between the other girls in confusion.

"I told you I don't know what it is," Amy complained. "It just popped out of nowhere..." She looked rather embarrassed. She also gave Raye a pleading lookp.

Raye gave Mina a hard look and then sighed. "Mina, Amy didn't come with us and without the Key, she couldn't've come."

"What key?" Carrie wondered. Mina, however, seemed to chew on the remark and then relaxed a little.

Before anyone could make something up, Raye interjected, "Besides, it was just an extra bit to what Ms. Barlow asked."

"I'm surprised you could keep up, Ms. Teenager," Mina quipped unkindly. "After all, you seemed to have trouble with that test." 'I bet I'll get a better score than you!'

"I was pretending, Mina," the priestess hotly retorted, "Just chill..." Serena laid a hand atop the little raven-haired girl's shoulder stopping the coming rant and earning an annoyed shrug.

"Serena," Carrie inquired, "What happened?"

"Majorly weird I know, Carrie," Serena answered back. "Usually, Raye argues with me." That drew various looks from everyone and a raspberry from Raye.

"So," Mina said airily, apparently changing the subject, "What's this Sailor V thing?" Serena quite happily launched into an explanation.

Raye glanced at the two blondes and then back at the Anderson Twins. 'I sort of doubt that...' While Mina seemed to relish the idea of her own crime drama show set in England, she seemed very disappointed that she was the only Sailor Warrior in the cast. She did say she would see to it her friends had cameos.

- - - - -

The end of the school day found five third-graders leaving the Southside Elementary School grounds. Raye was leading, followed by Amy and Lita, with Serena and Mina bringing up the rear. "Shouldn't we wait for Reenie?" Mina asked.

"No," Serena remarked, "She in-for-med me that she would be..." Here Serena tried and failed to imitate Reenie, "Attending the Student Council meeting and then going over to Melissa's for supper." Her friends giggled.

"Shouldn't you be going to the meeting too as a class rep?" Raye questioned. 'I would've been invited.'

"I will if Miss Fifth Grade Rep tells me about it since she DIDN'T mention that little fact this morning. Instead of pouting, I'm going to pretend I didn't know." Another round of giggles, even from Raye. "Seriously, I'm only a class rep, not a grade rep or officer so..." She also knew some things were limited to fourth grade and up. Serena shrugged.

"What was your guys' last class?" Raye asked Serena.

"Gym, and then I had to truck all the way back upstairs with the classroom cleaning crew and make sure they did their job."

"And did they?"

"Nobody would let Serena down," Lita remarked. "She's the best." 'And the cutest.' Serena gave her a quick hug.

"Yeah, she'd cry," Mina put in. 'I should've been one too but they wouldn't vote for me.'

Serena gave a weak smile and then took on a thoughtful look, "Huh... I wonder if I've used my sonic attack in this universe?"

"Sonic attack?" Raye inquired.

"Yeah," Serena seemed puzzled, "You know, I think I only used it once." She considered. "It was the first time I transformed I was so scared and I started to cry and the gems in these," she tapped her meatballs, "Sent out a sonic wave."

"What's a sonic wave?" Amy asked curiously. Raye was so startled she stopped dead in her tracks, which caused Lita to walk into her. Serena blinked rather hard. "What?" the blue-haired girl sounded annoyed. 'Okay, I'll just look it up later.'

"Like I said, I'm just not used to you not knowing everything."

"Your Amy knows everything?" Serena nodded. "What about your me?"

The other blonde seemed puzzled for an instant and then grinned. "Oh, you get better grades than I do but nobody's close to Amy." Lita looked more than a little proud at this.

"I bet Greg's pretty close to her," Lita remarked. 'He's looked like my last boyfriend.'

"Who?" Mina and Amy asked. Serena and Raye looked at each other.

'Last boyfriend?!' "I..." Lita started but trailed off looking stumped, "Sorry Sis. I thought we knew a Greg." There were a Greg or two in the school but none either sister associated with.

"He's Amy's boyfriend," Serena declared in a stage whisper before giggling. The blue-haired eight year old looked mildly horrified at the thought. "Of course," Serena said with a sigh, "She'd never admit it."

"Come on or Daddy'll start to worry," Raye chimed in and started down the sidewalk again. The others followed. As they walked, she asked the beribboned blonde, "So, Mina, how were your music lessons yesterday?"

"Okay I guess," Mina remarked.

"Any new songs?" Raye asked with obvious interest.

"Well..." Mina tapped her lip. "There was one..."

- - - - -

Mina Aino's father got home from work at about 4:30 and was startled to hear Artemis mewing piteously from behind the front door. Opening the door, he was immediately greeted by the white cat who gave a happy sort of yowl, scampered over to his litter box, and then back to the man. At first, Mina's father wasn't sure what the young cat was trying to relate but soon he understood.

"Sorry, big guy," he said to Artemis, "You'll either have to wait or go outside." Artemis, apparently not up for waiting, dashed toward the door and was through it in a flash. 'That girl,' he lamented, 'She promised me...' Setting his briefcase on a nearby table, he walked over to the phone and dialed a number. After four rings, the phone on the other end was picked up.

"Cherry Hill Temple," Chad's voice floated over the wire.

"Chad, it's Mina's father. Can I talk with Mina?"

"Sure, Mr. Aino, hang on a second and I'll go get her."

After about a minute or so, a younger voice came on the line. "Daddy?"

"Mina?"

"Yeah, why are you calling?"

"Mina, did you forget to do something this morning?" There was silence on the other end of the line and as it stretched out, he supplied, "You promised me you'd do something, remember?"

"Oh yeah, Daddy. I forgot to change Artemis' kitty litter."

"That's right, Mina. So I want you to come home right now and change it."

"But..."

"Now Mina," he stated more firmly. "You gave me your word that you'd do it before you went to school."

"But Daddy, we're gonna play!" the girl protested.

"Young lady, go get your things packed up and come home right now." His daughter made an annoyed sound. "And I'm going to check your room. I remember your mother asking you to put your clothes in the hamper."

"I did, Daddy!" Mina complained, "Can't I do it later?"

"Now Mina."

- - - - -

Eight year old Mina Aino had given up stomping her way down the sidewalk mainly because it made her look silly. Besides, it hadn't help calm her temper any. Being ordered by her father to come home, not permitted to stay with her friends especially when Reenie wasn't there, was galling. Of course, Amy and Lita's reactions had been predictable: The brunette had hoped that Mina would get to come back later, which she knew was unlikely; Amy, ever the bookworm, said that at least Mina had gotten her homework done. Raye had been sympathetic.

'Serena...' Serena had sounded too much like Reenie. 'I thought she'd understand. Well, she did but she shouldn't've acted so bossy! I mean sure she's a teenager but even Molly ain't that bossy,' Mina complained to herself as she scowled at a red light. She fumed while hunching her shoulders up to protect her ears from the cold. 'Stupid Artemis! It's all his fault. Why can't he use a toilet like everybody else?' The little blonde crossed the street and turned to her left. She walked down the sidewalk keeping close to the storefronts. 'I don't get her. Serena sounded like she wished I'd stay but she kept saying I should go straight home.' Something SHE KNEW Reenie would have said.

Mina liked Reenie but recently she started feeling a little suffocated when their pink-haired leader was around. 'I don't know how my Serena stands it. I would've kicked Reenie's butt long ago.' She smiled a little at her remembered last head-butting with the ten year old. 'The other girls were impressed... 'though Serena worried whether Reenie would tattle.'

The ribbon-wearing blonde slowed as she saw a knot of children crowding around a large display window. Peering in, she blinked in surprise. A rabbit looked sadly back at her.

'Oh!' she cooed, 'It's so cute!' As the kids entered the store, Mina moved forward to get a better look. 'Oh, it's not a bunny but it's still really cute!' She felt herself giggling and smiling at the creature who looked back at her with large red eyes. 'Serena would just love her! And she looks so much like a bunny...' She stood looking at the enchanting animal for a long time and then a cold breeze made her move inside.

"Welcome!" boomed a voluptuous woman's voice. "Welcome! Come and see the Chanela! See what great pets they make for any lucky little girl or boy!" Mina stared wide-eyed about the shop. It was large, bright, and crowded with customers. "Welcome, young miss!" the woman directed at her, "Are you here to pick up one of my lovely Chanela?" Mina regarded her. The woman was tall, beautiful, and had short red hair. She looked like some sort of model.

"No ma'am. I don't have a lot of money so I thought I'd just look." 'Maybe I can get Mama or Daddy to buy me one.' She looked longingly at the Chanela in the window display. 'She looks like she's lonely.'

The woman smiled. "Ah, I see you have a favorite... Well, young miss, you're in luck! This is our grand opening." She smiled again, bent down, and looked right into Mina's big blue eyes. "And because you're so adorable, I'll give you that one for free." Mina practically glowed and in the process, completely forgot about going home to change Artemis' stupid litter box.

End of Chapter 10

Coming next in Chapter 11 "Bath Time for Bunny"