Disclaimer: I do not own Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon or any of the characters you might recognize from the anime and/or manga.

Everybody had the day off from senshi duties. Rei even told me to go back to sleep when I walked outside to start cleaning. If we were off from senshi duties then might as well take the day to relax from everything else too. The place was already clean. We were all so tired practicing late at night and going to urgent meetings. Maybe it wasn't the best time to have a day off since we probably could use the time to strategize, but what use would we be if we went to battle feeling like zombies? Earth would be doomed if they had exhausted senshi fighting for them.

I heard the phone ringing as soon as I lied down to fall back asleep. "Seriously?" I said to myself. Since Rei was outside and couldn't possibly hear the phone, I pushed myself off of the bed and walked to the meeting room where the phone was.

"Moshi moshi. This is Akari speaking."

"Akari-chan! It's Makoto!"

"Makoto-chan! How are you?"

"Great! Listen, Minako's birthday is in a few days. Could you possibly come over to the shop and help bake a cake for her?"

"Are you serious? Why hasn't she said anything? I haven't bought her a present!"

"I know, I know. Although she loves being in the center of attention, she feels like everyone should be more focused on the battle rather than her birthday."

"Did she speak with you about all of this?"

"Nope. The same thing happened a few years ago so we surprised her with a party. Which is what we're doing this year!"

"Sounds exciting! I'll be over in half an hour!"

"See ya then!"

I hung up the phone and rushed to my room. I picked out a light, dark purple sweater that buttoned down halfway so I put a white camisole underneath and a pair of blue jeans. When I was done putting on my outfit, I slid on a pair of black ballet flats. I braided my hair my hair to side in a fishtail fashion. My hair was getting too long and it felt like the red on top was gradually being taken over by the blonde on the bottom. It was odd and made me wonder if I was truly going to crazy because no one had asked me about it. Why didn't anyone else notice? Did this happen with my mother's hair? Shrugging it off, I hurried outside passing Rei on my way.

"Where are you going?"

"Makoto's shop. I'll tell you later!"

"Okay, well, be safe."

"Yeah, mom," I playfully replied.

Since I'd been living with Rei for a few months, we grew closer and bonded like sisters. The whole senshi group became like a huge family for me. On the Sun, I never had anyone close that I could say that our relationship felt like we were family.

I excitedly started down the stairs and saw Minako. Of all people visit Rei's shrine and fate gave me Minako. She was talking on her communicator so hopefully if she didn't look up, I could sneak by her.

Please don't notice me. Please don't notice me. Please-

"Ri-chan!"

"Ko-chan!" I imitated her tone and everything. I knew she despised it.

"Where are you off to?"

"Makoto's shop. She has this huge catering order and I'm off to help!"

She eyed me suspiciously, not knowing if she should believe the lie that just spewed out of my mouth. I ran off before she could question me or suggest that she should help too. I didn't exactly lie, though. Knowing the bottomless pits that Minako and Usagi had for stomachs, we'll be baking a cake to feed 50, not 9.

The bell rang as I stepped in the shop, signaling my arrival. There were a few customers standing at the counter looking at the cute cupcake and delicious delicacies.

"Hey, Akari-chan! The recipe is in the back, if you could get the ingredients ready, that would be great. I'll be back there shortly," Makoto said as I walked behind the counter. I could tell today had been a long day for her just by her voice.

I walked through the door leading to the kitchen, and was met with comforting smell of the sweet cookies baking in the oven. To me, it was the best smell in the world beside the roses that Makoto grew in her garden. I noticed the list was on the table, along with bowls, spatulas and whisks.

Grabbing the list, I walked in the pantry and grabbed what we needed. I had to make a couple of trips and make sure everything was fetched. After I organized everything in order and all the measuring cups that I needed, a slightly aggravated Makoto walked into the kitchen.

"I swear, every time that I try making this cake, a crowd of people come bursting through the door. Thank you so much for helping."

"It's no problem, at all. You're lucky I like to bake."

We started mixing all of the ingredients together. Makoto wasn't lying; every time we would be five minutes into something, a bunch of people came in and I had to fend for myself. I love to bake, but I think I should have mentioned that I'm not that experienced and I might burn down the whole place, but I carried on. Surely if I could destroy I youma, I could bake a cake. How difficult could it possibly be?

Three smashed eggs on the ground, red dye spilled all over my hands, and an explosion of flour later, I had the mix read to be baked. Makoto walked just as I was putting the two pans in the oven.

Her mood drastically changed and started laughing hysterically. "Was there a battle in here that I missed?"

I smiled shyly; I was so embarrassed. "I'll clean it up, I promise."

"No, no it's okay. You haven't baked much before, have you?"

"Not really. When I was living on the Sun, I would sneak in the kitchen, disguised as a maid and help, but that was only when I had spare time. And until I was kicked out for making huge messes. They finally caught on that it was me, and gave me little jobs to do in my senshi outfit. The chefs were always so nice."

"I bet the food was much different than Earth's."

"Much different and a lot worse. Oh dear Heavens, that food was awful."

We both laughed as we cleaned up my mess. I swept and mopped the floor while she accumulated the flour on counter to throw away. The eggs were the worse to clean up; I couldn't sweep them up because the yolk would stick to the broom's bristles so I had to pick the mess up with paper towels. It was quite a disgusting feeling just having the gooey texture seep through the paper. I shuddered every time I picked some up.

"What kind of food did you guys have?"

"We grow our own food, kind of like on Earth. Even though the heat there is pretty extreme sometimes, we have grown laboratories so we could grow our food. Our scientists invented a way where the soil is very rich and never dries out. So, we have no seasons where the ground is too rough and cracked to where we can't grow. Sorry, I'm getting side tracked. But we have all sorts of vegetables and we also have livestock which live in air conditioned barns. We have healthy lifestyles, so we rarely have cakes or cookies there."

"That must be why you ran away. You couldn't stand not having desserts!"

"Oh, hush! It is nice to have your cooking, though. You're an amazing cook!"

She blushed slightly at my compliment. "Thank you. It must be a real treat considering what food you used to eat."

"It truly is. Thank you, by the way. For asking me to come over to help. I'm guessing you needed a good keeper of secrets?"

"Not only that… well yeah. Usagi isn't the best at keeping secrets, Ami is at university, Rei had to keep Minako preoccupied, and Haruka and Michiru are spending time with Hotaru. You weren't the last person to call, though. You know that, right?"

"Oh! Yeah, I know. I wasn't thinking that at all."

"Okay just making sure. So, what do you think you're going to buy for Minako?"

"I was thinking about a pair of shoes that she was eyeing at a store the other day?"

"Like she needs more shoes." She chuckled as she recalled just how many shoes Minako had. Minako practically had a closet full of heels, flats, and boots. Every type of shoe you could imagine, Minako had.

"I know, but it would make her happy, and that's what we need right now. Ya' now?"

"You're right. I just hate this feeling that is constantly there. I'm paranoid that something is going to happen right in front of me, and it's annoying."

"Makoto-chan, we'll be fine. You guys have never lost a battle before, right? I'm positive that we'll win this one."

She smiled brightly as my words inspired her. We were going to win this battle no matter what it took. We needed a distraction and Minako's surprise party was exactly what we needed.

Sorry that is kind of short, but I had a really hard time writing this, but I guess it kind of works. Which senshi would you like to see next? Who would be best suited to plan the party? It may be the last one if I don't come up with some more ideas. Also, I gave some foreshadowing for the upcoming chapters. Well, it's way down the story, but it's still foreshadowing. Muahaha. Can you guess what it was? Thanks for reading and don't forget to review!