Sports Day. Tsuna hated Sports Day. He always messed up, tripping or dropping something or just coming in last place, and then everyone called him 'Dame-Tsuna' and it sucked.

Everyone else had fun, except him.

It sucked. A lot.

Tsuna considered sneaking away, after earning his team last place. No one would really miss him, and this way he wouldn't have to be embarrassed further.

He began inching away, slowly, and then he tripped backwards.

For once in his clumsy life, Tsuna could say it wasn't because of him, at least not completely.

"Ow . . ." mumbled a voice. A voice that sounded like a girl's. A voice that came from the person he was sitting on.

Tsuna scrambled up. "Sorry, sorry," he apologized, and could this day get any worse for him?

It apparently could, because the girl he had just ended up knocking over and sitting on was Sasagawa Kyoko, or the prettiest girl in the class. Just his luck.

"It's okay," she said, giving him a reassuring smile. "No harm, see?"

Thank whatever deity up there giving him some luck, if he had ended up hurting her, Tsuna was pretty sure he'd get lynched. Dame-Tsuna was bad enough, thank you. He didn't need 'Girl-hurting Tsuna' to be a thing as well.

She looked at him a little more closely. "Oh, hey, you're Sawada-kun, the one that just ran the obstacle course, right?"

He cringed. The obstacle course had looked simple – just cones and bottles filled with water, and balloons to carry – but somehow it had turned into a dangerous zone akin to a minefield for him. Only three cones were left standing by the time he had finished, and if people watching him hadn't been laughing, then they were jeering or outright booing him.

Sasagawa Kyoko, apparently, had not been one of those people. "I thought it was great, how you didn't give up," she said, and from anyone else Tsuna might have thought it to be just something said to be polite because there was nothing else about him to compliment, but she sounded so . . . so genuine.

She seemed to actually shine bright, like the sun. How was a person so genuinely radiating an aura of kindness and sincerity?

His lips parted as he stared at her, wondering if he was dreaming. Would she remember who she was talking to? Would she frown, stop looking at him like – like he was worth more than just a 'Dame-Tsuna'?

Sasagawa Kyoko was a girl of many surprises. She didn't do any of what he expected her to do.

"Keep it up!" she cheered instead, and ran to her own team.

It was just a few sentences. Just a few sentences and a smile like the sun.

But that day Tsuna fell in love.

Takeshi's birthday was April twenty-fourth, and Haru's was May third, which meant their birthdays were less than two weeks apart.

Both their birthdays were under the sign of Taurus, and therefore under the protection of Venus. Given their extroverted personalities, Hotaru thought that their zodiac sign was rather appropriate.

Since she didn't have access to her own powers, she usually asked Minako to lightly imbue a blessing onto their gifts, make them less likely to break or bend. This year Takeshi got a new bat – made of an alloy, not wood – and Haru got a sewing machine, because she had gotten an interest in making clothes of her own.

Just over a week ago, they had celebrated Takeshi's eleventh birthday at TakeSushi with Tsuyoshi insisting everything they ate was on the house. Now, at Haru's house, with cake from La Namimorine – Haru's favorite cake place, tied only with the cakes and pastries Makoto sent Hotaru – they celebrated Haru's. She had a party where her school friends came, as did Takeshi before, but like other birthdays in the past this one was private, one where only the three of them – and parents – were attending.

"Hotaru-chan, you shouldn't have!" Haru cried out, even as her eyes sparkled at the sight of her present. Her words didn't match her hand, or how it was longingly reaching out to the machine.

Hotaru didn't bother stopping the smile from spreading across her lips. She hoped that Haru's honest nature would never have to change.

"It's not as expensive as you might think," she reassured Haru, sweeping her bangs out of her eyes with an absent-minded hand. It was a compact machine, capable of only simple functions. Michiru had even suggested a different model, one that was used by professional tailors when she heard what Hotaru was getting for Haru's birthday.

Makoto and Minako, though, had agreed with Hotaru's choice.

"If you spend too much, she'll get pressured," Makoto had said, after giving her approval of Hotaru's choice.

"She's still only eleven," Minako had pointed out when Michiru wavered. "Let her practice with cheaper things, and if she gets better, then get her the expensive model for a later birthday."

And if Haru was no longer interested in making costumes, then Hotaru would use the budget to get her something else.

"You can get it exchanged if you don't like it," Hotaru added. Empty words – she had full confidence that Haru would do no such thing.

"Haru loves it," Haru admitted, brushing a careful finger against the machine. Parts of it was plastic, but the metal parts of it had been touched by Minako, wishing the two children that were Hotaru's friends a happy birthday. "Hotaru-chan . . ."

"Happy birthday, Haru," she said.

She was promptly squeezed in a hug. "The first thing Haru's going to make is a costume for you!"

"I like purple," was the only thing Hotaru said, at this point used to being a mannequin and model for people who loved fashion and designing clothes. If it wasn't Setsuna, it was Haru. She had long since become resigned to it. When she was older Michiru was probably going to join them and have a lot of fun applying makeup on her face.

Well, Hotaru amended, as the cake was brought out and the candles lit. Perhaps not resigned. She did enjoy it, after all. Setsuna always had excellent taste and Haru was always infectious with her fun and cheer. She'd be the happiest, most well-dressed person in the entire town.

Haru closed her eyes and made a wish before blowing out the candles ferociously. All the flames were extinguished, not standing a chance against Haru's determination.

When Haru's mother handed her the plate with her slice of cake, Hotaru took it with a quiet thanks. She brushed her bangs away to get it out of her face, and frowned. Something felt . . . off.

"What did you wish for?" Haru's mother asked, setting aside the knife.

"Hotaru?" Takeshi asked, about to dig into his cake but pausing when he noticed her stillness.

"It's nothing," Hotaru said slowly. She tried to flex inside and found nothing. It wasn't Saturn awakening. She didn't feel like she was in danger, and there seemed to be no threats around.

"I was going to wish for a sewing machine, but Hotaru gave me one, so I wished for all of us to be friends like this, forever," Haru replied. "I saw Nemu-chan and Keiko-chan had a fight at school, and they used to be best friends but now they hate each other, and I didn't want that happening to us."

It was probably nothing, Hotaru decided, and set it aside for now. "Haru-chan, you're not supposed to say what you wished for."

Haru was horrified at that, and it took both Takeshi and Hotaru swearing to her that they would still be her friends, as well as the face paint kit Haru's parents had bought for her to relax. It was probably the face paint kit that had distracted her, though.

Haru wanted a flower with a bumblebee on her nose, which meant her mother painted a flower on her cheek and a bumblebee of about the same size on the other cheek.

"Drawing small isn't a talent I have," she admitted, but Haru didn't seem to mind. Hotaru requested a butterfly, under her eye. Takeshi asked for a baseball, and Haru's mother got confused and accidentally painted the patterns for a basketball in white and red instead of the baseball stitches.

Takeshi, being Takeshi, laughed it off and asked for a baseball bat on his other cheek.

As if there had been a jinx to the wish being spoken out loud, however, Hotaru went home and realized what that incongruity had been when she looked in the bathroom mirror to wash off the face paint.

Her hair had been chin-length for a long time. Actual years had passed without there being any growth, and Hotaru had become accustomed to that.

And yet . . .

Hotaru reached up and tugged at a lock of hair. She had thought her eyes were bothered by her hair a little too often recently but hadn't given it much thought, distracted by Takeshi and Haru's birthdays.

And yet, her bangs had grown. Once they had been just the height to stay out of her eyes, and now they threatened to poke at them, did poke at them occasionally and would grow longer to block her sight if she didn't cut them. Her hair was longer now.

Hotaru looked at her nails, and found her suspicions confirmed. They, too, had grown.

She immediately called her parents to let them know of this change.

Her time was moving again.

"It hurts less," Hotaru told Ami and Setsuna. Both had dropped everything to come to Namimori as soon as they could, after hearing what had happened. They would have rushed over last night immediately, when Hotaru called, but she had insisted they first get some rest, and not bother Granny from her sleep. They had waited for years, they could wait one more night and come at a decent time.

Having been a doctor for over a year now, Ami looked at her with the eyes of a medical professional assessing her patient.

"You do look better than before," she agreed. "Less pale and sweating in our presence."

Where the pain had once been a ten out of ten, it was now more a five, even with two of them here at once. Still present, still hard to bear, but compared to what it had been, far better than before.

"I still can't transform or use any of my powers, though," Hotaru added. She had tried, and felt a bit of a sting when nothing had happened. An emotional sting more than an actual one due to magic blockage, from disappointment and an emotion she was hesitant to name.

Ami tapped at her computer.

"Your time froze before you lost your powers," she noted. "Since that was the first abnormality that eventually got your powers as Saturn blocked off, it makes sense that your time would begin to flow again before your sailor powers return."

Setsuna looked over her carefully as Ami theorized.

"It's almost entirely back to normal," she said at last. 'Normal' being what she had observed of the time around the other sailor soldiers, because they weren't the same as humans.

"I see." Hotaru was close to getting her powers back, then.

The thought made her happy, because it meant she could return to being Sailor Saturn, return to living a normal life, return to growing older as the days passed into months and years and move her closer and closer to adulthood.

The smile tugging the corners of her lips towards the direction of the heavens stopped, however.

Her time moving forwards, and inevitably her powers returning also meant that she would have to part with yet more friends she had made. Takeshi and Haru. They were no longer the younger children they had been – were now the same age as her, physically – but.

But if she left Namimori, would they stay in contact? They were both social people, both outgoing and adopting people as theirs like they had with her, but would they remember her?

"What do you want to do, Hotaru?" Ami asked gently, as if she had read her mind. Just behind her, Setsuna also had the same soft look of concern on her face.

The question was kindly asked, but it put Hotaru into conflict. Long after Ami and Setsuna had left Namimori to return to Tokyo where all the others were, Hotaru was unable to answer it.

What did she want to do?

The answer was obvious in the moments when she was watching Takeshi play baseball. He shone so brightly, talent so clear even at his young age, as he played with peers that were not on his level, not by far, but it wasn't just his natural skill at the game that made him bright. It was obvious when she was watching Haru stretch, ready to start her gymnastics routine where she would roll and dance and cartwheel with a wide smile on her face like she was flying, free in the sky. Her movements were so filled with life that it almost made her want to move so freely as well.

Hotaru wanted to continue watching them shine brightly with happiness, wanted to stay at their side as their friend.

The question that followed, of course, was also obvious. Would she be able to? Even when Saturn returned?

Hotaru thought about it for a long time. She liked her time at Namimori. She liked the people she had bonded with here – Takeshi and Haru and Granny and Kawahira. Spring gave way to summer, which cooled to autumn, and continued to grow colder until winter arrived, ending the year. Still engulfed in the chill came the new year, and a few days after her 'twelfth' birthday for the second time in her life.

Michiru and Haruka had already dropped by to wish her a happy birthday. Teleportation – and being around her – still hurt, but it was her birthday, and she was feeling better now, much better.

"Maybe your birthday present will be that your powers return," Haruka joked.

Hotaru tried to smile and found the idea surprisingly hard. It would mean she could return, yes, but it would also mean she had to bid her friends farewell. A mixed bag of a gift.

Michiru elegantly elbowed Haruka in her ribs before sweeping down to kiss her brow.

"Happy birthday, Hotaru," she whispered, winking.

Setsuna would come later, in the evening, so as to keep Hotaru from being overwhelmed. She was doing better, but Setsuna was of the belief that her recovering state was precisely why she needed to be extra careful.

Haruka and Michiru teleported away, and the exertion of magic was only a seven on the pain scale, instead of knocking her out. She really was improving.

Hotaru changed, and hurried downstairs. She was a little late, however. In the kitchen, Granny was cooking already.

"Noodles for dinner," she let Hotaru know as she ladled the soup into bowls. Hotaru began to take them to set the table when a green-sleeved hand took the bowls first.

"Birthday girl gets to be served," Kawahira said, stifling a yawn. "Go take a seat, Hotaru-kun. No chores for you today."

Hotaru tried to help, only to be shooed away.

"Are we getting ramen for dinner?" Kawahira asked Granny hopefully, as he kept Hotaru from doing anything. He did so by pushing his hand against her forehead, as if they were in a cartoon and he was picking on her using his superior height and arm length. Hotaru gave up on trying further if only to spare her own dignity.

"Soba, Riku. No ramen."

Kawahira pouted. "Aww, Granny."

Granny pulled her face into a very stern expression. "No, Riku."

Hotaru had to stifle a giggle at the usual banter. Some things, at least, never changed.

After breakfast, Kawahira pulled Hotaru away so they could speak without being overheard by Granny.

"Would you mind passing along a message to the Guardian of Time and Space?" he asked, after a wave of his ringed hand to make sure no sound of their conversation would make it to Granny's surprisingly sharp ears.

It was the first time he had requested she pass along a message to the others. He would have named Mamoru if he finally intended to speak to the prince, but still, Hotaru tensed. "What should I say?"

Kawahira smirked. "Tell her that she doesn't need to work on what she's focused on right now. Your birthday present will cover it quite nicely."

Hotaru had to run what he had said through her head a little to figure it out. That . . . . was a lot less important than she had expected. "Thank you?"

She wasn't even sure what Setsuna was working on, but what Kawahira said made it obvious it wasn't something related to fashion.

"You're welcome, Hotaru-kun." He swept a hand carelessly through her hair and began to leave. "Happy birthday."

He was being vague again, but she just decided to chalk it up to a 'birthday surprise', and Kawahira being Kawahira. "Thank you!"

Kawahira waved without turning back and left the house.

That left Hotaru the rest of the day, till dinner, to spend with Takeshi and Haru.

"Happy birthday!" Haru cried out, engulfing her with a hug.

"Happy birthday!" echoed Takeshi, joining in on the hug.

"You guys . . ." Hotaru trailed off. Time had moved for them, and she had been witness to it, as Takeshi and Haru had grown. Had it really been years since she met them? Looking at it in retrospect, it felt so much shorter, like the span of a few months.

And yet their heights, as tall as she was – taller, in Takeshi's case, and around the same with Haru – were physical proof that it had, in fact, been that many years.

No one in Namimori ever noticed that there was something different about her, how she never seemed to age, and that spell had applied even to Takeshi and Haru. Kawahira had always made it so that her friends never really questioned why she didn't celebrate her birthday with them. He had asked, when she first became friends with Takeshi, if she wanted him to at least remember her birthday.

Hotaru had refused, and then asked that he – and later Haru – not realize they didn't celebrate her birthday. It had been done at her request, because she hadn't wanted to celebrate a birthday while her time was frozen. That day should have marked the passing of time, not been a grotesque parody of what she couldn't have yet. If she hadn't requested it, she knew they, being who they were, would have focused on throwing her a birthday party as well. The gesture would have been well-meant and kind in intention, but it was still something she didn't want. Not when her birthday meant less than nothing to her.

But this year, this time, it was different, and she had wanted to celebrate it. In the end, she would always choose Usagi, always choose life as a sailor soldier. It was who she was, at her very core and soul. No matter how much warmth they gave her, Hotaru could not choose her friends over her duty.

The loophole, however, was that she didn't need to make the choice now, not while she had no access to Sailor Saturn's powers. Until the moment came to her, Hotaru decided, taking the coward's choice. She would enjoy these peaceful days, make memories with them.

As if there was a karmic joke involved, the very moment after she made that decision, the change came upon her, as sudden as a sneeze. One minute she had been fine, and the next –

"Are you okay?" Haru asked when Hotaru choked. Hotaru knew what it was like, to become a prisoner of her own body, to escape her soul from the hostile environment her own flesh and blood had become. She knew what it was like, being struck with an attack so powerful it literally disintegrated her into nothing except the essence of her star seed.

This was different.

Saturn stirred within her, finally awake after years of lying dormant, and Hotaru was overflown with the force surging from her soul. She struggled to adapt to the sudden feeling, but it was like being forced to run a marathon after years of being immobile – difficult, painful, and nearly impossible.

She hung on by a hair, pressed down the urge to let the power of Saturn overflow and transform, but that rebound ended up hurting her.

Unable to exert outwards, the force instead headed inwards, and it was only because she was the princess of Saturn that she didn't die instantly. As it was, she felt several of her organs become damaged from the invisible impact of a magical backlash of that scale.

Takeshi began to reach out to pat her on the back, thinking she had swallowed wrong, when Hotaru coughed out red that spilled down her chin and on the front of her dress.

Haru screamed and Takeshi paled, both knowing enough to understand that what she had just spat out was blood, roughly enough to fill a cup, and this was by no means something that signified anything good for their friend.

She tried to reassure them, but she couldn't even keep herself on her own feet, let alone speak properly. Balance lost and center of gravity tilted, Hotaru's body swayed and began to fall to the ground.

AN: Yay, Hotaru gets her powers back! And in 12 chapters, that's so much faster than what I had originally planned!

Huinari: This is a fluffy, light-hearted story where Hotaru gets to make friends around her own age while getting more focus because she's my favorite character and she had too little screen time canonically.

Also Huinari: *takes away Hotaru's powers, forces her to have to stay away from her family / fellow sailors, freezes her time, gives back her powers but also makes her vomit blood on her own birthday, the first she's celebrating in years.*

Readers: [insert reply in comments]

Sweet Dreams~