It wasn't always the case, but for the most part Hotaru's family had domains of the house they liked to decorate. Hotaru liked collecting lamps, and so the lights in the house were usually picked by her. Setsuna had a hand in the makeup of all their wardrobes someway, somehow, and most of the cups and bowls for tea were from her. Haruka had the least influence, so to say, in that she chose all the equipment related to sports and exercise, and any tools necessary. The cars they had, though, were all given her approval first and foremost.
It was Michiru that had the most influence. Her taste made up the furniture, the dinnerware, the cutlery, and the rest of the interior decorating.
This meant that when Hotaru came home to find a giant mirror in their parlor, the first natural thought that came to mind was, 'Oh, Michiru-mama redecorated'.
"Oh," said Hotaru out loud, looking at the mirror leaning on the wall. "Michiru-mama redecorated."
The mirror was tall enough to be full body length for even Haruka, and wide enough for Hotaru to still see herself entirely even if she was to extend one of her arms to the side. Encased in an ornate silver frame, it looked heavy.
It was unexpected, to be honest, because a mirror this big seemed excessive. And out of place, in the parlor.
"Actually," said Setsuna, coming from the kitchen. In her hand was the large mug she had when she was tired and needed tea for caffeine, not for flavor. The bags under her eyes certainly made it clear she needed it. "That one's me."
"Are you redecorating your studio?" Setsuna's room doubled as her office, but for her sewing and designs she had a separate room. It was a medium sized room, but the last time Hotaru was in there she hadn't seen a place for a mirror this large.
Setsuna smiled and walked over to stand by Hotaru's side.
"Look at the frame," she suggested, so Hotaru did, and was surprised by what she found. The ornate silver frames that she had just briefly looked over, upon closer inspection, proved to hold magic.
She looked closer, actually putting in an effort to make it out. Permission. Location. Time and space, connecting two places distant from each other directly. Door. A pathway. "Transportation?"
In the mirror, Setsuna's reflection nodded in response.
"I ran into a few spells that I put together during my research," she explained. "Since Mamoru will be away for extended periods of time while working for Doctors Beyond Borders, I thought he and Usagi might appreciate more subtle methods of travel."
Because they could only teleport while transformed, and their costumes, while not indecent, were also kind of flamboyant. Especially Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon's.
"And while I was at it, I made a few more," Setsuna said. "For the others, and for us. Just to save time."
Hotaru could see the wisdom in that. It did take a bit of time to go to their castles. And given what Kawahira had told her, she was a bit hesitant to transform unless necessary. Having a portal, of sorts, was a good solution. "How does it work?"
Setsuna put her mug down on the coffee table and placed a hand on the frame.
"Charon Castle," she said, and the mirror's surface rippled like a pond. Where once there had been a reflective sheet of glass, there was now a doorway to a familiar hallway of obsidian lit by enchanted torches.
"For the sake of security," Setsuna said, withdrawing her hand and waving it to cancel the spell and return it to a normal mirror. "You need to set the spell at the location you want the first time before the mirror can transport you there. It serves as giving the mirror the keys to the location, in a way."
Hotaru could see the wisdom behind that. Their castles weren't easily invaded, but it wasn't impossible, as Sailor Galaxia had proven. No need to keep the castle constantly open and vulnerable for convenience's sake.
Setsuna taught her how to cast the spell that would connect Titan Castle to the mirror. She kept it in mind, so that the next time she went to Saturn for patrols she could use it.
A sudden thought came to mind.
"Usagi-san, I can understand, but how is Mamoru-san going to be carrying around a mirror of this size?"
From what she understood about Doctors Beyond Borders, they didn't exactly live a high end, luxury life in mansions where mirrors of this size were common.
Setsuna smiled, but this time it was more than a little sheepish. "This was the prototype. I made the one for him similar to Neptune's, so it uses a travel mirror."
Hotaru looked again at the almost obnoxiously large mirror in their house. ". . . Does Michiru-mama know about this?"
"She knows there's a mirror."
Hotaru didn't miss how Setsuna averted meeting her eyes.
"It looks like it might rain today," Haru said as she looked outside the classroom window with a crease between her brows.
Hotaru agreed with her, not just because the sky was grey with not a single bit of blue or the sun in sight, but also because Haruka had confirmed there would be rain today.
As soon as school ended, Haru left, claiming she had to take the laundry in at Tsuna's house.
Hotaru had to stay behind to clean up, and after she was done, she shrugged and packed her things before heading over to Tsuna's house.
On her way, she ran into Takeshi and Gokudera. It was weird seeing them together without Tsuna, but it made sense if they were heading to Tsuna's house together.
"What's the hurry?" she asked Takeshi, because Gokudera's face was flushed in excitement. He only got like that around Tsuna, and this was more eagerness than his usual self.
"There was a kid at school today," Takeshi said, and made a gesture to give Hotaru the approximate height. Either he was a young child who shouldn't be in middle school, or a person of short stature. "Following Tsuna everywhere, and Gokudera says that he's known for being always right."
Gokudera's excitement was replaced with annoyance as he looked back at Takeshi. "It's ranking, baseball brain. He's the ranking prince."
Ranking? Ranking prince?
Hotaru looked at Takeshi, wondering if there was something she was missing, but he just shrugged.
"It sounded interesting," he ended with, and that was valid too.
Now with curiosity adding to the short list of reasons she had to go to Tsuna's home, Hotaru joined them. The house soon came into view, and Nana let them in with a smile.
"They're upstairs with Futa," she said. That was an unfamiliar name, but it didn't stop either of the boys she was with.
"Thank you!" shouted Gokudera, and hurried up the stairs. Takeshi and Hotaru followed at a slower pace while he rushed up and hastily opened the door. "Tenth!"
"G-Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna came into their view when Gokudera moved from the doorway. "Yamamoto-kun? Hotaru-san!"
Hotaru waved – or, at least, raised her hand with the intention to wave, were it not for the sight she caught.
Tsuna's room was a regular room, mostly, except there were a few people and objects floating.
She looked at Tsuna, and he was thankfully wearing clothes. Then she turned her eyes and sure enough, there were still floating people and objects. She waved at Bianchi and Lambo and I-Pin, though the younger ones were a little busy having fun in zero-gravity to give her any attention.
"What!?" Gokudera shouted, drawing Hotaru's attention.
The new face in the room was a young boy, maybe eight or nine years old, with hair the soft brown color of a latte. He had round brown eyes, and they were dreamily gazing at something more than just what was in the room, something beyond.
Hotaru felt the hair on the back of her spine rise in response. It was faint and subtle and by no means threatening, but also undeniably there – the trace of magic not of Earth's, or this solar system's.
The source of this faint but foreign magic, round cheeks still retaining baby fat, didn't seem at all bothered by Gokudera's exclamation.
"Range is a thing in ranking?" Tsuna asked, and the young boy perked up at the question, like he was excited to be asked such a thing.
"I didn't say it was out of range for ranking. It's atmospherically out of range."
Hotaru hadn't met Sailor Chu, but she was willing to bet her violin on this boy being the reincarnation of the immigrant from Chu.
"But there are more jobs for you than just being the right-hand man, Hayato-nii," continued the young boy. "Hayato-nii ranks number one out of eighty-two thousand, two hundred and three for people suitable as a kindergarten teacher."
She nearly choked on air. If she actually did make a bet, she would have lost her violin right there and then. There was no way that was a ranking accurate in any way, shape or form.
Everyone else, including Gokudera himself, seemed to think so as well.
Luckily (?) it was soon revealed that Futa's rankings were affected by the rain.
"How does that work?" Hotaru asked after introducing herself, genuinely curious. Not just because Futa, despite his earlier hiccough in ranking Gokudera's personality and likes, was very likely the reincarnation of someone from Chu, but because it was odd to her how Futa had powers related to his past life, while Tomoe Keiko had never shown any signs of that.
The closest thing Hotaru might say was relevant was her mother's love of perfume, and that was hardly something exclusive to residents of Cocoon.
Futa shrugged, the movement weak. "I don't like the rain," he mumbled.
Haru fretted over him, but Hotaru heard Reborn answer the question.
"I presume the ranking goes askew when it rains because the weather interferes with the ranking planet's connection."
Hotaru made note of that hypothesis to ask Sailor Chu about it.
When Saturn arrived at Titan Castle, Makaria greeted her with more eagerness than usual. She looked, bemused, as the fairy flew around her head like a deranged satellite, a blur of black, white and purple.
"What's gotten you so excited?" Saturn asked when Makaria finally stopped zipping around her head.
Panting, Makaria plopped onto her shoulder, as if she had just run a marathon and needed a break. "Hecate told me all about the spell Princess Pluto made!"
Ah.
With the placement of the portal making transportation easier, Saturn could come over more often. That was definitely a reason to be excited.
"Where do you think we should place it?" Saturn asked, because Makaria loved it when Saturn wanted her advice.
The fairy beamed. "I was actually thinking we could redecorate first!"
Without waiting for a response the Sailor Power Guardian leapt back into the air and flew towards the control room. Saturn followed, and found on the screens the program to rearrange the internal structure of Titan Castle up and ready to go.
"Were you waiting for this?" Saturn asked, because some of the plans were very detailed – too detailed to have been just pulled up on a whim.
"Of course!" The fairy clenched her two hands into fists.
Saturn looked at the plans. "No changes to the bathhouse?"
Makaria's face turned solemn. "It's perfect as is."
She laughed quietly, having used the large bathhouse to recover from her brutal training sessions during her rehabilitation. It was her own personal spa, enchanted to grow as large as she wanted or needed. She couldn't think of anything the bathhouse needed or changed, either. "True."
Enthusiastically, Makaria flipped through the plans. Some were just changes made in color – and yes, Saturn agreed that Titan Castle was a little on the dark side, she was right, lighter shades wouldn't hurt anyone – while others were full-on rearrangements, not just in furniture but in the very makeup of the room. Makaria wanted some rooms merged, others moved to different floors and sections, and in a few cases removed entirely to make room for halls or open spaces.
"It's not like they're being used," said the fairy with a shrug.
Saturn let Makaria walk her through all the changes, asking questions when she had any but for the most part nodding and listening carefully, and when they were done, gave her approval. Created by Queen Serenity in a time when magic was science and science was magic and advanced regardless of what name it was called, all Titan Castle needed was the presence and permission of the princess it had been bestowed upon in its domain to change, to start the procedure of magically renovating itself according to plan.
Within the span of a few minutes, Titan Castle was transformed. Makaria squealed with joy, and Saturn made a mental note to let her do more castle makeovers if she was this happy about it.
"So?" Saturn asked, when they were finished looking at all the changed rooms in the castle. Makaria had been right. Titan Castle had always been beautiful, but it had a dark aesthetic, with its primarily amethyst and black bronze decorations.
Those were still present in the castle, but now there were rooms with lighter colors that made it less dark. More welcoming, in a way.
Even if no one but the other sailor soldiers would ever come to Titan Castle.
Saturn smiled ruefully and focused on the matter at hand. "Where should we set the portal?"
She and Makaria put her heads together. Not directly to the controls room – it was too important a location already – but somewhere close.
"Maybe near the center of Titan Castle." Near both the main doors and the controls room. If there was an emergency, it would let her be ready to head outside the castle and fight herself or go to the controls room.
Makaria agreed, and they chose one of the newly merged and redecorated rooms. Walls the color of wisteria, with the large window covered by gauze-thin curtains, this room held a large part of what she recognized as her lamp collection. When she walked in, Makaria floating near her head, the lamps lit up one by one on their own until the room was aglow with dozens of soft lights.
It might have been a nice place to read a book, except there weren't any chairs or shelves, just light fixtures.
Because, Saturn realized, sighing. It wasn't just a room holding her lamp collection.
She reached out and brushed a finger against the nearest lamp, the one shaped like an orange bellflower. The magic of Saturn reacted, and she felt a not-unpleasant sensation, like a rush of air, go through her in response.
A moment later the lamp's light brightened. With the light that shone out from the center of its petals played a mirage-like projection of her memories.
In her old room at Mugen Academy, Tomoe Hotaru sat on one side of a coffee table, and on the other was Chibi-Usa. It was both her face and not. Her face in the past had been far gaunter than it was now, pale and almost bloodless.
Looking at the memory from back then truly let her realize just how much Tomoe Hotaru had changed. She was still pale in the present day, but not that much – not nearly as sickly as she looked back then, frail like a china doll about to teeter and fall to shatter on the ground.
But even through that unhealthy pallor there was a genuine joy sparkling in her dark eyes, and its cause was the pink-haired girl.
Sailor Saturn hardly had any memories. She let her eyes sweep over the varied lamps, finding all of their shapes and colors familiar.
This was her room of memories. Like how Venus had her mirror, the lamps here held her memories – as Tomoe Hotaru. Unintentional as its creation had been, they were hers.
In the far back, she caught sight of a torch alit with dark purple flames, crafted from black bronze and fixed to the wall. It stood out, in that it was the only torch in the room, but Saturn could guess which memory that one held.
Makaria swayed a little in the air, deep in thought. "It is at the perfect location," she mumbled. "We could always replace the room?"
During the time they looked over the plans, neither she nor Saturn had given specific details about the purpose of the rooms. It was likely that Titan Castle added what was necessary according to her needs, or her subconscious.
Saturn shook her head. "It's not like anyone will be able to view the memories."
Only someone with Saturnian magic on them could key the memories and view them, and the only ones with that alive today were her and Makaria.
It wouldn't be a bad place to put the portal, besides, Saturn thought, one last glance spared to the rest of the room. It was a beautiful room, and the different lights, collected according to her tastes, gave the chamber the dreamy air of a fairy tale.
Chibi-Usa would have said it was romantic.
She let the fond memories down gently, and cast the spell to fix the portal to the front of the room.
AN: If that's not blatant foreshadowing I don't know what is.
Canonically Hotaru collects lamps. It's in her profile, and in the Death Busters arc when Chibi-Usa visits her room she has a lot of lamps. Venus has her memories stored in a mirror because mirrors are often cast as magical tools, and also, it's Venus so it was fitting. For Saturn I used lamps. Originally, I was going to go with torches but why not make it more relevant to Hotaru.
Futa is, as many guessed, the reincarnation of the immigrant from Sailor Chu during the Silver Millennium (and boy is that a mouthful). We'll say he was Chunese.
Also I'm participating in KHR Week on Tumblr this year because I've always wanted to get involved in fandom activities with other people but never really got a chance to due to social awkwardness and not paying attention, so that Mukuro/Hotaru fic is going up on the 21st for Day 8. Please look forward to it, and remind me if it looks like I've forgotten.
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Pluto Quality
Setsuna: currently balancing researching curses and how to undo them, as well as focusing on her job as a physics professor, her hobby as a fashion designer and her life at home with family while on patrols to protect the solar system.
Also Setsuna: puts together a spell to make a stable portal, and refines it so that it can be held by a travel pocket mirror.
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Hotaru: Wow, it looks like Kawahira planned everything, I wonder if he can see the future.
Kawahira: *Didn't tell Hotaru where Futa was due to his involvement with the mafia. Did not know the ranking prince would end up coming to Namimori and meet her. Cannot see the future* Say what now?
Sweet Dreams~