Shattered Ice: Super Sailor Mercury

Chapter 51

"Hmmm," Nicole Mizuno sighed as they kissed lingeringly.

Kakyuu slid her arm around the other woman, letting the kiss deepen.

Both women had returned from work, where they couldn't flirt or touch one another. Almost as soon as they came in, they had sat Chibi-Chibi in front of the TV, then ducked in the bedroom.

"I never knew..." Nicole murmured.

"What?" Kakyuu asked gently.

"I've never experienced anything like this before," Nicole admitted.

Before either could continue, they heard the front door open.

"Eeep," Nicole eeped.

Then the bedroom door opened, revealing Ami and Setsuna. "Eeep," Ami yelped and shut the door.

"We forgot they were coming over," Kakyuu sighed as they tidied their clothes.

"I think we just traumatized my daughter...," Nicole added. Sheepishly she added, "I forgot she still had a key..."

They went out to the living room, where a equally sheepish looking Ami and Setsuna stood. "I should have waited for you to answer the door," the blushing Ami noted.

"Though you weren't answering when we knocked," Setsuna noted, looking visibly amused at the whole situation.

"Big help you are," Nicole sighed.

Kakyuu also was amused, though somewhat less so. "So," she briskly changed the subject, "we were going to do dinner, yes?"

Ami smiled slightly. "We could order take-out? You've both just finished a hard day's work, along with Setsuna." she noted.

"Good idea," Nicole agreed.

"Chibi!" the little girl agreed.

"How did she get out of...?" Kakyuu blinked.

"That is NOT a normal little girl," Setsuna noted thoughtfully. She made a mental note to look into it later...

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"So, we're out patroling the city to make sure Setsuna and Ami's 'meet the parents' scenario goes by uninterupted?" Sailor Uranus noted as they bounded across Tokyo rooftops.

"They'd do the same for us," Sailor Neptune noted mildly.

"Okay, point," Uranus conceded. They bounced off another roof as she added, "But why is SHE along, too?"

"I'm hurt," Sailor Star Fighter said as the black haired woman followed along.

"The more help the better," Neptune pointed out.

"If we do get attacked by Gaklaxia's minions, you might need me," Fighter added.

"Where are the other two Stooges?" Uranus had to ask.

Fighter didn't get the joke, though she did look faintly confused. "Maker and Healer are keeping an eye on the Princess. Discretely of course," she noted.

"You DO realize that Ami and Setsuna are our two most powerful members and can certainly handle almost anything that comes up?" Neptune noted mildly.

"They could get caught by surprise," Fighter said firmly. "Humor me."

Neptune decided not to tease her anymore. At least about that.

In addition to their patroling, Iron Mouse, Saturn and Chibi-Moon were out patroling too, along with the guardian cats. They were under orders to call them if they ran into any trouble... which Neptune kind of doubted they'd do. But you had to hope they'd use common sense.

"So, this school contest thing that Galaxy Broadcasting is organizing... have we decided what we're doing about it?" Fighter asked.

"Other than keeping a eye on the event and being ready to jump in, there's not much we can do," Uranus sighed. "I mean, we know it's a trap. But we can't make the schools not participate, and just attacking Galaxy isn't an option."

"I'd attack Galaxy, if we knew how to get to Galaxia," Fighter said firmly.

The mysterious portals connecting to Galaxia's throne room moved around the Galaxy Broadcasting facilities. The woman seemed to be able to control where they manifested. So just attacking where they knew a portal had been wouldn't work.

"Agreed, but it's not a option," Neptune nodded.

As they leaped over the city Uranus pointed, "Het, a purse snatching. Want to make it the worst day ever for that robber?"

"Why not?" Neptune agreed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"... and THEN I caught Ami playing Doctor with the neighboring kids. With my labcoat and some of my gear," Nicole told them as they dined on quality take out food.

Setsuna burst into laughter as Ami blushed pink.

"Not in a naughty way, I expect?" Kakyuu noted mildly.

"After a very PG medical examination, Ami gave them candy as 'medicine' and told them to call her if the weren't feeling better," Nicole noted.

As everyone else laughed a blushing Ami said, "Well, that what I saw doctors DO..."

Kakyuu looked at Ami curiously, "Nicole mentioned you were considering being a doctor as well. Is that still something you're interested in?"

Ami gave her mother a wry look. They had fought over her pushing Ami in that direction, but the older woman's expression was innocent. "It's something I'm thinking about," she admitted, "but I may go into hard sciences as well. I see so much on the job, so to speak..."

"Don't get her started on the monster machine we had to destroy," Setsuna noted teasingly, "she'll go on for hours."

"Meanie," Ami stuck her tongue out at Setsuna. They then did discuss the 'monster maker' and how old Ami's computer estimated it was.

"I have to admit I sort of side with Ami on this," Nicole noted as they ate. "Imagine how the world would react to physical proof that pre-human civilizations existed?"

"You just want to see history professor's heads explode," Ami teased.

"That too," Nicole admitted.

Setsuna and Kakyuu exchanged amused looks. For two people who claimed to disagree so much, the Mizuno ladies were remarkably alike too.

Kakyuu noticed that Ami and Setsuna were done eating. "Seconds, anyone?" she asked politely.

"I wouldn't mind desert," Ami admitted.

"We have cake and ice cream," Nicole chuckled as they dished it up.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Jadite watched with amusement as the young girls patrolled the city. He had not encountered Iron Mouse, Chibi Moon or Sailor Saturn before, but their powers felt familiar to him. And in Saturn's case, that power was rather frightening.

'She's hugely more powerful than the Sailors I fought,' Jadite noted as the blonde man shadowed them carefully. In fact even the pink haired girl was stronger... though only marginally. Iron Mouse also felt different to him, though again it might be due to her unearthly origins.

He also recognized the white and black cats following them. It was a odd feeling as he looked at them, too. He knew them from seeing them around the Sailors, of course. The white one had even scratched his face, back then.

But there was also a odd sensation that he knew them somewhere else. It bugged him, nagging at his mind...

"I'm so BORED!" Chibi Moon complained. "We haven't even run into any muggers."

"Bored is good," Luna noted dryly. "Ideally we don't want to see any trouble."

"I know, I know...," Chibi Moon sighed.

Saturn put her hand on the smaller girl's arm, smiling gently. "We'll go scout around the docks, next," she suggested.

Jadite watched them move on, even as he felt a presence begin to manifest nearby. Heavy Metal Papillon appeared, teleporting in as she looked around. "Tin Nyanko sent me to get you," the tall woman noted calmly.

"Of course," Jadite nodded politely. "I was just scouting our enemies."

Heavy Metal Papillon tilted her head to the side as she observed, "We could attack now. I think we could take them."

Jadite was a bit startled at her blood thirstiness, but hid his reaction. "We need to capture them, not just defeat them," he reminded her, "we need to know if they have the crystals Galaxia needs."

"True," Heavy Metal Papillon conceded. She scowled as she saw Iron Mouse down there, "That little traitor..."

"What does Tin Nyanko want?" Jadite asked, deliberately changing the subject.

Heavy Metal Papillon looked at him again, "Ah, right. We have some monsters that were originally Negaverse servants. She wants to see if you can command them, otherwise we may have to just destroy them."

"Ah," Jadite nodded crisply. "Let's go then...," he said as both disappeared.

To be continued...