*Chapter
2: Faces in the Fire*
By:
Kohan
*Two
weeks later* (AN: I mean since last scene ~_^)
Hotaru woke up in a heavy sweat, and when she opened her eyes,
she realized that it was light out.
"Shimatta..." She muttered to herself, "I must
have overslept" Hotaru got out of bed and walked clumsily to
the
door and into the bathroom. "Shower..." She said, in a
daze, and undressed. The warm water didn't help to wake
her up, so she turned it a little colder...colder...colder...
"EEEE!! COLD!" She yelled when the feeling
suddenly hit her. Turning the warm water up again, she washed,
and silently dried herself. Still a little tired,
she dressed and brushed out her hair.
Hotaru looked outside, the light seemed to be fading, but that
was impossible. She opened the window, and saw
the sun going down. "What the..." She looked at her
watch. 7 o'clock! How could she have slept all day? Then she
remembered the little sleep she had gotten the night before,
Rei's comment on how she would make herself sickif she didn't get
more sleep, and Micharu's insistent nudges for her to go back to
bed. 'Why the hell didn't anyone wake me?' She thought, walking
into the kitchen. Unfortunately no one was there.
"Good evening, Hotaru-chan" Micharu said from behind
her. "We were just going to have some dinner."
"Why didn't you wake me?" Hotaru asked.
"Setsuna came again this morning," Micharu said,
ignoring Hotaru's question. "Here, have some orange
juice."
Hotaru gratefully took the glass Micharu provided.
"Everyone's out on the balcony, getting ready to eat. Come
join us." It was more of an order then a request, so Hotaru
followed the older woman out to the balcony.
***
Rei watched, disgusted, as Usagi ate her spaghetti. "Usagi,
I thought you were trying to start a new life here?" She
whispered, not wanting to draw attention from her other guests.
"I am, Rei-chan! You try eating spaghetti cleanly!"
"Everyone else seems to be doing it," Rei sighed, and
leaned on one elbow. Just then, Micharu came out with the
garlic bread, followed by Hotaru who looked a little surprised,
if not stunned, that they had 5 dinner guests.
"Good to see you up, Hotaru," Haruka said, grabbing the
garlic bread from Micharu. Micharu frowned and grabbed the basket
back and told Haruka that she may only have one piece for now.
"Do you want some milk, Hotaru?" Duo asked, his face
fullof spaghetti. Usagi seemed to think this was funny, while
Hotaru found it less amusing.
"Very funny, Duo." Hotaru said, and sat down heavily.
"Spaghetti, Hotaru?" Asked Micharu.
"No I think I'll just have some of Haruka's garlic
bread." Haruka frowned and looked at *her* basket of garlic
bread.
There was a crash below the balcony and Haruka, Rei and Micharu
jumped up to see what it was. Micharu gasped. (Yes, she gasped!)
"A demon!" Something dark climbed up the wall to the
balcony, It was only swirling darkness, and what they supposed to
be a mouth opened, prepared to speak. Heero already had his gun
out, and Haruka had her hand on her heshin wand.
"I want destruction and fire." Said the demon.
"Give them to me now!"
"Over my dead body!" Haruka yelled. "Uranus
crystal power! Make-up!"
"Neptune crystal power! Make-up!"
"What the hell?" Whispered Duo, as he watched Haruka
and Micharu heshin.
"Mars cry-"
"Saturn cry-"
"No!" Uranus yelled to Rei and Hotaru, who had their
heshin wands out, ready to heshin. "You two get out of
here!" she yelled.
"Are you crazy!?" Rei asked.
"Give me destruction and fire, and there will be no
bloodshed!"
The monster was saying, but being ignored. By then, Usagi had
transformed in a single flash-heshin.
"You and you," Uranus said, pointing to Duo and Heero.
"get Hotaru and Rei out of here."
"Uranus! This is my fight!" Hotaru yelled, she was
getting mad now, and Rei wasn't in a much better state. Duo
grabbed Rei's hand, but Heero didn't bother being courteous. He
grabbed Hotaru around the waist and dragged her along.
"Let go of me!" Hotaru yelled to Heero. "Haruka!
You know this is my battle!" Uranus, however, was doing her
world shaking attack on the demon, and didn't pay the 'upset'
Hotaru any mind.
"Deep Submerge!"
***
"I can walk!" Hotaru yelled, Heero let go of her. Rei
was still trying to work her way out of Duo's strong grasp,
her legs didn't happen to be as long as his, and he was walking
very swiftly. They walked onto a deserted
basketball court, and as soon as they stopped, Duo crossed his
arms and looked square at Hotaru and Rei. Heero, however, took
the more forward approach.
"What the hell was that?" He yelled, "Would you
mind telling
me what the hell is going on?""We would really like to
know." Duo said.
"I *told* you we were soldiers!" Rei said. "We
have powers,"
"And," Duo pressed.
"And what? I don't know! We come from a different
dimension!" Rei said. Hotaru still wasn't talking, but she
was standing very angrily next to Rei with a disgusted scowl on
her face.
In the distance, Hotaru could see a figure approaching, and as it
came closer, she could make out the features of a girl.
"Hi!" The figure called.
"Oh no," Heero whispered,
"This is just our lucky day!" Said Duo
"Is she friend or foe?" Hotaru asked.
"She's friend, I think...to some of us."
When the figure finally got up to them, Rei had managed in
hitting Duo twice on the backside of the head for
pulling her away, and Hotaru had managed an almost perfect
impression of the Heero deathglare.
"Konnichi wa, Heero-kun!" The girl said,
"Duo-kun," Heero grunted and Duo waved.
"This is Relena Peacecraft," Duo told Hotaru and Rei,
"Hi," Relena said, "and you are?"
"I'm Rei Hino, this is Hotaru Tomoe."
"I want you to take me back, right now, Duo." Hotaru
said, Duo looked at Heero unsurely. Heero shrugged, and moved
back a pace from Relena. Relena closed the distance between them
and latched onto Heero's arm.
"Yeah, now would be a good time," Duo said, noticing
Heero's obvious discomfort.
***
"Tell me, O silent one, how did you manage to get rid of
Relena Peacecraft?" Duo asked Heero, they had fallen behind
Rei and Hotaru, who were walking rather swiftly themselves. Heero
grunted, and clicked his gun, which he still held in his hand.
"Oh," Duo stuffed his hands in his pockets, "That
makes sense.
Duo and Heero watched as Rei and Hotaru went inside, and then
Usagi came out, running clumsily.
"I suppose you would like to know what that was all
about."
"We got a mild response from Rei, and I think Hotaru has
learned some new defenses." Duo replied.
"Oh, so you know..."
"Yeah,"
A moment of uncomfortable silence passed and then Usagi broke it
by saying her goodbyes.
"Well, thanks, you guys, I hope they aren't too mad at
Haruka."
"I think Rei got most of her anger out on my head. Where do
you girls learn to hit so hard?"
"It's in our genes." Usagi said. "Ja ne!"
Usagi pranced into the house, where she saw Rei sitting on the
floor, stareing intensly into the fire.
"Watcha doin' Rei-chan?" Usagi asked, but got no
answer, not even an eye blink. She was in a trance...
***
Hotaru sat in her bedroom, on her bed, clicking one of her lamps
on and off. It was her way of showing that she was mad. Haruka,
who was walking to the bathroom, saw the flashing light and stood
in the doorway.
"Hi, Hotaru-chan." She said meekly. Hotaru didn't say
anything. "You aren't mad at me, are you?"
"Take an educated guess."
"I didn't want you two to get hurt, you were obviously the
demons target!"
"Look, Haruka," Hotaru said, putting down the lamp,
"I'm not mad at you because you tried to save me. That was
my fight."
"I know... Do you forgive me?"
"Hai. Just don't do it again."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Haruka mumbled, leaving, she
walked into the living room, where Micharu and Usagi
were sitting on the couch, watching Rei, who was watching the
fire. Haruka went over and sat down next to Micharu.
"What's going on?" She asked. Usagi shrugged, and they
sat for a few minutes in silence.
***
"What did you see, Rei-chan?" Usagi asked later that
night, when Rei had come out of her trance.
"Faces." Rei said quietly.
"What faces?"
"I saw Chibi-Usa, Neo Queen Serenity and King Edymon."
Rei said and stopped, "And I saw Ami and Makoto...they were
talking to Setsuna."
"You don't think they'll try to come here do you?"
Asked Micharu.
"They might."
***
AN: Okay, minna! Time to clear up some confusion that might be
happening here :) The reason that Usagi didn't have Minako, Ami
and Makoto come with them is because they obviously knew about
this if they were calling Rei-chan's house at 1 o'clock in the
morning, and Usagi knew they knew, so that's why. I know some
people want this fic to be a Heero/Usagi fic, but personally, I
don't like that paring, so it won't be...sorry. *Kohan looks at
all the Heero/Usagi fans and laughs nervously* Anyway, sorry that
chapter was kinda short, but at least we
got some action, right? Right????
Luv you all!
-Kohan