hot1
Mommy Dearest
(My first fic so be nice!)
Discalmer: As much as I want it to, Sailor Moon does not belong to me.

Hotaru sat in the closet of her room, hiding in the shadows that strangely always gave her comfort. She stopped breathing for a second, and waited. Perhaps…No. Never mind. A short distance away, the clicking of heels was heard. 'No…please…' Hotaru begged to her herself. She drew closer to the wall, flattening herself to make her less noticeable. The door to her room was being banged on. She was trying to get in. Once again, Hotaru stopped breathing. She hugged something close to her. A doll. The door was banged on again. "HOTARU!! OPEN THIS DOOR!!" a scary but familiar voice said. Hotaru shut her eyes and tried to pretend it was all a dream. She would wake up soon in the arms of her mother and father. Everything would be all right. Thinking of this gave her strength. She tried to think about it again, as if wishing for it hard enough would make it true. It didn't. The door was broken open and Kaori stepped in. She searched furiously around the room. "HOTARU?! WHERE ARE YOU?!" She screamed insanely as she threw one of Hotaru's lamps across the room. Hotaru flinched. Kaori knew how much she adored lamps. But all the lamps in the world couldn't amount to the doll she held in her hand. Kaori drew nearer and nearer to Hotaru's hiding spot in the closet. She held her breath and closed her eyes. 'A dream, please say that's all it is…a dream'. The door to the closet was thrust open. Kaori smiled as she dragged Hotaru out of the closet by her hair, pretending she didn't hear Hotaru scream. When she was fully out of the closet, Kaori thrust her aside. "The doll," she said in a low but threatening voice. "No! This was the last gift my mom gave me. Don't dare lay ANY of your dirty fingers on it!" Hotaru said as she scrambled to get away, but Kaori grabbed one of her legs. "Get off me you stupid bitch!" Hotaru yelled and hit Kaori in the face. As much as Kaori was surprised, it was nothing compared to Hotaru's amazement. She had never hit anyone, or curse at them. Not ever. She didn't have the strength or the heart to do it.

Not wasting any time, Hotaru walked quickly down the stairs. Her father would be cooped up in the lab, what could she do? She was wasting energy already. She could feel her breathing get heavy and her heart slow. Weakly she fell to the ground, trying to get her breath. But she had to get out, if just for a day. Kaori was already hot on her tail. She would come any minute now. Hotaru panicked. She was almost within arms reach. Hotaru took a gasp of breath, about to try and run for it, even though the risk was dangerous. Suddenly, Kaori stopped. Her eyes went wide as a strange aura surrounded her. It was a ghostly color. Kaori's scream rang out…

Hotaru awoke with a snap and shook her head. She almost screamed, but remembered where she was. Safe in bed. She checked her clock. 5 am. Rubbing her head, Hotaru sat up. Yes, she remembered that day. After the hold had been released on her Kaori burned the doll right in front of her. But who did that spell? It wasn't her. She would have remembered blacking out and waking up somewhere else, with her father or Usagi or Rini standing over her. That didn't happen. Some outside force protected her. She tried to remember the whole of her dream, but it was exhausting so Hotaru tried to fall back asleep. She snuggled closer to the covers and grabbed a new doll her father gave her. It looked like the one that was burned in the dream, the one her mom gave her. But it was just a replacement. Still, she loved it. It was the first thing from her father that she got after he had been cured from the blast at the school.

A figure, cloaked in pure white with the only trace of black being her hair, floated down to Hotaru's window. Seeing Hotaru, she smiled and got closer to the glass, but just when she was about to touch it, she disappeared. The sun was coming up.