Anyone have any good ideas for another story? I was thinking about one with Hotaru, and she's like an assassin or something, but I was worrying that that idea's been a little overdone… and then I started one where Hotaru has a sister, and I posted the trial chapter on fanfiction.net, but I don't know if I wanna continue with that idea…
Chibi-Usa, Haruka and Hotaru walked up the stairs Usagi's home silently, trying not to wake up everyone. They entered Usagi's room, and Chibi-Usa ran over to Usagi's bed and jumped up on it. She repeatedly bounced on it until Usagi started to notice.
"Chibi-Usa, stop bouncing around, I need my beauty sleep…" She mumbled as she rolled over.
"USAGI!!! GET UP!!!" Chibi-Usa yelled in Usagi's ear, but
Usagi didn't hear.
"May I?" She asked with mock courtesy.
"Be my guest!" Chibi-Usa said delighted that she wouldn't be yelled at for waking Usagi up.
Haruka lifted the pillow off of Usagi's face. "Hey, Usagi-Chan?" She asked delicately, an evil grin on her face.
"What?" came the muffled response from Usagi, who had found another pillow to hide from the lights under.
"GET UP ODANGO ATAMA, YOU'RE AN HOUR LATE FOR
SCHOOL!"
"AAGH!!! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!!!
"Alright… where's that self-centred little pink haired
boyfriend-stealing sleep-intruding too-cute-for-her-own-good…" She stopped as
she turned around to be staring at Haruka.
"I believe that was me… but I don't think my hair is that pink…" Haruka said mockingly.
"Oh.. he he… Haruka… good to see you… I think… What are you doing here?" Usagi asked sceptically, still slightly angered at the fact that she had been woken up at 5:30 in the morning.
"Hotaru needs some help healing herself after a
particularly gruesome nightmare she had."
"My gosh, what happened? Usagi asked as she rushed over to Hotaru, looking her over, and withdrew when she brushed up against her wrist, and heard Hotaru whimper as she recoiled. "This happened in a dream? How could that have happened?" She said as she went off in search of the Imperium Crystal.
"Don't tell me you can't find it?!" Luna said as she watched from the headboard of Usagi's bed. "You see… this is what I have to put up with…' She said to Haruka, who smirked back as they watched Usagi search every bag and drawer in her room.
"You know, if it weren't for me, she would have lost it long ago…" Chibi-Usa said as she sat on the bed, tossing a rather large diamond-like crystal from hand to hand.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Usagi said, as she looked up from the box she was searching to glare at Chibi-Usa. A look of defeat crossed her face, and she slowly got up and walked over to Chibi-Usa. "If we didn't have guests, I would kick that but of yours so hard it'd send you right back to Crystal Tokyo." Usagi said with a devilishly evil grin. Chibi-Usa handed the Crystal to Usagi, and in turn, she walked over to Hotaru.
"Okay! … Luna, how does this work, exactly?" Usagi said with an innocent, clueless look on her face. Luna groaned, and Hotaru slowly backed away from Usagi. "Oh come on, I know what I'm doing!" Usagi said as she held out the Crystal in front of herself and Hotaru.
"Hotaru, all you have to do is touch it, and it'll heal you." Luna said before crawling back in a ball.
"That's it? Nothing funny will happen?" Hotaru asked,
doubt wavering in her voice. She held out a shaky hand, and as soon as she
touched it, a bright glow emanated from Usagi, Hotaru and the crystals; a pure
white around Usagi, and a deep black around Hotaru. The others saw a bright
light come out of Hotaru's chest, and a black
"That's… that's the prism that the Queen of Saturn gave her…" Haruka said in a barely audible whisper.
"That… that's the Dead Spirit Gem. A Royal treasure of Saturn." Luna said, shocked. "It's supposed to be lost, since before even the Silver millennium."
"What does it do?" Chibi-Usa asked, fascinated by the crystal.
"It's a key to the power of Saturn. All the planets have one, but they're hidden away, far away, because they held so much power. That particular gem is a key to the power of… the dead. That's why they hid it… but it was never black… "
They looked on as the two crystals floated around each other. They resonated together, and the black crystal turned back to its regular colour of light purple. As the white crystal purged the blackness out of it, Hotaru's glow turned to pale violet, and her wrist and cuts healed and disappeared. The crystal floated back into Hotaru, and the glow dissipated, the two girls left standing still, shock written over both their faces.
"I thought you said nothing weird would happen?" Usagi said as soon as she got her voice back.
"That's why I couldn't do it myself." Hotaru whispered. "It was corrupted. It was black."
"Well, that certainly was entertaining…and unexpected" Luna said gently.
"Oh Crap! I'm late for my track meet! I don't want to sound rude, but we really gotta go, Hotaru." Haruka said as she looked down to her watch.
She nodded and headed for the door after Haruka, but paused and turned back to Usagi and Chibi-Usa. "Thank you… I really appreciate what you did, Usagi. Gomen ne for waking you up so early." She said as she bowed to the two others. Usagi was overwhelmed by the distress Hotaru showed through her expression.
"No problem, Hotaru. This all happened in a dream?" Usagi asked, sounding unusually maternal. Hotaru nodded, and stared at the floor.
"It's like… he's trying to corrupt me or something. That's why the crystal was black, and what's why I couldn't heal myself, I suppose. After I woke up, it felt as if he was still inside me, and I couldn't think straight, or do anything. But thanks again, for what you did. I feel much better now. I better go, before Haruka is any later. Ja ne!" Hotaru said with a forced smile as she turned and left.
"Luna… is it a good thing that she was given this crystal? I mean, if it holds the power of death and all?" Usagi asked as she crawled back into bed.
"Well… if it reached her hands, it must be for a reason. We just have to hope it's for the best." Luna said.
"This isn't right. I was never told that this would happen." Chibi-Usa said in a solemn tone. 'I have to go back. Ask if this is right.' Chibi-Usa thought to herself. As she turned to run to her own room, Usagi yelled out to her, but she continued to grab her things to go back. Usagi and Luna followed her into her room.
"Where's the fire, Chibi-Usa?" Usagi asked.
"I have to go back. There's something that's bothering me, and I have to find out what it is." Chibi-Usa said as she looked for something in her closet.
"Well, will you come back?" Luna asked, as she jumped up on Chibi-Usa's bed. "Is it something really serious?"
"I don't know." Said Chibi-Usa, discouragingly. "I'll surely come back if I can, but if I can't, then don't take it too hard. If I can't come back, I'll try to send something to tell you guys what I can." With that, Chibi-Usa stood in the middle of the room and muttered something vague. A pink light, not unlike the one that she had first arrived in surrounded the room, and Usagi shut her eyes to block the brilliant light. When she opened them again, Chibi-Usa had disappeared.
*****
I ran down the walkway and hopped into Haruka's car.
"I'm sorry I bothered you with this." I said guiltily as I closed the door and fastened my seatbelt.
"Don't be. We all could tell that something was affecting you, and I'm glad whatever it was is out of your system." She said as she started the car and pulled into the street.
"So what events are you competing in?" I said quickly, shifting the subject. I saw Haruka smirk, and I guess she saw through the change of topics, but she let it go.
"Well, there's the 100m, 400m and the long jump. It doesn't start for about 2 hours, but I have to be there early to sigh in and crap like that. Michiru and Setsuna said they'd come down later, so you won't be completely alone." She said. "You think I have a chance?" she said as she glanced over in my direction.
"Yeah, right. You already hold the national records in those events, I doubt it will be any harder that a walk in the park. " I said as I laughed. Haruka almost looked embarrassed for a second.
"You know about that? Who told you about those?" Haruka said warily.
"You were in the news for weeks, I don't live completely under a rock, you know." I said, pretending to be hurt. "And I've heard you brag a lot to Michiru, too." I said, turning to the window to hide my embarrassed face. Haruka looked my way with suspicion. "What else have you heard?" she said critically.
"Oh… stuff." I said vaguely, leaving Haruka the one to hide her embarrassment.
"Sheesh, you seem to know more about everything that I brag I do." Haruka said as she pulled up to the Track and Field arena.