Chapter Five, Strong Tomboy:

She put away the last dish in her cupboard before going into

the other room of the apartment to sit on the sofa and watch some

television. However she did not turn on the television set. Instead

she sat on the couch, lost in her own thoughts. She had had such a

lonely life before meeting Serena and the others. She sighed and went

over their first meeting in her mind. Serena hadn't been frightened

of her like everyone else. Serena looked beyond the outside of

others. All of them did really, and she was glad for that. Still her

past haunted her. She had always been the least popular. Just as Amy

had always been considered a nerd, she had always been the strong

freak. The one no one else wanted anything to do with. It had been

a lonely life, and losing her parents in that plane crash had made it

all the more lonely. She missed them so much. The constant ache

inside that got dulled with time but never went away. Probably never

would. She sniffled as her eyes got watery. She may have been seen

as a strong freak to everybody else, but she had feelings like

everyone else. In fact she was really a very sensitive soul. She was

glad that the others saw that, that the others saw beyond the

fighter in her to the cook and ice skater, to the sensitive soul

inside. Perhaps she reacted too strongly with her feelings, but she

had always believed in following one's heart and fighting for what

one believed in, and she had always done just that.



She sighed again, the deep painful sigh of a girl forced to

grow up way too soon. The sigh of a girl living on her own despite

everyone else still living with their parents. Well except for the

outers, but they were older. She felt so alone.



She got dressed and ran to Raye's temple so as not to be

late for the meeting.



Mina came in after her, and Serena ran in a few minutes

later.



"Serena you need to start taking your responsibilities more

seriously," she said in a commanding tone of voice. "In fact you all

need to take your responsibilities more seriously," Luna added.



"Aw come on Luna we just want to have some fun," Mina said.



"Yeah," Serena added in the same light tone of voice. Mina

and Serena grinned and giggled together.



Luna shook her head. "Queen Serenity made wishes for all of

you so you would all have better lives, and you're all wasting your

opportunity," she said sadly, walking out of the door to be by

herself. Artemis looked at them all in distaste then followed Luna

out the door to give her company and comfort.



Amy was looking down in guilt. Raye was also pondering the

words of Luna. Mina and Serena got Lita up to dance with them and

try to forget the harsh words of the cat who never let them have

any fun.



Then she went to the arcade with Mina and Serena.



They walked along the sidewalk. "We're going to the arcade,

the arcade, arcade, arcade, arcaaade," sung Mina happily. Serena

skipped along with her as Lita trailed behind, walking normally but

watching her two best friends in amusement.



"What's so funny Lita??" Serena questioned in a joking

manner, popping up in front of her.



Lita caught her breath in her throat. "Geez don't ever scare

me like that again Serena." She closed her eyes for a few moments

and regained her composure as she took deep breaths.



"Last one to the arcade is a rotten sailor!" exclaimed Mina.

Lita ran off at top speed.



"No fairrrrrr," Serena whined. "You guys got a head start. I

don't wannaaaa run."



Lita and Mina giggled and waited up for her.



The next day she got excited to go shopping with Serena,

Mina, and Raye.



"How does this outfit look?" Mina asked, coming out of the

dressing room of her favorite shop with a new red outfiet on.



"Wow," Raye said as Lita and Serena's mouths hung open.



"You look gorgeous girl!" Lita exclaimed.



"Thank you," she said happily.



They all continued to search for the perfect outfits and

tried various clothings as well as accessories on. Some met with

approval, some were maybes, and some got a look that said they

definitely needed to be trashed by the other three friends. When all

four were done they decided to go try to meet Amy at the museum to

head to a movie.



That evening she grabbed her sleeping bag and headed over to

the sleepover with the rest of the inner scouts and Hotaru.



"Take that!" Lita exclaimed as she threw a pillow straight

at Raye's head.



"oh you're gonna be soo sorry you did that!" exclaimed Raye,

hitting Lita with a pillow full force. Lita grunted, and they all

laughed at the funny expression on Lita's face.



"How about we play Truth or Dare?" Raye suggested.



"Yeah!" Mina agreed.



"No way," Serena said.



"Let's not play that," Hotaru requested.



"Oh all right," Raye said, giving into Serena and Hotaru.

An unusual occurrence that they both were thankful for.



They all sat down in their sleeping bags and ate some milk

and cookies while they were each lost in their own thoughts before

Hotaru finally suggested they watch a movie, and everyone else

agreed. There was much debating as to which movie to watch, but

eventually they settled on watching a romantic and dramatic

action/comedy to give everyone a taste of what they liked best in

a movie.



The next day several of them went ice skating.



Darien lifted Raye up into the air and spun her around on

the ice. They were all out for a fun time of ice-skating. Everyone

that is except Serena who was grounded and Amy as well as Trista who

were reading. "Do you think Serena will be jealous when she hears

about this?" Lita asked in a teasing manner.



Darien dropped Raye, who landed on her butt. "You better not

tell her," Raye hissed.



Lita laughed. "Relax, I won't," she promised. "But it would

be hilarious if I did..."



Raye glared at her. "All right. All right. Calm down," Lita

said, her hands up in the air.



Amara lifted Michelle into the air and spun her around

longer than Darien. "Ha," Michelle said. "My love is better than

yours," she teased Raye.



Darien blushed and Raye glared at her as she stood up.



Hotaru and Mina were practicing their spins together.



The next day was a meeting for all the scouts.



"We call this meeting to order!" Luna announced as all the

sailor soldiers sat down in their respective chairs in human form.



"Really LUna, things have been quiet for awhile. Is it

actually necessary to continue to have all these weekly meetings?"

Mina asked.



"I suppose bimonthly would be enough now," she reluctantly

conceded.



Mina smiled and Serena shouted "Yippee."



"It's nice to finally have some peace," Hotaru commented.

The others nodded their heads in agreement.



Seeing as there were no new events or fears, the meeting

was quickly over.



Later that day she raced with Amara.



"On your mark, get set, Go!" Amara exclaimed as she and

Lita took off from their starting points. They were racing each

other, running hard four times around the track to see who could

run a mile fastest. Amara won of course, but Lita sure gave her a

tough win.



"Thanks for the tough competition," Amara said.



Lita bowed to Amara in respect and awe. "Wow you're

probably the only one who could beat me Amara."



"Yeah, maybe but I have a feeling if you had stayed on

the inside part of the track with me that we would have tied," the

tall girl reluctantly admitted.



Lita smiled. "You really think so? Thanks. It's an honor

to be compared to you!" she exclaimed happily. Amara laughed and

smiled as they went their seperate ways home.



Lita plopped down on the couch again as soon as she got

home. She hadn't had anything for dinner, but truthfully she

didn't feel hungry. Which was surprising. Food was sometimes the

only thing that would fill that empty void in her. She still felt

it today, but strangely enough she still didn't want any food. She

was tired, exhausted really, of always being the strong, tough one.

She hated being vulnerable to others. She suspected Amara felt the

same, but still it would be nice to not always put on that mask of

toughness and pretend to always manage everything okay when inside

she was a scared little girl missing her parents deeply.

To Be Continued...