Chapter Ten, Death:

Of all the powers of goodness, love, and light, she had

gotten destruction. Of all the powers of all the sailor scouts,

she was the one with the power of death. Serena had the power

of life. Mina of love. Her of...death. Death was her power. At

least she also had healing capabilities. She sighed as the wind

blew through her hair and her eyes briefly closed, smelling the

scent of flowers wafting through to her through the air,

inhaling the fresh air, tasting it in her mouth, feeling the

edge of the balcony underneath her hands. She opened her

purple colored eyes and sighed. She brushed back a strand of her

dark black hair that went to her shoulders. She looked out

across the town from her standpoint on the balcony, and she

began to weep silently. Tears rolling down her cheeks, gasps

coming from her mouth. She had been so alone for so long. The

only good power she had was the healing power and even that

had gotten her labeled a "freak" in school. She was

so tired of life, and she had only just begun life. She had Rini

now for a friend though so that was something, something to hang

onto when all else didn't seem like enough to her. She was so

tired of being tired all the time. *Stupid weak body,* she

thought bitterly as she curled up on the ground and rocked her

body back and forth, tears rolling down her face, pain etched

in her face.

She got up and ran through the house and out the front

door and to the park where she sat and wiped her tears angrily

off her face. *Why do I always have to go and do that?* she

chided herself, but she knew it was no use. It was from a power

she had been given at a young age, decisions-life and death

decisions-that were left in her hands and her hands alone. Well

not completely alone, the other scouts did have to grow up at a

young age too, though besides Rini, none as fast or as soon as

she had been made to grow up. She was the silent one who stayed

in the background. She liked it that way, preferred it that way

really. Because when she hid away, faded into the background

then no one noticed her and no one could hurt her.

Later that day she hung out with the rest of the outers

at their house.



"There's no peanut butter left in the fridge!" yelled

the usually quiet Hotaru.



"Check the bottom shelf towards the very back!" Amara

yelled back as she entered the kitchen.



"So you're finally up? Ah, here it is."



"Yes I'm up. It's Michelle that takes twenty years to

get out of bed in the morning," joked Amara.



Trista nodded her head in agreement as she entered the

kitchen. "So what are you making with peanut butter small one?"

she asked Hotaru in endearment.



"Just a peanut butter and banana sandwich," Hotaru

responded.



"Sounds yummy," mumbled Michelle as she walked into

the kitchen, yawning. She looked at the clock. "What am I

doing up before noon?" she wondered out loud as she saw the

digits reading 10:08 a.m.



"I don't know, but I plan to take advantage of it,"

Amara teased, coming up and tickling her love from behind.



"Hey!" Michelle said between giggles. Soon they were

both on the floor rolling around in laughter as Hotaru and

Trista looked back and forth at the scene before them and

each other.



Hotaru raised her eyebrows. "They are strange ones,"

Trista commented as she left the kitchen with Hotaru who

had her sandwich in hand.

The next day she went to the outer scout meeting.



"I call this meeting to order!" Trista commanded as

Hotaru, Michelle, and Amara took their appointed seats for the

outer scouts' meeting.



There have not been any major attacks in awhile,"

Trista observed out loud. The others nodded their heads to

show that they understood and noticed. "Any suggestions on

how we should be prepared?"



"First of all we need to make sure our guards are no

less down than if we had just had an attack. It's easy to

almost forget about our other life when the attacks are few

and far between," said Amara.



The others nodded their heads again in agreement.

"So true," Trista said quietly.



"I say otherwise we just continue with our regular

training and meetings," Amara finished.



Michelle and Hotaru nodded their heads in agreement.



"All right," Trista quietly agreed.

Then she went to a sleepover with the inner scouts.



"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 she went ice skating with everyone

except Trista and Amy who were at the library, and Serena who

was grounded.



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 the meeting for all the sailor

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.



That evening she spent vegging out with Mina.



Mina burped as Hotaru came out of the kitchen at

the outers' house with a tray full of more goodies. They

both sighed in contentment as they dug into their food.

"Everybody needs a good binge now and then," Mina said in

her characteristically cheerful mood."



"Amen to that," Hotaru agreed, happily digging into

some dessert.

That nights Hotaru lay tossing and turning in bed,

unable to find a comfortable position, unable to quiet her

mind, unable to go to sleep. When she finally fell asleep

it was a restless, fitful sleep. She was jumping into a

crowd of black...black something-oil perhaps? No more

like black beings, working for the dark powers, and she

was swinging her glaive with all of her might. She

she crashed onto the ground. She was dead. She woke up,

sweat pouring down her face. At least she hadn't been

faced with the decision to destroy everything and

everyone including herself. She had died before she was

forced to make that decision. She still felt like that

neglected little girl that Trista had told her she was

back in the Moon Kingdom. She knew this dream and that

time well by now thanks to talking with Trista about it.

She knew in this time though she did have a father to

care for her and once had a mother that had cared for her

deeply as well. Still death was something she questioned,

feared, wondered about and yet one would think she knew

all about it seeing as her powers of healing and

destruction were connected to it.

To Be Continued...