SATURN'S SHINE

CHAPTER THREE: LET'S DO THIS TOGETHER

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Hotaru wandered around the train with Tethys trailing behind her as she tried to look for something to eat. She stumbled from time to time because of the unsteadiness of the train but she somehow managed to not give up finding the waitress even if she just bumped into someone.

"Sorry," Hotaru mumbled loud enough for the boy to hear.

"No need to babe," the male commented while looking at her face.

It was then that Tethys gave a low growl when he felt his mistress's attitude suddenly change without warning. The sense of anger flared invisibly from Hotaru's delicate skin to Tethys' black smooth fur, the contact was, of course, unseen but clashed among Tehtys' senses immediately.

"Excuse me?" Hotaru asked as politely as she can, especially when some stranger just called her 'babe'. She could feel anger slowly creep from her heart, up her throat and out of her mouth, cursing at him and yelling at him to not ever speak of the word 'babe' towards her again.

"What?" he asked as if he didn't know what she was talking about.

"She doesn't want you to call her 'babe' idiot," his friend answered for him.

Finally taking her eyes from the boy, she looked at his friend. The friend apparently was Chinese and had black slick hair in a short ponytail at the back of his head and dark mysterious brown eyes that could be mistaken for black. "Thank you for telling this jerk," she said.

"Oh, so now I'm a jerk. First I'm an idiot and now I'm a jerk," he spoke numbly with a scowl on his face.

It didn't take long for Hotaru to take in his features as well... he had chestnut brown hair in a braid and cobalt eyes that gleamed with mischief. The way his lips were frowning told her that he didn't frown often, which meant he was another one of those extra cheerful guys.

"Well, you gotta know that maybe some girl don't like to be called 'babe'," Hotaru put out bluntly as if it was the most obvious thing. Tethys added an extra growl to extend her point.

Looking at the beast the girl had he started to get nervous, "Sorry..."

Hotaru nodded angrily and said through clenched teeth, "You better be."

"Sorry miss, but Duo here," the blonde male pointed to the guy who angered her, "is truly very sorry for his actions."
Hotaru let a smile appear. This boy who had cerulean blue eyes and smooth blonde hair seemed nice, especially with the warm aura around him. Tethys' growl slowly dispersed letting a very silent purr escape her throat as she rubbed her face on the boy's hand.

The boy didn't even tense up, instead he welcomed the furry face as he introduced themselves, "My name is Quartre, that's Duo, Wufei, Trowa and over there is Heero."

Hotaru nodded, "I'm Hotaru and that's Tethys."

"Wow, that's a nice pet," Duo spoke out while looking at the panther a bit tense.

"So what are you doing wandering around?" Trowa asked unexpectedly. Hotaru looked at him for the real first time, his brown bangs covered one of his emerald eyes as the other one stared directly at her.

"Looking for food," Hotaru answered a bit weird to talk to five almost strange boys. But in a way they seem familiar, like they've met before but she couldn't quite place her mind on it.

They nodded understandingly when Quartre told her, "We've been doing the same thing. There doesn't seem to have anybody go around selling food yet."

"Hotaru?" suddenly Usagi's voice appeared from nowhere.

"Well... there's a real nice babe," Duo said while examining Usagi.

Usagi blushed when she heard that complement as Luna, perched on Usagi's shoulder, looked at the young man.

Slowly Hotaru found her voice and introduced her companion to the boys, "This is Usagi. My friend."

"Hello," Usagi said awkwardly.

"Hi," the voice of Heero came out from the corner as if Usagi drew his voice to come out. The boys couldn't really hear him due to the fact that they were introducing themselves to Usagi. He had brown hair with cobalt eyes that seemed to glare a lot.

Hotaru rolled her eyes. Another bunch of boys who were attracted to Usagi, it was so predictable. Now another trouble added to her list. How was she supposed to prevent Usagi from falling in love with a bunch of boys and train her in a MAGIC school?

Tethys swirled her head when she felt her mistress in another deep thought and decided to walk up to her and lick her hand affectionately. It calmed Hotaru's disturbed thoughts for a brief moment but then the thought came back to her.

"Hey... um... I gotta go, k?" Hotaru asked shyly.

"Sure," Quartre was the only one who answered her as she went back to her seat.

Sitting back she saw Hogwarts in the view and sighed. Sighing seems to be her hobby now a day. She stared at Tethys for a while but then smiled; if Tethys was her pet and friend then she should finally accept the cat. She bent down and gave her a hug and whispered in a pleading voice, "If I have to do this. Would you please help me?"

A single purr was all the answer she needed as she held onto Tethys tighter because this cat was her only comfort right now. She had begun to think that Setsuna didn't care for her any more, especially when the Time Guardian fully knew that she had just reunited with her father.

Hakura and Michiru could of trained Usagi and they didn't have problems like she did. She was the one who needed to kill unexpected enemies that no one ever heard of and she was the one who needed to deal with Usagi now.

Why couldn't the inners do this instead of her? Why did she have to have this fate and problems? Why must she be the senshi who couldn't make friends as easily as her princess? Why must she be so ugly?!?!

Her thoughts suddenly cleared when Tethys purred lightly, clensing her mind of such stressful thoughts from her. It was then that Hotaru shared a bond with the cat and accepted it.

She clung to her pet and friend almost desperately. She was in an unknown world and was alone; Usagi didn't help much right now. She suddenly felt like a little girl clinging onto Tethys for her dear life. As the loneliness slowly faded away she smiled and felt like she was loved again.

A stray tear escaped and slid onto the sleek black fur as her voice came out, "Let's do this together..."

~*~

TENSHI CAT