Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon! (Never did, never have, never will!)
....first, I have to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to Cassandra Sisenta (or Krey-Zey) for letting me borrow two characters that are probably going to be introduced in this chapter; Kira, aka Sailor Star Striker and Aoi, aka Sailor Star Keeper. Cassandra-san created them for her Starlights story "Stars Align To Destiny", and when I read it I fell onto the fangirl bandwagon for the two new Lights. (Yay for Kira-sama and Aoi-sama!) Anyway, I'm making this a lot more of a ramble than I need to. In any case, I asked if I could borrow Striker and Keeper for this fic and she said yes; so I'm using them but I don't own them! Arigato Cassandra-san!
Anyway, Hikaru (Star Hunter), Josei (Star Dancer) and Amai (Star Dreamer) are just people I made up for the fun of adding them. If anyone likes them enough to want to use them go ahead and ask so that I know where they're going and I don't mind.
....does anyone see why I said this was going to be pointless? Yeah, I'm just messing
around while I work through some of my other stories in my head. I'm having fun, though,
because it's a bunch of fluff so far. ^.^;; I hope at least someone else finds it amusing.
Rei sat stiffly, arms crossed, glaring straight ahead. Ami was deep in thought, eyes closed tightly and a slight frown evident in the delicate features. Makoto silently watched Luna and Artemis converse with Haruka over the Mercury computer. Usagi listened to Haruka's reaction to their situation, wincing when the tall blonde's voice rose a notch or two. Minako was still in shock and staring blankly down at the table, for once not latched onto Yaten's arm- or any other part of her body for that matter.
"-and that's the story." Luna concluded tiredly.
Over the computer, Haruka took several seconds to comprehend the situation. In the background, muffled laughter could be heard- it seemed to be coming from not only Hotaru, who was still young enough to find the situation absolutely hilarious, but from Setsuna and Michiru as well. Haruka probably would have been laughing, had they been anywhere other than Kinmoku. As it was she was simply staring straight ahead, blinking.
The laughter continued from the background, getting louder as the three other Outer Senshi laughed uproariously. A slight twitch in Haruka's eyebrow signified that she was about to either join their laughing or completely snap.
She chose to do the later. "It's not that funny!"
"G-gomen nasai, Haruka-papa-" Hotaru's voice responded, "but....I'm just...." she trailed off again and after a moment her giggling began anew. "G-gomen...."
Haruka sighed angrily and glanced to the side at her adopted daughter. Hotaru and the others couldn't be seen, but their laughter subsided considerably at the scathing look Haruka gave them. Once it was quieter, the senshi of Uranus turned back to Luna, "how did this happen?"
Luna shook her head, "Kakyuu-hime tells us that they were half-expecting it-"
"We were guys on your planet!" Yaten laughed, raising her voice so that Haruka could hear; "I think it's only fair that you're guys on our planet!"
The twitch in Haruka's eyebrow returned. "Thank you." She snapped sarcastically.
The silver-haired youth continued to laugh loudly, completely enjoying the novelty of the situation. Her laughter was echoed by Seiya, who was watching emotions that ran from confusion to anger to irony and anything in between play across Usagi's face. Taiki was more restrained in her laughter, but even she was chuckling at the scene before her. The other three- Hikaru, Amai and Josei- were giggling, but to them it was simply amusing; the three original Starlights found it absolutely hilarious, mostly because of how well they knew the Earth Senshi.
Princess Kakyuu was shaking her head at all of them, having already attempted an embarrassed apology.
"Come back to Earth." Haruka said, her voice coming over the computer, "now."
"Shimatta! That's just it!" Rei exploded, uncrossing her- no, his- arms and throwing his hands into the air. "We can't yet! We haven't regained all our energy from Teleporting here in the first place!"
"Oh come now," Taiki chided, "is it really all that bad?"
"Yeah!" Seiya added brightly, "you came to visit, so stay for a while. Hell, we dealt with being guys on Earth and that was for MONTHS! You can handle a week, can't you?" She looked at Usagi, "ne, Odango? You gonna' head home without even staying for dinner first?"
Usagi stuck out his tongue, showing that even though there were outside differences, inside it was still just Tsukino Usagi. "Baka." At Seiya's feigned-hurt look, he stuck his nose in the air and crossed his legs.
Or attempted to cross his legs; the problem being in the fact that before transforming, Usagi had been wearing a short skirt and a blouse. Now, being a guy instead of a girl, the clothing was NOT comfortable and moving without ripping it was tricky. Minako was having a similar problem with the blue skirt-overalls he was wearing. Ami was wearing a skirt as well, but it was knee-length and loose so the problem was a minimal one. Makoto had been wearing shorts and a sports jersey so there was no trouble there, and Rei had on loose jeans and a sweater; both were tighter now, but they still fit relatively well.
Giving up at crossing his legs, Usagi sighed and covered his face with a hand. "Haruka-san, I think we're going to stay for a little while."
"What?!" Haruka and Rei demanded at the same time.
"Usagi's right," Ami told them softly, "it wouldn't be polite to run off now, and besides," his eyes opened and he looked around, "all of us are too tired to transform and Teleport back to Earth. We have to have at least one good meal and some sleep first."
"You know, Taiki-san is right though." Makoto said, trying to shrug off the obvious discomfort between the Earth Senshi, "it's not all THAT bad, so we should be fine. Besides, WE have people to help us get used to the idea of being guys."
"And we didn't." Seiya nodded, "see? You'll be fine!"
"You can go home in a day or two when you're rested again." Hikaru spoke up, the first of the three new Starlights to join in the somewhat confusing conversation. "And until then you can look around the Palace, ne?"
"I think having them around will be entertaining." Yaten announced, standing.
"Ah, but-" Seiya winked, "we can't have you walking around in that-" she nodded toward Usagi's outfit, making him blush. "So we're going to have to outfit you, aren't we?"
"That's probably the best idea." Artemis nodded, stifling a snicker when he surveyed Minako's current condition. The skirt-overalls weren't working well with his new physique. "And the three of you would know, ne?"
"Exactly!" Tipping her head at the Moon Cat, Seiya had to grin, "come on Odango, we'll see if we can't find you all something fitting to wear."
"It shouldn't be a problem," Kakyuu reminded her senshi; "the Palace tailors can always make them something."
"We may have to do that, too." Taiki said thoughtfully, "but for now we just have to get them respectably clothed."
"You're actually going to stay?" Haruka asked incredulously.
Stifled giggles from out of sight accompanied her question, and then hushed whispers told of Michiru's warning to be quieter. Haruka's eyes flicked to the side and her lips quirked suspiciously. Even she was finding humor in the situation, though she refused to say as much. It was probably all she could do not to break down with her fellow Outer Senshi.
Luna shrugged, "I suppose we are."
"Oi, oi," Haruka groaned and rubbed a temple with her forefinger. "Of all the things to happen...."
"Hey," Seiya chuckled, leaning over to peer into the computer screen; "it could be worse, you know."
The senshi is Uranus stiffened upon seeing Seiya, "how?"
"You and Michiru could be here too."
"Seiya!"
At the look on Haruka's face, Yaten burst into uncontrollable gales of laughter. Seiya looked quite pleased with herself and stepped out of the way of Haruka's scathing glare. Taiki shook her head tolerantly and cast a glance at the new Star Senshi, who were watching events unfold with great curiosity; Hikaru found Seiya's comment almost as funny as Yaten did, though she didn't know Haruka or Michiru; Josei was giggling softly, and Amai was simply waiting for when she would have to pound on Hikaru's back to make her stop choking. That was inevitable, given the way the aqua-haired senshi was laughing.
On the screen, Haruka was not looking amused.
"Ne, Haruka-san," Usagi sighed finally, moving into sight of the blonde, "we'll be fine."
"....Usagi-chan...." Haruka's face was unreadably, completely void of emotion as she surveyed her Princess; hair in the traditional (but completely idiotic looking at this point) odangos, pink shirt and red blouse, and very obviously MALE, though effeminate, body. Finally, the corners of her mouth turned up and she chuckled, "this is some situation you've gotten into Koneko-chan!"
"Oi, Haruka-san! I wanna' see, too!" Another voice piped up, and a pink-haired head popped into view behind the tall senshi; the owner stared for a moment, and then burst into hysterical giggles. "Ne, Usagi-chan! You look so funny!"
"Ch-Chibiusa!" Usagi gasped, stepping back, "ano....Haruka-san! You never told me that Chibiusa was there...."
"You never asked, Usagi-chan," Michiru's voice responded as the senshi of Neptune stepped up to rest her hands on Haruka's shoulders. She smiled, stifling a very un-Michiru-like grin; "but Setsuna-san has already brought Chibiusa-chan and the Quartet here to help us defend Earth, so-"
"-hey, get out of the way!"
"We want to say hi!"
"Stop shoving, I'm gonna'-"
The look on Haruka's face when the four younger-and-far-less-mature sailor senshi dove at her from the side was priceless but short-lived; within seconds she had been toppled out of her seat (Michiru wisely stepped back out of the way) and landed on the floor, out of sight, with a loud thump and a growl. In her place the Sailor Quartet- in their civilian clothing- crowded in from of the screen. Chibiusa, who continued to giggle insanely, was still visible just behind them, and Hotaru was peering over their shoulders, seeming unable to curb her own curiosity.
"Serenity-sama...."
"Ne, Hime-sama...."
"....Serenity...."
Para Para was the first to do more than utter one word at a time; "hee, hee," she giggled, her childish nature shining through, "Serenity-sama, you sure do make a funny-looking guy, what with the odangos and everything."
"Ack! Para Para! Don't say that!"
"What? I'm just-"
"You're insulting our Princess!"
"Don't you mean Prince?" Jun Jun snickered.
"Oi...." Usagi groaned, wishing he could hide under a rock somewhere. Beside her, Seiya was laughing again, barely able to keep her feet under her as she did so. The comment about Usagi being a 'Prince' had sent both her, as well as Yaten and Hikaru, over the deep end.
Flopping back onto the chair he had been sitting in, Usagi rested his elbow on the arm and in turn propped his head up on his hand. "Could this get any more embarrassing?"
"Ne, Usagi!" Chibiusa cried from the screen, "we could get Mamo-chan!"
THAT little comment sent the Quartet into hysterics as well, and the senshi could have SWORN they heard Haruka's laughter in the background....
"Children...."
The sounds of Michiru and Setsuna- for some reason, Haruka was absent from their effort, and suspicious chuckling could still be heard in the background- came through the computer, making Usagi sigh. Maybe someone would be able to control what was going on. Finally, Michiru's amused voice came through the speakers.
"Well," the senshi of Neptune sighed, "as you can see, we have things well in hand. And, I assume, Kakyuu-hime and the Starlights can take care of you while you....adjust...." she broke off and took a breath. It was obvious she was attempting not to laugh again. "....to the way things are now."
"Hai." Luna agreed.
"So we will see you in a few days." Michiru continued, "and until then-"
"-take lots of pictures!" Chibiusa hollered, her voice cracking with laughter.
"Chibiusa!" Rei practically shrieked. It wasn't like Rei to loose it with Chibiusa, but the raven-haired ex-girl was practically turning crimson. Of course, part of it was probably from embarrassment, but.... "cut that out!"
More giggles.
"Usagi-chan?" Setsuna's voice asked as the Keeper of Time appeared on the screen next to Michiru. "Are you there?"
"....hai." Usagi said tiredly. Standing again, he approached the computer with far more caution than the previous time.
Setsuna eyed him for a moment and then smiled and shook her head. "We still expect reports." She said, "and, Usagi?"
"Hai?"
"Get Seiya-san to take you out shopping...."
"Setsuna!" Usagi gaped at the normally serious senshi of Pluto. "You, too?"
"Gomen, Hime-sama."
"You mean Oji-sama!" One of the Quartet cried, causing more giggles.
"You girls are so grounded when you get back to the thirtieth century!" Usagi shouted, raising his voice to be heard over their laughing and making Michiru and Setsuna wince. "You wait and see! You too, Chibiusa!"
"Aw, Usagi, we're just-"
"Can it, twerp!"
"Baka!"
"How dare you speak to me like-"
"Anyway," Michiru smiled nervously and waved a hand, "Haruka and Hotaru-chan say goodbye so....ja ne minna-chan!" The connection was severed then, but not before she and Setsuna burst into girlish giggles to match those of the Quartet and Chibiusa.
"Oi," Usagi groaned again and ran a hand through his bangs. "This couldn't get much worse."
And it was Seiya who responded, grabbing his hand, "yo, Odango! It's time to take you guys shopping!"
Hikaru laughed again, leaning closer to Amai to whisper; "Striker would LOVE this...."
"Let's go!" Seiya shouted enthusiastically, starting to drag Usagi away.
"You spoke too soon, Usagi...." Minako told his friend, even as Yaten- contrary to what she normally would have done- latched onto his wrist and dragged him up out of his seat. The others were soon herded out of their OWN seats by the remaining Starlights (Taiki had already volunteered to help, and Hikaru, Amai and Josei were having too much fun not to join them) and soon all eleven young people- five male and six female- were headed for the nearest tailor's shop. "You spoke too soon...."
"Ne, Artemis?" Luna asked once they were out of sight, leaving the two cats alone with Kakyuu.
"Hai?"
"....do you wish you'd stayed behind?"
Artemis grinned a feline grin; "are you kidding?" He chuckled, "I wouldn't miss this for
the world!"
_____________
Me: K, see? Lots of pointless stuff. Like I said, though, I'm having fun writing it. Oh, but minna? It's kind of confusing sometimes....he....she....him....her....I'm so used to writing Usagi & Co. as girls and Seiya, etc. as boys....oh, but I'm doing alright. Oh, and Striker and Keeper are going to be in the next chapter. Look for them! Ja!