Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon! Ha! So there lawyers....
Ne? I also don't own Kira-san and Aoi-san (aka Sailor Star Striker and Sailor Star Keeper)- they belong to Cassandra Sisenta! I just asked if I could borrow them, and Cassandra-san was kind enough to let me! Yosh!
Wai! Minna-san! Have you heard the news? I won an award for "Walk A Mile"! I'm very
happy about this, can you tell? I put a ramble on my profile, too, but it's gone now....it's just a
big deal because I've never won an award for my writing before. Plus, I didn't know that this
story was going over THAT well, and I didn't even know I'd been nominated. ^_^ It was a
pleasant surprise in my inbox, to say the least. Anyhow, thanks to whoever it was who
nominated me and/or voted for me. I appreciate that people like my writing! Doumo arigato
minna-san! And so we come to the end of this particular rant....ja!
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
Usagi cringed at the tone in Minako's voice, but didn't have a chance to respond before the blond had turned- pushing Yaten forcefully out into the hallway after Seiya- and shut the door behind her. Facing his friend again, Minako narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath, making Usagi wince.
"Minako, let me explain-"
"Look, Usagi-chan," Minako crossed his arms; "it's none of my business and I know that, but when have you ever known me to stay out of things that aren't MY business?" A smirk. "Seiya's always had a thing for you, ne? What I want to know is what YOU were thinking."
"I...." Usagi gulped and trailed off, then; "I really don't- it just kind of HAPPENED and-"
"Usagi, do you have feelings for her, too?"
"I....don't know....I think....n-not the way she feels for me, but-"
The blond across from him raised an eyebrow; "then maybe you should let her know things can't be that way between you, before someone gets hurt." His arms uncrossed and he patted Usagi's shoulder. "Shall we go to the bake-off now? Being this serious for this long is wearing on my nerves."
"This long?" Usagi blinked, then laughed. "It's only been five minutes-"
"EXACTLY!"
"You're as nuts as a guy as you are when you're a girl."
"Doumo arigato!"
Usagi looked at his friend- somehow, who was closer to him than Naru had ever been, and possibly even closer to him than Ami- and couldn't seem to summon up more than a blank stare. "That wasn't a compliment, Minako...."
"Really?"
"Um, hai."
"Oh." Minako looked crestfallen. "Well....fine then." Sticking his tongue out childishly, he opened the door and ushered Usagi into the hall; "let's go before all the baking is gone! I've heard that Aoi-san's cooking is practically legendary, you know."
"Who'd you hear that from?"
"Yaten, who else?"
"Hm."
Again, Usagi found himself out in the corridors. And again, he had absolutely no idea how to get to where they were going. Which reminds me- following after Minako, who was swiftly making his way down the hall, without so much as a second guess about directions; "ne, Minako, where are we going?"
"Duh." The blond rolled his eyes, "the kitchen. Unplug your eyes, Usagi."
Unplug my-? Usagi shook her head. I don't want to know.
"What's wrong?"
The Moon Child looked up at his friend, blinking. Minako seemed to be truly baffled as to why Usagi was confused; but then, the senshi of Venus had never understood- even when very bluntly told- that the sayings he (or, formerly she) continually spouted were butchered by the time they passed his lips. He never paid attention in writing class? Maybe....in the past, Minako had been too busy ogling the guys in school- Yaten in particular, once they reached highschool- to really listen to any sensei's lesson....
"Nothing's wrong," sighing, Usagi shrugged. "Nothing...."
"Confused, ne?"
The question posed by Minako was unexpected to say the least. "Um, pardon?"
Minako waved a hand, gesturing for Usagi go keep up. "About Seiya, I mean."
"So....what makes you say that?"
"Well, you're all quiet and thoughtful, right? And you look a little confused, which is why I said it....you should talk to her as soon as you can, ne?" The blond grinned. "Anyway, look-" he pointed ahead, "'round that corner and we've reached the kitchen. This whole Palace is easy to get around, really-"
"I needed a guide." Usagi informed him sheepishly.
Minako's eyes flitted to him before returning to the corridor ahead, and he stifled a laugh. "Is that so?"
"Shut up."
Innocence practically radiated from him as he said; "nani? What? I didn't say a thing!"
"I hate you."
"I love you, too, Usagi-chan!" Pushing open the swinging double doors to the Palace kitchen, Minako ushered Usagi inside, practically shoving in his haste, before proclaiming; "ne, minna! Gomen ne for being late!"
Rei snorted from across the room. "What else is new with Odango Atama?"
Usagi glared at the raven-haired senshi, sticking out his tongue. Rei's eyes narrowed before he echoed the blond's sentiments. Next to Rei, Ami's eyes closed in resignation; some things would never change.
"So!" Minako clapped his hand together, "how goes it?"
Following his friend farther into the rather LARGE kitchen (he was fairly amazed by the size of it, actually, but should have expected nothing else from a Palace), Usagi surveyed the room; Makoto and Aoi- the two 'contestants'- were standing near the center island, which was laden with baking supplies. They were both wearing aprons (though the one Makoto was wearing looked a little odd on a man) and chatting happily about all things cooking-related.
Across from them, Ami and Taiki seemed to be measuring out portions of flour and other baking products, presumably to be used later on. Rei was leaning next to Ami, watching the blue-haired now-boy work, and Seiya was next to Taiki, sitting cross-legged on the counter top.
A ways down the room, Yaten was seated on a stool- one of several that lined a section of the counter- with her head propped on her hand, watching things happen with only minimal-interest. Minako, despite his complaining about the silver-haired girl's constant weight on his arm, walked over and perched on a stool next to her.
Finally, Kira was standing by herself nearby to where Yaten and Minako were sitting, arms crossed and a half-amused look in her silver eyes; Usagi could only guess as to what the redhead would find amusing, though it could have been the thought of a bake-off in general....
Finally, as everyone else appeared to be busy- talking, preparing ready-to-use baking supplies, whatever- the blond decided to head over and stand with Kira, who eyed him curiously as he approached.
"Hey."
Kira raised an eyebrow. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Usagi shrugged, "nothing, I guess. I was just curious-"
"About what?"
"What you find so funny."
A blink and Kira's half-smile became a grin. "Ah, I see." She chuckled. "I'm just thinking how there's really no contest, here. Aoi-chan will mop the floor with Makoto-" a pause and then she glanced toward Makoto and added; "no offense."
"None taken." The brunet shrugged it off and went back to his conversation.
But Usagi couldn't put Kira's comment aside so easily. "Really...." he tipped his head to the side; "you've never had Mako-chan's cooking, obviously."
"No, I haven't." Kira agreed, then pointed out; "but you haven't had Aoi-chan's, either."
"Mako-chan's chocolate chip cookies are to die for."
"Aoi-chan's brownies are practically ambrosia."
"Um, nani-?"
"The food of the Gods-" Kira began to explain, then shook her head. "Never mind. You'll see-"
"Yeah? Well Mako-chan's strawberry shortcake-"
"Aoi-chan makes the best shortbread cookies on Kinmoku-"
There was a long pause as they both broke off, noticing that the rest of their kitchen-mates were staring at them. Makoto and Aoi were both shaking their heads, neither one prideful enough to either agree with, or disclaim their friend's boasting.
"Hm." Taiki said softly, "this should be interesting."
"Interesting?"
"Hai...."
"Ne, Odango!" Seiya called from her seat on the counter; "I'll wrestle you for the first piece of the cake they're making-"
"Nani-?!"
"You might regret that offer," Rei warned her, casting a mischievous glance in his sovereign's direction. "You've never been between Odango Atama and her food. It's a dangerous, dangerous thing."
Usagi bristled. "Listen, you-"
"Seiya's the same way." Yaten informed them, "you should see her cram food into her mouth at breakfast-"
"Yaten!"
"What? It's scary to watch, is all-"
Seiya glared at the other girl, who's eyes were closed as she spoke. "You'd better-"
"All I'm saying is-"
Fuming, Seiya reached blindly for something to throw in Yaten's direction- anything!- and her questing fingers locked on to the first thing they encountered. And, it being Seiya, she didn't bother to LOOK before she flung what she was holding.
It just happened to be one of Ami and Taiki's pre-measured packets of flour.
....it would have been fine, too, had her aim been on-target; she would have hit Yaten and the silver-haired girl would have had an attack and run from the room to fix herself up, vain creature that she was....
Unfortunately, not only did Seiya not look at WHAT she was randomly throwing, she didn't look at WHERE she was throwing it- just knowing the general direction and not the more accurate trajectory- and the baseball-sized packet of flour slammed into Kira's shoulder, catapulting it's contents across her face and turning her fire-red hair to a ghostly-white.
Uh oh....
There was a sudden stunned silence, followed by Yaten bursting into hysterical giggles.
"Seiya!" Kira shouted, shaking her head and creating a flour-cloud that made Usagi cough. "You are SO dead!"
"Jeez, I didn't mean-"
But it was far too late; Kira had already picked up a flour-packet of her own and lobbed it across at the black-haired Star Senshi; and her aim was far better than Seiya's had been. Besides that, Rei, Ami and Taiki were intelligent enough to step back and out of the way- the flour hit with a muffled thump and exploded in a cloud of white, coating Seiya practically from head-to-toe.
"Ack!" Seiya sneezed violently and turned a venomous glare on Kira; "oh yeah? Take-"
Usagi, fearing for his own safety, quickly dove out of the way as a third packet- this one containing what appeared to be cinnamon- flew past, heading for Kira. His fears were unfounded, however, as the packet barely skimmed the redhead's shoulder and continued on to slam into Minako; the blond's hereto amused laughing stopped all together when he found himself covered in fine brown powder.
"Seiya no baka!"
"Ah! Gomen Minako!"
Beside him, Yaten continued to laugh; the hilarity of the situation even had her holding her sides....until Minako grabbed an egg from the nearby carton, and smushed it- shell and all- into her hair.
"AHH!" A horrified shriek sounded from the emerald-eyed girl, and was followed by her frantically attempting to scrape the shattered eggshell and it's sticky contents out of her hair. When the task proved impossible, she turned on her 'attacker' and lunged for him, wiping the slimy remnants of what had once-been-an-egg into Minako's own blond locks.
All the while THAT confrontation had been taking place, Makoto and Aoi had been slowly edging around to the other side of the counter, any thoughts of actually BAKING something forgotten....
Ami and Taiki had done the same, and were standing out of the way to avoid most of the terribly-immature impromptu food fight. Or, baking-supply fight. Rei, who had originally been right alongside them in their retreat, would have been out of the way as well- had Minako not decided that because his hair was a goner, everyone else should be messy as well.
Two more raw eggs flew across the room to splat against the front of Rei's blazer, followed by laughing from both Minako himself and Yaten, who had somehow decided to form a tag-team....
And so the senshi of Mars became a willing- and very determined- participant.
Usagi, for his part, found himself not-quite-cowering (but close to it) behind the center island, just diagonal from where Seiya was making her stand against Kira. The Star Senshi's leader was very well prepared; Ami and Taiki had left at least two dozen bags of various powders that were just BEGGING to be thrown-
Oi, this is crazy!
"Ne, Odango-?"
Before he could look up or respond, something landed on top of his head with a 'whump', and he had to blink past a haze of white....icing sugar? There was enough in his nose and mouth to tell....
Seiya! She- Laughing despite himself, Usagi decided- as he was now as dirty as the rest of them- that he wasn't going to take Seiya's assault lying down. And he knew just the thing to put her in her place....
Standing quickly, Usagi noted with a grin that Seiya had returned her attention to Kira, who had somehow, in the confusion- and through the growing cloud of flour and flour-related-products- managed to side with Rei. Ignoring Ami, who was giving him 'please, don't!' looks from the safety of behind-the-counter with Taiki, Makoto and Aoi, Usagi snatched up one of the bowls the two baking gurus had left out.
I bet you thought that shot with the icing sugar was funny, ne Seiya?
Across the kitchen, Minako caught sight of him through the haze of powder and elbowed Yaten, who was in the process of hurling the last egg (not to mention the last of their ammunition) at Rei. Yaten blinked, narrowing her eyes, and then broke into a huge grin....
He got a thumbs-up from both of them, and Kira was watching him expectantly.
"Ne, Seiya?" Usagi asked sweetly, catching the girl's attention; and when she turned to look; "that bag of sugar was a cheap shot."
With that, he simply upended the bowl- filled nearly half full with semi-mixed cake batter- and dumped both it and it's contents over Seiya's head, covering her in gooey almost-cake.
"Odango!" Seiya came up sputtering, cake batter dripping from her from the shoulders up.
Silence, followed by explosive laughter.
"Oi, Seiya!" Yaten crowed; "now we can just stick YOU in the oven!"
Her comment sent Kira- who, naturally, found the scene VERY funny- into hysterics; the redhead ended up bent over and pounding on the counter, and Rei had to pound on her back to save her from choking to death. Usagi smirked, very pleased with himself....and then Seiya jumped at him, bent on soaking HIM in the same cake batter-
"What in Kami-sama's name is GOING ON IN HERE-?"
Seiya froze in mid-leap at the voice as everyone spun toward the door. Just inside stood Josei and Amai, looking more shocked than anyone would have thought possible; both Starlights-in-training were gaping at the scene before them, seeming unable to come up with words....
"My God!" Josei exclaimed finally, perfectly aware that she was speaking to her elders
and teachers. "We leave you alone for one MINUTE, and this is what happens!" A sigh and she
turned to Amai; "do I get the mop out for them, or do you?"
**********
Me: Ah, gomen that this chapter took so long, but I hit a bit of a block and just got over it last night. See, I had insomnia and got hit by inspiration around 6: 30 am (after laying awake all night) so....lesse....*looks at the clock* Now it's 7:34 in the morning. Wonderful. I have to work tonight, too. Maybe I should go and get some sleep, ne? Until next time! Ja!