Now! Let's see if I can add a bit of funny to the fic. While, at the same time, telling a bit of back-story. Some of the back-story on my senshi is a bit sad.
Warning!: There is mention of child-abuse in this chapter!
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Part 15: The Past; part 1...
~Inside Hikawa Shrine~
After the shock of what Setsuna had said has worn off... Everyone's back inside, Rei's still hugging Serena and comforting her. Serena has her head laid on Rei's left shoulder.
"Seeing those two together, like that..." Ami says, "Makes me wish my Chrystya wasn't working today." she sighs.
"What?" Serena asks, raising her head from Rei's shoulder, "Ami? You and Chrystya?"
Ami blushes, briefly, and then replies, "Yeah, Ever since we met, a couple of years ago, before she became a Senshi."
"Wow. Really?" Rei says, "I always figured you and Mako would end-up together?"
"No, I'm flattered but, I just don't think so!" Mako informs, "I'm spoken for!"
"Is that so?" Serena asks, scratching her head, "Who?"
"Might as well tell you." Mako says, with a shrug of her shoulders, "It's Shinya... And, Before you ask, she and I were together long before I ever met you guys. In fact, It was about 13 years ago when we first met, my mom and I were on our way home..."
Flashback: Shinya and Mako's first meeting...
A young girl, about 8, staggers out into the street, infront of an oncoming car and falls to the ground. The car screeches to a stop, inches away from hitting the girl. Another young girl, about 6 with brown hair, gets out of the car and so does her mother.
"Makoto, wait!" the woman says, as her daughter runs to the girl, laying unconscious on the ground.
However, Makoto doesn't listen to her mother. The brunette kneels down beside the battered and bloody girl, with short moderate-brown hair. Makoto lifts the girl.
"Mom! Mom!" Mako says, worriedly, "She's barely breathin! Do something, please!"
Her mother runs up to the two girls and kneels down also. She checks the short-haired girl's pulse and eyes, as well as her wounds, thinking 'This is Shoji and Mitsuko Yoshida's daughter, Shinya.'
"Her wounds aren't fatal." The woman says, "Let's get her in the car and take her to our house."
She picks up the girl and carries her to the car, with Makoto close beside her.
End Flashback...
"My mom and I took her home with us." Mako continues, "Mom cleaned and dressed her wounds, and put her in my bed so she could rest. I stayed with her, I didn't know why, all night. Til she finally woke up, the next morning. I knew, when my eyes met her brown ones, that I wanted to be with her... she knew the same, even though we were very young."
The other girls don't quite know how to respond, so one of them changes the subject.
"Sooo, Ami." Minako says, turning to the blue-haired Senshi, "How did you meet Chrystya?"
"Like I said, it was a couple of years ago." Ami says, "A couple of friends, namely: Mako and Shinya, took me to Dream Exotique."
"Isn't that...?" Serena starts to asks.
"Yes." Ami says, before the princess finishes her question, "As far as I know, The only strip-club for lesbians in Juuban..."
Flashback: Ami and Chrystya's first meeting...
"W-why did you guys bring me HERE!?" Ami asks, with suprise, staring at the name of the building... *Dream Exotique*.
"Well," Makoto says, "We decided that you study WAY too much and you need a break."
"B-b-but, Why THIS place?" Ami asks, studdering, "I'm not a--"
"I think, You just don't want to admit it." Shinya interrupts her, showing her pass to the list-guy.
Shinya and Makoto have to, basically, *drag* Ami inside. The three get seated, where they have a clear view of the stage.
"I really shouldn't be here." Ami says, looking down at the table, "Besides, This is an *adult* place."
"No it isn't." Makoto explains, ordering drinks, "As long as you're at least thirteen, you're allowed to be here... You just aren't allowed any alcoholic beverages, that's all."
Ami opens her mouth to start to protest some more but, is interrupted by the announcer's voice, "And now, Straight to you ladies, from the ice-fields, here's our freezing fawn... Chrystal Flower!" Ami happens a glance at the stage, when a girl with platinum hair done-up in a pony-tail identical to Mako's.(By the way, I spelled Chrystal with the h because it's like her name, Chrystya... with an h).
"So, Ami, You were about to say..." Shinya starts but, stops speaking when she notices where the blue-haired girl's eyes had fallen. She nudges Makoto with her elbow and the brunette looks at her. Shinya nods toward Ami.
Makoto looks and whispers to Shinya, "I guess we were right about her. Looks like she's completely taken with that one."
"That one is, Chrystya Ikumori." Shinya replies.
After the dance is over and Chrystya leaves the stage, Shinya gets up from her seat and says, "I'll be right back." she leaves the table.
Shinya walks around to the side of the stage and finds Chrystya. The two are just out of Ami and Mako's hearing range. "Hey Chrystya. How're ya doin?"
The platinum-haired girl turns to her and responds, "Oh, Hi Shinya. I can't complain. So, Ya bring your girlfriend here again?"
"Yep. She's sitting over there, with another friend of mine." Shinya says, pointing to where Makoto and Ami are sitting. Chrystya looks.
"Wow!" The platinum-haired dancer exclaims, "Who's the blue-haired girl? She's HOT!"
"Her name's Ami Mizuno." the tall girl replies, "And, I think she's having a little trouble admitting to herself, that she likes other girls. I know one, sure-fire, way to help her find out." She whispers something in Chrystya's ear, which causes the girl's eyes to widen a bit.
"Well..." Chrystya says, putting her right index finger to her chin, "Yeah, okay. But only because she's your friend. Show her to room 02, I'll wait there." Shinya hands her some money and she walks away.
End Flashback...
"I was showed to a room," Ami says, blushing moderately, "Where they give... ahem... lap-dances." her blush grows a bit.
"You mean, Shinya bought you a...?" asks Minako.
Ami nods, "But," the blue-haired genius continues, "Actually, We got started talking and found out how much we had in common. You know, Her I.Q.'s almost idenical to mine. In fact, I think she only keeps that job because she likes the attention and teasing people, showing them what they can't have."
"Shinya really likes to make sure people are happy." Makoto says, looking up at the ceiling with her arms folded behind her head, "She really does..." A tear forces it's way out of the corner of her eye, unnoticed.
"Mako? You seem a little sad when you talk about Shinya..." Minako says, "What kinda injuries did she have?"
Makoto clenches her eyes shut and a tear slides down her right cheek.
"My parents..." Shinya's deep-feminine voice enters the room.
Shinya's sitting in the tea-room doorway, with her back against the facing. She has her left leg stretched forward and her right knee pulled up close to her, with her right hand draped on her right knee. Her eyes closed and her head leaned forward.
"Shinya..." Mako says, with concern in her voice, "You know, you don't have to tell anyone."
Shinya lifts her head and looks at Makoto. She half-smiles at her girlfriend and nods, "Yes I do. Keeping secrets from my friends isn't something I like to do."
"When I was only six, or seven..." Shinya continues, turning her head back away and re-focusing her gaze on the floor, "My parents mistreated me. My father used to beat me and... things much worse than that."
This statement receives shocked gasps from the Inner Senshi.
"My body stayed in an almost catatonic state, for the next year or so, because of what he did... and, my mother was always passed out drunk, so she didn't even know what he did to me." Shinya explains, clenching her right hand into a fist, "The worst part was, I wasn't strong enough to stop it from happening. One time, While he was doing it to me... I screamed out, causing my power over rock and ground to manifest itself, for the first time before I became a Senshi. It destroyed my home and killed my parents, causing several injuries to myself as well. It was just about an hour or so later, that Mako and her mother found me."
"That's... horrible!" Ami says.
Rei bows her head, knowing all too well what being treated like that, at such an age, is like.
"When I saw Makoto for the first time..." Shinya says, lifting her head, "I decided that I would attain as much strength as I could, so that I could protect myself and her. Though, now, She doesn't really need *protecting*." she gives a slight chuckle, "Besides, It's in the past."
~Azaki/Takai Home~
Haruka and Michiru are talking with Naomi(Ryoma isn't there)...
"What did you guys come to ask me?" asks Naomi, taking a sip of tea.
"Well," Michiru says, in her refined voice, "We came to find out, if you remember the Silver Millennium?"
"Huh!?" Naomi responds, with wide eyes, she blinks a couple of times and adds, "Yes, Of course." she nods, "Why?"
"It's just that--" Michiru starts but, Haruka cuts her off.
"Frankly," Haruka says, "We really don't remember you and the Celestial Senshi, except for Kyoko."
Naomi closes her eyes and tilts her head down, as she leans forward in her seat and sits her cup down on the coffee table.
"I see. Of course, you wouldn't remember..." she says, "You weren't meant to..." she raises her head, leans back in her seat and opens her eyes.
"The Celestial Senshi were outcasts." Naomi begins, placing her hands together and laying them in her lap, "Most of the planets in the Solar System wanted to pretend we didn't even exist."
"Why's that?" asks Haruka.
Naomi takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, "It's because we were hated, on at least 3 of the 9 planets... Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter." she replies, "The only 2 that allowed us on them were the Moon and Mars... We were never allowed to travel to the outer planets, where the two of you obviously lived."
"What was the reason?" Michiru queries, "Why were you hated?"
"Because we were *different*." Naomi explains, she swallows a lump in her throat, "We were outcasted from those planets because, two of the Celestial Senshi, Seabreeze and Titan, had secret relationships with two of the Inner Senshi, the princesses: Mercury and Jupiter."
"... Seabreeze?" Michiru says. "And... Titan?" adds Haruka.
"Yes, I would be shocked, if you didn't remember them... your own family." Naomi reveals, "You see, During the Silver Millennium, many of us were related who weren't reborn that way."
Haruka shakes her head, to clear it, "I can't believe this!" she says, "You're telling us that we were related to them? How do you expect us to believe that? I think we would remember, if that were true!"
"I expect you to believe because, it *is* the truth." Naomi says, calmly, "Haruka, Titan was your *twin*-sister, born with different hair- and eye-color but, at the same time. You and she were *far* too much alike, and when you were both 6, she grew tired of the constant fights you had, so she moved to Jupiter. I'm a bit surprised that noone ever mentioned how much you and she resemble, in this time."
'She was my... *twin-sister*...?' wonders Haruka.
"And Michiru," the black-haired woman continues, "Seabreeze was your younger sister, born when you were 3. However, Seabreeze's power was uniquely similar to Mercury's. As opposed to being of the ocean, her powers were over water and ice. Your parents decided to send her to train on the planet Mercury. That's probably why you don't remember them, very well."
"In fact... I, too, was related to an Inner Senshi, we were sisters. And, We were reborn in similar circumstances." she adds.
"Who?" asks Michiru.
"... ... Rei." Naomi replies, "In this time, though, she's my half-sister. My birth name was Naomi Hino, we had the same father... my mother's name was, Jun Azaki. Unfortunately, though, Rei doesn't remember... because, after my parents got divorced, I went to live with my mother, the reason my last name's Azaki. Father remarried and had another daughter, Rei, with his new wife."
Haruka and Michiru are both shocked at this revelation but, before either of them say anything else, Naomi suddenly grabs her head and sees a vision of Ryoma fighting. She stands up abruptly.
"I have to go! Ryoma needs me!" she says, running to the door.
She stops and pulls out her henshin pen.
"Astral Crystal Power!"
Her clothes change to her Senshi Uniform which slightly resembles a combination of Sailor Moon's and Sailor Mars'... with a red and blue colored skirt, a white body-suit, Golden Tiara w/a Red and Blue Jewel in the Center, Red Heart Earrings, Black Neckband w/Red Heart w/Wings in Center, White Scout-Scarf w/Black Trim, Red Chest-Bow w/Heart in Center, Blue Wing-Shaped Back-Bow, White Gloves w/Orange Bands, and Black High-Heel Shoes. Her henshin pen transforms into the Astral Staff.
She opens the door and before leaving, says, "I don't know, I may need your help." Haruka and Michiru agree to go with her, and they too transform.
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Ramblings: Well, I'll be addin in back-story to the other Celestial Senshi over the next couple of chapters... As well as a little more explanation of a certain Fire-Senshi we all know... This is gonna be about a three- or four-part chapter. Oh yeah, And the Celestial Senshi were around during the Silver Millennium... Anyways, I'll explain more about that over the next parts of this chapter.
Warning!: There is mention of child-abuse in this chapter!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~--------------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 15: The Past; part 1...
~Inside Hikawa Shrine~
After the shock of what Setsuna had said has worn off... Everyone's back inside, Rei's still hugging Serena and comforting her. Serena has her head laid on Rei's left shoulder.
"Seeing those two together, like that..." Ami says, "Makes me wish my Chrystya wasn't working today." she sighs.
"What?" Serena asks, raising her head from Rei's shoulder, "Ami? You and Chrystya?"
Ami blushes, briefly, and then replies, "Yeah, Ever since we met, a couple of years ago, before she became a Senshi."
"Wow. Really?" Rei says, "I always figured you and Mako would end-up together?"
"No, I'm flattered but, I just don't think so!" Mako informs, "I'm spoken for!"
"Is that so?" Serena asks, scratching her head, "Who?"
"Might as well tell you." Mako says, with a shrug of her shoulders, "It's Shinya... And, Before you ask, she and I were together long before I ever met you guys. In fact, It was about 13 years ago when we first met, my mom and I were on our way home..."
Flashback: Shinya and Mako's first meeting...
A young girl, about 8, staggers out into the street, infront of an oncoming car and falls to the ground. The car screeches to a stop, inches away from hitting the girl. Another young girl, about 6 with brown hair, gets out of the car and so does her mother.
"Makoto, wait!" the woman says, as her daughter runs to the girl, laying unconscious on the ground.
However, Makoto doesn't listen to her mother. The brunette kneels down beside the battered and bloody girl, with short moderate-brown hair. Makoto lifts the girl.
"Mom! Mom!" Mako says, worriedly, "She's barely breathin! Do something, please!"
Her mother runs up to the two girls and kneels down also. She checks the short-haired girl's pulse and eyes, as well as her wounds, thinking 'This is Shoji and Mitsuko Yoshida's daughter, Shinya.'
"Her wounds aren't fatal." The woman says, "Let's get her in the car and take her to our house."
She picks up the girl and carries her to the car, with Makoto close beside her.
End Flashback...
"My mom and I took her home with us." Mako continues, "Mom cleaned and dressed her wounds, and put her in my bed so she could rest. I stayed with her, I didn't know why, all night. Til she finally woke up, the next morning. I knew, when my eyes met her brown ones, that I wanted to be with her... she knew the same, even though we were very young."
The other girls don't quite know how to respond, so one of them changes the subject.
"Sooo, Ami." Minako says, turning to the blue-haired Senshi, "How did you meet Chrystya?"
"Like I said, it was a couple of years ago." Ami says, "A couple of friends, namely: Mako and Shinya, took me to Dream Exotique."
"Isn't that...?" Serena starts to asks.
"Yes." Ami says, before the princess finishes her question, "As far as I know, The only strip-club for lesbians in Juuban..."
Flashback: Ami and Chrystya's first meeting...
"W-why did you guys bring me HERE!?" Ami asks, with suprise, staring at the name of the building... *Dream Exotique*.
"Well," Makoto says, "We decided that you study WAY too much and you need a break."
"B-b-but, Why THIS place?" Ami asks, studdering, "I'm not a--"
"I think, You just don't want to admit it." Shinya interrupts her, showing her pass to the list-guy.
Shinya and Makoto have to, basically, *drag* Ami inside. The three get seated, where they have a clear view of the stage.
"I really shouldn't be here." Ami says, looking down at the table, "Besides, This is an *adult* place."
"No it isn't." Makoto explains, ordering drinks, "As long as you're at least thirteen, you're allowed to be here... You just aren't allowed any alcoholic beverages, that's all."
Ami opens her mouth to start to protest some more but, is interrupted by the announcer's voice, "And now, Straight to you ladies, from the ice-fields, here's our freezing fawn... Chrystal Flower!" Ami happens a glance at the stage, when a girl with platinum hair done-up in a pony-tail identical to Mako's.(By the way, I spelled Chrystal with the h because it's like her name, Chrystya... with an h).
"So, Ami, You were about to say..." Shinya starts but, stops speaking when she notices where the blue-haired girl's eyes had fallen. She nudges Makoto with her elbow and the brunette looks at her. Shinya nods toward Ami.
Makoto looks and whispers to Shinya, "I guess we were right about her. Looks like she's completely taken with that one."
"That one is, Chrystya Ikumori." Shinya replies.
After the dance is over and Chrystya leaves the stage, Shinya gets up from her seat and says, "I'll be right back." she leaves the table.
Shinya walks around to the side of the stage and finds Chrystya. The two are just out of Ami and Mako's hearing range. "Hey Chrystya. How're ya doin?"
The platinum-haired girl turns to her and responds, "Oh, Hi Shinya. I can't complain. So, Ya bring your girlfriend here again?"
"Yep. She's sitting over there, with another friend of mine." Shinya says, pointing to where Makoto and Ami are sitting. Chrystya looks.
"Wow!" The platinum-haired dancer exclaims, "Who's the blue-haired girl? She's HOT!"
"Her name's Ami Mizuno." the tall girl replies, "And, I think she's having a little trouble admitting to herself, that she likes other girls. I know one, sure-fire, way to help her find out." She whispers something in Chrystya's ear, which causes the girl's eyes to widen a bit.
"Well..." Chrystya says, putting her right index finger to her chin, "Yeah, okay. But only because she's your friend. Show her to room 02, I'll wait there." Shinya hands her some money and she walks away.
End Flashback...
"I was showed to a room," Ami says, blushing moderately, "Where they give... ahem... lap-dances." her blush grows a bit.
"You mean, Shinya bought you a...?" asks Minako.
Ami nods, "But," the blue-haired genius continues, "Actually, We got started talking and found out how much we had in common. You know, Her I.Q.'s almost idenical to mine. In fact, I think she only keeps that job because she likes the attention and teasing people, showing them what they can't have."
"Shinya really likes to make sure people are happy." Makoto says, looking up at the ceiling with her arms folded behind her head, "She really does..." A tear forces it's way out of the corner of her eye, unnoticed.
"Mako? You seem a little sad when you talk about Shinya..." Minako says, "What kinda injuries did she have?"
Makoto clenches her eyes shut and a tear slides down her right cheek.
"My parents..." Shinya's deep-feminine voice enters the room.
Shinya's sitting in the tea-room doorway, with her back against the facing. She has her left leg stretched forward and her right knee pulled up close to her, with her right hand draped on her right knee. Her eyes closed and her head leaned forward.
"Shinya..." Mako says, with concern in her voice, "You know, you don't have to tell anyone."
Shinya lifts her head and looks at Makoto. She half-smiles at her girlfriend and nods, "Yes I do. Keeping secrets from my friends isn't something I like to do."
"When I was only six, or seven..." Shinya continues, turning her head back away and re-focusing her gaze on the floor, "My parents mistreated me. My father used to beat me and... things much worse than that."
This statement receives shocked gasps from the Inner Senshi.
"My body stayed in an almost catatonic state, for the next year or so, because of what he did... and, my mother was always passed out drunk, so she didn't even know what he did to me." Shinya explains, clenching her right hand into a fist, "The worst part was, I wasn't strong enough to stop it from happening. One time, While he was doing it to me... I screamed out, causing my power over rock and ground to manifest itself, for the first time before I became a Senshi. It destroyed my home and killed my parents, causing several injuries to myself as well. It was just about an hour or so later, that Mako and her mother found me."
"That's... horrible!" Ami says.
Rei bows her head, knowing all too well what being treated like that, at such an age, is like.
"When I saw Makoto for the first time..." Shinya says, lifting her head, "I decided that I would attain as much strength as I could, so that I could protect myself and her. Though, now, She doesn't really need *protecting*." she gives a slight chuckle, "Besides, It's in the past."
~Azaki/Takai Home~
Haruka and Michiru are talking with Naomi(Ryoma isn't there)...
"What did you guys come to ask me?" asks Naomi, taking a sip of tea.
"Well," Michiru says, in her refined voice, "We came to find out, if you remember the Silver Millennium?"
"Huh!?" Naomi responds, with wide eyes, she blinks a couple of times and adds, "Yes, Of course." she nods, "Why?"
"It's just that--" Michiru starts but, Haruka cuts her off.
"Frankly," Haruka says, "We really don't remember you and the Celestial Senshi, except for Kyoko."
Naomi closes her eyes and tilts her head down, as she leans forward in her seat and sits her cup down on the coffee table.
"I see. Of course, you wouldn't remember..." she says, "You weren't meant to..." she raises her head, leans back in her seat and opens her eyes.
"The Celestial Senshi were outcasts." Naomi begins, placing her hands together and laying them in her lap, "Most of the planets in the Solar System wanted to pretend we didn't even exist."
"Why's that?" asks Haruka.
Naomi takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, "It's because we were hated, on at least 3 of the 9 planets... Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter." she replies, "The only 2 that allowed us on them were the Moon and Mars... We were never allowed to travel to the outer planets, where the two of you obviously lived."
"What was the reason?" Michiru queries, "Why were you hated?"
"Because we were *different*." Naomi explains, she swallows a lump in her throat, "We were outcasted from those planets because, two of the Celestial Senshi, Seabreeze and Titan, had secret relationships with two of the Inner Senshi, the princesses: Mercury and Jupiter."
"... Seabreeze?" Michiru says. "And... Titan?" adds Haruka.
"Yes, I would be shocked, if you didn't remember them... your own family." Naomi reveals, "You see, During the Silver Millennium, many of us were related who weren't reborn that way."
Haruka shakes her head, to clear it, "I can't believe this!" she says, "You're telling us that we were related to them? How do you expect us to believe that? I think we would remember, if that were true!"
"I expect you to believe because, it *is* the truth." Naomi says, calmly, "Haruka, Titan was your *twin*-sister, born with different hair- and eye-color but, at the same time. You and she were *far* too much alike, and when you were both 6, she grew tired of the constant fights you had, so she moved to Jupiter. I'm a bit surprised that noone ever mentioned how much you and she resemble, in this time."
'She was my... *twin-sister*...?' wonders Haruka.
"And Michiru," the black-haired woman continues, "Seabreeze was your younger sister, born when you were 3. However, Seabreeze's power was uniquely similar to Mercury's. As opposed to being of the ocean, her powers were over water and ice. Your parents decided to send her to train on the planet Mercury. That's probably why you don't remember them, very well."
"In fact... I, too, was related to an Inner Senshi, we were sisters. And, We were reborn in similar circumstances." she adds.
"Who?" asks Michiru.
"... ... Rei." Naomi replies, "In this time, though, she's my half-sister. My birth name was Naomi Hino, we had the same father... my mother's name was, Jun Azaki. Unfortunately, though, Rei doesn't remember... because, after my parents got divorced, I went to live with my mother, the reason my last name's Azaki. Father remarried and had another daughter, Rei, with his new wife."
Haruka and Michiru are both shocked at this revelation but, before either of them say anything else, Naomi suddenly grabs her head and sees a vision of Ryoma fighting. She stands up abruptly.
"I have to go! Ryoma needs me!" she says, running to the door.
She stops and pulls out her henshin pen.
"Astral Crystal Power!"
Her clothes change to her Senshi Uniform which slightly resembles a combination of Sailor Moon's and Sailor Mars'... with a red and blue colored skirt, a white body-suit, Golden Tiara w/a Red and Blue Jewel in the Center, Red Heart Earrings, Black Neckband w/Red Heart w/Wings in Center, White Scout-Scarf w/Black Trim, Red Chest-Bow w/Heart in Center, Blue Wing-Shaped Back-Bow, White Gloves w/Orange Bands, and Black High-Heel Shoes. Her henshin pen transforms into the Astral Staff.
She opens the door and before leaving, says, "I don't know, I may need your help." Haruka and Michiru agree to go with her, and they too transform.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~------------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ramblings: Well, I'll be addin in back-story to the other Celestial Senshi over the next couple of chapters... As well as a little more explanation of a certain Fire-Senshi we all know... This is gonna be about a three- or four-part chapter. Oh yeah, And the Celestial Senshi were around during the Silver Millennium... Anyways, I'll explain more about that over the next parts of this chapter.
