A/N: Hey! Guess what!!! I'm back on my kick!!!! New chapters will be coming out sooner now aren't you all happy for me?
"Thanks for speaking with me alone Usagi-chan." Hotaru said, staring at her still full cup of tea that Mrs. Weasley had made for her.
"Of course Hota-chan. I understand that a lot has happened, and I regret not being able to help, we're pretty busy trying to find out exactly what Voldemort's up to. This time he's after a weapon that's much more than just a prophesy. And Mistress 9 hasn't been outwardly threatening so it's necessary that we focus on Chaos and Voldemort." She sighed, "Though I get the feeling Mistress 9 might turn out to be a much more dangerous enemy to us than Chaos could ever be, there's really nothing we can do about it."
"I know. It's like she's waiting for something, maybe she's waiting for a certain moment. I'm scared." Hotaru shuddered. "It's, it's so hard, to handle knowing that I'm a murderer. I killed, I killed people, thousands of people." The tears were coming back, "And, I'm the one who has our greatest enemy, locked inside of me. There's nothing we can do…I can't die, therefore she can't die, because she's a part of me." She whispered.
"Hey," Hotaru looked up to find Usagi-chan's bright smile, "you're a lot stronger than you look Hota-chan." She winked, "Everything will turn out okay in the end, I just know it! It'll get worse before it gets better, but we'll see this through, we always have. Now, how about some hot chocolate instead of that boring old, healthy tea?" She asked.
Hotaru found the courage to smile, the first real smile she'd worn for a long time. "Okay." She said nodding. "I'll help you make it!" She got up to go over to the stove where Usagi now was and pulled out the milk from the fridge.
"These battles just continually seem to get harder," Usagi said, though her voice stayed light and comforting. "But that's the only way we'll grow. You've grown so much in the last year alone, I can hardly believe it! You've given your friends strength, you've brought us allies. I don't know if you know this but, had you not gone to Hogwarts we probably wouldn't be working with the Order. It was a very brave thing you did too, giving that interview about Saturn. I could hardly believe you'd ever have the courage to do a thing like that!" She exclaimed.
Hotaru blushed at the praise, "Thank you. To tell you the truth I was a bit nervous, but Kioko helped me a lot. She gives me courage." She said.
"She has a way of doing that doesn't she?" Usagi said knowingly as the two worked on the hot chocolate, warming up the milk and preparing the syrup.
"Usagi?" Hotaru piped.
"Hm?"
"There's someone, a woman with long white hair and soft lavender eyes, I see her sometimes and she tries to comfort me. But most of the time Mistress 9 blocks her out. She looks like you, and cosmos. Is she you?" Hotaru asked wondering.
Usagi looked at her for a moment, her sapphire blue eyes a bit confused, and shook her head. "No, it wasn't me. Maybe Cosmos is sending you a comforting image to help you." She said.
"Aren't you the same person?" Hotaru asked.
"Sort of, but we're not exactly the same. I'm aware of cosmos inside of me, and she seeps into my spirit sometimes. Haven't you noticed that I haven't tripped once since coming here?!" Usagi asked laughing.
Hotaru giggled, "And I thought you merely lost your clumsiness." She said.
Usagi gasped playfully, "Me? Become graceful? The horror!" the two girls giggled happily. "But really," Usagi sobered up, "I'm sorry I can't help you. All I can do is have you hold the Silver Crystal and hope it's light gives you strength. That's about it." She sighed as Hotaru poured in the chocolate and stirred the milk.
"I suppose I can't expect any more. If only we knew what to do." Hotaru sighed.
"Maybe I can convince the others that Voldemort's main target is Hogwarts and somehow get in." Usagi said grinning mischievously.
Hotaru laughed, "You don't have to, you need to be where you need to be. I don't want you to risk anything just to comfort me." She said.
"It's not that, really. I'm concerned about you Hotaru. Just during the last year, you've undergone a wave of unwanted information. We all have our unfavorable pasts things we did that we're not proud of. But…it's different with you. You're…you're not only important to our side, but the darker side as well." Usagi sighed as she poured the finished chocolate into two coffee mugs and set the remainder on the stove, set on low so it could stay warm. "It's more complex for you, because you, and Kioko as well I suppose, are the neutral senshi." She set the cups back down on the table and the two sat down.
"I suppose so." Hotaru sighed.
"You're such a sweet girl, always caring about everyone else. But it's like you're cursed with a dark aura. And…" Usagi sighed, "I can't help but feel that this, Riddle, is in the right." She said.
Hotaru started suddenly, "How can you say that?! You're the rightful heir to Crystal Tokyo, not I." She defended.
"No, listen to me Hotaru." Usagi raised her hand. "This whole political thing with what happened to Saturn, it sounds like a very controversial thing. Both sides can make it sound like they're in the right when the truth of the matter is they're both wrong. But from what I've heard so far, it was Saturn's right to rule the Silver Millenium." She said.
"But, you don't know the whole story. The Queen, my mother, she died. She couldn't rule, and I was just a little girl at the time so neither could I. Selenity did the right thing by taking the rule. Who knows, she might have meant to pass on the crown to Saturn once I'd come of age had that, that…disaster not happened. And, I don't want to rule the solar system, I think you should. You and Mamoru, you have the Silver and Gold crystals after all." Hotaru defended.
Usagi sighed, "I guess it's too early to really have an opinion. And I guessed that you really wouldn't want to take the throne of Crystal Tokyo…wait, I have an idea." She suddenly snapped.
"What?" Hotaru asked, curious.
"What if we both ruled the solar system, I mean, when all of this is over of course? Like a team, you and me. Wouldn't that handle all this controversy?" Usagi asked happily. "Then it couldn't be said that I took the crown from you or that you took the crown from me."
It was a radical idea, but, it was such a simple solution. "Of course, then I imagine Saturn would be satisfied and I wouldn't mind so much political power if you were my partner. It might take a lot of time, but it just might work!" Hotaru smiled.
"We'll have help from the others of course." Usagi then sighed and sat back. "So many things seem to be going on at once it seems."
"I know what you mean. We also have the merging of the three worlds, thankfully something good has come of this, the war is making the wizarding world more disposed to accept us because they're afraid and feel more power on their side will help. But after it's over…there might be another war between the Stars and the wizarding world, and then when that's over we have to handle the muggle world as well." Hotaru sighed. "Life never seemed so long before."
"Well, maybe we won't have to go to any war. Remember when earth is put under a sleeping spell and the Silver Crystal awakens it? Maybe that will happen, but in a different way, and we'll already be of one earth. Sure it will take time for everyone to get back on their feet. But after that we can rebuild all the kingdoms on the other planets, including the moon." Usagi said.
"Provided, we win this war. And who's to say Chaos will let it go easy for us during the rebuilding, he just might strike during that time and cause us another war." Hotaru said, beginning to feel overwhelmed. "I don't know if I can handle this Usagi, everything just feels so heavy, and there's no end, not until the time comes when I am to destroy the worlds. And even then, it will still begin again, anew and pure yes, but not without eventual darkness. You and the others might be given leave to walk the path of death, but, I cannot die, ever. I'm the Messiah of Silence, I will be reborn again myself to do the same when that universe has worn out." She said.
"Drink your chocolate." Usagi said. Hotaru looked up at her, "It'll make you feel better. Chocolate makes you feel happy remember?"
She didn't know what it was, but something in Usagi's voice let Hotaru relax, it told her to forget these things and just relax. Hotaru smiled, courage filled her heart and she let her chocolate warm her on the inside. But, I can still be happy. I can still enjoy life even though there is so much to be done, so much to do, and so much more than that. I can still be happy, I can still keep smiling and not let all of this drag me down. "Thank you, Usagi-chan." Hotaru said smiling.
"Anytime!"
*********
Hotaru turned and caught her reflection in the glass window of the train station while the others chatted for a bit. She was pale skinned, wearing a nice, sleek black dress with black tights and shoes underneath. Around her neck was a silver chain supporting a lovely cross made of amethyst, on her fingers was her Promise Ring, the one her father had given her and made her promise she wouldn't give up on, and the silver band with the graceful designs that changed into other beautiful markings, this was the one that Riddle had given her, the one he said was very important to her.
She wouldn't deny that she did look quite lovely, her eyes showed wisdom beyond the years of her graceful body. But she couldn't deny, no mater how much she wanted to, that she also looked a lot like Mistress 9. It wasn't too noticeable, I mean, to anyone who had merely gotten a glimpse of the incarnate it was quite subtle. But for someone like Hotaru, who didn't have to think really hard to get the perfect image of what her tormentor looked like in her mind, it was plain and obvious.
Hotaru turned her attention away from her reflection and back to the others.
"Could you possibly quiet that owl of yours, Draco?" Harry demanded, as Bell was making a good amount of noise. She was fairly uncomfortable in the train station.
"Could you possibly ask me in a more winy voice, Harry?" Draco returned.
"Harry, and Malfoy, on a first name basis." Ron said, with a rather comical look of continuing shock on his face. He suddenly turned to Hotaru, "What did you do to them?!" He demanded as they got in line to enter the station for Hogwarts Express.
Hotaru stepped back a bit, holding up her hands. "Now, Ron, is it really that shocking?" Kioko asked.
"You don't get it. Harry and Malfoy had been bitter enemies for five years!" Ron said, "And here over the summer they've become such good friends that they're calling each other 'Harry' and 'Draco', not 'Potter' and 'Malfoy'. I blame you." He said, pointing at Hotaru. Though in a friendly way.
Hotaru merely smiled, it was her turn to go through so she walked briskly into the station. The whistle hooted and she found Harry and Draco as they waited with Ginny and Hermione for the others. Kioko was next, then Ron, then came the adults. Glandria and Setsuna as they were boarding the train because they had jobs at Hogwarts. Then there was Usagi, Mr. And Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Lupin, Moony, Haruka, and Michiru to see them off.
"Bye everyone!" Hotaru waved cheerfully staying behind for the moment as the others boarded the train. Draco hung back with her, taking her hand into his and squeezing it. Hotaru turned and offered him a smile, which he returned briefly.
The next moment Draco's eyes were turned to a woman. She looked so pitiful, her eyes were bloodshot, her hair was a mess even though it was obvious she had tried to make it look better. She looked older than she really was, tear marks streaked down her cheeks, and there was a bruise on her left cheek where it looked like someone must have slapped her. She looked like she was about to cry again, and it seemed like that was what she had been doing for the past month. "Mother? What are—" Draco started, but she silenced him by suddenly wrapping her arms around him.
"Goodbye." She said after letting go. She then turned around and ran, pushing past anyone who was in her way as though she just didn't care any more. Both of them were too stunned to go after her.
"Goodbye?" Draco gulped, biting his bottom lip.
Hotaru wrapped her arms around Draco's, "Come on." She whispered, leading him on into the station.
*********
"I swear, if I see that ***** on this **** train I'll—sorry Hotaru." Kioko apologized when Hotaru gave her a sharp look. "But you can't possibly understand how much I completely and utterly loathe that…woman!"
"You're talking about Kikyo again aren't you?" Draco asked. Kioko hissed at the name as if it were some vile poison.
"This will likely be either my worst, or my best year of Hogwarts." Kioko said, an evil glint came to her eye when she said the second part.
"You're influence as Lady Hex will likely give Kikyo a hard time I'm thinking." He added.
"I almost feel sorry for her." Harry put in. Kioko smirked and chuckled.
Hotaru sighed and shook her head. I wonder what this Kikyo did to make Kioko hate her so much. She thought. "I think I'll go see if I can find Aushran, I'll be back in a little bit." She said getting up.
"Okay, I'll stay here and fume about She-Who-Is-A-Pain-In-My…-Rear." Kioko said as Hotaru walked out the door.
She chuckled a bit, Kioko could be so unreasonable sometimes. Oh well. She didn't really know where to look for Aushran, she picked a direction and started walking down the train there, glancing into other carts to see some people laughing, others just talking, and one had people with worried looks on their faces. It wasn't surprising, there were probably a lot of worried people around after all that was happening. Voldemort was still laying low, and that worried them more than anything else because it could be expected that he was planning something big, and that Hogwarts would be one of his main targets.
"Yeah, well, at least you already have friends in high places." Hotaru glanced in the open cart where she heard the voice come from. There was Aushran, and he was talking to another transfer student beside him. Hotaru recognized him as Roku Alchemy from the paper.
Roku had a very odd style of hair, it was wild, yet smoothly so, one side of his bangs came down below his chin in a thick lock of waves while the other side was short, though it was longer the closer it got to his ears and reached just about to his chin, though that hair was rather strait. The rest of his hair was rather spiky, though with a bit of a curve as well. But the back of his hair was pulled into a low ponytail, like Aushran's, only the lock was thinner and a bit shorter. As if to contrast with his otherwise curly bangs, the back hair looked straiter. His hair was black, though it had reddish violet highlights in it and his skin was also pale. Making it seem very possible that he might be Saturnarian as well. (I molded him off of Kouryu from Wish by the way, but don't worry, Roku's ears aren't pointed)
"Stop bothering me, Roku." Aushran sighed, looking fairly tired.
"Bothering you? I'm not bothering you, I'm bugging you, there's a difference! You see, bothering you means I'm not doing it on purpose, bugging you means I am doing it on purpose!" Roku replied, reminding Hotaru oddly of something Kioko might say.
"Konnichiwa Aushran." Hotaru greeted.
"Save yourself." Aushran told her, though his voice seemed to keep it's low, subtle tone. Apparently he was referring to Roku who was already up and greeting Hotaru himself.
"Konnichiwa, Tomoe-sama, it's an honor to finally meet you. My name is Roku Alchemy." He said, bowing politely. Hotaru could hardly imagine why Aushran thought him annoying, he was very polite.
"Please, you can just call me Hotaru." She told him, returning his greeting with a polite bow of her own.
"Then you can call me Roku. You've already met my school chum Aushran so I don't think introductions will be needed. Would you like to join us? I'm sure Liam and Kagen will be here shortly with our snacks." He said.
"If they have any sense at all they won't be back." Aushran said as Hotaru took a seat.
"Oh come on, Aushran, I'm not that bad!" Roku laughed humorously.
"It is a bit hard to say that right after you admitted to annoying me on purpose." Aushran returned calmly.
"You have a point there. Well I guess I am that bad!" Roku laughed, making Hotaru laugh as well. He seemed like a very fun guy. "See, she thinks I'm funny!" Roku pointed out to Aushran.
"She doesn't know you like I do." He answered.
"Yeah well, I can be annoying if you have to put up with me for a long time." Roku admitted. "I can also be very annoying when I do this." He said and he started poking Aushran's arm with his wand.
"Would it be asking too much for you to act like a normal person for just a few moments?" Aushran sighed.
"Normal person? Oh, and I suppose it's normal to be tall, dark, and silent all the time." Roku returned. "Lighten up a bit Aushran! We're going to the famed Hogwarts! Doesn't that seem exciting to you in any way?" He asked.
Aushran gave Hotaru a 'help me' look. But now Hotaru was beginning to understand. The two were actually fairly good friends, Aushran really wasn't getting annoyed, and he really didn't mean the things he said. It was just his way of being friends with Roku, who was doing the same thing by annoying him. It felt like a very nice friendship, though they might not be as close to each other as Hotaru was with Kioko, that was just the way of the two it seemed, but they were good friends.
"Hey Hotaru," Kioko peeped in, "Can I join you? Harry and Draco are joking with each other leaving Ron in another state of shock and I'm not about to stick around to listen to him babble on about the impossibility of it all, again. Hi Aushran." Kioko said sitting down beside Hotaru.
"Hello Gorgeous!" Roku greeted, sitting down beside Kioko.
Hotaru stared at him, wide-eyed, Aushran gave him a 'are you really that stupid?' look, and Kioko chocked and stared at him, "Excuse me?" She asked, not quite believing her ears.
"My name is Roku Alchemy, but you can just call me Roku." Roku said, winking flirtatiously.
"Congratulations Roku, you have just now broken a record." Kioko said with a sarcastic look on her face.
"I have?"
"Yes, you are the first person to get on every single one of my nerves within the period of one minute. Sit so close to me again and I will make sure to redefine your definition of the word pain." Kioko said. She swept herself up and was gone the next moment.
"She wants me." Hotaru stared at the blissful look on Roku's face, not only feeling a great sense of shock at his boldness, but a great sense of pity as well.
"WellitwasnicemeetingyouRokubutIreallymustbegoingbye!" Hotaru babbled out, swiftly exiting the train.
"Take me with you!" Aushran said following her and leaving Roku to his own world. "Now you see why he's so annoying?" Aushran asked back into the hall.
"Not annoying really, just…" Hotaru trailed off.
"Stupid." Kioko finished for her, twitching. "I can't believe the audacity of that guy!" She huffed, sweeping herself back towards their cart.
"He's not normally that way to other girls, they're the ones flirting with him and he's the one getting annoyed with it. Not the other way around." Aushran considered. "Odd…" he murmured.
"You mean Kioko's the first one he's actually flirted with?" Hotaru asked, rather surprised.
"I think I was just insulted." Kioko said.
"Oh come on Kioko, it can't be that surprising. I'm sure someone's flirted with you before." Hotaru said. Kioko was quite a bit more beautiful than she was cute, and she had this air that should make most guys start to drool, even though she was potentially dangerous.
Kioko's expression faltered, "Yeah, but none of them have ever left me walking the same way again. Not the bold ones anyway." She said.
"You're not very encouraging are you?" Aushran asked.
"There are just some boys I just can not stand, and they're the ones flirting with me." She said glowering a bit. "And the ones I could actually stand never flirted with me because they had too much of a self preservation instinct and weren't stupid enough to dare." She paused, "Of course that could be why I liked them in the first place." She said after considering. Aushran couldn't help but snicker a bit at that.
"Roku is a very reckless person, come to think of it." He said.
"Reckless enough to find the most dangerous woman in school and chose to go after her?" Kioko asked smirking.
"Yes." He answered.
"That's not recklessness, that's stupidity." Draco came in, apparently overhearing some of the conversation.
"He's a thrill-seeker." Aushran said shrugging, "Besides, I think he likes the dark look. I've always suspected he might be suicidal." He said.
"You know, it's very odd the way you seem to keep your face and voice mellow and yet still crack jokes." Kioko said.
"Odd? It's downright unnatural." Draco put in.
"Be nice, Malfoy." Harry said, poking Draco in the ribs.
"Don't touch me, Potter." Draco said, pinching him back.
"Stop! Stop! I can't take this any more!!!" Ron yelled running the other way down the hall.
"Ron!!!" Hermione exclaimed, running after him. "Ron get back here!!!"
"Oops, I do believe we scared him." Draco snickered.
"Great," Harry sighed.
"I wonder how everyone else is going to react to your friendship. Lets get in the cart, it's getting crowded out in the hallway." Kioko said slipping into the cart. Everyone else followed suite and took seats.
"Now it's going to get crowded in here if Granger and Weasley decided to join us again." Draco said.
"Oh well, some of us can stand." Kioko said, shoving Draco out of his seat.
Draco turned around and leered at Kioko, "And I suppose that means everyone but you?" He asked.
"Oh no, that means all males can stand. After all, you are physically stronger than us 'weak women'." Kioko said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"You are determined to use every single misconception to your advantage when it suites you but when it doesn't you shoot it right out of the sky." Draco grumbled.
"It took you 5 years to figure that out, amazing." Kioko said smirking.
"Shut up you…witch!"
"Why thank you." Kioko said, looking very proud of herself.
"I did not mean it that way." Draco hissed.
"Kioko, dear, how very…nice to see you making friends, for once in your life." Came a very faulsly sweet voice from the compartment door.
"Is it my imagination, or did the temperature suddenly drop?" Harry whispered to Hotaru.
"Kikyo." Kioko hissed in regard to the girl at the door. "I see you found your way out of hell." She said.
Kikyo waved her finger and made tisking sounds at Kioko. "Tisk, tisk. You never could control your disgraceful tongue." She said.
She dressed in very rich blue robes with jewelry adorning her person. Her pure black hair was straight and let to hang free with two locks down her front and the rest down her back, reaching to her knees in the back and to her belt in the front. Her eyes were also black, and her skin was pale, though not as fair as Hotaru's of course. She was rather pretty, but she wore a good deal of makeup, seeming to try and outstrip Kioko, though she didn't so a very good job of it. Kioko was still more lovely in Hotaru's mind, but it might have been the haughty air about Kikyo that made her not-so-pleasant.
"Are you trying to commit suicide?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow.
Kikyo turned to Draco and merely smiled charmingly, "My dear Mr. Malfoy, Kioko wouldn't dare lay a finger upon me for I am family, and she has, surprisingly, a sense of honor and will not kill her own blood." She said.
"I am thinking about revising that, just for you." Kioko hissed dangerously.
"Oh don't I feel special." Kikyo said, un-phased and smirking.
"You should, after all you're the only one of my relatives who will be going to the ninth level of hell, oh! I forgot! You already live there don't you? You just came to the surface to cause chaos." Kioko hissed. Only Hotaru, Harry, and Draco caught the real meaning behind that.
"Kioko!" Hotaru gasped, but Aushran stopped her.
"I really don't think you should get involved." He whispered, looking quite causious.
'Kioko you know better than to accuse her of working with Chaos!!!' Hotaru exclaimed in the Silent Language.
'Hotaru, I honestly wouldn't put it past her.' Kioko responded.
"Did you say something?" Kikyo asked.
There was a bit of a pause. Then Kioko began swearing in parcel tongue. "WHY!?!?!? WHY!?!?!?!? WHICH GOD DID I TICK OFF TO DESERVE THIS?!?!?!?!" Kioko demanded to the ceiling, causing both Aushran and Kikyo to stare at her. The next moment Kikyo was gone without another word.
"I think you scared her off." Draco mused.
Kioko paused, "Well then I should do that more often if it gets rid of her that quickly." She said.