Disclaimer: My sincere gratitude to Takeuchi-sensei who created this wonderful world for us to dream in. respectful bow in the general direction of Japan As we all know, all rights belong to her. I hope you enjoy my portrayal of her creations.
I do not write for reviews, but I sure enjoy compliments, constructive criticism, and grammatical corrections. So if you feel like it, please press that little review button, and let me know what you think. - Raya
The Sleeper
Chapter 11 - Normalcy
Usagi looked down at the sleeping princess of Crystal Tokyo and wrestled briefly with her conscience. She looked at the alarm clock, then back at the sprawled girl a few times and gnawed on her lip. Her conscience lost when Lady rolled over, pulled the blanket over her head, and mumbled something about pancakes.
With a devilish grin, she took a deep breath and hollered. "CHI-BI-U-SA!!!!" She laughed quietly to herself as the pink-haired teenager thrashed about and finally surfaced. 'Oh yes', she thought to herself. 'Revenge is soooo sweet.'
"What are you doing?" she continued as Lady blinked and stared blankly around the room. "If you don't hurry, you'll be late for school!"
"School? Usagi?" Lady blinked in confusion.
Trying to maintain a straight face, Usagi picked up the clock, played with it a moment, and tossed it into Lady's lap. "It's already 8:15. Do you want to be late for your first day back?"
Lady blinked down at the clock, up at Usagi dressed in her high school uniform, and back down at the clock again. All of the sudden, she seemed to wake up. "8:15?!?!" she screeched. "Usagi, you moron! Why didn't you wake me up??"
"I just did," Usagi choked, then ran out of the room as Lady jumped up and began to race around looking for her clothes. She was sitting at the kitchen table, calmly finishing up some pancakes and orange juice when Lady raced down the stairs.
"ChibiUsa-chan?" Ikuko called in surprise as Lady made a beeline for the door. "Don't you want any breakfast? You've got another ten minutes or so."
Lady froze, and slowly turned around. She walked silently to the hall table and looked at the clock. Then, she walked into the kitchen, put her backpack on the table, sat down in front of her serving of pancakes, and glared at Usagi. "That wasn't nice," she grumbled. Usagi just smiled. "Consider it payback," she said serenely.
Just as Lady finished her breakfast, the doorbell rang. The three Tsukino's looked towards the front of the house in surprise. "Visitors? At this time of the morning?" Ikuko said as they walked to the door. "Well, I guess anything is possible. After all, look what time Usagi got here..." Usagi gave her mother's back a narrow, playful glare while Lady snickered.
Ikuko smiled as she opened the door. "Good morning, ladies. Are you here to escort my princesses off to school?" Celeste, June, Pallas, and Bessa started and stared at her in surprise. Ami, Minako, Makoto, and Rei just smiled. "Of course," Minako answered for the group. "Well, ChibiUsa-chan that is. Don't tell me Usagi-chan is here, too?"
"Good morning," Usagi chirped as she edged by her mother and out the door. "I came over to make sure ChibiUsa-chan got up on time this morning. Wouldn't want her to be late, right?"
"Just you wait, Usagi," Lady grumbled as she came outside and slung her backpack gently into position. "I'll get you for that." Usagi just laughed. Slowly, the large group made their way down the walk, out the gate, and towards the schools.
Rei split off almost immediately to hurry over to TA. The rest of the group then parted into two groups, the younger girls walking quietly in front of the older, giggling ones.
"Lady-chan?" Celeste asked, looking sideways at her princess. "Do you have it?"
Lady nodded, bringing the small bunny backpack back around to hold in her arms. "I've hidden it the best I can, but I can't just leave it at home." The other girls nodded agreement and shifted protectively closer to her.
Bessa looked over her shoulder at the gossiping high school girls behind them. "Um, Lady-chan? Is that really your mother? Or is she some other relative?" Her eyes widened as Usagi squealed and chased after a laughing, dodging Minako. Ami glanced up at them, then returned to reading her book with a smile, while Makoto laughed at the two.
"They must be relatives," June agreed. "OUR senshi would never act like that. Especially the queen." They watched as Usagi finally caught Minako and began to beat her playfully over the head. Lady smiled, and called out.
"Time for us to turn off. Meet at Hikawa Shrine after Usagi gets out of detention?" Ami, Makoto, and Minako laughed, while Usagi made an exasperated sound. "Mo! I do NOT get detention any more. Brat!"
"Yeah, yeah," Lady smiled, then waved. "Bye, guys! See you after school!"
A short while later, the five girls stood outside the classroom waiting to go in and introduce themselves. Their new teacher walked by with a wide smile, entered the room, and sat down at her desk. After she took roll, she called the girls into the room.
"Class," she said, still smiling, "we have five new students joining us for a short while. The principal tells me that their usual tutors have fallen ill, and that their parents have decided to send them to our school until other arrangements can be made. Girls, why don't you introduce yourselves."
Lady shifted feet unhappily. She didn't like to lie to the principal, but she knew the best place to hide was in with a group her own age. Besides, Usagi and Ikuko-mama would never let her get away without some schooling.
Celeste bravely stepped forward to begin. "How do you do," she said bowing politely. "My name is Celeste d'Nuit. I am 14 years old, and I love to sing. It is very nice to meet you all."
June stepped forward next. "Hello. My name is June Night, and I'm 15. I like sports of all kinds, but I really like softball," she said with a bow.
Bessa stepped forward and bowed as June finished. "Hi there. I'm Bessamine Ejjel, but everyone calls me Bessa. I'm 15, too, and I love horseback riding and archery."
"My name is Pallas Nychta," the blue-haired girl said quietly. "I will be 14 next month. I like to study languages and art. It is a pleasure to meet you," she ended with a blush and a bow.
"And finally, I am Usagi Tsukino," Lady said. She paused as the teacher gasped.
"U..Usagi Tsukino?" the teacher said in disbelief. Lady blinked at her, then smiled. "Yes. Perhaps you know my relative? She has blonde hair and is always getting detention for being late and sleeping and eating in class. I am nothing like her," she reassured the teacher. Several of the students in the room snickered at that remark. The teacher just blinked a few times, and looked uncertain. "Really. We just have the same name. I'm nothing like her," Lady said again.
"I... I see. Well, Tsu.. Tsukino-san, please finish your introduction," the teacher said shakily.
"Um, well, I'm.." '907 years old' "Um.. I'll be 15 in just a few weeks, and I like drawing. And... um... It's nice to meet you all," Lady finished in a rush and bowed.
"Mmm, thank you ladies. I am your new teacher, Mrs. Haruna."
"Haruda-sensei? Really?" Lady asked in surprise. "Usagi-chan's Haruda-sensei?"
"Haru-NA," was the teacher's stern response. 'Will that joke never die?' she thought to herself with exasperation. "Now, please take any empty seat you can find. Everyone, please pull out your English textbooks and turn to page 78."
Hours later, the girls drug themselves tiredly out of the school. "Unnn," June whined, stretching. "We have to come here every day? Man, that was so boring!"
"I don't know," Pallas replied with a smile. "English was kinda fun."
"Hmph," replied Celeste. "Speak for yourself and June. I didn't understand it in France. I didn't understand it in Crystal Tokyo. I still don't understand it!"
June laughed at her expression. "Well, at least you were pretty good at pronouncing it. Lady-chan was slaughtering it!"
"Hey!" Lady cried indignantly. "At least I tried! Besides..." Her voice trailed off as she came to a stop. Her friends looked at her in surprise, then turned to see what she was staring at. About 20 feet down the sidewalk stood a pretty girl about their age. Her dark hair was shoulder length, and her skin was extremely pale. The uniform she was wearing was dark green and maroon plaid sailor mini-skirt, with a dark maroon short sleeved shirt. Golden ribbons and thread laced into the design sparkled in the sun.
"Ho.. Hotaru-chan?!" Lady choked. She took several steps toward the girl. The girl stepped back, her eyes widening in surprise, then narrowing in suspicion. "Hotaru-chan?"
"I think you'd better keep that over there," the girl called softly. Lady blinked in puzzlement, then followed Hotaru's gaze to the backpack she was carrying. Understanding dawned on her face, then she turned and shoved the bag at Celeste. As soon as Celeste had the bag, she spun around and raced towards Hotaru. Arms open wide and pink pigtails flying, she called again. "Hotaru-chan!"
Hotaru smiled and held her arms out to welcome her princess. "ChibiUsa-chan! Welcome back!" The two friends spent several minutes talking rapidly and quietly, big smiles on their faces. Finally, they were interrupted by someone behind Hotaru.
"Yo, we meet again. Find any more backup?"
"You," Bessa said, narrowing her eyes in anger as she spotted the tall white haired man from the day before. "Haruka-san!" Lady exclaimed in surprise. "Stop picking on them," she continued as she spied the look on Haruka's face. "They can't help it if they've never met you before."
Haruka laughed. "Awww... Come on, Little One. They could probably use a little workout to get rid of some frustration." Lady just glared at her, then turned back to Hotaru.
"Um.. Did they tell you?" she asked quietly. Hotaru nodded soberly. "Diana found me yesterday and told me. Then, Haruka and Michiru told me when they got home."
"You'll be careful, won't you?" Lady pleaded softly. Hotaru gave her a look, then smiled a small smile. "Don't worry. We've been warned." "But you'll be careful, right?" Hotaru laughed at Lady's persistence. "Yes! I'll be careful. You don't need to worry about me. Just worry about that." She nodded at the backpack in Celeste's arm.
"Um, Lady-chan? We should be going," Pallas called as she held on to Bessa's arm. "We're gonna be late for that meeting."
"Meeting?" Haruka asked, raising a white eyebrow.
"Mm. We're meeting up at the shrine to talk about this," Lady said as her friends stared at her in alarm. Haruka smiled cockily at them, making Bessa and June go taunt and ball their hands up in fists. "Maybe I should come, too," she said. "Since you won't let us have any fun, it looks like it might be time for some introductions."
Lady blinked, then looked over at her friends and sighed. "Please," she said simply. Hotaru smiled. "It's nice to see them so protective of you now," she whispered. Lady looked back at her, then whispered "You have no idea..."