Disclaimer for my own sanity:
I wrote this story back in 1999. I don't think it's too bad, but I don't know what I was thinking way back then either so don't be too harsh on me :P
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Here's chapter one of A Senshi's True Lies. I would rate this one PG or PG-13. There's very slight hentai references and some language. Make sure you've read the prologue before this or it won't make sense.
-Samantha
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A Senshi's True Lies
- Chapter 1 (revised) -
Arriving in Tokyo in the middle of the night, Yaten sleepily drives Haruka to her house, to which she shares with Michiru and Hotaru. Upon arrival, Haruka takes care of some business to hide her true career.
"All right, that's it for 'Kaioh-san'." Yaten hands Haruka a small pile of books and papers, one by one. "Okay, you've got your Tenoh Haruka billfold, Tenoh Haruka passport, ticket stub, hotel bill, Tenoh, we've got two post cards here from Tokyo, house keys, and I've got a souvenir purple mist snow globe."
"What the hell's that for?"
"It's for Hotaru-chan, dummy. Y'know, bring your kid home a gift. Y'know, the dad thing."
"Yeah, yeah. Nice touch," Haruka comments, getting out of the car. "Alright, pick me up tomorrow at eight."
"Will do."
"The briefing is at ten-hundred. See you tomorrow." Haruka begins walking to the house.
"Mm-hmm. Hey, Haruka-san! Didn't you forget something?" Yaten holds up a shining gold ring complete with a beautiful aquamarine diamond.
"What a team," Haruka says enthusiastically. She grasps the ring from Yaten, and places it onto the ring finger of her left hand.
"All right. Sleep well buddy." Yaten gives Haruka a quick wink, and drives off to his own house.
Haruka turns, lets out a quick sigh, and slowly walks up to the house.
She changes into a T-shirt and shorts, and quietly closes the bedroom door behind her. Walking over to the bed, she can clearly make out Michiru's slender figure. Haruka cautiously sits on the bed and attempts to steal some covers away from her. Michiru obviously feels her presence, and stirs in her sleep.
"Hi, Honey. How was your flight?" she mumbles sleepily.
"Oh, fine." Haruka rolls over onto her back, pulling the covers with her. Michiru slides over next to her, and wraps her arms around her lover's neck. Haruka takes Michiru into her own, and kisses her aqua hair lovingly. Sighing, she drifts off to sweet sleep.
- the next morning -
"Haruka-papa, you're home!" The energetic little girl greets her 'father' with a tight hug before she even gets out the bedroom door. "I missed you soooooo much. I kept asking Michiru-mama when you'd be home but she kept saying, 'I'm not sure, but I hope it's soon.' And she was right. You're home now. I'm so happy. Aren't you Michiru-mama?"
Starring wide-eyed at the little girl, Michiru replies, "Uh, yes. I mean, you know I am Hotaru-chan."
"Good. Now let's get some breakfast." Hotaru skips off to the kitchen, leaving two very confused teenagers behind her.
"And that was about…?" Haruka waits for Michiru to complete her statement.
"I'm not completely sure, but I'd say she's happy to see you," Michiru giggles.
"I understand, but don't you think she seemed a little too happy? What did you feed her while I was gone?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary, Haruka. Besides, don't you think she'd be a little excited about seeing you? I mean, you where gone for a week. That's sure a long time for her to be away from you." Then Michiru adds in a softer voice, "And me."
Haruka's heart skips a beat, as she looks down at her aqua-haired friend. Michiru tilts her head up to meet the gaze, as both girls remain unmoving for several minutes. They had not felt this kind of warmth for several days now, and, having it back, they are reluctant to let their treasured moment cease.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, as a little girl with short, dark purple hair bounces up to the two young lovers.
"What's this Haruka-papa?"
The connection broken, the girls stare, almost angrily, down at their 'daughter', holding a small box in her hands.
"That's for you, Hotaru-chan," the tall blonde breathes.
Her excitement almost at its peak, Hotaru rips off the lid and pulls out a beautifully crafted music box in the appearance of a glittering snow globe. The young girl's eyes light up at the sight of it. The light purple snow on the base reflects the dim light in the room brilliantly. Inside the dome stands a tall, young-looking angel, with flowing blonde hair reaching her knees, and a lovely white dress complimenting the radiant wings emerging from her back. A white dove resting on her extended finger, she gazes into it's eyes, transfixed by it's elegance.
"Wow," Hotaru whispers. "She's so pretty. She almost reminds me of Usagi-san."
"Almost," Haruka repeats.
Michiru elbows her, then kneels down to Hotaru. "Now, Honey, go walk that carefully back to your room, get dressed, then go to the kitchen for breakfast. Remember you're staying at Setsuna-san's house today."
"I get to sleep over if I'm good. Remember?" Hotaru reminds the two.
"Yes, of course. But only if you behave," Haruka warns.
Michiru then stands and whispers next to the taller girl's ear, "And she is going to be sleeping over whether she behaves or not, if I have anything to say about it." Michiru gives Haruka a seductive look, suggesting they'd have the entire house to themselves. They both linger at the thought, until a young voice once again cuts in.
"Haruka-papa, what did you get for Michiru-mama?" Hotaru asks, winding up her new music box.
"I-uh…well…"
"That's okay, Hotaru-chan. Now that Haruka's back, I have everything I need," Michiru says, smiling sweetly.
"Okay." Hotaru starts skipping back to her room, but stops suddenly. "Wait a minute. Haruka-papa's birthday is tomorrow. What are we getting her Michiru-mama?"
"Oh, I'll help you figure out a gift tomorrow."
"But what are you giving her?"
Michiru's eyes widen slightly. "Well, I've already got something very special planned. I'm giving it to her tonight." Michiru could not hide the deep blush which came to her face at the thought.
As a million images flash through Haruka's mind, she glances at the clock and notes the time. "Seven thirty already? We'd better get moving."
"You're right. Go get yourself ready, Hotaru-chan."
As the little girl walks to her room, the other two carry on a conversation of their own while preparing for work.
"So Haruka, tell me all about your flight. Did you make all the other racers jealous?"
"Oh it was great. You should have seen it. Our entire team wiped the floor with each competitor. In the end I placed second behind my own teammate. I would have placed first if it wasn't for an unnecessarily long pit stop, which put me behind only point six seconds. It's just amazing. I love this racing business."
"That's wonderful, I'm so glad you enjoy it. Just the usual's been happening around here and at the studio… I'm going to take a shower, can you check on Hotaru-chan?"
"Sure. I'll get her breakfast started, too."
As Michiru steps into the shower and Haruka heads toward her 'daughter's' room, a familiar white van pulls up to their house. The front door opens, and in walks Yaten, wearing a pair of darkly shaded sunglasses.
"Hello! Hello?" He walks to his left and sets down his jacket, which he held draped over his shoulder. The white-haired young man sets a pack of cigarretts on a shelf, carefully observing where he's pointed the open end. He walks to the kitchen to where Hotaru greets him with a big smile.
"Ohayo, Yaten-san!"
"Hello, Hotaru-chan. Where's your parents?"
"Haruka-papa's coming, and Michiru-mama's in the shower."
"Really?" Yaten says in a joking tone, raising his eyebrows. He turns to the stairs, and upon climbing them, meets Haruka half way.
"Nice try, ecchi." The older, taller, stronger teenager takes Yaten by the hair and pulls him back toward the kitchen.
"C'mon, you know I was only kidding." The young idol singer laughs, pulling away from the firm grasp on his ponytail.
"Hotaru-chan, you'd better get to the car. We'll be out in a few minutes to drive you to Setsuna-san's house."
"Okay." The little girl runs outside in a quick burst of energy.
"Now, back to business." Yaten pours some coffee into a mug and hands it to Haruka.
"Thanks, dear," she replies, grinning.
Yaten just rolls his eyes and smiles. "Check these out." He removes the glasses and hands them to her.
Haruka examines them before putting them on, seeing that behind one lens is a very small moniter where it is transmitting a live picture of her living room. "Where's the image coming from?"
"I've got a CCD camera and transmitter in a pack of smokes out there. Pretty cool, huh?"
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Yaten and Haruka drive Hotaru to Setsuna's place, then head off toward the main headquarters of the Omega Sector defense team, having a discussion on the way.
"So, did everything work out okay last night?"
"Yep. Hotaru-chan loved the music box, and was sure happy to see me. I told Michiru I was away on a racing tour the entire time. She didn't suspect a thing. She also couldn't stop talking about my birthday tomorrow, and how she had planned for Hotaru-chan to stay the night at Setsuna-san's."
"So, when do you get Michiru's 'gift'?"
"Tonight I hope... Uh, I mean… Just open the door."
Yaten flashes Haruka a smile as he puts a card in the door which opens it. They walk down a long hallway toward other security measures.
"Hahaha. I'll bet you can't wait-"
"Just shut up, Yaten-kun. I don't feel like talking about it right now."
"Yeah right."
A voice interrupts their conversation. "Please identify yourselves to the scanner."
They each place their hands on and look into machines designed to scan everything necessary to truly identify them.
"Tenoh Haruka. 10034."
"Kou Yaten. 34995."
Security said and done, the two meet Taiki who is already working on the suspects they found. Now speaking with the boss, they are prepared to present the information they've discovered.
"Well, Haruka-kun, you sure screwed the 'undercover' part last night, didn't you? Can you please tell me how I can see this as anything but a total disaster?"
Taiki attempts to reassure him. "Let me show you what we got." He types in some information on a computer, which brings up pictures and charts of various guests at the party.
"Tsukino Usagi. We think she's dirty, so we raid her private financial files. One million dollars in wire transfers from the Juuban International Bank."
"Which we all know is a front for certain countries to finance terrorist activities, and that's why we think something very big is involved," Yaten includes.
"And we know that a week ago four warheads were smuggled out of the former soviet republic of Kazakhstan."
"We think Usagi's group bought the knukes, and is trying to bring them over to Japanese soil," Haruka adds.
Their boss just sits, unsatisfied. "So far this is not impressing me. Don't you have any hard data, Haruka-kun?"
"Nothing you would call 'rock-hard.'"
"Then I suggest you get some, and fast."
The three walk off and start scanning through a wide variety of information, searching for anything that would be helpful in this case. After a long while of not finding much of anything, Yaten and Taiki come to Haruka with hopeful expressions.
"What's up?"
"Check this out." Yaten takes the papers from Taiki and explains their findings. "There's a two million dollar dispersement from Tsukino Usagi to Aino Minako. That's right, the babe at the party."
"Well, that doesn't mean anything," Haruka explains. "She buys antiqueties for Usagi."
"Oh, no. See, she keeps her antiquety buys on a completely separate ledger."
"And this is a little above the market, even for a bitch like her."
"Okay, I want a complete workup on her. Do we know where she is?"
"Uh-huh. Right here in Tokyo."
"Masaka!"
"Yep. Most dealers center here, so she has offices here."
"So I guess it's time to send in a specialist," Yaten tells Haruka. Then, teasing her, he turns to Taiki and asks in a dreamy voice, "Care to Tango?"
Going along with the joke, Taiki answers, "Yes I would." Both guys take each others hands and begin to silently Waltz back and forth beside Haruka.
She just rolls her eyes irritably at them. "Assholes."