Chapter 2 – Settling in is hard…

"I might even get used to all that flying," Michiru muttered as the Western Capital's high towers slid closer and closer.

"It's a little bit creepy in the beginning," Goten agreed, "but in time you'll realize that it's really a lot of fun. Wheee!" He made a somersault in the air. Michiru squealed.

"Could you please wait with that until you've put me down?"

Vegeta, who was flying in front of everyone else, looked back over his shoulder. "It's nice to see that you're so merry," he remarked with a grin, "because you're about to meet your mommy and I doubt she's very thrilled about your little tourism trip."

Goten blinked. "Uh-oh…"

"There it is!" Trunks shouted at the same moment. "We're back home! Yay!"

The Saiyans landed in front of a yellow hemispheric building. The three girls stretched their backs.

"Home, sweet home," Vegeta said thoughtfully. "Kakarot, is that your son up on the balcony?"

Goku looked up. "Yeah! Gohan! Hey Gohan! Down here!" He waved frantically.

The guy sitting on the balcony blinked, looked around and then noticed the small group down on the lawn. He hopped up and leaped over the edge, landing in front of the others.

"Dad! And Goten! How did you get back? Mom's been worried sick, I'm sure that she's really happy to see you two again."

"She was exactly as worried when I went to play with Trunks one day and got back when the sun was about to set," Goten whispered to Haruka and Michiru. "She was about to call the police when I entered the house… and then she left me without dinner for making her worry like that."

Haruka smirked. "In that case it looks like you'll have to starve to death…"

"Where's Chichi now?" Goku asked, peering around.

"Upstairs, sleeping… we fed her about a pound of sleeping pills," Gohan replied. "Who are these three?" He had just noticed the Sailor Soldiers.

Vegeta went though the formalities so quickly that it could've driven any diplomat insane. "These are Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru, we stayed in their house, where's my wife?"

"At least it sounds like you've missed me." A woman with oily dungarees and bright blue hair came towards them. "That's sweet… so you finally decided to show your faces, eh? Or did your conscious just remind you that there's trash that needs to be taken out and the dishes have been piling up?"

Vegeta grinned widely. "You wish."

Bulma shrugged. "So much for love…" Trunks and Goten chortled quietly. Bulma looked straight into Haruka's eyes. "So, they stayed at your place?" The girl nodded.

"How much did they eat?" Bulma asked.

"Uhm…" Haruka scratched her head. "Five hundred pounds of all food groups, more or less."

The woman laughed. "I owe you one, buddy." She looked at Vegeta. "Any specific reason why you brought them with you?"

"Let's get inside and I'll explain everything," the prince answered.

"That's funny," Bulma mumbled as she had heard the whole story. "I'm pretty sure that it wasn't Goku's fault, however. Something must have gone wrong… within the dimensions… or the Space and Time… I'll have to examine that before I can give you the answer."

"You're going to examine the Space and Time?" Michiru asked. They were all sitting in one of the house's living room. Chichi was now awake, gone through all the phases of happy reunion and was sitting on the couch hugging Goten so tightly that the kid's face had quite an interesting shade of purple.

"Ehehe… not exactly a simple task, yeah," Bulma agreed. "But I'm sure I can figure something out."

"She can always figure something out," Trunks announced proudly.

Michiru leaned forward. "I'm sure that you can do something about it but to be honest, that's none of our business any more. Can you find a way for getting us back home? We're really a bit more interested in that."

"The Dragonballs," Bulma replied instantly. "They'd help you back home. But…"

"There's always a "but"," Haruka remarked with a frown.

"The last wish that was made with the Dragonballs," Bulma continued calmly, "was made a bit more than three months ago. You see, every time the magical crystal balls are used, they lose their powers for a certain while. Four months, to be exact. Right now the crystal balls don't have more magic in them than a fried onion, so you'll have to wait for," she muttered something quietly, trying to remember a few things, "about three weeks."

Haruka blinked. Michiru sighed quietly. Hotaru looked out of the window and then glanced at Bulma.

"Can we stay here until then?" she asked.

Bulma smiled. "Of course. We're always happy to have visitors."

Haruka looked at Hotaru. "It's not that simple. Three weeks is quite a long time. Those Saiyans can afford some tourism but our home planet needs us once in a while, remember? Yeah, yeah, I know that Usagi is the leader of the Sailor Soldiers, the past of Neo Queen Serenity and so on and so on but honestly, do you really think that she's able to fight all the demons without us being around for three weeks?"

Michiru shrugged. "There are also the Inner Scouts…"

Haruka snorted. "Oh please. A fistful of airheads. They were doing fine when the enemies weren't that strong but now the challenges have grown a lot." She stood up and went to the window. "I'm concerned… and there's nothing we can do." Suddenly she turned around and looked at Bulma. "Aren't there any other ways – any ways that wouldn't take three weeks? Those two brats spent only three days flying to our planet."

The woman nodded. "True, but you have to understand that it was a great coincidence. The distance between these two planets is huge and that space pod crushed straight into yours accidentally. Right now your Earth has moved around the sun for many times and so has ours. They both spin around. The galaxies move. The Universe moves too. What are the odds that another spaceship sent in the same direction reaches the same spot again? I don't even know the coordinates of your planet. In short, I think that flying through space is out of the question. Making another spaceship, especially one big enough for three, is gonna take at least a month. I suggest not trying Goku's instant translocation either until I've found out what the problem was."

Haruka sighed and nodded. Hotaru looked at her with a thoughtful frown. She had something on her mind.

"What about Setsuna?" she suddenly asked.

Haruka shook her head. "If I knew where to find her… and how to survive her two-hours-long lecture about how forbidden space and time travels are."

Michiru tried to comfort her. "In case something really dangerous and undefeatable breaks loose on Earth, she may very well come down here to get us. Until then… let's just enjoy our unwanted vacation, shall we?"

A slight echo of a smile appeared on Haruka's face. "Yeah… yeah, I think you're right."

"I really think that this room is a bit too… much for me," Hotaru said in surprise, looking at the vast room Bulma had given to her. The room was in the southern side of the house, it had bright yellow walls and a huge rectangle-shaped window. The place was very clean and filled with sunshine… and very nice.

"Don't you have a, well, darker room for her?" Michiru asked Bulma. "She really doesn't like the light."

Bulma laughed. "Nonsense. Look how skinny and pale she is. What she needs is a lot of sunshine and warm climate and I can assure you that we have plenty of both here in the Western Capital."

The Sailor Soldier of Death blinked and stared at the huge bed's lemon yellow blanket that had a smiling bunny face on it. Bulma patted her on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, you'll feel just like home here," she said merrily. "Come on along, you two, I'll show you your rooms."

The rooms she gave to Haruka and Michiru were just as spacey, bright and yellow. "Feels like living in a huge pot of honey," Haruka commented.

"The view is great," Michiru remarked with admiration, looking out of the window. "I can make an incredible painting here. Realistic and fantastic in the same time… all those palm trees and futuristic round skyscrapers… and still just an ordinary city panorama. And the light is just great." She sighed. "Amazing. Bulma, could you get me an easel, a canvas and some oil paints, please?"

"Sure thing," Bulma agreed and hurried away. Haruka laughed. "An artist will always be an artist, huh?" Michiru nodded with a smile.

Goku's family left, making a promise to visit them again in a few days to see how they were doing. After a few hours the three visitors had gotten used to their new temporary home and were settling in just fine. By the time Bulma called them down for dinner, Michiru had finished the basics of her new painting, Hotaru looked a bit happier than usually and Haruka remarked that she had managed to find a TV-show that wasn't a soap opera. However, she still had a small frown on her face during the whole dinnertime.

"Still concerned about Earth?" Michiru asked her.

The girl nodded. "I just can't stand it… sitting here, knowing nothing, not able to do anything." She slammed her fist on the table. Most plates and bowls hopped up and fell back down with a clang. Everybody blinked.

Bulma looked at her. "What are you, some local superheroes?"

Haruka nodded with a sigh. "We're the Sailor Soldiers, we fight for love or justice… or whatever it was… in short, when a demon or some alien scum shows up, we're usually the ones that kick their booties."

"And there are quite many of us, so I don't think we should worry about those three weeks," Michiru added, "but…"

"But I still do," Haruka said.

"As long as Hotaru doesn't get some odd warning again, I think you won't have to worry," Trunks said and gulped down a mug of apple juice.

"Don't jinx it," Vegeta growled. Hotaru blinked and looked down. She took a deep breath as if she was trying to say something… then she closed her mouth again, sighed quietly and took another pancake. Not yet. They're having enough trouble right now.

"Tell you what," Trunks announced to the three girls, ignoring his father, "tomorrow I'll take you all to a sort of a field trip. Trust me, you'll love it. Mom, will you borrow us that small jet plane?"

"Sure I could, but who's going to fly with it?" Bulma asked with a frown. "I have a busy day tomorrow, I'm planning to start my research about this glitch in Goku's translocation; I can't come to be your tourist guide."

"Can you fly a plane, Haruka?" Trunks asked the girl.

Haruka smirked. "I can drive everything that has an engine in it."