Sorry it's been um…/counts on fingers/ too long to count since I updated, I've been really busy. Summer Vacation is starting in less then a month though, so soon I'll have all the time in the world to work on my stories, yea! Until then though, will you settle for scattered updates here and there? Hopefully you will, 'cause it's all I got for ya. Okay, on with the story

-------------------------------------

Chapter 7- New Friends and a Fight

"Where's Rini?" Serena asked, annoyed, "She's late, we don't have all day here!"
"Be patient Serena", Luna said for the millionth time, "She'll be out"

"Rei always yells at me for being late", Serena said, "This time it's Rini's fault, and I'll be blamed anyway!"
"She'll be out", Will said, looking at her watch, "Any minute now…"
"Hey guys!" Rini rushed out of the building, right on cue.

"Finally", Serena said, jumping up, "Lets go squirt, I gotta drop you off and get to the temple"
"I wanna come to!" Rini said at once.

"No, it's Sailor Business"

"Will is going!" Rini cried.

"Will can actually contribute something", Serena said, "Anyone who can contribute can come"
"Then why are you going?"

Not funny brat!" Serena snapped, "Now come on, lets get home"
"I'm coming to the temple!" Rini yelled.

"No!"
Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"

"Oh brother", Luna and Will said at the same time, sighing.

"I want to come!"
"Just let her come Serena", Will said finally, "Rei's going to be mad about us being late, I don't think we have time to go to your house"

"Yes!" Rini cheered, taking off down the street, "Yea, lets go!"

"Great, just terrific", Serena muttered, stalking down the street.

"Your late", Rei snapped as Will, Serena, Rini, and Luna made their way through the temple entrance.

"Rini's fault", Serena said.

"Serena's fault", Rini said at the same time. Oh no, Will thought.

"My fault?" Serena asked, "You were the one that got out late!"
"And you", Rini shot back, "Are the one that started the fighting!"

"You're brat!"

"And you're a donut snorfing duffus!"

Will sighed, "How do you guys put up with this?"

Mina looked around, "Put up with what?"
"I see"
"Okay guys", Lita said, cutting through Rini and Serena's fight, "That's enough, we have business to take care of. By the way Rini, why are you here?"
"Because she's a brat", Serena muttered. Rini looked around at her.

"I am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Oh brother", Will muttered, walking over to her friends.

"Do they ever stop?" Irma asked curiously.

"Nope", Will sighed, "They're like you and Cornelia, Irma"

"We don't fight that much", Irma said, giving Rini and Serena a doubtful look, "So we?"
"Yes", Taranee, Will, and Hay Lin said at the same time. Irma grinned.

"We'll try to cut back"

"Okay!" Amy said, breaking up the fight, "Come on guys, we didn't come here to watch Serena and Rini fight, lets get to work"
"Finally", Luna and Artemis said at the same time, sighing.

"All right", Rei said, "Lets go over what we know so far. So what do we know?"

"Who's Phobos?" Luna said suddenly. Will sighed and looked over at her friends.

"An old enemy of ours, sadly", Irma said, "We thought we took care of him for good—"
"What a laugh", Cornelia finished bitterly.

"So who's that guy he was working with?" Mina asked, "Ever seen him before?"
The guardians shook their heads. "We were hoping you had", Taranee said, shrugging, "So I take it you haven't either"
"Nope", which brought them right back to square one.

"We have no clue what we're doing, do we?" Hay Lin asked.

"No, but then again what else is new?" Irma asked, shrugging.

Rini sighed, "You guys are boring I'm out of here, fill me in later Serena, bye!"

"Brat", Serena muttered, "Good riddance!"

"Now I know why I never go to those meetings, they're so boring", Rini said as she ran down the street, "I have so many better things to do with my time. So what should I do? I know, I'll go down to the park, that'll be fun, more fun than listening to the girls—"
But she soon realized it was no more fun to be at the park than anything else. "There's no one around, how boring, so now what do I do?"

"Are you talking to yourself?" Rini whirled around. A girl with shoulder length straight-brown hair and shining blue eyes was standing behind her. She was wearing a grey school uniform, a lot like Rei's.

"It's not nice to listen to other people's conversations", Rini said defensively.

"But you weren't talking to anyone", the girl said, "You're right though, it's rude, I'm sorry. My name's Hiroko, by the way"

"I'm Rini", she held out her hand, "Rhymes with teeny"
"Nice to meet you Rini", Hiroko took her hand and shook it. Rini smiled happily. She loved meeting new friends, and Hiroko seemed to be right around her age, too.

"So are you here by yourself?" Rini asked as they started walking through the park together.

"Yeah, my dad is working, and I was bored just hanging around at home, so I decided to come down to the park", Hiroko explained, "Are you here alone?"
"Yeah", Rini nodded, "My friends are having a meeting but I was bored, so I decided to drop out early and come down here until the meeting was done"

"I see"

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Rini switched gears.

"No, my mom died when I was little, so I just live with my dad", Hiroko explained, "How about you?"
"Nah", Rini shook her head, "I live with my cousin Serena and her family, Serena's a lot like a sister though, she's so annoying"
"Younger?"
"Older"

The two girls laughed, and Rini was suddenly sure. Definitely a new friend moment.

Crash!
And the moment was ruined. "What was that?" Hiroko whirled around, "Did you hear that Rini?"
"Yeah", Rini looked around. She was sure she knew what it was. "Um, Hiroko, I have to call my aunt and ask her to run down to my school for something, I'll be right back, okay? Really sorry…"
"It's okay, go on", she nodded, "You don't have to come back or anything—"
"I'll be right back", Rini promised, taking off. I'd better find a safe place to transform, she thought as she ran towards the source of the crashing, I'm sure this is Scout business, now I'm glad I left the meeting

"What's that?" she gasped as she ran into the downtown area. It was a monster, that was for sure, ten feet tall, green, and covered in blades and spikes. Not pleasant. "Oh no!" she dove behind a bush, "Luna P come here!" she grabbed the black cat ball and pushed it's nose, "Hey girls there's a problem downtown, get here soon!"

"We're on our way Rini", Serena's voice came back.

"Good", Rini turned back to the monster, "Now I'm getting in the game. Moon Prism Power!"

Pink energy wrapped itself around her. When it faded away, she was Sailor Mini Moon. "Hey you!" she jumped out from behind the bush, "Yeah, I'm talking to you, over here! You're reign of terror on these innocent people is done, now you have to fight me, I'm the future! But I fight evil here and now and in the name of the future name I shall punish you!"

The monster looked around at her as though just noticing her. "Oh I hate being little", she said, looking up at the creature, "I can fight you! Pink Sugar Hearts Attack!"

She held her wand out and little punk hearts flew out of it, "It worked!" she cried, "Take that!"

The monster bellowed as the hearts hit it, "Yeah!" she said, "That's it, that's it—Ah!"
She ducked as the monster swung one of it's blades at her. "Okay, no more miss mice girl, Pink Sugar—hey!"
She yelled in surprise as the wand was thrown out of her hands, "Who did that?" she looked around. But the street was empty. "What happened?" she asked, "Uh oh…"
She turned and started to run as the monster made to attack her, "Ow!" she cried as she tripped, "Don't hurt me", she whimpered, looking around. The monster had one of it's blade lifted above her, and it was swinging down. She closed her eyes and…

Twing!

She looked up in surprise. A pink shield had formed above her. "Who did that?" she looked around, "Hey!"
The guardians and the Sailor Scouts were standing a few feet away. "You okay Mini Moon?" Serena called.

"I'm good", she called, standing up as the shield faded away, "Now where'd my wand go?"

"Who are you?" Irma asked, looking at her weirdly.

"Sailor Mini Moon of course", she grinned.

"Who?"
"Oh the hurts", she frowned, jumping out of the way of another attack.

"Stand aside Mini Moon", Serena called, grabbing her tiara, "Moon Tiara Magic!"
The tiara flew at the monster and hit it. "All right!" Rini grabbed her wand, "My turn. Pink Sugar Hearts Attack!"

The hearts slammed into the creature, and she couldn't help but grin. "You know, that looks like fun", she heard Irma say, "Water!"
A stream of water flew at the creature, and slammed it backwards. Irma laughed, "Who's next?"
"Look!" Rini yelled. The monster was disappearing, fading away. "What in the world…"

"That was weird", Serena said thoughtfully, "What do you think happened?"

They were back at the temple. Rini had said goodbye to Hiroko with promises that they would hang out again really soon, and then had gone back with her friends. "I've never seen monsters just disappear like that", Amy said, "It's strange"
"Wanna know what else is strange?" Irma asked, "Rini being a Sailor Scout, that's strange"

"What's so weird about that?" she asked defensively, "I can be a Sailor Scout, what's wrong, am I too little—?"
"I didn't mean—"

"Or is it because I'm younger than everyone else?"
"I didn't say—"
"Ignore her Rini", Cornelia laughed, "Her mouth isn't connected to her brain"
"Focus", Will said, "Come on, we have a new enemy here and no clue what we're doing"
"What else is new?"

"Hey!" the girls looked around and Rini grinned.

"Hiroko!" she jumped off the stairs and ran over to her new friend, "What are you doing here?"
"My family and I come here all the time", she said, "What are you doing here?"
"My friend Rei's grandfather owns the place, I come here all the time", she grabbed Hiroko's hand and dragged her over to her friends, "Hiroko, that's my cousin Serena, Mina, Amy, and that's Rei, and over there are our friends from America, Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin. Everyone, this is Hiroko"
"Hello", Hiroko bowed, "Nice to meet you"
"Hey Hiroko", Rei smiled, "Where's your dad?"
"Oh, I came alone today", she said, "It's so quiet here and my baby cousins are visiting so I needed some peace"
"You came to the right place then, if Serena leaves"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just what it sounds like"
Rini rolled her eyes, "I'm gonna hang with Hiroko, see you guys later!"

"What happened to the meeting?" Serena asked as she watched Rini and Hiroko leave.

"Forget it", Lita shrugged, "We're not getting anywhere anyway, lets just break it up for today, hopefully we'll have time to meet before another monster attack"
"Good idea"
"Yeah"

Okay, I know not much happened, but I'm just jumping back in, so be patient, okay? The next update will be better, promise. Oh, and Hiroko isn't pointless, she's important to the story (but this isn't another Hotaru thing, really, just trust me, Hiroko serves a purpose)