Chapter 3
When lunch time rolled around Usagi strolls over to the tree she and her Aunt sit under during the nice weather after running all over campus to get away from Mamoru and his gang. She stops for a moment to grab a drink from one of the vending machines and notices that Hotaru is surrounded by the girls talking animatedly.
As Hotaru explains the situation between Nanami and Usagi, the other girls look at her with dumbfounded looks upon their faces. They glance at each other every so often as the girls tries to them to understand that mornings events.
"So let me get this straight. Nanami is actually your older sister and is Ren's Aunt," Minako asks with a raised eyebrow, leaning her head to the side, staring at the young man in front of her.
Hotaru nods her head and chuckles nervously. "Yeah, she's the eccentric one in the family, well, actually more like the black sheep really," she states; sweat dropping at the thought of some of the racier things that she had pulled throughout the years.
"Didn't seem like that from where I was standing. She was all over him," Rei states with a snort that makes everyone turn their heads towards her.
"Aww is someone jealous?" A voice asks next to her ear and she lets out an eep, bringing her large text book up to hit the person that's beside her out of reflex.
She looks down when she notices familiar platinum haired head falling beside her. Her eyes grow wide when a mumbled, "Who got the number of that truck?" By the dazed looking young man sprawled out at her side.
Blue eyes comes back to focus and narrow slightly at the girl sitting beside her. "What the hell was that for, you damn troll?" Usagi hisses out rubbing a tender spot on her forehead where the text book had come into contact only to wince at the shot of pain.
Amethyst eyes narrow back at the platinum haired boy beside her. "I should be asking you the same thing, you damn pervert. You snuck up on me!" Rei screams, pointing a finger at the boy.
Both girls jump to their feet and stand nose to nose yelling at one another as they jab each other in the chest. The other girls look on their faces turning red with embarrassment over their friend's antics.
"Banshee!"
"Hentai!"
"DEMON!"
"BAKA!"
Hotaru covers her head with her messenger bag to try and hide from the two combatants. The other two girls look away from the fighting duo their faces turning redder when they notice everyone in the quad looking their way. Trying to repress their blushes; they jump up to intercept Rei who had by that time pulled her fist back getting ready to hit the blonde haired man in frustration.
They put their hands under Rei's arms; apologize profusely to the two boys and scurries off with the flaying Rei, who is bellowing to the two girls to let her go almost knocking Makoto in the face in the process with a wildly swung fist. Makoto ducks the fist and continues to drag the dark haired woman across the quad.
Usagi takes a step forward grumbling under her breath only to have Hotaru grab her arm before she can take another step. Hotaru pulls the fuming blond over to the tree and sits down only to have to tug the reluctant teen down beside her.
Usagi lays her head in her Aunt's lap still grumbling about the events that had taken place. It isn't long before the stubborn girl falls into an exhausted sleep with Hotaru stroking her fingers through the fine platinum hair.
Hotaru shakes her head as she looks down at the slumbering blonde. 'What am I going to do with you?' she muses to herself as she works on some of her homework continuing to use her other hand to stroke her fingers through the girl's short locks.
Makoto spins Rei around, pushes the dark hair girl hard by her shoulders against the wall behind her and holds her there. She stares at her with rapidly narrowing eyes, her breath coming out in pants from having to drag the girl over to the wall.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you being so mean to Ren? What has he done to you that you have to repeatedly insult badger and bludgeon him with anything you have in your hand?" Makoto asks as she lets go of Rei's shoulders and places her hands on her hips.
"I don't know what the hell my problem is, Mako. He just rubs me the wrong way! Besides we've had this conversation already!" Rei exclaims with her arms crossed over her chest.
Turning her head away from the other two girls' intense stares not being able to meet them head on, she bites her bottom lip as thoughts and feelings runs a gambit through her head at a rapid pace. She lets out a soft sigh as once again her mind comes up empty with why she is treating the blond boy in such a manner.
"Look, Rei, with any other guy, I'd find it funny, but I've known Ren since we were in our early years of school. He's not that bad at all. He's a decent guy!" Makoto exclaims throwing her hands up into the air.
"Decent? You're calling that, that boy, decent? He's always calling me a damn Banshee. How decent can that be?" Rei asks; whipping her head back to glare at Makoto and sputters in anger at the thought that her friend would defend that stupid boy to her.
"Well maybe if you weren't constantly yelling at him and beating him to a pulp then maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't be calling you a banshee," Minako reasons with a shrug of her shoulders.
Rei lets out a sigh, her fingers creeping up to her temples and begins to massage them. 'It just isn't fair. My two best friends are defending the pervert right in front of me! Aren't they supposed to be on my side? Well then again Makoto has known Ren longer and Minako is just agreeing because I'll bet she just wants a date with that baka.' She muses to herself as another sigh escapes her lips and she nods her head slightly.
"Alright, I'll try to be more civil from him, I promise, this time," Rei states with a forced smile making the other two raise an eyebrow at her for a moment.
Makoto and Minako look at one another then back at Rei. With bright smiles on their faces the all lean in and hug one another.
Makoto lets out a soft sigh at the unsteady truce that has been forged by Rei, but chuckles softly under her breath at the absurdness of the whole situation.
'It's like they are married or something,' Makoto muses, throwing a quick glance over to Rei who is smiling brightly and laughing at something Minako says. Makoto shakes her head a fraction of an inch. 'Maybe there's something between them that even they don't know yet,' eyes grow wide at the thought. 'No way will Rei ever fall for a guy. That's absurd.'
The three girls make their way back to the spot where they had left Hotaru and Usagi only to find that Usagi had fallen asleep with her head in Hotaru's lap. Hotaru looks up from her homework and places a finger against her lips with her free hand still running through the other girl's hair.
With a smile upon their faces and a nod of their heads the two girls take a seat on either side of Hotaru. They start up a hushed conversation with Hotaru neither one of them noticing that Rei had hung back from the other two. She stands a couple paces away watching as the Sakura petals the tree above them fall onto the platinum blonde bangs. Transfixed to the places where the petals fall her eyes flick from the boy laying on the ground to his uncle, she, for one brief moment, wonders what it would feel like to be in Hotaru's place.
A slow smile creases her face, but the smile turns into a frown as she scolds herself mentally, 'the boy is nothing but a pervert that probably has mistresses everywhere. Don't get soft now. He's just like all the others you have known.' Reminded of the boy's perverted nature she walks back over to the others with a forced smile upon her face.
She sits down to talk to her friends and continues to keep the forced smile so not to alert the other girls to her thoughts. She mentally slaps herself when she catches herself every so often looking in the boy's direction and she feels her face soften a bit when she looks upon the blondes' serene face.
'Stop it, he wouldn't care anyway!' She berates herself and continues with the conversation at hand, none of the other girls aware of the battle going on within her psyche.
They continue to talk till the bell rings to signal the end of lunch period. Rei scrambles up off the ground stating that she has forgotten a book for her next class. The other's nod at Rei and don't notice as the black haired girl dashes away from the little group.
Blood shot eyes looks over towards an alarm clock that's over on the bed stand and lets out a little gasp; when glaring back at the eyes in large red numbers stating that it's three in the morning.
'Why does this always happen to me?'She questions herself as she looks towards her companion who has a contemplative look upon her face.
"Come on, here up, Nanami. I got to get to bed. I have school in the morning you know!" Usa whispers hoarsely; with blinking eyes to keep them from dropping shut.
"I can't hurry up, Usa. This is a delicate nature, that must be handled slow precise movements," Nanami states with a sultry smile upon her face, her eyes blazing with fire.
It's quiet in the mansion. Everyone had gone to bed for the night hours ago. The only sound that could be heard is the creaking of the foundation. The lull of the night is suddenly broken when echoes down the halls is a high pitched squeal that could wake the dead. Some mumble in their sleep and others turn over placing their pillows over their heads to keep the squeal down to a low roar.
"Yesssssss, Yes, YES!" Nanami squeals, vibrating the walls in the room, making the pictures upon said wall rattle precariously almost falling off of it.
"Now, it's your turn!" Nanami states leaning back panting out of breath, as she reaches for a large bottle of liquid that's next to her and guzzles it down.
Usa lets out a groan as she runs a hand over her tired eyes. She leans her head to the side, picks up the dice and tosses them onto the table. A couple more rolls she counts them up and writes down the score before handing the dice over to Nanami.
Nanami plucks the dice from her niece's hand with a large smile on her face and tosses them onto the table after rolling them around in her hand. Her smile turns into a devilish grin which makes Usa swallow hard, that sounds loud to her ears in the quiet room. Nanami rolls what's left of the dice in her hand before casually tossing them back upon the table once more.
Nanami stares at the dice as they roll noisily across the table as they stop the older woman jumps from her seat and lets out a shout pumping her fist in the air. She points at the barely awake Usagi with an evil upon her gorgeous face.
"YAHTZEE! That's another fifty points for me. I win, now it's time to pay up, Usa!" Nanami exclaims as she sits back down on the floor across from Usagi and pulls a knapsack over to her.
Usagi lets out a groan and almost falls forward when she sees her Aunt pull out a large pack of multicolored markers. 'Why is it always me?' she questions once again as her Aunt stalks over to her with a devilish smile upon her face once more.
Hotaru walks into Usagi's room the next morning with Haruka hot on her heels. The young girl had missed her work out session and the two girls were there to find out why. When they open the door they see bottles scattered everywhere, some multicolored markers sitting upon a small table in the middle of the room and a snoring mass under the table. The mass is an exhausted Usagi dressed in only a pair of boxers and a specially made bra that is designed to bind her breasts comfortably.
They inspect the passed out girl, only to find glasses drawn around the girl's eyes, a weird looking dragon on her stomach and the words I WIN scrawled on the girl's forehead. Upon further inspection they find several other different pictures all over the girl's body, with some of them looking like they had been done in permanent marker.
The sisters look at each other and shake their heads. They begin to pick up the room both lost in their own thoughts, occasionally looking over towards the still past out Usagi when the blondes snores reach their ears over the noise of cleaning up the room.
After they are finished with the room, Hotaru nudges the girl with her foot to see if she will awaken. She nods towards Haruka, who walks over to the girl with a finger stuck in her mouth; she leans down towards the girl only to unceremoniously stick the wet appendage into her sleeping nieces.
"WET WILLY!" Haruka cries as she wiggles said finger in the sleeping girl's ear making odd squishing noises as she chuckles ruthlessly.
Usagi lets out a gasp her eyes growing wide. She tries to escape the wet appendage only to smack her forehead on the bottom edge of the table in her effort to get away. She falls back and groans at the throbbing pain that spreads from the spot she had hit.
"No more, Yahtzee, Please! No more!" Usagi mutters; covering her face with her hands that leave the other two shaking their heads in mirth and sympathy.
"We've really have got to talk to our sister about these late night Yahtzee sessions," Haruka states with a sigh as she helps the exhausted girl towards the bathroom.
"Yeah, I have to agree with you on that one, Ruka," Hotaru states; from inside the closet emerging with Usagi's school uniform in her hands.
"Come on, sleeping beauty, you got to get ready for school," Haruka states; shoving the girl into the bathroom, tossing her uniform to the still groggy Usagi and leaves her to her shower.
Thankfully the day had been quieter than usual for Usagi. She didn't have to do the usual running away from the boys. It would appear that they were taking a break or it could be that they didn't know what to do since Mamoru wasn't in school today. Either way it gave Usagi time to recoup from the late night activities that her Aunt put her through the night before. In class Usagi has her head down on the desk, but she felt like someone was watching her. She didn't give it much thought since the day had been quiet for her. Without another thought as to who was watching her, she lets her eyes close and falls off into another light doze, knowing that if the teacher asked her a question Hotaru would poke her awake to answer it.
Rei sits behind Usagi with her chin in her hand while she watches the stupid idiotic boy sitting in front of her sleep through class. Despite knowing that Nanami is Ren's Aunt, she can't help but wonder what they could be doing that would make the stupid boy so tired that he could barely keep himself from being comatose throughout the class period. A thought comes to her mind and a large red blush colors her cheeks when she thinks of the one thing it could be.
'Stupid, incestuous, pervert,' Rei thinks; shifting her eyes away from the sleeping moron so that she can concentrate on what the nauseatingly boring teacher is talking about up at the front of the class room.
Sometime later after school Haruka and Usagi are standing next to the older woman's convertible waiting for Hotaru and Michiru to get out of the store that they stopped at on their way to the airport.
"So this is great news, isn't it?" Haruka asks trying to make conversation with Usagi while waiting for the two girls to get out of the store.
"I suppose so. It's better than one of the other relatives coming to live with us, but that's obvious," Usagi states looking at her nails making a mental note to trim them before she goes back to school tomorrow. "I really can't remember if Ojiisan said anything about us or not."
"No, he didn't. What I have gathered from everything is that his sister's eldest daughter is coming to stay with us along with her niece. Seems the niece's mother ran off leaving her with the eldest daughter. Her company recently went belly up and she didn't know what else to do so she came to Dad for help. It won't be so bad. I mean, at least there isn't any bad blood between Dad and his sister like there is with the rest of the family," Haruka explains with a wide grin on her face. "It could even be fun."
Usagi chuckles and opens her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted when the two girls come out of the store with arms loaded with snacks and soda. Haruka smiles at Michiru with a slight wink of an eye. She opens the door to the car to allow the two girls to climb into the back seat and gets into the car herself.
"Do you really think that we need that much stuff?" Usagi asks Hotaru once they are settled in the back seat.
Hotaru shrugs her shoulders and chuckles. "Hey, they might be hungry. Plane food doesn't leave much to be desired as you might remember," Hotaru states as Usagi nods her head letting out a chuckle of her own.
"That's true. I had forgotten about the food on the planes. It does tend to be a bit nasty," Usagi states with a thoughtful look on her face.
The two girls look at one another and let out a loud laugh at the thought of the nasty plane food that their two relatives must have had to endure on the plane. With a squeal of the tires, which cause the two teens to hang onto the back of the front seats for dear life, they head off towards the airport and the new occupants of the mansion.
Meioh Ami sits in the plane seat fidgeting around while waiting for the plan to land. The young bluenette, with pale brown eyes and a slim figure looks around the plane at everyone sitting around her minding their own business. She lets out a sigh wondering what this move would bring her and her Aunt.
Her mother had left her with her Aunt Setsuna and now they were flying towards an unknown Aunt and Uncle that neither of them had met before. She knew that she had family somewhere, but her mother never talked about them, since in all reality she hadn't even met her estranged Uncle before herself.
She looks over when she feels a hand on her arm to settle her down and look into the garnet eyes of her Aunt sitting beside her who smiles at her kindly.
"Don't worry, Ami. They are gonna love you. Mom always said that her brother was a good man and I'll trust her judgment," Setsuna states with a large, but forced smile on her face.
"Why didn't you ever meet your uncle before now, Sets?" Ami questions as she tilts her head to the side to regard Setsuna with a curious look on her face.
"Mom just never took us to see my uncle. She said something about him having enough issues with the rest of her brothers and sisters to not be a burden upon him. She used to tell us stories about their childhood together. He was always her favorite brother even if he was a bit odd, but that's why she liked him so much. Being the youngest child of the family people dotted on her and the rest of the siblings resented her for it, but never her brother. Then when he took over for the family they resented him and while she knew that it would hurt him, she just couldn't bring herself to go to him for anything," Setsuna explains before patting the girls arm and pulls it back to rest in her lap.
"Until now that is," Ami states having picked up on the unspoken situation that they were in. "I remember Great-Aunt June once talking about him. She made him sound like the devil incarnate if you actually take what she says to heart. Though I don't think he could be that bad if he's willing to allow us to live there, right?" Ami asks with a small smile to try and cover up her nervousness.
"Well, little one, you have a point there. Besides, from what Uncle said there's a couple kids your age to hang out with. So that will be good for you," Setsuna states with a smile before nudging the girl beside her. "Maybe they can help pull you out of that shell that you've embraced around yourself, hmm?"
Ami blushes a bit before shaking her head. "I don't know about that, Aunt Sets. Though maybe they can help me make a better start then when we were in England. It can't hurt," she states while looking down into her lap, wringing her hands together.
"That's the spirit. You just think that way and you'll have loads of friends beating down the door to hang out with you in no time," Setsuna states; reaching over to hug the girl close to her.
"Yeah and maybe you can find that person you keep dreaming about," Ami states with a sly smirk on her face.
"Oh, could be," Setsuna states; turns her head away from the girl sitting next to her to try and hide the blush that had crossed over her face.
Once she's sure that her face is no longer red, she looks over at her niece and lets out a sigh. This was a side that only she was allowed to see. The girl was bright, funny and could pull pranks with the best of them, but she kept herself locked up in her own world where no one else was allowed to tread except for her and her good for nothing mother, but she was sure that this change would be good for her and her mother had assured her that Ami being around the two youngest boys would be the cure for it, because they were very spirited lads that enjoy playing pranks just as much as Ami did.
'Yeah, this is just what, Ami needs, change,' Setsuna thinks to herself leaning over to place a small kiss on her niece's cheek.
The young girl turns towards her Aunt and smiles brightly at her only to turn forward once again with the nervousness back upon her face when the pilot announces that they'll be landing at the airport within ten minutes.
The four girls walk through the airport towards the gate that they were told that the plane from England would be unloading at. While they walk through the terminal, groups of girls swoon at the site of Haruka, Usagi and Hotaru while the boys point and whisper about Michiru whose arm is currently linked through Haruka's.
Haruka smirks and winks at the girls making them swoon even more much to Usagi's chagrin making the young blond to unconsciously roll her eyes at Ruka's ham act. She looks over to Hotaru to say something only for her mouth to drop open agape when she notices that Hotaru is doing the same thing.
Usagi likes girls just like her two Aunts, but at the same time she doesn't want to call attention to herself like her two Aunts do. She smirks to herself when she notices Michiru smacking Haruka upside the head for flirting with a bunch of girls that are younger than her, only to roll her eyes again when she hears Haruka whine about Hotaru being able to do the same thing so why couldn't she?
Usagi face palms at Haruka's whining and Hotaru begins to laugh at her sister's predicament that is until Michiru looks back at the two girls. The older woman glares at them, but gives them a ghost of a wink and a slight smile before turning back around to continue on with her fiancé.
Hotaru looks at Usagi and they begin to laugh loudly at the moping Haruka in front of them. Usagi howls loudly about Haruka finally being put into her place with whips and chains which causes Hotaru to laugh even harder than before.
Shaking her head, Haruka begins to wonder if school hasn't finally made her younger family members lose their minds from all the stress they are put through. She leans over to kiss Michiru's cheek when she hears a young man make a comment about what her fiancé is wearing.
After the two girls finally calm down, Usagi suggests that they get going so that they don't leave their guests waiting at the terminal wondering where they are. Listening to the voice of reason the three girls nod their heads before continuing their trek towards the gate with a Michiru following behind them shaking her head at the family in front of her.
Upon arriving at the gate they notice a blue haired girl and a dark haired woman with green streaks in her hair waiting for them at the front of the gate, looking around as if either lost or waiting for someone.
Haruka looks at the pictures she's been caring and informs the trio that it's the family members they are looking for. Usagi looks over again at the duo only to raise an eyebrow at the color combination in the taller woman's hair and wonders if it's natural or a dye job. Shrugging her shoulders at the thought, she walks over with Hotaru.
"Hello there, I'm Tsukino Ren; beside me is Hotaru. It's a pleasure to meet you," Usagi states; bowing before the two girls in front of them.
Setsuna smiles at the platinum blonde haired boy in front of her and bows back. "I'm Meioh Setsuna and this is my niece Meioh Ami. Thank you very much, for picking us up."
Usagi smiles at the duo and nods her head quietly. They walk over to Haruka and Michiru who introduce themselves and bow before their guests who bow back towards the polite couple.
"Have you been waiting long?" Haruka questions as they walk towards the luggage claim area.
"No, we just arrived. I think we waited maybe only a couple of minutes before you arrived," Setsuna states as her eyes scan the carousal for their luggage.
When it finally arrives Setsuna makes a move to claim it, but is stopped when the three boys standing beside her ask her to just point out which ones are theirs. She points to the four bags that roll down the conveyor belt towards them only to have the boys lift them up from the carousal and sling them over their shoulders while they continue on with the conversation at hand which consists of barbs about Haruka and some girls from before.
Setsuna raises an eyebrow at this and wonders how they could be so courteous towards other people yet so rambunctious with one another. She shrugs her shoulders and follows the rowdy boys through the airport with Michiru beside her. She smiles at the other woman and begins so small talk and finds an instant friend with the quiet woman who has the same interests as herself.
Ami follows behind them her nervousness twisting her stomach into knots at meeting the new members of her family. She's in awe of the three boys walking in front of her, though. The air they give off is of such a quiet strength that she hopes that by being around them that strength will somehow be transferred to her in some way so that she will have that sort of strength someday.
Arriving at Haruka's car they put the luggage into the trunk then stand around trying to figure out seating arrangements with Hotaru or Usagi making comments about Haruka not thinking about what to do once they had two more passengers.
Michiru stands off to the side quietly laughing behind a hand while watching her fiancé try to figure out what to do as she defends herself against her niece and sister. The quiet woman smiles slightly to herself even though it's going to be cramped she enjoys seeing the two girls banter with Haruka without having to be so reserved as they normally are.
Haruka finally concedes to the two young girls and admits that she didn't think things through before it's decided that Ami is going to have to sit upon her Aunts lap on the trip back to the mansion. Usagi had offered her lap to the young girl saying that it wasn't any trouble, but the girl just blushes a deep red and mumbles out a no.
Setsuna bites back a laugh at her niece's predicament when Hotaru gives her a look and starts to tease the girl with a smile upon her face which only makes the shy girl blush even more at the Hotaru's words.
After the playing they get settled into the car with Ami upon Setsuna's lap as prearranged and Haruka whips out of the parking lot in order to make the uncomfortable ordeal more bearable by getting to the mansion as fast as possible even though faster doesn't always mean better.
Ami hangs onto her Aunt for dear life while Haruka races down the streets towards the place that she will be calling home from now on. As she hangs on she wonders if she would be flying out of the car around one corner due to Haruka's excessive speed, but knows that her Aunt wouldn't let anything to happen to them.
With the cramped space and the wind blowing towards them, they didn't have any chance to talk on the way back to the mansion, so the car is quiet; each of its occupants lost within their own thoughts the entire way home.
The dangerous ride finally comes to an end when they arrive back at the mansion. Usagi stumbles out of the car with Hotaru right beside her. They both fall to their knees screaming about being back on land and thanking Kami that they were alive while Setsuna stands off to the side laughing with a shell shocked Ami swaying beside her.
Haruka looks at the two girls mock kissing the ground with a scowl upon her face before turning to Michiru to ask her if she was the devil when it comes to driving as the girls on the ground were currently yelling. Michiru lets out a laugh pulling her fiancé towards her to bandage the woman's bruised ego by saying her driving is just fine and gives her a kiss to reassure her.
Servants rush towards the car with Hotaru and Usagi still moaning on the ground about seeing their lives flash before their eyes. The maids give the two girls amused looks before they start to unload the trunk of the luggage that's tucked safely inside of it.
After sometime on the ground Haruka finally barks out to Usagi and Hotaru to get up or she was going to kick their asses and makes her way towards the mansion with a scowl still upon her face. The two girls look up and laugh before following Haruka into the house with Ami, Setsuna and Michiru following them.
"Good evening, Master Tsukino has asked for me to escort you to the foyer. He would like to talk to the two of you before you get settled in. Once you are done just ask one of the maids where your rooms are and they'll take you to them. Now if you'll follow me, please," the maid states; bowing once again and leads the two girls away from the other girls who look towards one another.
"What's that all about?" They ask together only to start laughing at their in stereo questioning.
They shrug their shoulders and turn towards the other foyer after coming to a decision to play some cards while they wait for their house mates to come back from whatever meeting the patriarch had in store for them. Haruka grabs the cards from shelf off to the side of the room and they each take a seat around the low table in the middle of some chairs.
"What do you suppose that was all about?" Hotaru questions as she deals out the cards to her sister, sister in law and niece.
"No, idea, but I'm sure we can find out later," Haruka states with a shrug of her shoulders as she arranges her cards in her hand.
"Yeah, who knows, maybe they'll tell us," Usagi states; leaning back into the couch and closes her eyes since she declined the invitation to play cards with her family.
"Or maybe you can go find out for yourself," a familiar voice states from the doorway and everyone turns their head to see Nanami standing there.
"I don't think that's such a good idea, Nanami," Usagi states from where she is sitting, her eyes growing wide when Nanami claps her hands together with a gleeful look on her face.
"Oh good, you are awake! That means I can get a game of Yahtzee in before I leave for my party," Nanami states excitedly only to frown when Usagi flops back on the couch and proceeds to snore quietly.
"Well, I guess that's out," Nanami states with a shake of her head and walks out of the room.
Hotaru and Haruka begin to laugh boisterously while Michiru raises an eyebrow at Nanami. She wonders how the woman could be fooled so easily only to begin to feel a headache come on when she tries to wrap her mind around it. On the couch Usagi laughs quietly her shoulders shaking slightly in her mirth.
Usagi lays on her bed thinking about the problems that arose throughout the week like the dawn of a new day. Not only did she have Mamoru dogging her every step, but a lot more of the boy population at school as well. The rumor mill was going rampant with Usagi's incident with her Aunt Nanami, throwing herself at "Ren-San" and that was the tamest of the rumors circulation around. The girls had heard the rumors as well, which made them amp up their attempts at making Usagi notice them. One of them went as far as throwing her bra at the blonde's head as she walked by.
Usagi groans and thumps her head onto the bed proceeding to slam a pillow over her face and screams into it. Mamoru and his gang had been more ruthless then before. All week long they pursued her from the beginning of the day to the end. By the end of the week she was ready to collapse into a heap of exhaustion and sleep for weeks.
A soft tap on her door brings the girls head out from under her pillow and glares at the door in abject hatred. She briefly wonders if she can simply just will the person, on the other side of the door, to spontaneously combust by using just her mind.
Another knock this time a bit louder sounds from the door once again accompanied with a voice. "Usa, are you in there?" The muffled voice questions from behind the closed door.
She groans and puts the pillow back over her head when she recognizes the voice calling out to her. Usagi lets out a long, suffering sigh knowing that the person will continue to knock until she relents later. Better to get it done and over with in her mind.
"It's open!" She cries out from under the pillow when the knock sounds out again from her door.
"Hey, how was your day? You flew by when you came home that I didn't get the chance to ask you," Haruka states; sitting down gingerly on the side of the bed and gives Usa the once over, noticing the new bruises, cuts and some bandages on her face. "Who did this?"
"Who do you think?" Usagi questions; turning onto her side with a grimace. "Mamoru and his cronies were out in greater numbers today than they had been for the entire week. Seems as the week progressed more and more boys found out about Nanami coming by on Monday and the rumor mill kept growing the entire week it ranged from her throwing herself at me to us doing it right there in the court yard."
"That's insane! Why doesn't anyone do anything about it?" Haruka asks; pushing Usagi over onto her back and lifts up her shirt to see a multitude of bruises around her stomach and sides.
"I don't know. That's a question that I ask myself every day. Hey, what's that?" Usa nods towards the envelope that is not resting at Haruka's side.
"Oh, Luna gave it to me, it's a letter from Hotaru," Haruka states and the two girls share a grimace.
With a sigh Usagi pulls her shirt down and rolls off the bed onto the floor. She rubs the back of her neck not looking forward to what they are going to have to do next.
"Well, I guess we had better give it to her. I think she went out with Makoto and the girls after school. Hotaru said that girls were talking about wanting to go to the new arcade that opened up in town or something like that. I'm not really sure. I wasn't paying too much attention because I was too busy running away from the wannabe angry mob with their torches and pitch forks," Usa responds with a roll of her eyes before she goes over to her dresser to change out of her school uniform.
Haruka stands up and puts her hands behind her head while she watches her niece rummage through her drawers. "Umm, Usa, how are we supposed to find them if you aren't sure where they are and why aren't you with them anyway? Usually you're all for hanging out with Makoto. What's up with that? She hasn't even been here once since you mentioned that she was here."
"Why do you think I'm not with them, Ruka? That damn banshee goes with them everywhere and she tries to kill me all the time. So of course I'm not gonna hang around them," Usa states with a roll of her eyes and scoffs as she tosses some cloths on top of the dresser to wear.
"Did you ever think that maybe the reason that you two don't get along is because you like one another," Haruka questions with mirth dancing in her eyes as she leans against the wall staring at Usa.
Usagi stops rummaging through her and turns around to stare at Haruka. "You have got to be kidding, Haruka! The girl is a maniac! Now get out of my room so I can change," she says with her eyebrow twitching at a laughing Haruka only to push the sandy haired woman out of the room.
Haruka continues to chuckle as she leans against the wall next to Usagi's door waiting for the girl to finish changing. When she emerges Haruka raises an eyebrow at the cloths that she's wearing.
"You're going to go dressed like that? Are you trying to show off for someone?" She questions teasingly.
Usagi looks down at the cloths which consist of baggy olive green cargo pants, black and red skate shoes, a large dark and light blue t-shirt that has a surf board with a dragon on it and a white shell necklace.
"What? How exactly are the cloths I'm wearing show offy? Now, let's get going before I change my mind!" she exclaims; following Haruka down the stairs and out of the house.
"You want me to drive or should we walk?" Haruka asks once she's stopped by her car.
"Let's walk. That way, if we spot her we don't have to find a parking spot," Usagi suggests; as Haruka nods and grabs her sunglasses out of the car.
They head off towards town thinking the same thing. Who keeps writing those letters to Hotaru all the time?
Hotaru leans back in her chair laughing softly while she watches Rei and Minako go up against each other in a dancing game that was turning more into a pushing match than anything else.
Makoto smiles and laughs along with them before turning towards Hotaru. "It was great that you could come with us, Hotaru. I just wish that Usa could've come with us," she states quietly so that no one can hear her before taking a sip of her soda sitting in front of her.
Hotaru groans under her breath when thinking about the conversation that she had with Usa before she had run off and shakes her head. "Yeah, well you know how Usa is. Though I have to admit, her mannerisms right now are a bit strange when she's around Rei-Chan," Hotaru states with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Ahh, so you've noticed that too, huh? Minako and I can't figure out what her problem is. She's not usually like this at all. There's something weird going on between those two isn't there?" Makoto questions with a thoughtful expression on her face as she folds her hands over her glass and leans towards Hotaru with a raised eyebrow.
She's about to respond when she notices that Rei and Minako are done playing are now walking over to them arguing about the game.
"I still think that you cheated somehow!" Minako exclaims with a huff as she sits down in her chair.
"How could I be the one cheating when you were the one pushing and pulling me around onto of the console?" Rei asks with her eyebrow raised; looking at Minako as if she's lost her mind.
"That's exactly what I mean. You shouldn't have won because I was pushing you around so that you wouldn't and yet you still did. So that's got to mean you were cheating," Minako states as the others roll their eyes at the blondes misguided sort of logic.
"Right, if you say so, Minako," Rei states; she turns her head when she hears the door to the arcade open only to roll her eyes when she sees her mom and sister standing on the other side of the door. "Well my day just turned into a nightmare. My mom's here with my little sister."
The dark haired teen slumps in her chair and buries her head into her crossed arms on the table. She looks up when she feels someone touch her arm. She lets out a groan when she notices that her mom is standing right beside her with an apologetic look upon the older woman's face.
"There you are dear. Look I know that it's your day to hang with your friends, but something came up at the office that I can't get out of. So do you think that you can watch your sister for a while?" The older looking Rei asks with a large smile on her face and batting her eye lashes at the giggling teen.
"Hehehe. Okay, mom, but for the love of Kami stop with the sickly sweet smile and the eyelash batting. It's killing me, please!" Rei exclaims just as she covers her face so she doesn't have to see her mom's expression any longer.
"Oh, thank you dear. I'll make it up to you," she states in a soft voice; leaning over to kiss Rei's head and walks with a wave of her hand.
"Hey, Himiko how was your day at school?" Rei questions; scooting her chair back and lifts her younger sister onto her lap.
The younger girl giggles loudly as Rei tickles her sides and smiles up at her older sister with a large smile on her face.
"Neesan, I'm ten years old. I don't need to sit on your lap anymore," Himiko states with a slight slap to Rei's shoulder.
"Well, there's nowhere else to sit and I don't want you standing there waiting for us to leave," Rei reasons with another tickle attack to the younger girls sides once more.
"So, Taru-san, I'm glad that you decided to come with us. We were starting to think that you didn't want to hang out with us," Rei states with a grin upon her face that's mirrored by her friends who look at the quiet young man sitting with them.
"Oh, yeah, I was just talking to Makoto-Chan, about that. It wasn't that I didn't want to come along with you; it's just that I've been busy. I really am glad that I came with you. I've been having a lot of fun," Hotaru smiles at everyone at the table. "And please just call me, Taru, we're all friends here."
"Only if you do the same thing," Rei states; with a smile towards Taru who blushes slightly.
"Same goes for us, Taru," Minako agrees; with a dreamy look on her face as she watches the boy beside her then she raises an eyebrow when her cell phone rings.
She looks at the caller id then excuses herself before she gets up from the table and walks away from the group to answer the call. The other occupants of the table casually sipped their milkshakes or sodas waiting for the blonde haired girl to come back.
After a few moments she comes back over to the table and sits down with a forced smile upon her face as the others look at her eyebrows raised.
"That was my father, he said that he might be coming home late tonight, so I can either order out tonight or go stay at a friend's house since it's Friday," Minako states with a slight dejected look on her face.
"Did he say what was keeping him at the office for so long," Rei asks; sipping her milkshake with a look of sympathy on her face.
"Not really, he just said that it was very important and that he had to take care of it before Monday and it couldn't wait any longer," Minako sighs; putting her chin in the palm of her hand.
Hotaru looks over at the dejected looking blonde and realizes that she had worn that look many times over the years when her father couldn't come home for something, but she keeps silent about it.
Makoto looks over at Hotaru and notices the sympathetic look on her young friends face. She leans over towards Hotaru to explain the situation.
"Minako works for your dad's company just like mine dad and Rei's mom and dad. His work keeps him there late because he's in sales and development so he ends up staying late. That's probably why Rei's mom dropped off Himiko here with us."
"Oh, I see," Hotaru nods her head in understanding. She doesn't ask about Minako's mother though.
She wasn't sure where Minako's mother was, but didn't want to ask either. She was afraid that by approaching the subject it would bring up questions about her own family and she didn't know how to answer them without giving up to many details that would put her niece's identity in jeopardy. Plus, she didn't feel like talking about her own mother's death which was still a sore subject for the young teen.
'Besides she probably did have a mother and didn't have to worry about living a life that wasn't entirely her own,' Hotaru thinks that leaves a bitter taste in her mouth causing her to take another sip of her soda.
Minako must be psychic or she caught the expression upon her face because she turned towards Hotaru with a smile on her face and begins to explain.
"My parents are divorce that's partly way we're here. Dad felt that it would be best if we just moved away. I'm originally from England, but then dad moved us to where I met Makoto and Rei. Rei's parents and Makoto's dad ended up having to transfer here to help the sales department since they are on the same team with my father. They're a good team and the company didn't want to split them up. Anyway, I go see mom in the summer plus over the holidays and she said that this year she'd come to Tokyo to visit, so it's not that bad."
Hotaru just nods her head and takes another sip of her soda, digestion the information that Minako had told her. A while ago it had become a rule of hers to never pry into other peoples personal lives. Only to save herself from the sympathy and pity that she was sure she would get for having such a messed up life of her own. Those two emotions were something she didn't need nor wanted from people that barely knew her.
"So, Taru, what's your family like?" Rei asks which causes Hotaru to mentally slap herself on the forehead and almost choke on her soda.
'I swear that Minako and Rei are psychic. That's just too coincidental,' Hotaru muses to her-self as she tries to regain her composure.
She knew that she had to answer the question due to her upbringing and the manners that were instilled upon her since she could talk, but it's hard to explain to other people not in her family what they are truly like. She knew it would be extremely rude to Rei to say that it was none of her business, but how was she supposed to answer that specific question?
"Taru, is everything okay?" Rei questions in a concern voice and reaches over to Hotaru to place a hand on her shoulder with a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just thinking. My family is regular, I suppose. There isn't much to say about them. My father owns a father large business as you know. It takes up a lot of his free time so I can understand where Minako is coming from. Family is always stopping over to visit and we have a great time," she states with a forced grin that makes Makoto raise an eyebrow.
'That just isn't what her family is really like, but I guess it would be weird to tell them that her father makes her, Haruka and Usagi dress, act and practically be boys. Yeah, that would go over like a lead balloon,' Makoto thinks leaning running a hand through her hair as the thought of Hotaru's family gives her a slight headache.
"Oh yeah, that sounds a bit like my family. They are always stopping over to visit with either mom or dad. My father always takes Himiko's side in everything. Doesn't he, Himiko?" She asks her younger sister before tickling her, making her giggle and the others laugh around the table.
Makoto looks over at Hotaru who forces out a laugh and shakes her head sadly.
'Yep, there is defiantly something going on. Kami, those two girls have got to be so lonely,' Makoto thinks again before joining in on the conversation with her friends.
Usagi lets out a sigh for the hundredth time since they started to walk towards town. She turns her head towards Haruka who is currently walking beside her with a slight frown on her face. She grumbles under her breath while they look for the arcade that Hotaru had mentioned to Usagi earlier in the day.
"Where the hell is she? We've been to every friggin arcade that we could find and yet no Hotaru."
"Hey, Usa, let's stop and get something to drink, huh? We've been walking for an hour and I don't know about you, but I could use a drink," Haruka explains; steering the other girl over towards an outdoor café.
Usagi lets out another sigh with a nod of her head she follows Haruka to the café that she had pointed out.
"And don't get so bent out of shape. We'll find them and then you can make googly eyes at Rei all you want," Haruka chuckles looking at Usagi with an evil smirk on her face.
Usagi's face goes an interesting red as her eyebrow starts to twitch. Very slowly she turns her head towards her Aunt who's still got an evil smirk upon her face much to the blonde's chagrin.
"I don't like that Banshee!" She screams at the still smirking woman with a shake of her fist as she tries to not jump over the table at the blonde woman.
Haruka starts to laugh loudly which makes Usagi raise an eyebrow than slowly turns her head taking a look around at the people looking at her with expressions ranging from angry to amusement.
Usagi slinks down into her chair thinking that it would be a good time for ground to open up and swallow her whole right at this particular moment.
"Kill me," Usagi mutters much to the amusement of her aunt who starts to laugh once more.
Hotaru and her friends crossed over to another street while chatting away about school and some teachers. Hotaru lets a smile cross her face as she watches the three girls carrying on. For the longest time, she didn't allow herself to make friends and her only companions were Usagi and Haruka, but now she mused that it was actually fun to hang out with other people besides her own family. She knew that she couldn't allow her guard to drop or her identity could become compromised, but she did allow herself to have some fun and relax a little bit.
"So, do you want to come?" Rei asks which makes Hotaru blink in confusion.
"I'm sorry, what was that? I was thinking," Hotaru explains with a slight blush upon her face.
"Well, my family is sort of throwing a party tomorrow night and I know that it's short notice and all, but I thought you'd like to come with us, maybe spend the day as well. Go out have dinner then come to the party. It's nothing formal so you don't have to dress any differently then you usually do. So can you come?" Rei asked in a hopeful tone as she looks at Hotaru with doe eyes.
Hotaru's eyes widen at the sight before her and she nods her head slightly a small smile coming to her face. 'What was that about not letting my guard down?' She asks herself with a shake of her head.
"Hey, Usa, you want to share a piece of chocolate cake?" A voice asks from somewhere off to her left side.
"Umm, I don't think that's a good idea. After all, didn't you get smacked by Michiru last time you ate before dinner?" A very familiar voice filters towards Rei.
Rei turns her head and notices a familiar platinum blonde haired boy sitting at a café table with a taller blonde haired boy in front of him.
Makoto looks up and smiles as she points over towards where Haruka and Usagi sit. "Hey, isn't that Haruka-san and Ren-san over there?"
Hotaru lets out a sigh of relief before waving over towards her sister and her niece.
"Hey, there's Taru and some girls. Hey, Taru, there you are!" Haruka shouts in greeting and gets up from the table to walk over towards where Hotaru and the other girls are standing. Haruka puts her arm around Hotaru's shoulders and smiles down at the shorter girl. She waves a hand towards the other girls who greet Haruka with a smile.
Usagi rolls her eyes and slowly gets up from her seat. She strolls over to the girls casually with her hands stuffed into her pockets. She smiles at Hotaru before waving a hand at the other girls.
Rei glares at the platinum haired boy, her mood instantly dropping from being happy to angry the instant she saw him coming over towards them.
"So, hey, do you mind if we tag along?" Usagi asks when she turns towards Makoto feeling the slight negative energy directed at her from the raven haired girl standing not too far away from her.
"No"
"No"
"YES"
"No"
Minako and Makoto turn to glare at their friend while Rei looks down at her sister beside her with her mouth agape than glares at the younger girl for her insubordination only to have the young girl shrug her shoulders slightly.
"What? I think he's cool looking," she states to her sister who grows fangs and is about to yell at her sister for saying that the stupid boy standing beside them is cool.
However, just before she can utter a peep, Makoto swoops in and puts a hand over the other girl's mouth to keep the girl from going off on a tangent about the blonde haired boy. She smiles widely at Usagi and Haruka who have their eyebrows raised with questioning looks upon their faces.
"We'd love it if you two join us. We're just out for a walk. So come on," she invites them with a warning glare at Rei just before she takes her hand away from the dark haired girls mouth.
"Fine, fine, I can live with him coming with us," she states in a huff crossing her arms over her chest.
The teens let out a sigh of relief that the explosion of their volatile friend had been avoided and a verbal argument hadn't broken out in the streets between the two hot heads. They start on their way down the street with Usagi walking in front of the group.
As she walks down the street with her hands behind her head, she listens in to the conversation going on around her with slight interest as to what they were deciding to do. She lets a smile cross over her face when it's decided that they will all go to the park and have some fun since they have Rei's little sister with them.
Usagi nods her head slightly when she is asked if that's okay then goes back to not listening to them once more. She feels a slight shiver pass over her body as the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. To her it feels like someone was trying to bore holes into the back of her head which is what she felt during classes a lot of the time. Thought she can be a little slow from time to time, it didn't take a genius to figure out who exactly it is that's currently doing the glaring. She sighs wearily as she falls deep into thought about the feisty girl behind her. She knew that Makoto was okay and Minako seems alright with her, even if she does come off a bit of a space case at times. It was that amethyst eyed girl who was an entirely different story. For some odd reason Usagi just couldn't get along with the dark haired teen at all and it was a complete mystery to her as to why.
'That girl, what the hell is her deal anyway?' Usagi muses, only to frown to herself her eyebrows furrowing deep in thought. 'What the hell is her name again, anyway?' She knew that she had heard it from Hotaru and Haruka on numerous occasions, but usually after they said the girls name she'd end up getting angry with them and start ranting about the girl. She knew Minako's because the girl had come up and told her otherwise she was pretty sure she wouldn't have known it. For the life of her though she couldn't remember that dark haired girls name at all, because usually she just referrers to her as the banshee, abusive animal, a dragon and on a couple of occasions she called her the beast. Now that she thinks about it, she never once called the abusive girl by her name while they traded insulting names back and forth whenever they saw one another.
During morning class she often dozed off during roll call and never paid much attention unless her name was called. At lunch, she would sometimes nap on Hotaru's lap so she wasn't included in their conversations. Throughout the week she had hardly seen any of them during break because she was too busy fighting off Mamoru and his gang of pansy boys.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looks over to her side and sees Haruka smiling down at her then points over towards a store.
"Hey, Usa, let's go on in and see if we can't find a couple of toys for the squirt to play with at the park, huh?" Haruka asks Usa who looks up and sees Rei's sister on Haruka's shoulders with a large smile on her face.
"Sure, let's go on in," Usa states with a chuckle following the duo over to the store to purchase a couple toys for the park.
When they come out they continue on their way to the park with Rei glaring at the back of Usagi's head the entire way there.
Hours passed and the sun had set when Usagi and her aunts return back to the mansion. Hotaru and Haruka watch with amused expressions on their faces as the two siblings watch Usagi collapse onto the sofa and stretch out on top of it.
"I've got a feeling that girl is out to kill me or something," Usagi whispers which makes Haruka and Hotaru look at each other with shared frowns on their faces.
The two girls sit beside Usagi and place their hands on each side of the girl's shoulders.
"Oh come on, Usa. She's not that bad," Haruka offers with a small grin on her face.
"Not that bad? Are you seriously?" Usa exclaims thinking that their sanity should be in question as she shoots up from her spot on the couch and glares at her Aunt.
"At the park she kicked the soccer ball at my head and made me take a nose dive into the grass! I'm still picking grass out of my teeth by the way!"
"I'm sure she thought you knew that she was going to kick it to you. She probably figured that you could deflect it with your chest or your head. As for doing a face plant into the ground well how was she supposed to know that you were behind her when she was backing up?" Hotaru reasons which causes Usagi to frown more at the other teen.
"Okay, fine, I'll give you that point on account that it could be sure. Then what about her pouring her soda into my lap and making me lose my hot dog to the evil weevils?"
"Well she said that she was trying to get a better spot on the ground and accidentally dumped it into your lap which was completely accidently. As for the hot dog, well, how was she supposed to know that while she was gesturing as she told a story that you were going to walk by her? Besides, Usagi, those were dogs now weevils!"
"Alright, how about when one of her sandals flew from her foot and hit me in the head?"
"Her strap on her sandal broke," Haruka explains in a deadpan voice.
"When she stretched out her arms and her ice cream cone shoved into my face."
"How was she supposed to know that you were walking up to her to ask something of Makoto who was sitting beside her?" Hotaru raises an eyebrow at Usagi who throws her hands up in frustration.
"HOTARU! HARUKA!" Usagi howls out when her two Aunts give her plausible reasons for each of her acquisitions.
"She's a damn, demon, I'm telling you!" Usagi exclaims while crossing her arms over her chest.
"Naw, she's purely human and I keep telling you that," Hotaru states and moves quickly when Usagi tries to grab the chuckling blonde.
Usagi topples off the couch in her efforts and stares up at the chuckling Haruka who sits on the couch looking down at her prone niece. She lets out a huff and gives Haruka a dirty look than stomps out of the room muttering to her-self.
She brushes past a stunned Setsuna without even a hello and goes up to her room. Setsuna looks back at the retreating back of the muttering girl then looks back into the room she just came out of noticing the laughing siblings.
"What's wrong with him?" She questions as she comes into the room and walks over to the large chair with a huge sketch book under her arm.
"Oh, he's just pissed because he has a crush on this girl, but is determined to prove that she's out to get him," Haruka states with a chuckle earning her a slap on the arm from Hotaru.
"While most of that is true," Hotaru states with a glare at her sister. "It's more that he thinks that Rei want's nothing more than to hurt him, so he looks at things with a negative light when it comes to things that she does. However, most of the incidents are purely accidently."
Setsuna nods her head with a chuckle and rolls her eyes at the explanation. "So it's like a grade school crush where they insult each other and pull one another's hair?"
Haruka and Hotaru look at each other before breaking out into laughter. "Yeah something like that," Haruka states with a nod of her head.
"That's a funny situation. I hope they figure it out soon," Setsuna shakes her head and chuckles.
She opens her sketch book and begins some sketching only to look up after a bit when something comes to her mind. She looks over towards Hotaru who is currently listening to something Haruka was thinking of doing.
"Umm, Taru, can I ask you a question?" Setsuna questions placing her sketchbook aside when Hotaru looks up and nods her head.
"Oh, what's that, Setsuna?" Hotaru asks coming over to sit down in a chair next to Setsuna's while Haruka stays on the couch.
"Well, I was wondering if you could maybe show Ami around a bit. I mean, I know she's shy and all, but if you could just show her around and let her get to know the place then maybe she wouldn't stay hold up in her room studying all the time. Not that I condone studying, but there is only so much someone can do, you know?"
"Sure, I can do that. Ren and I can show her around at school too. We can introduce her to Makoto, Minako and Rei. Well, I'll introduce her to Rei, because if Ren comes with us for that one, then those two will just get into a fight again," Hotaru states deep in thought before a wide smile spreads across her face as she remembers the conversation from earlier in the day. "Well, actually, speaking of Rei. Her family is having a party tomorrow. That would be a great time to get her out of the house. I'll ask Rei if it's okay that I bring her along than she can meet everyone there."
"That sounds like a great idea. Thank you, Taru," Setsuna states with a large smile on her face.
She reaches down to pick up her discarded sketchbook thinking that maybe the party is just the ticket for her very shy niece. She can meet some new friends and hopefully have a good time while she does so. Yes, Setsuna would have to think of a way to keep her niece from weaseling her way out of going with her family to the function.
Hotaru smiles back at Setsuna glad to be able to help the woman figure out how to help her shy niece. She looks up and says good night to Haruka when she announces that she should be heading over to her own house. She excuses herself to Setsuna and heads on up to her own room so she can get some homework done. She stops at Usagi's room where she finds the blonde sitting at her desk with her own homework in front of her. The teen doesn't look up from her text book at all, but holds out a letter towards Hotaru. After she takes the letter from her, Usa points towards the door effectively dismissing the shorter teen and goes back to her homework.
With a sigh and a shake of her head, Hotaru walks towards her own room. She looks down at the letter within her hands her eyes growing wide. An audible gulp echoes down the hallway when she notices that it's one of those letters again. Slowly she closes the door with a soft click behind her.
To be continued…
