fluorite 01
Life went on too quickly.
After the (somewhat temporary) defeat of Chaos, life went on. They had all, at first, been wary. The past had taught them that peace was short-lived, that everyone wanted the silver crystal, that they were never going to be normal as much as they wanted to be. Experience trained them to be ready for anything, everything, all things—even nothing. They were soldiers, warriors, senshi, children of love and justice and stars, and none of that was as glamorous as the general public thought it was.
But after days turned into weeks turned into months, they started to believe that maybe—perhaps—there was a chance that love and justice and stars meant school, arcades, gossip and ice cream. Minako certainly thought so, although her curricular activities extended into the realm of sports clubs. Ami retreated smoothly back into the world of algorithms and words, resurfacing only when Makoto, who spent most of her late nights with new recipes, would remind her she needed to eat. Rei took a while to convince; she spent a few more weeks going through her divination routines before she finally surrendered to the idea of peace.
And Usagi couldn't be any happier. Her friends and the love of her life were still very much alive (though she would have been lying if she denied that every once in a while, they died again, in her dreams—of course, that only made her hold onto them more tightly, more fondly), and Luna had recommended that she rest. She, of course, could not say no to that, especially when arcades, gossip and ice cream were involved (she tried persuading Ami to leave out school—an impossible feat she wouldn't give up on).
But for the other four senshi, there were errands to do.
There had always been errands to do, but Death Busters and circuses and star seeds had gotten in the way. And now, after finally accepting that Chaos would be sleeping for quite a while, Michiru found that the list of errands to do was abysmally long. She had taken over delegating the errands to her family (they complained, even Setsuna), splitting the list into categories—Senshi errands, Real Life errands, and Personal Time errands.
Senshi errands started with Hotaru. Although she wasn't an active soldier during most of the Silver Millenium, she still had the royal crest of Saturn hanging over her head. She had, therefore, been the liaison between her planet and the spirit world. Setsuna implied that it would be wise to get the spirit world on her side again, and Michiru agreed. It had taken a bit of persuasion to convince her, but Michiru finally managed to get Hotaru an appointment with the overlord of the spirit world, Enma.
"He's just so big," Hotaru almost whined when Michiru announced the date.
"Is he now?" Haruka asked innocently. Hotaru missed the joke, but Setsuna gave her sister-figure a swift kick to her knee.
Senshi errands also included selecting a diplomatic envoy for Kinmoku. After the departure of Kakyuu, Michiru wondered how many other galaxies and corresponding senshi were out there. She had mentioned the thought to Ami, who immediately began launching an explanation of the latest scientific discoveries (Michiru, of course, politely tuned out). It wasn't until they received a message from Seiya did they realize that there were still senshi politics to adhere to.
The guardian senshi were excluded from the pickings; it had never been their duty, and Setsuna had no intention of telling them. Instead, she gathered four straws, three of equal length and one short, and held them out to her family.
Hotaru ended up with the short straw. "Excuse me," she said, her voice full of teenage attitude, "but how am I supposed to go to school, Reikai and Kinmoku at the same time?"
"Kakyuu said that they need at least a year before they're ready for you," Setsuna explained. "Shall I send correspondence that Saturn will be our diplomat?"
Hotaru scowled throughout the rest of dinner.
Senshi errands ended with teaching Hotaru and Setsuna how to attack without their weapons. Setsuna had been absolutely defiant at first, until Haruka explained the reasoning behind it. "During that battle with Galaxia, you guys were useless when your glaive and staff broke."
Michiru put a hand on Setsuna's shoulder to keep her from punching Haruka in the face. "What she means is that we don't want you two to be in danger again," she explained gently. "You two are powerful, but you can't rely on your weapons all the time."
It took Hotaru four days to successfully perform a weaker Death Reborn Revolution without her glaive. The attack manifested itself as a dark blue planet that exploded into sharp ribbons of light as it hit its target. The day after that, Setsuna managed to call a powerful Dead Scream in its original purple planet form. It easily disintegrated the makeshift wooden poles she had been aiming at.
Real life errands began with Setsuna. She had, to none of their surprise, bought a shop. It had taken a bit of effort to get started, but she managed to go through the approval process quite easily. The small shop, aptly named Meiou Boutique, was coincidentally (or not) located right next to Crown Game Center. Despite having been opened only for three months, the shop was popular amongst the young, thriving crowd.
Haruka, on the other hand, had started studying for college entrance exams. This shocked all of them; Haruka had been the one who wanted to drop out of high school and focus on racing and travelling the world. When questioned, she seemed slightly offended.
"What, are you saying I don't have brains?"
Hotaru, Setsuna and Michiru stared at her blankly.
"Rude," Haruka scoffed. She brushed the dirt off the skirt of her Juuban Municipal uniform. "For your information, I am quite intelligent. I don't even need school. I'm just humoring my coach; apparently if I have a college education, I can get more sponsors."
"Oh," Setsuna said. "Figures, you're in it for the money."
"I can be educated!" Haruka screeched.
Michiru, once again, took time off from her last year at Juuban Municipal in order to fulfill her musician obligations. That wasn't any problem to her; she was going to keep on pursuing music, and she had already established herself as an accomplished violinist. School was fun for her—a hobby, an extra-curricular. She spent a majority of her time honing her craft, and it didn't bother her.
Real Life errands also happened to transition easily into Personal Time errands, in which Michiru and Setsuna joined a book club. They had found it to be a quaint little experience, and they were able to intermingle with society. Michiru had always been somewhat of a social outcast (even if everyone put her on a pedestal to gape at), and Setsuna kept all her relationships professional.
It was therefore a surprise when they found themselves befriending one Minamino Shiori.
Despite the age difference (more for Michiru, anyway, seeing as Setsuna kept telling everyone a different age depending on her mood), they became fast friends. Shiori was the sweetest woman they had ever met, and it completely blew their minds how genuine she was. They could detect no foul play from her, and that unnerved them. At first they were suspicious (because someone so nice couldn't have been real), but after Setsuna had (quite illegally) looked into the future and saw that the Shiori there was eighty years old with grandkids and no baggage, they concluded that she was The Real Deal.
At that night's meeting, Shiori was passing out cookies she had made with her son. Michiru and Setsuna took tiny bites into the cookies before balking.
"We have to keep her hidden from Haruka," Setsuna said, horrified at how darn good they cookies were.
"Agreed," Michiru responded just as discreetly.
"Are they okay?" Shiori asked, catching sight of their expressions.
"Oh, they're wonderful, Shiori!" Michiru laughed, waving the question away. "We were just discussing battle plans on how to pry the recipe from you."
Shiori looked thoughtful. "If you would like," she started to say, and Setsuna already found herself nodding her head in agreement, "I'm free next week Monday. If you would like to come over—"
"We'd love to," Michiru said, almost too enthusiastically. Setsuna flashed a thumbs-up. "We would absolutely be honored to, Shiori."
"Wonderful!" Shiori clasped her hands together. "And bring your daughter as well! I've heard so much and I'd like to meet her."
The following Monday, two soldiers from the outer rim of the galaxy snuck away while Haruka was off at cram school. The moment they left Minato's boundary, they felt their hearts ease up. If Haruka knew they were off for dinner with a new friend and didn't include her, she would have a fit. Michiru pulled out her phone and called Hotaru as Setsuna made a sharp turn to avoid hitting the curb.
"Honey, I'm texting you an address you should come to after your music club, okay?"
"Okay," Hotaru said, sitting in a booth at Crown Game Center, obviously not at music club.
"Don't be late! Love you, bye."
Hotaru hung up the phone. Chibiusa, visiting from the future (almost permanently—she had gotten into a fight with her mother over spending too much time in the past and so she retaliated by camping out there), blinked her large red eyes. "Did she catch on?"
"Don't think so." Hotaru grimaced, glancing over to where Minako and Usagi were cheering Ami on at a fighting game.
"Whew," Chibiusa said, wiping her brow. "The only ones that know so far are Minako and Artemis. We have to break the news to each of them slowly."
"Mm," Hotaru agreed, taking a sip of her milkshake. Her eyes caught on her school bag, where a sparkly, violet domino mask with winged edges peeked out from the corner. She swiftly tucked it deeper into its pocket, stifling her secrets.
After another hour, Hotaru finally said goodbye to the guardian senshi and Chibiusa. Her heart felt a little odd as she watched them for a moment before she took her final leave. It was almost like, at that particular moment, she realized that nothing was ever going to be the same, ever again. She'd had this feeling before, in her previous life, when her real parents had tucked her into bed and kissed her goodnight. She woke up three hours later to see her mother fall through the floorboards as a fire swallowed up her reality.
Hotaru knew better than to ignore it. She hesitated a moment before ducking into an alley and reaching into her school bag to pull out the Deep Aqua Mirror. Michiru had lent it to her for the first trip she had taken to the spirit world, saying she was allowed to keep it to monitor things. After all, in this moment of peace, it wouldn't be of much use.
She rubbed at it with the sleeve of her uniform before she spoke. "Reikai."
An uncomfortable sensation poured from the mirror. The images she saw were blurry for a moment before they sharpened. One of the ferry girls she had seen earlier was speaking to a baby with a pacifier; she was saying something about an insect infestation. Before Hotaru could piece everything together, the images faded away.
She sighed, putting the mirror away. Her hand caught onto the mask she had hidden away earlier. She briefly rubbed her thumb over it before shaking her head. Michiru was waiting.
It took a half hour to reach the destination. Hotaru briefly wondered what in the world she was doing, but she knocked on the door anyway. It was late—late enough that she could have pretended that music club went longer than usual, but too early for dinner. She wanted to get out of her uniform as quickly as possible; sometimes the stares from the public at her Mugen uniform made her uneasy. The school had reopened after a philanthropist had bought the grounds; still, the reputation her father had created still drew whispers.
The door opened. A boy blinked at her. "May I help you?"
Hotaru blushed a bright red. Hadn't she gotten the address right? "I'm sorry, I must be—"
"Hotaru," Michiru's familiar voice rang out. Hotaru's embarrassment quickly faded into confusion. Michiru's head popped behind the boy. "You're finally here! I thought that maybe you had forgotten!"
Hotaru did not ask why her mother figure was at some teenage boy's house. She also did not ask why her mother figure was wearing her best not-trying-to-be-sexy-but-aren't-I? outfit. She kept her lips tight and bowed to the boy, murmuring a greeting. He returned her greeting, equally bemused. It wasn't until Michiru grabbed her elbow and dragged her to the living room did she understand.
Setsuna was chatting rather enthusiastically with an older woman. They were laughing about something, at which Michiru quickly joined in. The three women shared private smiles before Michiru pushed Hotaru forward.
"This is our little girl, Shiori!"
Even without Michiru's warning pinch, Hotaru would have bowed at the waist and greeted the woman properly. She bit back a yelp, shooting Michiru a glare as she straightened up. Michiru seemed oblivious. Shiori started forward and clasped Hotaru's hand. "You are so pretty! Your mothers have told me all about you. It's your third year at Mugen junior high, right? I heard they were rebuilding the school under a new code of conduct to avoid what happened last time with the corrupt teachers. It's pretty prestigious now, isn't it? Have you thought about what high school you want to go?"
Hotaru grinned feebly. When Setsuna gave her a stone cold glare behind Shiori's back, she forced her mouth to open wider. So this was the infamous Minamino Shiori they wouldn't shut up about. That meant she had to be on her very best behavior. No wonder Haruka wasn't around.
"This is my son, Shuichi," Shiori was saying. Shuichi was lingering by the doorway, looking as uncomfortable as Hotaru felt. "He's a first year at Meiou. That's not too far from Mugen, is it? You should try applying there, I'm sure a smart girl like you would easily get in."
"That's a very good school," Setsuna said, smiling at Shuichi. "No wonder Shiori is so proud of you."
"Meiou?" Michiru said suddenly, turning to Hotaru. "Isn't that—"
Hotaru was sweating. "No," she said unconvincingly. Shuichi gave her an odd look.
"Yes it is," Setsuna spoke up, exchanging a conspiring look with Michiru. "That boy that's been sending you those letters, he goes to Meiou."
"She has a secret admirer," Michiru added to Shiori, who looked positively excited at the piece of gossip. "A particularly obstinate one. He always signs his letters with a diamond. It's not you, is it, Shuichi-kun?"
"Michiru-mama," Hotaru hissed, yanking on the back of Michiru's dress. Shuichi, bless his dear heart, only laughed.
"I'm afraid it's not me," he said, easing into the conversation. He still did not enter the room, but his words brought a teasing smile to Michiru's face.
"Ahh, no luck," Michiru said playfully. "And here I thought you'd be a wonderful handsome son-in-law."
Shuichi took her compliments graciously, ducking his head as Shiori started giggling. "Not too late to start, Shuichi!"
"Mother," Shuichi said, slightly scolding. He finally entered the living room, to take the empty platter in the middle of the table. "Is there anything I can get you?"
"We're fine, thank you."
The three women watched as Shuichi made his way to the kitchen. Setsuna averted her gaze to her tea. "He's a very good child."
"Sometimes I think too good," Shiori commented. She placed her teacup down. "Hotaru, have a seat, please. Tell us more about this admirer."
"Admirers," Michiru corrected, yanking Hotaru down on the couch next to her. "I don't know how she does it, but this kid of ours catches the eye of too many boys. Haruka always has to chase them away from following her home."
"Do tell, Hotaru! Let us old, single women live vicariously through you," Setsuna sang in a very un-Setsuna way as Hotaru gaped.
"Single?" Michiru scoffed. "As old as my relationship is, I get plenty of love, and I'm sure that man is going to ask you out soon, Shiori—"
Hotaru did not think she could turn any more red, especially as Shuichi returned with a tray of cookies and a cup of tea for her. She thanked him with her face practically in her lap. He murmured a slight, "No problem," before he raised an eyebrow at his mother.
"You wouldn't understand. It's girl talk, Shuichi," his mother said, winking. Shuichi just shook his head, laughing.
"Right, right, I get it," he said. "I'll be in my room if you need me."
As he made his way towards his room, Michiru spoke up. "Hotaru, quit staring at the boy."
"I'm not staring!" Hotaru squeaked at Michiru's blatant lie. The three women burst into giggles as Shuichi gave them an exasperated glance over his shoulder.
"We're just teasing, Hotaru," Setsuna said. There was something in her cool gaze, however, that made Hotaru sit up a little straighter. She might have imagined it, though, because it was gone as quickly as she had spotted it. Was Setsuna trying to tell her something?
The conversation thankfully turned to the book club. Hotaru tuned them out, sipping politely at her tea, losing herself in her thoughts. What the Mirror had shown her was not particularly alarming; in her first meeting with Enma, she had learned about spirit detectives. The reason the sailor senshi had not had to take care of any demons was because of these spirit detectives. And although Hotaru didn't necessarily want to place her trust in them, she knew that this infestation ordeal would be taken care of.
But still, that feeling from before...
Her phone rang. If Shiori was bothered by the cussing in her ringtone, she didn't show it. Michiru and Setsuna, however, looked like they wanted to kill her. Hotaru politely dismissed herself before answering the call. "Chibiusa, did you change my ringtone again?"
"Yeah, sorry."
"What's up?"
"Trouble." Her voice sounded strangely serious. "Sarayashiki junior high. Can you make it?"
"Five minutes," Hotaru said before hanging up the phone. She swiftly made her way to the living room. "I'm really sorry, but a classmate needs my notes for a test tomorrow. I told her I would meet her tonight, but I forgot."
"Hotaru," Michiru tsked, shaking her head. "How could you forget something like that?"
Hotaru slung her bag over her shoulder, bowing her head. "Thank you for having me, Shiori-san."
"You're welcome any time," Shiori said, standing up. "Do you want me to ask Shuichi to walk you? It's quite late—"
"I'll be fine, thank you."
Hotaru said goodbye one last time before she escaped. Once she was out the door, she whisked the mask from her bag and put it over her eyes.
Showtime, she thought.
x
Unbeknownst to her parents, Real Life errands for Hotaru intersected with Senshi errands. Chibiusa and Hotaru had run into a large demon once on their way home; after Hotaru realized it was from Makai ("The hell is that?" Chibiusa asked), they had both decided to keep the news quiet from the other senshi. Chibiusa therefore had a wonderful plan.
They had approached (cornered) Minako one day after school. Minako, seeing Chibiusa's wily grin and Hotaru's exasperated face, was immediately on guard. "Get away, brats, I don't have any cash!"
"We don't want your money, old cow," Chibiusa retorted. "We want your permission to wear the Sailor V uniform."
"What?" Minako, whose fist went up at the worlds 'old cow.' "No way, kid!"
"Listen, Aino, you're gonna let us wear it," Chibiusa said, standing on the tips of her toes. Minako bared her teeth.
"What the hell does a prepubescent girl like you want to be wearing a sexy outfit like mine for anyway, huh?"
"Please, Minako-san?" Hotaru added in. While watching Chibiusa and Minako banter was always a fun (if not a bit annoying) way to past time, Hotaru didn't feel up to it. Chibiusa's plan was ridiculous, but of course she was being roped into it. How could she say no to the first friend she ever had?
Minako sighed at Hotaru's sweet little smile. "Jeez," she said, rubbing the back of her head, "you probably get everything in the world from Haruka, huh?"
Hotaru shrugged innocently.
Minutes later, the three of them were in Minako's room. Artemis had joined after hearing what the two girls wanted. "Sailor V's outfit, huh? May I ask why?"
"Just, you know," Chibiusa said, twiddling her thumbs. "We figured our real senshi outfits could be for senshi business, and we could use something else for f—"
"For other things," Hotaru quickly interjected, knowing Chibiusa was going to say 'fun.' 'Fun' and Artemis did not mix. Minako narrowed her eyes.
"Other things? Like crime? You two shouldn't worry about that. People will start expecting you to solve all their problems, trust me, I speak from experience—"
"Minako-san, we know," Hotaru interrupted. "I really don't mean to be rude, but we don't need to be lectured."
"Then what do you need a new costume for?"
Both Minako and Artemis raised their eyebrows expectedly. Hotaru and Chibiusa exchanged nervous glances. Chibiusa gave in. "There are weird demons, okay, Hotaru says they're from like Makai or something—"
"The hell is that?" Minako asked, eyes bugging out.
"Exactly what I said," Chibiusa said, throwing her arms up. "Anyway, they're kind of harmless, but to regular people they could be dangerous, so—"
"Uh-uh," Minako said, crossing her arms. "No way. You leave this to us."
"Except you can't transform," Hotaru blurted out. Everyone in the room stared at her. Oops. "I mean, Setsuna-mama mentioned that the guardian senshi have lost the ability to transform for a while now. For hibernation. In preparation for Crystal Tokyo."
"You aren't supposed to know that," Minako said, looking almost offended. "We didn't want you guys to know."
"It doesn't worry any of us," Hotaru said hurriedly. "Really, it's a time of peace, nothing to get worked up about."
She smiled hesitantly. There was a still silence. Minako finally rubbed the back of her neck, sighing. "Hotaru, you really are a problem child."
"S—sorry?"
"Artemis, can you help them out?"
Artemis looked hesitant. "Minako—"
"Homegirl's right. None of us can transform, and I doubt they're going to let Haruka or Michiru know about these demon things. Besides, if they're harmless, it can't hurt, right? Might even be fun for them."
"Told you!" Chibiusa hissed, her elbow digging into Hotaru's side.
"Come on, Art," Minako wheedled, winking. Artemis shook his head.
"Luna is going to kill me," he grumbled before he did a flip in the air. Two moon-shaped compacts appeared, dropping into Hotaru and Chibiusa's respective hands. "You two should understand that these are just disguise accessories and using your powers this way will make you weaker—"
"Yeah, yeah," Chibiusa said flippantly, opening the compact with an awestruck face. Artemis pulled a face. "So how does this work?"
"Crescent Moon Power, Transform," Minako said. Despite the fact that she knew what she was doing was very wrong, she couldn't help but grin. "Try it out."
Chibiusa and Hotaru glanced at each other again. "Crescent Moon Power, Transform!"
The oddest sensation filled Hotaru. It was quite unlike transforming into Sailor Saturn; instead, she was still—her. She glanced over at Chibiusa, who was marveling at the outfit she donned.
"This is so cool," Chibiusa gushed, twirling. The outfit was an exact replica of Sailor V's, with the only difference being that her mask was bright pink. She paused in her self-amazement to gape at Hotaru. "You look so cool."
Hotaru scratched her cheek, chancing a glance in the mirror. Sure, she liked that the skirt was a little longer than their regular senshi wear, but she was unsure about her bare midriff. Why couldn't any of their uniforms be awkward-teenage-girl friendly?
"You guys have to charge those things," Minako said excitedly, her eyes gleaming. "Just leave them open in the light of the full moon. Oh man, Artemis, they make me want to go back to the old days—"
"God forbid," Artemis grumbled, leading Minako to grab him by the collar and chuck him into her laundry basket.
Fast forward to the present. Hotaru—disguised as the mysterious Sailor S—sped to Sarayashiki junior high. Although Chibiusa hadn't technically given her directions, she knew where to go. It had been that way ever since her first trip to the spirit world; she started to feel people. Each of the senshi had a different kind of feel to them, separate from what normal people felt like. And—Shuichi, she realized suddenly, he felt different as well. Shiori felt normal, but her son...
Hotaru found Chibiusa—Sailor M—squatting on the ground, poking something with a stick. "What are you doing?"
"Come here, look at this," Chibiusa said, an odd tone to her voice. Hotaru peeked over her shoulder, seeing some kind of large green insect. It was dead.
"Did you kill it?"
"Yeah." Chibiusa stood up so abruptly that Hotaru almost fell back. Her face was unusually grave. "It was the only one."
"What's wrong?"
Chibiusa cast her eyes down at the insect. She bit her lip. "Maybe we should tell Usagi," she finally said.
"What's wrong?" Hotaru repeated, an edge to her voice.
"It came out of a person's mouth," Chibiusa quickly said, seeing Hotaru's steely gaze. As close as they were, she knew better than to upset Hotaru. "Someone collapsed from dehydration and I saw it crawl out so I grabbed it and killed it, but everyone thought I was some crazy school girl so I ran away, and... I just get a really bad feeling, you know?"
Hotaru bent down, carefully picking up the insect by the giant sucker. It had a large worm-like tail. She committed to memory the two red markings on its back. How odd... It looked all too familiar. Maybe not to her present life, but perhaps...
"Hotaru?"
"I'll bring it to Reikai with me the next time I go," Hotaru mumbled. She held the insect arm's length away. "Maybe Enma-daiou knows something."
Chibiusa said nothing, instead sighing. She carefully reached up to take the sparkly pink mask off her face. "I don't know why, but I just get a really bad feeling," she repeated. Her eyes turned up to the moon. Hotaru saw, not for the first time, nine hundred years of wisdom in her red eyes. "Like this is beyond us."
Hotaru kept quiet. So that was why Chibiusa had called her there. She had wondered, at first, why her friend had been so concerned with an insect. But it was her fear of the uncertainty...
"I met a boy," Hotaru blurted. Immediately Chibiusa's face broke out into a large grin.
"No way! Where? How? When?!"
She was practically nose-to-nose with Hotaru. Hotaru cringed, wondering why she chose that particular tactic to cheer Chibiusa up. And besides, it wasn't like she really met Minamino out of her own will. "Um, I was over at his house before you called—"
"What?!" Chibiusa shrieked, her eyes popping out. "Why didn't you ignore my call? Oh my gosh Hotaru I'm so sorry—"
"Don't worry about it," Hotaru said lightly. "We should head back. I think I hear your grandma yelling at your mother—"
"Ugh, that Usagi," Chibiusa said fondly, clasping Hotaru's hand. She placed the mask back over her eyes. "Let's see if we can't save the world over in Juuban, ne, Sailor S?"
"Whatever you say, Sailor M," Hotaru humored her.
And the two of them headed off, dead insect in their pockets, unaware of the pair of eyes that followed their every movement.
an yes i did steal my own idea of kurama-mom-book-club-feat-michi-and-setsu and then turned it into a Whole Thing! this is def just an exercise in writing as well as developing hotaru's character post-rebirth. inserting her into yuyu gang is going to be difficult without changing their dynamics, bc they sure as heck don't need an additional member, BUT hotaru needs friends her age that are not from the future so here we go.
so! hotaru-centric, might pair her ass up with jin, who knows. first few chapters are from her pov bc i got carried away, but will vary amongst all characters. that is all, enjoy!
