Lady's notes: Yaaay! I've had NOTHING to do ALL day but write this and sorta babysit. Sorta because I'm not really paying attention to them. Hehe they can handle themselves! And anyway, I'm having too much fun with this. I can't wait until it gets going and I can introduce some other characters, because I love the ones that I've made, especially Hoshiko and Yuki. But that probably won't be until later. Uhhh much later. Anyway, I want to thank the people who took the time to review this. It really means a lot to me in my quest to defend all of the Sailor Suns out there, lol. They aren't all generic. Granted, most of them are, but as cliche as the concept is, a lot of people with sun senshi have spent a lot of time in making their backstory original and deserve credit for the justice that they've tried to do. I hope I can do justice to it as well.

In the name of the Sun, I will punish... err...

In the name of the Sun, on with the ficcy!

Supernova in the Sky

Ch. 5

At first, everyone was happy, Minako running up to give Usagi a large, warm hug, the rest of the friends taking turns in doing the same… but something was brewing, and as the seconds ticked away, it was nearing explosion. Kotori saw the look on ChibiUsa's face that said it all. For moments, it looked like there was no one inside.

"Usa-chan… Usa-chan…!" Hotaru whispered to her, tapping her shoulder lightly. The girl didn't respond. The look on her face was horrid, and before anything else could happen, she let loose a maelstrom.

"How dare you!"

Everyone gasped and was silent, looking into ChibiUsa's rusty red eyes as they bore tears. Usagi's breath was taken away.

"ChibiUsa! How could you--"

"You shut up!" the girl shouted, pointing to her father, who was taken aback immediately. Something bad was going to happen. Kotori wanted out, and she wanted out fast. Dessert no longer was an issue, and the fuming child was on a rampage.

"How dare you have another child! What, am I not good enough for you? Do I not fit in this time good enough for you?"

Usagi was speechless.

"B-but… ChibiUsa… I thought you'd…"

"What? You thought I'd be happy? I stayed here in the past with you because I thought you loved me like a daughter! I thought it's what you wanted! But I obviously don't belong here!"

What the hell? Drawing blanks, all the redhead could do was watch the girl storm out of the house, barely leaving time for Diana and Hotaru to follow her. Apparently, every family really did have their secrets. She watched uncomfortably as Usagi ran into Mamoru's arms and burst into tears, her friends surrounding her for comfort. This was definitely uncomfortable.

"Uh… um, congratulations, Usagi-san, Mamoru-san! I…" she stammered for a moment, putting her hand on the back of her head. "I… hope everything turns out well and have a healthy baby! Oh, and thanks for the food!" Departing with a wave, Kotori wasted no time in getting out of the Tsukino Residence. That group was odd. What was she thinking when she accepted ChibiUsa's invitation? She knew she had never belonged to any group, so why would it be any different this time around? And bad things tended to happen to her! If only she had thought up a few more excuses…

Capella! It was all her fault! Before Kotori could swear on behalf of her name, however, she passed the faint sound of ChibiUsa, Hotaru, and another young female voice down the corner. Knowing that it was probably a bad idea anyway, she turned down the next street to see what was going on.

"Usa-chan, please don't cry! Everything will be okay!" ChibiUsa sniffled and sobbed.

"No, Hotaru, I don't belong here! I should have gone back to the future and stayed there!"

"But then I would've been lonely! I would've missed you! You're my best friend…"

"Oh, Hotaru! I don't belong anywhere!" ChibiUsa cried, latching onto her dark-haired friend and wailing. The tiny gray cat nestled onto the girl's shoulder.

"Don't worry," she said, the crescent moon reflecting a gleam of the girl's eyes, "everything will be alright. You know Usagi loves you!"

The cat was talking. It was right there. Talking. And everyone was fine with that. Talk, talk, talk. Talk, talk, talk. The cat was talking. Kotori was beginning to believe that she was just dreaming, and when she woke up, she would find it to be about twelve in the afternoon and was going to be perfectly okay with Capella yelling at her. Cats don't talk. But, going along with it, realizing it was all just a dream, Kotori approached them.

"ChibiUsa! There you are! What's the matter?" she asked, shrugging. "Do you not like the idea of having a baby sister?"

The three of them - ChibiUsa, Hotaru, and Diana - all gave each other doomed looks, knowing that it was too late to form a lie, now that Kotori had heard ChibiUsa wasn't from this time period. The girl figured she needed someone else to pour her heart out to, anyway… someone who wasn't one of the family regulars. It would be a little secret.

"I… it's not that, Kotori…" she answered, wiping away a tear. "It's just that… well, sit down on the grass with us. I'll tell you about me… all about me."

It was all so… unexpected. But at the same time, Kotori felt a little closer to her pink-haired friend, knowing that her self-history was as messed up as hers. Worse, she should note. She was still a little vague, but dreams sometimes were that way. The girl was from the future, and because her mother was endangering herself in the past to a point she might not be born, ChibiUsa had to go and help things move along in the right direction. A little later on down the road, after things were taken care of, she left to go back home, but because Usagi kept getting herself in trouble, she came back to help, again, deciding that she'd stay for good because it seemed as though everyone cared for her so much.

"Here's what I've gathered," Kotori said, clearing her throat once ChibiUsa had gotten out her long-winded explanation. "It seems to me like your mother is a very motherly person. Like she's always dreamed of being one and having a child and raising it as her own."

"Yeah, well she's raised me!"

"It's different though. She didn't get to be pregnant with you. She didn't get the joy of carrying you around in her baby-hole for nine months, the pride of knowing that she did it herself and took care of you and bared all the hardships that a pregnant woman does, or the happiness and sorrows of giving birth and raising you from an infant." ChibiUsa's sobbing quelled as she contemplated Kotori's words.

"She's right. Usagi still looks you in the eyes and sees you as her own, but she wants to experience a child from the beginning," Hotaru added.

"And maybe she just wants a bigger family!" Diana chimed in, gently licking the side of ChibiUsa's face before gasping. "Oops! I mean… meow!"

"Don't sweat it!" Kotori said, waving her hand and smirking. "I totally saw it coming. Talking animals. Totally saw it coming. I am not alarmed!" There was a still silence.

"You think this is a joke, don't you?"

Kotori looked at Hotaru, who didn't seemed pleased with the redhead's reaction. What was the big deal? Shouldn't they be happy that she was willing to accept their weird lifestyle? She knew magic was real in dreams!

"I'm just really hard to shock, that's all. I adapt well!" she said with a chuckle. Hotaru was still in disbelief. "Well, it's getting late. I should probably be getting back to the orphanage. I'm sure your mother doesn't mean any harm, Usa-chan, and I hope you guys talk it out. Come talk to me tomorrow and tell me how it worked out, okay?" The girls watched her as she stood and dusted the grass bits from her denim skirt and started walking off.

"… bye Kotori."

Capella had passed out on the couch in the orphanage playroom, kids and dirty plates piled up around her. The TV was still murmuring on late into the night, with some news anchorwoman broad going on about some impending doom in some random part of Japan. Kotori ignored it, as it was usually a politician's work. She'd leave Capella and the kids alone, but the least she could do to wrap up this dream was clean up a little bit, so she started picking up the dishes, trying not to fumble over any little bodies in the darkness of the room.

"About the city earlier today were strange lights appearing in seemingly random areas. Tokyo saw lights at a movie theater, a grocery store, an empty alley, and a radio tower. If you have seen anymore of these strange, unexplainable lights, please contact the authorities immediately."

"Oh, shut up news…"

Before long, the dishes were in the dishwasher, running quietly with a handful of soap washing away bits of sautéed fish. Kotori turned the television off with a scowl and threw a blanket over Capella, and then returned to her room for the night.

That was when she was greeted by a fat cat lying on her desk by the window. But hey, take it easy Kotori! It's only a dream! Don't be bothered by it or the shiny circle on it's head. After all, Diana had a moon just like it!

"Why hello there kitty!"

"Oh no! Who got to you first? Did that wretched blonde brat get to you first?" Rufus asked, his paws fidgeting around and his tail twitching.

"Who, Capella? Naw, I just figured you'd have something to say like Diana did!" Kotori said with a grin.

"…like Diana did?" Rufus echoed, tilting his head. "What other cat were you talking to?"

"Well y'see, there's this-"

"Never mind. My name is Rufus, and you're Kotori, right?"

"Yes sir! I really need to wake up… this dream is getting dull…"

"Dream?" Rufus exclaimed, now heated. "You think this is a dream? Kotori, I did not travel from a faraway planet to endure warp-lag and patronization from people I've never met before while in search of you just to have you tell me that you think this is some kind of dream!"

"Calm down!"

"No! You're going to hear me out, because I'm getting frustrated trying to chase down this princess that my queen so trusted me to find! I'm not going to let her down because you think this is a dream!"

"You don't understand!" Kotori cried, waving her hands in front of her furiously. "You don't understand the crazy things I've just heard!"

"You don't understand the crazy things I've just heard!" Rufus cried back. After a second of silence, there were two heavy sighs, and Kotori sat down on her bed, her head in her hands. Something weird was going on, and she felt her concept of the real world slipping away. Maybe it was like this before her amnesia! That's it! She was just being reintroduced to things that were commonplace!

"A friend of mine just told me she was from the future after we found out her mom was a preggo…" Kotori murmured. "I'm not up to believing that it's all just a joke, either, because the entire family and their friends treat the fact like it's the real deal. And her cat was holding a conversation with me! How am I supposed to take that?"

Rufus began to mope and hung his head low, flopping down on the desk in defeat at last. It felt good to lay down, but that didn't change how he felt at all. Things were still a disaster.

"Now what's wrong with you?" Kotori asked, rolling her eyes.

"I wanted to be the cat you talked to that invoked this reaction in you! This isn't fair…"

"Why are cats talking to me?" the redhead shouted, bolting up and yanking on tufts of her hair. "Why?" The poor girl paced the room a few times and then pounded her head on the desk, right beside Rufus.

"I've been looking for you, Kotori. I wanted to tell you that you're a princess. Doesn't that excite you?" he asked sadly, looking up at her. Instantly, she froze, her jaw very slowly opening and hanging open further and further. And then, the corners of her mouth turned up just a bit. A princess?

"Wait… you're telling me that I'm a princess?" she asked, standing up straight. Rufus nodded. "Me?" she asked again, pointing to herself. The cat nodded once more. "And this isn't a dream?" He shook his head. "Well why the hell didn't anyone bother to tell me before? Capella knew about this, didn't she? That's what that letter was about, wasn't it?"

"Actually, yes. I didn't think you'd catch on that quick."

"Who the hell does she think she is, keeping this information from me? Is she jealous or something?" Kotori went on, angrily pacing about her room again. The cat's tail became slightly puffed. This situation was getting dangerous. "I mean it! Who does she think she is?"

"Well… I actually think she's a--"

"A rotten witch! I understand that witches can be very pleasant people, but she isn't one of those! She's a horrible person who has been posing to be my friend this entire time! Ugh!" Breathing heavily and clenching her fists, Kotori did everything within her to not throw a temper tantrum. Memories were flooding through her head at an incredible rate, the ones where she and Capella were at theme parks with the kids, or crying over lost boyfriends, or just enjoying a girl night eating chocolate cake and watching sappy movies. "Let me see that letter she got!" Rufus immediately got to his feet, the fur on his back almost standing on end.

"U-uh I can't let you…" he stammered, backing up. "It isn't a good idea."

"And why the hell not?"

"Well… just wait a few days and you'll find out, okay?"

At first, it didn't seem that Kotori was okay with this, but before long, she sat down on her bed and let a tired moan leave her body, and almost looked ready to cry. Rufus could sympathize with her. A little. But now his biggest decision of yet came: tell her now, or tell her later?

"Kotori… can I ask you a question?"

"No."

Later. Rufus grumbled and curled up on the desk again, his whiskers twitching in annoyance.

"… Where did I come from?"

Never mind, he'd be telling her now. He figured it was better this way. The sooner he told her, the sooner he could get her back where she belonged. Everything about her - her face, her clothes, her attitude - told him that she didn't belong here, and that she felt the same way.

"You came from the sun of this solar system. You're a major part of everyone's lives there, and they all miss you very much."

"Are you from the sun?"

"No. But someone who is wants to see you."

The girl didn't stay awake for very much longer. Her eyes grew very weary, and Rufus watched them slowly close. She slumped over, grabbed her white comforter, and drifted off into sleep. He only wished there was more for her that he could do. This girl was someone special. And it didn't take Shigeo's words to tell him, either… he could see it. As long as Capella didn't see the letter, he would come and pay Kotori a very special visit in two more days.

Suddenly, a faint orb of light appeared at the feline's side, and a familiar, rich, melodic voice spoke to him.

"Rufus, you're doing a better job than you think." He smiled. Queen Mau was always going to be there for him, because though she was dead, her spirit now lingered more strongly than it ever had before. Things were going to be okay.

Note: Sorry for the lack of action... I was hoping that the family tension would make up for that, hehe...