Fourteen Days with my Family by Hotaru Tomoe.
Chapter Two: Sunday I.
Today was the first sign that the next two weeks were going to be anything but quiet and peaceful. You would think I'd know by now.
We had gotten up at around 8:30 AM or so, well at least Haruka-papa, Michiru-mama, and I did, Setsuna-mama, as usual, tried to sleep in. And as usual Haruka-papa didn't let her. After breakfast, the four of us sat down in the living room to discuss our plans for this week.
As it turns out, we have a pretty busy week planned. We have a wedding to go to next Sunday, Kimyo's birthday party on Thursday, and Minako's Karaoke bit on Saturday, so it's a full week so far.
"Well, you could come with us to my recording session on Tuesday." Michiru-mama suggested. She had started recording her latest CD a few weeks ago.
"That would be fun. Maybe they'll even allow you to play your violin with us as well. Make it our first album together as a family." Haruka-papa added.
"Yes, that would be wonderful! Recording your debut with us, wouldn't that look good in your report?" Michiru-mama asked. I had to agree Mama and Papa were encouraging me more and more to perform in front of larger crowds. In fact I had won a big city-wide competition a few months ago.
"Yeah, that would be great! Let's do it." I told them. Both of them grinned and hugged me.
"That's the spirit Hime-chan." Setsuna-mama said as she hugged me. It was too bad that she didn't play music very well, but recently she's been trying to, if that DVD on how to play the guitar that she bought that she thinks we don't know about is any indication.
"Okay, that covers most of this week, now what about the rest of the week? Not to mention next week?" Michiru-mama asked as she made a few notations in her day planner.
"Well, Minako was telling me about this fan club she wanted to investigate and…" I was cut off by our communicators going off. Oh great! I thought. It's started already. I tried to remember where the First Aid kit was.
"Good morning! Tenoh's House of Pleasure. How may we please you today?" Haruka-papa answered with a grin on her face as we stared at her in shock. Michiru-mama swatted her with a pillow as I looked at my communicator's screen to see a very red-faced Ami staring back at me.
"Ah, hi Ami, are you all right?" Setsuna-mama asked in concern as she glowered at Papa. "What's going on?"
Ami took a few moments to regain her composure, but she was still a bit red in the face as she replied. "Um, hello, I think (cough). Ah, could all of you come to Rei's temple please we have a bit of a problem." She said. We could hear several voices giggling in the background.
"What kind of a problem Ami? Is it a Yoma?" Michiru-mama asked in concern as the rest of us reached for our henshin wands.
"No, no, it's nothing like that. But it is a rather delicate problem, and we need your help right away." Ami replied.
"All right, we'll be there shortly Ami, bye." Papa switched off her communicator then sighed. "What are those crazy kids getting us involved in now?" She asked no one in particular as she stared up at the heavens.
"Who knows with Usagi and the others?" Michiru-mama replied, shrugging.
"Should we transform just to be on the safe side?" I asked.
"No, I don't think so." Setsuna-mama replied. "I didn't hear any explosions in the background, just a lot of giggling."
Papa sighed again. "You're right. Let's go see what they want this time. Remind me to stop at an ATM along the way though." Knowing Usagi and the others, we would end up going to the Crown as usual, and poor Papa would be stuck with the bill along with Mamoru, if he was there, as usual.
Since the next few minutes involve us driving to Rei's, let me take the time to introduce my extended family.
Usagi Tsukino (Sailor Moon): our leader, and our inspiration. She's a bit clumsy and a bit scatterbrained at times, although she's working on overcoming both, and she still talks about her Mamo-chan till I'm ready to jump out a window, but I still love her to death anyway. She's always there to cheer me up when I need it the most.
Ami Mizuno (Sailor Mercury): You've noticed that she gets easily flustered at overt sexual innuendo, but she is still the smartest person I know, not to mention one of the kindest. She's studying hard to be a Doctor, but would make a great teacher as well.
Rei Hino (Sailor Mars): She can get a bit temperamental at times, especially at Usagi, but she is at her heart, a warm, compassionate person. She is a Shinto Priestess, a formidable martial artist, and a talented singer/songwriter to boot.
Makoto Kino (Sailor Jupiter): Possibly the strongest person I know, except for Papa of course, but definitely the best cook. She wants to open her own restaurant soon, and is taking a business management course along with cooking classes. She's an incredible fighter and is usually the first one into the battle.
Minako Aino (Sailor Venus): She still can't get a proverb right to save her life, but if she did it just wouldn't be the same. She's a warm, fun loving person with a beautiful singing voice that aspires to be an idol singer.
We pulled up to the steps of the Hikawa Jinja and went up the stairs. I love coming here to Rei's shrine it's one of the few places I feel at peace. I also wondered a bit about Rei's Grandpa, the Head Priest of the shrine. He hasn't been well recently and it's had Rei worried sick. I hoped that he hadn't gotten any worse than the last time I saw him.
As if she were reading my mind, Michiru-mama put a hand on my shoulder and smiled reassuringly at me. "Don't worry. I'm sure Rei would let us know if something had happened to Grandpa Hino." I just smiled and nodded in agreement.
As we walked up to the temple itself, I could see that there were six familiar faces waiting for us, the sixth person being Mamoru.
Mamoru Chiba (Tuxedo Kamen): Usagi's Mamo-chan that I mentioned earlier. He's studying to be a scientist, and he's like a big brother to me. Privately we think that he's color blind, which is the only way we can explain why he always wears that awful green sports jacket he has on at the moment.
Whoops, I almost forgot two other important people, well, cats actually. Luna and Artemis are our advisors, trainers, and occasionally our conscience. Luna can be a bit bossy, while Artemis can be a bit thick, but they're ok. Although when they found out that they weren't even mentioned in my previous report I never heard the end of it.
"All right, what's the ruckus about this time?" Papa demanded impatiently. Did I mention that she can be a bit brusque at times, especially when there's a race on TV that she wants to watch? Yeesh Papa, most people just say 'hello'.
Ignoring, or more likely completely oblivious to Papa's tone, Usagi spoke up. "Rather than us trying to explain, we'll let our guest explain everything, all right?" She nodded to Luna and Artemis who bounded into the house.
"Guest?" Papa asked. Then her eyes widened. "Uh-uh! No way! If it's Seiya Kou, I'm out of here!" She declared angrily.
"Don't worry, it's not Seiya, or Yaten, or Taiki for that matter." Minako assured us. We're referring to a few old acquaintances of ours. You may have heard of them, they called themselves Three Lights. The short version of it is that Papa, Michiru-mama, and Setsuna-mama didn't get along with them at all. I still have their CD's hidden away somewhere. They seemed okay to me, mind you I was 10 at the time. But I digress.
"Then who the hell is…" Papa's voice trailed off as Luna and Artemis came out of the house with a young woman in tow. She was a beautiful woman, apparently in her mid 20's with reddish-blonde hair that flowed to her knees, and golden eyes. She was wearing a simple sky blue dress with short sleeves and a skirt that reached her ankles, and a pair of flats. The last time we saw her though, she wore a vastly different outfit.
I turned to see if Haruka-papa, Michiru-mama, and Setsuna-mama recognized her as well. Judging by their shocked looks, I would say yes. Michiru-mama's mouth opened and closed like a fish's while all Setsuna-mama could manage was a strangled 'uh…' I looked up at Haruka-papa who wasn't much better. "Ga-Ga-Ga…" she stammered.
I swallowed hard and said; "Galaxia?" She turned and smiled at me and nodded.
"I was going to say that Hime-chan." Papa growled as she eyed Galaxia warily. I shook my head.
Galaxia stood there with her head cocked to one side, and a puzzled look on her face. It's a long story, but here's the Reader's Digest version. Galaxia was the most powerful Sailor Senshi in the universe. One day she defeated Chaos by imprisoning the entity within her own body. Chaos slowly took her over and she went around destroying planets and eliminating the other Senshi in the universe by taking their Star Seeds. She came to Earth and first sent out her minions to find more seeds and cause havoc. We defeated the minions, with some help, but she killed all of us except Usagi, who in turn defeated her, drove out Chaos, cured her, and brought us back to life. Confused yet? Good, that makes us even.
Setsuna-mama finally found her voice. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to look into a few affairs here on Earth and to visit all of you." Galaxia replied with a smile.
"What kind of affairs?" Papa demanded. I noticed with alarm that she had her henshin wand out. Galaxia noticed it as well.
"Be at peace Sailor Uranus. I mean you no harm. I am free of Chaos' influence thanks to your Princess." She looked over to Usagi who smiled and nodded in gratitude. "As to your question, a few of the Star Seeds no longer have homes to go back to, so I decided to leave them here on Earth under your observation."
"Who's Star Seeds?" Michiru-mama demanded suspiciously as she got her henshin wand out. Setsuna-mama stepped in between them.
"I think I know who she's talking about." Setsuna-mama said with a smile. Galaxia returned her smile. Michiru-mama reluctantly backed down while Papa eased up slightly. I, and the others, remembered to start breathing again. I attempted to change the subject.
"So, how long will you be here for?" I asked.
"Only for a short time I'm afraid." She replied. "I have already guided many of the Star Seeds home but many more have no homes to go back to." She looked at the ground in shame and I immediately felt sorry for her. "It has been a long, hard journey and I need to rest. If only for a short time."
"So you decided to come here? To Earth?" I asked incredulously.
"Exactly, little one." She smiled again and looked apologetic. "Well maybe not so little now. You've grown a bit since we last met I see." I had to admit that she was right. It had been 5 years since we had met, and I had grown up a lot since then.
"This leads us to our current problem she needs a place to stay for awhile." Ami stated, bringing us back to the present.
"We can put her up at our place, no problem." Michiru-mama replied enthusiastically. She really loves playing hostess, even to people who show up out of the blue. Literally in this case. It was a surprise to see her agree to let a former enemy stay at our house, but I guess Galaxia's words got to her as well. I agreed to it, as did Setsuna-mama. Haruka-papa on the other hand…
"Whoa! Hang on a minute! Since when did we become a hotel?" She demanded as she turned to Usagi and the others. "What about the rest of you? Why can't any of you take her in?"
"My Uncle, Mom's brother and his wife are coming to visit us for a few weeks." Usagi replied.
"Mom and Dad are renovating the kitchen." Minako said with an apologetic shrug.
"You know that Grandpa hasn't been well recently. And besides, you know all too well what he's like around pretty girls." Rei added. I cringed, as did my parents. Grandpa was well known for being a lecherous old coot. There are several magazine articles to prove it.
"I have no room in my apartment." Makoto stated simply.
"Ami?" Papa asked, sounding a bit desperate.
"Sorry, two of our cousins are coming from out of town to visit Mom and me." Ami replied. Papa's shoulders slumped even further as she turned towards Mamoru.
"Not with my Mamo-chan!" Usagi exclaimed as she glommed onto poor Mamoru's arm a bit too possessively. "I mean his apartment's too small." She added hastily.
Mamoru just shrugged and looked embarrassed. "Sorry." Papa looked totally defeated.
"Maybe I will go to a 'hotel' I believe you call them." Galaxia offered, but Michiru-mama wouldn't hear of it.
"Don't be silly!" She exclaimed as she went up to our former enemy and took her by the hand. "We just have to clean some stuff out of the guest room and put some clean sheets on the bed and you'll be all set." Galaxia smiled and agreed to come to our place.
"Do you have any luggage?" Setsuna-mama asked.
"No, all I came with is my armor and this dress." Galaxia replied, looking a little sheepish.
"Well then, I guess we have to go and do a little shopping today." Michiru-mama stated firmly. Setsuna-mama's eyes lit up at the prospect. Both of them love shopping and I love going with them. Haruka-papa, on the other hand, looked more dejected then ever.
"I'll be playing in traffic if anyone needs me." She said as she wandered off. Galaxia's eyes widened and Michiru-mama tried to reassure her.
"Don't worry about Haruka. Sometimes she has difficulty letting go of the past." Michiru-mama said.
"Well, given our history together, I cannot say that I blame her. It does not surprise me that she feels the way she does." Galaxia sighed, and I could see tears welling up in her eyes. "Perhaps this was a mistake. I will go and burden you no longer." She made like she was going to fly off but Usagi grabbed her arm.
"No, please stay." Usagi pleaded softly. "What happened all those years ago is behind us now. You finally have a bright future ahead of you and we can help you reach it. Haruka just needs to see that, and she will if you give her a chance." It always amazes me when Usagi can be such an airhead one moment, and suddenly show infinite wisdom the next. By her expression, Galaxia was surprised as well. Then she smiled and embraced Usagi.
"Thank you my friend and all of you as well." Galaxia said as she looked around at all of our smiling faces.
"Now that that's all settled, let's head home, we still have some serious shopping to do." Setsuna-mama stated as she looked at her watch and tapped her foot impatiently. It was the perfect tension breaker, and we all laughed as we said our farewells and me, my Mamas, and our new houseguest, headed for our car.
The four of us went downstairs to find Haruka-papa sulking behind the wheel of her car. She was obviously recalling some of the more terrible events of our last encounter with Galaxia, and her reappearance brought them all flooding back. Michiru-mama got into the front seat beside her and started to talk to her in a low voice that the rest of us couldn't hear. The three of us went over and sat down at the base of the steps so we wouldn't intrude as they argued.
"So, when did you arrive on Earth?" I asked Galaxia in an attempt to divert her attention.
"I arrived late last night, sometime." She replied. "I appeared just outside the city and reached out with my mind to find all of you. Rei was the closest one to where I arrived and so I came to the temple early this morning." She paused and blushed a bit. "I rather surprised Rei a lot as she was engrossed in her fire reading when I walked in. She was either going to attack me or have a heart attack, I was not sure which, but she calmed down after several minutes when I assured her that I was not a threat anymore. She even put one of her ofuda on me to make sure." Rei uses her ofuda to dispel evil spirits. "After that she called Usagi and the others and we called you.
"Well then, welcome to Earth, and hopefully like Usagi said, we can all put the past behind us and look towards a brighter future together." I told her.
"Thank you, you have no idea how much that means to me." Galaxia replied with a smile and a tear in her eye. Just then Papa honked the horn loudly to indicate that it was time to go. She always has perfect timing. Not.
"Well are we going or not?" Papa demanded impatiently. She was trying to be her usual gruff self but I could tell that she had been crying.
"Yes Haruka-papa, we're coming." Setsuna-mama and I said together as the three of us climbed into the back seat. Michiru-mama put a hand over her mouth and laughed politely, while Papa glared at us for a moment then laughed as well. Galaxia laughed a bit as well.
"How did you manage to get her to agree so quickly?" Setsuna-mama asked Michiru-mama. She looked at the funny smile on her face a little closer. "On second thought don't answer that, I can guess for myself." Michiru-mama just smiled.
"What do you mean by that?" Galaxia asked. Setsuna-mama leaned over and whispered something in her ear. "Oh!" She exclaimed as she blushed like Ami does.
"Well other than that, Michi also told me what koneko told you, and I agree with her." Papa said as she pointed to the top of the stairs where Usagi was standing, watching us. "So let's try to put the past behind us, all right?" She smiled and extended her hand.
"All right then." Galaxia took her hand and shook it.
"Now that that's all settled, let's go do some shopping." Papa said as she started the car. The rest of us cheered and waved to Usagi as we pulled away. Soon we were heading home at a brisk speed.
As we drove, Michiru-mama turned to Galaxia. "Um, Galaxia, may I ask you a personal question?"
"Of course you may." She replied.
"Do you have a real name?" Michiru-mama asked.
Galaxia hesitated a bit. "Well it doesn't translate well into your language."
"Humor us." Setsuna-mama replied. Galaxia shrugged and told us. I lost her at the 7th or 8th syllable.
"Um, ok…" Papa looked more than a bit confused as did the rest of us.
"Well I did say it didn't translate well." Galaxia shot back defensively.
"We can't exactly go around calling you Galaxia, and I doubt that anyone could remember your real name, much less pronounce it." Michiru-mama said. Just to prove her wrong, Setsuna-mama repeated Galaxia's name perfectly and sat back looking smug.
"No one likes a smart ass Setsuna." Papa growled. Setsuna-mama blew her a raspberry.
"Anyway, we'll give you an Earth name and tell anyone who asks that you're our cousin from, I don't know, Osaka I guess." Michiru-mama said. "Now, what do we call you?" We sat there pondering as we drove home.
"Emi?" Papa suggested. We shook our heads.
"Keiko?" Michiru-mama ventured. More head shaking.
"Trista?" Setsuna-mama tried. "What?" She demanded when we all stared at her.
"I like the name Hoshiko." I said. The name means 'star child' and it seemed appropriate.
"Hoshiko sounds like a nice name." Galaxia replied. My parents all smiled and nodded in agreement.
"Hoshiko it is then." Michiru-mama stated. "Welcome to Tokyo Hoshiko."
"Thank you my friends, it is good to be here." Hoshiko replied as Setsuna-mama and I each clasped one of her hands. She smiled and hugged both of us.
Soon we were home again, and between the 5 of us, we had the guest room cleaned up and ready in no time. Soon we were ready to have lunch and then go do some shopping. Before we left though, the phone rang and I answered it. "Hello?"
"I know your secret." A strange voice said like something out of a bad horror movie. I stared at the receiver for a moment before hanging up. The caller ID said 'unknown name'.
"Who was it Hime-chan?" Michiru-mama called from the kitchen.
"Nothing Mama, just a wrong number." I replied. I put it out of my mind as the five of us sat down for lunch before heading out again for an afternoon of sightseeing and shopping.
We came back with several days' worth of clothing for Hoshiko (and Setsuna-mama, and Michiru-mama, and me) along with a pile of other stuff like toiletries and cosmetics. She really didn't need a lot of this stuff, according to Papa anyway, but Michiru-mama insisted that it would help Hoshiko blend in better. Blend in at a fashion show I thought.
After we put our stuff away, we sat down to dinner and we discussed our plans for the week. Hoshiko was eager to learn more about Earth, and we were happy to show her around. We also told her about the report I was writing about the next two weeks, and my previous report. I gave her a copy of my first one for her to read.
"This looks like it was a very exciting time for you." Hoshiko remarked as she flipped through it.
"You have no idea how much fun it was living it." I replied as I remembered some of the more 'fun' events, like being kicked in the butt by the Centaur. We laughed a bit and she thanked me for the reading material. We sat and watched TV and talked some more before we turned in for the night.