Hey all.
Not feeling too good about this update. I've had an obnoxiously busy week so I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on this chapter and I'm not sure if its good or not.
And on another note, my laptop is going on holiday with a friend for the next three weeks so i'm not sure if i'll be able to update next week on time. It will depend if the family-dinosour-of-a-computer decideds to be nice to me.
Hope you enjoy this chapter anyway.
Ice.
Chapter Four.
"Hi! I'm Sakura." Smiled the girl with brown hair. "These are my friends. The one with the camera is Tomoyo, the Chinese boy with the sword is Shaoran, the one with wings is Yue and the lion is Keroberos." Sakura pointed in the direction of each of her friends while she kept her eyes on Hotaru.
"Where are you from?" Asked Tomoyo, still filming everything. "How did you get here?"
This is going to be hard to explain. Hotaru sighed. "It's a very long story, one I'm not certain I wish to share. It has… Many painful memories." Her eyes darkened with pain and sadness.
"Well, why don't we start with small things," Tomoyo offered. "Did you fall?"
"Did you make that crater?" Shaoran cut in impatiently before Hotaru could answer. Hotaru looked around her, noticing the crater she sat in for the first time.
"Yes, I believe I did." She turned her attention back to her questioners.
"How?" Snapped Shaoran.
Hotaru just stared at him. "I fell."
Shaoran growled in exasperation. "From where?"
"Up there." Hotaru replied, pointing upwards. Everyone looked upwards at the empty sky.
Shaoran's temper snapped. "What do you mean 'Up there'?!?! There's nothing to fall from! How do you fall from nothing!?!"
"I don't know. You tell me." As Hotaru continued to stare at him, Shaoran began to sputter in anger. "You need to calm down magician." Hotaru told Shaoran. "It's not good for your health to be so stressed. It can lead to heart attacks"
Shaoran froze. "What did you just call me?"
"Magician." Hotaru stated. "A person who uses magic. And don't try to tell me you don't use magic. Your sword is filled with it, suggesting that you channel your magic through it. That key around Sakura's neck is humming as well, although I don't see how anyone could channel that amount of power through such a small thing." Everyone froze and stared intently at Hotaru, all of them looking like fish with their mouths opening and closing. "What? Was I not supposed to guess?"
"How did you know that they use magic?" Yue quietly asked Hotaru as he began to put himself in front of Sakura and Tomoyo. Tomoyo however began to side step Yue so that she could keep everyone in the camera shot.
"I told you. I can feel it." Hotaru began to get annoyed with them. What is he, deaf?
"How is it that a human, with no magical ability at all, can sense magical items?" Yue asked of her as he walked closer. "Are you a threat? An enemy to be defeated?"
"What is that supposed to mean, Youma?" Hotaru growled as she shot to her feet in anger. I'm getting tired of the Twenty Questions. What right do they have to ask me anything? I just want to find a bed and go to sleep.
"Are you dangerous?" Yue asked bluntly.
"Yes." snarled Hotaru. "But then, so is a butter knife if used correctly."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Yue demanded in annoyance shifting slightly so that he could move in any direction at a moments notice. He glimpsed Keroberos moving out of the corner of his eye and knew that if need be, Kero could attack this strange girl while he grabbed Sakura, Shaoran and Tomoyo and ran.
Hotaru noticed Yue was getting into a position to attack so made an effort to calm down and control her voice. She didn't know the power structure in this world yet, and it wouldn't do any good to alienate potential allies in her first hour here. "It means, that anything can be dangerous. In the right hands and with the right motive, a weak person could kill a stronger person with a butter knife. Merely asking me if I am dangerous will not give you the answer you seek."
Yue thought for a moment then carefully rephrased his question. "Are you a danger to Sakura?"
"Not that I'm aware of." Hotaru told him honestly. "I haven't been in this world very long. I wouldn't know."
"What do you mean, 'This world'? " Keroberos asked, now that it appeared the danger was over and his face didn't hurt so much.
Oops. Me and my big mouth. Oh, well. Setsuna said I could trust them. But how much should I trust them with? "Well." Hotaru said, trying to stall for time. "It's kind of a long story."
"We have time." Yue informed her, folding his arms over his chest and tucking his wings close to his back.
Hotaru sighed. I'll keep it simple; tell them only what they need to know right now. "There was a fight." She explained. "The Sailor Senshi, guardians of the earth, was fighting a Youma, a monster made from evil. The Senshi were locked in a stalemate with the Youma. Neither they nor the Youma were winning, and that was unusual. It was like it was toying with them while it blasting everything in sight. It looked like half a block had been demolished by it. I got caught in one of its blasts. I should have hit a building but for some reason, I didn't. I landed here." That should be enough. They don't need to know that I'm one of the Sailor Senshi, let alone the Senshi of death, and I won't tell them unless I absolutely have to. I'm just a girl in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Hotaru paused again, then looked at Yue. "I'm sorry I called you a Youma. It was uncalled for. I was way out of line and I knew it. Just because I was mad at you gave me no right to call you that." Yue said nothing, only nodded his head in acknowledgement of her apology.
"How did you get here?" Asked Keroberos. This is interesting.
"I don't know." Hotaru answered truthfully. "But I think I have to be here. According to this letter, I'm here to learn, and you are somehow involved."
"Who wrote that letter?" Yue asked. "How could they know?"
"The Guardian of Time wrote it." Hotaru answered, seeing no reason to lie. "One of the Sailor Senshi."
"Why were you sent?"
"I don't know." Hotaru's eye's darkened in grief. "I don't even know if the other's survived the fight. They were losing when I was hit."
"You sound like you know them." Sakura said gently to this saddened girl. "Are they friends of yours?"
Hotaru weighed up how much to tell her. "If they die, the earth will be doomed." She said finally. "The Senshi are all that stand before the darkness. If they fall, the Earth, the Solar System and everything in it will be destroyed."
"Sakura." A voice growled from the shadows, interrupting whatever question Shaoran was about to ask her. "What are you wearing?" Sakura blushed as Touya stepped into the light and glared at her clothes, or lack there-of.
"Touya!" Exclaimed Sakura. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you. Do you have any idea what time it is? It is a school night you know." Touya growled at his sister. "And why are you wearing that?"
Sakura blushed, uncertain of what to say to her over protective brother concerning the clothing she was wearing. Tomoyo, you die for putting me in this stuff.
"Don't blame her, Touya-san." Tomoyo said, trying to calm the irate man. "I always trial my clothes out on Sakura, you know that. And if it's any consolation, it took all of my persuasive skills to get her into that."
"It's not." Touya definitely disapproved of his little sister walking around the city, after dark, in a halter-top and skirt that had less material combined than a handkerchief. Especially walking around after dark with that brat.
"Here." Hotaru walked forwards and placed her black leather jacket on Sakura's shoulders. It came down to about Hotaru's calf's and Sakura's ankles. "You look cold anyway."
"But what about you?" Sakura asked of her, about to give her back her jacket.
Hotaru just smiled at her. "I'm wearing more than you are." She spread her arms a little, showing them that in her long sleeve purple top and black jeans, she was more warmly dressed that Sakura. "I'll be fine."
"Who are you?" Touya glared at her suspiciously. "I've never seen you around here before."
Hotaru just smiled as she turned around and picked up her bag. "I've never seen you around here before either." She stopped for a moment and looked at the others. "You know, I think he just said it was a school night. You really should get going. It is kind of late." And with that, Hotaru turned around and started to walk away.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Tomoyo called out, still filming everything. "Do you need someplace to stay?"
"Thing have been arranged."
"But what about your jacket?" Sakura asked.
"Give it back to me at school." Hotaru paused at the edge of the shadows, and said over her shoulder, "By the way Touya, my name is Hotaru. Hotaru Tomoe."
They stood there for a moment, staring at the shadows in which Hotaru had just disappeared.
"Where did she come from?" Asked Touya.
"Did she say we'd see her at school?"
- Later -
Hotaru checked the map she had found in her bag one last time. It had marked on it in a royal purple all the essential things like where Penguin Park was, where that school was and where her new home was.
There were also four other markings on her map, each in a different colour. In pink was the Kinomouto house where Keroberos, Sakura, Touya and a Fujitaka lived. In green was Shaoran and someone named Wei. In violet were Tomoyo and Sonomi and in silver was Yukito/Yue.
Well, this seems to be the right place, thought Hotaru as she walked up to knock on the door of what she hoped was her new home. However, before she could knock on the door, a woman with long dark red hair opened it. The woman had the same air of mysteriousness that Setsuna had.
"I see you got here safely Hotaru." She said. "I was starting to get a little concerned."
"How do you know my name?" Hotaru asked of her.
"Why don't you come inside before I explain? We could be standing out here all night otherwise." Mizuki stepped aside to allow Hotaru to come inside. After they had settled in the lounge and had each had a cup of tea in front of them, she began to talk.
"About a week ago, I was contacted by Sailor Pluto." She explained. "She said that you would be coming to this world tonight and that you would need someone to stay with, someone who would accept you for who you are and would not be alarmed by your abilities."
"Did she tell you what those abilities are?" How much did you tell her, Puu? Does she know about the voices?
"Only that you are a healer and that you are a senshi." Mizuki took a sip of her tea.
"Why you?" Hotaru asked, bluntly. "Of all the people in this city, why did she ask you?"
"Because I am accustomed to using and being in the presence of magic." She said. "I can also be trusted with secrets, and I will not reveal yours until you give me leave to."
Hotaru thought for a moment, and then nodded her head, accepting what she had said. "You know that as a senshi, I will won't to train while I am here."
"Yes, that is why I have set up a training room in the back. But I shall show that to you in the morning. It is time for bed." Mizuki put her tea back on the table before rising and lead Hotaru to her room. "Pluto told me that you would not need any clothing, so there is nothing in the wardrobe except your new school uniform. On the desk are your school schedule, some identification and money. Tomorrow I will take you to your school. Sleep well."
Hotaru looked around her new room. Well, it's a good thing I packed all of my stuff before I left.
Just incase you missed it at the top, my laptop is going on holiday for three weeks with a friend so my updates are going todepend on the family computer and if it decideds to like me.
Let me know what you thought of this chapter. I wasn't all that happy with it.
Ice.