Lita's New Year's Cookie Scramble Chapter 7 Revelations, a sailor moon fanfic

Lita's New Year's Cookie Scramble
By Douglas Helm and "Tuxedo" Will Wolfshohl

This story and our other Sailor Moon stories reside at our Shoujo Fiction .com domain. Comments are welcomed and encouraged.

Chapter 7 - Revelations

"We should've gone with them," Mina Aino grumbled as she stared at the closed door her friends had just exited through. Lita shrugged. Amy levered herself up and toddled over to the bed. The ribbon-wearing blonde watched as the youngster climbed onto Raye's bed with difficulty, turned, and sat down.

"Serena told us to stay," the blue-haired child pointed out, almost sadly.

"You okay, Ames?" Lita asked.

Mina stared as a tiny lower lip quivered even as its owner nodded. "Don't cry, Amy... They'll be fine, just like always."

"B-but... what about us?!" the preschooler questioned, throwing her hands up in complete desolation. Tears welled up into her eyes and rolled down her cheeks in two glistening streams. "A-ah..." Her tone became throaty and she snuffled. "And..."

"And what?" Lita asked, alarmed by her normally stoic friend's tears.

"You won't be my fwiend anymore! You'll be in school and I..." the toddler blubbered. The brunette was stunned; she simply stared at her regressed friend. Mina, on the other hand, walked over to sit on the bed beside Amy. She lifted the small child carefully into her lap and hugged her tightly.

"That's just silly, Amy. We'll never stop being your friends," the blonde assured her soothingly, "Right, Lita?"

"Buh..." Amy started to protest but couldn't get anymore out.

"Mina's right, Amy. We care about you," Lita chimed in. She came over to the bed and sat down too. She hugged both of her friends and smiled as Amy smiled slightly. "And you better not let Serena hear you talk like that or she'll get really ticked."

"Yeah," Mina agreed and then seconded, "Come on, Amy, don't cry please. If Serena comes in here and sees you in tears, she'll string me up by my ribbon!" 'She might even spank me!'

"Whoa, girl, how do you figure that?" the brunette asked.

"I'm the oldest one here. She'd hold me responsible."

"You didn't seem so worried before, SIS," Lita remarked a little sarcastically and grinned as her blond friend stuck her tongue out for a moment.

"Yeah well, that was BEFORE I realized how BIG Serena is now. All kidding aside, you guys think my 'rents are really soft on me but I was the world's leading authority on corner-time when I was little." She was glad to hear Amy giggle.

"You know, Ames," the brunette observed after a moment, "You are being a little silly."

"How come?" the blue-haired child asked around a hiccup.

"Well, think about it. You can transform... That means you're a Sailor Scout. How many kids can say that?"

"My LITTLE sis is right. You ARE a Sailor Scout, and unless something wonky happened to the rest of us, we're Scouts too. Sure, our power levels are off but we're a team and don't you think that if we've got weaker, Serena hasn't got stronger."

"OH!" Amy gasped and then wiggled out of the little blonde's lap. "I fowgot!" she exclaimed, slapping one hand to her forehead.

"What?" the two older girls asked.

"Our enagy... Mina chawnge!"

"Huh?"

"Just hurwy up and do it!" Amy demanded. Lita stared as Amy produced her transformation pen and looked with annoyance at Mina who was still sitting on the bed. Mina regarded Lita who shrugged. The little blonde shrugged before producing her own transformation pen.

"VENUS STAR POWER!" Mina cried and a moment later, Sailor Venus was sitting on Raye's bed. Amy had transformed as well. Now a diminutive Sailor Mercury was using her VR visor and muttering to herself. "What's her problem?" Venus asked.

"How am I supposed to know? You're the oldest." Venus stuck her tongue out but both were distracted when Mercury gave a cry of delight.

"WHAT?!" both girls demanded.

"Our le'els are the same!"

"You mean I'm gonna be stuck with your power levels?" Lita tried hard not to sound too disappointed about becoming so weak.

"NO!" Mercury squawked shaking her hand so hard she nearly spun herself around, "They're the same as they were when we were... teens."

"Is that good or bad?" Venus wondered tapping her tip and then added, "'Though for my money, I'd say it was good."

"Yeah, I can beat up NEGASCUM too!" Mercury replied jubilantly. 'I'm not a baby!'

"Uh... I don't know..."

"Aren't we a Gloomy-Gus? How can it not be good?"

"Venus," Lita began with a sigh, "Magically, we're the same but can these kid bodies handle that much power? It'd be like putting twenty-millimeter cannons on a tricycle. The kick from it might splatter us into greasy gobs of gopher guts."

"Eew!"

"Come on," the Blue Scout demanded while heading for the door.

"Where ya going?" Lita asked.

"I should take measurements and compare Sailor Moon's power le'els and ours..." Sailor Mercury sighed. 'It's better than sitting around here sulking.' "We can measure Mars' levels too to see if it'll cause overpwessure."

"What about Grandpa Hino?" Sailor Venus worried.

"He's sweeping in another building... You know the one he was going to wun exercise classes in? Raye said he didn't want to hear a quote 'bunch of teenage girls giggling all night' unquote," Mercury lisped then giggled. 'At least without him joining in.'

"Am-Mercury, if you want a reading, you can just ask Serena to transform when she gets back," the ponytailed brunette suggested.

"Chicken?" the Orange Scout suggested, although her tone showed she was teasing.

"Listen, Serena was pretty firm," Lita countered, "And I don't know about you two, but I think she's lost all patience. Frankly, it gives me the willies." 'Amy's right. Serena is REALLY big now.'

"But we have a duty. We're Sailor Scouts!" Mercury protested. "Now hurwy up and change, Lita!"

- - - - -

Sailor Moon looked around carefully. Satisfied that there were no more enemies, she walked over to Sailor Mars, who was still lying on the ground a little dazed, and held a hand out. "You all right, Mars?"

"Yeah..." Mars replied and allowed her friend to help her up, "It just took me by surprise."

"Are they gone?"

Sailor Mars blinked. It wasn't like Sailor Moon to be this cautious. She frowned, calmed herself, and then concentrated trying to feel any telltale signs of Negaenergy in the area. She couldn't sense anything. "I think they are. Your power levels are up."

"I s'ppose..." Sailor Moon sounded a little sour about it. The leader of the Sailor Scouts shook her head and gave her preteen colleague a lopsided grin. "It was way easier to focus... I think it'll take me a little while to adjust."

"Are you really okay, Sailor Moon?" the Red Scout asked her eyes widening slightly in concern.

"Yeah, it was kind of a shock that's all." Sighing, Sailor Moon reversed her transformation and walked towards Reenie who was peeking discreetly around the large tree where she had been placed. Sailor Mars reverted to her civilian identity as well. When Serena got to the pink-haired girl, she put her hands on her hips and looked down at the youngster. "Well?"

"Well what?" Reenie asked, trying hard to sound as innocent as possible.

"I thought you were supposed to be helping Amy and Raye, young lady?"

"I was..." Reenie replied and then squirmed under the stern gaze Serena was giving her. It was like her mother did when she thought Reenie was being especially naughty. The seven year old gulped as her "cousin" crossed her arms and started tapping her left foot.

"So what's your butt doing out here?"

"Being attacked by the Negaverse?" the little girl offered in a helpful tone. She wanted to add "Meatball Head" but it just wouldn't come out.

"I see someone wants a spanking," the very tall and much older Serena Tsukino remarked in a disapproving tone.

"I'm too cute to spank!" the pink-haired girl chirped with what little emotional resolve she had left and then stiffened, almost certain that Serena would explode at that point.

After an interminable pause of maybe five or six seconds, the pigtailed blonde before her snorted and shook her head. "You are, huh?" The seven year old decided to keep her lips pressed together. Serena gave another snort of what was apparently suppressed mirth and knelt down. "Okay, Miss Reenie Serenity, what got you out here in the middle of the night?"

The little girl felt her eyes starting to fill with unwanted tears again and she blinked rapidly before mumbling out, "I wanna go home."

"And that ain't back to my mom's I assume?" Reenie shook her head and stared dejectedly at the ground. "And why do you wanna go home right now?"

"'Cause I just knew you were gonna hate me!" the little girl almost shouted. She tried hard not to burst into tears and jump into her cousin's arms. Her breath quickened and she screwed up her face in despair. "Nobody likes me here! I wanna go home to Mommy and Daddy!"

Serena rocked backwards and stared at the child before her. "Why on earth," she asked in tones of disbelief, "Would I hate you?"

"'Cause... 'Cause..." the pink-haired youngster sniffled, "You're gonna be mad at me..." She glanced at Raye and then back at Serena.

"I am?" She looked back towards Raye who appeared rather grim. The raven-haired girl nodded and pointed at herself and then Serena and then Luna Ball who was floating patiently at its owner's side.

Now Serena Tsukino was not known for being a quick thinker, but she didn't need to be a super genius like Amy to understand what her preteen friend was implying. She slowly turned back to the seven year old who was looking very miserable and then flicked her eyes to Luna Ball. The floating orb sunk towards the ground and slid silently behind Reenie as if trying to find a place to hide.

The former petite teen felt her anger growing into a surging tsunami. She opened her mouth and then paused. 'That's it!' Serena thought, 'That is really it!' She took a few seconds to get her temper under control but even as she beat it back, she saw that Reenie was staring at her, waiting for what she thought (almost hoped) would be an explosion of biblical proportions. 'This type of STUPID thing ends NOW!' Serena decided firmly. She paused for a heartbeat and then smiled mentally. "Young lady!" she began without raising her voice but putting as much disapproval into it as she could.

Reenie cringed and blurted out, "I didn't mean to! Honest!"

"Didn't mean to do what?" came a new voice. Reenie, Raye, and Serena whipped around to see Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Venus, and Sailor Mercury enter the clearing.

Serena rose and placed her hands on her hips. "Just what do you think you three are doing?"

"We're Sailor Scouts," Mercury announced, "We came to help!" She looked around and then asked almost plaintively, "It's over?"

"Very," Raye commented dryly.

"Aww nuts!" Sailor Mercury replied, "I want to do a scan of Sewena's power levels."

Said blonde's nostrils flared and she regarded the three young newcomers. "Did I or did I not tell you three to stay there and that we would call you if we needed you?"

"Well yeah," Venus answered, smiling cutely.

"So did I call you?"

"No, Serena..." Venus said again and glanced at Jupiter.

"Did Raye?"

"Mommy, it doesn't..." Jupiter began but trailed off as the leader of the Sailor Scouts crossed her arms and gave them a very repressive look. "Uh... We just thought..." she trailed off again and glanced at Reenie who looked miserable. 'Oh boy!'

"Young ladies, at our next Scout meeting," Serena began in a quiet yet authoritative voice, "We're gonna discuss why it is not a majorly good idea to usurp your leader's prerogatives."

"Whoa. Just chill out a little, Princess," Jupiter chimed in, her missing front tooth showing, "We're not tryin' to take over."

"Then why are you here?" Serena asked in a conversational tone but there was definite disapproval in it.

"Um..." Sailor Venus glanced towards Jupiter and then Mercury and then fell silent and shifted from foot to foot.

"As I said, we'll discuss this at our next Scout meeting, for now..." She uncrossed her arms and pointed at Venus. "You and you..." She pointed at Mercury who took on a look of angelic innocence. "And you..." Serena finished by pointing at Jupiter. "Are goin' back to the temple now." She gave the seven year old with the ponytail a stern look. "I might not be able to really handle Venus and Mercury but since you've done me the honor of calling me 'Mommy' and I'm the Moon Princess, I'm gonna accept the responsibility." Jupiter beamed. "So after we get back and after I sort out Reenie..." The pink-haired girl winced. "I'm gonna have a long talk with you, Little Miss Jupiter." The smile on the Jovian Scout's face immediately faded away leaving her looking more than a little anxious. "Now, everyone transform back and go back to Raye's room," and in a softer voice, "And pray to the Kamis, that Grandpa Hino and Chad aren't out and about."

- - - - -

The tension in Raye Hino's bedroom was so thick it was almost palpable. Serena sat on a cushion beside a low table, her forty-something face looking very disapproving at the array of children around her. Raye sat beside Serena, face blank, but eyes flashing in anger. Mina sat towards the door, eyes darting nervously between Serena and the pink-haired youngster who also sat at the table, head bowed. Amy for her part had settled onto Mina's lap and stuck her thumb unknowingly into her mouth. The ribbon-wearing blonde might have mentioned the odd behavior but didn't dare given the current climate of the room. Instead, she put one arm loosely around Amy's midsection. Lita sat quietly behind Serena, as if attempting to go unnoticed.

"Young lady," Serena injected into the heavy silence, "We have been waiting here five minutes for you to tell us what this is all about."

Reenie hunched her shoulders and sniffled. After another couple of seconds, she lifted her head enough to say, "It was an accident." As the seconds dragged by, it became apparent that that was all the little girl was willing to say.

"Reenie, look at me," Serena ordered and waited until the girl had lifted her head enough to look her directly in the eye, "Now... you seem to think that not telling me is going to keep you from being punished."

"You're gonna do it anyway," the seven year old whined, "EVERYBODY hates me!" Her eyes swept the room searching faces before settling back on her hands in her lap.

"Reenie," the middle-aged woman said in the softest possible voice her current emotional state would allow, "Are we gonna be upset with you? Yes... Are we gonna be mad about what you've done? Yes. We are NOT gonna HATE you. I won't speak for the others but I still love you, no matter how exasperating you can be."

"She's right," Raye unexpectedly seconded, "I'm not real happy about what I think happened but I certainly don't hate you." She glanced at Serena and despite herself grinned slightly. "I think Serena said it best." 'Although...' The twelve year old started to think and then mentally shook it off. 'I hope this feeling goes away.' At the moment, all she wanted was for Serena to hug her and tell her everything would work out, while at the same time she thought she'd die if the blonde woman did any such thing.

"So come on, tell us," Mina put in. Amy nodded.

"Well... W-when I was at Lita's..." Reenie paused swallowed hard and blinked. She was out of tears but desperately wanted to cry. It seemed to be the best thing to do under the circumstances. "I-I had Luna Ball put some stuff in the batter."

Lita popped up from behind Serena like a jack-in-the-box and glowered at the larger girl. "Excuse me?" When the object of her question didn't respond, Lita stood up and came around Serena. "You put SOMETHING in MY cookies?!" Reenie leaned away from the former tall teen, her breathing coming more shallowly. "WELL?!" Lita demanded when the girl didn't respond.

"ITWASANACCIDENT! ITWASANACCIDENT!" Reenie cried, shuffling backwards as if fearing the fuming second-grader might attack.

"Lita..." Serena warned softly.

"But Serena...!" Lita started to complain as she turned to face the woman but abruptly fell silent at the look the meatball-headed blonde was giving her. "Why can't I be mad too? She rags on my family and ruins something that I take a lot of pride in. Nobody's gonna eat my cooking again without wondering what might've been put in it."

"You can be upset, Lita. I majorly am... and Reenie is gonna have to face the consequences for doing what she did. But yelling at her now won't do anything but make YOU feel better for a while and no matter what Reenie did, I won't let that happen." Blue eyes held both seven year olds silently. When Lita lowered her gaze and seemed to relax slightly, Serena turned back to her little cousin. "Reenie, fibbing ain't gonna get you out of trouble. It'll only make things worse."

"But I'm not fibbin'!" the seven year old protested.

"You have to be," Mina protested right back, "You said you used Luna Ball to put something into the cookie dough, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Then HOW," Lita demanded angrily after turning back to Reenie, "Can this be an accident?!"

"Lita, sit."

"NO!" Lita shouted up at Serena, "I listened to her rag on you this morning and tried hard to make her feel better." Her lips curled in disgust as she continued, "And what does she do to thank me... She sabotages MY cookies!"

"I didn't mean..." the pink-haired girl began trying hard to think of a way to explain, "Serena was treating me like a baby." She was visibly shaking. "I had to do something to make her not do that!"

"Reenie, I trusted you... KAMI KNOWS I TRIED TO BE YOUR FRIEND AND YOU... And you..." Lita shouted then trailed off. The pink-haired youngster stared wide-eyed breathing in quick hard breaths as her heart hammered against her chest. She'd never seen a look so pained and near hopeless in her young life as the one Lita Kino was giving her now. Tears began to form as Lita rasped out, "Don't you care about anyone but yourself?"

"LITA!" The name was spoken with commanding disapproval. "SIT!" The youngster sat heavily. Her burning green eyes looked away as tears flowed down her young cheeks. Satisfied that she had gained control, Serena got up, walked over to Reenie, and knelt beside her. "Reenie," she began gently, cupping Reenie's face gently between her hands, "Sweetheart, take a deep breath." What had she done? Reenie simply stared, pushing her breaths in hard shallow gasps, and trying hard to get tears to come to relieve the burning shame that she felt boiling inside her. "Come on, you don't wanna be sick... Now big breath."

The pink-haired seven year old did as she was told taking in a shuddering breath as much as she could, but it came out in a rush. "Now another, sweetheart, and hold it for a while this time." That request was a bit harder but after a coupled of tries, Reenie managed it. It took about two minutes for Reenie to calm enough to satisfy the adult. The woman was about to draw away when a knock came at the door.

Everyone quickly regarded each other and then Raye rose and crossed to the door. She carefully opened it shielding the girls from his view as she poked her head out. "Raye, is everything okay?" came the voice of Grandpa Hino, "I thought I heard shouting... I figured it was a movie or something but you don't have a TV in your room."

"Sorry, Grandpa," Raye answered in a natural voice, "Reenie had a nightmare." She noticed that the old priest looked a little taller than he normally did.

"Oh, is she okay?"

Raye glanced over her shoulder, noted that Reenie was looking calmer if not exactly less gloomy, and turned back to her grandfather. "Yeah... Did you hear it all the way out to where you were sleeping?"

"No, I came inside for a snack before bed." He grinned. "I'm older than Chad but by the Kamis, he's sleeping so soundly that an oni banging a drum next to him wouldn't wake him." He shrugged and grinned, "Well, goodnight, girls. I know it was an exciting evening but try to get some sleep. We'll need our strength to clean up the temple grounds tomorrow."

"I don't think we'll be long for bed, Grandpa," his now preteen granddaughter replied. She watched as the old man nodded and then stepped back so she could close the bedroom door.

"Sorry, Raye," the teary-eyed Lita mumbled, "I shouldn't've lost my temper."

"That's all right," the priestess replied, "We've all had long days."

"Well before Miss Reenie Serenity here goes to bed, I'd like to know exactly what she put into the cookie batter," Serena declared firmly.

"I got Luna Ball to put something in so you'd..." Here the pink-haired girl paused, squirmed, and then embarrassedly went on, "So you guys would have fun."

"Because you thought Serena and EVERYBODY else was going to be an ol' stick-'n-the-sand?" Mina questioned and thought, 'I wouldn't have been one... I had a cute guy all scoped out and everything!'

Reenie blushed and regarded Serena nervously who only looked expectantly back. Her blush deepened and she nearly whispered, "Well, Serena IS usually a stick-in-the-mud." Serena looked sharply at Lita. However, it was Amy who had giggled; Lita wasn't brave enough at that particular moment. Apparently sensing that a change of subject was required immediately, the seven year old amended quickly, "I didn't mean to do that," she tried to explain, gesturing towards Amy and Mina, "I just meant for everybody to have fun. I didn't know... I didn't know..."

"You mean that you DIDN'T intend for our ages to change but us to... have fun by altering our personalities to a prepubescent state," Amy deduced and the pink-haired youngster nodded. That sounded right.

"So what went wrong?" Lita asked coldly. Reenie shrugged.

"Well, you've gotten us into a fine pickle..." Serena sighed, "What am I going to do with you?"

"That's easy," Raye suddenly commented from her position near the door. The others turned to stare at the preteen. "She needs a spanking right here in front of everybody." Reenie winced.

"Yeah!" Mina piped up, "Do you know how much trouble this going to cause us?"

"That's right!" Lita agreed, "If I did something anywhere close to this, my mom would've spanked my sorry little butt."

"Oh really..." Serena said speculatively. She arched an eyebrow when Lita gave her a worried look. After another moment, Serena shook her head, "No." Raye and Mina stared at her as if they were going to protest. Reenie gaped at the blond woman who had once been her ditzy teenaged cousin.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Raye demanded. "Are you saying that she shouldn't be punished after what she did?"

"I didn't say that either," Serena told them.

"Well then, woman, haul her over your knee and get to it!" the raven-haired shrine maiden demanded.

Serena shook her head again. "I'm not going to, at least not now." She rubbed her forehead and sighed. "I really need to think about this."

"Pardon me but there isn't THAT much to think about," Lita countered.

"I'm not handing out any punishments... now," Serena indicated firmly before explaining to Reenie directly, "Not because I don't think you deserve a sound spanking, young lady... but because I don't... I won't believe you wanted to harm us." The pink-haired girl nodded rapidly. "What's done is done and all of us are gonna have to figure out a way to live with it for a long time to come. That doesn't mean you're gonna get away Scot-free." She considered, "For now, where's your sleeping bag?"

"There," the youngster indicated pointing to where it had been put.

"Well, you can park your butt in it for the rest of the night," Serena commanded. "It doesn't move until morning. Clear?"

"Yes, Se-Serena," was the whisper.

The matron nodded then. "If I had any way of pulling it off, I'd call Mom and have her come and get you." Reenie audibly gulped. "Since I don't..."

"You could use the Disguise Pen," Lita interrupted. "Call your mom and get Reenie out of here." She gulped at the disapproving look being given her.

"It's temping but..." Serena glanced at her watch. "It's majorly late. Mom's likely in bed. And no matter how I'd spin it, she'd likely not thank me for waking her up." She turned and gave Reenie a long look, which turned into a glare. It was so intense that Reenie squirmed. "And I don't trust Reenie not to use Luna Ball to do something with my mom's head to wiggle out of trouble." The Princess from the future's eyes expanded and she stared at the adult in horror. "No, I think I'll just keep her where we can keep an eye on her." Several seconds of heavy silence followed. "Well go on, get to bed." As Reenie was pushing herself up so she could go to bed, Serena turned to the others. "Raye, Mina, Amy, can you go to the kitchen? We should maybe think about what we're gonna do tomorrow when it's time to go home."

"What about me?!" Lita asked. She agreed that sounded like a good idea, why she wasn't being included?

Serena frowned. "After I get Reenie settled, you and I are going to have a MOTHER-DAUGHTER talk about you showing up when I told you to stay put. After we're done, we'll join the other girls."

'Crud...' Lita thought with a mental wince but had to fight to suppress a smile. After all it wouldn't do to smile when your potential parent was about to lower the boom.

End of Chapter 7

Coming next inChapter 8 - Hope for the Dawn