Disclaimer: If I owned Sailormoon, I'd have to be older since it was created before I was born. As it stands, I'll have to settle for being a fanfiction writer.
Outside of Hotaru's mind, her body was being carried to someone's car. Inside of her mind, however, she was dreaming.
"Suu-chan, wanna go outside?" the little dark haired girl asked eagerly, a doll with a painted on smile in one hand, and a pair of gloves in the other hand. "Ne, Suu-chan?"
A woman with dark red hair walked briskly toward Hotaru.
"Don't drop her now!" someone else chided.
"What have I told you about going outside?!" she asked, angrily, quickly losing patience with the child who would not listen "Your father, this time, has given me express instructions not to let you!"
Hotaru ran past the woman, crying, because it was snowing and she wanted to see it, and because Kaori was going out of her way to upset her, just because she was angry once more that HE seemed to love her more.
"Don't worry, she's breathing"
"Why should I listen to you?!" she screamed, wanting to hurt Kaori as the knowledge of being unable to do anything anymore had hurt her. "You're not mama!"
Kaori staggered back as if dealt a blow, and stalked away, leaving Hotaru sitting there cradling her doll, that seemed to be her only friend.
"She's murmuring something… I can't tell what"
"It's okay, Suu-chan. She didn't mean to scare you" she whispered, stepping into her room and closing the door.
She was alone, being plunged into the dark.
"Mama?", she asked, bleary eyed.
"Suu-chan?"
"Michi, are you holding her head?" Haruka asked as she drove. "I think she's got a concussion or something"
Michiru continued to immobilize the girl, trying to get her to stop moving. Ever since they had gotten her into Haruka's car, she had been murmuring things and twitching intermittently. She had suggested calling an ambulance to take her to the hospital, but against Michiru's better judgment, Haruka had decided to drive the poor girl there herself.
"We're almost there. I can see it" she said quickly. Michiru nodded, and much to her surprise, the girl opened her eyes.
"Haruka, she's awake…" she said, relieved. Haruka took her eyes off of the road for one second, and turned to look at the girl. Now, even though it was almost dark, the headlights illuminated her violet eyes.
Hotaru struggled to speak, especially when she saw where they were planning to take her. Papa would not like this. As the car stopped, she looked for the latch on the door that would unlock it. If it unlocked, she could run for it.
"Hold on, you're not going anywhere until the doctors have a look at you" Haruka said, noticing the girl's attempt to flee. "Do you even know what happened?"
Hotaru barely remembered anything, but she had a fair idea. She didn't see what the big deal was. Now that the attack was over, she was fine. Then with a soft groan that Michiru took for pain, she realized that none of the people in the car with her knew that.
"It's okay," Hotaru murmured in what she hoped was a reassuring voice "I don't want to trouble you"
Michiru put her hands on Hotaru's.
"Trust me, you're not troubling us." She said softly, not wanting to scare her. Hotaru blinked. Why were they being so nice? Even so, she really had to leave.
"I-I can't" Hotaru stammered apprehensively, as Haruka parked the car in the hospital parking lot. "Papa would not allow it"
Haruka rolled her eyes slightly at this statement, but slowed her pace getting out of the car.
"Why wouldn't he?" Haruka asked, curiously "You fainted in the middle of the street for no apparent reason. If someone found my kid and didn't take them to the hospital after that, I'd be angry."
"I AM nobody's kid." Hotaru said, her tone becoming very dark very quickly. There was something about the certainty of the statement that did not sit well with Haruka. At the oldest, this girl could be 10? 11? She was not about to be swayed by a preteen.
"Whatever you are, you're going to let the doctor check you out" was her reply.
As she turned to open the passenger door for Hotaru, she moved to say something else but didn't. Desperately, Hotaru tried to convey the message that she could not go into the hospital with her dark eyes. Aside from Papa and Kaori being furious, she couldn't go in. Not after what happened. To her, the hospital was where the dead people went to be finished off.
Haruka looked into her eyes, saw something in them and hesitated before pulling open the door. She decided to try to reassure her that she would be in no trouble.
"No." Hotaru responded finally, crossing her arms, and giving them a look that dared them to try to get her any further. "I'm really sorry, but I'm not going in. And this isn't about the trouble"
Something about that statement struck Michiru as being beyond what the scope of a child could usually say.
Michiru and Haruka nodded.
"I see that your mind is made up, then" Haruka muttered, wishing there was some way to tie her down and drag her in. Something about the girl set off a red flag in her mind, and she wasn't sure what, or why it did in the first place. She didn't see how it could, though, the girl was weak and harmless.
Hotaru staggered off and began walking off in the direction that she thought her house was in, when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder.
"If we may, can we at least drop you off at your house?" Michiru asked. Hotaru smiled at them both nervously and nodded.
She got back into the car, and looked at her feet embarrassed. What she had just done was very rude, and very far of her common way.
The car started.
"What's your name?" Haruka asked from the front seat, as she put the car in gear. She adjusted the rearview mirror so she could see Hotaru's face.
"Tomoe Hotaru" she responded. Michiru remarked at what a beautiful name that was, causing Hotaru to turn red. No one had called anything having to do with her beautiful.
"Mine is Kaioh Michiru, and Haruka's sitting in the front. You go Mugen Gakuen, don't you?" she asked. Hotaru nodded.
"I'm in seventh grade." She said brightly, happy in fact at something to talk about, pointing to the blue bow on her uniform. Michiru tried not to laugh at that. She had been just as proud to be a junior high student in seventh grade as Hotaru was now. Hotaru looked at her curiously, wondering why she was laughing.
"Have I done something to-…." She began, wondering if she was laughing at her. Michiru shook her head.
"You remind me so much of myself three years ago." She clarified. "It's cute."
Haruka smiled at this.
"Yeah, I remember seventh grade. I used to beat up Joji Shizue for his lunch money then", she joked. Hotaru burst out laughing at this quickly covering her mouth, and Michiru shook her head at Haruka.
"Haruka's kidding, of course. I doubt anyone actually beat up Joji Shizue." She added. Hotaru was convulsing in a fit of silent giggles, much to the amusement of Haruka and Michiru. She became more pensive though, when she realized that she was almost home. Haruka was back near Mugen Gakuen.
"I can get home from here" Hotaru stated, looking at the school building, but Haruka shook her head.
"I'd feel better knowing you were home safe" she responded, wondering why she was so eager to get away from them. "So point me in the direction of your house."
"Well if you take a left here, it's just straight down this block", Hotaru said, pointing at a dimly lit block, if a well groomed one. Haruka sped down the block, and Michiru pretended to make her seatbelt tighter as she increased, causing Hotaru to laugh once more.
She looked out the window at all of the houses, and at the porch light shining on hers.
Familarity.
She was home.
And for once, she wished she wasn't.
"What a nice house." Haruka remarked. Michiru did too, and Hotaru wished her skin wasn't so pale, because at that moment, she was sure that anyone within a 10 mile radius could see the blush on her face.
"Arigatou Gozaimasu" Hotaru said. Haruka got out of the car to open the back passenger seat for her.
"No prob." Haruka said, wondering why the girl was being so formal.
"I can't thank you enough, Mr..."Hotaru began, hoping the man would supply her with his name.
"Tenou Haruka." Haruka chuckled inwardly at the "Mr." part. She wasn't the first to make that assumption, and she certainly wouldn't be the last.
"Tenou-san, then," Hotaru replied smiling. She began the short walk up her porch steps, making careful measured steps. The world spun again and she tried to grab something to steady herself. Haruka grabbed her by the arm before she could fall, however.
"You'll be okay." Haruka murmured softly, more to herself than anyone else. She felt suddenly protective of the girl, whose features she could see more clearly now that they were being bathed in the yellow glow of the bug light affixed to the top of the porch wall. She was quite small for someone her age, with a thin, slight frame, and violet eyes that could hold your gaze forever. They however, were directed at the ground, as if, if she looked directly at Haruka, the kindness she had shown her would disappear and she would be left standing on her porch, alone again.
She reached out to ring the bell, but as she did the doorknob turned and the door slowly creaked open.
A woman with a white face and blood-red hair appeared.
"Kaori" Hotaru said icily, her tone once again switching to the more adult tone Haruka had heard before.
"Why, little Hotaru-chan, you've brought a friend." She said in a way that made Haruka imagine the wolf that ate the grandmother.
Kaori appeared to be addressing Haruka when she said something else.
"Thank you for transporting Hotaru-chan home safely" she said, sweetly, invoking another unpleasant feeling within her. Hotaru nodded again, walked inside and closed the door.
"Goodbye, Tenou-san" she murmured, her voiced tinged with sadness.
Haruka walked briskly back to her car, her job seemingly done. She had brought the girl home and she was seemingly alright, she reflected as she walked back to the car. But...
"Something's not right." Michiru said, affirming Haruka's own thoughts. She nodded in agreement, unable to shake that feeling.
"I'm still worried about her" she whispered after a pause. They both looked at each other.
"I think I'll stop here tomorrow after I pick you up and see if she needs a ride to school" Haruka stated, looking at Hotaru's rather extravagant looking house. Michiru put one of her hands on hers, and the other hand on her face. Haruka turned.
"I think that's a good idea."
-----end of chapter 2.
There now, it's longer.
This chapter took me forever, even though most of it was done about two days after I posted chapter 1. What can I say? I'm lazy like that. Sorry it took me so long.
On an unrelated note, I'm seeking a beta-reader. I'd prefer if you were a fic writer for this fandom, but otherwise, no real preferences. Any takers?
Ja ne!
Sailor Prozac