Chapter 21

A big sigh escaped Serena when the class bell rang and there was no sign of Seiya, Yaten or Taiki.

Mina and Lita both looked over at Serena when they heard her sigh.

As much as Serena tried to concentrate on her classes that morning, her thoughts would continuously wonder about Seiya.

When the lunch bell rang, Serena raced for the phones. But there was no answer at the Estate and Sikora's phone went straight to her voice mail; unsure what to say, Serena left no message.

"Serena," Ami called from down the hall.

Serena stood and waited for Ami to come to her.

"Taiki left a message on my communicator," Ami spoke quietly. "They'll be off world for the rest of the week."

Serena's whole body slumped with a sigh.

"You think this has something to do with the fight?" Serena questioned her friend as they made their way to the cafeteria for lunch.

"He didn't say," Ami mentioned.

Serena dropped herself down in the seat next to Lita.

"No answer?" Mina asked.

Serena shook her head.

"They're off world for the rest of the week," Ami told the others.

"We have to study for mid-terms anyway," Lita said and put a comforting arm around Serena.

Serena moaned.

"You don't want to spend the summer here by yourself do you?" Ami smiled at Serena.

"I plan on passing every test," Serena announced confidently.

It was now Saturday and Serena still hadn't heard a word from Seiya or Sikora.

Serena stepped onto her balcony, staring up at the clear blue sky. She closed her eyes and the warmth of the sun felt like she was being held in Seiya's arms. A gentle breeze passed and she thought she heard his voice whisper to her. A smile of joy grew on her face.

The beep of her communicator brought her racing into her room. She threw herself across her bed and reached way over; tossing various books and papers out of her book bag.

"Mina," she squeaked when she saw who was calling her.

"Hear anything?" Mina smiled happily, ignoring the angry scowl on Serena's face.

"No," Serena snapped. "I thought you were mad at Yaten anyway."

"Well, I can't be mad at him if he isn't here to see me mad at him," Mina huffed.

Serena had no idea how to respond to Mina's logic.

"I have to finish my book report, but if I hear anything I'll call you right way," Serena told her friend.

"Hey!" an afterthought comes to Serena: "You should call Ami. Maybe Taiki has left another message."

"If I call her again while she's studying, I'll be the last person she calls when she hears something," Mina moaned.

"Called her a few times too many already," Serena giggled.

"Call me after you finish your book report," Mina told Serena.

"I wish Taiki was here, he writes good book reports. If I had it my way, I'd say this book sucks and is a waste of time. Now if I could do a book report on Sailor V or something really good like that, then book reports wouldn't bum me out," Serena groaned and Mina snickered.

"Bye Serena," Mina continued to snickered and ended the transmission.

Serena rolled onto her back, while still hanging half off her bed and moaned: "I don't want to. Why would any teacher make half of your mark coming from a stupid book report?"

"If you spent as much time on your report as you do whining about it, you would have done several reports by now," Luna lectured.

"How about I lay around basking in the sun all day and you slave away at school," Serena snipped at Luna.

"My slaving away days at school are over," Luna scowled. "Now, like millions of slaves before you, you will finish that report. I will go find a sunbeam." She cocked her nose up and strolled out of the room.

Serena let her body slowly slide off the bed, until she was a heap on the floor.

Monday morning as the bell rang, Yaten, Taiki and Seiya strolled into the classroom.

One could almost see Serena glow. A new found energy surged through her body. Her eyes sparkled as the happiest smile she had ever had graced her face.

Even Yaten had to smile back at Serena.

"All your tests this week will be conducted in this room," Mr. Hayashi announced, closing the room door.

"Test will vary, depending on which teacher you would normally have for each class," the teacher continued to explain as he picked up the stacks of papers he had on his desk.

"Your names are already on the test. Keep them face down until I hand them all out. There is no reason to look over at your neighbor, as they may not be writing the same test as you. Test scores will not be posted until Friday morning."

"I missed you Dumpling," Seiya whispered.

Serena turned her head; as if to watch Mr. Hayashi go down the aisles. But her eyes were on Seiya and her smile was definitely not for the teacher, or her neighbor.

"You have half an hour before the next test starts," Mr. Hayashi told Serena when she handed in her completed test.

Serena quietly paced outside the classroom door waiting for Seiya to finish and join her.

"How do you think you did on that test?" Mina asked when she joined Serena in the hallway.

"Not too bad," Serena smiled. "I'm more worried about my math test on Wednesday," her smile faded.

"Did you get your book report done?" Mina inquired. "We have to hand them in after lunch."

"Yeah, I…" Serena stopped, then tilted her head back and rolled her eyes. "I left it on my desk at home," she moaned.

"We'll run to your place after the next test. Don't worry," Mina gently rubbed Serena's arm.

"I'll miss lunch," Serena wailed. "I can't think on an empty stomach."

"We'll have time for both," Mina assured her. "Or maybe Sailor Moon can fly you home."

A giggle brought Serena's whinny cry to an end.

"Miss me?" Yaten asked the girls as him and Seiya came strolling out.

Mina slapped him across the face hard enough to leave a red mark and then she stormed down the hallway.

Yaten stared at Serena, his eyes wide with astonishment.

"I think she's still mad at you for what you said last week," Serena remarked, trying not to snicker.

Seiya reached out and pulled Serena close: "I missed you," he whispered sweetly before their lips locked tight.

Serena felt the strains of the last week of torturous studying melt away.

With lips released, Serena pressed her head to Seiya's chest and listened to his heart beat.

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to be here for mid-terms," Serena spoke softly, keeping her head to his chest.

"It's the only reason I'm here," Seiya sighed. "If I don't pass my mid-terms, then I don't need to be here. I can just work on rebuilding."

"My parents would ground me if I failed, but they'd never pull me out of school," Serena mentioned as the two of them made their way down the hall.

"I would be grounded, but to a different planet," Seiya chuckled.

"Kakayuu has picked her new world?" Serena asked quietly as more students made their way down the hallways. "What's it like?"

"I haven't seen much of it. I've spent the last week doing every horrible menial task Maliki could find for me," Seiya grumbled.

"It sounds like you need an extra thick chocolate milkshake," Serena giggled.

"Unless you can sneak one up to my room, that isn't going to happen," he sadly replied.

"I'll figure something out," she said and gave him a big smile.

Seiya couldn't help but laugh lightly at her. He knew she probably would find a way.

They soon found the rest of their friends sitting outside enjoying the beautiful spring day.

Before they joined the others on the bleachers, Serena turned and with sad eyes asked: "Is Yaten still mad at me for what happened between you and Darien?"

"If he says something wrong, I'll punch him in the face. Unless you want to slap him like Mina did," Seiya laughed deeply.

"I think I'll leave that to Mina," Serena giggled.

"What took you two so long?" Lita inquired.

"Talking," Serena answered and Seiya pulled her down on his lap.

"I'm sorry for what I said last week," Yaten said, leaning over towards Serena.

"Afraid Mina's going to slap your face again if you don't apologize," Seiya quipped.

"No. He's afraid Sikora will slap him around again," Taiki laughed.

Yaten glared at Taiki, who just laughed louder.

"When do we get to see your new home?" Lita questioned.

"I think that would be up to Kakayuu," Ami mentioned.

"We don't have afternoon classes on Wednesday; maybe we can come up and talk to her then?" Lita responded.

Serena decided it was time to practice her diplomacy; in order to do so, she called Kakayuu on Wednesday morning and asked if her and the girls could come up and see her after lunch.

Kakayuu, always delighted to hear from her new found friends, insisted that Serena and the girls come up for dinner and chit-chat.

The girls met Rei the minute her classes were over, but Serena said they had to go to the Crown first.

"Why?" all the girls asked her at once.

"I need an extra thick chocolate shake to go," Serena smiled. "And it's not for me."

Serena's walk turned into a little skip.

"When we get to the Estate, we can't go in right away. I need to sneak the shake up to Seiya," Serena told her friends after she ordered the drink.

"Why do you have to sneak this up to Seiya?" Rei inquired.

"He got in a lot of trouble for what he did to Darien and I feel kind of responsible. Besides, if I was stuck in my room with nothing to do but study for mid-terms, I would hope that one of my friends would be nice and sneak me a shake," Serena said with a bounce happy voice.

"Of course we would," the other girls said with little nods and big grins.

Standing in the passage way, outside of Seiya's secret door, Serena listened to see if Seiya was alone. Hearing no sounds at all, Serena tapped lightly on the door.

"He'll never hear that," Mina whispered.

Apparently his hearing was better than the girls thought. They could hear him pushing his book shelf away from the entrance.

"Serena," his face beamed with delight when he saw her smiling at him.

She held the shake out to him and he had to laugh.

"You drink your shake and we'll go use the front door like invited guest should do," Rei told Seiya and pulled Serena back out of the room.

"I'll sneak back later," Serena whispered while Seiya took the offered shake.

"Enjoy your visit," Seiya smiled, but pulled Serena back to give her a nice long kiss before she could leave.

The girls made their way back outside and around to the front of the house; where Serena rang the bell.

"Good afternoon, ladies," the butler smiles as he open the door.

"We'd like to speak to Kakyuu please," Rea returned the man's smile.

"She is in the study. Shall I fetch her or would you prefer to follow me?" the butler asked.

"If you're sure she isn't busy, we'll follow you," Amy replied.

"Kakyuu is never too busy to see you," the butler explained and led them from the foyer.

The butler knocked on the study door and received an 'enter' from the other side of the door.

"Your Highness, your guests have arrived," the butler announced and then stepped aside so the girl could enter.

"I took the liberty of telling the kitchen staff that you would be staying for dinner," Kakyuu's face glowed with happiness as she waved the girls over to her tea table.

"How are your tests going?" Kakyuu questioned as she poured tea.

"I'll be happy when they're over," Mine giggles.

"Once I get my scores, I'm going to sleep for twenty four hours," Serena remarked.

"I think we could all do with nice soak into a hot spring when we're done," Lita chuckled.

"You have two weeks off after your midterm exams are done and I love to have you come see my new Kinmoki. We haven't got much built yet, but the planet itself is breath taking," Kakyuu beamed.

"We'd love to," the girls chimed.

"Are all your people there now?" Amy inquired.

"All those that Sikora and Maliki were able to save before Galaxia destroyed our world. We are few, but we'll rebuild," Kakyuu gave a weak smile.

Serena wrapped her arms tightly Kakyuu and the other girls joined in.

"We'll help you any way we can," Mina announced.

"I know," Kakyuu giggled and a big smile formed.

"Now that's what we like to see," Mina said to Kakyuu.

"How did you come to choose this new planet?" Amy asked as they all sat back to their tea.

"Once we found it to have no life forms we went to look at it. The aroma of the plant life captivated me. The flowers and trees were in full bloom. The colors of the plants danced in the breeze and their scent was carried on the wind." Kakyuu's eyes had the dazed look of recalling a pleasant dream.

"Some trees are in blossom, some are laden heavy with fruit," Kakyuu continued. "It's as if someone planter this wonderful garden and then never returned. Trees such as these should be alive with bird song, but there are no birds. There are no animals at all."

"You should see if some of Earth's animals could survive on Kinmoki," Amy suggested.

"For years man has hunted and still hunts our creatures; some to the brink of extinction. On your world they could flourish," Lita added.

"You want her to do the Noah's ark thing," Mine inquired.

"Sure, why not?" Serena laughed loudly.

"Noah's ark?" Kakyuu questioned.

Rei decided she would be best to explain the story of Noah to Kakyuu.

Kakyuu had a big smile on her face after the store was told. "I will have some of my people investigate the possibilities of relocating some of Earth animal life."

A knock came on the study door, followed by the butler stepping in and announcing dinner was ready.

Serena's body gave a slight sigh when she realized Seiya was not standing near the table with the others when they entered the dining room.

"Where's Sikora?" Lita asked after everyone sat down.

"Sikora and Merisa are interviewing new potential scouts," Kakyuu informed them.

"How do you conduct an interview for such a potion?" Amy inquired.

"Sikora and Merisa look for the natural abilities a Sailor Scout is born with," Kakyuu explained. "When a Sailor Scout dies, her natural ability to fight is passed on. That essence that made her a scout may linger for years, even generations, until she finds the right child to be born into."

"In a few more years, we may find all those that died during Galaxia's rein," Maliki mentioned.

"Could you imagine choosing him?" Taiki remarked and pointed at Yaten.

Yaten let out an audible huff, then glared over at his brother: "Missing Seiya's wit? Or just taking his place?"

"The opportunity presented itself," Taiki chuckled.

"You have nothing to worry about Yaten," Rei smiled. "Someone chose Serena," she added and opened her eyes wide as if in shock.

"Everyone is entitled to make a mistake," Taiki grinned at Serena.

"Making mistakes can be fun," Serena countered. "Doing the right thing all the time could be boring." She kept her comments directed at Taiki.

Taiki gave Serena a raise of his eyebrows.

Maliki quickly altered the table conversation towards Kinmoki and the girls spent the rest of dinner listening.

While relaxing in the hot springs after supper, Kakyuu and the girls mostly talked about school and how they thought their test were going.

The girls didn't stay too late, as Kakyuu thought they should be spending their time studying.

Serena dressed quickly and then slipped away. The other girls knew Serena was sneaking off to see Seiya.

The girls were dressing and drying their hair slowly, giving Serena a few minutes to say her goodbyes.

Serena raced through the passage ways, coming to a halt at Seiya's hidden door. She was disappointed when she heard voices coming from the other side of the wall.

She stayed a few minutes, but the voices didn't stop, so she had no choice but to rejoin her friends.

'There's always tomorrow,' Serena smiled to herself and stepped back into the room the other girls were in.