A/N: I actually had a hard time deciding if the Starlights should sing again… I'm not sure what they would do! That's probably pretty evident. Enjoy!
Note: It's November and y'all know what that means. NaNo is on. I'm going to try to be faithful with updates but if I can't, you've got fair warning.
I'd never actually been introduced to the manager of the Three Lights before, and it was only when I went with them that afternoon to their meeting that I got the pleasure. Well, pleasure probably wasn't the right word to use. I could sense that the meeting was probably not going to go all that well when the five of us walked into the room and he looked up and caught sight of me and Chibi-Chibi. The expression on his face was the same one Luna made after Shingo accidentally stepped on her tail once. To put it simply, he looked like he wanted to push us out the window.
"Seiya-san," he said, glancing away from us. "I've never needed to discuss this with you, but you're not allowed to have visitors accompany you to our meetings. This kind of thing is very private. I'm sorry but you'll have to wait outside." He started to take a step forward, probably to usher us out of the room, and Yaten stepped into his way and folded her arms. She didn't say anything, just glared at him, and amazingly he actually stopped. Presumably he'd learned at one point that pushing Yaten was not a good idea.
Still, I didn't want to cause problems for everyone. I had wondered from the very beginning if it was really a good idea that the two of us be there. "We can wait outside. I don't mind."
"Anything we have to say can be said in front of everyone here," said Seiya firmly, putting a hand on my shoulder to keep me in place. "There's a reason they're here, Otori-san. This is Tsukino Usagi and her daughter, Chibi-Chibi, and either they stay or we all leave."
"Oh, very well," Otori muttered, straightening his glasses. He didn't bother to acknowledge either me or Chibi-Chibi, just ambled over to the table and took a seat at the head. A woman that I presumed was his assistant was sitting to his left, a laptop open in front of her. Yaten sat down beside her with Seiya at the other end, and then me with Taiki and Otori. I kept Chibi-Chibi on my lap, knowing that if she destroyed something while they were talking it wouldn't go over well.
"We've been thinking a lot about your offer," Seiya began. "It's very… generous."
"The record label is anxious to keep the three of you around. You're hot stuff at the moment," said Otori. "You've barely scratched the surface of what you could do and the popularity you could gain. You haven't even gone on a tour yet! I'm telling you, if you let this opportunity slip through your fingers you're going to regret it. This isn't something you'll ever have the chance to do again. You guys are only just starting to make your way and if you wait too long the flames of your success are going to die out." He pointed a pudgy finger at each of them in turn. "Being chosen to sing at the memorial service was just the beginning."
"We're just not sure," said Taiki.
Otori shook his head. "Frankly I don't know what you're deliberating on," he remarked. "Most people would jump at this kind of a chance. When I first met you, you seemed so eager to become as popular as possible and now, when you're achieving your goal, you're pulling back?"
Seiya looked a little uncomfortable. I knew what she was thinking. When they had first come to Earth disguised as boys, their goal had been to reach as many people as possible so that Princess Kakyuu would hear their message. Now that Kakyuu was dead they didn't really need to sing anymore and so being a global sensation wasn't as important. That wasn't the kind of thing they could explain, though, and it must have seemed odd to someone who wasn't in the position to understand. I nudged her foot gently with mine and when she glanced at me I smiled, trying to make her at ease. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before smiling back.
"It's difficult to explain," she said without taking her eyes off of me. "And you should know that if we did agree to keep on with our contract, there are new stipulations that would have to be made."
"Like what? I'm sure that we could work out just about anything," he said eagerly.
"For one thing, Usagi and her daughter will be coming with us to every concert, including the ones that we do while we're on tour," Yaten said. I didn't know who was more surprised by that, me or Otori. My mouth dropped open and Otori actually sputtered. Yaten just sat there, a smug smile on her face and her arms folded. I got the feeling that she didn't actually like Otori all that much.
"You… but…" Otori turned his head and looked at me, openly running his eyes up and down my body in a way that felt a little bit creepy. "That's outrageous. I doubt your record label will agree to pay for the presence of someone who isn't a part of your group to accompany you to every concert."
"That's easy enough, then," Seiya said with a shrug. "We'll make her a part of the group. Odango, can you sing?"
"Err… not well enough to get up on a stage," I said cautiously. I'd played around with singing with Naru and Minako a couple of times but I'd never been serious about it. I definitely wasn't good enough to sing with the Three Lights.
"She doesn't need to be a part of the group," Taiki said patiently, shooting Seiya a look. "It's fine with us if we're the ones paying for it, Otori-san. As long as Usagi-chan and Chibi-Chibi have the clearance to stay with us at all times, that's all we care about."
"Why? Is she your girlfriend?" He was looking at Seiya when he said that, though his question was clearly meant to be directed all around the room, and he didn't sound pleased.
"No!" I said quickly, afraid that Seiya would yes, as she had been known to do before.
"It's none of your business," Seiya said at the same time and she sounded distinctly colder. "Look, we're not even saying that we agree, but if we did decide to renew our contract this is one thing we're not going to give in on. You can tell the label that she's our assistant if you think that will make them be more amenable to the idea." She pushed back her chair and stood up, reaching out to put a hand on my arm. I got to my feet as well. "You can call us once you present the idea and let us know what happens, and then we'll talk about whether or not we want to keep singing or not."
Otori's mouth was hanging open as the five of us turned and left, but I thought I saw his assistant hiding a smile with her hand as we walked out. For my part, I managed to keep quiet as Taiki led the way through the building. I knew it wouldn't look very good if I said anything before we were somewhere private, so I bit my lip until we were back inside the limo. Before I let loose, I glanced around at them. Seiya looked unquestionably smug and I knew she thought the record label would give into their demand. Yaten was staring out the window; I honestly didn't think she cared one way or the other. Taiki was looking at me and smiling, no doubt anticipating what I was going to ask.
"Are you crazy?" I burst out at last. "You might've just ruined your chances to sing again."
"What did you think was going to happen?" said Seiya. "I told you that you were our number one priority, Odango."
"But you can't just…" I was so amazed I couldn't even make the words come out properly. I felt awful for putting that kind of responsibility on their shoulders. They'd adapted surprisingly well to being my guardians, and it shouldn't have been shocking because I'd seen how they treated Princess Kakyuu, but I'd never expected they would give me the same attention. And I really didn't want to be separated from them. But it didn't feel right that they were putting their lives on hold just for me.
"Usagi-chan," Yaten said quietly. "You're all that we have left."
That one little sentence stopped me cold. All this time I had been thinking about what they were doing for me, not the other way around. It hadn't even occurred to me to wonder. I knew they'd lost Princess Kakyuu but the full ramifications, how lost they must have felt, hadn't dawned on me until that moment. For the first time I started to realize that this whatever we had ran both ways, that maybe they needed me every bit as much as I needed them, and that this ploy to get me permission to accompany them wasn't solely for my benefit.
"I'm sorry. I guess I didn't see it that way," I admitted. It made a lot of sense, though, and explained why they didn't seem to mind when I was clingy, or why they didn't mind sleeping with me at night or making so many allowances for me. They were every bit as afraid that I would disappear as I was that they would. "I just didn't want you to sacrifice your life for me." And I meant that in more ways than one.
"It's not a sacrifice," Seiya said firmly.
But in spite of that I couldn't help feeling that it was. As much as they might have disliked certain parts of their life as stars, I knew that all three of them enjoyed singing. It allowed them to earn a living without too many people questioning their background or noticing that sometimes they didn't know things that a child would normally learn in elementary school. I wasn't sure what they would do if they decided not to take Otori up on his offer. And I knew that I definitely didn't want to be the reason that they decided not to do that. I had always been a firm believer that everyone needs the chance the follow their dreams and in my eyes the Starlights were no different: in fact, in light of everything they had been through, they probably deserved it the most.
"You can do it," I said, looking up at them. "I'll be your assistant or whatever. I don't really care as long as it means you won't get into trouble. If you want to keep singing then I think you should."
Seiya looked surprised by what I'd said. "We're not sure yet, Odango."
"I know." But I thought that maybe they were, regardless of what they were telling themselves. I knew that Seiya didn't want to talk about it anymore, though, so I decided to drop the topic. I looked out the window, searching for inspiration, and realized that I recognized where we were. "Do you mind if we make a stop before we go home?"
"No. Where do you want to go?" Taiki asked, twisting towards the front seat.
"Game Center Crown." I knew that it wouldn't be a familiar place to them. My friends and I had often met in the cafe upstairs but we'd been spending less time in the actual center since we entered high school. I hadn't Motoki or Unazuki for a long time and suddenly I wanted to. "It's this place where we used to hang out all the time. I'm pretty sure it's just around the corner. They make great milkshakes."
"Sounds good to me." Seiya told the driver to stop and a moment later we were parked in front of somewhere I hadn't been for years: a place where the last time I'd visited my friends had been alive and well.
Note 2: Motoki and Unazuki were in the first couple seasons of Sailor Moon. Motoki is known as Andrew in the dub, and Unazuki is called Lizzy.
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