Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I am not one of the geniuses who created SM and MS.
Kaioh Setsuna crouched on top of her chair, peering down at a small brown shape on the tiled floor. Her usually calm exterior was gone, in favor for one of a frightened mouse. She slowly began to straighten her legs, her eyes never leaving the shadow on the ground, preparing to jump out of the kitchen/dining room.
"Onee-chan!"
A voice rang out, shocking the woman to a point that she almost fell off onto the dark shape on the ground. Thankfully, she was able to keep her balance, standing precariously on the edge of the chair, while cursing her sister's voice.
But, apparently, the cockroach had also been scared at the loud voice, and it scuttled away, to where Setsuna hoped was far, far away from her. She sighed, her body filled with relief, and jumped off the chair with an unusual grace. The green haired woman finally looked around to see her sister's face, which currently held a mixture of amusement and joy.
"Michi-chan, good morning," Setsuna kept her voice calm, showing no sign of the frightened woman she had been, just mere seconds ago. Michiru smirked, feeling wickedly cheerful at seeing the hidden side of her normally elegant sister. After all, when would be the next time she saw her sister again?
Setsuna was currently studying fashion and design at Bunka Fukusou Gakuen, which meant she hardly visited, except for the major holidays. She had gotten a scholarship to the prestigious school, in her last year of high school, just before their dad had left. Of course, once their dad had left, Setsuna had almost rejected the scholarship, saying that she needed to be there for her family, but thankfully, the combined forces of Michiru and their mom was enough to make her go to college.
Michiru adored Setsuna, the older girl being her role model. Their dad had left when Setsuna was barely eighteen, while Michiru was at the bitter age of thirteen. Therefore, Setsuna had acted as a second mother for her sensitive sister, taking care of her, making sure she was feeling fine, or whatnot.
Because of this, she was rather..different from other girls her age. When she was eighteen, most other girls were obsessed about guys, their looks, and guys. She, however, was much too busy helping her mother at home, to even care about boyfriends.
And, as a result, she was more mature than the other girls could ever hope to be. Her eyes were wine colored mirrors that showed a depth and intensity that was beyond her years. Just by her way of talking, you could tell she had a burdensome amount of responsibilities. But that was only noticeable, if she wished it to be so. Otherwise, she had a regal air around her, making her out to be a queen.
In some ways, Michiru and Setsuna were completely different from each other, with the younger girl's delicate beauty, and the older's bold beauty. Michiru's porcelain complexion and small features made her seem like she had to be protected, which might have explained why she was somewhat more popular with the boys, though once you got to know her, she was quite a vixen. Setsuna's beauty was more striking, like an Amazon. You could tell just by looking at her tall and toned physique that she was not one to be messed with.
Despite their many differences, they were quite alike, although it might not have been noticeable to the naked eye. They both carried themselves with a natural grace and confidence that seemed to emanate from their miniscule pores. There was an effortless elegance in their every actions, and their perfection caused people to stare at them, with jealousy or lust, everywhere they went.
However, in the privacy of their house, they were able to shed their false skins and just be themselves, rather than glorified versions of themselves.
"Good morning," Michiru responded, her face openly showing amusement at her sister's antics. Setsuna cleared her throat, feeling strangely uncomfortable after not being home for a long time. But, all the awkwardness of the situation disappeared rather quickly, after the shorter woman jumped on the unsuspecting woman.
They both went down with a thud onto the tiles of the kitchen floor.
"Onee-chan, did you miss me?" Michiru asked childishly, while straddling her sister's middle. She opened her eyes wider, in an attempt to look like a puppy, and let her mouth stick out in a pout. Then, she broke her act, as she got off her sister, laughing freely. Setsuna also stood up, brushing off imaginary specks of dust off her pajama bottoms exaggeratedly. She grumbled good naturedly, "You know, if you're going to greet me like this every time, I'm gonna start living full time at the University."
"But you would miss me too much," the aqua haired girl said in a mockingly innocent way. Setsuna scoffed, and rolled her eyes. There was an awkward pause before both of them burst into laughter, their shoulders shaking. Their mother stepped into the kitchen lazily, visibly dragging her feet one by one to the counter. She looked beautiful as usual, although her eyes weren't fully open yet, and there was a pillow crease on her cheek. She somehow managed to get herself a cup of coffee that Setsuna had brewed, and turned around, now more awake after a sip of the bitter concoction.
"Setsuko, when did you get home?" their mother's voice was a bit husky, having just woken up. Setsuna scowled at the nickname that she hated so much, but still answered, "Around 2 A.M. I was too tired to deal with you guys, so I just went to sleep."
Her family stared at her, their mouths agape, not at the late, or rather early, time, but more at their relative's bluntness.
"Still you went to the trouble of driving all this way just to see us," Michiru distorted her sister's words to fit her mindset, and started to cuddle up to her sister, her eyes closed blissfully. Setsuna scowled once again, but let her face be consumed by a gentle smile at her sister's craziness, before resting her chin gently on the soft aquamarine head.
Miyuki stared at the tender scene before her, sipping her coffee, silently praising herself on what a good job she had done on raising the two.
However, the picture perfect moment was shattered when the younger girl suddenly jumped out of her embrace after a glance at the kitchen clock, bumping the taller girl's chin consequently. Setsuna winced at the sudden pain from her jaw, before whipping around to glare at the cause of it.
Michiru quickly went out of her sister's embrace after a glimpse of the time on the clock. She rushed to the living room, her sock clad feet practically skating on the wooden floor, where her bag awaited on the sofa. Hastily slinging it over her shoulder, she made her way to the door with only one thought in mind.
'I'm going to be late!'
As she fumbled with putting her shoes on, she cursed herself for wasting time with her sister. Well, actually she wouldn't call it wasting time, she loved that her sister was home. But she couldn't risk being late to her job today. After all, today was Traditional Day at Maid Latte, and she was the main attraction. As much as she hated to admit it, she had grown fond of her job, if she forgot about the humiliation she would face if she was caught.
Finally managing to get her feet in her shoes, she dashed out of the house, yelling a hasty "Ittekimasu."
Setsuna and Miyuki looked out the open door, with amusement and bemusement clearly in their eyes.
-0-0-0-0-
"Okaeri-nasai mase , gosyujin-sama" Michiru bowed at the incoming customers, looking absolutely stunning in a light yellow kimono sparsely decorated with red spots. Her waist was cinched with a scarlet obi that had an elegant curly pattern running throughout it and her hair was tied up with a matching scarlet bow*. The overall effect was breathtaking, more so because of the woman than the clothes.
But when she straightened up from her rather deep bow, she felt the words get caught in her throat. Because, in front of her were three boys, that happened to be from her school. She gulped at the sight of the boys, and she broke out into a cold sweat, before actually realizing what she saw.
Furuhata Motoki, Kou Taiki, and Kou Yaten were currently in front of her with lovestruck expressions, and drool dangling off their chin. She could swear that if you looked closely enough, there were small hearts in the pupils of their eyes.
Smirking, she realized that her secret was in no risk of being exposed; if she wanted to, she could have the three boys tightly wrapped around her finger. She led them to a table near the center, her wicked grin never leaving her face. It seemed wrong for such an evil expression to be on such a beautiful face. Of course, the three boys took no notice of it, still savoring the exquisite sight before them.
She handed each of them menus, which seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and left their table to go assist another. When she came back, they had not moved at all, their minds struck dumb by the goddess of love herself.
'Okay, now this is getting annoying'
She had been standing at their table for around five minutes and still all she had managed to get out of the three boys were some unintelligible murmurs that had sounded suspiciously like "I'm in love", or heaven, and whatnot.
Her eye twitched, as she became increasingly irritated at the dumb boys. Then, her mind came to a decision, and she glided out of their sight. The three boys unintentionally sighed, as their angel had left them. But they were soon filled with giddiness as their angel came back, with a cart filled with warm pastries and sorts. Their eyes, if possible, became even more infused with hearts, though it was hard to tell if it was because of the baked goods, or the beautiful carrier of them.
They were too busy drooling over both, to fully comprehend Michiru's words.
"Here you go, masters. One of everything on the menu, just like you ordered," the aqua haired girl smiled radiantly at them, deliberately displaying all her charm. Without hesitation, the three boys, whom Michiru dubbed "the Idiot Trio", dug into the cart of goodies, not caring about the consequences that were to come.
She turned away with a sigh of relief, only to be greeted with a scoff. Dark teal eyes gleamed at her from a few tables away, staring intensely at the maid. Michiru's eyes narrowed at the blonde, who had taken to coming every day, and stomped her way into the kitchen with as much grace she could.
The blonde sitting alone at the table chuckled; there was something about that girl that made her just so... irresistible.
Unbeknownst to Haruka, she was also being watched by dark magenta eyes that were at the window.
-0-0-0-0-
Setsuna stepped onto the sidewalk from the gravelly road, her eyes searching for a sign of aquamarine. Ah, there it was.
She hastened her pace to try to catch up to her sister. After the girl had left in such a hurry, Setsuna would have had to be crazy to not be curious about her destination. Therefore, she followed her.
Granted, it had been hard to first be able to see her sister; she must have been going a mile a second. No matter how fast Setsuna ran, she never seemed to be able to catch up. Maybe it had something to do with the bloodred pumps she wore, and maybe it didn't. Michiru was just a beast when it came to speed.
After losing her sister, she slowed her pace down. She walked, full of regret that she hadn't seen where her sister had gone. If it was important enough to make Michiru resort to running in sandals, which the aqua haired girl called torture, it must have been something indeed.
Now, Setsuna ambled around the city's streets without an aim. Maybe it was fate that she had lost her sister. After all, she did have to get some new suits. The garnet haired woman strolled past a small café, now with a plan, when she saw a blur of aquamarine in the corner of her eye. She backtracked quickly to the window of the café she had just passed, and looked through it.
Whoa.
Was that her sister, in the exquisite kimono that Setsuna had no idea Michiru owned? What had brought upon this? Shocked and utterly confused, her magenta eyes drifted upwards towards the sign of the café, which just happened to be….Maid Latte.
Setsuna's eyes flickered back towards the front of the café before double taking and looking back at the pink and rather cute sign. Maid Latte….the meaning behind it sunk into her head.
Her sister was a maid? Setsuna tried to wrap her mind around the unusual thought, but failed to. Her sister was too much of a feminist to become a maid who bowed down to male boys with perverted fantasies, or so she had thought.
But without a doubt, the woman inside the small café was her sister. Setsuna was certain about that now. Now, the makeup that Michiru had put on this morning made sense. Her sister had used to love collecting cosmetics ever since middle school, but she usually didn't put a lot of make up on except for special occasions like going to see recitals.
Michiru preferred going natural these days (perhaps it was another way to distance herself from males), never putting more than a hint of lip gloss on, which was why she had been surprised at her sister's makeup laden face, especially since it was a Saturday -Well she hadn't put on a lot of makeup, just hints here and there. But since she almost never wore it, when she did, it seemed like a lot to Setsuna-.
She was pretty sure that most jobs didn't require the employees dolling up themselves. At first, she had concluded that her sister had finally gotten over her aversion to the opposite gender and found someone to date. But the second after she had that thought, she shook it out of her head.
'Yeah, right,' she had mentally scoffed at her silly thought. She knew Michiru's disdain towards boys even though she disapproved judging an entire gender based on the actions of one man. To think that she would actually date, or even love, one of the creatures she hated, surely had to have been one of Setsuna's silliest moments.
But now, after seeing her sister as a maid, her mind was flipped upside down, and she started thinking about every single possibility. What if Michiru was dating someone? Who could it be?
Setsuna started eying every guy in the café hungrily, seeing them in a whole new light. If Michiru was a maid, there was no stopping Setsuna from thinking she was in love. She ogled the room, mentally checking off guys.
'Him? No, Michiru doesn't go for the nerdy type. Him? No, he has long hair, not to mention it's dyed bright orange. And what is he wearing? Knee high boots with tiger pants, and not to mention an outrageous white top-he's definitely not it.'
Her eyes stopped on a trio of boys.
'Is that the guy Michiru dressed up for? She always did have a thing for blondes'
It took all of Setsuna's willpower to not go marching into the small café and start interrogating her sister's lover. She scrutinized the boy a little bit more, her eyes searching for the faults he hid. Then she noticed another blonde, one who wasn't that far away from the trio, who was currently in a silent conversation with her sister.
There was no doubt about it. He had to be the one in Michiru's heart. The way his blonde bangs fell stubbornly on his face, his intense teal eyes that had a mischievous glimmer to them, his rugged, yet somehow delicate features. And they already seemed to be close, though a second later the aqua haired girl stomped off until Setsuna couldn't see her anymore.
Her need for spying satisfied, she peeled her face off the window rather crudely, drawing several glances her way. However she paid no attention to them, instead walking away confidently, her pumps clicking on the sidewalk.
She had a smug smirk on her face; Well, she had to admit, Michiru had good taste in guys.
-0-0-0-0-
Setsuna beamed at her sister, her mouth revealing pearly white teeth in the process. Michiru had always been jealous of the perfect teeth; although her teeth were equally as white, she had slight fangs that were barely noticeable. Of course, Michiru blew it out of proportion to her sister all the time, griping about the fact that she looked like one of those popular American vampire kids that sparkled in the sunlight. But that was not what Michiru was concerned about right now. Right now, she was more worried about her sister, who was currently grinning rather creepily.
She didn't know what had taken over her sister. When she had gotten home from her secret job, Setsuna had already been acting like this.
At this moment, they were sitting on her aquamarine outlined white comforter, after the tall olive skinned woman had demanded some bonding time with her sister. Michiru hadn't missed her sister's short melancholy gaze at where her violin case had used to rest at the foot of her bed. There wasn't much to do but to accept her sister's demand if she didn't want to get into another fight over her violin playing.
So now, here she was, brushing her sister's silky emerald hair -Michiru envied that too, her own hair required more care-, with a silver brush that Setsuna was usually possessive of. Setsuna had known that it was futile to ask to brush Michiru's hair from experience, though she tried once again.
Although it felt nice to be with her sister, she felt oddly paranoid since they were strangely quiet and somewhat pointless since Setsuna's hair didn't have a single tangle. Well, she supposed that every girl liked to be pampered. A small cough broke the silence unexpectedly, and Michiru twitched at the sudden sound, her hand almost fumbling, years of playing the violin catching the mistake. Hearing a small chuckle come from the older girl's mouth, a slight blush went upon Michiru's face. Refusing to embarrass herself anymore, she sat up straight, putting on her best posture. She concentrated so hard on brushing perfectly, that she barely noticed when her sister began speaking.
"So, Michiru, I noticed you wore some makeup today before you went out," Setsuna said this, knowing that it would be more effective than straight up asking her sister if she liked anyone -As for her job as a maid, Setsuna figured Michiru would tell her in her own time. Besides, it wasn't nearly as important as her love life-. If possible, Michiru tensed up even more, and this time her violin skills weren't able to save her fingers from fumbling.
"Huh, oh yeah," her voice was strained in an attempt to sound normal. She couldn't have Setsuna find out about her job, it would be too humiliating. Although somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she was being irrational and unreasonable, she couldn't help it. The fear of having her sister, who was her idol, judge her was too great.
"Were you meeting someone?" The question was deliberately general, leaving Michiru some room.
"Huh?" Michiru's voice came up an octave higher in sheer bewilderment. This was the last question she had expected from her sister. She had thought surely that her sister knew her better than that. But, apparently, she didn't.
"I just had to go check on something for the student council. You must have seen wrong, I didn't wear any makeup today." She tried to sound confused, to make her answer more believable. She had stopped brushing from the first question. After about twenty seconds, the back in front of her turned, and suddenly she found herself smothered with a pillow.
Michiru fell onto her back in complete shock rather than from the impact, the pillow still on her face. Still paralyzed in surprise, she discerned the pillow being lifted off her face, and her middle being straddled by strong legs. This felt way too familiar to Michiru, although now she was the one on her back.
"Liar," Setsuna growled out, her eyes gleaming blood red in the light. Michiru gulped in terror, the motion being clearly visible to the girl on top. She smirked, expecting her questions to be answered truthfully this time, when suddenly she felt something whacking the side of her head. She rolled off Michiru, although the hit had not been extremely strong. She lifted her head to see a triumphant looking Michiru, with the pillow she had been whacked with in her hand.
"Two can play at that game."
Setsuna rapidly grabbed another pillow that had been conveniently next to her, and whipped it at her sister's face.
-Wham!-
She watched smugly as her younger sister reeled dramatically from the contact. Michiru swiveled around, her face now a flushed red. She approached slowly, never breaking eye contact, when she suddenly jumped the taller woman. They both fell to the bed with a shriek, and the rest of their night continued that way, their earlier conversation forgotten in the sheer fun of a pillow fight.
-0-0-0-0-
Just a bit earlier
"Ahhh, Taiki, this is all your fault!" griped a blonde as he threw himself on a table. Taiki and Yaten exchanged knowing grimaces and continued to wash the dishes, choosing to ignore the whining boy.
"If it weren't for both of you drooling over her, we wouldn't have gotten ourselves in this trouble!" Hearing no response, Motoki continued, "I could have been in bed by now!"
At this, the silver haired boy whipped around, having had enough by now, "If you would help us, we would be done in a second!"
"Yaten," his head jerked to the side in annoyance to see his tall brother raise his hand in a calm down motion. It took every bit of his willpower to not lash out at his annoying friend.
Having taken no notice of the possible danger he had been in, Motoki got a dreamy expression on his face and said, "Michiru-san looked so beautiful in her kimono. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven."
At the mention of the president, the other two boys immediately got hearts in their eyes,
"I know what you mean. The shade of lip gloss she had on was so fitting for what she wore, she looked like an angel."* Yaten sighed with his eyes closed in longing.
Only Taiki's eyes remained open.
"I must agree. She looked quite fetching in her kimono. I would say it matched her perfectly, what with her hair color and all," Taiki said, his hand on his chin, in what seemed like a deep thought. In unison, they all sighed, thinking about their wonderful goddess they had come to love.
"Hurry up! You still haven't worked enough to pay off the crepes and parfaits and...," a bossy voice broke their nirvana, and started listing the foods they had eaten earlier.
Two of the boys grumbled and started getting back to washing the dishes, but one blonde stayed on the table, having fantasies about his Michiru-san.
A/N: Did anyone notice a certain someone's cameo in Maid Latte?
*Michiru wears this outfit when she goes to the tea house with Haruka, Mamoru, Usagi, and Chibiusa in episode 104.
*Yaten tells Michiru that her shade of lip gloss is tacky and asks her if she can't find a better shade in Act 51 of Sailor Stars.