Please assume all usual disclaimers.
I'll be posting part two of this chapter later on
in the week.
Cheers
Alex
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*********************************************************************
Sailor Moon
The name Sailor Moon and characters here within are copyright of Naoko
Takeuchi and are used without permission. Some small concepts are also
borrowed from P.C Hodgell and are also used without permission. Other
characters and themes within are copyright of Alexander Gray and
Sharon Wall and are used with permission. This story maybe freely
distributed as long as this header is quoted, the authors are
referenced, and the contents are not altered without permission of the
authors.
(And yes, the various figures portrayed are totally out of character,
but hell, why not?)
Special Thanks for comments/pre-reading by Kell and Arj.
*********************************************************************
* * * *
Reflections
--------------
(a Sailor Moon plus original story by Alex Gray (hitomi@ndirect.co.uk)
and Sharon Wall (sharonw82@hotmail.com) )
* * * *
A Bright New Day
-----------------------
Hotaru looked at herself in the mirror. The new school uniform
that Setsuna-mama had bought her complemented her short dark hair
rather nicely, and Hotaru had to admit that she quite liked the effect
that it gave her. While she had never really thought of herself as
cute before, the uniform did managed to lend her a certain...
something that made her look, well, nice.
Tilting her head to one side, Hotaru smiled brightly at herself
and tried out a small pose. The image of the young teenager in the
mirror responded, and Hotaru was slightly startled at just how elegant
the figure smiling back at her actually appeared. Short dark black
hair framed a shapely white face that only seemed to help highlight
the large dark eyes that stared so enchantingly back at her. The whole
effect portrayed an image of a delicate refinement that frankly took
Hotaru's breath away. She found it difficult to accept that the same
slender beauty standing reflected in the mirror was actually her, and
she did not quite know what to make of it.
"You'll be late for school you know, Hotaru-chan, if you admire
yourself much longer," an amused voice suddenly chuckled from behind
her making Hotaru spin around with a gasp. Standing in the hallway
just outside the open door to her room was the tall well built form of
her papa, Haruka. The knowing smile that was on the blond woman's face
made Hotaru suddenly feel very self-conscious, and she felt her cheeks
warm as her eyes abruptly found the floor a fascinating place to stare
at.
Haruka grinned as Hotaru's face went bright red and the girl's
eyes began to meticulously examine the floor of the room. Her usually
over serious daughter was just so much fun to tease, and when Haruka
had spied the girl posing in front of her mirror, the temptation had
just been too irresistible for words.
Haruka was just in the process of mulling over what she could say
to press home her advantage, when a summons from her master suddenly
called up the stairs.
"Haruka! Breakfast!"
The blond senshi's smile faded slightly in disappointment at the
missed opportunity, and leaving her furiously blushing daughter to
herself, hurried downstairs in response to the summons. Michiru was
not someone who appreciated tardiness, especially not when it came to
breakfast. That was one of the peculiarities about her lover that
Haruka had taken quite a bit of time to figure out. In the early days
of their relationship, when Haruka had not been quite so clued up on
the intricacies of her beloved's nature, she had often been bewildered
by the contrasting differences in the quality of the meals that
Michiru had sometimes made for her. On some days, the food had been
wonderful, mouthwatering articles that left Haruka almost begging for
more, and on others it, had only been the steely eyes of Michiru that
had made Haruka eat the fare placed before her.
It had taken the blond athlete nearly six months to work out that
being late for breakfast one day, equaled bad food the next. Why, was
a question that Haruka had pondered on long and hard, and the best
answer that she could come up with was that somehow being late for
breakfast made Michiru not feel appreciated or something equally weird
like that. Why exactly that might be was a question beyond Haruka's
ability to answer, so, chalking it up to one of the mysteries of life,
Haruka just made certain that she was on time and left it at that.
Hotaru heard the hasty exit of her papa and gave a faint sigh of
relief. Haruka-papa seemed to take an almost inordinate amount of
pleasure out of anything that made her blush, and always milked such
situations for all the embarrassment that the older woman could get
which Hotaru disliked intensely. Finally looking up, Hotaru pointedly
ignored the mirror and finished getting ready. Setsuna-mama had been
most explicit about the hour that she would come by to pick her ward
up and that time was almost here. Grabbing the bag containing her
books from the bed, Hotaru closed the door to her room and made her
way downstairs. She had already had breakfast so all she needed to do
now was to kiss her parents goodbye and wait for Setsuna.
Entering the kitchen, Hotaru deliberately snubbed her papa who was
sitting at the table and went over to stand next to her mama. Treating
the elegant looking woman to one of her special smiles, Hotaru
wordlessly accepted the small packed lunch that her mama gave her and
thanked the woman with a quick kiss on the cheek.
Michiru took a moment to looked over at Haruka and then back at
her slender daughter. "Teasing you again was she?" was the only
comment the green haired woman made.
Hotaru gave a small nod and shot her papa an evil stare that made
Michiru fight hard not to grin. While it was true that her daughter
did need a kick in the backside sometimes, Haruka seemed to take an
almost unholy delight in making the girl blush whenever possible.
While such behavior might have been cute when Hotaru was a child,
Michiru could sympathize with how the young teenager now felt about
it. Hotaru was just reaching the difficult age when she wanted to be
treated like an adult, and having Haruka for her papa was not making
that an easy task. Perhaps, it was time that Michiru had a word with
the blond senshi. Hotaru's life was complex enough as it was without
Haruka further adding to her problems.
"So," Michiru commented, returning to the present, "worried about
your first day at the new school?"
"A bit," Hotaru confessed nervously.
Michiru smiled reassuringly and gave her daughter's shoulder a
quick squeeze. "Don't be. I'm sure you'll do fine. Elnear has a
remarkable reputation as private schools go, and Setsuna would not
have chosen it if she was not positive you would be happy there."
"Suppose..."
The uncertainty in her daughter's voice made Michiru want to reach
over and give the girl a reassuring hug, but she was unsure how Hotaru
would react to that so she settled instead for giving the dark hair a
quick ruffle. "You'll be fine, believe me. All you need to do is make
some new friends and get yourself settled in. Remember, Setsuna will
be there if you get into..."
Hotaru's eyes flashed in annoyance. "I'm not a child anymore,
mama. I don't need anyone looking out for me all the time, you know."
Opps, Michiru thought to herself, wrong thing to say. "Of course
you aren't, Hotaru," she continued soothingly. "I just meant that if
you need any help on the first few days, then at least someone is
there that you can ask, that's all."
"Oh..."
Any further comment was interrupted by the sound of the front door
opening and a voice calling out. "It's just me!"
Haruka looked up from her toast. "Sounds like Setsuna's arrived,"
she announced, and sure enough, a moment later, the aforementioned
woman strode into the kitchen.
"Good morning," the senshi of Time said with a smile.
"Morning," Michiru replied politely with a slight nod of her head.
She gave the older woman just enough time to sit down before launching
into the sucker punch routine that she had been planning all night. "I
see you were out all night again," she commented, keeping an innocent
expression on her face. "That's the third time this week, isn't it?"
Setsuna's head shot up and to Michiru's delight a rare expression
of embarrassment crossed the other woman's face before quickly being
smothered. "Really?" the ancient woman remarked casually, "I hadn't
noticed."
Michiru briefly debated with her conscience if she should really
be lowering herself down to Haruka's level, but the temptation of
Setsuna's cool expression was just too strong to resist. "Oh, yes,"
she replied, turning back to the worktop. "I'm surprised you hadn't
kept track. That is most unlike you."
"I'll try and do better," Setsuna returned coldly.
"Are you getting enough sleep, perhaps?" Michiru moved in for the
kill.
"What?!" Setsuna squawked bolting to her feet.
Haruka stared at the half risen form of Setsuna, disbelief on her
face at the ice woman's reaction to Michiru's innocent seeming
question. She glanced over at Michiru and saw the merriment twinkling
in her lover's eyes. What was going on here? Late nights... Setsuna's
reaction to comments about sleeplessness...
Oh.
Haruka's eyes bulged at the penny suddenly dropped and she stared
incredulously at the now totally flustered form of Setsuna. "Setsuna!"
she blurted out. "You?! You have a lov..."
"Haruka!" Michiru snapped and the other woman's mouth snapped shut
as her brain remembered some of the company that was still present.
The room was filled with an uncomfortable silence that seemed to
stretch on and on. Setsuna's eyes transformed into twin icy rays of
death that repeatedly stabbed out at both the still smirking form of
Michiru and her flabbergasted companion, threatening a fate worst than
death if either dared to say a further word. Hotaru shifted
uncomfortably from one foot to another. This was a definite first.
Setsuna-mama was actually mad, and not just mad, but from the
expression on her face absolutely furious. Hotaru was uncertain how to
react. Setsuna-mama had always been the most controlled person that
Hotaru had ever met, and seeing her now in such a state as this was
like seeing the end of the world.
"Hotaru," Setsuna suddenly growled, turning her death rays to fix
on her ward.
Hotaru froze as she was transfixed by the Time senshi's stare. Oh,
Kami-sama... Why me...
"Get into the car, we're going to be late."
"Hai!" Hotaru quashed the urge to salute as she scrambled to obey
the other woman's order. As Hotaru virtually fled, Setsuna turned to
look back at the other two women.
"Tonight," she said promisingly as licking her lips, she stared at
each of the lovers in turn. "We will speak more on this tonight - much
more..." And with that, she stood up and followed after the fleeing
form of Hotaru.
Haruka turned to look at Michiru, her face pale. "Pack," was the
only word she said.
* * * *
Hotaru said nothing as the car sped along the highway towards the
distant district where the private school she was now enrolled at was
situated. She continued to say nothing as the woman behind the wheel
muttered angrily to herself, jerking the car this way and that. She
did not even breathe a word when the police motorbike pulled them over
and gave Setsuna a ticket for speeding. No, Hotaru liked her life and
really wanted to keep it.
Finally, the car pulled into a safe parking spot and the engine
switched off, signaling at last the end to the ride from hell. Hotaru
slowly released the death grip on her seat and silently thanked the
Lord of Destruction for protecting his representative from the fool
of...
"Hotaru."
The young teenager froze. This was it, Setsuna-mama had read her
mind - she was doomed! She was going to di...
"I'm sorry."
Eh?
"I'm sorry, Hotaru-chan," the Time senshi sighed, turning to smile
reassuringly at the dark haired girl. "I did not mean to lose my
temper like that earlier. It's just that, well, things have been
happening to me recently. Things that... well..." The woman actually
seemed embarrassed, and Hotaru was even more worried now than she had
been by Setsuna-mama's earlier rage.
"Mama?" Hotaru queried softly, reaching over to touch the older
woman's arm. "Are you all right?"
Setsuna's face softened and she uncharacteristically pulled her
ward to her and gave the girl a hug. "You're a good person, Hotaru-
chan," she whispered before pushing the teenager back, and then,
looking down at her, said something that struck the girl dumb.
"I'm getting married."
Married? Hotaru blinked. She must be hearing things.
"His name is Caradawc and I met him about a month ago. I don't
really know how to explain it, but the two of us just seemed to hit it
off in ways that..."
"MARRIED?!" Hotaru suddenly exclaimed in a voice that was loud
enough to ring in Setsuna's ears. "YOU?"
Setsuna held her breath while she slowly counted up to ten. Hotaru
was only a child, it was natural that she have this kind of reaction.
"Yes, me," the woman finally replied.
Hotaru saw the faint twitch in the older woman's face, and forced
her initial reaction to the news into something that might make more
sense. "You're getting married," she repeated once more to convince
herself of what the other woman had just said. "Setsuna-mama is
getting married..."
Setsuna waited.
"Mama!" Hotaru burst out throwing her arms around a startled
Setsuna. "Congratulations!"
For a moment, Setsuna was uncertain how to react to her ward's
exuberant hug, but then when she felt the aura of happiness radiating
from the smaller form she laughed, and returned the gesture in full.
Gods, the woman thought to herself as she felt her love for Hotaru
fill her heart, how could I have ever wanted to kill the child...
Finally, the two separated and Hotaru looked up at Setsuna with an
excited sparkle in her eyes. "Where did you meet him? What's he like?
Is he nice? Can I..."
"Wait, wait," Setsuna laughed holding up her hand to stop the rush
of questions. "One question at a time, Hotaru-chan, one question at a
time..."
"I want to be the bride's maid!" the small teenager burst out.
"Please! Can I? Can I? Pleeeaaassseeee..."
Setsuna raised a hand and ruffled the girl's black hair. "You're
beginning to sound like Usagi, you know," she commented, and a smile
broke out on her face at Hotaru's reaction to that little observation.
"I'm just joking, Hotaru-chan," Setsuna reassured the ashen faced
girl. "Just joking."
Hotaru gave the Time senshi a hard look. "There are somethings you
just do not say to a person, mama, even as a joke."
"Sorry," Setsuna replied with a small smirk still on her face.
"But you caught our little Princess's nature perfectly there for a
moment, I just had to say it..."
"Humph!" was Hotaru's reaction and Setsuna grinned.
"Hotaru," she said laying a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I would
be honored to have you as my bride's maid. I can think of no one else
I would rather have. You are the nearest thing to a daughter I have
ever had and I..."
"Mama!" a cry filled her ears and Setsuna found herself buried
beneath another crushing hug as the small teenager wept into her neck.
"I love you, mama!"
Setsuna was a bit uncertain how to deal with the girl's sudden
display of emotion and awkwardly patted her ward on the back. "And I
you, Hotaru-chan, and I you." She let the small girl hold onto her for
a brief time and then pushed her... well... daughter back. Attempting
to keep her own eyes dry, Setsuna tried to steer the conversation back
to the business in hand. "Hotaru, this may sound a bit inappropriate
just now, but there are a few things you need to know about Elnear
Academy. Things that you must never reveal to anyone - not even Usagi
or your parents. Do you understand?"
Hotaru saw the seriousness of the expression that her mama was
wearing, and frowning slightly, nodded. The strictly "senshi-business"
side of Setsuna-mama's personality was now fully back in control, so,
wiping her eyes with her hand, Hotaru bobbed her head in agreement.
"All right. If that is what you want..."
"Good girl," Setsuna nodded, and raising a finger traced a small
symbol out in the air just above her lap. Hotaru's eyes widened as a
faint green fire trailed behind the woman's finger, briefly giving
life to the sigil she was drawing. "..." Setsuna whispered something
that might have been a word under her breath, and Hotaru suddenly felt
a wave of nausea pass through her body, as if the mere sound that she
had caught made her want to throw up.
Setsuna reached out her hand to steady the small girl and smiled
in apology. "Sorry. I should have warned you before I did that. I
forgot how sensitive you are to the Art, but I need to ensure that we
have some privacy. You can never be certain just who, or what, might
be watching."
The Art? Hotaru asked herself. What the heck is that? The
confusion she felt must have shown on her face because unusually for
the Time senshi, Setsuna deemed to explain something about what she
was taking about.
"Oh my, you have forgotten a lot haven't you, Hotaru-chan?"
Setsuna sighed, and looked thoughtful for a moment. "All right, I'm
going to start to mention some names and I want you to tell me if any
of them mean anything to you, okay?"
Hotaru nodded slowly, "All right..." she said, her voice
uncertain.
Setsuna smiled. "It's nothing to worry about, Hotaru-chan. I just
want to try and find out how Swiss cheese your memory really is. You
maybe surprised at how much you actually know. Now, what does the word
'Narmer' bring to mind?"
The blank look on the girl's face gave Setsuna all the answer she
needed.
"The First Dynasty?" the woman tried again.
Again she was met by a confused look.
"The Namers?"
Nothing.
"The War of the Fallen?"
That got a reaction. Hotaru suddenly shivered as if from the cold
and Setsuna leaned forward, her tone urgent. "What is it? What do you
feel?"
"Cold..." Hotaru murmured, not hearing the voice of the other
woman. "So cold..."
"What do you feel?" Setsuna pressed.
"Shadows..." was Hotaru's only reply, and she shivered again.
Reaching over, Setsuna put her hand on the girl's arm and gave it
a small squeeze, causing the brunette to look up blinking. "Mama?"
"Don't let it worry you, Hotaru-chan," the woman smiled at the
girl reassuringly. "Perhaps, there are somethings that are best left
forgotten, eh?"
Hotaru was uncertain what she should say. When Setsuna-mama had
mentioned that "War of the Fallen" some ancient memory deep within her
had stirred, causing a sudden cold feeling to wash over her. There was
also something else that had stirred with that memory - a feeling of
fear. No, not fear - dread. A cold, nameless dread.
"Hotaru," Setsuna's voice broke in on her reverie. "Do you
remember anything about your previous lives? About the empire over
which Queen Serenity ruled? Anything at all?"
"No," Hotaru answered, firmly shaking her head. "Although,
sometimes when I'm asleep I think I may see images from my past, but I
can never remember them clearly. I'm afraid the only thing I know
about the Moon Kingdom is what Michiru-mama has told me, and that is
not much."
"Ah," was the reply followed by a brief moment of silence. "All
right, tell me what you do know then."
Hotaru shrugged. "Well, I know that the Moon Kingdom was the
political center for a confederation of seven habitable worlds, and
that each had a..."
"The basics," Setsuna finished with a sniff. "Neptune just told
you the basics. How like her..." She sighed, and leaned back in the
car seat to make herself comfortable. "Well, Hotaru-chan, prepare
yourself for a little history lesson. The Moon Kingdom was actually
the fourth, and probably the least, of the 'empires' to rule over our
little solar system. The..."
"Eh?" Hotaru broke in. "What do you mean 'the fourth'?"
In reply, Setsuna gave Hotaru an annoyed look. "I was just about
to come to that, Hotaru-chan, and if you give me a chance I'll
explain."
Hotaru smiled and tried to look cute. "Heheehe..."
"Children," Setsuna moaned rolling her eyes. "Yes, Hotaru-chan,
the Moon Kingdom was the fourth. Although, if I was going to be
strictly true, I would say that the Moon Kingdom was the last dying
embers of the Assyia-Cthlia, but that, as they say, is a story for
another day. Originally, this solar system was a minor colony in the
Namer Empire. It was them who originally terra formed the eight worlds
and created the Nine Guardians to protect the colony from..."
"The senshi?" Hotaru burst out excitedly. "You mean they created
the first senshi?"
"No," Setsuna restrained herself from giving the small brunette a
dark stare. "The Nine Guardians are the actual planetary spirits that
give the senshi their powers. The senshi themselves were created by
the Assyia-Cthlia when the Guardians no longer responded to any
summonings. If the Guardians were still functioning as they were
supposed to, then all the threats that the Moon Kingdom faced would
have never happened." Setsuna gave a shrug. "The senshi were intended
as a stop gap measure until the Priests of the Assyia-Cthlia figured
out what was wrong, but..." she sighed, "things didn't quite turn out
that way."
"What do you mean?"
"The senshi were not the only bio-mage weapons that the Assyia-
Cthlia created. Their Sorcerer-Priests had taken the creation of
artificial life forms to heights which had not been seen since the
fall of the Namer Lords, and at the peak of their civilization the
Assyia-Cthlia were responsible for the creation of the Avatars... And
it was that which ultimately caused their downfall."
"How so?" Hotaru asked, a bit uncertain where all this was going.
"The Assyia-Cthlia make the mistake of creating weapons with
minds. The Avatar were literally living bio-weapons, created to fuse
with and enhance any other mage tech they encountered. In someways,
they were the peak of Assyia-Cthlia bio-craft. Their only fault was
that those weapons could think for themselves. It was only a matter of
time until they rebelled."
"Who rebelled?"
"The Avatar, and then later, the senshi," Setsuna supplied. "But
it was the Avatar who were the prime movers, and them who saw the
brunt of the action. They were nearly all massacred."
"But why?" Hotaru exclaimed confused. "Were the Assyia-Cthlia evil
or something?"
Setsuna shook her head. "No, they were neither good or evil. They
just could not accept that the beings they created were anything other
than tools. And because of that, the Avatar broke them and through
those actions, the foundations of the Moon Kingdom were laid."
"This is all very interesting, Setsuna-mama," Hotaru said
cautiously, "But what does it have to do with today?"
"Because enrolled at this school are children who are the direct
descendants of those Avatar who survived," Setsuna stated quietly.
"And with the destruction of the Seven Royal Families, those children
are the only ones capable of becoming the next generation of senshi
after the current holders die."
"What?!" Hotaru blurted out, jerking around in her seat to stare
at her mama.
Setsuna fixed a steely stare on her ward. "Why act so surprised,
Hotaru? Uranus, Neptune and the others are not immortal, you know.
They will die one day and then what will happen? Do you expect their
posts to become magically filled or something?"
"Err, well..." Hotaru floundered. "I've never really thought about
it. I..."
"Well, I have to," Setsuna said grimly. "Without the presence of
the senshi, our solar system is virtually defenseless. We would fall
like a right plum to anyone who cared to attack. Is that what you want
to see, child?"
"No! Of course not!" Hotaru spluttered. "But surely Usagi and the
others will live..."
"A long time, yes," Setsuna finished for her. "Maybe even a few
millennia, but not forever. In the end they will die and then what?
The posts of the senshi will be open and the Seven Royal families that
might once have been able to fill them were destroyed with the Moon
Kingdom. The Avatar are the only choice I have left."
"But what about the children that Usagi, Rei and the others may
have?" Hotaru asked. "Surely they would be..."
"I know what you're thinking, Hotaru," Setsuna said shaking her
head, "But I'm afraid it doesn't quite work like that. Only those of
the purest blood have any chance of surviving the bonding process with
the Guardians and thus becoming a senshi. Even in the days of the Moon
Kingdom, it was not unknown for several senshi candidates to die
before one was able to complete the bond. But now..." the women
sighed. "Ami, Makoto, Rei and Minako are only reincarnations of the
Royal Princesses that Queen Serenity sent into the future. Their blood
is human, and it is only because those original princesses were
already bonded to the Guardians, that Rei and the others are the
senshi now. No, Hotaru-chan, I'm afraid that trying to put their
children through the bonding process would only be condemning them to
a painful death, and I will not do that."
"I don't understand," Hotaru said, a small frown on her white
face. "If you're saying that the senshi have to be pure blooded
royalty to actually become senshi, then how will these Avatars be able
to do it? Are they royalty as well or something?"
"No. The Royal families of Mercury, Venus, Mars and the other
planets are gone forever," Setsuna answered leaning forward. "The
Avatar are not bound by such limitations. They are quite different
from the original senshi. The Avatar were created to be general bio-
weapons which could be adapted to suit any situation. That was why the
Assyia-Cthlia refused to give them their freedom, they were just too
useful."
"So, what exactly can these Avatar do that makes them so special?
Are they just a kind of mage?"
Setsuna snorted in amusement, shaking her head. "Mages? You have
to be joking. The potential of some of the children in that school are
almost as great as your own. And there are one or two who could have
even given Galaxia a serious run for her money. No, Hotaru-chan,"
Setsuna looked down at the now bug-eyed girl. "The Avatar are _not_
just Mages."
"Galaxia..." the senshi of Saturn whispered with a shiver as the
memories of that dark time once more passed through her mind. That was
not a time that she wanted to dwell on in any great detail, and to
think that there still existed beings with that kind of power scared
the shit out of her. It did however, also bring to mind more questions
than the senshi of Time had yet answered. If these Avatar were _that_
powerful, then why the hell had they not helped the senshi before? Or
even still, why had Setsuna or the others not mentioned them
previously? If what Setsuna-mama was saying was true then...
Setsuna could almost see the myriad of questions floating across
her daughter's mind and smiled. "Enough, Hotaru-chan, enough. I know
that their must be hundreds of questions that you want to ask, but now
is not the time. The most important thing is that you now know that
the Avatar exist, and that you understand that they are a secret that
no one - and I mean no one - must know about. Not Uranus, Neptune, or
even Princess Serenity."
"Then why tell me?" Hotaru asked even more confused. This was
getting more weirder by the moment, secrets within secrets, buried
behind yet more mysteries. What was Setsuna-mama playing at?
The Time senshi however just smiled that same nonchalant smile of
hers and said nothing beyond, "Have a good first day, Hotaru-chan."
And leaning passed the slender brunette, opened the passenger door.
Hotaru looked at the open door and then back at the smiling woman.
"Mama..."
"Go," Setsuna ordered with a small push on the girl's shoulder.
"You're going to be late if you stay here."
From the nature of the smile on her mama's face, Hotaru knew that
it was pointless to try and purse the topic further. When Setsuna-mama
got like this, it would take nothing short of a miracle to get
anything out of her other than a set of one liners which would in
themselves only serve to make things more confusing than they
currently were. Gods, she hated grown ups at times!
Muttering under her breath, Hotaru climbed out of the car and
stood on the driveway fixing her large eyes to look glumly down at the
ground. This was a somewhat desperate last resort, but it sometimes
work - sometimes.
"Not this time, Hotaru-chan," Setsuna replied with a light laugh
as she started up the engine. "Oh, and by the way, I would like you to
meet Caradawc tonight, if you don't mind. Would it be too much trouble
if I picked you up from home at about 8::45. I thought it might be
nice if the three of us could have a meal together. It would give the
two of you a chance to get better acquainted. We are going to be a
family after all."
"But..." Hotaru tried to get in.
"I won't take no for an answer, Hotaru-chan," Setsuna waved as she
drove off calling out, "See ya tonight!"
"Mauuu..." Hotaru growled as she watched her mama turn onto the
main street and drive away. "Why me..."
* * * *
(End of Chapter 1 - part 1. TBC)
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