---Present Time--- "Setsuna-san? Are you alright?" Ami asked with concern, seeing me fumble my tea cup. "Cough, cough. I'm fine, just swallowed the wrong way." I say; my explanation sounding lame to my ears. Michiru gave me a look of concern before turning her attention to our visitor. "Good morning, Ami-chan. Would you like some breakfast?" "No thank you, Michiru-san." The blue haired girl replied polite. "So, what brings you to our humble abode this early in the morning?" Haruka asked while sitting back down and motioning for Ami to take a seat. "Well...last night I was talking to Setsuna-san about some articles I've found that I thought she might find interesting and she invited me over so we could talk about them." 'So eager to learn,' I muse to myself 'just like Pai was. She was probably up at first light anxious to come see me.' "Last night...my car..." Haruka muttered as she gave me a dark look. "Ten'ou Haruka! Not in front of our guest!" Michiru said sharply, pointing her spatula like a scepter before collecting our breakfast from the stove and joining us at the table. "...fine, fine..." groused Haruka. "Oh! I almost forgot! I finished my program last night!" Ami said excitedly as she opened a carrying case I just noticed. "Program?" I asked curiously as she pulled out a laptop and opened it. "Oh yes. I've been working on a way to interface the Mercury Computer with my laptop. You see, I had to..." Ami started to explain the programming process she went through in a lecturing tone as she booted up her laptop and connected it to the Mercury Computer. "Unfortunately, many of the files I was able to find are either so technical that I'm still trying to understanding them or is so heavily encrypted that it could conceivable take months or years before I'll be able to gain access to them. However, I was able to access several pictures that I'm sure you'll find interesting." As Ami finished bringing up a file on her computer, my stomach tightened in a knot. Had she found some sort of reference about me? Pai had carried her Computer with her everywhere long before she had first put on her uniform and she was constantly scanning and consulting it. Was there some mention about our relationship? Or even some damning piece of evidence? "Now, mind you, you're the first ones I've shown this too." Ami said, somewhat embarrassed, as she turned the laptop around show us the screen. "...snicker...he, he...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Haruka exploded into a fit of laughter as Michiru and I smiled slightly. It was a picture of Princess Serenity and Myung. I'd guess that it had been taken several years before Rion had arrived at the Palace. The image, captured for all time, showed a red faced Myung, who was clearly yelling, holding the princess in a headlock. "You mean that Rei-chan and Usagi-chan were fighting even back then?" Michiru asked, glancing at me. I nod carefully. They hadn't always fought; but some things were better left unsaid. "I definitely want to be there when you show them that picture!" Haruka laughed. "Did you have any other picture of any of us back then?" Michiru asked curiously. "Well, some. Not as many as you would think. Most of the images are of places that I assume are from around the Moon Kingdom. I didn't find anything with Hotaru-chan or Setsuna-san in them, but..." I resist the urge to sigh in relief as Ami turned her laptop around and started typing; Pai had always been a private person and I realized that if she had any images of the two of us, she would have most likely kept them under the heaviest of encryption incase anyone had stumbled across her Computer. "Here. Talk a look at this." My housemates looked at the laptop and all traces of their mirth vanished. Michiru sighed lovingly as she leaned against her blonde lover while Haruka wrapped an arm around her; her eyes locked on the picture before us.The image was of one of the rare occasions that Kei and Yuri had been at the Lunar Palace. They were standing on a balcony, wearing their courtly dresses, looking across Mare Serenitatis; holding each other tenderly. "Can we get a copy of that?" Michiru asked softly after a few moments. Ami nodded and, with practiced precision, made a copy and presented the two lovers a diskette. Haruka, Michiru and I started on our breakfast while Michiru and Ami made small talk. Once we were finished, Michiru declined the younger girls offer to help with the dishes and Ami and I moved to the living room, followed by Haruka; who was kicked out of the kitchen by her lover. Haruka turned on the TV to watch some motocross while Ami and took up residence at a nearby table. Ami pulled out several magazines and books and brought up several files on her computer and soon the two of us were engrossed in a discussion of astrophysics. Michiru soon joined us in the room and sat in a comfortable armchair and began reading. I found myself enjoying spending time with Ami as we talked about the why's and how's of the universe. It was so similar, yet different, from all the times that Pai and I had been ensorcelled in a back corner of the Royal Library pouring over various tomes. Slowly, my concerns about my feelings began to melt away and I resolved to try to spend more time with the young, azure haired girl beside me. Quite some time passed before the doorbell rang for the second time that day. Ami and I were deep in our discussion while Haruka was engrossed in her program. I barely noticed as Michiru excused herself and headed for the front door. However, I definitely noticed when she returned. "Hi everyone!" an uber-genki voice exclaimed, accompanied by flurry of blonde hair and a white cat. "Oh, hi Ami-chan! What are you doing here?" "um...hi, Mina-chan." Ami said with a slight blush as Minako came over and gave her a quick hug. With a twirl of her hair, Minako moved over to the couch Haruka was sitting on and flopped down next to her. "This is boring. What else is on?" she asked, before she grabbed the remote and started to flip through the channels. I found it hard to resist chuckling at the blonde Senshi of Loves' antics as I recall the first time I saw her. ---Silver Millennium--- Standing quietly behind the drapes hanging on the wall behind the Throne in the Crystal Hall, I silent observe as Queen Serenity presides over her court. All the Lords and Ladies and minor nobles were present; along with the Inner Senshi, the princess, Myung, Rion, and young Pai. I had arrived at the Lunar Palace several minutes ago, only to find the halls virtually deserted. It had taken me a few moments to learn that the Queen had called and Audience, but I was genuinely perplexed as to why young Pai and the other two girls were attending since my friend deliberately kept them away from Court as much as possible in order to prevent them from inadvertently becoming tangled the web of Court Politics. I look at where young Pai is standing beside Myung and Rion next to where the princess was seated on her own Throne. At fifteen, she had bloomed into a beautiful young woman. As I watch, I can't help but smile as I watch her admonish Myung for the swat she had just given the princess. My eyes narrow as I glance at Rion, who is standing entirely to close to my Pai for my tastes. Shaking my head, I move silently to stand behind the Inner Senshi; who were situated to one side of the Throne; doing my best to remain hidden, and listen quietly as they speak in hushed tones. "This is ridiculous." Nae, the Senshi of Mars, said with a flip of her long red hair. "I don't know. It's seems like it will be fun! I've heard there'll be cake later!" Airi, the blonde Senshi of Mercury, looked around excitedly as she blinks her large blue eyes. "Please!" Nae groused, "Leave it to the Venusians to make a big production of everything. Hell, if we weren't on such good terms with the Terrans right now they would have already attacked; considering all the warships that they brought." "But aren't you a Venusian too?" Airi asked perplexed. "Nope! I was formally adopted as a Martian by their High Court. And it couldn't have happened sooner." "With our blessing, since we didn't want you anymore." Ruliya, the Senshi of Venus, muttered under her breath as she adjusted the harness that held the Stone Sword across her back. "Well, that makes two of us." Nae replied smugly. "I couldn't stand their stuffy attitudes one second longer." "And we couldn't stand your flippant and condescending behavior either." Ruliya said as she turned her head to look at the redhead, causing her silvery curls to bounce. "Ahem." Nanami, the Senshi of Jupiter, cleared her throat and stared at the two bickering woman through the bangs of her short cropped forest-green hair. Ruliya turned her attention back to the Court, intent of ignoring the redhead. Nae, for her part, smirked at her leader before giving Airi a wink. "But you have to admit," the redhead continued, turning her head look at the silver haired woman. "It is exorbitant, even by Venusian standards." Ruliya tensed slightly before she sighed. "The Princess is beloved by the people, even more so that I was. It's not surprising that my brother, the Tsar, would insist on such an extravagant affair for presenting the next Senshi of Venus to her Majesty." "No...really?" Nae said sarcastically. "Considering that we were all 'fetched' by the previous Senshi? I think your brother is a little off in the head for bucking tradition like this if you ask me. Any one of us could have brought her here. Hell, Myung is almost ready to be formally named as my successor; she and Pai could have gone to get her." "Taking in account what happened when Pai went to retrieve Rion, there is some wisdom in his actions." The battle hardened Senshi of Jupiter stated. "Ok, fine. I'll give you that, Nanami; but to bring the entire Venusian Fleet?" "Come on, let's just relax and enjoy! It's not everyday we have a chance to get together and get to have fun." Airi said brightly. The four women fall silent for a few minutes as they listen to the proceedings. Finally, Nae spoke up again. "Speaking about the kids, there's an idea I wanted to run by all of you." "Oh?" Airi asked as the three woman looked at Nae. "Yea, I was thinking asking the Queen to enact the Proclamation of Tears." "The what?" Ruliya asked as she and Rion looked at Nae with confusion. "'The Proclamation of Tears'." Airi said automatically, as if reading from a law book. "First enacted by Serenity VI fifteen hundred years ago. With the death of the then current Senshi of Venus, and with no heir to the power of the Senshi of Love present, Serenity VI declared that, under no circumstance, should the Inner Senshi be allowed to operate without a formally recognized leader. It was her decision to allow all of the current Senshi; including Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and the then awakened Saturn; to choose a new leader for the Inner Senshi. After much deliberation, a unanimous decision was reached that the then current Senshi of Jupiter would assume leadership until she passed her mantel of power to her successor and, hopefully, the leadership of the Inners to the next Senshi of Venus. Fortunately, two and a half decades later, another Senshi of Venus was Awakened. Since that time, the Proclamation of Tears has been enacted on two separate occasions. The first time was during the rein of Serenity XI; due to the death of the then Senshi of Venus; thus resulting in the passing of the leadership of the Inner Senshi to the then Senshi of Mars. The second time was during the rein of Serenity IXX when the then Senshi of Venus was stripped of her powers and dismissed on the charges of gross misconduct and treason, thus resulting in the leadership of the Inner Senshi being passed to the then Senshi of Mercury." Nae nodded as Airi finished her recitation and waited patiently. It didn't take long until someone said something. "You want to what!?" Ruliya demanded in a harsh whisper. "Oh, not you Ruliya. You've done a decent job of leading us." Nae said in a teasing voice. "I'm talking about them." She finished with a nod towards young Pai and the others. "Then explain." Ruliya demanded. "Look, putting aside my opinions about Venusians, we have an awkward situation here. On one hand, there is a large age difference between this new girl and the others; I mean she's 10 while Pai and Rion are nearly adults. Then there's the fact that, for all intents and proposes, Myung and Pai are ready to steep into our shoes and Rion isn't too far behind; while it will be years before this new girl will be ready. And to top it all off, Pai has already has combat experience; something that none of us had until long after any of us became Senshi ourselves." "You want Pai to be the next leader of the Inner Senshi?" Nanami asked harshly. "What's wrong with that? You have something against her?" Nae asked. "What? No! Of course not!" Nanami answered. "No, you don't. You just feel that Iria has too much influence over her, don't you." The redhead stated. Narrowing her eyes dangerously, the short haired woman said. "This has nothing to do with Her." "Um, guys? Can't we just get along?" Airi pleaded. "Bull. And don't you say there is nothing between the two of you. It's because of her that you spend all your time away from the Palace, isn't it? Hell, the Tourmaline Room still has scorch marks on the floor from nearly 20 years ago because of the two of you. Someone should lock the two of you in a room and leave you there until you either make up or kill each other." The Senshi of Jupiter slowly raised a clench fist, but it was caught by Ruliya. "Both of you. Stand down. Now!" She whispered harshly. "If the two of you want to duke it out, go find a deserted asteroid to fight on and beat yourselves senseless there. Don't forget where we are." Nanami angrily pulled her arm from Ruliyas' grip and turned away from the others while Nae smirked at her back. Behind the drapes, I quietly breathe a sigh of relief. I don't like to think about what happened back then; I did some things I then wasn't proud of. Shaking my head, I think about the other thing that Nae had talked about. My Pai? The next leader of the Inners'? I chuckle softly; while she might be experienced, she was also quite shy and preferred to stay out of the limelight. "I'll think about it." I heard Nanami growl softly, her back still turned. "What you said about Pai, that is." "That's all I ask." "I'll take your suggestion under advisement." Ruliya said, looking at Nae. "But it's still too early to even mention this to the Queen. Understand?" The redhead shrugged and turned to face the massive doors at the other end of the Crystal Hall where a small commotion was happening. The doors opened slowly, causing the crowd to fall silent. I watch as a white Mau slowly padded down the aisle to finally come to a stop before the Queen. He bowed low, then sat back on his haunches and addressed the Queen in a rather tired sounding voice. "Queen Serenity the thirty-fourth, Lady Senshi, Lords and Ladies of the Court; It gives me great pleasure to present to you the Princess of Venus; she who is the star of Nahid; the future Senshi of Venus. Lady Shuura." A blonde blur moved down the aisle, only to stop and leap several feet forward and land next to the Mau. "Have no fear, for Shuura is here! V!" I blink once. Twice. Three times. Yep, she's still there, holding a ridiculous pose with one hand forward and two fingers extended making a 'V'. I glance over at young Pai and the other girls. Rion has a look of disbelief on her face and Myung had lowered her head into her hands and was shaking it slowly. Young Pai had a somewhat bemused expression; but I could clearly see her shoulders slump slightly. The Princess, on the other hand... "Yay!" ...had started to cheer at her future guardians' entrance. "Well, you gotta admit," I hear Nae say, "she sure knows how to make an entrance." ---Present Time--- *********** "Excuse me!" I said angrily, yanking the remote from Minakos' hands and changing the channel back to the motocross event. "When did our house become the Hikawa Shrine?" "Now Haruka." Michiru admonished me as she regained her seat, to be joined by Artemis who curled into her lap. "So, Minako-chan, what brings you here?" "Well, you see, me and the other girls were planning to go on a little trip after mid-terms next week for a little celebration, you know? I wanted to go to a hot spring; but everyone said we've been to hot springs before so that idea got shot down. Usagi-chan wanted to be with Mamoru-kun; but she does that all the time. Rei-chan wanted to go to some ratty old temple; but there wouldn't be any cute boys so that got vetoed. Ami-chan wanted to visit some musty old museums or something; but none of us wanted to do that. But then Mako-chan suggested the beach; the water's still warm enough to go swimming, it's still great weather for sun-tanning, and all those cute boys in tight Speedos and oiled bodies. Yum-yum. So we all decided to go the beach!" Minako explained animatedly. "Mina-chan?" I heard Ami prompted softly. "Oh! That's right! Why I'm here. Well, you see..." the blonde started to fidget as she looked down at her hands. "Mama wasn't too keen on the idea of me going off without supervision for some reason. Then I said 'What if we asked Michiru-san and Haruka-san if they could come with us', then she said 'You mean that beautiful young woman and her hunky piece of meat that adopted Chibi-usa-chans' friend?'." "...'Hunky piece of meat'?" I snickered. "Yep! I couldn't believe it!" Minako exclaimed, "Well anyway, I said 'Yep. That's them' then she said, 'I don't know. He might be yummy looking, but I don't know if I'd trust him to keep you in line. What about that nice woman...Meioh-san was it?' then I said, 'You mean Setsuna-san?' then she said, 'Perfect! Of course you can go with the three of them keeping you out of trouble!' then she went and called Usagi-chans' mom and told her that she had no problem with me going since the three of you are coming with us and Tuskino-san said if that's the case then Usagi-chan could go too. So..." "Oh Mina-chan..." Ami admonished gently. "Don't blame Mina for this one." Artemis said from Michirus' lap; and I look over at him and suddenly feel slightly envious of the cat as she petted him. "I heard the entire conversation and she recited it almost word for word; even the bit about Haruka being 'yummy'. Not even Minako could've jumped a conclusion as fast as her mother did." Minako stood up and turned to face the room. With a deep breath, she dropped to her knees and clasped her hands together. "Please? Pretty Please? Can you come with us? Pleeeeeaaaaaaaasssssssssseeeeeeeee???" she begged. The three of us shared a look. "Well, Hotaru-chan is off from school that week as well..." my love hedged. "And it's been a while since we've been on a vacation..." I muse, glancing at Setsuna. Seeing her nod, our decision is made. Besides, the thought of seeing Michiru, Setsuna, and the Inners in skimpy swimsuits was very, very appealing to me. "Alright. We'll go." "Wai!" Minako exclaimed as she got to her feet, grabbed my arm, and hauled me off the couch. "Come on! Let's go call Mama!" I reluctantly allow myself to be pulled out of the room and to the telephone. Reaching the phone, I take a good long look at Minako rear end as she dials. After she dials, she hands me the phone and I spend the next few minutes confirming with the blondes mother that yes, we would be going with Minako on their trip and no, I wouldn't make any moves on her then and yes, I do work out constantly and no, I wouldn't be able to join her for tea. "You're mother is an...aggressive woman." I say carefully hanging up the phone. "Tell me about it." Artemis says at our feet. "I've seen her flirt with the mailman, the milkman, the repair man, the neighbors, strangers on the street..." "Artemis!" Minako protested. "It's true! She's a bigger flirt that you!" "I'm not a flirt! I just like to explore every possible opportunity!" "That's the spirit!" I say, giving her shoulder a friendly squeeze while incidentally getting a nice feel of her supple muscles. Returning to the living room, Minako bows to Michiru. "Thank you so much, Michiru-san." "You're welcome, Mina-chan." Walking over to where Setsuna and Ami sat, the blonde gave the younger girl a friendly hug. "I'll see you later, Ami-chan." "Bye, Mina-chan." "And thank you very much, Setsuna-san." Minako bowed low. "Minako-san." The bubbly blonde looked at Setsuna and Ami for a moment, and then smiled. "I'll see you all later! Bai-bai!" I walked Minako to the front door, Artemis following behind. Arriving there, I opened the door and smiled. To my surprise, she looked at me with a mischievous grin. "I know something you don't know!" she said in a sing-song voice. "Oh? What?" I asked curiously. "That would be telling. Maybe you'll find out at the beach! Ja ne!" Watching her skip down the walkway, I shake my head in bemusement. "Do you have any idea what that was about?" I ask, looking down at the white cat at my feet. "I've lived with Mina for years now and I still can't figure her out." Artemis sighed as he looked up at me. "You're not in the market for a cat, are you? I'm quiet, well trained, well groomed, self sufficient, and come with excellent references. All I need is a kitty-door, some milk, some tuna, and the occasional petting and cuddle." "Nope, sorry." "Sigh. Oh well, it was worth a try." He said as he moved to follow his 'owner'. ------ To Be Continued... Author's Notes... I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep up this pace. But I promise you that I should have another chapter up soon. As always any C&C would be appreciated. This fic and others can be found at my FF.Net account, which is www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=266642 10/12/03
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