Some people are almost born with the qualities that made one
cool. Others develop it early, and never seem to go wrong. A few work
at becoming cool, some achieving it and others not. And a few, a rare
few, achieve coolness by accident, going on with their lives
completely unaware that they've become the idol of an entire school.
'Ami Mizuno,' Haruka Tenoh thought with a smile, 'certainly
fell into the last category.' The sandy-blonde haired, boyishly tall
young woman watched Ami from the safety of the crowd, trying to figure
her out.
It wasn't any one thing that made Ami cool. It wasn't the
scar, though it was distinctive. It wasn't the clothes, in even darker
colors than she had previously had worn. And it wasn't the attitude,
though something had certainly changed in there as well. It was a
combination of all those things and more that had given Ami the
quality that people described as cool.
Not wanting to be seen lurking about Haruka moved on with the
crowd, listening with a smile to some of the whispered conversations
that were going on all around her. The majority of them were all about
Ami, her having graduated to this institute so early, her being in the
top of her classes, and a fair number of comments about her overall
cuteness.
"Hello, Haruka," the gentle voice came up beside her and
continued, "how is our young charge doing today?" Michiru fell into
step beside Haruka quite easily, the green haired girl smiling up at
her taller lover happily.
"Doing just fine," Haruka answered dryly, "and I'm certain
that she'd resent knowing that we're keeping an eye on her."
"True," Michiru admitted, "but I do worry about her."
"You and Setsuna both do," Haruka nodded, her own eyes
flickering with regret. A slight smile appeared on her face as she
added, "Too bad she just can't make up some excuse to get Ami down to
the nurse's office."
"I'm not even going to suggest that to her," Michiru smiled.
They walked on together a bit, "What should we do now?"
"Not sure," Haruka answered. She frowned, "Ami looks like
she's doing fine, but other than Chibi-Usa she's... alone."
"There's not much we can do about that," Michiru sighed
softly, "we've taken the first steps. She just has to decide to
respond."
Ami Mizuno turned with a frown, having caught a flash of sandy
blonde hair in the corner of her eye. 'I guess not,' she thought
before turning back to her route.
"Excuse me, Miss Mizuno?" a man's voice asked.
Ami looked the young man over, assessing him with a single
glance. He was athletic, but there was a furtive look about him too,
as if he had become very practiced at the art of deception. "Yes?" she
asked the two men there simply.
One of the teachers stood beside him, and Ami instantly
recognized him as the coach of one of the school's athletic teams. "I
was wondering if you could help us out," the teacher said to her with
an unrelenting sort of cheerfulness in his voice, "You see, Mr. Takema
here needs some tutoring, and I've hear that..."
"No." With that, Ami turned to walk away.
"Wait a moment," the teacher sounded surprised, "I wasn't
finished."
Ami turned to give the teacher such a look that he stepped
back from her involuntarily. "Yes, you were. You don't want a tutor,
you want someone who will do all of your star athlete's work for him.
That is something that I will not do," she finished. She walked away,
leaving the two stunned figures standing there behind her.
The two men stood there in stunned shock until the soft sound
of clapping could be heard, jerking them back to life. "The fearsome
Ami Mizuno strikes once again," Setsuna said with a certain amount of
amusement.
"What do you mean, fearsome?" the teacher managed weakly.
"Our Ms. Mizuno has developed quite the reputation," Setsuna
said to him with honest admiration in her voice, "as someone who even
the teachers fear to cross." She looked thoughtfully at the boy he was
escorting, "She certainly had this situation pegged. Doesn't he have a
make-up assignment due, one to save his grade?"
"Yes he does," the teacher sighed. He looked over at Setsuna
hopefully, "You seem to understand her, could you appeal to her to
help out Mr. Takema?"
Setsuna smiled sadly, "I rather doubt that."
The nurse's office was often quiet, and Setsuna's duties there
were rarely taxing, giving her plenty of time to think. Too much time,
she often had to admit. Lately, the problem of Ami Mizuno lay at the
forefront of her thoughts.
'She's been hurt so terribly deeply,' Setsuna thought, 'lost
so very much.'
All their pain over the loss of the Princess had come to the
surface when the Outers had first met Sailor Mercury, boiling up in
angry words. Haruka had been biting, accusing Ami of failing in her
duties, of being less of a Senshi than those who had fallen in battle.
And Ami's anger had been directed at her, at Pluto's decision not to
intervene to save Usagi and the others.
Intellectually, Setsuna was certain that Ami fully understood
all the complex reasons for her decision not to act. But reason hadn't
been much at play on that day, and Ami had been as harsh as Haruka.
Perhaps she was even more so because of her instinctive understanding
of Setsuna's own powers over the timestream.
'And then there was the Grail,' Setsuna thought glumly.
Haruka and Michiru had chosen to keep Ami out of their plans,
Haruka due to distrust, Michiru due to concern for the fragile young
woman. Sailor Mercury and Chibi-Moon had walked into the chapel blind,
not knowing what was happening but determined to help however they
could, and in the end the Grail had fallen into Ami's hands.
And quite unexpectedly the Grail awoke.
It's power shouldn't have fully manifested itself for
centuries, but in Sailor Mercury's hands the Grail sang. It
obliterated the Witches Five, the Heart Snatchers, and their dark
masters in a single wave of pure power, and Setsuna had been certain
that Ami was going to use it to transform the entire Earth itself. But
in a single act of supreme will power Ami drew all that power back,
containing it once more within the Grail itself.
'She is the most powerful of the Senshi,' Setsuna thought,
'which means that we Outers are going to have to learn to work with
her. Somehow.'
Haruka and Michiru got home first, so Michiru usually started
up dinner. She and Setsuna were the most domestic in the household,
while Haruka was the least. Hotaru was willing to help, of course, but
she had a lot to learn.
Setsuna came last, and sighed happily as she came in and
smelled dinner cooking. "Michiru, will you marry me?" she joked.
"I'm taken, as you well know," Michiru laughed. She looked up
at Setsuna thoughtfully, "I wasn't aware that you swung that way."
"It wasn't that uncommon in the Moon Kingdom," Setsuna
explained.
"Does that mean Michiru and I could have gotten married back
then?" Haruka asked her as she walked in from the garage, cleaning
grease off of her hands.
With a slight smile Setsuna said, "I believe you were married,
actually."
Hotaru ran into the room with a smile, "Is Chibi-Usa coming
over again tonight?"
"I think so," Michiru agreed.
The small car pulled up outside, but something unusual
happened. Watching as covertly as possible they saw Ami get out, going
around to open Chibi-Usa's door. Taking the pink haired gir's hand in
hers Ami proceeded to walk up the sidewalk to the front door.
*Ding dong!* the doorbell rang.
The three women looked at each other in surprise. Hotaru
tugged on Setsuna's arm, so she walked to the door and opened it with
a smile. Ami looked nervous, that made Setsuna feel a bit better,
"Hello, Ms. Mizuno. It's nice to see you again."
"Call me Ami," she smiled back. She hesitated, "Chibi-Usa
tells me that Hotaru mentioned that it might be nice if I visited
sometime. I thought I'd take you up on it."
Setsuna stepped aside to let her in, "We're glad to have you."
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