"All right," the teacher smiled, leaning up against her desk
to ask them casually, "who can tell me why such interesting hair
colors like orange, blue and green turned up in Japan up until the
twenty first century, and later on all around the world?"
There was a long moment of silence, and Erica was tempted to
raise her own hand to answer. Finally, the blue haired girl two desks
over raised her hand. 'Catrine,' Erica managed to remember, 'that's
her name.'
"Yes," the teacher nodded to her.
"It was due to the survivors of the Moon Kingdom and the other
inhabited worlds of that era," Catrine explained, "according to the
theories of Lady Mercury."
"That's one of the theories," the teacher agreed, "that the
survivors of the final battle with the negaverse crashed landed in
Japan, becoming part of the gene pool there. But there's also another
theory. Does anyone know it?"
Another long moment of silence, and this time Erica raised her
hand.
"Erica?" the teacher looked at her.
Erica smiled slightly, "The other theory can be summarized
pretty simply: it is all Prince Yosho of Jurai's fault." To the soft
chuckling of her classmates the black haired girl continued on, "Yosho
was stranded on Earth in the fourteenth century, and he believed that
could not get home. So he decided to settle down and had a wife and
children, putting his Jurai DNA and hair colors into the human gene
pool."
"That's correct," the teacher nodded, "and by the twentieth
century the very long lived Yosho had several wives and many children.
They helped spread that DNA, to the point where almost everyone in
Japan had a bit of the Juraian traits."
She looked up at the time and smiled, "That's all for today.
Please scan chapters fifty-six to seventy for relevant data, and we'll
take this up again tomorrow." As the students got up to leave she
called out, "Catrine, Erica, could you come here a moment?"
Erica gave Catrine a worried look, silently asking her, 'What
did we do?' Catrine shrugged back eloquently, indicating that she
didn't know, either.
The teacher surprised them both with a smile, "Thank you. I
wasn't really expecting to get an answer to that question, not to
mention the right ones." She looked at the both of them curiously,
"But how did you know them?"
Catrine blushed, "It's kind of a family thing. My ancestor
supposedly was a friend of the sailor senshi in the twentieth
century."
Erica shrugged as the teacher's gaze landed on her. "I got
curious about the senshi and the others of their era back when we
studied their role in stopping the last ice-age," she explained. 'Not
to mention that both of my moms are senshi,' she thought to herself
silently.
"Either way," the teacher beamed at them, "I'm glad to have
such eager students in my class." They talked for a little while
longer, then she let the two of them go.
As they were walking out of the classroom Erica quietly asked
Catrine, "I was wondering, who was your ancestor?"
"The stories passed down in the family say that it was the
Queen's best friend, Naru," Catrine said with a shy smile. The blue
haired girl shrugged slightly before adding, "I'm never quite sure if
I believe it, though."
Erica wasn't quite sure what to say about that, really. She
had lived up in the palace most of her life, among people who had
known the senshi all their lives. "Does it matter if it's true or
not?" she finally said softly. Catrine gave her an odd look so she
elaborated, "As long as that makes you or the members of your family
happy, it doesn't matter if you actually are related to her or not."
Catrine nodded thoughtfully, "I guess that's true."
The two finally made it outside of the building, and Erica
smiled slightly at the feeling of warm sunlight on her face. "It
turned out nice," Erica smiled slightly.
A group of Catrine's friends called out to her, and she took a
few steps towards them. She stopped, turned back to Erica and with a
smile said, "Would you like to join us, Erica?"
Erica hesitated, then quietly said, "Sorry, I can't." With a
wave she moved off, calling back over her shoulder, "Next time,
maybe."
Catrine joined her friends, watching Erica stride off to board
the maglev line. Her friends fell in around her, having seen Erica's
short refusal of Catrine's invitation. The gossip about Erica flew,
but no one seemed to know much about her.
"She's such an unfriendly person," one girl finally grumbled.
"Maybe," Catrine murmured, "but she doesn't seem to come
across that way. When we were talking, she seemed kind of nice." She
looked off into the distance where Erica had gone, a thoughtful
expression on her face.
Watching the city slide by her window Erica thought to herself
glumly, 'I'd better apologize to her later.' Keeping her personal
connection to the palace a secret was tough enough with the casual
aquaintences she maintained at school. Hiding it from a friend would
be murder.
She felt a bit better once Erica reached the stop nearest to
the palace, keeping an eye open for any students who might be near
there. The dark haired girl had barely steped inside when she noticed
the tall blonde striding down the hallway.
"Aunt Minako," Erica waved.
Lady Venus turned with a happy smile, "Erica!" She stopped and
gaped at her in honest surprise, "What did you do to your hair?!"
Erica ran her had through her short black hair with a impish
smile, "You don't like it?" I thought it turned out pretty good."
"Sorry," Minako laughed, "but you have to admit it's quite a
change from the sandy brown hair you had when I left. Why did you
change it?"
"I'm attending public school this year," Erica smiled as they
started walking down the hall, "and I tend to resemble my mom Haruka
with brown hair. So, the color change."
"Well, at least you do look good," Minako agreed.
"How long have you been back?" Erica asked her curiously. As
the head of the diplomatic corps Minako was taken away from Earth
quite often, dealing with the Queen's allies. And occasionally her
enemies, too.
"Only a few days," Minako smiled, "I reported to the Queen
first and then staggered off to collapse for a bit. I've only been up
and around for a few hours."
"Do you want to go get some coffee and food?" Erica suggested.
Minako's stomach growled suddenly, making them both laugh.
"Sounds like a good idea," Minako chuckled. She looked at Erica
thoughtfully, "And while we're eatig you can tell me if you've got a
girlfriend yet."
"Aunt Minako!" Erica blushed.
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