Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Where To Turn ❯ Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. This is slightly alternate timeline. This takes place during the Death Busters, but Hotaru is already a sailor scout, and is not trying to destroy the world. The thing is, they know that a scout will destroy the world, they just don't know who it is yet. I do not own Gundam Wing.

Hotaru/Heero, Minako/Quatre, and Ami/Trowa

Where to Turn

"Damn you! When father comes home I'll have him fire you! Get your hands off me!" Yelled Hotaru, yanking her arm away from her housekeeper.

"I can do whatever I please, Hotaru. Just eat this heart crystal!" demanded Kaolinite. Hotaru vigorously shook her head and rubbed her sore arm furiously where it had been twisted.

"I hate you and I wish that I have never been born! NO! NOT ME! I WISH THAT YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN BORN!" She tore off towards her room in the large mansion while Kaolinite screamed after her, "I could always kill you when you are asleep and then pretend nothing happened. I bet that Professor Tomoe won't care a bit!" Hotaru slammed the door behind her and collapsed on her bed, sobbing quietly while cursing the assistant. Her entire body shook from exhaustion from her run and pure hate for the woman.

"This won't happen once papa comes back." She softly convinced herself. However, the small girl knew that it was a lie, for her father hadn't been acting like himself lately, and he really won't care what happened to her. The frail girl quickly got up, took a shower, washed her face, brushed her hair, and then crawled into bed, hoping that her dreams would provide shelter for her. If only she was so lucky. All her dreams were revolving around her past…her hurting her friends unknowingly. Tears streamed down her face as she whispered,

"I didn't mean to…"

The next day wasn't so much better. Hotaru got up and noticed that someone had tampered her alarm clock so that she would be late to school. A flame of hatred sparked in her eyes as the thought about the assistant. Hotaru stomped down the stairs to eat her breakfast. Instead of seeing a muffin and orange juice, she saw a slice of burnt toast and a glass of milk. The flame turned into a burning fire. It was common knowledge that she hated milk, and Hotaru knew that Kaolinite had made her breakfast. Pouring the milk down the sink, Hotaru settled in her chair and began scraping at her toast with a knife, to get rid of the black crumbs. When all the burnt parts of her toast were scraped away, Hotaru cringed at what was left of her breakfast. A small chunk of bread the size of her thumb was all that remained. Cursing lightly, Hotaru swallowed the leftover bread in one gulp and headed upstairs to brush her teeth.

At school, Hotaru was late, and she ironically didn't have her homework. The teacher unfortunately heard her curse so she was given a detention. The teacher said, "Make sure you get this slip signed today, or else you will be given another detention for not telling your guardian." While she was at home, Kaolinite giggled happily as Hotaru shouted what had happened. Hotaru growled. She knew that Kaolinite would not sign the slip, and would not pick her up from school…meaning she was walking home. Hotaru opened her backpack to search for her math book when she discovered that it was not there. Kaolinite innocently exclaimed, "Oh my! I believe a dog has found your book!" Hotaru saw that it wasn't so. The assistant had obviously smashed her book in a blender and let the house hold appliance take control for an hour on a high speed.

Just when Hotaru was getting into her History paper, her communicator started to beep. Cursing, Hotaru transformed and leapt from her window towards the battle. Once there, she noticed that many of the senshi were badly beaten up and she feared for their safety. Temporarily stunning the enemy, Saturn raced over to the other scouts.

"Is everyone okay? I'm sorry I'm late…" A small nagging voice filled with venom once again entered Hotaru's mind. "Look around you, pathetic little human. Do you not see the pain you have caused the other senshi by being late?" Hotaru broke down in tears as she blamed herself for their injuries, unable to handle all the stress. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. Hotaru let out an exhausted breath and stood up, relying on her glaive for support. Facing the extremely ugly heart snatcher, Hotaru raised her glaive and uttered a new attack.

"Silent Death…" Hotaru brought her glaive down to the ground and drew a circle on the ground with it. Quickly, she stepped inside it and it instantly grew larger, engulfing the monster. She threw her glaive up in the air and it hovered there, glowing brightly of purple. A second later, multiple beams of purple energy shot out and was absorbed into the monster. The light faded. There stood Sailor Saturn with the monster, who looked unharmed. The spirit of Saturn coldly reminded her host that if Sailor Mars wasn't unconscious, she would have scoffed and criticized the worthless attack. Hotaru gritted her teeth and then yelled out the second part of the attack.

"…DESTROY!" Immediately, the purple beams of energy flew out of the monster that had originally been absorbed, and made it self-combust. Sailor Moon blinked at the violent death. Immediately, the senshi weakly looked over at Sailor Moon, making sure that their princess was okay. Hotaru de-transformed and walked away, not bothering to heal the others. `They don't care about me. Why should I bother helping them then? They can help themselves,' she bitterly concluded. `They only needed me in battle. They don't care about me.' Unknown to her, Saturn's negative mental comments were beginning to take an effect on the frail girl.

As Hotaru walked home from her detention, she passed by Minako and Ami. She turned her head towards the opposite direction, hoping that she could pass by in silence. Unfortunately, they recognized her and called her over. Not wanting to cause a scene, Hotaru stumbled over towards them, head hanging low, ready to accept her lecture about not helping others. Awkwardly, Minako and Ami noticed Hotaru's actions and nervously glanced at each other. Making up their minds, they ran up and met up with Hotaru halfway and led her into the arcade. Ami walked with Hotaru to find a booth while Minako gave their order to Andrew, and then followed them. Andrew brought the orders shortly. For a while, the small group sat in silence, drinking their drinks. Minako slurped her soda, Ami sipped at her water, and Hotaru stared at her fruit slush.

"Is there anything you wanted to say to me?" Hotaru inquired. Ami looked down and Minako looked slightly nervous.

"Hota-chan, what you are about to hear has nothing to do with us, okay? We just wanted to warn you, that's all." Hotaru nodded, a bit scared about what Minako had said.

"You see…we found out who the sovereign of the feared silence is. It's you, Hotaru. You are going to bring an end to this world. At the scout meeting, after Setsuna told everyone, everyone left, except for Ami, Setsuna, and me. You see, you are also the senshi of rebirth. No one else knows but us. Right now as we speak the other scouts are planning ways to get rid of you, for good. We overheard them planning today, about…about ways to kill you. I tried to stop them, I really did, but they wouldn't listen to me. They won't listen to Ami, either." Minako slumped down in her seat, sighed, and then continued drinking what was left of her coke. Ami stopped drinking her water and reading her book, and looked at Hotaru.

"You believe us, don't you?" Hotaru numbly nodded. That was how she felt…very numb.

"You…you are trying to help me?" she managed to say. Ami nodded.

"Setsuna said that she could save your life by sending you to another time, but that means that we will need to contact Setsuna as soon as possible, but we don't know where she is." Hotaru quickly lifted up her communicator and said, "Setsuna added this extra button to my communicator and told me that one day when I need to speak to her, to just press the button." Minako stared wide-eyed at the girl. Ami nodded to Hotaru, showing her approval.

"Push the button."

As Usagi left the arcade, she looked back and spotted Minako, Ami, and a girl who had her back facing her. Wondering whom the girl was, Usagi walked back into the arcade and walked towards the group. However, before she got closer, the three girls disappeared. Usagi cocked her head to one side, thinking of what might have happened. In the end, she concluded that it was just the light playing tricks with her eyes.

Setsuna was already transformed when Hotaru, Minako, and Ami reached the time gates. Motioning them to transform as well, the girls complied. Hotaru looked expectantly at Pluto.

"Saturn, I will send you into the future, but you will be sent in the middle of a war. This war will be of one between human and human, not monsters. If you are willing to go to that time period, two senshi will be allowed to go with you. If you want to be sent into the past, you will be helping a card mistress retrieve her cards. No senshi will go with you. Going to the future will present troubles, but you will not be alone in the end. You will be among your friends. Going to the past will present no troubles, but in the end you will be by yourself again. Which will you choose?" Carefully considering the largest decision of her entire life, Hotaru finally came up with her answer.

"I want to go to the future."

"Then so be it. Venus…Mercury…you will go with her. Now, step through the door and you will be transported to your new home. When the morning comes, I will contact you with instructions. Don't worry about your things." With that, Setsuna opened the door, selected the correct time stream and pointed for them to enter. With a determined look on her face, Hotaru glanced back at her two companions.

"If you don't want to come, then you don't have to." Ami and Minako replied that they had their own reasons for wanting to leave, but they would tell her when they got to their new home. Hotaru, Minako, and Ami held hands while they stepped through. After five seconds of blinding white light, they fell onto grass.

Hotaru was the first to recover. Glancing around, she noticed that they were lying in a lawn. Sitting up, Hotaru waited for the others to come back to consciousness. She stared up at the star infested sky, and to her horror, she saw pollution and chunks of debris. A light moan brought her out of her thoughts as she heard Ami and Minako start to stir. Helping them up to their feet, they stumbled into the mansion.

Falling onto 3 different couches, the exhausted girls drifted off into deep slumber. The door opened, Setsuna stepped in, retrieved blankets, covered the girls, and sat down on a nice leather chair, waiting for them to awaken. After 4 hours, the guardian began to be very impatient. So, she sped up time by a few hours. Chuckling to herself, she wondered when she started to be impatient…

Minako woke up in a comfortable soft leather couch with a nice warm fuzzy blanket draped over her. The senshi of Mercury and Saturn woke up in the same condition. They looked around the room and were impressed by the splendor. They were in a 21 by 21 square feet room that was decked in classy furniture. The walls were a light tan color, the furniture different shades of brown. The drapes were a crème shade and the table was made of fine wood oak. There were soft pillows on the couches, and fuzzy rugs covered the wooden floor. Setsuna stepped into the room, and she was immediately bombarded by questions. She decided to answer Hotaru's question.

"This mansion was paid by liquidating your inheritance money." Hotaru smiled weakly.

"Thanks." Then the smile faded, before it disappeared.

"But, will you give us information about this time period?" Setsuna nodded and spent the next two hours explaining to the three scouts all that had happened. The senshi of time made them breakfast, and left, reminding them that they had to go to school the next day. Setsuna left, and the three girls began to search the house for their rooms. Getting there was no small task. Minako would always run up ahead and get lost, while Hotaru had to find Minako and bring her back. Ami did not fear that Hotaru would get lost, for she grew up in a mansion and her memory was fairly good. A little while later, Hotaru leaned up against a wall.

"It seems to me that the layout of this mansion is similar if not exactly the same building design as my old house. If that is so, then I know exactly where to go." Hotaru stood up straight and calmly walked down 5 more halls. When Ami reached the main hall, she noticed that they were back to where they started.

"We were walking in the servant quarters." Minako gasped.

"B-but the rooms were so nice and big!"

"Yes, but they were also very close together and cluttered. Didn't you notice that all the rooms were lined next to each other?" Hotaru then walked up one of the flights of stairs that branched off from the main one. There were three branches, and the branch that they were walking up lead to the left.

"This is the first wing. In this mansion, there are 3 visible wings, which means that there are 3 hidden: the servant quarters, which we just visited, the main rooms, which contain the library, study, salon, pool, and others, and lastly the kitchen area, which includes the dining areas." Ami stared in shock at the girl's words, but soon recovered.

"I take it that we are going to the first wing, then?" Hotaru nodded.

"I trust that Setsuna has already furnished our rooms with clothes and furniture to our personalities and to our liking." When they reached the top of the stairs, everyone noticed that the walls were slightly tinted a light hue of baby blue. This was obviously Ami's wing because of the many sculptures and paintings. Ami's eyes shone with inner light and excitement as she continued to explore the many rooms. Finally they reached the bedroom. This room was very large, much larger than the living room that they had spent the night in. Her room was 30 by 30 square inches. There was a sunroof that covered a small corner of the room, and a large aquarium. They walked out of the balcony and saw that Ami had a nice view of the backyard, which could classify as a large park. Ami saw the many trails, walkways, gardens, and hidden ponds, and smiled. A small shriek brought Ami out of her reverie as she turned to Minako.

"What is it?" Minako motioned to the bathroom and Ami immediately saw what had caused Minako to pale so. Inside was a bathroom fit for a queen. It was large and spacious, with a glass-encased shower with curtains, and a beautifully engraved door leading the actual bathroom. The sink ran the length of the entire bathroom, which was long indeed. On the platform, there was a large jewelry box filled to the brim with expensive and precious gems. The closet was another matter. It was roughly half the size of her room, which made it around 15 by 15 square feet. The interesting thing was that it was filled with Ami's old clothes, as well as some new ones. Minako giggled happily as she exclaimed,

"You have so many clothes!!!!!!!!!!" She started prancing around and discovered more fashionable items in the bedroom. Hotaru has a small smile dancing at the corners of her mouth as she replied,

"Just wait `til we get to your room. Remember, Setsuna furnished the rooms as we see fit. We all know that Ami does not care much about fashion, yet she has all these fashionable accessories. Just wait `til we get to your room. I'm sure you won't be disappointed."

Minako immediately demanded that they go to her wing, so they of course complied. Hotaru walked back down the stairs and went up the ones that lead to the right wing.

"How do you know that the right wing is her wing? It could be yours." Hotaru replied that Ami was left handed, so she had the left wing. Minako was right handed, so she had the right wing. She was ambidextrous so she had the center wing. Ami saw the logic and smiled in appreciation. Sure enough, Minako was not disappointed. True, her room was not as large as Ami's room, but her closet made up the difference. Minako's closet was like a very large department store, and Ami shook her head in disbelief.

"It's going to take you a whole year to wear all this clothes, and that's if you don't wear the same thing twice!" The senshi of love and beauty grinned and ran back out to the hall.

"What's the rush?" Ami asked. Minako replied, "I want to see Hotaru's room!"

Minako sweat-dropped when she walked into Hotaru's room. True, the room was large, bigger than Ami's, being 38 by 38 square feet, but it was so simple. The ceiling was black, but had white stars that seemed to illuminate the room with a slight moonshine glow. The walls were painted purple, but it was so dark that it could pass as being black. The room consisted of a small desk, a larger desk with a laptop, a large canopy bed with purple sash drapes, no windows, and plenty of purple frosted lamps placed at strategic locations. They walked into the closet and Minako was disappointed when she saw that her closet was smaller than Hotaru's. They walked into the bathroom and noticed the jewelry and large assortment of necklaces, bracelets, chokers, and rings. Hotaru briefly smiled and then shoved them out of her room.

"Now, time for bed you two. I am going to take my shower, then spend the rest of the night going to each of the rooms to take inventory and to make some notes about the structure and layout of the mansion. Not to mention test the security system, and make a full map of the place for the benefit of you both." Slightly surprised, Ami and Minako nodded and walked to their separate wings. Hotaru sighed. This was going to be a long night.

After showering, Hotaru slipped into a pair of black gym shorts with a white line down the side and a lavender tank top, with a black track jacket over it. She tied her hair up into a ponytail and used clips to hold the shorter strands of hair in place. With a pencil and a pad of paper, she set off. Minako leisurely took a 30 minute shower and slipped into some comfortable orange and blue pajamas. Then she threw back the thick covers, got into her large bed, and then drifted off to sleep. Ami took a 10 minute shower, put on her blue pajamas with clouds, got into her bed, and picked out a book on one of her shelves, and started reading.

Minako yawned as she rolled out of bed, faintly aware that she needed to go to school. Stumbling into her closet, she suddenly knew that she would not be able to wake up unless she took another shower…not a bad decision. After that, Minako walked into her closet once more and her eyes sparkled as she looked from one outfit to another. In the end, she chose a dressy blue shirt with an orange flower printed skirt that went down to her knees. The shirt had a low V-neck, so Minako picked out a silver-chained necklace with an orange flower pendant with small diamonds outlining it. There was no mistake. Everything there was real…She got out a small anklet and put on some cute sandals. Brushing her hair and styling it with her trademark bow, Minako took one last glance at herself in the mirror and left, feeling giddy. Suddenly a thought struck her. She didn't know where the kitchen was, so how was she going to eat breakfast? Luckily, as she went down the stairs, Ami and Hotaru were waiting for her. Ami was wearing a light blue denim skirt that also went down to her knees. Ami wore a white sleeveless shirt with a mock turtleneck. Her shirt had light blue linings and the turtleneck was blue as well. There were three stylish cuts across the top. Ami wore sapphire studded earring with no other jewelry. Hotaru, on the other hand, wore jewelry. Her shirt was most peculiar. Minako reminded herself that she needed to get a shirt just like it. It was long sleeved, but the fabric that was supposed to go around her arm was cut off along the edges, but was rejoined at the wrist. The top part was peasant cut, meaning bare shoulders, but was not puffy. Ironically enough, there was a symbol of Saturn that was sewed at the bottom left of the shirt. Hotaru wore a black miniskirt that went mid-thigh. On her neck, she wore a purple satin choker with an amethyst heart dangling from the middle. On her wrists, she wore a silver watch, on the other she wore black bracelets. She wore a silver anklet that had amethyst gems pressed into it. Hotaru had perfectly manicured nails that were painted the same shade of purple that her shirt had been. Hotaru handed her two stacks of papers, one with information of the house, and one regarding school. Noticing that Ami held one as well, she followed Hotaru and Ami towards the kitchen. Once there, Hotaru explained everything while Ami and Minako were eating.

"Last night and this morning I made notes about this mansion. I guessed correctly. This house is almost an exact replica of my old mansion. The only difference is the furniture and others. The actual building layout is the same. I was fortunate to discover the copy machine one of the libraries, so I made a copy of my notes. In the study, I found the building plans for this house, so I copied them as well. They might help you out, since I labeled which room was which. The next few papers under the maps are about the servants. They will be coming this afternoon, and I do believe that Setsuna has already instructed them. Oh yes…Minako, you will be pleased to find that there is a machine that will do your nails. I tried it out around 3 in the morning, and it dried instantly…very nice. It also has almost every shade you could think of…you can even get one custom made, such as getting it striped, French manicured, and many others. Knowing you, I highly recommend it. Also, Ami, there is a computer in the library that will search and locate the exact location of the book you are looking for. On the spine of each book there is a code that matches one on the database. It will be easier not to lose your books now. Try to stop by the library when you have the time…when you have a lot of time. The library is 2 stories high, with many hidden passages. Don't worry, you won't get lost. All of the books that we own have information on every possible topic. You probably won't have to go to a public library now. There are towels in the heated pool so you don't need to get them. We also have a gym complete with track machines and an ice rink. I believe that you will find everything here to your liking. Now, onto school."

By now the girls had stopped eating and were listening intently to Hotaru.

"School starts in about one and a half hours. Setsuna put some sort of time spell on this house, so that time is slower inside this house. Outside, school starts in thirty minutes. Oh, we can teleport to school. Now, about our schedules, we have all our classes together, Setsuna saw to that. Our lockers are not close by so we need to plan on a place to meet after school. I spent an hour hacking into the school database and locking our information, so that no one can see it, unless they had the district permission. That means, not even I can hack into it now. This information included where we live, and most importantly, our past. Setsuna clearly left it blank, and if someone were to see it, they would arouse suspicion regarding our identities. That should be all for now. As new students, we do not have to wear our uniforms until next week, so flaunt it while you can Minako! Setsuna mentioned something about weapons, but that she would visit us after school with more information. Oh yeah, I would appreciate it if you helped me keep people away from me. Both of you know that I would rather not be among strangers, nevertheless being showered with questions. That is all. Get all your last minute things taken care of and I will meet you at the bottom of the stairs." Hotaru ended her speech and walked back up to her room.

"I hope she'll be okay…I mean, most of the friends that she made turned against her, except for us…well…I guess it's the same for us, huh?" Ami nodded.

"Yeah…Usagi was sick of feeling inferior to my intelligence, and Makoto was sick of her boyfriends falling for you. But…this is nothing compared to Hotaru. They didn't even know that she would destroy the enemy and have all the innocent people be reborn…" Minako nodded. They slowly made their way to their own wing and did last minute packing and for Minako, it was a different wardrobe. She wore an even shorter skirt than the one that Hotaru wore, and rushed towards the salon to get her nails done. When an hour and 20 minutes passed, the three girls met at the bottom of the stairs. Hotaru added,

"I forgot to mention this, but here are your new transforming pens. Ami, you are now `Mercury Cosmic Angel.' Minako, you are now `Venus Cosmic Angel.' Just shout out `Cosmic Angel Power.' If you lost your pen, just imagine it in your hands, and it will teleport to you instantly. Also, you will find that your uniforms have changed. You also have new attacks. Don't worry, when the time comes, the attack will come to your mind, so you won't need to remember it. Now, we need to join hands and say `Angel Teleport.'"

Minako glowed a light orange, Ami glowed a light blue, and Hotaru glowed a dark violet. Instantly, they were teleported behind the school. Making their way to the front of the building, the girls entered and noticed that the name of the school was "Peacecraft academy." Entering, they walked straight to their first class. They stayed hidden in the shadows of a corner while the rest of the class entered. When the teacher entered, they went to the teacher's table, where the teacher proceeded to introduce them.

"Students, please listen up. We have new classmates and they are transfers from…erm…um…well…they are transfers. I'll let them introduce themselves." Minako giggled when the teacher was reading which school they had previously came, because she knew that Hotaru had erased all the info that morning.

"Greetings and salutations. My name is Ami Mizuro."

"Hi there!" Minako exclaimed, while giving a cheery wink towards a cute boy, who just blushed.

"I am Minako Aino and I look forward to meeting every one of you!"

"Hotaru Tomoe." Was all that she said, and that said it all…she masked her voice so that it sounded cold, distant, and not to be messed with. That was how she wanted it to be. She hoped that everyone understood what she wanted from them…nothing at all.

Ami and Minako frowned inwardly at their friend's behavior. They sensed that she was about to close up to the rest of the world, so they decided that they would be there for her…to make sure that she stayed human…

Duo nudged Quatre who was still red in the face.

"Ohh! Looks like little Quatre has a crush!"

"Shut up, Maxwell."

"Why, Wufei? I'm not bothering you? Do you have a crush on Minako?"

"Oh course NOT!!!! Why would I like such a weak woman?"

"Hey! I think she's pretty cute!"

"You would…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That's supposed to mean…" However, before their bickering could continue, Heero silenced them with a glare.

"Thank you, Heero." Thanked Quatre. Heero slightly nodded, before facing the front once more.

Ami, Hotaru, and Minako eventually got seats close to each other. They were sitting in one straight row. Hotaru sat in the very back corner, without a window, so the wall shaded her face. Minako sat in front of her and turned to the side in her chair, where she continued to flirt with the boys. Ami sat in front of Minako and paid close attention to class, even though she had no need. As the bell rang, signaling the end of class for that day, a large group of boys came over to their side of the room to talk to the new girls, who were obviously very good looking. Ami started to blush and walk away. Minako was having the time of her life. She was getting and giving out telephone numbers and was getting asked out on dates. Ami was also received a few invitations, but no one was brave enough to walk up to the silent, violet-eyed girl.

"Perfect." She thought, as she packed up her books. "No one will bother me, and I won't get hurt." Hotaru walked out of the classroom, and waited patiently outside the classroom, giving cold glares to any male that was within a 5-foot radius of her. Ami motioned to Minako towards the door, and Minako apologized for having to leave, but not before sending them some flirtatious smiles and winks.

"Let's go to gym." Hotaru calmly stated.

In gym class, they were having a martial arts tournament, so naturally Minako and Hotaru signed up. Ami told them that she would be doing her homework while the other fights were going on, but would watch their fights. Hotaru and Minako went into the locker room to get changed. When they came out, Minako was wearing orange track pants that flared at the bottom with a white T-shirt. Hotaru wore a pair of dark purple gym shorts and a black tank top. When they came out, all the boys stared at the two new girls. They were turned down by Hotaru, but ran towards Minako who was busy flirting as usual. Hotaru walked towards the weapons and searched through the swords, staffs, chains, and whips, before finding what she was looking for. She saw a glaive. Unfortunately, it was all rusted, so she spent several minutes polishing it and smoothing out the handle, so that she would be able to grip it tightly. She also picked out a long chain and got the rust off it as well, so that when it was Minako's turn to fight, she would have it ready.

Sure enough, by the time it was Minako's turn, she had been so busy flirting that she forgot to pick out a weapon. A look of worry began to creep up her face, but it disappeared when she saw Hotaru, calmly leaning against the wall with a glaive and chain.

"Thanks," she muttered, as she hurried out to the mat. Hotaru walked with her and sat down, ready to watch the interesting show. Minako ended up fighting a Chinese boy with a tight ponytail. She easily beat him, though everyone could tell that he had skill. She had gotten sick of having to dodge his sword, so she just wrapped her chain around the handle and yanked it out of his grasp, then threw it out of the ring, leaving her chain out as well. Turning around, she instinctively dodged a punch and threw a kick at the boy who blocked it. She dropped to her feet and swung out one of her legs, tripping the boy. She jumped up, avoiding the counterattack and flipped over him, kicking backwards to send him flying. Wufei did not turn around fast enough, so he did what she expected him to do. Lie on his back…she quickly flipped him over, brought his hands behind his back and cheerfully declared, "I won!"

Most of the male population cheered and began to shower Minako with compliments. Hotaru briefly smiled warmly at her friend, but disappeared before anyone else could see it. Meanwhile the other pilots just stood there, shell shocked.

"Did you just see what I saw? A girl just beat Wufei in a spar…within 10 minutes…" Quatre numbly nodded his head, unsure what to think about his friend's defeat. Suddenly a light moaning sent the attention back to Duo.

"Aww man! Now I gotta fight with her friend! Ah well…I'll beat her with my Scythe! Its blade is pretty sharp too! It has never let me down!" Letting out a crazed laugh, he strutted out towards the violet-eyed girl on the mat. To his horror, she was holding a glaive…and looked more deadly than the actual weapon. Duo gulped.

"This is not going to be pretty," he thought.

"Hm…he looks like my brother. I better be easy on him just in case…" Hotaru thought. After the coach motioned for them to begin, Hotaru stepped backwards, showing that she was going to take the defensive. Minako knew better, though. Hotaru always had a strategy, and this one seemed to be brilliant. Duo cocked his head to one side as she stepped back. He swung his scythe at her, but was surprised when it was blocked, and then hit with such a force that it was knocked from his grasp and sent back at him!

Hotaru's face showed no emotion. All she was doing was concentrating, and going over her plan in her mind. As Duo once again swung his blade at her, she threw up her glaive in the air, ducked, then caught it when it fell back down. There was no way that she would have been able to duck while holding her glaive, she knew. She then put the next part of her plan in action. She made seemingly clumsy attacks at his sides, but Minako knew better. She was just shifting her grasp on her glaive…then Minako paled. She hoped that Hotaru wouldn't do what she was clearly going to do. True, it would get them expelled from the school…but the quiet senshi of destruction might be getting too into the battle to truly realize who her opponent was.

Hotaru's hands were now at the very tip of the staff, the farthest part of her glaive that was opposite from her actual blades, and then leapt with inhuman strength into the air, flipping the glaive so that it pointed down. She landed on the ground before her glaive did, and during these close seconds, she managed to get Duo lying on the floor on his back, staring at the incoming glaive. Before the glaive could make contact, however, Hotaru's well-placed hands caught the staff, stopping it from cutting off Duo's neck altogether. She let Duo sweat it out a bit, as she drew a small drop of blood. She pulled away, however, but not before saying,

"Those that come in contact with a glaive in my hands usually do not live to tell about it." Which was true…none of the monsters had survived. Hotaru had obviously won the round, and many clapped, but none dared to congratulate the cold teenager. No one…but Duo.

"So, my name is Duo Maxwell. You did pretty good, and I never tell a lie!" He said, while grinning from ear to ear. Hotaru raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Well, you just lied."

"No I didn't!" Said Duo, who was obviously very confused.

"That's another lie. You have lied twice within 5 minutes. First, when you said that your name was Duo Maxwell, second when you denied lying." Duo stared at the girl. How did she know so much about him? Luckily, Heero and the rest of the pilots walked up to them, as did Ami and Minako.

"Who are you?" demanded Heero. Completely ignoring Heero's statement, Hotaru just brushed past them and walked into the locker room to get changed, and possibly take a short shower. When Hotaru came out, her hair was down, and she soon spotted Minako and Ami sitting in the bleachers. Ami was reading her book while Minako was talking to a blonde haired boy and to Duo. Wufei was off sparring another person, while Heero was typing on his laptop. Walking up to them, she heard Minako's lighthearted laughter.

"Hey, Taru-chan!" Minako called out. "Quatre has invited us all to go eat ice cream and hang out after school today. Is that alright with you?" Suddenly an uncontrolled ounce of emotion passed through Hotaru's cold mask as she thought about having more friends.

"Are you sure you want to go? Do you want me to go?" Minako saw that Hotaru was doing everything she could to convince Minako to decline the offer. However, she and Ami had decided to get Hotaru to open up, and this was the perfect opportunity.

Minako giggled happily while talking to Quatre. This boy was different from the rest. He was polite, well spoken, and was an over all gentleman. She wouldn't have to fear that he would be making a move on her, so she was more laid back. She quickly glanced at Hotaru and Ami when Quatre went to retrieve their drinks and ice cream. Ami was still reading her book, Heero was typing on his laptop again, Duo and Wufei were fighting, and Hotaru was staring out the window. Quatre showed up and handed everyone his or her drinks. Minako got an orange cream milkshake while Hotaru got another fruit slush. Ami got her regular order of free water. Minako sighed happily. Out of all the good-looking guys at school, she liked Quatre the best. All the other guys just wanted to sleep with her…not something that she wanted to do.

Duo looked at the two blondes. Sure, he liked Minako at first, but then he backed off when he saw how happy Quatre was when he was with her. Also, it seemed that Minako liked Quatre back, so he began devising his own scheme to get them together. Then a sudden thought popped into his head. Trowa was coming back that day from the airport! Glancing at his watch, he cursed.

"Hey, you guys! We gotta pick up Trowa now! We're gonna be way late!" The guys quickly got ready to leave while the three girls were quietly talking. Finally, they came up with a solution. Before the 4 boys walked out the door, Hotaru called out to them. This was the third time they heard her speak, so they knew it was important.

"We have a way of getting there faster. If you want, we could go and pick him up, then bring him to your place." Quatre gave a thankful nod while scribbling down the address of the mansion that they were currently staying at. Hotaru looked at the neat writing, and gasped. They weren't going to have trouble getting to the mansion…for they were living in the mansion right next to theirs. They could almost be considered neighbors, but it was a good 30-minute drive between the two properties. As soon as the four boys walked out the door, the girls went into the bathroom to teleport.

Hotaru, Minako, and Ami teleported to the airport, and rushed inside to find Trowa's gate. When they reached the entrance, they saw people start to walk out. They made it just in time. Frantically searching for someone her age, Ami was the one who spotted him. Ami called over Hotaru and Minako and pointed to a tall boy with brown hair gelled so that it covered one of his eyes. Minako saw that he was pretty cute…but not as cute as her Quatre. Hotaru walked over to the boy and tapped him on the shoulder. He quickly turned around.

Trowa had seen a lot whenever he was in the presence of the other pilots. He found a way to look past Heero's cold mask and get to really know the guy. He got past Wufei's insults and silence and found a way to befriend him. He discovered how to talk civilly to Duo…without getting annoyed. He learned how to slightly open up whenever he was with Quatre, because Quatre would never mock him. Because of this, he saw straight through Hotaru's shield and saw in her eyes fear. Making a resolution to get to know her, he cocked his head to his side as she asked, "Excuse me, but are you by any chance the one called Trowa?"

Surprised that she knew his name, he nodded. "Please follow me." He silently followed her to where two other girls were waiting. Hotaru never told anyone, but Setsuna had given her a list of names of people to research. That morning, she had hacked into Heero's laptop, and retrieved a lot of information, including programs that would help greatly. There were search programs, much more detailed, there were scanning devices, and links to security cameras. She downloaded codes to many security systems and information on Oz bases. After getting all that, she locked his laptop, so that it wouldn't get into the wrong hands. When she was reading over the information, she discovered information about the pilots, although she hadn't met them yet. Naturally, she wanted to meet this Trowa character…or should she say Triton? Hotaru could remember part of the past in the Silver Millennium, and was almost positive that the boys were there. That was what led her to believe that Duo was her brother. His aura was black…just like her brother's.

Ami sighed happily as she saw Trowa walking their way with Hotaru. He seemed to her more intellectual, quiet, and well spoken as well, not like Duo. She and Minako smiled warmly towards the new stranger. When Hotaru reached the other girls, she let them take control, and told them to meet her at the front of the airport. So, Ami and Minako stalled Trowa by getting his baggage and taking the longer route out of the airport, giving Hotaru enough time to pull out a car from her subspace pocket. Hotaru pulled out one of Haruka's cars as well as her own favorite motorcycle. She would leave first for the mansion, so that the other boys would know that Trowa was safe. Waiting by the blue car, she quickly waved to Minako as soon as they walked out. Ami's eyes widened slightly as she recognized the car. Minako was laughing and she asked, "Can I drive?"

Nodding yes, Hotaru threw the keys to Minako who somersaulted in the air before catching them. Trowa put the baggage in the trunk and sat in the back seat while Ami took the passenger's seat. Hotaru walked to her motorcycle. It was black but had purple flames at the bottom and end. Just like her helmet…

Minako took off right behind Hotaru as they pulled out of the parking lot. Hotaru sped off towards the mansion, so they soon lost sight of her. When they finally pulled up to the driveway of Quatre's mansion, they saw that Hotaru's ride was neatly parked in front of the house. Trowa opened the door and silently greeted his friends. Hotaru and the other pilots were talking…well, Duo and Quatre were. Hotaru was staring out the window, Heero was typing at his laptop, and Wufei was meditating. Giggling, Minako plopped down in the seat next to Quatre's and continued talking to him. Ami waited patiently for Trowa to get back. She badly wanted someone to talk to. Just then, Hotaru remembered something and walked over to where Heero was typing.

"Wait." Heero stopped typing, and closed the laptop.

"What is it?" Came the cold reply. Hotaru smiled inside. This was very good. She wouldn't have to open up considering that he wasn't going to.

"I spent a couple minutes locking your laptop database information, so you don't have to continue using the security measures. It seems that you tend to close off the link every 10 minutes so that no one will be able to track you. I downloaded an anti-tracking device last night, so you can keep the link as long as you want. Just thought I'd let you know." She answered. Duo shuddered at Hotaru's behavior. It was positively freaking him out. He believed the girl to be downright spooky. Sure, she was pretty, but her eyes creeped him out.

As Trowa entered the room once more, Hotaru smiled slightly as Ami's eyes shone. Hotaru understood perfectly… She hoped that Ami wouldn't be disappointed. Duo noticed that Trowa and Ami were talking and carrying a very deep conversation that involved the boring stuff…physics, hydraulics, and other things. He suddenly noticed what a cute couple they made, if only they realized it first.

Looking around the room at all the happy people, Hotaru couldn't take it anymore. She had to get away from all this; otherwise she would forget why she came. Making an excuse, Hotaru drove back to her own mansion. She ran up the stairs to her wing, and quickly changed. She took off her jewelry, and changed into a short sleeved silver T-shirt and black jean shorts. She tied up her hair in a half ponytail and walked outside to the backyard. She wandered down many trails, but stopped when she reached one of the hidden ponds. It was truly a beautiful sight. There was a white slab fountain close by with a couple trees hiding it all from view. She watched as a couple of swans swam around the lake, they were obviously feeding on the food that the servants provided. It was so peaceful.

"Am I this way because I was born with this personality?" She began musing. "But that can't be it. Personality is determined by how you were raised and treated. So, am I this way because I want to be? Why can't I accept others and forget about past mistakes? Why am I so cruel to myself? God…if only I knew how to be truly happy."

Minako soon grew worried about her purple-eyed friend. Sending a nervous look towards Ami, they excused themselves. Finally deciding to leave and check up on Hotaru, the girls apologized and left, leaving the boys to only guess about why they left.

The next morning, they went to school by teleporting once more. This time, Hotaru packed her laptop. It was custom made, Hotaru could tell, for it was light; yet held more information and data bank space that an advanced laptop could hold. It was a translucent white, yet was frosted with purple, which Hotaru found to her liking.

In gym, they were having a swimming competition, so Ami gladly participated in it. After being declared the winner, Ami dried off, showered, and then met the rest of her trio after she finished. She happily noticed that Trowa was with them, so they continued their talk about politics and other things. Duo and Wufei were arguing again, so Minako and Quatre acted like peacekeepers. They reminded her so much of Usagi and Rei. Duo and Usagi were both hyper and perky. Wufei and Rei were obnoxious and sometimes rude. Duo and Wufei bickered, as did Usagi and Rei. Usagi and Rei were best friends deep down inside, and she was sure that was how it was with Duo and Wufei. It was like they were perfect for each other. The ends of her mouth tilted upwards as she began remembering all the good times. However, images of her old friends flashed into her mind. Her eyes misted uncontrollably. She stood up and walked towards the window, and stared out at the birds flying through the air…so happy…so at peace.

All the pilots and the girls noticed the obvious mood change between Hotaru, for she forgot to shield it with her mask. She was obviously thinking of something happy, but then something popped up and ruined it. Ami walked over to her friend and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Hotaru sighed and shook her head. She wouldn't think about old times, not when she had friends like Minako and Ami. She reached into her backpack and pulled out her laptop. Heero raised an eyebrow, and Hotaru smirked. After running a few tests, she discovered that even after what she said, Heero was still cutting off the link every now and then. Clearly pissed off about having her advice ignored, Hotaru typed in her password to override Heero's locked laptop.

She gained access to his systems and opened up a private chat room. She glanced up and saw Heero's eyes slightly widen as his laptop opened something that he did not do. She smiled cruelly.

***In the chat room***

FireflyOfDestruction: Hello, Heero

GWPilot01: Who is this?

FireflyOfDestruction: None of your business. Now, listen closely…are you listening?

GWPilot01: Hn

FireflyOfDestruction: Good. It seems to me that you are not listening to directions…so perhaps you will if I typed them out…

GWPilot01: Hn

FireflyOfDestruction: I am about to download a program onto your laptop. Do not be alarmed.

Hotaru smirked as she wrote this. She knew that what she was about to do would scare the crap out of him. Quickly she typed in a few commands and Heero's laptop shut down. Trying to reboot his laptop, Heero tried to figure out what was going on. Hotaru cleverly placed a program into his laptop that would not let it turn back on…giving her full access to his laptop. She added a few programs, and took away the program that let him connect to the Oz databases. Within a minute, she completed her task, and allowed Heero's laptop to turn on.

Heero pounded on his laptop to get it to work. Suddenly, it turned on by itself and Heero was puzzled when another chat window popped up.

***Chat room***

FireflyOfDestruction: So…did you miss me?

GWPilot01: what did you do?

FireflyOfDestruction: Oh…I just added a few programs. You are now automatically connected to the Oz databases, and you can't break your link. I transferred a few codes to your laptop so that no one except for me can hack into your laptop now. Happy?

GWPilot01: …ecstatic…

FireflyOfDestruction: …right…well, you'll thank me later. Try searching for a book. I compiled my online library with yours. Now you have more information about everything. Enjoy.

With that, the window closed, and Heero stared blankly at the screen. Testing out his new search program, he typed in "Heero Yuy." To his surprise, instead of finding information from the school, he found a link that said, "See Odin Lowe Jr." Curious, he clicked it, and pages of information filled his laptop. Information about him that not even he knew about himself.

Hotaru chuckled to herself. With the help of Pluto, she went back in time to retrieve information about all the pilots, for Setsuna had mentioned it was imperative. Se could only imagine what was going on Heero's head…

"What is going on? Who the heck is that girl?" Heero thought to himself. He quickly searched his new data bank and found information about the doctors and the other pilots. Overwhelmed by this sudden rush of new information, Heero closed his laptop, hopefully for the day, for he felt that he no longer needed to research the enemy's battle plans, for he already saw them listed out, as well as attack dates and times. He had just gotten a gold mine. He walked back to the gym where everyone else was having free time. He noticed that Hotaru was fiddling with her backpack, to either put something back in or to take something out. She lifted her head and caught his eye. He turned his head and continued to walk towards the other guys.

The intercom came on, and a very important announcement.

"Will Hotaru Tomoe, Ami Mizuro, and Minako Aino please come to the office. Your guardian has come to take you home. Do not take anything with you." Hotaru nervously glanced at Ami and Minako. What was going on? Completely ignoring the command of not bringing anything, Hotaru packed her backpack and motioned for Ami and Minako to do the same. Duo tapped Hotaru's shoulder, but shrank back as he saw her glare.

"Umm…sorry for bothering you, but didn't the guy say not to bring anything?"

"It could be a trap. Setsuna does not live with us, nor is she our guardian. I have not spoken to her in a while." Trying to understand, Duo nodded, pretending to know what she was talking about. Minako popped up and said,

"You don't have a clue, do you, Duo?" Duo grinned and shook his head. Ami sweat-dropped and they headed out the door. Just then, Quatre called out to Minako.

"Wait! You forgot to bring your pen! I wouldn't want you to lose it." Realizing that her pen was the most important thing, Minako rushed forward and accepted it. Giving Quatre a quick hug, they dashed off, leaving the blonde blushing furiously and Duo laughing like a maniac.

Five minutes later, the boys were discussing things to do after school, when Quatre mentioned something about the arcade having an old game. Something flickered in Duo's brain as he heard, "Sailor V." Knitting his eyebrows, Duo became serious.

"Hey, Heero. Do me a favor, will ya? I gotta know something, and it's kinda important, okay?" Hoping that he wouldn't regret this, Heero nodded his head. What Duo said after that shocked him greatly.

"I want you to search information about that new game. Sailor V sounds familiar, and I can't seem to put my finger on it. Wait! Search for Sailor Scouts." Heero raised an eyebrow, hoping that this wasn't one of Duo's stupid random thoughts. Dragging himself to his laptop, he opened up a search window and searched for the Sailor Scouts. Quatre looked concerned and asked Heero what the problem was when Heero visibly paled. "I need to go to the library to hook up the printer to my laptop. You need to read this. I'll be back as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, the girls were racing towards the office, each clutching their pens just in case. When they opened the door, they were surprised to find Setsuna there.

"I thought they said not to bring your stuff! C'mon, I'm taking you all to the doctor." Wondering what was going on, they followed the green haired lady out the school. However, once they stepped out of the building, Setsuna pushed them towards the back of the school.

"Transform now and teleport back to the time gates." She said, her voice full of urgency.

Heero frantically made 4 copies of the multiple pages of information that he found. All he did was click on one of the 523 links, and he was given hundreds of pages full of information. No doubt, the other links would each contain different information, being very informative as well. He reminded himself to thank the person who helped him get the search engine. Heero sprinted back to the gym, and jumped up the bleachers. Trowa quickly read over the first couple pages, and then paled. Heero passed out the rest of the packets, and each of the pilots scanned the page.

End

Author's notes: Originally, this was written on December 25, 2001. Today is July 10, 2002. Again, this rewrite could not have been possible if not for Pisces-chan and Rogue to help me along the overused changes.