Utena, Revolutionary Girl Fan Fiction ❯ Arisugawa's Locket ❯ Outers and Inners ( Chapter 23 )

Outers and Inners

Ami had to fight the urge to smile at the clearly bewildered looking young man. Inviting him to attend the meeting was reasonable, what they were discussing certainly involved him, too. But the look on his face was priceless!

"You're all gay?" Mamoru echoed, his eyes wide.

"Lesbians," a smiling Usagi corrected him gently. She laughed, grabbing his arm, "And I'm still in love with my Momo-chan!"

"And we're not too sure about Hotaru and Chibi-Usa," Minako thoughtfully pointed out. The two girls in question were playing outside together, pointedly ignoring them.

Mamoru visibly sweatdropped. "And you've all been taking Usagi out to a lesbian bar?" he asked them all.

"We've been keeping an eye on her," Makoto reassured him with a smile.

Rei came in to the room, smoothly sliding the door shut behind her. "So did you break the news to him?" she asked as she settled down to sit beside Ami. She smiled happily as Ami gently slid her arm around her shoulders.

"Yes," Ami smiled at her. She chuckled softly, "Once the shock wears off, I think he should be OK."

"Sorry," Mamoru appologized sheepishly, "it's all just kind of sudden, for me. I just get back from the states, Usagi tells me there's a meeting, and then..." He shrugged.

A soft knock on the door, and Rei called out, "Come in."

Setsuna lead the way, Haruka and Michiru right behind her. "I'm still not sure this is a good idea," Setsuna was saying over her shoulder to Haruka.

"I guess that's why we're all here," Haruka smiled, "to decide that." She gave the inners a wave, sitting down by Usagi and getting a most unfriendly glance for Mamoru.

Usagi, of course, didn't notice a thing. "So why did you call a meeting?" she directed the question to the Outers cheerfully.

"Haruka wants to tell Arisugawa Juri about all of us being Senshi," Michiru said to them conversationally.

"If she doesn't already know by now," Haruka noted, picking up some of the snacks Makoto had made and popping them into her mouth.

Mamoru was opening and closing his mouth, silently. Finally, he recovered enough to ask, "She might already know?"

"She knows about the Outers already," Setsuna admitted. "She had deduced Haruka and Michiru's identities, and I transformed in front of her," she said.

Even Ami seemed a bit startled, "Why did you do that?"

"To confirm if is she is immortal," Setsuna answered calmly, drinking her cup of tea. "She is," she added quietly.

Another long silence as they all digested that.

"That explains something," Rei said quietly, "I had a vision, in front of the sacred fire not long ago. I saw all of us in Crystal Tokyo, and a group of seven men and women nearby." Her eyes widened, "One of them did look like Juri!"

"It's good to know we'll have some company in Crystal Tokyo," Makoto said softly. There was a general round of thoughtful nods.

"For me, there's only one question to ask," Mamoru said. He looked around the group, finally settling on Usagi as he asked, "Do you trust her?"

"Yes," Haruka said without hesitation. The others all spoke up their agreement, Usagi finishing with a cheery, "Yes!"

"I guess it is that simple," Setsuna agreed with a little smile.



Juri pulled up to the shrine, looking at the steps with a grim expression. "Haruka, this had better not be a joke," she muttered as she began the long climb. Not too long later she reached the top, and had to smile as she looked around.

'It's like an oasis, this green place hidden in the middle of the city,' Juri thought. Hotaru looked up to see her and smiled before whispering something to a pink hared girl standing beside her. She took a few steps forward and noticed a short, bald man sweeping around the shrine. "Hello," she smiled at him.

Grandpa looked up at her and smiled, "You're Juri, right?"

She blinked, looking a bit surprised, "Ah, yes. You were expecting me?"

He smiled, "Rei described you pretty well. Just head on over and knock," he waved at the building, "I'm sure one of them will let you in."

"Thank you," and Juri bowed respectfully. She waved to Hotaru, who grabbed her friend's hand and dragged her on over.

"Juri," Hotaru smiled, "I'd like you to meet Chibi-Usa."

"Nice to meet you," Juri said, quite seriously offering the girl her hand. Just looking at her, Juri rather suspected most people didn't take the pink hared little girl very seriously, so she decided to try and do so.

Chibi-Usa obviously appreciated it, "Thank you."

"The others are waiting inside," Hotaru smiled, and led Juri over to the building.

The door slid open, and Juri felt a bit of flutter of nervousness. Areound the table was a small mob of Haruka and Michiru's friends, many of the young ladies having become regulars over at the Locket.

Ami sat with her girlfriend Rei, snuggling together, while Minako and Makoto were without their girlfriends, Usagi sat with a handsome young man she didn't recognize, Haruka and Michiru sat close together, there was Setsuna, and Chibi-Usa and Hotaru settled in to sit beside Usagi and Setsuna, repectively.

Juri smiled at the young man and extended her hand, "I don't believe we've met?"

"Mamoru," he smiled, shaking it firmly.

Looking into his eyes, Juri felt herself relax just a bit. Mamoru's dark eyes seemed to be open and frank, his face quite pleasant. All of which didn't mean he wasn't really an ass underneath, but it certainly helped.

"So what was so urgent that I needed to climb all those steps?" Juri asked Haruka with a dangerous smile.

Haruka grinned, "I'm sure the exercise did you good."

"Grab a seat, Juri," Ami smiled up at her.

Michiru shifted a bit, and there was a space between her and Setsuna. Juri stepped over, sliding down with a smile to Setsuna, "Excuse me." She fought back a blush, as her leg brushed against Setsuna's.

"That's quite all right," Setsuna murmured, her voice a soft purr that almost made Juri want to get back up again.

"Would you like a snack?" Makoto offered, passing a tray of cookies over.

"Thank you," Juri sampled a few, and someone poured some tea for her. She sipped before asking again, "What's going on?"

Everybody looked at Haruka, who rolled her eyes. Taking a breath she said simply, "Juri, almost everyone in this room is Sailor Senshi."

"I know," Juri answered, eating a cookie.

Another long moment of silence. Setsuna hid a smile, drinking more of her tea.

"What?" Rei managed.

"Sailor Mars," Juri pointed at her, "Sailor Mercury," at Ami, "Sailor Jupiter," at Makoto, "Sailor Venus," at Minako, and finally "Sailor Moon," at Usagi. A sip of tea, "I'd guess that Chibi-Usa is Chibi-Moon, and Hotaru is Sailor Saturn." She looked over at Mamoru, and a bit more tentatively asked, "Tuxedo Kamen?"

Mamoru nodded, smiling. He shook his head, "All right, I'm impressed."

"How long have you known?" Michiru asked.

"I already knew Haruka and you were Uranus and Neptune," Juri shrugged, "it wasn't that hard to guess that you're friends were probably the other Senshi."

"And to think I was worried about it," Ami laughed. She looked at Juri thoughtfully, "You're taking this very well, too."

"I run the 'Locket," Juri smiled at them engagingly, "so wierd is just part of the job description."

General laughter, and the conversation began to flow again. Juri leaned back, and tried not to notice the way Setsuna was smiling so mysteriously...

Out Cast This Episode: Arisugawa Juri is from Revolutionary Girl Utena (and if you don't know that yet...), and Ami, Chibi-Usa, Haruka, Hotaru, Makoto, Michiru, Minako, Rei, Setsuna and Usagi are all from Sailor Moon.