Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Unmei no Hoshi ❯ Episode 2: Arashi-chan no gaku soudou! Sailor Terra toujou!? ( Chapter 2 )

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Unmei no Hoshi

Destiny of Stars

by P.H. Wise

key:

< > indicates Japanese speech

" " indicates English speech

' ' indicates thoughts

Before I begin this chapter, I would like to note the following:

Loose is not the same as lose. I can let loose an attack, but I cannot lose it. I can lose my patience, but I cannot loose it. I can lose my lunch. I cannot loose my lunch. I can be morally loose. I cannot be morally lose. If the monster I am fighting lobs a fireball at me, I may lose the battle, but I will not loose it.

This is basic English.

Thank you for your time. ^.^

Episode 2: Arashi-chan no gaku soudou! Sailor Terra toujou!?

(Arashi-chan's school problems! Sailor Terra appears!?)

It's her first day at school, and Arashi must deal with being the daughter of two of the most famous people on the Earth. Ano... Arashi-chan, perhaps getting into a fight with one of the exchange students from Crystal Tokyo wasn't such a good idea? And who are the strange men and women who keep on appearing near the school?

Key: Speech surrounded by < > is intended to represent Japanese.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All was peaceful at 226 Neptune street, which was located within an exceedingly pleasant residential neighborhood in Neo-Boston. At the address in question sat a home much like any other in the area - a single storied, yet fairly large house of wood and stone. A wooden fence hid its back yard from view from the street. Its front yard held

a sizable lawn as well as several trees and bushes. The leaves of the trees rustled softly in a slight breeze as songbirds chirped out their melodies. All was calm... until all at once the peace was shattered by a frantic, LOUD, and young female voice. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! I'M LATE FOR SCHOOL! WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE WAKE ME EARLIER!!?!?"

The windows of several neighboring houses shattered.

Seconds later, a blue eyed brown haired teenage girl burst out of the house and took off running at for the school (which was some three miles distant), leaving a small dust-trail in her wake.

Inside the house, the girl's mother looked at her husband in askance. "Dear.. isn't today Sunday?"

The husband nodded faintly.

Both of them sweatdropped.

******

Arashi wandered along the sidewalk near Howard Phillips high school. After spending an hour or so practicing various kata to keep up on her training in the martial arts, she had become bored. Very bored. Bored enough to be exploring the town. It wasn't that she found martial arts to be boring - far from it; she loved the Art more than almost any other activity. But after finishing her morning workout, she found that she had absolutely nothing else to do, and decided to go wandering. On foot. So absorbed was Arashi in her state of boredom that she didn't notice the girl approaching her position at nearly supersonic speeds.

The girl collided with Arashi, who was knocked backwards a bit, while the girl herself fell to the ground with a thud.

"Itte!" yelped Arashi, more because of the surprise than the pain. She pikupikued, and suddenly realized that, yes, it WAS a person who collided with her. She looked at the other girl for a moment, smiled, and then offered her a hand.

When the brown haired American girl saw Arashi, she saw not a lovely young woman dressed androgynously.. rather, she saw an incredibly bishounen guy who was offering to help her up. Little hearts appeared in her eyes and her face lit up with a faint blush as she took Arashi's hand and rose to her feet. Her first line of coherent thoughts on the matter was: 'He's the cutest guy I've ever seen!'. Her second line of coherent thoughts on the matter was: 'Looks like I didn't need those ancient Chinese Amazon 'man-catcher' traps after all!'

For her part, Arashi was not aware of the girl's mistake. "Going somewhere?" she asked.

The girl's eyes widened, suddenly reminded of her need to get to school. "Gak! Sorry, I have to get to school!"

Arashi blinked. "Ano.. isn't today Sunday?"

The girl stopped dead in her tracks (so to speak). "... oh yeah, it is Sunday, isn't it!" She laughed nervously (and rather loudly). Her tone became somewhat annoyed, "I could have slept in..." She blinked. "Oh, I'm Alice, by the way. Alice Grant."

Arashi sweatdropped slightly. This was ... slightly uncomfortable. After a moment, she shrugged and gave her own introduction. "I'm Arashi Tenoh," she said, taking very deliberate care to put her personal name first. Although she was nearly 100% fluent in English... well, some habits were hard to break.

"Nice to meet you," said Alice, laughing yet again. A strange look crossed her face as she considered the information she had been given. "Tenoh?" she asked, "Isn't that Senshi Uranus' family name?"

"Yeah."

The hearts in Alice's eyes were immediately replaced by stars. "What, if I may ask, is your relationship to Sailor Uranus?"

Arashi blinked a bit. "Er, Uranus is my dad."

Alice pikupikued. "..your dad? Dare I ask how that's possible..?"

Arashi smiled wryly. "Best not to ask questions better left to aged sages."

Alice nodded, looking somewhat disturbed.

Seeing the look on Alice's face, Arashi couldn't help but laugh, and Alice blushed rather heavily.

"Hey, you don't by any chance go to Howard Phillips High, do you?"

Alice nodded, brightening somewhat. "Yeah! I'm a freshman this year!"

"I've just transferred in to that school. I'm a freshman as well. I'll see you at school tomorrow, ne?"

Alice smiled widely, "Great! I'll see you there!"

'Well,' thought Arashi as she walked away, 'At least there are other people my own age, here. Even if they are weird.'

'Oooh!' thought Alice as she walked away, 'He's so dreamy!'

*******

The neighborhood around the school was a pleasant one. Mostly residential, filled with small but comfortable homes which usually had either a lawn or a garden of some sort in their front yards.

The residents of this Neo-Boston tended to be pleasant and quick to smile or laugh. Though it was no Crystal Tokyo, it was a nice place. There was crime, yes, but it was fairly uncommon, especially when compared to the crime rate of the city's pre-cataclysm days. Outside the city itself lay the forest primeval; for in the twenty nine years following the melting of the Ice, nature had reclaimed almost the whole of New England with a speed that almost could not be believed. A great road cut through the forest in the west, leading away inland towards other strongholds of humankind, yet for the most part, the state of Massachusetts was wild once more.

As Arashi wandered through the city, she found the malls, the various stores, restaurants, fast food places and the like. She was a little annoyed by the way that most of the people she ran in to would treat her like a celebrity. She managed to hide her annoyance for the most part, as she figured that there was really no avoiding that sort of thing when you're the only child of two people whom a sizable portion of the population consider to be incarnate goddesses.

When she finally reached the more industrial side of town, she decided to head back home. To Arashi, this was a very odd place. Having spent about half of her life in Crystal Tokyo, she had grown accustomed to having magic and magical objects readily available. Here in the United States, most things were still highly technological, or at best, a blend of magic and technology. Here, people still to some extent used gasoline to run their vehicles. Here, it was unusual for people to possess paranormal abilities. Oh, sure, everyone knew at least someone who had some special talent, but people with paranormal abilities and talents were not common. Finally, here, the streets were often dirty.

Arashi thought that all of this was very strange, and often found herself shaking her head in disbelief as she made her way home.

******

****** The Following Morning ******

The double wooden doors swung inwards with a soft, barely audible creak, spilling light into the darkened office. A shadowed figure passed between the open doors, moving into the office, where a man in a business suit sat at his desk, speaking with three other men, all of whose faces were concealed by the shadows cast in the dim light.

"They're here, Mr. Marsh."

"Oh?" came the voice of the man at the desk, "By all means, show them in."

At that, the shadowed figure turned around and went back the way he came.

A few minutes later, Haruka and Michiru walked into office. The dark figures were gone now - in their place stood a well dressed man, who was watching the two of them expectantly.

"Are you Robert Marsh?" asked Michiru

The man nodded. "I am. A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kaioh," He turned to Haruka and extended his hand. "And a pleasure to meet you as well, Ms. Tenoh."

Haruka shook his hand but remained silent. Michiru bowed.

He was an ugly little man. His eyes were too large, and he rarely blinked. He tended to stare. His head was strangely narrow and his nose was almost.. flat. His name was Robert Marsh, and his appearance stood in quite a jarring contrast to Haruka and Michiru's. That wasn't what made things difficult for Haruka and Michiru, however; there was an aura about him. They got bad vibes just from being in the same room. He smiled, and his features softened somewhat when he did so. "Well then, shall we get down to business, Ms. Kaioh? Ms. Tenoh?"

Haruka tried to hide her expression of distaste.

Michiru put her hand on Haruka's as she nodded to Mr. Marsh. "Yes, let's begin. We'll start with the U.S. exports of magi-tech..."

******

When Arashi came downstairs that morning, she found that her parents had already left. They had left a note for her, however, which was taped to the fridge door. It read: 'We have a meeting this morning, but we'll be back by noon at least. Breakfast is in the fridge, so you'll have to heat it up. Don't forget that school starts at 8:00 AM.'

She glanced at the clock. 8:30. 'Shimatta.'

Arashi made it to school at around 8:50 that morning - just as the bell rang to announce the end of the first class period. There was a strange woman waiting at the school gates. The woman was clad in casual clothing, and while she was quite lovely... there was something about her that made Arashi distinctly uneasy.

Arashi frowned, trying to figure out exactly what it was about the woman that seemed so... wrong. Maybe it was the way her eyes looked juuuust slightly too large in precisely the wrong way, or the way she never seemed to blink...

The woman noticed Arashi's gaze and glanced at her questioningly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"

Arashi flushed bright red. "Um... sorry." she said as she ran past the woman and into the school grounds.

Putting the encounter behind her (and trying to forget the woman's too-large eyes and her unblinking stare), Arashi made her way to the office to pick up her class schedule.

******

'I hate waiting.' Arashi thought sourly as she stood in front of a desk in the office, waiting for the woman who sat at said desk to print out her class schedule. The office lady SLOOOOWLY typed in the commands to bring up the schedule, using the hunt-and-peck method of typing. Click. ... .... ... ... .... Click click. ... ... ... click. ... ... ... click... click. ... .... ... click.

Arashi tried not to grind her teeth.

"Hey Kazuko, did you hear the news?" came one excited female voice.

"Which news?" was the somewhat disinterested reply.

Arashi blinked a bit, turning to look at the two speakers. A pair of female students had just entered the office.

"They say that Uranus and Neptune's son is going to be coming here!"

Kazuko's eye twitched slightly. "What's so great about that, Amy?"

"He's famous! He's probably really cute, too! They say his name is Arashi. Isn't that a cool name?"

Kazuko blinkblinked, a slightly puzzled expression on her face. "Arashi? That's a very strange name for a boy.." she said. (1)

Arashi grinned, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, I think so too."

Both girls turned to look at Arashi. "Oh, hello." said Amy, "Are you new here?"

Arashi nodded. "Un. Today's my first day."

Amy smiled at Arashi. "Nice to meet you. I'm Amy, and this is Kazuko."

Kazuko didn't react the introduction. "Son of 'those' Senshi?" she grumbled, "He's not so great. He's probably an idiot like all the other boys here."

At this point, the office lady *FINALLY* hit 'print'. The printing job was done barely a split second after she hit the command.

Arashi raised an eyebrow at Kazuko's remarks as she collected her class schedule. "Er.. is it really such a good idea to jump to conclusions about someone you haven't even met yet?"

Kazuko frowned, turning to look at Arashi once more. "Ano, who are you anyway?" she asked.

Arashi smiled, bowing to the two girls, "My name's..."

Abruptly, the door to the office *slammed* open and a very angry Alice stormed in. She loomed over Arashi with death in her eyes. "AARAASHII!!" she yelled.

Arashi turned towards Alice, not at all taken aback. "Hey Alice."

she said casually.

Amy and Kazuko stared at Arashi, Amy wide-eyed, and Kazuko with an expression of embarrassment.

Alice *GLARED* at Arashi. "You said you'd meet me at school! Where were you!? I got to school early for the first time in order to meet you, and you didn't show up!"

Arashi blinkblinked. "Er, I'm very sorry about that. I didn't know that you meant to meet me before school started."

Faster than you could say 'raging anime school girl', Alice's expression went from fury to watery eyed and heart broken. She sniffed sadly. "I understand, Arashi. If you like them better than me.. I'll go.."

Arashi O.o;;;;; "Oro?"

Alice peered at Arashi expectantly. "Well?"

"Ano... Alice... um.." Arashi sweatdropped. Somehow, this girl had gotten her flustered to the point that she didn't even notice that she was starting to mix Japanese and English together.

Just then, the bell rang, announcing the start of the second class period of the day. Alice's eyes widened somewhat as she realized that she was late again. She took off like a bullet out of the office, leaving a significant dust-cloud in her wake.

Arashi just stood and stared, completely nonplused.

Kazuko and Amy did likewise.

******

The school was a fairly large place, consisting of four primary groups of buildings located near its center. The first thing one saw when arriving at the school was an expansive lawn on which a temporary volley-ball court had been set up. At the center of the lawn was the flag pole. The parking lot lay immediately to the right of this lawn. Beyond the lawn lay the administrative buildings, partially concealed from view by a row of birches. Immediately to the left of the offices was the first of the four primary groups of buildings, this one consisting of the English and history departments. To the right of the offices was the second group, this one housing the music and drama departments for which Howard Phillips High was famous. The music department had its own two story building, the first floor of which housed the actual class rooms (most of which were designed as rehearsal rooms for a band or a choir) and the main music office. The practice rooms (of which there were many) and the offices of the teachers were on the second floor. The music department was one of the only parts of the school that was open all day long. A student could come and use the practice rooms at any time, and though no real thought was given to security, it was unheard of for a theft to occur.

Beyond this second group of buildings lay a third, smaller group which housed the science and math departments. The final group of buildings was the home of more or less everything not already covered: woodshop, metal shop, ROTC, etc. Physical Education was held in the gym (located at the rear of the school) when it was raining, and out on the fields surrounding the school when the weather was fair. The cafeteria, that all important center of school life, was located exactly at the middle of the campus. Birches and oaks had apparently been very popular with whoever had designed the place, as most of the trees growing on the campus were of one of those two kinds, though outside of it there was not a birch or an oak to be found for miles (though there were plenty of trees of other kinds). The campus was very clean: there was hardly an inch of it that was not green and growing, and the style of the architecture was primarily Victorian.

Several minutes after receiving her class schedule, Arashi found herself in her second period history class, waiting by the door as the teacher spoke to the class. Glancing around, she was somewhat relieved to find that Alice Grant was not in this class. That girl was very weird.

"Class," he said, "We have a new student today." the teacher paused, looking at the attendance sheet, then at Arashi, then back at the attendance sheet, an expression of confusion on his face. "Her... um, his name is Arashi Tenoh. He'll be attending school here for the rest of the semester."

Immediately, the class began to whisper back and forth amongst themselves.

"I was there when his ship came in the other day! Senshi Uranus and Senshi Neptune actually LOOKED at me! It was so cool!"

"He's cute! I wonder if he has a girlfriend?"

"To be so close to someone who's related to the Senshi... it's such an honor! Hey, if his mothers are goddesses, does that make him a god? Or a demi-god?"

"Don't be stupid. He must have been adopted!"

Arashi raised an eyebrow (several times), but remained silent through all of this. Her ego certainly reaped the benefits of her silence, despite the fact that she did not particularly care for the way everyone had mistaken her for a guy. ^.^

The teacher big-sweated. "Er... Arashi, would you introduce yourself to the class?"

Arashi shrugged, thinking to herself, 'Sure, why not?'

She walked to the front of the class and bowed. "I'm Arashi," she said, a faint smile on her face, "It's nice to meet you all." She then walked to an empty seat and sat down, leaving both the teacher and the class somewhat nonplused.

*** Later ***

"Who can tell me the cause of the Great Cataclysm and describe its immediate aftermath?"

*dead silence*

The teacher frowned, looking out at the class and trying to pick out the one student who was paying the least amount of attention. "... Thomas?"

Everyone in the class turned to look at Thomas, who was on the verge of dozing off.

Thomas, a tall, thin, brown-haired kid, came to with a start. "Um, what?" he asked. The class laughed, and Thomas' face turned an interesting shade of red.

The teacher cleared his throat. "What was the cause of the Great Cataclysm, Thomas?"

"Um... wasn't it caused by a meteor striking Antarctica?"

The teacher put his hand to his forehead. "No, it was not."

Arashi shook her head in wonder. These students couldn't possibly be as stupid as they appeared to be, could they? She looked around. Most of the students were just staring at the teacher with eyes glazed over. Oookay, so maybe they might just be as stupid as they seemed. Still there was a pair of students sitting to her right that definitely looked like they should know better. One of them was male, the other female, and instead of staring at the teacher with glassy eyes, they were paying attention. The female student she recognized as Kazuko, the girl she had seen in the office early that day. She had never seen the male student before. Something about their clothing tugged at her memory... but Arashi couldn't place exactly what it was.

The teacher sighed, "All right, this is the LAST time that we're going to go over this.."

The male student's hand went up.

The teacher stopped short, looking to the student who had raised his hand. "Can you answer the question, Mr. Shiro?"

Abruptly, Arashi realized that both the male and female student

were wearing uniforms from the Crystal Tokyo Institute for the

Paranormal - Japan's premier school. No one ever called it that, though. It was much more commonly known as either Kesshou Gakuen or Kesshou Daigakuen, referring to the institute's secondary school and its college, respectively.

Kazuko's uniform was a white blouse with the school patch on the left breast pocket, a gray skirt, white socks, black shoes, and a red beret with a mini school pin on it. Over the blouse she wore a dark blue jacket. The male uniform was more of a standard Japanese school uniform - black pants and a black jacket with gold buttons down the front and small school pins on the collar.

'What are they doing here?' Arashi wondered.

The male student took a deep breath before giving his answer,

"The Great Cataclysm was a result of the dying act of The Three in their final battle with Serenity and her court. They wrenched Terra out of its natural orbit, resulting in, among other things, a rapid drop in temperature, tidal waves, increased volcanic activity, earthquakes, and planet-wide storms. Fortunately, most of the planet was put into stasis by Serenity-sama before the destruction could get out of control." His voice held a rather thick Crystal-Tokyo accent.

The teacher blinked in surprise, "That is correct, Mr. Shiro. And so began the period of time that has since been known as 'The Ice'. Thank you for giving my life meaning by showing me that at least SOME of my students have learned from me."

Shiro Tetsuro nodded, smiling cheerfully. "No problem, sensei. Although I must admit that I knew the answer to that question before I came here. Most of what you've been teaching here is material that we covered three years ago."

The teacher's eye began to twitch.

******

Arashi's next class was Orchestra. Technically, you weren't supposed to get into the orchestra without auditioning, but the teacher, a member of the church of Serenity, bent the rules a bit when he recognized Arashi's family name. This created a rather interesting situation for her in that class: when the teacher thinks of your parents as goddesses, you can get away with murder. It probably also helped that, thanks to her mother's lessons, Arashi was an exceedingly talented violin player. The other students resented her for it (both the preferential treatment and the unusually large amount of skill), of course. She didn't particularly care.

After Orchestra came lunch, and after that, P.E.

******

"Tenoh?"
Arashi looked at the speaker. Oh, the female Kesshou Gakuen student. Kazuko.

"Yeah?"

The bell had just rung signaling the end of lunch, and the other students were now beginning to pack their bags and depart.

"Uranus and Neptune adopted you, right?"

Suddenly, the entire cafeteria fell silent, every ear attentive to the conversation going on between Arashi and Kazuko.

Arashi blinked at that, her face taking on a thoughtful look.

"Ano.."

"Well?"

Arashi smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "To be honest, I never asked."

There was a mass facefault.

Kazuko shook her head incredulously. "What, you're so stupid you never thought of something like that?"

"Hey! It just never seemed important, OK!?"

Kazuko rolled her eyes.

Eventually, the two girls made their way to the door, where Kazuko's brother, Tetsuro, was waiting. He smiled. "<Hey ne-chan.>" he said in Japanese. He glanced to Arashi. "<Hello, Tenoh-san.>"

Arashi inclined her head. "<You're Tetsuro, right?>" she asked, slipping easily into the same language.

Tetsuro nodded. "<Hai. Shiro Tetsuro.>" He bowed. <Hajimemashite. Douzo Yuroshiku.>"

Arashi smiled and responded in kind. "<Hajimemashite. Douzo Yuroshiku.*>"

*translation: 'it's the first time we meet. Please regard me favorably.'

Tetsuro glanced at his watch. "<I'd better get to class. Ja mata, Kazu-chan. Tenoh-san.>" And with that, he walked off in another direction.

Kazuko waved to him. "<See you later, Ni-chan!>" she called.

Arashi blinked, thinking something along the lines of, 'She calls him Ni-chan, AND he calls her Ne-chan? How does that work?'

"<Ne, what's you're next class, Tenoh?>" Kazuko asked.

"<Eeto...>" Arashi began, glancing at her schedule. "<..Phys Ed.>"

Kazuko smiled, "<Ah, you have the same class as I do.>"

Arashi nodded, smiling faintly in return. "<P.E. has always been my favorite subject.>"

Kazuko's smile became forced. She *hated* P.E. "<My favorite is astronomy.>"

They walked in silence for a few seconds, passing near the school's baseball field on their way to the locker rooms. Arashi saw something out of the corner of her eye and turned to look at it. Her gaze fell upon a darkly clad man leaning against a tree some 30 yards away. He was watching them. Arashi frowned - she was pretty sure that he didn't work at the school, although he might be waiting to meet up with a son or a daughter who attended the school... 'yeah, that must be it,' she decided.

At that point, Kazuko spoke up, not having noticed the man.

"Arashi?"

"Hmm?"

"What's it like, being the son of two of the Senshi?"

Arashi found herself distracted by the darkly clad man. He was... rather ugly, actually. A flat nose, a queer narrow face, and skin that really didn't look right... it held an unhealthy yellowish hue.

"Arashi? Are you listening?"

Arashi returned her attention to Kazuko with a start, "Er, sorry Kazuko, what was that again?"

Kazuko frowned slightly. "I asked, 'What's it like, being the son of two of the Senshi?'."

Arashi pikupikued. "wait.. son?"

Kazuko sweatdropped. "Er.."

Arashi watched Kazuko curiously, waiting for her to go on as they reached the entrance to the locker rooms.

"Arashi, you ARE a guy, aren't you?"

This time it was Arashi's turn to sweatdrop. "Um, No."

Kazuko blinkblinked, suddenly peering at Arashi's chest. No noticeable bulge of any kind. "Ano..." she said, looking at Arashi questioningly.

Arashi turned several shades of red. "Bindings, OK?"

Kazuko nodded faintly. "Gotcha. Um... if you don't mind me asking.. why...?"

"Why dress like this?"

"Yeah!"

Arashi shrugged. "Why not?"

Kazuko opened her mouth to reply, but found that she had absolutely nothing to say in response. After a long silence, she shook her head and said, "You're weird."

Arashi grinned and said nothing.

******

"<Well,>" said Michiru as she and Haruka departed from the building that housed the offices of one Robert Marsh, "<That went well.>"

Haruka shook her head faintly, following Michiru down the steps towards the street. It was quickly agreed upon that they should go to a nearby cafe to have some tea, as such was now needed to take their minds off of the very difficult meeting that had just taken place. The ended up at a small cafe on the other side of town from the place that they had met with Mr. Marsh, and it was not long before both Haruka and Michiru were seated, each sipping from the steaming cups of tea that the waitress placed before them.

"<So,>" said Michiru, peering at Haruka over the rim of her cup, "<Have you decided whether or not you'll be participating in the race this weekend?>"

Haruka nodded. "<Yeah.>"

Michiru smiled at that and said nothing, already knowing full well what Haruka had decided on the matter, even though all she had been told was that Haruka HAD decided on the matter. She had been with Haruka for more than thirty years now, and the bond of intimacy between them had only grown deeper; especially after the birth of Arashi. Neither of them had aged. Oh, they had changed, of course. But they, like the rest of the Senshi, had not, and would not ever begin the long descent into decay and infirmity that ended in a death brought on by age -- according to Ami, they would all look like they were in their early twenties for... well, ever, really.

Haruka saw Michiru's smile and responded in kind. They remained like that for a few minutes, drowning in each other's eyes. (2)

It was Haruka who finally broke the silence. "<I think I'd like to take Hime-chan with me to the race,>" she said.

Although Michiru would rather have ignored the change of subject and kept on as she had been, she knew that it was probably best to respond. "<I'm sure she'll be happy to go,>" she said.

******

P.E. went by all too quickly for Arashi. She was perhaps the only person out there without a uniform, but the coach didn't make TOO much of an issue out of it. That day they were playing soccer. After they ran a mile, that is. It was.. fun. Running, playing the game with other people her age. She loved it.

Kazuko, on the other hand, hated every second of it. She tried (oh how she tried!) not to grind her teeth when Arashi lapped her twice during the mile run. She managed not to break anything when Arashi consistently scored goals against her team in soccer despite her own best efforts to prevent them. She even refrained from killing anything when Arashi stole the ball right from under her nose, but it was getting to be too much. To add insult to injury, Arashi even spoke better English than she did. Kazuko's English was, like her brother's, thickly accented. Arashi, on the other hand, spoke it as easily as if it were her native language.

A few minutes later, Arashi kicked Kazuko in the shin. It had been an accident, of course; Arashi was aiming for the ball, missed, and hit Kazuko instead. Kazuko then yelped and hopped up and down on one leg, rubbing her injured shin. And she landed on Arashi's foot. Five times. She was wearing cleats at the time.

"OW! Damnit, Kazuko, what'd you do that for!?"

"Do what, Tenoh?" asked Kazuko.

Arashi clenched her fist, struggling to control her temper. "To stomp on my foot once might be an accident. Twice is pushing it. Three times by accident is unlikely... but FIVE TIMES IN A ROW!?"

Kazuko shrugged, smiling faintly. "Sorry." she said, sounding not at all sorry.

Arashi fumed.

*** Later, after three trips, two (accidental) kicks, four collisions, and three and a half bruises... ***

"Hey Tenoh, you know martial arts, right?" (translation: You've tripped me for the last time, Tenoh)

"A little, yeah." (Screw you.)

"Why don't we have a little match, then?" (I'm going to kick your ass.)

Arashi blinked in surprise. "Ah... why?" (Oh?)

"What, don't you know how to fight?" (What's the matter, are you afraid to lose?)

Arashi shrugged. "I already said I know how. I'd rather not, though." (Of course not. It's just that I can tell just by looking at you that you're not very good.)

"Why not?" (What!?)

"Because there doesn't seem to be much point." (You suck, and there's no point in fighting someone as bad as you.)

"Hey, don't underestimate me. I might surprise you." (I'm tired of being shown up. Prepare to die.)

Arashi sighed heavily as she moved into a fighting stance, "Alright, alright, I guess we can have a sparring session."

Kazuko grinned, assuming her own fighting stance. "Now that's more like it."

The other students began to crowd around the two, which drew the attention of the coach. He stomped over to the two opposing students. "What's going on here?" he demanded.

Kazuko *GLARED* at the coach, her battle aura manifesting itself as she loomed over him (as well as a 5' tall girl can loom over a 6'2" tall coach, anyway). "STAY OUT OF THIS." she shouted.

The coach blinkblinked, looked at Arashi, then at Kazuko, and then shook his head and walked away, muttering, 'They don't pay me enough for this.'

And so began what Arashi thought of as a sparring session, and Kazuko, as a battle.

Kazuko went on the offensive, launching what seemed to those observing an impressive series of attacks.. but somehow, Arashi evaded every last one of them.

Before we move any farther, something must be clarified. Arashi was really into martial arts. She had first learned from Sailor Jupiter, and when she had begun moving around with her parents, she had usually found a local dojo that taught some form of kempo, which she would attend for as long as she was able in order to continue improving. She practiced every single morning and afternoon, and was at this point a very talented fighter whose fighting style incorporated several different schools of martial arts.

Kazuko... had taken karate lessons when she was little.

This being the case, the difference in skill between the two was... somewhat large.

The 'battle', if you could call it that, went pretty much along these lines: Kazuko punched, Arashi dodged. Kazuko kicked, Arashi dodged. Kazuko feinted, twisted, and struck, Arashi dodged. Kazuko kicked, Arashi dodged by leaping over Kazuko and landed behind her, and so on. As the 'fight' wore on, Kazuko grew increasingly frustrated, and Arashi made a show of being bored, as if it weren't even worth her time, which pissed Kazuko off even more.

Eventually, Arashi genuinely did get bored and decided to end the fight. She grinned faintly and manifested her battle-aura. "Alright, Kazuko! It's time for my finishing move! Take this! Kaaaaameeeee..." She cupped her hands and pulled them back towards herself.

Kazuko blinked in surprise. "... You have GOT to be kidding me."

Arashi continued, not seeming to notice Kazuko's incredulous stare. "Haaaaameeeee....!"

Kazuko put a hand to her forehead. "There's no way."

And then Arashi lunged forward and punched Kazuko in the gut. The other girl, being somewhat distracted (and more than a little nonplused) by Arashi's battle aura and by her 'kamehameha', wasn't able to react in time. Down she went.

Arashi grinned in a disturbingly Cheshire-like manner, offering a hand to the fallen Kazuko. "Gotcha," she said.

Arashi's attitude infuriated Kazuko.. and she lost control. "<Damn you, take this seriously!>" Kazuko cried as she scrambled to her feet and charged the other girl.

Arashi shook her head, stepping smoothly out of the way. Now that Kazuko was distracted by her anger, her moves were even more ridiculously easy to read. "<Yare yare.>"

Kazuko, not having anticipated Arashi's dodge, was off balance and so fell flat on her face. She recovered fairly quickly, and since Arashi did not try to counter-attack, she was able to move yet again. She lunged at Arashi, but again Arashi dodged the blow.

"<Alright, you're asking for it, Tenoh..>" Kazuko produced something from her pocket - a pen of some sort - the kind you might find on sale as an accessory for a magical girl show. She raised the pen over her head and shouted, "TERRA STAR POWER, MAKE UP!"

Light exploded around her.

Arashi's eyes widened in surprise. "<Masaka..>" No way. No WAY could there be a new Senshi. 'Waitaminute,' she thought, 'Sailor... Terra? But Endymion... oh. Right. One of THEM.'

As the light of her transformation faded, Sailor Terra grinned widely. "<The living planet is my guardian deity. Soldier of life, Sailor Terra. Your parents aren't the only Senshi in town, Tenoh. Prepare yourself!>"

Despite what was said in her speech, Terra did NOT wait for Arashi to prepare herself. She moved with inhuman speed, launching herself forward and landing a quick series of blows - one to Arashi's left eye, another to her collarbone, and a third to the place where her ribs met. Up against an opponent who was now at least twice as strong and twice as fast, and having no opportunity to prepare for the attack, Arashi didn't have much of a chance. She fell to the ground, the air blasted from her lungs.

As Arashi gasped for air, Sailor Terra began her Senshi attack. the held both of her hands over head, then spun around once while pulling her hands down to chest level. "OAK!" She thrust her hands forward. "CYCLONE!" A spray of brown energy slivers flew out from her hands towards the unfortunate red-head.

Arashi never had a chance to dodge - the spray of energy hit her full on and sent her flying several feet backwards, where she landed heavily.

Terra was filled with elation. She had done it! She had won! "YATTA!" she shouted. "YATTAAA!!!"

Smoke rose from Arashi's clothing as she lay on the field. Consciousness tried to slip away, but Arashi stubbornly refused to allow that to happen. Through sheer stubbornness she forced herself to clamber back to her feet.

Terra frowned. "<You had enough?>"

Arashi wiped a line of blood from the side of her mouth, which caused Terra to tense somewhat, but she relaxed again when Arashi bowed. "<Looks like you win, Shiro Kazuko.>" she said, smiling despite the pain that she was in.

Terra blinked. "<Er, thanks, Tenoh.>" Looking back on the battle, Terra had a nagging feeling that maybe, just *maybe*, she had overdone it by transforming.. 'Nah.' She decided. It felt good to win. 'If Tenoh can't stand up to me when I'm at full strength, well, that's her problem.'

******

As the P.E. class filed back to the locker rooms, the darkly clad man stepped out from behind tree some fifty meters from the place that had been used as an impromptu battleground.

"Sailor Terra..." he said, a thoughtful look on his face. He quickly retrieved a cell phone from his jacket pocket and punched in a phone number.

#Yes?#

"It's me."

#Have you something to report?#
"Yes. I believe we may have just found our target... she's a young Japanese exchange student. Kazuko Shiro."

#Well done. We will see what we can find on this girl. In the meantime, continue with your assignment, Au'ru-mt'hyali.#

"As you command."

No one was there to see him step into the shadow of the tree and vanish.

******

The rest of the school day passed fairly slowly, the seconds dragging on like minutes and the minutes like hours. Arashi went to see the nurse, refused to be sent home despite having torn clothing and several bruises, and ended up late for her next class, which was precalculus. Her last class that day was chemistry. Arashi would have been interested in the chemistry class if she hadn't known that almost all of the material covered in the text book had been out of date before the Ice. It probably would have helped if the teacher had known the subject he was teaching, too. Music was something that Howard Phillips High was good at. Science was... not.

Arashi managed to go the rest of the day without running into Alice, for which she silently thanked Kami-sama. It wasn't that she disliked the girl... OK, so maybe it was that she disliked the girl. The way Alice had been trying to flirt with her annoyed Arashi to no end. It wasn't just that Alice had tried to flirt -- Arashi's upbringing had not included homophobia to any degree -- It was just that the way in which Alice was behaving struck Arashi as slightly unstable. On the verge of tears one moment, happy the next. It reminded her FAR too much of the way Aino Minako (or, as Arashi liked to call her, 'obaa-chan'*) behaved.

*(translation: Grandmother, female senior-citizen)

As the last bell rang and the teacher dismissed the class, Arashi could only shake her head in wonder. So far she had managed to pick up what was apparently a lesbian love interest (despite the fact that she did not swing that way), had gotten into a fight with an apparently brand new Sailor Senshi (and lost), was mistaken for a boy by the majority of the school, and finally had been bored out of her mind by listening to a teacher lecture on a subject that she knew more about than he did.

'Some first day.' she thought.

******

Michiru sat in the living room of her new home in Boston, practicing her violin. Focused as she was on the Bach piece that she was trying to master, she did not realize that anyone had come home until the door slammed shut and a voice called out, "<Tadaima!>"

Michiru barely had time to set her violin down and look towards the source of the voice before she was caught in an enthusiastic hug. Michiru smiled, returning the hug. "<Welcome home, Arashi-chan.>" she said. "<How was school?>"

Arashi was smiling widely, even though she looked somewhat worse for wear. Her clothing was torn in several places, and she was developing some fairly nasty looking bruises. She sat down on the living room couch.

"<It was interesting.>"

As Arashi sat down, Michiru voiced her concern. "<What happened?>"

Arashi glanced down at herself. "<Ano.. for starters, I got into a fight at school..>"

Michiru frowned slightly, sitting down on the couch next to her daughter. "<You're not in trouble again, are you?>"

Arashi grinned. "<I'm always in trouble, mama.>"

Michiru shook her head, an expression of amusement on her face. This girl, she decided, is far too much like her 'father'. Both were far too much trouble for her. All the same, she wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. "<How did it happen this time?>" she asked.

Arashi began to relate the events of the day to her mother, whose expression became increasingly nonplused. When she mentioned Kazuko, and the fight in P.E. class, Michiru interrupted her.

"<A student from Kesshou Gakuen? Arashi-chan, why did you fight such a person?>"

"<I would have won if she hadn't transformed.. I was much better than her, I just didn't anticipate her being so fast.. she's one of those loser fangirls. Her name is Shiro Kazuko, and she claims to be Sailor Terra.>"

Michiru gave Arashi a harsh look, but didn't seem terribly surprised by the appearance of this ... 'Sailor Terra'. "<Arashi-chan, you shouldn't pick fights with the lesser Senshi.>"

Arashi felt somewhat relieved at that pronouncement. Of COURSE the girl was a lesser Senshi. After all, Endymion represented Earth, didn't he? ... Didn't he...?

Well, he certainly didn't wear a fuku...

Arashi nearly choked at that, and forced herself to banish the image before it could warp her brain.

Abruptly, she realized that her mom was waiting for a response. She shrugged. "<It was only a sparring match. It just got..>" She paused, thinking for an appropriate way to describe it. "<.. a little out of hand.>"

Michiru sweatdropped. "<A little out of hand?>"

"<Ahehe... OK, so it got really out of hand. I'm alright, though. Just a little bruised.>"

Michiru shook her head incredulously, wondering how exactly her daughter managed to get into trouble so often.

As their conversation wore on, Arashi's thoughts went back to what Kazuko had asked earlier that day - were Haruka and Michiru her biological parents? It didn't seem likely, seeing as how both of them were women, but she supposed that anything was possible. As curiosity grew, she frowned slightly, and eventually felt compelled to ask. <Mom, am I adopted?>"

Michiru blinked, taken off guard by the question. She had not been expecting that. She paused before answering. "<Ara, does it atter?>"

Arashi paused to consider her answer. There was a long silence...

After about fifteen seconds had passed, Arashi shook her head. "<.. No, not really.>", she said, speaking volumes in those three short words.

Michiru was obviously pleased with that answer. She smiled at Arashi in a very motherly fashion and said nothing.

--=- END EPISODE TWO -=--

--=- OMAKE -=--

Alice collided with Arashi, who was knocked backwards a bit, while Alice herself fell to the ground.

"OW!" yelped Arashi, more out of surprise than anything else. Watch where you're going, you clumsy, kawaikunee otenba!"

Alice's battle aura flared into being as she rose to her feet and produced an enormous wooden hammer from somewhere behind her back. What did you call me!?"

Arashi: "I called you a clumsy kawaikunee otenba!"

Alice: "ARASHI NO BAKA!!!!" *SLAM, CRUNCH, CRACK, SMASH, POUND*

Arashi: *twitching weakly on the ground* "kawaikunee..."

--=- END -=--

--=- OMAKE -=--

Arashi blinked a bit. "Er, Uranus is my dad."

Alice pikupikued. "..your dad? Dare I ask how that's possible..?"

Arashi smiled wryly. "Best not to ask questions better left to hentai fanfic authors. Our own author wouldn't touch that one with a ten meter cattle-prod."

Alice nodded, looking slightly disturbed.

--=- END -=--

--=- OMAKE -=--

Arashi makes her way to the front of the class, a confident smile on her face...

She bows, and then suddenly fireworks begin to go off around her and little banners appear, having things like 'Sugoi!' and 'Arashi is the coolest!' written on them. She laughs. Yes, THAT kind of laugh. "HOOHOHOHOHO! I am the graceful, brilliant, athletic, incredibly beautiful and modest daughter of Senshi Uranus and Senshi Neptune of Serenity's Court - Tenoh Arashi!!" Behind her, the background of crashing waves and the rising sun appears, and a set of fans inexplicably appears in her hands. "You may now bow down and kiss the ground I walk on!"

--=- END -=--

(1) - A frustrating situation. I don't recall whether or not Arashi is a specifically feminine name (I have only ever seen female characters

with the name, but that proves nothing). Thankfully, this taking place some time in the future, I am provided with a loop-hole: languages change. Even if Arashi is not a feminine name today, in the years since the Ice, it has become associated with such.

(2) - What? Can I help it if I can hardly think of Haruka and Michiru together without hearing the song 'What are you Doing the Rest of Your Life' playing in the background? I'm sure you know the tune. It's an old Jazz ballad.

Comments? Criticisms? Do you like it? Love it? Hate it? Let me know! Let's keep it civil, please. Flames will be laughed at. MSTies will also be laughed at, but in an entirely different manner than flames. 8)

stillwell_phw@hotmail.com

"HOW TO BE A CULTIST"

(Courtesy of the Discordians)

#21: Contrary to historical belief, drugs and invocations do not mix. When the crap hits the fan, it is vitally necessary to be able to discern between the gibbering monstrosity to throw holy water on and the gibbering monstrosity that will go away after a few hours, some Bcomplex, and a good hot bath.