Fandom: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Sailor Stars (anime)
Date Finished:
Classification: Romance, Humor
Pairing: Seiya/Yaten, references to Taiki/Ami, Mamoru/Usagi, Haruka/Michiru  
Rating: NC-17

Vivid
by Elsewhere
elsewherecw@shaw.ca

All other information in Part One.

Part Two: "Our hopes start here…"

Glossary:
ano - um
konbanwa - good evening
ouhi-sama - queen; your majesty

*****
"Just now I found a miracle where God lost"
After this I’ll be thinking more strongly of you alone
Sparkling
There are so many things I want to say
But there’s not enough time
Love love love
You’re the only one my eyes can’t help but return to
"Something is starting…"
*****

Seiya’s next stop on her miniature pilgrimage to figure out what exactly was going on involved stopping in the kitchens, where she was surprised to find Kino Makoto deep in conversation with a couple of the cooks, and Meioh Setsuna and Taiki sitting at one of the tables engaged in a game of ‘Old Maid’. Every time it was Setsuna’s turn, Taiki would pick up something from the chair beside herself and fiddle with it, as though she needed to keep her hands occupied while she was waiting for her next turn. By the time Seiya had heard several intense popping sounds, she decided she simply *had* to know what Taiki had in her hands.

"Taiki…" she asked curiously as she leaned over Taiki’s shoulder, peering at the unusual object in her hands. "Why do you have packing bubbles?"

Taiki smiled patiently as she popped another large plastic bubble.

"Therapy is expensive. Popping bubble plastic is cheap. You choose," she said flatly before she reached for her cards, noticing that Setsuna was waiting for her to make her move. She peered through her cards before choosing.

Seiya stood there, watching through several moves and listening to the surprisingly soothing sound of the plastic bubbles popping before she listened to Setsuna calmly say, "I’ve won again, Taiki-san…I’m afraid you’re the Old Maid yet again," and lean back in her chair. An alarming number of bubbles popped between Taiki’s tightening fingers.

"Oh piffle," Taiki said, frowning and then leaning back in her chair, closing her eyes. Her voice fell to a low mutter. "I’ll be an Old Maid before I ever have anything decent happen in my life anyway. *Gods* I need to get laid."

Seiya blinked and started to back away slowly, deciding it probably wasn’t a good idea for her to be there just then after all.

"Perhaps you’d prefer to play Go Fish?" Setsuna suggested in the same unchanging tone as she started to shuffle the cards.

"Don’t say ‘fish’!!" Taiki snapped, slamming the bubble wrap down so hard on the table that most of the bubbles burst at once. Setsuna merely blinked, as usual not in the least perturbed, and watched as Taiki puffed out her breath and then reached up to smooth back her hair.

"What the hell is going on over here?" Makoto said loudly as she stomped over, hands on her hips. "I can’t hear myself think, much less recite recipes."

"Taiki-san seems to be having some sort of mid-life crisis," Setsuna said calmly, and she went back to shuffling the cards.

Makoto glanced between Taiki and Setsuna, frowning.

"What do you mean, mid-life crisis? Taiki’s twenty years old, Setsuna-san…don’t assume that just ‘cause you two look alike, Taiki’s anywhere near *your* age," Makoto said bluntly.

Setsuna took this remark in stride, shrugging her shoulders and sniffing softly.

"So what’s the matter, really, Taiki-san?" Makoto said, turning to look at Taiki, who peered up at her a bit pathetically, broken bubble wrap clutched in her long, tapered fingers.

"I…am…feeling the lack of certain relationships in my life," Taiki finally said, deciding to put it diplomatically. She nodded, closing her eyes. "Yes. I feel that my existence is lacking in certain areas because I have not experienced particular…"

"Feeling horny, eh?" Makoto suggested, giving Taiki a knowing grin, and Taiki’s eyes slammed open as she turned to Makoto, who just nodded. "Oh yeah…been there, done that. What you need is to find a…what, girl? Boy? What’s your preference, anyway?"

"Um…girl," Taiki said, blushing right to the tips of her ears by that point.

"Oh, well, that’s easy enough…there seem to be a lot of them around here," Makoto remarked, gesturing around the kitchen, which was at that moment entirely populated by women. "And I happen to know of one sexually frustrated young genius who’s had her eye on you for years, if you’re interested. Of course, we’ll be going back to Earth soon, but at least it would solve the *immediate* problem…"

She trailed off, tossing Taiki a wink and a victory sign before she turned and made her way back over to her little conference with the cooks, which, if Taiki recalled correctly, was probably about Yaten’s birthday cake. Taiki was left to ponder Makoto’s suggestion in silence, and was only shaken out of her thoughts when Setsuna cleared her throat and passed the cards to Taiki.

"Why don’t you choose the game this time?" Setsuna suggested. "Since you seem so indecisive."

Taiki felt herself blush slightly, then sighed and started to spread out the cards.

"Let’s play Memory," she suggested, nodding as though the matter were settled.

"Memory? Oh, I’m terrible at Memory," Setsuna said with a small sigh.

Taiki blinked at her.

"You can remember events that go back to the beginning of time itself and you’re telling me you’re bad at Memory?" Taiki said, clearly disbelieving her.

"You can’t expect me to remember *everything*," Setsuna deadpanned, and Taiki stared at her for another long moment before shaking her head and continuing to set up the cards.

Seiya, meanwhile, had watched this entire scene in a kind of frozen silence, but finally decided to beat it the hell out of there before things could possibly get any weirder. She was just on her way down the hallway when she heard the sounds of familiar voices coming from the gardens outside, drifting in through the open doors of one of the many balconies spread along the hall. She wandered out to the balcony and leaned over the railing, looking out into the garden and smiling at what she saw.

The young Tomoe Hotaru was curled under a tree reading, and it was her parents, Tenoh Haruka and Kaioh Michiru, who were the source of the voices, talking quietly to each other as they sat together on a stone bench near a fountain, holding hands and enjoying the quiet evening.

Seiya was just about to turn around and go back inside, not willing to disturb them, when she heard a voice call out to her.

"Ah, Seiya-san! How nice to see you! Why don’t you join us?" It was Michiru.

Seiya turned back and winced the minute she caught Haruka’s sharp glance in her direction, but she forced herself to grin as she waved at them and skipped down the steps, making her way towards them.

"Hey," she greeted them.

"Konbanwa," Michiru said with a warm smile, and when Haruka failed to say anything, Michiru shoved an elbow into her ribs.

"Ow! Er…evening," Haruka grumbled, baring her teeth briefly at Seiya, who smiled uneasily back.

"We were just talking about what a lovely planet you have, Seiya-san," Michiru said, turning to smile somewhat threateningly at Haruka, who smiled back and then turned to Seiya.

"Yes…lovely," Haruka said shortly.

"Oh…thanks," Seiya said, scratching her head. "Of course, it’s not really mine…it’s…"

"We know that, you simpleton," Haruka said, only to receive another elbow in the ribs, which made her wince. "Ow…I mean, yes…that was actually obvious."

"Ah, right," Seiya said, laughing nervously. After that she stood there uselessly for a moment, trying to figure out what to say or do…and then she had a brilliant idea. So brilliant she almost snapped her fingers, but she managed to keep herself from going quite that far. "Ano…Haruka-san. Do you mind if I speak to you in private for a moment?"

Both Haruka and Michiru looked startled by this request, but after a few seconds of shocked silence, Haruka cleared her throat and took her hand back from her significant other.

"Sure…I guess," she said, sounding a bit uncomfortable as she got to her feet and followed Seiya around to the other side of the fountain. Once they were there, Seiya glanced around as though making sure they were alone, and Haruka leveled her eyes at the smaller woman impatiently. "So what is it?"

"Well, you see…I was wondering if maybe you could give me some advice," Seiya said, meeting Haruka’s gaze and watching as the older woman lifted her eyebrows, obviously surprised---and somewhat amused---by Seiya’s words. "You see…you…well, you know *women* pretty well, right?"

Haruka was silent for a long minute before finally the very tip of her right eyebrow twitched. She reached up to rub at it.

"What exactly are you getting at?" she asked, trying not to sound as annoyed as she felt, suddenly.

"Well, you see, I’m having trouble with…this girl I know," Seiya said, waving a hand in the air expressively.

Haruka resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the obviousness of Seiya’s statement. Yeah. Anyone who came within five hundred kilometres of the palace was sure to notice Seiya’s ‘problems’ with ‘this girl she knew’.

"But she says that *I’m* the problem," Seiya continued, lifting her hands helplessly.

"No shit," Haruka said, unable to help a rough chuckle.

Seiya blinked at that.

"What, are you saying you agree with her? Rei-chan seemed to be saying something like that too…"

"You know, it really is amazing just how clueless you are," Haruka said with a smirk, shaking her head as she ran a hand casually through her short, sandy-blonde hair. "It’s actually very sad…but then ‘sad’ isn’t anything especially new with you."

Now *that* one stung.

"You know, just what is it that you still have a problem with about me?" Seiya demanded, frowning, thinking that maybe if she figured this out then she could start to get at what Yaten found so troublesome about her. "Is it my personality? It just clashes with yours or something?"

Haruka laughed loudly, startling Seiya.

"Wait, wait…I’m trying to imagine you with a personality," she said with a smirk, and she laughed again when Seiya blinked and then gradually settled into a peeved expression in the wake of this remark.

"You know what…forget it. I don’t know why I try with you," Seiya said, glaring at Haruka. "I can never tell when you’re serious and when you’re just trying to piss me off anyway."

She turned and started to walk away, hands stuffed in her pockets, and listened as Haruka chuckled behind her.

"That’s right, run away, go home…you’re depriving some poor village of an idiot anyway," Haruka called after Seiya, cupping her hands around her mouth. She snorted when Seiya flipped the bird back towards her, then turned on her heel, only to find herself face to face with a rather pissed-off-looking Michiru.

"What was that for?" Michiru asked, not sounding impressed.

"My personal enjoyment?" Haruka suggested, only to let out a sharp cry when Michiru’s high heel ground down into the centre of her foot. Haruka spent the next several seconds hopping around on one foot, uttering various colorful obscenities, before she limped back over to Michiru, wincing as she said, "Okay, okay…for *her* personal edification. Yaten asked me to do that if Seiya said anything to me, okay!? Shit, Michi…that *hurt*."

"All right; you’re forgiven," Michiru said graciously, entirely ignoring Haruka’s pain, to which Haruka rolled her eyes.

*****

About ten minutes after her insulting encounter with Haruka, Seiya was once again pacing the halls when dinner was finally called. Dinner was always late in the evening on Kinmoku, something that the solar system senshi were just starting to get used to. Seiya watched as doors all around her opened and senshi started pouring out of them. She decided to beat the rush and sprinted down the hallway, down the stairs and into the dining room. She was there and ready, standing impatiently before her seat, before any of the rest of them even reached the stairs.

She watched, trying not to fidget, as everyone filed into the dining room, one after another, and moved towards their seats. Kakyuu was at the head of the table, and they had positioned Usagi and Mamoru, the princess and prince of the solar system, at the other end. To Kakyuu’s right sat her three senshi, and to their right were Setsuna, Michiru and Haruka. To Usagi’s right were her five inner senshi, and on the end of them, just to Kakyuu’s left, was Hotaru.

"Please, everyone…let us sit," Kakyuu said, and once she had seated herself, and Usagi and Mamoru after her, the rest of the senshi were free to take their seats. The cooks and maids appeared and started serving an expansive feast, though not nearly as expansive as the one they were sure to see the following night, on Yaten’s birthday.

They were only part of the way into what could have been a very pleasant meal time when Seiya suddenly shouted a loud, "OW!" and turned to glance to the small hellion at her side.

"What was that for!?" she groused, leaning down to rub her shin, which the older senshi had just sharply kicked.

"Nothing," Yaten said with a shrug. "You just looked like you were spacing out. Thought you could use a wake-up call."

"If I need a wake-up call like *that*, I’ll let you know!" Seiya snapped, glaring with all the anger she could muster. The others around the table were just starting to stir, thinking this could start to get bad, when Kakyuu suddenly spoke up.

"I wonder if anyone caught the shower of shooting stars last night," she mused aloud, tilting her head as she idly cut up the vegetables on her plate. "It was quite lovely, really. Very sensational to behold. It really makes one feel small, witnessing a phenomenon such as that."

"But ouhi-sama, you can *become* a shooting star," Taiki pointed out, looking a bit like she was trying not to sweatdrop.

"Oh…oh yes, I suppose that’s true, isn’t it? Ahahahaha!" Kakyuu tittered merrily, taking a sip of her wine and lifting it in a silent cheers before she placed her glass back down and then turned to Hotaru, sitting next to her. Kakyuu leaned down low enough that her voice would only be heard by the girl. "Which guest room have you been placed in, my dear?"

"The one across the hall from Taiki-san’s room," Hotaru replied with a soft sigh. "There are always strange noises coming from there."

"Really?" Kakyuu said, garnet eyes widening with instant interest. "What sorts of noises?"

"Well…to be fair, I’m not sure if they’re actually coming from Taiki-san, or if they’re from Rei-chan," Hotaru said, scratching her nose. "She’s next to her."

"Rei-san is sleeping next to Maker?" Kakyuu said, eyes widening further.

Without stopping to consider the eccentric queen’s wording, Hotaru nodded.

"How fascinating!" Kakyuu said, patting at her mouth with her napkin and leaning closer, just as Minako leaned over from Hotaru’s other side.

"I heard something about Taiki-san…what are you talking about?" Minako whispered, her blue eyes wide with the need to do mischief.

"It seems that Maker is sleeping next to Rei-san!" Kakyuu whispered back to Minako without hesitation, although she was sure to be careful that her tallest senshi wasn’t paying any attention.

"Are you serious!?" Minako hissed, turning to glance at Rei, who was at the end of the table, just to Usagi’s right. "Oh my gosh! That’s incredible!"

Minako quickly turned to her left and elbowed Makoto.

"What!?" Makoto whispered roughly, turning to glare at Minako.

"Rei-chan is sleeping with Taiki-san!" Minako whispered frantically, and Makoto’s eyes widened to saucers.

"*What*!?" Makoto whispered back, her mouth dropping open. After a second she snapped it closed and shook her head. "Wow, Taiki-san works fast!! I thought she was going after Ami-chan!"

"Ami-chan too!?" Minako whispered, eyes widening a fraction more.

They both turned to glance at Ami, sitting on the other side of Makoto and working on her dinner, utterly oblivious to their scrutiny. Her cheeks seemed unusually red though, and she kept glancing nervously towards Taiki. Makoto turned back to Minako and nodded.

"Oh hell yeah," she said, and Minako nodded her agreement.

"Wow…this is big news!" Minako said, and then she turned to her right and leaned over Hotaru. Kakyuu, instantly noticing her, leaned back across towards her.

"It seems that Taiki-san is also sleeping with Ami-chan!" Minako whispered towards Kakyuu, who took in this information with a simple nod.

"Yes, well, that has been coming for some time now, has it not?" she said simply before she went back to her food.

"Come to think of it, I saw Seiya-san go into Rei-chan’s room earlier," Hotaru said, thinking aloud. Kakyuu choked on a vegetable and quickly drank something before leaning closer, while Minako did the same on the other side.

"What!?" Minako hissed. "What do you mean!?"

"They did something on the floor in the doorway for a bit and then she dragged him inside and closed the door. They didn’t take long though," Hotaru remarked, shrugging before picking up her drink and sipping at it, looking bored.

"Fighter and Rei-san?" Kakyuu said, her usual calm look gone, replaced with shock. "Well I never!"

"You can say that again!!" Minako whispered before turning to her left.

Meanwhile, Makoto had taken the time while Minako had been busy to turn to her own left, where she had poked Ami’s shoulder. Ami had turned to her.

"What is it, Mako-chan?" Ami asked.

"I just wanted to tell you, good going!" Makoto said, giving Ami a thumbs up. Ami immediately gave her a confused look to which Makoto just laughed. "If I’m honest, I kind of wanted to get it on with her too! Oh, but I hope you know that she’s kind of got a thing going with Rei-chan too…I wouldn’t want you to get hurt."

"Mako-chan…who are you talking about?" Ami asked, shaking her head in confusion as Makoto patted her on the shoulder.

Makoto blinked.

"Taiki-san, of course," she said, and then she looked at Ami dead-on. "Come on, you can’t lie to us…you *are* sleeping with her, aren’t you?"

Ami’s face instantly turned flaming red and she glanced across the table towards Taiki, a totally incriminating action that made Makoto smirk.

"No, actually I…" she began, but Makoto shook her head.

"See…I knew it. But yeah, like I said…she’s also got this thing with Rei, so…"

That was when Makoto felt Minako poking her.

"Oh, hold on a second, would you, Ami-chan?" She turned to Minako. "What!?"

"Oh my God oh my God!!" Minako whispered, waving her hands spastically in Makoto’s face until Makoto grabbed them, finding the motion instantly annoying. "Rei-chan is *also* sleeping with Seiya-chan!!"

"WHAT!?" Makoto hissed, just loud enough that other people started to notice. She quickly gave the whole table an innocent smile, then bent her head back down to talk with Minako. "Where’d you hear that!?"

"Hotaru saw them!"

"Holy crap!" Makoto whispered, and then she turned back to her left, only to find that Ami had turned to her own left. Makoto felt the urge to sink into the floor. "Uh-oh…"

"What!? No I am not sleeping with Taiki-san!" Rei whispered indelicately in response to Ami’s delicately-phrased question. Unfortunately her whisper was just loud enough to attract Usagi’s attention.

"You’re sleeping with Taiki-san!?" Usagi whispered, leaning closer to Rei and Ami’s conversation.

"No!!" Rei hissed, and Usagi blinked at her.

"What’s going on, then?" Usagi asked, obviously curious. Ami leaned in further and, much to Rei’s annoyance, explained the whole thing to Usagi.

"Oh my gosh!!" Usagi whispered, unable to help the slight chuckle that came to her lips before she suddenly leaned right across her boyfriend’s lap and whispered into Haruka’s ear.

"Hey, what the hell are you…" Rei hissed, only to stop when she felt Ami tugging her shirt. "What!?"

"Now they’re saying you’re sleeping with Seiya-chan!" Ami said, her face by then nearly purple.

"WHAT!?" Rei gritted out from between her teeth, and she glanced up just in time to see Usagi grinning at her evilly before the moon princess once again leaned over towards Haruka.

"Oh…shit," Rei said to herself, dropping her face to rest in her hands. "Three…two…one."

"WHAT THE FUCK!?!?"

Precisely on cue, Yaten’s chair scraped back and she got to her feet, looking so pissed off that Star Sensitive Infernos were probably likely to start flying any minute.

"Good heavens, Healer, what in the name of…" Kakyuu began, only to be cut off by Yaten’s continued loud tirade.

"YOU’RE SLEEPING WITH REI, WHO’S ALSO SLEEPING WITH TAIKI, WHO’S ALSO SLEEPING WITH MAKOTO AND AMI!?" Yaten roared at the top of her lungs.

"How come nobody’s sleeping with me?" Minako pouted.

"Don’t think you have cause to complain until you’ve gone six hundred years without so much as a dinner date," Setsuna remarked drolly, but everyone wisely ignored her.

After Seiya had first of all realized that she was the one being referred to, and second, regained her ability to hear, she shot to her feet.

"What!? I am not!!" she shouted back, very intelligently.

"Prove it, you…you…ho!!" Yaten yelled in Seiya’s face, and Seiya blinked.

"How am I supposed to prove it!? I’m as shocked as you are!!" she exclaimed, turning to stare at the rest of the table, most of whom looked just as shell-shocked as Seiya. "What the hell’s going on here!?"

"May I just say for the record that I am not sleeping with *anybody*, and I can prove it because I am a *virgin*…a twenty year old virgin, and that happens to be the biggest tragedy of my LIFE!" Taiki said, her words building to a shouted crescendo as she got to her feet and stuck her pointer finger in the air. Everyone turned to stare at her for a moment, then turned their attention back to Seiya and Yaten, leaving Taiki to blush and retake her seat.

"I think I can explain what’s going on," Rei said, lifting a hand and rolling her eyes. "I think what’s going on is, one, we’ve got too many young, hormonal, sexually frustrated people in too small of a space. Some people are more obvious than others, but anyway… Two, while talking about something innocent---probably rooming arrangements, unless I miss my guess---Minako-chan undoubtedly, in her usual stupid way, managed to mix up the wording somehow and turned something like ‘sleeping next to’ into ‘sleeping with’, and by the time the story made it to Usagi, the whole thing had degraded beyond repair."

"What do you mean, ‘usual stupid way’?" Minako said with another pout, but she quickly silenced when everyone turned to glare at her.

"So you’re not sleeping with anyone?" Yaten demanded, turning to glare at Seiya, who lifted her hands.

"No, not right this minute, I’m not," Seiya said, eyes wide, still not entirely sure what was going on.

"Well what about any *other* recent minutes!?" Yaten growled, stepping forward and grabbing Seiya’s collar.

"Um…no, I haven’t been sleeping with anyone recently!" Seiya said with a gulp, and she watched as Yaten nodded, apparently satisfied with this, and backed away, straightening her clothing before she turned.

"If you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to my room," Yaten said calmly before she turned on her heel and left the room.

"Wow…spaz *out*," Seiya said, running her hands through her hair and shaking her head before she took her seat and started back into her dinner, not noticing the various disbelieving looks everyone was giving her.

"Honestly, Seiya…sometimes I want to *kill* you," Taiki said, lifting her hands in the shape of a noose to demonstrate. Seiya glanced at her, blinking. "It’s being *waved* right in your face, and you’re too clueless to notice…! It makes me so *mad*!"

With a sound of frustration, Taiki turned and downed an entire glass of water before cuddling a fresh package of plastic bubbles close to her chest and sighing.

Kakyuu let out a slow breath and took a long sip of her wine, then smiled warmly.

"I wonder if anyone caught the shower of shooting stars last night," she began, only to stop when she saw Seiya eyeing her oddly.

"You said that already, ouhi-sama," Seiya said.

"Oh, did I? Oh yes…ahahahahaha!!" Kakyuu said, tittering merrily once again. "Oh well…"

Several people around the table resisted the temptation to drop their heads into their food.

*****

Yaten sighed as she closed her door behind herself and made her way into her bedroom, chancing a glance at herself in the mirror and wrinkling her nose when she saw the still-stricken look on her face. She had really lost control of herself back there at dinner---she’d nearly given up the game! Although given the circumstances, she supposed she could bear to give herself some leeway.

"Well, this day was a total waste of make-up," she declared, giving a final, tired sigh before she made her way to the bathroom, deciding to take a shower and try to loosen up.

*****

END PART TWO