Haruka had been in the living room, watching the rain come down. She could only be grateful that she had seen the weather prediction in time enough to give Hotaru an umbrella before she left for school! She looked at her watch, Hotaru would be popping in any second now. Shrugging, she grabbed a towel from the linen closet; just in case. Haruka figured that, even with the umbrella, she'd be a bit wet, with the wind and all. She had just grabbed Hotaru's favorite towel when she heard the door open and shut.

Haruka couldn't help but grin at her timing. Not a moment too soon!

"Oy, Hotaru! How's the weather out there?" She laughed from the hallway as she began twoard the doorway. When she saw Hotaru's soaked form, she stopped short, the laughter catching in her throat and being replaced with instant anxiety.

"Hotaru! What happened?" She rushed to her, towel in hand, and began to dry her off. "Why are you so soaking wet? Wheres your umbrella?"

As the drying continued, Haruka's attention became drawn to blue and black marks on Hotaru's skin. They weren't there before. And there were quite a few of them. Haruka gently grabbed Hotarus arm and held it up.

"What is this?" She couldn't help it if she sounded stern and scolding; but seeing Hotaru hurt like this awakened the deepest and darkest part of her. You don't hurt Haruka's family or friends. Period.

When she noticed Hotaru looking at her fearfully, her attention was drawn to a cut on her lip. The bruses, the cut, how she had no umbrella. It was blatantly obvious as to what had transpired. Draping the towel over Hotaru's solders as so she could continue wiping away the rain, Haruka spoke:

"Who did this?"

She could feel the malice in her voice; and she didn't care.

Hotaru glanced up meeting the angry eyes, she then glanced down at the carpet. Hotarus' sleeve came down from the towel showing a black bruise that went from her shoulder to elbow. Hotaru could sense the anger and malice from Haruka's words. She feared what the bully would do if she found out about Hotaru telling on her.

"I fell in P.E and running in the rain, that's all." Hotaru lied. The one Hotaru hated was lying most of all to her best friend, though she still didn't glance up, she looked around her except at Haruka. She then could taste a small amount of blood as her busted lip began bleeding.

Hotarus' vision getting blurry quickly held Harukas' right shoulder and the wall to help herself stand.

Haruka sighed and regained her composure. Seeing Hotaru so close to tears like that grounded her back to reality. Lying or not-Haruka would deal with that later. Right now, she had her adoptive daughter to take care of.

"Don't worry, Hotaru. Now let's get you cleaned-" Haruka gasped, her sentence cut short as Hotaru suddenly braced herself, gripping onto Haruka's shoulder tightly and the wall for support.

"Hotaru! What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Shaking her head slowly she winced loudly in pain from moving her badly bruised left arm too fast. "I-I feel a bit dizzy papa...." She explained her lip beginning to bleed again which made Hotaru put her lip inside her own mouth to drink the blood.

Hotaru had been taught that at times it works so this time she actually decided to use what she learned from her class earlier that year.

"I-i think I'm ok now though." Hotaru looked up to Haruka smiling softly with tears staining her eyes.

Haruka acted quickly, lifting Hotaru up and carrying her to the bathroom.

"Lets get you out of those clothes. Can't have you catching a cold."

She would check for a fever while they were in there. It wasn't surprising, seeing that she was soaked to the bone that she'd feel faint. She never had the biggest constitution after all. Haruka cursed to herself for being so foolish. She should have sent her with a jacket as well!

She clearly wasn't used to being a parent. Would she ever be?

"Ok..." Hotaru only replied as countless thoughts raced all in her mind, she wanted to scream in pain but refused to. She ached a lot not just her bruises but her body as well,

'Should I tell her? What if she gets mad at me? I broke the number one rule after all.' Hotaru thought to herself the negativeness driving her mad.

She was glad to be carried, she always felt safe with Haruka, even during this. Hotaru closed her eyes tightly as the world around her became dizzy and she did not want to see it.

Hotaru was changed out of her uniform and into one of her favorite outfits, all the while Haruka's mind was spinning with questions.

It was clear that she was being bullied. If the injuries had happened in PE, she would have had them treated at the nurse's office, then the nurse would have called home if she showed any additional signs of fatigue.

The only question she had now was why Hotaru was lying to her. Was she being threatened? There was a chance with that, she's such a small girl. Someone easily could threaten to make the bullying worse if she told someone. Was it because she'd think nobody would help? She went to mugen in the past and while being the base of the death busters, the teachers there didn't look too kindly to those not able to defend themselves. It could be a lingering fear from that experience that called her to lie.

Haruka finished dressing the cut on Hotaru's lip. "How are you feeling now? Does it hurt?"

"Still a bit dizzy and it hurts a bit." Hotaru answered careful to not hit her lip, it had a bruise and a cut right on her lip. Though, that wasn't what hurt the most, what was worse was the big black bruise with a small cut on her left arm. Part of it showed since she was trying her best to hide it away from Haruka.

'If Haruka sees this bruise she'll force the truth out of me.' She thought worriedly and moving her left arm the wrong way she yelped in pain. She felt a piece of stone in it and gasped her eyes widening fearfully.

"Papa, I think...I have a piece of stone in a cut...." She said slowly showing her black bruised left arm, she had a cut and a piece of stone was in, luckily it was small.

Haruka's eyes widened when she saw Hotaru flinch and she gasped at the sight of her arm. Haruka gently grabbed her arm and motioned her to the sink.  the stone was removed with the gentle current as the water ran over the wound. Haruka then grabbed some disinfectant from the medicine cabinet.

"This might sting a bit." Haruka mumbled as she pored it gently over her arm, later patting it gently with a clean washcloth. She then grabbed a bandage and carefully placed it on her arm. It wouldn't help the bruise, but it should at least keep the cut from getting infected.

"Sorry If that hurt, Hotaru." Haruka's mind was buzzing. 

Hotaru had defiantly not told her the truth.

Hotaru had started to cry in pain when the stone was removed and while it was being disinfected, her hands started flickering on and off along with her saturn symbol. 


"oh papa....." was all she said before hugging haruka with her good arm, she then started crying thinking about what had happened that day.

"papa, why am i a monster?" She asked in a whisper, her voice raspy from the tears and crying.

Haruka felt her heart jump into her throat. Even if it hadn't made it's presence known visually any senshi would have been able to sense it if they were in the area.While it wasn't entirely clear as to why, it seemed like  her powers activated seemingly on their own, seemingly out of response to her pain.

"A monster...?" She fumbled the words over in her mouth as she gently embraced the crying girl. "Hotaru, why would you say that?"

"Because i nearly killed someone today...." She cried, she truly felt horrible for hurting Aiko despite what happened. 

She still wouldn't tell Haruka what happened, no not with the risk of Haruka getting angry at her. She feared that maybe one day she may hurt someone, she just almost hurt Haruka, her best friend. 

Why would anyone be her friend now? Those and many negative thoughts ran through her mind which only made her cry more.

Hotaru was still crying when she heard the phone, if it was for her, she wasn't in the mood. No, she didn't want to leave the embrace of her best friend, she wanted to stay like that. But, if it was school, well Haruka would find out that she nearly killed someone.

She shuddered at the thought, Haruka would hate her and not be her friend anymore. The thought of it made the tears worse, she couldn't bear to lose haruka, but hotaru wouldn't blame her.

'Who would be my friend if they found this out....aside from Chibiusa?' She thought negatively.

"I think it's school....papa." Hotaru said in a raspy voice, not daring to look up at haruka.

Hotaru's confession rang in her ears.

"You think you...." It was hard to remain calm. Back when she was awakening as mistress 9 and saturn, and her body was undergoing the strain of having two sources of power instead of one, it wasn't unheard of for there to be some form of instability. But now, after she's been reborn, and mistress 9 vanquished?

"...killed someone?" She finished. "Is-is that how you got hurt?"

Was Haruka mistaken? Was bullying not a factor, but her powers?

If her powers were that out of control; enough to hurt herself, then what if she did kill someone? Haruka's stomach twisted into knots.

"Hotaru. Please. Tell me what happened. The truth this time."

Hotaru remained silent, not wanting to answer, if she said no about the 2nd question Haruka would force the truth out of her, but if she said yes then Haruka would hate her.

"The phone is ringing....." was all the child said, her voice raspy and full of fear and pain but also a mix of something else.

"...I think....it's school...." She said then being quiet, it hurt to talk, her lip felt like it was in half, luckily it wasn't.

"THE PHONE CAN WAIT, HOTARU!" Haruka was well aware her voice raised, and why wouldn't it? She had come home cold, wet and injured, and now she's saying she may have killed someone? Haruka began to pace back and forth with nervous energy, running a hand through her hair.

"You don't just-just come home like this, lie about it, then just say you "may" have killed someone, and then try to drop it!" Haruka was pacing quicker now, and getting more frustrated by the second. Her heart dropped at the idea it may have been school calling.

If Hotaru wasn't going to tell her, then the school will.

"You stay right here." Haruka pointed a finger as she walked to the phone. Her hand shook a bit when she picked it up. She cleared her throat and answered.

"Who is it?"

Haruka put her mouth over the receiver and sighed.

It was only chibiusa. Good. She wasn't entirely prepared for what the school would have to say if events had transpired like Hotaru said they did.

"Sorry about that, Chibiusa. I thought..you were someone else."

That's when an idea clicked in her mind. She pressed on, determined.

"Say, did anything particular happen at school today?"

If Hotaru's powers did harm someone, Chibiusa would be the first to know.

"Well, I got cut in art class today," she began. "It was an accident between another student and myself. Hotaru was there later and she healed me..."




Her voice trailed off as she thought about that moment, remembering the glares from the other students-- in particular one girl named Aiko. She hadn't stayed long with Hotaru afterward, and she now wondered if something happened afterward because of it.




She didn't spend much time wondering as she thought about Aiko and the repulsed expression on her face. "Somebody hurt Hotaru today, didn't they?" she asked simply, knowing the answer already. She wondered if she should have stopped Hotaru from using her power in front of others like that. It wasn't easy to explain, and certainly not easy for others to understand.

Haruka sighed deeply. She already figured it was bullies, but why did it still anger her when it was confirmed.

"Would you like to come over?" Was all Haruka could think to say, staring at Hotaru's small figure, with her head lowered and her bandaged arm in view.

She didn't think it right to describe the injuries to Chibiusa. It'd be best for her to see for herself. She was a senshi, like herself. Chibiusa would be able to handle it; and maybe the topic of how elaborate about how Hotaru was afraid she killed someone would come up.

She certainly wasn't talking to Haruka; avoiding eye contact and all. Maybe Chibiusa would be the one to have her open up.

Hotaru had her eyes widened in fear and her body trembled from harukas' tone. so much anger was in it.


'So she does hate me' Hotaru thought to herself. She wasn't surprised, hotaru kept calling herself a freak, a monster, or even a killer in her mind.

'I've lost Haruka' Hotaru tried to process the thought. She then heard part of the conversation, she was a part glad it wasn't the school but was curious on who it was.

"You're talking to Chibiusa aren't you?" She asked, her voice full of fear of Haruka. 

"I don't want her over." She then said in a tone for no argument.

 Haruka could hear hotaru's protest, She ignored Hotaru's statement and listened to Chibiusa's response, a smile emerging on her face. Of course she wouldn't pass up an opportunity to visit a friend, especially if said friend was in any sort of distress. She was a lot like Usagi that way.

"We'll be seeing you soon, then. Chibiusa-chan." With that, the conversation ended.

"I said I didn't want her over Haruka...." Hotaru protested yet again, yet she only had called Haruka papa or daddy, and only used the first name when she was either frustrated or scared. But now she still refused to open up, even to Chibiusa. 

'I nearly hurt Haruka, I refuse to let Chibiusa get hurt too.' Hotaru thought sadly, she thought she had lost Haruka due to the yelling and near screaming Haruka did to her earlier. The thought of losing Haruka brought Hotaru to tears once more.

Haruka's heart sank at the mention of her name. She usually called her "dad" or "papa," so hearing her name called really conveyed how betrayed Hotaru must have felt.

"She said she had to return your handkerchief." Was all Haruka could think to say as she walked to the entryway of the house, checking to make sure the floor wasn't still wet while listening to see if the weather had cleared up.

"She's probably on her way right now, I can't exactly call her back and tell her not to come, now can I?"

Well, there was no point in lying. Hotaru had already seen right through her. Sighing, Haruka bent down to meet Hotaru in the eyes.

"Chibiusa said something about a fight in art class, and the name Aiko came up." Haruka sighed heavily, knowing what she would say next would probably hurt Hotaru more then the injuries she received.

"You've come home injured, your powers flare up, and you say you may have killed someone. And yet you refuse to talk any more then that. If you won't talk to me, then you'll talk to her."

Haruka had to get to the bottom of this. No matter what.