The persona of Mistress Nine had cropped up repeatedly and driven off most of her would-be friends, even those who wouldn't have been put off by her powers.
Hotaru had been mostly alone until meeting Ranma. Ranma had taken her under his wing and helped her with her studies. She'd leapt two grades, and begun to bloom into a young woman only two years younger than her "guardians" - Uranus and Neptune.
She suspected that the volley of blasts that had opened up the front of Mugen High and burrowed into its subbasement that had given the Senshi their access to the high school had been Ranma's doing. Or no, there was no suspicion about it. She'd spotted the half-melted casings of the experimental "ghost cannon" in his lab shortly after the Senshi had defeated Pharoah 90.
The battle had gone differently and on more than one front. The other Senshi still didn't know who their ally had been in that fight.
Hotaru didn't know what to say about it. She was a fourteen year old, nearly terminally shy, girl who wanted to be a nurse. Ranma was her sensei, her sempai, her tomodachi - and more. Where he was often brusque and grumpy, she saw the little things and knew that he cared about her. Maybe he just saw her as a little kid, or some sister, but she was certainly not either in her own heart.
Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama had taken her in after her reduction in age to baby. Four days later she'd remembered Ranma and forced her body to return to something close to her previous age.
Watching Haruka-papa going over system specs with Ranma-dono brought strange feelings up within her. In some ways he was so helpless. In some ways he was so magnificent. To her at least.
Sailor Neptune was about to say something else about the potential boyfriend problem when she became aware of something going on next to her.
Hearts in eyes - check. Lips slightly parted - check. Wistful expression - check. Hands clasped in front of her - check. Soft pink lighting - not really but might as well have been in place.
Sailor Neptune waved her hand up and down in front of Hotaru's face. No reaction.
Ranma's attention momentarily went to the two girls in back.
Sailor Neptune was surprised at how quickly Hotaru recovered and went to examining some odd gadget on the table. If she hadn't seen it herself she wouldn't have believed it.
Sailor Neptune looked back at this Ranma and Haruka with a more thoughtful expression.
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(Posted Tue, 11 May 2004 10:01)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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