Minako nodded deeply. "I know! After all, with that and having to do all that studying, were burning both ends of the dynamite."
"'Candle', Mina-chan. 'Burning both ends of the candle'."
"Oh well."
"I for one didn't mind studying," Ami pointed out.
"That's because you like all that kind of stuff," Usagi replied. "I know that I have to do it, but I don't want to. You, on the other hand, really get into it."
"I guess it can be a bit much..."
"Nonsense. It's what makes you be 'you'. I wouldn't want to change you for the world."
"A very good way of putting it," Michiru commented.
"Why, thank you."
"I do believe that it's part of being friends."
"Exactly. Right, Haruka?"
"Don't mind me," drawled the racer. "All I know is that I'm enjoying the cookies. Any cookie of Makoto's is always great tasting."
"Thanks for saying so. But Hotaru helped out too. And she did really well," Makoto replied.
Hotaru blushed slightly. "It was fun, and you teach cooking really good."
"My mother used to say, 'a girl had to be sweet to properly make sweets'."
"Really?"
"Sure did. Of course, I always thought that it was a bit corny to put it that way, don't you."
"Oh, I guess so..."
"Much as I do enjoy the friendly atmosphere, we were asked to come here on what was supposed to be a meeting of great importance. And the woman who did so hasn't said what that is," Haruka grumped.
Setsuna took a small sip of her tea, and then smiled over the lip of her cup. "I did say that, didn't I?"
"Yes, you did."
"Then what was it? A new enemy? Some sort of disaster that only we can avert? Something's advanced the time of the Great Freeze?"
"No, nothing like that."
"Then what is it?!"
"It's really simple. You girls have to get married."
"EH?!" went from each and every throat in the room, save the Senshi of Time's.
"I wouldn't have thought it too hard a concept."
"But... Marriage?" Ami stammered.
"You're young women, and sooner or later, you may do it."
"Why would we have to do that?"
"Various reasons. If you want the cold answer, you have to continue your lines, and the only way to do that would be to give birth to heirs. You will not live forever, you know."
"That is cold," Haruka muttered.
"I said that such a reason would be cold. But the fact of the matter is that it's not the only reason. You girls do need to find your own loves."
"But we haven't been able to get any of the guys we've liked..." Makoto murmured.
"Those were crushes," the Senshi of Pluto replied. "I mean the sort of relationship that lasts a long time. At best, it would be the sort of thing that the Princess has."
Minako swallowed hard. "But... But... I thought that I'd never get the chance..."
"That's because of that idiot Danburite's work. Did you think that you girls would wind up in some sort of group sex thing, or in a harem for Usagi?"
"Uhh... no...."
"Well, understand this. Part of your problem was the fact that you had to pick duty or love. But now, I'm telling you that your duty is love."
"Oh... Really?"
"Definitely. That's not to say that you absolutely won't have problems getting and keeping a guy, but you can go out and date whomever you want."
"We... don't have to marry right away?" Hotaru asked.
"I never said when you had to marry. It could be when Crystal Tokyo begins, or it could be tomorrow. Though, in your case, I'd prefer it if you'd wait until you're old enough. Not that you wouldn't look pretty in a bridal gown, but you do have a few years to get older."
"Yeah..."
Usagi glanced over at the youngest girl there for a moment, trying to figure out the disappointed tone she'd thought she heard, and then turned to face the tanned woman. "But if they're supposed to get married...."
"'Why didn't you see them'?" Setsuna finished with a smile. "You girls went to a future that was under attack from renegades and was frozen up by dark forces. They could have been out of action, working someplace else, or simply missed when you went by. There was an entire city of people you didn't see, remember?"
"Ah. Okay."
"I'm glad that you understand."
"So, what's going to happen."
"I can't tell you. If I did, then there might be problems."
"There would?"
"There would," Ami confirmed. "If she told one of us that person would get their love at a certain time and place, that girl might be so confident, she'd mess it up, and not get their 'love'. And that's just one example."
"That doesn't sound good."
"Trust me, it isn't," Setsuna informed her.
"Are the two of us included in this little 'mission'?" the Senshi of Uranus asked, gesturing between herself and her lover."
The Senshi of Time raised a brow, and said:
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(Posted Wed, 29 Jun 2005 18:56)
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