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"Akki...scram," Priire said, as nicely as she could. The girl smiled and pointed to the door. "Please? I have..." She quickly ran through the list of things that she had to do and groaned. "I owe Annika a shopping trip."
"Why?" the boy asked pitifully.
Priire winced. "Something about not using pink bunnies for target practice."
"Oh."
With a smile, Priire pushed the dark-haired boy out the door. Turning back to her bedroom, she sighed. Annika and shopping. Seiun and upgrading software. Solai and cat grooming. Numako and revenge for the shaving cream. Priire frowned. She was forgetting something... but what?
"Mom?"
Oh, that was right. Tashita and target practice. "Come on in!" Priire shouted as she reached for her belt. The twin blasters felt good in their usual place at her hips.
Tashita opened the door and raised an eyebrow. "Back on Earth," she said in her calm way, "I think that I’d be arrested for carrying even one blaster!"
Priire grinned. "I’d feel naked without one!" The girl’s faced turned a little more serious. "So. Anywhere in particular you want to go shoot up?"
"I..."
The other girl laughed. "I’ve got a target range in the belly of the Dreamer. We can use it."
~*~*~*~*~
Tashita’s eyes were a little larger than normal. "Wow. Anything we can’t shoot at?"
It took a moment for Priire to answer, seeing as the blonde was engaged at a set of controls near her precious Black Fire Talon. "My starfighter."
"Protective, aren’t we?"
Priire cocked an eyebrow. "Yes." She frowned and lifted the faceplate of the controls. "Something’s wrong. I think someone’s been mes..." Priire’s voice trailed off as Tashita carefully walked closer. The brunette was curious about the insides of the ship, as well as whatever was wrong.
With an explosiveness akin to several tons of dynamite, a curse leapt out of Priire’s mouth. Tashita wasn’t sure what it meant, but she could see the only plant in the room withering.
"Get out of here!" Priire yelled.
Tashita still didn’t know what was wrong, but the purplish smoke slithering out of the controls made her more than willing to follow Priire’s command.
"Foreign substance detected," came the cool voice of the computer. "Awaiting command to neutralize."
Priire opened her mouth to say something, but the ever-growing cloud of smoke cut off her words. The blonde fell to her knees coughing. That was the last thing Tashita saw before she too passed out.
~*~*~*~*~
It was so dark. And hot. Priire blinked, trying to adjust her eyes. It took her a minute to realize that there was a fire burning. No, it was more than that. The entire room seemed to be eaten up with dark flames. But the flames gave off no light, only a foreboding heat.
She glanced around with a frown on her face. Standing by a table full of vials was a red-haired woman in a lab coat. The woman was examining one of the beakers as if it was very important.
Priire felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see who it was. Mom?
Tashita?Tashita nodded. Is this some kind of dream? It’s almost familiar.
The blonde shook her head. I'm not sure... hey, that’s Ariel. What’s she doing?
Talking to herself. Shhh. Tashita put a finger to her lips and tried to lean back against the wall. Hey!
Priire snickered. I think we’re ghosts or something. That means we can’t touch anything solid.
What about the floor? We’re walking on it. Tashita grinned and concentrated on Ariel to avoid Priire’s glare.
"This will be my greatest experiment!" the Sith cackled. "The perfect trap."
The Sith shook the vial. "I’m not going to stare at blonde hair and green eyes forever," Ariel muttered. "Brown suits me better." She turned her back to the two Sailors as she fiddled with the buttons on her various machines.
Wow. What’s she do... Tashita’s question ended abruptly as the pair felt a wave of nausea.
When it had passed, Tashita finished talking. What’s she doing? Ugh. And what was that?
Priire was familiar with time jumps and the like since her sister - Guardian of Time - had a tendency to send anyone she was mildly annoyed at on an extended time trip. Usually ending somewhere unpleasant. We moved in time. I thought we were dreaming... but maybe we’re actually here watching whatever.
Ariel fingered a keyboard that apparently opened a panel. The room got deathly quiet as the panel slid open. "My little pet," the Sith cooed. "My little created pawn. Asteroid will pay for what she’s done. In her blood... or her daughter's!"
Tashita and Priire stared at each other.
It’s you! It’s me! they exclaimed together.
Well. I feel a lot better, Priire growled softly. I’m going to kick her six into the next system!
Tashita looked as confused as a semi-transparent ghost could. Huh?
I’m going to kill her!
I understood that much, Tashita said, trying not to frown. But why?
The blonde had balled her fists up angrily. She lied to me!
Umm... that’s what Sith do, Tashita told her. They lie.
Priire turned to her. Ayameru told me... She shook her head. It doesn’t matter, I guess.
Yes it does, Mom. You can talk to me. Tashita smiled. It’s okay.
All right. Priire started to lean back, but caught herself before she fell through the wall. I had a reputation a long time ago for being... She wrinkled her nose. ...a lady of the night, in the worst sense of the word.
Tashita looked surprised. You??
Yeeeah. Priire drew out the word. I guess I encouraged it. For various reasons. Anyway... that came back to haunt me.
Ariel. Tashita glared at the woman taking readings. She made you believe that I was your biological daughter, and not Kousotsu’s. That’s what made you so sad!
The blonde nodded. I’ll just write it down on my list of reasons to destroy the Sith.
Suddenly, their surroundings began to fade out. Mom? Tashita asked, watching Priire fade out too. Mom?!
~*~*~*~*~
"Mom?" Tashita asked, rubbing her eyes. "This would be a good time for you to say something."
Tashita glanced around. The purplish smoke she remembered was gone, replaced with a reddish substance. The computer was also informing her that the substance had been partially neutralized. Her brown eyes scrunched up in a frown. But before the computer had been asking for authorization... she shook her head and decided not to ponder that inconsistency at the moment. Instead, she turned her attentions to Priire. The blonde was still crumpled in the middle of the floor.
"Uh oh."
~*~*~*~*~
You know, this would be funny if I knew I'd get out of here sometime in the near future.
Sarcasm is not appreciated, the other figure informed Priire. It was a tall woman with dark hair that fell down her back. She had purple eyes that seemed to pierce everything she looked at and wings that gleamed silver.
Priire glared at the woman. And you are...?
The woman grinned. Let's just say I drew the short straw.
HEY!
This time the woman laughed. Sorry. I'm supposed to tell you a few things about Tashita. The woman held up a list. Stuff that she doesn't need to know.
Now Priire was interested. Like what?
Let's see. We've already taken care of her origin, now we're going to move on it to how she came to be with you in your present time. The woman scanned her list. Ah. Here it is! After Tashita was "born," Ariel - or Sailor Sith -
I know!
The woman glared at Priire. Stop interrupting! Sailor Sith Ayameru's lab was broken into. Um, you don't need to know by whom. The woman checked something off on her list. Then, these people wiped the young girl's memory, figuring that she didn't need to know about the Sith. She was then sent to... The woman consulted her list for the name of the planet. ...Earth, where they suspected she'd be safe. Unfortunately, she was soon forced to live on the streets. Not exactly the safest place, you know.
Priire resisted the temptation to interrupt the woman again.
She grew up to the age of eighteen. Then two girls from the... She consulted her list again. ...Snicker's Galaxy found her. The woman paused. Oh. That was you!
Priire rolled her eyes. Yes, it was. Anything else?
The woman frowned. No wonder the others were laughing. You're a pain.
Excuse me?? Priire reached for her blaster, then stopped. It's been one of those days.
Humph.
Priire sighed. Can I go now? This transparent stuff is getting on my nerves.
She tensed slightly as the world faded out around her.
~*~*~*~*~
Priire opened one eye. Eyes worked. Fingers worked. Toes worked.
"MOM!"
She winced. Yep, ears worked too. "Hi. Where've you been?"
"I woke up a few minutes ago. Don't scare me like that!" Tashita said. "And you're computer's all weird. It's contradicting itself."
Priire pushed herself up into a sitting position and shook her head. "Actually, I set it up where she would automatically neutralize deadly gasses and the like. Other things it lets hang around for about ten minutes before neutralizing. That's just in case the little ones get into trouble. She's also supposed to notify me."
"Oh. Makes sense." Tashita paused for a minute and looked at Priire. "So... are you okay?"
The other girl nodded. "Something like that. What about you?"
"I'm fine." She pointed. "Hey, there comes Annika!"
"Hide me! I'm supposed to take her shopping!"
Tashita grinned. "Hey Annika! She's over here!"
Priire threw her hands up in the air. "Early bedtime for you, young lady!"
"Hah! You can't do that! I'm older than you are!"
Annika grabbed Priire's arm just as the other was about to retort. "Come on, Priire! There's a sale at The Pink Bunny Store! We've got to hurry!"
Still laughing as Annika dragged Priire out, Tashita turned her attention back to her blaster. "Now. Where's the safety on this thing?"
"You want some help with that?"
Tashita turned to see whom the masculine voice belonged to. "Kousotsu! What are you doing here?"
The dark-haired man grinned. "I was watering the plant in Priire's room when the alarm went off. I figured I'd come see what was up." He looked slightly concerned. "What happened?"
"Umm..." She wondered for a moment if she should tell the man or not. She shrugged. "Some weird dream."
"Want to tell me about it?" Kousotsu leaned against the side of the Black Fire Talon.
"Sure..." Tashita smiled suddenly. "If you'll teach me how to use a lightsaber!"
Kousotsu laughed and shook his head. "Blaster and lightsabers. You're going to be dangerous!"
The girl smiled softly and began to tell him about her dream. After that, Kousotsu found a training lightsaber that someone had liberated and began to show her how to use it. Everything was right with the world.
Pretty much.
"Annika! Don't touch me with that pink thing!"
