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Despite herself Coru felt a tear sliding down her cheek. She had cried enough, crying was sign of weakness, as her father often told her. She sniffled again and stared hard at Yavin IV. "I wonder if he misses me..."
"And why wouldn't he?" An annoyed voice came from the other door that opened to this balcony.
"Aster!"
"That's my name. Coru, that guy dotes on you! Of course he misses you! And if he doesn't..." She added, her face darkening.
"Aster..." Coru said warningly. "You remember what happened last time you threatened to beat up one of my boyfriends..."
Asteroid laughed. "Yeah, he ran home crying! The wimp!"
"He was also the Prince of Chrstay." Coru pointed out.
"Oh, he he. I forgot about that part."
"Did you forget what happened because of it?" Coru asked accusingly.
"No..."
"The Chrstayans were furious, Mother had to work hard to keep us from going to war! Not to mention you weren't allowed to fly for two months." She added, grinning.
"I remember that." Aster groaned. "It was miserable! I hated it! Yavin-bound for two months..." She shuddered from the memory.
"Anyway, you see my point? Don't scare Riku away, please?" She asked, giving Asteroid her best puppy-dog look.
"I won't Coru, don't worry. Just if he hurts you...he won't live long enough to enjoy it."
"Aster..." Coru laughed. "You are too much.
"And proud of it sis!" Aster replied, puffing herself up.
Coru walked calmly over to her and poked her in the stomach. Aster let out her breath and started laughing.
"You're gonna get it now Coru, come back here!" Aster laughed, chasing her redheaded twin into her bedroom.
Suddenly the lights came on and the door to Coru's room swung open. "What is going on in here?" Shouted their father, storming into the room.
"N-nothing, Papa. We-we were just talking. I'm sorry if we woke you." Coru stuttered out. Even the brave Twin Princesses were instantly cowed when faced with their father's wrath.
"Sorry isn't good enough young lady! It's the middle of the night, NOT time for talking! And definitely not time for chasing each other around!" He bellowed.
Softly Queen Coruscantia slipped in and laid her hand gently on her husband's arm. "Sejou, it's the girls last night together as children, let them have their fun."
King Sejou calmed immediately. There was something soft and kind in Queen Coruscantia that could tame even the wildest beast, which King Sejou decidedly was.
"All right Tia. But it's time for them to be in bed. No more running around waking the entire Palace!" He growled, glaring at the two frightened teenagers.
"Yes, girls, please do be quiet. You must be up early tomorrow Asteroid, if you are to arrive on time." With this Coruscantia calmly led her husband back towards their bedroom.
As soon as their footsteps faded away, Aster and Coru ran to the door.
"They're gone!" Aster said relieved.
"Yes, thank the gods. I was afraid Father would punish us. And that you wouldn't be able to leave tomorrow!"
"That would be terrible," Aster agreed.
"But, Mother was right, we do need to get to bed. You wouldn't want to be laa-ate," Coru laughed.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will see you in the morning Coru," Aster whispered, yawning.
"See you in the morning," Coru sleepily replied, laying down on her soft bed. And as Aster left the room, Coru fell almost immediately into a deep sleep.
"I'll miss you so much Aster, be sure to write me okay?" Corusca asked
tearily the next morning.
"Of course I will Coru! And you tell me all about everything that happens around here okay? I want to hear all about Riku!" Asteroid replied, grinning.
"Okay, I'll remember that. Hurry home Aster, don't stay away too long!" Coru sniffled, starting to cry again.
"Dont cry Coru! Ill be back as soon as I can. In the mean time you learn to be the best Princess Yavin possible okay?" Aster asked, giving her twin one last hug.
"Yeah. And you be the best Princess Ast-" Coru was cut off by their father grabbing Aster's arm and puling her towards the transport.
"Go inside, Asteroid. We'll be late if you two continue on like this. Good-bye Corusca," he said coldly, pushing Aster towards the ship that would carry them to his home. His demeanor changed as he turned to the Queen of Yavin. "Coruscantia - I shall return soon, my love."
Coruscantia smiled softly. "I know dearest. Now, go, and take good care of Asteroid, I fear the people at Meteor palace are not fit for her company."
"Of course darling. For as long as I am with her, I shall not let harm befall her." And to his credit, he didn't.
Coru sat in her bedroom, pretending to read. She was really crying, the
palace was a lonely place without her sister. She was so depressed she didnt
even turn to look at the door when she heard someone knock and open the door.
"Go away," she grumbled, her face in her pillows. She assumed it was her maid Lily, trying to get her to come down to dinner again.
"Now Coru-chan, is that any way to talk to a guest?" a cheerful voice asked from beside Corusca's bed.
"Yuki-chan?" she asked blearily sitting up and looking at the blue-haired girl.
"That'd be me," Princess Yukiko, of Hoth, replied.
"What are you doing here?" Coru asked quizzically.
"Visiting you of course! I figured you'd be lonely since Asteroid's gone off to whereever it is she's gone."
"Meteor Palace, on one of the major Asteroids in the Belt that surrounds the Yavin system."
"Right, that place. Anyway, I figured you'd want some company - and a good trip - like to the Hoth system." Yukiko trailed off as Coru jumped up.
"That would be GREAT Yuki-chan! I have GOT to get out of here, I was going crazy missing Aster, now I can go somewhere and have some fun!" Coru laughed as she ran over to her dresser. "Now, what should I bring on a trip to Hoth?" she thought to herself and glanced at Yukiko.
"Warm outfits. You might want to bring some warm trousers too, if you have any. And thick coats. Very thick coats," Yuki answered, laughing.
"Okay, coats and warm dresses - got it," Coru replied, pulling out several think dresses and stuffing them into the trunk at the foot of her bed. She kept it there for quick trips, like this one. "By the way, when do you want to leave?" she asked, sheepishly smiling.
"There's a ship bound for the asteroid field around Hoth in three hours, and we can get someone to meet us there tomorrow, or we can wait a week for the next one." Yuki trailed off, knowing which one Coru would pick.
"Then I guess I have to hurry, don't I?" Corusca replied with a grin. She called for Lily and with the help of Yuki got the rest of her things put away. Lily came in and the three of them lugged Corus trunk down to where Yuki's luggage waited for them.
Coru turned and mock-glared at Yuki. "You knew all along I was going to come, didnt you? Acting as if I had a choice - humph!"
Yuki just laughed and pulled Coru up the open ramp.
"I'm bored. What do you want to do, Yuki-chan?" Coru asked, rolling over on
Yukiko's bed.
"I dunno - we've pretty much done everything there is to do here. I think the peasants are about to write complaints to my parents if we start ogling the guys again," Yukiko added, grinning.
Coru laughed as she thought about the many hours she and Yuki had spent in the small towns around the Palace over the past month and a half. Usually staring - or, as Aster would describe it, drooling - over the young men who worked there. Actually they pretended to drool, they actually pictured their boyfriend - Coru pictured Riku, Yuki pictured her Yushi - in every young man. They had disturbed some of the residents; having two Planetary Princesses - Force-sensitive Princesses no less! - walking around your town was slightly unnerving.
"Coru-chan... You know, I was thinking-" Yuki started.
"Really?! Wow! I gotta mark this day on the calendar!" Coru exclaimed, laughing.
"Corusca," Yuki said warningly.
"Sorry Yuki-chan. Continue," Coru replied, her face solemn.
"THANK you." Yuki sat up with mock-annoyance. "What would you think of going to Bakura? We've done everything here, and admittedly there's not a whole lot of interesting things to do on an ice-planet."
"Bakura?" Coru asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Yeah. We can visit Annika - it's been a long time since we saw her. Not since the last Interplanetary Ball."
"And we were what, twelve then?"
"You were twelve, I was eleven. I remember that night - Aster pushed Annika into the water fountain!" Coru laughed.
"I remember that! The children were supposed to be asleep, but you, Aster and I snuck out to see what the adults were doing!"
"And Annika saw us - SHE was old enough to stay up - and came out to see what we were doing."
"Then Aster pushed her into the fountain to keep her quiet, but Annika pulled her in too!"
"And the glowfish she disturbed were so bright we got caught anyway!" Coru finished with a laugh.
"That was hilarious! Even though we all got sent home after that," Yuki sighed.
"Yeah, and luckily Annika didn't hold a grudge against us for it."
"She's nice that way." Yuki agreed.
"Let's call her. I'd like to go somewhere, and Bakura seems like a good choice," Coru said, getting off the bed.
"Already done Coru-chan. I've got it all ready for us to leave tomorrow," Yuki replied, grinning.
"Yuki-chan - you're a pill, you know that?" Coru mock-glared at her blue-haired companion.
"Of course I do. But you'd better get your trunk ready to go - I've already got mine packed. That's what I was doing this morning."
"Ahh. I was wondering why you locked me out. But all I have are Hoth-suited outfits with me!" Coru whined. "I don't have ANYTHING that would be appropriate for a trip to Bakura - what do they wear there anyway?" she added curiously.
"I dont know." Yuki replied, wondering why she was being asked.
"You've been there more than I have," Coru pointed out.
"I've been once and I was six!" Yuki shot back.
"I haven't ever been there," Coru replied stubbornly.
"I don't remember going," Yuki said, equally stubbornly with her arms folded over her chest.
"You've still been there though."
"You're impossible."
"I know. But what am I going to pack?" Coru asked again.
"Why not send a message to Yavin, and get that Lily to pack for you, and then send some things to Bakura?" Yuki suggested.
"Ooh! Good idea!" Coru exclaimed happily. "I'll go do that now!" And she ran back towards her bedroom.
Yuki sighed and picked up the Manga she had been reading before.
"Annika!" Two voices rang throughout the palace as the princesses greeted
their friend.
"Yuki-chan! Coru-chan!" Annika shouted in return.
"We're finally here! So, whatcha got planned for us, Anni?" Coru asked, after releasing the older girl from a tight hug.
"Yes, you are here, Corusca!" Annika replied, mock-glaring at the grinning redhead. "Anyway, I've got some fun stuff planned, but first, you guys need some appropriate clothes for going out in town."
"Why do we need different clothes?" Yuki asked, looking down at her princess' robes.
"Well, you see Yuki-chan, we're not really allowed to go out into the market...really out of the palace at all. So, we need to sneak out. And when you are sneaking out of the palace, you can't be dressed like a visiting Princess."
"Ah - I get it - yes, we will most certainly need to get some clothes," Yuki grinned. "Not to mention a few... disguises."
Coru rolled her eyes. "What do you mean 'disguises,' Yuki-chan? We're not playing detective."
"Well, Coru-chan, think about it. Your hair for instance. It's not exactly common to have flaming red hair, it's practically exclusive to the Royal House of Yavin. So - we might need to get you something to cover it up - dye perhaps?"
"Dream on. Though I will have to find some way to hide it...maybe wear a hat?"
"Coru, your hair reaches past your rear. A hat would not cover it." Yukiko laughed.
Corusca stuck her tongue out at Yuki and continued trying to think of a way to hide her hair. "All right. I give. I won't dye it, but I do know something you can do to my hair. But, if you tell a SOUL about this I will slooowly chop you into a thousand pieces, starting with those that you can live without, so that you suffer longer."
"Woah...I never knew you were so vindictive Coru!" Yuki said nervously.
"Well, now, you know," she replied, following the route the maid had gone with their bags. "I'll tell you what we'll do with my hair once we get settled in."
An hour later Coru, Yuki, and Annika had piled into the large bathroom. Coru
took a deep breath and pulled out a bottle she had stolen from the kitchen.
"Vinegar?" Annika asked, staring at the bottle.
"Yup. Okay, now, you PROMISE never to tell a soul right?"
"Yes, we promise Coru! Now tell us what you're doing!"
"Okay...you see, there's a delicate balance in the hair of the Yavin royalty. Aster doesn't have it because she's descended of the Asteroid royalty, not Yavin. We have to use a special chemical when washing our hair, or it will fade. Then the colors get dull. I've never tried it myself, but my mother did once, and told me all about it. Supposedly, the color will stay for several weeks without using the chemicals, but if you use vinegar it strips the color away."
"Wow. And how long does it take to get the color back?" Yuki asked, her voice sounding very...odd.
"About a week. Yukiko are you laughing at me?" Coru demanded angrily.
"No! No...yes! And all this time I thought that was NATURAL! Your hair is dyed!" Yuki gasped, wiping away tears of mirth.
"It is not! We only need the special stuff when we're away from Yavin, we could use vinegar on it daily at home and it'd look the same and stop laughing at me!"
By now Annika was laughing too. "You're all frauds Coru, admit it!"
"We are not! Now cut it out guys! Or you can go without me!" Coru yelled, getting very angry.
"Okay Cory, we're sorry. So...how do you go about putting that stuff in your hair?"
"The vinegar? Mother said she got her maid to wash her hair in the sink with it, because she didn't want it getting all over her in the shower. So maybe you guys could do it instead of the maid."
Yuki and Annika looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure, why not."
About a half an hour later, Coru's hair had been thoroughly "vinegared" and
set. After ten minutes she washed it out, and used a perfuming shampoo to
remove the stench. She was just emerging from the bathroom, and was about to
remove the towel covering her hair when the hyper-com started beeping.
"I'll get it!" Yukiko crowed, running to the com-station. "Hello? Princess Yukiko speaking."
"Yuki-chan! Hi!" Aster cheerfully greeted her fellow princess.
"Hi Aster! What's up?" said Yuki.
"Well...is Coru there? I wanna talk to her first..." said Aster vaguely.
"Okay, here she is," Yuki replied, shrugging.
"Hey Aster! What's going on?" Coru asked eagerly.
"What HAPPENED to your hair Coru?" Aster asked in dismay.
Coru frowned and looked at her now dry hair. Instead of its normal bright red-orange it was a dull lifeless yellow. She laughed and replied, "I used vinegar on it! We're not supposed to leave the palace and I had to hide my hair somehow..."
"Ohh...I get it! It looks...different. I like your old hair."
"Me too. Now, what's all the fuss about, Aster?"
"I'm getting married."
Aster's cold tone told what she thought of the matter. "Aster! You're only fifteen!" Coru cried.
"Nonetheless." Her tone was formal. "Father has decided to cement an alliance by giving me to Prince Nara."
Coru wrinkled her nose. Aster hated the prince of the Hoth Asteroids. And the way she said Father! It was like space-cold acid.
"The wedding will take place later than Father thinks." The redhead's eyes twinkled. "I will countact you."
Aster's younger twin smiled again. Her sister had just told her that she was running away. From the accent Aster had put on contact, Coru guessed it was to Coruscant. She wished her twin luck.
Two weeks later, Aster hadn't contacted Coru, but she was more than likely
busy, and, if her former actions were any testimony, in trouble. But Coru
wasn't very worried, Aster would contact her eventually...so she thought.
That fateful day they were out in the market, ducking the guards and looking
at some rugs for their bedrooms.
"Coru, we could help you more if we knew what color you wanted!" Annika complained.
"I want...Pink!" Coru cried in response, picking up a neon pink rug off a shelf. "I like this one!"
"Coru...your room is all in red and gold!" Yuki protested.
"And your point is?" Coru demanded.
"Our point is that it would clash."
Coru was looking skeptically at them when suddenly a little boy came running up to them.
"Annika! Corusca-san, Yukiko-san!" he yelled, finally reaching them and grabbing hold of Yuki's and Annika's hands.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Annika asked putting her hands on his shoulders to calm him.
"We're being attacked! I heard Mama and Papa and your Mama and Papa talking about it! And they were looking for you, but I knew where you were, so I came to get you, even though I wasn't supposed to leave the palace!"
Coru's eyes widened and along with three others, ran towards the palace.
Within a few minutes they were inside the palace and running to their
respective bedrooms. Annika was trying to find her parents; if she were to
die she wanted to be with her family. Coru and Yuki were trying to contact
their families.
Corusca was frantically trying to hail her sister on their private channel. "Aster! Aster can you hear me? Are you there??"
"Co...u?...at...ou?" Aster's staticky voice crackled through the speakers. She was barely there, but at least Coru would hear her, and see her vague form through the staticky screen.
"Aster! Can you hear me?"
"...reaking up...arely make...what's go...on?"
"Aster, we're being attacked! I don't think we're gonna make it back off planet!"
"...what?...oru you..idn't just say wha..I th..nk..id you? Wh..bout Y..ri?"
"I don't know. I don't think we're gonna live through this. Where are you?"
"Cor..nt..mosphere. We...nder atta...to...shi..goin...crashin...Coru!!!!!"
"ASTER!!!" Coru screamed. Staring into the snowy screen, she heard the blasts coming through. She could hear her Annika and Yuki screaming in their bedrooms, and her door burst open, commandoes pouring in blasters preparing to shoot the last remaining planetary Princess. Coru's last thought was that she could feel the spirits of her loved ones nearby... And as she felt the blaster bolt go through her chest, she stared at the blackened screen and whispered with her last breath, "I love you all, and we'll see each other again... someday."
Read more about the Senshi in this story:
Coru (Sailor Yavin)
Aster (Sailor Asteroid)
Yukiko (Sailor Hoth)
Annika (Sailor Bakura)
