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Dougan Kakureru Tai woke up late on her birthday. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked at her clock. "Oh no, I'm late for breakfast! Mistress D'Clure will be furious!"
She quickly pulled on her uniform and ran downstairs towards the dining hall. As she neared the hall she started to slow down. "Where is everybody?" She asked herself. "They can't have all left for classes already."
She reached the large wooden door and decided to see just what was going on, as the door opened she stuck her head inside, half expecting to see her classmates murdered lying next to their porridge.
"Surprise!" Tai gave a little shriek as her friends pulled her inside."Happy birthday Tai!" Tai looked around, her eyes wide.
"A-a birthday party? Fo-for me? Really?" She let out a little squeal as she saw her best friend approach with a little box in her hands.
"Happy birthday Tai," Cianna said, hugging her and giving her the box, inside was a silver pendant in the shape on a waterfall, inlaid with jewels the exact color of her hair.
"Oh, thanks Cia, this is the greatest birthday I could ever imagine." During this exchange the other girls had been surrounding Tai, with strange grins on their faces.
"We've got a gift for you too Tai." They declared, pushing someone from the back of the group. When they finally got to the front, Tai found herself face to face with her boyfriend, who also went to her school, but who lived in the boys dormatories across the lake.
"Da-damon!" Tai stuttered. "What are you doing here?"
Damon just smiled and replied. "I came to give you your birthday gift of course."
"Of course." Tai repeated softly. Just as Damon leaned in to give her a kiss, Master and Mistress D'clure the Headmistress and Headmaster of the school, walked in.
"I knew it! I knew he was here!" Master D'Clure cried. "What do you think you are doing boy? And what is this party?"
Damon stepped forward. "It's a party for her," he pointed at Tai. "She got her friends to plan it, and bring me here, trying to get me in trouble!"
Tai looked close to tears. "What? I didn't know anything about this until now!"
"Don't listen to her! She's just trying to get out of trouble!" Damon shouted. When all the others agreed and even Cianna nodded, the D'Clures decided it must be true.
Mistress D'Clure put her hands on Tai's shoulders. "Dougan Kakureru Tai, you are officially being expelled from this school."
"What?! But I didn't do it!"
"They say you did, and I'm afraid we have to hold the word of twenty children, above the word of one."
"But-"
"No buts, you are giong home today. Go pack your bags." A solitary tear ran down Tai's cheek as she walked out, she paused to look at Cianna once, her head was hanging, she seemed the only one who wasn't gloating about getting rid of the sweet gentle one.
Tai sighed as she heard a knock on her door. "Come in!" She shouted, figuring it was either the D'Clures coming to hurry her, her classmates coming to gloat, or Cianna coming to try and apologize, well, whatever it was, she wouldn't put up with it.
It was the last. Tai saw Cianna was about to speak, but didn't give her the chance. "Look Cia, I don't care what you have to say, you didn't stand up, you didn't help me, so I don't want to hear it." Tai glanced up and saw her former friend's face. "Oh, oh, I get it. You never thought that the 'nice one' could get angry right? Well you were wrong BIG TIME Cianna Kelki. Now get out of my room." Cia started to reply, but decided it was best to just leave.
Tai sat on the hovertrain with her bag on her lap, dreading her return to her home. She shifted her light bag, all of her uniforms were the property of the school, she only had her a formal dress and her few private possetions in her backpack. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her, why go home? Nobody would miss her if she didn't, they didn't even know she was coming, let alone care. She would run away, get away from Hapes, maybe even leave the cluster entirely. Tai glanced at the list of stops, and decided that she would get off on the next one, it was a major spaceport, she could find passage, or if she had to, she'd stowaway on a ship.
Four hours later, she sat in the cargo hold of the Black Fire Dreamer wondering just where she was headed, when suddenly she heard footsteps, and voices outside. "Look Coru, I told you, it's not that easy to get away from the Red Hazers. Once you join, they don't let you go willingly. 'Specially if you're the Hawkbat."
"I know Aster, I know. But if you don't get out soon, who knows what might happen? You're endangering the whole group. I mean, what if one of the other merc groups got to us? The Sailor Sith could easily pay them off, and then where would we be?"
"Look, they're not going to get us! Between the me and you and the Jedi,not to mention the Sailor Scouts, they can't get at us."
"But you don't know that Aster!" Ippin cried. "You're putting them all in danger, and they don't understand it. The Jedi might, but most of the scouts don't get it, they don't know what those mercs are like! They think that because you were with them, that they can't be all bad, but they are, I know. I never told you about the times when they've come after me have I? Trying to get at you through me. I can't let that happen to the- hey, who are you?!" Ippin cried out. Tai tumbled out of her little corner.
"I, uh, um, uh. I- I- I didn't mean to, I mean I, uh, um. I didn't mean to eavesdrop." Tai stuttered
"Okay, now that that's cleared up, what are you doing here?" Priire asked.
"Uh, running away from home? I can't go back you know." Tai declared.
"Okay, where did we pick you up? Hapes I suppose?
"Uh, yeah. That's where you got me. And you're not getting me back on or in Hapes."
"Oh no? Well then Coru, it seems like we've picked up another pathetic lifeform." Priire laughed.
"Aperrantly. Not that we don't have enough already, but I suppose we'll let her hang around for a while.
About the Senshi in this story:
Tai (Sailor Hapes)
Ippin/Coru (Sailor Yavin)
Priire/Aster (Sailor Asteroid)
