(Untitled)

[asleepinsilence]

"On mount Koyari-"

"-uick Mika-chan if we don't hurry-"

"-'s do the Alpine dance-"

"Wheee! This is so much fun Daichi-kun!"

All over the playground the voices of happy children can be heard, squealing and giggling as the children themselves play. Some play clapping games, others skip, while there's a group running happily over the ground. Adults

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[firextinguished]

When Rei finds herself in a Jyuban park she's familiar with, she knows it's the nexus' fault. After all, moments earlier, she'd been brushing the calligraphy onto several ofuda in a small room of a Kyoto temple.

She only sees the children, and she hopes for their sake that no enemies have been brought here with her. They play and run and shout and laugh, and she finds herself smiling, too. She's always liked children.

One of them's sitting alone, she notices after a little while longer. Rei makes her way over to Hotaru and bends down to put herself closer to the little girl's level.

"Don't you want to play with your friends?" she asks.

[asleepinsilence]

Hotaru jumps slightly, lowering her eyes to meet Rei's. "Oh..." she says softly, studying the older girl. I mustn't have seen her when they introduced me...

"Friends?" Hotaru cocks her head to the side, "Haruka-san isn't here but."

[firextinguished]

She'd been using 'friends' in a broader sense, as a teacher might with a classroom of children, as a way to encourage thinking of each other that way. So Rei smiles anyway, and holds out a hand.

"Come on. Let's go join them, alright?"

[asleepinsilence]

She stares at Rei's hand, debating whether to take it or not. To take it, means to go over to them, and while yes she might make some friends, she also might be ridiculed, have to see the rejection in their eyes. And that would hurt more than this solitude would.

Hotaru shakes her head, looking away. "No thank you," she says softly, staring at the ground, "I'd rather stay here. I like it here. I'm okay."

[firextinguished]

Isn't that how everything began, a girl left alone? If they'd made time for her, if they'd made her realize she'd been important to them, would it be different now? What if they'd been there when Kunzite had captured her? What if Rei had been there instead of brushing her off and being so stubborn about doing things on her own? What if...?

So Rei reaches for Hotaru's hand anyway, although it's just to provide a reminder that she, at least, is right here while they talk. Usagi would be better at somehow really helping this little girl make friends, she thinks, and that's a whole new set of aches and regrets and what-ifs.

"I bet you're really good at that game they're playing over there," she offers. "You can be a big help to whichever team you're on."

[asleepinsilence]

Hotaru frowns when Rei takes her hand. Maybe that's how that other girl was, but Hotaru doesn't want to be with people who are rude and unkind to her. She doesn't need them... She has Haruka-san after all.

...Even if Haruka-san is older and she hasn't seen her in awhile...

"Please don't," she says softly, so softly that Rei might not hear her. "They don't like me anyway. I don't want to be around people who don't like me."

[firextinguished]

No, she can't let that go. It's too familiar, and she has to prevent- what? Just the simple act of making the same mistake? It's not like this little girl is likely to become a twisted and evil sailor senshi.

But she can't listen to the same things and do nothing.

"I won't make you go over there," she promises. "But I think you might be surprised if you did. They might like you without you realizing it."

[asleepinsilence]

No they won't she wants to say, but in the end it is easier to let the words, "Okay. If you think so," slip. In the end she'll be right and this woman will be wrong but it's easiest to just do what she wants.

Hotaru stands and takes Rei's hand but makes no move to walk over to the kids. If you want her to do this, you'd better be coming to Rei.

[firextinguished]

Of course she's coming! Rei walks Hotaru over to the group of children nearest to them. She smiles brightly at all of them, and between cajoling and teasing and laughing and firmness, eventually they seem willing to let Hotaru join in the games.

This is good, right?

[asleepinsilence]

That depends on your perspective.

Hotaru looks around the group shyly, hesitantly joining in on the ball game they play. She passes the ball back and forth, frowning slightly when she two girls giggle, whisper to themselves and then glance pointedly at her. Biting her lip, she glances up at Rei, before passing the ball again. Maybe they weren't talking about her, and that look meant nothing. Maybe.

Maybe not. A boy she recognises from the orphanage bumps into her as he tries to grab the ball. Instantly he frowns, glares even, and that word is muttered. "Freak."

Oh... oh. Hotaru tenses, eyes widening, tears welling up. It's just a word. And it's a silly one even. Why are you crying over his stupid word? He's just a stupid... stupid... Swallowing, Hotaru turns, and then ignoring everyone and everything, runs. The tears continue to threaten to spill and if Rei calls her Hotaru doesn't hear, or perhaps she just ignores the calls

[firextinguished]

Rei may be thinking a lot about Mercury (she almost never thinks of her as Ami-chan anymore), but she knows a lot about that sort of treatment herself, too. Actually, it's how she'd met Usagi; the girls from school had been about to beat her up for supposedly causing the disappearances of children on the bus that ran from the temple. She'd been considered strange from the first, because of her spiritual powers.

So after chastising the boy for the comment, Rei calls out to Hotaru, and then runs after her when she girl doesn't stop.

"Are you alright?" she asks her.

[asleepinsilence]

Hotaru sniffles, shifting her head. "I told you they'd be mean," she says softly, voice clotted with tears. Arms tighten around her knees and if it was possible Hotaru would just continue to curl up so she didn't exist.

[firextinguished]

"I'm sorry they were mean to you. We can do something together, just us, instead, alright?" Rei keeps up that calm, even cheerful demeanor - she's used to that, working with children. She means the offer, too.

"What would you like to do?"

[asleepinsilence]

"C-can we just sit here? I don't...don't want to play anymore" she says, the words muffled by her leg. Eventually she looks up, scrubbing at her eyes as if she just has to rub hard enough for them to disappear.

(OOC: And now I must head to school. See you in a few hours bb <3)

[firextinguished]

"We can, if you want," Rei agrees. She's always been willing to let someone else set the pace if they need help.

She probably shouldn't ask it, but another part of her has to: "Why is it you don't play together with them?"

[asleepinsilence]

"Thank you." Hotaru stays, staring past Rei, waiting for her to sit if she chooses.

With the question comes a small frown, and Hotaru looks torn between crying or telling Rei not to ask. Instead politeness wins over, "Because they think I'm a freak. They think I'm read cuz I like to read lots and not the stupid books they read. And I have dreams sometimes and... they don't like me."

The frown switches into a more closed defiant expression. "I don't need them anyway. I have friends."