Deception - Chapter 2 (PG-13)

by Christina Anton

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is not mine. Naoko 
Takeuchi made it, so it stands to reason that 
it is owned by her and not by me. However, the 
characters that are not in Sailor Moon, but are 
in this story, ARE mine.

Warning: Cursing

	After Haruka and Michiru left Maria's 
room, they went down to their usual communal 
spot, the living room. Setsuna and Hotaru were 
waiting for them.

	"So, what does everyone think of her?" 
Haruka decided to start the conversation.

	Setsuna poured tea for Haruka and Michiru 
before answering. "She reminds me of when 
Ami-chan was younger. Very polite and 
self-conscious."

	"She was hurt, did she tell you why?" 
Hotaru asked her surrogate parents.

	"She said she fell down the stairs last 
week, which seems a plausible excuse, but she 
was lying." Michiru said with certainty.

	"Did you see her flinch when you touched 
her? It's like she doesn't like being touched." 
Hotaru put in.

	"Hai, and it wasn't because of my 
preferences. I sense no prejudice in her at all, 
just a wariness of people."

	Haruka took a sip of her tea and 
considered the information that had just been 
put out in the open. "Maybe she does need our 
help after all."

	"How so?" Setsuna asked.

	"As Michiru said, she lied about her 
injuries, she's uncomfortable around people, and 
very timid. Well, except for when she realized 
who Michiru and I were, then she was just 
stunned. It doesn't seem as if she has many 
social skills. She's barely talked since she 
came here, though that could just be because 
she was tired, and strangely, since I don't have 
the empathy you three seem to have, I feel a 
sense of hurt whenever I look in her eyes." 
Haruka explained.

	"She reminds me a little bit of you 
Haruka-papa." Hotaru said softly.

	Haruka looked quizzically at her adopted 
daughter.

	"I've seen pain in your eyes before," 
Hotaru went on. "and they look a lot like 
Maria-chan's eyes. You can see pain there, not 
just physical, and a stubborn resolve to not let 
it show. Don't look at me that way, you know you 
do."

	Haruka made an unintelligible sound that 
the three took as agreement.

	"You didn't like her much at first, but 
now it seems like you do. What has brought on 
this change?" Michiru asked her partner.

	Haruka shrugged and groped for the words 
to express what she wanted to say. "I... I 
really don't know why myself. I just saw... a 
need for something in her. Maybe I saw a little 
bit of myself in her like Hotaru did."

	"What do you think Setsuna? After all, you 
were the one that suggested we house an exchange 
student." Michiru looked at her green haired 
friend.

	Setsuna put her teacup down on the end 
table next to her seat on the couch. "I think we 
should just make her feel at home. Yes, I did 
suggest this, and Maria-chan is here for a 
reason. To tell you the truth though, I don't 
know exactly what will happen while she is here. 
All I know is that what needs to happen is 
happening by what we are doing now. Contrary to 
common belief, the Guardian of Time does not 
know everything. If I knew everything, I'd 
probably go insane."

	"A wacko Guardian of Time would not be a 
good thing." Haruka mused.

	"Haruka!" Michiru chastised her partner.

	Hotaru giggled.

	"That was... eloquently said," Setsuna 
said, then switched from sarcastic to a normal 
tone. "But you are correct, it would not be a 
good thing."

	The senshi of death and rebirth chewed her 
lip thoughtfully. "So we just do our best to 
make her feel at home? That's it?"

	Setsuna nodded.

	"That shouldn't be too hard. We should 
introduce her to Usagi-tachi. They'll make her 
feel at home."

	"Sounds like a plan Hotaru-chan. Though 
let her get settled in first before you do that. 
With Usagi-chan latched onto her, she might 
never get a chance to." Haruka chuckled.

* * *

	Cracking open an eyelid, Maria wondered 
where she was. This bed felt too comfotable to 
be hers. She didn't have a comforter this color. 
And why had she been sleeping in her clothes? 
She sat up as she remembered her trip to where 
she was now. Maria felt like crying. Not in 
grief or frustration like she usually did, but 
in pure joy. She had actually gotten a full 
night's rest. And most important of all, Anthony 
wasn't there. For the first time in what seemed 
ages, she didn't feel tired after waking up in 
the morning. Instead, she felt completely awake 
and refreshed.

	Throwing back the covers, she got out of 
bed, grimaced at her rumpled clothes, and got 
some fresh ones from her bags. She would put her 
things away after she took a shower. Walking 
into her bathroom, she grinned in delight. It 
was spacious, and had a tub big enough to fit 
two people with room to spare. Deciding that she 
would rather have a bath than a shower, she 
turned the knobs until the water was at a 
suitable temperature, and let the tub fill.

	Careful of her injuries, she undressed, 
relishing the freedom she felt. She felt 
perfectly safe here. Safe enough to not worry 
about _him_ coming in unexpectedly. Quickly 
getting her mind off that disturbing subject, 
she slipped into the warm water filled tub and 
turned the still running water off. Since it was 
a Saturday, she had as much time as she wanted 
to relax in a tub of warm water. So she 
leisurely lathered her body, and washed her 
hair, settling the back of her head on the edge 
of the tub afterward, looking at the ceiling 
through half-closed eyelids.

	Now that she was away from Anthony, what 
would she do? The schools there had started 
about a week ago, so she would have to go to 
school on Monday. She had always gotten good 
grades in school anyway, so school wouldn't be a 
problem; she had always worked doggedly on her 
schoolwork. But now that she had attained her 
goal, what would she do? She let out a soft, 
humorless laugh. She had a bunch of knowledge and 
she still didn't know what she wanted to do. I 
guess I should have thought of what I really 
wanted to do in life, instead of just getting 
away from Anthony before I came here, she 
thought. Sean always said I had a knack for 
being able to focus on one thing so intently 
that I could forget everything else. She felt 
tears prick her eyes as her thoughts turned to 
her older brother. She missed him more than her 
own lost innocence. Sean wouldn't have wanted 
her to submit to Anthony. Hell, if Sean were 
still alive, he would have kicked Anthony's ass 
out of the house himself. But Sean was dead. 
Even though Maria knew it wasn't her fault, she 
still found herself blaming herself for his 
death. It was she who Sean was protecting that 
day. She who watched him get hit by that car 
while she layed stunned on the pavement where 
he had pushed her.

	Shaking her head as if to throw the 
painful memories off, she rose out of the now 
lukewarm water and toweled herself off. She 
could start over here. No one knew her, no one 
would whisper about her behind her back. No one 
here knew of her past. She would just be another 
American exchange student. Perhaps she could 
make some friends here. Practice her atrophied 
social skills. Hotaru seems like a good person, 
she mused. Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna seemed 
nice also, though Haruka hadn't seemed to like 
her at first, it had been in her eyes. She had 
seen the shadow of distrust in Haruka's eyes 
when they first met. Michiru on the other hand, 
had been very nice and polite, but at the same 
time assessing and examining. When Maria had 
seen Setsuna the night before, she had 
immediately noticed the near agelessness she 
had. She had ancient eyes. Eyes that knew many 
things. Hotaru was a gentle person. She could 
tell by Hotaru's compassionate violet eyes. 
Violet eyes are an odd color, Maria thought. 
Maybe they have genes that we just don't have 
over in America going around here. The people 
here seemed to have a lot of traits that she had 
never seen before. Such as Michiru's turquoise 
hair and Setsuna's dark green.

	Finishing drying herself off, Maria got 
dressed. Nice comfortable blue jeans and her 
favorite gray Harvard sweatshirt. It had been a 
hand-me-down from her father. She smiled at the 
thought of her father. She hadn't seen him ever 
since her parents divorced, but he still sent 
her birthday cards and presents here and there, 
even though they were small. Maybe after she got 
out of this mess she could go visit him. The 
problem was, she didn't know where he was 
living. There was never a return address on his 
letters or gifts. One of the best things about 
her father's letters and gifts, was that it 
aggravated Anthony. She had gotten used to him 
hurting her after a while, and the look on 
Anthony's face was a better gift than the 
letters and objects themselves. She chuckled at 
the thought.

	Running a brush through her damp hair, she 
looked at the clock on the nightstand next to 
her bed. Almost eight o'clock. She'd get her 
stuff put away and then go down to get some 
breakfast. I wonder what they have for breakfast 
here. Sushi? The thought of raw fish didn't 
really appeal to her, but maybe if she tried it, 
she'd like it.

	Going to her bags, she started putting her 
things away. T-shirts in one drawer, sweatshirts 
and sweaters in the next, jeans in another, and 
socks and underclothes in a bottom drawer. There 
were six drawers, but each was large enough to 
fit all of one type of clothing in one drawer 
each, consequently leaving two drawers empty. 
Going along to her personal effects, she put a 
picture of her mother, father, Sean, and herself 
on her nightstand. It had been taken a year 
before Sean died.

	That done, her new room still looked a 
little bare. She guessed she'd get more to put 
in it after a while. A rumbling from her 
neglected stomach reminded her that she needed 
to find some food for it. Deciding to agree 
with it, she went out into the hallway to find 
the kitchen. As she entered the hallway, she saw 
Hotaru step out of the room next to hers.

	"Ohayo Maria-chan. Did you sleep well?" 
The dark haired girl asked her.

	"Ohayo Hotaru-chan, I did sleep well thank 
you." She responded pleasantly, because it was 
absolutely true.

	"Come on, lets go get some breakfast. 
Michiru-mama should be fixing it now." Hotaru 
chattered away happily, leading Maria down the 
stairs.

	When they got downstairs, the smell of 
coffee greeted Maria's nose. She had gotten into  
a habit of drinking coffee from her long study 
hours and trying to wake herself up in the 
morning from unbearably long, sleepless nights 
with Anthony. Though she didn't feel like she 
needed the extra caffeine, the smell of it was 
too hard to resist. As they entered the kitchen, 
they saw Michiru at the stove flipping pancakes. 
The turquoise haired woman looked back at them 
and smiled.

	"Ohayo Hotaru-chan, Maria-chan. Breakfast 
is almost ready." Seeing Maria's expression, she 
laughed. "If you are wondering why we are eating 
a western breakfast, we've spent quite a bit of 
time in America. The food there sort of grew on 
us. There's coffee in the pot if you want some." 
And with that, she went back to fixing 
breakfast.

	"You'll get used to us after a while." 
Hotaru grinned.

	Maria had a feeling that it wouldn't take 
long to get used to living there. She loved it 
already, and she felt genuinely happy. She went 
over to the coffee pot and poured some into one 
of the cups that were already set next to it. 
Adding a little milk and two spoons of sugar, 
she went ot the table where Hotaru was already 
seated.

	Hotaru poured herself some orange juice. 
"I'll show you around after breakfast 
Maria-chan, if you'd like."

	"Thanks."

	"Woman of few words, Maria-chan?" Setsuna 
said as she came into the kitchen, going 
straight to the coffee pot.

	Maria found a smile tugging at the corners 
of her mouth. "Most of the time, I just don't 
have anything to say. Why say something just to 
say it? That's just my personal motto."

	Michiru laughed as she put a full plate of 
pancakes in the middle of the table. "Wise 
reasoning, and something that some people should 
take to heart." She said, aiming a glance at the 
doorway.

	Haruka trudged into the kitchen, seeming 
to  not notice the look she had been given, and 
made a beeline to the coffee pot.

	Hotaru leaned towards Maria and said in a 
low voice, "Haruka isn't much of a morning 
person."

	"Hmm and what's so good about the 
morning?" Haruka said after sitting and taking a 
sip of her coffee.

	"Oh the birds chirping--" Setsuna started.

	"The window was closed." Haruka 
interrupted.

	"Ok, then how about getting to wake up 
next to me?" Michiru asked.

	"Ahh, but you weren't next to me when I 
woke up this morning." Haruka stated.

	"I woke you up, you just decided to be 
lazy and sleep in." Michiru said with a smile.

	As Maria watched and listened to the 
conversation going on around her, she came to 
realize that there was a lot she never knew she 
missed. The last time she had heard a 
conversation such as this was before her brother 
died. Her mother and Anthony teased each other 
sometimes, but she never really listened because 
it wasn't real to her. Real kitchen table talk 
was a novelty to her. It was like watching a 
mother giving birth, which was something that 
Maria thought was wonderful.

	The conversation continued on as everyone 
sat down to eat. The conversation quickly turned 
to Maria when Setsuna leaned back in her chair 
and looked at her. "Well, it's time for you to 
learn some house rules Maria-chan." Setsuna 
said. "The first rule, and these rules aren't in 
order of importance, is that if you need 
anything, just ask. We will do our best to 
accomodate you. Second rule: don't do anything 
that will damage this house or anyone in it. I'm 
sure you didn't need to know about that rule, 
but some people," She looked pointedly at Haruka. 
"need to be reminded sometimes. I have not 
forgotten the paintball incident." Haruka looked 
down at her food and a faint blush came to her 
cheeks. "The third rule encompases common sense. 
Use your common sense and you won't break it. 
Any questions?" Maria shook her head. "Good. Now 
what were you saying Michiru?"

	Oh yes, Maria thought, I could definitely 
live here the rest of my life.

***

	After Hotaru gave her a thorough tour of 
the house, which consisted of five bedrooms, 
each of which had it's own bathroom, a kitchen, 
dinning room, living room, den, library, music 
room, and garage, Hotaru asked her if she wanted 
to go out and explore the city. Maria figured 
she should probably get to know the ciry she 
would be living in for a while, so she agreed. 
Little did she know that she would be meeting 
five girls that would turn her life upsidedown.

	"Come on, lets go to the arcade. That's 
where most of the students go to after school." 
Hotaru led her to a building with the words 
'Crown Arcade' on the front, heading towards the 
glass doors. 

	The first thing Maria heard upon entering 
was:

	"Noooooo!!! Not again!!!"

	"Usagi-chan, it's only a game."

	"Yeah, it's not the game's fault that 
you're so bad at it."

	"Rei-chan!!!"

	"Dammit Rei-chan, you're gonna make things 
worse."

	Maria looked in the direction of the 
wailing and arguing to see three girls, one of 
which was a blonde that had one of the strangest 
hair styles that she had ever seen, gathered 
around a Sailor V game.

	Hotaru saw Maria's expression and giggled. 
"I'd like you to meet some friends of mine." The 
dark haired girl looked back over to the three 
girls. "Well, when they're done fighting. It's 
sometimes entertaining to watch. I wonder how 
Ami-chan manages to not blow a fuse when they do 
that. Then again, she isn't here right now."

	"Who's Ami?"

	"Oh, she's sort of the mediator of the 
group. She and Minako-chan don't seem to be here, 
but that's ok. They've all been wanting to meet 
you ever since we told them that we were 
housing an exchange student."

	The conversation was ended by a joyous 
yell from the blonde with the strange hair. 
"Hotaru-chan!"

	"Hi Usagi-chan, I'd like you all to meet 
someone. This is Maria-chan, the exchange 
student I told you about." Hotaru said, giving 
them a clear view of Maria by stepping to the 
side.

	Maria was nervous. She'd never liked 
having much attention trained on her, and having 
three girls she didn't know staring at her sort 
of scared her. Well, the blonde didn't stare at 
her so intently, but the other two looked like 
they were sizing her up. Maria just stood as she 
was, and endured it. She'd been through hell and 
back and wasn't going to let three girls ruin her 
thankfully good mood.

	The two girls, one with long raven hair 
and the other with brown hair in a ponytail, 
seemed to come to a decision about her, and 
smiled.

	"Pleased to meet you, my name is Hino 
Rei." The raven haired girl nodded her head 
slightly along with the greeting.

	"And I'm Kino Makoto, also pleased to meet 
you." The one with the ponytail said with a 
pleasant smile.

	The blonde seemed to shake herself out of 
her thoughts, and offered a hand to Maria, which 
she tentatively took. "I've heard sooo much 
about you Maria-chan, I'm Tsukino Usagi." The 
blonde gave the sweetest smile Maria had ever 
seen. It was the equivalent to eating a box of 
Cosmic Brownies.

	"Hey Maria-chan! Have you ever played 
Sailor V?" Usagi asked her.

	"I... um, I've heard of it." Maria 
responded, never having had someone speak to her 
so happily before.

	"Well, now you're going to play it! I'll 
teach it to you and then you can have something 
to occupy your time!"

	"Better watch it Maria-chan, or she'll 
suck you into the world of procrastination." Rei 
said teasingly.

	"Hey, I may procrastinate, but that didn't 
stop me from getting into college." Usagi shot 
back.

	"That's what I like about you Usagi-chan, 
you can admit your tragic flaws." Rei grinned.

	"You're lucky Maria-chan. A few years ago, 
that would have turned into a nuclear war." 
Makoto laughed.

	"Nah, just a small civil war that would be 
resolved by something going wrong, or Mamoru-kun 
coming by to draw Usagi-chan's attention away." 
Rei laughed.

	"Let us all be grateful for good and bad 
distractions then." A blue haired girl said 
amusedly as she and a beautiful blonde that 
could have been Usagi's sister came over to the 
group.

	"Hey, who's your new friend?" The new 
blonde chirped.

	Usagi took Maria's arm and brought her 
forward from where she had been unconsciously 
(and unsuccessfully) trying to blend into the 
background. "This is the American exchange 
student that Hotaru told us would be living with 
them. Maria-chan, this is Aino Minako and Mizuno 
Ami, two of my very best friends."

	Maria felt very nervous and uncomfortable 
meeting so many different people in so short a 
time, but swallowing nervously, she managed to 
get out, "Umm nice to meet you."

	"Hey! No need to be shy around us 
Maria-chan!" Minako laughed.

	Though Maria was nervous and wary at 
first, Hotaru and the five girls gradually drew 
her out of her shell. They literally dragged her 
to different places, like the park, the mall, 
and the school she would be going to with 
Hotaru, and when they finally settled down, they 
ended up at a temple on a hill that was called 
the Hikawa Shrine.

End Chapter Two

AN: Well, that part is done. I had this finished 
a long while back, but the disk that I had it 
saved on got messed up. I had stupidly forgotten 
to make a backup of it on my computer, so I had 
to write it again from a printout of it I had. 
Anyway, Maria's finally getting a life! Some 
unanswered questions you have will probably be 
answered in the next chapter, so stay tuned.

Oh, and thanks for all the feedback you've sent 
me guys, it really helps :)

Until next time readers.