The first thing I remember is an argument. I was about five. Mom wanted to school me at home, isolated and away from the influence of my peers. Dad insisted that I go to the public school a few blocks away, so that I could interact with and learn from children my age. “Learn what from them, exactly?” Mom asked. “She’ll never make General if she doesn’t learn how to deal with people!” Dad shouted back. I put my hands over my ears. I was getting a headache from all the yelling. My parents were in their room with the door partway open. I was hiding in the hall closet; I was supposed to be asleep already, but they woke me up when they started fighting.
Tears coursed silently down my cheeks to land on the floor. There was a small puddle there already, and the round drops made a slight splashing sound when they landed. I had been crying for an hour. My parents had been arguing for two.
In the end, Dad won, and I went to public school. On my first day, Mom took me to get my uniform and schedule. My uniform consisted of a white long sleeve shirt, a purple vest, purple pants, and black boots. The trim on my vest was purple, too. I hated the color purple. I still do. The trim was how they identified our rank. There were six years, or levels. First years had purple, second years, blue, and so on. Red means it’s your last year. In addition to the uniform, there was a bunch of silly rules we had to follow. We had to do what the older kids wanted us to do, we couldn’t pick our classes, and we couldn’t talk to anyone outside of our rank. Like I said; silly.
I did well, and managed to stay out of trouble. When I reached orange rank, the Negaverse made its move to take over Earth. A few months later, I heard about the sailor scouts for the first time. General Jedite had been put into Eternal Sleep my first time at court. That was when they started taking prisoners from other groups that wanted Earth for themselves. Aurora was one of those prisoners. She was from a small army looking for a temporary home. One day, while I was on guard duty at the jail (reds watched the dangerous ones; oranges got ordinary prisoners), Aurora called me over to her cell. We had been friends for a while; I snuck her food, and she helped me with my homework (she was a good teacher, although I still suck when it comes to reading). We had talked for a few minutes, when she asked, “Hissori, do you trust me?” “Yes.” I replied immediately. “And can I trust you?” “Of course!” I said, shocked that she might think that she couldn’t. “Good.” She sighed. She then told me that she was really an agent from a distant galaxy, and that she was looking for a group of people on Earth known as “Sailor Scouts.” She said that she knew that she would die before she competed her mission, and that she needed a replacement. “I want you to finish my mission, Hissori.” She said. “Will you?” “Yes! Of course I will!” I said with such fervor that she chuckled. She stuck her hand between the bars, motioning for me to move closer. I shifted my weight until she could reach my forehead. Taking the tips of her middle and index fingers, she brushed my face right between my eyes. In a second that lasted eternity, I knew everything that Aurora knew. I knew about her mission, the reasons behind it, who the Sailor Scouts were, how to locate them, everything. Aurora’s fingers fell from my forehead to hang at the end of her limp hand. She was dead.
