Disclaimer:  ChibiUsa, Hotaru, Michiru and Haruka are not my characters or 

 creations.  They were created and belong to Naoko Takeuchi.

 

 

                          Happy Birthday Hotaru!

 

 

         The music was playing softly and there were two shadowed bodies 

 sitting by the fireplace.  The two bodies just sat there holding one 

 another.  One of the bodies had it's hair up in buns, while the other had 

 it's hair down.  It looked around shoulder length.

 

         (Where is this place?  I've never seen this place before.  Does this 

 mean that something different is going to happen?)

 

         Suddenly the music stopped and a loud and horrible laughter begun.  

 Then, without warning, the person with shoulder length hair began to glow.  

 As the person glowed, it also began to shrink.  The laughter just kept 

 getting louder and louder as the person just kept getting smaller and 

 smaller.  Soon the person disappeared and then the laughter stopped.  The 

 room then vanished and the person with their hair in buns was all alone in 

 darkness.

 

         "Hotaru!," the person screamed, "Don't leave me!  Hotaru!"

 

         (Hotaru!  NO!!!  Come back!  Hotaru!  I need you here with me!)

 

         "Hotaru!  I'm scared!  Please come back and help me!

 

         (Hotaru, I miss you.)

 

         "Hotaru, I... love you."

 

         ChibiUsa then snapped up panting and sweating.  Her heart was 

 racing.  It had been the same reaccuring dream or nightmare as she called 

 it, the only difference this time, was the room.  She sat there alone in the 

 dark for the rest of the night, afraid that if she fell back to sleep, she 

 would have the nightmare again.

 

                                    ***

 

         The following morning was like any other, Usagi's alarm clock was 

 blasting and the rays of sunlight were beaming down on her face through the 

 blinds.  The aroma of a freshly cooked breakfast was fastly filling the air. 

   Sitting at the dinner table, ChibiUsa wasn't in too happy of a mood.  The 

 nightmare kept her up all night and Ikuko has started to notice.

 

         "Is that nightmare getting at you, hon?"

 

         "Huh?  Oh, yeah."

 

         "You care to tell me about it?"

 

         "I'd rather not.  There's someone else that I need to talk to it 

 about."

 

         "Ok but just be sure to talk to someone about it."

 

         "I will.  Thank you."

 

         After this ChibiUsa finished her breakfast and readied herself for 

 school.

 

                                      ***

 

         "Hotaru, wait up!" ChibiUsa called out in the hallway.

 

         Hotaru tunred around with a smile, greeting ChibiUsa.  ChibiUsa 

 couldn't help but to notice Hotaru.  The young girl was wearing a black 

 babydoll size tank and a short pair of jean shorts that end at half thigh.  

 ChibiUsa caught herself and stopped before Hotaru noticed.

 

         "ChibiUsa!  My birthday is in a week.  I hope you'll come over and 

 spend some time with me.  You can come over and have supper with us."

 

         "Of course I will.  I wouldn't turn down an offer to spend time with 

 you, silly."

 

         Hotaru just smiled with joy.  She was so happy that her only real 

 friend was going to be with her on her birthday.

 

                                      ***

 

         ChibiUsa spent the rest of the day trying to decide how she could 

 tell Hotaru about her dream and how she felt.  Then she decided, she would 

 tell her on her birthday.

 

         'Do I want to do anything or do I just want to ignore my feelings?  

 How could I even begain to tell her how I feel?  I want to do something 

 special for her birthday but what?'

 

         By the end of the day ChibiUsa had done more serious thinking in 

 that one day than she ever has in her whole life.  Finally she decided that 

 she would take Hotaru on a picnic and tell her everything.  She still needed 

 some time to plan out all the other details.

 

         The next day ChibiUsa spent most of the day dreaming about what she 

 would say to Hotaru.  She not only thought about what she would say but 

 imagined all of the possible responses.  She liked some better than others.

 

                                   ***

 

         Slowly the days passed by and Hotaru's birthday was now only a day 

 away.  ChibiUsa started to get her things together so that she could spend 

 the next day with her best friend.  She had never been more nervous nor 

 excited in her life.

 

         That night ChibiUsa couldn't sleep.  Not because of the nightmare 

 but because of her excitment.  She couldn't wait to tell Hotaru how she 

 felt.  She prayed that Hotaru would tell her that she felt the same way 

 about her.  The night hours slowly dragged on and ChibiUsa fell asleep and 

 dreamt.

 

                                    ***

 

         It was a warm evening and the sun was begining to set.  Two shadowed 

 figures sat on the grass and had thier backs agianst a tree.  You could 

 easily tell that the two shadowed figures were both female from curves of 

 thier bodies.  One leaned over to the other and gave her a soft kiss on the 

 lips.  As they parted it became clear who they were.  Both had thier hair 

 down.  One was Hotaru, the other was ChibiUsa.  Hotaru smiled and blushed 

 then slowly she leaned over to ChibiUsa and began to kiss her softly and 

 held her in her arms.  As the kiss went on Hotaru slipped ChibiUsa her 

 tongue.  Shocked and caught off gaurd by this, ChibiUsa let out a soft moan. 

   When the kiss ended they both smiled and blushed.  ChibiUsa took hold of 

 Hotaru and guided her to the ground and ran her hands over her body.  

 ChibiUsa, then, went to lie down beside her laying her head on Hotaru's 

 cheast and placing her hand on Hotaru's breast.  ChibiUsa started to tease 

 her a little.

 

                                    ***

 

         The alarm clock started buzzing and ChibiUsa woke up, annoyed that 

 it was only a dream.

 

         'If only it had been real.' she thought to herself.  When she got 

 out of bed she noticed a stain on the sheets and looked down to see that she 

 was wet.  Upon noticing this she smiled and wondered how Hotaru would react.

 

         "Today's the day.  I gotta make this work.  I just have to."

 

                                    ***

 

         It started out like any normal Friday.  There was no School that day 

 because of Teacher planning.  ChibiUsa finished wrapping the gift that she 

 had gotten Hotaru.

 

         It was around noon when ChibiUsa went over to Hotaru's house.  She 

 was set to be there for the day and night if Hotaru didn't turn her away.  

 She wasn't sure how she was gonna get Haruka and Michiru to leave them alone 

 long enough for her to do what she wanted.  She thought hard about what she 

 could do while she walked to Hotaru's house.  When she got there sure 

 enough, Michiru answered the door.  Haruka wasn't there though.

 

         "Michiru, where is Haruka at?" ChibiUsa inquired.

 

         "She is out getting some things for Hotaru's party.  Some last 

 minute pick up's.  Why do you ask?"

 

         "No reason, I was just wondering.  I figured that you two would have 

 started something by now."

 

         "No not yet.  We have something special planned for her so we want 

 to have everything perfect."

 

         "Really?  I have something special planned for her too.  If you 

 wouldn't mind I would like to do it with her alone.  It's kind of 

 embarrassing for me so..."

 

         "I understand.  I'll talk to Haruka about it but I'm sure we can do 

 that for you."

 

         "Thank you." ChibiUsa said and smiled.

 

                                 ***

 

         Michiru and Haruka were setting things up and told ChibiUsa that she 

 and Hotaru could go off and do whatever while they worked on the 

 decorations.  ChibiUsa saw this as the perfect time to make her move.

 

         "Hotaru, I know of a really nice place in the park, lets go there.  

 I have a couple of things that I want to give you."

 

         ChibiUsa had her backpack with her and had a few things with her.  

 She led Hotaru to a secluded place in the woods beside the park.

 

         "This place is really beautiful ChibiUsa.  Thank you for bringing me 

 here."

 

         "Hotaru I want to go ahead and give you my gifts."

 

         Hotaru nodded and ChibiUsa opened her bag and pulled out a small 

 package and a larger package.  Hotaru opened the smaller package first.  It 

 was a cd that was imported from America.  It was a group called Savage 

 Garden.  This was thier fave. American band.  Next she opened the larger 

 package.  It was a big teddy bear.  It looked just like her old bear.  She 

 would still have it if the school bullies hadn't messed it up.

 

         "Thank you ChibiUsa!" Hotaru said, beaming with joy.  She then gave 

 ChibiUsa a big long hug.  ChibiUsa took this oppertunity and as Hotaru 

 loosened the hug she turned her face to where they were face to face and 

 ChibiUsa gave her a quick peck on the lips.  ChibiUsa was red with 

 embarrassment.  Hotaru just sat there motionless and speechless.  She 

 couldn't believe what ChibiUsa had just done.

 

         Hotaru stood there confused and silent.  Not knowing what to do she 

 ran home.  ChibiUsa knew that she had messed up, she knew that the next move 

 would be up to Hotaru.  She was afraid that she had just ruined thier 

 friendship.  When Hotaru got home Haruka and Michiru were waiting for her 

 and ChibiUsa.

 

         "Where's ChibiUsa?" Michiru inquried.

 

         "Something came up and she had to go."  Hotaru couldn't tell them 

 what had really happened.  As the day went on Hotaru couldn't think about 

 anything besides what ChibiUsa had done.  As days passed all Hotaru could 

 think about was did she do the right thing.  She thought it over and 

 wondered.  She had battles between her feelings and what her brain thought.

 

                                ***

 

         One afternoon ChibiUsa had come by and knocked on the door.  Michiru 

 answered and asked her to come in.

 

         "That's ok, Michiru, I just came by to drop these off for Hotaru.  

 They are her birthday presents from me.  I've been really busy lately and 

 haven't had time to drop them off.  Tell her I said hi, ok?"

 

         "I'll do that.  Bye-bye ChibiUsa."

 

         Hotaru was standing around the corner and had heard everything.  She 

 knew that ChibiUsa had to have strong feelings for her then.  That night all 

 Hotaru could do was think.  She had to do something and it had to be soon.

 

                                 ***

 

         The next morning before school she wrote ChibiUsa a note and dropped 

 it off in her locker.  When ChibiUsa went to get her first period book she 

 saw the note and read it.

 

         'The woods by the park?  At 6?' she wondered to herself.  All 

 ChibiUsa could think about for the rest of the day was what Hotaru had in 

 mind.

 

         The day passed and 6:00 arrived pretty quickly.  ChibiUsa ran to the 

 spot that Hotaru and mentioned in the note as fast as she could.  When she 

 got there she saw that Hotaru had a battery powered radio and she had the cd 

 playing that she had given Hotaru for her birthday.

 

         "ChibiUsa," Hotaru started, "I'm sorry I ran off.  I didn't know 

 what to do and I had to think things through.  You had cought me off gaurd 

 and I didn't exspect that.  What I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry.  Can you 

 forgive me.  I want you to love me and I want to love you."  With that said 

 Hotaru started to cry.  ChibiUsa ran up to her and hugged her.

 

         "Of course I can forgive you.  I want to love you and have you love 

 me too."  Hotaru looked ChibiUsa straight in the eyes.  Thier faces grew 

 closer and closer to each other's and they kissed. Thier tongues exploring 

 the other's mouth.  They stayed this way for a while.  When the kiss broke, 

 Hotaru said, "I love you chibiUsa and I want you to go out with me."  

 ChibiUsa looked at Hotaru, smiled and nodded.