Lita’s Apartment
1/1/00
11:37 AM
Mina
woke up on the hardwood floor of Lita’s apartment with a nasty hangover.
Her head throbbed and the world spun vigorously around her. Indeed, opening
her eyes to the light of day and looking around proved unbelievably painful
and nauseating.
“Oh,” she put her hand to her forehead, “Geezus. Whoa, how much did I have last night?” It soon occurred to her that her jeans were soaked and reeked with the smell of urine. “Enough apparently.” she smirked and stumbled to her feet. Her waist-length golden hair was messy and her crystal blue eyes were glazed and bloodshot. Her big red hairbow lay on the floor a few feet from her. Mina bumbled to her duffle bag and took some clean clothes out before heading to the bathroom.
Rei was passed out next to the toilet, which was filled with yellow-orange vomit. The smell alone further sickened Mina. Her stomach turned and she exhaled its contents into the bowl, filling it further with alcohol-laden fluid. After recovering, she tried to awaken her Japanese friend.
“Hey.” Mina slapped her lightly on the cheek, “Reiko, wake up.”
“Wha...what?” the violet-eyed girl struggled to sit up. She soon remembered last night. “Oh, damn. Did Chad and I...?”
“No. Greg walked Chad home.” came the call from the living room. Artemis marched into the bathroom to say good morning to the first two awake. “And you also need underwear.” he told Rei, who until now had not realized that the reason her bottom was cold was because it was in direct contact with the bathroom tile. She blushed after realizing this, then glared at the white cat.
“You’d look!” she snapped.
“I’m a cat.” was all Artemis had to say to let her know he had no interest in her.
“God, Mina,” Rei sniffed, “you smell like piss.”
“Yeah, I kinda need to use the shower.” Mina urged the other girl and cat to go away. Obligingly, Rei and Artemis left Mina to shower.
The water was warm, helping her regain some of her senses. It felt good against her back and slowly but surely, the stench left her and was replaced with the scent of shampoo and bodywash. She was so enamored in cleaning herself off that it totally shocked her when the shower curtain was yanked back.
“I hope you’re happy!” Amy’s accented voice squeaked angrily.
“Uh, do you mind!” the blonde snapped, annoyed. She yanked the curtain back into place.
“Lock the door then.” Amy shrugged, “I gotta go to the bathroom anyway.”
“Thanks for getting me back.” Mina’s voice was softer now; less upset, “When did I pass out?”
“Oh,” Amy pulled her skirt back into place, “shortly after one o’clock. Lita was more hammered than Bob Vila’s left thumb so I had to get a couple of the guys to help me drag you three back here.”
“Thank goodness Lita’s uncle and aunt are out of town.”
“You said it.” Amy agreed, “I don’t think any of you could have passed as sober.”
“Hey!” a groggy Lita called from the den, “Whose puddle?”
“Mine!” Mina replied, “I’ll get it in a minute.” The blonde shut off the shower and reached to grab a towel from behind the curtain. “Remind me never to get that plastered again.”
“Certainly. I tried to set the example by refraining and abstaining from drinking, but no one...”
“Okay, point taken.” Mina cut her off as she pulled a shirt over herself. “I’ll tell you, New Year’s in London was never that crazy.”
“Mina!” Lita cried.
“Coming!” she shouted as she pulled her underwear on under the towel. She put her bow back in her hair and yanked a shirt on. She took a spare towel from the shelf in the bathroom and went into the den.
“Mina that’s really disgusting.” Rei shouted.
“I was drunk, okay?” Mina snapped. She held her hair back as she bent over to wipe up her mess. “Lita do you guys have any Glade? It’s gonna smell terrible in here.”
“Not half as bad as the bathroom...” Amy began to comment. Simultaneous glares from Mina and Rei shut her up.
“Glade’s in the kitchen.” it was obvious Lita had a headache, for she held her temple as she went to get the potpourri.
“I am never getting drunk with you again, Mina.” Rei growled as she brushed her thigh-length black hair, “If Gramps smells this on me, I’m one dead little...”
“Okay, shut up!” Mina snarled. Lita offered her the aerosol and she covered the putrid smell with a pine scent. “There, clean.” she pronounced, smiling at her handiwork.
“Serena!” her mother called, “It’s Mr. Hino. He wants to talk to you.” Serena, still dazed from her fall to the floor, reached up and picked up the receiver of her phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Serena.” it was Rei’s grandfather, “I was wondering if you’ve seen Rei. She never made it home last night but she took a gym bag with her. I was wondering if she stayed at your place.”
“Uh, no.” Serena shook her head, “I think she stayed at Lita’s last night.”
“Domo arigato.” he thanked her in Japanese.
“Uh,” Serena blanked, “sure.” The line clicked and she put the receiver back in the cradle. Serena stood up and realized she had not changed into her Hello Kitty pajamas before falling asleep. What time was it?
Her clock read 11:58 AM, 1-1-00. It was the first day of Y2K.
Serena gave herself a look in the mirror. She was pleased with what she saw. She had big dark blue eyes, a wide forehead, and small chin. Her sandy blonde hair was pulled into the two ball-shaped buns on the sides of her head that lead to the pair of absurdly long pigtails that she had often thought about cutting short but never had the guts to. This hairstyle had given her the nickname “meatball-head.”
Serena was also relatively healthy for a 16-year-old (she’d be 17 this June). She was fit and at 5’6” relatively tall. She was also cursed with an incredibly rapid metabolism that kept her right at 107 lbs and made her ravenous all the time.
She pulled up her shirt to stare at her tummy a moment. “You’re awfully quiet this morning.” As if on cue, it grumbled and that familiar hollowness grew in her belly.
“Well, good morning.” Luna called as she pawed the door open. The black cat pranced in the room. “Now if you don’t mind, my litter needs changing.”
“Go
outside!” Serena growled, “You live out there!
“But
it’s cold out there,” Luna protested, “and wet! You try getting that spacy
stare going while freezing your tail off. And as you so love to point out,
I’m a pet. We do require maintenance every so often.”
“Okay, I’m on it Luna.” Serena said. She snapped on a pair of gloves and went to the laundry room where Luna’s sand box was kept. “You know, you are one lucky cat.” she said as she yanked the liner, “Mina makes Artemis stay outside all the time.” Luna simply meowed; her usual response when they were within earshot of Serena’s family.
“There, done.” the girl announced, toting the bag of dirty litter out to the trash. Moments later she was sitting on her bed again playing Sailor Quest IV, one of the many games based on a simple understanding of the Sailor Scouts and their adventures.
“This sucks.” Serena smirked after beating the first level with ease, “I never have any fun anymore.”
“Oh you have fun all the time.” Luna was surprised that Serena would make this remark.
“No, Luna.” Serena shook her head, “I mean no more fighting the Negaverse for me, no sir. All I get to do is play stupid Sailor Moon video games and pretend I’m still a warrior. When am I gonna see some real action? I mean, what’s the point of being a superheroine if you have no body to save the world from?”
“Be careful what you wish for,” Luna warned, “you just might get it.”
“It’d be better than this.” Serena said, saving her game before continuing. How many times had she beaten it? Twenty? Fifty? She’d lost count.
“Don’t I remember you complaining to me when Allen and Anne attacked?” Luna frowned sarcastically; and interesting expression for a cat.
“I’ve changed since then.” the meatball-head told her, “I’ve matured. I’m perfectly willing to do what’s required of me.”
“You still don’t study enough.” Luna persisted in annoying Serena, “And you’re still a flake.” Serena didn’t argue this. It was still true. She was always late and hardly ready for anything. She ran around so often that Rei had nicknamed her Tsukino Usagi; bunny on the moon. It rang true. She was always sprinting off somewhere at warp speed and when not doing that she was staring off into space and daydreaming.
“Yay.” Serena sighed as the Sailor Jupiter character defeated her enemy and moved up a power level. Sailor Venus was now readying for her attack.
“Sumimasen.” she apologized in Japanese and bowed deeply and respectively, “You are right.”
“So how much did you have?” he folded his arms across his chest.
“What?!” her dark eyes went wide with surprise.
“You know what I mean.” he said, “I was young once. I used to lay on the sake every once in a while. How drunk where you?”
“Well,” Reiko was not so sure he wanted to hear, “I passed out after I think seven beers, two screwdrivers, three shots of Aftershock, and a burning orgasm.”
“A what?!”
“It’s a drink, Gramps.”
“Oh,” he chuckled in embarrassment, “I knew that. But you could have at least one thing.”
“What?” she expected some lecture.
“You should have had a Smirnof martini, too. And do what that Bond guy does with it.”
“Oh, Gramps you’re so bad.” she giggled. He was being playful. She went to her room an changed into the red and white kimono she always wore when on duty. As she was tying the sash, the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Rei, it’s Serena.”
“What do you want, meatball-head?” the Japanese girl chided playfully.
“I was wondering if you wanted to do some major comic shopping today.”
“Are any comic book shops open today?” Rei asked.
“They’d be almost stupid not to be.” Serena said, “This is like a huge shopping day.”
“That sounds cool.” Rei smiled, “I think I can go. Who else is coming?”
“Just me and you right now. I don’t think Amy’ll want to go.”
“She’s certainly not the comic book type. I suppose she’s working on her over-vacation project.”
“Oh my lord!” Serena shrieked, “I haven’t even started.”
“That’s okay. Lita has a hangover and still hasn’t thought about hers.” Rei laughed, “So when do you wanna go?”
“Is three okay?”
“That’s perfect. I should have my chores done by then.”
“Yes, sir?”
“I need a monster as soon as possible. I want to do some scouting work.”
“Actually, sir, Meredith would be more apt to creating them than I.”
“Very well. Have her make it.”
“What should I tell her?”
“Tell her not to make one that’s not too powerful. This is just to establish what we’re up against.”
“Yes, sir.” Jekter bowed deeply. Flute watched him leave. Jekter was an impressive young man. He knew where his strengths and weaknesses lie. He was also very resourceful. Flute smiled, pleased to have been blessed with such an impetuous pupil.
He then returned to his planning. He had discovered the location where Princess Serena and her court were hidden. He needed to attack now to find out how powerful they had become since being reactivated. Depending upon the information he received, he would make his next decision. He intended to eventually infuse Earth with negative energy and force Princess Serena to fight him so that he might have the pleasure of destroying her himself.
Flute’s red eyes fell to his fist. He held the black Pluto Star Crystal up and it hovered above his palm. He smiled and grasped it once again. His plan would be time consuming but the ease at which he could achieve it made him chuckle.
“Oh, dear Princess,” he laughed, “If you only knew.”