"So, what do you think about those attacks this afternoon?" Mark asked as he pulled his napkin off the table and unfolded it on his lap. Hotaru was a little unsure about his choice of restaurants--it looked very expensive, and she felt guilty about it. She loved the atmosphere, though. It was dark, with flickering torches and candles scatted along the wall and on the tables. Just enough warm illumination to keep people from tripping. "They were all over the news today."
She thought for a second before answering his question. She didn't want him to know what she was. She wanted to give this friendship a chance. "I don't know what to make of it. And from what I've heard, no answers are coming from out of the Crystal Palace either." She shrugged. "I'm sure the Queen and her senshi can take care of it, though."
"Everyone is so sure of the Queen," Mark said with a touch of bitterness in his voice.
"Why, aren't you?" Hotaru asked with some surprise.
"I suppose so. It's just that it's hard for Americans to accept a monarch, even if we were raised after the disaster. That's all."
Hotaru watched him backpedal furiously from his show of dislike for Serenity, and felt an irrational desire to support his unusual ideas, even though she was one of Serenity's senshi. She was feeling surprisingly rebellious and bitter, and she liked his refreshing opinions. She was about to continue the conversation when their food arrived. They began to eat, and moved on to other topics. Hotaru's plate was nearly empty when she suddenly dropped her chopsticks and put her head in her hands.
"What's wrong?" Mark leaned over the table toward her with worry.
"I don't know. Suddenly I feel so weak. . ." her voice trailed off to a whisper.
"Are you sick? Is it the food?" Hotaru heard his concerned voice through a haze of descending darkness, and tried to hold onto consciousness with a stubbornness she didn't know she'd had, then suddenly her strength flooded back into her. She slowly raised her head and looked up at Mark.
"It wasn't the food. I'm usually a bit sickly," she made a depreciating gesture with her hand, "but that was odd, even for me. And now I feel fine." She tentatively put her palm to the side of her head. "I don't know what that was." She chuckled softly to cover her shame. How embarrassing! And just when things seemed to be going so well!
Mark tilted his head, and his piercing eyes were suddenly gentle. "Maybe I should take you home. I had no idea you were so weak." He held out his hand toward her and she pushed her chair back from the table and rose to her feet. She put her hand in his and noticed how small it was compared to his.
"I'm fine now, really." She glanced at her watch. "But it is terribly late. I guess I should get home." They made their way out of the restaurant. Just before they stepped out into the darkness Mark gallantly took off his trenchcoat and draped it across her shoulders. She was so short compared to him that the hem almost dragged along the ground. She giggled a little at the thought of how she must look with the shoulders of his coat almost falling to the middle of her upper arms. He looked down at her.
"What? What are you laughing at?" Hotaru smiled and snuggled deeper into his jacket. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. His coat smelled faintly of cologne. She sighed and opened her eyes to answer his question.
"Your coat is just so huge. I'm getting lost in it!" She held out her arms to demonstrate that the ends of the sleeves went well past her fingertips.
He smiled and laughed a little too. "Well, maybe it is a bit big on you. Where can I drop you off?"
Hotaru almost let her smile slip off her face, but she forced it to hold. If he dropped her off at the palace, he'd immediately connect her up with Tomoe Hotaru, Sailor Saturn. She didn't want that just yet. But where else could she be dropped off? Didn't Makoto have a nice little villa in the city? Hotaru's mind frantically raced. It was on the main avenue that lead to the palace, with huge grounds. . .two blocks from the palace. The picture solidified in her mind and she answered Mark as quickly as she could, hoping that she hadn't hesitated too long. "I'll take you to where I'm staying. A friend's letting me stay with her. You know how the hotels gouge at your pocketbook."
Mark laughed gently and casually put his arm across her shoulder. She peeked up at him through her eyelashes in time to catch a breathtaking look on his face. He was looking down on her with worry, as if afraid of what she might do next. She smiled nervously to herself and leaned into him as they walked to his car. This was a new sort of power she felt coursing though her--a power where she was as vulnerable as he was. It was dizzying. She sighed happily and looked up into the dark sky.
"I love the night," she began. "I don't quite know why, but I always have. I was never afraid of the dark when I was a child, for some reason."
"Well, to be fair, most children aren't afraid of the dark. They're afraid of what's hiding in it." Hotaru felt his chest vibrate as he spoke, and an answering shiver crawled up and down her spine. She fought to keep her emotions down to a manageable level. She almost felt as if she should bring Lady Saturn forward to deal with them, but she couldn't bring herself to show Mark that face. She didn't want masks between them. No masks, no duty. Just him and her. She noticed the hunger that had entered his tone when he spoke those words, though, and it awakened some of her darker stirrings.
"I wasn't even afraid of that. Things that go bump in the night can only kill you." She clutched his coat tight around her throat. "I've seen things that do worse." He didn't say anything, just answered her with a small squeeze of her arm. They stepped up to his car, and he bent over to open the door for her. She ducked in and settled herself in the seat. He got in and turned to her in the gray illumination of the first quarter moon.
"Okay, where to?"
"My friend lives on Crystal Avenue, just a bit before you reach the palace compound."
He raised his eyebrows in surprise at her words, but didn't comment. "Like I said, a friend lives there."
"Hmmm...your friend must be pretty high up in the government to own property there."
Hotaru shrugged. "She doesn't do much except cook. I think she really lives there because the land has a beautiful garden." Well, I'm not lying to him. I'm just not telling him the whole truth.
"What're those up there?" Mark pointed at the spires of the palace. Their bases were still crystal, glowing with refracted moonlight, but Hotaru had to stifle a shocked gasp. The blackness had descended down farther from the tips. "I thought they were supposed to be all clear crystal, but they look black to me."
Hotaru looked at him. "It probably has something to do with the attacks today."
Mark nodded, then coughed and changed the subject. "Is this your friend's place here on the right?"
Hotaru's gaze followed his finger to the side of the avenue. "Yes. That's it. You can just drop me off at the gate." He pulled into the drive and stopped to let her out. She turned around once she was standing next to his car. "Here." She began to take off his trenchcoat, but he waved at her to stop. He leaned over and bent his head up to look into her eyes.
"I'd much rather you held on to it, and gave it back the next time I see you." His eyes caught a stray beam of light, and flared bright blue for a second. "If you could just give me your number. . ." he trailed off uncertainly as she shook her head.
"I don't know her number." Hotaru said. She smiled widely, an unaccustomed expression for her. "I will call you though. You're listed, right?"
He nodded. "Under Stanton."
She widened her smile until she thought her face would crack to bits. "I will call. Soon."
"Promise?"
"Promise," she chuckled. "I have to return your coat, don't I?"
He nodded seriously and pulled out of the driveway. As soon as his headlights left her she brought a shaking hand up to her mouth and blew him an unseen kiss. "Promise. . ."
She watched until she couldn't see his car any longer, then turned and ran toward the palace. There had to be a reason the blackness was spreading.
*****