MoonDoggie

Moon doggie—Chapter 1
Hotaru walked slowly, head hanging.  It wasn’t fair, everyone else in her class had a pet, and she didn’t understand why Michiru-mama wouldn’t let her have one too.  She pouted as she kicked small pebbles on the pavement.  It wasn’t fair.
Friday:
“Bye Chibiusa-Chan, see you tomorrow!”  , Hotaru waved goodbye to her friend as school let out for the weekend.  Halfway home she started hearing noises in the bushes that lined the sidewalk.  After a couple of blocks, Hotaru ducked behind the bushes and saw where the leaves had been disturbed. She kept her head down and followed the trail until she came to a fence that had a freshly dug hole underneath it.  She looked through and saw a black puppy wiggling around on its back.  She stood and watched the puppy as it wiggled and rolled before finally stopping and lying on its tummy.  She giggled and the dog’s ears perked up.  Upon spotting her, the puppy leapt up and ran full force towards the fence, Hotaru wiggled back through the hole quickly and the puppy followed, popping up out of the hole and sitting obediently in front of her. Hotaru stuck out her hand which was promptly licked.  “Good puppy” she said, petting it profusely.  “Good puppy” she giggled as the puppy tried to jump up and lick her face.
Setsuna watched as Hotaru came up the driveway happily with a black puppy in tow.  She chuckled as she observed Hotaru try to cover the dog with her backpack as she neared the house while frantically looking to make sure no one was coming out the front door.  Then she doubled over laughing when the puppy leapt up and took Hotaru down, bolting towards the backyard with Hotaru picking herself up and chasing behind. “Oh Hotaru,” she thought, “You wouldn’t stand a chance if Michiru were here.”
Hotaru cautiously opened the back door, ‘be quiet!” she instructed the dog as she crept across the floor. The puppy walked next to her as if it knew that staying inside meant staying quiet.  Hotaru continued up the stairs and finally made it to her room, breathing a sigh of relief as the door clicked shut.
Haruka walked into the kitchen and was surprised to see that it was empty. Normally Hotaru was eating a snack whenever Haruka arrived home, which the latter would promptly steal.  Haruka just finished making herself what resembled a salad when a loud crash from upstairs had her doubling up the stairs.  Haruka burst into Hotaru’s room and saw three things:  Hotaru’s favorite lamp in pieces on the floor, Hotaru laying on the floor and, laying on top of Hotaru a black puppy licking her face.
She stood dumbfounded.
“No Titan!”  Hotaru yelled as she tried to wiggle out from underneath him.
Haruka ran and grabbed the wiggling puppy, ready to make a run for it should the Senshi of destruction decide her lamp was more important than the dog.
  Hotaru’s eyes widened in panic. “Haruka-papa!” she exclaimed, standing up and reaching for Titan.

Setsuna stood at the doorway to Hotaru’s room watching the scene unfold.  Hotaru practically ripped Titan from Haruka’s arms and was backing up defiantly.  Haruka stood with her mouth hanging open, one eyebrow arched.
“This is my dog, see” Hotaru said pointing at the bright purple crescent on dog’s forehead. “She’s from my moon!  She’s MY protector!”
Setsuna chose that moment to chime in; this was too good an opportunity to pass up.  “Absolutely Haruka, moondogs don’t show up unless there is a reason.”
Two heads whipped around and stopped on Setsuna.  Haruka’s look was utterly confused and Hotaru’s was unsure.  Setsuna turned slightly to face Hotaru and gave her a wink, both she and Hotaru then turned back to face Haruka.
“Moondogs?”  Haruka repeated.
Hotaru and Setsuna nodded their heads enthusiastically.
“I’ve never heard of….” Haruka’s voice trailed off as she looked at Hotaru’s lower lip beginning to waver just slightly. “Okay Hotaru.” Haruka mumbled as she searched her memory for anything relating to moondogs.  “Oh thank you Haruka papa!”  Hotaru threw herself into Haruka’s arms and Haruka hugged her daughter.  “You have to take care of it though, right Hime-Chan?” 
“I will!” Hotaru exclaimed, never taking her eyes off of her father and ignoring the fact that Titan was chewing on her hair.
With Hotaru settled in for the night, Haruka sat in the living room trying to figure out how to explain to Michiru why there was now a dog in the house.  Haruka groaned into the pillow she was using to cover her face.  “She’s going to kill me” she grumbled.
“Yes she is…” came Setsuna’s sing-songy voice as she climbed the stairs to her room laughing at Haruka’s predicament.  Haruka threw the pillow and nailed the Time Guardian squarely on the head.
Saturday:
Hotaru checked the crescent once more, it was holding up nicely, she thought, and wasn’t washing off like she had feared.  She bounded down the stairs with Titan on her heels, bolted straight past Haruka, who was sitting at the kitchen island bar drinking coffee, and into the backyard. Haruka drank her coffee and watched them play for a bit, moving off her perch only when the front doorbell rang.
Artemis sat watching Hotaru run around with that….thing.  To Artemis it didn’t look like anything special, and he’d never heard of anything like it.  He’d been watching the two play for over an hour and both seemed to have as much energy now as they had when they started.  Not that he was lazy or anything, but naps did have a certain appeal to him.  He hopped down from the wall to stroll back inside and immediately found himself squished on the pavement under the mass Hotaru called ‘Titan’.
“Get off me,” he growled.
“Artemis!” he heard Hotaru exclaim as he felt himself being lifted by the scruff of the neck and was now nose to nose with Hotaru. He could feel the tip of his tail being chewed as he tried to flick it away from Titan’s mouth.  “Hotaru what is that thing.” He questioned, now annoyed.
“It’s not a thing!  It’s my dog!” She corrected, slightly offended.  “Seee!” she insisted, shoving Artemis’s nose to the dog’s forehead so he could see the purple crescent. 
“That doesn’t mean anything.” Artemis stated, as the dog ducked around him and continued to chew on his tail.  “Does it even talk?” Artemis asked.
“Yes!” Hotaru shot back.
“Can you talk to it?”
“Of course!”
“Tell it to stop chewing my tail!” Artemis yelled as he tried to squirm his way out of her hand.  Hotaru contemplated what to do for only a second before clutching Artemis to her chest and running upstairs.
“Hotaru!” Artemis hollered right before the light was extinguished as the zipper to the bag closed.  She slid the now wiggly book bag into her closet, “Sorry Artemis, but you’ll blab!” she scolded, feeling only slightly guilty about locking the cat up.
“Comn Titan!  I’m hungry!” 
Artemis heard the door click shut and wondered how long it would be before Minako noticed that he was missing.  Until then, he thought to himself while stretching as much as the confines of the bag would allow, a nap!
Minako sipped her tea slowly, not sure what to make of the two people sitting in front of her.  Setsuna was smirking and Haruka was still babbling about the ‘moondogs’.  “I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of one” she said apologetically, knowing that wasn’t the answer Haruka wanted to hear.  “Michiru-san is so nice…” she continued, I can’t see why she wouldn’t let Hotaru-Chan keep Titan.”  Haruka wisely kept her mouth shut, if only the Minako knew how stubborn Michiru could be. 
“Shimatta!”  Haruka exclaimed, startled, as Setsuna had leapt up and practically bolted out of the room. The sudden verticalness of Setsuna and Haruka’s subsequent cursing caused Minako to drop her teacup.  She and Haruka were mopping up the spilt tea with towels when the phone started ringing.
Knowing that it was Michiru, Haruka ignored the phone and continued cleaning.  If she didn’t answer it, she reasoned, she would have more time to figure out what to do before Michiru suspected something. Haruka knew her reasoning was completely useless, “Michiru always knows when something is going on” she thought to herself, “I never have been able to figure out how she does that.” She finished her thought, breathing a sigh of relief as the phone ceased its ringing.
“Figure out what?”  Minako’s confused voice brought Haruka back to reality and the realization that she had spoke out loud. “Oh, um, nothing” Haruka mumbled.
“HARUKA, PHONE FOR YOU!”  She could hear the laugh in Setsuna’s voice and immediately began plotting revenge on the Senshi of Time as she reluctantly moved to pick up the phone.