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Priire was late. As usual. She was supposed to be meeting Ippin for lunch, seeing as they were lucky enough to be on the same planet, a rare occurrence. They were actually meeting because it was Ippin's birthday, her thirteenth to be specific. She had been sitting in the cafe for nearly an hour, glaring at the door for about half that time. She picked up her comlink and attempted to call Priire for the dozenth time, but got the same response she'd gotten before: "the comlink you are calling is out of service, please check your frequency and try again later." Ippin assumed it meant Priire hadn't paid her comlink bill again. She growled and shoved it back into her backpack. She shoved it so violently in fact that she jarred her lightsaber loose and it fell with a clatter to the floor. She was just reaching for it when someone handed it to her. She glanced up and was startled to see the young man who had been sitting at the table next to her, on his knees holding her saber. He was quite handsome Ippin decided. For someone who was smirking at her in an extremely annoying fashion.
"Aren't you going to thank me?" he asked smoothly.
"THANK you. Now, kindly hand it over." Ippin made a grab for it, but the irritating young man held it just out of her reach. She streched her arm, but he pulled it farther away. She sat back and glared at him. He was laughing at her, and she knew it. He acted like he was about to hand it to, then pulled it away when she went to take it.
"Has anyone ever told you your hair looks a Corusca gem?" he asked, grinning slightly at the fuming Jedi.
"Give me my lightsaber." She growled, glaring darkly at him.
"Aw, Coru, you haven't said the magic word..." he smirked.
"All right." Ippin closed her eyes and, using the force called her saber to her hand, and turned it on. "Please." She said quietly, holding the blade near his throat.
At this moment Priire decided to grace the cafe with her presence. She stopped short when she saw her friend holding a lightsaber to a CUTE young man's throat. "Woah there Coru! What're ya doing?" she asked, running over to her fuming friend's side.
"Where have you been?" Ippin asked angrily, turning to Priire - without extinguishing her saber.
"Uh, would you mind if we discussed this withOUT your lightsaber pointed at me? What'd he do to get you so mad anyway?" Priire asked, staring in concern at the young man.
"All I did was call her Coru," he replied.
"Why'd that get you so...unlike you? I call you Coru all the time," Priire replied, looking at Ippin's darkening features.
"He made fun of my hair. And took away my lightsaber," Ippin glowered. But she did turn off her lightsaber, which announced her calming down.
"Ah..." Priire turned to now composed young man. "You should never try to part Coru here from her lightsaber. Or say anything about her rather...unusual hair color. She's likely to start acting like...me." Priire grinned.
"You don't exactly strike me as the type to take a lightsaber to someone's neck," he replied.
"No, I don't have one, don't want one. But I am likely to turn into...a hawkbat on you," Priire said mysteriously. Ippin was still angry, and to prevent him from being beheaded, the two girls quickly left and found nourishment on Ippin's ship - Priire may have been a genius mechanic and a wonderful pilot, but she was nothing when it came to food.
That was only Ippin's first encounter with the one the girls would later learn was named Yuri Riku. On several such occasions over the next few years, he had ended up facing the business end of Ippin's lightsaber. He knew exactly which buttons to push, and exactly how to get Ippin ready to turn him into twins. Priire was occasionally there to save him, but it was usually Ippin's Jedi training that kept her from slicing him in two. Despite their fights, Ippin rather liked running into Riku. When he wasn't driving her insane, that is. Once he came very close to meeting his maker, finding her immediately after an unsuccesful search for some records of her past.
"Hey, Coru-chan. Tried to kill anyone today?" Ippin sighed and turned to face the person she thought to be the bane of her existence.
"No, Riku-san, I have not. You are the only person I really enjoy attempting to kill..." Ippin trailed off, seeing the beautiful woman hanging on Riku's arm. Immediately, her temper rose, though for what reason she couldn't fathom.
"Oh, Coru-chan. This is Vinitana. Vini, this is Coru, the girl who always goes out of her way to try to kill me," Riku smirked.
"Charmed I'm sure." The lovely young blonde replied in her soft Alderaanian accent.
"I do NOT go out of my way to kill him. He gets in my way, and my lightsaber gets in his," Ippin replied, glaring at the couple - she flinched inwardly at the thought of Riku being part of a COUPLE, though she still didn't quite understand why.
"Woah. Someone's in a bad mood huh Coru?" Riku replied, concern clearly lacking in his voice.
"Well seeing you puts me in a bad mood," Ippin replied viciously, not noticing the black looks Vinitana was sending her way. She knew what Coru didn't.
"Someone set fire to your hair of something Coru? You seem very venomous this morning."
"No, and I WISH YOU WOULD STOP MAKING FUN OF MY HAIR!" Ippin screamed at him.
Riku frowned and grabbed Ippin's arm. "What's wrong with you? You never get this upset about anything, what happened?"
"Nothing that concerns you, know let me go!" You could nearly see steam coming out of her ears as Ippin pushed Riku away and started quickly walking towards the docking bay and her ship. She could hear Riku coming after her, and slowed down slightly until she heard "Viti" telling him to let her go. Ippin's eyes smarted, but she didn't cry. Finally she reached her ship, but just as she was about to enter her key-code, Riku came up behind her and grabbed her arm again.
"Coru wha-" He didn't finish his sentence because when he had grabbed her, Ippin had pulled out her lightsaber and now held it close to his neck. You could see him starting to sweat; he had never believed Ippin might actually harm him before this, but the look in her eyes told him that if he pushed once more she was very capable of slicing him in two. He slowly released Ippin's arm and started to back away. He stared at her back for a moment longer, then turned and walked away.
Ippin extinguished her saber and opened the hatch. She locked it behind her and almost ran to the comfort of her bed, and the small raggity purple rabbit she had held and cried in since she was seven years old, when one of the Jedi masters had taken pity on her and given her the doll for christmas, since no one else gave her a gift. It was the only present she'd ever recieved from anyone except Priire. She'd often contemplated throwing it away; after all a nearly fifteen year old girl shouldn't keep stuffed animals. But she'd always kept it, just in case. Now she fell on her bunk and cried. She cried harder than she ever had before, sobs wracking her body. She didn't realize why she'd acted the way she had, but she regretted it now. Slowly she calmed down, everything seeming to drift farther away from her consciousness. She must have fallen asleep, because when she finally jolted awake she was wearing her pajamas, and Priire was sitting on the extra bunk Ippin had put in for her.
Ippin sat up and rubbed her eyes blearily. "What're you doing here Aster?" "Came in, saw you were here...I tried knocking and calling on the com. I knew you were in here, but you weren't answering, so I used my private code to get in." Priire grinned.
Ippin stared at her friend. "Where did you get that?"
"Let's just say I didn't become the Hawkbat because of my beauty," Priire replied, smiling and flipping her hair.
"Whatever," Ippin replied, flopping back down on the bed.
"I talked to Riku."
"I figured."
"What happened?"
"I don't know."
"Are you okay?"
"I think so, but...I think I really messed up."
"I think so too. But it'll work out, and if it doesn't, there are plenty of fish on Calamari, remember that."
"I don't WANT a fish. I want Riku!" With that declaration Ippin subsided into tears.
Ippin hadn't spoken to Riku since that day. She'd seen him but always ran in the opposite direction. She'd realized she had purposely gone places she knew he'd go, just so they could meet. But it was all over, and now she was sitting curled up into a tight ball on her bed, hugging her ratty bunny. That's how Yukiko found her when she came in.
"Coru-chan? Are you okay?" she asked, staring at her rumpled friend.
"No...why would I be okay? I...hate this." She straightened out and stood up. "I hate this THING. I've been needing to throw it away..." With that she went calmly over to the trash and threw in her doll. She watched it shred, and when she was satisfied it wasn't coming back, she sat back down on her bed. She pulled her knees up to her chest, and started sobbing. She could still feel the emotions she'd felt that day, exactly one year ago. Priire hadn't realized it of course, why would she? IF she had she wouldn't have left Ippin alone, that was for sure. Yuki was concerned, but didn't know how to fix it. She decided to get Ippin to come down to the docking bay where Priire and several of the other girls were. Hopefully Priire would know what was wrong. Yes, of course. Priire would know. She gently helped Ippin up and convinced her to come down with her. Ippin was a wreck and she knew it, but she didn't care at the moment. She would care soon though. Just as they stepped onto the lift that would take them to the bay, someone called for them to wait. Yuki held the doors, despite the fact the Ippin would much rather have been alone. Yuki smiled appreciatively at the auburn-haired young man. Ippin glanced up, and at that moment would have given anything to have Annika there, just because the older girl usually carried makeup. She gulped and tried to convince herself that she was wrong, but there was no denying it. She tried to hide behind Yuki, but it was too late. Riku had seen her.
"Coru?" he asked, staring at her.
Yuki raised her eyesbrows at this. "You know her?" she asked.
"Yuki-chaaan," Ippin complained.
"It is you isn't it Coru-chan? Are you alright?" he asked, peering at her tearstained face.
"Only Aster calls me Coru. And no, I am NOT alright," Ippin replied, glaring at her innocent boots.
"What in the name of the Force did I do to you? Why did you suddenly stop showing up, and turn-tail and run whenever we did end up on the same planet?"
"It's none of your business, Yuri-san. I've been busy."
"No one is that busy, Coru."
"You'd be surprised," Yuki put in.
Suddenly the doors opened and Priire spotted them. She waved excitedly at Yuki, frowned when she saw Ippin's face, and went into shock when she saw Riku. Fon and Numako were standing next to her, and Fon, giggling, waved her hand in front of Priire's face without a reaction. Suddenly she ran up the ramp and glared at Riku. "What're you doing here? Get. Away. From. My. Sister," Priire growled.
"Aster, it's okay, leave him alone," Coru tried to calm her furious twin.
"Coru, HE is the reason you can't ever be alone! You think I'm gonna resist pounding him when you look like you do?" Somehow in her fury, Priire managed to give the impression of being the Hawkbat even without her costume.
"What do you mean you can't be alone?" Riku asked, looking at the close-to-tears Ippin.
She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Ever since last year, I've been wishing I'd not acted the way I did. I was acting like a child and threw a tantrum. I was embarrassed about it and avoided you. But since then something's been missing. Not that the girls haven't been great and are always there for me, it's just that...I miss you. I realized when I saw that girl..."
"Vinitana? She's my best friend's sister. She's had a crush on me since we were kids."
"Yeah, her. I just, freaked out. And I was jealous."
"Why? I always liked you. Or didn't you realize that?"
"I didn't. I always thought I hated you, and that you hated me. But I don't. I realize now. That we were meant to be together. I think we always have been."
More about the Senshi in this story:
Ippin/Coru/Sailor Yavin
Priire/Aster/Sailor Asteroid
Yuri Riku
Yukiko/Sailor Hoth
Annika/Sailor Bakura
Fon/Sailor Teta
Numako/Sailor Dagobah
